At a time when the concept of religion-based politics has taken on new and sometimes ominous tones—even within the United States—it is not only right, but also urgently necessary that William Lee Miller revisit his profound exploration of the place of religious liberty and church and state in America. For this revised edition of The First Liberty, Miller has written a pointed new introduction, discussing how religious liberty has taken on deeper dimensions in a post-9/11 world. With new material on recent Supreme Court cases involving church-state relations and a new concluding chapter on America's religious and political landscape, this volume is an eloquent and thorough interpretation of how religious faith and political freedom have blended and fused to form part of our collective history-and most importantly, how each concept must respect the boundaries of the other.
Though many claim the United States to be a "Christian Nation," Miller provides a fascinatingly vivid account of the philosophical skirmishes and political machinations that led to the "wall of separation" between church and state. That famous phrase is Jefferson's, though it does not appear in the Declaration of Independence nor in the Constitution. But Miller follows this seminal idea from three great standard-bearers of religious liberty: Jefferson, Madison, and Roger Williams. Jefferson, who wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the precursor of the First Amendment of the Constitution; James Madison, who was politically responsible for Virginia's acceptance of religious liberty and who, a few years later, helped draft the Bill of Rights; and the even earlier figure, the radical dissenter Roger Williams, who propounded the idea of religious freedom not as a rational secularist but out of a deeply held spiritual faith.
Miller re-creates the fierce and vibrant debate among the founding fathers over the means of establishing public virtue in the absence of established religion—a debate that still reverberates in today's passionate arguments about civil rights, school prayer, abortion, Christmas crèches, conscientious objection during warfare—and demonstrates how the right to hold any religious belief has dynamically shaped American political life.
In mathematics, “buildings” are geometric structures that represent groups of Lie type over an arbitrary field. This concept is critical to physicists and mathematicians working in discrete mathematics, simple groups, and algebraic group theory, to name just a few areas.
Almost twenty years after its original publication, Mark Ronan’s Lectures on Buildings remains one of the best introductory texts on the subject. A thorough, concise introduction to mathematical buildings, it contains problem sets and an excellent bibliography that will prove invaluable to students new to the field. Lectures on Buildings will find a grateful audience among those doing research or teaching courses on Lie-type groups, on finite groups, or on discrete groups.
“Ronan’s account of the classification of affine buildings [is] both interesting and stimulating, and his book is highly recommended to those who already have some knowledge and enthusiasm for the theory of buildings.”—Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society
Now in its tenth decade of publication, Michigan Trees has been, since it was first introduced in 1913, the must-have reference book for anyone who wants to know about the trees of this unique North American region.
In this new and updated edition, several new species have been added to the lineup, as well as sections on tree ecology and fall color. Written and illustrated in a style that appeals at once to academic botanists and armchair arborphiles alike, Michigan Trees gives readers everything they need to know for identifying trees in the Great Lakes state. Included with each description are fascinating notes and asides (for example, this tidbit on the jack pine: "Parklike or savanna stands in north-central Michigan are prime habitat for the rare Kirtland's warbler that breeds nowhere else in the world."). Also includes a tree key and identification section illustrated with elegantly simple line drawings that reveal the tiny, signature details that make each tree unique.
Burton V. Barnes is Professor of Forestry at the University of Michigan. Formerly a research forester, he is best known for his research and publications in forest ecology and forest genetics.
Warren H. Wagner, Jr. was a world authority on ferns. He had been Professor Emeritus of Botany and Natural Resources at the University of Michigan before his death at the age of 80 in 2000.
For most people, a diagnosis of cystic fibrosis means the certainty of a life ended too soon. But for Isabel Stenzel Byrnes and Anabel Stenzel, twin girls with the disease, what began as a family’s stubborn determination grew into a miracle.
Set in any era, Dick Thornburgh’s brilliant career would merit study and retelling. He was the first Republican elected to two successive terms as governor of Pennsylvania. He served in the Department of Justice under five presidents, including three years as attorney general for Presidents Reagan and Bush. As undersecretary-
general of the United Nations, he was the highest-ranking American in the organization and a strong voice for reform.
Nationally, Thornburgh is best remembered for his three years as attorney general, when he managed some of the most vexing legal matters of the modern age: the Savings and Loan and BCCI scandals; controversy over the “Iraqgate” and INSLAW investigations and the Wichita abortion clinic protests; and prosecutions of Michael Milken, Manuel Noriega, and Marion Barry, as well as those involved in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and the Rodney King beating.
As governor of Pennsylvania, he faced the nation’s worst nuclear accident, weeks after his inauguration in 1979. Thornburgh's cool-headed response to the Three Mile Island disaster is often studied as a textbook example of emergency management. His historic 1992 battle against Harris Wofford for the late John Heinz III’s Senate seat is one of several political campaigns, vividly recalled, that reveal the inner workings of the commonwealth’s political machinery.
Thornburgh reveals painful details of his personal life, including the automobile accident that claimed the life of his first wife and permanently disabled his infant son. He presents a frank analysis of the challenges of raising a family as a public figure, and tells the moving story of his personal and political crusade that culminated in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
This revised and updated edition includes a new chapter devoted to the highlights of Thornburgh’s continuing career. He offers fascinating insights into his experiences as Bankruptcy Court Examiner for the WorldCom proceedings, leading the investigation into the CBS News report on President George W. Bush’s military service record, representing Allegheny County coroner Cyril Wecht in a trial over alleged misuse of public office, and as part of the K&L Gates team consulted by Chiquita Brands during a federal investigation over payments made to Colombian guerillas and paramilitaries to protect banana growers.
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