September 6th marks National Read a Book Day in the United States. To celebrate, we want to share what the Berghahn staff is currently reading and a scholarly reading from Berghahn Books we recommend for you.
Marion Berghahn, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
Currently Reading:
A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers by Michael Holroyd
“Master raconteur and biographer of Bernard Shaw and Lytton Strachey, the always elegant Holroyd is at the top of his game . . . Holroyd writes like an angel and memorably draws the rivulets of these fluid lives together.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Recommended Reading:
THE AGE OF CAPITALISM AND BUREAUCRACY
Perspectives on the Political Sociology of Max Weber
Wolfgang J. Mommsen
Foreword and Postcript by Volker R. Berghahn
Second and Expanded Edition
The historian Wolfgang Mommsen was one of the foremost experts on Max Weber as well as an insightful and accessible interpreter of his work. Mommsen’s classic book, first published in 1974 under the title The Age of Bureaucracy, not only concisely explains the basic concepts underlying Weber’s worldview, but also explores the historical, social, and intellectual contexts in which he operated, including Weber’s development as an academic, his relationship to German nationalism, and his engagement with Marxism. Supplemented with a new foreword, a bibliography that includes recent studies, and a postscript by Volker Berghahn that surveys the most important debates on Weber’s work since his death, this short volume serves as an excellent resource for scholars and students alike.
Sascha Berghahn, Information Technology Director
Currently Reading:
Black Thunder by Arna Bontemps
‘Gabriel Prosser’s 1800 slave revolt allowed Bontemps to warn of the rebellion that would come of poverty and racial oppression. This metaphor of revolution is at the same time a highly pertinent representation of black masculinity that will reward students of gender, slavery and the sensibilities of the 1930s.’ – Nell Irvin Painter
Bleak Joys: Aesthetics of Ecology and Impossibility by Matthew Fuller and Olga Goriunova
Blurb from Goodreads:
A philosophical and cultural distillation of the bleak joys in today’s ambivalent ecologies and patterns of life
Recommended Reading:
STATE, SOVEREIGNTY, WAR
Civil Violence in Emerging Global Realities
Edited by Bruce Kapferer
The very institution of the state is widely conceived of as inseparable from war. If it constitutes peace within the borders or order of its sovereignty, this very peace may be the condition for its potential for war with those other states and social formation outside it. This volume represents different analytical standpoints and positions within global processes, inviting further discussion on contemporary realities and the development of new formations of war and violence.
Sulaiman Ahmad, Editorial Associate (Humanities and Cultural Studies)
Currently Reading:
Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams by William Godwin
Blurb from Amazon:
When honest young Caleb Williams comes to work as a secretary for Squire Falkland, he soon begins to suspect that his new master is hiding a secret. As he digs deeper into Falkland’s past and finally unearths the horrible truth, the results of his curiosity prove calamitous when—even though Caleb has loyally sworn never to disclose what he has discovered—the Squire enacts a cruel revenge. A tale of gripping suspense and psychological power, William Godwin’s novel creates a searing depiction of the intolerable persecution meted out to a good man in pursuit of justice and equality. Written to expose the political oppression and corrupt hierarchies its author saw in the world around him, Caleb Williams makes a radical call to end the tyrannical misuses of power.
Recommended Reading:
BLURRING TIMESCAPES, SUBVERTING ERASURE
Remembering Ghosts on the Margins of History
Edited by Sarah Surface-Evans, Amanda E. Garrison and Kisha Supernant
“This book is an exciting and invigorating experience for the reader. The reader is asked to engage actively with stories that stand outside typical conventions of scholarly narratives, and the quality of the writing makes that an easy task…Blurring ideas of time and space allow other critical aspects of the tangible and intangible to come into sharp focus, and gently provoke new ways of thinking and knowing.” • Jane Baxter, DePaul University
Sean Andersson, Assistant Marketing Manager (Social Sciences)
Currently Reading:
Lancaster at War by Brian Goulding and Mike Garbett
Recommended Reading:
Open Access!
CYBORG MIND
What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics
Calum MacKellar
“Calum MacKellar wrote a stimulating book which can be read as a primer covering most aspects of the complex and rapidly growing field of man-computer interactions. The technology will continue to develop, but the ethical problems outlined here will probably remain the same.” • Anthropos
Michelle Bayuk, Sales and Marketing Manager
Currently Reading:
When Gods Die: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery by C. S. Harris
Praise for the Sebastian St. Cyr Series
“Best historical thriller writer in the business! Sebastian St. Cyr is…uncannily clever, unwaveringly reserved, and irresistibly sexy. The entire series is simply elegant.”— New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner
Recommended Reading:
THE WALLS OF SANTIAGO
Social Revolution and Political Aesthetics in Contemporary Chile
Terri Gordon-Zolov and Eric Zolov
A photo-illustrated record of Chilean protest art, along with reflections on artistic antecedents, global protest movements, and the long shadow cast by Chile’s authoritarian past.
