"...Given the elastic qualities of vampirism, it is not surprising that the book comes together as a collage of artistic and literary artefacts that are rather impressive in their range....
...Vampire Nation presents a daunting task, with its frequent references to Jacques Lacan and Jacques Derrida (among others) and its emulation of their deconstructive strategies. But for those willing to take the challenge, there is plenty to bite into in this book.” ―Dragana Obradovic, The Times Higher Education Supplement
The Jewish Publication Society (JPS) will now be published by the University of Nebraska Press and we are pleased to be able to share their latest catalogue. The current list includes nearly 300 scholarly and popular works of history, philosophy, ethics, and theology. JPS is best known for its acclaimed Bible commentaries, and the most widely read English translation of the Hebrew Bible and the JPS Tanakh.
”Bring on the Books for Everybody is a lively and entertaining assault on some widely held shibboleths about popular culture.... It is a salutary to read a work that takes the ordinary reader seriously while engaging in literary criticism." ―Andrew Hadfield, Times Literary Supplement
Hitchens’s most incisive reflections on the war on terror, the war in Iraq, and the state of the contemporary Left were brought together in Christopher Hitchens and His Critics.
Hitchens’ obituary read:
"...the left's biggest journalistic star, writing and broadcasting with wit, style and originality in a period when such qualities were in short supply among those of similar political persuasion. Nobody else spoke with such confidence and passion for what Americans called "liberalism" and Hitchens (regarding "liberal" as too "evasive") called "socialism"." ―Peter Wilby The Guardian
"This book brings together a canonical collection of her writing, but it is more than a reader: she rewrites the genealogy of sexuality studies, giving us a precise intellectual history of sexuality studies that recognises the pivotal role played by academic homosexuals other than the now-feted and individuated Michel Foucault. She reminds us that British sociologists such as Mary McIntosh, Jeffrey Weeks and Ken Plummer, as well as American gay historians including Esther Newton, Jeffrey Escoffier, Martha Vicinus, John D'Emilio and Jonathan Ned Katz and many more besides, ploughed this new field." ―Sally R. Munt, Times Higher Education
Planned Obsolescence is a wonderfully clear and honest assessment of the present state of academic publishing and possible future directions. The digital age offers us a chance to exit the ivory tower and engage in more meaningful collaborations with peers and a more inclusive dialogue with readers. Fitzpatrick's study is a must-read, not just for all of those directly involved - academics, publishers, university administrators, librarians - but also for anybody interested in the future of the humanities." ―Alessandra Tosi, Times Higher Education
"Robert W. Jackson explores the tortured bistate bureaucratic and political prelude to the construction of the 1.6-mile underwater corridor, which, by the way, was named not for the region’s Dutch roots, but for the project’s first chief engineer, Clifford Holland of Brooklyn, who died at 41 of heart failure in a sanitarium while undergoing a tonsillectomy. " ― Sam Robert, The New York Times
Spring/Summer 2012 catalogues are now available to view online and download. Please click on the links below for each press to view the forthcoming releases:
Øyvind Vågnes’ current title, Zaprudered, has received a review in The Irish Times almost exactly 48 years after the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy
The review read:
"In a newly published book, Zaprudered: The Kennedy Assassination Film in Visual Culture , the Norwegian scholar Øyvind Vågnes attempts to trace the tangled history of the film and the ways in which it has travelled through popular culture, imprinting itself on our collective memory of the assassination...."
