Here’s summer reading to educate and entertain: A new look at the continuing influence of ancient Roman political thought; a deep look at the clergy health crisis; and the story of how an African-American architect came to design the new campuses for Duke University. These and other books (plus one film) are new this summer from Duke authors. A half-dozen of these books are written by new Duke Kunshan University faculty members.
Many of the books, including new editions of previous 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. Most can also be purchased through the Gothic Bookshop.
[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 messageabout it along with your publisher's brief description.]
Jed W. Atkins: “Roman Political Thought” (Cambridge)
Atkins, assistant professor of classical studies, provides an engaging guide to Roman political thought and its enduring relevance for contemporary liberal democracies. This thematic introduction shows how the Roman world developed political ideas of lasting significance, from constitutional notions of the separation of powers, political legitimacy and individual rights to key concepts in international relations, such as imperialism, just war theory and cosmopolitanism.
Donald H. Beskind and Doriane Lambelet Coleman: “Torts: Doctrine and Process” (Duke University Press, July 2018)
The Duke Law School professors draw on their experience as academics and practitioners to offer a rigorous first-year course that covers intentional torts, negligence and strict liability. The text is designed to build students’ legal method skills, including honing their abilities to synthesize disparate material, to develop and distinguish between argument and evidence, and to work at the juncture of the substantive “black letter” law of torts and the rules of civil procedure that govern the litigation process.
Dr. Cheryl D. Bushnell, co-editor; Drs. Jodi Dodds and Aaron Loochtan, contributors: “Neurological Diseases and Pregnancy: A Coordinated Care Model for Best Management” (Oxford University Press)
The textbook, the first to offer a comprehensive guide to neurological conditions associated with pregnancy and childbirth, features two chapters co-authored by the Duke Neurology’s Dr. Jodi Dodds and Dr. Aaron Loochtan. The chapters, written with the help of adjunct assistant professor of neurology Dr. Cheryl Bushnell, focus on managing strokes.
Krishnendu Chakrabarty, co-author: “Testing of Interposer-Based 2.5D Integrated Circuits” (Springer)
Chakrabarty, the William H. Younger Professor of Engineering, provides readers with a guide to the design, testing and optimization of 2.5D integrated circuits. He is also the co-author of the recently published “Computer-Aided Design of Microfluidic Very Large Scale Integration (mVLSI) Biochips.”
Aaron Chatterji, co-author: “Can Business Save the Earth?: Innovating Our Way to Sustainability” (Stanford Business Books)
Increasingly, business leaders are tasked with developing new products, services and business models that minimize environmental impact while driving economic growth. It's a tall order. Based on more than a decade of research and work with companies, Fuqua School of Business professor Chatterji and co-author, Michael Lenox, argue that a green future is only possible with dramatic innovation across multiple sectors at the same time. To achieve this, a broader ecosystem of players -- including inventors, executives, customers, investors, activists and governments -- all must play a role.
Norman Christensen, co-author: “The Environment and You” Third edition. (Pearson)
Christensen, professor emeritus of environmental sciences & policy, joins co-authors Lissa Leege and Justin St. Juliana in giving today’s generation of students reason to be hopeful about environmental challenges by emphasizing the role that science plays in environmental problem solving. The new edition features “You Decide,” which presents complex environmental issues and invites students to take a position and consider the results of their position.
Joshua Gibson: “Pig Film” (2018)
Gibson, associate professor of the practice of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, premiered his film in June at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. This feature, with music by professor John Supko (Department of Music), is a genre-bending mystery with a triumphant twist.
Amy Laura Hall: “Laughing at the Devil: Seeing the World with Julian of Norwich”(Duke University Press, Aug. 10, 2018)
The writings of a medieval mystic, believed to be the first woman to write a book in English, come alive in Duke theologian Amy Laura Hall’s book, which also offers stories from Hall’s own life raising children and teaching. The time of the fourteenth to the fifteenth century was “a time of holy mischief,” writes Hall. “It was a time riddled with despair and sadistic repression. Julian wrote with temerity at this intersection. It is one of the reasons people return to her words, and to the church now known for her name.”
