New Books

December 2007

FICTION

Alias Grace - Atwood, Margaret

A fascinating elaboration--and somewhat of a departure for Atwood -- of the life of Grace Marks, one of Canada 's more infamous killers. As notorious as our own Lizzy Borden, Grace Marks was barely 16 when she and James McDermott were arrested in 1843 for the brutal murder of their employer Thomas Kinnear and his pregnant mistress/housekeeper Nancy Montgomery. The trial was a titillating sensation; McDermott was hanged, and Grace was given the dubious mercy of life imprisonment. Some felt her an innocent dupe, others thought her a cold-blooded murderer; the truth remains elusive. Atwood reimagines Grace's story, and with delicate skill all but replaces history with her chronicle of events. Anchoring the narrative is the arrival of Dr. Simon Jordan, who has come to investigate the sanity of Grace after some 16 years of incarceration. A convert to the new field of psychiatry, Jordan is hoping to help Grace recover her memory of the murders, which she claims no recollection of. He begins by asking for her life story. Grace tells him of her first commission as a laundry maid in a grand house, and of her dear friend Mary, dead at 16 from a botched abortion. On she goes until she calmly relates the events that led up to the murders, and her attempted escape with McDermott afterward. Hypnotism finally ``restores'' her memory (or is Grace misleading Jordan ?), with results that are both shocking and ambiguous. Employing a variety of narratives--Grace's own, Dr. Jordan's, letters, newspaper accounts from the time, poems from the period, and the published confessions of the accused--a complex story is pieced together. The image of the patchwork quilt, used repeatedly in the novel, is a fitting metaphor for the multiplicity of truths that Grace exemplifies. Through characteristically elegant prose and a mix of narrative techniques, Atwood not only crafts an eerie, unsettling tale of murder and obsession, but also a stunning portrait of the lives of women in another time. – Kirkus

Home to Holly Springs - Karon , Jan

Karon's bestselling series of Mitford novels has concluded with 25 million copies sold to date, but to the relief of eager fans, she introduces a new series featuring Father Tim. The beloved Episcopal priest returns to his childhood town of Holly Springs, Miss. , where he reconnects with old friends and battles some old demons. The novel is thick with Father Tim's past, as Karon uses flashbacks to shed light on his early adulthood, especially his transition to seminary. In Holly Springs , his penchant for getting near strangers to open up to him—and his earnest, moving reflections on faith, prayer and the risks of love—are reassuringly present. His wife, Cynthia, is on stage far less than he, but when she appears, she is charming and insightful, as usual. Mitford fans will enjoy this newest visit with wise, winsome, lovable Father Tim. – Publishers Weekly

I Am Legend - Matheson, Richard

One of the most influential vampire novels of the 20th century, I Am Legend regularly appears on the "10 Best" lists of numerous critical studies of the horror genre. As Richard Matheson's third novel, it was first marketed as science fiction (for although written in 1954, the story takes place in a future 1976). A terrible plague has decimated the world, and those who were unfortunate enough to survive have been transformed into blood-thirsty creatures of the night. Except, that is, for Robert Neville. He alone appears to be immune to this disease, but the grim irony is that now he is the outsider. He is the legendary monster who must be destroyed because he is different from everyone else. Employing a stark, almost documentary style, Richard Matheson was one of the first writers to convince us that the undead can lurk in a local supermarket freezer as well as a remote Gothic castle. His influence on a generation of bestselling authors--including Stephen King and Dean Koontz--who first read him in their youth is, well, legendary. – Amazon.com

 

Contents: I am Legend -- Buried Talents -- The Near Departed -- Prey -- Witch War -- Dance of the Dead -- Dress of White Silk -- Mad House -- The Funeral -- From Shadowed Places -- Person to Person.

True Believer - Sparks , Nicholas

Charming, divorced Jeremy Marsh is a rising star. As a dashing, successful 37-year-old Manhattan science journalist, his skeptical scrutiny of ineffective antidepressants, cults and television clairvoyants has caught the eye of North Carolina restaurant owner Doris McClellan, who invites Jeremy to bucolic Boone Creek to scoop the story of eerie mystery lights appearing in an ancient cemetery. A diviner who can predict the sex of unborn babies, Doris suspects the lights are a ghostly curse. Her beautiful librarian granddaughter, Lexie Darnell, makes a lovely, if guarded, tour guide as Jeremy revs up his electromagnetic equipment for the ghost hunt. After witnessing the ethereal graveside lights, both grow closer, much to the chagrin of local deputy Rodney Hopper, who wants Lexie for himself. Guided by sage Doris and manipulated by meddling mayor Tom Gherkin, big-city Jeremy and smalltown Lexie find that trepidation about their differences somehow manages to bloom into love. Jeremy eventually uncovers the hidden truth behind the glowing graveyard fog and departs the lush gothic environs for New York . Can love bridge the gap? Sparks delivers another shrink-wrapped, reliably uncomplicated romantic confection that's light as air, smooth as silk and gloriously sweet. – Publishers Weekly

