The teenage pregnancy rate has dropped in recent years, yet each year more than 320,000 teen girls in the United States give birth. This volume examines the changing attitudes of teenagers toward contraception, abstinence, sexually transmitted diseases, media influences, and other issues involving young people and sex.

Islam is considered the worlds fastest-growing religion, and today more than 420 million Africans follow the Islamic faith. Since Islam was introduced to the continent during the seventh century a.d., it has had a profound political and cultural influence on Africa. This book traces the historical spread of Islam throughout Africa. It also examines current issues and controversies surrounding the Muslim faith in Africa, including fundamentalist interpretations of Islam, efforts to impose I...

No issue seems to divide Americans as much as race. Nearly five decades after the adoption of federal civil rights laws, Americans are still wrestling with such issues as interracial marriage and affirmative action. Statistics show that teenagers are just as unsure of where they stand on such issues as adults. The role of race in the lives of young people is explored in this book.

Experts say that in recent years there has been an epidemic of cheating among young people in the United States. Cheating is more than just students sneaking the answers to school tests; broadly defined, it is breaking the rules to get ahead. Examples of cheating today range from illegally downloading music from the internet, which cheats the artists out of royalties, to using performance-enhancing drugs to gain an athletic advantage. This book explores the ways teens cheat, examines their...

In 1787, the young United States was suffering from a governmental crisis. The original form of government created to unite the 13 states did not work well, and it was clear that something new was needed. In Philadelphia, representatives of the states met to create a new system of government. The document they produced, the U.S. Constitution, remains the framework for our government more than 225 years later. The U.S. Constitution sets out the duties of the various branches of the federal ...

On July 8, 1776, the bell in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia began to ring, letting the citizens know that an important announcement was about to take place. It was the reading of the Declaration of Independence, a statement by representatives of the 13 American colonies that they would no longer be subject to the rule of the British king. Since then, the Liberty Bell, with its famous crack, has been a symbol of American freedom and patriotism.

In the early days of American independence, government leaders tried to identify an animal that would represent the new nation. They settled on the bald eagle, a proud raptor that fiercely defends its nest and its family. The eagle has been used to represent government power since the time of the Roman Empire. In 1787 the bald eagle was officially adopted as the emblem of the United States. The eagle is often shown holding an olive branch (representing peace) and arrows (representing war) ...

Many young adults dream of getting a good education and finding a job they love. Teenagers recognize that higher education is an important key to finding a fulfilling job, although many young people are worried both about the rising cost of higher education and their future job possibilities given the current economic situation. This volume examines the choices that teens make when it comes to education and finding a career.

Teenagers have always been interested in the supernatural and paranormal. This book notes that fascination with the world of fantasy is nothing new, and examines modern groups like Wiccans and Goths. Discussion of the supernatural and the paranormal is interspersed with scientific explanations. Many other topics are covered, including angels and the End Times. The book also explores reasons why teens are fascinated with the unseen world of magic and mystery.

The issue of slavery had divided the nation for decades, but problems came to a head after the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860. Fearing that Lincoln would attempt to abolish slavery, the legislatures of 11 southern states voted to withdraw from the United States and create a new nation, the Confederate States of America. This would result in four bloody years of Civil War in which more than 600,000 Americans were killed. The Confederacy adopted several flags between 1861 a...

The Ottoman and Qajar Empires in the Age of Reform examines the two major Muslim influences on the region, discussing the effect of incursions by European powers and the internal reforms undertaken by Ottoman and Qajar leaders in response during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Kuwait came to the world's attention in the summer of 1990, when Iraq invaded the tiny emirate. Though Kuwait was liberated within eight months, it took more than 10 years and $160 billion for the country to recover from the devastation caused by the Iraqi occupation. The citizens of Kuwait are among the most prosperous in the world, thanks to the country's oil wealth. Beneath Kuwait's sands is an estimated 10 percent of the world's oil reserves. After the 1991 Gulf War, Kuwait's rulers sp...