More than two million child abuse reports are filed annually on behalf of children in the United States. Each of the reported children becomes a concern, at least temporarily, of the professional who files the report, and each family is assessed by additional professionals. A substantial number of children in these families will subsequently enter foster care. Until now, the relationships between the performance of our child welfare system and the growth and outcomes of foster care have no...

Samuel L. Clemens, aka Mark Twain, arrived in Hartford, Connecticut, in August 1867. He was there to see the publisher of his new travel book, The Innocents Abroad, and fell in love with the city. "Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see this is the chief," he wrote to his San Francisco newspaper. At the time, Hartford was a manufacturing, insurance, and banking center. Clemens ultimately settled there, built an ornate mansion, raised a family, made lifelong friends, and t...

Parishes are the missing middle in studies of American Catholicism. Between individual Catholics and a global institution, the thousands of local parishes are where Catholicism gets remade. American Parishes showcases what social forces shape parishes, what parishes do, how they do it, and what this says about the future of Catholicism in the United States. Expounding an embedded field approach, this book displays the numerous forces currently reshaping American parishes. It draws from soc...

To preserve the memory of their service during the tumultuous decade since their commissioning as Army officers, members of the West Point class of 2004 have written The Strong Gray Line. This class suffered the highest casualty rate since those that graduated during the Vietnam War. In this book, thirteen of their classmates who lost their lives fighting the Global War on Terror are profiled to help the reader gain an understanding of the bond forged between classmates during time at West...

Stress can have a deleterious effect on people's mental, physical, and psychological health. There is a growing body of evidence, however, that suggests animals, both as pets and therapy partners, can help mitigate people's stress levels. This book showcases a rich collection of research papers from Human-Animal Interactions. It highlights research pertaining to pets as well as animal-assisted therapy in both school and professional settings. The book also includes a scene-setting introduc...

This innovative collaborative work—the first to focus on Buddhist tourism—explores how Buddhists, government organizations, business corporations, and individuals in Asia participate in re-imaginings of Buddhism through tourism. Contributors from religious studies, anthropology, and art history examine sacred places and religious monuments as they have been shaped and reshaped by socioeconomic and cultural trends in the region.Following an introduction that offers the first theoret...

Guns 360 takes a comprehensive and common-sense approach to some of the most difficult issues facing not only the criminal justice system but also society as a whole: firearm possession, regulation, and control. Issues related to firearms cut across all dimensions of society and are a concern to everyone from the members of the general public, law enforcement, academics, politicians, public health agencies, and the media. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to fully understand...

Human-Animal Interactions (HAI) are a primary welfare interest to both animal scientists and practitioners. In zoos and aquariums, the study of Animal-Visitor Interactions (AVI), including both the impact of visitors on animals (the visitor effect) and the impact of animals on visitors (the visitor experience), have become a focus for understanding HAIs in zoos. The study of HAIs in zoos has grown to consider a number of factors, including animal-staff interactions and bonds, modern exhibi...

Research on Schools, Neighborhoods, and Communities: Toward Civic Responsibility focuses on research and theoretical developments related to the role of geography in education, human development, and health. William F. Tate IV, the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and former President of the American Educational Research Association, presents a collection of chapters from across disciplines to further understand...

Therapeutic Residential Care For Children and Youth takes a fresh look at therapeutic residential care as a powerful intervention in working with the most troubled children who need intensive support.Featuring contributions from distinguished international contributors, it critically examines current research and innovative practice and addresses the key questions: how does it work, what are its critical “active ingredients” and does it represent value for money? The book covers a ...

The transition from care into adulthood is a difficult step for any young person, but young people leaving care have a high risk of social exclusion, both in terms of material disadvantage and marginalisation.In Young People's Transitions from Care to Adulthood leading academics gather together the latest international research relating to the transition of young people leaving care, outlining and comparing the range of legal and policy frameworks, welfare regimes and innovative pr...

Exit Wounds is a thrilling anthology of crime stories written by masters of the genre, including Dean Koontz, Val McDermid, Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, Elly Griffiths, Dennis Lehane, Joe R. Lansdale, and others.After an introduction by the editors, Paul B. Kane and Marie O’Regan, this collection includes the following stories:“The Bully” by Jeffery Deaver“Dead Weight” by Fiona Cummins“Like a Glass Jaw” by Mark Billingham“On The Anatomization of an Unknown Man