The novel is about human survival and the fight for normalcy during harrowing times.It is the tale of an extraordinary bond between the Mueller and Bernstein families and their struggle to endure decades of chaos. It encompasses the twenties and the fires stoked by hatred. The families fight to overcome the 1929 Wall Street collapse and its disintegrating effects on Europe. The narrative proceeds through to Hitler's appointment as Chancellor and his ascent to greater power as the Nazi leader. The novel displays the fighting spirit and the resilience and resistance of good people facing the horrors of that era through 1945. These families, one Jewish, one German, come together against all the odds during one of the most heinous periods in history. They maintain their familial friendships, touching and being touched by countless other lives while trying to survive Hitler's Nazi Regime.

    Prolific and enigmatic, Schuré navigated many of the seminal movements of his time, developing friendships with prominent figures such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Stéphane Mallarmé, and Richard Wagner. Yet, despite these affinities, Schuré refused to adhere to any one group or dogma. Perhaps due to his singular persona, he has since lived in a netherworld of historical neglect.A Beam of Sunlight in the Deep Forest is a landmark collection of Schuré’s prose works, offering a robust introduction to the forgotten figure. Among the texts included are the never-before-translated Proses mystiques, short pieces invoking disembodied voices, philosophical anguish, and dark woods haunted by a virgin cloaked in a panther pelt. Central to the collection is The Angel and the Sphinx, Schuré’s hallucinatory novel of sexual possession and spiritual longing set against a Germany of fog‐enshrouded mountaintops infused with black magic. Also included is "Aeolian Harps," a never-before-translated reminiscence of a boyhood mystical experience at the Baden spa, as well as an examination of notable correspondence with Nietzsche, Mallarmé, and Wagner. Taken together, these texts offer truths about the artistic process and the spiritual development of humanity in the face of an ever more industrialized, and secularized, world.All texts in A Beam of Sunlight in the Deep Forest are newly translated and presented with an introduction by Sam Kunkel, a scholar of 19th century religious literature. Kunkel has also provided translations for the First To Knock collection Echoes of a Natural World—Tales of the Strange & Estranged.

    What drove this quest for a more peaceful order? In this highly original account, John Shovlin reveals the extent to which Britain and France sought to divert their rivalry away from war and into commercial competition. The two powers worked to end future conflict over trade in Spanish America, the Caribbean, and India, and imagined forms of empire-building that would be more collaborative than competitive. They negotiated to cut cross-channel tariffs, recognizing that free trade could foster national power while muting enmity. This account shows that eighteenth-century capitalism drove not only repeated wars and overseas imperialism but spurred political leaders to strive for global stability.