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College of Humanities and Social Sciences Titles (2022)
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All for Liberty by Jeff Strickland Jeff Strickland tells the powerful story of Nicholas Kelly, the enslaved craftsman who led the Charleston Workhouse Slave Rebellion, the largest slave revolt in the history of the antebellum American South. With two accomplices, some sledgehammers, and pickaxes, Nicholas risked his life and helped thirty-six fellow enslaved people escape the workhouse where they had been sent by their enslavers to be tortured. While Nat Turner, Gabriel Prosser, and Denmark Vesey remain the most recognizable rebels, the pivotal role of Nicholas Kelly is often forgotten. All for Liberty centers his rebellion as a decisive moment leading up to the secession of South Carolina from the United States in 1861. This compelling micro-history navigates between Nicholas's story and the Age of Atlantic Revolutions, while also considering the parallels between race and incarceration in the nineteenth century and in modern America. Never before has the story of Nicholas Kelly been so eloquently told.ISBN: 9781108492591
Publication Date: 2022
Professor Strickland is in the Department of History
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Art Cinema and Neoliberalism by Alex Lykidis Art Cinema and Neoliberalism surveys cinematic responses to neoliberalism across four continents. One of the first in-depth studies of its kind, this book provides an imaginative reassessment of art cinema in the new millennium by showing how the exigencies of contemporary capitalism are exerting pressure on art cinema conventions. Through a careful examination of neoliberal thought and practice, the book explores the wide-ranging effects of neoliberalism on various sectors of society and on the evolution of film language. Alex Lykidis evaluates the relevance of art cinema style to explanations of the neoliberal order and uses a case study approach to analyze the films of acclaimed directors such as Asghar Farhadi, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Lucrecia Martel in relation to the social, political, and cultural characteristics of neoliberalism. By connecting the aesthetics of art cinema to current social antagonisms, Lykidis positions class as a central concern in our understanding of the polarized dynamics of late capitalism and the escalating provocations of today's film auteurs.ISBN: 9783030610050
Publication Date: 2020
Professor Lykidis is in the Department of English
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Catch-22 by Laura Nicosia & James F. Nicosia (Editors) "Catch-22 was published in 1961, becoming a number-one bestseller in England before American audiences identified with its anti-war sentiments, earning it classic status and prompting a film version in 1970. Heller's dark, satirical novel became so ubiquitous that it initiated the eponymous phrase regarding paradoxical situations. Catch-22 is appreciated for its black humor, extensive use of flashbacks, contorted chronology, countercultural sensibilities, and bizarre language structures. With current trends and political climate considered, this volume revisits this classic text for a contemporary audience." -- Provided by publisher.ISBN: 9781642659962
Publication Date: 2021
Professors Laura and James Nicosia are in the Department of English
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Gender Bonds, Gender Binds by Sara S. Poor (Editor); Alison L. Beringer (Editor); Olga V. Trokhimenko (Editor) While Gender Studies has made its mark on literary studies, much scholarship on the German Middle Ages is largely inaccessible to the Anglo-American audience. With gender at its core as a category of analysis, "Gender Bonds, Gender Binds"uniquely opens up medieval German material to English speakers. Recognizing the impact of Ann Marie Rasmussen's Mothers and Daughters in Medieval German Literature, this transatlantic volume expands on questions introduced in her 1997 book and subsequent work. More than a mere tribute, the collection moves the debates forward in new directions: it examines how gender bonds together people, practices, texts, and interpretive traditions, while constraining and delimiting these things socially, ideologically, culturally, or historically. As the contributions demonstrate, a close, materially focused analysis produces complex results, not easily reduced to a platitude. The essays steer a firm course through the terrain of gender bonds and binds, many of which remain challenging in the present. Herein lies the broader reach of this volume, for understanding the longevity of patriarchy and its effects on human relations demonstrates how crucial the study of the past can be for us as a society today. ISBN: 9783110729054
Publication Date: 2021-05-10
Professor Beringer is in the Department of Classics and General Humanities
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Gender Threat by Yasemin Cassino; Yasemin Besen-Cassino Against all evidence to the contrary, American men have come to believe that the world is tilted - economically, socially, politically - against them. A majority of men across the political spectrum feel that they face some amount of discrimination because of their sex. The authors of Gender Threat look at what reasoning lies behind their belief and how they respond to it. Many feel that there is a limited set of socially accepted ways for men to express their gender identity, and when circumstances make it difficult or impossible for them to do so, they search for another outlet to compensate. Sometimes these behaviors are socially positive, such as placing a greater emphasis on fatherhood, but other times they can be maladaptive, as in the case of increased sexual harassment at work. These trends have emerged, notably, since the Great Recession of 2008-09. Drawing on multiple data sources, the authors find that the specter of threats to their gender identity has important implications for men's behavior. Importantly, younger men are more likely to turn to nontraditional compensatory behaviors, such as increased involvement in cooking, parenting, and community leadership, suggesting that the conception of masculinity is likely to change in the decades to come.ISBN: 9781503610361
