Distributed Presses

Another round of good reviews has poured in for Kasia Boddy's Boxing: A Cultural History. First up is a short but positive review in the June 19th issue of The Economist. The reviewer notes that "[Boddy] provides much merriment along the way as she explores the ways professional fighters excite the imagination of writers, artists and intellectuals."

Right behind it was a praise-filled review in the June 20th issue of The Times of London. The Times reviewer declared

The merit of Kasia Boddy's meticulously researched and deeply intelligent examination of boxing through the ages is that it refuses to take the pop historian's route of lazy simplification. The political and moral ambiguity of the fights that have played such a seminal role in shaping human consciousness are chronicled in all their rich and equivocal detail. . . . Her volume is one of the most intelligent sporting books of recent times.

The June 23rd review in the Australian paper The Age was a little more lukewarm, but the reviewer notes

Kasia Boddy is no faint-heart. She appears to have tracked down every last reference to boxing in prose, poetry, painting, sculpture, film and video. . . . As Boddy shows at scholarly length, in American books and plays and paintings and films, boxing came to carry a heavy symbolic freight. The gloves and the ring stood for pride and courage, sacrifice and nobility, salvation and redemption. They also stood for corruption, greed, betrayal, pain and death. No other sport - indeed, perhaps no other human activity - has been so fraught with meaning.

Read the full review in The Economist
Read the complete Times review
Read the full review in The Age
Learn more about Boxing: A Cultural History, newly published by Reaktion Books

Posted by HG at 02:31 PM | Permalink
Posted to Books for the News | History | Reaktion | Reviews

Gwendolyn Wright, author of the recently published USA: Modern Architectures in History, was interviewed by School Library Journal about her work on PBS's History Detectives. The video of the interview can be viewed on the School Library Journal website.

Watch the School Library Journal interview of Gwendolyn Wright
Learn more about Gwendolyn Wright's USA: Modern Architectures in History

Posted by HG at 01:41 PM | Permalink
Posted to Art and Architecture | Books for the News | Reaktion

Motorcycle authors Suzanne Ferriss and Steven Alford were recently interviewed by Adrian Blake on BlogTalkRadio's "Ride!". Listen to their interview as they talk about their book and modern motorcycling culture.

Listen to the authors' interview on BlogTalkRadio's "Ride!"

Learn more about Motorcycle

Posted by HG at 09:57 AM | Permalink
Posted to Books for the News | Cultural Studies | Reaktion

Dan Gordon was interviewed today about Your Brain on Cubs on NPR's "Science Friday" hosted by Ira Flatow. In anticipation of Opening Day on Monday, Gordon appeared with several other guests on an hour-long baseball-themed segment of the show to discuss the science and psychology of baseball, fan loyalty, and other intriguing topics.

Listen to the full Science Talk interview
Learn more about Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans

Posted by HG at 03:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Author Events | Biology | Books for the News | Dana Press

Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans continues to receive great coverage with a newly published article on the Cubs's official MLB.com website. Writer Jon Greenberg discusses both the March 10th launch party and the book itself, noting

The avuncular [Aryeh] Routtenberg, a neurobiology/psychology professor at Northwestern and self-avowed former Cubs fan (He declared any serious interest kaput after a particularly painful LaTroy Hawkins appearance in 2004), was one of the panelists earlier this month at a book release party at the Cubby Bear for "Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans," a look into the minds of sports fans and athletes by doctors, psychologists and medical experts who sometimes moonlight as baseball fans.

Routtenberg was a hit among the 80 or so in attendance at the Wrigleyville bar for the panel discussion on the book sponsored by the Illinois Science Council. At one point he livened up a fairly boring discussion by theorizing that a "toxic chemical" resides in the blades of grass at Wrigley Field and releases "negative karma" at crucial moments, like, say, in Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series.

But half-baked theories like that aren't in the popular science book, which has seven chapters, written by 11 contributors, that link science and sports, from the mental reasoning behind superstitions to the neuroscience of hitting.

Read the full MLB.com article
Learn more about Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans

Posted by HG at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Author Events | Books for the News | Dana Press

Dan Gordon, editor of Dana Press's newly published Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans, was interviewed today on Scientific American's podcast "Science Talk" by host Steve Mirsky.

