Best of
Society

2012

Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design


Charles Montgomery - 2012
    Dense urban living has been prescribed as a panacea for the environmental and resource crises of our time. But is it better or worse for our happiness? Are subways, sidewalks and condo towers an improvement on the car-dependence of sprawl?The award-winning journalist Charles Montgomery finds answers to such questions at the intersection between urban design and the emerging science of happiness, during an exhilarating journey through some of the world’s most dynamic cities. He meets the visionary mayor who introduced a “sexy” bus to ease status anxiety in Bogotá; the architect who brought the lessons of medieval Tuscan hill towns to modern-day New York City; the activist who turned Paris’s urban freeways into beaches; and an army of American suburbanites who have hacked the design of their own streets and neighborhoods.Rich with new insights from psychology, neuroscience and Montgomery’s own urban experiments, Happy City reveals how our cities can shape our thoughts as well as our behavior. The message is as surprising as it is hopeful: by retrofitting cities and our own lives for happiness, we can tackle the urgent challenges of our age. The happy city can save the world--and all of us can help build it.

Meat Eater: Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter


Steven Rinella - 2012
    As a child, Rinella devoured stories of the American wilderness, especially the exploits of his hero, Daniel Boone. He began fishing at the age of three and shot his first squirrel at eight and his first deer at thirteen. He chose the colleges he went to by their proximity to good hunting ground, and he experimented with living solely off wild meat. As an adult, he feeds his family from the food he hunts. Meat Eater chronicles Rinella’s lifelong relationship with nature and hunting through the lens of ten hunts, beginning when he was an aspiring mountain man at age ten and ending as a thirty-seven-year-old Brooklyn father who hunts in the remotest corners of North America. He tells of having a struggling career as a fur trapper just as fur prices were falling; of a dalliance with catch-and-release steelhead fishing; of canoeing in the Missouri Breaks in search of mule deer just as the Missouri River was freezing up one November; and of hunting the elusive Dall sheep in the glaciated mountains of Alaska.   Through each story, Rinella grapples with themes such as the role of the hunter in shaping America, the vanishing frontier, the ethics of killing, the allure of hunting trophies, the responsibilities that human predators have to their prey, and the disappearance of the hunter himself as Americans lose their connection with the way their food finds its way to their tables. Hunting, he argues, is intimately connected with our humanity; assuming responsibility for acquiring the meat that we eat, rather than entrusting it to proxy executioners, processors, packagers, and distributors, is one of the most respectful and exhilarating things a meat eater can do.   A thrilling storyteller with boundless interesting facts and historical information about the land, the natural world, and the history of hunting, Rinella also includes after each chapter a section of “Tasting Notes” that draws from his thirty-plus years of eating and cooking wild game, both at home and over a campfire. In Meat Eater he paints a loving portrait of a way of life that is part of who we are as humans and as Americans.“Chances are, Steven Rinella’s life is very different from yours or mine. He does not source his food at the local supermarket. Meat Eater is a unique and valuable alternate view of where our food comes from—and what can be involved. It’s a look both backward, at the way things used to be, and forward, to a time when every diner truly understands what’s on the end of the fork.”—Anthony Bourdain  “An engaging, sharp-eyed writer whose style fuses those of John McPhee and Hunter S. Thompson.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune

Drugs Without the Hot Air: Minimizing the Harms of Legal and Illegal Drugs


David J. Nutt - 2012
    Applying the same objective criteria to legal and illegal substances, an argument is made that legality is not a clear measure for harm. Tackling a variety of questions, such as Which is more harmful—Ecstasy or alcohol? Can addiction be cured? and Does the "War on Drugs" have serious unintended effects that can hurt children?, this analysis equips readers with the ability to make educated decisions regarding drugs both personally and in their communities. Broadening the scope of the discussion, a framework is explored for formulating national drug policies that will minimize a myriad of harms—social, medical, criminal, financial, and environmental.

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion


Jonathan Haidt - 2012
     His starting point is moral intuition—the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right. He blends his own research findings with those of anthropologists, historians, and other psychologists to draw a map of the moral domain. He then examines the origins of morality, overturning the view that evolution made us fundamentally selfish creatures. But rather than arguing that we are innately altruistic, he makes a more subtle claim—that we are fundamentally groupish. It is our groupishness, he explains, that leads to our greatest joys, our religious divisions, and our political affiliations. In a stunning final chapter on ideology and civility, Haidt shows what each side is right about, and why we need the insights of liberals, conservatives, and libertarians to flourish as a nation.

Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care


Marty Makary - 2012
    Marty Makary is co-developer of the life-saving checklist outlined in Atul Gawande's bestselling The Checklist Manifesto. As a busy surgeon who has worked in many of the best hospitals in the nation, he can testify to the amazing power of modern medicine to cure. But he's also been a witness to a medical culture that routinely leaves surgical sponges inside patients, amputates the wrong limbs, and overdoses children because of sloppy handwriting. Over the last ten years, neither error rates nor costs have come down, despite scientific progress and efforts to curb expenses. Why?To patients, the healthcare system is a black box. Doctors and hospitals are unaccountable, and the lack of transparency leaves both bad doctors and systemic flaws unchecked. Patients need to know more of what healthcare workers know, so they can make informed choices. Accountability in healthcare would expose dangerous doctors, reward good performance, and force positive change nationally, using the power of the free market. Unaccountable is a powerful, no-nonsense, non-partisan diagnosis for healing our hospitals and reforming our broken healthcare system.

Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt


Chris Hedges - 2012
    They wanted to show in words and drawings what life looks like in places where the marketplace rules without constraints, where human beings and the natural world are used and then discarded to maximize profit. Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt is the searing account of their travels.The book starts in the western plains, where Native Americans were sacrificed in the giddy race for land and empire. It moves to the old manufacturing centers and coal fields that fueled the industrial revolution, but now lie depleted and in decay. It follows the steady downward spiral of American labor into the nation's produce fields and ends in Zuccotti Park where a new generation revolts against a corporate state that has handed to the young an economic, political, cultural and environmental catastrophe.

Who Stole the American Dream? Can We Get It Back?


Hedrick Smith - 2012
    Through stories of everyday people, Smith also shows how Americans are faring today--and explores what we can do, together, to re-create the American Dream. Fitting the pieces of a big puzzle together in the way only a veteran reporter can, Smith shows how events reported in many recent news stories--from the mortgage mess to 401(k) disasters, and including problems in housing, banks, pensions, legislation, jobs, and more--are the outcomes of the evolution of a political and economic dismantling that began in 1971 with Lewis Powell's provocative memo, and continued through the eras of Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush, up to today. With a deep and sophisticated understanding of recent American history, Smith interweaves into the decades-long story of our country's reconfiguration powerful, vivid portraits, both of some of the people who caused this change, and some of those affected by it. This book tells a story about modern America that has never been told this way before. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand America now, and why he or she can't get ahead. "Who Stole the American Dream?" explores how we can recapture lost hope--it is a masterful work about America today by one of our leading print and television journalists.

Marked for Death: Islam's War Against the West and Me


Geert Wilders - 2012
    Wilders' foes, whether murderous jihadists or the multicultural establishment, share the same "strategic objective" - to increase the cost of associating with him beyond that which most people are willing to bear. It is not easy to be Geert Wilders. He spent almost a decade in a strange, claustrophobic, transient, and tenuous existence little different from kidnap victims or, in his words, a political prisoner. He is under round-the-clock guard because of explicit threats to murder him by Muslim extremists.Yet he's the one who gets put on trial for incitement.... For every independent-minded soul ... there are a thousand other public figures who get the message: steer clear from Islam unless you want your life consumed - and steer clear of Wilders if you want to be left in peace.

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty


Daron Acemoğlu - 2012
    None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence? Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea, to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and very different economic institutions—with no end in sight. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories. Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including:    - China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West?    - Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority?    - What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson’s breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions? Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at—and understand—the world.

The Great Rebalancing: Trade, Conflict, and the Perilous Road Ahead for the World Economy


Michael Pettis - 2012
    Another Great Depression? Not quite. Noted economist and China expert Michael Pettis argues instead that we are undergoing a critical rebalancing of the world economies. Debunking popular misconceptions, Pettis shows that severe trade imbalances spurred on the recent financial crisis and were the result of unfortunate policies that distorted the savings and consumption patterns of certain nations. Pettis examines the reasons behind these destabilizing policies, and he predicts severe economic dislocations--a lost decade for China, the breaking of the Euro, and a receding of the U.S. dollar--that will have long-lasting effects.Pettis explains how China has maintained massive--but unsustainable--investment growth by artificially lowering the cost of capital. He discusses how Germany is endangering the Euro by favoring its own development at the expense of its neighbors. And he looks at how the U.S. dollar's role as the world's reserve currency burdens America's economy. Although various imbalances may seem unrelated, Pettis shows that all of them--including the U.S. consumption binge, surging debt in Europe, China's investment orgy, Japan's long stagnation, and the commodity boom in Latin America--are closely tied together, and that it will be impossible to resolve any issue without forcing a resolution for all.Demonstrating how economic policies can carry negative repercussions the world over, The Great Rebalancing sheds urgent light on our globally linked economic future.

Injustice: Life and Death in the Courtrooms of America


Clive Stafford Smith - 2012
    This remarkable book reads like a page-turning detective story, with one crucial difference: can we be sure that justice wll be served at the end?In 1986, Kris Maharaj, a British businesman living in Miami, was arrested for the brutal murder of two ex-business associates. His lawyer did not present a strong alibi; Kris was found guilty and sentenced to death in the electric chair.It wasn't until a young lawyer working for nothing, Clive Stafford Smith, took on his case that strong evidence began to emerge that the state of Florida had got the wrong man. So far, so good - except that, as Stafford Smith argues here so compellingly, the American justice system is actually designed to ignore innocence. Twenty-six years later, Maharaj is still in jail.Step by step, Stafford Smith untangles the Maharaj case and the system that makes disasters like this inveitable. His conclusions will act as a wake-up call for those who condone legislaion which threatens basic human rights and, at the same time, the personal story he tells demonstrates that determination can challenge the institutions that surreptitously threaten our freedom.

Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in without Going Crazy


Joanna Macy - 2012
    Climate change, the depletion of oil, economic upheaval, and mass extinction together create a planetary emergency of overwhelming proportions. Active Hope shows us how to strengthen our capacity to face this crisis so that we can respond with unexpected resilience and creative power. Drawing on decades of teaching an empowerment approach known as the Work That Reconnects, the authors guide us through a transformational process informed by mythic journeys, modern psychology, spirituality, and holistic science. This process equips us with tools to face the mess we’re in and play our role in the collective transition, or Great Turning, to a life-sustaining society.

Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash


Edward Humes - 2012
    But our bins are just the starting point for a strange, impressive, mysterious, and costly journey that may also represent the greatest untapped opportunity of the century. In Garbology, Edward Humes investigates trash—what’s in it; how much we pay for it; how we manage to create so much of it; and how some families, communities, and even nations are finding a way back from waste to discover a new kind of prosperity. Along the way , he introduces a collection of garbage denizens unlike anyone you’ve ever met: the trash-tracking detectives of MIT, the bulldozer-driving sanitation workers building Los Angeles’ Garbage Mountain landfill, the artists residing in San Francisco’s dump, and the family whose annual trash output fills not a dumpster or a trash can, but a single mason jar.  Garbology reveals not just what we throw away, but who we are and where our society is headed. Waste is the one environmental and economic harm that ordinary working Americans have the power to change—and prosper in the process.

The Australian Moment


George Megalogenis - 2012
    Brilliant in a bust, we've learnt to use our brains in a boom. Despite a lingering inability to acknowledge our achievements at home, the rest of the world asks: how did we get it right?George Megalogenis, one of our most respected political and economic writers, reviews the key events since the 1970s that have forged institutional and political leadership and a canny populace. He examines how we developed from a closed economy racked by the oil shocks, toughed it out during the sometimes devastating growing pains of deregulation, and survived the Asian financial crisis, the dotcom tech wreck and the GFC to become the last developed nation standing in the 200s. As a result, whatever happens next, we're as well positioned as any to survive the ongoing rumblings of the Great Recession.Drawing on newly declassified documents, fresh interviews with former leaders and unique ability to bring the numbers to life, Megalogenis, describes how, at just the right time, the Australian people became more farsighted than our politicians. We stopped spending before the rest of the world, and at the top of a boom voted out a government that was throwing around the biggest bribes over offered.The Australian Moment is packed with original insight, challenging our often partisan selective memories and revealing how our leadership and community have underestimated each other's contribution to the nation's resilience.

Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think


Peter H. Diamandis - 2012
    We will soon be able to meet and exceed the basic needs of every man, woman and child on the planet. Abundance for all is within our grasp. This bold, contrarian view, backed up by exhaustive research, introduces our near-term future, where exponentially growing technologies and three other powerful forces are conspiring to better the lives of billions. An antidote to pessimism by tech entrepreneur turned philanthropist, Peter H. Diamandis and award-winning science writer Steven Kotler. Since the dawn of humanity, a privileged few have lived in stark contrast to the hardscrabble majority. Conventional wisdom says this gap cannot be closed. But it is closing—fast. The authors document how four forces—exponential technologies, the DIY innovator, the Technophilanthropist, and the Rising Billion—are conspiring to solve our biggest problems. Abundance establishes hard targets for change and lays out a strategic roadmap for governments, industry and entrepreneurs, giving us plenty of reason for optimism.Examining human need by category—water, food, energy, healthcare, education, freedom—Diamandis and Kotler introduce dozens of innovators making great strides in each area: Larry Page, Steven Hawking, Dean Kamen, Daniel Kahneman, Elon Musk, Bill Joy, Stewart Brand, Jeff Skoll, Ray Kurzweil, Ratan Tata, Craig Venter, among many, many others.

Sex and World Peace


Valerie M. Hudson - 2012
    Harnessing an immense amount of data, they call attention to discrepancies between national laws protecting women and the enforcement of those laws, and they note the adverse effects on state security of abnormal sex ratios favoring males, the practice of polygamy, and inequitable realities in family law, among other gendered aggressions.The authors find that the treatment of women informs human interaction at all levels of society. Their research challenges conventional definitions of security and democracy and shows that the treatment of gender, played out on the world stage, informs the true clash of civilizations. In terms of resolving these injustices, the authors examine top-down and bottom-up approaches to healing wounds of violence against women, as well as ways to rectify inequalities in family law and the lack of parity in decision-making councils. Emphasizing the importance of an R2PW, or state responsibility to protect women, they mount a solid campaign against women's systemic insecurity, which effectively unravels the security of all.

Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America


Jonathan Kozol - 2012
    A winner of the National Book Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, and countless other honors, he has persistently crossed the lines of class and race, first as a teacher, then as the author of tender and heart-breaking books about the children he has called “the outcasts of our nation’s ingenuity.” But Jonathan is not a distant and detached reporter. His own life has been radically transformed by the children who have trusted and befriended him.   Never has this intimate acquaintance with his subjects been more apparent, or more stirring, than in Fire in the Ashes, as Jonathan tells the stories of young men and women who have come of age in one of the most destitute communities of the United States. Some of them never do recover from the battering they undergo in their early years, but many more battle back with fierce and, often, jubilant determination to overcome the formidable obstacles they face. As we watch these glorious children grow into the fullness of a healthy and contributive maturity, they ignite a flame of hope, not only for themselves, but for our society.    The urgent issues that confront our urban schools – a devastating race-gap, a pathological regime of obsessive testing and drilling students for exams instead of giving them the rich curriculum that excites a love of learning – are interwoven through these stories. Why certain children rise above it all, graduate from high school and do well in college, while others are defeated by the time they enter adolescence, lies at the essence of this work.   Jonathan Kozol is the author of Death at an Early Age, Savage Inequalities, and other books on children and their education. He has been called “today’s most eloquent spokesman for America’s disenfranchised.” But he believes young people speak most eloquently for themselves; and in this book, so full of the vitality and spontaneity of youth, we hear their testimony.

The Good News Club: The Christian Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children


Katherine Stewart - 2012
    The Club, which is sponsored by the Child Evangelism Fellowship, bills itself as an after-school program of "Bible study." But Stewart soon discovered that the Club's real mission is to convert children to fundamentalist Christianity and encourage them to proselytize to their "unchurched" peers, all the while promoting the natural but false impression among the children that its activities are endorsed by the school. Astonished to discover that the U.S. Supreme Court has deemed this -- and other forms of religious activity in public schools -- legal, Stewart set off on an investigative journey to dozens of cities and towns across the nation to document the impact. In this book she demonstrates that there is more religion in America's public schools today than there has been for the past 100 years. The movement driving this agenda is stealthy. It is aggressive. It has our children in its sights. And its ultimate aim is to destroy the system of public education as we know it.

A Heart on Fire: Catholic Witness and the Next America


Charles J. Chaput - 2012
    Chaput, the Archbishop of Philadelphia, offers a powerful manifesto on the need for Americans to protect religious freedom. As he notes, principles that Americans find self-evident—the dignity of the human person, the sanctity of conscience, the separation of political and sacred authority, the distinction between secular and religious law, the idea of a civil society pre-existing and distinct from the state—are not widely shared elsewhere in the world, and in recent years seem to be in jeopardy on our own shores. Archbishop Chaput offers a call to action for leadership both here and abroad to challenge this damaging trend. By thoughtfully interpreting and applying Catholic values to this confusing moment in history, he provides hope for an American audience hungry for courage and counsel. (from amazon.com)

Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere


Will Richardson - 2012
    Instead, things like blogs and wikis, as well as remote collaborations and an emphasis on 'critical thinking' skills are the coins of the realm in this new kingdom. Yet the national dialogue on education reform focuses on using technology to update the traditional education model, failing to reassess the fundamental design on which it is built.In 'Why School?,' educator, author, parent and blogger Will Richardson challenges traditional thinking about education — questioning whether it still holds value in its current form. How can schools adjust to this new age? Or students? Or parents? In this provocative read, Richardson provides an in-depth look at how connected educators are beginning to change their classroom practice. Ultimately, 'Why School?' serves as a starting point for the important conversations around real school reforms that must ensue, offering a bold plan for rethinking how we teach our kids, and the consequences if we don't.

You Can't Read This Book: Censorship in an Age of Freedom


Nick Cohen - 2012
    From the revolution in Iran that wasn't, to the Great Firewall of China and the imposition of super-injunctions from the filthy rich protecting their privacy, the traditional opponents of freedom of speech — religious fanaticism, plutocratic power and dictatorial states — are thriving, and in many respects finding the world a more comfortable place in the early 21st century than they did in the late 20th.This is not an account of interesting but trivial disputes about freedom of speech: the rights and wrongs of shouting "fire" in a crowded theatre, of playing heavy metal at 3 a.m. in a built-up area or articulating extremist ideas in a school or university. Rather, this is a story that starts with the cataclysmic reaction of the Left and Right to the publication and denunciation of The Satanic Verses in 1988 that saw them jump into bed with radical extremists. It ends at the juncture where even in the transgressive, liberated West, where so much blood had been spilt for Freedom, where rebellion is the conformist style and playing the dissenter the smart career move in the arts and media, you can write a book and end up destroyed or dead.

Modern Money Theory: A Primer on Macroeconomics for Sovereign Monetary Systems


L. Randall Wray - 2012
    In a challenge to conventional views on modern monetary and fiscal policy, this book presents a coherent analysis of how money is created, how it functions in global exchange rate regimes, and how the mystification of the nature of money has constrained governments, and prevented states from acting in the public interest.

The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future


Joseph E. Stiglitz - 2012
    While market forces play a role in this stark picture, politics has shaped those market forces. In this best-selling book, Nobel Prize–winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz exposes the efforts of well-heeled interests to compound their wealth in ways that have stifled true, dynamic capitalism. Along the way he examines the effect of inequality on our economy, our democracy, and our system of justice. Stiglitz explains how inequality affects and is affected by every aspect of national policy, and with characteristic insight he offers a vision for a more just and prosperous future, supported by a concrete program to achieve that vision.

Making: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture


Tim Ingold - 2012
    Anthropology, archaeology, art and architecture are all ways of making, and all are dedicated to exploring the conditions and potentials of human life. In this exciting book, Tim Ingold ties the four disciplines together in a way that has never been attempted before. In a radical departure from conventional studies that treat art and architecture as compendia of objects for analysis, Ingold proposes an anthropology and archaeology not of but with art and architecture. He advocates a way of thinking through making in which sentient practitioners and active materials continually answer to, or 'correspond', with one another in the generation of form.Making offers a series of profound reflections on what it means to create things, on materials and form, the meaning of design, landscape perception, animate life, personal knowledge and the work of the hand. It draws on examples and experiments ranging from prehistoric stone tool-making to the building of medieval cathedrals, from round mounds to monuments, from flying kites to winding string, from drawing to writing. The book will appeal to students and practitioners alike, with interests in social and cultural anthropology, archaeology, architecture, art and design, visual studies and material culture.

The Christian Family


Herman Bavinck - 2012
    Yet by God’s power the unchanging essence of marriage and the family remains proof, as Bavinck notes, that God’s “purpose with the human race has not yet been achieved.”Neither a ten-step guide nor a one-sided approach, this book embodies a Christian theology of marriage and the family. Accessible, thoroughly biblical, and astonishingly relevant, it offers a mature and concise handling of the origins of marriage and family life and the effects of sin on these institutions, an appraisal of historic Christian approaches, and an attempt to apply that theology.Aptly reminding Christians that “the moral health of society depends on the health of family life,” Bavinck issues an evergreen challenge to God’s people: “Christians may not permit their conduct to be determined by the spirit of the age, but must focus on the requirement of God’s commandment.”

The Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide


Peter Morales - 2012
    The 2012 edition is the most complete revision in over a decade. Contributors include Kay Montgomery, John Crestwell, Gail Geisenhainer, Rosemary Bray McNatt, Jane Ranney Rzepka, Mark Belletini, Judith Frediani, Rebecca Parker, and Dan McKanan.

Mankind: The Story of All Of Us


Pamela D. Toler - 2012
    It takes another three billion years of evolving life forms until it finally happens, a primate super species emerges: mankind. In conjunction with History Channel's hit television series by the same name, Mankind is a sweeping history of humans from the birth of the Earth and hunting antelope in Africa's Rift Valley to the present day with the completion of the Genome project and the birth of the seven billionth human. Like a Hollywood action movie, Mankind is a fast-moving, adventurous history of key events from each major historical epoch that directly affect us today such as the invention of iron, the beginning of Buddhism, the crucifixion of Jesus, the fall of Rome, the invention of the printing press, the Industrial Revolution, and the invention of the computer. With more than 300 color photographs and maps, Mankind is not only a visual overview of the broad story of civilization, but it also includes illustrated pop-out sidebars explaining distinctions between science and history, such as why there is 700 times more iron than bronze buried in the earth, why pepper is the only food we can taste with our skin, and how a wobble in the earth's axis helped bring down the Egyptian Empire. This is the most exciting and entertaining history of mankind ever produced.

The Brandywine Prophet


Jake Vander-Ark - 2012
    When the voice of God commands him to construct a million-dollar theater on the hill behind his home, the budding prophet obeys and unleashes his dormant madness and savage creations on his family and town.From the tragic prologue to the breathtaking climax, The Brandywine Prophet weaves a gut-wrenching tapestry of family, faith, obsession, and the devastating power of a little white lie.

Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy


Robert Sirico - 2012
    Democrats in Congress and “Occupy” protesters across the country assert that the free market is not only unforgiving, it’s morally corrupt. According to President Obama and his allies, only by allowing the government to heavily control and regulate business and by redistributing the wealth can we ensure fairness and compassion.Exactly the opposite is true, says Father Robert A. Sirico in his thought–provoking new book, Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy . Father Sirico argues that a free economy actually promotes charity, selflessness, and kindness. And in Defending the Free Market , he shows why free-market capitalism is not only the best way to ensure individual success and national prosperity but is also the surest route to a moral and socially–just society. In Defending the Free Market , Father Sirico shows:Why we can’t have freedom without a free economyWhy the best way to help the poor is to a start a businessWhy charity works—but welfare doesn'tHow Father Sirico himself converted from being a leftist colleague of Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden to recognizing the merits of a free economy.In this heated presidential election year, the Left will argue that capitalism may produce winners, but it is cruel and unfair. Yet as Sirico proves in Defending the Free Market , capitalism does not simply provide opportunity for material success, but it ensures a more ethical and moral society as well.

