Indiana University Press blog

Book review: St. Paul among the Philosophers

"The value of the collection lies primarily in its clear outlining of the stakes of the debates surrounding Paul, more than any particular solutions its confluence of scholars offer." —Englewood Review of Books

Book review: Work and Faith in the Kentucky Coal Fields

" ...outstanding study of work and faith . . . . For Kentucky’s coal miners and their families, religion functioned as a counterweight to the industrial capitalism that came with coalmining. It served sometimes as a form of resistance to evil company powers, sometimes as an account of a better life or as an explanation of brushes with death, and sometimes as a source of hope and comfort in the midst of tragedy. For recovering their story we are indebted to Richard Callahan’s first-rate history." —Journal of American History

Listen to an interview with John Lysaker

John Lysaker, author of Emerson and Self-Culture, discusses his book with Christopher Long on Digital Dialogue. Listen to the interview here.

Lysaker is also co-editor of a new collection on the theme of friendship in the lives and works of Emerson and Thoreau.

Book review: Rachel Calof’s Story

"I came upon Laura Ingalls Wilder's prairie stories as an adult, while reading them to my son. I was as captivated by Rachel Calof's autobiography Jewish Homesteader on the Northern Plains . . . which I read in one sitting, mesmerized by a Jewish pioneer spirit as strong and as compelling as that of her Christian counterpart.  . . . This beautifully written testament is a reminder that we have much to bless, every day, for a world with washing machines and sewage systems and separate rooms to put mothers-in-law." —C. Devora (Viva) Hammer, Lilith

Book review: O Let Us Howle Some Heavy Note

" . . . In keeping with the instability of the seventeenth-century English stage, Amanda Eubanks Winkler refuses to bind her subversive characters in neat packages. I find her observations of negotiated trends, which do not always fit into tidy theoretical boxes, honest conclusions of an extremely complex period of English cultural life.  . . . Whether onstage or within Winkler’s text, these unruly characters refuse to be absolutely contained." —Megan McFadden, Women & Music

Book review: China's Brave New World

"...engaged, elegant essay[s] ... aimed both at the academic and the more general reader. [Wasserstrom's] ideas are so stimulating that they will make many readers rethink their assumptions, and that alone makes the book well worth reading." —Rana Mitter, Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions

Book review: Jewish Public Culture in the Late Russian Empire

"This book provides a sense of the dynamism of Jewish cultural life, broadly defined, in what was the world’s largest Jewish community whose descendants established American Jewry." —Jewish Book World

Book wins Ukrainian studies prize

Congratulations to Sarah Phillips whose book, Women's Social Activism in the New Ukraine, was named co-winner of the American Association for Ukrainian Studies book prize! Phillips shares the prize with Timothy Snyder, who won the award for his book, The Red Prince.

Three books featured in December issue of Indianapolis Monthly

Our gift from the Indianapolis Monthly for this holiday season is having three books featured in the December issue! Below are some excerpts of praise for The Year's Work in Lebowski Studies; The Birds of Indiana; and Not Normal, Illinois. For those of you in the Indianapolis and South Central Indiana areas, pick up the latest issue at your local newsstand!

"Any self-respecting fan will want a copy for the living-room table. Because, you know, in the parlance of the film itself, the thing 'really ties the room together.'" —Matt Gonzales (Read full article: The Dude's Dissertation)

"Twenty-five years later, [Zimmerman's] work is still vital and arresting. Though now out of print, copies of The Birds of Indiana can be found on the Internet, at the library, or perched on coffee tables in homes across the state, waiting to reveal the splendor of the natural world like a birdsong on the breeze." —Tony Rehagen (Read full article: Flying Colors)

"...unconventional fiction by some of the best writers in the region..." —Julia Spalding

Book review: Voicing Gender

"André's study provides an exciting new perspective on the Romantic heroine's relationship to her operatic ancestors. Unwilling to cast a diva as devoid of agency and a mere product of growing misogyny among composers and librettists, André weaves a fresh historical narrative that makes sense of women’s role as interpreter of primo ottocento opera.  . . . As Irigaray might implore, Open your ears—don’t open them simply." —Stephanie Jensen-Moulton, Women & Music