ART AND ARCHITECTURE

Andrew L. Cohen, AM'83, PhD'89, Temple Architecture and Sculpture of the Nolambas (Manohar). Cohen studies monuments from the Nolambavadi region of India built during the Nolamba (ninth and tenth centuries) period. He questions how art historians assign centrality and periphery to dynastic periods and gives a brief political summary of the Nolambas.

BIOGRAPHY AND LETTERS

Peter D. Goldsmith, PhD'82, Making People's Music: Moe Asch and Folkways Records (Smithsonian Institution Press). Goldsmith uses the life of Moe Asch, founder and director of Folkways Records, as a lens through which he explores the historical intersection of Jews, the American left, and folk music.

Alzada Carlisle Kistner, X'45, An Affair with Africa: Expeditions and Adventures Across a Continent (Island Press). In this autobiography, Kistner chronicles her family's five African expeditions amid the political turmoil and beauty of the continent and its people. Central to each excursion is the search she shares with her husband, an entomologist, for new species of beetles that live among army ants.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

Dora L. Costa, AM'88, PhD'93, The Evolution of Retirement: An American Economic History, 1880-1990 (University of Chicago Press). Using economic, statistical, and demographic concepts, Costa analyzes trends in American retirement data. After examining rising incomes and retirement, the job prospects of older workers, and the rise of a retirement lifestyle, she concludes by addressing the impact of Baby Boomers on the Social Security System.

Henry Etzkowitz, AB'62, and Loet Leyesdorff, editors, Universities and the Global Knowledge Economy: A Triple Helix of University-Industry-Government (Cassel Academic). This book examines the role of the university in a society in which public funding for higher education is contingent upon more direct contributions to the economy. The authors conclude that as the university crosses traditional boundaries through linkages to industry, it must devise ways to make its multiple purposes compatible.

Richard A. Ippolito, PhD'74, Pension Plans and Employee Performance: Evidence, Analysis, and Policy (University of Chicago Press). Ippolito explores the relationship between employees' preferences for certain types of pension plans and their productivity. He then shows how the employer can use pensions to attract and retain desired workers, concluding with a plan to repair the nation's Social Security System.

Dragana Pilipovic, MBA'94, Energy Risk: Valuing and Managing Derivatives (McGraw-Hill). Written for traders, risk managers, and engineers, this text provides a comprehensive guide to modeling and pricing energy markets such as electricity and natural gas.

Carl G. Thor, MBA'64, Designing Feedback (Crisp Publications). This book introduces newcomers to organizational performance measurement, but also provides alternatives and advice for experienced practitioners. The common types of measures-productivity, quality, and customer satisfaction-are presented as the heart of an integrated, organization-wide feedback system.

CRITICISM

Robert W. Kirschten, AM'75, PhD'77, Approaching Prayer: Ritual and the Shape of Myth in A. R. Ammons and James Dickey (Louisiana State University Press). Working in a mythopoeic mode, Kirschten examines how two distinguished contemporary poets employ ceremonies, rites of passage, rituals, and masks to transform themselves and the sacred spaces within their dynamic, lyric landscapes.

Joseph Pucci, AM'82, PhD'87, The Full-Knowing Reader (Yale University Press). Exploring the use of literary allusion in Western literature, Pucci contends that the key to grasping the meaning of an allusive text is in the hands of the "full-knowing" reader. In support of his conclusion, he considers allusion in ancient, medieval, and modern texts by authors such as Homer, Augustine, and Pound.

FICTION AND POETRY

William I. Elliott, DB'57, translator, Selected Poems of Shuntaro Tanikawa (Carcanet Ltd). In addition to translating this selection of poems by Tanikawa, one of the best-known Japanese poets of the last half-century, Elliott has also written an introduction to the poet's life work.

Vincent Katz, AB'82, Pearl (powerHouse Books). Accompanied by New York cityscapes painted by artist Tabboo!, Katz's contemplative poetry covers topics ranging from his 30th birthday to Mozart.

Elaine Laura Kleiner, AM'66, PhD'71, This Sacred Earth and Other Poems (Mellon Poetry Press); Beside Great Waters: Poems from the Highlands and Islands (Avon Books); and, with Sam Hamill, editors, Sacramental Acts: The Love Poems of Kenneth Rexroth (Copper Canyon Press). The first book is a collection of poetry on Pacific Northwest themes. The second, a collection of poetry on Scottish landscapes, explores imagery expressive of the transition between the earth-worshipping Celts and the patristic Christianity brought to the Hebrides. The last book gathers the love poems of Kenneth Rexroth, a key figure in San Francisco's beat generation literary renaissance.

Angela Sorby, AM'89, PhD'96, Distance Learning (New Issues Poetry Series/Western Michigan University). Sorby's first collection of poems covers topics ranging from Liz Taylor to Lenin.

