By Felice D. Blake

Felice D. Blake’s Black Love, Black Hate: Intimate Antagonisms in African American Literature highlights the pervasive representations of intraracial deceptions, cruelties, and contempt in Black literature. Literary criticism has tended to focus on Black solidarity and the ways that a racially linked fate has compelled Black people to counter notions of Black inferiority with unified notions of community driven by political commitments to creative rehumanization and collective affirmation. Blake shows how fictional depictions of intraracial conflict perform necessary work within the Black community, raising questions about why racial unity is so often established from the top down and how loyalty to Blackness can be manipulated to reinforce deleterious forms of subordination to oppressive gender, sexual, and class norms.

Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 2018. 182p,

By David John Brennan

In 1798, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were engaged in a top secret experiment. This was not, as many assume, the creation of a book of poetry. A book emerged, to be sure—the landmark Lyrical Ballads. But in Murder Ballads, David John Brennan posits that the two poets were in fact pursuing far different ends: to birth from their poems a singular, idealized Poet. Despite their success, such Frankensteinian pursuits proved rife with consequence for the men. Doubts and questions plagued them: What does it mean to be a poet if your work is not your own? Who is best fit to lay claim to a parcel of poetic property that was collaboratively crafted and bequeathed to a fictitious Poet? How does one kill a Poet born of one’s own hand? Blending critical examination with jocular playlets-in-verse featuring the authors of the two books in baffled conversation.

Brooklyn, NY: Punctum Books, 2016. 160p.

Edited by Gerardo Del Guercio

This collection offers six critical essays on the topic of psychology in Edgar Allan Poe. It came together as a response to a visible absence of this subject in recent scholarship. The volume presents Edgar Allan Poe as one of the pioneers in psychology, who often anticipated major theoretical trends and ideas in psychology in his incessant explorations of the relationship between behavior and the psyche. Scrutinizing serial killer narratives, obsessive narratives through Jungian unconscious, Lacanian Das Ding, doppelg angers, intersubjectivity, and the interrelationship between the material world and imaginative faculties, the essays reveal the richness and the complexity of Poe's work and its pertinence to contemporary culture.

 Berlin: Logos Verlag Berlin,  2019. 168p.

By M. Michelle Robinson

Dreams for Dead Bodies: Blackness, Labor, and  the Corpus of American Detective Fiction offers new arguments about the origins of detective fiction in the United States, tracing the lineage of the genre back to unexpected texts and uncovering how authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Pauline Hopkins, and Rudolph Fisher made use of the genre’s puzzle-elements to explore the shifting dynamics of race and labor in America.
 
The author constructs an interracial genealogy of detective fiction to create a nuanced picture of the ways that black and white authors appropriated and cultivated literary conventions that coalesced in a recognizable genre at the turn of the twentieth century. These authors tinkered with detective fiction’s puzzle-elements to address a variety of historical contexts, including the exigencies of chattel slavery, the erosion of working-class solidarities by racial and ethnic competition, and accelerated mass production. Dreams for Dead Bodies demonstrates that nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American literature was broadly engaged with detective fiction, and that authors rehearsed and refined its formal elements in literary works typically relegated to the margins of the genre. By looking at these margins, the book argues, we can better understand the origins and cultural functions of American detective fiction

Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2016. 265p.

By Gene. D. Phillips

From the Introduction: “….In sum, this book presents an in-depth discussion of several gangster films, some of which are familiar members of the gangster genre, like John: Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle, and some that deserve to be better known, for example, Stephen Frears’s The Grifters. That a few meaningful books on the gangster film have appeared throughout the years demonstrates the continued interest in the genre….in this volume, I include some overlooked crime movies that deserve more attention than they have received. In addition, I have interviewed film directors, as well as other artists and technicians, associated with the films I treat. I also focus on some more recent movies, along with some from the classic period. These later movies are reminders that the gangster genre is still with us and is not going away.

NY. Rowman & Littlefield. 2014. 204p. CONTAINS MARK-UP

By Fran Mason

From the preface: “The film gangster, therefore, represents a seminal figure in the history of twentieth-century culture, forming the focus for a range of tensions that have dominated the discourses of industrialised society. These range from the role of the individual within an increasingly rationalised society, the impact of urban space (and its association with the fracturing discourses of modernity and postmodernity), the tension between tradition and the modern, the opposition between labour and pleasure, and particularly the relationship between ideology and freedom.

NY. Palgrave Macmillan. 2002. 203p. CONTAINS MARK-UP.

By William Strunk Jr.

"The Elements of Style" is a classic style guide for writing in the English language, originally written by William Strunk Jr. in 1918. The book has since been revised and expanded by E.B. White, and has become a standard reference book for writers, editors, and publishers.

