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Wie Politiklehrkräfte Antisemitismus denken: Vorstellungen, Erfahrungen, Praxen (Bürgerbewusstsein)
by Christoph WolfDie qualitative Studie geht der Frage nach, wie Politiklehrkräfte Antisemitismus denken. Im Mittelpunkt stehen somit die subjektiven Vorstellungen sowie schulischen Erfahrungen und Praxen der Lehrkräfte. In der Analyse werden diese systematisch zu wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen über Antisemitismus in Bezug gesetzt. Ein Ergebnis ist, dass trotz anti-antisemitischer Grundhaltungen der Befragten auch immer wieder antisemitische Denkmuster reproduziert oder antisemitische Äußerungen und Handlungen im schulischen Alltag übersehen oder relativiert werden. Die Untersuchung liefert abschließend Hinweise hinsichtlich einer nachhaltigen und subjektorientierten Gestaltung von Fortbildungsangeboten.
Wie relevant ist die Politikwissenschaft?: Wissenstransfer und gesellschaftliche Wirkung von Forschung und Lehre
by Wolfgang Bergem Helmar SchöneDer Band thematisiert die gesellschaftliche und politische Relevanz der Politikwissenschaft. Er zeigt einesteils auf, wie die Politikwissenschaft über die Trias aus Forschung, Lehre und Kommunikation in die Gesellschaft hineinwirkt. Anderenteils wird gefragt, welche Kompetenzen, Kapazitäten und Ressourcen dazu beitragen können, die öffentliche Bedeutung der Disziplin zu fördern. Damit wird die seit einigen Jahren geführte Debatte über die Rolle und die Ausstrahlung der Politikwissenschaft in Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft aufgegriffen und fortgeführt.
Wie soll das Volk entscheiden?: Chancen, Risiken und Voraussetzungen der direkten Demokratie
by Heike Walterscheid Thomas PetersenDieses Buch beleuchtet aus interdisziplinärer und ländervergleichender Perspektive, unter welchen Bedingungen direkte Demokratie funktionieren kann, wo ihre Chancen und Risiken liegen und welche Rolle dabei die politische Bildung, die politische Kulturtradition eines Landes, der Zusammenhang von Entscheidung und Verantwortung und der Grad der Kleinräumigkeit und Dezentralität der Entscheidungsstrukturen spielt. Ausdrücklich wird weder für noch gegen die direkte Demokratie plädiert, sondern das Thema unvoreingenommen und mit der Gründlichkeit behandelt, die die öffentliche Diskussion über plebiszitäre Elemente in der Politik meistens vermissen lässt.
Wie und warum wir lügen
by Bella DePauloEine bekannte Wissenschaftlerin bietet einen fesselnden und anspruchsvollen Überblick über die grundlegendsten Aspekte der Lügenpsychologie und -entdeckung. Jahrzehntelang hat die preisgekrönte Geisteswissenschaftlerin Harvard Ph.D. Bella DePaulo die Psychologie der Täuschung und Täuschungsentdeckung studiert. "Warum und wie wir lügen" enthält kurze und zugängliche Antworten auf die grundlegendsten Fragen zu Lügen, wie zum Beispiel: •Wie oft lügen Personen? •Worüber lügen Personen? •Wann ist es okay zu lügen oder ist es überhaupt irgendwann okay? •Wie rechtfertigen Lügner ihre Lügen? •Wie zeigen Lügner ihre Lügen? •Wenn es Lügnern am wichtigsten ist, mit ihren Lügen davonzukommen, ist das der Moment, wenn sie es am ehesten vermasseln? •Wie gut sind Menschen darin, zu wissen, wenn jemand sie anlügt? •Merken Menschen intuitiv, wenn sie angelogen werden, wobei sie nicht wissen, wie sie sich diese Fähigkeit zu Nutze machen können? Das Buch ist zweigeteilt: "Die vielen Gesichter der Lügen" und "Lügen von Wahrheiten unterscheiden: Hinweise des Verhaltens auf Täuschung und der indirekte Pfad der Intuition".
