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Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Press Releases

For more information, author interviews, or review copies, please contact: Marina Politano, Marketing/Publicity Associate

phone 416-441-5691
fax 416-441-2951

Email me

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June 29, 2010

Curso de inglés online My Oxford English

Oxford University Press España has My Oxford English is an interactive, online media-rich distance learning system for adult learners of English specifically developed for Spanish speakers. At the heart of the system is a 10-level course that takes learners from complete beginner to the Common European Framework's B2 level.

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April 30, 2010
For Immediate Release

The Bottom Billion was greeted as groundbreaking in 2007, winning the Lionel Gelber Prize. Now, in his new book The Plundered Planet, Collier builds on his work on developing countries and the poorest population to confront the global mismanagement of nature. Natural resources have the potential either to transform the poorest countries or to tear them apart, while the carbon emissions and agricultural follies of the rich world could further impoverish them. Collier proposes a series of international standards that would help poor countries rich in natural assets better manage those resources, policy changes that would raise world food supply, and benefits of industrialization while addressing the need for alternatives to carbon trading.

Paul Collier is a former director of Development Research at the World Bank. He is currently Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford University.

Paul Collier will be in Toronto on May 26th and is available for interview. Please contact Marina Politano for further information.

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March 16, 2010

H. B. Fenn/Oxford University Press Sales and Distribution Announcement

H.B. Fenn and Company Ltd and Oxford University Press Canada are pleased to announce that distribution and sales of Oxford books to independent bookstores will be handled by H.B. Fenn commencing April 1, 2010.

Independent bookstores, mass merchant channels, including the I.D. wholesalers and the gift trade will be able to order all Oxford imprint books on their current Fenn account. Oxford books will be stocked, invoiced, shipped, and returns accepted at H.B. Fenn’s distribution facility in Bolton, ON.

Oxford University Press will accept returns for 90 days commencing April 1st, 2010.

“We are thrilled to represent Oxford University Press in Canada on this new basis. The Canadian Branch of Oxford University Press in now over 105 years old and it has remained the clear market leader for its reference books. Their remarkable dictionaries are recognized throughout the English speaking world as the very best. They are synonymous with quality with all their books” Harold B. Fenn, President & CEO of H.B. Fenn and Company Ltd. said today. “H.B. Fenn is one of the leaders in Canada in trade sales and distribution” said David Stover,” President of Oxford University Press Canada. “The variety of books and reference titles Oxford publishes each season have performed well in the Trade and we at Oxford are gratified with the support independents have given our list in the past. Under this new arrangement Oxford books should be even more accessible to bookstores and retailers across the country.”

Oxford University Press ISBN prefixes in Canada include ¬¬¬¬978019, 978034.

For more information about this new arrangement please contact your H.B. Fenn representative or call Rob Howard, Vice President of Sales at H.B. Fenn and Company Ltd (905) 951-6600 x 226 or Matt Adamson, Associate Director, Trade Sales Group at Oxford University Press (416) 441-5668.

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For Immediate Release February 9, 2010 Oxford University Press Releases the Third Book in the Issues in Canada Series Short, Concise, Up-to-Date books on Challenges Facing Canada Today Climate Change in Canada 9780195430608 | 184 pp. | $16.95 | Paperback About the book: Climate change is now more than a scientific debate; it is a matter urgently discussed in the realms of politics, geography, and economics. What is most likely to happen in Canada? From melting permafrost and falling water levels in the Great Lakes to extreme weather events, White guides us through the latest science and expert predictions. He also explores the politics involved, from the Kyoto process to the approach taken in the United States by the new Obama administration. He evaluates the probable future of business and economics: clean technology, carbon markets, and "weather" markets. What has been Canada's response to the challenges and the opportunities? And finally, looking forward to future solutions-from the international to the personal-White reminds us of the price of inaction. Up to date and engaging, this is perhaps the most important book for Canadians to read this year. About the Author: Rodney White is a Professor of Geography and former Director of the Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Toronto He was the Principal Researcher and Head of the Evaluation Bureau, reporting to the Development Economics Department, The World Bank, Washington, D.C. (1975-76).

Oxford University Presents Announces the
Release of the Issues in Canada Series

Short, Concise, Up to Date books on Challenges Facing Canada Today

Child Poverty in Canada 

9780195432053 | 184 pp. | $17.95 | Paperback

About the book:
This short and engaging book provides the latest research on child poverty by Canadian sociologist Patrizia Albanese. Looking at how many of Canada's children live in poverty, Albanese’s research reveals which children are most vulnerable and why, and describes the physical, behavioural, and educational impact of poverty. In clear terms Albanese presents some of the ways that poverty is measured in Canada and around the world, and considers the country in a global perspective to assess why it ranks so low on the international scale. Finally, she discusses how the events of 1989 have shaped the outcome of child poverty in Canada and evaluates the theories and possible solutions to the problem.

