Product Description
Literature provides us with otherwise unavailable insights into the ways emotions are produced, experienced, and enacted in human social life. It is particularly valuable because it deepens our comprehension of the mutual relations between emotional response and ethical judgment. These are the central claims of Hogan's study, which carefully examines a range of highly esteemed literary works in the context of current neurobiological, psychological, sociological, and other empirical research. In this work, he explains the value of literary study for a cognitive science of emotion and outlines the emotional organization of the human mind. He explores the emotions of romantic love, grief, mirth, guilt, shame, jealousy, attachment, compassion, and pity - in each case drawing on one work by Shakespeare and one or more works by writers from different historical periods or different cultural backgrounds, such as the eleventh-century Chinese poet Li Ch'ing-Chao and the contemporary Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Social Research, published by New School for Social Research on December 22, 2004. The length of the article is 8700 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The semeiosic economy of fear.(Part V: case studies: what can they teach us?)
Author: E. Valentine Daniel
Publication: Social Research (Refereed)
Date: December 22, 2004
Publisher: New School for Social Research
Volume: 71Issue: 4Page: 1087(24)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Social Research, published by New School for Social Research on December 22, 2004. The length of the article is 5468 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Fearing evil.(Part V: case studies: what can they teach us?)
Author: Jessica Stern
Publication: Social Research (Refereed)
Date: December 22, 2004
Publisher: New School for Social Research
Volume: 71Issue: 4Page: 1111(16)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Social Research, published by New School for Social Research on December 22, 2004. The length of the article is 527 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Introduction.(Part V: case studies: what can they teach us?)
Author: Aristide R. Zolberg
Publication: Social Research (Refereed)
Date: December 22, 2004
Publisher: New School for Social Research
Volume: 71Issue: 4Page: 1039(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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In 1986 epidemiologist Dr. David Snowdon embarked on a revolutionary scientific study that would forever change the way we view aging and old age.Dubbed the "Nun Study" because it involves a unique population of 678 Catholic remains today at the forefront of some of the world's most significant research on aging.

Aging With Grace

This remarkable book by one of the world's leading experts on Alzheimer's disease combines fascinating high-tech research on the brain with the heartfelt story of the aging nuns who are teaching scientists how we grow old- and how findings already helps scientists unlock the secrets to living a longer, healthier life

Yet Aging With Grace is more than a groundbreaking health and hard-science book.It is the story of an altar boy who grew up to be a scientist studying the effects of aging on nuns.It is the poignant and inspiring stories of the nuns themselves.Ranging in the age from 75 to 104, these remarkable women have allowed Dr. Snowdon access to t heir medical and personal records-and they agreed to donate their brains upon death.

In Aging With Grace, we accompany Dr. Snowdon on his loving visits to nuns like Sister Clarissa, who at the age of 90 drives around the convent in a motorized cart she calls her "Chevy" and knows as much about baseball as any die-hard fan a third her age.Then there is 104-year-old Sister Matthia, who until her death in 1998 knitted two pairs of mittens a day and prayed every evening for each of the four thousand students she taught over the years.These bright, articulate, and altruistic women have much to teach us about how faith, wisdom, and spirituality can influence the length and quality of our lives.

We also follow Dr. Snowdon into the lab as he and his colleague race to decode one of the most devastating disease known to humanity.We discover:
Why high linguistic ability in early life seems to protect against Alzheimer's
Which ordinary foods in the diet defend the brain against aging
Why preventing strokes and depression is key to avoiding dementia
Why it's never too late to start an exercise program
What role heredity plays, and how lifestyle can increase our chances for a mentally vital old age
How intangibles like community and faith help us age with grace

Both cutting-edge science and a personal prescription for hope.Aging With Grace shows how old age doesn't have to mean an inevitable slide into illness and disability; rather, it can be a time of promise and productivity, intellectual and spiritual vigor, and continuing freedom from disease.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Thank you very much for offering exactly what I needed.
I saw a video clip of Dr. Snowdon that contained interviews with the actual nuns that he used in his study. It's amazing that he took a topic that is breaking a lot of people's hearts and bringing hope to millions of caregivers around the world. In learning about that he wrote a book about his research, I was inspired to buy the book. Thank you very much, Dr. Snowdon. Keep adding to the literature on this most personal and devastating topic.

