Accessible to students with no background in the subject, A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will provides an extensive and up-to-date overview of all... the latest views on this central problem of philosophy. Opening with a concise introduction to the history of the problem of free will--and its place in the history of philosophy--the book then turns to contemporary debates and theories about free will, determinism, and related subjects like moral responsibility, coercion, compulsion, autonomy, agency, rationality, freedom, and more. Classical compatibilist and new compatibilist theories of free will are considered along with the latest incompatibilist or libertarian theories and the most recent skeptical challenges to free will. Separate chapters are devoted to the relation of free will to moral responsibility and ethics; to modern science; and to religious questions about predestination, divine foreknowledge, and human freedom. Numerous down-to-earth examples and challenging thought experiments enliven the text. The book is an ideal addition to introduction to philosophy, metaphysics, and free will courses.

The first edition of Alexander and Thompson's Contemporary Introduction to Sociology was the first truly new introduction to sociology textbook in... decades. Written by two leading sociologists at the cutting edge of theory and research, the text reflected the idioms and interests of contemporary American life and global social issues. Paradigm Publishers is now pleased to announce the 2nd edition of this text, with new co-author Laura D. Edles. It continues to invite students to reflect upon their lives within the context of the combustible leap from modern to postmodern life. The authors show how culture is central to understanding many world problems as they challenge readers to confront the risks and potentialities of a postmodern era in which the futures of both the physical and social environment seem uncertain. As culture rapidly changes in the 21st century, the authors have successfully incorporated these nuances into their new edition. New to the 2nd edition: Speaks to students using examples ranging from popular culture to new media technologies, covers such relevant topics as labor, the economy, and social media including Facebook and Twitter, Reaches a larger audience with new data on women, gender, and transgender issues, makes connections between timely issues and sociological theory using theme boxes, vividly illustrates sociological issues with new photos, helps students understand material through additional study questions in each chapter.

An explosive examination of the fast-escalating Sino-American struggle for geopolitical predominance.There may be no denying China's growing economic... strength, but its impact on the global balance of power remains hotly contested. Political scientist Aaron L. Friedberg argues that our nation's leaders are failing to act expeditiously enough to counter China's growing strength. He explains how the United States and China define their goals and reveals the strategies each is now employing to achieve its ends. Friedberg demonstrates in this provocative book that the ultimate aim of Chinese policymakers is to "win without fighting," displacing the United States as the leading power in Asia while avoiding direct confrontation. The United States, on the other hand, sends misleading signals about our commitments and resolve, putting us at risk for a war that might otherwise have been avoided. A much-needed wake-up call to U.S. leaders and policymakers, A Contest for Supremacy is a compelling interpretation of a rivalry that will go far to determine the shape of the twenty-first century.

“Sober and well-informed. . . . A careful and compelling examination of the U.S.-Chinese relationship from a number of angles.”—Financial... TimesThere may be no denying China's growing economic strength, but its impact on the global balance of power remains hotly contested. Political scientist Aaron L. Friedberg argues that our nation's leaders are failing to act expeditiously enough to counter China's growing strength. He explains how the United States and China define their goals and reveals the strategies each is now employing to achieve its ends. Friedberg demonstrates in this provocative book that the ultimate aim of Chinese policymakers is to "win without fighting," displacing the United States as the leading power in Asia while avoiding direct confrontation. The United States, on the other hand, sends misleading signals about our commitments and resolve, putting us at risk for a war that might otherwise have been avoided. A much-needed wake-up call to U.S. leaders and policymakers, A Contest for Supremacy is a compelling interpretation of a rivalry that will go far to determine the shape of the twenty-first century.

In A Continent for the Taking Howard W. French, a veteran correspondent for The New York Times, gives a compelling firsthand account of some of... Africa’s most devastating recent history–from the fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, to Charles Taylor’s arrival in Monrovia, to the genocide in Rwanda and the Congo that left millions dead. Blending eyewitness reportage with rich historical insight, French searches deeply into the causes of today’s events, illuminating the debilitating legacy of colonization and the abiding hypocrisy and inhumanity of both Western and African political leaders. While he captures the tragedies that have repeatedly befallen Africa’s peoples, French also opens our eyes to the immense possibility that lies in Africa’s complexity, diversity, and myriad cultural strengths. The culmination of twenty-five years of passionate exploration and understanding, this is a powerful and ultimately hopeful book about a fascinating and misunderstood continent.

In this richly detailed portrait of the individual countries and peoples of the Caribbean, Mark Kurlansky brings to life a society and culture often... kept hidden from foreigners—the arts, history, politics, and economics of the region, as well as the vivid day-to-day lives of its citizens. From the Newyoriccans of Levittown, Puerto Rico; to the state-salaried popular musicians of Cuba; to the practitioners of good political hurricanemanship (who know how to stretch statistics to bring in relief funds), A Continent of Islands paints portraits that will prove equally fascinating to tourists who know the Caribbean only as a string of beach resorts, and to readers curious about U.S. efforts to influence its neighbors.

