Examining the increasingly powerful role of standards in the governing of economic, political and social life, this book draws upon governmentality and actor network theory to explore how standards and standardizing projects are articulated and rendered workable in practice, and the objects, subjects and forms of identity to which this gives rise.

The year in which this first number of "Annals of Life Insurance Medicine" goes to press happens to be the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Swiss Reinsurance Com pany's activity in the field of underwriting and reassuring those risks which later became known as "substandard lives." In retrospect, it is a far cry from the old days when life assurance proposals were either accepted or rejected on medical grounds to the modern principles and methods of rating substandard cases both medically and actuarially. It can be assumed that in the course of the last few decades solutions, or at least approxi mate solutions sufficiently accurate for practical purposes, have been found to most of the numerous and often rather tricky actuarial problems relating to substandard policies, adequate premiums and reserves. No Life Assurer to-day however can fail to recognize that actuarial skill may only be applied to of medical assessment. Even the lay under substandard life risks on the basis writer certainly realizes that the medical and statistical problems inherent in the underwriting of substandard risks are infinitely more complex than any actuarial consequences of a calculated or assumed extramortality. It is primarily this basic fact which has stimulated the Swiss Reinsurance Company's plans to intensify and develop its research work in the field of the medical assessment of substandard lives."

'The best crime novel ever written' - Elmore Leonard 'If you haven't read George V. Higgins you can't call yourself a fan of crime fiction' Val McDermid 'Higgins deserves to stand in the company of Chandler and Hammett as one of the true innovators in crime fiction' Scott Turow When small-time gunrunner Eddie Coyle is convicted on a felony, he's looking at three years in the pen - that is, unless he sells out one of his big-fish clients to the DA. But which of the many hoods, gunmen and executioners he calls his friends should he send up river? Set on the mean streets of Boston and told almost entirely in crackling dialogue by a vivid cast of cops and lowlifes, The Friends of Eddie Coyle set a standard for authentically gritty crime fiction that has never been bettered.

Examining the increasingly powerful role of standards in the governing of economic, political and social life, this book draws upon governmentality and actor network theory to explore how standards and standardizing projects are articulated and rendered workable in practice, and the objects, subjects and forms of identity to which this gives rise.

A crime masterpiece brought back into print - and transformed into the major film, Killing Them Softly, starring Brad Pitt. 'Brilliant' WASHINGTON POST 'Gripping' TIMES 'Masterly' WALL STREET JOURNAL Jackie Cogan doesn't advertise what he does. But when the New England mob have a mess they need cleared up, they know who to call. Markie Trattman runs a high-stakes card-game under their protection. When the game gets raided by a couple of no-name hoodlums, Jackie's out of pocket. Unless of course he set up the heist himself. Either way the mob's got a problem. To restore credibility and keep things running smooth, they need to find out who's behind the heist - and then justice must be seen to be done. Which is where Jackie comes in. The trouble is, this is one game with a lot of players, including an out-of-town hitman, a sleazy attorney, a professional dog-stealer, and enough hoods, hangers-on and high-rollers to really make Jackie earn his dough. Filmed as Killing Them Softly.

The editors of this book focus on domestic sex trafficking, including the prostitution of children. The exact number of child victims of sex trafficking in the United States is unknown because comprehensive research and scientific data are lacking. Sex trafficking of children appears to be fuelled by a variety of environmental and situational variables ranging from poverty to the use of prostitution by runaway and "thrown-away" children or the recruitment of children by organized crime units for prostitution. Experts agree that any efforts to reduce the prevalence of child sex trafficking, as well as other forms of trafficking, should address not only the supply, but also the demand. In this book, demand reduction strategies are considered, such as increasing public awareness and prevention, as well as bolstering investigations and prosecutions of those who buy illegal commercial sex.

