Most Popular Books by Mary Beth

From one of our most acclaimed and original colonial historians, a groundbreaking book tracing the critical "long year" of 1774 and the revolutionary change that took place from the Boston Tea Party and the First Continental Congress to the Battles of Lexington and Concord. A WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR In this masterly work of history, the culmination of more than four decades of research and thought, Mary Beth Norton looks at the sixteen months leading up to the clashes at Lexington and Concord in mid-April 1775. This was the critical, and often overlooked, period when colonists traditionally loyal to King George III began their discordant “discussions” that led them to their acceptance of the inevitability of war against the British Empire. Drawing extensively on pamphlets, newspapers, and personal correspondence, Norton reconstructs colonial political discourse as it took place throughout 1774. Late in the year, conservatives mounted a vigorous campaign criticizing the First Continental Congress. But by then it was too late. In early 1775, colonial governors informed officials in London that they were unable to thwart the increasing power of local committees and their allied provincial congresses. Although the Declaration of Independence would not be formally adopted until July 1776, Americans had in effect “declared independence ” even before the outbreak of war in April 1775 by obeying the decrees of the provincial governments they had elected rather than colonial officials appointed by the king. Norton captures the tension and drama of this pivotal year and foundational moment in American history and brings it to life as no other historian has done before.

The triumphant New York Times Bestseller *The Tonight Show Summer Reads Pick* Named one of the Best Books of the Year by People, Vogue, Parade, NPR, and Elle "A gem of a book." —Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo How much can a family forgive? Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, rookie NYPD cops, are neighbors in the suburbs. What happens behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne, sets the stage for the explosive events to come. In Mary Beth Keane''s extraordinary novel, a lifelong friendship and love blossoms between Kate Gleeson and Peter Stanhope, born six months apart. One shocking night their loyalties are divided, and their bond will be tested again and again over the next thirty years. Heartbreaking and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes is a gorgeous and generous portrait of the daily intimacies of marriage and the power of forgiveness.

I''ve told my kids for years that God doesn''t make mistakes," writes Mary Beth Chapman, wife of Grammy award winning recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman. "Would I believe it now, when my whole world as I knew it came to an end?" Covering her courtship and marriage to Steven Curtis Chapman, struggles for emotional balance, and living with grief, Mary Beth''s story is our story--wondering where God is when the worst happens. In Choosing to SEE, she shows how she wrestles with God even as she has allowed him to write her story--both during times of happiness and those of tragedy. Readers will hear firsthand about the loss of her daughter, the struggle to heal, and the unexpected path God has placed her on. Even as difficult as life can be, Mary Beth Chapman Chooses to SEE. Includes a 16-page full color photo insert.

Mary Beth Bonacci speaks to nearly 100,000 people every year. She speaks to Catholics across the country and around the world - about friendship, about relationships, about marriage, about God''s plan for sexuality, and about finding real, honest love. And people speak back to her. They ask her questions - about sex, about dating, about healing after a shattered relationship, about marriage, about their struggles to live love. Their questions are real, specific and often very poignant. Now, for the first time, Mary Beth has published those questions - and her answers - in a comprehensive, readable guide which addresses the details of the very real struggle that people face in trying to live real love in a world gone mad. Through these questions and her answers, Mary Beth offers a comprehensive catechesis of the Church''s teaching in the areas of marriage and human sexuality. She tackles the toughest issues - premarital sex, contraception, divorce, homosexuality, pornography and others. She gives practical advice on living the Church''s teachings. She offers compassionate support for those who have stumbled. And throughout it all, she demonstrates that a living respect for God''s gift of sexuality is the way - the only way - to find real, honest love.

