Best Selling Books by Michael Roberts

In The Jeweled Style, Michael Roberts offers a new approach to the Latin poetry of late antiquity, one centering on an aesthetic quality common to both the literature and the art of the period—the polychrome patterning of words and phrases or of colors and shapes. In Roberts''s view, the writer or artist of this period works as a jeweler, carefully setting compositional units in a geometric framework, consistently demonstrating a preference for effects of patterning over realistic representation, and for a unity situated at a higher level than the literal, historical sequence of the narrative. Roberts''s introductory chapter is followed by an anthology of representative narrative and descriptive poetry from the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. Next, Roberts traces the use of "jewels" as a literary metaphor from the first century A.D. to late antiquity. He then compares the works of late antique literature to wall and floor mosaics, ivory diptychs, Christian sarcophagi, and contemporary styles of dress. Emphasizing that the poetry of this period is not uniform, he differentiates the main genres of Christian narrative poetry—biblical and hagiographical epic—from secular examples of the jeweled style, such as the poetry of Ausonius and Sidonius. Roberts concludes by examining the influence of late antique aesthetics on the medieval poetics of Matthew of Vendôme and Geoffrey of Vinsauf. Elegantly written and augmented by twenty-three illustration, The Jeweled Style will be welcomed by many readers, including Latinists and other classicists, medievalists and Renaissance scholars specializing in literature, Byzantinists, and art historians.

Language can help lift or limit students. Based on brain research and authentic classroom experience, this book will help you get back to the optimism of teaching by reconnecting with the possibility of each student. From classroom practice to systemwide policies, readers will find strategies for shifting the way we approach teaching to cultivate the gifts each student has to offer. Teachers and leaders will: Understand how limiting language stifles student growth and academic success Utilize figures and other resources to better recognize limiting language and replace it with positive language Reflect on the culture of your own school and improve collaborative work Access and analyze data that will equip you to better handle obstacles in developing your professional learning community Improve communication among all classrooms within your school or district Contents: Foreword by Anthony Muhammad Introduction Part 1: What We Say About Students Chapter 1: Talking About Underserved Students Chapter 2: Talking About Expectations for Students Chapter 3: Talking About Student Motivation Chapter 4: Talking About Student Data Part 2: What We Say About Colleagues Chapter 5: Talking About Taking Responsibility Chapter 6: Talking About Research and Best Practices Chapter 7: Talking About Teacher Individuality Chapter 8: Talking About Collaboration Chapter 9: Talking About Trust Epilogue

An analysis of the period when Sweden was ''the freest country in the world''.

Developed by leading and highly experienced authors, this series provides complete coverage of all the major GCSE science specifications.

Essays, by the doyen of historians of Sweden, on Oxenstierna, Charles X and Charles XII.

In his Wiles Lectures for 1977 Professor Roberts examines some of the problems raised by Sweden''s brief career as a great power, and seeks to answer some of the questions that flow from them. Were the underlying considerations which prompted the unexpected development geopolitical, or social, or economic? How was it possible to produce the financial resources and the manpower which the enterprise demanded? How far was seventeenth-century Sweden a militarized society? What importance had official propaganda and national myths? Did the constitutional situation help to make an expansionist foreign policy easier? The structure of the empire is next examined: its administration, the ties that held it together, the differing interests of the provinces, the varying responses of the metropolitan power was there, in fact, anything deserving the name of an imperial policy? How did the provinces view the Swedish connexion? In a final chapter the author tries to answer the question why, if Sweden could acquire an empire without undue strain, she could not retain it; why the collapse was so rapid and so total; and whether her career as a great power had real relevance to the country''s subsequent history. On almost all these topics little information is available in English, and no comparable treatment of them on this scale exists in any language.

First Published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This comprehensive history of sixteenth-century Sweden has remained a standard work for English-speaking historians since its publication in 1968. It is now available in paperback for the first time. The book includes a full account of the reign of Gustav Vasa (1523-60), one of the greatest rulers of his age, and of the half-century after his death that paved the way for Sweden''s emergence as a great power. Professor Roberts provides an account of the course of the Swedish Reformation: he analyses those trans-Baltic entanglements which were to assume such importance, both for Sweden and for Europe, in the next century; and he pays particular attention to the constitutional controversies which reached their climax, though not their end, with the deposition of King Sigismund and the ''Bloodbath of Linköping''.

Gustavus Adolphus (1594--1632) dominated his age: he made Sweden the leading power of Northern Europe, was the principal upholder of the Protestant cause in the Thirty Years War, and was a great administrator as well as a brilliant soldier. His toleration and reforms helped define the development of the modern state. This concise study of his career, by the doyen of modern historians of the North, appeared in 1973. Long unavailable but now revised, expanded, updated and reset, it makes a welcome return in Profiles in Power.

