New and Noteworthy: Page 1

These are some of Oxford's most recent publications. 

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Fearghal McGarry is currently Senior Lecturer in History at Queen's University, Belfast. Previously he was Lecturer in Irish History at Trinity College, Dublin, and Government of Ireland Research Fellow at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.
(Hardback)

The Easter Rising of 1916 not only destroyed much of the centre of Dublin - it changed the course of Irish history. But how did it achieve this? What role did people from ordinary backgrounds play in the making of the Irish revolution and what motivated them to take part in it? What did the rebels think they could achieve? And what kind of a republic were they fighting for? These basic questions continue to divide historians of modern Ireland.   (Read more)

Anthony Julius is a Consultant at the commercial law firm Mishcon de Reya, specializing in litigation law. He is also Chairman of the London Consortium, a Visiting Professor at Birkbeck College, University of London, and Vice-President of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.
(Hardback)

Trials of the Diaspora is a ground-breaking book that offers the first ever comprehensive history of anti-Semitism in England.

Anthony Julius identifies four distinct versions of English anti-Semitism, which he then proceeds to investigate in detail. The first is the anti-Semitism of medieval England, a radical prejudice of defamation, expropriation, and murder, which culminated in 1290, the year of Edward I's expulsion of the Jews from England, after which there were no Jews left to torment.   (Read more)

Scott Shane is the A. Malachi Mixon III Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Case Western Reserve University. A world renowned expert in management and entrepreneurship, Dr. Shane has conducted extensive research on numerous aspects of business, including the effect of genetics on entrepreneurial behavior.
(Hardback)

Are you a born entrepreneur or a born leader, possessing innate characteristics that somehow you better than others at these important business activities? Although most observers give little attention to how genetics affects your behavior in the work world, your DNA accounts for over one third of the difference between you and your co-workers on many dimensions of your work life, from how satisfied you are at work to how you make decisions to how much money you make.   (Read more)

Kees van Deemter is a Reader in Computing Science at the University of Aberdeen. He works in computational linguistics, the area of artificial intelligence where computer science meets linguistics and his main areas of expertise are computational semantics and natural language generation.
(Hardback)

Not everything is black and white. Our daily lives are full of vagueness or fuzziness. Language is the most obvious example - for instance, when we describe someone as tall, it is as though there is a particular height beyond which a person can be considered 'tall'. Likewise the terms 'blond' or 'overweight' in common usage. We often think in discontinuous categories when we are considering something continuous.   (Read more)

Donald Pease is a Professor of English and Avalon Foundation Chair of the Humanities at Dartmouth College.
(Hardback)

Dr. Seuss' infectious rhymes, his blue-tufted, strong-willed creatures, and his knack for pithy, roundabout plots have been entertaining children and adults for decades. As Donald E. Pease shows in this marvelous biography, the seemingly haphazard trajectory of Geisel's life bears a close resemblance to the zigzag plot lines of his children's books. Here is an engaging look at a man who indeed lived a zigzag life as a cartoonist, ad agency artist, author, caricaturist, documentary-film writer and producer, political cartoonist, and editor. Pease follows Geisel's life from his childhood in Massachusetts, to his sacking from the editorship of Dartmouth's humour magazine, to the publication of And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street - after 17 rejections - which finally launched him on the career for which he is best known.   (Read more)

Joan Fitzgerald is the Director of the Law, Policy and Society Program at Northeastern University and the author of Moving Up in the New Economy: Career Ladders for U.S. Workers and Economic Revitalization: Cases and Strategies for City and Suburb. She lives in Boston.
(Hardback)

Here is a refreshing look at how American cities are leading the way toward greener, cleaner, and more sustainable forms of economic development.

