University of California Press Blog

New Issue of Journal of Palestine Studies

The latest issue of the Journal of Palestine Studies is out now! In "The Camp David II Negotiations: How Dennis Ross Proved the Palestinians Aborted the Peace Process" DePaul professor Norman Finkelstein calls Ross out on the distortions in his account and shows how Ross's "main innovation" has been to subordinate the normative framework of rights to the arbitrary and capricious one of "needs." Read the full text in Issue 142, Winter 2007.

Shaykh Ra'id Salah, a leader of the Islamic movement in Israel, has recently been in the news protesting Israeli excavations at the Al Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site of Islam. JPS carries an exclusive interview with the man who helped found one of the most influential movements among Arabs in Israel; the annual "al-Aqsa Endangered" rally attracts thousands of Palestinian citizens from across Israel. Click here to read the insightful introduction about Salah and the Islamic movement. The full text of the interview can be purchased from UC Press.

You can also read book reviews and view abstracts online. And don't miss out on the Quarterly Update on Conflict and Diplomacy by Michele K. Esposito for an invaluable overview and analysis of developments on the conflict, the full chronology of events, key documents, and a comprehensive bibliography. An extract of the chronology is available here. All articles can also be purchased from UC Press. Or subscribe today and make sure to get your regular copy.

Click here to see the full Table of Contents.

FSR on Supreme Court sentencing cases, Claiborne and Rita

The latest issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter, Volume 19.3, is available now. Its articles provide both context and concepts for understanding the federal sentencing realities that may have prompted the Supreme Court to take up Claiborne and Rita and that may impact the Court’s decisions.

The articles in this FSR issue, some of which directly address federal sentencing realities after Booker and some of which address broader issues concerning the operation of guideline systems, provide varied perspectives on how Claiborne and Rita could impact the current state and future direction of the federal sentencing system.

Highlights from this issue are available in free sample articles, including Professor Douglas A. Berman’s "Editor’s Observations", and U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner with "Thoughts on Reasonableness", at http://caliber.ucpress.net/toc/fsr/19/3.

In addition, you can find information on Booker, Blakely, death penalty issues and other sentencing issues updated every day at Prof. Berman’s blog, Sentencing Law and Policy at http://sentencing.typepad.com/.

How Everyday Products Make People Sick—Paul D. Blanc on Toxins at Home and in the Workplace

This past summer, I completed the final manuscript of How Everyday Products Make People Sick: Toxins at Home and in the Workplace. Since then, I have been following ongoing stories included in the book. One such story concerns the “recent” emergence of severe lung disease (called bronchiolitis obliterans) among workers exposed to the chemical diacetyl. It seems the outbreak has spread. The disease was first thought to be limited to a narrow industrial sector located in a few Midwestern states: artificial butter-flavored, microwave popcorn production. Now several cases have been confirmed in California in other types of factories using diacetyl and California OSHA (a counterpart to Federal OSHA) is investigating 30 facilities where enough of the chemical is used to give concern over additional disease. It has also become clear that the new disease did not first emerge in 2000, as had been thought. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) was called in to investigate a similar outbreak in 1985 in a bakery in Indiana using diacetyl, but the report was inconclusive and was never followed up. Neither Federal nor Cal OSHA has enacted to date any emergency rules for diacetyl control. In a September 2006 public meeting on diacetyl held in Oakland California, a labor representative asked, “…if exposure to diacetyl is hazardous why is it still being allowed to be used?” The California Health Department member chairing a meeting responded, “…the relationship of diaceytl to bronchiolitis obliterans or other lung disease is not entirely clear.” Later in the meeting, he also noted, “…market forces are probably already operating to reduce the use of diacetyl…”

Watching this story unfold only further underscores the inescapable lesson of the long and sad history of occupational and environmental disease – the same old pattern of slow response and inadequate protection seems to repeat itself again and again.

Bach in the Subway: New York Does It Better by Lawrence Kramer

Occasionally, UC Press has the opportunity to bring you brief articles written by our authors. The following is by prolific author, Lawrence Kramer, whose newest book is Why Classical Music Still Matters:

"Whenever classical music makes news these days the news is likely to be bad. So it was with a recent Washington Post article by Gene Weingarten. Weingarten persuaded Joshua Bell, a world-class violinist, to take his world-class Stradivarius into a Washington Metro station and play Bach for spare change. The outcome? Of over a thousand people who walked through the station, only seven paid any attention. The world seemed literally to be passing this great music by. Not even a great performer could get it a hearing.

