Kevin R. Kosar

In the past fifteen years, presidents from two parties, supported by parents, teachers, and civic leaders have tried—and generally failed—to increase student achievement through federal policymaking. Supposedly pathbreaking legislation to "leave no child behind" has hardly made a dent in the problem. What is going on? Kevin R. Kosar delves into the political maneuvering  More >

Rudy Koshar, editor

In contrast with traditional scholarship, which has seen a more or less uniform middle-class response to the political and economic crises of the age of fascism, this comparative study of the politics and ideology of the urban lower middle classes in Europe from 1918 to 1939 stresses the diversity and splintering of middle class constituencies under the pressures of the interwar period. Looking  More >

Tatiana Kostadinova

Why has political corruption emerged as a major obstacle to successful democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe? Exploring the origins, scope, and impact of political corruption in the region's post communist states, Tatiana Kostadinova identifies the factors that favor illicit behavior and considers how the various forms of malfeasance are threatening democracy. Rich cross-national data  More >

Joseph Kostiner, editor

Though monarchies have been deemed obsolete by many observers, recent history testifies to their profound resilience. This volume offers an in-depth discussion of the fundamentals and performance of monarchies in the Middle East.  The authors focus on four themes: the roots and characteristics of Middle East monarchies, the causes of the collapse of some and the longevity of others, the  More >

Ahmadou Kourouma

A masterpiece of modern African literature, The Suns of Independence brilliantly captures the struggles, desires, and dreams of people in a west African country as they live through the tumultuous days of postcolonial independence.  More >

Heda Margolius Kovály, translated by Franci Epstein and Helen Epstein with the author

Heda Margolius Kovály (1919–2010) endured both the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz and the brutality of Czechoslovakia's postwar Stalinist government. Her husband, after surviving Dachau and Auschwitz and becoming Czechoslovakia's deputy minister of foreign trade, was convicted of conspiracy in the infamous 1952 Slansky trial and then executed. This clear-eyed memoir of her life  More >

John H. Kramer and Jeffrey T. Ulmer

Sentencing guidelines, adopted by many states in recent decades, are intended to eliminate the impact of bias based on factors ranging from a criminal’s ethnicity or gender to the county in which he or she was convicted. But have these guidelines achieved their goal of “fair punishment”? And how do the concerns of local courts shape sentencing under guidelines? In this  More >

Jean E. Krasno, editor

The thousands of documents in this five-volume set illuminate the complexity and texture of the workings of the United Nations as they trace the activities of Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the conceptual evolution of his ideas.  With the cooperation of the Executive Office of the Secretary-General in the release of previously classified material, the documents encompass internal notes,  More >

Jean E. Krasno, editor

The United Nations has a vast outreach through its many agencies, funds, and programs—but that very fact can make it difficult for "outsiders" to understand. Among the questions that arise: How can the UN promote human rights when its charter prohibits its intervention in the domestic affairs of sovereign states? Why do the five permanent members of the Security Council have  More >

Jean Krasno and Elisabeth Szeli

Frustrated by the abrogation of promises by nuclear weapons states to disarm, countries that have foregone nuclear weapons joined forces with key members of civil society in efforts that culminated in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). How did this initiative succeed—in defiance of the major powers—in changing the discourse around nuclear weapons? What roles  More >