Bold Ideas, Essential Reading since 1936.
Rutgers University Press is dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge for a wide range of readers. The Press reflects and extends the University’s core mission of research, instruction, and service. They enhance the work of their authors through exceptional publications that shape critical issues, spark debate, and enrich teaching. Core subjects include: film and media studies, sociology, anthropology, education, history, health, history of medicine, human rights, urban studies, criminal justice, Jewish studies, American studies, women's, gender, and sexuality studies, LGBTQ, Latino/a, Asian and African studies, as well as books about New York, New Jersey, and the region.
Rutgers also distributes books published by Bucknell University Press.
Showing 1,081-1,120 of 2,552 items.
Producing
Edited by Jon Lewis
Rutgers University Press
Producing is the first book to provide a comprehensive overview of the myriad roles that producers have played in Hollywood, from the dawn of the twentieth century to the present day. It introduces readers to the colorful figures who helped to define and reimagine the producer’s role, including inventors like Thomas Edison, entrepreneurs like Walt Disney, and mavericks like Roger Corman. Along the way, we get an illuminating picture of the creative, managerial, and financial decisions that producers make.
Humanitarian Aftershocks in Haiti
Rutgers University Press
Mark Schuller led an independent study of eight displaced-persons camps in Haiti, compiling more than 150 interviews ranging from Haitian front-line workers and camp directors to foreign humanitarians and many earthquake victims. The result is an insightful account of why the multi-billion-dollar aid response to the Haitian earthquake triggered a range of unintended consequences, rupturing social and cultural institutions and actually increasing violence, especially against women.
Flickers of Film
Nostalgia in the Time of Digital Cinema
By Jason Sperb
Rutgers University Press
Whether paying tribute to silent films in Hugo or celebrating arcade games in Wreck-It-Ralph, Hollywood suddenly seems to be experiencing a wave of intense nostalgia for outmoded technologies. Flickers of Film offers a nuanced look at the benefits and risks of this nostalgia, considering how it registers industry-wide uncertainty with the dominance of the digital, even as it ignores the people whose livelihoods have been most affected by the economic transformations of the digital era.
Walking on the Wild Side
Long-Distance Hiking on the Appalachian Trail
Rutgers University Press
In Walking on the Wild Side, sociologist Kristi M. Fondren traces the stories of forty-six men and women who set out to trek America’s most well known long-distance hiking trail. The volume illuminates the intense social intimacy and bonding that forms among long-distance hikers as they collectively construct a long-distance hiker identity, revealing how important a sense of place can be to our identity.
Climate Trauma
Foreseeing the Future in Dystopian Film and Fiction
Rutgers University Press
Examining a variety of films that imagine a catastrophic future, from Children of Men to The Book of Eli, E. Ann Kaplan considers how they have exacerbated our sense of impending dread, triggering what she terms “Pretraumatic Stress Disorder.” But Climate Trauma also explores ways these films might help us productively engage with our anxieties about climate change, giving us a prophetic glimpse of the terrifying future selves we might still work to avoid becoming.
Raising the Race
Black Career Women Redefine Marriage, Motherhood, and Community
Rutgers University Press
Raising the Race is the first study to examine how black, married career women juggle their relationships with their extended and nuclear families, the expectations of the black community, and their desires to raise healthy, independent children. Including extensive interviews from women whose voices have been underrepresented in debates about work-family balance, Riché J. Daniel Barnes draws upon their diverse perspectives to propose policy initiatives that would improve the work and family lives of all Americans.
The New Negro in the Old South
Rutgers University Press
This groundbreaking historical study makes the compelling case that the culturally sophisticated and upwardly mobile figure of the New Negro first emerged long before the Harlem Renaissance or the twentieth-century Great Migration to the North. Drawing from extensive archival research, Gabriel A. Briggs reconstructs the vibrant black community that developed in Nashville after the Civil War, showing how it played a pivotal role in shaping the economic, intellectual, social, and political lives of African Americans in subsequent decades.
A New Deal for the Humanities
Liberal Arts and the Future of Public Higher Education
Edited by Gordon Hutner and Feisal G. Mohamed
Rutgers University Press
A New Deal for the Humanities brings together twelve prominent scholars who shed light on the many concerns swirling around the humanities today—exploring the history of the liberal arts in America, their present state, and their future direction. The volume focuses on public higher education, for it is in our state schools that the liberal arts are taught to the greatest numbers, where the decline of those fields would be most damaging, and where their strength is most threatened.
