The Journey: A History of the African American Experience

An inclusive (women are integrated---not placed into segregated boxes) history from West Africa to 1877. Used in college-level courses and evaluated positively by student commentaries.

The story recounting the history of African Americans has been told by griots (African storytellers), historians, participants, and observers. This writer has continued the tradition by relating the experiences of African Americans from their cultural roots in West Africa and accompanying them on their journey across the Atlantic Ocean to the sugarcane plantations in the Americas, the fishing towns of New England, and the tobacco farms in the Chesapeake. The story embraces the variety of experiences of these Africans in the Americas: their organized resistance in the runaway camps of the Palmares in Brazil, their individual successes such as Philadelphia sailmaker James Forten, New England poet Lucy Terry, soldier Peter Salem, astronomer/mathematician Benjamin Banneker, evangelist Jarena Lee, conductor on the Underground Railroad Harriet Tubman, and fugitive slave and newspaper editor Frederick Douglass.

The Journey: A History of the African American Experience, Vol. 2

Covers 1877-present. Used in college courses and evaluated positively by student commentaries. Integrates women into every chapter. Provides analytical tools for understanding the social movements created and sustained by African Americans.

By 1890, most (90.3%) African Americans remained in the South. The literacy rate had risen from 18.6% in 1870 to 42.9% in 1890, more reflective of progress in Black education in the North than in the former slave states of the South, where public school education remained defective through 1900. By 1900, twice as many acres were in cultivation compared to 1860. While 60% of American workers labored in agriculture in 1860, only 37% remained in that category by 1900, with their contribution to the American economy dropping from one-third to one-fourth. Over 50% of the white farmers and 75% of Black farmers had fallen into tenancy. Per capita income in the South changed little between 1880 and 1900. Death had erased the generation of militant activist leaders raised in slavery and anti-slavery protest. Sojourner Truth died in 1883. Henry Highland Garnet had died in 1882, shortly after arriving in Monrovia as the ambassador to Liberia. By 1885, Martin Delany died. In 1890 the Crafts' left Woodville for Charleston, South Carolina to live with their daughter's family. Ellen Craft died the following year. Mary Ann Shadd Cary died by the time of the Columbian Exposition in 1893. By 1895, the death of Frederick Douglass removed the leading spokesman for racial justice, integration, and equality. Just before his death, he lamented the conditions in America: It sometimes seems we are denied the benefits of heaven and earth. . . . If the American conscience were only half alive, if the American church and clergy were only half Christianized, if American moral sensibility were not hardened by persistent infliction of outrage and crime against colored people, a scream of horror, shame, and indignation would rise to Heaven . . . ". The actual death of Frederick Douglass, leader of the nineteenth century, was the figurative death of militance and the pragmatic embrace of accommodation. The actual death of Frederick Douglass, leader of the nineteenth century, was the figurative death of militance and the pragmatic embrace of accommodation.

Methodology of the Oppressed

American Studies Journal
Signs

Every so often, you read a book that makes it all come together for you. In this brilliant and densely footnoted volume, Chela Sandoval identifies the "academic apartheid" that keeps poststructuralism, postcolonial theory, ethnic studies, queer theory, hegemonic (white) feminism, and, especially, U.S. third world feminism isolated from and in limited conversation with one another, despite their common undercurrents. By introducing the concepts of "differential social movement" and "differential consciousness," she makes these spheres mutually intelligible and reconcilable in a way that can facilitate coordinated action for democratic social justice (rather than simply more academic pontification). What is particularly helpful is that she situates her analyses within postmodernity, noting how the dimensions of this historical space at once warrant, demand, and permit new and dynamic forms of activism. You will never think the same way about "theory," U.S. third world feminism, or the possibilities for a democratic future in the era of globalization after reading this book. - Layli Phillips, August 4, 2001

Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley Brown

Description:
When reviewing the great figures of feminism, few would call to mind the creator of the Cosmo Girl, but as Jennifer Scanlon argues in her fascinating biography Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley Brown, the longtime editor of Cosmopolitan and diva of the New York magazine world powerfully changed the way modern culture views the single woman. From Brown’s first book, Sex and the Single Girl, a bold precursor to today’s unapologetic Sex in the City, to her editing of the most widely read women’s magazine in the world, Brown defied traditional mores to proclaim the unmarried woman’s right to happiness. The first woman publicly to say that there was another role available in the conservative context of the early 1960s, Brown offered American women a revelation that resulted in a revolution. Scanlon tracks the trajectory of Brown’s career as a frank, fearless champion for women, from her support for abortion rights to her demands that freedom of choice for women include everything from fashion to politics, showing how Brown has advocated for women while achieving great commercial success.

