"From HIV to H1N1, pandemics pose one of the greatest threats to global health in the twenty-first century. Defined as epidemics of infectious disease across large geographic areas, pandemics can disseminate globally with incredible speed as humans and goods move faster than ever before. While restricted travel, quarantine, vaccines, drugs, and education can reduce the severity of many outbreaks, factors such as global warming, population density,...

Roman Catholicism stands at a crossroads, a classic "best of time, worst of times" moment. On the one hand, the Catholic Church remains by far the largest branch of the worldwide Christian family, and is growing at a remarkable clip. Yet the Church has also been rocked by a series of scandals related to the sexual abuse of minors by clergy, and, even more devastating, the cover-up by the Church hierarchy. The Church has enormous residual strength...

We live more and more of our lives online; we rely on the internet as we work, correspond with friends and loved ones, and go through a multitude of mundane activities like paying bills, streaming videos, reading the news, and listening to music. Without thinking twice, we operate with the understanding that the data that traces these activities will not be abused now or in the future. There is an abstract idea of privacy that we invoke, and, concrete...

December 17, 2016 marked the sixth anniversary of the outbreak of the Arab uprisings. In the six years since Muhammad Bouazizi set himself on fire in Tunisia, igniting the uprisings which continue today, the entire Middle East landscape has changed in ways that were unimaginable before. In spite of the early hype about the "Arab Spring" and the prominence observers gave to calls for the downfall of regimes and an end to their abuses, most of the protests...

Vaccines are one of the most important public health achievements of our time. But now as many vaccine preventable diseases are no longer perceived an imminent threat, vaccines are both lauded and feared, amplified by rapid-fire dissemination of conflicting messages. This book will follow the story of vaccines in the past, present and future to disentangle fact from fiction and underscore their important role in our society.

"The opioid epidemic is responsible for the first sustained decline in U.S. life expectancy since the 1960s. In 2016 alone, about 50,000 Americans died from overdose related to opioids. The Opioid Epidemic: What You Need to Know will cover the basic science of opioids, the nature of addiction, reasons for the opioid epidemic, and effective approaches to helping individuals, families, communities, and national policy. This comprehensive approach will...

It addresses Ukraine's relations with the West from the perspective of Ukrainians. It looks at what we know about alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, the factors behind the stunning electoral victory of the political novice Volodymyr Zelensky, and the ways in which the events leading to the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump have changed the Russia-Ukraine-US relationship.

Women are joining the workforce in increasing numbers, making inroads as entrepreneurs and leaders, acquiring more education, marrying later, and having fewer children-all trends consistent with spending a far greater fraction of their adult lives in the labor force. And yet, even as women break the glass ceiling and challenge gender and sexual norms, they are told they need to "lean in" and powerful movements like #TimesUP and #MeToo are still necessary...