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  • Review: The Journey by James Norbury

The Journey: Big Panda and Tiny Dragon by James Norbury book cover

' Problems should not stop us ,' said Big Panda. ' They are simply nature's way of letting us know we need to explore a different path .' Page 22
' But if making the change was easy, it probably wouldn't make very much difference. Great change requires great effort .' Pages 52-53
' This raft is a little like us ,' said Big Panda. ' Where it's been doesn't have to determine where it's going .' Page 60
' I still feel some sadness at the loss of my friends, my home and, of course, my tea set, but I think maybe I am learning to be more accepting of things .' Page 141

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james norbury the journey review

Review The Journey – James Norbury

james norbury the journey review

What a cute little story, based on Buddhism and the truth that change is inevitable. In ‘The journey’ James Norbury describes two friends, Big Panda and Little Dragon, who live together in perfect harmony in a small temple high up in the mountains. They have been living there for quite some time and made numerous friends in the forest nearby.

But Little Dragon feels a bit restless, lately. He doesn’t know why and what causes these feelings. All he knows he’s not as happy as he was before. He asks his best friend Big Panda for advice. Big Panda acknowledges his problem. Yes, this is something big and he needs to take his time to think of an answer. A few days later he offers that it’s time for a journey. It will  be a change for both of them. Reluctantly Little Dragon agrees. He can either accept his restlessness or he can try to do something about it.

As with every journey, whether it is physical or emotional, there will be obstacles on the way. The two friends encounter lots of them as they travel along the river. Up to a point when Little Dragon has had enough. He wants to return to where he came from. Now comes the biggest challenge of all. Nobody can return to the past. We can never go back in time, neither can Little Dragon. He gets depressed when he thinks of his old life and his old friends.

Until one day he remembers that he can make this new life miserable by living in his past, or he can make changes for the future, or he can make the best of today. He looks around him. All of a sudden the sun starts shining. He finds himself surrounded by new friends and beautiful mountains. And what do you know, there is even a bigger, nicer, abandoned temple up ahead.

James Norbury

James Norbury has written and drawn pictures since he was a small child. But it wasn’t until he was looking for spirituality when he discovered the teachings of Buddhism. He wanted to share its wisdom and Zen stories with the rest of the world. His books about the Big Panda and the Little Dragon were born. Beautifully illustrated it’s a joy to pick them up again and again.

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The Journey – Big Panda and Tiny Dragon – by James Norbury – Book Review

18 December 2022 by Dee Young Leave a Comment

the journey book

The Journey – Big Panda and Tiny Dragon – by James Norbury is the companion book to the global best-selling phenomenon “Big Panda and Tiny Dragon” a Sunday Times bestseller.

Join Big Panda and Tiny Dragon as they set off on an incomparable journey together to discover new and distant lands.

Although content in their temple high up in the mountains, Tiny Dragon realizes that something feels incomplete.

So it is that he and Big Panda decide to make a journey together that will take them far from home. As they encounter dangers and challenges, they learn that all they need to face and overcome them is already there, waiting within them.

They soon realise that change, though often frightening, is obtainable and achievable. And, with patience, it can lead to much better things.

This timeless novel with its exquisite illustrations and amazing storyline may at first appear as a book for a child.

But as the text is read and the pages turned it becomes so very much more – a revelation of the true meaning of life, the power of friendship and of living and loving.

The Journey is beautiful, wise, evocative and heart-warming, it is a book for all ages.

ISBN: 9780241585382 Publisher: Penguin Books Australia

The Journey is available in hardback and e-book.

About James Norbury

James Norbury, writer and artist, began illustrating the adventures of Big Panda and Tiny Dragon, inspired by Buddhist philosophy, to share the ideas that helped him through difficult times, in the hope they could help others too.

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The Journey: A Big Panda and Tiny Dragon Adventure (Big Panda and Tiny Dragon, 2)

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The Journey: A Big Panda and Tiny Dragon Adventure (Big Panda and Tiny Dragon, 2) Hardcover – 29 Sept. 2022

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The beautifully illustrated second adventure from cherished friends and Sunday Times bestsellers BIG PANDA AND TINY DRAGON 'James has a way to speak to your soul. This book is nothing short of comforting and heartwarming' VEX KING 'While the drawings have the charm of Winnie-the-Pooh, the captions have the depth of ancient proverbs' GUARDIAN 'A beautifully illustrated book which draws on tender moments. Exquisite' DR RANGAN CHATTERJEE __________ 'We shall go on a journey, across the river . . .' Join Big Panda and Tiny Dragon as they set off on an extraordinary adventure in this companion to the global bestselling phenomenon Big Panda and Tiny Dragon. Although content in their temple high up in the mountains, Tiny Dragon realises that something feels incomplete. So it is that they decide to make a journey together, to new and distant lands. As they encounter dangers and challenges, they learn that everything they need is already inside them and that change, though sometimes scary, is possible and, with patience, can lead to better things. Inspired by Buddhist philosophy and spirituality, the story of these whimsical characters makes the perfect gift for anyone looking for a little hope and comfort. __________ 'If we have to be lost,' said Big Panda, 'I am glad it is with you . . .'

