Bøger udgivet af Globe Pequot Press

"Mercy killing," "assisting a suicide," "planning your own death," and "euthanasia" are once again high-profile issues. Recent popular referendums have sought to legalize doctor-assisted suicide, while best-selling books have been published about how to kill yourself. In short, Americans are searching for more control over their own mortality. Hemlock's Cup is the first history of the active euthanasia movement in America, as represented by its most visible proponent, the Hemlock Society. Donald W. Cox traces the growth of the society from its beginnings as a three-person cause to its current world-wide fame. The work of Derek Humphrey, the society's founder, is reviewed and the publicity surrounding Dr. Jack Kevorkian and his controversial "suicide machine" is discussed. Cox also addresses the Washington and California initiatives to legalize doctor-assisted suicide and the ethical questions they pose. He reflects on the impact of the Quinlan and Cruzan cases to establish the "right to die" for all Americans and he explores the reasons for the delays in enacting living-will laws in various states. In addition, Cox examines the significant connections among AIDS, abortion, and assisted suicide.

What is Unitarian Universalism and how does it fit into the religious landscape of America? How does Unitarian Universalism differ from other churches? What do Unitarian Universalists stand for and how have they contributed to the betterment of the human condition? These are just some of the concerns that occupied the fertile mind of Stephen H. Fritchman (1902-81), one of America's best known Unitarian ministers. For the Sake of Clarity commemorates the life and work of this leading figure in American liberal religion. For more than thirty years, Rev. Fritchman served as minister of the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, where he was actively involved in public debate on many vital social issues. To honor his life and career, the Fritchman Publication Committee has compiled over forty-five of his most important sermons, addresses, and radio talks covering a wide range of topics: the church and politics, freedom of the press and freedom of speech, violence, the rights of women and minorities, international relations, marriage, old age, and much more. The concluding section offers Rev. Fritchman's biographical sketches of such notables as Eugene V. Debs, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Schweitzer, and George Bernard Shaw. Also included is a complete bibliography of Rev. Fritchman's addresses. Reverend Stephen H. Fritchman was minister of the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles from 1948 to 1969, after which he served as emeritus minister until his death in 1981. He was an active member of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, and former editor of the Christian Register. In 1967 the Starr King School for the Ministryawarded Rev. Fritchman the degree of L.H.D., citing him as "a minister who walked to the sound of a different drum, enthralling many, appalling more; who has cut across barriers of race and class to be heard by all; who has developed and maintained a strong united church ... who has fulfilled ideals of priest, teacher, historian, and devotional writer as well as prophet". The Annual Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association awarded Rev. Fritchman the Holmes-Weatherly Award in July 1969, calling him a man whose "deep and driving passion for economic, social, and political justice ... has been repeatedly translated into concrete, specific action".

American colleges and universities are facing their most difficult challenge since World War II: finding qualified faculty to teach our students and administrators to manage and lead our institutions of higher education while grappling with budget cuts, public pressure for more and better educational programs, and current resources that are strained to the limit. Studies point to a critical faculty shortage by the year 2010. In facing this shortage, these same institutions have never been less prepared to meet the challenge of hiring. Hiring at institutions of higher education is normally done by "amateurs" - educators who are untrained in personnel management. The search committee approach, when it succeeds, is often a matter of chance. There is seldom a plan; leadership is difficult to establish; and a concerted effort among the members and the layers of bureaucracy is hard to achieve when so many separate agendas are in play. Edited by two respected university administrators, The Art of Hiring in America's Colleges and Universities is indispensable for professional administrators, job seekers, and the general public. All parties in the hiring process are identified and their roles are clearly defined. Attention is given to special concerns as the contributors offer helpful suggestions to those whose task it is to reach hiring decisions that could affect the quality of American education well into the next century. Successful administrators and faculty from prestigious schools as well as professionals from the private sector offer practical observations to help institutions achieve their hiring objectives. Chapters focus on the role of the university/college president, deans, andsearch committees; what to look for in a candidate; hiring women and minorities; integrating work and family; the cost of hiring; recruiting lessons from the business world; using professional consultants; and more. Contributors include Sue A. Blanshan, Ronald Caruso, Cheryl L. Fagnano, E. Gordon Gee, Milton Greenberg, Donald W. Jugenheimer, Joseph H. Kauffman, Judith Block McLaughlin, Lewis C. Solmon, Ronald H. Stein, Marian J. Swoboda, Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, and M. Fredric Volkmann.

