Wonderful Illustrations Research Articles

Tejanos in Gray: Civil War Letters of Captains Joseph Rafael de la Garza and Manuel Yturri (review)

Reviewed by: Tejanos in Gray: Civil War Letters of Captains Joseph Rafael de la Garza and Manuel Yturri Richard B. McCaslin Tejanos in Gray: Civil War Letters of Captains Joseph Rafael de la Garza and Manuel Yturri. Edited with an introduction by Jerry Thompson. Translated by José Roberto Juárez. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2011. Pp. 168. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 9781603442435, $29.95 cloth.) Thousands of Tejanos served in the Confederate and Texas military forces during [End Page 311] the Civil War, but few of the letters they wrote to family and friends are readily available to scholars of that period. Jerry Thompson draws upon a lifetime of extensive research to provide this slim volume, which helps to redress that lack of sources. The result is a welcome addition to the primary material on the history of Tejanos and the story of Texas in the Civil War. There are forty-one letters in this collection, written by two Confederate Tejano captains from San Antonio, Joseph Rafael de la Garza and Manuel Yturri. They were born into prominent families and became brothers-in-law, and both of them were educated outside of Texas, De la Garza at St. Joseph’s College in Kentucky and Yturri at St. Joseph’s and later the University of Pennsylvania. Both joined the Alamo Rifles of San Antonio in early 1862 when they were in their mid-twenties. De la Garza stayed with the Alamo Rifles when that unit became Company K of the 6th Texas Infantry, and he was killed at Mansfield during the Red River Campaign in April 1864. Yturri enlisted in Company H of the 6th Texas Infantry, then served in the 33rd Texas Cavalry for a year before securing a commission in the 3rd Texas Infantry, with which he served until the end of the war. The letters begin in April 1862 and, at least for Yturri, continue for three years. Most of them were written in Spanish, but they have been translated here. They primarily provide a touching litany of boredom, loneliness, illness, deprivation, and even desertion, but there are a few exceptions. Some excitement surfaces in those that focus on the Overland Campaign in Louisiana in 1863, there is a sad communication conveying a report of De la Garza’s death in combat, and Yturri provides a vivid account of the battle at Jenkins’ Ferry and its gory aftermath. Yturri also writes perhaps one of the most moving letters, which describes how a Texas captain who refused to take his troops east of the Mississippi River was tried and executed by a firing squad. But the material has its greatest impact in revealing perspectives on life at home in San Antonio, where the two Tejano officers’ families obviously struggled to survive without them. Absent from these documents is any clue about why they enlisted when they did, as conscription loomed on the horizon, though Yturri’s disgust with the war by 1865 and his strong desire to be home is quite clear. There are many names in the text that will be familiar to those who study Tejano history and that of Texas in the Civil War. Thompson provides effective notes, which are drawn from an impressive bibliography and comprise almost a fourth of the book, to explain the cast of characters and illuminate the letters. He also provides wonderful illustrations, many of them published from the collections of the two officers’ descendants or taken by Thompson himself. His introduction is somewhat unfocused, but it is gracefully written and provides a sufficient context for Tejano and Civil War scholars alike. Both groups should, and will, embrace this fine little work, and it will be cited in many footnotes. Richard B. McCaslin University of North Texas Copyright © 2012 The Texas State Historical Association

Suspended Animation: Children's Picture Books and the Fairy Tale of Modernity (review)

Reviewed by: Suspended Animation: Children's Picture Books and the Fairy Tale of Modernity Julia L. Mickenberg (bio) Suspended Animation: Children's Picture Books and the Fairy Tale of Modernity. By Nathalie op de Beeck. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010. Suspended Animation stands to make a major contribution to the field of children's literature studies, and its impact will also be felt in American studies, art history, material culture studies, and the history of the book. Nathalie op de Beeck's interdisciplinary study of the modern picture book takes into account the materiality of books themselves (beginning with this volume's own high-quality production and wonderful illustrations, including fourteen color plates); text-picture relationships; the world of popular and mass culture within which the picture book arose; modes of production and manufacture; reading practices; and the balance between avant-garde experimentation and folk nostalgia that is a defining feature of modernity and of the modern picture book. She also grapples with modern conceptions of childhood, which took shape around the same moment as and in conversation with the development of the picture book. Finally, her literary, visual, and historical analyses are informed by nuanced theoretical framing and an eclectic, intriguing array of artistic and literary allusions. This is an ambitious, provocative, and important book. Nathalie op de Beeck's use of "the formalist narratological term 'suspended animation'" alludes to picture books' relation to animation and cinema, arts that developed at the same historical moment as the picture book. According to op de Beeck, "The idea of suspended animation implies technology and alludes to paused images and texts in sequence over a series of pages, an accumulation of information akin to, but distinct from comic strip panels or cinematic reels" (ix). Her subtitle, referring to the "fairy tale of modernity," invokes the fairy tale debates from the early twentieth century that pitted children's librarians against progressive educators: the former—most vocally represented by librarian Anne Carroll Moore—tended toward the belief that children were better served by imaginative literature (including fairy tales); the latter—most vocally represented by educator Lucy Sprague Mitchell—tended to argue that children were better served by works that helped them to understand the urban, industrial world. The "fairy tale of modernity" refers to the way in which picture books balanced both of these concerns. According to op de Beeck, "Picture books of any era constitute a site where young readers inherit a qualified version of the past [End Page 476] and receive a fairy tale, or promise, of lived reality in the future" (xvi). She argues that "the picture book may be the ideal format in which to express the fairy tale of modernity, due to changes in American print culture, the increased ability to mass produce images in affordable texts via offset lithography and the development in thinking of the child as a consumer" (xvii). Following a careful and comprehensive introduction that sets forth the book's fundamental premises and arguments, there are four chapters and a short postscript. Chapter one, "Here and Now Fairy Tales: Old World Tradition and Modern Technology," discusses the modern picture book's emergence in the first decades of the twentieth century in conjunction with technological innovations and several intersecting cultural currents. As op de Beeck notes: Although the picture book signifies modernity, it did not spring fully formed from American publishing houses to libraries, schools, and bookstores. Like its formal and thematic influences in cinema, avant garde poetry, and modernist art, the picture book emerged as a cultural artifact only after decades of artistic ferment and technical experimentation. (10-11) Op de Beeck connects the development of the picture book with the growing tendency to separate children's culture from that of adults. She offers a compelling mix of historical background, theorizing, and nuanced close readings here and in the rest of the book. In her first chapter, op de Beeck focuses on the tension between avant-garde impulses such as those characteristic of the "lost generation" (from whom, she says, the picture book emerged)—including surrealism, psychoanalysis, futurism, and modernist word play—and a nostalgic impulse that likewise infused many modernist experiments. "Picture-book...

