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COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY
COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY
BOOKSHELF
Bookshelf
The Napoleonic Image in Hardy
and Tolstoy: A Dual Repudiation
of the “Great Man” Theory
of History by Raymond Marcus
’39. Marcus, a former high school
English and journalism teacher,
examines the impact of Napoleon
Bonaparte’s legacy on the works
of Thomas Hardy and Leo Tolstoy
(Vantage Press, $28.95).
Epigenetics in the Age of Twitter:
Pop Culture and Modern Science
by Gerald Weissman ’50. Weissman
considers modern social media
through the lens of epigenetics, a
branch of science that attempts to
explain how our genes respond to
our environments (Bellevue Literary
Press, $18.95).
Understanding Social Networks:
Theories, Concepts, and Findings
by Charles Kadushin ’53. Kadushin
explains online and offline social
networks through a sociological
lens, breaking them down for
the non-mathematically inclined
(Oxford University Press, $99).
Forgotten Voices: The Expulsion of
the Germans from Eastern Europe
after World War II by Ulrich Merten
’53. Through firsthand accounts and
primary documents, Merten gives
voice to the millions of German
citizens persecuted by totalitarian
Russia and their own Nazi state in
the aftermath of WWII (Transaction
Publishers, $49.95).
The State of the Jews: A Critical
Appraisal by Edward Alexander ’57.
Alexander, a professor emeritus of
English at the University of Washington,
describes the threat Jewish
people face from contemporary anti-
Semitism and hostility toward Israel
(Transaction Publishers, $34.95).
The Other Side of the World by Jay
Neugeboren ’59. From the rainforests
of Borneo to the streets of Brooklyn,
Neugeboren’s novel follows adventurer
Charlie Eisner and provocative
writer Seana O’Sullivan on an
epic journey in memory of Charlie’s
late friend Nick (Two Dollar Radio,
$17).
Working for Peace and Justice:
Memoirs of an Activist Intellectual
by Lawrence S. Wittner ’62.
Through a series of vignettes,
Wittner chronicles his life as an
activist for peace, labor rights and
racial equality (The University of
Tennessee Press, $29.95).
Hypertension: A Companion to
Braunwald’s Heart Disease, 2nd
Edition by Dr. Henry R. Black ’63 and
William J. Elliott. An update to the
authors’ cardiology reference book,
this edition provides doctors with
the most up-to-date clinical tools to
treat hypertension (Saunders, $169).
Strangers & Pilgrims: A Centennial
History of The Laymen’s Club
of the Cathedral of Saint John
the Divine by Francis J. Sypher Jr.
’63. Sypher chronicles the Laymen
Club’s 100-year history of sponsoring
the famous Morningside
Heights cathedral as well as the
club’s contributions to its construction
from the 1920s through the
1990s (The Laymen’s Club of the
Cathedral Church of Saint John the
Divine, $35).
Treacherous Beauty: Peggy Shippen,
the Woman Behind Benedict
Arnold’s Plot to Betray America
by Mark Jacob and Stephen H. Case
’64. In their biography of Arnold’s
wife, Jacob and Case reveal her
pivotal role in the treasonous plot
that nearly sabotaged the American
Revolution (Lyons Press, $24.95).
Torture and Impunity: The U.S.
Doctrine of Coercive Interrogation
by Alfred W. McCoy ’68.
McCoy, a history professor at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison,
writes a history of torture tactics
used by the U.S. government and
details how torture affects our culture,
morality and laws (University
of Wisconsin Press, $24.95).
Whole Notes: A Piano Masterclass
by Armen Donelian ’72. A holistic
approach to instrumental study
— including advice on physical,
mental and psychological challenges
that need attention — from
an internationally respected jazz
pianist, composer and educator
(Advance Music, $32.50).
The Good, the Bad, and the Economy:
Does Human Nature Rule Out
a Better World? by Louis Putterman
’76. The author grapples with the
conflict between self-interest and
social cooperation as he seeks to address
the reasons we’ve been unable
to build a more equal and nurturing
world (Langdon Street Press, $17.95).
Black Tulips: The Selected Poems
of José María Hinojosa by José
María Hinojosa, translated by Mark
Statman ’80. Spanish poet Hinojosa’s
surrealist work — translated
into English for the first time since
his 1936 assassination — celebrates
love amidst war and suffering
(Uno Press, $18.95).
Pledges of Jewish Allegiance:
Conversion, Law, and Policymaking
in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-
Century Orthodox Responsa by
David Ellenson and Daniel Gordis
’81. Ellenson and Gordis consider
a wide array of legal opinions
by European Orthodox rabbis
to determine what constitutes a
legitimate conversion to Judaism
(Stanford University Press, $30).
The People’s Pension: The Struggle
to Defend Social Security Since
Reagan by Eric Laursen ’82. In this
history of Social Security, Laursen,
a financial and political journalist,
explains how the program’s
existence has been threatened by
both political parties and lays out
a strategy to protect it (AK Press,
$27)
Barack Obama [’83]: The Story by
David Maraniss. The author, an associate
editor at The Washington Post,
draws on hundreds of interviews to
uncover the influences on the personal
and political life of President
Obama in this biography (Simon &
Schuster, $32.50).
