Search Results: Titles starting with M from Palimpsest Scholarly Books

Softcover volume, measuring approximately 6.25" x 9.25", is in fine condition. Original price appears on first blank preliminary page as faded ink stamp. Interior is otherwise clean and bright. xvi/393 pages."The focus of this book is on the Japanese economic bureaucracy, particularly on the famous Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), as the leading state actor in the economy. Although MITI was not the only important agent affecting the economy, nor was the state as a whole always predominant, I do not want to be overly modest about the importance of this subject. The particular speed, form, and consequences of Japanese economic growth are not intelligible without reference to the contributions of MITI. Collaboration between the state and big business has long been acknowledged as the defining characteristic of the Japanese economic system, but for too long the state's role in this collaboration has been either condemned as overweening or dismissed as merely supportive, without… Read More

Translation by Valeria Luiselli of "Mañana forever? : Mexico and the Mexicans" (Knopf, 2011). Softcover volume, with flaps, measures approximately 6.25" x 9.75", and shows very light shelfwear. Binding is sound. Pages are clean and bright. 431 pages.
"This book is a portrait of a nation at a crossroads. It examines the history and national characteristics of modern Mexico, discussing the contradictions of its politics, its complicated relationship with the United States, and its possible future direction. Why are Mexicans so successful in individual sports, but deficient in team play? Why do Mexicans dislike living in skyscrapers? Why do Mexicans love to see themselves as victims, but also love victims? And why, though the Mexican people traditionally avoid conflict, is there so much violence in a country where many leaders have died by assassination? In this book, the author a scholar and former foreign minister sheds much light on the puzzling paradoxes of his native country. Here is a nation of… Read More

Studies of Nationalities. Hardcover volume, measuring approximately 6'25" x 9.5", is new, still in shrinkwrap. xxi/367 pages."Throughout history, every power that has aspired to dominate the Balkans, a crucial crossroads between Europe, Asia, and Africa, has sought to control Macedonia. But although Macedonia has figured prominently in history, its name was largely absent from the historical stage, representing only a disputed territory of indeterminate boundaries, until the nineteenth century. Successive invaders—Roman, Gothic, Hun, Slav, Ottoman—passed through or subjugated the area and incorporated it into their respective dynastic or territorial empires. This detailed volume surveys the history of Macedonia from 600 BC to the present day, with an emphasis on the past two centuries. It reveals how the "Macedonian question" has long dominated Balkan politics and how, for nearly two centuries, it was the central issue dividing Balkan peoples, as neighboring nations struggled for possession of… Read More

Volume is bound in gray cloth, with black lettering to spine. Book shows light shelfwear. Binding is firm. Trace of label removal appears in upper outside corner of front flyleaf.

Softcover volume is in fine condition. Pages are clean and bright. Section with b&w illustrations. 585 pages.

Fifth edition. Oblong softcover volume, with flaps, measures approximately 10.75" x 8.5", shows very light shelfwear. Binding is firm. Pages are clean and bright. 173 pages.
"This guide is a new way to visually and chronologically tour the most important buildings in Madrid, with a brief review of each of them. The representations, more than 200, are the true protagonists of this book. The "Visual Guide to Architecture" of Madrid is a quick reference work for those who want to enjoy beautifully drawn Madrid architecture and at the same time read who the architects of the buildings were and their basic characteristics."

Volume, measuring approximately 7.25" x 10.25", is bound in red cloth, with stamped gilt lettering to spine. Book displays shelfwear, with faint water stains on front cover. Binding is firm. Interior is clean and bright. Illustrated with b&w frontispiece photographic portrait. 292 pages.
Festschrift for medievalist Robert Earl Kaske (1921-1989), who founded one of the preeminent medieval studies graduate programs at Cornell University.Contents:"R. E. Kaske: Magister Regis" by Emerson Brown, Jr.; ""Insulae gentium": Biblical Influence on Old English Poetic Vocabulary" by Charles D. Wright; "An Unpublished Story of Michael the Archangel and Its Connections" by James E. Cross; "Scyld Schefing and the "stirps regia": Pagan Myth and Christian Kingship in "Beowulf"" by Thomas D. Hill; ""Interlace" as a Medieval Narrative Technique with Special Reference to "Beowulf"" by Morton W. Bloomfield; ""Brunanburh" 12b-13a and Some Skaldic Passages" by Joseph Harris; ""Rana loquax" and the Frogs of Provençal Poetry"… Read More

Volume, measuring approximately 6.5" x 9.5", is bound in brown cloth, with stamped gilt lettering to spine. Name of previous owner is written at top of front flyleaf. Book is otherwise in fine condition, with firm binding, clean and bright interior. Dust jacket had faded spine and mild rubbing. xiv/726 pages."In the first part of the book, the intrinsic properties of the materials have been presented, after the necessary introduction, with only limited comment. A much fuller account was necessary in the latter part of the book, which deals with parameters such as permeability, coercivity, resonance, linewidth and switching speeds, which depend upon a combination of the intrinsic properties and other factors, such as specimen size and shape, purity and microstructure."