Water for Elephants - Gruen , Sara

Life is good for Jacob Jankowski. He's about to graduate from veterinary school and about to wed the girl of his dreams. Then his parents are killed in a car crash, leaving him in the middle of the Great Depression with no home, no family, and no career. Almost by accident, Jacob joins the circus. There he falls in love with the beautiful performer Marlena , who is married to the circus' psychotic animal trainer. He also meets the other love of his life, Rosie the elephant. This lushly romantic novel travels back in forth in time between Jacob's present day in a nursing home and his adventures in the surprisingly harsh world of 1930s circuses. The ending of both stories is a little too cheerful to be believed, but just like a circus, the magic of the story and the writing convince you to suspend your disbelief. The book is partially based on real circus stories and illustrated with historical circus photographs. – Booklist

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West - Maguire, Gregory

Elphaba , the future Wicked Witch of the West, has gotten a bum rap. Her mother is embarrassed and repulsed by her bright-green baby with shark's teeth and an aversion to water. At college, the coed experiences disapproval and rejection by her roommate, Glinda , a silly girl interested only in clothes, money, and popularity. Elphaba is a serious and inquisitive student. When she learns that the Wizard of Oz is politically corrupt and causing economic ruin, Elphaba finds a sense of purpose to her life: to stop him and to restore harmony and prosperity to the land. A Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, and an unknown species called a "Dorothy" appear in very small roles... The story presents Elphaba in a sympathetic and empathetic manner-readers will want her to triumph! The book has both idealism and cynicism in its discussion of social, religious, educational, and political issues present in Oz, and, more pointedly, present in our day and time. The idealism is whimsical and engaging; the cynicism is biting. Basis for the hit Broadway musical. – School Library Journal

Son of a Witch - Maguire, Gregory

Sequel to Wicked: Liir has a lot of questions. He has always been with the witch Elphaba , but he doesn't know whether she is his mother. She always evades the issue. When she is unceremoniously dispatched by that girl from Kansas , Liir at 14 has nowhere to go and nothing meaningful to do. He has Elphaba's cape and broom but no magical abilities, and the question of his parentage is now more than bothersome. He leaves the castle and Elphaba's long shadow, and sets out into the wide world for some answers. But the questions get bigger and more complicated. For soon he wakes in the Cloister of St. Glinda , amnesiac and healing from broken bones, sprains, and internal injuries. How did he get in such a state? Another mystery: Candle, the mute young novice who pulled him from the edge of death with her extraordinary musical gift and has cared for him so intently, has unintentionally bound herself to him in ways that could change them into something bigger than they can imagine. The biggest question is, why has Liir's life been spared? Maguire fills out the sequel to Wicked (1995)--source of the hit musical--with astute, frequently comical observations on present-day politics, social injustice, religion, and the human condition. At the same time, in his hero's story, he acknowledges the human capacities for love, compassion, and courage. This is no lightweight fairytale--entertaining, to be sure, but also complex and multilayered in plot and meaning, thought-provoking, and unforgettable. – Booklist

World Without End - Follett, Ken

This book is a big event. In 1989 Follett published what was to become one of his most popular novels, The Pillars of the Earth , a historical epic about the construction of an English cathedral, set in the twelfth century. Now, 18 years later and with several intervening best-sellers to his credit, Follett presents his eager fans with a sequel to Pillars . According to publicity material, he spent three years writing it, and it shows, because this an amazingly well-researched, intricately plotted, richly detailed novel that, while long in pages, never sprawls or flags. It is set in the same English cathedral town as Pillars , some two centuries later, and has as its primary characters the descendants of the major characters that appeared in the previous book. Follett's technique is to follow the lives of four individuals who have varying goals in life and, in the process, build a comprehensive tapestry of medieval English life—an especially important background thread being the horrible natural disaster of that era, the black plague. Follet has complete mastery over his material, and the result is a novel destined for the best-seller lists. – Booklist

Throw Like a Girl - Thompson, Jean

Booklist Starred Review: Thompson now has written as many story collections as novels (four and four, that is), and it is primarily as a first-rate story writer that her name is being made. Her latest collection, gathering an even dozen stories, extends the realization that she is a sensitive, humorous, very informed chronicler--no, singer-- of ordinary people in ordinary towns who face ordinary life issues, primarily relationships in familial and sexual forms (in other words, situations in which we all find ourselves). But Thompson's strength and attraction lie in her ability to spot the unique features of any of these situations. It wouldn't be wrong to also call her the poet of these unglamorous lives, given her pithy, poignant, yet often beautiful prose style. "Lost" may not be the best story in the collection, but it is exemplary. From the vantage point of years later, a grown woman narrates in the first person (her voice pitch-perfect for her character) about when she was 20 and had a good time with a "bad" boy. Time has passed quickly for her: "That quick, there goes your life, like a black-haired boy on a motorcycle, looking back until he's out of sight." Stories for any fiction reader. – Booklist