Publication Date: 2022
Professor Besen-Cassino is in the Department of Sociology
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Ideal Themes in the Greek and Roman Novel by Jean Alvares This book explores the areas in which novels such as Chariton's Callirhoe and Heliodorus's Aithiopika are ideal beyond the ideal love relationship and considers how concepts of the ideal connect to archetypal and literary patterns as well as reflecting contemporary ideological and cultural elements. Readers will gain a better understanding of how necessary is an understanding of these ideal elements to a full understanding of the novels' possible readings and their reader's attitudes. This book sets forth critical methods, subsequently followed, which allows for this exploration of ideal themes. Ideal Themes in the Greek and Roman Novel will be an invaluable resource for scholars of these novels, as well as ancient narratives and classical literature more generally. Scholars of cultural and utopian studies will also find the book useful, as well as some undergraduate students in all these areas.ISBN: 9780367472108
Publication Date: 2022
Professor Alvares is in the Department of Classics and General Humanities
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Migration and Radicalization : Global Futures (eBook) by Gabriel Rubin This book explores the connections between migration and terrorism and extrapolates, with the help of current research and case studies, what the future may hold for both issues. Migration and Radicalization: Global Futures looks at how migrants and terrorists have both been treated as Others outside the body politic, how growing migrant flows borne of a rickety state system cause both natives and migrants to turn violent, and how terrorist radicalization and tensions between natives and migrants can be reduced. As he contemplates potential global futures in the light of migration and radicalization, Gabriel Rubin charts a course between contemporary migration and terrorism scholarship, exploring their interactions in a methodologically rigorous but theoretically bold investigation.ISBN: 9783030693992
Publication Date: 2021
Professor Rubin is in the Department of Justice Studies
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New Evidence of Trotsky's Conspiracy by Grover Furr This book is a study of Soviet-era documents, recently declassified, that bear on Leon Trotsky and his conspiracies against the Soviet government and Party during the 1930s. These documents are: Yuri Piatakov’s statement to Nikolai Ezhov, chief of the NKVD, of December 1920, 1936; the transcript of the trial of Marshal Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky and seven accomplices of June 11, 1937; and a collection of investigative materials from the former NKVD archive concerning the First and Second Moscow Trials of August, 1936, and January, 1937. The third set of documents are from the two volume work "Politbiuro i Lev Trotskii (sbornik dokumentov), 1923-1940," edited by Oleg V. Mozokhin and published in 2013 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, by Sociosféra-CZ. This two-volume work is essentially unobtainable.ISBN: 9780578649764
Publication Date: 2020
Professor Furr is in the Department of English
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A Notable Bully by Robert E. Cray The definitive biography of a Civil War scoundrel and streetwise politico Largely forgotten by historians, Billy Wilson (1822-1874) was a giant in his time, a man well known throughout New York City, a man shaped by the city's immigrant culture, its harsh voting practices, and its efforts to participate in the War for the Union. For decades, Wilson's name made headlines--for many different reasons--in the city's major newspapers. An immigrant who settled in New York in 1842, Wilson found work as a prizefighter, a shoulder hitter, an immigrant runner, and a pawnbroker, before finally entering politics and being elected an alderman. He harnessed his tough persona to good advantage, in 1861 becoming a colonel in command of a regiment of alleged toughs and ex-convicts known as the "Wilson Zouaves." A poor disciplinarian, however, Wilson exercised little control over his soldiers, and in 1863, unable to maintain order, he was jailed for a number of weeks. Nonetheless, Wilson returned home to a hero's welcome that year. Wilson left behind no personal papers, journals, or correspondences, so Robert E. Cray has masterfully woven together a record of Wilson's life using the only available records: newspaper stories. These accounts present Wilson as a fascinating but highly unlikable man. As Cray demonstrates, Wilson bullied his way into New York, bullied his way into fame and politics, and attempted to bully his way into military greatness. His story depicts the New York City and Civil War experience in bolder, darker hues. As Cray shows us, it was not always a pretty tale.ISBN: 9781606354247
