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Historical processes are the result of the behavior of countless individual actors. In this book, therefore, the authors compare the demography of the Taiwanese town Lugang and the Dutch town Nijmegen using data on the lifes of thousands of their inhabitants. The period covered is approximately 1850 to 1945. First, the standard demographic rates on nuptiality, fertility and mortality are calculated to test the Malthusian predictions on a so called 'positive' and a 'preventive' demographic regime. Next, the authors try to disentangle the individual rationality behind aggregated measures in order to find out how the inhabitants of the two towns used the one life they had. Unaware of each others existence, the people living in Nijmegen and Lu-kang had more in common than one would expect given the huge cultural differences.

With communication playing an increasingly important role in contemporary society, rhetoric appears to have gained in influence and importance. The ancients knew all along: power belongs to those who know how to use their words. Nowadays, we know that rhetoric pervades all discourse. There is no communication without rhetoric. In a society with ever-increasing amounts of information, and with media whose significance cannot be overestimated, we need to know all the mechanisms playing a role in the gathering, making and reporting of information and opinions, and its processing by an audience. Rhetoric is, from both a practical and a theoretical perspective, essential to the conduct, analysis and evaluation of public debates. After all, the idea of democracy is closely intertwined with the ideal of transparent decision-making on the basis of open, informed discussions in the public domain, in political, organizational and journalistic discourse. Bending Opinion cites a host of relevant examples, from Barack Obama to Geert Wilders, as well as compelling case studies.

It is often said that children have always been working. With the onset of the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century, however, children became to be exploited under miserable circumstances in factories. That was the beginning of the movement against child labour. A worldwide awareness campaign has brought international organizations and governments to the position that child labour should urgently be replaced by child education. The objectives seem simple and laudable but the issues involved are very complex. What actually is child labour, and what is childhood? How many child labourers are there in the world? Is child labour restricted to developing countries or is it frequently used in order to stigmatize the non-Western world? Is regulation of labour conditions the solution or should governments and civil society one opt for a radical ban? Is there a role for corporate social responsibility? These questions have been addressed in the professorial address on Child Labour Studies. It is argued that much more research is needed and that particular care should be taken to learn from children on how they view the world and what they think of work, labour and education.

Intro -- Bending Opinion -- Contents -- Introduction -- part I Fundamentals of Rhetoric -- 1 Deliberation, Free Speech and the Marketplace of Ideas -- 2 Rhetoric, Classicism and Democracy: The Conveyance of Moral and Political Values in Late Antique Rhetorical Education -- 3 Melody and Rhythm in Ancient Political Discourse On How Emotions Induce Persuasion -- 4 Generalizing Stasis Theory for Everyday Use -- 5 Rhetoric and Argumentation -- part ii The Rhetoricof Verbal Presentation -- 6 Generalizing about the Persuasive Effects of Message Variations: The Case of Gain-Framed and Loss-Framed Appeals -- 7 The Contribution of Praeteritio to Arguers' Strategic Maneuvering in the Argumentation Stage of a Discussion -- 8 Limits and Effects of Reductio ad Absurdum Argumentation -- 9 Professionalizing Speech Production Changes in 15 Years of Ministerial Speeches -- 10 The Correlation between Style and Argument in Newspaper Columns -- part iii Rhetoric and the Media -- 11 If This Goes On …: The Rhetorical Construction of Future Problems -- 12 Exploring Everyday Ethos: Ethos Techniques in Online Discussions about Extraordinary Experiences -- 13 The Popular Virgin and the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: A Case Study of the Imaging of Victims and Offenders -- 14 "Conceptual and Fanciful" or "A Depiction of Reality": Exploiting Visual Modality to Claim EnvironmentalEthos in UK Advertizements for Automotive and Energy Companies (2007-2008) -- part iv Rhetoric and Politics -- 15 Rhetoric and the (Re)Constitution of Collective Identity: The Example of Poland -- 16 Symbolic Power: Political Rhetoric in a State of Exception -- 17 Do New Parties Bring Personalization, a Narrow Issue Agenda and Populist Rhetoric? Evidence from Dutch Election Campaign Coverage from 1998 to 2006 -- 18 Parliamentary Debate and Political Culture: The Dutch Case -- part v The Rhetoric of Topoi.

Lard, Lice and Longevity reconstructs economic policies implemented in Denmark and the Netherlands during the German occupation. It clearly shows that the experiences of both these countries during World War I, and during the 1930s equipped them to introduce extensive and intrusive economic controls to ward off a subsistence crisis. In spite of the strong similarities between the two countries in terms of policies and economic order, there remains a glaring difference between the two. Throughout the occupation years, the Netherlands suffered a markedly higher level of child mortality than before or after the war, caused by an upsurge of infectious diseases. Child health in Denmark, on the other hand, declined during the occupation years, and infectious diseases rose only marginally there. In spite of similar policies, hence, the outcome in terms of the biological standard of living was dissimilar. By closely investigating the impact of various policies on everyday life, and the amounts of goods available to different groups of consumers, this study identifies the causes of this remarkable divergence.