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"I'm not perfect," Mateo confessed, "Nobody is. But I try." Secure the Soul shuttles between the life of Mateo, a born-again, ex-gang member in Guatemala and the gang prevention programs that work so hard to keep him alive. Along the way, this poignantly written ethnography uncovers the Christian underpinnings of Central American security. In the streets of Guatemala City - amid angry lynch mobs, overcrowded prisons, and paramilitary death squads - millions of dollars empower church missions, fa...

En el pasado, la cultura fue una especie de conciencia que impedía dar la espalda a la realidad. Ahora, actúa como mecanismo de distracción y entretenimiento. «La cultura, en el sentido que tradicionalmente se ha dado a este vocablo, está en nuestros días a punto de desaparecer.»,-Mario Vargas Llosa La banalización de las artes y la literatura, el triunfo del periodismo amarillista y la frivolidad de la política son síntomas de un mal mayor que aqueja a la sociedad contemporánea: la idea teme...

First published in 1964, Ancient Iraq is the classic work on Mesopotamia and the great civilizations that sprung from the region bounded by the Euphrates and Tigris. It remains an invaluable primer for anyone fascinated by the extraordinary ruins and artworks which have emerged from generations of archaeological digs. The book gives a lively, comprehensive account, from the earliest city fragments through the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians through to its decline under Hellenisti...

Nelson's victory at Trafalgar on 21 October 1805 was a pivotal event in European history. But Trafalgar was not simply an isolated battle fought and won in an afternoon - the naval campaign had in fact begun more than four years before. This extraordinary period, following Napoleon's threat to invade England in 1801, came to be known as The Great Terror, and Britain was on the alert. As the Grande Armee faced a Dad's army of English volunteers across the Channel, a secret war of espionage and su...

Sociology of Culture and of Cultural Practices traces the development of the sociology of culture from its origins (Weber and Simmel) and examines the major trends that have emerged in this branch of sociology. It raises issues of cultural hierarchy, of distinction, and of legitimate culture and mass culture, and focuses on new areas of research, including the role of institutions, the reception of works of art, aesthetic experience, and emancipation through art and presents a synthesis of resea...

‘Highly readable, subtle and thought-provoking scientific history’ Scotsman In this penetrating work, Pyenson and Pyenson identify that major advances in science stem from changes in three distinct areas of society: the social institutions that promote science, the sensibilities of scientists themselves and the goal of the scientific enterprise. Servants of Nature begins by examining the institutions that have shaped science: the academies of Ancient Greece, universities, the growth of...

In Energy without Conscience David McDermott Hughes investigates why climate change has yet to be seen as a moral issue. He examines the forces that render the use of fossil fuels ordinary and therefore exempt from ethical evaluation. Hughes centers his analysis on Trinidad and Tobago, which is the world's oldest petro-state, having drilled the first continuously producing oil well in 1866. Marrying historical research with interviews with Trinidadian petroleum scientists, policymakers, technici...

Humour is without doubt a vital element of the human condition but it has rarely been the subject of serious historical research. Yet a closer look at jokes and other comic phenomena shows us that the nature of humour changes from one period to another, and that these changes can provide us with important insights into the social and cultural developments of the past. This important and highly original book sets out to explore the terra incognita of humour through the ages -- from jokes and stag...

To either achieve or resist domination, some postcolonial and post slavery societies appropriate and contest the current memories on slavery. This occurs more often where the sites of slavery are tourist attractions that positively empower the communities through economic benefits, resulting in an emergence of ‘new’ memories of the past and a constant construction and reconstruction of identity. In The Legacy of Slavery in Coastal Kenya: Memory, Identity, and Heritage, Herman Ogoti Kiriama exami...