College of General Studies

"Stoehr and Gallagher balance their subject’s professional life with his personal life, exploring not just the way he made his movies but the reasons why he made them. A first-rate book that should become the standard Vidor reference for years to come."―Booklist

"Robert Wexelblatt’s new collection displays formal mastery, lucid exposition, and a sure way of stimulating the reader’s curiosity. Characters and situations raise questions, some to be answered, others to be left widening into further mystery." – Sarah White, review of Heiberg’s Twitch in American Book Review

"Babbar's rigorous, serious, and insightful Finders is the most comprehensive study into the exciting phenomenon of Northern Irish crime fiction. A must-read for literary scholars and the casual fan of the most explosive sub genre of Celtic Noir." ― Adrian McKinty, author of The Chain

"This clear and compelling book accomplishes at least two useful and innovative aims: it connects Tagore's and Sen's readings of Indian intellectual history to their political thought; and it shifts the conversation about Buddhist ethics from the standard emphasis on universal compassion to the particular obligations of power and even love. These constitute provocative and promising interventions into contentious issues as old as Buddhism--such as the nature of right action and liberation--and as current as the ethics of international relations in a globalized world." – Anil Mundra, Rutgers University New Brunswick

"This scholarly and well-researched book introduces the concept of moral injury to identify and interrogate themes relating to the aftermath of moral transgression in literature. Joshua Pederson artfully presents what is known about moral injury from the clinical science and phenomenological perspective and uses this as a point of departure to interpret literary works, which greatly expands the heretofore narrow view of trauma and its impact on humanity in literature. Anyone interested in literature and anyone attempting to understand and address the very human toll of severe violations of what is right will find this book instructive and illuminating." - Brett Litz, Boston Univeristy, author of Adaptive Disclosure

"Drawing upon maritime myth and Scottish folklore to weave an eerie story filled with magic and music, Hansen intertwines Beet's narrative with historical flashbacks as the mystery unfolds. There's a gentle subtlety to this atmospheric debut, with the ocean becoming a character of its own. . ." - Publishers Weekly

“Schoch is a true scientist, following the data wherever it leads, heedless of political pressures or worn-out paradigms. His redating of the Sphinx in 1991 launched the New Archaeology. Forgotten Civilization distills all that has happened since into a simple conclusion: that solar activity ended the last cycle of high culture and may destroy ours in turn. Schoch is no scaremonger, no hawker of a pet theory. What we do with this knowledge is up to us, but once digested, it changes everything.” ― Joscelyn Godwin, author of Atlantis and the Cycles of Time

"While some work on contemporary American fiction has been shaped by the crosswinds of transitory trends and superficial labels, American Fiction After Postmodernism is a major and substantial volume that anchors its readings in a much deeper understanding of how the contemporary novel has changed over time. Alert to the influence of DeLillo and Nabokov, attuned to mainstream voices (Eggers, Franzen), whilst also bringing welcome readings of often overlooked writers (Homes, Olsen), Savvas and Coffman’s collection offers fine-grained analyses of what has happened to postmodernism’s key concerns―from the Jamesonian shadow cast over history and affect to its ambitions to historical greatness―alongside pioneering readings of new areas, such as genrefication and vegetarianism." – Stephen Burn, Reader in Post-1945 American Literature at the University of Glasgow, UK

"Robert Wexelblatt’s latest wisdom gift is his collection of stories about the peasant/poet Hsi-wei, a survivor of the short-lived Sui Dynasty, a time of wars and outrages in which rulers used their subjects as so many bricks to build a great wall. Still, courage, wit, and beauty make their appearance in Hsi-wei Tales, nourishing a troubled world and helping to preserve some of its more admirable inhabitants... As the ever modest Hsi-wei notes, 'at its best, poetry is language made unforgettable.' Both the poetry and the prose in these tales offer gem-like images of nature – 'a steady thing,' Hsi-wei tells us, 'punctuated by seasons of peace and war, plenty and famine' — and a changeless humanity that are deserving of contemplation and a delight to read." – Robert Knox, author of the novels Suosso’s Lane and the forthcoming Karpa Talesman

"This is a brilliant book, whose scope ranges beyond literary criticism, even as it excels at it. Coffman combines luminous close-reading with well-digested, comprehensive theoretical background to analyze the way very different writers address the colonial past and pre-conquest history, questioning the often unacknowledged preconceptions that still underlie our contemporary views. . . . This critical reprise of how writers revise their mythologized, national, transnational or adopted past makes for a refreshing read. It is no small prowess to have written a page-turner of such intellectual scope." – Françoise Palleau-Papin, Professor of American Literature at the University of Paris XIII

“I hesitate to speak of teacher’s nostalgia. My sensing it in Wexelblatt’s rich treasure of a book may be, after all, but a fake echo in the old, shrunken cockles of my heart. Nostalgia, in poems, was often expressed by the Latin words, ubi sunt? Where are they? Where are the snows of yesteryear? Where the ladies of the court of King don Juan? The echo I just mentioned can be phrased: Where are the students of middle ability interested in the humanities? Are there any left?Oh, surely there must be, but how few! And so, why should not old teachers be mad? Madness be blessed, if it brings us the overflow of wisdom and of love that falls from Wexelblatt and fills his Sidney Fein.” — Ricardo Nirenberg, Offcourse Literary Journal

