Best of
Social

2008

Plantation Memories


Grada Kilomba - 2008
    It is a compilation of episodes approaching racism as a psychological reality.Everyday racism, argues Grada Kilomba, is experienced as a violent shock which suddenly places the Black subject in a colonial scene – depriving one’s link with society. Unexpectedly, the past comes to coincide with the present and the present is experienced as if one were in that agonizing past, as the title Plantation Memories announces.Linking postcolonial theory, psychoanalysis and poetic narrative, she provides a new and inspiring interpretation of everyday racism, memory, trauma and decolonization in the form of short stories.From the question “Where do you come from?” to the N-Word or Hair politics, the book is essential to anyone studying African studies, postcolonialism, critical whiteness and psychoanalysis.Grada Kilomba is a writer and psychologist, lecturing Frantz Fanon, Colonialism, Psychoanalysis and Decolonization at the Free University of Berlin. She is the Co-Editor of the book Mythen, Masken, Subjekte

An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century


James Orbinski - 2008
    . . . The only crime equaling inhumanity is the crime of indifference, silence, and forgetting.—James OrbinskiIn 1988, James Orbinski, then a medical student in his twenties, embarked on a year-long research trip to Rwanda, a trip that would change who he would be as a doctor and as a man. Investigating the conditions of pediatric AIDS in Rwanda, James confronted widespread pain and suffering, much of it preventable, much of it occasioned by political and economic corruption. Fuelled by the injustice of what he had seen in Rwanda, Orbinski helped establish the Canadian chapter of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders/MSF). As a member of MSF he travelled to Peru during a cholera epidemic, to Somalia during the famine and civil war, and to Jalalabad, Afghanistan.In April 1994, James answered a call from the MSF Amsterdam office. Rwandan government soldiers and armed militias of extremist Hutus had begun systematically to murder Tutsis. While other foreigners were evacuated from Rwanda, Orbinski agreed to serve as Chef de Mission for MSF in Kigali. As Rwanda descended into a hell of civil war and genocide, he and his team worked tirelessly, tending to thousands upon thousands of casualties. In fourteen weeks 800,000 men, women and children were exterminated. Half a million people were injured, and millions were displaced. The Rwandan genocide was Orbinski’s undoing. Confronted by indescribable cruelty, he struggled to regain his footing as a doctor, a humanitarian and a man. In the end he chose not to retreat from the world, but resumed his work with MSF, and was the organization’s president when it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.An Imperfect Offering is a deeply personal, deeply political book. With unstinting candor, Orbinski explores the nature of humanitarian action in the twenty-first century, and asserts the fundamental imperative of seeing as human those whose political systems have most brutally failed. He insists that in responding to the suffering of others, we must never lose sight of the dignity of those being helped or deny them the right to act as agents in their own lives. He takes readers on a journey to some of the darkest places of our history but finds there unimaginable acts of courage and empathy. Here he is doctor as witness, recording voices that must be heard around the world; calling on others to meet their responsibility.Ummera, ummera–sha is a Rwandan saying that loosely translated means ‘Courage, courage, my friend–find your courage and let it live.’ It was said to me by a patient at our hospital in Kigali. She was slightly older than middle aged and had been attacked with machetes, her entire body rationally and systematically mutilated. Her face had been so carefully disfigured that a pattern was obvious in the slashes. I could do little more for her at that moment than stop the bleeding with a few sutures. We were completely overwhelmed. She knew and I knew that there were so many others. She said to me in the clearest voice I have ever heard, “Allez, allez. Ummera, ummera-sha”–‘Go, go. Courage, courage, my friend–find your courage and let it live.’—From An Imperfect Offering

Chasing The Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World


Samantha Power - 2008
    Sergio Vieira de Mello was born in 1948, just as the post-World War II order was taking shape, and died in a terrorist attack on UN Headquarters in Iraq in 2003, just as the battle lines in the 21st century's great struggle were being drawn.

The Book of Pook


Pook - 2008
    Basically, if you haven't come across it, its a collection of psychological techniques for pressing women's buttons in order to get them to be attracted to you.A couple of years ago there was a man who posted on a PUA forum called So Suave and had his own blog called Pook's Mill. His basic message was that the PUA techniques were too simple, and focused on external manipulations, and focusing on others rather than focusing on yourself and your own masculinity.Sadly Pook disappeared from the scene, but someone managed to collect Pook's posts from So Suave into an ebook (PDF) that is freely downloadable.

I Stand at the Door and Knock: Meditations by the Author of The Hiding Place


Corrie ten Boom - 2008
    Outlasting Ravensbrück and Hitler’s regime, Corrie went on to accomplish what brute power never could: conquering hearts across the world with healing words of hope, forgiveness, and trust in God.This is Corrie ten Boom at her best and most inspiring. These forty timeless devotionals remind you of the treasures of faith in Christ, the mysteries of God’s kingdom, and joy of a surrender that leads you out of fear into the freedom of love and forgiveness.I Stand at the Door and Knock offers timeless messages of faith, hope, and forgiveness from a veteran saint.

Lady Q: The Rise and Fall of a Latin Queen


Reymundo Sánchez - 2008
    At age five Sonia Rodriguez’s stepfather began to abuse her; at 10 she was molested by her uncle and beaten by her mother when she told on him; and by 13 her home had become a hangout for the Latin Kings and Queens who were friends with her older sister. Threatened by rival gang members at school, Sonia turned away from her education and extracurricular activities in favor of a world of drugs and violence. The Latin Kings, one of the largest and most notorious street gangs in America, became her refuge, but its violence cost her friends, freedom, self-respect, and nearly her life. As a Latin Queen, she experienced the exhilarating highs and unbelievable lows of gang life. From being shot at by her own gang and kicked out at age 18 with an infant daughter to rejoining the gang and distinguishing herself as a leader, her legacy as Lady Q was cemented both for her willingness to commit violence and for her role as a drug mule. For the first time, a woman’s perspective on gang life is presented.

Leadership: Tidbits and Treasures


Chris Brady - 2008
    Here is a book that will stimulate your thinking and help you to be successful in your work, your study, and in your every day living. Our prayer is that it will also educated the reader in the areas of history, politics, economics and the culture war that is currently upon us. the articles and illustrtions from great thinkers and doers throughout history outlined on these pages, will, if studied and applied to your life, help develop your inner qualities, and that is where your real wealth is.

Stand Up for Yourself & Your Friends: Dealing with Bullies and Bossiness, and Finding a Better Way


Patti Kelley Criswell - 2008
    Quizzes, quotes from other girls, and "what do you do?" scenarios present advice in an age-appropriate, digestible way. The message in this book is that there is no one right way to deal with bullying. Instead, there are lots of options for girls to try, from ignoring a bully and trying a few clever comebacks to reporting bullying to a trusted adult. Readers learn how to stand up for others and be a good friend, too. The book ends with a pledge girls can sign, plus tear-out tips for girls to share with their parents.

Sex God Method


Daniel Rose - 2008
    These sex secrets are so powerful that even women who never experienced orgasms can finally achieve consistent orgasms every time. Mastering these sexual concepts will literally make your woman sexually addicted to you and only you.

Richard Bandler's Guide to Trance-formation: How to Harness the Power of Hypnosis to Ignite Effortless and Lasting Change


Richard Bandler - 2008
    Now widely regarded as the world's greatest hypnotist and one of the most brilliant minds in the field of personal change, Richard Bandler created patterns that became the bedrock of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), arguably one of the most profoundly effective approaches for self-improvement. In Richard Bandler's Guide to Trance-formation, he returns to his roots: hypnotic phenomena, trancework, and altered states to provide a highly compelling and effective prescription for quick and lasting personal change.According to Bandler, "trance" is at the very foundation of human experience. People are not simply in or out of trance, but are constantly moving from one trance to another. We have our work trances, our relationship trances, and our parenting trances. Some of these states are useful and appropriate; others are not. With his signature wit and contrarian approach to therapy, Bandler shows how anyone can reset and reprogram their problem behaviors to reach desired alternatives with lasting and life-altering results. With intriguing case studies, client dialogues, and more than thirty exercises, Richard Bandler's Guide to Trance-formation, is an engaging, read for anyone, whether they are new to NLP, want to further their NLP training, or simply want to make a positive difference in their own lives.

