Blackwell Publishing
Human nature; the categorial framework.
This is the introductory volume of a planned trilogy providing a philosophical overview of human nature that Hacker (emeritus, St John's College, Oxford, UK) intends to extend in later volumes preliminarily titled Human Nature: The Cognitive and Cogitative Powers and Human Nature: The Affective and Moral Powers. The volume, which argues for Aristotelian and Wittgensteinian perspectives on human nature as against Platonist and Cartesian views, provides the structural background for the investigations to come by examining the categorical concepts underlying discussions of human nature, from the more general concepts of substance, causation, power, and agency to the more specific and anthropological categories of rationality, mind, body, and person. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Introduction to the archaeology of ancient Egypt.
In this introductory text, Bard (archaeology, Boston University) guides readers through the pharaonic dynasties and the Greco-Roman period, providing an overview of ancient Egyptian culture, its monuments, and its civilization. In the first three chapters, she examines the history of the field of Egyptology and Egyptian archaeology, explains archaeological theory and methods as they are applied to the study of ancient Egypt, and describes the ancient Egyptian culture's resources, agriculture, and animal husbandry. In the following seven chapters she presents the main periods of Egyptian prehistory and pharaonic history. The art program includes about 120 color and b&w illustrations, including artifacts, maps, and site and building plans. Chapter summaries and questions are included. The text is intended for broad survey courses, and can also be used to provide background information for more advanced study. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Just wars; from Cicero to Iraq.
Bellamy (peace and conflict studies, U. of Queensland) begins by mapping the evolution of the Just War tradition and the many controversies that shaped it from Antiquity to Postmodernism. Then he investigates the normative dilemmas posed by contemporary wars with reference to the Just War tradition. For the present era, he looks at terrorism, pre-emptive, aerial bombing, and humanitarian intervention. Distributed in the US by Blackwell Publishing. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Kant; the three critiques.
Ward (philosophy, U. of York) interprets the main themes in German philosopher Immanuel Kant's (1724-1804) three Critiques so as to put them squarely within the tradition of idealism, a tradition that includes Berkeley and Hume. His ideas concerning knowledge of objects in space ad time, the ground of moral obligation, and the judgments of beauty he sees in part as reactions against Hume's empiricism. Distributed in the US by Blackwell Publishing. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The law and management of building subcontracts, 2d ed.
In this update of the 2004 edition, McGuinness, a senior consultant in a UK firm who has managed many adjudications arising over building subcontracts, examines the most common issues that lead to disputes in the contractor/subcontractor relationship. He aims to overcome the lack of published records of decisions over such disputes, that works against a consistent legal approach. Incorporating recent case law and the 2005 Joint Contracts Tribunal Limited (JCT) Standard for Building Contracts, new chapters address matters involved in the growing trend of subcontractors selected by a third party, management of the subcontract, work contracts under management contracting arrangements, and sub-subcontracts. References are the cases cited, listed in a summary table. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The making of modern social psychology; the hidden story of how an international social science was created.
Formed in the newness of the American identity but firmly rooted in hundreds of years of European scholarship, social psychology was not even considered a social science within the living memory of those now considered firmly middle-aged, yet it has grown sufficiently to be considered, as the title suggests, an international social science. Its success as a valid field of study recognized as such came from the efforts of a small band, the Committee on Transnational Social Psychology, the members of which weathered invasions in Czechoslovakia and coups in Chile and Argentina. Moscovici (social psychology, l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Socials, Paris) and Markova (social psychology, U. of Stirling) bring this nearly forgotten committee and its exploits to light, along with the serious intellectual, methodological and political barriers it faced. This intellectual detective story is both accessible and informed. Distributed by Blackwell Publishing. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Manuel Castells; the theory of the network society.
Stalder (media economy, U. of Applied Sciences and Arts, Switzerland) summarizes and explains the core theoretical and empirical arguments of influential sociologist Manuel Castells, best known for his work on "network societies." Stalder first explores Castell's shift from emphasis on conflict to emphasis on forms and situates this theoretical development against the background of the success and failure of the early Marxist urban sociology. He then offers chapters on Castell's analyses of information capitalism, social movements as the subjects of contemporary social change, and the crisis of liberal democracy and the transformation of governance into the "network state." He builds upon these discussions in order to examine Castell's concepts of the "space of flows," "timeless time," and networks as the dominant form of social organization before concluding with an assessment of Castell's theory as a whole. Distributed in the US by Blackwell Publishing. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The meaning of theism.
