Editor’s Note: The following books have been published by the U-M Press.
Palmyra and Its Empire: Zenobia’s Revolt Against Rome by Richard Stoneman, senior editor of classical studies and travel at Routledge. This is the first comprehensive historical treatment in any language of Roman Syria, the revolt of Zenobia, and the city of Palmyra. Stoneman assembles a rich collage of knowledge about this intriguing period, including travelers’ accounts from ancient history through modern times, information from the latest archaeological digs along the Silk Road, and a wide array of photographs.
The Heavenly Twins by Sarah Grand, with preface by Carol A. Senf, associate professor of English, Georgia Institute of Technology. This is the latest volume in the Ann Arbor Paperback series. Originally published in 1893, Grand’s novel of the mischievous twins Diavolo and Angelica and the coming of age of 19-year-old Evadne valiantly explores subjects considered taboo for a female writer of the Victorian age.
The Smell of Books: A Cultural-Historical Study of Olfactory Perception in Literature by Hans J. Rindisbacher. Rindisbacher holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University. In this remarkably original work, Rindisbacher demonstrates that the sense of smell, which has heretofore occupied a position at the bottom of the sensory hierarchy, plays a phenomenal role in romantic, modern and contemporary literature. The Smell of Books investigates these literatures against a broad interdisciplinary backdrop, including sociology, psychology, aesthetics and linguistics.
The Stigma of Names: Anti-semitism in German Daily Life, 1812–1933 by Dietz Bering, visiting lecturer in the Institute of German Language and Literature, University of Cologne. This is the latest volume in the Social History, Popular Culture, and Politics in Germany series. The Stigma of Names provides glimpses into the lives of ordinary citizens, deftly revealing the significance of names in guaranteeing social identity and inflicting social stigma. By demonstrating that although anti-semitism found political expression only sporadically, it was a potent social force, Bering argues that the Germans’ increasing disposition to regard Jews as separate, singled out by their names, adds to our understanding of why the majority of the population later acquiesced in the Nazi persecution of the Jews.