David Grene, one of the Best known translators of the Greek classics, captures for the first time the peculiar quality of Herodotus, the father of history. Here is the historian, investigating and judging what he has seen, heard, and read, and seeking out the true causes and consequences of the great deeds of the past.

A century's worth of information on the physical, social, and mental effects of child abuse and neglect is gathered together in this extraordinary study. John Money adopts the historical figure of Kaspar Hauser as the paradigm case of the abusive neglect and deprivation that have typified reports of child abuse for more than a century. Hauser was a physically stunted adult with the mind of a child, who was abandoned at the city gate of Nuremburg in 1828, after seventeen years of neglect and isolation in a dungeon. The notoriety of his case gave the impetus to decades of medical investigation and many learned arguments regarding the significance of nature versus nurture. Money summarizes the various theories that have been advanced since Hauser's time by pediatricians, psychologists, and psychiatrists. He underscores recent studies showing that deprivation drastically impairs the normal functioning of the growth hormone, thus causing physical dwarfism, mental retardation, and defective social development. He shows how children from abusive environments can be effectively treated by a move to a new home and affectionate stimulation of the skin senses. Data collected on more than thirty modern cases of the Kaspar Hauser syndrome are presented to support Money's arguments. This groundbreaking work concludes with a review by Joshua Kendall of the Kaspar Hauser figure in nineteenth and twentieth century poetry, prose, and drama. We see how various artists have used the image of Kaspar Hauser as a potent and haunting symbol of our troubled modern society.

Advances in technology have raised new ethical questions in medicine, concern for pollution has encouraged the growth of "environmental ethics", and the problems of corporate America have sparked more questions about "business ethics". With the population of older persons increasing every year and their social problems becoming ever more acute, it's now time for "geroethics", which assesses the impact of societal values on elders and how the aged may respond to these values. The issues are urgent and compelling: the changing face of elder America, dependence on others for care, the corporate response to agism, the healthcare crisis, how to take charge of one's life and bring meaning to it, living longer verses living better, coping with disabilities, the psychological aspects of aging, and so many others. Ethics embraces concepts of rights and privileges, duties and obligations, choices and their outcomes. In Geroethics: A New Vision of Growing Old in America author Gerald A. Larue shows how social values impact on elders in the United States and how older persons, and those who advocate on their behalf, may respond to the attitudes and actions of others. Dreams and goals, rights and responsibilities, self-respect and personal dignity shouldn't fade with the passing of youth. This latest addition to the Golden Age series offers the elderly and those who care for them a vibrant new look at the challenges of aging: the role elders can and do play in shaping and changing society's views of its oldest members, regaining control of important life choices, and the struggle to live a meaningful and independent existence free of anxiety, fear, and uncertainty. Included are chapters onstereotypes, identifying the elderly, human rights, agism, the ethics of survival, elder power, elder abuse, fear of aging, caring for elders, health care, dementia, loneliness, death and dying, and much more.

Panic in the Pantry was written to help consumers become fully aware of the real facts behind news about the safety of our food supply. Whelan and Stare examine the power wielded by health food lobbyists who band together and exert political pressure to protect their profitable ventures. They discuss the concept of "relative risk" and why it should be used to place information about food additives and preservatives into proper perspective, as well as why the Delaney Clause - a law intended to protect us from cancer causing chemicals in our food - cannot fulfill the noble purpose for which it was drafted and therefore should be repealed. Also examined is the research behind the banning of cyclomates and the attacks on saccharin and aspertame that left many Americans wondering whether they are doomed to be chubby or develop cancer. A lengthy discussion of California's Proposition 65 provides insight into the chaos that can result when fearmongers are able to secure legislation based on panic about food supply. The authors also address the flight to "natural" products, which may lead to serious health problems as well as added consumer expense. The contemporary back-to-nature mania is rejected as a hoax perpetuated by opportunists intent on taking advantage of frightened and impressionable consumers.