  • Print length 160 pages
  • Language English
  • Publisher Michael Joseph
  • Publication date 29 Sept. 2022
  • Dimensions 18 x 1.9 x 21.7 cm
  • ISBN-10 0241585384
  • ISBN-13 978-0241585382
  • See all details

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The Journey: A Big Panda and Tiny Dragon Adventure (Big Panda and Tiny Dragon, 2)

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From the Publisher

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Big Panda and Tiny Dragon

Product description

From the back cover, about the author.

James Norbury is an artist, author and illustrator with a love of nature and animals. James was born in the Forest of Dean and he's spent most of his life writing and drawing. He studied Zoology at university and after graduating he moved to Ireland. From there he travelled around the UK living in Newcastle, Swansea and Cheltenam, some of the time living on a narrowboat. James now lives back in Swansea with his wife and their seven cats. He volunteers with his local Cats Protection.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Michael Joseph; 1st edition (29 Sept. 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0241585384
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0241585382
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 18 x 1.9 x 21.7 cm
  • 22 in Friendship (Books)
  • 26 in Graphic Arts in Illustration
  • 46 in Philosophy of Buddhism

About the author

James norbury.

James writes and illustrates all kind of books, the only theme running through them is the creation of worlds where, perhaps, he would like to live.

He lives in Swansea, UK, with 7 cats and his wife Ruth.

www.jamesnorbury.com

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James has a way of speaking to your soul. This book is nothing short of comforting and heartwarming

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Christian Bookaholic

Christian book reviews, the journey: big panda and tiny dragon by james norbury, serenely beautiful and very wise.

The Journey Big Panda And Tiny Dragon by James Norton is a serenely beautiful book and full of wisdom to help us lead lives of contentment.

Big Panda is very wise. He helps to calm Tiny Dragon by imparting knowledge as the pair travel from their home across the river. Tiny Dragon wonders why Big Panda is so wise. Big Panda tells him that he has lived longer and experienced more.

We learn that our past does not have to be our future. “Where it’s been doesn’t have to determine where it’s going.” We learn from the past as we move forwards.

Life is a journey. Life is better in the company of friends. “Together we can do anything.” Together we are stronger.

Never underestimate the power you have to help and to love others. “You help me everyday… just by being yourself.” Our friendships can be what propels us forwards. We need to be just who we were created to be.

The whole book is beautifully but simply illustrated. The pictures enhance the words which are simple but powerful. Each page is full of wisdom that can sink into our souls.

I loved The Journey . I would like to leave you with my favourite quote:

“Fear will not stop you dying, but it may stop you from living.”

JULIA WILSON

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The Journey

  • Published: 18 October 2022
  • ISBN: 9780241585382
  • Imprint: Michael Joseph
  • Format: Hardback
  • RRP: $35.00
  • Self-help & personal development

The Journey

Big Panda and Tiny Dragon

  • James Norbury

james norbury the journey review

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Big Panda and Tiny Dragon , follow the two friends as they continue on their journey together . . .

Big Panda and Tiny Dragon have inspired readers across the world with their message of kindness, hope and resilience. Join the two friends as they continue their journey overcoming life's obstacles together. And although they often find themselves lost, the beautiful sights along the way show us that the wrong path can often lead to the right road.

Writer and artist James Norbury began illustrating the adventures of Big Panda and Tiny Dragon, inspired by Buddhist philosophy, to share the ideas that helped him through difficult times, in the hope they could help others too.

Also by James Norbury

The Cat Who Taught Zen

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The Journey

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About the book, about the author.

Artist, author, and illustrator James Norbury has a demonstrated love for nature and animals. He studied Zoology at university, practices a vegan lifestyle, volunteers with the nonprofit Cats Protection, and takes care of seven cats with his wife in South Wales, UK. In his spare time, James likes to read, play video games, play guitar, and practice karate.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Mandala Publishing (October 25, 2022)
  • Length: 160 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781647229733

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The Journey: Big Panda and Tiny Dragon Hardcover – 25 October 2022

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COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTION: The first book in the series, Big Panda and Tiny Dragon , is also available.

