On April 25, 1999, ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners gathered outside Zhongnanhai, the guarded compound where China's highest leaders live and work,... in a day-long peaceful protest of police brutality against fellow practitioners in the neighboring city of Tianjin. Stunned and surprised, China's leaders launched a campaign of brutal suppression against the group which continues to this day. This book, written by a leading scholar of the history of this Chinese popular religion, is the first to offer a full explanation of what Falun Gong is and where it came from, placing the group in the broader context of the modern history of Chinese religion as well as the particular context of post-Mao China. Falun Gong began as a form of qigong, a general name describing physical and mental disciplines based loosely on traditional Chinese medical and spiritual practices. Qigong was "invented" in the 1950s by members of the Chinese medical establishment who were worried that China's traditional healing arts would be lost as China modeled its new socialist health care system on Western biomedicine. In the late 1970s, Chinese scientists "discovered" that qi possessed genuine scientific qualities, which allowed qigong to become part of China's drive for modernization. With the support of China's leadership, qigong became hugely popular in the 1980s and 1990s, as charismatic qigong> masters attracted millions of enthusiastic practitioners in what was known as the qigong boom, the first genuine mass movement in the history of the People's Republic. Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi started his own school of qigong in 1992, claiming that the larger movement had become corrupted by money and magic tricks. Li was welcomed into the qigong world and quickly built a nationwide following of several million practitioners, but ran afoul of China's authorities and relocated to the United States in 1995. In his absence, followers in China began to organize peaceful protests of perceived media slights of Falun Gong, which increased from the mid-'90s onward as China's leaders began to realize that they had created, in the qigong boom, a mass movement with religious and nationalistic undertones, a potential threat to their legitimacy and control. Based on fieldwork among Chinese Falun Gong practitioners in North America and on close examinations of Li Hongzhi's writings, this volume offers an inside look at the movement's history in Chinese popular religion.

Companies build reputations in the market place. Some do it well, others don't. Even well-managed, profitable, quality companies don't. The how and why... of successful reputation building is what this book is about. What specific actions must companies take to build a positive reputation in the market place? How can a company measure the success of its attempts to build a positive reputation in the market place as well.

"Fascinating . . . Poignant." The Wall Street JournalIn this extraordinary work of insight and interviews, bestselling author Gay Talese shares with us... the lives of those we don't know and those we might wish we did: Frank Sinatra, Joe DiMaggio, Manhattan mobsters, Bowery bums, and many others -- fascinating men and women who define our country's spirit and lead us to an understanding of ourselves as a nation.From the Paperback edition.

Imagine being famous. Being recognized on the street, adored by people who have never even met you, known the world over. Wouldn’t that be great? But... what if, one day, you got stuck in a country where celebrity means nothing, where no one spoke your language and you didn’t speak theirs, where no one knew your face (no book jackets, no TV) and you had no way of calling home? How would your fame help you then? What if someone got hold of your cell phone? What if they spoke to your girlfriends, your agent, your director, and started making decisions for you? And worse, what if no one believed you were you anymore? When you saw a look-alike acting your roles for you, what would you do?  And what if one day you realized your magnum opus, like everything else you’d ever written, was a total waste of time, empty nonsense? What would you do next? Would your audience of seven million people keep you going? Or would you lose the capacity to keep on doing it? Fame and facelessness, truth and deception, spin their way through all nine episodes of this captivating, wickedly funny, and perpetually surprising novel as paths cross and plots thicken, as characters become real people and real people morph into characters. The result is a dazzling tour de force by one of Europe’s finest young writers.

Fame and facelessness, truth and deception, spin their way through the nine interlocking chapters of this captivating and wickedly funny novel by the... internationally bestselling author of Measuring the World.  No one is more surprised than Ebling when his new cell phone begins receiving calls meant for popular actor Ralf Tanner. At first he tries to set the callers right, but soon he is enjoying the drama and power that celebrity brings. Little does he know that his actions will cause a ripple effect that will leave very few lives untouched, from the movie star himself to those lingering at the edges of the limelight.  And as paths cross and plots thicken, the boundaries of fiction and reality start to crumble.

Why do more people watch American Idol than the nightly news? What is it about Paris Hilton’s dating life that lures us so? Why do teenage girls —... when given the option of “pressing a magic button and becoming either stronger, smarter, famous, or more beautiful” — predominantly opt for fame? In this entertaining and enlightening book, Jake Halpern explores the fascinating and often dark implications of America’s obsession with fame. He travels to a Hollywood home for aspiring child actors and enrolls in a program that trains celebrity assistants. He visits the offices of Us Weekly and a laboratory where monkeys give up food to stare at pictures of dominant members of their group. The book culminates in Halpern’s encounter with Rod Stewart’s biggest fan, a woman from Pittsburgh who nominated the singer for Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.Fame Junkies reveals how psychology, technology, and even evolution conspire to make the world of red carpets and velvet ropes so enthralling to all of us on the outside looking in.

We may regard celebrities as deities, but that does not mean we worship them with deference. From prehistory to the present, humanity has possessed a... primal urge first to exalt the famous but then to cut them down (Michael Jackson, anyone?). Why do we treat the ones we love like burnt offerings in a ritual of human sacrifice? Perhaps because that is exactly what they are.From Greek mythology to the stories of the Christian martyrs and Dr. Faustus, Payne makes the fascinating argument that our relationship to celebrity is perilous, and that we wouldn't have it any other way. He also shows that the people we choose as our heroes and villains throughout the ages says a lot about ourselves—and what it says is often quite frightening. Fame even brings new life to all the literary figures from our high school English classes. In these pages, the most ephemeral reality television stars (those "famous for being famous") find themselves in the same VIP lounge as the characters of The Iliad. With great wit, scholarship, and insight, Tom Payne draws the narratives of the past and the present into one intriguing story.Fame is a dazzling, hilarious look at the mortals, and the immortals—us and them.