Great book!
Easy to read book with great stories about the nuns that capture your attention and heart. This book makes the study of Alzheimers that much more interesting!

Inspiration, insight and hope into the aging process
As the daughter of an aging parent, I am interested in learning as much as I can about the aging process for the sake of my mother, myself and other family members/friends.This book is a gem.It is a moving and personal account by the scientist who led an amazing longitudinal study of a group of nuns.This study was unique in a way that no other Alzheimer's study has been.

As I read the book, I felt as though I was walking alongside the author, David Snowdon, and getting to know each and every nun. It was a privilege to share David's insight into this special community of women (many of whom live past the age of 100). When David finally decided to focus his research on Alzheimer's, he struggled with asking the nuns to sign a release form for their brains to be donated to Alzheimer research (after death). He was astonished when Sister Rita Schwalbe spoke up and said, "As sisters, we made the hard choice not to have children. Through brain donation, we can help unravel the mysteries of Alzheimer's disease and give the gift of life in a new way to future generations."

Although Alzheimers is still a mystery in many ways, this study helped illuminate several correlations. Depression and stroke puts a person at risk. High density ideas/complex sentences found in the nuns'handwritten autobiographies seemed to diminish risk. Faith and community, purposeful work and service, healthy eating, exercise all seemed to be positive factors in prevention.

Since 50% of persons over 90 years old will get Alzheimers, it is likely that many of our family/friends will be touched by this disease. Reading this book is not only a joy in getting insight into this wonderful community of nuns but also in highlighting the risk factors and research being done around the disease of Alzheimer's.
Dale C
http://daleblogg.blogspot.com ("Transition Aging Parents")

Alzheimer
My mother, grand mother and great grandmother have had Alzheimer. This book has helped me a lot to understand the sickness and given me good ideas of what to do with the rest of my life. Thanks

Not what I thought....
I really thought this would be a dry scientific book about results, showing graphs, etc, but it was not at all! The nuns told him he could only study them if he promised to get to know them, and he followed their wishes completely. I'm trying to make my sentences as long as possible and if you read the book, you'll know why and think I'm hopeless! The author has a wonderful way of weaving their lives into what he has discovered, as he leaves each little pause in the chapters with a sentence to make you want to read the next to see what they discovered about it. I learned a lot about what we have a little influence over in our own physical lives and what we might not. It's a very easy read. Oops! Short sentence. My bad! ... Read more

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The Iraq War has cost innumerable lives, caused vast material destruction, and inflicted suffering on millions of people. Iraq at a Distance: What Anthropology Can Teach Us About the War focuses on the plight of the Iraqi people, caught since 2003 in the carnage between U.S. and British troops on one side and, on the other, Iraqi insurgents, militias, and foreign al Qaeda operatives.

The volume is a bold attempt by six distinguished anthropologists to study a war zone too dangerous for fieldwork. They break new ground by using their ethnographic imagination as a research tool to analyze the Iraq War through insightful comparisons with previous and current armed conflicts in Cambodia, Israel, Palestine, Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, and Argentina. This innovative approach extends the book's relevance beyond a critical understanding of the devastating war in Iraq. More and more parts of the world of long-standing ethnographic interest are becoming off-limits to researchers because of the war on terror. This book serves as a model for the study of other inaccessible regions, and it shows that the impossibility of conducting ethnographic fieldwork does not condemn anthropologists to silence.

Essays analyze the good-versus-evil framework of the war on terror, the deterioration of women's rights in Iraq under fundamentalist coercion, the ethnic-religious partitioning of Baghdad through the building of security walls, the excessive use of force against Iraqi civilians by U.S. counterinsurgency units, and the loss of popular support for U.S. and British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan after the brutal regimes of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein had been toppled.

Product Description
A gripping and inspiring book, Civic Passionsexamines innovative leadership in periods of crisis in American history. Starting from the late nineteenth century, when respected voices warned that America was on the brink of collapse, Cecelia Tichi explores the wisdom of practical visionaries who were confronted with a series of social, political, and financial upheavals that, in certain respects, seem eerily similar to modern times. The United States--then, as now--was riddled with political corruption, financial panics, social disruption, labor strife, and bourgeois inertia.

