Anderson, Christopher. Hollywood TV: The Studio System in the Fifties. Austin,
Texas: University of Texas Press, 1994, 343 pp., $45.00, cloth.
To make sense of the transitional period in the history of the motion picture and
television industries, this book concentrates on the transition into television
production by Hollywood's most powerful studios and independent producers,
those whose stake in the studio system had been the greatest. While this book
examines the role of TV production in Hollywood's evolving corporate strategies, it
asks how Hollywood producers envisioned television's value to the movie
industry, both as a market and as a medium for symbolic expression. The primary
focus is on three different organizations--David O. Selznick Productions and Walt
Disney Productions, both major independent producers that functioned on the
periphery of the studio system, and Warner Brothers Pictures, a fully integrated
major studio during the studio era. Anderson is an associate professor of
telecommunications at IUB.
Baker, Randall. Summer in the Balkans: Laughter and Tears after Communism.
West Hartford, Connecticut: Kumarian Press, 1994, 208 pp., $14.95, paper.
In his travels through Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, and Macedonia in 1992, the
author finds himself caught up in the paradoxes of a region pursuing a beckoning
future of democracy, while at the same time refusing to shed the burden of history.
The book is primarily concerned with giving the reader a feel for the whirlwind of
conflicting ideas, frustrations, anxieties, and false starts that make up the daily
round of building democracy and coping with its sudden arrival on the coattails of
four decades of cynical, communist rule. Baker is a professor of public and
environmental affairs and director of International Programs in the School of Public
and Environmental Affairs at IUB.
Barman, Charles, and others. Destinations in Science: K-6 Elementary Science Series.
Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1995.
This series includes seven student editions and seven teacher's editions. The books
include two to three units in life science, earth science, physical science, and health.
Each unit is developed around an actual destination (e.g., Missouri River,
Appalachians, Florida Keys, etc.) or some hypothetical destination (e.g., pizzeria,
vacant lot, bike shop, etc.). This approach allows students to study science in the
context of familiar environments. Each unit also includes appropriate hands
on/minds-on activities to aid students in developing science concepts. In addition to
the textbooks, there are board games, videos, science theaters (grades 1 and 2 only),
posters, and materials kits. Barman is a professor of education at IUPUI.
Barnstone, Willis. Funny Ways of Staying Alive. Hanover, New Hampshire:
University Press of New England, 1993, 121 pp., $12.95, cloth.
In this collection of poetry, the author shares his maverick philosophy for living
sanely and with humor in an increasingly insane world. He offers a series of
humorous proverb-like poems, coupled with his stark, dry-brush ink drawings. The
aphoristic verses combine playful use of paradoxes with everyday images and
sudden insights. Barnstone is a professor of comparative literature, Spanish and
Portuguese, and West European studies at IUB.
Barwise, Jon, and Etchemendy, John. Hyperproof. Stanford, California: CSLI
Publications, 1994, 255 pp., $19.95, paper.
Hyperproof is a system for learning the principles of analytical reasoning and proof
construction that consists of a text and a Macintosh software program. Unlike
traditional treatments of first-order logic, this work is a combination of graphical
and sentential information that presents a set of logical rules for integrating these
different forms of information. This strategy allows students to focus on the
information content of proofs rather than the syntactic structure of sentences. It also
reflects the heterogeneity of information encountered in everyday reasoning.
Barwise is a professor of computer science, philosophy, and mathematics at IUB.
Bradley, Craig. The Failure of the Criminal Procedure Revolution. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsyl-vania Press, 1993, 264 pp., $32.95, cloth.
The author argues that no shift in ideology, no commitment of resources, and no
refinement of Supreme Court jurisprudence would resolve the inadequacies of the
current criminal justice system. These problems arose from a constitutional system
that has allowed the United States to develop its rules of criminal procedure on a
piecemeal, case-by-case basis, rather than through a unified code of criminal
procedure, as other countries have done. He proposes that the United States should,
in keeping with the international trend, regulate police procedures though a
comprehensive and nationally applicable code. He further argues that a national
code would be constitutional and outlines what its features should be, how it would
function, and what alternative approaches are possible and practicable. Bradley is a
professor of law at IUB.