About the Author:
Patrizia Albanese is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, Ryerson University. She has done extensive research on the impact of the rise of nationalist regimes on gender and family policies in twentieth-century Europe.

Substance Abuse in Canada

9780195433876 | 272 pp. | $19.95 | Paperback

About the Book:
Substance use - and abuse – exists in Canada, but what may come as a surprise are the rates and the substances themselves that are most liable to abuse in this country. A recent study estimates that the cost of substance abuse is equivalent to $1,267 for every man, woman, and child in Canada in terms of lost productivity, health care, and law enforcement. And this does not include the personal cost. It is an issue worth considering.
In an accessible and engaging style, this short book presents the latest research, survey, and interview data on substance abuse, taking into account Canada's regional differences and demography. It describes the models used by experts to explain substance abuse and addiction, and evaluates the various social policy, psychological, and medical solutions.

About the Authors:
Marilyn Herie, PHD, RSW is an Advanced Practice Clinician at Ontario's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), as well as Adjunct Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto.

Wayne Skinner, MSW, RSW, is Deputy Clinical Director, Addictions Programs, at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

For more information on this exciting new series, please visit http://www.oupcanada.com/issues_in_canada/.

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Ramadan Sets the Record Straight

"Deliberately brief, sensible and accessible.... What I Believe is not just a summary of Ramadan's own views but a primer on modern Western Muslim life."--Publishers Weekly

Toronto, ON—Oxford University Press releases the publication of Tariq Ramadan’s latest book, What I Believe.  Tariq Ramadan is named one of Time magazine's most important innovators of the twenty-first century. He is among the leading Islamic thinkers in the West, with a large following around the world. But he has also been a lightning rod for controversy. Indeed, in 2004, Ramadan was prevented from entering the U.S. by the Bush administration and despite two appeals, supported by organizations like the American Academy of Religion and the ACLU, he is still barred from the country at this time.

In What I Believe, Ramadan describes the book as a work of clarification, directed at ordinary citizens, politicians, journalists, and others who are curious (or skeptical) about his positions. Ramadan tries to get past the barriers of prejudice and misunderstanding to speak directly, from the heart, to his Muslim and non-Muslim readers alike. In particular, he calls on Western Muslims to escape the mental, social, cultural, and religious ghettos they have created for themselves and become full partners in the democratic societies in which they live. At the same time, he calls for the rest of us to recognize our Muslim neighbours as citizens with rights and responsibilities the same as ours. His vision is of a future in which a shared and confident pluralism becomes a reality at last.

Tariq Ramadan is Professor of Islamic Studies on the Faculty of Theology at Oxford University, Visiting Professor at Erasmus University (Netherlands), Senior Research Fellow at St Antony's College (Oxford), Doshisha University (Kyoto, Japan), and the President of the think tank European Muslim Network (EMN) in Brussels. He is the author of Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation, In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons From the Life of Muhammad, Western Muslims and the Future of Islam, and Islam, the West, and Challenges of Modernity.

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The Third Title in the Popular Canadian Newcomer Series is Now Available

Oxford University Press Announces the Release of You’re Hired…Now What?:  An Immigrant’s Guide to Success in the Canadian Workplace

Toronto, ON—Oxford University Press releases the publication of You’re Hired…Now What? by Lynda Goldman.  The new addition to Oxford’s Canadian Newcomer Series provides people from different countries and backgrounds an understanding of Canadian workplace culture and norms. The topics are relevant to anyone who is new to the Canadian workplace, with a special focus on the issues that can arise from cultural differences. The material is presented as a general guide to adapting to a professional environment and explains common best-practice procedures at work.

“Where was this book when I newly landed? This book could have saved me from some pretty embarrassing situations during my first few years! Fellow immigrants, before your first day at work, read this!”

- Marvi Yap, Client Services Director, AV Communications

Lynda Goldman is the bestselling author of How to Make a Million Dollar First Impression and co-author of the Canadian Concepts series. Goldman is also an ESL instructor, and corporate trainer. Her expertise shines through in this comprehensive introduction to the Canadian workplace.