Genesis of the Institute for Aloe Studies

A loe sabaea, it all started with Aloe sabaea (Fig. 1). I was visiting the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California for the first time and when I saw that majestic tree aloe with its long twisted and pendulous leaves, I was hooked. It reminded me of the wonderful illustrations in the children’s books written by Dr. Seuss. I knew then that I had to have one and I was lucky enough to meet Brian Kemble, the garden’s curator, who was happy to send my brother and I home with Aloe sabaea plants of our very own. Over the next few years I collected aloes with a passion. I read as much as I could about them, tracked down copies of both aloe books written by G. W. Reynolds and began volunteering at the Ruth Bancroft Garden. My brother and I spent many afternoons driving to the many nurseries in the San Francisco Bay Area in search of new species to add to our collection. Our shared enthusiasm helped us become much closer and is a passion we continue to share. We spent many Wednesday afternoons volunteering at the Ruth Bancroft Garden, which has a large number of aloes in its collection. It has flowering sized plants of species rarely seen in cultivation, such as Aloe sabaea, A. medishiana, A. powysiorum, A. ukambensis, A. sheilae and many others. Repotting seedlings and adult plants, maintaining the greenhouse and

An Introductory Curriculum for Ultrasound-Guided Regional Anesthesia – A Learner’s Guide

One of the most fascinating developments in regional anesthesia in recent years has been the advent of ultrasound technology. This advancement has led to a rejuvenation of the field, and practitioners with varying experience in regional anesthesia and use of ultrasound want to use this tool to perform blocks. Consequently, a structured approach to the use and application of ultrasound is greatly needed for all practitioners. The recently published textbook, An Introductory Curriculum for Ultrasound-Guided Regional Anesthesia; A Learner’s Guide, is certainly timely and essential. The textbook is divided into five sections, which are further subdivided into one to three chapters. The sections are organized logically with one chapter flowing seamlessly into the next. In the thoughtful Foreword and Introduction preceding the sections, the authors place key emphasis on the importance of curriculum development. Also, this book does not disappoint in highlighting the visual nature of ultrasound and regional anesthesia. The pages are filled with wonderful illustrations and photographs of ultrasound images. Each chapter ends with a summary, recommended readings, and knowledge keys (key points). Most impressive in this textbook is the authors’ emphasis on understanding the ultrasound unit rather than merely performing the individual blocks. This is the true foundation behind safely using this technology, which the authors certainly appreciate. Close to half of the text is devoted to the Foundation of Ultrasound and Needling Techniques. The complexities of the physics behind ultrasound technology and the approach to scanning and the principles surrounding needling techniques are explained in such a graduated manner that they give way to many ‘‘aha’’ moments. The illustrations in this section are particularly effective in making this complex subject easy to understand. The authors emphasize the importance of in-plane scanning techniques; unfortunately, however, they omitted pictures and guidance for out-of-plane techniques. Although there are valid reasons for in-plane approaches, out-of-plane approaches remain useful in some circumstances, and it is critical that out-of-plane techniques be approached in the same cautious and structured manner as inplane techniques. The section on using models for ultrasound-guided needling is focused exclusively on the economical tofu model. Some bias is evident, as this model was reported previously by the book’s author, Dr. Pollard, and it was also cited in the recommended reading section. It would be helpful to include descriptions of other low fidelity easy to use portable models, e.g., the blue phantom models. The focus of the remaining four sections of the book is on the actual blocks: Section 2: Introductory Blocks, Section 3: Intermediate Level Blocks, Section 4: Advanced Techniques, and Section 5: Neuraxial Blocks. The Introductory Blocks section includes peripheral upper extremity techniques and the femoral nerve block. The Intermediate Level Blocks section includes brachial plexus blocks and approaches to the proximal sciatic and distal sciatic (popliteal) blocks. Surprisingly, the authors omitted the axillary approach on the basis of inability to abduct the arm, need for multiple injections, and axillary sensitivity. In our opinion, the ultrasound-guided approach continues to be practiced widely and is not uncomfortable for patients. The ‘‘need for multiple injections’’ provides a wonderful illustration of enhanced efficacy with ultrasound assistance. The Advanced Techniques section includes a detailed description of an approach to ultrasound-guided continuous femoral catheter placement. The emphasis on sterility and the nuances of hand position are written D. Persaud, MD (&) S. Garneau, MD University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada e-mail: dpersaud@ottawahospital.on.ca

Entertaining but educational immunology book for children

Entertaining but educational immunology book for children

A Commentary of Herodotus Books I-IV (review)

Reviewed by: A Commentary of Herodotus Books I-IV John Marincola David Asheri, Alan Lloyd, and Aldo Corcella. A Commentary of Herodotus Books I–IV. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Pp. lxxi, 721. $399.00. ISBN 978-0-19-814956-9. Originally published in Italian, this book has been translated by Barbara Graziosi, Matteo Rossetti, Carlotta Dus, and Vanessa Cazzato; and edited by Oswyn Murray and Alfonso Moreno; with a contribution by Maria Brosius. Herodotean scholars have long complained that an up-to-date replacement for the nonagenarian commentary of How and Wells is an urgent requirement of classical scholarship, even as they recognized that the task was daunting: the wide range of Herodotus' interests, combined with the explosion of research over the last century into the many cultures and lands that Herodotus treated, called for mastery on a scale rarely seen in a single individual. Whence would such heroes appear? The answer began to form in the 1970s and 1980s, first with A. B. Lloyd's monumental commentary on Book II (Brill, 3 vols., 1975–1988), and then with the new series of commentaries on individual Books of Herodotus, published for the Fondazione Lorenzo Valla by Mondadori (Milan), of which the jewels in the crown were those by David Asheri on Books I (1988) and III (1990). Lloyd produced for this same series a condensed version of his Book II commentary (1989), and the first half of Herodotus was rounded off by Aldo Corcella's excellent commentary on Book IV (1993). [End Page 502] Oxford University Press has now published an English translation of the Mondadori commentaries on Books I–IV, all of them revised by their authors (Asheri's two volumes up to his death in 2000) and printed here in a single, beautifully produced volume, enhanced by forty-four maps and plans (more attractive, to my eye at least, than their Italian counterparts) and with clear and helpful chronological tables. Alas, the wonderful illustrations of the Italian volumes have not made the transition. The result, at least for the first half of Herodotus, is the new commentary that has long been desiderated, a commentary that will serve as a new standard now and for as far into the future as anyone can see. Asheri's general introduction, more than fifty pages, must now be the first port of call for anyone interested in Herodotus: it is distinguished by wide learning and discriminating judgment and virtually every aspect of Herodotus' work is treated thoroughly and judiciously. Asheri's commentaries themselves possess the same qualities, and one notes as well the exceptionally high standards of learning and judgment displayed by both Lloyd and Corcella. The individual introductions to each of the books, complete with outlines, are likewise thorough and tremendously helpful for novice and expert alike. The editors "did not interfere in any way with the views of the original authors, or seek to add anything to their commentaries" (viii), and although this is understandable, it has led to a general dearth of cross-references and, in some cases, to a few problems, as when, for example, references are made to Lloyd's Brill commentary for matters treated in the present volume or cross-references seem to be made to the Italian versions. More substantially, the lack of an index is greatly to be regretted. But these drawbacks cannot detract from the great benefits to be won from this volume. The editors and their team of translators must be commended, with special thanks going to Oswyn Murray, who first conceived of the project and saw it through, despite its great challenges, to the end. He has also written a sensitive tribute to Asheri, to whose memory the volume is dedicated. This, then, is a volume that should be in the hands of every student and scholar, but at $399 that seems particularly unlikely; I worry that even some smaller college libraries might hesitate before spending so much on one book. So I end with a plea to Oxford University Press, that they find some way to produce an affordable paperback of this volume (once the big libraries have bought their copies, of course); in doing so, they will place...