Wielding the Ax: State Forestry and Social Conflict in Tanzania, 1820-2000 (Ecology and History)
by Thaddeus Sunseri<p>Forests have been at the fault lines of contact between African peasant communities in the Tanzanian coastal hinterland and outsiders for almost two centuries. In recent decades, a global call for biodiversity preservation has been the main challenge to Tanzanians and their forests. <p>Thaddeus Sunseri uses the lens of forest history to explore some of the most profound transformations in Tanzania from the nineteenth century to the present. He explores anticolonial rebellions, the world wars, the depression, the Cold War, oil shocks, and nationalism through their intersections with and impacts on Tanzania’s coastal forests and woodlands. In Wielding the Ax, forest history becomes a microcosm of the origins, nature, and demise of colonial rule in East Africa and of the first fitful decades of independence. <p>Wielding the Ax is a story of changing constellations of power over forests, beginning with African chiefs and forest spirits, both known as “ax–wielders,” and ending with international conservation experts who wield scientific knowledge as a means to controlling forest access. The modern international concern over tropical deforestation cannot be understood without an awareness of the long–term history of these forest struggles.</p>
Wigan Pier Revisited: Poverty and Politics in the 80s
by Beatrix CampbellA brilliant exposé of poverty and politics in Britain. In 1937 George Orwell published The Road to Wigan Pier, an account of his famous 'urban ride' among the people and places of the Great Depression. Fifty years later we lived through a second Great Depression, and this time the journey north was made by a woman - like Orwell a journalist and a socialist, but, unlike him, working class and a feminist. Wigan Pier Revisited is a devastating record of what Beatrix Campbell saw and heard in towns and cities ravaged by poverty and unemployment. She talked to young mothers on the dole, to miners and their families, to school leavers, battered wives, factory workers, redundant workers; discovered what work, home, family, politics and dignity meant for working-class people. Out of this came her passionate plea for a genuine socialism, one informed by feminism, drawing its strength from the grass roots and responding to people's real needs.
Wigan Pier Revisited: Poverty and Politics in the 80s
by Beatrix CampbellA brilliant exposé of poverty and politics in Britain. In 1937 George Orwell published The Road to Wigan Pier, an account of his famous 'urban ride' among the people and places of the Great Depression. Fifty years later we lived through a second Great Depression, and this time the journey north was made by a woman - like Orwell a journalist and a socialist, but, unlike him, working class and a feminist. Wigan Pier Revisited is a devastating record of what Beatrix Campbell saw and heard in towns and cities ravaged by poverty and unemployment. She talked to young mothers on the dole, to miners and their families, to school leavers, battered wives, factory workers, redundant workers; discovered what work, home, family, politics and dignity meant for working-class people. Out of this came her passionate plea for a genuine socialism, one informed by feminism, drawing its strength from the grass roots and responding to people's real needs.
Wiki Government
by Beth Simone NoveckCollaborative democracy-government with the people-is a new vision of governance in the digital age. Wiki Government explains how to translate the vision into reality. Beth Simone Noveck draws on her experience in creating Peer-to-Patent, the federal government's first social networking initiative, to show how technology can connect the expertise of the many to the power of the few. In the process, she reveals what it takes to innovate in government.Launched in 2007, Peer-to-Patent connects patent examiners to volunteer scientists and technologists via the web. These dedicated but overtaxed officials decide which of the million-plus patent applications currently in the pipeline to approve. Their decisions help determine which start-up pioneers a new industry and which disappears without a trace. Patent examiners have traditionally worked in secret, cut off from essential information and racing against the clock to rule on lengthy, technical claims. Peer-to-Patent broke this mold by creating online networks of self-selecting citizen experts and channeling their knowledge and enthusiasm into forms that patent examiners can easily use.Peer-to-Patent shows how policymakers can improve decisionmaking by harnessing networks to public institutions. By encouraging, coordinating, and structuring citizen participation, technology can make government both more open and more effective at solving today's complex social and economic problems. Wiki Government describes how this model can be applied in a wide variety of settings and offers a fundamental rethinking of effective governance and democratic legitimacy for the twenty-first century.
