 | Set up as a conversation between two social scientists, Robert Lane's "After the End of History" explores justice, money, development, work and happiness. |
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.
Robert E. Lane draws on research over his long career studying money, happiness, materialism and humanism in "After the End of History." In this book, he presents a dialog between two protagonists -- two social scientists who regularly meet for lunch in a diner just off campus. One of them is a narrowly trained economist who believes that wealth matters above all else; his companion is an eclectic, humanistically inclined political scientist who believes that the materialistic perspective is outdated and that social scientists should be thinking about other, more direct routes to human well-being. Their conversations draw from a wealth of sources (ideas from history, philosophy, psychology and religion) and address topics such as justice, money, development, work and happiness.
"Aglow in the Dark" traces the scientific significance of green fluorescent protein -- one of the most groundbreaking discoveries of the 20th century. Vincent Pieribone and David Gruber describe how, in the early 1960s, a Japanese scientist performed an experiment to determine what made a certain jellyfish glow. The substance he discovered, green fluorescent protein, would revolutionize molecular biology, transforming the study of everything from the AIDS virus to the workings of the brain. "Aglow in the Dark" follows the path that took this glowing compound from its inauspicious arrival on the scientific scene to its present-day eminence. The story unfolds in far-flung places -- from the coral reefs of the Pacific Ocean to the medical schools and marine stations of leading universities -- illustrating along the way humans' fascination with bioluminescence, or "living light," and how this fascination exposed a hidden world where light is manipulated by animals and humans and put to use in a myriad of ways: to unlock the secrets of the human brain, conquer diseases and perhaps someday link minds and machines.
In "Roots Too," Matthew Frye Jacobson argues that in the wake of the civil rights movement white Americans sought renewed status in the romance of Old World travails and New World fortunes. He believes Ellis Island replaced Plymouth Rock as the touchstone of American nationalism and that the entire culture embraced the myth of the indomitable white ethnics -- who they were and where they had come from -- in literature, film, theater, art, music and scholarship. The language and symbols of hardworking, self-reliant and ultimately triumphant European immigrants have exerted force on political movements and public policy debates from affirmative action to contemporary immigration, Jacobson notes. In order to understand how white primacy in American life survived the heat of the civil rights movement and multiculturalism, Jacobson argues for a full exploration of the meaning of the white ethnic revival and the uneasy relationship between inclusion and exclusion that it has engendered in conceptions of national belonging.
In "Upon the Altar of the Nation," Harry S. Stout demonstrates how the claims of both Civil War factions that God was on their side fueled the ferocity of the conflict and its enduring legacy. Proceeding chronologically from the election of Abraham Lincoln to the start of Reconstruction, Stout explores how the fundamental moral conduct of the war shifted from a limited conflict fought over constitutional issues to a total war in which slaughter both on and off the battlefield was justified as the only means to unconditional victory. As North and South alike enshrined their causes as sacred, a kind of national religion emerged based on martyrdom and rebirth through violence. Stout draws on an array of Civil War letters, sermons, editorials, diaries and battle photographs to reveal how men and women were ensnared in the time's patriotic propaganda and ideological grip, and how these wartime policies continue to echo in the contemporary debates.
"Meditations of a Militant Moderate" is a collection of essays on topics at the forefront of political discussion, among them race, affirmative action, surrogate motherhood, diversity, immigration, compensation of 9/11 victims, exclusion of gays from the Boy Scouts and the military, the 2004 election, the invasion of Iraq and the rule of law in developing countries. Calling himself a militant moderate, Schuck reveals his positions on these topics, and claims that his views are pragmatic, reformist, non-ideological, empirically minded and skeptical of many liberal and conservative pieties. Concerned that the ideologies of the left and the right have left a "chasm" in civil debate, Schuck concedes there is no easy remedy, but believes that pragmatism is of great value. On the subject of affirmative action, for example, he argues that it be banned in the public sector but allowed in the private sector -- an approach that differs from traditionally liberal or conservative ideologies.
In "Icons of Grief," Alexander Nemerov examines the haunting, melancholy horror films Val Lewton made between 1942 and 1946 and finds them to be powerful commentaries on the American home front during World War II. He focuses on the iconic, isolated figures who appear in four of Lewton's small-budget classics -- "The Curse of the Cat People," "The Ghost Ship," "I Walked with a Zombie" and "Bedlam." These ghosts, outcasts and other apparitions of sorrow crystallize the anxiety and grief experienced by Americans during the war -- emotions that were at odds with the official insistence on courage, patriotism and optimism. Drawing on Lewton's letters, novels, scripts and a wealth of historical material, Nemerov demonstrates Lewton's interest in those who found themselves alienated by wartime society and illuminates the dark side of the American psyche in the 1940s.
In this illustrated book, Robert Farris Thompson presents the definitive account of tango -- from is syncretic evolution in the 19th century (partaking of European, Andalusian-Gaucho and African influences) to its representations in Hollywood and dramatizations in dance halls throughout the world. He explores tango not only as a dance form but also as a cultural movement, and in its relation to text, music, art and philosophy of life.
T H I S
Yale Books in Brief
After the End of History: The Curious Fate of American Materialism
Robert E. Lane, the Eugene Meyer Professor Emeritus of Political Science
(University of Michigan Press)
Aglow in the Dark: The Revolutionary Science of Biofluorescence
Vincent Pieribone, associate professor of physiology and neurobiology, and David F. Gruber
(Harvard University Press)
Roots Too: White Ethnic Revival in Civil Rights America
Matthew Frye Jacobson, professor of American Studies, African American studies and history
(Harvard University Press)
Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War
Harry S. Stout, the Jonathan Edwards Professor of American Religious History, professor of religious studies & American studies
(Penguin Group)
Meditations of a Militant Moderate: Cool Views on Hot Topics
Peter H. Schuck, the Simeon E. Baldwin Professor of Law
(The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group)
Icons of Grief: Val Lewton's Home Front Pictures
Alexander Nemerov, professor of the history of art
(University of California Press)
Tango: The Art History of Love
Robert Farris Thompson, the Colonel John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art and master of Timothy Dwight College
(Pantheon Books)
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New center to help hone public health workers' response to disasters
Janus founder to head Alumni Association
ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS
Stephen Anderson named Diebold Professor of Linguistics
Dudley Andrew is designated the R. Selden Rose Professor
Ravi Dhar is appointed the George Rogers Clark Professor
Janet Pan is the new Barton L. Weller Associate Professor . . .In Focus: Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences
'Dangerous' decline of foreign news in U.S. topic of Poynter Lecture . . .
Exhibit examines how papermaking advances affected art
Gallery showcases Frank Lloyd Wright's only skyscraper . . .
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Plastic surgery complications not linked to time spent . . .Benefit concert will commemorate Chernobyl disaster
Rosa DeLauro honored for commitent to women's health research
Yale Books in Brief
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