Bookshelf

(New York: NYU Press, 2024).

Described as the first book to examine the American prison system through the eyes of those trapped within it, Inside Knowledge draws from writings collected through the American Prison Writing Archive, which the author founded in 2009. Larson draws from the archive’s first-person narratives created by incarcerated individuals and prison workers to illustrate how mass incarceration does less to contain any harm perpetrated by convicted people than to spread and perpetuate harm among their families and communities.

The publisher notes, “If prisons are places where convicted people are sent to learn a lesson, then imprisoned people are the ones who know just what American prisons actually teach. At once profound and devastating, Inside Knowledge is an invaluable resource for those interested in addressing mass incarceration in America.”

(Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2023).

The publisher notes, “Thin body, white skin, and big eyes. Such beauty ideals are ubiquitous across Shanghai, where salons and weight-loss clinics offering an array of products and treatment options beckon city dwellers with promises of a better life.’ Set against the backdrop of China's post-reform era, Modified Bodies compares the radically different attitudes of middle-class Chinese and Western women living in Shanghai toward the pursuit of beauty. Through comparative ethnography, anthropologist Julie E. Starr parses how experiences of bodies and embodied identities, and the politics ascribed to them, are culturally produced for both groups of women. With a focus on the ways in which late capitalism interacts with different bodies, Starr joins an ongoing conversation about the impact of recent economic reforms on social life in China.”

(New York: Poets of Queens, 2023).

According to the publisher, “Moving between narrative and reflection, and reveling in the genre of the long poem, Robert Kaplan uses detailed imagery to invite the reader into a slice of 1980s New York City: the urban landscape, the national politics, gay exuberance and loss, and, weaving throughout, the shadow of the AIDS epidemic. The title poem, “Past/Present,” which is the first half of the book, sprawls through layers of time, failed romance, geographic movement, and growing self-awareness as the narrator sheds multiple selves to find his core. The poems in the second half of the book (re)create a sensory and personal landscape which becomes a metaphorical and meditative platform upon which to address questions of memory, identity, relationships, and how to navigate through an increasingly unstable world.”

(self-published, 2023).

Bringing us closer to our natural environment, this book chronicles life in the forest through stunning photos and artful poetry. Its authors are a highly acclaimed team of photographers and poets from Europe and the United States. According to the author, “… explore the metamorphoses of bugs transforming bygone life into new creations, find solace and guidance from the river's secrets, unlock natural therapies from ancient trees talking with fungi, or take a deep breath of fresh air as leaves breathe and flowers speak.”

  (New York: Del Rey, 2023).

“A rebellious young heroine begins a voyage of self-discovery in the third novel of an epic fantasy series set in the world of Viridian Deep, from the legendary author of the Shannara saga.” So says the publisher of Brooks’ latest work, which tells the story of Char, a girl who runs away from home a month before her 15th birthday to join a Human pirate crew. Her new life leads to love, a daring rescue attempt and “an adventure that will uncover secrets she never suspected about herself, one that will maybe, finally, teach her to look before she leaps.”

Brooks is the author of 44 books — his goal is to publish 50 before he retires — most of which have been New York Times bestsellers. 

(Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2024).

According to the publisher, “Imperial Rome privileged the elite male citizen as one of sound mind and body, superior in all ways to women, noncitizens, and nonhumans. One of the markers of his superiority was the power of his voice, both literal (in terms of oratory and the legal capacity to represent himself and others) and metaphoric, as in the political power of having a “voice” in the public sphere. Muteness in ancient Roman society has thus long been understood as a deficiency, both physically and socially. In this volume, Koenig deftly confronts the trope of muteness in imperial Roman literature, arguing that this understanding of silence is incomplete. By unpacking the motif of voicelessness across a wide range of written sources, she shows that the Roman perception of silence was more complicated than a simple binary and that elite male authors used muted or voiceless characters to interrogate the concept of voicelessness in ways that would be taboo in other contexts.”

As one reviewer noted: “Koenig brings a fresh perspective to the understanding of silence in the culture of the Roman empire, showing that loss of voice can unlock new possibilities of expression that allow the mute person to signify facts and feelings otherwise difficult or dangerous to communicate.” 

(Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2023).

The author, Carleton College’s William H. Laird Professor of German and the Liberal Arts, Emeritus, shares this three-volume catalog of a major collection of books he assembled over the past four decades. According to the publisher: “This catalog of an unparalleled private collection of Rubaiyat-related books and materials describes more than 7,000 items and includes color illustrations of over 2,000 book covers. Edward FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam — first published anonymously in 1859 — was by the early 20th century the most popular literary work in the English language. Only the Bible was printed more frequently. The Rubaiyat became such an integral part of the very fabric of English-speaking culture that by 1900 people were speaking generally of a veritable Omar cult.

“Over the years more than 400 publishers on both sides of the Atlantic have issued thousands of editions/printings of the Rubaiyat. During the heyday of interest in the early decades of the 20th century, some publishers issued more than 20 different printings in a variety of editions in a single year. Many of these books were finely printed as limited editions and were often illustrated by leading artists of the time, such as Elihu Vedder, Edmund Dulac, and Willy Pogany. In addition to printings of FitzGerald’s work, translations, parodies, and scholarly studies appeared, as well as a wide range of fascinating Omariana (novels, calendars, postcards, cartoons, musical works, cigarettes, jewelry, etc.). Included in the collection are many unique items, and only a very small number of the books described are presently held in public institutions.”

(Baker Academic, Ada, Mich. 2023).

“One reason the Bible has endured for millennia is its ability to reach our common humanness and give uplifting insights about struggle, resilience, and hope,” notes the book jacket. Inside, readers find candid, personal insights from the author, an Old Testament scholar, that “help readers engage biblical texts with both mind and heart — to learn the Bible’s stories, explore theological ideas, question common assumptions, develop interpretive skills, and grow in their own faith.” According to Publishers Weekly, this book “Tackles scripture from a broad-thinking, feminist perspective. ... Smart and impressive.”

(self-published, 2023).

This is the fourth in an anatomical series of books focusing on human endeavors. Like in the three previous, the author demonstrates methods of how various world cultures have handled some of life’s most common and difficult challenges. This book explores the funeral rituals that most of the societies around the world had to handle. The book discusses the needs and methods in looking for a path to the afterlife. In addition, a section on funerals of the rich and famous is included. Other works, also published in 2023, include The Anatomy of Religions of the World: Seeking God’s Grace, Anatomy of Marriages from Ancient to Modern Times, and Anatomy of Parenting Throughout the Ages: Cultural Differences of Raising Children from Ancient to Modern Times. The author, who enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a pediatrician/pediatric allergist, is the author of several other books.

(Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2021).

As part of the Oxford International Law Library, this text focuses on investment treaties, which grant special international protection to foreign investors and give them a means to enforce those rights against States in which they have invested. “This book systematically examines the law of international investment treaties, particularly with respect to its origins, structure, content, and effects. Although the precise provisions of investment treaties are not uniform, virtually all investment treaties address the same issues. This book examines those issues in detail, including the scope of application, conditions for the entry of foreign investment, and general standards of treatment of foreign investments,” the publisher notes.

In this the third edition of the book, last updated in 2015, the author addresses the rapidly and dramatically changing landscape of investment treaty law. For example, the field has seen considerable growth in the number and scope of investment treaties, now estimated at 3,300, and investor-state arbitrations cases, which reached over 1,000 in 2020.