African American Environmental Thought
Foundations
Kimberly K. Smith
March 2007
264 pages, 6 x 9
American Political Thought
Cloth ISBN 978-0-7006-1516-2, $29.95
African American intellectual thought has long provided a touchstone for national politics and civil rights, but, as Kimberly Smith reveals, it also has much to say about our relationship to nature. In this first single-authored book to link African American and environmental studies, Smith uncovers a rich tradition stretching from the abolition movement through the Harlem Renaissance, demonstrating that black Americans have been far from indifferent to environmental concerns.
Beginning with environmental critiques of slave agriculture in the early nineteenth century and evolving through critical engagements with scientific racism, artistic primitivism, pragmatism, and twentieth-century urban reform, Smith highlights the continuity of twentieth-century black politics with earlier efforts by slaves and freedmen to possess the land. She examines the works of such canonical figures as Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Alain Locke, all of whom wrote forcefully about how slavery and racial oppression affected black Americans’ relationship to the environment.
Smith’s analysis focuses on the importance of freedom in humans’ relationship with nature. According to black theorists, the denial of freedom can distort one’s relationship to the natural world, impairing stewardship and alienating one from the land. Her pathbreaking study offers the first linkage of the early conservation movement to black history, the first detailed description of black agrarianism, and the first analysis of scientific racism as an environmental theory. It also offers a new way to conceptualize black politics by bringing into view its environmental dimension, as well as a normative environmental theory grounded in pragmatism and aimed at identifying the social conditions for environmental virtue.
Smith’s work offers a new approach to established writers and thinkers and shows that they justly deserve a place in the canon of American environmental thought. African American Environmental Thought enriches our understanding of black politics and environmental history, and of environmental theory in general. Because slavery and racism have shaped the meaning of the American landscape, this body of thought offers us fresh conceptual resources by which we can make better sense of our world.
“Thoroughly researched and well-informed, this extraordinarily rich and well-written study reveals hitherto neglected aspects of Black American life and thought.”—Wilson J. Moses, author of Alexander Crummell: A Study of Civilization and Discontent
“A terrific book that fills an important gap in political theory and offers fresh interpretations of such figures as Douglass, Du Bois, and Locke.”—Lawrie Balfour, author of Evidence of Things Not Said: James Baldwin and the Promise of American Democracy
“An arresting, insightful, and compelling look at environmental thought through the eyes of African Americans.”—Carolyn Merchant, author of The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History
KIMBERLY K. SMITH is associate professor of political science at Carleton College and author of Wendell Berry and the Agrarian Tradition: A Common Grace (see page 53) and The Dominion of Voice: Riot, Reason and Romance in Antebellum Politics, winner of the Merle Curti Award.
Monday, March 19, 2007
PICK OF THE LISTS: BRUCE MILLER, MILLER TRADE BOOK MARKETING SPRING, 2007—PRESENTED MARCH, 2007 at the Midwest Booksellers Association meeting, Brookfield, WI.
1. THE LORDS OF FOLLY A Novel by Gene Logsdon ISBN: 0-89733-557-0 / 978-0-89733-557-7 $16.95 PAPER, Academy Chicago Publishers APRIL
This hilarious first novel by the prolific non-fiction writer Gene Logsdon is set in rural Minnesota in 1953. The Oblates of St. Joseph are more interested in farming, the healing powers of peat moss, and helping a local bootlegger than in the vows they are working toward at Ascension Seminary near Shakopee. But underneath the mayhem and merriment cultivated by “the most troublesome class in seminary history” lies a darker world of bewilderment about sex and sanity. What should they be doing with their lives, they ask each other. It is the resolution of the question—who the hell is sane in this crazy world?—that brings their adventures to a surprising and triumphant conclusion.
2. DREAM NOT OF OTHER WORLDS Teaching in a Segregated Elementary School, 1970 by Huston Diehl ISBN: 0-87745-996-7 / 978-0-87745-996-5 CLOTH $24.95, University of Iowa Press 260 pages APRIL
A fascinating account of a young woman’s experience teaching 4th grade black students in rural Louisa County, Virginia in 1970. The school’s superintendent, like the author, was white, but their attitudes couldn’t have been more different. The super assured her he didn’t expect her to teach “those children” anything. But she persisted, not only teaching to the best of her ability despite discouraging words, but learning about her own prejudices and potential through her students.
“This poignant book is a needed reminder that the days of Jim Crow and the malignant lie of ‘separate but equal’ are not that long ago and that the tragic legacy of that era is unfortunately still with us today.”—Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of Harlem Children's Zone and author of Fist Stick Knife Gun and Reaching Up for Manhood: Transforming the Lives of Boys in America
3. AMERICAN POETRY NOW, Pitt Poetry Series Anthology Edited by Ed OchesterISBN 0-8229-5964-X PAPER $27.95, University of Pittsburgh Press, 416 pages MARCH
The University of Pittsburgh Press began publishing its poetry series in 1967. For 30 of those 40 years Ed Ochester has been the series editor. The stylistic range and accomplishment of this diverse group of poets reflects the vitality of poetic form in contemporary America. Among the 47 poets whose work is represented here: Jan Beatty, Robin Becker, Billy Collins, Wanda Coleman, Jim Daniels, Toi Derricotte, Denise Duhamel, Edward Field, Daisy Fried, Ted Kooser, Etheridge Knight, Peter Meinke, Sharon Olds, Alicia Ostriker, Reginald Shepherd, David Wojahn, Dean Young, and Muriel Rukeyser.
