Yale Press Log

NYT on professions and recessions: Sennett and Fraser

Writing for the New York Times Book Review, Lewis Hyde reviewed The Craftsman by Richard Sennett. He explains the book's ideas, saying that he enjoyed "the companionship of its inquiring intelligence." Hyde goes on to tell the readers, "There is much to learn here." Read the entire review here.

Defining craftsmanship far more broadly than "skilled manual labor," Richard Sennett maintains that the computer programmer, the doctor, the artist, and even the parent and citizen engage in a craftsman's work. Craftsmanship names the basic human impulse to do a job well for its own sake, says the author, and good craftsmanship involves developing skills and focusing on the work rather than ourselves. In this thought-provoking book, one of our most distinguished public intellectuals explores the work of craftsmen past and present, identifies deep connections between material consciousness and ethical values, and challenges received ideas about what constitutes good work in today’s world.

Click here to listen to an interview with Richard Sennett on the Yale Press Podcast. View the table of contents, or read an excerpt from The Craftsman.

In an article on Wall Street-bound graduates and their nervousness about the recession, Louise Story of the New York Times asked Yale Press author Steve Fraser. Fraser, author of Wall Street: America's Dream Palace, also teaches an undergraduate seminar on Wall Street at the University of Pennsylvania.

In the beginning of the semester, Mr. Fraser noticed that students seemed to think the housing crisis was unrelated to their goals in finance and was caused mostly by irresponsible borrowers. But after the collapse of Bear Sterns, he said, they had "a great deal more sympathy for people who have already been affected by this crisis.

"There’s a sense in the class now that things are more worrying, that this may affect them."

Read the entire New York Times article here. Click here to listen to an interview with Fraser on the Yale Press Podcast.

Sennett's The Craftsman in print, blogs, and air waves

In addition to the blogs Hand Made Theory, Zeigarnika, and Greenjeans Blog that feature Richard Sennett's The Craftsman, guardian.co.uk has two reviews and an article by Sennett himself.

The review that appeared in the Observer on February 17 says, "As in his previous books, Sennett ranges fluently across philosophy, literature, art, music and technology." Meanwhile, the reviewer from the Guardian says, "Richard Sennett is a prime observer of society, an American, a pragmatist who takes the nitty gritty of daily life and turns it into a disquisition on morality.... He is an enchanting writer with important things to say." For a taste of what he has to say, check out his article, "Labours of Love," which appeared last month in the Guardian.

Sennett was also invited as a guest on The Diane Rehm Show, where he talked about everyone's potential to be a craftsman. Listen to the show in Real Audio format here, or in Windows Media format here. If you want to hear more from Sennett, click here to listen to an interview with him on the Yale Press Podcast.

Defining craftsmanship far more broadly than "skilled manual labor," Richard Sennett maintains that the computer programmer, the doctor, the artist, and even the parent and citizen engage in a craftsman’s work. Craftsmanship names the basic human impulse to do a job well for its own sake, says the author, and good craftsmanship involves developing skills and focusing on the work rather than ourselves. In this thought-provoking book, one of our most distinguished public intellectuals explores the work of craftsmen past and present, identifies deep connections between material consciousness and ethical values, and challenges received ideas about what constitutes good work in today’s world.

View the table of contents, or read an excerpt from the book.

Abert's Mozart tops WSJ list

Writing for the Wall Street Journal, music critic James Penrose listed the five best books to "sound the depths of composers' lives." The number one book on that list is Hermann Abert's W.A. Mozart. Here's what Penrose had to say about the book:

Modern Mozart scholarship is indebted to Hermann Abert's groundbreaking biography, and little wonder. When it appeared in German almost 90 years ago, this engaging work was the last word on Mozart's life (1756-91) and music, offering penetrating analysis and wonderful accounts of his travails and triumphs and of his operas, concertos, church music and symphonies. But until last year, the book had never been translated into English. Stewart Spencer admirably executed the task for Yale University Press, and editor Cliff Eisen, a distinguished Mozart scholar, updated the text with scrupulous and marvelously perceptive annotations. Abert's study is a model of musical biography.