Community: The Structure of Belonging


Peter Block - 2008
    The various sectors of our communities--businesses, schools, social service organizations, churches, government--do not work together. They exist in their own worlds. As do so many individual citizens, who long for connection but end up marginalized, their gifts overlooked, their potential contributions lost. This disconnection and detachment makes it hard if not impossible to envision a common future and work towards it together. We know what healthy communities look like--there are many success stories out there, and they've been described in detail. What Block provides in this inspiring new book is an exploration of the exact way community can emerge from fragmentation: How is community built? How does the transformation occur? What fundamental shifts are involved? He explores a way of thinking about our places that creates an opening for authentic communities to exist and details what each of us can do to make that happen.

Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage: Unlocking the Secrets to Life, Love and Marriage


Mark Gungor - 2008
    By using his unique blend of humor and tell-it-like-it-is honesty, he helps couples get along and have fun doing it. Through exploring a variety of subjects including the myth of a "soul mate," the different ways men and women think, the conflicting levels of libido, and the necessity to forgive, Gungor proves that the key to marital bliss is not romance or destiny -- it's work and skill. Couples need to work hard at maintaining their relationship and to have the skills to pull it off. The longer spouses wait to learn these skills, the greater their chance of wanting to bail, yet Gungor makes it easy for couples to bring their relationship to the next level.

Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia, Volume III


Danzig Baldaev - 2008
    Danzig Baldaev's unparallelled ethnographic achievement, documenting more than 3,000 tattoo drawings, was made during a lifetime working as a prison guard. His recording of this esoteric world was reported to the KGB, who unexpectedly supported him, realizing the importance of being able to establish facts about convicts by reading the images on their bodies. The motifs depicted represent the uncensored lives of the criminal classes, ranging from violence and pornography to politics and alcohol. A medieval knight is surrounded by the severed heads of his enemies, a naked woman simultaneously services a man and two dwarfs, a crying President Gorbachev grips a human bone between sabre-like fangs, a group of angels drink vodka with God on a cloud--the meanings of these arresting images are explained to the uninitiated eye. Sergei Vasiliev's graphic photographs show the grim reality of the Russian prison system and some of the alarming characters that inhabit it, while the illustrated criminals of Russia tell the tale of their closed society. This volume, the last in the trilogy, includes an introduction by historian Alexander Sidorov exploring the origins of the Russian criminal tattoo and their various meanings today.

Without Dogma


Henryk Sienkiewicz - 2008
    This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Humsafar / ہمسفر


Farhat Ishtiaq - 2008
    The novel was first published in 7 parts in Khawateen Digest monthly from July 2007 to January 2008. It was later published as a complete novel by Ilm-o-Irfan Publishers. The story revolves around Ashar and Khirad's relationship with their daughter, Hareem, and how she unknowingly bridges the distances that exist between her parents. The novel is written in a retrospective manner and told mostly in flashbacks. The first half of the novel is based on mostly Ashar’s reflections and his point of view while the second part of the novel is told mainly from Khirad’s point of view.The story has been adapted into a drama serial (Humsafar), produced by Momina Duraid and directed by Sarmad Sultan Khoosat. The drama aired on Hum TV from September 2011 to February 2012.

Sizwe's Test: A Young Man's Journey Through Africa's AIDS Epidemic


Jonny Steinberg - 2008
    Dr. Hermann Reuter, a son of old South West African stock, wants to show the world that if you provide decent treatment, people will come and get it, no matter their circumstances. Sizwe and Hermann live at the epicenter of the greatest plague of our times, the African AIDS epidemic. In South Africa alone, nearly 6 million people in a population of 46 million are HIV-positive. Already, Sizwe has watched several neighbors grow ill and die, yet he himself has pushed AIDS to the margins of his life and associates it obliquely with other people's envy, with comeuppance, and with misfortune. When Hermann Reuter establishes an antiretroviral treatment program in Sizwe's district and Sizwe discovers that close family members have the virus, the antagonism between these two figures from very different worlds -- one afraid that people will turn their backs on medical care, the other fearful of the advent of a world in which respect for traditional ways has been lost and privacy has been obliterated -- mirrors a continent-wide battle against an epidemic that has corrupted souls as much as bodies. A heartbreaking tale of shame and pride, sex and death, and a continent's battle with its demons, Steinberg's searing account is a tour-de-force of literary journalism.

Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty


Roger Thurow - 2008
    Yet while the “Green Revolution” succeeded in South America and Asia, it never got to Africa. More than 9 million people every year die of hunger, malnutrition, and related diseases every year—most of them in Africa and most of them children. More die of hunger in Africa than from AIDS and malaria combined. Now, an impending global food crisis threatens to make things worse.In the west we think of famine as a natural disaster, brought about by drought; or as the legacy of brutal dictators. But in this powerful investigative narrative, Thurow & Kilman show exactly how, in the past few decades, American, British, and European policies conspired to keep Africa hungry and unable to feed itself. As a new generation of activists work to keep famine from spreading, Enough is essential reading on a humanitarian issue of utmost urgency.

Open Ice: Reflections and Confessions of a Hockey Lifer


Jack Falla - 2008
    At times funny, often poignant, and occasionally melancholy, Open Ice is one man's witness to fifty years of the game he loves. Reflections on hockey, its great personalities and arenas, and twenty-five years of dedication to his own backyard rink are woven into family memories and other fond remembrances. From the death of Rocket Richard, to skating on the Rideau Canal, memories of being in all Original Six arenas, and more, Open Ice is a reflective and fond look at hockey for people to whom the sport is more than just a game. Selected reviews of Home Ice: The literary hot chocolate that will warm your heart.-- The New York Times While Home Ice may be a book about hockey and the charm of backyard rinks, it is more than that, too. It is a book about relationships--between fathers and sons, husbands and wives--and how the game can bridge the gaps that commonly occur between generations in a family... It's a treasure and one that readers will be happy they searched out. Possibly the best hockey book since Ken Dryden's The Game, -- The Globe & Mail

You Are a Social Detective: Explaining Social Thinking to Kids


Michelle Garcia Winner - 2008
    The lessons also offer a variety of engaging ways to introduce the concepts of social thinking to general education teachers, paraprofessionals, parents, caregivers, and special educators.

The Worst Street In London


Fiona Rule - 2008
    It was once notorious for the haunt of thieves, con-men, pimps, prostitutes and murderers, most notably Jack the Ripper. This publication chronicles the rise and fall of this remarkable street, from its promising beginnings in the 17th century as the centre of the silk weaving industry, through its gradual descent into iniquity, vice and violence to its final demise in the hands of the demolition men.

Encouragement Changes Everything: Bless and Be Blessed


John C. Maxwell - 2008
    The world's foremost leadership expert, John Maxwell, offers practical advice on how to effectively provide the kind of encouragement that transforms individuals, families, churches, and work teams into happier, healthier, more affirming networks. Encouragement Changes Everything focuses on the importance of valuing and growing relationships. This is the perfect gift for people to share and enjoy in either personal or professional contexts.Includes a beautifully embellished book jacket over a printed casing to appeal to fans of either format.