The first biography of Helen Gurley Brown, Bad Girls Go Everywhere accords Brown a place among the early leaders of the second wave of the feminist movement. Scanlon’s impressively researched portrait shows us that Helen Gurley Brown is a woman of fascinating contradictions, carving out her own unique philosophy of pragmatic feminism, a philosophy that defines the lives of millions of women today. Scanlon’s perceptive account of this shrewd public figure tracks the collision between sexual politics and commerce, providing new insight into the social forces that shape modern life. To read it is to better understand how feminism operates in our day-to-day lives.

Advance Acclaim:

“Bad Girls Go Everywhere is a faithful presentation of the amazing Helen Gurley Brown and her much-deserved place in the pantheon of twentieth-century women who were part of the feminist revolution. Helen did her own thing, insisting on proving that sexual freedom, self-assertiveness, and raging ambition could pay off for females at the same time as they had mad sexy fun with men of all stripes. Scanlon doesn’t stint on Helen’s quirks, peculiarities, fetishes, dedication, her stringent stinginess and the shocks she administered to a staid magazine culture. HGB was in a class by herself and deserves this book! It’s lots of fun.” -- Liz Smith, syndicated columnist

“Scanlon's lucid, authoritative biography of the misunderstood icon and feminist trailblazer Helen Gurley Brown is a welcome corrective to those who wrote Brown off as insufficiently political or serious. This book demonstrates that living an independent, brave, and full life is the essential revolutionary act for women." -- Jennifer Baumgardner, author of Manifesta, Look Both Ways and Abortion & Life

"Helen Gurley Brown reimagined work as sexy, sex as vital, and singlehood as an adventure to be savored. Few feminists think of the woman who transformed Cosmopolitan into the ‘fun, fearless, female’ cliché it is today as one of ‘us,’ but after reading Jennifer Scanlon's absorbing, comprehensive, and very enjoyable biography, perhaps we'll all reconsider." -- Andi Zeisler, co-founder and editorial/creative director of Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture

God Speaks to Us, Too: Southern Baptist Women on Church, Home, and Society

If anyone ever thought Southern Baptist women were meek, mild, and uniformly submissive, this book assures them that they have another thing coming. Susan Shaw found that while some of the women she interviewed believed they should submit to their husbands in theory, most believed strongly in their ability and responsibility to think and act for themselves.Susan Willhauck, Wesley Theological Seminary.

Book Description How can women find strength, courage, and motivation in a religious denomination that believes in the necessity of a wife?s submission to her husband? In God Speaks to Us, Too, Susan M. Shaw shows that Southern Baptist women are surprisingly more complex and rebellious than outside observers might think they are. She presents the views of more than 150 women, often using their own words, and finds in them an unshakable belief that God speaks as directly to them as to any pastor or denominational leader. Although these women respect their leaders and are influenced by them, ultimately they recognize that their beliefs and practices are determined by their own choices, and with God?s guidance.

The Collective Pursuit of Gender Equality Around the World: An Introduction

The issues, implications, and benefits of gender equality are of particular relevance for today's college students as they prepare to become informed citizens and agents of social change. The Collective Pursuit of Gender Equality Around the World: An Introduction is designed to acquaint college undergraduates with past and current collective efforts to achieve gender equality, with examples from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Its thematic content and global, interdisciplinary coverage makes it a useful main or complementary text for introductory and other courses that explore a range of gender, class, and ethnic/racial issues. A companion website (http://ines.shawandpartners.com)expands its content, includes a blog and a link to forum that instructors can use to take discussions beyond the classroom.