Cars, compositionality, and consciousness

Learning to drive a car is a long and tedious process. For most of us, it takes many painful hours of training. At the beginning, the car is an external device, reacting in unpredictable ways. But progressively, we get used to some of the dynamics of the complex machine. We have to simultaneously learn basic control operations like switching the gears and pushing the brake, and to combine the operations into higher-level behavioral chunks like starting, stopping, turning, parking, and passing another car. Day after day we get used to the car's space occupation and the time necessary to slow down. The car becomes like our second skin. We learn to adapt each skill to specific contexts such as starting on a steep street, turning on a wet road, passing a long truck or parking in a busy Parisian boulevard. Based on the chunks we can easily anticipate and look ahead. We plan long trips by just focusing on important direction decisions and assuming that all the rest should run smoothly. For those who commute everyday by car, some driving trips are so familiar that the chunks can be done with almost no conscious control. Driving has become as natural as walking: an unconscious experience. However, as in walking, if something unexpected happens (e.g. a child crossing the street and a strange behavior of a car due to a flat tire) we are always ready to take control again and rapidly adapt to the new situation. Tani (2007) doesn't write about cars. However, the article gives precious insights on how neural circuits can perform similar to the process we just described. It shows very convincingly how certain kinds of recurrent neural networks can acquire compositionality without using symbols. Compositionality is the property of systems that can be decomposed into reusable parts. Linguistic systems are typical examples of compositional systems. Discourses are combinations of sentences that are combination of words, which are combination of phonemes. Most sensorimotor behaviors, such as driving, are also intrinsically compositional, reusing basic primitives, chunks or schemas. It seems to be a fundamental feature for achieving complexity. Compositional systems are very common in symbolic artificial intelligence. In these models, each chunk is an explicit structure that can be easily manipulated, organized in hierarchies and used for building plans. Unfortunately, most of the symbolic systems have difficulties in dealing with real-world dynamics for which plans must be constantly reassessed and the chunks must be continuously adapted to deal with the present situation. Tani's neural model not only shows that a dynamical system can exhibit compositional properties without having an explicit notion of chunk or schema, but also convincingly demonstrates that it can deal with complex real-work interaction in real time. The neural network has to discover by itself how to segment the continuous sensorimotor flow into sequences of reusable segments and to simultaneously arrange the chunks into higher-level sequences. The challenge is that both the processes have to run concurrently as in any real-world learning. The cornerstone of Tani's model is that it combines dynamic interactions between top-down look-ahead anticipations and a bottom regression process, permitting to re-situate the system if something goes wrong in the prediction. It is a wonderful illustration of self-organization at work. There is something more. Tani's model tells us something important about the conscious experience associated with such compositional and dynamic management of behavior. Continuing some earlier discussions about the link between this kind of neural models and the conscious appraisal of time (Tani 2004), Tani suggests that when anticipation successively predicts the sensorimotor flow during the execution of a familiar behavioral sequence (e.g. driving on a familiar road), there is nothing to be “conscious” about. However, when a “breakdown” occurs, i.e., when there is a gap between the anticipation of the top-down system and the actual sensorimotor flow (e.g. a child crossing the street), the system has to perform intensive regression, which is an adjustment of the “self”. This bottom-up process may result in the conscious experience associated with the unexpected event. Compositionality and consciousness are likely to be intrinsically linked. The experience of driving a car is made of continuous shifts between unconscious “incorporated” sequences and small moments of awareness. To understand these bottom-up and top-down dynamics, we need plausible neural models of the emergence of compositional behavior. Tani's neurorobotic experiments are important steps in this direction.

Reinterpreting Revolutionary Russia: Essays in Honour of James D. White by Ian D. Thatcher (review)

reviews 561 incisive essay on the effect of defeat on tsarist foreign policy underlines the perceived imperative for a recueillement inRussia's external relations, but also shows how Russia's bureaucratic elite established a greater role for itself in the foreign policy-making process. Norman Saul's contribution on the peace talks inNew Hampshire charts their course, and isvery attuned to diplomatic nuances in examining the subtle changes that occurred in Russo-American relations startingwith the Portsmouth-Kittery talks. The translated chapters, in particular, would have benefited frommore careful copy-editing, which might easily have filtered out stylistic infelicities and grammatical and typographical errors. Although very nicely produced, and adorned with wonderful illustrations, at around ?130 each, the price for the two volumes isprohibitive. Overall, there can be no doubt as to the scholarly thoroughness and importance of the essays brought together in these two volumes. Scholars of the period will want to take note of them. Even so, a grain of doubt remains. Following Japan's victory in the war, a senior British diplomat comment ed that the rise of Japan had so upset the existing international order 'as a planet the size of Mars would derange the solar system'. The Russo-Japa neseWar was a regional conflictwith global ramifications, and itneeds to be seen in a global context. The essays reviewed here, excellent though they are, remain focused on the two antagonists on Mars, but pay little attention to the solar system. School of History T. G. Otte Universityof East Anglia Thatcher, Ian D. (ed.).Reinterpreting Revolutionary Russia: Essays in Honour of James D. White. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke and New York, 2006. vii + 219 pp. Notes. Index. ?45.00. Ian Thatcher has assembled an impressive collection of highly readable essays inhonour ofJames White. In his own Introduction, Thatcher highlights White's research on the Bolshevik seizure of power, which stressed that it was Trotskii's tactic of transferring power bloodlessly to the Soviets that triumphed, though Lenin's idea of an offensive on Petrograd dominated the historiography in order to preserve Lenin's primacy in the legend. On theTerror in 1905John Keep shows that itsobject of achieving po litical change succeeded only when strikes, riots and demonstrations forced the Tsar to concede reforms. Keep cites the revisionist view of terrorists as dangerous Utopians, often criminals in disguise, while he limits terrorism to 'violent individual or group action [. . .] designed to kill or harm per sons, rightly or wrongly, as members or supporters of an oppressive ruling establishment' (p. 22). The theme of Russian terrorism is continued in Jane McDermid's article on Mariya Spiridonova. Arrested for the assassination of a provincial governor, Spiridonova soon became a cause celebre when itwas reported that 562 SEER, 86, 3, JULY 2008 she had been beaten, tortured and sexually assaulted under interrogation. The idea of 'a beautiful young woman, determined to "sacrifice" her lifeon the altar of the revolutionary cause' (p. 37), and suffering torture as a result, was taken up as a sensation in the Western press, which was more indignant at her mistreatment than either her killing of the governor or the sentence of death, which was commuted to twentyyears in exile. Revisiting the work of Leopold Haimson and the question of whether World War One was fundamentally responsible for the demise of tsarism, David Saunders broadens his focus beyond the immediate pre-war years and intoprovincial industrial centres.His research on the impactmade byRussia's nineteenth-century wars on industrial labour leads him to conclude that it was not the intensification of pre-existing trends that ended tsarism,but rather the 'equilibrium-punctuating catastrophe' (p. 57) that was the war. Rex Wade questions the terminal date of the Russian revolution. After surveying the wide range that generations of historians have applied ? October itself,theCivil War, NEP, Lenin's death, and even 1937-38 and the Great Terror, Wade settles for the dispersal of the Constitutional Assembly inJanuary 1918, arguing persuasively that that event 'transformed a political struggle into a military struggle, revolution into civilwar' (p. 85). Analysing Trotskii's role in the civilwar, Geoffrey Swain argues that it was his application of 'thoroughly un-Bolshevik' (p. 86) principles of organiza...

