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The Quest for Japan's New Constitution: An Analysis of Visions and Constitutional Reform Proposals 1980-2009 (Routledge Contemporary Japan Series)
by Christian G. WinklerThis book examines the many attempts over the last three decades to revise Japan’s constitution. As the book shows, these attempts at revision have been relatively conservative, aiming to embed in the constitution visions of a different future for Japan. Specific reforms advocated include: enabling Japan to have a more proactive foreign policy, more independent of the US-Japan alliance; strengthening the role of the Emperor, and excluding female succession to the throne; and emphasising more citizens’ duties, rather than their rights, in order to strengthen community and societal cohesion. By far the most comprehensive analysis of constitutional reform debate in Japan to be published to date, it offers translations and analysis of more than two dozen amendment proposals. The book provides a comprehensive analysis of the details of the reform proposals, charts the so far unsuccessful attempts to bring about the reforms, discusses the different groups arguing for reform, and assesses the nature of the proposed reforms. It categorises different versions of the vision for Japan’s future and shows that only a few campaigners are advocating anything like a return to Japan’s pre-war constitution.
The Quest for Justice
by Anthony Long Menno BoldtThis collection of many voices develops more deeply and exhaustively the issues raised in the editors' earlier volume, Pathways to Self-Determination. It contains some twenty-three papers from representatives of the aboriginal people's organizations, of governments, and of a variety of academic disciplines, along with introductions and an epilogue by the editors and appendices of the key constitutional documents from 1763.The contributors represent a broad cross-section of tribal, geographic, and organizational perspectives. They discuss constitutional questions such as land rights, the concerns of Metis, non-status Indians, and Inuit; and native rights in broad contexts - historical, legal/constitutional, political, regional, and international.The issue of aboriginal rights and of what these rights mean in terms of land and sovereignty has become increasingly important on the Canadian political agenda. The constitutional conferences between government and aboriginal peoples have revealed the gulf between what each side means by aboriginal rights: for the Indians these rights are meaningless without sovereign self-government, an idea the federal and provincial governments are not willing to entertain. Somewhere in the middle lies the concept of nationhood status.Ultimately, the aboriginal peoples are asking for justice from the dominant society around them; if it is denied or felt to be denied, the editors conclude, the consequences for the Canadian self-concept would be costly and debilitating. The twenty-four contributors provide a find guide to this profound and complex problem, whose solution depends on our understanding and our political wisdom.
Quest for Justice: Towards Homosexual Emancipation
by Antony GreyIn 1967, after a ten-year campaign, the laws which treated all homosexual acts between males as crimes in England and Wales were altered to permit such behavior between two consenting men aged over twenty-one in private. Twenty-five years on, the profound significance of that change, and the nature of the struggle that was waged to achieve it, are not always fully appreciated. Gay people and their lifestyles are still the subjects of considerable controversy and entrenched prejudice, and today's gay rights campaigners are justified in believing that many more sweeping changes in legal and social attitudes are now called for.Quest for Justice is the inside story of the battle for the Wolfenden reforms, told by one of its main protagonists. Antony Grey was Secretary of the Homosexual Law Reform Society during much of the campaign and for some time afterwards. Here, besides giving his personal account of the reform campaign, he comments on the subsequent course of the developing movement for gay rights, and his own not always entirely harmonious relations with it. He also describes the rising power of the 'moral majority' backlash, and its bitter attacks upon the liberalisers whom it miscalled 'permissive'.Whilst expressing disappointment at the slow progress of human sexual rights during recent years, and a sense of ever greater urgency, with the advent of AIDS, for the widespread acceptance of much more frank and realistic attitudes, Antony Grey concludes on a hopeful note, foreseeing a sexually saner twenty-first century in which updated moral, social and legal attitudes will combine to promote, rather than hinder, human happiness.
The Quest for Legitimacy in Chinese Politics: A New Interpretation (Routledge Studies on Asia in the World)
by Lanxin XiangXiang explains the nature and depth of the legitimacy crisis facing the government of China, and why it is so frequently misunderstood in the West. Arguing that it is more helpful to understand the quest for legitimacy in China as an eternally dynamic process, rather than to seek resolutions in constitutionalism, Xiang examines the understanding of legitimacy in Chinese political philosophy. He posits that the current crisis is a consequence of the incompatibility of Confucian Republicanism and Soviet-inspired Bolshevism. The discourse on Chinese political reform tends to polarize, between total westernization on the one hand, or the rejection of western influence in all forms on the other. Xiang points to a third solution - meeting western democratic theories halfway, avoiding another round of violent revolution. This book provides valuable insights for scholars and students of China’s politics and political history.
