Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 11, 2005|Volume 34, Number 11

This 1928 cartoon in "Sketches from a Secret War" shows activist artist Henryk Józewski saying "Ukraine should belong to Poland!"

Yale Books in Brief

The following is a list of books recently or soon-to-be published by members of the Yale community. Descriptions are based on material provided by the publishers.

Cleopatra and Rome
Diana E. E. Kleiner, the Dunham Professor of the History of Art and Classics
(Harvard University Press)

In "Cleopatra and Rome," Diana E. E. Kleiner traces the immediate and lasting impact of the Egyptian queen and describes her relationships with three legendary Romans: Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and Octavian Augustus. Drawing on depictions of Cleopatra in the writings of Plutarch, Dio Cassius and Shakespeare, and the works of numerous artists, Kleiner paints a portrait of a woman who knew the power of imagery and used that power to make her mark on the world. She illustrates how Cleopatra, in the art she commissioned on her own and in concert with Caesar and Antony, had a lasting impact on Rome and set in motion what became a dialogue with the visual culture of Augustan Rome. Kleiner also explores the Cleopatra legend through an examination of both representational material -- urban plans, temple complexes, altars, cult statuary, portraiture, villa paintings, tombstones, coins, seals and the like -- and visual culture -- her clothing and hair style, among other topics.

The Cadaver's Ball
Charles Atkins, lecturer in psychiatry
(St. Martin's Press)

In this psychological thriller, the lives of three fellow medical students are changed forever at the Cadaver's Ball, when Ed proposes to Beth and she reveals that she has already agreed to marry Peter. Ed is determined to make Beth see that she has made the wrong decision, but fate intervenes: Beth and the baby she and Peter were expecting are killed in a car crash. Seeking revenge, Ed then builds a complex program to destroy Peter, who was driving the car. Peter doesn't suspect his growing difficulties until he becomes a suspect in the death of a patient, and then must try to reclaim his own life. The book is Atkins' third thriller.

Sketches from a Secret War: A Polish Artist's Mission To Liberate Soviet Ukraine
Timothy Snyder, associate professor of history
(Yale University Press)

"Sketches from a Secret War" tells the story of Henryk Józewski, an aspiring Cubist painter from Kyïv who became an underground activist and statesman. In a Europe remade by World War I, Józewski directed Polish intelligence in Ukraine, governed the borderland region of Volhynia in the interwar years, worked in the anti-Nazi and anti-Soviet underground during World War II, and conspired against Poland's Stalinists until his arrest in 1953. Timothy Snyder sheds new light on the foundations of Soviet power and the ideals of those who resisted it, and demonstrates how Józewski's tolerant policies toward Ukrainians in Volhynia were part of Poland's plan to roll back the Communist threat. An epilogue connects the activist's legacy to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and, later, the democratic revolution in the Ukraine in 2004.

City, Temple, Stage: Eschatalogical Architecture and Liturgical Theatrics in New Spain
Jaime Lara, associate professor of Christian art and architecture and chair of the Program in Religion and the Arts
(University of Notre Dame Press)

This book is a new interpretation of the art, architecture and liturgy created for the conversion of Aztecs and other native peoples of central Mexico by European Franciscan missionaries in the mid-16th century. Jaime Lara contends that the design of missionary centers, or so-called "fortress monasteries," can only be understood against the backdrop of the eschatological concerns of the age and the missionary techniques of the mendicant friars. He argues that these architectural constructions are quasi-theatrical sets for elaborate educational and liturgical events that acted as rehearsals for the last age of world history. By analyzing the iconography associated with the Aztec religion and with Euro-Christian apocalyptic texts, Lara shows how the close parallels between the symbols and metaphors of Aztec religion and medieval Catholicism fostered an unusual synthesis between their different world visions. These visual, literary and cultic metaphors, he demonstrates, survive in Mexican Catholicism today.

