To highlight the wide range of publications reviewed in Choice, each month Choice editors feature some noteworthy reviews from the current issue.
  
Adler, Patricia A.  The tender cut: inside the hidden world of self-injury, by Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler.  New York University, 2011.  252p bibl afp; ISBN 9780814705063, $70.00; ISBN 9780814705070 pbk, $22.00; ISBN 9780814705186 e-book e-book, contact publisher for price.
49-4162  RC569  2010-53656 CIP
 
Penetrating deeply into the lives of those who engage in self-injury, the authors, respected and prolific sociologists of deviance from the University of Colorado, Boulder (Patricia) and the University of Denver (Peter), gained the trust of self-injuring students who shared their intimate viewpoints. Though it may seem that self-injury is a purely psychological phenomenon, the authors show its sociological underpinnings. Self-injury has expanded dramatically in the cybernetic age with chat groups, listservs, and Web sites bringing together those engaging in self-injury and promoting its proliferation in like-minded communities. A common theme among many who injure themselves is that the experience of emotional hurt and self-injury serves to distract those who would otherwise be enduring intolerable pain. The Adlers collected over 135 in-depth life history interviews and over 30,000 Web postings, offering readers solid evidence of the social and psychological causes of self-injury, population diversity among practitioners, the extent of physical harm, and self-injury’s time-limited nature. Mental health professionals and students of youth behavior will not want to miss this unforgettable and important study. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. — W. Feigelman, Nassau Community College
 
Blau, Herbert.  As if: an autobiography.  Michigan, 2011.  274p index afp; ISBN 9780472117789, $60.00.
49-3779  PN1708  2010-47517 CIP
 
There is perhaps no subgenre with greater potential for fussy, fustian, self-regarding prose than the scholarly autobiography. Happily, the scholar in question here is Herbert Blau, eminent theorist of performance and legendary theatrical director. The title As If resonates triply, as the imaginative constituent of theatrical fiction, as the shrugging acknowledgment of “the inadequacy in the suction of memory itself,” even as the insouciant put-down of schoolgirl slang. Blau offers no gentle, magisterial retrospective of a life well spent; he still has unfinished business, still needs to know “why make theatre at all?” The story of Blau’s Brownsville Jewish childhood segues into a Bildungsroman as he studies first engineering at NYU and later English at Stanford, then co-founds (with Jules Irving) San Francisco’s Actor’s Workshop, which without false modesty he apostrophizes as “the greatest single accomplishment … in the history of the American theater.” Familiarity with Blau’s dense critical writings helps when reading this rigorous, thrilling, almost Nabokovian performance of memory with its urgent, profuse, paratactical sentences. For Blau, as for Brecht’s Galileo (the subject of a long section), “thought itself is an appetite.” Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty/professionals; general readers. — R. Remshardt, University of Florida
 
Cholbi, Michael.  Suicide: the philosophical dimensions.  Broadview Press, 2011.  191p bibl index; ISBN 9781551119052 pbk, $24.95.
49-3784  HV6545   Can. CIP
 
This outstanding example of contemporary applied ethics also represents state-of-the-art philosophical thought on suicide. Not unexpectedly, it rehashes old semantic debates surrounding “self-killing”: suicide versus sacrificial death (wartime heroism), suicide versus deliberate long-term self-destructive behavior (smoking), and suicide assistance versus euthanasia (degrees of assistance). But most of the book explores deontological moral questions (rights and duties). Is suicide assistance, intervention, and/or prevention (always, sometimes, or never) morally required, permissible, or impermissible? And, if so, under what conditions? Cholbi (California State Polytechnic) concludes that both the extreme liberal argument (suicide is always morally permissible) and the extreme conservative argument (suicide is never morally permissible) are unsound. Therefore, he defends a moderate position, arguing that the ethics of suicide is about identifying the circumstances under which suicide, intervention, prevention, and/or assistance might be morally permissible. Some might complain that the book falls short in the area of the legality of suicide. Others might question the inclusion of the 11-page epilogue titled “Why?” or suggest it might have been better incorporated into a more captivating introduction. Nevertheless, this well-written, rigorously argued book will be very valuable for courses and programs in applied ethics, health care ethics, and death and dying. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above.
— R. F. White, College of Mount St. Joseph 
 