John G. Wessel, AB'75, Pretty Ballerina (Simon & Schuster). Ex-con private eye Harding returns in Wessel's second mystery novel. This time, former porn star Cassie Rayn hires Harding to investigate cryptic mailings she thinks are related to her brother's disappearance 26 years ago. Harding discovers that Cassie's past is riddled with dangerous secrets, including the murder of the rest of her family and her unwilling role in an underground child pornography market.

HISTORY AND CURRENT EVENTS

John I. Brooks III, AM'82, PhD'90, The Eclectic Legacy: Academic Philosophy and the Human Sciences in Nineteenth-Century France (University of Delaware Press). Brooks writes that those responsible for introducing the human sciences into the French university-namely Théodule Ribot, Alfred Espinas, Pierre Janet, and Emile Durkheim-were influenced by the French education system's emphasis on vigorous, philosophy-spurred debate.

Thomas Frederick Howard, AB'67, AM'73, Sierra Crossing: First Roads to California (University of California Press). Howard describes the geography, politics, construction, and traffic flow of overland routes in the Sierra Nevada during the 20 years between the gold rush and the 1869 completion of the transcontinental railroad.

Thomas Parrish, AB'49, AM'79, Berlin in the Balance, 1945-1949 (Addison-Wesley). This account of the Berlin blockade and airlift is supported by a number of recently translated and newly available documents, such as the daily notes of V. M. Molotov, the Soviet foreign minister and Stalin's right-hand man, and items from the USSR foreign ministry. Parrish explains the conflict that set the tone of the Cold War from both the Allied and Soviet perspectives.

Mary M. Stolberg, AB'77, Bridging the River of Hatred: The Pioneering Efforts of Detroit Police Commissioner George Edwards (Wayne State University Press). This biography of George Clifton Edwards, Jr., the Detroit police commissioner who advocated racial equality, minority recruiting, and community policing in the 1960s, also describes his career as a founder of the United Auto Workers and, later, as a federal circuit court judge. Stolberg's exploration of Edwards exposes the successes and downfalls of post-World War II racial liberalism.

LINGUISTICS

Richard Feinberg, AM'71, PhD'74, Oral Traditions of Anuta, a Polynesian Outlier in the Solomon Islands (Oxford University Press). Feinberg's book, the culmination of 25 years of cooperation with the people of Anuta Island, presents the language and history of the inhabitants of this isolated Western Pacific community through annotated indigenous texts accompanied by English translations.

Thomas A. Sebeok, AB'41, La Semiotica Globale (Spirali), and Come Comunicano Gli Animali Che Non Parlano (Edizioni del Sud). The first book presents the author's views on semiotics, contending that life is a semiotic process. The second examines general biosemiotic issues, including the evolution of semiosis and the foundations of zoosemiotics, the study of animal communication.

Sanford B. Steever, AM'79, PhD'83, The Dravidian Languages (Routledge). This reference source describes 12 Dravidian languages, their historical development, their specialized linguistic structures and features, and their writing systems. Other chapters provide an introduction to the Dravidian language family and its historical and cultural origins.

MEDICINE AND HEALTH

Albert Howard Carter III, AB'65, and Jane Arbuckle Petro, Rising from the Flames: The Experience of the Severely Burned (University of Pennsylvania Press). Carter and Petro describe burns from historical, cultural, biological, and medical perspectives, discussing the causes of burns, the physiology of injury and healing, and the forms of isolation confronting burn patients. While modern burn care saves some 97 percent of patients, they write, further work is needed in prevention and rehabilitation.

POLITICAL SCIENCE AND LAW

Patricia Ewick and Susan S. Silbey, AM'67, PhD'78, The Common Place of Law: Stories from Everyday Life (University of Chicago Press). Drawing on more than 400 accounts of how people use and experience the law, the authors find three common narratives: one centers on the law as magisterial and remote; another views the law as a game with rules subject to manipulation; and the third describes the law as an arbitrary power that is actively resisted.

Larry Newman, JD'72, Texas Corporation Law (Knowles Publishing Company). This annually updated volume provides a complete description of Texas corporation law. It includes references to statutory and case law, as well as legal forms and other guides for attorneys.

George N. Sfeir, LLM'52, DCL'57, Modernization of the Law in Arab States: An Investigation into Current Civil, Criminal, and Constitutional Law in the Arab World (Austin & Winfield Publishers). This investigation of the effects of modernization on 20th-century Arab law focuses on the codification and implementation of legal change in the post-1945 era of nation building. Sfeir also addresses interaction between Islamic and Western law in the Middle East.

