John D. Vairo Library   Brandywine

Avian Flu Pandemic:

“The World Health Organization now warns that avian flu is on the verge of mutating into a super-contagious form that could travel at pandemic velocity, killing up to 100 million people within two years. In The Monster at Our Door: the global threat of avian flu by Mike Davis… our foremost urban and environmental critic reconstructs the scientific and political history of this viral apocalypse in the making, exposing the central roles played by burgeoning slums, the agribusiness and fast-food industries, and corrupt governments” (Amazon Book Description).

“Baby Business”:

“Despite the ambiguities, [the baby business] is a big market. Fertility procedures in the United States alone accounted for over $3 billion in 2002 and have mushroomed from there. The Baby Business: how money, science, and politics drive the commerce of conception is the first book to cast a probing eye on this complicated and fascinating sector and explore it specifically as a business. Still in its infancy, this industry includes stem cell research, human cloning, surrogacy, egg swapping, cross-border adoption, "designer babies," and gender selection” (Publisher Description).

Biodiesel:

In Biodiesel : growing a new energy economy, “Greg Pahl’s essential new book explores the history and technology of biodiesel, its current use around the world, and its exciting potential in the United States and beyond. While biodiesel is not the answer to all our energy problems, it is an important step in the long overdue process of weaning ourselves from fossil fuels” (Amazon Book Description).

Cameras in the courtroom:

“Why the courts, including the Supreme Court, have traditionally excluded cameras is fully covered, and an historical perspective on televised trials is provided” (Barnes and Noble website). Check out Cameras in the Courtroom: television and the pursuit of justice by Marjorie Cohn and David Dow.

Campaign Finance:

How about a system where contributions must all be made anonymously so that the politicians will not be able to be influenced by big business and other important figures? That is the system that Ian Ayres and Bruce Ackerman provide in Voting With Dollars: a new paradigm for campaign finance.

Censoring Music:

“Inhibitions and censoring [of music], it is argued, stem from adult concerns for a healthy functioning society and from anxiety about the impact of sexual explicitness and uncontrolled behavioral expression on adolescents. This work attempts to explain why societal intolerance has a pattern of limiting the lyrics and sounds of rock and rap music” (Amazon Book Description). Read Bleep! censoring rock and rap music by Betty Houchin Winfield for more information.

Charter Schools:

In The school choice hoax : fixing America's schools, Ronald Corwin “argues that the autonomy granted to choice schools has been a counterproductive dead end. Its authors see no proof that freedom has produced the outstanding results that charter school advocates promised. Nor has the competition from charter schools spurred the improvement in public schools that charter advocates predicted. Instead, charter schools and education vouchers promoted competition among schools that should be cooperating. Overburdened public school districts are faced with rivalry from schools that are merely duplicating conventional programs and competing for some students while ignoring others” (Amazon Book Description).

Child labor:

The book Children For Hire: the perils of child labor in the United States (by Marvin Levine) “…finds that child-labor laws at national and regional levels are not consistently enforced, if they exist at all. Work environments are often of higher risk to young people, whose physical or mental developmental levels or needs are not matched with the demands of a task, resulting in death or disabilities that limit their development and educational opportunities” (Amazon).

Child Soldiers:

“More than 250,000 children have fought in three dozen conflicts around the world, but growing exploitation of children in war is staggering and little known. From the "little bees" of Colombia to the "baby brigades" of Sri Lanka, the subject of child soldiers is changing the face of terrorism” (Amazon Book Description). Learn more in Innocents lost : when child soldiers go to war by Jimmie Briggs.

Civil Liberties:

Since September 11, the government feels that tapping into our civil liberties is the way to fight and eliminate terrorism. The book Terrorism and the Constitution: sacrificing civil liberties in the name of national security by David Cole et. al, says that this is not necessary and explains ways to combat this problem without sacrificing our rights.

Cyberspace regulation:

How should the internet be organized? What should its structure be? Who should regulate commerce, property, and privacy? All these questions are covered in Regulating Cyberspace: the policies and technologies of control by Richard A. Spinello.

