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Social Sciences Anonymous. Library Journal 138.18 (Oct 01, 2013): n/a.
Abstract (summary) Many books regarding the social sciences are reviewed.
Full Text Social Sciences Biography Review by Linda Frederiksen When Léonard Autié arrived in Paris during the summer of 1769, he brought with him a bundle of self-confidence and his "magic comb." Determined to make his fortune as a hairdresser, Autié quickly found patrons among Parisian actresses and in the court of Louis XV. It was Autié who created "le pouf," those massive and frivolous concoctions that towered above the foreheads of the privileged elite and contained ribbons, feathers, flowers, jewels, and, ultimately, even a model ship sailing on a sea of hair. Eventually, he became the stylist and confidant of the young Austrian dauphine, Marie Antoinette. As an intimate of the Versailles court, Autié was a witness to, and possibly a participant in, the chaos leading up to the execution of his most famous client. Based primarily on a two-volume memoir published after the hairdresser's death in 1820, this entertaining read by Bashor (global issues, Franklin Univ.) dramatizes (there's invented dialog) a fascinating period of French history. Enhanced by numerous archival images and supplementary materials, the book captures details of an extraordinary time and place. VERDICT An engaging, albeit embellished, narrative of a celebrity hairstylist, circa 1789. Biography buffs and lovers of historical fiction will enjoy this work, but it's not for specialists.--Linda Frederiksen, Washington State Univ. Lib., Vancouver Bashor, Will. Marie Antoinette's Head: The Royal Hairdresser, the Queen, and the Revolution. Lyons. Oct. 2013. 288p. illus. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780762791538. $26.95. BIOG Review by Elizabeth Salt This memoir is the culmination of a long collaboration between Kopenawa, a Yanomami shaman from northern Brazil's rain forest, and French anthropologist Albert (research director, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Paris), who spent many years among the Yanomami. Kopenawa provides a fascinating glimpse into his life as well as into Yanomami cultural beliefs and practices, setting his story against the various threats the Yanomami people and their forest have faced since the 1960s--highway construction, a gold rush, the encroachment of Brazilian farmers and ranchers, and epidemics of introduced infectious diseases. Albert translated Kopenawa's words into French for the original edition, published in 2010, and the work has now been translated into English. Highlights include Kopenawa's initiation into shamanism, his own and his tribe's interactions with white Brazilians, and his travels within Brazil and abroad to speak about the importance of protecting the Amazon rain forest. He includes a strong warning to people outside of the Yanomami world about the dangers of materialism and land destruction. VERDICT Kopenawa's story is eloquent, engaging, and thought-provoking, exuding heartfelt wisdom. This extraordinary and richly detailed work is an outstanding explication of the Yanomami worldview as well as a plea to all people to respect and preserve the rain forest. Very highly recommended to all with an interest in anthropology, Native American studies, conservation, or ecology. --Elizabeth Salt, Otterbein Univ. Lib., Westerville, OH Kopenawa, Davi & Bruce Albert. The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman. Harvard Univ. Nov. 2013. 630p. tr. from French by Nicholas Elliott & Alison Dundy. illus. maps. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780674724686. $39.95. AUTOBIOG Review by Jacob Sherman Savodnik, a journalist who has reported from Russia, peels back the layers of conspiracy chatter surrounding Lee Harvey Oswald and investigates the man himself by focusing on his time in the Soviet Union (1959-62). Savodnik's contention is that Oswald's sojourn there was his last best hope for finding stability in his erratic life. When he defected to Russia at 19 after leaving the marines, he wanted to take part in a Marxist revolution, but the Soviets--who, as Savodnik points out, wanted their own stability after decades of war and Stalinism--never granted Oswald citizenship and kept a close eye on him. The book effectively details how Oswald, sent to a factory job in Minsk, and overseen by the KGB, after a spell of enjoying popularity as an American boyfriend to local women, became alienated, married Marina Prusakova in a mutual act of desperation, and returned with her to the States. This was emblematic of his patterns of unhappiness and drastic impulse. In the States he further destabilized, which led to tragic consequences. VERDICT This work complements Gerald Posner's Case Closed , which also sees Oswald as the lone--and loner--assassin, as well as Priscilla Johnson McMillan's Marina and Lee , which takes a more personal and Marina-focused approach. Recommended for all who remain fascinated by Oswald, the Kennedy assassination, Cold War narratives, or infamous criminals. [Marina and Lee has been reissued with a new introduction by the author.--Ed.]--Jacob Sherman, Texas A&M Univ. Lib., San Antonio Savodnik, Peter. The Interloper: Lee Harvey Oswald Inside the Soviet Union. Basic: Perseus. Oct. 2013. 288p. notes. index. ISBN 9780465021819. $27.99.
