November 10, 2011

Udi Aloni on Israeli Apartheid

“A couple of years ago I approached my ardently Zionist mom, a woman who carried a weapon for the Jewish community of Jerusalem in 1948, and asked her a simple question: ‘Mom, is all this apartheid?’ With the sigh of...

November 9, 2011

Mute Speech: New Directions in Critical Theory

Mute Speech: Literature, Critical Theory, and Politics, by Jacques Ranciere, is part of the series New Directions in Critical Theory. Below is an excerpt from an interview with Amy Allen, the series editor: Q: What does New Directions in Critical...

November 9, 2011

Santiago Zabala on the Dangers of Analytic Philosophy

“Being is challenged in the university today by the hegemony of analytic philosophy.”—Santiago Zabala Santiago Zabala, most recently the co-author, with Gianni Vattimo, of Hermeneutic Communism, recently published an article in Purlieu entitled Being in the University: Philosophical Education or...

November 9, 2011

Columbia University Press Books on Display at Harvard Book Store

Thanks to Harvard Book Store for their great front window display of Columbia University Press books:

November 8, 2011

Mute Speech: Gabriel Rockhill on Why Jacques Ranciere Matters

In his introduction to Mute Speech: Literature, Critical Theory, and Politics, by Jacques Ranciere, Gabriel Rockhill enumerates some of the most important facets of Ranciere’s book. Rockhill writes: For the reader who agrees to try and shelve the doctrines of...

November 8, 2011

New Book Tuesday: The Novel After Theory, Best American Magazine Writing, and American Force

The Best American Magazine Writing 2011 Edited by Sid Holt for the American Society of Magazine Editors; With an Introduction by Jim Nelson The Novel After Theory Judith Ryan American Force: Dangers, Delusions, and Dilemmas in National Security Richard K....

November 8, 2011

David Brotherton and Luis Barrios Discuss "Banished to the Homeland: Dominican Deportees & Their Stories of Exile"

David Brotherton and Luis Barrios authors of Banished to the Homeland: Dominican Deportees and Their Stories of Exile were recently on the Brian Lehrer Showon what they learned having followed thousands of Dominicans deported following the 1996 U.S. Immigration Reform...

November 7, 2011

Jacques Ranciere: Mute Speech: Literature, Critical Theory, and Politics

This week’s featured book is Mute Speech: Literature, Critical Theory, and Politics, by Jacques Rancière, with an introduction by Gabriel Rockhill and translated by James Swenson. In the book, Rancière argues that our current notion of “literature” is a relatively...

November 7, 2011

Cindy Crawford Reads "Uncreative Writing," by Kenneth Goldsmith

We thought we’d share this photograph by Lawrence Schwartzwald of Cindy Crawford reading Uncreative Writing: Managing Language in the Digital Age, by Kenneth Goldsmith:

November 4, 2011

Second Read: Ted Conover on Stanley Booth's The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones

We conclude our focus on Second Read: Writers Look Back at Classic Works of Reportage, edited by James Marcus, with some excerpts from Ted Conover’s essay on Stanley Booth’s reporting on the Rolling Stones during their 1969 tour, collected in...

November 4, 2011

James Powell: Is There a Case Against Human Caused Global Warming in the Peer-Reviewed Literature?

On Skeptical Science: Getting Skeptical About Global Warming Skepticism, James Powell, author of The Inquisition of Climate Science, is beginning a study of the peer-reviewed articles that “take a negative or explicitly doubtful position on human-caused global warming”. Part of...

November 3, 2011

Interview with David Celani, author of Leaving Home: The Art of Separating From Your Difficult Family

The following is a Q&A with David Celani, author of Leaving Home: The Art of Separating From Your Difficult Family. (You can download this book, rent it, or purchase individual chapters via Columbia University Press Online Access) Question: Your book...