A riveting, blistering hot novel about the shady side of the law and the business side of the Boston underworld by the one and only George V. Higgins.
Jerry Fein is a small-time lawyer, occasional booking agent, and full-time slumlord. But he's nobody's fool. So when the tenants of his dilapidated buildings refuse to pay rent because of rats, Jerry knows just the man to help him--Leo Proctor, a professional arsonist, who can make a fire marshal look the other way for a little cash. But the heat is on over at the police station as well, and a couple of cops are suddenly feeling pressure from their superiors to produce, and something has got to give.
Full of hardnosed cops and lawyers a little too familiar with both sides of the law, "The Rat on Fire" is another Higgins masterpiece and an unflinching portrait of the Boston crime world.

A hard-hitting, tour-de force tale of the mob and the man who makes sure their rules are the only rules, by the American master of crime George V. Higgins.
Jackie Cogan is an enforcer for the New England mob. When a high-stakes card game is heisted by unknown hoodlums, Cogan is called in to "handle" the problem. Moving expertly and ruthlessly among a variety of criminal hacks, hangers-on, and bigger-time crooks--a classic cast of misfits animated by Higgins's hilarious, cracklingly authentic dialogue--Cogan gets to the root of the problem and, with five consecutive shots from a Smith & Wesson thirty-eight Police Special, restores order to his corner of the Boston underworld.
Combining his remarkable wit and a singular ability to show criminal life as it is lived, George V. Higgins builds an incredible story of crime to an unforgettable climax.

A riveting George V. Higgins masterpiece about Jerry Doherty and his trip to Vegas that puts him eighteen grand in the hole.
Jerry "Digger" Doherty is an ex-con and proprietor of a workingman's Boston bar, who supplements his income with the occasional "odd job," like stealing live checks or picking up hot goods. His brother's a priest, his wife's a nag, and he has a deadly appetite for martinis and gambling. On a trip to Vegas, the Digger finds himself in the sights of a loan shark known as "the Greek." Luckily--if you call it luck--the Digger has been let in on a little job that can turn his gambling debt into a profit, if only he can pull it off without getting himself killed.

The classic novel from "America's best crime novelist" ("Time"), with a new introduction by Dennis Lehane
George V. Higgins's seminal crime novel is a down-and-dirty tale of thieves, mobsters, and cops on the mean streets of Boston. When small-time gunrunner Eddie Coyle is convicted on a felony, he's looking at three years in the pen--that is, unless he sells out one of his big-fish clients to the DA. But which of the many hoods, gunmen, and executioners whom he calls his friends should he send up the river? Told almost entirely in crackling dialogue by a vivid cast of lowlifes and detectives, "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" is one of the greatest crime novels ever written.

'Higgins...has arranged the conventions of the crime novel into something new: oblique, bleak and often graveyard funny' SUNDAY TIMES 'Every American crime writer of the past 30 years owes a debt to George V Higgins. Higgins is the daddy. Read him and rejoice' Val McDermid 'Higgins deserves to stand in the company of Chandler and Hammett as one of the true innovators in crime fiction' Scott Turow When the tenants of Jerry Fein's dilapidated buildings refuse to pay the rent on account of the rats, Jerry drafts in arsonist Leo Proctor to take care of the problem. After all, the place is insured and the fire marshall's back is turned, so what could go wrong?

In Boston in the late 1960s, the activities of the mafia and of the Black Panthers are two of the police force's main concerns. Eddie Coyle, a minor gangster with good connections, faces a three-year sentence for contraband, and his only way of avoiding jail time is offering up a kingpin to the police. Which of the gunmen, thugs, and thieves he's acquainted with will he betray? Considered to be one of the best noir novels of the past century, this debut novel's publication in 1970 revolutionized the genre in the United States. "En el Boston de finales de los 60, las actividades de la mafia y de las Panteras Negras son dos de las cuestiones que mas preocupan a la policia. Eddie Coyle, un delincuente de poca monta con buenas conexiones, se enfrenta a una condena de tres anos por contrabando y su unica oportunidad para evitar la carcel es entregarle a la policia un pez gordo. A quien de los pistoleros, matones y ladrones que conoce delatara? Considerada como una de las mejores novelas negras del pasado siglo, la publicacion de esta primera novela en 1970 revoluciono el genero en los Estados Unidos. "