Blackwell Publishing
Crime in an insecure world.
Ericson (criminology, U. of Toronto, Canada) complains of an alarming trend across Western countries of treating every imaginable source of as a crime, a state of affairs he argues leads to an unneeded intensification of security measures through the expansion and transformation of criminal law; new uses of civil and administrative law in processes of criminalization; the erosion or elimination of traditional principles, standards, and procedures of criminal law; and further evolution of a "surveillant assemblage" connected to both to the above legal transformations and to institutional settings outside of criminal law. He discusses how this process plays itself out in the realms of national security with respect to terrorism, social security with respect the integrity of disability and welfare benefits systems; corporate security with respect to liabilities for harm created by the activities of corporate entities; and domestic security with respect to crime and disorder in everyday life. Distributed in the US by Blackwell Publishing. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Cults and new religions; a brief history.
Cowan (religious studies and social development studies, U. of Waterloo) and Bromley (religious studies and sociology, Virginia Commonwealth U.) describe the history and characteristics of eight movements, and explore some of the questions and issues they raise for western society. Among the movements are Scientology, Ramtha, the Unification Church, Heaven's Gate, and Wicca and Witchcraft. They also consider the significance of the new-religion phenomenon as a whole. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The Daily show and philosophy; moments of zen in the art of fake news.
Holt (philosophy and pop culture, Acadia U.) and fellow contributors stay true to the comic tone of television's prolific fake news series The Daily Show with Jon Stewart while discussing the show in a philosophical context. Nineteen chapters address how fake news can convey truth (as well as its potential harms), how Jon Stewart's taking on of powerful figures pays homage to Socrates and other public intellectuals, The Daily Show's dismantling of political rhetoric, its treatment of religion, and philosophical themes in spin-offs The Colbert Report and America (The Book). (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Dante.
Havely (medieval literature, York U.) offers a guide for students who are about to embark on a study of Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) in English. He covers his life and career in Florence and in exile; the texts and cultural traditions that influenced him; key themes, episodes, and passages, especially in the Commedia; and his work's reception by later readers, especially within the English-speaking world. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Discourse analysis, 2d ed.
Although often the only course in linguistics taken by undergraduate and even graduate students in other programs, discourse analysis cannot be handily disposed of in a definition or two. Some consider it a discipline within linguistics, but Johnstone (English, Carnegie Mellon U.) prefers to think of it as a systematic and rigorous research method available to scholars and non-scholars in a variety of fields who are asking a variety of questions. In that light she introduces discourse analysis to those without previous background in linguistics, analyzes discourse within the context of linguistic categories, cultures and ideologies, examines parts and sequences of discourse structure and the relationships, defines the roles and identities expressed, and explains the relevance of prior texts and discourses, the influence of the discourse medium, and the impact of intention and interpretation. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Dying to belong; gangster movies in Hollywood and Hong Kong.
Nochimson (film studies, NYU) sees similarities between gangster movies in America and Hong Kong not just because they are particularly prolific exporters of such films, but also because both are immigrant nations, whose lawless gangsters are nonetheless eerily similar to their "straight" citizens. Here she examines works from days before The Godfather (e.g. Little Caesar) to the present (Hong Kong's Young and Dangerous series), illustrating themes including the anxiety of marginality, the Taoist code and Hong Kong's gangsters, and illusions of material wealth and upward mobility of newcomers. In The Sopranos TV series, she finds a marriage of the characterization and filmmaking of both Hollywood and Hong Kong. An interview with the show's creator, David Chase, composes the epilogue. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Equality.
White (politics, Jesus College, Oxford, UK) surveys the key conceptual understandings and debates surrounding the term "equality" as they have developed in political philosophy, sociology, the history of political thought, and other realms of the social sciences. He addresses the political relationship between equality and democracy, theories of egalitarian justice found in the writings of John Rawls and Ronald Dworkin, feminist and multicultural challenges to the legal concept of equal citizenship, economic equality and economic incentives, equality and meritocracy, and other issues. Distributed in the US by Blackwell Publishing. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The ethics of genetic commerce.
