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New and recent books written or edited by USC faculty and staff.
- The Women
by T.C. Boyle
Viking, $27.95
The triumphs and defeats of architect Frank Lloyd Wright were always tied to the women he loved: an exotic Montenegrin beauty; an ill-tempered Southern belle with a morphine addiction; the strong-willed wife of a neighbor who later was tragically murdered; and his first wife, with whom he had six children. In his latest novel, T.C. Boyle, Distinguished Professor of English at USC College, tells the story of Wright’s life through the eyes of a young man who in 1932 sought an apprenticeship with the architect at his Wisconsin estate.
- The Politics of Exclusion: The Failure of Race-Neutral Policies in Urban America
by Leland T. Saito
Stanford University Press, $22.95
If policymakers strive to craft policies free of racial prejudice, why do racial disparities and inequalities continue to persist? That is the question Leland T. Saito, USC College associate professor of sociology and American studies and ethnicity, asked more than a dozen years ago as he began to examine how contemporary debates about race and society – and the proper role of government in addressing issues of race – shape public policy. Using three case studies that involve economic redevelopment, historic preservation and redistricting in San Diego, New York City and Los Angeles, Saito illustrates the enduring presence of racial considerations and inequality in public policy.
- Natural Language: What It Means & How We Use It
by Scott Soames
Princeton University Press, $39.50
The two volumes of Philosophical Essays bring together the most important essays written by Scott Soames, director of the School of Philosophy at USC College and one of the world’s foremost philosophers of language. In this first volume, 15 essays span 28 years of thinking about linguistic meaning – what it is, how we use it and what questions should be answered by empirical theories dealing with it. He examines such issues as what a sentence means, what is presupposed in uttering it, what is asserted and what is merely implicated in order to distinguish different, but intricately related, kinds of linguistically expressed information.
- A Force of Nature: The Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford
by Richard Reeves
W.W. Norton, $14.95
Born in colonial New Zealand, 15 mountain miles away from the nearest town, Ernest Rutherford won a scholarship to Cambridge at the age of 24 and became a key figure in scientific history by splitting the atom and revolutionizing modern physics. Richard Reeves, senior lecturer at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, tells the story of the Nobel Prize-winning physicist and his many scientific contributions, including discovering the orbital structure of the atom and the concept of the half-life of radioactive materials, which prompted the scientific community to reevaluate the age of the Earth.
- Advanced Numerical Models for Simulating Tsunami Waves and Runup
ed. by Philip L.-F Liu, Harry Yeh and Costas Synolakis
World Scientific, $77
A product of the Third International Workshop on Long-Wave Runup Models at USC’s Wrigley Marine Science Center in 2004, this two-part review volume looks at tsunamis, investigating various numerical models used for simulating tsunami waves and evaluating the efficacy of these models. USC Viterbi School of Engineering professor Costas Synolakis, a staff member of the Tsunami Research Center at USC, and his co-editors have assembled a collection of papers from the conference’s participants, which provides reviews of the models under investigation and identifies their different benchmark problems.
- The Key of Green: Passion and Perception in Renaissance Culture
by Bruce R. Smith
University of Chicago Press, $39
From Shakespeare’s “green-eyed monster” to the “green Thought in a green Shade” in Andrew Marvell’s The Garden, the color green was prominent in 16th- and 17th-century English culture. Bruce R. Smith, the Dean’s Professor of English at USC College, studies this curiosity, considering the significance of the color in the literature, visual arts and popular culture of early modern England. Contending that color is a matter of both sensation and emotion, he examines Renaissance culture through the lens of sense perception and aesthetic pleasure, while offering thoughts on the nature of consciousness, perception and emotion.
- Moscow & St. Petersburg 1900-1920: Art, Life & Culture
by John E. Bowlt
Vendome Press, $50
At the turn of the 20th century, against the background of the waning imperial power and rumblings of social and political unrest, Moscow and St. Petersburg experienced a sudden flowering of the visual, literary and performing arts. In this richly illustrated text, John E. Bowlt, professor of Slavic languages and literatures at USC College, explores Russia’s Silver Age, focusing not only on the best-known artists from this period – Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, Igor Stravinsky, Anna Pavlova and poet Anna Akhmatova – but also on the less familiar movements such as experimental theatre, free-form verse and Nikolai Kalmakov’s innovative painting.
- The Lean Forward Moment: Create Compelling Stories for Film, TV and the Web
by Norman Hollyn
New Riders, $44.99
Norman Hollyn, associate professor and head of the editing track at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, unlocks the secrets to better storytelling. Using his 30-plus years of experience in the entertainment industry, Hollyn explains the basic concepts of filmmaking, with a special emphasis on creating the “lean forward moments” – key points in the story where audiences are affected most. He uses detailed examples from films such as Citizen Kane and The Godfather and techniques shared by Hollywood legends such as Francis Ford Coppola and Orson Welles to reveal all the steps necessary to become a more entrancing filmmaker.
- Investing in People: Financial Impact of Human Resource Initiatives
by Wayne Cascio and John Boudreau
Financial Times Press, $39.99
A key responsibility for human resources practitioners is to prove a clear link between their practices and organizational performance. John Boudreau, professor of management and organization at the USC Marshall School of Business and research director at the school’s Center for Effective Organizations, and his co-author present a comprehensive framework for doing just that. They explain how to choose, implement and use metrics to improve decision-making, optimize organizational effectiveness and maximize the value of HR investments so that a company can systematically focus its human resources investments on achieving maximum business value.
- Love, West Hollywood: Reflections of Los Angeles
ed. by Chris Freeman and James J. Berg
Alyson Books, $16.95
In a series of literary love letters to Los Angeles, this book tells the story of the city’s gay history through the experiences and insights of more than 30 contributing writers, including USC alumnus X. Alexander ’05. Chris Freeman, a lecturer at USC College’s English and gender studies departments, and his co-editor describe this collection as a “mosaic of our city and its people,” from encounters with Lucille Ball to trips to the most notorious bathhouse in the city. The editors invite readers to relive the city’s past and see its present in a different light through these stories.
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