In ancient Israelite sacrifice as represented in the Hebrew Bible, the handling and use of the blood of sacrificed animals took many forms and served different functions. The Hebrew Bible refers to tossing sacrificial blood onto an altar or an assembly of people, daubing it on the altar's horns or parts of the human body, and sprinkling it on or in front of sacred objects.

William Gilders investigates the significance of these blood rituals. Offering a close reading of Leviticus 17:11, Gilders emphasizes the secondary and innovative character of this biblical text, which has often been treated as a key for understanding biblical blood ritual.

Focusing on the analysis of practice, Gilders finds that blood manipulation is regularly marked as elite activity, serving as an index of social relationships and hierarchies. Blood rituals also regulate access to sacred spaces and define the limits of such spaces. Drawing on recent theoretical approaches to ritual practices, this study offers a sophisticated new understanding of ancient rites.

Army Firefighting details the history of this low-density military occupational specialty which represents a small section of the Corps of Engineers. Beginning with the Civil War through present day, this historical perspective contains the lineage and history of Army fire fighting units and includes unit rosters, activations and deactivations, deployment locations and description of some of the major fires fought. The book also contains photographs of Army fire fighters during World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam, Desert Storm and the War on Terrorism. Using interviews, correspondence and diaries, as well as archived material, Leroy Allen Ward tells the remarkable story of the Army's Engineer Firefighters.

Drivers exiting the New Jersey Turnpike for Perth Amboy, and map readers marveling at all the places in Pennsylvania named Lackawanna, need no longer wonder how these names originated. "Manhattan to Minisink "provides the histories of more than five hundred place names in the Greater New York area, including the five boroughs, western Long Island, the New York counties north of the city, and parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Robert S. Grumet, a leading ethnohistorian specializing in the region's Indian peoples, draws on his meticulous research and deep knowledge to determine the origins of Native, and Native-sounding, place names.

Grumet divides his encyclopedic entries into two parts. The first comprises an alphabetical listing of nearly 340 Indian place names preserved in colonial records, located by county and state. Each entry includes the name's language of origin, if known, and a brief discussion of its etymology, including its earliest known occurrence in written records, the history of its appearance on maps, and the name's current status.

The book's second section presents nearly 200 place names that, though widely believed to be of Indian origin, are "imports, inventions, invocations, or impostors." Mistranslations are abundant in place names, and Grumet has ferreted out the mistakes and deceptions among home-grown colonial etymologies that New Yorkers have accepted for centuries.

Complete with a concise history of Greater New York, a discussion of the region's naming practices, a useful timeline, and four maps, this is an invaluable resource both for scholars and for readers who want a more intimate knowledge of the place where they live or visit.

Whether it's television, radio, concerts, live appearances by comedians, Internet websites, or even the political party conventions themselves, the mixing of politics and popular culture is frequently on display. The "Encyclopedia of Politics, the Media, and Popular Culture" examines the people, major events, media, and controversies in eight thematic chapters and over 150 entries to provide an invaluable resource for any student, scholar, or everyday political junkie needing a comprehensive introduction to the subject.

On a typical weeknight in the United States, millions shun the traditional evening network news broadcasts and, instead, later grab their remotes to turn to Comedy Central to catch up on the political happenings of the day, delivered by the comedian Jon Stewart on the faux news program, "The Daily ShoW." Immediately afterwards, they might stay tuned to "The Colbert Report" for another dosage of hilarious, fake news that, to them, comes across more honestly than the serious version they could watch on CNN. Whether it's television, radio, concerts, live appearances by comedians, Internet websites, or even the political party conventions themselves, the mixing of politics and popular culture is frequently on display. The "Encyclopedia of Politics, the Media, and Popular Culture" provides in-depth coverage of these fascinating, and often surprising intersections in both historical and contemporary culture.

This highly readable and entertaining encyclopedia provides a sweeping survey of the historic and ongoing interplay between politics, the media, and popular culture in eight thought-provoking chapters. The volume is enhanced with the inclusion of over 150 entries to help students and researchers easily locate more in-depth information on topics ranging from political scandals to YouTube.

In this second volume of the 1877 work that established him as England's leading authority on pornography, Henry Spencer Ashbee provides exhaustive reference for scores of "curious, uncommon and erotic books" that were banned or otherwise prohibited from legitimate sale during the Victorian era. Included in this volume are such "gentlemen only" titles as The Cloisters Laid Open, Memoirs of Miss Mary-Catherine Cadiere, and Pretty Little Games for Young Ladies and Gentlemen. This catalog of obscure and forgotten works is an invaluable-and highly entertaining-resource for bibliophiles, students of erotica, and collectors of Victoriana. British book collector, travel writer, and bibliographer HENRY SPENCER ASHBEE (1834-1900), aka Pisanus Fraxi, is thought by some to have authored the notorious Victorian sexual memoir My Secret Life.

In this first volume of the 1877 work that established him as England's leading authority on pornography, Henry Spencer Ashbee describes scores of "curious, uncommon and erotic books" that were banned or otherwise prohibited from legitimate sale during the Victorian era... and some even until the 1960s. Included in this far-reaching volume are such "gentlemen only" titles as Exhibition of Female Flagellants, The Battles of Venus, and A Cabinet of Amorous Curiosities. This catalog of mostly forgotten works is an invaluable-and highly entertaining-resource for bibliophiles, students of erotica, and collectors of Victoriana. British book collector, travel writer, and bibliographer HENRY SPENCER ASHBEE (1834-1900), aka Pisanus Fraxi, is thought by some to have authored the notorious Victorian sexual memoir My Secret Life.

Provides a complete summary of the benefits available to qualified American veterans of the armed forces, including health insurance, pensions, education, vocational rehabilitation, home loan guaranties, life insurance, burial benefits, and many others.