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Twenty-First Century Color Lines
Multiracial Change in Contemporary America
edited by Andrew Grant-Thomas and Gary Orfield
Reviewed in the November 2009 issue of Choice. The review read, "A useful edited collection of essays on diverse US racial-ethnic issues, this book grew out of a 2003 Harvard Civil Rights Project conference.... These respected scholars provide a well-documented overview of US racial-ethnic patterns and conflicts. Summing Up: Recommended." |
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Runaway Romances
Hollywood's Postwar Tour of Europe
Robert R. Shandley
Reviewed in the November 2009 issue of Choice. The review read, "In this pleasant monograph, Shandley examines Hollywood's 'European Travelogue romances, 1947-1964,' which he imagines to constitute a genre.... This is a book for those interested in specialized film and genre study."
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Música Norteña
Mexican Migrants Creating a Nation between Nations
Cathy Ragland
Reviewed in the November 2009 issue of Choice. The review read, "Ragland has written an impressive examination of the many "borderland" musics popular among Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the Tex-Mex region of the Mexico-US border. Thanks to her background as a journalist, Ragland writes in a readable style. She packs the book with thorough research, in-depth musical and lyrical analysis, and insightful theoretical discussions of social and cultural issues related to such topics as ethnic identity and transnationalization.... [A] valuable contribution to the growing body of literature on Latin American music. Summing Up: Highly recommended." |
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Sounds of the Modern Nation
Music, Culture, and Ideas in Post-Revolutionary Mexico
Alejandro Madrid
Reviewed in the November 2009 issue of the Hispanic American Historical Review. The review read, "In this compact and insightful book, Alejandro Madrid examines an elite group of early
twentieth-century Mexican composers at a critical time in the nation’s cultural history, the 1920s.... Sounds of the Modern Nation reveals much not only about the politics of culture but also about the often contentious process of writing national history." |
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I Walked with Giants
The Autobiography of Jimmy Heath
Jimmy Heath and Joseph McLaren, foreword by Bill Cosby, introduction by Wynton Marsalis
Reviewed in the November 1 issue of Library Journal. The review read, "Heath, with McLaren tells a life story that is inspiring and thoroughly enjoyable.... Beyond Heath’s storytelling, the book is interwoven with comments from a number of acquaintances (mostly musicians), which helps keep the narrative moving. Verdict: This is an entirely engaging and thoughtful autobiography from one of jazz’s true treasures. This richly told saga is highly recommended." |
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The End of Empires
African Americans and India
Gerald Horne
Reviewed in the October 2009 Journal of American History. The review read, "Horne’s book is part of a growing body of literature that reinserts popular struggles into the narrative of world history. Richly documented, engagingly written, and attractively presented, this work helps to erase some of the arbitrary boundaries between subfields and provides a fresh look at the past." |
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In Griot Time
An American Guitarist in Mali
Banning Eyre
Reviewed in October 4 edition of The New Haven Review. The review read, "[M]ost of the book is about what happens to [Eyre] when he’s not playing music—the conversations he has with people, the things he sees and does, the other musicians he hears—all written with a clear eye, an astonishing sensitivity, and a willingness to wrestle with some difficult questions about cultural frictions and the legacy of colonialism.... Eyre’s book is just the thing to make people who don’t know much about African music want to learn more about it." |
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Resentment's Virtue
Jean Améry and the Refusal to Forgive
Thomas Brudholm, Foreword by Jeffrie Murphy
Reviewed in September 2009 issue of The Journal of Moral Education. The review read, "Brudholm's book surely is an important contribution to the discussion on the ethics of forgiveness, and it might be called a brilliant analysis." |
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Model City Blues
Urban Space and Organized Resistance in New Haven
Mandi Isaacs Jackson
Reviewed in the September 2009 issue of The Journal of American History. The review read, "[T]he real strength of this book derives from the case study method. It is among the most subtle historical treatments available of the struggle for local control over decisions that affect urban communities. By focusing on one city and eschewing the standard historical narrative of the “failure” of the War on Poverty, Jackson provides a superlative account of how social policy unfolds in and transforms actual places—offices, coffee shops, homes, parks, taverns, school auditoriums, and city streets." |
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The Americanization of Social Science
Intellectuals and Public Responsibility in the Postwar United States
David Paul Haney
Reviewed in the September 2009 issue of The Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare. The review read, "David Paul Haney's The Americanization of Social Science is a welcome contribution to [the] scholarship." |
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Outside the Paint
When Basketball Ruled at the Chinese Playground
