Through It All, IN THE HOLLOW OF HIS HAND the real-life story of dangers, great and small, that author Samuel M. Smith faced but through which he was protected by the hand of God. A Bible college student on summer break in 1955, he was attacked by his father in the middle of the night. His mother was already killed and everyone including Samuel, believed his father had done it because he was being unfaithful. Why did he attack Samuel? This was the first of five life-threatening personal attacks he suffered. Then, stabbed, 1969, by someone he helped and still has the scar. He was also protected from a teenage gang, with tire irons 1969 for getting a friend to go to church, and gunpoint robberies, 1968, while taxicab driving in Chicago and gunpoint robbery, 1984, while taxicab driving in Honolulu. He has done short-term missionary work in the Philippines; T'bilisi, Republic of Georgia, and Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia. He has written over 100 Total Gospel tract titles some translated in up to eleven languages. Married to Virginia Quilates, from the Philippines, they have four sons, three of whom are preteen. Through it all, he has been in the hollow of Gods hand! It has been a truly exciting adventure learning to lean on Jesus and trust Him completely. His mission, to publish the gospel, as Jesus Christ and His original Apostles would preach and teach today.

The award-winning novel that’s “a foreboding, compelling story of humanity’s uneasy relationship with nature and with each other . . . a gripping read” (St.Louis Post-Dispatch). It has been twenty years since Lucie Bowen left the islands—when the May Day Quake shattered thousands of lives; when Lucie’s father disappeared in an explosion at the Marrow Island oil refinery, a tragedy that destroyed the island’s ecosystem; and when Lucie and her best friend, Katie, were just Puget Sound children hoping to survive. Now, Katie writes with strange and miraculous news. Marrow Island is no longer uninhabitable and no longer abandoned. She is part of a community that has managed to conjure life again from Marrow’s soil. Lucie returns. Her journalist instincts tell her there’s more to this mysterious “Colony” and their charismatic leader—a former nun with an all-consuming plan—than its members want her to know. As she uncovers their secrets, will Lucie endanger more than their mission? And what price will she pay for the truth? “Eerie and intriguing . . . captivates in the first few pages and delivers a gripping, compelling story throughout.”—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “Smith’s excellent command of language gives life to arresting characters and their creepy surroundings, keeping the suspense in this dark environmental thriller running high.”—Elle “This alluring novel explores the darkness of love, how it can cajole you into danger or tip your actions toward cruelty. Clean but intoxicating writing . . . Ambitious.”—The New York Times Book Review “Transporting.”—Vanity Fair “Beautifully wrought.”—O, The Oprah Magazine “Engrossing and atmospheric, a thorny meditation on environmental responsibility with a big haunted heart.”—Miami Herald

Smith argues that the attempt to redefine and restore French nobility brought forth competing visions of patriotism with correlating models of the social and political order. Although the terms of public debate have changed, the same basic challenge continues to animate contemporary politics.

Mildred Smith wrote this devotional guide. In 1976, she received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. A few months later, the Holy Spirit began dictating letters for her to write. As thoughts would form in her mind, with paper and pen, she would write those words down, word by word as they came to her. She did not form these thoughts by herself; they were topics about which she had little or no information. They were scripturally based, although she did not know it at the time. Some of the ideas seemed strange to her. They certainly were not her ideas. In 1776, the United States became a nation. Two hundred years later, in 1976 after she received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, Mildred started writing. She wrote these specific letters in 1999. Today, reading them is like hearing the daily news as viewed by God. Prophetic? Yes. A miracle? Indeed! The love of Jesus is evident in these letters. As people read them, they are aware of the depth of love that Jesus has for all mankind! Jesus does not condemn anyone! He calls and draws them into a daily walk with Him. One of the most significant things about these letters was the loving way in which they were written. If the letter dealt with sin, it was presented in a manner that gave anyone reading the letter an insight regarding why sin offends God. The letter leads the reader to seek change away from that sin, drawing that person closer to Jesus. Whether a person reads only one letter a day or reads the book in its entirety all at once, his or her life will be changed. It is a labor of love sent to the people of Earth. Mildred wrote daily, except Sundays or during the times when earthly matters took precedence in Mildred’s life. She was never in a trance. She could answer anyone who spoke to her and then she could continue with the letter. She could write at any time that she chose. The Holy Spirit was there whenever she asked Him to talk to her. These letters are just a small sample of the way that the Holy Spirit communicated with her. The letters are on many diverse subjects; all are related to God and the way that man relates to God. They bring wisdom and understanding about God to a world that has shut God out of daily life. Early when Mildred began writing, Sharon Smith, Ph.D., her oldest child and only daughter, was assigned to be the Script Bearer. Sharon’s assignment has now started. She and her husband, Joel M. Kestenbaum, Ph.D. are the compilers and editors. They, as did many others including Mildred’s husband, Burl C. Smith, their three sons, Steve, Jeff and Phil, their spouses and their children, watched as Mildred would sit and write without any preparation or hesitation. The words were always amazing, often prophetic and always from God. The letters are like a spiritual bath of goodness. They clean our souls as we read the thoughts that have been sent to purify us. God would speak face to face with people. He is love, see Him as such!