In Emerald Cities, Joan Fitzgerald shows how in the absence of a comprehensive national policy, cities like Chicago, New York, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle have taken the lead in addressing the interrelated environmental problems of global warming, pollution, energy dependence, and social justice. Cities are major sources of pollution but because of their population density, reliance on public transportation, and other factors, Fitzgerald argues that they are uniquely suited to promote and benefit from green economic development.  (Read more)

David Hey is Emeritus Professor of Local and Family History at the University of Sheffield. His many publications include The Oxford Guide to Family History (1993), Family Names and Family History (2000), How Our Ancestors Lived: a history of life 100 years ago (2003), and Journeys in Family History: Exploring Your Past and Finding Your Ancestors (2004).
(Paperback)

The Oxford Companion to Family and Local History is the most authoritative guide available to all things associated with the family and local history of the British Isles. It provides practical and contextual information for anyone enquiring into their English, Irish, Scottish, or Welsh origins and for anyone working in genealogical research, or the social history of the British Isles.  (Read more)

Dr. Patricia Fara lectures in the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and is the Senior Tutor of Clare College.
(Paperback)

Science: A Four Thousand Year History rewrites science's past. Instead of focussing on difficult experiments and abstract theories, Patricia Fara shows how science has always belonged to the practical world of war, politics, and business. Rather than glorifying scientists as idealized heroes, she tells true stories about real people - men (and some women) who needed to earn their living, who made mistakes, and who trampled down their rivals in their quest for success.  (Read more)

Geoffrey Jones is Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, Harvard Business School. He previously taught at the universities of Cambridge and Reading, and at the London School of Economics and Political Science, in Great Britain.
(Hardback)

The global beauty business permeates our lives, influencing how we perceive ourselves and what it is to be beautiful. The brands and firms that have dominated this industry, such as L'Oreal, Unilever, Rimmel, and Chanel, have re-imagined beauty for us.

This book provides the first authoritative history of the global beauty industry from its emergence in the nineteenth century to the present day, exploring how today's global giants grew. It shows how industry has shaped perceptions of beauty worldwide as beauty ideals were imagined by successive generations of entrepreneurs. These men and women built brands which interpreted prevailing societal norms, as well as the business organizations needed to sell them.  (Read more)

Rodney White is a Professor of Geography and former Director of the Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Toronto (now known as the Centre for Environment). He has also taught at Northwestern University, McMaster University, and Ibadan University in Nigeria.
(Paperback)

A significant number of Canadians believe that climate change is the biggest threat facing the world today. Climate change is now more than a scientific debate; it is a matter urgently discussed in the realms of politics, geography, and economics. Rodney White, former Director of University of Toronto's Institute for Environmental Studies, is uniquely placed to write this short, accessible introduction to one of the most important issues facing us all.

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. (Read more)

Martha Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, appointed in Law, Philosophy, and Divinity.
(Hardback)

A distinguished professor of law and philosophy at the University of Chicago, a prolific writer and award-winning thinker, Martha Nussbaum stands as one of our foremost authorities on law, justice, freedom, morality, and emotion. In From Disgust to Humanity, Nussbaum aims her considerable intellectual firepower at the bulwark of opposition to gay equality: the politics of disgust.

Nussbaum argues that disgust has long been among the fundamental motivations of those who are fighting for legal discrimination against lesbian and gay citizens. (Read more)

David Levi Strauss' essays and reviews appear regularly in Artforum and Aperture, and he has written exhibition catalogues and monographs on the work of numerous artists, including Martin Puryear, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Carolee Schneeman, Alfredo Jaar, Miguel Rio Branco, Mike Bidlo, Raoul Hague and Robert Frank, Tim Davis, and Daniel Martinez.
(Hardback)

How does a vision - an image in the mind, in the imagination - get from the head to the hand, and out into the world? The passage can take a lifetime or happen almost instantaneously in the works of painters and sculptors. In this concise, pithy study, art critic David Levi Strauss makes an argument for the continued relevance of art made by hand. A wide variety of examples are under consideration: the works of individual sculptors and painters; 'exotic' practitioners, such as the West coast Haida and the poet Cecilia Vicuna; curatorial figures and critical thinkers; the distinction between labor and poetics, and more. (Read more)

