Issue Contents :: Bookshelf :: Page [ 1 2 ]

Crude: The Story of Oil
By Sonia Shah ’90
Seven Stories Press, 2004

Giant Western oil companies don’t produce or own access to the majority of the world’s oil, but they do make the most money from it, and their continuing quest for profit means they shape the way the entire planet develops and markets oil. Shah, an independent journalist, relays the history of this most coveted mineral while reminding us that the search for oil is a race against time.

Open Wide: How Hollywood Box Office Became a National Obsession
By Dade Hayes ’93 and Jonathan Bing
Miramax Books, 2004

Variety magazine editors examine America’s obsession with the box office by looking at competing movie releases during a single weekend in July 2003, when the authors were granted access to studio heads, directors, film stars, marketing executives, and theater managers. The result is an insider’s look at how movies are packaged for mass consumption and how the industry’s fixation on opening weekend has changed the very nature of American film.

A Few Perfect Hours (And Other Stories from Southeast Asia & Central Europe)
By Josh Neufeld ’89
Josh Neufeld, 2004

Autobiographical cartoonist Josh Neufeld takes readers on a unique globetrotting tour based on his 1990s travel experiences with Sari Wilson ’90. Both serve as the main characters depicted in such offbeat adventures as a cave expedition in Thailand, a train ride through war-torn Serbia, and a stint as extras in a Singaporean soap opera.

The Most Activist Supreme Court in History
Thomas M. Keck ’92
The University of Chicago Press, 2004

When conservatives took control of the judiciary in the 1980s, it was assumed that they would reverse the rights-protecting precedents set by the Warren Court. Instead, the Court under Chief Justice Rehnquist has reaffirmed most of those liberal decisions while creating its own brand of conservative judicial activism. Keck argues that the tensions within modern conservatism have produced a court that exercises its own power quite actively, on behalf of both liberal and conservative ends. Despite the long-standing conservative commitment to restraint, the justices of the Rehnquist Court have stepped in to settle divisive political conflicts over abortion, affirmative action, gay rights, presidential elections, and much more.
 

Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future
By James Hughes ’83
Westview Press, 2004

In the next 50 years, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and other technologies will allow humans to transcend their body’s limitations. Life spans will extend beyond 100 years, and our bodies and brains will be surrounded by and merged with computer power. Hughes argues that “transhuman” technologies that push the boundaries of humanness can radically improve our quality of life if they are safe and made equally available, requiring a return to the root principles of democracy.
 

In Defense of Internment: The Case for “Racial Profiling” in World War II and the War on Terror
By Michelle Maglalang Malkin ’92
Regnery Publishing, 2004

Malkin, a conservative syndicated newspaper columnist, makes a radical departure from the ideals held by civil liberties absolutists in making her case for the use of racial profiling as a legitimate national security policy. She documents how World War II intelligence revealed a Japanese espionage threat to our country and she explores the “myth” that internment camps were the result of irrational hatred and conspiratorial bigotry.
 

I’d Kill for That
Edited by Marcia Dutton Talley ’65
St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2004

Mystery novelist Talley pulls together 13 noted female writers to each pen a chapter of this fast-paced, whodunit serial novel, which begins when a dead body is found on the golf course of a gated community in suburban Washington, DC. The authors, who are donating a percentage of their royalties to breast cancer research, include Heather Graham, Jennifer Cruise, and Gayle Lynds.
 

Also Noted

My Work Among the Faithful: Poems
Lisa Beskin ’90
Lynx House Press, 2004

Buddhist Religions: A Historical Introduction
Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff ’71) et al
Thomson Wadsworth, 2005

The Two Gentlemen of Verona
William C. Carroll ’67
The Arden Shakespeare, Thomson Learning, 2004

Photographer Mole
Dennis Haseley ’72
Dial Books, 2004

Shut Out: Low Income Mothers and Higher Education in Post-Welfare America
Edited by Peggy Kahn ’75 et al
SUNY Press, 2004

High Drama: The New York Cityscapes of Georgia O’Keefe and Margaret Bourke-White
Peter R. Kalb ’91
Midmarch Arts Press, 2003

Riding the Brand
Bruce Makous ’76
Hilliard & Harris, 2004

Help for the Child with Asperger’s Syndrome: A Parent’s Guide to Negotiating the Social Service Maze
Gretchen Mertz ’80
Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2004