Product Description
From acclaimed writer and physicist Mark Bowen, Censoring Science tells the true story of the Bush administration’s censorship of the world’s preeminent climatologist, and the science behind global warming that they do not want you to know.

The facts don’t lie:
• 2005 was the warmest year since the invention of the thermometer.
• 2006 is on track to become the hottest year ever recorded in the United States.
• The six hottest years on record have occurred in the last eight years, and the twenty-two hottest years on record have occurred in the last twenty-six years.

Preeminent climatologist and leading NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen has been studying climate for over three decades. It was his testimony to a Senate committee in 1988 that first brought the threat of global warming to the world’s attention. In January 2006, news broke that the Bush administration had been attempting to censor Dr. Hansen—obscuring his message and suppressing the vast body of his scientific work, which unequivocally demonstrates the reality and immense danger of global warming.

Now, for the first time and with unfiltered access, writer and physicist Mark Bowen finally tells the exclusive story of Hansen’s decades-long battle to bring the truth about global warming to light. Censoring Science illuminates the real science behind global warming and maintains that we can still prevent environmental disaster, while both strengthening our economy and our national security. In the tradition of Ron Suskind’s blockbuster bestseller, The Price of Loyalty, Censoring Science exposes the truth behind the administration’s spin doctors, and shares the inside story of one of the most important and influential scientists of our time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

An Important Book on the Recent History of Climate Science at NASA
This important book tells one of the most troubling stories of 2005, the attempted silencing of scientific findings about global climate change at NASA in a ham-handed effort to control the story of scientific findings. "Censoring Science" outlines the battle between science and politicians in a very specific incident. Mark Bowen sets an impressive agenda for this book, and generally he does a credible job of explaining three related issues as they came together at NASA Headquarters in the middle part of the decade.

The first is the tragicomic efforts of the Bush administration to control scientists associated with the federal government and attempts to keep them from taking positions on hot-button issues, such as global warming, that would necessitate policy decisions anathema to the conservative political base. This was a broad-based effort involving scientists at NASA, NOAA, and other government agencies. The focus here, however, was on NASA and one particular scientist. This is the second issue that Bowen discusses thoroughly; James R. Hansen has been involved in research about global warming since the 1970s. His organization, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in Manhattan, has a long tradition of tracking the annual global temperatures and has been finding a slow rise over the decades since the space age began. A third area, less well handled by Bowen but certainly a useful overview for general readers, is the manner in which scientific disciplines and questioning has led to the current state of understanding about the phenomenon of global warming.

The story begins with James Hansen, a global climate change scientist at NASA's Goddard institute for Space Studies in Manhattan, N.Y., and he is clearly the star of "Censoring Science." Throughout he battles bureaucrats, ideologues, and contrarians to ensure that his research findings about global warming are neither bowdlerized nor buried under mountains of pressure from those seeking to minimize changes that might result from knowledge about this threatening crisis of the twenty-first century. "Censoring Science" makes the case that the evidence is compelling for global warming and that concerted efforts existed in the Bush administration to keep it from being presented. This took several forms: questioning the quality of the science or emphasizing that consensus on the meaning of the scientific data did not exist or in some instances bald-facedly altering reports and press releases to cast doubt on what the vast majority of scientists are convinced is the undeniable fact of global warming.

Hansen has been sounding the alarm for many years. For example, in June 1988 he told a U.S. Senate committee of the potential hazard of climatic changes. One sentence to reporters caught the public's attention: "It's time to stop waffling....and say that the greenhouse effect is here and is affecting our climate now." Such strident statements did not endear Hansen to political leaders who had responsibility for implementing changes to mitigate these changes because of the manner in which they would affect U.S. business interests. Bowen makes clear that this was not specifically a partisan issue at first. Some in both political parties believed action needed to be taken and others on both sides also believed no action was required. That has changed over the years, and the response to global warming has taken on the color of the two parties and their priorities, with the Republicans either denying it or questioning the science or, as we see in this book, manipulating the presentation of findings to reflect ideological biases. Hansen stands in "Censoring Science" as the resolute advocate of the integrity of science, eventually going over his NASA handler's heads to speak directly to the public through the media.

The villains in this story are several political appointees in the White House and at NASA who tried to counteract both the science and the fears concerning global warming. The associate administrator for public affairs at NASA, David Mould, is center stage in this discussion. So is Dean Acosta and Glenn Mahone. All were Bush administration political appointees. As Bowen quoted David Steitz at NASA Headquarters, "Glenn was evil and smart; Dean was just evil" (p. 123). Mark Bowen documents well the manner in which they ensured that the global warming science that Hansen issued was censored, especially through "editing" press releases of newly published scientific research, and in trying to box Hansen so that his access to the media was limited.

There are others also involved in censoring the science of global climate change. The person that received the most attention, although he was essentially a flunky, was a young political appointee named George Deutsch, who was not clevor enough to cover his tracks and resigned his job when his actions were exposed. As a junior public affairs officer at NASA Headquarters he exerted more pressure on the system than his position in the bureaucracy would have justified. He modified press releases, tried to control who spoke with scientists, and repeatedly put partisan loyalties above seemingly inviolate ethical considerations in the pursuit of science. His actions went far beyond global warming. He sent an e-mail to Flint Wild, a NASA educator, arguing that the Big Bang should not be mentioned unless NASA emphasize that "it is only a theory" and that "intelligent design" should have equal standing. "...it is not NASA's place, nor should it be," he wrote, "to make a declaration such as this about the existence of the universe that discounts intelligent design by a creator....We, as NASA, must be diligent here, because this is more than a science issue, it is a religious issue. And I would hate to think that young people would only be getting one half of this debate from NASA" (p. 66).

