Books by Stephen Mansfield

Winston Churchill was one of the most extraordinary leaders of the twentieth century. What enabled him to stand so steadfastly when all those around him seemed to turn back in fear? What enabled him to inspire whole nations to endure the unendurable and to achieve the unachievable when all those around him had already surrendered all hope? The Character and Greatness of Winston Churchill is a remarkable study of Churchill's leadership skill and answers these questions and more. The result is an account that is no less inspiring today than it was three-quarters of a century ago when the great man's shadow fell large across the world stage. According to Henry Kissinger, "Our age finds it difficult to come to grips with Churchill. The political leaders with whom we are familiar generally aspire to be superstars rather than heroes. The distinction is crucial. Superstars strive for approbation; heroes walk alone. Superstars crave consensus; heroes define themselves by the ... future they see it as their task to bring about. Superstars seek success as a technique for eliciting support; heroes pursue success as the outgrowth of their inner values." Winston Churchill was a hero.

The history of Tokyo is as eventful as it is long. A concise yet detailed overview of this fascinating, centuries-old city, Tokyo: A Biography is a perfect companion volume for history buffs or Tokyo-bound travelers looking to learn more about their destination. In a whirlwind journey through Tokyo's past from its earliest beginnings up to the present day, this Japanese history book demonstrates how the city's response to everything from natural disasters to regime change has been to reinvent itself time and again. A calamitous fire results in a massive expansion of the city's territory. A debate over the Samurai code creates far-reaching social change. A malleable boy becomes the figurehead for powerful forces which change an ancient feudal society into a modern industrialized power within a generation. Utter destruction wipes the slate clean again so Tokyoites may start all over. And so it goes. Tokyo's story is riveting, and by the end of Tokyo: A Biography, readers see a city almost unrivaled in its uniqueness, a place thatdespite its often tragic historystill shimmers as it prepares to face the future.

In an age when positive models of manhood are hard to find, New York Times bestselling author challenges men to reclaim seven aspects of noble manhood and become the men of character they were meant to be.

New York Times best-selling author Stephen Mansfield was witness to much of the modern history of the Kurds. In this riveting account, Mansfield movingly tells the stories of the people who have fashioned one of the greatest economic and cultural resurrections in human history.They are the largest people group in the world without a homeland of their own. Despised and persecuted the world over, they even call themselves "the people without a friend." Saddam Hussein tried to wipe them from the face of the earth, killing several hundred thousand of them in the attempt. Their sufferings have become legend.They are the Kurds, descendants of the ancient Medes best known today from the pages of the Bible -- inhabitants of what the world now calls Northern Iraq. Yet today the Kurds are rebuilding so brilliantly from war and oppression that even their enemies call it "a miracle." Six star hotels stand where bombs once fell, shopping malls and gleaming schools rise where massacres once occurred. National Geographic and Conde Nast have listed modern "Kurdistan" as a "must-see" tourist destination.

Stephen Mansfield, the acclaimed New York Times best-selling author, has highlighted the growing popularity of Mormonism-a belief system with cultic roots-and the implications of its critical rise. Mormons are moving into the spotlight in pop culture, politics, sports, and entertainment via presidential candidates like Romney and Huntsman, media personality Glenn Beck, mega-bestselling Twilight author Stephanie Meyer, and The Book of Mormon, the hottest show on Broadway. Mormonism was once a renegade cult at war with the U.S. Army in the 1800s, but it has now emerged as not only the fastest-growing religion, but as a high-impact mainstream cultural influence.

In The Faith of Barack Obama, Stephen Mansfield explores Obama's religious faith without political or ideological bias. His basic premise is this: If a man's faith is sincere, then it is the most important thing about him.

Series of ten interactive Bible studies on justice and peace, to be launched at Christian Aid Week (11-17 May 2008)

n this updated and revised book, Stephen Mansfield again dives into the controversial faith of President Obama. With two new chapters devoted to the first two years of this historical presidency, Mansfield continues his exploration into Obama's faith without religious or political bias.

Las elecciones del 2008 ahora son solo un recuerdo, pero ?que paso con todas las promesas que le hizo Barack Obama al pueblo estadounidense?

