December 16, 2008Among the titles due out from Michigan’s three university presses in 2009, or recently released, are works designed to inform public policy and political debate. Dome picked two books from each press that look to be of interest to our readers and offer insight into some of today’s pressing issues.
Wayne State University Press, as a leading publisher of African American studies and Great Lakes books, offers a memoir by Arthur L. Johnson, a Detroit civil rights leader, and what looks to be a fascinating trip up the exploited Rouge river in Detroit.
In a similar vein, Michigan State University Press will publish in June a critical look at the impact of the St. Lawrence Seaway on the Great Lakes’ ecosystems. Also forthcoming from MSU Press is a compilation of several Michigan academics’ views on key policies that will impact the future success of our state’s metropolitan communities.
The University of Michigan will publish a book in March bringing together a bipartisan group of writers and intellectuals exploring the dangers facing America’s current political system. Another political work, delving into the ingrained partisanship in state and U.S. government fomented by the new political machines, will be available in June.
Find more detail below on the titles and when you can expect to see them in print.
Race and Remembrance: A Memoir
by Arthur L. Johnson
Published in August 2008 and currently available from Wayne State University PressDetroit civil rights leader Arthur Johnson tells the story of his distinguished career as an activist, educator and administrator and offers glimpses of his rich personal life, including his remembrances of Martin Luther King Jr.
The Wayne State University Press says the book “offers an insider’s view into the social factors affecting the lives of African Americans in the 20th Century, making clear the enormous effort and personal sacrifice required in fighting racial discrimination and poverty in Detroit and beyond.”
Johnson’s long and meaningful career included stints as executive secretary, beginning in 1950, of the Detroit branch of the NAACP, service with the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and positions at Wayne State University as vice president of university relations and professor of educational sociology.
Up the Rouge! Paddling Detroit’s Hidden River
by Joel Thurtell, photographs by Patricia Beck
Due out in April 2009 from Wayne State University PressIn 2005 two Detroit Free Press journalists, reporter Joel Thurtell (now retired) and photographer Patricia Beck, paddled a canoe more than 27 miles in the polluted Rouge river from Detroit to Southfield. Thurtell and Beck made the journey to catalog the urban river’s exploitation for industrial and waste management uses, but, at the same time, discovered some unexpected beauty and tranquility, particularly along protected and secluded parts of the waterway.
Billed as an educational adventure tale, complete with maps to track the paddlers’ journey, the book also hopes to add to the study of Michigan’s environment and environmental protection efforts.
The book is based on a series of articles published in the Free Press, which won the 2006 Harry E. Schlenz Public Education Medal bestowed by the Water Environment Federation, a global water conservation and preservation non-profit.
Pandora’s Locks: The Opening of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway
by Jeff Alexander
Available in June 2009 from Michigan State University PressThe St. Lawrence Seaway, completed in 1959, opened the Great Lakes to global sea trade and changed the fortunes of the Great Lakes region. The author argues, however, that the economic advances brought about by the Seaway came at a great price — ecological damage in the form of invasive foreign species.
Pandora’s Locks tells the story of the political and engineering decisions and maneuvers that cleared the way for the Seaway’s construction despite concerns about its environmental impacts. Using scientific descriptions and personal accounts, Alexander aims to explain the transformation of the Great Lakes over the last half century.
Sustaining Michigan: Metropolitan Policies and Strategies
Edited by Richard W. Jelier and Gary Sands
Due out in June 2009 from Michigan State University PressSustaining Michigan was written to link cutting-edge scholarship to today’s most important public policy issues related to metropolitan communities. Academics from across the state provide input on existing policies and what they believe those policies will or will not accomplish for Michigan.
The key economic, environmental, social and political justifications for change, challenges to current policies and the difficulty for Michigan in making substantive changes are explored.
America at Risk: Threats to Liberal Self-Government in an Age of Uncertainty
Edited by Robert Faulkner and Susan Shell
Available in March 2009 from University of Michigan PressEditors Robert Faulkner and Susan Shell, professors of political science at Boston College, asked a group of bipartisan political and social thinkers and writers what they thought were some of the greatest dangers facing America today.
The result is a compilation of original essays covering rising poverty, dwindling political participation, religious polarization and immigration, among other topics. The unifying theme is the degradation of the liberal constitutional order that has guided the country.
Says the University of Michigan Press, “the authors write in accessible language about the demonstrably important dangers the United States faces…required reading for all Americans concerned about the future of their country.”
No Middle Ground: How Informal Party Organizations Control Nominations and Polarize Legislatures
by Seth E. Masket
Due out in June 2009 from University of Michigan PressMasket argues that the new political machines operating across the United States fuel partisanship by supporting only candidates who follow their parties’ agendas.
By limiting support and, thus, determining which candidates can credibly compete in primaries, the political parties have gained strength in state and national politics, despite increasing concerns about the negative effects of partisanship.
Though the book focuses on California politics, the lessons revealed can be instructive to lawmakers and citizens throughout the nation.
Bookworm Jean B. Eggemeyer owns communications and marketing firm Carillon Communications LLC, serving the business and association communities.
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