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SirReadaLot.org


We Review the Best of the Latest Books

ISSN 1934-6557

August 2006, Issue #88

Guide to This Issue

Art & Architecture

Outdoor Spaces by Ana G. Cañizares (Good Ideas Series: Collins Design)

Humans have always had a unique bond with nature, one that has been unfortunately weakened by the growth of densely populated urban centers. The earliest examples of dwellings incorporated exterior spaces into the home, designed for cooking, cleaning, and resting. Today, the integration of outdoor spaces is an attempt to re-establish this connection with the outdoors. Considered a privilege, especially in large cities, the access to an outdoor space within the privacy of a residence can be taken advantage of in many ways. Terraces, balconies, gardens, and courtyards can be transformed, no matter what their size, into relaxing spaces in which to unwind or as sources of light that can filter in to the interior spaces of the residence. Through the use of the appropriate materials, furnishings plants, colors, textures, and other accessories, an outdoor space can become a genuine oasis in any private home.

Outdoor Spaces, written by Ana G. Cañizares, who specializes in interior design and architecture, gathers an extensive selection of innovative projects by contemporary architects and landscape designers. They shed light on ways to make the most of an outdoor space, to strengthen the relationship between the interior and exterior and to improve the quality of our lives.

Outdoor Spaces consists of four sections: Introduction, Terraces & Balconies, Courtyards, and Gardens, and is composed almost entirely of photographs from Europe, the Americas and Australia. Using state of the art design and materials, these terraces, balconies, gardens, and courtyards embody the merging of luxurious living spaces with a more respectful attitude toward nature. Whether the view is a secluded, sandy beach or a metropolitan skyline, these spaces function as stylish yet relaxing leisure areas.

Outdoor Spaces is a unique collection of innovative, alfresco designs that integrate human habitats seamlessly into their surrounding environment. This eclectic, essentially Western mix lets the pictures tell the story.

Art & Architecture / Guidebooks

Syracuse University: An Architectural Guide by Jeffrey Gorney (Syracuse University Press)

Written by Jeffrey Gorney, Syracuse writer and photographer, Syracuse University is a companion for anyone interested in exploring the architectural heritage of Syracuse University. The book illustrates how the Syracuse University campus evolved in response to the chang­ing character of the academic community and urban environs. It also gives an inside look at the University's most engaging structures – from the stately Hall of Languages (1871) and Crouse College (1887) to the landmark Carrier Dome stadium (1980) and the Warehouse (2006).

Syracuse University is a companion for a sidewalk tour of this illustrious campus. Designed for those who are unfamiliar with the delights of SU's buildings and gardens, the book works as a take along. Strolling through the Old Row one can easily imagine what collegiate life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries must have been like. Fortunately, much of the fundamental pedagogic framework of college life from those early days – lectures, studios, labs, and studying – remains essential to university life today, a fact demonstrated by the highly effective functioning for today's academic endeavors of early buildings. With pride faculty, students and staff preserve these landmark buildings as testimonies to the University's past while carefully adapting them to meet the needs of the University's future.

According to Syracuse University, the campus building booms of the 1920s and the era following World War II, like the current boom in building as the campus enters the twenty-first century, challenged campus planners to create stimulating and effective expansions of the campus, not only to meet the immediate needs of a thriving and growing University but to leave flexible opportunities for the campus to adapt to the inevitable next set of academic challenges. The result is an eclectic composition of architectural styles and forms, creating a rich environment in which to learn and live. The broad architectural range of the campus both expresses and stimulates the diverse interests and objectives of the University, and the result is an environment that encourages students to appreciate and learn from the past while preparing for a future that will continue to evolve and provide new challenges.

The view to the south visually shows the Syracuse University campus as an expansive, fully functional, academic village with its arms open wide to the world. Richly illustrated and compellingly written, Syracuse University tells the story of SU for prospective students, faculty, alumni, and visitors. In it are the chancellors and architects, benefactors and builders who helped turn dreams into brick and mortar, as well as the grand plans and false starts, external events, and policy choices that transformed a bucolic nineteenth-century school into the architecturally and culturally complex campus that is Syracuse University today.

Arts & Photography / History / Portraits

Artists' Self-Portraits by Omar Calabrese, translated by Marguerite Shore (Abbeville Press)

In Artists' Self-Portraits, distinguished art historian and linguist Omar Calabrese reveals that self-portraits through the ages are both a reflection of the artist and of the period in which the artist lived. Organized thematically, Calabrese, professor of art and semiotics at the University of Siena, first presents a basic definition of the genre of the self-portrait, interpreting the picture to be a manifestation of self identity, as, for example, when the artist first portrayed his name rather than his actual features. This chapter includes examples from an Egyptian tomb painting and pictures on stained glass during the Middle Ages and continuing to modern times. At first a self-portrait was hidden in a narrative painting: an artist would paint his image as part of a crowd scene, for example, or as a mythological figure, as for example, Raphael's inclusion of himself at the edge of his School of Athens.

The next chapter of Artists' Self-Portraits focuses on the turning point for the establishment of the genre during the Renaissance when the status of the painter or sculptor was raised from artisan to artist. As a result, portraits of the artist were considered worthwhile pictures, and the glass mirror began to enjoy unprecedented popularity. On the other extreme, once the genre was accepted, it was practiced by some artists – Rembrandt, van Gogh, Munch, and Dalí, for instance – almost as an obsession. In contemporary art the self-portrait can become a deconstructed genre with the artist hiding or satirizing himself until he nearly disappears on the canvas.

Successive chapters ex­plore a diversity of themes: the self-portrait as a sign of its creator's prominence; women and the self-portrait; recurring motifs; the artist's private, and for some individuals, destructive, passions; the autobiographical image using portraiture to replace writing; and the negation, or even destruction, of the self-portrait in the twentieth century.

Among the 300 pictures featured in Artists' Self-Portraits are examples by such artists as Albrecht Dürer, Velazquez, Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, Ingres, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gainsborough, Matisse, James Ensor, Egon Schiele, Frida Kahlo, Man Ray, Henry Moore, Robert Rauschenberg, Norman Rockwell, and Roy Lichtenstein.

In concluding Calabrese writes: "Our history of the self portrait has been a history of philosophical, social, artistic, figurative, and linguistic ideas that emerge in every period when the theme of self-representation is addressed. This journey was conceived as a cultural adventure, one that attempts to convey to the reader the depth of discourse suggested by artists and the inventiveness of their solutions. For art, even more than artistic technique, is one of the greatest intellectual exercises imaginable."

Artists' Self-Portraits, a monumental yet lively study, encompasses the long and illustrious history of this piquant subset of the portrait form, which Italian art professor Calabrese traces back to antiquity, then forward into the modern era. Calabrese establishes three main categories of artists' self-portraits: the straightforwardly iconographic, embodiments of a specific historic moment, and works that reflect the inner realm, with Rembrandt and Van Gogh's self-portraits serving as key examples. But from these three main streams branch many tributaries, and Calabrese engagingly discusses self-portraits by women artists, self-portraits as visual autobiography, such recurring motifs as mirror images and the proud display of the tools of the trade, and self-portraits that subvert self-portraiture. His expert interpretations are illuminating, but it's the opportunity to revel in 345 gorgeous color reproductions and gaze into the eyes of such superlative artists as Albrecht Dürer, Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun, Goya, Manet, Munch, James Ensor, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Frida Kahlo that makes the book such a transporting experience. – Donna Seaman, Booklist

Artists' Self-Portraits is a fresh way to appreciate the history of art and is certain to be welcomed by art lovers and scholars alike. In his insightful, original text, Calabrese offers an in-depth analysis of a fascinating genre, the self-portrait. He reveals that a self-portrait is far more complex and meaningful than a mere likeness of an artist. In lively, well-researched, thematic chapters, the author explains how the genre evolved over the centuries from early examples in antiquity through its flowering in the Renaissance to modern interpretations. The absorbing text is lavishly illustrated with 34 full-color reproductions, most by celebrated artists, but some by lesser-known painters and sculptors.

Arts & Photography / Travel

Lasting Light: 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography by Stephen Trimble (Northland Publishing)

The Grand Canyon is one of the most photographed subjects on earth. The scenic chasm inspires awe, admiration, and frustration for those who attempt to capture its majesty on film. From nineteenth century pioneer photographers' glass-plate negatives to the twenty-first century's artful digital images, Canyon photography has loomed large in our nation's creative psyche. The best photographs forge a bridge with three piers, a triangular relationship that connects the viewer to the place and the photographer. Such photographs have the power to carry the viewer into the waves in Lava Falls and to the brink of soul-stirring cliffs at Toroweap Point, in heat and storm light, through the emotions and imaginations and craft of men and women with their cameras.

Lasting Light takes readers into the heart of the Grand Canyon – and sweeps them along on the backcountry journeys of its great photographers. Reaching back 125 years into the photographic record of the Canyon, Lasting Light explores the experiences of the earliest photographers and today’s most exceptional artists. From nineteenth century explorers using glass plate negatives to the twenty-first century's pioneers of artful digital images, the book tells the stories of Grand Canyon photog­raphers. But in the stories of the photographers, this book does what no other Grand Canyon book has done: bring to life the relationship between artists and their subject.

Accomplished writer and Ansel Adams Award-winning photographer Stephen Trimble navigates the stories of the Canyon’s photographic history and takes readers down the river and along the rim with the next generation of photographers and their photographs. Also included in Lasting Light are twenty-three essays by contemporary photographers recounting their experiences at Grand Canyon, along with details of changing equipment and a timeline of important moments in the Canyon’s photographic record.

