Published this week

(?) = Review forthcoming

ARTS AND DESIGN

- Dances with Darwin, 1875-1910: Vernacular Modernity in France

By Rae Beth Gordon, professor of French and comparative literature, University of Connecticut. Ashgate, £60.00. ISBN 9780754652434

Examining the influence of Darwin's evolutionary theory on French thought, Gordon weaves the history of medical science, ethnology and popular culture into an exploration of the cultural implications of gesture in dance performances in Parisian cafe-concerts and music halls.

- Early Modern Academic Drama

Edited by Jonathan Walker, assistant professor of English, Portland State University, and Paul D. Streufert, assistant professor of Classics, University of Texas at Tyler. Ashgate, £55.00. ISBN 9780754664642

Contributors to this collection argue for the importance of academic drama as a site of cultural production in England from 1500 to 1700, exploring how these plays address various aspects of culture.

- Inventing Futurism: The Art and Politics of Artificial Optimism

By Christine Poggi, associate professor in the history of art, University of Pennsylvania. Princeton University Press, £32.50. ISBN 9780691133706

Countering the standard view of Futurism as naively bellicose, Poggi closely examines Futurist literature, art and politics within the broader context of Italian social history, revealing a surprisingly powerful undercurrent of anxiety among the Futurists.

- Joseph Cornell and Astronomy: A Case for the Stars

By Kirsten Hoving, professor of the history of art, Middlebury College. Princeton University Press, £35.00. ISBN 9780691134987

Hoving provides an in-depth look at one artist's intense fascination with the science of astronomy, exploring why astronomy captivated Cornell, and considering hundreds of his works that contain references to astronomical phenomena.

BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

- Margins of Error in Accounting

By David R. Myddelton, professor of finance and accounting, Cranfield University. Palgrave Macmillan, £65.00. ISBN 9780230219915

Myddelton discusses four main reasons why published company accounts cannot be completely accurate: the "interim-ness" of annual accounts; the growing use of hypothetical current value estimates; the impact of cumulative inflation on financial statements using money as the unit of account; and managers' creative accounting.

HISTORY

- Pope Celestine III (1191-1198): Diplomat and Pastor

Edited by John Doran, lecturer in history, University of Chester, and Damian J. Smith, associate professor of history, St Louis University. Ashgate, £60.00. ISBN 9780754656715

These 15 studies elucidate the life of one of the great figures of 12th-century Europe, Hyacinth Bobone, who became Pope Celestine III (1191-1198), aiming to deepen our understanding of the objectives of the papacy and its relationship with Rome and the wider world in the period before Innocent III.

- Portuguese Colonial Cities in the Early Modern World

Edited by Liam Matthew Brockey, professor of history, Princeton University. Ashgate, £60.00. ISBN 9780754663133

This volume, like the empire it analyses, has a global scope and a chronological span of three centuries. Contributions focus on the social, political and economic aspects of city life in settlements as far apart as Rio de Janeiro, Mozambique Island and Nagasaki.

- The Language of Mineralogy: John Walker, Chemistry and the Edinburgh Medical School, 1750-1800

By Matthew D. Eddy, lecturer in the history of science, Durham University. Ashgate, £60.00. ISBN 9780754663324

This book shows how the classification practices of a defined institutional setting enabled naturalists to create systems of natural history and, by explicitly connecting 18th-century geology to the chemistry being taught in medical settings, offers a new interpretation of the nascent earth sciences as they were practised in Enlightenment Britain.

- Dilemmas of Internationalism: The American Association for the United Nations and US Foreign Policy, 1941-1948

By Andrew Johnstone, lecturer in American history, University of Leicester. Ashgate, £55.00. ISBN 9780754663607

This is a new political history of the 1940s, charting and analyses the efforts of private internationalists to define US internationalism and promote the establishment of the United Nations.

- (J)Internal Colonization in Medieval Europe

Edited by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Prince of Asturias professor of history, Tufts University, and James Muldoon, professor emeritus of history, Rutgers University. Ashgate, £80.00. ISBN 9780754659723

In this collection, distinguished medieval historians discuss the ways in which the transformation from the Dark Ages to a better world took place as European society became more stable.