If I Die in Juárez


Stella Pope Duarte - 2008
    If I Die in Juárez traces the lives of three young women—Evita, a street child; Petra, a maquiladora worker; and Mayela, a Tarahumara Indian girl—who together uncover Juárez’s forbidden secret: the abduction and murder of young women. Bound together by blood, honor, an ancient chant, and a mysterious photo, the girls bring the murderous streets of Juárez to life. Based on the author’s interviews with relatives of murdered women, If I Die in Juárez is brilliantly crafted to give readers the experience of walking in the shoes of women who daily risk being abducted and murdered in the “capital city of murdered women,” joining thousands of others who for more than a decade have disappeared from Juárez, las desaparecidas, brutally murdered by assassins who have gone unpunished. The agony of one of the darkest tales in human history brings to light a strange hope, illusive yet constant, resisting lies, betrayal, and the desert’s silent sentence of death. Read an in-depth review of If I Die in Juárez here or click here for a study guide. If I Die in Juárez was also reviewed on KNAU's Southwest Book Review program. Listen here!

Sitting Bull


Bill Yenne - 2008
    Sitting Bull's life spanned the entire clash of cultures and ultimate destruction of the Plains Indian way of life. He was a powerful leader and a respected shaman, but neither fully captures the enigma of Sitting Bull. He was a good friend of Buffalo Bill and skillful negotiator with the American government, yet erroneously credited with both murdering Custer at the Little Big Horn and with being the chief instigator of the Ghost Dance movement. The reality of his life, as Bill Yenne reveals in his absorbing new portrait, Sitting Bull, is far more intricate and compelling. Tracing Sitting Bull's history from a headstrong youth and his first contact with encroaching settlers, through his ascension as the spiritual and military leader of the Lakota, friendship with a Swiss-American widow from New York, and death at the hands of the Indian police on the eve of the massacre at Wounded Knee, Yenne scoured rare contemporary records and consulted Sitting Bull's own "Hieroglyphic Autobiography" in the course of his research. While Sitting Bull was the leading figure of Plains Indian resistance his message, as Yenne explains, was of self-reliance, not violence. At the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull was not confronting Custer as popular myth would have it, but riding through the Lakota camp making sure the most defenseless of his tribe--the children--were safe. In Sitting Bull we find a man who, in the face of an uncertain future, helped ensure the survival of his people.

Social and Economic Networks


Matthew O. Jackson - 2008
    The many aspects of our lives that are governed by social networks make it critical to understand how they impact behavior, which network structures are likely to emerge in a society, and why we organize ourselves as we do. In Social and Economic Networks, Matthew Jackson offers a comprehensive introduction to social and economic networks, drawing on the latest findings in economics, sociology, computer science, physics, and mathematics. He provides empirical background on networks and the regularities that they exhibit, and discusses random graph-based models and strategic models of network formation. He helps readers to understand behavior in networked societies, with a detailed analysis of learning and diffusion in networks, decision making by individuals who are influenced by their social neighbors, game theory and markets on networks, and a host of related subjects. Jackson also describes the varied statistical and modeling techniques used to analyze social networks. Each chapter includes exercises to aid students in their analysis of how networks function.This book is an indispensable resource for students and researchers in economics, mathematics, physics, sociology, and business.

The American Revolution


Allen C. Guelzo - 2008
    (Great Courses, #8514)

Practical Anarchy


Stefan Molyneux - 2008
    How a stateless society will function. By Stefan Molyneux MA, of Freedomain Radio, the largest and most popular philosophy show on the web.

Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive


Noah J. Goldstein - 2008
    But what makes people say yes to our requests? Persuasion is not only an art, it is also a science, and researchers who study it have uncovered a series of hidden rules for moving people in your direction. Based on more than sixty years of research into the psychology of persuasion, Yes! reveals fifty simple but remarkably effective strategies that will make you much more persuasive at work and in your personal life, too.Cowritten by the world's most quoted expert on influence, Professor Robert Cialdini, Yes! presents dozens of surprising discoveries from the science of persuasion in short, enjoyable, and insightful chapters that you can apply immediately to become a more effective persuader. Why did a sign pointing out the problem of vandalism in the Petrified Forest National Park actually increase the theft of pieces of petrified wood? Why did sales of jam multiply tenfold when consumers were offered many fewer flavors? Why did people prefer a Mercedes immediately after giving reasons why they prefer a BMW? What simple message on cards left in hotel rooms greatly increased the number of people who behaved in environmentally friendly ways?Often counterintuitive, the findings presented in Yes! will steer you away from common pitfalls while empowering you with little-known but proven wisdom.Whether you are in advertising, marketing, management, or sales, or just curious about how to be more influential in everyday life, Yes! shows how making small, scientifically proven changes to your approach can have a dramatic effect on your persuasive powers.

Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects


Dmitry Orlov - 2008
    These trends mirror the experience of the Soviet Union in the early 1980s. Reinventing Collapse examines the circumstances of the demise of the Soviet superpower and offers clear insights into how we might prepare for coming events.Rather than focusing on doom and gloom, Reinventing Collapse suggests that there is room for optimism if we focus our efforts on personal and cultural transformation. With characteristic dry humor, Dmitry Orlov identifies three progressive stages of response to the looming crisis:Mitigation—alleviating the impact of the coming upheaval Adaptation—adjusting to the reality of changed conditions Opportunity—flourishing after the collapse He argues that by examining maladaptive parts of our common cultural baggage, we can survive, thrive, and discover more meaningful and fulfilling lives, in spite of steadily deteriorating circumstances.This challenging yet inspiring work is a must-read for anyone concerned about energy, geopolitics, international relations, and life in a post-Peak Oil world.Dmitry Orlov was born in Leningrad and immigrated to the United States at the age of twelve. He was an eyewitness to the Soviet collapse over several extended visits to his Russian homeland between the late eighties and mid-nineties. He is an engineer and a leading Peak Oil theorist whose writing is featured on such sites as www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net and www.powerswitch.org.uk.

Time: 85 Years of Great Writing


Christopher Porterfield - 2008
    Includes 16-page photo insert.

Great Philosophical Debates: Free Will and Determinism


Shaun Nichols - 2008
    The answer to this age-old riddle is universally relevant to our lives. The implications of our views on it can affect everything from small choices we make every day to our perspective on criminal justice and capital punishment. From the Stoics to Boethius, from Kant to Hume, from Sartre to contemporary philosophers, great minds have puzzled over this debate for centuries.Now you can learn the intriguing details of this fundamental philosophical question with Great Philosophical Debates: Free Will and Determinism, 24 fascinating lectures by Shaun Nichols, award-winning Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at the University of Arizona."The Great Courses.com

Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us about Contentment


Phil Zuckerman - 2008
    But most residents of Denmark and Sweden, he found, don't worship any god at all, don't pray, and don't give much credence to religious dogma of any kind. Instead of being bastions of sin and corruption, however, as the Christian Right has suggested a godless society would be, these countries are filled with residents who score at the very top of the "happiness index" and enjoy their healthy societies, which boast some of the lowest rates of violent crime in the world (along with some of the lowest levels of corruption), excellent educational systems, strong economies, well-supported arts, free health care, egalitarian social policies, outstanding bike paths, and great beer.Zuckerman formally interviewed nearly 150 Danes and Swedes of all ages and educational backgrounds over the course of fourteen months. He was particularly interested in the worldviews of people who live their lives without religious orientation. How do they think about and cope with death? Are they worried about an afterlife? What he found is that nearly all of his interviewees live their lives without much fear of the Grim Reaper or worries about the hereafter. This led him to wonder how and why it is that certain societies are non-religious in a world that seems to be marked by increasing religiosity. Drawing on prominent sociological theories and his own extensive research, Zuckerman ventures some interesting answers.This fascinating approach directly counters the claims of outspoken, conservative American Christians who argue that a society without God would be hell on earth. It is crucial, Zuckerman believes, for Americans to know that "society without God is not only possible, but it can be quite civil and pleasant."