Race among Friends
Exploring Race at a Suburban School
Rutgers University Press
Race among Friends focuses on a “racially friendly” suburban charter school called Excellence Academy, highlighting the ways that students and teachers think about race and act out racial identity. Marianne Modica finds that even in an environment where students of all racial backgrounds work and play together harmoniously, race affects the daily experiences of students and teachers in profound but unexamined ways.
Black and White Cinema
A Short History
Rutgers University Press
Black and White Cinema is the first study to consider black-and-white film as an art form in its own right, providing a comprehensive and global overview of the era when it flourished, from the 1900s to the 1960s. Including over forty stills that give us a unique glimpse behind the scenes, Wheeler Winston Dixon introduces us to the masters of this art, including directors, set designers, and award-winning cinematographers like James Wong Howe, Freddie Francis, and Sven Nykvist.
Real Sister
Stereotypes, Respectability, and Black Women in Reality TV
Edited by Jervette R. Ward
Rutgers University Press
From The Real Housewives of Atlanta to Flavor of Love, reality shows with predominantly black casts have often been criticized for their negative representation of African American women as loud, angry, and violent. Real Sister brings together ten black female scholars from a variety of disciplines, in part to address legitimate concerns about how reality TV reinforces stereotypes, but also to inspire a more nuanced conversation about the genre’s representations and their effects on the black community.
Real Sister
Stereotypes, Respectability, and Black Women in Reality TV
Edited by Jervette R. Ward
Rutgers University Press
From The Real Housewives of Atlanta to Flavor of Love, reality shows with predominantly black casts have often been criticized for their negative representation of African American women as loud, angry, and violent. Real Sister brings together ten black female scholars from a variety of disciplines, in part to address legitimate concerns about how reality TV reinforces stereotypes, but also to inspire a more nuanced conversation about the genre’s representations and their effects on the black community.
Holocaust Icons
Symbolizing the Shoah in History and Memory
Rutgers University Press
Oren Baruch Stier traces the lives and afterlives of certain remnants of the Holocaust and their ongoing impact. He shows how and why four icons—an object, a phrase, a person, and a number—have come to stand in for the Holocaust: where they came from and how they have been used and reproduced; how they are presently at risk from a variety of threats such as commodification; and what the future holds for the memory of the Shoah.
Hidden in Plain Sight
An Archaeology of Magic and the Cinema
Rutgers University Press
What does it mean to describe cinematic effects as “movie magic,” or to say that the cinema is all a “trick”? To answer these questions, Colin Williamson situates the cinema within a long tradition of magical practices and devices of wonder that combine art and science, involve deception and discovery, and evoke both awe and curiosity. Hidden in Plain Sight shows how, even as they mystify audiences, cinematic illusions also encourage them to learn more about the technologies and techniques behind moving images.
Thinking in the Dark
Cinema, Theory, Practice
Edited by Murray Pomerance and R. Barton Palmer
Rutgers University Press
Thinking in the Dark introduces readers to twenty-one key theorists whose work has made the greatest impact on film scholarship today, including everyone from Sergei Eisenstein to Michel Foucault, from Judith Butler to André Bazin. Each chapter is written by an expert who explains a different theorist’s key ideas, then gives concrete examples of how they might be applied to both a classic film and a contemporary one. Ideal for teachers and students of film as well as contemporary and modern philosophy, critical theory and semotics, also of interest to the general reader exploring such topics.
Thinking in the Dark
Cinema, Theory, Practice
Edited by Murray Pomerance and R. Barton Palmer
Rutgers University Press
Thinking in the Dark introduces readers to twenty-one key theorists whose work has made the greatest impact on film scholarship today, including everyone from Sergei Eisenstein to Michel Foucault, from Judith Butler to André Bazin. Each chapter is written by an expert who explains a different theorist’s key ideas, then gives concrete examples of how they might be applied to both a classic film and a contemporary one. Ideal for teachers and students of film as well as contemporary and modern philosophy, critical theory and semotics, also of interest to the general reader exploring such topics.
Child Soldiers in the Western Imagination
From Patriots to Victims
Rutgers University Press
In this daring new study, anthropologist David M. Rosen investigates how our perceptions of the child soldier have changed radically over the past two centuries. Examining everything from Andrew Jackson’s time as an adolescent prisoner of war to the shared etymology of the words “infantry” and “infant,” Child Soldiers in the Western Imagination offers a cure for our widespread historical amnesia.