Clinton County was originally inhabited by the Shawnee, Lenape, and Iroquois tribes. Lumber was abundant, and it drew in settlers searching for a home and work. A diversity of industry developed as people settled in the area, from brickwork in Farrandsville and Mill Hall to the heyday of the Piper Cub and Piper Aviation. During 1889, 1918, 1936, and 1972, floods tore through the county before a levee system was finally constructed in Lock Haven in the 1990s. Education has been an important mainstay in the area, and one-room schoolhouses once dotted the landscape. The Central State Normal School, now Lock Haven University, was a regional draw for those seeking a career in teaching. Through historic photographs, Clinton County illustrates the changes that have occurred in this area over the years and traces the history of the people who created this heartland Pennsylvania community.

Is civic identity in the United States really defined by liberal, democratic political principles? Or is U.S. citizenship the product of multiple traditions--not only liberalism and republicanism but also white supremacy, Anglo-Saxon supremacy, Protestant supremacy, and male supremacy? In this powerful and disturbing book, Rogers Smith traces political struggles over U.S. citizenship laws from the colonial period through the Progressive era and shows that throughout this time, most adults were legally denied access to full citizenship, including political rights, solely because of their race, ethnicity, or gender. Basic conflicts over these denials have driven political development and civic membership in the U.S., Smith argues. These conflicts are what truly define U.S. civic identity up to this day. Others have claimed that nativist, racist, and sexist traditions have been marginal or that they are purely products of capitalist institutions. In contrast, Smith's pathbreaking account explains why these traditions have been central to American political and economic life. He shows that in the politics of nation building, principles of democracy and liberty have often failed to foster a sense of shared "peoplehood" and have instead led many Americans to claim that they are a "chosen people," a "master race" or superior culture, with distinctive gender roles. Smith concludes that today the United States is in a period of reaction against the egalitarian civic reforms of the last generation, with nativist, racist, and sexist beliefs regaining influence. He suggests ways that proponents of liberal democracy should alter their view of U.S. citizenship in order to combat these developments more effectively.

How can we build thriving political communities? In this provocative account of how societies are bound together, Rogers Smith examines the importance of 'stories of peoplehood', narratives that promise economic or political power and define political allegiances in religious, cultural, racial, ethnic and related terms. Smith argues that no nations are purely civic: all are bound in part by stories that seek to define elements intrinsic to their members' identities and worth. These types of stories can support valuable forms of political life but they also pose dangers that must be understood if they are to be confronted. In contrast to much contemporary writing, Stories of Peoplehood argues for community-building via robust contestation among sharply differing views. This original argument combines accessible theory with colourful examples of myths and stories from around the world and over 2,500 years of human history.

Religion, Culture, and Sacred Spaces is a comparative exploration into the nature of the human relationship to physical space advancing the startling thesis that the human capacity for narrative and identity imbues landscapes with meaning and sacredness.

A Sensory History Manifesto is a brief and timely meditation on the state of the field. It invites historians who are unfamiliar with sensory history to adopt some of its insights and practices, and it urges current practitioners to think in new ways about writing histories of the senses. Starting from the premise that the sensorium is a historical formation, Mark M. Smith traces the origins of historical work on the senses long before the emergence of the field now called “sensory history,” interrogating, exploring, and in some cases recovering pioneering work on the topic. Smith argues that we are at an important moment in the writing of the history of the senses, and he explains the potential that this field holds for the study of history generally. In addition to highlighting the strengths of current work in sensory history, Smith also identifies some of its shortcomings. If sensory history provides historians of all persuasions, times, and places a useful and incisive way to write about the past, it also challenges current practitioners to think more carefully about the historicity of the senses and the desirability—even the urgency—of engaged and sustained debate among themselves. In this way, A Sensory History Manifesto invites scholars to think about how their field needs to evolve if the real interpretive dividends of sensory history are to be realized. Concise and convincing, A Sensory History Manifesto is a must-read for historians of all specializations.