Published this week

? = Review forthcoming

BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES

- Franchising Globally

By Ilan Alon, George D. and Harriet W. Cornell professor of international business, Rollins College, Florida. Palgrave Macmillan, £65.00. ISBN 9780230238282

An examination of franchising from an entrepreneurial and international perspective.

ECONOMICS

- Football Economics and Policy

By Stefan Szymanski, professor of economics, City University London. Palgrave Macmillan, £65.00. ISBN 9780230232235

This text examines the relationship between sporting success and economic variables in areas such as European competitions and the World Cup.

EDUCATION

- ? Knowledge Power

By Sir Alan Wilson, professor of urban and regional systems, University College London. Routledge, £60.00 and £15.19. ISBN 9780415553100 and 3117

Wilson's study highlights the implications of education systems' search for the knowledge required to meet future challenges.

ENGLISH

- Dickens and the Rise of Divorce

By Kelly Hager, associate professor in English and women's and gender studies, Simmons College, Boston. Ashgate, £50.00. ISBN 9780754669470

Hager examines the legal history of marriage and divorce, and offers a fuller account of the "Women's Question" plus revisionist readings of Dickens' novels.

HISTORY

- Victorian Secrecy

Edited by Albert Pionke, associate professor of English, University of Alabama, and Denise Tischler Millstein, assistant professor of 19th-century British literature, Stephen F. Austin State University. Ashgate, £55.00. ISBN 9780754668886

This book presents an interdisciplinary account of what was at stake in the clandestine activities of Victorian Britain.

- Diversity and Difference in Early Modern London

By Jacob Selwood, assistant professor of history, Georgia State University. Ashgate, £55.00. ISBN 9780754663751

Selwood's investigation of multiculturalism in London during the 16th and 17th centuries aims to present a fresh perspective of diversity in the early modern city.

PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY

- The Problem of Hell

Edited by Joel Buenting, lecturer in philosophy, University of Alberta. Ashgate, £50.00. ISBN 9780754667636

This anthology seeks to provide an examination of debates in the philosophy of religion, answering questions such as how God can justifiably condemn people to Hell.

SOCIAL SCIENCES

- Hamas: The Islamic Resistance Movement

By Beverley Milton Edwards, reader in politics, international studies and philosophy, Queen's University Belfast, and Stephen Farrell, foreign correspondent, The New York Times. Wiley, £55.00 and £15.99. ISBN 9780745642956 and 2963

The authors present the results of their research on the Hamas movement, which looks at radical Islam in its most potent form.

- Exploring Disability

By Colin Barnes, professor of disability studies, and Geof Mercer, former reader in the School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds. Wiley, £55.00 and £17.99. ISBN 9780745634852 and 4869

The second edition of this text has been rewritten to take into account issues such as changing concepts of disability and its politicisation.

- International Perspectives on Early Childhood Research

Edited by Julia Gillen, senior lecturer in digital literacies, Lancaster University, and Catherine Ann Cameron, honorary professor of psychology, University of British Columbia. Palgrave Macmillan, £55.00. ISBN 9780230232495

This study of young children and their families in seven countries provides a global comparison of the cultural and familial influences that shape development.