Penn Press Log

This Week's New Books

Negotiating the Landscape: Environment and Monastic Identity in the Medieval Ardennes Ellen F. Arnold 320 pages | 6 x 9 | 2 maps Cloth 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4463-2 | $65.00 | £42.50 Ebook 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-0752-1 | $65.00 | £42.50 A volume in the Middle Ages Series Ellen Arnold draws upon a rich archive of charters, property and tax records, correspondence, miracle collections and saints' lives to explore the ways in which interaction with the natural world affected the 'environmental imagination' and identity of the Benedictine monks of Stavelot-Malmedy in the medieval Ardennes.

The Pleasure Garden, from Vauxhall to Coney Island Edited by Jonathan Conlin 352 pages | 6 x 9 | 73 illus. Cloth 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4438-0 | $69.95 | £45.50 Ebook 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-0732-3 | $69.95 | £45.50 A volume in the Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture series The Pleasure Garden, from Vauxhall to Coney Island draws together the work of musicologists, art historians, and scholars of urban studies and landscape design to explore the attractions and interactions of the pleasure garden, from the opening of Vauxhall in the seventeenth century to the amusement parks of the early twentieth.

Frontier Cities: Encounters at the Crossroads of Empire Edited by Jay Gitlin, Barbara Berglund, and Adam Arenson 296 pages | 6 x 9 | 15 illus. Cloth 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4468-7 | $45.00 | £29.50 Ebook 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-0757-6 | $45.00 | £29.50 Frontier Cities recovers the history of borderland cities in a range of periods and locations—from eighteenth-century Detroit and nineteenth-century Seattle to twentieth-century Los Angeles. Frontier cities embody the earliest mode of American urban experience and testify to the intersections of colonial, urban, western, and global history.

Now in Paperback Ethnographies of Neoliberalism Edited by Carol J. Greenhouse 376 pages | 6 x 9 Cloth 2009 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4192-1 | $55.00 | £36.00 Paper 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-2232-6 | $27.50 | £18.00 Ebook 2011 | ISBN 978-0-8122-0001-0 | $27.50 | £18.00 What happens when citizens are refashioned as consumers? Drawing on diverse disciplines and ethnographies from five continents, this collection considers neoliberal reform from the standpoint of people's self-understandings as social and political actors.

Clan Cleansing in Somalia: The Ruinous Legacy of 1991 Lidwien Kapteijns 336 pages | 6 x 9 | 1 map Cloth 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4467-0 | $69.95 | £45.50 Ebook 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-0758-3 | $69.95 | £45.50 A volume in the Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights series Clan Cleansing in Somalia deals with the transformative violence that helped cause the collapse of the Somali state in 1991. Kapteijns argues that public acknowledgment of the clan cleansing of this period is indispensable to social and moral repair, and to the critical memory work required from Somalis on all sides of this conflict.

Baroque Sovereignty: Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora and the Creole Archive of Colonial Mexico Anna More 448 pages | 6 x 9 | 25 illus. Cloth 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4469-4 | $65.00 | £42.50 Ebook 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-0655-5 | $65.00 | £42.50 Baroque Sovereignty examines the emergence of a creole archive of artifacts, history, and traditions of colonial Mexico, primarily curated by the polymath Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora. Anna More posits the centrality of this archive for understanding how a local political imaginary emerged from the ruins of Spanish imperialism.

Now in Paperback The Purposes of Paradise: U.S. Tourism and Empire in Cuba and Hawai'i Christine Skwiot 296 pages | 6 x 9 | 17 illus. Cloth 2010 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4244-7 | $39.95 | £26.00 Paper 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-2228-9 | $26.50 | £17.50 Ebook 2011 | ISBN 978-0-8122-0003-4 | $26.50 | £17.50 The Purposes of Paradise shows how travel and tourism shaped U.S. imperialism in Cuba and Hawai'i between the 1850s, when expansionists imagined them as twin possessions, and revolution and statehood in 1959. It explores the relationships between imperial fantasies and political practices in Americans' favorite tropical isles.

Now in Paperback Traitors: Suspicion, Intimacy, and the Ethics of State-Building Edited by Sharika Thiranagama and Tobias Kelly 312 pages | 6 x 9 | 8 illus. Cloth 2009 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4213-3 | $45.00 | £29.50 Paper 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-2237-1 | $24.95 | £16.50 Ebook 2011 | ISBN 978-0-8122-0589-3 | $24.95 | £16.50 This volume examines political, ethnic, and personal trust and betrayals in modern times from Mozambique to the Taiwan Straits, from the former Eastern Bloc to the West Bank, revealing that treachery is a constant and essential part of the processes through which social and political order is reproduced.

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Saunders Robinson. Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here.

Shakespeare's Shrine--Now Available

Shakespeare's Shrine: The Bard's Birthplace and the Invention of Stratford-upon-Avon
Julia Thomas
256 pages | 6 x 9 | 23 illus.
Cloth 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4423-6 | $34.95 | £23.00
A volume in the Haney Foundation Series

"A substantive discussion of the purchase and renovation of Shakespeare’s birthplace and how Victorian values (e.g., regarding authenticity) affected the restoration efforts.”–Library Journal

As the first major study of Shakespeare's Birthplace during the nineteenth century, Shakespeare's Shrine draws on extensive archival research to describe the invention of the Birthplace in the Victorian period, when the site was purchased for the nation, extensively restored, and transformed into a major tourist attraction. Read more . . .

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Saunders Robinson.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here.