Cribb, Robert.  Digital atlas of Indonesian history.  NIAS Press, 2010.  70p index DVD ISBN 8791114667, $45.00; ISBN 9788791114663, $45.00.
49-4030  G2401    MARC
 
This reference work, available as a DVD and, after registration, an actively maintained and searchable website, is a very welcome expansion of Robert Cribb’s earlier Historical Atlas of Indonesia (CH, Jun’01, 38-5339), which existed solely as a book. The new format is not only easier to carry around than the original atlas (and through the online option, accessible anytime from anywhere), but also enables quick, easily navigable access to maps for specific periods or topics through a clickable chapter option, with each chapter listing the relevant maps available as a clickable sidebar. Researchers therefore can very quickly call up the maps of greatest interest to them without needing to flip through an index or pages of print. Most usefully, maps pulled up can be printed out or saved as PDF or JPEG files. Researchers can be assured that, along with the atlas’s user-friendly nature and regularly updated material on the Web version, the atlas continues to reflect Cribb’s deep knowledge of Indonesian history and politics, exemplified through the descriptive chapters that accompany the maps. While historians probably will benefit most from the DVD, political scientists and policy analysts will also find much of interest here, particularly in the maps and data that cover a range of topics for post-Suharto Indonesia, including elections and decentralization. The one caveat is that the maps very much reflect the atlas’s title and focus directly on Indonesian history. Scientists interested in topographical data or detailed site-specific map coverage will not necessarily be able to use the atlas as fruitfully as those working in the humanities and social sciences. Nevertheless, the atlas overall is an indispensable resource for almost anyone with an interest in Indonesia. Includes a well-written 70-page guide. Summing Up: Essential. All academic levels/libraries. — S. Maxim, University of California, Berkeley
 
Denny, Mark.  Gliding for gold: the physics of winter sports.  Johns Hopkins, 2011.  189p bibl index afp; ISBN 9781421402147, $65.00; 4 ISBN 978142140215 pbk, $30.00.
49-3917  QC73   2011-459 CIP 

Winter Olympics fans with an interest or background in physics may find much to appreciate in this book. Denny, a theoretical physicist and popular science writer (e.g., Their Arrows Will Darken the Sun, CH, Sep’11, 49-0228; Float Your Boat!, CH, Apr’09, 46-4511) provides an enthusiastic, almost breezy tour of the rules, art, and science of skating, hockey, curling, skiing, and snowboarding. He first discusses the sometimes-baffling physics of snow and ice. Next, in each sport, the author examines in detail the design of the equipment and its interaction with snow and ice, along with considerations of aerodynamic drag. The book includes photos and charts. Though some of the math is in the main body of the text, most is given in technical notes at the end, where some derivations are sketched in outline. Gliding for Gold may not have enough detail for those who enjoy thorough mathematical derivations, but for the scientifically inclined reader it provides an interesting window on the science of winter sports. Summing Up: Recommended. Undergraduate students of all levels and general readers. — K. D. Fisher, Columbus State Community College
 
Espinoza, Fernando.  The nature of science: integrating historical, philosophical, and sociological perspectives.  Rowman & Littlefield, 2012.  170p index afp; ISBN 9781442209510, $70.00; ISBN 9781442209527 pbk, $32.95.
49-3827  Q181   2011-15776 CIP
 
