For fifty years, Medicare and Medicaid have stood at the center of a contentious debate surrounding American government, citizenship, and health care entitlement. In Medicare and Medicaid at 50, leading scholars in politics, government, economics, health policy, and history offer a comprehensive assessment of the evolution of these programs and their impact on society -- from their origins in the Great Society era to the current battles over the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare").

These highly accessible essays examine Medicare and Medicaid from their origins as programs for the elderly and poor to their later role as a safety net for the middle class. Along the way, they have served as touchstones for heated debates about economics, social welfare, and the role of government.

Medicare and Medicaid at 50 addresses key questions for understanding the past and future of health policy in America, including:

· What were the origins for these initiatives, and how were they transformed over time?
· What marks have Medicare and Medicaid left on society?
· In what ways have these programs produced innovation, even in eras of retrenchment?
· How did Medicaid, once regarded as a poor person's program, expand its benefits and coverage over the decades to become the platform for the ACA's future expansion?

The volume's contributors go on to examine the powerful role of courts in these transformations, along with the shifting roles of Congress, public opinion, and state governors in the programs' ongoing evolution.

From Lyndon Johnson to Barack Obama on the left, and from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush on the right, American political leaders have tied their political fortunes to the fate of America's entitlement programs; Medicare and Medicaid at 50 helps explain why, and how those ongoing debates are likely to shape the future of the Affordable Care Act.

Barely 25 upon his appointment to the Department of the Interior in 1933, Cohen quickly began helping to draft the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and chaired a committee charged with assisting tribes in organizing their governments in the Indian New Deal. He produced his "Basic Memorandum on Drafting of Tribal Constitutions," a practical guide, late in 1934; it promoted self-rule and urged the tribes to preserve ancient traditions that gave wisdom to those drafting constitutions for Indian nations. Cohen's memorandum sank into obscurity until his papers were released in the 1980s and editor Wilkins (American Indian Studies, U. of Minnesota) provides historical and social contexts along with able annotations for this significant but long neglected document. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

This is a major revision of a classic, best selling reference book. Originally published by the American Institute of Physics under the title "Physics Vade Mecum" in 1981, and then the second edition in 1989 with the new title "A Physicist's Desk Reference", this third edition has been completely updated and modernized to reflect current modern physics. The book is a concise compilation of the most frequently used physics data and formulae with their derivations. This revision has six more chapters than the second edition, outdated chapters dropped, and new chapters added on atmospheric physics, electricity and magnetism, elementary particle physics, fluid dynamics, geophysics, nonlinear physics, particle accelerators, polymer physics, and quantum theory. There is a new last chapter on practical laboratory data. The references and bibliographies have been updated.This book is an indispensable tool for the researcher, professional and student in physics as well as other scientists who use physics data. The editors of this volume are Richard Cohen, author of the first two chapters of PDR and the "Physics Quick Reference Guide"; David Lide, one of the editors of the previous two editions and the editor of the "CRC Handbook of Physics and Chemistry"; and George Trigg, editor of the "Encyclopedia of Physics" and the "Encyclopedia of Applied Physics" (VCH). The market for this classic reference book includes the practicing scientist, including engineers, chemists, and biologists; and students.