Dinosaurs:

“Did dinosaurs walk on their bellies like crocodiles? Were they warm or cold-blooded? Were they ancestors of the birds? Did a cataclysmic asteroid kill them off? How accurate is evolution theory and the estimated age of the earth?” (VOYA – Kevin Beach/Barnes and Noble website). Learn much more in The great dinosaur controversy : a guide to the debates by K. M. Parsons.

Drug Tests (in the workplace):

In Pissing on demand : workplace drug testing and the rise of the detox industry , author Kenneth D. Tunnell discusses how “d rug testing has become the norm in many workplaces. In order to get a job, potential employees are required to provide their urine for testing... this book is required reading for anyone concerned with social control, privacy, and workers' rights” (Amazon product description).

Education Myths:

In Education Myths: what special interest groups want you to believe about our schools, and why it isn't so, “Jay Greene takes on the conventional wisdom and closely examines eighteen myths advanced by the special interest groups dominating public education. In addition to the money myth, the class size myth, and the teacher pay myth, Greene debunks the special education myth (special ed programs burden public schools), the certification myth (certified or more experienced teachers are more effective in the classroom), the graduation myth (nearly all students graduate from high school), the draining myth (choice harms public schools), the segregation myth (private schools are more racially segregated), and several more” (Amazon Book Description).

Education Vouchers:

In The education gap : vouchers and urban schools “the authors review the significance of state and federal court decisions as well as recent scholarly debates over choice impacts on student performance. In addition, the authors present new findings on which parents choose private schools and the consequences the decision has for their children’s education. Updated and expanded, The Education Gap remains an indispensable source of original research on school vouchers” (Amazon Book Description).

Epidemics/Plagues:

“Containing riveting accounts of barely averted catastrophes (including outbreaks of West Nile virus, SARS, and hantavirus), the book Microbe : are we ready for the next plague by Alan P. Zelicoff M.D., examines the disjointed, ineffective system we all rely upon to keep us alive and healthy. More important, the book presents a solution to stop outbreaks and minimize the impact of an epidemic” (Amazon Book Description).

Eugenics:

“The explosive true story of America’s century-long attempt to create a master race… Funded by America's leading corporate philanthropies, such as the Carnegie Institution and the Rockefeller Foundation, and entrenched in classrooms across America, eugenicists sought to eliminate social "undesirables” (Amazon book description). Learn more in War Against the Weak: eugenics and America’s campaign to create a master race by Edwin Black.

Forced Sterilization:

“In 1927, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of sterilizing a twenty-one-year-old woman thought to be ‘feebleminded’… This precedent led to the escalation of eugenics in the United States, and the coercive sterilization of more than sixty-five thousand people (many of whom were poor women). [The author] deftly combines analysis of how the American quest for moral and social purity prepared people to accept pseudo-science as a basis for national policy” (New Yorker Review). Read more in Better for all the world : the secret history of forced sterilization and America's quest for racial purity by Harry Bruinius.

Genetically Engineered Food:

Do you know what you are eating? Eating in the Dark: America’s experiment with genetically engineered food by Kathleen Hart “reveals the process by which American government agencies decided not to label genetically modified food, and not to require biotech companies to perform even basic safety tests on their products” (Amazon book description).

Health care/insurance:

“The United States today is the only economically developed county in which more than a third of the population is uninsured or under-insured. In At the Front Lines of Medicine: how the health care system alienates doctors and mistreats patients… and what we can do about it, Dr. Waitzkin describes the bold action needed if the United States is to improve the health prospects of its people” (Barnes and Noble website).

Health Care Rationing:

“Should Americans decide to rein in the growth of health care spending… they will be forced to consider whether to ration care for the well insured - a prospect that is odious and unthinkable to many. In Can We Say No: the challenge of rationing health care, Henry Aaron and William B. Schwartz argue that sensible health care rationing not only can save money, but that it can improve general welfare and public health, as well. The book reviews Great Britain's experience with health care rationing” (Amazon Book Description).

Human Nature:

Is human nature obsolete? : genetics bioengineering, and the future of the human condition by Harold W. Baillie “poses the overarching question of what it is to be human against the background of these current advances in biotechnology. Its perspective is philosophical and interdisciplinary rather than technical; the focus is on questions of fundamental ontological importance rather than the specifics of medical or scientific practice” (Amazon Book Description).