American Raj: Liberation or Domination?: Resolving the Conflict Between the West and the Muslim World


Eric S. Margolis - 2008
    At the same time, Eric S. Margolis was arguing the same point from a different position: that of a journalist reporting from within the Muslim world. "American Raj" is the culmination of Margolis' years of boots-on-the-ground insight into the way the Muslim world really operates. It takes readers inside the thinking and worldview of anti-Western Islamic radicals throughout the Muslim world and identifies the historical, political, and religious factors that have played a major role in generating hostility toward the West. Employing the model of Britain's imperialist hegemony in Asia, Margolis explores in fascinating detail whether the West risks a replay of the Raj experience or whether we face an entirely new world order.

The Left, The Right and The State


Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. - 2008
    There are very few books in which you can open up any page and immediately find a quotable and inspiring passage that will make you think hard, laugh out loud, or see things a completely new way. This is certainly one of them. He covers every topic related to economics and politics, from the business cycle, to trade, to the drug war, to environmentalism. His central thesis is that the threat to liberty comes from both the Left and the Right, and that neither really offers a consistent way out. The real problem is much deeper than either the Right or the Left recognizes. It is the institution of the state itself, which everyone seems to want to use to his own philosophical advantage. The problem, he writes, is not that we have chosen the wrong flavor of public policy but that we have public policy at all. All forms of policy-decisions made by state institutions that affect the uses of private property according to political priorities-amount to invasions of liberty. Relentlessly moving from left-wing to right-wing and back to left-wing policy is not progress; it means continued movement down the road to serfdom. Beautifully edited and pristinely argued, this is a work in applied Austro-libertarian theory, tracking issues and headlines as they occur and bringing the light of logic and evidence to bear on the question at hand. The articles collected can be read in a matter of five minutes each, and they are organized along topical lines. He is especially good in dealing with issues of national crisis, such as weather disasters, terrorist attacks, and economic downturns. He shows that liberty is more important in these times than any other. And while others back away during these times, he screams fights for freedom and a free market.

Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry: When Knowing Becomes Love


Arthur Zajonc - 2008
    Initially, we may take up contemplative practice as a means of tapping into the abundant resources of the mind and heart that bring serenity, but the meditative journey leads further--to the place where wisdom and love unite.In Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry, Arthur Zajonc offers an overview of the meditative life, weaving practical instruction together with the guidance and inspiration of the world's great teachers, from Rudolf Steiner to Rumi, and from Goethe to the sages of Asia.Zajonc reminds us that an ethic of humility grounds all practice, and that care of the soul is the basis for sound spiritual reflection and understanding. The author carefully describes each stage of the path and includes many recommended practices.Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry is the fruit of many years of personal practice and teaching. Arthur Zajonc developed his orientation toward meditation through working with hundreds of university students and professors, as well as with contemplative groups in the U.S., Europe, and Australia.

Violence: A Micro-Sociological Theory


Randall Collins - 2008
    Randall Collins challenges this view in Violence, arguing that violent confrontation goes against human physiological hardwiring. It is the exception, not the rule--regardless of the underlying conditions or motivations. Collins gives a comprehensive explanation of violence and its dynamics, drawing upon video footage, cutting-edge forensics, and ethnography to examine violent situations up close as they actually happen--and his conclusions will surprise you. Violence comes neither easily nor automatically. Antagonists are by nature tense and fearful, and their confrontational anxieties put up a powerful emotional barrier against violence. Collins guides readers into the very real and disturbing worlds of human discord--from domestic abuse and schoolyard bullying to muggings, violent sports, and armed conflicts. He reveals how the fog of war pervades all violent encounters, limiting people mostly to bluster and bluff, and making violence, when it does occur, largely incompetent, often injuring someone other than its intended target. Collins shows how violence can be triggered only when pathways around this emotional barrier are presented. He explains why violence typically comes in the form of atrocities against the weak, ritualized exhibitions before audiences, or clandestine acts of terrorism and murder--and why a small number of individuals are competent at violence.Violence overturns standard views about the root causes of violence and offers solutions for confronting it in the future.

The Improv Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Improvising in Comedy, Theatre, and Beyond


Tom Salinsky - 2008
    Applicable to comedians, actors, public speakers and anyone who needs to think on their toes.From The Improv Handbook:The problem for improvisers is anxiety. faced with a lot of nameless eyes staring at us, and feeling more than anything else like prey, we are likely to want to display very consistent behavior, so that anyone who looks at us, looks away and then looks back sees the same thing. Thus we become boring, we fade into the background, and we cease to be of interest.The Improv Handbook provides everything someone interested in improvisational comedy needs to know, as written by a husband and wife comedy duo with years of experience and teaching in the field. in addition to providing a comprehensive history of improvisational theater as a backdrop, it also looks at modern theories and practices of improvisation on a global scale, including how the form of comedy has evolved differently in different parts of the world, from Europe to the UK to the Chicago scene. The Improv Handbook also contains an essential performance segment that details different formats of improvisation. Chapter topics include Theatresports, Micetro, Gorilla Theatre, and the inventions of Keith Johnstone and Del Close as well as other popular forms of improv, like those on "Whose Line is it Anyway." The core section of the book is called simply, "How to Improvise" and delves into issues of spontaneity, the fundamentals of storytelling, working together, upping the ante, and character development. The book concludes with sections on how to improvise in front of an audience and- just as crucially- how to attract an audience in the first place.

Mythology: Myths, Legends and Fantasies


Greg BaileyHugo McCann - 2008
    Mythology is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the world's myth and legends presented in six different sections - the Classical Era, European Mythology, Egyptian and African Mythology, Middle East and Asian Mythology, Mythology of Oceania, and Mythology of the Americas.

Getting Played: African American Girls, Urban Inequality, and Gendered Violence


Jody Miller - 2008
    Wright Mills AwardDraws a vivid picture of the race and gender inequalities that harm young African American women in poor urban communitiesMuch has been written about the challenges that face urban African American young men, but less is said about the harsh realities for African American young women in disadvantaged communities. Sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and even gang rape are not uncommon experiences. In Getting Played, sociologist Jody Miller presents a compelling picture of this dire social problem and explores how inextricably, and tragically, linked violence is to their daily lives in poor urban neighborhoods.Drawing from richly textured interviews with adolescent girls and boys, Miller brings a keen eye to the troubling realities of a world infused with danger and gender-based violence. These girls are isolated, ignored, and often victimized by those considered family and friends. Community institutions such as the police and schools that are meant to protect them often turn a blind eye, leaving girls to fend for themselves. Miller draws a vivid picture of the race and gender inequalities that harm these communities--and how these result in deeply and dangerously engrained beliefs about gender that teach youths to see such violence--rather than the result of broader social inequalities--as deserved due to individual girls' flawed characters, i.e., she deserved it.Through Miller's careful analysis of these engaging, often unsettling stories, Getting Played shows us not only how these young women are victimized, but how, despite vastly inadequate social support and opportunities, they struggle to navigate this dangerous terrain.

Common Ground Without Compromise


Stephen Wagner - 2008
    That's if we engage in them at all. What if you had the tools to start the conversation and make it productive? Common Ground Without Compromise encourages you to create discussion about abortion even with those who disagree. It focuses on twenty-five questions most people (pro-choice and pro-life) answer in a similar way. This foundation of common ground provides a safe atmosphere for people on all sides of the issue to clarify their views, listen to alternate perspectives, and even change their minds. Written to both sides of the debate, this book will help you develop your view of abortion or advocate for your position within the context of friendly dialogue.

Be a Recruiting Superstar: The Fast Track to Network Marketing Millions


Mary Christensen - 2008
    But to truly reach their earning potential, network marketers need to successfully grow their businesses by recruiting the right people. Written by a true network marketing superstar who personally enlisted over 1,000 people in her first year, the book reveals a proven, innovative approach to recruiting that gets results fast. Readers will learn how to: * discover their own recruiting style * identify people who will become a great part of their team * do and say the right things to turn prospects into partners * overcome objections with confidence * attract people who never considered network marketing Filled with advice and inspiration, this indispensable guide gives network marketers the know-how and confidence they need to grow their enterprise and become top earners.

