A Surprising Find!

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When you are down in the stacks, sometimes an unassuming book can contain a treasure of information. The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan: A Pictorial History of the Final Days of World War II by Hans Dollinger is a plain book that once opened contains notices, letters, pictures, propaganda leaflets and so much more from both the Allies and Axis powers. Below are just a few (and I mean a few) snippets of what can be found in this book.

An excerpt:

Will Germany be able to save her soul?

by Franz Werfel

“It is a terrible trial you are facing, German men and women, a trial without equal in the history of the world. Not in the defeat of your proud armies, not in the ruins of your flourishing cities, not in the millions whom you have driven from their gutted homesteads and who are now wandering homeless through the lands–not in all this suffering, horrible though it is, lies the terrible rial you have to undergo. The same sorrow that now drives you hollow-eyed over your ruined streets, was what you cold-heartedly prepared for others, not even bothering to look back at all the havoc you had caused. The other nations have survived their suffering. You, too, will survive yours, but only on condition that you save your souls. And this is your terrible trial and the great question: Will Germany be able to save her soul?

Do you know that it was Germans who killed millions and millions of peaceable, harmless, and innocent people with methods that would make even the devil blush with shame? Do you know about the ovens and gas chambers of Maidanek, the dung-heap of rotting corpses in Buchenwald, Belsen, and hundreds of other hell camps like these? Do you know of the fertilizer and soap factories set up in the vicinity of many a camp, lest human fat and human bones be lost to the German economy? Have you heard about the commandant’s wife who had a predilection for lampshades made of human skins?

Many of you will pale, turn away and murmur: “What has all that to do with me?” That is just it: it has to with you you, with every least one of you. If ever the course of history has expressed God’s judgment, it has done here and now. Did you not boast of your “national communion,” in which the individual was no more than a fanatical atom, unconditionally serving the whole? It was not individual criminals, therefore who committed all these horrors, but your “communion,” in which each stood for all, and all for each. The crimes of National Socialism and the unspeakable denigration of German civilization are but the logical outcomes of the devilish exaltation of the rights of the strongest and the claim that right is merely what serves the nation, or rather a few party bosses and swindlers. Nothing can undo the fact that you not only heeded these devilish doctrines, but that you embraced them fervently, defending them with fire, steel, and blood. Never before has a less heroic generation boasted a more heroic philosophy. Too late have your eyes been opened to the revolting behavior of your leaders, bosses, and generals.”

From Ruhr Zeitung, 19 May 1945, pg. 314 in The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan

Musician Bios

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Holly Dameron

Music has a way that soothes the soul. Singing the words that sometimes we are too afraid to say out loud. But what about the musicians themselves what made them great enough to listen to their songs, study them in classes, and read books on them.

Here is a list of musician biographies (some are recently added and some have been on the shelves for a while):

Debussy: A Painter in Sound by Stephen Walsh

The man who invented the language of music but didn’t alienate the majority of music lovers. Debussy drove French music into entirely new regions of beauty and excitement. Yet, his life was fraught with struggles over money, women, and ill-health. Here we are granted a look not only into the composer but also the stage in European history that bore him.

Mozart in Context edited by Simon P. Keefe

A focus on Mozart as he responds to different aspects of eighteenth-century European life. From his views on music, aesthetics, and other matters to his career contexts and environments, these contributions probe diverse Mozartian contexts in a variety of ways.

Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited by Clinton Heylin

First published in 1991, Clinton Heylin revised and reworked this hugely acclaimed book, adding new sections, reworking the text, and bringing the story up-to-date with Dylan’s career in 2000. From his humble beginnings in Minnesota to his arrival in NYC in 1961 to the legendary 1966 World Tour and concert at the Royal Albert Hall, Heylin details all of it. Fans are given a chance to know the man “behind the shades.”

Heinrich Neuhaus: A Life Beyond Music by Maria Razumovskaya

One of the most charismatic and sought after pianist-pedagogues of the 20th century. Razumovskyay’s book is the first critical study of Neuhaus. Readers will read about what went on in his teaching studio but also be able to understand the vibrant circumstances that underpinned Neuhaus’s unique outlook and approach. Emphasizing the important aesthetic principles and practices that were adopted by creative artists eager to escape the banality and limitations imposed by Socialist Realism.