Human Rights – Children:

In Children's human rights : progress and challenges for children worldwide, Mark Ensalaco explains that “the details are disturbing, the message powerful: We must vigorously extend the universal declaration of human rights to the most vulnerable humans of all--the children of the world… Children's human rights are regularly violated around the world. Child soldiers, child slavery, and child prostitution are some of the more graphic examples this books deals with, but hungry, sick, and orphaned children are equally at risk and more prevalent. In the United States, children suffer similar abuses, but some are unique to the United States justice system. Unlike most of the rest of the world, the U.S. is a well-developed western nation in which juvenile offenders can be tried as adults and subjected to capital punishment” (Publisher Description from Barnes and Noble website).

Immigration Prisons:

“Before September 11, 2001, few Americans had heard of immigration detention, but in fact a secret and repressive prison system run by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has existed in this country for more than two decades. In American Gulag: inside U.S. immigration prisons, prisoners, jailers, and whistle-blowing federal officials come forward to describe the frightening reality inside these INS facilities. Journalist Mark Dow's on-the-ground reporting brings to light documented cases of illegal beatings and psychological torment, prolonged detention, racism, and inhumane conditions” (Amazon Book Description).

Immigrant Unions:

“In recent years, New Yorkers have been surprised to see workers they had taken for granted—Mexicans in greengroceries, West African supermarket deliverymen and South Asian limousine drivers—striking, picketing, and seeking support for better working conditions. Suddenly, businesses in New York and the nation had changed and were now dependent upon low-paid immigrants to fill the entry-level jobs that few native-born Americans would take. Immigrants, Unions, and the New U.S. Labor Market tells the story of these workers' struggle for living wages, humane working conditions, and the respect due to all people” (Amazon Book Description). Find out more in Immigrants, unions, and the new U.S. labor market by Immanuel Ness.

Incarceration:

“After overseeing the largest city jail system in the country, [author] Michael Jacobson knows first-hand the inner workings of the corrections system. In Downsizing Prisons, he convincingly argues that mass incarceration will not, as many have claimed, reduce crime nor create more public safety. Simply put, throwing away the key is not the answer” (Amazon Book Description). Find out more in Downsizing Prisons: How to Reduce Crime And End Mass Incarceration.

Individual Rights / Patriot Act:

In How patriotic is the Patriot Act? : freedom versus security in the age of terrorism, author “Etzioni concerns himself less with the Patriot Act itself than with broader questions of how well in a post-9/11 environment American society can protect citizens against terrorist threats without damaging or discarding those individual rights that are the nation's legal hallmarks. He enumerates a host of challenges that modern technology poses to individual freedoms. His views on dealing with attacks on public health from biological weapons include some potentially controversial remedies. In assessing likely threats and benefits from national identification cards, Etzioni lays bare the ubiquity and uselessness of state-issued driver's licenses, currently the nation's most accepted certificate of identity and its most often counterfeited” (Booklist).

Intelligent Design:

In the book Uncommon dissent : intellectuals who find Darwinism unconvincing , “author William A. Dembski brings together essays by leading intellectuals who find one or more aspects of Darwinism unpersuasive… open-minded inquirers whose challenges pose serious questions about the viability of Darwinist ideology” (Amazon Product description).

Internet, control of:

Who controls the Internet? : illusions of a borderless world by Jack Goldsmith is “about the fate of one idea--that the Internet might liberate us forever from government, borders, and even our physical selves. We learn of Google's struggles with the French government and Yahoo's capitulation to the Chinese regime; of how the European Union sets privacy standards on the Net for the entire world; and of eBay's struggles with fraud and how it slowly learned to trust the FBI. In a decade of events the original vision is uprooted, as governments time and time again assert their power to direct the future of the Internet. The destiny of the Internet over the next decades, argue Goldsmith and Wu, will reflect the interests of powerful nations and the conflicts within and between them” (Amazon Book Description).

