Books published by Apprentice House

To talk about values and ideals is easy. To live them is much more difficult, because no one is perfect. Like all good things, it requires effort. At times we all fall short of our ideals and values. The question is: Do we have ideals and values? I hope this book will be used by individuals, families and schools as a starting point for discussing character ideals in personal development. Values and ideals are as important as any other subject taught in school because without them your other skills may bring little personal satisfaction.Although I’ve called this a book about values, it is really about personal happiness. Your happiness will come from the values and ideals you choose for yourself. If you choose wisely, your values will bring you strength and a foundation to build a satisfying life. Your values will shape your life.This book is not intended to “teach” you values and ideals. Family, culture and faith traditions may be the best teachers. Rather, it is intended to share with you values and ideals that men and women have respected as long as history has been recorded, and to encourage discussion about them.

A lyrical, philosophical, and tender exploration of the various voices of grief, including those of the broken, the healing, the son-become-father, and the dead, Disinheritance acknowledges loss while celebrating the uncertainty of a world in constant revision. From the concrete consequences of each human gesture to soulful interrogations into "e;this amalgam of real / and fabled light,"e; these poems inhabit an unsteady betweenness, where ghosts can be more real than the flesh and blood of one's own hands. "e;In John Sibley Williams' "e;amalgam of real /and fabled light"e; one is able to believe again in the lyric poem as beautiful-if difficult-proof of private space. Disinheritance contends intimately with loss, to be sure - but it also proposes the poem as a way to remember, to persist, to be oneself, to believe. And to persist when belief may not be possible within the bounds of the shores the seas impose upon us."e;-Joan Naviyuk Kane"e;There is eternal longing in these poems of John Sibley Williams. A yearning for what cannot be understood. A song for what simply is. A distance beyond human measurement. A series of profound losses giving birth to words no different from medicine."e;-Zubair Ahmed"e;There is a hunger in these poems, one of an empty handed wise man who wants to sing. And sing he does. Let these poems sing to you too. Let them hold you in thatraw place of hope, let them beships mooring us to the wild / bottomless sea."e;-Daniela Elza"e;In John Sibley Williams' moving, somber collection, the power of elegy, reverie, and threnody transcends the disinheritance caused by separation. These compellingly atemporal poems form the locus wherein generations of a family can gather. Here, Williams' lyric proto-language-elemental, archetypal, primordial-subsumes barriers of time and space. His poems create their own inheritance."e;-Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita

The poems in Heritage reflect two threads: One offers new commentaries on some texts and stories in the Hebrew Bible. The other explores experiences encountered in mainstream American Judaism.  Taken together they constitute one person’s effort to make sense of life as a contemporary American Jew.

This book grew out of the overwhelming response requesting a companion volume to Father Brown’s book, Psalms and Consolations: A Jesuit’s Journey through Grief. In this volume on forgiveness and reconciliation, Father Brown continues to turn to the Book of Psalms for inspiration. Included are prayers and reflections meant to help all who are searching for a compassionate and healing path to forgiveness

In today's turbulent world, the issue isn't if crisis will occur, but when. Do you know how to prepare for, navigate through and recover from crisis? Can you turn adversity into advantage? This book holds the key. In his decades on the core executive teams of the Baltimore Police Department, U.S. Department of Justice and for Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., Rob Weinhold learned a basic truism: the strengths and shortcomings of leaders are never more magnified than during life's most difficult times. Weinhold flourishes in this space. Now, as chief executive of the highly-respected Fallston Group, a Baltimore-based crisis management & communications firm that guides leaders at every level, Weinhold shares the secrets of how to survive, then thrive, when the stakes are at their highest. A recognized crisis leadership expert who has appeared regularly on CNN, Fox, MSNBC and other national news outlets, Weinhold narrates the stories of real people and companies beset by social media attacks, sex scandals, financial distress, civic riots, active shooter situations, data breaches, natural disasters and other calamities. With each authentic story, he offers unique, yet proven, advice designed to help leaders remain steadfast, focused and resilient.

On a hot summer day in 2009, Dave Sandler's life took its biggest detour. He dropped dead on a softball field, but God was not ready to take him. Taking a Detour, describes the many health obstacles and professional challenges he overcame when a cure for cancer caused unforeseen-and catastrophic-health problems decades later. Each chapter is punctuated with important life lessons that will inspire and motivate readers to persevere through their most difficult challenges.

Named "e;2014 Best Book by Small Publisher"e;-Catholic Press Association. There are very few benefits to the being the only man in the convent. There are fewer still being the only big brother to 250 boys in an orphanage. But if you keep busy, you stumble into opportunities to help. And if you're clueless, you don't know better than to attempt the improbable. And if you're clumsy, you trip over life's lessons at every turn. For more than 100 years, a small band of nuns have run Alpha Boys School in Kingston, caring for the abandoned, abused and delinquent boys of Jamaica. From 1984 - 1986, they allowed the author to share their world. He was one of many people during those years who lived on the periphery of the boys' lives, trying to help, and trying to understand. He saw the relationships the boys built with each other, which kept them from being completely alone in the world. Whether from the inside or the out, they all lived at the orphanage edge. All of the author's proceeds from this book go to support the work of the Mercy Sisters and the Jesuits in Jamaica. About the Author -- Jay Sullivan, is the Managing Partner of Exec|Comm, LLC, a communications consulting firm. In between graduating from Boston College and attending Fordham Law School, he taught English in Kingston, Jamaica. He was a featured columnist in the New York Law Journal, where his Art of Communication column appeared regularly. His articles and poetry, both humorous and serious, have appeared in The Golfer, Boston College Magazine, Catholic Digest, Parents Magazine, and other publications. He lives in Pleasantville, New York, with his wife and four children.

Jerry's Vegan Women is a fun, poignant, and occasionally steamy collection of fictional stories that follows the adventures of Jerry Zuckerman as he makes his way through the shelters, sanctuaries, and bedrooms of an eclectic assortment of vegan women. The book begins with Jerry as a sixth grader who has never given any thought about the welfare of animals or the food he eats. But his chance encounters with vegan women - friends, lovers, acquaintances, and colleagues - change all that. The book is by no means a vegan manifesto. Rather, it reveals the virtues, imperfections, and idiosyncrasies of those who choose the meat-free lifestyle. And, it explores universal themes such as love, work, and most of all, the search for identity and meaning. It's a journey that both herbivores and omnivores will enjoy.