Feature Articles:
Lambda Book Report
Temple Review
Church and State in the City Catholics and Politics in Twentieth-Century San Francisco
William Issel
Reviewed in the May 2013 issue of Choice. The review read,"Issel is concerned with highlighting the importance of Catholic Christianity in the political culture of 20th-century San Francisco. He accomplishes this through a critical, contextualized narrative of various issues in the city's history (1890s-1970s) in which Catholic faith-based politics contributed to defining the city's 'common good.'... Even though Issel's coverage of San Francisco's political history is not comprehensive, his narrative is densely detailed..... this solid book is worth adding to California, religious, and urban collections. Summing Up: Recommended."
Elements of Discipline Nine Principles for Teachers and Parents
Stephen Greenspan
With a Foreword by Arnold Sameroff
Reviewed in the May 2013 issue of Choice. The review read, "Greenspan offers a guided discussion on an affective-aware approach to disciplinary practices for both school and home. Throughout the book, Greenspan diligently explains key principles critical to understanding the rationale for incorporating a positivistic approach to discipline and the inherent benefits to children, adolescents, and adults. A thorough discussion is meticulously crafted to offer an explanation of concepts, application, and theoretical connections to existing emotional/behavioral perspectives.... A well-rounded index of theories, terminology, and common behavioral practices to assist readers in developing a more comprehensive understanding to successful discipline completes the book. Summing Up: Recommended."
Suspect Citizens Women, Virtue, and Vice in Backlash Politics
Jocelyn M. Boryczka
Reviewed in the May 2013 issue of Choice. The review read, "Boryczka addresses categories of virtue and vice that operate to render women 'suspect citizens' in the American political script.... The book contains many interesting and provocative juxtapositions. Summing Up: Highly recommended."
Chang and Eng Reconnected The Original Siamese Twins in American Culture
Cynthia Wu
Reviewedin Disability Studies Quarterly Vol. 33, No. 2. The review read, "Given the amount of time and archival material the book covers, it is a credit to Wu's ability as a writer that she leads readers seamlessly from beginning to end.... Wu's nuanced reading of embodiment provides a way of conceptualizing and analyzing disability diaspora."
The Dance of Politics Gender, Performance, and Democratization in Malawi
Lisa Gilman
Reviewed in the Journal of American Folklore 126 (2013). The review read, " The Dance of Politics is a valuable contribution to the scholarly literature on gender, performance, and socio-political transformation in Africa.... This book provides a deep exploration of music and dance in the context of a specific African nation during a key moment in its history.... The Dance of Politics offers insightful theoretical discussions and concrete examples/experiences that are of great interest for scholars from various disciplines focused on performance, gender, and politics in Africa."
Blue Juice Euthanasia in Veterinary Medicine
Patricia Morris
Reviewed in the May 2013 issue of Animal Welfare. The review read, "This book may be found useful by clinical veterinarians and by their clients as well. Veterinarians may find some comfort in knowing that their concerns are shared by many other members of their profession and may learn of different alternative options to deal with these issues. Pet owners will similarly benefit by gaining a better appreciation of the complexity of these issues and of the perspective of the veterinarians. In the end, one can hope that this improved understanding of the issues related to companion animal euthanasia by all parties involved will result in a benefit to the animals, and that will be everybody's gain."
Troubling Gender Youth and Cumbia in Argentina's Music Scene
Pablo Vila and Pablo Semán
Reviewed in the May 2013 issue of Contemporary Sociology. The review read, "Anybody interested in gender, sexuality, and especially how music becomes part of the fabric of everyday life, should read Troubling Gender. The subtlety of its analysis makes the book a must for scholars of what is now called 'music sociology.'"
An Immigrant Neighborhood Interethnic and Interracial Encounters in New York before 1930
Shirley J. Yee
Reviewed in the May 2013 issue of Contemporary Sociology. The review read, " An Immigrant Neighborhood is an excellent addition to historical studies in community and urban racial and ethnic relations. It provides us with rich stories of individual daily lives in pre-1930 New York’s Lower Manhattan and with various analyses of class, ethnicity, race, and gender. It would be particularly useful for an advanced undergraduate course in American studies, ethnic studies, history, or sociology, and it would also be appropriate for a graduate course."
