When the Christian Right burst onto the scene in the late 1970s, many political observers were shocked. But, God's Own Party demonstrates, they shouldn't have been. The Christian Right goes back much farther than most journalists, political scientists, and historians realize. Relying on extensive archival and primary source research, Daniel K. Williams presents the first comprehensive history of the Christian Right, uncovering how evangelicals came to see the Republican Party as the vehicle through which they could reclaim America as a Christian nation. The conventional wisdom has been that the Christian Right arose in response to Roe v. Wade and the liberal government policies of the 1970s. Williams shows that the movement's roots run much deeper, dating to the 1920s, when fundamentalists launched a campaign to restore the influence of conservative Protestantism on American society. He describes how evangelicals linked this program to a political agenda-resulting in initiatives against evolution and Catholic political power, as well as the national crusade against communism. Williams chronicles Billy Graham's alliance with the Eisenhower White House, Richard Nixon's manipulation of the evangelical vote, and the political activities of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and others, culminating in the presidency of George W. Bush. Though the Christian Right has frequently been declared dead, Williams shows, it has come back stronger every time. Today, no Republican presidential candidate can hope to win the party's nomination without its support. A fascinating and much-needed account of a key force in American politics, God's Own Party is the only full-scale analysis of the electoral shifts, cultural changes, and political activists at the movement's core-showing how the Christian Right redefined politics as we know it.

Step across the threshold of a haunted hotel in California's renowned Gold Country and encounter phantom figures of yesteryear. Wispy apparitions of gentleman guests in Victorian coats and ladies in fashionable flapper gowns glide through the walls, while unexplained sobs and choking gasps disturb the night. There's Stan, the Cary House's eternal desk clerk, and bachelor ghost Lyle, who tidies the Groveland Hotel. Flo tosses pots and pans in the National's kitchen, while the once-scorned spirit of Isabella ties the Sierra Nevada House's curtains in knots. From suicidal gamblers to murdered miners, the Mother Lode's one-time boomtowns are crowded with characters of centuries past. Book your stay with author Nancy Williams as she explores the history and haunts of the Gold Country's iconic hotels.

Double bill of futuristic horror films. In 'The Purge' (2013), Ethan Hawke stars as the head of a family forced to fight for their lives. With crime in America spiralling out of control and prison populations soaring, the government of the day implements a drastic new initiative to address the problem. For a 12-hour period once a year, all crime, including murder, is legal, as the police and other emergency services stand down for the night, allowing the population to regulate itself. 'The Purge' is deemed a success due to plummeting crime levels and record low unemployment figures. But after placing their upmarket home under its yearly lockdown, James and Mary Sandin (Hawke and Lena Headey) and their family find themselves under siege from a crazed group of masked killers when their teenage son (Max Burkholder) offers shelter to the mob's terrified prey. In 'The Purge: Anarchy' (2014), following on from events in the previous film, a year has passed and the time for society to purge itself of all murderous and violent urges has come back around. Desperate to get home to their children before 'The Purge' commences, a young couple (Zach Gilford and Kiele Sanchez) find themselves stranded when their car breaks down, leaving them at the mercy of a mob of masked attackers. Meanwhile, a man (Frank Grillo) looking to avenge the murder of his son becomes the reluctant protector of a mother and daughter (Carmen Ejogo and Zoe Soul) on the run. Can they all survive the night?

When Michael K. Williams died on 6 September 2021, he left behind a career as one of the most electrifying actors of his generation. From his star turn as Omar Little in The Wire to Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire to Emmy-nominated roles in HBO's The Night Of and Lovecraft Country, Williams inhabited a slew of indelible roles that he portrayed with a rawness and vulnerability that leapt off the screen. Beyond the nominations and acclaim, Williams played characters who connected, whose humanity couldn't be denied, whose stories were too often left out of the main narrative. At the time of his death, Williams had nearly finished a memoir that tells the story of his past while looking to the future, a book that merges his life and his life's work. Mike, as his friends knew him, was so much more than an actor. In Scenes from My Life, he traces his life in whole, from his childhood in East Flatbush and his early years as a dancer to his battles with addiction and the bar fight that left his face with his distinguishing scar. He was a committed Brooklyn resident and activist who dedicated his life to working with social justice organisations and his community, especially in helping at-risk youth find their voice and carve out their future. Williams worked to keep the spotlight on those he fought for and with, whom he believed in with his whole heart. Imbued with poignance and raw honesty, Scenes from My Life is the story of a performer who gave his all to everything he did-in his own voice, in his own words, as only he could.