Contributors from business consider the ethics of buying and selling genetic information from the perspectives of the genetic screening of humans, genetically modified foods, and specific business aspects such as patenting and monopolizing genetic knowledge. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The ethics toolkit; a compendium of ethical concepts and methods.
Paralleling the format of The Philosopher's Toolkit, this volume explains key concepts in ethics, including grounds for ethics (such as aesthetics and character); frameworks (deontological ethics, egoism, and virtue ethics, for example); those relating to assessment, judgment, and critique (fallacies, sex and gender); and the limits of moral reasoning (like pluralism, nihilism, and skepticism). It is meant to help readers engage with theories, concepts, principles, and critiques, rather than prescribe one single theory. They present the ideas and theories of different moral theorists as tools for thinking and action. The text may be used by students, teachers, scholars, and professionals linearly or as a reference, as each entry is cross-referenced. Baggini, an author and journalist, is editor and co-publisher of The Philosophers' Magazine. Fosl, contributing editor to The Philosophers' Magazine, is a professor of philosophy at Transylvania U. in Lexington. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Family guy and philosophy; a cure for the petarded.
Wisnewski (philosophy, Hartwick College) provides the analysis and some of the funny footnotes as he and his contributors work through postmodernism, religion and religious exclusivity, virtue and perversity, clueless men (in the character's case this is an oxymoron), motherhood, deadly sins, the importance of background people, dogs with personality, the logic of expectation, humor, fallacies, plagiarism, will and wantoness in wives, ego, and death. The result is fun, if you are a fan of the show, but even if you are not you can get the point and most of the jokes. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Four views on free will.
In this description of the hottest debates current on the subject of free will, Fischer (philosophy, U. of California, Riverside) defends compatibilism, Robert Kane (philosophy, U. of Texas at Austin) defends liberalism, Derk Pereboom (philosophy, U. of Vermont) defends hard incompatibilism and Manuel Vargas (philosophy, U. of San Francisco) defends revisionism. Along with their accessible articles (accompanied by an introduction which explains terms and concepts), each has a word or two to say about the others' ideas, making for a lively and interactive approach to what has been one of the most controversial and far-reaching topics in philosophy. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Futures, options, and swaps, 5th ed.
Kolb (a former professor of finance at the U. of Miami) and Overdahl (Chief Economist at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission) provide an explanatory treatment of the markets for futures, options, and swaps, the three most important types of financial derivatives. The text is guided by an emphasis on the common pricing framework of these financial derivatives — i.e., the proposition that rational prices preclude arbitrage profits. It includes examination of market developments and regulatory changes that have taken place since the last edition appeared in 20003 and also includes emphasis on the roles of international competition and electronic trading systems. The US Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 also receives significant attention. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Gender and the media.
Featuring plenty of illustrative examples, this text examines the representation of gender in the media in contemporary Western societies. Gill (London School of Economics and Political Science) focuses on recent changes that may be observed in five types of media: news, advertising, talk shows, magazines, and screen and paperback romances. She also assesses the relevance of various theoretical tools for analyzing media representations. The text is aimed at students and scholars in gender and media studies. Distributed in the US by Blackwell Publishing. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Global Europe, social Europe.
The "no" votes matter in the referenda on a pan-European constitution. Giddens, formerly Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science and his distinguished collaborators and contributors look closely at the future of Europe as it seeks to redefine itself socially as well as economically. They describe the changes in the "social model" of Europe and give the reasons why many members of the EU prefer to keep the welfare state as a buffer against the rigors of globalization. They also analyze the inclusion of the former Soviet bloc nations to the EU, immigration and diversity, welfare reform, the change from the social model to the socioeconomic model, gender equality, social justice, the knowledge economy, the environment, economic reform and further integration, and the vulnerability of the entire European project. Sometimes, it appears, "no" means "yes" to something else. Distributed by Blackwell Publishing. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Global inequality; patterns and explanations.