Obasan - Kogawa , Joy

When Naomi was a young child living in Vancouver , British Columbia , her mother left to visit relatives in Japan . Soon after, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor . Naomi's mother was not allowed to return and Naomi's family was "relocated" by the Canadian government. When Obasan begins, Naomi is thirty-five, a woman determined to ignore her past. But the death of the man who helped raise her and her aunt's who refusal to forgive the Canadian government force Naomi to remember. Naomi's initial memories are of a big house with a backyard and a father who loved music, of handcrafted boats and communal baths with her great-aunt. Then the memories shift and she remembers families divided, chicken coops assigned as "houses," parents dying away from their children, and a government that took away rights based on ethnic heritage, not actions. Obasan uses a combination of personal narrative, lyrical outpourings, official letters, and dreams to protest the treatment of Japanese-Canadians during World War II. Differing in style and emotional intensity, the voices clash and mesh, building upon each other until they reach the ending, which both stuns and forces us to reconsider all that has gone before. Review from 500 Great books for Women

REFERENCE

Ocean: The World's Last Wilderness Revealed - Dinwiddie, Robert

Too often we take for granted the ways oceans enrich our lives. Thankfully, this magnificent volume encourages eyes, mind, and spirit to attend more closely to this fragile otherworld. Opening with a minicourse in oceanography, covering circulation, climate, tides, and waves, the authors continue with details of ocean environments, from coasts and seashores to shallow seas, the open ocean , and polar waters. They also similarly describe the richly varied forms of underwater life, from bacteria to mammals, all the while exploring the earth history lesson embodied in the ocean's geography. Crafted by devoted scientists and visual artists, Ocean offers page after page of stunning images and vital information about the very heartbeat of planet Earth. – Booklist

Poetry for Students , Volume 27

Studies in depth of selected poems: this volume explicates selected works by Rilke, Borges, Berryman, Szymborska , Rossetti, Shelley, Swift, Auden, and others.

Time Almanac 2008

World Almanac and Book of Facts 2008

NONFICTION

Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West - Sides, Hampton

Sides, an Outside magazine editor-at-large and bestselling author ( Ghost Soldiers ), eloquently paints the landscape and history of the 19th-century Southwest, combining Larry McMurtry's lyricism with the historian's attachment to facts. Inevitably, Sides's main focus is the virtual decimation of the Navajo nation from the 1820s to the late 1860s. Sides depicts the complex role of whites in the subjugation of the Navajos through his portrait of Kit Carson—an illiterate trapper, soldier and scout who knew the Native Americans intimately, married two of them and, without blinking, participated in the Indians' slaughter. Books about Carson have been numerous, but Sides is better than most Carson biographers in setting his exploits against a larger backdrop: the unstoppable idea of manifest destiny. Of course, as counterpoint to the progress of Carson and other whites, Sides details the fierce but doomed defense mounted by the Navajos over long decades. This culminated in their final, desperate "stand" during 1863 at Canyon de Chelly , more than a decade after a contingent of federal troops—operating under a commander whose last name of " Washington " seems ironic in this context—killed their great leader, Narbona . – Publishers Weekly

 

Contents: Prologue: Hoofbeats -- THE NEW MEN: Jumping off -- The glittering world -- The army of the West -- Singing grass -- Blue Bead Mountain -- Who is James K. Polk? -- What a wild life! -- The ruling hand of providence -- The pathfinder -- When the land is sick -- The un-Alamo -- We will correct all this -- Narbona Pass -- The uninvaded silence -- On the altar of the country -- A perfect butchery -- The fire of Montezuma -- Your duty, Mr. Carson -- Daggers in every look -- Men with ears down to their ankles -- The hall of final ruin -- A BROKEN COUNTRY: The grim metronome -- Lords of the mountains -- The devil's turnpike -- Our red children -- Cold steel -- El Crepusculo -- American mercury -- Time at last sets all things even -- The finest head I ever saw -- The death knot -- Men without eyes -- Blood and thunder -- MONSTER SLAYER: The fearing time -- People of the single star -- The sons of some dear mother -- The round forest -- Children of the mist -- General orders no. 15 -- Fortress rock -- The long walk -- Adobe walls -- The condition of the tribes -- Crossing purgatory -- Epilogue: In beauty we walk.

Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9 /11 - Wright, Lawrence

Publishers Weekly Starred Review: Wright, a New Yorker writer, brings exhaustive research and delightful prose to one of the best books yet on the history of terrorism. He begins with the observation that, despite an impressive record of terror and assassination, post– WWarII , Islamic militants failed to establish theocracies in any Arab country. Many helped Afghanistan resist the Russian invasion of 1979 before their unemployed warriors stepped up efforts at home. Al-Qaeda, formed in Afghanistan in 1988 and led by Osama bin Laden, pursued a different agenda, blaming America for Islam's problems. Less wealthy than believed, bin Laden's talents lay in organization and PR, Wright asserts. Ten years later, bin Laden blew up U.S. embassies in Africa and the destroyer Cole , opening the floodgates of money and recruits. Wright's step-by-step description of these attacks reveals that planning terror is a sloppy business, leaving a trail of clues that, in the case of 9/11, raised many suspicions among individuals in the FBI, CIA and NSA. Wright shows that 9/11 could have been prevented if those agencies had worked together. As a fugitive, bin Ladin's days as a terror mastermind may be past, but his success has spawned swarms of imitators. This is an important, gripping and profoundly disheartening book. - Publishers Weekly

 

Contents: The martyr. -- The sporting club. -- The founder. -- Change. -- The miracles. -- The base. -- Return of the hero. -- Paradise . -- The Silicon Valley . -- Paradise lost. -- The prince of darkness. -- The boy spies. -- Hijira . -- Going operational. -- Bread and water. -- "Now it begins" -- The new millennium. -- Boom. -- The big wedding. -- Revelations. -- Principal characters

American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic - Ellis, Joseph J.