Penrose is not alone in his praise for W.A. Mozart. H.C. Robbins Landon calls it "indispensable. There is no doubt that Abert’s biography of Mozart is the most distinguished and best informed ever written, and it is incomprehensible that it has never been translated into English." Laurence Dreyfus of Magdalen College, Oxford agrees, finding W.A. Mozart to be "a very useful book. Nothing else does the job."

Read from the rest of the WSJ list.

Yale Press authors explore Broadway, investigate Roswell, and report on Latin America

Especially in these winter months, it's hard to imagine a world without "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and other classic Frank Loesser tunes. Mark Steyn, reviewing Thomas L. Riis' Frank Loesser for the Wall Street Journal, realizes that "a world without Frank Loesser and 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' would be very cold indeed." Steyn calls Frank Loesser by Yale Press author Thomas L. Riis "a solid overview of an underappreciated talent." Steyn not only praises this "invaluable" book, but also Yale University Press as a whole for the "important and valuable Broadway Masters series of musicological studies." You can read the entire review here.

Frank Loesser, most famous for composing the ever-popular musical Guys and Dolls (1950), also wrote the music and lyrics for the Pulitzer prize-winning How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and other hits. This book is the first to bring the full story of Loesser’s life and creative achievement in Hollywood and on Broadway into the light.

Elsewhere in the Wall Street Journal, Max Holland listed the "Five Best" books on untangling the rise of conspiracy theories. Number 2 was Yale Press' Enemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America by Robert Alan Goldberg, which Holland called "unrivaled" for books published within the past decade. You can see Holland's entire list here.

In this enthralling book Robert Goldberg focuses on conspiracy theories in post-World War II America, examining how they became popular and why they remain so. He investigates conspiracy theories surrounding the Roswell UFO incident, the Communist threat, the rise of the Antichrist, the assassination of President Kennedy, and the Jewish plot against black America. Those who suspect conspiracies are not confined to the lunatic fringe, Goldberg shows. In fact, paranoid rhetoric and thinking are disturbingly widespread and have become an integral part of American political culture.

You can tune in tomorrow to KERA Texas public radio to hear Michael Reid, author of Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America's Soul. His hour-long interview for Think with Krys Boyd will start at noon, February 12, and can be heard online here.

Latin America, home to half-a-billion people, the world's largest reserves of arable land, and 8.5 percent of global oil, is in the midst of a vast transformation. Michael Reid, a journalist with many years of experience in the region, explores Latin America's current shift to the political left, its struggle to compete economically, and the potential for democracy to flourish there.

At the Met, New York meets Oklahoma!

This year marks the centenary year of the state of Oklahoma. So, Tim Carter, author of Oklahoma!: The Making of an American Musical, is speaking today in a lecture at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. This "informative, entertaining, and topical tribute to Oklahoma (state and musical)" is part of the Met's "The Sound of Broadway" series. Also, keep on the lookout for Bud Elder's interview with Carter on WKY Radio, Oklahoma City.

For more information on the lecture, click here.

Oklahoma! premiered on Broadway in 1943 under the auspices of the Theatre Guild, and today it is performed more frequently than any other Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. In this book Tim Carter offers the first fully documented history of the making of this celebrated American musical.

Drawing on research from rare theater archives, manuscripts, journalism, and other sources, Carter records every step in the development of Oklahoma! The book is filled with rich and fascinating details about how Rodgers and Hammerstein first came together, the casting process, how Agnes de Mille became the show’s choreographer, and the drafts and revisions that ultimately gave the musical its final shape. Carter also shows the lofty aspirations of both the creators and producers and the mythmaking that surrounded Oklahoma! from its very inception, and demonstrates just what made it part of its times.

Read an excerpt, or view the table of contents.

Yale Press at the Oscars

Wondering what to do with your inner film buff now that the Oscars are over?

