North Atlantic Books Blog

Do you teach martial arts to kids? Ever considered writing about it?

Blue Snake Books, an imprint of North Atlantic Books, is now actively looking for manuscripts in a new area: martial arts books for children. Staying true to Blue Snake’s mission of publishing in-depth books on a wide variety of authentic martial arts traditions, Blue Snake Kids will publish sophisticated, intelligent books to help foster young martial artists. We are especially interested in publishing books on single arts or disciplines (karate, tai chi, aikido, muay thai, jujitsu, etc.) but also encourage submissions on slightly broader topics: grappling arts, internal arts, practical self-defense, etc. Authors are also encouraged to submit books on multiple arts that are closely related.

WHAT WE WANT: Books that speak to kids in a language they can understand—without being condescending; training manuals with illustrations or high-quality photos; books designed to be interactive and entertaining (e.g. suggestions for training games, questions for the reader to think about). We especially want books that are intended to be used as a supplement to, not a replacement for, regular training with a teacher.

WHAT WE DON’T WANT: Books that are overly simplistic and broad (e.g. “Respect your teacher; practice your forms every day; bow before entering the dojo.”); fiction, picture, or coloring books; books on obscure or not-widely practiced arts.

If you have a quality manuscript that you’d like to submit, here are our submissions guidelines. Feel free to forward and repost!

Mail a cover letter, proposal, and partial manuscript to:

Blue Snake Books Acquisitions Board
2526 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Berkeley, CA 94704

Or email Terri in Marketing Communications: tsaul@northatlanticbooks.com

Send a self-addressed stamped envelope for all responses!

The proposal should include:

1. Table of contents
2. At least three sample chapters
3. Sample illustrations or high quality photos
4. A 75-word statement describing the book’s intention
5. Statement of your qualifications in this area
6. A marketing plan
7. Review of comparable titles: What are the two leading titles to which your book will be compared? How do they differ from your book?
8. The length of your manuscript in double-spaced pages
9. A few suggestions for foreword writers, and your ideas for back cover endorsements
10. Your plans for promoting the book, including your ability to travel to workshops or speaking engagements with relevant organizations

We aim to respond to every submission we receive within three or four months. Submissions received without S.A.S.E.s (self-addressed stamped envelopes) may not receive responses.

Best of luck from the Blue Snake Books Acquisitions Team!

CLICK HERE to learn more about Blue Snake Books.

CLICK HERE to visit the Blue Snake Books Blog.

Greetings from sunny Berkeley, California! There is never a dull moment in world of book publishing, and this summer proves no different. This July, the new releases from North Atlantic Books are sure to please with fantastic works in the genres of Martial Arts, Cooking, Fiction, Homeopathy, Channeling, Poetry, and Alternative Health. Happy reading!

To order, please visit www.northatlanticbooks.com
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On the Warrior’s Path: Second Edition
By Daniele Bolelli

On the Warrior’s Path connects the martial arts with the larger perspective of developing body, spirit, and awareness, and merges subtle philosophies with no-holds-barred competition, Nietzsche with Bruce Lee, radical Taoism and Buddhism with the Star Wars Trilogy, traditional martial arts with basketball and American Indian culture. At the center of all these phenomena is the warrior. Though this archetype seems to manifest contradictory values, Daniele Bolelli describes the heart of this tension: how the training of martial technique leads to a renunciation of violence, and how overcoming fear leads to a unique freedom. On the Warrior’s Path brings fresh insights to why martial arts remains an enduring and widespread art and discipline. This second edition includes two new chapters that focus on spirituality in the martial arts and the author’s personal journey in the field.

$16.95/$20 in Canada
Trade Paper
978-1-58394-219-2
200 pages, 6 x 9
On Sale July 8, 2008

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Homeopathy for Your Cat: Remedies for Common Feline Ailments
By H. G. Wolff

Homeopathy for Your Cat offers detailed, authoritative information on a wide variety of homeopathic treatments available for common cat ailments. This book is written in an engaging, empathetic style by a respected German veterinarian H.G. Wolff, and covers both acute and chronic problems in the ears, nose, and throat, the heart and circulatory system, the digestive organs, the ligaments, tendons, and joints, the reproductive system and urinary tract, and the skin. Homeopathy for Your Cat includes an introduction to basic first aid, diagnostic reviews, and information on how to treat various dangerous viral and bacterial diseases. This is a concise manual that explores everything the concerned cat lover or professional needs to know, from symptoms and illnesses to remedies and general care tips, and addresses a growing market for alternative treatments for pets.

