A new addition to the University of Pittsburgh Press Composition, Literacy, and Culture series.

ADHD is recognised as an individual difference where impairments or difficulties are the result of the demands or the ways of working in school, work and socially. If accommodations are made, people with ADHD can be successful in these settings. Have I got Your Attention? Living with Adult ADHD is a practical guidebook on ADHD for adults, especially adults who were diagnosed late in life. With an introduction by Ken Kilbride, CEO of ADHD Ireland, the book introduces a range of twelve contributors who provide a glimpse into the life of someone with the condition. The aim of the book is to support people with ADHD and allow them to be the best version of themselves. It also creates an awareness and a shift in the public perception of ADHD and to remove the stigma surrounding the condition. Packed with information, useful resources and simple tips, the book will highlight the many positives of ADHD, including hyper focus. Whether you are living with ADHD, know someone with ADHD or simply wish to know more about the condition, this book is an invaluable resource.

The hills of the Appalachia region hold secrets—dark, deep, varied, and mysterious. These secrets are often told in the form of eerie, thrilling, and creepy folk tales that reveal strange sightings, curious oddities, and commonly serve as cautionary tales for eager and curious ears. These spine-tingling stories have been told and retold by family members, neighbors, and "hillfolk" for generations. Haint Country: Dark Folktales from the Hills and Hollers is a collection of weird, otherworldly, and supernatural phenomenon in Eastern Kentucky—tales that have been recorded and documented for the first time. Collected and adapted by Matthew Sparks and Olivia Sizemore, the anthology explores stories of ghosts or "haints," strange creatures or "boogers," haunted locations or "stained earth," uncanny happenings or "high strangeness," and humorous Appalachian ghost stories. Contemporary yarns of black panthers, demons, and sightings of ghostly coal miners are narrated in the first person, reflecting the style and dialect of the collected oral history. Though comprised of a mixture of claimed accounts and fabricated lore, the locations and people woven throughout are very real. Complemented with evocative watercolor illustrations by Olivia Sizemore (who was inspired by the work of Stephen Gammell) and a compendium that provides additional context, Haint Country is a thrilling and bone-chilling excursion to the spooky corner of Appalachia.

On Christmas Eve in 1859, sixty-five prominent armed white men rode into the small Kentucky town of Berea and forced the townspeople to close its integrated one-room schoolhouse. The mob perceived the school as a threat to white supremacy and the racial order. Abolitionist John Gregg Fee established the school for the expressed purpose of providing education to anyone eager to learn, regardless of their race—a notion that horrified those convinced of the sanctity of white supremacy. The mob succeeded in evicting thirty-six community members, including Fee's family, but Fee and the others returned to Berea in 1864 and reestablished the school as Berea College—an institution committed to providing education to Appalachia's most vulnerable populations. In Lessons from the Foothills, Gretchen Dykstra profiles modern Berea College, considered the moral compass of the commonwealth, and its rich and beloved history. This book is the first to focus solely on the principles and practices that guide the college: the eight Great Commitments, which individually and holistically provide clear aspirations for the college and its community. Like the institution itself, Dykstra's portrait is structured around these principles; each chapter functions as a deep dive into the history, practice, and significance of each Great Commitment, from providing opportunity for the most marginalized, to its high academic standards, to its commitment to the entire region. One of the Great Commitments states that the college will "provide an educational opportunity for students of all races, primarily from Appalachia, who have great promise and limited economic resources." The college has fulfilled this commitment by eliminating tuition—one of the primary barriers between people living below the poverty line and a college education—and providing jobs for students to assist with living expenses. Including interviews with a range of members from the Berea community, alumni, students, faculty, and staff, Lessons from the Foothills is an engaging and illuminating profile of a unique and historic institution and its enduring commitment to nurture and support academic excellence and service among its students.

