Volverás a la región: el cronotopo idílico en la novela española del siglo XIX (Return to the Region: The Idyllic Chronotope in 19th-Century Spanish Fiction)

by Toni Dorca (Iberoamericana, 2004. 167 pages, hardback)

Drawing upon Mikhail Bakhtin's notion of the idyllic chronotope, Toni Dorca studies the idyll in 19th century Spanish fiction. Bakhtin's chronotope is based on the blurring of all the temporal boundaries made possible by a unity of place, the focus on only a few of life's basic realities and the conjoining of human life with the life of nature. Part II of the book traces the evolution of the idyllic chronotope following the apogee of modern realism as a result of industrialization. This stage is characterized by the overturning and demolishing of the idyll, which proves increasingly inadequate to the new capitalist world.

Dorca, professor and chair of Macalester's Department of Hispanic Studies, has published extensively on modern and contemporary Spanish fiction, especially the 19th century. He is currently working on a book dealing with the visions of the picturesque in Spain from 1775 to 1900.

The Cultural Experience: Ethnography in Complex Society

by David W. McCurdy, James P. Spradley and Dianna J. Shandy (Waveland Press, 2005. 190 pages, $17.95 paperback)

This is the second, expanded edition of a book that has helped generations of undergraduates discover ethnographic research. The book features papers by 10 Macalester students and alumni: Cole Akeson '05, Jennifer Boehlke '99, Li Cowell '98, Meghan Greeley '02, Sana Haque '02, John Hoch '94, Jordan Pender '02, Alex Rubenstein '05, Byron Thayer '02 and Natasha Winegar '03.

Death Takes a Honeymoon

by Deborah Donnelly (Bantam Dell, 2005. 335 pages, $5.99 paperback)

In the fourth title of this mystery series, Seattle wedding planner Carnegie Kincaid heads to glamorous Sun Valley to direct the wedding of an old friend and an old flame; the former is a hot-tempered actress, the latter a smoldering smokejumper. But when murder joins the party and a forest fire looms, more than the wedding plans might go up in smoke.

Deborah Dezendorf Wessell '72, writing as Deborah Donnelly, has worked as a university librarian and an executive speechwriter. She now lives in Boise, Idaho, with her writer husband and two Welsh corgis.

The Family Child Care Legal and Insurance Guide: How to Reduce the Risks of Running Your Business

by Tom Copeland '72 and Mari Millard (Redleaf Press, 2005. 208 pages, $14.95 paperback)

From purchasing insurance to protecting against lawsuits, this guide offers practical ways that family child care providers can ensure the health and prosperity of their businesses. The book includes detailed resource lists, a sample transportation policy and a business liability insurance checklist.

Tom Copeland has worked in the family child care field for more than 20 years and recently won the Advocate of the Year award from the National Association of Family Child Care Professionals. As director of Redleaf National Institute, he trains child care providers nationwide in the business of family child care.

The Cultural Study of Work

edited by Douglas Harper '70 and Helene M. Lawson (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. 496 pages, $29.95 paperback, $72 cloth)

This anthology was named a 2004 Outstanding Academic Title, a designation given by the American Library Association to the best scholarly titles reviewed in Choice, the association's journal. The book brings more than 50 years of scholarship of the culture and sociology of work into an introductory and analytical text. The 23 articles show how common sociological themes such as socialization, social interaction, the social construction of time and deviance are experienced in work settings as diverse as the factory, the nightclub, the restaurant and the offices of high-tech professionals.

Douglas Harper, professor and chair of the Sociology Department at Duquesne University, says the book "was conceived, if not born, under the tutelage of Jim Spradley."

The Callahan Cousins: Summer Begins

by Elizabeth Doyle Carey '92 (Little, Brown, 2005. 246 pages, $10.99 hardcover)

Intended for middle-grade girls, this is the first book in a series featuring the 12-year-old Callahan cousins. Phoebe, Hillary, Neve and Kate are spending the summer at their grandmother's rambling seaside estate, offering them the chance for memorable adventures. Finding themselves caught up in an old island rivalry, the cousins are determined to defend the Callahan honor.

Elizabeth Doyle Carey is a free-lance book editor and writer. She lives in New York City.

Postmodern Rationality, Social Criticism and Religion

by Henry L. Ruf '58 (Paragon House, 2005. 480 pages, $19.95 paperback)

In a series of dialogues with the major philosophical writers and movements of the past 150 years, Henry Ruf takes up some of the most pressing questions of the current age: What is the relation between science and religion? How can different religions and cultural belief systems be negotiated? How can a notion of reason accommodate the differences between peoples and cultures? His book examines the uses and abuses of "instrumental rationality" and the consequences for genuine human spirituality and interpersonal relationships.

Ruf is adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University and professor of philosophy emeritus at West Virginia University. He is the author of Investigating Philosophy and Moral Investigations, and editor of Religion, Ontotheology and Deconstruction.

The Dao of the Press: A Humanocentric Theory

by Shelton A. Gunaratne (Hampton Press, Inc., 2005. $45 hardbound, $22.95 paperback)

The Dao of the Press attempts to de-Westernize communication theory. It interprets press theory from the perspective of Eastern philosophy--particularly Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism and Confucianism--and the emerging theory of living systems, which combines the Santiago School's interpretation of cognition and autopoiesis, and the Brussels School's interpretation of dissipative structures. The book also draws from quantum physics, post-Parsonsian systems thinking and world-systems analysis to derive a more humanocentric theoretical framework that reflects the integration of Eastern ontology with Western epistemology.

Shelton A. Gunaratne, a World Press Institute Fellow at Macalester in 1967, is a professor of mass communications at Minnesota State University Moorhead.

Starving Amidst Too Much & Other IWW Writings on the Food Industry by T-Bone Slim, L.S. Chumley, Jim Seymour and Jack Sheridan

edited and introduced by Peter Rachleff (Charles H. Kerr Publishing, 2005. 128 pages, $12 paperback)

This book reproduces rare classic documents on the "food question" by four old-time members of North America's most colorful and uncompromising union: the revolutionary Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), known as Wobblies.

In his introduction, Macalester history Professor Peter Rachleff, a labor activist, traces the history of food-workers' self-organization and brings the book up to date with a look at current point-of-production struggles to break the power of agri-business and the union-busting fast-food chains.

Small Town Street, 1917-1937

by Mildred Rowland Reinhardt '42 (self-published, 2004. 100 pages, $12 paperback)

Mildred Reinhardt, a graduate of the Miss Woods School at Macalester, taught kindergarten for more than 25 years. In retirement she has self-published 10 books for adults--mostly childhood reminiscences--and four books for children. This book is available from the author: 49105 U.S. Highway 169, Palisade, MN 56469.