Publication Date: 2021-06-22
Professor Cray is in the Department of History
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Notable Writers of the American West & the Native American Experience by editors, Laura Nicosia, James F. Nicosia Many tell the spirited tales of the American West, describing life in the North American frontier as it moved from its earliest border at the Appalachian Mountain range through Westward expansion to the Pacific coastline. Others write or speak of their rich, varied experiences as members of First People Nations. Each story takes its place in history, part of the development and narrative of America. This volume provides both an overview of and a more in-depth context to the stories of over 100 acclaimed writers. Each entry includes a comprehensive overview of each author's biography and literary career as well as a ready-reference listing of their major works in all genres. Writers in this volume include: Cormac McCarthy Black Elk Black Hawk Sherman Alexie Leslie Marmon Silko Janet Campbell Hale Paul Gunn Allen Vine Deloria James Fennimore Cooper Larry McMurtry Willa Cather Kit Carson Mark Twain Stephen Crane Louis L'Amour N. Scott Momaday Louise Erdrich James Welch Joy Harjo Charles Eastman John Joseph Mathews Linda Hogan Tommy Picoand Tommy Orange. Each essay identifies the writer's major genres, and birth and death dates and places. The volume also includes a Chronological List of Authors; Genre Index; Personages Index; Title Index; Subject Index; and dozens of photographs. Designed to introduce readers at the high school and university level to the rich world of Native Americans and the vivid literature of the American West, this title provides students with careful research and resources to further explore these rich literary traditions.ISBN: 9781637000045
Publication Date: 2021
Professors Laura and James Nicosia are in the Department of English
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Rethinking Religion and Politics in a Plural World by Julia Berger In this book, Julia Berger examines internal meaning-making structures and processes driving NGO behavior, identifying constructs from within a religious tradition that forge new ways of pursuing social change. She evaluates the operation of a distinct rationality, arguing that action is guided not simply by beliefs and values, but also by a combination of elements so intrinsic as to constitute an "organizational DNA." These hidden structures and rationalities manifest themselves in new modes of engagement and agency; they help us to see the pivotal role of religion in shaping notions of peace, progress, and modernity. To demonstrate the operation and salience of such a rationality, Berger draws on the example of the worldwide Baha'i community. Emerging in 19th century Iran, the community's theological engagement with questions of justice, the unity of humankind, and the emerging global order, constitute one of the most distinct and compelling, yet least-researched examples of religious engagement with the pressing questions of our time. Analyzing events spanning a 75-year period from 1945-2020, this book provides a unique historical and contemporary perspective on the evolving role of religion and civil society in the modern world.ISBN: 9781350130333
Publication Date: 2021-01-14
Professor Berger is in the Department of Religion
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Salafism and Traditionalism by Emad Hamdeh One of the most contentious topics in modern Islam is whether one should adhere to an Islamic legal school or follow scripture directly. For centuries, Sunni Muslims have practiced Islam through the framework of the four legal schools. The 20th century, however, witnessed the rise of individuals who denounced the legal schools, highlighting cases where they contradict texts from the Qur'ān or Sunna. These differences are exemplified in the heated debates between the Salafi ḥadīth scholar Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī and his Traditionalist critics. This book examines the tensions between Salafis and Traditionalists concerning scholarly authority in Islam. Emad Hamdeh offers an insider's view of the debates between Salafis and Traditionalists and their differences regarding the correct method of interpreting Islam. He provides a detailed analysis of the rise of Salafism, the impact of the printing press, the role of scholars in textual interpretation, and the divergent approaches to Islamic law.ISBN: 9781108485357
Publication Date: 2021-03-18
Professor Hamdeh is in the Department of World Languages and Cultures
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All for Liberty by Jeff Strickland tells the powerful story of Nicholas Kelly, the enslaved craftsman who led the Charleston Workhouse Slave Rebellion, the largest slave revolt in the history of the antebellum American South. With two accomplices, some sledgehammers, and pickaxes, Nicholas risked his life and helped thirty-six fellow enslaved people escape the workhouse where they had been sent by their enslavers to be tortured. While Nat Turner, Gabriel Prosser, and Denmark Vesey remain the most recognizable rebels, the pivotal role of Nicholas Kelly is often forgotten. All for Liberty centers his rebellion as a decisive moment leading up to the secession of South Carolina from the United States in 1861. This compelling micro-history navigates between Nicholas's story and the Age of Atlantic Revolutions, while also considering the parallels between race and incarceration in the nineteenth century and in modern America. Never before has the story of Nicholas Kelly been so eloquently told.