Chanticleer: A Pleasure Garden--Now Available

Chanticleer: A Pleasure Garden
Adrian Higgins. Photographs by Rob Cardillo
192 pages | 10 x 7 | 92 color, 2 b/w illus.
Cloth Apr 2011 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4274-4 | $29.95 | £19.50

Chanticleer, located in Wayne, Pennsylvania, is a garden landscape of constant renewal. In Chanticleer: A Pleasure Garden, Adrian Higgins and photographer Rob Cardillo chronicle the plantings and scenery over the course of two growing cycles, paying tribute to the horticulturists and artisans responsible for the garden's profound beauty.

Read more . . .

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Penn Press Marketing at pressmkt@upenn.edu.

Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here

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The Best Transportation System in the World--Now in Paperback

The Best Transportation System in the World: Railroads, Trucks, Airlines, and American Public Policy in the Twentieth Century
Mark H. Rose, Bruce E. Seely, and Paul F. Barrett
344 pages | 6 x 9 | 17 illus.
Paper 2010 | ISBN 978-0-8122-2116-9 | $24.95 | £16.50

This book focuses on the role of government in organizing the nation's transportation industries. As the authors show, over the course of the twentieth century transportation in the United States was as much a product of hard-fought politics, lobbying, and litigation as it was a naturally evolving system of engineering and available technology.

Read more . . .

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenberg.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here.

Beat Cop to Top Cop--Now Available

Beat Cop to Top Cop: A Tale of Three Cities
John F. Timoney. Foreword by Tom Wolfe
352 pages | 6 x 9
Cloth 2010 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4246-1 | $24.95 | £16.50
A volume in the City in the Twenty-First Century series

From Beat Cop to Top Cop: A Tale of Three Cities documents John Timoney's rise, from his days as a tough street cop in the South Bronx right up to his role as police chief of Miami.

Read more . . .

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenberg.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here

The Business of Tourism--Now in Paperback

The Business of Tourism: Place, Faith, and History
Edited by Philip Scranton and Janet F. Davidson
304 pages | 6 x 9 | 18 illus.
Cloth 2006 | ISBN 978-0-8122-3968-3 | $55.00 | £36.00
Paper Dec 2009 | ISBN 978-0-8122-1965-4 | $24.95 | £16.50
A volume in the Hagley Perspectives on Business and Culture series

The Business of Tourism transports readers from the foundations of mass leisure travel in 1860s Egypt to contemporary religious sight-seeing in Branson, Missouri; from the Stalinist Soviet Union to post-Soviet Cuba. This collection of ten essays explores the enterprises, institutions, and technologies of tourist activity.

Read more . . .

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenerg.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here

Historic Landmarks of Philadelphia--Now Available

Historic Landmarks of Philadelphia
Roger W. Moss Photographs by Tom Crane
320 pages | 8 3/4 x 11 3/4 | 223 color illus.
Cloth 2008 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4106-8 | $34.95 | £23.00

In Historic Landmarks of Philadelphia Roger Moss and Tom Crane feature nationally significant sites. This lavishly illustrated book celebrates Philadelphia's evolution from modest mercantile outpost of a colonial power, to capital of a proud new nation, to a robust world-renowned cosmopolitan city. Read more . . .

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenberg.

In Darkest Alaska--Now Available

In Darkest Alaska: Travel and Empire Along the Inside Passage
Robert Campbell
360 pages | 6 x 9 | 39 illus.
Cloth 2007 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4021-4 | $45.00 | £29.50
A volume in the Nature and Culture in America series

Prior to the great Klondike Gold Rush of 1897, travelers returned from Alaska's Inside Passage with fascinating accounts of its wonders. Historian Robert Campbell demonstrates how these tourists served as shock troops of the gold rush by portraying Alaska as a "Last West" ripe for American conquest.

Read more . . .

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenberg.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here.

Tropic of Venice Contest Winner

Tropic of Venice author Margaret Doody knows Venice. So does Bonnie Hollis, winner of our Tropic of Venice contest.

Over 360 people took our Tropic of Venice online quiz. 15 answered all of the questions correctly to qualify for our prize raffle. Of those 15, Hollis was chosen at random to receive a $50 Penn Press gift certificate.

See how well you know Venice. Take the quiz for yourself.

1. Look at the buildings featured on the cover of Tropic of Venice. The tower behind the Doge's Palace and pretty much every other structure in the area, including the famous piazza, are named after what saint?
A. St. Mark
B. St. Peter
C. St. Norbert

2. In which Henry James novel does an American woman named Milly travel to Venice?
A. The Aspern Papers
B. The Wings of the Dove
C. Portrait of a Lady

3. The controversial multibillion dollar plan to save sinking Venice from the rising waters of the Adriatic Sea is known as:
A. The Grand Arms
B. The Noah Project
C. The Moses Project

4. Genuine Venetian masks created by Ca Macana and Mondonovo appeared in what Stanley Kubrick film?
A. A Clockwork Orange
B. Eyes Wide Shut
C. Barry Lyndon

5. Who painted The Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the grand altarpiece that was installed in Venice's S Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in 1518?
A. Titian
B. Fra Bartolommeo
C. Raphael

"Venice" Makes ForeWord's Big Ten

ForeWord magazine lists Margaret Doody's Tropic of Venice among the Big Ten Outstanding Books from University Presses for 2006. The ForeWord review begins by placing Doody in some impressive company:

To present the ever-beguiling Venice anew calls for knowledge, perception, and imaginative interpretation: John Ruskin, Henry James, James, Morris, and John Julius Norwich provide stiff competition. But Margaret Doody, an admired and gifted critic, traveler, and novelists, possesses all needed strengths and has written a splendid book.

The review ends by calling  Tropic of Venice "A book to savor."

Click here to read the complete review.