Joseph Heitman, co-editor: “The Fungal Kingdom” (ASM Press)
Fungi research and knowledge grew rapidly following recent advances in genetics and genomics. This book, co-edited by the chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, synthesizes new knowledge with existing information to stimulate new scientific questions and propel fungal scientists on to the next stages of research.
Laurence Helfer, co-editor: “International Court Authority” International Courts and Tribunals Series. (Oxford University Press)
With commentaries by scholars and experts, the book systematically compares 13 international courts operating in Africa, Latin America and Europe, as well as on a global level. The essayists grapple with the new approach to international authority that this book proposes. Helfer is the Harry R. Chadwick, Sr. Professor of Law.
William E. King: “Julian Abele and the Design of Duke University: An Extended Essay” (Duke University)
King, the founding university archivist, tells the story of how an African-American architect came to design the new campuses for Duke University in the segregated South of the 1920s. Abele practiced his trade as chief designer of the architectural firm of Horace Trumbauer in Philadelphia, which was selected by the benefactor, James B. Duke. Since no records of the architectural firm exist, King's essay pulls together scattered oral history interviews and articles written over a long period of time to place Abele's role in the proper context of his life and times, which also was a transitional period in the history of American architecture. The account is both an institutional and family history using contributions of Julian Abele Jr. and the family of Julian Abele Cook, whose son and daughter are graduates of Duke.
Jack Knight, editor: “Compromise” NOMOS-American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy series (NYU Press)
Knight, the Frederic Cleaveland Professor of Law and Political Science, brings together essays with a range of perspectives on representation, political morality, disagreement, negotiation and various forms of compromise. Examining these issues and more, “Compromise” offers new insights into the pressing issue of the importance of compromise in social and political affairs.
Kimberly Lamm: “Addressing the Other Woman: Textual Correspondences in Feminist Art and Writing” Series: Rethinking Art's Histories (Manchester University Press)
Lamm, associate professor in Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, analyzes how three artists -- Adrian Piper, Nancy Spero and Mary Kelly -- used text and images of writing in the 1960s and 1970s to challenge female stereotypes. The book uses the concept of “the other woman,” a utopian wish to reach women and correspond with them across similarities and differences. It places the artists in correspondence with three writers -- Angela Davis, Valerie Solanas and Laura Mulvey -- who also addressed the limited range of images through which women are allowed to become visible.
Scott MacEachern, co-editor: “Searching for Boko Haram: A History of Violence in Central Africa” (Oxford University Press)
MacEachern, a professor of social science at Duke Kunshan University, helps investigate the local cultural contexts within which the insurgent organization Boko Haram originated. MacEachern is also the co-editor of the recently published “Field Manual for African Archaeology/Manuel de terrain en Archéologie africaine”(Musée Royale de l’Afrique Centrale).
Randy Maddox, co-editor: “The Journal Letters and Related Biographical Items of the Rev. Charles Wesley, M.A.” (Kingswood Books)
For a church or movement which avers that “it sings its theology,” Charles Wesley’s Journal is an imperative. This volume, part of a series dedicated to providing a complete published collection of Charles Wesley manuscript items beyond his sermons and verse, is edited by Divinity School professor Randy L. Maddox, professor emeritus Richard P. Heitzenrater and the late Frank Baker, who was professor emeritus of English church history at Duke Divinity School.
James Miller: “China’s Green Religion: Daoism and the Quest for a Sustainable Future” (Columbia University Press)
Miller, a professor of humanities at Duke Kunshan University, considers how Daoism, China's indigenous religion, might give us the aesthetic, ethical, political, and spiritual tools to address the root causes of our ecological crisis and construct a sustainable future. Miller believes environmentalists should integrate nature and culture seamlessly, cultivating through a contemporary intellectual vocabulary a compelling vision of how the earth materially and spiritually supports human flourishing.