Transnationalizing Viet Nam Community, Culture, and Politics in the Diaspora
Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde
Reviewed in Amerasia, Volume 39, No. 1. The review read, "The book offers the first 'insider' perspective that grapples candidly with Vietnamese American community formations, particularly its anticommunist politics. It serves as an invaluable resource for students and researchers interested in understanding the Vietnamese American community, but also offers a model that adeptly bridges Area Studies research with Asian American Studies through the framework of transnationalism.... [A]n important foundation for the study of Vietnamese diaspora."
The Public and Its Possibilities Triumphs and Tragedies in the American City
John D. Fairfield
Reviewed in American Studies, Vol. 52, No. 2. The review read, "An ambitious work of scholarly synthesis, The Public and its Possibilities braids together descriptions of socioeconomic trends, cultural conflicts and political philosophy from the late colonial era to the present... Resting on vast historical scholarship, The Public and its Possibilities would provide a useful interpretive spine for an undergraduate history course, comparable in some ways to Eric Foner’s The Story of American Freedom."
Oye Como Va! Hybridity and Identity in Latino Popular Music
Deborah Pacini Hernandez
Reviewed in American Studies, Vol. 52, No. 2. The review read, "To take on the task of explicating or analyzing Latin popular music presents a difficult endeavor; with the hybrid nature of the Latin music and US adaptations and appropriations, one could easily get lost in the array of musical styles, genres, artists, and record labels. Yet, in her book Oye Como Va, Deborah Pacini Hernandez provides an organized, concise, and informative overview of Latin popular music, specifically in regards to the recording industry’s relationship to Latina/o musicians and audience in the United States....[T]his text offers valuable histories and perspectives on the performance, recording, and marketing of Latin popular music."
To the City Urban Photographs of the New Deal
Julia L. Foulkes
Reviewed in American Studies, Vol. 52, No. 2. The review read, "As a collection of photographs To the City comprises a useful complement to the many anthologies emphasizing the FSA’s rural pictures."
Selecting Women, Electing Women Political Representation and Candidate Selection in Latin America
Magda Hinojosa
Reviewedin April 2013 issue of the Journal of Politics. The review read, " Selecting Women, Electing Women argues that the rules for candidate selection affect the election of women to political office in Latin America. Hinojosa’s overall approach and the substantive argument she makes represent significant innovations.... In addition to providing a persuasive explanation of the puzzle of variation in women’s representation in the region, the book provides ample background on the status of women overall, a clear description of the political terrain in two important countries in the region, and a sense of how the same issues play out in other countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Guatemala, and Peru. Her interview data provides the kind of detail that illuminates important differences within and across countries and makes the book easily accessible to readers unfamiliar with political parties in Latin America."
Dr. Radway's Sarsaparilla Resolvent
Beth Kephart
Reviewed in the April 15 issue of Kirkus Reviews'. The review read, "Playing masterfully with words, knitting them into new and deliciously expressive forms, Kephart's story is one of loss and then redemption.... Like the very best of historical fiction, this effort combines a timeless tale with a vividly recreated, fascinating world. An outstanding and ultimately life-affirming tale"
"We Live in the Shadow" Inner-City Kids Tell Their Stories through Photographs
Elaine Bell Kaplan
Reviewed in the April 15 issue of Publishers Weekly. The review read, "Kaplan gives a group of preteens from South Central L.A. the chance to document their lives in this moving work. After telling them to 'take pictures of anything you want to show me about your experiences,' Kaplan uses the results to assemble a well-researched narrative examining how the subjects 'experience and react to the social problems associated with South Central,' their reflections on living there, and how they deal with daily challenges, including gang violence and drug warfare.... [Kaplan] interweaves her subjects’ stories and pieces from their photo essays with her research, reflections, and observations, confronting issues of class, race, and identity. Even casual anecdotes point to larger problems—teachers who don’t care and schools that don’t work."
Sustainable Failures Environmental Policy and Democracy in a Petro-dependent World
Sherry Cable
Reviewed in the April 2013 issue of CHOICE. The review read, "Cable offers a sweeping analysis of how humans live outside their means, fostering a false duality between society and biosphere with decidedly unsustainable technological and petroleum energy dependence.... Written for a broad audience, the work deftly combines a jargon-free sociological lens on human behavior with biophysical science questions of sustainability. Summing Up: Recommended."
