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I AM JOY is a peek into the life and the lessons that led Joy to the woman she is today. Her inspiring story of courage and perseverance is sure to inspire many. Joy England earned her Master's in Public Administration from Rutgers University, Newark. After beginning her career with the special needs community in 2003, she dedicated her career to advocating for those who need support in finding their voice.

"William Joy, the earliest documented ancestor of the Joy family of Campbell County, Virginia, lived in the Chapelry of Pateley Bridge, Yorkshire, England, and, in all probability, he was born in the chapelry although no conclusive record of his birth or baptism has been found...He was buried on October 6, 1639 in Pateley Bridge Chapelry."--p. 37. He had two known sons. Descendant "...Michael Joy...was born in 1781 in the hamlet of Bale Bank near Pateley Bridge, Yorkshire, England...On April 23, 1799 [he] married Jane Harrop, the daughter of Matthew and Mary Harrop...[They] settled near her home in Coldstone Fold on Greenhow Hill where they were to live for the next nineteen years."--p. 61. Later Michael, Jane and most of their family left England and came to America in 1830 settling in Richmond, Virginia. Michael died in October 1830, several months after arriving in America. Descendants lived in England, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Colorado and elsewhere.

Honorable Mention for the Wallace K. Ferguson Prize from the Canadian Historical AssociationChosen by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title of 2003 In 1891, newspapers all over the world carried reports of the death of H. P. Blavatsky, the mysterious Russian woman who was the spiritual founder of the Theosophical Society. With the help of the equally mysterious Mahatmas who were her teachers, Blavatsky claimed to have brought the "ancient wisdom of the East" to the rescue of a materialistic West. In England, Blavatsky's earliest followers were mostly men, but a generation later the Theosophical Society was dominated by women, and theosophy had become a crucial part of feminist political culture. Divine Feminine is the first full-length study of the relationship between alternative or esoteric spirituality and the feminist movement in England. Historian Joy Dixon examines the Theosophical Society's claims that women and the East were the repositories of spiritual forces which English men had forfeited in their scramble for material and imperial power. Theosophists produced arguments that became key tools in many feminist campaigns. Many women of the Theosophical Society became suffragists to promote the spiritualizing of politics, attempting to create a political role for women as a way to "sacralize the public sphere." Dixon also shows that theosophy provides much of the framework and the vocabulary for today's New Age movement. Many of the assumptions about class, race, and gender which marked the emergence of esoteric religions at the end of the nineteenth century continue to shape alternative spiritualities today.

“I am the bastard daughter of King Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor. The Crown may not agree, but my life and family history is worth telling.” Born to wealth and privilege in the countryside of England, Joy Drinkwater went from plenty to poverty when her stepfather abandoned her mother and made an astonishing claim…Drinkwater’s real father was the Kind of England, Edward VIII. Although the world remembers the Duke of Windsor for abdicating his throne in 1936 to marry American divorcee, Wallis Warfield Simpson, few know the story of the Princess Who Never Was. This riveting autobiography spans nearly eighty years and recounts Joy’s quest to prove her noble heritage in a rapidly changing world that refused to grant her any privileges. The adventures, loves, losses, and dreams of this remarkable woman are certain to captivate the hearts of readers and provoke controversy. The Royal Crown of England has never been asked to acknowledge Joy’s heritage as a legitimate Princess and will probably ban the sale of this autobiography in England.

In England, perhaps more than most places, people's engagement with the landscape is deeply felt and has often been expressed through artistic media. The popularity of walking and walking clubs perhaps provides the most compelling evidence of the important role landscape plays in people's lives. Not only is individual identity rooted in experiencing landscape, but under the multiple impacts of social fragmentation, global economic restructuring and European integration, membership in recreational walking groups helps recover a sense of community. Moving between the 1750s and the present, this transdisciplinary book explores the powerful role of landscape in the formation of historical class relations and national identity. The author's direct field experience of fell walking in the Lake District and with various locally based clubs includes investigation of the roles gender and race play. She shows how the politics of access to open spaces has implications beyond the immediate geographical areas considered and ultimately involves questions of citizenship.