Dr. Minoo Derayeh, Prof. of Islam, World Religions & Gender Studies, York University, Canada, notes that "this work is a most welcome and significant addition to the literature. With sensitive treatment of the issues, the author cuts through the profuse tangle that has grown around the topic of gender equality and sheds stereotypical ideas about equality in the cultures of the Middle East and North Africa."

Prof. Nivia Barros, Prof. of Social Politics & Women's Studies, Federal Fluminense University, Brazil, remarks that "this extraordinary book brings deserved attention to the progress of collective efforts to achieve gender equality while expertly leading readers to evaluate the cost of inequality and develop a cogent vision and an understanding of the benefits of a gender equal world."

Published by Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

URL: http://ines.shawandpartners.com

Bits & Pieces of My Truth

This book is a collection of political essays, poetry and short stories.

Manipulative and controlling, Jack Weber holds the belief that money is all he needs to be happy. With his fast car, a home in the right neighborhood, and friends with a similar philosophy, Jack believes he has the perfect life. However, the Bits and Pieces of his life shift dramatically as he hires a new housekeeper, believer L. J. Williams, and together they become the victims of stalker David Levine. L. J.'s simplicity and faith give Jack a different look at what his life could be like. Without being preachy, author M. J. Owen brings a new approach to contemporary Christian fiction.

About the Author
Accustomed to tweaking and editing students' papers, author M. J. Owen was determined to work on her own writing for a change of pace. What started out as a traditional romance novel evolved into a unique blend of Christian fiction and suspense told from a male perspective. M. J. Owen currently serves as a professor at a college near Dallas, Texas.

My Baby Rides the Short Bus: The Unabashedly Human Experience of Raising Kids with Disabilities

In lives where there is a new diagnosis or drama every day, the stories in this collection provide parents of “special needs” kids with a welcome chuckle, a rock to stand on, and a moment of reality held far enough from the heart to see clearly. Featuring works by “alternative” parents who have attempted to move away from mainstream thought—or remove its influence altogether—this anthology, taken as a whole, carefully considers the implications of parenting while raising children with disabilities.

From professional writers to novice storytellers including original essays by Robert Rummel-Hudson, Ayun Halliday, and Kerry Cohen, this assortment of authentic, shared experiences from parents at the fringe of the fringes is a partial antidote to the stories that misrepresent, ridicule, and objectify disabled kids and their parents.

The Buzz:

"A groundbreaking book…a collection of beautifully written stories, strange and familiar, incredibly open and well articulated, complicated and diverse: about human rights and human emotions. Wise, non-conformist, and absolutely punk rock!”
--China Martens, author of The Future Generation: The Zine-Book for Subculture Parents, Kids, Friends and Others

"This is the most important book I\'ve read in years. Whether you are subject or ally, My Baby Rides the Short Bus will open you--with its truth, humanity, and poetry. Lucky you to have found it. Now stick it in your heart."
--Ariel Gore

"Smart, diverse, inspiring. My Baby Rides the Short Bus reminds us of what we all have in common and how much more work there still is to be done."
--Vicki Forman, author of This Lovely Life: A Memoir of Premature Motherhood

"For the collection’s diverse and candid discussion of such topics as diagnosis, education, family, community support, respite and re-learning to stand up in order to be seen, heard, respected and believed, I hereby declare this book required reading for outsider parents of all stripes, their allies, school psychologists, therapists, social workers and child advocates!"
--Jessica Mills, author, My Mother Wears Combat Boots: A Parenting Guide for the Rest of Us

"If only that lady in the grocery store and all of those other so-called parenting experts would read this book! These true-life tales by mothers and fathers raising kids with \"special needs\" on the outer fringes of mainstream America are by turns empowering, heartbreaking, inspiring, maddening, and even humorous. Readers will be moved by the bold honesty of these voices, and by the fierce love and determination that rings throughout. This book is a vital addition to the public discourse on disability."
--Suzanne Kamata, editor, Love You to Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs

"The contributors of this important and necessary anthology span a range of decades from a time when "defective babies" were institutionalized, to the nascent civil rights movement, straight on to a new era of independent living. The families sharing these stories live and often struggle with the consequences of illness, injury, genetic inheritance, or sometimes a perplexing and mysterious combination of factors, insisting that the world recognize a basic fact: "We are not science experiments.

