Enjoy!

Cannon, L. (2000). President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime. New York: Public Affairs. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.questia.com

Cogliano, F. D. (2006). Thomas Jefferson: Reputation and Legacy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.questia.com

Ellis, J. J. (2001). Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.questia.com

Gardner, M. R. (2002). Harry Truman and Civil Rights: Moral Courage and Political Risks. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.questia.com

Gienapp, W. E. (2002). Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America: A Biography. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.questia.com

Kloppenberg, J. T. (2011). Reading Obama: Dreams, Hope, and the American Political Tradition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.questia.com

Krieg, J. P. (Ed.). (1987). Dwight D. Eisenhower: Soldier, President, Statesman. New York: Greenwood Press. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.questia.com

Liebovich, L. W. (2003). Richard Nixon, Watergate, and the Press: A Historical Retrospective. Westport, CT: Praeger. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.questia.com

Link, A. S. (Ed.). (1982). Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.questia.com

Posner, R. A. (2000). An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.questia.com

Ratner, L. A. (1997). Andrew Jackson and His Tennessee Lieutenants: A Study in Political Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.questia.com

Roosevelt, T. (1913). Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography. New York: Macmillan. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.questia.com

Rozell, M. J., & Pederson, W. D. (Eds.). (1997). FDR and the Modern Presidency: Leadership and Legacy. Westport, CT: Praeger. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.questia.com

Rozell, M. J., Pederson, W. D., & Williams, F. J. (Eds.). (2000). George Washington and the Origins of the American Presidency. Westport, CT: Praeger. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.questia.com

Silvestri, V. N. (2000). Becoming JFK: A Profile in Communication. Westport, CT: Praeger. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.questia.com

Enjoy access to this content free for a whole month, and congratulations to all those first-time voters!

Human Rights for the 21st Century

Historically, the topic of human rights has been a global issue within various societies, but as time has passed, the morality of the issue has been brought to the forefront. In the 21^st century, particularly since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the international debate has intensified with a global spotlight focusing on issues such as oppressive governments and civil wars. With the international system increasingly considering intervention in countries where humanitarian concerns have been raised, it is important for countries such as the United States to keep in mind that the ultimate goal is to improve human rights. [Stacy, Helen M. Human Rights for the 21^st Century: Sovereignty, Civil Society, Culture.StanfordUniversity Press: 2009]

Fighting for Human Rights

There have been many groups throughout history that have revolted against civil society as a result of oppressed human rights, ultimately acting as the catalyst central to the campaign for social change. From overthrowing communist regimes in Eastern Europe to the current political arena with debates surrounding the future of globalization and global politics, the ever-changing definitions and ambiguity regarding human rights will forever keep it a hot-button issue. [Gready, Paul.  Fighting for Human Rights.  Routledge: 2004]

The Globalization of Human Rights

Throughout history, global human rights have evolved, with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) serving as the modern-day cornerstone for future standards of achievement. However since it is an all-encompassing topic with varying levels of civil, political, social and economic rights, standards will vary from country to country. Despite the progress human rights has made as a whole, especially over the past 50 years, social order is still the prime factor that affects how rights transcend within the human race. [Coicaud, Jean-Marc, et al.  The Globalization of Human Rights. UnitedNationsUniversity Press: 2003]

Human Rights in the European Court

The European Court of Human rights which has adopted an American-style body of constitutional law, serves as a regulator that routinely confronts nations over their most culturally sensitive hot-button issues. From France’s Muslim immigration issues to Turkey’s Kurdish separatism, the court has boasted an impressive record of political courage and achievement. [Goldhaber, Michael D.  A People’s History of the European Court of Human Rights. RutgersUniversity Press: 2007]

Humanitarian Intervention

A recent development in human rights history is the age of interventionism, or the willingness to use force in the name of humanitarian values. As a result of actions such as NATO’s response to the Kosovo crisis to the Security Council’s authorized use of force in East Timor, issues about the legality and morality of human intervention has dominated the international legal and political agenda. Especially within mainstream international law and international relations circles, the notion that force can be legitimately be used as a response to humanitarian challenges has received increased support. [Orford, Anne.  Reading Humanitarian Intervention:  Human Rights and the Use of Force in International Law. CambridgeUniversity Press: 2003]

Visit Questia’s topic page on human rights for more information. If not already a member, you can try Questia free for one day and conduct research into human rights issues in our books and journals.

While a global phenomenon, American consumerism became a focus of critical examination by Thorstein Veblen at the tail end of the 19^th century. Veblen combined sociology and economics in his study of the leisure class, coining the term, conspicuous consumption to describe wasteful economic activities committed by those supported by the middle and lower classes. Twelve percent of the world’s population lives in North America and Western Europe and accounts for 60 percent of private consumption spending, according to the WorldWatch Institute.

As we head on into the holiday shopping season, we at Questia, wanted to open our digital library by granting access to reference works on five books that explore the topics of consumer consumption, materialism, and modern consumer culture.

Consumer consumption

Why do consumers buy and consume particular products, brands, and services from the multitude of alternatives afforded by their environments? The authors present many diverse ideas about consumer motivation and how it might be studied.  This book seeks to provide an up-to-date snapshot of the current state of knowledge concerning numerous key issues on the why of consumption. [Ratneshwar, S., David Glen Mick, and Cynthia Huffman, eds. The Why of Consumption: Contemporary Perspectives on Consumer Motives, Goals and Desires. London: Routledge, 2000. Questia. Web. 17 Oct. 2012.]