Buelow, George J., ed. The Late Baroque Era: From the 1680s to 1740. London:
Macmillan, 1993, 521 pp., $27.95.
Spanning historical developments taking place from approximately 1680 to the
1740s, the chapters of this volume focus on the major musical centers in great cities
including London, Paris, Leipzig, Vienna, Venice, Rome, and Naples, at the
beginning of the eighteenth century, and on major regions of economic and social
development as found, for example, in Spain and Portugal, Bavaria, the Low
Countries, and Eastern Europe. As a continuation of cultural processes begun at the
beginning of the seventeenth century, the "late Baroque" is a period largely of re
examination and development of forms and styles already established. The essays
here examine the results of the political and social forces stimulating and shaping
the extraordinary outpourings of music not only for the major courts and churches
of Europe but also for the culturally sophisticated middle classes. Buelow is a
professor of music at IUB.
Byrnes, Robert F. A History of Russian and East European Studies in the United
States: Selected Essays. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1994, 271
pp., $47.50, cloth.
Russia possesses one of the world's richest cultures and longest and most exciting
histories. It has played an important role in international politics in the past three
centuries in particular, and the peoples and states between Germany and Russia
have been active in European history for more than two thousand years. Yet those
histories and cultures have attracted little attention in the United States. The
appearance and expansion of Russian and East European studies is part of the
awakening of the American people to the rest of the world. Byrnes is a professor
emeritus of history at IUB.
Charnes, Linda. Notorious Identity: Materializing the Subject in Shakespeare.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1993, 213 pp., $37.50, cloth.
Richard III, Troilus and Cressida, Antony and Cleopatra--these were figures of
intense signification in the Renaissance, long before Shakespeare took up the task of
giving them new life on the stage. And when he did, the author argues, he used
these legendary figures to explore the emergence and ideological uses of a new kind
of fame--"notorious identity"--an infamy based not on the moral and ethical "use
value" of legend but on a commodification of identity itself: one that must be
understood in the context of early modern England's emergent capitalism and its
conditions of economic, textual, theatrical, and cultural reproduction. In his plays
about these figures, more than in any others, Shakespeare explores the accretive and
pathological effects of notoriety as it produces reified notions of "character" to secure
authorized versions of "history"--the way that the fictitious authority of the latter
requires factitious investments in the former. Charnes is an associate professor of
English at IUB.
Dégh, Linda. American Folklore and the Mass Media. Bloomington, Indiana:
Indiana University Press, 1994, 217 pp., $14.95, paper.
Folklore is not an artifact but a dynamic historical process, bound by neither time
nor place. Just as printing technologies have been an important factor in the
modern history of folklore, today's electronic media also contribute to the creation
and maintenance of folklore. Common cultural properties and ways of thinking
seen in folktales can be observed in television and mass circulation publications.
The author discusses the contemporary manifestation of traditional genres such as
folktales (in television advertisements) and legends (in preachers' tales). She also
deciphers the basic human ideas that recur with new interpretations, as in the use
and misuse of folklore to sway public opinion or to make a sales pitch. Dégh is a
professor emerita of folklore at IUB.
Edmunds, R. David, and Joseph L. Peyser. The Fox Wars: The Mesquakie Challenge
to New France. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993, 282 pp.,
$24.95, cloth.
This saga of the Fox (or Mesquakie) Indians recounts their struggle to maintain their
identity in the face of colonial New France during the late seventeenth and early
eighteenth centuries. The themes of intertribal warfare, the impact of the fur trade
on Indians, and the democratic nature of Indian societies and how democ-racy
militated against strong tribal governments are all discussed. The volume was
awarded the Alf Heggoy Prize by the French Colonial Historical Society as the best
volume in colonial history for 1993. Edmunds is a professor of history at IUB. Peyser
is a professor emeritus of French at IUSB.
