Bøger udgivet af Globe Pequot Press

THE STANISLAVSKY TECHNIQUE: RUSSIA

This irreverent, satirical look at the never-ending flying saucer controversy lampoons the full spectrum of the UFO "invasion," from the ancient astronaut theories to the evolution of today's alien abduction "epidemic." From the first chapter, "Wheelbarrows of the Gods," readers see how a close look at prehistoric myths from around the world reveal common threads in each account. McHugh relates how Noah and his sons inadvertently caused aliens to flood the Earth for forty days and nights; how extraterrestrials gave Nostradamus his power, and how they influenced the success of the 1969 New York Mets. He traces the evolution of the alien abduction epidemic and offers a tongue-in-cheek quiz to determine if you have been abducted without realizing it.

Most people think they know what's in the Bible, or at least what kind of material it contains. Most of them are wrong: they are familiar only with a few church-approved texts, and are astounded not just at how awful God is in the Old Testament, but also at how less than perfect his son is in the New. As David Voas demonstrates in The Bad News Bible: The New Testament, Jesus fails to live up to his Good Shepherd reputation, while God the Father, who has already spoiled his image in the Old Testament, merely stays aloof. The promise of a heavenly afterlife comes from Paul, as does the rule that men have authority over women. Judgment Day is expected to come at any moment, and the New Testament writers seem far more eager to burn sinners than to forgive them.

In this fascinating volume, scientist and teacher James S. Perlman shows us that science is not a dry, mechanistic process but a dynamic interplay between human beings and their surroundings, embodying their attempts to understand, anticipate, and cope with natural events. The interactive nature of science requires the use of our minds, imaginations, and sense-extending apparatus, such as telescopes and microscopes. We are reminded that scientists do not merely observe; they form ideas and images which they then project back upon nature to explain what they see. And these ideas and images are themselves influenced by the limitations of the observer as well as by prevailing social, intellectual, and technological conditions. In Science without Limits, Dr. Perlman takes us on an extraordinary voyage through history as he demonstrates the ways in which science developed as a distinctly human and evolving enterprise from early man to the present. On our journey Perlman introduces us to the great figures of Western science and how their discoveries modified existing ways of viewing the world.

Recognize the con artist before you get taken! Schulte exposes dozens of telephone, mail, and computer-based scams, explaining how they work and how you can avoid becoming their next victim.

Long a taboo subject in Soviet historiography, the Stalinist policy toward Jews is thoroughly examined in this revealing study by one of Russia's leading historians. Sifting through thousands of recently declassified documents in the formerly secret archives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the KGB, Gennadi Kostyrchenko uncovers irrefutable evidence of Stalin's intentionally anti-Semitic policy. The documents describe the suppression of all free manifestations of Jewish life, forced assimilation, and the purging of Jews from most official positions. Soviet Jews fought valiantly against fascism in World War II, yet they discovered after the war that an even greater threat confronted them at home from their national leader. Kostyrchenko documents the systematic elimination of Jews from journalism, the arts, humanities, and industry. He concludes by examining hitherto secret records of the infamous "doctors' plot" launched by Stalin just prior to his death. Out of the Red Shadows is a devastating expose of state-sponsored anti-Semitism comparable in its virulence to the Nazi reign of terror.

To most of us, insurance represents a secure investment that provides affordable, dependable protection. Author Kenneth D. Myers believes that this lucrative industry is a business going bad. In False Security, Myers chronicles the abuses of the insurance industry, exposing the inside story of bad investments, unscrupulous or naive executives, bilked clients, collapsed companies, and staggering financial losses. What emerges from this expose is an alarming picture of incompetence, greed, and corruption. Myers reveals how experienced insurance executives jeopardized their companies by trying to price-gouge the competition out of business, only to go under themselves. He looks at hostile takeovers, the extravagant use of ill-gotten profits, the many income-tax "safe havens", and the squandering of millions of dollars by executives who failed at one company after another and eventually fled the country. The result of thousands of hours of investigation and many interviews, False Security outlines never-before-reported details of greed and corruption gathered from state and federal prosecutors, industry officials, and the criminals themselves. Some of the perpetrators were also involved in the savings-and-loan scandal and today are in prison, but others are free, still pursuing questionable enterprises.

Liberalism in religion grew strong in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, then collapsed. Why? Duncan Howlett argues that a fatal flaw at the heart of the movement undercut its progress. The Liberals were unwilling or unable to hold to their own central principle: the need to maintain a free and open mind, heart, and spirit in religion. In the end Liberalism always fell back on the basic traditions and dogmas of the organized religions. Alert minds drawn to Liberalism by the prospect of complete freedom of thought in religion felt betrayed, and many abandoned the movement. Howlett summons us to a new and self-consistent Liberalism, one that test to the uttermost the validity of every belief we hold. The latter half of the book spells out the positive beliefs of a self-consistent Liberalism and the demands those beliefs lay upon us.

