Society & Social Sciences Books

Whatever happened to Bozo the Clown, to Aunt Norma, to Solomon C. Whiskers, those television celebrities who hammed it up between cartoons and contests during local kids' shows? In Hi There, Boys and Girls! America's Local Children's TV Programs, Tim...

On May 4, 1970 the Ohio National Guard fired bullets into college students in a non-violent demonstration at Kent State University.  They were protesting the Vietnam War and Cambodia Campaign of illegal bombing by the United States Government and...

More than 750,000 Russian Jews arrived in Israel between 1988 and 1996. However, this Great Immigration, as it has been called, has gone largely unnoticed in Israeli public life. Information about this significant event has been sketchy and largely...

In Ireland, family farming retains enormous ideological and cultural significance. As a social form it is one of the last preserves of male dominance in which women's contributions and concerns are largely overlooked. This book breaks new ground as the...

No doubt, the feminist movement has come a long way, even though many of its aims have not been realized or, in fact, are still debated by its supporters and critics. It is sobering andinstructive to look back and examine the aspirations, achievements...

Most studies of the so-called tribal communities in India stress their social, economic, and political differences from communities that are organized on the basis of caste. It was this apparent contrast between tribal and caste lifestyle and, moreover,...

The image of women in Russian culture has undergone profound changes: from the origins of modern Russian literature in the eighteenth century until the Revolution of 1917, when women were a source of fascination for Russian writers, to the socialist...

Vladimir Odoevsky (1804-1869) was a fascinating and encyclopedic figurein nineteenth-century Russian culture, who in his day was mentioned in the same breath as Pushkin and Gogol. Thinker, pedagogue, musicologist, amateur scientist and public servant, he...

Scholarly interpretations of the collapse of communism and developments thereafter have tended to be primarily concerned with people's need to rid themselves of the communist system, of their past. The expectations, dreams, and hopes that ordinary...

On the fringe of western Europe, yet fully integrated into the capitalist market, the rural economy of the west of Ireland seems to provide a fascinating object of analysis to the student of European folk cultures. This book concentrates on a particular...

The position of Russia has always been difficult. In spite of the Revolution in 1917, the legal, economic, social and political inequalities between men and women have remained severe. For more than seventy years the official propaganda of the Soviet...

This revised and enlarged edition brings the successful original volume of 1984 right up to date, taking into account the most recent developments. Each section begins with an introduction that provides the context for the following documents. There is...

At the core of the author's concern stands the question of cultural transmutation in an era riddled with media channels and all-embracing messages. Fragments of the Israeli experience are pieced together in this provocative essay to provide a...

London continues to fascinate a vast audience across the world, and an extensive, diverse literature now exists describing and analyzing this metropolis. The central question - what is London? - has produced many answers but none of them, the author...

The importance of contemporary television broadcasting for the shaping and development of national cultures and identities is increasingly evident. Television as the privileged medium for the dissemination of information and for mass entertainment has...

Although the post-colonial situation has attracted considerable interest over recent years, one important colonial power - Portugal - has not been given any attention. This book is the first to explore notions of ethnicity, "race", culture, and nation in...

In Poland and elsewhere there has been a noticeable increase of interest in various aspects of the Polish-Jewish past which can be explained, the author argues, in terms of a broader intellectual need to explore the "blank spots" of Poland's national...

Are we prepared for the 21st century? There is room for doubt. The future seems increasingly uncertain, hard to decipher, ambiguous in its very indeterminism, sometime frankly illegible. If it is impossible to predict the future, one can at least help to...

In Greek mythology the beautiful Narcissus glimpsed his own reflection in the waters of a spring and fell in love. But his was an impossible passion and, filled with despair, he pined away. Over the years the myth has inspired painters, writers, and film...

Many nations affirm the principle of gender equality. As women continue to advance in most walks of life, the impression that equality has been reached and that gender issues no longer pose real problems has naturally gained ground. Yet, many cultural,...

The line between what is regarded by people as "traditional" and "modern" is constantly being altered by new configurations of power. These essays examine the ways in which such changes are both communicated and created through cultural performances in...

The study of ethnic minorities and their role in the domestic politics of their host states has long attracted scholars from a wide range of disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. By contrast, national (or external) minorities, have been...

Sports, and in particular the Olympic Games, are enjoying a rapid increase in interest among social scientists worldwide, who see them as important "public events." This volume offers the first analysis of the Winter Olympic Games, primarily based on the...

Germany's landmark 1998 election saw for the first time in the Republic's fifty-year historyan incumbent Chancellor and his entire government replaced. In this collection fourteen distinguished scholars, from both sides of the Atlantic, have come...

Poverty is an issue facing countries around the globe, yet it is a multi-dimensional phenomenon caused by a variety of factors, differing from context with no linear chain of cause and effect. The occurrence and persistence of poverty is influenced by an...

This book focuses on the popular fiction of Weimar Germany and explores the relationship between women, the texts they read, and the society in which they lived. A complex picture emerges that shows women talking center stage, not only in the fiction but...

For nearly half a century, Albania had been one of the most isolated and enigmatic countries in the world, where the confiscation of private property was more thoroughly accomplished than anywhere else in Europe. In an abrupt and radical turnaround...

Foreign policies have always played an important role in the movements of migrants. A number of essays in this volume show how the foreign policies of the United States and Germany have directly or inadvertently contributed to the influx from the former...

This book responds to the frequently heard call for more comparative history .It does so by focusing on the problem of reconstruction in the national experience of the United States and Germany during three crucial periods: 1865-1945-1989. Accordingly, a...

Most studies of modern religious change have viewed it as a process of secularization in which the advance of science and technology discredits religious beliefs and destroys religious institutions. Yet religion has stubbornly failed to expire in the...

With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the shifting of American foreign policy away from "old" Europe, long-established patterns of interaction between Germany and the U.S. have come under review. Although seemingly disconnected from the cultural and...

Every religious community has been affected by the "sexual revolution". The conflict between contemporary attitudes and traditional practices has led to major divisions and controversies, particularly when focused on issues such as homosexuality. This is...

During the era following the Second World War world peace was largely assured through American-European cooperation on the political, military, and economic level. This status quo was upset by the ratification of the Treaty on the European Union...

Why is it that Japan, with few natural resources, has become one of the world's leading economies but not Latin America, which is so rich in natural resources? This anthropological essay questions the Euro-centric notion of modernity and modernization...

Founded in 1921, the Council on Foreign Relations is still active today; in fact, the interest in its activities is growing. However, to date little is known about the major aspects of the organization. We are pleased to offer the first comprehensive...

This groundbreaking and highly acclaimed work examines the two most influential African-American leaders of this century. While Martin Luther King, Jr., saw America as essentially a dream . . . as yet unfulfilled, Malcolm X viewed America as a realized...

Ritual is one of the most discussed cultural practices, yet its treatment in anthropological terms has been seriously limited, characterized by a host of narrow conceptual distinctions. One major reason for this situation has been the prevalence of...