Blackwell Publishing
24 and philosophy; the world according to Jack.
Philosophy professors teaching in the U.S. and England examine the ethical dilemmas and philosophical issues raised in the television series 24. The 16 chapters explain the conditions of just war theory, Nietzsche's juxtaposition of Dionysus and Apollo, the arguments against torture, the postmodern aspects of terrorism, and the cell phone's impact on contemporary life. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
American adventurism abroad; invasions, interventions, and regime changes since World War II, rev. & expanded ed.
The primary strategic goal of the United States since the end of World War II has been to replace the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan as the sole economic hegemon of the global capitalist system (not to "defend democracy" or wage a "war on terrorism"), especially at the peripheries of the global capitalist system where there opportunities for greatest economic growth and profit or for demonstrating the superiority of the system exist. Sullivan (history and politics, Drexel U.) defends this thesis by examining case studies of American interventionism in the post-war era, expanding his focus beyond just the European cases he explored in the first edition (the Greek civil war, CIA interventions in the Italian elections of 1948, and Clinton's "humanitarian" wars in Bosnia and Kosovo) to now include cases from the Asia-Pacific region (the Vietnam War, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor, and Australia), from the middle East (Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel- Palestine, and Afghanistan), the Western Hemisphere (Guatemala, Cuba, British Guiana, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Grenada, and Haiti), and Africa (the Congo, Angola, Libya, and Somalia). (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Beer & philosophy; the unexamined beer isn't worth drinking.
Joining companion volumes on wine and food, the anthology offers a wide range of perspectives on the plebeian alcoholic drink: the art of brewing, the aesthetics, the ethics, the metaphysics and epistemology, and beer in the history of philosophy. Some contributors hale from philosophy and some from beer-dom, but they all visit the same bathroom between pints. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
A beginner's guide to Descartes's Meditations.
Some people study the thought of French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650) for a philosophy course, others because it is important though peripheral to their real topic of study, and still others because they are interested in his ideas or philosophy in general. A scholar of philosophy and English based in Swansea, Wales, Southwell suggests that the Meditations are the best introduction, and offers his services as a guide through it. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Beyond common sense; psychological science in the courtroom.
Twenty-one chapters presented by Borgida (psychology and law, U. of Minnesota) and Fiske (psychology, Princeton U.) explore gaps between lay conceptions of human behavior and pertinent psychological scientific knowledge, particularly in terms of domains that have an impact on legal systems. The volume opens with discussions of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination, addressing ageism, gender prejudice, and gender stereotyping and their legal implications. Chapters then examine such topics as eyewitness identification, repressed and recovered memory, the psychology of confessions, polygraph testing, evolving standards of death penalty law, effects of and remedies for pretrial publicity, and media violence and aggression. Also included are commentaries on: the limits of science in the courtroom, research on eyewitness testimony and false confessions, research relevant to sex discrimination and sexual harassment, the importance of research design in inferences regarding work behavior, psychological contributions to evaluating witness testimony, and the role of social science in anti- discrimination law and policy. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The Blackwell companion to social work, 3d ed.
For students, Davies (social work, U. of East Anglia, Norwich, UK) presents a guide to social work theory, concepts, and practice that contains 52 readings. Sections cover social work issues ranging from child abuse to mental illness; the application of different types of therapies and knowledge to practice; social work in different contexts; its psychosocial framework; the human life cycle; and specific perspectives, such as that of service users, carers, disabled people, and black people, as well as research and evidence-based viewpoints. This edition has been updated and includes new sections on the misuse of drugs and alcohol, population movement and immigration, assessment, intervention and review, and social work ethics. Chapters on family and relationship breakdown, learning disabilities, counseling, and research have new authors. All other chapters have been revised and some have been rewritten. Three indexes, by subject, name, and legislation and related matters, are provided. Contributors work in social work, sociology, social policy, counseling studies, child and family welfare, and other fields, mostly in the UK. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The Blackwell history of the Latin language.
