GEOGRAPHY

- The Columbia Gazetteer of the World

Edited by Saul Cohen, specialist in political geography and university professor emeritus at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Columbia University Press, ?350.00. ISBN 9780231145541

With more than 170,000 entries, The Columbia Gazetteer of the World is an authoritative A to Z encyclopaedia of geographical places and features.

HISTORY

- Democratizing the Enemy: The Japanese American Internment

By Brian Masaru Hayashi, associate professor of human environmental studies, Kyoto University. Princeton University Press, ?14.95. ISBN 9780691138237

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During the Second World War, some 120,000 Japanese-Americans were forcibly removed from their homes and detained in concentration camps in several states. These people lost millions of dollars in property and were forced to live in so-called assembly centres surrounded by barbed-wire fences and armed sentries. In this Athern award-winning work, Brian Masaru Hayashi reevaluates the three-year ordeal of interned Japanese-Americans.

- Religion and Public Memory: A Cultural History of Saint Namdev in India

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By Christian Lee Novetzke, assistant professor at the University of Washington's Jackson School of International Studies in the South Asia programme and comparative religion programme. Columbia University Press, ?26.50. ISBN 9780231141840

Novetzke considers how social memory in India coheres around the figure of Namdev from the 16th century to the present, examining the practices that situate Namdev's memory in multiple historical publics.

- Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History

By Anne Walthall, professor of history at the University of California, Irvine. University of California Press, ?35.00. ISBN 9780520254435

This work offers the first comparative view of the women who lived, worked and served in royal courts around the globe - mothers, wives, concubines, entertainers, attendants, officials, maids, drudges. In doing so, it seeks to open a new perspective on the monarchies that have dominated much of human history.

- The Medieval Prison: A Social History

By G. Geltner, postdoctoral fellow in medieval history at Lincoln College, University of Oxford. Princeton University Press, ?17.95. ISBN 9780691135335

The modern prison is commonly thought to be the fruit of an Enlightenment penology that stressed man's ability to reform his soul. In The Medieval Prison, Geltner challenges this view by tracing the institution's emergence to the late 13th century and reconstructing medieval prison life in Venice, Florence, Bologna and elsewhere in Europe.

- Wines and Wineries of California's Central Coast: A Complete Guide from Monterey to Santa Barbara

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By William A. Ausmus, research scholar in the communication studies department at California Polytechnic State. University of California Press, ?14.95. ISBN 9780520244375

This is the first comprehensive guide to one of the world's most dynamic and successful wine regions.

PHILOSOPHY

- Animals as Persons: Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation

By Gary L. Francione, professor of law and Nicholas deB. Katzenbach scholar of law and philosophy, Rutgers University-Newark. Columbia University Press, ?23.50. ISBN 9780231139502

In this collection, Gary Francione advances the most radical theory of animal rights to date. Unlike Peter Singer, he maintains that we cannot morally justify using animals under any circumstances, and unlike Tom Regan, he applies his theory to all sentient beings, not only to those with sophisticated cognitive abilities.

- Jewish Questions: Responsa on Sephardic Life in the Early Modern Period

By Matt Goldish, professor of Jewish history and director of the Melton Center for Jewish Studies, Ohio State University. Princeton University Press, ?13.50. ISBN 9780691122656

In Jewish Questions, Matt Goldish introduces English readers to the history and culture of the Sephardic dispersion through an exploration of 43 responsa - questions about Jewish law that were asked of leading rabbis, along with the rabbis' responses. Taken together, the responsa constitute a rich source of information about the everyday lives of Sephardic Jews.

- Moral Disquiet and Human Life

By Monique Canto-Sperber, philosopher and director of the Ecole normale superieure in Paris. Princeton University Press, ?23.95. ISBN 97806911361

The noted French philosopher Monique Canto-Sperber resumes the most ancient pursuit of philosophy, the examination of human life itself, illustrating her discussion with examples from literature, music, drama and current events. In Moral Disquiet and Human Life, she calls for a redefinition of the task of moral philosophy and of its limits.

- The Religious Enlightenment: Protestants, Jews, and Catholics from London to Vienna

By David Sorkin, professor of Jewish studies and professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Princeton University Press, ?19.95. ISBN 9780691135021

In The Religious Enlightenment, David Sorkin alters our understanding by showing that the Enlightenment was, at its heart, religious in nature. He examines the lives and ideas of influential Protestant, Jewish and Catholic theologians of the Enlightenment, such as William Warburton in England, Moses Mendelssohn in Prussia and Adrien Lamourette in France.