Translation of "Prachtvolle Stilmobel: Historismus in Deutschland und Mitteleuropa" (Kunstverlag Haaff, 2012). Large-format volume, measuring approximately 9.75" x 12.5", is bound in glossy pictorial covers. Book and dust jacket are new. Jacket is preserved in mylar cover. 656 pages.
"The Historicism movement in art (1830-1920) was perhaps the most democratic of all. European furniture makers sought to recapture the magic and affluence displayed in early, highly stylized and aristocratic pieces of the Gothic, Rococo, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classicism periods--but at a fraction of the cost. These artists brought a great deal to their reproductions, applying a contemporary practicality that resulted in pieces of crafty pomp, opulence, and exaggerated beauty that were priced to reach the growing bourgeoisie. Historicism furniture pieces are not only art history documents of the most diverse cultures and styles of the 19th century, but they are also individual collector's items, their value not… Read More

Jewish Culture and Contexts. First printing. Volume, measuring approximately 6.75" x 9.5", is bound in light gray cloth, with stamped black lettering to spine. Book and dust jacket are new. Jacket is preserved in mylar cover. 236 pages."The advent of Islam in the seventh century brought profound economic changes to the Jews living in the Middle East, and Talmudic law, compiled in and for an agrarian society, was ill equipped to address an increasingly mercantile world. In response, and over the course of the seventh through eleventh centuries, the heads of the Jewish yeshivot of Iraq sought precedence in custom to adapt Jewish law to the new economic and social reality.In "Maimonides and the Merchants", Mark R. Cohen reveals the extent of even further pragmatic revisions to the halakha, or body of Jewish law, introduced by Moses Maimonides in his Mishneh Torah, the comprehensive legal code he compiled in the late twelfth century. While Maimonides insisted that he was merely restating already… Read More

Second, corrected edition. Softcover volume, measuring approximately 5.5" x 8.5", shows moderate shelfwear, with sunning to spine and light wear to covers. Binding is sound. Previous owner's name and date (1985) appear at top of title page. Pages are clean and bright. 240 pages."What can a thoughtful observant Jew believe today, in a world of such bewildering technology and conflicting ideologies?To build on a firm foundation, the author begins with the Mishna tractate "Avoth", the concise but profound ethical teachings of the Talmudic Sages, with vital commentary of Maimonedes (Ramba, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon). This is given in English in entirety, together with other important writings from Maimonedes' towering intellect.On this foundation the author formulates a coherent system of philosophy that is truly Jewish and modern, for the thinking Jew of our time.The second part of the volume is a series of essays on such highly relevant themes as religion, science, history, Divine prophecy, free will, and… Read More

Advanced Studies in Political Economy. Softcover volume, measuring approximately 6.25" x 9.25", is like new. 277 pages."Adam Smith is often referred to as the father of modern economics. Throughout his work, he attempted to answer one of the most important questions of all time: How can we humans live together peacefully and prosperously? The mainline of economic thought attempts to address the questions Smith advanced and is defined by a set of positive propositions about social order that were held in common from Adam Smith onward. The six Nobel Laureates in Economics featured in this volume—F. A. Hayek, James M. Buchanan, Ronald H. Coase, Douglass C. North, Vernon L. Smith, and Elinor C. Ostrom—are the ones who have most consistently sought to advance the insights found in Adam Smith. In their Nobel lectures, these scholars embrace the propositions of mainline economics and argue for continued work within the mainline tradition. Additionally, they offer serious critiques of mainstream… Read More

Author-signed first edition. Softcover volume, measuring approximately 5.5" x 8.75", is new. 55 pages.
Signature appears on title page over crossed-out printed name.
A poetry collection written over fifty years by U. S. poet, essayist and academic Daniel Hoffman (1923-2013), who was awarded the 2003 Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry and the 2005 Arthur Rense Poetry Prize "for an exceptional poet" from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was appointed the twenty-second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1973.

