What accounts for the differing ways that individuals and cultures have tried to make sense of mental and physical disabilities? Can we see a pattern of change over time? Sara Newman examines personal narratives across a broad sweep of history—from ancient Greece to the present day—to reveal the interplay of dynamics that have shaped both personal and societal conceptions of mental and    More >

Mathieu, the narrator of this novel, is compelled by his older sister's suicide to confront the effects of his family's tragic past. Born after the war, Mathieu is left to grapple with recovering his sister's memories—which he had resolutely tried to deny—and with it the meaning of his own identity, family origins, and historical predicament. As neither victim, survivor,    More >

Choice Outstanding Academic Book! Marvin Free and Mitch Ruesink reveal the distinctive role that gender dynamics so often play in the miscarriage of justice.        Examining more than 160 cases involving such charges as homicide, child abuse, and drug trafficking, the authors explore systemic failures in both policing and prosecution. They also highlight the    More >

What acts truly deserve the death penalty? And how equitably do we apply this ultimate punishment? Cathleen Burnett explores wrongful capital sentencing to offer a sober yet searing critique of the criminal justice procedures and legal criteria involved. Highlighting problems such as the elicitation of false confessions, prosecutors who choose to ignore mitigating factors, and Supreme Court    More >

With steely determination, Xi Jinping has forged his way to absolute power at home, consolidated China's role as a global superpower, and promoted instrumental myths about his life. All the while, in many ways he has remained a mystery. Which is a problem, assert Stig Stenslie and Marte Kjær Galtung, because to understand China today, it is essential to understand Xi. Who is he? What    More >

From the appearance of Bound to Violence in the late 1960s, Yambo Ouologuem has been one of Africa's most controversial writers. For some critics, the young Malian signaled an entire new direction for African letters: a fiercely courageous postindependence literature. For others, his novel revealed too much, bringing to light horrors many preferred to ignore. Today Ouologuem is credited with    More >

Reportage and interviews by the first woman journalist allowed free access to the peoples and places of Yemen. Deonna offers both verbal and photographic images of this largely traditional society. Traveling from capital to village, from coast to desert, Deonna talks, and looks, and takes her pictures. She encounters kindness, courtesy, curiosity, and an ancient civilization, troubled, proud, but    More >

The pattern of migrants maintaining strong ties with their home communities is particularly common in sub-Saharan Africa, where it has important social, cultural, political, and economic implications. Lillian Trager explores the significance of hometown connections for civil society and local development in Nigeria. Rich ethnographic description and case studies illustrate the links that the Ijesa    More >

The authors of Young Families present an unparalleled view of the realities of teenage pregnancy in South Africa. Drawing on empirical data, multilevel approaches, and interdisciplinary perspectives on the dynamics that underpin young peoples' experiences of having and caring for a child, they explore the contexts in which young families are constituted and shaped, as well as the kinds of    More >

They are part of rebel factions, national armies, paramilitaries, and other armed groups and entrenched in some of the most violent conflicts around the globe. They are in some ways still children?yet, from Afghanistan to Sierra Leone to Northern Ireland, you can find them among the fighters. Why? Young Soldiers explores the reasons that adolescents who are neither physically forced nor abducted    More >