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State U. of New York Pr.

Titles appearing in Reference — Research Book News — December 2011
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A beautiful and fruitful place; selected Rensselaerwijck papers; v.2.

Ed. by Elisabeth Paling Funk and Martha Dickinson Shattuck.
Excelsior Editions, ©2011    272 p.    $85.00    F122
978-1-4384-3595-4

This second volume in a set of works showcasing research on the New Netherland colony in North America and Dutch colonial settlements, presents papers drawn from annual seminars on the subject. The essays cover a wide variety of topics, from agrarian practices, to the legacy of Dutch settlement in New York, to internal politics, to the interaction of the Dutch with other colonial powers both in the colonies and in Europe. Papers are academic in tone but no author information is provided. Funk is an independent scholar who has written extensively on the New Netherland colony and Shattuck is a researcher with the New Netherland Research Center. An imprint of State University of New York Press. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The landmarks of New York; an illustrated record of the city's historic buildings, 5th ed.

Diamonstein-Spielvogel, Barbaralee.
State U. of New York Pr., ©2011    750 p.    $75.00    F128
978-1-4384-3769-9

This fifth edition of a catalog of New York City's architectural and historical landmarks adds 183 new landmarks and 39 new historic districts, with information current through June 2011. B&w photos of landmarks on every page are accompanied by neighborhood maps. A 47-page opening essay by author Diamonstein-Spielvogel (Historic Landmarks Preservation Center; New York State Council on the Arts) chronicles the work of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission from its creation in 1965 to the present. The 1,276 individual landmarks and 102 historic districts described in the book have all been deemed landmarks by the Commission. Entries are arranged chronologically, from colonial farmhouses to 20th-century structures, within sections on individual landmarks; lampposts, bracket lights, and sidewalk clocks; and historic districts. Entries give details on architectural features, original and later purposes of the building, and original and later occupants. Each entry includes a neighborhood map and a fact box on construction and restoration dates, architect, street address, and date of designation as a landmark. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Mimesis and reason; Habermas's political philosophy.

Miller, Gregg Daniel.
State U. of New York Pr., ©2011    185 p.    $75.00    JA71
978-1-4384-3739-2

In assessing and reconstructing a particular theory of communication found in the writings of German philosopher Jügen Habermas, Miller (U. of Washington) grapples with the questions of what secular sensibility can govern the legitimate exercise of power in the modern age, and whether any particular political body in an age of pluralism can have confidence that its moral values are born of more than historical inertia but less than pure will to power. He pairs Habermass with Plato on mimesis in communicative action, with George Herbert Mead on the subject in communicative action, and with Walter Benjamin on the experience of mimesis. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Performing sex; the making and unmaking of women's erotic lives.

Fahs, Breanne.
State U. of New York Pr., ©2011    364 p.    $29.95    HQ29
978-1-4384-3782-8

Despite women's liberation, why do so many women still struggle with sexual and body image issues? That is the question Fahs (women and gender studies, Arizona State U.) addresses. Drawing on interviews, she considers the costs of "performing" an authentic self given cultural script. Issues examined include pressures to perform bisexuality, rape and other sexual fantasies, attitudes toward pornography, and sex-positive vs. sex-negative feminism. She also treats the marketing of Viagra-like drugs for women. The book includes methodological appendices. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The story of Islamic philosophy; Ibn Tufayl, Ibn al-'Arabi, and others on the limit between naturalism and traditionalism.

Bashier, Salman H.
State U. of New York Pr., ©2011    197 p.    $90.00    B741
978-1-4384-3743-9

The "story of Islamic philosophy" argues Bashier (Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Israel), is the story of the move from a rationalistic phase through to a recognition of the limits of the rational faculty and openness to mystical illumination, or liminal philosophy. It is, in other words, the move from the rationalistic conceptualization of Farabi (d. 950) to the illuminative philosophy of Ibn Tofayl (d. 1185) and Ibn al-Arabi (d. 1240) (and others), which, like the similar understanding found in Plato's Seventh Letter, allows for the articulation of a synthetic vision of the naturalistic and religious accounts of epistemological and ontological reality. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Transnationalism reversed; women organizing against gendered violence in Bangladesh.

Chowdhury, Elora Halim. (SUNY series, praxis)
State U. of New York Pr., ©2011    222 p.    $24.95    HV6250
978-1-4384-3752-1

In 1999, ABC aired Connie Chung's "Faces of Hope" report on The television news program 20/20, which focused on the plight of two female Bengladeshi victims of acid attacks. While applauding the attention the award-winning TV show brought to this issue, Chowdhury (women's studies, U. of Massachusetts) is critical of international feminist, UN, and other human rights groups' co-opting of their story as one of Western saviors of third-world victims. She presents counter-narratives emphasizing the campaign of local women activists against gendered violence. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)