The great divorce : a nineteenth-century mother's extraordinary fight against her husband, the Shakers, and her times

 by Ilyon Woo. Seductive and willful, Eunice Chapman, a woman small only in stature, is the focal point of Woo's engaging debut historical study of one 19th-century upstate New York woman's fight for her children. Eunice married "old, disagreeable, and repulsive" James Chapman for economic survival and, through the legal doctrine of coverture, becomes civilly, and legally, dead. James, an alcoholic abuser, left Eunice in the fall of 1811 and found refuge among the Shakers, taking the children with him. Today, Shakers are remembered for their simple lifestyle and handiwork, but they were a radical, religious sect "that often swooped in on disconsolate spiritual seekers offering themselves up to hungry souls eager to rebound from their broken faiths." The life of a Shaker was about falling in line, and Eunice-when she sought out her family in the Shaker community-would have no part of any of it. Woo takes readers through Eunice's custody battle, which shook New York State, and the utopian Shaker world and larger society. Eunice obtained a divorce and regained legal custody of her three children in 1818. Verdict Neglected history comes alive in this meticulously researched and compelling story of one tenacious woman. Strongly recommended to all interested readers. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)

APA ethics code commentary and case illustrations

 Campbell (Univ. of Georgia) and her fellow authors are all deeply involved with the American Psychological Association and particularly interested in and involved with ethical concerns in the discipline. In a period of moral uncertainties, they address the APA's body of ethical codes and standards, which specifies guidelines to abide by in every domain of the field. To highlight the relevance of each standard to everyday concerns and interpersonal transactions, the authors provide case studies of specific scenarios. These enable readers to reason their way through a problematic issue to reach an ethically sound, beneficial, and equitable solution in line with the prevailing code, promulgated in 2002. This readable volume will be invaluable across all the subdisciplines of psychology. --Choice (Check Catalog)

Anarchy evolution : faith, science, and bad religion in a world without god

 by Greg Graffin. With the assistance of science journalist Olson (Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past Through Our Genes, 2002, etc.), Bad Religion leader Graffin presents a memoir of a life lived "at the intersection of evolutionary biology and punk rock." In 1980, at age 15, Graffin co-founded the seminal punk band and also became fascinated with the writings and ideas of evolution. Bad Religion still plays and records, and the author is an evolutionary biologist with a doctorate in zoology from Cornell University. For Graffin, the appeal of both worlds was that, at their best, they challenged authority, dogma and given truths and opened up space for the anarchic process of creativity. As a naturalist, the author states that "the physical universe is the universe"—there is nothing more. But that is more than enough for him, as having a role in the unfolding adventure of life on earth—which includes both tragedy and death—sustains him. Life, he writes, is not simply an inexorable process of natural selection, in which the fittest survive and procreate, but an anarchic creative collision of biology and environment, chance and circumstance. Graffin and Olson explain this view of evolution in clear, accessible language. While avoiding easy analogies with evolution, a large part of the book is devoted to the evolution of Bad Religion, as its art and career careened in unpredictable directions. Along the way, Graffin provides a wonderful depiction of the early L.A. punk scene, a detailed account of his adventures doing field work in the remote Amazon region of Bolivia and an honest appraisal of his failure to successfully balance science, music and family. In the end, writes the author, it is the human trait of empathy—not religion or any other authority—that allows us to recognize our common humanity and to accept the uniqueness of each individual. Humble, challenging and inspiring. --Kirkus (Check Catalog)