Born in England and educated at Cambridge, David Cressy has made his career in the United States, where he is currently Humanities Distinguished Professor of History at Ohio State University.
(Hardback)

Dangerous Talk examines the 'lewd, ungracious, detestable, opprobrious, and rebellious-sounding' speech of ordinary men and women who spoke scornfully of kings and queens. Eavesdropping on lost conversations, it reveals the expressions that got people into trouble, and follows the fate of some of the offenders. Introducing stories and characters previously unknown to history, David Cressy explores the contested zones where private words had public consequence. Though 'words were but wind', as the proverb had it, malicious tongues caused social damage, seditious words challenged political authority, and treasonous speech imperilled the crown. (Read more)

Gene Kritsky is a Professor of Biology at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, and Adjunct Curator of Entomology at the Cincinnati Museum Center. He is Editor-in-chief of American Entomologist, the magazine of the Entomological Society of America.
(Hardback)

Beekeeping is a sixteen-billion-dollar-a-year business. But the invaluable honey bee now faces severe threats from diseases, mites, pesticides, and overwork, not to mention the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder, which causes seemingly healthy bees to abandon their hives en masse, never to return.

In The Quest for the Perfect Hive, entomologist Gene Kritsky offers a concise, beautifully illustrated history of beekeeping, tracing the evolution of hive design from ancient Egypt to the present. Not simply a descriptive account, the book suggests that beekeeping's long history may in fact contain clues to help beekeepers fight the decline in honey bee numbers. (Read more)

Richard Swinburne was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Keele; Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion, University of Oxford, and Fellow of the British Academy.
(Paperback)

The orderliness of the universe and the existence of human beings already provides some reason for believing that there is a God - as argued in Richard Swinburne's earlier book Is There a God ? Swinburne now claims that it is probable that the main Christian doctrines about the nature of God and his actions in the world are true. In virtue of his omnipotence and perfect goodness, God must be a Trinity, live a human life in order to share our suffering, and found a church which would enable him to tell all humans about this. It is also quite probable that he would provide his human life as an atonement for our wrongdoing, teach us how we should live and tell us his plans for our future after death. (Read more)

Richard Swinburne is Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion at the University of Oxford.
(Paperback)

Is There a God? offers a powerful response to modern doubts about the existence of God. It may seem today that the answers to all fundamental questions lie in the province of science, and that the scientific advances of the twentieth century leave little room for God. Cosmologists have rolled back their theories to the moment of the Big Bang, the discovery of DNA reveals the key to life, the theory of evolution explains the development of life... and with each new discovery or development, it seems that we are closer to a complete understanding of how things are. For many people, this gives strength to the belief that God is not needed to explain the universe; that religious belief is not based on reason; and that the existence of God is, intellectually, a lost cause.  (Read more)

John Mueller is the Woody Hayes Chair of National Security Studies and Professor of Political Science, Ohio State University.
(Hardback)

Since the end of World War Two, the use of nuclear weapons has been America's-and the world's-worst nightmare. But they have never actually been used, despite the fact that an ever-increasing number of countries have obtained them. Our fear levels remain as high as ever today, but are they justified? Eminent international relations scholar John Mueller thinks not, and this highly provocative work, he contends that our overriding concern about nuclear weapons borders on an obsession unsupported by either history or logic. Drawing on the history of the entire atomic era, Mueller argues that nuclear weapons have never represented much of a threat given states' fundamental unwillingness to use them. After the focus shifted away from "mutual assured destruction" to the terrorist threat following 9/11, alarmists had a new cause. (Read more)

John L. Esposito is a Professor of Religion and International Affairs, and Director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University.
(Hardback)

John L. Esposito is one of America's leading authorities on Islam. Now, in this brilliant portrait of Islam today-- and tomorrow-- he draws on a lifetime of thought and research to provide an accurate, richly nuanced, and revelatory account of the fastest growing religion in the world.