Wiki Government
by Beth Simone NoveckCollaborative democracy--government with the people--is a new vision of governance in the digital age. Wiki Government explains how to translate the vision into reality. Beth Simone Noveck draws on her experience in creating Peer-to-Patent, the federal government's first social networking initiative, to show how technology can connect the expertise of the many to the power of the few. In the process, she reveals what it takes to innovate in government.Launched in 2007, Peer-to-Patent connects patent examiners to volunteer scientists and technologists via the web. These dedicated but overtaxed officials decide which of the million-plus patent applications currently in the pipeline to approve. Their decisions help determine which start-up pioneers a new industry and which disappears without a trace. Patent examiners have traditionally worked in secret, cut off from essential information and racing against the clock to rule on lengthy, technical claims. Peer-to-Patent broke this mold by creating online networks of self-selecting citizen experts and channeling their knowledge and enthusiasm into forms that patent examiners can easily use. Peer-to-Patent shows how policymakers can improve decisionmaking by harnessing networks to public institutions. By encouraging, coordinating, and structuring citizen participation, technology can make government both more open and more effective at solving today's complex social and economic problems. Wiki Government describes how this model can be applied in a wide variety of settings and offers a fundamental rethinking of effective governance and democratic legitimacy for the twenty-first century.
WikiLeaks: From Popular Culture to Political Economy
by Mark Andrejevic Angela Daly Christian Fuchs Birgitta Jónsdóttir William Uricchio Pj Rey Pelle Snickars Larry Gross Axel Bruns Sandra Braman Nathan Jurgenson Athina Karatzogianni Lisa Lynch Andrew Robinson Karin Wahl-Jorgensen Arlene Luck Christian Christensen Toby Miller Leah A. Lievrouw"Little did I know that I was getting involved with WikiLeaks at the time of the biggest leaks in human history." -- Birgitta JónsdóttirWithin a relatively short period of time, WikiLeaks became the best-known whistle-blowing organization in the world. Due in large part to the release of massive quantities of classified data on the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, the notoriety of its founder, Julian Assange, and the trial and imprisonment of Chelsea Manning, WikiLeaks has been the subject of widespread attention and debate.In this collection, influential and innovative scholars from a wide variety of research backgrounds speculate about why and how WikiLeaks does (or does not) matter. These of essays demonstrate that WikiLeaks and their activities are relevant to more areas of academic study than have been addressed to date. Also, in a rare interview, editor Christian Christensen asks Birgitta Jonsdittir about her astonishing activity with WikiLeaks and the important role she played in the making of the Collateral Murder video.The authors are rigorous in their arguments, but also offer opinions and even speculation about WikiLeaks in relation to a range of areas of study. Readers of the essays in WikiLeaks. From Popular Culture to Political Economy will appreciate that the contributors have managed to be concrete and precise in their thinking, but also provocative and sharp in their argumentation.
WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy
by David Leigh Luke HardingA team of journalists with unparalleled inside access provides the first full, in-depth account of WikiLeaks, its founder Julian Assange, and the ethical, legal, and political controversies it has both uncovered and provoked.
The WikiLeaks Paradigm: Paradoxes and Revelations
by Stephen M. MarmuraWikiLeaks poses a unique challenge to state and commercial institutions. This book considers the whistleblower platform’s ongoing importance, focusing on the informational and communicative paradoxes it faces, and the shifting strategies it has adopted over time. Attention to these matters provides insight into the nature of the contemporary networked, post-truth media environment, and the types of factors likely to affect the success of activist groups today. Chapter 1 introduces WikiLeaks’ significance as a novel expression of counterpower, outlining the disclosures marking its career. Chapters 2 through 4 address the dilemmas confronting WikiLeaks in its attempts to engage the public with and without the cooperation of mainstream news organizations. Chapter 5 appraises how WikiLeaks has adjusted its strategies to take better advantage of a densely populated and globally networked media environment within the larger context of an ongoing political legitimation crisis. Chapter 6 extends this analysis to the case of Russiagate.
The Wild Adventure of Jasper Renn
by Kady CrossIn this companion novella to The Girl with the Iron Touch, American cowboy Jasper Renn finds himself in a situation his lightning-fast skills cannot rescue him from...After surviving a triumph-turned-tragedy in New York City, Jasper is determined to secure a happier future with his gifted band of friends. So when the group's mechanical genius Emily is abducted, he'll plunge into England's darkest places to rescue her....But his old flame Wildcat is turning London town upside down to find her missing sister, and Jasper finds the attraction between himself and the fierce beauty as tempting and dangerous as ever. Their trail leads deep into the city's most unusual circus. Soon, Jasper will find his loyalties-and future-tested more than he could ever imagine....And don't miss Jasper's continuing exploits in The Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross, available now from Harlequin TEEN.
