Important nonfiction books
Flora Jones's Page
RSS
“Revolutions” and the Politics of Networks
... with special reference to the role played by the internet during the recent developments in Iran. A few posts back, I talked up a new book by former software designer David Golumbia on the repressive potential of the computational...A New Literary History of America - Bookstore Display Contest
In the fall, we are publishing a massive work, edited by Greil Marcus (Lipstick Traces, Mystery Train) and Werner Sollors (Neither Black nor White yet Both), that represents the culmination of decades of effort. A New Literary History of America...White House joins blog fray
Via Braniac, we learn that White House Office of Management and Budget Director Peter R. Orszag has got a blog, and he's using it to engage commentators and critics, including our own Richard Posner (link | link | link), on...Global academic reaction to Obama's Cairo speech
After the President's long-awaited and much-discussed speech in Cairo last week, we solicited the reactions of several current and forthcoming HUP authors, many of whom hail from the Muslim world. We may not have hit first news cycle with this,...The true story of Katie, a meter-long western diamondback rattlesnake
We are pleased to note that our friend Kate Jackson, who detailed her fieldwork adventures in Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo, which has been called "an inspiration to future field biologists" (Choice) and which...Flora Jones's Blog
Gloria Davies — Should we worry about Chinese patriotism?
There is nothing new about Chinese citizens shouting anti-foreign slogans. The triggers for these spectacles of communal outrage are always actions or decisions taken from outside China that are perceived as impacting on China’s well-being or international standing. In the last dec… Continue
Posted on August 12, 2008 at 3:42pm —
Flora Jones's Discussions
What should Harvard University Press offer Ning members?
Started Jun. 28, 2008
About
© 2009 Created by Flora Jones on Ning. Create Your Own Social Network
Comment Wall (3 comments)
You need to be a member of Harvard University Press to add comments!
Join this social network
Jon Latimer, 1812: War with America
Watch this video.
Mary Beard, The Fires of Vesuvius
Watch this video.
As has become apparent in recent months, the athletes of the 2008 games face tough competition for the Olympic spotlight, not only with one another, but with China itself—the current leading nation in
debate, controversy and intrigue on the international playing field. There is as much to learn about Beijing and China as there are events to watch on television (precisely 302), and HUP would like to welcome in the games by offering you an abundance of resources on the history, heritage, and politics of this multiplex city and burgeoning nation. So sit back, enjoy, and in between gold medals and outstanding competition, read a good book!
But first, some recommended Olympic links from the Press:
— Speedo swimsuit technology and the destruction of old Beijing from The Economist
— Interactive Olympic Event Tracker from The New York Times; a priceless device when keeping track of 28 sports.
Beijing — "The Heart of the Enigma"
Beijing Timeby Michael Dutton, Hsiu-ju Stacy Lo, and Dong Dong Wu
“Where is the market?” inquires the tourist one dark, chilly morning. “Follow the ghosts,” responds the taxi driver, indicating a shadowy parade of overloaded tricycles. “It’s not called the ghost market for nothing!” And indeed, Beijing is nothing if not haunted. Among the soaring skyscrapers, choking exhaust fumes, nonstop traffic jams, and towering monuments, one discovers old Beijing—newly styled, perhaps, but no less present and powerful than in its ancient incarnation. Beijing Time conducts us into this mysterious world, at once familiar and yet alien to the outsider.
The Forbidden City
by Geremie R. Barmé
The Forbidden City (Zijin Cheng) lying at the heart of Beijing formed the hub of the Celestial Empire for five centuries. Over the past century it has led a reduced life as the refuge for a deposed emperor, as well as a heritage museum for monarchist, republican, and socialist citizens, and it has been celebrated and excoriated as a symbol of all that was magnificent and terrible in dynastic China’s legacy. Geremie Barmé peels away the veneer of power, secrecy, inscrutability, and passions of imperial China, to provide a new and original history of the culture, politics, and architecture of the Forbidden City. Designed to overawe the visitor with the power of imperial China, the Forbidden City remains one of the true wonders of the world.
Read supplementary material prepared by Geremie Barmé.
