Gilbert Achar and Noam Chomsky, Perilous Power: The Middle East and U.S. Foreign Policy: Dialogues on Terror, Democracy, War and Justice, Paradigm Publishers, 2007. The best readable introduction for all who wish to understand the complex issues related to the Middle East from a perspective dedicated to peace and justice. Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor and Professor of Linguistics, Emeritus.

Ian Condry, Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization, Duke University Press, 2006. An ethnographic account of rap music in Japan, exploring the ways local musicians grapple with issues of enduring racism, gender inequalities, faltering economic prospects, and even the war on terror. Ian Condry is Associate Professor of Japanese Cultural Studies in Foreign Languages and Literatures.

Edward Gibson and Florian Wolf, Coherence in Natural Language: Data Structures and Applications, MIT Press, 2006. Wolf and Gibson specify and evaluate criteria for descriptively adequate data structures for representing discourse coherence. Their book offers the first large-scale empirical evaluation of these data structures and also includes novel psycholinguistic tests of existing information extraction and text summarization systems. Edward Gibson is Associate Professor of Cognitive Science who holds a joint appointment with Linguistics and Philosophy and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Diana E. Henderson, Collaborations with the Past: Reshaping Shakespeare Across Time and Media, Cornell University Press, 2006. Focusing on key writers, actors, theater directors, and filmmakers who have kept Shakespeare at the center of their endeavors over the past two hundred years, Collaborations with the Past illuminates not only the playwright’s work but also the choices and responsibilities involved in recreating culture, and the ingenuity and peril of the artistic process. Diana Henderson is Dean for Curriculum and Faculty Support and Professor of Literature.

Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York University Press, 2006. Convergence Culture maps a new territory: where old and new media intersect, where grassroots and corporate media collide, where the power of the media producer and the power of the consumer interact in unpredictable ways. Henry Jenkins is Peter deFlorez Professor of Humanities and Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT.

Henry Jenkins, Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture, New York University Press, 2006. Starting with an interview on the current state of fan studies, this volume maps the core theoretical and methodological issues in fan studies.

Henry Jenkins, The Wow Climax: Tracing the Emotional Impact of Popular Culture, New York University Press, 2006. Whether highlighting the sentimentality at the heart of the Lassie franchise, examining the emotional experiences created by horror filmmakers and avant garde artists, or discussing the emerging aesthetics of video games, these essays get to the heart of what gives popular culture its emotional impact.

Wyn Kelley, ed., A Companion to Herman Melville, Blackwell Publishing, 2006. The ideal resource for twenty-first-century readers of Melville. In 35 original essays by scholars from around the world, it demonstrates the relevance of Melville, not only as an American or Western writer, but also as an author who bridges racial, cultural, national, and geographic divides to imagine a universe that is as rich and capacious as his worldwide readership. Wyn Kelley is Senior Lecturer of Literature.

Stephen M. Meyer, End of the Wild, MIT Press, 2006. With the rate of species extinctions so high (3,000 a year and climbing), this book argues that we can no longer harbor hopes of preserving environments that are immune from human influence. Rather than trying to return to a more “natural” world, humans have a duty to manage the diversity that is left. Stephen M. Meyer was Professor of Political Science; he passed away in December 2006.

Agustin Rayo and Gabriel Uzquiano, eds., Absolute Generality, Oxford University Press, 2006. The volume brings together a collection of essays on the problem of whether it is possible to quantify absolutely everything. It has long been thought that questions of absolute generality are intimately connected with the set-theoretic antinomies, but discussion of absolute generality has enjoyed a surge of interest in recent years. Agustin Rayo is Associate Professor of Philosophy.

Patricia Tang, Masters of the Sabar: Wolof Griot Percussionists of Senegal, Temple University Press, 2007. This is the first book to examine the music and culture of Wolof Griot Percussionists, masters of the vibrant sabar drumming tradition. The compact disc that accompanies the book includes examples of the standard sabar repertory. Patricia Tang is Associate Professor of Music.

Joseph Jongen: Suite for Orchestra and Solo Viola (1915–19), Jean Francaix: Rhapsodie for Viola and Small Orchestra (1946), Tibor Serly: Viola Concerto (1929). Marcus Thompson, viola, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Paul Freeman, Conductor, Centaur Records CRC 2788. The cd contains three rarely heard works for viola solo with orchestra. Marcus Thompson is Robert R. Taylor Professor of Music and a MacVicar Faculty Fellow.

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