Catheters, Slurs, and Pickup Lines Professional Intimacy in Hospital Nursing
Lisa C. Ruchti
Reviewed in the April 2013 issue of Gender & Society. The review read, "[A] compelling ethnography that skillfully explores the work of professional intimacy in hospital nursing.... The book is a major contribution to the newly burgeoning scholarship on care work, and Ruchti’s findings pose numerous questions to anyone interested in bringing recognition to professionally intimate labor.... This book is a must-have for those of us teaching and researching in medical worlds. Our students will gain valuable insight into the day-to-day work of caring for patients, and our research will benefit from consideration of the many lessons contained in this richly documented exploration of professional intimacy."
Modeling Citizenship Jewish and Asian American Writing
Cathy Schlund-Vials
Reviewed in the Spring 2013 issue of MELUS. The review read,"[Schlund-Vials] read[s] Jewish and Asian American texts side-by-side to investigate how both ethnic groups have participated in and been shaped by model-minority discourse.... [Her] book is organized historically around a number of couplings between Jewish and Asian American writing that prove particularly fruitful for analyzing how shifting attitudes toward naturalization and immigration policy have determined whether or not, and to what degree, these two minority groups can obtain the status of model citizens.... [She] provid[es] nuanced, historically contextualized readings of literary works... [and] yield[s] strong insights into how cross-ethnic relations have bearing on the meanings of whiteness, transnationalism, model-minority identity, and citizenship."
A Midwestern Mosaic Immigration and Political Socialization in Rural America
J. Celeste Lay
Reviewed in the Spring 2013 issue of International Migration Review. The review read, " A Midwestern Mosaic makes important contributions to several literatures. To political scientists, the book offers insights about the roles of time and racial context in the political socialization of adolescents and the importance of systematically analyzing rural politics. Contributions to immigration research focusing on non-traditional destinations includes information about how quickly adolescents can adapt to demographic change, the emphasis on political socialization, and the formal comparison of immigrant-receiving communities that, on their face, might appear to be quite similar. [Lay's] qualitative data also yield important insights about what high schools and other institutions in rapidly changing communities can do to encourage positive relationships between long-time residents and newcomers. For all of these reasons, this book will be of great interest to scholars, community leaders, policymakers, and others."
Amy L. Blair
Reviewed in the Spring 2013 issue of American Periodicals. The review read, "Blair is detailed in her examination of [Hamilton Wright] Mabie's opinions and in her analysis of how he misread or reinterpreted his subjects in service of his goals.... What is most significant for periodical studies in Blair's work is the insight it provides into the culture wars of the turn of the last century."
Governing How We Care Contesting Community and Defining Difference in U.S. Public Health Programs
Susan J. Shaw
Reviewed in the March/April 2013 issue of Public Administration Review. The review read, "This book is a must-read for policy makers, researchers, health care administrators, public officials, and others who are interested in the complex issues surrounding health care delivery in the United States.... [Shaw] explores the risks and norms of drug prevention research... [Her] illumination of this phenomenon in the injection drug user population provides a challenging perspective to the field.... Governing How We Care provides a concretely rooted lesson about the experience of vulnerable populations in public health programs. Readers will gain valuable insight into programs that aim to correct short-term behavior and long-term behavior adaptations."
Body Language Sisters in Shape, Black Women's Fitness, and Feminist Identity Politics
Kimberly J. Lau
Reviewed in the March 2013 issue of Psychology of Women Quarterly. The review read, "This engaging, thoughtful book interweaves theory, history, and the heartfelt by using the reflective words of the Black women who participated in the program [Sisters in Shape].... Readers will be inspired by the narratives as the participants share their challenges not just around weight but issues of oppression and the search for community. Their stories are largely triumphant as the author weaves a story of women countering a culture of competition with the strength of community support.... Overall, the reader will come away with a more feminist view of the pathways needed to attain greater health and well-being for Black women, body and soul."
Speaking of Race and Class The Student Experience at an Elite College
Elizabeth Aries with Richard Berman
Reviewed in the March 28 issue of Times Higher Education. The review read, "One of the study’s strengths lies in its research design....The book can also be recommended for its breadth of coverage of students’ experiences and the consideration of the salience of race and class across a wide range of situations.... [T]he authors...aim primarily to document the challenges of class and race at an elite college, for both the privileged and the less privileged. In this, they have admirably succeeded."