Materialism and conspicuous consumption

If the economy is doing well, why aren’t we happier? This is the central question authors Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss seek to answer by studying the life, work and consumption habits of Australians. The book describes how corporations, advertisers, the media and politicians operate to ensure that Australians are always thinking about what they lack, rather than using the opportunities our wealth presents for living rich lives and building a better society. [Hamilton, Clive, and Richard Denniss. Affluenza: When Too Much Is Never Enough. Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 2005. Questia. Web. 17 Oct. 2012.]

Popular culture’s influence on consumption behavior

Authors David Bell and Joanne Hollows critically examine the contributing factors to the conception of and role of lifestyle. One of the key aims of the book is to show how watching makeover television or cooking from a celebrity chef’s book are significant social and cultural practices, through which we work on our ideas about taste, status and identity. The book explores the ways in which ideas of the ‘ordinary’ and of ‘ordinary people’ permeate not only lifestyle media, but also the ways in which people understand their own lived practices. [Bell, David, and Joanne Hollows, eds. Ordinary Lifestyles: Popular Media, Consumption and Taste. Maidenhead, England: Open UP, 2005. Questia. Web. 17 Oct. 2012.]

Consumer psychology

This book focuses on the ‘why and how’ of consumer behavior: why people buy what they do and how they go about doing this. The authors are sophisticated theorists as well as empirical researchers. Their approach draws not only on social-psychological theories of attitude formation, attitude/behavior relations, and attitude change but also on ideas from cognitive and emotional psychology. [Bagozzi, Richard P., Zeynep Gürhan-Canli, and Joseph R. Priester. The Social Psychology of Consumer Behaviour. Philadelphia: Open UP, 2002. Questia. Web. 17 Oct. 2012.]

The development of modern consumer culture

Author Gary Cross’s interest in consumption is rooted in a fascination with the concrete interrelationships between people and things. Cross’s central thesis of this book is that consumerism — the understanding of self in society through goods — has provided, on balance, a more dynamic and popular, while less destructive, ideology of public life than most political belief systems in the twentieth century. [Cross, Gary. An All-Consuming Century: Why Commercialism Won in Modern America. New York: Columbia UP, 2000. Questia. Web. 17 Oct. 2012.]

Visit Questia’s topic page on consumerism for more information.  If not already a member, you can try Questia free for one day and conduct research into consumerism books and journals.

Start your unlimited access here

Questia is an online library that’s chock full of books and articles. I’m talking thousands of resources. At Questia you’ll find a wide selection of scholarly journals, you know, the ones that your instructors prefer you use. The resources on Questia have been reviewed and chosen for inclusion by professional librarians. This bonus feature ensures that you can cite them knowing that there won’t be any issues with credibility.

What topics do you want to write on? You’ll find them all here. How about:

• Money and banking
• International trade
• Corporate finance
• Outsourcing
• Intrapreneuring

What about finding what you need? After all, you’re on a tight schedule and you can’t spend all night combing through thousands of items. No problem, you’re going to love the powerful search function that will save you time as it helps you zero in on that perfect book or article.

Small business, big resource

The Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) are located both online and locally where you live. SBDCNet is an information clearinghouse of the U.S. Small Business Administration. The purpose of the site is to provide business research assistance to the SBDC advisors and their small business clients.

The site’s Bootstrapping 101 Blog has plenty of easy-to-read posts such as this one from Bob Reiss titled, “Business Incubators Can Be a Start-Up’s Best Friend.” In the post, Reiss applies a friendly approach to explain how business incubation jumpstarts the development of a new company by providing advice, consulting, and technical assistance.

“Incubators are physical plants that primarily house the offices of start-up companies. They will rent you flexible leases, which can allow you to expand or shrink your space quickly. Rents vary by incubator, but most often are lower than the market rates at the outset,” Reiss explained.

Naked Capitalism

For insightful commentary on the state of the economy you will want to check out the Naked Capitalism blog where you can find information and opinion parsed into digestible chunks for your enjoyment and education. You’ll be able to look over the shoulder of contributors like Lynn Parramore, co-founder of Recessionwire and founding editor of New Deal 2.0.

In an April 5, 2012 post titled, “Capitalism’s Dirty Secret: Corporations Don’t Create Jobs, They Destroy Them,” Parramore explains how American corporations are not living up to their reputation as job creators.

“The U.S. Department of Commerce found that from 2000 to 2009, U.S. transnational corporations, which employ about 20 percent of all American workers, cut their domestic employment by 2.9 million even as they boosted their overseas workforce by 2.4 million. The result was an enormous loss of jobs nationally, as well as a net loss globally,” Parramore said.

Other resources

• The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) [www.bea.gov]: Statistical information on the U.S. economy.
• The Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution: Produces information and reports on current and emerging tax policy issues. One of the latest entries is a report titled, “How Big is the Federal Government?”
• The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) [www.cbo.gov]: Produces independent, nonpartisan, timely analysis of economic and budgetary issues to support the Congressional budget process.
• Publications USA: The Federal Citizen Information Center offers important consumer information and publications to help you make important life decisions.
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics [www.bls.gov]: The principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.
• Service Core of Retired Executives (SCORE): A nonprofit association, supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and staffed by volunteers, delivers services online and at events held locally across the U.S.
• The Small Business Administration (SBA): The SBA helps small businesses find the resources they need to start and grow. Programs and services are available both online and at local offices.

There are quite a few websites dedicated to providing business and finance information, and happily, many of them are produced by the U.S. government, which means that they’re free to use. Soon you’ll have all the information and interpretation you’ll need in order to create a stellar research project.