 | This publication of "The Aeneid," by lyric poet Sarah Ruden, marks the first time that Vergil's epic masterpiece has been translated by a woman. |
In “Saving Sickly Children,” Cynthia Connolly analyzes public
health and family welfare through the lens of the tuberculosis preventorium.
This facility was intended to prevent tuberculosis — also known as “The
Great Killer” and “The White Plague” — in indigent
children from families labeled irresponsible or at risk for developing the
disease. Yet, Connolly says, it also held deeply rooted assumptions about class,
race and ethnicity. She explains how the child-saving themes embedded in the
preventorium movement continue to shape children’s health care delivery
and family policy in the United States. While the environmental community has grown in strength and sophistication,
the environment itself has continued to decline, says James Gustave Speth in “The
Bridge at the Edge of the World.” Speth contends that the reason for
this decline is today’s economic and political system — capitalism
as it now operates. To save the planet, he argues in his book, there must be
a change in the operating instructions for the modern economy. Speth outlines
some of the strategies that must be adopted to deal with the challenges of
preserving the Earth. In “Out of the East,” Paul Freedman explores the extravagant demand
for spices in medieval Europe. He examines why they were so popular and so
expensive. He surveys the history, geography, economics and culinary tastes
of the Middle Ages to uncover the varied ways that spices were used in medieval
cuisine, in the treatment of disease, for the promotion of well-being and to
perfume ceremonies of the church. Spices, the historian contends, were much
more than desirable consumer products and objects of conspicuous consumption.
They also became the symbols of beauty, affluence, taste and grace, and their
expense and fragrance, he says, drove the engines of commerce and conquest
at the dawn of the modern era. “Skill Formation” provides an up-to-date review theory and research
on skill formation in psychology, economics, political science and sociology.
It addresses issues of skill learning and measurement, institutional and policy
differences between countries, as well as the issue of skill formation across
the life course and disparities between socioeconomic groups. Contributors
pose the questions: What do we mean when we talk about skills, qualifications
and competencies? How do the qualifications required at the workplace stand
in relation to what we learn in schools? What are the impacts of different
national training systems for the qualifications they are able to provide?
How are qualifications, competencies and skills transmitted, lost and preserved?
The answers to these and other questions are important to understanding the
scarcest resource in the 21st century, the editors say. “English in Print from Caxton to Shakespeare to Milton” examines
the history of early English books, exploring the concept of putting the English
language into print with close study of the texts, the formats, the audiences
and the functions of English books. Illustrated with more than 130 full-cover
images of rare books, this volume investigates a range of issues regarding
the dissemination of English language and culture through printed works, including
the standardization of typography, grammar and spelling; the appearance of
popular literature; and the development of school grammars and dictionaries.
The authors provide descriptions of more than 100 early English books drawn
from the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign,
and the Elizabethan Club at Yale. Sarah Ruden, a lyric poet, is the first woman to translate Vergil’s
epic masterpiece. In her translation, Ruden renders the poem in the same number
of lines as the original work — a rare feat in translation. She follows
Vergil’s content faithfully, with the aim of remaining true to Vergil’s
narrative force and the poet’s message. The poem’s theme of national
destiny versus the destiny of individuals, Ruden believes, has resonance in
current times. “Choices in Breast Cancer Treatment” is intended to both educate
and comfort the new patient (and her family) who is faced with making decisions
about treatment. It provides women with medically reliable and up-to-date information
to help them with these decisions. Within the book’s pages, surgeons,
medical oncologists, radiologists, plastic surgeons and women who have faced
breast cancer offer advice and insight about treatments. In addition to describing
surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and breast reconstruction,
the medical experts classify choices and offer support, while breast cancer
survivors tell their own stories. According to Dr. Kenneth Miller, the book
is intended to help women build a treatment plan based on their own individual
diagnoses, experiences and needs. Alan Kazdin distills his 30 years of work with children into a step-by-step
method for parents in this book, which includes a bound-in DVD featuring effective
tips for common problems. In the book, Kazdin shatters decades’ worth
of myths about tantrums, time-outs, punishments fitting the crime and more.
He describes how to use tone of voice, when and how to touch, how to lead a
child in a “practice” session, how to adjust the approach for children
of different ages, how to involve non-offending siblings and other techniques.