"...Vågnes’s book is dedicated to discussions of less well-known video-art articulations and critiques of methods of display in “commemorative” museum exhibitions. In the process it illustrates how, having been variously interpreted as a precious historical document, a formative moment in depictions of on-screen violence and even an early example of citizen journalism, the film ended up being unexpectedly “canonised as an aesthetic object”." ―John Byrne, The Irish Times
Andre Gaudreault ‘s current title, Film and Attraction, has received a review in the Times Literary Supplement
The review read:
“...determinedly academic.... [Gaudreault's] monograph is as much about historiography as about film, and his project is to persuade his professional colleagues to reconsider the first twenty years of film, roughly from 1890 to 1910, and to alter the way they have traditionally approached the period.... it is thoughtful and provocative." Times Literary Supplement
"Davis brings to life the stories of Jewish saloon keepers, rabbis, and alcohol producers faced with the temperance movement and increased anti-Semitism…Davis focuses uniquely on the implications and impact of this period on one ethnic and religious population." Library Journal
"The book is narrated through a set of vignettes that tell of Hunt's wartime encounters with Bosnian people and politicians on the inside of the conflict, and policymakers and powerful international actors on the outside. These compelling accounts alternate between inside and outside in an effort to present opposing experiences of the conflict. In doing so, she offers a rich picture of the complexities and peculiarities of Bosnia in both war and peace, and the book's scope is vast.....general readers, students and activists will find much of value in a book that is more accessible than most academic works on the conflict." Times Higher Education
"This smart, very funny anthology includes some of the best work by any writer on country, metal, teen pop, Eighties hip-hop and Eminem. It's the only book you'll ever read that compares Jay-Z's The Blueprint to Huey Lewis' Sports - and means it as a compliment." Jody Rosen, Rolling Stone
"Over 10 years, the Adlers conducted interviews with 135 people who self- injured, and trawled through thousands of posts on internet forums dedicated to self-harmers.... So how worried should people be by self-harm? " The Guardian
"...insightful and intellectually brave in places, and makes a significant intervention in the development of queer theory. The Queer Art of Failure is also utterly charming.... For all the humour in its content and in its style, this is a very serious work." Times Higher Education
"Mr. Schulian's most impressive quality, more admirable than his ear or knack for a phrase (his Nolan Ryan had a "heart like a blister"), is his generosity....Mr. Schulian made one generation of athletes worthy subjects of wonder. Had Hollywood not called, you suspect, he'd have done the same for another.” Wall Street Journal
" [Balsamo’s] exploration of technological innovation and digital cultures takes the reader on a journey through 15 years of multimedia collaborations, offering rich descriptions of specific projects that necessitated the development of shared meanings across cultural domains in order to create new technologies, pedagogies and technological literacies.
This is an erudite yet accessible cross-disciplinary text that makes a substantial contribution to the field of cultural studies, and also serves as a welcome and timely call to arms not only for scholars and scientists in the humanities and technology, but also for those engaged in educational policy, institutional strategy and innovation. " Helen Keegan, Times Higher Education
"...a "warts and all" political portrait...The book also focuses heavily on his political transformation. It tells how Guthrie, born in Oklahoma in 1912 to the son of a crooked real estate agent, travelled to California as a sign-writer, before gaining his political education via those he met as a radio show host and columnist for the communist newspaper People's World." The Guardian
"...if one wants to understand how and why the West misrepresents the East, it is much more useful to turn to work that is free of literary obscurantism, such as Simon’s books on crime fiction...The book is great fun to read..." –Robert Irwin, Times Literary Supplement
"...the book does a good job of explaining the foundations of climate science to an interested novice...
Scattered throughout the book are Mary Edna Fraser's batiks, inspired by satellite and aerial photographs (such as Gulf Oil Spill, top and Bhutan's Himalayas, above), which turn global catastrophes into works of art...
...beautiful illustrations... illustrating our planet's unique beauty in the hope that, once impressed, you will want to protect it."- Catherine Brahic, environment news editor, NewScientist,
“Bernard E. Rollin's autobiography, is, foremost, the story of his courageous struggle against animal cruelty and abuse, both professional and personal....
In this book, he criticizes scientific ideology for being “ethics-free” and speaks out against the (then) common denial by scientists of animal pain and consciousness.” - Andrew Linzey, The Times Literary Supplement,
Musician Tom Waits' book of poetry and photographs, Hard Ground, has received a review in The Guardian
The review read:
“[T]he poems seek to articulate a sense of life's unfathomable unfairnesses, the knowledge that something, for no good reason, has gone terribly wrong. But alongside that there's always the feeling that something better might turn up – after all, desperate conditions breed desperate hope....
