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IPPY Awards

Y-IPPY!  YUP and our museum distribution partners won ten awards at the 2010 Independent Publisher Book Awards!

Fine Art 
Cézanne and Beyond, by Joseph J. Rishel and Katherine Sachs (Philadelphia Museum of Art)

The Drawings of Bronzino, by Carmen C. Bambach, Janet Cox-Rearick and George R. Goldner (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Picasso and the Allure of Language, by Susan Greenberg Fisher (Yale University Art Gallery in association with Yale University Press)

Performing Arts 
Alice Guy Blaché: Cinema Pioneer, by Joan Simon

Photography 
John Gutmann: The Photographer at Work, by Sally Stein

Architecture
Philip Johnson: The Constancy of Change, by Emmanuel Petit

Education/Academic/Teaching 
The Making of Americans: Democracy and Our Schools, by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. 

Environment/Ecology/Nature 
Green Intelligence: Creating Environments that Protect Human Health, by John Wargo 

History 
1688: The First Modern Revolution, by Steve Pincus

Science 
Paradoxical Life: Meaning, Matter, and the Power of Human Choice, by Andreas Wagner 

Congratulations to all!

Greece, the Euro, and Losing Control

As concerns over economic instability in Greece pushed the Euro to a a four-year low of $1.21 on Wednesday, the world is wondering whether the Euro zone will regain its once-vaunted position in the global economy. Though the currency has regained some footing over the past few days, the San Fransisco Chronicle quoted Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist in New York at Bank of New York Mellon Corp., who said, "It was scorched earth yesterday and players are on the sideline licking their wounds. It may take weeks, or even months, for risk appetite to return."

Mixed metaphors aside, the economic prosperity of the Western world has certainly been called into question of late, and as HSBC chief economoist Stephen D. King argues in his new book, Losing Control, the austerity measures facing Greece and economic regulations like those passed in the Senate just yesterday are likely to become common throughout the West. In addition, as the developed world turns to developing countries like China and India to finance its recovery, more economic power will inevitably be ceded to the rising nations of the world. King was recently interviewed about his book on CNBC, and the full video is available here.

For more information about the history of the Euro, be sure to check out David Marsh's The Euro: The Politics of the New Global Currency.

Take a virtual tour of Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill

The youngest son of the powerful Whig minister Robert Walpole, Horace Walpole (1717-1797) was famous in his day for his extraordinary collections of rare books and manuscripts, antiquities, paintings, prints and drawings, furniture, ceramics, arms and armor, and curiosities, all displayed at his pioneering Gothic Revival house at Strawberry Hill, on the banks of the Thames at Twickenham.

The Lewis Walpole Library at Yale University has put together a wonderful virtual tour of Strawberry Hill, featuring both interior and exterior details from the property, in preparation for the Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill exhibition, which just recently left the Yale Center for British Art and is currently on view at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Whether or not you get the chance to see the exhibit, an exhibition catalogue edited by Michael Snodin is available through Yale University Press to enhance your experience of this one-of-a-kind collection.

Where "Taliban" author Ahmed Rashid was on 9/11

Ahmed Rashid, the internationally acclaimed journalist and author of Taliban, has been in high demand with news media lately. Rashid has a column in today's New York Daily News, was on NPR's Talk of the Nation yesterday while another column of his ran in the Washington Post, and last weekend, he sat down with C-SPAN's Brian Lamb for an extensive interview on the network's Q&A program.

In light of the recent Times Square bombing attempt and the developing conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Rashid's expertise has made him a great resource to media. Yet, as his comments in the Q&A interview reveal, it is shocking to realize just how little the Western world knew about Afghan politics before the tragic events of 2001:

LAMB: Where were you on 9/11, when it happened?

RASHID: I was at home in Mahal, Pakistan, watching it. And the moment you know I called my wife in and I said this is Al Qaeda and the Americans are going to invade our country and you know very soon after that I was asked to come to Washington and to meet these people here and I was trying to prepare for the war and what to do.

A lot of people wrote to me asking me – a lot of Europeans, governments, all sorts of people wrote – nobody had a clue what the Taliban were and what this all mean, you know.

The newly revised and updated second edition of Taliban is available now.

Happy birthday to a man who (may have) thought it better to be feared than loved

Niccolò Machiavelli, the Florentine public servant and political theorist best known for his brief yet highly influential work of political philosophy, The Prince, was born on this day in 1469. Though the man's name may be now synonymous with cunning and deceitful political tactics, the debate as to whether Machiavelli's treatise is meant to be a cold-hearted pragmatist's handbook or a satirical take on tyrannical leadership continues on in college seminar rooms across the globe.

In that spirit, the Yale University Press edition of The Prince places the text in context of its times, including extensive introductory and supplementary material for further discussion. For more fresh takes on classic works of political philosophy, browse the Rethinking the Western Tradition series at the Press's website and check out Yale professor Ian Shapiro's Moral Foundations of Politics, an excellent primer on the works that shaped Western thought.