"Explains why a significant body of scientific research has been largely ignored by cancer research institutions. Hess has clearly demonstrated the valuable role that social scientists can have in offering a neutral perspective on medical research and how it is shaped by cultural bias."
--"Townsend Letter"

"Hess has made a careful study of one of the most intriguing themes that weaves through the recent history of unconventional approaches to cancer. Every researcher, physician, and general reader interested in this field should welcome this important and incisive contribution."
--"Michael Lerner
President, Commonweal, and author of "Choices in Healing"

Growing numbers of cancer patients are exploring diet, food supplements, herbs, and nontoxic immunotherapies like bacterial vaccines as a means of therapy. Yet most cancer research organizations refuse to even evaluate these alternatives. "Can Bacteria Cause Cancer?" argues convincingly that unless this neglected world of alternative therapies is properly scrutinized, the medical Vietnam of the twentieth century may well affect one in two people by the twenty-first century.

David J. Hess investigates one of the great medical mysteries of the twentieth century--the relationship between bacteria and chronic disease. Recently scientists have overturned long-held beliefs by demonstrating that bacterial infections cause many ulcers; they are now reconsidering the role of bacterial infections in other chronic diseases, such as arthritis. Is it possible, Hess asks, that bacteria can contribute to the many other known causes of cancer?

To answer this intriguing question, Hess takes us into the world of alternative cancerresearchers. Maintaining that their work has been actively suppressed rather than simply dismissed, he examines their claims---that bacterial vaccines have led to some dramatic cases of long-term cancer remission--and the scientific potential of their theories. Economic interests and cultural values, he demonstrates, have influenced the rush toward radiation and chemotherapy and the current cul-de-sac of toxic treatments.

More than a medical mystery story, "Can Bacteria Cause Cancer?" is a dramatic case study of the failure of the war on cancer.

Part of a series examining different aspects of knowledge and society, this volume focuses on the anthropology of science and technology. Divided into three parts, it covers: the reconstruction of medical science and technology; science and technology at large; and discipline, culture and power.

"An outstanding contribution to the international debate over breast cancer. Women Confront Cancer not only focuses on exciting new non-conventional treatment options, but allows outspoken women cancer patients to describe their experiences and ordeals in their own words. A landmard in the struggle for patient autonomy."
--"Ralph Moss, Ph.D., author of The Cancer Industry"

"Without telling us what we ought to do, these women make it clear what we can do: Remember that miracles do occur and that no one, not even orthodox medicine, has all the answers."
--"Susun S. Weed, author of Breast Cancer? Breast Health!, The Wise Woman Way."

"Women Confront Cancer offers more than case stories of hope triumphing over despair, more than options, alternatives and resources. Its message about individuality, empowerment and leadership makes it must reading for every woman diagnosed with cancer. Its quiet demand for medical freedom of choice and for a patient-driven shift in oncologic policy should be heard by every professional in the cancer field. If ever there was a time for this book, it is now."
--"Susan Silberstein, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Center for Advancement in Cancer Education"

Each year hundreds of thousands of women are diagnosed with cancer, and more and more frequently, women are turning to alternative treatments to take control of their illnesses and their lives. Information, however, has been scarce for women navigating through conventional and unconventional medicine. Research funding continues to support traditional cancer therapies. Women Confront Cancer declares the need for new, less toxic therapies and diagnostic procedures.

For the first time, WomenConfront Cancer unites the voices of women leaders who have breast, cervical, ovarian, and other cancers. Documenting the decision process, the choices, and the dilemmas these women faced as they chose alternative and complementary cancer treatments, a powerful unity emerges, pointing the way to the future of the diagnosis and treatment of cancer by less toxic methods. Ann Frahm, the author of "A Cancer Battle Plan," Susan Moss, the author of "Keep Your Breasts," and Cathy Hitchcock, coauthor of "Breast Cancer," are only three of the leaders who relate their personal experiences with cancer. All of the women featured in Women Confront Cancer share how and why they created treatment programs that combine the best of conventional and unconventional approaches, and how it has improved their health and their lives.

A call for patients' rights, for policy reform in cancer research, for better information about both conventional and alternative medicine, Women Confront Cancer will be both a source of inspiration for women who have cancer and an aid for them in creating their own approach to healing.

* Did you know that October is [ NATIONAL BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH ] and pink is the color that symbolizes breast cancer awareness?

This issue of Political Power and Social Theory explores the changes in science associated with the rise of neoliberalism since the 1970s. The neoliberalization of science has complicated interactions among states, markets, and civil society, often in ways that challenge major assumptions underlying decades of research. The articles collected here break with older Mertonian sociologies of science and constructivist microsociologies of scientific knowledge to examine the mesolevel problem of the changing institutional contexts of "the scientific field" as originally identified by Pierre Bourdieu. Papers presented in Part I extend Bourdieu's relational approach to the broader set of interactions among scientific, regulatory, industry, and social movement fields. Part II extends Bourdieu's concern with order and the scientific habitus to the changing patterns of scientific practices under neoliberalism. By reconceptualizing the central problem for the social studies of science as the political sociological problem of field and interfield dynamics, the collected papers chart an important theoretical agenda for future research in the study of sciencesociety relations.

