All the celebrity college dropouts are reported at the Web site of the College Dropouts Alumni Association, accessed August 2006, at http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/7734/cdoaa.html; and/or http://www.answers.com/topic/college-dropout.

  Trend data in college enrollment come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “College Enrollment and Work Activity of 2005 High School Graduates,” released March 24, 2006, accessed July 2006, at http://www.bls.gov.news/release/hsgec.nr0.htm; and the National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2005, accessed July 2006, at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d05/tables/dt05 182.asp.

  College graduation data come from Laura Horn and Rachael Berger, “College Persistence on the Rise?,” NCES 2005-156, U.S. Department of Education, cited in “Convergence: Trends Threatening to Narrow College Oppostunity in America,” a project of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, April 2006 (hereafter “Convergence”), Figure 6, p. 11.

  The New York Times article is David Leonhardt, “The College Dropout Boom,” New York Times, May 24, 2005.

  The rising number of college students failing to graduate was calculated by multiplying the rising college enrollment rates, reported by NCES at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2006/section1/table.asp?tableID=443, by the steady nongraduation rate (34 percent), reported at Horn and Berger above.

  Data on the costs of not graduating come from “Convergence,” pp. i, 2.

  The study on student debt was authored by Lawrence Gladieux and Laura Perna, “Borrowers Who Drop Out: A Neglected Aspect of the College Student Loan Trend,” the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, May 2005. The cited New York Post article is Daphne Landau, “College Dropouts Costing the State $300 Million,” New York Post, April 20, 2004.

  Projections regarding undergraduate students come from “Convergence,” p. 11–14.

  Data on attitudes of college dropouts come from a PSB poll conducted October 5–6, 2006.

  Numbers Junkies

  Former Harvard president Larry Summers’s speech was quoted in Peter Dizikes, “Civic Science,” Boston Globe, April 30, 2006.

  The Harvard and Yale data come from Handbook for Students, accessed at http://webdocs.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/ugrad handbook/current/ugrad handbook.pdf; and Yale College Undergraduate Junior and Senior Majors, 1989–99 to 2005–06.

  STEM data come from the statement of Cornelia M. Ashby, director, education, workforce, and income security issues, on “Higher Education: Science, Technology, and Mathematics Trends and the Role of Federal Programs,” published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, May 3, 2006.

  Key articles in the development of this chapter, from which some of the anecdotes are drawn, include Speed Weed, “POPSCI Goes to Hollywood,” Popular Science, January 2007; and Jackie Burrell, “Number Mania TV Shows Go on Integer Alert,” Contra Costa Times (CA), May 31, 2006.

  The very wealthy math major is James Simons, former math major and math professor, and as of 2007 the head of his own hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies Corporation.

  XV. International

  Mini-Churched

  The New Yorker cover was Saul Steinberg’s A View of New York from 9th Avenue, and originally appeared on March 29, 1976.

  The data on churchgoing in France and Germany come from Robert Manchin, “Religion in Europe: Trust Not Filling the Pews,” the Gallup Poll for European Commission’s Eurobarometer survey, September 21, 2004.

  The first Peter Berger reference can be found in an article that was extremely helpful to this entire piece: Toby Lester, “Oh, Gods!,” Atlantic Monthly, February 2002. The second comes from an excerpt from the Pew Forum’s biennial Faith Angle Conference on Religion, Politics, and Public Life, “Religion in a Globalizing World,” December 4, 2006, accessible at http://pewresearch.org/pubs/404/religion-in-a-globalizing-world.

  David Barrett, George Kurian, and Todd Johnson, World Christian Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2001), 2 vols. All references to it, including the descriptions of some of the religions, come from “Oh, Gods!,” cited above.

  Background on who joins NRMs comes largely from Vatican Sectarian for Promoting Christian Unity, “Sects or New Religious Movements: A Pastoral Challenge,” Vatican, May 3, 1986, accessible at http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc view.cfm?recnum=1313.

  For more on militant Islam as an example of rapid change, and the role of NRMs in law enforcement, see “Oh, Gods!,” cited above.

  International Home-Buyers

  The Florida Realtor survey is National Association of Realtors, “The 2005 National Association of Realtors Profile of International Home Buyers in Florida,” accessible at http://www.realtor.org/Research.nsf/files/2005%20Profile%20of%of20International%20Buyers,pdf/$FILE/2005%20Profile%20of%20International%20Buyers.pdf. This is also the source of the median home price figures and the buyer motivation data later in the chapter.