"Macolm Gephardt, handsome and gregarious longtime bartender at the Half Moon, has always dreamed of owning a bar. When his boss finally retires, Malcolm stretches to buy the place. He sees unquantifiable magic and potential in the Half Moon and hopes to transform it into a bigger success, but quickly realizes that making margins won''t be easy. His smart and confident wife, Jess, has devoted herself to her law career. After years of trying to have a baby, she is struggling to accept the idea that motherhood may not be in the cards for her. Like Malcolm, she feels her youth beginning to slip away and wonders how to reshape her future"--

From a junkie addicted to methamphetamines to a federal judge, Mary Beth O’Connor’s memoir shares her inspiring journey from rock bottom to resilience as she forged a personal path to recovery from trauma and addiction. Silver Award, 2023 Nonfiction Book Awards Searing, unsettling, and ultimately triumphant, Judge O''Connor''s debut memoir takes readers on a wild ride through the rock-bottom underbelly of intravenous drug addiction to the hallowed halls of justice where she rose to the pinnacle of success as a federal judge. With wit and unabashed honesty, O’Connor shares her remarkable three-phase journey: the abuse and trauma that drove her to teenage drug use, the chaos that ensued from her addiction; and how she developed a personalized secular recovery plan that led to twenty-nine years of sobriety. Her story proves any addict can recover and anyone can build a productive and happy life, no matter how low the bottom or how deep the pain. Within a week of being born, O’Connor was dropped off at a convent. When she was brought into her home, her mother focused on her own needs and desires, ignoring her young child. When she was nine, her stepfather kicked her in the stomach for spilling milk, beat her when she didn’t clean a plate to his satisfaction, and molested her when she was twelve. A few months later, with her first sip of Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill wine, her life changed. She felt euphoric and relaxed. So she got drunk as often as possible, adding pot, then pills, then acid. At sixteen, she found her drug of choice--methamphetamine. With her first snort, she experienced true joy for the first time. When this high was no longer sufficient, she turned to the needle and shot up. During the next sixteen years, she descended into a severe meth addiction, working her way down the corporate ladder, destroying relationships, and shattering her physical and emotional well-being. At thirty-two, she entered rehab, where she was ordered to submit to the 12-steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. As an atheist, turning her will and her life over to a higher power was not an option, and she refused to agree she was powerless. Told to comply or fail, she bravely created a new path that combined ideas from multiple programs and even incorporated some AA concepts. Clean and sober now for more nearly three decades, she is proof that anyone can find their sober self, their best self, no matter how far they have fallen. Along with her inspiring story, she offers a comprehensive checklist of questions for readers to ask themselves as they take the brave steps toward recovery, offering a powerful blueprint for personal change.

In Separated by Their Sex, Mary Beth Norton offers a bold genealogy that shows how gender came to determine the right of access to the Anglo-American public sphere by the middle of the eighteenth century. Earlier, high-status men and women alike had been recognized as appropriate political actors, as exemplified during and after Bacon''s Rebellion by the actions of—and reactions to—Lady Frances Berkeley, wife of Virginia''s governor. By contrast, when the first ordinary English women to claim a political voice directed group petitions to Parliament during the Civil War of the 1640s, men relentlessly criticized and parodied their efforts. Even so, as late as 1690 Anglo-American women''s political interests and opinions were publicly acknowledged. Norton traces the profound shift in attitudes toward women’s participation in public affairs to the age’s cultural arbiters, including John Dunton, editor of the Athenian Mercury, a popular 1690s periodical that promoted women’s links to husband, family, and household. Fittingly, Dunton was the first author known to apply the word "private" to women and their domestic lives. Subsequently, the immensely influential authors Richard Steele and Joseph Addison (in the Tatler and the Spectator) advanced the notion that women’s participation in politics—even in political dialogues—was absurd. They and many imitators on both sides of the Atlantic argued that women should confine themselves to home and family, a position that American women themselves had adopted by the 1760s. Colonial women incorporated the novel ideas into their self-conceptions; during such "private" activities as sitting around a table drinking tea, they worked to define their own lives. On the cusp of the American Revolution, Norton concludes, a newly gendered public-private division was firmly in place.

