Blackwell Publishing
A new history of anthropology.
The anthology is designed to appeal to historians by contextualizing anthropological ideas and practices in specific times and places, and to anthropologists by being about them, specifically discussion the discipline's major branches and analyzing portions of its history that rarely feature in the oral traditions. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Philosophy and the empirical.
The 17 invited and contributed papers in this year's edition begin with a discussion of using empirical evidence to assess and critique judicial decisions. Other topics include the epistemology of thought experiments, whether philosophers have a coherent set of intuitions about moral responsibility, and how to challenge intuitions empirically without risking skepticism. There is no index. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Philosophy of religion; classic and contemporary issues.
Selected practitioners in the philosophical study of religion set out the primary concerns of the discipline for people entering it or gazing at it from a neighboring field. The overall themes are religious experience and knowledge, the existence of God, and the nature and attributes of God. A final section looks at emerging perspectives from continental, Eastern, and feminist philosophy. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Provoking democracy; why we need the arts.
Artists themselves now declare that the avant-garde is passe, the age of artistic challenge to the mainstream is over, but Levine (English, U. of Wisconsin-Madison) disagrees. Though the historical avant-garde movement may be gone, she argues, its logic emerges again and again in the public sphere to be condemned (as she has done) as elitist and anti-democratic, but as necessary to the health and survival as ever. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Romantic poetry; an annotated anthology.
To begin, O'Neill (Durham U.) and Mahoney (U. of Connecticut) explain and defend the definition of Romanticism that their particular selection of poets and poems represents for general readers or for use in an undergraduate course. The familiar men are all here, but joined by a refreshing selection of women not widely known today. Most of the annotations alert reader to elements of the poem, but a few identify references and allusions, or point out interesting comparisons and contrasts with other passages. A chronology and a thematic index are included. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Romance writing.
Pearce (literary theory and women's writings, U. of Lancaster) presents a cultural history of romantic love and its associated literary genre from before the 18th century to the postmodern era in Britain and Europe. Each chapter addresses a period, and begins with a survey of mainstream literary history and canonical texts. Later in the chapter, she draws on texts that she knows well and lend themselves best to her hypothesis. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Teaching and learning in college introductory religion courses.
Walvoord (English, U. of Notre Dame) details effective ways of teaching introductory courses in theology and religion, through the description of a study conducted in 2004 and 2005 of students and their instructors in 533 courses at 109 universities in the US. Universities were public, religiously-affiliated, and private non-sectarian, with degrees at all levels. Walvoord also observed some classes and conducted interviews with students and faculty. She discusses the differing goals of faculty and students, the teaching and learning processes, and pedagogical strategies, followed by case studies of small and large classes, their goals, assignments, evidence of what was learned, pedagogical strategies, and student evaluations. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Theatre in theory, 1900-2000; an anthology.
Krasner (performing arts, Emerson College) provides an anthology of 82 writings on dramatic and performance theory from 1900 to 2000. Playwrights, directors, scholars, and philosophers author the writings, which in each section, are supplemented with a brief introduction, supporting commentary, and historical information. Writings are arranged chronologically and are presented as excerpts or in their entirety. Topics include the avant-garde, happenings, comedy, ethnicity, epic theatre, feminism and queer theory, naturalism and realism, performance studies, political, folk, and ritual theater, poststructuralism and postmodernism, semiotics and structuralism, symbolism and Expressionism, the theatre of the absurd, theatricality, and tragedy. Some of the writers include Judith Butler, Joyce Carol Oates, Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes, Jean-Paul Sartre, Arthur Miller, Federico García Lorca, Gertrude Stein, W.E.B. Du Bois, Oscar Wilde, and Eugene O'Neill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Thinking linguistically; a scientific approach to language.
The study of mental grammar can help students of all ages and languages develop an understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry and an appreciation of the complexity and diversity of human languages. So Honda (human development, Wheelock College) and O'Neil (linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) have concluded after 20 years of collaborative research that began in Harvard's Educational Technology Center during the middle 1980s. On the basis of that belief, they here offer an problem-set approach to doing linguistics and exploring linguistic acquisition. Students enjoy the approach, they say. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Torture and the ticking bomb.
