Freshly Pressed

Freshly Pressed: German Professor Jacqueline Vansant examines Hollywood’s take on Austria

jmcheat — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 14:04:53 +0000

Freshly Pressed: German Professor Jacqueline Vansant examines Hollywood’s take on Austria jmcheat Mon, 03/25/2019 - 10:04

Freshly Pressed highlights books written or edited by members of the University of Michigan-Dearborn community. Faculty, staff and students are welcome to submit their recently published titles to be considered for a future column.

Austria in Hollywood

Author: Jacqueline Vansant, Professor of German

Book: Austria Made in Hollywood, published by Camden House

Summary: The 208-page hardcover considers more than 60 Hollywood films set in Austria — for example, The Sound of Music — and examines the film industry, the influence of domestic factors on images of a foreign country and the persistence of clichés.

Why were you inspired to write the book? I originally had no intention of writing this book. However, after I published an article on The Third Man and The Sound of Music, an Austrian colleague asked me to write an article on the image of Austria in Hollywood films. While researching this article, I found so much material and became fascinated with the topic. One thing led to another and that was over 20 years ago. What kept me going over all these years was in large part the enthusiasm and support of colleagues at ��-Dearborn and in the field of Austrian studies.

How did your research for this add to your knowledge? I was interested in the ways in which American contexts influenced the image of Austria. I had to read so much about the history of the United States, beginning with World War I all the way up to the turn of the 21st century. I also learned a tremendous amount about Hollywood and the film industry that was totally new to me. I got to do research at several different archives here and abroad and it was always very exciting working with original documents. I often had to stifle my joy when I found something that proved a point I was arguing.

What would you like readers to take away? In The Sound of Music, probably the best known of all the films as well as in Hollywood’s many other “Austria” films, the projections on the screen resemble reflections in a funhouse mirror. I hope to convince readers how the fractured distortions of a “real” place with a “real” history inhabited by “real” people have both been drawn from and contributed to the general public’s perceptions of the country and its citizens. Another goal of the book is to expand readers’ knowledge of the film industry, and the influence of domestic controversies on images of a foreign country. I also strive to explain the virtual disappearance of Austria from the Hollywood screen.

Faculty and Staff

Freshly Pressed

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

Language, Culture, and the Arts

Off

Mon, 03/25/2019 - 14:00

Vansant tells us why she was inspired to write Austria Made in Hollywood and what she learned in the process.

Freshly Pressed: Adler

admin — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 14:30:09 +0000

Freshly Pressed: Adler admin Mon, 04/11/2016 - 10:30

Freshly Pressed highlights books written or edited by members of the University of Michigan-Dearborn community. Faculty, staff, alumni and students are welcome to submit their recently published titles to this column by e-mailing Reporter editor Kate Malicke at kmalicke@umich.edu with a summary of the book, a high-resolution JPEG of the book’s cover and a URL where readers can learn more, if applicable.

Adler is associate professor of microbiology and Mara is a former student who is currently in the master's program at U-M’s School of Public Health.

Faculty and Staff

Faculty Research

Freshly Pressed

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

Off

Mon, 04/11/2016 - 14:30

Typhoid Fever, A History, a book by Richard Adler and Elise Mara (’14 B.S.), has been published by McFarland Press. Using first person historical accounts, the book describes the early efforts of treatment and prevention, paving the way for understanding of infectious disease in general.

Freshly Pressed: Adler, Sollenberger, Steadman

admin — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 12:15:49 +0000

Freshly Pressed: Adler, Sollenberger, Steadman admin Fri, 09/27/2013 - 08:15

Faculty, staff, alumni and students are welcome to submit their recently published titles to this column by e-mailing Reporter editor Kate Malicke at kmalicke@umich.edu with a summary of the book, a high-resolution JPEG of the book’s cover and a URL where readers can purchase the title, if applicable.

