BRILL
The Arabic manuscript tradition; a glossary of technical terms and bibliography; supplement.
The mother volume was published in 2001, and here Gacek (Islamic studies and Arabic manuscript studies, McGill U., Montreal) augments that glossary and bibliography by citing new source materials and defining many technical terms that they have revealed or illuminated, particularly terms relating to medieval Arabic calligraphy and penmanship. The bibliography is not annotated. The glossary does not indicate pronunciation, but the words are transliterated according to standard practices. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Art and perception towards a visual science of art; pt.1.
This collection of articles includes speculative and classical theories about what is known and believed about the visual, the eye, and the work of the brain in understanding visual communications. The 16 articles here cover such diverse topics as the movement toward a visual science of art, spatial organization principles in art, the origin of entasis (illusion, aesthetics or engineering), brain activity and implied motion in abstract paintings, designing visually rich textures, Piranesi and the "infinite prisons," gender's effect on the hemispherical laterality of Rembrandt's portraits, artful visions, visual interest during an aesthetic experience, illusions of movement, a universal model of aesthetic perception, portraits and the recognition of face images, fractal-like image statistics, statistical regularities of art images, disassociating pattern and perceptual differences in oculomotor behavior, and the science and art of autosterograms. VSP is a subsidiary of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Bible and poverty in Kenya; an empirical exploration.
In order to combat the still rising rate of poverty in Africa, says Sakwa (economics, Jomo Kenyatta U. of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya), it is necessary to take into account all the factors in the culture where it thrives, and in Kenya, that generally means Christianity. He analyzes how Nairobi Catholic students' attitudes towards biblical conceptions about poverty directly and indirectly effect their attitudes towards poverty alleviation efforts. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Britain and Poland-Lithuania contact and comparison from the Middle Ages to 1795.
After May 2004, when Poland and Britain were both members of the European Union, some thought there might be other features the two countries shared, or perhaps did not share in some degree that the contrast might be of interest. A conference was called for September 2005 in Krakow, and scholars from and beyond Poland and Britain discuss such topics as Polish ships in English waters during the later Middle Ages, British and Polish republicanism in the early 18th century, and Scotsmen and the Polish nobility from the 16th to the 18th centuries. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Chastity; a study in perception, ideals, opposition.
Historians and scholars of literature and music, all but one American, take chastity as a lens into basic historical problems, mostly relating to the Middle Ages. Their topics include failed chastity and Ovid, the prohibition of clerical marriage in the 11th century, an Arab Christian philosophical defense of religious celibacy against its Islamic condemnation, problematizations of male homoeroticism in late antique monastic milieux, and the cry of Eden. The series is projected to address central issues in medieval and early modern studies across the disciplines. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
A companion to Richard Hooker.
Contributors represent the range of current academic approaches as they together provide a comprehensive and systematic introduction to the life, works, thought, and reputation of British theologian Hooker (1553-1600). Among the perspectives they offer are Elizabethan theological polemics, predestination, scriptural hermeneutics, episcopacy, and royal supremacy. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Corinthian and Attic vases in the Detroit Institute of Arts; geometric, black-figure, and red-figure.
This catalogue focuses on the Athenian and Corinthian schools of Greek vase painting from the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts. The catalogue of objects is presented in five sections: Corinthian Geometric, Proto-Corinthian and Corinthian black-figure, Attic geometric, Attic black-figure, and Attic red-figure and white- ground. Each object listed includes a physical and critical description, date, dimensions, condition, provenance, bibliography, exhibitions, and comparanda; illustrations are provided separate from the entry in black-and-white. Appendices include archaeological provenance; concordances of former collections, galleries, and donors; a concordance of Beazley numbers; and attributions to painters, groups, classes, and styles. Madigan (art history, Wayne State U.) provides thoroughly researched and documented information to create a methodical and instructive catalogue. Oversize: 9x11.5 inches (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Defenses in contemporary international criminal law, 2d ed.