It was Deutsch's ham-handed approach to scientific censorship that ignited the public debate that eventually led to the reversal of these actions. Andrew Revkin's bombshell of a front-page "New York Times" article on Sunday, January 29, 2006, opened this story to public scrutiny. It led to official NASA policy statements affirming scientific independence.

But this came only after the actions of several careerists both inside NASA and out who worked, often quietly, to make sure scientists could report their findings without censorship. The chief among them is James Hansen, but Mark Hess, Public Affairs head at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and Leslie McCarthy, the public affairs officer at the Goddard Institute for Space Sciences, are two others. Hess and McCarthy consistently asked for written guidance, and rarely got it. Failing that, they wrote notes of their telephone conversations with Mould, Acosta, and others, documenting what had been discussed. These proved critical in showing that NASA Public Affairs had ridden off the rails in carrying out its primary task, as stated in the National Air and Space Act of 1958, to "provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities and the results thereof."

"Censoring Science" is a fascinating and cautionary account of one of the saddest episodes in the history of NASA, the subversion of the search for scientific knowledge to a political agenda. NASA officials have made many mistakes over the agency's history; the agency heads' devotion to certain programs and priorities might be questioned but I am aware of no instance in NASA's past (and I have spent many years close to the space agency) in which there was a cabal in place systematically seeking to change scientific findings to fit some pre-ordained position. It reminds me of the great soliloquy by Randy Quaid from Ron Howard's feature film, "The Paper," about the tabloid nature of a major New York City daily newspaper: "We run stupid headlines because we think they're funny. We run maimings on the front page because we got good art. And I spend three weeks bitching about my car because it sells papers. But at least it's the truth. As far as I can remember we never ever, ever knowingly got a story wrong, until tonight."

This censorship episode was NASA's "tonight." I hope the agency does not allow such a thing to happen again. If Mark Bowen's account of what took place at NASA serves as a smack to the forehead of agency leaders and employees it will serve a valuable purpose. It also points directions for historical research in the future, as that community must work to explore the theme of the creation and dissemination of scientific and technological knowledge and its control in space history.

Excellent Account
The Bush administration's use of NASA for political propaganda was unprecedented. I served under 9 other Presidents. This book provides an accurate and detailed description of the attempt to censor the global temperature of the earth for the year, a data point that NASA regularly provides.
I found it fascinating.

A sobering book
This book tells the story of James Hansen, NASA's leading climatologist, and the attempts of the Bush adminstration to hush up his warnings of catastrophic climate change.

Of course, knowing Bush's attitude towards science and scientists, and truth in general, it's no surprise that his administration tried to keep important scientific information from leaking to the public. Nevertheless, it's sobering to read about it in detail. For instance, the fact that leading scientists were told what to do and what to say by a 24-year-old creationist with faked credentials is disturbing.

Of course, a book about the leading climate scientist is also a book about climate science. Even though I already knew a lot about the subject, this book taught me a thing or two about climate science. For instance, the idea that scientists in the late seventies, by and large, believed in an impending ice age, is a myth. Very few scientists ever took this seriously. I checked the scientific literature, and it is true. Bowen goes on to explain that the prediction was based on a model with a serious error in it. When the error was corrected, it predicted anthropogenic global warming.

Sometimes Bowen forgets is objectivity in his admiration of James Hansen. For instance, Bowen states that Hansen's 1988 global warming is eerily accurate. I checked the original paper and the NASA global temperature data since 1988, and although the predictions are very good considering the limited knowledge that was available at the time, the current temperature is several years behind the prediction. The important thing, however, is that the actual temperature data is within the margins of error that can be expected from the model.

Overall, this book raises a lot of awareness about climate change, and that is where the main merit of this book lies.

excellent after the first 100 pages
I would caution the reader not to be discouraged by the first 100 pages which are a detailed account of the back and forth exchange of memos and directives handed down from NASA public relations as they attempted to reign in the scientists from making scientific statements that were interpreted as critical the coal and petroleum industry. Clearly we can solve a lot of our problems by burning NASA PR hacks instead of coal. If however you are employed by a government agency where your work could be surpressed or politicised, then this book is essential reading. The book focuses heavily on Hansen and the singular importance of his work. My only criticism is that I was often confused about the timeline of what was happening. I was often lost as to when and in what order statements and discoveries were actually made. What is remarkable about this book is that it names names. It names a LOT of names. A lifetime of scores are being settled here. The second half of the book does bring the reader up to late 2007 in the global warming debate. Things are changing fast, however, none of it in the right direction. This book may soon be out of date as a current summary ofdeveloping global warming issues, but it is priceless as an historical record which may prove to be as important as the Manhatten project .

Important Story on Suppression of Global Warming Science
I have had the opportunity to hear James Hansen deliver a lecture, and he istruly inspiring to many of us in the environmental field.Certain politicians simply did not want to hear what he had to say about global heating, so they tried to censor his message.A very important story that has finally seen the light of day.

If you've followed general environmental news for the past few years, the revelations within this book may not come as a big surprise, but I still found the actual mechanics behind science suppression to be very interesting.

The book is essentially two books in one - the first part is about Dr. James Hansen, and the second part is more on the general topic of global warming.Although several reviewers have stated the book did not become interesting until the second half, I had the opposite reaction, as the second half was largely review to me, while the Hansen story was new.