Espinoza (SUNY College at Old Westbury) has demonstrated expertise in the fields of science and education and has published widely. His goal in this book is to give students and others a context for understanding science from the traditional scholarly standpoint and also from a more general perspective. By definition, science is a body of knowledge that increases at a pace that makes it virtually impossible for anyone to fully master. Nevertheless, it is important for citizens to know how science is used and for what purposes. The author’s approach is to see science as a general type of knowledge with distinctive characteristics that it shares with other forms of human knowledge. Students and the general public need a broader sort of background knowledge to comprehend and more importantly, to apply the concepts that constitute such a generalized form of scientific literacy. To accomplish this, it is necessary to consider science’s origins and development, as well as its practice. The book first deals with science’s historical and philosophical aspects and then addresses the sociological aspects that are the inevitable consequence of its applications. The book’s content and writing is of the highest quality, and the organization is superb. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All academic and general audiences. — D. A. Johnson, Spring Arbor University 

Ferguson, Charles D.  Nuclear energy: what everyone needs to know.  Oxford, 2011.  222p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780199759453, $74.00; ISBN 9780199759460 pbk, $16.95.
49-3887  TK9145  2010-44449 CIP
 
“Accessible” and “authoritative” are two words accurately describing the author’s guidelines for crafting a book that constructs the history and development of nuclear power. This compelling assembly of historical and scientific information deftly steps through the essential discoveries, definitions, and theory that led to the development of nuclear reactors and nuclear bombs. Ferguson (Georgetown Univ.; president, Federation of American Scientists) begins by offering a crash course on the relationships between energy, power, and matter, using easily understood examples with comprehensible units and quantities. This slow start is matched by a steep progression into strong and weak nuclear forces citing the instability of heavier nuclei and the special properties of nuclei with an odd mass number. After fully digesting the fundamentals of nuclear science in chapter 1, readers are well prepared to randomly select from the following chapters that cover safety, climate change, nuclear proliferation concerns, security, and the politically charged options for disposal of radioactive waste. This book is a must read for all literate citizens living in this century. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. — R. M. Ferguson, emeritus, Eastern Connecticut State University  
  
Gilligan, Carol.  Joining the resistance.  Polity, 2011.  192p bibl; ISBN 9780745651699, $19.95.
49-4157  HM1111   MARC
 
Gilligan (NYU) writes about her 40-year history in psychology and in the feminist movement. The “resistance” she describes is to patriarchy, which keeps people oppressed in a democratic society. The resistance promotes the value of women and girls and celebrates their power in, for example, electing Barack Obama to the presidency of the US. Gilligan writes eloquently about the need for ethics in living, an ethic that includes caring that is neither gendered nor prescribed. She states that resistance and relationships can be promoted at the same time with this system of caring. First, society must honor girls and women as equals. Gilligan gives a profound example of this need when she describes an adult entering a museum with a group of girls with an assignment to “observe how women and girls are portrayed.” One eight-year-old immediately states, “Naked.” The whole group becomes silent. Gilligan seeks to promote women and girls as valuable people without objectification and with a voice. She argues that only then can relationships be sustained in a democratic society. Required reading for those interested in psychology and women’s studies. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; graduate students; general readers. — S. K. Hall, University of Houston–Clear Lake  
 
Hillstrom, Kevin.  U.S. health policy and politics: a documentary history.  CQ Press, 2012.  717p bibl index afp ISBN 1-60871-026-2, $185.00; ISBN 9781608710263, $185.00.
49-3619  RA395  2011-19493 CIP

For its historical scope, well-researched content, and relevance to a variety of disciplines, this book should be on the shelf of every academic library. Hillstrom, an award-winning author of several reference books, is the perfect fit to tackle the content of this ambitious topic. Rather than being a typical clinically oriented health policy book, this is a true documentary history of health care in the United States, including the cultural and societal influences that shaped it. In the tradition of any good historiographer, Hillstrom’s writing is akin to storytelling, thereby adding much interest and even fascination to the topic. The scope is far-reaching, beginning with health care issues in the New World of the 1600s and ending with Obama’s Health Care Reform Bill. Hillstrom makes excellent use of primary sources, seamlessly interweaving them with the narrative. As a bonus, all 150-plus primary source documents–from the obscure to the well-known–are included in full-text format, making this a treat for any historian. Students in medicine, public health, humanities, history, political science, and religion will find this book useful as they seek to understand the varying influences that formed–and continue to form–US health policy. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above.
— J. S. Jameson, University of Toledo  
 
