This collection explores conceptions and practices of democracy of social movement organizations involved in global protest. Focusing on the global justice movement this book shows how they adopt radical new democratic approaches and thus provide a fundamental critique of conventional politics.

The rise and fall of Manchester City's Young Guvnors mirrored the government's attempts to get to grips with the escalating violence at football matches throughout the 1980s. Here Rodney Rhoden, one of the youngest members of this feared group of supporters, recalls the police tactics that ended The Young Guvnors reign of terror. "This is my story". The story of the Young Guvnors. "The Young Guvnors fought not only on the streets of Manchester against their fellow hooligans but with other firms up and down the country. We sought out rival fans to fight - to say it is not a pleasant story is an understatement. "From our formation in the mid 1980s when organized football hooliganism was at an all time high its a vicious account of how we operated our bloody battles with opposing mobs and ultimately about our demise."

The Sicilian Mafia, or Cosa Nostra, is one of the most intriguing criminal phenomena in the world. It is an unparalleled organised criminal grouping that over almost two centuries has been able not only to successfully permeate licit and illicit economy, politics and civil society, but also to influence and exercise authoritative power over both the underworld and the upper-world. This criminal phenomenon has been a captivating conundrum for scholars of different disciplines who have tried to explain with various paradigms the reasons behind the emergence and consolidation of the mafia. Challenging the Mafia Mystique provides an analysis of the changes the Sicilian mafia has undergone, from legitimisation to denunciation. Rino Coluccello highlights how, from the very emergence of the organised criminal groups in Sicily, a culture existed that was protective and tolerant of the mafia. He argues that the various conceptualisations of the mafia that dominated the public and scientific debate in the nineteenth and more than half of the twentieth century created a mystique, which legitimised the mafia and contributed to their success. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of organised crime, Italian politics and Italian literature.

Women have been structurally part of the masonic enterprise from at least the middle of the 18th century. Yet, little is known about the ways in which they themselves obtained and exercised power to influence the systems they were involved in, in order to adapt them to be more appropriate to their needs. This volume intends to concentrate on two aspects: Women's agency (i.e. the power women gained and exercised in this context) and rituals (i.e. the role of men and women in changing and shaping the rituals women work with). These two aspects are closely related, since it requires some agency to realise changes in existing rituals.

"recommended for most academic and large public, and some special libraries." Library Journal

A glimpse into the private world of the hilarious Friars. The legendary New York Friars Club and its members are known the world over. This is a hilarious compilation of tales, anecdotes, and historical information about the club, featuring funny and moving moments from hundreds of stars like Milton Berle, Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis, Don Rickles, and more, as well as stars of today, like Kelsey Grammer, Jason Alexander, Billy Crystal, and Drew Carey. The Friars are renowned for dishing out jokes and doling out insults in order to roast countless performers, politicians, and popular personalities. From their first testimonial dinner in 1907 to their televised roast of Jerry Stiller in 1999, you'll be inside the club, where ribaldry is synonymous with fraternity. The Friars have never held back when the promise of a good laugh, especially at someone else's expense, was at hand. Find out what was really said and done at those titillating tongue-lashings known as the private and exclusive Friars Roasts (where even the waiters were ordered out of the room).

This book provides historical sketches of the most significant national and international learned societies and academies located outside the United States. Complementing Joseph Kiger's Research Institutions and Learned Societies, which covers the United States, this volume includes profiles, arranged alphabetically, on some 100 organizations located in fifty-three countries.

Each profile provides comprehensive, uniform, up-to-date information, including founding, history, purpose, activities, governance, current operations, and location of offices and archives, on the subject society. Entries conclude with sources of additional information. Appendices include chronologies, genealogies, and topical listings. The work includes a full index.

This hardbound edition of Yarker's classic opus is not merely another facsimile edition. It has been completely reformatted, yet retains a look and feel that is comparable to the original 1909 edition, right down to the blue cloth binding and gold stamped spine. From Alchemy to Zoroaster, and everything in between, The Arcane Schools continues to be one of the most comprehensive and authoritative works concerning the history and migration of the Western Mystery Tradition. Students of Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, and Theosophy will find this to be an indispensable addition to their collection.

The YMCA and the YWCA have been an integral part of America's urban landscape since their emergence almost 150 years ago. Yet the significant influence these organizations had on American society has been largely overlooked. Men and Women Adrift explores the role of the YMCA and YWCA in shaping the identities of America's urban population.

Examining the urban experiences of the single young men and women who came to the cities in search of employment and personal freedom, these essays trace the role of the YMCA and the YWCA in urban America from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The contributors detail the YMCA's early competition with churches and other urban institutions, the associations' unique architectural style, their services for members of the working class, African Americans, and immigrants, and their role in defining gender and sexual identities.

The volume includes contributions by Michelle Busby, Jessica Elfenbein, Sarah Heath, Adrienne Lash Jones, Paula Lupkin, Raymond A. Mohl, Elizabeth Norris, Cliff Putney, Nancy Robertson, Thomas Winter, and John D. Wrathall.

Triad Press is proud to offer this hardcover cloth-bound edition of Brother of the Third Degree as part of our "Classics of the Western Mystery Tradition" series. Originally published in 1894, this volume continues to inspire seekers on the initiatic path as well as those who are fascinated with the Western Mysteries. While this volume contains a fictionalized account of initiation, those with eyes to see and ears to hear will recognize that a wealth of hermetic and esoteric principles are revealed within its prose.

This book looks at masculinity and markets in the urban South. In ""Brothers of a Vow"", Ami Pflugrad-Jackisch examines secret fraternal organizations in Antebellum Virginia to offer fresh insight into masculinity and the redefinition of social and political roles of white men in the South. Young Virginians who came of age during the antebellum era lived through a time of tremendous economic, cultural, and political upheaval. In a state increasingly pulled between the demands of the growing market and the long-established tradition of unfree labor, Pflugrad-Jackisch argues that groups like the Freemasons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Sons of Temperance promoted market-oriented values and created bonds among white men that softened class distinctions. At the same time, these groups sought to stabilize social hierarchies that subordinated blacks and women. Pflugrad-Jackisch examines all aspects of the secret orders - from their bylaws and proceedings to their material culture, to their participation in a wide array of festivals, parades, and civic celebrations. Regarding gender, she shows how fraternal orders helped reinforce an alternative definition of southern white manhood that emphasized self-discipline, moral character, temperance, and success at work. These groups ultimately established a civic brotherhood among white men that marginalized the role of women in the public sphere and bolstered the respectability of white men regardless of class status. ""Brothers of a Vow"" is a nuanced look at how dominant groups craft collective identities, and it adds to our understanding of citizenship and political culture during a period of rapid change.