The history of Trinidad begins with a delusion: the belief that somewhere nearby on the South American mainland lay El Dorado, the mythical kingdom of gold. In this extraordinary and often gripping bo
Drawing on qualitative and quantitative research, this book provides a path-breaking account of civil society in the Philippines. It challenges the widespread belief in political science and developme
Among African countries, Uganda is unique in its affirmative action program for women. In the late 1980s, President Yoweri Museveni announced his belief that Uganda’s successful development depended o
This is the first book to explore how religion, belief and spirituality are negotiated in hospice care. Specifically, it considers the significant place that spiritual care has in hospice care and cla
Plausible Crime Stories is not only the first in-depth study of the history of sex offences in Mandate Palestine but it also pioneers an approach to the historical study of criminal law and proof that focuses on plausibility. Doctrinal rules of evidence only partially explain which crime stories make sense while others fail to convince. Since plausibility is predicated on commonly held systems of belief, it not only provides a key to the meanings individual social players ascribe to the law but also yields insight into communal perceptions of the legal system, self-identity, the essence of normality and deviance and notions of gender, morality, nationality, ethnicity, age, religion and other cultural institutions. Using archival materials, including documents relating to 147 criminal court cases, this socio-legal study of plausibility opens a window onto a broad societal view of past beliefs, dispositions, mentalities, tensions, emotions, boundaries and hierarchies.
The drying up of the Aral Sea - a major environmental catastrophe of the late twentieth century - is deeply rooted in the dreams of the irrigation age of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a time when engineers, scientists, politicians, and entrepreneurs around the world united in the belief that universal scientific knowledge, together with modern technologies, could be used to transform large areas of the planet from 'wasteland' into productive agricultural land. Though ostensibly about bringing modernity, progress, and prosperity to the deserts, the transformation of Central Asia's landscapes through tsarist- and Soviet-era hydraulic projects bore the hallmarks of a colonial experiment. Examining how both regimes used irrigation-age fantasies of bringing the deserts to life as a means of claiming legitimacy in Central Asia, Maya K. Peterson brings a fresh perspective to the history of Russia's conquest and rule of Central Asia.
In both Europe and the United States it can be argued that the associational and institutional dimensions of the right to freedom of religion or belief are increasingly coming under pressure. This boo
Adam Smith's 'invisible hand' relied on the self-interest of individuals to produce good outcomes. Economists' belief in efficient markets took this idea further by assuming that all individuals are s
A science-based approach for transforming ailments of both body and mind through cold-water swimming.The belief that swimming in cold water can improve one's health is hardly new. For centuries, people from all over the world have reported that immersing themselves in cold water alleviates their pain and improves their overall well-being. Even Katharine Hepburn famously claimed to treat her winter colds by swimming in the icy waters of the Pacific Ocean. But until now, the practice has been treated lightly by the scientific community, the curative effects all but dismissed by doctors seeking medicine-centered solutions for their patients' illnesses.In Chill, expert anesthetist and researcher Dr. Mark Harper delivers long-awaited evidence that cold-water swimming can, in fact, achieve powerful, tangible health benefits. Combining science with case studies and stories from the lives of patients, Dr. Harper illuminates the ways in which cold water can impact us physiologically and mentall