Richard Adler, associate professor of biology and microbiology, released “Cholera in Detroit, A History” through McFarland Publishers. This is the story of the five major cholera epidemics that took place in Detroit and what is now southeastern Michigan between 1832 and the end of the 19th Century, ultimately resulting in the deaths of hundreds of individuals. Only the efforts of local health authorities prevented mortality from reaching the level of that in other cities along the Mississippi. The book now is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble online, and in the campus bookstore.

Mitchel Sollenberger co-authored a chapter in the recently published book, “Taking the Measure: The Presidency of George W. Bush” (Texas A&M University Press). Sollenberger, associate provost for undergraduate programs and integrative learning and associate professor of political science, worked with Mark J. Rozell on the chapter “The Unitary Executive Theory and the Bush Legacy.” “Taking the Measure” is available now.

Levi Steadman is 16 years old and he now can add a published novel to his resume. The University of Michigan-Dearborn sophomore recently authored “Sons of Nouva,” a novel that follows three young men as they come to terms with the fact they are separated brothers, and because all of them hold a social position, their father wants them to help him take the country as his own. Throughout the novel, Steadman highlights several types of magic, from sorcerous bloodlines to tattoos that grant nearly divine strength. "Sons of Nouva" is available now.

Faculty and Staff

Freshly Pressed

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

Off

Fri, 09/27/2013 - 12:15

Freshly Pressed highlights books written or edited by members of the University of Michigan-Dearborn community.

Freshly Pressed: Tiquia-Arashiro

admin — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 13:04:05 +0000

Freshly Pressed: Tiquia-Arashiro admin Mon, 08/20/2012 - 09:04

Sonia Tiquia-Arashiro, associate professor of biology and microbiology, recently published her first book this month entitled: “Molecular Biological Technologies for Ocean Sensing” (Springer Publishers). The work presented in this book collectively draws on the work of many great scientists including our distinguished authors and highly regarded academics and industrial experts from different disciplines within the science and engineering disciplines. It features methods papers on the application of ecogenomic sensors on autonomous platforms in the ocean.

Topics include the use of ecogenomic sensors as a tool in whole-cell and cell-free based detection and monitoring a suite of pathogens and biotoxins that are of public health concern; documenting species diversity, evolution and metabolic function; identification and quantification of aquatic organisms; and inferring metabolic potential and activities of microorganisms in the ocean.

Freshly Pressed

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

Off

Mon, 08/20/2012 - 13:04

Freshly Pressed highlights books written or edited by members of the University of Michigan-Dearborn community.

Freshly Pressed: Rayne Allinson, Martin Hershock

admin — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 12:49:00 +0000

Freshly Pressed: Rayne Allinson, Martin Hershock admin Mon, 06/18/2012 - 08:49

Rayne Allinson, assistant professor of history, recently published A Monarchy of Letters: Royal Correspondence and English Diplomacy in the Reign of Elizabeth I, through Palgrave Macmillan.

Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) sent more letters into more distant kingdoms than any English monarch had before, and her exchanges with an ever-growing number of rulers reveal how shifting conceptions of sovereignty were made manifest on paper. This book examines Elizabeth's correspondence with several significant rulers, analyzing how her letters were constructed, drafted and presented, the rhetorical strategies used, and the role these letters played in facilitating diplomatic relations. Elizabeth's letters did more than authorize diplomatic action abroad: In most cases they reflected, and sometimes even influenced, the direction of foreign policy.

Martin Hershock, associate provost and professor of history, released A New England Prison Diary: Slander, Religion, and Markets in Early America, through The University of Michigan Press.

In 1812, New Hampshire shopkeeper Timothy M. Joy abandoned his young family, fleeing the creditors who threatened to imprison him. Within days, he found himself in a Massachusetts jailhouse, charged with defamation of a prominent politician. During the months of his incarceration, Joy kept a remarkable journal that recounts his personal, anguished path toward spiritual redemption. Hershock situates Joy's account in the context of the pugnacious politics of the early republic, giving context to a common citizen's perspective on partisanship and the fate of an unfortunate shopkeeper swept along in the transition to market capitalism.