My main quibble with the book was not the message, but the organization.The organization of the book was a little difficult to follow at times, withthe story presented in a non-chronological manner, with lots of shifting among different years from chapter to chapter.I think the narrative would have flowed much more smoothly if the years covered had been boldly placed at each chapter title page.Several times, the year being covered wasn't clear, as the author kept changing between 2005, 2001, the 1980s, and so on. ... Read more

Product Description
Human beings live together in societies which, by their very nature, give rise to institutions governing the behavior and freedom of individuals. This raises important questions about how these institutions ought to function, and the extent to which actual systems of government succeed or fail in meeting these ideals. This Oxford Reader provides 140 key writings on political thought, covering issues regarding human nature and its relation to society, the extent to which the powers of the State are justified, the tension between liberty and rights, and the way resources should be distributed. Topics such as international relations, minority rights, democracy, socialism, and conservatism are also discussed by contributors ranging from Plato and Aristotle to Foucault, Isaiah Berlin, and Martin Luther King. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

college book
The only thing i really like about this book is that its cheap. I only bought this book for my Political Theory class, I dont think I wouldve bought it if not for that.

good
book in good condition like description said.it took longer than i would've liked for the book to arrive- since i needed it for class.

A Must for Any Politico Aficionado
One night while searching Amazon for a scrumptious new political book to decorate my room with, I came across this one and it immediately caught my attention.While I tend to be drawn to the more arcane and iconoclastic regions of political philosophy, this book seemed to possess an alluring simplicity.I guess it reminded me of the kind of book I read in college -- a touch of nostalgia -- and always so much enjoyed.I imagine it is now safe to disclose that my economic and political science classes were the only ones I did not skip on a regular basis.Anything political or philosophical fascinates me -- spinning out philosophical ideas in my head and turning them over and over again is endless, bountiful pleasure.

Political philosophy is a large hunting ground, but the editors do a commendable job of breaking it down into its constituent elements.Since the subject matter is so broad the authors must apply a rather strict criterion of which thinkers and material to present.First, they aim to present ideas that have a certain continuity, ones that are perennial in nature and that all societies must confront.Second, they tend to select works that are rigorously logical and factual, so nothing in the way of mysticism or superstition.And finally, they seek to present ideas with a modern resonance, issues that have not been resolved over the ages.(So no commentary on slavery or how many Angels can dance on the head of a pin).

The editors think -- and I agree with them -- that it is best not to think of political philosophy as a single entity, but rather as a multi-layered synthesis comprising many building blocks that can be arranged in a variety of ways.To develop a thorough and systematic understanding of political philosophy it is important to scrutinize each building block in turn before placing them in any arrangement.The building blocks include human nature, the justification for the state, liberty and rights, economic justice, alternatives to liberalism, and progress and civilization.Introducing politico neophytes to political philosophy with a section on human nature is I think most fruitful since all the larger questions in political philosophy are at root questions about human nature.Are we greedy of altruistic?Are we cooperative or competitive?Does society shape our nature (as Owen thought) or does our nature shape and give rise to society (as Aristotle thought)?How fluid is gender?Is it rigid, a la Aristotle and Darwin or malleable, a la Alison Jaggar?Human nature is the real source of contention in political philosophy, while the other issues are derivative.While the editors do not emphasize the point to any large extent, I think it would not be uncharacteristically bold to suggest that most of the shifts in the political winds come on the heels of radically new ideas about human nature.The ideas that electrified Europe in the French Revolution and later in the Bolshevik Revolution had their origin in a radically new set of ideas about human nature that were essentially egalitarian, which is in sharp contrast to the aristocratic view of human nature of Aristotle and our Founding Fathers.Also, one point that the editors never make and one that might generate some confusion is that while most of political philosophy is normative i.e. it deals with value judgments, the subject of human nature is empirical.So while no amount of scientific tinkering and fact finding can tell you that majority rule is better than the rule of law or that Locke's labor justification for property-rights is absolute, it should be possible to frame a predictable and identifiable picture of human nature.This would go along way to resolving a great many political disputes. ... Read more

Product Description
Political Science Fiction examines the close relationship between politics and science fiction and shows how much of the former is grounded in the latter. Sixteen science fiction writers and critics join forces to offer an anthology that explores a diversity of futuristic literature, from the novels of H. G. Wells to Star Trek: The Next Generation, and a spectrum of ideas, from the libertarianism of Robert A. Heinlein to the feminism of Ursula K. LeGuin and Sheri S. Tepper. As Frederik Pohl observes in the lead essay, the contributors collectively find science fiction to be either implicitly or explicitly political by its very nature.

Equally divided between essays that analyze science fiction texts as literature and essays that discuss them as models of political science theory and practice, the collection reveals the propensity of fiction writers to center their works on particular governmental structures. Many of the essays explore the frequent portrayal of the U.S. government's response to a catastrophe or an intergalactic issue. Others reveal the ways in which science fiction speaks to the study of international relations, such as the support for realist ideology found in the enormous genre of interspecies war novels and stories. ... Read more

Product Description
This text covers the basics of political science. Linking fundamental concepts with contemporary political events and controversies, Grigsby discusses all major topics and illustrates the ways in which these topics impact their lives. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Excellent Introduction to Political Science
This book was used in my Introduction to Political Science course. The book is incredibly easy to read and explains the essential basics of political science quite well. The historical examples and analysis within the text provide superb contextual support for the theories explained by Grigsby. While the book is riddled with leftist overtones, it manages to not misconstrue right-wing viewpoints and values. The beliefs of the author, however, are clearly defined. Additionally, the section regarding International Relations is a bit barebones.

Correcting "A Student"
I haven't used this book, but need to correct the review by "A Student."

The roots of the Republican Party are classical liberalism.I.e., the liberalism of John Locke; the liberalism that believes in individual property rights and free markets.We call Republicans conservatives, but the classical conservatives believed in a more rigid class system and distrusted free markets because they disrupt social orders.

Perhaps "A Student" should have spent more time listening and less time complaining.He might have learned something.