Wild Analysis: From the Couch to Cultural and Political Life (New Library of Psychoanalysis 'Beyond the Couch' Series)
by Shaul Bar-HaimThis book argues that the notion of ‘wild’ analysis, a term coined by Freud to denote the use of would-be psychoanalytic notions, diagnoses, and treatment by an individual who has not undergone psychoanalytic training, also provides us with a striking new way of exploring the limits of psychoanalysis. Wild Analysis: From the Couch to Cultural and Political Life proposes to reopen the question of so-called ‘wild’ analysis by exploring psychoanalytic ideas at their limits, arguing from a diverse range of perspectives that the thinking produced at these limits – where psychoanalysis strays into other disciplines, and vice versa, as well as moments of impasse in its own theoretical canon – points toward new futures for both psychoanalysis and the humanities. The book’s twelve essays pursue fault lines, dissonances and new resonances in established psychoanalytic theory, often by moving its insights radically further afield. These essays take on sensitive and difficult topics in twentieth-century cultural and political life, including representations of illness, forced migration and the experiences of refugees, and questions of racial identity and identification in post-war and post-apartheid periods, as well as contemporary debates surrounding the Enlightenment and its modern invocations, the practice of critique and ‘paranoid’ reading. Others explore more acute cases of ‘wilding’, such as models of education and research informed by the insights of psychoanalysis, or instances where psychoanalysis strays into taboo political and cultural territory, as in Freud’s references to cannibalism. This book will be of interest to researchers, practitioners, and students working across the fields of psychoanalysis, history, literature, culture and politics, and to anyone with an interest in the political import of psychoanalytic thought today.
The Wild and the Toxic: American Environmentalism and the Politics of Health
by Jennifer ThomsonHealth figures centrally in late twentieth-century environmental activism. There are many competing claims about the health of ecosystems, the health of the planet, and the health of humans, yet there is little agreement among the likes of D.C. lobbyists, grassroots organizers, eco-anarchist collectives, and science-based advocacy organizations about whose health matters most, or what health even means. In this book, Jennifer Thomson untangles the complex web of political, social, and intellectual developments that gave rise to the multiplicity of claims and concerns about environmental health. Thomson traces four strands of activism from the 1970s to the present: the environmental lobby, environmental justice groups, radical environmentalism and bioregionalism, and climate justice activism. By focusing on health, environmentalists were empowered to intervene in the rise of neoliberalism, the erosion of the regulatory state, and the decimation of mass-based progressive politics. Yet, as this book reveals, an individualist definition of health ultimately won out over more communal understandings. Considering this turn from collective solidarity toward individual health helps explain the near paralysis of collective action in the face of planetary disaster.
The Wild and the Wicked: On Nature and Human Nature
by Benjamin HaleMost of us think that in order to be environmentalists, we have to love nature. Essentially, we should be tree huggers -- embracing majestic redwoods, mighty oaks, graceful birches, etc. We ought to eat granola, drive hybrids, cook tofu, and write our appointments in Sierra Club calendars. Nature's splendor, in other words, justifies our protection of it. But, asks Benjamin Hale in this provocative book, what about tsunamis, earthquakes, cancer, bird flu, killer asteroids? They are nature, too.For years, environmentalists have insisted that nature is fundamentally good. In The Wild and the Wicked, Benjamin Hale adopts the opposite position -- that much of the time nature can be bad -- in order to show that even if nature is cruel, we still need to be environmentally conscientious. Hale argues that environmentalists needn't feel compelled to defend the value of nature, or even to adopt the attitudes of tree-hugging nature lovers. We can acknowledge nature's indifference and periodic hostility. Deftly weaving anecdote and philosophy, he shows that we don't need to love nature to be green. What really ought to be driving our environmentalism is our humanity, not nature's value.Hale argues that our unique burden as human beings is that we can act for reasons, good or bad. He claims that we should be environmentalists because environmentalism is right, because we humans have the capacity to be better than nature. As humans, we fail to live up to our moral potential if we act as brutally as nature. Hale argues that despite nature's indifference to the plight of humanity, humanity cannot be indifferent to the plight of nature.
