After the 1949 revolution in China, Chairman Mao famously proclaimed that "women hold up half the sky." In the early years of the People's Republic, the Communist Party sought to transform gender relations with expansive initiatives. Yet those gains are being eroded in China's post-socialist era. Contrary to many claims made in the media, women in China have experienced a dramatic rollback of rights and gains relative to men. Leftover Women lays out the structural discrimination against women and speaks to broader problems with China's economy, politics, and development.
In CliffsNotes on Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, you explore the rural South in the Civil Rights era of the 1960s, where a young girl named Lily Owens is growing up unwanted and unloved. Escaping her home, she begins a journey of self-discovery and learns about racial prejudice. Taken in by a community of strong African-American sisters, she gains strength, knowledge, and self-forgiveness before finally confronting the injustice of the law and the wrath of her callous father.
DePorre, noted stock market investor and writer for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, offers advice to small investors. The key to maximizing assets, he says, is shark investing—protecting capital while aggressively pursuing profits. Small investors' quickness and flexibility is a powerful advantage that they should exploit. But most small investors are passive, DePorre claims, holding investments for long-term gains, although this conventional investment wisdom results in only mediocre returns and carries the risk of greater loss.
Professor James Flynn is one of the most creative and influential psychologists in the field of intelligence. The 'Flynn Effect' refers to the massive increase in IQ test scores over the course of the twentieth century and the term was coined to recognize Professor Flynn's central role in measuring and analyzing these gains. For over twenty years, psychologists have struggled to understand the implications of IQ gains. Do they mean that each generation is more intelligent than the last? Do they suggest how each of us can enhance our own intelligence?