Gain some new ideas along with the principles and history of Japanese stone gardening with this useful and beautiful garden design book.Japanese Stone Gardens provides a comprehensive introduction to the powerful mystique and dynamism of the Japanese stone gardenfrom their earliest use as props in animistic rituals, to their appropriation by Zen monks and priests to create settings conducive to contemplation and finally to their contemporary uses and meaning. With insightful text and abundant imagery, this book reveals the hidden order of stone gardens and in the process heightens the enthusiast's appreciation of them.The Japanese stone garden is an art form recognized around the globe. These meditative gardens provide tranquil settings, where visitors can shed the burdens and stresses of modern existence, satisfy an age-old yearning for solitude and repose, and experience the restorative power of art and nature. For this reason, the value of the Japanese stone garden today is arguably even greater than when many of them were created. Fifteen gardens are featured in this book: some well known, such as the famous temple gardens of Kyoto, others less so, among them gardens spread through the south of Honshu Island and the southern islands of Shikoku and Kyushu and in faraway Okinawa.

This study discusses modern Australian life writing by sons who focus on their fathers. Termed patriography (by Couser) or The Sons Book of the Father (by Freadman), this rich field of relational autobiography offers insights into modes of masculinity, notions of identity and heritage and the ethics of representation. The current proliferation of father memoirs in the marketplace demonstrates that such writing is fulfilling and being fuelled by the need to better understand the traditionally lesser-known parent.Beginning with an analysis of the paradigmatic case of the sub-genre, Edmund Gosses Victorian masterpiece Father and Son, the study moves quickly on to embrace its Australian literary frame, demonstrating Gosses influence on a range of classic Australian autobiographies, including Hal Porters The Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony. Mansfield then offers five case studies on the seminal works of the current era: Raimond Gaitas Romulus, My Father; Richard Freadmans Shadow of Doubt; Peter Roses Rose Boys; John Hughess The Idea of Home; and Robert Grays The Land I Came Through Last.How do these authors perform their masculinity in the act of writing the father? What are some of the ethical complexities that must be negotiated when representing the reticent-laconic in autobiography? And, ultimately, how does one decide what an ethical representation of the father is? These are some of the questions Mansfield addresses in Australian Patriography, the first study of its kind in Australian literature.

From its obscure origins as a fishing village along a marshy estuary, Tokyo grew into one of the world s largest and most culturally vibrant metropolises. For all its modernity and craving for the new, it is a city impregnated with the past. In the backstreets of districts that have inspired the setting for science fiction novels are wooden temples, fox shrines, mouldering steles and statues of Bodhisattvas that evoke a different age. The point where time past, present and future coexist, Tokyo s thirst for the contemporary is moderated by nostalgia for the past. As an urban laboratory where the cultures of the East and West are remixed into perceptibly Japanese forms, Tokyo embraces sudden transitions, constant flux and transformation. The courtesans of its pleasure quarters inspired Edo-period woodblock artists, novelists and poets. In a later age, its experimental artists, feminist writers and Modern Girls of 1920s Ginza both shocked and electrified the capital. Stephen Mansfield explores a city rich in diversity, tracing its evolution from the founding of its massive stone citadel through rise of a merchant class whose wealth transformed Edo into a home for artists, writers and performers. In contemporary Tokyo he explores the unique crossbred cultures of taste that make the giant conurbation one of the most exciting and creative cities in the world. * City of Literature, Theatre and Art: The print masters Hokusai, Hiroshige and Utamaro; the Kabuki theatre; authors Nagai Kafu, Tanizaki Junichiro, Mishima Yukio, Murukami Haruki; foreign writers Angela Carter, William Gibson and Donald Richie. * City of Architecture: From the fortifications of Edo Castle, great temples and shrines, via the western hybrids of the Meiji era to the post-modernist skyscrapers, giant neon screens and digitalized surfaces of today s city. * City of Calamities: The great fires of the Edo period; floods, famines and typhoons; the 1923 Earthquake, coups and rising militarism in the 1930s; the fire bombings of the Second World War; the 1995 subway gas attack by members of a death cult and the fatalism of residents living on one of the earth s largest fault lines.