Classic Chic: Music, Fashion, and Modernism (review)

Reviewed by: Classic Chic: Music, Fashion, and Modernism Alex Goody Classic Chic: Music, Fashion, and Modernism. Mary E. Davis . Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2006. Pp. xix + 332. $39.95 (cloth). In Classic Chic Mary E. Davis presents an engaging account of the connections between modernist music and other cultural phenomena, especially haute couture fashion, in early twentieth-century France. This beautifully produced book, with many wonderful illustrations, provides an insight into the cultural world of modernist Paris and its transatlantic influences, especially through American ragtime and jazz and in the Conde Nast publications Vogue and Vanity Fair. In the extrapolation of her core argument, that "the upscale fashion press played a more significant role in defining and advocating musical modernism than has been recognized" (1), Davis unearths a welter of fascinating cultural moments. There is enough material in this volume to appeal to the side of us that wants the scandals of the age to come alive—the account of Coco Chanel's affair with Igor Stravisnky in 1920–21 for example—but such aspects are presented in meticulous and measured detail, and are clearly the result of scrupulous research. Classic Chic is not a volume of anecdotes and scandals, but a contribution to ongoing debates about the relationship of modernism and the modernist avant-garde to the popular and fashionable culture of the early twentieth century. Michael Murphy, in his important essay on Vanity Fair, pointed to the central place of "cultural savvy" in bohemian modernism, and was one of the initial critics to resist and rework the "contamination anxiety" that Andreas Huyssen identified at the heart of modernism's relationship to mass culture.1 With studies such as Michael North's Reading 1922: A Return to the Scene of the Modern (1999), which juxtaposed the fashion craze for Egyptiana with Joyce's Ulysses, or David Chinitz's T. S. Eliot and the Cultural Divide (2003), which revealed Eliot's fascination with comic-strips and vaudeville, the standard has been set for the examination of modernist culture as a diverse field of effect that encompasses the extremes of elitism and the popularity of the fashionable and savvy. In her contribution Davis presents many fascinating moments in early twentieth-century Parisian cultural life, unearthing Paul Poiret's interest in French rococo music and promotion of it at his lavish entertainments, and weaving together the Orientalist threads of the prewar period, from the Ballet Russes's Scheherezade to Poiret's "harem pants." Returning again and again to Diaghilev's Ballet Russes, Davis argues very persuasively for its importance in cementing the relationship between fashion and music. Davis also demonstrates the links between the key figures of her study, Erik Satie, Stravinsky, Chanel, Cocteau, Picasso, and Diagilev's troupe. (Fig. 1) Her account of the Ballet Russes's Parade (1917) pulls together the different elements that went into the ballet, from the actual ragtime dance that Satie drew on in his composition for the Little American Girl's dance to Picasso's 10 by 17 meter canvas curtain. Similarly, there are detailed accounts of the development of Chanel's fashion aesthetic and wonderful analyses of Satie and Stravinsky's compositions. Also notable is the very careful reading of Satie's Sports et divertissements, in which Davis presents the context for the composition, including the particular relationship to the French fashion periodicals La Gazette du Bon Ton and Femina. The close reading of the interplay of Satie's scores and texts with Charles Martin's 1914 and 1922 illustrations is insightful and illuminating. What emerges is an emphasis on Sports et divertissements, not as a general, prototypically modernist piece, but as a composition that emerges specifically within the contemporary context of the art and fashion worlds. Stravinsky is also read in a different light, with Davis highlighting the "contemporary fashionability" (184) of his Symphonies, rather than identifying it as high modernism, or proto-abstractionism. By drawing Chanel and Stravinsky together, and not merely as bedfellows, Davis unearths dominant trends in high fashion, music, and culture, such as Chanel's "little black dress" and [End Page 775] Stravisnky's neoclassicism, which elevate "simplicity" to the apex of a fashionable aesthetic...

Fearless Women in the Mexican Revolution and the Spanish Civil War (review)

Reviewed by: Fearless Women in the Mexican Revolution and the Spanish Civil War Claire Brewster Fearless Women in the Mexican Revolution and the Spanish Civil War. By Tabea Alexa Linhard. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8262-1611-0. Photographs. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. x, 282. $39.95. In many respects this is an ambitious book: in Fearless Women Linhard brings together different genres and crosses continents as she looks at women's participation in the Mexican Revolution and the Spanish Civil War, and the representation of their contribution to these events in literature and (briefly) cinema. Linhard makes a convincing case for looking at the Mexican Revolution and Spanish Civil War together, and she brings the two events together almost seamlessly in her discussion of literary, cultural and gender theory in the first section of her book. She also includes some wonderful illustrations, although one could question the publisher's decision to add the leading subtitles to figs. 3 and 4 (pp. 48–49). Conversely, the picture of the plaque to the thirteen Rosas in the Madrid cemetery, dated 1988, begs further details: who precisely was responsible for this commemoration to these women and why did it happen in 1988 (fig. 10, p. 157)? Quoting Jo Labanyi, Linhard states that one of the aims of her book is to give the female participants of the Mexican Revolution and Spanish Civil War "a hospitable memory . . . out of concern for justice," and that her goal is "to set free their ghosts, to gesture at something that, like a specter or a phantom limb, cannot be seen, much less apprehended" (p. 7). In her quest to do so, Linhard concentrates on the textual representation of these women [End Page 555] and, in particular, the manner of their untimely deaths. This is, as she later explains, "because revolutionary women usually made their entrance to historiographies or archives only in the form of icons, metaphors or myths, discussing their roles in these struggles necessarily leads to a space between history and literature, between fact and fiction, or between myths and the complex histories that lurk underneath" (p. 31). Yet some of the discussions of real events (such as the rationale behind the suicide of Lina Ordena and the literary criticism of the testimonies relating to the events of the night before the executions of eleven of the thirteen "Rosas") make uncomfortable reading. It is easier to consider the examples of Mexico's "Adelitas" and "Valentinas" who perhaps always were, and who have certainly become, types rather than individuals. Fearless Women is a scholarly and well-referenced work that is likely to appeal to a variety of students and academics; although its cross-gender nature may inevitably mean that readers will find some chapters more accessible than others. Students of Mexican and Spanish women's literature will find Linhard's discussions of her chosen texts very useful and, although it is unlikely that all of her readers will be familiar with all of the works discussed, she provides sufficient detail and enticing quotes that invite one to study the texts more closely—or at least they make one Mexicanist feel that she ought to learn more about the Spanish Civil War. Claire Brewster University of Newcastle Newcastle, United Kingdom Copyright © 2007 Society for Military History