Trimble says, “In Lasting Light, I am revisiting people and places I hold dear. In the late 1970s and early ‘80s, I spent five years in Flagstaff, working for the Museum of Northern Arizona, editing Plateau Magazine and par­ticipating in research trips on the river in Grand Canyon. In my most profound Canyon experience, I journeyed downriver with musician Paul Winter when he recorded Canyon, his landmark album of ‘earth music.’ I listened and photographed while he played his soprano sax with the ravens and canyon wrens.”

According to Trimble, while the photographers patiently lie in wait for sunset, visitors keep moving – fast – headed for Las Vegas, Disneyland, Yosemite, Yellowstone. Later, the actual experience of the Grand Canyon for them fade, but those issues of Arizona Highways keep coming, and the coffee-table stack of large-format photo books about the Canyon grows ever higher. Dreams colored by the work of Grand Canyon photographers drift back like a Technicolor filter over the glancing reality of a single midday view of the Grand Canyon.

Renowned photographers share their stories through personal narratives about the perils and adventures of how they capture the Canyon's light to make their celebrated photographs. For example, photographers Alfredo Conde and Sherri Curtis try to capture their love for the Grand Canyon in their pictures, “that feeling,” as Conde puts it, “that emotion, that spirit of the magnificent and instanta­neous.” Lasting Light gathers these stories – the pictures themselves, with narratives for each viewer to imagine – and the tales behind the photographs, intimate moments from the lives of men and women in love with the crazy notion of bringing home in their pic­tures the light and space and rocks and river of the Grand Canyon.

Lasting Light brings to life the relationship between artist and subject and portrays an American treasure in a way not many are fortunate to experience. Lasting Light collects 125 years of great photographs and moving stories of patience, commitment, humor, and skill. Trimble deftly provides historic context and creates captivating essays. This beautifully produced book contains spectacular images and fascinating details of changing equipment over time.

Business & Investing / Economics / International / Politics

The Political Economy of Transition in Eurasia: Democratization and Economic Liberalization in a Global Economy edited by Norman A. Graham & Folke Lindahl (Eurasian Political Economy and Public Policy Studies Series: Michigan State University Press)

The Political Economy of Transition in Eurasia, edited by Norman A. Graham and Folke Lindahl, is the inaugural volume of Michigan State’s new series, Eurasian Political Economy and Public Policy Studies, which focuses on the neglected but clearly emerging region of Eurasia, with an emphasis on trends and challenges in political economy and public policy – especially the challenges of the twin transitions of democratization and economic liberalization in the post-Soviet space.

The Political Economy of Transition in Eurasia looks at the progress in democratization and economic liberalization of the 27 post-communist countries of Eurasia with some guarded optimism. According to Norman A. Graham, Director of the Center for European and Russian/Eurasian Studies and Associate Dean of James Madison College, and Folke Lindahl, Professor of Political Science, James Madison College, Belarus, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are clearly unabashed authoritarian regimes with only sporadic ventures toward political accountability and very limited effort to liberalize economically. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia have made more substantial moves, particularly on the economic side, but the regimes seem to be undergoing political retrenchment. Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and the three Baltic States clearly have competitive democracies with effective political institutions and processes. Chapters and their authors include:

  • Too Few or Too Many Parties? The Implications of Electoral Engineering in Post-Communist States – Eric Herron
  • Hegel's Institutionalism Liberalism: Political Economy and Civil Society in the ‘Philosophy of Right’ – Louis Hunt
  • The Dissidents and the Anti-political Ideology of Civil Society, Folke Lindahl
  • Nation-Building in East Central Europe: Civil or Ethnic Majorities – Kathleen Dowley
  • The Development of Political Parties: Russia in Perspective – Axel Hadenius
  • The Political Elite in Hungary Through Transition – Jiri Lach
  • The Negation of Communism in Central Europe? – Andres Lanczi
  • Why is Romania Different? A Perspective of the Economics Transition – Mircea T. Maniu
  • On the Question of European-ness in Romania: Between an Institutional Construction and an Imagological Perception – Marius Jucan

The 27 new states in Eurasia do present a wide range of progress in democra­tization and economic liberalization. Belarus, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have made only tentative moves toward political accountability, and only limited effort to privatize or invigorate the old, centrally planned command economies. Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and the three Baltic States, on the other hand, have competitive democracies and each has made substantial progress in the transition to market economies. More limited but promising reforms have been introduced now in Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Slovakia. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Ukraine, and the rest of the former Yugoslavia raise more questions about progress and promise. ‘Two steps forward and three steps back’ may be an apt description, as the challenges of accommodating political unrest and widespread unemployment and poverty remain largely unmet. This chapter reflects some preliminary progress toward assessing this varied performance systematically. The data compiled by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Freedom House, UNC­TAD, and the World Bank offer a useful basis for comparative analysis, but there is a clear need for intensive exploration of the individual cases.

It is clear that the ‘dual transition’ of democratization and economic liberalization has been a challenge for all the regimes that have seriously attempted it. Even the most successful ones in Central Europe and the Baltics find themselves in search of more rewarding strategies for managing tough economic and social measures in an environment of financial constraint and political stress. The chapters in The Political Economy of Transition in Eurasia should help to shed some light on the complexities at work.

Editors Graham and Lindahl begin this effort with Erik Herroi’s analysis of "Too Few or Too Many Parties? The Implications of Electoral Engineering in Post-Communist States." This nicely complements the more general survey provided above and offers insight on challenges of institutional design in emerging democracies. It is commonly argued that the large number of political parties in transition systems is problematic, particularly if there are no large and mature ones among them. Herron finds that electoral rules do influence the size of the party system and could mitigate the level of multipartism. Noting that some post-communist states suffer more from the lack of strong, independent parties, he stresses that the key in such cases is less the character of electoral laws in existence (now in all 27 states) than the progress toward more effective democratization and rule of law more generally. Herron concludes with a list of reform proposals based on his comparative research.

Two theoretical discussions of the relevance and condition of civil society are offered in Louis Hunt's "Hegel's Institutionalist Liberalism: Political Economy and Civil Society in the Philosophy of Right," and Folke Lindahl's "The Dissidents and the Anti-political Ideology of Civil Society." Hunt examines the writings of Hegel on the relation between civil society and political economy, noting important insights on the role of the state and its relation to the family and civil society. He concludes that the most enduring contribution of Hegel's political philosophy is the clear connection between the health of these moral and political institutions and the prospects of transition to a market economy. Lindahl focuses his discussion on the ideology of civil society as it was developed by three well-known dissidents in the pre-1989 period, and then critically evaluates to what extent this ideology can be viewed as relevant for the transi­tion period and the furthering of liberal democracy.

Kathleen Dowley addresses the challenges of sub national pluralism and ethnic polarization in transition societies in "Nation-Building in East Central Europe: Civic or Ethnic Majorities?" Avoiding another Yugoslavia lurks in the background of this challenge, of course, and Dowley examines a range of sur­vey data to determine the extent to which minority interests are promoted or demoted/assimilated in recent public policies. She provides an inventory of cross-national differences, while noting that even in Central Europe, where legislation is more commonly developed to be consistent with the minority-rights positions proffered by the European Union, ‘mass attitudes have not kept apace these efforts.’

The Political Economy of Transition in Eurasia turns to individual transition case studies first with "Party Development in Russia" by Axel Hadenius. Stressing the crucial connection between democ­racy and the existence of parties, Hadenius explores the character of political parties in Russia in three of their roles: in government, in the citizenry, and as organizations. He finds weakness in all three areas, noting the low degree of cohesiveness even in the Duma, the instability more generally, and the challenges they face in formal membership, finance, and personalism.

Jifi Lach analyzes "The Political Elite in Hungary Through Transition," tracing its roots to 1956 and noting concern about the polarization of the leadership today, and the attendant "discrepancy between action and propaganda, particularly in the economic sphere." Andras Lanczi provides a different slant of critical evaluation of Hungary and its neighboring transition states in "A Post-Communist Landscape: Social and Moral Costs of the Regime Change in Post-Communist Hungary." In some respects, he picks up on the polarization concerns expressed by Lach and warns of complacency about the widely perceived ‘progress’ of democratization and economic liberalization in Central Europe. Here he criticizes the policy of self-preservation of Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy, and in particular, the extent to which the (orchestrated?) indifference evident in Hungarian media and civil society is symptomatic of longer-term dangers.

Mircea Maniu asks "Why is Romania Different?" as he explores the impact today of the economic and political precursors to the onset of transition. He seeks to account for the ‘slower’ transition in Romania, compared with most of its neighbors, outlining the lingering effects of repression under Ceausescu and the lack of previous experience with democratic reform and economic liberalization. He remains hopeful, particularly on the political side, and looks to the drive toward eventual membership in the European Union as the engine to reduce the lag. Marius Jucan provides a more cultural and philosophical interpretation, "On the Question of European-ness in Romania." His argument has much to say about the crucial question of the extent to which Romania can be integrated fully into the new Europe, and offers a more sociocultural explanation for the lag that Maniu describes economically and politically.

Graham and Lindahl provide a concluding chapter that summarizes the key issues raised, and provides a map for future empirical research and theoretical development.

This important collection looks at the progress of democratization and economic liberalization on the twenty-seven post-communist countries of Eurasia with some guarded optimism. The Political Economy of Transition in Eurasia gets this series from Michigan State University Press off to a good start.

Business & Investing / Reference

Social Change in America: The Historical Handbook 2006 edited by Patricia C. Becker (Social Change in America Series: Bernan Press)

The 2006 edition of Social Change in America offers new insights into American society. The editors of Bernan Press have written commentary about U.S. society and how it has changed not just in comparison to the past, but also within a global context. Insightful narrative helps users understand many different aspects of American life. These narrative segments are supported by extensive population data from the Decennial Census, the American Community Survey, and other recent surveys. Charts and graphs provide yet another way for users to perceive and understand this information and what it says about life in the United States.