4. SUBCOMMANDER MARCOS, The Man and the Mask by Nick HenckISBN 978-0-8223-3995-3 PAPER, $24.95, Duke University Press, 488 pages AUGUST
Subcommander Marcos made his debut on the world stage on January 1, 1994, the day the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect. At dawn, from a town-hall balcony he announced that the Zapatista Army of National Liberation had seized several towns in the Mexican state of Chiapas in rebellion against the government; by sunset Marcos was on his way to becoming the most famous guerrilla leader since Che Guevara. Subsequently, through a succession of interviews, communiqués, and public spectacles, the Subcommander emerged as a charismatic spokesperson for the indigenous Zapatista uprising and a rallying figure in the international anti-globalization movement.
In this, the first English-language biography of Subcommander Marcos, Nick Henck describes the thought, leadership, and personality of this charismatic rebel spokesperson. He traces Marcos’s development from his provincial middle-class upbringing, through his academic career and immersion into the clandestine world of guerrillas, to his emergence as the iconic Subcommander. Henck reflects on what motivated an urbane university professor to reject a life of comfort in Mexico City in favor of one of hardship as a guerrilla in the mountainous jungles of Chiapas, and he examines how Marcos became a conduit through which impoverished indigenous Mexicans could communicate with the world.
5. BUILDING A CENTURY OF PROGRESS, The Architecture of Chicago’s 1933-34 World’s Fair by Lisa D. Schrenk ISBN 0-8166-4836-0 / 978-0-8166-4836-8 CLOTH, $35.00, University of Minnesota Press, 7 ½ x 10 ½ 368 pages, 170 halftones, 26 color JUNE
This is the first in-depth look at the architecture of the second Chicago World’s Fair.From the summer of 1933 to the fall of 1934, more than 38 million fairgoers visited a 3-mile stretch along Lake Michigan, home to Chicago’s second World’s Fair. Millions more experienced the Century of Progress International Exposition through newspaper and magazine articles, newsreels, and souvenirs. Together, all marveled at the industrial, scientific, consumer, and cultural displays, many of which were housed in fifty massive and colorful exhibition halls, the largest architectural project realized in the United States during the Great Depression.
Richly illustrated, BUILDING A CENTURY OF PROGRESS explores the pivotal role of the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair in modern American architecture. The fair’s pavilions incorporated recently introduced building materials such as masonite and gypsum board; structural innovations (for example, the first thin-shell concrete roof and the first suspended roof structures built in the United States); and new construction processes, most notably the use of prefabrication. They also featured curiosities like the giant, constantly operating mayonnaise maker and the glass-walled House of Tomorrow, which had no operable windows.
Schrenk shows how the halls’ designs reflected cultural and political developments of the period, including the expanding relationships between science, industry, and government; the rise of a corporate consumer culture; and the impact of the Great Depression.
6. 100 EDIBLE MUSHROOMS, With tested recipies and full color by Michael KuoISBN 978-0-472-03126-0 PAPER, $24.95, University of Michigan Press, 7 x 10, 296 pages, 269 photos JUNE
With a dash of humor and a dollop of science, Michael Kuo selects the top 100 mushrooms best suited for cooking. Like Kuo's very popular book Morels, 100 Edible Mushrooms is written in the author's inimitable, engaging, and appealing style, taking the reader on the hunt through forest and kitchen in search of mycological pleasures and culinary delights.
Kuo describes in detail how to identify each species, where and when to find them, and how to cook them in creative and delicious recipes. The mushrooms presented in the book are the most often eaten varieties, and a description of the button mushrooms found in the grocery store is included. All of the mushrooms have at least one full-color illustration and some several more to aid in identifying and distinguishing look-alike and nonedible species. An indispensable book for mushroom hunters, naturalists, and cooks.
7. PATROLLING BAGHDAD, A Military Police Company and the War in Iraq by Mark R. DePue ISBN 978-0-7006-1498-1 CLOTH, $34.95, University Press of Kansas 320 pages APRIL
The first MP company assigned to patrol the heart of Baghdad, the 233rd (from Springfield, Illinois) was a key part of the American occupation forces from April 2003 to April 2004. Charged with helping rebuild the city’s police force—not just reopening stations but training a new force to replace its corrupt and hated predecessors—these men and women waged a “military police war” while witnessing all of the larger conflict’s central themes, from the shortcoming of prewar planning to ongoing security problems, from media coverage to humanitarian efforts.
DePue recounts the 233rd’s actions in the streets and alleyways of Baghdad and the inevitable clash of cultures, along with lootings, shootings, roadside and police station bombings, and the inevitable bureaucratic bumbling. Here are the horrors of firefights and summary executions and the drama of the UN bombing. Here too is the untold side of the war, as these volunteers on their own initiative reopened Baghdad schools and took under their wing a Catholic orphanage for handicapped children located in the heart of the city.
Based on extensive interviews with the unit’s members and others associated with their mission, DePue’s eye-opening account also covers what it was like for the 26 women of the unit, how a romance blossomed between two MPs, and how support groups back home—with the help of the Internet—helped families cope with worry over loved ones.
8. DREAMING BASEBALL, A Novel by James T. Farrell, ISBN 978-0-87338-897-9 CLOTH, $28.00, Kent State University Press 328 pages MARCH
Much like author James T. Farrell, Mickey Donovan—the main character in Dreaming Baseball—grew up on the South Side of Chicago dreaming of becoming a star for the White Sox. Donovan’s childhood dream came true in 1919 when he made the team. Despite the fact that he spent most of his rookie season on the bench, it was truly a magical year—until the Black Sox scandal turned it into a nightmare.