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BIOG Economics Review by Susan Hurst This second work by economists and coauthors Drèze (economics, Allahabad Univ., India) and Nobel Prize winner Sen (Thomas W. Lamont Univ. Professor, economics & philosophy, Harvard Univ.) after Hunger and Public Action , which focused on hunger issues in India, examines Indian economic growth, corruption, education, health care, poverty, and gender inequality. While these topics aren't new, the authors offer new ideas for how India can achieve long-term economic sustainability and growth through meeting the essential needs of its citizens. With current data presented throughout, there is some repetition among the chapters in the coverage of core problems such as the declining GDP and worsening indicators of inadequate social services compared to India's neighbors, particularly Bangladesh. Each chapter ends with a summation of societal obstacles and ideas on ways to address them. VERDICT A thoroughly researched book that looks at the mounting difficulties in modern India. Recommended for academic libraries.--Susan Hurst, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH Drèze, Jean & Amartya Sen. An Uncertain Glory: India and Its Contradictions. Princeton Univ. 2013. 434p. illus. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780691160795. $29.95; ebk. ISBN 9781400848775. BUS Education Review by Elizabeth Hayford Lang (English, Assumption Coll.) addresses the unpleasant subject of academic dishonesty but avoids focusing on rules and punishment, instead exploring more positive ways to encourage students to engage in learning. First, he assures readers that there is no evidence that cheating in college has increased; he claims dishonesty occurs when students feel unable to succeed in an academic environment and that it will be reduced if faculty modify their courses and motivate students to prioritize learning instead of test taking. Lang explains relevant cognitive theory, outlines factors that foster cheating, and presents fascinating examples of course structures and classroom activities that stimulate students to work toward mastering their subjects. VERDICT This lively book combines a review of key studies of cheating, inspiring examples of active student efforts to stop academic dishonesty, and useful guidelines for how faculty and institutions can respond when it does occur. Aimed at faculty and college administrators, this readable and well-structured analysis presenting methods to facilitate academic success will also be of interest to readers concerned with how universities provide support to students. --Elizabeth Hayford, formerly with Associated Coll. of the Midwest, Chicago Lang, James M. Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty. Harvard Univ. 2013. 262p. notes. index. ISBN 9780674724631. $26.95. ED History Review by Scott H. Silverman Foley (American political culture, Univ. of Groningen, Netherlands; coeditor, Home Fronts: A Wartime America Reader ), a well-established chronicler of 1960s protest movements, argues persuasively that the 1970s and 1980s did not show a decline in grassroots movements but were in fact marked by issue-focused reactions and responses rooted in personal (often family-related) experience. These were volatile decades that saw the advent of busing to integrate schools, Title IX legislation that made gender discrimination in school and collegiate sports illegal, the uncovering of pervasive corporate environmental irresponsibility, the federal legalizing of abortion, and the emergence of AIDS. Foley's chapters on the grassroots responses to these and other circumstances make for a riveting narrative in which he gives equal weight to activists and public opinion on both sides of the debates he examines. Foley's greatest heroes may be the residents of Love Canal, NY, who, on discovering they were living on top of toxic landfill, organized successfully to get federal remediation, epitomizing the transformation of ordinary men and women into dogged front porch political actors. VERDICT Recommended for serious readers of American social history and political movements.--Scott H. Silverman, Dresden, ME Foley, Michael Stewart. Front Porch Politics: The Forgotten Heyday of American Activism in the 1970s and 1980s. Hill & Wang. 2013. 432p. illus. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780809054824. $28. HIST Review by Frederic Krome Grabowski (history, Univ. of Ottawa) provides a case study of the Holocaust in the Polish county of Dabrowa Tarnowska, which was occupied early in the war and not liberated until the spring of 1945. After Operation Reinhard (1942-43), the Nazi plan to murder Poland's Jews, thousands of them sought refuge in the forests and towns of the county, yet fewer than 100 of them survived the war. Many Jews were killed as a result of Judenjagds (Jew hunts) carried out frequently by Poland's Blue Police and abetted by local volunteers. After capturing Jews, the police turned them over to the Nazis to be murdered. Eschewing facile generalizations about latent or active anti-Semitism, Grabowski considers the motivations of both those who aided Jews and those who attacked them. Sometimes the same person engaged in both activities. For example, one Pole sheltered several Jews as long as he was paid, and when the money ran out, he bludgeoned them to death. VERDICT Grabowski's highly detailed reconstruction challenges the conventional wisdom of dividing the population into victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. More local studies are needed to see if his conclusions can be applied on a national level. Recommended for all serious Holocaust collections. --Frederic Krome, Univ. of Cincinnati Clermont Coll. Grabowski, Jan. Hunt for the Jews: Betrayal and Murder in German-Occupied Poland. Indiana Univ. 2013. 