Slavery in Massachusetts


Henry David Thoreau - 2008
    www.forgottenbooks.orgForgotten Books is about sharing knowledge, not about making money. Our books are priced at wholesale prices. We print in large sans-serif font, which is proven to make the text easier to read and put less strain on your eyes. Happy reading!

The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum


Sarah Wise - 2008
    A maze of rotting hundred-year-old houses, the Old Nichol suffered rampant crime and a death rate four times that of London. Among the more piquant discoveries of an 1887 government inquiry was that the owners of these fetid dwellings included lords, lawyers, even churchmen.Drawing on a rich archival store, Sarah Wise reconstructs the Old Nichol and the lives of its 6,000 inhabitants—the woodworkers, fish smokers, and dog dealers, whose tiny rooms doubled as workshops and farmyards. She depicts as well the eugenicists, anarchists, and philanthropists who ventured into the Old Nichol to "save" the poor with such theories as emigration and sterilization. The winning solution was demolition: the Old Nichol was replaced with a new, hygienic settlement—in which only eleven of the original residents could afford to live. Widely praised as a sensitive chronicler of the poor, Wise captures the moment when the poor turned from public nuisance into social experiment.

What Kindergarten Teachers Know: Practical and Playful Ways for Parents to Help Children Listen, Learn, and Coope Rate at Home


Lisa Holewa - 2008
    There are secrets teachers know about our kids that let them calmly and gracefully manage a group of students who only hours earlier were arguing and negotiating with their parents about getting dressed, eating breakfast, or brushing their teeth. What Kindergarten Teachers Know is for any parent who has imagined how much easier life would be if their three- to six-year old would cooperate at home just as they do with their favorite teachers. Lisa Holewa and Joan Rice offer creative tips, tools, and activities straight from the classrooms of award-winning teachers nationwide, translating them into things you can do at home to get your little ones listening, learning, and thinking independently.You'll also get insight into what teachers know about the way kids develop and learn how to use that knowledge to keep them engaged throughout the day. Packed with real-life examples, creative ideas, and practical advice, you'll learn how to:Give directions that your child will actually listen to and followSet the tone in your home just as a teacher does in her classroomHandle transitions to keep your day running smoothlyOrganize your home and schedule to make everyone's life easierCreate rules that are straightforward, fun, and work for your family's needsGive kids the tools to handle conflicts independentlyCreate a sense of community and teamwork at home

A Never Event


Evelyn V. McKnight - 2008
    But the fanfare soon turned into a nightmare. During chemotherapy treatments, 857 patients who were already waging the fights of their lives against cancer were inexplicably exposed to the deadly, blood-borne hepatitis C virus. At least ninety-nine of them contracted the lethal illness. The horror was unprecedented as this was the largest healthcare-transmitted outbreak of hepatitis C in American history, and remains so to this date. A Never Event - a term used to describe a preventable medical tragedy - is a searing account of the health challenges these patients encountered and their quest for justice, as well as the painstaking investigation to uncover the source of the outbreak. It s a story of recklessness, deception and betrayal by the person these patients should have been able to trust the most: their physician, a man who, when the outbreak was discovered, fled the US for his native country in the Middle East. Written by a survivor of the tragedy and an attorney who represented many of the victims, A Never Event is a wake-up call to medical and legal communities nationwide.

Letters between Forster and Isherwood on Homosexuality and Literature


Richard E. Zeikowitz - 2008
    M. Forster and Christopher Isherwood is a fascinating record of the professional and personal lives of two major British writers from the 1930s to the 1960s. The letters of the 1930s reveal how Forster and Isherwood each came to grips with the rise of fascism in Europe and threat of war as both writers and simply human beings caught in the midst of a world on the brink of disaster. These letters also tell two parallel but very different stories of love and devotion between each writer and his respective male partner. The correspondence during the war years juxtapose the strikingly different worlds in which Forster and Isherwood were living: the London area during the Blitz and the southern California community of exiled writers, respectively. In the post-war letters the two friends continue their ongoing conversation to find a suitable ending for Forster’s groundbreaking but yet unpublished novel, Maurice. This complete collection of very readable letters, thoroughly annotated and with an informative introduction, will be of great interest for literary scholars and general readers.

Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the Fate of the American City


Colin Gordon - 2008
    Louis, Missouri, is now a ghostly landscape of vacant houses, boarded-up storefronts, and abandoned factories. The Gateway City is, by any measure, one of the most depopulated, deindustrialized, and deeply segregated examples of American urban decay. Not a typical city, as one observer noted in the late 1970s, but, like a Eugene O'Neill play, it shows a general condition in a stark and dramatic form.Mapping Decline examines the causes and consequences of St. Louis's urban crisis. It traces the complicity of private real estate restrictions, local planning and zoning, and federal housing policies in the white flight of people and wealth from the central city. And it traces the inadequacy--and often sheer folly--of a generation of urban renewal, in which even programs and resources aimed at eradicating blight in the city ended up encouraging flight to the suburbs. The urban crisis, as this study of St. Louis makes clear, is not just a consequence of economic and demographic change; it is also the most profound political failure of our recent history.Mapping Decline is the first history of a modern American city to combine extensive local archival research with the latest geographic information system (GIS) digital mapping techniques. More than 75 full-color maps--rendered from census data, archival sources, case law, and local planning and property records--illustrate, in often stark and dramatic ways, the still-unfolding political history of our neglected cities.

Michelle Obama: In Her Own Words


Michelle Obama - 2008
    This book is a collection of her most personal and inspirational speeches, given over the course of a year and a half, on the Obama's historic journey to the White House. In her own words, Michelle Obama talks about her beliefs, her upbringing, and her values.

From a Geometrical Point of View: A Study of the History and Philosophy of Category Theory


Jean-Pierre Marquis - 2008
    The main thesis is that Klein's Erlangen program in geometry is in fact a particular instance of a general and broad phenomenon revealed by category theory. The volume starts with Eilenberg and Mac Lane's work in the early 1940's and follows the major developments of the theory from this perspective. Particular attention is paid to the philosophical elements involved in this development. The book ends with a presentation of categorical logic, some of its results and its significance in the foundations of mathematics.From a Geometrical Point of View aims to provide its readers with a conceptual perspective on category theory and categorical logic, in order to gain insight into their role and nature in contemporary mathematics. It should be of interest to mathematicians, logicians, philosophers of mathematics and science in general, historians of contemporary mathematics, physicists and computer scientists.

Country Music: The Masters [With CD]


Marty Stuart - 2008
    When Marty Stuart first entered the Hard Rock Cafe, he was impressed to see the work of rock preservationists, yet realized that the artifacts of country music were being lost or destroyed. He set out to change that, becoming a leading curator of roots music memorabilia and photographer of roots founders.After years of careful preservation, Stuart brings the early days of country to vibrant life again with Country Music: The Masters. In a unique pairing, completely original for a photography book of this scope, an integrated audio CD is included featuring 60 minutes of the fascinating stories behind selected photos. Stuart, a born storyteller, gives readers a glimpse into the subjects and the photograph at the moment the shutter snapped. The CD includes "Dark Bird," an unreleased song dedicated to Johnny Cash, written by Stuart after Cash's death. This new recording marks the first-ever commercial release of the song.""A photograph can just be a piece of paper with an image on it... But when the observer with his finger on the button has the life experience it takes to understand the life he's shooting, the photograph is a story. Marty's photographs live and breathe. If it's a person, you can hear their thoughts, feel their pain or joy, and read at least a part of their story. If it's a building or a landscape, you can feel the presence of those who have walked there or lived there through the years."" - Billy Bob Thornton

Africana Critical Theory: Reconstructing The Black Radical Tradition, From W. E. B. Du Bois and C. L. R. James to Frantz Fanon and Amilcar Cabral