Olympic History
Olympic Dreams: China and Sports, 1895-2008by Xu Guoqi
Already the world has seen the political, economic, and cultural significance of hosting the 2008 Olympics in Beijing—in policies instituted and altered, positions softened, projects undertaken. But will the Olympics make a lasting difference? This book approaches questions about the nature and future of China through the lens of sports—particularly as sports finds its utmost international expression in the Olympics. Drawing on newly available archival sources to analyze a hundred-year perspective on sports in China, Olympic Dreams explores why the country became obsessed with Western sports at the turn of the twentieth century, and how it relates to China’s search for a national and international identity. Through case studies of ping-pong diplomacy and the Chinese handling of various sporting events, the book offers unexpected details and unusual insight into the patterns and processes of China’s foreign policymaking—insights that will help readers understand China’s interactions with the rest of the world.
Greater China: Cities and Politics
City Between Worlds: My Hong Kongby Leo Ou-fan Lee
Hong Kong is perched on the fault line between China and the West, a Special Administrative Region of the PRC. Leo Ou-fan Lee offers an insider’s view of Hong Kong, capturing the history and culture that make his densely packed home city so different from its generic neighbors. The search for an indigenous Hong Kong takes Lee to the wet markets and corner bookshops of congested Mong Kok, remote fishing villages and mountainside temples, teahouses and noodle stalls, Cantonese opera and Cantopop. Whether viewed from Tsing Yi Bridge or the deck of the Star Ferry, from Victoria Peak or Lion Rock, Hong Kong sparkles here in all its multifaceted complexity, a city forever between worlds.
Worrying about China
The Language of Chinese Critical Inquiry
by Gloria Davies
What can we do about China? This question, couched in pessimism, is often raised in the West but it is nothing new to the Chinese, who have long worried about themselves. In the last two decades since the "opening" of China, Chinese intellectuals have been carrying on in their own ancient tradition of "patriotic worrying." In Worrying about China, Gloria Davies pursues this inquiry through a wide range of contemporary topics, including the changing fortunes of radicalism, the peculiarities of Chinese postmodernism, shifts within official discourse, attempts to revive Confucianism for present-day China, and the historically problematic engagement of Chinese intellectuals with Western ideas.
The Great Wall Revisited
From the Jade Gate to Old Dragon's Head
by William Lindesay
A journey along the Great Wall in the past and present, this landmark volume offers an extraordinary portrait of perhaps the world’s most famous structure. Carrying his camera and a file of vintage photographs—the earliest dating from 1871—author-photographer William Lindesay traveled across Northern China for three years, searching for settings where the Great Wall could be examined in the past and present, side by side. The result, The Great Wall Revisited, presents seventy-two of the most elucidating then- and-now comparisons. This glossy dossier opens out as an extraordinary journey from the Jade Gate in northwest China’s Gobi Desert to Old Dragon’s Head on the Yellow Sea.
Curious to see photos from the book? Read what Smithsonian Magazine has to say about The Great Wall Revisited in "A Yankee in China," an article including a photo gallery from the story.
As written in the recent New York Times article on E.O. Wilson, "Ants are Dr. Wilson's first and enduring love. But he has become one of the world's best-known biologists through two other passions, his urge to create large syntheses of knowledge and his gift for writing. Through the power of his words, he champions the world's biodiversity and regularly campaigns for conservation measures."
With the discovery of the 14,001st ant species and the swelling excitement and debate surrounding Dr. Wilson's upcoming novel on social evolution, there's no time like the present to step into the wonderful world of insects and biology.
Wilson Multimedia:
Click here to view a collection of videos on E.O. Wilson entitled "On the Relation of Science and the Humanities." This illuminating one-hour lecture on the "consilience" of knowledge is divided into nine videos spanning topics from genetic and cultural co-evolution to erotic aesthetics. The videos feature a glossary of terms used by Wilson, as well as numerous charts, drawings, and photographs to accompany theoretical explanation.
Click here to listen to a talk by E.O. Wilson entitled "The Creation: A Meeting of Science and Religion," discussing his 2006 work The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth. This talk was given at Harvard Book Store, November 2006.
Click here to browse the works of E.O. Wilson at Harvard University Press.