MSI Press Blog

The events that unfolded after I left Bahrain reached me only through messages from friends, each one carrying more fear than the last. I wasn’t involved in the politics swirling around the country then; I only felt the edges of it through the people I cared about as the ground shifted beneath their feet. A group of young men from the village I had visited and elsewhere had been taken in the middle of the night—boys pulled from their beds, accusations that didn’t match the sons their families knew. The details were always hazy, even at the time. Some said there were eleven of them, others said seventeen. What everyone agreed on was that the arrests came suddenly, based on information that later proved unreliable. The reason: public demonstrations at the Pearl Roundabout. I forgot what the political message was. I was only on the periphery and not there at the time. I only know about the turmoil through some newspaper articles I was able to access and through friends. I heard that t...

  Chris Richards, author of  Nothing So Broken , was recently interviewed by the Worcester Telegram and Gazette . Book description:  In the shadow of loss, a path to healing begins. Chris Richards grew up in a small New England mill town, where life was tough and loyalty ran deep. At just 19, his world was shaken when a close friend was left permanently disabled by a devastating accident. At the same time, Chris’s father began to show troubling symptoms linked to his service in the Vietnam War—unseen wounds that would slowly unravel the man he once knew. The weight of watching two people he loved unravel under the strain of trauma and physical decline left deep scars—ones Chris carried silently into adulthood. For years, he buried his grief and fear, never imagining that one day, facing his own crisis, he would turn to their stories for strength. This powerful and moving memoir explores the enduring impact of trauma, the quiet power of resilience, and how even the most br...

  Bahrain Imagine standing at the edge of a burial mound field at dusk. Behind you, the towers of the capital city shimmer like glass lanterns. Before you, the desert breathes with ancient memory. And all around, the sea whispers the stories of traders, poets, and pilgrims who once called this island home. That is Bahrain. The name means “two seas” ( bahr = sea, ain = dual grammatical ending). Bahrain is a shimmering archipelago in the Persian Gulf, where ancient burial mounds rise from desert plains and the sleek skyline of Manama glints across the water. It’s a place where Bronze Age silence and 21st-century ambition coexist—sometimes in the same breath. It is also hot. By mid‑summer, Bahrain feels like it has been placed under a glass dome. Temperatures climb well above 40°C (104°F), and the humidity rolls in from the Gulf like a warm, wet curtain. On the hottest days, the air itself feels heavy—almost tactile. It’s the kind of heat that doesn’t just sit on the skin; ...

  Today's Publisher's Pride is  One Family Indivisible  by Steven Greenebaum, which reached #96 among Amazon top sellers in Christian ecumenism and #267 in Jewish biographies. Book Description: Throughout history we have divided ourselves into groupings of "us" and "them".  One Family: Indivisible  engagingly  invites the reader into the deeply spiritual and lifelong journey of the author to find a way to acknowledge our differences without dividing and subdividing ourselves into competing tribes. It is a journey of mountain tops and deep valleys, but it leads to the inclusivity and mutual respect possible with Interfaith. This is a book for seekers of all races, ethnicities, and spiritual paths who search for that elusive goal of a community of love and inclusion that also respects our diversity. AWARDS Eric Hoffer Award Category Finalist, American Book Fest Best Books Award Finalist (religion) Keywords: interfaith, spiritual journey, common humanity, reli...