W.A. Mozart by Herman Abert

The first line of the summary describes this book as “the most comprehensive account of Mozart’s life and works in any language”—I hope it is. This text is both the fullest account of the composer’s life and a deeply skilled analysis of his music. Proceeding chronologically from 1756 to 1791, it interrogates every aspect of Mozart’s life, influences and experiences, his personality, his religious and secular dimensions, and the social context of the time. (The 20 oz travel mug is shown for comparison).

Leonard Bernstein and the Language of Jazz by Katherine Baber

Truthfully, every time I think about Leonard Bernstein now is in relation to John Mulaney’s Kid Gorgeous Netflix special. Definitely go watch it because he’s hilarious! But Leonard Bernstein’s gifts for drama and connecting with popular audiences made him a central figure in twentieth-century American music. Baber investigates how jazz in its many styles served Bernstein as a flexible, indeed protean, musical idea. She also offers in-depth analyses of On the Town, West Side Story, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and other works to explore fascinating links between Bernstein’s art and issues like eclecticism, music’s relationship to social engagement, black-Jewish relations, and his own musical identity.

Brahms in Context edited by Natasha Loges and Katy Hamilton

A fresh perspective on the much admired nineteenth-century German composer. The essays range from historical, social and cultural contexts, and detail Brahm’s childhood, his move to Vienna, and his rich social life. It considers professional matters from finance to publishing and copyright; the musicians who shaped and transmitted his works; and the larger musical styles which influenced him.

Lennon: The Man, the Myth, the Music – The Definitive Life by Tim Riley

Tim Riley takes readers on the remarkable journey that brought a Liverpool art student from a disastrous childhood to the highest realms of fame. This rich narrative text draws on numerous interviews with Lennon’s friends, enemies, confidantes, and associates. He explores Lennon in all his contradictions: the British art student who universalized an American style, the anarchic rock ‘n’ roller with the moral spine, and more.

Mahalia Jackson & the Black Gospel Field by Mark Buford

Born in the backstreets of New Orleans in 1911, Jackson during the Great depression joined the migration to Chicago, where she became a highly regarded church singer. By the mid-fifties, she was lauded as the “World’s Greatest Gospel Singer.” The first book on Jackson in 25 years, Buford draws on a trove of previously unexamined archival sources that illuminate Jackson’s childhood in New Orleans, her negotiations of parallel careers, documenting the symbolic influence of Jackson and black gospel music in postwar America.

Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick

“Wise men say
Only fools rush in
But I can’t help falling in love with you
Shall I stay
Would it be a sin
If I can’t help falling in love with you”

I think it’s a safe bet to say that most people know, have heard of, Elvis Presley. If not then I want to know what rock you’ve been living under. Guralnick goes behind the myth and presents an Elvis beyond the legend. Based on hundreds of interviews and nearly a decade of research, it traces the evolution not just of the man but of the music and culture he left utterly transformed. Tracking the first twenty-four years of his life, Last Train to Memphis takes readers deep inside Elvis’ life, exploring his passion for music, affection for his family, and his relationships.

The Trouble With Wagner by Michael P. Steinberg

“Unlike any other composer, Wagner continues to fascinate. Michael P. Steinberg has added to the vast literature a thought-provoking look at the composer from the perspective of not only history and criticism but also the challenges of mounting a contemporary production. Through Steinberg’s uncommon grace and learning, readers will encounter why Wagner is still with us today as a force in the arts and culture.”

Review by Leon Botstein, music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra

Pow! Wham! Boom!

Posted on March 17, 2020 by Holly Dameron

The world of comic books is escapism and entertainment. The good guys always win and the bad guys always lose. They are filled with colorful images and expressions. We can see ourselves in the pages even. There’s now an entire market for the comic book universe with movies, movie studios, games, TV shows, video games, they are not going anywhere anytime soon.

But are comic books as wholesome and fun as some would like?

The explosive popularity of San Diego’s Comic-Con, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One, and Netflix’s Jessica Jones and Luke Cage all signal the tidal change in superhero narratives and mainstreaming of what were once considered niche interests.

Yet, just as these areas have become more openly inclusive to an audience beyond heterosexual white men, there has also been an intense backlash, most famously in 2015’s Gamergate controversy, when the tension between feminist bloggers, misogynistic gamers, and internet journalisms came to a head. The place for gender in superhero narratives now represents a sort of battleground, with important changes in the industry at stake.