Art Cinema and Neoliberalism by Art Cinema and Neoliberalism surveys cinematic responses to neoliberalism across four continents. One of the first in-depth studies of its kind, this book provides an imaginative reassessment of art cinema in the new millennium by showing how the exigencies of contemporary capitalism are exerting pressure on art cinema conventions. Through a careful examination of neoliberal thought and practice, the book explores the wide-ranging effects of neoliberalism on various sectors of society and on the evolution of film language. Alex Lykidis evaluates the relevance of art cinema style to explanations of the neoliberal order and uses a case study approach to analyze the films of acclaimed directors such as Asghar Farhadi, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Lucrecia Martel in relation to the social, political, and cultural characteristics of neoliberalism. By connecting the aesthetics of art cinema to current social antagonisms, Lykidis positions class as a central concern in our understanding of the polarized dynamics of late capitalism and the escalating provocations of today's film auteurs.
Gender Bonds, Gender Binds by While Gender Studies has made its mark on literary studies, much scholarship on the German Middle Ages is largely inaccessible to the Anglo-American audience. With gender at its core as a category of analysis, "Gender Bonds, Gender Binds"uniquely opens up medieval German material to English speakers. Recognizing the impact of Ann Marie Rasmussen's Mothers and Daughters in Medieval German Literature, this transatlantic volume expands on questions introduced in her 1997 book and subsequent work. More than a mere tribute, the collection moves the debates forward in new directions: it examines how gender bonds together people, practices, texts, and interpretive traditions, while constraining and delimiting these things socially, ideologically, culturally, or historically. As the contributions demonstrate, a close, materially focused analysis produces complex results, not easily reduced to a platitude. The essays steer a firm course through the terrain of gender bonds and binds, many of which remain challenging in the present. Herein lies the broader reach of this volume, for understanding the longevity of patriarchy and its effects on human relations demonstrates how crucial the study of the past can be for us as a society today. 
Gender Threat by Against all evidence to the contrary, American men have come to believe that the world is tilted - economically, socially, politically - against them. A majority of men across the political spectrum feel that they face some amount of discrimination because of their sex. The authors of Gender Threat look at what reasoning lies behind their belief and how they respond to it. Many feel that there is a limited set of socially accepted ways for men to express their gender identity, and when circumstances make it difficult or impossible for them to do so, they search for another outlet to compensate. Sometimes these behaviors are socially positive, such as placing a greater emphasis on fatherhood, but other times they can be maladaptive, as in the case of increased sexual harassment at work. These trends have emerged, notably, since the Great Recession of 2008-09. Drawing on multiple data sources, the authors find that the specter of threats to their gender identity has important implications for men's behavior. Importantly, younger men are more likely to turn to nontraditional compensatory behaviors, such as increased involvement in cooking, parenting, and community leadership, suggesting that the conception of masculinity is likely to change in the decades to come.
Ideal Themes in the Greek and Roman Novel by This book explores the areas in which novels such as Chariton's Callirhoe and Heliodorus's Aithiopika are ideal beyond the ideal love relationship and considers how concepts of the ideal connect to archetypal and literary patterns as well as reflecting contemporary ideological and cultural elements. Readers will gain a better understanding of how necessary is an understanding of these ideal elements to a full understanding of the novels' possible readings and their reader's attitudes. This book sets forth critical methods, subsequently followed, which allows for this exploration of ideal themes. Ideal Themes in the Greek and Roman Novel will be an invaluable resource for scholars of these novels, as well as ancient narratives and classical literature more generally. Scholars of cultural and utopian studies will also find the book useful, as well as some undergraduate students in all these areas.