Booklist Starred Review: In a structure similar to his Founding Brothers (2000), which examined leading American revolutionaries at critical episodes, Ellis selects "certain propitious moments" from the American Revolution and early republic, dramatizes them, and analyzes their crucial ramifications for America 's future. Those Ellis discusses, such as a sense of nationalism or the Founders' failure to constrain slavery, emerge as contingent developments. What Ellis emphasizes in this set of incisive narratives is the possibility that history could have taken some very different directions and that what occurred is unjustifiably endowed with inevitability. Subjects include the debate preceding the Declaration of Independence; the ordeal of Valley Forge; the beginning of the party system in the 1790s; and the Louisiana Purchase . Collectively they illuminate, argues Ellis, the Founders' anxieties about the constitutional nature, territorial extent, and permanence of the republic they were constructing. All the Founders had reservations about the nation-state that resulted. Their maneuvers to alter it, such as an effort by Washington 's secretary of war to change Indian policy from dispossession to accommodation, crystallize in Ellis' outstanding acuity about the successes and failures of the Founders. A history bound for phenomenal popularity. – Booklist

 

Contents: THE YEAR: the fifteen months between the shots fired at Lexington and Concord and the Declaration of Independence; culminating in the statement, ‘We hold these truths to be self evident …' -- THE WINTER: Those dreadful months at Valley Forge, when/where George Washington would finally come to the realization that he didn't need to win the war, what he really had to do was to prevent the British from winning. -- THE ARGUMENT: The important, but certainly not inevitable, movement from the Articles of Confederation to The Constitution. -- THE TREATY: The Jay Treaty, siding with Britain against the French who had helped in the Revolutionary War - going against the feelings of the majority of the citizenry. -- THE CONSPIRACY: The creation of the two-party system - against the original opinions that parties would be the ruination of the country. -- THE PURCHASE: The Louisiana Purchase - doubling the size of the country, and Jefferson almost single-handedly approving the entire deal in spite of the fact that he deeply felt that it was way beyond his powers to do so.

Nazi Germany and the Jews, Volume 1: The Years of Persecution 1933-1939 - Friedlander, Saul

An eminent Holocaust historian gives voice to both the perpetrators and victims of Nazi Germany's prewar persecutions. Historian and memoirist Friedlander (Reflections of Nazism, 1984; When Memory Comes, 1979; etc.) here offers the first part of a two-volume study of the Holocaust. This eloquent, richly documented history focuses on the period from the rise of the Nazis to the onset of war in 1939, and traces how the Nazi regime gradually drew the German nation into a war against its Jewish population, first harassing, then isolating, and finally openly attacking Jews throughout Germany. The author relies heavily on the words of both notorious racists and everyday Germans, as well as the reactions of Jews and gentile critics of the regime to its increasingly violent actions, drawing from letters, diaries, speeches, and newspaper articles. The first shot was aimed at the “excessive influence” of Germany 's Jews on her cultural life, and it's documented here with excerpts from the letters of famous composers, painters, and writers, including Thomas Mann's correspondence with Albert Einstein. This portrait of the German people is not unmixed: While we encounter professors who were all too pleased to have their Jewish department heads and colleagues dismissed as threats to Aryan culture, we also read a German businessman's description of the seizure of Jewish shops by entrepreneurs who were “like vultures swarming down . . . their tongues hanging out with greed, to feed upon the Jewish carcass.” The institutionalized ostracism and pauperization of Germany 's Jews was fueled, according to Friedlander, by “a synthesis of murderous rage” and polluted idealism, created by the Nazi regime and embraced by the German people. Not surprisingly, the notes and list of works cited here take up 80 pages. The exhaustive spade work makes this the richest, fullest study of its kind. The reader comes as close as one would ever want to get to Nazi Germany of the 1930s. – Kirkus

 

Contents: PART ONE. A BEGINNING AND AN END -- Into the Third Reich -- Consenting Elites/Troubled Elites -- Redemptive Anti-Semitism in its Epoch -- The New Ghetto -- The Spirit of Laws -- PART TWO. THE ENTRAPMENT -- Crusade and Card-Index -- Paris , Warsaw , Berlin and Vienna -- An Austrian Model? -- A Broken Remnant.