And that, in a nutshell, is the great difficulty in teaching political science.When teaching chemistry, students don't assume they already know everything.When teaching political science, some students are unable to learn because they are convinced they already know.It only happens with strong conservatives and strong liberals.God bless the moderates--they're the only ones with open minds.

extremely liberally biased view of politics
I used this book for PoliSci 101 and although I found it easy to read, I was bothered throughout by the assumptions that every person shares Grigsby's liberal political views on abortion, homosexual issues, etc. I felt as if this book was trying to convert all students into democrats, as if it were THE WAY. The message throughout was, democrat=good, republican=bad. The text even misconstrued the Republican party roots by calling it quote, classical liberalism, unquote. I would rather a textbook to be more unbiased and present information without a liberal agenda attached. However, this may be why it appeals to university professors in the first place.

Excellent, Comprehensive-- A Great Intro
You couldn't ask for more in an intro to Political Science text. Grigsby, as fabulous a writer as she is a professor, does a commendable job of raising questions and stating facts about the field of politics and society in general while keeping a detached tone. She applies abstract concepts to real life situations. This is a wonderful book from a great teacher. A must read for 101-variety polisci classes. ... Read more

Product Description
Urgent political writings of the major twentieth-century sociologist.

Pierre Bourdieu, one of the most influential critical social theorists ofthe second half of the twentieth century, once described sociology as "acombat sport." This comprehensive collection of his writings on politicsand social science, from early 1960s articles on the Algerian War ofIndependence to the last text he published before his death, proves that thisvision was enduring throughout his life – as well as a serious scholar Bourdieuwas always an outspoken public intellectual.

Political Interventions includes many texts hitherto unavailable inEnglish and, placing them in their historical context, reconstructs Bourdieu'svision of academic study and political activism as two sides of the sameprocess: the decoding and critique of social reality in order to transform it.

Product Description

An Introduction to Political Geography continues to provide a broad-based introduction to contemporary political geography for students following undergraduate degree courses in geography and related subjects.

It explores the full breadth of contemporary political geography, covering not only traditional concerns such as the state, geopolitics, electoral geography and nationalism; but also increasing important areas at the cutting-edge of political geography research including globalization, the geographies of regulation and governance, geographies of policy formulation and delivery, and themes at the intersection of political and cultural geography, including the politics of place consumption, landscapes of power, citizenship, identity politics and geographies of mobilization and resistance.

This second edition builds on the strengths of the first. The main changes and enhancements are:

• four new chapters on: political geographies of globalization, geographies of empire, political geography and the environment and geopolitics and critical geopolitics
• significant updating and revision of the remaining chapters to discuss key developments, drawing on recent academic contributions and political events
• new case studies, drawing on an increasing number of international and global examples
• additional boxes for key concepts and an enlarged glossary. 

As with the first edition, extensive use is made of case study examples, illustrations, explanatory boxes, guides to further reading and a glossary of key terms to present the material in an easily accessible manner. Through employment of these techniques this book introduces students to contributions from a range of social and political theories in the context of empirical case study examples. By providing a basic introduction to such concepts and pointing to pathways into more specialist material, this book serves, both as a core text for first- and second- year courses in political geography, and as a resource alongside supplementary textbooks for more specialist third year courses.

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What shapes political behavior more: the situations in which individuals find themselves, or the internal psychological makeup—beliefs, values, and so on—of those individuals? This is perhaps the leading division within the psychological study of politics today. This text provides a concise, readable, and conceptually-organized introduction to the topic of political psychology by examining this very question.

Using this situationism-dispositionism framework—which roughly parallels the concerns of social and cognitive psychology—this book focuses on such key explanatory mechanisms as behaviorism, obedience, personality, groupthink, cognition, affect, emotion, and neuroscience to explore topics ranging from voting behavior and racism to terrorism and international relations.

Houghton's clear and engaging examples directly challenge students to place themselves in both real and hypothetical situations which involve intense moral and political dilemmas. This highly readable text will provide students with the conceptual foundation they need to make sense of the rapidly changing and increasingly important field of political psychology.

Customer Reviews (1)

The Best Introduction to Political Psychology
Houghton's work is easily the best introductory book dealing with political psychology. The book is intended for an advanced undergraduate level audience. Unlike the other major books on this subject, Houghton does not insult the readers intelligence with an overuse of graphs and pictures, but rather provides the student with a thorough and overarching understanding of the primary approaches to the field. ... Read more

Product Description
The study of political institutions is among the founding pillars of political science. With the rise of the 'new institutionalism', the study of institutions has returned to its place in the sun. This volume provides a comprehensive survey of where we are in the study of political institutions, covering both the traditional concerns of political science with constitutions, federalism and bureaucracy and more recent interest in theory and the constructed nature of institutions. The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions draws together a galaxy of distinguished contributors drawn from leading universities across the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A solid cognitive map
The new institutionalism is the dominant paradigm in American politics and every graduate student reads March and Olson's game changing article during their first semester. This book situates the new institutionalism in a broader and deeper context. What did the "old institutionalism" look like? Why did the new institutionalism emerge as a reaction against logical positivist behavioralism? This book is a primer of articles written by prominent scholars in the field that serves both as an introduction to institutionalism for newbies and a cognitive map with bibliography for seasoned scholars. If I were taking Ph.D. comprehensive exams or writing questions for one, I'd want this book on my shelf. ... Read more

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Product Description
(From the opening chapter:)

Chapter I: Political Ideals



In dark days, men need a clear faith and a well-grounded hope; and as
the outcome of these, the calm courage which takes no account of
hardships by the way.The times through which we are passing have
afforded to many of us a confirmation of our faith.We see that the
things we had thought evil are really evil, and we know more
definitely than we ever did before the directions in which men must
move if a better world is to arise on the ruins of the one which is
now hurling itself into destruction.We see that men's political
dealings with one another are based on wholly wrong ideals, and can
only be saved by quite different ideals from continuing to be a source
of suffering, devastation, and sin.