Gender and the Superhero Narrative launches ten essays that explore the point where social justice meets the Justice League. Ranging from comics such as Ms. Marvel, Batwoman: Elegy, and Bitch Planet to video games, Netflix, and cosplay, this volume builds a platform for important voices in comics research, engaging with controversy and community to provide deeper insight and thus inspire change.

EC Comics examines a selection of their works—sensationally-title comics such as “Hate!,” “The Guilty!,” and “Judgement Day!”—and explores how they grappled with the civil rights struggle, antisemitism, and other forms of prejudice in America. Putting these socially aware stories into conversation with EC’s better-known horror stories, Qiana Whitted discovers surprising similarities between their narrative, aesthetic, and marketing strategies. She also recounts the controversy that these stories inspired and the central role they played in congressional hearings about offensive content in comics. The first serious critical study of EC’s social issues comics, this book will give readers a greater appreciation of their legacy.

Comic studies has reached a crossroads. Graphic novels have never received more attention and legitimation from scholars, but new canons and new critical discourses have created tensions within a field build on the populist rhetoric of cultural studies. As a result, comics studies have begun to cleave into distinct camps—based primarily in cultural or literary studies—that attempt to dictate the boundaries of the discipline or else resist disciplinary itself. The consequence is a growing disconnect in the ways that comics scholars talk to each other—or, more frequently, do not talk to each other or even acknowledge each other’s work.

Breaking the Frames: Populism and Prestige in Comics Studies surveys the current state of comics scholarship, interrogating its dominant schools, questioning their mutual estrangement, and challenging their propensity to champion the comics they study. Marc Singer advocates for greater disciplinary diversity and methodological rigor in comics studies, making the case for a field that can embrace more critical and oppositional perspectives. Working through extended readings of some of the most acclaimed comics creators, Singer demonstrates how comics studies can break out of the celebratory frameworks and restrictive canons that currently define the field to produce new scholarship that expands our understanding of comics and their critics.

A Dichotomous Era

Posted on February 24, 2020 by Holly Dameron

Ahh, the Victorians, such a dichotomous group of people. They wanted to raise money for the poor but only if they didn’t have to see them; they would have spouses and children while walking down the block to have a dalliance or two (sometimes with someone of the same gender *gasp*). Many Victorians even had double lives – The Picture of Dorian Gray exemplifies this quite well. They wanted to have their cake and eat it too, but only if it was behind closed doors.

Yet, many double standards for women still exist because of this group of people. A weeping woman is a monster. So too is a fat woman, a horny woman, a woman shrieking with laughter. Women who are one or more of these things have heard, or perhaps simply intuited, that we are repugnantly excessive, that we have taken illicit liberties to live with abandon. It is the age-old problem women face, they can either be the angel or the monster, Mary or Eve, the madwoman in the attic or Jane Eyre.

Too Much: How Victorian Constraints Still Bind Women Today is a critical cry against white, heteronormative propriety and a culture that prizes only masculine profusion. It encourages women to reconsider the beauty of their excess—emotional, physical, and spiritual—in order to wrest power from these man-made boundaries. An erstwhile Victorian scholar, Rachel Vorona Cote makes parallels between the era’s fixation on women’s “hysterical” behavior and our modern policing of the same; in the space of her writing, you’re as likely to encounter Jane Eyre and Lizzy Bennett as you are Britney Spears and Lana Del Rey. She braids cultural criticism, theory, and storytelling together in her exploration of how culture grinds away our bodies, souls, and sexualities, forcing us into smaller lives than we desire (inside flap summary).

“A fascinating exploration of how literature and pop culture have constructed (and exploded) our expectations of modern womanhood, this book is as gloriously defiant as the women it profiles.” Review by Robin Wasserman

Teaching Music

Posted on February 19, 2020 by Holly Dameron

While we would all love to be the next Beyonce, the likelihood of that happening is slim. More often than not most of us will sing in the shower or the car ride to and from work or school, instead of in front of thousands of screaming fans.

However, that doesn’t mean music is not important to learn from a young age and continue to use throughout a person’s adult life. Research shows that music can help students developmentally and in other subjects, along with help in memory (all the song lyrics that most people have memorized).

Teaching music brings its own set of joys. Here are books that provide the means to teach music to students in a variety of formats and instruments.