  • Print length 160 pages
  • Language English
  • Publication date 25 October 2022
  • ISBN-10 1647229731
  • ISBN-13 978-1647229733
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  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1647229731
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1647229733
  • 212 in Practical & Motivational Self Help

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The beautifully illustrated new adventure from cherished friends and Sunday Times bestsellers BIG PANDA AND TINY DRAGON 'James has a way to speak to your soul. This book is nothing short of comforting and heartwarming' VEX KING 'While the drawings have the charm of Winnie-the-Pooh, the captions have the depth of ancient proverbs' GUARDIAN 'A beautifully illustrated book which draws on tender moments. Exquisite' DR RANGAN CHATTERJEE __________ 'We shall go on a journey, across the river . . .' Join Big Panda and Tiny Dragon as they set off on an extraordinary adventure in this companion to the global bestselling phenomenon Big Panda and Tiny Dragon. Although content in their temple high up in the mountains, Tiny Dragon realises that something feels incomplete. So it is that they decide to make a journey together, to new and distant lands. As they encounter dangers and challenges, they learn that everything they need is already inside them and that change, though sometimes scary, is possible and, with patience, can lead to better things. Inspired by Buddhist philosophy and spirituality, the story of these whimsical characters makes the perfect gift for anyone looking for a little hope and comfort. __________ 'If we have to be lost,' said Big Panda, 'I am glad it is with you . . .'

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james norbury the journey review

‘Huck Finn’ Is a Masterpiece. This Retelling Just Might Be, Too.

“James” takes Mark Twain’s classic tale and places the enslaved sidekick, Jim, at its center.

Credit... Dadu Shin

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By Dwight Garner

  • Published March 11, 2024 Updated March 28, 2024
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JAMES , by Percival Everett

“Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” the critic Lionel Trilling wrote, is “one of the world’s great books and one of the central documents of American culture,” in part because it grows with its readers. Mark Twain’s 1884 novel is a catapulting adventure story when one is 10, but its amplitude is grasped only in adulthood.

Here is a question Trilling did not pick up: What about the 10-year-old Black reader who wishes to be catapulted, too, but is too young to understand that the novel’s language, with its 219 uses of the N-word, derives from Twain’s writerly fidelity to the vernacular speech of the American South in the 1830s or 1840s, when the novel is set? This has long been an implacable and racking issue.

Paul Beatty, in his novel “ The Sellout ” (2015), wrestled with this conundrum. One of his characters decides to read “Huckleberry Finn” aloud to his grandchildren. He does not get far. Then he gets an idea.

Although they are the deepest-thinking, combat-ready 8- and 10-year-olds I know, I knew my babies weren’t ready to comprehend “Huckleberry Finn” on its own merits. That’s why I took the liberty to rewrite Mark Twain’s masterpiece. Where the repugnant “N-word” occurs, I replaced it with “warrior” and the word “slave” with “dark-skinned volunteer.”

Percival Everett’s majestic new novel, “James,” goes several steps further. Everett flips the perspective on the events in “Huckleberry Finn.” He gives us the story as a coolly electric first-person narrative in the voice of Jim, the novel’s enslaved runaway. The pair’s adventures on the raft as it twisted down the Mississippi River were largely, from Huck’s perspective, larks. From Jim’s — excuse me, James’s — point of view, nearly every second is deadly serious. We recall that Jim told Huck, in Twain’s novel, that he was quite done with “adventures.”

Everett’s James is indeed a warrior, of a humane, frazzled and reluctant sort. By the time this novel is finished, he will have killed men and freed fellow slaves and set fire to a particularly dismal plantation. He will be whispered about, a legend. What’s more, Everett has rendered him an ambitious reader, one who instantly grasps, for example, that the Bible is a tool of his oppressors, and who has extended internal dialogues with Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire and John Locke, sometimes about slavery. James is literate, and he is taking notes. These notes are costly. Another slave who pilfers a pencil stub for him is lynched for the act.

Because this is a Percival Everett novel, we are not surprised that he tears down and rebuilds a cultural landmark. In addition to his publishing-industry satire “Erasure,” which became the Cord Jefferson film “ American Fiction ,” this prolific writer has issued novels that take on the complicated legacies of historical figures. These include Sidney Poitier, in “I Am Not Sidney Poitier” (2009), which is one of the funniest novels I have ever read, and the prune-faced South Carolina segregationist Strom Thurmond, in “ A History of the African-American People (Proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as Told to Percival Everett and James Kincaid ” (2004).

