As this book makes clear, civilization cannot long continue to ride on an oil slick. Worldwide, many people have come to see dependence on coal, and especially on oil, not only as unsustainable, but as profoundly destabilizing, both environmentally and politically. While ever-increasing demands continue to be placed on "mainstream" energy sources, recurring attempts have been made to generate power in "alternative" ways.

After retracing some of these efforts, this succinct and historically informed volume explores the ongoing debate over alternative energy that gathered strength in the...

"Capital Punishment" examines the debate around the death penalty, raising questions and attempting to provide an even-handed examination of this controversial practice. The authors combine analysis of important issues with excerpts from landmark legal decisions, important documents, survey results, and empirical data.

The first part of the book discusses the origins of the death penalty and traces its development from antiquity to contemporary times. Detailed statistical information about capital punishment is presented and discussed, and the death penalty is considered against a...

"Special consideration" or "reverse discrimination"? This examination traces the genesis and development of affirmative action and the continuing controversy that constitutes the story of racial and gender preferences. It pays attention to the individuals, the events, and the ideas that spawned federal and selected state affirmative action policies and the resistance to those policies. Perhaps most important, it probes the key legal challenges to affirmative action in the nation's courts.

The controversy over affirmative action in America has been marked by a persistent...

Concise, authoritative, and unbiased, "The Healthcare Debate" provides meaningful context for thinking about one of the most controversial public policy issues the United States faces. It traces the evolution of the argument over the government's role in healthcare financing and delivery since the early 1800s, with an emphasis on the major reform efforts since the mid-20th century.

Following the complex dynamics of public health policy across U.S. history, "The Healthcare Debate" brings together a wide range of voices on the subject--presidents, policymakers, reformers, lobbyists, and...

"Global Warming" takes one of the hot-button issues of our time and surveys it in historical context, creating an intellectual portrait of the multi-century shifts in thinking that have led to gradual acceptance of the concept. The book summarizes pertinent aspects of geology, earth science, and climate science in easy-to-read terms. It then frames this background in terms of cultural and social shifts, including the Industrial Revolution, conspicuous consumption, and modern environmentalism. In addition, a study of the ebb and flow of cultural and political reception relates the issue to...

Emotional public responses to widely publicized right-to-die and euthanasia cases, such as those revolving around Dr. Jack Kevorkian and Terri Schiavo, highlight their volatile mix of medical, ethical, religious, legal, and public policy issues. "The Euthanasia/Assisted-Suicide Debate" explores how this debate has evolved over the past 100 years as judicial approaches, legislative responses, and prosecutorial practices have shifted as a result of changes in medical technology and consumer sophistication.

Emphasizing the period from the 1950s forward, the book offers an unbiased...

Examining an issue that has been a matter of controversy since the founding of the United States, "Separation of Church and State" offers a chronological survey that helps put the ongoing debate in broad historical context.

The book briefly traces the earliest instances of tension between church and state within the Western tradition, from the era of Constantine to the Reformation, before moving on to the American experience. Attention is paid to the colonial debates about the ideal relationship between faith and politics, the 18th-century trends that culminated in a constitutional...

"Evolution, Creationism, and Intelligent Design" offers a comprehensive, unbiased history of this controversial issue, as well as a balanced presentation of the arguments central to a debate that remains one of the most divisive in American society. Centered around the importance of the issue to education in both the sciences and humanities, the book's chief concern is the relevance of the debate to America's public schools.

Beginning with an overview of the topic and its history, the book goes on to investigate Darwinism and the neo-Darwinian revolution as well as the applications of...

Prostitution and Sex Work is the first book since 1921 to offer a historic overview of this controversial topic and what our views on it say about American society. Exploring key people, places, and events, the guide includes descriptions of the myriad variations of the sale of sex and of the venues where prostitution occurs, as well as recurring themes such as panics about sexually transmitted diseases and the ever-present issue of violence in the sex trade.

After reviewing the history of prostitution and sex work over the past 400 years, the book offers detailed...