Cook, Albert. Forces in modern & postmodern poetry; edited by Peter Baker. P. Lang, 2008. 240p $70.95 (Studies in modern poetry, v12)
These essays examine the work of major authors in the modern and postmodern literary tradition, including Stephane Mallarme, Wallace Stevens, Samuel Beckett, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound, among others. Among the topics are the status of representation, issues of the self, and the use of imagery and musical invention.
ISBN 978-0-8204-5134-3; LCCN 2002-2030149

Debating Arab authoritarianism: dynamics and durability in nondemocratic regimes; edited by Oliver Schlumberger. Stanford University Press, 2007. $55.00
Essays by American, European, and Arab scholars explore the working mechanisms, the inner logic, and the durability of authoritarian rule in Arab countries.
ISBN 978-0-8047-5776-8; LCCN 2007-29731

Dilemmas of victory: the early years of the People’s Republic of China; edited by Jeremy Brown and Paul G. Pickowicz. Harvard University Press, 2007. 462p $45.00
These essays explore the social, cultural, political, and economic aspects of the communist takeover of China. The focus is on how the period 1949-1953 was experienced by different groups, including industrialists, filmmakers, ethnic minorities, educators, rural midwives, and even stand-up comics in the theatrical tradition known as xiangsheng.
ISBN 978-0-674-02616-2; LCCN 2007-14277

The hidden history of the secret ballot; Romain Bertrand, Jean-Louis Briquet, Peter Pels, editors. Indiana University Press, 2006. 256p $65.00; $24.95 (pa)
The social history of the secret ballot (also known as the Australian ballot) is the subject of these essays. Case studies from around the world and various historical eras examine the link between voting secrecy and individual political freedom.
ISBN 978-0-253-34963-7; 978-0-253-21942-8 (pa); LCCN 2997-618242

In from the cold: Latin America’s new encounter with the Cold War; edited by Gilbert M. Joseph and Daniela Spenser. Duke University Press, 2008. 439p $99.95; $26.95 (pa)
These essays examine the effect of the Cold War on Latin America. A variety of North American, Latin American, and European scholars explore how the international conflict between the two major superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, transformed Latin America’s political, social, and cultural life.
ISBN 978-0-8223-4102-4; 978-0-8223-4121-5 (pa); LCCN 2007-29293

Jacobs, Carol. Skirting the ethical. Stanford University Press, 2008. xxiii, 223p $65.00; $24.95 (pa) (Meridian, crossing aesthetics)
The author examines five literary works (Sophocles’ Antigone, Plato’s Symposium and Republic, Hamann’s “Aesthetica in nuce”, and Sebald’s The emigrants) and one film (Jane Campion’s The piano) with attention to the politico-ethical stance that each one presents and the language that is used.
ISBN 978-0-8047-5789-8; 978-0-8047-5790-4 (pa); LCCN 2007-1496

Kottman, Paul A. A politics of the scene. Stanford University Press, 2008. 260p $60.00
These chapters examine three plays of William Shakespeare (Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet) and two major treatises of political philosophy (Plato’s Republic and Hobbes’ Leviathan) and suggest how a Shakespearean sense of the scene might open up new avenues for thinking about politics.
ISBN 978-0-8047-5834-5; LCCN 2007-18008

Kowalski, Gary. Revolutionary spirits: the enlightened faith of America’s founding fathers. BlueBridge, 2008. 215p $22.00
The author examines the achievements of American founding fathers Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Paine, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison as religious reformers and political rebels, focusing on their complex creeds and personalities, and challenging the later myths about their religious views.
ISBN 978-1-9333-4609-0; LCCN 2007-18162

Lipton, Emma. Affections of the mind: the politics of sacramental marriage in late medieval English literature. University of Notre Dame Press, 2007. 246p $32.00
The author traces the popularity of marriage as a literary topic in late medieval England, and explores the different models of marriage in the later 14th and 15th centuries by analyzing such texts as Chaucer’s Franklin’s tale, The book of Margery Kemp, and the N-Town plays.
ISBN 978-0-268-03405-4; LCCN 2007-20098