Leftism: From de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Marcuse


Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn - 2012
    This title is the original edition.

Living Color: The Biological and Social Meaning of Skin Color


Nina G. Jablonski - 2012
    In a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion, Nina G. Jablonski begins with the biology and evolution of skin pigmentation, explaining how skin color changed as humans moved around the globe. She explores the relationship between melanin pigment and sunlight, and examines the consequences of rapid migrations, vacations, and other lifestyle choices that can create mismatches between our skin color and our environment.Richly illustrated, this book explains why skin color has come to be a biological trait with great social meaning— a product of evolution perceived by culture. It considers how we form impressions of others, how we create and use stereotypes, how negative stereotypes about dark skin developed and have played out through history—including being a basis for the transatlantic slave trade. Offering examples of how attitudes about skin color differ in the U.S., Brazil, India, and South Africa, Jablonski suggests that a knowledge of the evolution and social importance of skin color can help eliminate color-based discrimination and racism.

Libertarian Anarchy: Against the State


Gerard Casey - 2012
    The state is considered necessary for the provision of many things, but primarily for peace and security. In this provocative book, Gerard Casey argues that social order can be spontaneously generated, that such spontaneous order is the norm in human society and that deviations from the ordered norms can be dealt with without recourse to the coercive power of the state.Casey presents a novel perspective on political philosophy, arguing against the conventional political philosophy pieties and defending a specific political position, which he identifies as 'libertarian anarchy'. The book includes a history of the concept of anarchy, an examination of the possibility of anarchic societies and an articulation ofthe nature of law and order within such societies. Casey presents his specific form of anarchy, undergirded by a theory of human action that prioritises liberty, as a philosophically and politically viable alternative to the standard positions in political theory."

The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age


Astra Taylor - 2012
    But how true is this claim? In a seminal dismantling of techno-utopian visions, "The People's Platform" argues that for all that we "tweet" and "like" and "share," the Internet in fact reflects and amplifies real-world inequities at least as much as it ameliorates them. Online, just as off-line, attention and influence largely accrue to those who already have plenty of both.What we have seen so far, Astra Taylor says, has been not a revolution but a rearrangement. Although Silicon Valley tycoons have eclipsed Hollywood moguls, a handful of giants like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook remain the gatekeepers. And the worst habits of the old media model--the pressure to seek easy celebrity, to be quick and sensational above all--have proliferated online, where "aggregating" the work of others is the surest way to attract eyeballs and ad revenue. When culture is "free," creative work has diminishing value, and advertising fuels the system. The new order looks suspiciously like the old one.We can do better, Taylor insists. The online world does offer a unique opportunity, but a democratic culture that supports diverse voices and work of lasting value will not spring up from technology alone. If we want the Internet to truly be a people's platform, we will have to make it so.

Wild Hope: On the Front Lines of Conservation Success


Andrew Balmford - 2012
    The collapse of fisheries. Unprecedented levels of species extinction. Faced with the plethora of gloom-and-doom headlines about the natural world, we might think that environmental disaster is inevitable. But is there any good news about the environment? Yes, there is, answers Andrew Balmford in Wild Hope, and he offers several powerful stories of successful conservation to prove it. This tragedy is still avoidable, and there are many reasons for hope if we find inspiration in stories of effective environmental recovery. Wild Hope is organized geographically, with each chapter taking readers to extraordinary places to meet conservation’s heroes and foot soldiers—and to discover the new ideas they are generating about how to make conservation work on our hungry and crowded planet. The journey starts in the floodplains of Assam, where dedicated rangers and exceptionally tolerant villagers have together helped bring Indian rhinos back from the brink of extinction. In the pine forests of the Carolinas, we learn why plantation owners came to resent rare woodpeckers—and what persuaded them to change their minds. In South Africa, Balmford investigates how invading alien plants have been drinking the country dry, and how the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest conservation program is now simultaneously restoring the rivers, saving species, and creating tens of thousands of jobs. The conservation problems Balmford encounters are as diverse as the people and their actions, but together they offer common themes and specific lessons on how to win the battle of conservation—and the one essential ingredient, Balmford shows, is most definitely hope. Wild Hope, though optimistic, is a clear-eyed view of the difficulties and challenges of conservation. Balmford is fully aware of failed conservation efforts and systematic flaws that make conservation difficult, but he offers here innovative solutions and powerful stories of citizens, governments, and corporations coming together to implement them. A global tour of people and programs working for the planet, Wild Hope is an emboldening green journey.

The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth: A Struggle Between Two World-Systems


Christopher W. Alexander - 2012
    But in recent decades, while our buildings are technically better--more sturdy, more waterproof, more energy efficient-- they have also became progressively more sterile, rarely providing the kind of environment in which people are emotionally nourished, genuinely happy, and deeply contented. Using the example of his building of the Eishin Campus in Japan, Christopher Alexander and his collaborators reveal an ongoing dispute between two fundamentally different ways of shaping our world. One system places emphasis on subtleties, on finesse, on the structure of adaptation that makes each tiny part fit into the larger context. The other system is concerned with efficiency, with money, power and control, stressing the more gross aspects of size, speed, and profit. This second, "business-as-usual" system, Alexander argues, is incapable of creating the kind of environment that is able to genuinely support the emotional, whole-making side of human life. To confront this sterile system, the book presents a new architecture that we--both as a world-wide civilization, and as individual people and cultures--can create, using new processes that allow us to build places of human energy and beauty. The book outlines nine ways of working, each one fully dedicated to wholeness, and able to support day-to-day activities that will make planning, design and construction possible in an entirely new way, and in more humane ways. An innovative thinker about building techniques and planning, Christopher Alexander has attracted a devoted following. Here he introduces a way of building that includes the best current practices, enriched by a range of new processes that support the houses, communities, and health of all who inhabit the Earth.

The Wrong Carlos: Anatomy of a Wrongful Execution


James S. Liebman - 2012
    His execution passed unnoticed for years until a team of Columbia Law School faculty and students almost accidentally chose to investigate his case and found that DeLuna almost certainly was innocent. They discovered that no one had cared enough about either the defendant or the victim to make sure the real perpetrator was found. Everything that could go wrong in a criminal case did. This book documents DeLuna's conviction, which was based on a single, nighttime, cross-ethnic eyewitness identification with no corroborating forensic evidence. At his trial, DeLuna's defense, that another man named Carlos had committed the crime, was not taken seriously. The lead prosecutor told the jury that the other Carlos, Carlos Hernandez, was a "phantom" of DeLuna's imagination. In upholding the death penalty on appeal, both the state and federal courts concluded the same thing: Carlos Hernandez did not exist.The evidence the Columbia team uncovered reveals that Hernandez not only existed but was well known to the police and prosecutors. He had a long history of violent crimes similar to the one for which DeLuna was executed. Families of both Carloses mistook photos of each for the other, and Hernandez's violence continued after DeLuna was put to death. This book and its website (thewrongcarlos.net) reproduce law-enforcement, crime lab, lawyer, court, social service, media, and witness records, as well as court transcripts, photographs, radio traffic, and audio and videotaped interviews, documenting one of the most comprehensive investigations into a criminal case in U.S. history.The result is eye-opening yet may not be unusual. Faulty eyewitness testimony, shoddy legal representation, and prosecutorial misfeasance continue to put innocent people at risk of execution. The principal investigators conclude with novel suggestions for improving accuracy among the police, prosecutors, forensic scientists, and judges.

The Evolutionary Psychology Behind Politics: How Conservatism and Liberalism Evolved Within Humans


Anonymous Conservative - 2012
    r/K Theory examines how all populations tend to adopt one of two psychologies as a means of adapting their behavior to the presence or absence of environmental resources. The two strategies, termed r and K, each correlate perfectly with the psychologies underlying Liberalism and Conservatism.One strategy, named the r-strategy, imbues those who are programmed with it to be averse to all peer on peer competition, embrace promiscuity, embrace single parenting, and support early onset sexual activity in youth. Obviously, this mirrors the Liberal philosophy's aversion to individual Darwinian competitions such as capitalism and self defense with firearms, as well as group competitions such as war. Likewise, Liberalism is tolerant of promiscuity, tolerant of single parenting, and more prone to support early sex education for children and the sexualization of cultural influences. Designed to exploit a plethora of resources, one will often find this r-type strategy embodied within prey species, where predation has lowered the population's numbers, and thereby increased the resources available to it's individuals.The other strategy, termed the K-strategy, imbues those who pursue it with a fierce competitiveness, as well as tendencies towards abstinence until monogamy, two-parent parenting, and delaying sexual activity until later in life. Obviously, this mirrors Conservatism's acceptance of all sorts of competitive social schemes, from free market capitalism, to war, to individuals owning and carrying private weapons for self defense. Conservatives also tend to favor abstinence until monogamy, two parent parenting with an emphasis upon "family values," and children being shielded from any sexualized stimuli until later in life. This strategy is found most commonly in species which lack predation, and whose population's have grown to the point individuals must compete with each other for the limited environmental resources that they are rapidly running out of.Meticulously substantiated with the latest research in fields from neurobiology to human behavioral ecology, this work offers an unprecedented view into not just what governs our political battles, but why these battles have arisen within our species in the first place. From showing how these two strategies adapt in other more complex species in nature, to examining what genetic and neurostructural mechanisms may produce these divergences between individuals, to showing what this theory indicates our future may hold, this work is the most thorough analysis to date of just why we have two political ideologies, why they will never agree, and why we will tend to become even more partisan in the future.

The Empress of Australia: A Post-War Memoir


Harry Leslie Smith - 2012
    So begins Harry Leslie Smith’s bitter-sweet memoir: The Empress of Australia which depicts life in post-war Yorkshire. Recently demobbed from the RAF, Smith and his German war bride must try to adjust to a civilian society that is scarred from not only the war but the harsh reality of living in peacetime Britain. At first, Harry Leslie Smith finds himself ill equipped for this brave new world where Britain has lost its empire and is bankrupt. Yet, like so many other returning veterans from the Second World War, Smith stumbled onwards through the era known as the “Age of Austerity” to confront the horrors of his childhood and the innate injustice of a society divided by class. Harry Leslie Smith sketches a real, sometimes amusing and sometimes melancholic portrait of Britain in the late 1940s. In his book, Smith speaks for all generations who have faced untold hardships in their quest for dignity and purpose during times of financial, political and familial upheaval. The Empress of Australia is a personal history of one man’s journey towards self discovery and freedom from row house Britain. Sometimes, after the war, peace is the hardest battle to survive.

Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times


Robin D.G. Kelley - 2012
    In Ghana and South Africa, drummer Guy Warren and vocalist Sathima Bea Benjamin fused local musical forms with the dizzying innovations of modern jazz. These four were among hundreds of musicians in the 1950s and ’60s who forged connections between jazz and Africa that definitively reshaped both their music and the world.Each artist identified in particular ways with Africa’s struggle for liberation and made music dedicated to, or inspired by, demands for independence and self-determination. That music was the wild, boundary-breaking exultation of modern jazz. The result was an abundance of conversation, collaboration, and tension between African and African American musicians during the era of decolonization. This collective biography demonstrates how modern Africa reshaped jazz, how modern jazz helped form a new African identity, and how musical convergences and crossings altered politics and culture on both continents.In a crucial moment when freedom electrified the African diaspora, these black artists sought one another out to create new modes of expression. Documenting individuals and places, from Lagos to Chicago, from New York to Cape Town, Robin Kelley gives us a meditation on modernity: we see innovation not as an imposition from the West but rather as indigenous, multilingual, and messy, the result of innumerable exchanges across a breadth of cultures.