Drawing on a wealth of evocative personal accounts, biographies, and archival material, Tichi brings seven iconoclastic--and often overlooked--individuals from the Gilded Age back to life. We meet physician Alice Hamilton, theologian Walter Rauschenbusch, jurist Louis D. Brandeis, consumer advocate Florence Kelley, antilynching activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett, economist John R. Commons, and child-welfare advocate Julia Lathrop. Bucking the status quo of the Gilded Age as well as middle-class complacency, these reformers tirelessly garnered popular support as they championed progressive solutions to seemingly intractable social problems.

Civic Passions is a provocative and powerfully written social history, a collection of minibiographies, and a user's manual on how a generation of social reformers can turn peril into progress with fresh, workable ideas. Together, these narratives of advocacy provide a stunning precedent of progressive action and show how citizen-activists can engage the problems of the age in imaginative ways. While offering useful models to encourage the nation in a newly progressive direction, Civic Passions reminds us that one determined individual can make a difference. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

Okay for Forced Reading
I had to read this for a college class.It's rather painful, but by college class standards, it's actually not that bad.I wouldn't say the author's style is exactly riveting, but it's a doable read.Chapter lengths are reasonable.

I wouldn't exactly wait up at midnight for this, but if you have to read it, just remember, it could be worse... a lot worse.

Outstanding Book forTeachers and Parents
This is an outstanding book, filled with terrific teaching ideas and concepts. I especially enjoyed reading the background information that was included about the contributors.
Teachers and parents will all enjoy ths book, and learn a great deal from reading it.
Many thanks to the contributors and editors.

Determining Why We Teach
As a former high school social studies teacher, and a current college professor who teaches "Methods" classes for future social studies teachers, I found this book helpful in a number of ways.First of all, Singer knows his subject, and writes in an interesting and engaging way.The plain fact is that "Methods" textbooks in social studies are either dry as toast or are segments of more general Methods books whose authors do not really know social studies.Second, the most important advice Singer provides is that teachers have to plan in advance why a certain lesson, or unit, or approach is worthwhile -- in short, that they have to be engaged in their subject matter.While many students today (certainly in my university) will not be engaged in the same way as Singer (who came to social studies teaching from a radical political perspective, expecting to change the world via the classroom), students do have to develop a perspective on why they are teaching, and Singer's open-ended activities and thought experiments are very useful here.Finally, Singer does have good nuts and bolts suggestions on how to put together lessons, units, and even curricula, though the last usually depends on district policy so his advice may not be able to be implemented by many teachers, let alone student teachers.I would be the first to agree that some of Singer's suggestions are impractical or dated, and that the resources section of any textbook get dated very quickly in the internet age, but I wish my student teachers would consult this book more frequently once they begin their assignments in the classroom.While Singer would probably deny it, my assessment is that the book is geared overly much to U.S. History, and does not treat in as much detail as would be warranted World History, U.S. Government, and other standard social studies topics.

Has this man been in a real classroom?
Save your money!!If this book is required for a college class do not waste the money on it.There is not a single useful piece of advice.The author apparantly has never been in a real classroom or spoken to a real high school student.

His advice is condescending and just plain wrong.The sample lesson plans are not practical for real life!The author gives instruction that are simply contradictory to the real world.

This is one of the worst books that I have ever read.If I could give it zero stars I would! ... Read more

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From the rise of the WNBA to the newly-crowned women'sWorld Cup champions, female athletes are proving they can be every bitas talented and hard-working as their male counterparts. Yet even aswe gear up to greet the new millenium, the old questions remain: Arewomen really as competitive as men? How do men's and women'sperspectives on sports differ? Is one viewpoint more productive thanthe other?

