The Rational Choice Controversy in Historical Sociology

Book Description

This collection captures the depth of the debate centered on historical sociology and the role of general theory in the social sciences. The exchange began at a 1990 symposium of the American Sociological Association, when Michael Hechter and Edgar Kiser argued that historical sociologists should search for general causal principles—to which end the pair introduced rational choice theory. This volume reproduces the original paper along with other significant contributions to the debate and Kiser and Hechter's replies to their critics.

Book Description

In 1899 the United States, having announced its arrival as a world power during the Spanish-Cuban-American War, inaugurated a brutal war of imperial conquest against the Philippine Republic. Over the next five decades, U.S. imperialists justified their colonial empire by crafting novel racial ideologies adapted to new realities of collaboration and anticolonial resistance. In this pathbreaking, transnational study, Paul Kramer reveals how racial politics served U.S. empire, and how empire-building in turn transformed ideas of race and nation in both the United States and the Philippines.

Kramer argues that Philippine-American colonial history was characterized by struggles over sovereignty and recognition. In the wake of a racial-exterminist war, U.S. colonialists, in dialogue with Filipino elites, divided the Philippine population into "civilized" Christians and "savage" animists and Muslims. The former were subjected to a calibrated colonialism that gradually extended them self-government as they demonstrated their "capacities." The latter were governed first by Americans, then by Christian Filipinos who had proven themselves worthy of shouldering the "white man's burden." Ultimately, however, this racial vision of imperial nation-building collided with U.S. nativist efforts to insulate the United States from its colonies, even at the cost of Philippine independence. Kramer provides an innovative account of the global transformations of race and the centrality of empire to twentieth-century U.S. and Philippine histories.

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From Subjects to Citizens: Balinese Villagers in the Indonesian Nation-State
Lyn Parker , and Lyn Parker
Manufacturer: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Indonesia | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
Southeast Asia | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
General | World | History | Subjects | Books
General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 8791114047

Book Description

This in-depth study by an expert on the impact of state developmental programs on indigenous village life analyzes the processes by which conservative and introverted Balinese villagers have been incorporated into the Indonesian nation-state. Focusing on the changing social relations of villagers in their transformation as subjects of their local "king" to anonymous citizens of the Republic of Indonesia, Parker attempts to shed new light on the Balinese experience.

Forest Monks and the Nation-State: An Anthropological and Historical Study in Northeastern Thailand (Social Issues in Southeast Asia / Institute of)

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A paragon of research design, execution, and presentation

Forest Monks and the Nation-State: An Anthropological and Historical Study in Northeastern Thailand (Social Issues in Southeast Asia / Institute of)
J. L. Taylor
Manufacturer: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies,Singapore
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Other Eastern Religions | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9813016485

Customer Reviews:

A paragon of research design, execution, and presentation.......2002-12-11

I've heard that Jim Taylor is one of the nicest guys in the small circle of veteran Western scholars of Thai Buddhism. Along with Peter Jackson, Donald Swearer, Louis Gabaude, Santikaro Bhikkhu, and Stanley Tambiah, Taylor has made a vocation of Thai Studies. Forest Monks and the Nation-State is Taylor's great work, and it is no understatement to say that it has few peers in rigor or style.

Taylor traces the complex interplay between the state and the sangha in the Lao-influenced region of Northeastern Thailand during what may be loosely called the "modernization period" - that is, the period in which the state was using the sangha as an instrument of national consolidation. The story pulsates and oscillates between discussions of reform in the Thai metropole and intimate descriptions of the lives of wandering forest ascetics, whose charisma was co-opted by the state as a part of it's self-conscious formation. Taylor discusses the charisma and routinization processes around well-known Northeastern monks, portraying in vivid detail the ways in which communities, landscapes, and the teaching of the dhamma was changed over time alongside transformations to the Thai countryside and local relationships with Bangkok.

Rather than relying exclusively on the broad strokes of theory and a few scattered historical references and interviews, Taylor has painstakingly gathered mountains of material in order to provide one of the most comprehensive, balanced, and multifaceted social-scientific studies I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Taylor's understanding of the culture, language, and social context of his work is profound; I found him to be a major influence on my own thought as I did fieldwork in another part of Thailand.

