Indiana University Press blog

Books reveal politics of IU faculty members Richard Lugar and Lee Hamilton

Indiana University recently appointed former Senator Richard G. Lugar as a distinguished scholar and professor of practice in the School of Global and International Studies. The six-term senator and two-time chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will also co-chair the new IU International Advisory Committee with IU Press author and former Congressman Lee Hamilton, who will join Lugar in the School of Global and International Studies.

In a new biography, Richard G. Lugar, Statesman of the Senate, John T. Shaw examines Lugar’s approach to lawmaking and diplomacy for what it reveals about the workings of the Senate and changes in that institution. Drawing on access to the senator over several years, and interviews with Lugar and other leading figures in foreign policy, Shaw chronicles Lugar's historic work on nuclear proliferation, arms control, energy, and global food issues, highlighting the senator’s ability to influence American foreign policy in consequential ways.

The book presents Lugar’s career as an example of the role Congress can play in the shaping of foreign policy in an era of a strong executive branch. It demonstrates the importance of statesmanship in contemporary American political life while acknowledging the limitations of this approach to governance.

Like Lugar, Lee Hamilton is also a distinguished statesman who served 34 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and chaired the House Foreign Relations Committee. He is the author of two IU Press books: How Congress Works and Why You Should Care and Strengthening Congress. Both are essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the inner workings of Congress, and how all citizens can participate in its unique mission.

More information on Hamiton's books and Lugar's biography can be found on the IU Press website. John T. Shaw also discusses his work on Lugar's biography in this podcast:

Book review: Tabloid Journalism in South Africa

"[A] must read for media historians, journalists, and perhaps just about anyone who is interested in ongoing questions about a post-apartheid South Africa. Wasserman’s work deserves great respect for encouraging a glocalized standpoint of tabloids in South Africa." —JHistory

Three IU Press books reviewed in Anthropos

Three of our books were reviewed in the current issue of Anthropos:

Bodies, Politics, and African Healing

"This book contributes to the understanding of traditional medicine in a contemporary African setting. It makes clear the inequalities that shape the space under which healers must operate, and their efforts to work this to their advantage."

Corsican Fragments

"[A] stimulating and eloquently written book that highlights, with subtle examples, the complex interplay between fixity and fluidity in discourses and practices of identification."

Masquerade and Postsocialism

"[A]n empirically rich and theoretically sophisticated analysis of the postsocialist condition in rural Bulgaria."

 

Book review: Mrs. Russell Sage

"Well-written and thoroughly researched, this biography is a welcome addition to the history of women and philanthropy." —The American Historical Review

Book review: Public Opinion in the Middle East

"The anthology speaks directly not only to enterprising students hoping to glean inspiration from one of ther senior deans of survey research in the Middle East but also to any scholar who questions the utility of tracking public opinion over time." —International Journal of Middle East Studies

Book review: Performing South Africa's Truth Commission

"Cole’s remarkable book distinguishes itself because it is the only such project to focus attention on the ‘performed dimensions’ of the TRC." —Contemporary Theater Review

Book review: The Spatial Humanities

"This stimulating and wide-ranging book is a critically self-reflective attempt to map out ... the next phase of the role of ‘the spatial’ in humanities scholarship." —Literary and Linguistic Computing

Anthony Martin to give talk about Georgia Barrier Islands January 26

On Saturday, January 26, Emory professor Anthony Martin will give a talk about the Georgia Barrier Islands and his new book, Life Traces of the Georgia Coast. The event takes place at Manuel's Tavern at 7 p.m. Suggested donation for non-students is $3. Books will be available for purchase at the event. More information about Dr. Martin's talk is available here.

Learn more about the book in this trailer:

Book review: Volunteers

"Volunteers: A Social Profile is a must read for anyone doing formal research on volunteers or voluntary organizations. It is a comphrehensive overview of volunteers that is unmatched." —Community Development

Two IU Press books reviewed in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

Two books were reviewed in the current issue of the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute:

Masquerade and Postsocialism

"Masquerade and Postsocialism is written with great sympathy for the people it describes and bears the marks of a work matured by decades of fieldwork. Creed takes the rare (and brave) step of choosing to analyse an indigenous tradition as a key to understanding the state of contemporary society, where others have typically sought answers to the same questions in studies of privatization and structures of governance."

Playing on the Edge

"The power of Newmahr’s analysis is that she goes beyond the exotic eroticism of her subject in order to open up broader theoretical debates around the concepts of edgework, gender identity, intimacy, and risk."