[T]his is a powerful book. O'Brien's subjects – white, black, male, female, young and old, a couple of families with small children – are all photographed against the same grey background. Some look defiant, some haunted or afraid. At the end of the book there's a series of brief quotes from each of the subjects. Some lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina, others have been dragged down by drink, drugs or mental illness... [Hard Ground is a] it's a concrete acknowledgment of people whom most of us would prefer to pass by in silence, an avowal that they exist, and that they can do so with full human dignity.” - Adam Newey, The Guardian,
Subsequent to the arrest of the former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic the following books about Bosnia, the 1990's genocides and the aftermath of the Bosnian war may be of interest to you:
Diana Kennedy's Oaxaca al Gusto has been named Winner of the 2011 James Beard Cookbook of the Year Awards
About the book
In Oaxaca al Gusto, Kennedy takes us on an amazing journey into one of the most outstanding and colourful cuisines in the world. The state of Oaxaca is one of the most diverse in Mexico, with many different cultural and linguistic groups, often living in areas difficult to access. Each group has its own distinctive cuisine and Diana Kennedy has spent many years traveling the length and breadth of Oaxaca to record in words and photographs “these little-known foods, both wild and cultivated, the way they were prepared and the part they play in the daily or festive life of the communities I visited.” Oaxaca al Gusto is the fruit of these labours—and the culmination of Diana Kennedy’s life’s work.
Matthew Solomon's Disappearing Tricks has won the Kraszna-Krausz Best Moving Image Book Award
The Judges Comments:
“A fascinating enquiry into the early history of film, especially as it involved magicians and magic tricks. Matthew Solomon explores spiritualism and suspension of disbelief in a compelling investigation of the integration of cinema into mainstream entertainment.” - Hugh Hudson (Chair), Peter Bradshaw and Sir Christopher Frayling, judges of the 2011 Kraszna-Krausz Best Moving Image Book Award
"This welcome book tackles an important and neglected topic in an interesting and insightful manner. Full of empirical detail and written in an engaging style, Livestock/Deadstock is a valuable contribution to an emerging literature focusing on agricultural knowledge practices and the complexities and ambiguities of human-animal relationships in farming." — Lewis Holloway, University of Hull
“Dungan’s Book retraces in detail Gallatin’s family history in Geneva as well as his subsequent career in the United States, using his private correspondence to highlight his shifting perspectives on ongoing events. Published on the 250th anniversary of Gallatin’s birth, his biography is clearly designed a belated official tribute, providing a useful ground for any further scholarly research on the subject; it does moreover offer an interesting example of how modern representative regimes took shape from the constant confrontation of the different national traditions.” –Biancamaria Fontana, Times Literary Supplement
“[In Twilight of Impunity] Armatta - a journalist, scholar and human rights lawyer who had a front-row seat at the proceedings - trains her focus on the trial of Milosevic itself rather than attempting to offer a pure history of the conflicts in Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Croatia. Nevertheless, indications of the many different versions of that history do emerge, and clearly the complexities are huge....
The intricacies of history in the region make the book's chronology, bibliography, "cast of characters" list and boxed explanations as essential as they are welcome in digesting this complex story. The detail is overwhelming at times, and in places one finger really must be kept on the glossary. This is not a history, but it tells a history; it is not a law report, but it reflects how justice might - or might not - work.... Armatta's absorbing work suggests that it is found somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of views on such events, and that the victors do not have a monopoly on truth or morality. That much, at least, is certain.” - Times Higher Education
In light of the Burma elections, why not learn more about dictator Than Shwe's rise to power from this informative, one-of-a-kind biography?
