Published this week

Art

Anarchist Modernism: Art, Politics, and the First American Avant-Garde.
By Allan Antliff, assistant professor of art history, University of Alberta. Chicago University Press, £23.00. ISBN 9780226021041.
Antliff recreates lost works and draws on unpublished interviews to demonstrate the wide-ranging effect that the modernist movement had on American art, literature and politics during the interwar years.

The Art Museum from Boullée to Bilbao
By Andrew McClellan, dean of academic affairs and professor of art history at Tufts University
University of California Press. ISBN 9780520251267. £17.99
Rather than focusing on the art within these notable institutions, McClellan explores key aspects of museum theory and practice in art museums from the eighteenth century to the present day.

Biography

Eden's Outcasts: the Story of Louisa May Alcott and her Father.
By John Matteson, professor of English, John Jay College. Norton, £19.99. ISBN 9780393059649
Before Louisa May Alcott made her name with Little Women, it was her idealistic father, Bronson, who was the famous member of the family. This book looks at their fractured relationship.

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
By Kai Bird, professor of history, Tufts University, and Martin Sherwin, professor of history, George Mason University. Atlantic, £25.00. ISBN 9781843547044
Robert Oppenheimer, famous for being the director of the laboratory that developed the atomic bomb, became the most prominent scientist of his generation. But he was also a tragic figure, as this biography details.

Simone de Beauvoir: The Making of an Intellectual Woman.
By Toril Moi, James B. Duke professor of literature and Romance studies, Duke University. Oxford University Press, £30.00. ISBN 9780199238712
One hundred years after de Beauvoir's birth, this work of biography and literary criticism shows how she became the 20th century's leading feminist thinker.

Biology

Specialization, Speciation and Radiation: The Evolutionary Biology of Herbivorous Insects
Edited by Kelley J. Timon, assistant professor of entomology at South Dakota State University. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520251328, £38.95
This series of essays is brought together by the idea that understanding the ecological framework of the interactions between herbivorous insects and their host plants is fundamental to understanding their evolution.

Business

From Wall Street to the Great Wall.
By Burton G. Malkiel, Chemical Bank Chairman's professor of economics, Princeton University. Norton, £16.99. ISBN 9780393064780
A look at the future for the fastest growing economy in the world, focusing on China's rapid growth and its impact on US industry. The book also contains tips for investment in Chinese industries.

Classics

The Comedies of Terence.
By Terence, translated by Peter Brown, lecturer in Classics, Oxford University. Oxford University Press, £9.99. ISBN 9780192823991
Parasites, prostitutes and pimps all feature in this new translation of Terence's plays. An introduction helps to place the playwright in the context of Latin literature and the history of comic drama.

The Argonautika: The Story of Jason and the Quest for the Golden Fleece
Translation by Peter Green, Dougherty centennial professor of classics at the University of Texas, Austin. ISBN 9780520253933, £14.95
A new translation of the only surviving Hellenistic text aims to stay as true as possible to the style and narrative movement of the original. It also contains the translator’s introduction, commentary and glossary.

The Seer in Ancient Greece
By Michael Flower, senior research scholar at Princeton University. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520252295, £23.95
The role of the seer in Ancient Greece is one that influenced political decisions and military campaigns, and this book is the first of its kind to look at the seer’s far-reaching impact on ancient Greek culture.

Economics

The Contested Commons: Conversations between Economists and Anthropologists.
By Pranab Bardhan, professor of economics, and Isha Ray, assistant professor in the Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley. Blackwell, £50.00. ISBN 9781405157162
This study of local commons also explores the possibilities and pitfalls of dialogue between disciplines.

English literature

-Paradigms and Methods in Early Medieval Studies.
By Celia Chazelle, professor of history, College of New Jersey, and Felice Lifshitz, professor of history, Florida International University. Palgrave Macmillan, £40.00. ISBN 9781403969422
This collection of essays dealing with issues such as gender, archaeology and the divide between East and West examines approaches to the study of late antique and early medieval Europe.

