Introduction: against all odds --Childhood malnutrition in Vietnam: from peril to possibility -- Female circumcision in Egypt: reconciling tradition and change -- Hospital infections: acting into a new way of thinking -- Early wins, squandered gains: pioneering the PD process at Merck -- Girl soldiers: reintegrating outcasts -- Infant mortality: the way to change a community (is not to engage in community change) -- Nature's way: invisible in plain sight.