Hardcover volume, measuring approximately 6.5" x 9.5", shows light shelfwear. Binding is firm. Interior is clean and bright. Numerous tables and graphs. xii/283 pages."This book provides the first systematic explanation of the origins of constitutional designs from an analytical, historical, and comparative perspective. Based on a comprehensive analysis of constitutional change in Latin America from 1900 to 2008 and four detailed case studies, Gabriel Negretto shows that the main determinants of constitutional choice are the past performance of constitutions in providing effective and legitimate instruments of government and the strategic interests of the actors who have influence over institutional selection. The book explains how governance problems shape the general guidelines for reform, while strategic calculations and power resources affect the selection of specific alternatives of design. It also emphasizes the importance of the events that trigger reform and the designers' level of electoral… Read More

Buildings, landscapes, and societies, 7. Hardcover volume, measuring approximately 9.5" x 10.5", is new, still in shrinkwrap. xxii/300 pages.Investigates how architecture, technology, politics, and urban planning came together in French architect Victor Baltard's creation of the Central Markets of Paris. Presents a case study of the historical process that produced modern Paris between 1840 and 1870. This work was awarded the 2015 Alice Davis Hitchcock Award.

Softcover volume, measuring approximately 6" x 9", shows light shelfwear. Binding is sound. Pages are clean and bright. xix/146 pages."In "Making Things Perfectly Queer," Alexander Doty argues that films, television, and other forms of mass culture consistently elicit a wide range of queer responses, and suggests a framework for interpreting mass culture that stands as a corrective for many standard cultural approaches. By examining star images like Jack Benny and Pee-Wee Herman, women-centered sitcoms like "Laverne and Shirley" and "Designing Women," film directors like George Cukor and Dorothy Azner, and genres like the musical, Doty demonstrates how popular culture can be interpreted from a queer perspective. Ultimately, he suggests that queerness, not straightness, just might be the most pervasive sexual dynamic at work in mass culture production and reception."

Volume, measuring approximately 6.5" x 9.5", is bound in black leatherette, with stamped gray lettering to spine. Book and dust jacket are like new. Jacket is preserved in mylar cover. 265 pages.""Making War at Fort Hood" offers an illuminating look at war through the daily lives of the people whose job it is to produce it. Kenneth MacLeish conducted a year of intensive fieldwork among soldiers and their families at and around the US Army's Fort Hood in central Texas. He shows how war's reach extends far beyond the battlefield into military communities where violence is as routine, boring, and normal as it is shocking and traumatic.Fort Hood is one of the largest military installations in the world, and many of the 55,000 personnel based there have served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. MacLeish provides intimate portraits of Fort Hood's soldiers and those closest to them, drawing on numerous in-depth interviews and diverse ethnographic material. He explores the exceptional position that… Read More

Large-format volume, measuring approximately 8.25" x 10.75", is bound in light blue cloth, with stamped black lettering to spine. Book is in fine condition. Binding is firm. Interior is clean and bright. Text appears in double columns. Dust jacket is also in fine condition and preserved in mylar cover. 325 pages."Today's suburban metropolitan development of single-family homes, shopping centers, corporate offices, and roadway systems constitutes what Peter Rowe calls a "middle landscape" between the city and the countryside. While others have written about this phenomenon from the point of view of sociology or cultural geography, Rowe looks closely at suburban America in terms of design and physical planning. He builds a case for a new way of seeing and building suburbia, complete with theoretical underpinnings and a basis for design. The directions Rowe pursues are threefold: what has actually been built since 1920, as simple arrangements of land, buildings, and infrastructure have been transformed… Read More

Second edition. Softcover volume, measuring approximately 7.75" x 10", shows light shelfwear. Binding is sound. Interior is clean and bright. Profusely illustrated. xxi/543 pages."The only compact yet comprehensive survey of environmental and cultural forces that have shaped the visual character and geographical diversity of the settled American landscape. The book examines the large-scale historical influences that have molded the varied human adaptation of the continent's physical topography to its needs over more than 500 years. It presents a synoptic view of myriad historical processes working together or in conflict, and illustrates them through their survival in or disappearance from the everyday landscapes of today."

Large-format oblong volume, measuring approximately 11" x 9", is bound in dark brown, with gilt-lettered black spine label. Top edge of text block displays very light, scattered foxing. Name of previous owner appears on preliminary page. Book is otherwise in fine condition, with firm binding, clean and bright interior. Profusely illustrated with maps and city panoramas. Text is in double columns. Price-clipped dust jacket shows loss at bottom of sunned spine panel and wear at edges. Tear is visible at upper inside corner of front panel. Jacket is preserved in mylar cover. xv/574 pages.
"In the less than 400 years since the first European settlement was made in the New World, a nation has been made and settled. Today giant cities sprawl across the continent -- adequate testimony to the rapid growth that has marked American history.John W. Reps has chronicled one aspect of that urban growth in this comprehensive history. Guiding his examination is the question: To what extent is city planning rooted in… Read More