Month: October 2017 (Page 2 of 4)

Here are some of the 37 titles added to the collection in the past week. Click on a link for more information. TWU login may be required.

 BUSINESS

Fierce conversations: achieving success at work & in life, one conversation at a time /Susan Scott. Fully revised and updated–the national bestselling guide that will help you achieve personal and professional success one conversation at a time. The master teacher of positive change through powerful communication, Susan Scott wants you to succeed. To do that, she explains, you must transform everyday conversations at work and at home with effective ways to get your message across–and get what you want.

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

 The environment in the age of the Internet: activists, communication, and the digital landscape /edited by Heike Graf. An interdisciplinary collection that draws together research from media and communication studies, social sciences, modern history, and folklore studies. Its focus is on the communicative approaches taken by different groups to ecological issues, shedding light on how these groups tell their distinctive stories of “the environment”. This book draws on case studies from around the world and focuses on activists of radically different kinds: protestors against pulp mills in South America, resistance to mining in the Sámi region of Sweden, the struggles of indigenous peoples from the Arctic to the Amazon, gardening bloggers in northern Europe, and neo-Nazi environmentalists in Germany. Each case is examined in relation to its multifaceted media coverage, mainstream and digital, professional and amateur. Stories are told within a context; examining the “what” and “how” of these environmental stories demonstrates how contexts determine communication, and how communication raises and shapes awareness. These issues have never been more urgent, this work never more timely.

 

 FILM STUDIES

Movies are prayers: how films voice our deepest longings /Josh Larsen, co-host of Filmspotting; foreword by Matt Zoller Seitz.

GENDER STUDIES

 A dictionary of gender studies [electronic resource] /edited by Gabriele Griffin. This new dictionary provides clear and accessible definitions of a range of terms from within the fast-developing field of Gender Studies. It covers terms which have emerged out of Gender Studies, such as cyber feminism, the double burden, and the male gaze, and gender-focused definitions of more general terms, such as housework, intersectionality, and trolling. It also covers major feminist figures, including Hélène Cixous, bell hooks, and Mary Wollstonecraft, as well as groups and movements from Votes for Women to Reclaim the Night. It is an invaluable reference resource for students taking Gender Studies courses at undergraduate or postgraduate level, and for those applying a gender perspective within other subject areas.

 HISTORY

Medieval cities: their origins and the revival of trade /Henri Pirenne ; translated from the French by Frank D. Halsey ; with a new introduction by Michael McCormick. Nearly a century after it was first published in 1925, Medieval Cities remains one of the most provocative works of medieval history ever written. This book argues that it was not the invasion of the Germanic tribes that destroyed the civilization of antiquity, but rather the closing of Mediterranean trade by Arab conquest in the seventh century.

LITERATURE

A dictionary of Chinese literature [electronic resource] /edited by Taipang Chang. From the Shi jing (Classic of Songs) of the eleventh century BC, to the to the wanglu wenxue (Internet literature) of the twenty-first century, this authoritative dictionary covers key terms relative to the study of Chinese literature, from antiquity to the present day. A-Z entries on key literary figures, trends, schools, movements, and literary collections are included, as well as detailed descriptions of traditional literary works, plays, dramas, stories, novels, and other main literary texts.

 Trumped by grace /Peter Stiles.  A lyrical triumph. Readers will be moved by his wisdom and wit. Writing in the tradition of George Herbert and Gerard Manley Hopkins, Stiles discerns metaphysical truth in the everyday material world, effortlessly producing poetic pieces that speak of wonder, beauty and truth.

MUSIC, ART & THEATRE

Music and ethical responsibility /Jeff R. Warren. TWU Author In Music and Ethical Responsibility, Warren challenges current approaches to music and ethics, drawing upon philosopher Emmanuel Levinas’s theory that ethics is the responsibilities that arise from our encounters with other people. Warren examines ethical responsibilities in musical experiences including performing other people’s music, noise, negotiating musical meaning, and improvisation. Revealing the diverse roles that music plays in the experience of encountering others, Warren argues that musicians, researchers, and listeners should place ethical responsibility at the heart of musical practices”

Putting art (back) in its place /John E. Skillen.  Putting Art (Back) in its Place equips laity and clergy to think historically about the vibrant role the visual arts have played — and could again play — in the life of the church and its mission.

 University theatres and repertoires /edited by Vito Minoia, Maria S. Horne, Elka Fediuk, Fraņoise Odin, Lucile Garbagnati, Dennis Beck, Aubrey Mellor.

PHILOSOPHY

The Cambridge companion to Chomsky [electronic resource] /edited by James McGilvray. This completely new edition surveys Chomsky’s contributions to the science of language, to socioeconomic-political analysis and criticism, and to the study of the human mind. It will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in Chomsky’s ideas.

