Alien encounters: popular culture in Asian America; Mimi Thi Nguyen and Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu, editors. Duke University Press, 2007. 365p $84.96; 23.95 (pa)
The Asian American experience in modern American popular culture is the focus of these essays. Among the topics are: Asian American musicians who perform hip hop and jazz; the influence of Bruce Lee in bringing a new understanding of Asian masculinity to mainstream Hollywood films; and the worldwide popularity of Paris by night, a Vietnamese-language musical variety show that has reached its émigré audiences through video and DVD sales.
ISBN 978-0-8223-3910-6; 978-0-8223-3922-9 (pa); LCCN 2006-34549

Avrahami, Einat. The invading body: reading illness autobiographies. University of Virginia Press, 2007. 192p $55.00; $19.50 (pa)
These chapters examine the autobiographical writings and the photography of several terminally ill creative artists. The relationships between literary theory and the deeply personal autobiographical accounts are explored. Among the artists are author Harold Brodkey (who struggled with AIDS) and photographers Hannah Wilke and Jo Spence (both of whom were afflicted with cancer.)
ISBN 978-0-8139-2664-3; 978-0-8139-2665-0 (pa); LCCN 2007-10403

Concern for the other: perspectives on the ethics of K.E. Logstrup; edited by Svend Andersen and Kees van Kooten Niekerk. University of Notre Dame Press, 2007. 225p $32.00
The ethical views of Danish philosopher and theologian K.E. Logstrup (1905-1981) are examined in these essays, with frequent reference to his major work Beyond the ethical demand.
ISBN 978-0-258-02031-6; LCCN 2007-33428

Donskis, Leonidas. Power and imagination: studies in politics and literature. P. Lang, 2008. 170p $67.95 (New studies in aesthetics, v39)
Literature, both classical and modern, often reveals much about the structures of political power and authority, sometimes more effectively than works that belong strictly to the realm of political philosophy. The author analyzes the relationship between power and the imagination, politics and literature.
ISBN 978-1-4331-0125-0; LCCN 2008-13991

Engaging with nature: essays on the natural world in medieval and early modern Europe; Barbara A. Hanawalt and Lisa J. Kiser, editors. University of Notre Dame Press, 2008. 236p $30.00
These essays focus on the varieties of human interactions with the natural world in pre-modern Europe. Among the topics are: the understanding of man as an element both within and apart from nature in the Middle Ages; the medieval views of animals and their place in nature; and the ritual aspects of the hunt.
ISBN 978-0-268-03083-4; LCCN 2008-9049

Everyday revolutions: eighteenth-century women transforming public and private; edited by Diane E. Boyd and Marta Kvande. University of Delaware Press, 2008. 287p $58.00
These essays explore the ways in which eighteenth-century women worked to transform the public and private worlds in which they lived. The authors have not limited their studies to the well-documented activities of women in the century’s revolutionary movements, but have examined many other facets of life. Among the topics are: women and the Methodist movement; women in the public sphere in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park; and, the public arena in the epistolary fiction of Frances Burney.
ISBN 978-0-87413-007-2; LCCN 2007-36087

Foragers of the terminal Pleistocene in North America; edited by Renee B. Walker and Boyce N. Driskell. University of Nebraska Press, 2007. 328p $59.95
These essays examine the Paleo-Indians, the first settlers of North America and the ancestors of the historical Native American tribes. The authors use archaeological evidence to show that they survived not only by big-game hunting but also by foraging, fishing, and by the capture of migratory waterfowl. The spread of the Paleo-Indians as they followed their food sources is a dominant theme.
ISBN 978-0-8032-4802-1; LCCN 2006-32043

Glabach, Wilfried E. Reclaiming the book of Revelation: a suggestion of new readings in the local church. P. Lang, 2007. 212p $68.95 (American university studies. Series VII, Theology and religion, v259)
The author examines the book of Revelation (the last book of the Christian New Testament) and provides topics and discussions for teachers and preachers. Included are responses by other theologians to some of the author’s essays. Of particular interest are the parallels the author draws between the book of Revelation and the popular songs Tears in heaven by Eric Clapton and Imagine by John Lennon, and his discussions of the Left behind series of novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.
ISBN 978-1-4331-0054-3; LCCN 2006-101459

