We welcome review copies of books by alumni. The books are donated to the Swarthmoreana section of McCabe Library after they have been noted for this column.
Philip John Davies (sp.) (ed.), Representing and Imagining America, Keele University Press, 1996. International authors of the 24 brief, original essays in this collection offer an analysis of the way we perceive and interpret the United States, as the country constantly reinvents itself.
Elborg Forster and Robert Forster '49, Sugar and Slavery, Family and Race: The Letters and Diary of Pierre Dessalles, Planter in Martinique, 1808-1856, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. A translated version of the journal kept by Pierre Dessalles, this book provides not only a look at his daily business operation but also the society around him-the slaves, the white Creoles, the future of the colony, and his own goals and obligations.
Gilbert Harman '60 and Judith Jarvis Thomson, Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivity, Blackwell Publishers, 1996. Do moral questions have objective answers? In this volume the two philosophers offer independent arguments-Harman's account of moral relativism, emotivism, and skepticism, and Thomson's rejection of the case against moral objectivity-and replies to each other.
Janet Hart '74, New Voices in the Nation: Women and the Greek Resistance, 1941-1964, Cornell University Press, 1996. Hart places the resistance movement in an international context by examining how the struggle to promote political culture among ordinary people took shape in the course of the battle against Axis powers and uses insights from former partisans, histories of black consciousness, and her own perceptions as an African American to explore topics of current concern.
Suzanne R. Kirschner '78, The Religious and Romantic Origins of Psychoanalysis: Individuation and Integration in Post-Freudian Theory, Cambridge University Press, 1996. Drawing on a wide range of religious, literary, philosophical, and anthropological sources, Kirschner traces the origins of contemporary psychoanalysis back to the foundations of Judaeo-Christian culture, challenging the prevailing view that modern theories of the self mark a radical break with religious and cultural tradition.
Scott Lehmann '64, Privatizing Public Lands, Oxford University Press, 1995. The U.S. government owns roughly one quarter of the nation's land, and managing it is expensive and often contentious. Some argue that the problem is collective ownership itself; the solution would be a move toward privatization, to direct privately owned resources to their most productive uses. Lehman argues that there is no way of understanding "productive."
Julia Moore '94, While You Sleep, Dutton Children's Books, 1996. Written for children ages 1-3, this illustrated bedtime book tells about all the events, great and small, that unfold while baby sleeps: "clouds flock, ants talk, sea plants sway, clown fish play."
Francie Ostrower '81, Why the Wealthy Give: The Culture of Elite Philanthropy, Princeton University Press, 1995. Focusing on the New York City area, Ostrower uses the results of a series of interviews to explore the motivations of individual donors and the significance of philanthropy for the culture and organization of elite groups.
Mary McDermott Shideler '38, Starting Out: Stage I in the Series: Visions and Nightmares, Ends and Beginnings: A Woman's Lifelong Journey, Scribendi Press, 1996. More than a memoir, this book is a historical record of Shideler's girlhood in the 1930s, conveying her struggles, triumphs, joys, pain, and lifelong search for real meaning and validity.
Peggy (Bebie) Thomson '43, Katie Henio, Navajo Sheepherder, Cobblehill Books/Dutton, 1995. Text and photographs give a glimpse of life in New Mexico, as Katie Henio drives her sheep, works at her loom, or collects plants for her dyes and medicines. This book is for children aged 9 and above.
Jerome David Goodman '55, Modern American Classics, Volume II, MMC Recordings, 1996. This compact disk contains the three movements of Goodman's Symphony No. 2, performed by the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jerzy Swoboda. Also on the CD are Earl George's Introduction and Allegro, Stephen Griebling's Queensmere: Dec-ember 1964, and Ray Bok-hour's Angel Butcher.
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