How exactly do we define "crimes against humanity," and what options does counsel have in directing defendants so charged? Knoops (international criminal law, Utrecht U.) provides a comprehensive description of the concepts and practices behind international criminal law defense, including the methodology for determining a uniform system, defenses originating from customary international law and from comparative criminal law, defenses of necessity and protection against crime, the diverging position of criminal law defense in international courts, the regulation of armed conflicts and individuals in armed conflicts, self-defense in states and individuals in the law of war, and new issues, including new thought on due process. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The demographic challenge; a handbook about Japan.
Seventy international academics, researchers, historians, business professionals, and consultants contribute 63 chapters offering documentation and analysis on the impact of population developments on contemporary Japan, and the various ways in which the Japanese as a nation are responding to the challenges of population aging. The text is the first English-language publication to provide a broad coverage of the issues pertaining to Japan's demographic change. Coverage includes the fundamentals of Japanese demographics, for the non-specialist; issues of conceptualizing aging and age, both in scholarly and popular discourse; ways that cultural institutions, activities and productions are transformed by demographic change; how political actors address Japan's population aging, the structures of the policy-making process, and specific challenges in certain policy areas; and macro- and microeconomic implications, business and management aspects, and the impact of aging on the social security system. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The Dutch intersection; the Jews and the Netherlands in modern history.
How did Jewish culture develop in Holland from the beginning of the seventeenth century until after the Holocaust? These 22 papers explain the subtleties of influence and exclusion in such topics as tolerance amongst Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam, interaction in Sephardi Amsterdam and London, Amsterdam as cultural space in diaspora, individual experiences, Sephardi sepulcher art, the metropolitan side of Portuguese Jews, early Jewish Enlightenment, Yiddish book production, foreign Jews in the press, the Jewish republic of letters, sources for studies of migration, Amsterdam in Haggadah illustration, Jewish and Dutch identity, Jewish artists facing Holland, Jewish writers after the Holocaust, relations between American and Dutch Jews after World War II, the restitution process, and the work of de Pinto, Klee, Goslar, and Maijer. From the International Symposium on the History of the Jews in the Netherlands held at the Hebrew U. in Jerusalem in November 2004. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The early monarchy in Israel; the tenth century B.C.E..
Dietrich, who is not further identified, begins with the biblical account of the period, focusing on the earliest layer of narrative, and pointing out the literary artistry already visible there. Then in turn he constructs a history of the early monarch using all available sources, examines contemporary literature and later works based on them, and explores the theological conclusions drawn from the received history by thinkers down the ages. No publication data is cited for Früe Köningszeit in Israel, which was translated by Joachim Vette. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Elites; new comparative perspectives.
Sasaki (sociology, Chuo U., Japan) presents a diverse set of writings on the sociology of elites. Roughly proceeding from the general to the specific, the volume's nine contributions address elites and leadership change in liberal democracies, theoretical perspectives on elite differentiation, comparative understanding of Turkey's Ataturk and France's de Gaulle as charismatic leaders, changes in the recruitment and career patterns of European representative elites, political elite circulation and democratic regime stability in Ghana, political elite recruitment and rotation tendencies in the Commonwealth of Independent States, comparative elite structures in the Nordic states, elite integration and institutional trust in Norway, and American elites' views on the use of military force. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Essential texts on human rights for the police; a compilation of international instruments.
This volume compiles the international legal instruments on human rights pertinent to policing in a democratic society. Following an introductory essay, the volume presents the texts of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its Optional Protocol; International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol; Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its Optional Protocol; Convention on the Rights of the Child and Optional Protocols; International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; Article Three common to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949; and Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions relating to the Protection of Victims of Non- International Armed Conflicts. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Greek religion and culture, the Bible, and the ancient Near East.
Bremmer (religious studies, U. of Groningen) traces Near Eastern traditions into ancient Greece, uses Greek evidence to elucidate biblical stories, and explores other dimensions of relations between Greece and the Near East and the influence of Greek culture on Hellenistic Judaism and emerging Christianity. The 15 essays are revised from publication during the 1990s and 2000s. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
International peacekeeping; the yearbook of international peace operations; v.12.