 The Cambridge companion to German idealism [electronic resource] /edited by Karl Ameriks. This updated edition offers a comprehensive, penetrating, and informative guide to what is regarded as the classical period of German philosophy. Kant, Fichte, Hegel, and Schelling are all discussed in detail, along with contemporaries such as Hölderlin, Novalis, and Schopenhauer, whose influence was considerable but whose work is less well known in the English-speaking world. Leading scholars trace and explore the unifying themes of German Idealism and discuss its relationship to Romanticism, the Enlightenment, and the culture of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe. The result is an illuminating overview of a rich and complex philosophical movement, and will appeal to a wide range of interested readers in philosophy, literature, theology, German studies, and the history of ideas.

 How to be a Stoic: using ancient philosophy to live a modern life /Massimo Pigliucci.  Pigliucci offers Stoicism, a pragmatic philosophy that focuses our attention on what is possible and gives us perspective on what is unimportant. By understanding Stoicism, we can learn to answer crucial questions: Should we get married or divorced? How should we handle our money in a world nearly destroyed by a financial crisis? How can we survive great personal tragedy? Whoever we are, Stoicism has something for us–and How to Be a Stoic is the essential guide.

 RACE AND ETHNIC STUDIES/SOCIAL SCIENCES 

Chokehold: policing black men /Paul Butler. In this explosive new book, an African American former federal prosecutor shows that the system is working exactly the way it’s supposed to. Black men are always under watch, and police violence is widespread–all with the support of judges and politicians. In his no-holds-barred style, Butler, whose scholarship has been featured on 60 Minutes, uses new data to demonstrate that white men commit the majority of violent crime in the United States. Butler also frankly discusses the problem of black on black violence and how to keep communities safer–without relying as much on police. Chokehold powerfully demonstrates why current efforts to reform law enforcement will not create lasting change. Butler’s controversial recommendations about how to crash the system, and when it’s better for a black man to plead guilty–even if he’s innocent–are sure to be game-changers in the national debate about policing, criminal justice, and race relations.

 Citizen: an American lyric /Claudia Rankine. Rankine’s bold new book recounts mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and in the media. Some of these encounters are slights, seeming slips of the tongue, and some are intentional offensives in the classroom, at the supermarket, at home, on the tennis court with Serena Williams and the soccer field with Zinedine Zidane, online, on TV–everywhere, all the time. The accumulative stresses come to bear on a person’s ability to speak, perform, and stay alive. Our addressability is tied to the state of our belonging, Rankine argues, as are our assumptions and expectations of citizenship. In essay, image, and poetry, Citizen is a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism in our contemporary, often named ‘post-race’ society”.

 The color of law: a forgotten history of how our government segregated America /Richard Rothstein. Rothstein, a leading authority on housing policy, explodes the myth that America’s cities came to be racially divided through de facto segregation–that is, through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. Rather, The Color of Law incontrovertibly makes clear that it was de jure segregation–the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments–that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day.

 Diversity matters: race, ethnicity, and the future of Christian higher education /General editor, Karen A. Longman, Section editors, Allison Ash and Alexander Jun, Kathy-Ann Hernandez,et al.  Diversity Matters is a poignant book. It touches on what really matters in the effort to create
diverse communities and expand racial equity on campus, in classrooms, at faculty meetings, and
more. The writers challenge structural and institutional racial injustices and speak to the heart of
diversity and how it can be achieved. [1]

 The history of white people /Nell Irvin Painter. Traces the idea of a white race, showing how the origins of the American identity were tied to the elevation of white skin as the embodiment of beauty, power, and intelligence, and how even intellectuals insisted that only Anglo Saxons were truly American.

 How does it feel to a problem?: being young and Arab in America /Moustafa Bayoumi. The story of how young Arab and Muslim Americans are forging lives for themselves in a country that often mistakes them for the enemy.

The invention of the white race /Theodore W. Allen. Stamped from the beginning: the definitive history of racist ideas in America /Ibram X. Kendi. A comprehensive history of anti-black racism focuses on the lives of five major players in American history, including Cotton Mather and Thomas Jefferson, and highlights the debates that took place between assimilationists and segregationists and between racists and antiracists

 Tears we cannot stop: a sermon to white America /Michael Eric Dyson. Short, emotional, literary, powerful–Tears We Cannot Stop is the book that all Americans who care about the current and long-burning crisis in race relations will want to read. In Tears We Cannot Stop–a provocative and deeply personal call for change,  Dyson argues that if we are to make real racial progress we must face difficult truths, including being honest about how black grievance has been ignored, dismissed, or discounted.

 They can’t kill us all: the story of the struggle for Black lives /Wesley Lowery. A deeply reported book that brings alive the quest for justice in the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Freddie Gray, offering both unparalleled insight into the reality of police violence in America and an intimate, moving portrait of those working to end it. Conducting hundreds of interviews during the course of over one year,  Lowery  uncovers life inside the most heavily policed, if otherwise neglected, corners of America today.  By posing the question, “What does the loss of any one life mean to the rest of the nation?” Lowery examines the cumulative effect of decades of racially biased policing in segregated neighborhoods with failing schools, crumbling infrastructure and too few jobs.