When people think of Kentucky, three things usually come to mind: bourbon, Colonel Sanders's secret chicken recipe, and the glamorous Kentucky Derby. Add college basketball to that list, and you have yourself a superfecta. Looking beyond these time-honored traditions, however, visitors will find in Kentucky a diverse patchwork of faces and places, each as unique as the state's geography. Kentucky, Y'all: A Celebration of the People and Culture of the Bluegrass State is an entertaining and informative compilation of the state's favorite oddities, cultural quirks, traditions, and rites of passage. Authors and proud Kentuckians Blair Thomas Hess and Cameron M. Ludwick share the best stories from their experiences as writers, travelers, and residents in this ode to the Commonwealth. From the iconic to the obscure, the book reveals vital knowledge that every Kentuckian—whether by birth, residence, or simply in mind and heart—should know. What is beer cheese? Who was Bill Monroe? Where can you get a hemp hot dog? Readers are introduced to the brilliant minds behind the Louisville Slugger, the Bowie Knife, and pioneering work in genetics. The book also includes a handy list of dos and don'ts of tailgating, a Kentucky sayings glossary, and bucket lists of things to do, drink, read, and eat.Featuring hand-drawn illustrations that represent life, fashion, and entertainment in the Commonwealth, Kentucky, Y'all is an insightful and exuberant guide to the Bluegrass State—for Kentucky natives and visitors alike.

Before Hungary’s transition from communism to democracy, local dissidents and like-minded intellectuals, activists, and academics from the West influenced each other and inspired the fight for human rights and civil liberties in Eastern Europe. Hungarian dissidents provided Westerners with a new purpose and legitimized their public interventions in a bipolar world order. The Making of Dissidents demonstrates how Hungary’s Western friends shaped public perceptions and institutionalized their advocacy long before the peaceful revolutions of 1989. But liberalism failed to take root in Hungary, and Victoria Harms explores how many former dissidents retreated and Westerners shifted their attention elsewhere during the 1990s, paving the way for nationalism and democratic backsliding.

This book examines the model developed in the Nordic countries for handling labor market relations between employers and employees - a model that has secured flexible and well-functioning labor market relations with comparatively high remuneration in case of sickness or unemployment. Consensual - and comparatively efficient - policies have likewise been pursued in agricultural and industrial policies, in environmental policies, and in many policies related to public services. The preconditions for these policies are strong civil societies, i. e. strong capacities for collective mobilization and collective action among groups, relatively strong unitary states, and high levels of generalised trust. The institutional apparatus of these consensual policies has been labelled corporatism. Nordic corporatism has implied consent to a norm of affected interests. Groups that are supposedly affected by state policies have access to the processes leading up to political decision-making, and are involved in the implementation of policies. This access has often public commissions or committees charged with preparing political decisions and delivering advice, as well as policy implementation committees.

The Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) enjoy some of the happiest populations and highest standards of living in the world, thanks in part to stable, democratic systems of government. Here, David Delfs Erbo Andersen presents a syncretic history of political and socioeconomic developments in the three Scandinavian countries since the early modern period, and contrasts their peaceful transitions with the more dramatic histories of otherwise similar European countries, like France and Germany. Unlike these and many other countries—the United States among them—Scandinavia’s transition to democracy from monarchy was not marked by major violent upheavals or extreme political antagonism. Rather, Scandinavia’s peaceful process of democratization owed itself to the development of a penetrative bureaucracy in the early modern period and the activism of cooperative associations, first of farmers in the early nineteenth century and then of industrialized workers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Thanks to the gradual, relatively consensual adoption of political reforms and social norms, the history of ”Nordic democratic exceptionalism” today helps account for the ongoing stability of the Scandinavian countries.

Study after study has shown that Scandinavia is the most trusting region in the world. Danes in particular trust other people and organizations—including strangers, businesses, governments, law enforcement, and media—more than the citizens of any other country. And countries with deep pools of social trust are populated by individuals who cooperate with each other in ways that allow public and private institutions to function more efficiently and cheaply. Is the Nordic countries’ high level of social trust just as important for creating prosperity and happiness within a population as other, more tangible economic factors? If so, where does this stock of social trust in Scandinavia come from? Does it help to explain the development of the universal welfare states and their surprisingly high business competitiveness? Can other nations learn from the region and apply that knowledge to settings where social trust levels are low or in danger of erosion? Social trust has proven economic value, and Gert Tinggaard Svendsen and Christian Bjørnskov warn that its benefits should never be taken for granted. Trust can dissolve and vanish quickly, and once gone, it is very difficult to rebuild. Governments and corporations are gradually increasing their control over people’s public and private lives, with predictably worrying results. When people feel taken advantage of or lied to, public confidence evaporates. Since strong social cohesion drives long-term prosperity, Nordic exceptionalism on maintaining and restoring trust offers valuable lessons.