Invading Iraq:

“Through our own mistakes, the perfidy of others, and Saddam’s cunning, the United States is left with few good policy options regarding Iraq” (Barnes and Noble website). Check out The Threatening Storm: the case for invading Iraq by Kenneth Pollack.

Liberal Media:

The book What Liberal Media? The truth about bias and the news by Eric Alterman, argues this point: “the conservatives in the newspapers, television, talk radio, and the Republican party are lying about liberal bias and repeating the same lies long enough that they've taken on a patina of truth” (Amazon review).

Medical Malpractice Myth:

Most people say medical malpractice litigation is the cause for rising insurance costs. However, in The medical malpractice myth, author Tom Baker “counters that the real problem is ‘too much medical malpractice, not too much litigation,’ and that the cost of malpractice is lost lives and the ‘pain and suffering of tens of thousands of people every year’ —most of whom do not sue. Baker argues that the rise in medical premiums has more to do with economic cycles and the competitive nature of the insurance industry than runaway juries. Finally, Baker offers an alternative in the form of evidence-based medical liability reform that seeks to decrease the incidence of malpractice and also protect doctors from rising premium costs” (Publisher’s Weekly).

Medicating children:

Some say we overmedicate our children without knowing if it has immediate or long lasting negative effects. But if your child had a problem that could not be controlled, wouldn’t you want to medicate him or her in hopes of helping them out? It is a tough position, so check out Should I Medicate My Child?: sane solutions for troubled kids with and without psychiatric drugs by Lawrence H. Diller for more information.

Minimum wage:

Is minimum wage too low? How is one expected to survive on $5.75 per hour? Get an insider’s perspective on what it’s like to live off of jobs that pay minimum wage in Nickel and Dimed: on (not) getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. Also check out The Case of the Minimum Wage: competing policy models by Oren M. Levin-Waldman.

Monogamy:

Interested in the debate over whether monogamy is what nature intended? Find out the biological perspective by reading The Myth of Monogamy: fidelity and infidelity in animals and people by David Barash and Judith Lipton.

Motherhood:

The mommy myth : the idealization of motherhood and how it has undermined women by Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels talks about “the media's obsession with motherhood and the impossible standards which that obsession promotes. Romanticized, commercialized, sensationalized, and demonized by turns, today's mothers are damned if they work and damned if they don't” (Amazon editorial review).

National Health Care – lack of:

In One nation, uninsured : why the U.S. has no national health insurance the author "addresses, and discredits, the conventional theories explaining this failure... She argues that reform has failed because of the ability of vested interests--insurance companies, the small-business lobby, the AMA, among others--to mobilize vast resources to make their case before consumers, and especially legislators, the result being that one in three Americans is uninsured over any given two-year period” (Booklist).

Nature vs. Nurture:

What if it were not one OR the other? Perhaps the key to understanding human life and development is seeing how nature and nurture interact during every single stage of biological development. Read more about this in The Dependent Gene: the fallacy of “nature vs. nurture” by David S. Moore.

Newspaper Reporting Biases :

The authors, Howard Friel and Richard Falk, have writen the book The record of the paper : how the New York Times misreports US foreign policy , in which they “use substantial research to argue that the Times has long ‘ignor[ed] international law when it applies to US foreign policy' and that the paper has willfully ‘failed to make a serious effort to expose government deception and misconduct'” (Publisher's Weekly). Students interested in journalism or communications should check out this book and find out what the controversy is all about.

No Child Left Behind:

“Popham [the author], an expert on educational testing, explains the implications of the controversial No Child Left Behind (NCLB) policy. The law calling for expanded student testing and stricter accountability standards, tying federal funds for disadvantaged children to school performance, has called into question the ways we measure the success or failure of schools” (Booklist review). Read more in America 's "failing" schools : how parents and teachers can cope with No Child Left Behind by W. J. Popham.

One Child Policy ( China ):

In Only hope : coming of age under China 's one-child policy, authour Vanessa L. Fong writes about  "the first generation of children born under China 's one-child family policy is now reaching adulthood. What are these children like? What are their values, goals, and interests? What kinds of relationships do they have with their families? This is the first in-depth study to analyze what it is like to grow up as the state-appointed vanguard of modernization?” (Amazon product description).