Diana E. Forsythe was a leading anthropologist of science, technology, and work, and especially of the field of artificial intelligence. This volume collects her best-known essays, along with other major works that remained unpublished upon her death in 1997.
The essays proceed as a series of developing variations on the key questions that still confront science and technology studies today. What assumptions do expert systems designers make about users, and about knowledge more broadly, when they build software? How should humans interact with computers, and how do they, really? Why do computing firms hire anthropologists to study human-computer interaction, and what do anthropologists find once they are hired? And how and why are traditional power asymmetries between men and women produced and maintained in engineering firms and laboratories?
The book is not only a significant anthropological study of artificial intelligence and informatics, but is also an exemplar of how reflexive ethnography should be done. Among several pioneering strands of thought, it investigates the roles of gender and power in computer engineering, looking at the cultural mechanisms that support the persistent male domination of engineering, and analyzing the laboratory as a fictive kin group that reproduces gender asymmetries.

"Explains why a significant body of scientific research has been largely ignored by cancer research institutions. Hess has clearly demonstrated the valuable role that social scientists can have in offering a neutral perspective on medical research and how it is shaped by cultural bias."
--"Townsend Letter"

"Hess has made a careful study of one of the most intriguing themes that weaves through the recent history of unconventional approaches to cancer. Every researcher, physician, and general reader interested in this field should welcome this important and incisive contribution."
--"Michael Lerner
President, Commonweal, and author of "Choices in Healing"

Growing numbers of cancer patients are exploring diet, food supplements, herbs, and nontoxic immunotherapies like bacterial vaccines as a means of therapy. Yet most cancer research organizations refuse to even evaluate these alternatives. "Can Bacteria Cause Cancer?" argues convincingly that unless this neglected world of alternative therapies is properly scrutinized, the medical Vietnam of the twentieth century may well affect one in two people by the twenty-first century.

David J. Hess investigates one of the great medical mysteries of the twentieth century--the relationship between bacteria and chronic disease. Recently scientists have overturned long-held beliefs by demonstrating that bacterial infections cause many ulcers; they are now reconsidering the role of bacterial infections in other chronic diseases, such as arthritis. Is it possible, Hess asks, that bacteria can contribute to the many other known causes of cancer?

To answer this intriguing question, Hess takes us into the world of alternative cancerresearchers. Maintaining that their work has been actively suppressed rather than simply dismissed, he examines their claims---that bacterial vaccines have led to some dramatic cases of long-term cancer remission--and the scientific potential of their theories. Economic interests and cultural values, he demonstrates, have influenced the rush toward radiation and chemotherapy and the current cul-de-sac of toxic treatments.

More than a medical mystery story, "Can Bacteria Cause Cancer?" is a dramatic case study of the failure of the war on cancer.

The first comprehensive survey of the nascent field of "science studies" Thrust into the public eye by the contentious "Science Wars"-played out most recently by physicist Alan Sokal's hoax-the nascent field of science studies takes on the political, historical, and cultural dimensions of technology and the sciences. Science Studies is the first comprehensive survey of the field, combining a concise overview of key concepts with an original and integrated framework. In the process of bringing disparate fields together under one tent, David J. Hess realizes the full promise of science studies, long uncomfortably squeezed into traditional disciplines. He provides a clear discussion of the issues and misunderstandings that have arisen in these interdisciplinary conversations. His survey is up-to-date and includes recent developments in philosophy, sociology, anthropology, history, cultural studies, and feminist studies. By moving from the discipline-bound blinders of a sociology, history, philosophy, or anthropology of science to a transdisciplinary field, science studies, Hess argues, will be able to provide crucial conceptual tools for public discussions about the role of science and technology in a democratic society.

"An outstanding contribution to the international debate over breast cancer. Women Confront Cancer not only focuses on exciting new non-conventional treatment options, but allows outspoken women cancer patients to describe their experiences and ordeals in their own words. A landmard in the struggle for patient autonomy."
--"Ralph Moss, Ph.D., author of The Cancer Industry"

"Without telling us what we ought to do, these women make it clear what we can do: Remember that miracles do occur and that no one, not even orthodox medicine, has all the answers."
--"Susun S. Weed, author of Breast Cancer? Breast Health!, The Wise Woman Way."

"Women Confront Cancer offers more than case stories of hope triumphing over despair, more than options, alternatives and resources. Its message about individuality, empowerment and leadership makes it must reading for every woman diagnosed with cancer. Its quiet demand for medical freedom of choice and for a patient-driven shift in oncologic policy should be heard by every professional in the cancer field. If ever there was a time for this book, it is now."
--"Susan Silberstein, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Center for Advancement in Cancer Education"

Each year hundreds of thousands of women are diagnosed with cancer, and more and more frequently, women are turning to alternative treatments to take control of their illnesses and their lives. Information, however, has been scarce for women navigating through conventional and unconventional medicine. Research funding continues to support traditional cancer therapies. Women Confront Cancer declares the need for new, less toxic therapies and diagnostic procedures.