Hitchings, Henry.  The language wars: a history of proper English.  Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.  408p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780374183295, $28.00.
49-3693  PE1075  2011-10701 CIP
 
Hitchings brings the same affable erudition to grammar that he brought to lexicography and etymology in his prize-winning books The Secret Life of Words (CH, Mar’09, 46-3675) and Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary: The Extraordinary Story of the Book that Defined the World (2005). Invoking (among others) Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Lindley Murray, and Lynne Truss, Hitchings devotes 28 brisk chapters to exploring how humans have let language differences divide them. He sets out his goal from the start: to show the hypocrisy of prescriptivism and to explore arguments for regulating language. The first eight chapters cover primarily British attempts at regulating English. By chapter 9 Hitchings has brought English to the US, where new issues arise. Chapters 18 onward take up some specific grammatical issues–commas, hyphens, spelling, diction, and the like–and muse on the role of censorship, sexism, technology, globalization, and political correctness, with both Benjamin Lee Whorf and George Orwell making appearances. Hitchings is an excellent researcher (his bibliography and notes run to some 50 pages) and the book goes beyond the usual language-war generals to mention less-known linguistic players (Ann Fisher, Sir Walter Scott, H. G. Wells, C. K. Ogden). An enlightening book with a broad audience. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; general readers. — E. L. Battistella, Southern Oregon University  

Keister, Lisa A.  Faith and money: how religion contributes to wealth and poverty.  Cambridge, 2011.  248p bibl index; ISBN 9780521896511, $99.00; ISBN 9780521721103 pbk, $27.99.
49-3973  BL65  2011-15744 CIP
 
A growing body of research provides strong evidence that religion affects important economic outcomes for Americans, such as in education, income, and work. In this volume, sociologist Keister (Duke; Getting Rich, CH, Nov’05, 43-1686) offers a systematic “first account” of how religious affiliation affects wealth. The work is largely descriptive, revolving around almost 60 tables that draw data from representative national samples from the General Social Survey, National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Health and Retirement Survey, and Economic Values Survey. Keister takes religious affiliation as exogenous and does not speculate on how religion affects overall economic growth. Rather, she explores channels through which an individual’s religion can directly and indirectly influence wealth accumulation, with examinations of family formation, educational attainment, work and occupations, income, home ownership, asset allocation patterns, indebtedness, and upward mobility. The focus is on differences among conservative Protestants, black Protestants, mainline Protestants, white Catholics, Hispanic Catholics, Jews, and Mormons. Consistent differences among these groups are discussed in light of sociological models. Keister adeptly supports the conclusion that “religion shapes values and priorities, affects decisions about which goals are worth pursuing, and contributes to the set of competencies” that can influence wealth creation. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate students through faculty and researchers. — R. M. Whaples, Wake Forest University  
 
Knowles, Scott Gabriel.  The disaster experts: mastering risk in modern America.  Pennsylvania, 2011.  347p index afp; ISBN 9780812243505, $45.00.
49-3929  HV551  2011-23603 MARC
 
Experience provides wisdom if one learns. Wisdom is valuable only if people use what they learn. Safety is an option in risky circumstances, but people are often unaware that they have made critical, if not deadly, decisions, decisions that experts knew they might make. Such decisions could have been avoided had other factors not interfered. Historian Knowles (Drexel Univ.) traces the threads of risk (probabilistic danger) arising from modern urban development and illuminates those who attempted to minimize them. He examines hazards (urban fires, electrification, vertical construction, nuclear weapons, terrorism, technology, and human occupation of natural environments) and the past and potential future causes of major urban catastrophes. Knowles adroitly chronicles in fine historical detail the emergence of the experts (and their intellectual disciplines) who worked to understand and mitigate the constantly changing human and technological landscapes of urban risk. Their greater struggle, however, was (and still is) for their messages to be heard over the din emanating from promoters of progress, profit, growth, and wealth. Unfortunately, hazard reduction efforts in the US have been too often regarded as inconvenient and costly and conflict with more important–ironically, selfish–goals. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. — J. P. Tiefenbacher, Texas State University 