The Nonsense of Free Will: Facing Up to a False Belief


Richard Oerton - 2012
    But what does 'free will' mean? And if we rejected it, what would the consequences be? The author, a lawyer who has worked both on law reform at the Law Commission and in private practice, and has written legal and other books and articles, has turned to a subject which has interested him for over half a century. He strongly believes that it does not belong exclusively to philosophers. These questions should be of concern to everyone - and no one who is willing to look at them objectively should be afraid to judge for themselves and reach their own conclusions.

NPR American Chronicles: Women's Equality


National Public Radio - 2012
    Profiles of Victoria Woodhull, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony provide insights into the origins of the movement, while reflections from Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug, Geraldine Ferraro, and others reveal the passion and dedication required to maintain progress in the continuing struggle for women’s equality. © 2012 HighBridge Audio

Organizational Physics - The Science of Growing a Business


Lex Sisney - 2012
    Understand them, and you can create extraordinary growth. Ignore them, and you run the risk of becoming another statistic. It's become almost cliche 8 out of every 10 new ventures fail. Of the ones that succeed, how many truly thrive-for the long run? And of those that thrive, how many continually overcome their growth hurdles ... and ultimately scale, with meaning, purpose, and profitability? The answer, sadly, is not many. Author Lex Sisney is on a mission to change that picture. After more than a decade spent leading and coaching high-growth technology companies, Lex discovered that the companies that thrive do so in accordance with 6 Laws - universal principles that govern the success or failure of every individual, team, and organization.

Carbon Zero: Imagining Cities That Can Save The Planet


Alex Steffen - 2012
    

Modernising Money: Why Our Monetary System is Broken and How it Can be Fixed


Andrew Jackson - 2012
    Today, over 97% of all of the money used by people and businesses is created by banks when they make loans. As Financial Times economist Martin Wolf writes, "The essence of the contemporary monetary system is the creation of money, out of nothing, by private banks' often foolish lending." This way of creating money has led to economic instability and a financial crisis. It has produced the highest-ever levels of personal and government debt, made houses unaffordable, and driven the short-termism which is destroying the businesses, and ecosystems, on which we depend. But it doesn't have to be like this. The way money is created can be changed. Modernising Money shows how a UK law implemented in 1844 can be updated and combined with reform proposals from the Great Depression, to provide the UK with a stable monetary and banking system, much lower levels of personal and national debt, and a thriving economy. Detailed, but accessible to non-economists, Modernising Money is written for anybody who wants to know how to create an economy that serves people, businesses, society and the environment.

You Can't Hide The Sun: A Journey Through Israel And Palestine


John McCarthy - 2012
    Remarkably, his first-hand experience of its brutal conflicts - he was kidnapped and held hostage in the Lebanon for five years - only strengthened his determination to return and explore its myriad complexities.In the years since his ordeal, McCarthy traveled through Israel and East Jerusalem, from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Bedouin encampments of the Negev desert. His intensely moving encounters with the inhabitants of this beautiful but tormented region reveal the continuing tragedy of the Palestinians who remained in Israel after its formation in 1948 - and who still dare to think of it as home.You Can't Hide the Sun weaves their vivid testimonies with McCarthy's own experience of living under constant threat. And in doing so it asks: how can humanity endure in the face of unimaginable oppression, and how can any of us thrive without a place of safety?

The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South


Vijay Prashad - 2012
    With The Poorer Nations, Prashad takes up the story where he left off.Since the ’70s, the countries of the Global South have struggled to build political movements. Prashad analyzes the failures of neoliberalism, as well as the rise of the BRICS countries, the World Social Forum, issuebased movements like Via Campesina, the Latin American revolutionary revival—in short, efforts to create alternatives to the neoliberal project advanced militarily by the US and its allies and economically by the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO, and other instruments of the powerful. Just as The Darker Nations asserted that the Third World was a project, not a place, The Poorer Nations sees the Global South as a term that properly refers not to geographical space but to a concatenation of protests against neoliberalism.In his foreword to the book, former Secretary-General of the United Nations Boutros Boutros-Ghali writes that Prashad “has helped open the vista on complex events that preceded today’s global situation and standoff.” The Poorer Nations looks to the future while revising our sense of the past.

Wildflowers in the Median: A Restorative Journey Into Healing, Justice, and Joy


Agnes Furey - 2012
    Even so, rather than hate, Furey chose peace, and she reached out to Scovens in prison.Wildflowers in the Median tells the story of their journey of restoration. Through a collection of poems, vignettes, and letters, both Furey and Scovens pour out their emotions and reflections. It is a tale not of forgiveness, but of understanding-a story of a survivor of crime and a criminal finding communion as each struggles with grief and suffering, eventually coming to terms with their spiritual identities and a desire to help others in similar circumstances.A valuable testament to the human heart and its capacity to love, Wildflowers in the Median shows how grace was found in the aftermath of a tragedy.

Why the World Doesn't Seem to Make Sense: An Inquiry Into Science, Philosophy and Perception


Steve Hagen - 2012
    This revised and updated edition includes new scientific understandings and clarifications of some of the more complex ideas. "Read this book: it will change how you look at things." - Nick Herbert, Ph.D., author of Quantum Reality

Official Stories


Liam Scheff - 2012
    Can we call this a mythtery book?

PROJECT BLUE BEAM - The Quest For A New World Order And The Rule Of The Antichrist


Aidan Brophilius - 2012
    The new age religion would be the very foundation for the new world government, without which religion the fierce dictatorship of the new world order would be completely impossible.This incredible book reveals every aspect of Project Blue Beam and all of its shocking details. Also included are in depth explanations of the new world order, its plans, the leaders in control of the new world order movement, and more!Please be advised. The information contained in this book is very controversial and may upset or anger some readers. Read at your own risk but always remember, the truth shall set you free!Below is a sampling of the topics and information that is included:THE NEW WORLD ORDER:- What is the New World Order?- What are the Forces behind New World Order?- Secret Societies and the New World Master Plan - The Objectives of the New World Order - Criticism and Rebuttal surrounding the New World Order Theory - Proof of the New World Order - Project Blue Beam & How It Relates To The New World Order - The History of Project Blue Beam - The Purpose of Project Blue Beam - The Implementation of Project Blue Beam THE 4 STEPS OF PROJECT BLUE BEAM: Step 1: The Break Down of All Archaeological Knowledge Step 2: The Massive Space Show in the SkyStep 3: Two Way Electronic Thought ControlStep 4: Supernatural Manifestations Using Secret Technology PROJECT BLUE BEAM TECHNOLOGIES: - HAARP Weather Manipulation and Earthquake Weapon- Alien Invasion Technologies- Mind Control and Two Way Telepathic Communication- Tracking Technologies- Cloning Technology- Mob Control- 3D Holographic and Voice Technology All of these topics will be revealed...We the people can and will prevail! We shall defeat this new world order! All we need is love, peace, knowledge, and action. So step out of the darkness and into the light. Don’t be fooled by the elite’s mass deception. Discover the secrets behind Project Blue Beam and the New World Order Today! Before it’s too late…

The Man With the Green Suitcase


Dee Doanes - 2012
    A prostitute, A corrupt businessman,and A disfigured young woman Have in common with a mysterious, old homeless man who carries a green suitcase? The old man comes into people’s lives because it is important for them to experience the visions that he is somehow able to show them—visions that even he doesn’t understand. But whoever he connects with will go through a transformation that will change the course of their life, for better or worse. The old man has no memory of who he is or even what the suitcase holds. But one day he will find out all about his own secret and dark past… This story is magical realism, realistic with paranormal elements, a mystery that needs to be solved, and a man and woman who will finally realize that they were meant to come into each other’s lives and remain forever.

The Ethical Warrior: Values, Morals, and Ethics for Life, Work, and Service


Jack Hoban - 2012
    Marine Corps, a life-changing epiphany at a Cold War bar, and mentorship under two masters: The 34th generation grandmaster of the shadowy art of the Ninja and a sage of the Natural Law who may just have deciphered the meaning of life. He now delivers a revolutionary view of moral values for our time epitomized by the Ethical Warrior – protector of self and others as equal human beings. Hoban’s methodology reaches from the Greek ancients to the counterinsurgency efforts of today’s Marines to provide ethical clarity and confidence in our moral actions. What people are saying about the Ethical Warrior Training: "I recently listened to Jack Hoban's talk about the "Ethical Warrior/Protector" for one hour and 15 minutes. I honestly learned more about values, morals and ethics and their application, especially to law enforcement, in that 75 minutes than in my entire almost two decades of study. I highly recommend that all true leaders invest time in learning more about what Mr. Hoban has to say." – Police Officer Survival Instructor "Life changing." – U.S. Marine Martial Arts Instructor Trainer "Amazing ethical insight; solidified my reason for joining the service as a protector." – Sheriff Officer "I usually dread having to go to training. But from the first session I could tell that this was going to be different. Taught valuable lessons that not only apply to my profession, but to my personal and family life." – Park Ranger Written as a companion to the actual training, The Ethical Warrior is of great value to those interested in living a balanced, happy and ethical life. It addresses important questions such as: Is there a “true north” on the moral compass? Is there an objective value that can be used to qualify our relative values as moral or immoral? How do we reject our tendency to dehumanize others not of our “in-group”– including our enemies – and respect true human equality? How do we do “the right thing” under the stresses of everyday life?

Singapore's Lost Son


Kaiwen Leong - 2012
    But he fell and became a dropout of school, friends, life, himself. But with the helping hand of a teacher, he turned his life around, found friends and love, and fulfilled his dream. This is the story of how that boy went from dropout to millionaire Princeton PhD. Expelled from four junior colleges (he was labelled ‘subnormal’ and not academically inclined), Kaiwen Leong sat for the A level examinations as a private candidate while experimenting with Internet websites to try his hand at entrepreneurship. He studied hard and did well enough to be admitted to Boston University in the US where he graduated with two bachelors and two masters degrees in economics and mathematics in four years. And then he went on to obtain postgraduate degrees at Princeton University. He is a member of America’s most prestigious academic societies and has published research papers on economics, mathematics and physics. Today he lectures at Nanyang Techonological University and is an economist at Spring Singapore. Find out how Dr Leong picked up his life.

Henry Darrow: Lightning in the Bottle


Jan Pippins - 2012
    He was the first actor of Puerto Rican heritage to star in a television series. "Henry survived and had a career when if you were Latino, you couldn't be just good, you had to be beyond great and that's Henry," says noted writer/entertainer Rick Najera. At the height of his fame Darrow put his career on the line to open doors for other Hispanics. He has continued to break ground for over fifty years as a working actor and was recently featured on the PBS series Pioneers of Television. LIGHTNING IN THE BOTTLE is the must-read portrait of this inspirational, fiercely determined, endearing and enduring Emmy-winning performer."

Eating the Landscape: American Indian Stories of Food, Identity, and Resilience


Enrique Salmón - 2012
    Traversing a range of cultures, including the Tohono O’odham of the Sonoran Desert and the Rarámuri of the Sierra Tarahumara, the book is an illuminating journey through the southwest United States and northern Mexico. Salmón weaves his historical and cultural knowledge as a renowned indigenous ethnobotanist with stories American Indian farmers have shared with him to illustrate how traditional indigenous foodways—from the cultivation of crops to the preparation of meals—are rooted in a time-honored understanding of environmental stewardship.In this fascinating personal narrative, Salmón focuses on an array of indigenous farmers who uphold traditional agricultural practices in the face of modern changes to food systems such as extensive industrialization and the genetic modification of food crops. Despite the vast cultural and geographic diversity of the region he explores, Salmón reveals common themes: the importance of participation in a reciprocal relationship with the land, the connection between each group’s cultural identity and their ecosystems, and the indispensable correlation of land consciousness and food consciousness. Salmón shows that these collective philosophies provide the foundation for indigenous resilience as the farmers contend with global climate change and other disruptions to long-established foodways. This resilience, along with the rich stores of traditional ecological knowledge maintained by indigenous agriculturalists, Salmón explains, may be the key to sustaining food sources for humans in years to come.As many of us begin to question the origins and collateral costs of the food we consume, Salmón’s call for a return to more traditional food practices in this wide-ranging and insightful book is especially timely. Eating the Landscape is an essential resource for ethnobotanists, food sovereignty proponents, and advocates of the local food and slow food movements.

