A rarity in American letters, Holy Week Sonnets offers a cycle of sacred verse. Further, this new collection of twenty-four sonnets by Philip Rosenbaum evokes the last worldly experiences of Jesus Christ and those who knew him, as described in the New Testament. The foreword, by the noted evangelist Joni Eareckson Tada, highlights the importance of this book for active Christians. As she writes, "Poetry may demand our intellect, but these poems command our undivided heart. Holy Week Sonnets speak to our innermost being, revealing the beauty and brilliance of our Savior in the most unexpected way."

Holy Week Sonnets describe such moments as Christ's entry into Jerusalem, Martha's devotion to Jesus, His Passion itself, and Thomas the doubter's conviction. The book, deftly designed by the distinguished graphic designer Kathleen Sims, displays each poem on a right-hand page, with relevant Bible citations printed in red on the facing page. Bible passages appear in an appendix. Hardbound in red and smaller than standard books, the lovely volume sits lightly in the hand and has a ribbon bookmark.

Working in the tradition of 17th century poets John Donne and Andrew Marvell, Rosenbaum admits his sonnets have been more than twenty years in the writing. Born in Washington, D.C. and raised by secular parents, he attended St. Albans School and sang in the choir at the Washington National Cathedral. After graduating from Harvard with honors in English, he became a dedicated Christian in his middle twenties. Rosenbaum was a counselor and director of a wilderness school for delinquent boys before he began writing—mostly prose—for publication. After an evangelical ministry in California, he returned to the east and now works as an art consultant. His previous books, both nonfiction works, are How to Enjoy the Boring Parts of the Bible and The Promise.

(ISBN 1-889274-21-6; Hardbound, 105 pages; $24)

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The Union's doom seems near in June of 1863 as Robert E. Lee invades the North. Desperate, President Lincoln names an obscure major general to lead his broken army and defend Washington. Brilliant but colorless, George G. Meade picks the place for the Union's tattered forces to make their stand: Gettysburg. For two days the armies fight to a bloody deadlock. Then Lee orders his final attack, the Union line holds and Rebels fall or flee. Meade wins the Civil War's pivotal battle, but Lee withdraws to fight another day.... What if Meade counterattacks? He might crush the Confederate army and end the Civil War two years early....

Thus John Duke Merriam retells Gettysburg's uncertain preamble, the struggle that saw heroism on both sides, and a "what-if" aftermath. With fictional inventions like a spy ring of slaves, and exciting characters in blue, in gray, in mufti and in negligees, Merriam describes what might have been: Peace comes sooner; President Lincoln governs to rebuild the South; valiant and villainous characters shape and are reshaped by the nation reborn in liberty. Larger than a novel of the Civil War, Merriam's epic tells what might have been in and after the battle was fought "that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom." But then one April night in 1865, President Lincoln still takes his wife and friends to see a play at Ford's Theatre....

(ISBN 1-889274-18-6. Illustrated, 326 pages. $25.)

For an excerpt, go to the Meade's Reprise website, www.MeadesReprise.com.

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Both charming and informative, this small illustrated book describes what may be the world's richest variety of indigenous farm animals, namely the eponymous livestock and fowl of the Shetland Islands—Shetland Ponies, Shetland Cattle, Shetland Sheep, Shetland Goose, Shetland Duck, etc. (There used to be a Shetland Pig and a working Shetland Sheepdog, but no more.) As this multi-author anthology points out, the evolution/development of these near-subspecies is the remarkable product of natural selection and selective breeding. The book's contributors include British travel author and historian Andro Linklater; Scottish horse authority Valerie Russell; native Shetlander and journalist James R. Nicholson; and Lawrence Alderson, chairman emeritus of Britain's Rare Breeds Survival Trust. The book holds special interest for the "minor breeds community" throughout the English-speaking world, namely breeders, vets and devotees of rare animals.

(ISBN 1-889274-10-0; Illustrated, 178 pages. $24.)

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On the shores of its great bay, Rhode Island raised a colony of sailors, then a state of seafarers. With Newport harbour deemed "the finest in all America," the colony was first a haven for pirates, then for their legal successors, the privateers, some of whom became the new American nation's first naval officers. Still others would prosper (or perish) as slavers, while some neighbors led the abolitionist cause and their cousins plied rich trade routes to the fabled Orient. . . . So it was that Rhode Island's history, perhaps more than that of any other colony and state, is a skein of maritime yarns—as this scholarly and prizewinning volume proves. Richly illustrated and exhaustively annotated, this posthumous work was awarded a John Lyman Award by the North American Society for Oceanic History, and two first prizes from Washington Book Publishers for its cover design and interior designs. Praised as a "best read" of the year by the Providence Journal, it was recommended by many Rhode Island reviewers and most recently by the New England Quarterly, journal of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

(ISBN 1-889274-05-4; 324 pages; Illustrated; $39.95)

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This modern/medieval fantasy for children (of all ages) features illustrations by Sheila Waters, the celebrated calligrapher and book "decorator" whose unique rendering of Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood is treasured by bibliophiles. The volume was designed and embellished by Julian Waters, America's pre-eminent letter artist and designer. It was the only book honored for both its interior and cover design in Washington Book Publishers' annual competition.

(ISBN 1-889274-07-0; 102 pages; Illustrated; $24.95)

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This informative, eclectic history of the first Dominican parish east of the Allegheny Mountains won the Morris MacGregor Award conferred by the Catholic Historical Society of Washington. It weaves historical fact and figures, contemporary personal anecdotes, and practical information into a lively account of the church and its congregation.