Political ideals must be based upon ideals for the individual life.
The aim of politics should be to make the lives of individuals as good
as possible.There is nothing for the politician to consider outside
or above the various men, women, and children who compose the world.
The problem of politics is to adjust the relations of human beings in
such a way that each severally may have as much of good in his
existence as possible.And this problem requires that we should first
consider what it is that we think good in the individual life.

... Read more

Product Description
Political methodology has changed dramatically over the past thirty years, and many new methods and techniques have been developed. Both the Political Methodology Society and the Qualitative/Multi-Methods Section of the American Political Science Association have engaged in ongoing research and training programs that have advanced quantitative and qualitative methodology. The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology presents and synthesizes these developments.

The Handbook provides comprehensive overviews of diverse methodological approaches, with an emphasis on three major themes. First, specific methodological tools should be at the service of improved conceptualization, comprehension of meaning, measurement, and data collection. They should increase analysts' leverage in reasoning about causal relationships and evaluating them empirically by contributing to powerful research designs. Second, the authors explore the many different ways of addressing these tasks: through case-studies and large-n designs, with both quantitative and qualitative data, and via techniques ranging from statistical modelling to process tracing. Finally, techniques can cut across traditional methodological boundaries and can be useful for many different kinds of researchers. Many of the authors thus explore how their methods can inform, and be used by, scholars engaged in diverse branches of methodology. ... Read more

Product Description
Long recognized as one of the main branches of political science, political theory has in recent years burgeoned in many different directions. Close textual analysis of historical texts sits alongside more analytical work on the nature and normative grounds of political values. Continental and post-modern influences jostle with ones from economics, history, sociology, and the law. Feminist concerns with embodiment make us look at old problems in new ways, and challenges of new technologies open whole new vistas for political theory. This Handbook provides comprehensive and critical coverage of the lively and contested field of political theory, and will help set the agenda for the field for years to come. Forty-five chapters by distinguished political theorists look at the state of the field, where it has been in the recent past, and where it is likely to go in future. They examine political theory's edges as well as its core, the globalizing context of the field, and the challenges presented by social, economic, and technological changes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not up to it

Despite its somewhat innovative organizing of the subject matter, this book is simply not up to it. One gets the impression that the scholars writing many of the chapters are about to finish their PhD. The contributions are simply not that interesting or authoritative. More often than not, they simply appear to sum up what this and that academic said, failing to make substantial contributions.

In particular, I was disappointed about the introductory chapter on Habermas and Part VI on Justice, Equality and Freedom. I am both a philosopher and an economist, and I didn't find much food for thought here.

I have to contrast the Oxford Handbook to the Handbook of Political Theory from SAGE edited by Gerald F Gaus and Chandran Kukathas. This is a superb handbook which really pushes forward and explores the different themes brilliantly. In short, don't waste your money on Oxford, buy the SAGE handbook instead. (By the way, Dryzek makes an excellent contribution on democratic theory to the SAGE handbook.)
... Read more

Product Description
Historian James Turner focuses on the great rise ofVictorian concern for the humane treatment of animals, one of the mostnoteworthy flowering of such sentiment in modern times and one thatengaged the support of the rich and the powerful, of churchdignitaries, peers and ministers, and the queen herself.In delvinginto the history of animal rights, he also offers a fresh perspectiveon such varied aspects of Victorian culture as attitudes toward sex,pain, child labor, women, poverty, and science.

Turner draws on extensive researh in the archives of a animalprotection societies, literature of the period, and controversialwritings on the treatment of animals. He argues that the dual shocksof industrialization and urbanization helped produce a deeperemotional identification with the natural world.Scientists of theday, proclaiming that human beings were close kin to beasts, not onlyencouraged but demanded considerate treatment for animals, a sentimentthat reached its liveliest expression in the antivivisectioncontroversy.By the turn of the century, the author demonstrates, newconceptions of human nature adn heightened sensitivity even to theplight of lower life-forms were contributing to a new understanding ofman's place in nature. ... Read more

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In a century that has taken us from the horse and buggy to the world wide web, science fiction has established itself as the literature to explore the ways in which technology transforms society while its counterpart, genre fantasy, insistently reminds us of the magical transformations of the individual in response to the demands of the social. So it should come as no surprise that the fans and producers of these genres come together to create the culture of the future around the ideal that tales of wonder about the future and the imaginary past can be shared as both symbolic communication and social capital.

In Science Fiction Culture, Camille Bacon-Smith explores the science fiction community and its relationships with the industries that sustain it, including the publishing, computer, and hotel/convention industries, and explores the issue of power in those relationships: Who seems to have it? Who does have it? How do they use it? What are the results of that use? In the process, Bacon-Smith rejects the two major theoretical perspectives on mass culture reception. Consumers are not passive receivers of popular culture produced by the hegemonic ideology machine that is the mass media industry, nor are they rebels valiantly resisting that machine by reading against the grain of the interpretation designed into the products they consume.

Bacon-Smith argues that the relationship between consumers of science fiction and producers is much more complex than either of these theories suggests. Using a wide range of theoretical perspectives, she shows that this relationship is based on a series of continuing negotiations across a broad spectrum of cultural interests.

Customer Reviews (7)

An anthropologist studies SF cons and fandom
This was a treat, an in depth anthropological study of the culture of sci-fi/fantasy reading, writing, and publishing that I picked up from Pandemonium Books here in Boston.The roles of fans and conventions were scrutinized in depth, including the changing reception of women and homosexuals.The impact of "New Wave" writers in the 60s, the ever shifting face of the publishing industry, and how fans make the transition to writers were also studied.As interesting as all this was, the hard fact of how difficult it really is to make it as a full-time writer was thoroughly driven home and made for a depressing final note.

