Duty And Choice

The Civil War thrust Americans onto unfamiliar terrain, as two competing societies mobilized for four years of bloody conflict. Concerned Northerners turned to the print media for guidance on how to be good citizens in a war that hit close to home but was fought hundreds of miles away. They read novels, short stories, poems, songs, editorials, and newspaper stories. They laughed at cartoons and satirical essays. Their spirits were stirred in response to recruiting broadsides and patriotic envelopes. This massive cultural outpouring offered a path for ordinary Americans casting around for direction. Examining the breadth of Northern popular culture, J. Matthew Gallman offers a dramatic reconsideration of how the Union's civilians understood the meaning of duty and citizenship in wartime. Although a huge percentage of military-aged men served in the Union army, a larger group chose to stay home, even while they supported the war. This pathbreaking study investigates how men and women, both white and black, understood their roles in the People's Conflict. Wartime culture created humorous and angry stereotypes ridiculing the nation's cowards, crooks, and fools, while wrestling with the challenges faced by ordinary Americans. Gallman shows how thousands of authors, artists, and readers together created a new set of rules for navigating life in a nation at war.

Devoted to exploring elections as the central act in a democracy, Duty and Choice: The Evolution of the Study of Voting and Voters is animated by a set of three overarching questions: Why do some citizens vote while others do not? How do voters decide to cast their ballots for one candidate and not another? How does the context in which citizens live influence the choices they make? Organized into three sections focused on turnout, vote choice, and electoral systems, the volume seeks to provide novel insights into the most pressing questions for scholars of vote choice and voting behaviour. In addition to featuring several prominent Canadian scholars, the collection includes chapters by leading scholars from the United States and Europe.

Duty or Pleasure? This was the legendary choice which faced Hercules and which pre-eminent philosopher A.C. Grayling uses as the starting point of this masterful book. He shows us how much more people can understand about themselves and their world by reflecting on today's moral challenges. Above all, he explores the idea that certain demands and certain pleasures are necessary, not just because of their intrinsic merits but because of what they do for each other. With exceptional clarity and unrivalled prose, Grayling addresses the everyday ethical choices which confront us all.

Yascha Mounk shows why a focus on personal responsibility is wrong and counterproductive: it distracts us from the larger economic forces determining aggregate outcomes, ignores what we owe fellow citizens regardless of their choices, and blinds us to key values such as the desire to live in a society of equals. In this book he proposes a remedy.

"To say of someone that she has a duty to herself, or that she owes it to herself to do this or that, isn't likely to raise the eyebrow of the proverbial person on the street. These forms of words often find their way into everyday talk without bringing the proceedings to a pause for clarification. With these phrases, we frequently urge others to take care of themselves, or reassure ourselves about the propriety of "looking out for number one." Popular R&B and dance songs have titles like "Owe It to Yourself" and "I Owe it to Myself." The bookstore's self-help shelves display volumes such as You Owe It to Yourself: Effective Keys to a Happier Marriage and You Owe It to Yourself: Divorce and Relationships. A recent TED Talk tells us: "You owe it to yourself to experience a total solar eclipse." Columnists recommend to advice-seekers not simply that they discharge their duties to others, but that they also mind their duties to themselves. The language of self-directed duty, it seems, is not just familiar, but pervasive"--

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

"Duty and Healing" positions ethical issues commonly encountered in clinical situations within Jewish law. The concept of duty is significant in exploring bioethical issues, and this book presents an authentic and non-parochial Jewish approach to bioethics, while it includes critiques of both current secular and Jewish literatures. Among the issues the book explores are the role of family in medical decision-making, the question of informed consent as a personal religious duty, and the responsibilities of caretakers. The exploration of contemporary ethical problems in healthcare through the lens of traditional sources in Jewish law is an indispensable guide of moral knowledge.

Belinda Star is a highly decorated veteran of the United States Army. Her military background has created a woman adept in the art of battle, but even her specialized training and battlefield experiences could not prepare her to deal with the crimes committed by her own family. Crimes that not only were committed against the American public, but also against Belinda herself. In the midst of familial tension, Belinda must travel from Germany, where she lives with her active duty husband, back to the United States--back to a place and a family she left long ago. She knows that her mother has, once again, found herself in trouble with the law, but it is not until Belinda arrives that she realizes the extent of her mother's crimes and the secrets she has concealed. Despite the poor treatment Belinda has endured throughout her life at the hands of her own family, she finds herself alone in her efforts to save them from the debt they have created and the legal infractions they have committed. Violence. Alcoholism. Theft. Impersonation. The list of problems within Belinda's family is long, yet she remains steadfast in her commitment to them. Even when Belinda is the only family member who has surfaced to help, her family continues their lies and betrayal, causing Belinda to question her own pledges of allegiance to them time and time again. Belinda must remain the stoic and steadfast soldier she has always been to pull back the layers and layers of deceit and mystery her family has created over several decades. As Belinda uncovers the family secrets her mother will do anything to conceal, she begins to discover even more about her heritage and, consequently, even more about herself. Through her diligence and skill, Belinda not only finds a way to right the wrongs her family has committed, but she also learns a great deal about the true meaning of a daughter's duty.