“The Walls of Santiago is a rich text with impeccable visual and cultural analyses. It is complex and nuanced but also accessible to readers in and outside the academy…The careful attention paid to intersectional understandings of oppression exhibited by Chilean protesters further added to this richness…It is a compelling and dynamic text that celebrates Chilean art and activism while also documenting such an important moment in the country’s political and artistic history. This exciting book is a must read for scholars, students and activists interested in the intersection of creativity and social justice.” • The Americas
Caryn Berg, Editor (Humanities: Archaeology, Heritage and Museum Studies)
Currently Reading:
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Blurb from Goodreads:
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
Recommended Reading:
UNLOCKING THE LOVE-LOCK
The History and Heritage of a Contemporary Custom
Ceri Houlbrook
Explores the worldwide popularity of the love-lock as a ritual token of love and commitment by considering its history, symbolism, and heritage.
“This is a fascinating study of the custom of attaching padlocks, usually inscribed with names, to bridges and other structures and artefacts in public locations…The interdisciplinary approach, together with exemplary fieldwork and detailed analysis of material collected, along with diligent identification, use, and evaluation of data from the internet and mass media, combine to make this book a major contribution to knowledge in this burgeoning international field of enquiry.” • Tradition Today
Tom Bonnington, Associate Editor (Social Sciences: Anthropology and Sociology)
Currently Reading:
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
Blurb from Goodreads:
John Wyndham takes the reader into the anguished heart of a community where the chances of breeding true are less than fifty per cent and where deviations are rooted out and destroyed as offences and abominations.
Recommended Reading:
Forthcoming October 2022
ENLIGHTENING ENCOUNTERS
The Journeys of an Anthropologist
Stephen Gudeman
One of the world’s top anthropologists recounts his formative experiences doing fieldwork in this accessible memoir ideal for anyone interested in anthropology.
“I believe Steve Gudeman may well be the internationally most renowned economic anthropologist of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and I strongly recommend his memoir.” • Ulf Hannerz, Stockholm University
David Crabtree, Web and Sales Associate
Currently Reading:
The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band who Burned a Million Pounds by John Higgs
‘The best non-fiction book I’ve ever read. It’s magical. Stunning’ – Dan Schreiber, No Such Thing As a Fish
Recommended Reading:
AN IMPROBABLE WAR?
The Outbreak of World War I and European Political Culture before 1914
Edited by Holger Afflerbach and David Stevenson
“…outstanding scholarly analyses…These essays comprise a valuable addition to the never-ending debate on the causes of the Great War.” · Stand To! The Journal of the Western Front Association
Melissa Gannon, Publishing Operations Director
Currently Reading:
Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard
Blurb from Goodreads:
From the world’s leading forest ecologist who forever changed how people view trees and their connections to one another and to other living things in the forest–a moving, deeply personal journey of discovery.
Recommended Reading:
SHAMANISM
Traditional and Contemporary Approaches to the Mastery of Spirits and Healing
Merete Demant Jakobsen
NEW & REVISED EDITION
“The book is clearly written, and contains some wonderfully vivid quotations from texts that have never previously appeared in English … Much valuable and suggestive material … of value to scholars and students.” • Ethnos
Keara Hagerty, Production Editor
Currently Reading:
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
National Book Critics Circle Award Winner • One of the New York Times Book Review‘s Best Books of the Year
“Witheringly trenchant and hugely empathetic . . . a novel that holds the discomfiting realities of our times fearlessly before us. . . . A steady-handed dissection of the universal human experience.” — The New York Times Book Review
Recommended Reading:
Forthcoming November 2022
PEPSI AND THE PILL
Motherhood, Politics and Film in Britain and France, 1958–1969
Melissa Oliver-Powell
“This is a beautifully written and meticulous work of research. Melissa Oliver-Powell excavates and gives voice to the repressed feminine of two determinedly priapic cinematic histories (British and French new waves); by offering compassionate and assiduous attention to the figure of the mother, Pepsi and The Pill renders apparent the political and social narratives that underpin and inform our conceptions of motherhood – as social construction and institution – in vehemently patriarchal societies and cultures.” • Anna Backman Rogers, University Gothenburg, Sweden
Emily Harvie, Sales and Marketing Assistant
Currently Reading:
Emma by Jane Austen
Blurb from Goodreads:
Emma Woodhouse is one of Austen’s most captivating and vivid characters. Beautiful, spoilt, vain and irrepressibly witty, Emma organizes the lives of the inhabitants of her sleepy little village and plays matchmaker with devastating effect.