Violence against Queer People
Race, Class, Gender, and the Persistence of Anti-LGBT Discrimination
By Doug Meyer
Rutgers University Press
Sociologist Doug Meyer offers the first investigation of anti-queer violence that highlights the role played by race, class, and gender. Drawing on interviews with forty-seven victims of violence, Meyer shows that LGBT people encounter significantly different forms of violence—and perceive that violence quite differently—based on their race, class, and gender. Attempts to reduce anti-queer violence that ignore these three factors run the risk of helping only the most privileged gay subjects.
Producing Excellence
The Making of Virtuosos
Rutgers University Press
An in-depth study of nearly one hundred young children studying violin in Western Europe, Producing Excellence illuminates the process these musicians undergo to become elite international soloists. The remarkable research Izabela Wagner conducted—at rehearsals, lessons, and in other educational settings—enabled her to gain deep insight into what distinguishes these talented prodigies, shedding new light on the development of exceptional musical talent.
Into Africa
A Transnational History of Catholic Medical Missions and Social Change
Rutgers University Press
In Into Africa, Barbra Mann Wall offers a transnational history that explores the intersection of religion, medicine, gender, race, and politics in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on the years following World War II. The book highlights the importance of transnational partnerships, using the stories of four groups of European and American nuns to enhance our understanding of medical mission work and global change.
Family Trouble
Middle-Class Parents, Children's Problems, and the Disruption of Everyday Life
By Ara Francis
Rutgers University Press
In Family Trouble, a compelling portrait of upheaval in family life, sociologist Ara Francis tells the stories of middle-class men and women whose children face significant medical, psychological, or social challenges. Children’s problems, she finds, begin a chain of disruption that touches virtually every aspect of the parents’ lives, leading them to reevaluate deeply held assumptions about their own sense of self and what it means to achieve the good life.
From Canton Restaurant to Panda Express
A History of Chinese Food in the United States
By Haiming Liu
Rutgers University Press
Historian Haiming Liu takes readers on a compelling journey from the California Gold Rush to the present, letting us witness both the profusion of Chinese restaurants across the United States and the evolution of many distinct American-Chinese iconic dishes from chop suey to General Tso’s chicken. Along the way, historian Haiming Liu explains how the immigrants adapted their traditional food to suit local palates, and gives us a taste of Chinese cuisine embedded in the bittersweet story of Chinese Americans.
From Canton Restaurant to Panda Express
A History of Chinese Food in the United States
By Haiming Liu
Rutgers University Press
Historian Haiming Liu takes readers on a compelling journey from the California Gold Rush to the present, letting us witness both the profusion of Chinese restaurants across the United States and the evolution of many distinct American-Chinese iconic dishes from chop suey to General Tso’s chicken. Along the way, historian Haiming Liu explains how the immigrants adapted their traditional food to suit local palates, and gives us a taste of Chinese cuisine embedded in the bittersweet story of Chinese Americans.
Race, Religion, and Civil Rights
Asian Students on the West Coast, 1900-1968
Rutgers University Press
Stephanie Hinnershitz reveals the unsung legacy of civil rights activism among foreign and American-born Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino students, who formed crucial alliances based on their shared religious affiliations and experiences of discrimination. Using archival sources that bring forth these students’ authentic, passionate voices, Race, Religion, and Civil Rights is a testament to the powerful ways they shaped the social, political, and cultural direction of civil rights movements throughout the West Coast, from Californian college campuses to Alaskan canneries.
This Is Our Land
Grassroots Environmentalism in the Late Twentieth Century
Rutgers University Press
In This is Our Land, environmental historian Cody Ferguson documents a little-noted but important change in the environmental movement, describing three representative grassroots groups—in Montana, Arizona, and Tennessee—whose stories show how quite ordinary citizens can band together to solve environmental problems. As they did, they redefined political participation and expanded the ability of citizens to shape their world.
Three Centuries of Conflict in East Timor
Rutgers University Press
One of the most troubling but least studied features of mass political violence is why mass violence often recurs in the same place over long periods of time. Douglas Kammen explores this pattern in Three Centuries of Conflict in East Timor, studying East Timor’s tragic past, and focusing on the small district of Maubara. This book combines an archival trail and rich oral interviews to reconstruct the history of the leading families of Maubara from 1712 until 2012.
Acting
Edited by Claudia Springer and Julie Levinson
Rutgers University Press
The chapters in Acting provide a fascinating, in-depth look at the history of film acting, from its inception in 1895 when spectators thrilled at the sight of vaudeville performers, wild-west stars, and athletes captured in motion to the present when audiences marvel at the seamless blend of human actors with CGI. In six original essays, the contributors to this volume illuminate the dynamic role of acting in the creation and evolving practices of the American film industry.