Reiland Rabaka - 2008
    Du Bois and the Problems of the Twenty-First Century and Du Bois's Dialectics, Reiland Rabaka's Africana Critical Theory innovatively identifies and analyzes continental and diasporan African contributions to classical and contemporary critical theory. This book represents a climatic critical theoretical clincher that cogently demonstrates how Du Bois's rarely discussed dialectical thought, interdisciplinarity, intellectual history-making radical political activism, and world-historical multiple liberation movement leadership helped to inaugurate a distinct Africana tradition of critical theory. With chapters on W.E.B. Du Bois, C.L.R. James, Negritude (Aime Cesaire and Leopold Senghor), Frantz Fanon and Amilcar Cabral, Africana Critical Theory endeavors to accessibly offer contemporary critical theorists an intellectual archaeology of the Africana tradition of critical theory and a much-needed dialectical deconstruction and reconstruction of black radical politics. These six seminal figures' collective thought and texts clearly cuts across several disciplines and, therefore, closes the chasm between Africana Studies and critical theory, constantly demanding that intellectuals not simply think deep thoughts, develop new theories, and theoretically support radical politics, but be and constantly become political activists, social organizers and cultural workers - that is, folk the Italian critical theorist Antonio Gramsci referred to as "organic intellectuals." In this sense, then, the series of studies gathered in Africana Critical Theory contribute not only to African Studies, African American Studies, Caribbean Studies, Cultural Studies, Gender Studies, and Postcolonial Studies, but also to contemporary critical theoretical discourse across an amazingly wide-range of "traditional" disciplines, and radical political activism outside of (and, in many instances, absolutely against) Europe's ivory towers and the absurdities of the American acade

What Does Justice Look Like?: The Struggle for Liberation in Dakota Homeland


Angela Cavender Wilson - 2008
    Many Dakota people say that the wounds incurred have never healed, and it is clear that the injustices: genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass executions, death marches, broken treaties, and land theft; have not been made right. The Dakota People paid and continue to pay the ultimate price for Minnesota's statehood. This book explores how we can embark on a path of transformation on the way to respectful coexistence with those whose ancestral homeland this is. Doing justice is central to this process. Without justice, many Dakota say, healing and transformation on both sides cannot occur, and good, authentic relations cannot develop between our Peoples. Written by Wahpetunwan Dakota scholar and activist Waziyatawin of Pezihutazizi Otunwe, What Does Justice Look Like? offers an opportunity now and for future generations to learn the long-untold history and what it has meant for the Dakota People. On that basis, the book offers the further opportunity to explore what we can do between us as Peoples to reverse the patterns of genocide and oppression, and instead to do justice with a depth of good faith, commitment, and action that would be genuinely new for Native and non-Native relations.

Howard L. Bingham's Black Panthers 1968


Tom Brokaw - 2008
    The very secretive Panthers and their Minister of Information, Eldridge Cleaver would only allow Life to do the story if Bingham was the photographer. Bingham and Moore followed the Panthers for months from Oakland to New York to Los Angeles only to have the story pulled due to a disagreement between Moore and the magazine. Now, Forty years later, these photographs and their story will finally be published. The book will include interviews with Bingham and Moore about the assignment, the Black Panthers and their place in history.

The Native Mind and the Cultural Construction of Nature


Scott Atran - 2008
    Surveys show that our growing concern over protecting the environment is accompanied by a diminishing sense of human contact with nature. Many people have little commonsense knowledge about nature - are unable, for example, to identify local plants and trees or describe how these plants and animals interact. Researchers report dwindling knowledge of nature even in smaller, nonindustrialized societies. In The Native Mind and the Cultural Construction of Nature, Scott Atran and Douglas Medin trace the cognitive consequences of this loss of knowledge. Drawing on nearly two decades of cross-cultural and developmental research, they examine the relationship between how people think about the natural world and how they act on it and how these are affected by cultural differences.These studies, which involve a series of targeted comparisons among cultural groups living in the same environment and engaged in the same activities, reveal critical universal aspects of mind as well as equally critical cultural differences. Atran and Medin find that, despite a base of universal processes, the cultural differences in understandings of nature are associated with significant differences in environmental decision making as well as intergroup conflict and stereotyping stemming from these differences. The book includes two intensive case studies, one focusing on agro-forestry among Maya Indians and Spanish speakers in Mexico and Guatemala and the other on resource conflict between Native-American and European-American fishermen in Wisconsin. The Native Mind and the Cultural Construction of Nature offers new perspectives on general theories of human categorization, reasoning, decision making, and cognitive development.

Polearms of Paulus Hector Mair


David James Knight - 2008
    An enthusiastic practitioner of fencing, wrestling and other martial arts, he was determined to preserve the knowledge of the combat arts of his time. His dream is realized in this remarkable book by authors David James Knight and Brian Hunt.Mair collected a vast combat library, including works by Jorg Wilhalm, Antonius Rast, Gregor Erhart and Sigmund Ringeck, as well as copies of both the Codex Wallerstein and the Konigsegg-Talhoffe manuscript. Circa 1540, Mair produced the Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica, or Ultimate Book of the Art of Athletics, a massive compendium heavily influenced by the earlier works in his library but surpassing them in content and depth. Today only three complete manuscripts of his Opus survive in German and Austrian collections.In Polearms of Paulus Hector Mair, authors Knight and Hunt make their contribution to the endeavor that Mair began so many centuries ago. Working from both the German and Latin versions of Mair's Opus, they present chapters on combat with the poleax, halberd, spear and shortstaff, and lance and longstaff, with text in the original German and Latin, along with the English translation. The illustrations, taken from the Dresden codices, C93 and C94, have been meticulously restored to give a clear view of the techniques.This amazing volume, a labor of love of the arts of combat, belongs in the library of everyone with an interest in Renaissance martial arts.

At War with Metaphor: Media, Propaganda, and Racism in the War on Terror


Erin Steuter - 2008
    At War with Metaphor offers an answer, arguing that the abuses of Abu Ghraib were part of a systemic continuum of dehumanization. This continuum has its roots in our public discussions of the war on terror and the metaphors through which they are repeatedly framed. Arguing earnestly and incisively that these metaphors, if left unexamined, bind us into a cycle of violence that will only be intensified by a responsive violence of metaphor, Steuter and Wills examine compelling examples of the images of animal, insect, and disease that inform, shape, and limit our understanding of the war on terror. Tying these images to historical and contemporary uses of propaganda through a readable, accessible analysis of media filters, At War with Metaphor vividly explores how news media, including political cartoons and talk radio, are enmeshed in these damaging, dehumanizing metaphors. Analyzing media through the lenses of race and Orientalism, it invites us to hold our media and ourselves accountable for the choices we make in talking war and making enemies.

Managing Without Growth: Slower by Design, Not Disaster


Peter A. Victor - 2008
    The challenge is based on a critical analysis of the literature on environmental and resource limits to growth, on the disconnect between higher incomes and happiness, and on the failure of economic growth to meet other key economic, social and environmental policy objectives. Shortly after World War II, economic growth became the paramount economic policy objective in most countries, a position that it maintains today. This book presents three arguments on why rich countries should turn away from economic growth as the primary policy objective and pursue more specific objectives that enhance well-being. The author contends that continued economic growth worldwide is unrealistic due to environmental and resource constraints.If rich countries continue to push growth, poorer countries, where the benefits are more evident, will lag. Rising incomes increase happiness and well-being only up to a level that has since been surpassed in rich countries. Moreover, economic growth has not brought full employment, eliminated poverty or reduced the burden of the economy on the environment. By combining a systems approach with more conventional economic analysis, Peter Victor provides new insights into a pressing issue at the frontier of ecological economics in a way that will appeal to a wide audience. Academics, students, activists and interested lay readers will find this well argued book illuminating and compelling.

