The Blackwell Companion to Major Contemporary Social Theorists is a survey of contemporary social theory that focuses on the thinkers themselves. In original essays especially commissioned for this volume, leading experts and practitioners examine the life and work of 13 major theorists such as Elias, Baudrillard, Giddens, and Butler. Includes 13 original essays by leading scholars on major contemporary social theorists. Covers key figures such as Elias, Goffman, Foucault, Habermas, Giddens, Bourdieu, and Butler. Essays include biographical sketches, the social and intellectual context, and the impact of the thinker's work on social theory generally. Includes bibliographies of the theorist's most important works as well as key secondary works. Can be used in conjunction with The Blackwell Companion to Major Classical Social Theorists , edited by George Ritzer, for a complete reference source in social theory.

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Book by Sagarin, Edward

Originally published in 1995, this book confronts the contentious political issues on all sides of the population debate, including immigration, demographic competition, gender ratios, reproductive research and children's rights.

It was a night David Smith would never forget...the night he began living every father's most agonizing nightmare. On that chilly fall evening in 1994, he learned that his two young sons had been kidnapped. The person who broke the news was his estranged wife Susan Smith - the children's mother. In the harrowing days and nights that followed, an intensive manhunt began that would focus the eyes of America on the Smith family. But through it all, David Smith had only one thought: to get his boys back. Nine days later, a tearful Susan Smith confessed that the kidnapping had been a hoax, a cruel lie. The truth would be even crueler: three-year-old Michael and fourteen-month-old Alex Smith were dead, slain by their mother's own hand. David Smith speaks out about his life with Susan, the beloved children he has lost but will always love, and the slow, painful process of trying to put his life back together. He talks honestly and openly about his less-than-perfect marriage - a troubled relationship that led to affairs on both their parts; Susan's destructive obsession with the lover who'd rejected her; the events leading up to that fateful night last October; and, finally, the need to come to terms with his own grief and loss.

Rubinstein, David M.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, many questioned whether the large number of political appointees in the Federal Emergency Management Agency contributed to the agency's poor handling of the catastrophe, ultimately costing hundreds of lives and causing immeasurable pain and suffering. The Politics of Presidential Appointments examines in depth how and why presidents use political appointees and how their choices impact government performance--for better or worse. One way presidents can influence the permanent bureaucracy is by filling key posts with people who are sympathetic to their policy goals. But if the president's appointees lack competence and an agency fails in its mission--as with Katrina--the president is accused of employing his friends and allies to the detriment of the public. Through case studies and cutting-edge analysis, David Lewis takes a fascinating look at presidential appointments dating back to the 1960s to learn which jobs went to appointees, which agencies were more likely to have appointees, how the use of appointees varied by administration, and how it affected agency performance. He argues that presidents politicize even when it hurts performance--and often with support from Congress--because they need agencies to be responsive to presidential direction. He shows how agency missions and personnel--and whether they line up with the president's vision--determine which agencies presidents target with appointees, and he sheds new light on the important role patronage plays in appointment decisions.

The Battle for the Labour Party was first published in 1981 and was referenced by Tony Benn in his 1980-1990 diaries as ‘a valuable guide to the developments within the Labour party at this time'.This 1982 updated edition is an essential resource for all who are interested in understanding the history of the Labour Party from 1973-1982.The continuing power struggle within the Labour Party had raged for decades and had drastic effects on its popularity and credibility. At the 1982 party conference, the division between the Left and Right sharpened. Tony Benn's attempts to get into the shadow cabinet, the defection of members to the SDP, the Militant inquiry and the Tatchell affair all added to this general disenchantment.This 1982 edition accurately describes how these events developed. There are two additional chapters which deal with the activities of New Left groups in London boroughs, and with the fightback of the Right between the two party conferences. Interviews with major figures, including Shirley Williams and Roy Grantham, shed light on the events of the time. There is also more detailed insight into the GLC and events within London.For everyone interested or involved in the history of British politics, The Battle for the Labour Party provides an insightful and thought-provoking account of a fascinating piece of history.

