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...

March 2, 2012

The Columbia Guide to Religion in American History Hits the Airwaves

The Columbia Guide to Religion in American History, edited by Paul Harvey and Edward J. Blum was recently featured on the podcast, Books and Culture. The podcast discusses a variety of the essays but on his blog Religion in American...

March 1, 2012

Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed in the Gaza Strip

In a chapter from Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed: The MSF Experience, Caroline Abu-Sada recounts and analyzes some of the complications Doctors Without Borders//Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has grappled with in Palestine. Specifically, Doctors Without Borders has had to navigate a perilous...

March 1, 2012

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Judith Butler

February 24 was the birthday of famed philosopher Judith Butler. Butler is a prolific scholar of diverse interests. She has published important books on feminist and queer theory, modern French philosophy, literature and literary theory, political ethics, and Jewish philosophy....

February 29, 2012

Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed — Doctors Without Borders in Afghanistan

The authors of Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed: The MSF Experience recount their experiences with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). In particular they focus on some of the practical and frequently difficult experience of having to work with unfriendly governments or...

February 29, 2012

Denis Lacorne: Breaking Down the Wall of Separation from JFK to Santorum and Romney

“Excessive or opportunistic professions of faith can only damage the political process when the truth is distorted in the name of religion to the point of absurdity.”—Denis Lacorne Recent news about the Republican primary has seen its fair share of...

February 28, 2012

Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed in Somalia

On the occasion of its fortieth anniversary, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has published Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed: The MSF Experience exploring the practical realities of conducting humanitarian negotiations in complex situations. In a recent...