What Should I Read Next?: 70 University of Virginia Professors Recommend Readings in History, Politics, Literature, Math, Science, Technology, the Arts, and More

by Jessica R. Feldman (Editor), Robert Stilling (Editor)

Overview

" I cannot live without books."
--Thomas Jefferson

Even the most well-read among us feel gaps in our knowledge. Former English majors or art students want to understand the monetary system; mathematicians or doctors just want a great novel. Travel sections in bookstores are full of authors ready to tell you the hundred places to visit before you die, but what about the best book to read on global warming?

What Should I Read Next? taps seventy University of Virginia professors in an array of fields for suggestions on how to satisfy this nagging intellectual curiosity. Each contributor recommends five titles that speak to their area of inquiry, providing both a general introduction and commentary on each selection. The results read like a series of personal tutorials: Larry Sabato considers how political power is acquired, used, and held onto; climatologist Robert E. Davis provides a timely navigation of global-warming literature; and Michael Levenson offers five ways to approach James Joyce's Ulysses. Other topics include how computing changes thinking, the life and afterlife of slavery, understanding cities, and ecstatic poetry. The entries convey the contributors' expertise but also, more importantly, the enthusiasm, the original kernels of curiosity, that drew these scholars to their life's work.

Designed for the lifelong learner who wants to branch out from his or her own profession or discipline, these explorations--of art, science, history, technology, politics, and much more--offer an inspiring place to start.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813927367
Publisher:	University of Virginia Press
Publication date:	09/19/2008
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jessica R. Feldman is Professor of English at the University of Virginia. Her publiished works include Gender on the Divide: The Dandy in Modernist Literature and Victorian Modernism: Pragmatism and the Varieties of Aesthetic Experience. She teaches widely in nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature. Robert Stilling is a doctoral candidate in English literature at the University of Virginia. He has published on Robert Frost in the Virginia Quarterly Review.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix
1 History, Memory, Politics The Past as Memory and Oblivion Alon Confino 1 Human Connections: History and the Latin American Novel Herbert Tico Braun 5 Your Culture or Your Rights? Women and the Multicultural Dilemma Denise Walsh 8 Best Sellers and Half-Truths: Misreading Iran in America Farzaneh Milani 13 How to Understand 9/11, Iraq, and Bush's War on Terrorism William B. Quandt 17 Writing Self and Society: East Asian Women Authors Ellen V. Fuller 20 Approaching China: Philosophy, History, and Politics Brantly Womack 24 Asian America: Studying Culture and Ethnicity Sylvia Chong 27 Improvising America: Rethinking the Founding Peter S. Onuf 31 Discerning Constitutional Meaning Daniel R. Ortiz 35 The Life and Afterlife of Slavery Lawrie Balfour 39 Ongoing Struggle: The Deeper History of the Civil Rights Movement Risa L. Goluboff 43
"The Cruel Radiance of What Is": Poverty in America since 1945 Grace Elizabeth Hale 47 Sex in the United States: Some History Cindy Aron 50 New Histories of the American West Christian W. McMillen 54 Political Power: How to Get It, Use It, and Avoid Losing It Larry Sabato 57 Media and Politics: Media Effects? Media Bias? Paul Freedman 61 Academic Capitalism: The Political Economy of Higher Education Brian Pusser 65 Tintin and the American Menace: French (Mis)representations of the United States Philippe Roger 69 Catastrophes and Commemorations: Shaping Nineteenth-Century Chicago Daphne Spain 73 Urban Plans and Urban Realities: Understanding Cities Dell Upton 77 Nations and Nationalism Krishan Kumar 80
2 Mathematics, Science, Technology Light and Life: The Evolution ofVisual Perception Dennis Proffitt 85 Everyday Evolution Edmund Russell 89 An Appreciation of Reality: Society and Science Reginald H. Garrett 92 Starship Earth User's Manual 2.0: Revising the Balance of Nature Herman H. Shugart 96 Perspectives on Global Warming Science Robert E. Davis 100 The Environmental Other: Finding and Losing Ourselves in Nature Jonathan Cannon 104 The Epic of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Universe Trinh Xuan Thuan 108 Doing Science: Physics, Genius, and Creativity Paul Fendley 111 Designing Matter: Molecules, Materials, and Their Importance to Society Cassandra L. Fraser 115 How Computing Changes Thinking David Evans 119 Symmetry and Group Theory Brian Parshall 123 Arguments: Exploring the History of Logic James Cargile 128
3 Literature At the Edge of War: Five from the 1850s Stephen Cushman 133 Mourning and Modern Poetry Jahan Ramazani 137 Doctors, Lawyers, and the Classics: Reading for Ethical Values Marcia Day Childress Julia D. Mahoney 140 Marketing Fiction: Victorian Serial Novels Stephen Arata 144 Love, Guilt, and Reparation: Fiction That Guides Us Karen Chase 148 Beside Ourselves: Ecstatic Poetry Lisa Russ Spaar 152 The Euphoric Suffering of Modern Heroines Alison Booth 156 Abroad at Home: Contemporary Interethnic Fiction Caroline Rody 160 Women between Cultures: Latina Writers of the United States Maria-Ines Lagos 164 Where Spain Is Real: The Nineteenth-Century Spanish Novel (and Beyond) Randolph D. Pope 167 Joyce's Ulysses, Five Ways Michael Levenson 171 Ovid's Metamorphoses Paul Barolsky 175 Beyond Shakespeare: Some Other High Points of English Renaissance Drama Clare R. Kinney 179 Dangerous Knowledge: Faust, Frankenstein, the Golem, and the Castle Jeffrey A. Grossman 183 Tolling the Bells: Liturgy and English Literature Bruce Holsinger 187 Return to the Word Hoard Elizabeth Fowler 190 Literature as Re-Viewing J. Paul Hunter 194
4 The Arts Art and Science in the Renaissance Francesca Fiorani 199 Maps, Graphs, and Icons: The Art of Visual Knowledge Representation Johanna Drucker 203 A Pilgrim's Guide: The Visual World of Medieval Art Lisa Reilly 207
"One, Two, Three, Four": One Hundred Years of Jazz and Counting Scott Deveaux 210 American Art and Material Culture Maurie Mcinnis 214
"Reading" Popular Entertainment John Frick 217 Music and Identity in the African Diaspora Melvin L. Butler 221 The Pleasures and Terrors of Speaking (and Reading) Aloud Judith Reagan 225
5 Mind, Body, Spirit The Beginning of Wisdom: Self-Knowledge Mitchell S. Green 231 Babies, Toddlers, and Teens: How Children Develop Judy Deloache 235 Illness Narratives David B. Morris 239 Psychiatric Anthropology: Mental Illness and Cultural Difference Larry Merkel 243 Exploring Human Diversity: An Entree into Anthropology Peter Metcalf 247 Sex and Morality John Portmann 250 For the Sake of Profit: Self-Interest, Self-Sacrifice, and Corporate Goals Ira Bashkow 253 The Four Goals of Life in Classical Hinduism John Nemec 257 Differing Inequalities: Considering India, Europe, and America R. S. Khare 261 Islam, Christianity, Judaism: Reading across a Difference Peter Ochs 265 The Need to Know Islam and Muslims Abdulaziz Sachedina 269 Index 273