In addition to this close-up view of an ordinary person's experience of a transformative period, Hershock reflects on his own work as a historian. In the final chapter, he discusses the value of diaries as historical sources, the choices he made in telling Joy's story, alternative interpretations of the diary, and other contexts in which he might have placed Joy's experiences. The appendix reproduces Joy's original journal so that readers can develop their own skills using a primary source.

Faculty and Staff

Freshly Pressed

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

Off

Mon, 06/18/2012 - 12:49

Freshly Pressed highlights books written or edited by members of the University of Michigan-Dearborn community.

Freshly Pressed: Jamie Shinhee Lee

admin — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:45:18 +0000

Freshly Pressed: Jamie Shinhee Lee admin Mon, 05/21/2012 - 08:45

The book examines an important, yet under-researched, sociolinguistic component of culture by looking at a region that is still viewed as foreign or exotic 'other' in Western academic discourse.

English in Asian Popular Culture features six domains of pop culture: music, TV, film, advertising, magazines, and the Internet, in a variety of speech communities in Asia including China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

While English functions differently from domain to domain and in different cultures, each demonstrates the bilingual creativity and linguistic innovation that has developed from the spread of English into Asia. In all the cases described in this volume, English comes to facilitate the development of a modern identity across progressive generation of Asians.

Lee is an associate professor of linguistics at ��-Dearborn.

Faculty and Staff

Freshly Pressed

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

Off

Mon, 05/21/2012 - 12:45

Jamie Shinhee Lee's book English in Asian Popular Culture (co-edited with Andrew Moody) was published by Hong Kong University Press this spring.

Freshly Pressed: Nadja Rottner

admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:58:26 +0000

Freshly Pressed: Nadja Rottner admin Mon, 02/27/2012 - 13:58

Faculty, staff, alumni and students are welcome to submit their recently published titles to this column by emailing Reporter editor Beth Marmarelli at bethmar@umich.edu with a summary of the book, a high-resolution JPEG of the book’s cover and a URL where readers can purchase the title, if applicable.

American artist Claes Oldenburg is best known for sculpting large-scale hamburgers, ice cream cones, cushiony toilets and typewriters from canvas and vinyl. He is anchored in the public consciousness as a pop artist.

Nadja Rottner, University of Michigan-Dearborn assistant professor of art history, recently edited a collection of writings about Oldenburg’s art, titled Claes Oldenburg. The book, published by MIT Press, was released this month. Purchase a copy of the book.

Freshly Pressed

College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

Off

Mon, 02/27/2012 - 18:58

Freshly Pressed highlights books written or edited by members of the University of Michigan-Dearborn community.

Freshly Pressed

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:31:23 +0000

Freshly Pressed admin Mon, 01/30/2012 - 12:31

Freshly Pressed highlights books written or edited by members of the University of Michigan-Dearborn community. Faculty, staff, alumni and students are welcome to submit their recently published titles to this column by e-mailing Reporter editor Beth Marmarelli at bethmar@umich.edu with a summary of the book, a high-resolution JPEG of the book’s cover and a URL where readers can purchase the title, if applicable.

To say ��-Dearborn alumnus David Baggett’s latest book received high marks would be an understatement. Christianity Today recently named Baggett’s book, “Good God: The Theistic Foundations of Morality,” the Best Book from 2011 in the Apologetics/Evangelism category.

“This book mounts a strong case that the argument for belief in God on the basis of morality … continues to deserve a leading place in apologetics, despite decades of assault from professional and amateur philosophers,” according to Christianity Today.

Baggett (’88 B.A.), a philosophy professor at Liberty University, co-wrote the book with Jerry Walls. “Good God: The Theistic Foundations of Morality” is Baggett’s seventh book and was published by Oxford University Press.

Purchase a copy of Baggett’s book.

