Jack Williams

Drawing on methods from religious studies, philosophy, and cognitive science, Jack Williams develops a unique and interdisciplinary approach to the study of religious conversion. This is the first major philosophical study of conversion to treat the phenomenon as a long-term process, shaped by the convert’s embodiment and immersion in a linguistic, social, and ritual community. Williams’ analysis of the conversion process is rooted in a view of cognition as both embodied and affective, and is informed by the latest research in phenomenology, affect theory, neuroscience, and enactivist cognitive science. In conversation with diverse conversion narratives, he advances a theory of conversion that is not restricted to a modern, Western context but that can be applied to experiences of conversion across global history and culture. Rethinking Religious Conversion displays an original approach to the philosophical study of diverse religious practices. By bringing together a diverse array of contemporary and historical scholarship, it revitalizes the study of conversion for both philosophy and religious studies.

Rather than live under the mores of the Antebellum South, John and Abigail Whitmore sell everything they own, turn their backs on their families, and flee from 1840s Mississippi to the free North. After settling near Weston, Missouri, they soon learn that blacks are not allowed to marry, hold office, read and write, own property, or shoot firearms. Committed to the area, they remain and establish their plantation, Lime Spring. After freeing their childhood friends, Asa and Netty, and all the blacks at Lime Spring, John and Abigail begin teaching the former slaves all they need to know to be free and stay free. But if their efforts are discovered, the young couple will be in grave danger of being destroyed by abolitionists and pro-slavery proponents. As they work to make Lime Spring a success and continue to harbor their secret, a jealous neighbor sets out on a vengeful journey as hate, bigotry, and injustice reach a climax and threaten the future of America. Lime Spring is a blistering tale of romance, tragedy, and danger as a young couple helps blacks on their plantation escape slavery during the years leading to the start of the Civil War.

Through a clerical error, superintendent of schools Jack Cole finds himself called to active duty in the United States Navy at the beginning of WWII. Cole was never in the Navy and responds accordingly. Thinking he is trying to avoid military service the Bureau of Naval Personnel has him apprehended and flown to Washington DC where he is given the choice of active duty or Portsmouth Naval Prison.Cole accepts active duty and finds himself stumbling from one hilarious situation after another, completely out of his element and totally unprepared to deal with Naval policy and procedures. Aided by the misinterpretation of his actions by his crew and his unusual leadership style, Cole succeeds far beyond his abilities and becomes a valuable asset to naval operations in the Mediterranean. Along the way, he encounters several love interests and quite by accident is able to prevent some top brass from falling victim to embarrassing incidents.When the Bureau of Naval Personnel discovers their clerical error, they realize it would be an embarrassment if the public was to find out. To prevent this from reaching the public, a bloodhound Navy captain is sent to apprehend Cole and remove him from duty without disclosing the Navy's mistake.As the Navy captain tries to close in on Cole, Cole's crew and superiors do everything they can to keep the Bureau of Naval Personnel from finding him. However, after being recognized for heroic actions during the invasion of Sicily, the Navy captain finds Cole and he is put on trial. Things look dire for Cole, but through the intervention of his loyal crew, his superiors, and his love interest's uncle Lyon, who turns out to be Canadian Prime Minister Lyon Mackenzie King, Cole is exonerated.Though fraught with potential peril at every turn, the misunderstandings and outlandish actions of Cole and his crew are one hilarious adventure after another, which epitomize the nature of every American who when faced with a challenge rolls up his or her sleeves and gets the job done. You will laugh and cry as you ride along with Cole and his crew in this adventure, but for everyone who has ever seen military duty or who has been placed in a situation far beyond their abilities and training you should find kindred spirits in this tale to enjoy as they fumble their way to success.

Tom is a young man without a plan. After graduating from university in the UK, his search for something meaningful sees him embark on a doctorate in political philosophy at the prestigious Laughton University in the US. When he secures a scholarship from the Willoughby T. Forsyth Foundation, the future’s looking bright across the pond… After two relatively quiet years at Laughton, the election of Trump galvanises Tom to join the political activism sweeping campus, through which he finally finds a purpose – and a girlfriend! But in a cruel twist of fate, the budding progressive activist’s life is thrown into chaos when the sordid past of Willoughby T. Forsyth is revealed. Dumped, publicly shamed and with his bank account empty, Tom struggles haplessly through the fallout from under his desk. Will he ever make it out? Witty and thought-provoking in equal measure, Pond Life is a satire of contemporary academia that questions the institutionalisation of privilege and highlights the dangers of unequal power.

The Internal Market Act 2020 provides the foundation for freedom of trade within the UK following Brexit. The Act is a central element of the UK's constitutional infrastructure. By enabling goods and services that are lawfully made or sold in one of the UK's four constituent parts to be marketed and sold across the rest of the UK, the Act exerts a practical brake on regulatory divergence, because higher regulatory standards imposed by legislation in one part of the UK may have little practical effect unless these standards are also adopted in the UK's other three constituent parts. The Act will therefore be a strong force compelling cooperation between the four legislatures' regulatory standards and will be a powerful tool for lawyers challenging regulatory rules. As well as impacting almost every area of business and trade, the Act also touches the lives of individuals and provides the UK Government with powers to fund economic and cultural activities on a UK wide basis despite the devolution settlement. This Blackstone's Guide explores the Act's provisions in a succinct and practical manner, supported by worked examples and comparative insights from EU internal market and competition law.

