Keith Thomas

Presents an analysis of the religious beliefs of English society in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including the use of popular magic, and the role the Protestant Reformation played in taking magic out of religion.

Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England

Religion and the Decline of Magic

For fans of World War Z and the Southern Reach Trilogy, a suspenseful oral history commemorating the five-year anniversary of the Pulse—the alien code that hacked the DNA of Earth’s population—and the response team who faced the world-changing phenomenon. Voyager 1 was a message in a bottle. Our way of letting the galaxy know we existed. That we were out here if anyone wanted to find us. Over the next forty years, the probe flew past Jupiter and Saturn before it drifted into the void, swallowed up by a silent universe. Or so we thought… Truth is, our message didn’t go unheard. Discovered by Dr. Dahlia Black, the mysterious Pulse was sent by a highly intelligent intergalactic species that called themselves the Ascendants. It soon becomes clear this alien race isn’t just interested in communication—they are capable of rewriting human DNA, in an astonishing process they call the Elevation. Five years after the Pulse, acclaimed journalist Keith Thomas sets out to make sense of the event that altered the world. Thomas travels across the country to interview members of the task force who grappled to decode the Pulse and later disseminated its exact nature to worried citizens. He interviews the astronomers who initially doubted Black’s discovery of the Pulse—an error that critics say led to the world’s quick demise. Thomas also hears from witnesses of the Elevation and people whose loved ones vanished in the Finality, an event that, to this day, continues to puzzle Pulse researchers, even though theories abound about the Ascendants’ motivation. Including never-before-published transcripts from task force meetings, diary entries from Black, and candid interviews with Ballard, Thomas also shows in Dahlia Black how a select few led their country in its darkest hours, toward a new level of humanity.

A Novel

Dahlia Black

For fans of Black Mirror and True Detective, a visceral high‑concept thriller about a psychologist who must protect the life of an eleven-year-old girl whose ability to remember past lives makes them both targets of a merciless killer. Are the Night Doctors coming for you? Dr. Matilda Deacon is a psychologist researching how memories are made and stored when she meets a strange eleven-year-old girl named Ashanique. Ashanique claims to harbor the memories of the last soldier killed in World War I and Matilda is at first very interested but skeptical. However, when Ashanique starts talking about being chased by the Night Doctors—a term also used by an unstable patient who was later found dead—Matilda can’t deny that the girl might be telling the truth. Matilda learns that Ashanique and her mother have been on the run their whole lives from a monstrous assassin named Rade. Rade is after a secret contained solely in memories and has left a bloody trail throughout the world in search of it. Matilda soon realizes Ashanique is in unimaginable danger and that her unique ability comes with a deadly price. Fast-paced and suspenseful, The Clarity is a chilling blend of science and danger—a compelling take on the possibilities of reincarnation and life after death.

The Clarity

How should we live? That question was no less urgent for English men and women who lived between the early sixteenth and late eighteenth centuries than for this book's readers. Keith Thomas's masterly exploration of the ways in which people sought to lead fulfilling lives in those centuries between the beginning of the Reformation and the heyday of the Enlightenment illuminates the central values of the period, while casting incidental light on some of the perennial problems of human existence.Consideration of the origins of the modern ideal of human fulfilment and of obstacles to its realization in the early modern period frames an investigation that ranges from work, wealth, and possessions to the pleasures of friendship, family, and sociability. The cult of military prowess, the pursuit of honour and reputation, the nature of religious belief and scepticism, and the desire to be posthumously remembered are all drawn into the discussion, and the views and practices of ordinarypeople are measured against the opinions of the leading philosophers and theologians of the time.The Ends of Life offers a fresh approach to the history of early modern England, by one of the foremost historians of our time. It also provides modern readers with much food for thought on the problem of how we should live and what goals in life we should pursue.

Roads to Fulfilment in Early Modern England

The Ends of Life:Roads to Fulfilment in Early Modern England

Throughout the ages man has struggled with his perceived place in the natural world. The idea of humans cultivating the Earth fo suit specific needs is one of the greatest points of contention in this struggle. Man and the Natural World explores how man's ascendancy over the natural world gave way to a new concern for the environment and sense of kinship with other species. 22 halftones.

