The Alms Trade: Charities Past, Present and Future

(In Tudor times, paupers who complained about their treatm...)

In Tudor times, paupers who complained about their treatment would be whipped. In modern times, charities that campaign too vigorously on behalf of their beneficiaries are accused of "political activity," and risk their legal status and government funding being withdrawn. The Alms Trade looks at how the concept of charity turned full circle under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's campaign to bring back Victorian values. Just as how, in the 19th century, the government broke its own laws, stealing from the poor to endow public schools for the rich, modern judges have ruled that private hospitals, because they do not explicitly exclude the poor, are entitled to charitable status. Ian Williams identifies the legal concept of "bounty versus bargain" as representing the two conflicting approaches that underlie both the development of charity law and the welfare services, and the relationship between citizen and state. He also discusses how the archaic privileges of the state church were extended to all other religions and cults, with effect ranging from the comic to the disastrous, and how religious intolerance was converted by judges into the doctrine that charities may not engage in political activities. A lively, well-written examination of a neglected area of public interest, this is a work that, in the present political climate, is of critical importance. Liverpool born and educated, IAN WILLIAMS is a freelance writer specializing in activist journalism. Twice president and twice vice president of the United Nations Correspondents Association, he is a regular contributor to The Nation, China Economic Review, Middle East International, Salon, Open Democracy, AlterNet, and other publications. His books include Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776 and Deserter: Bush's War on Military Families, Veterans and His Past. He lives in New York.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0044404352/?tag=2022091-20

Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776 by Williams, Ian (2005) Hardcover

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZY8QOEO/?tag=2022091-20

United Nations for Beginners

(Thoroughly exploring the role of the U.N. in world events...)

Thoroughly exploring the role of the U.N. in world events and the true dimensions of its power, Williams clearly explains the General Assembly and Security Council and examines the leadership of secretary generals. He discusses the World Bank and UNESCO and traces the U.N.'s mediation attempts in long-standing conflicts such as that between the Arabs and the Israelis. Illustrations.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0863161855/?tag=2022091-20

Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776

( Ian Williams describes in captivating detail how Rum an...)

Ian Williams describes in captivating detail how Rum and the molasses that it was made from was to the 18th century what oil is today. Rum was used by the colonists to clear Native American tribes and to buy slaves. To make it, they regularly traded with the enemy French during the Seven Years' War, angering their British masters and setting themselves on the road to Revolution. The regular flow of rum was essential to keeping both armies in the field since soldiers relied on rum to keep up their fighting spirits. Even though the Puritans themselves were fond of rum in quantities that would appall modern day doctors, temperance and Prohibition have obscured the historical role of the "Global Spirit with its warm heart in the Caribbean." Ian Williams' book triumphantly restores rum's rightful place in history, taking us across space and time, from its origins in the plantations of Barbados through Puritan and Revolutionary New England, to voodoo rites in modern Haiti, where to mix rum with Coke risks invoking the wrath of the god, and across the Florida straits where Fidel and the Bacardi family are still fighting over the rights for the ingredients of Cuba Libre.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1560258918/?tag=2022091-20