Editors’ Picks for May 2022

10 reviews handpicked from the latest issue of Choice.

Posted on May 19, 2022 in Editors' Picks

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This collection is comprehensive, insightful, theoretical, historical, and riveting in its exposure of the dangers and desires that Black masculinity poses in a global context.

—C. B. Regester, Univ. of North Carolina–Chapel Hill

Appealing because he is appalling: Black masculinities, colonialism, and erotic racism, ed. by Tamari Kitossa. University of Alberta Press, 2021. 536p index ISBN 9781772125436, $49.99; ISBN 9781772125535 ebook, $49.99.

This collection of essays assembled by Kitossa (Brock Univ., Canada) rethinks and explores Black masculinities through a more contemporary gaze, consciously avoiding critiquing Black maleness to the extent to which it has been read as an “imitation of white masculinity.” Drawing on a wide range of scholars who interrogate, deconstruct, parallel, and differentiate perspectives on Black masculinities in the US, Canada, the UK, Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica, the Philippines, and India, this work provides a global perspective on conceptualizations of Black masculinity. Kitossa organizes the text into four sections: “Erotic Racism, Tropes, and Interracial Sex”; “What Does a Black Man Want?”; “National Culture, Transqueering Black Masculinities, and Challenging Hegemonic Masculinity”; and “The Other Other and the Black Man.” The volume, “grounded in James Baldwin and Frantz Fanon’s affirmations of Black maleness … takes as its central focus the expansion of the erotic landscape that Black maleness makes possible: a landscape that is one of desire, horror, and terror … as well as one of sexual caricature and misrepresentation” (p. xxi). This collection is comprehensive, insightful, theoretical, historical, and riveting in its exposure of the dangers and desires that Black masculinity poses in a global context. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. —C. B. Regester, Univ. of North Carolina–Chapel Hill

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Art Magazine Collection Archive is overall a rich collection containing scores of interesting articles and content

—Abstracted from, ccAdvisor

Art Magazine Collection Archive. EBSCO Contact publisher for pricing. Internet Resource.
https://www.ebsco.com/products/magazine-archives/art-magazine-collection-archive

“Art Magazine Collection Archive provides full-text access to the digital archives of three significant art publications, ARTnews, Art in America, and The Magazine ANTIQUES,” offering “an extensive chronicle of art collecting, fine arts, art history, interior design, decorative arts, folk art, antiquing, and architecture in the 20th and early 21st centuries,” wrote Erica Swenson Danowitz for ccAdvisor. The database includes 3,950 issues of the aforementioned publications in digital format, appearing as originally published with their original advertisements, which are even indexed and searchable. Art Magazine Collection Archive will best serve institutions “that support art and architecture-related research,” as well as “scholars conducting research in American society, thought, and culture during the 20th century.”

The platform’s “easily navigable and uncomplicated user interface resembles other EBSCO products,” with “various limiters, Boolean operators, truncation, and wildcard symbols” available for searching, wrote Danowitz. Advanced Search offers options to limit results by content (e.g., advertisements, articles, book reviews, editorials, cover art), and, as with other EBSCO products, users can search within a publication and even navigate the entire issue when an article is retrieved from that issue, though having the option to parse out results by checking a box at the initial search screen would make this product more user-friendly.

Though there are a few drawbacks, including the lack of abstracts for full-text articles, no option to compress large files, and occasional indexing peculiarities, Art Magazine Collection Archive is overall a rich collection containing scores of interesting articles and content. Moreover, while a few platforms, such as the Hathi Trust, JSTOR, and the Art in America website, offer access to older issues of some of the same magazines included here, access is much more limited when compared to Art Magazine Collection Archive. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals.

This review is a summary of a longer review by Erica Swenson Danowitz, Delaware County Community College (retired), originally published in ccAdvisor.org. Copyright © 2022 by The Charleston Company. —Abstracted from, ccAdvisor

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A powerful agent for deeper understanding and a significant contribution to the literature, this is a must-have volume for scholars, students, and academic libraries.