SOON TO BE A MAJOR BBC AMERICA SERIES, STARRING ELISABETH MOSS Typhoid Mary: a selfish monster, or a hounded innocent? They called her Typhoid Mary. They believed she was sick, that she was passing typhoid fever from her hands to the food that she served. They said she should have known. But Mary wasn''t sick. She hadn''t done anything wrong. She wasn''t arrested right away. There were warnings. Requests. And when she was finally taken, she did not go quietly. Branded a murderer and condemned by press and public alike, Mary continued to fight for her freedom, no matter the cost... Fever casts a brilliant light over the life of a figure once described as ''the most dangerous woman in America'', and Mary Beth Keane''s fictional account is as fiercely compelling as Typhoid Mary herself.

Award-winning historian Mary Beth Norton reexamines the Salem witch trials in this startlingly original, meticulously researched, and utterly riveting study. In 1692 the people of Massachusetts were living in fear, and not solely of satanic afflictions. Horrifyingly violent Indian attacks had all but emptied the northern frontier of settlers, and many traumatized refugees—including the main accusers of witches—had fled to communities like Salem. Meanwhile the colony’s leaders, defensive about their own failure to protect the frontier, pondered how God’s people could be suffering at the hands of savages. Struck by the similarities between what the refugees had witnessed and what the witchcraft “victims” described, many were quick to see a vast conspiracy of the Devil (in league with the French and the Indians) threatening New England on all sides. By providing this essential context to the famous events, and by casting her net well beyond the borders of Salem itself, Norton sheds new light on one of the most perplexing and fascinating periods in our history.

This book represents social history on a grand scale, imaginatively conceived and massively researched. Norton brilliantly portrays a dramatic transformation of women''s private lives in the wake of the Revolution. First published in 1980 and recently out of print, Liberty''s Daughters is widely considered a landmark book on the history of American women and on the Revolution itself.

A book of encouraging words, The Courage Companion is a guiding hand to help readers believe in and reach for a better tomorrow

Acclaimed photographer Mary Beth Meehan and Silicon Valley culture expert Fred Turner join forces to give us an unseen view of the heart of the tech world. It’s hard to imagine a place more central to American mythology today than Silicon Valley. To outsiders, the region glitters with the promise of extraordinary wealth and innovation. But behind this image lies another Silicon Valley, one segregated by race, class, and nationality in complex and contradictory ways. Its beautiful landscape lies atop underground streams of pollutants left behind by decades of technological innovation, and while its billionaires live in compounds, surrounded by redwood trees and security fences, its service workers live in their cars. With arresting photography and intimate stories, Seeing Silicon Valley makes this hidden world visible. Instead of young entrepreneurs striving for efficiency in minimalist corporate campuses, we see portraits of struggle—families displaced by an impossible real estate market, workers striving for a living wage, and communities harmed by environmental degradation. If the fate of Silicon Valley is the fate of America—as so many of its boosters claim—then this book gives us an unvarnished look into the future.

Much like A Midwife''s Tale and The Unredeemed Captive, this novel is about power relationships in early American society, religion, and politics--with insights into the initial development and operation of government, the maintenance of social order, and the experiences of individual men and women.

This is the true story of a young girl who grew up in unfair circumstances as a child throughout her early adulthood. She had to go through billions of heartbreaks to find out who she really was and where she belonged in life. She''s dealt with more than most would ever have to deal with in a life time. She learned to love and to live again and again. Her story is filled with hope and heartache, with dreams and desires, and with love and loss.

"Revised to reflect today''s healthier diet, this new edition explains how to : plan ahead, spend less time at the supermarket, cut down on prep time, group similar kitchen tasks together to get them all done at once, make kitchen clean-up more manageable, and use the freezer, the computer, and your head to create a month full of delicious meals."--Back cover.