The story interested me because the concluding chapter of my new book, Why Classical Music Still Matters, centers on a similar incident I witnessed in the New York subway. The violinist, a young woman, probably a music student, was playing an Adagio from a Bach solo sonata. But unlike Bell, she captured the attention of the passersby, who not only ringed her to listen but also applauded when she was finished. This was hardly typical behavior under Times Square. It got me thinking about how and why it happened and what it said about the music. The results are in the book. But given Joshua Bell's experience, one has to wonder: Why was Bach a hit in New York and a bust in Washington? Why did a good violinist succeed where a great one failed? One explanation is that Bell was badly placed. He was playing-and at rush hour--near both a kiosk with a brisk Lotto trade and an escalator, both sites of purposeful action that stopping to listen to music, any music, would disrupt. The New York violinist was on the train platform, where the only real action is waiting. Hearing Bach there is unusual but it is no disruption. The platform gives the music a chance to be heard, despite the rumble of passing trains. And when one person turns to listen, others follow until an audience assembles-which was exactly what happened. If that first listener had never materialized, the New York violinist might have shared Bell's disappointment. Both incidents involve an element of happenstance. But the contrast of outcomes argues against overreacting to the Washington flop. In New York Bach's music got heard and it moved its hearers. This music still mattered-and proved it."

UC Press Author, Peter La Chapelle, on Merle Haggard's Politics

In Proud to Be an Okie, author Peter La Chapelle explores the political and cultural history of the Los Angeles country music scene, illuminating the evolution of politics and musical expression from the early songs of the liberal Woody Guthrie to the later conservative views of Merle Haggard and his "Okie from Muskogee" anthem. Merle Haggard is now making headlines for penning his recent song "Hillary," which seems to endorse Hillary Clinton for President. Could Haggard be serious? La Chapelle examines the debate:

Just as my book Proud to Be an Okie was beginning to hit the store shelves, country music legend Merle Haggard, one of the central figures I write about, was making headlines with a new song titled "Hillary."

Often cast as a working-class conservative for such patriotic anti-counterculture numbers as "Okie from Muskogee" and "Fightin' Side," Haggard appears to endorse Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid in the new song, which argues it is time to "put a woman in charge."

The brouhaha that followed resembled in an inverse way the original uproar that broke out over "Okie from Muskogee," his seemingly pro-war, hippie-bashing anthem, in 1969.

With "Hillary," fans on the Right voiced confusion, disappointment, and a sense of betrayal. Fans and bloggers on the Left either applauded it or criticized Haggard, who has been unabashedly opposed to the Iraq War, for endorsing one of the few Democratic presidential candidates who has not officially renounced an earlier pro-war stance.

In 1969, left-wing country-rock fans and critics of the Vietnam War expressed a similar disappointment at "Okie," while right-wing audiences turned out in droves at places such as the Anaheim Convention Center Arena to cheer and sing along.

The one through-line between "Hillary" and "Okie from Muskogee" may be a question of interpretation: Is Haggard singing these songs at face value or are they to be understood as statements of irony?

Haggard's intent has always been a difficult item to nail down. In 1969, even academic folklorists were unsure if "Okie" was meant to be sarcastic, while many longtime fans will swear to this day that Haggard was really lampooning his own small-town boot-wearing narrator.

Although the New York Times blog that brought "Hillary" to light claimed Haggard was serious, longtime fans writing on his website swear it is a lark.

If Haggard is indeed serious, then this, along with the Dixie Chicks' multiple honors at the Grammy Awards, suggest that the earlier liberal populist trend I describe in the book has not completely trailed off in country music--even if today's mainstream country remains dominated by a more-or-less conservative outlook.

Peter Sacks' Critique of U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" Rankings

Peter Sacks is an author, journalist and social critic. His new book,Tearing Down the Gates: Confronting the Class Divide in American Education (forthcoming in May) is a powerful indictment of American education that shows how schools, colleges, and universities exacerbate inequality by providing ample opportunities for advantaged students while too often shutting the gates on the poor.

This week, Peter Sacks critiques the U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" rankings on The Huffington Post and discusses the socio-economic divide in higher education, particularly at top colleges, in an interview hosted on The Chronicle of Higher Education's web site. Listen to an interview with Peter Sacks at http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i29/29a02001.htm.

Weekend Gardening Tips

Looking for some ideas for your garden this weekend? The Landscaping Ideas of Jays, and its author, Judith Larner Lowry might just have some ideas for you. Lowry will be speaking this Saturday, April 7 (11am) at Native Sons Nursery http://nativeson.com in Arroyo Grande, Ca.

Thus far, gardening critics have gushed over The Landscaping Ideas of Jays. Most recent are two reviews at The Los Angeles Times and The San Francisco Chronicle.