"The Elements of Style" is divided into sections that cover different aspects of writing, including grammar, style, usage, and composition. The book emphasizes the importance of clarity, concision, and simplicity in writing, and provides practical advice on how to achieve these qualities.

The book is notable for its concise and accessible writing style, as well as its practical examples and exercises. It has been widely adopted as a textbook in English composition courses, and has been recommended by numerous writers and editors as a valuable resource for anyone interested in improving their writing skills.

Despite being over 100 years old, "The Elements of Style" remains relevant and influential today, and is considered a must-read for anyone interested in improving their writing.

NY. Longman. 2000.

By Kingsley Amis

From the cover: Throughout his notable career as a novelist, poet and literary critic, Kingsley Amis was often concerned — the less understanding some might say obsessed--with the use and abuse of the English language. Do we know what the words we employ really mean? Do we have the right to use them fi we don't? Should an "exciting" new program be allowed to "hit” your television screen? When is it acceptable to split an infinitive? And just when is one allowed to begin a sentence with "and"? The enemies of fine prose may dismiss such issues as tiresome and pedantic, but Kingsley Amis, like all great novelists, depended upon these very questions to separate the truth from the lie, both in literature and in life. A Parthian shot from one of the most important figures in postwar British fiction, this volume represents Amis's last word on the state of the language. More frolicsome than Fowler's Modern Usage, lighter than the Oxford English Dictionary, and replete with the strong opinions that have made Amis so popular- and so controversial….”

NY. St. Martin’s Press. 1997. 272p.

Prepared by the Editorial Staff of the University of Chicago Press.

For over seventy-live years the University of Chicago Press Manual of Style has been the standard reference tool for authors, editors, copywriters, and proofreaders. Updated many times since 1906, it now goes into its thirteenth edition—the first revision since 1969, and the first to introduce a change in title. Bowing to what has become nearly universal usage, we now call the Manual what everybody else calls it. The Chicago Manual of Style—or, for short, The Chicago Manual.

Two pervasive features characterize the present edition: it reflects the impact of the new technology on the entire editing and publishing process, and it spells out, in greater detail and with many more examples, the procedures with which it deals. It is, in short, much more a “how-to” book for authors and editors than was its predecessor. In chapter 2, on manuscript preparation and copyediting, for example, new sections have been added on how to mark a manuscript and how to mark type specifications on a script. Chapter 12 (“Tables”), completely rewritten, begins with advice on how to make a table from raw data. Chapters 15 through 17, on documentation, have been reorganized and greatly expanded, offering many more alternative methods of citation and a wealth of examples. In chapter 18 (“Indexes”), clear step-by-step
procedures for the mechanics of index making are set forth. The terminology and methodology of technological advances (in word processing, computerized electronic typesetting, and the like) are reflected most prominently in chapter 20, “Composition, Printing, and Binding” (new to this edition), and in the Glossary. Other notable features of the present edition are chapter 4 (“Rights and Permissions”), rewritten in light of the new copyright law, and chapter 9 (“Foreign Languages”), which includes a new table of diacritics, a pinyin (Chinese) conversion chart, and data on several more languages.

Throughout, The Chicago Manual aims to give clear and straightforward guidelines for preparing and editing copy—with the emphasis on the sensible, the practical, and the economical. As did its predecessors, the thirteenth edition of the Manual states the style preferences of the University of Chicago Press and reflects the current practices and requirements of the great majority of American publishers.

Chicago. University of Chicago Press. 1982. 718p.

Edited by Richard Rogers and Sabine Niederer

Disinformation and so-called fake news are contemporary phenomena with rich histories. Disinformation, or the willful introduction of false information for the purposes of causing harm, recalls infamous foreign interference operations in national media systems. Outcries over fake news, or dubious stories with the trappings of news, have coincided with the introduction of new media technologies that disrupt the publication, distribution and consumption of news -- from the so-called rumour-mongering broadsheets centuries ago to the blogosphere recently. Designating a news organization as fake, or <i>der Lügenpresse</i>, has a darker history, associated with authoritarian regimes or populist bombast diminishing the reputation of 'elite media' and the value of inconvenient truths. In a series of empirical studies, using digital methods and data journalism, the authors inquire into the extent to which social media have enabled the penetration of foreign disinformation operations, the widespread publication and spread of dubious content as well as extreme commentators with considerable followings attacking mainstream media as fake.

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2020. 257p.

