Development Sociology

After her brother died unexpectedly and her mother moved into a dementia-care facility, spiritual travel writer and Episcopal deacon Lori Erickson felt called to a new quest: to face death head-on, with the eye of a tourist and the heart of a pastor. Blending memoir, spirituality, and travel, Near the Exit examines how cultures confront and have confronted death by investigating Egypt's Valley of the Kings, Mayan temples, Colorado cremation pyres, Day of the Dead celebrations, Maori settlements, and tourist-destination graveyards.

In We Live for the We, first-time mother Dani McClain sets out to understand how to raise her daughter in what she, as a black woman, knows to be an unjust—even hostile—society. Black women are more likely to die during pregnancy or birth than any other race; black mothers must stand before television cameras telling the world that their slain children were human beings. What, then, is the best way to keep fear at bay and raise a child so she lives with dignity and joy?

Among consenting adults, family should be a matter of choice and the configuration thereof should be the choice of the family members. There are between 50,000 and 100,000 families in the U.S. living in polygamy today. Recently, these numbers began to climb rapidly as certain Christian, Islamic, and secular groups seek ways to live according to their convictions, in spite of federal and state laws. The growth is accelerating at a surprising rate. Yet, there are few resources and little information to help those seeking happiness in this way of life. This book is a primer for those wishing to seek fulfillment outside the confines of monogamy. As people search for and find their own happiness, the population practicing polygamy will soon grow large enough to have a voice loud enough to change the laws of the land from within. Polygamy may be the next movement in the search for individual freedom and happiness.

With insight and compassion, Pamela Stone shows convincingly that, far from representing a return to tradition, the decision of some women to relinquish high-powered careers is a reluctant and conflict-ridden response to the growing mismatch between privatized families and time-demanding jobs.

After a near fatal stroke in 1995, Robert McCrum has gained an intimate understanding of his own mortality. Twenty-two years on, his friends have joined him in experiencing Prospero's 'every third thought' of death as a dominating theme of life. McCrum asks: can we make peace with what Freud calls 'the necessity of dying'? Searching for answers leads him to brain surgeons, psychologists, cancer patients and writers for advice and wisdom.

Small-town drama makes Hollywood look like a walk in the park. For those going through a divorce in a small town and are ready to feel confident, capable, and competent, now is the time to take action with Small Town Divorce. Denise Anderson walked through those same trenches after experiencing her own dramatic small-town divorce. She has coached and mentored dozens of others who have experienced similar drama, taking them from surviving to thriving.

This is an audio summary of Braving the Wilderness, a timely reflection of the social and political realities of the world today, and a deeper look into the deep lonesomeness that is pulling us apart from each other.

The Widow's Survival Guide shows women that they are strong enough to survive and thrive in life after loss. Within The Widow's Survival Guide, Charity Pimentel-Hyams, a widow at 37 with children aged five, three, and one at the time of her husband’s tragic and unexpected death, takes women through the challenges and triumphs of young widowhood.

Do you feel like the flames have cooled down a bit, and life has just become so busy with work and kids? If this sounds like you, you've come to a good place. When you finish this audiobook, you will have five simple yet amazingly powerful Love Rituals in your hands so you can make your marriage and relationship more kind, thoughtful, exciting, and fun while staying close and connecting in a meaningful way - every day.

In his first book, visionary social care leader Liam Palmer shares anecdotes and well-researched articles to challenge, inform, and, ultimately, raise standards in the care home sector. He applies his strategic thinking to a number of complex problems within care to unpick these dynamics and identify the drivers and forces at work.

Do you want to improve your leadership skills and learn how to bring out the best in your employees, co-workers, or students? Then The Art of Supportive Leadership can help you! Large and small companies of every kind (from well-established industrial corporations to sparkling new tech firms) are using this proven approach to leadership with great success. It has become equally indispensable to the non-profit organizations, schools, and military personnel who also use it.

When Jilly Cooper was asked to write a book on marriage, she had been married to Leo Cooper for a mere seven years. Now they are celebrating their Golden Wedding, and although the institution of marriage has changed a great deal since this book was first written, much of Jilly's advice – frank, fearless, often hilarious, but always wise – still holds good. From the wedding and the honeymoon to life afterwards, including how to deal with the in-laws and how to tell if you spouse is having an affair....