The Quest for Meaning: A Guide to Semiotic Theory and Practice, Second Edition (Toronto Studies In Semiotics And Communication Ser.)
by Marcel DanesiDating back to antiquity, semiotics is both a "technique" and a "science" that aims to understand the nature of meaning. An academic discipline in its own right, semiotics uses signs, such as words and symbols, to think, communicate, reflect, transmit, and preserve knowledge. Since the initial publication of The Quest for Meaning in 2007, the world has changed dramatically with the advent of online culture, new technologies, and new ways of making signs and symbols. Updated to reflect these many changes, the second edition includes a comprehensive chapter on the use of semiotics in the Internet age. Written in a student-friendly style, featuring examples from everyday life, the book explains what semiotics is all about and why it is so important for gaining insights into our elusive and mysterious human nature.
The Quest for Modernity: Secular Liberal and Left-wing Political Thought in Egypt, 1945-1958
by Roel MeijerThis book analyses the political ideologies of the several highly influential liberal, socialist and communist thinkers, groups and movements which sought to modernize Egypt after World War II. Most of the representatives of these currents intended to transform Egyptian society completely through rapid industrialization, land reforms and economic planning, which would eliminate the peasantry, rationalize the economy and create a new Egyptian citizen who would live 'in accordance with the spirit of the age'. This study explains why and how most liberal and left-wing intellectuals eventually supported the authoritarian modernization programme of the July Revolution of 1952. It gives new insights into intellectual life during one of the most optimistic periods in Egyptian history, a time when Egypt was at the height of its power and believed a whole new future lay before it, uniting the Arab world and joining Asia and Africa in the common struggle for independence and dignity.
The Quest for Prosperity: How Developing Economies Can Take Off
by Justin Yifu LinJustin Yifu Lin's groundbreaking account of how developing countries can help themselves—now fully updatedHow can developing countries grow their economies? Most answers to this question center on what the rich world should or shouldn't do for the poor world. In The Quest for Prosperity, Justin Yifu Lin—the first non-Westerner to be chief economist of the World Bank—focuses on what developing nations can do to help themselves. Lin examines how the countries that have succeeded in developing their own economies have actually done it. Interwoven with insights, observations, and stories from Lin’s travels as chief economist of the World Bank and his reflections on China’s rise, this book provides a road map and hope for those countries engaged in their own quest for prosperity.
The Quest for Reparations for Indian Residential School Abuse: Confronting the Legacy of the Independent Assessment Process (Routledge Frontiers of Criminal Justice)
by Konstantin PetoukhovThis book explores the complexities and nuances of reparations for victims and survivors of settler colonial violence. It centres its analysis on the Independent Assessment Process (IAP), a financial compensation programme that was designed to address the horrific legacy of Canada’s Indian Residential School system, which was established to assimilate Indigenous children into settler Canadian society.The reader of this book will learn about the impact of the IAP as a mechanism of redress for the physical and sexual abuse that Indigenous children experienced while attending Indian Residential Schools. Through the analysis of unique perspectives and first-hand accounts of survivors, lawyers, claims adjudicators, and health support workers who participated in the IAP, the book tells the stories of former Indian Residential School students’ struggle for justice. It invites the reader to explore several themes related to the IAP that engage with the idea of financial compensation as redress for acts of institutional child abuse in ongoing settler colonialism. By bringing insights from several theoretical frameworks to bear on empirical data in a complex yet accessible manner, it seeks to address the following questions: How does money compensate survivors of institutional child abuse? How does settler colonialism complicate state-sponsored redress for violence against Indigenous people? And, how might survivors problematize, resist, and contest individual reparations for settler colonial violence?The target audience for this book includes scholars, educators, practitioners, students, and members of the general public whose research interests include settler colonial studies, history, reparations, transitional justice, Indigenous studies, and critical victimology.