This thoughtful collection based on a highly successful conference held in Calgary, Alberta, combines the views of professional gerontologists, educators, health-care specialists, and policy makers to confront the issues affecting health care for older adults in both Canada and the United States. The contributors seek not only to inform but to inspire innovative reponses from the private as well as the public sector. Experts in government, aging, medicine, public administration, social service, counseling, and consulting focus their attention on vital areas of concern to elders who are in need of assistance, to the providers of these services, and to a public who seeks assurance that its resources are cost-effectively allocated to meet present and future demand. Included are essays on the current status of health-care policy in the United States and Canada, daily money management, caring for the noncompliant elder, long-term care as an emerging women's issue, lobbying government agencies and political leaders, the role of gerontology in resolving the crisis of long-term care, and "geroethics."

The great majority of historians of American philosophy and intellectual life have concentrated on the East as representative of the whole nation. Yet the West produced its own vibrant culture and outstanding personalities, who embodied the qualities of hardy individualism and devotion to freedom of thought and expression. This remarkable anthology of freethought writing from the American Midwest and West provides a bracing view of a rich and vital democratic culture that has existed on the "American frontier" over the past 150 years. Freethought on the American Frontier illustrates the historical roots of contemporary social conflicts in the United States on such vital and timely issues as women's rights, the tension between science and religion, constitutional rights of free speech and free press, and the advancement of humanism in an often hostile environment. This important collection of cultural life in America's heartland will prove indispensable to our understanding of the history of the struggle between the forces of repression and Puritanism on the one hand, and those who raised on high the banner of free thought on the other. The issues and ideas generated by this historical conflict continue to play a critical role in our present-day debates on ethics, education, culture, and the very future of the American people.

"Sadly, the comment I heard most often was one of regret. It came from siblings who waited too long to try to renew their relationship with a beloved brother or sister and were left to say their goodbyes at a graveside. As long as your siblings live, it is not too late to try to get back together. That is what this book is all about." -- from Brothers & Sisters Time and circumstances often separate adult siblings from the family closeness they once knew. Based on a decade of research and more than 200 personal interviews, this book is filled with abundant case histories that reflect the heartening, sometimes heartbreaking, tugs and ties that brothers and sisters experience after they have grown up. Brothers & Sisters also includes guides and self-tests for measuring the quality of past and present sibling relationships; a list of reasons why adult siblings drift apart; and a list of common denominators found in poor sibling relationships, comparing them to characteristics of good relationships. Also included are suggestions for making renewed contacts, a list of reconciliation pitfalls, a chapter on effective communication, four practical "problem and solution" charts, and a check-list to evaluate reconciliation progress. Johnson provides recommendations for successful ongoing relationships, ideas for coaxing response from indifferent siblings, a sibling code of ethics, and a mini-dictionary with unique ideas for putting these tips to work. Summaries at the end of each chapter allow for quick review.

The decade of the sixties is generally presented in film and television as the epitome of youthful idealism, yet it was a period scarred by tragedy: the assassinations of beloved national leaders, battles for civil rights, the war in Vietnam, and violent student protests. In Dissent and Disruption: A University Under Siege, Richard Siggelkow draws upon his experiences at the State University of New York at Buffalo to place student activism--and the 1960s--into perspective. The result of years of research, including over 250 interviews, Dissent and Disruption demonstrates the polarization of campus constituencies, pointing out that diverse opinions existed among students, faculty, and administrators alike. By focusing on student protest tactics and strategies as well as faculty and administrative responses, the author exposes many misconceptions about university unrest. He also examines the impact of student protests on local, state, and national politicians and the public. Threats to academic freedom, the influence of the news media, and the role played by law enforcement personnel are among the important issues highlighted in this dramatic tale.