Gregory Nelson: “The Analytics Lifecycle Toolkit: A Practical Guide for an Effective Analytics Capability” (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)
Nelson, an adjunct professor of business administration, offers an evidence-based organizational framework for exceptional analytics team results. Focused on team effectiveness and the design thinking surrounding product creation, the framework is illustrated by real-world case studies to show how effective analytics team leadership works on the ground.
Sheila Patek, co-author: “Animal Locomotion” Second edition. (Oxford University Press)
Animals have evolved remarkable biomechanical and physiological systems that enable their rich repertoire of motion. Associate Professor of biology Sheila Patek and her co-author, Harvard professor Andrew Biewener, offer a fundamental understanding of animal movement through a broad comparative approach, including mathematics and physics, examination of new and enduring literature, consideration of classic and cutting-edge methods, and a strong emphasis on the core concepts that consistently ground the dizzying array of animal movements. Watch a video of the powerful punch of the mantis shrimp here.
G. Sujin Pak: “The Reformation of Prophecy: Early Modern Interpretations of the Prophet & Old Testament Prophecy” Oxford Studies in Historical Theology (Oxford University Press)
Pak, assistant professor of the history of Christianity at Duke Divinity School, highlights the central connection between the Protestant reformers' use of the prophet and biblical prophecy and their aim to promote Scripture's authority and clarity.
Orrin H. Pilkey, consultant: “The Magic Dolphin: A Young Human’s Guide to Beaches, Sea Level Rise and Living with the Sea” (Charles Pilkey)
With the help of his Duke geologist father, scientist-turned-artist and writer Charles O. Pilkey tells the story of two kids who rescue a stranded dolphin, caught in a fish net. Orrin Pilkey has visited beaches on all seven continents and has himself written a number of books about the future of beaches in an age of rising seas.
Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell and Jason Byassee: “Faithful and Fractured: Responding to the Clergy Health Crisis” (Baker Academics)
Proeschold-Belland Byassee,researchers with the decade-longDuke Divinity School Clergy Health Initiative, demonstrate that improving the health of pastors is possible. Proeschold-Bell is an associate research professor with the Duke Global Health Institute and Duke Center for Health Policy & Inequalities Research.Byassee is a former Divinity School professor.
Meredith L. D. Riedel: “Leo VI and the Transformation of Byzantine Christian Identity: Writings of an Unexpected Emperor” (Cambridge University Press, August 2018)
The Byzantine emperor Leo VI (886–912), was not a general or even a soldier, like his predecessors, but a scholar, and it was the religious education he gained under the tutelage of the patriarch Photios that was to distinguish him as an unusual ruler. Riedel, assistant professor of the history of Christianity at Duke Divinity School, analyzes Leo's literary output and argues that the impact of his religious faith transformed Byzantine cultural identity and influenced his successors, establishing the Macedonian dynasty as a 'golden age' in Byzantium.
Anne-Gaelle Saliot, co-editor and contributor: “Philippe Forest: Une vie à écrire” (Gallimard)
These studies grow out of an international conference that honored Forest, an essayist, critic, novelist and author of a heralded biography of French poet and novelist Louis Aragon. Saliot is an assistant professor of Romance Studies and the author of “The Drowned Muse: Casting the Unknown Woman of the Seine Across the Tides of Modernity” (Oxford University Press, 2015)
Benjamin A. Schupmann: “Carl Schmitt’s State and Constitutional Theory: A Critical Analysis” (Oxford University Press, 2017)
Schupmann, an assistant professor of social science at Duke Kunshan University, explores German jurist and political theorist Carl Schmitt's response to the Weimar crisis and shows how his findings are relevant to the challenges faced by liberal democratic states today.
Denis Simon, co-author: “Technology and Innovation in China” China Today series. (Polity, August 2018)
The executive vice chancellor of Duke Kunshan University and co-authors evaluate China's state-led approach to science and technology, and its successes and failures.