Rationality for Mortals: How People Cope with Uncertainty


Gerd Gigerenzer - 2008
    Seen from this perspective, human behavior is more rational than it might otherwise appear. This work is extremely influential and has spawned an entire research program.This volume (which follows on a previous collection, Adaptive Thinking, also published by OUP) collects his most recent articles, looking at how people use fast and frugal heuristics to calculate probability and risk and make decisions. It includes a newly writen, substantial introduction, and the articles have been revised and updated where appropriate. This volume should appeal, like the earlier volumes, to a broad mixture of cognitive psychologists, philosophers, economists, and others who study decision making.

Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don't Give Away More Money


Christian Smith - 2008
    Far from the 10 percent of one's income that tithing requires, American Christians' financial giving typicallyamounts, by some measures, to less than one percent of annual earnings. And a startling one out of five self-identified Christians gives nothing at all.This eye-opening book explores the reasons behind such ungenerous giving, the potential world-changing benefits of greater financial giving, and what can be done to improve matters. If American Christians gave more generously, say the authors, any number of worthy projects -- from the preventionand treatment of HIV/AIDS to the promotion of inter-religious understanding to the upgrading of world missions -- could be funded at astounding levels. Analyzing a wide range of social surveys and government and denominational statistical datasets and drawing on in-depth interviews with Christianpastors and church members in seven different states, the book identifies a crucial set of factors that appear to depress religious financial support -- among them the powerful allure of a mass-consumerist culture and its impact on Americans' priorities, parishioners' suspicions of waste and abuseby nonprofit administrators, clergy's hesitations to boldly ask for money, and the lack of structure and routine in the way most American Christians give away money. In their conclusion, the authors suggest practical steps that clergy and lay leaders might take to counteract these tendencies andbetter educate their congregations about the transformative effects of generous giving.By illuminating the social and psychological forces that shape charitable giving, Passing the Plate is sure to spark a much-needed debate on a critical issue that is of much interest to church-goers, religious leaders, philanthropists, and social scientists.

Tarara: Croats and Maori in New Zealand: Memory Belonging Identity


Senka Bozic-Vrbancic - 2008
    All were looking for work. They came together on the gum fields of the far north. Many of the Croatians settled, some with mail-order brides, others with Maori women - and a unique community was born. This is the story of that community.Today we can travel anywhere, but we still cannot travel to the past. Drawing from official documents, oral histories, novels, letters, newspaper articles, marriage certificates, and much more, Senka Bozic-Vrbancic explores relationships between Maori and Croats. How has their collective identity been shaped by changing legal regulations from colonial times to the bi cultural New Zealand of today? What does it mean to be a New Zealander? "Tarara" is a provocative contribution to ideas about migration, displacement, and the impact of different social models - colonialism, assimilation, biculturalism, and multiculturalism - on Maori and Croatian identity."

Emergence: Contemporary Readings in Philosophy and Science


Mark A. Bedau - 2008
    Fueled by advances in complexity theory, artificial life, physics, psychology, sociology, and biology and by the parallel development of new conceptual tools in philosophy, the idea of emergence offers a way to understand a wide variety of complex phenomena in ways that are intriguingly different from more traditional approaches. This reader collects for the first time in one easily accessible place classic writings on emergence from contemporary philosophy and science. The chapters, by such prominent scholars as John Searle, Stephen Weinberg, William Wimsatt, Thomas Schelling, Jaegwon Kim, Robert Laughlin, Daniel Dennett, Herbert Simon, Stephen Wolfram, Jerry Fodor, Philip Anderson, and David Chalmers, cover the major approaches to emergence. Each of the three sections (Philosophical Perspectives, Scientific Perspectives, and Background and Polemics) begins with an introduction putting the chapters into context and posing key questions for further exploration. A bibliography lists more specialized material, and an associated website (http: //mitpress.mit.edu/emergence) links to downloadable software and to other sites and publications about emergence.ContributorsP. W. Anderson, Andrew Assad, Nils A. Baas, Mark A. Bedau, Mathieu S. Capcarr�re, David Chalmers, James P. Crutchfield, Daniel C. Dennett, J. Doyne Farmer, Jerry Fodor, Carl Hempel, Paul Humphreys, Jaegwon Kim, Robert B. Laughlin, Bernd Mayer, Brian P. McLaughlin, Ernest Nagel, Martin Nillson, Paul Oppenheim, Norman H. Packard, David Pines, Steen Rasmussen, Edmund M. A. Ronald, Thomas Schelling, John Searle, Robert S. Shaw, Herbert Simon, Moshe Sipper, Stephen Weinberg, William Wimsatt, and Stephen Wolfram

Little Teal Book of Trust: How to Earn It, Grow It, and Keep It to Become a Trusted Advisor in Sales, Business and Life


Jeffrey Gitomer - 2008
    It's people seeking and taking your advice both as a counselor and a confidante. Someone who trusts you to a point where they call at some critical stage, because they know you are the ONE who can help them in a way that others cannot. But how do you develop trust? Follow the advice of Jeffrey Gitomer, bestselling author of the Little Books, which have now sold more than two million copies worldwide. As the world's foremost expert on selling, Gitomer is uniquely qualified to speak on the issue of trust, having earned a position of trust, both to his customers and readers. Gitomer advises that trust is not the product of any secret formula. It's not something you can lay there and wait for it to happen to you. Gaining, building, and maintaining a high level of trust involves thinking, and requires reading, a clear mind, a focus on becoming a world-class expert, studying, risking, failing, the right attitude, and lacing your boots straps tighter when times are tough. But you can do it and when you do, it will lead you to wealth beyond money. It's not success, it's fulfillment - both to you and the people who trust you.This book provides the insights and answers to all of these elements of trust, and gives the reader a solid understanding of the process, and a step-by-step game plan to achieve it.

Charms, Charmers and Charming: International Research on Verbal Magic


Jonathan Roper - 2008
    The essays it contains cover vernacular magical texts and practice from Malaysia to Madagascar, and from England to Estonia. As the most comprehensive collection of research on charms, charmers, and charming available in the English language, it forms an essential reader on the topic.

The Biopolitics of Breast Cancer: Changing Cultures of Disease and Activism


Maren Klawiter - 2008
    According to this view, medical practices are incidental to people’s transformation from patients to patient activists. The Biopolitics of Breast Cancer turns this understanding upside down.Maren Klawiter analyzes the evolution of the breast cancer movement to show the broad social impact of how diseases come to be medically managed and publicly administered. Examining surgical procedures, adjuvant therapies, early detection campaigns, and the rise in discourses of risk, Klawiter demonstrates that these practices created a change in the social relations-if not the mortality rate-of breast cancer that initially inhibited, but later enabled, collective action. Her research focuses on the emergence and development of new forms of activism that range from grassroots patient empowerment to environmental activism and corporate-funded breast cancer awareness.The Biopolitics of Breast Cancer opens a window onto a larger set of changes currently transforming medically advanced societies and ultimately challenges our understanding of the origins, politics, and future of the breast cancer movement.Maren Klawiter holds a PhD in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently pursuing a law degree at Yale University.

Nobility of Spirit: A Forgotten Ideal


Rob Riemen - 2008
    It is, as Thomas Mann believed, the sole corrective for human history. Without nobility of spirit, culture vanishes. Yet in the early twenty-first century, a time when human dignity and freedom are imperiled, the concept of nobility of spirit is scarcely considered. Riemen insists that if we hope to move beyond the war on terror and create a life-affirming culture, we must address timeless but neglected questions: What is a good society? Why art? Why culture? What is the responsibility of intellectuals? Why anti-Americanism? Why nihilism? Why the cult of death of fundamentalists? In a series of three essays, the author identifies nobility of spirit in the life and work of Baruch Spinoza and of Thomas Mann; explores the quest for the good society in our own time; and addresses the pursuit of truth and freedom that engaged figures as disparate as Socrates and Leone Ginzburg, a Jewish Italian intellectual murdered by Nazis. “The forces now aligned against humanistic values are manifold,” observes George Steiner in the foreword to the book. In this imaginative and compelling volume, Riemen addresses these forces and speaks to every reader who believes in the power of classical ideas to restore Western civilization’s highest values.