- The Medieval Frontiers of Latin Christendom: Expansion, Contraction, Continuity

Edited by James Muldoon, professor emeritus of history, Rutgers University, and Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Prince of Asturias professor of history, Tufts University. Ashgate, £80.00. ISBN 9780754659730

The aim of this first volume in the series "The Expansion of Latin Europe" is to sketch the outlines of medieval expansion, illustrating the major topics that historians have examined in the course of demonstrating the links between medieval and modern experiences.

LAW

- Childcare and Preschool Development in Europe: Institutional Perspectives

By Kirsten Scheiwe, professor of law, University of Hildesheim, and Harry Willekens, professor of law, University of Hildesheim. Palgrave Macmillan, £50.00. ISBN 9780230537446

Focusing on an analysis of factors helping or hindering the development of preschool institutions in different countries, and on comparing path dependencies and events that disrupt these accepted norms, this book sets out key policymaking issues in the field.

LINGUISTICS

- One Language, Two Grammars? Differences between British and American English

Edited by Gunter Rohdenburg, professor emeritus of English linguistics, University of Paderborn, and Julia Schluter, assistant professor in English linguistics and language history, University of Bamburg. Cambridge University Press, £60.00. ISBN 9780521872195

This volume focuses on British-American differences in the structure of words and sentences and supports them with computer-aided studies of large text collections, with analyses of the present forms as well as earlier forms of the two variants.

LITERATURE

- Literacy and Identity in Pre-Islamic Arabia

By M.C.A. Macdonald, fellow in Oriental studies, Wolfson College, University of Oxford. Ashgate, £75.00. ISBN 9780754659655

In these studies, Macdonald examines the extraordinary flowering of literacy in both the settled and nomadic populations of western Arabia in the 1,500 years before the birth of Islam.

- The Wounded Animal: J.M. Coetzee and the Difficulty of Reality in Literature and Philosophy

By Stephen Mulhall, fellow and tutor in philosophy, New College, University of Oxford. Princeton University Press, £54.00 and £19.95. ISBN 9780691137360 and 7377

Mulhall closely examines Coetzee's writings about his character Elizabeth Costello, and the ways in which philosophers have responded to those works, focusing in particular on their powerful presentation of both literature and philosophy as seeking, and failing, to represent reality.

- "The Jew" in Late-Victorian and Edwardian Culture

Edited by Eitan Bar-Yosef, senior lecturer in foreign literatures, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and Nadia Valman, lecturer in English, Queen Mary, University of London. Palgrave Macmillan, £45.00. ISBN 9781403997029

Exploring links between Zionist culture and the British imperial experience, essays in this collection suggest how the methods of postcolonial criticism may be applied both to modern Jewish perceptions of territory and nation and to the image of "the Jew" in the British political imagination.

- Comparing Postcolonial Diasporas

Edited by Michelle Keown, lecturer in English literature, University of Edinburgh, David Murphy, senior lecturer in French, University of Stirling, and James Procter, reader in modern English and postcolonial literature, Newcastle University. Palgrave Macmillan, £45.00. ISBN 9780230547087

This edited collection moves beyond the predominantly anglophone bias of much existing scholarship by investigating comparative links between a range of anglophone, francophone and other cultural contexts.

MATHEMATICS

- Proof and Other Dilemmas: Mathematics and Philosophy

By Bonnie Gold, professor of mathematics, Monmouth University. Cambridge University Press, £.99. ISBN 9780883855676

Written in a style aimed at engaging both mathematicians and philosophers of mathematics, this book contains 16 essays written specifically for this volume, discussing recent thinking on classic topics as well as emerging new questions in the field.

MUSIC

- Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst: Virtuoso Violinist

By M.W. Rowe, senior lecturer in philosophy, University of East Anglia. Ashgate, £60.00. ISBN 9780754663409

In this book, Rowe illuminates the life of this most elusive figure, explores Ernst's cultural background, analyses his personality, assesses his importance as a violinist and composer, and provides a full discography and list of his works.

PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY

- The Identity of Christian Morality

By Ann Marie Mealey, associate senior lecturer in theology, Leeds Trinity and All Saints. Ashgate, £55.00. ISBN 9780754660736

This book argues that moral theology has yet to embrace the recommendations of the Second Vatican Council concerning the ways in which it is to be renewed, owing in part of a lack of consensus among theologians regarding the nature and content of Christian theology.