Recommended Reading:
FRIENDSHIP WITHOUT BORDERS
Women’s Stories of Power, Politics, and Everyday Life across East and West Germany
Phil Leask
“Beginning and advanced students can learn much from this highly readable book. Its bottom-up view of postwar German history is revealing even to the expert. Its subtle and perceptive interpretations of attitudes about gender and womanhood, Heimat and the German past, politics and everyday life are enlightening. It provokes one to think about friendship, the psychology of groups, and ageing in new and refreshing ways. A most worthwhile read.” • German History
Katherine Hunold, Operations Assistant
Currently Reading:
The Power by Naomi Alderman
“Electrifying! Shocking! Will knock your socks off! Then you’ll think twice, about everything.” ― Margaret Atwood
Recommended Reading:
MUSEUM TIMES
Changing Histories in South Africa
Leslie Witz
“This is a significant book. It addresses the dilemmas that museums face as they seek to both conserve the past and transform to meet the needs of new generations and changing sociopolitical environments…it is probably the most meaningful volume on South Africa’s post-apartheid museum moment” • Trevor Getz, San Francisco State University
Sarah Jannarone, Journals Subscription Associate
Currently Reading:
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Blurb from Goodreads:
At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves.
Recommended Reading:
SOFIA COPPOLA
The Politics of Visual Pleasure
Anna Backman Rogers
A feminist study of the mood, texture, tone, and multifaceted meaning of director Sofia Coppola’s aesthetic through her most influential and well-known films.
A Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2019
“Rogers’s book led this reviewer to rewatch some of Coppola’s films and decide that at least Lost in Translation (2003) and Marie Antoinette (2006) are masterpieces. What can be better than a book of criticism that leads one to revise one’s own aesthetic judgments?” • Choice
Caroline Kuhtz, Production Editor
Currently Reading:
Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
“This book is magic. The writing will transport you, and you will love Shiori. I myself loved her from the moment she jumped out the window to escape her betrothal ceremony–which was the very first scene.” —Kristin Cashore, NY Times bestselling author of The Graceling Realm series
Recommended Reading:
FIELD MANUAL FOR THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF RITUAL, RELIGION, AND MAGIC
C. Riley Augé
“This is a valuable contribution to a relatively recent shift towards the study of the material culture of ritual and magic. Ritual interpretations that were previously either avoided or resorted to by default are now being thoroughly engaged with, and this Field Manual offers an accessible, concise but comprehensive guide to tackling this fascinating subject in archaeological contexts.” • Ceri Houlbrook, University of Hertfordshire
Janine Latham, Journals Manager
Currently Reading:
Trust by Hernan Diaz
Blurb from Goodreads:
From an award-winning chronicler of our nation’s history and its legends comes his much-anticipated novel about wealth and talent, trust and intimacy, truth and perception.
Recommended Reading:
A Part of the Berghahn Open Anthro Collection!
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
Advances in Research
Editors:
Amelia Moore, University of Rhode Island
Jerry Jacka, University of Colorado Boulder
Environment and Society publishes critical reviews of the latest research literature on environmental studies, including subjects of theoretical, methodological, substantive, and applied significance. Through this journal we hope to stimulate advanced research and action on these and other critical issues and encourage international communication and exchange among all relevant disciplines.
Young Lee, Journals Marketing and Library Relations Manager
Currently Reading:
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The international bestselling sensation that was the basis for the acclaimed major motion picture. • “There’s rich, there’s filthy rich, and then there’s crazy rich … A Pride and Prejudice-like send-up about an heir bringing his Chinese-American girlfriend home to meet his ancestor-obsessed family.” —People
Recommended Reading:
New in 2022!
TURBA
The Journal for Global Practices in Live Arts Curation
Managing Editor: Dena Davida
TURBA is the first journal for the study, theory, and praxis of curatorial strategies in the live arts. The live arts are broadly defined as those arts in which contingent, momentary acts and events, performed by human or other autonomous agents, are crucial to the aesthetic perception and the emergence of meaning in ephemeral time-based work. They include, but are not limited to, dance, music, sound art, theatre, performance art, verbal arts, circus arts, live media arts and inter-arts performance works. With this journal, we aim to create a platform for the exploration of ideas, concepts, constraints, expectations, and contingencies which guide and drive curatorial practices in these fields.