Part of a series that remains one of the most important resources for choir directors looking for quality repertoire that has been vetted by a distinguished panel of educators. Containing Teacher Resource Guides for approximately 100 works, organized by difficulty. Selected by a team of leading choir directors, the repertoire in Volume 5 balances SATB literature with works for treble and tenor/bass choirs.

This 1100 page volume builds on a twenty-year tradition of providing essential and innovative information for wind band conductors. It includes Teacher Resource Guides for 100 significant works published for Grades 2-6. Each Guide includes information about the composer, the work, historical perspectives, technical considerations, and more. A significant and indispensable resource for the wind band profession.

Empowering piano teachers to build their students’ artistic and empathic potential, and their lifelong personal motivational framework. Exploring the influences of family, peers, interpersonal relationships, and social media, Derek Polischuk discusses howe to meet the needs of today’s students from a diverse range of circumstances.

Whether you are a pre-service, newly-hired, or veteran elementary general music teacher, Engaging Musical Practices: A Sourcebook on Elementary General Music offers a fresh perspective on topics that cut across all interactions with K-5th grade music learners. Chapter authors share their expertise and provide strategies, ideas, and resources to immediately apply their topics; guiding focus on inclusive, social, active, and musically-engaging elementary general music practices.

An honorable mention:

Thirty-two experts from fifteen countries join three of the world’s leading authorities on the design, manufacture, performance, and history of brass musical instruments in this first encyclopedia on the subject.

Won’t You be my Neighbor?

Posted on February 19, 2020 by Holly Dameron

Politics in the United States is not insular, unaffected by other countries or regions. There is much that goes on in other countries that unbeknownst to us, will come to affect us the next day or even the next decade. Even if they don’t affect us, an understanding of other countries’ culture and politics can help our own country.

An array of books about other countries have just arrived, so come and take a look at them.

“A condensed history that delivers sparkling insight set off by a simple and elegant style. This book should be read by anyone wishing to understand the deeper social and cultural dimensions of Syria’s modern crisis.”

Review by Joshua Landis, University of Oklahoma

“Some time ago a little-known Scottish philosopher wrote a book on what makes nations succeed and what makes them fail. The Wealth of Nations is still being read today. With the same perspicacity and with the same broad historical perspective, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson have retackled this same question for our own times.”

Review by George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in economics, 2001

“By placing Yugoslavia into the wider context of Europe’s geopolitical, economic, and intellectual history of the long twentieth century, Calic superbly succeeds in explaining the vicissitudes of this wildly complex and fascinating country. . . arguably the best book I have read on the region of former Yugoslavia.”

Review by Ambassador (Ret.) Dr. Wolfgang Petritsch, Former EU Special Envoy for Kosovo, and High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina

“Lisa Mueller’s excellent study of protest politics in Africa will no doubt prove to be the standard text on the topic.”

Review by Nicolas van de Walle, Cornell University

“A splendid documentation of Yemen’s synergies with the world, both in history and contemporary times. Bonnefoy has done a superb job of persuading us of Yemen’s vital position in the global community.”

Review by Marieke Brandt, Institute for Social Anthropology at the Austin Academy of Sciences, and author of Tribe and Politics in Yemen

In the past decade, the developed world has spent almost US$2 trillion on foreign aid for poorer countries. Yet 1.2 billion people still live in extreme poverty and around 2.9 billion cannot meet their basic human needs.

But should rich nations continue to help the poor? In this short book, leading global poverty analyst David Hulme explains why helping the world’s neediest communities is both the right thing to do and the wise thing to do.

Melissa Willard-Foster explores the question of why stronger nations overthrow governments when they could attain their aims at the bargaining table. She analyzes 133 instances of regime change, ranging from covert operations to major military invasions, spanning over two hundred years.

World-renowned lawyer Alan Dershowitz recounts stories from his many years of defending the state of Israel. He has spent years advocating for his “most challenging client” both publically and in private meetings. Brimming with personal insights and unreported details, Dershowitz offers a comprehensive history.

At a time when Jewish Americans as a whole are increasingly uncertain as to who supports Israel and who doesn’t, there is no better book to turn to for answers—and a pragmatic look toward the future.

A concise text that provides an introduction to Russian and Soviet history from the crowning of Mikhail Romanov in 1613 through Putin’s current term. Boterbloem chronologically traces the political, military, economic, social, religious, and cultural developments that led Russia from an exotic backwater to superpower stature.