$14.95/$16.95 in Canada
Trade Paper
978-1-55643-739-7
136 pages, 8 x 9
On Sale July 15, 2008

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Soul Shift: Finding Where the Dead Go
By Mark Ireland

Businessman Mark Ireland’s father was Richard Ireland, a deeply spiritual minister and renowned psychic and medium who counted Mae West among his famous clients. While he loved his father, Mark followed a more conventional path in pursuit of mainstream success—until the wrenching death of his youngest son. This unexpected tragedy plunges Mark into the spiritual world of psychics and mediums in a frantic attempt to communicate with the dead. His defenses and pragmatic mindset begin to fade as he remembers premonitions on the day of his son’s death. He consults a number of well-known mediums and is struck by the remarkably accurate information their readings provide. Mark then enters a new dimension of personal paranormal experience, and his own psychic awareness begins to unfold. Soul Shift is the dramatic story of a father’s unbearable loss and his discovery of life after death.

$16.95/$20 in Canada
Trade Paper
978-1-58394-251-2
185 pages, 6 x 9
On Sale July 15, 2008

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Sweetpea’s Secret
By Renay Jackson

Renay Jackson’s previous books in this series introduced the curious character of Sweetpea, who’s not exactly what he seems. By day he’s Horace Boudreaux, mortgage broker and sometime playboy who likes nothing better than getting down with his girlfriend Harriette. Other times, he’s one of Oaktown’s more successful hitmen. He not only kills for pleasure, he also kills for revenge. Oaktown’s notorious gangster Big Ed Tatum is one of Sweetpea’s clients and normally immune from Sweetpea’s wrath, but Big Ed crosses the line when he courts Sweetpea’s older sister, and his henchman almost kills Sweetpea’s little sister. The hitman is happy to slash Big Ed’s throat in a Vegas parking lot. But Sweetpea soon learns that the dead don’t always stay dead.

$14.95/$16.95 in Canada
Trade Paper
978-1-58394-224-6
224 pages, 5-1/2 x 8-1/2
On Sale July 15, 2008

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Health Is Simple, Disease Is Complicated
By James Forleo, DC

In this breakthrough book, Dr. James Forleo proposes a return to the body as the site of self-healing. The problem, he says, is that we don’t understand the language of signs and symptoms it uses to communicate its healing messages. Health Is Simple helps readers decipher that language and access the great realms of health and vitality the body contains. The book takes a systems approach to health, and walks readers through the basic design and function of each major organ system, and offers a set of simple practices to boost performance. Forleo emphasizes simple correctives to diet and lifestyle, a new perspective on digestion and elimination, and the alignment of the spine and structural system. Forleo offers case studies to demonstrate successfully resolved conditions from chronic headaches, anxiety, and respiratory disorders to exhaustion, autoimmune disorders, and allergies.

$22.95/$25.95 in Canada
Trade Paper
978-1-55643-718-2
400 pages, 7 x 9-1/4
On Sale July 22, 2008

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Acupuncture and the Chakra Energy System: Treating the Cause of Disease
By John R. Cross

Acupuncture and the Chakra Energy System is an accessible guide to using the chakra energy system for acupuncture healing. By comparing the traditional approaches of Chinese medicine and modern Western acupuncture with the chakra energy system of Ayurvedic philosophy, author John R. Cross offers clinically proven strategies for treating the causes of conditions, not just the symptoms. The book describes the seven major and twenty-one minor chakras in detail and explains how each is related to the body’s aura, meridians, key points, endocrine glands, autonomic nervous system, and varying symptomatology. Acupuncture and the Chakra Energy System focuses on how one can use the chakras in the treatment of chronic physical and emotional conditions—osteo-arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, low back pain with sciatica, insomnia, hypertension, depression, menopausal symptoms, and frozen shoulder, among others.

$22.95/$25.95 in Canada
Trade Paper
978-1-55643-721-2
208 pages, 7 x 9-1/4
On Sale July 29, 2008

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Belonging: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World
Translated by Niloufar Talebi with Zack Rogow and Daniel O’Connell

Belonging is a rich collection of contemporary poetry by Iranians living throughout the world. Each expertly translated essay varies dramatically in style, tone, and theme. The works include erotic divertissements by Ziba Karbassi, rigorously formal poetry by Yadollah Royaii, experimental poems by Naanaam, powerful polemics by Maryam Huleh, and the personal-epic work of Shahrouz Rashid. These vibrant poems deepen the limited awareness of Iranian identity today by introducing readers to contemporary Iranian poetry, and also expanding the canon of significant writing in the Persian language. To learn more about The Translation Project, whose mission is to bring contemporary Iranian literature to worldwide audiences in multiple languages and media, please visit www.thetranslationproject.org.

