Patent Searching: Tools & Techniques

Book Description

Whether you're a patent examiner, patent attorney, commercial patent searcher, patent liaison, IP librarian, law professor, or competitive intelligence analyst, you'll find Patent Searching: Tools and Techniques to be just the guide you have been waiting for, with a range of approaches to patent searching that will be useful to you regardless of your technical expertise or role in the intellectual property community.

Customer Reviews:

Well-organized, well written, useful book.......2007-06-03

I bought this book on a whim, thinking that as an experienced patent searcher for over 10 years, it wouldn't teach me anything. I WAS WRONG! This book is very well organized and will be useful to the novice as well as the experiences searcher. I actually learned a number of useful techniques and tools and am recommending this book to my colleagues. Finally, a book that has pertinent complex information in one place for easy reference. Mr. Hunt is to be congratulated for his unambiguous writing style and format. Kudos to Amazon for letting me know it was available. Thanks.

Governance of the Consuming Passions: A History of Sumptuary Law

Average customer rating:

The information is fascinating and well analyzed.

Governance of the Consuming Passions: A History of Sumptuary Law
Alan Hunt
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 031212922X

Customer Reviews:

The information is fascinating and well analyzed........1999-03-18

Did you know that: -in 1429 Scottish law required that all men with an income over 20 pounds a year wear a fur hat? -an act passed in England, in 1533, stipulated that only members of the Royal Family were allowed to wear purple silk, and that crimson, scarlet or blue velvet could legally be worn only by members of the upper nobility? -in Massachussetts Bay US, in 1651, anyone making less than 200 pounds a year was forbidden to wear gold or silver lace or gold or silver buttons?

Alan Hunt takes us through the fascinating history of dress restrictions. Even today, in our modern capitalistic state, we can see how sumptuary laws still exert influence by observing the vestments worn by the clergy and their assistants.

The book's cover is stunning in all its sumptious beauty. Note the green velvet wedding gown trimmed in ermine and overflowing into a train. The crimson cloth in the bed chamber is elegant. So is the beaver hat worn by the groom in his sable trimmed robe.

The scene is a pastiche of the "Arnolfini Marriage" painted by Jan van Eyck in 1434.

Book Description

From the New York Times bestselling author of Primal Heat.

In the first book of the series, readers are introduced to the Enforcers, an elite group of vampires who must serve and protect their secret community-and uphold the Laws of the Blood.

Customer Reviews:

Super Reader.......2007-08-31

This is a bit on the dull side. The main character is a vampire enforcer, trying to make sure all the fanged ones follow the rules. They get to go and drink blood every so often under strict rules, and he is the man they send after rulebreakers.

Not a whole lot of action, and a whole lot of talking, and a bit of a subplot with the use of a kid in an incantation as a sacrifice to gain power.

Pretty ordinary.

Maybe it's just me...........2006-03-23

but I had a hard time getting in to this book. Seemed like too many characters right off the bat so it was hard to get a grasp as to what was going on and the time frame and the characters ... so, i've put it down and am hoping to revisit. Hate to miss out on a good vampire story so i'll shelf for now and try again.

confusing...........2005-12-11

I had high hopes for this book. Knowing that it's first in a series of unusual vampire novels I was looking for this book to set up the characters, place and theme of the story for the entire series. But the writer just jumps into the story, while using terms like strig, enforcer, hunter, slave. Not explaining who or what any of these characters are. Almost all unfollowable dialogue with no background.

Confusing and poorly written
1 star.

No one ever said being an Enforcer vampire was easy.......2004-04-11

The Hunt is the first novel in Susan Sizemore's notably unusual Laws of the Blood series, and she melds romance alongside horror to create what some might be called a work of sensuous dark fantasy. Sizemore has published novels in a wide range of genres, and I have to admit I had some doubts about this series going on; it's not often you encounter a romance writer treading the darker paths of literature. Sizemore obviously knows what she is doing, though, and the end result in this case is a refreshingly different take on the subject of vampires.