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A rich, revealing look at the f-bomb Toronto, ON—Oxford University Press announces the release of The F-Word. We all know what frak, popularized by television's cult hit Battlestar Galactica, really means. But what about feck? Or ferkin? Or foul--as in FUBAR, or "Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition"? Since the fifteenth century, no other word has been adapted, interpreted, euphemized, censored, and shouted with as much ardor or force; imagine Dick Cheney telling Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy to "go damn himself" on the Senate floor - it doesn't have quite the same impact as what was really said. Sheidlower cites this and other notorious examples throughout history, from the satiric sixteenth-century poetry of James Cranstoun to the bawdy parodies of Lord Rochester in the seventeenth century, to more recent uses by Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, Ann Sexton, Norman Mailer, Liz Phair, Anthony Bourdain, Junot Diaz, Jenna Jameson, Amy Winehouse, Jon Stewart, and Bono (whose use of the word at the Grammys nearly got him fined by the FCC). The F-Word offers all that and more in an entertaining and informative look at a word that, while now largely accepted as an integral part of the English language, still confounds, provokes, and scandalizes. Jesse Sheidlower is Editor at Large of the Oxford English Dictionary. Recognized as one of the foremost authorities on obscenity in English, he has written about language for the New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Slate, and Esquire, as well as American Speech and the Journal of English Linguistics.

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Google’s Own Lays Bare on Copyright Wars “Highly readable, with a clear, consistent thesis carrying the reader easily through (the) material.” –The Globe and Mail Toronto, ON—Oxford University Press releases today Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars by William Patry. William Patry, Senior Copyright Counsel for Google Inc. reframes the debate of copyright by focusing on how copyright can be used for the greater public good and fosters innovation. The book examines the evolution of copyright, tactical use of rhetoric in debate, and the use of copyright as a vehicle of learning. Moral Panic and the Copyright Wars is an examination of the use of metaphors and rhetoric in contentious social and cultural debates and copyright specifically, as well as a larger examination of the evolution of copyright, highlighting differences between historical perceptions of copyright and the more aggressive approach that has driven developments in the law. It focuses on the tactical use of “moral panics” and “folk devils,” with specific examples and case studies to explain how copyright battles have unfolded, most often to the benefit of copyright owners, who have resisted innovation in the attempt to maintain their economic power. William Patry is currently Senior Copyright Counsel at Google, and has been a copyright lawyer exclusively for 25 years. He has held government and academic positions and was a private lawyer for 12 years. He was copyright counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives and a Policy Planning Advisor to the Register of Copyrights. He was a full-time law professor at Cardozo Law School for 5 years and a part-time law professor at Georgetown Law School. For a review copy, or to book an interview with William Patry, please contact Marina Politano at 416-441-5691 or marina.politano@oup.com.

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Milestones in Canadian Literature has Arrived at Oxford. Three classic stories retold in Oxford’s new Milestones in Canadian Literature series Toronto, ON—Oxford University Press releases today a brand new series in Canadian literature. The Milestones in Canadian Literature series offer three engaging and timeless books that have not been seen in the public’s eye for many years. The Devil is a Travelling Man: Two Plays by W.O. Mitchell provides humour, sobriety, and wonderful storytelling that include original production photography. The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon is a whimsical take on a Faust legend with a Canadian flavour. The story of Wullie MacCrimmon’s duel with the Devil is filled with wry humour and set against the backdrop of a timeless small-town dynamic. The Devil’s Instrument depicts a Hutterite teenager struggling with conformity in a puritan society. Hear Us O Lord From Heaven Thy Dwelling Place by Malcolm Lowry is a collection of short stories that reveals a world of crashing prose in which Lowry draws heavily from his turbulent life to forge a tale of both heaven and hell on earth. Canadian Poetry from World War I: An Anthology by Joel Baetz is a collection of verse from the men and women who experienced the first great war of the twentieth century and includes Charles G.D. Roberts, Marjorie Pickhall, Robert Service, among many others. Their poetry captures both the unfathomable loss and unequaled courage of the time. For a review copy of one or all of these titles, please contact Marina Politano, Marketing Coordinator at marina.politano@oup.com or 416-441-5691.

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From ragtime to rap, this lively history offers a fresh look at the enormous variety and vitality of popular music. "There are no definitive histories because the past keeps looking different as the present changes. Earlier musical styles sound different to us today because we hear them through the musical filter of other styles that came after them, all the way through funk and hip hop.”   —Elijah Wald

