Updated through current events, this second edition focuses on the great debates that have engaged, divided, stimulated, and provoked scientists and others to ponder the origins of humankind. The year 2009 marks the 200-year anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth. This timely update of The Evolution Wars draws on history, science, and philosophy to examine the development of evolutionary thought through the past two and a half centuries. It focuses...

For decades, the specter of homosexuality haunted Washington. The mere suggestion that a person might be gay destroyed reputations, ended careers, and ruined lives. At the height of the Cold War, fear of homosexuality became intertwined with the growing threat of international communism, leading to a purge of gay men and lesbians from the federal government. In the fevered atmosphere of political Washington, the secret “too loathsome to mention”...

The unique methods of critical oral history, developed to study flash points from the Cold War such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, are brought into play to understand U.S. and Iranian relations from the fall of the Shah in 1978 through the Iranian hostage crisis and the Iraq-Iran war. Scholars and former officials involved with U.S. and UN policy take a fresh look at U.S and Iranian relations during this time, with special emphasis on the U.S. role...

They fought on Lexington Green the first morning of the Revolution and survived the bitter cold winter at Valley Forge. They stormed San Juan Hill with Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders and manned an anti-aircraft gun at Pearl Harbor. They are the black Americans who fought, often in foreign lands, for freedoms that they did not enjoy at home. Adapted for young readers, this dramatic story brings to life the heroism of people such as Crispus Attucks,...

Argues that not only is American football hazardous to players' health, and especially to their brains, but also that American support of the sport encourages violence, prejudices, and other ethically troubling behavior.

"A narrative account of the relationship between the U.S. and China from the Revolutionary War to the present day. Our relationship with China remains one of the most complex and rapidly evolving, and is perhaps one of the most important to our nation's future. Here, John Pomfret, the author of the bestselling Chinese Lessons, takes us deep into these two countries' shared history, and illuminates in vibrant, stunning detail every major event, relationship,...