The Quest for Sexual Health: How an Elusive Ideal Has Transformed Science, Politics, and Everyday Life
by Steven EpsteinOffering an entryway into the distinctive worlds of sexual health and a window onto their spillover effects, sociologist Steven Epstein traces the development of the concept and parses the debates that swirl around it. Since the 1970s, health professionals, researchers, governments, advocacy groups, and commercial interests have invested in the pursuit of something called "sexual health." Under this expansive banner, a wide array of programs have been launched, organizations founded, initiatives funded, products sold—and yet, no book before this one asks: What does it mean to be sexually healthy? When did people conceive of a form of health called sexual health? And how did it become the gateway to addressing a host of social harms and the reimagining of private desires and public dreams? Conjoining "sexual" with "health" changes both terms: it alters how we conceive of sexuality and transforms what it means to be healthy, prompting new expectations of what medicine can provide. Yet the ideal of achieving sexual health remains elusive and open-ended, and the benefits and costs of promoting it are unevenly distributed across genders, races, and sexual identities. Rather than a thing apart, sexual health is intertwined with nearly every conceivable topical debate—from sexual dysfunction to sexual violence, from reproductive freedom to the practicalities of sexual contact in a pandemic. In this book Steven Epstein analyzes the rise, proliferation, uptake, and sprawling consequences of sexual health activities, offering critical tools to assess those consequences, expand capacities for collective decision making, and identify pathways that promote social justice.
Quest For Sheba
by PearnPublished in the year 2005, Quest for Sheba is a valuable contribution to the field of Middle Eastern Studies.
The Quest for the Cure: The Science and Stories Behind the Next Generation of Medicines
by Brent StockwellAfter more than fifty years of blockbuster drug development, skeptics are beginning to fear we are reaching the end of drug discovery to combat major diseases. In this engaging book, Brent R. Stockwell, a leading researcher in the exciting new science of chemical biology, describes this dilemma and the powerful techniques that may bring drug research into the twenty-first century.Filled with absorbing stories of breakthroughs, this book begins with the scientific achievements of the twentieth century that led to today's drug innovations. We learn how the invention of mustard gas in World War I led to early anti-cancer agents and how the efforts to decode the human genome might lead to new approaches in drug design. Stockwell then turns to the seemingly incurable diseases we face today, such as Alzheimer's, many cancers, and others with no truly effective medicines, and details the cellular and molecular barriers thwarting scientists equipped with only the tools of traditional pharmaceutical research. Scientists such as Stockwell are now developing methods to combat these complexities-technologies for constructing and testing millions of drug candidates, sophisticated computational modeling, and entirely new classes of drug molecules-all with an eye toward solving the most profound mysteries of living systems and finding cures for intractable diseases. If successful, these methods will unlock a vast terrain of untapped drug targets that could lead to a bounty of breakthrough medicines. Offering a rare, behind-the-scenes look at this cutting-edge research, The Quest for the Cure tells a thrilling story of science, persistence, and the quest to develop a new generation of cures.
The Quest for the Lost Roman Legions: Discovering the Varus Battlefield
by Tony ClunnThe story of an ancient ambush that devastated Rome—and the modern-day hunt that finally revealed its location and its archaeological treasures. In 9 A.D., the seventeenth, eighteenth, & nineteenth Roman legions and their auxiliary troops under the command of Publius Quinctilius Varus vanished in the boggy wilds of Germania. They died singly and by the hundreds over several days in a carefully planned ambush led by Arminius—a Roman-trained German warrior adopted and subsequently knighted by the Romans, but determined to stop Rome&’s advance east beyond the Rhine River. By the time it was over, some 25,000 men, women, and children were dead and the course of European history had been forever altered. &“Quinctilius Varus, give me back my legions!&” Emperor Augustus agonized aloud when he learned of the devastating loss. As decades passed, the location of the Varus defeat, one of the Western world&’s most important battlefields, was lost to history. It remained so for two millennia. Fueled by an unshakable curiosity and burning interest in the story, a British Major named J. A. S. (Tony) Clunn delved into the nooks and crannies of times past. By sheer persistence and good luck, he turned the foundation of German national history on its ear. Convinced the running battle took place north of Osnabruck, Germany, Clunn set out to prove his point. His discovery of large numbers of Roman coins in the late 1980s, followed by a flood of thousands of other artifacts (including weapons and human remains), ended the mystery once and for all. Archaeologists and historians across the world agreed. Today, a state-of-the-art museum houses and interprets these priceless historical treasures on the very site Varus&’s legions were lost. The Quest for the Lost Roman Legions is a masterful retelling of Clunn&’s search to discover the Varus battlefield. His well-paced and vivid writing style makes for a compelling read as he alternates between his incredible modern quest and the ancient tale of the Roman occupation of Germany—based upon actual finds from the battlefield—that ultimately ended so tragically in the peat bogs of Kalkriese.</