This title dramatically examines dependency on self-strangulation for sexual arousal.

Two dominant schools have emerged in twentieth-century American philosophy: scientific naturalism and pragmatism. In this vibrant collection of hard-to-find essays, articles and contributions to books, internationally-known philosopher, author and lecturer Paul Kurtz offers his own special blend of these influential theories. With skill and clarity, "Philosophical Essays in Pragmatic Naturalism "captures naturalism's dedication to scientific method and critical intelligence (which are so much a part of ordinary life), and pragmatism's application of rational inquiry to the problems each of us face as individuals and as social beings. Part One focuses on "empirical metaphysics," a theory of nature grounded in the natural sciences and a theory of human nature drawn from behavioral science. Part Two defends a modified naturalistic ethic: ethical problems can be resolved by the thoughtful employment of empirical methods and value judgments that have been tested in the trenches of human conduct and proven themselves to have beneficial consequences. Rejecting subjectivitism and absolutism, Kurtz argues for a form of objective relativism in which values are shaped and winnowed in the context of everyday experiences. Part Three contrasts pragmatic naturalism with two of its keenest critics, phenomenology and existentialistm, both of which enjoyed considerable popularity in mid-century. "Philosophical Essays in Pragmatic Naturalism" demonstrates Kurtz's unwaivering commitment to free inquiry, his appreciation of pluralism and diversity, and his fervent belief that the scientific method and critical intelligence that gave birth to pragmatic naturalism provide the foundations for a cosmic outlook and an authentic ethical humanism.

A young couple watched their infant son die of meningitis even as their Christian Science "practitioner" promised that prayer was all the child needed. The parents were prosecuted, leading to a six-year legal battle. A West Coast psychotherapist's practice involved a bewildering array of drugs, New Age metaphysics, and mind control. One of her patients died after a bizarre "hot tub" treatment. The psychotherapist was taken to court. A Filipino "psychic surgeon" claimed that he could remove tumors without breaking the skin. The husband of one patient complained to his local prosecutor. "Brother Joe" was put on trial. Deadly Blessings is a penetrating examination of three controversial court cases. With exceptional insight, Richard J. Brenneman delves into the minds of those who believe that faith or magic alone can cure physical and emotional ills. This book is a combination courtroom thriller, human drama, and first-rate piece of investigative reporting. Brenneman adds a unique, compassionate perspective because he's been there. He is a former Christian Scientist, he lived in a commune, and (at one time) he believed in psychic surgery.

A guide to fresh water animals and plants, including suggestions for collecting specimens from ponds and brooks and caring for them in aquaria.

The findings of split-brain research and the mind's symbolic processes are combined to examine the implications for understanding subjective experience of the religious and the sacred.

New treatments and advances in therapy for the ravages of Parkinson's disease are constantly being researched and perfected for patients, yet those afflicted still must endure tremors, poor balance, speech problems, and lessened psychological well-being. Patients and families need the most up-to-date information available to improve quality of care and life.This new, second edition of Caring for the Parkinson Patient covers a variety of topics, providing information and helpful suggestions for patients, families, and caregivers to aid them as they grapple with this chronic, debilitating neurological disorder. Sixteen accessible and information-packed essays by noted contributors address diagnosis and treatment, new research, communication, physical/ occupational therapy, nursing care, problems faced by the caregiver, emotional changes, "neurorehab," prevention of falls, sleep problems, surgery, community supports, the family, sexuality, and safe home environments.With a wealth of information, practical advice, and encouragement, Caring for the Parkinson Patient is an indispensable resource guide for all those touched by Parkinson's disease.

What can black leaders offer African Americans who lack worthy values and are often willfully illiterate? Haskins emphasizes empowerment rather than despair.

