To highlight the wide range of publications reviewed in Choice, each month Choice editors feature some noteworthy reviews from the current issue.
 
Arab & Arab American feminisms: gender, violence & belonging, ed. by Rabab Abdulhadi, Evelyn Alsultany, and Nadine Naber.  Syracuse, 2011.  389p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780815632238, $45.00.
49-0572  HQ1729  2010-51388 CIP
 
Each of the 32 essays in this collection addresses the plural and intersecting perspectives of Arab and Arab American feminists. The editors asked the contributors to take their own “experiences as a point of departure … in order to illuminate the structural forces that influence our lives.” The result is a dynamic and multifaceted as well as intimate narrative of the “pattern of rising xenophobia against Arabs and Muslims in the post-September 11, 2001, United States.” With chapters on subjectivity and empire, defying categorization, activist communities, discourse and identity, and the rhetoric of homes and homelands, the book explores a broad range of topics. Contributors drawn from activists, attorneys, visual artists, performance artists, novelists, poets, and scholars in fields as varied as American studies, ethnic studies, history, literature, women’s studies, classical languages, and politics ensure an extensive methodological scope. Since the book aims more at consciousness-raising than at addressing theoretical questions, it is most appropriate for general or undergraduate audiences, although graduate students and faculty will certainly find many of the stories personally interesting. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. — R. A. Miller, University of Massachusetts Boston
   
Barbier, Edward B.  Scarcity and frontiers: how economies have developed through natural resource exploitation.  Cambridge, 2011.  748p bibl index; ISBN 9780521877732, $105.00; ISBN 9780521701655 pbk, $48.00.
49-0390  HD1411  2010-35574 CIP
 
This book belongs to a small but growing literature that addresses the big question: What is the significance of environmental and natural resources in enabling some societies to become richer than others? Barbier (Univ. of Wyoming), a leading expert in the field of development and resource economics, blends economic history with environmental history in order to answer this question. The narrative begins with the agricultural transition at 10,000 B.C.E. and continues chronologically to the present spanning Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Australia. Meticulously footnoted and referenced, this book uses data on trade patterns, land conversions, energy production, and urban and rural populations over more than two centuries to illuminate the patterns and significance of resource-based development in the world. This book will prove indispensable for students of history, the environment, and economic development, especially those interested in a more multidisciplinary approach. More technical economic models are in the appendix. The work is written like a history book and would be accessible to advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; upper-division undergraduate students and above. — A. M. Chaudhry, California State University 
 
Birken, Andreas.  Atlas of Islam, 1800-2000.  Brill, 2010.  126p index afp ISBN 900418449X, $277.00; ISBN 9789004184497, $277.00.
49-0024  G1786  2010-43684 MARC
 
This atlas features 70-plus maps divided into five sections: “Geography,” “Population,” “History and Politics,” “Religion,” and “Economy.” Understandably, the maps chiefly focus on the Middle East, though several cover South and Southeast Asia. Many of them also include data post-2000. Specific topics covered, such as ethno-linguistic groups in Iran, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and the evolution of the Gulf Emirates, are displayed with clear maps that are neither too simple or overloaded–common faults of thematic atlases. Birken (independent scholar) also provides commentary for the maps as introductory matter. This atlas dovetails nicely with the standard An Historical Atlas of Islam (2nd ed., CH, Jul’02, 39-6179), edited by Hugh Kennedy, which covers the pre-1800 Islamic world; or Malise Ruthven’s slightly more recent Historical Atlas of Islam (CH, Feb’05, 42-3181), which does include 20th and 21st-century material but is more text-based. Certainly any library that has Kennedy’s atlas will want this, as will most libraries where post-Enlightenment world history is taught. All in all, this is a superb specialized atlas. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty. — D. S. Azzolina, University of Pennsylvania 
 
