Recent Reviews
Posted by P S
20/07/2010
In this week's TLS (23 July), Stephen Gaukrodger reviews two books on Ernst Cassirer, one of which is from the University of Chicago Press, The Symbolic Construction of Reality, Jeffrey Andrew Barash's 'welcome collection of essays on Cassirer' (9780226036861, cloth £31.00). There is a slightly worrying illustration of the eminent philosopher wearing a ruff -
- apparently dating from his time at the University of Hamburg, where Cassirer taught from 1919 until his emigration from Germany in 1933.
In the previous TLS (16 July), Paul Cheney reviews Yasmin Sabina Khan’s Enlightening the World: The Creation of the Statue of Liberty (Cornell University Press, 9780801448515, cloth £15.50), discussing its view that ‘the Statue of Liberty symbolizes an aspiration to democratic liberty rather than its complete fulfilment.'
In the same issue, Thea Lenarduzzi reviews the University of Chicago Press’s The Italian Way: Food and Social Life, by Douglas Harper and Patrizia Faccoli (9780226317243, cloth £20), noting that its authors 'argue convincingly that modern mothers emulate the Madonna by putting the needs of their sons before their own: Mary’s labour and self-sacrifice is re-enacted in the time-consuming acts of shopping and cooking for others.’
In the current issue of THE, Allan M. Winkler reviews Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character (University of Chicago Press, 9780226251431, cloth 528pp, £22.50), noting ‘a wealth of important insights’ in a book that ‘reads well from beginning to end. All in all, it is a lively and intriguing effort to understand the most important elements of American life.’
The online review Slate is extremely enthusiastic about a new Cornell University Press title, Sex Drugs, and Body Counts: The Politics of Numbers in Global Crime and Conflict (9780801476181, paper £16.50). It looks a little more closely than is customary at 'big, attention-grabbing numbers, frequently used in policy debates and media reporting.' Here's a link:
http://www.slate.com/id/2260461/
Here's one more link, to the Wall Street Journal review of another new Cornell University Press book, William Nickell's The Death of Tolstoy: Russia on the Eve, Astapovo Station, 1910 (9780801448348, cloth £19.95), which revisits the increasingly public spectacle of Tolstoy's last days in a fragile empire on the eve of war and revolution. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575339433159959718.html?mod=WSJ_Books_LS_Books_5
James Meek also reviews Nickell's book in the current issue of the London Review of Books.