Edgerton, William, ed. Memoirs of Peasant Tolstoyans in Soviet Russia.
Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1993, 264 pp., $29.95, cloth.
The fate of Leo Tolstoy's Russian followers--intellectuals, soldiers, peasants,
workers--was grim. Idealistically they formed agricultural communes to build a
humane, stateless society free of violence. By the late 1920s most of the communes
were dispersed and only the Life and Labor Commune survived by relocating to
Siberia. Through the punishing years of the 1930s Tolstoy's followers held on to
their pacifist beliefs, their vegetarianism, their commitment to family. Their
memoirs, collected in this book, provide a powerful testimony of early Soviet
idealism and the story of its suppression. Edgerton is a professor emeritus of Slavic
languages and literatures at IUB.
Eklof, Ben, John Bushnell, and Larissa Zakharova, eds. Russia's Great Reforms,
18881881. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1994, 297 pp., $17.95,
paper.
During the reign of Alexander II, the tsar's government restructured virtually every
aspect of Russian political and social life. The Great Reforms began with the
emancipation of serfs and continued through reform of local government, the
judiciary, the military, education, the financial system, and the press and other
publications. This book, a collection of essays first presented before the break up of
the old Soviet Union, focuses on the abolition of serfdom and the legal reforms that
stemmed from emancipation. Eklof is an associate professor of history at IUB.
Elam, Diane. Feminism and Deconstruction. New York: Routledge, 1994, 154 pp.,
$15.95, paper.
Can gender be distinguished from sex? How can we understand and talk about the
materiality of women's bodies? What are the meanings of feminism, ethics, and
political action in light of poststructuralist theory? The author argues that feminism
and deconstruction are beside one another in that they share a parallel divergence
from (or dislocation of) politics and philosophy. On the one hand, feminism shifts
the ground of the political, interrogating the opposition between the public and the
private spheres. On the other hand, deconstruction displaces our understanding of
how theory relates to practice by rethinking the opposition of philosophical
reflection to political action. Elam is an associate professor of English at IUB.
Favret, Mary A., and Nicola J. Watson, eds. At the Limits of Romanticism: Essays in
Cultural, Feminist, and Materialist Criticism. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana
University Press, 1994, 291 pp., $14.95, paper.
"Romanticism" has traditionally excluded or undervalued the work of popular
women writers, narrative poetry, the novel, most of contemporary journalism, and
the decorative arts. As a result, issues of the marketplace, class, and competing
cultural discourses have been easier to ignore. The essays in this collection question
romanticism's suppression of the feminine, the material, and the collective, and its
opposition to readings centering on these concerns. Favret is an associate professor
of English at IUB.
Ferrell, Robert H. Choosing Truman: The Democratic Convention of 1944.
Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1994, 137 pp., $24.95, cloth.
In the days between July 11 and July 21, 1944, the vice-presidential nomination went
to Harry S. Truman in a series of moves, countermoves, and near chaotic
happenings. This first detailed account of those tumultuous days explains how
Truman, a man whom Roosevelt barely knew and who had not actively sought the
nomination, became the president's running mate. The author tells a tale of
ruthless ambition, secret meetings, and party politics that is a behind-the-scenes look
at the making of the nation's thirty-third president. Ferrell is a professor emeritus of
history at IUB.
Glassie, Henry. Turkish Traditional Art Today. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana
University Press, 1993, 847 pp., $65.00, cloth.