Blanchard, Olivier.  Social media ROI: managing and measuring social media efforts in your organization.  Que, 2011.  292p index ISBN 0789747413 pbk, $24.99; ISBN 9780789747419 pbk, $24.99.
49-0378  HF5415   MARC
 
According to the author, “You can’t measure what it is you do not value or do not know to value.” The ability to measure and value social media’s presence in one’s business sounds deceptively simple, in theory. In reality, the effective installation and utilization of this concept is a challenging process. And yet, Blanchard (BrandBuilder Marketing), an experienced brand strategist, engineers an operational framework to successfully manage p-2-p (people-to-people) media activity. Readers of all stripes are presented with a soup-to-nuts approach that confronts myths, develops key performance indicators, and underscores the impact of objectives, targets, and results. Part historical analysis and part illustrated discussion of necessary organizational structures, the book cogently and concisely presents social media’s usage by just about every business function. The author addresses timely issues such as virtual brand management, crisis management, and conflict resolution with functional guidelines to navigate these (digital) pitfalls. Ultimately, the reader is encouraged to approach the daunting prospect of planning, executing, measuring, and adjusting his/her own social media program from a point of simplicity, focus, and patience. A comprehensive and useful exploration of integrating the social media process in any organization. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through practitioners. — S. M. Mohammed, SUNY Fredonia  
 
Edmondson, Chuck.  Fast car physics.  Johns Hopkins, 2011.  229p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780801898228, $75.00; ISBN 9780801898235 pbk, $29.95.
49-0337  TL243   2010-17554 CIP
 
Fast Car Physics is an excellent book for understanding the science and engineering behind car racing. Edmondson is a physics professor at the US Naval Academy and an amateur auto racer; his dual background is very evident in all aspects of his writing. The first couple of chapters cover kinematics and Newton’s force laws. The following chapters cover torque, and static and dynamic friction. An entire chapter focuses on the engineering problems associated with steering and suspension. Finally, the author explores the various ways that racing cars can be made more environmental friendly and more fuel efficient. The biggest drawback to the book is the prevalence of imperial units throughout. This is primarily due to the nature of the automotive industry in the US; however, it limits its usefulness as an alternative textbook in a general physics class. On the flip side, the interest of many students in cars and racing makes the work a great way to introduce many general physics concepts. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduate students, faculty, and general readers. — D. B. Mason, Albright College
 
Essig, Laurie.  American plastic: boob jobs, credit cards, and our quest for perfection.  Beacon Press, 2011 (c2010).  219p index afp; ISBN 9780807000557, $26.95; ISBN 9780807003237 pbk, $20.00.
49-0355  HG3755  2010-7765 CIP
 
Sociologist Essig (Middlebury College) writes an accessible, insightful critique of cosmetic surgery, focusing on the cultural configuration that draws plastic, as in easy credit, to plastic, as in cosmetic surgeries. She analyzes the confluence of neoliberalist ideologies of market solutions and individualism with US enthusiasm for self-improvement and naïve optimism about social forces shaping the employment and cultural landscape, which produces a bonanza for surgeons and the beauty industry, entirely entangled with the credit industry. Essig connects general cosmetic surgery to more radical body modifications, whether trans-abled removal of limbs or trans-species projects of turning the human body into an animal form. She draws an analogy to gender queers, who resist the gender binaries of mainstream culture and modify their bodies away from normative models of femininity and masculinity, situating them in an uneasy space shaped both by neoliberal discourses of choice and radical modes of resistance. In this move, she partially rescues the idea of plasticity from the artificial and inauthentic with an idea of plasticity as flexibility, calling for a reality check regarding the risks–financial, physical, emotional, and cultural–of elective body modifications. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. — J. L. Croissant, University of Arizona  

Fisher, Len.  Crashes, crises, and calamities: how we can use science to read the early-warning signs.  Basic Books, 2011.  233p bibl index; ISBN 9780465021024, $23.99.
49-0229  HV675  2010-48289 CIP
 