Here Esposito explores the major questions and issues that face Islam in the 21st century and that will deeply affect global politics: Is Islam compatible with modern notions of democracy, rule of law, gender equality, and human rights? How representative and widespread is Islamic fundamentalism and the threat of global terrorism? Can Muslim minority communities be loyal citizens in America and Europe? The book also turns the mirror on the US and Europe, revealing how we appear to Muslims.  (Read more)

Mark Singleton teaches at St. John's College, Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is the editor, with Jean Byrne, of Yoga in the Modern World: Contemporary Perspectives. He lives in Santa Fe.
(Paperback)

Yoga is so prevalent in the modern world--practiced by pop stars, taught in schools, and offered in yoga centers, health clubs, and even shopping malls--that we take its presence, and its meaning, for granted. But how did the current yoga boom happen? And is it really rooted in ancient Indian practices, as many of its adherents claim? (Read more)

Paul R. Abramson is a professor of psychology at UCLA and one of the worlds leading authorities on sex. He is a former editor of the Journal of Sex Research, a technical advisor to the World Health Organizations global program on AIDS, and the author of many books.
(Paperback)

An epidemic of sexually-transmitted infections and sexual violence is upon us. Political interests are overriding sexual freedom in the name of morality. Marriages are just as likely to fail as they are to succeed. Why, in a time of unprecedented personal liberties and medical knowledge, are so many Americans so uncertain about what constitutes ethical sexual behavior?  (Read more)

Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1919-2000) was elected the fifteenth prime minister of Canada in 1968, remaining in office until 1979 and serving a final term from 1980 to 1984. Intellectual, charismatic, flamboyant, he is one of the seminal figures of twentieth-century Canadian political life.
(Paperback)

No man played a more prominent role in modern Canadian political life than Pierre Elliott Trudeau. He was loved, he was hated, but most of all, he mattered.

Trudeau burst like a comet onto the federal political scene, becoming Canada's fifteenth prime minister in 1968. But as this collection of essays from the 1950s clearly shows, Trudeau had thought long and hard about the fundamental principles of government and politics before gaining the national spotlight. Approaches to Politics is an essential introduction both to the political philosophy of Pierre Trudeau and to the eternal principles underlying democracy-a book as relevant and readable today as when it was first published four decades ago. (Read more)

N. J. Berrill was one of mid-twentieth-century Canada's leading scientists and writers. Born in Bristol, England, in 1903, he received his doctorate at the University of London. In 1928 he joined the faculty at McGill University, where he served as chair of the Department of Zoology for more than a decade and then as Strathcona Professor of Zoology from 1947 to 1965.
(Paperback)

From one of Canada's most distinguished writers and scientists comes this startlingly prescient examination of how humanity's evolutionary past shapes both human nature and the human future. Winner of the Governor General's Award for non-fiction in 1955 and hailed by The New York Times as demonstrating "the imagination of an artist" and "the courage of an independent and original mind," Man's Emerging Mind is the compelling story of man's evolution, told with humour, insight, and poetry. In a book that remains as relevant as today's news headlines, Berrill examines the various crises confronting humanity-resource depletion, overpopulation, cultural nihilism, and ecological collapse-and suggests a way forward that safeguards both our essential humanity as well as the beauty and diversity of the natural world.  (Read more)

Bruce Hutchison (1901-1992) was one of Canada's foremost journalists. His career spanned most of the twentieth century and he was the recipient of many honours, including three Governor General's Awards for his works of non-fiction. 
(Paperback)

From one of Canada's greatest journalists comes the epic story of British Columbia's Fraser River. As the dust jacket for the originally edition-published half a century ago-declared:

"Shaped like a giant fishhook stuck into the Pacific Ocean, the mighty Fraser is one of the most important rivers of North America, politically, economically, and historically. Compelling the reader's interest with the power and vigour of his narrative, Bruce Hutchison explores the Fraser's romantic history as one of Canada's two main channels of civilization. ..." (Read more)

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, and (effective 2010) Director of the Collaborative Program in Addiction Studies at the University of Toronto.  Wayne Skinner, MSW, RSW, is Deputy Clinical Director, Addictions Programs, at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, where he leads strategic priorities in problem gambling, concurrent disorders capacity-building and aboriginal addictions and mental health.
(Paperback)

Substance use - and abuse - has existed in virtually all cultures throughout human history. Canada is no exception to this. But what may come as a surprise are the rates and the substances themselves that are most liable to abuse in this country.  (Read more)

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.
(Paperback)

On 24 November 1989 the Canadian House of Commons unanimously passed an all-party resolution to eliminate poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000. Yet in 2005 a report by UNICEF placed Canada nineteenth in a ranking of the relative poverty of children in 26 of the world's richest countries (Greece, Hungary, and Poland all had a significantly better record). How can this be? (Read more)

Dr Dennis McCarthy is a researcher at the Museum of Natural History in Buffalo.
(Hardback)

Why do we find polar bears only in the Arctic and penguins only in the Antarctic? Why do oceanic islands often have many types of birds but no large native mammals? As Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace travelled across distant lands studying the wildlife they both noticed that the distribution of plants and animals formed striking patterns - patterns that held strong clues to the past of the planet.(Read more)

Robert Tattersall is Special Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Nottingham, and a leading authority on diabetes.
(Hardback)

Diabetes is a disease with a fascinating history and one that has been growing dramatically with urbanization. According to the World Health Authority, it now affects 4.6% of adults over 20, reaching 30% in the over 35s in some populations. It is one of the most serious and widespread diseases today. But the general perception of diabetes is quite different.(Read more)

Andrew Scull is Professor and Chair in the Department of Sociology at UC, San Diego.
(Hardback)

The nineteenth century seems to have been full of hysterical women - or so they were diagnosed. Where are they now? The very disease no longer exists. In this fascinating account, Andrew Scull tells the story of Hysteria - an illness that disappeared not through medical endeavour, but through growing understanding and cultural change. More generally, it raises the question of how diseases are framed, and how conceptions of a disease change through history.(Read more)

Mark Jackson is a Professor at the Centre for Medical History at the University of Exeter.
(Hardback)

Asthma is a familiar and growing disease today, but its story goes back to the ancient world, as we know from accounts in ancient texts from China, India, Greece and Rome. It was treated with acupuncture and Ayurveda.(Read more)

Chris Hamlin is at the University of Notre Dame and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
(Hardback)

Cholera: the biography is part of the Oxford series, Biographies of Diseases, edited by William and Helen Bynum. In each individual volume an expert historian or clinician tells the story of a particular disease or condition throughout history - not only in terms of growing medical understanding of its nature and cure, but also shifting social and cultural attitudes, and changes in the meaning of the name of the disease itself. (Read more)

Lynda Goldman (formally Lynda Berish) worked as an ESL teacher at Concordia University and College Marie-Victorin in Montreal from 1984 to 1998. During that time she published a number of well-respected and well-received ESL books.
(Paperback)

You're Hired...Now What? will give people from different countries and backgrounds an understanding of Canadian workplace culture and norms. The material is presented as a general guide to adapting to a professional environment and explains common best-practice procedures at work. Examples are given to help explain and illustrate the positive results of working within these general guidelines.(Read more)

The Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary is the first historical thesaurus to be compiled for any of the world's languages, and includes almost the entire vocabulary of English from Old English to the present day. Conceived and compiled by the English Language Department of the University of Glasgow, the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary is a groundbreaking analysis of the historical inventory of English. (Read more)

(Hardback)

A historical lexicographer, having previously worked on the 4th edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Elizabeth Knowles has had a long association with Oxford Quotations Dictionaries.
(Hardback)