Good material obscured by academic tripe
While the subject matter of this book is interesting and the writer obviously has collected a lot of good base material, including first-hand research, I found the academic jargon of the book extremely off-putting. Many time I found myself slogging through turgid, overly complex explanatory material and then finding some nugget of genuinely interesting material (making me think "Wow, I never thought of that!"), only to lose it once again amid the drek the writer uses to package it. This book would have been so much better had it used a less formal, more vernacular style, possibly even one that showed some sense of humor. As it is, it's quite dry, which is unfortunate since the subject certainly is not. Finally, I'd like to note that the review posted here by Edward Thomas Veal seems to me quite accurate in terms of spelling out the limitations of the author; some of what he points out was quite noticeable to me as well.

An Anthropological Trek Through SF Fandom
Camille Bacon-Smith, an academic folklore specialist, has spent almost two decades applying the methods of ethnographical research to the subculture that has grown up around science fiction literature, movies and artwork. She regularly attends SF conventions, reads fanzines, interviews both leaders and rank-and-file of the science fiction community and otherwise investigates Fandom in much the same way that Margaret Mead studied Samoa. "Science Fiction Culture" is the summation of her efforts. As one of the natives under scrutiny (being a long-time science fiction fan and past chairman of the World Science Fiction Convention), I read it with interest. Unhappily, though, it is one of those books that tries to do far too much and therefore accomplishes almost nothing.
If I wished to be denigratory, it would be easy to utilize "insider" knowledge to catalogue the book's numerous errors of fact. On the one page that mentions my own name, I found five mistakes. None of them is serious (two surnames are misspelled, two people are assigned to the wrong home towns, one very well-known fan - universally referred to as "Peggy Rae" - is called "Peggy"), but they do suggest that the author is not in total command of her material. She is particularly weak on the development of Fandom before her own contact with it. To take an important example, she guesses that the sudden growth in the size of the World Science Fiction Convention in the 1960's resulted from the entry into Fandom of the "counterculture", whereas the initial spurt (from 850 members in 1966 to over 1,500 in 1967) is readily explained by the advent of the original "Star Trek" television series. The next abrupt doubling, between 1977 and 1978, followed closely on the release of "Star Wars".
In addition, like any other stranger in a strange land, the author is at the mercy of her informants, who sometimes feed her biased information and once in a while, it appears, simply pull her leg. Her account of the bidding for the 1993 Worldcon reflects only the views of the successful bid and unfairly dismisses its opponents as motivated by resentment over being left out of leadership roles. (She also muddles the chronology of the contest.) As an instance of leg pulling, someone has given her the idea that a famous 1940's diatribe, which, among much else, deplored the (alleged and improbable) influence of homosexuals in Fandom, is a scandalous secret. This "secret" is, in fact, so familiar that another outsider, mystery writer Sharyn McCrumb, introduced a lightly fictionalized version into her novel "Zombies of the Gene Pool".
Despite some degree of inaccuracy and dubious interpretation, "Science Fiction Culture" might still be worth an additional star, were it not for three fundamental flaws. First, the author's prose is awkward, jargon-heavy and tedious. Second, she frequently theorizes before assimilating sufficient data and sees only what her theories tell her to see. Third, and most fatally, she devotes only about a third of her text to her nominal subject, an ethnographical investigation of Fandom. For want of space, vast reaches of pertinent data are virtually ignored (e. g., fanzine publishing and Fandom outside the United States) or greatly oversimplified (e. g., conventions other than Worldcons). The author apologizes for some of her omissions. It apparently does not occur to her that she could have avoided major gaps by writing a better focused book.
The sections peripheral to Fandom consist of, first, lamentations on the travails of progressively chic groups (women, homosexuals, youth, sadomasochists) as they try to enter a supposedly white, male domain and, second, miscellaneous observations on the state of science fiction publishing. The "travails" aren't very interesting. As the author concedes, women were integrated into Fandom decades ago and homosexuals have encountered little resistance. The other groups that she discusses (by "youth", it should be noted, she means the minuscule "goth" subculture, not people who are chronologically young) occasionally hang out at science fiction conventions but seem quite uninterested in associating with anyone beyond their own circles.
Worthwhile accounts of "outsiders trying to become insiders" could be written about the relationship to Fandom of neopagans, libertarians, evangelical Christians or even role playing gamers, and it would be interesting to explore why certain ethnic minorities (blacks, Hispanics, Asians) rarely become fans. "Science Fiction Culture" has nothing to say on any of those topics.
The section on the publishing industry may be of interest to aspiring writers, though a few statements are curious. Is it really common practice, as the author implies, to adopt a pseudonym in mid-career in order to fool chain store computers? I know of one prominent SF writer (Harry Turtledove) who writes historical novels under a pen name (H. N. Turteltaub) for that reason, but are there many other examples? If so, we aren't told about them here.
Except for tenure committees and fans who want to see whether they have made it into the index, it is hard to imagine an audience for this book. It would certainly have been a better work if the author could have cast off the shackles of academic orthodoxy and come to her data, evidently extensive and valuable, with fewer conclusions ready made.

A great read
This book is a very candid, if scholarly, look at life in science fiction fandom. It contains, among other things, a lovely treatment on the world of publishing - foibles and all. Highly recommended.

Sound and Engaging Examination of SF Culture
This is, in many ways, an excellent work on a oft-overlooked facet ofAmerican culture and society.Yes, there have been many volumes written onSF, but not much on the *culture* that has coalesced around the genre. This is in some ways a pioneering work, especially in its attempts todescribe how subgroups within the larger culture are shaping that cultureand also making it their own.Bacon-Smith's writing is very clear and tothe point, and she interweaves the voices of her subjects into her analysisfairly smoothly.Whether you are a long-time fan or a curious outsider,you will learn a lot from this book.