Edited by Serena Giusti and Elisa Piras

This book explores the challenges that disinformation, fake news, and post-truth politics pose to democracy from a multidisciplinary perspective. The authors analyse and interpret how the use of technology and social media as well as the emergence of new political narratives has been progressively changing the information landscape, undermining some of the pillars of democracy. The volume sheds light on some topical questions connected to fake news, thereby contributing to a fuller understanding of its impact on democracy. In the Introduction, the editors offer some orientating definitions of post-truth politics, building a theoretical framework where various different aspects of fake news can be understood. The book is then divided into three parts: Part I helps to contextualise the phenomena investigated, offering definitions and discussing key concepts as well as aspects linked to the manipulation of information systems, especially considering its reverberation on democracy. Part II considers the phenomena of disinformation, fake news, and post-truth politics in the context of Russia, which emerges as a laboratory where the phases of creation and diffusion of fake news can be broken down and analysed; consequently, Part II also reflects on the ways to counteract disinformation and fake news. Part III moves from case studies in Western and Central Europe to reflect on the methodological difficulty of investigating disinformation, as well as tackling the very delicate question of detection, combat, and prevention of fake news. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of …..

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  political science, law, political philosophy, journalism, media studies, and computer science, since it provides a multidisciplinary approach to the analysis of post-truth politics.

London; New York: Routledge, 2021. 247p.

Edited by George S. Larke-Walsh

Gangster films have consistently been one of America’s most popular genres. In 1954, Robert Warshow calls their protagonists the logical development of the myth of the Westerner and suggests they “appeal to that side of us which refuses to believe in the normal possibilities of happiness and achievement” (454). Earlier, in 1946, Warshow had stated a gangster’s “tragic flaw” as their refusal to accept limitations, thus arguing the inevitability of their downfall in every film. As such, gangsters are symbols of freedom and selfexpression, but with a concurrent inability to control their impulses. Warshow’s descriptions provide easily understood and pragmatic reasons for the gangster’s appeal, and consequently these two analyses have dominated responses and writings about the gangster film ever since their mid century publication.

Gangster films are unique in comparison to other crime films, because they are not narratives about petty criminals, mentally disturbed serial killers, or individuals on a crime spree. They are narratives about organization, about loyalties and betrayals, and about success or failure; achievement is often measured simply through an individual’s ability to survive their environment. Cinematic gangsters don’t have lives outside of their profession; they don’t have the ability to walk away from their criminal identities. In these ways, the gangster genre is much more than just a type of crime film Warshow calls their protagonists the logical development of the myth of the Westerner and suggests they “appeal to that side of us which refuses to believe in the normal possibilities of happiness and achievement”

Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2018. 567p.

By Fran Mason

Much analysis of gangster movies has been based upon a study of the gangster as a malign figuration of the American Dream, originally set in the era of the Depression. This text extends previous analysis of the genre by examining the evolution of gangster movies from the 1930s to the contemporary period and by placing them in the context of cultural and cinematic issues such as masculinity, consumerism and technology. With a close examination of many films from Scarface and Public Enemy to Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction , this book provides a fascinating insight into a topical and popular subject.

Basingstoke, Hampshire. UK; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 203p.

By Gene D. Phillips

In this book, noted film and literature scholar Gene D. Phillips looks at the crime film genre. In addition to the usual suspects like Little Caesar, and The Godfather Part II, which he examines with a fresh perspective, Phillips also calls attention to some of the less heralded but no less worthy films and filmmakers that represent the genre.;The rise of the gangster film -- Little Caesar and The public enemy -- The story of Temple Drake and No orchids for Miss Blandish -- Dead end and This gun for hire -- Criss cross and White heat -- John Huston's Key Largo and The asphalt jungle -- The lady from Shanghai and The great Gatsby -- Fritz Lang's You only live once and The big heat -- The godfather, part II -- Bonnie and Clyde and The untouchables -- The grifters and The departed -- Dillinger and Public enemies -- Gangster squad (2013) and other films.

Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. 191p.

By Jack Shadoian

Dreams and Dead Ends provides a compelling history of the twentieth-century American gangster film. Beginning with Little Caesar (1930) and ending with Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead (1995), Jack Shadoian adroitly analyzes twenty notable examples of the crime film genre. Moving chronologically through nearly seven decades, this volume offers illuminating readings of a select group of the classic films--including The Public Enemy, D.O.A., Bonnie and Clyde, and The Godfather--that best define and represent each period in the development of the American crime film. Richly illustrated with more than seventy film stills, Dreams and Dead Ends details the evolution of the genre through insightful and precise considerations of cinematography, characterization, and narrative style.

Oxford, UK; New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. 397p.

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By Ron Wilson

This volume examines the gangster film in its historical context with an emphasis on the ways the image of the gangster has adapted and changed as a result of socio-cultural circumstances. From its origins in Progressive-era reforms to its use as an indictment of corporate greed, the gangster film has often provided a template for critiquing American ideas and values concerning individualism, success, and business acumen. The gangster genre has also been useful in critically examining race and ethnicity in American culture in terms of "otherness." Films studied include Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912), The Racket (1928), The Captive City (1952), The Godfather, Part Two (1974), Goodfellas (1990), and Killing Them Softly (2012).