- Liturgy in the Age of Reason: Worship and Sacraments in England and Scotland 1662-c1800

By Bryan D. Spinks, professor of liturgical studies, Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale Divinity School. Ashgate, £55.00. ISBN 9780754660897

Spinks examines the changing perspectives in and discussions on worship styles and practices in England and Scotland, from the Restoration to the death of Wesley, grounding the discussion within the changing cultural and intellectual framework of the Enlightenment.

- Evagrius Ponticus: The Making of a Gnostic

By Julia Konstantinovsky, fellow in theology, Wolfson College, University of Oxford. Ashgate, £55.00. ISBN 9780754662655

Focusing on Evagrius' concept of perfection as the acquisition of spiritual knowledge, this book revisits current perceptions of Evagrius' thought and character by comparing and contrasting him with Christian and pagan contemporaries and predecessors.

- Church, Community and Power

By Roy Kearsley, recognised lecturer in theology, Cardiff University. Ashgate, £55.00. ISBN 9780754663454

Attuned to the current distrust of church power, and drawing on sources including Foucault and feminism, this book creatively works out responses that could turn painful censure into a re-visioning of church power relations, helped by neglected critical studies.

- Philosophical Essays, Volume 2: Natural Language: What It Means and How We Use It

Edited by Scott Soames, professor of philosophy, University of Southern California. Princeton University Press, £28.95. ISBN 9780691136813

These volumes bring together important essays written by one of the world's foremost philosophers of language. Soames has selected 31 essays spanning nearly three decades of thinking about linguistic meaning and the philosophical significance of language.

POLITICS

- Asian American Politics

By Andrew L. Aoki, professor of political science, Augsburg College, and Okiyoshi Takeda, associate professor of political science, Aoyama Gakuin University. Polity, £55.00 and £16.99. ISBN 9780745634463 and 4470

This textbook provides students with an introduction to Asian American politics today. Topics covered include the history and culture of Asian Americans, political behaviour and attitudes, interest groups and public policies that have an important impact on this minority group.

- Counterterrorism

By Ronald Crelinsten, senior research associate, Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria. Polity, £50.00 and £14.99. ISBN 9780745642932 and 2949

Crelinsten presents an approach to counterterrorism that aims to match the complexity of today's terrorist threat, demonstrating that it can no longer be the sole province of states and institutional actors.

- Veil: Mirror of Identity

By Christian Joppke, professor of politics, The American University of Paris. Polity, £45.00 and £12.99. ISBN 9780745643519 and 3526

In this introduction to the politics of the veil in modern societies, Joppke examines why a piece of clothing could have led to such controversy. He argues that the headscarf functions as a mirror of identity, but one in which national and liberal identities overlap.

- War in an Age of Risk

By Christopher Coker, professor of international relations, London School of Economics. Polity, £50.00 and £15.99. ISBN 9780745642871 and 2888

This study looks at how the "risk society" in which we live has restructured the way we think about security and transformed the security agenda. Coker shows how war for the major powers has become the management of risk.

- New Capitalism

By Kevin Doogan, Jean Monnet professor of European policy, University of Bristol. Polity, £55.00 and £16.99. ISBN 9780745633244 and 3251

Doogan looks at contemporary social change through the lens of the labour market, revealing that the transformation of work and the rise in job insecurity are not unavoidable effects of new capitalism; they are manufactured, a result of government policy and the greater exposure of the economy to market forces.

- From Economic Crisis to Reform: IMF Programs in Latin America and Eastern Europe

By Grigore Pop-Eleches, assistant professor of politics and public and international affairs, Princeton University. Princeton University Press, £19.95. ISBN 9780691139524

Pop-Eleches shows that economic crises do not necessarily persuade governments to adopt International Monetary Fund-style economic policies. Instead, ideology, interests and institutions at both international and domestic levels mediate responses to such crises.

- Analyzing the Global Political Economy

By Andrew Walter, senior lecturer in international relations, London School of Economics, and Gautam Sen, former lecturer in politics of the world economy, London School of Economics. Princeton University Press, £65.00 and £24.95. ISBN 9780691139586 and 9593

Ideally suited to upper undergraduate and graduate students, this book critically assesses the convergence between international political economy, comparative political economy and economics.

