Some in the social sciences argue that the same logic applies to both qualitative and quantitative methods. In A Tale of Two Cultures, Gary Goertz and James Mahoney demonstrate that these two paradigms constitute different cultures, each internally coherent yet marked by contrasting norms, practices, and toolkits. They identify and discuss major differences between these two traditions that touch nearly every aspect of social science research, including design, goals, causal effects and models, concepts and measurement, data analysis, and case selection. Although focused on the differences between qualitative and quantitative research, Goertz and Mahoney also seek to promote toleration, exchange, and learning by enabling scholars to think beyond their own culture and see an alternative scientific worldview. This book is written in an easily accessible style and features a host of real-world examples to illustrate methodological points.
Margarita is a girl from two worlds. Her heart lies in Cuba, her mother s tropical island country, a place so lush with vibrant life that it seems like a fairy tale kingdom. But most of the time she lives in Los Angeles, lonely in the noisy city and dreaming of the summers when she can take a plane through the enchanted air to her beloved island. Words and images are her constant companions, friendly and comforting when the children at school are not.
From the mid-nineteenth century on, America and Japan were caught in an extraordinary political, military and economic duel. This clash was characterised by a cultural incompatibility that was to haunt the negotiations of their two leaders, Emperor Hirohito and General MacArthur. Hirohito was a remarkable man. Diffident, uncharismatic and apparently obtuse, he survived as god-ruler of Japan for six decades through internal strife, war, defeat, occupation and economic victory. But Hirohito met his equal in MacArthur. Brash and domineering, MacArthur merited the honorary Japanese epithet shogun or 'army leader' for his almost single-handed six year rule over Japan. In this absorbing dual biography Robert Harvey traces their tense and complex relationship. His broad scope encompasses two great nations in war and peace - a momentous period of history which provides illuminating insight into American actions across the world today.
Based on historical research and more than thirty years of anthropological fieldwork, this wide-ranging study underlines the importance of Caribbean cultures for anthropology, which has generally marginalized Europe's oldest colonial sphere. Located at
EXPLORE THE CULTURES OF THE WORLD! Meet buddies from different parts of our planet and go on adventures near and far with 30 stories bursting with intrigue, curiosity and wonder! Travel from Japan to Peru and South Africa to Denmark, and learn about diverse cultures, customs, traditions and more in one handy, charmingly illustrated volume. - A magical, educational experience for young readers to discover the differences that make our planet so special, but also to uncover the similarities we often overlook - Fictional plots of kids from different countries capture the imagination of little readers and allow them to experience the world beyond themselves, developing compassion and empathy - Every story is accompanied by a 2-page snapshot of that country's culture, filled with fun facts and engaging activities, such as puzzles, songs and recipes
Drawing on contemporaneous accounts of the First World War from Canada and the United States, freelance journalist Melina Druga offers readers an insightful exploration of early-20th-century attitudes toward the conflict, in A Tale of Two Nations: Canada, U.S. and WWI. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was two and a half years away from inheriting the Austro-Hungarian throne when he was assassinated in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. World War I began exactly one month later. That conflict would reshape Europe entirely, bring Canada into its own as an independent state, and stoke progressive activist fires in the United States. In hindsight, it’s easy to see how WWI radically changed the course of history. But how did people in Canada and the U.S. view the war at the time? What was worth reporting on, in the minds of news outlets and journalists, and which opinions dominated the broadsheets? Druga addresses these questions and more in this unique work of journalism history, which excavates opinions and coverage of the conflict to show how North American media framed the war as it was raging. This omnibus edition contains all five volumes of the A Tale of Two Nations series, with an expanded bibliography and a glossary of terms. Book 1: 1914 The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in 1914 Sarajevo plunged the globe into a massive war. The United States’ and Canada’s predominant viewpoints on the war served only to magnify pre-existing tensions between the nations. Book 2: 1915 The newly founded Canadian Expeditionary Force’s first sortie is the Second Battle of Ypres. Fifteen days after the chemical attack on Allied troops, the German Navy sank the RMS Lusitania, a British ocean liner, killing more than 1,100 passengers and crew. Book 3: 1916 The Battle of the Somme claimed more than 700,000 Allied casualties between July 1 and November 13, 1916. As war raged across Europe, the United States found itself preoccupied with homegrown violence. Book 4: 1917 The Canadian Expeditionary Force secures yet another hard-won victory, this time at Vimy Ridge. After years of speculation in the United States, President Woodrow Wilson finally declared war on Germany, plunging America into the international conflict. Book 5: 1918 By the time of the Allies’ armistice with Germany, Canada had been at war for more than four years, and the U.S. for nineteen months. No one could have predicted that a bigger, deadlier shadow was just over the horizon: the Spanish influenza pandemic.
Are art and science separated by an unbridgeable divide? Can they find common ground? In this new book, neuroscientist Eric R. Kandel, whose remarkable scientific career and deep interest in art give him a unique perspective, demonstrates how science can inform the way we experience a work of art and seek to understand its meaning. Kandel illustrates how reductionism—the distillation of larger scientific or aesthetic concepts into smaller, more tractable components—has been used by scientists and artists alike to pursue their respective truths. He draws on his Nobel Prize-winning work revealing the neurobiological underpinnings of learning and memory in sea slugs to shed light on the complex workings of the mental processes of higher animals. In Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, Kandel shows how this radically reductionist approach, applied to the most complex puzzle of our time—the brain—has been employed by modern artists who distill their subjective world into color, form, and light. Kandel demonstrates through bottom-up sensory and top-down cognitive functions how science can explore the complexities of human perception and help us to perceive, appreciate, and understand great works of art. At the heart of the book is an elegant elucidation of the contribution of reductionism to the evolution of modern art and its role in a monumental shift in artistic perspective. Reductionism steered the transition from figurative art to the first explorations of abstract art reflected in the works of Turner, Monet, Kandinsky, Schoenberg, and Mondrian. Kandel explains how, in the postwar era, Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko, Louis, Turrell, and Flavin used a reductionist approach to arrive at their abstract expressionism and how Katz, Warhol, Close, and Sandback built upon the advances of the New York School to reimagine figurative and minimal art. Featuring captivating drawings of the brain alongside full-color reproductions of modern art masterpieces, this book draws out the common concerns of science and art and how they illuminate each other.
A fascinating, far-reaching study of how our species' innate capacity for culture altered the course of our social and evolutionary history. A unique trait of the human species is that our personalities, lifestyles, and worldviews are shaped by an accident of birth—namely, the culture into which we are born. It is our cultures and not our genes that determine which foods we eat, which languages we speak, which people we love and marry, and which people we kill in war. But how did our species develop a mind that is hardwired for culture—and why? Evolutionary biologist Mark Pagel tracks this intriguing question through the last 80,000 years of human evolution, revealing how an innate propensity to contribute and conform to the culture of our birth not only enabled human survival and progress in the past but also continues to influence our behavior today. Shedding light on our species’ defining attributes—from art, morality, and altruism to self-interest, deception, and prejudice—Wired for Culture offers surprising new insights into what it means to be human.