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the... printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.Western literary study flows out of eighteenth-century works by Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Frances Burney, Denis Diderot, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and others. Experience the birth of the modern novel, or compare the development of language using dictionaries and grammar discourses. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification:++++Harvard University Houghton LibraryN015315Anonymous. By Daniel Defoe. Advertised as "Volume the first", but no more published (Moore). Giovanni Paolo Marana's single volume of L'Esploratore turco .. ' was originally published in Paris in 1684 and appeared in English as 'Letters writ by a Turkish spy'; its volumes 2-8 have been variously attributed, but were probably edited by Robert Midgley from William Bradshaw's translation of the original Italian MS.London : printed for W. Taylor, 1718. viii,[12],304p.,plate ; 12°

“Eisner was not only ahead of his times; the present times are still catching up to him.”—John UpdikeA revolutionary novel, A Contract with God... re-creates the neighborhood of Will Eisner's youth through a quartet of four interwoven stories. Expressing the joy, exuberance, tragedy, and drama of life on the mythical Dropsie Avenue of the Bronx, A Contract with God is a monumental achievement, a must in the library of any graphic novel fan.

Karl Marx was commissioned by the Communist League along with Friederich Engels to write The Communist Manifesto. The manifesto is considered to be one... of the world's most influential political tracts. The Manifesto established a course of action for the working class revolution to overthrow the bourgeois social order and bring about a classless society. In 1859 Marx published A Contribution To The Critique Of Political Economy, which was his first serious economic work. Marx discusses the production and naturalization of capitalism. His theory is that the course of history is dependent on economic developments. From the preface “In the social production that men carry on, they enter into definite relations that are indispensable and independent of their will, relations of production which correspond to a definite stage of development of their material forces of production. The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which rises a legal and political superstructure, and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production in material life determines the general character of the social, political, and intellectual processes of life. It is not the consciousness of men which determines their existence; it is on the contrary their social existence which determines their consciousness.”

A Convenient Hatred chronicles a very particular hatred through powerful stories that allow readers to see themselves in the tarnished mirror of... history. It raises important questions about the consequences of our assumptions and beliefs and the ways we, as individuals and as members of a society, make distinctions between "us" and "them," right and wrong, good and evil. These questions are both universal and particular.

We are told that Western/Christian and Muslim/Arab civilizations are heading towards inevitable conflict. The demographics of the West remain sluggish,... while the population of the Muslim world explodes, widening the cultural gap and all but guaranteeing the outbreak of war. Leaving aside the media's sound and fury on this issue, measured analysis shows another reality taking shape: rapprochement between these two civilizations, benefiting from a universal movement with roots in the Enlightenment. The historical and geographical sweep of this book discredits the notion of a specific Islamic demography. The range of fertility among Muslim women, for example, is as varied as religious behavior among Muslims in general. Whether agnostics, fundamentalist Salafis, or al-Qaeda activists, Muslims are a diverse group that prove the variety and individuality of Islam. Youssef Courbage and Emmanuel Todd consider different degrees of literacy, patriarchy, and defensive reactions among minority Muslim populations, underscoring the spread of massive secularization throughout the Arab and Muslim world. In this regard, they argue, there is very little to distinguish the evolution of Islam from the history of Christianity, especially with Muslims now entering a global modernity. Sensitive to demographic variables and their reflection of personal and social truths, Courbage and Todd upend a dangerous meme: that we live in a fractured world close to crisis, struggling with an epidemic of closed cultures and minds made different by religion.

A Conversation Book 1: English in Everyday Life, by Tina Kasloff Carver and Sandra D. Fotinos-Riggs, helps beginning level students to develop... conversation fluency. The student-centered text and audio teach the vocabulary and life skills necessary for natural communication. Each of the ten units focuses on an essential aspect of daily life such as food, shopping, and work. Activities ranging from role plays to group surveys promise a lively class and help students achieve the language competencies needed to succeed at school and work. With chants by Carolyn Graham. New to this edition: *Easy-to-follow unit structure includes a Preview page, six 2-page lessons, Listening Practice, Review, and Assessment wrap-up.*Picture Dictionary openers introduce and contextualize the vocabulary of each lesson.*Model Conversations and Partner Interviews offer students opportunities to talk about their own lives.*Conversation Chants help students acquire the sounds, rhythms, and intonation of conversational English.*The Scope and Sequence highlights correlations to CASAS and state curricula.

Presents an inviting approach to developing conversation fluency.This book presents picture dictionary-type pages, along with conversation and grammar... practice, that provide students with the vocabulary and speaking skills they need for everyday life. This is a split edition (first half of book) of A Conversation Book 1.

Nathanael West was only thirty-seven when he died in 1940, but his depictions of the sometimes comic, sometimes horrifying aspects of the American scene... rival those of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor. A Cool Million, written in 1934, is a satiric Horatio Alger story set in the midst of the Depression. The Dream Life of Balso Snell (1931) was described by one critic as "a fantasy about some rather scatological adventures of the hero in the innards of the Trojan horse."

Born with a rare and dangerous allergy to sunlight, Lila's spent her life hidden from the daylight-staying covered up and indoors until dark, only... venturing outside after the sun has set and the moon's cool light shines. Almost every night, she is visited by two young girls who wear tutus over their jeans and costume fairy wings, and the three of them dance and tell wonderful stories. But while Lila adores her family and her new friends, still she longs to feel the sun's touch. Lila's mysterious friends have promised to help her . . . but how?