A presentation of the living arts and artists of Turkey, this work is simultaneously
an ethnographic inquiry into the nature of art, an introduction to modern Turkey,
and a model study of folk art combining the theories of folklore, anthropology,
cultural geography, and art history. Describing his research in the cities, towns, and
mountain villages, the author ranges widely across media. He tells of architecture,
calligraphy, woodworking, and earthenware, but places particular emphasis on the
brilliant, underglaze-painted ceramics of Kütahya and the rich, piled carpets for
which Turkey has been famed for centuries. While searching for the traits that
define art and the stylistic complexities that characterize Turkish creativity, he
focuses on the artists and their theories and practices as well as on the works they
produce. Glassie is a College Professor and professor of folklore at IUB.
Grant, Edward. Planets, Stars, and Orbs: The Medieval Cosmos, 1200-1687.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, 816 pp., $64.95, cloth.
Medieval cosmology was a fusion of pagan Greek ideas and biblical descriptions of
the world, especially the creation account in Genesis. Because cosmology was based
on discussions of the relevant works of Aristotle, primary responsibility for its study
fell to scholastic theologians and natural philosophers in the universities of western
Europe from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century. This work describes the
range of themes, ideas, and arguments that constituted scholastic cosmology for
approximately five hundred years from around 1200 to 1700. Primary emphasis is
placed on the world as a whole, what might lie beyond it, and the celestial region,
which extended from the moon to the outermost convex surface of the cosmos.
Grant is a professor emeritus of history and philosophy of science and history at
IUB.
Gray, Ralph D. Indiana History: A Book of Readings. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana
University Press, 1994, 442 pp., $22.95, paper.
This rich and diverse collection includes many original sources alongside vivid
summaries by Hoosier historians. The author provides an introduction to each
selection and references to guide readers further into each topic. Although the
author writes from twenty-five years' experience teaching Indiana history at the
university level, this book is written to appeal to the interests of state and local
historians whose numbers have grown steadily. Gray is a professor of history at
IUPUI.
Haberman, David L. Journey through the Twelve Forests: An Encounter with
Krishna. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994, 244 pp., $16.95, paper.
Winner of the 1994 American Academy of Religion's Award for Excellence, Journey
through the Twelve Forests provides a personal and scholarly narrative of the Ban
Yatra--a traditional Indian pilgrimage cycle rich in the tales of Krishna. Krishna has
long been one of the most popular of the Hindu deities, and to study those who
participate in the pilgrimage the author uses Sanskrit, Hindi, and Bengali sources.
His book offers an account of stories, religious theory, Indian history, and tales of the
gods learned from personal experience. Haberman is an associate professor of
religious studies at IUB.
Hoff, Joan. Nixon Reconsidered. New York: Basic Books, 1994, 475 pp., $30.00, cloth.
The author argues that Nixon's notoriety over Watergate has obscured the fact that
he achieved much more than most people would like to admit. She also contends
that Nixon's lasting achievements are in domestic rather than foreign policy. The
book is based on interviews with Nixon and others in his administration, as well as
on examination of the Nixon Presidential Papers and the papers of his closest aids.
Hoff is a professor of history at IUB.
Hofstadter, Douglas, and the Fluid Analogies Research Group. Fluid Concepts and
Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of
Thought. New York: Basic Books, 1995, 518 pp., $30.00, cloth.
Since 1977 the author and his graduate students have been developing computer
models of discovery, creation, and analogical thought. What has emerged is a
sophisticated and unorthodox vision of the mind in which perception, at an abstract
level, is the key: perception of situations, of patterns, of patterns among patterns,
even perception of one's perceptions. The book conveys this bold vision to a broad
public as well as to cognitive scientists. Two ideas pervade the research. One is that
the key question to answer is "What is a concept?" The second is that mental
activity is fundamentally parallel with many tiny agents independently carrying out
small "subcognitive" acts and collectively building up coherent mental structures.
Hofstadter is a professor of cognitive science and computer science and director of
the Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition at IUB.
Janelli, Roger L., with Dawnhee Yim. Making Capitalism: The Social and Cultural
Construction of a South Korean Conglomerate. Stanford, California: Stanford
University Press, 1993, 276 pp., $35.00, paper.