Circuitries Involved in the Regulation of Energy Homeostasis: View from the Chair

A simple perusal of the wonderful illustrations in the Netter Atlases showing the effects of various hypothalamic lesions on food intake and energy homeostasis makes it very clear that there exists a long history of research directed toward understanding the integrated central nervous system (CNS) circuitries through which the brain is able to achieve such a precise balance of energy intake with energy requirements. The second session of this symposium is four presentations on the “Neurobiology of Obesity,” highlighting some very exciting new technologies and some very important considerations that will clearly need to be a part of the continued effort to understand not only how the brain achieves this balance under normal circumstances, but ultimately to identify the pathological changes that lead to the many clinical abnormalities associated with abnormal regulation of energy homeostasis. Many presentations at this meeting emphasized the potential importance of neurons in the arcuate nucleus to the regulation of feeding and metabolism. Harvey Grill convinced at least this part of the audience that, despite the recognized roles of this hypothalamic region, the “arcuate model” does not take into account the very extensive evidence, suggesting important roles for other hypothalamic, medullary, and midbrain centers in contributing to a “distributed system” for control of energy balance. Interesting reversed parallels exist here in the literature describing neural mechanisms of cardiovascular control. Thus, the medullary dorsal vagal complex was for many years thought to be the primary dominant cardiovascular control center. Our understanding of this system has now evolved to a clearer perspective, which, while still recognizing important roles for this region of the brain, has also identified the additional sophistication of this control system associated with the contributions of midbrain, hypothalamic, and even cortical cardiovascular control centers. A variety of techniques (lesion, stimulation, recording, imaging, and more recently, knockout animals) have been used in attempts to understand the roles of specific neuronal subgroups (anatomical or chemical) in the control of energy homeostasis. These studies, while providing important information, have suffered from many difficulties of interpretation including those associated with fibers of passage, anatomical vs. functional subgroups of neurons; multiplicity of systems directed toward essential “end points,” developmental vs. adult functions in genetically modified animals, and in vivo compared with in vitro effects. Dr. Nina Balthasar’s paper in this supplement describes her recent work using sophisticated modern genetic tools to conditionally compromise the function of very specific neuronal subgroups involved in energy homeostasis and, thus, permit very precise analysis of the contributions of very specific components of the integrated neuronal circuitry. In this work, by specifically targeting leptin receptor knockout on proopiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons, she suggests that the relatively mild obesity that results (only 20% of that observed in full-blown leptin receptor or leptin gene knockouts) argues persuasively that leptins’ role in regulation of this population of neurons cannot be the primary determinant leading to the development of obesity. Similar observations (partial development of obesity) for leptin receptor knockout specific to agouti-related peptide (AgRP) arcuate neurons or steroidogenic factor 1–expressing neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus similarly argue in favor of multiple sites of action for central leptin in controlling body weight. Similar conclusions emerge from a second equally elegant set of melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) manipulations. Knockout mice were developed without the MC4R receptor, which was reinserted specifically into the hypothalamic paraventricular nuclei/amygdala by selective reactivation by Cre-recombinase, whose expression is driven by the Sim-1 promoter. In this case, while these animals showed reversal of the effects of MC4R knockout on food intake (no hyperphagia), effects on energy expenditure remained and could not be normalized by the melanocortin receptor agoDepartment of Physiology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Address correspondence to Alastair V. Ferguson, Department of Physiology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6. E-mail: avf@post.queensu.ca Copyright © 2006 NAASO

Debussy's letters to Inghelbrecht: the story of a musical friendship

Desire-Emile Inghelbrecht was a conductor, and composer. His friendship with Claude Debussy began in 1911 (although they had met previously), and he soon became one of the Master's closest friends. This book is the first publication, in the original French and in English translation, of the correspondence between these two musicians. Beginning rather formally in 1912, with the salutation Mon cher Inghelbrecht, the correspondence soon became much more intimate, with Debussy addressing Inghelbrecht as Mon cher ami or Cher Inghel. Although Debussy had a reputation for being cold and distant and for avoiding strangers, this was just his way of maintaining his privacy.This aloofness enabled him to express in private the warmth he felt toward those few close friends whose intimacy he needed and cherished. Inghelbrecht was in the forefront of this group. Their friendship was based not only on a mutual respect for each other's talents as artists and musicians, but also on the sharing of intimate secrets and warm feelings. Inghelbrecht's wife would later write that her husband retained the mark Debussy left on him.'For him, he was a beacon, a guide. And he had the deep joy of being able, up until his last days, to bring to life-with passion, with all his talent-the works of a man who had been for a few years his friend. Margaret G. Cobb, the doyenne of Debussy scholars, brings to life these two talented men. She enriches Richard Miller's idiomatic translation of the letters with copious notes and wonderful illustrations to illuminate a great musical friendship. Margaret G. Cobb is also the author of The Poetic Debussy, available from the University of Rochester Press. In 2002 she was awarded the title of Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government's Ministere de la Culture et de la Communication.

Weights and Measures in Scotland: A European Perspective (review)

