Archive for June, 2010
Lionel Gossman’s Towards a Rational Historiography (American Philosophical Society Transaction 73-5, ISBN: 142237467X)
Towards a Rational Historiography
(American Philosophical Society Transaction 79-3, ISBN: 142238196X)
by Lionel Gossman (Paperback, 68 pages, 1989, $25.00)
Author Lionel Gossman maintains that underlying the argument that historiography cannot be subsumed under a poetics or a rhetoric (in the sense of a system of purely linguistic or literary tropes) is a larger claim, namely that a wide range of activities, from literary criticism, through legal debate, theology, ethics, politics, psychology, and medicine to the natural sciences, all constitute rational practices, even if there is considerable variation in the degree of formalism and rigor and in the type of argument most commonly employed in each of these different of fields of inquiry.
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Hence Gossman emphasizes the practice or process of doing history rather than the product. What appeals to him in the idea of reason as a practice is its open, liberal, and democratic character. Historiography as a rational practice supposes a community of participants rather than the “anomie” of a world in which every man is his own historian or, at best, the relation of hero and follower that appears to be implied by privileging the historical “text.”
“In a 1963 essay on Voltaire’s History of Charles XII,” author Lionel Gossman tells the American Philosophical Society, “I had argued, in reaction to the seemingly entrenched positivism of the historical profession, that in constructing their narratives historians use the same literary figures and tropes as writers of fiction.
“After the publication of Hayden White’s groundbreaking Metahistory by the Johns Hopkins University Press (of whose editorial board I was then a member), I became associated with a group of historians, philosophers, and literary scholars, who were putting forward similar arguments.
“Soon, however, as often happens, what had been a challenging, critical position became a new orthodoxy. My students seemed to believe that there was no difference at all between history and fiction.
“I was convinced there was and I began to argue that modern history at least was a problem-solving rather than a myth-making activity, an ongoing process of criticism and revision, which could never, certainly, result in a representation of past reality but which in fact neither aimed nor claimed to offer that.
“I suggested that we consider historical narrative as closer to the competing evidence-based narratives presented in a court of law than to literary fictions. Towards a Rational Historiography was my attempt to stake out a position that was neither naively positivist nor completely skeptical.”
Edward Berenson writes in his book The Trial of Madame Caillaux: “Unlike many recent critics of historians and historical practice, especially those influenced by French literary theory, Gossman grounds his discussion in a solid sense of what historians ‘actually do’, not just when they write their narratives but when they perform their research, integrate and evaluate the work of others, revise and reconceptualize their scholarship in the face of new evidence and critical scrutiny.”
Lionel Gossman’s Orpheus Philologus: Bachofen versus Mommsen on the Study of Antiquity: American Philosophical Society Transactions (73-5) (ISBN: 142237467X)
Orpheus Philologus: Bachofen versus Mommsen on the Study of Antiquity
(American Philosophical Society Transaction 73-5, ISBN: 142237467X)
by Lionel Gossman (Paperback, 89 pages, 1983, $25.00)
Though the great German classical scholar Theodor Mommsen was probably unaware of it, he was the object of the passionate and enduring hatred of J. J. Bachofen, an obscure Swiss philologist in the provincial city of Basle.
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Bachofen, not well known in the English-speaking world, is mentioned by anthropologists for his contribution to the popular 19th-century theory of “matriarchy,” and by classicists such as George Derwent Thomson for his contributions to the study of Greek myth and tragedy.
“I chanced on Bachofen, while working on the French historian, Jules Michelet,” author Lionel Gossman tells the American Philosophical Society. “Gender carries great metaphoric weight in Michelet’s historical writings and popular works of natural history. Bachofen highlights its role in ancient classical myth.
“For both, the feminine signifies the body, the primitive, the unbounded, the people; it is the productive source of life, but also marks the eternal, mindless cycle of life and death. The masculine, in contrast, represents spirit, reason, law, and progress; but without the feminine, it is sterile.