What People are Saying About This

Michael Dirda

"Imagine a dinner party where you find yourself chatting with a group of people who seem to know just about everything about global warming, classical Hinduism, jazz, the American West, Chicago architecture, modern poetry, and any number of other fascinating subjects. As you're about to leave the party, each of them hands you a scribbled list of the classic works in his or her field. Now imagine that evening and those lists as a book. What Should I Read Next? is a wonderful Baedeker for serious readers, a guide to a liberal education in the 21st century."--(Michael Dirda, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and author of Classics for Pleasure)

Editorial Reviews

Imagine a dinner party where you find yourself chatting with a group of people who seem to know just about everything about global warming, classical Hinduism, jazz, the American West, Chicago architecture, modern poetry, and any number of other fascinating subjects. As you're about to leave the party, each of them hands you a scribbled list of the classic works in his or her field. Now imagine that evening and those lists as a book. What Should I Read Next? is a wonderful Baedeker for serious readers, a guide to a liberal education in the 21st century.

--Michael Dirda, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and author of Classics for Pleasure

From the Publisher

Imagine a dinner party where you find yourself chatting with a group of people who seem to know just about everything about global warming, classical Hinduism, jazz, the American West, Chicago architecture, modern poetry, and any number of other fascinating subjects. As you're about to leave the party, each of them hands you a scribbled list of the classic works in his or her field. Now imagine that evening and those lists as a book. What Should I Read Next? is a wonderful Baedeker for serious readers, a guide to a liberal education in the 21st century.

Michael Dirda