Freshly Pressed

Alumni Engagement

Off

Mon, 01/30/2012 - 17:31

Freshly Pressed: Joseph P. Cabadas

admin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:32:45 +0000

Freshly Pressed: Joseph P. Cabadas admin Mon, 11/07/2011 - 02:32

Freshly Pressed highlights books written or edited by members of the University of Michigan-Dearborn community. Faculty, staff, alumni and students are welcome to submit their recently published titles to this column by e-mailing Reporter editor Jennifer Thelen at jasroka@umich.edu with a summary of the book, a high-resolution JPEG of the book’s cover and a URL where readers can purchase the title, if applicable.

Alumnus and auto historian Joseph P. Cabadas will visit campus to discuss his book, ‘40 Ford: Evolution, Design, Racing, Hot Rodding. Cabadas will be speaking on the second floor of the Mardigian Library from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16.

His book examines the creation of the popular, streamlined 1937-1940 Ford cars, which received critical acclaim back in the 1930s and are still popular today with collectors and hot rod enthusiasts. Delving into the Henry Ford archives, Cabadas will offer a look into the history of the design and production process as well as some of the labor and social issues affecting Ford in the 1930s.

Also, on display will be rare photos and illustrations from the archive and from photographers around the country that illustrate this iconic automobile. Cabadas will sign his books, which will be available for purchase, at this event. Light refreshments will be served.

Cabadas, graduated from ��-Dearborn in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He has been a staff writer for several publications including The News-Herald of Southgate and has authored two other award-winning books on auto history: River Rouge: Ford’s Industrial Collossus (2005) and The American Auto Factory (2003).

Freshly Pressed

Off

Mon, 11/07/2011 - 07:32

Freshly Pressed: Lawrence Berkove, Gloria House

admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 07:12:43 +0000

Freshly Pressed: Lawrence Berkove, Gloria House admin Mon, 10/24/2011 - 03:12

Freshly Pressed highlights books written or edited by members of the University of Michigan-Dearborn community. Faculty, staff, alumni and students are welcome to submit their recently published titles to this column by e-mailing Reporter editor Jennifer Thelen at jasroka@umich.edu with a summary of the book, a high-resolution JPEG of the book’s cover and a URL where readers can purchase the title, if applicable.

Lawrence Berkove, professor emeritus of English language and literature, has edited the volume Critical Insights: Jack London, which is being published by Salem Press this month.

Berkove is an internationally known scholar of American literature of 19th and 20th centuries, and is recognized as an authority on London, Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain and the writers of the "Sagebrush School." He also is a former president of the Jack London Society. In the eight years he's been retired from ��-Dearborn, he's published eight books.

Critical Insights: Jack London is a collection of standard and contemporary articles on Jack London, including biographical material with original essays comparing his career to that of Mark Twain and an examination of his critical reception. London’s interest in Carl Jung, Naturalism and the theme of androgyny throughout his novels also are discussed.

* * *

Gloria House, professor of humanities and African American studies, has written Home Sweet Sanctuary: Idlewild Families Celebrate a Century, which was published by Broadside Press in August.

House, a poet and cultural activist, has been engaged in U.S. and international human rights issues since her work in the southern civil rights movement as a student in the 1960s.

Home Sweet Sanctuary is a cultural study of the community of Idlewild, an African American resort in northern Michigan, one of the few remaining settlements of its kind in the United States. Idlewild was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.

Earlier books on Idlewild have focused primarily on the period of its popularity as a center of nightclub entertainment. House’s study celebrates Idlewild’s legacy of self-determination and resilience over the long arc of its history, from its founding to the eve of its centennial anniversary in 2012. Drawing from extensive oral history interviews with several generations of Idlewild residents, the text weaves a collective story of the memories and communal aspirations of individuals, both those whose families have been rooted in Idlewild for decades, and those who have settled recently.

Freshly Pressed

Off

Mon, 10/24/2011 - 07:12