Although primarily interested in legal and policy issues, this volume includes commentary on a wide range of topics related to international peacekeeping, including conflict resolution, humanitarian relief and terrorism. Topics of the eight articles include perspectives on UN operations and judging their outcomes, operations of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations for the 2006 season, maintenance of international peace and security by the UN, peacekeeping under the watch of the Secretary General, responsibilities of states in respect to UN peacekeeping missions, understanding and supporting the international territory administration accountability deficit, lessons learned from legal and judicial work in multinational peacekeeping operations, and field perspectives on security sector reform. Along with related conference reports and proceedings this offers a paper on maritime security operations law and practice at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Martinus-Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Jean Géomètre; poèmes en hexamètres et en distiques élégiaques.
John Geometer was an eleventh-century Byzantine writer whose work included essays and both secular and profane poetry. Although he ended life as a monk his earlier years were spent at the imperial court. In this comprehensive study of the man and his work, van Opstall (ancient Greek, VU University, Amsterdam) covers what little is known of his life before presenting an analysis of his work by theme and style. Finally she presents three hundred poems in facing page Greek and mellifluous French translation. Each one is discussed in terms of subject, technique and previous critical work. Van Opstall's painstaking labor allows non-Greek speaking readers access to the poetry of this seminal Byzantine author. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Judge Loukis Loucaides; an alternative view on the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights; a collection of separate opinions (1998-2007).
Loucaides had a history of separate opinions, decades of disagreements with the Court's judgments made on the basis of moral convictions and a strong commitment to human rights. Working from the principle that opposing opinions offer as much insight into the law as what the majority had to say, this collection of dissenting and concurring opinions coves a wide range of issues, including human rights and international law, non-qualified right, the right to liberty and security, the notion of the fair trial, private and family life, freedom of expression, non-discrimination, and a range of other issues. Loucaides retained the right to partially dissent and partially concur in his opinions, meaning that he cared more about the issues than he did about being either a member of the team or politically correct. Includes several essays on the judge's integrity and independence. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The landmark rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the rights of the child; protecting the most vulnerable at the edge.
Tinta, an international lawyer, thoroughly examines the issue of children's rights as it pertains to the jurisprudence Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Written primarily for lawyers and students of international law, this volume serves as a comprehensive review of landmark cases that have shaped and defined legislation, focusing on "at-risk" children and child protection. Much of this book is dedicated to legal decisions determining how children should be treated and protected during times of war. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Losing the global development war; a contemporary critique of the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO.
Writing for a general readership, Head (international and comparative law, U. of Kansas) offers a critical account of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. He assesses, from a legal perspective, complaints about these organizations connected to such issues as bad policy advice, poor project selection and implementation, environmental and human rights shortcomings, distributional unfairness, lack of transparency, weaknesses in staffing and management, asymmetry in obligations, and the democracy deficit. He finds some to be well founded, but not to the extent of more vociferous critics, and provides recommendations for reform in terms of transparency, participation, legality, competent, and accountability. He also calls for greater support for multilateralism, particularly on the part of the United States. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Mysterium Magnum; Michelangelo's Tondo Doni.
Stefaniak, who received her doctorate in art history from the U. of California-Berkeley, has taken the tondo painted by Michelangelo in 1504, and analyzed it thoroughly. The painting of the Virgin Mary, Jesus and Joseph, with nude young men in the background might confuse the casual viewer. Stefaniak begins by reviewing earlier interpretations of the painting before presenting her own. She puts it in the context of Florentine society, the life and beliefs of Michelangelo and classical models. The work is also considered in the light of contemporary religious trends, particularly the increased importance of St. Joseph in popular worship. This study is well-illustrated with b&w images and a few color plates. It is meticulously footnoted and will give students of art much to consider. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