"A lovingly detailed celebration of a neglected silent film that is also a ringing defense of the marriage between Ernst Lubitsch’s unerringly delicate touch and the much-maligned MGM studio style—and, more generally, of a whole approach to filmmaking and filmgoing that has largely fallen out of favor, one that treasures simplicity, romance, sincerity, elegance, grace, sentiment, and apparently artless art."  – Thomas M. Leitch, University of Delaware

“This collection, complete with an introduction on Machen’s life and work, is highly recommended not only for fans but for any general reader interested in weird fiction or gothic horror in general.” — Alan Keep, Booklist

“The brilliant and inventive author invokes the structure of music in what is too lively to call a collection of stories. As I read, I kept remembering a favorite necklace made of antique beads: some glitter; some shine; some are inscribed with mysterious patterns; some are dark, all connected with invisible thread… Wexelblatt is a master of leading you down a familiar garden path to an altogether unexpected country.” — Elizabeth Cunningham, author of The Maeve Chronicles and Murder at the Rummage Sale

“For a quarter-century, Schoch’s analysis of weathering at Giza and Bauval’s archaeoastronomic discoveries have challenged the consensus on prehistory, not merely of Egypt but of the world. This book expertly summarizes their case and its triumphant vindication in the 12,000-year-old sanctuary of Göbekli Tepe. The question is no longer whether they are right but where archaeology should go from here.” —Joscelyn Godwin, author of Atlantis and the Cycles of Time

“Intriguing, original, persuasive. Critical writing at its highest pitch.” — Joyce Carol Oates

“It enhances the literature and provides an opportunity for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to better understand and garner unique insights into the lived experiences of adult women and men whose stories of parental involvement in the criminal justice system have often been ignored in studies of crime, punishment, and mass incarceration. This is a must-read for all those looking to improve outcomes for the children of incarcerated parents.” — Barbara E. Bloom, Sonoma State University

“Few of us have the knack Joelle Renstrom has of writing about how life, literature, and travel intersect and feed off one another. Closing the Book is both deeply personal and at the same time open and welcoming enough that we can find ourselves in these pages and learn something there about loss, grief and growth.” —Richard Tillinghast, author of Finding Ireland

“This is a remarkably informed and engaging intellectual biography of two famous brothers, who together formed the yin and yang of the modern evolutionary world view. The Huxleys argued over the big, important issues, and R.S. Deese is an excellent guide to what they discovered as scientist and artist.” — Donald Worster, author of A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir

“…By analyzing the show’s proficiency at deconstructing and reconstructing traditional concepts of theology, mythology, and gender within the context of postmodern popular culture, George and Hansen’s critical anthology goes a long way toward explaining the series’ resilience — making this volume a must read for any serious watcher of the Winchesters.” — Mary Pharr, co-editor of Of Bread, Blood and The Hunger Games: Critical Essays on the Suzanne Collins Trilogy

“Amid the recent cascade of new books on John F. Kennedy, Thomas Whalen has managed a rare and notable feat — to offer a fresh and original perspective on the 35th president. By offering colorful profiles and vivid vignettes of the foreign and domestic leaders who confronted Kennedy at various stages of his career, the author briskly and skillfully illuminates his life and times, reminding us that a good way to judge a political figure is by the enemies he makes.” — Michael Flamm, Ohio Wesleyan University

“Imperial Media is a focused, lively study that offers a clear contribution to an emergent field, and it will be read with interest: not only by scholars in Victorian and early-twentieth-century British studies, but also by others interested in the intersection of literary and media studies.” —Ivan Kreilkamp, Indiana University, Bloomington

Winner Third Place, History: 2014 Catholic Book Awards, Catholic Press Association of the US and Canada

“John McGrath and Kathleen Callanan Martin have produced an interesting new work on the concept of modernization in the history of the Western World...This book offers an innovative approach to the ideas of modernization and social change in Western society.” — Teaching History

“Schoch is a true scientist, following the data wherever it leads, heedless of political pressures or worn-out paradigms. Twenty-two years ago, his redating of the Sphinx launched the New Archaeology. Forgotten Civilization distills all that has happened since into a simple conclusion: that solar activity ended the last cycle of high culture and may destroy ours in turn. Schoch is no scaremonger, no hawker of a pet theory. What we do with this knowledge is up to us, but once digested, it changes everything.” – Joscelyn Godwin, author of Atlantis and The Cycles of Time

“Fans of the Red Sox of yesteryear will be delighted by Thomas Whalen’s account of the team’s good and REALLY old days. The beginning of the book will also appeal to devotees of art history and classical music, since it opens with an image of Isabella Stewart Gardner wearing a Red Sox head band to a concert at Symphony Hall.” – Bill Littlefield, National Public Radio

2011 Outstanding Book Award for an edited volume from the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender

“With his gifted style Jaeger succeeds in treating the delicate matter of the book in a lucid and engaging way.” – Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano

“Loaded with wit, bristling irony, draped in erudition and studded with metaphysics.” – The New York Times Book Review