Reviewed by: Weights and Measures in Scotland: A European Perspective William J. Ashworth (bio) Weights and Measures in Scotland: A European Perspective. By R. D. Connor and A. D. C. Simpson, ed. A. D. Morrison-Low. Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland, 2004. Pp. xvi+842. €50. This is a big book—842 pages of meticulously researched detail accompanied by wonderful illustrations. It is divided into two parts. The first tells the history of approximately eight centuries of north Britain's weights and measures (roughly from the end of the twelfth to the end of the nineteenth century), and the second comprises text and pictures illustrating the vast range of metrological standards. If the expression "labor of love" has any meaning, it surely applies to this work. It is not, however, always a gripping read. The winding trails and messy histories of weights and measures are not easy to follow. This is not the fault of the authors, R. D. Connor and A. D. C. Simpson, but simply reflects the nature of the subject and suggests why metrology has been neglected by historians. One of the central themes concerns the mutation of Scottish metrological standards through European trade. Even though dominated by English influences, much of the basis for standards came through commerce with the Low Countries and France. The other principal focus is on everyday practices. Weights and measures originally gained their meaning (and practice of gauging) from local understandings of the objects being exchanged. As the narrative develops, it becomes clear that the emergence of an integrated national market required a reduction in the number of different types of weights and measures (and containers). This became particularly true after Scotland joined England and Wales in the Act of Union in 1707. From the outset, material artifacts play an important role in informing the authors' history. There is, of course, very little material that actually [End Page 640] records how weights and measures were used (as opposed to prescribed) in customary practice. Connor and Simpson conclude that "It would be fair to say that we could not have reached our conclusions about the customary allowances without the independent evidence of crucial surviving items" (p. xiii). The result is entirely successful and demonstrates how important it is for historians of technology to engage with material culture. There is much to admire about this book, from the analysis on the interaction of the marketplace and legislation to the influence of trade with England and Europe—especially France and the Low Countries. It also sheds light on the actors who influenced the forging of weights and measures—from politicians and state officials to instrument makers and philosophical advisors. The authors trace the rise of precision measurement in eighteenth-century Scotland and show how this informed the country's metrology. Despite an official desire for a single system of metrological standards after the early seventeenth century, the chance of this actually happening was for a long time negligible. Different transactions tended to define the type of weights, while assize definitions were not constant and alternative weights were used for foreign or domestic operations. Attempts to obtain original standards and compare them to prevailing legislation typically failed. One impediment to establishing standards concerned differences among state institutions holding original weights and measures. Metrological standards in Scotland (as in the whole of Europe) had no abstract denomination, and accounting for the weight or measure of a commodity was a qualitative process that varied from region to region, and indeed within regions. It was a process suited to small communities and local markets. Consequently, it was extremely difficult to make measures accountable to a centralized source of social authority. The problematic introduction of the metric system in France is well-known, but an equally stormy history accompanied the Act of Union in 1707 when an attempt was made to force the English system of weights and measures on Scotland. The Scots would have none of it; Scotland simply used two systems. The Scottish courts defended the continued use of local measures for internal trade, while London directed customs and excise to collect duties using English measures. Trying to make a coherent and therefore predictable tax policy under...

The Visionary Life of Madre Ana de San Agustin (review)

Reviewed by: The Visionary Life of Madre Ana de San Agustín Jodi Bilinkoff The Visionary Life of Madre Ana de San Agustín. Critical edition and Introduction by Elizabeth Teresa Howe . [ Colección Támesis, Serie B: Textos, 46.] ( Rochester, New York: Boydell & Brewer. 2004. Pp. xiii, 131. $75.00.) During the last twenty years or so literary scholars and historians have been active in "rediscovering" the abundant writings of late medieval and early modern religious women. Many of these texts were never published, or were printed in single editions, their authors virtually forgotten over the centuries. Such was the case with the Spanish nun Ana de San Agustín (1555–1624), who dictated two autobiographical narratives, or Relaciones, between 1606 and 1609. Now, thanks to the careful editorial effort of Elizabeth Teresa Howe, these two manuscripts from Madrid's Biblioteca Nacional are available to scholars in an attractive book. Howe has performed an important service, as Ana's story sheds fascinating light on the spiritual currents and institutional conflicts of her day. By the tender age of 13 Ana de Pedruja had become aware of the new Discalced Carmelite Order, and soon became acquainted with its founder, Teresa of Avila. Ana entered the order in 1575, joining an exceptional group of women among the first Discalced Carmelite nuns. She would dedicate the remainder of her life to upholding Teresa's ideal of female monastic reform, particularly in the houses at Villanueva de la Jara and Valera de Abajo, which she helped to found and in which she played crucial administrative roles. And like Teresa, Ana often experienced visions. Her superiors and confessors thus ordered her to record the details of her complex, sometimes disturbing, at times amusing interior life. Howe includes a number of aids for understanding these texts. Foremost among them is her clearly-written and insightful introduction, situating Ana's Relaciones in the tradition of Christian visionary writing, especially by women, the early history of the Discalced Carmelite Order, and the extraordinary impact of Teresa's life and works on her spiritual daughters, and eventually, on religious women generally. She also provides a useful chronology of events in the life of Ana and her order, a bibliography of primary and secondary sources, explanatory notes throughout the transcription, and sixteen wonderful illustrations. Scholars of religious life in early modern Spain will welcome this edition and applaud Elizabeth Teresa Howe for restoring Ana de San Agustín to her rightful place in "la herencia teresiana" (the legacy of St. Teresa). I only hope that a translation will follow, so that readers of English too can come to appreciate Ana, her visions, her struggles, and her steadfast commitment to Teresa as a source of authority for women in the religious life. Jodi Bilinkoff University of North Carolina at Greensboro Copyright © 2005 The Catholic University of America Press

One Still Face, Many Visions

Tronick, Cohn, and Muir and Lee have strengthened and extended our history of the still‐face procedure by reflecting on important theoretical and methodological issues in the current literature, and by looking to the future of how the still face can inform and guide further investigations. These commentaries provide a wonderful illustration of how the use of a shared, if not fully standardized, paradigm can continue to inspire ever more sharing of ideas.

On Barbarian Identity: Critical Approaches to Ethnicity in the Early Middle Ages (review)