Vampires do have rules to live by, embodied in the Laws of the Blood. The laws are for the vampires' protection as much as the teeming millions of humans who unknowingly occupy the vampires' world. If word of the vampires' real-life existence got out, mankind would not rest until these "monsters" of the night were destroyed. Of course, vampires roiling in the overpowering desire of bloodlust can't really be depended upon to play it cool in all situations, and that is why there are Enforcers in each area. The word of the Enforcer vampire is law and must be obeyed. This is especially important during periods of the Hunt. Vampires are not permitted to kill humans according to their whims, but they must hunt and sate their bloodthirst periodically. It is up to the Enforcer to name the number of victims, identify them, and set everything up for the Hunt. In the Los Angeles area, the Enforcer is named Selim. His job is not an easy one. A couple of the local vampires resent his power over them and seek a means to overturn the ancient Laws and feed when and where they choose. He also has a five-year-old dhampir, the first dhampir born in many, many years, to worry about and protect - vampires do not like dhampirs as a rule, generally viewing them as huge threats to their kind. Then there is Siri, Selim's Companion. Virtually all vampires have one or more companions, human beings who love and serve their undead masters until such time as they become vampires themselves. Cut a Companion loose too early or keep them close for too long out of your own love and need, and you risk creating a strigoi, a loner vampire who usually turns out pretty messed up in the head.

Selim has all of these problems weighing on him, distracting him. His complex relationship with Siri is gravely threatened by Siri's disapproval of Selim's recent behavior and orders as an Enforcer - she finds the killing of innocents horrifying. In a larger sense, though, it is a lack of communication and sharing that threatens to irreparably harm this relationship Despite all of these concerns and worries, though, Selim is not even aware of his biggest problem of all. Somewhere out there, an ancient vampire is scripting a movie called If Truth Be Told, a film which will tell the true story of vampires - in fact, it will tell Selim's own story, for the unknown vampire is secretly riding Selim's dreams during the day and basing her script on his very life.

The Hunt is quite an impressive novel, one which turns several vampire myths on their heads and brings to life a new and fascinating type kind of vampire, one never really seen before in the literature. As always seems to happen, the struggles of the vampire, particularly an Enforcer such as Selim who must control as well as defend the nests living and operating under his jurisdiction, speaks to very human qualities that all readers can relate to: doing what is right; putting the interests of the many over the personal interests of the one; staying within the limits of the law at all times, when passion, justice, or a thirst for revenge impels you to act rashly and aggressively; figuring out how to love the person you are with and to overcome all manner of romantic obstacles in the process, etc. The vampire has always served as a mirror of the human soul, and it seems clear to me that Susan Sizemore understands that fact very well.

Fabulous.......2004-02-10

I think that the reason that I loved this book so much was that the characters were not clones of Whitewolf/Anne Rice vampires. They more closely resemble the lovers taken in The Hunger by the lamiae. However, the resemblance isn't that great. This book also pokes fun at gothlings a bit, which is why there may be some negative reviews.

Average customer rating:

Traffic Investigation and Enforcement
Donald O. Schultz , and Derald D. Hunt
Manufacturer: Wadsworth Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Criminal Law | Law | Subjects | Books

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Criminal Law in a Nutshell (Nutshell Series)
Texas Criminal and Traffic Law Manual, 2005-2006 Edition
Crime Scene Investigation and Reconstruction (2nd Edition)
Ethics in Crime and Justice: Dilemmas and Decisions (Ethics in Crime and Justice)
Juvenile Justice: Policies, Programs, and Practices

ASIN: 0942728653

Book Description

The best basic traffic book available--easy to read, yet thorough in topical coverage. Leads readers through the basics of traffic control to the complex issues of the enforcement perspective. This text is full of practical, usable advice. It is comprehensive enough to be used as a full-semester text but is also excellent as a supplemental reader for the broader-scoped course. Whether a novice or an experienced veteran, the reader will gain valuable insight into this topic. Recently cited by the Supreme Court.

Biltmore Estate: The Most Distinguished Private Place

Average customer rating:

Biltmore Estate
America's Castle
Good book but not when compared to....
The Magic of Biltmore!
Too much black and white?

Biltmore Estate: The Most Distinguished Private Place
John M. Bryan
Manufacturer: Rizzoli International Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

The Vanderbilts
Lady on the Hill: How Biltmore Became an American Icon
Biltmore Estate (NC) (Images of America)
Hearst Castle: The Biography of a Country House
Great American Houses and Their Architectural Styles

ASIN: 084781811X
Release Date: 1994-09-15

Book Description

In the late 1880s, two supreme talentsarchitect Richard Morris Hunt and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstedwere brought together by the Vanderbilt fortune. The result was the magnificent Biltmore Estate, explored here in archival and new color photography, sketches, and construction photos that document the entire design, development, and construction.