War of the Bloods in My Veins: A Street Soldier's March Toward Redemption


DaShaun Morris - 2008
    Book by Morris, DaShaun "Jiwe"

How to live without problems: The ultimate guide to decoding and changing your life in one day


Tadas Talaikis - 2008
    It is dedicated to those who seek extraordinary skills and results, despite the circumstances of their life, and to those who want to know who they can really become.

Lessons from My Uncle James: Beyond Skin Color to the Content of Our Character


Ward Connerly - 2008
    Yet, in Lessons from Uncle James, Connerly argues that even after we move beyond the color of our skin, we must still address the content of our character. With this Connerly extols the traditional virtues of personal accountability as a ballast to race industry's culture of victimhood.

Trust Me


Nick Morgan - 2008
    He presents a four-step process, perfected in his teaching at Harvard, that enables the reader to use their own personal speaking style while becoming a more persuasive and charismatic communicator and leader. The basis of this process is the fact that when words and body language are in conflict, body language wins every time. This isn't easy to overcome, because normally body language is immediate, while the words lag slightly behind, and even a momentary conflict is perceptible to the audience. The key to success is to train your body language to unconsciously align with your message. The four steps: Form the attitude and intent to be open, and then let your body naturally express that intent. This feeling of openness will naturally affect the content of what you are saying, and it's that natural evolution that is at the heart of the process. Become connected to your audience. This creates a mutual energy, and you will naturally begin to think in terms of what the audience wants and needs in shaping your content. Ask yourself, what's my underlying emotion? Why does this matter to me? Becoming passionate about what you have to say naturally makes your audience care about it too. Really listen to the audience. Understanding their needs and reactions will enable you to direct your communication in mutually beneficial ways.

When Things Get Crazy with Your Teen: The Why, the How, and What to Do Now


Michael J. Bradley - 2008
    Yes, there are sane solutions--in this problem-solving parent's guide from the bestselling author of Yes, Your Teen Is CrazyHow should you respond when your teen comes home late? Wears inappropriate clothes? Is pregnant, or flunking out? You'll find the answers here--right at your fingertips--in this quick-reference manual from one of the leading experts on adolescent behavior. As someone who has counseled hundreds of teens in his practice and as a father of two teens himself, Dr. Michael Bradley understands how teenagers can drive you crazy. Offering practical "first response" advice, he tells you exactly what to do and what NOT to do in about every scenario you'll ever face with your kid, from messy rooms and monstrous moods to drug abuse and depression.If you own a teen (or feel owned by one) the experts agree you need this book". . . a wonderful, straightforward, and extremely helpful book. Michael Bradley's advice is always compassionate, very much on the mark, and, above all, realistic." --Anthony E. Wolf, Ph.D., bestselling author of Get Out of My Life, but First Could You Drive Me and Cheryl to the Mall "Raising teens can be quite a bumpy ride. When Things Get Crazy with Your Teen supplies an easy-to-read, practical, and valuable road map for the trip." --David Walsh, Ph.D., author of Why Do They Act That Way?"Exceptional. . . . This is a book that I will highly recommend, not just to parents of my adolescent patients but for all parents attempting to raise teenagers in today's complex and stress-filled world." --Sam Goldstein, Ph.D., coauthor of Raising Resilient Children"Parents will find fresh insights and concrete, no-nonsense help throughout . . .." --Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish, authors of How to Talk So Teens Will Listen & Listen So Teens Will Talk

Child of Steens Mountain


Eileen O'Keeffe McVicker - 2008
    Images of Steens countryawild sagebrush and juniper country, with rugged vistas in every directionaare woven throughout her recollections, which share the profound sense of place found in the best Western memoirs. While vividly describing ranch life, Child of Steens Mountain also explores universal issues of parenting, making a living, and growing up. The homesteading life built a childas character and confidence, and as she reaches adulthood, McVicker, raised to be independent and responsible, ultimately defies her parents to follow her own path.McVickeras neighbor and friend, Barbara J. Scot, edited and organized the narration while preserving the authoras distinctive voice. In an afterword, Scot reflects on McVickeras experiences and describes the collaborative processaincluding a visit to the old homestead siteathat led to this book. Historian Richard Etulain, whose own childhood was spent on a sheep ranch in the West, provides an overview of sheep ranching and homesteading in Steens country in his foreword.Whether intrigued by Oregonhistory, the high desert country, or memoirs of homesteading life, readers will be unable to resist these appealing stories of growing up amid the natural beauty of Steens country.

Moral Selves, Evil Selves: The Social Psychology of Conscience


Steven Hitlin - 2008
    People have strong moral beliefs about right and wrong, yet commonly act contrary to those beliefs.  Most of us, at some time or another, have crossed a moral line and yet still view ourselves as moral and have a clean conscience.  From intimate relationships to national politics, we define ourselves in large part by how we – and our friends, family, and members of our social groups – draw moral lines around our actions, thoughts, and intentions.  While philosophers have weighed in on these issues for thousands of years, social scientists often underplay social life’s moral dimension.  Moral Selves, Evil Selves highlights our individual sense of moral coherence and develops a theory of the development and maintenance of this sense in an ambiguous and complicated social world.  By conceptualizing a social psychology of conscience, this book explains how we can properly include individual and societal notions of morality into understanding the self across time and situation.

Arkansas/Arkansaw: How Bear Hunters, Hillbillies, and Good Ol' Boys Defined a State


Brooks Blevins - 2008
    Douglas MacArthur, Maya Angelou, Brooks Robinson, Helen Gurley Brown, Johnny Cash, Alan Ladd, and Sonny Boy Williamson have in common? They're all Arkansans. What do hillbillies, rednecks, slow trains, bare feet, moonshine, and double-wides have in common? For many in America these represent Arkansas more than any Arkansas success stories do. In 1931 H. L. Mencken described AR (not AK, folks) as the "apex of moronia." While, in 1942 a Time magazine article said Arkansas had "developed a mass inferiority complex unique in American history." Arkansas/Arkansaw is the first book to explain how Arkansas's image began and how the popular culture stereotypes have been perpetuated and altered through succeeding generations. Brooks Blevins argues that the image has not always been a bad one. He discusses travel accounts, literature, radio programs, movies, and television shows that give a very positive image of the Natural State. From territorial accounts of the Creole inhabitants of the Mississippi River Valley to national derision of the state's triple-wide governor's mansion to Li'l Abner, the Beverly Hillbillies, and Slingblade, Blevins leads readers on an entertaining and insightful tour through more than two centuries of the idea of Arkansas. One discovers along the way how one state becomes simultaneously a punch line and a source of admiration for progressives and social critics alike.

Romantic Europe and the Ghost of Italy


Joseph Luzzi - 2008
    Ranging across European and international borders, he examines the metaphors, facts, and fictions about Italy that were born in the Romantic age and continue to haunt the global literary imagination.The themes of the book include the emergence of Italy as the “world’s university” (Goethe) and “mother of arts” (Byron), the influence of Dante’s Commedia on Romantic autobiography, and the representation of the Italian body politic as a woman at home and abroad. Luzzi also provides a critical reevaluation of the three crowns of Italian Romantic letters—Ugo Foscolo, Giacomo Leopardi, and Alessandro Manzoni—profoundly influential writers largely undiscovered in Anglo-American criticism. Reaching out to academic and general readers alike, the book offers fresh insights into the influence of Italian literary, cultural, and intellectual traditions on the foreign imagination from the Romantic age to the present.