For more upcoming events with Judith Larner Lowry, please visit http://www.larnerseeds.com/_pages/events.html

Plant Galls in Spring

Occasionally, we have the opportunity to bring you brief articles written by our authors. The following is by Ronald Russo, the author of our recent book, Field Guide to Plant Galls of California and Other Western States:

"As spring begins to unfold with buds swelling and leaves unfurling, there is a quiet awakening of tiny gall midges and gall wasps. They have spent the winter in an inactive state waiting for the right temperatures, which signals the swelling of host plant buds and leaves. Now is the beginning of yet another 'gall season' with the flush of spring galls on oaks, junipers, cottonwoods and many other native plants. Many of the spring galls will produce males and females who will lay eggs in buds and leaves by June and July, producing a second, female-only generation. The galls of this generation will catch your attention because of their bright red, pink, and orange colors, particularly on oaks and manzanitas as they reach their peak in late summer and early fall. One of the most interesting relationships in nature involves the larvae of some gall wasps stimulating the galls to release sugary compounds on the surface, called honeydew, which attracts ants, yellow jackets and bees. The presence of these pugnacious insects on the galls offers some protection to the vulnerable larvae within from parasitic and predaceous insects. Similar to flower nectar being the reward or enticement for pollination services, the availability of sugar in the late summer and fall entices bees and yellow jackets to provide protection simply by their presence. If bees, yellow jackets, and ants were not available for this mutually beneficial assistance, the rate of larval mortality would likely increase reducing the number of gall wasps that survive to carry on their species. Why is this so important? Because, the existence of these tiny gall wasps sustains countless other insects and hungry birds like vireos, kinglets, and chickadees. Without them, a small but essential web in the ecosystem of oak woodlands would collapse."

– Ronald Russo

A Review of "Green and Gray" by Geoffrey O'Brien

Green and Gray by Geoffrey G. O'Brien has been included in TIME OUT NEW YORK's 'Poetry Month' feature in the March 29-April 4 issue. Reviewer Craig Morgan Teicher gave the book 5 out of 6 possible stars--the highest of any of the books reviewed. Teicher said of the book, "O'Brien would have been a philosopher or a theorist if his lyric gift-which is in fact a heightened awareness of what words do not, or cannot, convey-hadn't forced him off that path. In his second collection, he emerges from the virtuosic linguistic thickets of his debut, The Guns and Flag Project, to confirm his place as one of the most exciting poets now writing. The compulsion to say what cannot be said is the subject of these challenging poems, which derive their language from a myriad of sources, including the Patriot Act, literature and pop culture. They point up the ways everyday thoughts contradict themselves, and mourn the human condition in an America whose politics are so out of sync with its populace that 'one can be misquoted verbatim.' There isn't a bad line here."

The full text of the review is online at: http://www.timeout.com/newyork/Details.do?page=1&xyurl=xyl://TONYWebArticles1/600/books/verse_case_scenario.xml

New Research on Sexuality and Disability Featured in Special Issue of Sexuality Research and Social Policy: Journal of NSRC

March 21, 2007 -- "Critical Research and Policy Debates in Disability and Sexuality Studies" is the title of the new special issue of Sexuality Research and Social Policy: Journal of the NSRC (SRSP) made available exclusively online at http://www.SexualityResearch.net. This special issue of the journal, guest edited by Russell Shuttleworth, covers a range of topics concerning sexuality and disability including the psychological perspectives on disabled LGBT persons' physical sexual expression; the sexual expression of LGBT people with intellectual disabilities and how staff supports them; the relationship between disability and alternative sexual expression; and the sociopolitical dimensions of the consideration of sexuality and disability. For our policy section in this issue, Diane di Mauro and Carole Joffe have contributed an article focusing on the Religious Right's impact on sexuality policy since the 1970s. In a final original article, Mark McClelland and Seunghyun Yoo use the Japanese practice of Yaoi to examine current legislation of child pornography.

"For the past thirty years, and especially during the first six years of the George W. Bush presidency, the Religious Right has had a significant and disturbing impact on sexuality-related policy in the United States," stated Carole Joffee, co-author of the policy article entitled "The Religious Right and the Reshaping of Sexuality Policies: An Examination of Reproductive Rights and Sexuality Education." "In the field of sexuality education, 'abstinence only' educators have offered teenagers false and misleading information, putting these young people at unnecessary risk. The Religious Right's anti-abortion campaign has escalated to a war on contraception itself, leading to cutbacks in family planning services -- and ironically, to a greater need for abortion among those who are dependent on publicly funded contraception."