Because this is a Percival Everett novel, too, it luxuriates in language. Everett, like Twain, is a master of American argot; he is the code switcher’s code switcher. In “James,” he puts his skills to incandescent use. His narrator runs his every public utterance through what he calls his “slave filter,” to make himself sound ridiculous and gullible, to pacify the truculent white people around him. Here is that practice in action, as James explains to a group of enslaved children in a cabin, including a girl named February, how to survive:

The children said together, “And the better they feel, the safer we are.” “February, translate that.” “Da mo’ betta dey feels, da mo’ safer we be.” “Nice.”

And here is James, finding himself in Judge Thatcher’s library:

I had wondered every time I sneaked in there what white people would do to a slave who had learned how to read. What would they do to a slave who had taught the other slaves to read? What would they do to a slave who knew what a hypotenuse was, what irony meant, how retribution was spelled?

What sets “James” above Everett’s previous novels, as casually and caustically funny as many are, is that here the humanity is turned up — way up. This is Everett’s most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful. Beneath the wordplay, and below the packed dirt floor of Everett’s moral sensibility, James is an intensely imagined human being. Ta-Nehisi Coates, in “ Between the World and Me ” (2015), wrote that slavery is not “an indefinable mass of flesh” but “a particular, specific enslaved woman, whose mind is active as your own, whose range of feeling is as vast as your own.” Everett more than lives up to that prescription.

The cover of “James” is black. The title is in yellow, and the author’s name is in white.

He is not scoring easy points. He is evoking and critiquing the American experiment, circa the middle of the 19th century, from a wised-up slave’s point of view. Huck talked a lot about feeling lonesome in Twain’s novel. Everett’s James, at certain moments, seems like the loneliest man who ever lived.

Everett mostly sticks to the broad outlines of Twain’s novel. He is riding the same currents; the book flows inexorably, like a river, yet its short chapters keep the movement swift. James is on the run, of course, because he has learned that Miss Watson plans to sell him to a man in New Orleans. He will be separated from his wife and children. Huck is on the run because he has faked his own death after being beaten by his father. They find each other on an island in the Mississippi, and their flight begins. The reader slowly discovers that their bonds run deeper than friendship.

There are familiar large scenes, like Huck and James’s separation in a fog, and their encounter with the deadly con artists, the Duke and the King. But smaller moments are reproduced as well, such as James’s suffering after a rattlesnake bite and Huck’s need to dress like a girl to disguise his identity.

Other scenes drop out, and Everett shifts the setting forward two decades or so, so that we glimpse Union soldiers marching south. New scenes are inserted. I will mention only one, because it is so extraordinary and so deft. At one point James is bought by the Virginia Minstrels, a blackface singing troupe. (They really existed; Twain was a fan.) They need a new tenor, and they’ve heard him singing for his brutal new owner. Because no Black man can appear on a stage, James must himself put on blackface. The moment is ludicrous and terrifying. The troupe includes 10 white men in blackface, “one Black man passing for white and painted black, and me, a light-brown Black man painted black in such a way as to appear like a white man trying to pass for Black.”

In these scenes, Everett makes potent use of the era’s songbook. He also delivers this unforgettable moment, when James in disguise is allowed, for the first time, to stare into the eyes of his oppressors:

White people came out and lined the street, smiling and laughing and clapping. I made eye contact with a couple of people in the crowd and the way they looked at me was different from any contact I had ever had with white people. They were open to me, but what I saw, looking into them, was hardly impressive. They sought to share this moment of mocking me, mocking darkies , laughing at the poor slaves, with joyful, spirited clapping and stomping.

My idea of hell would be to live with a library that contained only reimaginings of famous novels. It’s a wet-brained and dutiful genre, by and large. Or the results are brittle spoofs — to use a word that, according to John Barth, sounds like imperfectly suppressed flatulence — that read as if there are giant scare quotes surrounding the action. Two writers in a hundred walk away unscathed.

“James” is the rarest of exceptions. It should come bundled with Twain’s novel. It is a tangled and subversive homage, a labor of rough love. “His humor and humanity affected me long before I became a writer,” Everett writes of Twain in his acknowledgments. “Heaven for the climate; hell for my long-awaited lunch with Mark Twain.”

Everett does not reprint the famous warning that greets the reader at the start of “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”: “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.” Motives, morals and plot are here in abundance, of course. And Everett shoots what is certain to be this book’s legion of readers straight through the heart.