Origins of the Modern World, Revised and Updated Edition: Fate and Fortune in the Rise of the West - Brenner, Abigail

How did the modern world get to be the way it is? How did we come to live in a globalized , industrialized, capitalistic set of nation-states? Moving beyond Eurocentric explanations and histories that revolve around the rise of the West, distinguished historian Robert B. Marks explores the roles of Asia, Africa, and the New World in the global story. He defines the modern world as marked by industry, the nation state, interstate warfare, a large and growing gap between the wealthiest and poorest parts of the world, and an escape from environmental constraints. Bringing the saga to the present, Marks considers how and why the United States emerged as a world power in the 20th century and the sole superpower by the 21st century; the powerful resurgence of Asia ; and the vastly changed relationship of humans to the environment. – from the publisher

 

Contents: The Rise of the West? -- The Material and Trading Worlds, circa 1400 -- Starting with China -- Empires, States, and the New World, 1500-1775 -- The Industrial Revolution and Its Consequences, 1750-1850 -- The Gap -- Changes and Continuities.

Food Safety - Kallen , Stuart A.

Contents: America's food supply is vulnerable to agricultural terrorism / Jeff Greco -- Federal agencies are protecting America's food supply from terrorists / U.S. Food and Drug Administration -- Genetically engineered crops are safe and beneficial / Gregory Conko and C.S. Prakash -- Genetically modified food has great potential for harm / Karen Charman -- An epidemic of mad cow disease in the United States is inevitable / Christine Wenc -- Mad cow disease is not a threat to the United States / Elizabeth Whelan -- Organic food is expensive, bad for the environment, and potentially deadly / Alex Knapp -- More Americans are choosing organic food for safety and health / Richard McGill Murphy -- Irradiated food can cause cancer and other health problems / Public Citizen -- Irradiation makes the food supply safer / Robin Brett Parnes ... [et al.] -- Pesticides in foods are poisoning consumers / Charles M. Benbrook -- Pesticides are rarely dangerous and provide many benefits / Scott Phillips ... [et al.].

13 Seconds: A Look Back at the Kent State Shootings - Caputo, Philip

Thirty-five years after American troops shot and killed four students at Kent State University , Caputo looks back on the tragedy. He begins with a brief description of the student-protest movement in the late sixties and follows that with a fairly detailed account of the shootings and the antiwar protest that preceded them. The bulk of the book is taken up with a thoughtful reflection on the shootings' importance in the context of the antiwar movement and its impact on the post-- Vietnam era. Readers expecting a nostalgic take on the sixties are in for a shock: "It was a dreadful time," the author writes bluntly. Readers expecting to find out whom to blame for the tragedy will be disappointed, too. The book isn't simplistic enough to lay blame; it's about understanding what happened and why. The book is packaged with a DVD containing the 2001 documentary Kent State : The Day the War Came Home. Together, the images and Caputo's words serve as a powerful antidote to the romanticization of an era. - Booklist

The Prince - Machiavelli, Niccolo

Here is the world's most famous master plan for seizing and holding power. Astonishing in its candor, The Prince even today remains a disturbingly realistic and prophetic work on what it takes to be a prince... a king... a president. When, in 1512, Machiavelli was removed from his post in his beloved Florence , he resolved to set down a treatise on leadership that was practical, not idealistic. In The Prince he envisioned what would be unencumbered by ordinary ethical and moral values; his prince would be man and beast, fox and lion. Today, this small sixteenth-century masterpiece has become essential reading for every student of government, and is the ultimate book on power politics. – from the publisher. Replaces a lost copy.

American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century

Loads of verse!

The Great Philosophers: An Introduction to Western Philosophy - Magee, Bryan

Beginning with the death of Socrates in 399 BC, and following the story through the centuries to recent figures such as Bertrand Russell and Wittgenstein, Bryan Magee's conversations with fifteen contemporary writers and philosophers provide an accessible and exciting account of Western philosophy and its greatest thinkers. The contributors include A. J. Ayer, Bernard Williams, Martha Nussbaum, Peter Singer, and John Searle, so that the book is not only an introduction to the philosophers of the past, but gives an invaluable insight into the view and personalities of some of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. – from the publisher

 

Contents: Preface -- Plato -- Aristotle -- Medieval Philosophy -- Descartes -- Spinoza and Leibniz -- Locke and Berkeley -- Hume -- Kant -- Hegel and Marx -- Schopenhauer -- Nietzsche -- Husserl, Heidegger and Modern Existentialism -- The American Pragmatists -- Frege , Russell and Modern Logic -- Wittgenstein -- Index.

Free Will: A Very Short Introduction - Pink, Thomas

Every day we seem to make and act upon all kinds of free choices - some of them trivial, and some so consequential that they may change the course of our life, or even the course of history. But are these choices really free? Or are we compelled to act the way we do by factors beyond our control? Is the feeling that we could have made different decisions just an illusion? And if our choices are not free, why should we be held morally responsible for our actions? This Very Short Introduction, written by a leading authority on the subject, looks at a range of issues surrounding this fundamental philosophical question, exploring it from the ideas of the Greek and medieval philosophers through to the thoughts of present-day thinkers. It provides a interesting and incisive introduction to this perennially fascinating subject. – from the publisher

 

Contents: Freedom as freewill -- Incompatibilisms -- Scepticism about freedom as freewill -- Compatibilism and its successors -- In defence of freewill -- Freedom, moral responsibility, and determinism.

Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction - Okasha , Samir

What is science? Is there a real difference between science and myth? Is science objective? Can science explain everything? This Very Short Introduction provides a concise overview of the main themes of contemporary philosophy of science. Beginning with a short history of science to set the scene, Samir Okasha goes on to investigate the nature of scientific reasoning, scientific explanation, revolutions in science, and theories such as realism and anti-realism. He also looks at philosophical issues in particular sciences, including the problem of classification in biology, and the nature of space and time in physics. The final chapter touches on the conflicts between science and religion, and explores whether science is ultimately a good thing. – from the publisher

 

Contents: WHAT IS SCIENCE? -- A very short history of science -- Does science have an essential nature? -- Science and pseudo-science -- SCIENTIFIC REASONING -- Induction and deduction -- Hume's problem -- Two types of inductive reasoning -- Probability and induction -- EXPLANATION IN SCIENCE -- The 'covering-law' model of explanation -- Alternative models of explanation -- Can science explain everything? -- REALISM AND ANTI-REALISM ABOUT SCIENCE -- Scientific realism -- Objections to scientific realism -- Varieties of anti-realism -- SCIENTIFIC CHANGE AND SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS -- Explaining scientific change -- Thomas Kuhn on 'normal' and 'revolutionary' science -- Sociological accounts of scientific change -- PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEMS IN PHYSICS, BIOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS -- Leibniz versus Newton on absolute space -- The problem of biological classification -- Is knowledge of language innate -- SCIENCE AND ITS CRITICS -- Is science a good thing? -- Science and religion -- The science wars.

Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction - Ward, Colin

The word 'anarchism' tends to conjure up images of aggressive protest against government, and - recently - of angry demonstrations against bodies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. But is anarchism inevitably linked with violent disorder? Do anarchists adhere to a coherent ideology? What exactly is anarchism? In this Very Short Introduction, Colin Ward considers anarchism from a variety of perspectives: theoretical, historical, and international, and by exploring key anarchist thinkers from Kropotkin to Chomsky. He looks critically at anarchism by evaluating key ideas within it, such as its blanket opposition to incarceration, and policy of 'no compromise' with the apparatus of political decision-making. Among the questions he ponders are: can anarchy ever function effectively as a political force? Is it more 'organized' and 'reasonable' than is currently perceived? Whatever the politics of the reader, Ward's argument ensures that anarchism will be much better understood after reading this book. – from the publisher

 

Contents: Definitions and ancestors -- Revolutionary moments -- States, societies, and the collapse of socialism -- Deflating nationalism and fundamentalism -- Containing deviancy and liberating work -- Freedom in education -- The individualist response -- Quiet revolutions -- The federalist agenda -- Green aspirations and anarchist futures.

Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction - Critchley , Simon

Simon Critchley's Very Short Introduction shows that Continental philosophy encompasses a distinct set of philosophical traditions and practices, with a compelling range of problems all too often ignored by the analytic tradition. He discusses the ideas and approaches of philosophers such as Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Habermas , Foucault, and Derrida, and introduces key concepts such as existentialism, nihilism, and phenomenology by explaining their place in the Continental tradition. – from the publisher

 

Contents: Introduction -- The gap between knowledge and wisdom -- Origins of Continental Philosophy - How to get from Kant to German Idealism -- Two Cultures in Philosophy - the need for both spectacles and eyes to see with -- Can philosophy change the world? Critique, praxis, emancipation -- What is to be done? How to respond to nihilism -- A case study in misunderstanding: Heidegger and Carnap -- Scientism versus obscurantism: avoiding the traditional predicament in philosophy -- Sapere aude - the exhaustion of theory and the promise of philosophy -- Further Reading -- References -- Index.

Logic: A Very Short Introduction - Priest, Graham

Logic is often perceived as having little to do with the rest of philosophy, and even less to do with real life. In this lively and accessible introduction, Graham Priest shows how wrong this conception is. He explores the philosophical roots of the subject, explaining how modern formal logic deals with issues ranging from the existence of God and the reality of time to paradoxes of probability and decision theory. Along the way, the basics of formal logic are explained in simple, non-technical terms, showing that logic is a powerful and exciting part of modern philosophy. – from the publisher

 

Contents: Validity : what follows from what? -- Truth functions : or not? -- Names and quantifiers : is nothing something? -- Descriptions and existence : did the Greeks worship Zeus? -- Self- reference : what is this chapter about? Necessity and possibility : what will be must be? -- Conditionals : what's in an if? -- The_tfuture and the past : is time real? -- Identity and change : is anything ever the same? -- Vagueness :how do you stop sliding down a slippery slope? -- Probability : the strange case of the missing reference class -- Inverse probability : you can't be indifferent about it -- Decision theory : great expectations -- A_tlittle history and some further reading.

Shakespeare: A Very Short Introduction - Greer, Germaine

Germaine Greer examines Shakespeare's plays in detail, showing how he dramatized moral and intellectual issues in such a way that his audience became dazzlingly aware of an imaginative dimension to daily life. She argures that as long as Shakespeare's work remains central to English cultural life, it will retain the values which make it unique in the world. – from the publisher

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Contents: Life -- Poetics -- Ethics -- Politics -- Teleology -- Sociology -- Note on sources, Further reading, Index.

