Published this week

ARTS AND DESIGN

- Architecture by Birds and Insects: A Natural Art

By Peggy Macnamara, associate professor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

University of Chicago Press, £13.00

ISBN 9780226500973

A visual collection of nests built by birds and insects with accompanying text written by museum curators. The book offers an opportunity to get a sense of the materials and methods used to build them.

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

- Seedling Ecology and Evolution

Edited by Mary Allessio Leck, emeritus professor of ecology, Rider University, V. Thomas Parker, researcher in plant ecology, San Francisco State University, and Robert L. Simpson, professor of biology and environmental science, University of Michigan

Cambridge University Press, £70.00 and £35.00

ISBN 9780521873055 and 694667

An exploration of the seedling stage of the plant life cycle. It considers a number of topics including the importance of seedlings in plant communities and seedlings in human altered ecosystems.

- Metal Contamination in Aquatic Environments

By Samuel Luoma, emeritus professor, University of California and Natural History Museum, and Philip Rainbow, keeper of zoology, Natural History Museum

Cambridge University Press, £60.00

ISBN 9780521860574

This book explains why controversies exist in managing metal contamination and highlight opportunities for policy solutions stemming from the latest advances in the field to deal with this persistent environmental issue.

- Beach and Dune Restoration

By Karl F. Nordstrom, professor of beach and dune processes and landforms, Rutgers University

Cambridge University Press, £70.00

ISBN 9780521853460

This book analyses the trade-offs involved in restoring beaches and dunes on intensively developed coasts and the most effective approaches to use. Nordstrom outlines a strategy of restoration that involves minimum changes in present practices and public expenditure.

HISTORY

- Empire of Difference: The Ottomans in Comparative Perspective

By Karen Barkey, fellow in sociology, Columbia University

Cambridge University Press, £45.00 and £16.99

ISBN 9780521887403 and 715331

Barkey examines the social organisation and mechanisms of rule at key moments of Ottoman history, emergence, imperial institutionalisation, remodelling, and transition to nation-state, revealing what changes made it transform dramatically.

- The Cold War and the United States Information Agency

By Nicholas J. Cull, professor of public diplomacy, University of Southern California

Cambridge University Press, £60.00

ISBN 9780521819978

Based on newly declassified archives and more than 100 interviews with veterans of public diplomacy, Cull relates both the achievements and the flaws of American public diplomacy.

- Out of the House of Bondage: The Transformation of the Plantation Household

By Thavolia Glymph, associate professor of history, Duke University

Cambridge University Press, £35.00 and £19.99

ISBN 9780521879019 and 703987

Glymph examines the relationships between black and white women of a plantation household, recounting the reality of the unbridgeable gap between a slave and the mistress rather than the myth of the "loyal" slave and the "gentle" mistress.

LAW

- Global Business, Local Law: The Indian Legal System as a Communal Resource in Foreign Investment Relations

By Amanda Perry-Kessaris, lecturer in law, Birkbeck, University of London

Ashgate, £55.00

ISBN 9780754645252

This publication establishes a framework for exploring the role of courts and bureaucracies in mediating relations between a variety of things. It demonstrates this framework in the context of the Indian city of Bengaluru.

LITERATURE

- Literature, Life, and Modernity

By Richard Eldridge, professor of philosophy, Swarthmore College

Columbia University Press, £19.50

ISBN 9780231144544

Eldridge explores the ability of literature to respond to the complexities of modern life. He believes that through the experience of literary forms of attention, readers may come to think and live more actively, more fully engaging with modern life, rather than passively suffering it.

- Dying to Be Men: Gender and Language in Early Christian Martyr Texts

By L. Stephanie Cobb, assistant professor of new testament and early Christianity, Hofstra University

Columbia University Press, £26.50

ISBN 9780231144988

Cobb explores the embodiment of male and female gender ideals, connecting them to Graeco-Roman virtues and explaining the balance between imbuing female martyrs with the same strengths as their male counterparts, yet maintaining traditional gender roles.

- The Heart in the Age of Shakespeare

By William W. E. Slights, professor of English, University of Saskatchewan

Cambridge University Press, £55.00

ISBN 9780521889438

This book sets out to trace the impact and sources of Hamlet, claiming that the strongest bonds are forged, stored and understood in the heart. It considers the heart in sculpture and painting, relating this to the imagery in plays of Shakespeare and others.