Tony Mason, Senior Editor (Social Sciences: Anthropology)
Currently Reading:
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
“American Dirt just gutted me, and I didn’t just read this book―I inhabited it…. Everything about this book was so extraordinary. It’s suspenseful, the language is beautiful, and the story really opened my heart. I highly recommend it, and you will not want to put it down. It is just a magnificent novel.” ― Oprah Winfrey
Recommended Reading:
SELF IN THE WORLD
Connecting Life’s Extremes
Keith Hart
Eminent anthropologist Keith Hart draws on the humanities, popular culture and his own experiences to help readers explore their own place in history.
“This is a work of great originality. Keith Hart has had an unorthodox academic career and it has liberated him in many ways from academic pieties. The book is full of surprises and mind-shifting observations. I actually couldn’t put it down.” • Sherry B. Ortner
Ben Parker-Jones, Assistant Marketing Manager (Cultural Studies) and Assistant Sales Manager, UK
Currently Reading:
The Complete French Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke
“These are poems of meticulous insight and feeling, rather than the grand themes of universal order and worldly destiny found in Rilke’s earlier German work. As such, almost as intellectual ballast, the French poems give new significance and dimension to Rilke’s canon.” ― Chicago Sun Times
Recommended Reading:
SHAKESPEARE AND THE FIRST HAMLET
Edited by Terri Bourus
Afterword by Graham Holderness and Bryan Loughrey
The first edition of Hamlet – often called ‘Q1’, shorthand for ‘first quarto’ – was published in 1603, in what we might regard as the early modern equivalent of a cheap paperback. Yet this early version of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy is becoming increasingly canonical, not because there is universal agreement about what it is or what it means, but because more and more Shakespearians agree that it is worth arguing about. The essays in this collected volume explore the ways in which we might approach Q1’s Hamlet, from performance to book history, from Shakespeare’s relationships with his contemporaries to the shape of his whole career.
Martha Rabura, Journals Production Assistant
Currently Reading:
All About Love: New Visions by Bell Hooks
Blurb from Amazon:
A New York Times bestseller and enduring classic, All About Love is the acclaimed first volume in feminist icon bell hooks’ “Love Song to the Nation” trilogy. All About Love reveals what causes a polarized society, and how to heal the divisions that cause suffering. Here is the truth about love, and inspiration to help us instill caring, compassion, and strength in our homes, schools, and workplaces.
Recommended Reading:
WOMEN OF PRAGUE
Ethnic Diversity and Social Change from the Eighteenth Century to the Present
Wilma A. Iggers
“The richness of the material and its skillful assembly make this a very readable volume … revealing a wonderful range of perspective, from personal, intimate reflections to timely comments on the politics and society of both Prague and the Czech Republic of the era under study.” · Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Europe
Peggy Ann Shaffer, Social Media and Marketing Coordinator, Books and Journals
Currently Reading:
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win WWII by Sonia Purnell
Blurb from Goodreads:
The never-before-told story of one woman’s heroism that changed the course of the Second World War
In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: “She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her.”
Recommended Reading:
FRIENDSHIP WITHOUT BORDERS
Women’s Stories of Power, Politics, and Everyday Life across East and West Germany
Phil Leask
“Beginning and advanced students can learn much from this highly readable book. Its bottom-up view of postwar German history is revealing even to the expert. Its subtle and perceptive interpretations of attitudes about gender and womanhood, Heimat and the German past, politics and everyday life are enlightening. It provokes one to think about friendship, the psychology of groups, and ageing in new and refreshing ways. A most worthwhile read.” • German History
Mark Stanton, Senior Editor (Humanities: History)
Currently Reading:
The Twilight World by Werner Herzog
Blurb from Goodreads:
The great filmmaker Werner Herzog, in his first novel, tells the incredible story of Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who defended a small island in the Philippines for twenty-nine years after the end of World War II
The Banjo: America’s African Instrument by Laurent Dubois
“Dubois illuminates the banjo’s complicated cultural history…This lively account is not without surprises.”― New Yorker
Recommended Reading:
ESCAPE FROM HELL
The True Story of the Auschwitz Protocol
Alfred Wetzler
Translated by Ewald Osers
Edited by Peter Varnai
Foreword by Sir Martin Gilbert
Introduction by Robert Rozett
A shocking account of Nazi genocide and the inhuman conditions in Auschwitz, but equally shocking is the initial disbelief with which the revelations were met.
“…a compelling read; a real thriller. It provides very vivid descriptions of daily life in the camp and recounts in details the miraculous escape and the escapees’ subsequent struggle to convince the unbelieving world of the happenings in Auschwitz-Birkenau.” • British Czech and Slovak Review
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