Gray, Richard. A web of words: the great dialogue of southern literature. University of Georgia Press, 2007. 283p $34.95 (Mercer University Lamar memorial lectures, no50)
In three long chapters, the author outlines the key themes and forms of American literature of the Southern States. Among the topics are: the preoccupation with violence and disaster in southern writing; and, the influence of agrarian society on the themes of the literature.
ISBN 978-0-8203-3005-1; 2007-15446

Hecimovich, Gregg. Puzzling the reader: riddles in nineteenth-century British literature. P. Lang, 2008. 136p $60.95 (Studies in nineteenth-century British literature, v26)
Charms and riddles in the literature of nineteenth-century Britain are the focus of these essays. Among the works discussed are: William Blake’s poem Jerusalem; John Keats’ poem The eve of St. Agnes; and, Charles Dickens’ novel Our mutual friend.
ISBN 978-1-4331-0142-7; LCCN 2008-3648

James Boswell: as his contemporaries saw him; edited by Lyle Larsen. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2008. 256p $52.50
The author examines the life of 18th century Scottish writer James Boswell (best known for his biography of Samuel Johnson) as understood from the written evidence provided by Boswell’s friends and contemporaries, including his family, rivals, critics, and satirists.
ISBN 978-0-8386-4171-2; LCCN 2007-40662

Loichot, Valerie. Orphan narratives: the postplantation literature of Faulkner, Glissant, Morrison, and Saint-John Perse. University of Virginia Press, 2007. 244p $45.00; $19.50 (pa) (New world studies)
The social, psychological, and economic structures of slavery and plantation life persisted long after emancipation, and influenced the new societies that emerged out of them. The author examines post-plantation culture in the United States and the Caribbean as reflected in the literary works of William Faulkner (Light in August), Toni Morrison (Song of Solomon), Saint-John Perse (Eloges), and Edouard Glissant (La case du commandeur).
ISBN 978-0-8139-2640-7; 978-0-8139-2641-4(pa); LCCN 2006-37586

Music and theology: essays in honor of Robin A. Leaver; edited by Daniel Zager. Scarecrow Press, 2007. 281p $100.00
These essays concentrate on sacred music history and philosophy, focusing on the intersection of music and theology. Several essays deal with the work of J.S. Bach, including his chorales and cantatas.
ISBN 978-0-8108-5414-7; LCCN 2006-21111

The mysterious and the foreign in early modern England; edited by Helen Ostovich, Mary V. Silcox, and Graham Roebuck. University of Delaware Press, 2008. 318p $63.50
The essays in this volume chronicle the reaction of the English people in the early modern period to their encounters with the mysterious and the foreign. Among the topics are: the writings of George Turberville, a 16th century traveler to Russia; the transnational status of the European Jewish community as understood and reflected in Shakespeare’s The merchant of Venice; and, the orientalism that characterized literary accounts of Turkey and in particular Turkish women.
ISBN 978-0-87413-954-9; 2007-33430

Nowhere is perfect: French and francophone utopias/dystopias; edited by John West-Sooby. University of Delaware Press, 2008. 252p $30.00
These essays examine the literary work of French language authors who have created utopias (ideal nowheres) in their works, as well as dystopias (nightmare visions of possible worlds). Among the authors discussed are Montesquieu, Emile Zola, Andre Gide, and Philippe Grandieux.
ISBN 978-0-87413-048-5; LCCN 2008-26284

Reynolds, Guy. Apostles of modernity: American writers in the age of development. University of Nebraska Press, 2008. 268p $50.00
The author examines the influence of globalism on the American literary imagination following World War II, when the United States attained unprecedented power and became more deeply involved in world affairs. Among the writers discussed are James Baldwin, Saul Bellow, W.E.B. DuBois, Ernest Hemingway, and Susan Sontag.
ISBN 978-0-8032-1377-7; LCCN 2007-35398

The sacred and profane in English Renaissance literature; edited by Mary A. Papazian. University of Delaware Press, 2008. 377p $75.00
These essays examine the distinction between the sacred (or spiritual) and the profane (or worldly) realms of experience as reflected in English literature of the early modern period. Among the works discussed are Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II, John Donne’s A litanie, and John Milton’s Paradise lost.
ISBN 978-0-87413-025-6; 2007-47692

Schweninger, Lee. Listening to the land: native American literary responses to the landscape. University of Georgia Press, 2008. 242p $19.95
The author examines the literary works of Native American writers, focusing on their attitudes toward the natural world and the land which they inhabit as a people. Among the authors discussed are Louise Erdrich, N. Scott Momaday, and Linda Hogan.
ISBN 978-0-8203-3059-4; LCCN 2007-39050

