A young African-American visits his white girlfriend's parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.

本书的主要目的是探讨晚清以来的中国人如何从“常态”变成“病态”，又如何在近代被当作“病人”来加以观察、改造和治疗的漫长历史。“东亚病夫”的称谓既是中国人被欺凌的隐喻，也是自身产生民族主义式社会变革的动力，在这个意义上，“治病”已不仅仅是一种单纯的医疗过程，而是变成了政治和社会制度变革聚焦的对象，个体的治病行为也由此变成了群体政治运动的一个组成部分。 作者以新颖独特的叙事手法，通过数十幅相互衔接的场景，形象地再现了中国社会变迁波澜壮阔的另一个历史侧面。在这些场景中活动的人物既有西医传教士、助产士和社会改革者，亦活跃着坐堂中医、顶香看病人和走方行医者，还有各类政治家和赤脚医生的身影。本书力求在一种“情境化写作”的状态中充分展示近现代政治演变与传统医疗因素之间复杂的互动博弈关系。

"Comprehensive, and covers the main ideologies in an interesting way . . . takes a critical and engaging perspective . . . framed in the context of debates around the meaning and purpose of theoretical enquiry . . . a more rewarding read than its competitors." --Madeleine Davis, Department of Politics, Queen Mary, University of London. "This book is pitched at a good level for bright and interested undergraduates . . . the combination of ideologies and concepts in one book is a major selling point." --Professor Paul Taggart, Professor of Politics, University of Sussex "Pulls off the enviable coup of being scholarly and yet not scary as well as providing genuinely fresh insights for the more familiar reader." --Dr Peter Handley, School of Political, Social, and International Studies, University of East Anglia "An outstandingly useful text . . . I look forward to a fifth edition being made available" --Mark Donovan, Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Cardiff Using Political Ideas is a unique blend of political philosophy, political theory and history of political thought. It combines a critique of the major ideologies of recent and contemporary society with an analysis of the ideas that form the very stuff of political debate. By exposing the interplay between ideas and ideologies, it shows why political opponents often speak at cross-purposes and why rational agreement is so hard to achieve in politics. The fifth edition of this well respected and widely known text will be welcomed by all those interested in questions such as: * Is equality more important than personal freedom? * Does the majority have the right to dictate to the minority in multicultural society? * Is nationalism a progressive force in the world? With a new chapter on the political ideologies of the twenty-first century, and greater emphasis on contemporary issues such as multiculturalism, citizenship and identity throughout the book, this new edition is the ideal starting point for students and anyone else who needs an introduction to political thought.