FILM STUDIES
- A Feminine Cinematics: Luce Irigaray, Women and Film
By Caroline Bainbridge, reader in visual culture, Roehampton University. Palgrave Macmillan, £50.00. ISBN 9780230553484
Drawing on the work of philosopher Luce Irigaray, this study intervenes in the debate around women and film, analysing films such as The Piano, Orlando and The Silences of the Palace to make the case that a feminine cinematics is now emerging through the scene of women's filmmaking.
HISTORY
- The Almanac of New York City
By Kenneth T. Jackson, Jacques Barzun professor in history and the social sciences, Columbia University and Fred Kameny. Columbia University Press, £26.50 and £11.50. ISBN 9780231140621 and 0638
Compiled by two long-time historians of the city, The Almanac gives readers a New York story; a tale aimed at anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the Big Apple's complex core.
- The British Isles and Europe, 1500-1700
By Ralph Houlbrooke, professor of early modern British history, University of Reading. Hodder Education, £18.99. ISBN 9780340581193
Houlbrooke explores the extent to which there is something special or different about British history, and recounts the history of Britain with an emphasis on political relations and other connections between the three kingdoms, as well as between them and the continental powers.
- Visualizing Medieval Performance: Perspectives, Histories, Contexts
Edited by Elina Gertsman, assistant professor of art history, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Ashgate, £60.00. ISBN 9780754664369
Taking a fresh look at the interconnections between medieval theatre, images, texts and practices of viewing, reading and listening, this volume explores various manifestations of performance and meanings of performativity in the Middle Ages.
- Finding the Family in Medieval and Early Modern Scotland
Edited by Elizabeth Ewan, university research chair and professor of history, University of Guelph and Janay Nugent, assistant professor of history, University of Lethbridge. Ashgate, £55.00. ISBN 9780754660491
In this interdisciplinary collaboration, an international group of scholars, from fields ranging from art history, literature and music, have come together to suggest new directions for the study of the family in Scotland circa 1300-1750.
- Port Cities of Atlantic Iberia, c. 1500-1900
By Patrick O'Flanagan, professor of geography, University College Cork. Ashgate, £75.00. ISBN 780754661092
Charting the evolution of the seaports of Atlantic Spain and Portugal over four centuries, this book examines the often dynamic interaction between the large privileged ports of Lisbon, Seville and Cadiz and the smaller ports of, among others, Porto, Corunna and Santander.
LITERATURE
- The Columbia Guide to West African Literature in English Since 1945
By Oyekan Owomoyela, Ryan professor of African literatures and co-ordinator of African and African American studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln until his death in October 2007. Columbia University Press, £50.00. ISBN 9780231126861
This is a guide to the literary traditions of the West African countries of Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria, five distinct countries bound by their experience with colonialism.
PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY
- Visions of Agape: Problems and Possibilities in Human and Divine Love
Edited by Craig A. Boyd, professor of theology and philosophy, Azusa Pacific University. Ashgate, £50.00. ISBN 9780754658184
Scholars from various theological and philosophical backgrounds have been brought together to engage in interdisciplinary dialogue on this important and much neglected aspect of research into the human and divine loves.
- The Centrality of Religion in Social Life: Essays in Honour of James A. Beckford
Edited by Eileen Barker, professor emeritus of sociology, London School of Economics. Ashgate, £50.00. ISBN 9780754665151
Drawing on a number of religious themes that have been central to James A. Beckford's interests, these essays also offer a significant contribution to our understanding of the wider society.
- Meeting Jesus at University: Rites of Passage and Student Evangelicals
By Edward Dutton, guest lecturer in theology, Oulu University. Ashgate, £45.00. ISBN 9780754665205
Dutton explores universities in six countries and examines the largest student evangelical group at each university to understand the relationship between the student evangelical group and the university that it aims to convert.
- The Ashgate Companion to Contemporary Philosophy of Physics
Edited by Dean Rickles, lecturer in the history and philosophy of science, University of Sydney. Ashgate, £60.00. ISBN 9780754655183
Introducing the reader to the latest developments in the philosophical foundations of physics, this book covers advanced material at a level suitable for beginners and intermediate students.
- Reasons and Intentions
Edited by Bruno Verbeek, assistant professor of philosophy, Leiden University. Ashgate, £55.00. ISBN 9780754660040
Reasons and Intentions brings together essays by leading scholars in the field of philosophy to address the question of the relation between intentions and action.
- Identity Politics in Deconstruction: Calculating with the Incalculable
By Carolyn D'Cruz, lecturer in gender, sexuality and diversity studies, La Trobe University. Ashgate, £50.00. ISBN 9780754662082
Moving both within and between the domains of philosophy, politics and postmodern culture, this book offers both a clear explication of complex philosophical issues and an understanding of how they relate to the political practicalities of everyday life.
POLITICS
- The Causes of War
By David Sobek, assistant professor of political science, Louisiana State University. Polity, £50.00 and £15.99. ISBN 9780745641980 and 1997
Sobek argues that there is no single explanation for war: factors leading to war in one case may well lead to peace in another. Understanding the onset of war, he contends, requires a movement away from single theories towards one that embraces the multi-faceted causes of war.
SOCIAL SCIENCES
- The Star as Icon: Celebrity in the Age of Mass Consumption
By Daniel Herwitz, Mary Fair Croushore professor of humanities and director of the Institute for the Humanities, University of Michigan. Columbia University Press, £14.50. ISBN 9780231145404
Herwitz pokes at the gears of the celebrity-making machine, recruiting a philosopher's interest in the media, an eye for society, and a love of popular culture to divine our yearning for these iconic figures and the role they play in our lives.
- Biosecurity Interventions: Global Health and Security in Question
Edited by Andrew Lakoff, assistant professor of sociology and science studies, University of California, San Diego and Stephen J. Collier, assistant professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs, The New School. Columbia University Press, £16.50. ISBN 9780231146067
The editors of this volume focus on how experts work together to define what it means to "secure health" through concrete practices such as global humanitarian logistics, pandemic preparedness measures, and attempts to regulate potentially dangerous new biotechnologies.