—E. S. Schmidt, emeritus, Loyola University Maryland

Bâ, Amadou Hampaté. Amkoullel, the Fula boy, tr. and introd. by Jeanne Garane. Duke, 2021. 400p bibl index ISBN 9781478013273, $109.95; ISBN 9781478014188 pbk, $29.95.

Penned by a renowned Malian writer, ethnographer, and historian whose life spanned the 20th century, this gem of a book recounts the life and times of the author and his ancestors in precolonial and colonial West Africa. Marked by the strong oral storytelling tradition of the Fula ethnic group, Bâ’s elegantly written tale is historically informative and expertly translated by Garane (Univ. of South Carolina). Using his family chronicle as a lens, Bâ offers readers unique insights into Fula religious beliefs, social hierarchies, marriage practices, and gender relations. He highlights the importance of family and friendship, the dynamics of patron-client relations, and the shifting tides of confrontation and collaboration with French colonizers and culture. His compelling account underscores the absence of a clear line between the precolonial and colonial periods, as Fula customs and practices both adapted to and influenced the new realities. Particularly notable are the strong role women played in both public and private life and the everyday forms of resistance and accommodation to the exigencies of colonial rule. A powerful agent for deeper understanding and a significant contribution to the literature, this is a must-have volume for scholars, students, and academic libraries. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals. —E. S. Schmidt, emeritus, Loyola University Maryland

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This book fits with the works of Seth Koven, Sonya Rose, Carolyn Steedman, and Anne Digby and should be in all libraries concerned with British social history.

—M. J. Moore, emeritus, Appalachian State University

Bar-Haim, Shaul. The maternalists: psychoanalysis, motherhood, and the British welfare state. Pennsylvania, 2021. 352p bibl index ISBN 9780812253153, $65.00; ISBN 9780812299649 ebook, contact publisher for price.

Bar-Haim (sociology, Univ. of Essex, UK) fleshes out an important theme in modern British historiography—how Britain, for so long a colonial and paternalistic country, developed a strong sense of maternalistic values that influenced public welfare policy in the 20th century. The author focuses on the influence of British psychoanalysts, such as Michael Balint, Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, and John Bowlby, who during and after the interwar periods turned the European psychology of Sándor Ferenczi and Sigmund Freud into British concepts of nurturing and mothering that would strengthen the British social body, especially through feminism and medicine. The book is grounded in an impressive bibliography and extensive chapter notes and makes a solid contribution to understandings of British social welfare as well as to the ongoing investigation of British anti-colonialism in the 20th century. This book fits with the works of Seth Koven, Sonya Rose, Carolyn Steedman, and Anne Digby and should be in all libraries concerned with British social history. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. —M. J. Moore, emeritus, Appalachian State University

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This collectionmakes a landmark contribution to the history of medicine and Latin American history.

—H. Caldwell, Chestnut Hill College

The Gray zones of medicine: healers and history in Latin America, ed. by Diego Armus and Pablo F. Gómez. Pittsburgh, 2021. 296p bibl index ISBN 9780822946854, $55.00; ISBN 9780822988434 ebook, contact publisher for price.

In this thought-provoking collection, contributors reconstruct the lives of individual healers whose enduring contributions reshape understandings of how medical knowledge evolved and circulated in Latin America. Through 12 biographical narratives spanning five centuries, The Gray Zones of Medicine provides insight into how individual health practitioners negotiated their way through what editors Armus (Swarthmore College) and Gómez (Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison) refer to as the “interstitial spaces” of medicine. Examining themes such as how non-traditional practitioners often wielded power that threatened their licensed counterparts and how they negotiated healing within the confines of slavery while challenging cultural norms, Gray Zones reveals how these practitioners often learned their craft through trial and error, so healing practices were usually defined by local knowledge of the environment. By contextualizing each individual in a unique time and space, this work reveals the rich interactions that transcended social and ethnic classes as well as urban and rural environments and how this multifaceted generational transmission of knowledge continues to upend gender norms and serve indigenous populations. This collectionmakes a landmark contribution to the history of medicine and Latin American history. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty. —H. Caldwell, Chestnut Hill College

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This strong contribution to the literature is a must read for climate activists and anyone interested in environmental politics and governance.

