Restoring The Ties That Bind

Drawing on more than 2,500 discussions with Episcopalians in focus groups and personal interviews as part of the Episcopal Church Foundation's Zacchaeus project, William Sachs and Thomas Holland conclude that there is a paradox in the Episcopal Church. At

When she walked out, Rachel thought she was through with Lucas Neuman and his high-society family forever. But that was before her little girl became deathly ill...before the man who'd so cruelly betrayed her became her only salvation. Five years apart hadn't eased the pain of Rachel's leaving...or the fierce desire that coursed through Lucas when he saw her again. But it was desperation that brought her to his door: only a bone marrow transplant would save their little girl--the daughter he hadn't known he had. Now time was running out. Was it possible to heal the pain of the past and start over with this woman he had never stopped loving?

In this book, Harlan Field boldly asks modern Americans to leave behind their old politics which have placed America's greatness in jeopardy and exhorts us to pursue a new political strategy that will assure America's great tradition for its future generations. "As we enter a new millennium," Harlan observes, "we stand poised to discard the crowning achievement of the last thousand years-the modern Nation-State. The only known entity that is capable of preserving Freedom and opportunity for the individual, justice for the masses, a healthy environment, a stable society and a vibrant economy is falling victim to the seemingly invincible juggernaut of Globalism. The five cardinal prerogatives of a free people are all being surrendered with little debate and even less thought. The rights of a sovereign people to formulate their own independent foreign policy, to raise and command a national army, to admit or exclude aliens, to levy tariffs on goods of foreign manufacture, and to coin their own money are under attack all over the world through such peculiar pretenders to legitimacy as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the European Union (E.U.). W e no longer can even remember what makes a group of people into a nation: A common culture, a common heritage, a common language, shared goals, shared sacrifice, shared progress." This book is a must read for our politicians on the left and on the right, lest, because of party politics, America is made to give into a secondary role on the world stage of ruthless politics and demagoguery.

Since gaining independence in 1965, Singapore has become the most trade-intensive economy in the world and the richest country in Southeast Asia. This transformation has been accompanied by the emergence of a deep generational divide. More complex than simple disparities of education or changes in income and consumption patterns, this growing gulf encompasses language, religion, and social memory. The Binding Tie explores how expectations and obligations between generations are being challenged, reworked, and reaffirmed in the face of far-reaching societal change. The family remains a pivotal feature of Singaporean society and the primary unit of support. The author focuses on the middle generation, caught between elderly parents who grew up speaking dialect and their own children who speak English and Mandarin. In analyzing the forces that bind these generations together, she deploys the idea of an intergenerational "contract," which serves as a metaphor for customary obligations and expectations. She convincingly examines the many different levels at which the contract operates within Singaporean families and offers striking examples of the meaningful ways in which intergenerational support and transactions are performed, resisted, and renegotiated. Her rich material, drawn from ethnographic fieldwork among middle-class Chinese, provides insights into the complex interplay of fragmenting and integrating forces. The Binding Tie makes a critical contribution to the study of intergenerational relations in modern, rapidly changing societies and conveys a vivid and nuanced picture of the challenges Singaporean families face in today’s hypermodern world. It will be of interest to researchers and students in a range of fields, including anthropology, sociology, Asian studies, demography, development studies, and family studies.

In Icons and Aliens, John Costonis looks at such pairings and probes why they evoke outrage, why the outraged seek the protection of the legal system to prevent the pairings, and what the law can - and cannot - do in response. Bridging the fields of law and design, Costonis discards conventional rationales for aesthetics policymaking in favor of a compelling account of the psychological forces driving America's support for historic preservation, neighborhood conservation, and environmenralism. Numerous New Yorker cartoons and black-and-white photographs accompany the text, depicting the strength and foibles of legal aesthetics.

First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.