A fascinating collection of questions and answers—about courtship, marriage, love, and sex—from a seventeenth-century periodical The Athenian Mercury—a one-page, two-sided periodical published in 1690s London—included the world’s first personal advice column. Acclaimed historian and Pulitzer Prize–finalist Mary Beth Norton’s “I Humbly Beg Your Speedy Answer” is a remarkable collection of questions and answers drawn from this groundbreaking publication. In these exchanges, anonymous readers look for help with their most intimate romantic problems—about courting, picking a spouse, getting married, securing or avoiding parental consent, engaging in premarital sex and extramarital affairs, and much more. Spouses ask how to handle contentious marriages and tense relationships with in-laws. Some correspondents seek ways to ease a conscience troubled by romantic and sexual misbehavior. The lonely wonder how to meet a potential partner—or how to spark a warmer relationship with someone they already have an eye on. And both men and women inquire about how to extract themselves from relationships turned sour. Many of these concerns will be familiar to readers of today’s advice columns. But others are delightfully strange and surprising, reflecting forgotten social and romantic customs and using charmingly unfamiliar language in which, for example, “kissing is a luscious diet,” a marriage might provide “much love and moderate conveniency,” and an “amorous disposition” can lead to trouble. Delightful and entertaining, “I Humbly Beg Your Speedy Answer” provides a unique, intriguing, and revealing picture of what has—and hasn’t—changed over the past three centuries when it comes to love, sex, and relationships.

Recipes and food preparation tips that allow home cooks to spend less time in the kitchen while enjoying homemade meals every night. Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg are back with a brand new book that features their Once-A-Month Cooking TM technique guaranteed to save time and money. Filled with all-new cycles—two one-month cycles, two two-week cycles, and three specialty cycles: gourmet, summer, and gluten-free—their trademark method remains the same: You shop for an entire cycle all at once, buying in bulk and saving money. You do all the food prep for the cycle the next day, freezing and refrigerating what needs to be kept cold, stocking the pantry when appropriate. Then, as the family assembles for mealtime, you do some quick finishing and it’s ready—fast and delicious! Once-a-Month CookingTM Family Favorites has something for every kind of eater and includes such soon-to-be favorites as: -Adobe Chicken -Baked Mediterranean Cod -Chicken Wild Rice Soup -County-Style Ribs -Texas-Style Lasagna With the perfect plan in hand and bulk shopping at economically-friendly prices, the Once-A-Month Cooking TM technique is a surefire way to get a delicious dinner on the table fast so that you can spend more time with your family!

An in-depth look at the life, faith, and achievements of one of America’s most fascinating women. “One day I’ll be in that house,” said ten-year-old Condoleezza Rice as she gazed across the White House’s expansive front lawn. Of course, Condi made good on that promise. With poise and gracefulness—combined with an iron will and determination—rarely seen in Washington, Rice has become one of the most iconic and influential figures on the world stage. This is her story. Condi provides an in-depth study of the life, faith, and achievements of one of America’s most fascinating women. From her humble beginnings in segregated Alabama to her academic career, from her first days in Washington to her appointment as Secretary of State and beyond, Condi investigates Rice’s rise to political prominence. Drawing from in-depth research, Mary Beth Brown explores how Condi’s parents, mentors, faith, and defining moments have helped her grow into a position of power and global influence. Here is a story of inspiration, of principle, and of the limitless opportunities for those who pursue their dreams with unfailing hope and dogged determination.

Here''s everything needed to make a full-color, 161/2-inch-tall holiday fir, complete with 16 ornaments and a star. Only glue is required. Pieces pop out and fold lines are pre-scored. Ages 7 and up.

Building upon the foundational wisdom of the best-selling Living Life as a Thank You Nina Lesowitz and Mary Beth Sammons have created a journal filled with life-changing practices and encouraging advice to take readers through a process of self-transformation and personal growth. The friendly format not only provides readers with tried and true thank you techniques and practices, but also allows them to take part in creating their own. The act and power of gratitude has a direct effect on our lives on a physical, spiritual, mental and emotional level. Studies have shown that living life with appreciation leads to a greater sense of well-being and happiness. The secret to a happy and fulfilled life may rely on focusing on all the good, rather than what is lacking or not going well at the moment. Living Life as a Thank You Journal is a toolkit for this transformation.

Shauna is staying with Grandma and Grandpa while her parents are on a holiday, but she misses them. She is distracted by Grandpa and Grandma’s fascinating facts and discussion about the wonders of the night sky above them. She also prays her parents will contact her tonight.

