51312

51312

51321

This book represents the culmination of a unique scholarly initiative located at the dynamic intersection of medical history and the digital humanities. It also represents an important outcome of the longstanding partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) with Virginia Tech (VT) as a key collaborator.The specific initiative which led to this book-Viral Networks: An Advanced Workshop in Digital Humanities and Medical History-was a landmark moment in the NEH/NLM partnership dating from 2012when these agencies signed an agreement to "bring together scholars, scientists, librarians, archivists, curators, technical information specialists, healthcare professionals, cultural heritage professionals, and others in the humanities and biomedical communities in order to share expertise and develop new research agendas representing the commitment of the NLM to supporting scholarship in medical history and digital humanities."Viral Networks represents true collaboration and commitment among a group of dedicated scholars, two federal agencies and their strategic partners, and one of America's most important public, land-grant, research universities. And this book represents such collaboration and commitment even more because it is available from VT Publishing in an open-access format, for all to appreciate as the studies therein engage undiscovered or underappreciated primary sources, push methodological boundaries to define and articulate new arguments, and chart new research trajectories. Indeed, this book defines the scholarly times in which its organizers conceived and published it as much as these times define the book itself.

Car Safety Wars is a gripping history of the hundred-year struggle to improve the safety of American automobiles and save lives on the highways. Described as the “equivalent of war” by the Supreme Court, the battle involved the automobile industry, unsung and long-forgotten safety heroes, at least six US Presidents, a reluctant Congress, new auto technologies, and, most of all, the mindset of the American public: would they demand and be willing to pay for safer cars? The “Car Safety Wars” were at first won by consumers and safety advocates. The major victory was the enactment in 1966 of a ground breaking federal safety law. The safety act was pushed through Congress over the bitter objections of car manufacturers by a major scandal involving General Motors, its private detectives, Ralph Nader, and a gutty cigar-chomping old politician. The act is a success story for government safety regulation. It has cut highway death and injury rates by over seventy percent in the years since its enactment, saving more than two million lives and billions of taxpayer dollars. But the car safety wars have never ended. GM has recently been charged with covering up deadly defects resulting in multiple ignition switch shut offs. Toyota has been fined for not reporting fatal unintended acceleration in many models. Honda and other companies have—for years—sold cars incorporating defective air bags. These current events, suggesting a failure of safety regulation, may serve to warn us that safety laws and agencies created with good intentions can be corrupted and strangled over time. This book suggests ways to avoid this result, but shows that safer cars and highways are a hard road to travel. We are only part of the way home.

Get this book! During a long life, RAYMOND MALLEY has studied, worked, and reflected on the human condition and controversial domestic and international problems. This book contains many of his letters to editors and other documents concerning them. They are clear, straight-forward, opinionated, even humorous, and certain to interest, stimulate, and perhaps aggravate readers. He pulls no punches. Read this book!

Exploring Maine just got easier. Whether you plan to view the geology from the highway, the beach, or the top of Mt. Katahdin, Roadside Geology of Maine distills each scene's geologic history into easily understood stories of rocks and landscape. In this