$18.95/$22 in Canada
Trade Paper
978-1-55643-712-0
128 pages, 6 x 9
On Sale July 29, 2008

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The Blue Heron Ranch Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from a Zen Retreat Center
By Nadia Natali

The Blue Heron Ranch Cookbook blends 126 tasty, healthful recipes with lively tales of the Natali family’s adventures living close to the land—in the wilds of California’s Los Padres National Forest. Each chapter opens with a vivid account of the family’s trials and triumphs at Blue Heron Ranch, followed by a particular category of recipes, arranged in seven groupings. Each page is adorned with whimsical illustrations, and the personal stories are sometimes poignant and often hilarious accounts of raising a family in the wilderness, running a meditation center, and facing nature’s seemingly endless challenges—with the Blue Heron kitchen being the center around which these events unfold.

$21.95/$25.00 in Canada
Trade Paper
978-1-55643-717-5
224 pages, 8-3/8 x 10
On Sale July 29, 2008

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Hurricane Katrina: Response and Responsibilities
Edited By John Brown Childs

A timely re-release, Hurricane Katrina is a collection of insightful essays that shed critical light on this devastating natural disaster and address its far-reaching consequences. From how to make sense of such mythic tragedy, to questions of political and personal accountability, to navigating the complex issues of race, gender, age, and social class—the essayists train a careful and attentive eye on all of these issues. A diverse sampling of authors lend a wide range of thought-provoking perspectives and intriguing suggestions for how American society might move forward and heal. All essays were donated; all proceeds will go to the Follow Your Heart Action Network.

$10.00/$12.00 in Canada
Trade Paper
978-1-55643-792-2
224 pages, 4-1/2 x 7
On Sale Date: July 29, 2008

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The Life and Loves of Mr. Jiveass Nigger
By Cecil Brown

The Life and Loves of Mr. Jiveass Nigger is a legendary novel that reimagines the Bible’s prodigal son as a young black man in 1960s Europe. George Washington—one of his many aliases—starts out as the classic trickster figure, a blend of con artist, deep thinker, and willing object of white women’s sexual fantasies. Fed up with life in racist America, he leaves the rural South for Denmark on a curious quest, determined to discover if there is “any mother fucker in this despiteful world who ever told himself the truth.” In Denmark he spends his days bantering with fellow black expatriates and his nights bedding a series of white women who project their desires on him. Inevitably, these worlds collide, with Washington, aka Anthony Miller, aka Paul Winthrop, aka Mr. Jiveass Nigger, increasingly alienated in a world of opportunists. A return to America after his self-imposed exile promises transformation, but is Washington too far gone?

$15.95/$18.95 in Canada
Trade Paper
978-1-58394-210-9
224 pages, 6 x 9
On Sale July 29, 2008

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Ori Hofmekler is the author of The Warrior Diet, The Anti-Estrogenic Diet, and the recently released Maximum Muscle, Minimum Fat. Every Wednesday, at 9am PST, on VoiceAmericaHealth, Ori offers a live podcast as a part of The Warrior Within: Your Guide to Nutrition, Energy, Sex, and Survival. Past podcasts include “The Three Hidden Obstacles to Weight Loss,” “Diet Solutions,” “Protein Products/Fallacies, Fraud and Failure,” “The Skinny on Aerobics,” “Food Combining and Fitness,” “Fat That Heal, Fat That Kill,” “Hunger—How to Deal with the Chronic Desire to Eat,” “Food for Recovery and Healing,” “Best Training and Nutritional Regimens for Weight Loss,” “The Power Principle—The Hidden Factors Behind Muscle Power,” “Best Foods and Recipes for Leaning & Strengthening the Body,” and many more.

To listen to The Warrior Within, please visit www.modavox.com/VoiceAmericaHealth and simply follow the links to Hofmekler’s podcast series. Enjoy!

After serving with the Israeli Special Forces, Ori Hofmekler attended the Bezalel Academy of Art and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he studied art, philosophy, and biology, and received a degree in Human Sciences. As founder, editor-in-chief, and publisher of Mind and Muscle Power, a national health and fitness magazine, Hofmekler introduced The Warrior Diet to the public in a monthly column. Later, The Warrior Diet was published, followed by The Anti-Estrogenic Diet and Maximum Muscle, Minimum Fat. Nutritional and medical experts, scientists, champion athletes, martial artists, and military and law enforcement instructors have all endorsed Hofmekler’s dietary and training methods. The Warrior Diet, LLC and Defense Nutrition, LLC currently provide nutrition and training workshops and certification seminars.

CLICK HERE to visit VoiceAmericaHealth and The Warrior Within.
CLICK HERE to visit Ori Hofmekler’s blog.
CLICK HERE to learn more about (or order copies of) The Warrior Diet, The Anti-Estrogenic Diet and Maximum Muscle, Minimum Fat.

