Soy in South America constitutes one of the most spectacular booms of agro-industrial commodity production in the world. It is the pinnacle of modernist agro-industrial practices, serving as a key nexus in food-feed-fuel production that underpins the agribusiness-conservationist discourse of "land sparing" through intensification. Yet soy production is implicated in multiple problems beyond deforestation, ranging from pesticide drift and contamination to social exclusion and conflicts in frontier zones, to concentration of wealth and income among the largest landowners and corporations. This book explores in depth the complex dynamics of soy production from its diverse social settings to its transnational connections, examining the politics of commodity and knowledge production, the role of the state, and the reach of corporate power in everyday life across soy landscapes in South America. Ultimately, the collection encourages us to search and struggle for agroecological alternatives through which we may overcome the pitfalls of this massive transnational capitalist agro-industry. This book was originally published as a special issue of The Journal of Peasant Studies.

Forests are in decline, and the threats these outposts of nature face--including deforestation, degradation, and fragmentation--are the result of human culture. Or are they? This volume calls these assumptions into question, revealing forests' past, present, and future conditions to be the joint products of a host of natural and cultural forces. Moreover, in many cases the coalescence of these forces--from local ecologies to competing knowledge systems--has masked a significant contemporary trend of woodland resurgence, even in the forests of the tropics. Focusing on the history and current use of woodlands from India to the Amazon, The Social Lives of Forests attempts to build a coherent view of forests sited at the nexus of nature, culture, and development. With chapters covering the effects of human activities on succession patterns in now-protected Costa Rican forests; the intersection of gender and knowledge in African shea nut tree markets; and even the unexpectedly rich urban woodlands of Chicago, this book explores forests as places of significant human action, with complex institutions, ecologies, and economies that have transformed these landscapes in the past and continue to shape them today. From rain forests to timber farms, the face of forests--how we define, understand, and maintain them--is changing.

Ferment, a sign of progress in any scientific field, has previously been lacking in the area of cryptorchidism, where the only activity has been in improving operative methods. Now, however, profound changes in the care of boys with cryptorchidism are being brought about; ideas are arising from a fresh look at comparative anatomy, and histological and experimental observa tions are being supplemented by clinical tests made possible by new hormonal agents. The treatment of cryptorchidism begins with its recognition by the pediatri cian, who until now has shown little interest because of disappointing results from chorionic gonadotropin administration. As for the surgeon, his bent toward restoration of normal anatomical relationships has kept his attention focused on the development of better surgical technics to bring the recalci trant testis into the scrotum. Both specialists have avoided the primordial question of why the testis did not descend properly. If this were known they would treat the cause of cryptorchidism, and not be satisfied merely with trying to correct its end result. As one reads this book, one sees that in most patients cryptorchidism is not caused by some anatomical structure blocking the way or by some deformity of the testis interfering with the transport mechanism. Rather, deficiencies in the hormonal environment of the fetus retard the developmen tal sequences essential to the normal differentiation and descent of the testis. The clinical solution is thus to provide the deficient substances."

Soy in South America constitutes one of the most spectacular booms of agro-industrial commodity production in the world. It is the pinnacle of modernist agro-industrial practices, serving as a key nexus in food-feed-fuel production that underpins the agribusiness-conservationist discourse of "land sparing" through intensification. Yet soy production is implicated in multiple problems beyond deforestation, ranging from pesticide drift and contamination to social exclusion and conflicts in frontier zones, to concentration of wealth and income among the largest landowners and corporations. This book explores in depth the complex dynamics of soy production from its diverse social settings to its transnational connections, examining the politics of commodity and knowledge production, the role of the state, and the reach of corporate power in everyday life across soy landscapes in South America. Ultimately, the collection encourages us to search and struggle for agroecological alternatives through which we may overcome the pitfalls of this massive transnational capitalist agro-industry. This book was originally published as a special issue of The Journal of Peasant Studies.