As an ethnographic writer, Taylor has few peers. His learned, erudite style and rich vocabulary are academic models for writers in any discipline; yet his sympathy for his informants and deep understanding of the particulars of their inner, spiritual world is as intact as it is with any other writer. Taylor has achieved the extremely difficult task of balancing a systems perspective, on cultural change over a large geographic region and a substantial chunk of time, and a perspective that does not do symbolic violence to the dhamma of his monk-informants, by reducing it to something to be merely classified and catalogued as irrational, emic "remainder."

It was Taylor, along with Michael Taussig, who convinced me to quit anthropology. If work like this is possible, then I could aspire to no more than a series of footnotes to their towering achievements. As a book to inspire awe in scientists of all stripes, though, I can think of no finer example than this book.

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Learning from the Periphery

Islam in an Era of Nation-States: Politics and Religious Renewal in Muslim Southeast Asia

Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Non-US Legal Systems | Perspectives on Law | Law | Subjects | Books
General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Relations | International | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Islam | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Islamic | World | History | Subjects | Books
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Goddess on the Rise: Pilgrimage and Popular Religion in Vietnam

Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680: Volume One: The Lands below the Winds

The Intimate Economies of Bangkok: Tomboys, Tycoons, and Avon Ladies in the Global City

Paradise of the Blind: A Novel

Islam in Southeast Asia: Political, Social and Strategic Challenges for the 21st Century

ASIN: 0824819578

Customer Reviews:

Learning from the Periphery.......2004-02-20

This study edited by anthropologists Robert Hefner and Patricia Horvatich is an important contribution to the understanding of Islam's role in shaping the twentieth-century nation-states of Southeast Asia and its Muslim population's perceptions of their own identity.

In spite of the wide range of topics there is a remarkable consistency in the authors' approaches. One indication for this is the frequency with which the same source material is referenced. This is not a sign of prejudice, but rather of an understanding of certain important "megatrends." For example, the authors of six of the book's ten chapters have consulted Eickelman's "Mass Higher Education and the Religious Imagination in Contemporary Arab Societies"; signaling their shared awareness of the impact of educational changes on the innovative engagement with religiosity.

According to Hefner's introduction, the dominant discourse in Southeast Asia is "a remarkable combination of pluralism, intellectual dynamism, and openness to dialogue." Southeast Asian Islam's specific social and historical horizon enables us to deepen our understanding of the Muslim world's diversity. In a brief digression Hefner then takes scholars to task for their distorted views of Southeast Asian Islam. Following the authority of Clifford Geertz, most Asianists have dismissed local Islam as just a thin layer of veneer, while many Islamologists consider Southeast Asia as the geographical and intellectual periphery of the Muslim world.

Hefner points also to country-specific patterns, like Indonesian Islam's "long history of pluralism and extra-governmental independence"; Malaysia's limitations on civil autonomy; and the Philippines' search for a balance between Muslim dominance in the south and the danger of its marginalization within the nation-state.

The first essay -- Thomas McKenna's study of Muslim or "Moro" identity in the Cotabato area -- forms a welcome correction of the often ill-understood position of Filipino Muslims. Hefner's second contribution "Islamization and Democratization in Indonesia" is one of the volume's most impressive essays. This grand scheme is explained on the basis of a genealogy of the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI). Not only is this fascinating phenomenon an astonishing departure from Suharto's earlier New Order policies, but its importance is further enhanced by the fact that virtually all key Muslim leaders played a part in its development, whether they effectively joined the organization or not. Although French journalist Andrée Feillard's examination of the tensions between nation-state and traditionalist Islam provides an illustrative account of the role of the world's largest Muslim organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), in Indonesian politics, some of her conclusions depend too much on inferences that are difficult to substantiate.

John Bowen opens the book's second section with a study of the challenges posed by modernity to local perceptions of self. His approach is reminiscent of James Siegel's seminal study "The Rope of God." Where Siegel surveyed both traditional Acehnese Muslim literature and twentieth-century periodicals, Bowen has studied Muslim rhetoric in neighboring Gayo on the basis of an entirely new genre of poetry called "saèr." Anthropologists like Siegel and Bowen must be congratulated for their willingness to depart from their discipline's established methodologies.

