"The most impressive satirist of his day." — Time MagazineWith devastating satiric wit, this book examines the hollowness and falsity suggested by the term «conspicuous consumption» (coined by Veblen) and exposes the emptiness of many cherished standards of taste, education, dress, and culture. Since its original publication in 1899, the work has become a classic of social and economic thought and policy and exerted an influence w ...
Who has the floor, and how do you make a motion? What keeps a meeting from collapsing into chaos? This bible of parliamentary procedures transforms complex rules of conduct into easy-to-understand basics. Anyone participating in club or civic meetings, seminars, or teleconferences will consult this invaluable guide time and time again."Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty," d ...
The fraternal society of the Masonic Order, steeped in mystery for over 600 years, is brought to light in a fascinating volume that serves as a guide for neophytes as well as a reference for the initiated. Duncan's Ritual of Freemasonry reveals the spiritual paths taken by inductees as they move through each initiated degree of enlightmentment: Mark Master, Past Master, Most Excellent Master, and the Royal Arch. The Freemasons' rituals ...
One of the few members of the Russian aristocracy to become a revolutionary, Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842‒1921) renounced his title at the age of 12. He later became one of the leading theorists of anarchism. Forced to flee his homeland in the 1870s to avoid arrest for his revolutionary activities against the czarist government, the noted geographer and social philosopher lived in exile, mainly in England, for the next 42 years of his ...
The first major study of population size and its tremendous importance to the character and quality of society, this polemic examines the tendency of human numbers to outstrip their resources. Pivotal in establishing the field of demography, it remains crucial to understanding modern problems with food production and distribution.Anglican parson Thomas Robert Malthus wrote his famous essay in 1798 in response to speculations on social perfectibi ...
The development community is increasingly aware of tensions and challenges inherent in relief work – and the need for sustainable solutions for communities experiencing poverty and crisis. How can the local church help to create and maintain such resilient communities? Boan and Ayers utilize their extensive experience working within the humanitarian sector, and in cooperation with local churches, to examine the evidence for effective partnersh ...
In the hill country of northeast Cambodia, just a few kilometers from the Vietnam border, sits the village of Tang Kadon. This community of hill rice farmers of the Jarai ethnic minority group survived aerial bombardment and the American invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, only to find themselves relocated to the “killing fields” of the Khmer Rouge regime. Now back in their homeland, they have reestablished agricultu ...
Preparing and consuming food is an integral part of identity formation, which in contemporary China embodies tension between fast-forward modernization and cultural nostalgia. Jin Feng’s wide-ranging exploration of cities in the Lower Yangzi Delta—or Jiangnan, a region known for its paradisiacal beauty and abundant resources—illustrates how people preserve culinary inheritance while also revamping it for the new mil ...
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Bombay was beset by crises such as famine and plague. Yet, rather than halting the flow of capital, these crises served to secure it. In colonial Bombay, capitalists and governors, Indian and British alike, used moments of crisis to justify interventions that delimited the city as a distinct object and progressively excluded laborers and migrants from it. Town planners, financiers, and proper ...
