As we wrap up the year, here's a list of 2009's top-visited posts. The diversity of the list provides a good representation of the topics we cover here. Thanks for reading, and see you in 2010! Jay Wexler: Ginsburg Grants a Stay Carole Joffe: The Legacy of George Tiller Alan Michael Collinge: The Economic Downturn…

The French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss died last week, a few weeks shy of his 101st birthday. Levi-Strauss was considered "the father of modern anthropology." Beacon Press published English-language translations of two of his books: The Elementary Structures of Kinship (from Les Structures elementaires de la parente, translated by James Harle Bell, John Richard von Sturmer, and Rodney Needham) and Totemism (from Le…

Today is World Food Day, and Mark Winne looks at the growing problem of food insecurity, and the failures of community-based food programs to fix the problem: Not only do they not end hunger, they operate in illogical defiance of the principles of American individualism and self-reliance. As if asking the victims of our failed…

If you love indie presses, follow a bunch of them on Twitter. This TweepML list will let you subscribe to a number of feeds at once.  Chuck Collins looks at the estate tax (which will disappear for one year in 2010) and why Congress should ensure its return after Bush's estate tax phase out expires. Ten…

Varda Polak-Sahm discusses the Mikveh, a Jewish rite of purification, at the Washington Post's OnFaith blog. The comments have been pretty lively. While you're there, read Eboo Patel's powerful reflections on faith since 9/11. The Kansas City Star calls The Khaarijee "heartbreakingly vivid."  The authors of Hollowing Out the Middle look at rural brain drain…

A look at items of interest and recent Beacon press.

A look at some items of interest and Beacon media mentions.

Links of interest and Beacon books in the media.

A roundup of Beacon in the media and other items of interest.

Recent and noteworthy Beacon Press media mentions.