James T. Farrell dreamed of one day playing second base for his hometown Chicago White Sox, but, failing that, he became one of America’s great novelists. Farrell loved the game of baseball with the same passion he brought to the celebrated Studs Lonigan trilogy. In the 1950s Farrell signed an agreement with A. S. Barnes to write two baseball books. The first book published from this deal was My Baseball Diary, in 1957, still considered one of the very best fan books on baseball. The second baseball book was to be a novel about the infamous 1919 Black Sox scandal. Though several draft s of the novel were written, it remained unpublished—until now.
Editors Ron Briley, Margaret Davidson, and James Barbour worked with the various manuscript drafts to see Farrell’s vision to print as Dreaming Baseball.
9. BEWARE OF CAT, And Other Encounters of a Letter Carrier by Vincent Wyckoff ISBN 0-87351-582-X / 978-0-87351-582-5, CLOTH, $22.95, Minnesota Historical Society Press, MARCH, 204 pages
One sunny day on his postal route, Vincent Wyckoff crosses the path of an elderly gentleman whistling for his lost parakeet. The old man is upset, and Wyckoff moves down the block slowly, looking high and low, hoping to spot the little bird. He reaches the man’s house and offers sympathy to his wife, who smiles sadly and says, “We haven’t had that bird for twenty-five years.” Letter carriers like Wyckoff walk through the same neighborhood each day, observing the lives and routines of its residents. They learn its stories, make connections between people, and, in many ways, become the common thread that connects neighbors to one another. Along Wyckoff’s mail route, Native American children teach him about totems. He finds assistance for a reclusive chain-smoking book collector who can’t maintain his property. He delivers a much-delayed registered letter mailed from Saigon in 1976.
Over the years, Wyckoff sees the neighborhood of blue-collar retirees change as a diverse group of younger people move in and raise their families.Celebrating the triumphs in everyday life and demonstrating the danger of trusting first impressions, Beware of Cat reveals the inner workings of an ordinary place of extraordinary interest.
10. FROM CRIB TO KINDERGARTEN, The Essential child Safety Guide by Dorothy A. Drago, M.P.H. ISBN 0-8018-8570-1 / 978-0-8018-8570-9 PAPER, $15.00, Johns Hopkins University Press, MAY, 208 pages
In childhood, the occasional bump or scrape comes with the territory. But serious injury is another matter, creating anxiety for even the most experienced parent. Fortunately, unintentional injury can be prevented. In this essential guide, an eminent child safety specialist explains how to reduce the risk of childhood injury at home—and beyond. Her tips help protect children from birth to age five—those who are most vulnerable to serious injury.
She describes how to provide a safe environment during the daily activities of sleeping, eating, bathing, dressing, playing, and traveling. The major hazards and potential injuries associated with each activity are identified along with the age when the child is at greatest risk. Illustrations, checklists, and summary charts complement the text and put valuable lessons and critical information at parents’ fingertips. From Crib to Kindergarten is an indispensable “how to” for parents, grandparents, teachers, babysitters, and daycare providers.
11. ROGUES, WRITERS, AND WHORES, Dining with the Rich & Infamous, or A Stock of Scrumptious Stories from the Centuries (with scores and scores of recipes) by Daniel Rogov ISBN 1 59264 172 5 / 978 1 59264 172 7 CLOTH, $24.95, The Toby Press, MAY, 250 pages
Food has been a favorite literary topic since the time of Epicurus. If Homer is to be believed, Odysseus spent as much time in feasting as he did in warfare; the characters in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales devoted as much time to dining as they did to fornicating; and Rabelais' Gargantua would have been little more than an oversized oaf had it not been for his magnificent dining habits. Throughout history, numerous famous and infamous men and women have contributed in their sometimes perverted but almost always intriguing ways to the world of gastronomy. The stories of those people, their culinary habits and the dishes either created by them, named after them or cherished by them, are the subject of this book. Kings and queens, dukes and duchesses, chefs and restaurateurs, novelists and composers, generals and courtesans--all have had dishes named after them. Follow the fortunes and discover the recipes of over sixty rogues, writers and whores, from Apicius to Zola. Written by Daniel Rogov, one of the most charming and knowledgeable food and wine writers today, the book is lavishly illustrated by Yael Hershberg.
12. THE SPACE OF FREEDOM, Apartment Exhibitions in Leningrad, 1964—1986 Richard Waller, ed. ISBN 978-0-9765047-3-1 PAPER, $29.95 58 illus., 46 color, one map 8.5 x 10 FEBRUARY 108 pages
For the Russian nonconformist artists of the 1960s through the 1980s, a room or an apartment - whether one's own or someone else's - was a departure point into the world of art, a world free of limitations. An apartment, while limited in space, opened up a world of infinite space - the entire cosmos. The transformation of those apartments was accomplished by covering their walls from floor to ceiling with the art of unofficial artists who were forbidden to show their works in exhibiton halls and museums of the Soviet Union.This volume illustrates works from the Museum of Nonconformist Art, St Petersburg, Russia, to focus on both the artwork shown in communal apartments and on the exhibition space of the apartments themselves as a significant part of the history of Russian art. It includes pieces by the most important figures in the history of these exhibitions and in the history of nonconformist painting
Bruce Miller
Miller Trade Book Marketing
363 W. Erie Street, Suite 7E Chicago, IL. 60610
866.829.0824 phone
orders@millertrade.com
1. THE LORDS OF FOLLY A Novel by Gene Logsdon ISBN: 0-89733-557-0 / 978-0-89733-557-7 $16.95 PAPER, Academy Chicago Publishers APRIL
This hilarious first novel by the prolific non-fiction writer Gene Logsdon is set in rural Minnesota in 1953. The Oblates of St. Joseph are more interested in farming, the healing powers of peat moss, and helping a local bootlegger than in the vows they are working toward at Ascension Seminary near Shakopee. But underneath the mayhem and merriment cultivated by “the most troublesome class in seminary history” lies a darker world of bewilderment about sex and sanity. What should they be doing with their lives, they ask each other. It is the resolution of the question—who the hell is sane in this crazy world?—that brings their adventures to a surprising and triumphant conclusion.