The New York Times Bestseller ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, NPR, The Root A moving, unflinching memoir of hard-won success, struggles with addiction, and a lifelong mission to give back. When Michael K. Williams died on 6 September 2021, he left behind a career as one of the most electrifying actors of his generation. From his star turn as Omar Little in The Wire to Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire to Emmy-nominated roles in HBO’s The Night Of and Lovecraft Country, Williams inhabited a slew of indelible roles that he portrayed with a rawness and vulnerability that leapt off the screen. Beyond the nominations and acclaim, Williams played characters who connected, whose humanity couldn’t be denied, whose stories were too often left out of the main narrative. At the time of his death, Williams had nearly finished a memoir that tells the story of his past while looking to the future, a book that merges his life and his life’s work. Mike, as his friends knew him, was so much more than an actor. In Scenes from My Life, he traces his life in whole, from his childhood in East Flatbush and his early years as a dancer to his battles with addiction and the bar fight that left his face with his distinguishing scar. He was a committed Brooklyn resident and activist who dedicated his life to working with social justice organisations and his community, especially in helping at-risk youth find their voice and carve out their future. Williams worked to keep the spotlight on those he fought for and with, whom he believed in with his whole heart. Imbued with poignance and raw honesty, Scenes from My Life is the story of a performer who gave his all to everything he did – in his own voice, in his own words, as only he could. 'Immensely inspiring and candid' - Publishers Weekly 'Soul-baring' - The Washington Post 'A gripping, revelatory memoir' - NPR 'William's cool rasp leaps off every page, his story told in the direct yet impassioned language that defined his greatest characters' - Vulture

Abortion is the most divisive issue in America's culture wars, seemingly creating a clear division between conservative members of the Religious Right and people who align themselves with socially and politically liberal causes. In Defenders of the Unborn, historian Daniel K. Williams complicates this perspective by offering a detailed, engagingly written narrative of the pro-life movement's mid-twentieth-century origins. He explains that the movement began long before Roe v. Wade, and traces its fifty-year history to explain how and why abortion politics have continued to polarize the nation up to the present day. As this book shows, the pro-life movement developed not because of a backlash against women's rights, the sexual revolution, or the power of the Supreme Court, but because of an anxiety that devout Catholics-as well as Orthodox Jews, liberal Protestants, and others not commonly associated with the movement-had about living in a society in which the "inalienable" right to life was no longer protected in public law. As members of a movement grounded in the liberal human rights tradition of the 1960s, pro-lifers were winning the political debate on abortion policy up until the decision in Roe v.Wade deprived them of victory and forced them to ally with political conservatives, a move that eventually required a compromise of some of their core values. Defenders of the Unborn draws from a wide range of previously unexamined archival sources to offer a new portrayal of the pro-life movement that will surprise people on both sides of the abortion debate.

You are not alone if you are one of the staggering numbers of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren Are you confused by the generational gaps, challenging communications, and tough questions like, "Why are my parents so old? Why is my father in jail? Why doesn't my mother show up to visit when she promised?"

This book evaluates the history, the present and the future of water markets on 5 continents, beginning with the institutional underpinnings of water markets and factors influencing transaction costs. The book examines markets in seven countries and three different U.S. states, ranging from village-level water markets in Oman to basin wide formal water markets in Australia's Murray-Darling River basin.

Introductory chapters on the background of water markets and on transaction costs and policy design are followed by chapter length discussion of water markets as an adaptive response to climate change and of supply reliability in a changing climate. Case studies describe a variety of facets of the design and function of markets around the world: California, Chile, Spain, Oman, Australia, Canada, India and China.

In analyzing these real-world examples of markets, the contributors explore water rights and trading of rights between agricultural and urban sectors and the principles and function of option markets. They discuss different sized approaches, from large scale, ministry-level administration of markets to informal arrangements among farmers in the same village, or groups of villages which allocate water without large investment in management and infrastructure. Discussion includes questions of why water market practices have not expanded more rapidly in arid places.

The book discusses mechanisms for resolving conflicts between water rights holders as well as between water right holders and third parties impacted by water trades and whether or not public ownership of water rights or use rights should trump private ownership and under what condition. Also covered are new and expanding categories of water use, beyond human consumption, agriculture and industry to new technologies ranging from extracting natural gas from shale to producing biofuels.

The book concludes with suggestions for future water markets and offers a realistic picture of how they might change water use and distribution practices going forward.

This volume offers a new perspective on American conservatism in the 1960s and the way in which the changes of the decade shaped the development of American politics for the next half-century. Historians have increasingly begun to view the sixties as a decade of conservatism, and a spate of landmark books in the field have traced the careers of Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George Wallace. Much, however, is still unknown about the growth of the conservative movement during this decade. In their effort to chronicle the national politicians and organizations that led the movement, previous histories of conservatism neglected to examine lesser-known developments--local perspectives, the role of religion, transnational dimensions--that help to give clues to conservatism's enduring influence in American politics. The contributions here provide a synthesis of cutting-edge scholarship that addresses those overlooked developments and offers new insights into the way that the 1960s shaped the trajectory and contributed to the political power of postwar conservatism.

The first account of the secret police in Eastern Europe after 1989, this book uses a wide range of sources, including archives, to identify what has and has not changed since the end of Communism. After explaining the structure and workings of two of the area's most feared services, Czechoslovakia's StB and Romania's Securitate, the authors detail the creation of new security intelligence institutions, the development of contacts with the West, and forms of democratic control.

Embodying Democracy analyzes the politics of electoral reform in eight postcommunist states including Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, and Ukraine. By exploring the multiple factors that shaped the design of electoral institutions during the first ten years of postcommunist transition, it accounts for an important element of the postcommunist reform process and illuminates general features of institutional design in post-transition states.

Markets for Water: Potential and Performance dispels many of the myths surrounding water markets and gives readers a comprehensive picture of the way that markets have developed in different parts of the world. It is possible, for example, for a water market to fail, and for the transaction costs in water markets to be excessive. Too often water trading is banned because the water resources have been developed with public funds and the water agencies do not want to lose control over water. There is also a concern that poor farmers or households will be disadvantaged by water trading. These concerns about public resources and the poor are not very different from those that have been voiced in the past about land sales. The problem is that in many cases the poor already have limited access to resources, but this limit is not due to water trading. In fact, water trading is likely to expand the access to water for many small-scale farmers. Markets for Water: Potential and Performance provides an analytical framework for water market establishment. It develops the necessary conditions for water markets and illustrates how they can improve both water management and economic efficiency. Finally, the book gives readers an up-to-date picture of what we have learned about water markets in a wide range of countries, from the US to Chile and India.

This book contains a selection of the papers presented at the Joint Conference on Food, Agriculture, and the Environment, which was held in Bologna, Italy, on June 12-14, 2001. This was the seventh gathering of a biennal meeting born from a cooperation agreement between US and Italian academic and research institutions. This round of the Conference was organized in the Faculty of Agriculture in Bologna by the Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Engineering (DEIAgra) and the CNR Land and Agri-System Management Research Centre (GeST A-CNR) of Bologna. There were two main reasons for the choice of this location: fIrst, the Conference was dedicated to Maurizio Grillenzoni and Franco Alvisi, two colleagues and friends who passed away in recent years, and who committed themselves and played an important role in developing the collaboration agreement and promoting the past Conferences; second, in the year 2000 the Faculty of Agriculture in Bologna celebrated its fIrst centennial, and this Con ference was part of a wide set of events organized to highlight the relevant role of the Faculty in the research activity, both at an Italian and international level. The Conference papers were articulated both in plenary and concurrent sessions, dealing with key topics for agricultural economists. A structure similar to the Conference was adopted for grouping the papers into the four sections contained in this book: * food, nutrition, and quality, focusing i. e.