MATHEMATICS

- On Space and Time

Edited by Shahn Majid, professor of mathematics, Queen Mary, University of London

Cambridge University Press, £13.99

ISBN 9780521889261

Bringing together world leaders in cosmology, particle physics, quantum gravity, mathematics, philosophy and theology to provide fresh insights into the deep structure of space and time.

PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY

- Why This New Race: Ethnic Reasoning in Early Christianity

By Denise K. Buell, associate professor of religion, Williams College

Columbia University Press, £15.95

ISBN 9780231133357

Buell offers a new way of thinking about the origins of Christian identity and the way it sought to transcend ethnic and racial distinctions. The author challenges this view by revealing the centrality of ethnicity and race in early definitions of Christianity.

- Jewish Property Claims Against Arab Countries

By Michael R. Fischbach, professor of history, Randolph-Macon College

Columbia University Press, £20.95

ISBN 9780231135382

Fischbach reconstructs the circumstances in which Jewish communities left the Arab world in the aftermath of the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. It considers the implications of developments that have affected pending and future property claims.

- Philosophy of Psychopharmacology

By Dan J. Stein, professor of psychiatry, University of Cape Town

Cambridge University Press, £29.99

ISBN 9780521856522

This volume argues that developments in modern psychopharmacology raise important philosophical questions. Stein provides a framework for addressing philosophical issues and attempts to provide a balanced view of the good and bad of psychotropics.

PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

- Modern Quantum Field Theory

By Thomas Banks, professor of physics, University of California, Santa Cruz

Cambridge University Press, £35.00

ISBN 97805218508

An introduction to the techniques of field theory, with thorough treatments on topics such as quark confinement and chiral symmetry breaking, which are not usually covered in texts at this level.

POLITICS

- International Environmental Governance

Edited by Peter M. Haas, professor of political science, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Ashgate, £150.00

ISBN 9780754625612

Haas brings together literature on political approaches to dealing with global and transboundary environmental threats. The collection reviews the evolution of the academic contribution to environmental governance.

- How East Asians View Democracy

Edited by Yun-han Chu, professor of political science at National Taiwan University, Larry Diamond, professor of political science at National Taiwan University, Andrew J. Nathan, professor of political science at Columbia University, and Doh Chull Shin, chair in comparative politics and Korean studies at the Department of Political Science, University of Missouri

Columbia University Press, £29.50

ISBN 9780231145343

This volume publishes the results of the East Asian Barometer, a large-scale survey-research project. It presents an account of how East Asians understand their governments and their roles as citizens and why scepticism and frustration are the ruling sentiments.

- Understanding Modern Warfare

By David Jordan, academic director for the air single component phase of the advanced command, King's College London, James D. Kiras, assistant professor, School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, Maxwell Air Force Base, David J. Lonsdale, lecturer in politics and international studies, University of Reading, Ian Speller, lecturer in history, National University of Ireland, Christopher Tuck, lecturer in defence studies, King's College London, and C. Dale Walton, lecturer in international relations and strategic studies, University of Reading

Cambridge University Press, £60.00 and £22.99

ISBN 9780521876988 and 700382

Providing a major new study of the theory and practice of warfare in the 20th and 21st centuries through the use of relevant examples from recent history.

- The Trouble with Terror

By Tamar Meisels, lecturer in political science, Tel Aviv University

Cambridge University Press, £40.00 and £14.99

ISBN 9780521899482 and 728324

Meisels begins with the definition, proceeds to possible justifications, and culminates in proposals for contending and combating terrorism. The Trouble with Terror argues that terrorism is opposed to requirements of liberal morality and can be defended only by relinquishing liberal commitments.

SOCIAL SCIENCES

- Everyday Culture in Europe: Approaches and Methodologies

Edited by Mairead Nic Craith and Ullrich Kockel, director of the Academy for Irish Cultural Heritages and professor of ethnology and folk life, University of Ulster, and Reinhard Johler, professor of ethnology, Eberhard-karls University of Tubingen

Ashgate, £55.00

ISBN 9780754646907

Covering institutional, demo-geographical and political "smallness", this book examines Europe's "small ethnologies" and discusses how smallness characterises the central structure of a nation or region.

