February 2009

WHY HOW WHO

Social/CulturalHistories Histories

If you have any other titles that you’d like to see added to this list, please leave a comment!

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Bastard Tongues: A Trailblazing Linguist Finds Clues to Our Common Humanity in the World’s Lowliest Languages by Derek Bickerton

PM 7831 .B53 2008
“A novelist, professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of Hawaii and self-proclaimed street linguist, Bickerton chronicles his studies of creoles—the bastard tongues of the title—isolated languages with dubious and disputed parentage spoken by the lower classes. Bickerton seeks to explain creoles’ linguistic anomaly: all creoles, though isolated from one another, have similar grammatical traits. This chatty, humorous memoir, laced with lucid analyses, shows how a creole initially seems to be a mishmash of nonsensical words (e.g., She mosi de bad mek she tek he), but is later revealed to be linguistically lush (translation: She could only have married him because she was completely broke).”
-Publisher’s Weekly
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Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

BF 448 .G53 2005
“Blink is about the first two seconds of looking–the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of “thin slices” of behavior.”
-Amazon.com
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Body Language by Kelly Magee

PS 3616 .A3428 B63 2006
“Largely set in the South, the eleven stories of Body Language guide us into the hidden worlds of the culture wars. The people in these stories belong to the fringes of society, struggling for an identity and a place to belong.”
-description for itself
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Brides Inc.: American Weddings and the Business of Tradition
by Vicki Howard

HD 9999 .W373 U646 2006
“A fascinating read that has much to offer historians of business, labor, and culture–not to mention anthropologists and specialists in gender and cultural studies. ‘Marrying’ the symbolic concerns of new cultural history with the material concerns of business history is one of the book’s considerable strengths.”
-American Historical Review
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Clean: A History of Personal Hygiene and Purity by Virginia Smith

RA 424 .S59 2007
“From pre-historic grooming rituals to New Age medicine, from ascetics to cosmetics, Clean looks at how different cultures have interpreted and striven for personal cleanliness and shows how, throughout history, this striving for purity has brought immense social benefits as well as great tragedies.”
-description of itself
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College Girls: Bluestockings, Sex Kittens, and Coeds, Then and Now by Lynn Peril

LC 1756 .P47 2006
“This time she takes her interest in pop culture and feminism onto the college campuses of the past, and the result is a book packed with information on everything from dress codes and etiquette to sororities and “woman–oriented curriculum.”
-Booklist
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A Disease Apart: Leprosy in the Modern World by Tony Gould

RC 154.4 .G69 2005
“In this thoughtful book, he traces leprosy’s recent history by examining the lives of people who have made a difference, ranging from household names like Father Damien to such lesser-known heroes as Stanley Stein, who waged a victorious battle against the U.S. Public Health Service. Despite what appear to be great strides–the author cites leprosarium closures from declining incidence of the disease in industrialized nations–Gould claims the battle is far from over. For there is no cure, no preventive vaccine, nor any good idea yet as to either cause or how leprosy is spread.”
-Booklist
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Figure Skating: A History by James R. Hines

GV 850.4 .H56 2006
“James R. Hines has done a masterful job of explaining the origins of skating traditions throughout the world, and successfully integrates the history of the sport into a broader cultural context. He has woven together all of the sport’s major developments, and highlights individuals from around the world who have contributed significantly to the artistry and athleticism of figure skating…”
-Brian Alexander, Executive Director, World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame
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Flavor of the Month: Why Smart People Fall for Fads by Joel Best

HM 826 .B47 2006
“Although the title might suggest a whimsical look at the pop-culture fads that we all love to make fun of, this book focuses on a much lesser- but more insidious version: the institutional fad. Institutional fads occur in business, education, government, and medicine whenever normally rational people embrace novel solutions just because they are the latest, greatest thing…”
-Booklist
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Freakanomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

HB 74 .P8 L479 2005
“Forget your image of an economist as a crusty professor worried about fluctuating interest rates: Levitt focuses his attention on more intimate real-world issues, like whether reading to your baby will make her a better student. Recognition by fellow economists as one of the best young minds in his field led to a profile in the New York Times, written by Dubner, and that original article serves as a broad outline for an expanded look at Levitt’s search for the hidden incentives behind all sorts of behavior.”
-Publisher’s Weekly
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Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing our True Nature by Mark Earls

HF 5415.123 .E37 2007
“Herd reveals that most of us in the West have completely misunderstood the mechanics of mass behaviour because we have misplaced notions of what it means to be a human being. With a host of examples from Peter Kay and urinal etiquette to Apple and Desmond Tutu, Mark Earls offers the most new radical, controversial and significant new theory of consumer behaviour in a generation.”
-Description of itself
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Impotence: A Cultural History by Angus McLaren