- Zoographies: The Question of the Animal from Heidegger to Derrida

By Matthew Calarco, assistant professor of philosophy at California State University, Fullerton. Columbia University Press, ?44.00. ISBN 9780231140225

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Matthew Calarco draws on ethological and evolutionary evidence and the work of Heidegger, who called for a radicalised responsibility towards all forms of life. He also turns to Levinas, who raised questions about the nature and scope of ethics; Agamben, who held the "anthropological machine" responsible for the horrors of the 20th century; and Derrida, who initiated a non-anthropocentric ethics.

POLITICS

- After Anarchy: Legitimacy and Power in the United Nations Security Council

By Ian Hurd, assistant professor of political science, Northwestern University. Princeton University Press, ?13.50. ISBN 9780691138343

The politics of legitimacy is central to international relations. When states perceive an international organisation as legitimate, they defer to it, associate themselves with it and invoke its symbols. Examining the UN Security Council, Ian Hurd demonstrates how legitimacy is created, used and contested in international relations.

- Journeys to the Other Shore: Muslim and Western Travelers in Search of Knowledge

By Roxanne L. Euben, professor of political science, Wellesley College. Princeton University Press, ?13.50. ISBN 9780691138404

The contemporary world is increasingly defined by dizzying flows of people and ideas. But while Western travel is associated with a pioneering spirit of discovery, the dominant image of Muslim mobility is the jihadi, who travels not to learn but to destroy. Journeys to the Other Shore challenges these stereotypes.

- Privatization: Successes and Failures

Edited by Gerard Roland, professor of economics and political science at the University of California, Berkeley. Columbia University Press, ?17.95. ISBN 9780231141604

Privatization: Successes and Failures evaluates the practices and results of privatisation in Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. This volume, which features the world's leading economists and experts on privatisation, seeks to offer a balanced analysis of specific privatisation projects and uncovers some surprising trends.

- The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics

Edited by Jennifer Heath. University of California Press, ?32.95. ISBN 9780520250406

This groundbreaking volume, written entirely by women, examines the vastly misunderstood and multilayered world of the veil. The essays are organised and introduced by Jennifer Heath, who also writes on male veiling. The book is arranged in three sections: the veil as an expression of the sacred; the veil as it relates to the emotional and the sensual; and the veil in its sociopolitical aspects.

- Troubled Apologies among Japan, Korea, and the United States

By Alexis Dudden, associate professor of history and director of humanitarian studies at the University of Connecticut. Columbia University Press, ?20.50. ISBN 9780231141765

Apologising for history has become a standard feature of the international political scene, but as Alexis Dudden makes clear, interrogating the process is crucial to understanding its value to the state. Examining the interplay between political apology and apologetic history, Dudden focuses on the problematic relationship binding Japanese imperialism, South Korean state-building and American power in Asia.

- When Movements Matter: The Townsend Plan and the Rise of Social Security

By Edwin Amenta, professor of sociology and history at the University of California, Irvine. Princeton University Press, ?13.50. ISBN 9780691138268

The book tells the overlooked story of the Townsend Plan - a political organisation that sought to alleviate poverty and end the Great Depression through a government-provided retirement stipend of $200 a month for every American over the age of 60. Drawing on a wealth of primary evidence, historical detail and arresting images, Edwin Amenta traces the ups and downs of the Townsend Plan and its elderly leader, Francis E. Townsend, in the struggle to remake old age.

SCIENCE

- American Pests: The Losing War on Insects from Colonial Times to DDT

By James E. McWilliams, associate professor of history at Texas State University - San Marcos and a recent fellow in the agrarian studies programme at Yale University. Columbia University Press, ?14.95. ISBN 97802311394

Inspired by the still-revolutionary theories of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, James E. McWilliams argues for a more harmonious and rational approach to our relationship with insects, one that does not harm our environment and, consequently, ourselves along the way.

- California's Fading Wildflowers: Lost Legacy and Biological Invasions

By Richard A. Minnich, professor in the department of earth sciences at the University of California, Riverside. University of California Press, ?29.95. ISBN 9780520253537

In this vividly detailed work, Richard A. Minnich synthesises a unique and wide-ranging array of sources - from the historic accounts of early explorers to the writings of early 19th-century American botanists, newspaper accounts in the 20th century and modern ecological theory - to give the most comprehensive historical analysis available of the dramatic transformation of California's wildflower prairies.

SOCIAL SCIENCE

- Research Methods in Child Welfare

By Amy J.L. Baker, director of research at the Vincent J. Fontana Center for Child Protection, New York Foundling Hospital, and Benjamin J. Charvat, senior programme manager at the New York City Department of Education and adjunct assistant professor at the New York University School of Social Work. Columbia University Press, ?29.50. ISBN 9780231141307

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Covering not only the methodological challenges but also the real-life constraints of research in child-welfare settings, Amy J.L. Baker and Benjamin J. Charvat present a volume intended both for general research methods and as a practical guide for conducting research in the field of child welfare.