Caste Conflict and Elite Formation is a study in the social history of Sri Lanka. However, it does not merely document the remarkable successes in business enterprise and in the acquisition of Western-educated professional skills which were achieved by families from the Karava caste during the last two centuries; their advances, and the social and political struggles which accompanied this process, are employed as a window through which a survey of social change in Sri Lanka during the last four hundred years is conducted. The interest of the book extends beyond the many fascinating social incidents, historical trends and channels of elite formation that are described within its pages to a series of controlled comparisons which reveal the factors responsible for the formation of the Karava elite. Thus the book extends the methodological frontiers of the social history of the region. It emphasizes the significance of the patterns of caste discrimination and caste interaction in Sri Lankan politics, and reveals how these patterns were central to the incentives and opportunities which powered the advances of the Karava families.

Rely on this straightforward guide to help you build the foundation of a true professional learning community (PLC). Packed with answers to common questions, Shifting from Me to We guides leaders at all levels in fostering a strong, collaborative culture. Author Michael Roberts details how to navigate major roadblocks, develop team best practices, and commit collective efforts to continuous improvement. Use this resource to address the unique PLC challenges of your school or district : Become familiar with the skills and concepts necessary to build a strong collaborative foundation for your PLC. Study the strategies and methods used by schools that have successfully implemented a rigorous and thorough PLC process. Utilize the book’s concepts and skills to experiment and develop customized procedures and strategies as a collaborative team. Receive concrete learning targets that will help you develop your own process of PLC implementation. Understand how to effectively spread the message of your PLC to your school board, parents, and community stakeholders. Contents: Introduction Chapter 1: “We’ve Met for Years, so Why Hasn’t It Changed my Practice?” Chapter 2: “If We’re Collaborating, Why Aren’t You?” Chapter 3: “We’re Supposed to Focus on a Few Things, but How Do We Decide What They Are?” Chapter 4: “How Do You Find Time to Support Learning When There Are So Many Other Issues to Deal With?” Chapter 5: “Won’t We Just Move On to Something Else Next Year?” Chapter 6: “How Do We Know If We’re on the Right Track?” Chapter 7: “What Can We Do to Help?”

The third novel of Sarah’s story is unlike any you have ever read. She is not your typical Southern belle, neither dewy-eyed nor innocent. She carries way too many scars for that. Completing her degree in Accounting and Financial Management has given Sarah a wealth of knowledge in the workings of the financial world. This, coupled with her hard-won street smarts, is making Sarah a force to be reckoned with. It is also attracting the attention of people she would rather avoid. However, she will need all this and more in the days ahead. Sarah has a hard-won gift for observation. She knows other people’s blind spots and how to either cover them or exploit them for her own gain. But she has difficulties with her own. Especially when it comes to men. Fortunately for her, she also has friends who will stick by her. Plus a woman named Beverly, who is both her employer and mentor. On the outside, Beverly often acts as the mother Sarah should have had growing up, but Beverly has dark secrets of her own. Does she think of Sarah the way Sarah thinks of her? Or is Sarah simply another pawn? Sometimes Sarah’s best-laid plans do not work, and she will have to see how fate Deals the Cards. But as she always says, “First things first.”

When a young Richie Furay moved to New York hoping to make it big in folk music, God wasn’t one of his concerns. But destiny was. Later, when he started Buffalo Springfield with Neil Young and Stephen Stills, it seemed Furay’s destiny had finally arrived. Although the band recorded only three albums, it remains a touchstone of sixties rock music–with all five band members now enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Furay remained a musical pioneer, forming Poco and recording some of the first–and best–country rock music of the sixties and seventies. His work was a major influence on the Eagles and innumerable other bands. But he still had not found his destiny. It wasn’t until his marriage almost disintegrated that Furay confronted his need for God. After co-founding two legendary bands and recording with a rock super-group, Richie Furay finally found his destiny. The long journey took him from sold-out arena concerts to the pulpit of a Colorado church, from rock royalty to the Rock of Ages. Destiny is often found in the places where we’re not looking. As you follow the twists and turns in Richie Furay’s inspiring journey, you’ll gain fresh insight into your own.

The dramatic original account of events that shook the nation. On May 4, 1970, National Guard bullets killed four students, wounded nine, and transformed Kent State University into a national nightmare. Two prize-winning reporters interviewed all the participants in the tragedy and established for the first time what actually took place that day.