Listen to the full Science Talk podcast interview
Learn more about Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans

Posted by HG at 02:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Biology | Books for the News | Dana Press

Eluned Summers-Bremner, author of the newly published Insomnia: A Cultural History, was recently interviewed in Macleans Magazine about the book. An excerpt from the interview:

Q: Your book questions current assumptions about sleep. For instance, as a dominant sleep model, is the eight-hour stretch relatively new?

A: It is specific to us, and it hasn't got such a very long history. A couple of centuries. Before that, there were lots of different ways of doing sleep.

Q: So how were ancient sleeping rituals different?

A: It made a big difference whether there was moonlight or not because early cultures had no real source of lighting other than the hearth or the fire. In ancient Athens, religious ceremonies were held by moonlight. With us, we really tend to separate day and night, and we regard sleep as supportive of our daytime activity.

Q: Didn't they see sleep as a way to rejuvenate for the next day's work like we do?

A: Sleep had a mystical quality. Quite often, it was seen as a time when divine messages might arrive. It was interpreted as a time when things happen that the gods intended, that were out of your control, so dreams were seen as being prophetic.

Read the full Macleans Magazine interview with Eluned Summers-Bremner
Learn more about Insomnia: A Cultural History

Posted by HG at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Books for the News | Reaktion | Reviews

Your Brain on Cubs editor Dan Gordon and essay contributor Dr. Steven Small were recently interviewed about the book on several Chicago television and radio programs.

The book and its editors were featured on WBBM-TV CBS 2, WGN-TV, WMAQ-TV NBC 5, and WGN Radio 720's "Sports Talk." The March 10th launch event at the Cubby Bear Lounge was also featured in Time Out Chicago.

Read the articles about Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans on CBS 2, WGN-TV, and NBC 5
Learn more about Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans

Posted by HG at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Author Events | Biology | Books for the News | Dana Press

This weekend, Wisconsin Public Radio's "To the Best of Our Knowledge" will be re-airing their interview with Lars Svendsen, author of A Philosophy of Boredom and, most recently, Fashion: A Philosophy.

The interview can be heard online and you can check to see if "To the Best of Our Knowledge" is carried on your local NPR station on the list here.

Listen to Lars Svendsen on "To the Best of Our Knowledge"
Learn more about A Philosophy of Boredom and Fashion: A Philosophy

Posted by HG at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Books for the News | Philosophy | Reaktion

Opening Day is just around the corner and heralding this harbinger of springtime is the newest publication from Dana Press, Your Brain on Cubs. The book's launch event will be held on Monday, March 10th at 6:30 p.m. at the Cubby Bear Lounge, 1059 W. Addison. The event will have a discussion panel moderated by Chicago Tribune science and medicine reporter Jeremy Manier and featuring Your Brain on Cubs editor Dan Gordon, book contributor Dr. Steven Small, and special guest Dr. Areyeh Routtenberg.

In anticipation of the event, Chicago Tribune sport columnist Fred Mitchell featured the book in his column today:

The depths of loyalty for a franchise that has not won a World Series in 100 years boggle the mind. Especially your minds. Is it the allure of rooting for the perennial underdog? Is it the pursuit of a delayed gratification that the law of averages dictates will come to pass one day?

These are questions that need to be asked and answered for the future sanity of Cubs Nation. And now even neuroscientists are weighing in on this sports and society phenomenon that some view as sadistic.

Book editor Dan Gordon will also be interviewed by Dave Kaplan tonight on WGN Radio's "Sports Central."

Learn more about the Your Brain on Cubs launch event
Read the full Chicago Tribune column
Listen to the WGN Radio "Sports Central" interview
Learn more about Your Brain on Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans

Posted by HG at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Author Events | Biology | Books for the News | Dana Press

The Bodleian Library's newly published How To Be a Good Wife and How To Be a Good Husband were featured in a Valentine's Day article in the Chicago Tribune. The article excerpts maxims from each book and notes in its introduction:

In 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne for the American divorcee he loved. Romance apparently was in the air that year, because that's when a pair of "Do's and Don'ts" books were published to help English husbands and wives figure out how to make their marriages work.

History does not tell us if the books turned up among the former king's wedding presents, but we can benefit from the advice ourselves, thanks to the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.

