This book offers an informative, but light-hearted look at the popularity of the Renaissance in 19th- and 20th-century America. While most Americans have only vague notions as to the historical dates and details of the Renaissance (Europe between 1400 and 1600), a large portion find themselves attracted to various ideals, cultural legacies, or other connotations that the term brings to mind. Michelangelo, da Vinci, Shakespeare, and Machiavelli, are omnipresent in modern culture. From the real Renaissance, as depicted in literature and film, to renaissance as idea, Grendler explores the kinship that modern Americans feel with the period and the concept. They admire its creativity, beauty, and elegance, in a world that seems to be ever shorter on these qualities. Few historical periods contain so many easily recognized figures, and few historical terms are used so widely in modern culture. Today, Renaissance means rebirth and revival. It implies moving forward or making progress - concepts dear to the American psyche. It means personal hope and expectation. From business names to personal ads, the use of the term is pervasive. practical application of Renaissance philosophy and ideas to daily life (think Machiavellian scheming, or renaissance men and women), Grendler shows how contemporary Americans have embraced the 16th century as a model of culture and sophistication.

This collection of over 400 biographies of eminent ethnic Americans celebrates a wide array of inspiring individuals and their contributions to U.S. history. The stories of these 400 eminent ethnic Americans are a testimony to the enduring power of the American dream. These men and women, from 90 different ethnic groups, certainly faced unequal access to opportunities. Yet they all became renowned artists, writers, political and religious leaders, scientists, and athletes. Kahlil Gibran, Daniel Inouye, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Thurgood Marshall, Madeleine Albright, and many others are living proof that the land of opportunity sometimes lives up to its name. Alongside these success stories, as historian Elliot R. Barkan notes in his introduction to this volume, there have been many failures and many immigrants who did not stay in the United States. Nevertheless, the stories of these trailblazers, visionaries, and champions portray the breadth of possibilities, from organizing a nascent community to winning the Nobel prize. They also provide irrefutable evidence that no single generation and no single cultural heritage can claim credit for what America is.

This two volume set provides the complete proceedings of the 1990 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks held in Washington, D.C. Complete with subject, author, and title indices, it provides an invaluable reference to the current state-of-the-art in neural networks. Included in this volume are the latest research results, applications, and products from over 2,000 researchers and application developers from around the world. Ideal as a reference for researchers and practitioners of neuroscience, the two volumes are divided into eight sections: * Neural and Cognitive Sciences * Pattern Recognition and Analysis of Network Dynamics * Learning Theory * Plenary Lecture by Bernard Widrow * Special Lectures on Self-Organizing Neural Architectures * Application Systems and Network Implementations * Robotics, Speech, Signal Processing, and Vision * Expert Systems and Other Real-World Applications

There is strong demand for current, accurate, and objective information about Islamic societies and Muslims around the world. This is the first survey for a general audience of key current topics in 16 countries with significant Muslim populations. Each chapter covering a country contains the following narrative elements: Overview (statistics, demographics of followers, brief history of their life there); Political Impact; Women's Status; Special Issues in the News; Notable People (biographical profiles); and Resource Guide, with Suggested Reading, Films/Videos, Websites, and Organizations. The content ties in to World History standards to help analyze connections between globalizing trends in culture in the late 20th century and dynamic assertions of traditional cultural identity and distinctiveness, as well as to the Global Connections part of Social Studies standards. This will be essential reading for those desiring a one-volume resource about hot spots in the news today. Countries profiled include Afghanistan, Albania, Bosnia and Herzogovina, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. Photos and maps help to put the narrative in perspective.

This exciting title in ABC-CLIO's Popular Culture in the Contemporary World series offers the nonspecialist reader the only up-to-date introduction to all facets of popular culture in China. China's release from Maoist austerity has produced an explosion in popular culture. The Chinese have embraced such technologies as television and cell phones and shaped them to their own social context. Understanding modern China requires a thorough knowledge of daily life there. This book presents readers, from high-school and college students to the inquisitive tourist, with that knowledge. The author, a scholar of Chinese culture, draws on his own fieldwork, along with authoritative scholarship and reporting, to give the reader a comprehensive, lively, and accessible introduction to all aspects of Chinese popular culture. The book begins with an introduction to understanding popular culture in China and covers mass media; print media; cinema, film, and video; the Internet; and also discusses the rise of consumption and consumerism. From the modernization of traditional theater to the traditional uses of modern technology, this book presents a guide to the emerging culture of a country that will inevitably become increasingly influential in coming years.