Along with lively commentary, Clackson and Horrocks (classics and comparative philology, respectively, U. of Cambridge) closely chart the development of Latin from prehistory through the creation of the Classical language to the application of the language in the arts, religion and trade across the Empire. The authors make good use of recent sociolinguistic research and link the language to the fates of Rome, the impact of Greek, and the rise of Christianity. The sample texts are particularly well-chosen as are the maps and glossary entries. This should serve well as supplemental reading in college-level Latin classes as well as for individual study and reference. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Cities of whiteness.
Shaw (geography, U. of New South Wales) examines cultural forms that have emerged with the shift from suburban to urban living in Sydney, as one example of gentrification around the world as run-down inner cities get spiffied up and priced up for the middle class. She finds that these new forms have engaged strategies of exclusionary whiteness regardless of the city's multiculturalism. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
A companion to Descartes.
Continuing the popular and academically acclaimed series for undergraduate students of philosophy, scholars clarify the work of French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650) from such perspectives as the intellectual context, mathematics and natural philosophy, epistemology and metaphysics, and his legacy. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
A companion to Latina/o studies.
In this companion meant for students and scholars, Flores and Rosaldo (Latino studies, New York U.) compile 45 essays written by scholars of Latina/o studies, as well as creative writers, from the US (many who are natives of Latin America). In addition to several memoirs, they present new areas of scholarship in the field, ranging from essays on critical practices and methods, to those that examine institutional struggles in the production of knowledge. They discuss topics such as immigration, popular music, religion, oral tradition and performance art by women, language, historiography, education, AIDS, racial identity, and ethnography. A few of the essays were previously published elsewhere. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
A companion to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer studies.
Affirming that sexuality and queer inquiry in particular are relevant in times of "unthinkable destruction" to discussions in diverse academics fields and current politics, Haggerty (English, U. of California, Riverside) and McGarry (history, UC, Riverside) present two dozen new essays by established and emerging US scholars. Representing queer historiography, the anthology includes analyses of cultural war issues; media representations (e.g., Brokeback Mountain); Sontag on "camp"; and histories of sexualities as they intersect with gender identities, feminism, race, and globalization; and an interview with Judith Butler. Illustrations include a Robert Mapplethorpe flower painting, and photos relating to Gay Pride festivities and the "war on terror." (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
A concise companion to contemporary British and Irish drama.
How did drama reflect Scottish devolution in 1999? What does it now mean to be British, Black and on stage? This collection of 13 essays focuses on playwrights, institutions and theater practices since 1979 as they all responded to major social and political issues. Topics include the effects of revolution and migration in British plays of the 1990s, Friel and Murphy and the past as it should have been, the politics of identity in Black British drama, Northern Irish drama and the inherent political and social issues, site-specific theater, the roles of place and identity in Welsh and Scottish drama, Sarah Kane's comic bodies, physical theater and authority, ethics and media relations in verbatim theater, theater and science, shifting political agendas in British play writing under globalization, and conducting theater in a media-saturated world. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Contemporary debates in metaphysics.
Causation and the laws of nature, personal identity, time, free will, and meta-ontology are among the debates exercising minds in diminished but still kicking philosophy departments. The contributing philosophers, mostly American but also British and Australian, pursue generalizations about abstract patterns. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Contemporary debates in philosophy of mind.
Within living memory, The Mind was thought by many scientists and philosophers to be destined for the same museum of anachronistic curiosities as The Ether; now it has spread into virtually every area of philosophy as well as to many outside of it. In order to represent such a sprawling concern, philosophers mostly from the US and Australia present contending views on questions that are controversial and that have been found to underlie other questions in philosophy. Their topics include whether the intentional is essentially normative, and whether there is an unresolved problem of mental causation. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Cooperation; the political psychology of effective human interaction.
The editors (all: psychology, U. of Minnesota, Minneapolis) bring together contributors in psychology, political science, sociology, and organizational behavior to discuss cooperation in many settings, its effects, and ideas for institutions seeking to foster cooperation with trust. Twenty essays consider topics such as the centrality of cooperation in the functioning of individuals and groups, empathy- related and prosocial responding, conflict with trust as the basis for deep-level cooperation in work groups, and the role of cooperation in conflict and negotiation. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Corporate retirement security; social and ethical issues.
Should retirement mean a hearty handshake and almost enough money to eat for the rest of your life? This interdisciplinary collection of essays deals with the many realities of business today, including corporate acquisitions, an aging population, and rising expectations of those who put in their 40-some years. Editor Kolb (applied ethics, Loyola U. Chicago) and his contributors cover the ethical issues in pension plan structures, focusing on changes in plans, and investment of pension plan funds, describing plan design and its relationship with corporate social responsibility, the defined-contribution retirement plan, the specter of bankruptcy, sustainable plans, markets in pension ethics, cash balance pension conversions, new fiduciary duties in changing social environments, and socially responsible investing. Particularly interesting is the closing chapter on why social investing threatens public employee pension funds. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Creative writing; a guide and glossary to fiction writing.
A longtime teacher of creative writing at UK universities presents a guide that defines basic terms used in writing fiction and includes techniques that may save a writer's story from the wastebasket. The cross-referenced entries, from 'absurd literature' to 'writer's block,' include suggestions on how to effectively convey subject matter or achieve special effects; citations of works which illustrate good practice in these techniques (e.g., personification in Orwell's novel Animal Farm); and legal/ethical terms such as 'plagiarism' and 'permissions.' The guide includes further reading and Websites but lacks an index. Distributed by Blackwell Publishing. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Design management for architects.
Emmitt (innovation and management in building, Technical U. of Denmark), an architect and former design manager, describes how architects can improve their management skills of projects and in organizations, and the relationship between the two. He discusses the project context, communication and team building, client values, developing, detailing, and realizing the design, and learning from projects and products. The section on managing organizations covers managing people, the design studio, communication and knowledge sharing, information and financial management, and attracting and retaining clients. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Dictionary of globalization.
Jones (human geography, Birkbeck College, UK) aims to provide readers with a broad understanding of the key concepts, issues, and debates within the social sciences about globalization studies. The cross-referenced, alphabetical entries, which range from 100 to 500 words each, are loosely divided in three categories: institutions and organizations; concepts, phenomena, and processes; and thinkers. Where there is disagreement or debate concerning concepts, phenomena, and processes, Jones has sought to highlight it. For the category of thinkers, he identifies what the individual is "best known for" and the key elements of his or her contributions. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Disrespect; the normative foundations of critical theory.
The title may initially strike readers as negative, says Honneth (philosophy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe U., Frankfurt), but he explains that subjects only experience disrespect as violations of the normative claims of recognition they have come to expect. He explores the topic in 13 essays were first published as Das Andere der Gerechtigkeit by Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt am Main in 2000. Distributed in the US by Blackwell Publishing. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Divine teaching; an introduction to Christian theology.
McIntosh (systematic theology and spirituality, Loyola U.) gives newcomers to Christian theology a solid background in the basics, which includes tracking the reasons for those basics and the consequences of their becoming elemental to Christian thought and belief. In addition McIntosh delineates the encounters theologians have with God as they attempt to define or develop these basics. The resulting series of interactive questions and answers does not require belief but does require thinking about such ideas as how God makes theologians, why theologians works as pirates and adventurers as well as mystics and sages, how Christian teaching leads to belief, and what Christians generally agree about salvation, divine life, and "creaturely" life. McIntosh supplies a wide range of theological writings from all sides and keeps the text lively and accessible enough for general readers along with graduate and undergraduate students. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The divided West.
Influential political philosopher Habermas (emeritus, U. of Frankfurt, Germany) presents his intervention into the international politics of the post-9/11 era. He advances a project of Kantian cosmopolitanism that is, in essence, a "constitutionalization" of international law without Kant's problematic vision of a one-world republic and is in opposition to the unilateralism of the United States' neoconservatives and their "War on Terror," which even if accepted at face value cannot achieve the stated goals of democracy and human rights for the same reasons that a one-world republic remains an impossible dream: the world is simply far too complex to manage hegemonistically. In contrast, his vision of transnational and supranational governance operates at many different levels, including that of the United Nations and between major world powers for addressing global and regional problems, while leaving national public spheres as the primary sites of democratic legitimation. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
