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Winter Faculty Books: Japanese Optimism Studies

Check out new scholarship and fiction from Duke faculty and staff members

Part of the A Guide to Duke Author Books Series
Duke art historian Richard Powell edited the catalogue for the first full survey of the work by jazz age modernist painter Archibald Motley.
Duke art historian Richard Powell edited the catalogue for the first full survey of the work by jazz age modernist painter Archibald Motley.

Why not start the new year with a book from a Duke faculty or staff member? 

This past winter was a busy one for Duke authors, who published books on an array of topics -- from the end of optimism in Japan to a Jazz Age modernist painter, from the hidden role of class in lawmaking to the humanities in the post-print era.

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Many of these new titles can be found on the Duke authors display shelves near the circulation desk in Perkins Library. Some are available as e-books for quick download to your computer. Most of the titles can also be purchased through the Gothic Bookshop, which is still filling orders for books even as it undergoes renovations.

[Duke Today will provide similar updates in the future. If you are a member of the Duke faculty or staff who will be publishing a book of interest to a general audience, send us a message about it along with your publisher's description.]

Take a look at what's new:

Allison, Anne: "Precarious Japan" (Duke University Press)

Allison, a cultural anthropology professor, explores Japanese experiences of job insecurity and isolation amid a nagging recession, nuclear contamination and a population that is both aging and shrinking.

Allison, in an appearance on "The State of Things," said after three decades of a stagnant economy, the Japanese have radically altered the way they relate to one another and their notions of home, family and togetherness. She also discusses her book on the Duke University Press blog.

  

Andresen, Julie Tetel: "Linguistics and Evolution" (Cambridge University Press)

Andresen sets language within the context of human biology and development by taking ideas from evolutionary theory and fields such as psychology, neurology, biology, anthropology, genetics and cognitive science.

  

Angrist, Misha: "The Story Within: Personal Essays on Genetics and Identity" (Johns Hopkins University Press)

Angrist, assistant professor of the practice in the Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, contributes a chapter titled "Of Helices, HIPAA, Hairballs ... and Humans." Contributors' stories illustrate the complexities involved in making decisions about genetic diseases: whether to be tested, who to tell, whether to have children, and whether and how to treat children medically, if treatment is available.

 

vorticism

Antliff, Mark, co-editor: "Vorticism: New Perspectives" (Oxford University Press)

Antliff, a professor of Art History & Visual Studies, collects essays providing a reassessment of the London-based avant-garde movement -- a key chapter in the history of modernism.

 

Apollonio, Carol, translator: German Sadulaev's "The Maya Pill" ("Tabletka") (Dalkey Archive Press)

Apollonio, a professor of the practice in Slavic and Eurasian Studies, translates Russian-Chechen author German Sadulaev's follow-up to his acclaimed "I am a Chechen!" The new novel is set in a 21st century Russia that is phantasmagorical and violent.

 

Bennett, Philip, contributor: "Transparency in Politics and the Media: Accountability and Open Government" (University of Oxford)

For this volume examining how open government initiatives have changed how the press keeps institutions accountable in the United States and United Kingdom, the Sanford School professor and former Washington Post managing editor contributes a chapter titled "Truth Vigilantes: On Journalism and Transparency."

  

Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo: "Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America" Fourth edition (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers)

The new edition to the acclaimed study adds a chapter on what sociology professor Bonilla-Silva calls "the new racism" and updates his  assessment of race in America after President Barack Obama's re-election. Obama's presidency, Bonilla-Silva argues, does not represent a sea change in race relations, but rather embodies disturbing racial trends of the past.

 

Brands, Hal: "What Good is Grand Strategy? Power and Purpose in American Statecraft from Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush" (Cornell University Press)

Brands, a historian at the Sanford School of Public Policy, explains why grand strategy is so alluring -- and so elusive -- to those who make American statecraft. He also offers recommendations for how American leaders might approach the challenges of grand strategy in the years to come.