RC 889 .M345 2007
“Although impotence has again become an acceptable topic of conversation, we forget that this subject has enjoyed a long, colorful history. In this fascinating book, Angus McLaren gives us the first cultural history of the topic, exploring the many discussions, rumors, and controversies played out on the public stage throughout the centuries – from the days of Plato up to the present. This is a terrific book.”
-Dr. Ruth Westheimer
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Last Taboo: Opening the Door on the Global Sanitation Crisis by Maggie Black and Ben Fawcett

RA 567 .B63 2008
“Except in schoolboy jokes, the subject of human wastes is rarely aired. We talk about “water-related” diseases when most are sanitation-related. Yet for millions of people who will never be able to flush their bodily emissions into an expensive and invisible sewer, getting rid of that is the key issue. Because the topic is taboo, the worldwide crisis whereby 2.6 billion people are without a safe and efficient means of excreta disposal is neglected. International attention and resources have almost all been focused on “water”. “Sanitation” remains an ornamental—or a dirty?—word.”
-Self Description
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Loneliness as a Way of Life by Thomas Dumm

JA 66 .D84 2008
“An intriguing volume…This modern world may be the “way of loneliness,” but readers should not shy away from the state. In fact, Dumm asserts that loneliness is the impetus that gives us autonomy, the ability to make decisions on our own terms. Although the feeling may be painful, it is only through loneliness that we become true individuals able to make rational decisions and able to interact with others as rational beings. And, in an odd twist, it is this true sense of self-awareness that leads us to seek the community of others.”
-Orli Low “Los Angeles Times”
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Marriage a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage by Stephanie Coontz

HQ 503 .C66 2005
“Politics, economics, greed, sex, cars—without them, matrimony wouldn’t have caused the historical revolution ensuing today, concludes social historian Stephanie Coontz, in Marriage, a History. Modern marriage is in crisis; but don’t pine for a return to “the good old days,” when men earned money and women kept house. Don’t even assume the crisis is all bad. For as Coontz reveals in this ambitious, multi-century trek through wedlock, marriage has morphed into the highest expression of commitment in Western Europe and North America; and though assumptions no longer exist regarding which partner may say “I do” to work, childcare, or other shared responsibilities, a clear set of rules about saying “I don’t” (to infidelity and irresponsibility) rings loud as church bells.”
-Amazon.com
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Meals to Come: A History of the Future of Food by Warren Belasco

TX 353 .B455 2006
“Warren Belasco is a witty, wonderfully observant guide to the hopes and fears that every era projects onto its culinary future. This enlightening study reads like time-travel for foodies.”
- Laura Shapiro, author of Something From the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America
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N word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn’t, and Why by Jabari Asim

E 185 .A85 2007
“Asim addresses the root of this controversial word in American rhetoric and contemporary experience. Just as our founding fathers tried to dodge the issue of race and slavery by only hinting around it, the current debate often suggests that by not using the “N word,” the race issues will remain dormant.”
-Booklist
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The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

GT 2850 .P65 2006
“In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan writes about how our food is grown — what it is, in fact, that we are eating. The book is really three in one: The first section discusses industrial farming; the second, organic food, both as big business and on a relatively small farm; and the third, what it is like to hunt and gather food for oneself. And each section culminates in a meal — a cheeseburger and fries from McDonald’s; roast chicken, vegetables and a salad from Whole Foods; and grilled chicken, corn and a chocolate soufflé (made with fresh eggs) from a sustainable farm; and, finally, mushrooms and pork, foraged from the wild.”
-Washington Post
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Pets in America: A History by Katherine C. Grier

SF 411.36 .U6 G75 2006
“In an encyclopedic history, Grier describes the changing cultural sensibilities that have defined the experience of American pet owners from colonial times to the present. Grier, an expert on material culture at the Winterthur Museum (one of several museums that will display a traveling exhibition of the same title), draws on diaries, magazines, advice books, illustrations and photographs for this serious book reflecting the author’s interest in the symbolic and metaphorical role pets play in our culture…”
-Publisher’s Weekly
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Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku

QC 75 .K18 2008
“In this latest effort to popularize the sciences, City University of New York professor and media star Kaku (Hyperspace) ponders topics that many people regard as impossible, ranging from psychokinesis and telepathy to time travel and teleportation.”
-Publisher’s Weekly
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Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good by Jonathan Balcombe

QL 785.27 .B35 2006
“When birds take a dip in the water, is it to clean their feathers, or is it just plain fun? The author addresses such questions in a brisk, erudite and enormously entertaining contribution to the growing genre of books about the emotions of animals. Balcombe, an animal behavior research consultant for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, presents an excellent, approachable introduction to the basic issues in animal behavior…”
-Publisher’s Weekly
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Plutonium: A History of the World’s Most Dangerous Element by Jeremy Bernstein

QD 181 .P9 B47 2007
“Physicist and former New Yorker staff writer Bernstein presents a scientifically rigorous (equations and all) but clearly written explanation of the recondite reasons why plutonium is supremely suited for bomb-making material—and little else. From the discovery of uranium in 1789 to the Manhattan Project, Nazi attempts at a nuclear bomb and the post-WWII efforts of the U.S.S.R. to become a nuclear power, Bernstein reviews the element’s storied past.”
-Publisher’s Weekly
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Sacred Cow, Mad Cow: A History of Food Fears by Madeleine Ferrieres and Jody Gladding

