Beacon: 545 books
Culture & Truth
The Remaking of Social Analysis
Language: English
Release Date: March 15, 2001
Exposing the inadequacies of old conceptions of static cultures and detached observers, the book argues instead for social science to acknowledge and celebrate diversity, narrative, emotion, and subjectivity.
When the Rivers Run Dry
Water--The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first Century
Language: English
Release Date: March 9, 2006
In this groundbreaking book, veteran science correspondent Fred Pearce travels to more than thirty countries to examine the current state of crucial water sources. Deftly weaving together the complicated scientific, economic, and historic dimensions of the world water crisis, he provides our most complete portrait yet of this growing danger and its ramifications for us all.
The Social Life of DNA
Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome
Language: English
Release Date: January 12, 2016
The unexpected story of how genetic testing is affecting race in America
We know DNA is a master key that unlocks medical and forensic secrets, but its genealogical life is both revelatory and endlessly fascinating. Tracing genealogy is now the second-most popular hobby amongst Americans, as...
Trust Women
A Progressive Christian Argument for Reproductive Justice
Language: English
Release Date: April 10, 2018
In an age in which women’s reproductive rights are increasingly under attack, a minister and ethicist offers a stirring argument that abortion can be a moral good
Here’s a fact that we often ignore: unplanned pregnancy and abortion are a normal part of women’s reproductive lives. Roughly...
Dispatches from the Abortion Wars
The Costs of Fanaticism to Doctors, Patients, and the Rest of Us
Language: English
Release Date: January 1, 2010
Surprising firsthand accounts from the front lines of abortion provision reveal the persistent cultural, political, and economic hurdles to access
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More than thirty-five years after women won the right to legal abortion, most people do not realize how inaccessible it has become. In these pages,...
The $60,000 Dog
My Life with Animals
Language: English
Release Date: November 20, 2012
A stunning new book about the role of animals in our lives, by a popular and acclaimed writer
From the time she is nine years old, biking to the farmland outside her suburban home, where she discovers a disquieting world of sleeping cows and a “Private Way” full of the wondrous and creepy creatures...
Showdown
JFK and the Integration of the Washington Redskins
Language: English
Release Date: September 6, 2011
In 1961—as America crackled with racial tension—the Washington Redskins stood alone as the only professional football team without a black player on its roster. In fact, during the entire twenty-five-year history of the franchise, no African American had ever played for George Preston Marshall,...
Undocumented
How Immigration Became Illegal
Language: English
Release Date: May 13, 2014
Explores what it means to be undocumented in a legal, social, economic and historical context
In this illuminating work, immigrant rights activist Aviva Chomsky shows how “illegality” and “undocumentedness” are concepts that were created to exclude and exploit. With a focus on US policy,...
Mousy Cats and Sheepish Coyotes
The Science of Animal Personalities
Language: English
Release Date: November 7, 2017
A wildlife expert explores what science tells us about animals as unique individuals and why animal personality matters for the human-animal bond and for adaptation in nature.
Why are some cats cuddly and others standoffish? Why are some dogs adventuresome, others homebodies? As any pet owner...
Singular Intimacies
Becoming a Doctor at Bellevue
Language: English
Release Date: April 1, 2003
Singular Intimacies is the story of becoming a doctor by immersion at New York's Bellevue Hospital, the oldest public hospital in the country. When Danielle Ofri first enters the doors as a medical student, she is immediately plunged into the teeming world of urban medicine. It is here that Dr. Ofri...
Uncertain Peril
Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds
Language: English
Release Date: March 1, 2008
Life on earth is facing unprecedented challenges from global warming, war, and mass extinctions. The plight of seeds is a less visible but no less fundamental threat to our survival. Seeds are at the heart of the planet's life-support systems. Their power to regenerate and adapt are essential to maintaining...
Executed on a Technicality
Lethal Injustice on America's Death Row
Language: English
Release Date: May 1, 2005
When David Dow took his first capital case, he supported the death penalty. He changed his position as the men on death row became real people to him, and as he came to witness the profound injustices they endured: from coerced confessions to disconcertingly incompetent lawyers; from racist juries...
Drunks
An American History
Language: English
Release Date: June 27, 2017
Reveals the history of our struggle with alcoholism and the emergence of a search for sobriety that is as old as our nation.
In Drunks, Christopher Finan introduces us to a colorful cast of characters who were integral in America’s moral journey to understanding alcoholism. There's the remarkable...
by James Baldwin
Language: English
Release Date: April 1, 2014
Language: English
Release Date: April 1, 2014
All of the published poetry of James Baldwin, including six significant poems previously only available in a limited edition
During his lifetime (1924–1987), James Baldwin authored seven novels, as well as several plays and essay collections, which were published to wide-spread praise. These...