Long Way on a Little: An Earth Lover's Companion for Enjoying Meat, Pinching Pennies and Living Deliciously


Shannon Hayes - 2012
    "But to do it," she adds, "we need to expand our menus to include more than just the prime cuts, and we need to learn how to work with leftovers." More than just a cookbook, "Long Way on a Little" presents Hayes' practical knowledge about integrating livestock into a sustainable society with her accessible writing and engaging wit. Designed to be the only meat book a home cook could ever need, "Long Way on a Little" is packed with Hayes' signature delicious no-fail recipes for perfect roasts and steaks cooked indoors and out on the grill, easy-to-follow techniques to make use of the less-conventional, inexpensive cuts that often go to waste, tips on stretching a sustainable food budget, and an extensive section on using leftovers and creating soups; all with the aim of helping home cooks make the most effective and economical use of their local farm products or their own backyard livestock.While addressing the topic of making local food more affordable, Hayes also frankly grapples with tough health issues confronting so many Americans today, from diabetes to grain and gluten intolerance. The result is a family-pleasing, nutrient-dense, affordable cuisine that is a joy to prepare, rich in authentic flavor, and steeped in the wisdom of the world's greatest culinary traditions, all bundled together in a thought-provoking and informative book that is as stimulating to the mind as it is to the palate.Features: Recipes for cooking all major cuts of grassfed and pastured meats indoors and out on the grillCarbohydrate counts on all recipes for low carb and diabetic dietsGuide to Grain-free, Legume-free, Dairy-free and Paleo-friendly recipesRecipes for using animal fats in traditional cuisine, as well as for soaps, salves and candle-making16 page full-color insert illustrating fundamental techniques for working with whole animals: from making broth and demi-glace, grilling steaks and cutting up chickens, to rendering fat and soap, salve and candle making;Extensive section on soups and leftovers;Lively, up-to-date discussions of current issues pertaining to sustainable livestock farming in North America;Money-saving tips for making delicious meals go as far as possible

The OSSI Model - The Gannon Transcripts


Kent Stern - 2012
    Now, seven families will fight for control of the new data driven financial infrastructure. For the first time ever, live the untold story behind the people whose job it is to move money, weapons and gold through the international markets.How will they build and secure a system that not only thrives amongst FATF and CFATF recommendations, but also prospers in today's globally regulated banking environment? In this vivid tale of money laundering and South Asia outsourcing, you'll get a moment in time glimpse into the influential families and banking empires that keep money, weapons and power flowing between sovereign nations and the black markets they serve.During the mid-1980's, proceeds from the Latin American drug trade and Soviet-Afghan war flowed into these banks at a rate of over six hundred million dollars per month and with little global regulation, the families grew in wealth and political power, quickly adding billions in cash and real estate to their already vast portfolios.By the late 1980's, these families were faced with a digital landscape that would change everything. The data revolution was taking hold and the old ways would no longer keep them in power or safe. This work has been published from a recorded audio book narrative as told by K. Stern. The Kindle e-book follows the original script format.

The Spine of the Continent: The Most Ambitious Wildlife Conservation Project Ever Undertaken


Mary Ellen Hannibal - 2012
    Wilson and Paul Ehrlich, who endorse his effort as necessary to saving nature on our continent.  With blue-ribbon scientific foundations, the Spine is yet a grassroots, cooperative effort among conservation activists – NGOs large and small -- and regular citizens.  The Spine of the Continent is not only about making physical connections so that nature will persist; it is about making connections between people and the land we call home.  In this fascinating, exciting, and important book, Mary Ellen Hannibal travels the length of the Spine, sharing stories and anecdotes about the passionate, idiosyncratic people she meets along the way – and the critters they love.

American Political Speeches


Richard Beeman - 2012
    Series editor Richard Beeman, author of The Penguin Guide to the U.S. Constitution, draws together the great texts of American civic life to create a timely and informative mini-library of perennially vital issues. Whether readers are encountering these classic writings for the first time, or brushing up in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, these slim volumes will serve as a powerful and illuminating resource for scholars, students, and civic-minded citizens. American Political Speeches  includes the best American rhetoric from inside and outside the White House. Some of the greatest words spoken in American history have come from men and women who lacked the biggest bully pulpit in the country, but who nevertheless were able to move the nation with words. Frederick Douglass explained the irony of Independence Day from the perspective of a slave. Martin Luther King, Jr. described his dream of an interracial America. William Jennings Bryan gave voice to social discontent with a single phrase, "a cross of gold." Barbara Jordan summoned the nation"s outrage during the impeachment hearings against Richard Nixon. And the best presidents, not by coincidence, have tended to be those with an appreciation for the use of language: Lincoln explaining a new birth of freedom at Gettysburg; John Kennedy voicing moral outrage at the Berlin Wall; Franklin D. Roosevelt chatting to a nation gathered in front of radios; Ronald Reagan addressing Congress freshly healed from an assassination attempt.

God Believes in Love: Straight Talk About Gay Marriage


Gene Robinson - 2012
    From the Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church, the first openly gay person elected (in 2003) to the historic episcopate and the world's leading religious spokesperson for gay rights and gay marriage—a groundbreaking book that lovingly and persuasively makes the case for same-sex marriage using a commonsense, reasoned, religious argument, made by someone who holds the religious text of the Bible to be holy and sacred and the ensuing two millennia of church history to be relevant to the discussion, equally familiar with the secular and political debate going on in America today, and for whom same-sex marriage is a personal issue; Robinson was married to a woman for two decades and is a father of two children and has been married to a man for the last four years of a twenty-three-year relationship.

These My Words: The Penguin Book Of Indian Poetry


Eunice de Souza - 2012
    The poems speak for themselves and to each other, as folk songs and tribal epics sit alongside classical Sanskrit and formal Tamil verse is a companion to contemporary Bengali or Dogri. There is Ghalib in praise of love, Tukaram on religious bigotry, Ksetrayya on divine love through the erotic, Gieve Patel on identity. In Eunice de Souza and Melanie Silgardo’s carefully curated selection, each poem illumines exquisitely the tradition of Indian poetry.

Redefining Black Power: Reflections on the State of Black America


Joanne Griffith - 2012
    But how--if at all--has the first black presidency helped move things forward for people of color? Has it delivered the "change we can believe in" and "deepening of democracy" that communities of color organized around? How has the reality and image of a black First Family impacted American culture? What lessons from past struggles can be applied to this unique historical moment to advance multicultural democracy in the U.S.?Starting the exploration of these questions with the voices of past civil rights and black power activists held in the historic Pacifica Radio Archives, BBC journalist Joanne Griffith traveled the country to interview black intellectuals, leaders and activists.The result is a rich and wide-ranging exploration of the hot-button issues facing African Americans today, from religion, law amd media to education and the economy, to the ever-shifting meaning of Obama's contribution and impact. Both timely and rich in personal wisdom, Redefining Black Power connects the dots between past civil rights struggles and the future of black civic and cultural life in the United States.Featuring Van Jones, Michelle Alexander, Julianne Malveaux, Vincent Harding, Ramona Africa, Esther Armah and Linn Washington Jr.Foreword by Pacifica Radio Archives director Brian DeShazor.Praise for Joanne Griffith:"Joanne Griffith is a superb journalist! She writes, speaks, and interviews with great skill, sincerity, and sensitivity to those she covers. Joanne has made it in a tough journalism world -- one where the white males, working for wealthy news organizations, have the advantages. Her writings and insights are a lesson to all. She reflects President Obama's spirited call of 'fired up, ready to go!'"--Connie Lawn, Senior White House Correspondent (since 1968)

It's My Trail, Too: A Comanche Indian's Journey on the Cherokee Trail of Tears


Ronald R. Cooper - 2012
    Much to his surprise, he quickly became an ambassador for education, a catalyst for further conservancy of the Trail, and a symbol of tribal unity and pride. During his journey, Cooper experienced all of the pitfalls expected when hiking a long distance, while also enduring the worst winter in recent memory. Constantly plagued by setbacks and doubt, his determination to finish the quest is an inspiration to anyone who has ever desired to take on unknown challenges and seemingly-impossible goals.Part memoir, part trail guide - with history and philosophy throughout. Cooper's is a fresh new voice in the genre.

The Cambridge Companion to Black Theology


Dwight N. Hopkins - 2012
    Part One explores introductory questions such as: what have been the historical and social factors fostering a black theology, and what are some of the internal factors key to its growth? Part Two examines major doctrines which have been important for black theology in terms of clarifying key intellectual foci common to the study of religion. The final part discusses black theology as a world-wide development constituted by interdisciplinary approaches. The volume has an important role in bringing Christian thought into confrontation with one of the central challenges of modernity, namely the problem of race and racism. This Companion puts theological themes in conversation with issues of ethnicity, gender, social analysis, politics and class and is ideal for undergraduate and graduate students.

The Complete Novels of James Joyce


James Joyce - 2012
    Dubliners, about Joyce's native city, is faithful to his country, seeing it unflinchingly and challenging every precedent and piety in Irish literature. The stories in Dubliners show us truants, seducers, hostesses, corrupt politicians, failing priests, struggling musicians, poets, patriots, and many more simply striving to get by.A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man falls between the realism of Dubliners and the symbolism of Ulysses. The novel is a highly autobiographical account of the youth of Stephen Dedalus, who comes to realize that before he can become a true artist, he must rid himself of the stultifying effects of the religion, politics and essential bigotry of his life in late 19th century Ireland. Written with a light touch, it is perhaps the most accessible of Joyce's works.Ulysses is James Joyce's astonishing masterpiece. Scandalously frank, it tells of the events which befall Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus in Dublin on 16 June 1904, during which Bloom's voluptuous wife, Molly, commits adultery. Initially deemed obscene in England and the USA, this richly-allusive novel, revolutionary in its modernistic experimentalism, was hailed as a work of genius by W. B. Yeats, T. S. Eliot and Ernest Hemingway.Finnegans Wake is the book of Here Comes Everybody and Anna Livia Plurabelle and their family - their book, but in a curious way the book of us all as well as all our books. Joyce's last great work, it is not comprised of many borrowed styles, like Ulysses, but, rather, formulated as one dense, tongue-twisting soundscape. It also remains the most hilarious, 'obscene', book of innuendos ever to be imagined.

Me Too: Extraordinary Everyday Stories That Connect Us


Tim Cusack - 2012
    ME TOO....This book of true stories captures touching, spiritual and funny moments that can be found all around us. They are observations from the life of a man, who, through his work as a speaker, actor, and volunteer has had captivating experiences that unveil the ordinary grace found in everyday moments. They will leave you thinking, “Me too.”

Forbidden


Katy Krump - 2012
    More than anyone else she knows how to lie, for ‘Kerry’ is an alias and her life is a nightmare of secrecy, violence and fear. In reality this overweight, limping teenage girl is Qea, a Forbidden child from the Qarntaz Octad, sent to Earth to hide from the warlord she has betrayed. Born third into her family in an overpopulated world where surplus offspring are Forbidden and killed or delivered as fodder for the malevolent Inquisitors, Qea has spent her life in hiding. Qea (Pronounced Kee-ah) is a girl with an unusual history. She comes from a distant galaxy where warlords rule the law and corruption is rife, so she must become hard to survive, but here on Earth a young man will change her heart and risk her life, changing it forever.

Beyond the Hole in the Wall: Discover the Power of Self-Organized Learning


Sugata Mitra - 2012
    

Broken


D.M. McDaniel - 2012
    Well, that is what her ex-husband told her numerous times after discovering she could not conceive. After catching her husband in bed with another woman, she returns to her hometown, Rock Hill, SC, and starts her life over as a medical biller hell bent to remain in her safe little bubble, ruled by her Siamese cat, Izzy.Everything is smooth sailing in her protective bubble. Solomon is content to cut off her man-dar switch and live a life without worrying about a man breaking her heart...until a mysterious new neighbor moves into the house that has been vacant since her elderly neighbor passed away four years ago. Then a new physician starting at her office has his sights on her.Both men know the secret behind Solomon's broken life. Will she be able to handle the news?