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong: “Think Again: How to Reason and Argue” (Oxford University Press, July 2, 2018)
Based on the Duke professor’s successful MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), "Think Again” explains why good arguments are essential to a functioning democracy and a healthy society. Sinnott-Armstrong is Chauncey Stillman Professor of Practical Ethics in the Department of Philosophy and the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke.
Don Snow and Maxi-Ann Campbell: “More Than a Native Speaker: An Introduction to Teaching English Abroad” Third Edition. (TESOL Press)
In this newly updated edition, learn how to effectively teach English abroad. Snow, a professor of language and writing at Duke Kunshan University, and Campbell, an ESL/academic writing instructor at Duke Kunshan, offer valuable tips and resources for teaching in an unfamiliar educational system, working with students of varying ages and skill levels, and adapting to life in a different culture. The text is also accompanied by a website packed with hundreds of activity ideas and links to additional teaching and learning resources.
Corina Stan: “The Art of Distances: Ethical Thinking in Twentieth-Century Literature” (Northwestern University Press)
Corina Stan, assistant professor of English, identifies an insistent preoccupation with interpersonal distance in a strand of 20th-century European and Anglophone literature that includes the work of George Orwell, Paul Morand, Elias Canetti, Iris Murdoch, Walter Benjamin, Annie Ernaux, Günter Grass and Damon Galgut. Stan shows that these authors engage in philosophical meditations on the ethical question of how to live with others, particularly in moments of social disruption and historical crisis. Stan grew up in Romania, studied in Germany, France and the United States, and taught for several years in the Netherlands.
Susan Thananopavarn: “LatinAsian Cartographies: History, Writing, and the National Imaginary” (Rutgers University Press)
Thananopavarn, a lecturing fellow in the Thompson Writing Program, contends that the Asian-American and Latina/o presence in the United States, although often considered marginal in discourses of American history and nationhood, is in fact crucial to understanding how national identity has been constructed historically and continues to be constructed in the present day.
Kathy Trotter, contributor: “Alexander’s Care of the Patient in Surgery” 16th edition. (Elsevier)
Trotter, an associate professor of nursing, authored the chapter titled “Breast Surgery”in this definitive text for nurses and surgical technologists training for a career in the operating room.
Neil Vidmar, co-author: “When Lawyers Screw Up: Improving Access to Justice for Legal Malpractice Victims” (University Press of Kansas)
This book is the first to explore the mistakes lawyers sometimes make, the nature of these mistakes, the harm they do, and the significant disparities in outcomes for corporate and individual victims of lawyers’ errors. In light of their findings, Vidmar, a professor emeritus at Duke Law, and his co-author suggest reforms that would help victims of legal malpractice, particularly individuals and small businesses, in pursuing their claims.
Michael D. Ward: “Spatial Regression Models” Second edition. (SAGE Publications)
New to this edition is a chapter on mapping as data exploration and its role in the research process, updates to all chapters based on substantive and methodological work, as well as software updates, and information on estimation of time-series, cross-sectional spatial models. Ward is a professor emeritus of political science.
Austin Woerner, translator: “The Invisible Valley” by Su Wei (Small Beer Press)
Woerner, Duke Kunshan University lecturer in English language, has drawn praise for his rendering of Su’s novel, her first translated into English. A sensuous coming-of-age story set in a jungle during China’s Cultural Revolution, he book is an “adventure of youth, identity, and the natural world” that “intoxicates with overlapping mysteries,” according to Kirkus Reviews.
Lawrence Zelenak: “Figuring Out the Tax: Congress, Treasury, and the Design of the Early Modern Income Tax” (Cambridge University Press)
Law professor Lawrence Zelenak’s new book chronicling the early development of the federal income tax grew out of his curiosity about two provisions of the law that give taxpayers basis (“a fundamental tax concept that is supposed to reflect amounts on which you’ve already paid tax”) in situations where no tax has actually been paid: the tax-free step-up in basis at death and the charitable deduction for unrealized appreciation in donated property. Reada Duke Law Magazine Q&A with Zelenak.