Despite the seemingly jocular character of the text, the author has provided a very serious discussion. He questions why particular civilizations, societies, and ecosystems collapse, sometimes precipitously. He asks whether mathematics can assist in explaining a range of crises, such as the failure of a marriage, a stock market collapse, or the entire elimination of society as we know it due to climate warming. Fisher (Rock, Paper, Scissors, CH, Aug’09, 46-6876; How to Dunk a Doughnut, 2003) is a physicist and mathematician who has devoted a great amount of time to explain in easily accessible and sometimes very funny writing how science can be applied to some of society’s most complex and commonplace problems. The lighthearted approach takes the form of a series of questions and anecdotes frequently forcing one to laugh out loud–seriousness in disguise that should keep the reader involved from beginning to end, or provide a potpourri that can be dipped into at any point. The volume is remarkably well written and could be presented as a superb example of the use of the English language. There are 46 pages of endnotes, themselves a stand-alone treasure. This book warrants universal popularity. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All general, academic, and professional readers. — J. D. Ives, emeritus, Carleton University
  
Harcourt, Bernard E.  The illusion of free markets: punishment and the myth of natural order.  Harvard, 2011.  328p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780674057265, $29.95.
49-0538  HV9950  2010-27060 CIP
 
There are many market illusions. Harcourt (Univ. of Chicago) persuasively focuses on “natural orderliness in the economic realm,” which entails the notion that markets are voluntary, free, equalizing, orderly, order producing, autonomous, and efficient, despite necessary structures, rules, enforcement mechanisms, constraints, and regulations that make markets possible but are ignored in popular and many scholarly discussions and myths about “free markets” and government inefficiency. These stories have important consequences. They make inequality seem natural and support claims that applying exogenous government or morality to markets is harmful. They produce the “neoliberal penalty”: legitimate government, denied a role in natural economic order, is confined to coercion–penal institutions–punishing market transgressions. This accounts for the vast growth in prisons, people incarcerated in prisons, and the US having the highest percentage of inhabitants in prison. Harcourt traces this situation to 18th-century physiocrats, who emphasized natural order in markets and despotic government elsewhere, but natural order arguments are older. The jump from physiocrats to the contemporary Chicago School of economics and its political message could be smoothed by analyzing more 19th- and early-20th-century political economists, including Malthus, Spencer, and apologists for the gospel of wealth. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; upper-division undergraduate students and above. — C. P. Waligorski, emeritus, University of Arkansas  
 
Kazin, Alfred.  Alfred Kazin’s journals, selected and ed. by Richard M. Cook.  Yale, 2011.  598p index afp; ISBN 9780300142037, $45.00.
49-0136  PS29   2010-45254 CIP
 
Kazin’s journals provide access to the private reflections of one of the US’s most influential, highly regarded literary and cultural critics. Culling from 7,000 pages of Kazin’s diaries, Cook (Univ. of Missouri, St. Louis)–who is also Kazin’s biographer (Alfred Kazin, CH, Jul’08, 45-6015)–selected entries ranging in time from 1933 to 1998 and in substance from literary, critical, and political meditations to angst-ridden contemplations of his marriages, sexual liaisons, career choices, friendships, and antagonisms with well-known writers and intellectuals. Most enlightening are Kazin’s appreciative commentaries on the fiction of Saul Bellow, the political thought of Hannah Arendt, the criticism of Edmund Wilson, and the intellect of Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Representative of his virulent attacks are those against Elie Wiesel, Norman Podhoretz, Irving Howe, and Lionel Trilling. Aside from literature, the subjects that most engaged Kazin surround his Jewishness: American Jewish identity, the rise and impact of Jewish writers and intellectuals, the perpetually haunting presence of the Holocaust, and the existence of Israel and its future. The book’s informative scholarly apparatus–particularly the explanatory footnotes–provides excellent guidance to Kazin’s references and relationships. This noteworthy book is vital for understanding this eminent literary critic. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. — S. L. Kremer, emerita, Kansas State University  
 