—Z. Albertson, Western Washington University

Hoberg, George. The resistance dilemma: place-based movements and the climate crisis. MIT, 2021. 388p bibl index ISBN 9780262543088 pbk, $40.00; ISBN 9780262367158 ebook, contact publisher for price.

Place-based resistance to fossil fuel infrastructure has achieved remarkable victories in recent decades, blocking development or expansion of pipelines and raising awareness of the climate impacts of such projects. Synthesizing insights from notable theories of the policy process, this book uses four empirical case studies of high-profile fossil fuel infrastructure projects in North America to examine the conditions under which place-based resistance slowed or thwarted project progress. Each case study distills a complex policy history into a highly readable account, and the narratives are supported by helpful figures and maps, making this work accessible for dedicated general readers—no small feat. An academic and an experienced activist, Hoberg (Univ. of British Columbia) builds on the initial case studies to critically examine “the resistance dilemma”—the risk that opponents of renewable energy infrastructure may seize on the legitimacy and successes of place-based opposition to fossil fuel infrastructure and exploit them toward a new purpose. The resistance dilemma and mechanisms by which it might be addressed are developed through additional examples, offering readers a rich resource for further study—the reference section spans more than 50 pages. This strong contribution to the literature is a must read for climate activists and anyone interested in environmental politics and governance. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. General readers. —Z. Albertson, Western Washington University

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Rather than dwelling on how foreigners viewed Iranians, Koyagi paints vivid pictures of their lives and views.

—P. Clawson, Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Koyagi, Mikiya. Iran in motion: mobility, space, and the Trans-Iranian Railway. Stanford, 2021. 296p index ISBN 9781503613133, $65.00; ISBN 9781503627673 ebook, contact publisher for price.

Koyagi (Univ. of Texas, Austin) effectively mines extensive Iranian sources to paint a vivid portrait of the Trans-Iranian Railway through the late 1940s. The first three chapters describe plans for Iranian railways: British pre-WW I visions of railways serving the empire by connecting India to Europe, Iranian hopes for trans-Iranian railways as a means to modernize and unify the country, and Iranian debates in the 1920s about the routes and roles of the planned national route. The next two chapters bring to life the experience of those building and operating the railway, based largely on workers’ petitions. The final two chapters provide much information about the Trans-Iranian Railway during and after WW II. The first of these is about the workers, whose numbers quadrupled during the war before shrinking sharply thereafter. The second is about the passengers, a vast number of whom had a military connection. Rather than dwelling on how foreigners viewed Iranians, Koyagi paints vivid pictures of their lives and views. Iran in Motion is a model of social and labor history, well sourced in the ample Persian-language material. The index and bibliography are both detailed. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals. —P. Clawson, Washington Institute for Near East Policy

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A must-read for Caribbean archaeologists and museum specialists.

—F. H. Smith, North Carolina A & T State University

Real, recent, or replica: Precolumbian Caribbean heritage as art, commodity, and inspiration, ed. by Joanna Ostapkowicz and Jonathan A. Hanna. Alabama, 2021. 352p bibl index ISBN 9780817320874, $69.95; ISBN 9780817393458 pbk, $69.95.

