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March 29, 2011

Indie: An American Culture — Michael Z. Newman

On his blog Zigzigger, Michael Newman author of Indie: An American Film Culture , offers a “behind the scenes” look at the book. In the post Newman explains how parenting helped with his productivity, the genesis behind the title and...

March 28, 2011

Interview with Sheldon Krimsky and Tania Simoncelli, coauthors of Genetic Justice

The following is an interview with Sheldon Krimsky and Tania Simoncelli, coauthors of Genetic Justice: DNA Data Banks, Criminal Investigations, and Civil Liberties: Question: How are people’s privacy rights being compromised by expanding DNA databases for innocent arrestees? Sheldon Krimsky:...

March 25, 2011

Cornel West on Prophetic Religion and the Future of Capitalist Civilization

“Now, with the age of Obama, the question becomes: Can prophetic religion, in all of its various forms, mobilize people, generate levels of righteous indignation against injustice—not raw rage at persons, not ad hominem attacks—can we put pressure on President...

March 24, 2011

Columbia University Press Joins the JSTOR Book Initiative

We are very excited to have joined the Books at JSTOR initiative which will help to make university press books more accessible online. Here is the press release describing Books at JSTOR and the involvement of other university presses: Books...

March 23, 2011

Judith Butler: Is Judaism Zionism?

March 23, 2011

Richard Kahlenberg on Education Reform

“How did the budget crisis — brought on by a recession caused by Wall Street — end up in the laps of America’s schoolteachers? How did teachers, most of whom work very hard every day to educate schoolchildren, become the...

March 22, 2011

New Book Tuesday: Indie!

The following books are now available: Indie: An American Film Culture Michael Z. Newman Creaturely Poetics: Animality and Vulnerability in Literature and Film Anat Pick Radical Democracy and Political Theology Jeffrey W. Robbins

March 22, 2011

Charles Taylor: Why We Need a Radical Redefinition of Secularism

Charles Taylor’s essay in The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere, “Why We Need a Radical Redefinition of Secularism,” argues that democratic societies must allow for respect of various beliefs. However, too much emphasis is placed on religion as...

March 21, 2011

Jurgen Habermas on "The Political"

In The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere, Judith Butler, Jurgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, and Cornel West examine what role does—or should—religion play in our public lives? (Craig Calhoun provided the afterword to the volume.) This week we will...

March 18, 2011

William Duggan on a Marshall Plan for the Middle East

Earlier this month, William Duggan co-author with R. Glenn Hubbard of The Aid Trap: Hard Truths About Ending Poverty, appeared on Bloomberg News to talk about alternatives to existing financial aid models for Middle East countries:

March 17, 2011

Craig Calhoun on Religion's Many Powers

“To say that religion has power in the public sphere is not to say that it can be easily absorbed or that it should be. It is a basis for radical challenges and radical questions; it brings enthusiasm, passion, indignation,...

March 16, 2011

Correction to Inside Al Qaeda, by Rohan Gunaratna

In 2002, Columbia University Press, under license from C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd. published a book entitled Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror by Rohan Gunaratna in which a businessman named Sheikh Muhammad Hussein al-Almadi was identified as...