For Immediate Release June 10, 2009 As its blasphemous title suggests, How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll rejects the conventional pieties of mainstream jazz and rock history. Rather than concentrating on those traditionally favoured styles, the book traces the evolution of popular music through developing tastes, trends and technologies--including the role of records, radio, jukeboxes and television --to give a fuller, more balanced account of the broad variety of music that captivated listeners over the course of the twentieth century. Wald revisits original sources--recordings, period articles, memoirs, and interviews--to highlight how music was actually heard and experienced over the years. In a refreshing departure from more typical histories, he focuses on the world of working musicians and ordinary listeners rather than stars and specialists. He looks for example at the evolution of jazz as dance music, and rock 'n' roll through the eyes of the screaming, twisting teenage girls who made up the bulk of its early audience. Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and the Beatles are all here, but Wald also discusses less familiar names like Paul Whiteman, Guy Lombardo, Mitch Miller, Jo Stafford, Frankie Avalon, and the Shirelles, who in some cases were far more popular than those bright stars we all know today, and who more accurately represent the mainstream of their times. For more information contact: Marina Politano Marketing Coordinator 416-441-5691 marina.politano@oup.com

June 2009 | 336 pp., 32 halftones | 6 /18 x 9 1/4” 978-0-19-534154-6 | $29.95 | Hardcover Elijah Wald is a musician, writer and historian, whose books include Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues; Narcocorrido, about the modern Mexican ballads of drug trafficking; The Mayor of MacDougal Street (with Dave Van Ronk), and Global Minstrels: Voices of World Music.

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“You don’t skim this book; there’s too much meat on every page…it is really quite a book.” –The Globe and Mail

From Dorset sculpture to the Barenaked Ladies…  Oxford asks, where, and what is our culture?

For Immediate Release
April 27, 2009

Oxford’s featured title of 2009 from award-winning historian takes a look at the history of Canadian culture.

Toronto, ON—Oxford University Press releases A History of Canadian Culture by award-winning historian Jonathan Vance. In a country of exceptional diversity, “culture” has many shades of importance and meaning. A History of Canadian Culture reveals that the cultural issues—government funding for the arts, the cultural brain drain, the drive to have distinct Canadian forms of expression, the economic impact of cultural industries—can be traced back to previous centuries while taking into account the past and modern developments, such as the thriving culture of Quebec and the evolution of CBC.

“[Vance] presents his findings with such ease and grace that you can read his work for pleasure,” says Mary Rubio, co-author of the L.M. Montgomery Journals.

The story of an Innu woman found by eighteenth-century explorers in the Arctic who took the time to decorate her clothing with rich designs is just one of the many tales Jonathan Vance, author of Unlikely Soldiers weaves together to explore Canadian cultural history while addressing where, and what is our culture?

Jonathan Vance holds the Canada Research Chair in Conflict and Culture in the Department of History at The University of Western Ontario.

For more information contact:
Marina Politano
416-441-5691
marina.politano@oup.com

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Betting Their Lives
The Close Relations of Problem Gamblers

There are now more ways than ever to gamble-casinos, corner stores, the internet-and as a result, there are also ever more "problem gamblers," individuals who gamble compulsively to their own detriment. While gambling is promoted as fun and glamorous, the reality is usually very different. Studies suggest that some 1 in 50 adults, or roughly 480,000 Canadians, have a gambling problem. So it is time to take a new and careful look at how gambling affects the lives of all these people.

Problem gambling has traditionally been seen as an individual issue: it's your problem, you deal with it. But this new book, the only study of its kind, takes an innovative sociological approach, considering problem gambling as a public health issue (it has social causes and significant health outcomes). Betting Their Lives is based on first-hand interviews that take us right into the lives of a selection of problem gamblers; we see how gambling is influenced by, and in turn influences, relationships with intimate partners - husbands, wives, children.

Based on important new research by outstanding Canadian sociologist Lorne Tepperman, this book looks into the personal relationships of problem gamblers, and comes out with some surprising results. It provides a superb discussion of expert opinion on the subject, includes first-hand narratives of those who have suffered from gambling addictions, and brings essential new explanatory concepts to the issue.

Lorne Tepperman is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto and is the author of many important books on sociology in Canada. He co-edits a series of books on topics in Canadian sociology, as well as another series on current social issues in Canada.

Special Features:

• A highly readable slice of how addiction affects intimate real-life married experience.
• A consideration of a growing social problem, in light of the worldwide spread of the gambling industry.
• Brings a new sociological understanding to gambling addiction.

For more information on Betting Their Lives, please contact Marina Politano at 416-441-5691 or marina.politano@oup.com.

The definitive analysis on Pakistan’s army including its turbulent relationship with the U.S.

“This exceptionally authoritative book, rich in insider history, could not have come at a better time as a key to understanding the underlying power structures of Pakistan as it struggles to find its place in the world.”

