Killing the Messenger: A Story of Radical Faith, Racism's Backlash, and the Assassination of a Journalist


Thomas Peele - 2012
      A strong soldier for whom?Killing the Messenger is a searing work of narrative nonfiction that explores one of the most blatant attacks on the First Amendment and free speech in American history and the small Black Muslim cult that carried it out. Award-winning investigative reporter Thomas Peele examines the Black Muslim movement from its founding in the early twentieth century by a con man who claimed to be God, to the height of power of the movement’s leading figure, Elijah Muhammad, to how the great-grandson of Texas slaves reinvented himself as a Muslim leader in Oakland and built the violent cult that the young gunman eventually joined. Peele delves into how charlatans exploited poor African Americans with tales from a religion they falsely claimed was Islam and the years of bloodshed that followed, from a human sacrifice in Detroit to police shootings of unarmed Muslims to the horrible backlash of racism known as the “zebra murders,” and finally to the brazen killing of Chauncey Bailey to stop him from publishing a newspaper story.   Peele establishes direct lines between the violent Black Muslim organization run by Yusuf Bey in Oakland and the evangelicalism of the early prophets and messengers of the Nation of Islam.  Exposing the roots of the faith, Peele examines its forerunner, the Moorish Science Temple of America, which in the 1920s and ’30s preached to migrants from the South living in Chicago and Detroit ghettos that blacks were the world’s master race, tricked into slavery by white devils. In spite of the fantastical claims and hatred at its core, the Nation of Islam was able to build a following by appealing to the lack of identity common in slave descendants.  In Oakland, Yusuf Bey built a cult through a business called Your Black Muslim Bakery, beating and raping dozens of women he claimed were his wives and fathering more than forty children.  Yet, Bey remained a prominent fixture in the community, and police looked the other way as his violent soldiers ruled the streets. An enthralling narrative that combines a rich historical account with gritty urban reporting, Killing the Messenger is a mesmerizing story of how swindlers and con men abused the tragedy of racism and created a radical religion of bloodshed and fear that culminated in a journalist’s murder.THOMAS PEELE is a digital investigative reporter for the Bay Area News Group and the Chauncey Bailey Project. He is also a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism.  His many honors include the Investigative Reporters and Editors Tom Renner Award for his reporting on organized crime, and the McGill Medal for Journalistic Courage. He lives in Northern California.

All of Me


Samantha Chase - 2013
    But when sweet Emma crashes into his life - literally - he suddenly finds that solitude is the last thing that he wants.Trust in Me— Jason Montgomery is doing his best to dodge all of the women who are suddenly interested in becoming the next Mrs. Montgomery. When he is paired up with his new assistant, Maggie, the last thing expects is to be the one pursuing. For months he's been the one being pursued and even though the obstacles between them seem too great to overcome, Jason discovers that he's ready to claim the next Mrs. Montgomery.Stay with Me— Mackenzie Montgomery has some issues with control. As the oldest son, he feels that it's his job to keep everything in his life running smoothly. At least until Gina Micelli returns. Gina's back in town to deal with her own family issues but her lifelong crush on Mac is something that she seemingly can't outgrow. Mac's fighting to keep control of his life while Gina's doing her best to learn to take control over her own, but when they're together, control is the last thing on either of their minds!More of Me (Bonus Novella) — Ryder Montgomery has returned to North Carolina to take a break from the corporate world and the first item on his agenda is to look up the woman he walked away from more than ten years ago. Casey is currently going to be playing a big role in the Montgomery family's lives and when paired up with Ryder, it doesn't take long for old sparks to reignite!

Badass The Prequel


Leslie Johnson - 2015
     When you grow up getting everything you want, it's hard to give everything you have. Billionaire playboy Link Duffy dumps his parent-approved girlfriend hours after he walks across the stage. Hell, he's over it. Goodbye. Good riddance. Now he’s free to do anything he wants. A crazy graduation night party ends with the ultimate hookup. It’s just him and the girl of his dreams. Then the unthinkable happens. A huge mistake. A brutal cost. A price even his rich daddy can’t pay. Discover the defining moments that transformed Link Duffy into the ultimate billionaire military badass.

The Kingdom of God: The Biblical Concept & Its Meaning for the Church


John Bright - 1953
    "To grasp what is meant by the Kingdom of God is to come very close to the heart of the Bible's gospel of salvation."--from the Preface

Leadership Lessons of the Navy Seals: Battle-Tested Strategies for Creating Successful Organizations and Inspiring Extraordinary Results


Jeff Cannon - 2002
    Built around inspiring stories from both the military and business worlds, Leadership Lessons of the Navy SEALS outlines a step-by-step approach to boosting morale and increasing productivity in any business organization.

Fleeing ISIS, Finding Jesus: The Real Story of God at Work


Charles Morris - 2017
    What he discovered left him amazed and inspired.While the news coverage of ISIS focuses on the horrors wrought by this group, there is another side to the story that rarely gets told. While terror is on the rise, Muslims are coming to faith in Jesus like never before.Charles Morris regularly reminds the 500,000 listeners of his Haven Today radio show that "it's all about Jesus," and through his new book--Fleeing Isis, Finding Jesus--he offers a unique, compelling account of the miraculous ways in which Jesus is transforming lives in the Middle East today.As Charles narrates his travels around the region, he shares with readers not just the good news of how Jesus is at work, but he also invites us to wonder how our own lives might be transformed as a result.

Sea Without Shore: A Manual of the Sufi Path


Nuh Ha Mim Keller - 2011
    At the core of every heart it reaches it creates a desire to lift the veil between the human and the Divine, not merely to believe and worship and practice, but to see, know, and be with the One who is greater than all. Sufism is a way of worship of the Divine through such direct knowledge, in the Prophetic phrase, “as though you see Him.”Sea Without Shore describes five remarkable men the author met and knew in his own Sufi path, and what he heard and learned from them first hand while living in the Near East over several decades. It is a Sufi manual taken from hearts, because God looks at them first, and they matter to the work of the Sufis more than books or literature. It offers a window upon a living tradition of experiential knowledge of the highest Reality. It is a handbook as valuable for its inside view of a centuries-old Islamic mystical order, as for its solution to the greatest mysteries at the heart of human existence: you, God, and your fate beyond the grave." -Nuh Ha Mim KellerSea Without Shore is a practical manual for those travelling the path of Sufism or Islamic mysticism, which strives, in Junayd's words, "to separate the Beginninglessly Eternal from that which originates in time," in a word, to be with the Divine without any relation.The Book opens with narratives of Sufis met by the author in Syria, Jordan, and Turkey whose lives exemplified the knowledge and practice of the Sufi path.The second part is a complete handbook of the method and rule of the Shadhili order of Susifm, transmitted to the author by his spiritual mentor, Sheikh 'Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghouri - from devotions, dhikr or 'invocation,' and metaphysical doctrine, to how a Sufi lives, marries, and earns a living in the modern world.A third part treats wider theological questions such as other faiths and mysticisms, universalism and the finality of Islam, the promise of God to Jews and Christians, evolution and religion, and divine Wisdom and Justice in the face of human suffering.The book provides an indelible portrait of a vibrant mystical tradition spanning seven and a half centuries of endeavor to know the Divine without any other.