Showing titles in Customs & Traditions

What if Batman knew your name and wanted to be friends with you? What if you were the one that Tony Stark died to save? What if it was you that Luke Skywalker would stop at nothing to redeem? Hollywood Heroes will awaken you to these questions and help you to see a God who stops at nothing to redeem you. Fictional stories about heroes help us realize that there is evil to fight, souls to be won, and growth to be achieved. It helps us recognize - regardless of religious or cultural beliefs - that sacrificing your life for another’s is a powerful and beautiful display of love.

Australia is different - a vast island continent with distances so great that the capital of Western Australia is closer to Singapore than it is to Sydney. The landscape embraces magnificent tropical rainforests and deserts the size of several European states; temperate areas that sustain a flourishing wine industry, making Australia the world's fourth largest wine exporter; and a 16,000-mile coastline of breathtaking beaches. Plus its unique fauna is testament to the country's down-underness.

Whether as wine, beer, or spirits, alcohol has had a constant and often controversial role in social life. In his innovative book on the attitudes toward and consumption of alcohol, Rod Phillips surveys a 9,000-year cultural and economic history, uncovering the tensions between alcoholic drinks as healthy staples of daily diets and as objects of social, political, and religious anxiety.

Brought to you by Penguin. From the author of the million-copy bestseller, The Little Book of Hygge, comes a beautifully designed guide on how to get more out of work and live like the happiest people in the world: the Danish. We often look to the Danish lifestyle as a utopia: they enjoy long...

Brought to you by Penguin. How do we determine what is beautiful? Whose standards are we trying to meet when we spend our hard-earned money on our haircare, skincare and makeup; where do they come from, and how can we learn to undo them? Upon getting her first tattoo at 40 years old...

The mythologies of the world are collective cultural dreams, and as such should be analyzed first from cultural perspectives. How do myths of the ancient Egyptians or Greeks, for instance, reflect the realities of the Egyptian and Greek cultures? When compared, however, mythologies reveal certain universal themes or motifs that point to larger trans-cultural issues such as the place of the human species in creation or the nature of deity as a concept. World Mythology: A Very Short Introduction is organized around the universal motifs.

 For centuries, clothing has been a wearable status symbol; fashion, a weapon in struggles for social change; and dress codes, a way to maintain political control. Dress codes evolved along with the social and political ideals of the day, but they always reflected struggles for power and status.

All of us are familiar with the fairy tales of youth where the young hero and heroine fall in love, defeat their enemies, marry, and live happily ever after. The fairy tales gathered here are about what happens next, when the Prince goes bald and the Princess has a midlife crisis. They portray middle-aged men and women facing the special issues dealing with crisis, aging and mortality, and the desire for renewal.

Professional storytellers Richard Alan Young and Judy Dockrey Young have scoured the Ozarks to collect these authentic stories. They spin culturally reflective stories that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike, including: "The Meanest Man in Arkansaw", "The Cold-Trailing Coon Dog", "The Blacksnake Lie", "What the Doctor Said", "The 17-Minute Sermon", and more.

Why have societies all across the world feared witchcraft? This book delves deeply into its context, beliefs, and origins in Europe's history. The witch came to prominence - and often a painful death - in early modern Europe, yet her origins are much more geographically diverse and historically deep. In this landmark book, Ronald Hutton traces witchcraft from the ancient world to the early modern state.

Whether you're a lover of mythology, a student of Korean culture, or simply in search of a mesmerizing listen, this collection offers a treasure trove of stories that have withstood the test of time. Delve into this book and let the magic of Korean mythology enchant you.

The Essential Secret Teachings of All Ages distills Manly P. Hall’s monumental masterwork into a powerful, accessible volume—an abridgement that preserves the author’s original language, symbolism, and philosophical intent while removing repetition and excessive exposition.

Don’t just see the sights―get to know the people. If you are looking for a country where everything works like clockwork, now might be a good time to turn back. If you can relax and go with the flow, however, you will experience a land diverse in environment, a rich and dynamic culture, and...

Container spells are used for all sorts of purposes and, despite their antiquity, are an increasingly popular style of spellcasting. Ingredients are generally found in the home and are personal to the creator. Containers may be portable, such as mojo hands or charm bags. They may also be stationary, such as honey jar spells, which involve placing items into a jar, covering them with honey, closing the lid, and then burning a candle on top of the jar.

Don't just see the sights―get to know the people. Nestled in the Caucasus Mountains at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Georgia plays a geopolitical role far greater than its size would suggest. Its strategic location has been both a blessing and a curse, however. Once a battlefield of the...

يتحدث الكتاب عن قصص الأنبياء الذين ورد ذكرهم في القرآن وبعضاً ممن لم يرد ذكرهم في القرآن صراحة ولم يتعرض ابن كثير في كتابه لقصة نبينا محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم إذ بدأ...

In an ode to her Appalachian roots and ancestors, known and unknown, of blood and kin, Leah Middleton, the Redheaded Witch, tells the stories of the grandfathers who had dirt under their fingernails from farming, the grandmothers who bled while sewing their garments, the relatives who decided to take a leap of faith and pave a new path, the ones who passed away too young, and the fellow practitioners and healers who showed her the way.

In The Night House, bestselling author and word-witch Danielle Dulsky peels back the layers of these timeless narratives to reveal their potent role as guides for navigating today's world. Historically kept and passed on by women, fairy tales are distinguishable from other types of folk tales by their supernatural elements, and because of this, they were often dismissed as trivial fantasies for women and children.

Did America fake the moon landing? Was 9/11 an inside job? What is the government hiding at Area 51? From secret societies to aliens and assassinations, decode history's greatest cover-ups and decide for yourself. Humanity has long been obsessed with the unexplained, and we have ascribed many...

‘A towering achievement’ MERVE EMRE NYT Best New Books of 2026 A majestic cultural and environmental history that reveals how forests have made – and resisted – Russia’s many empires. From the Baltic to the Pacific, from the Arctic to the Steppes of Central Asia, Russia’s forests...