Read the Chicago Tribune article
Learn more about How To Be A Good Wife and How To Be a Good Husband

Posted by HG at 02:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Bodleian Library | Books for the News | Reference and Writing | Reviews

Dan Gordon, editor of the forthcoming Your Brain on Cubs, was interviewed yesterday on WBEZ Chicago Public Radio's newsmagazine "848". Dan ably explained some of the intriguing ideas contained in the book, including the way our brain works when we're despairing over another Cubs loss, why we prefer to root for the underdog, and the ways that a ballplayer's brain works as he plays the game.

Bloggers have also taken notice of the book: It was discussed here and here.

Listen to the "848" interview of Dan Gordon
Learn more about Your Brain on Cubs

Posted by HG at 02:15 PM | Permalink
Posted to Biology | Books for the News | Dana Press | Publicity

Congratulations are in order for two of the newest titles from the Center for American Places: John Rohrbach's Accommodating Nature: The Photographs of Frank Gohlke and Jim Dow's Marking the Land: Jim Dow in North Dakota were honored by American Photo magazine in their year-end issue.

Accommodating Nature was selected as one of the Best Retrospectives of the Year and Marking the Land was chosen as one of the overall Best Photo Books of 2007. Of Marking the Land, American Photo says

There is a temptation to describe Jim Dow as a latter-day Walker Evans, even though most of Dow's work is in color. . . . But while Evans insisted to the point of arrogance that his work, despite its descriptive nature, was the highest art, Dow has no such pretension. His images are artful, to be sure, but they are less about the artist and more about the people who create the things depicted. Despite their precisionism, they are far more human than Evans's pictures. . . . The totality of Dow's new monograph, Marking the Land: Jim Dow in North Dakota, makes it clear that the photographer's images are not judgment-free records of weathered roadside attractions. The best of them quietly critique our attitudes toward the particular landscapes we inhabit. . . . Dow's timeworn building facades have a plainness that suits the prairie's nondescript topography and camouflages the dense decor of their interiors, which are crammed full as if to nullify the starkness of North Dakota's great outdoors.

A slide show featuring images from Marking the Land and the other honored titles can be viewed on American Photo's website.

Read the review of Marking the Land in American Photo's Best Photo Books of 2007

Learn more about Accommodating Nature: The Photographs of Frank Gohlke

Learn more about Marking the Land: Jim Dow in North Dakota

Posted by HG at 03:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Books for the News | Center for American Places

New York Calling editors Marshall Berman and Brian Berger spoke on December 7th at Book Culture bookstore in New York's Morningside Heights neighborhood, near Columbia University. The store recently posted a Q&A with the two authors on Book Culture's website. A excerpt from the feature:

Continue reading "Author event: New York Calling" »

Posted by HG at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Author Events | Books for the News | Reaktion

On December 7th at 7:00 p.m., New York Calling editors Marshall Berman and Brian Berger will be reading at Book Culture bookstore, 536 West 112th Street, New York. In anticipation of the event, New York Calling co-editor Brian Berger was interviewed by the prominent online city magazine Gothamist about the book. An excerpt from the interview:

Continue reading "Book Event and Book in the News: New York Calling" »

Posted by HG at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Author Events | Books for the News | Reaktion

Reid Wilson of Real Clear Politics recently interviewed Charles Mahtesian, an editor of the Almanac of American Politics, 2008. Mahtesian previews the 2008 political races and offers insight into the state of American politics.

Read the Interview

Visit National Journal

Learn more about the Almanac

Posted by SSD at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Author Events | Books for the News | National Journal | Politics and Current Events

The release of National Journal's Almanac of American Politics, 2008 has been creating a buzz lately.

This week's Washington Post and the Swamp, Chicago Tribune's political blog, feature trivia questions from the creators of the Almanac. (Quick: which member of Congress delivered his 2002 opponent's baby?)

Matthew Continetti from the Weekly Standard, meanwhile, quotes the recent Almanac to suggest that political polarization rather than economic data is behind the re-emergence of the debate over income inequality. Continetti says little about the relation between overall macroeconomic growth and the distribution of wealth, though.

Finally, Reid Wilson, writing in Real Clear Politics, uses the Almanac's figures to suggest some implications for future political campaigns.

Time to get out the Almanac!