JAMES | By Percival Everett | Doubleday | 303 pp. | $28

Dwight Garner has been a book critic for The Times since 2008, and before that was an editor at the Book Review for a decade. More about Dwight Garner

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Trump promotes Lee Greenwood's 'God Bless The USA Bible': What to know about the book and its long journey

james norbury the journey review

  • Former president Donald Trump encourages supporters to buy Lee Greenwood's "God Bless The USA Bible," a project inspired by Nashville country musician's hit song.
  • Resurgent version of Greenwood's Bible project a modified version from original concept, a change that likely followed 2021 shake-up in publishers.

After years with few updates about Lee Greenwood’s controversial Bible, the project is again resurgent with a recent promotion by former President Donald Trump.

“All Americans need to have a Bible in their home and I have many. It’s my favorite book,” Trump said in a video posted to social media Tuesday, encouraging supporters to purchase the “God Bless The USA Bible.” “Religion is so important and so missing, but it’s going to come back.”

Greenwood — the Nashville area country musician whose hit song “God Bless the USA” inspired the Bible with a similar namesake — has long been allies with Trump and other prominent Republicans, many of whom are featured in promotional material for the “God Bless The USA Bible.” But that reputational clout in conservative circles hasn’t necessarily translated to business success in the past, largely due to a major change in the book’s publishing plan.

Here's what to know about the Bible project’s journey so far and why it’s significant it’s back in the conservative limelight.

An unordinary Bible, a fiery debate

The “God Bless The USA Bible” received heightened attention since the outset due to its overt political features.

The text includes the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, Pledge of Allegiance, and the lyrics to the chorus to Greenwood’s “God Bless The USA.” Critics saw it as a symbol of Christian nationalism, a right-wing movement that believes the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation.

A petition emerged in 2021 calling Greenwood’s Bible “a toxic mix that will exacerbate the challenges to American evangelicalism.” From there, a broader conversation ensued about the standards by which publishers print Bibles.

Gatekeeping in Bible publishing

Greenwood’s early business partner on the project, a Hermitage-based marketing firm called Elite Source Pro, initially reached a manufacturing agreement with the Nashville-based HarperCollins Christian Publishing to print the “God Bless The USA Bible.”  

As part of that agreement, HarperCollins would publish the book but not sell or endorse it. But then HarperCollins reversed course , a major setback for Greenwood’s Bible.

The reversal by HarperCollins followed a decision by Zondervan — a publishing group under HarperCollins Christian Publishing and an official North American licensor for Bibles printed in the New International Version translation — to pass on the project. HarperCollins said the decision was unrelated to the petition or other public denunciations against Greenwood’s Bible.

The full backstory: Lee Greenwood's 'God Bless the USA Bible' finds new printer after HarperCollins Christian passes

A new translation and mystery publisher

The resurgent “God Bless The USA Bible” featured in Trump’s recent ad is an altered version of the original concept, a modification that likely followed the publishing shake-up.

Greenwood’s Bible is now printed in the King James Version, a different translation from the original pitch to HarperCollins.

Perhaps the biggest mystery is the new publisher. That manufacturer is producing a limited quantity of copies, leading to a delayed four-to-six weeks for a copy to ship.  

It’s also unclear which business partners are still involved in the project. Hugh Kirkman, who led Elite Service Pro, the firm that originally partnered with Greenwood for the project, responded to a request for comment by referring media inquiries to Greenwood’s publicist.

The publicist said Elite Source Pro is not a partner on the project and the Bible has always been printed in the King James Version.

"Several years ago, the Bible was going to be printed with the NIV translation, but something happened with the then licensor and the then potential publisher. As a result, this God Bless The USA Bible has always been printed with the King James Version translation," publicist Jeremy Westby said in a statement.

Westby did not have the name of the new licensee who is manufacturing the Bible.

Trump’s plug for the “God Bless The USA Bible” recycled language the former president is using to appeal to a conservative Christian base.

“Our founding fathers did a tremendous thing when they built America on Judeo-Christian values,” Trump said in his video on social media. “Now that foundation is under attack perhaps as never before.”

'Bring back our religion’: Trump vows to support Christians during Nashville speech

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at [email protected] or on social media @liamsadams.

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  24. Book Review: 'James,' by Percival Everett

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  25. Trump Bible: Journey behind Lee Greenwood's 'God Bless the USA Bible'

    Here's what to know about the Bible project's journey so far and why it's significant it's back in the conservative limelight. An unordinary Bible, a fiery debate