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BOOKSHELF
Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and the Future of America by Thomas Fleming. This latest take on the country's most celebrated duel uses narrative to illuminate the rival egos and ambitions that led the King's College dropout to take a fatal bullet in Weehawken, N.J. (Basic Books, $30 cloth, $16.50 paper). The Health Marketplace: New York City, 1990-2010 by Eli Ginzberg '31, Hepburn Professor Emeritus of Economics, Howard Berliner, Panos Minogianis and Miriam Ostow. Using the Big Apple as a microcosm, the director of Columbia's Eisenhower Center for the Conservation of Human Resources and his colleagues delineate changes in American health care delivery in the 1990s and offer an expert assessment of what might happen in the next decade (Transaction Publishers, $32.95). Essays in Idleness: The Tsurezureigusa of Kenko, translated and with a new preface by Donald Keene'42, University Professor Emeritus. These disarming discursions from a 14th-century Japanese priest are suffused with a reverence for Buddhist traditions and an appreciation of the pleasures of ordinary life (Columbia University Press, $17 paper). A Fragile Capital: Identity and the Early Years of Columbus, Ohio by Charles C. Cole, Jr. '43. A longtime Cow Town resident (and former provost and history professor at Lafayette College) uses contemporary letters, diaries and newspapers to trace the first 40 years of Ohio's capital (Ohio State University Press, $45). Snapshot Poetics: A Photographic Memoir of the Beat Era by Allen Ginsberg '48, edited by Michael Köhler. This collection of over 70 black-and-white photographs, taken by the Beat poet between 1953 and 1991, uses personal captions to bring figures of the Beat generation - including Jack Kerouac '44, William Burroughs, and Ginsberg - to life (Chronicle Books, $14.95 paper). Aging and Mental Health: Positive Psychosocial and Biomedical Approaches by Robert Butler '49, Myrna Lewis and Trey Sutherland. The fifth edition of this collection of medical statistics and advice uses the latest demographic and epidemiological data to create a portrait of older people in America today, their mental health care needs, and responses to those needs (Allyn and Bacon, $60). Book Business: Publishing Past, Present and Future by Jason Epstein '49. Seven essays from the famed Random House editor - and founder of The New York Review of Books - recount his exploits during a half century as publisher, editor and author, and examine the challenges facing modern publishing (W.W. Norton & Company, $21.95). See related story. The Positive Psychology of Buddhism and Yoga: Paths to a Mature Happiness by Marvin Levine '50. This introduction to Eastern views of human nature emphasizes the compatibility of Eastern philosophies with Western psychological viewpoints, and offers advice from both East and West to manage anger and enhance the quality of life (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, $39.95 cloth, $17.95 paper). The Art of Political War and Other Radical Pursuits by David Horowitz '59. This collection of essays - including the title essay, which was endorsed by 35 state Republican chairman and sent in 2000 by the House majority whip to every Republican congressional officeholder - is offered as an "instructional guide" for Republicans suffering from Democratic political imprecations (Spence, $24.95). What Counts by Jay Liveson '59. This slender volume of verse on medical themes includes poems with the intriguing names of "Between Alexandria and the Second Cataract," "Before the Plaster Sets," and "Conversation as my Tumor Advances;" by a neurologist at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center (Fithian Press, $9.60 paper). Napoleon and his Collaborators: The Making of a Dictatorship by Isser Woloch '59, Moore Collegiate Professor of History. The author of the award-winning The New Regime shows how the general-turned-emperor relied on a nascent government bureaucracy and adroit political operatives who did not necessarily share his political outlook or ambitions (W.W. Norton & Company, $29.95). For an excerpt, please see Columbia Forum. The Thessalonians Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis?, edited by Karl Donfried '60 and Johannes Beutler. Top New Testament scholars introduce readers to the current exegetical struggle over the purpose and intention of 1 Thessalonians, Paul's first letter and the earliest extant Christian document (William B. Eerdman's Publishing, $25 paper). Classics of Western Philosophy, fifth edition, edited by Steven M. Cahn '63. The fifth edition of this introductory anthology adds 20th-century authors Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre to canonical philosophical figures from antiquity, the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Enlightenment (Hackett Publishing, $47.95 cloth, $29.95 paper). Random Reminiscences of Sixty Years of Law Practice: The Memoir of Dean Stockett Edmonds, edited by Charles Miller '63. This account of one of New York's most prominent patent lawyers was written in the "evocative style of yesteryear" and edited by a current partner at the firm - Pennie and Edmonds LLP - that would eventually take his name (Rutledge Books, $15.96). Willa Cather & Others by Jonathan Goldberg '64. An examination of Cather's artistic principle of "a thing not named" that illuminates how her fiction transcends the very categories - class, gender, and sexuality - around which recent scholarship on her work has focused; by the Sir William Osler Professor of English at Johns Hopkins (Duke University Press, $18.95 paper). Pensions, Politics, and the Elderly: Historic Social Movements and Their Lessons for Our Aging Society by Daniel J.B. Mitchell '64. A study of pensionite movements in California from the 1920s to 1940s, one of the first modern examples of political lobbying by senior citizens, suggests that current efforts to "save" Social Security and Medicare are actually planting the seeds of future senior agitation (M.E. Sharpe, $64.95 cloth, $23.95 paper). Millennial Child: Transforming Education in the Twenty-First Century by Euguene Schwartz '67. Arguing that "today's children are an