College of Arts & Letters Bookshelf

A gallery of books by faculty from the Batten College of Arts & Letters, Old Dominion University. Faculty books are also listed under specific departments.

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Companion to Mill
2017
Christopher Macleod (Editor) and Dale E. Miller (Editor)

This Companion offers a state-of-the-art survey of the work of John Stuart Mill — one which covers the historical influences on Mill, his theoretical, moral and social philosophy, as well as his relation to contemporary movements. Its contributors include both senior scholars with established expertise in Mill's thought and new emerging interpreters. Each essay acts as a "go-to" resource for those seeking to understand an aspect of Mill's thought or to familiarise themselves with the contours of a debate within the scholarship. [from Amazon.com]
The Trouble with Tea: The Politics of Consumption in the Eighteenth-Century Global Economy
2017
Jane T. Merritt

In The Trouble with Tea, historian Jane T. Merritt explores tea as a central component of eighteenth-century global trade and probes its connections to the politics of consumption. Arguing that tea caused trouble over the course of the eighteenth century in a number of different ways, Merritt traces the multifaceted impact of that luxury item on British imperial policy, colonial politics, and the financial structure of merchant companies. Merritt challenges the assumption among economic historians that consumer demand drove merchants to provide an ever-increasing supply of goods, thus sparking a consumer revolution in the early eighteenth century. [From the publisher]
Cross-Border Networks in Writing Studies
2017
Derek Mueller, Andrea Williams, Louise Wetherbee Phelps, and Jennifer Clary-Lemon

Cross-Border Networks in Writing Studies coordinates mixed methods approaches to survey, interview, and case study data to study Canadian writing studies scholars. The authors argue for networked disciplinarity, the notion that ideas arise and flow through intellectual networks that connect scholars not only to one another but to widening networks of human and nonhuman actors. Although the Canadian field is historically rooted in the themes of location and national culture, expressing a tension between Canadian independence and dependence on the US field, more recent research suggests a more hybridized North American scholarship rather than one defined in opposition to “rhetoric and composition” in the US. In tracing identities, roles, and rituals of nationally bound considerations of how disciplinarity has been constructed through distant and close methods, this multi-scaled, multi-scopic approach examines the texture of interdependent constructions of the Canadian discipline. [Amazon.com]
The Post-9/11 Video Game: A Critical Examination
2017
Marc A. Ouellette (Author) and Jason C. Thompson

This critical study of video games since 9/11 shows how a distinct genre emerged following the terrorist attacks and their aftermath. Comparisons of pre- and post-9/11 titles of popular game franchises--Call of Duty, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, Grand Theft Auto and Syphon Filter--reveal reshaped notions of identity, urban and suburban spaces and the citizen's role as both a producer and consumer of culture: New York represents America; the mall embodies American values; zombies symbolize foreign invasion. By revisiting a national trauma, these games offer a therapeutic solution to the geopolitical upheaval of 9/11 and, along with film and television, help redefine American identity and masculinity in a time of conflict. [Amazon.com]
The Gang's All Queer: The Lives of Gay Gang Members
2017
Vanessa R. Panfil

Many people believe that gangs are made up of violent thugs who are in and out of jail, and who are hyper-masculine and heterosexual. In The Gang’s All Queer, Vanessa Panfil introduces us to a different world. Meet gay gang members – sometimes referred to in popular culture as “homo thugs” – whose gay identity complicates criminology’s portrayal and representation of gangs, gang members, and gang life. In vivid detail, Panfil provides an in-depth understanding of how gay gang members construct and negotiate both masculine and gay identities through crime and gang membership… [From Amazon.com]
White-Collar Crime: The Essentials
2017
Brian K. Payne

The thoroughly updated Second Edition of White Collar Crime: The Essentials continues to be a comprehensive, yet concise, resource addressing the most important topics students need to know about white-collar crime. Author Brian K. Payne provides a theoretical framework and context for students that explores such timely topics as crimes by workers, sales-oriented systems, crimes in the health care system, crimes by criminal justice professionals and politicians, crimes in the educational system, crimes in economic and technological systems, corporate crime, environmental crime, and more. This easy to read teaching tool is a valuable resource for any course that covers white-collar crime. [From Amazon.com]
The Exact Nature of Our Wrongs
2017
Janet Peery