Hegel: A Very Short Introduction - Singer, Peter

From the publisher: Many people regard Hegel's work as obscure and extremely difficult, yet his importance and influence are universally acknowledged. Professor Singer eliminates any excuse for remaining ignorant of the outlines of Hegel's philosophy by providing a broad discussion of his ideas and an account of his major works. From the Sunday Times: An excellent introduction to Hegel's thought... Hegel is neatly placed in historical context; the formal waltz of dialectic and the dialectic master and slave are economically illumined; Singer's use of analogy is at times inspired.'' Sunday Times

 

Contents: Hegel's times and life -- History with a purpose -- Freedom and community -- The odyssey of the mind -- Logic and dialectics -- Aftermath -- Notes on sources, further reading, index.

Heidegger: A Very Short Introduction - Inwood , Michael J.

Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) is probably the most divisive philosopher of the twentieth century. Considered by some to be the greatest charlatan ever to claim the title of 'philosopher', by some as an apologist for Nazism, he was also an acknowledged leader and central figure to many philosophers. Michael Inwood's lucid introduction to Heidegger's thought focuses on his most important work, 'Being and Time', and its major themes of existence in the world, inauthenticity , guilt, destiny, truth, and the nature of time. These themes are then reassessed in the light of Heidegger's later work, together with the extent of his philosophical importance and influence. This is an invaluable guide to the complex and voluminous thought of a major twentieth-century existentialist philosopher. – from the publisher

 

Contents: List of Illustrations -- References -- Heidegger's Life -- Heidegger's Philosophy -- Being -- Desein -- The World – Language, Truth, and Care – Time, Death, and Conscience –Temporality, Transcendence, and Freedom -- History and World-Time -- Art -- St Martin of Messkirch ? -- Further Reading -- Glossary -- Index.

Nietzsche: A Very Short Introduction - Tanner, Michael

The philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was almost wholly neglected during his sane life, which came to an abrupt end in 1889. Since then he has been appropriated as an icon by an astonishingly diverse spectrum of people, whose interpretations of his thought range from the highly irrational to the firmly analytical. Thus Spoke Zarathustra introduced the 'superman' and The Twilight of the Idols developed the 'Will to Power' concept; these term , together with ' Sklavenmoral ' and ' Herrenmoral ', became confused with the rise of nationalism in Germany . Idiosyncratic and aphoristic, Nietzsche is always bracing and provocative, and temptingly easy to dip into. Michael Tanner's readable introduction to the philosopher's life and work examines the numerous ambiguities inherent in his writings. It also explodes the many misconceptions fostered in the hundred years since Nietzsche wrote, prophetically: 'Do not, above all, confound me with what I am not!' – from the publisher

 

Contents: The image of Nietzsche -- Tragedy: birth, death, rebirth -- Disillusionment and withdrawal -- Morality and its discontents -- The one thing needful – Prophecy -- Occupying the high ground -- Masters and slaves -- Philosophizing with a hammer – Abbreviations -- Further Reading – Index.

Racism: A Very Short Introduction - Rattansi , Ali

Challenges many common assumptions and guides the reader through the confusion surrounding racial issues in history, science, politics, and popular culture. Looking at a wide range of examples from both Western society and beyond, Ali Rattansi sheds light on contemporary debates such as the Holocaust, the continuing disadvantage of African Americans, 'institutional racism', racism and sexuality, ' Islamophobia ', and the growing support for racist movements. – from the publisher

 

Contents: Introduction -- Racism and racists: some conundrums -- Fear of the dark ?: blacks, Jews, and barbarians -- Beyond the pale: scientific racism, the nation, and the politics of colour -- Imperialism, eugenics, and the Holocaust -- The case against scientific racism -- New racisms? -- Racist identities: ambivalence, contradiction, and commitment -- Beyond institutional racism: 'race', class, and gender in the USA and Britain -- Conclusions: prospects for a post-racial future – References -- Further reading – Index.

The Bible: A Very Short Introduction - Riches, John

It is sometimes said that the Bible is one of the most unread books in the world, yet has been a major force in the development of Western culture and continues to exert an enormous influence over many people's lives. This Very Short Introduction looks at the importance accorded to the Bible by different communities and cultures and attempts to explain why it has generated such a rich variety of uses and interpretations. It explores how the Bible was written, the development of the canon, the role of Biblical criticism, the appropriation of the Bible in high and popular culture, and its use for political ends. – from the publisher

 

Contents: The Bible in the Modern World: Classic or Sacred Text? -- How the Bible was Written -- The Making of the Bible -- The Bible in the World of the Believers -- The Bible and its Critics -- The Bible in the Post-Colonial World -- The Bible in High and Popular Culture -- The Bible in Politics -- Conclusion -- References and further Reading -- Index of Biblical References -- General Index.