 White rage: the unspoken truth of our racial divide /Carol Anderson. Carefully linking historical flash points when social progress for African Americans was countered by deliberate and cleverly crafted opposition, Anderson pulls back the veil that has long covered actions made in the name of protecting democracy, fiscal responsibility, or protection against fraud, rendering visible the long lineage of white rage. Compelling and dramatic in the unimpeachable history it relates, White Rage will add an important new dimension to the national conversation about race in America.

 Yellow: race in America beyond Black and white /Frank H. Wu.  Wu offers a unique perspective on how changing ideas of racial identity will affect race relations in the twenty-first century. Wu examines affirmative action, globalization, immigration, and other controversial contemporary issues through the lens of the Asian-American experience. Mixing personal anecdotes, legal cases, and journalistic reporting, Wu confronts damaging Asian-American stereotypes such as “the model minority” and “the perpetual foreigner.” By offering new ways of thinking about race in American society, Wu’s work dares us to make good on our great democratic experiment.

 RELIGIOUS STUDIES

As kingfishers catch fire: a conversation on the ways of God formed by the words of God /Eugene H. Peterson.  Unlike many sermons that barely make it out of the pulpit, Peterson’s soar out and draw in throughout this fantastic book. His words, written for speaking, are sure, intimate, and trustworthy. Peterson admits that preaching is a “corporate act” that requires a congregation in common worship. He intends these 49 sermons, undated but for one, to be used in conjunction with communion. Following his gracefully instructive introductions to each chapter, Peterson preaches “in the company” of Moses, David, Isaiah, Solomon, Peter, Paul, and John of Patmos. What he says about Paul applies to him, too: he’s “totally at ease in this richly expansive narrative of God’s Word.”.

 The Benedict option: a strategy for Christians in a post-Christian nation /Rod Dreher.  Dreher calls on American Christians to prepare for the coming Dark Age by embracing an ancient Christian way of life. Dreher argues that the way forward is actually the way back–all the way to St. Benedict of Nursia. The Benedict Option is both manifesto and rallying cry for Christians who, must learn how to fight on culture war battlefields like none the West has seen for fifteen hundred years. It’s for all mere Christians–Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox–who can read the signs of the times.

By man shall his blood be shed: a catholic defense of capital punishment /Edward Feser, Joseph M. Bessette.

 Ecclesial repentance: the churches confront their sinful pasts /Jeremy M. Bergen. A theological reflection on churches repenting of events and convictions they have held in the past. Bergen displays a sure hand in addressing the issue. It is not political correctness which bids the church repent, he argues, but love of neighbor and fidelity to the Crucified. An important and timely study. [2]

 Exploring Protestant traditions: an invitation to theological hospitality /W. David Buschart. A richly informative field guide to eight prominent Protestant theological traditions: Lutheran, Anabaptist, Reformed, Anglican, Baptist, Wesleyan, Dispensational and Pentecostal. Clearly and evenhandedly, Buschart traces the histories of each tradition, explains their interpretive approaches to Scripture and identifies their salient beliefs. Charts displaying the denominational representatives of each tradition and bibliographies mapping the path for further explorations add to the value of this guide.This is a book that seeks to receive rather than evaluate, to listen and understand rather than judge or correct. His is a model of theological hospitality that encourages you to open your doors to the varied ways in which Protestantism has taken root in history and human society.

 Learning to walk in the dark /Barbara Brown Taylor. Taylor provides a way to find spirituality in those times when we don’t have all the answers and asks us to put aside our fears and anxieties and to explore all that God has to teach us “in the dark.” She argues that we need to move away from our “solar spirituality” and ease our way into appreciating “lunar spirituality” (since, like the moon, our experience of the light waxes and wanes). With her characteristic charm and literary wisdom, Taylor is our guide through a spirituality of the nighttime, teaching us how to find our footing in times of uncertainty and giving us strength and hope to face all of life’s challenging moments.

Our empire’s debt to missions [electronic resource] /James N. Ogilvie. The relationship of the British Empire with Christian missions is a subject that is often discussed. Anyone tasked with an essay on such a subject could do worse than refer to this volume, written as it is by someone who is clearly in favour of the partnership. This material was originally presented as the Duff Missionary Lecture in 1923 and appeared in print in a slightly expanded form the following year.

 The life of William Carey, D.D. [electronic resource]: shoemaker and missionary /George Smith. Smith devotes a significant part of the book to enumerating Carey’s achievements, as a linguist, a Bible translator, as a pioneer in agriculture and horticulture, as an educator and advocate of missions.