Off the Press: A Selection of Books by CAS Faculty

Between Human and Divine: The Catholic Vision in Contemporary Literature By Mary Reichardt (Catholic University of America Press, 2010). This volume is the first collection of scholarly essays published on a wide variety of contemporary (post-1980) Catholic literary works and artists. The 15 original essays cover fiction, poetry, and literary non-fiction, and authors include those…

Between Human and Divine: The Catholic Vision in Contemporary Literature By Mary Reichardt (Catholic University of America Press, 2010).

This volume is the first collection of scholarly essays published on a wide variety of contemporary (post-1980) Catholic literary works and artists. The 15 original essays cover fiction, poetry, and literary non-fiction, and authors include those from the United States, England, Ireland, Spain, Canada, Australia and Japan. Reichardt’s introduction situates these writers in the postmodern and post-Vatican II eras and examines how they extend the parameters of the Catholic tradition into new and intriguing shifts in style and theme. One reviewer called the book “a masterful achievement on all counts.”

Power, Politics, and Society: An Introduction to Political Sociology By Lisa Waldner (Prentice Hall, 2011).

Heralded by Paul McLean of Rutgers University as the “most comprehensive and timely treatment of political sociology available on the market,” this book introduces undergraduate students to core concepts and research in the study of power, politics and society. Waldner and her co-authors highlight topics often neglected in other books including the nature of politics in everyday life, political culture, as well as the political sociology of political violence and terrorism.

Journalism and Realism: Rendering American Life By Thomas Connery (Northwestern University Press, 2011)

In this historical overview, Connery explores journalism’s participation in the emergence of realism in 19th century America. Focusing on several representative figures and publications, Connery shows how a range of photographs that documented observed life, and articles and illustrations contributed to a cultural “paradigm of actuality” that allowed journalism to play a crucial role in realism’s ascendency.

Regulation and Instability in U.S. Commercial Banking: A History of Crises By Jill Hendrickson (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).

Within this book, Jill Hendrickson meticulously explores the history of bank crises from the antebellum era to modern day – particularly the relationship between regulation and bank stability. Hendrickson carefully argues that while the traditional response to a bank crisis in the United States has been to increase regulation, this ultimately stifles competition and inadvertently encourages banks to take on additional risk – resulting in heightened instability.