 

Carnes, Nicholas: "White Collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making" (University of Chicago Press)

Carnes, an assistant professor of public policy, shows that legislators' socioeconomic backgrounds have a profound impact on both how they view the issues and the choices they make in office. On a recent Book TV broadcast of "After Words" on C-SPAN2, Carnes discussed why it matters that millionaires are overrepresented in government.

  

Cook, Phil, co-editor: "Lessons from the Economics of Crime: What Reduces Offending?" (MIT Press)

Edited by Cook, a senior associate dean and professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy, this collection of essays from economists and other social scientists provides an eclectic approach to the study of crime and crime prevention.  One chapter explores the cost-benefit analysis of additional police hiring.

  

Eisner, Martin: "Boccaccio and the Invention of Italian Literature" (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature)

Eisner, assistant professor of Italian Studies, offers a new perspective on the beginnings of the Italian literary tradition through the study of a single codex, written entirely in Boccaccio's hand and preserving rare and unique texts of Dante, Petrarch and Cavalcanti.

 

globalization

Elson, Anthony: "Globalization and Development: Why East Asia Surged Ahead and Latin America Fell Behind" (Palgrave Macmillan)

Elson, an international economist and visiting lecturer at the Duke Center for International Development, explores the advantages that have allowed East Asia to take advantage of the trade, financial and technological impact of a more globalized economy to support its development, while Latin America has not.

 

Florand, Laura: "The Chocolate Heart" (fifth in the Paris Chocolate series from Kensington Publishing Corp.)

Florand, a lecturer in Romance Studies, takes readers into a top pastry kitchen of a luxury hotel in Paris for her novel that Publishers Weekly praised as an "exquisite confection." Florand will talk about her behind-the-scenes research in a real Michelin 3-star kitchen during a talk Jan. 19 at Southwest Regional Library.

  

Hauerwas, Stanley: "Approaching the End: Eschatological Reflection on Church, Politics, and Life" (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)

Hauerwas, a professor emeritus of divinity and law, explores the value to the church of reflecting on the ultimate destiny of humankind and the world. For Hauerwas, "end" has a double meaning -- both a chronological end and an end in the sense of an aim or goal.

  

Hayles, N. Katherine, co-editor: "Comparative Textual Media: Transforming the Humanities in the Postprint Era" (University of Minnesota Press)

The Duke literature professor edits a collection exploring how the transition from print to digital and other mediums has affected humanities scholarship. The editors argue that institutions should rethink categories, courses and faculty hiring as disciplines rely less on print-based scholarship.

  

Helminski, Peg: "Spark of God" (self-published, Amazon)

A freelance writer and staff assistant in the Department of Radiology, Peg Helminski has published her third book and second novel for middle-school students. Set in New Jersey, the story follows 11-year-old Regina and her Catholic family as they move to a new home in a Jewish neighborhood. What will their differences teach Regina about the similarities between all human hearts?

  

Hemming, Richard, co-editor: "International Handbook of Public Financial Management" (Palgrave McMillan)

Hemming, a visiting professor at the Duke Center for International Development (DCID) in the Sanford School of Public Policy, provides an encyclopedia of public financial management, written by top experts, many with a background in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. It includes chapters by Roy Kelly and Graham Glenday, both professors of the practice at DCID.

 

Johnson, Cheryle: "Making Every Moment Count" (Amazon)

Cheryle Johnson, a staff specialist at the Duke Clinical Research Unit, writes from painful life experiences, including the death of her oldest son. In her fourth book, she hopes to help others turn their own unexpected moments -- both joyous and painful -- into memories valued "in a loving, passionate, constructive and positive way."

 

Keech, William R.: "Economic Politics in the United States: The Costs and Risks of Democracy" Second Edition. (Cambridge University Press)

Using macroeconomic performance as a lens to evaluate democratic institutions, political scientist Keech gives a more pessimistic assessment in this revised edition, emphasizing the risks of fiscal irresponsibility.