This important new book is a guide to understanding cancer and its causes. Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, a nationally known consumer health advocate, explains in layperson's terms what the average consumer can do to reduce the risks of contracting this most feared of diseases. For decades, Americans have assumed that cancer strikes in wholly unpredictable ways and that it is simply a matter of fate that one person is afflicted with the disease while another is not. Yet Whelan points to research showing that when it comes to cancer risks, we largely determine our own fates. Science has made great strides in recent years toward understanding the causes of this complex illness. As a result Whelan believes that we now have the knowledge to significantly reduce the incidence of cancer nationwide. But how does the average person interpret the confusing array of warnings and suspicions regarding cancer risks, which are reported almost daily in the news media? Whelan goes to great lengths to separate the unproven hypothetical causes of cancer from reliable scientific findings. Above all, tobacco in all its forms and uses is the main culprit: estimates now attribute some 40 percent of cancer incidence to exposure to tobacco. Whelan also discusses other contributing factors such as diet, alcohol, radioactivity, sunlight, drugs, sexual behavior, environmental factors, and occupational risks. The Complete Guide to Preventing Cancer presents the most recent state-of-the-art information on cancer risk and prevention in nontechnical language and a user-friendly format.

This important book addresses the vast array of treatments and philosophies that postulate supernatural phenomena as the key to health and disease. Jack Raso combines his own personal experience with "alternative" healthcare, in-depth research on the wide variety of methodologies, and an educational background in health science and nutrition to simplify the often confusing field of "alternative" healing techniques. Raso begins with an account of his own personal odyssey from believer to skeptic, demonstrating how easily a person raised in a devoutly religious tradition accepts supernatural explanations and mystical approaches to physical ailments. Raso examines the philosophic underpinnings of "alternative" medicine as well as such techniques as hands-on healing, Qigong, and faith healing. He shows that, whatever the specific philosophy, the common denominator is a rejection of the scientific approach of modern medicine in favor of a belief in paranormal forces that influence the well-being of mind and body. The final section is a firsthand account of Raso's many revealing visits to various "alternative" medical practitioners. The book concludes with an encyclopedic glossary of "alternative" healthcare terminology that explains to the uninitiated the formidable jargon so often used by proponents of "alternative" treatments.

In September 1993 a unique dialogue took place. Humanists from around the country gathered in Salt Lake City, Utah, to exchange ideas with Mormons on the topics of feminism, freedom of conscience, academic freedom in Mormon universities, and clashes between "dissident intellectuals" and Mormon church authorities. Of particular concern in the discussion was the recent excommunication of members of the Mormon church and the departure of two professors from Brigham Young University for allegedly expressing ideas at variance with church teachings. Ironically, despite such conflicts, Mormons officially and individually endorse freedom of conscience; the dignity of the human right to exercise free agency is a principle rooted in the Mormon as well as the humanist tradition. On this basis for mutual understanding, the dialogue between the two diverse cultures of Mormonism and humanism proceeded. George D. Smith has collected twelve essays, all but one of which were presented at the Utah conference, for this thought-provoking volume. Among the subjects covered are ecclesiastical abuse and the excommunicated "September Six", academic freedom at Brigham Young University, the politics of exclusivity, and free inquiry in a religious context. Paul Kurtz, editor of Free Inquiry, introduces the discussion with an overview of "Humanism and the Idea of Freedom". The volume concludes with a 1939 essay by noted American journalist Walter Lippmann entitled "The Indispensable Opposition".

Imprisoned paraphiliac Ronald Keyes reveals the factors that contributed to his sadomasochistic tendencies and criminal life. Taunted and beaten into a state of erotic ecstasy by his dominatrix "Connie," Keyes became utterly subservient to her wishes. In an act of ultimate capitulation, he accommodated Connie's need to achieve orgasm through crime. Caught and imprisoned, Keyes sought to understand the nature of his sexual drives The result is a fascinating look into the mind of a most unusual man: scholar, writer, keen observer of human sexuality, and prisoner.