As both a fan and an anthropologistinterested in studying this culture (in essence, kinda studying myself aswell!), I recommend this book highly.I gave it four stars rather thanfive, however, because there were areas where I wished that the author hadtightened up her theoretical argument, or had done more work on linkagesbetween what she has bounded as SF culture and inter-related subcultures. I also think more historical background would have enriched her study. Finally, I wanted a stronger sense of what brought the author into thisstudy, and what she gets (besides academic material) from this work.

Iwill be using the book for a course on the anthropology of"escapist" subcultures, and I think that my students will find atas interesting as I have. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume explores the science fiction/world politics intertext. Through detailed analyses of such texts as Blade Runner, Stalker, Star Trek, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the chapters in this volume examine the complex and sometimes contradictory relations between world politics, both as discipline and as practice, and discourses of science fiction. Offering a novel combination of popular culture analysis with major theoretical and empirical issues concerning world politics, To Seek Out New Worlds provides insights into the discursive constitution of both science fiction and world politics while highlighting the occasional challenges that the science fiction/world politics intertext launches at our common sense.
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Students often complain that textbooks are boring, but theyve never had one like this. With enlightening, yet entertaining, references ranging from 1984 to The Dark Knight, students take away more from discussions of institutions, ideology, or economics because core concepts are introduced using popular culture. Revisions to the second edition include recent movies and books and new stand-alone chapters on legislatures and executives. Students benefit from chapter summaries, bolded key terms, and discussion questions, as well as a student companion website. Instructors resources are available free to adopters.

Customer Reviews (1)

Great!
The book was in awesome condition! The standard shipping took a little while but all together very happy about the book. Thanks! ... Read more

Product Description
This volume unites, for the first time, Books IV and V of Mill's great treatise on political economy with his fragmentary Chapters on Socialism.It shows him applying his classical economic theory to policy questions of lasting concern:the desirability of sustained growth of national wealth and population, the merits of capitalism versus socialism, and the suitable scope of government intervention in the competitive market economy. His answers to those questions have profound relevance today, and they serve to illustrate the enduring power and imagination of his distinctive liberal utilitarian philosophy.The lucid introduction and explanatory notes clarify Mill's philosophy in relation to his economic theory, and make full use of the most recent scholarship. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

flawed but brilliant book.
John Stuart Mill was almost as unlucky as Karl Marx. Mill was the right man at the right time when it came to summing up Classical Economics. He was both brilliant and well situated. As the son of James Mill he knew David Ricardo well. Mill was also a gifted student. He spoke multiple languages as a small child. Mill famously claimed that "Happily, there is nothing in the laws of Value which remains for the present or any future writer to clear up; the theory of the subject is complete: the only difficulty to be overcome is that of so stating it as to solve by anticipation the chief perplexities which occur in applying it." Little did he know that in a few years the 'marginal revolution' would shred his definitive restatement of Ricardian economics.

Another notable-quotable passage concerns socialism: "If, therefore, the choice were to be made between Communism with all its chances, and the present [1852] state of society with all its sufferings and injustices; if the institution of private property necessarily carried with it as a consequence, that the produce of labour should be apportioned as we now see it, almost in an inverse ratio to the labour--the largest portions to those who have never worked at all, the next largest to those whose work is almost nominal, and so in a descending scale, the remuneration dwindling as the work grows harder and more disagreeable, until the most fatiguing and exhausting bodily labour cannot count with certainty on being able to earn even the necessaries of life; if this or Communism were the alternative, all the difficulties, great or small, of Communism would be but as dust in the balance." Looks like JSM is on the wrong side of history again, but he also noted: "But to make the comparison applicable, we must compare Communism at its best, with the régime of individual property, not as it is, but as it might be made." Fair enough. There are many other notable-quotable sections of Mill's book, though this edition omits many of them.

Mill's book is about the earliest work on comparative economic systemsthat I know of. The inclusion of Mills' chapters on socialism add much to this edition. Given that he was writing in the shadow of Malthus, he does take a rather pessimistic tone at times. Yet his discussion of the stationary state are interesting. On page 129 Mill discusses how the stationary state does not impose insurmountable obstacles to human improvement. It is also interesting to note the degree to which his arguments for limited government involvement in the economy fits with modern economic theory.

Mill was one of the greatest social theorists of all times. Yet he (and Marx) failed to see the importance of marginal concepts in economics. Mill was, however, a much better social theorist than Marx. Mill was able to arrive at some sound conclusions without modern price theory. This book also reveals Mills abilities as a social philosopher. This is a rare example of a book that it vitally important despite being fundamentally wrong. It is important not merely for historical reasons. PPE makes you think more deeply about economics, politics, and philosophy. Few thinkers have been as thought provoking as Mill, and likely few will match his level of acumen in the future.

Great book, but not in this edition
This book gives a comprehensive and readable, if somewhat formally written overview of classical economics, reflecting the state of the field in 1848. As may be expected of a book 150+ years old, much of its content is outdated today. But it's remarkable how well Mill's thoughts about the mechanics of the economy, and how they affect the fabric of society, have aged. It is most instructive to read the book in parallel with a competing, much more enthusiastically hyped text, also published in 1848: Karl Marx's "Communist Manifesto". Mill's "Principles" are required reading for everyone seriously interested in the history of economic thought.

But I have to agree with the earlier reviewer: don't read it in this edition! It's not just the footnotes, some of which were reprinted, some of which weren't. The trouble is that "Book 1: Production", is missing completely. That's a fifth of the whole text! That's the reason I'm giving the book three stars: five for the content, one for the edition.