“In an era when vitriol has replaced reasoned discourse in discussions of Israel, this volume—thoughtful, balanced and comprehensive—is cause for celebration. The wide array of essays by leading academics and scholars provides both an accessible introduction to newcomers to the field of Israel studies as well as a thought-provoking collection even for seasoned participants in the conversation.”

Review by Daniel Gordis, Shalem College

“Hill is the perfect person to tell the story of how the promise and hope that accompanied the end of the Cold War have replaced by war and renewed division in Europe three decades later. As a longtime student of Russia and as a former diplomat directly involved in addressing some of Europe’s most intractable security challenges, Hill brings a wealth of experience and insights into this clearly written, compelling, and timely narrative.”

Review by David Kramer, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, labor

Jim Krane takes readers inside the monarchies of the Persian Gulf to consider their conundrum. He traces the history of the Gulf states’ energy use and politics, looking in particular at how energy subsidies have distorted demand.

Backed by rich fieldwork and deep knowledge of the region, Krane expertly lays out the hard choices that Gulf leaders face to keep their states viable.

All the Prayers, but is He Answering?

Posted on February 17, 2020 by Holly Dameron

I’m generally a pretty doubtful person. I don’t mean to be per se, and it greatly annoys my father when I argue with him about how we don’t know if werewolves or vampires are real because isn’t the lack of evidence just as good as evidence. He’s typically left sputtering that this isn’t the case, and I’m left laughing to myself because most of the time I’m pulling his chain.

I like to believe that these creatures exist (don’t ask me why), just as I like to believe that one day I’ll get my letter from Hogwarts or find a whole world in the back of my closet or go on an adventure with the Doctor in the TARDIS. Logically, I know these things do not exist, but strangely, I find more hope in these stories of fantasy worlds with people who are flawed but bring hope than I do in the Bible.

Scott A. Davison became more doubtful later in life. Wondering if the prayers he sent to God when they were answered if it was really God. He “started to wonder if the truth might be more complicated, and this drove [him] deeper into theological and philosophical studies” (2). Thus the seeds for the book, Petitionary Prayer: A Philosophical Investigation, were planted.

Davison develops a new account of the conditions required for a petitionary prayer to be answered by employing the notion of contrastive explanation. With attention to recent developments in metaphysics, epistemology, and value theory, Davison survey the literature on this question. While the original title was “On the Pointlessness of Petitionary Prayer,” he did take a step back and realize he couldn’t support this conclusion philosophically.

He still has questions, as do most of us probably do, and this is not the extent of the research on petitionary prayer. Hopefully, this book will lead others to further investigation, to develop new arguments and new positions.

P.S. I’m still holding out on a trip in the TARDIS!

Ethics and Morals in Politics?

Posted on February 10, 2020 by Holly Dameron

Politics seems to be more of “what can I do for myself,” than “what can I do for others.” With each side more entrenched in their own rightness, the public is left to wonder what is really going on and how can any of this be fixed.

In these three novels, the authors look at the different aspects of morals and ethics, to see how we can not only live but live together in peace.

Begin to learn more about not only ethics but philosophy and how they both affect politics and policies.

The Meeting of Sex and Politics

Posted on February 6, 2020 by Holly Dameron

Kathryn Sloan writes that this book “transports the reader into the tantalizing world of colonial Cartagena, a vibrant and dynamic port city where sex and politics met on a daily basis. Von Germeten provocatively describes how women wielded their sexuality—switching between active and passive when necessary—as an instrument to control their conjugal relationships and impact judicial outcomes when strained to defend their honor or spiritual practices.”

Nicole von Germeten takes the reader beneath the surface of daily in a colonial city. Cartegena was an important Spanish port and the site of an Inquisition high court, a salve market, a leper colony, a military base, and a prison colony—colonial institutions that imposed order by enforcing Catholicism, cultural and religious boundaries, and prevailing race and gender hierarchies. The city was also simmering with illegal activity, from contraband trade to prostitution to heretical religious practices.

Von Germeten’s research uncovers scandalous stories drawn from archival research in inquisition cases, criminal records, wills, and other legal documents. The stories focus largely on sexual agency and honor: an insult directed as a married woman causes a deadly street battle; a young doña uses sex to manipulate a lustful, corrupt inquisitor. Scandals like these illustrate the central thesis of the book: women in colonial Cartagena de Indias took control of their own sex lives and used sex and rhetoric connected to sexuality to plead their cases when they had to negotiate with colonial bureaucrats.

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