“Strikingly, Bachofen’s masterwork Das Mutterrecht (Mother-Right) appeared in the same year (1861) as Michelet’s best-selling La Mer, which is as much about the mother, the feminine, as it is about the sea.
“In Bachofen, I discovered a politically conservative scholar of great imagination and literary talent, whose Romantic vision of historical research, in an increasingly positivist age, as a descent into a forgotten or repressed underworld, was surprisingly similar to that of his left-leaning French contemporary.”
Arnaldo Momigliano writes in The Journal of Modern History: “Gossman’s monograph, penetrating and well informed […] will help enormously to place Bachofen in his time and to indicate his interest for our time. Gossman sees him as the lonely heir of a previous generation and tradition […] whose philological interpretation of individual texts had been characterized by a deep suspicion of the modernization of ancient views and by a predisposition to an intuitive global understanding of the wisdom of classical and preclassical stories.”
Lionel Gossman’s Making of a Romantic Icon: The Religious Context of Friedrich Overbeck’s “Italia und Germania” (American Philosophical Society Transaction 97-5; ISBN: 0871699753)
Making of a Romantic Icon: The Religious Context of Friedrich Overbeck’s “Italia und Germania”
(American Philosophical Society Transaction 97-5, ISBN: 0871699753)
by Lionel Gossman (Paperback, 101 pages, 2007, $29.00)
Winner of the American Philosophical Society’s 2007 John Frederick Lewis Award for Best Book or Monograph.
In this original and thought-provoking book, Princeton University Prof. Emeritus Lionel Gossman, focuses on Johann Friedrich Overbeck’s “Italia and Germania” to discuss the importance of religious conversion in Romantic thought.
It treats the evolution of the Nazarene artists’ preoccupation with religious issues in an engaging manner and offers a social-historical and theological context to Overbeck’s painting by looking interestingly at a wide range of issues and contacts in his early Nazarene period. Illustrations.
“I was led to the once-influential Nazarene artists while preparing the Burckhardt section of my book on Basel,” author Lionel Gossman tells the American Philosophical Society. Burckhardt condemned them as retrograde, but I found their rejection of realism refreshing. The rigorous composition, pronounced linearity, and flat colors of their paintings and frescoes, and the strength, yet delicacy of their drawings appealed to me.
“They also struck me as quite close to the the neo-classical artists, with whom they are sometimes contrasted, but with whom several of them had in fact studied and who, like them, denounced the subservience of baroque and rococo art to the desires and pleasures of the rich and powerful.
“The painting now known as ‘Italia und Germania’ by Friedrich Overbeck, was the culmination of a series of drawings and paintings executed by Overbeck and his close friend Franz Pforr. But the preliminary works were entitled “Sulamith und Maria.”
“In view of the keen attention the Nazarenes paid to the literary and symbolic aspects of their work, and the important role religion played in their art and lives, I was intrigued — and moved — by this title and I wondered what it might have meant to the artists. The Making of a Romantic Icon resulted from my attempt to find out.”
Book News writes in a review: “In this well-illustrated essay, Gossman discusses Overbeck’s well-known painting to show layers of religious and philosophical context. Details concerning the artist’s life and the artistic and intellectual circle around him in Rome are described in the account.”
New Government Report: Oil Spills: Cost of Major Spills May Impact Viability of Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund: Congressional Testimony (ISBN: 1437935117)
Oil Spills: Cost of Major Spills May Impact Viability of Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund: Congressional Testimony (ISBN: 1437935117)
By Susan A. Fleming
(Paperback, 27 pages, 2010, $20)
On April 20, 2010, an explosion at the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon resulted in a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The spill’s total cost is unknown, but may result in considerable costs to the private sector, as well as federal, state, and local governments.