With her study of the Ahmadiyya Movement on the Philippine Island of Simunul, co-editor Patricia Horvatich has inarguably made the most extraordinary contribution. By choosing such an arcane topic the author has also been able to underscore the "drawing-in" effect of modernization. No place is immune to its impact. At the same time it is important to realize that such intrusions are not necessarily all negative: in spite of the potential menaceto the inhabitants of such remote places, being considered "worthy" of outside attention also can give rise to a new sense of self.

The last essay examining reform and reformism is dedicated to the problematic relation between the student-dominated Dakwah or Revivalist movement(s) and the government in Malaysia. This is placed against the background of the centrality of "Muslimness" to the notion of "Malayness." To illustrate the development of these tensions, author Shamsul A.B. has opted for a historical treatment: identifying an "awakening period" in which humanities students dominated the movement; a "forward movement period" during which the science students took over; a "mainstreaming period" characterized by growing state influence; and the current "Dakwah and Industrialized Malaysia period", in which - according to the author's prediction -- the movement will continue to penetrate still highly traditionalist rural Malaysia, while its ideological outlook will become increasingly pluralist.

The two essays on "Ordinary Muslims" serve to illustrate the resilience of traditionalist Islam, or better ordinary Muslims' perceptions of what it means to be Muslim. Michael Peletz warns against the assumption that all Malay(sian) Muslims are squarely behind the Dakwah movement, on the contrary: "many, perhaps most, are clearly hostile both to various elements of the movement and state agents and others who endorse it." On the other hand resistance is curtailed by four variables: the state policy against any "counterhegemonic" discourse; a more hidden form of censorship; the moral and existential constraints posed by the centrality of "being Muslim" to Malay cultural identity; and the "Panopticon" of social control. Martin Rössler's study of Muslim identities in a rural community of South Sulawesi tries to make a case for finding some middle ground between local particularity and an "Islam of all times and all places."

In her Afterword South Asia historian Barbara Metcalf shares some final thoughts, in which she endeavors to draw some parallels with the study of history, religion and nationhood in her own area of specialization.

Book Description

Throughout the (this?)region, the rights and concerns of indigenous peoples are making news. Tensions between indigenous peoples and nation states take many forms, but none is so definitive as the question of resource sovereignty. Written by geographers, anthropologists, lawyers, economists and field practitioners, this book argues that these tensions are constructing a new geopolitics of identity and sovereignty within the nation states of Australasia, Melanesia and Southeast Asia. Building on the success of an earlier volume, Mining and Indigenous Peoples in Australasia, this volume goes beyond documenting the impacts of resource-based development to examine five key themes in contemporary disputes: the complex relationships between resources, identity and sovereignty; culture and gender issues in resource projects;marginalisation of and negotiations with indigenous interests; compensation and the monitoring of agreements; and the roles of governments in mediating relations between resource industry and indigenous groups. Detailed case studies illustrate and attest to the diverse concerns and the complexities of contemporary debates and disputes. Resources, Nations and Indigenous Peoples: Case Studies from Australasia, Melanesia and Southeast Asia provides a compelling analysis and will be invaluable for students, public servants, industry and community organisations in many spheres.

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, Volume XXXIII: Organization and Management of U.S. Foreign Policy; United Nations

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Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, Volume XXXIII: Organization and Management of U.S. Foreign Policy; United Nations

Manufacturer: Bur. Public Affairs, Office of the Hist.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Vietnam War | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Southeast Asia | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

Book Description

State Department Publication 11041.
Editor, Kent Sieg. GeneralEditor, Edward C. Keefer.
Part of a subseries of volumes which document the most important issues in the foreign policy of the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Includes memoranda and records of discussions that set forth policy issues and options and show decisions or actions taken.

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Nations and States in Southeast Asia
Nicholas Tarling
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

Southeast Asia | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This reflective and provocative book outlines the emergence of the nation-states of modern Southeast Asia. It considers various ways of looking at Southeast Asian history, combining narrative, analysis and discussion. The book's three sections give a broad historical overview of individual nation-states, reflect on significant problems in understanding Southeast Asia, and explore the current state of writing Southeast Asian history. This book reflects a lifetime's scholarship and will become a major interpretive synthesis of modern Southeast Asia.