An Indie Next Pick On a summer evening in the blue-collar town of Amicus, Kansas, the Campbell family is gathered at a birthday dinner for their ailing patriarch. When the youngest sibling passes out in his devil’s food cake, they take up the unfinished business of his sobriety. With sure-handed storytelling, Janet Peery reveals a family at its best and worst, and yet its unbreakable bonds. [Amazon.com]
Interpreting Islam in China: Pilgrimage, Scripture, and Language in the Han Kitab
2017
Kristian Petersen

Interpreting Islam in China explores the Sino-Islamic intellectual tradition through the works of some its brightest luminaries. Three prominent Sino-Muslim authors are used to illustrate transformations within this tradition, Wang Daiyu, Liu Zhi, and Ma Dexin. Kristian Petersen puts these scholars in dialogue and demonstrates the continuities and departures within this tradition. Through an analysis of their writings, he considers several questions: How malleable are religious categories and why are they variously interpreted across time? How do changing historical circumstances affect the interpretation of religious beliefs and practices? How do individuals navigate multiple sources of authority? How do practices inform belief? Overall, he shows that these authors presented an increasingly universalistic portrait of Islam through which Sino-Muslims were encouraged to participate within the global community of Muslims. The growing emphasis on performing the pilgrimage to Mecca, comprehensive knowledge of the Qur'an, and personal knowledge of Arabic stimulated communal engagement. Petersen demonstrates that the integration of Sino-Muslims within a growing global environment, where international travel and communication was increasingly possible, was accompanied by the rising self-awareness of a universally engaged Muslim community. [Amazon.com]
Nietzsche's Constructivism: A Metaphysics of Material Objects
2017
Justin Remhof

Like Kant, the German Idealists, and many neo-Kantian philosophers before him, Nietzsche was persistently concerned with metaphysical questions about the nature of objects. His texts often address questions concerning the existence and non-existence of objects, the relation of objects to human minds, and how different views of objects impact commitments in many areas of philosophy―not just metaphysics, but also language, epistemology, science, logic and mathematics, and even ethics. In this book, Remhof presents a systematic and comprehensive analysis of Nietzsche’s material object metaphysics. He argues that Nietzsche embraces the controversial constructivist view that all concrete objects are socially constructed. Reading Nietzsche as a constructivist, Remhof contends, provides fresh insight into Nietzsche’s views on truth, science, naturalism, and nihilism. The book also investigates how Nietzsche’s view of objects compares with views offered by influential American pragmatists and explores the implications of Nietzsche’s constructivism for debates in contemporary material object metaphysics. Nietzsche’s Constructivism is a highly original and timely contribution to the steadily growing literature on Nietzsche’s thought. [From Amazon.com]
One Turn Around the Sun
2017
Tim Seibles

One Turn Around the Sun is a panorama of poems that attempts to define the first appearances of life's twilight. The book also studies the intricacies of being a self: a particular personality shaped by forces seen and unseen, both knowable and not. At times, the various voices might be considered characters that agree and sustain one perspective. In other cases, contending sensibilities imply an underlying argument. This is especially true of the book within the book, which is entitled "The Hilt." Several questions drive this collection, the most central being "how can a person stay sane when so often socio-political circumstances mock all efforts to create a livable world?" This title's intention is to bolster an ongoing engagement with life at a time when running away is a great temptation. [Amazon.com]
Pages of Travel (Pages de voyage)
2017
Silvia Baron Supervielle (Author) and Peter Schulman (Translator)

Book of poetry by Argentinian-born writer, Silvia Baron Supervielle. Translated from the French by Peter Schulman, ODU Professor of French and International Studies.
Women's Social and Legal Issues in African Current Affairs: Lifting the Barriers
2017
Victoria M. Time

This volume explores the difficulties that beset African women and inhibit them from excelling in many walks of life in the twenty-first century. Asymmetrical relations in society position women in subjugated and marginalized roles. This is caused by customary practices that have left women in vulnerable and subsidiary positions, as well as statutory provisions that fester this process.

Despite its richness in raw materials and minerals, Africa remains slow to grow when compared to other continents. The economies of most African countries is severely anemic: corruption is rife, poor governance is systemic, and wars, conflicts, famine and diseases abound. Stalled economies disproportionately affects women; for example, as nurturers, women have the extra responsibility of taking care of children and members of the extended family. In times of want, women are more likely to give up the little they have so that their children and others may survive. This book shows the various social and legal obstacles that stall women’s upward mobility and offers recommendations on how these issues can be resolved. [From Amazon.com]
Socialist Internationalism in the Cold War: Exploring the Second World
2016
Patryk Babiracki (Editor) and Austin Jersild (Editor)