The Secret War Between Downloading
and Uploading: Tales of
the Computer as Culture Machine
by Peter Lunenfeld ’84. The author
analyzes our digital culture, warning
that passive consumption, instead
of active creation, has become
the main way we use technology
(The MIT Press, $21.95).
New Classicists: Richard Manion
[’84] Architecture by Stacie Stukin.
This vivid portfolio of work by
Richard Manion ’84 features
projects from around the world including
signature homes inspired
by English country houses, French
châteaux and Italian villas (Images
Publishing, $90).
Race and America’s Immigrant
Press: How the Slovaks Were
Taught to Think Like White
People by Robert M. Zecker ’84.
Zecker, associate professor of
history at Saint Francis Xavier
University in Nova Scotia, studies
how immigrant newspapers
covered American racial issues in
the 19th and 20th centuries (Continuum,
$130).
The Shape of Green: Aesthetics,
Ecology, and Design by Lance
Hosey ’87. Architect and designer
Hosey outlines principles of design
for products, cars, buildings and
cities that incorporate sustainability
(Island Press, $30).
Sexual Types: Embodiment, Agency,
and Dramatic Character from
Shakespeare to Shirley by Mario
DiGangi ’88. Building on feminist
and queer scholarship, DiGangi
demonstrates how sexual types
such as the bawd, the sodomite and
the citizen wife can be vilified but
also serve as dynamic, resourceful
characters who upend the limitations
of their archetypes (University
of Pennsylvania Press, $65).
The Career Within You: How
to Find the Perfect Job for Your
Personality (Japanese edition) by
Elizabeth Wagele and Ingrid Stabb
’91. In a new edition of their 2009
book, Wagele and Stabb offer
unique advice for job hunters in
the Japanese market, using the Enneagram
personality model to help
find a job that fits one’s sensibilities
(HarperOne, 575 Japanese Yen).
The House of Velvet and Glass by
Katherine Howe ’99. The bestselling
novelist’s latest blends romance,
the supernatural and a family’s secrets
during the tumultuous period
spanning the sinking of the Titanic
and WWI (Voice, $25.99).
Sovereign Wealth Funds and
Long-Term Investing edited by
Patrick Bolton, the Barbara and
David Zalaznick Professor of Business;
Frederic Samama; and Joseph
E. Stiglitz, University Professor.
This collection of essays explains
and examines the implications of
sovereign wealth funds, stateowned
investment funds with
combined asset holdings that are
approaching $4 trillion (Columbia
University Press, $20).
Storable Votes: Protecting the Minority
Voice by Alessandra Casella,
professor of economics. Casella
brings the tools of economics to
politics, presenting a system in
which citizens can budget their
votes, casting multiple votes when
they consider a decision more
important (Oxford University
Press, $29.95).
College: What It Was, Is, and
Should Be by Andrew Delbanco,
the Mendelson Family Professor
of American Studies and the
Julian Clarence Levi Professor in
the Humanities. Delbanco traces
the evolution of higher education
in America from early Puritan
colleges to modern research universities
and calls for a return to a
broad, humanistic undergraduate
education (see Columbia Forum in
this issue for an excerpt) (Princeton
University Press, $24.95).
Ignorance: How It Drives Science
by Stuart Firestein, professor of
neuroscience and chair of the
Department of Biological Sciences.
Citing examples from an array
of scientific disciplines, Firestein
claims scientists often make their
best discoveries by embracing
what they don’t know (Oxford
University Press, $21.95).
A Brief History of Justice by David
Johnston, professor of political science.
Johnston’s survey on justice
covers the ancient law codes of
Babylon and Greece as well as
contemporary questions about the
nature of justice (Wiley-Blackwell,
$29.95).
The Age of Insight: The Quest
to Understand the Unconscious
in Art, Mind, and Brain, from
Vienna 1900 to the Present by Eric
R. Kandel, University Professor and
the Kavli Professor of Brain Science
in Neuroscience. Nobel Prize Winner
Kandel traces an intellectual
revolution in psychology, brain
science, literature and art to the
cultural epicenter of Vienna in 1900
(Random House, $40).
Perpetual War: Cosmopolitanism
from the Viewpoint of Violence
by Bruce Robbins, the Old Dominion
Foundation Professor in the
Humanities. A theorist of cosmopolitanism,
the shared morality of
humanity beyond provincial loyalties,
Robbins applies the concept
to our era of constant U.S. warfare
(Duke University Press, $23.95).
Democracy, Islam, & Secularism
in Turkey edited by Ahmet T. Kuru
and Alfred Stepan, the Wallace S.
Sayre Professor of Government.
In this collection of essays, a range
of experts explore the historical,
social and religious factors that
inform Turkey’s politics (Columbia
University Press, $27.50).
Refiguring the Spiritual: Beuys,
Barney, Turrell, Goldsworthy by
Mark C. Taylor, professor of religion.
Through a critique of four contemporary
artists, Taylor reveals the
spiritual dimensions in their work
that often are overlooked in the
commercialized art market (Columbia
University Press, $27.50).
Benjamin Gittelson ’15 and
Karen Iorio
FALL 2012
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FALL 2012
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