Leib, Ethan J.  Friend v. friend: the transformation of friendship–and what the law has to do with it.  Oxford, 2011.  252p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780199739608, $29.95.
49-0557  HM1161  2010-13440 CIP
 
Leib (law, Univ. of California) is certainly qualified to write this interesting and rather novel book on the relationship between friendship and the legal system. After discussing the meaning of friendship and arguing why friendships matter, Leib begins the main arguments in this book that support his two central claims. First, the law should take formal notice of friendship relationships and why they are important–to people’s lives, to the legal system, and to the visibility of America’s public institutions. Second, and more provocatively, he seeks to convince readers that laws, legal institutions, and domestic policy agendas should be oriented toward strengthening friendship relationships. There is a chapter that addresses fiduciary relationships between friends, as well as a chapter that focuses on contracts between such persons. In a final chapter, “The Trust Problem,” Leib shows how the law might reinforce trust without undermining it by making people think they can trust one another only when there are laws in the background. The book contains excellent references, is easy to read, and provides a first-rate index of its contents. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers, research faculty, and professionals. — R. A. Carp, University of Houston
 
Lewis, Andrew J.  A democracy of facts: natural history in the early Republic.  Pennsylvania, 2011.  204p index afp ISBN 0-8122-4308-0, $39.95; ISBN 9780812243086, $39.95.
49-0257  QH21   2011-11319 MARC
 
In this scholarly treatise, historian Lewis (American Univ.) traces the development of inquiry about the natural world during the early years of the US–an inquiry, centered on observation, which encompassed, in the broadest sense, zoology, botany, geology, and antiquities. What began as popularly viewed elitist endeavors morphed into disciplines respected by the general public by the mid-1800s. It is no surprise that this was not a smooth process, given the untidy nature of democracy with everyone entitled to their say in a competition for the truth. This public participation and endorsement, at least in spirit, that filtered up through the levels of government became increasingly more important as academics, rather than wealthy amateurs, led the way and depended on public monies for support. Of all the accounts in this book, the discussion of the submerging swallows in chapter 1 is particularly interesting and illustrative, and a good prompt to continue reading. The volume includes period drawings and an extensive section of notes. Summing Up: Highly recommended. History of science collections serving all levels of academic and general readers. — D. M. McKinstry, emeritus, Pennsylvania State Erie, Behrend College  
 
Marable, Manning.  Malcolm X: a life of reinvention.  Viking, 2011.  594p bibl index; ISBN 9780670022205, $30.00.
49-0485  BP223   2010-25768 CIP
 
Columbia University professor Marable died shortly before the publication of his marvelous biography of Malcolm X. Since Malcolm’s assassination in 1965 by followers of Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam, Malcolm has been best known through his autobiography (written with Alex Haley), published shortly after his death. Nearly a half-century later, Marable has written a compelling reinterpretation of Malcolm’s life, answering questions raised by the autobiography. Insisting “Malcolm’s strength was his ability to reinvent himself,” Marable concludes that Malcolm was an eloquent advocate for black self-respect, a representative of the black underclass, and “the most important bridge between the American people and the more than one billion Muslims throughout the world.” The biography exposes inaccuracies in earlier accounts of Malcolm’s life (including the autobiography), details the split between Malcolm and Elijah Muhammad, and scrutinizes the assassination plot, raising questions such as the likelihood of an informer within Malcolm’s inner circle. Malcolm was one of a handful of the most important African Americans in the 20th century, and perhaps the least understood. This book is unrivaled among interpretations of a complicated man and his monumental impact. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. — A. J. Dunar, University of Alabama in Huntsville

Metaphors we lead by: understanding leadership in the real world, ed. by Mats Alvesson and André Spicer.  Routledge, 2011.  222p bibl index; ISBN 9780415568449, $145.00; 6 ISBN 978041556845 pbk, $47.95; ISBN 9780203840122 e-book, $47.95.
49-0383  HM1261  2010-18266 CIP
 
