Author: James Neill
Publisher: McFarland
Keywords: human, societies, relations, sex, role, origins
Number of Pages: 478
Published: 2009-01-05
List price: $55.00
ISBN-10: 0786435135
ISBN-13: 9780786435135

This groundbreaking work draws on a vast range of research into human sexuality to demonstrate that homosexuality is not a phenomenon limited to a small minority of society, but is an aspect of a complex sexual harmony that the human race inherited from its animal ancestors. Through a survey of the patterns of sexual expression found among animals and among societies around the world, and an examination of the functional role homosexual behavior has played among animal species and human societies alike, the author arrives at some provocative conclusions: that a homosexual or bisexual phase is

Authors:Les Edgerton, Wally Lubanski,
Publisher: McFarland
Keywords: scouting, affects, national, pastime, youth, remaking, game, usa, future, baseball, perfect
Number of Pages: 202
Published: 2008-12-02
List price: $35.00
ISBN-10: 0786434082
ISBN-13: 9780786434084

For decades baseball scouts have beat the bushes for talent, wandering throughout the United States in search of promising young players. But technology and competition have recently brought about big changes, as potential stars are identified as early as Little League. The largest such scouting and development service, Perfect Game USA, has become the primary pipeline to college and professional baseball, with its participants accounting for more than 70 percent of the players taken in the 2007 amateur draft. This book looks at the history, methods, and impact of Perfect Game USA, which conti

Author: Calum Waddell
Publisher: McFarland
Keywords: film, master, blaxploitation, exploitation, jack
Number of Pages: 224
Published: 2009-01-06
List price: $35.00
ISBN-10: 0786436093
ISBN-13: 9780786436095

Jack Hill stands as one of the great B-movie directors and influenced an aspiring filmmaker named Quentin Tarantino. The director who gave the world Coffy, Foxy Brown, Spider Baby, Switchblade Sisters and other exploitation classics broke gender and racial barriers in his low-budget work. He launched the careers of Pam Grier, Ellen Burstyn and Sid Haig and worked with Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney in the twilight of their careers. This filmography covers all of Jack Hill’s works. Each entry offers alternate titles, cast, credits, a plot summary, extensive critical information, quotes, and

Authors:Louis J., Jr. Palmer,
Publisher: McFarland
Keywords: states, united, punishment, capitol, encyclopedia
Number of Pages: 631
Published: 2008-07-29
List price: $95.00
ISBN-10: 0786432632
ISBN-13: 9780786432639

This updated encyclopedia provides ready information on all aspects of capital punishment in America. It details virtually every capital punishment decision rendered by the United States Supreme Court through 2006, including more than 40 cases decided since publication of the first edition. Entries are also provided for each Supreme Court Justice who has ever rendered a capital punishment opinion. Entries on jurisdictions cite present-day death penalty laws and judicial structure state by state, with synopses of common and unique features. Also included are entries on significant U.S. capital

Authors:Grant Hayter-Menzies,  Eric Myer,
Publisher: McFarland
Keywords: billie, burke, lives, private, ziegfeld, public, mrs
Number of Pages: 245
Published: 2009-02-09
List price: $55.00
ISBN-10: 0786438002
ISBN-13: 9780786438006

Broadway actress Billie Burke was one of the most sought after young stage beauties of her time, stealing the hearts of Enrico Caruso, Mark Twain, and, most importantly, famed Broadway producer Florenz Ziegfeld, who became her husband. Following Ziegfeld’s death, the threats of financial ruin and encroaching age forced Burke to recreate herself as a Hollywood character actress. This biography benefits from the cooperation of the daughter and grandchildren of Burke and Ziegfeld, as well as from anecdotes provided by actors who performed with Burke on the stage and screen. In addition to s

Author: Timothy S. Good
Publisher: McFarland
Keywords: republican, nomination, path, underdog, president, lincoln
Number of Pages: 192
Published: 2009-01-27
List price: $35.00
ISBN-10: 0786439572
ISBN-13: 9780786439577

This is a narrative of Abraham Lincoln’s bid for the White House from 1858 through 1860. Lincoln seemed like a long shot from the beginning--a one term congressmen, he’d never served as a judge or governor or in any statewide office, and he had lost two campaigns for the U.S. Senate. How, then, did he overtake several seemingly better-qualified candidates to ultimately defeat William Seward for his young party’s nomination? This work offers a day-by-day account that demonstrates how Lincoln’s character, and his upholding of the Declaration of Independence’s bold s

Author: Marilyn Cohe
Publisher: McFarland
Keywords: baseball, women, exclusion, clubhouse, girls
Number of Pages: 228
Published: 2009-01-29
List price: unknow
ISBN-10: 078644018X
ISBN-13: 9780786440184

Even though teenaged girl Jackie Mitchell once struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, women are still striking out on the hardball diamond. This book builds on recently published histories of women as amateur and professional players, umpires, sports commentators and fans to analyze the cultural and historical contexts for excluding females from America’s pastime. Drawing on anthropological and feminist perspectives, the book examines the ways that constructions of women’s bodies and normative social roles have pushed them toward softball instead of baseball. Sportswriter accounts, T