Customer Reviews:

Biltmore Estate.......2007-01-24

While excellent new quality at reasonable discount from new at Biltmore gift shop, this book had a little too much construction detail which somewhat redundant of what covered during Biltmore tour and less general information on the Biltmore Estate which would have been more appealing.

America's Castle.......2005-10-23

Biltmore is like some grand Loire Chateaux, that was transplanted in the Smokey Mountains, it is an unusual juxisposition. This book does a nice job getting at the history of this grandest of the Gilded Age Estates and the photographs are vivid, but somehow I felt slightly unsatisfied, maybe it was the lack of exterior photographs of the mansion or maybe it was that the book felt incomplete somehow. I will say that as far as I can tell this is the best book out there at the moment on Biltmore, and it is a nice book, it just somehow does not do this amazing estate justice. I would have like to have seen a more thorough book with more pictures and more comprehensive text, but as it is I still recommend it if you have an interest in this mansion or just Gilded Age splendor in general, but just be aware that this is not the definitive book, that has, alas, yet to be written.

Good book but not when compared to...........2005-08-12

This book is a very nice book on the background of the Biltmore Estate, however, I think it should have went a little further and included more photos and information of the other rooms. It was interesting to see shots of the blueprint details, such as the front and back elevation, a shot of the first floor plan (albeit very blurry and almost impossible to read without some knowledge of what rooms exist in the space), and details of the exterior. To be honest I found the same information and more surfing the net. The best book I have found is "A Guide to Biltmore Estate" (1994) by Rachel Carley. Beautiful shots of many interior rooms, floorplans of all 4 levels with many of the rooms included (similar to the brochure given to visitors of Biltmore Estate). Overall this book is good (but fast) reading and I would recommend it to Biltmore fans.

The Magic of Biltmore!.......2001-10-14

I found this book on George Washington Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate in Ashville, North Carolina, to be extremelly through. This book includes sketchs of many of the considered facades for the home, and what their floorplans would have been.

Pictures of all of the beautiful rooms in the house are included in this publication. Also included are sketchs of the many details of the home, included are the east facade, the Gate House, the gates that set next to the house, the Biltmore Village Church, and sketchs of many of the statues from Biltmore's gardens.

Also included in this book is the histories of many of the principal players in Biltmore's creation, including Fredrick Law Olmsted the landscape designer, Richard Morris Hunt the arcitect, and of course George Vanderbilt the home's owner.
Included is many of the landscape designs of Biltmore's gardens, and beautiful pictures of many of them. Pictures of Biltmore's Conservatory are included which sits in Biltmore's Walled Garden, to the north of Biltmore House.

All in all, this book is great, and a great companion to a day long visit to Biltmore! If you loved Biltmore Estate, you'll love this book, I garentee it!

Too much black and white?.......2001-09-30

I enjoyed the story, don't get me wrong, but as for the pictures, yes it had numerous colors, but mainly black and white. I was surprised. Even pictures that weren't historic were in black and white.

When I purchased this book, I had hoped for a good floorplan of the home, instead I got a little sketch that could hardly be read with a magnifying glass.

Overall, very factual. It makes you realize just what went into the building process. Even if the paragraphs are a little too wordy.

A Rose for Mary: The Hunt for the Real Boston Strangler
Average customer rating:

A GREAT READ

victim's rites

Elmore Leonard for a new generation

A Rose For Mary

It's all about the author

A Rose for Mary: The Hunt for the Real Boston Strangler
Casey Sherman , and Dick Lehr
Manufacturer: Northeastern
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Similar Items:

The Boston Stranglers

Black Irish

Search for the Strangler: My Hunt for Boston's Most Notorious Killer

The Boston Stranglers: The Public Conviction of Albert Desalvo and the True Story of Eleven Shocking Murders

A Death in Belmont (P.S.)