The Quest for the Sustainable Development Goals: Living experiences in territorializing the 2030 Agenda in Brazil (Sustainable Development Goals Series)
by Thiago Gehre Galvao Henrique Zeferino de MenezesThe book presents the experiences, complexities, and contradictions of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Brazil so far. Through chapters from a variety of stakeholders, the book examines national, regional, and local aspects of development in Brazil. The chapters here draw from scientific knowledge and practical experience to take a critical look at what the SDGs mean in a Global South country and what the implications of this are for global development. The book is divided into three sections. The first section addresses the critical political and institutional aspects related to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Brazil, highlighting advances as well as pitfalls and setbacks. The chapters look at broad questions related to the role of civil society in defining political priorities and strategies to move forward with the SDGs as well as issues involved in incorporating the SDGs at different levels of government and other institutions. The chapters in this section critically address the political and institutional advances as well as barriers to the progress of the SDGs in Brazil. The second section directly addresses progress made toward the SDGs in the context of the political, economic and social variables specific to Brazil. The chapters address critical shortcomings and demands for Brazilian society: the need for improvements in education and employment policies to reduce poverty, the urgent need to increase gender equality and reduce violence, as well as the imperative to strengthen institutions and policies to mitigate climate change and protect the environment. The final section focuses on critically assessing the 2030 Agenda itself and drawing from a Global South IR perspective. The chapters here dialog with decolonial and post-developmentalist perspectives to highlight problems with the agenda and lift up sidelined priorities, presenting yet-unexamined policy solutions and innovations that are currently absent from the global institutional agenda. The Brazilian case is a perfect illustration of how underdevelopment and political instability can constrain the paths to sustainable development, while at the same time social innovations, leverages based on regional dynamics, and strength from social and cultural diversity can drive sustained progress.
The Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea (Scientists in the Field Series)
by Sy Montgomery Nic Bishop<P>It looks like a bear, but isn't one. It climbs trees as easily as a monkey- but isn't a monkey, either. It has a belly pocket like a kangaroo, but what's a kangaroo doing up a tree? Meet the amazing Matschie's tree kangaroo, who makes its home in the ancient trees of Papua New Guinea's cloud forest. And meet the amazing scientists who track these elusive animals. <P>[This text is listed as an example that meets Common Core Standards in English language arts in grades 4-5 at http://www.corestandards.org.] <P><P> Winner of the Sibert Honor
A Quest for Time: The Reduction of Work in Britain and France, 1840-1940
by Gary CrossThis title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1989.
The Quest for Unity: An Appraisal of Regional Integration in Africa
by Sizo Nkala David MonyaeRegional integration was identified many years ago as being critical to Africa’s quest to overcome its colonially induced underdevelopment. To encourage this, several potentially significant programmes or projects have been stillborn or inadequately implemented. A network of relatively stable Regional Economic Communities (RECs) has been established, and one of its most ambitious initiatives – the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) – is now being ‘operationalised’. Written in the context of a global economy emerged in stagflation – a combination of stagnation and inflation – this book provides a deeper insight into pertinent conceptual and theoretical issues of vital importance to Africa’s development. It also presents case studies of several of the RECs, as well as the processes involved in constructing the AfCFTA.The subject matter of this book includes – African lingua franca and African knowledge systems The African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Regional integration: Mission impossible? Regional electricity integration in Africa Print edition not for sale in Sub Saharan Africa
The Quest for Universal Social Policy in the South
by Franzoni Juliana Martínez Sánchez-Ancochea Diego"This volume examines the concept of global governance and how it emerges across issues and through time. It argues that global social policies have the power to contribute to reducing inequality in the South, and that they can also help create more integrated societies and cross-class coalitions between the poor and the middle class, as well as promoting universalism. How can policymakers move in the right direction? The authors combine a comparative analysis of the cases of Costa Rica, Mauritius, South Korea and Uruguay, and a detailed historical account of the Costa Rican experience, to address this issue. They highlight the role of policy architectures, which are the combination of instruments that dictate benefits available to people. This book will be of interest to advanced students and scholars of global governance and social policy"--
The Quest for World Environmental Cooperation: The Case of the UN Global Environment Monitoring System (Routledge Library Editions: Environmental Policy #8)