ARE YOU READY? WHAT COULD YOU BE IF YOU JUST ALLOW YOURSELF TO LET GO, TRUST, AND BE IT? Two wild, wacky, whimsical women did just that! It began as a simple, short, freeform writing experience of whatever came when pen hit paper for only 30 minutes at a time. No thought to how each work would evolve, only pursuing the target of releasing what lay within without limitations. They let go of structure, form, taught learnings, “how-it-shoulds,” and all the self and outward censoring blocks that previously held these works from expanding out. The result: this startling book, surprisingly simple, but powerful! It can be taken superficially, but has multiple layers of depth, if probed. May you non-judgmentally enter the journey wherever you wish, whenever you wish, and move in whatever direction you choose, and playfully have fun. Discover the magic that there is more here than meets the eye. Let your own Spirit, creativity, and child-light delight lead you to what inspires, provokes, encourages, and nourishes you. The authors found this to be the beginning for allowing “the State of Just Being” to be applied to every area of their lives. May it spark your own magical adventure to coming into your own being!

Who am I? Where do I come from? Why am I the way I am? In Ancestry Quest: How Stories of the Past Heal the Future, Mary Beth Sammons follows dozens of individuals as they delve deep into their family mysteries—attempting to discover the truth of their identities—all through the results of a simple DNA test and online ancestry searches. Each journey is dramatically different: some joyously unite with long-lost siblings while others are forced to reckon with a fractured and devastating past. These stories, heart-wrenching and warming, intimate and inspiring, showcase and distill the lessons learned in the search for what makes us who we really are—and promise to redefine family in ways never before possible.

Transforming Ourselves, Transforming the World is an insightful collection that articulates how Jesuit colleges and universities create an educational community energized to transform the lives of its students, faculty, and administrators and to equip them to transform a broken world. The essays are rooted in Pedro Arrupe’s ideal of forming men and women for others and inspired by Peter-Hans Kolvenbach’s October 2000 address at Santa Clara in which he identified three areas where the promotion of justice may be manifested in our institutions: formation and learning, research and teaching, and our way of proceeding. Using the three areas laid out in Fr. Kolvenbach’s address as its organizing structure, this stimulating volume addresses the following challenges: How do we promote student life experiences and service? How does interdisciplinary collaborative research promote teaching and reflection? How do our institutions exemplify justice in their daily practices? Introductory pieces by internationally acclaimed authors such as Rev. Dean Brackley, S.J.; David J. O’Brien; Lisa Sowle Cahill; and Rev. Stephen A. Privett, S.J., pave the way for a range of smart and highly creative essays that illustrate and honor the scholarship, teaching, and service that have developed out of a commitment to the ideals of Jesuit higher education. The topics covered span disciplines and fields from the arts to engineering, from nursing to political science and law. The essays offer numerous examples of engaged pedagogy, which as Rev. Brackley points out fits squarely with Jesuit pedagogy: insertion programs, community-based learning, study abroad, internships, clinical placements, and other forms of interacting with the poor and with cultures other than our own. This book not only illustrates the dynamic growth of Jesuit education but critically identifies key challenges for educators, such as: How can we better address issues of race in our teaching and learning? Are we educating in nonviolence? How can we make the college or university “greener”? How can we evoke a desire for the faith that does justice? Transforming Ourselves, Transforming the World is an indispensable volume that has the potential to act as an academic facilitator for the promotion of justice within not only Jesuit schools but all schools of higher education.

