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Contains articles on concepts such as duty, fascism, predestination, and wisdom; movements such as women's suffrage, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Ghost Dance; people such as Michel Foucault, Mao Zedong, and Paul Ehrlich; and other topics such as cyberspace, the Holocaust, and the Monroe Doctrine. Suitable for high school or undergraduate students or general readers. Well cross-referenced. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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Library Journal Review

In this encyclopedia, which covers tenets, terms, movements, leaders, controversies, and organizations relevant to the discussion of ethics in America, Hester (administrator of gifted programs, Catwaba Cty., North Carolina, school system) proves to be considerably idiosyncratic in his choice of topics. There is an article on William J. Bennett but none on Alasdair MacIntyre. Gloria Steinem is included, as is the John Birch Society, Ghost Dance Movements, and the Facing History and Ourselves Curriculum. Jack Kervorkian is in, with the only source for the entry being Compton's Online Encyclopedia. In fact, general encyclopedias are often the only sources listed for the short articles. Many of Hester's articles are certainly timely, but this reader fears they will not stand the test of time. A better choice would be the two-volume Encyclopedia of Ethics, edited by Lawrence C. Becker (Garland, 1992), or Peter Singer's A Companion to Ethics (Blackwell, 1991).‘Augustine J. Curley, Newark Abbey, N.J. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

School Library Journal Review

Gr 10 Up‘In his introduction, Hester provides a useful overview of shifts in values over the decades of the 20th century. He then launches an uneven effort to uncover the "foundational ethics and values for each generation" of Americans. Entries cover individuals (Henry Adams, Henri Bergson, William Bennett); concepts (benevolence, manifest destiny); economic institutions (capitalism, slavery); movements (Ban the Bomb); issues (abortion, right-to-die); and social/political institutions (United Nations, parent-teacher associations). In short, the author casts his net very widely and not consistently. There are long entries for some unlikely inclusions and yet there is no separate entry for homosexuality; it is touched upon in a rather brief article about gay rights. All the entries, which vary widely in length, include a definition, background information, and sources. Often the background provided is too brief or selective. All of the sources cited in individual entries appear to be repeated again in an alphabetically arranged bibliography of 18 pages. A glossary is included. One wonders why; it is highly selective and most of the terms listed have entries in the basic text. While some terms, concepts, etc., are cross-referenced within the text, some within the index, and some in both places, the practice is at best erratic, which is a significant drawback in a book that deals so heavily with abstracts. Worse, there are some important omissions. This is a difficult area of study, especially if the material is not well organized and the author's criteria in determining the scope of his subject is not clearly stated.‘Tess McKellen, Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

Encyclopedic works are tricky because of what they include or exclude. Hester's (he is an administrator of gifted programs for a county school system) is no exception. There are no specific entries, for example, for Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Mill, and many other philosophers important in both the study of ethics and the history of philosophy, yet there are entries for the American Legion, the John Birch Society, William Bennett, and a number of philosophers and philosophical topics. To be fair, this book intends to discuss the "important terms, movements, leaders, landmarks, controversies and events that illuminate the belief systems of the American people," and, in a brief work, choices had to be made. A number of cross-references, a good subject index, a bibliography after each entry and one at the end of the book, and a short glossary are included. More comprehensive encyclopedias (e.g., Lawrence and Charlotte Becker's Encyclopedia of Ethics, 2v., CH, Nov'92; or Ethics, ed. by John Roth, 3v., CH, Oct'94) might be a better choice for academic libraries purchasing only one. W. E. Hannaford Jr.; Champlain College

Booklist Review

Corruption in business and government and gratuitous sex and violence in movies and on television contribute to a sense of moral decay and a lack of values in our society. At the same time, according to author Joseph Hester, "we are now ready to accept any idea, any culture, any person on the grounds of openness, our new virtue." Truth is relative. What is right is what one feels to be right. It is no surprise, then, that confusion and conflict will ensue. Societal values are no longer as widely accepted as they perhaps once were, and tensions will surely result when the values of one individual conflict with those of another, especially when no other criterion save individual whimsy is required for establishing the legitimacy of personal values. How are such differences resolved, and how does society establish its values? Hester describes his encyclopedia as "the story of liberty and equality, of ethical transformation and accommodation, of values and value shifts in U.S. society." If such a description of a reference work were accurate, that reference work would be unique and most welcome. This source, unfortunately, fails to stand, let alone deliver. One would expect, for example, the entry for anti-Semitism to trace its history in the U.S., including the reasons for it and the responses to it. It does not, though the entry for abortion comes closer to achieving this goal. Issues such as genocide and totalitarianism may well belong in an encyclopedia of values and ethics, but this source provides only the briefest of definitions, with no discussion of arguments in support of or against the legitimacy of either. The entry for corporal punishment begins with a moral question of whether it is ever right but then proceeds to answer the pragmatic question of whether its effects are positive or negative. Just the reverse would be expected in an encyclopedia of values and ethics. One is also left wondering why some entries are included in the first place (e.g., American Bar Association, Harlem Renaissance, Monroe Doctrine). The entries offer no clues. Hester correctly claims that our culture is firmly planted in the Judeo-Christian tradition and that "we cannot seriously understand concepts like morality and ethical life, person and individuality, or freedom and emancipation without appropriating the substance of this religious tradition." Why then does the entry for adultery, of all things, fail to mention the Judeo-Christian position? Finally, some topics appear to be excluded altogether. There are no separate entries for premarital sex or homosexuality. Mention of premarital sex is made in the entry for birth control. Homosexuality is discussed in the entry for gay rights and the issue of legal moralism. Surely the issue of homosexuality vis-a-vis values and ethics extends beyond gay rights. The jacket copy claims "this book will be especially useful to all readers striving to analyze the values and ethics that remain important to understanding our neighbors and our society." Given the aforementioned problems, especially the unfulfilled promise of placing issues and individuals in a U.S. context, and that better treatments of the entries included can be found in other sources, this work is not recommended. The Encyclopedia of Ethics (Garland, 1992); Ethics (Salem, 1994), from the Ready Reference series; and A Companion to Ethics (Blackwell, 1991) all include discussion of differing views on ethical issues (e.g., euthanasia, suicide), major thinkers (Plato, Chuang Tzu), and approaches to or schools of ethical thought (feminist, Jewish). Libraries will be better served by these three titles.

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Joseph Hester

Joseph P. Hester, Ph.D., has published widely in the fields of values, ethics, and critical thinking. He is administrator of gifted programs for the Catawba County School System in North Carolina.