This anthropological study of one of South Korea's largest conglomerates presents a
new model, applicable to hierarchial organizations in general, that shows how
"culture" helps to shape business organizational practices. The author examines the
underlying cultural premises of the rigid hierarchy that structures the social
relations among the owners, managers, and office staff. Janelli is an associate
professor of folklore at IUB.
Kaufmann, Michael. Textual Bodies: Modernism, Postmodernism, and Print.
Cranbury, New Jersey: Bucknell University Press, 1994, 140 pp., $29.50, cloth.
Many have commented on the unusual appearance of modernist novels, but few
have bothered to examine what part is played by nontraditional typography, paginal
arrangement, and binding in the works themselves. Examining Faulkner's As I Lay
Dying, Stein's Tender Buttons, Joyce's Finnegans Wake, and William Gass's Willie
Masters' Lonesome Wife, the author shows how these writers exposed the printed
surface of their works and eventually made the print a part of the fiction itself.
Recognizing the printed body of the modernist text as one of its defining features, he
argues, helps define high modernism, and identifies the modernist strain of some
writers considered postmodernist. Kaufmann is an associate professor of English at
IPFW.
Kenshur, Oscar. Dilemmas of Enlightenment: Studies in the Rhetoric and Logic of
Ideology. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1993, 282 pp., $42.00,
cloth.
Analyses of early modern texts are combined with a critique of postmodern theories
of ideology to aid in the understanding of both Enlightenment literature and
thought, and contemporary debates about cultural studies and critical theory. While
striving to resolve "dilemmas" occasioned by conflicting intellectual and political
commitments, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century writers often relied upon ideas
originally used by their enemies to support very different claims. The author calls
this engagement "intellectual co-optation." In exploring the ways in which Dryden,
Bayle, Voltaire, Johnson, Gibbon, and others used this technique, he presents a
historical landscape distinctly different from the one constructed by much
contemporary theory. Kenshur is a professor of comparative literature at IUB.
Lawson, Linda. Truth in Publishing: Federal Regulation of the Press's Business
Practices, 1880-1920. Carbondale and Edwardsville, Illinois: Southern Illinois
University Press, 1993, 229 pp., $22.95, cloth.
Most media histories depict the early twentieth-century press as a crusader, working
closely with reformers to weed out abuses in society. This book turns the tables and
examines the press as a business susceptible to corporate abuses and government
regulation--just like any other enterprise. The Newspaper Publicity Act, passed in
1912 and still in effect today, is one of the many regulatory measures described in
this study. The act permits preferential second-class postal rates but requires its
beneficiaries to identify owners and investors and to label advertisements that
resemble news stories or editorials. Truth in Publishing won an "Outstanding
Academic Book" citation from Choice, the magazine of the Association of College
and Research Libraries. Lawson is an associate professor of journalism at IUB.
Marcus, George E., and Russell Hanson, eds. Reconsidering the Democratic Public.
University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993, 478
pp., $15.95, cloth.
The Democratic Theory Symposium, held at Williams College from July 30 to
August 4, 1989, brought together political theorists interested in democracy and
empirical political scientists who study American politics. The aim of the published
results is to advance the debate about democracy and its prospects by returning to the
concerns about citizenship that spawned the discussion in the first place. The editors
hope to guide students of democracy to a better understanding of the opportunities
for--and limits on--self-governance in modern times. Hanson is an associate
professor of political science and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at
IUB.
Mullen, E. Theodore Jr. Narrative History and Ethnic Boundaries: The
Deuteronomistic Historian and the Creation of Israelite National Identity. Atlanta:
Scholars Press, 1993, 344 pp., $49.95, cloth.
How did Deuteronomistic history function within the social and religious world of
ancient Israel? Placing emphasis on the final narrative form of the history, the
author suggests that selected passages helped establish ethnic boundaries between
the exiles and the surrounding community. With the establishment of these
boundaries, the exiles possessed a survival mechanism for creating their own
identity against the constant threat of social and religious assimilation. Mullen is a
professor of religious studies at IUPUI.