“One balks at the notion of men so undeserving as Than Shwe as the subject of biographies. But evil and tyranny must not only be loathed – it must also be understood. That Shwe, Burma’s ruthless, brutal dictator, is perhaps the foremost proponent of such qualities in our time, and thus thoroughly merits the attention given to him by this scholarly and timely book.... For years Rogers has dedicated his life to exposing the tragic wrongdoings in this former British colony and this, the first ever biography of the Beast of Burma, is the ultimate fruit of his efforts.... [F]or anyone with a serious interest in Burma, or in the way that evil develops and is allowed to develop, this book is a must-read.” - Alex Deane, Director of Big Brother Watch, City AM
“...whereas for Euro-Americans the path is from Keynesian consensus to its unravelling by the savagery of neoliberal capitalism. Ross is one of those keen to point out that now, with historical hindsight, the Keynesian moment where state security (in the form of public pensions, education and so on) offsets the wilder excesses of capital increasingly looks like a historical blip. But he points out that not only did the temporary Fordist truce rely on imperialism, rigid social hierarchies and a reservoir of unpaid domestic labour, but that today is no simple neo-Victorian age: pre- and post-Fordist moments are qualitatively different. For whereas the Great Depression was the result of a collapse of capitalist control, contemporary precarity is the result of capitalist control, as organizations have eagerly embraced the flexploitation of short-term contracts and outsourcing as the new template for work . . . as we are encouraged to be entrepreneurial subjects scrabbling over each other for success in a so-called ‘meritocracy’.” – Radical Philosophy,
"From the craggy vineyards of Mount Etna to the tiny moscato-producing island of Pantelleria, and from every angle of its wine hierarchy, Mr. Camuto extracts fascinating and illuminating details about Sicily, bringing to life the characters, conflicts and family dynamics that define a culture and its wines. It’s a beautiful, enthralling work, eternally wistful and hopeful, much like Sicily itself. " - Eric Asimov New York Times
Abadie's The Professional Guinea Pig has been included in an article in the London Review of Books, questioning the ethics surrounding contemporary clinical trials and lifestyle and safety of “professional guinea pigs”
“Lodged somewhere between the secrecy and the scandals is the work of a new generation of ethnographers who are quietly studying the way the clinical trials business operates. What interests Jill Fisher, Andria Petryna and Roberto Abadie is not so much the occasional outrage uncovered by investigative reporters, or even the formal regulation of clinical trials. They are more concerned with the everyday pressures and moral choices facing the workers who man the production line: the private sector Physicians who conduct the trials, the study of monitors and trial co-ordinators who oversee them, and the research subjects who take experimental drugs often in exchange for free medical care or a wage. What does clinical research look like when everyone is in it for the money?" – Carl Elliott, London Review of Books
Marsha Rosengarten’s HIV Interventionshas won the British Sociological Association Sociology of Health and Illness Book of the Year Prize
Praise for the book:
“A very complex and important book that bridges popular intellectual/cultural studies of HIV and feminist science/social studies in medicine. Both audiences will learn a great deal from this book, which calls for a rethinking of how technologies, especially treatments, have reframed the body in general, and of those who have HIV in particular.” - Cindy Patton, Simon Fraser University
"This book is effectively the first in ten years to engage critically with HIV science and technology, and hence is long overdue." - Catherine Waldby, author of Tissue Economies: Blood, Organs, and Cell Lines in Late Capitalism
“Power – Where is it? is both compelling and depressing. A fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and professor of public administration at Canada’s Université de Moncton, he searches out power in the Westminster-style democracies – Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand – and in America.... He says our political institutions “have come off their moorings” and his analysis makes gripping reading.... [T]he sheer scope of his canvas is impressive, as is his detailed, anecdotal knowledge of Anglo American governments and their inadequacies. His thought-provoking account of the state of western democracy pinpoints what must be a fundamental weakness. We now have a cacophony of centres of influence all vying to be heard and it is increasingly difficult to find out who is in charge.” – Sue Cameron, Financial Times
"Every practitioner and student of international relations should read Armatta’s book. It’s a glimpse into the crazy world of state-sponsored criminal violence, and a discovery journey into how to strengthen the reach of international justice. Still, it should also be read with pride, for the West acted—imperfectly and late, yes, but we acted. And ultimately we did stop Milosevic and brought him to trial. He forfeited his life and, ironically, died the way he lived—manipulating, lying, bullying, and heartless. No more fitting end could have emerged. And it will be a powerful beginning of a new era, in places like Darfur and Sudan, if we but have the courage to live the lessons we’ve learned here." - Wesley Clark, Washington Post
Gabrielle Burton's Searching for Tamsen Donner reviewed on Fresh Air
