Titles

Seed dispersal is a critical stage in the life cycle of most flowering plants. The process can have far-reaching effects on a species' biology, especially numerous aspects of its ecology and evolution. This is particularly the case for the oaks, in which the dispersal of the acorn is tied to numerous tree characteristics, as well as the behavior and ecology of the animals that feed on and move these seeds to their final destination. Forest structure, composition, and...

Originally published in 1971. The three contributions collected in this volume deal with different aspects of a single theme—the logical status of scientific theories in their relation to observation. These lectures, authored by different thinkers, treat this theme in connection with some controversies in the philosophy of science. A nonspecialist who reads these lectures should realize that the theme itself is a perennial one with an ancient lineage. It has concerned philosophers from the...

The stories of Ocean State roll over the reader like a wave. Family pleasures, marriage, the essential moments and mysteries of a seemingly ordinary world that break into magical territory before we can brace ourselves—Jean McGarry puts us in life's rough seas with what the New York Times has called a "deft, comic, and devastatingly precise" hand.

You've just won the gold medal, what are you going to do? In Ancient Greece, your patron could throw a feast in your honor and have a poet write a hymn of praise to you. The great poet Pindar composed many such odes for victorious athletes. Esteemed classicist Anne Pippin Burnett presents a fresh and exuberant translation of Pindar's victory songs. The typical Pindaric ode reflects three separate moments: the instant of success in contest, the victory night with its...

Bruce Louden's bold re-reading of the Odyssey—the first attempt in years to map in detail the poem's overall structure—offers new insights into the artistry of Odysseus' mythic voyage and enriches our understanding of Homer's masterful craftsmanship. Louden's groundbreaking work uncovers an extended narrative pattern, repeated in full three times, which reveals the poem's underlying skeletal structure. This organizational analysis helps to explain the existence of several characters or episodes...

Jacques Derrida's revolutionary approach to phenomenology, psychoanalysis, structuralism, linguistics, and indeed the entire European tradition of philosophy—called deconstruction—changed the face of criticism. It provoked a questioning of philosophy, literature, and the human sciences that these disciplines would have previously considered improper. Forty years after Of Grammatology first appeared in English, Derrida still ignites controversy, thanks...

Widely acknowledged as one of the great sociologists of higher education, Burton R. Clark has made substantial contributions to virtually every area in the field, thereby defining its study for generations. This collection of essays makes available a lifetime of research, scholarship, and insight from a giant in higher education and reveals how his perspectives, concepts, and research methods evolved over half a century. The result is a compelling look at the career of one of the...

With a style that combined biting sarcasm with the "language of the free lunch counter," Henry Louis Mencken shook politics and politicians for nearly half a century. Now, fifty years after Mencken's death, the Johns Hopkins University Press announces The Buncombe Collection, newly packaged editions of nine Mencken classics: Happy Days, Heathen Days, Newspaper Days, Prejudices, Treatise on the Gods, On Politics, Thirty-Five Years of Newspaper Work, Minority Report, and A Second Mencken Chrestomathy. ...

The Reverend Ralph Harper, a philosopher and theologian, has been credited with introducing existentialism to North America in 1948 with his work Existentialism: A Theory of Man. Forty years later, Harper delved deeper into the interior life of the human imagination in On Presence: Variations and Reflections. Winner of the 1992 Grawemeyer Award in Religion, On Presence is an insightful articulation of mankind's experience of presence. Drawing from philosophers like Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and...

Don't drink and drive. It's a deceptively simple rule, but one that is all too often ignored. And while efforts to eliminate drunk driving have been around as long as automobiles, every movement to keep drunks from driving has hit some alarming bumps in the road. Barron H. Lerner narrates the two strong—and vocal—sides to this debate in the United States: those who argue vehemently against drunk driving, and those who believe the problem is exaggerated and overregulated. A...

For women facing decisions about treatment for the symptoms of menopause, the second edition of this landmark work features a new chapter that addresses the latest findings about hormone replacement therapy. Dr. Michele Moore helps patients make informed treatment choices and offers a balanced account of options that range from traditional medical practice to holistic and alternative approaches. Drawing on her own experience as well the experiences of friends, colleagues, and patients,...

America's addiction crisis is growing worse. More than 115 Americans die daily from opioid overdoses, with half a million deaths expected in the next decade. Time and again, scientific studies show that medications like Suboxone and methadone are the most reliable and effective treatment, yet more than 60 percent of US addiction treatment centers fail to provide access to them. In The Opioid Fix, Barbara Andraka-Christou highlights both...

Since its inception, the research university has been the central institution of knowledge in the West. Today its intellectual authority is being challenged on many fronts, above all by radical technological change. Organizing Enlightenment tells the story of how the university emerged in the early nineteenth century at a similarly fraught moment of cultural anxiety about revolutionary technologies and their disruptive effects on...

The Orgasm Answer Guide answers common questions many people have about one of life's most fascinating experiences. In an accessible question-and-answer format, four of the world's leading sexuality experts address every aspect of orgasms: how they happen, why they don't, and what can be done to enhance sexual experiences. The authors provide clear and informed answers to more than 80 common questions, including: •Can an orgasm cause a heart attack?...

Originally published in 1987. The Origins of Agnosticism provides a reinterpretation of agnosticism and its relationship to science. Professor Lightman examines the epistemological basis of agnostics' learned ignorance, studying their core claim that "God is unknowable." To address this question, he reconstructs the theory of knowledge posited by Thomas Henry Huxley and his network of agnostics. In doing so, Lightman argues that agnosticism was constructed on...

The Origins of the English Novel, 1600-1740, combines historical analysis and readings of extraordinarily diverse texts to reconceive the foundations of the dominant genre of the modern era. Now, on the fifteenth anniversary of its initial publication, The Origins of the English Novel stands as essential reading. The anniversary edition features a new introduction in which the author reflects on the considerable response and commentary the book has attracted since its publication by...

There are seven surviving tragedies by Sophocles. Three of them form the Theban Plays, which recount the story of Thebes during and after the reign of Oedipus. Here, David Slavitt translates the remaining tragedies—the "other four plays:" Ajax, Women of Trachis, Electra, and Philoctetes. Punchy and entertaining, Slavitt reads Athena's opening line in Ajax as: "I've got my eye on you, Odysseus. Always." By simplifying the...

In many developed countries, population decline poses economic and social strains and may even threaten national security. Through historical-political case studies of Sweden, France, Italy, Japan, and Singapore, The Other Population Crisis explores the motivations, politics, programming, and consequences of national efforts to promote births. Steven Philip Kramer finds a significant government role in stopping declines in birth rates. Sweden's and...

"Conscious of the past, equal to the present, and reaching forward into the future—that's the Hopkins way. That's our shared legacy. That's the challenge of your tomorrow." With these words to the class of 1988, Barbara Donaho (1956) underscored the complex history of nursing education at Johns Hopkins. From the founding of the hospital's training nursing school in 1889, through years of struggle to achieve full academic recognition as the Johns Hopkins...