The Wild and the Wicked: On Nature and Human Nature (The\mit Press Ser.)
by Benjamin HaleA brief foray into a moral thicket, exploring why we should protect nature despite tsunamis, malaria, bird flu, cancer, killer asteroids, and tofu.Most of us think that in order to be environmentalists, we have to love nature. Essentially, we should be tree huggers—embracing majestic redwoods, mighty oaks, graceful birches, etc. We ought to eat granola, drive hybrids, cook tofu, and write our appointments in Sierra Club calendars. Nature's splendor, in other words, justifies our protection of it. But, asks Benjamin Hale in this provocative book, what about tsunamis, earthquakes, cancer, bird flu, killer asteroids? They are nature, too.For years, environmentalists have insisted that nature is fundamentally good. In The Wild and the Wicked, Benjamin Hale adopts the opposite position—that much of the time nature can be bad—in order to show that even if nature is cruel, we still need to be environmentally conscientious. Hale argues that environmentalists needn't feel compelled to defend the value of nature, or even to adopt the attitudes of tree-hugging nature lovers. We can acknowledge nature's indifference and periodic hostility. Deftly weaving anecdote and philosophy, he shows that we don't need to love nature to be green. What really ought to be driving our environmentalism is our humanity, not nature's value.Hale argues that our unique burden as human beings is that we can act for reasons, good or bad. He claims that we should be environmentalists because environmentalism is right, because we humans have the capacity to be better than nature. As humans, we fail to live up to our moral potential if we act as brutally as nature. Hale argues that despite nature's indifference to the plight of humanity, humanity cannot be indifferent to the plight of nature.
Wild at Heart: Mustangs and the Young People Fighting to Save Them
by Terri Farley Melissa FarlowMustangs have thrived for thousands of generations. But now they are under attack from people who see them as pests. The lucky ones are adopted. Some are sent to long-term holding pens; more and more are sold for slaughter. But courageous young people are trying to stop the round-ups and the senseless killings. They are standing up to the government and big business to save these American icons. With eye witness accounts, cutting-edge science, and full-color photographs, Terri Farley and Melissa Farlow invite readers into the world of mustangs in all its beauty, and profile the young people leading the charge to keep horses wild and free. Includes notes and sources, index, and glossary.
Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage
by Douglas Waller&“Entertaining history…Donovan was a combination of bold innovator and imprudent rule bender, which made him not only a remarkable wartime leader but also an extraordinary figure in American history&” (The New York Times Book Review).He was one of America&’s most exciting and secretive generals—the man Franklin Roosevelt made his top spy in World War II. A mythic figure whose legacy is still intensely debated, &“Wild Bill&” Donovan was director of the Office of Strategic Services (the country&’s first national intelligence agency) and the father of today&’s CIA. Donovan introduced the nation to the dark arts of covert warfare on a scale it had never seen before. Now, veteran journalist Douglas Waller has mined government and private archives throughout the United States and England, drawn on thousands of pages of recently declassified documents, and interviewed scores of Donovan&’s relatives, friends, and associates to produce a riveting biography of one of the most powerful men in modern espionage. Wild Bill Donovan reads like an action-packed spy thriller, with stories of daring young men and women in the OSS sneaking behind enemy lines for sabotage, breaking into Washington embassies to steal secrets, plotting to topple Adolf Hitler, and suffering brutal torture or death when they were captured by the Gestapo. It is also a tale of political intrigue, of infighting at the highest levels of government, of powerful men pitted against one another. Separating fact from fiction, Waller investigates the successes and the occasional spectacular failures of Donovan&’s intelligence career. It makes for a gripping and revealing portrait of this most controversial spymaster.
The Wild Colonial Boy: A Novel
by James HynesAfter years of violence, a tense calm pervades Northern Ireland, soon to be broken by Jimmy Coogan, an IRA veteran gone renegade. Jimmy has stolen ten pounds of plastic explosive, intending to destroy the parliamentary ambitions of the IRA leadership. Into Jimmy's turbulent world come two young Americans: Brian, vain, ironic, but well-meaning; and Clare, a beautiful, earnest college student. In Ireland on an errand for his Irish Republican family in Detroit, Brian is recruited to Jimmy's bloody mission by his cousin Maire, Coogan's sharp-tongued wife. Soon they are all drawn into the unforgiving labyrinth of modern terrorism, borne toward a horrific and fatal climax in James Hynes's thrilling TheWild Colonial Boy
The Wild East: Crime and Lawlessness in Post-communist Russia
by Viktor SergeevThis analysis of the corruption and violent crime in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia, asks how it is possible to label and control certain behaviours as deviant in a context where the legal and moral-ethical norms of a collapsed regime have been discredited but not replaced.