Literacy as a civil right: reclaiming social justice in literacy teaching and learning; Stuart Greene, editor. P. Lang, 2008. 199p $32.95 (Counterpoints: studies in the postmodern theory of education, v.316)
The authors of these essays propose alternative ways of addressing educational inequalities, and take an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complex historical, social, and global issues that stand in the way of ensuring that all students have access to literacy.
ISBN 978-0-8204-8868-4; LCCN 2007-756

Local consequences of the global Cold War; edited by Jeffrey A. Engel. Woodrow Wilson Press Center: Stanford University Press, 2007. 334p $65.00 (Cold War international history project series)
These essays explore how international politics affected local popular life during the Cold War era. Each chapter has its origin in a major international issue and then unfolds the consequences of that issue for some region or city. Among the topics discussed are movies in Japan, race relations in the American south, forests in East Germany, and industry in Novosibirsk.
ISBN 978-0-8047-5947-2; LCCN 2007-39387

Lockard, Joe. Watching slavery: witness texts and travel reports. P. Lang, 2008. xxxiii, 213p $99.95; $32.95 (pa)
The author examines travel accounts, fiction, poetry, artwork, and legal texts to analyze direct and indirect encounters with slavery in the antebellum United States. Among the topics are: the observations of English authors Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray; Supreme Court justice Joseph Story’s crucial decision on slaveholders’ rights in Prigg v. Pennsylvania; and, William Still’s comprehensive archival work in compiling an encyclopedia on the underground railroad movement.
ISBN 978-0-8204-9542-2; 978-0-8204-9541-5 (pa); LCCN 2007-26681

Maimonides after 800 years: essays on Maimonides and his influence; edited by Jay M. Harris. Harvard University Center for Jewish Studies, 2007. 343p $65.00
These essays, written to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the death of scholar and philosopher Maimonides in 1204, cover all aspects of his work and influence. Among the topics are: Maimonides’ work on Jewish law; his unique understanding of God; his understanding of other religions; his influence on Jewish scholars in the eastern Mediterranean; and, his impact on the emergence of modern Judaism.
ISBN 978-0-674-02590-5; LCCN 2007-35072

McClure, John A. Partial faiths: postsecular fiction in the age of Pynchon and Morrison. University of Georgia Press, 2007. 209p $54.95; $22.95 (pa)
The author examines several modern novels with characters who have undergone a spiritual conversion, and have rejected secularism, but are apprehensive of engaging in dogmatic religiosity. Among the works discussed are Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s rainbow, Don DeLillo’s White noise, and Toni Morrison’s Paradise.
ISBN 978-0-8203-3032-7; 978-0-8203-3033-4 (pa); LCCN 2007-18947

Mismanaging mayhem: how Washington responds to crisis; edited by James Jay Carafano and Richard Weitz. Praeger Security International, 2008. 296p $59.95 (The changing face of war)
These essays study government agencies at the federal level, and the problems they have in cooperating during times of crisis. Because the Pentagon, State Department, Department of Homeland Security, FBI, CIA, and other agencies have different capabilities, responsibilities, operating styles, and budgets, and even operate under different laws, a smoothly coordinated response to a disaster or crisis is rarely achieved. The authors analyze the problems and pose some solutions.
ISBN 978-0-313-34892-1; LCCN 2007-35288

Pressly, William L. The artist as original genius: Shakespeare’s “fine frenzy” in late-eighteenth-century British art. University of Delaware Press, 2007. 235p $80.00
The author examines the first generation of artists in Britain to identify themselves as history painters, including John Hamilton Mortimer, Henry Fuseli, and William Blake, and their attempt to do in art what William Shakespeare had done in literature: to use their native talent and sensibility to create a new and original art. These artists chose to develop their native muse, rather than follow and imitate established masters of what they considered to be a moribund continental academic tradition.
ISBN 978-0-87413-985-3; LCCN 2007-18946