Rebuilding a Nation: Philippine Challenges and American Policy

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Rebuilding a Nation: Philippine Challenges and American Policy

Manufacturer: Washington Institute Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

Philippines | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

Southeast Asia | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0887020232

Thailand: Buddhist Kingdom as Modern Nation-State

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Good text on Thailand

Thailand: Buddhist Kingdom as Modern Nation-State
Charles F. Keyes
Manufacturer: Westview Press Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Thailand | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

Southeast Asia | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Good text on Thailand.......2004-03-17

I read this book for a class I took in college on Western influence in non-Western countries. I chose Thailand because it is the only nation in east Asia that has never been conquered by a European nation. I chose this book to read about Thailand because it gives a concise but comprehensive look at Thailand's history starting from aboriginal times to the modern day; post Cold War. The book also addresses the role Buddhism has played in this country's history. This book is easy to read, and worth reading. I learned many things from it, including the fact that the percentage of Thai women engaged in prostitution is less than most of its neighbors. It just happens that it is legal in Thailand, hence the international reknown.

U.S. Economic Policy Toward the Association of Southeast Asian Nations: Meeting the Japanese Challenge

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U.S. Economic Policy Toward the Association of Southeast Asian Nations: Meeting the Japanese Challenge
Lawrence B. Krause
Manufacturer: Brookings Inst Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

International | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

There is currently no viable alternative to the Bayesian analysis of scientific inference, yet the available versions of Bayesianism fail to do justice to several aspects of the testing and confirmation of scientific hypotheses. Bayes or Bust? provides the first balanced treatment of the complex set of issues involved in this nagging conundrum in the philosophy of science. Both Bayesians and anti-Bayesians will find a wealth of new insights on topics ranging from Bayes's original paper to contemporary formal learning theory.

In a paper published posthumously in 1763, the Reverend Thomas Bayes made a seminal contribution to the understanding of "analogical or inductive reasoning." Building on his insights, modem Bayesians have developed an account of scientific inference that has attracted numerous champions as well as numerous detractors. Earman argues that Bayesianism provides the best hope for a comprehensive and unified account of scientific inference, yet the presently available versions of Bayesianisin fail to do justice to several aspects of the testing and confirming of scientific theories and hypotheses. By focusing on the need for a resolution to this impasse, Earman sharpens the issues on which a resolution turns. John Earman is Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh.

Book Description

The woods are full of puzzles to be solved, clues to be found. Inspired by this book's hints and fun-filled experiments and activities, and using only simple equipment, young readers unlock the closely guarded secrets of the woodsfrom the strange meetings of lazy butterflies, to the miraculous "walking" of a twig, to the riddle of why the leaves turn color and fall. One small square at a time, these "detectives" plunge deeper and deeper into ancient mysterieswithout ever getting lost. Beautifully illustrated, Woods offers a picture field guide, a glossary-index, and a resource list.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing amount of info and inspiration & [good] price!.......2002-10-27

What a gem! I was surprised when I discovered this book. The gist of the book is for the child (or adult) to mark off a square space in the woods and begin exploring and learning. This book is a real integration of activities, suggested observations, and fact. The learner is to explore, dig, look, observe and investigate every inch of this square area. While suggesting the learner look for this or that, the author provides factual information about various findings. The book goes into a lot of detail and there are many things that the author thinks may be found. I bet that the learner won't find everything that is mentioned but that is OK, at least the reader can experience it in reading about it in the book if it is missed "in real life".

The book starts off in autumn, assuming the learner begins in the fall and in an area of deciduous trees. A small sampling of what is addressed in this book is why trees lose their leaves, how trees store energy and make energy, examples of camouflage with animals, migration of birds and butterflies, insects, spiders and their webs, lizards and mammals big and small. As the book progresses winter then spring then summer is discussed.

The illustrations are drawn and in color (just like the cover), these are not photographs. There are loads of details in the drawings. At the back is an illustrated guide to creatures grouped by their classification (leaves, mammals, fungi) and an index.

