Cambridge U. Pr.

The Cambridge introduction to postcolonial literatures in English.

Innes (U. of Kent, the UK) has chosen literature, poetry, and autobiography from selected former British colonies which share certain characteristics (brief histories of each country are included in an appendix). These are Ireland, Australia, East Africa, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Britain, and the Caribbean. In an introduction, Innes surveys the field of postcolonial literary criticism, noting its main theoretical motifs and thinkers. She then leaves theory aside and spends the rest of the volume discussing the works she has selected, including lengthy passages from them, and commenting on the lives and realities they reveal. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The Cambridge introduction to Shakespeare's history plays.

One factor to remember, points out Chernaik (King's College London), is that people in Shakespeare's time did not share the modern sense that the difference between the past and future was greater than the continuity, so had no problem fleshing out portrayals of the past with details from the present. He surveys the playwright's use of history and the varied views of critics before examining all the plays that deal with what even modern readers recognize as some period of history. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The classical foundations of the American Constitution; prevailing wisdom.

Bederman (Emory U.) argues that the framers of the US Constitution were as much influenced by the political values and experiences of classical antiquity as they were by Enlightenment liberalism and the struggle against British domination, particularly in the application of their understanding of ancient history to fashioning the structural elements of the Constitution. He first aims to demonstrate the framers understandings of classical history and its impact and then uses it to reconstruct their original intent in fashioning the Constitution. He considers the implications of such an understanding for the allocation of authority between the federal government and the states, the construction of the tripartite branches of the federal government, and the concerns over the war and foreign relations powers of the government. He also addresses a second set of issues relevant to contemporary controversies: the sovereign immunity enjoyed by the states, executive privileges exercised by the presidency, the executive branch's desire for a line-item veto, and the use of the electoral college in presidential elections. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Driving innovation; intellectual property strategies for a dynamic world.

According to practitioner Gollin (he also teaches strategic management of intellectual property, Georgetown U.), IP shapes the future of all innovation communities, including industry and nonprofit institutions whether they are in developed or developing nations. He takes a broad, interdisciplinary approach in describing how organizations can manage IP effectively to meet their goals, despite public demand for free access to many products. He describes how IP relates to the innovation cycle and how it keeps in balance, the basics of managing intellectual property in organizations and the role of communities in innovation, the steps to strategic management of IP (including planning, assessment, and implementation), and global-level strategies. Appendices cover such matters as the TRIPS Agreement and assessment questionnaires. This book works as a handbook for entrepreneurs as well as a reference for institutional and industrial managers, designers and legal practitioners. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Egyptology today.

In this engaging and well-illustrated handbook, Wilkinson (Egyptian archaeology, U. of Arizona) has gathered 12 essays on research methods used for the study of all aspects of Egyptology. Scholars from the US, the UK, and Egypt draw on their own research and curatorial experience to describe the history of their fields, the trends in methodology, current controversies, and possible future trends. Chapters are devoted to museum display, language, literature, religion, art, artifact conservation, history, medical science, site survey, epigraphy, and monument and site conservation. The state of research for archaeology, Egyptology's most well-known field, is contributed by Kent R. Weeks, director of the Theban Mapping Project and emeritus of the American U. in Cairo. Wilkinson contributes an introduction and an afterword on the future of the field. This thoughtful book will be of interest to scholars, but will be especially useful in undergraduate courses. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

English literature in context.

Chapters in this textbook offer chronologies for the periods studied, historical and literary overviews, in-depth readings of key literary texts, suggestions for further reading and research, text boxes with supplementary and background information, and several illustrations. Editor Poplawski (English, U. of Leicester). Written for undergraduate students, the text begins with Medieval English and continues through the Renaissance, the Restoration, the Romantic Period, the Victorian era, and into the 21st century. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Environmental protection, law, and policy; text and materials, 2d ed.

Part of the Law in Context series, this title discusses environmental law with an emphasis on the policy world from which these laws are drawn, examining the ways in which legal activities are influenced, supported, and legitimized by work in scientific or technical domains as well as cultural or philosophical assumptions. Holder (University College London) and Lee (King's College London) section the book into five parts: the law in context, the EU context, the international context, pollution control, and controls over land use and development. Each section is further divided into multiple chapters. This book includes several useful tables containing EU legislation, international conventions, other legislation, and cases. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The everyday lives of young children; culture, class, and child-rearing in diverse societies.