—Barbara Crossette, former South Asia Bureau Chief, The New York Times

Based on 30 years of research and analysis, this definitive book is a profound, multi-layered, and historical analysis of the nature and role of the Pakistan army in the country’s polity as well as its turbulent relationship with the United States. Shuja Nawaz examines the army and Pakistan in both peace and war. Using many hitherto unpublished materials from the archives of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the General Headquarters of the Pakistan Army, as well as interviews with key military and political figures in Pakistan and the United States, he sheds light not only on the Pakistan Army and its U.S. connections but also on Pakistan as a key Muslim country in one of the world’s toughest neighborhoods. In doing so, he lays bare key facts about Pakistan’s numerous wars with India and its many rounds of political musical chairs, as well as the Kargil conflict of 1999. He then draws lessons from this history that may help Pakistan end its wars within and create a stabler political entity.

Shuja Nawaz is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he won the Henry Taylor Award. He was a television newscaster and producer with Pakistan Television from 1967 to 1972 and covered the 1971 war with India on the Western front. He has worked for The New York Times, the World Health Organization, as a Division Chief for the International Monetary Fund, and a Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and has widely written and spoken on military and politico-economic issues on radio, television, and at Think Tanks.

For more information contact:
Marina Politano
416-441-5691
marina.politano@oup.com

A Weekend Memoir

September 30, 2008 -Oxford University Press launches A Weekend Memoir, a selection of stories written by journalist Ernest Hillen as he crisscrossed his way through Canada in the 1970s chronicling uniquely Canadian ways of life from the very special corners of our country.

A Weekend Memoir is filled with beautifully written narratives of different lives from the various corners of our massive country. In the early 1970s, Ernest Hillen journeyed across Canada writing stories for Weekend Magazine. His remarkable reporting on the “ordinary” people he encountered was a mainstay in the popular Saturday supplement in newspapers coast to coast.

From the lives of farmers to rodeo riders to lighthouse dwellers, each story probes the essence of individuals and outlines the social context in sure strokes, showing without telling, while leaving a sense of mystery intact. Without sentimentality or nostalgia or judgment, these quietly philosophical, beautifully written portraits offer glimpses into very special corners of our country. Republished now, they chronicle uniquely Canadian ways of life.

Ernest Hillen is available for interview and copies of the book are available for review. Please contact Marina Politano at 416-441-5691 or marina.politano@oup.com if you are interested in writing a review of A Weekend Memoir or interviewing Ernest Hillen for your publication.

On the Dot
The Speck that Changed the World

September 2008 – Oxford University Press announces the publication of On the Dot: The Speck that Changed the World, the first book to offer a wide ranging, entertaining account of this much overlooked and miniscule linguistic sign.

On the Dot sheds light on the dot in all its various forms. As a mark of punctuation, they show, it plays many roles—as sentence stopper, a constituent of the colon, and the ellipsis. The dot also plays a number of roles in mathematics, including the notation of world currency, in Morse code, and in the raised dots of Braille. The authors take readers on an engaging tour of the highways and byways of language, ranging from the history of the question mark to acronyms and power point bullets and asterisks.

On the Dot is written by brothers Alexander and Nicholas Humez, authors of many publications including Alpha to Omega and Silversmithing.

For more information about On the Dot please visit: www.oupcanada.com. For interview requests with Alexander and Nicholas Humez or a review copy of the book please contact, Marina Politano, marina.politano@oup.com.

STANDING ON GUARD FOR CANADIAN IDENTITY

Oxford's new Canadian Spelling Bee Dictionary champions Canada's words, spelling

Toronto, August 22, 2008 -- A crucial marker of our Canadian identity is under attack. Our spelling. More than 90% of Canadians polled recently by the Canadian Oxford Dictionary Department believe that Canadian spelling is threatened by American spelling. And three-quarters think maintaining distinctive Canadian spellings in the face of this threat is important. But they worry that young Canadians don't care about correct spelling or Canadian spelling.

But in fact, nearly a quarter-million kids across Canada compete in spelling bees, over 225,000 of them in the Canwest Canspell National Spelling Bee alone. And now, in time for back-to-school, there's the first-ever made-in-Canada “spelling bee” dictionary designed especially to help them spell their way to success – and assert their Canadian identity while they're at it.

“Oxford's new Canadian Spelling Bee Dictionary makes studying for a bee (or just improving your vocabulary) easier, by listing only the difficult words out of the 120,000 in the big Canadian Oxford Dictionary, which is an official dictionary of Canadian bees,” says Katherine Barber, chief dictionary editor at Oxford University Press's Toronto offices. “Focusing on the hard words makes for a portable and affordable paperback, but English spelling is so darn difficult that we still have over 36,000 words in it!

