Bruce Ackerman, Before the Next Attack: Preserving Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006, pp. 240.

derick Schauer, Profiles, Probabilities, and Stereotypes Cambridge, MA: Belknap/Harvard University Press, 2003. xiii + 359 pp.

John Yoo, War by Other Means: An Insider's Account of the War on Terror New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006, pp. 224.

Bruce Ackerman, Before the Next Attack: Preserving Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006, pp. 240.

Bruce Ackerman, Before the Next Attack: Preserving Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006, pp. 240.

`Social theory is a very difficult subject to teach and it is one that students generally find hard to get to grips with. Teaching Yourself Social Theory offers a highly original and comprehensive resource that will be welcomed by students and teachers alike' - Barry Smart, University of Portsmouth `I have no hesitation in recommending Harris' text to students and teachers of social theory' - Sociology This refreshing and accessible text demonstrates how social theory can be made into an intelligible (...) discourse that touches upon key aspects of everyday life. The abstraction and formalism of much contemporary social theory is criticized as unnecessarily `scholastic' for the beginner. The author maintains that the main problems in studying the subject are not intrinsic to social theory, but derive from how the subject is taught as a university discipline. This lively book uses non-specialist terms to introduce more complex themes, and incorporates a Website with questions and reading guides to some of the classic works. (shrink)

For those who believe that protection against government intrusion into our private lives remains a fundamentally important part of American liberty, the last few years have seen a singularly depre...