288p. illus. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780253010742. $35; ebk. ISBN 9780253010872. HIST Review by Margaret Heller Plato and Aristotle differed in several fundamental respects, but their work is inarguably fundamental to the intellectual history of the Western world. Herman, a Pulitzer finalist for Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age , traces the differences in their approaches and philosophy, both in their contemporary settings as well as in their reception and use in the following millennia. Plato (and more precisely the Neoplatonists) is the key to later spirituality and darker fascistic impulses; Aristotle is the basis for more practical and scientific systems. Herman's method to history is somewhat conservative in its focus on the work of well-known intellectual figures, but this makes for a good story with a dramatic and engaging narrative style. The sharp distinctions he tends to draw between Platonists and Aristotelians are more persuasive for the later Roman Empire and
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the Middle Ages when looking at texts that would have been available that make the influences clearer. By the 19th and 20th centuries, the record of influences is much less easy to disentangle. Ultimately, Herman concludes that we need the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle in concert to build a rational and great civilization. VERDICT This well-written and convincing work of popular history will appeal to a wide range of readers. [See Prepub Alert, 4/1/13.]--Margaret Heller, Loyola Univ. Chicago Libs. Herman, Arthur. The Cave and the Light: Plato Versus Aristotle, and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization. Random. 2013. 656p. illus. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780553807301. $35; ebk. ISBN 9780553907834. HIST Review by Frederick J. Augustyn Jr. We all hold on to objects that are laden with our memories. Kurin (under secretary, history, art, & culture, Smithsonian Inst.; Hope Diamond: The Legendary History of a Cursed Gem ) presents a chronological selection of Smithsonian holdings that represent the nation's memory, organizing materials according to the themes of U.S. history, from "Before Columbus" to "New Millennium." A guide like this is all the more useful since such a small percentage of the Smithsonian's holdings can ever be on exhibit. The book is much more descriptive than analytical, as Kurin sets each object, beautifully photographed, in its historical and institutional context. The objects cover a wide spectrum: here are all four of Katharine Hepburn's Oscars, Helen Keller's tactile watch, one of only three surviving Mormon moonstones from the Nauvoo Temple, Neil Armstrong's space suit--and the entire Carnegie mansion, now housing the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York. VERDICT Written for nonspecialists, albeit insatiably curious ones, this volume will be welcomed by museum visitors, docents, and general history and biography buffs, much like Harold Holzer's The Civil War in 50 Objects and Neil MacGregor's A History of the World in 100 Objects , using collections at the New-York Historical Society and the British Museum, respectively. [See Prepub Alert, 5/13/13.]--Frederick J. Augustyn Jr., Lib. of Congress, Washington, DC Kurin, Richard. The Smithsonian's History of America in 101 Objects. Penguin Pr. Oct. 2013. 768p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781594205293. $50. HIST Review by David Keymer Lepenies (senior fellow, Inst. for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany) defines development as "the efforts to develop less-developed countries by means of international aid programs." Development agencies import Western solutions to underdeveloped countries using "experts" who typically know less about the societies they are helping than about abstract economic indicators. Lepenies argues that this "development mind-set" began in the Renaissance with the invention of linear perspective in painting, grew in power during the scientific revolution, and culminated in the Enlightenment ideas expressed in the Marquis de Condorcet's Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind (1794), which argued that civilized peoples have a duty toward the rest of the world. While none of these components is original, the combination of them may be. The best section, on the invention of perspective, largely recycles and cites art historian Erwin Panofsky's Perspective as Symbolic Form . Lepenies isn't writing history; he's building an intellectual construct. Its end point is the assertion that contemporary thinking on development supports a linear concept of progress and that we possess a privileged viewpoint on it. VERDICT Those actually shaping current development practice are not likely to be naturally drawn to this book, but it's difficult to think of another audience for it.--David Keymer, Modesto, CA Lepenies, Philipp H. Art, Politics, and Development: How Linear Perspective Shaped Policies in the Western World. Temple Univ. (Politics, History, & Social Change). Dec. 2013. 