"I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice—not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he... was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany." In the summer of 1953, two eleven-year-old boys—best friends—are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy's mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn't believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen, after that 1953 foul ball, is extraordinary.

Owen Meany, the only child of a New Hampshire granite quarrier, believes he is God's instrument; he is.This is John Irving's most comic novel, yet Owen... Meany is Mr. Irving's most heartbreaking character."Roomy, intelligent, exhilarating and darkly comic...Dickensian in scope....Quite stunning and very ambitious."LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW"John Irving is an abundantly and even joyfully talented storyteller."THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOKR EVIEW

I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice—not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he... was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany. In the summer of 1953, two eleven-year-old boys—best friends—are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy's mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn't believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is extraordinary.

In the summer of 1953, two eleven-year-old boys—best friends—are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the... boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy’s mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn’t believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God’s instrument. What happens to Owen, after that 1953 foul ball, is extraordinary and terrifying.A Prayer for Owen Meany was first published in 1989. This Modern Library edition includes a new Introduction by the author.

Current Affairs/Urban Studies "An extraordinary book, an insider's account of the dailyworkings of a big-city administration."--Witold Rybczynski, The... New York Review of BooksA Prayer for the City is Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Buzz Bissinger's true epic of Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell, an utterly unique, unorthodox, and idiosyncratic leader who will do anything to save his city: take unions head on, personally lobby President Clinton to save 10,000 defense jobs, or wrestle Smiley the Pig on Hot Dog Day--all the while bearing in mind the eternal fickleness of constituents whose favor may hinge on a missed garbage pick-up or an overzealous meter maid. It is also the story of citizens in crisis: a woman fighting ceaselessly to give her great-grandchildren a better life, a father of six who may lose his job at the Navy Shipyard, and a policy analyst whose experiences as a crime victim tempt her to abandon her job and ideals. Heart-wrenching and hilarious, alive with detail and insight, A Prayer for the City describes a city on its knees and the rare combination of political courage and optimism that may be the only hope for America's urban centers."A Prayer for the City gives a unique insider account. . . . [It] is a superb book. . . . Bissinger's writing, sparse and urgent, always shines . . . and his narrative crackles with descriptive force." --The Miami Herald"A full-scale portrait of a struggling American metropolis that brings to mind such classics of urban reportage and analysis as J. Anthony Lukas's Common Ground and Nicholas Lemann's Promised Land." --The New York Times Book Review"What we see through Bissinger's unique lens is profoundly touching and inspiring, poignant and sad. . . . If you really want to feel the heartbeat of the American city--and find a source of hope for its revival--you will find it here." --The Philadelphia Inquirer

Set just after the Civil War, A Prayer for the Dying is the story of a small Wisconsin town gripped by a mysterious, deadly epidemic, and one man... desperate to save it. Torn between his loyalty to his family, his faith in God, and his terror of this vicious disease, Jacob Hansen struggles to preserve his sanity amid the chaos and violence around him.

The text provides an ethnographic analysis of the social and cultural aspects of installing and managing a piped drinking water system in La... Purificacion Tepetitla, a community located in the densely populated and semiarid region of the Valley of Mexico. The account shows how politics and culture shape community initiatives to develop adequate and equitable drinking water supplies in the Valley of Mexico's changing ecology. The research is based on 22 months of ethnographic fieldwork, carried out from 1993 to 2000. The book applies the culture concept to drinking water issues and furthers students' understanding of human diversity in terms of economics, ecological adaptation, politics, kinship, gender, ethnicity, health beliefs and practices, and religion and ritual.