Little Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs features 2,000 proverbs and sayings from around the world and across 250 subjects - from 'Cats' and 'Dogs' to 'Achievement' and 'Extravagance'. Each theme has a short introduction giving an overview of key elements in the proverbial treatment of the topic and each entry provies information on the date, source, and meaning of the phrase. Not only is this book a pleasure to browse but it is ideal for quick reference with its comprehensive index that makes it easy to find the exact phrase you're looking for. (Read more)

Pierre Assouline is a prominent French journalist and writer. He has written several novels as well as acclaimed biographies of photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson and detective novelist Georges Simenon.
(Hardback)

One of the most beloved characters in all of comics, Tintin won an enormous international following. Translated into dozens of languages, Tintin's adventures have sold millions of copies, and Steven Spielberg is presently adapting the stories for the big screen. Yet, despite Tintin's enduring popularity, Americans know almost nothing about his gifted creator, Georges Remi - better known as Hergé. Offering a captivating portrait of a man who revolutionized the art of comics, this is the first full biography of Hergé available for an English-speaking audience. (Read more)

Jenny Overton grew up in a Surrey village that is still her home today. After taking a degree in English she spent most of her working life as an editor and wrote several books for children. She wrote 'The Thirteen Days of Christmas' as a story for her younger sister. Shirely Hughes is one of the nation's best-loved illustrators for children. She has created some of the most enduring characters in children's literature and for this she was honoured with an O.B.E. in 1999. She has been the recipient of many prestigious awards, including twice winning the Kate Greenaway Medal.
(Hardback)

Prudence, James, and Christopher Kitson would love to see their sister, Annaple, marry her sweetheart, Francis Vere. To help things along, they tell Francis to be as romantic as he can when choosing a Christmas present for Annaple. (Read more)

Julia Golding grew up on the edge of Epping Forest. After reading English at Cambridge, she joined the Foreign Office and served in Poland. On leaving the Foreign Office, she joined Oxfam as a lobbyist on conflict issues, campaigning at the United Nations and with governments to lessen the impact of conflict on civilians living in war zones. She now writes full-time, and lives in Oxford with her husband and three children.
(Hardback)

Freydis has been left for dead following a raid by pirates on her father's Viking stronghold. Her brother has been kidnapped - and Freydis's father is hell-bent on revenge. But this is a volatile man who loathes his daughter and is driven by love of his son. (Read more)

David W. Orr is the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics and Special advisor to the President of Oberlin College. He is a trustee of the Bioneers, of the Rocky Mountain Institute, of the Aldo Leopold Foundation, among others. His numerous books include The Nature of Design (OUP, 2002), Ecological Literacy, The Last Refuge, and Earth in Mind.
(Hardback)

"The real fault line in American politics is not between liberals and conservatives.... It is, rather, in how we orient ourselves to the generations to come who will bear the consequences, for better and for worse, of our actions."

So writes David Orr in Down to the Wire, a sober and eloquent assessment of climate destabilization and an urgent call to action. (Read more)

Ashraf Ghani played a central role in the design and implementation of the post-Taliban settlement in Afghanistan, serving as UN adviser to the Bonn process and as Finance Minister during Afghanistan's Transitional Administration. He has worked at the World Bank and taught at Johns Hopkins and Berkeley universities. Clare Lockhart is presently an advisor to General Patraeus. She has worked for the World Bank and the United Nations and advised the Government of Afghanistan in Kabul on its strategy and programs from 2002 to 2005.
(Hardback)

Today between forty and sixty nations, home to more than one billion people, have either collapsed or are teetering on the brink of failure. The world's worst problems - terrorism, drugs and human trafficking, absolute poverty, ethnic conflict, disease, genocide - originate in such states, and the international community has devoted billions of dollars to solving the problem. Yet by and large the effort has not succeeded. (Read more)