“Confusables like effect and affect are included,” she continues, “as are less familiar words like hamadryad and phlebitis. But unlike any other dictionary of hard words, this one favours Canadian spelling and also includes uniquely Canadian vocabulary. We live a few metres from our neighbours, shop from catalogues, and even eat yogourt in this dictionary!”

Some of the hundreds of Canadian words are perfectly ordinary for us, like toonie, which is not even in the biggest American dictionary. Others, like qiviut, inukshuk, panzerotto, and seigneury, are less common but nonetheless used here. “Some Canadian words would stump spellers in just about any other English-speaking country,” says Barber, noting that our multicultural society contributes to our word stock, with borrowings from languages as diverse as French, Icelandic, Ukrainian, and Inuktitut, among many others.

“Bee contestant or not, you can use this book to learn some unusual Canadian or hard words, or just brush up on your spelling” says Barber. She admits to a particular affection for the word soopollalie, a type of shrub found in BC. “I always have to double-check the spelling of that one in my Canadian Oxford myself!” she laughs. The Canadian Spelling Bee Dictionary also provides word lovers with easy-to-understand pronunciations and word histories.

Canadian English will always be at the mercy of American English. But spelling bees and Oxford's new Canadian Spelling Bee Dictionary give Canadians one more weapon in their arsenal to champion our own identity.

Download: Spelling Stats and Snippets / Wacky Spelling / Spelling Quiz

Glamour: A HISTORY

By Stephen Gundle
Professor of Film and Television Studies at Warwick University, having previously taught at Royal Holloway, University of London and both Oxford and Cambridge.

‘Glamour cannot exist without personal social envy and widespread emotion’
John Berger

The aura of celebrity, the style of the fashion world, the vanity of the rich and beautiful, and the publicity-driven rites of café society are all imbued with its irresistible magnetism. But what exactly is glamour? Where does it come from? How old is it? And can anyone quite capture its magic? How does it differ from panache, fashion, beauty, or luxury lifestyle?

Stephen Gundle looks mainly at three countries UK, USA and France. Paris in the tumultuous final decades of the eighteenth century through to Hollywood, New York, and Monte Carlo in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries (Napoleon, Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Beau Brummell, Gianni Versace, Madonna, Kylie, Jackie O, Joan Collins, Princes Diana, and others).

Throughout, the book captures the excitement and sex appeal of glamour while exposing its mechanisms and exploring its sleazy and sometimes tragic underside. As Gundle shows, while glamour is exciting and magnetic, its promise is ultimately an illusion that can only ever be partially fulfilled. The first ever history of glamour and its three vital Ingredients - sex appeal, money, and fame.

Magic Island

The Fictions of L.M. Montgomery

L.M. Montgomery grew up in Prince Edward Island, a real place of “politics and potatoes.” But it’s her fictional island, a richly textured imaginative landscape, that has captivated a world of readers since 1908, when Anne of Green Gables became the first of Montgomery’s long string of bestsellers.

Read the full Press Release here.

June 10, 2008

Prominent Advocates for Immigrants Gather to Launch Series for New Canadians

Ontario’s Fairness Commissioner and Canada’s 26th Governor-General are recommending new immigrants get their hands on a groundbreaking series of handbooks for new Canadians published by Oxford University Press, which launched June 6 at the University of Toronto. Madame Clarkson, who arrived as a refugee in the 1940s, has become one of the country’s most famous and respected immigrants. In her foreword to Arrival Survival Canada, she lauds the book as “a friend, a guide, and a support. Use it and you’ll find that you’ll know more, and be able to do things with confidence.” The Fairness Commissioner, the Honourable Jean Augustine, applauded the books, saying “I think they are going to serve each and every newcomer well.” She encouraged attendees, especially those in Human Resources, “to make sure that not only the opportunity is given to read the books, but also that you make it available to your clients.”

The first of two books in the Canadian Newcomer Series, published by Oxford University Press, Arrival Survival Canada provides detailed information on a wide range of subjects including, opening a bank account, creating a credit history and understanding Canadian school systems in a practical, easy-to-read format. The book guides readers through Canadian culture and outlines solutions to the issues new immigrants typically encounter in their first two years of life in Canada.

The second title in the series, How to Find a Job in Canada, features job-search topics that are specific to immigrants’ concerns, including pre-arrival preparation, survival jobs, and newcomer employment services. Topics include résumé writing, composing cover letters, and interview techniques, and are presented in an easy-to-follow two-page problem and solution format.

Arrival Survival Canada and How to Find a Job in Canada are available in bookstores across the country including Indigo, Chapters and Coles stores. For more information about the Canadian Newcomer Series, please visit the Oxford University Press website: www.oupcanada.com/esl/cns.html. For review copies and media requests, please contact Marina Politano at 416-441-5691 or at marina.politano@oup.com.