If you liked Steve Carrell’s portrayal of an aging Proust scholar in the award-winning movie Little Miss Sunshine, let us introduce you to William C. Carter, a real-life Proust scholar and author of Marcel Proust: A Life and Proust In Love. Carter himself hardly resembles his counterpart in the film, but that doesn’t stop him from enjoying it. When USA Today asked him what he thought of Little Miss Sunshine, Carter replied, “It’s a wonderful movie with a great ensemble cast. We could all use some sunshine.”

Fans of Gustavo Santaolalla’s Oscar-winning score for Babel might also enjoy Jack Sullivan’s book Hitchcock’s Music, which traces the long career of one of the most influential figures in the history of movie music. Michael Wood of Princeton University writes, “We might think Hitchcock needed music less than other filmmakers, but Jack Sullivan, in this lovingly researched and articulated book, shows he needed it more. Music said everything Hitchcock couldn't say, even in pictures, and Mr. Sullivan expertly proves that the master's every soundtrack tells an intricate and often romantic story.”

Finally, check out Maria DiBattista’s Fast-Talking Dames for a fascinating history of early motion-picture heroines. With vivid portraits of Katharine Hepburn, Irene Dunne, Rosalind Russell, Barbara Stanwyck, and others, DiBattista celebrates the sassy female leads that dominated the American screen in the 1930s and '40s. The Sunday Telegraph says, “This book overflows with so many superb come-backs and put-downs as almost to constitute an anthology of one-liners . . . captivating.”

More Praise for Hitchcock's Music

Hitchcock's Music was recently featured on the website of Austin, Texas radio station KUT 90.5.  In a blog entry for the show "Aelli Unleashed," host John Aelli wrote:

It is simply one of the most stimulating, informative, and insightful books I’ve read in a long while...Jack Sullivan makes this highly informative and well researched subject a compelling read. A wonderful exploration of the personalities involved.

Read the full entry here.

 

Hitchcock's Music: Sound and Suspense

Jack Sullivan, author of Hitchcock’s Music, was interviewed by Scott Simon last Saturday for NPR’s Weekend Edition.

For over fifty years, Alfred Hitchcock created films with soundtracks of compelling and unforgettable music.  The soundtracks to movies such as “Vertigo,” “North by Northwest,” and “Rebecca” influenced the atmosphere, characterization and plotlines of the director’s famous movies in taking on a life of their own.

To listen to selected “Sounds of Hitchcock,” read an excerpt from the book, and hear why Hitchcock has influenced generations of filmmakers, click here.

Hitchcock's Music

Writing in the New York Times about Jack Sullivan’s new book, Hitchcock’s Music, Edward Rothstein writes, “For Hitchcock music was not merely an accompaniment. It was a focus. And it didn’t just reveal something about the characters who sang the score’s songs or moved under its canopy of sound; music could seem to be a character itself . . . . [Sullivan] shows that it isn’t just that Hitchcock believed that sound should serve image; he believed that image should serve sound.”
Read the entire article here.

YUP Award Winners

We're pleased to announce that Michael V. Pisani, author of Imagining Native America in Music, and Boris Gasparov, author of Five Operas and a Symphony, have won a 2006 Deems Taylor Award sponsored by the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers.

Vivial Perlis and Libby Van Cleve, co-authors of Composers’ Voices from Ives to Ellington, have won a special recognition award for their ongoing work.

The ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award program recognizes books, articles, liner notes, broadcasts and websites on the subject of music selected for their excellence. The awards were established in 1967 to honor the memory of composer/critic/commentator Deems Taylor who died in 1966 after a distinguished career.

"The Recording Angel" Named One of 50 Greatest Music Books Ever

The Observer Music Monthly has just released its list of the 50 greatest music books ever, formed through consultation with its world-class music experts and readers. Included prominently on the list is Evan Eisenberg's The Recording Angel: Music, Records and Culture from Aristotle to Zappa, with the following description: "How technology has changed our conception of what music is; deep."