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) set up a system that places the liability — up to specified limits — on the responsible party. The Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (Fund), administered by the Coast Guard, pays for costs not paid for by the responsible party. This testimony focuses on: (1) how oil spills are paid for; (2) the factors that affect major oil spill costs; and (3) implications of major oil spill costs for the Fund. Charts and tables.
Grape Varieties for Wines Book by Pierre Galet, Now 45% Off
June 29th-July 5th Weekly Book Special
July 14th is Bastille Day, the French national holiday that commemorates the storming of the Bastille fortress-prison, which led to the founding of modern France. To mark the holiday, this week’s special is:
Grape Varieties (Hachette Wine Library)
by Pierre Galet (Paperback, 46 pages)
List Price: $17.95, Lowest Amazon.com Price: $18.00, OUR PRICE: $9.95
This book in the Hachette Wine Library series shows you how to identify the different grape vines, the range of flavors they give to the wines, and also discusses the cultivation process.
Describes 36 well-known grape varieties in detail. Some varieties, such as Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Chardonnay and Syrah are cultivated throughout the world, others only flourish in certain areas.
Find out which wines are produced from a single grape variety, or how grapes can be blended to produce some of the most famous wines in the world. Each variety is beautifully illustrated in full-color and accompanied by several key points to assist in their identification.
Our favorite illustration is for Muscat Blanc grapes (click to enlarge):
Author Pierre Galet is a world-renowned French ampelographer (grapevine botanist). He has been elected an Officer in the French National Order of Agricultural Merit, and received a prize of special recognition by L’Office national Interprofessionnel des Vins (OIV), the association of French vintners.
The Kentucky Vineyard Society, which founded the first commercial vineyard in the United States dating to 1798, lists this book among their recommended reading list.
This book is discounted only through July 5th. Purchase it for $9.95 (list price $17.95):
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In addition, let your loved one, relative or friend choose a unique gift from our extensive selection of nearly 40,000 hard-to-find books and prints. Give a gift certificate in any amount. |  |
New Government Report: Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan: Presidential Authority and the Separation of Powers (ISBN: 9781437935226)
Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan: Presidential Authority and the Separation of Powers (ISBN: 9781437935226)
By Todd B. Tatelman
(Paperback, 20 pages, 2010, $15)
In light of Elena Kagan’s nomination to serve as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, this report analyzes then-Prof. Kagan’s views of executive power and the doctrine of separation of powers as laid out in her 2001 Harvard Law Review article “Presidential Administration.”
Contents: (1) Constitutional and Legal Basis for Executive Authority: Constitutional Text; Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court: Youngstown Sheet and Tube v. Sawyer; Appointment and Removal Cases; (2) Theories of Executive Power: The “Traditional” View; The “Unitary Theory of the Executive”; (3) Presidential Administration: Responses to Traditionalist Arguments, and the “Unitary Theory of the Executive”; (4) Presidential Administration and Administrative Law; (5) Presidential Admin., Foreign Affairs, and National Security.
New Government Report: U.S. Immigration Policy on Permanent Admissions (ISBN: 1437932819)
U.S. Immigration Policy on Permanent Admissions (ISBN: 1437932819)
by Ruth Ellen Wasem
(Paperback, 37 pages, 2010, $20)
Immigration reform has been in the news lately, ranging from Arizona’s proposed and controversial SB 1070 law to a U.S. citizen who wrote a letter to President Obama to keep her African husband in the country legally — only to have immigration officials detain him, and later release him.
This report’s contents: (1) Overview; (2) Current Law and Policy; Worldwide Immigration Levels; Per-Country Ceilings; Other Permanent Immigration Categories; (3) Admissions Trends: Immigration Patterns, 1900-2008; FY 2008 Admissions; (4) Backlogs and Waiting Times: Visa Processing Dates: Family-Based Visa Priority Dates; Employment-Based Visa Retrogression; Petition Processing Backlogs; (5) Issues and Options in the 111th Congress: Effects of Current Economic Conditions on Legal Immigration; Family-Based Preferences; Permanent Partners; Point System; Immigration Commission; Interaction with Legalization Options; Lifting Per-Country Ceilings. Charts and tables.