Animal Rights: A Very Short Introduction - DeGrazia , David

This volume provides a general overview of the basic ethical and philosophical issues of animal rights. It asks questions such as: Do animals have moral rights? If so, what does this mean? What sorts of mental lives do animals have, and how should we understand welfare? By presenting models for understanding animals' moral status and rights, and examining their mental lives and welfare, David DeGrazia explores the implications for how we should treat animals in connection with our diet, zoos, and research. Animal Rights distinguishes itself by combining intellectual rigor with accessibility, offering a distinct moral voice with a non-polemical tone. – from the publisher

 

Introduction -- The moral status of animals -- What animals are like -- The harms of suffering, confinement, and death -- Meat-eating -- Keeping pets and zoo animals - - Animal research.

Nationalism: A Very Short Introduction - Grosby , Steven Elliott

Throughout history, humanity has borne witness to the political and moral challenges that arise when people place national identity above allegiance to geo-political states or international communities. This book discusses the concept of nations and nationalism from social, philosophical, geological, theological and anthropological perspectives. It examines the subject through conflicts past and present, including recent conflicts in the Balkans and the Middle East , rather than exclusively focusing on theory. Above all, this fascinating and comprehensive work clearly shows how feelings of nationalism are an inescapable part of being human . – from the publisher

 

Contents: Introduction -- Human Divisiveness -- What is a Nation? -- The Nation as a Social Relation -- Territory and Kinship -- The Nation in History -- Nationality and Religion.

The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction - Brotton , Jerry

More than ever before, the Renaissance stands out as one of the defining moments in world history. Between 1400 and 1600, European perceptions of society, culture, politics and even humanity itself emerged in ways that continue to affect not only Europe but the entire world. In this wide-ranging exploration of the Renaissance, Jerry Brotton shows the period as a time of unprecedented intellectual excitement, cultural experimentation, and interaction on a global scale, alongside a darker side of religion, intolerance, slavery, and massive inequality of wealth and status. Brotton skillfully guides us through the key issues that defined the Renaissance period, from its art, architecture, and literature, to advancements in the fields of science, trade, and travel. In its incisive account of the complexities of the political and religious upheavals of the period, the book argues that there are significant parallels between the Renaissance and our own era. This is the first clear and concise account of the Renaissance as a global phenomenon, an important new vision of the Renaissance for the 21st century written by a young Renaissance scholar of a new generation. – from the publisher

 

Contents: Introduction -- A global Renaissance -- The humanists -- Church and state -- Brave new worlds -- Science and philosophy -- Literature -- Timeline -- Further reading -- Index.

The Elements: A Very Short Introduction - Ball, Philip

This Very Short Introduction is an exciting and non-traditional approach to understanding the terminology, properties, and classification of chemical elements. It traces the history and cultural impact of the elements on humankind, and examines why people have long sought to identify the substances around them. The book includes chapters on particular elements such as gold, iron, and oxygen, showing how they shaped culture and technology. Looking beyond the Periodic Table, the author examines our relationship with matter, from the uncomplicated vision of the Greek philosophers, who believed there were four elements--earth, air, fire, and water--to the work of modern-day scientists in creating elements such as hassium and meitnerium . Packed with anecdotes, The Elements is a highly engaging and entertaining exploration of the fundamental question: what is the world made from? – from the publisher  

Contents: List of figures -- Aristotle's Quartet: The Elements in Antiquity -- Revolution: How Oxygen Changed the World -- Gold: The Glorious and Accursed Element -- The Eightfold Path: Organizing the Elements -- The Atom Factories: Making New Elements -- The Chemical Brothers: Why Isotopes are Useful -- For All Practical Purposes: Technologies of the Elements -- Notes -- Further reading -- Index.  

Terrorism: A Very Short Introduction - Townshend, Charles

This book charts a path through the outpouring of efforts to understand and explain modern terrorism, by asking what makes terrorism different from other forms of political, military action; what makes it effective; and what can be done about it. It unravels complex central questions such as whether terrorists are criminals, whether terrorism is a kind of war, what kind of threat terrorism represents, how far media publicity sustains terrorism, and whether democracy is especially vulnerable to terrorist attack. It examines the historical ideological and local roots of terrorist violence, and the success of specific terrorist and anti-terrorist campaigns in the more distant as well as the recent past. – from the publisher

 

Contents: The trouble with terrorism. -- Crusaders and conspirators. -- The reign terror. -- Revolutionary terrorism. -- Nationalism and terror. -- Religious terror. -- Counterterrorism and democracy.

MEDIA

Kent State : The Day the War Came Home - DVD

Originally aired on The Learning Channel in 2001. Won the 2001 Emmy Award for Best documentary. Looks at the reasons for the attack on anti-Vietnam-war student demonstrators on the Kent State University campus on May 4, 1970 by National Guardsmen. Shows the build-up of the protest against the Vietnam War, and follows the stories of the four students who were killed at Kent State . Includes interviews with people who witnessed the events including a wounded student-activist, a now paralyzed student, three former National Guardsman, and a sociology professor. 2001. 47 min.

 

Companion DVD to 13 Seconds: A Look Back at the Kent State Shootings , by Philip Caputo

ks 12-17-07