"We designed Social Change in America to offer more than the raw data," stated Tamera Wells-Lee, Director of Publishing. "From start to finish, Social Change offers a compelling analysis of how and why American society has changed over the decades, with detailed charts, maps, and graphs to complement the narrative. It explores all the major facets of American life from politics, crime, and the economy to health, leisure, and family life. We are especially excited to include a new section about the Internet and its dramatic effect on American society."

Topics covered in Social Change in America include:

  • Population
  • Family Life
  • Work and Unemployment
  • Housing
  • Income, Wealth, and Poverty
  • Education
  • Crime
  • Health
  • Leisure Activity
  • Government and Voting

The 2006 edition includes an updated article about the impact of the Internet on American society, in which the editor offers insights into issues such as privacy, Spam email, and the popularity of blogs. The 2006 edition features an article by Business Week senior White House correspondent Rick Dunham entitled "Modern Technology Meets Congressional Traditions." The article discusses the history and current state of technology on Capitol Hill, exploring why Senators refuse to file campaign contribution reports electronically and why laptops and BlackBerries are still banned on the House and Senate floor. It describes how Congress is "decidedly schizophrenic about embracing [technological] changes."

Also new to this edition are data and findings from the new National Assessment of Adult Literacy study.

… Social Change in America is an absorbing and spot-on survey of how American society has changed and evolved in recent times. No academic or community library American Demography reference collection can be considered complete and up-to-date without the inclusion of Social Change in America. – Midwest Book Review

This book covers a lot of ground in terms of subject matter and time. Its analyses and overviews present complex issues (social and statistical) in a clear, concise fashion ... this work should be seen as an introduction to issues of social change in the United States and a resource for locating further information on each topic. Social Change in America is recommended for public libraries. – American Reference Books Annual

Social Change in America helps readers understand the incremental social changes that have occurred in our society over the past several decades, and it provides a compelling portrait of American society in one convenient volume. It contains current and historical data, insightful analyses, and easy-to-read graphs that provide details on the social conditions and trends that impact our daily lives.

Business & Investing / Finance

Reverse Mortgages by Greg Patti (Book Surge Publishing)

If readers are seniors, adult children of seniors, or are planning on retiring one day, they owe it to themselves to check out all the options for financing the years ahead.

The number one question on the mind of retirees is: Will the money last? Reverse Mortgages brings the good news: The answer is yes, and Greg Patti show readers how to do it.

Patti has a lot of experience presenting complicated information in a straightforward style. A Certified Public Accountant, Patti spent 25 years as a Chief Financial Officer for various technology firms in Silicon Valley. His involvement with reverse mortgages began while assisting his father with the reverse mortgage process. Frustrated by a lack of easy information, and then he saw how a reverse mortgage helped his Dad get through a tough spot, and he realized there are tens of thousands of other people in a similar situation. Because of his background, he felt he could write a book that gets readers some real decision-making information, and have some fun along the way, so he wrote Reverse Mortgages.

A reverse mortgage is not for everyone, according to Patti. Readers must keep in mind something they often forget – the money in the house is their own money. As he explains in the book, reverse mortgages can provide the cash they need. Using them, it is possible to: eliminate house payments, fund long term health care, supplement one’s income, and remodel the house.

Reverse Mortgages includes in-depth discussions and explanations of reverse mortgage concepts and facts, including:

  • Specific recommendations.
  • Illustrative case studies.
  • Actual forms.
  • EZ Guide to ‘FHA Guaranteed’.
  • No payment loans for seniors.
  • Real-life examples.

Reverse Mortgages, has a unique format – The key concept pages on the left have bullet point summaries, key information, and is in and out with answers quickly. The detailed pages on the right give the whole story so that readers can be comfortable they got all of the facts.

The unique presentation appeals both to seniors and their adult children. The discussion of Reverse Mortgages is straight forward and easy to understand. It's even better if you can have some fun along the way. Reverse Mortgages is right on target. This book is needed, a must read for anyone interested in this topic. – Thomas Martignoni, President of ReverseVision.com

Who says Real Estate finance has to be boring? It's all about simplifying data and turning it into valuable information that people can understand and use to make real decisions. Reverse Mortgages is right on target. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in this topic. – Phil Hary, President and CEO & Shirlene Reeves, Chief Financial Officer, Signing Pro Document Signing Service

Reverse Mortgages provides a straightforward, in-depth discussion of reverse mortgages, jam packed with decision making information, realistic examples, and how-to’s. The book gives specific examples, with specific recommendations, which is not done by every book on the topic.

Business & Investing / Real Estate

Modern Real Estate Practice in New York, 8th edition by Edith Lank (Modern Real Estate Practice in New York Series: Dearborn Real Estate Education)

Modern Real Estate Practice in New York, 8th Edition is the latest update of the book that educates more New York real estate students than all of its competition combined. The book, written by Edith Lank, licensed broker in New York for more than 30 years, contains the material necessary for both salesperson and broker students. Lank has taught at St. John Fisher College, and her award-winning weekly column on real estate has appeared in more than 100 newspapers. This classic best-seller features:

  • Updated content that includes all of the most recent changes in New York law and practice.
  • Over 625 questions that help readers review key topics and measure their understanding of the material.
  • Practice examinations that give readers the edge in preparing for either the salesperson or broker exam.
  • Two-color text that highlights precisely what information is most important.
  • Margin notes that help readers locate key topics and crucial material.
  • An expanded math section to give students a better opportunity to ensure that their skills are ready for the real world.
  • Both salesperson and supplemental broker level chapters.

The general topics covered include: deeds, mortgages, basic finance, liens, easements, laws of agency, contracts, closings, and estates and interests.

Modern Real Estate Practice in New York sets the standard for real estate education in the Empire State. This exciting new edition provides readers with the latest developments in real estate law and practice.

Children’s / Ages 3-9 / Geography

National Geographic Our World, Updated Edition: A Child's First Picture Atlas by National Geographic Society (Science Quest Series: National Geographic)

In today's interconnected world, kids hear different languages, see different types of clothing, and eat food from different countries every day. Toys, televisions, and clothing all have labels saying where they were made. It's no wonder kids are always asking, ‘Where is this?’ and ‘What is that?’ Children's natural curiosity demands they know where these places are, who lives there, and what kind of things they do.

National Geographic Our World, chock full of facts, ensures that even the youngest kids have the learning tools they need to find the answers to their questions.
National Geographic's world-renowned mapmakers worked with experts in education like Billie M. Kapp, chief educational consultant for this atlas, currently a Social Studies Consultant and teacher consultant with the Connecticut Geographic Alliance. Together they created a bright, bold atlas that will capture the imaginations of children. Colorful maps pop off the pages and show the newest countries in Europe and Asia, and a map of Canada has been added to complement the one of the United States.

This updated edition of the award-winning National Geographic Our World uses a puzzle-piece motif to introduce children to maps and geography. Full-color photographs and vivid artwork showcase people, places, and animals around the world. Interactive activities add to the hands-on appeal, and the fun facts sprinkled throughout the text hold kids' attention.

The maps teach kids about Earth's land, water, and countries. This updated edition features: 3 world maps, 7 continent maps, United States map, Canada map, 75 full-color illustrations, interactive activities, glossary, and pronunciation guide.

In National Geographic Our World National Geographic Society's world-renowned cartographers present an inviting, oversized, state-of-the-art world atlas for children starting at age 3. Lively text, pictures, and interactive activities make it easy and fun for kids to learn about and understand their world.

Children (Grades 6 & up) & Adults / Religion & Spirituality / Reference

Historical Atlas of Religions by Karen Farrington (Mercury Books)

From the dawn of imagination, humankind has sought the favor of elemental powers and attempted to appease them with worship and sacrifice. The story of religion is one of learning to live with evolving social structures and determining how faith can provide a structure of beliefs through which people can deal with the world around them. In Historical Atlas of Religions, Karen Farrington, an ex-Fleet Street journalist, shows how different cultures' beliefs evolved, how their influence spread, and where they came into conflict with each other.

Historical Atlas of Religions gives an overview of religious practice from the time thousands of years ago when humankind first embraced supernatural ideas, through the emergence of today's great global faiths, to modern beliefs. Avoiding moral judgments and the competing claims of differing traditions, it looks to the origins of religious practice, the development of doctrine, and the benefits of faith to ordinary people worldwide. Arranged geographically, the atlas details religious history from Australasia to North America. Taking a regional approach to the study of the major faiths of the world, this work considers the great monotheistic religions as well as tribal beliefs from Africa, Australasia and North America.

Topics include Native American worship, Shamanism, Christian Scientists, the story of Judaism and the creation of Israel, the birth of Jesus and the spread of Christianity, the rise of Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Taoism and Zoroastrianism.

Farrington's Historical Atlas of Religions charts the rise and wane of religious faiths from the dawn of humanity until today. The book also demonstrates that no matter how diverse the belief system, humankind's religions have more in common than many readers would expect.

God – or rather, belief in God – still drives human affairs. In Heaven, God is the ultimate power. On Earth, religion is the ultimate tool to power. This is evident in any study of historical conflict. Few leaders go to battle without God on their side, and no struggle is quite as righteous as that which seeks to defend His will. To truly win a soldier's heart and mind, rulers and politicians must invoke clear, simple ideas: right and wrong; good and evil; salvation in death. Here religion is the perfect conduit. What better way to persuade the young to die for the cause?

According to Historical Atlas of Religions, here lies the cynic's creed and it conveniently ignores the fact that today's mainstream religions are demonstrably forces for good; teaching mutual love, respect, protection of the weak, and a moral code for life. In assessing them, there is danger in making comparisons. To do so presupposes that they share similar components and concepts. Such thinking is fundamentally flawed. It can be partly blamed on early European explorers, who readily stamped religious labels onto foreign cultures, assuming they possessed the same structures as Christianity.