New York: Wallflower Press, 2015. 144p.

By Susanna Lee.

The cynical but kind-hearted detective is the soul of the classic hard-boiled story, that chronicle of world-weary urban pessimism. In Hard-Boiled Crime Fiction and the Decline of Moral Authority, Susanna Lee argues that this fiction functions as a measure for individual responsibility in the modern world and that it demonstrates the enduring status of individual conscience across a variety of cultural crises. In this major rethinking of the hard-boiled genre, Lee suggests that, whether in Los Angeles, New York, or Paris, the hard-boiled detective is the guardian of individual moral authority and the embodiment of ideals in a corrupt environment. Lee traces the history of the hard-boiled detective through the twentieth century and on both sides of the Atlantic (France and the United States), tying the idea of morality to the character model in nuanced, multifaceted ways. When the heroic model devolves, the very conceptual validity of individual moral authority can seem to devolve as well. Hard-Boiled Crime Fiction and the Decline of Moral Authority charts the evolution of that character model of the hard-boiled hero, the mid-century deterioration of his exemplarity, and twenty-first-century endeavors to resuscitate the accountable hero. The history of hard-boiled crime fiction tells nothing less than the story of individual autonomy and accountability in modern Western culture.

Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 2016. 248p.

By Claire Solomon.

The first comprehensive and interdisciplinary study of the prostitute in Latin American literature, Claire Thora Solomon’s book The Naturalist Prostitute and Her Avatars in Latin American Literature, 1880–2010 shows the gender, ethnic, and racial identities that emerge in the literary figure of the prostitute during the consolidation of modern Latin American states in the late nineteenth century in the literary genre of Naturalism. Solomon first examines how legal, medical, and philosophical thought converged in Naturalist literature of prostitution. She then traces the persistence of these styles, themes, and stereotypes about women, sex, ethnicity, and race in the twentieth and twenty-first century literature with a particular emphasis on the historical fiction of prostitution and its selective reconstruction of the past.

Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 2014. 223p.

Edited By Marlene Tromp Maria K. Bachman Heidi Kaufman.

In this groundbreaking collection, scholars explore Victorian xenophobia as a rhetorical strategy that transforms “foreign” people, bodies, and objects into perceived invaders with the dangerous power to alter the social fabric of the nation and the identity of the English. Essays in the collected edition look across the cultural landscape of the nineteenth century to trace the myriad tensions that gave rise to fear and loathing of immigrants, aliens, and ethnic/racial/religious others. This volume introduces new ways of reading the fear and loathing of all that was foreign in nineteenth-century British culture, and, in doing so, it captures nuances that often fall beyond the scope of current theoretical models. “Xenophobia” not only offers a distinctive theoretical lens through which to read the nineteenth century; it also advances and enriches our understanding of other critical approaches to the study of difference. Bringing together scholarship from art history, history, literary studies, cultural studies, women’s studies, Jewish studies, and postcolonial studies, Fear, Loathing, and Victorian Xenophobia seeks to open a rich and provocative dialogue on the global dimensions of xenophobia during the nineteenth century.

Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 2013. 390.

By Sharon Stockton.

In The Economics of Fantasy: Rape in Twentieth-Century Literature, Sharon Stockton examines the persistence and the evolution of the rape narrative in twentieth-century literature—the old story of male power and violence; female passivity and penetrability. What accounts for its persistence? How has the story changed over the course of the twentieth century? In this provocative book, Stockton investigates the manner in which the female body—or to be more precise, the violation of the female body—serves as a metaphor for a complex synthesis of masculinity and political economy. From high modernism to cyberpunk, Pound to Pynchon, Stockton argues that the compulsive return to the rape story, articulates—among other things—the gradual and relentless removal of Western man from the fantastical capitalist role of venturesome, industrious agency. The metamorphosis of the twentieth-century rape narrative registers a desperate attempt to preserve traditional patterns of robust, entrepreneurial masculinity in the face of economic forms that increasingly disallow illusions of individual authority. It is important to make clear that the genre of rape story studied here presumes a white masculine subject and a white feminine object. Stockton makes the case that the aestheticized rape narrative reveals particular things about the way white masculinity represents itself. Plotting violent sexual fantasy on the grid of economic concerns locates masculine agency in relation to an explicitly contingent material system of power, value, and order. It is in this way that The Economics of Fantasy discloses the increased desperation with which the body has been made to carry ideology under systems of advanced capitalism.

Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 2006. 235p.