General science

Evolution and the Big Questions: Sex, Race, Religion and Other Matters.
By David Stamos, lecturer in philosophy, York University, Toronto. Blackwell, £50.00 and £17.99. ISBN 9781405149020 and 9037
Stamos considers whether evolutionary explanations can be used to answer some of life's biggest questions, including whether men and women really are fundamentally different and ultimately whether evolution holds the key to the meaning of life itself.

Myeloma (Biology of Cancer).
By Jerome Edward Tanner, president, TanTec Biosystems. Chelsea House, £18.95. ISBN 9780791088241
Tanner draws on the latest research to explore the biology behind myeloma, which causes malignant cells in bone marrow, and its diagnosis and treatment.

Choosing Children: Genes, Disability and Design.
By Jonathan Glover, director, Centre of Medical Law and Ethics. Oxford University Press, £6.99. ISBN 9780199238491
What is the nature of disability and is it preferable to eradicate it for ever? Glover dissects the issues.

History

A Dictionary of Contemporary World History.
By Jan Palmowski, senior lecturer, department of German, King's College London. Oxford University Press, £25.00 and £10.99. ISBN 9780199295678 and 5661
This dictionary covers events from 1900 to the present and includes entries for every country, as well as expanded biographical entries on political and military leaders who have influenced events.

The Hollywood Historical Film.
By Robert Burgoyne, professor of English and film studies, Wayne State University. Blackwell, £50.00 and £16.99. ISBN 9781405146036 and 6029
Burgoyne's examination of the historical film within Hollywood and its power to entertain and educate features critiques of classic and contemporary films and assesses the power of Hollywood to reshape our view of history.

Philosophy

The Sense of the Past: Essays in the History of Philosophy.
Edited by Myles Burnyeat, senior research fellow in philosophy, All Souls College, Oxford. Princeton University Press, £26.95 and £11.95. ISBN 9780691134086 and 24773
This posthumous collection of essays is the third in a trilogy showcasing and commemorating the work of Bernard Williams, an expert in philosophical history.

Politics

The Values of Presidential Leadership.
By J. Thomas Wren, professor of leadership studies, Jepson School of Leadership Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, £45.00. ISBN 9781403983954
What are presidential values, how did they come to be shaped, presented and received in a public forum and what effect do they have on society? Wren sifts the political evidence.

Contemporary Security and Strategy.
By Craig Snyder, director of international relations, Postgraduate Programme, Deakin University. Palgrave Macmillan, £60.00 and £21.99. ISBN 9780230520967 and 0950
With terrorism and public security in the spotlight, this topical collection of essays from a variety of experts offers an accessible introduction to security studies in the 21st century.

Faith in the Halls of Power.
By D. Michael Lindsay, assistant professor of sociology and assistant director and faculty fellow, Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life, Rice University. Oxford University Press, £13.99. ISBN 9780195326666
Evangelical Christians were once on the periphery of US society but are now wielding power in the White House, Hollywood and Wall Street. Lindsay uses interviews with a wide variety of sources, including two former US presidents, to demonstrate how evangelicals have become a force in the US today.

Psychology

Sex Offending: Causal Theories to Inform Research, Prevention and Treatment.
By Jill Stinson; Bruce Sales, professor of psychology, sociology, psychiatry and law, University of Arizona; and Judith Becker, professor of psychology and psychiatry, University of Arizona. American Psychological Association, £35.00. ISBN 9780979212529
While acknowledging that women can also perpetrate sex offences, this book concentrates on the critique of literature and the development of a theory on the psychology behind male sex offenders.

Religion

Fundamentalism.
By Steve Bruce, professor of sociology, University of Aberdeen. Polity, £50.00 and £14.99. ISBN 9780745640761 and 0754
Bruce considers the religious elements within fundamentalism as a topic rather than as a sideline to social circumstance. He looks at religion and tries to discover why certain religions lend themselves to fundamentalism more readily than others.