Migration and Radicalization : Global Futures (eBook) by This book explores the connections between migration and terrorism and extrapolates, with the help of current research and case studies, what the future may hold for both issues. Migration and Radicalization: Global Futures looks at how migrants and terrorists have both been treated as Others outside the body politic, how growing migrant flows borne of a rickety state system cause both natives and migrants to turn violent, and how terrorist radicalization and tensions between natives and migrants can be reduced. As he contemplates potential global futures in the light of migration and radicalization, Gabriel Rubin charts a course between contemporary migration and terrorism scholarship, exploring their interactions in a methodologically rigorous but theoretically bold investigation.
A Notable Bully by The definitive biography of a Civil War scoundrel and streetwise politico Largely forgotten by historians, Billy Wilson (1822-1874) was a giant in his time, a man well known throughout New York City, a man shaped by the city's immigrant culture, its harsh voting practices, and its efforts to participate in the War for the Union. For decades, Wilson's name made headlines--for many different reasons--in the city's major newspapers. An immigrant who settled in New York in 1842, Wilson found work as a prizefighter, a shoulder hitter, an immigrant runner, and a pawnbroker, before finally entering politics and being elected an alderman. He harnessed his tough persona to good advantage, in 1861 becoming a colonel in command of a regiment of alleged toughs and ex-convicts known as the "Wilson Zouaves." A poor disciplinarian, however, Wilson exercised little control over his soldiers, and in 1863, unable to maintain order, he was jailed for a number of weeks. Nonetheless, Wilson returned home to a hero's welcome that year. Wilson left behind no personal papers, journals, or correspondences, so Robert E. Cray has masterfully woven together a record of Wilson's life using the only available records: newspaper stories. These accounts present Wilson as a fascinating but highly unlikable man. As Cray demonstrates, Wilson bullied his way into New York, bullied his way into fame and politics, and attempted to bully his way into military greatness. His story depicts the New York City and Civil War experience in bolder, darker hues. As Cray shows us, it was not always a pretty tale.
People's Planning : Kerala, Local Democracy and Development by 
Rethinking Religion and Politics in a Plural World by In this book, Julia Berger examines internal meaning-making structures and processes driving NGO behavior, identifying constructs from within a religious tradition that forge new ways of pursuing social change. She evaluates the operation of a distinct rationality, arguing that action is guided not simply by beliefs and values, but also by a combination of elements so intrinsic as to constitute an "organizational DNA." These hidden structures and rationalities manifest themselves in new modes of engagement and agency; they help us to see the pivotal role of religion in shaping notions of peace, progress, and modernity. To demonstrate the operation and salience of such a rationality, Berger draws on the example of the worldwide Baha'i community. Emerging in 19th century Iran, the community's theological engagement with questions of justice, the unity of humankind, and the emerging global order, constitute one of the most distinct and compelling, yet least-researched examples of religious engagement with the pressing questions of our time. Analyzing events spanning a 75-year period from 1945-2020, this book provides a unique historical and contemporary perspective on the evolving role of religion and civil society in the modern world.
Salafism and Traditionalism by One of the most contentious topics in modern Islam is whether one should adhere to an Islamic legal school or follow scripture directly. For centuries, Sunni Muslims have practiced Islam through the framework of the four legal schools. The 20th century, however, witnessed the rise of individuals who denounced the legal schools, highlighting cases where they contradict texts from the Qur'ān or Sunna. These differences are exemplified in the heated debates between the Salafi ḥadīth scholar Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī and his Traditionalist critics. This book examines the tensions between Salafis and Traditionalists concerning scholarly authority in Islam. Emad Hamdeh offers an insider's view of the debates between Salafis and Traditionalists and their differences regarding the correct method of interpreting Islam. He provides a detailed analysis of the rise of Salafism, the impact of the printing press, the role of scholars in textual interpretation, and the divergent approaches to Islamic law.