For more than 50 years, science fiction films have been among the most important and successful products of American cinema, and are worthy of study for that reason alone. On a deeper level, the genre has reflected important themes, concerns and developments in American society, so that a history of science fiction film also serves as a cultural history of America over the past half century. M. Keith Booker has selected fifteen of the most successful and innovative science fiction films of all time, and examined each of them at length—from cultural, technical and cinematic perspectives—to see where they came from and what they meant for the future of cinema and for America at large. From Invasion of the Body Snatchers to Star Wars, from Blade Runner to The Matrix, these landmark films have expressed our fears and dreams, our abilities and our deficiencies. In this deep-seeking investigation, we can all find something of ourselves that we recognize, as well as something that we've never recognized before. The focus on a fairly small number of landmark films allows detailed attention to genuinely original movies, including: Forbidden Planet, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Blade Runner, The Terminator, Robocop, The Abyss, Independence Day, and The Matrix. This book is ideal for general readers interested in science fiction and film.

This volume explores several notable themes related to political processes in Latin America and offers insightful historical perspectives to understand national, regional, and global issues in the continent from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day. The collected essays focus on Latin American politics such as: political cycles, left-wing political parties, nationalism, progressivism, crime and resistance, violence, authoritarianism, and relationships with the United States, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, and Paraguay. The perspectives of the chapters presented an attempt to seek lines of continuity by highlighting traditional interpretations of new scenarios and refusing to impose a traditional and uncritical linear historical narrative. The fundamental objective of the volume is to provide a rational and critical political-historical explanation of Latin America since the early 20th century with the purpose, among others, of deepening understanding of the present.

This is a single-volume source of reliable information on the most important alternative religions, covering for each such essentials as history, theology, impact on the culture, and current status. The chapters of the book were written by experts who study the movements they have written about.

George's Progress and Poverty, Bellamy's Looking Backward, and Lloyd's Wealth against Commonwealth championed a national policy allied neither with large-scale capitalism, nor with bureaucratic socialism. Through vivid portraits of these journalists, Thomas traces the evolving ideologies of the most significant reformers of their age.

How does the US media propagate the myth of a "good" superpower waging war on "evil?" Can an open-ended "War on Terror" make the world safe? For whom? Another American Century? draws on our knowledge of the past decade to outline the effects and consequences of the USA's formidable power. It looks at how US policymakers understand their role in the world, and the ideologies that enable them to pursue policies with often harmful consequences for people outside North America.

This book examines alternative healing practices in American popular culture. From traditional folk approaches to more recent developments, it discusses the rise and fall of more than 100 popular approaches to addressing both physical ailments and mental health needs. Offering insightful accounts of everything from aging prevention to voodoo & Santería, Alternative Healing in American History: An Encyclopedia from Acupuncture to Yoga situates each popular approach in the history and culture of health and wellness in America. Moreover, the book shows that "orthodox" medicine and unconventional approaches may have more in common than many people think, because both are subject to the changing nature of the medical understanding and the strength of their appeal to consumers. While the main focus is on remedies lying outside the medical mainstream, the book also highlights how many widely accepted therapeutic treatments of the past—for example, "the water cure" (hydrotherapy) or lobotomy (psychosurgery)—fell out of favor and were quickly forgotten. Besides examining popular healing techniques, the book also explores the changing nature of the medical marketplace and how once-standard treatments (e.g., leeching, psychoanalysis) have had their ups and downs. The book comprises five chronological sections covering time periods from pre-1900 to the present.

Examining medical pluralism in the United States from the Revolutionary War period through the end of the twentieth century, Hans Baer brings together in one convenient reference a vast array of information on healing systems as diverse as Christian Science, osteopathy, acupuncture, Santeria, southern Appalachian herbalism, evangelical faith healing, and Navajo healing. In a country where the dominant paradigm of biomedicine (medical schools, research hospitals, clinics staffed by M.D.s and R.N.s) has been long established and supported by laws and regulations, the continuing appeal of other medical systems and subsystems bears careful consideration. Distinctions of class, Baer emphasizes, as well as differences in race, ethnicity, and gender, are fundamental to the diversity of beliefs, techniques, and social organizations represented in the phenomenon of medical pluralism. Baer traces the simultaneous emergence in the nineteenth century of formalized biomedicine and of homeopathy, botanic medicine, hydropathy, Christian Science, osteopathy, and chiropractic. He examines present-day osteopathic medicine as a system parallel to biomedicine with an emphasis on primary care; chiropractic, naturopathy, and acupuncture as professionalized heterodox medical systems; homeopathy, herbalism, bodywork, and lay midwifery in the context of the holistic health movement; Anglo-American religious healing; and folk medical systems, particularly among racial and ethnic minorities. In closing he focuses on the persistence of folk medical systems among working-class Americans and considers the growing interest of biomedical physicians, pharmaceutical and healthcare corporations, and government in the holistic health movement

This work brings together for the first time the ideas, philosophies and interpretations of North America's leading African American economists, demonstrating that racial inequality has had an immense impact on African Americans' daily lives.

This book explores diverse contemporary paradigms of educational praxis and learning in Latin America, both formal and non-formal. Each contributor offers a unique perspective on the factors which lead to the production of paradigms rooted in ‘other’ logics, cosmologies, and realities, and how these factors may renegotiate and redefine concepts of education, learning, and knowledge. The various chapters provide a road map for scholars, activists, artists, students, organizations, and social movements to help begin to construct learning spaces that seek to engage with a new more horizontal form of participatory democracy.