The elegant Gothic structure of St. Dominic's occupies a parcel of land that has been in Catholic hands since the seventeenth century. Passed from one generation to the next, it was sold in 1852 to St. Dominic's Brotherhood, the Order of Preachers. Soon thereafter a church was erected and a parish flourished despite the outbreak of the Civil War. With the influx of Irish Catholic immigrants to the city, in the late 19th century, the parish expanded to incorporate a larger church, a priory for Dominican friars and, eventually, a school and a convent. Through the beneficence of many parishioners and other loyal Washingtonians, the church is graced with beautiful stained glass windows and frescoes. Of particular note is a window donated by Mrs. William Tecumseh Sherman, wife of the Army general. Complementing the physical beauty of the interior is a rare, original Roosevelt organ. Helen Hayes, a native Southwest Washingtonian and later "First Lady of the American Stage," spent her childhood in the parish, was a choir girl here and sang to its melodic strains.

Surviving fires, economic downturns, changes promulgated by the Second Vatican Council, and devastating urban renewal, the church remains today a dominant feature of the downtown landscape and a sanctuary for Washingtonians and tourists alike.

(ISBN 1-889274-20-8; Illustrated 68 pages. $12.)

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This paradigm of American corporate history tells the interwoven stories of the author's successful business career and his personal life. Raymond went to work as a teenager for the family firm, The Raymond Corporation, rose to become its president, developed a revolutionary vehicle in the narrow-aisle forklift truck, and made the company a premier manufacturer of materials handling equipment. Succeeded by a CEO who became an adversary, Raymond was compelled to force the public sale of the company that his father bought for $6,000; it fetches $353 million. One reader calls the book a moving and instructive variation on the theme "shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations." A cogent and lively narrative, it is required reading for students of that widespread American enterprise, the family business, and a useful primer for stockholders of family businesses.

(ISBN 1-889274-12-7; 234 pages; Illustrated; $28.00)

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A history of the Gow School published when this seminal institution celebrated its 75th anniversary, David Gow's opus is also a history of the Gow family, a personal memoir, and finally a primer on teaching children who have learning problems. Broad in scope, the narrative embraces scenes of a bucolic boyhood, and recounts the school's founding and early years. Telling David's story, it records the frustrations of Army life on the homefront in World War II, and the alternating sprees and intellectual challenges of Yale in the 1940s. Finally it tells of David's career as a teacher at Gow and as its headmaster who led this very special school through a series of crises, challenges of the sort that other schools have faced—some of them far less successfully. In this, in its discussion of special pedagogy, and in its portraits of dedicated colleagues, it offers instructive guidance to teachers and administrators alike, while for others it offers the inspiring biographies of a man, a family and a school.

(ISBN 1-889274-17-8; 374 pages; Illustrated; $30.00)

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Waiting for the Snow
Thomas J. Scanlon

This book is a memoir in letters by one of the first forty-five volunteers to go abroad the day after the Peace Corps was chartered by Congress in 1961. The Washington Post declared "Hundreds of books have been written [about the Peace Corps]. . . . Tom Scanlon's is among the finest." His letters, written to friends and family during two years in Chile, describe a volunteer's life and viewpoint. It offers a bright look at a different world, one endangered by the Cold War yet inspired by new idealism and hope among young people. As the first Peace Corps director Sargent Shriver declares in a foreword, "Waiting for the Snow reminds us of the enormous greatness that can happen when ordinary people do what is good and right."

Recommended by such authorities as Shriver and Father Theodore Hesburgh of Notre Dame University, the book interests many readers, starting with the Peace Corps community and its 147,000 veterans who have served in 132 countries. For people interested in international development it is a kind of training manual. Referring to the book's title, taken from a speech by President Kennedy, Paul Theroux writes "I distinctly remember JFK telling Scanlon's story all those years ago and this excellent book reawakens the bright hopes I also felt when I joined the Peace Corps. This is a salutary story." Other authors praising the book include biographer Kitty Kelley, who writes "Waiting for the Snow makes you realize why the Peace Corps is America's best export."

(Paperback, 253 pages; $14.95, ISBN 1-889274-03-8.)

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Naked in a Pinstriped Suite
by Al Bowers

This satirical thriller involves two worlds: the stuffy domain of a cosmetics company's bloated executive suite and the shadow realm of a secret cabal of animal-rights guerrillas. These zealots are sworn to end the cosmetic company's use of animals as guinea pigs to test its beauty products. Set in Texas, the novel is a romp of intrigue and deceit, of bald egos and black plots, of kidnapping, hilarity, torture and romance!

Booknews in Scottsdale, AZ called it "Recommended Reading. A hilarious romp through high level corporate America." In the Alexandria (VA) Gazette-Packett, Kyle Z. Bell exclaimed "Naked in a Pinstriped Suit is one of those books that people looking for stress relief cherish. Within a few paragraphs the reader is hooked. The outside world disappears. . . ."

(Hardbound, 234 pages; $21.95, ISBN 1-889274-02-X)

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A cycle of spiritual reflections by a gifted preacher, this is Posterity Press' second volume of sermons by the Rev. Dr. Francis H. Wade, rector of St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Washington, DC.

(ISBN 1-889274-19-4; 116 pages; $20.00)

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