Reviews 227 Parergon 20.1 (2003) While her canvas is a relatively restricted one, Freeman has successfully demonstrated her capacity to engage in a close and imaginative reading of some little-studied historical texts. She shows that something interesting can often be drawn from writing traditionally dismissed as monastic curiosity rather than serious historical investigation. Constant J. Mews School of Historical Studies Monash University Gillett, Andrew, ed., On Barbarian Identity: Critical Approaches to Ethnicity in the Early Middle Ages (Studies in the Early Middle Ages 4), Turnhout, Brepols, 2003; hardback; 8 colour plates, 12 b/w illustrations; pp. xxiv; 265; RRP EUR60.00; ISBN 2503511686. This important book mounts an aggressive assault on the use of ‘ethnogenesis’ models in the study of the barbarians of classical antiquity in both archaeology and philology/history. The historical critique is focussed on the work of Reinhard Wenskus, whose 1961 Stammsbildung und Verfassung is perceived as the origin of a scholarly community that is represented today by Herwig Wolfram, Walter Pohl and Patrick Geary, among others. The ‘culture history’ approach in archaeology is traced to ‘the work of Gustav Kossinna [1858-1931] and others’ (p. 4). The trajectories traced by the volume interlock in various ways: Section I examines cases of the use of’‘ethnogenesis’ in late antique and early medieval studies; Section II provides three archaeological cases which are primarily examinations of the genealogies of influential theoretical positions; and Section III contains two responses, by Walter Pohl and Charles Bowlus. Walter Goffart’s Section I opener, ‘Does the Distant Past Impinge on the InvasionAge Germans?’is a more informal, less academic piece than other contributions . There is charm in his frank use of anecdotal evidence and conversations with colleagues in his discussion of memory and the status of the distant past, and his insistence on the written Graeco-Roman record as the preserver of all that is known about Germanic peoples is well-argued (the case ofArminius being classic, p. 24). Particularly impressive is his analysis of migrations: ‘[c]ertainly, people moved; action generally involves motion. What matters, however, is not the incidental circumstance of changing places, but the broader occurrences that were going on’(p. 29). The second part of the paper is a more targeted critique of 228 Reviews Parergon 20.1 (2003) the work of Herwig Wolfram, concentrating on his ‘vision of an unbroken, millennial, tradition-rich development of the Germanic/German peoples’ (p. 36). With Alexander Callander Murray’s ‘Reinhard Wenskus on “Ethnogenesis”, and the Origin of the Franks’ the density of the volume increases sharply. The footnotes are often more powerful bearers of significance than the text of the papers, and one of the book’s strengths is the vast array of scholarship which is drawn together for the first time for an Anglophone audience. Murray considers three ways in which Wenskus’ work intersects ‘with the prevailing currents of German historiography’ (p. 54): concern to establish continuity between the Germans of the Roman world and modern Germany and German identity; a political connection (which is somewhat unclear, as the argument draws in the Nazi ideas of Otto Hofler, possibly to taint Wenskus by association); and the insistence that ethnic identity is carried by social and political elites. The final third of the essay uses the Franks as a case study, concluding that authors after Gregory of Tours were unaware of the inherited tradition posited by Wenskus ‘because it was not there’ (p. 67). The contributions of Michael Kulikowski (‘Nation versusArmy?ANecessary Contrast?’) andAndrew Gillett (‘Was Ethnicity Politicized in the Earliest Medieval Kingdom?’) are more closely-plotted case studies, Gillett’s containing a valuable fifteen-page tabulation of official evidence for royal titles in the barbarian kingdoms, which concludes that although some ‘ethnic titles’ (such as rex Francorum) are well-attested, the vast majority of titles are without ethnic designations. The final essay in Section II, Derek Fewster’s ‘Visions of National Greatness: Medieval Images, Ethnicity, and Nationalism in Finland, 1905-1945’, stands alone, in that its subject matter is outside late antiquity. However, it is a lively and informative piece, with eight wonderful illustrations, concentrating on the paucity of evidence for medieval Finland, and the political motivations of...

Women in Purple: Rulers of Medieval Byzantium by Judith Herrin (review)

REVIEWS 234 endeavors. Goffman prefaces each chapter with a short “pseudo-biographical vignette.” The vignettes imaginatively reconstruct events in the life of a seventeenthcentury Ottoman emissary named Kubad Çavuş. Their intent, Goffman claims, is to “personalize the historical record” and to convey a “richer and more empathetic understanding” of the Ottoman world through personal detail (xv). The vignettes are an interesting idea and could be an especially effective strategy for engaging the “general and student audience” the series targets (xiii). The first problem with these short narratives is that they are occasionally deficient in the “personality” they hope to convey. While the early vignettes are quite engaging , some of the latter ones are not vivid or novelistic enough to personalize our perspective of the historical master narratives they introduce. The second and even more troubling problem with the narratives is that they are offered as a way to compensate for the “paucity of diaries, memoirs, letters, and similar writings” within the Ottoman historical record (xiv). To assume that the reconstructive work of a twenty-first-century scholar working in the American academy can even approximate the perspective of a seventeenth-century Ottoman is a dubious presumption. Goffman seems aware of his limitations and insists that his “intent is not to concoct fables”; nevertheless, he implies that these tales will “flesh out” a historical record he laments is administrative rather than personal (xiv–xv). The new translations of Ottoman texts available in Nabil Matar’s In the Lands of the Christians, however, do a great deal to remedy the source problem Goffman identifies. The books would make great teaching companions; one could supplement or replace Goffman’s narrative reconstructions with excerpts from the book, or with selections from the famous seventeenth -century Turkish travel writer Evliya Çelebi.5 Goffman’s book fills a useful gap for history instructors and students by presenting an empathetic history of the Ottoman Empire that is both scholarly and accessible. The historiographical questions the book raises about what counts as an Ottoman source and about the “value” of evaluating societies could actually provoke useful pedagogical discussions—as long as instructors encourage their students to read their textbooks critically. Left unchallenged, however, students will probably learn more content than method from the textbook. While the book presents an updated and sympathetic view of the Empire at a critical time, the authoritative tone of the book tends to reify the version of history it contains. Instructors can, nevertheless, find room for discussion and debate between the lines of this rich and detailed text. The book includes plenty of historical quotations and wonderful illustrations that are ripe for analysis; I hope students will be encouraged to grapple with these embedded primary texts for themselves. HOLLY CRAWFORD PICKETT, English, UCLA Judith Herrin, Women in Purple: Rulers of Medieval Byzantium (Princeton: 5 Nabil Matar, ed. and trans., In the Lands of the Christians: Arabic Travel Writing in the Seventeenth Century (New York 2003); Evliya Çelebi, Evliya Çelebi’s Book of Travels : Land and People of the Ottoman Empire in the Seventeenth Century, 5 vols. (Leiden and New York 1988–2000). REVIEWS 235 Princeton University Press, 2001) xi + 304 pp., ill., maps. Judith Herrin graces us with an informative and entertaining account of the rule of three Byzantine empresses, Women in Purple. Irene, Euphrosyne, and Theodora ruled the eastern Mediterranean Christian empire of Byzantium in the eighth and ninth centuries A.D. In addition to the dubious honor of being women rulers in an age when few females yielded such power, all three left lasting contributions to universal art and culture by preserving and protecting the veneration of religious icons in the Eastern Christian Church. The policy against the worship of icons had its beginnings in the seventh century. Throughout the 720s and 730s the Saracens were attacking the outreaches of Byzantium with the ultimate goal of entrenching themselves in the capital city of Constantinople. After a series of defeats at the hands of the Arabs , the Byzantine emperor Leo III, believing that his Arab enemies were granted victory because of their strict stand against the worship of images, issued an edict banning the worship of all icons in his own empire...