In his new book, A Woman's Touch, author David Canning Epperson usesanecdote, evidence and testimony to bring to light the beginning of anew era in athletics, a melding of male and female perspectives thatwill guide sports policies and practices into the 21stcentury. Whether you belong to the Culture of Conquest, the Culture ofCare, or fall somewhere in between, this is one book no one involvedin the sports experience--and no student of sociology or women'sstudies--can afford to miss. ... Read more

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The author of Cyberia explains how the media culture of today's youngsters is preparing them for the future and for a world in which surprise is constant and information pours in rapidly from hundreds of sources. $50,000 ad/promo. Tour.Amazon.com Review
Just yesterday I read in the Busines Section of the NewYork Times that Rushkoff currently gets paid as much as $7,500 perhour to explain to VPs and CEOs of major corporations how to survivein a marketplace increasingly dominated by "channel-surfinggen-Xers". Whether you are a marketing mogul or one of theexplicands curious about how your core being is beingportrayed to media mavens, this is a book you should read -- if you'vegot the time.

Why the caveat? Much of his argument is that the much-dreaded"short attention span" is an adaptive response to amedia-saturated world, which is probably no big surprise to you as anInternet user. But Rushkoff does have a way of making this andother seemingly basic arguments into a compelling and insightfulbook. My overall advice?Turn down any opportunities you might haveto pay his $7,500 fees, and read a copy of this book instead. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Witty, Erudite Look At Channel Surfing Culture
After the success of 'Media Virus' (1994), the pressure was on emminent cultural critic Douglas Rushkoff to deliver the goods with a powerful follow-up.

'Playing The Future' (released as 'Children of Chaos'elsewhere) has many intriguing topic including the study of Dungeons &Dragons and VR; Youth Subcultures (Goth, Skateboarding, Television,Computer Games); the longterm effects of new media shows; and the rise ofAttention Deficit Disorders. Rushkoff dares to suggest with the last thatthey may be useful as 'coping strategies' for the postmodern era of theindividual drenched in UV ray computer monitor glows.

'Playing TheFuture' was marred by publisher errors that saw the book not promoted muchin the U.S., although it was well received elsewhere. There was also aninevitable backlash against Rushkoff when a comment regarding aUS$7500/hour fee from a single seminar was mentioned offhand during aninterview and then promoted as Rushkoff selling out Generation X secrets tofaceles trans-national monoliths. Rushkoff had forseen the growth of theInternet in 1989 and delivered much early ground-breaking work oncyberculture.

These public debates do not diminish the power of 'PlayingThe Future', which is crisply written and features many unique insightsinto the rise of Youth Culture and the future trajectory path of theHumanities. Rushkoff is not scared to take on institutions such as theconservative factions of the Christian Church and show that they arefailing to adjust to the needs of youth in the contemporaryenvironment.

'Playing The Future' will be re-released in late 1999 as'Children of Chaos' within the United States. Rushkoff's insights andarguments have largely been on-track since the book's initial release.

Channel surfing the planet with a witty genius friend

The blurb on the back of hardcover version of this book really says it all:This book is "like channel surfing the planet with a witty genius friend who can explain the pattern that connects it all together" (Mark Frauenfelder, Online editor, Wired magazine).

The book is reads like a compilation of short sections, each of which deals with an issue to do with our current culture.Since he is a media analyst, much of Rushkoff's emphasis is on the media and modern technology.His contention is that the world of today and the future is changing rapidly.We are moving from the Machine Age to the Information Age, and much of this move is being driven by the media, and underpinned by changing technologies.Many older people are afraid of these changes and are doing all within their power to stop or at least slow it down, and are lamenting the change in attitudes and involvement of young people.

Rushkoff contends that we are disadvantaging young people today by not allowing this technology to develop and impact our lives, and that by fighting against it, we are diminishing the ability of our children to survive in the new world.He has an evolutionary basis of thought, believing that technology is the key to a new jump in man's evolutionary development.Although we may not agree with him on this point, whether we believe in evolution or not, we must agree with his assessment of the future - that the world is changing very rapidly and is not the same place it used to be.We need to adapt and change in order just to survive, let alone successfully manage the future.

Rushkoff looks at issues such as snowboarding, skateboarding, comics, movies, Star Trek, Barney, Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing games, Goths culture, the media, video games, the Internet, UFO abductions, and many other examples of modern culture and it's effects.

In each of these views of issues, he highlights how the issue demonstrates the shift from the Machine Age to the Information Age, and how it shows the need for less structural controls and more "grass roots level" involvement of people.He maintains that "chaos" is the only legitimate basis for the new culture.By this, he means an organismic interaction between people, by means of technologically advanced equipment.The Internet provides the best example of how communities of like minded individuals will develop and self-regulate their activities.This is his view of how all structure within society should work, from government, to media and everything.We need to be free of all restraints and governance from above.