Paula Moulton, North Atlantic Books’ author of Seasons Among the Vines: Life Lessons from the California Wine Country was recently featured in the Press Democrat in an article is entitled “A Writer’s New Chapter: Journey Through Grief.”

Meg McConahey writes,

[Seasons Among the Vines] is equal parts philosophy and science, laced with personal anecdotes, tiny confessions and tips for everything from composting to pruning, maintaining wells to managing wild critters.

Along with a brief review of Seasons Among the Vines, the article explores how Moulton has coped with the loss of her husband and the important role that her family plays in her everyday life.

Moulton runs her own winery in Sonoma, which she and her kids named Midnight Moulton, named after her deceased husband’s nickname to honor him. She remarried a year ago and has a second book on the way, aimed at helping people who have lost something — be it a job, a friend, or a spouse. She hopes people can learn from her experiences that life is uncertain and the best you can do is make the choice to move on.

Seasons Among the Vines explores the pleasures and pitfalls of following a lifelong dream. For Paula Moulton it was the dream of leaving the city for the California wine country to take up viticulture and gardening. In the process, she finds unexpected frustrations in running a farm and seeks help from some skeptical farmers who initially challenge her. As she finds her stride, her story resonates with her passion for the outdoors and the rewards of risk-taking. Organized by the seasons, the book shows how experimenting with vines can be a joyful reality, not simply an unattainable fantasy. Moulton’s enthusiasm and “you can do it, too!” attitude add an inspiring touch to a compelling story of the rich rewards that authentic living can bring. This enchanting memoir is accompanied by photos and illustrations.

CLICK HERE to read the complete article from the Press Democrat.
CLICK HERE to learn more about Paula Moulton.
CLICK HERE to order a copy of Seasons Among the Vines.

Casson Trenor, North Atlantic Books author of Sustainable Sushi: A Guide for a Changing Planet (January 2009) is an expert in oceans management and sustainability. Trenor is a top consultant for the new Tataki Sushi & Sake Bar in San Francisco. Along with chefs Raymond Ho and Kin Lui, Trenor is a forerunner in the effort to create ecologically sustainable options for San Francisco diners.

I recently had the opportunity to dine at Tataki. I was not sure what to expect, never having dined at a sustainable sushi restaurant. I was blown out of the water! The food was amazing, the wait staff well learned, and everything inside of the restaurant (not just the seafood) was sustainable! Overall, it was a great educational opportunity to compare and contrast Tataki to the conventional sushi restaurants that I habitually patronize.

The dishes that I tasted were quite tasty and many of the flavor combinations were unlike any I’d ever tried. On every table (which are lovely and made from sustainable bamboo) there was a Seafood Watch reference card, and only seafood from the “Safe” and “Moderate” categories is offered to diners at Tataki. As each dish was served, the waitress explained where the seafood came from and happily answered any sustainability questions that I had.

Here’s what I tried:

Appetizers:
- Cold spinach
- Baked mussels
Not traditionally a Japanese dish, the mussels gave a San Franciscan flare to the dinner.
- Ahi Tuna poke
There were three mounds of delicious Ahi, each with it’s own marinate – garlic (mild), sesame (slightly spicy), and chili (hot).

Main Dishes:
- Sashimi deluxe
I tasted the Wild-caught New Zealand Tai Snapper (Kodai), Closed-containment Farm-raised Striped Bass (Suzuki), Australian Farm-raised Yellowtail Amberjack (Hiramasa), Suspension Farm-raised Hokkaido Scallop (Hotate), Trap-caught BC Spot Prawn (Amaebi), and Wild Pacific Horse Mackerel (Aji). I was encouraged to enjoy each piece of seafood without ginger or wasabe to really savor the complex simplicity.
- Tataki deluxe
I tasted the Closed-containment Farm-raised Arctic Char (Iwana), Farm-raised Hawaiian Almaco Jack (Kona Kampachi), Net-caught Australian Skipjack Tuna (Katsuo), Handline California Albacore Tuna (Shiro Maguro), and Handline Hawaiian Yellowfin Tuna (Maguro), all lightly seared and with individual dipping sauces to compliment each unique seafood flavor.
- Nigiri special
I tasted the Wild Atlantic Mackerel (Saba), Wild Texas White Shrimp (Ebi), Wild Pacific Conger Eel (Anago), and Wild MSC-certified Alaskan Salmon Roe (Ikura). Trenor snatched up the last Ikura roll saying, “I can’t let it go to waste. Each of these would have become a fish!”

Rolls:
- Mix it up
- Raymond Special
This was a treat because the roll is the chef’s VIP special. Not listed on the Tataki menu, the ingredients are top secret. This was my favorite dish of the night.
- Extinguisher
By far, the #1 crowd pleaser and not for the weak of heart! This roll consisted of spicy Kampachi topped with avocado, habanero Tobiko (where the Tobiko was marinated in habenero chili), and topped with hot sauce. And then they set the whole thing on fire!

