Given today's religiously charged political climate-and an increase in secular Americans pushing back against the Religious Right-this book from Humanist Press fits the times by taking a look at some of history's greatest secular heroes. "Damned Good Company" by Luis Granados contains 20 tales of incredible human bravery where claims of divine authority were defiantly challenged. From Socrates to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, these stories will inspire those today who want to stand up to the Christian Right, the Muslim fanatics, the oppressiveness of Catholic and Jewish orthodoxy, the rising Hindu...

"Holidays and Other Disasters" considers the major U.S. holidays-Easter, Christmas, Opening Day, etc.-from an atheist's perspective. It examines explicitly religious holidays, those that have a definite if not always acknowledged religious thrust (Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving) and secular holidays that had religious elements added on (like Labor Day) by way of personal stories, usually the author's own. Where other people have especially revealing holiday stories, as is the case with Jack Johnson (the first black heavyweight champion) and the Fourth of July, novelist Salman Rushdie and...

Que fecundidad podemos esperar en nuestra vida? Nuestra vieja Europa nos responde rapido: puedes esperar producir mas y mejor, esto es, hacer mas comoda y segura tu vida. A esta respuesta va emparejada la respuesta practica a la gran pregunta sobre los hijos: el miedo. Este panorama contrasta con otro: el que viven regiones mas pobres, donde los ninos pueblan calles y escuelas. O, incluso, la fecundidad de tantas familias que han apostado por la vida desafiando el futuro. En ellos se aprecia otra mirada, otra alegria, otra esperanza. Que fecundidad esperan? (Jose Noriega) "Este libro nos...

"Give us water to drink" (Ex 17:2). Our Lent finishes with the Holy Week in Jerusalem. If, thanks to Moses' obedience, a river of water flowed from the rock, thanks to Jesus' obedience, a river of graces flows from his heart. The Rock is Christ Moses struck with his staff; the soldier strikes with his lance and a river flows, not only of water, but blood and water. Our rock is Jesus Christ This book of daily meditations leads you from Palm Sunday through Holy Week and Easter to Divine Mercy Sunday contemplating the mystery of God's love revealed in Jesus Christ.

Carl Coon distills billions of years of natural and human history into a few beautifully-written pages in his new book, "A Short History of Evolution." Coon demonstrates why there is no need to believe in any magical force at work to explain how things came to be the way they are, and how everything has happened in accordance with a natural order of change. Not content to stop with the emergence of homo sapiens 50,000 years ago, Coon shows how processes akin to those of biological natural selection have shaped the growth of our civilization. Even war, with all its horrors, has had beneficial...