This important volume explores the practical and ethical challenges of interpreting pre-Columbian Caribbean art and artifacts. Ten chapters use reproductions and looted indigenous objects as a lens to critically address the history of archaeological research in the Caribbean and to reflect on the ways these materials have hampered efforts to properly represent pre-Columbian history. The replication of pre-Columbian art is both a celebration and fetishization of the indigenous Caribbean past. The editors provide an overview of the history of reproductions and looted materials and assess their impact on public heritage efforts. Replicas of indigenous art are often produced within a framework of nationalist ideologies, which have been used to challenge colonial and imperialist agendas. In Puerto Rico, for example, José R. Oliver examines the nationalistic foundations of Taino-themed reproductions. In Jamaica, pilfered indigenous materials, which now sit idle in British museums, are a legacy of colonial rule, according to Lesley-Gail Atkinson Swaby. Jonathan A. Hanna explores the complexities of interpreting indigenous artifacts from Grenada that lack provenance, a process made even more difficult by an extensive production and trade in replicas. A must-read for Caribbean archaeologists and museum specialists. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals. —F. H. Smith, North Carolina A & T State University

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The book will interest students and faculty in gender studies, public health, and law as well as activists in reproductive justice movements.

—A. H. Koblitz, emerita, Arizona State University

Roth, Louise Marie. The business of birth: malpractice and maternity care in the United States. New York University, 2021. 336p bibl index ISBN 9781479812257, $99.00; ISBN 9781479877089 pbk, $35.00; ISBN 9781479809097 ebook, contact publisher for price.

The subtitle of this book might suggest a narrow focus on the intricacies of US tort law and the details of malpractice suits stemming from unfortunate outcomes for pregnant women and newborns. However, in reality, the book has a much broader scope. The author paints a fascinating (albeit often distressing) picture of the complex interactions among medical practitioners, hospital administrators, insurance providers, malpractice attorneys, and state legislators. Often the result is a toxic mix of circumstances leading to huge numbers of unnecessary Caesarian section surgeries and chemically induced deliveries involving coercion of pregnant women (especially poor, rural, and minority women) and outrageously expensive pregnancy care, not to mention the highest rates of maternal and infant mortality in the developed world. Roth (Univ. of Arizona) supplements her analyses of changes in law codes and standards of care by quoting from transcribed interviews conducted with obstetricians, nurse-midwives, lawyers, and insurance adjusters. She distinguishes between fetus-centered and woman-centered reproductive health regimes and persuasively argues that pregnant women and their offspring are better served in states that protect abortion rights “and prioritize women’s rights over fetal life” (p. 10). The book will interest students and faculty in gender studies, public health, and law as well as activists in reproductive justice movements. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. —A. H. Koblitz, emerita, Arizona State University

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This is an invaluable text and tool not only for the medieval studies survey but also for a general history methods course…

—M. A. Singer, Minot State University

Shopkow, Leah. The saint and the count: a case study for reading like a historian. Toronto, 2021. 216p bibl index ISBN 9781487508432, $65.00; ISBN 9781487525866 pbk, $24.95; ISBN 9781487538231 ebook, $19.95.

This is a superb text for teaching. Shopkow (Indiana Univ., Bloomington) presents a “worked example” of how a historian comes to understand the ways a text—in this case, Stephen de Fougère’s 12th-century biography of St. Vitalis of Savigny (included in full translation along with the author’s biography of St. Firmat)—was embedded in and responded to its literary and social contexts. She unfolds for students how the story of St. Vitalis’s life reflected its author’s background and milieu, the purposes such a text would have served, and the expectations of its medieval audience. Shopkow keeps her student readers in mind both when explaining and demonstrating such sophisticated analytical concepts as “positionality” and “emotional regime” and when answering basic questions, such as, What is a formulary? Her relaxed and personal tone moves lightly over some very complex matters, which might tempt less-careful undergraduate readers to miss that her matter-of-factness rests on a deep level of historical and historiographical understanding. This is an invaluable text and tool not only for the medieval studies survey but also for a general history methods course; this reviewer adopted it for his own survey before finishing the third chapter. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates and faculty. —M. A. Singer, Minot State University

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