Rethinking tragedy; edited by Rita Felski. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. 368p $65.00; $24.95 (pa)
These essays examine tragedy and the tragic in theater and literature, as well as in film, popular culture, and contemporary politics. Among the topics are Sophocles’ Philoctetes, the film noir Double indemnity, and Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche’s assessment of tragic form in The birth of tragedy.
ISBN 978-0-8018-8739-0; 978-0-8018-8740-6 (pa); LCCN 2007-22556

Scribbling women & the short story form: approaches by American & British women writers; edited by Ellen Burton Harrington. P. Lang, 2008. 198p $33.95
The short stories of English and American women authors are explored in these essays. Most of the essays take a feminist approach, examining the liberating possibilities of the short story form. Among the authors discussed are Louisa May Alcott, Kate Chopin, Katherine Ann Porter, and Flannery O’Connor.
ISBN 978-1-4331-0077-2; LCCN 2007-27973

Shakespeare re-dressed: cross-gender casting in contemporary performance; edited by James C. Bulman. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2008. 255p $53.50
These essays explore the recent increase in the cross-gender casting of Shakespeare’s plays: men playing women, and women playing men. The differences between the Elizabethan practice of boy actors playing women’s parts, and the modern practice of full equality in the assignment of roles is discussed, with analyses of recent productions by companies such as Cheek by Jowl, and the New Globe.
ISBN 978-0-8386-4114-9; LCCN 2007-14742

Shakespearean performance: new studies; edited by Frank Occhiogrosso. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2008. 211p $47.50
Essays on all aspects of the dramatic presentation of the works of William Shakespeare, including stage history, performance structure, Shakespeare on film, the physical playhouse, the phenomenon of cross-dressing, and the cultural history reflected in the stage directions.
ISBN 978-0-8386-4128-6; LCCN 2007-1069

Sith, slayers, stargates, + cyborgs: modern mythology in the new millennium; edited by David Whitt + John Perlich. P. Lang, 2008. 218p $74.95 (Popular culture and everyday life, v19)
These essays examine the new mythologies presented in the current science fiction and fantasy landscapes of fiction, graphic novels, motion pictures, and television programs. The authors show how the universal appeal of these texts is in their mythic power, drawing on archetypes of the past that resonate with audiences in every time and place.
ISBN 978-1-4331-0095-6; LCCN 2007-26678

The Taliban and the crisis of Afghanistan; edited by Robert D. Crews and Amin Tarzi. Harvard University Press, 2008. 430p $27.95
The Taliban, a resilient organization originally founded by students and Islamic clerics in Afghanistan, has played a central role in Afghan history and society over the past several decades. The authors show how the Taliban is less a movement designed to revive a medieval theocracy than a dynamic, adaptive force rooted in Afghan history and shaped by modern international politics.
ISBN 978-0-674-02690-2; LCCN 2007-31807

Times of trouble: violence in Russian literature and culture; edited by Marcus C. Levitt and Tatyana Novikov. University of Wisconsin Press, 2007. 324p $60.00
These essays examine the problem of violence in Russia from a variety of perspectives, exploring history as well as the visual arts and the literary work of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Isaac Babel, Mikhail Lermontov, and Nina Sadur, among others.
ISBN 978-0-299-22430-1; LCCN 2007-11822

Uncircumscribed mind: reading Milton deeply; edited by Charles W. Durham and Kristin A. Pruitt. Susquehanna University Press, 2008. 343p $62.50
Essays explore the prose and poetry of John Milton, who exhorted his readers to allow their minds to “range beyond the confines of the world.” The authors discuss his inventiveness, his use of source material, and his influence on later writers.
ISBN 978-1-57591-116-8; LCCN 2007-20071

World class worldwide: transforming research universities in Asia and Latin America; edited by Philip G. Altbach & Jorge Balan. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. 323p $85.00; $42.00 (pa)
The authors, analysts from developing and middle-income countries in Asia and Latin America, explore their countries’ specific challenges in providing “world class” higher education.
ISBN 978-0-8018.8661-4; 978-0-8018-8662-1 (pa); LCCN 2006-100960