The Jesuits tells the story of the most provocative and prodigious religious order in Roman Catholic history. Over the course of five centuries members of the Society of Jesus have been accused of killing kings and presidents, they have travelled as missionaries to every corner of the globe, founding haciendas in Mexico, exploring the Mississippi and Amazon rivers, and serving Chinese emperors as map-makers, painters and astronomers. As well as the predictable roll call of saints and martyrs, the Society can also lay claim to the thirty-five craters on the moon named for Jesuit scientists. Jesuits have been pilloried and idolised on a scale unknown to members of any other religious order, they have died the most horrible deaths and done the most outlandish deeds. Whether loved or loathed, the Society of Jesus' dramatic and wide-ranging impact could never be ignored. It disrupted the certainties and hierarchies of the Roman Catholic Church, transformed the intellectual, cultural and spiritual landscapes of Europe, Asia and the Americas, and staked its claim as a potent force in the classroom, the pulpit, and the loftiest bastions of political power. Though facing fresh crises and controversies, today's Jesuits are still active in the worlds of science and politics, education and devotion, playing their part in the complex transformations of the modern Catholic church. Jonathan Wright's fascinating study draws the reader into a gripping tale of myth and counter-myth, of adoration and banishment, of extraordinary achievements and spectacular failures. Contained within the Jesuits' rise, fall and rebirth are the successive chapters of Discovery, Reformation, Enlightenment and Revolution that have shaped our modern world.

The Jesuits

Wright, Jonathan

Religion & Spirituality

Harpercollins

Introduction to Forest Genetics

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Gardening & Landscape Design

Academic Press

We think of ambassadors as simply diplomats-but once they were adventurers who dared an uncertain fate in unknown lands, bringing gifts of greyhounds and elephants to powerful and unpredictable leaders. In vivid detail, The Ambassadors traces the remarkable journeys of these emissaries, taking us from the linguistically challenged Greek Megasthenes to the first Japanese embassies to China and Korea; from Mohammed's ambassadors to Egypt to the envoys of Byzantium, who had the unenviable task of convincing Attila the Hun to stop attacking them. We also witness the dialogue between Europe and Moorish Spain, and meet the ill-fated envoys sent in search of the mythical king Prester John. What Europe still thinks of Asia and what Asia still thinks of Africa were in no small part kindled in these long-ago first encounters. From the cuneiform civilizations of the ancient Near East to the clashing empires of the early modern age, Wright brings alive the men who introduced the great cultures of the world to each other.

The Ambassadors: From Ancient Greece to Renaissance Europe, the Men Who Introduced the World to Itself

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Mariner Books

In Heretics Jonathan Wright charts the history of dissent in the Christian Church through the stories of some of its most emblematic heretics—from Arius, a fourth-century Libyan cleric who doubted the very divinity of Christ, to more successful heretics like Martin Luther and John Calvin. As he traces the Church’s attempts at enforcing orthodoxy, from the days of Constantine to the modern Catholic Church’s lingering conflicts, Wright argues that heresy, by forcing the Church to continually refine and impose its beliefs, actually helped Christianity to blossom into one of the world’s most formidable and successful religions. Today, all believers owe it to themselves to grapple with the questions raised by heresy. Can you be a Christian without denouncing heretics? Is it possible that new ideas challenging Church doctrine are destined to become as popular as have Luther’s once outrageous suggestions of clerical marriage and a priesthood of all believers? A delightfully readable and deeply learned new history, Heretics overturns our assumptions about the role of heresy in a faith that still shapes the world.

Heretics: The Creation of Christianity from the Gnostics to the Modern Church

History

Leaders & Notable People

This book offers ideas on how dictionaries can be used to encourage reading while developing memory skills.

Dictionaries (Resource Books for Teachers)

Reference

Maley, Alan

Foreign Language Study & Reference

Oxford University Press

Gustav Stresemann was the exceptional political figure of his time. His early death in 1929 has long been viewed as the beginning of the end for the Weimar Republic and the opening through which Hitler was able to come to power. His career was marked by many contradictions but also a pervading loyalty to the values of liberalism and nationalism. This enabled him in time both to adjust to defeat and revolution and to recognize in the Republic the only basis on which Germans could unite, and in European cooperation the only way to avoid a new war. His attempt to build a stable Germany as an equal power in a stable Europe throws an important light on German history in a critical time. Hitler was the beneficiary of his failure but, so long as he was alive, Stresemann offered Germans a clear alternative to the Nazis. Jonathan Wright's fascinating new study is the first modern biography of Stresemann to appear in English or German.

Gustav Stresemann: Weimar's Greatest Statesman

Gustav Stresemann was the exceptional political figure of his time. His early death in 1929 has long been viewed as the beginning of the end for the Weimar Republic and the opening through which Hitler was able to come to power. His career was marked by many contradictions but also a pervading loyalty to the values of liberalism and nationalism. This enabled him in time both to adjust to defeat and revolution and to recognize in the Republic the only basis on which Germans could unite, and in European cooperation the only way to avoid a new war. His attempt to build a stable Germany as an equal power in a stable Europe throws an important light on German history in a critical time. Hitler was the beneficiary of his failure but, so long as he was alive, Stresemann offered Germans a clear alternative to the Nazis. Jonathan Wright's fascinating new study is the first modern biography of Stresemann to appear in English or German.

