Most Popular Books by David Gordon

This book offers an alternative to perspectives of distributive justice which fail to resolve economic inequality and exacerbate social problems by ignoring the real causes of inequality. The main impact of the book is to highlight the importance of self-ownership and private property, showing how market participation advances liberty and prosperity. The idea that we should pay reparations to disadvantaged racial groups as compensation for historical injustice is deeply contested. The debates often focus on the practical implications of paying reparations, but overlook more fundamental questions about the meaning of justice. What is justice? What are the implications of wealth redistribution for individual liberty and the rule of law? This book answers these questions through an analysis of classical liberal perspectives in law, philosophy and economics. The book questions whether economic inequality stems from historical injustice, and explores the wider implications of attempting to create equal outcomes through legislative mandates. The book argues that free markets, resting on libertarian rights, are the best way to help disadvantaged members of society and to create the conditions more likely to advance economic equality. The book will be of interest to researchers and students of economics, law, politics and philosophy.

Spiritualism and mediumship are often regarded as the product of lingering superstition in the Victorian era, and as having limited relevance in modern Anglo-American society. Scholarship to date which has considered Spiritualism as a distinct religious tradition has focussed on analysing the phenomenon in terms of spirit possession only. This volume analyses the development of shamanism (communication with the spiritual world) as a concept within North American English-speaking scholarship, with particular focus on Mircea Eliade''s influential cross-cultural presentation of shamanism. By re-examining the work of Sergei Shirokogoroff, one of Eliade''s principal sources, the traditional Evenki shamanic apprenticeship is compared and identified with the new Spiritualist apprenticeship. The author demonstrates that Spiritualism is best understood as a traditional shamanism, as distinct from contemporary appropriations or neo-shamanisms. He argues that shamanism is the outcome of an apprenticeship in the management of psychic experiences, and which follows the same pattern as that of the apprentice medium. In doing so, the author offers fresh insights into the mechanisms that are key to sustaining mediumship as a social institution.

"Where do flies go at night?" It’s a harmless question, but does anyone really know the answer? Sometimes it is best not to ask such harmless questions for you may not like the answers. “Horror Stories and Tales of the Supernatural” is one those page-turners that will keep you up way past your bedtime whether you are reading it or trying to forget it so that you can get some undisturbed sleep. There are eleven original short stories for those of us who thoroughly enjoy horror, suspense, crime, science fiction and the supernatural - vampires, mad scientists, murderers, animals gone (really) bad, ghosts, divination and the occult... it''s all here! Which is the true nightmare, the terrifying dream that you suffer in your sleep or the horrifying reality that awaits you when you awake? Let’s hold hands and take this journey together and find out!

Vibrant high-tech centers, shifting barrier islands, okra festivals, Yankee and Latino immigrants, Blue Ridge vistas, world-class universities and empty textile mills-this is the Carolinas. A region of striking natural beauty, rich history, and a rapidly changing economic base, the Carolinas are "Old South" and "New South," intimately local and inextricably global. In A Geography of the Carolinas, eleven noted geographers explore the region''s historical, cultural and physical landscapes. Bringing the perspective of the science of geography and a wealth of experience and knowledge, the contributors reveal the patterns, processes, and connections at work in these two great states. Each chapter is an exploration of this diverse terrain of places and peoples, and a fascinating journey for those who wish to understand the past, present, and future of the Carolinas. Book jacket.

There is music in metaphors, in the chords of individual perception played upon the patterns of human experience."Therapeutic metaphors" (stories intended to address a specific personal need) provide a depth of association and potential for insight that is often not available through more direct approaches. Metaphors do this by creating a shared language between therapist and client (or between co-workers, or between friends), a shared world within which communication about a problem and how to resolve it becomes easier and more impactful. Furthermore, once created, that metaphorical world can become one in which the person discovers his or her own resolution to the problem. Like other expressions of art, a metaphor derives its ability to affect and influence us because of its underlying structure. The masterful storyteller thinks in ways that naturally create the parallels, connections, and discoveries that become utterly compelling to the listener. "Therapeutic Metaphors: Helping Others Through the Looking Glass" provides you with that structure, an explicit and practical format for creating impactful stories for change.