The Recording Angel charts the ways in which the phonograph and its cousins have transformed our culture. The book, newly available in a second edition, includes a new Afterword by Evan Eisenberg, which shows how digital technology, file trading, and other recent developments are accelerating--or reversing--these trends. Influential and provocative, and hailed by Garry Giddins as a "marvelous book, and unlike any other," The Recording Angel is required reading for anyone who cares about the effect recording has had--and will continue to have--on our experience of music.

Guggenheim Grants Fellowship to Mike Heffley

Writer and composer Mike Heffley, author of the acclaimed Northern Sun, Southern Moon: Europe's Reinvention of Jazz, has been named one of this year's recipients of a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship.

Guggenheim Fellowships are awarded to "men and women who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." This year's winners include 187 artists, scholars, and scientists selected from almost 3,000 applicants for awards totaling $7.5 million. Since its establishment in 1925, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has granted more than $247 million in fellowships to over 16,000 individuals, among them Ansel Adams, Aaron Copland, Langston Hughes, and Henry Kissinger.

The award will enable Heffley to devote time and attention to the folkloric and the radical in new and improvised music. His previous research on the pan-Eurasian musical revolution in jazz issued in the pioneering book Northern Sun, Southern Moon, which was named one of the best jazz books of the year in "New York's Best of 2005" (AllAboutJazz.com).

A Symphony of a Book

"An enthralling new book," says the Boston Globe in its recent review of Composers' Voices From Ives to Ellington: An Oral History of American Music, by Vivian Perlis and Libby Van Cleve. The book and the two-CD set that accompanies it present a host of interviews with and about the most significant musical figures of the early twentieth century, including Charles Ives, Henry Cowell, Virgil Thomson, Eubie Blake, Aaron Copland, and Duke Ellington, drawn from the extensive collection of materials contained in the Oral History, American Music archive at Yale University.

The review continues:

In a sense the book is a glorious scrapbook--full of pictures, reproductions of letters, manuscripts and other documents, and edited transcripts of interviews with the composers and their families, friends, and associates. But it is also a symphony of voices, and one of the best things is that the CDs that come with it allow the reader to hear the actual voices and unedited words of all these people, to feel the force of their personalities.

All of them sound upbeat, optimistic, rooted in American soil, even if they weren't born in this country. The late Lou Harrison sounds like the right jolly old elf he was; Copland says he wanted his music to describe what it was like to grow up in Brooklyn, and you hear his Brooklyn accent. The symphonist Harris grew up on a farm in Oklahoma and repeatedly mentions the beautiful potatoes his father grew. ''I don't by any means believe that my music is as good as those potatoes were," he remarks, and later adds, ''A creative artist doesn't examine himself. It's sort of like digging up the potatoes to see if they're growing. He must not examine his own processes."

                                  * * *

The recordings have of course been edited, and for the most part skillfully intercut with brief examples of the composers' music, often drawn from their own performances or ones representing historic interpretations....Composers' Voices From Ives to Ellington represents a job well done, and in the case of nearly all the composers in the book, it was done in the nick of time.

Northern Sun, Southern Moon: Europe's Reinvention of Jazz

Jazz has long been labeled "America's classical music," but what happened when jazz was displaced from its native land, leaving swing and the blues behind? In his new book Northern Sun, Southern Moon: Europe's Reinvention of Jazz, Mike Heffley examines how, after the creators of so-called "free jazz"--Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, and Anthony Braxton, among others--liberated American jazz from its western ties, European musicians found their own distinctive voices and created a vital, innovative, and independent jazz culture.

"You have to hand it to Heffley," says David Yaffe in the latest issue of The Nation. "This is a man who knows his von Schlippenbach, his Jost, his Kowald. European jazz is certainly a subject important enough to justify substantial scholarly heavy lifting, and for anyone who wants to understand it, this is the definitive study."

In the most recent issue of BookForum, Stephanie Hanson lauds the book's "commendable effort to rectify the scholarly silence on European free jazz." Heffley, she says, "marshals an impressive roster of French and German primary source documents and extensive musician interviews...[that] are uniformly excellent."