From countercultural resistance to world music craze, Balkan music captured the attention of global audiences. Balkanology, the 1991 quintessential album of Bulgarian music, highlights this moment of unbridled creativity. Seasoned musicians all over the world are still in awe of the technical abilities of the musicians in Ansambl Trakia-their complex additive rhythms, breakneck speeds, stunning improvisations, dense ornamentation, chromatic passages, and innovative modulations. Br...

Now that the political and economic plight of European Roma and the popularity of their music are objects of international attention, Romani Routes provides a timely and insightful view into Romani communities both in their home countries and in the diaspora. Over the past two decades, a steady stream of recordings, videos, feature films, festivals, and concerts has presented the music of Balkan Gypsies, or Roma, to Western audiences, who have greeted them with exceptional enthusi...

We want to believe our schools are safe, but how safe are they?Especially in light of the recent, tragic shootings in towns like Springfield, OR, Conyers, GA and Littleton, CO, parents are running scared. Each year in schools across the United States, more than 3 million crimes are committed, over 9,000 fires break out, and hundreds of thousands of students are injured. Administrators are overwhelmed, underfunded, and sometimes unresponsive. It's time to revisit what we can do to co...

Singers generating cultural identity from K-Pop to Beverly SillsAround the world and across time, singers and their songs stand at the crossroads of differing politics and perspectives. Levi S. Gibbs edits a collection built around the idea of listening as a political act that produces meaning. Contributors explore a wide range of issues by examining artists like Romani icon Esma Redžepova, Indian legend Lata Mangeshkar, and pop superstar Teresa Teng. Topics includ...

Adoption is a transformational process bringing parenthood to those who long for but cannot bear children and giving stranded children home, family, and their place in the world. But every adoption is preceded and followed by its story and when these stories are told in the offices of psychotherapists we begin to understand the impact of adoption in all its complexity. We learn from parents how their quest to have and raise a child has played out in real life, and what shadows might have f...

Once largely confined to the biggest cities in the mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes states, philanthropic foundations now play a significant role in nearly every state. Wide-ranging and incisive, the essays in American Philanthropic Foundations: Regional Difference and Change examine the origins, development, and accomplishments of philanthropic foundations in key cities and regions of the United States. Each contributor assesses foundation efforts to address social and economic inequ...

A Practical Guide for Embracing the Growing Religious Pluralism in America"In the process of [interfaith] engagement, we discover … a world in which our faith is richer, deeper, and more contextualized, and God's very Self is seen in more of its fullness."—from the IntroductionThis practical guide to the key methods and resources of the interfaith movement will help you effectively engage people of other faith traditions in order to increase understa...