This collection of articles includes major and highly debated issues along with significant details that those who debate often overlook. The contributors point out that expectations set in the twentieth century about equality are not necessarily going to be fulfilled under globalization in the twenty-first, that inequality matters as much economically as it does socially and politically, and that macroeconomics is different under globalization than we figured. They note the countering effects, if any, of supranational regionalization, the questions raised by simple spatial disparities, the roles of structural determinants and human agency, and the need to reframe the concept of "justice" under globalization. Distributed by Blackwell Publishing. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Global issues; an introduction, 3d ed.
Emphasizing critical thinking, Seitz (government, emeritus, Wofford College) introduces some of the current global issues of our time: wealth and poverty, population, food, energy, the environment, technology, and alternative futures. The text is illustrated with high-quality b&w photos and contains discussion questions, a glossary, student and teacher guides for studying and teaching global issues, an extensive annotated list of recommended videos, and a list of web sites. Intended as a text for an introductory course in departments of geography, politics, sociology, and environmental science, the text's clean yet rather spartan b&w layout presupposes a student who is brave enough to approach complex material without the usual three-ring circus of features found in many introductory texts. This third edition is updated throughout and features new material on foreign aid and development assistance, terrorism, the relationship between geography, wealth, and poverty, and the Millennium Development Goals. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Global theories of the arts and aesthetics.
Twelve essays make up this collection, which focuses on the theories and practices of arts around the world, with specific attention to those that have been ignored or marginalized by analytics or Anglo-American aesthetics and philosophy of art. It also aims to extend ideas about aesthetics and art. Some of the topics: Chinese visual artists and their use of contemporary forms of Western art, musical traditions in Vietnam, theories of Islamic art, the function of the gamelan in central Java, Japanese architecture, and Balinese aesthetics. Contributors are scholars of philosophy, art, aesthetics, and criticism, and are based around the world. There is no index. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The golden age of cinema; Hollywood, 1929-1945.
Those who sneer that Hollywood never had a golden age should peruse this to discover the innovations in scripting, cinematography, directing, acting, editing and visuals accomplished in a relatively low-tech age under working conditions that could only be described as gentrified slavery. Jewell (American film, U. of Southern California) gives good reasons for his enthusiasm, clearly describing the years when Hollywood did its best for a patronage beset with economic depression and war. Writing for the general reader, he describes Hollywood's response to ever-mounting social and political crises, methods of producing and exhibiting movies, innovations such as sound and color film production along with special effects, censorship and how studios got around it, innovations in narrative and style, genres such as the western or gangster flick and, of course, the women's film, and the star as business commodity. The photographs of productions in progress and publicity stills are fascinating. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Hermeneutical thinking in Chinese philosophy.
This is the first volume of a series intended to provide stand-alone supplements to the regular issues of the Journal of Chinese Philosophy that will focus on philosophical topics or themes central to both Chinese philosophy and general philosophy. Edited by Pfistre (religion and philosophy, Hong Kong Baptist U., China), the volume focuses on the topic of hermeneutics in Chinese philosophy. It contains seven papers addressing basic Chinese philosophical orientations towards hermeneutic understanding, hermeneutic explorations in the writings of philosopher Zhuangzi (ca. fourth century BCE), affinities between German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002) and Confucius (551-479 BCE), and textual and philosophical understanding in the works of Zhu Xi (1130-1200). (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Homer, 2d ed.
Introducing and commenting on the most important Greek writer, Powell (classics emeritus, U. of Wisconsin-Madison) assumes readers have read The Iliad and The Odyssey in translation but do not necessarily read Greek. There being so many theories about so much regarding the man himself and his work, Powell limits himself to the one or two most widely accepted for each issue. The first edition was published in 2004. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
How to make opportunity equal; race and contributive justice.
Gomberg (philosophy, Chicago State U.) looks closely at what determines the distribution of education and therefore the distribution of types of labor. He takes a different view of the theory of justice than those of Rawls, Sen, Nozick and Walzer in that he does not focus on how goods are fairly obtained and distributed, concentrating instead on contributive opportunities and duties, in which all participants take on a portion of the routine labor required to advance and maintain society. He confronts all the questions, including those about differences in intelligence and "natural" propensity, and asks whether Marx may have had a couple of good ideas after all. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
