New Thinking on Improving Maternity Care is the result of years of comparative international research, with the goal of finding and generating the best possible evidence across a range of childbirth practices, contexts, and issues in Europe. There is a general shift towards a more risk-averse approach to childbirth globally, but this is occurring at different rates in population attitudes and in use of childbirth technologies, in different countries. The drivers to such changes can also vary from country to country, but the clinical, social and economic consequences are similar. This book offers a new set of theories to help explain the nature of maternity care provision across Europe and beyond, including complexity theory, salutogenesis, and new concepts of organisational culture. The aim of the book is to examine the nature of these theories, and to apply them to a range of practical situations in a number of different countries. A fascinating book, that will become required reading for European maternity professionals.

From the 19th-century articulations of Sojourner Truth to such contemporary thinkers as Patricia J. Williams, black feminists have always recognized the mutual dependence of race and gender. In this text, Valerie Smith explores the myriad ways race and gender shape lives and social practices. Smith identifies black feminist theorizing as a strategy of reading rather than as something located in a particular subjective experience. Her intent is not to deny the validity of black women's lived experience, but rather to resist deploying a uniform model of black women's lives. Whether reading race or gender in the Central Park jogger case or in contemporary media, like "Livin' Large," Smith dispalys critical rigour that promises to change the way we think about race and gender.

Rational Dissent was a branch of Protestant religious nonconformity which emerged to prominence in England between c. 1770 and c. 1800. While small, the movement provoked fierce opposition from both Anglicans and Orthodox Dissenters. Rational Dissent was a branch of Protestant religious nonconformity which emerged to prominence in England between c. 1770 and c. 1800. Based on the sole study of the Scriptures and the application of individual reasoning to understanding the word of God, Rational Dissent rejected the role and authority of Anglican priests but also stood apart from Orthodox Dissent in its denial of the Trinity and Original Sin, arguing that these concepts were 'irrational'. While small, the movement provoked fierce opposition from both Anglicans and Orthodox Dissenters. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary published and unpublished sources, this study explores the theology of Rational Dissent in its entirety, arguing that it was considerably more diverse than has previously been acknowledged. Through an examination of lists of subscribers to Rational Dissenting publications and organizations, and of Unitarian libraries and their readers, the book uncovers the movement's less visible adherents, mapping them both socially and geographically. It also explores the impact of vehement attacks by Anglicans and Orthodox Dissenters on the development of a Rational Dissenting identity. Within the context of the struggle for civil and political rights and of the American and French Revolutions, the book establishes that the theology of Rational Dissenters underpinned their political beliefs and concepts of liberty, drove their ideas on the nature of society, and determined the lives and priorities of its lay adherents. The final stage of the book explores the largely Unitarian legacy of Rational Dissent and its theological, cultural and social impact in England post 1800.

The essays collected here, written by leading critics of Toni Morrison's work, exemplify the fresh theoretical and cultural perspectives that have been brought to bear on African-American texts in general and on Song of Solomon in particular. They reveal the complexities of a deceptively straightforward novel and spark renewed interest in this pivotal text by one of the most gifted authors this nation has produced.

The essays collected here, written by leading critics of Toni Morrison's work, exemplify the fresh theoretical and cultural perspectives that have been brought to bear on African-American texts in general and on Song of Solomon in particular. They reveal the complexities of a deceptively straightforward novel and spark renewed interest in this pivotal text by one of the most gifted authors this nation has produced.

A prolifically creative artistic polymath, American artist Amy Sillman (b.1955) works in drawing, zines, iPhone videos, installation, collaboration, teaching and curating, but painting has remained always at the very heart of her practice. This comprehensive monograph covers two decades of production, from the late-1990s to the present. Valerie Smith's text reveals Sillman's uniquely time-based approach to painting, influenced and inflected as much by filmmakers and musicians and the processes of her other chosen disciplines as by strictly art-historical forebears. Sillman's works perform an intensive cognitive and gestural interrogation of her chosen materials: discovering, undoing and reforming trains of painterly thought, often over long periods of time and across large numbers of linked works. Sillman's painting emerges as a radically expressive force; a pointedly self-reflexive practice that reformulates contemporary painting as an ever-evolving continuum and never simply a finished work.

The much-anticipated Third Edition brings together the work of 140 writers from 1746 to the present writing in all genres, as well as performers of vernacular forms from spirituals and sermons to jazz and hip hop. Fresh scholarship, new visuals and media, and new selections with an emphasis on contemporary writers combine to make The Norton Anthology of African American Literature an even better teaching tool for instructors and an unmatched value for students."

With wry humor and penetrating satire, "Flatland" takes us on a mind-expanding journey into a different world to give us a new vision of our own. A. Square, the slightly befuddled narrator, is born into a place limited to two dimensions--irrevocably flat--and peopled by a hierarchy of geometrical forms. In a Gulliver-like tour of his bizarre homeland, A. Square spins a fascinating tale of domestic drama and political turmoil, from sex among consenting triangles to the intentional subjugation of Flatland's females. He tells of visits to Lineland, the world of one dimension, and Pointland, the world of no dimension. But when A. Square dares to speak openly of a third, or even a fourth, dimension, his tragic fate climaxes a brilliant parody of Victorian society. An underground favorite since its publication in England in1884, "Flatland" is as prophetic a science fiction classic as the works of H. G. Wells, introducing aspects of relativity and hyperspace years before Einstein's famous theories. And it does so with wonderful, enduring enchantment.
With an Introduction by Valerie Smith and a New Afterword by John Allen Paulos

The much-anticipated Third Edition brings together the work of 140 writers from 1746 to the present writing in all genres, as well as performers of vernacular forms from spirituals and sermons to jazz and hip hop. Fresh scholarship, new visuals and media, and new selections with an emphasis on contemporary writers combine to make The Norton Anthology of African American Literature an even better teaching tool for instructors and an unmatched value for students."

This book focuses on enabling students to understand what research is, why it is relevant in healthcare and how it should be applied in practice. It takes the reader step by step through the research process, from choosing research questions through to searching the literature, analysing findings and presenting the final piece of work. Key features of the book are: Tips for the best practice when reading and critiquing research. Activities to test your knowledge. Key points which highlight the important topics. A companion website which includes a critical appraisal tool to use when assessing papers, multiple choice questions and free SAGE journal articles for students. Seminar plans and PowerPoint slides are provided to support lecturers in their teaching. It is essential reading for all undergraduate students of nursing, midwifery and healthcare.

The first history of America's major literary form offers new views of our literary history and a sophisticated examination of areas of fiction that have only recently begun to receive attention.

When a middle-aged single mother suffers a mental breakdown while caring for her children, the desperate fight for survival typical of her life intensified. Born into a large family and abused by her father, she'd faced adversity before, but this would prove to be her greatest test.
Grappling with the brutal, damaging legacy of her upbringing and the dark secret about one of her sisters, her biggest hurdle was to overcome the desire to abuse her own baby boy. Finally, after years of struggling to care for her kids, she achieves mental fortitude, and her goal of becoming the perfect mother.
On Edge of Insanity follows the story of one woman's tenacity in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, on her journey to find normality in a world of madness.