Schwartz, Regina Mara. Sacramental poetics at the dawn of secularism: when God left the world. Stanford University Press, 2008. 187p $60.00; $19.95 (pa) (Cultural memory
in the present)
The Protestant Reformation in England challenged the beliefs that had shaped the lives of previous generations, in particular the doctrine of transubstantiation, which had united the divine and the mundane in a single sacramental act. The author explores how the new uncertainty about God’s presence and influence in the world and the reevaluation of sacramental thought was reflected in works by authors such as William Shakespeare (in Othello), John Milton (in Paradise lost), and John Donne in his poetry.
ISBN 978-0-8047-5667-9; 978-0-8047-5833-8 (pa); LCCN 2007-37710

Science without laws: model systems, cases, exemplary narratives; edited by Angela N.H. Creager, Elizabeth Lunbeck, and M. Norton Wise. Duke University Press, 2007. 287p $79.95; $22.95 (pa)
Unlike the study of physics, which relies on universal laws (such as laws of motion and electromagnetism) to understand and explain phenomena, the biological and medical sciences must rely on “model systems” (i.e., the close observation of living creatures in a controlled environment) to further our understanding of biology and medicine. The authors of these essays examine the role that certain animals have played in medical research (baboons, worms, and fruit flies, for example) and explore the moral and ethical issues that arise when using animals and humans as research tools in the medical, biological, and social sciences.
ISBN 978-0-8223-4046-1; 978-0-8223-4068-3 (pa); LCCN 2007-6303

Shakespeare and European politics; edited by Dirk Delabastita, Jozef De Vos, and Paul Franssen; with a foreword by Ton Hoenselaars. University of Delaware Press, 2008. 385p $85.00
The plays of William Shakespeare transcended their own time and place, and each generation finds much in them that is socially and politically relevant. These essays explore Shakespeare’s views of politics and international relations as they have been understood in the modern world. Among the topics are: a discussion of T.S. Eliot’s views of Hamlet; the controversial stage productions of Coriolanus in France in 1933 and 1977; and the use of Vienna as the setting of a politically corrupt society in Measure for Measure.
ISBN 978-0-87413-004-1; LCCN 2007-33043

The veil: women writers on its history, lore, and politics; edited by Jennifer Heath. University of California Press, 2008. 346p $55.00; $21.95 (pa)
Essays by twenty-one women scholars on the feminine garment known as the veil, and on the social significance of keeping women veiled and hidden in many societies (both eastern and western). Among the topics are: the use of the veil in Islamic societies such as Iran and Afghanistan; the abandonment of the traditional headgear by nuns in the Roman Catholic Church; and, the dress code in Amish and Hasidic communities.
ISBN 978-0-520-25040-6; 978-0-520-25518-0 (pa); LCCN 2007-27035

Vidal, Gore. The selected essays of Gore Vidal; edited by Jay Parini. Doubleday, 2008. 458p $27.50
This volume contains twenty-four essays on literary, social, and political topics by novelist Gore Vidal, most of which have previously appeared in other collections. Among the more recent essays is one about the events of September 11, 2001.
ISBN 978-0-385-52484-1; LCCN 2008-13517

Yatromanolakis, Dimitrios. Sappho in the making: the early reception. Center for Hellenic Studies, Trustees for Harvard University: Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2007. xx, 442p $19.95 (Hellenic studies, 28)
The popularity and influence of the Greek poet Sappho in pre-modern times is the focus of this study. The author examines visual representation of women and social life in Greek pottery in order to establish the context of Sappho’s social world and to find evidence of her influence in the forms represented. Sappho’s unusual role as an esteemed female poet and as an articulate expositor of female homoeroticism is explored, as well as her profound influence on other poets.
ISBN 978-0-674-02686-5; LCCN 2007-37916

Zabus, Chantal. Between rites and rights: excision in women’s experiential texts and human contexts. Stanford University Press, 2007. 324p $65.00
The ritual practice of female genital mutilation in many African societies, and the literary representation of the practice by African authors, is the focus of these chapters. The conflict between traditional religious and cultural norms on the one hand, and the modern emphasis on human rights, personal integrity and freedom of choice on the other, underlies the struggle that women in many societies must face in choosing between traditional values and personal liberty.
ISBN 978-0-8047-5687-7; LCCN 2007-18573