218p. illus. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781439910849. $59.50. HIST Review by Muhammed Hassanali Mufti (journalism, Univ. of Richmond), a journalist who has covered Pakistan, intertwines his family's history with that of Pakistan's as a nation. His main narrative starts when his parents got married in 1971 on the day that India and Pakistan went to war. His U.S.-educated father moved the family to the States when political conditions in Pakistan became increasingly Islamist. They went back to Pakistan when they perceived that Americans had become less tolerant of Muslims in the wake of the 1979-81 Iranian hostage crisis. The author returned to the States to attend boarding school and then college and, as a journalist, ended up shuttling between Pakistan and America. While Mufti's intent here is to illuminate Pakistan's intricate history by tracing that of his own family, most of the time the personal and the historical are disconnected, with neither narrative unfolding chronologically. The onus is on readers to cope with gaps in time and keep track of dates. A time line of major events, historical and personal, would have helped, as would a table of contents, endnotes, a bibliography, and an index. VERDICT Recommended, with reservations, for those interested in Pakistan's history or in how political decisions impact citizens.--Muhammed Hassanali, Shaker Heights, OH Mufti, Shahan. The Faithful Scribe: A Story of Islam, Pakistan, Family, and War. Other. 2013. 352p. ISBN 9781590515051. $26.95; ebk. ISBN 9781590515068. HIST Review by Beth Dalton Packed with selected news and features covering politics, global events, fashion, sports, science, technology, health, lifestyle, and the arts, this selection of pieces from the morgue of the New York Times , with new commentary by Times obituary writer Grimes, brings the 1980s back to those who remember them and gives a great sense of the decade for those who don't. Here are major events chronicled, as they happened, from the eruption of Mount St. Helens to the Challenger explosion to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Readers witness the birth of personal computing, liposuction, CNN, and crazes such as Rubik's Cubes and Cabbage Patch dolls, as well as advances in genetics and the development of psychiatric drugs. Everyone will recognize the role that newspapers played, before the advent of the Internet and social media, in shaping our understanding of the world around us. While the book covers the major themes of the decade, it is not a source for the Times 's long-form investigative journalism of that decade. VERDICT A solid volume of contextualized primary-source material for dipping into. Ideal for stimulating cross-generational and classroom discussion or for just plain reminiscing. The forthcoming title The Times of the Seventies , edited and with commentary by Clyde Haberman, is also likely to be welcome.--Beth Dalton, Littleton, CO The New York Times: The Times of the Eighties; The Culture, Politics, and Personalities That Shaped the Decade. Black Dog & Leventhal. 2013. 312p. ed. by William Grimes. photos. index. ISBN 9781579129330. $29.95. HIST Review by John R. Burch Wampum, strings or belts of clam or conch shells, had many uses among native peoples. Among them: as an artistic way of telling the narrative of a sovereign people (e.g., the Iroquois wampum belt), as a diplomatic and trade language, and as a form of tribal and intertribal specie. Intriguingly and
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convincingly, Shell (Irving Babbitt Professor of Comparative Literature, Harvard Univ.; American Babel: Literatures of the United States from Abnaki to Zuni ) argues that wampum was adopted by the Dutch and English for diplomatic and economic purposes. He gives examples of early uses of wampum in economic exchanges among American Colonies. Beginning with a short history of numismatics, Shell shows how coinage was representative of a people, especially for foreign trade. His middle, and strongest, section focuses on the uses of wampum during the Colonial era and how wampum usage reached its nadir by the end of the American Revolution, when it was supplanted by paper currency, which he terms "paper wampum," that often featured representations of Native Americans. The book's final portion is a history of the development of the U.S. economy to the present day that contextualizes wampum as the origin of the American economic system. VERDICT This copiously color-illustrated and erudite work fills a significant gap in the literature of Native American and U.S. economic studies and is highly recommended for academic readers interested in its interconnected subjects.--John R. Burch, Campbellsville Univ. Lib., KY Shell, Marc. Wampum and the Origins of American Money. Univ. of Illinois. 2013. 