Organ transplants:

Should alcoholics receive the same status as other people waiting for donor livers? Should celebrities have easier access to organ transplants? How about growing organs from the patients’ stem cells? These questions (and their answers) can be found in Raising the Dead: organ transplants, ethics, and society by Ronald Munson.

Outsourcing:

Concerned about the American economy shipping jobs overseas? In Exporting America : why corporate greed is shipping American jobs overseas   by Lou Dobbs, “he tells the full story, naming names, providing the shocking statistics, and exploding the economic myths that say this national epidemic is "good" for us. Most important, he reveals how Corporate America isn't doing all this on its own. Big Business and Washington are working together, trading our nation's livelihood for short-term gains while they undermine our very way of life” (Barnes and Noble Website).

Parole/Prisoner re-entry to society:

The book When Prisoners come home: parole and prisoner re-entry by Joan Petersilia asks “what happens when a large percentage of inner-city men, mostly Black and Hispanic, are regularly extracted, imprisoned, and then returned a few years later in worse shape and with dimmer prospects than when they committed the crime resulting in their imprisonment?” (Amazon book description).

Peak Oil / End of Oil:

In A thousand barrels a second : the coming oil break point and the challenges facing an energy dependent world, author Peter Tertzakian “makes a convincing, layreader-friendly case that the end of oil is nigh and it's time to get serious about energy alternatives now that the world is at "the dawn of a new energy age" that will pit the U.S. against China in the struggle for oil. Tertzakian provides an excellent primer on oil's history, uses, supply chains and politics, including dozens of charts and graphs to illustrate the bleak outlook for oil's future” (Publisher’s Weekly Review).

Placebo Effect:

“Can we really cure ourselves of disease by the power of thought alone? Faith healers and alternative therapists are convinced that we can, but what does science say? Contrary to public perception, orthodox medical opinion is remarkably confident about the healing powers of the mind… ” (Amazon product description). Read more about this controversial issue in Placebo : mind over matter in modern medicine by D. Evans.

Police and Racism:

In Are Cops Racist, “Heather MacDonald is one of the few authors who attempts to justify current policing methods, arguing that the truth about policing and issues related to race is not known to the general public. She contends that the police should be receiving accolades for all the good work they do; instead, they are constantly attacked by the media (especially the New York Times), which offer unsubstantiated claims that racial profiling is running amok” (Library Journal).

Prescription Drug Costs:

The book Powerful medicines : the benefits, risks, and costs of prescription drugs by Jerry Avorn is a
“comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at issues that affect everyone: our shortage of data comparing the worth of similar drugs for the same condition; alarming lapses in the detection of lethal side effects; the underuse of life-saving medications; lavish marketing campaigns that influence what doctors prescribe; and the resulting upward spiral of costs that places vital drug beyond the reach of many Americans” (Barnes and Noble website).

Privatizing education:

Do we move from state and local tax funded education to a system where there are donations, vouchers, charter schools, and big business supplying the money to build and operate these systems? Find out in Privatizing Education: can the marketplace deliver choice, efficiency, equity, and social cohesion? by Henry Levin.

Public Schools and Religion:

In Does God belong in public schools, “Columbia law professor Greenawalt tackles one of the truly intractable problems encountered in applying the Constitution to public life. Under the First Amendment, the government can neither establish religion nor prohibit the free exercise of religion. How can these two rules, which tug in opposite directions, be applied coherently to government-run schools? Looking at cases that have come before the courts, Greenawalt surveys the many contexts in which the proper place of religion in public schools is at issue” (Publisher’s Weekly Review).

Public versus private schools:

Is there really a discernable difference between the education provided by public and private schools? Is it true, as advocates of voucher plans assert, that market-driven education results in improved educational practices, greater parental involvement, and heightened student achievement? Not necessarily” (Amazon book description). Read more in All Else Equal: are public and private schools different? by Luis Benveniste.

Religion’s place in America:

“How did the United States, founded as colonies with explicitly religious aspirations, come to be the first modern state whose commitment to the separation of church and state was reflected in its constitution? Frank Lambert explains why this happened, offering in the process a synthesis of American history from the first British arrivals through Thomas Jefferson's controversial presidency” (Amazon book description). Find out more information in The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America by Frank Lambert.

