February 21, 2008

Interview with Marda Dunsky, author of Pens and Swords

In this interview with the Press, Marda Dunsky talks about her new book Pens and Swords: How the American Mainstream Media Report the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and discusses some of the failures by the media and what can be done to...

February 20, 2008

Herve This Helps Clean Your Silverware

Courtesy of the Web site Delicious Days, Hervé This’s scientific knowledge is put into use to help you around the kitchen. Drawing on a chapter from Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking, “Delicious Days” shows how in just four...

February 19, 2008

Books for the Candidates: Terrorism

This continues our series of blog postings on essential reading for the presidential candidates. Two weeks ago we advised our candidates to read The Economists’ Voice, edited by Joseph Stiglitz, Aaron Edlin, and J. Bradford Delong to prepare for tackling...

February 15, 2008

Our February Presidents: A Post from Thomas W. Evans

Thomas W. Evans is the author of The Education of Ronald Reagan: The General Electric Years and the Untold Story of His Conversion to Conservatism. Four presidents were born in February: Washington and Lincoln, William Henry Harrison, and Ronald Reagan....

February 14, 2008

Valentine’s Day Reading

Happy Valentine’s Day. There are lots of modern self-help books out there to analyze your relationships and make you a better person, but we prefer to look backwards in time to the tried and true masters that stand the test...

February 13, 2008

Bookslut Reviews "Inventing English" by Seth Lerer

Both print and online venues continue to talk about and review Seth Lerer’s Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language. Last week wordsmith.org held an online chat with Seth Lerer and earlier this week, the very popular Bookslut reviewed...

February 12, 2008

The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama Wins the PSP Award for Best Reference Work

On February 7th, the Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers named The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama, edited by Gabrielle H. Cody and Evert Sprinchorn, as Best of Reference for 2007 as part of the...

February 12, 2008

Black History Month II: Focus on Literature

In The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Literature, winner of the Before Columbus Foundations 2006 American Book Awards, Darryl Dickson-Carr has written a definitive guide to contemporary African American literature from Ishmael Reed and Toni Morrison to Colson Whitehead...

February 11, 2008

Reviews of Mountains Painted with Turmeric

Modern Nepali fiction might not have the same recognition as modern British fiction or modern Chinese fiction but that should not blind readers to the interesting, if hard to find, works from the country. The recent publication of the modern...

February 8, 2008

"I Miss the Old New York Sounds of My 50's Childhood"

This quote comes from a recent online chat Seth Lerer had on the Web site wordsmith.org to discuss his book Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language. Lerer explores a variety of questions related to the history and possible...

February 7, 2008

Edward Said: Literary and Music Critic

As a thinker and intellectual Edward Said defied easy categorization. He was a leading figure in the development of postcolonial criticism, a political activist, and a music critic for The Nation and other publications. In recent weeks, Columbia has published...

February 6, 2008

Books for the Candidates

With “Super Tuesday” settling the presidential field (sort of ), candidates can return to the issues. Over the next few weeks, we will offer some reading suggestions for Clinton, Obama, McCain, Huckabee, and others. The first on our list is...