March 13, 2012

New Book Tuesday: New Film Titles and Poetry from Around the World

American Showman: Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel and the Birth of the Entertainment Industry, 1908-1935 Ross Melnick Hollywood’s Copyright Wars: From Edison to the Internet Peter Decherney Sex and World Peace Valerie M. Hudson, Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, Mary Caprioli, and Chad F. Emmett...

March 12, 2012

Book Giveaway!: The AIDS Conspiracy: Science Fights Back, by Nicoli Nattrass

This week our featured book is The AIDS Conspiracy: Science Fights Back, by Nicoli Nattrass. (To browse the book.) Throughout the week we will highlight aspects of the book and we are also offering a FREE copy of the book...

March 9, 2012

Chage & Aska "Say Yes" — More from Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon

In “Bubblegum Music in a Postbubble Economy,” the concluding chapter to Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon: A Geopolitical History of J-Pop, Michael Bourdaghs discusses the very popular Chage & Aska (C&A), whose 1991 single “Say Yes,” became a breakout hit. Bourdaghs’s...

March 9, 2012

International Women’s Day

Yesterday, March 8, was International Women’s Day, held every year as a celebration of the advances in women’s rights that have already been made and a reminder of the advances in women’s rights that are still to come. In honor...

March 8, 2012

Happy End — More from Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon

In the early 1970s, more Japanese rock bands started to sing in Japanese rather than English. One of the first groups to do this was the folk-rock group Happy End. Some might be familiar with the band from their song...

March 8, 2012

Yuan-kang Wang Challenges The Myth of Chinese Exceptionalism

“Chinese history suggests that its foreign policy behavior is highly sensitive to its relative power. If its power continues to increase, China will try to expand its sphere of influence in East Asia…. Brace yourself. The game is on.”—Yuan-kang Wang...

March 7, 2012

"We’re The Spiders!” — More from "Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon"

“Made-in-Japan Beatles? I hate it when they call us that. We’re the Spiders!”—Tanabe Shochi on why The Spiders passed on opening for The Beatles Michael Bourdaghs has a very informative and fun companion blog to his new book Sayonara Amerika,...

March 7, 2012

New Book Tuesday (Wednesday Edition): Theos Bernard, the White Lama

A day late but here’s our weekly list of books now available: Theos Bernard, the White Lama: Tibet, Yoga, and American Religious Life Paul G. Hackett How to Read Chinese Poetry Workbook Zong-qi Cai and Jie Cui Screen Dynamics: Mapping...

March 6, 2012

Sakamoto Kyu's "Sukiyaki"

In Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon: A Geopolitical Prehistory of J-Pop, Michael Bourdaghs discusses the aesthetic, cultural, and geopolitical implications of a range of musical styles that were popular in post-war Japan. Rockabilly first gained a wide audience in Japan in...

March 6, 2012

Award Winner! Lisa Keller Wins for Her "Triumph of Order: Democracy and Public Space in New York and London"

Congratulations to Lisa Keller upon winning The New York Academy of History’s Herbert H. Lehman Prize for Distinguished Scholarship for her book Triumph of Order: Democracy and Public Space in New York and London. This award, named in honor of...

March 5, 2012

Hilary Ballon on The Greatest Grid

Hilary Ballon, author of The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan, 1811-2011, will discuss the book, the very popular exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, and the grid itself,at The Tenement Museum tomorrow, Tuesday, March...

March 2, 2012

David Rieff on Doctors Without Borders

The following is an excerpt from David Rieff’s afterword to Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed: The MSF Experience: There was never any room for compromise in the myth of the “French doctors”. Aid was a moral imperative, full stop. Like all doctrines...