In State Governments: Institutions and Issues, a dialogic approach is used to provoke discussion regarding the major institutions of state governments today (federalism, tribal governments, governors, legislatures, judiciaries, and elections). Public policy issues (sprawl, educational choice, welfare and health care reform, water, taxes, living wages, and lotteries) also are subjected to dialogic treatment. Unlike the function of textbooks that provide general, descriptive coverage, these dialogues focus on the arguments and principles and the reasoning and evidence that bear on the lively...

James Robinson Planche was one of the most prolific and successful of nineteenth-century playwrights. In a career spanning fifty years he wrote over one hundred and eighty pieces of all types, from pantomime and farce to melodrama and opera, for production at a wide range of London theatres. This book offers a representative selection of his most popular plays. It includes one melodrama - The Vampire; or The Bride of the Isles (1820), which represents the first treatment of the vampire theme on the English stage; one farce - The Garrick Fever (1839); three 'fairy' extravaganzas - Beauty and...

This volume charts a period of political and social turbulence in Europe and its reflection on theatrical life. Apart from considering external factors like censorship and legal sanctions on theatrical activity, the volume examines the effects of prevailing operational conditions on the internal organization of companies, their repertoire, acting, stage presentation, playhouse architecture and the audience relationship. Many of the 460 documents are illustrated and drawn from sources in Britain, France and Italy. They have been annotated, and translated where appropriate.