Best of
Social-Issues

1990

Making Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Caras: Creative and Critical Perspectives by Feminists of Color


Gloria E. Anzaldúa - 1990
    New thought and new dialogue: a book that will teach in the most multiple sense of that word: a book that will be of lasting value to many diverse communities of women as well as to students from those communities. The authors explore a full spectrum of present concerns in over seventy pieces that vary from writing by new talents to published pieces by Audre Lorde, Joy Harjo, Norma Alarcón and Trinh T. Minh-ha."At one level or another, all the work in the collection seeks to find ways to understand and articulate our multiple identities and senses of place….Making Face/Making Soul is an exciting collection of dynamic, important writings that all women of color and white feminists will learn from, enjoy, and return to again and again and again."—Sojourner"...the pieces are stunning in what they risk and reveal..."—The San Francisco Chronicle

Abortion: A Rational Look At An Emotional Issue


R.C. Sproul - 1990
    R.C. Sproul employs his unique perspective as a highly experienced pastor-theologian and a trained philosopher to provide well-considered and compassionate answers to the difficult questions that attend termination of pregnancy. Dr. Sproul strives for a factual, well-reasoned approach informed by careful biblical scholarship. He considers both sides of this issue in terms of biblical teaching, civil law, and natural law. This edition includes a new foreword by Dr. George Grant and has been updated to reflect developments in the issue of abortion. Appendixes provide further background on the issue of when life begins and list sources for pro-life resources.

The Essence of Self-realization: The Wisdom of Paramahansa Yogananda


Paramahansa Yogananda - 1990
    A few of the chapters include The TruePurpose of Life On Meditation How to Pray Effectively The Law of Karma The Lesson ofReincarnation and Ways in Which God Can Be Worshiped. Filled with lessons and stories thatYogananda shared only with his closest disciples, this volume offers one of the most insightfuland engaging glimpses into the life and lessons of a great sage. Much of the material presentedhere is not available anywhere else.

Wisdomkeepers: Meetings with Native American Spiritual Elders


Steve Wall - 1990
    With magnificent photographs and powerful words, the Wisdomkeepers share their innermost thoughts and feelings, their dreams and visions, their jokes and laughter, their healing remedies and apocalyptic prophecies and -- above all -- their humanity, which shines through every page of Wisdomkeepers. This is their book. They are the Elders, the Old Ones, the fragile repositories of sacred ways and natural wisdom going back millennia -- yet never more relevant than today.

The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States


Ward Churchill - 1990
    Bush will find fodder for fears—and suggestions for activism—in The COINTELPRO Papers. Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall's exposé of America's political police force, the FBI, reveals the steel fist undergirding "compassionate conservatism's" velvet glove. Using original FBI memos, the authors provide extensive analysis of the agency's treatment of the left, from the Communist Party in the 1950s to the Central America solidarity movement in the 1980s. The authors' new introduction posits likely trajectories for domestic repression.Ward Churchill is author of From a Native Son. Jim Vander Wall is co-author of Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement, with Ward Churchill.

Peace Begins with You


Katherine Scholes - 1990
    Explains, in simple terms, the concept of peace, why conflicts occur, how they can be resolved in positive ways, and how to protect peace.

Inventing the Feeble Mind: A History of Intellectual Disability in the United States


James W. Trent - 1990
    But in the decade of the 1840s, a group of American physicians and reformers began to view mental retardation as a social problem requiring public intervention. For the next century and a half, social science and medical professionals constructed meanings of mental retardation, at the same time incarcerating hundreds of thousands of Americans in institutions and "special" schools. James W. Trent uses public documents, private letters, investigative reports, and rare photographs to explore our changing perceptions of "feeble minds." From local family matter to state and social problem, constructions of mental retardation represent a history of ideas, techniques, and tools. Trent contends that the economic vulnerability of mentally retarded people and their families, more than the claims made for their intellectual or social limitations, has determined their institutional treatment. He finds that the focus on technical and usually psychomedical interpretations of mental retardation has led to a general ignorance of the maldistribution of resources, status, and power so evident in the lives of the retarded. Superintendents, social welfare agents, IQ testers, and sterlizers have utilized these psychological and medical paradigms to insure their own social privilege and professional legitimacy. Rather than simply moving "from care to control, " state schools have made care an effective and integral part of control. In analyzing the current policy of deinstitutionalization, Trent concludes it has been more successful in dispersing disabled citizens than in integrating them into American communities. Inventing the Feeble Mind powerfully shatters conventional understandings of mental retardation. It is essential reading for social workers, psychologists, historians, sociologists, educator

All or Nothing: The Axis and the Holocaust 1941-43


Jonathan Steinberg - 1990
    Jews who fell into the hands of the German army ended up in concentration camps; none of those taken by the Italians suffered the same fate. Yet the protectors of the Jews were no philo-Semites, nor were they (often) great respecters of human life. Some of those same officers had sanctioned savage atrocities against Ethiopians and Arabs in the years before the war. Jonathan Steinberg uses this remarkable and poignant story to unravel the motives and forces underpinning both Fascism and Nazism. As a renowned historian of both Germany and Italy, he is uniquely placed to answer the underlying question; why?

