Briefly Noted

“Through the use of sophisticated ceramic chronology techniques, the author documents how small farming communities like Nacimiento and Dos Ceibas grew from hamlets in the seventh century A.D. into villages with several hundred inhabitants. He traces how local elites emerged during the eighth century A.D. and built outsized residential groups.”

“Engagingly written and lavishly illustrated, “Met His Every Goal?”–intended for general readers, students, and specialists–offers a primer on Polk and a revisionist view of much of the scholarship concerning him and his era. Drawing on published scholarship as well as contemporary documents–including heretofore unpublished materials–it presents a fresh portrait of an enigmatic autocrat. And in Chaffin’s examination of an oft-repeated anecdote long accepted as fact, readers witness a case study in how historians use primary sources to explore–and in some cases, explode–received conceptions of the past.”

“This incredible book, which contains rare photographs, some of which were taken by the author himself, not only allows the music greats themselves to express themselves about the music they made famous, it explains for the first time the development of that music.”–from the publisher

“They may slobber, but they’re loyal, sensitive, and affectionate. Dogs have a lot to teach us. Illustrator Patrick Moberg has assembled a beautiful, witty, and heartfelt collection of illustrated lessons in this charming guide to becoming a better person.”

“Brilliantly documents the way Jews have imagined dogs and in so doing imagined what it means to be a human, a Jew, and an Israeli. A substantial contribution to both Jewish studies and animal studies, the text will be valuable both to research scholars and as an engaging resource for teaching undergraduates about the diverse experience of Jews throughout history.”