Böcker utgivna av UNIV OF WISCONSIN PR

"Hideous Absinthe boldly combines the art, literature, science, and social history of the nineteenth century to produce the story of a drink that came to symbolize both the high points of art and the depths of degeneration. Jad Adams looks at the myths of absinthe and examines its influence on the artistic movements of the nineteenth century. He considers the work of Degas, Manet, and Picasso, who painted what are now considered masterpieces depicting absinthe drinkers. He examines the mystery of van Gogh's absinthe addiction and asks whether absinthe truly did contribute to the poetic vision of Verlaine, Rimbaud, and other writers. Adams looks back at absinthe's contribution to the hedonistic culture of the French Second Empire and to Toulouse-Lautrec's Paris of the 1890s and details the outraged English reaction to absinthe in the context of resistance to French art. Absinthe was seen as a foreign poison undermining the national resolve just as the decadence of Oscar Wilde and his circle was seen to undermine national culture. The story continues through thrill-seeking American and English absinthe drinkers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Copublished with I.B. Tauris.The Wisconsin edition is for sale only in North America.

"I Was a Cold War Monster" examines cold war anxieties as they were reflected in British and American films from the fifties through the early sixties. This study examines how cold war horror films combined anxiety over social change with the erotic in such films as "Psycho," "The Tingler," "The Horror of Dracula," and "House of Wax."

"This is not only a brilliant book but a lovable one, a joy to read not only for its insights but for its modesty, its playfulness, its wholesomeness of outlook on literature and the critical activity. This is not primarily a book for Sarah Orne Jewett scholars, nor it is just for Americanists or even academics. It is a book for anyone who has been deeply touched by literature and has thought about the relation between the 'moving' and the 'great.' --Leslie Brisman, Yale University

What significance does the physical, material body still have in a world of virtual reality and genetic cloning? How do technology and postmodern rhetoric influence our understanding of the body? And how can our discussion of the body affect the way we handle crises in public policy -- the politics of race and ethnicity; issues of "family values" that revolve around sexual and gender identities; the choices revolving around reproduction and genome projects and the spread of disease?Leading scholars in rhetoric and communication, as well as literary and cultural studies, address some of the most important topics currently being discussed in the human sciences. The essays collected here suggest the wide range of public arenas in which rhetoric is operative -- from abortion clinics and the World Wide Web to the media's depiction of illiteracy and the Donner Party. These studies demonstrate how the discourse of AIDS prevention or Demi Moore's "beautiful pregnancy" call to mind the physical nature of being human and the ways in which language and other symbols reflect and create the physical world.

"These engaging memoirs should be read by everyone who wants the American government to live up to its awesome challenges and to fulfill its noblest dreams."--Robert F. Drinan "Reuss's articulate analysis of legislative matters was admirable, even to those of us who seldom agreed with his conclusions."--John Rhodes, former Republican leader of the U.S. House of Representatives "When Government Was Good is an engaging memoir by one of the most thoughtful and constructive legislators of the century--especially valuable for Henry Reuss's reflections on the inner life of the House of Representatives."--Arthur Schlesinger Jr. U. S. House Representative Henry S. Reuss (Dem., Wisconsin, 1955-83) believes there was indeed a time when government worked--the "Golden Age" of 1948-68. Then, he recalls, the economy was functioning, the long overdue civil rights movement had begun to blossom, and the government had integrity. Not afraid to call things as they are, he blasts the political forces that have led to the disintegration of this Golden Age: economic and racial inequality and excessive militarism. Reuss emerged from the privileged domain of a wealthy, educated, white man into the realities of contemporary world politics--he saw the inequality and poverty in American cities and third world countries, and he saw politicians and laws disrespectful of the environment. Taking these experiences to heart, Reuss took action. He authored the legislation that led to the Peace Corps, he fought for environmental protection, and became a major voice in American politics. When Government Was Good provides anyone interested in public life with insights about this fascinating man's experiences, beliefs and ideas for addressing the problems of the twenty-first century.

Responding to skeptics within higher education and critics without, James Crosswhite argues powerfully that the core of a college education should be learning to write a reasoned argument. A trained philosopher and director of a university-wide composition program, Crosswhite challenges his readers - teachers of writing and communication, philosophers, critical theorists, and educational administrators - to reestablish the traditional role of rhetoric in education. To those who have lost faith in the abilities of people to reach reasoned mutual agreements, and to others who have attacked the right-or-wrong model of formal logic, this book offers the reminder that the rhetorical tradition has always viewed argumentation as a dialogue, a response to changing situations, an exchange of persuading, listening, and understanding. Crosswhite's aim is to give new purpose to writing instruction and to students' writing, to reinvest both with the deep ethical interests of the rhetorical tradition. In laying out the elements of argumentation, for example, he shows that claiming, questioning, and giving reasons are not simple elements of formal logic, but communicative acts with complicated ethical features. Students must learn not only how to construct an argument, but the purposes, responsibilities, and consequences of engaging in one. Crosswhite supports his aims through a rhetorical reconstruction of reason, offering new interpretations of Plato, Aristotle, and of the concepts of reflection and dialogue from early modernity through Hegel to Gadamer. And, in conclusion, he ties these theoretical and historical underpinnings to current problems of higher education, the definition of the liberalarts, and, especially, the teaching of written communication.