Defining the nature of religion is equally problematic. Convention confines the term principally to Judaism and its legacies of Christianity and Islam. Yet this ignores so-called ‘primitive’ religions that have equally valid claims to spirituality and the truth of creation. Primitive beliefs found in parts of Africa and the Pacific islands carry no clear boundary between the spiritual and material world or between dreams and reality. There is a strong sense of fusion between man and nature, which some scholars have likened to a mystical version of the science of ecology.

The third main religious category concerns typically Asian belief systems such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Followers do not denounce the idea of God but focus on ways of liberating human consciousness from the boundaries imposed by social factors. They attempt to explore beyond thought and language to higher planes in which everything in the Universe is interdependent.

Within these categories – and within our limited understanding of the ancient religions – there are surprisingly similar beliefs even among totally unconnected cultures. This emerges clearly in rituals, religious myth, and burial rites and has been explained by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung as the product of a common human psyche. Jung argued that just as all people possess similar physical traits, so their unconscious being stems from similar psychological influences.

Historical Atlas of Religions gives an overview of religious practice from the time more than 200,000 years ago when humankind first embraced supernatural ideas, through the emergence of today's great global faiths, to modern beliefs.

… The origins and basic tenets of each faith and the hardships experienced by some of its practitioners are revealed in substantial text. Abundant color illustrations include portraits of significant individuals, reproductions of important religious art, and photographs of artifacts and sites. The many historical maps depicting strongholds and the spread of specific religions are especially helpful. Entries for groups such as The Society of Friends and Christian Science are only two pages long as are those for religious beliefs of which there is little record, such as those of the Maya. Others, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism, are discussed at greater length. Christianity receives the most attention since it has influenced the histories of peoples in most parts of the world. …On the whole, Farrington's work presents more variety than Trevor Barnes's The Kingfisher Book of Religions (Kingfisher, 1999) and more substance than Anita Ganeri's The Atlas of World Religions (Peter Bedrick, 2001). – Ann G. Brouse, Steele Memorial Library, Elmira, NY, School Library Journal

Historical Atlas of Religions is a delightful encyclopedia of human spiritual endeavor from the earliest forms of animism to the established faiths of modern times. The book avoids moral judgments and the competing claims of differing traditions and instead looks to the origins of religious practice and the development of doctrine. The lively text is complemented by full-color illustrations and specially commissioned maps. It is written for anyone who has ever questioned the meaning of spirituality and the power of belief.

Education / Dance

Inclusive Creative Movement and Dance by Karen A. Kaufmann (Human Kinetics)

Inclusive Creative Movement and Dance helps teachers guide students with diverse abilities express their feelings and ideas through creative movement experiences involving dance learning, dance making, and dance sharing. Of equal value to new and veteran teachers, this book provides in-depth coverage of inclusive dance instruction, including teaching strategies, practical learning experiences, movement problems for students to solve, and:

  • Open-ended movement explorations and inclusion suggestions help teachers accommodate the different learning needs of their students.
  • Learning experiences help students understand the elements of movement and dance (body actions and shapes, awareness of space, moving to time, awareness of energy and force, and awareness of relationships).
  • Teachers can select individual learning experiences or present a series of units for creative movement and dance.
  • National Standards for Dance Education, goals, movement glossary, journal reflection assignments, and simple assessments are incorporated into each unit for easier assessment and accountability.
  • Interdisciplinary activities at the end of each unit connect creative movement with classroom subjects – reading, writing, grammar, geography, astronomy, earth science, math, visual art, drama, and music – as appropriate.

Written by award-winning artist Karen A. Kaufmann, associate professor of dance at the University of Montana, where she heads the dance program in the department of drama/dance, Inclusive Creative Movement and Dance is organized into three parts. Part I presents a framework to help teachers envision dance for all their students. Part II prepares teachers to design inclusive dance experiences and extend them into performance and discussion. Part III is the book’s heart and soul – more than 100 dance-learning experiences presented in five chapters, or units, that teachers can use in their classes for students of all ages and abilities. These chapters may be used either as separate units that each feature one of the five movement or dance elements for a thematic approach or as progressive units that build in the order presented in Inclusive Creative Movement and Dance.

Each chapter, or unit, in part III has three basic sections:

  • Planning information outlining the learners’ outcome goals, movement vocabulary, specific National Standards in Dance Education met, and suggestions for adapting instruction for special needs.
  • Dance-making opportunities through students’ exploration, experimentation, and problem solving as they use movement language in multiple ways.
  • Dance sharing and assessment opportunities using critical-thinking questions and writing assignments.

Inclusive Creative Movement and Dance educates and empowers teachers to use dance in inclusive classrooms, to celebrate and value differences, and to help all students discover the uniquely personal art form of dance. The book helps teachers achieve the ultimate goal: to develop students as dancers, creators, performers, and viewers.

Education / Parenting & Families

The Hot-Button Issues in Today's Schools: What Every Parent Needs to Know by Sheldon Marcus & Philip Vairo (Rowman & Littlefield Education)

The first day of school is now a special event in the day in, day out rhythms of family life in this country. Tens of thousands of parents eagerly take photos of their young children as they step onto a school bus or leave their homes on their way to school. According to Sheldon Marcus, professor of educational leadership and policy at Fordham University's Graduate School of Education; and Philip D. Vairo, former president of Worcester State College in Massachusetts and dean emeritus at California State University in Los Angeles, the reality is, however, that once the children are out of sight, most parents know very little about the real workings of the schools their children attend, nor do they know much about how to help their children perform better. This is true of parents regardless of their socioeconomic status.

Now more than ever, parents need to be informed so that they may become active, knowledgeable partners in the educational process. In The Hot-Button Issues in Today's Schools, Sheldon Marcus and Philip D. Vairo examine contemporary educational issues of paramount concern to parents, including teacher quality, leadership, testing, home schooling, vouchers, extended school year, health and nutrition, special education, curriculum, and bilingual education.

With the stakes so high, parents rightfully want more than simply having the schools be a receptacle for their children from the early morning until mid to late afternoon. Based on the authors’ more than 90 years of combined experiences in urban and suburban schools, pre-K to 12, and in colleges and universities around the country, ranging in position from teacher to professor to college president, they take a close look at America's educational process and share their thoughts with parents and concerned citizens on what is right, what is wrong, and what readers may actually be able to do to improve the chances of their children’s achieving maximum success in school. As they say, they are not infallible, but their experiences are of sufficient breadth and scope to enable them to share some unique insights into one of the most important institutions impacting on the lives of adults and children in the country.

Marcus and Vairo have written a book which every teacher, school administrator, parent, and taxpayer should read.... If all the people involved with the education of our children would read this book, schools would be much improved. – Max Weiner, former dean of teacher education, City University of New York, and dean emeritus of the Graduate School of Education, Fordham University

This book is written by two 'insiders' with 90 years of combined experience as teachers, school administrators, professors, and deans of education. . . . An important read and worthwhile investment of time for parents who are betting their children's future on the quality of education the schools provide. – Allan Ornstein, professor of education, St. John's University

Many books and professional papers are published each year about education, but few shed light on the concerns and anxieties parents have about schools and their children's educational experiences in the day-by-day workings of schools. This is one book which does. The Hot-Button Issues in Today's Schools provides a road map for success so that parents can be fully prepared to maximize their children's educational prospects. After reading the book, readers will have a better understanding not only of what ‘education’ is about but also how parents can assist their children in successfully navigating the school experience. The Hot-Button Issues in Today's Schools is a must-read for every parent and educator.

Education / Science

Becoming a Better Science Teacher: 8 Steps to High Quality Instruction and Student Achievement by Elizabeth Hammerman (Corwin Press)

In today's standards-based educational climate, teachers are challenged to create meaningful learning experiences while meeting specific goals and accountability targets. In Becoming a Better Science Teacher veteran science teacher Elizabeth Hammerman focuses on helping teachers expand their understanding of the interconnected elements of high quality curriculum and instruction and build those qualities into their own teaching.

Hammerman describes what exceptional teaching looks like in the classroom and provides practical, teacher-friendly strategies to make it happen. She identifies ten indicators of high quality science teaching, providing how-to's for applying each in their own classroom and a completed sample unit illustrating the incorporation of all ten essentials.

Using this straight-forward guide, teachers can analyze their existing curriculum and instruction against a rubric of indicators of critical characteristics, related standards, concept development, and teaching strategies to develop students' scientific literacy to the fullest. Modeling the inquiry process, each chapter begins with an essential question, provides learning experiences, incorporates pauses in the text for thought and discussion, and closes with a return to the initial question. Each chapter is packed with charts, sample lesson ideas, reflection and discussion prompts, and more, to help teachers expand their capacity for success. This research-based resource helps teachers:

  • Reinforce understanding of standards-based concepts and inquiry.
  • Add new content, methods, and strategies for instruction and assessment.
  • Create rich learning environments.
  • Maximize instructional time.
  • Ask probing questions and sharpen discussion.
  • Include technology.
  • Gather classroom evidence of student achievement to inform instruction.

 

Major strengths of this book are its dealing with standards and making practical connections to assessment and teaching, and the excellent examples throughout and their practicality. A very exciting and user-friendly text. – Gary Willhite, Teacher Educator
What a treasure! The contents will change the way teachers teach and students learn. This book is a tour de force, a must-read for every educator! – Marian White-Hood, Principal
This text is especially strong in the clear, solid approach toward developing high quality science instruction. It does an exceptional job of relating this step-by-step approach to educational research on science pedagogy. – Diann Musial, Distinguished Teaching Professor

Hammerman brings more than 20 years' experience as a science educator and consultant to her new book to help teachers connect all of the critical elements of first-rate curriculum and instruction. Becoming a Better Science Teacher gives teachers everything they need to deliver meaningful science instruction and ensure student success and achievement.