Whether this optimistic view of humanity's ability to do this is well-founded or not, as Christians there is much good to be gained by an analysis of Rushkoff's work.He often refers to the church, and correctly points out the weaknesses of the existing church in the new era of chaos.He even has some good ideas for churches.But his book's value is that it helps us to put practical examples onto our understanding of a changing youth culture.His book provides valuable material for analysis of modern youth culture, and for planning short to medium term strategies for the future.It also provides those who want to change with some good counter-arguments against the nay-sayers and those afraid of the future.

This is a well researched book, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

Inspiring ideas about the media-culture we are living in
Beside some the One-Thing-Ideas (e.g. in context with holography)and some strange humanistic ideas, mainly at the end of the book, it is extremely inspiring and gives unconventional ideas and thoughts about the culture we are living in. Many things like TV or politics or the combination between technics and human culture are seen from a vital counterpoint - just in contrary to usual moralistic opinion. ... Read more

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When four New York City police officers killed Amadou Diallo in 1999, the forty-one shots they fired echoed loudly across the nation. In death, Diallo joined a long list of young men of color killed by police fire in cities and towns all across America. Through innuendos of criminality, many of these victims could be discredited and, by implication, held responsible for their own deaths. But Diallo was an innocent, a young West African immigrant doing nothing more suspicious than returning home to his Bronx apartment after working hard all day in the city. Protesters took to the streets, successfully demanding that the four white officers be brought to trial. When the officers were acquitted, however, horrified onlookers of all races and ethnicities despaired of justice.

In 41 Shots . . . and Counting, Beth Roy offers an oral history of Diallo's death. Through interviews with members of the community, with police officers and lawyers, with government officials and mothers of young men in jeopardy, the book traces the political and racial dynamics that placed the officers outside Diallo's house that night, their fingers on symbolic as well as actual triggers. With lucid analysis, Roy explores events in the courtroom, in city hall, in the streets, and in the police precinct, revealing the interlacing conflict dynamics. 41 Shots . . . and Counting allows the reader to consider the implications of the Diallo case for our national discourses on politics, race, class, crime, and social justice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An impressive recounting and analysis of the incident
One of the critically important issues of contemporary American culture is the intersection of race relations and law enforcement. As an experienced mediator in the San Francisco Bay Area and founder of the Practitioners Research and Scholarship Institute, author Beth Roy brings a special expertise to the subject in "41 Shots...and Counting: What Amadou Diallo's Story Teaches Us about Policing, Race, and Justice". The title refers to an incident in which New York police officers shot 41 times killing a young West African immigrant in 1999 as he was returning to his home from his place of work. His dramatic death incited intense interest in the African-American community. When the police officers were acquitted of any criminal conduct in the affair, the judicial system was looked upon by many minority groups as a seriously flawed instrument of enforcing social justice, proper police procedure, and inflaming racial tension. Strongly recommended for community and academic library contemporary social issues collections and reading lists, "41 Shots...and Counting" is an impressive recounting and analysis of the incident and its aftermath for the courts, the community, and the police. ... Read more

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Successful leaders don't rely solely on natural charisma and organizational authority as their tickets to success. Successful leadership is a learned art form and a developed discipline. You can master the art of leadership by examining the pitfalls and achievements of past leaders and penetrating the stories of our cultural and religious heritage. The Bible is the ultimate resource for learning by example: its stories of family relationships, political beginnings and even divine encounters provide valuable lessons about leading effectively.

In this empowering guidebook, Nathan Laufer walks you through the stories at the very beginning of the Bible to examine the portraits of leadership success--and failure--they contain. He reveals the life-affirming values that the Bible uses to measure its leaders beginning in the Garden of Eden; analyzes the ups and downs in Abraham's, and later Joseph's, leadership journeys; and scrutinizes the many challenges faced by Moses--and God--in the books of Exodus and Numbers.