For the first time, WomenConfront Cancer unites the voices of women leaders who have breast, cervical, ovarian, and other cancers. Documenting the decision process, the choices, and the dilemmas these women faced as they chose alternative and complementary cancer treatments, a powerful unity emerges, pointing the way to the future of the diagnosis and treatment of cancer by less toxic methods. Ann Frahm, the author of "A Cancer Battle Plan," Susan Moss, the author of "Keep Your Breasts," and Cathy Hitchcock, coauthor of "Breast Cancer," are only three of the leaders who relate their personal experiences with cancer. All of the women featured in Women Confront Cancer share how and why they created treatment programs that combine the best of conventional and unconventional approaches, and how it has improved their health and their lives.

A call for patients' rights, for policy reform in cancer research, for better information about both conventional and alternative medicine, Women Confront Cancer will be both a source of inspiration for women who have cancer and an aid for them in creating their own approach to healing.

* Did you know that October is [ NATIONAL BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH ] and pink is the color that symbolizes breast cancer awareness?

An absorbing account of an anthropologist's fieldwork and explorations into alternative religions in Brazil, "Samba in the Night" invites the reader into the mysterious world of spirit mediums, poltergeists, psychic surgery, exorcism and spiritual healing. The author focuses on spiritism, a vital religious movement with millions of followers. He provides descriptions of rituals and at the same time weaves in a detective story about the complex relations between Spiritist rituals and the rest of their world. Through a patchwork of anecdotes about spirit mediums, doctors, engineers, lawmakers, Jesuits, and past-life therapists, the book offers an introduction to Brazilian religion and society as well as to the art of anthropological fieldwork.

Collection of essays written by Brazilian and American scholars considers many aspects of Brazilian society and culture. Divided into four sections: 'Brazilian Styles of Social Relations,' 'Race, Class, and Gender in a Changing Culture,' 'Ideologies and Cultures on an International Stage,' and 'Brazilian Society: Macrostructures in Comparative Perspective.' Essays share a comparative and cultural perspective, bringing out the hierarchical and personalistic structures of Brazilian society"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.

The first comprehensive survey of the nascent field of "science studies" Thrust into the public eye by the contentious "Science Wars"-played out most recently by physicist Alan Sokal's hoax-the nascent field of science studies takes on the political, historical, and cultural dimensions of technology and the sciences. Science Studies is the first comprehensive survey of the field, combining a concise overview of key concepts with an original and integrated framework. In the process of bringing disparate fields together under one tent, David J. Hess realizes the full promise of science studies, long uncomfortably squeezed into traditional disciplines. He provides a clear discussion of the issues and misunderstandings that have arisen in these interdisciplinary conversations. His survey is up-to-date and includes recent developments in philosophy, sociology, anthropology, history, cultural studies, and feminist studies. By moving from the discipline-bound blinders of a sociology, history, philosophy, or anthropology of science to a transdisciplinary field, science studies, Hess argues, will be able to provide crucial conceptual tools for public discussions about the role of science and technology in a democratic society.

A theoretical integration of science and technology studies and social movement studies that finds both common ground and "undone" research. As the fields of social movement studies (SMS) and science and technology studies (STS) have diversified in topical focus, they have moved closer to each other. SMS has turned toward the study of nonstate targets and institutionalized repertoires of action, just as STS has turned to expertise and publics. In Undone Science, David Hess argues that a theoretical integration of core concepts in the two fields is now possible, and he presents just such a synthesis. Hess focuses on industrial transition movements-mobilized counterpublics of activists, advocates, entrepreneurs, and other agents of change-and examines several areas of common ground between the two fields relevant to these movements. His account reveals the problem of "undone science"-areas of research potentially valuable to the goals of industrial transition movements that have been systematically ignored. Each chapter begins with a problem in SMS, discusses the relevant STS literature, describes new concepts and findings that have emerged, and offers applications to examples that range from nanotechnology and climate science denialism to conflicts based on race, class, and gender. Topics include the epistemic dimension of the political opportunity structure, networks of counterpublic knowledge, and regime resistance in industrial transition.

Brazilian Spiritism (espiritismo, kardecismo) is an important middle-class religious movement whose followers believe in communication with the dead via spirit mediums and in healing illnesses by means of spiritual therapies. Unlike Anglo-Saxon Spiritualists, Brazilian Spiritists count among their number a well-developed and institutionalized intellectual elite that has reinterpreted northern hemisphere parapsychology and developed its own alternative medicine and sociology of religion. As a result, the mediation between popular religion (especially Afro-Brazilian religious practices) and the orthodoxies of the universities, the state, and the medical profession.

Situating Spiritist intellectual thought in what he calls a broader ideological arena, Hess examines Spiritism in the context of religion, science, political ideology, medicine, and even the social sciences. Hess challenges the legacy of French sociologist Roger Bastide, who saw in Spiritism an elitist, middle-class ideology. In the process, Spirits and Scientists provides a new approach to middle-class religious movements in Latin America.