Red Tape: Bureaucracy, Structural Violence, and Poverty in India


Akhil Gupta - 2012
    Seeking to understand the chronic and widespread poverty in India, the world's fourth largest economy, Gupta conceives of the relation between the state in India and the poor as one of structural violence. Every year this violence kills between two and three million people, especially women and girls, and lower-caste and indigenous peoples. Yet India's poor are not disenfranchised; they actively participate in the democratic project. Nor is the state indifferent to the plight of the poor; it sponsors many poverty amelioration programs.Gupta conducted ethnographic research among officials charged with coordinating development programs in rural Uttar Pradesh. Drawing on that research, he offers insightful analyses of corruption; the significance of writing and written records; and governmentality, or the expansion of bureaucracies. Those analyses underlie his argument that care is arbitrary in its consequences, and that arbitrariness is systematically produced by the very mechanisms that are meant to ameliorate social suffering. What must be explained is not only why government programs aimed at providing nutrition, employment, housing, healthcare, and education to poor people do not succeed in their objectives, but also why, when they do succeed, they do so unevenly and erratically.Akhil Gupta is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for India and South Asia at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Postcolonial Developments: Agriculture in the Making of Modern India and a coeditor of Culture, Power, Place: Explorations in Critical Anthropology, both also published by Duke University Press. He is also a coeditor of The State in India after Liberalization: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Anthropological Locations: Boundaries and Grounds of a Field Science, The Anthropology of the State: A Reader, and Caste and Outcast. "This long-awaited book is a masterful achievement that offers a close look at the culture of bureaucracy in India and, through this lens, casts new light on structural violence, liberalization, and the paradox of misery in the midst of explosive economic growth. Akhil Gupta's sensitive analysis of the everyday practices of writing, recording, filing, and reporting at every level of the state in India joins a rich literature on the politics of inscription and marks a brilliant new benchmark for political anthropology in India and beyond."—Arjun Appadurai, author of Fear of Small Numbers"Why has the postcolonial state in India seemed so incapable of improving the life chances of the country's poor? In his brilliant book Red Tape, Akhil Gupta argues that the structural violence inherent in the state operates as a form of biopower in which normal bureaucratic procedures depoliticize the killing of the poor. Whether exploring corruption, literacy, or population policy, Gupta provides an utterly original account of the deadly operations of state power associated with the ascendancy of new industrial classes and of neoliberal practice in contemporary India. A tour de force."—Michael Watts, author of Silent Violence"This is a landmark study of bureaucratic practices through which the state is actualized in the lives of the poor in India. Akhil Gupta's theoretical sophistication and the ethnographic depth in this book demonstrate how South Asian studies continues to challenge and shape the direction of social theory. This book is a stunning achievement."—Veena Das, author of Life and Words

Palm Beach Entertaining: Creating Occasions to Remember


Annie Falk - 2012
    With this inspiring book, you can bring high style to your own gatherings at home. As a luxurious retreat with a storied past, Palm Beach has become renowned for its grand parties. Now, more than twenty of its most celebrated hosts open their doors, revealing secrets for entertaining along with one hundred of their most tried-and-true recipes. Among the illustrious hosts featured are fashion icon Arnold Scaasi, Spanish aristocrat Victoria Amory, and interior designer Celerie Kemble.Included are tips for setting a personalized table, creating a warm mood, and choosing crowd-pleasing dishes. Recipes include Kit Pannill’s Tomato Pudding, Kathryn Vecellio’s Lobster "Risotto," and James Patterson’s Grandma’s Chocolate Cake. Palm Beach Entertaining offers a rare peek into the glamorous world behind the hedges of some of America’s most luxurious private estates. And it is all done in the spirit of giving—the net proceeds from the book benefit the Children’s Home Society, a charitable organization with a proven network of adoption, early childhood development, and family support services.

Aureole


Kate Mitchell - 2012
    As the years pass, she grows to love the family, and although they never officially consider her to be a member of it, she becomes an important part all the same.Everything goes well until the Christensons arrive a little over ten years later. A devious, clever, and good-looking brother and sister from Connecticut, individually they stir up trouble, but together they wreak havoc. Soon enough Jess realizes that unless she stands up for herself for the first time in her life, she will lose all that she has come to treasure. She has to make a choice: either lose the family that never really accepted her and try to start over one more time, or take a stand for what she believes in. For the quiet, unassuming young woman, this is no easy decision.A different kind of coming of age story for anyone who has ever been unsure of themselves, this novel watches over the Bishop family in Manhattan and all of their endeavors. It follows Jess as she makes mistakes, does her best to correct them, and maybe, just maybe, works her way into the hearts of the Bishop family for good using her heart, her mind, and without using money at all.

Evil Town


J. David Bethel - 2012
    FBI Special Agent Matt Thurston begins an investigation that leads him from the Pentagon to the small town of Clewiston, Florida in search of a photographer responsible for the photo found in the murdered woman's hand. He arrives too late. The man has committed suicide. Although Thurston uncovers a strange and suspicious story about the dead photographer that he believes is worthy of continued investigation, he is abruptly steered away from the case by his superiors.Angered by this turn of events, Thurston enlists the assistance of two reporters. With their involvement, he begins to peel away layers of lies and deceit hiding the truth about the murder. Along the way, Thurston slowly unravels a complex weave of story lines that includes a sex for hire plot involving the President's wife; an attempt by computer magnate Norman Bremen to subvert the workings of Congress to ensure the survival of his sugar interests in Florida; and the revelation of a cover-up of a war crime in Vietnam that threatens the Presidency.Although Evil Town is a work of fiction, it is based on historical and current events. The Vietnam element of the plot delves into the massacre of Vietnamese villagers at Co Luy. This occurred on the same day as the My Lai killings and happened as described in the novel. The military and political cover-up of the incident detailed in Evil Town is an interpretation of actual events that relegated Co Luy to the back pages of history.The description of the political maneuvering related to the restoration of the Everglades, and to the "sugar wars" in Florida, is a dramatization of the intrigue currently being played out by power brokers, the media and Congress on this issue.While it should come as no surprise that the drug war can be managed and waged for political purposes – a subplot in Evil Town – it is the subtleties of international politics that often allow this to happen. The novel provides insight on how this is possible.Through it all, Matt Thurston and his allies match wits with the most powerful in Washington putting themselves in harm's way. Truth, honor and justice are slippery concepts in this story of politics and fragile human relationships.

The Third Turning of the Wheel: Wisdom of the Samdhinirmocana Sutra


Reb Anderson - 2012
    In The Third Turning of the Wheel, he introduces us to the next stage of our journey by invoking the wisdom of the Samdhinirmocana Sutra.According to Anderson, the main purpose behind this enigmatic sutra is to reconcile the apparent contradictions between the original teachings of the historical Buddha and the later teachings of Mahayana Buddhism. Anderson reflects on the great metaphysical questions proposed in the Samdhinirmocana Sutra—the nature of ultimate reality, the structure of human consciousness, the characteristics of phenomena, the stages of meditation, and the essential qualities of a buddha—with the clarity of a scholar and the insight of a practitioner.

Rainier Valley


Rainier Valley Historical Society - 2012
    Although the fireworks factory and the stadium are gone, the smell of garlic still hangs on mixed with the aromas of Asian spices, Ethiopian coffee, Mexican salsa, and fish and chips. Saved from development by the organized protests of the community, the 85-year-old botanic garden still thrives. And Seward Park, with its virgin timber, is celebrating its 100th anniversary as a public park. The Rainier Valley, one of the most ethnically and economically diverse communities in the country, is a reflection of the many families, businesses, and events that filled the past 150 years.

Genocide and the Geographical Imagination: Life and Death in Germany, China, and Cambodia


James A. Tyner - 2012
    James A. Tyner's powerful analysis of these horrifying cases provides insight into the larger questions of sovereignty and state policies that determine who will live and who will die. Specifically, he explores the government practices that result in genocide and how they are informed by the calculation and valuation of life-and death. A geographical perspective on genocide highlights that mass violence, in the minds of perpetrators, is viewed as an effective-and legitimate-strategy of state building. These three histories of mass violence demonstrate how specific states articulate and act upon particular geographical concepts that determine and devalue the moral worth of groups and individuals. Clearly and compellingly written, this book will bring fresh and valuable insights into state genocidal behavior.