June 2008

Falungong and the Future of China is Now Available

Oxford University Press announces the publication of Falun Gong and the Future of China, the first book to explain the religious group brutally suppressed by China’s political leaders.

Falun Gong and the Future of China offers a full explanation of what Falun Gong is and where it came from, placing the group in the broader context of the modern history of Chinese religion as well as the particular context of post-Mao China. With the increase of Falun Gong from the mid-'90s onward, China's leaders began to realize that they had created a mass movement with religious and nationalistic undertones, a potential threat to their legitimacy and control.

Falun Gong and the Future of China is written by David Ownby, a Professor of History and Director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the Université de Montréal, in Montreal. For more information about Falun Gong and the Future of China please visit: www.oup.com/ca. For interview requests with David Ownby or a review copy of the book please contact, Marina Politano, marina.politano@oup.com.

March 10, 2008
NOW AVAILABLE

Behind the Headlines: A History of Investigative Journalism in Canada

Canadian Author Cecil Rosner

Canadian investigative journalism has brought down governments, held powerful interests to account, infiltrated criminal networks, and exonerated the wrongly accused. Behind the Headlines presents the exciting history of investigative journalism in Canada, in an account spanning from the nation's earliest newspapers through to the present day. Drawing on numerous case studies and examples, Cecil Rosner, a journalist with more than 30 years of experience, analyzes the evolution of investigative journalism in Canada, exploring the development of specific practices within the context of changing social and historical forces.

Rather than working through a straightforward chronology, Rosner uses a topic-based approach exploring wide-ranging and thought-provoking issues such as public broadcasting, commercialization of the press, alternative media, ethics and the impact of technology. Highlighting key players and stories such as the sponsorship scandal and the Mulroney, 'Airbus Affair,' Behind the Headlines provides fresh insight into this previously undocumented history. Engaging and readable, Behind the Headlines will appeal to anyone intrigued by investigative journalism.

Features:

• Canadian focus: Numerous examples and case studies drawn from throughout history of Canadian journalism. Discusses trends and currents in American and international journalism as they relate to journalism in Canada.
• Current and up-to-date: Provides fresh insights into recent events such as the sponsorship scandal and Airbus affair.
• Excellent historical coverage: Covers trends and major events in Canadian investigative journalism from mid-nineteenth century to present.
  

Cecil Rosner teaches investigative journalism in the department of Rhetoric, Writing, and Communications at the University of Winnipeg. He has more than 30 years experience in print and broadcast journalism, and investigative journalism is his area of expertise. He has two Michener Awards and two Gemini awards to his credit. Currently, he also is Managing Editor for Television and Radio for CBC Manitoba.

Behind the Headlines
9780195427332
Hardcover
$27.95

28 September 2007

The HIV Pandemic: Local and Global Implications Dr. Edward J. Beck, Nicholas Mays, Alan W. Whiteside and Jose M. Zuniga

A quarter of a century since the first recognition of HIV/AIDS in 1981, this book reflects on the international impact of the disease. It has persistently remained a global issue, with more than 50 million people worldwide estimated to be infected since that date. This ambitious book, written by 165 authors from 30 countries, offers a multi-country comparative study that examines how the response to the common, global threat of HIV is shaped by the history, culture, institutions and health systems of the individual countries affected.

For more information on this title, please click here. (A Word document will download. You may need to disable your pop-up blocker.)

 

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24 September 2007

Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Deluxe Edition

Based on the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary contains an incredible one-third of the coverage of the Oxford English Dictionary, is just one-tenth of the size, and includes all words in current English from 1700 to the present day.

This new edition of the acclaimed Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, the first since 2002, updated, enlarged, and enlivened by new words, new definitions of old words, new illustrative quotations - and a new, fully customizable CD-ROM.

This new edition includes 2,500 new words and senses, plus thousands of antedatings of existing words. Each entry offers everything you would expect from a leading unabridged dictionary: it identifies each word's various meanings, origins, part of speech, pronunciation, and combinations in which the word is often found, as well as cross-references to related words. The Shorter, however, includes many new quotations from recent authors, a refreshed design, and a complete review of spelling forms and defining vocabulary, making it the most authoritative reference work available for both modern and historical English.

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary is an unrivalled resource, providing a unique description of the historical development of the language together with excellent coverage of current English.

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January 17, 2007

David M. Malone

Oxford University Press is pleased to announce the shortlisting of The International Struggle Over Iraq by David M. Malone for The 2007 Lionel Gelber Prize.