Kathleen S. Yep
Reviewed in the September 2009 issue of Choice. The review read, "This readable volume provides compelling information about the experiences of Chinese American basketball players in San Francisco in the 1930s-40s" |
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Women's Activism and Feminist Agency in Mozambique and Nicaragua
Jennifer Leigh Disney
Reviewed in the September 2009 issue of Choice. The review read, "Disney offers a careful analysis of women's political behavior in two culturally and linguistically distinct continental environments" |
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Ladies and Gents
Public Toilets and Gender
edited by Olga Gershenson and Barbara Penner, foreword by Judith Plaskow, afterword by Peter Greenaway
Reviewed in the September 1 issue of Library Journal. The review read, "The essays here, like their authors, are varied and wide-ranging, offering scholarly reflections—from cinematic, philosophical, sociological, architectural, and other perspectives—on the business of doing one’s business…. The writing and level of scholarship are consistently excellent...readers will be left with some very serious things to consider." |
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The End of Empires
African Americans and India
Gerald Horne
Reviewed in the September 2009 issue of The Journal of American History. The review read, "[E]legantly written [and] thought-provoking....[[T]his is an important book that raises some hard but significant questions about African Americans, the international sphere, and the issues of race, domination, and the struggle for freedom of oppressed people everywhere." |
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The Origins of Capitalism and the "Rise of the West"
Eric H. Mielants
Reviewed in the September 2009 issue of Perspectives on Politics. The review read, "This is a very good book...[Mielants'] documentation is extremely impressive…. highly recommended for scholars interested in the most recent explanations for the development of Western capitalism." |
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Sounding Salsa
Performing Latin Music in New York City
Christopher Washburne
Reviewed in the Fall 2009 issue of The Journal of American Folklore. The review read, "The book gives a nuts-and-bolts description of what it means to record and perform in a salsa band, and it also relates some inside stories that have become legend to those in the scene.... The book really breaks new ground... Washburne's book is a welcome addition to the conversation." |
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Chinese Americans and the Politics of Race and Culture
edited by Sucheng Chan and Madeline Y. Hsu
Reviewed in the Autumn 2009 issue of Western Historical Quarterly. The review read, "The editors have put together a thoughtful, remarkably cohesive collection that spans in chronological scope the late-nineteenth century to the present.... Taken together, this is a solid, versatile collection.” |
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Choices and Changes
Interest Groups in the Electoral Process
Michael M. Franz
Reviewed in the Fall 2009 issue of Political Science Quarterly. The review read, "While the volume represents a well-crafted, theoretically based piece of social science research of use to academic specialists interested in campaign finance, other readers concerned about the impact of money on American politics generally will find the material not overly technical, and very readable and informative." |
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She's Got a Gun
Nancy Floyd
Reviewed in the Summer/Autumn 2009 issue of Winterthur Portfolio. The review read, "[A]n interesting hybrid of memoir, cultural history, and—most successfully—photographic documentary. She's Got a Gun is full of amazing photographs—both archival pictures and portraits taken by Nancy Floyd. The historic images she presents in this work force us to reconsider our ideas about armed women in American culture..." |
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Filling the Ark
Animal Welfare in Disasters
Leslie Irvine
Reviewed in the August 2009 issue of The Australian Journal of Emergency Management. The review read, "Filling the Ark provides a consistent and compelling argument on how we could, and should, be doing more through our emergency management practices to ensure the welfare of animals." |
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Swimming Against the Tide
African American Girls and Science Education
Sandra L. Hanson
Reviewed in the recent issue of Teachers College Record. The review read, "[A]n important contribution to our understanding of the gender, race, and class dynamics that influence the career decision-making of young women." |
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Race and Class Matters at an Elite College
Elizabeth Aries
Reviewed in the recent issue of Teachers College Record. The review read, "[A] refreshingly in-depth and pragmatic addition to the literature on diversity in higher education." |
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Rave Culture
The Alteration and Decline of a Philadelphia Music Scene
Tammy L. Anderson
Reviewed in on the website Edge on August 15. The review read, "[E]ntertaining...Anderson conducts field work in the course of her investigation. This means that Anderson, a self-professed fan of the EDM scene, gets to party at big music events in Philadelphia and elsewhere. But even as she’s dancing, Anderson is watching, assessing, quantifying, and putting things together....Anderson makes the subject feel applicable to last night’s all-night party." |
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Damaged Goods?
