Introduction

Abstract

Afew years back when the world moved into the new millennium, there seemed little to fear or to look forward to in North America. Although various countries around the globe were involved in military skirmishes of one sort or another, no major world crisis loomed, and North Americans generally were a bit numbed by their disillusionment with the treadmill-like progress of their existence.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never is, but always to be blessed.

—Alexander Pope, “Essay on Man” (1963:508).