This fascinating book isolates the significant factors underlying the proliferation of pornography in American society. With incommon originality, Jon Huer contends that a culture with an insatiable appetite for the beautiful will demand it with ever-increasing intensity, and inevitably create a "culture of pornography."

Written in part as a theoretical reply to the stodgy conservatism of Edmund Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution (1790), Paine's Rights of Man (1791-92) sets forth a manifesto of popular democratic rule in the established tradition of John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In it Paine offers a discussion of the nature of political man and proceeds to encourage the grass-roots revolutionary movements that seek to analyze critically and, where necessary, reform or replace social and political institutions, many of which tend only to repress those whom they were initially designed to serve.Paine's enthusiasm, courage, and boundless commitment to reason are the intellectual rapiers that strike impressive blows for the defense of freedom and for the self-determination of all persons. His dedication to liberty is not so blind as to endorse reform uncritically.In Part II of Rights of Man Paine does set himself against those who would rebel for the mere sake of rebellion. Revolution must contain within its being not only the displacement of the previous regime but also a rationally formulated alternative that will meet the needs of the people.

Latin America - its people, its politics, its economy - has burst upon the world scene with powerful images that have captured the curiosity of many English-speaking North Americans. The strategic importance of this vast region to the stability of the Wes

In Religion, State and the Burger Court, Leo Pfeffer, the leading authority on church/state law, presents a trenchant analysis of the decisions of the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, focusing on the Court's interpretation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. These amendments that guarantee the separation of church and state and the free exercise of religion are fundamental to the unique character of democracy as it exists in the United States. However, the distinction between affairs of state and the concerns of organized religion has become blurred. In his examination of the Burger Court, Pfeffer found that, initially, it followed the precedents established by earlier courts and in some major respects it went even further. For example, it extended the ban on public school prayer and ruled financial aid to church-related schools to be unconstitutional. However, with the election of Ronald Reagan, the Burger Court moved toward greater accommodation and away from a separatist position. Pfeffer's description of these Supreme Court cases is nonpartisan and illuminates the legal issues and implications of these decisions for a lay audience. However, well-known as a strict separationist, Pfeffer does not withhold his own partisan judgement as to the significance and correctness of these decisions and the dangerous direction in which they may lead the court.

Cults, sects, and mass therapies abound in every part of the United States. Adherents to these extremist groups come from every geographic section, socio-economic stratum, ethnic and age group. "It is not the Moonies or the Hare Krishmas that we should fear," writes Lowell D. Streiker, America's leading expert on cults. "The fastest growing and most dangerous religious movement in America today is ultrafundamentalism - an extremist form of evangelical religion that shuns reason, forbids needed medical treatment, abuses women and children, and eagerly awaits the end of the world. The cults of the seventies were alien and exotic. These sects are as American as the Fourth of July." The Gospel Time Bomb explores the dangers of ultrafundamentalist cults by presenting selected case histories, by explaining the significance of the central tendencies of ultrafundamentalism, and by suggesting why such groups are flourishing at this particular time in this particular society. The author carefully defines the nature of religious experience, conversion, revivalism, pentecostalism, sheperding, and deliverance. He relates how many of the dynamics found in ultrafundamentalism are at work in such secular phenomena as Amway, real estate sales, and prostitution. The Gospel Time Bomb assesses the so-called evangelical upsurge and Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority. In addition, Dr. Streiker offers his predictions of the future as well as his suggestions for defusing the destructive potential of the extremeists, for moderating the fanaticism of these new sects, and for responding to them humanely and effectively.