ASIN: 155553578X

Book Description

Nineteen-year-old Mary Sullivan was the last, and youngest, victim in the sensational Boston Strangler case that panicked a city and riveted the nation. Fourteen months after Mary's brutal killing on January 4, 1964, handyman Albert DeSalvo, in jail on an unrelated sexual assault charge, told authorities he was the Boston Strangler and confessed to the gruesome murders of thirteen women. Prosecutors led the public and the press to believe the Strangler was behind bars, yet DeSalvo, later stabbed to death in prison while serving time for a different crime, was never charged with or tried for any of the killings because no physical evidence linked him to the slayings and many key investigators and psychiatrists discounted his implausible and coached confession. And the anguished Sullivan family never believed that the so-called Strangler murdered their beloved Mary.

Now Mary's nephew, Casey Sherman, exposes the truth behind her death and unravels the mysteries surrounding the Boston Strangler murders. A Rose for Mary is the gripping story of his ten-year quest to find the real killer of the aunt he never knew. It is also the deeply personal story of an ordinary family caught up in extraordinary circumstances.

Drawing on interviews with major figures in the Strangler case and exhaustive research, Sherman reexamines the crime scenes, initial police investigations, prime suspects, and DeSalvo's shocking confession tapes, which have never been made public. He reveals the political motivations of the Boston Strangler Task Force and uncovers the role of flamboyant defense attorney F. Lee Bailey in manipulating DeSalvo's confession. Sherman also presents compelling new DNA evidence, and he discloses how his reinvestigation led to an unlikely alliance with the DeSalvo family, relating how the relatives of the victim and her self-confessed killer are together battling powerful law enforcement officials in Massachusetts to exonerate Albert DeSalvo and reopen Mary Sullivan's officially unsolved murder.

Sherman's dramatic account of his decade-long search for justice for Mary and the Sullivan family unmasks his aunt's real murderer and provides startling new revelations about the other notorious Boston Strangler serial killings.

Customer Reviews:

A GREAT READ.......2004-04-28

I'M A HUGE DENNIS LEHANE FAN & PICKED UP THIS BOOK BASED ON LEHANE'S RECOMMENDATION. I LOVED IT! IT WAS A FAST MOVING BOOK THAT READ LIKE A MYSTERY NOVEL. MYSTERY FANS SHOULD GOBBLE THIS ONE UP.

victim's rites.......2004-01-01

Re-examining the decades-old strangulation murder of his late Aunt Mary, a 19-year-old career girl widely believed to be the last victim of self-confessed "Boston Strangler" Albert DeSalvo, author Casey Sherman makes a fairly compelling case that the killer was actually someone else and that DeSalvo was simply a convenient fall guy for baffled cops and stymied politicos. Unfortunately for Sherman, writer Susan Kelly presented a far more compelling (and far more professional) case in "The Boston Stranglers" nearly 10 years ago. Perhaps too close to the story for his own good, Sherman whitewashes, sidesteps and simply ignores the more unsavory aspects of the victim's life (all detailed in Kelly's book in a non-judgemental fashion), in the process unwittingly stripping the deeply-troubled young woman of any recognizable humanity and turning her into an unbelievable martyr-like cipher who never comes alive for the reader. Ardent true crime buffs will also be see the non-conclusive nature of this story a mile away; Sherman telegraphs the ending by pointedly assigning a fake name to a key suspect early on, always a tip-off that the cops couldn't make a case. Amateurish as this is (when he isn't pushing for exhumations and DNA tests, Sherman actually communes with his late aunt's ghost!), anyone seriously interested in the Strangler case will find this book intriguing, especially after comparing it to the considerably meatier account in Kelly's book--which actually names the suspect in question.

Elmore Leonard for a new generation.......2003-11-21

A Rose for Mary is a thrilling roller coaster ride that left me completely breathless at the end. Sherman uses the Boston Strangler case as a disturbing backdrop for political intrigue. I think this young man is an amazing writer who is keenly able to explore the dark corners of the mind. Run to pick up A Rose for Mary. You will be glad you did.

A Rose For Mary.......2003-11-21

This book took me down a path I have rarely gone before with True Crime. It not only concerns the serial murders of the century, but also the accounts of the grieving families on both sides of the crime and the heroic account of a relative, not known to the last victim (Mary Sullivan) who's quest for the truth pitts him against the long standing belief that Albert DeSalvo was the killer and the authorities (then and now) who want to keep it that way. It reads like Sam Spade meets CSI except these people are real heros! I would hope that anyone who likes reading period pick up this book. I read it in one sitting and, like the Maltese Falcon, plan on reading it again and again. It's really that good! If you're fascinated with the Strangler case I'd skip the rest and start here. Good job, Mr Sherman!

