When the Scottish moral philosopher and economist Adam Smith (1723-1790) first published The Wealth of Nations in 1776, capitalism as we know it today barely existed. Most people in the West still worked for themselves in small shops or as subsistence farmers. But the worldwide spread of European empires, with their global, interconnected networks of shipping and trade, and the growth of trading markets, created a burgeoning new business class. Smith...

Drawing on first-hand experiences from six years of professional work as a librarian in high-poverty neighborhoods of Washington, DC, as well as interviews and research, the author highlights the national problems that have existed in libraries since theywere founded-racism, segregation and class inequalities.

'It is all free fighting here. Even some of the windows do not open, so it is useless to cry for help. Dampness and misery, violence and wrong, have left their handwriting in perfectly legible characters on the walls.' - Manchester Guardian, 1870Step into the Victorian underworld of Angel Meadow, the vilest and most dangerous slum of the Industrial Revolution. In the shadow of the world's first cotton mill, 30,000 souls trapped by poverty are fighting...

"The majority is never right…Who are the people that make up the biggest proportion of the population -- the intelligent ones or the fools?" – Henrik Ibsen Widely regarded as one of the foremost dramatists of the nineteenth century, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906), created realistic plays bringing the social problems of his day to center stage. His dramas portrayed psychological conflict that emphasized character over devious...

In this era where dollar value signals moral worth, Daniel Fridman paints a vivid portrait of Americans and Argentinians seeking to transform themselves into people worthy of millions. Following groups who practice the advice from financial success bestsellers, Fridman illustrates how the neoliberal emphasis on responsibility, individualism, and entrepreneurship binds people together with the ropes of aspiration. Freedom from Work delves into a world...

Existe un fenómeno en las principales ciudades mexicanas cuya eclosión se extiende desde las últimas dos décadas y que impone cierta consternación sobre las formas para explicar la vida en las ciudades. Desde la década de 1990, se ha revelado una forma de producir y habitar la metrópoli que rompe con los moldes tradicionales de vida urbana e incluso suburbana. Fruto de ciertas políticas neoliberales de gestión del territorio, tendentes a...

Discussions of class make many Americans uncomfortable. This accessible book makes class visible in everyday life. Solely identifying political and economic inequalities between classes offers an incomplete picture of class dynamics in America, and may not connect with people's lived experiences. In Reading Classes, Barbara Jensen explores the anguish caused by class in our society, identifying classism-or anti–working class prejudice-as a central...

Evolving the Human Race Game: A Spiritual and Soul-Centered Perspective provides a spiritual framework for evolving one's consciousness as it relates to what author Carroy Ferguson calls the "human race game." Beyond family members, most of us wonder why different and/or specific people from our own and other racial and ethnic groups enter into our lives. Ferguson explains how and why this happens through what he calls the mirror effect. He also introduces...

Estructurado como una composición musical, con un preludio y seis "movimientos", este libro es un esfuerzo por entretejer voces críticas en torno al concepto y las realidades del "desarrollo", tal y como es entendido por la cultura posindustrial occidental contemporánea, e intenta comprender las tensiones que se revelan entre aquel, las ciudades, la tierra, la naturaleza y la vida.

The Kanwar is India's largest annual religious pilgrimage. Millions of participants gather sacred water from the Ganga and carry it across hundreds of miles to dispense as offerings in Śiva shrines. These devotees-called bhola, gullible or fools, and seen as miscreants by many Indians-are mostly young, destitute men, who have been left behind in the globalizing economy. But for these young men, the ordeal of the pilgrimage is no foolish pursuit,...