Dessert:
-Green Tea Cheesecake
This was very tasty and unique and a great way to cleanse the palate.

In addition to all of the information that I’m still digesting, I learned that wild seafood is not necessarily more sustainable than farm-raised, Arctic Char really does taste like Salmon, and a happy conscience is attainable while enjoying sushi.

Tataki Sushi & Sake Bar is located at 2815 California Street in San Francisco.

Tataki’s Mission: to showcase the beauty and delicacy of Japanese cuisine while respecting the sanctity and fragility of our environment. If we are to preserve the art of sushi, we must also safeguard the health and biodiversity of our oceans. With this in mind, Tataki strives everyday to integrate the concept of sustainable dining into its menu options.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Tataki Sushi & Sake Bar.
CLICK HERE to pre-order a copy of Sustainable Sushi: A Guide for a Changing Planet.

What:
Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days
This thought provoking and inspiring, new feature documentary about the healing powers of live foods features Gabriel Cousens, MD, Woody Harrelson, Morgan Spurlock from SuperSize Me, Rev. Michael Beckwith, David Wolfe, and six people with the courage and love to heal and transform.

Where & When:
The Newport International Film Festival, Rhode Island
June 5 at 6pm and June 7 at 12pm

Tickets are available at newportfilmfestival.com.

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Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days is an independent documentary film that chronicles six McDonald’s-munching Americans with diabetes who switch to a diet consisting entirely of vegan, organic, live, raw foods in order to reverse diabetes naturally. The six participants are challenged to give up meat, dairy, sugar, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, soda, junk food, fast food, processed food, packaged food, and even cooked food – as well as go without their loved ones and many of their creature comforts – for 30 days…

…Simply Raw shows each participant’s remarkable journey and captures the medical, physical, emotional and spiritual transformations brought on by this radical diet and lifestyle change. Participants were supervised by Gabriel Cousens, M.D. and Helen Ross, M.D. at the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Patagonia, Arizona.

The feature film Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days is in post production and will premiere at the Newport International Film Festival.

CLICK HERE to view the film trailer for Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days.

CLICK HERE for more information about There is a Cure for Diabetes by Gabriel Cousens.

CLICK HERE for more information about The Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center.

In his timely and original military memoir War Lessons: How I Fought to be a Hero and Learned That War is Terror, John Merson gives an up-close, illuminating account of his experiences in Vietnam, first as a Marine in the Vietnam War, and later, as a concerned citizen who revisits the country eight times. With deep respect for people on all sides of conflict, Merson ties his experiences to lessons he has learned about the nature of war, those who fight it, and those who survive it.

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As a college junior at Amherst College in 1965, choosing to drop out, enlist with the Marines, and voluntarily serve in Vietnam must not have been a typical decision for most of your peers. Why did you make the choice you did?

Serving in the military was a family tradition, as well as a rite of passage that I believed I needed to complete to become a man.

What was your experience of Vietnam during your tour of duty? What truths about the nature of war became clear to you during your time as a soldier?

As a soldier, I concentrated on trying to survive the war and the military—both were threats to me. The war was a threat to my life, and being in the military was a threat to my personality. Everything about the military told me not to think for myself, yet my core personal trait was independence.

I saw the destructive impact we were having on the villages we patrolled through. Everything we did made it harder for villagers to remain in their homes and farm their land. At times we were forcibly relocating villagers, turning them into refugees in their own country. I also thought about the way war was changing me and my fellow marines, making us both less and more human as it brought us into closer contact with death.

What was it like to return home? What truths about war became clear to you as a veteran?

I soon realized how divisive the war had become and learned that the less I said about it the better it would be for me. It helped to talk with other Vietnam Vets, but there were few of them around when I returned to college and then went on to graduate school. I tried not to think too much about the war since it seemed like such a waste of lives and money. As books and movies about the Vietnam War began to appear, I was able to talk about it with friends. This helped me begin to question what I had done and then to question war itself.

Since the war, you have returned to Vietnam eight times. What inspired your first trip back and what was it like? Why have you continued to return?

As a soldier in Vietnam, I used to tell my fellow marines that someday we would all return to Vietnam. They thought I was crazy, yet many Vietnam veterans felt the same need to visit Vietnam. I wanted to see that Vietnam as a country was recovering from the war. I also felt that seeing the Vietnamese people thrive would somehow help me to feel less guilty about having been part of the war.

What truths about war did you learn from the citizens of Vietnam?