It''s time to cook up some creativity! You''re invited to a fanciful feast of color, textures and luscious layers that will tempt even the most discriminating painter''s palette. Whether you love experimenting with your own flavors, or following a recipe to a ''T,'' Flavor of Mixed Media will be your guide to handcrafting some of your most delectable works of art yet! Artist Mary Beth Shaw will share her mixed media painting techniques for working with color, incorporating many different textures, creating multiple layers, developing a distinct flavor and making all sorts of clever combinations. In addition to home-style favorite such as collage tips and tricks, and inspiring works by "dinner guest" artists, other things you''ll sample from this menu include: • How to experiment with color mixing and develop your own tasty triads • Achieving texture with unusual tools such as a cheese grater or stencils or "icing" • Clever new ways to use what''s already in your art-making pantry • Creating depth to your work with cutout shapes or Plexiglas • Doodling bookmaking, collagraph printing, actual food recipes and more! Clear off the counter and get cooking! Let Flavor for Mixed Media tempt your "palette" today.

"What would you do if you know you could not fail?" These words, attributed to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, have inspired tens of millions to face their fears and dare to follow their hearts. This can-do compendium is a veritable tool kit for transforming readers from reticent to role model. From the authors of Living Life as a Thank You, this volume present true stories of ordinary people with extraordinary fortitude. Authors Mary Beth Sammons and Nina Lesowitz have gone to the front lines of adversity and fear to surface the brave hearts who took action before they were forced to, confronting and overcoming their fears in inspirational ways. From world-class athletes, to spiritual teachers, to cancer patients, to ordinary people who took extraordinary action to transform their lives, these courage warriors teach readers to turn apprehension into action. Enriched with motivational quotes and power practices, this courage guidebook advises how to live life with guts and gusto. Readers learn to face and transform their fear, apply the art of tenacity when times are tough, embrace the lessons and gifts of a crisis that lead to personal growth, and simple, effective, and proven methods for confidence and courage.

The generation of Catholics who have come of age since Vatican II is different in many respects from Catholics of their parents'' generation. These younger Catholics have grown up in a world - and a Church - which has changed tremendously in a very short period of time. They were raised in a society which encouraged them to question what their parents accepted on faith. They were formed by a system of religious education which was in many ways struggling to keep up with rapid social change. John Paul II is a pope for these times. He recognizes that today''s young people have many questions. He sees emerging in them a deep and sincere faith struggling for definition and for support. In response, he has designated a special, bi-annual event - World Youth Day, where he comes to youth to bring the truth and the love of the Roman Catholic Church. In this book, Mary Beth Bonacci joins with John Paul II in bringing young Catholics a clearer understanding of the Church and their role in it. She takes his quotes from the five World Youth Day events and "unpacks" them, explaining the truths of the faith clearly and concisely. This book is perfect for the Catholics of "Generation X" - and for Catholic "youth" of any age who wish to understand and to deepen their faith. "Bonacci conveys the pope''s message with excitement and verve. I wish I had this book as a teenager. Mary Beth speaks to teens with a rare openess and understanding." -Karl Keating, Author, Catholicism & Fundamentalism "A long overdue, down to earth but precise presentation of the truths of our Catholic Faith, not only for young people, but even for older folk who may have never been presented with the solid content of the Church''s faith." - Rev. Msgr. Michael Wrenn, Author, Catechisms and Controversies

A scholarly and spiritual exploration into the history, traditions, images, and miracles of the Black Madonnas in Italy * Over thirty color images of Black Madonnas in Italy * Analysis using leading-edge feminist theories * Personal stories from on-site experiences * Survey of American women travelers * Detailed references and bibliography for further study "The immense power of Black Madonnas, rooted in the primordial past, and evident in the present, is an active Source available to all. By honoring her dark image, we honor the power of darkness. By acknowledging her full power we can receive it for ourselves and move forward, not only in the holiness of her presence but in the wholeness of our being." (excerpt from book)

Barbara Jordan was the first African American to serve in the Texas Senate since Reconstruction, the first black woman elected to Congress from the South, and the first to deliver the keynote address at a national party convention. Yet Jordan herself remained a mystery, a woman so private that even her close friends did not know the name of the illness that debilitated her for two decades until it struck her down at the age of fifty-nine. In Barbara Jordan, Mary Beth Rogers deftly explores the forces that shaped the moral character and quiet dignity of this extraordinary woman. She reveals the seeds of Jordan''s trademark stoicism while recapturing the essence of a black woman entering politics just as the civil rights movement exploded across the nation. Celebrating Jordan''s elegance, passion, and patriotism, this illuminating portrayal gives new depth to our understanding of one of the most influential women of our time-a woman whose powerful convictions and flair for oratorical drama changed the political landscape of America''s twentieth century.