New Government Report: Preliminary Mineral Resource Assessment of Selected Mineral Deposit Types in Afghanistan (ISBN: 1437935060)
Preliminary Mineral Resource Assessment of Selected Mineral Deposit Types in Afghanistan (ISBN: 1437935060)
By Steve Ludington
(Paperback, 44 pages, 2010, $25)
Last week, U.S. officials announced the discovery of nearly $1 trillion worth of “previously unknown mineral wealth in Afghanistan,” reports Newsweek, especially in iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium.
But in Feb. 2002, a detailed proposal addressing natural resources issues critical to the reconstruction of Afghanistan was prepared. Afghanistan has abundant metallic and non-metallic resources, but the potential resources had never been assessed using modern methods.
This assessment, published in 2007, reviewed the geology of Afghanistan and selected appropriate deposit models. Then delineated permissive tracts for each type of deposit was prepared. Geologic maps and location maps showing the distribution and types of existing mineral deposits and occurrences were used in outlining these tracts. Geophysical and geochemical maps, as well as knowledge about the exploration history, were used in tract delineation and estimation. Illustrations.
New Government Report: Potential Stafford Act Declarations for the Gulf Coast Oil Spill: Issues for Congress (ISBN: 143793417X)
Potential Stafford Act Declarations for the Gulf Coast Oil Spill: Issues for Congress (ISBN: 143793417X)
By Francis X. McCarthy
(Paperback, 11 pages, 2010, $10)
The Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act presents several options, and could provide a number of programs, to address the Gulf Coast oil spill. An emergency declaration under the Stafford Act would appear a potential approach to the current situation since it is intended to lessen the impact of an imminent disaster.
Contents of this report: (1) The Stafford Act Declaration Process; (2) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s Role in the Exxon Valdez Incident; (3) Possible FEMA Involvement in the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Response; (4) Federal Coordination, Mitigation, and Long-Term Recovery; (5) Arguments Regarding a Stafford Act Declaration for the Response; (6) Uncertain Prospects for Recovery of Disaster Relief Fund Expenditures; (7) Federal Options.
New Government Report: Treaties Latin America and the Caribbean: Illicit Drug Trafficking and U.S. Counterdrug (ISBN: 1437934056)
Treaties Latin America and the Caribbean: Illicit Drug Trafficking and U.S. Counterdrug (ISBN: 1437934056)
By Clare Ribando Seelke
(Paperback, 34 pages, 2010, $20)
Earlier in June 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton toured Latin America and the Caribbean to discuss issues, including drug trafficking, Politics Daily reported. On the agenda were the lawless border regions — between, for one, Colombia and Ecuador — where legitimate governments are stymied by non-state actors wielding sub-machine guns and running drugs. The Washington Office on Latin America noted that drug money from Venezuela and other countries is funneled throughout the Caribbean, corrupting officials and paving the way for safe passage of drugs.
Contents: (1) An Overview of Illicit Drugs in Latin America and the Caribbean: Drug Traffickers and Related Criminal-Terrorist Actors; (2) U.S. Antidrug Assistance Programs in Latin America: Plan Colombia: Mérida Initiative for Mexico and Central America: U.S. Assistance to Mexico Beyond Mérida; Central American Regional Security Initiative; Caribbean Basin Security Initiative; Department of Defense (DoD) Counternarcotics Assistance Programs; (3) Foreign Assistance Prohibitions and Conditions: Annual Drug Certification Process; Conditions on Counternarcotics Assistance: Human Rights Prohibitions on Assistance to Security Forces; Country-Specific Prohibitions on Certain Counterdrug Assistance; Drug Eradication-Related Conditions; (4) Issues for Congress. Illustrations.
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