Visit National Journal

Learn more about the Almanac

Posted by SSD at 01:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Books for the News | National Journal | Politics and Current Events | Reviews

Faith and Sword author Alan Jamieson incisively argues in his November 14th Globe and Mail editorial that the U. S. military's "surge" strategy in Iraq is not working as well as the recent drop in casualties may suggest. In "Timeout for the Grim Reaper?", Jamieson contends that the various religious and political factions in Iraq are still very much alive and well, and rather than being defeated, they may be only pausing before resuming their fight against the American occupying forces:

Continue reading "Commentary: Alan Jamieson" »

Posted by HG at 04:10 PM | Permalink
Posted to Books for the News | Commentary | History | Reaktion

Gwendolyn Wright was interviewed last week about her forthcoming book USA: Modern Architectures in History on the interview program "The Alcove with Mark Molaro." The full webcast of the interview can be viewed here.

The Alcove with Mark Molaro
Learn more about Gwendolyn Wright's USA: Modern Architectures in History

Posted by HG at 03:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Art and Architecture | Books for the News | Reaktion

Writing in Louisville's Courier-Journal, Al Cross recently analyzed Kentucky's gubernatorial election, a competition that is often seen to have national implications.

In his discussion of potential competitors to incumbent U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell in next year's election, Cross concurs with the National Journal Group's Almanac of American Politics, 2008 that McConnell's position "seems secure, but his support for the Bush administration on Iraq and on immigration in 2007 makes it possible he might face competitive opposition in 2008."

Cross further argues that McConnell could face stiff competition from state auditor Crit Luallen.

Read the Article

Visit National Journal

Learn more about the Almanac

Posted by SSD at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Books for the News | National Journal | Politics and Current Events

Architectural Record recently published a lengthy feature on Gwendolyn Wright's October 25th lecture at the Museum of Modern Art's "Women in Modernism" colloquium. An excerpt from the article:

If you didn't know better, you might think that the history of women practicing architecture and design began with women's lib during the 1960s. Earlier figures including Lilly Reich or Catherine Bauer are virtually unknown despite their central role in high-profile projects: Reich co-designed the famous Barcelona chair, usually attributed solely to Mies van der Rohe, and Bauer was as an early hero of social housing who co-authored the Housing Act of 1937, establishing public housing in the U.S.

Who better to help uncover these forgotten stories than Gwendolyn Wright, a host on the popular PBS series History Detectives and professor of architecture at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. . . .

Wright outlined certain myths that have perpetuated incomplete versions of history, offering as an example the idea that many 20th century arbiters overvalued an ideal type of architect who was hyper-rational, uncompromisingly idealistic, and invariably male. As a result, important figures falling outside that standard were either unnoticed or, if they did achieve recognition, soon forgotten. For example, even with today's booming interest in sustainability it's a rather obscure fact that architect Eleanor Raymond, who worked in Boston for more than 50 years, and chemist Dr. Maria Telkes, from M.I.T., built what was arguably the first solar-powered house, the Dover Sun House, in 1948. Wright challenged the audience to resist "myths that are clearer and more convenient than real history."

Read the full Architectural Record article
Learn more about Gwendolyn Wright's USA: Modern Architectures in History

Posted by HG at 02:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Art and Architecture | Books for the News | Reaktion

The lively New York Calling discussion panel last night at the City University of New York, sponsored by the Gotham Center for New York City History, was featured on the New York Times's City Room blog. Reporter Sewell Chan recounted the panelists' provocative arguments for the state of New York City yesterday and today:

Continue reading "Books in the News: New York Calling" »

Posted by HG at 03:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Author Events | Books for the News | Reaktion

Danny Postel will appear on Chicago's WYCC-TV20 television program "Front & Center with John Callaway" on Friday, November 9th at 4:00pm. He will discuss "Iran: the Next Military Frontier?" as a member of a pre-recorded panel discussion at the Pritzker Military Library in Chicago. An extended 90-minute version of the program can viewed on the Pritzker Military Library website.