 

Kirshner, Alexander: "A Theory of Militant Democracy: The Ethics of Combatting Political Extremism" (Yale University Press).

Kirshner, an assistant professor of political science, looks at the paradox of allowing undemocratic political groups to work in a democratic system. Citing the Democratic Party during Reconstruction, he argues that the United States has correctly chosen to not disenfranchise members of extremist movements.

Read more about the book in this Duke Today story.

 

Koropchak, Celine: "One With All of Thee: Growing Your Sacred Connection" (Blue Violet Press)

Koropchak, a Department of Medicine research projects manager and a blueberry farmer, has written a book of wisdom in the sacred, philosophical tradition of Rumi, the Upanishads and the Kabala that urges readers to embrace their connection to the cosmos.

 

Marshall-Turman, Eboni: "Toward a Womanist Ethic of Incarnation: Black Bodies, the Black Church, and the Council of Chalcedon" (Palgrave Macmillan)

Assistant research professor Eboni Marshall-Turman, director of the Office of Black Church Studies at the Divinity School, asks why black women's oppression persists in black churches that espouse theological and ethical commitments to justice. She surveys "the black body as an American problem" as a way of understanding how the theological problem of body has been a social dilemma for black people.

 

Mirovitskaya, Natalia, co-editor: "The Economic Roots of Conflict and Cooperation in Africa: Politics, Economics, and Inclusive Development" (Palgrave Macmillan)

Mirovitskaya, a Sanford School scholar and fellow at the Duke Center for International Development (DCID), focuses on 11 African countries with case studies that suggest policies to promote development in countries torn by armed conflict. Her co-editor is William Ascher, founder of DCID and a professor of Claremont McKenna College.

 

experimental life

Mitchell, Rob: "Experimental Life: Vitalism in Romantic Science and Literature" (Johns Hopkins University Press)

Mitchell, professor of English and faculty in the Institute of Genome Sciences and Policy, investigates what it meant for Romantic movement authors to experiment and how those experiments related to their interests in the concept of life.

 

Nelson, Diane M., co-editor: "War by Other Means: Aftermath in Post-Genocide Guatemala" (Duke University Press)

Nelson, a professor of cultural anthropology, brings together new essays by an international and interdisciplinary collection of scholars of Guatemala.

 

Powell, Richard J., editor: "Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist" (Duke University Press)

This catalog includes an essay by Powell, a Duke art historian and organizer and curator of the first full-scale survey of Motley's work, which will be on view at the Nasher Museum of Art from Jan. 30 through May 11. Motley was an American painter, master colorist and radical interpreter of urban culture.

  

Roselle, Laura, co-author: "Strategic Narratives, Communication Power and the New World Order" (Routledge)

This book explores the advent, use and transformation of the strategic narrative within global politics. From the "war on terror" after the 9/11 attacks to the recent use of "Obamacare," politicians have realized the potential of narratives to sway beliefs. Laura Roselle is a visiting professor with the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy. She and her co-authors also explore public diplomacy in terms of social media and the power of individual citizens to frame policies and actions. The book is part of a series edited by Ken Rogerson, a Duke lecturer in public policy.

 

Walker, Constance: "Adolphe Monod" (Evangelical Press, Darlington, U.K.)

Walker, a senior research scientist in nuclear physics, has written a biography of the noted French evangelical preacher, a leading figure in the 19th century Awakening. The book, part of the "Bitesize Biographies" series, includes Walker's own pencil drawings. She has previously translated and edited five books of Monod's works.

 

Willimon, William: "Incarnation: The Surprising Overlap of Heaven & Earth" (Abingdon Press)

Willimon, a Divinity School professor and former Duke Chapel dean, writes in a conversational tone about the Incarnation, "the grand crescendo of our reflection upon the mystery that Christ is the full revelation of God." The book is part of the Belief Matters series.