Entertainment / Music / History & Criticism

The John Adams Reader: Essential Writings on an American Composer by Thomas May (Amadeus Press) is the first full-length book in English to be devoted to Grammy-Award and Pulitzer-Prize winning composer John Adams, among the most frequently performed living American composers in the sphere of classical music.

Sometimes called America's ‘composer laureate,’ John Adams has proved to be that rare bird – an enduring, if often controversial, figure in contemporary art music. Although branded a minimalist early in his career, Adams has composed in many styles and forms, from opera, choral, and orchestral pieces to multimedia stage works and tape and electronic compositions. In The John Adams Reader, essays by leading music commentators and critics explore the Adams oeuvre with insights pro and con. Friends and collaborators, including director Peter Sellars, conductor Robert Spano, performers Emanuel Ax and Dawn Upshaw, and longtime chum Ingram Marshall, as well as in-depth interviews with Adams himself, provide eyewitness views of Adams, the man, and his creative influences.

Truly a composer of his time, Adams is nothing if not bold, generating controversy by daring to explore sensitive contemporary issues in such operas as Nixon in China, which portrays the vulnerable private side of a very public historical figure; The Death of Klinghoffer, which depicts an episode of terrorism aboard a cruise ship in the 1980s and its emotional ramifications for all involved; and Doctor Atomic, which dramatizes the creation of the first atomic bomb in Los Alamos. The Death of Klinghoffer, especially, raises moral questions about the relationship between art and public responsibility. Essays by writers such as John Rockwell, Edward Rothstein, Richard Taruskin, Mark Swed, and Alan Rich explore the stakes involved. Other essays by Michael Steinberg, Alex Ross, Sarah Cahill, and Renaud Machart delve into other significant Adams works such as El Nino, The Violin Concerto, Naive and Sentimental Music, The Dharma at Big Sur, and the work Adams was commissioned to write as a memorial to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, On the Transmigration of Souls, which won a Pulitzer Prize and three Grammy Awards.

Editor Thomas May, regular writer for San Francisco Opera, and senior music editor at Amazon.com, has grouped this collection into four sections: profiles of the artist, detailed essays on the major works, interviews with some leading collaborators and interpreters, and critical reception. The book's in-depth interviews, among them May's interview with the composer himself and Marshall's memory piece on Adams' early days in San Francisco, enhance the reader's understanding of the man behind the music. The John Adams Reader, as May further asserts in the book's introduction, "traces the evolution of an artist who has never ceased to take on a new challenge."

Absorbing and enlightening...A bona fide page-turner. Thomas May's 2005 interview with the composer should be required reading. – Joshua Rosenblum, Opera News

John Adams shines brilliantly through this collection as one of America's most compelling and innovative cultural figures. The composer's originality and continuous energy are revealed through repeated illustrations of his ability to unite both familiar and unfamiliar elements in bold, expressive music that never fails to surprise the many followers of his music and inspire contemporary creators and choreographers. – Peter Martins, Ballet Master in Chief, New York City Ballet

It was a rare pleasure to read (or re-read) the pieces in this book. What a wonderful variety of insight: surprising, stern, fun. – Mark Morris, Artistic Director, Mark Morris Dance Group

The John Adams Reader gathers a colorful and wide-ranging selection of pieces from leading musical commentators and critics. Probing, often witty, always eloquent, the essays and interviews in this collection serve not only as a portrait of a preeminently significant American artist, but also as a window on the development of classical and art music in our time and the various cultural factors that shape it. This lively reader should be of use both as an introduction for general readers to a preeminently significant American artist and as a reference for more serious students and scholars.

Entertainment / Music / Middle East / Culture Studies

Among the Jasmine Trees: Music and Modernity in Contemporary Syria by Jonathan Holt Shannon (Wesleyan University Press) is the first ethnographic study of music-making in modern Syria.

Six centuries ago, the Andalusian scholar Ibn Khaldun argued that music serves as a barometer of social-cultural change. Today, Arabs are experiencing a cultural crisis of sorts. Their desire for cultural and social modernity has been frustrated by lengthy periods of colonialism, postcolonial instabilities, persistent economic stagnation, and crises of political legitimacy. In Among the Jasmine Trees, author Jonathan Holt Shannon explores how music in Syria shapes debates about Arab society and culture, and how discourses of decline and crisis have shaped music.

How does a Middle Eastern community create a modern image through its expression of heritage and authenticity? In Among the Jasmine Trees, Shannon, assistant professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York, investigates expressions of authenticity in Syria's musical culture, which is particularly known for embracing and preserving the Arab musical tradition, and which has seldom been researched in depth by Western scholars. Music plays a key role in the process of self-imaging by virtue of its ability to convey feeling and emotion, and Shannon explores a variety of performance genres. Looking at a variety of these genres, including Sufi rituals, song lyrics, melodic modes, and aesthetic criteria, Shannon explores the turn to heritage in the search of an authentically Arab modernity. In Syria, as in many postcolonial nations, the arts are an important arena for the struggle over vision of the past, present, and future, and for the discussion of what is ‘authentic’ in today's Arab world.

Shannon has conducted extensive field research among musicians and artists in Syria, and his work is sure to be received as an important treatment of music in Middle Eastern society. Through his work he shows that although the music may evoke the old, the traditional, and the local, these are re-envisioned as signifiers of the modern national profile.

Throughout the 20th century, societies in the Middle East have labored to produce their own modernities, which are often manifest in expressive culture. Jonathan Shannon's book takes on this process for the first time in terms of musical culture in a nuanced and expert text of deep understanding that should motivate thought about Middle Eastern societies for years to come. – Virginia Danielson, Loeb Music Library, Harvard University

In this book, anthropologist Jonathan H. Shannon explains how a Middle Eastern community engenders its modern image through its articulations of heritage and authenticity. The research setting is Syria's musical culture, which is particularly known for embracing and preserving the Arab musical tradition, but has seldom been researched in depth by Western scholars. A valuable contribution to the study of music and identity and to the ethno­musicology of the modern Near East, the book stands out for its scholarly rigor and rich documentation. Shannon approaches his subject matter with keen musical sensibility and remarkable affinity for the community that he has studied. Furthermore, he backs his theoretical interpretations with lively accounts of relevant incidents and personal encounters. Indeed, the work is thoughtful and intellectually stimulating and, I would add, delightfully and humanly engaging. – A.J. Racy, Professor of Ethnomusicology at UCLA and author of Making Music in the Arab World: The Culture and Artistry of Tarab

A valuable contribution to the study of music and identity and to the ethnomusicology of the modern Middle East, Among the Jasmine Trees details this music and its reception for the first time, offering an original theoretical framework for understanding contemporary Arab culture, music, and society. The book leaves readers with a better understanding of music's complex role within a rapidly changing Syrian society and, more broadly, within the volatile Arab world.

Health, Mind & Body / Alternative Medicine

The Power of Belief: Psychological Influences on Illness, Disability, and Medicine edited by Peter Halligan & Mansel Aylward (Oxford University Press)

Over the past two decades, a widening gulf has emerged between illness presentation and the adequacy of traditional biomedical explanations. As a result, the causes of many illnesses remain a mystery for both patient and physician, with the consequence that increasing numbers of well-educated people are using alternative or complementary medicines.

In an attempt to bridge this gap between illness and explanation, without sacrificing the clear benefits of the biomedical approach, many health care professionals have begun to consider a bio-physiological approach. As explained in The Power of Belief, edited by Peter W. Halligan, School of Psychology, Cardiff University and Mansel Aylward, UnumProvident Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, together with 20 contributing experts from neuroscience, rehabilitation and disability medicine, central to this approach is the belief that disease and illness are not just the result of patho-physiological causes but involve and can be explained in terms of psychological and socio-cultural factors or causes.
In this model, the beliefs held by patients about their conditions are considered central to the way they understand, behave and respond to treatment. Such beliefs are not specific to patients, though they can greatly influence the behavior and reasoning of health professionals as well. Moreover, the illness beliefs held by health care professionals, policy makers and society at large also need to be considered. In addition, psychosocial influences in the form of beliefs have equal relevance for those in wider society regarding etiology of illness, recovery and potential for treatment. Further, future develop­ments within the bio-psychosocial approach need to take account of the beliefs of all the key players involved.

At a time when public trust in doctors and science is undoubtedly diminishing, a better understand­ing of patients' and health care professionals beliefs is clearly a priority for clinical practice and research. The Power of Belief brings together a range of experts and provides a overview of the role and influence that belief can play in illness and the development of promising clinical and vocational interventions. The Power of Belief is unique in examining the influence and power of beliefs, one of the key psychosocial factors considered to underpin and validate the bio-psychosocial model.

Health, Mind & Body / Psychology & Counseling / Reference

Ethical Practice in Forensic Psychology: A Systematic Model for Decision Making by Shane S. Bush, Mary A. Connell, & Robert L. Denney (American Psychological Association)

While most psychologists working in forensic contexts aspire to practice in a manner consistent with the highest ideals of ethical practice, they face numerous and complex concerns and may be unclear about how to apply the Ethics Code and Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychologists to their real-world issues. Ethical Practice in Forensic Psychology was written by Shane S. Bush, certified rehabilitation psychologist and neuropsychologist Mary A. Connell, certified forensic psychologist and president of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology; and Robert L. Denney, forensic psychologist and neuropsychologist at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners and associate professor and director of neuropsychology at the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield, Missouri. Ethical Practice in Forensic Psychology presents and integrates the principles and standards provided in the APA Ethics Code with many of the other guidelines that have relevance to forensic practice. The volume explores common ethical dilemmas forensic psychologists may encounter in procedures, including referrals, evaluations, documentation of findings and opinions, and testimony and termination. The authors present and apply a practical, ethical decision-making model to timely case vignettes in civil, criminal, and child family law to demonstrate how to approach the ethical challenges faced in forensic psychology; they also offer suggestions for addressing potential ethical misconduct by colleagues.