The learner is encouraged to do creative projects such as leaf and trunk rubbings. Also keeping a nature journal or notebook to record the findings is recommended.

I am surprised that so much information and creative ideas packed into this small and very inexpensive book. This is one in a series of "one small square" books and I plan to buy more to use in our homeschooling adventure. Now this is science!

Great details.......2000-03-30

This book provides a small instant field trip to those students who might not have access to woods. It gives incredible details of what goes on in one small square of woods. For those who have access to wooded areas for exploration...safety tips are included as well as supplies needed for collecting data while exploring. I teach second grade and use all of the Small Square books in my teaching.

Glossary: Water and Wastewater Control Engineering

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Glossary: Water and Wastewater Control Engineering

Manufacturer: Amer Society of Civil Engineers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0872622622

C.H.A.O.S.S.: An Essay and Glossary for Students and Practitioners of Global Environmental Governance (HBK)

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C.H.A.O.S.S.: An Essay and Glossary for Students and Practitioners of Global Environmental Governance (HBK)
Richard A. Meganck , and Richard E. Saunier
Manufacturer: Taylor & Francis
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

C.H.A.O.S.S. is both a handbook and a guidepost for students and practitioners of global environmental governance (GEG). While the larger part of the book consists of a glossary of over a thousand terms and a list of more than two thousand acronyms bound to be of immense value to students and practitioners of GEG, its substance is an essay that will influence, if not radically change the way global environmental governance is conducted. Both critical and hopeful as well as practical and thought provoking, the essay challenges those who are concerned with the management of our planet and its inhabitants to understand and accept a vocabulary common to the often opposing objectives sought in the many GEG instruments brought forward over the last 50 years. A case is made that, once understood, this vocabulary and the methodologies that logically follow will help give an affirmative answer to the question posed by CHAOSS, itself an acronym which stands for "Can Humans and Other Species Survive?"

Energy and Environmental Terms: A Glossary (Energy Papers, 24)

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Energy and Environmental Terms: A Glossary (Energy Papers, 24)

Manufacturer: Gower Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Science | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Energy | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

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Environmental Acronyms and Glossary

Manufacturer: Gulf Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 9994998382

Environmental Forensics: A Glossary of Terms

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Environmental Forensics: A Glossary of Terms

Environmental Forensics: A Glossary of Terms
Robert, D. Morrison
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Environmental & Natural Resources Law | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Subjects | Books

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General | Reference | Subjects | Books

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Environmental & Natural Resources Law | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0849300010

Book Description

Environmental Forensics: A Glossary of Terms contains over 3,500 definitions and 1,500 acronyms. Compiled from common technical terms encountered in millions of pages of environmental reports over the past 15 years, this book contains regulatory phrases and acronyms; geologic, toxicological, laboratory, and chemical terms; as well as words and phrases unique to environmental forensics. The Glossary clarifies terms with multiple meanings, allows you to perform a more expedient and comprehensive review of an environmental report, and helps in deciphering works encountered during expert witness testimony at deposition and trial. Practicing environmental attorneys and environmental consultants/engineers will find this book a useful tool in correspondence, interrogatories, court filings and pleadings, and communication with environmental consultants and regulators.

Customer Reviews:

Environmental Forensics: A Glossary of Terms.......1999-11-29

This glossary is the companion to Environmental Forensics: Principles and Applications. When used in conjunction with this book, it provides the practioner with the needed tools to understand and forensically review environmental reports and expert witness testimony. The glossary is easy to read and includes a section on acroymns used in the environmental sciences. This glossary is a bargain and can save the user a tremendous amount of time trying to discern text or testimony associated with environmental reports and environmental expert witness testimony.

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ENVIRONMENTAL GLOSSARY
Wayne O. Deason
Manufacturer: USDI - BUREAU OF RECLAMATION
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000WZZ2JW

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Environmental Glossary
G William Frick
Manufacturer: GOVERNMENT INSTITUTES INC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000Q9SWSC

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Environmental Glossary

Manufacturer: Abs Consulting
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 086587073X

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Environmental glossary
Wayne O Deason
Manufacturer: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation : U.S. Govt. Print. Off
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Public Policy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006W9Q2A

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