- Research Ethics

Edited by Kenneth D. Pimple, director of teaching research ethics program, Indiana University, Bloomington

Ashgate, £135.00

ISBN: 9780754626213

This volume includes more than 40 articles on integrity and misconduct, biomedical research, the social and disciplinary contexts of science, research in the social sciences and other core issues in research ethics.

- Masculinities and Management in Agricultural Organizations Worldwide

By Barbara Pini, professorial fellow at the John Curtin institute of public policy, Curtin University of Technology

Ashgate, £50.00

ISBN 9780754647348

Using contemporary gender theory to examine gender and rurality beyond that of just women and femininities, this book locates the subject of masculinities within the rural/agricultural context appealing to a wide range of academic areas.

THEATRE STUDIES

- The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Studies

By Christopher B. Balme, professor of theatre studies, University of Munich

Cambridge University Press, £40.00 and £14.99

ISBN 9780521856225 and 672238

Balme surveys the ways historical and contemporary theatre and performance are studied from a cross-cultural perspective, emphasising questions of methodology.

Law

Liberal Beginnings: Making a Republic for the Moderns

By Andreas Kalyvas, assistant professor in the department of politics, New School for Social Research, and Ira Katznelson, professor of political science and history, Columbia University

Cambridge University Press, £30.00 and £14.00

ISBN 9780521899468 and 728287

The book examines the origins and development of the modern liberal tradition and explores the relationship between republicanism and liberalism between 1750 and 1830, arguing that modern republicanism is more liberal than generally believed.

Philosophy and theology

Charity in Islamic Societies

By Amy Singer, associate professor in the department of Middle Eastern and African history, Tel Aviv University

Cambridge University Press, £45.00 and £15.99

ISBN 9780521821643 and 529129

Singer explains the basic concepts and institutions of Muslim charity, including the obligation to give on an annual basis, and demonstrates how a number of factors interacted with religious ideals to create a variety of charitable practices.

The Holy Land Reborn: Pilgrimage and the Tibetan Reinvention of Buddhist India

By Toni Huber, professor of Tibetan studies, Humboldt University

University of Chicago Press, £23.50

ISBN 9780226356488

Huber investigates how Tibetans have maintained a ritual relationship to India, particularly by way of pilgrimage, and what it means for them to consider India as their holy land. This book ultimately challenges static views of the sacred geography of Buddhism in India.

Politics

Ethical Dimensions of the Foreign Policy of the European Union

By Urfan Khaliq, lecturer at Cardiff Law School, Cardiff University

Cambridge University Press, £65.00

ISBN 9780521870757

Khaliq analyses the theory and practice of the European Union’s “ethical foreign policy”, arguing that current practices dilute the impact and efficacy of Union policies. The issues raised in the book are examined from the perspective of EU law and public international law.

Comparative Politics, Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order

Edited by Jeffrey Kopstein, professor of political science, University of Toronto

Cambridge University Press, £38.00

ISBN 9780521708401

This book features 12 theoretically and historically grounded country studies that show how the three major concepts of comparative analysis – interests, identities and institutions – shape the politics of nations and regions.

West European Politics

in the Age of Globalization

By Hanspeter Kriesi, professor of political science, University of Zurich; Edgar Grande, chair in political science, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich; Romain Lachat, lecturer in political science, New York University; Martin Dolezal, lecturer at the Geschwister-Scholl-Institute for political science, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich; Simon Bornschier, research assistant in politics, University of Zurich, and Timotheos Frey, research assistant in politics, University of Zurich

Cambridge University Press, £55.00 and £19.99

ISBN 9780521895576 and 719902

This study examines the transformation of party political systems in six countries (Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK) using opinion surveys, as well as newly collected data on election campaigns.

Targeting Terrorists:

A License to Kill?

By Avery Plaw, assistant professor of political science, University of Massachusetts

Ashgate, £60.00

ISBN 9780754645269

Plaw’s analysis examines the political history and ethics of targeted killing and addresses the questions of moral, political and legal justification in the context of the current “war on terror”.