Ethical Practice in Forensic Psychology organizes the material around the steps in the evaluation process, such as the referral, data collection, and so on. Organizing the material around the steps in the evaluation process provides clear reference points for practicing psychologists who are facing ethical challenges. Although practitioners may not always be immediately aware of the relevant ethical principles or the underlying threats to the validity of data or opinions, they do know the practice activity in which they or their colleagues are engaging. Thus, organization along these lines facilitates reference to the material that is most relevant at a given time.

Following the introduction, chapters 2 through 6 examine the various components of the forensic evaluation process, beginning with the referral and ending with testimony. Although much of the information applies to psychologists working in forensic treatment settings and as trial consultants, the book is structured primarily around the forensic evaluation. Case illustrations are provided to demonstrate application of the issues examined and the ethical decision-making process. Case illustrations cover three broad topic areas: personal injury litigation, criminal litigation, and child and family law. Chapter 7 covers the ethical challenges inherent in addressing ethical misconduct by colleagues doing forensic work. Forensic psychologists are likely exposed to more of the work of colleagues than are psychologists in any other specialty area. That exposure, combined with the natural emotional reactions and the potential for bias that may emerge in adversarial situations, contributes to a context in which allegations of ethical misconduct may abound. This raises a need for attention to be given to the sensitive topic of responding to apparent ethical misconduct by forensic psychology colleagues. The Afterword offers concluding remarks, with an emphasis on the personal commitment needed by forensic psychologists for ethical conduct to be possible.

Ethical Practice in Forensic Psychology also includes ‘excerpts’ from fictional psychological and neuro­psychological reports created by the authors. Similarly, the case illustrations provided in the book were created by the authors and represent an integration of scenarios either encountered in practice or imagined by the authors.

Unlike previous books that treat forensic contexts as a subset of a general ethical perspective, this volume deals with critically important issues unique to forensic practice, such as the adversarial environment, the impact of specific laws, and the complicated differences between being retained by an attorney and being sought out by a patient. The book is comprehensive yet exceedingly user friendly and easily used as a reference in everyday forensic practice. – David L. Shapiro, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology, Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale

Ethical Practice in Forensic Psychology translates legal processes and ethical considerations into language that forensic psychologists can easily understand, without glossing over difficult issues and decisions that often arise in practice. – Allan Barsky, JD, PhD, Professor of Social Work and Professional Ethics, Florida Atlantic University

Ethical Practice in Forensic Psychology, the first to focus solely on forensic psychology ethics, is a valuable, indeed essential, reference for psychologists working in adversarial settings. Not only is it an exceptional resource to consult when an ethical issue arises but a review of this book will help forensic psychologists avoid or prevent ethical challenges to their practice. The authors review the ethical issues that may arise in forensic evaluations in both criminal and civil settings and provide case examples to illustrate ethical dilemmas and their potential solutions. This book has much to offer psychologists who are just beginning a forensic practice, but I have no doubt that even seasoned forensic practitioners will refer to it often. – Ronald Boesch, PhD, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Ethical Practice in Forensic Psychology provides forensic psychology students and trainees and practicing psychologists who have little forensic involvement with the ability to apply appropriate professional resources to ethical challenges associated with specific practice activities. In addition, by reviewing relevant sections of the book as needed, career forensic psychologists may achieve greater understanding of challenging ethical issues and increased ease of ethical problem solving. This balanced and comprehensive volume will be a valuable addition to the library of forensic psychology students and trainees as well as career forensic psychologists.

Health, Mind & Body / Psychology & Counseling

Unconscious Fantasies and the Relational World by Danielle Knafo & Kenneth Feiner (Relational Perspectives Book Series: The Analytic Press, Inc., Publishers)

What is the role of unconscious fantasies in psychological development, in psychopathology, and in the arts?

In Unconscious Fantasies and the Relational World, Danielle Knafo and Kenneth Feiner return to these interlinked questions with a specific goal in mind: a contemporary appreciation of fantasy in its multiform relational contexts. To this end, they provide detailed examinations of primal scene, family romance, and castration fantasies, respectively. Each category of fantasy is pushed beyond its ‘classical’ psychoanalytic meaning by attending to the child’s ubiquitous concerns about sexual difference and feelings of incompleteness; the child’s perception of the parental relationship; and the multiple, shifting identifications that grow out of this relationship.

Evocative clinical examples illuminate the manner in which patients and analysts play out these three core fantasies in the form of symptomatic acts and enactments, and especially in the transference/counter transference. But these fantasies, the authors stress, are equally linked to creative self-expression, especially in the arts. Knafo, associate professor in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at Long Island's CW Post Campus and faculty at Derner's Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis; and Feiner, a psychoanalyst in private practice, balance treatment considerations with explorations of the generative side of unconscious fantasies.

After a general theoretical introduction (chapter 1) addressing major issues and controversies regarding the concept of unconscious fantasies, Unconscious Fantasies and the Relational World consists of three parts. The first chapter in each part offers a critical review of the literature relating to its particular fantasy and articulates a contemporary clinical and theoretical perspective on the fantasy in question.

Each part also provides case material to illustrate how the fantasies manifest in the treatment setting and techniques of working with the material that emerges. In each part, a related chapter applies the particular fantasy to artistic productions. These applied chapters investigate the artist's fantasy life as well as the way artists engage their audiences to take part in, and respond to, shared collective fantasies that remain vital and continue to be worked through from childhood on.

In chapter 2, Knafo and Feiner offer an updated view of primal scene fantasies, which have historically referred to the child's witnessing sexual intercourse, usually between the parents. They expand the concept to include the child's perceptions of, and ideas about, his or her parents' relationship. They also use primal scene fantasies as a model that illustrates the multiple and shifting identifications and reversible self-other relationships that we believe characterize all forms of fantasy. Finally, they illustrate these fluctuations by presenting detailed process notes from a session with a man whose sexual obses­sion and sexual inhibition were the result of prolonged exposure to his parents' sexual lives.

Chapter 3 explores David Lynch's film Blue Velvet in terms of its artistic exploration of primal scene fantasies. The film's protagonist, Jeffrey Beaumont, wishes to gain entry into a mysterious adult world and to uncover its secrets. His curiosity; as well as his tendency to arrogate the prerogatives of grown-ups and ignore parental injunctions, reveals his effort to deny the intolerable loss of narcissistic omnipotence associated with acceptance of parental authority and exclusion from the primal scene.

The family romance fantasy involves the child's substitution for his or her parents by a different, usually more exalted, set of parents. This fantasy aids the child in dealing with a range of developmental tasks, including disillusionment, reconciliation of love and hate, separation, and the renunciation of oedipal objects. Chapter 4 presents two cases that illustrate how the inability to relinquish the promise of the family romance shapes a detachment from one's biological family as well as a perpetual search for an ideal substitute family in one's current relationships.

The universality of family romance fantasies is also obvious in children's play (playing house or doll play), fairy tales, and popular children's stories (e.g., Harry Potter, Stuart Little, A Series of Unfortunate Events), where they are ever-present. These stories typically portray a child living with mean and unloving parental figures who have replaced the real, idealized parents who have died or been killed. In chapter 5, Knafo and Feiner examine the life and fiction of the novelist Jerzv Kosinski, a man whose misrepresentations about his experiences as a child during World War II are interpreted as a version of a family romance fantasy. They focus on the way this fantasy shaped Kosinski's internal object relationships, his interpersonal relationships, aspects of his character, and his novels.

Castration fantasies are undoubtedly the most controversial in the literature. Traditionally defined as the unconscious idea of losing, or expecting to lose, the male genital, castration fantasies are thought by many to be outdated concepts reflective of the phallocentrism, The authors believe that the body and the appreciation of sexual difference are primary and central in children's fantasies, In chapter 6, Knafo proposes a model in which castration fantasies refer to a sense of incompleteness – about the body as well as nonphysical attributes – in males and females alike. Such fantasies deal with the gap between what one is and what one would like to be and are expressed in envy of perceived privileges belonging to persons of the opposite sex, the same sex, and a different generation.

Chapter 7 presents an extensive case study of the treatment of a transsexual patient to explore the significance of castration as both fantasy and reality: ‘Anna,’ a female who was once a male and who has experienced sexual relations with both men and women as both man and woman, describes herself as ‘omni sexual.’ Her history and treatment offer a unique perspective from which to view sexual dif­ference and sameness and the role of castration wishes, fears, and enactments.

The final chapter, chapter 8, discusses French multimedia artist Orlan and her self-named ‘carnal art’ as dealing explicitly with castration fantasies and gender differences. Orlan is best known for employing cosmetic surgery in her art, interpreted here as a recreation of the notorious Freudian ‘moment’ when children confront the reality, as well as their fantasies, about sexual difference. Orlan traumatizes her viewers with unforgettable visual scenes of castrative mutilation that both fascinate and repel. Orlan's artistic project is also used to defy and challenge the (primarily male) theories that have placed limitations on the multiple possibilities of sexuality, beauty, gender, and identity as a whole. Orlan's performance art, with its forced inclusion of audience response, demonstrates the interplay between her personal fantasy life and the relational context in the real world,

Overall, in Unconscious Fantasies and the Relational World Knafo and Feiner present and explore the primal scene, family romance, and castration fantasies to illustrate their ubiquitous character, their flexible and shifting nature, and their problem-solving functions.