I learned that war’s destructive effects—physical and emotional—last many decades. At the same time, when the fighting stops, people can begin to rebuild their lives even while continuing to experience the pain of losing family members. I learned that many Vietnamese feel a strong bond with Americans because of the war, and because so many Vietnamese have friends and relatives living in the U.S. For many Vietnamese, America is as much an aspiration as a country, just as for many Americans, Vietnam is as much a war as a country.

After all your experience, you have come to the position that war is generally unnecessarily destructive to everyone involved in the conflict and not necessarily valuable as a foreign policy tool. What are the most effective alternatives to war? Why are they more successful?

Diplomacy is the most effective deterrent to war. I believe that if leaders can truly understand each other’s goals and motivations they will resort to war less often. Robert McNamara talks about realizing how poorly he understood his foes. Making greater use of international organizations is another way to avoid war. UN peacekeepers are now in dozens of countries around the world and are frequently requested by nations eager to avoid war. Unfortunately, there are too few peacekeepers to meet all the requests. In addition, peacekeepers cannot be very effective after fighting has started since they often get caught in the middle.

What is your view of the U.S.’s current involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan? In your opinion, what are the best outcomes and what kind of policies are most likely to encourage these outcomes?

The U.S. is not accomplishing its objectives, either in Iraq or in Afghanistan. Military force is not reducing the level of terror in either country. In fact, civilian deaths are almost certainly increasing the level of hostility toward the U.S. and toward other factions. Civil war is taking place in both countries. Elected leaders will need to negotiate with their enemies in order to bring them into a coalition government. The presence of the U.S. military is one the greatest obstacles to negotiations, since it tilts the table in favor of one side. Also, the U.S. tends to portray its ally as “good” and the other side as “evil”; this, too, hinders progress. The longer these wars continue, the more intransigent both sides become as a result of the loss of life on both sides. Political leaders use the loss of life to justify continuing the war.

Pulling troops out of combat is a dangerous process; more lives can be lost during the process of disengagement. Since the U.S. has not achieved peace in either country, we cannot hand control to another power. We should ask our local allies to begin negotiations and, if they do not, we should quickly withdraw all U.S. troops. If peace can be achieved, then there might be a role for UN peacekeeping forces in maintaining a buffer zone between opposing aides during extended negotiations.

The title of your book makes reference to your fight “to be a hero.” Which acts in your memoir feel most heroic to you? When do you think many soldiers feel most heroic and gratified?

I felt most like a hero when I disobeyed orders and took my team into friendly villages where we could avoid killing innocent people. I also felt heroic when I walked “point” in my platoon and saved others from this job. I felt least heroic when I failed to protect the other men in my team, and when I failed to protect villagers from our violence.

I think soldiers feel most gratified when they can see that something good has come from their sacrifices. All too often, soldiers must find their own heroic moments since war itself rarely provides them. Seeking heroism is a dangerous mission: we make heroes of the dead, since we want to believe that they did not die in vain. For those who survive, heroism is equally dangerous. After all, heroes don’t need help and don’t ask for it. Yet soldiers coming back from a war usually do need help. Moreover, returning veterans soon discover that they must fight a second war: in trying to recover from the wounds of war, veterans must often fight a war against their own government. The military requires veterans to prove that their injuries—psychological or physical—are the result of military service. This is often impossible. We need not only a new GI Bill but also a GI Bill of Rights, a system that puts the burden of proof on the government to show that soldiers’ wounds were NOT the result of military service and in the meantime gives veterans all the help they need to get on with their lives.

What is your advice for Americans who disagree with current U.S. foreign policy, but want to support those who have chosen to serve in the military? What kinds of support do soldiers need the most?

Citizens need to see soldiers as men and women trying to help themselves get out of the house, off the farm, out of the neighborhood, and into a job. Soldiers rarely give much thought to the goals of war, since they have no way of knowing if the stated objectives of war are the real ones or if these objectives will ever be achieved. Soldiers only go to war when our elected officials declare war and vote to fund it. We need soldiers to do their job well, to treat each other with respect and consideration and to treat civilians and prisoners just as well. When we talk with soldiers, ask them how they’re doing and how they think the effort is going. Someday our soldiers might actually be defending our homes against invaders. Or they might be helping us recover from an earthquake or hurricane. We want our soldiers to treat civilians and prisoners the way we hope they would treat us if they were on duty here in the U.S. Above all, soldiers need us to do the one thing they cannot do, and that is to question the policy that sends soldiers to war, to make sure that the war we are sending them to is absolutely necessary.

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John Merson is currently a member of the Military Order of the World Wars, Veterans for America, and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Merson left Amherst College at the end of his junior year to enlist in the Marine Corps. After completing boot camp, he volunteered for Vietnam and returned home completely changed after thirteen months as an infantryman in Vietnam. Using the GI Bill’s educational benefits, Merson finished college at UNC Chapel Hill with a BA in Economics, and graduate school at Harvard with a MBA in general management. Merson travels to Vietnam once a year to meet with government officials, veterans, business executives, and friends and speaks regularly to student and church groups on the subject of war, the experience of soldiers, and their attitudes toward war. Merson runs his own restoration project for historic homes on Nantucket Island, MA, where he lives.