Throughout U.S. history, attitudes toward young people have vacillated between fear of and fear for. These attitudes impact social programs for youth, including the system of juvenile justice. Attitudes are shaped by the socio-political and cultural cliimate of the times, and can be traced back to colonial times. However, changing mores and values often create confusion and conflict, resulting in ineffective strategies for preventing and responding to juvenile delinquency. Tracing the history of juvenile justice back to the pre-colonial era through the present day, Finley sheds light on just how we arrived where we are in terms of juvenile justice. She connects the competing attitudes about young people to the social, economic, and political changes of a given era, and offers recommendations for establishing more effective and more humane policies toward juveniles in the justice system. Early America is known for its harsh treatment of young people, most notably, the stubborn child laws, which authorized use of the death penalty for children who defied their parents. Yet, even then, many people held more nurturing attitudes toward youth. Thus originated the mixed messages in the U.S. regarding juvenile delinquency and the hodgepodge of approaches that follow. The establishment of the juvenile justice system, founded on the concept of parens patriae, or the state as parent, would seem to have settled the debate over how juvenile offenders should be treated. In reality, however, there remains much controversy over how best to handle juvenile offenders, especially those who commit the most serious offenses. While some still maintain juveniles are developmentally different and should be treated in ways consistent with these differences, others are dismayed at what they feel to be a system that is too lenient and that leads to higher juvenile crime rates and more serious offenses. With the advent of three strikes laws, curfew laws, boot camps, and referring juveniles to adult courts, and subsequently assigning them to adult prisons, many question just how we got to this place in juvenile justice. Here, Finley offers the history behind the controversial goals and development of the juvenile justice system, providing detailed descriptions of the major trends in juvenile justice. Addressing the most current aspects of the controversy, she also sheds light on issues of race, social class, and gender. Offering recommendations for addressing the weaknesses and confusion in the system, Finley offers a unique and compelling perspective on controversial subject.

From the snowy peaks of the Andes to the barren deserts of Arabia to the icy fjords of Scandinavia, cultures around the world have created mythological systems to explain the universe and humanity's place in it. ABC-CLIO's World Mythology series explores the belief systems of ancient societies on five continents and across millennia of history. What gave rise to them? How did they change with changing times? Why did they disappear? And what parts live on in modern cultures, around the world?

A volume of essays that examine more than 2,000 years of Italian Jewish history, from ancient Rome to contemporary developments concerning assimilation, literature, and the recent trial of a former SS captain implicated in crimes against humanity.

The essays make clear that the Italian Jews have a unique history in Europe. A Jewish colony existed in Rome 200 years before the birth of Christ; the Eternal City therefore represents the oldest Jewish community in the Western world. Successive waves of immigrants created dozens of Jewish communities on the peninsula. Depending on the time and the place, Italian Jews could expect tolerance, discrimination, persecution, or outright violence. Still, they fared better than their brethren in other parts of Europe. Because of their long history on the peninsula, the volume covers an astonishing variety of subjects: from legal discrimination and historical sources to Jewish dancing masters in the Renaissance; from architecture to contradictory interpretations of the Holocaust; from the special section on the linguistic and moral power of Primo Levi to child-rearing manuals of 17th-century Livorno. In addition, two Holocaust survivors recount their experiences in an extraordinary section, The Language of the Witness. Engaging essays for scholars, students, and other researchers interested in Italian Studies and the roles the peninsula's Jewish population played through history.