Disability is a uniquely humbling and equal experience, sometimes expected, often striking without warning. These parents are honest about both the distressing and illuminating facts of their lives; the stories are caustic, exhilarating, fierce, funny, harrowing. Yet despite the intricate and often overwhelming challenges they face, these parents and children never succumb to maudlin stereotypes, because, as one contributor learns, "it isn\'t saintly to take care of someone you love."
--Bee Lavender, author of Lessons in Taxidermy: A Compendium of Safety and Danger

Contemporary American Women: Our Defining Passages

Contemporary American Women: Our Defining Passages
268 pages
6" x 9"
Softcover
IBSN-13: 978-0984259434
All Things That Matter Press; Dec. 2009
Cynthia Brackett-Vincent, Carol Smallwood, eds.

From the back cover: "This unique collection includes over 50 articles by American women who revisit, celebrate, and share defining moments in their lives. Readers will see the universal in milestones of body, mind, family, career, and personal empowerment-whether joyous or difficult, chosen or unexpected, common or rare. These are poignant passages of women, told by talented and award winning writers: intimate glimpses into the lives of our sisters, friends, aunts, mentors, wives, grandmothers, partners, mothers, daughters-ourselves."

Even though this collection is about contemporary 'American' women the stories are universal. As I read each, I can see myself in them.
-Supriya Bhatnagar, Director of Publications at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, editor of The Writer's Chronicle

This collection reveals those intimate moments that change women's lives: the ways we tough it out, break down, and become whole again.
-Arlene L. Mandell, Pushcart Prize nominee. American Association of University Women's short-story contest winner, 2008.

These experiences exemplify the range of passages that existing anthologies have yet to address in a single volume. The authentic, often lyrical prose speaks to a broad audience within and beyond academics.
-Diane LeBlanc, Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Director of College Writing, St. Olaf College; Bechtel Prize winner.

Lily's Odyssey

Lily's Odyssey unfolds in three parts with the inevitability, impact, and resolution of a Greek play. The dialogue rings true, the concrete conveyed along with moods and half-tones to paint Midwestern middle class flawed characters with poignancy. The psychological detective novel explores the once largely unacknowledged: it is not only soldiers who get post-traumantic stress disorder and child abuse whether it is overt or covert incest is a time bomb. From daughter to grandmother, Lily's voyage is told with lyricism, humor, and irony using a poet's voice to distill contemporary American women's changing role in religion, marriage, and family.

Mama and Daddy Bear's Divorce

"This book provides reassurance that, as painful and confusing as a divorce may be, it does not mean that both parents will no longer be part of a youngster's life" --School Library Journal

When I Care About Others

Best Children's Books of the Year, 2003, Bank Street College

"This charming title in The Way I Feel series will help youngsters identify and understand the basic concepts and importance of receiving and offering help and emotional support."  Booklist

When I Feel Angry

"This gentle book puts an adorable bunny in a variety of situations...Instead of acting out, though, the bunny and her friends find constructive ways to deal with their anger."  Booklist

When I Feel Good About Myself

"The book could serve as a healthy reminder of the importance of treating oneself and others with respect."  School Library Journal

When I Feel Jealous

"Children will be reassured to see that what they experience is universal and can be handled...Perfect for units and discussions on feelings."  School Library Journal

When I Feel Sad

Best Children's Books of the Year 2003, Bank Street College
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award 2003

"This is a well-constructed and useful resource for family and classroom sharing." School Library Journal

When I Feel Scared

Best Children's Books of the Year 2003, Bank Street College

"The short, well-reasonsed narrative, child-centered point of view, and practical suggestions make this a good choice for preschoolers."  Booklist

When I Miss You

Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award 2005
"Few picture books deal with this common childhood trial in such a helpful way, acknowledging the emotions and providing reassurance."  Booklist

Your Body Belongs to You

"Spelman does a good job of introducing the difficult subject of sexual abuse to very young children...A good, solid book on the subject and one of the few appropriate for this age group."  Booklist
PreSchool-Grade 2. This book is positive and assertive without being frightening. It lets young children know that it's all right for them to choose when, and by whom, they are to be touched. It goes on to define "private parts" as "the places on your body covered by a bathing suit," and states that they should never be touched by people other than medical personnel and adults helping with bathroom functions. The prefatory note to parents is an important one as it reminds them to trust a child's instincts and concerns related to unwanted touching. Weidner's simple watercolors are adequately rendered and are appropriate to the content. Even with its basic vocabulary and limited scope, this book will need to be, and should be, shared one-on one.