This insightful work is a valuable contribution to the study of leadership. It has the potential to transform and direct the debate regarding leadership’s importance and expected roles in varied settings, situations, and organizations. Because leaders assume many different roles and because leadership is so complex, editors Alvesson (Lund Univ., Sweden) and Spicer (Univ. of Warwick, UK) believe that the use of metaphors is a helpful way to explore the subject. As part of their research, they conducted personal interviews with managers and their staff, and observed their performance. The editors and contributing authors individually and collectively demonstrate a command of their subject, presenting thorough documentation and laying out the best sense of each metaphor (“gardener,” “buddy,” “saint,” “cyborg,” “commander,” “bully”) along with its positive and negative aspects. Each metaphor is captivating and very easily draws the reader into its dialogue. The use of the metaphor as a conceptual and analytical tool is in itself unique, and paves the way for the analysis of leadership in numerous practical settings. This is not an easy read, but deserves the reader’s best dedication. It is a must for university business collections, and merits inclusion as collateral reading in academic and professional leadership-related courses of study. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through professionals/practitioners. — J. B. Kashner, emeritus, College of the Southwest

The National security enterprise: navigating the labyrinth, ed. by Roger Z. George and Harvey Rishikof.  Georgetown University, 2011.  367p index afp; ISBN 9781589016989 pbk, $32.95.
49-0560  UA23   2010-22402 CIP
 
George (Georgetown Univ.) and Rishikof (National War College) provide a useful array of articles describing the mission, structure, leadership, and issues confronting the major federal organizations involved in ensuring the nation’s security. This organizational approach describes and analyzes the expected actors such as the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency, as well as some organizations not usually covered in such books (e.g., the Office of Management and Budget and the Supreme Court). The book is useful because the clear writing orients the uninitiated reader but also informs old hands regarding the latest developments both between and among these agencies. The book could have more effectively included the new organizations, particularly at the state and local levels, that are involved in the new domestic security mission and are now a legitimate component of the national security enterprise. The book does include the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but the Homeland Security chapter says little about the new exigency of collaborating with state and local government law enforcement. In contrast, the chapter on the FBI explains how its new domestic security mission unleashed wrenching structural and cultural changes. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, research, and professional collections. — J. A. Stever, University of Cincinnati
 
Osmond, Andrew.  100 animated feature films.  Palgrave Macmillan/British Film Institute, 2011 (c2010).  246p bibl index afp; ISBN 9781844573400, $30.00.
49-0172  PN1997   MARC
 
In this lavish, scholarly, immensely readable overview of animated feature films, Osmond (a freelance journalist and animation specialist) delights and instructs those who would visit the vivid archives of film history. A quasi-reference book–the author discusses films in alphabetical order–the volume will be of utmost interest to both scholars and aficionados of the animated feature film. Beginning in 1926, with Lotte Reiniger’s cut-out silhouette masterpiece Adventures of Prince Achmed, the author conducts an impressive tour that ends in 2010, with Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist. Bruno Edera’s more extensive Full Length Animated Feature Films, ed. by John Halas (CH, Nov’77), offers descriptive commentary on aesthetics and national cinemas, along with numerous black-and-white illustrations; Osmond’s work provides critical insights on select films and is enhanced with key color images. Although some favorites are missing–e.g., Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki’s Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (2002)–Osmond fairly and expertly includes significant historical films (e.g., Animal Farm), curious oddities (e.g., several stop-action versions of Alice in Wonderland), and stunning international productions (e.g., Spirited Away) as well as major Disney and Pixar features (e.g., Snow White and Up). This BFI publication is a worthy and fascinating resource. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. — T. Lindvall, Virginia Wesleyan College

Oxford textbook of palliative social work, ed. by Terry Altilio and Shirley Otis-Green.  Oxford, 2011.  812p bibl index afp ISBN 0-19-973911-0, $99.95; ISBN 9780199739110, $99.95.
49-0312  R726   2010-26603 CIP
 
