Constructing Inequality: The Fabrication of a Hierarchy of Virtue among the Etoro by Raymond C. Kelly, professor of anthropology. Philosophers and social theorists since the Enlightenment have pondered how to define the principal locus for the production of inequality in human society. In Constructing Inequality , Kelly challenges existing theories of social inequality in egalitarian societies by examining the Etoro, a people of a remote region of Papua, New Guinea, on whom Kelly has long been considered the foremost authority.
The Uses of Art: Medieval Metaphor in the Michigan Law Quadrangle by Ilene H. Forsyth, professor of history of art. The buildings of the Cook Law Quadrangle form one of the architectural jewels of this campus. The Uses of Art relates the story of the buildings’ creation, and illuminates the meanings of the abundant figures and portraits that decorate the Law Quad’s structures. In addition, the book’s numerous illustrations help demonstrate the architectural connections between the Law Quadrangle and monastic architecture in Europe. The author explores the use of medieval metaphors at Michigan as well as in collegiate architecture in the eastern United States, particularly at Princeton and Yale universities.
Medical Lives and Scientific Medicine at Michigan, 1891–1969, edited by Joel D. Howell, associate professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Department of History, and Department of Health Services Management and Policy. The University’s Medical School was the first major U.S. medical school to admit women, to run its own university hospital, and, by the turn of the 20th century, to be recognized as one of the finest medical schools in the country. Medical Lives and Scientific Medicine at Michigan portrays the development of modern medicine through the lives and work of six scientific innovators at Michigan, and demonstrates how these pioneers played a central part in defining the place of medical science at the U-M and in the larger world of U.S. health care.
Wolves of Minong: Isle Royale’s Wild Community by Durward L. Allen, professor emeritus of wildlife ecology, Purdue University. On a cold February night in 1949, a pack of wolves crossed the ice of Lake Superior between Canada and Isle Royale National Park. The sizable island was inhabited by a large herd of moose that had been destroying its habitat in search of food; they were starving as a result. The isolation of Isle Royale made it a unique laboratory for studying predator-prey relationships and, perhaps more important, the related serious issue of the coexistence of wildlife and humanity in a public wilderness.
The Forgotten Army: India’s Armed Struggle for Independence 1942–45 by Peter Ward Fay, professor of history, California Institute of Technology. The Forgotten Army brings to life for the first time the story of how Subhas Chandra Bose, a charismatic Bengali, attempted to liberate India with an army of former British Indian soldiers—the Indian National Army (INA). Fay intertwines powerful descriptions of military action with a unique knowledge of how the INA was formed and its role in the broader struggle for Indian independence.
