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Where would we be without flattery? Giving flattery light, attention, and care, this title treats readers to hundreds of historical examples drawn from the highest social circles in politics, romance, and religion, from the courts of Byzantium and China to Paris, Rome, and Washington, DC

This survey of the ancient levels of lakes, rivers and the sea, as well as changes in the compositions of stalagmites and sediments reveals an astonishing correlation of climate changes with the emergence and collapse of civilizations in the Middle East. Each warm period has been characterized by aridization, economic crisis and mass migration, whereas cold periods brought abundant rain, prosperity and settlement in the arid lands. The authors conclude that climate change has been the decisive factor in the history surrounding the origins of the "cradle of civilization."

At the heart of Stripping, Sex, and Popular Culture lies a very personal story, of author Catherine Roach's response to the decision of her life-long best friend to become an exotic dancer. Catherine and Marie grew up together in Canada and moved to the USA to enroll in PhD programs at prestigious universities. For various reasons, Marie left her program and instead chose to work as a stripper. The author, at first troubled and yet fascinated by her friend's decision, follows Marie's journey into the world of stripping as an observer and analyst. She finds that this world raises complex questions about gender, sexuality, fantasy, feminism, and even spirituality. Moving from first hand interviews with dancers and others, the book broadens into a provocative and accessible examination of the current popularity of "striptease culture," with sex-saturated media imagery, thongs gone mainstream, and stripper aerobics at your local gym. Stripping, Sex, and Popular Culture scrutinizes the naked truth of a lucrative industry whose norms are increasingly at the center of contemporary society.Moving from first hand interviews with dancers and others, this book broadens into an accessible examination of the popularity of "striptease culture," with sex-saturated media imagery, and stripper aerobics at your local gym. It aims to scrutinize the truth of a industry whose norms are increasingly at the center of contemporary society.Catherine M. Roach is Associate Professor of New College, and Affiliated Faculty in Religious Studies and Women's Studies, at The University of Alabama, USA. She received her PhD from Harvard University in 1998 and is also the author of Mother / Nature: Popular Culture and Environmental Ethics (Indiana University Press, 2003).

In der Praktischen Theologie ist seit einigen Jahren eine neue Aufmerksamkeit für die vielfältigen Bezüge und Kommunikationsprozesse zwischen "Kultur", "Kirche" und "Religion" zu beobachten. Die Beiträge dieses Bandes zeigen, wie traditionelle Abständigkeiten reflektiert überwunden und unkritische Ineinssetzungen vermieden werden können. Allen Beiträgen ist gemeinsam, dass sie den Aspekt der Macht bedenken und dadurch wesentliche Facetten einer gegenwartsrelevanten Praktischen Theologie präsentieren.

This volume of "Studies in Law, Politics, and Society" presents a diverse array of articles by an interdisciplinary group of scholars. Their work covers several social science disciplines as well as law. Some of the articles published in this issue examine the interactions of law and "vulnerable" populations. Here research illustrates the complex ways law can be used by those groups, as well as the impact of law on their lives. Other articles focus on indigenous groups and particular legal controversies in which they are involved. Taken together they exemplify the exciting and innovative work now being done in interdisciplinary legal scholarship.

Globalization and global society -- The religious system of global society -- Formation and re-formation of Abrahamic religions : Christianity and Islam -- The realization of Hinduism -- Refusal and appropriation in East Asia : Confucianism and Shinto -- New religions, non-institutionalized religiosity and the control of a contested category

"Radically reorienting, challenging, provocative, this book moves progressive philosophy, feminist and queer theory, critical discussions of race and racism forward. Prophetically, it calls for an interrogation of all our oppositional theory and politics, offering new and alternative visions." -- bell hooksIn Queering Freedom, Shannon Winnubst examines contemporary categories of difference -- sexuality, race, gender, class, and nationality -- and how they operate within the politics of domination. Drawing

"City Publics investigates the ordinary spaces in the city where differences are negotiated. It is concerned with the borders, and boundaries, the constraints and limits on living with, accepting, acknowledging and sometimes celebrating, difference in public. Through ethnographic studies of a number of unusual, surprising and marginal sites, which are not usually the focus of debate, as well as studies of different subjects in public spaces, the book aims to interrogate how difference is negotiated and performed. When and how differences are lived agonistically, and how power is exercised often subtly, not through dominance or manipulation, represents a further focus. Also challenged are the conventional notions of the public and public space