2. DREAM NOT OF OTHER WORLDS Teaching in a Segregated Elementary School, 1970 by Huston Diehl ISBN: 0-87745-996-7 / 978-0-87745-996-5 CLOTH $24.95, University of Iowa Press 260 pages APRIL
A fascinating account of a young woman’s experience teaching 4th grade black students in rural Louisa County, Virginia in 1970. The school’s superintendent, like the author, was white, but their attitudes couldn’t have been more different. The super assured her he didn’t expect her to teach “those children” anything. But she persisted, not only teaching to the best of her ability despite discouraging words, but learning about her own prejudices and potential through her students.
“This poignant book is a needed reminder that the days of Jim Crow and the malignant lie of ‘separate but equal’ are not that long ago and that the tragic legacy of that era is unfortunately still with us today.”—Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of Harlem Children's Zone and author of Fist Stick Knife Gun and Reaching Up for Manhood: Transforming the Lives of Boys in America
3. AMERICAN POETRY NOW, Pitt Poetry Series Anthology Edited by Ed OchesterISBN 0-8229-5964-X PAPER $27.95, University of Pittsburgh Press, 416 pages MARCH
The University of Pittsburgh Press began publishing its poetry series in 1967. For 30 of those 40 years Ed Ochester has been the series editor. The stylistic range and accomplishment of this diverse group of poets reflects the vitality of poetic form in contemporary America. Among the 47 poets whose work is represented here: Jan Beatty, Robin Becker, Billy Collins, Wanda Coleman, Jim Daniels, Toi Derricotte, Denise Duhamel, Edward Field, Daisy Fried, Ted Kooser, Etheridge Knight, Peter Meinke, Sharon Olds, Alicia Ostriker, Reginald Shepherd, David Wojahn, Dean Young, and Muriel Rukeyser.
4. SUBCOMMANDER MARCOS, The Man and the Mask by Nick HenckISBN 978-0-8223-3995-3 PAPER, $24.95, Duke University Press, 488 pages AUGUST
Subcommander Marcos made his debut on the world stage on January 1, 1994, the day the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect. At dawn, from a town-hall balcony he announced that the Zapatista Army of National Liberation had seized several towns in the Mexican state of Chiapas in rebellion against the government; by sunset Marcos was on his way to becoming the most famous guerrilla leader since Che Guevara. Subsequently, through a succession of interviews, communiqués, and public spectacles, the Subcommander emerged as a charismatic spokesperson for the indigenous Zapatista uprising and a rallying figure in the international anti-globalization movement.
In this, the first English-language biography of Subcommander Marcos, Nick Henck describes the thought, leadership, and personality of this charismatic rebel spokesperson. He traces Marcos’s development from his provincial middle-class upbringing, through his academic career and immersion into the clandestine world of guerrillas, to his emergence as the iconic Subcommander. Henck reflects on what motivated an urbane university professor to reject a life of comfort in Mexico City in favor of one of hardship as a guerrilla in the mountainous jungles of Chiapas, and he examines how Marcos became a conduit through which impoverished indigenous Mexicans could communicate with the world.
5. BUILDING A CENTURY OF PROGRESS, The Architecture of Chicago’s 1933-34 World’s Fair by Lisa D. Schrenk ISBN 0-8166-4836-0 / 978-0-8166-4836-8 CLOTH, $35.00, University of Minnesota Press, 7 ½ x 10 ½ 368 pages, 170 halftones, 26 color JUNE
This is the first in-depth look at the architecture of the second Chicago World’s Fair.From the summer of 1933 to the fall of 1934, more than 38 million fairgoers visited a 3-mile stretch along Lake Michigan, home to Chicago’s second World’s Fair. Millions more experienced the Century of Progress International Exposition through newspaper and magazine articles, newsreels, and souvenirs. Together, all marveled at the industrial, scientific, consumer, and cultural displays, many of which were housed in fifty massive and colorful exhibition halls, the largest architectural project realized in the United States during the Great Depression.
Richly illustrated, BUILDING A CENTURY OF PROGRESS explores the pivotal role of the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair in modern American architecture. The fair’s pavilions incorporated recently introduced building materials such as masonite and gypsum board; structural innovations (for example, the first thin-shell concrete roof and the first suspended roof structures built in the United States); and new construction processes, most notably the use of prefabrication. They also featured curiosities like the giant, constantly operating mayonnaise maker and the glass-walled House of Tomorrow, which had no operable windows.
Schrenk shows how the halls’ designs reflected cultural and political developments of the period, including the expanding relationships between science, industry, and government; the rise of a corporate consumer culture; and the impact of the Great Depression.
6. 100 EDIBLE MUSHROOMS, With tested recipies and full color by Michael KuoISBN 978-0-472-03126-0 PAPER, $24.95, University of Michigan Press, 7 x 10, 296 pages, 269 photos JUNE
With a dash of humor and a dollop of science, Michael Kuo selects the top 100 mushrooms best suited for cooking. Like Kuo's very popular book Morels, 100 Edible Mushrooms is written in the author's inimitable, engaging, and appealing style, taking the reader on the hunt through forest and kitchen in search of mycological pleasures and culinary delights.
