Over a period of almost 10 years, the work of the Project on Death in America (PDIA) played a formative role in the advancement of end of life care in the United States. The project concerned itself with adults and children, and with interests crossing boundaries between the clinical disciplines, the social sciences, arts and humanities. PDIA engaged with the problems of resources in poor communities and marginalized groups and settings, and it attempted to foster collaboration across a range of sectors and organizations. Authored by medical sociologist David Clark, whose research career has focused on mapping, archiving and analyzing the history and development of hospice, palliative care and related end of life issues, this book examines the broad, ambitious conception of PDIA - which sought to 'transform the culture of dying in America' - and assesses PDIA's contribution to the development of the palliative care field and to wider debates about end of life care within American society. Chapters consider key issues and topics tackled by PDIA grantees which include: explorations of the meanings of death in contemporary American culture; the varying experiences of care at the end of life (in different settings, among different social and ethnic groups); the innovations in service development and clinical practice that have occurred in the US in response to a growing awareness of and debate about end of life issues; the emerging evidence base for palliative and end of life care in the US; the maturation of a field of academic and clinical specialization; the policy and legal issues that have shaped development, including the ethical debate about assisted suicide and the Oregon experience; the opportunities and barriers that have been encountered; and the prospects for future development. A final chapter captures developments and milestones in the field since PDIA closed in 2003, and some of the challenges going forward.

Conflict is the essence of civil liberty. Individual or group rights are rarely, if ever, willingly bestowed without a struggle. From the day that King John was forced at Runnymede to recognize that his barons had certain prerogatives to the present era, when racial minorities, women, and gays and lesbians fight for a place at the table, the din of political, judicial, and sometimes violent battle echoes through the United States. And yet, are the law of freedom of speech and the law of equality truly on a collision course? Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has written that the strongest argument for regulating speech is the unreflective stupidity of most of the arguments for the other side - the tendency of those "who invoke the First Amendment mantra, and seem immediately to fall into a trance, oblivious to further argument and evidence". In an attempt to move past such rote recitations, this volume brings together such thinkers as Sylvia Law, Martin Redish, Ira Glasser, Randall Kennedy, Susan Deller Ross, and Wendy Kaminer to engage in a free-ranging conversation about this very issue. Focusing on the flashpoint topics of abortion clinic violence, workplace harassment, and hate crimes/hate speech, the contributors illustrate ways that we might get beyond the reflexivity that has dictated much of the debate around speech and equality.

Conflict is the essence of civil liberty. Individual, or group, rights are rarely, if ever, recognized without a struggle. From the day that King John was forced at Runnymede to acknowledge that his barons had certain prerogatives, to the present era, when racial minorities, women, and gays and lesbians fight for a place at the table, the din of political, judicial, and sometimes violent battle echoes through the United States.

And yet, are the law of freedom of speech and the law of equality truly on a collision course? Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has written that the strongest argument for regulating speech is the unreflective reasoning for the other side--the tendency of those who invoke the First Amendment mantra, and seem immediately to fall into a trance, oblivious to further argument and evidence.

In an attempt to move past such rote recitations, this volume brings together such thinkers as Sylvia Law, Martin Redish, Ira Glasser, Randall Kennedy, Susan Deller Ross, and Wendy Kaminer to engage in a free-ranging conversation about this very issue. Focussing on the flashpoint topics of abortion clinic violence, workplace harassment, and hate crimes/hate speech, the contributors illustrate ways that we might get beyond the reflexivity that has dictated much of the debate around speech and equality.