endangered species," the author attacks Sigmund Freud's "tragic understanding of childhood" and argues that the Waldorf schooling method may be the last, best hope for "childhood to be regained" (Anthroposophic Press, $19.95 paper). To Fight and Learn: The Praxis and Promise of Literacy in Eritrea's Independence War by Les Gottesman '68. The work of Eritrea's fighter-teachers, who taught peasants to read and write in the midst of a long war of independence, not only fostered social change but also became the foundation of the country's education system today (Red Sea Press, $21.95 paper). American Palestine: Melville, Twain, and the Holy Land Mania by Hilton Obenzinger '69. Fascination with the Holy Land among evangelicals, scholars, writers and artists helped shape notions of national identity in 19th-century America, which many Americans viewed as the new promised land (Princeton University Press, $55 cloth, $18.95 paper). The Official NBA Basketball Encyclopedia, third edition, edited by Jan Hubbard. Columbia College Today editor Alex Sachare '71 is among the contributors to the latest edition of this most complete look at the NBA and its players (Doubleday, $50). The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug by Bennet Weinberg '71 and Bonnie Bealer. Over 85 percent of Americans use significant amounts of caffeine daily, and the natural and cultural history of the drug encompasses all aspects of the human condition, including love, religion and Starbucks' mini-bars (Routledge, $27.50). Swift as Nemesis: Modernity and Its Satirist by Frank Boyle '81. This reinterpretation of the author of Gulliver's Travels utilizes pre-modern notions of satire, examines Swift's perceptions of the new science and draws out the cultural implications of his authorial approach (Stanford University Press, $45). Debt Free by 30: Practical Advice for Young, Broke, & Upwardly Mobile by Jason Anthony '94 GS and Karl Cluck '94. A pocket-sized primer on paying off credit cards, keeping more of what you earn and living debt-free forever (Plume, $12 paper). The Weaving of Mantra: Ku-kai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse by Ryu-ichi Abé, Kao Professor of Japanese Religion. This re-examination of Ku-kai (774-835), who is credited with establishing tantric Buddhism and founding of the Shingon School in ninth-century Japan, argues that the Buddhist priest's most lasting contribution lie in his development of the ritual speech of the mantra (Columbia University Press, $42 cloth, $19.50 paper). Remaking Women: Feminism and Modernity in the Middle East, edited by Lila Abu-Lughod, Professor of Anthropology. In addition to the editor, who just joined the faculty, Columbia contributors to this collection of essays, which examines the "women question" and notions of progress in the Middle East, include Afsaneh Najmabadi, professor of women's studies at Barnard (Princeton University Press, $65 cloth, $17.95 paper). Louis Le Vau: Mazarin's College, Colbert's Revenge by Hilary Ballon, Professor of Art History and Archaeology. The first English-language book on Louis XIV's celebrated architect, whose buildings shaped the image of French court society, focuses on Cardinal Mazarin's College, widely acknowledged as Le Vau's masterpiece, and the debate over how it would affect Paris's "soul" (Princeton University Press, $39.50). My Laocoön: Alternative Claims in the Interpretation of Artworks by Richard Brilliant, Anna S. Garbedian Professor in the Humanities. The noted art historian traces the theme, provenance and interpretation of the Greco-Roman sculpture, now in the Vatican, and shows how the masterpiece's reception has evolved (University of California Press, $45). Work Without Wages: Russia's Nonpayment Crisis by Padma Desai, Gladys and Ronald Harriman Professor of Comparative Economic Systems and Todd Idson, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Economics. When Russia switched to a market economy in 1992, the 70-year Soviet tradition of "wages without work" reversed itself, and this book, using economic and policy analysis, determines who exactly isn't getting paid (MIT Press, $29.95). Black Corona: Race and the Politics of Place in an Urban Community by Steven Gregory, Associate Professor of Anthropology. Historical and ethnographic research into the political culture of Corona, an African-American neighborhood in Queens, challenges the view that black urban communities are socially disorganized (Princeton University Press, $37.50 cloth, $14.80 paper). "A Voyage on the North Sea": Art in the Age of the Post-Medium Condition by Rosalind Krauss, Meyer Schapiro Professor of Modern Art and Theory. The work of Belgian artist Marcel Broodthaers, argues the author of The Picasso Papers, transcends traditional definitions of modernist art, showing it to be a complex structure that goes beyond the material properties of paint and canvas (Thames & Hudson, $16.95 paper). Shifting the Color Line: Race and the American Welfare State by Robert C. Lieberman, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Affairs. Winner of Harvard University Press's Thomas J. Wilson Prize and the Social Sciences History Association's President's Book Award, this social policy study lays bare the historical and political roots of enduring racial conflict in American welfare policy, beginning with the New Deal (Harvard University Press, $46.95). Opening the Borders: Inclusivity in Early Modern Studies. Essays in Honor of James V. Mirollo, edited by Peter C. Herman. The contributors to this multidisciplinary collection honoring Columbia's Parr Professor Emeritus include Marc Berley '85, assistant professor of English at Barnard, Ernest B. Gilman '68, David Scott Kastan, professor of English, and Edward W. Tayler, Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities (University of Delaware Press, $52.50). Pre-Columbian Art by Esther Pasztory, Lisa and
Bernard Selz Professor in Pre-Columbian Art History and
Archaeology. An illustrated guide to the art and culture of
Mesoamerica and the Andes, from the earliest times to the
destruction of the Aztec and Inca empires by Spanish conquistadors
(Cambridge University Press, $18.95 paper).
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