Knafo and Feiner have done a masterful job of reinvigorating the concept of unconscious fantasy. Their erudition is worn so lightly that we are carried along by the sheer pleasure of seeing how the false dichotomy between fantasy and reality dissolves into a mutually interpenetrating dialectic. By combining modern classical and relational theory, they bridge a one-person emphasis on imagination and desire with a two person focus on relationality and social context. The resulting synthesis not only attests to the centrality of fantasy as a problem-solving mode of thought; it also re-establishes the critical importance of fantasy for contemporary psychoanalysis. – Virginia Goldner, Ph.D., Founding Editor, Studies in Gender and Sexuality

Through an interwoven mix of the clinical, the theoretical, and the psychology of the arts, Knafo and Feiner explore the crossroads where unconscious fantasy meets relational processes. They have produced an informed, highly readable, and stimulating book – a book at the center of current theoretical debates that will reward readers at all levels. – Fred Pine, Ph.D., Private Practice, New York City

Unconscious Fantasies and the Relational World is a tightly woven study of broad and basic questions. It is in equal measure a contemporary re-visioning of the grounds of fantasy formation, a relationally informed guide to clinical techniques for dealing with unconscious fantasy, and an examination of the generative potential of unconscious fantasy in the arts. Out of the authors’ broadening and broad-minded sensibility emerges an illuminating study of the manifold ways in which unconscious fantasies shape lives and enrich clinical work.

Health & Safety / Professional & Technical / Engineering

The Farm Safety Handbook by Rick Kubik (Country Workshop Series: Voyageur Press)

What to do – and what not to do – to stay safe on the farm…

Again and again farming tops the list of the most dangerous occupations. And with so many hobby farms springing up, new generations of farmers taking over, and new and complicated machinery arriving on the farm, the work just gets more dangerous. The Farm Safety Handbook, part of the Country Workshop Series from Voyageur Press, is dedicated to keeping farmers safe – to preventing the accidents that beset agriculture by teaching proper farm practices, providing safe rules for operating equipment, and alerting farmers to potential dangers. The Farm Safety Handbook covers the basics of farm safety, including what not to do around the implement, the proper way to use each piece of equipment and implement, what can happen if readers misuse the implement, and what to do if an accident happens.

Child safety around the farm, how to deal with natural gases that occur on the farm, and how to safely work with animals are also included in this book. Case reports from various states detail accidents that have happened on farms to illustrate the results of inexperience and carelessness.

Farm safety expert Rick Kubik, certified crop adviser for the American Society of Agronomy, tells readers how to handle implements, what not to do around them, and what to do if an accident occurs. The detailed and comprehensive information in The Farm Safety Handbook, clearly illustrated throughout, is further brought home through harrowing accounts of real-life farm accidents; survivors of farm accidents share their stories and explain how their lives have been altered.

No matter whether readers have lived their entire lives on a farm or have recently moved to the country, farming implements are very dangerous and deadly if misused, and it’s about time someone wrote a book about it. Many accidents can be prevented, and The Farm Safety Handbook can reduce readers’ risk – as well as the risk to others – of accidents and injury.

History / Americas / Biographies & Memoirs / African-American Studies

Will You Die with Me?: My Life and the Black Panther Party by Flores Alexander Forbes (Atria)

This is a powerful telling of our story. – from the foreword by Elaine Brown

Amid the social turmoil of the 1960s and 70s, a young man in California found his purpose in the rise of the Black Panther Party, made a deadly mistake that cost him his freedom, and ultimately got his life back, having learned the true lessons of the Buddha Samurai.

As told in Will You Die with Me?, by the time Flores Forbes was twenty-five years old, he had just a GED and sixty college credits to his name. But he had gone far in his chosen profession as a revolutionary. In 1977, Forbes had been in the Black Panther Party for almost a decade and had become the youngest member of the organization's central committee. In this remarkable memoir, Forbes, now chief strategic officer of the Abyssinian Development Corporation in New York City, describes his transformation from an angry youth into a powerful partisan in the ranks of the black liberation movement. Disillusioned in high school by the racism in his native San Diego, he began reading Black Panther literature. Drawn to the Panthers' mission of organizing resistance to police brutality, he eagerly joined and soon found himself immersed in a culture of Mao-inspired rigor. His dedication ultimately earned him a place in the Party's elite inner circle as assistant chief of staff, charged with heading up the ‘fold’ – the heavily armed military branch dubbed by Huey P. Newton the ‘Buddha Samurai.’ "My job was one of the most secretive in the party," writes Forbes, "and to this day most of the people who were in the Party over the years had not a clue as to what I really did..."

Forbes wasn't the first 16-year-old boy to be smitten by the romance of revolution, but he is among the handful in recent American history who became top-ranking members of the Black Panther Party. His autobiography reads like a modern-day Crime and Punishment, tracking Forbes's evolution from a comrade who thought he could "do almost anything" to achieve a revolutionary objective to a prisoner in existential crisis. Unlike Dostoyevsky's protagonist, Forbes does not generally regret his past, but reproaches himself for his vulnerability to "years of ideological and philosophical conditioning," despite the worthiness of the Panther cause. A survivor above all, Forbes straddles passion and cynicism with equanimity, and is as willing to demythologize major figures as he is to canonize them. He treats Huey P. Newton with particular subtlety, alternately revering the Black Panther founder and cult hero as a genius of realpolitik and criticizing him as a cocaine-snorting, iron-fisted gangster. When Newton is accused of murdering a 17-year-old prostitute and Forbes risks assassinating the star witness to save him, one realizes that Forbes's story is really a case study of power's allure and attendant moral compromise, no matter how righteous its origin. – Publishers Weekly

Of all the books on the Black Panther party, few are as honest, self-critical, and chock-full of gripping detail as Flores A. Forbes's Will You Die with Me? It is at once a cautionary tale and a compelling story of a survivor. – Herb Boyd, author of Black Panthers for Beginners

[Flores Forbes's] story is the essence of what it means to pay personally for one's beliefs. He removes the romanticism from the legendary panthers and replaces it with a young man's journey through a world filled with violence, racism, and lies. There are not many who can recount this saga. In many ways, it is the American story and one well worth the wait. – Kevin Willmott, writer and director of C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America

Next time a talented tenther or a neoliberal tells you that we are living in a post-race America, refer them to this book. I couldn't put [Will You Die with Me?] down. – Ishmael Reed

With intimate portraits of such BPP leaders as Elaine Brown, Eldridge Cleaver, and Huey P. Newton, Will You Die with Me? is a firsthand look at some of the most dramatic events of the last century and a brutally honest tale of one man's journey from rage to redemption. The book is a remarkably riveting  and courageous memoir.

Home & Garden / Arts & Photography

Sleeping Around: The Bed from Antiquity to Now by Annie Carlano & Bobbie Sumberg (University of Washington Press)

There’s more than one way to make a bed, and humans throughout history have devised every sort they could imagine. From a simple blanket laid on the ground to elaborately carved four-posters hung with sumptuous draperies, from a hammock swinging under the stars to a stifling cupboard bed built into a wall, the ways in which humans have gone about trying to get a good night’s sleep are myriad. Sleeping Around, illustrated with some 140 images, takes readers on a lively tour of beds and sleeping customs over time and around the world.

Written by Annie Carlano, senior curator of European and North-American collections and Bobbie Sumberg, curator of textiles and costume at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, Sleeping Around begins with ‘sleeping low.’ Carlano and Sumberg show that, whereas in Europe and North America sleeping on bedding on the floor was the lot of the poor, in many other parts of the world it has long been a cultural and aesthetic choice. Beautiful tatami-futon ensembles in Japan, intricately patterned rattan mats in Borneo, and cozy textile pads, pillows, and quilts in Turkey have kept people warm and comfortable for centuries.

Yet ‘sleeping high,’ on raised platform beds, started early, too: such beds are known from archaeological finds and tomb paintings dating to the fourth century BCE in Egypt. From ancient Greece and Rome, the narrow, rectangular bed spread into Europe and then to North America, seeing innumerable elaborations along the way – not only in the designs of the bedsteads themselves but also in the styles of bedding that became integral parts of the sleeping arrangement. In the modern West, people stowed away Murphy beds in the early 1900s, romped on water beds in the 1970s, and now can buy futuristic beds designed by furniture artists.

Rounding out the tour, Carlano and Sumberg describe the ways people have found to sleep safely and comfortably while on the move – whether the travelers are full-time nomads sleeping in tents or twentieth-century tourists in Pullman cars. They devote a chapter to the special beds, cradles, and cribs designed for infants and young children, and an appropriately final chapter to the abundance of sleep imagery associated with death. In short, Sleeping Around offers an informative and entertaining look at the history of beds and – under the impetus of both functional needs and aesthetic tastes – their ever-changing designs.

Home & Garden / Building & Construction

2006 International Plumbing Codes Handbook by R. Dodge Woodson (McGraw-Hill Professional)

The revised edition of 2006 International Plumbing Codes Handbook, claims to be all readers will need to ‘crack the codes.’

Understanding the intent of the code is crucial, and 2006 International Plumbing Codes Handbook delves into both content and intent. Unlike the cryptic codebooks, this one explains the code and its usage in real-world terms with examples that make understanding the code easy. The Private Sewage Disposal Code and Fuel Gas Codes have been worked into the new edition. New material also includes sizing tables, bullet lists, and illustrations, and related data as well as tip boxes offering the most critical information out of the codes.