Should pornography and obscenity be controlled in society, and, if so, what kind of control is desirable? This issue deeply concerns and excites the passions of people in many countries. It is difficult to make a wise decision regarding the control of pornography, for the debate tends to be distorted by impassioned rhetoric and misinformation. There is also a divergence of views on this much-debated subject. Feminists like Susan Brownmiller advocate censorship of pornography on the basis that it is "the undiluted essence of antifemale propaganda." Liberals and libertarians, who follow in the tradition of John Stuart Mill, argue against censorship on the ground that prohibitions against the dissemination of any form of information function to preserve the status quo and to prevent the development of a critically reflective morality which is necessary to pave the way for needed social change. Pornography and Censorship facilitates rational and informed debate on the topic of pornography and censorship by collecting in one volume related studies from philosophy, the social sciences, and law and provides a wide range of points of view on the subject. It gathers together some of the best recent social-scientific studies and the most important works of the past decade. This book is unusual in the scope of the material discussed which includes key empirical studies by social scientists, conceptual studies by philosophers, and judicial essays. Together these essays present the ethical, political, and legal issues relevant to the problem of pornography and censorship, and assess the bearing of the empirical research on these issues. The interdisciplinary nature of the book reflects the editors' conviction that wise decision-making on public issues requires empirical knowledge, philosophical clarity, and an understanding of the difficulties of formulating principles that can be applied in law.

Sidney Hook is considered by many to be America's most influential philosopher today. An earlier defender of Marxism, he became its most persistent critic, especially of its totalitarian and revolutionary manifestations. A student of John Dewey's pragmatism, Sidney Hook has written extensively about most of the live moral, social and political issues of the day. He has known and debated many of the leading thinkers of the twentieth century, such as Max Eastman, Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, Jacques Maritain, Mortimer Adler, Robert Hutchins, Paul Tillich, Noam Chomsky, and John Kenneth Galbraith. Throughout his career, which spans a half a century, Sidney Hook has been a stalwart defender of the social democratic philosophy of freedom. At a time when secular humanism has been under heavy criticism from the New Right, he stands out as the leading philosophical representative of the position. Virtually all of the essays in this volume were written especially for it. The list of contributors includes Irving Kristol, Antony Flew, Nathan Glazer, Lewis Feuer, Daniel Bell, Richard Rorty, Ernest Nagel, Edward Shils, Seymour Martin Lipset, Ernest van den Haag, and others, all of whom testified that their thinking has been profoundly influenced by Sidney Hook's wisdom and insight. These original essays are wide-ranging in scope, but all are focused on Hook's philosophy or on subjects in which he has shown an abiding interest: socialism, democracy, equality, quotas, higher education, academic freedom, humanism, liberal education, natural and human rights, and pragmatism. The book also contains a complete up-to-date bibliography of the writings of Sidney Hook.

Headlines and television news reports feature accounts of reincarnation, the predictions of astrologers, and psychic "miracles." Citizens report UFO sightings. Police departments call on psychics to provide clues in baffling crimes. From every available information source, the public is bombarded with unsubstantiated claims of paranormal phenomena. How much of the evidence is reliable? What is the truth behind these claims? Paranormal Borderlands of Science is an exciting, well-informed examination of the most publicized and exotic claims of astrology, ESP, psychokinesis, precognition, UFOs, biorhythms, and other phenomena. Written by respected psychologists, astronomers and other scientists, philosophers, investigative journalists, and magicians, the 47 articles in this superb collection present a skeptical treatment of pseudoscientific claims - an aspect often sorely neglected in sensationalized media reports. This book is an effort to help readers sort fact from fiction and sense from nonsense among the astonishing variety of assertions labeled "paranormal." Never before published in book form, the essays in this anthology originally appeared in the Skeptical Inquirer, a leading magazine devoted to the critical investigation of pseudoscience from a scientific viewpoint. Among the contributors are: Isaac Asimov (distinguished science fiction author), Martin Gardner (Scientific American columnist), James Randi (The Amazing Randi), Philip Klass (noted UFO skeptic), Scot Morris (Omni), and James Oberg (NASA). An essential contribution to skeptical literature, this book will be of lasting value to all those wishing to balance the case for paranormal claims by reading the dissenting critics.

Critical essays by Leslie Fiedler, High Kenner, Charles Olson, Northrop Frye, and many others.