Books page

Dr Brian Baxter's book Ecologism: an Introduction' (reviewed in Contact February 2000) has been nominated for two awards: the Lynton Keith Caldwell award for science, technology and environmental politics and the best book award for Ecological and Transformational Politics.

The book was also selected by the Association of American University Presses for presentation to the American Library Association's Summer 2001 Conference under the rubric - the best of the best from the university presses: books you should know about.

Protecting Intimidated Witnesses by Nicholas Fyfe

Ashgate: ISBN 07546 1335 6

Fyfe's definitive guide to protecting witnesses provides the first ever in-depth critical analysis of a witness protection programme. Nick Fyfe was allowed unprecedented access to officers and witnesses involved in a programme in Strathclyde. The study, funded by the Scottish Executive suggests ways in which witness protection arrangements can be improved to meet the concerns of those working in the criminal justice system and witnesses themselves. See report on the Bulger case.

Protecting Children: Promoting their Rights, edited by Norma Baldwin.

Whiting & Birch Ltd: ISBN 1 86177 013 8

This book aims to encourage a wider confidence amongst social worker practitioners about the possibilities of effective work in childcare and protection, by sharing reflections on theory and accounts of practice and action research. The first part concentrates on theoretical perspectives, issues and debates current in child care and protection. It maintains the child as the central focus, while acknowledging competing and conflicting perspectives. Accounts of direct work range from the development of user-focused assessment tools, through assessment and interventions with individuals and families, and groupwork with mother and with boys, to action research and community development in family and neighbourhood support. The book is firmly located in the debates on social inclusion, making connections between the everyday life of vulnerable children and families and wider social processes.

Single-Case and small-n experimental designs by John Todman and Pat Dugard.

LEA: ISBN 0 8058 3554 7

This book is a practical guide to help researchers draw valid causal inferences from small-scale clinical intervention studies.

Inferential statistics used in the analysis of group data are frequently invalid for use with data from single-case experimental designs. Even nonparametric rank tests provide, at best, approximate solutions for only some single-case and small-n designs. Randomisation - exact- tests, on the other hand, can provide valid statistical analyses for all designs that incorporate a random procedure for assigning treatments to subjects or observation periods, including single-case designs. These randomisation tests require large numbers of data rearrangements and have been little used, partly because desktop computers have only recently become powerful enough to complete the analyses in a reasonable time. Now that the necessary computational power is available, they continue to be under-used because they receive scant attention in standard statistical texts for behavioural researchers and because available programmes for running the analyses are relatively inaccessible to researchers with limited statistical or computing interests.

Riverrun is published by dundeewriters' group

Riverrun is a new magazine for original writing from the Dundee area. Following the success of the Dundee Book Prize in 1999, which stimulated the writing of 82 novels, this magazine provides an outlet for new short stories and poems. Dundee poets have been winning accolades since the early 1990s. In the South Bank Show's list of top twenty British Poets in 1994, no less than four were from Dundee. Riverrun hopes to embrace all kinds of writing and writers and nourish the local literary scene. All contributions are welcome. This first issue contains new work submitted by some of the founder members of dundeewriters' group. Future issues will cast the net wider to include a broader range of voices and themes. Riverrun is available in all Dundee bookshops and in the University bookshop priced £2.50. dundeewriters can be contacted at dundeewriters@eccosse.net

Bought and Sold for English Gold? Explaining the Union of 1707 by Chris Whatley

Tuckwell Press: ISBN I 86232 140X

When the first edition of Professor Whatley's Bought and Sold for English Gold? Explaining the Union of 1707 appeared in 1994 it was commended by reviewers for its balanced and rational approach to one of the most contentious issues in Scottish history; why Scotland surrendered its independence in 1707. One of the most widely used books on the subject, it is now out of print. There were nationalist critics however who attacked the short book in the press and elsewhere, alleging that it had "more to do with propaganda than scholarship". In this new edition of what is clearly a controversial book Professor Whatley not only tackles his critics head-on but he also develops his earlier arguments in what is a longer - and now illustrated - publication.

Women and Homelessness in Europe : pathways, services and experiences by Bill Edgar and Joe Doherty.

The Policy Press: ISBN 1 86134 351 5

Women have been neglected and marginalised in much contemporary European housing policy and practice. This book examines the gender specific factors leading to homelessness and the ability of women to access appropriate services for re-housing and social integration. Drawing on research conducted under the auspices of the European Observatory on Homelessness, this book provides for the first time a picture of the nature and causes of homelessness among women across the fifteen EU member countries.

The book provides an explanation for the hidden nature of homelessness among women and, in examining the scale and nature of female homelessness, shows that women represent an increasing proportion of users of services for homeless people. Evidence is provided of an observable change in the composition of the female homeless population as reflected in increases in younger women and in women from ethnic minority backgrounds. The genesis of service development in Europe is traced, demonstrating the lack of an holistic approach to the needs of women who may be vulnerable in the housing market.

Joe Doherty and Bill Edgar direct the Joint Centre for Scottish Housing Research, St. Andrews and Dundee, and are the research co-ordinators for the EU funded European Observatory on Homelessness.

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