Harvey Wang's New York


Harvey Wang - 1990
    As machines and electronics take over, as gentrification or changes in customs occur, a way of life disappears. But Harvey Wang was able to document these lives before it was too late. The photographs and descriptions will entertain and inform us all.

Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Culture


Russell Ferguson - 1990
    It engages fundamental issues raised by attempts to define such concepts as mainstream, minority, and other, and opens up new ways of thinking about culture and representation. All of the texts deal with questions of representation in the broadest sense, encompassing not just the visual but also the social and psychological aspects of cultural identity. Included are important theoretical writings by Homi Bhabha, Helene Cixous, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, and Monique Wittig. Their work is juxtaposed with essays on more overtly personal themes, often autobiographical, by Gloria Anzaldua, Bell Hooks, and Richard Rodriguez, among others. This rich anthology brings together voices from many different marginalized groups - groups that are often isolated from each other as well as from the dominant culture. It joins issues of gender, race, sexual preference, and class in one forum but without imposing a false unity on the diverse cultures represented. Each piece in the book subtly changes the way every other piece is read. While several essays focus on specific issues in art, such as John Yau's piece on Wilfredo Lam in the Museum of Modern Art, or James Clifford's on collecting art, others draw from debates in literature, film, and critical theory to provide a much broader context than is usually found in work aimed at an art audience. Topics range from the functions of language to the role of public art in the city, from gay pornography to the meanings of black hair styles. Out There also includes essays by Rosalyn Deutsche, Richard Dyer, Kobena Mercer, Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, Gerald Vizenor and Simon Watney, as well as by the editors.Copublished with the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York Distributed by The MIT Press.

Sanctity Of Life: The Inescapable Issue


Charles R. Swindoll - 1990
    Even five years ago. In fact, it is the first time this well known pastor speaks out on the inescapable issue of our day: abortion.While Sanctity of Life decries society's penchant for abortion on demand, the book is more than just another call for legislative action. Instead, Chuck Swindoll wants his words to help Christians "get their arms around" the nation's most divisive issue, reach out to women and their families who are enduring the aftermath of a bad decision, and then move beyond the tension of the issue to join in a plea for lifetime morality.Chuck Swindoll believes that the 1990s is not the time for Christians to slacken their efforts either in opposing abortion or in advocating moral purity. Now is the moment for renewed vigor in social action and, above all, godly living.Sanctity of Life is a book on resolve, courage, and compassion. It is not the last word on abortion, but it is the definitive position on moral living for Christians today.

The Ballad of Belle Dorcas


William H. Hooks - 1990
    A "first-rate piece of storytelling"--(starred review) "Booklist."

Health, Money, and Love-- And Why We Don't Enjoy Them


Robert Farrar Capon - 1990
    In this deliciously twisting, engaging, multi- genre narrative, Robert Farrar Capon explores three areas of life that concern us all — health, money, and love — pokes fun of the religions we make of them, and trumpets the radical gospel of grace, the only alternative that can free us to be truly happy. Using a variety of styles — movie script, dialogue, parable, letter, and, of course, his typically sparkling prose — Capon discusses religion and happiness in the light of "holy luck," the notion that God uses chance as his normal device for running the world and establishing his relationship with us. He argues that in espousing false religions such as health, money, and love in our pursuit of happiness, we reject God's holy luck for the illusion of our own control. "Happiness," he asserts, "lies in our ability to accept everything that happens and then either enjoy it gratefully or reconcile it patiently. We may not be able to control all of the things that happen outside us, but since we are in control of both our gratitude and our patience, there is always and in every circumstance a path open to the happiness that God already has over everything." Capon proceeds to explore and interweave the topics of childhood, romance, work, play, exercise and eating habits, aging, and death within his twin themes of religion and happiness. Blending his own experiences with ideas from a wide range of authorities, including Augustine, Dame Julian of Norwich, Meister Eckhart, Chesterton, and Charles Williams, he challenges us to rethink our conception of God, our values, and our entire lives. Full of provocative insights, Health, Money, and Love will surely attract, stir, and delight a wide readership.