It's all about the author.......2003-11-15

I was interested in this book because I had read some other books about the Boston Strangler. So hearing from someone who was related to the case might have been interesting. It was not. The book seems to be more about the author -- and not the topic. Sherman seems to have a large ego and is more interested in making up things that might have happened. He also invokes talking ghosts, which is very weird and doesn't ring true for a supposed newsman interested in the truth. Also, if he works in the news business, why does he need a writer? I don't get it. Very disappointing for true crime fans. There are better books - there is one that came out a couple of years ago about the fact that there was more than one strangler and it is very well-researched, called The Boston Stranglers. Sherman's book seems destined for the remainder table.

Between Good and Evil: A Master Profiler's Hunt for Society's Most Violent Predators

Average customer rating:

Less profiling than autobiography
This guy is a clown
Another Profiler's Life Story
Fabulous book
The Jury's Still out on Profiling's Value

Between Good and Evil: A Master Profiler's Hunt for Society's Most Violent Predators
Roger L. Depue , and Susan Schindehette
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Profilers: Leading Investigators Take You Inside The Criminal Mind
Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit
The Unknown Darkness : Profiling the Predators Among Us
Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives- Paperback
Dark Dreams: A Legendary FBI Profiler Examines Homicide and the Criminal Mind

ASIN: 0446532649

Book Description

The FBI's former top serial-killer hunter shares his unique perspective as both a lawman and a member of the clergy counseling convicts--revealing the dangerously thin line between good and evil.

Roger L. Depue spent decades tracking down America's most depraved criminals. First as a small town police chief, then as a S.W.A.T. team member, and ultimately as head of the FBI's famed Behavioral Sciences Unit--the unit responsible for profiling and hunting serial killers--where he pioneered revolutionary law enforcement programs and techniques that remain in use today by the FBI and police departments across the globe. In his quest to comprehend the true nature of good and evil, Depue embarked on a mid-career spiritual sabbatical to become a Brother of the Missionaries of the Holy Apostles, counseling maximum security inmates. With his combined experiences as both a law enforcement professional and a member of the clergy, Depue explores the criminal mind and soul as no one has ever done before.

Customer Reviews:

Less profiling than autobiography.......2007-05-25

I enjoy profiling books and recommend John Douglas' Mindhunters and Obsession . This book has very little for the reader to learn except minor tidbits like how to tell (via "overkill") that the unsub was known to the victim. The book has a long backstory on the authors childhood, dating, marines, etc. and he seems like a bully. The last 1/3 of the book is his religion taking over which is boring. None of the life story or seminary time relate to criminal investigations, which is probably why you are interested in this type of book. The John Douglas books cover fascinating, yet horrible crimes while giving insights into clues to the traits of the criminal - thus are far more interesting than this book by Depue.

This guy is a clown.......2007-03-23

He gives the insights of a profiler fine and good. But he is sickeningly boastful the whole book, not just in his description of profiler work, but before he even gets to that point. Its nothing but obvious delusion. Of course you have to try to make the book interesting, but you're NOT Charles Bronson, you're NOT Mike Tyson. I had to stop reading and skip forward in the book because I got tired of reading about how he won a fist fight in high school and then he said Claire Michigan was the closest thing the state had to the wild west, how he got beat up by two guys but should have paid attention because he could have taken them. That aspect of the book is nauseating. You would think he knocked out Muhammed Ali. I would skip this book if I had it to do over.

Another Profiler's Life Story.......2007-01-19

I am sure I have read the 'life story' type books of most of the well known profilers. I have to admit Roger L Depue was not a name I had come accross in any like books written in the same era. In fact I discovered only one well know book where his name appeared, then only a brief mention.
That aside if you have an interest in this type of book this one is worth the read.
The book essentially follows the life of Roger Depue from his childhood through his career as a rural police officer to the FBI. As most peoples' lives have there interesting aspects certainly anyone with the live experience of the author could not miss out in this area. Therefore I would see this book as esentially a biography. Certainly, in the book, there are many interesting examples of how profiling works and written in a style that is very easy to understand. The book also delves off into how his career and life events produced many 'turnings in the road'.
One of the more interesting parts of the book I found was the author's brief summation of a number of the 'big name' profilers of that era. I found it interesting some get mentioned by their christian names and others by surname only. I guess we can form our own opinions as to why.
Overall, yes 'Another Profiler's Life Story', but if you have an interest in that area, and don't mind a good dose of his personal life, go ahead and have a read. Might not be the best of these books but I found it interesting enough to go cover to cover in three 'sittings'.