Church and State in the City Catholics and Politics in Twentieth-Century San Francisco
William Issel
Reviewed on the website, BeyondChron, on March 21. The review read, "[The book] restores the Catholic role in San Francisco’s development through the 1960’s to its rightful place in the city’s history.... Issel convincingly shows that Catholic institutions shaped San Francisco’s history far more than is understood. And from its backing of unions, civil rights, and the needs of the very poor, the Catholic Church fulfilled its mission of working for San Francisco’s greater good."
Church and State in the City was also reviewed in the Spring 2013 issue of The Institute for Historical Study Newsletter. The review read, "William Issel's latest book, Church and State in the City, provides an important missing chapter in the telling of the history of San Francisco.... [It] is a 'must'—both for its content and its wealth of references—for any historians whose research is focused on San Francisco. It will make many readers rethink what they thought they knew about the evolution of the city politic and what place religion has played in San Francisco's social, economic, and cultural evolution."
Rebuilding the News Metropolitan Journalism in the Digital Age
C.W. Anderson
Reviewed in the March 15 issue of Library Journal. The review read, "Anderson explores whether and how emerging online news has changed the practice of reporting. Using a variety of research techniques including ethnography, social-network analysis, and archival content research, he takes an in-depth look at one city (Philadelphia) to study changes in journalism from the 1990s to the present.... Scholars in journalism and organization sociology will appreciate Anderson’s meticulous methodology and his analysis of the responses of journalists and news organizations to a rapidly changing environment."
In a Queer Voice Journeys of Resilience from Adolescence to Adulthood
Michael Sadowski, foreword by Carol Gilligan
Reviewed in Chronogram, March 1. The review read, "[A] valuable call to action.... In a Queer Voice effectively elevates the professional discourse on LGBTQ youth."
Don't Call Me Inspirational A Disabled Feminist Talks Back
Harilyn Rousso
Reviewed in the March 2013 edition of the blog Wordgathering. It read, "[A] remarkably even-handed account and reflection on a life with cerebral palsy."
Rousso and her book were also showcased in the March 3 Chronicle of Higher Education blog Tenured Radical. The article read, "This is a book that is full of generative critique, embedded in the story of a life that itself has many lessons to teach. Don’t call it inspirational: call it energizing. It is written in short chapters, with an accessible style that is alternately funny, wry, serious and acerbic."
In addition, the website Global Comment reviewed Rousso's book on March 5. The review read, "Rousso skillfully blends activist autobiography, coming-of-age memoir, disability narrative, short form poetry, and manifesto.... Rousso has created a multifaceted, well-written, and decidedly nontraditional work with Don’t Call Me Inspirational."
The Politics of State Feminism Innovation in Comparative Research
Dorothy E. McBride and Amy G. Mazur
Reviewed in the March 2013 issue of Perspectives on Politics. The review read, "Superb.... This exhaustive and nuanced scholarship is what allowed for both the identification and testing of the fundamental research question found in this capstone book."
Recasting Welfare Capitalism Economic Adjustment in Contemporary France and Germany
Mark I. Vail
Reviewed in the March 2013 issue of Perspectives on Politics. The review read, "[Vail] covers a [broad] spectrum of welfare-state policies, including social insurance, antipoverty programs, and labor market policy.... One of Vail's most interesting conclusions is that in order to be able to change and adapt, the traditionally 'dirigiste' French state has had to engage to a great degree in negotiations with interest groups, while the traditionally more consensual and neocorporatist German state has had to become more conflict oriented."
Closure The Rush to End Grief and What It Costs Us
Nancy Berns
Reviewed in the March 2013 issue of Contemporary Sociology. The review read, "[A] well-researched, theoretically-guided cultural analysis and critique of a new and socially-constructed emotion.... Berns’ arguments are compelling and backed up with sociological theory, data, and amusing anecdotes. Given the lively writing style, clear organization, lack of sociological jargon, and snappy synopses of current events and practices to achieve closure, this book will have great appeal to general audiences as well as undergraduates with limited backgrounds in sociology.... The book’s real strength is showing how the socially-constructed emotion of closure has been commodified, and used to sell products and services to the bereaved—who may yearn desperately for anything that will dull their pain or resolve their unanswered questions."
