New Books in History
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Alisha Brosse, “End the Insomnia Struggle” (New Harbinger, 2016)
Every night around the world, millions of people lie in bed at night, struggling to fall asleep. Experts suggest that about one in three people struggle with at least mild insomnia. Paradoxically, their efforts to control their sleep may actuallyâ¦
Jessica van Horssen, “A Town Called Asbestos” (UBC Press, 2016)
In 2012, Canada stopped mining and exporting asbestos. Once considered a miracle mineral for its fireproof qualities, asbestos came to be better known as a carcinogenic, hazardous material banned in numerous countries around the world.
Robert Lacey, “Pragmatic Conservatism: Edmund Burke and His American Heirs” (Palgrave MacMillan, 2016)
With Republicans in control of Washington, many suspect that conservatism is on the ascent. Others are wondering what conservatism even means in 2016. In which version of conservatism does President-Elect Donald J. Trump believe?
Dov Weiss, “Pious Irreverence: Confronting God in Rabbinic Judaism” (U. Pennsylvania Press, 2016)
Judaism is often described as a religion that tolerates, even celebrates arguments with God. Unlike Christianity and Islam, it is said, Judaism endorses a tradition of protest as first expressed in the biblical stories of Abraham, Job, and Jeremiah. Inâ¦
Regis Darques, “Mapping Versatile Boundaries: Understanding the Balkans” (Springer, 2016)
Regis Darquesâ Mapping Versatile Boundaries: Understanding the Balkans (Springer, 2016) offers the unique mapping perspectives on the Balkan region. By exploring a range of topics such as borderlands, contacts between the empires,
Banu Bargu, “Starve and Immolate: The Politics of Human Weapons” (Columbia UP, 2016)
What is the relationship between state power and self-destructive violence as a mode of political resistance? In her book Starve and Immolate: The Politics of Human Weapons (Columbia University Press, 2016), Banu Bargu (Politics,
Brian Eugenio Herrera, “Latin Numbers: Playing Latino in Twentieth-Century U.S. Popular Performance” (U. Michigan Press, 2015)
In Latin Numbers: Playing Latino in Twentieth-Century U.S. Popular Performance (University of Michigan Press, 2015) Brian Eugenio Herrera examines the way in which Latina/o actors have communicated and influenced ideas about race and ethnicity in the U...
Gretchen Buggeln, “The Suburban Church: Modernism and Community in Postwar America” (U. Minnesota Press, 2015)
After World War II, Americaâs religious denominations spent billions on church architecture as they spread into the suburbs. Gretchen Buggelnâs latest monograph, The Suburban Church: Modernism and Community in Postwar America (University of Minneso...
Joe Solmonese, “The Gift of Anger: Use Passion to Build Not Destroy
Anger has acquired a bad reputation in our culture. It is an emotional state that can lead us to say and do things we later regret, particularly when our emotion overrides reason. But anger has the potential for being usedâ¦
Amani Willett, “Amani Willett: Disquiet” (Damiani Factory, 2013)
Amani Willett: Disquiet by Amani Willett, is published by Damiani Factory (2013), with an afterward by Marvin Heiferman, 128 pages. âDisquietâs cinematic look suggests the palpable spaces in which Willett pondered both the depth and fragility of so...