184p. illus. notes. index. ISBN 9780252033667. $35. HIST Law & Crime Review by Ricardo Laskaris Journalist and religion writer Pinsky (The Gospel According to the Simpsons ) recounts the long history of his investigation into the unsolved 1970 murder of antipoverty worker Nancy Morgan in rural Madison County, NC, and his theory regarding who was responsible. Given that he faced a society, culture, and local government operating under "mountain justice" and a state government unwilling to risk challenging its own stated theory, it's not surprising that the author's "quest" spanned 40 years. That said, the reader cannot help wondering if he could have concluded it sooner by investigating at a less casual pace-Pinsky limited himself to two weeks of investigation per year, later one week per year. His characterization of the people involved, from lawmen to the victim's neighbors to suspects, and his description of everyday life in Madison County, are vivid--even unpleasantly so, as the reader is exposed to the county's less savory denizens. Pinsky refers interested readers to many fiction and nonfiction works about Madison County and North Carolina and cites press coverage of the Morgan case and related trials. VERDICT Inasmuch as this is a story of Pinsky's own investigation, it is likely to be unique in any collection and of interest to aficionados of cold cases and/or North Carolina political history.--Ricardo Laskaris, York Univ. Lib., Toronto Pinsky, Mark I. Met Her on the Mountain: A Forty-Year Quest To Solve the Appalachian Cold-Case Murder of Nancy Morgan. John F. Blair. Oct. 2013. 278p. ISBN 9780895876119. $24.95. CRIME Review by Claire Franek Surfer and former war reporter Smith takes an in-depth look at the complex world of surfing. To outsiders, the north shore of Hawaii's Oahu looks like an island paradise, home to some of the best surfing in the world and host of surfing's Triple Crown competition. The author shows another, seamier side. One of the major problems is the prevalence of drugs, and the effects upon those competing, as well as the native population, are well described. Smith presents a historical perspective of the sport and island history and includes many little-known facts, such as the real story behind the murder of Captain Cook at the hands of rival Hawaiian warlords. The result is a vivid and somewhat disconcerting depiction of the world of surfing and its attendant problems, which may be overwhelming to the casual reader. VERDICT An uncommon read for those interested in surfing or those seeking a look at Hawaii from a vantage point not normally found in history books.--Claire Franek, Greenville, KY Smith, Chas. Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell: A True Story of Violence, Corruption, and the Soul of Surfing. It: HarperCollins. Dec. 2013. 256p. index. ISBN 9780062202529. $25.99. CRIME Review by Joan Pedzich Wilson (political science, Univ. of Denver) chronicles the evolution of the anti-abortion movement from grassroots clinic protests to its present form as a highly organized and politically powerful collection of institutions. In the post-Roe v. Wade era, the conflict over abortion rights progressed from street demonstration to legal action and legislative initiative. The author examines key events and cases and interviews activists, lawyers, and lawmakers on both sides of the debate. He expands on a theory that activists' use of personal narratives running counter to traditional understandings of the law has played an important role in buoying and galvanizing a movement that suffered numerous early legal defeats. Wilson backs his point with references to the "storytelling" of the participants in three important cases, thus making a complex argument accessible and meaningful. VERDICT This is a thoughtful and well-documented history of the anti-abortion movement, not an analysis of the right or wrong of abortion. As such, academics interested in the strategies employed by social and political movements of various stripes will find it enlightening, as will all those engaged in the serious work of public policy change. --Joan Pedzich, formerly with Harris Beach PLLC, Pittsford, NY Wilson, Joshua C. The Street Politics of Abortion: Speech, Violence, and America's Culture Wars. Stanford Univ. 2013. 256p. notes. bibliog. ISBN 9780804785341. pap. $25.95. LAW Parapsychology Review by Rachel Hoover This work, a translation of Lecouteux's (formerly, medieval literature & civilization, Paris-Sorbonne Univ.) La Maison et Ses Genies (2000), is a detailed study of ancestral European folk traditions centered on the home and the spirits or creatures, including dwarves, sprites, and fairies, that were believed to exist there. Most of these curious rites have been lost over time or through major cultural changes. Like Catharina Raudvere's More Than Mythology: Narrative, Ritual Practices and Regional Distribution in Pre-Christian Scandinavian Religions , this book explores not only the traditions and superstitions themselves but how they reflected the values and social structure of a given region and how they survived despite an altered religious environment. People sought to retain their familiar rites from older days of pantheistic worship as Christianity gradually took over. VERDICT Lecouteux provides plenty of historical accounts and stories that exemplify the various beliefs discussed, and his detailed and thoroughly researched writing remains accessible despite the academic tone evident in this translation. Readers with an interest in folklore, superstitions, or fairy tales will find it enlightening, especially regarding the traces of these beliefs that still exist in modern consciousness, either in lingering cultural traditions or from the folk and fairy tales we continue to pass down over generations. --Rachel Hoover, Thomas Ford Memorial Lib., Western Springs, IL Lecouteux, Claude. The Tradition of Household Spirits: Ancestral Lore and Practices. Inner Traditions. 2013. 248p. tr. from French by Jon E. Graham. illus.