The Pritzker Military Library presents Front and Center with John Callaway
Learn more about Danny Postel's Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran

Posted by HG at 01:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Books for the News | Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm

Gwendolyn Wright's keynote lecture at the "Women and Modernism" colloquium at the Museum of Modern Art was featured in the October 31st New York Times column by architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff. Using the colloquium and Wright's comments as a launching point, Oursoussoff considers the reasons why females continue to be underpresented in the architecture profession:

Continue reading "Author in the News: Gwendolyn Wright and USA" »

Posted by HG at 01:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Art and Architecture | Author Events | Books for the News | Publicity | Reaktion

Danny Postel wrote a hard-hitting editorial this weekend on the blog of fellow Prickly Paradigm author Rick Perlstein: In "Terrorism Awareness Indeed," he discusses the barely acknowledged political partnership between American neoconservatives and the Mujahedeen-e Khalq or MEK, an extremist Iranian political party that has been designated a terrorist organization by the State Department. Postel incisively punctures a hole in American Right's denunciations of "Islamo-fascism", revealing that right-wing conservatives actually are supporting what they claim to fight against:

Here you have virtually everything the Right claims to oppose all rolled into one: Islamism, Marxism, terrorism, and Saddam. Naturally, then, neoconservatives would utterly deplore the MEK and everything it stands for, right? The MEK would in fact make an ideal target for Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week and Terrorism Awareness efforts, no?

Well, no. At least one of the carnival's acts, it turns out, is rather fond of the Islamo-Stalinist-terrorist cult group, and has repeatedly argued for the removal of the MEK from the State Department's list of terrorist groups and indeed urged the U.S. government to embrace it. . . .

But the fact that several prominent American conservatives have cozied up to an Islamist-Stalinist cult that was on Saddam's payroll and the State Department considers a terrorist organization—this raises serious questions (to put it mildly) about the Right's bedfellows and the calculus that determines them.

Read Danny Postel's full article
Learn more about Danny Postel's Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran

Posted by HG at 09:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Books for the News | Commentary | Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm

A slew of Dana Press titles were featured in the October 1st issue of Library Journal. Titles highlighted include:

Dana Guide to Brain Health:
"Compiled by three leading brain experts with contributions from over 80 physicians, this volume is divided into four broad sections, covering brain development, brain health, and 72 major neurological and emotional conditions. A broad and affordable overview on the topic."

Floyd E. Bloom, Best of the Brain from Scientific American:
"This collection of essays drawn from Scientific American and Scientific American Mind offers an excellent, readable overview of the latest brain research since 1999."

Jonathan D. Moreno, Mind Wars:
"Bioethics expert Moreno investigates the ties between neuroscience and national security, asking difficult ethical and national policy questions in a nontechnical and readable manner."

Read the Library Journal article
Learn more about Dana Press titles

Posted by HG at 03:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Books for the News | Dana Press | Reviews

As the editors and contributors of New York Calling tour New York this fall, Brian Berger answers a few questions for us about the book:

What was your goal in putting together this anthology?

To sometimes outline, sometimes detail the full range of history and culture in New York City from 1977 or so to the present. It could not, of course, be fully done, but we began with the idea it was crucial to try. That means that New York City is a given number of boroughs and untold numbers of ethnicities, cultures, and subcultures, all of which are potentially of interest.

Continue reading "A Q&A with New York Calling co-editor Brian Berger" »

Posted by HG at 03:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Books for the News | Commentary | Reaktion

Danny Postel recently wrote an opinion piece in the Guardian imploring readers to consider more nuanced views of Iran's President Ahmadinejad's visit to Columbia University and the U.N than have been discussed in the American media.

Rather than support vitriolic nationalism, Postel, following Foucault and Sartre, suggests that Americans should remember "our real Iranian friends"; that is, the various non-governmental leaders who have been struggling for democracy and rights.

Read Postel's Commentary

Learn More about Postel's Book

Posted by SSD at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Author Events | Books for the News | Cultural Studies | Philosophy | Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm

Michael Liedtke, reporting in the Chicago Tribune, recently wrote an article entitled "Search Startup Ready to Challenge Google." The article concerns the work of Ronald Kaplan who is the Palo Alto Research Center's (PARC's) "top natural-language specialist," a researcher at the Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI), and the chief technology and scientific officer at Powerset, a company developing a natural-language search engine.