Laufer draws out from Bible stories the lessons we can use every day--lessons not only of exemplary leadership, but also of failing to lead, leading with no direction and leading in the wrong direction or to a destructive destination. Through Laufer's interpretive lenses, these ancient stories come alive to inform and inspire our leadership today and offer us direction for the future. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Decide for yourself
When it comes to books on leadership, consider whether you are comfortable with a leadership book that is frequently critical of Biblical figures.

This book really contains 2 major sections; one on biblical values in leadership which draws on many examples in Genesis, followed by a section called "The Ten Guiding Principles..." which moves to Exodus and onward. The following sections dealing with challenges and legacy, didn't have the quantity of material in the first two sections.

In the author's own words "Sometimes God in the Bible...evinces the same failed pattern of leadership more than once." In fact, many of the examples are highly critical of Biblical figures, including God. While I can certainly appreciate the author's position that the Bible describes real people, with real failings, after a while, it implied - if only today's leadership and management guru's were there to tell them the right thing to do... Just one example is on page 80 "it was not wrong for Joseph to take responsibility for the welfare of his own family, it was wrong for him to do so while impoverishing and enslaving the people of Egypt." He does describe some very simple, positive lessons from Abraham for providing hospitality to strangers and for trying to save the people of Sodom and Gemorah.

The second section of the book, with its 10 Guiding Principles draws mostly on the repeated mistakes that Moses and God make while trying to lead the Israelite nation from bondage to freedom. The principles themselves were fairly straightforward and are clearly presented. Still, I did not find them to be all that compelling, and would suggest that David Baron's Moses on Management : 50 Leadership Lessons from the Greatest Manager of All Time may be a better resource.

The overall theme of leading change is dealt with in the book, but I found the examples of God making so many mistakes a bit disconcerting and distracting, and in the end, I think I would find other leadership books, such as Covey's Principle-Centered Leadership (Your Coach in a Box) or Friedman's A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix may be more useful.

For a more academic and thorough treatement of Jewish leadership, I would suggest Hal M. Lewis's From Sanctuary to Boardroom: A Jewish Approach to Leadership

... Read more

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At just the moment when many people are ready to throwFreud on to the ash-heap of intellectual history, Sex onthe Couch rescues from Freud's theories a fascinatingseries of reflections on the nature of sexuality andgender.

Richard Boothby presents here a fresh and engaging view ofFreud. Sex on the Couch offers new insights into ourconcepts of masculinity and femininity, placing them inrelation to Freud's theory of the Life and Death drives.Richard Boothby also engages feminist critiques of Freud,putting forward new and specific responses to questionsthat have shaped contemporary understanding of feminismand psychoanalysis. Boothby's Freud, far from being passé,is in possession of insights that enrich our understandingof modernity and its distinctive character.

In a refreshingly readable style, Richard Boothby writeshere not only for the scholarly reader but for the studentand lay reader curious about Freud's theories and theiruse in contemporary world.

"a surprising, and surprisingly satisfying,re-consideration of Freud's theories of sex and gender " ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Run Away!
If you're buying this book because you are taking Sociology of Mental Illness at UNO, run away!!!!! This and the book by Bowers not that easy to read and the professor is a perv. The class discussions generated from this book are stupid. You will gain nothing.
Other than that if you really enjoy Feud, the book isn't that terrible. Pretty straightforward. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

from the Yale University Press
After the vast destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans faces a rare chance to rebuild, with an unprecedented opportunity to plan what gets built. As the city's director of planning from 1992 until 2000, Kristina Ford is uniquely placed to use these opportunities as a springboard for an eye-opening discussion of the intransigent problems and promising possibilities facing city planners across the nation and beyond.

In The Trouble with City Planning, Ford argues that almost no part of our usual understanding of the phrase "city planning" is accurate: not our conception of the plan itself, nor our sense of what city planners do or who plans are made for or how planners determine what citizens want. Most important, our conventional understanding does not tell us how a plan affects what gets built in any city in America.

Ford advances several planning innovations that, if adopted, could be crucial for restoring New Orleans, but also transformative wherever citizens are troubled by the results of their city's plan. This keenly intelligent book is destined to become a classic for planners and citizens alike.