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notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781620551059. pap. $16.95. PARAPSYCH Political Science Review by Joel Neuberg Journalist Blumenthal (formerly, senior writer, Daily Beast; Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party ) presents the IsraelPalestine conflict as the result of a colonialist endeavor to displace an indigenous population and establish a racist, militaristic, theocratic state on its land. Though he focuses on the past 20 years, Blumenthal seeks to convince the reader that Israel has become a fascist society and that neither Greater Israel (including the West Bank) nor Israel proper (the territory behind the 1948-67 Green Line) could ever be Jewish and democratic. His contention--that the current right-wing government is different in degree but not in kind from all previous Israeli governments in its persecution of Palestinians within and outside the Green Line--is supported by references to the Palestinian narrative that cites public and private statements of Jews and Arabs and through descriptions of public reaction to demonstrations by and in support of Palestinians. VERDICT Blumenthal's clear political left bias and some obvious factual errors should cause some skepticism in readers. Ari Shavit's My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel , which uses in-depth interviews to explicate the positions of significant figures in present-day Israel and Palestine, will leave many with more hope for Israel's future, while those less supportive of the Jewish state may find Blumenthal's book appealing. --Joel Neuberg, Santa Rosa Junior Coll. Lib., CA Blumenthal, Max. Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel. Nation. Oct. 2013. 336p. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781568586342. $26.99. INT AFFARIS Review by Krista Bush Zbigniew Brzezinski is best known for his service as President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser over 30 years ago. Yet he continues to be a force today, advising President Obama's administration and serving on various boards as well as being an Osgood Professor of American Foreign Policy at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Known for his fearlessness in interpersonal confrontation, "Zbig" has had a strong hand in foreign policy matters especially regarding China, Iran, and Russia, often going against the mind-set of those in his own Democratic party (e.g., Cyrus Vance, President Carter's secretary of state). The 17 contributing essayists here include Warren I. Cohen (history, emeritus, Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore) and the late Nancy Bernkopf Tucker (formerly, Sch. of Foreign Svc., Georgetown Univ.), East Asia specialists who criticize Zbig for his disregard of human rights issues in China. On the other hand, contributors who are former National Security Council staffers tend simply to offer praise of their former boss. Editor Gati (senior fellow, Foreign Policy Inst.) ends the book with his own interview of his subject. VERDICT This set of new pieces will fill a gap in material on Brzezinski in serious political science collections.--Krista Bush, Shelton, CT Zbig: The Strategy and Statecraft of Zbigniew Brzezinski. Johns Hopkins. 2013. 288p. ed. by Charles Gati. illus. notes. index. ISBN 9781421409764. $29.95; ebk. ISBN 9781421409771. INT AFFAIRS Psychology Review by Kellie Benson Fallon (emeritus, Univ. of California-Irvine), a research neuroscientist whose work with position emission tomography (PET) brain scans and genetic maps of convicted murderers revealed his own propensity toward psychopathology, relates in memoir form how his early family experiences and intellectual strength helped him succeed in life. Descriptive analysis of brain functions and cognition and, later, genetic code are clearly communicated for the general reader, as is the explanation of Robert D. Hare's Psychopathy Checklist, a psychodiagnostic tool most commonly used to assess psychopathy. The personal side of the story is less intriguing, owing to the author's seeming lack of empathy. The reader is thus subjected to moments when self-aggrandizement and fatuous bad behavior are less compellingly or entertainingly conveyed than in comparable passages in Jon Ronson's The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry . VERDICT The book does a fair job of documenting the growing social psychology trend, which observes the shifting of behavior norms and expectations toward the pathological, but falls short of fully engaging the reader and will likely appeal most to discerning specialists. --Kellie Benson, Oakton Community Coll. Libs., Des Plaines, IL Fallon, James. The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain. Current. Oct. 2013. 256p. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781591846000. $27.95; ebk. ISBN 9781101603925. PSYCH Review by Chrissy Spallone Psychologist Perry digs deep into the story behind psychologist Stanley Milgram's famous "obedience experiments," which led to the reformation of American Psychiatric Association ethics codes and inspired several fictional and reality TV programs. Here Perry interviews subjects involved in the experiments, who, believing they were participating in research on the effects of punishment on learning, were instructed to administer electric shocks to other participants taking memory tests. Many of the unwitting subjects were traumatized, thinking they had actually killed the other participant, and some are still haunted and blame Milgram for their actions. Perry uncovers more than 20 variations of the experiment and describes Milgram's disdainful and harsh views toward subjects who proved to be obedient. She points out that the original experiment occurred in 1961, almost simultaneously with the trial of Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann. Perry prompts readers to consider several questions: Are people always responsible for their actions? Why are the subjects of Milgram's experiments more sympathetic than Nazis? Why is it acceptable to cite Milgram's experiment but not the research done in concentration camps? Is it because Milgram's subjects didn't harm anyone (even though they thought they did)? VERDICT Recommended to anyone in the psychology field or those studying ethics. Readers interested in World War II will learn from the experiment's parallels with Nazi atrocities.--Chrissy Spallone, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Lib. Perry, Gina. Behind the Shock Machine: The Untold Story of the Notorious Milgram Psychology Experiments. New Pr. 2013. 352p. notes. ISBN 9781595589217. $26.95; ebk. ISBN 9781595589255. PSYCH Social Science Review by Janet Ingraham Dwyer What is the allure of competitive extra-curricular activities for young children? Given the significant family investment of time and money, what are the net benefits for participants? For her first book, sociologist Friedman (Malcolm Wiener Ctr. for Social Policy; John F. Kennedy Sch. of Government, Harvard Univ.)
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performed an in-depth qualitative study of representative soccer teams, chess clubs, and dance studios; interviewed dozens of children, parents, and coaches; and observed competitions and practices over 16 months of fieldwork. She found that at the elementary level, children's participation is largely parent driven in quest of what she calls "Competitive Kid Capital." This capital consists of children's acquisition of strategic skills and attitudes, including the importance of winning, recovery from loss, and the ability to perform within time limits, under stress, and while being observed and evaluated. VERDICT Given the considerable competitive pressure on even young children to prepare for elite colleges and lucrative careers, this study is timely and provocative. It is, however, targeted more toward scholars of childhood and family than to parents and other lay readers. Purchase accordingly. Nonspecialists who have read both Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and Lenore Skenazy's Free-Range Kids: How To Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry ) may find it of interest.--Janet Ingraham Dwyer, State Lib. of Ohio, Columbus Friedman, Hilary Levey. Playing To Win: Raising Children in a Competitive Culture. Univ. of California. 2013. 312p. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780520276758. $65; pap. ISBN 9780520276765. $29.95; ebk. ISBN 9780520956698. SOC SCI Review by Ahmer Qadeer For many, the hallmarks of growing up remain getting a good job, owning a home, and having a stable family. But the last 50 years have been marked by an unmooring of blue-collar work, the erosion of established family structures, and a decline in prospects for many working-class Americans. With the gap between aspirations and possibilities increasing, many young people have had to adapt. Toggling between showing how economic and social trends are pushing traditional markers of adulthood out of reach and how individuals "ascribe meaning, order and progress" in their lives, Silva (postdoctoral fellow, John F. Kennedy Sch. of Government, Harvard Univ.), through interviews with youth in Lowell, MA, and Richmond provides thought-provoking perspectives on what it means to be an adult while being underemployed, uncommitted, and without many possibilities for betterment. The book is strongest in its discussion of the "mood economy" and how overcoming emotional trauma and transforming oneself are increasingly becoming important indicators of adulthood. VERDICT While this work is timely, thorough, and important and asks very good questions, it is written with professionals in mind. This title will appeal to readers of sociology and to social scientists with an interest in class.