In a work that illustrates how Jewish philosophy can make a genuine contribution to general philosophical debate, Daniel Rynhold attempts to formulate a model for the justification of practices by applying the methods of modern analytic philosophy to approaches to the rationalization of the commandments from the history of Jewish philosophy. Through critical analysis of the methods of Moses Maimonides and Joseph Soloveitchik, Rynhold argues against propositional approaches tojustifying practices that he terms Priority of Theory approaches and offers instead his own method, termed the Priority of Practice, which emphasizes the need for a more pragmatic take on this whole issue.

"Published on the country's seventy-fifth anniversary comes a nuanced and thoughtful examination of Israel's past, present, and future, from the two-time National Jewish Book Award-winning author of Israel In 1948, Israel's founders had in mind much more than creating a state. They sought not mere sovereignty but also the creation of a "national home for the Jewish people," where Jewish life would be transformed and where a "new Jew" would take root. Did they succeed? The state they created, says Daniel Gordis, is "the most hated nation in the world but also the most beloved," a place of extraordinary success and maddening disappointment, a story of both unprecedented human triumph and great suffering. Now, as the country marks its seventy-fifth anniversary, Gordis asks: Has Israel fulfilled the dreams of its founders? Using the country's Declaration of Independence as his measure, he provides a thorough, balanced perspective on the ways in which the Israel of today exceeds the country's original aspirations and also how it has fallen short. In a deft and multifaceted assessment, he discusses the often-overlooked reasons for Israel's creation, the flourishing of Jewish and Israeli culture, Israel's economy and its transformative tech sector, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the distinctly Israeli form of Judaism that has emerged in the Jewish state, Israel's complex relationship with the Diaspora, and much more. Gordis offers new angles of thinking about Israel that bring moderation and clarity to the prevailing discourse. And through weighing Israel's successes, critiquing its failures, and acknowledging its inherent contradictions, he ultimately suggests that-in ways its founders could not have foreseen-the Jewish state is a success far beyond anything they could have imagined"--

Shambhala Healing Emotions

The Objectivist Newsletter is a 224-page volume that contains penetrating, philosophical dissection of events and ideas dominating our culture. Among its contents: an elucidation of the two political issues with which the practical fight for freedom should begin; a moving tribute to Marilyn Monroe; illuminating reviews of books by authors as diverse as Victor Hugo and Mickey Spillane; and replies to questions about Objectivism in the "Intellectual Ammunition Department."

Inspired by the Frost/Nixon interviews, and Walter Isaacson's author-subject relationship to Steve Jobs, Alan Friedman tells the story of Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media mogul turned prime minster who has dominated Italian life for the past twenty years. Berlusconi has cooperated with the bestselling author and award-winning journalist in the telling of his life story. Warts and all. From the bunga-bunga parties to his most secret moments with world leaders. The book is rich in anecdotes and revelations involving Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Geroge W. Bush, Vladimir Putin, Mickhail Gorbachev, Tony Blair, Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, and many others.Berlusconi's incredible rise to power started from nothing. A self-created man, he was a cruise ship crooner as a young man, became a real estate tycoon in the '70s, started the first commercial television network in history, and turned AC Milan into a world-class soccer club. And that was all before he survived the squalid swampland of Italian politics to became prime minister who has not only served the longest in Italian history, but also has generated the most controversy of arguably any world leader today. All of which will be explored thoroughly and candidly in these pages in a book that reads like a thriller.