by Branislav GosovicFirst published in 1992. In 1972, the UN Conference on the Human Environment initiated the process of world environmental cooperation. This study is about GEMS (the Global Environment Monitoring System) which the Conference recommended be set up to generate data and information necessary for worldwide environmental assessment. This book examines the genesis and evolution of GEMS, and the complex task involved in establishing GEMS and making it perform its functions. It relates GEMS to the factors which have shaped the international environmental agenda and cooperation since 1972. In particular, it highlights North-South differences and the problems inherent in the international organizations belonging to the UN system, vis-á-vis the novel and multifaceted challenges involved in dealing with systemic, cross-sectoral nature of global environmental problems. The lessons of GEMS and other issues presented in this book are highly relevant to the continuing efforts to set up effective programmes for ‘earthwatching’ and to promote international environmental cooperation. They also relate more broadly to the challenges of managing global interdependence and to the need to devise supporting organizational structures through reform and strengthening of the UN system. The comprehensive nature of the political and institutional analyses presented in this book make it an academic reference work of lasting value. Its frank tone and willingness to derive prescriptive conclusions will appeal in particular to the many actors engaged in the processes and structures of global multilateral cooperation. The book will be of special use to those interested in environmental issues and international organization
Quest of the Folk, CLS Edition
by Ian MckayThe popular conception of Nova Scotians as a pure, simple, idyllic people is false, argues Ian McKay. In The Quest of the Folk he shows how the province's tourism industry and cultural producers manipulated and refashioned the cultural identity of the region and its people to project traditional folk values. McKay offers an in-depth analysis of the infusion of a folk ideology into the art and literature of the region and the use of the idea of the "Simple Life" in tourism promotion. He examines how Nova Scotia's cultural history was rewritten to erase evidence of an urban, capitalist society, class and ethnic differences, and women's emancipation. In doing so he sheds new light on the roles of Helen Creighton, the Maritime region's most famous folklorist, and Mary Black, an influential handicrafts revivalist, in creating this false identity.
The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays, First Edition (Harper Perennial Modern Thought Ser.)
by Martin HeideggerThe advent of machine technology has given rise to some of the deepest problems of modern thought. This newly packaged collection featuring Martin Heidegger's celebrated essay "The Question Concerning Technology," is an essential landmark in the philosophy of science from one of the most influential and profound thinkers of the twentieth century.
Question Everything: A Stone Reader
by Peter Catapano and Simon CritchleyAn essential addition to the Stone Reader series, Question Everything is a groundbreaking collection of philosophical essays from some of our foremost thinkers and storytellers. When The Stone Reader—a landmark collection of 133 essays from the New York Times’ award-winning philosophy column—first published, in 2015, the world urgently needed insight and wisdom, and for many, the book served as a bulwark of reason against the rising tide of post-fact rhetoric. Now, as disinformation continues to run rampant and our rights are increasingly called into question, editors Peter Catapano and Simon Critchley contend that philosophy in the public sphere is more crucial than ever. Like The Stone Reader and its sequel, Modern Ethics in 77 Arguments, Question Everything delivers the contrarian views, sound arguments, and creative approaches to traditional opinion-writing that loyal readers of the series have come to expect. Its essays, however, are not organized by traditional categories like ethics or epistemology, but thematically by question, thirteen of them in all—the first twelve like the hours of a clock, ticking us through the tumultuous time in which these pieces were written, from late 2015 to 2021, with the last speculating into an uncertain future. The volume begins with the most fundamental of questions: What does it mean to be human? There, contemporary thinkers from Martha Nussbaum to Bernard-Henri Lévy explore the essence of who we are as a species. The next question—Is democracy possible?—interrogates our social and political ideals. While Malka Older calls into question the viability of our institutions, philosophers Gary Gutting and Alex Rosenberg reassess the meaning of patriotism. And onward, with more timeless struggles: What is happiness? Does life have meaning? Finally, it asks, Is this the end of the world as we know it? Now what? While its foundation and core consists of the work of professional scholars and philosophers, Question Everything also features a number of prominent artists and thinkers who may never appear on a philosophy syllabus, including, among others, novelist Elena Ferrante, actor Cate Blanchett, filmmaker Errol Morris, musician Sonny Rollins, and artist Ai Weiwei, all of whom offer insights shaped by decades of devotion to and practice of their crafts. Designed both for immediate gratification and long-term use, Question Everything, with an introduction by Catapano, is not only an essential addition to a much-loved series, but an act of resistance, “a product,” as Catapano writes, “of the spirit of agitation and inquiry that has been integral to the human enterprise from the beginning of recorded history.”