Kuo describes in detail how to identify each species, where and when to find them, and how to cook them in creative and delicious recipes. The mushrooms presented in the book are the most often eaten varieties, and a description of the button mushrooms found in the grocery store is included. All of the mushrooms have at least one full-color illustration and some several more to aid in identifying and distinguishing look-alike and nonedible species. An indispensable book for mushroom hunters, naturalists, and cooks.
7. PATROLLING BAGHDAD, A Military Police Company and the War in Iraq by Mark R. DePue ISBN 978-0-7006-1498-1 CLOTH, $34.95, University Press of Kansas 320 pages APRIL
The first MP company assigned to patrol the heart of Baghdad, the 233rd (from Springfield, Illinois) was a key part of the American occupation forces from April 2003 to April 2004. Charged with helping rebuild the city’s police force—not just reopening stations but training a new force to replace its corrupt and hated predecessors—these men and women waged a “military police war” while witnessing all of the larger conflict’s central themes, from the shortcoming of prewar planning to ongoing security problems, from media coverage to humanitarian efforts.
DePue recounts the 233rd’s actions in the streets and alleyways of Baghdad and the inevitable clash of cultures, along with lootings, shootings, roadside and police station bombings, and the inevitable bureaucratic bumbling. Here are the horrors of firefights and summary executions and the drama of the UN bombing. Here too is the untold side of the war, as these volunteers on their own initiative reopened Baghdad schools and took under their wing a Catholic orphanage for handicapped children located in the heart of the city.
Based on extensive interviews with the unit’s members and others associated with their mission, DePue’s eye-opening account also covers what it was like for the 26 women of the unit, how a romance blossomed between two MPs, and how support groups back home—with the help of the Internet—helped families cope with worry over loved ones.
8. DREAMING BASEBALL, A Novel by James T. Farrell, ISBN 978-0-87338-897-9 CLOTH, $28.00, Kent State University Press 328 pages MARCH
Much like author James T. Farrell, Mickey Donovan—the main character in Dreaming Baseball—grew up on the South Side of Chicago dreaming of becoming a star for the White Sox. Donovan’s childhood dream came true in 1919 when he made the team. Despite the fact that he spent most of his rookie season on the bench, it was truly a magical year—until the Black Sox scandal turned it into a nightmare.
James T. Farrell dreamed of one day playing second base for his hometown Chicago White Sox, but, failing that, he became one of America’s great novelists. Farrell loved the game of baseball with the same passion he brought to the celebrated Studs Lonigan trilogy. In the 1950s Farrell signed an agreement with A. S. Barnes to write two baseball books. The first book published from this deal was My Baseball Diary, in 1957, still considered one of the very best fan books on baseball. The second baseball book was to be a novel about the infamous 1919 Black Sox scandal. Though several draft s of the novel were written, it remained unpublished—until now.
Editors Ron Briley, Margaret Davidson, and James Barbour worked with the various manuscript drafts to see Farrell’s vision to print as Dreaming Baseball.
9. BEWARE OF CAT, And Other Encounters of a Letter Carrier by Vincent Wyckoff ISBN 0-87351-582-X / 978-0-87351-582-5, CLOTH, $22.95, Minnesota Historical Society Press, MARCH, 204 pages
One sunny day on his postal route, Vincent Wyckoff crosses the path of an elderly gentleman whistling for his lost parakeet. The old man is upset, and Wyckoff moves down the block slowly, looking high and low, hoping to spot the little bird. He reaches the man’s house and offers sympathy to his wife, who smiles sadly and says, “We haven’t had that bird for twenty-five years.” Letter carriers like Wyckoff walk through the same neighborhood each day, observing the lives and routines of its residents. They learn its stories, make connections between people, and, in many ways, become the common thread that connects neighbors to one another. Along Wyckoff’s mail route, Native American children teach him about totems. He finds assistance for a reclusive chain-smoking book collector who can’t maintain his property. He delivers a much-delayed registered letter mailed from Saigon in 1976.
Over the years, Wyckoff sees the neighborhood of blue-collar retirees change as a diverse group of younger people move in and raise their families.Celebrating the triumphs in everyday life and demonstrating the danger of trusting first impressions, Beware of Cat reveals the inner workings of an ordinary place of extraordinary interest.
10. FROM CRIB TO KINDERGARTEN, The Essential child Safety Guide by Dorothy A. Drago, M.P.H. ISBN 0-8018-8570-1 / 978-0-8018-8570-9 PAPER, $15.00, Johns Hopkins University Press, MAY, 208 pages
In childhood, the occasional bump or scrape comes with the territory. But serious injury is another matter, creating anxiety for even the most experienced parent. Fortunately, unintentional injury can be prevented. In this essential guide, an eminent child safety specialist explains how to reduce the risk of childhood injury at home—and beyond. Her tips help protect children from birth to age five—those who are most vulnerable to serious injury.
She describes how to provide a safe environment during the daily activities of sleeping, eating, bathing, dressing, playing, and traveling. The major hazards and potential injuries associated with each activity are identified along with the age when the child is at greatest risk. Illustrations, checklists, and summary charts complement the text and put valuable lessons and critical information at parents’ fingertips. From Crib to Kindergarten is an indispensable “how to” for parents, grandparents, teachers, babysitters, and daycare providers.