Uproot Hindutva: The Fiery Voice of the Liberation Panthers


தொல். திருமாவளவன் - 2012
    

The Wealth Of The Commons: A World Beyond Market & State


David Bollier - 2012
    Surrounded by centralized hierarchies on the one hand and predatory markets on the other, people around the world are searching for alternatives. The Wealth of the Commons explains how millions of commoners have organized to defend their forests and fisheries, reinvent local food systems, organize productive online communities, reclaim public spaces, improve environmental stewardship and re-imagine the very meaning of “progress” and governance. In short, how they’ve built their commons.In 73 timely essays by a remarkable international roster of activists, academics and project leaders, this book chronicles ongoing struggles against the private com¬moditization of shared resources – often known as market enclosures – while documenting the immense generative power of the commons. The Wealth of the Commons is about history, political change, public policy and cultural transformation on a global scale – but most of all, it’s about individual commoners taking charge of their lives and their endangered resources. David Bollier is an American author, activist and independent scholar who has studied the commons for fifteen years and blogs at www.bollier.org. Silke Helfrich is a German author and independent activist of the commons who blogs at www.commonsblog.de. Bollier and Helfrich co-founded the Commons Strategies Group in 2010 with Michel Bauwens of the Foundation for Peer to Peer Alternatives. See more on this work at: www.wealthofthecommons.orgContentsAcknowledgments Introduction, by David Bollier & Silke Helfrich Part I: The Commons as a New Paradigm •My Rocky Road to the Commons, by Jacques Paysan •The Economy of Wastefulness: The Biology of the Commons, by Andreas Weber •We Are Not Born as Egoists, by Friederike Habermann •Resilience Thinking, by Rob Hopkins •Institutions and Trust in Commons: Dealing with Social Dilemmas, by Martin Beckenkamp •The Structural Communality of the Commons, by Stefan Meretz •The Logic of the Commons and the Market: A Shorthand Comparison of Their Core Beliefs, by Silke Helfrich •First Thoughts for a Phenomenology of the Commons, by Ugo Mattei •Feminism and the Politics of the Commons, by Silvia Federici •Rethinking the Social Welfare State in Light of the Commons, by Brigitte Kratzwald •Common Goods Don’t Simply Exist – They Are Created, by Silke Helfrich •The Tragedy of the Anticommons, by Michael Heller •Why Distinguish Common Goods from Public Goods?, by James B. Quilligan •Subsistence: Perspective for a Society Based on Commons, by Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen •Technology and the Commons, by Josh Tenenberg •The Commoning of Patterns and the Patterns of Commoning, by Franz Nahrada •The Abundance of the Commons, A Conversation with Brian Davey, Roberto Verzola and Wolfgang Hoeschele Part II: Capitalism, Enclosure and Resistance •Enclosures from the Bottom Up, by Peter Linebaugh •The Commons: A Historical Concept of Property Rights, by Hartmut Zückert •The Global Land Grab: The New Enclosures, by Liz Alden Wily •Genetically Engineered Promises & Farming Realities, by P.V. Satheesh •The Coming Financial Enclosure of the Common, by Antonio Tricarico •Mining as a Threat to the Commons: The Case of South America, by César Padilla •Water as a Commons: Only Fundamental Change Can Save Us, by Maude Barlow •Dam Building: Who’s “Backward” – Subsistence Cultures or Modern “Development”?, by Vinod Raina •Belo Monte, or the Destruction of the Commons, by Gerhard Dilger •Subtle But Effective: Modern Forms of Enclosure, by Hervé Le Crosnier •Good Bye Night Sky, by Jonathan Rowe •Crises, Capitalism and Cooperation: Does Capital Need a Commons Fix?, by Massimo De Angelis •Hope from the Margins, by Gustavo Esteva •A New German Raw Materials Strategy: A Modern Enclosure of the Commons?, by Lili Fuhr •Using “Protected Natural Areas” to Appropriate the Commons, by Ana de Ita •Intellectual Property Rights and Free Trade Agreements: A Never-Ending Story, by Beatriz Busaniche •Global Enclosures in the Service of Empire, by David Bollier Part III: Commoning – A Social Innovation for Our Times •School of Commoning, by George Pór •Practicing Commons in Community Gardens: Urban Gardening as a Corrective for Homo Economicus, by Christa Müller •Mundraub.org: Sharing Our Common Fruit, by Katharina Frosch •Living in “The Garden of Life”, by Margrit Kennedy and Declan Kennedy •Reclaiming the Credit Commons: Towards a Butterfly Society, by Thomas H. Greco, Jr. •Shared Space: A Space Shared is a Space Doubled, by Sabine Lutz •Transition Towns: Initiatives of Transformation, by Gerd Wessling •Learning from Minamata: Creating High-Level Well-Being in Local Communities in Japan, by Takayoshi Kusago •Share or Die – A Challenge for Our Times, by Neal Gorenflo •The Faxinal: A Brazilian Experience of the Commons and Its Relationship with the State, by Mayra Lafoz Bertussi •Capable Leadership, Institutional Skills and Resource Abundance Behind Flourishing Coastal Marine Commons in Chile, by Gloria L. Gallardo Fernández & Eva Friman •Community Based Forest and Livelihood Management in Nepal, by Shrikrishna Upadhyay •Salt and Trade at the Pink Lake: Community Subsistence in Senegal, by Papa Sow & Elina Marmer •El Buen Vivir and the Commons, A Conversation between Gustavo Soto Santiesteban and Silke Helfrich Part IV: Knowledge Commons for Social Change •The Code is the Seed of the Software, An Interview with Adriana Sánchez •The Boom of Commons-Based Peer Production, by Christian Siefkes •Copyright and Fairy Tales, by Carolina Botero and Julio César Gaitán •Creative Commons: Governing the Intellectual Commons from Below, by Mike Linksvayer •Freedom for Users, Not for Software, by Benjamin Mako Hill •Public Administration Needs Free Software, by Federico Heinz •From Blue Collar to Open Commons Region: How Linz, Austria, Has Benefited from Committing to the Commons, by Thomas Gegenhuber, Naumi Haque and Stefan Pawel •Emancipating Innovation Enclosures: The Global Innovation Commons, by David E. Martin •Move Commons: Labeling, Opening and Connecting Social Initiatives, by Javier de la Cueva, Bastien Guerry, Samer Hassan, Vicente J. Ruiz Jurado •Peer-to-Peer Economy and New Civilization Centered Around the Sustenance of the Commons, by Michel Bauwens and Franco Iacomella •Knowledge is the Water of the Mind: How to Structure Rights in “Immaterial Commons”, by Rainer Kuhlen Part V: Envisioning a Commons-Based Policy and Production Framework •Green Governance: Ecological Survival, Human Rights and the Commons, by David Bollier and Burns H. Weston •The Common Heritage of Mankind: A Bold Doctrine Kept Within Strict Boundaries, by Prue Taylor •Ideas for Change: Making Meaning Out of Economic and Institutional Diversity, by Ryan T. Conway •Constructing Commons in the Cultural Environment, by Michael J. Madison, Brett M. Frischmann and Katherine J. Strandburg •The Triune Peer Governance of the Digital Commons, by Michel Bauwens •Multilevel Governance and Cross-Scale Coordination for Natural Resource Management: Lessons from Current Research, by Helen Markelova and Esther Mwangi •The Atmosphere as a Global Commons, by Ottmar Edenhofer, Christian Flachsland and Bernhard Lorentz •Transforming Global Resources into Commons, by Gerhard Scherhorn •Electricity Commons – Toward a New Industrial Society, by Julio Lambing •The Failure of Land Privatization: On the Need for New Development Policies, by Dirk Löhr •The Yasuní-ITT Initiative, or The Complex Construction of Utopia, by Alberto Acosta •Equitable Licensing – Ensuring Access to Innovation, by Christina Godt, Christian Wagner-Ahlfs and Peter Tinnemann •P2P-Urbanism: Backed by Evidence, by Nikos A. Salingaros and Federico Mena-Quintero Epilogue Index

Home-Made Europe: Contemporary Folk Artifacts


Vladmir Arkhipov - 2012
    The objects he has found are made by everyday people inspired to create something themselves, rather than buying manufactured goods. Many have been made in pursuit of a hobby, or because the maker had the time and inclination to construct something personal. In other cases, the objects are more vital to the maker's livelihood. Arkhipov's archive includes hundreds of objects created with idiosyncratic functional qualities: an Austrian ski-bob made using an old bicycle frame; a metal strip full of spikes used to deter pigeons from landing on window ledges; a beautifully painted rocking-motorbike for children; and a device from Germany that enables a musician to play three brass tubas at once. This volume features 230 individual artifacts from Albania, Austria, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine and Wales, each of which is accompanied by a photograph of the creator, their story of how the object came about, its function and the materials used to create it. With a foreword by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, Home-Made Europe is an essential companion to the first volume, expanding its theme with more recent objects that suggest that the charm of the home-made utilitarian object transcends even the dictates of necessity.

Follow the Leader?: How Voters Respond to Politicians' Policies and Performance


Gabriel S. Lenz - 2012
    We also assume that voters consider candidates' competence, honesty, and other performance-related traits. But does this actually happen? Do voters consider candidates’ policy positions when deciding for whom to vote? And how do politicians’ performances in office factor into the voting decision? In Follow the Leader?, Gabriel S. Lenz sheds light on these central questions of democratic thought. Lenz looks at citizens’ views of candidates both before and after periods of political upheaval, including campaigns, wars, natural disasters, and episodes of economic boom and bust. Noting important shifts in voters’ knowledge and preferences as a result of these events, he finds that, while citizens do assess politicians based on their performance, their policy positions actually matter much less. Even when a policy issue becomes highly prominent, voters rarely shift their votes to the politician whose position best agrees with their own. In fact, Lenz shows, the reverse often takes place: citizens first pick a politician and then adopt that politician’s policy views. In other words, they follow the leader. Based on data drawn from multiple countries, Follow the Leader? is the most definitive treatment to date of when and why policy and performance matter at the voting booth, and it will break new ground in the debates about democracy.

The Passion of Politics


Lindy Edwards - 2012
    This book gives us a new and compelling way to think about the past, present, and future of Australian politics.' - Professor John Dryzek, Australian National University.Behind the evening news lies a world of political ideas and passionate conflict. The Passion of Politics unpacks the ideologies and theories which drive these political clashes, helping to explain why we admire some politicians and loathe others.The ideas driving today's politics all have roots in the political struggles of the past. They've been responses to great injustices and challenges, and they've underpinned enormous achievements. In Australia, they've helped create one of the most wealthy, free and just societies in history.Today we are faced with important choices between flawed options. The struggles of the past have undermined our belief in utopias. Yet the current battles remain crucial to defining our future. Understanding the dynamics of the ideas in play is essential to equipping ourselves to take part in these vital debates.

Universal Design: Creating Inclusive Environments


Edward Steinfeld - 2012
    From the foundations of accessibility and aging to the practice of designing interiors, products, housing and transportation systems, all aspects of this growing field are explored. Covering best practices examples to demonstrate the value of universal design as both a survey of the field and reference for researchers, "Universal Design" is sure to be constantly at the fingertips of all types of designers.

Fighting Light Pollution: Smart Lighting Solutions for Individuals and Communities


The International Dark-Sky Association - 2012
    The first practical guide to alleviating an increasingly prevalent environmental concern How smart lighting can save energy costs and improve safety around the home, along the streets, and in public places--all while helping to preserve the night sky Describes smart-lighting success stories and offers information on how to work with public officials to enact smart-lighting guidelines Explains the negative effects of poor lighting and glare Geared to home owners and renters, stargazers, nature-lovers, business owners, community leaders, and public officials--anyone with an interest in efficient and effective lighting

Hip Hop Apsara: Ghosts Past and Present


Anne Elizabeth Moore - 2012
    Photography. Southeast Asia Studies. Radical (L.A. Times), poignant (Boston Globe), should not be missed (Time), a notable underground author (The Onion), and brilliant (Kirkus) are all ways to describe Anne Elizabeth Moore and her writing. The award-winning author and artist has worked for years with young women in Cambodia on independent media projects, and her newest venture, HIP HOP APSARA: GHOSTS PAST AND PRESENT, is a compilation of photographs and lyrical essays taking readers to the streets of the country's capital city, Phnom Penh, and out into the countryside--where few get to travel. Alternating full color and black and white photographs depict Phnom Penh's bustling nightlife as locals gather to dance on a newly revitalized riverfront directly in front of their prime minister's urban home, thus forming a portrait of the nation's emerging middle class. Images from a southern province depict a nation in dialogue with its government, hoping for development that lifts all citizens. Essays complement the imagery, investigating the relationship between public and private space, mourning and memory, tradition and an economic development unrivaled in the last 1,200 years.

You'd Better Not Die or I'll Kill You: A Caregiver's Survival Guide to Keeping You in Good Health and Good Spirits


Jane Heller - 2012
    more often than the average person goes to Starbucks. Here, Jane shares her experiences of looking after her chronically ill husband with Nora Ephron–like wit, and offers practical guidance for handling it all without drowning. With advice on staying healthy while caring for a loved one and learning to communicate with medical staff, plus wisdom from other caregivers and experts, this is a personal and invaluable tool kit that also manages to prompt laughter and inspire. For the more than 65 million caregivers in the US alone, this book couldn't be more timely or important.

The Inevitable Caliphate?: A History of the Struggle for Global Islamic Union, 1924 to Present


Reza Pankhurst - 2012
    This text contributes to our understanding of Islam in politics, the path of Islamic revival across the last century, and how the popularity of the Caliphate in Muslim discourse waned and later re-emerged.

Evolving: The Human Effect and Why It Matters


Daniel J. Fairbanks - 2012
    The author not only uses evidence from archaeology, geography, anatomy, biochemistry, radiometric dating, cell biology, chromosomes, and DNA to establish the inescapable conclusion that we evolved and are still evolving, he also explains in detail how health, food production, and human impact on the environment are dependent on our knowledge of evolution. This is essential reading for gaining a fuller appreciation of who we are, our place in the great expanse of life, and the importance of our actions.

Adam and Eve After the Pill: Paradoxes of the Sexual Revolution


Mary Eberstadt - 2012
    Perhaps nothing has changed life for so many, so fast, as the severing of sex and procreation. But what has been the result?This ground-breaking book by noted essayist and author Mary Eberstadt contends that sexual freedom has paradoxically produced widespread discontent. Drawing on sociologists Pitirim Sorokin, Carle Zimmerman, and others; philosopher G.E.M. Anscombe and novelist Tom Wolfe; and a host of feminists, food writers, musicians, and other voices from across today's popular culture, Eberstadt makes her contrarian case with an impressive array of evidence. Her chapters range across academic disciplines and include supporting evidence from contemporary literature and music, women's studies, college memoirs, dietary guides, advertisements, television shows, and films.Adam and Eve after the Pill examines as no book has before the seismic social changes caused by the sexual revolution. In examining human behavior in the post-liberation world, Eberstadt provocatively asks: Is food the new sex? Is pornography the new tobacco?Adam and Eve after the Pill will change the way readers view the paradoxical impact of the sexual revolution on ideas, morals, and humanity itself.

The Essential John Dewey Collection


John Dewey - 2012
    The Essential John Dewey Collection, contains 14 books, includes:•The Child and the Curriculum•Creative Intelligence•Democracy and Education•Essays in Experimental Logic•Ethics•How We Think•Human Nature and Conduct•Leibniz’s New Essays Concerning the Human Understanding•Moral Principles in Education•Psychology and Social Practice•Reconstruction in Philosophy•Studies in Logical Theory•Letters from China and Japan•China, Japan and the U.S.A.