After Charlotte's Mom Died

"deals with the subject of grief ini a compassionate, understanding way...A solid choice."  Booklist

MISSING, a memoir

Acclaimed children's book author Cornelia Maude Spelman's memoir of her family springs from a meeting and subsequent friendship with the late, legendary New Yorker editor William Maxwell.  In the 1920's, he and her parents had been friends as undergraduates at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  When Spelman hints at what she thinks of as the failure of her parents' lives, he counters that "in a good novel one doesn't look for a success story, but for a story that moves one with its human drama and richness of experience."  At their final meeting, Maxwell encourages her to tell her mother's story.  Missing is Spelman's response to his wisdom. With the pacing of the mystery novels her mother loved, and using everything from letters and interviews to the family's quotidien paper trail--medical records, telegrams, and other oft-overlooked clues to a family's history--Spelman reconstructs her mother's life and untimely death. Along the way, she unravels mysteries of her family, including the fate of her long-lost older brother. Spelman skillfully draws the reader into the elation and sorrow that accompany the discovery of a family's past.  A profoundly loving yet honest elegy, Missing is, like the woman it memorializes, complex and beautiful.

URL: http://www.corneliaspelman.com

Before Windrush: Recovering an Asian and Black Literary Heritage within Britain

An eloquent and compelling reframing of the life and history of Black Britons before 1948, Before Windrush provides a rare yet essential overview of the Asian, South Asian, Caribbean and African writers engagements and contributions to both British and world history. Boasting an impressive survey of topics, ethnicities and eras, from reevaluations of canonical texts to intrepid, new analyses of largely overlooked writers and minority British communities, this volume brings lost conversations and undiscovered material back into British and postcolonial literary studies..... There is no better place to either start or further expand one s knowledge of Black British literature, culture and thought in all of its manifestations. --Michelle M. Wright, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Author, Becoming Black: Creating Identity in the African Diaspora

Before Windrush breaks significantly new ground in the focus it gives to Asian writers in multicultural British literature before 1948. Placing these voices into constructive relationships and conversations with Afro-Caribbean literary figures verifies their indivisibility from an often exclusionary canon. The writing is lucid and concise, the critical lenses sharp and revealing. This anthology fills a long neglected space in our scholarship and teaching. ---Keith Sandiford, Louisiana State University, Author, Measuring the Moment: Strategies of Protest in Eighteenth-Century Afro-English Writing --

Security Disarmed: Critical Perspectives on Gender, Race, and Militarization

"In Security Disarmed, scholars, policy planners, and activists come together to think critically about the human cost of violence and viable alternatives to armed conflict. Arranged in four parts--alternative paradigms of security, cross-national militarization, militarism in the United States, and pedagogical and cultural concerns--the book critically challenges militarization and voices an alternative encompassing vision of
human security by analyzing the relationships among gender, race, and militarization. This collection of essays evaluates and resists the worldwide crisis of militarization including but going beyond American military engagements in the twenty-first century."