Changing Attitudes in England, 1500-1800

Man and the Natural World

A horror novella about a boy, his grandfather, and a monster in the basement of the house.

The Dunnie

Heal Like Jesus

Tyler Kirkham

Zenescope

Miller, David

Screwed

Manners and Civilization in Early Modern England

In Pursuit of Civility

'Man and the Natural World, an encyclopaedic study of man's relationship to animals and plants, is completely engrossing ... It explains everything - why we eat what we do, why we plant this and not that, why we keep pets, why we like some animals and not others, why we kill the things we kill and love the things we love ... It is often a funny book and one to read again and again' Paul Theroux, Sunday Times 'The English historian Keith Thomas has revealed modes of thought and ways of life deeply strange to us' Hilary Mantel, New York Review of Books 'A treasury of unusual historical anecdote ... a delight to read and a pleasure to own' Auberon Waugh, Sunday Telegraph 'A dense and rich work ... the return to the grass roots of our own environmental convictions is made by the most enchantingly minor paths' Ronald Blythe, Guardian

Changing Attitudes in England 1500-1800

Andrew Adonis

Roy Jenkins was a dominating figure in British politics across the four decades before his death in 2003, with an impact and legacy greater than many prime ministers of the period. His name is synonymous with the rise of the liberal society in the 1960s and beyond, and with the development ofprogressive social democratic politics spanning the forty years between the death of his mentor Hugh Gaitskell and the premiership of his friend - and some would say protege - Tony Blair.These essays, by friends and associates of Roy Jenkins from every phase of his life, chart his remarkable career with insight, anecdote and empathy. Each contributor writes from a close relationship with their subject, and with unique authority.They bring to life the 1960s 'Iron Chancellor'; the model progressive Home Secretary under Wilson and Callaghan; the first (and only) British President of the European Commission; the pioneer of the Social Democratic Party and much of the reshaping of British politics in the 1980s and 1990s; thefriend and mentor of Tony Blair; the Chancellor of Oxford University; and the acclaimed author and biographer, whose best-selling Churchill appeared more than fifty years after his first biography of Clement Attlee.The authors also recreate the remarkable circle of partisans and devotees, from politics and beyond, which surrounded Roy Jenkins from the mid-1960s until his death. At the heart of the Establishment, yet among its most effective reformers and critics; a son of the valleys who became a connoisseurof the best things in life, he was an object of the deepest loyalty and the fiercest antipathy - and among the most caricatured and celebrated figures of the day. This book is a testament to one of the most fascinating public figures of the post-war era.

A Retrospective

Roy Jenkins

Divided Loyalties

A History of Ebbw Vale

Heritage

Like soldiers walking into a minefield, there are some things in life that are unseen but deadly. Just because you may be unaware of something dangerous, it doesn’t mean it cannot affect you. There is an old saying “what you don’t know can’t hurt you.” Although it is true that knowledge can bring with it pain, it is much better to be forewarned about danger than to ignore it. In Keith's latest study, If God is For Us, he leads us through the scriptures that help us see that God is for us, and what this means as far as our Christian faith and walk. We have no need to fear when we are assured that God always has, is, and always will provide and protect us. Keith's study brings freedom so that Christians can focus on what God has placed them here for, instead of worrying about spiritual attacks. You will understand the enemy's schemes and learn to walk in your victory.

If God Is for Us Study Guide

Presents an account of the changing attitudes in people towards nature and the environment between 1500-1800.

Let me tell you a story, I swear that it's true! It's about a man in this world who's not much different than you...Preston Cooper was a simple man happy in hisaverage life. That was until a magical deck of tarot cards landed in his possession. When these cards turn his world upside down, he is taken for a wild ride of magic, mayhem and self discovery, ultimately bringing him face to face with the forces of evil.He always felt that he was destined for something great, he just never expected anything like this! As time goes on he discovers himself to be in the company of a smoking hot female counterpart, and four outrageous litte men who are all charged with the task of keeping him on the straight and narrow.Can even their help keep Preston from losing thecards to an ancient evil that has pursued them since their creation?Armed with magic and a wit sharper than 1000Ginzu knives, Preston is in for the ride of his life, and he'll go laughing all the way