My advice would be this: Check out the book in electronic form, which is available at the www.econlib.org website. If you like it, by all means buy a paper edition -- but not this one!

correction from argentina
I must be a complete idiot. I finally decided to open this abridged edition of Mill's Political Economy & Chaps on Socialism, just to see what's going on in there. Lo & behold, as anybody with eyes can see,there ARE extensive notes on the text, including an index of names referredto by Mill! However, I wish to reiterate my claim that it is an "awfuledition" for idiots who don't open the book or are unable to read thetable of contents. Why doesn't Oxford provide user guides to explain thesecomplex matters?

Awful Edition
The Oxford Classic's edition of th Principles of J.S.Mill is an awful one. It not only omits complete sections of the work and doesn't mention it in the cover but lacks notes and even an index.

Don't buy it! ... Read more

Product Description
This volume provides an unequaled introduction to the thought of chief contributors to the Western tradition of political philosophy from classical Greek antiquity to the twentieth century.Written by specialists on the various philosophers, this third edition has been expanded significantly to include both new and revised essays. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Great Survey on Political Philosophy
Most of the political philosophy surveys I've found tend to revolve around around subject matters and will tell you how all the major players thought about that particular issue. This book feels more old school in the sense that the editors chose to show the major players' most influential ideas in political philosophy (to show all their ideas would produce a book at least ten times as big), in chronological order. You will not learn everything there is to know about political philosophy from this book, but I believe that it will give you the most bang for you're buck if you only plan on reading one or two books on the subject, or if you are looking for an amazing introduction to get you started. Biggest problem with it that anyone can see off the bat is that there are a few people in the book that could have been taken out and replaced by some more notable and influential players, at least Rawls and Nozick should have made it.

History of Political Philosophy
This book illustrates so well how historical thinkers wrestled with key issues including political, philosophical, religious and cultural aspects. It's these intersections and inflection points that enable us to better understand how interrelated these areas are today. These editors have added of wealth of substantive insights that are not easily found in one book. I highly recommend reading this; I've spent years reading it and still learning....Then go read Ken Wilbur - Marriage of Sense and Soul and you will be amazed. R. Sanford

Still working
This is a great book, it is a wealth of the history of Western Culture. I have marked it up and still working through this beefy book. In my political Science classes we will read a text and I will go home and read their section in this book; it has been a great place to get the feel of a thinker before reading the source material.

This book is great but only if...
This book is great but only if you have a knowledge of the books and thoughts of philosophers inside well beforehand. That is because the book examines the thoughts -say- hermeneutically. Every now and then you will see references to philosophers' books and most of the time -if it is someone whom you just want to have a general information- it makes you get angry.

As a result, do not buy this book just to treat it like a dictionary. It has more than that and all in all it is an academic book. Great source for university studies and essays but surely not for dummies.

The best philosophy overview
This is the best philosophy (not just political) overview I have found.The essays for each philosopher are several pages long and cover all aspects of the philosopher's thought.I have owned this book for years, and I still find myself going back to it over any other philosophy book. ... Read more

Product Description
Over its long lifetime, "political economy" has had many different meanings: the science of managing the resources of a nation so as to provide wealth to its inhabitants for Adam Smith; the study of how the ownership of the means of production influenced historical processes for Marx; the study of the inter-relationship between economics and politics for some twentieth-century commentators; and for others, a methodology emphasizing individual rationality (the economic or "public choice" approach) or institutional adaptation (the sociological version). This Handbook views political economy as a grand (if imperfect) synthesis of these various strands, treating political economy as the methodology of economics applied to the analysis of political behavior and institutions.

This Handbooksurveys the field of political economy, with fifty-eight chapters ranging from micro to macro, national to international, institutional to behavioral, methodological to substantive. Chapters on social choice, constitutional theory, and public economics are set alongside ones on voters, parties and pressure groups, macroeconomics and politics, capitalism and democracy, and international political economy and international conflict. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent, but of limited scope
This handbook is almost excellent - it is certainly one of the two best handbooks in OUP's series, alongside Boix and Stokes' one on Comparative Politics. It is by far better than the other titles in the series, such as the one on political institutions, that on public management, or that on public policy. The reason for this success is threefold (i.e. the book scores very well on three criteria):

(1) It covers almost anything you would wish to read about in this sub-discipline, from public choice to principal-agent, and from monetary or trade politics to constitutional issues;
(2) It really reaches up to the state-of-the-art in every single chapter (except perhaps the strange chapter on Arrow, which nevertheless makes for an interesting read); and
(3)Most of it is written clearly, with individual chapters presenting the historical evolution of knowledge in their areas, and hence enhancing one's understanding of the significance (or lack of) of newer scholarship.

Having said that, OUP was not going to publish another volume on different ways of doing political economy. For this reason, this volume should have dedicated a little space to non-mathematical traditions, such as the one usually exhibited by contributors in the Review of International Political Economy. (One may or may not agree with these informal and indeed quite "ideologically-loaded" traditions. Nevertheless, they are part of our world, and as such, they should be duly acknowledged, described, and if applicable criticised.)

The second reason why I don't give this volume a 5-star is that there is nothing to set the non-specialised reader ready for some generally technical chapters. More often than not, the mathematics and the rationale of the formal models is not fully explained -- at least for someone who is not already familiar with this body of work. This could have been dealt with rather easily, for example by providing a separate chapter on the way optimization theory was introduced into the analysis of political phenomena, or more simply by offering an appendix that would take you in 20 pages from the theory of functions to partial derivatives and the basic rules of integral calculus (for something like that, see Morrow's "Game Theory" of 1994).

All in all, this is excellent for specialists or really interested readers, but neither encompassing nor simple enough to make sense to everybody else. ... Read more