Reviews:
"An invaluable book for our times with multiple strengths. The volume situates the United States in a healthy comparative perspective while also revealing how gender is racialized and racisms are gendered throughout the world." --Cynthia Enloe, author of Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link

"One of the most important and exciting books among the recent flurry of feminist collections that elucidates the inextricable links among militarism, war, economic globalization, and neoliberalism and gender."
--Margo Okazawa-Rey, Fielding Graduate University

"This book deftly draws on experience, both from deep within the USA and far from its shores, to show how the cost of militarization and war is exacted by the powerful and paid by the poorest and most excluded. It will inspire students and activists with its examples of resistance to the abuse of power in its many dimensions, and its fresh thinking on the true meaning of security." --Cynthia Cockburn, feminist researcher and
activist, City University London

Bodies in Crisis: Culture, Violence, and Women's Resistance in Neoliberal Argentina

Born and raised in Argentina and still maintaining significant ties to the area, Barbara Sutton examines the complex, and often hidden, bodily worlds of diverse women in that country during a period of profound social upheaval. Based primarily on women's experiential narratives and set against the backdrop of a severe economic crisis and intensified social movement activism post-2001, "Bodies in Crisis" illuminates how multiple forms of injustice converge in and are contested through women's bodies. Sutton reveals the bodily scars of neoliberal globalization; women's negotiation of cultural norms of femininity and beauty; experiences with clandestine, illegal, and unsafe abortions; exposure to and resistance against interpersonal and structural violence; and, the role of bodies as tools and vehicles of political action. Through the lens of women's body consciousness in a Global South country, and drawing on multifaceted stories and a politically embedded approach, "Bodies in Crisis" suggests that social policy, economic systems, cultural ideologies, and political resistance are ultimately fleshly matters.

"Bodies in Crisis is one of the few books that deals with the bodily dimensions of exclusion and resistance in Latin America. Bravo to Sutton for this highly original work." - Javier Auyero, author of Flammable: Environmental Suffering in an Argentine Shantytown.

"I rarely say this about academic books but I had a hard time putting this one down! Sutton has authored an exciting and engaging contribution to the literature on women and social movements." — Michelle D. Bonner, University of Victoria

When Sex Became Gender

"Contrary to conventional wisdom, Shira Tarrant argues that feminism didn't languish between the 1920s and the 1960s. Instead, the conceptual foundations of second-wave feminism were created by a wave of extraordinarily imaginative and bold academic women in the early postwar years. In this original and indispensable book, Tarrant uncovers a crucial missing chapter in the history of modern feminism." --Steven Seidman, author of Beyond the Closet

"In When Sex Became Gender, Tarrant expounds upon a relatively understudied period of feminist theory and incorporates figures that have not traditionally been included as part of the feminist canon. The book challenges us to see feminist theory as unfolding throughout history rather than being restricted to a few 'waves' of activism. An excellent work that strongly makes a case for the importance of the events of the 1950s and their influence on what was to follow." --Judith Grant, author of Fundamental Feminism

How did the term "sex" develop into "gender"? And is it really true that a vibrant feminist movement disappeared entirely after suffrage gains were won, only to suddenly resurface in the late 1960s? In When Sex Became Gender, author Shira Tarrant establishes the historical and theoretical connections between feminist eras. By doing so, Tarrant shows how protofeminist ideas of the past served as the foundation for today's focus on the social construction of gender.

Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex, and Power

Men Speak Out is a collection of essays written by and about pro-feminist men. In the essays, which feature original, lively, and accessible prose, anti-sexist men make sense of their gendered experiences in today's culture. And since the interrelations between gender, race, class, and sexuality are central to feminism, Men Speak Out prioritizes such issues.

These authors tackle the issues of feminism, growing up male, recognizing masculine privilege, taking action to change the imbalance of power and privilege, and the constraints that men experience in confronting sexism. They describe their successes and challenges in bucking patriarchal systems in a culture that can be unsupportive of - or downright hostile to - a pro-feminist perspective. In these chapters, a diverse group of men reflects on growing up, shares moments in their day-to-day lives, and poses serious questions about being a pro-feminist male living, working, thinking, and learning in a sexist society.

Men and Feminism

There's no denying that men's involvement and interest in feminism is key to its continuing relevance and importance. Addressing the question of why men should care about feminism in the first place, Men and Feminism lays the foundation for a larger discussion about feminism as a human issue, not simply a women's issue. Men are crucial to the movement — as fathers, brothers, husbands, boyfriends, and friends. From "why" to "how" to "what can men do", Men and Feminism answers all the questions men have about how and why they should get behind feminism.