11. ROGUES, WRITERS, AND WHORES, Dining with the Rich & Infamous, or A Stock of Scrumptious Stories from the Centuries (with scores and scores of recipes) by Daniel Rogov ISBN 1 59264 172 5 / 978 1 59264 172 7 CLOTH, $24.95, The Toby Press, MAY, 250 pages
Food has been a favorite literary topic since the time of Epicurus. If Homer is to be believed, Odysseus spent as much time in feasting as he did in warfare; the characters in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales devoted as much time to dining as they did to fornicating; and Rabelais' Gargantua would have been little more than an oversized oaf had it not been for his magnificent dining habits. Throughout history, numerous famous and infamous men and women have contributed in their sometimes perverted but almost always intriguing ways to the world of gastronomy. The stories of those people, their culinary habits and the dishes either created by them, named after them or cherished by them, are the subject of this book. Kings and queens, dukes and duchesses, chefs and restaurateurs, novelists and composers, generals and courtesans--all have had dishes named after them. Follow the fortunes and discover the recipes of over sixty rogues, writers and whores, from Apicius to Zola. Written by Daniel Rogov, one of the most charming and knowledgeable food and wine writers today, the book is lavishly illustrated by Yael Hershberg.
12. THE SPACE OF FREEDOM, Apartment Exhibitions in Leningrad, 1964—1986 Richard Waller, ed. ISBN 978-0-9765047-3-1 PAPER, $29.95 58 illus., 46 color, one map 8.5 x 10 FEBRUARY 108 pages
For the Russian nonconformist artists of the 1960s through the 1980s, a room or an apartment - whether one's own or someone else's - was a departure point into the world of art, a world free of limitations. An apartment, while limited in space, opened up a world of infinite space - the entire cosmos. The transformation of those apartments was accomplished by covering their walls from floor to ceiling with the art of unofficial artists who were forbidden to show their works in exhibiton halls and museums of the Soviet Union.This volume illustrates works from the Museum of Nonconformist Art, St Petersburg, Russia, to focus on both the artwork shown in communal apartments and on the exhibition space of the apartments themselves as a significant part of the history of Russian art. It includes pieces by the most important figures in the history of these exhibitions and in the history of nonconformist painting
Bruce Miller
Miller Trade Book Marketing
363 W. Erie Street, Suite 7E Chicago, IL. 60610
866.829.0824 phone
orders@millertrade.com
Sunday, March 18, 2007
March 16, 2007
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10 Questions: First Gentleman? Posted by Katie Couric
(AP)We've never had a First Gentleman in the White House before -- but with Hillary Clinton running for President, it just might happen. We thought it would be interesting to hear from somebody who’s got some experience in the field: Dan Mulhern, husband of Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. Mulhern is a Harvard-educated lawyer, motivational speaker, and the author of a recent book, Everyday Leadership. He lives in Lansing with his wife and three children, and Dan Mulhern is the subject of this week’s 10 Questions.
1.As the husband of Governor Jennifer Granholm, you are Michigan’s first First Gentleman. Do you see your role as different from a First Lady’s?
My role is different less because I am a man than because I am the particular person I am. Each first spouse gets to mold the role, and that’s one of the best things about this role. There is perhaps one difference due to gender. As the first first gentleman, I can celebrate the election of my wife as Michigan’s first female governor, and help claim that victory of equality and opportunity for all of us – women and men included. And I can show that men can do this with pride, intelligence, and love.
2. You’ve done a lot with your job—from encouraging volunteerism, to starting leadership seminars for state employees, to serving as chair of the Spouses’ Council of the National Governors Association. But do you also do the traditionally “female” tasks of decorating the governor’s mansion and putting together the menus for official dinners?
I do the traditionally female tasks of being the hands-on lead partner in raising our three kids, and my wife has been a tremendous partner in that. When the first spouses’ conversations turn to decorations and menus, my first instinct is to pull out my transporter and yell, “Beam me outta here, Scotty.” I am largely inept on house details, so I delegate the decisions and try to help with the implementation.
3. In between college at Yale, and law school at Harvard, you were a community organizer and high school teacher—and more recently, you were a leadership consultant in Detroit. You also have three kids. Are you still working full-time as First Gentleman—and how do you balance all of your corporate, government, and family responsibilities?
I have recently begun a nightly guest-talk radio show on leadership and do some paid public speaking outside Michigan, but I largely quit my business and kept just one paid client in Michigan. (I don’t want to give ammunition to Jennifer’s opponents or distract from her important work with charges of conflict of interest, so I have chosen not to do work for pay in Michigan.) I am an active --some would say hyperactive -- volunteer. But I put the family first. Jennifer and I schedule regular date nights. I coach the kids. And hard as it is I just say no to an awful lot of invitations that I’d love to say yes to. 4. The governor just won a very tough re-election campaign last year. To what extent have you advised her on political strategy? My main focus on the campaign was to help Jennifer in the way I helped executive clients as a business coach: I would listen, reflect back ideas, and work to make sure my wife’s policies and strategies were aligned with who she is and what her values are. And I was one voice on an exceptional team of advisors.
5. Is there skepticism among voters that the First Gentleman is pulling the strings in the background?
Anyone who has viewed Jennifer Granholm knows very clearly that she is, with due respect to Springsteen, The Boss. The rest of us do our best to help her and keep up!
6. Are you disappointed that your wife can’t run for president because she was born in Canada? Do you think “natural born citizen” should be redefined to allow immigrants to run?