With warmth and insight, Brown delves into the spiritual journey of America''s 40th president and offers profound stories of God''s providence in Ronald Reagan''s life--from first making it as an actor to winning the presidency, from surviving an assassination attempt to eventually changing the face of world politics.

When the Sisters of Mercy lost their foundress Sister Catherine McAuley in 1841, stories of Mother Catherine passed from one generation of sisters to the next. McAuley’s Rule and Constitutions along with her spiritual writings and correspondence communicated the Mercys’ founding charism. Each generation of Sisters of Mercy who succeeded her took these words and her spirit with them as they established new communities or foundations across the United States and around the world. In Women of Faith, Mary Beth Fraser Connolly traces the paths of the women who dedicated their lives to the Sisters of Mercy Chicago Regional Community, the first Congregation of Catholic Sisters in Chicago. More than the story of the institutions that defined the territory and ministries of the women of this Midwestern region, Women of Faith presents a history of the women who made this regional community, whether as foundresses of individual communities in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries or as the teachers, nurses, and pastoral ministers who cared for and educated generations of Midwestern American Catholics. Though they had no immediate connection with McAuley, these women inherited her spirit and vision for religious life. Focusing on how the Chicago Mercys formed a community, lived their spiritual lives, and served within the institutional Catholic Church, this three-part perspective addresses community, spirituality, and ministry, providing a means by which we can trace the evolution of these women of faith as the world around them changed. The first part of this study focuses on the origins of the Sisters of Mercy in the Midwest from the founding of the Chicago South Side community in 1846 through the amalgamation and creation of the Chicago Province in 1929. The second part examines how the Mercys came together as one province through the changes of Vatican II from 1929 to the 1980s. Part III examines life after the dramatic changes of Vatican II in the 1990s and 2000s. Presenting rich examples of how faith cannot be separated from identity, Women of Faith provides an important new contribution to the scholarship that is shaping our collective understanding of women religious.

Crochet lovers will embrace Hooked for Life: Adventures of a Crochet Zealot, a book that lovingly and humorously explores the craft of crochet and is written by a true crochet zealot. Mary Beth Temple, a well-known author in the crafting world and a self-admitted crochet junkie, gives an insider''s look at what makes real crocheters tick and laugh with a number of humorous essays. Excerpt from the book: "Just the other day I uttered a phrase that stopped traffic in my household, a phrase I never in a million years thought I would utter. I was sorting through yet another box of yarn that appeared as if by magic, trying to lower the square footage of wool that is all over my living room, and in frustration I yelled out "I have too much yarn!" You could hear crickets chirping in the aftermath--my daughter looked at me as if I had three heads, even the dog cocked her head and started to slink slowly away from the crazy woman. Did I really say I had too much yarn? Was I sick with fever?"

The Grateful Life is a guide to discovering -- and achieving -- one’s dreams by harnessing the power of a positive attitude. In years of research and practice, authors Nina Lesowitz and Mary Beth Sammons have discovered that grateful living can transform lives. Grateful people are happier people. They are healthier and less stressed. They report much higher levels of satisfaction with their relationships and are less likely to credit luck with the good fortune of others. This book contains inspiring stories about those who exercise gratitude as a spiritual practice to rise out of adversity to new life. It also shows how grateful living is central to the good life and to attracting abundance. Filled with motivational quotes, resources, and exercises, The Grateful Life helps readers on their journey to creating the life they’ve always wanted. Taking the concept of Living Life as a Thank You to the next level, The Grateful Life includes absorbing and transformative stories from real people who unveil the secret to achieving successes both big and small.

Includes practices and advice for helping readers cultivate gratitude with the aim of self-transformation and personal growth. Original. 10,000 first printing.