Baywood Publishing Co.

Aging and time; multidisciplinary perspectives.

Conventional wisdom and research on aging overemphasize chronological or external time, according to Baars (interpretive gerontology, U. for Humanist Studies, Utrecht; philosophy of the social sciences and humanities, Tilburg U., the Netherlands) and Visser (emeritus, philosophy, Maastricht U., the Netherlands). Along with psychologists, a physicist, and a bioengineer, they deconstruct major theories and empirical data on chronological and psychological time toward a better understanding of time as it relates to conceptualizing and studying aging. The physicist treats aging from a "gerodynamic," intrinsic time approach. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Excess baggage; leveling the load and changing the workplace.

You hand over your bags, scoop up your documents and walk away for a cup of coffee or a good read while you wait for the plane. In the meantime, the airport check-in worker with whom you have blessed your luggage has to deal with the 32 articles of clothing you will never wear and get them to your plane, fast. Rosskam (work environment, U. of Massachusetts and U. of Surrey) finds airport check-in workers pay dearly in lack of control of their work environment, grueling conditions and injuries. Most must spend no more than 40 seconds on each passenger and lift heavy and bulky bags each time, counter violent customers and second-rate managers, and beheld responsible for the public face of carriers that often care only about the bottom line. Rosskam makes recommendations that benefit the worker and the bottom line, and hopes global businesses pay attention. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Labor-environmental coalitions; lessons from a Louisiana petrochemical region.

The Louisiana-Labor Neighbor Project originated in a campaign by the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union to combat a lockout of its members by the BASF Corpporation in Geismar, Louisiana and involved coalition building with local environmentalists and other community organizations. Tracing the development of the project — for which he has worked as an organizer from 1985 to the present — Estabrook (occupational health and safety, New England Consortium, U. of Massachusetts Lowell) analyzes its strengths and weaknesses, arguing that its long term effectiveness is founded on building a broad class and cultural leadership and on challenging government and corporate power on intertwined economic, public health, and environmental justice issues. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Lessons on aging from three nations; v.2: The art of caring for older adults

This collection of 13 articles focuses on case studies of how Australia, Israel and the US are preparing to care for a higher population of elders. The articles describe the interactive nature of the state and the family in providing care in Israel and the consumer-driven system in the US, residential care, Australia's endangered system of family care, challenges to family care imposed by elderly cancer patients or those with dementia, the bioethics of the end of life, advance directives, the different approach to death of Israel and the US, and the use of palliative care in Australia. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Minority student retention; the best of the Journal of college student retention; research, theory, & practice.

The Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice was founded in 1999, to inform the educational community about college student retention issues. In this volume, Seidman (executive director and founder, Center for the study of College Student Retention) has selected 14 articles from the pages of the Journal concerned with college retention of racial and ethnic minorities. These include five discussing African-American student; two on Latino/a students; and one each for Asian and Asian Pacific, Native American, and Biracial students. In addition, four look at overarching institutional retention and multicultural issues, policies, and contexts. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)