"An unforgettable feminist family-on-the-road saga the likes of which I've never read before. The Burton family stops at lonely pioneer graves off highways and swims in the Great Salt Lake, and all the while, fledgling writer Gabrielle is making daily calculations about how to fulfill her responsibilities as a wife and mother, without (like Tamsen Donner) discovering all too late that "her duty had cost her her life." ... Both Tamsen Donner, Madonna of the Trail, and Gabrielle Burton, feminist mother, turned out to be pioneers, carving new roads for women to travel. Both their stories are absolutely unforgettable." - Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air
"This is a beautifully illustrated book of serious scholarship and the three editors and the other contributing authors are to be congratulated...This gives the book a unique quality, offering anyone interested in colonial and post-colonial Algeria a different way of looking not only at the city of Algiers but also at the nature of the colonial experience in Algeria. To read Walls of Algiers is therefore to stimulate reflection. This is not because one disagrees with the analytical stance of the authors but because Walls of Algiers provokes new questions especially for those of us who experienced the period of decolonization, however distantly, and who have since spent much of their subsequent academic career studying the events of the period." - Kay Adamson, Glasgow Caledonian University, Reviews in History
Arnold J. Bauer's The Search for the Codex Cardona has received a positive review in The Library Journal
"A chance invitation to view a rare book said to have been produced in early Mexico led Bauer to a quarter-century investigation into the origin and ownership of the Codex Cardona. This ancient book, filled with lavish decorations akin to a Book of Hours and including maps with tax data like the Domesday Book, was written in Mexico around the mid-16th century. As in the best suspense novels, Bauer begins in the middle of the action. Obsessed with tracing the provenance and present location of this historical volume, he follows clues into the murky world of international antiquities dealers and prestigious auction houses. His intriguingly conspiratorial tone enables the reader to be privy to his search for the answers to the scholarly riddles." - Brian RenVall, Mesalands Community Collage, The Library Journal
"War demands a soundtrack. Seventeenth-century Scottish troops listened to pipers; Hitler's army would play Ride of the Valkryies. But after interviewing ... soldiers for his recent book, Sound Targets, Jonathan Pieslak discovered that the iPod is now a combat weapon.... Along with RPGs and M16s, soldiers took their MP3s to the Iraqi frontline. Tracks got them charged up before battle, or calmed them down afterwards....
A musicologist, Pieslak discusses why these songs triggered a "mental transformation".... His interviews raise an old question: how does violent music affect the listener's behaviour?" - Aditya Chakrabortty, The Guardian
Cary Nelson's No University Is an Island has received a positive review in the Times Higher Education
"Academic freedom, as imbedded in the customs and practices of institutions of higher education, is an essential ingredient of intellectual life. It ensures the remarkable progress in all disciplines and underpins the vast changes that have collectively defined the world in which we live. It is difficult, if not impossible to imagine that the modern university could not exist, much less succeed, without it....
Cary Nelson seeks to provide [guidance for the futureof academic freedom] in this engaging book that starts with the premise that academic freedom is under attack and that it needs “saving”.... The scholarship is extensive and makes several telling points...." - Charles R. Middleton, Times Higher Education
Ariel Dorfman to deliver the Eighth Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture
World-acclaimed Chilean-American author, human rights activist and distinguished professor of Literature and Latin-American Studies, Ariel Dorfman, will present the Eighth Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture at Johannesburg’s Linder Auditorium on July 31, 2010.
Dorfman served as the cultural advisor to Salvador Allende, Chile’s president from 1970 to 1973. The democratically elected Allende died during the 1973 coup, staged by Augusto Pinochet. This coup also resulted in the death and disappearance of thousands of Chileans and forced Dorfman into exile.
The author of many novels, plays, poems, essays and films will speak on the theme “Memory and Justice” at the 2010 Annual Lecture.
Click Here to purchase Dorfman's latest title The Empire’s Old Clothes
“There's a certain Keats-like romance in "discovering" an artist who died before their time, before their gifts were truly appreciated. And so it is with Arthur Russell who, thanks to a series of posthumous releases of and on his music, has in the last few years come to more widespread – and deserving – attention. The latest of these eulogies comes from Tim Lawrence, whose recently released biography, Hold on to Your Dreams, adds flesh to the basic facts of Russell's life...” – The Guardian
Quietus has just announced that Arthur’s Landing, a collective of musicians and collaborators who originally worked with Arthur Russell, will perform their debut UK gig on 20th February at the ICA to coincide with the launch of Hold On to Your Dreams, Tim Lawrence’s critically acclaimed biography of Arthur Russell.
Canyon Sam, author of Sky Train, will be on Diane Rehm's nationally aired NPR show in the USA on February the 23rd 2010
"Canyon Sam's Sky Train powerfully moves the heart, as it brings to life deep truths about our world today, about Tibet, the land and people and especially its outstanding women. Just as important is the author's own revelatory discovery of 'Tibet' as a compassionate, wise, and down to earth state-of-mind essential to the survival of the whole world. Words cannot express how wonderful is this honest, generous, and perceptive book." -Robert Thurman, Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Buddhist Studies at Columbia University
Impunity
Review in Radical Philosophy
mes reviews Power: Where is it?