What people are saying about Men and Feminism:

“[Tarrant explains] how the fear of being labeled a sissy keeps even the most feminist of men silent thus complacent in continuing our sexist and homophobic society … It’s not finger-pointing or male-bashing at all. Rather, it’s a straightforward call to action for all the “I’m not a feminist, but…” men in our lives who really need to walk all that talk.”

—Veronica I. Arreola, Feminist Review

“Shira Tarrant isn’t afraid to go into unexpected territory … [This book] discusses the history of men in feminism, but also analyzes conversations about gender and masculinity while providing resources for men interested in feminist actions.

—Allison McCarthy, Womanist Musings

Beyond the Black Lady: Sexuality and the New African American Middle Class

In Beyond the Black Lady: Sexuality and the New African American Middle Class, Lisa B. Thompson explores the representation of black middle class female sexuality by African American women authors in narrative literature, drama, film, and popular culture, showing how these depictions reclaim black female agency and illustrate the difficulties black women confront in asserting sexual agency in the public sphere. Thompson broadens the discourse around black female sexuality by offering an alternate reading of the overly determined racial and sexual script that casts the middle class "black lady" as the bastion of African American propriety. Drawing on the work of black feminist theorists, she examines symptomatic autobiographies, novels, plays, and key episodes in contemporary American popular culture, including works by Anita Hill, Judith Alexa Jackson, P. J. Gibson, Julie Dash, Kasi Lemmons, Jill Nelson, Lorene Cary, and Andrea Lee.

"In refreshingly clear prose, Lisa B. Thompson renders a complex and nuanced reading of black middle-class women from both fiction and real life. This study makes an important intervention in the discourse on what has heretofore been an under-theorized subject."--E. Patrick Johnson, author of Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South

"A path-breaking, cogently argued, bold study of the ways in which black women writers and public figures have engaged, confronted, resisted, or overturned prevailing notions of black middle-class women's sexuality. This book makes a powerful contribution to debates in race studies, gender and sexuality studies, performance studies, and literary and cultural studies."--Valerie Smith, author of Not Just Race, Not Just Gender: Black Feminist Readings

Lisa B. Thompson is an associate professor of English at the University at Albany, SUNY, and the author of the critically acclaimed off-Broadway play Single Black Female.

Click on the following link to access University of Illinois Press's webpage for the book:

URL: http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/56ttm9xr9780252034268.html

Nation, Immigration and Environmental Security (Of Lifeboats and Scapegoats)

REVIEWS: 

“At last a book that makes the critical link between all too commonly accepted neo-Malthusian ideologies of environment and security and the militarization of border control. Through careful textual interpretation and political investigation, Urban not only shows how these ideologies function to scapegoat immigrants, but how feminist intersectional analysis and activism help open the way to a more progressive vision that connects immigrant rights to environmental and social justice.” --Betsy Hartmann, Ph.D., Director of the Population and Development Program, Hampshire College, and co-editor of Making Threats: Biofears and Environmental Anxieties.      

"Nation, Immigration & Environmental Security interrogates ‘the greening of hate’ from an intersectional postcolonial feminist perspective that exposes the lethal, neo-Malthusian politics of ‘Environmental Security’ frameworks in academic, media, policy, and mainstream environmentalist discourse and foregrounds the political analysis and transformative social vision of the growing, immigrant-led movement for human rights  and environmental and economic justice in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Urban's work offers a crucial and timely intervention in contemporary scholarly, activist, and policy debates over border security, global social justice and environmental sustainability.” --Zoe Hammer, Ph.D., Scholar/Activist, Border Action Network, U.S.-Mexico Border & Immigration Task Force, Prescott College for the Liberal Arts & Environment.

“Dr. Urban dissects the dangerous and obfuscating rhetoric that links environmental degradation, hunger, and poverty with immigration and women's fertility. Her clear-headed analysis and accessible language makes this timely book an indispensable resource for students, scholars, organizers, and policy-makers on this crucial and urgent issue.” --Gwyn Kirk, Ph.D., Women for Genuine Security.                       