Tudge (human development and family studies, U. of North Carolina, Greensboro) reports findings from his longitudinal Culture Ecology of Young Children study begun some 15 years ago, which compares various aspects of the lives of a three-year-old children in the U.S., Russia, Estonia, Finland, Korea, Kenya, and Brazil. Based on lengthy observations of the subjects, the author examines how and where children spend their time, who they are with, what sorts of everyday activities they engage in, and how the activities get started, identifying both variations that exist across societies and some of the variations within individual societies. He also explores the influence of culture on children's development and the ways in which young children play a role in changing their culture. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

John Searle's philosophy of language; force, meaning, and mind.

Following an opening essay by Searle (philosophy of mind and language, U. of California, Berkeley) summarizing the essential features of human language — particularly those related to human society — 11 original essays by 13 American and European academics critically examine aspects of Searle's contributions to the philosophy of language, and discuss new ways in which the themes from his work could be developed. Topics explored include internalism versus externalism in relation to mental and linguistic content, truth-conditional versus non-truth-conditional conceptions of content, the relative priorities of thought and language in the explanation of intentionality, the status of the distinction between force and sense in the theory of meaning, the issue of meaning skepticism in relation to rule-following, and the proper characterization of "what is said" in relation to the semantics/pragmatics distinction. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Jurisdiction and the internet; a study of regulatory competence over online activity.

Does the ability to occupy territory, guard borders, and field militaries give conventional state governments either the right or the competence to control cyberspace? Once upon a time, Kohl (law, U. of Wales-Aberystwyth) was convinced that it did not, then spent some years swirling the question in the back of her head. Now she finds the question very complex, and explains why. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Medieval Jewish philosophical writings.

Medieval scholars have long ignored the philosophical work of medieval Jewish scholars due to the lack of ability to read Hebrew. Manekin, of the University of Maryland, has translated excerpts from several of the most important philosophers, from Sa'adia Gaon in the ninth century to Joseph Albo in the fifteenth. He differentiates between "pure" philosophy and that dealing with religion. Therefore, scholars such as David Luria and Nachmanides are not included. Maimonides is, however, because he wrote in both fields. The introduction provides as context for the translations. A timeline and short biographies of the authors are also included. This book would be particularly of use in university classes in medieval philosophy or Jewish history. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The moral demands of memory.

Blustein (bioethics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine) moves beyond typical texts on memory to focus on moral philosophy. He offers a new approach, based on a broad range of philosophical and humanistic literatures, showing how memory is preserved and transmitted, particularly in the case of the self and the beloved dead. He begins by approaching memory as a subject of evaluative inquiry, building to the responsibilities of remembrance and taking responsibility for the past. This he develops into an analysis of taking responsibility for one's own past and the intricate relations amongst ethics, truth and collective memory. He examines the moral imperative to remember and the qualities and modes of mourning and rituals. He closes by linking memory to bearing witness and includes typological remarks on bearing witness to right and wrong, acknowledging a relationship to wrongdoing and bearing witness to one's convictions. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Never sang for Hitler; the life and times of Lotte Lehmann, 1888-1976.

Kater (emeritus, history, York U., Toronto, Ontario) has written a fascinating account of the influential teacher and opera singer Lehmann. Famous for her roles in operas by Richard Strauss in Austria and Germany, Lehmann left during the Nazi era, first for France and then to the U.S., where she eventually founded the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. Exhaustive in its research, Kater's account describes both the political and the artistic circles in which Lehmann moved. Especially riveting is the description of the musical world in Vienna and Berlin and the process by which the Nazis took control of it. Much of the unfolding drama of the story is heightened by the contrast between Lehmann's carefully constructed public persona as a fervent anti-Nazi — as presented in her statements and later in her autobiography — with her actual words and letters, which reveal a great talent who was focused on her career, regardless of politics. Scholarly in its research, this page- turner brings its protagonists to life. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The origins of yoga and tantra; Indic religions to the thirteenth century.