  Helpful articles for data beyond Florida included Dick Hogan, “Euro, Low Airfares Boost Investments,” News-Press, March 20, 2005; Ron Scherer, “House Not Home: Foreigners Buy Up American Real Estate,” Christian Science Monitor, July 15, 2005; and June Fletcher, “As US Buyer Pool Shrinks, US Sellers Look Abroad,” Wall Street Journal, accessed April 2007, at http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/markettrends/20050407-fletcher.html.

  Comparative currency data were reported in “Euro, Low Airfares Boost Investments,” cited above.

  For more on multi-currency mortgages, see Kelly Griffith, “Foreign Banks Can Choose Mortgages in Their Currencies, Orlando Sentinel, June 7, 2006.

  The Middle Eastern and Latin American preferences for home design were suggested in Judy Stark, “Home Away from Home,” St. Petersburg Times, February 19, 1994.

  For more on the California bill, see “Stirring It Up: Doolittle Wants Loan Barriers for Foreigners,” Sacramento Bee, March 6, 2007 (editorial).

  Regarding the surveys on isolationism, see Andrew Kohut, “Tracking American Isolationism: Speak Softly and Carry a Smaller Stick,” New York Times, March 25, 2006; and “America’s Place in the World 2005: Opinion Leaders Turn Cautious, Public Looks Homeward,” the Pew Research Center and the Council on Foreign Relations, released November 17, 2005.

  LAT Couples (U.K.)

  The data on British LATers come from a news release from National Statistics, “First Estimates of the Number of People ‘Living Apart Together’ in Britain, Population Trends 122—Winter 2005,” accessed December 2006, at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/poptrends1205.pdf.

  British marriage rate statistics come from Office for National Statistics FM2, Table 2.2, accessed December 2006, at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme population/Table 2a Marriage rates.xls.

  Articles useful to this trend included Katy Guest, “The Love Issue,” Independent on Sunday (London), February 12, 2006; Celia Brayfield, “One Heart, Two Homes,” The Times (London), September 21, 2004; and Jasper Gerard, “Semi-Attached Couple,” The Sunday Times (London) February 23, 1992.

  Data on North American LATers come from Anne Milan and Alice Peters, “Couples Living Apart,” Canadian Social Trends, Summer 2003, Statistics Canada, Catalogue No. 11-008.

  The National Association of Home Builders Survey was cited in Tracie Rozhon, “To Have, Hold, and Cherish, Until Bedtime,” New York Times, March 11, 2007.

  Mammonis (Italy)

  Data on Italian men living at home were taken largely from Marco Manacorda and Enrico Moretti, “Why Do Most Italian Young Men Live with Their Parents? Intergenerational Transfers and Household Structure,” Centre for Economic Policy Research, June 2005, , accessed November 2006.

  Other helpful articles included “Italian Parents Under Accusation,” La Repubblica, February 3, 2006 (thanks to Enzo Caiazzo, CEO of Alenia, Inc., and Kristin Uzun, for help in translation); Gary Picariello, “In Italy—Living at Home Well into Your 30s Is Perfectly Normal,” Associated Content, 2006; Donald MacLeod, “Italian Mammas Making Offers Their Sons Can’t Refuse,” Guardian Unlimited, February 3, 2006; and Deidre Van Dyke, “Parlez-Vous Twixter,” Time, January 16, 2004.

  Birth rate data come from “The World Factbook, Rank Order—Total Fertility Rate,” March 15, 2007, , accessed March 2007.

  Eurostars

  All data on total fertility rates come from United Nations Statistics Division, Social Indicators, Indicators on Child-Bearing, accessed January 2007, at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/socind/childbr.htm.

  Useful articles for this chapter included Elisabeth Rosenthal, “European Union’s Plunging Birthrates Spread Eastward,” New York Times, September 4, 2006; Jeffrey Fleishman, “No Dearth of Births in This Town,” Los Angeles Times, September 14, 2006; and Frank Bruni, “Persistent Drop in Fertility Reshapes Europe’s Future,” New York Times, December 26, 2002.

  British marriage statistics, and all the British childbearing data cited below, come from Mike Dixon and Julia Margo, “Population Politics,” Institute of Public Policy Research, February 19, 2006, pp. 80–85, accessed September 2006, at http://www.ippr.org.uk/publicationsandreports/publication.asp?id=341.

  The figure on childbearing by educated German women comes from Lionel Shriver, “No Kids Please, We’re Selfish,” The Guardian (London), September 17, 2005.

  The U.S. fertility rate analysis by 2004 red and blue states comes from Phillip Longman, “The Liberal Baby Bust,” USA Today, March 13, 2006.

  The generation gap analysis was cited in “Half a Billion Americans?,” The Economist, August 22, 2002.

  Data on the growth on Only Children come from “Female Population by Age and Total Number of Children Born Alive and Urban/Rural Residence, Each Census: 1948–1997,” United Nations Demographic Yearbook, Historical Supplement, accessed January 2007, at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconcerns/natality/nat2.htm.

  Helpful birth order articles included Kate Lorenz, “Oldest, Middle, Youngest: Who’s More Successful?,” accessed January 2007, at http://www.careerbuilder.ca/CA/JobSeeker/CarrerAdvice/ViewArticle.aspx?articleid=126&cbRecursionCnt=2&cbsid=41106e22d7764f2d82054e70adfd763c-231267953-JJ-5; and “Birth Order,” Child Development Institute, accessed October 2006, at http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/development/birthorder.htm.

  Vietnamese Entrepreneurs

  Useful articles on this trend, from which some data are cited, include Keith Bradsher, “Vietnam’s Roaring Economy Is Set for World Stage,” New York Times, October 25, 2006; “The Middle Class Has Landed,” Vietnam Investment Review, 2006, accessed at http://www.vir.com.vn/Client/VIR/index.asp?url-content.asp&doc=11907; “Good Morning at Last,” The Economist, August 5, 2006; and “The Good Pupil: Vietnam’s Economy,” The Economist, May 8, 2004.

  The Gallup data on optimism come from Gallup International Voice of the People Survey, press release, December 18, 2006.

  French Teetotalers

  International alcohol consumption data come from the Global Status Report on Alcohol 2004, World Health Organization, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse (Geneva, 2004). French data in particular are accessible at http://www.who.int/substanceabuse/publications/en/france.pdf.

  Other data on the decrease in French wine consumption come from “Lawmakers Say French Youth Needs to Learn More About Wine Appreciation, Associated Press, December 6, 2006.

  Information on French eating habits comes from “French Eating Habits,” at www.EnjoyFrance.com, September 6, 2005, accessed April 2007.

  Discussion of French and U.S. experience with crackdowns on drunk-driving was informed by Keith B. Richburg, “European Laws Place Emphasis on the Driving, Not the Drinking,” Washington Post, December 30, 2004.

  For more on classifying wine as a food, see Elaine Sciolino, “A Campaign to Drink Another Glass of Wine for France,” New York Times, July 23, 2004.

  The real book is Mireille Guiliano, French Women Don’t Get Fat, (Alfred A Knopf, 2005).

  The French smoking data come from Caroline Wyatt, “Bidding Goodbye to the Gauloises,” BBC News, February 1, 2007, accessed April 2007.

  The French wine industry’s troubles are well documented in Peter Gumbel, “Too Much of a Good Thing,” TIME, October 19, 2006.

  Chinese Picassos

  Key articles on Chinese art useful to this chapter included “Chinese Paintings Enjoy Increasing Popularity,” www.china.org, June 30, 2005, accessed February 2007, at http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/133552.htm: “China Industry: Chinese Contemporary Art Catches On in a Big Way, EIU Views Wire, August 29, 2005; David Barboza, “China’s Boom Industry?,” International Herald Tribune, January 5, 2007; Julie Mehta, “Contemporary Chinese Art Finds a Place in Art History,” Art Business News, November 1, 2003; Will Bennett, “China’s New Millionaires See Capital Gain in Art,” Financial Times (London), September 30, 2006; Will Bennett, “China Opens Up to Art Auctions,” The Telegraph (London), January 1, 2005; and “Appreciating Oils: China’s Art Market,” The Economist, April 9, 2005.

  The John Adams quotation is John Adams to Abigail Adams, [12 May 1780], Adams Family Correspondence, 3:342, accessed February 2007, at http://www.masshist.org/adams/quotes.cfm.

  The Dafen story is told in “Painting by Numbers: China’s Art Business,” The Economist, June 10, 2006.

  For more on Western museums’ expansion plans, see Alan Riding, “France Frets as Louvre Looks Overseas,” New York Times, January 1, 2007.

  Information on other countries’ growing GDPs comes from the International Monetary Fund, World Economic and Financial Surveys, World Economic Outlook Database, September 2006 edition, accessed March 2007, at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2006/02/data/index.aspx.

  Russian Swings

  The 1991 Pulse of Europe Survey, as well as all subsequent 2006 data on Russian views toward democracy, are reported at the Pew Global Attitudes Project, “Russia’s Weakened Democratic Embrace,” January 5, 2006, accessed February 2006, at http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=250.