South Sea Island. The Geography of Pleasure is a literary history of European, Russian and American travelogues, films, paintings, philosophical treatises, all fascinated by the Polynesian islands. Our ideas of nature, growth and sustainability are currently being challenged by climate change and sea level rise, with major identity and security policy implications that are particularly evident in the Pacific, but will also have consequences for the entire planet. The book is a contribution to a new global literary history and provides a historical in-depth perspective for highly topical discussions in interdisciplinary areas such as Pacific Studies, Island Studies, Ocean Studies and Planetary Studies.The Danish version of the book was nominated for 'Book of the year' in one of Denmark's most prominent newspaper and in another described as "epoch-making literary history" and shortlisted among the 5 non-fiction books in 2018, "which has made a difference". In addition, it was awarded the prestigious 'Georg Brande's Award' because it is "pioneering" and as the committee wrote: "Sydhavsøen [South Sea Island] is a book that conveys fascinating knowledge and theory in an exemplary way".

Old men - and especially old men living alone - remain an understudied group in the gerontological literature. The old man does, however, constitute a large part of the considerable demographic development, and old men living alone make up a rapidly increasing proportion of the elderly. This book is an anthology of different perspectives on the old man: What is it like to become an old man? Told by an old man. Furthermore, ideas about the old man through our cultural history and the first research on the very old man. Alcohol as a prism on how it is to become an old man. The old man and sexuality. The old man in a digitized world. Old men and masculinities. The single old man, lonely or just living alone? And several other relevant topics concerning the old man. The book takes a much-needed focus on the old man. The authors are researchers from different disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, theology, anthropology, health and gender studies.

A vivid and intricate study of dance music traditions that reveals the many contradictions of Syrian identity in the 21st centuryDabke, one of Syria's most beloved dance music traditions, is at the center of the country's war and the social tensions that preceded conflict. Drawing on almost two decades of ethnographic, archival, and digital research, Shayna M. Silverstein shows how dabke dance music embodies the fraught dynamics of gender, class, ethnicity, and nationhood in an authoritarian state. The book situates dabke politically, economically, and historically in a broader account of expressive culture in Syria's recent (and ongoing) turmoil. Silverstein shows how people imagine the Syrian nation through dabke, how the state has coopted it, how performances of masculinity reveal—and play with—the tensions and complexities of the broader social imaginary, how forces opposed to the state have used it resistively, and how migrants and refugees have reimagined it in their new homes in Europe and the United States. She offers deeply thoughtful reflections on the ethnographer's ethical and political dilemmas on fieldwork in an authoritarian state. Silverstein's study ultimately questions the limits of authoritarian power, considering the pleasure and play intrinsic to dabke circles as evidence for how performance cultures sustain social life and solidify group bonds while reproducing the societal divides endemic to Syrian authoritarianism.

Although there are currently only a handful of members of the Shaker faith and one active community in the world today, Shakerism at its peak comprised thousands of members living in communal villages across the eastern United States. Kentucky's iconic Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill was one of these communities, and it remains an enduring cultural touchstone. The history of the Shakers is often reduced to the handmade objects they produced and sold, but their lives were so much more than their material culture. Their efforts were suffused with their religious beliefs: each piece's sturdy simplicity memorializes the Believers' devotion to God and how it guided their every action.Shaker Made is photographer Carol Peachee's love letter to the cultural artifacts - the architecture, furniture, and crafts - of one of America's most influential utopian societies. Peachee has photographed Pleasant Hill for more than four decades - from small items such as eyeglasses, embroidered handkerchiefs, elixir bottles, and bonnets, to the distinguished furniture and architecture of the more than 260 buildings that the Shakers built at Pleasant Hill. The curator of collections at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Rebecca Soules, provides an informative foreword to the photos, while Peachee herself offers a lovingly written introduction explaining her personal connection to the subject. The attention to detail in the simple yet beautifully composed photographs evokes the "spirit of the maker" and serves as an elegant and respectful tribute to the history and legacy of the Pleasant Hill Shakers - an often-misunderstood people who sought to honor the divine in all aspects of life.

Over the past half century, China has accomplished a great deal in the study of Islam, and established a certain academic system for its study. This book offers a history of contemporary Islamic research in China, analyzing the interdisciplinary research emerging from this system, from its background to the people involved, mechanisms, and their publications, scientific conferences, reference works and historical materials, and the branches of research: history, religion, philosophy, politics, and culture.

A Festschrift for Rifaat Ebied celebrating a lifetime of work in the field of Semitic Studies, in particular Syriac, Christian Arabic, and Mandaic.