October 25, 2000

In Review

Recently published books by alumni and faculty

First Line of Defense: Ambassadors, Embassies and American Interests Abroad - edited by Robert V. Keeley '51. American Academy of Diplomacy, $9.95. A collection of personal accounts by senior American ambassadors, who discuss the role of diplomacy in international relations. Keeley lives in Washington, D.C.

American Beliefs: What Keeps a Big Country and a Diverse People United - John Harmon McElroy '56. Ivan R. Dee, $25. The author argues that Americans share a set of core beliefs about society and the ends and means of government. McElroy is a professor, emeritus, of English at the University of Arizona.

May It Please the Court! From Auto Accidents to Agent Orange: Building a Storefront Law Practice into America's Largest Suburban Law Firm - Leonard Rivkin with Jeffrey Silberfeld '69. Carolina Academic Press, $30. An account of Rivkin's legal career and the law firm he founded in Freeport, New York. Silberfeld teaches at Hofstra University School of Law.

Lord of the Banquet: The Literary and Theological Significance of the Lukan Travel Narrative - David P. Moessner '71. Trinity, $22. The author addresses the enigma of form and content in the central section of Luke's Gospel, Jesus's journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. Moessner is also the editor, with David L. Tiede, of Luke the Interpreter of Israel (Trinity, $40), which presents a consensus that Luke composed a narrative in two parts to claim Jesus of Nazareth as Israel's heritage and legacy. Moessner is a professor of biblical theology at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary.

American Ghost/Americki duh - John Gery '75. Cross-Cultural Communications, $30 cloth/$15 paper. A bilingual English -- Serbo-Croatian collection of poems. Gery is also a cotranslator of For the House of Torkom, by Hmayyag Shems (Cross-Cultural Publications, $15 cloth/$7.50 paper), a collection of prose poems treating the Armenian diaspora. Gery is a professor of English and creative writing at the University of New Orleans.

Religion and the State: The Muslim Approach to Politics - L. Carl Brown. Columbia, $27.50. An overview of religious and political ideas and practice in the Muslim majority world from the early Islamic centuries to the present, showing the continuities with premodern times and the distinctive dimensions of modern Muslim experiences. Brown is a professor of Near Eastern studies and Garrett professor in foreign affairs, emeritus.

Empire on the Hudson: Political Power and Progress at the Port of New York Authority - Jameson W. Doig. Columbia, $65. The history of one of the oldest and largest of the world's specialized regional governments, from its creation in 1921 to its emergence as an interstate agency with responsibilities in the fields of air, land, and marine transportation. Doig is a professor of politics and public affairs and chair of the politics department.

Man and Wife in America: A History - Hendrik Hartog. Harvard, $29.95. The author challenges conventional notions about the history and evolution of marriage, shattering the myth of the stable American 19th-century marriage. Hartog is Class of 1921 bicentennial professor of history of American law and liberty.

Virtue and Vice: The Personifications in the Index of Christian Art - edited by Colum Hourihane. Princeton, $70 cloth/$35 paper. This catalogue documents 227 personifications of virtue and vice in nearly a thousand works of art produced between the fifth and 15th centuries. Hourihane is the director of the Index of Christian Art at Princeton.

The Masks of Keats: The Endeavour of a Poet - Thomas McFarland. Oxford, $49.95. Arguing that Keats's true poetry is uttered through three artificial masks, the author offers a criticism of and rebuke to the deconstructive approach. McFarland is Murray professor of English literature, emeritus.

Blonde - Joyce Carol Oates. HarperCollins, $27.50. Drawing on biographical and historical sources, the author imagines the inner, poetic, and spiritual life of Norma Jean Baker as child, woman, and ill-fated celebrity. Oates is Roger S. Berlind distinguished professor of the humanities.

The Justice of Islam: Comparative Perspectives on Islamic Law - Lawrence Rosen. Oxford, $19.95. The author argues that Islamic law is a kind of common-law system, where justice is sought through a careful assessment of persons, more than facts, and justice resides not in equality but in a quest for equivalence. Rosen is chair of the anthropology department.

Antiochos III and the Cities of Western Asia Minor - John Ma. Oxford, $98. Ma examines a test case for the relationship between the polis and the Hellenistic empires, considering narrative history, structural analyses of imperial power, and the functions played by language and stereotypes. The author is an assistant professor in the classics department.

Shakespeare's Dramatic Genres - Lawrence Danson. Oxford, $39.95 cloth/$18.95 paper. Provides an account of genre theory in Shakespeare's day, an overview of the genres on the Elizabethan stage, and a look at the full range of Shakespeare's comedies, histories, and tragedies. Danson is a professor of English.