'Volunteering and Society in the 21st Century by Colin Rochester, Angela Ellis Paine, and Steven Howlett, with Meta Zimmeck, provides a comprehensive and coherent overview of the multiple dimensions of volunteering that will be very useful for students, practitioners, policy-makers or anyone seeking an in-depth understanding of the current perspectives, definitions, challenges, and future prospects of this important activity.' - ... Read moreLester M. Salamon, Founding Director of the Principal Research Center for Civil Society Studies Institute for Policy Studies, The Johns Hopkins University, USA 'This book is simply the best recent overview of volunteering, whether in the UK or elsewhere. Its thoughtful analysis and summaries of research cover all the important aspects in a readable manner. The book will be ideal for university courses on volunteering or on the Voluntary Nonprofit Sector more broadly. Academics and researchers will also find it valuable for its depth and scope.' - David Horton Smith, Emeritus and Research Professor, Boston College, USA, and Founder of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) 'This is a super book and we'd recommend that it should be on the Christmas list for volunteer managers and anyone with a keen interest in volunteering!' - Volunteering Magazine 'This book provides a rich resource...equipping its readers to engage with the growing field of volunteering research while firmly maintaining a community perspective.'- The Association for Research in the Voluntary and Community Sector Bulletin 'This up-to-date, comprehensive, attractively and accessibly written book reviews volunteering as a global as well as a national phenomenon...The style of writing is well suited to the widest readership, from practitioners to policymakers and academics...The book is illuminated with nuggets and insights'. - The Geographical Journal '...interesting, well organized and well written.'- Voluntas '...such is the breadth and depth of this book that it can claim to be the most comprehensive contemporary review of volunteering produced...this excellent book succeeds in its aim of appealing to academics, practitioners and policy makers alike. It is authoratitive, comprehensive and thorough, exploring in a logical manner the wide range of factors which influence volunteering in the United Kingdom and beyond, and which will continue to influence it in the 21st century. It is an essential reference source for anyone studying, working in or working on issues of volunteering.' - Voluntary Sector Review Show Less