As the guns in Jerusalem fell silent in 1967 nothing could be heard across the hushed city except the faint flutter of history. Then it started again — the rumble of heavy vehicles, the unforgiving crump of explosives. This time the sounds were of bulldozers plowing through border barriers and the demise of minefields. Jewish and Arab Jerusalem were separated briefly only by a strip of neutered no-man’s-land so narrow that a boy could throw a stone across it, so filled with shadows that it was impossible to probe its depth. What would emerge from those shadows? Jerusalem on Earth is an anecdotal overview of the turbulent post-Six Day War decades. This revised edition expands on the first, published in 1988, and includes a close-up view of Mayor Teddy Kollek shaping the city during his 28-year tenure. Confident that the city's unification could work, Kollek would be jolted after two decades by the Palestinian intifada. The author covered City Hall for the Jerusalem Post during much of this period and encountered a world-class collection of visionaries and eccentrics. - An Australian sheepshearer who wants to be recognized as king of Judah sets fire to al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, third holiest site in Islam. Riots in the Moslem world reportedly kill thousands and Arab armies are ordered to prepare for holy war. Israeli police quickly track down the arsonist, heading off further deterioration. - An ultra-orthodox Jewish eccentric crossed into Jordan as a young man to obtain weapons for a revolt against the secular Zionist state. He is returned and tried. Thirty years later he invites his former prosecutor to join him in a learned debate before a packed hall on the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzche who wrote that god is dead. - Arab and Jewish underworlds in Jerusalem are the first economic sectors to join forces after the Six Day War. The police are not far behind, forming Arab-Jewish patrols. - A rare look into the inner sanctums of the Hassidic world when street conflicts break out among feuding factions. Yeshiva students “take to the mattresses” mafia-style as tensions mount. - The Vatican sues one of its own religious orders for selling property to a Jewish institution. Jewish lawyers expert in church law represent each side. In the end, the government aborts the sale in order to demonstrate that Israel is not out to Judaize Jerusalem. Not long afterwards, the Vatican establishes diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. - Danish-born Sister Abraham, who speaks 15 languages and navigates the city on a bicycle, is the first white woman to serve as a nun in the Ethiopian church. - Israeli army reserve units maintained an enclave behind Jordanian lines on Mount Scopus under UN auspices for 19 years. Years later, intelligence officers would reveal its secrets. - In what psychologists call "the Jerusalem syndrome" several tourists are briefly hospitalized each year when they assume the persona of biblical figures on Jerusalem’s streets. - The murder of two nuns, a mother and daughter, in a convent temporarily suspends hostilities between the "White Russian" church in East Jerusalem and the "Red Russian" church in West Jerusalem. - A Jewish family and an Arab family, both with numerous children, find themselves neighbors when the border barriers are removed. They would become virtually one family.

Sinai's book leads the student through the standard material for Probability Theory, with stops along the way for interesting topics such as statistical mechanics, not usually included in a book for beginners. The first part of the book covers discrete random variables, using the same approach, based on Kolmogorov's axioms for probability, used later for the general case. The text is divided into sixteen lectures, each covering a major topic. The introductory notions and classical results are included, of course: random variables, the central limit theorem, the law of large numbers, conditional probability, random walks, etc. Sinai's style is accessible and clear, with interesting examples to accompany new ideas. Besides statistical mechanics, other interesting, less common topics found in the book are: percolation, the concept of stability in the central limit theorem and the study of probability of large deviations. Little more than a standard undergraduate course in analysis is assumed of the reader. Notions from measure theory and Lebesgue integration are introduced in the second half of the text. The book is suitable for second or third year students in mathematics, physics or other natural sciences. It could also be used by more advanced readers who want to learn the mathematics of probability theory and some of its applications in statistical physics.

Organizing is a dynamic guide to uniting people for change and helping people work together to get things done. It describes how to influence power structures, how to become successful organizers and fundraisers, and how to effect social change through grassroots organization and mobilization. Special Features * Distinguishes practicality and theory * Presents step-by-step guidelines for change * Provides a framework for multiracial organizing Also available: Effectively Managing Nonprofit Organizations - ISBN 087101369X Changing Hats While Managing Change: From Social Work Practice to Administration - ISBN 0871013614 NASW Press NASW Press, a division of National Association of Social Workers (NASW), is a leading scholarly press in the social sciences. We serve faculty, practitioners, agencies, libraries, clinicians, and researchers throughout the United States and abroad. Known for attracting expert authors, the NASW Press delivers professional information to hundreds of thousands of readers through its scholarly journals, books, and reference works. Some of the areas we publish in include: -Social work in the field of aging -Models of social work -Social work with children and adolescents -Ethics in social work -Community organization -Professional development