Whereas Google, Yahoo!, and others search by key word, the technologies being developed by PARC and Powerset are meant to allow for natural-language searches. For instance, suppose you wanted to know who distributes the Center for the Study of Language and Information's Intelligent Linguistic Architectures: Variations on Themes by Ronald M. Kaplan. Rather than entering a key word search similar to, "CSLI distributor books Kaplan" to find out who distributes the Center for the Study of Language and Information's books, one would hopefully be able to enter, "Who distributes CSLI's books?" or, "Who distributes CSLI's Intelligent Linguistic Architectures?"

The Tribune article notes that natural-language search engines have struggled in the past. Ask Jeeves, for instance, began as a natural-language engine, but quickly shifted to keywords (and changed its name to Ask.com). Others also point out that Powerset will have to be able to deal with synonyms and the multifarious ways in which questions can be phrased.

In case you would like to know more about Ronald Kaplan's research, the University of Chicago Press distributes a few relevant titles from the Center for the Study of Language and Information.

Learn More about the recently published Intelligent Linguistic Architectures: Variations on Themes by Ronald M. Kaplan

Formal Issues in Lexical-Functional Grammar, part of CSLI's series of "Lecture Notes"

Read the article from the Chicago Tribune

Visit CSLI

Visit PARC

Visit Powerset

Posted by SSD at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Author Events | Books for the News | Center for the Study of Language and Information

In a Globe and Mail op-ed published on Wednesday, August 15, Alan Jamieson considers the telling parallels between the British occupation of Egypt from 1882 to 1919 and the now four-year U.S. occupation of Iraq. In particular, he considers when and how the U.S. will finally withdraw from Iraq. He notes:

Thus, the Americans probably face stronger pressure to leave Iraq than was exerted on the British in Egypt, but they may still feel they have compelling reasons to stay, whatever the political debate at home.

Like the British in Egypt, the Americans may promise year after year to leave Iraq, yet still hang on. Whether they will match the British record of a "temporary" occupation that lasted for three-quarters of a century is another matter.

Read Jamieson's op-ed

Learn more about Alan Jamieson's Faith and Sword

Posted by HG at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Books for the News | Commentary | History | Reaktion

Ingmar Bergman's legacy is impeccable.

Learn about Bergman from Brigitta Steene's award-winning Ingmar Bergman: A Reference Guide

or from

Egil Tornqvist's Between Stage and Screen: Ingmar Bergman Directs.

Finally, read from the master director himself:

The Magic Lantern: An Autobiography

Posted by SSD at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Amsterdam University Press | Biography | Books for the News | Film and Media

On July 25th, 2007, the New York Sun printed an excerpt of Luc Sante's essay "Commerce" from the forthcoming Reaktion title New York Calling: From Blackout to Bloomberg, edited by Marshall Berman and Brian Berger.

Read the Excerpt

Learn More about the Book

Posted by SSD at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Author Events | Books for the News | Cultural Studies | History | Reaktion

Today, President Bush announced that the U.S. will be imposing economic sanctions against Sudan.

For those interested in learning more about the situation in Darfur, Amsterdam University Press recently published Explaining Darfur: Lectures on the Ongoing Genocide.

Despite serious pressure from the United Nations, public statements of outrage from the United States, and now sanctions—the war in Darfur, Sudan, continues unabated. Many in the West still have only a very limited understanding of either the conflict or the forces driving it.

Explaining Darfur provides essential resources for understanding the conflict in Darfur, from the historical background to an analysis of the present situation. It also proposes several nonviolent ways of solving the crisis, from the democratization of the Sudan to reconciliation negotiations between tribes at all levels to dramatically expanding the operational capacity of the peacekeeping troops supplied by the African Union. Initiated by the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, this will be the definitive study of the ongoing Darfur conflict and its possible solutions.

Learn More about the Book

Posted by SSD at 03:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Amsterdam University Press | Books for the News | Politics and Current Events | University of Scranton

Museum, Inc. continues to find support among the anti-Krens and anti-consumerist crowds. In "Museums, Art, and the Rackets" Paula Rabinowitz uses Werner's pamphlet to expand on the concept of the museum as mall.

Ian Wedde writes in The Listener on New York's artworld. He credits Werner's analysis of the relationship between art and money.

Read Paula Rabinowitz on Solidarity's Web Site

Read The Listener

Learn More about the Book

Posted by SSD at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Art and Architecture | Books for the News | Prickly Paradigm | Reviews