An exciting and up-to-the-minute introduction to consciousness research and its applications to our waking and sleeping moments. Science now debates great consciousness puzzles such as chess-playing computers, dream states, and optical illusions. Opposing theorists ponder if a red sunset exists in the sky or in the head and why feelings affect thinking. Can objective science study subjective experience? Once philosophical, consciousness is now an exciting science. Author Anthony Freeman, managing editor of the Journal of Consciousness Studies, opens Consciousness with a history of mind study, and ends with a review of multidisciplinary cognitive science. Between, it's a wild ride of conflicting theories on the working of the brain and up-to-the-minute research. Seeing vs. believing, mind/body connections, zombies, and assembly line robots are just the beginning. Even chaos theory and quantum physics are relevant, with opposing approaches inciting disciplinary battles. This illustrated and accessible volume profiles key researchers like Wilder Penfield, who chatted with his conscious sister while removing a tumor from her brain.

Humor is a powerful force that can nourish children's growth, development, health, and sense of well-being. This study will inspire adults to lower their threshold for humor — to let humor enter their professional lives and intertwine their relationships with children. Examines the significant role that humor plays in meeting children's needs at various stages of development. Children between the ages/stages of preschool to eleven years of age (pre-adolescence) are the focus of this book. Professionals who are creative users of humor, and whose work with humor is exemplary in nurturing children's cognitive, social, and/or emotional development, illustrate how humor played a key role in the relationships they developed with children. Authors, representing a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines, include: a therapist, teacher educator, child development specialist, art/communication multimedia educator, early childhood teacher, Child Life specialist, and therapeutic hospital clowns. The authors take readers into the different worlds of children, and describe how humor helped children learn, cope, think creatively, develop social skills, gain self-esteem, and experience a sense of well being. The role and significance of comic incongruity is illustrated in the context of play, classroom life, artistic expression, medical treatment, and therapy. A final chapter promotes humor as a subject of inquiry in professional development programs across disciplines.

This book uses primary documents as a lens through which to examine historical and present-day efforts to protect endangered species in the United States and around the world. In this thought-provoking work, author Edward P. Weber examines the values, policies, challenges, and approaches to endangered species conservation over the past 200 years. Using primary source documents and in-depth analysis of the issues, the reference tracks the evolution of species protection and conservation in the United States, and offers a brief look at global programs in the United States and other parts of the world. The book surveys how different countries are faring in protecting their plant and animal life, and considers which guidelines and programs hold the most promise for success in the future. Chapters compare and contrast past and present attitudes regarding endangered species and extinction and identify the influence of major organizations and individuals central to the debate over endangered species. Judiciously selected primary documents also explore the impact of species endangerment and loss on natural ecosystems—and ultimately, on humankind itself.

For all of us forced to deal with an infuriating, mean, critical person, seasoned counselor Nina Brown has a word of warning. "You must accept that your usual coping strategies are not effective, and will not be effective, with this person," she advises. "You cannot expect them to react and behave as adults." So what's a victim to do? Start with the suggestions in this book. In Coping with Infuriating, Mean, Critical People, Brown explains why many people, who may not display all of the characteristics necessary for a formal, full-blown narcissist diagnosis, still display what she calls a "destructive narcissistic pattern" that results in much the same anguish for those with whom the individual interacts. Thankfully, she also provides specific methods that will help victims of this behavior deal with the narcissistic colleague, supervisor or boss, parent, or intimate other. Only the extremely lucky among us have never faced or felt the effects of narcissistic behaviors and attitudes, displayed by colleagues, bosses, friends, parents, or lovers. These individuals may boast and brag constantly, take credit for other people's work, expect favors but return few or none, never listen (but always know all the answers), be sure of what is right and best regardless of the topic. They devalue others, micromanage, are hypercritical and mistrustful. Other characteristics of this harmful personality include an inflated sense of importance, although achievements are exaggerated and actual outcomes don't support feelings of superiority. They are exploitative, without empathy, and believe they are envied by all. Brown's excellent advice will help you cope.