Robert Dahl’s Preface helped launch democratic theory fifty years ago as a new area of study in political science, and it remains the standard... introduction to the field. Exploring problems that had been left unsolved by traditional thought on democracy, Dahl here examines two influential models—the Madisonian, which represents prevailing American doctrine, and its recurring challenger, populist theory—arguing that they do not accurately portray how modern democracies operate. He then constructs a model more consistent with how contemporary democracies actually function, and, in doing so, develops some original views of popular sovereignty and the American constitutional system. For this fiftieth-anniversary edition, Dahl has written an extensive new afterword that reevaluates Madisonian theory in light of recent research. And in a new foreword, he reflects back on his influential volume and the ways his views have evolved since he wrote it. For any student or scholar of political science, this new material is an essential update on a gold standard in the evolving field of democratic theory. “A Preface to Democratic Theory is well worth the devoted attention of anyone who cares about democracy.”—Political Science Quarterly

Robert Dahl’s Preface helped launch democratic theory fifty years ago as a new area of study in political science, and it remains the standard... introduction to the field. Exploring problems that had been left unsolved by traditional thought on democracy, Dahl here examines two influential models—the Madisonian, which represents prevailing American doctrine, and its recurring challenger, populist theory—arguing that they do not accurately portray how modern democracies operate. He then constructs a model more consistent with how contemporary democracies actually function, and, in doing so, develops some original views of popular sovereignty and the American constitutional system. For this fiftieth-anniversary edition, Dahl has written an extensive new afterword that reevaluates Madisonian theory in light of recent research. And in a new foreword, he reflects back on his influential volume and the ways his views have evolved since he wrote it. For any student or scholar of political science, this new material is an essential update on a gold standard in the evolving field of democratic theory. “A Preface to Democratic Theory is well worth the devoted attention of anyone who cares about democracy.”—Political Science Quarterly

Tocqueville pessimistically predicted that liberty and equality would be incompatible ideas. Robert Dahl, author of the classic A Preface to Democratic... Theory, explores this alleged conflict, particularly in modern American society where differences in ownership and control of corporate enterprises create inequalities in resources among Americans that in turn generate inequality among them as citizens.Arguing that Americans have misconceived the relation between democracy, private property, and the economic order, the author contends that we can achieve a society of real democracy and political equality without sacrificing liberty by extending democratic principles into the economic order. Although enterprise control by workers violates many conventional political and ideological assumptions of corporate capitalism as well as of state socialism. Dahl presents an empirically informed and philosophically acute defense of "workplace democracy." He argues, in the light of experiences here and abroad, that an economic system of worker-owned and worker-controlled enterprises could provide a much better foundation for democracy, political equality, and liberty than does our present system of corporate capitalism.

After an eloquent and moving analysis of what he sees as the disillusion of themodern age, Lippmann posits as the central dilemma of liberalism its... inability to find an appropriate substitute for the older forms of authority— church, state, class, family, law, custom—that it has denied. Lippmann attempts to find a way out of this chaos through the acceptance of a higher humanism and a way of life inspired by the ideal of "disinterestedness" in all things. In his new introduction to the Transaction edition, John Patrick Diggins marks A Preface to Morals, originally published in 1929, as a critical turning point in Lippmann's intellectual career. He also provides an excellent discussion of the enduring value of this major twentieth-century work by situating it within the context of other intellectual movements.

A PREFACE TO PHILOSOPHY, 9E prepares readers for the challenges of studying philosophy and writing philosophical essays. This classic textbook, in print... for over thirty years, addresses such foundational topics as discerning philosophical questions, the purpose of philosophy, and the practice of doing philosophy. With its brief, accessible format and conversational writing style, A PREFACE TO PHILOSOPHY, 9E is a perfect compliment to a traditional Introduction to Philosophy textbook.

Ever wonder what purpose philosophy serves? That question and others like it are the reason A PREFACE TO PHILOSOPHY was written. With this introduction... to philosophy textbook, you'll get a headstart on philosophy class. Plus, it helps you learn to think philosophically, recognize philosophical problems, and avoid the common pitfalls involved in writing philosophical essays. Better grades and less stress in philosophy class makes A PREFACE TO PHILOSOPHY your best choice.

A Prehistory of North America covers the ever-evolving understanding of the prehistory of North America, from its initial colonization, through the... development of complex societies, and up to contact with Europeans.   This book is the most up-to-date treatment of the prehistory of North America.  In addition, it is organized by culture area in order to serve as a companion volume to “An Introduction to Native North America.”  It also includes an extensive bibliography to facilitate research by both students and professionals.