Women Living with Incurable Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Adina Nack, Ph.D.
Reviewed in the August 2009 issue of Gender & Society. The review read, "Nack's detailed writing successfully captures women's voices. It is clear she immersed herself in understanding the process of what one goes through before, during, and after being diagnosed with an incurable STD.... Another strength of the book is the way she frames women's experiences in the context of the stages of sexual transformation.... This book offers the unique perspective of women living with chronic STDs, and provides information that would be invaluable to clinicians, educators, and policy makers. The book is especially helpful to those who are creating programs and/or policies regarding public awareness, sex education content, and screening practices of clinicians." |
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The Origins of Capitalism and the "Rise of the West"
Eric H. Mielants
Reviewed in the latest issue of The British Journal of Sociology. The review read, "This small book, on a very big topic, makes a substantial contribution to the debates on which elements of European society were crucial to its later economic and military might.... One of the major assets of this book is that despite its brief length, it fully engages in comparisons of European history with developments in North Africa, China and south Asia.... Mielants has given us a deeply informed and important new twist on old arguments about the role of merchants and cities in the origins of capitalism. It is an argument that deserves attention and should provoke fruitful debates." |
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The African Transformation of Western Medicine and the Dynamics of Global Cultural Exchange
David Baronov
Reviewed in the August 2009 issue of Choice. The review read, "This well-researched and well-written book brings fresh perspectives on Western medicine in Africa and the development of African biomedicine." |
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Trial Courts as Organizations
Brian J Ostrom, Charles W Ostrom, Jr., Roger A Hanson and Matthew Kleiman
Reviewed in the July-August 2009 issue of Judicature. The review read, "Ostrom, Ostrom, Hanson, and Kleiman have produced a remarkable book that is useful to both the pure scholar who wishes to understand how criminal trial courts work and to court executives who wish to improve management and performance. This book dramatically advances our knowledge of trial courts by applying organizational theory used predominantly to analyze private sector firms." |
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Lawn People
How Grasses, Weeds, and Chemicals Make Us Who We Are
Paul Robbins
Reviewed in the The Geographical Review, Volume 98 issue 4. The review read, "Robbins' Lawn People is analytical in every sense, using the theoretical and methodological approaches of the social sciences to find concrete explanations for how people choose to engage in the culture of the lawn.... [It is] essential if you want to understand the American lawn in all of its complexity. Read [it] —you'll still have time to cut the grass." |
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Ethnicity and Inequality in Hawai'i
Jonathan Y. Okamura
Reviewed in the Summer 2009 issue of Asian Affairs. The review read, "[T]his book is a fascinating and provocative read. One is left with the overall sense that Hawaii has at least the potential to truly achieve the ideal of a society based on ethnic harmony and unfettered opportunity for all." |
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Blue Skies
A History of Cable Television
Patrick R. Parsons
Reviewed in the Summer 2009 issue of Business History Review. The review read, "Patrick Parsons has filled a gap in the history of technology with his comprehensive account of the U.S. cable-television industry from its inceptions through 2005....One of the book's strengths is its exploration of antecedent technologies and regulatory frameworks that served as models in shaping beliefs about cable's place in the industrial, cultural, and political landscape.... Parsons has written a definitive history of cable TV." |
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Outside the Paint
When Basketball Ruled at the Chinese Playground
Kathleen S. Yep
Reviewed in the July 30 issue of the Nichi Bei Times. The review read, "Yep's sports research helps fill a scholarly void in Asian American studies and serves as an inspiration to scholars."
