Before markets opened in 1978, China was an impoverished planned economy governed by a Maoist bureaucracy. In just three decades it evolved into the world's second-largest economy and is today guided by highly entrepreneurial bureaucrats. In How China Escaped the Poverty Trap, Yuen Yuen Ang explains this astonishing metamorphosis. Rather than ......
Tropical fruits such as banana, mango, papaya, and pineapple are familiar and treasured staples of our diets, and consequently of great commercial importance, but there are many other interesting species that are little known to inhabitants of temperate regions. What delicacies are best known only by locals? The tropical regions are home to a vast ......
Visitors to tropical forests generally come to see the birds, mammals, and plants. Aside from butterflies, however, insects usually do not make it on the list of things to see. This is a shame. Insects are everywhere, they are often as beautiful as the showiest of birds, and they have a fascinating natural history. With their beautifully ......
A Field Guide to the Common Bryophytes of the Northeast
Mosses, liverworts, and hornworts are found throughout the world in a variety of habitats. They flourish particularly well in moist, humid forests, filling many ecological roles. They provide seedbeds for the larger plants of the community and homes to countless arthropods, they capture and recycle nutrients that are washed with rainwater from the ......
Few ecosystem destinations are as abundant in their biodiversity as Costa Rica. Having the right field guides in hand can make all the difference when you're enjoying the country's birdlife. Photo Guide to Birds of Costa Rica, which features 549 excellent photographs, is designed to be equally useful for two distinct sets of readers. First are ......
The 2015 winner of the Brown Democracy Medal, Joan C. Tronto, argues in Who Cares? that we need to rethink American democracy, as well as our own fundamental values and commitments, from a caring perspective. Asserting that Americans are facing a "caring deficit"-that there are simply too many demands on our time to care adequately for children, ......
The unique geography and climate of Costa Rica provide the small country with extraordinary biodiversity-North American and South American species of flora and fauna can be found side by side there, taking advantage of the serendipitous conditions. The government of Costa Rica has shown a strong commitment to preserving their natural bounty. It ......
Crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and gharials-the Crocodylia, known collectively as crocodylians (or crocodilians)-are the world's largest living reptiles. The largest of them, probably the estuarine or saltwater crocodile, Crocodylus porosus, can grow to almost twenty feet and weigh more than two thousand pounds. Crocodylians are creatures of ......
Power and Purpose in American Statecraft from Harry S. Truman to GeorgeW. Bush
Grand strategy is one of the most widely used and abused concepts in the foreign policy lexicon. In this important book, Hal Brands explains why grand strategy is a concept that is so alluring-and so elusive-to those who make American statecraft. He explores what grand strategy is, why it is so essential, and why it is so hard to get right amid ......