Haiti is the only country that is considered Latin American but has a language and culture that are predominantly French and a population that is primarily of African descent. It is also the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and a country of extremes. Culture and Customs of Haiti fleshes out the evolution of this diverse society through discussions of the Haitian people, history, religion, social customs, media, literature and language, and performing and visual arts. This much-needed resource gives students and other readers a balanced picture of a Caribbean nation known in the United States mainly for its "boat people," the Duvalier dictatorships, and "voodoo." Culture and Customs of Haiti begins with an overview of the mountainous island that seemed forbidding to European colonizers. Historical periods, including French colonization, U.S. occupation in the early 20th century, Independence and the Duvaliers' reigns, until today, are reviewed and provide the framework for the volume. A chapter on the people and society details the pride of the black state that managed the only successful slave revolution in history. The extremes of society from the elite to the peasantry and slum dwellers are depicted, along with Haitians in diaspora. Religion in Haiti, with the strong amalgamation of Roman Catholicism and vaudou, a West African import, is then explained. A "Social Customs" chapter notes the joy that is found in such an economically depressed culture. The media and literature and language chapters necessarily unfold in the context of Haiti's political history. A section on writing in Creole is especially intriguing. Finally, chapters on the performing arts and visual arts evokethe energy and color of the people in such forms as vaudou jazz and dance, contemporary rara rock, and the folkloric influence on Haitian painting. A chronology and glossary supplement the text.

Wetzel and Brown examine the extent to which student-to-student sexual harassment exists in secondary schools today. They provide evidence that student sexual harassment is not only currently widespread, it is also unconsciously and consciously condoned by school authorities who are charged with providing a safe and effective educational environment.

After reviewing the state of sexual harassment in American high schools, the authors provide the best practices for increasing awareness of what behaviors constitute sexual harassment as well as alert readers to the negative impact on both boys and girls, where sexual harassment is most likely to take place, and ways students can become more socially adept. A template for developing a school district policy is presented as are strategies for educating and dissemination. Practical and specific strategies for parents, teachers, and students are presented in detail.

This volume offers an authoritative review of leading scholarship in personal construct theory and related approaches, giving fresh analyses of problems such as the construction of selfhood, processes of meaning-making in substance abuse and attention deficit disorder, and the dynamics of insight. Methodologically oriented readers will find critical reappraisals of repertory grid measures, as well as new analytic strategies for textual analysis.

Readers from a range of disciplines including clinical and counseling practice, organizational consultation, education, research design and methodology and the social sciences in general will find in this volume a sophisticated exploration of a host of constructionist and social constructionist concerns. Those include debates between realism and relativism, issues in dialectical and relational self-development, and psychotherapeutic strategies. The social construction of mental disorders and therapeutic interventions is also addressed.

America’s War for Independence dramatically affected the speed and nature of broader social, cultural, and political changes including those shaping the place and roles of women in society. Women fought the American Revolution in many ways, in a literal no less than a figurative sense. Whether Loyalist or Patriot, Indigenous or immigrant enslaved or slave-owning, going willingly into battle or responding when war came to their doorsteps, women participated in the conflict in complex and varied ways that reveal the critical distinctions and intersections of race, class, and allegiance that defined the era.This collection examines the impact of Revolutionary-era women on the outcomes of the war and its subsequent narrative tradition, from popular perception to academic treatment. The contributors show how women navigated a country at war, directly affected the war’s result, and influenced the foundational historical record left in its wake. Engaging directly with that record, this volume’s authors demonstrate the ways that the Revolution transformed women’s place in America as it offered new opportunities but also imposed new limitations in the brave new world they helped create. Contributors: Jacqueline Beatty, York College * Carin Bloom, Historic Charleston Foundation * Todd W. Braisted, independent scholar * Benjamin L. Carp, Brooklyn College * Lauren Duval, University of Oklahoma * Steven Elliott, U.S. Army Center of Military History * Lorri Glover, Saint Louis University * Don N. Hagist, Journal of the American Revolution * Sean M. Heuvel, Christopher Newport University * Martha J. King, Papers of Thomas Jefferson * Barbara Alice Mann, University of Toledo * J. Patrick Mullins, Marquette University * Alisa Wade, California State University at Chico