Aiming to represent social work’s collective wisdom on most aspects of palliative care, this volume sheds light on a specialty in the way that the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine, edited by G. Hanks et al. (4th ed., 2009; 1st ed., 1993), broadened the practice of medicine. This is a multidisciplinary, multicultural treatise on social work’s role with families and patients who interact with the numerous social, psychological, and medical contexts surrounding life-threatening illness. Essays portray historical context, the domain of social work practice, screenings and interventions, population-based and global perspectives, professional collaborations, ethics, and challenges. The contributors (mostly American) are all experts in the practice and theoretical bases of palliative social work. Sampling the book’s content reveals the humanizing perspective social workers bring to a stage of human life that often is overly medicalized; people at this stage yearn, above all, for compassionate, professional competence. Earlier practical books–e.g., M. Reith’s Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care (2009) and T. A. Wolfer and V. M. Runnion’s Dying, Death, & Bereavement in Social Work Practice (2008)–provide concrete anecdotes and scenarios. This new volume (by no means a course text) will become the definitive work in this field. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-level undergraduates and above. — M. K. Hartung, Florida Gulf Coast University  
   
Webb, Jeremy.  Design principles.  AVA Publishing, 2010.  191p bibl ISBN 2940411360  pbk, $32.95; ISBN 9782940411368 pbk, $32.95.
49-0089  TR146   MARC
 
Photographer Webb offers a beautifully designed and very useful introduction to the creative composition of a photograph. Although this volume explores the particulars of design theory via photographic illustrations, these principles are universally applicable. Thus, this book will interest anyone involved in the creation of visual images. Beginning with fundamental building blocks and moving to case studies and creative strategies, this volume, with its combination of text and images, provides readers with authoritative principles and superb photographic examples. Most chapters are standard fare, covering line, shape, space, texture, color, pattern, contrast, rhythm, and scale. However, in each case (and in the later chapters, which are more interesting to advanced readers), the author successfully makes the text interesting even to the most advanced students. The decision to illustrate the book with stunning work by professional photographers is a huge advantage; in other books discussing the subject, student work often illustrates the concepts. These photographs, on the other hand, are the ideal illustrations for the subject matter. Images by Ernst Haas, Martine Franck, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Angus Fraser, Alexander Rodchenko, and dozens of other featured contributors are among the best photographs ever made. They brilliantly illustrate the ideas discussed in the text. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels, all libraries. — R. M. Labuz, Mohawk Valley Community College  
 
Yaffe, David.  Bob Dylan: like a complete unknown.  Yale, 2011.  171p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780300124576, $24.00.
49-0190  ML420   MARC
 
With this book, Yaffe (English, Syracuse Univ.) adds a fascinating exploration of Dylan’s music to the profusion of Dylan studies, which include Sean Wilentz’s valuable Bob Dylan in America (2010). Yaffee offers not a biography but rather a somewhat brief exploration in four chapters of various aspects of Dylan’s output over the last 50 years. He begins by looking at Dylan’s “cawing, derisive voice” before moving, in chapter 2, to a deft discussion of Dylan on film, including Martin Scorsese’s documentary No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005) and Todd Haynes’s creative I’m Not There (2007), as well as Dylan’s own curious Renaldo and Clara (1978) and Masked and Anonymous (2003), the latter directed by Larry Charles. Chapter 3 focuses on Dylan’s intimate relationship with African American music and musicians, including his 2010 appearance in a Black History Month concert for President Barack Obama. The final chapter, “Don’t Steal, Don’t Lift,” analyzes Dylan’s creative borrowing of lyrics and tunes from other musicians and writers (Yaffe says that “Dylan has been saying all along that he loves and he thieves….”). The book includes a helpful bibliography and a listing of 70 top Dylan songs. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. — R. D. Cohen, emeritus, Indiana University Northwest

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