Stanford U. Press

The kingdom and the glory; for a theological genealogy of economy and government (Homo Sacer II,2).

Italian philosopher and radical political theorist Agamben (IUAV U., Venice) inquires into the paths by which, and the reasons why, power in the West has assumed the form of an oikonomia, that is, a government of people. He begins with Michel Foucault's account of the genealogy of governmentality, but shows how it fails to be complete, and extends it to the early centuries of Christian theology, which witness the first, tentative elaboration of the Trinitarian doctrine in the form of an oikonomia. His topics include the mystery of the economy, the kingdom and the government, angelology and bureaucracy, and the archaeology of glory. There is no index. The original Italian is Il Regno e la Gloria. Per una genealogia teologica dell'economia e del governo, for which no publication data is cited. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Paradise redefined; transnational Chinese students and the quest for flexible citizenship in the developed world.

Fong (education, Harvard Graduate School of Education) offers what could be considered a follow up to her earlier ethnographic study of the social, economic, and psychological makeup of children born since China's one-child policy took effect in 1979. In this book, she reconnects with many of the children from her previous study. The result offers considerable insight into Chinese globalization from the perspective of her examination of the expectations and experiences that determined how many Chinese students made decisions about studying abroad, remaining abroad, immigration, and returning to China. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Releasing the image; from literature to new media.

This collection of eleven essays challenges the notion that images are mere static representations, and suggests they are self-referential and generative of their own meanings. The contributors are academics from around the world who mostly teach literature, art history and cultural studies — including Giorgio Agamben. The essays are organized in three topical sections on where images originate, the impact of new media, and the future trajectories of the study of images released by new media. The essays are written for an academic audience versed in the dense technical language and style of phenomenologists like Husserl, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, as well as Gilles Deleuze's post-phenomenological work. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Science and conscience; the life of James Franck.

Lemmerich, a physicist-turned historian, offers what it said to be the first book-length biography of James Franck (1882-1964), considered one of the most respected 20th century scientists for his many contributions to physics. Franck's youth and education are discussed, as is his work in atomic research, his 1926 Nobel Prize award, and his resignation from a professorship at a German university to protest the Nazi's anti-Jewish policies, as well as his subsequent emigration to the United States and his new career. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

U.S. presidents and foreign policy mistakes.

Walker (emeritus, politics and global studies, Arizona State U., US) and Malici (Zirve U., Turkey) analyze the foreign policy mistakes of American presidents from within a framework of a general theory of mistakes. They begin by defining the kinds of mistakes that occur and the differences between them and provide illustrations of these different types of mistakes drawn from US diplomatic and military history. They then discuss strategies for avoiding mistakes and fixing them when they occur, drawing on game theory, role theory, exchange theory, social network theory, and signed graph theory and examining evidence from computer simulations by social scientists and the scholarly literature on world politics and history. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)