The King of Fools

What did it mean to be ‘civilized’ in Early Modern England? Keith Thomas's seminal studies Religion and the Decline of Magic, Man and the Natural World, and The Ends of Life, explored the beliefs, values and social practices of the years between 1500 and 1800. In Pursuit of Civility continues this quest by examining what the English people thought it meant to be `civilized' and how that condition differed from being `barbarous' or `savage' .Thomas shows how the upper ranks of society sought to distinguish themselves from their social inferiors by developing distinctive forms of moving, speaking and comporting themselves - and how the common people in turn developed their own forms of civility. The belief of the English in their superior civility shaped their relations with the Welsh, the Scots and the Irish. By legitimizing international trade, colonialism, slavery, and racial discrimination, it was fundamental to their dealings with the native peoples of North America, India, and Australia. Yet not everyone shared this belief in the superiority of Western civilization. In Pursuit of Civility throws light on the early origins of anti-colonialism and cultural relativism, and goes on to examine some of the ways in which the new forms of civility were resisted. With all the author’s distinctive authority and brilliance - based as ever on wide reading, abounding in fresh insights, and illustrated by many striking quotations and anecdotes from contemporary sources - In Pursuit of Civility transforms our understanding of the past. In so doing, it raises important questions as to the role of manners in the modern world.

What did it mean to be 'civilized' in Early Modern England? Keith Thomas's seminal studies Religion and the Decline of Magic, Man and the Natural World, and The Ends of Life, explored the beliefs, values and social practices of the years between 1500 and 1800. In Pursuit of Civility continues this quest by examining what the English people thought it meant to be `civilized' and how that condition differed from being `barbarous' or `savage' . Thomas shows how the upper ranks of society sought to distinguish themselves from their social inferiors by developing distinctive forms of moving, speaking and comporting themselves - and how the common people in turn developed their own forms of civility. The belief of the English in their superior civility shaped their relations with the Welsh, the Scots and the Irish. By legitimizing international trade, colonialism, slavery, and racial discrimination, it was fundamental to their dealings with the native peoples of North America, India, and Australia. Yet not everyone shared this belief in the superiority of Western civilization. In Pursuit of Civility throws light on the early origins of anti-colonialism and cultural relativism, and goes on to examine some of the ways in which the new forms of civility were resisted. With all the author's distinctive authority and brilliance - based as ever on wide reading, abounding in fresh insights, and illustrated by many striking quotations and anecdotes from contemporary sources - In Pursuit of Civility transforms our understanding of the past. In so doing, it raises important questions as to the role of manners in the modern world.

How should we live? That question was no less urgent for English men and women who lived between the early sixteenth and late eighteenth centuries than for this book's readers. Keith Thomas's masterly exploration of the ways in which people sought to lead fulfilling lives in those centuries between the beginning of the Reformation and the heyday of the Enlightenment illuminates the central values of the period, while casting incidental light on some of the perennial problems of human existence. Consideration of the origins of the modern ideal of human fulfilment and of obstacles to its realization in the early modern period frames an investigation that ranges from work, wealth, and possessions to the pleasures of friendship, family, and sociability. The cult of military prowess, the pursuit of honour and reputation, the nature of religious belief and scepticism, and the desire to be posthumously remembered are all drawn into the discussion, and the views and practices of ordinary people are measured against the opinions of the leading philosophers and theologians of the time. The Ends of Life offers a fresh approach to the history of early modern England, by one of the foremost historians of our time. It also provides modern readers with much food for thought on the problem of how we should live and what goals in life we should pursue.

The Ends of Life

Most people all over the world, acknowledge that Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever lived, but have you ever explored, in detail, what He actually taught? Join Bible teacher, Keith Thomas, as He walks you through the life of Jesus, explaining and studying His words, verse by verse, in order to apply Jesus' teaching to your life. The words of Jesus are life transforming and you will find that as you study Luke's Gospel in-depth, that the Holy Spirit will transform your life. The goal of this study is "to know Jesus Christ more clearly, to love Him more dearly and to follow Him more nearly" (Richard Chichester). Luke, a physician by trade, offers us a rich and detailed account of the ministry of the Son of God. It does not matter how long you have been a follower of Christ; you will fall in love with Him all over again!

Keith Thomas

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