Decapod crustaceans are of tremendous interest and importance evolutionarily, ecologically, and economically. There is no shortage of publications reflecting the wide variety of ideas and hypotheses concerning decapod phylogeny, but until recently, the world's leading decapodologists had never assembled to elucidate and discuss relationships among the major decapod lineages and between decapods and other crustaceans. Based on the findings presented by an international group of scientists at a symposium supported by the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, The Crustacean Society, and several other societies, and with major funding from the National Science Foundation, Decapod Crustacean Phylogenetics provides a comprehensive synopsis of the current knowledge of this vast and important group of animals.

This volume contains state-of-the-art reviews of literature and methodologies for elucidating decapod phylogeny. The contributions include studies on the fossil origin of decapods, morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses, the evolution of mating and its bearing on phylogeny, decapod "evo-devo" studies, decapod spermiocladistics, and phylogenetic inference. The experts also present research on preliminary attempts to construct the first known phylogenetic tree for various groups of decapods. Several contributions offer the most comprehensive analyses to date on major clades of decapods, and others introduce data or approaches that could be used in the future to help resolve the phylogeny of the Decapoda.

Currently, the Decapoda contain an estimated 15,000 species, some of which support seafood and marine industries worth billions of dollars each year to the world's economy. This volume is a fascinating overview of where we are currently in our understanding of these important creatures and their phylogeny and also provides a window into the future of decapod research. This work will be of great interest to researchers, instructors, and students in marine biology, evolutionary biology, crustacean biology, resource management, and biodiversity database management.

Joel Martin draws his narrative from folk stories, rituals, and even landscapes to trace the development of Native American religion from ancient burial mounds, through interactions with European conquerors and missionaries, and on to the modern-day rebirth of ancient rites and beliefs.

"Every time I feel sad or wish my brother was here to hug me, no matter where I am, I hear his favorite song on the radio."

More than one hundred million Americans claim to have had contact with the dead through deathbed visions, dream visitations, and otherwise inexplicable lifesaving premonitions. Is it possible to bridge the gap between our world and the hereafter and make contact with departed family and friends?

In this groundbreaking work, authors Joel Martin and Patricia Romanowski share the dramatic firsthand testimonies of men and women who have connected with loved ones who have passed over. Providing compelling evidence for these experiences and offering new insight into the afterlife, Love Beyond Life is at once fascinating, comforting, and enlightening, an invaluable resource for anyone who yearns to make sense of life's final journey.

In a compelling counterpoint to viewing colonial Indian-white relations as a series of uneven battles or unfair massacres, Joel Martin traces the cultural/religious history of the Muskogee "Creeks" from precontact times, through a century of nation-to-nation dealings with European traders, to a culmination of this interaction in the 1814 revolt against the U.S. Army at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Placed in a Muskogee context, this revolt is more than an uprising against white encroachment; it is the culmination of an ongoing effort by the Muskogees for cultural reaffirmation. Part of a growing body of literature in which Native Americans are viewed as dynamic participants in the events that encompass their worlds, this is an important contribution to U.S. history collections.