The Lionel Gelber Prize honours the excellence of those who think and write about the local and global forces of change in international relations. Founded in 1989 by Canadian diplomat Lionel Gelber, the annual Gelber Prize recognizes the best book in international affairs and presents a $15,000 award to its winner.

'...David Malone...offers an illuminating and fascinating account of the Security Council on Iraq...a vital, must-read study.' - The Globe and Mail, January 2007

Iraq has dominated international headlines in recent years, but its controversial role in international affairs goes back much further. The most important arena for these power politics has been the UN Security Council. Drawing on his unparalleled access to UN insiders, David Malone examines the impact the UN Security Council has had on Iraq and vice versa, and offers radical new insights into one of the most persistent crises in international affairs, as well as into the different roles the world's central peace-making forum has played within this important issue.

David M. Malone is a former Canadian ambassador to the UN in New York and oversees multilateral and economic diplomacy in the Canadian Foreign Ministry. From 1998 to 2004, he served as President of the International Peace Academy in New York. A scholar of the political economy of violent conflict and of US foreign policy, he is the author of numerous books and articles, notably The UN Security Council: From Cold War to Twenty-First Century. Most recently, Malone was appointed Canadian High Commissioner to India and Ambassador to Bhutan.

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January 17, 2007

Adele Reinhartz

If the Bible is the bestselling book of all time, so is Jesus the most popular subject in the history of the cinema. Indeed, it may well be the case that most people worldwide know about Jesus and his life story from the movies than from any other medium. Jesus of Hollywood, by Canadian writer Adele Reinhartz, studies U.S., Canadian, and Italian films, and takes a thematic look at Jesus movies from the earliest available silent film From the Manger to the Cross (1912) to the most recent offering of this genre, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (2004).

Despite society's profound interest in Jesus as a religious and historical figure, Jesus movies are fascinating not as history, but as mirrors on the concerns, anxieties and values of our own era. This book traces the transformation of Jesus of Nazareth to Jesus of Hollywood by focusing on his relationships with the key people in his life: his family, his friends, and his foes. In doing so, we see how these films address theological issues, such as Jesus' identity as both human and divine, political issues such as the role of the individual in society and the possibility of freedom in the context of political oppression, social issues such as the role of women and gender roles and hierarchies, as well as personal issues such as the nature of friendship and the role of sexuality in human relationships.

This study of Jesus' celluloid incarnations through the last hundred and more years will show how the Jesus movies reshape the past in the image of the present, and in the process express the profound belief that Jesus continues to be significant in our society today, just as he was two thousand years ago.

Adele Reinhartz is Associate Vice-President for Research at the University of Ottawa, where she is also Professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies. She is the author of numerous articles and several books, including Befriending the Beloved Disciple: A Jewish Reading of the Gospel of John (2001) and Scripture on the Silver Screen (2003). Adele Reinhartz was also elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2005.

Author appearances:

• University of Ottawa, January 23, 2007 – book launch
• University of Waterloo @ St. Jerome’s, January 24, 2007 – CBC Ideas lecture and taping
• author interview to appear in The Kitchener-Waterloo Record, January 26, 2007
• McMaster University, March 7, 2007 – book launch

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January 17, 2007

Selected and edited by David Staines

Widely recognized as Canada's finest literary humorist, Stephen Leacock was a prolific author, publishing over sixty books in addition to countless articles and pamphlets. He was also a devoted correspondent, writing hundreds of letters to friends, relatives, and business associates.

Recently published by Oxford University Press, this first-ever collection of Leacock’s correspondence brings together more than 800 of those letters - most of them never before published - selected, introduced, and annotated by David Staines. Spanning seven decades, from his earliest years until the day he went into hospital for his final battle with throat cancer, they are a record of Leacock's dealings with family, friends, and colleagues in the academic and publishing world. They are the letters of a gentleman, written with charm, grace, and wit, and they reveal much about the man behind the humour: his devotion to his family, his proud affiliation with McGill University, his love of country, his deep distress over the two world wars, and, above all, his tireless commitment to his work. Illustrated with over twenty photographs, this fascinating collection will appeal to anyone interested in Canadian writing or history.

David Staines, professor of Canadian and medieval literature at the University of Ottawa and a Leacock specialist, has written and edited a number of books, including The Canadian Imagination: Dimensions of a Literary Culture; Beyond the Provinces: Literary Canada at Century's End; Stephen Leacock: A Reappraisal; and My Financial Career and Other Follies, a selection of Leacock’s humorous pieces. He spent fifteen years collecting the letters and preparing the annotations and chapter introductions that place the correspondence in the context of Leacock’s life and work.