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Berlusconi's Italy
Mapping Contemporary Italian Politics
Michael E. Shin and John A. Agnew
Reviewed in the July 2009 issue of The Journal of Contemporary History. The review read, "Political geographers Michael Shin and John Agnew offer historians of contemporary Italy fresh insights with their in-depth study entitled Berlusconi's Italy. They challenge the common explanations for Berlusconi's rise in Italian politics....In sum, this is a thought-provoking book with a highly convincing argument." |
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Telling Young Lives
Portraits of Global Youth
edited by Craig Jeffrey and Jane Dyson
Reviewed in the July 2009 issue of Children & Society. The review read, "The authors and editors have a clear view of what the reader is to take from this book...these are young people who are struggling to survive and prosper in a world where they get little or no support because of 'neo-liberal' policies.... Their secret is that they are determined to succeed no matter what the difficulties and for this these young lives will make the reader root for them and be grateful for what they themselves have." |
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Muhammad Ali
The Making of an Icon
Michael Ezra
Reviewed in the July 2009 issue of Choice. The review read, "Well researched and well argued... Ezra's thoughtful study makes the reader wary of ever understanding the 'real' Ali. Ali loves magic, and his greatest trick has been spending so much time in the public gaze while concealing himself. Recommended." |
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Citizen Lobbyists
Local Efforts to Influence Public Policy
Brian Adams
Reviewed in the July 2009 issue of Urban Affairs Review. The review read, "This book is a valuable contribution to the literature on grassroots politics in American communities.... In his focus on the issues that prompt participation and on the nature of the citizen lobbying responses that result, Brian Adams plows new ground in the study of citizen activism. Citizen Lobbyists is a worthwhile read." |
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The Origins of Capitalism and the "Rise of the West"
Eric H. Mielants
Reviewed in the Journal of World-Systems Research Volume XV, Number 1, 2009. The review read, "[A]n important contribution both to world history and to world-systems analysis.... Mielants is able to clear a relatively novel path by assembling a holistic and coherent account that challenges some of them prevailing wisdom regarding why, how, and when capitalism emerged in Europe. In doing so, he provides an intriguing explanation of why Europe ultimately gained ascendance in the world-system."
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Model City Blues
Urban Space and Organized Resistance in New Haven
Mandi Isaacs Jackson
Reviewed in the June 2009 issue of American Historical Review. The review read, "This is a thoughtful, carefully researched study of opposition to the urban renewal projects that scarred New Haven, Connecticut, in the 1950s and 1960s....[A]n impressive piece of scholarship that will be of particular interest to scholar-activists studying urban social movements." |
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Pedagogy of Democracy
Feminism and the Cold War in the U.S. Occupation of Japan
Mire Koikari
Reviewed in the June 2009 issue of The Journal of American History. The review read, "Focusing on the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality, Koikari reexamines and, she asserts, rewrites postwar occupation studies, Cold War cultural studies, and feminist colonial and postcolonial studies. She argues convincingly that Japanese women were a central concern for U.S. and Japanese occupation policy makers, for Japanese and American feminists, and for Japanese leftists.... Koikari debunks various myths about the 'masculinized and virile' American emancipation of 'victimized and passive' Japanese women, as she restores subjectivity to several populations in Japan: middle-class feminists, union organizers and Communist activists, and working women and occupation-era prostitutes." |
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Filling the Ark
Animal Welfare in Disasters
Leslie Irvine
Reviewed on Animal Inventory Blog on June 18. The review read, "In Filling the Ark, author Leslie Irvine weaves a tale that is both eye-opening and tragic.... Irvine does animal welfarists, humanitarians and aid workers a great service by putting all the pieces together in one place, and showing how cultural views, economic challenges, racism, and inadequate infrastructure combine to create disasters within disasters. It is not necessarily the hurricane that is tragic, she suggests, but our response to it is.... The biggest issue now, it seems, is — how can we get this book into the hands of people who will listen, and who have the power to implement these changes?" |
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Behind the Mask of the Strong Black Woman
Voice and the Embodiment of a Costly Performance
Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant
Reviewed in the June 15 issue of Publishers Weekly. The review read, "[Beauboeuf-Lafontant] foregrounds the intersection of race and gender with fresh and thought-provoking insight.... [O]ne hopes her message will trickle out." |