Fabulous book.......2006-06-26

I just can't say enough GOOD about this book!!!!! It was a great page turner and hard to put down once started. I thought it would be primarily about profiling, but the added twist of how that affected his life and faith is phenomenal....

The Jury's Still out on Profiling's Value.......2006-01-04

The book details Depue's life in law enforcement, beginning with growing up with a father who was a Detroit policeman, followed by his own first police job in a small town, rising to chief, moving to the FBI, becoming head of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit in 1979 for 10 years, and finally retiring to start and head a crime investigation firm.

Actual cases are used throughout the book, as well as some of his conclusions - eg. psychopaths tend to degenerate as the police close in (Bundy's final murders occurred as a rampage in a Florida sorority house, totally unlike his initial well-planned and conning cases), violent criminals have a common thread of child abuse and often head injury as well (though not all abusers become violent), "overkill" at a murder is a sign that the victim knew the perpetrator.

Depue was involved in the Martha Moxley murder case while a consultant, and his FBI staff interviewed a number of killers (including Ted Bundy) while developing their conclusions.

Depue is clearly a very skilled detective. However, the jury is still out on whether criminal profiling is useful. The research literature on the topic is limited and somewhat negative; in addition, more than one leading police official has declared that he knew of no instance where profiling led directly to apprehension (though it often confirms what is eventually found).

Islamic Law: The Sharia from Muhammad's Time to the Present

Average customer rating:

Islamic Law: The Sharia from Muhammad's Time to the Present
Hunt Janin , and Andre Kahlmeyer
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Shari'a: Islamic Law in the Contemporary Context
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

ASIN: 0786429216
Release Date: 2007-02-22

Product Description

The sharia is a set of traditional laws that define a Muslim's obligations to God and his fellow human beings. Westerners often misunderstand the nature of the sharia, born as it is of a complicated legal and academic tradition that may not always seem relevant to today's world. Written for those unfamiliar with Islam, this volume provides an accurate and objective assessment of the sharia's achievements, shortcomings and future prospects. It explores the fundamentals of Islam and traditional sharia laws. In addition, the sharia is discussed with respect to Ottoman law, puritanism and jihad. The sharia's relevance to today's world events is also explored. Among items provided in appendices are a commentary on a Western translation of the concept of jihad and an analysis of the sharia in 29 selected countries.

Average customer rating:

Best book on the subject

California criminal law manual
Derald D Hunt
Manufacturer: Burgess Pub. Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Criminal Law | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0808708589

Customer Reviews:

Best book on the subject.......2002-01-03

This is THE book for people who need to understand the California criminal law. Because it deals with subjects, rather than code sections, it is much easier to understand. For instance, weapons laws can be found in the Penal Code, Vehicle Code, Health and Safety Code, Military and Veterans Code, Government Code and so forth. This book puts all the weapons laws in one section, making them far easier to undestand. It is an easy read, in that besides listing the laws, case laws are presented with the reasoning behind them. This is, BY FAR, the best book on the subject I have encountered and I highly recommend it for anyone who is in a police academy or taking police promotionals where an understanding of California criminal law may be important.

The New Cultural History (Studies on the History of Society and Culture)

Average customer rating:

The New Fascinating History
Good ideas, but poorly written.

The New Cultural History (Studies on the History of Society and Culture)

Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Historiography | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Beyond the Cultural Turn: New Directions in the Study of Society and Culture (Studies on the History of Society and Culture , No 34)
The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller
What Is Cultural History?
Gender and the Politics of History
That Noble Dream: The 'Objectivity Question' and the American Historical Profession (Ideas in Context)