Naremore, James. The Films of Vincente Minnelli. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1993, 202 pp., $44.95, cloth.
This work examines the career of MGM's leading director of musicals, melodramas,
and comedies in the forties and fifties. Widely admired for his flamboyant sense of
color and camera movement, Minnelli played a crucial role in maintaining the
studio's reputation as the "home of the stars." As well as describing the director's
contributions to some of the most celebrated works of Hollywood's classic era, this
volume includes a close analysis of five important films that represent the full
range of Minelli's career: Cabin in the Sky, Meet Me in St. Louis, Father of the Bride,
The Bad and the Beautiful, and Lust for Life. These readings provide commentary
on problems of genre, directorial style, cultural politics, and the connection between
aestheticism and mass culture during the first half of the twentieth century.
Naremore is a professor of English and comparative literature and director of Film
Studies at IUB.
Quirk, Robert E. Fidel Castro. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1993, 898 pp.,
$35.00, cloth.
In this biography the author paints a portrait of the charismatic leader who for more
than three decades--and over eight American presidencies--has managed to sustain
a communist regime in the Western Hemisphere. Fidel Castro emerges as a rebel
from his earliest years. His path to power, economic ambitions, successes, and
failures are all recounted in this story of one ambitious man steering his nation on a
dangerous and doomed course. This book is also a parable of a small country caught
up in the throes of international rivalries and world revolution. Quirk is a professor
emeritus of history at IUB.
Sebeok, Thomas A. Signs: An Introduction to Semiotics. Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 1994, 154 pp., $14.95, paper.
A synthesis of Sebeok's thought on the "elemental" features of semiotics, this
volume contains some of his most important essays dealing with the fundamental
issues of contemporary semiotics. The essays have been reworked to form a
cohesive textbook that is usable by semotician, student of semiotics and
communication theory, cognitive scientist, philosopher, and general reader alike.
Sebeok argues that a biologically based semiotics will allow insight into how the
body interacts with the mind to produce signs, messages, thought, and ultimately
cultural behavior. Sebeok is a professor emeritus of anthropology, Uralic and Altaic
studies, and linguistics and semiotics at IUB.
Ships, Jan, and John W. Welch, eds. The Journals of William E. McLellin, 183136:
The Earliest Mormon Diaries. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1994, 450
pp., $29.95, cloth.
Recently located in the Latter Day Saints Church archives, these journals comprise a
modern-day acts of the apostle William E. McLellin, opening new windows of
understanding into the earliest content of Mormon preaching and ministering. The
subject of intrigue and forgery in connection with Mark Hoffmann only a decade
ago, the journals are available here in complete transcription. Shipps is a professor
of religious studies and history at IUPUI.
Smith, Carl B., with Susan Moke and Marjorie Simic. Connect! How to Get Your
Kids to Talk to You. Bloomington, Indiana: Family Literacy Center/EDINFO Press,
1994, 236 pp., $14.95, paper.
This book provides down-to-earth advice on using family book sharing to open the
lines of communication between parents and their children. The book-sharing
strategies are designed to strengthen relationships, promote children's intellectual
and emotional growth, increase their self-esteem, improve their reading skills and
classroom performance, help them appreciate the value of recreational reading, and,
perhaps most importantly, enable parents to become more active participants in
their children's education. Smith is a professor of education and the director of the
ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication at IUB.
Stacey, William A., Lonnie R. Hazelwood, and Anson Shupe. The Violent Couple.
Westport, Connecticut: Prager Publishers, 1994, 182 pp., $48.95, paper.
This examination of the dynamics of domestic violence is a study of mutually
violent mates wherein a cult of interpersonal violence conditions and
simultaneously victimizes them both. Domestic violence is seen as a destructive
capacity to which both sexes resort, in fairly equal proportions, in attempting to
resolve family disputes. Shupe is a professor of sociology at IPFW.