BOOK DESCRIPTION:  There is growing interest in addressing environmental destruction as a matter of U.S. national security. Based on neo-Malthusian doomsday scenarios, gendered and racialized "Others" are commonly scapegoated for ecological devastation and insecurity, allowing both, and their core causes (interlocking systems of inequality), to flourish. Through the lens of intersectional, postcolonial feminism, Urban interrogates "mainstream environmental security discourse" in the United States, with particular emphasis on immigration across the United States/Mexico border. Urban also advances alternative approaches grounded not in the "greening of hate," but in social, environmental, and reproductive justice for all.                                                        

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Jessica LeAnn Urban (Jesse) is an Associate Professor at Humboldt State University in the newly formed and exciting Department of Critical Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (CRGS, or better stated, CouRaGeouS!). Jesse is also a core faculty member of the cutting-edge Environment and Community Graduate Program. Check us out at http://www.humboldt.edu/!

PLEASE NOTE:  100% of all proceeds earned by the author for this book will be donated to Border Action Network in Tucson, Arizona www.borderaction.org.                        

URL: http://us.macmillan.com/nationimmigrationandenvironmentalsecurity

Handbook of Self-Help Therapies

This volume constitutes the first solidly research-grounded guide for practitioners wending their way through the new maze of self-help approaches. The Handbook of Self-Help Therapies summarizes the current state of our knowledge about what works and what does not, disorder by disorder and modality by modality. Among the covered topics are: self-regulation theory; anxiety disorders; depression; childhood disorders; eating disorders; sexual dysfunctions; insomnia; problem drinking; smoking cessation; dieting and weight loss. Comprehensive in its scope, this systematic, objective assessment of self-help treatments will be invaluable for practitioners, researchers and students in counseling psychology, psychiatry and social work, health psychology, and behavioral medicine.

Canon Fodder: Historical Women Political Thinkers

This book is an exercise in the recovery of historical memory about a set of thinkers who have been forgotten or purposely ignored and, as a result, never made it into the canon of Western political philosophy. Penny Weiss calls them canon fodder, recalling the fate of soldiers in war who are treated by their governments and military leaders as expendable. Despite some real progress at recovery over the past few decades, and the now-frequent references to a few female thinkers like Mary Wollstonecraft, Hannah Arendt, and Simone de Beauvoir, the surface has only been scratched, and the rich resources of women s writings about political ideas remain still largely untapped. Included here, and intended to further whet the palate, are figures from Sei Shonagon, Christine de Pizan, and Mary Astell to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Anna Julia Cooper, and Emma Goldman.

Restoring female thinkers to the conversation of political philosophy is the primary goal of this book. Part I deploys a range of these thinkers to discuss the nature of political inquiry itself. Part II focuses on alternative approaches to and visions of core political ideas: equality, power, revolution, childhood, and community. While mainly an intellectual act of revival, this book also affects practical political life, because remote and academic as they sometimes appear, debates about what to include in the canon ultimately touch almost everyone: students handed texts from lists of great books to guide them . . . and citizens whose governments justify their actions with ideas from political texts deemed classic.

Gender Madness in American Psychiatry: Essays from the Struggle for Dignity

Gender Madness in American Psychiatry: Essays from the Struggle for Dignity provides an overview of the literature and attitudes behind the current diagnostic nomenclature and a historical snapshot of the issues and challenges faced by gender transcendent people on the eve of publication of the Fifth Edition of the DSM. This book contains a collection of essays from the struggle for transgender dignity and health care access. They are expanded from pieces posted to the GID Reform Advocates web site in 2008 and incorporate the generous feedback and discussion from advocates and critics.

For students of psychology, sociology, anthropology and gender studies curricula, this book provides an overview of the literature and social context that led to the current diagnostic nomenclature. It offers a historical snapshot of the issues and challenges faced by the trans-community on the eve of publication of the DSM-V. For gender transcendent people, this book is a call for respect and celebration of the broad diversity that exists within our community. Yet, it is also a call for unity and solidarity in demanding change for psychiatric policies and stereotypes that harm all trans-people. For mental health clinicians who work with transitioning clients, this book is intended to provide some insight, from a trans-perspective, into the barriers to social legitimacy and access to medical care that are posed by the categories of current Gender Identity Disorder and Transvestic Fetishism.