Religion and Public Schools:

In Does God belong in public schools, “Columbia law professor Greenawalt tackles one of the truly intractable problems encountered in applying the Constitution to public life. Under the First Amendment, the government can neither establish religion nor prohibit the free exercise of religion. How can these two rules, which tug in opposite directions, be applied coherently to government-run schools? Looking at cases that have come before the courts, Greenawalt surveys the many contexts in which the proper place of religion in public schools is at issue” (Publisher’s Weekly Review).

Reverse discrimination:

In Reverse Discrimination: dismantling the myth, Fred Pincus “examines the nature and scope of ‘reverse discrimination,’ focusing on the question of whether white males are adversely affected by affirmative action programs. Basing his results on interviews and research, he finds that it is people of color and women who continue to carry the burden of bias” (Barnes and Nobel website).

School Desegregation:

In Forced to fail : the paradox of school desegregation, “Caldas and Bankston provide a critical, dispassionate analysis of why desegregation in the United States has failed to achieve the goal of providing equal educational opportunities for all students. They offer case histories through dozens of examples of failed desegregation plans from all over the country. The book takes a very broad perspective on race and education, situated in the larger context of the development of individual rights in Western civilization” (Amazon Book Description).

School Re-Segregation:

In The shame of the nation, “Kozol visited 60 schools in 11 states over a five-year period and finds, despite the promise of Brown v. Board of Education, many schools serving black and Hispanic children are spiraling backward to the pre-Brown era. These schools lack the basics: clean classrooms, hallways and restrooms; up-to-date books in good condition; and appropriate laboratory supplies. Teachers and administrators eschew creative coursework for rote learning to meet testing and accountability mandates” (Publisher’s Weekly review).

School Shootings:

The book Rampage : the social roots of school shootings by Katherine S. Newman isn't another study on how media violence causes school shootings, or how “bullying” is the cause. This book takes a sociological approach and studies the communities of these schools: “ In a powerful and original analysis, she demonstrates that the organizational structure of schools ‘loses' information about troubled kids, and the very closeness of these small rural towns restrained neighbors and friends from communicating what they knew about their problems. Her conclusions shed light on the ties that bind in small-town America .” (Amazon product description).

Single-sex education:

All Girls: single-sex education and why it matters by Karen Stabiner “focuses on the intelligent and determined young women who are being nurtured in classrooms where strong, independent thinking is expected and cultivated” (Barnes and Noble website).

State writing assessments:

In The Testing Trap: how state writing assessments control learning, George Hillocks “examines whether state writing tests in Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, New York, and Texas actually improve students' ability to express their thinking in writing. Ultimately, Hillocks argues that the majority of existing tests actually have a harmful effect on the way students are taught to write” (Amazon book description).

Supreme Court Decisions:

"Conservatives want to return to the eighteenth-century Constitution or to restore "the Constitution in Exile," by which they mean the Constitution as it existed before the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In Radicals in Robes: why extreme right-wing courts are wrong for America, author Cass R. Sunstein explains what this constitutional vision would mean. It would endanger environmental regulations, campaign finance laws, and the right to privacy... It would impose sharp new limits on Congress's authority to protect rights” (Amazon Book Description).

SUV’s:

In High and Mighty: SUVs – the world’s most dangerous vehicles and how they got that way, Keith Bradsher “makes a powerful case that these vehicles are even worse than we suspect—for their occupants, for other motorists, for pedestrians and for the planet itself” (Barnes and Noble website).

Taxing accumulated fortunes:

In Wealth and our Commonwealth: why America should tax accumulated fortunes by Bill Gates and Chuck Collins feel that “with the repeal proposed by the Bush administration, we might be facing the future that Teddy Roosevelt feared—where huge fortunes amassed and untaxed would evolve into a dangerous and permanent aristocracy” (Barnes and Noble website).

Teacher unions:

“It is no coincidence that the thirty-year decline in U.S. K-12 education, and the simultaneous surge in education spending, began at the same time that the modern teacher unions were created… The agenda [of the unions] is not to provide better teaching in schools; it is to provide more money and benefits for teachers -- and, above all, for itself” (Amazon book description). Find out more about this in The Worm in the Apple: how the teacher unions are destroying American education by Peter Brimelow.