Kristina Ford is one of America's best known urban planners and writers on planning. In the immediate aftermath of Katrina, Ford's thoughtful assessments--heard on CNN, the BBC, and National Public Radio--became the first public voice of reason to mediate the great storm's human and civic consequences. Her highly regarded study, Planning Small Town America, is used as a text in many graduate urban planning programs. She lives in New Orleans.
"A thoughtful, engaging, and cautionary account of the interaction of professional planners, politicians, developers, and citizens in contemporary American cities. The message that planning can and must do better with respect to daily decision making, as well as big and recalcitrant but now urgent problems, and that informed citizens are crucial to this, is timely and important."--Alan Plattus, Yale University

"Kristina Ford makes sense out of the misguided planning efforts that have bedevilled post-Katrina New Orleans, and provides valuable suggestions for how our cities should be planned in the future--more democratically and more effectively."--Witold Rybczynski, author of Last Harvest. ... Read more

Product Description
According to Robert L. Smith, “the achievement gap separating black boys from just about everyone else springs from a powerful, anti-education culture rising in the black community.Parents who undervalue education, and a mass media that peppers youth with the quick, shallow rewards of hip-hop lifestyle, are steering alarming numbers of boys down a dead-end path.”Erik Eckholm explained that “terrible schools, absent parents, racism, the decline in blue collar jobs, and a subculture that glorifies swagger over work have all been cited as causes of the deepening ruin of black male youth.”They also appear to be a large part of the reason why “nationwide, the percentage of black male teachers is 2.4 percent,” according to the National Education Association in 2008.Rather than becoming teachers, Bernard Carver explained that “a growing and alarming number of African American males are either become victims of negative circumstances (e.g., dropping out of school at an early age, being sent to penal institutions, or succumbing to urban violence) or becoming participants in activities that are counterproductive to their development (e.g., involving drugs and gangs).”
Black males are generally alienated as students by and from the American public education, and, as a result, are also alienated as potential educators.Janice Hale explained that “African American [male] children do not enter school disadvantaged, they leave disadvantaged.There’s nothing wrong with the children but there is clearly something wrong with what happens to them in school.”For one, the absence of Black male role models in the classroom is serious obstacle to the education of Black boys.“In order to be a Black man, you have to see a Black man,” wrote Jawanza Kunjufu, who estimated that Black men make up less than 2 percent of all public school teachers.“Without Black men role models, our boys learn to see school as for girls and sissies.”
In addition, Tawannah Allen wrote that “African American male students have traditionally received the most negative treatment by public educators” and, consequently, chronically underachieve academically.Welsing confirmed that “it is little wonder that 98% of all of the Black male children I talk with, who have reached the junior high school level, hate school.Schools and their personnel, like all other aspects of the racist system, do their share to alienate Black males from maximal functioning.”

... Read more

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Ecological Futures argues that history can be used as a guide to possible socioeconomic, political, and ecological scenarios that will transform our globalized world. ... Read more

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A general introduction to the study of the human race. It discusses the development and variety of a wide cross-section of social groups, identifying the common factors of homo sapiens. It also observes evolving trends, such as the break-up of many societies through globalization. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A pedestrian survey
Don't get me wrong:trying to sum up all that is anthropology these days is a daunting task, particularly when one attempts to do so for a general audience.But while Chris Hann's effort admirably encompasses the domains of economics, labor, politics, power, symbolism, kinship, and religion, it too often falls short of the mark.

A typical section from this book could be outlined thusly:

1) "Kinship" (or "economics" or "labor" or what have you) used to be defined in a certain way, but2) Today we can't really define it with any precision, which leads us to speculate that 3) The concept might not even exist for any practical purposes; nonetheless, 4) Anthropologists of one school of thought feel it should be defined in one way, while 5) Anthropologists of another school of thought feel it should be defined in another way; and 6) Perhaps both schools are correct to some extent; and finally 7) Here's an example from my research in Poland to illustrate.

This format is fine for the first few chapters but it doesn't hold up well throughout the book.I also found Hann's prose oddly opaque, even though the author (keeping his general audience in mind) avoids technical language and difficult social science jargon.

"Teach Yourself Social Anthropology" could be useful to you if you're trying to bone up on the field, but I hope that somewhere out there the general introduction has gotten more skillful treatment. ... Read more