Drawing on presentations to conferences at the end of each Easter vacation since 1995 at the University of Reading, the RATIO series discusses topics of central importance in philosophy. Here, seven papers from April 2005 consider what belief in God or its absence means in the flow and perceived significance of people's lives. They are not concerned with traditional philosophical arguments for and against the existence of God. The contributing philosophy scholars are mostly from Britain, but also South Africa and the US. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Medieval philosophy; essential readings with commentary.
The 46 readings are arranged first by the three philosophical disciplines as understood by Augustine: logic and epistemology, physics and metaphysics, and ethics. Within these large sections are subsections on such matters as the problem of universals, human nature and the philosophy of the soul, and freedom of the will. Besides Augustine, some of the regular suspects are Aquinas, Boethius, Anselm Avicenna, Averroës, Duns Scotus, and Occam. References are provided for further study on particular topics or writers. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Mergers and acquisitions.
Angwin (strategic management, University of Warwick, UK) collects perspectives from diverse areas, including finance, psychology, marketing, and management, to challenge conventional approaches to mergers and acquisitions (M&A). He asserts that, "Rather than just finding alternative theories to apply, or new methods to use for their own sake, we should be more sensitive to what the M&A process actually is, and allow it to speak for itself." The book takes on the structure of the M&A process itself, with chapters grouped in sections on issues related to pre-acquisition, post-acquisition, and integration. As background, a primer on mergers and acquisitions is included, along with a case study and a glossary. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
New Labour, 2d ed.
Drier (social sciences, Roehampton U., UK) and Martell (sociology, U. of Sussex, UK) first published this work assessing what was new about British New Labour in 1998, a mere four years after its unveiling at the Labour Party's annual conference in 1994. In the first edition, they argued that what was essentially new about New Labour was that it was part of a political engagement with the New Right and the changing economic, social, and cultural conditions of a post- Thatcherite Britain. They retain that basic argument in this new edition, but expand their coverage to include discussion of Labour Party reform and policy over the bulk of Tony Blair's remaining years as Prime Minister. Distributed in the US by Blackwell Publishing. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Postwar Hollywood, 1946-1962.
Casper (American film, U. of Southern California) offers a substantial examination of Hollywood cinema in the two decades following WWII. He describes the changing characteristics of the business end of Hollywood as well as individual genres such as comedy and social satire as they were influenced by and responded to recent history; censorship; the McCarthy witch-hunts; racial struggles; and developments in visual and sound technology, style, and public interests (as embodied in films employing documentary and psychological-sociological realism). (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Project management in construction, 5th ed.
Walker (real estate and construction, emeritus, University of Hong Kong) adopts a systems approach to organization analysis and design. This fifth edition addresses the increasing complexity facing major construction by examining advances in major theoretical concepts underlying project management, together with practical developments such as supply chain management, clusters, prime contracting, and public/private partnerships. New ideas such as chaos and complexity theory are examined in the context of construction project management, and aspects of organization theory, such as trust and hierarchy, have been further developed in this edition. The topic of sustainability is discussed as a powerful new environmental force impacting both the project management process and the industry and its clients. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The romantic poets; a guide to criticism.
Strong interest in the Romantic poets continues, as indicated by almost 200 years of open and ongoing criticism and recent additions to the canon. This presents key critical texts with critical histories and extracts from contemporary responders to modern critics along with lists of further reading, useful editions, and reference material. Subjects include Blake, with commentary including that from Northrop Frye, David Erdman and V.A. De Luca; Wordsworth, with Geoffrey Hartman, Alan Liu and David Bromwich; Coleridge, with J.L. Lowes, John Beer and J.J. McGann; Byron, with Joseph Mazzini, T.S. Eliot, McGann and Jerome Christensen; Shelley, with C.E. Pulos, Earl Wasserman and Timothy Clark; Keats, with J.G.Lockhart, Walter Jackson Bate, Marjorie Levinson and Nicholas Roe; and newcomers such as John Clare and women poets. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Semantic relationism.