Time to Listen: Hearing People on the Receiving End of International Aid


Mary B. Anderson - 2012
    CDA’s Listening Project organized teams of “listeners” across 20 countries and contexts to gather the voices, insights, and lessons from people both inside and outside the aid system. This publication represents the lessons that have come forth through conversations with nearly 6,000 people. Using their words, their experiences, and their ideas, we describe why the cumulative impacts of aid have not met expectations and describe a way forward to make changes that, according to those on the receiving end, will lead to more effective results.

All Power to the Councils!: A Documentary History of the German Revolution of 1918-1919


Gabriel Kuhn - 2012
    While the Social Democrats grabbed power, radicals across the country rallied to establish a communist society under the slogan "All Power to the Councils!" The Spartacus League launched an uprising in Berlin, council republics were proclaimed in Bremen and Bavaria, and workers' revolts shook numerous German towns. Yet in an act that would tragically shape the course of history, the Social Democratic government crushed the rebellions with the help of right-wing militias, paving the way for the ill-fated Weimar Republic—and ultimately the ascension of the Nazis. This definitive documentary history collects manifestos, speeches, articles, and letters from the German Revolution—Rosa Luxemburg, the Revolutionary Stewards, and Gustav Landauer amongst others—introduced and annotated by the editor. Many documents, such as the anarchist Erich Mühsam's comprehensive account of the Bavarian Council Republic, are presented here in English for the first time. The volume also includes materials from the Red Ruhr Army that repelled the reactionary Kapp Putsch in 1920 and the communist bandits that roamed Eastern Germany until 1921. All Power to the Councils! provides a dynamic and vivid picture of a time of great hope and devastating betrayal. “Drawing on newly uncovered material through pioneering archival historical research, Gabriel Kuhn’s powerful book on the German workers’ councils movement is essential reading to understanding the way forward for democratic worker control today.”—Immanuel Ness, Graduate Center for Worker Education, Brooklyn College “An indispensable resource on a world-historic event.”—Lucien van der Walt, Rhodes University, South Africa

How Not to Get Hit: The Art of Fighting Without Fighting


Nathaniel Cooke - 2012
    At that moment, it's probably too late to do anything about it. But how do we change circumstances, so those situations don't happen? How Not to Get Hit is a book on personal safety for people who don't want to learn to fight, but do want to learn how to avoid those situations where a fight is likely to develop. Told in a lighthearted, irreverent style, How Not to Get Hit takes you on a journey through the funny side of violence, its roots in our evolutionary past and where it fits into modern society. Self-defense isn't a series of techniques or moves; it's an attitude, a strategy and a life skill. This martial arts philosophy book will give you an understanding of why people want to use violence and how to manage situations in order to create a better outcome.

THE LAST OF THE DRUIDS: The Mystery of the Pictish Symbol Stones


Iain W.G. Forbes - 2012
    Although leaving little in the way of written records, they did however leave a legacy of literally hundreds of magnificent carved stone monuments. The vast majority of these are adorned with strange scenes and seemingly impenetrable symbols. The purpose and meaning of these strange hieroglyphic-like symbols have baffled archaeologists and historians for nearly two hundred years. Using a combination of astronomical software to simulate the night sky during the Pictish era and by delving into the cosmology of European mythological stories, the author demonstrates that scenes depicted on two prominent monuments are actually celestial calendars. A revolutionary new theory is presented that suggests that Pictish druids were practiced astronomers, who used their skill to make astrological predictions. The previously impenetrable symbols can therefore be explained as forming a complex set of astrological symbols, which, in combination, indicate whether the celestial portents on a particular day are auspicious or inauspicious.The enormous implications of these discoveries with regard to our understanding both of the Picts and also the origins of astronomy and astrology in Europe and Asia are explored.

Leaving the Illusion


Joseph Plummer - 2012
    Your self respect and dignity, in shambles. As you question what you're made of, and as you wonder how you'll ever claw your way back to the top, an incredible opportunity presents itself. There is only one catch: It will cost you everything you know about the world around you.Leaving the Illusion delves into the darkness of an unseen world; a world where the "dominant few" do as they please to the "inferior many" that live beneath them. For the insiders, there is unimaginable wealth, power and privilege. For all others, there is only deception, theft and violence. Given a choice, which group would you join? Are you sure? The price of admission might be more than you can afford.

Promised Brides : experiences and testimonies of greek women in Australia (1950-1975)


Panayota Nazou - 2012
    The study attempts its interpretation from the perspective of oral history, gender studies and cultural-critical theory. Its primary material is drawn from personal testimonies given in the form of interviews to the writer by a number of the brides themselves. The texts of these oral testimonies constitute the central core through which the experience of migration is investigated from the perspective of women, with special emphasis on the institution of arranged marriages. This was an almost undisputed law and custom during the early post-war migration wave out of Greece. The book seeks to cover an immense gap in the existing bibliography by closely studying the individuality of the women themselves and the way they felt, reacted and experienced the reality of an arranged marriage with a man they had not ever seen before. Simultaneously, in its introduction it analyses the experience of migration itself which represents the social and psychological background of all the testimonies and lived experiences. By drawing from their stories, we are able to re-interpret the emotional realities of many 'promised brides' and ultimately see them as individual personalities, by following their personal adventure, exploring their existential ambivalence and finally understanding through them the social, cultural and political function of the institution of arranged marriage. The study constitutes a fresh radical approach to a practice that defined the first generation of migrants and determined the cultural cohesion of the Greek-Australian community. It also makes a significant contribution to the overall studies regarding the Greek-Australian experience beginning with a historiographical approach from below and giving voice to all those women, whose life-stories were always excluded from the official narratives of migration.

Voice of Reason


Bryant McGill - 2012
    Sometimes eloquently poetic, other times harshly incriminating and shocking, McGill delivers a lovely and inspirational, yet thought-provoking book about the balance of mind and heart.Voice of Reason is a wake-up call for a world in deep crisis, a world which is becoming a global battlefield, and where our poor relationships are increasingly based on self-interest. Exploring the true nature of violence, the destruction of diversity by monocultures, and the cancerous growth of unchecked, predatory corporate capitalism, McGill paints a grim picture of today’s materialistic consumer life. Speaking directly to the heart of revolution, from Zuccotti Park to Tehran, McGill believes we must revolt against the endless manipulation and oppression of modern life, and reject the traditions of violence, which have made each of us agents of violence ourselves.McGill explores many solutions to our cultural, political, economic, and environmental miseries, such as achieving greater individual consciousness and compassion, empowering youth, and restoring the woman to her rightful place, as the strong, loving maternal leader of peace and reason. As McGill writes, “The battlefields of life were first meadows and gardens. We made them into battlefields, and by the same power, we must release the dark spell, so they are meadows and gardens once again.” (bryantmcgill.com/vor)"A peaceful voice for change in a corrupt world."~ Larry Flynt / Hustler Magazine"...an iconoclastic tome of contempt for unjust authoritarianism, with an inspirational silver-lining that gives it all wings."~ Philip G. Zimbardo, Ph.D. / Stanford University / NYT Bestselling Author and Former President, American Psychological Association"For a world consumed by a Culture of Violence, a Voice of Reason comes as a breath of fresh, positive air. The only hope of transforming the world from the tsunami of violence is for each of us to Become the Change We Wish To See in the World. Bryant McGill shows us the way."~ Dr. Arun M. Gandhi, Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi"McGill has written a humanist manifesto through the roseate glasses of agape Christianity, Vishnu Sahasranama and Theravada Buddhism. Critical theorists will be challenged by the proposed consonance between Plato, poststructuralism and Lao-Tsu. Purists be damned!"~ Constance Stadler, Ph.D., Assoc Prof., Political Science, NYU“…conscious guidance to a positive way out of our global crisis ...beyond nationalism, beyond warmongering ...real power that comes from truth, awareness, love and compassion.”~ John Breeding, Ph.D. / Best-Selling Author

All We Have to Fear: Psychiatry's Transformation of Natural Anxieties Into Mental Disorders


Allan V. Horwitz - 2012
    Today, some estimates are over fifty percent, a tenfold increase. Is this dramatic rise evidence of a real medical epidemic? In All We Have to Fear, Allan Horwitz and Jerome Wakefield argue that psychiatry itself has largely generated this "epidemic" by inflating many natural fears into psychiatric disorders, leading to the over-diagnosis of anxiety disorders and the over-prescription of anxiety-reducing drugs. American psychiatry currently identifies disordered anxiety as irrational anxiety disproportionate to a real threat. Horwitz and Wakefield argue, to the contrary, that it can be a perfectly normal part of our nature to fear things that are not at all dangerous--from heights to negative judgments by others to scenes that remind us of past threats (as in some forms of PTSD). Indeed, this book argues strongly against the tendency to call any distressing condition a "mental disorder." To counter this trend, the authors provide an innovative and nuanced way to distinguish between anxiety conditions that are psychiatric disorders and likely require medical treatment and those that are not--the latter including anxieties that seem irrational but are the natural products of evolution. The authors show that many commonly diagnosed "irrational" fears--such as a fear of snakes, strangers, or social evaluation--have evolved over time in response to situations that posed serious risks to humans in the past, but are no longer dangerous today. Drawing on a wide range of disciplines including psychiatry, evolutionary psychology, sociology, anthropology, and history, the book illuminates the nature of anxiety in America, making a major contribution to our understanding of mental health.

Secret Manoeuvres in the Dark: Corporate and Police Spying on Activists


Eveline Lubbers - 2012
    This book shows the other grave threat to our political freedoms - undercover activities by corporations.Secret Manoeuvres in the Dark documents how corporations are halting legitimate action and investigation by activists. Using exclusive access to previously confidential sources, Eveline Lubbers shows how companies such as Nestlé, Shell and McDonalds use covert methods to evade accountability. She argues that corporate intelligence gathering has shifted from being reactive to pro-active, with important implications for democracy itself.Secret Manoeuvres in the Dark will be vital reading for activists, investigative and citizen journalists, and all who care about freedom and democracy in the 21st century.

The Golden Fleece: Manipulation and Independence in Humanitarian Action


Antonio Donini - 2012
    It examines the impact of manipulation on the effectiveness of humanitarian action. The tension between fundamental humanitarian values the prioritization of life-saving over all other considerations and political or economic agendas is not new. Relief work has long been subject to manipulation by governments, warlords, public opinion, disembodied realpolitik, and to the calculations of humanitarians themselves. As Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire notes in his Foreward, "the sacrosanct principles of neutrality and humanitarian space have been used and abused by many in ways which ultimately benefit killers rather than the victims of armed conflict."This book takes a long view, starting with the origins of organized humanitarianism in the mid-19th century and zeroes in on the twenty-plus years since the end of the Cold War. It examines whether instrumentalization has achieved its desired objectives, whether political manipulation is greater today than before, and whether the recent dramatic growth of relief work has opened up humanitarian action to greater manipulation.Humanitarianism has blossomed from a relatively marginal activity in the shadow of interstate wars to a central feature of international relations; it is now part of global governance, if not of government. It has also become a much-used fig leaf to camouflage global and local failures of governance that often result in further misery for those at the mercy of conflict and crisis."The Golden Fleece" asks whether saving lives is, by its very nature, prone to instrumentalization or whether humanitarianism can be transformed and made more immune to manipulation. Building on decades of experience at the frontlines of the world s most devastating crises, the authors chronicle the successes and failures of a humanitarian enterprise that, despite its limitations, remains central to the survival of millions of vulnerable and dispossessed people around the world. They argue that the practical and moral resistance against intolerable suffering is an urgent, necessary and critical imperative. It is at the core of what it means to be human."The Golden Fleece" made the list of "Must-Read Books in Peace and Security for 2013" from International Peace Institute's Global Observatory blog. See following link: http: //www.theglobalobservatory.org/reports/...

Clean Tech Nation: How the U.S. Can Lead in the New Global Economy


Ron Pernick - 2012
    In Clean Tech Nation, they shine a light on the leaders at the forefront of the growing movement. USA Today called Pernick and Wilder’s groundbreaking first book, “one of the few instances in this genre that shows the green movement not in heartstring terms but as economically profitable.” Clean Tech Nation expands on their original idea to provide concrete analysis on the efforts of the U.S. and other countries in this area, and provides a clear way forward for the U.S. so that it can lead the pack as it competes with the rest of the world.