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Book Report
Hard Work: Remaking the American
Labor Movement is co-written by Rick Fantasia, Smith sociology
professor, and Kim Voss, associate professor of sociology at the
University of California at Berkeley. It provides a concise overview
of the American labor movement, exploring historical perspectives
as well as current social and political policies. "Fantasia and Voss make an important
and persuasive argument for how and why U.S. employment and
labor policies set the standard for pushing down wages, labor
rights, and working conditions throughout the world. They put
forward an enormous challenge to the U.S. labor movement, but
one that needs to be met, not just for workers and unions in
the U.S., but for their labor and community allies around the
globe," says Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of Labor Education
Research, Cornell University. The book is published
by University of California Press.
The Jews of Paradise: Creating a Vibrant Community in
Northampton, Massachusetts, chronicles the history of Jewish settlers
in this western Massachusetts city. The book -- written by
Myron Peretz Glazer, the Barbara Richmond Professor in the Social
Sciences, and Penina Migdal Glazer, the Marilyn Levin Professor
of History at Hampshire College -- was commissioned by the
Northampton 350th anniversary celebration committee. Smith College
figures prominently in The Jews of Paradise, which combines Smith's
history and that of the larger local Jewish community, from the
earliest days when Jewish students joined the predominantly Protestant
student body and worked to make a place for themselves to the
more recent evolution of Jewish studies as an academic program
and field of study.
 What does it take for a teacher to get to those "teachable
moments" in the classroom, when the students are highly
attuned and enthusiastic about learning? Sam Intrator, assistant
professor of education and child study, seeks answers in his recently
published Tuned In and Fired Up: How Teaching Can Inspire
Real Learning in the Classroom. Intrator offers five detailed case
study portraits of "teachable moments" in the classroom
in this new book, which was published by Yale University Press.
It became apparent during the 2004 presidential campaign
that religion and spirituality are still powerful forces in contemporary
American culture. The Best American Spiritual Writing
2004 features
essays chosen by senior editor Philip Zaleski, research associate
in Smith's religion department, that represent many perspectives,
including Christian, Muslim, Jewish, secular and pan-Hindu. The
book is described by publisher Houghton Mifflin as "spiritual
writing at its very best."
Belonging: Los Alamos to Vietnam, a monograph of photographs
and installations by Meridel Rubenstein, the Harnish Visiting
Artist in the Smith art department, was published in October by
St. Ann's Press. In addition to more than 140 photographic
images and plates compiled by Rubenstein over a quarter-century
of photographic and multimedia artistry, the book includes written
contributions by several renowned authors and critics, such as
Terry Tempest Williams and James Crump. "Sociopolitical
and environmental concerns and the issue of belonging -- where
and to whom one belongs -- have occupied Rubenstein for the
past 25 years," according to the publisher. Rubenstein is
in the second year of her two-year appointment.
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