New Titles Tuesday, June 5

Here are the ten eBooks added to the catalogue in the past week. Click on a title for more information; TWU login  may be required.

  At the foot of the Fish-Tail Mountain [electronic resource] /Lily M. O’Hanlon. This little book is considered by the staff of the International Nepal Fellowship to be the most significant publication in the mission’s history. Following the opening of Nepal’s borders to ex-patriate missionaries in 1952, it tells of the story of founding of the mission work at the Shining Hospital in Pokhara.

 The automobile and urban transit [electronic resource]: the formation of public policy in Chicago, 1900-1930 /Paul Barrett. The policy definitions of mass transit and the automobile which developed in the American city between 1900 and 1930 did much to determine the roles which these two modes of transportation would play in urban life. In essence, mass transportation was defined as a regulated private business, while the accommodation of the automobile became an undisputed public responsibility.

 Balancing power without weapons: state intervention in cross-border mergers and acquisitions /Ashley Thomas Lenihan (London School of Economics and Political Science). Lenihan argues that states block some foreign direct investment on national security grounds even when it originates from within their own security community because states use intervention into cross-border mergers and acquisitions as a tool of statecraft to internally balance the economic and military power of other states through non-military means. This book tests this theory using quantitative and qualitative analysis of transactions in the United States, Russia, China, and fifteen European Union states. It deepens our understanding of why states intervene in foreign takeovers, the relationship between interdependence and conflict, the limits of globalization, and how states are balancing power in new ways.

 Governing climate change: polycentricity in action? /edited by Andrew Jordan, Dave Huitema, Harro van Asselt, Johanna Forster. This book brings together contributions from some of the world’s foremost experts to provide the first systematic test of the ability of polycentric thinking to explain and enhance societal attempts to govern climate change. It is ideal for researchers in public policy, international relations, environmental science, environmental management, politics, law and public administration. It will also be useful on advanced courses in climate policy and governance, and for practitioners seeking incisive summaries of developments in particular sub-areas and sectors.

 New technologies for human rights law and practice /edited by Molly K. Land & Jay D. Aronson, This volume provides an essential roadmap for understanding the relationship between technology and human rights law and practice. It offers cutting-edge analysis and practical strategies in contexts as diverse as autonomous lethal weapons, climate change technology, the Internet and social media, and water meters.

 Progress and nostalgia [electronic resource]: Silvesterklausen in Urnäsch, Switzerland /by Regina Bendix. In Progress and Nostalgia, Bendix documents the production of ‘Silvesterklausen’, a custom practiced in the Appenzell village of Urnäsch. Twice a year, the male inhabitants disguise themselves in various costumes. Thus decorated and supporting harnesses with heavy bells, they walk in groups from house to house, and at each house where they are received, they sing three wordless yodels…

 Taxes and trust: from coercion to compliance in Poland, Russia and Ukraine /Marc P. Berenson (King’s College London). Taxes and Trust is the first book on taxes to focus on trust and the first work of social science to concentrate on how tax policy actually gets implemented on the ground in Poland, Russia and Ukraine. It highlights the nuances of the transitional Ukraine case and explains precisely how and why that ‘borderland’ country differs from the more ideal-types of coercive Russia and compliance-oriented Poland. Through nine bespoke taxpayer surveys, an unprecedented bureaucratic survey and more than fifteen years of qualitative research, the book emphasizes the building and accumulation of trust to transition from a coercive tax state to a compliant one. The context of the book will appeal to students and scholars of taxation worldwide and to those who study Russia and Eastern Europe.

 The three twins [electronic resource]: the telling of a South Indian folk epic /Brenda E.F. Beck. Study of a popular south Indian folk epic. Beck takes a folk epic and shows how it can be analyzed as both text and performance, drawing its structure, imagery, and value from the context of Sanskrit epics on one hand, and local models of heroism and chastity on the other. The Tamil folk epic studied here is best known as the Aṇṇanmār Katai, or “The Story of Elder Brothers.” Nonetheless, The Three Twins is really about triplets: two brothers and a sister. Though this account focuses mainly on the heroic exploits of the two males, the additional female is important to the understanding of key events.

 Urban planet: knowledge towards sustainable cities /edited by Thomas Elmqvist, Xuemei Bai, Niki Frantzeskaki, Corrie Griffith, David Maddox, Timon McPhearson, Susan Parnell, et al.  Urban Planet takes an integrative look at our urban environment, bringing together scholars from a diverse range of disciplines: from sociology and political science to evolutionary biology, geography, economics and engineering. It includes the perspectives of often neglected voices: architects, journalists, artists and activists. The book provides a much needed cross-scale perspective, connecting challenges and solutions on a local scale with drivers and policy frameworks on a regional and global scale. The authors argue that to overcome the major challenges we are facing, we must embark on a large-scale reinvention of how we live together, grounded in inclusiveness and sustainability.

 Where there is no psychiatrist [electronic resource]: a mental health care manual /Vikram Patel and Charlotte Hanlon. This practical manual of mental health care is vital for community health workers, primary care nurses, social workers and primary care doctors, particularly in low-resource settings. This guide gives the reader a basic understanding of mental illness by describing more than thirty clinical problems associated with mental illness and uses a problem-solving approach to guide the reader through their assessment and management. Mental health issues as they arise in specific contexts are described – in refugee camps, in school health programmes, as well as in mental health promotion. The final section helps the reader to personalise for a particular location, for example, by entering local information on voluntary agencies, the names and costs of medicines and words in the local language for symptoms.