How are guns used and viewed by criminals? Where do criminals obtain guns? And how do laws make firearms more or less accessible? Confronting these contentious questions, Guns, Violence, and Criminal Behavior offers a comprehensive exploration of the social processes surrounding illegal firearm use and criminal behavior.  The authors draw on in-depth interviews with felons convicted of    More >

Hack with a Grenade offers a newspaper editor's perspective on the characters that shape South Africa's psyche. In a book that is one part humor and one part social commentary, Gasant Abarder draws on his broad experiences as a journalist to tackle such issues as religion, prejudice, and injustice. Sharing tales of his encounters with people from all walks of life, he slyly encourages    More >

With scholars far from agreement in their opinions of Ethiopia's Haile Selassie, the questions remain: Who was Haile Selassie? What was the secret of his survival across half a century—and how did he come to be a virtual exile in his own country, then murdered, the last emperor in a centuries-old dynasty? Haggai Erlich's Haile Selassie, full of fresh perspectives and insights,    More >

The collapse of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986 gave rise to optimism among Haitians in all walks of life—to hopes for a democratic journey leading to economic development, political renewal, and social peace. The reality of the subsequent years, however, has not been so sanguine. Robert Fatton analyzes the vicissitudes of politics in Haiti from the demise of Duvalier through the events of    More >

The inability of the Haitian state to deal with the devastation of the January 2010 earthquake brought into sharp focus Haiti’s desperate social and economic conditions—and raised perplexing questions. What accounts for the country's continuing predicament? Why have repeated attempts at democratic governance failed so abysmally? And what role has the international community    More >

In 2012, South Africa's social welfare system came under attack. Enormous sums of money were siphoned from South African Social Security Agency accounts—allegedly with the complicity of government officials—affecting the livelihoods of millions. But then, in what became a hugely successful grass-roots movement, the beneficiaries of the social grants mobilized behind Black    More >

How many inventions come from Africa? How many African countries have produced their own cars? Why is the M-Pesa mobile money system so important? Is the nature of innovation in Africa different from what we find elsewhere? In Harambee ("working together"), Mike Bruton addresses these and related questions as he remarkably discusses more than 800 inventions and innovations by more than    More >

James Brasfield explores the full gamut of health policy issues confronting the United States—ranging from Medicare and Medicaid, to the heated controversies surrounding health care reform, to the "sleeping giant" of long-term care. Notable features of the text include balanced discussions of: • how the real-world policy process works • competing proposals for    More >

The United States has never formally recognized Taiwan as a sovereign state, yet it has provided the country with security assistance since the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC) government there in 1949. What accounts for this equivocal stance? And how is the US leveraging Taiwan against China? To unpack this complex triangular relationship, Shao-cheng Sun explores the history of US    More >

Veronica Mercier, a sophisticated Caribbean woman teaching and living in Paris, journeys to West Africa in pursuit of her "identity." There, she becomes involved with a prominent political figure—and must find her way among the often misleading guises of ambition, idealism, and violence. Conveying a mosaic of feelings (from childhood and adolescence in Guadeloupe, university days    More >