Mookherjee, Monica.  Women’s rights as multicultural claims: reconfiguring gender and diversity in political philosophy.  Edinburgh University, 2011.  192p bibl index; ISBN 9780748642960 pbk, $32.00.
49-4139  HQ1236  2010-671312 MARC
 
Mookherjee (Keele Univ., UK) makes an original and insightful intervention into the already well-covered debate of feminism vs. multiculturalism. The book summarizes and critiques many previous arguments on this topic and introduces a new approach that convincingly brings together feminism and multiculturalism. Mookherjee’s synthesis is based on three principles: the right to mediation, the right to plural autonomy, and a commitment to civic reciprocity. The author illustrates these principles with compelling case studies of the resurgence of debates over the Hindu practice of widow burning in India, the Shah Bano controversy that challenged Muslim divorce laws in India that disadvantage women, forced marriage practices among South Asians in Great Britain, and the attempt of Evangelical Christians in the US to exempt their children from certain parts of secular education. The book concludes with a nuanced and in-depth analysis of the headscarf debate in France that nicely applies the three principles. The book is most appropriate for scholars and graduate students, but advanced undergraduates could also understand it. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and research collections. — C. Snyder-Hall, George Mason University  
 
Osterman, Paul.  Good jobs America: making work better for everyone, by Paul Osterman and Beth Shulman.  Russell Sage Foundation, 2011.  181p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780871546630 pbk, $24.95; ISBN 9781610447560 e-book e-book, $24.95.
49-3961  HD5724  2011-22369 CIP
 
This timely, provocative, and very accessible book is an effort to make constructive recommendations for improving the quality of jobs in the US. The book has a specific point of view, but rather than being a polemic, is a reasoned examination of the factors that keep good jobs out of the reach of many Americans. It is noteworthy not just for the arguments made about the positive efficacy of public policy, but also for the way it provides a calm, substantive discussion of various objections to governmental involvement in the labor market. Osterman (Sloan School of Management, MIT) and Shulman (senior fellow, Demos) discuss traditional responses to the lack of good quality jobs, such as the need for additional education and training, and show why these responses are insufficient. They consider and eventually reject the notion that upward mobility in the US is sufficient to elevate most people out of poverty and into desirable positions in the labor market. Ultimately, their call for a combination of public and private initiatives to improve the quality of jobs and of the labor market is appealing and sensible. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; all levels of undergraduate students; professionals. — A. J. Grossberg, Trinity College  
 
Reinhart, Carmen M.  A decade of debt, by Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff.  Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2011.  157p index; ISBN 9780881326222 pbk, $10.95.
49-3981  HJ8015  2011-24349 CIP
 
Authors of the best-selling, highly acclaimed book on global debt This Time Is Different (CH, Feb’10, 47-3289), Reinhart and Rogoff in this short volume examine public-sector debt in advanced countries, which has increased to unprecedented levels at the sovereign, subnational, and hybrid (in the case of the euro-zone) levels. This is paralleled by the rise of private-sector debt. The two are connected in that private financial institutions and households (both directly and indirectly) hold large amounts of public-sector debt, so public finance problems can quickly migrate to financial crises and large household wealth effects. This in turn encourages further increases in public debt to bail out systemically important financial institutions and pursue stimulative fiscal policies. As this work describes, soon the great wheel of debt comes around again and affects the performance of the real economy. Governments face very unpleasant choices: cut public-sector spending, raise taxes, ramp up inflation to reduce the real burden of debt, and redistribute wealth from savers to borrowers, or channel more financial resources from the private to the public sector. The authors put these dynamics into a coherent historical context and provide extensive charts of debt and financial crises for advanced economies. Excellent documentation. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General and academic audiences, lower-division and up. — I. Walter, New York University  
 