CLICK HERE to order a copy of War Lessons.

This year at the Harmony Festival there will be special presentations by numerous North Atlantic Books authors including David Wilcock, Alex Grey, Victoria Boutenko, and Matthew & Terces Engelhart. The Harmony Festival is scheduled for June 6-8, 2008 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, California.

CLICK HERE for more information about the Harmony Festival.

David Wilcock is the co-author of The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?: Interdimensional Communication and Global Transformation. He is a professional intuitive consultant who, since 1993, has intensely researched UFOlogy, ancient civilizations, consciousness science, and new paradigms of matter and energy. Wilcock has been a guest on numerous radio programs and has lectured throughout the United States and Japan. He is also an accomplished musician and composer of jazz-fusion, New Age/meditative, and world music pieces.

Alex Grey is the author of the soon to be released Art Psalms. His artwork has appeared in Newsweek and Time magazine, on the Discovery Channel, and on album art for the Beastie Boys, Nirvana, and others. Grey was professor of anatomy and figure sculpture at NYU for ten years, and a graduate painting professor at both the Rhode Island School of Design and the Philadelphia College of Art. In 2004, Grey and his wife Allyson founded the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, a cultural center and refuge for contemplation in New York City. He lives in New York City.

Victoria Boutenko is the author of 12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food. She teaches classes on raw food all over the world, and is an adjunct professor at Southern Oregon University. Boutenko travels worldwide sharing her gourmet raw cuisine and her inspiring story of change, faith, and determination. She has published a monthly newsletter since 2003 on her Web site www.rawfamily.com. Boutenko is a leader in the raw food movement and her works are recognized as having a profound impact on the development of raw food communities across the globe. She lives in Ashland, Oregon.

Matthew and Terces Engelhart are the authors of Sacred Commerce: Business as a Path of Awakening and The Abounding River Personal Logbook: An Unfamiliar View of Being Abundance. Terces is also the author of I Am Grateful. The Engelharts are the owners of Café Gratitude, a popular organic vegan restaurant chain in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. They lead workshops on Abundance as a quality of the Divine, Kindred Spirit — Spiritual relationship, Sacred Commerce — merging the sacred with the commercial, and One Week Without Sugar — an introduction to a spiritual diet. The Engelharts live in San Francisco.

David Wolfe, North Atlantic Books author of Amazing Grace, Eating for Beauty, Naked Chocolate, and The Sunfood Diet Success System can be seen on TVGuestpert.com discussing environmentalism, eco-business, nutrition, health, and longevity.

Through his down-to-earth and simple approach, David shows us that no problem is created without a solution and that we DO have the opportunity, right at our fingertips, to make new choices about our lifestyle and take our health back into the power of our own hands…

…David Wolfe empowers and inspires people to take charge of their health even up against all the modern-day demands of bills, technology, environmental pollution, commuting, and inflation. By making simple, informed decisions, David shows us that we can all enjoy quality time for ourselves and with our family, because, after all, Health is Wealth!

David Wolfe conducts 100 health lectures and seminars each year in the United States, Canada, Europe and the South Pacific, and leads six health, healing, and beauty retreats each year at various retreat centers around the world. The son of two medical doctors, Wolfe has an extensive educational background, which gives him a unique perspective in the health field. He holds degrees in law, mechanical and environmental engineering, and in political science. He has studied at many institutions including Oxford University in England, and concluded his formal education by receiving a Juris Doctor in Law from the University of San Diego. Wolfe is the President of non-profit Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, with the mission to plant 18 billion fruit trees worldwide. He is also the founder of Sunfood Nutrition, the world’s leading source of raw foods, inspired by the principles of sustainable agriculture, living in harmony with nature, and ethical global cooperation.

CLICK HERE to watch David Wolfe’s VIDEO INTERVIEW or to read his BIOGRAPHY on TVGuestpert.com.

May has finally arrived, bringing the beginning of the North Atlantic Books Spring 2008 season. Our new books this month encompass a wide range of genres including metaphysics, anatomy, martial arts, business, and fiction. Enjoy!