Samuel (religious and theological studies, Cardiff U., Wales) has adapted the lecture series he delivered for the Wilde Lectures in Natural and Comparative Religion in 2002 at the U. of Oxford into this full-length history. The development and practice of yogic and tantric forms of meditation and their impact on what would become Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism are described in an engaging history that includes many quotes from primary sources. Samuel uses the viewpoint of anthropology to describe the development of these religions and practices, frequently rejecting both popular and scholarly views and beliefs in the process. The similarity between the religions that is made evident in this history in terms of their practices and their antecedents is especially striking, and timely, given religious conflict which continues in South and Southeast Asia. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

A population history of the Huron-Petun, A.D. 500-1650.

In this major study, Warrick (anthropology, Wilfrd Laurier U., Brantford, Ontario, Canada) offers a detailed history of the Wendat- Tionontaté people of what is now Ontario, Canada. Using a wide range of sources, Warrick reconstructs the population size of the Wendat-Tionantaté over a lengthy period, with detailed discussion of the shifts in family size, in part through the development of maize agriculture. The process of determining population size and change from archaeology, and the theory of population change are discussed at length. A history of Native American population, depopulation, and Iroquoian archaeology are also provided. This is a substantial revision of Warrick's Ph.D. dissertation with the celebrated late archaeologist Bruce Trigger, at McGill U., Canada, and will be of interest to archaeologists, historians, and students of Native American history and culture. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The practice of human rights; tracking law between the global and the local.

First formulated as a panel at the 2005 American Anthropological Association meetings, this volume presents a substantial overview of human rights practice, written by senior scholars in anthropology and law, mainly in the U.S. Eight of the essays focus on a specific issue involving human rights or its language in Nicaragua, Bolivia, Nepal, Colombia, Burma, and Swaziland. The 2000 UN Human Trafficking Protocol and the habit of setting the concept of human rights in opposition to that of security (using Bolivia as the case study) are among the topics discussed in separate articles. The material is grouped into four sections that consider the complexities of human rights practice when combined with issues of power, violence, vulnerability, and ambivalence towards the concept of international human rights law. A lengthy introductory essay discussing these concepts precedes each section. Goodale (conflict analysis and anthropology, George Mason U.) provides a lengthy introduction to the volume. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Protocol on the accession of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

This is the official World Trade Organization certified text of the Protocol Accession negotiated by Saudi Arabia to become a member of that organization. It provides all the terms, commitments, and conditions accepted by Saudi Arabia for membership and includes detailed schedules on market access conditions for Saudi Arabia for trade in goods and services. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The singing of the New World; indigenous voice in the era of European contact.

Tomlinson (U. of Pennsylvania) approaches this latest entry in the New Perspectives in Music History and Criticism series by examining the music of the Indians who first met European explorers and settlers in North America during the 16th century. The authors uses recent archaeological discoveries in Mexico, Peru and Brazil to form a new perspective on the musical styles first presented to the Conquistadores. The book also explores the connection between the music and these cultures, and how music was often the result of rituals, rather than celebration. This a fascinating account for those interested in both anthropology and ancient music studies. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Unthinking the Greek polis; ancient Greek history beyond Eurocentrism.

Vlassopoulos, who teaches Greek history at the University of Nottingham, argues that a new framework is necessary for the study of Greek history, moving away from a Eurocentric model. He suggests that the usual method of studying the city-state as a forerunner of European democratic societies leaves out much of Greek civilization. To rectify this he formulates other ways for rebuilding Greek history, using comparisons with the work of historians in non- European cultures. He also encourages a study of ancient Greek centers outside Greece and life outside the cities. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

When things fell apart; state failure in late-century Africa.

An economist who has done development work for several governments and organizations, and much field work in Africa, Bates (economics, Harvard University) constructs a theory of what happened in Africa in the twilight of the 20th century, drawing on the theory of games. Rwanda, Sudan, Liberia, and Congo are his case studies as he looks at the depth of the tragedy, the logic of political order, and the foundations of the state. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The women's movement against sexual harassment.

Baker (women's studies, Smith College) traces the rise of the social movement against the sexual harassment of women during the 1970s, which brought the issue to the US Supreme Court during the 1980s. Some of the landmarks of the journey are early legal victories, blue- collar workers and hostile environment sexual harassment, and entering the mainstream. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)