George Lipsitz
Reviewed in the March 2013 issue of Contemporary Sociology. The review read, "This big-hearted and incisive book reveals how policies and practices related to the demarcation, commodification, and valuation of urban space reinforce hierarchies of race and class.... This work both painstakingly documents the ways in which the white spatial imaginary excludes people, and particularly women, of color, even as it seduces them with promises of upward mobility and consumer citizenship.... [T]he book mounts a powerful challenge to the recent justifications of racialized inequalities through revanchist scientific racism or the various 'culture of poverty' concepts."
The Disability Rights Movement From Charity to Confrontation Updated Edition
Doris Zames Fleischer and Frieda Zames
Reviewed in in Metapsychology on March 5. The review read, "[A] thorough history of the disability rights movement with a clear emphasis on discrimination against disabled individuals and their many struggles to gain access to different institutions as well as to gain rights concerning health and visibility..... The Disability Rights Movement is a truly great book that is useful for a wide range of readers; those working within disability communities and organizations, in the classroom, and for the layperson interested in the history of activism and disabilities."
Chuck Finder
Tony Norman's column in the March 3rd issue of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette praised Chuck Finder and his book, The Steelers Encyclopedia. It read, "Is there anyone more qualified than former PG sports writer Chuck Finder to chronicle the Steelers in all of their labyrinthine history? Maybe, but for now, Mr. Finder's book is the most definitive and authoritative resource for all things Stillers [sic]."
Cherstin M. Lyon
Reviewed in the March 2013 issue of The Journal of American History. The review read, " Prisons and Patriots provides an insightful analysis of the causes and consequences of civil disobedience by Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans) during World War II.... Lyon effectively uses oral histories and government records to show the variety of perspectives displayed by draft resisters during and after the war.... One can hope that other scholars will be inspired by Lyon's thorough research and elegant narrative to develop a comparative analysis of the postwar discrimination faced by draft resisters and other Japanese Americans branded as 'disloyal.'"
Teaching Marianne and Uncle Sam Public Education, State Centralization, and Teacher Unionism in France and the United States
Nicholas Toloudis
Reviewed in the March 2013 issue of Choice. The review read, "Toloudis deals with the origins of teachers unions in France and the US in the late-19th and early- and middle-20th centuries. The book has some valuable historical information about teachers unions and politics in the two nations, and utilizes some interesting archival material that should be of interest to historians of education generally and of teachers unions in particular.... Summing Up: Recommended."
Chang and Eng Reconnected The Original Siamese Twins in American Culture
Cynthia Wu
Reviewed in March 2013 issue of the Fortean Times. The review read, "Wu's excellent study is supplemented by a detailed analysis of the metaphors represented by conjoined twins.... [ Chang and Eng Reconnected is] full of fascinating details unearthed by Wu's thorough research — not just about the Bunkers, but about the social treatment and subsequent fate of 'freaks' generally."
Music, Style, and Aging Growing Old Disgracefully?
Andy Bennett
Reviewed in Library Journal on February 15. The review read, "The interviews are freewheeling and often very frank....[A]n important—and enjoyable—contribution to the scholarly literature on popular culture and aging."
Don't Call Me Inspirational A Disabled Feminist Talks Back
Harilyn Rousso
Reviewed in the February 6 issue of the New York Jewish Week. The review read, "[E]xtraordinary... Memoirs succeed when they provide readers with a gut feeling of what the author’s life is like, and Rousso indeed opens the door to her world... [She] writes with intelligence, passion, humor and spunk."
Chuck Finder
Reviewed in the February 2013 issue of Pittsburgh Magazine. The review read, "Chuck Finder’s The Steelers Encyclopedia is the perfect guide to have at the ready next time you need to settle an argument before half-time ends. A giant compendium of stats, player biographies, schedules and photos, this book should be in every serious fan’s home."
Toby Miller
Reviewed in the February 2013 issue of Choice. The review read,"Miller takes a lively, well-researched look at the dilemma facing the modern humanities.... Summing Up: Recommended."
The Enigmatic Academy Class, Bureaucracy, and Religion in American Education
Christian J. Churchill and Gerald E. Levy
Reviewed in the February 2013 issue of Choice. The review read, "Their research method is ethnographic case studies of three kinds of schools (for which the book is organized into three parts).... Each part ends with a conclusion that is a superb summary of the previous analysis, and the summaries will make the blood of readers concerned with social justice boil.... Summing Up: Recommended."
Open the original version of this page.
Usablenet Assistive is a UsableNet product. Usablenet Assistive Main Page.