THE BRIEF AMERICAN PAGEANT presents a concise and vivid chronological narrative, focusing on the great public debates that have dominated American... history. Colorful anecdotes, first-person quotations, and the text's trademark wit keep readers engaged. Focus questions, chapter outlines and summaries, marginal glossaries, and links to additional online study aids ensure that readers understand and retain the material.

Oscar, physically and sexually abusive, stabbed his partner and two stepdaughters to death, buried the bodies, and fled the state with his two younger... children. Paul, a respected investment banker, donned a Halloween mask and shot his wife and two children before turning the gun on himself. What drives individuals as different as Oscar and Paul to kill their families? Why does familicide appear to be on the rise?In Familicidal Hearts, award-winning author and sociologist Neil Websdale uncovers the stories behind 196 male and 15 female perpetrators of this shocking offense, situating their emotional styles on a continuum, from the livid coercive to the civil reputable. With highly detailed and riveting case studies, Websdale explores the pivotal roles of shame, rage, fear, anxiety, and depression in the lives and crimes of the killers. His analysis demonstrates how internal emotional conflict, against a backdrop of societal pressures, is at the root of familicide, challenging the widely accepted argument that murderers kill family members to assert power and control. Websdale contends instead that most perpetrators struggle with intense shame, many sensing that they failed to live up to the demands of modern gender prescriptions, as fathers and lovers, wives and mothers. What emerges is a compelling theory about the haunting effects of modern emotional struggles on perpetrators, controlling and upstanding alike.Captivatingly written and expertly researched, this provocative book weaves a gripping tale of modern-era "haunted hearts." Blending the social, the historical, and the emotional into a new way of making sense of a horrific crime, Familicidal Hearts is a provocative meditation on gender roles, social forces, and modern life itself.

Using a consistent theoretical orientation, Families Across Time explores the "life course" approach to family life--including parent-child, spousal,... and sibling relationships. It reflects the diversity represented in contemporary families as they grapple with changes and transitions in family relationships during the life cycle. This volume of seventeen original essays is unique in its integration of research, theory, and application in a variety of topic areas related to family life. The contributors to this volume, which include prominent and established scholars as well as young professionals, address a diversity of family forms as well as all stages of family life--in contrast to the traditional emphasis on early stages.The essays in this book represent a breadth of content and scholarship; at the same time, they are student-friendly and highly readable. Extensive case scenarios and other examples augment the content of each essay, serving as examples to enhance the reader's ability to understand the challenges families face over the life course. The book's approach emphasizes transitions and tasks in lieu of focusing on the characteristics of stages associated with family development. Different aspects of family life are examined up-close and across the life span for each topic covered.Editors Sharon J. Price, Patrick C. McKenry, and Megan J. Murphy offer introductions to each section, which frame each set of essays and provide context for the reader. Discussion questions are included at the end of each chapter.

Learn how contemporary families respond to and cope with common stressful life events and transitionsIntegrating research, theory, and application from... a variety of disciplines, the Fourth Edition of this bestselling text offers students a deep understanding of family transitions. Each chapter presents the latest scholarship from leaders in the field on modern family changes and stressors from leading experts, as well as resources for intervention and mechanisms for learning.New to The Fourth EditionMore concrete examples, vignettes, and intervention strategies weaved throughout the text The role of resiliency in families emphasized New chapters on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families and military families now includedWeb resources and references at the end of chapters now available Coverage of African American families and homeless families, featured in the First Edition, reinstated

Three interrelated phenomena, all of which have occurred in the last century, are transforming traditional perceptions and expectations concerning... families and the elderly in contemporary American society. The first is the demographic revolution, characterized by declines in mortality and fertility and a rise in divorce has contributed greatly to changing the complexion of family life. The second is the dramatic increase in cultural, ethnic, and racial diversity in the American population. Through processes such as immigration, integration, and choices concerning non-traditional lifestyles, the contemporary American population represents a potpourri of family lifeways. This diversity, coupled with demographic transitions translate into a complex mosaic of family structures, roles, and relationships for aging individuals. In addition, the family lives of the aged are shaped by a third phenomenon--the social and economic condition of American society. For some families a troubled national economy has prompted the need to develop a variety of adaptive strategies to survive, and are looking to external sources, such as community social services for help. Thus, another layer in the mosaic that is family life for aged Americans is added. The complexity and diversity of families and aging has generated the necessity for new research, policy, and program agendas that address emerging issues and needs for elderly Americans and their families. This volume is an effort toward that end--an effort toward fostering a "new look" at families and aging.

For courses on Families in Special Education as well as Collaboration and Families courses. Families and Children with Special Needs: Professional and... Family Partnerships is written to provide educational professionals and families an overview of how effective collaboration and relationships can be developed and maintained. Written from a practical approach, this book offers specific steps to include families in the educational decision-making process, while maximizing families' involvement in providing the best solutions for children and adolescents with special needs.

With a wealth of new information from family involvement in education, this updated new second edition of Families and Educators as Partners: Issues and... Challenges, 2nd Edition is a readable and practical text. It provides future and current teachers, administrators, school personnel and parents with background information as well as strategies that they need to plan and implement a successful family involvement program in preschool and elementary environments.