The Diné, or Navajo, creation story says there were four worlds before this, the Glittering World. For the present-day Diné this is a world of glittering technology and influences from outside the sacred land entrusted to them by the Holy People. From the Glittering World conveys in vivid language how a contemporary Diné writer experiences this world as a mingling of the profoundly traditional with the sometimes jarringly, sometimes alluringly new. "Throughout the book, Morris’s command of a crisp unpretentious prose is most impressive...His style is so low-key that he hardly seems to be trying to be ’artistic,’ yet the cumulative effect of these pieces is quite powerful. For Morris’s beautiful descriptions of the remote Navajo reservation this book deserves to be on the shelf of anyone tracking the literature of the Southwest."-Western American Literature "Beginning with the Navajo creation story and ending with the summation of everything in between, Morris shows an incredible agility in jumping from truth to myth, from now to then, and from what is to what might have been."-The Sunday Oklahoman "In From the Glittering World, Irvin Morris has woven a wondrous and sometimes terrifying weave of stories centered in the Navajo experience. . . . Irvin Morris’ strong style, his vivid imagery, his deft handling of complex structures, and his deep knowledge of Navajo tradition combine to produce a work as powerful and enduring as Leslie Marmon Silko’s Storyteller and N. Scott Momaday’s The Names. With From the Glittering World, Irvin Morris has joined the ranks of great contemporary authors."-Telluride Times-Journal

In the tradition of Neil Gaiman (The Ocean at the End of the Lane), Scott Smith (The Ruins), and Jason Mott (The Returned), award-winning playwright Robert Levy spins a dark tale of alienation and belonging, the familiar and the surreal, family secrets and the search for truth in his debut supernatural thriller. AS A BOY, HE VANISHED INTO THE WOODS. SOMETHING ELSE CAME BACK. When up-and-coming chef Michael “Blue” Whitley returns with three friends to the remote Canadian community of his birth, it appears to be the perfect getaway from New York. He soon discovers, however, that everything he thought he knew about himself is a carefully orchestrated lie. Though he had no recollection of the event, as a young boy, Blue and another child went missing for weeks in the idyllic, mysterious woods of Starling Cove. Soon thereafter, his mother suddenly fled with him to America, their homeland left behind. But then Blue begins to remember. And once the shocking truth starts bleeding back into his life, his closest friends—Elisa, his former partner in crime; her stalwart husband, Jason; and Gabe, Blue’s young and admiring coworker—must unravel the secrets of Starling Cove and the artists’ colony it once harbored. All four will face their troubled pasts, their most private demons, and a mysterious race of beings that inhabits the land, spoken of by the locals only as the Other Kind...

Drawing on both historical and literary sources, examines life in the pleasure houses of Japan during the Edo period from the early 1600s to 1868. Among the topics are the origins, illegal competitors, the cost of a visit, the treatment of the courtesans, traditions and protocols, Yoshiwara arts, th

The Diné, or Navajo, creation story says there were four worlds before this, the Glittering World. For the present-day Diné this is a world of glittering technology and influences from outside the sacred land entrusted to them by the Holy People. From the Glittering World conveys in vivid language how a contemporary Diné writer experiences this world as a mingling of the profoundly traditional with the sometimes jarringly, sometimes alluringly new. "Throughout the book, Morris’s command of a crisp unpretentious prose is most impressive...His style is so low-key that he hardly seems to be trying to be ’artistic,’ yet the cumulative effect of these pieces is quite powerful. For Morris’s beautiful descriptions of the remote Navajo reservation this book deserves to be on the shelf of anyone tracking the literature of the Southwest."-Western American Literature "Beginning with the Navajo creation story and ending with the summation of everything in between, Morris shows an incredible agility in jumping from truth to myth, from now to then, and from what is to what might have been."-The Sunday Oklahoman "In From the Glittering World, Irvin Morris has woven a wondrous and sometimes terrifying weave of stories centered in the Navajo experience. . . . Irvin Morris’ strong style, his vivid imagery, his deft handling of complex structures, and his deep knowledge of Navajo tradition combine to produce a work as powerful and enduring as Leslie Marmon Silko’s Storyteller and N. Scott Momaday’s The Names. With From the Glittering World, Irvin Morris has joined the ranks of great contemporary authors."-Telluride Times-Journal

Glittering World tells the remarkable story of Navajo jewelry--from its ancient origins to the present--through the work of the gifted Yazzie family of New Mexico. Jewelry has long been an important form of artistic expression for Native peoples in the Southwest; its diversity of design reflects a long history of migrations, trade, and cultural exchange. Exceptional jewelry makers who have been active for nearly eight decades, the Yazzies are strongly rooted in and inspired by these traditions and values. Their works emphasize reciprocity, harmony, balance, and respect for family. As the companion volume to the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in New York exhibit of the same name, this book is richly illustrated with images of these beautifully crafted treasures, bringing to light some of the finest indigenous art being created in the world today. Its informative and lively narrative complements these stunning images to illuminate the fascinating story of continuity, change, and survival embodied by Navajo jewelry.

“I promise: you will be transported,” says Bill Moyers of this memoir. Part Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, part Growing Up Amish, and part Little House on the Prairie, this book evokes a lost time, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, when a sheltered little girl named after Shirley Temple entered a family and church caught up in the midst of the cultural changes of the 1950”s and ‘60’s. With gentle humor and clear-eyed affection the author, who grew up to become a college president, tells the story of her first encounters with the “glittering world” and her desire for “fancy” forbidden things she could see but not touch. The reader enters a plain Mennonite Church building, walks through the meadow, makes sweet and sour feasts in the kitchen and watches the little girl grow up. Along the way, five other children enter the family, one baby sister dies, the family moves to the “home place.” The major decisions, whether to join the church, and whether to leave home and become the first person in her family to attend college, will have the reader rooting for the girl to break a new path. In the tradition of Jill Ker Conway’s The Road to Coorain, this book details the formation of a future leader who does not yet know she’s being prepared to stand up to power and to find her own voice. The book contains many illustrations and resources, including recipes, a map, and an epilogue about why the author is still Mennonite. Topics covered include the death of a child, Pennsylvania Dutch cooking, the role of bishops in the Mennonite church, the paradoxes of plain life (including fancy cars and the practice of growing tobacco). The drama of passing on the family farm and Mennonite romance and courtship, as the author prepares to leave home for college, create the final challenges of the book.

How are diamonds formed? Where do they come from? The answers to these questions and more can be found in this exciting look at a popular gemstone. The science and technology involved in creating a sparkling gem from an uncut diamond is fully explored, giving readers an in-depth look at how diamond rings, bracelets, necklaces, and more are made. Fun fact boxes highlight additional information, and striking photographs illustrate the beauty of these natural jewels.