This work covers hotly contested social issues in America today-everything from abortion, academic freedom, and affirmative action to consumer debt, homeland security, illegal immigration, poverty and wealth, reproductive rights, and terrorism. Each entry discusses the historical origins of a particular debate or controversy; the means for dealing with it in the past; current perspectives and arguments; and the implications for society in the near- and long-term future.

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Abortion and Reproductive Issues -- Academic Freedom -- Adoption -- Advertising, Children's -- Affirmative Action -- Ageism -- AIDS/HIV -- Air Pollution -- Air Travel: Safety, Security, and Service -- Alcohol and Alcoholism -- Animal Rights -- Anti-Muslim Discrimination and Violence -- Anti-Semitism -- Arson -- Arts Funding and Censorship -- At-Risk Students: Higher Education -- Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder -- Autism -- Automobile and Highway Safety -- Bilingualism -- Birth Control -- Campaign Finance Reform -- Cancer -- Capital Punishment -- Census Issues -- Cheating, Academic -- Child Abuse and Molestation -- Child Labor -- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome -- Church-State Separation -- Civil Liberties -- Civil Rights -- Coastal Pollution and Wetlands Protection -- College Sports -- Computer Crime and Hacking -- Consumer Debt and Bankruptcy -- Corporal Punishment -- Corporate Crime -- Corporate Downsizing -- Crime -- Criminal Rights -- Cults and Alternative Religions -- Defense Spending and Preparedness -- Deforestation and Logging -- Disability Rights -- Divorce and Child Custody -- Domestic Surveillance -- Domestic Violence -- Drought and Aquifer Depletion -- DRUG ABUSE -- Drugs, War On -- Eating Disorders -- Energy Dependency -- Environmental Justice -- Environmentally Induced Illnesses -- Euthanasia -- Evolution Education -- Extinction and Species Loss: Biota Invasion and Habitat Destruction -- Farm Issues -- Foods and Drug Safety -- Foster Care -- Gambling -- Gangs -- Gay and Lesbian Rights -- Genetic Engineering -- Gentrification -- Global Warming -- Gulf War Syndrome and Other Veterans' Illnesses -- Gun Violence and Gun Control -- Hate Crimes -- Hate Radio and Internet -- Hate Speech -- Health Care Reform -- Heart Disease and Cardiology -- Homelessness -- Housing, Affordable -- Human Experimentation -- Identity Theft -- Immigration Policy and Law -- Immigration, Illegal -- Indoor Air Pollution -- Infectious Disease and Epidemics -- Infrastructure Deterioration -- Intellectual Property Rights -- Journalistic Ethics -- Judicial Reform -- Juvenile Justice -- Legal Services for the Poor -- Literacy -- Mandatory Sentencing -- Marijuana -- Mass Transit -- Media Bias -- Media Consolidation -- Media Sex and Violence -- Medical Malpractice Reform -- Medicare and Medicaid Reform -- Medicine, Complementary and Alternative -- Mental Illness -- Migrant Workers -- Militia Movement -- Minimum and Living Wages -- Money Laundering -- Native Americans and Government Policy -- Natural Disasters and Disaster Relief -- Needle Exchange Programs -- Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) Issues -- Nuclear Power and Waste -- Nuclear Weapons -- Obesity -- Occupational Safety and Health -- Organ and Tissue Transplants -- Organic Foods -- Organized Crime -- Plagiarism, Literary and Artistic -- Police Abuse and Corruption -- Pornography -- Poverty and Wealth -- Prison Reform and Prisoner Rights -- Privacy -- Prostitution -- Public Opinion Polling -- Racial Profiling -- Rape -- Recycling and Conservation -- Redlining, Loan Discrimination, and Predatory Lending -- Rioting -- School Standards and Testing -- School Violence -- School Vouchers and Privatization -- Scientific Research Ethics -- Secrecy, Government -- Sex Education -- Sexual Harassment -- Single Parenting and Out-of-Wedlock Births -- Social Security Reform -- Space Exploration -- Special Education -- Stem Cell Research -- Stress -- Students' Rights -- Suicide -- Superstores vs. Main Street -- Sweatshops -- Taxes and Tax Reform -- Term Limits -- Terrorism, Domestic -- Terrorism, Foreign -- Terrorism, War on -- Tobacco -- Tort Reform -- Torture -- Toxic Waste -- Traffic Congestion -- Unemployment -- Unions -- Urban Sprawl -- Veterans' Care and Benefits -- Voluntarism and Volunteering -- Voting Issues -- Waste Disposal -- Water Pollution -- Weapons of Mass Destruction -- Welfare and Welfare Reform -- Wilderness Protection -- Women's Rights -- Xenophobia and Nativism.