To order, please visit www.northatlanticbooks.com

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The Fourth Perspective: A CJ Floyd Mystery
By Robert Greer

$14.95/$16.95 in Canada
Trade Paper
978-1-58394-223-9
392 pages, 6 x 9
Frog, Ltd.
On Sale May 6, 2008

The building of the transcontinental railroad provides a dramatic setting for murder in this lively thriller by Robert Greer, author of The Devil’s Hatband. When bail bondsman and bounty hunter CJ Floyd opens an antique store, the last thing he expects is to be fingered for murder. But that’s exactly what happens after an immigrant student tries to sell him a rare book. The book contains a hidden photograph as legendary—and valuable—as the Maltese Falcon. The seller quickly turns up dead in an alley, and CJ is the main suspect. Before he knows it, CJ finds himself on the dark side of a historical looking glass that has him following eccentric power brokers, museum curators, art dealers and collectors, and academics down a trail of greed and corruption as they all vie for a picture they’re willing to kill for. The Fourth Perspective is a fast-moving, full-dress whodunit based on the last great American railroad construction project and its priceless photographic history.
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Sacred Commerce: Business as a Path of Awakening
By Matthew and Terces Engelhart

$14.95/$16.95 in Canada
Trade Paper
978-1-55643-729-8
152 pages, 6 x 9
North Atlantic Books
On Sale May 6, 2008

Matthew and Terces Engelhart, the owners of Café Gratitude, a popular organic vegan restaurant chain in the San Francisco Bay Area and LA, offer Sacred Commerce as a blueprint for creating a business based on community and spiritual values. Matthew and Terces present the idea that love before appearances is the antidote to our spiritual, environmental, and social degradation. This book explores topics including mission statements, manager as coach, human resources as a sacred culture, and inspirational meetings. Integrating the concept of “Sacred Commerce” into business can provide both financial success and spiritual satisfaction. Sacred Commerce is the ideal mix of the personal and the practical—a guidebook written by people who have felt success, not just spent it.
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Yang Style Traditional Long Form T’ai Chi Ch’uan: As Taught by Master T.T. Liang
By Gordon Muir

$16.95/$20 in Canada
Trade Paper
978-1-58394-221-5
256 pages, 7 x 9-1/4
Blue Snake Books
On Sale May 13, 2008

Gordon Muir began his martial arts studies at the age of twelve, followed by years of serious study of a wide variety of disciplines including judo, kyokushinkai, karate, kempo, several kung fu styles, and kickboxing. Eventually he discovered the internal martial arts, which led to t’ai chi and Master T.T. Liang, renowned teacher of Yang style. Yang Style Traditional Long Form T’ai Chi Ch’uan is the culmination of the author’s longtime study of this style. It focuses on the revered traditional form rather than the more recently created short form, and describes in depth the type of movement t’ai chi strives for that distinguishes it from other martial arts. Numerous photographs and detailed descriptions showcase and simplify the movements, which include the traditional Yang stances, hand and arm positions, and moving and powering. Written in a simple, engaging style, the book is designed to help new students get started in this rewarding tradition and more advanced practitioners deepen their knowledge of it.
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The Gods’ Machines: From Stonehenge to Crop Circles
By Wun Chok Bong

$26.95 / $32.00 in Canada
Trade paper
978-1-58394-207-9
528 pages, 7-3/16 x 10
Frog, Ltd.
On Sale May 27, 2008

Based on Wun Chok Bong’s decipherment of prehistoric carvings and the application of mathematical measurements, The Gods’ Machines shows how “unknown” phenomena from Angkor Wat to Stonehenge to crop circles are actually powerhouses built by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization for tapping electromagnetic energy. The book traces the development of that civilization on Earth over 5,000 years, and reveals how all of these structures are aligned according to a universal formula. These fascinating theories not only explain our distant past, but also open the door to a future of power technology and space travel. The Gods’ Machines is a comprehensive, illustrated study of the extraterrestrial origins of megalithic structures, based on a provocative “stone angle alignment” theory and is certain to stimulate debate among readers interested in alternative history, ancient civilization, and extraterrestrial intelligence.
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Anatomy of the Moving Body: A Basic Course in Bones, Muscles, and Joints Second Edition
By Theodore Dimon, Jr.

$21.95/$25 in Canada
Trade Paper
978-1-55643-720-5
272 pages, 8 x 9-1/4
North Atlantic Books
On Sale May 27, 2008

By the author of The Undivided Self and The Elements of Skill, Anatomy of the Moving Body is a simple yet complete study of the body’s complex system of bones, muscles, and joints and how they function. Beautifully illustrated with more than 100 dynamic images, the book contains 31 lectures that guide readers through this challenging interior landscape. Each part of the body is explained in brief, manageable sections and topics include the etymology of anatomical terms; origins and attachments of muscles and their related actions; discussion of major functional systems such as the pelvis, ankle, shoulder girdle, and hand; major landmarks and human topography; and structures relating to breathing and vocalization. This second edition features all-new illustrations and is ideal for dancers and movement educators, students, therapists, as well as for practitioners of yoga, Pilates, martial arts, and dance.

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