Kenneth W. Thompson, AM'48, PhD'51, editor, China, Taiwan, Japan, the United States and the World; NATO Expansion; The President, the Bureaucracy, and World Regions in Arms Control; and, with Lynne Graybill, Africa's Second Wave of Freedom: Development, Democracy, and Rights (University Press of America). The first book, a collection of essays, discusses the sociopolitical relationships Asian countries have with each other and with the rest of the world. The second weighs the consequences of expanding NATO. The third presents essays on presidents' arms-control agendas, as well as articles on arms control in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. The final work examines the socioeconomic conditions in emerging African nations such as Nigeria, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

Herbert H. Werlin, AB'53, The Mysteries of Development: Studies Using Political Elasticity Theory (University Press of America). In this monograph and textbook on political development, Werlin introduces "political elasticity," a unified theory of administration and politics that he uses to suggest a single direction for all developing systems, regardless of form of government or culture.

PSYCHIATRY AND PSYCHOLOGY

Kenneth S. Isaacs, PhD'56, Uses of Emotion: Nature's Vital Gift (Praeger Publishers). Isaacs reviews the progress made over the past few decades in understanding emotions, contending that emotions are both natural and useful. A modern understanding of emotion, he argues, can lead to the cure of several psychological disorders we now only treat.

Michael Obsatz, AM'64, PhD'67, From Stalemate to Soulmate: A Guide to Mature, Committed, Loving Relationships and Raising Nonviolent Children in a Violent World (Augsburg Fortress Publishers). The first volume-for couples-promotes communication, problem solving, and spiritual growth through readings and written exercises. The second-for parents-suggests techniques for raising children and developing their skills in areas such as impulse control and empathy. David B. Pillemer, AB'72, Momentous Events, Vivid Memories (Harvard University Press). Pillemer looks at how momentous events linger in memory and influence our lives. He also addresses the ways in which autobiographical memory is shaped by gender, culture, and personality.

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

Stewart W. Herman, PhD'88, Durable Goods: A Covenantal Ethic for Management and Employees (University of Notre Dame Press). Herman draws on biblical theology, organization theory, and labor history to investigate the dynamic relationship between employees and their managers. The two groups, he argues, not only gain freedom from cooperating with each other but also by respecting each other's values.

Leon Johnson, DB'59, and Leonidas A. Johnson, What is This Thing Called Preaching? An Authentic Collection of Sermons by Rev. Leon Johnson (Crystal Fountain Publications). Leonidas Johnson, a third-generation preacher, documents 12 sermons by his father, Leon Johnson, and chronicles the experience of converting them into literary form.

Mark Pestana, PhD'86, Moral Virtue or Mental Health? (Peter Lang Publishing). Pestana explains why the idea of mental health has come to replace the idea of virtue in many of our evaluations of character.

Kay Almere Read, AM'83, PhD'91, Time and Sacrifice in the Aztec Cosmos (Indiana University Press). Read describes the world of the Mexica-Tenochca, or Aztec people of Meso- america, arguing that in their world, every being was allotted a given life span and sacrifice was a vehicle for the passage of time.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Robert Cahn, SB'66, Wide Area Network Design: Concepts and Tools for Optimization (Morgan Kaufmann Publishers). Intended for network designers, planners, and architects, this book provides information on designing a computer network that meets performance goals and stays within cost constraints. An accompanying design tool, Delite, offers hands-on experience with the design process.

David M. Einolf, MBA'89, Hazwoper Incident Command: A Manual for Emergency Responders (Government Institutes). This book explains the Incident Command System (ICS), a hazardous-materials management system designed for industry personnel, and offers guidance for training incident commanders under the Occupational Health and Safety Administration's hazwoper standard.

Michael Kuby, AB'80; John Harner; and Patricia Gober, Human Geography in Action (John Wiley & Sons). This college geography textbook and the accompanying interactive CD comprise a set of activities that demonstrate the kinds of questions geographers ask and the ways they answer them. With an emphasis on "doing" geography rather than just reading about it, this text focuses on essential concepts rather than lists of facts.

SOCIAL SCIENCES

Monica J. Casper, AB'88, The Making of the Unborn Patient: A Social Anatomy of Fetal Surgery (Rutgers University Press). The arrival of fetal surgery as a viable medical technique prompts questions regarding its medical, political, and ethical implications. Casper seeks to answer those questions, offering a critical social and cultural analysis of fetal surgery and its consequences.

Joseph C. Hermanowicz, AB'90, AM'93, PhD'96, The Stars Are Not Enough: Scientists-Their Passions and Professions (University of Chicago Press). Drawing on 60 interviews with physicists at all stages of their careers at universities across the U.S., Hermanowicz reveals the ambitions, successes, and failures common to all scientists, showing how their dreams evolve.

Louis Kriesberg, PhB'47, AM'50, PhD'53, Constructive Conflicts: From Escalation to Resolution (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers). This comprehensive analysis of social and political conflicts argues that, in many cases, such conflicts are waged constructively. Kriesberg describes the stages of a conflict and suggests a systematic approach to ensure that it is productive.

For inclusion in “Books by Alumni,” please send the book’s name, author, publisher, field, and synopsis to the Books Editor, University of Chicago Magazine, 1313 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637, or by e-mail: uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu.