Blackwell Publishing
Psalms through the centuries; v.1.
In the first of two volumes for the series devoted to the reception of the Bible, Gillingham (theology and Old Testament, Oxford U.) explores how psalms were discussed by Jews and Christians in commentary, homily, translation, liturgy, literature, music, and art. Her treatment is chronological from the 11th century BCE to the 21st CE. The second volume will comment on the reception of individual psalms. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
(Re)thinking art; a guide for beginners.
Shipps (Emerson College) has been teaching art appreciation for years, and was compelled to write this book on the very definition of the medium based upon feedback from his students. While this book is ostensibly described as a "guide for beginners," it will also intrigue those who are more educated about the subject, since it emphasizes the relationship humans have with art, and the reluctance to accept newer expressions and movements. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
A reader in the anthropology of religion, 2d ed.
The 2001 edition is included in Resources for College Libraries. Lambeck says the second edition includes some classical essays that should have been in the first, as well as some newer essays and strengthened sections on religious change, the relationship of religion to politics, gender, and some non-European regions. He confesses that this work does not adequately address the politization both of Islam and of the reception of Muslims in Europe and North America, or developments in cognitive approaches to religion. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Reading the nineteenth-century novel; Austen to Eliot.
Most of the novels seem easy enough to understand and appreciate, admit Case (Williams College) and Shaw (Cornell U.), but point out that in most cases well over a century has passed since they were written, and readers today almost certainly have an entirely set of fundamental assumptions about the world and its inhabitants than the authors or the intended original readers. They explain the differences as they relate to 12 novels. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Republicanism and political theory.
While it may be incorrect that republicanism can serve as a comprehensive alternative to liberalism, Laborde (political theory, U. College London, UK) and Maynor (political philosophy, Middle Tennessee State U., US) suggest that republican ideas still need to be examined and judged on their own merits. They assemble 10 papers that explore the major debates between republican political theorists and their critics, organized into three sections that focus in turn on republican freedom and its critics; republicanism, democracy, and citizenship; and rights and domination. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Russia's age of serfdom 1649-1861.
Part of the Blackwell History of Russia series, this publication chronologically explores Russia from 1649-1861, from the time of serfdom's codification until its abolition after the Crimean War. The scope mainly considers the empire's European territories populated predominantly with ethnic Russian peasants. Wirtschafer (history, California State Polytechnic U.) divides the book into three sections: the first addresses the Russian absolute monarchy from 1649-1725; the second, the building of society from 1725-1796; and the third, the government and people in old regime Russia, 1796-1861. Three chapters in each section first explore the society, considering the institution of serfdom and Russia's development of a country of peasants ruled by nobles, then politics, demonstrating the reality of the absolute monarchy in Russia, and culture, following the emergence of modern Russian culture alongside of Orthodox religious culture. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Sartre.
Morris (philosophy, Oxford U.) provides a critical, but sympathetic of Jean-Paul Sartre, the iconic French intellectual typically cited as the creator of existentialism. The author poses and responds to two compelling questions about Sartre: is he to be taken seriously as a philosopher and, aren't his philosophical concepts irredeemably dated? Morris sketches Sartre as a brilliant, insightful thinker. The book depicts the relationship between his methodology and the results of his thinking by focusing on the way the philosopher as a human being explores what it means to be human. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Shaping theology; engagements in a religious and secular world.
Literally, theology is the study of God. David Ford (divinity, Cambridge University) has spent his life in that study. He states that many of his own conclusions have come through conversations with students, friends of many faiths as well as other theologians. While he is a devout Christian, Ford has an ecumenical view of other religions, wishing to understand rather than convert. He quotes from fiction and philosophy in his exploration of shaping a theology for the modern world. Two chapters discuss the place of religion and theology in universities today, but the majority of them reflect a personal search. The last chapter, on Jesus and the Shoah is Ford's attempt to confront the horrors of the Holocaust. He concludes with his list of 12 statements on what 20th-century theology should include. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The story of the Qur'an; its history and place in Muslim life.
Having taught a graduate introductory course on the Qur'an for many years, Mattson (Islamic studies and Christian-Muslim relations, Hartford Seminary, US) presents a written introduction to the Islamic scripture designed to be accessible to lay readers, but also referenced heavily enough to serve as a starting gate for readers destined for a specialized academic study of it. She discusses the origin and history of the book, its role in society and Islamic scholarship, and methods of interpreting it. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Studying culture; a practical introduction, 2d ed.
Giles (cultural studies and literature, York St. John U., UK) and Middleton's (literature and creative studies, Bath Spa U., UK) introductory text is written for students in the humanities and social sciences who are new to the study of culture. The text has been revised and updated throughout for the second edition, and incorporates new material on the study of space, place, identity, gender, and cultural history; new material on trends in technology and culture; new case studies with a global emphasis; and new sections on cultural studies theories and methodology in each chapter. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Television in the multichannel age; a brief history of cable television.
Mullen (communication, U. of Wisconsin-Parkside) traces the development and history of multichannel television from its community antenna (CATV) era in the late 1940s to the satellite era of the 1980s, to today's streaming video. It examines the environment in which multichannel television currently exists, including governmental policy, new technological developments, and the public's changing tastes in programming. The book also provides an overview of how the technologies function. The author utilizes oral history transcriptions, personal interviews, government documents, and other sources to present an understanding of media that have had and continue to have profound effects on society today. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Television truths.
Hartley (Queensland U. of Technology; Australian National U.) is the author of 15 books on communication and cultural studies topics. In his latest offering, he examines television, and TV studies, within the context of changes in the history of knowledge, showing how knowledge has intersected with media, how "reading publics" are formed in both cases, and what needs to be done in both education and television to bring TV truths into better understanding. Coverage includes the basis of knowledge within which we make sense of TV; the relations between television and its audiences; TV content and how television apprehends the world of the imagination via live events, reality TV, and synchronized sports programming; and the past and future of both television and television studies. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Theology and film; challenging the sacred/secular divide.
A decade ago, Deacy (religious studies and applied theology, U. of Kent) and Ortiz (communications studies, Augusta State U., Georgia) collaborated on Explorations in Theology and Film, and here further their analysis by looking at a range of methodological and theoretical issues, and at certain cinematic texts. In particular they ask how a serious matter like theology can be dealt with in such a frivolous medium as film. The answer lies beyond the valley of the shadow of 9/11. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Theology; the basic readings.
McGrath's (historical theology, Oxford U.) introductory textbook Theology: The Basics was published in 2004 and is now out in a second edition. This set of readings is designed to support it in a beginning course on Christian theology, but can also serve as a survey of the field for general readers. He presents and comments on short excerpts from classic works about such aspects as faith, creation, Jesus, church, and heaven. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Thinking about movies; watching, questioning, enjoying, 3d ed.
The subtitle's "watching, questioning, enjoying" are the key words in this third edition text, which aims to teach critical thinking when it comes to the study of film. By explaining elements of fundamental film theory, such as narrative structure, genre and the importance of actors and filmmakers alike, Lehman and Luhr, affiliated, respectively, with Arizona State U.-Tempe and Saint Peter's College, craft their book to educate beginning film students and movie buffs. Gender, sexuality, race and class issues in film are also examined, using specific example such as Silence of the Lambs, American Gigolo, LA Confidential, Out of the Past and Pretty Woman. A separate chapter is devoted to analyzing what many film buffs consider to be the greatest film of all time, Citizen Kane. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Transport geographies; mobilities, flows, and spaces.
Designed for undergraduate and graduate student use, this connects key ideas, concepts and themes to related areas of concern, including economics, engineering, environmental studies, political science, psychology and sociology. The 14 articles cover the fundamentals of transport geographies, including their relationship to economic development, social justice, transport governance and ownership, and the environment; transport flows and spaces, addressing connected cities, geographies of rural transport, inter-urban and regional transport, global air transport, international maritime freight movement, individual transport patterns, and tourism and leisure; and future transport geographies, including new technologies and revitalized transport systems. Figures and illustrations are extensive, each article includes comprehensive notes and the editors provide extensive references. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Tragedy in transition.
Scholars of English literature from around the anglophone world look for examples, or at least traces, of tragedy outside the usual times and places. They discuss such topic as hardcore tragedy, tragedy and the sign of the eclipse, narratives of tragic empathy in Prometheus Bound and Frankenstein, Oedipus and Medea on the modern stage, postmodern tragedy, and tragedy and the future. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Understanding Christian doctrine.
Markham (Virginia Theological Seminary) wrote this treatise as part of his priestly formation underlying his ordination into holy orders in 2007. Writing for students and intelligent lay readers, he explores the nature of religious faith in general, narrowing to specifically Christian beliefs and Roman Catholic teachings. Questions for reflection and discussion close each chapter. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Urban China in transition.
In this theoretically and topically diverse collection, 14 essays presented by Logan (sociology, Brown U.) offer comparative examination of processes of Chinese urbanization. Topics addressed include the changing organization dynamics of Chinese industrial firms, trends in urban poverty, class structure and class inequality in urban China and Russia, gender and the labor market in China and Poland, institutional change and sociospatial inequality, place identity formation in Taipei and Shanghai, gated communities in American and Chinese cities, residential patterns and marginalization of migrant workers in Guangzhou, economic reform and crime, migration and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in China and Indonesia, and China's neighborhood organizations. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
War, torture, and terrorism; ethics and war in the 21st century.
This volume collects nine papers examining the ethics of war as a subfield of moral philosophy. Topics include the application of Bernard Williams's moral luck theory to the justification of war; the relative validity of national defense arguments as modified by the nature of the state in question; moral defenses of "humanitarian intervention" and the report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty; a defense of the Iraq war as morally justified even if one accepts that there were no weapons of mass destruction, that Bush and Blair intentionally deceived their respective publics on the weapons issues, and that the war represented an illegal act of aggression; so-called targeted killing as a legitimate form of self-defense under the demands of necessity, utility, and proportionality; and arguments against Alan Dershowitz's "torture warrants" and the "ticking time bomb" justification for torture. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
We share walls; language, land, and gender in Berber Morocco.
In the southwestern mountains of Morocco, says Hoffman (anthropology, Northwestern U.) women have come to represent the tenacity and vulnerability of Berber culture and the Ashelhi language both by the men of the group, who have migrated to the city to find work, and Moroccan society as a whole. Drawing on her fieldwork in 1995-99, she seeks to understand how expressive culture mediated constructions of place, personhood, and community among a marginalized indigenous group of Berber speakers at the end of the 20th century. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Western philosophy; an anthology, 2d ed.
Cottingham (philosophy, U. of Reading, UK) has edited this expanded second edition of his 1996 version, with all the original material intact. The anthology includes 12 parts (instead of the first edition's ten), each covering a principal branch of philosophy and expanded to include 12 excerpts instead of the original ten. More-or-less self-contained and not intended to be studied in any particular order, each part presents chronologically arrangeed excerpts consisting of key texts that have shaped the nature and development of the particular area of thinking. Also included is linking commentary — a continuous narrative — guiding the reader through the text as well as highlighting key issues raised in the readings. Study questions and suggestions for further reading are at the end of each part. An end section includes biographical details for the philosophers included in the anthology. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
