There are approximately 200 nations on Earth and the social sciences are being practiced in each one, yet too little of this global enterprise is known to Western, particularly American, social scientists. Drawing upon five years of experience as editor-in-chief of a major international encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences, James D. Wright provides social scientists a representative sampling of the work of their international colleagues.The volume includes investigati...

The research reported in this volume was designed to provide estimates of the extent of damages and injuries from certain natu ral hazards inflicted on households in the United States. In addi tion, it reports on sources of aid proffered to households and the extent to which there are differences among households in the receipt of help. This volume represents the latest installment in a series of monographs stemming from the Social and Demographic Re search Institute's (SADRI) program of r...

Elevated homocysteine is a powerful, independent risk factor in more than 100 major medical conditions, including heart disease, strokes, and Alzheimer's disease. The authors discuss factors that contribute to high homocysteine, tell how to detect it if it's too high, and explain how to dramatically lower it.

National service and volunteerism enjoy a rich history in the United States and an emergent future in other parts of the world. However, there remains relatively scant evidence of overall impact of national service programs and volunteer effectiveness. This condition continues to threaten national service and volunteer programs with the risk of defunding and/or the risk of not investing sufficiently from the start. This book brings together a selection of diverse chapters written by a comb...

These new poems by the author of Saint Judas and The Green Wall embody a sharp break with his earlier work. Their impact is well described by the British critic Michael Hamburger: "He has absorbed the work of modern Spanish and other continental poets and evolved a medium of his own. This medium dispenses with argument and rhetoric, and presents the pure substance of poetry, images which are 'the objective correlatives' of emotion and feeling. It is only in the new collection that Wright h...

At the heart of the story of America's wars are our "citizen soldiers" -- those hometown heroes who fought and sacrificed from Bunker Hill at Charlestown to Pointe du Hoc in Normandy, and beyond, without expectation of recognition or recompense. Americans like to think that the service of its citizen volunteers is, and always has been, of momentous importance in our politics and society. But though this has made for good storytelling, the reality of America's relationship to its veterans i...

The life and work of a major American poet described in his own words."There is something about the very form and occasion of a letter--the possibility it offers, the chance to be as open and tentative and uncertain as one likes and also the chance to formulate certain ideas, very precisely--if one is lucky in one's thoughts," wrote James Wright, one of the great lyric poets of the last century, in a letter to a friend. A Wild Perfection is a compelling col...

Sociology has tackled some of the most formidable problems that confront contemporary society: inequality, homelessness, violence, gender, and many more. Sociologists assert that hypotheses can be formulated and tested against empirical evidence, that faulty viewpoints can be uncovered and discarded, and that plausible theory can be distinguished from mere ideology. This collection was written over a span of forty-four years and is presented in the belief that sociology is a science.In Soc...

Up to the age of 37, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, knew next to nothing about birds and had no interest in them unless viewed down the barrel of a shotgun on a sporting estate.But his perspective dramatically changed while on a voyage aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia when he became increasingly fascinated by the huge variety of pelagic species - from albatrosses to penguins - that came into view either on deck or ashore on bleak and remote islands.His...

Is the consciousness of Americans in the midst of dramatic transformation? Or do people think and feel much the same as they have always thought and felt? Do most people enjoy their work, or hate it? Is the American family being replaced by new institutional forms, or is it much the same as it was in the 1950's? Have material values been replaced by a "postmaterial consciousness" in a postindustrial society? Are Americans becoming more conservative, less conservative, or staying about the ...

What is the state of contemporary American morality? From their original conception in Christian scripture to their assimilation into Western culture, the 'Seven Deadly Sins' – lust, greed, envy, pride, and all the rest – have guided human morality, steering human behavior and psychology away from evil and toward a full embrace of the good. But their hold on modern life is increasingly tenuous. Indeed, one may observe that these days, deadly sin is far more common and more commonly practic...

'Funny, occasionally filthy and ultimately fascinating.' - Richard Herring, comedianGo to any ancient building in the land and there will be interesting and exciting stories presented to the visitor. Tales of secret passages and hidden tunnels, strange marks and carvings left by stonemasons – all commonly believed and widely repeated, but are they really true?From ship timbers being repurposed on dry land to spiral staircases giving advanta...