Thelin, John R. Games Colleges Play: Scandal and Reform in Intercollegiate
Athletics. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994, 252 pp., $34.95,
cloth.
From the early, glory days of Knute Rockne and the "Gipper" to the modern era of
big budgets, powerful coaches, and pampered players, this work chronicles the
history of intercollegiate athletics from 1910 to 1990. The author describes how
"extracurricular" sports programs-- seldom accorded equal prominence with
teaching and research in mission statements or annual reports--have become central
to the life of many universities. As administrators search for a proper balance
between athletics and academics, this "peculiar institution" in American higher
education grows increasingly powerful and controversial. The historical background
that is included will inform current policy discussions about the proper place of
intercollegiate athletics within the American university. Research for the book was
made possible by a major grant from The Spencer Foundation. Thelin is a professor
of education at IUB.
Vitelli, Karen D. Franchthi Neolithic Pottery; Excavations at Franchthi Cave, Greece:
Fascile 8. Volume 1: Classification and Ceramic Phases 1 and 2. Bloomington,
Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1993, 528 pp., $59.95, paper.
Modestly termed "fasciles," this series on a Peloponnese site has revolutionized
what is known about the Neolithic period (ca. 80005000 b.p.). The author's
contribution is a survey of the ceramic materials in the cave using her skills as a
potter to determine the ceremonial uses of the pottery. The final chapter, "Pots,
Potters, and Neolithic Society," explores the uses of pots beyond cooking--for
example in incense burning or as decoration--and offers speculation about the
emergence of specialized potters, many of whom were probably women. Vitelli is an
associate professor of anthropology at IUB.
Weinberg, Martin S., Colin J. Williams, and Douglas W. Pryor. Dual Attraction:
Understanding Bisexuality. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994, 437 pp., $27.50,
cloth.
This book, the first major sociological study of bisexuality, is based on fieldwork,
extensive interviews, and surveys of 800 individuals from the San Francisco Bay
area. All forms of sexual behavior have become important concerns for new
research because misinformation about and fear of AIDS have spread faster than the
disease itself. This study shows that many sexual behaviors and preferences are
inseparable from social environment. Biology alone does not determine sexual
preferences, desires, and behavior. Weinberg is a professor of sociology at IUB.
Williams is a professor of sociology at IUPUI.
Westfall, Richard S. The Life of Isaac Newton. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1993, 328 pp., $11.95, paper.
Isaac Newton was one of the greatest scientists of all time. His achievements in
mathematics and physics marked the culmination of the movement that brought
modern science into being. This biography, a condensed version of the author's
prize-winning book Never at Rest, captures in detail both private life and scientific
career, presenting a complex picture of the man, and the scientist, philosopher,
theologian, alchemist, public figure, and president of the Royal Society and warden
of the Royal Mint. Westfall is a distinguished professor emeritus of history and
philosophy of science and history at IUB.
Wolfe, Cary. The Limits of American Literary Ideology in Pound and Emerson. New
York: Cambridge University Press, 1993, 292 pp., $54.95, cloth.
Scant attention has been paid to the ways in which Ezra Pound's modernist project
was influenced by his native ideological inheritance. Drawing upon diverse writings
by both Pound and Emerson, the author argues that Pound's early modernism is
fully in the American grain of Emerson's radical individualism, even as Pound's
later career makes disturbingly clear the contradictions, limitations, and possible
consequences of that ideology. Drawing upon the wealth of primary texts by Pound
and Emerson and using a wide range of secondary critical materials, this analysis of
how the conflicted individualism of Pound and Emerson shaped their critiques of
capitalist economy and its debased culture, their views of the relationship between
gender and originality, their idealist conceptions of language and poetics, and finally
their visions of a just economic and cultural totality rooted in nature. Wolfe is an
assistant professor of English at IUB.