The fortunes of the late nineteenth century's imperial and industrial powers depended on a single raw material - rubber - with only one source: the Amazon basin. And so began the scramble for the Amazon, a decades-long conflict that found Britain, France, Belgium, and the United States fighting with and against the new nations of Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil for the forest's riches. In the midst of this struggle, Euclides da Cunha, engineer, journalist, geographer, political theorist, and one of Brazil's most celebrated writers, led a survey expedition to the farthest reaches of the river, among the world's most valuable, dangerous, and little-known landscapes. "The Scramble for the Amazon" tells the story of da Cunha's terrifying journey, the unfinished novel born from it, and the global strife that formed the backdrop for both. Haunted by his broken marriage, da Cunha trekked through a beautiful region thrown into chaos by guerrilla warfare, starving migrants, and native slavery. All the while, he worked on his masterpiece, a nationalist synthesis of geography, philosophy, biology, and journalism he named "the Lost Paradise". Da Cunha intended his epic to unveil the Amazon's explorers, spies, natives, and brutal geopolitics, but, as Susanna B. Hecht recounts, he never completed it - his wife's lover shot him dead upon his return. At once the biography of an extraordinary writer, a masterly chronicle of the social, political, and environmental history of the Amazon, and a superb translation of the remaining pieces of da Cunha's project, "The Scramble for the Amazon" is a work of thrilling intellectual ambition.

The Amazon rain forest covers more than five million square kilometers, amid the territories of nine different nations. It represents over half of the planet's remaining rain forests. But is it truly in peril? And what steps are necessary to save it? To understand the future of Amazonia, one must know how its history was forged: in the eras of large pre-Columbian populations, in the gold rush of conquistadors, in centuries of slavery, in the schemes of Brazil's military dictators in the 1960s and 1970s, and in new globalized economies where Brazilian soy and beef now dominate, while the market in carbon credits raises the value of standing forest. Susanna Hecht and Alexander Cockburn show in compelling detail the panorama of destruction as it unfolded and also reveal the extraordinary turnaround that is now taking place, thanks to both social movements and the emergence of new environmental markets. Exploring the role of human hands in destroying - and saving - this vast, forested region, "The Fate of the Forest" pivots on the murder of Chico Mendes, the legendary labor and environmental organizer assassinated after successful confrontations with big ranchers. A multifaceted portrait of Eden under siege, complete with a new preface and afterword by the authors, this book demonstrates that those who would hold a mirror up to nature must first learn the lessons offered by some of their own people.

Praise for ManagingNonprofits.org

"Hecht and Ramsey have hit a home run. ManagingNonprofits.org not only applies lessons learned from the dot.com world’s use of technology and the Internet to the nonprofit sector but helps nonprofit managers to adapt the best new management and leadership practices to their efforts. It is an invaluable tool for helping nonprofits reshape their old ways of doing business."
–Milton J. Little Jr.
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
National Urban League

"Ben Hecht and Rey Ramsey pull no punches in stating forcefully why non-profits have to modernize their approaches to management in the digital age. Lessons abound as to why this is so, and the authors’ new book presents them most effectively."
–Lawrence M. Small
Former President and Chief Operating Officer
Fannie Mae

"This book is the only one on the market specifically designed to help nonprofit managers understand and harness the power of technology and the Internet to strengthen the organization and better serve customers. Start building your Digital Culture today by buying this book and giving it to your employees, your board, your funders."
–Paul Shoemaker
Executive Director
Social Venture Partners

"This book is the road map to the 21st century that nonprofits so desperately need–and have been waiting for. Any organization that aspires to a role in our changing economy will find in these pages the tools they need to embrace and leverage such change for positive growth. Ben Hecht and Rey Ramsey have combined vision along with practical experience to produce a book that will not only help organizations survive and get to scale, but will ultimately save lives through stronger communities."
–Bill Shore
Founder and Executive Director
Share Our Strength

"The power of technology to help solve societal problems is awesome. But first, technology and the right applications must get into the culture and hands of our most committed and knowledgeable–the not-for-profit sector and its legions of staff and volunteers. This exciting book shows the way."
–Angela Glover Blackwell
Founder and President
PolicyLink