In Rethinking Academic Politics in (Re)Unified Germany andthe United States, Dr. John Weaver uses case studies to engage historical and contemporary issues in academic politics, arguing for the importance of this often-dismissed and much-bemoaned facet of academic work. Dr. Weaver's unique treatment includes discussions of such hotly debated issues as the Enola Gay exhibit, the science debates in the U.S., and the politics of academic evaluations and hiring practices. Rethinking Academic Politics in (Re)Unified Germany and the United States speaks to the interests of students and scholars of international and comparative education, higher education policy and practice, cultural studies, and science studies.
With German reunification and the demise of the German Democratic Republic in 1990, East German historians and their traditions of historiography were removed from mainstream discourse in Germany and relegated to the periphery. By the mid-1990s, few GDR-trained historians remained in academia. These developments led to a greater degree of intellectual pluralism, yet marginalized many accomplished scholars. East German Historians since Reunification assesses what was gained and lost in the process of dissolving and remaking GDR institutions of historical scholarship. The collection combines primary and secondary sources: younger scholars offer analyses of East German historiography, while senior scholars who lived through the dismantling process provide firsthand accounts. Contributors address broad trends in scholarship as well as particular subfields and institutions. What unites them is a willingness to think critically about the achievements and shortcomings of GDR historiography, and its fate after German reunification.
Rethinking Europe's Future is a major reevaluation of Europe's prospects as it enters the twenty-first century. David Calleo has written a book worthy of the complexity and grandeur of the challenges Europe now faces. Summoning the insights of history, political economy, and philosophy, he explains why Europe was for a long time the world's greatest problem and how the Cold War's bipolar partition brought stability of a sort. Without the Cold War, Europe risks revisiting its more traditional history. With so many contingent factors--in particular Russia and Europe's Muslim neighbors--no one, Calleo believes, can pretend to predict the future with assurance. Calleo's book ponders how to think about this future. The book begins by considering the rival ''lessons'' and trends that emerge from Europe's deeper past. It goes on to discuss the theories for managing the traditional state system, the transition from autocratic states to communitarian nation states, the enduring strength of nation states, and their uneasy relationship with capitalism. Calleo next focuses on the Cold War's dynamic legacies for Europe--an Atlantic Alliance, a European Union, and a global economy. These three systems now compete to define the future. The book's third and major section examines how Europe has tried to meet the present challenges of Russian weakness and German reunification. Succeeding chapters focus on Maastricht and the Euro, on the impact of globalization on Europeanization, and on the EU's unfinished business--expanding into ''Pan Europe,'' adapting a hybrid constitution, and creating a new security system. Calleo presents three models of a new Europe--each proposing a different relationship with the U.S. and Russia. A final chapter probes how a strong European Union might affect the world and the prospects for American hegemony. This is a beautifully written book that offers rich insight into a critical moment in our history, whose outcome will shape the world long after our time.
To suggest that the Holocaust is "(post)", argues Morris (Georgia Southern U.), is to suggest "that the past is present in the here and now and continues to get re-played, re-lived, and re-worked." She and Weaver (also of Georgia Southern) present 15 contributions that attempt to deal with the philosophical, historical, psychological, linguistic, political, autobiographical, literary, and scientific meanings elicited by remembering the Holocaust. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
The Popular Culture Primer is an introductory text that traces the history of popular culture and cultural studies. Besides covering the traditional subjects such as the influence of the Frankfurt School and the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, this book will cover the cultural studies of science and technology and other subjects that are generally ignored in introductory texts, such as science fiction, fan cultures, and childhood studies. It looks at the impact that these topics have on our understanding of education and popular culture. The Popular Culture Primer is an essential assigned text for any classroom devoted to teaching the history and importance of the subject.
Science Fiction Curriculum, Cyborg Teachers, and Youth Culture(s) is a collection of essays sutured together by their use of science fiction as a departure from contemporary educational «realities». The authors, inspired by the visions, styles, and insights of various science fiction texts, films, and rap music, seek to transform the future of educational possibilities. Science Fiction Curriculum offers alternative paths to current regressive educational practices, policies, and reforms, and invites readers to venture into uncharted dimensions.
Annotation Reynolds (curriculum studies, Georgia Southern University) explores curriculum theory from hermeneutics and phenomenology to poststructuralism in these essays from 1982-2002. Democratic schools, the abolition of teacher materials and minimum competency tests, and outcomes-based education are some of the areas discussed. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