Status Signals: A Sociological Study of Market Competition
Joel M. Podolny, the William S. Beinecke Professor of Management and dean of the Yale School of Management
(Oxford University Press)

"Status Signals" is the first major sociological examination of how concerns about status affect market competition. In his book, Joel Podolny points out how status pervades the ties producers form in the marketplace and shows how anxieties about status influence whom a producer does (or does not) accept as a partner, the price a producer can charge, the ease with which a producer enters the market, how the producer's inventions are received, and, ultimately, the market segments the producer can (and should) enter. To achieve desired status, Podolny maintains, firms must offer more than strong past performance and product quality: They must also send out and manage social and cultural signals. In "Status Signals," Podolny offers detailed analyses of market competition across a broad array of industries, including investment banking, wine, semiconductors, shipping and venture capital. He shows how corporate strategists, tempted by the profits of a market that would negatively affect their status, consider not only whether to enter the market but also whether they can alter the public perception of the market. He also examines the ways in which a firm can have status, noting that Wal-Mart, for example, has low status among the rich as a place to shop but has high status among the same group as a place to invest.

Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine
Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of Humanities and English
(Riverhead, The Penguin Group)

In "Jesus and Yahweh," Harold Bloom asserts that the histories, Gods and bibles of the Judeo-Christian traditions are, in fact, incompatible. He examines the character of Jesus as portrayed in the Gospels and points out inconsistencies, contradictions and logical flaws throughout these tellings of Jesus' life. He also examines the character of Yahweh and finds that he has more in common with Mark's Jesus in the New Testament than he does with God the Father of the Christian and later rabbinic Jewish traditions. Bloom further argues that the Hebrew Bible of the Jews and the Christian Old Testament are very different books with different purposes, political as well as religious.

The Drama Is Coming Now: The Theater Criticism of Richard Gilman, 1961-1991
Richard Gilman, professor emeritus at the School of Drama
(Yale University Press)

This book is the first collection in more than three decades of writings by drama critic Richard Gilman. Gilman chronicles a major period in American theater history, one that witnessed the birth or spread of Off-Broadway, regional theater, nonprofit companies and avant-garde performance, as well as growing interest in plays by women and minorities and in world drama. The book features essays, profiles and book reviews dealing with such topics as the "new naturalism" in theater, Brecht's collected plays and the legacy of Stanislavski. Also included are commentaries on plays by O'Neill, Miller, Chekhov, Albee, Ibsen, Anouilh, Beckett, Ionesco, Pinter, Fugard and many others.

Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection
Stephen Kellert, the Tweedy Orway Professor of Social Ecology at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
(Island Press)

In "Building for Life," Stephen Kellert advocates a new approach to building. He says a sustainable "restorative environmental design" will minimize adverse impacts on the natural environment while enhancing human health and well being by fostering positive contact between people and nature. Kellert asserts that interaction with nature is critically important to human well being and development, and maintains that the modern built environment has diminished the relationship between people and the natural world. His book examines what is known about how the natural environment affects people's physical, mental and spiritual well being and explains the relationship between people and nature embedded in humanity's evolutionary development. A new approach to building in modern society, he says, can restore that relationship.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Yale opens new International Center

Community invited to center's Open House

New program to offer joint M.B.A./Ph.D.

Peabody will create science curriculum with NIH grant

'Al Franken Show' to be broadcast from Woolsey Hall

Famed singer tells of his determination to voice his views

Economist says climate change hits the poor hardest

Parasite that causes Sleeping Sickness . . .

'Safe in Hell' takes devilish look at Salem witch trials

Innovative architectural visions showcased in 'Transcending Type'

Renovated community Eye Clinic celebrates with an open house

Departments, donors to win prizes at United Way celebration

Additions to Yale Cancer Center will boost clinical care

Coast-to-coast run will raise funds for center for cancer survivors

Panel to discuss 'The Media and Corporate Corruption'

Lecture will pay homage to Albert Einstein

Auction to help alleviate hunger, homelessness

Library hosts shows on printing process and preservation

Women's healthcare challenges to be topic of forum

Concert will pay tribute to the memory of Divinity School alumnus

Week celebrates importance of international education

F&ES faculty member honored for research on rivers

Researcher Mark Johnson wins Plyler Prize . . .

'A Colony of Citizens' wins Douglass Prize for work on slavery

Golden days

Yale Books in Brief

Campus Notes