How do social scientists study the impact of social networking sites on racial identity formation? How has the Internet impacted the accumulation of social and cultural capital? By synthesizing insights across a variety of disciplines, this book builds an original theoretical perspective through which these and other questions about core social processes can be addressed. Three case studies of how African Americans use information and communication technologies (ICTs) are used to illustrate this theoretical perspective. They show how groups can leverage ICTs to overcome historical inequalities. The book argues that the lenses through which scholars and society's leaders think about new technology place too much emphasis on the technological and economic aspects of ICTs, and not enough on the impact of ICTs on social processes at the everyday level.

How do social scientists study the impact of social networking sites on racial identity formation? How has the Internet impacted the accumulation of social and cultural capital? By synthesizing insights across a variety of disciplines, this book builds an original theoretical perspective through which these and other questions about core social processes can be addressed. Three case studies of how African Americans use information and communication technologies (ICTs) are used to illustrate this theoretical perspective. They show how groups can leverage ICTs to overcome historical inequalities. The book argues that the lenses through which scholars and society's leaders think about new technology place too much emphasis on the technological and economic aspects of ICTs, and not enough on the impact of ICTs on social processes at the everyday level.

A deeply researched, well-written and comprehensive biography which vividly brings its subject and the milieu of the Scottish Reformation to life - but, even more significantly, the author's approach to Knox is uniquely different to the contemporary preconception of a ranting dogmatic misogynist. This man of action lived a dramatic life - he was a galley slave, an exile, and a man who lived at the very centre of one of the most volatile periods in Christian and Scottish history, keeping his integrity intact.

Bonnie Prince Charlie is one of the best-known and romantic names in Scottish and British history. As with so many legends, the truth is often obscure and the debate continues to rage over questions of his plans to become Charles III, his wish to make Britain a Catholic country, the battle of Culloden, France's role in the '45 Rebellion, whether he ultimately proved to be a coward and how he met his end. Few others have really explored Charles's motivations. By tackling 12 of the most intriguing myths surrounding Bonnie Prince Charlie, and revealing some little-known and astonishing facts, this book casts new perspective on one of the most turbulent times in Scottish and British history. Ten myths about Bonnie Prince Charlie are explored and, through them, we discover why Charles converted to the Church of England, who Charles's mysterious wife was, why the Duke of Cumberland was not the most ruthless man at Culloden, why Charles rejected the idea of an independent Scotland and the real reason why Charles wanted to take the British throne.

How did Christianity come to Scotland? A sixteen-hundred-year-old fog of mystery separates us from the dawn of Christianity in Scotland - but there are some intriguing signposts. Roderick Graham's thorough research challenges the myths. He reveals what Scotland was like before Ninian, Columba and Kentigern and explores the nature of the Christianity that they brought. He seeks answers to the question of Ninian's existence and the arrival of Christianity at Whithorn, why Columba came to Iona, who the mysterious Culdees were, the fate of Kentigern's mother and why Kentigern met with Columba in Paisley - and he unveils the pivotal role of the synod at Whitby in 664.

Crowned at nine months, married at sixteen, widowed at eighteen, implicated in the murder of her second husband, and executed for treason, Mary Stuart lived a life that could not have been better imagined by any Hollywood screen writer. Mary, Queen of Scots, lived during one of the most fascinating periods in history. Graham's epic work paints a unique picture of this controversial woman, showing her to be neither a Catholic martyr nor murdering adulteress but an innocent young woman caught up in the ruthless sea of sixteenth-century politics, someone who lacked the shrewdness and empowerment of her contemporaries: Catherine de Medici, Diane de Poitiers and Elizabeth Tudor. Instead, she relied on her beauty and charm and tragically allowed herself to be a victim of circumstance. When she did finally attempt to control her future, she set in motion the events that would lead her to the executioner's block, sentenced to die by none other than her cousin Queen Elizabeth.