Tercer episodio de la colección Primera Temporada. La labor de Nathaniel Fisher en su funeraria, su sorpresiva muerte, los secretos encontrados por su familia y la forma en que esta lleva el duelo hicieron de la serie creada por Alan Ball un éxito rotundo. Con gran habilidad, la autora conecta su argumento con textos de Thomas Lynch, Junichiro Tanizaki, Yasunari Kawabata y Juan Rulfo, sin olvidar la relación con la vida real, la que está fuera de la pantalla y los libros. Este ensayo iguala la inevitable cita con la muerte con el acto cotidiano de ir al baño.

Two days before Shea and Larami Serrano were to be married, four months into her pregnancy with twin boys, she went into labor. Stuck in a hospital room, fearing the worst, and dismantling a year’s worth of preparations in a matter of hours - the couple decides that the show must go on. Told from Shea’s and Larami’s dual perspectives, this memoir shows the powerful bond that can arise from adversity, a sense of humor, and mutual trust.

This is a book of stories and inspiration. And it’s a little more than that. It’s a collaboration of 25 end-of-life experts, coaches, healers, therapists, and practitioners who’ve trained in modalities to assist the dying, and their caregivers. This is a powerful book with glimpses into what’s next for us. It’s a collection of brave authors who share, not only what death means to them, but how life has changed with their deeper understanding.

Richard Hoffman sometimes felt as though he had two fathers: the real one who raised him and an imaginary version, one he talked to on the phone, and one he talked to in his head. Although Hoffman was always close to the man, his father remained a mystery, shrouded in a perplexing mix of tenderness and rage. When his father receives a terminal cancer diagnosis, Hoffman confronts the depths and limitations of their lifelong struggle to know each other.

Michelle Obama, Ugur Sahin, Frank-Walter Steinmeier: Sie erbten keine Privilegien oder Firmen in dritter Generation. Aus bescheidenen sozialen Bedingungen arbeiteten sie sich bis zum Vorbild hoch. Ihre Wege belegen: Das Leben ist nach oben offen. Allen steht frei, größer zu denken und aus Wenigem viel zu machen. In ihrem neuen Buch geht Doris Märtin den Chancen, aber auch den Mühen und Fallen des sozialen Aufstiegs nach. Realistisch und konkret zeigt sie, wie sich das Beste aus den Karten herausholen lässt, die einem das Schicksal zugeteilt hat.

Mach was aus dir und werde glücklich? Willkommen im Dauerstress der Selbstoptimierung! In "Ich mach mich fertig" rechnet Karlotta Ehrenberg ebenso scharfsinnig wie spitzzüngig mit dem Diktat unserer Zeit ab: der unablässigen Arbeit an uns selbst. Höher, schneller, schöner, besser: Getrieben von dem Wunsch nach Selbstoptimierung und -verwirklichung leiden wir mehr denn je unter psychischem Stress. Entspannung? Die wird heute wie alles andere im Leben akribisch geplant - inklusive Yoga, Therapie und Achtsamkeit.

Durch über 35 Jahre Erfahrungen in der Pflege und Begleitung von Sterbenden und deren Angehörigen erlebte die Autorin viele einschneidende Momente, die sie tief berührten. Im Laufe der Zeit wurde der Tod ihr Freund. Durch ihn erwachte ihr Bewusstsein, dass er auch sie eines Tages besuchen und von dieser Welt mitnehmen wird. Der Schmerz war jahrelang ihr Lehrer und sie machte sich selbst auf den Weg der Vergebung. Schritt für Schritt verstand sie immer mehr, wie wichtig es ist BEWUSST zu LEBEN - JETZT, um eines Tages glücklich zu sterben.

Evelyn Amdur, a hospice social worker, began to write these stories midway through her career, collaborating with her daughter, Shelley. Many traditional cultures have a custom of "death songs", which rest on the idea that at one's last moment, one somehow sums up the essence of one's life in a phrase or a song. Woven into these stories are instructions on how to die well, not only in what spirit we face death itself, but also through instructions on what is necessary to prepare our families, to ready our estates, and to manage all the players who may be involved in our deaths.