Coming To Term

Debbie McCulliss sadly learned the many tragedies of pregnancy the hard way. Although she ultimately raised two healthy children, creating a family was more challenging than she ever imagined. Unfortunately despite technological advances, today many pregnancies continue to end in heartbreak rather than joy. In a poignant medical narrative, McCulliss chronicles her journey through grief and joy as she worked as a registered nurse in a neonatal ICU and discovered the many things that can go wrong during pregnancy—all while bravely dealing with her own miscarriages and high-risk pregnancies. With the intent of educating, supporting, and inspiring women who have had difficulty conceiving, carrying a baby to term, or who need a dose of hope, McCulliss shares personal anecdotes that reveal how her journey led her to create a pioneering program to care for women struggling with high-risk pregnancy. Included are journal exercises and appendices that offer helpful tips and resources. Coming to Term is a creative expression of grief and joy that offers personal essays and practical advice from a former NICU nurse who battled to create her own family and help others dealing with infertility and high-risk pregnancies.

The application of probability and statistics to an ever-widening number of life-decisions serves to reproduce, reinforce, and widen disparities in the quality of life that different groups of people can enjoy. As a critical technology assessment, the ways in which bad luck early in life increase the probability that hardship and loss will accumulate across the life course are illustrated. Analysis shows the ways in which individual decisions, informed by statistical models, shape the opportunities people face in both market and non-market environments. Ultimately, this book challenges the actuarial logic and instrumental rationalism that drives public policy and emphasizes the role that the mass media play in justifying its expanded use. Although its arguments and examples take as their primary emphasis the ways in which these decision systems affect the life chances of African-Americans, the findings are also applicable to a broad range of groups burdened by discrimination.

For over a decade, feminist studies have occupied an extraordinary position in the United States. On the one hand, they have contributed to the development of a strong 'identity' politics; on the other, they have been part of the post-structuralist critique of the unified subject - its experience, truth and presence - and of the massive challenge to Western metaphysics and humanism. Along with race and ethnic studies, feminist enquiry has moved beyond the fiction of a unitary feminism to address the differences within the study of difference. The essays in this volume all address feminism's relationships to theory and politics at the level of the criticism and production of knowledge. Readers and students of politics, history, literature, philosophy, sociology and the sciences - anyone with a stake in theory and politics - will benefit from this powerful book.

""And it proves," the author says, "that the smallest human beings can teach us the biggest lessons we will ever learn.""--BOOK JACKET.

Studies China's "Ethnic classification project" (minzu shibie) of 1954, conducted in Yunnan province.

Comparing Religions is a next-generation textbook which expertly guides, inspires, and challenges those who wish to think seriously about religious pluralism in the modern world. A unique book teaching the art and practice of comparing religions Draws on a wide range of religious traditions to demonstrate the complexity and power of comparative practices Provides both a history and understanding of comparative practice and a series of thematic chapters showing how responsible practice is done A three part structure provides readers with a map and effective process through which to grasp this challenging but fascinating approach The author is a leading academic, writer, and exponent of comparative practice Contains numerous learning features, including chapter outlines, summaries, toolkits, discussion questions, a glossary, and many images Supported by a companion website (available on publication) at www.wiley.com/go/kripal, which includes information on individual religious traditions, links of other sites, an interview with the author, learning features, and much more