Sajó, András.  Constitutional sentiments.  Yale, 2011.  382p index afp; ISBN 9780300139266, $75.00.
49-4140  K3165   2010-27465 CIP
 
This thoughtful book seeks to “consider the role of emotions in constitutional law, accepting that one cannot understand human behavior and law as a purely rational venture.” Sajó (Central European Univ.), a practicing judge at the European Court of Human Rights, offers a compelling legal and theoretical alternative to the positioning of reason and emotion as the extremes of jurisprudential thinking, while also explicating the pivotal function emotion assumes in constitutional design and law. The book consists of seven chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to the author’s argument on the behalf of a social constructivist concept of emotion, as well as the disadvantages of neglecting emotion more generally. The second chapter outlines the importance of “enhanced emotions” as defined by the French Declaration of Rights. The third and fourth chapters detail the role that the emotions of fear and empathy have assumed in modern politics. The fifth and sixth chapters articulate how emotion is pivotal to defenses of freedom of speech and assembly. The final, and arguably the most compelling, chapter argues for the importance of shame as a corrective emotion for past injustices, and the “recognition of responsibility.” Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. — H. L. Cheek Jr., Gainesville State College  

Wellman, Christopher Heath.  Debating the ethics of immigration: is there a right to exclude?, by Christopher Heath Wellman and Phillip Cole.  Oxford, 2011.  340p index afp; ISBN 9780199731732, $99.00; ISBN 9780199731725
pbk, $24.95.
49-3802  JV6038  2010-43536 CIP
 
This volume is essentially a point/counterpoint debate between Wellman (Washington Univ. in St. Louis), who argues that states have the right to control immigration across their borders, and Cole (Univ. of Wales, Newport), who argues they do not. Both authors rebut and refute objections to their respective positions and put forth independent arguments in favor of them. Both address various approaches to this issue: utilitarian, libertarian, egalitarian, and liberal democratic. Both consider nuanced social and political realities, such as the myriad types of immigrants: refugees, political dissidents, guest workers, visitors, and temporary residents. Although this book is highly readable and evenly balanced, its subtitle casts the debate in terms that some readers may find questionable or even regrettable. The debate might very well be different if framed in terms of whether or not states have a duty or obligation to include. Additionally it might be different if it were framed in the language of duty/utility/compassion rather than in the language of rights. Nonetheless, this worthwhile volume raises important questions not only about immigration practice/policy, but also about the nature of rights/agency, and states’ legitimacy/role in the contemporary world of porous borders. A very fine treatment of an important, timely topic. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. — D. B. Boersema, Pacific University

What’s law got to do with it?: what judges do, why they do it, and what’s at stake, ed. by Charles Gardner Geyh.  Stanford Law and Politics, 2011.  355p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780804775328, $85.00; ISBN 9780804775335 pbk, $27.95. Reviewed in 2012mar CHOICE.
49-4156  KF8775  2011-8075 CIP
 
Geyh (associate dean for research and John F. Kimberling professor of law, Indiana Univ. School of Law) is well qualified to edit this reader about the interaction of law and politics in contemporary society. One objective of this reader is to document an emerging consensus among political scientists, jurists, and law professors that “the influences of judicial decision making are varied, and that law has neither everything nor nothing to do with how judges decide cases–rather it has something to do with it” (italics in original). The book is divided into three segments. Part 1 focuses on the debate over what law has to do with what judges do. A second part sets out to distinguish law from other influences on judicial decision making, while part 3 looks at how law relates to what jurists do and its implications for the selection of judges. The contributors to this reader are among the very best scholars in the legal and political science realm, and each has published extensively in his/her own respective field. The writing is lively and easy to follow for the somewhat sophisticated reader. The index is useful and is well compiled. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and professional collections. — R. A. Carp, University of Houston 
 
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