The Microbial Challenge: Human-Microbe Interactions

During the past decade, a wide array of books have addressed the topic of new and emerging infectious diseases. In The Microbial Challenge: Human-Microbe Interactions, Robert I. Krasner attempts to put this topic into a format appropriate for classroom presentation. The book is sufficiently well done to stand alone in some situations, but supplemental material may be necessary in others. The Microbial Challenge is relatively compact, compared with the usual microbiology textbook, with expected advantages and unavoidable shortcomings. In 400 pages and 16 chapters, the author captures basic principles of microbiology, immunology, epidemiology, and infectious diseases, including chapters on biological weapons, “current plagues,” and factors underlying emergence of infectious diseases. A chapter on the control of microbial diseases is not unexpected, but the subsequent chapter on partnerships in the control of infectious diseases is an unusual and welcome addition. Chapters are organized into three major parts: “The Challenge,” “Meeting the Challenge,” and “Current Challenges.” However, these designations reflect the author’s perspective more than specific content. Similar chapters in other texts might simply be categorized under the generic theme “microorganisms and humans.” The topics and organization in the book comprise characteristics well suited for a textbook. Each topic is presented clearly and succinctly. The book has many wonderful photographs and illustrations that bring the text to life, including unique photographs from field situations (many from the author’s personal archives). These photographs demonstrate that microbiology and infectious diseases extend far beyond the hospital and laboratory. A series of self-evaluation questions follow each chapter. Students will find the glossary quite useful. The author also provides a brief list of websites that might be helpful to instructors. Although this book provides an informative summary of principles that are quite useful for a survey course on microbiology and infectious diseases, the abbreviated treatment might prove unsatisfactory for some instructional situations. For example, do not expect to find the detailed descriptions of chemical principles, central metabolic pathways, DNA replication, transcriptional control of gene function, or protein and cell-wall synthesis found in standard (and much larger!) textbooks. Taxonomy and diagnostic microbiology are only briefly discussed. The focus on microorganisms and diseases at the expense of such details may be an asset or a liability, depending on your perspective. The author anticipates that the book would be suitable for a course without a laboratory component but suggests that certain exercises be added from other sources, as needed. The decision not to include a laboratory componentis a critical departure point for the book’s utility. Although the text would be quite suitable in some curricula for a survey course on microorganisms and infectious diseases, the failure to include principles and applications of molecular biology seems a serious omission, especially for students who go on to graduate school and pursue careers in laboratory-based research. Indeed, the only surprise I had in reviewing the book was the lack of discussion of molecular techniques because they are commonly used to identify and subtype pathogens during epidemiologic investigations. The Microbial Challenge could well serve audiences beyond the undergraduate level. The text would be an excellent choice for schools of public health, provided that students are given supplemental readings and detailed case studies for analysis. Considering the current interest in infectious diseases and bioterrorism, this book would be a useful resource for government staff at the national and local levels.

"Certain Fundamental Truths": A Dialectic on Negative and Positive Liberty in Hate-Speech Cases

I INTRODUTION The following conversation between a civil libertarian and a new-left First Amendment theorist occurred as part of the ABA's conference on the present and future of the Bill of Rights. The discussion was precipitated by the case of Matthew Hale, a white supremacist who--to put it mildly--likes to attract media attention. He set himself up as the leader of a racist church called the World Church of the Creator, and immediately went about attempting to put an articulate, polite face on the organization, much in the way that David Duke tried to appear less threatening during his run for Congress in Louisiana. But there is only so much window-dressing that Hale can do, since he is obviously a rabid racist. His website contains numerous exhortations to loyalty and holy war; shopworn canards about blacks, Jews, and other ethnic minorities (called the mud races by Hale); a bizarre theology based on the Sixteen Commandments and vehement denunciations of Christianity; long-discredited bogus bio logical theories about racial differences; and a boilerplate disclaimer that the group does not condone violence. (1) Hale's little corner of cyberspace is representative of a burgeoning number of websites maintained by white supremacists and other hate groups. (2) The World Church of the Creator site alone contains links to dozens of other racist sites, (3) including those maintained by the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazi Party, and the White Aryan Resistance. But Hale and his organization have certainly established a higher profile than other hate groups on the Internet, particularly with their efforts to market racism to children with a kids' website featuring white-supremacist games and puzzles--fun for the whole family! (4) Hale also happens to be a graduate of Southern Illinois University Law School. Because of the publicity he had managed to attract, Hale's application to become a licensed attorney in Illinois was a media event, and the decision of the character and fitness committee of the Illinois Supreme Court, declining to certify his fitness for admission, generated immediate controversy. (5) Alan Dershowitz offered to represent Hale in his challenge to this order, an offer which, as far as I know, was not taken up. (6) Hale petitioned for review by the Illinois Supreme Court. He was denied, (7) and he then petitioned for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, which he was again denied. (8) The Hale case is important not only to lawyers who represent unpopular applicants for admission to practice law. It has broader significance as a test case for much of the recent theorizing about the application of the First Amendment to hateful expression. Hale's application to practice law also provides a wonderful illustration of how the new left critique of the First Amendment would play out in practice, since the Illinois bar committee swallowed the new left position hook, line, and sinker. The committee emphasized the constitutional values of racial equality and human dignity that were threatened by Hale's asserted expressive liberties and concluded that the value of equality must supersede the value of free speech. (9) This is exactly what some of the new left critics had been urging courts to do in hate-speech cases. (10) For example, Man Matsuda, one of the pioneers of the critical race theory movement and the new left critique of the First Amendment, has suggested carving out an admittedly content-b ased, sui generis category of racist speech that can be regulated by the state. (11) Charles Lawrence, another scholar of central importance to the progressive critics, proposes a more realistic, less categorical jurisprudence, in which constitutional values of racial equality and human dignity are given pride of place alongside the expressive liberties secured by the First Amendment. (12) Again, this is precisely the suggestion adopted by the Illinois bar committee, which balanced the free-speech rights asserted by Hale against the equality interests his admission would threaten, and found Hale's claims wanting. …

A history of the circle: mathematical reasoning and the physical universe

I found the book to be fascinating, and the author's presentations and illustrations of the contrasts bewtween mathematical reasoning and scientific reasoning were especially appealing. The book is rich in history, which is carefully integrated into the discussions, and it includes wonderful illustrations and stories. --The Mathematics Teacher is a wonderful storyteller, and his choices of topics reveal not only the depth of explanation afforded by the available mathematics but the beauty in the explanations; he succeeds in keeping the explanations accessible to the most general audience. --Choice The concept of the circle is ubiquitous. It can be described mathematically, represented physically, and employed technologically. The circle is an elegant, abstract form that has been transformed by humans into tangible, practical forms to make our lives easier. And yet no one has ever discovered a true mathematical circle. Rainbows are fuzzy, car tires are flat on the bottom, and even the most precise roller bearings have measurable irregularities. Ernest Zebrowski, Jr., discusses how investigations into the circle have contributed enormously to our current knowledge of the physical universe. Beginning with the ancient mathematicians and culminating in twentieth-century theories of space and time, the mathematics of the circle has pointed many investigators in fruitful directions in their quests to unravel nature's secrets. Johannes Kepler, for example, triggered a scientific revolution in 1609 when he challenged the conception of the earth's circular motion around the sun. Arab and European builders instigated a golden age of mosque and cathedral building when they questioned the Roman structural arches that were limited to geometrical semicircles. Throughout his book, Zebrowski emphasizes the concepts underlying these mathematicians' calculations, and how these concepts are linked to real-life examples. Substantiated by easy-to-follow mathematical reasoning and clear illustrations, this accessible book presents a novel and interesting discussion of the circle in technology, culture, history, and science. Ernest Zebrowski, Jr., hold professorships in science and mathematics education at Southern University in Baton Rouge, and in physics at Pennsylvania College of Technology of the Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of Perils of a Restless Planet: Scientific Perspectives on Natural Disasters and The Last Days of St. Pierre: The Volcanic Disaster That Claimed 30,000 Lives.