The nine interrelated chapters in this book aim to identify and describe the iconographies and trace fossils of ritual and religion in late prehistoric Europe - to infuse them with meaning, celebrate their complexity and integrate the ideas, which they evoke into the rich tapestry of historically transmitted ancient European and Mediterranean ideology, mythology and ritual. This book explores libation and feasting, engendered patterns of communication, ritual drama and iconographic creativity. Case studies range from 13th century BC Bavarian ostentatious graves, 9th century Scandinavian bog hoards, 8th century Austrian women's chambered tombs, 7th century Lusatian children's graves to 6th century BC Scythian kurgans from the Ukraine. A thick description of ancient European ideology emerges demonstrating that non-literate communities were developing surprisingly vibrant and sophisticated solutions to the problems posed by transcending death, revering the ancestors and communicating between earth and eternity.
Alcohol use by young people is extremely dangerous - both to themselves and society at large. Underage alcohol use is associated with traffic fatalities, violence, unsafe sex, suicide, educational failure, and other problem behaviors that diminish the prospects of future success, as well as health risks â€" and the earlier teens start drinking, the greater the danger. Despite these serious concerns, the media continues to make drinking look attractive to youth, and it remains possible and even easy for teenagers to get access to alcohol. Why is this dangerous behavior so pervasive? What can be done to prevent it? What will work and who is responsible for making sure it happens? Reducing Underage Drinking addresses these questions and proposes a new way to combat underage alcohol use. It explores the ways in which may different individuals and groups contribute to the problem and how they can be enlisted to prevent it. Reducing Underage Drinking will serve as both a game plan and a call to arms for anyone with an investment in youth health and safety.
Fluoride is more toxic than lead, yet it is routinely added to the drinking water of Ireland and Britain. In Fluoride: Drinking Ourselves to Death?, Barry Groves presents an array of convincing and persuasive arguments that dismantle the commonly held belief that the fluoridation of water is beneficial to our health. The fluoridation of water has been used for the prevention of tooth decay for over fifty years. During this time little research has been done to ascertain whether it works. The chemicals used are classified as toxic industrial waste, yet no study has ever been conducted into their safety for human consumption. At the same time, research has uncovered serious side effects including death, cancer, skeletal fluorosis, osteoporosis, dementia, lowered IQ, kidney damage and even increased dental decay. Fluoride is only slightly less toxic than arsenic and all the evidence points incontrovertibly to the harm caused by fluoride to human, plant and animal life. Yet it is routinely added to the drinking water of five million people in Britain and more than two and a half million people in Ireland. Strongly opposed throughout the world, water fluoridation is far less widely accepted than its proponents would have us believe. Only two percent of the people of Western Europe have their water fluoridated — almost all of them within Britain and Ireland. Despite this, dental organisations lobby governments to compel everyone to ingest fluoride, whether they want it or not and without regard to possible harm. The vast majority of dentists maintain that the fluoridation of water is not debatable. In this book, Barry Groves assembles evidence to refute every single argument made by the dental establishment in favour of fluoridation. This carefully researched and persuasively written book demonstrates that the case for fluoridation of water is based on poor science and dogmatic ignorance rather than on any scientifically proven benefit to public health. His conclusions are truly alarming for everyone concerned with their own health, that of their families and of society in general. Fluoride: Drinking Ourselves to Death?: Table of Contents Introduction - Water Fluoridation - Fluoride and Water Safety - Cancer and Fluoride - Safe Limit for Fluoride - Research into Fluoride - Fluoridation and High Infant Mortality - Fluoride as a Cumulative Poison - Fluoride Kills - People at Risk from Fluoride - EPA Scientists and Fluoride - Support for Fluoridation Diminishes in America - The Totality of Fluoride - The Ethics and Legality of Fluoridation - Dental Fluorosis - The Dose Makes the Poison - Fluoride-Related Bone Problems, Part One - Fluoride-Related Bone Problems, Part Two - The Death of Science - The Poor and Fluoride Toxicity - Sugar and Truth Decay - Money Down the Drain - The History of Water Fluoridation, Part One - Arsenic and Old Lies - The History of Water Fluoridation, Part Two - Dentrifrice — or Rodenticide? - Europe Against Fluoride - Skeletal Fluorosis - The Public and Fluoride - Legislating for Fluoride - Fluoride Not an Essential Nutrient - Fluoride and Controversy - The UK Review: The Final Word on Fluoride? - Are You at Risk?Conclusion Appendix: Scientific Opposition to Fluoride
This bestselling memoir from a seasoned New York City reporter is "a vivid report of a journey to the edge of self-destruction" (New York Times). !--StartFragment-- As a child during the Depression and World War II, Pete Hamill learned early that drinking was an essential part of being a man, inseparable from the rituals of celebration, mourning, friendship, romance, and religion. Only later did he discover its ability to destroy any writer's most valuable tools: clarity, consciousness, memory. In A Drinking Life, Hamill explains how alcohol slowly became a part of his life, and how he ultimately left it behind. Along the way, he summons the mood of an America that is gone forever, with the bittersweet fondness of a lifelong New Yorker. !--EndFragment--"Magnificent. A Drinking Life is about growing up and growing old, working and trying to work, within the culture of drink." --Boston Globe
This book is an autobiographical account, given by an alcoholic who finally realized he suffered from a disease. This disease has brought him face-to-face with death on several occasions. He finally realizes he couldn't drink like an ordinary person because that first drink would definitely be his last. Drinking to cope with the pain and memories from combat has isolated him from family, friends, and faith. This has led him to several hospital and institutional stays, several alcohol poisonings, two suicide attempts, and almost a divorce, leaving him to reach out to his higher power for a solution.
Alcohol is a killerâ€"1 of every 13 deaths in the United States is alcohol-related. In addition, 5 percent of the population consumes 50 percent of the alcohol. The authors take a close look at the problem in a "classy little study," as The Washington Post called this book. The Library Journal states, "...[T]his is one book that addresses solutions....And it's enjoyably readable....This is an excellent review for anyone in the alcoholism prevention business, and good background reading for the interested layperson." The Washington Post agrees: the book "...likely will wind up on the bookshelves of counselors, politicians, judges, medical professionals, and law enforcement officials throughout the country."