This volume examines how numerous international transfers, circulations, and exchanges shaped the world of socialism during the Cold War. Over the course of half a century, the Soviets shaped politics, values and material culture throughout the vast space of Eurasia, and foreign forces in turn often influenced Soviet policies and society. The result was the distinct and interconnected world of socialism, or the Socialist Second World. Drawing on previously unavailable archival sources and cutting-edge insights from “New Cold War” and transnational histories, the twelve contributors to this volume focus on diverse cultural and social forms of this global socialist exchange: the cults of communist leaders, literature, cinema, television, music, architecture, youth festivals, and cultural diplomacy. The book’s contributors seek to understand the forces that enabled and impeded the cultural consolidation of the Socialist Second World. The efforts of those who created this world, and the limitations on what they could do, remain key to understanding both the outcomes of the Cold War and a recent legacy that continues to shape lives, cultures and policies in post-communist states today. [From the Back Cover]
American Politics and the Environment
2016
Byron W. Daynes (Editor), Glen Sussman (Editor), and Jonathan P. West (Editor)

Changing our environmental policy has been at the forefront of many political discussions. But how can we make this change come about? In American Politics and the Environment, Second Edition, Byron W. Daynes, Glen Sussman and Jonathan P. West argue it is critical that we must understand the politics of environmental decision making and how political actors operate within political institutions. Blending behavioral and institutional approaches, each chapter combines discussion of an institution along with sidebars focusing on a particular environmental topic as well as a personal profile of a key decision maker. A central focus of this second edition is the emergence of global climate change as a key issue. Although the scientific community can provide research findings to policy makers, politics can create conflicts, tensions, and delays in the crafting of effective and necessary environmental policy responses. Daynes, Sussman, and West help us understand the role of politics in the policy making process and why institutional players such as the president, Congress, and interest groups succeed or fail in responding to important environmental challenges. [From the publisher]
Deviance and Social Control: A Sociological Perspective
2016
Michelle L. Inderbitzin, Kristin A. Bates, and Randy R. Gainey

This book serves as a guide to students delving into the fascinating world of deviance for the first time. Authors ... offer a clear overview of issues and perspectives in the field, including introductions to classic and current sociological theories as well as research on definitions and causes of deviance and reactions to deviant behavior. The unique text/reader format provides the best of both worlds, offering both substantial original chapters that clearly explain and outline the sociological perspectives on deviance, along with carefully selected articles on deviance and social control taken directly from leading academic journals and books. The Second Edition features updated research, examples of specific forms of deviance, and discussions of policy, as well as a new chapter and readings on global perspectives on deviance and social control. [from Amazon.com]
Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary
2016
Joe Jackson

The epic life story of the Native American holy man who has inspired millions around the world
Black Elk, the Native American holy man, is known to millions of readers around the world from his 1932 testimonial Black Elk Speaks. Adapted by the poet John G. Neihardt from a series of interviews with Black Elk and other elders at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Black Elk Speaks is one of the most widely read and admired works of American Indian literature. Cryptic and deeply personal, it has been read as a spiritual guide, a philosophical manifesto, and a text to be deconstructed―while the historical Black Elk has faded from view. … [Amazon.com]
Routledge Revivals: Guards imprisoned (1989): Correctional Officers at Work
2016
Lucien X. Lombardo

First published in 1989, Guards Imprisoned provides an in-depth look into the work and working life of prison guards as they perceive and experience it. The author, who was a teacher at Auburn Prison, New York, discovered that little was known about the guard’s perceptions of his "place" in the prison community and set out to explore the dynamics of this key correctional occupation from the perspective of those who do it. The raw data was provided by over 160 hours of interviews with guards and is presented in the order of a "natural history" — from their pre-recruitment images of prison to the search for satisfaction as experienced guards. The book also includes a follow-up with the officers who were originally interviewed in 1976, assessing patterns of change and stability in their attitudes and behaviors... [From Amazon.com]
Crimes of the Powerful: An Introduction
2016
Dawn L. Rothe and David Kauzlarich

Crimes of the Powerful: An introduction is the first textbook to bring together and show the symbiotic relationships between the related fields of state crime, white-collar crime, corporate crime, financial crime, organized crime, and environmental crime. Dawn L. Rothe and David Kauzlarich introduce the many types of crimes, methodological issues associated with research, theoretical relevance, and issues surrounding regulations and social controls for crimes of the powerful… [From Amazon.com]
Crisis Communication and Crisis Management: An Ethical Approach
2016
Burton St. John III and Yvette E. Pearson