Jennifer Granholm would be a tremendous president, and Michigan is fortunate in challenging times to have her completely and totally dedicated to her job. The constitutional prohibition works in her favor because it keeps down distraction and second-guessing about her motives. She is focused on what’s best for Michigan -- period. As far as the policy matter, I think that immigrants, like converts to the faith, often have greater conviction than those of us born to our country or faith. I say let them run and let voters decide.
7. Has anything changed in Michigan as the result of having a woman as governor? Do you think women are more accepted in leadership positions?
I love watching the eyes of young girls when they meet Jennifer. It seems to me they are not just seeing her, but they see themselves reflected in her. They could be governor, and that is awesome! What a great country that keeps opening doors to people. We have a ways to go when it comes to women in high level executive positions, but I think Jennifer has helped widen and smooth that path.
8. Did you ever consider running for office yourself? Might you do so in the future?
I used to think about it a lot when I was younger. Now, I am thrilled to be able to serve as I do. I enjoy doing my daily radio show on leadership and writing a weekly column called “Reading for Leading” (You can listen to the show or get a free subscription to the newsletter right here.) And I have enjoyed writing my book Everyday Leadership. In my career I have always tried to ask two questions: What is God asking of me? And: What is my world asking of me? How can I best serve? And I’ll keep asking that and try to live fully in every stretch of the road I’m allowed to walk.
9. What do you and the governor plan to do after her term is up in 2011?
Take a real vacation. After our honeymoon twenty-one years ago we’ve never gone away for more than a week. We will enjoy’s Jack’s high school years. And, we’ll use the talents God has given us to give back to others. Maybe the Peace Corps. Maybe working together to revive my consulting business. But trying to keep making a difference in whatever we do.
10. There's obviously been speculation about what role former President Bill Clinton might play if Senator Clinton were elected president next year. Any words of wisdom?
Me? Give advice to Bill Clinton?!?! Come on! He has had extraordinary, unbelievable opportunities to impact on the world, and I hope and assume he will continue to play on a worldwide stage. Yet I hope and wish for him that amidst all of that vital activity, he might also focus on and exult in the incredible opportunity to serve his wife. Being “first gentleman” is an invitation to a certain old-fashioned nobility. I know that this role has made me a better dad, husband, and person. I would wish the same for President (Bill) Clinton. 9:49 AM : March 16, 2007Read more posts in 10 Questions E-mail this post Printable version
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10 Questions: First Gentleman? Posted by Katie Couric
(AP)We've never had a First Gentleman in the White House before -- but with Hillary Clinton running for President, it just might happen. We thought it would be interesting to hear from somebody who’s got some experience in the field: Dan Mulhern, husband of Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. Mulhern is a Harvard-educated lawyer, motivational speaker, and the author of a recent book, Everyday Leadership. He lives in Lansing with his wife and three children, and Dan Mulhern is the subject of this week’s 10 Questions.
1.As the husband of Governor Jennifer Granholm, you are Michigan’s first First Gentleman. Do you see your role as different from a First Lady’s?
My role is different less because I am a man than because I am the particular person I am. Each first spouse gets to mold the role, and that’s one of the best things about this role. There is perhaps one difference due to gender. As the first first gentleman, I can celebrate the election of my wife as Michigan’s first female governor, and help claim that victory of equality and opportunity for all of us – women and men included. And I can show that men can do this with pride, intelligence, and love.
2. You’ve done a lot with your job—from encouraging volunteerism, to starting leadership seminars for state employees, to serving as chair of the Spouses’ Council of the National Governors Association. But do you also do the traditionally “female” tasks of decorating the governor’s mansion and putting together the menus for official dinners?
I do the traditionally female tasks of being the hands-on lead partner in raising our three kids, and my wife has been a tremendous partner in that. When the first spouses’ conversations turn to decorations and menus, my first instinct is to pull out my transporter and yell, “Beam me outta here, Scotty.” I am largely inept on house details, so I delegate the decisions and try to help with the implementation.
3. In between college at Yale, and law school at Harvard, you were a community organizer and high school teacher—and more recently, you were a leadership consultant in Detroit. You also have three kids. Are you still working full-time as First Gentleman—and how do you balance all of your corporate, government, and family responsibilities?
I have recently begun a nightly guest-talk radio show on leadership and do some paid public speaking outside Michigan, but I largely quit my business and kept just one paid client in Michigan. (I don’t want to give ammunition to Jennifer’s opponents or distract from her important work with charges of conflict of interest, so I have chosen not to do work for pay in Michigan.) I am an active --some would say hyperactive -- volunteer. But I put the family first. Jennifer and I schedule regular date nights. I coach the kids. And hard as it is I just say no to an awful lot of invitations that I’d love to say yes to. 4. The governor just won a very tough re-election campaign last year. To what extent have you advised her on political strategy? My main focus on the campaign was to help Jennifer in the way I helped executive clients as a business coach: I would listen, reflect back ideas, and work to make sure my wife’s policies and strategies were aligned with who she is and what her values are. And I was one voice on an exceptional team of advisors.
5. Is there skepticism among voters that the First Gentleman is pulling the strings in the background?
Anyone who has viewed Jennifer Granholm knows very clearly that she is, with due respect to Springsteen, The Boss. The rest of us do our best to help her and keep up!
6. Are you disappointed that your wife can’t run for president because she was born in Canada? Do you think “natural born citizen” should be redefined to allow immigrants to run?
Jennifer Granholm would be a tremendous president, and Michigan is fortunate in challenging times to have her completely and totally dedicated to her job. The constitutional prohibition works in her favor because it keeps down distraction and second-guessing about her motives. She is focused on what’s best for Michigan -- period. As far as the policy matter, I think that immigrants, like converts to the faith, often have greater conviction than those of us born to our country or faith. I say let them run and let voters decide.