Punk rock culture in a preeminently average town Synonymous with American mediocrity, Peoria was fertile ground for the boredom- and anger-fueled fury of punk rock. Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett explore the do-it-yourself scene built by Peoria punks, performers, and scenesters in the 1980s and 1990s. From fanzines to indie record shops to renting the VFW hall for an all-ages show, Peoria's punk culture reflected the movement elsewhere, but the city's conservatism and industrial decline offered a richer-than-usual target environment for rebellion. Eyewitness accounts take readers into hangouts and long-lost venues, while interviews with the people who were there trace the ever-changing scene and varied fortunes of local legends like Caustic Defiance, Dollface, and Planes Mistaken for Stars. What emerges is a sympathetic portrait of a youth culture in search of entertainment but just as hungry for community--the shared sense of otherness that, even for one night only, could unite outsiders and discontents under the banner of music. A raucous look at a small-city underground, Punks in Peoria takes readers off the beaten track to reveal the punk rock life as lived in Anytown, U.S.A.

Punks in Peoria: Making a Scene in the American Heartland (Volume 1) (Music in American Life)

Arts & Photography

Barrett, Dawson

Music

University of Illinois Press

Product Description 
Punk rock culture in a preeminently average town\nSynonymous with American mediocrity, Peoria was fertile ground for the boredom- and anger-fueled fury of punk rock. Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett explore the do-it-yourself scene built by Peoria punks, performers, and scenesters in the 1980s and 1990s. From fanzines to indie record shops to renting the VFW hall for an all-ages show, Peoria's punk culture reflected the movement elsewhere, but the city's conservatism and industrial decline offered a richer-than-usual target environment for rebellion. Eyewitness accounts take readers into hangouts and long-lost venues, while interviews with the people who were there trace the ever-changing scene and varied fortunes of local legends like Caustic Defiance, Dollface, and Planes Mistaken for Stars. What emerges is a sympathetic portrait of a youth culture in search of entertainment but just as hungry for community—the shared sense of otherness that, even for one night only, could unite outsiders and discontents under the banner of music. 
A raucous look at a small-city underground, Punks in Peoria takes readers off the beaten track to reveal the punk rock life as lived in Anytown, U.S.A. 
 Review 
"A well-reported account of the local rise of and changes in punk music, blending overlapping histories with Barrett and Wright’s cultural commentary. " --Bill Knight, 
The Community Word\n"The enlightening, entertaining text blends scholarship with anecdotes; photographs of punk rockers add to the mix.This title will interest punk devotees, or readers interested in the intersection of music and sociology in America from rock and roll’s emergence to the present." -- 
Library Journal\n“ 
Punks in Peoria is among the best examples I’ve encountered of a book using scholarly methodologies that’s hugely accessible to any interested reader. Indeed, this text should be seen as a gold standard for academic writers who want to reach the public, with the University of Illinois Press as a key partner in this important work. " -- 
Louder than War\n&quot;Written with moshing, stage-diving energy, Punks in Peoria is the warts-and-all music history of a vibrant punk subculture that gave young people hope and life in the decaying American heartland of rural Illinois.&quot; --Foreword Reviews\n" 
Punks in Peoria isn’t just a deep, heartfelt dive into the punk subculture of America’s quintessential small city. It’s an exquisite map of how music flows through social structures and between generations. Essential reading for anyone interested in how art impacts life.”--Jason Heller, author of 
Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-fi Exploded\n" 
Punks in Peoria is free of jargon, centers the stories of the people who actually helped build the scene, and speaks to the experiences of the small cities and towns that have been the lifeblood of punk rock in the United States. It is a model for good research on punk."--Zack Furness, author/editor of 
Punkademics: The Basement Show in the Ivory Tower\n"One of the strongest legacies of the hardcore punk movement in America was its emphasis on the local and the seeding of the country with self-supporting scenes. Every town has a story to tell itself about itself and 
Punks in Peoria explores this in magnificent detail for the hardcore scene in Peoria, Illinois. While more storied scenes from bigger cities may get the most ink, this book shows how the ideals and power of the music penetrated every corner of the land but was only ever sustained by the grit and ingenuity of the people involved on the ground level. We need a book like this for everywhere."—Guy Picciotto of Fugazi 
 About the Author 
Jonathan Wright is a writer, editor, musician, and longtime veteran of the Peoria music scene. He is editor in chief at Peoria Magazines. 
Dawson Barrett is an associate professor of history at Del Mar College. His books include 
The Defiant: Protest Movemen

Punks in Peoria: Making a Scene in the American Heartland (Music in American Life)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wright, Jonathan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Wright, Jonathan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wright, Jonathan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Jesuits

Introduction to Forest Genetics

The Ambassadors: From Ancient Greece to Renaissance Europe, the Men Who Introduced the World to Itself

Heretics: The Creation of Christianity from the Gnostics to the Modern Church

The Ambassadors: From Ancient Greece to Renaissance Europe, the Men Who Introduced the World to Itself

Dictionaries (Resource Books for Teachers)

Gustav Stresemann: Weimar's Greatest Statesman

Gustav Stresemann: Weimar's Greatest Statesman

Punks in Peoria: Making a Scene in the American Heartland (Volume 1) (Music in American Life)

Punks in Peoria: Making a Scene in the American Heartland (Music in American Life)