Fountain of Fortune

Fountain of Fortune
Author: Richard von Glahn
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2023-07-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 0520917456

The most striking feature of Wutong, the preeminent God of Wealth in late imperial China, was the deity’s diabolical character. Wutong was perceived not as a heroic figure or paragon but rather as an embodiment of greed and lust, a maleficent demon who preyed on the weak and vulnerable. In The Sinister Way, Richard von Glahn examines the emergence and evolution of the Wutong cult within the larger framework of the historical development of Chinese popular or vernacular religion—as opposed to institutional religions such as Buddhism or Daoism. Von Glahn’s study, spanning three millennia, gives due recognition to the morally ambivalent and demonic aspects of divine power within the common Chinese religious culture. Surveying Chinese religion from 1000 BCE to the beginning of the twentieth century, The Sinister Way views the Wutong cult as by no means an aberration. In Von Glahn’s work we see how, from earliest times, the Chinese imagined an enchanted world populated by fiendish fairies and goblins, ancient stones and trees that spring suddenly to life, ghosts of the unshriven dead, and the blood-eating spirits of the mountains and forests. From earliest times, too, we find in Chinese religious culture an abiding tension between two fundamental orientations: on one hand, belief in the power of sacrifice and exorcism to win blessings and avert calamity through direct appeal to a multitude of gods; on the other, faith in an all-encompassing moral equilibrium inhering in the cosmos.

Metaphysical Bible Dictionary

Metaphysical Bible Dictionary
Author: Charles Fillmore
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 722
Release: 2013-07-17
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 0486316092

A key to Charles Fillmore's original form of religious expression, this volume is a core text of the Unity movement and interprets the hidden meanings of the Bible's names, places, and events.

The Fountains of Silence

The Fountains of Silence
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 512
Release: 2019-10-01
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0698174518

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray comes a gripping, extraordinary portrait of love, silence, and secrets under a Spanish dictatorship. Madrid, 1957. Under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists and foreign businessmen flood into Spain under the welcoming promise of sunshine and wine. Among them is eighteen-year-old Daniel Matheson, the son of an oil tycoon, who arrives in Madrid with his parents hoping to connect with the country of his mother's birth through the lens of his camera. Photography--and fate--introduce him to Ana, whose family's interweaving obstacles reveal the lingering grasp of the Spanish Civil War--as well as chilling definitions of fortune and fear. Daniel's photographs leave him with uncomfortable questions amidst shadows of danger. He is backed into a corner of difficult decisions to protect those he loves. Lives and hearts collide, revealing an incredibly dark side to the sunny Spanish city. Master storyteller Ruta Sepetys once again shines light into one of history's darkest corners in this epic, heart-wrenching novel about identity, unforgettable love, repercussions of war, and the hidden violence of silence--inspired by the true postwar struggles of Spain. Includes vintage media reports, oral history commentary, photos, and more. Praise for The Fountains of Silence "Spain under Francisco Franco is as dystopian a setting as Margaret Atwood’s Gilead in Ruta Sepetys’s suspenseful, romantic and timely new work of historical fiction . . . Like [Shakespeare's family romances], 'The Fountains of Silence' speaks truth to power, persuading future rulers to avoid repeating the crimes of the past." --The New York Times Book Review “Full of twists and revelations…an excellent story, and timely, too.” --The Wall Street Journal "A staggering tale of love, loss, and national shame." --Entertainment Weekly * "[Sepetys] tells a moving story made even more powerful by its placement in a lesser-known historical moment. Captivating, deft, and illuminating historical fiction." --Booklist, *STARRED REVIEW* * "This gripping, often haunting historical novel offers a memorable portrait of fascist Spain." --Publishers Weekly, *STARRED REVIEW* * "This richly woven historical fiction . . . will keep young adults as well as adults interested from the first page to the last." --SLC, *STARRED REVIEW* * "Riveting . . . An exemplary work of historical fiction." --The Horn Book, *STARRED REVIEW*

China and the End of Global Silver, 1873–1937

China and the End of Global Silver, 1873–1937
Author: Austin Dean
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2020-11-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1501752421

In the late nineteenth century, as much of the world adopted some variant of the gold standard, China remained the most populous country still using silver. Yet China had no unified national currency; there was not one monetary standard but many. Silver coins circulated alongside chunks of silver and every transaction became an "encounter of wits." China and the End of Global Silver, 1873–1937 focuses on how officials, policy makers, bankers, merchants, academics, and journalists in China and around the world answered a simple question: how should China change its monetary system? Far from a narrow, technical issue, Chinese monetary reform is a dramatic story full of political revolutions, economic depressions, chance, and contingency. As different governments in China attempted to create a unified monetary standard in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the United States, England, and Japan tried to shape the direction of Chinese monetary reform for their own benefit. Austin Dean argues convincingly that the Silver Era in world history ended owing to the interaction of imperial competition in East Asia and the state-building projects of different governments in China. When the Nationalist government of China went off the silver standard in 1935, it marked a key moment not just in Chinese history but in world history.

Offshore Asia

Offshore Asia
Author: Fujita Kayoko
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2013
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9814311774

This exemplary work of international collaboration takes a comparative approach to the histories of Northeast and Southeast Asia, with contributions from scholars from Japan, Korea and the Englishspeaking academic world. The new scholarship represented by this volume demonstrates that the vast and growing commercial interactions between the countries of eastern Asia have long historical roots. The so-called "opening" to Western trade in the mid-nineteenth century, which is typically seen as the beginning of this process, is shown to be rather the reversal of a relatively temporary phase of state consolidation in the long eighteenth century.

Fortune's Fool

Fortune's Fool
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Publisher: MIRA
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2021-11-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0369719867

Welcome back to the Five Hundred Kingdoms, where the greatest fortune is the one you make… The seventh daughter of the Sea King, Ekaterina is more than a pampered princess—she's also the family spy. Which makes her the perfect emissary to discover secrets in the neighboring kingdom…and nothing interests her more than Sasha, the seventh son of the king of Belrus. She suspects he's far from the fool people think he is, but before she can find out what lies beneath his façade, she runs into trouble… Kidnapped and trapped in a Jinn’s castle, Ekaterina knows her chances of being found are slim. Now fortune, a fool and a paper bird are the only things she can count on to escape—along with her own clever mind and intrepid heart.… Previously Published. Read the Tale of Five Hundred Kingdoms Series by Mercedes Lackey: Book 1: The Fairy Godmother Book 2: One Good Knight Book 3: Fortune’s Fool Book 4: The Snow Queen Book 5: The Sleeping Beauty Book 6: Beauty and the Werewolf

Across Fortune's Tracks

Across Fortune's Tracks
Author: Walter E. Campbell
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 442
Release: 1996
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780807822685

William Rand Kenan, Jr. (1872-1965) is best remembered throughout his native North Carolina as a major benefactor of his alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But he was also a gifted scientist and business executive. In this first

Fortune's Fancy

Fortune's Fancy
Author: Anne Avery
Publisher: Anne Holmberg
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2012-03-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

Marcus Aurelius Thorne may bemoan the taming of the West, but at the luxurious new Hotel Colorado, playground of the rich and famous, that just means the scoundrels are a whole lot better dressed. Marcus is stalking his old enemy, Geoffrey Archer, a con man whose good looks and polished manners have gained him access to the Hotel’s exclusive clientele and their pocketbooks. But when Mary Allegra Constanza Donatto, Countess Borelli, shoots a would-be train robber, then sweeps into the Hotel like a queen into her castle, Marcus suddenly finds himself in a different kind of hunt altogether.