Television, Effect On Children:

In The other parent : the inside story of the media's effect on our children, James Steyer “addresses the media's influential presence in kids' lives as "the other parent." Without demonizing the media, Steyer offers an in-depth look at the effects of TV, video games, and the Internet on today's kids and explains the lack of social responsibility in many media companies as they cater to stockholders over children. Backing up his convincing argument with dependable statistics, Steyer discusses the consequences of exposure to sex, coarseness, violence, and commercialism long before children are ready to understand them and offers real-world solutions” (Library Journal Review).

Transplant Organ "Business":

In Stakes and kidneys : why markets in human body parts are morally imperative, author James Taylor “says legalizing the current markets in human organs would relieve the increasing shortage of human organs wanted for transplantation, and would help end abuse and suffering among thousands of impoverished people. He figures the biggest—really only major—hurdle to overcome is an ethical unease about the rich buying parts of the poor. He seeks to alleviate that unease in discussions of whether the typical kidney vendor is forced to sell, constraining options and kidney markets, a moral case for market regulation, kidney sales and dangerous employment, human dignity and the fear of commodification, and altruism and kidney procurement” (Barnes and Noble Book Synopsis).

Violence and Girls:

"In See Jane Hit: why girls are growing more violent and what can be done about it, Dr. James Garbarino shows that the rise in girls' violence is the product of many interrelated cultural developments, several of which are largely positive. In a number of ways… the cultural foot binding that has kept girls from embracing their own physical power has been removed, which is largely to be celebrated. But nothing happens in isolation, and there's rarely such a momentous societal shift with absolutely no downside. One problem is that girls aren't being trained to handle their own physical aggression the way boys are: our methods of child-rearing culture include all sorts of mechanisms for socializing boys to express their violence in socially acceptable ways, but with girls we lag very far behind” (Amazon Book Description).

Water (scarcity of resources):

“Examining the international water trade, damming, mining, and aquafarming, Vandana Shiva, in Water Wars: privatization, pollution, and profit, exposes the destruction of the earth and the disenfranchisement of the world's poor as they are stripped of their right to a precious common good” (Barnes and Noble website).

Welform Reform Proposal:

In In our hands : a plan to replace the welfare state, the author Charles Murray says to reform the welfare system the government should “give $10,000 (to begin with) per year, tax free, to every adult over 21, with the stipulation that $3,000 of it be spent on health insurance and the strong recommendation that $2,000 be invested toward retirement income. Once an individual's earned income reaches $25,000, surtax on the grant begins, and those making $50,000 and more would pay back half the grant… After a first few expensive years, the plan would develop much less expensively than the present welfare system. Gone would be Social Security, Medicare, and the rest, and everyone would have at least $5,000 annual discretionary income”.

Whistleblowing:

“Whistleblowers can ruin lives--and can save them. Is it worth it? In Whistleblowing: when it works- and why, Roberta Ann Johnson explores when and how--and to what effect--people make the choice to blow the whistle” (Amazon book description).

Youth Gun Crime / Policies:

“In Language of the Gun, Bernard E. Harcourt recounts in-depth interviews with youths detained at an all-male correctional facility in the Arizona desert, exploring how they talk about guns and what meanings they ascribe to them in a broader attempt to understand some of the assumptions implicit in current handgun policies. In an effort to understand the symbolic and emotional language of guns and gun carrying, Harcourt interviewed dozens of these incarcerated Catalina boys. What do these youths see in guns? What draws them to handguns? Why do some of them carry and others not? For Harcourt, their often surprising answers unveil many of the presuppositions that influence our laws and policies” (Book Cover).

Zero Tolerance Policy (in school):

Much controversy surrounds the concept of punishing a student the same way whether he/she bring a pocket knife to school or a loaded gun. Does this policy actually help or harm the goal of curbing violence in our schools? Read Zero Tolerance: resisting the drive for punishment in our schools: a handbook for parents, students, educators, and citizens by William Ayers, et. al.