The text introduces students to the fundamentals of crisis communication using an ethical approach, integrating ethical reasoning into all the key steps that communicators must take to successfully manage a crisis. The book combines comprehensive coverage of the key skills, concepts and theories with an extensive collection of case studies.
Advancing Interdisciplinary Approaches to International Relations
2016
Steve A. Yetiv (Editor) and Patrick James (Editor)

This edited volume breaks new ground by innovatively drawing on multiple disciplines to enhance our understanding of international relations and conflict. The expansion of knowledge across disciplines and the increasingly blurred boundaries in the real world both enable and demand thinking across intellectual borders. While multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary are prominent buzz words, remarkably few books advance them. Yet doing so can sharpen and expand our perspective on academic and real world issues and problems. This book offers the most comprehensive treatment to date and is an invaluable resource for students, scholars and practitioners. [From Amazon.com]
Bilateral Aid to Latin America: Foreign Economic Assistance from Major Donor Nations
2015
Francis Adams

This book offers a comprehensive, detailed account of the bilateral economic assistance of six major donor nations-the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Japan, and China-to the nations of Latin America. Focus is placed on assistance that is structured to meet basic human needs, enhance social equity, promote economic growth, preserve natural environments, and support political reform... [From Amazon.com]
Communicating Hope and Resilience Across the Lifespan
2015
Gary A. Beck and Thomas J. Socha

From serious illness to natural disasters, humans turn to communication as a major source of strength to help us bounce back and to keep growing and thriving. Communicating Hope and Resilience Across the Lifespan addresses the various ways in which communication plays an important role in fostering hope and resilience. Adopting a lifespan approach and offering a new framework to expand our understanding of the concepts of «hope» and «resilience» from a communication perspective, contributors highlight the variety of «stressors» that people may encounter in their lives. They examine connections between the cognitive dimensions of hope such as self-worth, self-efficacy, and creative problem solving. They look at the variety of messages that can facilitate or inhibit experiencing hope in relationships, groups, and organizations. Other contributors look at how communication that can build strengths, enhance preparation, and model successful adaptation to change has the potential to lessen the negative impact of stress, demonstrating resilience. As an important counterpoint to recent work focusing on what goes wrong in interpersonal relationships, communication that has the potential to uplift and facilitate responses to stressful circumstances is emphasized throughout this volume. By offering a detailed examination of how to communicate hope and resilience, this book presents practical lessons for individuals, marriages, families, relationship experts, as well as a variety of other practitioners. [Amazon.com]
Voting Rights Under Fire: The Continuing Struggle for People of Color
2015
Donathan L. Brown and Michael L. Clemens

With the increasing demands for changes in how we vote, the authors analyze the complications of race tied to these proposed policies through historical and contemporary challenges.
Massively Parallel Globalization: Explorations in Self-Organization and World Politics
2015
David C. Earnest

In this era of globalization, people organize into fluid, adaptive networks to solve complex problems and provide resources that nation-states cannot. Examples include the Grameen Bank, mHealth, and the Ushahidi open source software project. Why do these networks succeed where nation-states fail? Only recently have social scientists developed tools to understand exactly how these complex networks self-organize, emerge, adapt, and solve collective problems. Three of these tools—agent-based modeling, social network analysis, and evolutionary computing—are converging in a field known as computational social science. In this provocative book, David C. Earnest discusses how computational social science helps us understand “massively parallel globalization.” Using “explorations” of global systems ranging from fisheries to banking, Earnest illustrates the promise of computer models for explaining the surprises, cascades, and complexity that characterize global politics today. These examples of massively parallel globalization contrast sharply with the hierarchical and inflexible governmental bureaucracies that are poorly suited to solve many of today’s transnational and global challenges. [From Amazon.com]
A Survivor′s Guide to R: An Introduction for the Uninitiated and the Unnerved
2015
Kurt Taylor Gaubatz

Focusing on developing practical R skills rather than teaching pure statistics, Dr. Kurt Taylor Gaubatz’s A Survivor’s Guide to R provides a gentle yet thorough introduction to R. The book is structured around critical R tasks, and focuses on applied knowledge, rather than abstract concepts. Gaubatz’s easy-to-read approach helps students with little or no background in statistics or programming to develop real-world R skills through straightforward coverage of R objects and functions. Focusing on real-world data, the challenges of dataset construction, and the use of R’s powerful graphing tools, the guide is written in an accessible, sympathetic, even humorous style that ensures students acquire functional R skills they can use in their own projects and carry into their work beyond the classroom. [From Amazon.com]