ASIN: 0520064291

Book Description

Across the humanities and the social sciences, disciplinary boundaries have come into question as scholars have acknowledged their common preoccupations with cultural phenomena ranging from rituals and ceremonies to texts and discourse. Literary critics, for example, have turned to history for a deepening of their notion of cultural products; some of them now read historical documents in the same way that they previously read "great" texts. Anthropologists have turned to the history of their own discipline in order to better understand the ways in which disciplinary authority was constructed. As historians have begun to participate in this ferment, they have moved away from their earlier focus on social theoretical models of historical development toward concepts taken from cultural anthropology and literary criticism.
Much of the most exciting work in history recently has been affiliated with this wide-ranging effort to write history that is essentially a history of culture. The essays presented here provide an introduction to this movement within the discipline of history. The essays in Part One trace the influence of important models for the new cultural history, models ranging from the pathbreaking work of the French cultural critic Michel Foucault and the American anthropologist Clifford Geertz to the imaginative efforts of such contemporary historians as Natalie Davis and E. P. Thompson, as well as the more controversial theories of Hayden White and Dominick LaCapra. The essays in Part Two are exemplary of the most challenging and fruitful new work of historians in this genre, with topics as diverse as parades in 19th-century America, 16th-century Spanish texts, English medical writing, and the visual practices implied in Italian Renaissance frescoes. Beneath this diversity, however, it is possible to see the commonalities of the new cultural history as it takes shape. Students, teachers, and general readers interested in the future of history will find these essays stimulating and provocative.

Customer Reviews:

The New Fascinating History.......2001-08-23

In the book The New Cultural History, editor Lynn Hunt has compiled a series of essays that seek to explain cultural history, as well as essays that undertake the approach to history that is exemplified in cultural history. Each essay is by a cultural historian of some degree, and each excerpt builds upon and carries out the notion of cultural history itself. Instead of one long discussion about what is cultural history, this volume effectively translates the aspects of cultural history for the reader by offering various examples of how cultural historians write. The first half of the book is devoted to "models of cultural history," and it offers just that. In her essay on Michel Foucault, Patricia O'Brien gives the reader a better understanding of cultural history through the works and visions of the famous French philosopher. She argues that Foucault's approach to historical discourse paved the way for historians to be able to draw on interpretations of facts rather than just the facts alone. Suzanne Desan, in her essay, shows how this historical method was employed by more contemporary historians such as E.P. Thompson and Natalie Davis. Through their work the reader sees how they moved from a socioeconomic, Marxist view of history to one that was outlined by Foucault. Though Desan is writing a history, she is also doing what her subjects did and draws her own interpretations and finally, calls for a merge between social and cultural history. Aletta Biersack and Lloyd S. Kramer both take this new cultural history as a model, and in their respective essays discuss how anthropology and literature offer invaluable insights

into the psychology of culture of the masses. Once the model for cultural history is established, part two of The New Cultural History shows how use of philosophy, psychology, literature, and anthropology are used when discussing histories of various institutions. In her essay on the American Parade, Mary Ryan gives a more thorough history of an American custom by limiting the scope of her topic to three cities and a very concentrated period of time. She is then more able to draw interpretations of what the American parade has meant and through her findings, gives credence to her own hypothesis that the parade has mirrored the rise and fall of various social groups. In "Texts, Printing, Readings" author Roger Chartier looks at the text of creating text itself as a clue into how society reads and why, and through drawing his own interpretations he gives a voice to the readers in the past, and in a sense, gives ammunition for social historians who argue that there is a power relationship between printing and the masses. Thomas W. Laquer shows how this "ammunition" for social historians was further realized through narratives about human suffering in his article "Bodies, Details, and the Humanitarian Narrative." In the final essay, Randolph Starn draws on science to explain how art was created and perceived during the Renaissance and how a deeper understanding of how the eye works can show how making a work seem "Classical" served the deeper purpose of propagating and stabilizing power in the past. In every essay of The New Cultural History, it is this relationship between the popular masses and power that is in some way addressed. Each historian in the volume argues in different ways that power is not dictated from the upper levels by the elite, but rather that it is created among the population itself.

The population in question is culture, and by studying the various roots of power and reasons for it within a specific culture, it is possible to write a respected and valid history of that culture.

Good ideas, but poorly written........2000-04-07

This book had a lot of interesting ideas, but it also had many flaws. It purports to be an introduction to the area of cultural history, but the essays assume the readers have a certain amount of knowledge. Beyond that, it is also poorly written. As a 3rd-year history/English major, I often had some trouble following the arguments this volume made. The authors could have articulated themselves much better. I have to say, the area of cultural history is fascinating, but I would like to think that there are clearer volumes out there.

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