Everybody talks about the weather but how many really understand it? This little book is a basic reference on storms, sky phenomena, global patterns of wind and pressure, weather forecasting techniques, interpreting cloud formations, and extreme weather safety. Each one of 140 featured topics includes a photograph paired with an explanatory illustration or graphic. Interesting facts and tips offer a quick guide to observing the weather, from rainbows and auroras to supercells and hurricanes.

Life outside our nation’s big cities comprises a remarkably rich aspect of America—culturally, historically, and physically. Because of the way we move through the country, however—on roads built for maximum expediency—most of us are rarely if ever exposed to these small communities, a trend that is moving these towns dangerously far off the maps of commerce and public consciousness.In Easy On, Easy Off, Jack Williams takes to the roads of the interstate highway system to explore America’s small towns, bringing back diverse examples of both beautiful and neglected places that illustrate how shifts in modern transportation have influenced urban form. Most of these communities are little known beyond their discrete regions, yet their struggles to prosper are universal. Mill towns, county-seat court squares, villages of the Great Plains, mining towns, and California's forgotten Chinese settlements all share similar fates—overshadowed by interstate off-ramp towns and bypassed by high-speed traffic.Employing more than 150 historic maps and images, unique drawings, and contemporary photographs, Williams convincingly argues that irreversible changes have overtaken the landscapes of small-town America, with each community’s economic and social vitality slowly shifting away to other commercial places that attach to our highway interchanges and extrude into strip malls. A tale of success perhaps for the highway system, the more urgent story relayed in Easy On, Easy Off is of the loss of the complex fabric of thousands of small towns that once defined this nation.

Life outside our nation’s big cities comprises a remarkably rich aspect of America—culturally, historically, and physically. Because of the way we move through the country, however—on roads built for maximum expediency—most of us are rarely if ever exposed to these small communities, a trend that is moving these towns dangerously far off the maps of commerce and public consciousness.In Easy On, Easy Off, Jack Williams takes to the roads of the interstate highway system to explore America’s small towns, bringing back diverse examples of both beautiful and neglected places that illustrate how shifts in modern transportation have influenced urban form. Most of these communities are little known beyond their discrete regions, yet their struggles to prosper are universal. Mill towns, county-seat court squares, villages of the Great Plains, mining towns, and California's forgotten Chinese settlements all share similar fates—overshadowed by interstate off-ramp towns and bypassed by high-speed traffic.Employing more than 150 historic maps and images, unique drawings, and contemporary photographs, Williams convincingly argues that irreversible changes have overtaken the landscapes of small-town America, with each community’s economic and social vitality slowly shifting away to other commercial places that attach to our highway interchanges and extrude into strip malls. A tale of success perhaps for the highway system, the more urgent story relayed in Easy On, Easy Off is of the loss of the complex fabric of thousands of small towns that once defined this nation.

Throughout my life I have worked in various mediums of art. Early in life like other children I colored and filled in comic paper characters with colored crayons. Going farther than that from the First Grade I loved to draw and sketch. This was never supported by my family so I had to wait until high school to really begin to study art. It was there I met an art teacher, Mr. Donald Olsen, who became my mentor and even set me up for a scholarship at the Art Barn in Salt Lake for an entire summer art training. Through my married years (including two marriages) I did very little art work except for a couple of years between marriages when I painted some pictures. Many of these were put in two one-man shows in galleries in Salt Lake where I was able to sell some of them. Writing of books (novels, memoirs, biographies) and poetry became another passion that I followed most of my life eventually publishing several of my books with Kindle/Amazon. Sculptures of a variety of types were also part of my art compendium throughout the years along with crafts and music. All these different genres are presented in this book that brings me up to the present (2016) where I am continuing several art projects as time allows.

During 1991, a banner year for me, I launched into a campaign to record as many of my experiences as I could in the form of poems and in that year created over fifty of them. In this writing I have compiled a few of them into something of a chronological set. In what results in metaphors I now see these stories and sketches as part of my life's experiences and want them to be available to others that may be experiencing similar struggles and challenges, so I present them here in what I call "Vi¬gnettes." All of the sketches begin with a poem that was the starting place for my record of the experience. The poems are outlines of the vignettes. All are true. These Vignettes represent a part of my struggle for identity, for image, for learning and for growth. For the reader they may represent something different. For all I promise an experience.

This account, Journey Into Life, Book 5: Lighthouse In the Desert, continues the chronicle of J.D. Packer and Liz Young, now Mrs. Packer. It begins after the two of them have finished consulting assignments in Zambia where they lived for two years. Their aim in going to Zambia was to keep out of the way of people that had pursued them for turning coat on a contract in the U.S. that went bad for them. When their contracts were complete in Zambia, J.D. and Liz at last believed they could have a life of peace and tranquility after years of intrigue, stress and adventure in their lives. So they returned home, built a home they called "Their Retreat" and set about to examine what other options the universe had to offer them. It was not long before they were involved again, this time in a new and exciting, albeit challenging adventure.