Fine (philosophy and mathematics, New York U.), who specializes in metaphysics, logic and philosophy of language, believes there may be representational relationships between expressions or elements of thought that are not grounded in the intrinsic representational features of the expressions or elements themselves. He believes this idea can lead to solving a number of standard question. Fine begins by analyzing coordination amongst variables as he describes approaches ranging from the Tarskian to the instantial, algebraic, and relational, proposing a relational semantics for first-order logic. He then describes coordination within language, showing possible solutions to Frege's puzzle, rejecting compositionality, and reconsidering referentialism. He then examines coordination within thought, including strict co-representation and the cognitive puzzle, and analyzes coordination between speakers, working with Kripke's and related puzzles. He closes with a brief passage on semantical morals and ideas for further work. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The shadow side of field work; exploring the blurred borders between ethnography and life.
In this collection of 14 accessible essays, distinguished academics describe the otherwise unacknowledged aspects of research that influence knowledge, texts and methodologies and by doing so create more confidence in ethnographic knowledge. They cover the "secrets" of the ethnographic encounter located in personal family narratives and other intimate situations; acknowledgment of the reality of the shadows of ethnography inherent in even the most detached of observers as they recognize their own empathy, intuition and sense of revelation; understanding of epistemic shadows in such intense situations as terminal care discourse and the totality of sensory perception; the politics of hidden power in considering the impact of ethnographic studies; and the personal shadows inherent in studying the Other. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The small screen; how television equips us to live in the information age.
Deliberately departing from television criticism that focuses on the medium's contribution to cultural damage, Ott (media studies, Colorado State U.) instead examines its usefulness — best demonstrated in the 1990's — in equipping the public with the psychological capacity to negotiate and adapt to the changes brought by the Information Age. Drawing upon Kenneth Burke's theory of "Literature as Equipment for Living," he discusses television's role in social change, shows that embrace the future of information technology (exemplified by "The Simpsons") and those that represent a reluctance to do so, deemed "nostalgia television." He also gives attention to the roles of reality television and other phenomena in aiding understanding of diversity and cultural cross sections in America. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Spain's centuries of crisis, 1300-1474.
Ruiz (history, U. of California, Los Angeles) has performed the laudable and demanding task of writing a lucid account of the history of Spain during an era of intense change. The stories of the rulers and their shifting relations with the nobility, the cities, and other kingdoms are discussed in initial chronological chapters that focus on Castile and Aragon. A lengthy chapter is devoted to the complex and changing laws and relationships between Christians, Jews, and Muslims. A final chapter rounds out the text with a description of the cultural achievements of the era. A detailed annotated bibliography is provided. This volume will be an excellent resource for the undergraduate classroom as well as the interested general reader. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Spain, from dictatorship to democracy; 1939 to the present.
Tusell (1945-2005) taught contemporary history in the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Spain's Open University) and was a leading figure among the intellectuals of post-Franco Spain. First published in Spanish as Dictadura franquista y democracia, 1939-2004 (Critica, 2005), this text is the last of the 50-plus books he wrote on contemporary Spanish history during his lifetime. Tusell traces Spain's development under Franco and its subsequent transition to democracy up to the present day. Following an introductory overview of Franco and Francoism, the text explores the country's political, social, and economic transformation, and its developments in popular culture and the arts, over six distinct periods, from 1939 — the period leading up to Francoism — to 2004 and the tensions between democracy and terrorism. Translated into English by Rosemary Clark (Downing College; Spanish, U. of Cambridge, UK). (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The state of the university; academic knowledges and the knowledge of God.
Lest we forget, the university was once exclusively a faith-based institution. However, theology seems to have fallen by the wayside in many institutions of higher knowledge. Hauerwas (Christina ethics, Duke U./law, Duke Law School) argues that theology is assumed to have a type of knowledge that is in some way deficient when compared to other subjects, the difference being that other disciplines make state and economics seem inevitable. He also argues that the loss of Christian theology undermines the university's ability to form people who can imagine a different world through critical and disciplined reflection. He describes the Gospel and cultural formations, the end of religious pluralism, the pathos of the university in the case of Stanley Fish, schooling the heart, lessons learned from Yoder, Wolin, Burrell and Wendell Berry, the real state of the secular, and the importance of loving God, the poor and learning from Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