RC 622 .F47613 2006
“A highly scholarly book, Ferrieres’ accomplishment provides a historical foundation for anyone interested in development of public policy regarding what we eat.”
-Booklist
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Simplexity: Why SImple Things Become Complex (and How Complex Things Can be Made Simple) by Jeffrey Kluger

Q 173 .K59 2008
“Frustrated by the traffic on narrow bridges? Stunned by the number of buttons on a remote control? Saddened by the lack of basic medical care in the developing world? Kluger (Splendid Solutions) makes the modern world comprehensible, analyzing social and technological systems to reveal that things that seem complicated can be preposterously simple; things that seem simple can be dizzyingly complex.”
-Publisher’s Weekly
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Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach

BL 535 .R63 2005
“As Roach informs us in her introduction, “This is a book for people who would like very much to believe in a soul and in an afterlife for it to hang around in, but who have trouble accepting these things on faith. It’s a giggly, random, utterly earthbound assault on our most ponderous unanswered question.” Talk about truth in advertising. With that, Roach grabs us by the wrist and hauls butt to India, England, and various points in between in search of human spiritual ephemera, consulting an earnest bunch of scientists, mystics, psychics, and kooks along the way. It’s a heck of a journey and Roach, with one eyebrow mischievously cocked, is a fantastically entertaining tour guide, at once respectful and hilarious, dubious yet probing.”
-Amazon.com
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Sunday: A History of the First Day from Babylonia to the Super Bowl by Craig Harline

BV 111.3 .H37 2007
“Sunday means different things to different people and different cultures. Some look forward to it, others dread it. In this delicious study of Sunday as a concept, Harline contrasts the various ways that Western cultures have looked on the seventh (or first) day of the week, emphasizing Sunday observances, not Sunday rules, especially in western Europe and the U.S.”
-Booklist
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Super crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers is the New Way to be Smart by Ian Ayres

HA 29 .A88 2007
“Yale Law School professor and econometrician Ayres argues in this lively and enjoyable book that the recent creation of huge data sets allows knowledgeable individuals to make previously impossible predictions. He calls the data set analysts super crunchers and discusses the changes they’re making to industries like medical diagnostics, air travel pricing, screenwriting and online dating services.”
-Publisher’s Weekly
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Superdove: How the Pigeon took Manhattan… and the World by Courtney Humphries

QL 696 .C63 H86 2006
“Why do we see pigeons as lowly urban pests and how did they become such common city dwellers? Courtney Humphries traces the natural history of the pigeon, recounting how these shy birds that once made their homes on the sparse cliffs of sea coasts came to dominate our urban public spaces. While detailing this evolution, Humphries introduces us to synanthropy: The concept that animals can become dependent on humans without ceasing to be wild; they can adapt to the cityscape as if it were a field or a forest.”
-Description of itself
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Touch by Tiffany Field

BF 275 .F54 2003
“In this book-length essay on the importance of touch, she argues that while skin is the largest sense organ of the body, it is taken for granted and overlooked in terms of research; it is also our most social sense in that it usually involves another person. Field discusses different kinds of touch e.g., tickling, inappropriate touching, touch that is relaxing as well as anthropological findings.”
-Library Journal
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Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love, and Lose at Both by Laura Sessions Stepp

HQ 801 .S82 2007
“From the front lines of today’s sexual battlefield comes an eye-opening examination of the hookup culture, seen through the personal experiences of the teenage girls and young women who live it-and who are left unprepared for its consequences.”
-a description of itself.
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Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine’s Greatest Lifesaver by Arthur Allen

RA 638 .A45 2007
“Washington-based journalist Allen explores in depth this dark horse of medicine from the first instances of doctors saving patients from smallpox by infecting them with it to the current controversy over vaccinating preteen girls against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. One thing becomes very clear: fear of vaccination is not a recent problem.”
-Publisher’s Weekly
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Virgin: The Untouched History by Hanne Blank

GN 484.47 .B53 2007
“By any material reckoning, virginity does not exist,” writes Blank in this informative, funny and provocative analysis of one of the most elusive—and prized—qualities of human sexuality.”
-Publisher’s Weekly
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Visual Shock: A History of Art Controversies in American Culture by Michael Kammen

N 72 .S6 K225 2006
“Structured chronologically, the book balances scholarly investigation and insightful analysis in its fascinating discussion of monuments, memorials and American national identity, and in its probing of modernism’s threat to American concepts of morality, pluralism and art itself.”
-Publisher’s Weekly
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Why Beauty is Truth: A History of Symmetry by Ian Stewart

Q 172.5 .S95 S744 2007
“An accomplished mathematician, Stewart here delves into these harmonies as he explores the way that the search for symmetry has revolutionized science.”
-Booklist