Alan Spector

Have you or a loved one, whether family member or friend, been diagnosed with cancer? Then you know it's a life-changing event. There is so much to learn; there are so many decisions to be made; there are so many new and often persistent emotions. Cancer: Balancing Reality and Hope will help you acknowledge and act on the reality of your diagnosis, the reality of the effects of your treatment, and the reality of your emotions. It will help you build hope by learning all you can, leaning into your future, and embracing your inherent human spirit. It will help you balance reality and hope, guiding you through building your support team and developing meaningful and practical paths forward, both for the part of your life that involves cancer and, importantly, the part that does not. Alan Spector's combination of life experiences enables him to bring a unique perspective to Cancer: Balancing Reality and Hope. He is a nine-year leukemia survivor. He is a strategic planning consultant for large cancer organizations across the country, giving him broad access to researchers, medical professionals, and others throughout the cancer community, many who share their insights in the book. Prior to his diagnosis, he cofounded LifeScape Solutions, a life-planning consultancy. Through that work, he has been studying and writing, speaking, and coaching others about life planning for nearly two decades. And this is his seventh book. Whether you or a loved one has been diagnosed, Cancer: Balancing Reality and Hope helps you think about what to think about and provides a practical and hopeful approach to moving forward.

Crisis and Change Today provides a solid introduction to Marxist social theory. The work's unique voice is expressed in its Socratic-dialogic approach, structured around forty questions that students have about society and social change. Topics range from theories of history, economics, unemployment, racial oppression, the state, fascism, the collapse of the Soviet bloc, and points of convergence and difference between the dialectical approach and other approaches to social science. The content and tone of the work invites students to evaluate various traditional and current explanations of social institutions and social processes and encourages them to weigh the debates and investigate further. The first edition was very well received (Distinguished Scholarship Award of the Section on Marxist Sociology of the ASA), and the second edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to be relevant for students today. Though the first edition was written during the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the growing gap between the rich and the poor and the economic crisis have generated more interest in using Marxist analysis both as a tool to analyze and understand capitalism and the weaknesses of past Marxist praxis.