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Barbara Herz, Gene B. Sperling, Council on Foreign Relations Press, April 2004

Investing in girls’ education globally delivers huge returns for economic growth, political participation, women’s health, smaller and more sustainable families, and disease prevention, concludes a new report from the Council’s Center for Universal Education by Senior Fellow Gene Sperling, former national economic adviser in the Clinton administration, and Barbara Herz, who brings more than twenty years of expertise at the U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Treasury, and the World Bank.

The report summarizes the extensive body of research on the state of girls' education in the developing world today; the impact of educating girls on families, economies, and nations; and the most promising approaches to increasing girls' enrollment and educational quality.

The overall conclusions are straightforward: educating girls pays off substantially. While challenges still remain, existing research provides us quidance on how to make significant progress.

Deloitte & Touche, 2003 

Writing a plan must be managed just as most other important business projects are managed. It requires advance preparation, delegation, refinement, and discipline. The process of preparing a business plan involves identifying likely users, gathering accurate and convincing information, and carefully outlining the plan before writing. The key sections of the business plan are as follows in the book.

The purpose of this guidebook is to take the intimidation out of the business plan process and to highlight key issues worth consideration as you research, prepare, and write your plan. At the conclusion of applicable chapters, is a listing of the fundamental questions that you shouldask and address as you complete each section.

Add your own questions as you go along to besure that your unique circumstances are adequately addressed.

By Dr. Michel Cohen, M.D., HarperCollins Publishers, 2004

Dr. Michel Cohen, named by the New York Post as the hip, "must-have" pediatrician, has an important message for parents: Don't worry so much. In an easy-reference alphabetical format, The New Basics clearly lays out the concerns you may face as aparent and explains how to solve them -- without fuss, without stress, and without harming your child by using unnecessary medicines or interventions.

With sensitivity and love, Dr. Michel describes proven techniques for keeping your children healthy and happy without driving yourself crazy. He will show you how to set positive habits for sleeping and eating and how to treat ailments early and effectively. You'll learn when antibiotics are helpful and when they can be harmful. If you're having trouble breast feeding, pumping, or bottle weaning, Dr. Michel has the advice to set you back on track.

By Don Fullerton, Brent D. Mast, AEI Press, January 2005

Social Security, in 1935, was intended to provide for elderly individuals without adequate sources of income. And it has a progressive benefit schedule that replaces a higher percentage of past earnings for those with low past earnings than for those with high past earnings. For both these reasons, the U.S. Social Security system was thought to redistribute income from rich to poor--until recently, that is. Several research teams recently developed data and models that show a more complete picture of how much the U.S. Social Security system actually redistributes income.

It is important to know as much as possible about how the current Social Security system redistributes money in practice and to whom. It may never be ascertained how much Social Security really helps the poor, or indeed whether it redistributes money toward people who are already well-to-do.

Don Fullerton is the Addison Baker Duncan Centennial Professor of Economics at the University of Texas Austin. Brent Mast is a statistician at the U.S. Department of Justice.

By Charles R. Morris, Century Foundation Press, 2/9/2006

Throughout most of the past century America, uniquely among industrial countries, assumed that private businesses would take primary responsibility for providing retirement security and health insurance to working-age people and their families — an arrangement that became known as American "welfare capitalism."

That assumption has been put to the test by the fierce competitive onslaught on almost every major American industry that began in the 1970s and 1980s.

In today's world of global competition old traditions of employer-employee loyalties are a distant memory and companies have been shedding benefit commitments as rapidly as possible.

By Kevin Mattson, Century Foundation Press, 4/1/2003

Young Americans are more likely than their older counterparts to be cynical and disaffected about politics. Their voting rates in both national and local elections have declined, they are less likely to be affiliated with political parties (when they register at all, many young people categorize themselves as independents), and in surveys they express higher levels of cynicism about the state of politics in general.

Kevin Mattson argues that recent attempts to reverse these trends are unlikely to succeed. He says that neither John McCain focus on campaign finance reform as a corrective nor former President Clinton emphasis on community service as practiced through the Americorps program is likely to re-engage young Americans in politics. Analyzing the historical context to assess the extent to which youth have participated in the political process throughout the twentieth century, Mattson makes the case for more extensive educational programs, public service internships, and innovative Internet strategies.

Kevin Mattson is associate director of the Walt Whitman Center at Rutgers University.

DRUM MAGAZINE is perhaps unique among South African publications in that it alone chronicled the apartheid years from a black perspective.

This booklet is published to coincide with a Drum Exhibition at the National Festival of the Arts in Grahamstown, 30 years after the June 16, 1976 student uprising that changed the face of South Africa forever.More South Africans are alive today who had no direct experience of these turbulent times than those who did. It is appropriate therefore to record those times through the pages of Drum magazine. The pages featured in this booklet (all produced before computers reached the newsroom) are taken from the Drum 1976-1980 Exhibition and provide a glimpse of those challenging times.

The text is written by Tony Sutton who was executive editor at Drum during the latter part of the seventies. It is written as a memoir of his association with the magazine and its late owner/publisher, Jim Bailey.

By Johann Christoph Arnold, Plough Publishing House, 2004

Parenting was never easy. In these times of cultural decline and moral confusion, it has only gotten harder. But what if parenthood is not just a duty but a privilege, and what if our children can draw us closer to God and each other?

Pastor and family counselor Johann Christoph Arnold offers down-to-earth insights every parent can apply. His prose is simple, straight to the heart, and filled with wisdom. Topics include fatherhood, motherhood, spoiling your child, discipline, adoption, special needs, building character, academics, sports and play, sex education, the role of grandparents, media consumption, and homeschooling.

Boston Consulting Group - Knowledge@Wharton China Report: Studies in Operations and Strategy, May 2004

With a population of more than 1 billion and an immense supply of low-wage workers, China is coveted both as a consumer market and a superb location to manufacture and source products. But is the conventional wisdom correct? Experts at Wharton and BCG say it is essential that companies view China as a core component of their globalization strategy and not just a low-cost country for sourcing.

“China is a must-play place for any global company…inevitably you will be competing with Chinese companies, or with others who are leveraging China better than you are.”

“There has always been promise in China, but the promise hasn’t always been realized…China has somehow transformed what was a very poor society into a modern industrial giant.”