A Question of Answers: Volume I (Primary Socialization, Language and Education)
by W. P. Robinson Susan J. RackstrawIn the early 1970s, the problem of arousing and maintaining the curiosity of children had been a recurrent theme in reports concerned with the development of new school curricula. However, before these ideas could be translated into soundly based practical measures, an increased understanding of what is involved in the activities of questioning and answering was needed.Originally published in 1972, the research reported in these two volumes presents a theoretical framework for describing linguistic features of a range of verbally expressed answers and their associated questions. Basil Bernstein’s theory is used to generate a number of predictions about the variety and quality of answers that mothers and children are likely to offer to ‘wh’ questions. The usefulness of the scheme is tested against the answering behaviour of members of different social classes, and, in the main, Bernstein’s predictions are supported. The validity of the categories in the classificatory scheme is explored more fully in later chapters by means of a correlational analysis of the answers of seven-year-old children.Volumes sold separately.
A Question of Answers: Volume II (Primary Socialization, Language and Education)
by W. P. Robinson Susan J. RackstrawIn the early 1970s, the problem of arousing and maintaining the curiosity of children had been a recurrent theme in reports concerned with the development of new school curricula. However, before these ideas could be translated into soundly based practical measures, an increased understanding of what is involved in the activities of questioning and answering was needed.Originally published in 1972, the research reported in these two volumes presents a theoretical framework for describing linguistic features of a range of verbally expressed answers and their associated questions. Basil Bernstein’s theory is used to generate a number of predictions about the variety and quality of answers that mothers and children are likely to offer to ‘wh’ questions. The usefulness of the scheme is tested against the answering behaviour of members of different social classes, and, in the main, Bernstein’s predictions are supported. The validity of the categories in the classificatory scheme is explored more fully in later chapters by means of a correlational analysis of the answers of seven-year-old children.Volumes sold separately.
A Question of Choice: Roe V. Wade 40th Anniversary Edition
by Sarah WeddingtonA memoir filled with &“valuable, passionate insights&” from the lawyer who argued the landmark Roe v. Wade case to the Supreme Court (Kirkus Reviews). More than 40 years ago, the highest court in the land handed down a decision that would forever alter the lives of women throughout the United States. Roe v. Wade became the seminal lawsuit that gave American women the legal right to abortion. Weddington, just 27 years old in 1973, became a key figure in the reproductive rights movement when she took on the case. Here she recounts her remarkable story, from her personal experience with abortion and the workforce discrimination she faced in her early career to the judicial proceedings and long journey she has undertaken in fighting for women&’s rights since. As divisive as ever, the famous decision is continually threatened by organized pro-life groups. Weddington compels &“those who are willing to share the responsibility of protecting choice,&” to follow her plan of action in supporting the legal rights of women. A Question of Choice is an &“eloquent reminder of what Roe truly means—that our most private decisions can be made behind the closed doors of our homes, with our families, and in private conversations with our hearts&” (Former President Bill Clinton).
A Question of Freedom
by Dwayne BettsA unique prison narrative that testifies to the power of books to transform a young man's life At the age of sixteen, R. Dwayne Betts-a good student from a lower- middle-class family-carjacked a man with a friend. He had never held a gun before, but within a matter of minutes he had committed six felonies. In Virginia, carjacking is a "certifiable" offense, meaning that Betts would be treated as an adult under state law. A bright young kid, he served his nine-year sentence as part of the adult population in some of the worst prisons in the state. A Question of Freedom chronicles Betts's years in prison, reflecting back on his crime and looking ahead to how his experiences and the books he discovered while incarcerated would define him. Utterly alone, Betts confronts profound questions about violence, freedom, crime, race, and the justice system. Confined by cinder-block walls and barbed wire, he discovers the power of language through books, poetry, and his own pen. Above all, A Question of Freedom is about a quest for identity-one that guarantees Betts's survival in a hostile environment and that incorporates an understanding of how his own past led to the moment of his crime.