Wild Faith: How the Christian Right Is Taking Over America
by Talia LavinThe acclaimed author of Culture Warlords investigates the rise of the Christian Right over the last half-century that lays out the grim vision evangelicals are enforcing on our democracy. All across America, a storm is gathering: from book bans in school libraries to anti-trans laws in state legislatures; firebombings of abortion clinics and protests against gay rights. The Christian Right, a cunning political force in America for more than half a century, has never been more powerful than it is right now—it propelled Donald Trump to power, and it won&’t stop until it&’s refashioned America in its own image. In Wild Faith, critically acclaimed author Talia Lavin goes deep into what motivates the Christian Right, from its segregationist past to a future riddled with apocalyptic ideology. Using primary sources and firsthand accounts, Lavin introduces you to &“deliverance ministers&” who carry out exorcisms by the hundreds; modern-day, self-proclaimed prophets and apostles; Christian militias, cults, zealots, and showmen; and the people in power who are aiding them to achieve their goals. Along the way, she explores anti-abortion terrorists, the Christian Patriarchy movement, with its desire to place all women under absolute male control; the twisted theology that leads to rampant child abuse; and the ways conspiracy theorists and extremist Christians influence each other to mutual political benefit. From school boards to the Supreme Court, Christian theocracy is ascendant in America—and only through exploring its motivations and impacts can we understand the crisis we face. In Wild Faith, Lavin fearlessly confronts whether our democracy can survive an organized, fervent theocratic movement, one that seeks to impose its religious beliefs on American citizens.
Wild Fire: Number 4 in series (John Corey #4)
by Nelson DeMilleWelcome to the Custer Hill Club - an informal men's club set in a luxurious Adirondack hunting lodge whose members include some of America's most powerful business leaders, military men, and government officials. Ostensibly, the club is a place to gather with old friends, hunt, eat, drink, and talk off-the-record about war, life, death, sex and politics. But one Fall weekend, the Executive Board of the Custer Hill Club gathers to talk about the tragedy of 9/11 and what America must do to retaliate. Their plan is finalized and set into motion.That same weekend, a member of the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force is reported missing. His body is soon discovered in the woods near the Custer Hill Club's game reserve. The death appears to be a hunting accident, and that's how the local police first report it, but Detective John Corey has his doubts. As he digs deeper, he begins to unravel a plot involving the Custer Hill Club, a top-secret plan known only by its code name: Wild Fire. Racing against the clock, Detective Corey and his wife, FBI agent Kate Mayfield, find they are the only people in a position to stop the button from being pushed and chaos from being unleashed.
Wild Ginger: A Novel
by Anchee MinAt once a coming-of-age tale and a heart-rending love story, Wild Ginger explores the devastating experience of the Cultural Revolution, which defined Anchee Min's youth. The beautiful, iron-willed Wild Ginger is only in elementary school when she is singled out by the Red Guards for her "foreign-colored eyes." Her classmate Maple is also a target of persecution. The novel chronicles the two girls' maturing in Shanghai in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Chairman Mao ruled absolutely and his followers took up arms in his name. Wild Ginger grows up to become a model Maoist, but her love for a man soon places her in an untenable position - and ultimately in mortal danger. This slim and powerful novel "examines the fragile sensibilities and emotions of an entire generation of Chinese youth" (Washington Post) and brilliantly delineates the psychological and sexual perversion of those times.
Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China
by Ian JohnsonIn Wild Grass, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ian Johnson tells the stories of three ordinary Chinese citizens moved to extraordinary acts of courage: a peasant legal clerk who filed a class-action suit on behalf of overtaxed farmers, a young architect who defended the rights of dispossessed homeowners, and a bereaved woman who tried to find out why her elderly mother had been beaten to death in police custody. Representing the first cracks in the otherwise seamless façade of Communist Party control, these small acts of resistance demonstrate the unconquerable power of the human conscience and prophesy an increasingly open political future for China.