- The Global Politics of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Science: Regenerative Medicine in Transition

By Herbert Gottweis, professor of political science, University of Vienna, Brian Salter, professor of politics, King's College London, and Catherine Waldby, international research fellow in politics, University of Sydney. Palgrave Macmillan, £50.00. ISBN 9780230002630

This study traces the development of internationally circulating arguments for and against stem-cell research, and the various transnational bioethical spaces that have opened up to try to steer these arguments towards compromise and implementation.

- ?Post-Neoliberalism in the Americas

Edited by Laura Macdonald, professor of political science, Carleton University, and Arne Ruckert, postdoctoral fellow in political science, University of Ottawa. Palgrave Macmillan, £55.00. ISBN 9780230202078

This collection brings together a diverse range of analyses to interrogate the changes that have led to rising levels of poverty and inequality occurring in the Americas, from Canada to Venezuela to Chile.

- Reflections on European Integration: 50 Years of the Treaty of Rome

By David Phinnemore, senior lecturer in European integration and Jean Monnet chair in European political science, Queen's University Belfast, and Alex Warleigh-Lack, professor of politics and international relations, Brunel University. Palgrave Macmillan, £55.00. ISBN 9780230202535

Exploring the development of the European Union, this book examines the ways in which it has been studied over 50 years from the vantage point of four disciplines, from both sides of the Atlantic, and from both academic and practitioner perspectives.

- The Future of EMU

Edited by Leila Simona Talani, lecturer in international and European politics and political economy, University of Bath. Palgrave Macmillan, £55.00. ISBN 9780230218413

This book brings together established experts in the field to provide an interdisciplinary perspective on challenges expected to face the Economic and Monetary Union of the EU over the next few decades, and to propose solutions.

SOCIAL SCIENCES

- ?Youth

By Gill Jones, emeritus professor of sociology, Keele University. Polity, £45.00 and £14.99. ISBN 9780745640945 and 0952

Jones takes an original approach to the concept of youth, placing changes in the social construction of "youth" within a more general story of the rise and fall of grand theory in social science.

- ?Max Weber

By Joachim Radkau, professor of modern history, Bielefeld University. Polity, £55.00. ISBN 9780745641478

Max Weber is recognised worldwide as one of the most important thinker in the social sciences. In a translation of a best-selling German biography, Radkau brings out the intimate interrelations between Weber's thought and his life experience.

- Both Sides Now: The Story of School Desegregation's Graduates

By Amy Stuart Wells, professor of sociology and education, Columbia University, Jennifer Jellison Holme, assistant professor of educational policy, University of Texas at Austin, and Anita Tijerina Revilla, assistant professor of women's studies, University of Nevada at Las Vegas. University of California Press, £42.95 and £17.95. ISBN 9780520256774 and 6781

Featuring the voices of students from varied ethic backgrounds who graduated in 1980 from racially diverse schools; this book offers a first-hand account of how desegregation affected students during high school and later in life.

- Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California

By Tomas Almaguer, professor of ethnic studies, San Francisco State University. University of California Press, £16.50. ISBN 9780520257863

Almaguer unravels the ethnic history of California since the late 19th-century Anglo-American conquest and the institutionalisation of "white supremacy" in the state, weaving a portrait of ethnic, racial and class relationships during this tumultuous time.

- Understanding Muslim Identity: Rethinking Fundamentalism

By Gabriele Marranci, associate professor in the anthropology of Islam, University of Western Sydney. Palgrave Macmillan, £50.00. ISBN 9780230002555

Through an ethnographically based interpretation, Marranci rejects essentialist and cultural reductionist theories, and argues that identity and emotion play a fundamental role in the formation of what the author calls "emotional Islam".

- ?Men in Caring Occupations: Doing Gender Differently

By Ruth Simpson, professor of management, Brunel University. Palgrave Macmillan, £50.00. ISBN 9780230574069

Exploring the experiences of the growing number of men who have entered "feminine" service and caring occupations, this book examines how men in these contexts both "do" and "undo" gender as they manage the potential mismatch between gender and occupational identity.