7. Has anything changed in Michigan as the result of having a woman as governor? Do you think women are more accepted in leadership positions?
I love watching the eyes of young girls when they meet Jennifer. It seems to me they are not just seeing her, but they see themselves reflected in her. They could be governor, and that is awesome! What a great country that keeps opening doors to people. We have a ways to go when it comes to women in high level executive positions, but I think Jennifer has helped widen and smooth that path.
8. Did you ever consider running for office yourself? Might you do so in the future?
I used to think about it a lot when I was younger. Now, I am thrilled to be able to serve as I do. I enjoy doing my daily radio show on leadership and writing a weekly column called “Reading for Leading” (You can listen to the show or get a free subscription to the newsletter right here.) And I have enjoyed writing my book Everyday Leadership. In my career I have always tried to ask two questions: What is God asking of me? And: What is my world asking of me? How can I best serve? And I’ll keep asking that and try to live fully in every stretch of the road I’m allowed to walk.
9. What do you and the governor plan to do after her term is up in 2011?
Take a real vacation. After our honeymoon twenty-one years ago we’ve never gone away for more than a week. We will enjoy’s Jack’s high school years. And, we’ll use the talents God has given us to give back to others. Maybe the Peace Corps. Maybe working together to revive my consulting business. But trying to keep making a difference in whatever we do.
10. There's obviously been speculation about what role former President Bill Clinton might play if Senator Clinton were elected president next year. Any words of wisdom?
Me? Give advice to Bill Clinton?!?! Come on! He has had extraordinary, unbelievable opportunities to impact on the world, and I hope and assume he will continue to play on a worldwide stage. Yet I hope and wish for him that amidst all of that vital activity, he might also focus on and exult in the incredible opportunity to serve his wife. Being “first gentleman” is an invitation to a certain old-fashioned nobility. I know that this role has made me a better dad, husband, and person. I would wish the same for President (Bill) Clinton. 9:49 AM : March 16, 2007Read more posts in 10 Questions E-mail this post Printable version
EVERYDAY LEADERSHIP
Everyday Leadership offers strategies to improve leadership skills, improve results, and gain greater satisfaction in these hectic times. It speaks to the everyday leader, whether that person is a CEO, a principal, a pastor, or a mom or dad.
Daniel Mulhern, advisor to Fortune 500 companies,
acclaimed speaker, and the husband of Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, immediately sets a warm and personal tone as he recalls his wife’s acceptance speech for the nomination of Michigan attorney general.
Instead of getting to hear the nominee’s address, Mulhern finds himself changing their one-year-old son’s diaper in a bathroom of the conference center. In this revealing moment Mulhern finds an instructive mix of humor, frustration, and enlightenment.
It was, he says, a chance to learn about the “unusual three-way intersection where leading, serving, and being human all meet. This book is about that intersection in the lives of human leaders.”
Everyday Leadership brings the art of management down to earth, presenting stories that illuminate some of the best ideas about real human leadership. It offers practical steps to achieve the goal of leading well in our lives through creating a vision, communicating that vision, and living it.
Daniel Granholm Mulhern is the “First Gentleman” of the State of Michigan. In addition to the personal support and counsel he offers his wife, Governor Jennifer Mulhern Granholm, Dan contributes his services, spearheading leadership development and being a model for the nation in offering a governmental work place that is a “great place to do great work!” He also serves as Chairman of the Michigan Community Service
Commission, which promotes and coordinates volunteer efforts across the state.
February
6 x 9, ca. 248 pages
Cloth 978-0-472-09772-6 $50.00S £31.95 CNDL 56.00
Paper 978-0-472-06972-9 $22.95T £14.95 CNDL 26.00
(CL 0-472-09972-8; PB 0-472-06972-1)
The University of Michigan Press
Everyday Leadership offers strategies to improve leadership skills, improve results, and gain greater satisfaction in these hectic times. It speaks to the everyday leader, whether that person is a CEO, a principal, a pastor, or a mom or dad.
Daniel Mulhern, advisor to Fortune 500 companies,
acclaimed speaker, and the husband of Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, immediately sets a warm and personal tone as he recalls his wife’s acceptance speech for the nomination of Michigan attorney general.
Instead of getting to hear the nominee’s address, Mulhern finds himself changing their one-year-old son’s diaper in a bathroom of the conference center. In this revealing moment Mulhern finds an instructive mix of humor, frustration, and enlightenment.
It was, he says, a chance to learn about the “unusual three-way intersection where leading, serving, and being human all meet. This book is about that intersection in the lives of human leaders.”
Everyday Leadership brings the art of management down to earth, presenting stories that illuminate some of the best ideas about real human leadership. It offers practical steps to achieve the goal of leading well in our lives through creating a vision, communicating that vision, and living it.
Daniel Granholm Mulhern is the “First Gentleman” of the State of Michigan. In addition to the personal support and counsel he offers his wife, Governor Jennifer Mulhern Granholm, Dan contributes his services, spearheading leadership development and being a model for the nation in offering a governmental work place that is a “great place to do great work!” He also serves as Chairman of the Michigan Community Service
Commission, which promotes and coordinates volunteer efforts across the state.
February
6 x 9, ca. 248 pages
Cloth 978-0-472-09772-6 $50.00S £31.95 CNDL 56.00
Paper 978-0-472-06972-9 $22.95T £14.95 CNDL 26.00
(CL 0-472-09972-8; PB 0-472-06972-1)
The University of Michigan Press
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