--Ahmer Qadeer, Brooklyn Silva, Jennifer M. Coming Up Short: Working-Class Adulthood in an Age of Uncertainty. Oxford Univ. 2013. 224p. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780199931460. $29.95. SOC SCI Review by Cynthia Harrison Wolf (Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of Public Sector Management, King's Coll., London) observes that in the West, well-educated men marry well-educated women, that these women have fewer children than did women of earlier generations, and that these elite families buy domestic labor. Elite women now work for wages, and, therefore, "old-style female altruism is a fading memory." But Wolf tells readers little that's new, and she fails to explain how to rectify the inequalities she observes. She asserts that midcentury feminists ("who burned bras," she writes, dismissively, repeating a false characterization) failed to achieve their goals of full equality and that "contemporary female manifestos [focus] almost entirely on elite women, not the...millions who staff nursing homes" and work at other low-wage jobs. Wolf's point is that the rise of elite, empowered women has caused a two-caste society. Yet her own book examines elite women, and she has obviously not acquainted herself with the burgeoning literature on low-wage women workers. Nor has Wolf done much historical research. For example, she states, "Premarital sex used to be rare and seriously risky." To the contrary, premarital sex was historically common, and as many as one-third of brides in some 19th-century communities in America and Great Britain were pregnant. VERDICT This title may appeal to the elite women about whom the author writes.--Cynthia Harrison, George Washington Univ., Washington, DC Wolf, Alison. The XX Factor: How the Rise of Working Women Has Created a Far Less Equal World. Crown. Oct. 2013. 416p. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780307590404. $26. SOC SCI Travel & Geography Review by Ravi Shenoy A drug dealer's contract on his life forces Australian ex-punk rocker, playwright, actor, and journalist Smith to do the sketchy bail (Australian for "leave in a hurry") to India. Thus begins a romp along the hippie trail of the new millennium. Along the way, the author meets an international cast of characters who wander like a tribe, parting and reuniting at all the well-known spiritual watering holes along the trail. Drugs are cheap; the travelers lodge in fleabag hotels and endure bouts of diarrhea. Contact with locals is minimal. But face to face with poverty, Smith observes, "How frivolous and conceited of me to come here from my more affluent but spiritually effluent culture on my little spiritual safari." Then in the Himalayas--at the glacier that's the source of the Ganges--the stoner's picnic swiftly turns into tragedy. VERDICT Smith's knowledge of India and Hindu mythology is shaky, but the narrative of this spiritual quest/drug-fueled odyssey is striking and even lyrical, and the tension builds rapidly to a haunting end. Readers who are intrigued by the lives of contemporary Western hippies in India will appreciate this book. It will also appeal to fans of Rory MacLean's Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India and Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love .--Ravi Shenoy, Naperville, IL Smith, Aaron. Shanti Bloody Shanti: An Indian Odyssey. Roaring Forties. 2013. 260p. ISBN 9781938901119. pap. $15.95; ebk. ISBN 9781938901133. TRAV Copyright Media Source Inc Oct 01, 2013
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Subject
Book reviews; Social sciences
Location
United States--US
Classification
9190: United States 1220: Social trends & culture 8690: Publishing industry
Title
Social Sciences
12/13/2013 5:44 PM
Social Sciences - ProQuest
7 of 7
http://search.proquest.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/docview/1434103...
Author Publication Volume Issue Pages title
Anonymous Library 138 18 n/a Journal
Publication year
2013
Publication date
Oct 01, 2013
Year
2013
Section
Reviews
Publisher
Media Source
Place of publication
New York
Country of publication
United States
Publication subject
Publishing And Book Trade, Library And Information Sciences
ISSN
03630277
CODEN
LIBJA7
Source type
Trade Journals
Language of publication
English
Document type
Book Review-Comparative
ProQuest document ID
1434103010
Document URL
http://search.proquest.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/docview /1434103010?accountid=11311
Copyright
Copyright Media Source Inc Oct 01, 2013
Last updated
2013-09-27
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