Looking at the intersection of religion and popular culture through a theoretical lens, this new text offers an insightful treatment of this topical area of study. Each chapter outlines different theories and explores how key ideologies inform and interact with aspects of popular culture, including television, film, music, and the Internet.

From handshakes and toasts to chant and genuflection, ritual pervades our social interactions and religious practices. Still, few of us could identify all of our daily and festal ritual behaviors, much less explain them to an outsider. Similarly, because of the variety of activities that qualify as ritual and their many contradictory yet, in many ways, equally legitimate interpretations, ritual seems to elude any systematic historical and comparative scrutiny.

In this book, Catherine Bell off...

The Silk Road was the current name for a complex of ancient trade routes linking East Asia with Central Asia, South Asia, and the Mediterranean world. This network of exchange emerged along the borders between agricultural China and the steppe nomads during the Han Dynasty (206BCE-220CE), in consequence of the inter-dependence and the conflicts of these two distinctive societies. In their quest for horses, fragrances, and spices, gems, glassware, and other exotics from the lands to their west...

Designed for advanced undergraduate or first-year graduate courses in semiconductor or microelectronic fabrication, Fabrication Engineering at the Micro- and Nanoscale, Fourth Edition, covers the entire basic unit processes used to fabricate integrated circuits and other devices.

Winner of the James Coleman Award for Best Book from the Rationality and Society section of the American Sociological Society Winner of the Outstanding Recent Contribution from the Social Psychology section of the American Sociological Association. Winner of the Best Publication Award from the Mental Health section of the American Sociological Association Honorable Mention, PROSE Book Award, Cultural Anthropology and Sociology, from the Association of American Publishers. When people are faci...

Task-based teaching has created enormous interest among teachers in recent years. But how does the idea of designing tasks (e.g. discussions, problems, games) that encourage learners to use real language work in practice? This book explains the basic principles behind task-based learning and teaching and gives practical examples of how to make it work in different teaching situations.

The exceptional quality of previous editions has been built upon to make this new edition of Atkins' Physical Chemistry even more closely suited to the needs of both lecturers and students. Re-organised into discrete Topics, the text is more flexible to teach from and more readable for students. Now in its eleventh edition, the text has been enhanced with additional learning features and maths support to demonstrate the absolute centrality of mathematics to physical chemistry.

Increasing the ...

Thou and thine, Hester Prynne, belong to me.'With these chilling words a husband claims his wife after a two-year absence. But the child she clutches is not his, and Hester must wear a scarlet 'A' upon her breast, the sin of adultery visible to all. Under an assumed name her husband begins his search for her lover, determined to expose what Hester is equally determined to protect.

Defiant and proud, Hester witnesses the degradation of two very different men, as moral codes and legal imperativ...

Biomedical scientists are the foundation of modern healthcare, from cancer screening to diagnosing HIV, from blood transfusion for surgery to food poisoning and infection control. Without biomedical scientists the diagnosis of disease, the evaluation of the effectiveness of treatment, and research into the causes and cures of disease would not be possible. The Fundamentals of Biomedical Science series has been written to reflect the challenges of practicing biomedical science today.

Neuroanatomy through Clinical Cases is widely acclaimed for bringing a pioneering interactive approach to the teaching of neuroanatomy. The book uses over 100 actual clinical cases and high-quality radiologic images to bring the subject to life. The third edition is fully updated with the latest advances in the field, and includes several exciting new cases.

This approach allows students to appreciate the clinical relevance of structural details as they arebeing learned, and to integrate know...