Kazdin describes his method as a temporary program with permanent results for
very young children to adolescents, and even beyond. “Comfortably Numb” is a critical look at the way psychiatric medications
are prescribed and marketed in the United States. According to Charles Barber,
227 million antidepressant prescriptions were dispensed in the United States
in 2006, more than any other class of medication. He explores the ways in which
pharmaceutical companies first create the need for a drug and then rush to
fill it. He argues that Americans are under increasing pressure — through
direct-to-consumer advertising, the promise of a “quick fix,” the
blurring distinction between mental illness and everyday problems and other
means — to medicate themselves. He also contends that without an industry
to promote them, non-pharmaceutical approaches that could have the potential
to help millions are overlooked by a nation that sees drugs as an instant cure
for all emotional difficulties. Building on de Tocqueville’s concept of American exceptionalism, this
collection of essays examines the current state of American institutions and
policies — from the legal system to marriage to the military to the drug
war — and explores what makes the nation unique. The collection examines
such questions as: What is America? Is it a hegemonic superpower, composed
of ruthlessly selfish capitalists? Or is it a land of hope and glory, a shelter
for the “huddled masses” and a beacon of freedom and enlightenment?
Peter Schuck has contributed an essay on immigration, and James Q. Wilson contributed
one on criminal justice. Other contributors — all scholars in their fields
in the United States — examine such topics as the political system and
political culture, health care, the family, the media, drug policy, inequality
and economic mobility, philanthropy, federalism and bureaucracy, among others.
T H I S
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.
Authors of new books can forward publishers’ book descriptions to Susan Gonzalez.
Saving Sickly Children: The Tuberculosis Preventorium in American Life, 1909-1970
Cynthia A. Connolly, assistant professor of nursing, assistant professor in the history of medicine and lecturer in history
(Rutgers University Press)
The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment and Crossing
from Crisis to Sustainability
James Gustave Speth, the Carl W. Knobloch Dean of the School of Forestry
& Environmental Studies and the Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor in the Practice
of Environmental Policy
(Yale University Press)
Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination
Paul Freedman, the Chester D. Tripp Professor of History and chair of the Department
of History
(Yale University Press)
Skill Formation: Interdisciplinary and Cross-National Perspectives
Edited by Karl Ulrich Mayer, professor
of sociology, chair of the Department
of Sociology and co-director of the Center for Research on Inequalities and
the Life Course, and Heike Solga
(Cambridge University Press)
English in Print from Caxton to Shakespeare to Milton
Fred C. Robinson, the Douglas Tracy Smith Professor Emeritus of English
and librarian of the Elizabethan Club, and Valerie Hotchkiss
(University of Illinois Press)
The Aeneid
Translated by Sarah Ruden, visiting scholar at the Yale Divinity School
(Yale University Press)
Choices in Breast Cancer Treatment: Medical Specialists and Cancer Survivors
Tell You What You Need To Know
Edited by Dr. Kenneth D. Miller, assistant professor of medicine and director
of the Connecticut Challenge Survivorship Clinic and Supportive Care Program,
Yale Cancer Center
(Johns Hopkins University Press)
The Kazdin Method for Parenting the Defiant Child
Alan Kazdin, director of the Yale Child Study Center, the Yale Parenting Center
and the Yale Child Conduct Clinic, and the John M. Musser Professor of Psychology
(Houghton Mifflin)
Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation
Charles Barber, lecturer in psychiatry
(Pantheon Books)
Understanding America: The Anatomy of an Exceptional Nation
Edited by Peter H. Schuck, the Simeon
E. Baldwin Professor of Law, and
James Q. Wilson
(PublicAffairs)
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
Findings may explain how cancer spreads
Students learning to blend economic savvy and environmental . . .
Outreach programs showing city students science is . . .
Students demonstrate energy-harvesting designs
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Alumnus Stephen Pitti named new master of Ezra Stiles College
Former Norwalk mayor Alex Knopp chosen to head Dwight Hall
Study identifies factors that predict premature babies’ survivability . . .
Center celebrates decade of shaping graduate student life
Library acquires alumnus’ images of a changing Iowa
Staff member’s Mt. McKinley climb will support cancer research
Carlotta Festival showcases work of graduating playwrights
Celebrated writers will discuss their craft in Yale Library talk
Researchers trace chlorine’s irritative effect to a specific nerve receptor
Student Research Day to feature prize-winning presentations . . .
Inaugural James Weldon Johnson Fellow to research . . .
Researcher Kenneth Pugh, a reading specialist, is appointed . . .
Conference to explore psychosocial and physical dimensions of . . .
Memorial service for Dr. Steven C. Hebert
Yale Books in Brief
Campus Notes
Bulletin Home|Visiting on Campus|Calendar of Events|In the News
Bulletin Board|Classified Ads|Search Archives|Deadlines
Bulletin Staff|Public Affairs|News Releases|
E-Mail Us|Yale Home