Engaging the arguments of Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz and his ilk for legalizing interrogational torture, particularly the so-called "ticking time-bomb" scenario, Brecher (moral philosophy, U. of Brighton, UK) argues that the scenario itself is wildly implausible and, in fact, fantasy and the argument based on this scenario fails on its own utilitarian terms. Even were the scenario plausible, he argues, addressing it by Dershowitz's means would lead to the institutionalization and professionalization of a torture regime that, even according to utilitarianism, would be a greater evil that the explosion of the hypothetical bomb. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Tragedy; a short introduction.
Bushnell (English, U. of Pennsylvania) outlines the essential components of tragedy in this introduction for students, non- specialists, and general readers. She explains the formal conventions of classic tragedy, its set pieces and rhetoric, and how they evoke conflict and tension. Chapters are selected case studies rather than being comprehensive, giving an overview of tragedy as a theatrical genre from the Greeks to the present, its staging, formal qualities, characteristic plots, and types of heroes. Plays discussed range from Sophocles' Oedipus the King to Shakespeare's Hamlet to Beckett's Waiting for Godot. The book does not consider opera or novels, but does include film. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Translating feminisms in China; a special issue of gender & history.
Ko (Chinese history, Barnard College) and Zheng (women's studies, U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor) present eight essays comparing Western and Chinese views of feminism and describing how notions of women's rights have been expressed in a culture with strong ideas about gender, class, and sexuality. Contributors from China, Japan, the US, and Canada consider topics such as: the effects of the policies of Mao's Great Leap Forward on rural women, the four phases of The Ladies' Journal and that magazine's influence on ideas of motherhood, Chinese feminists' view of the West in the early 20th century, and ambivalence among Chinese intellectual women toward the book Shanghai Baby. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Urban sprawl in Europe; landscapes, land-use change & policy.
Couch (urban planning, Liverpool John Moores U., UK), Leontidou (geography and European culture, Hellenic Open U., Greece), and Petschel-Held (late of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany) present the results of a research project on the processes of urban sprawl in Europe. The research builds upon comparative analysis of sprawl in seven archetypical urban regions across Europe — Liverpool, UK; Stockholm, Sweden; Vienna, Austria; Leipzig; Germany; Warsaw, Poland; Athens, Greece; and Ljubljana, Slovenia — selecting these cities with the intention of capturing processes of infrastructure-related sprawl in the southern European city, sprawl in the post-socialist city, sprawl in declining urban areas, and life-style/second home sprawl. After analyzing these cases from a meso-scale perspective, the authors develop a micro-scale perspective that focuses on individual actor preferences and then conclude with discussion of policies for the control of urban sprawl. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Vocational rehabilitation.
This volume introduces vocational rehabilitation practices in the UK to healthcare practitioners, specifically occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, psychotherapists, and others, as well as students. It focuses on the open employment market and a range of disabilities and health reasons for not working, but omits impairments. After discussing the context of vocational rehabilitation in the UK, Holmes covers assessment strategies (person and environment-based, and the assessment of function in relation to work); action planning, including analyzing assessment data and developing goals; interventions in statutory, private, independent, and voluntary sectors, and those related to health and social care, career choice and decision-making, and the workplace; and establishing a rehabilitation service. Holmes is an independent occupational therapist who helps people return to or remain at work. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
War in late antiquity; a social history.
As part of an ongoing series about war in late antiquity, Lee (classics, U. of Nottingham, the UK) has written a fascinating history that situates the Roman military within a socio-economic context. Rather than detailing individual campaigns and battles at length, the text discusses the various impacts the constant warfare of this period had on the economy and on society. The text is richly supported with examples, including frequent excerpts from primary sources. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Wine & philosophy; a symposium on thinking and drinking.
Some came down the road of philosophy and others down the road of wine, but they all came for the mixing of the two. Among the topics are wine and the American character, imaginative versus analytical experiences of wine, wine tasting and aesthetic practice, the Old World and the New, and shipping across state lines. Afterward, the participants seem to have forgotten where they were. The volume joins others on beer and philosophy and food and philosophy. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