  The Russian success story of the last decade is largely chronicled at Jason Bush, “Russia: How Long Can the Fun Last?,” BusinessWeek, December 18, 2006, accessed February 2006, at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/0651/b4014056.htm.

  Data on Russian safety and corruption come from Sergei Gradirovski and Neli Esipova, “Security in Russia: The Hoodlum Must Pay!”, Gallup News Service, January 4, 2007; and Sergei Gradirovski and Neli Esipova, “Corruption in Russia: Is Bribery Always Wrong?”, Gallup News Service, October 15, 2006.

  Useful articles on Russian political developments in 2006 and 2007 include “Richer, Bolder—and Sliding Back—Russia,” The Economist, July 15, 2006; Fred Hiatt, “Kasparov’s Gambit,” Washington Post, February 12, 2007; Steven Lee Myers, “Russians to Vote, but Some Parties Lose in Advance,” New York Times, February 15, 2007; and Thom Shanker and Mark Landler, “Putin Says U.S. Is Undermining Global Stability,” New York Times, February 11, 2007.

  The 2006 survey reporting Russian wariness of President Putin’s tactics is “The Putin Popularity Score: Increasingly Reviled in the West, Russia’s Leader Enjoys Broad Support at Home,” by Richard Morin, Pew Global Attitudes Project, and Nilanthi Samaranayake, Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, December 6, 2006.

  Indian Women Rising

  The Indian economic success story, combined with its challenges, is largely told at Haroon Siddiqui, “India: Misery and Magic,” Toronto Star, February 8, 2007.

  For more on Indian literacy, see O. P. Sharma, “2001 Census Results Mixed for India’s Women and Girls,” Population Today, May/June 2001; accessed March 2007, at http://www.prb.org/Articles/2001/2001CensusResultsMixedforIndiasWomenandGirls.aspx.

  The urban employment growth figures come from the NSS Report No. 520: “Employment and Unemployment Situations in Cities and Towns in India, 2004–2005,” National Sample Survey Organization, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India, March 2006. Helpful analysis can be found in C. P. Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh, “Women Workers in Urban India,” February 6, 2007, accessed March 2007, at. http://www.macroscan.org/fet/feb07/fet060207WomenWorkers.htm.

  For more on high abortion rates of girl fetuses, see Scott Baldauf, “India’s Girl Deficit Deepest Among Educated,” Christian Science Monitor, January 13, 2006.

  For more on parliamentary quotas for women, see P. Jayaram, “Bill to Reserve MP Seats for Indian Women in Limbo,” Straits Times, December 9, 2006; and “MP Reserves 50% for Women in Local Bodies,” Indian Express Online Media Ltd Source: Financial Times, March 31, 2007.

  The research on the impact of female legislators was conducted by Irma Clots-Figueras, “Women in Politics: Evidence from the Indian States,” January 24, 2005, accessed March 2007, at http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/pepp/PEPP%2014.pdf.

  For more on Naina Lal Kidwai, see S. Prasannarajan “Power Pyramid,” India Today, March 26, 2007. For more on Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, see Sudip Mazumdar, “First Lady,” Newsweek, October 18, 2006. For more on Mira Nair, see http://www.mirabaifilms.com/home.html.

  Data on Indian students in America come from “Open Doors 2006, Report on International Educational Exchange, Leading 20 Places of Origin 2004/5 and 2005/6,” accessed April 2007, at http://opendoors.iienetwork.org/?p=89189.

  For more on Indra Nooyi, see “Indra Nooyi Is India Abroad Person of the Year,” Rediff India Abroad, March 24, 2007, accessed April 2007, at http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/mar/24iapoy.htm. For more on Kalpana Chawla, see NASA Web site at http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/chawla.html. For more on Swati Dandekar, see http://www.swatidandekar.com/. For more on Sania Mirza, see Randeep Ramesh, “Fatwa Orders Indian Tennis Star to Cover Up,” The Guardian (London), September 10, 2005.

  Educated Terrorists

  The Terrorism Knowledge Base, accessible at http://www.tkb.org, is the self-described “one-stop resource for comprehensive research and analysis on global terrorist incidents, terrorism-related court cases, and terrorist groups and leaders.” It integrates data from the RAND Terrorism Chronology and RAND-MIPT Terrorism Incident databases, the Terrorism Indictment database, and DFI International’s research on terrorist organizations, and is funded through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Grants and Training.