"The meaning of life"...we question it, ponder it, dispute and fret about it, but at some point each of us finds the need to address this fundamental issue of human existence. Some believe that there is purpose inherent in our nature as human beings and in the vast universe of which we are but a small part. Others hold that the values we strive for and the virtues we seek are revealed to us by a divine creator of the cosmos in whose plan we figure as integral components. Still others say that our lives have no intrinsic meaning beyond that which we give them. With such competing views, how are we to sort out for ourselves this special human concern? In Does Life Have a Meaning? well-known philosopher and scholar Milton Munitz suggests that we must first set aside our comfortable assumptions and try to gain an accurate understanding of this powerful concept known as "the meaning of life". The power of its impact on our lives requires that we first consider the basic character of the world around us. We can approach this intellectual and spiritual need by trying to map out the major dimensions of existence in the hope of sorting out what constitutes the content of our world. Equipped with such an overview, we should be in a better position to consider the locus, opportunities, and limits for finding various types and sources of meaning in our individual lives. In pursuit of this goal, Munitz contends that we must recognize a basic distinction between two important dimensions of Reality: (1) the observable universe - the domain of interactive existents (including human existents) open to increasingly refined identification of its varied contents, their intelligibility, and - in verylimited cases - to human control, and (2) Boundless Existence, a wholly unintelligible, transcendent aspect of Reality that should not to be confused with common theistic conceptions of God. Munitz explores the "the meaning of life" on the dimension of the observable universe when the life of any individual human existent is made intelligible in some degree and the extent to which at least some of the meanings embedded in the multiple interactions of a human existent with other existents (human or not) are of a welcome, rewarding character as judged by humanly chosen criteria, rather than by claiming to ground them in some preassigned cosmic or divine source and authority. Conversely, he discusses the prospects for finding meaning in life within the context of Boundless Existence, that vast transcendence devoid of properties and conceptual bounds whether religious, scientific, or philosophic. Does Life Have a Meaning? will tweak many comfortable beliefs about who we are and what, if anything, life has to offer. It will help remove the intellectual clutter from a topic that has occupied our attention for centuries.

In these three classic essays--"The Forgery of the Old Testament", "The Myth of Immortality", and "Lies of Religious Literature"--ex-priest Joseph McCabe exposes the inconsistencies that lie behind the texts of Christianity. With forcefulness, clarity, and often biting humor, McCabe attacks two millennia of Christian tradition using the weapons of science and reason.

Philosopher Robert Ehman looks at the familiar topics of personal identity, morality, sexuality, love, and death from a new perspective: that of the unique, irreplaceable personal value of each individual self as distinguished from the anonymity of our impersonal contemporary world. Ehman defines the authentic self as something more than the locus of spatial-temporal identity, the agent of action, the object of moral duties and respect, or the sum total of personal projects, achievements, social function, and status. What makes the self authentic can be discovered by contrasting who we really are, as irreplaceable individuals with uniquely personal perspectives, with the roles we must play in an essentially technological world, where one individual can easily be substituted for another. But the primary experience through which we encounter the authentic self, according to Ehman, is love; for it is personal love that provides access to the unique value of an individual self. This level of insight into the person is quite distinct from a moral appreciation of the individual, in which we respect another as a free being with rights and duties. It is also to be distinguished from sexual desire, in which we appreciate another for his or her potential for satisfying our own sexual urges, regardless of any value apart from the sexual context. Ehman concludes his study by considering Heidegger's intriguing proposal that it is only through a proper understanding of death that we can achieve authenticity. Through the experience of the death of a loved one and by coming to terms with the reality of our own death, we are afforded new opportunities of understanding the unique, irreplaceable value ofeach personal self.

The success of Steve Allen's How to Be Funny led first to the republication of that book and has now occasioned a companion volume, Make 'em Laugh. This new how-to book about the art of comedy includes an even richer assortment of examples of the author's unique humor. Allen, called by Noel Coward the most talented man in America, laces his formal instruction with hilarious adlibs, written jokes, TV comedy sketches, satires, song parodies, humorous essays, amusing autobiographical reminiscences, one-act plays, witty speeches, and stand-up monologues from his comedy concerts. Allen is probably the most borrowed-from comedian of all time. The perceptive reader will recognize in this book many of the comic ideas that he originated during the golden age of television comedy, ideas that are still influential in the 1990s. If there were a college course in creating and performing comedy, Make 'em Laugh would be the ideal textbook.

Michael Faraday (1791-1867) was one of the world's greatest experimental philosophers and popularizers of science. These six extraordinary lectures on gravitation, cohesion, chemical affinity, heat, magnetism, and electricity were intended for young audiences. Together, they offer the reader a fascinating introduction to some of Faraday's most important work on the correlation between the physical forces of the universe.

Family caregivers must often juggle their duties as parents, spouses, and employees while tending to the daily needs of a loved one who is elderly, chronically ill, or dying. As the rising cost of care forces many more people to respond to the needs of a family member, increasing numbers of primary care providers will become susceptible to anxiety, frustration, guilt, confusion, anger, emotional and physical fatigue, resentment, worry and depression, and other sources of pressure. Soon stress becomes an everyday occurrence that at times seems insurmountable. If those who care for the ill and the infirm are to remain effective, they must confront the reality of stress and their obligation, both to themselves and their loved ones, to take the time to find ways of relieving these pressures. In Taking Time for Me, Katherine L. Karr's insightful observations and suggestions - enhanced by compelling personal accounts of real care providers who are struggling with their own needs while tending to the needs of others - demonstrate that caregivers can overcome their personal conflicts and develop innovative ways of renewing their strength without jeopardizing the well-being of those who depend on them. From exercise regimens and support groups to recognizing the humor in everyday situations, this book can revitalize caregivers for the challenges ahead.

"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.