Published this week

ARTS AND DESIGN

- The Lantern Tower of Westminster Abbey, 1060-2010: Reconstructing its History and Architecture

By Warwick Rodwell, visiting professor in the department of archaeology, University of Reading. Oxbow Books, £15.00. ISBN 9781842179796

Rodwell brings together historical and architectural evidence in this study into Westminster Abbey's unfinished lantern tower over the past 950 years.

EDUCATION

- Explaining Inequalities in School Achievement: A Realist Analysis

Edited by Roy Nash, formerly professor of education, Massey University; and Hugh Lauder, professor of education and political economy, University of Bath. Ashgate, £60.00. ISBN 9780754679042

Nash argues that a realist framework for the sociological explanation of educational group differences is essential to understanding the inequalities in the system.

GENDER STUDIES

- What is Gender History?

By Sonia O. Rose, professor emeritus of history, University of Michigan. Wiley, £45.00 and £13.99. ISBN 9780745646145 and 6152

Rose's introductory guide to gender history looks at both classic texts and the latest literature in order to fully explore the development of the field and its current debates and controversies.

HISTORY

- Cosmopolitan Thought Zones

Edited by Sugata Bose, Gardiner professor of history, Harvard University; and Kris Manjapra, assistant professor of history, Tufts University. Palgrave Macmillan, £55.00. ISBN 9780230243378

Examining forms of South Asian cosmopolitanism in the era of anti-colonial agitation, this text argues that the movement stemmed from the speculative aspiration to critically assess notions of universalism and the ultimate good brought by British rule.

- Theodore Roosevelt Abroad

By J. Lee Thompson, professor of history, Lamar University. Palgrave Macmillan, £22.99. ISBN 97802301074

This examination of Roosevelt's 15-month post-presidential odyssey seeks to provide the first full account of his journey to the African and European continents.

LITERATURE

- Afro-Caribbean Poetry and Ritual

By Paul A. Griffith, professor of English, Lamar University. Palgrave Macmillan, £52.50. ISBN 9780230623644

Griffith investigates Kamau Brathwaite and Derek Walcott's postcolonial debates, and compares them with the traditional sites of the Caribbean imaginary.

- The Possible Is Monstrous: Selected Poems by Friedrich Durrenmatt

Translated by Daniele Pantano, programme leader for creative writing, Edge Hill University. Black Lawrence Press, £11.83. ISBN 9780982622810

Pantano, himself a poet as well as an academic, here offers the first-ever English translation of the Swiss novelist and playwright's poetic work. In doing so, he aims to reveal a hitherto unseen perspective on Durrenmatt's life through verse, in which he discusses his home life, family and country, as well as his complex relationships with actors and critics.

PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY

- Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam

By Jeffry R. Halverson, postdoctoral fellow, Arizona State University. Palgrave Macmillan, £48.00. ISBN 97802301098

Exploring the correlation between anti-theological thought and the rise of Islamism in the 20th century, this study seeks to demonstrate whether a revival of Sunni theology can dilute the impact of increasingly pervasive Islamist thought on contemporary Muslim society.

POLITICS

- Freedom of Information: Local Government and Accountability

Edited by Richard A. Chapman, emeritus professor of politics, University of Durham; and Michael Hunt, senior lecturer in public policy and strategy, Sheffield Hallam University. Ashgate, £55.00. ISBN 9780754679776

In considering the role of the 2005 Freedom of Information Act in Britain in developing local democracy, this review addresses the need for freedom of information in modern liberal democracies, and looks at how the accountability of local authorities may best be ensured.

- Victims, Policy-making and Criminological Theory: Selected Essays

By Paul Rock, emeritus professor of sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science. Ashgate, £85.00. ISBN 9780754629269

Rock's compilation of work provides a running series of comparative ethnographies of government decision-making surrounding the role of the victim in the criminal justice system.

- Regional Leadership in the Global System: Ideas, Interests and Strategies of Regional Powers

Edited by Daniel Flemes, senior researcher at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies. Ashgate, £65.00. ISBN 97807546791

Emphasising the role of regional powers in a range of different contexts, this text analyses its rise from a comparative perspective and explains how they have the influence to shape both regional and global politics.

- Bombs and Ballots: Governance by Islamist Terrorist and Guerrilla Groups

By Krista E. Wiegand, associate professor in the department of political science, Georgia Southern University. Ashgate, £55.00. ISBN 9780754678915

Wiegand examines the Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Palestine and the Mahdi Army in Iraq to investigate why these groups become involved in governance and how mainstream governments accept or reject such groups. She also looks at how some terrorist groups and militias govern certain territories that are not under mainstream government control.

- Comparative Political Theory

Edited by Fred Dallmayr, Packey J. Dee professor of political science, University of Notre Dame. Palgrave Macmillan, £52.50 and £19.99. ISBN 9780230618626 and 8633

Focusing on Islamic, Indian and Far Eastern civilisations, this edited volume offers readings of classical teachings and contemporary theoretical developments in the field of politics.

PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY

- Neurocognitive and Physiological Factors During High-Tempo Operations

Edited by Steven Kornguth, professor in the department of pharmacy, University of Texas at Austin; Rebecca Steinberg, program manager and postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Strategic and Innovative Technologies and the Institute for Advanced Technology, University of Texas at Austin; and Michael D. Matthews, professor of engineering psychology, United States Military Academy. Ashgate, £60.00. ISBN 9780754679233

This study of the basic mechanisms of stress effects on the human body and psyche focuses on the military model as an exemplar for high-stress environments, suggesting that this is the best example for understanding human performance under pressure. It also looks at new pharmaceutics and equipment designed to aid or improve performance while experiencing intense stress.

SOCIAL SCIENCES

- Comparative Regional Integration: Europe and Beyond

Edited by Finn Laursen, professor and Canada research chair in European Union studies, Dalhousie University. Ashgate, £60.00. ISBN 9781409401810

This text examines regional integration efforts in the US, South America and East Asia, and compares them with attempts that have been made in the EU - where integration has progressed much further - to explain variations between the two. It also deals with questions such as the importance of regional leadership and whether the "pooling and delegation" of sovereignty is a necessity.

- Whiteness in Zimbabwe

By David McDermott Hughes, associate professor of anthropology and human ecology, Rutgers University. Palgrave Macmillan, £52.00 and £19.99. ISBN 9780230621428 and 1435

Hughes examines how white settlers in Zimbabwe have proved an exception to the rule of European settlers, gradually establishing a sense of belonging and entitlement outside Europe. It examines how they have never comprised more than a tiny minority in the former Rhodesia, and consistently sought to adopt strategies of escape from the country.