All the chapters have been updated with current code information for the 2006 International Plumbing Code. Some chapters have been deleted to make room for newer, more useful data – the chapters eliminated are: old Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 20, Chapter 21, and Chapter 22. Selected material has also been deleted from the appendix.

2006 International Plumbing Codes Handbook covers general regulations, fixtures, faucets, and fittings, water heaters, water supply and distribution, sanitary draining systems, vents, traps, storm drainage, permits and fees, private sewage disposal, rainfall rates, and recycling gray water. This reader-friendly guide helps

  • Fix common plumbing problems with the workable solutions illustrated.
  • Find worked-out examples of nearly every type of plumbing task.
  • Locate the right figures, formulas, and charts for water heaters, fixtures and faucets, fuel piping, storm water drainage, and other calculation needs.
  • Cut labor and material costs by meeting but not exceeding codes.
  • Avoid leaks, malfunctions, blockages, plumbing-caused damage, callbacks, and other costly troubles.
  • Get quick troubleshooting guidance.
  • Work safe with time-tested tips.

No one explains plumbing better than master plumber, master gasfitter, and popular author R. Dodge Woodson, who has 20 years’ experience as a home builder, contractor, plumber, and real estate broker. In a conversational style with plenty of real-life examples, Dodge in 2006 International Plumbing Codes Handbook puts the International Plumbing Code into plain English. The book is perfect for students, apprentices, and masters. An all-in-one manual, it provides ready-to-use answers to help readers get plumbing jobs done right, on time, and up to standard. It's all the plumbing information readers will ever likely to need – the one they will pack in their tool bags.

Home & Garden / Crafts & Hobbies

Quick Colorful Quilts for Babies and Toddlers edited by Rosemary Wilkinson (Good Books)

Quick Colorful Quilts for Babies and Toddlers is a collection of crib quilts, first-bed quilts, playmats and wall quilts for children from six months to five years with instructions on how to make them.

All projects in the book were selected by Rosemary Wilkinson, an experienced quilt maker and craft-book editor. She is the editor of the popular quilt books, Quick Colorful Quilts and Super Quick Colorful Quilts, also published by Good Books. Included are 14 bright, colorful designs, each with four alternative color schemes for each design, for optimal variety. A section on Materials and Techniques helps quilters get started, and simple, clear diagrams throughout the book help keep them going.

Quilts include:

  1. Spring Chick Crib Quilt by Janet Goddard
  2. Nursery Windows by Dorothy Wood
  3. Tic-Tac-Toe Crib Quilt by Alison Wood
  4. Nautical Playmat with Bag by Gail Smith
  5. Cookie Cutter Snuggle Quilt by Janet Goddard
  6. Special Edition by Rosemary Wilkinson
  7. Jungle Playmat by Gail Smith    
  8. Spinners by Mary O'Riordan   
  9. Fairy Princess by Sarah Wellfair
  10. Triangular Playmat by Dorothy Wood
  11. Sailboats by Mary O'Riordan
  12. Spotty Zigzag Bed Quilt by Alison Wood
  13. Random Patch Bed Quilt by Rita Whitehorn
  14. Play on Plaids by Rita Whitehorn

Quick Colorful Quilts for Babies and Toddlers provides clearly explained methods and helpful diagrams with full instructions for beginners. These designs are simple and easy for busy or beginning quilters, and attractive and useful for babies and young children. Brilliant photography and fabric suggestions eliminate the guesswork, so that finished projects are sure to please. In fact, everyone wins with this collection of quilts.

Home & Garden / Gardening & Horticulture

Seascape Gardening: From New England to the Carolinas by Anne Halpin, with photography by Roger Foley (Storey Publishing)

Gardening by the sea is unlike any other gardening experience in the world. The gentle, misty light, moderate climate, and natural beauty of the coast only make seaside gardens more beautiful. Add to that the pleasant memories of summers spent by the sea as a child, and the allure is irresistible for gardeners and ocean-lovers.

But aside from the scenic landscape and romantic setting there are challenges to be overcome. As author and renowned garden designer Anne Halpin knows, the challenges are plentiful. The East Coast is known for its extreme weather – storms blow in during the winter with gale-force winds, spraying sand and salt on every plant in their path. Even during the summer, high winds, fierce sun, and periods of drought challenge the toughest plants. Seaside gardens must be able to tolerate the elements and still look good.

In Seascape Gardening, Halpin – a seaside resident herself – offers advice, insight, and inspiration to intrepid coastal gardeners living along the Atlantic seaboard. Halpin explains the conditions unique to temperate Atlantic coastal settings – from the rocky bluffs of Maine to the placid sea islands of South Carolina – and offers solutions to the biggest seaside gardening challenges. Illuminating concepts like air movement, soil composition, color selection, planting, and year-round garden maintenance, the book reveals how seascape designers work with coastal elements, instead of against them. From a cozy backyard in Martha's Vineyard, to a naturalistic Chesapeake Bay meadow, to a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired landscape on a Carolina barrier island, ten stunning seaside gardens as diverse as their settings are profiled. The book also features an encyclopedic reference guide to 100 plants that can thrive in coastal conditions. This at-a-glance section features photographs, as well as growing and maintenance instructions, and recommended cultivars for each plant. Readers can learn which flowers, grasses, and shrubs thrive along the Atlantic coast; see how they work in established coastal gardens; and use them to design the dream garden to complete their seaside retreat.

… Halpin presents ‘profiles’ of 11 gorgeous seaside gardens varying in locale, from rocky southern Maine to marshy Maryland, and structure, some with formal and difficult-to-maintain plantings, others using native plants for low maintenance, with intriguing comments from the gardens' designers and caretakers about their failures, successes and passion for Oceanside gardening. These gardens are mostly designed by landscape architects and professionally maintained, and may intimidate the DIY seaside gardener, but the book brims with practical information and lists of plants appropriate to particular situations. Almost half of the volume is devoted to an illustrated encyclopedia of seaside-compatible species, addressing hardiness, tolerance and recommended varieties. – Publishers Weekly

Featuring dazzling images from award-winning photographer Roger Foley, Seascape Gardening is an enchanting, indispensable reference for anyone who dreams of nurturing plants by the sea. Halpin's evocative language and Foley's lush, four-color photographs will appeal to anyone who adores the look of windswept foliage by the water's edge.

Literature & Fiction / Western

The Whistling Season: A Novel by Ivan Doig (Harcourt, Inc.)

“Can't cook but doesn't bite.” So begins the newspaper ad offering the services of an “A-1 housekeeper, sound morals, exceptional disposition” that draws the hungry attention of widower Oliver Milliron in the fall of 1909. And so begins the unforgettable season that deposits the noncooking, nonbiting, ever-whistling Rose Llewellyn and her font-of-knowledge brother, Morris Morgan, along with a stampede of homesteaders drawn by the promise of the Big Ditch – a gargantuan irrigation project intended to make the Montana prairie bloom. When the schoolmarm runs off with an itinerant preacher, Morris is pressed into service, setting the stage for the ‘several kinds of education’ – none of them of the textbook variety – Morris and Rose will bring to Oliver, his three sons, and the rambunctious students in the region's one-room schoolhouse in The Whistling Season.

Award-winning author Ivan Doig is a former ranch hand, newspaperman, and magazine editor, who has been delighting readers with his writing about the American West for almost 30 years, beginning with his first book, This House of Sky, a National Book Award finalist. Doig is the kind of American writer that every journalist should talk to at least once in his or her career. Doig has a speaking voice as distinctive and melodic as his signature writing style, and he has a great deal to say in The Whistling Season including:

  • Why one-room schoolhouses still hold such appeal in our imaginations.
  • His lifelong ties to Montana and why it continues to be the setting for most of his writing.
  • Doig's own experience of rural schooling and the idiosyncratic, scintillating teachers who taught him to love writing and inspired this book.
  • His early career in journalism and history, and how they inform his approach to writing.
  • What the No Child Left Behind policy could learn from The Whistling Season.

 

The reigning master of new Western literature . . . [Doig is] bigger than the Big Sky. He stands upon the shoulders of Wallace Stegner and A. B. Guthrie, taller than Edward Abbey and Tom McGuane, and sees much farther. He looks homeward, and he sees a place in all our minds, not just those who live in and write about the West. – San Francisco Chronicle

In matters of work and grief, of place and kinship, [Doig] can make you remember with him and sometimes weep. – The New York Times Book Review

Ivan Doig is one of the best we've got – a muscular and exceedingly good writer who understands our hunger for stories. – Annie Proulx, author of Brokeback Mountain and The Shipping News

The West's preeminent literary novelist ... Doig's characters, new and old, are unforgettable… they are becoming a part of the American mindscape. – The Denver Post

… Doig's strengths in this novel are character and language – the latter manifesting itself at a level of old-fashioned high-octane grandeur not seen previously in Doig's novels, and few others': the sheer joy of word choices, phrases, sentences, situations, and character bubbling up and out, as fecund and nurturing as the dry-land farmscape the story inhabits is sere and arid. The Whistling Season is a book to pass on to your favorite readers: a story of lives of active choice, lived actively. – Rick Bass, Publishers Weekly
…Doig has been at this for a long time; he's 67 and the author of eight previous novels and three works of nonfiction, including the memoir This House of Sky. You can see the evidence of that experience in his new novel: its gentle pace, its persistent warmth, its complete freedom from cynicism – and the confidence to take those risks without winking or apologizing. When a voice as pleasurable as his evokes a lost era, somehow it doesn't seem so lost after all. – Ron Charles, The Washington Post

… Throughout his long career, Doig has been at his best when chronicling the passing of a season in the lives of a Montana family, usually farmers at around the turn of the century. It's no surprise, then, that this is his best novel since the marvelous English Creek (1985). As in all of his books, he digs the details of his historical moments from the dirt in which they t