Running Dry
Essays on Energy, Water, and Environmental Crisis
Rutgers University Press
In Running Dry, historian Toby Jones explores the various ways that modern society’s unquenchable thirst for carbon-based energy is endangering water, particularly in the Western United States where there has been a rapid push to extract newfound energy resources alongside the accelerating loss or pollution of critical water resources.
The War of My Generation
Youth Culture and the War on Terror
Edited by David Kieran
Rutgers University Press
The War of My Generation is the first essay collection to focus specifically on how the 9/11 terrorist attacks and their aftermath have shaped the newest generation of Americans. Drawing on a variety of disciplines including anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, and literary studies, the volume considers what cultural factors and products have shaped young people’s experience of the 9/11 attacks, the wars that have followed, and their experiences as emerging citizen-subjects.
Rutgers since 1945
A History of the State University of New Jersey
Rutgers University Press
In the 1940s, Rutgers was a small liberal arts college for men. Today, it is a major public research university, a member of the Big Ten and of the prestigious Association of American Universities. In Rutgers since 1945, historian Paul G. E. Clemens chronicles this remarkable transition from the cold war, to the student protests of the 1960s and 1970s, to the growth of political identity on campus, and to the increasing commitment to big-time athletics, all of which are just a few of the innumerable newsworthy elements that have driven Rutgers’s evolution.
Race and Retail
Consumption across the Color Line
Edited by Mia Bay and Ann Fabian
Rutgers University Press
Race and Retail documents the extent to which retail establishments, both past and present, have often catered to specific ethnic and racial groups. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the original essays collected here explore selling and buying practices of nonwhite populations around the world and the barriers that shape these habits, such as racial discrimination, food deserts, and gentrification.
Race and Retail
Consumption across the Color Line
Edited by Mia Bay and Ann Fabian
Rutgers University Press
Race and Retail documents the extent to which retail establishments, both past and present, have often catered to specific ethnic and racial groups. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the original essays collected here explore selling and buying practices of nonwhite populations around the world and the barriers that shape these habits, such as racial discrimination, food deserts, and gentrification.
Police, Power, and the Production of Racial Boundaries
By Ana Muñiz
Rutgers University Press
Based on five years of ethnography, archival research, census data analysis, and interviews, Police, Power, and the Production of Racial Boundaries reveals how the LAPD, city prosecutors, and business owners struggled to control who should be considered “dangerous” and how they should be policed in Los Angeles. Ana Muñiz shows how this influential group used policies and everyday procedures to criminalize behaviors commonly associated with blacks and Latinos and to promote an exceedingly aggressive form of policing.
My Fair Ladies
Female Robots, Androids, and Other Artificial Eves
By Julie Wosk
Rutgers University Press
Taking us on a fascinating tour across a wide variety of media, from sci-fi films to underwear ads, My Fair Ladies introduces us to a bevy of lifelike, manmade women, from automatons to artificial intelligent robots. Julie Wosk considers how this figure of the “perfect woman” has come to embody not only fantasies, but also fears about gender and technology. In addition, she examines how female artists have subverted these images of the artificial woman that loom so large over real women’s lives.
The Blacker the Ink
Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art
Edited by Frances Gateward and John Jennings
Rutgers University Press
The Blacker the Ink is the first collection to explore not only the diverse range of black characters in comics, but also the multitude of ways that black artists, writers, and publishers have made a mark on the industry. The book’s fifteen original essays take us on a journey that includes familiar milestones like Luke Cage and The Boondocks, while spanning everything from African American newspaper comics of the 1930s to Francophone graphic novels of the 2000s.
The Blacker the Ink
Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art
Edited by Frances Gateward and John Jennings
Rutgers University Press
The Blacker the Ink is the first collection to explore not only the diverse range of black characters in comics, but also the multitude of ways that black artists, writers, and publishers have made a mark on the industry. The book’s fifteen original essays take us on a journey that includes familiar milestones like Luke Cage and The Boondocks, while spanning everything from African American newspaper comics of the 1930s to Francophone graphic novels of the 2000s.
The Transatlantic Zombie
Slavery, Rebellion, and Living Death
Rutgers University Press
As our “most modern monster” and perhaps our most “American,” the zombie that is so prevalent in popular culture today has its roots in African soul capture mythologies. The Transatlantic Zombie provides a more complete history of the zombie than has ever been told, explaining how the myth’s migration to the New World was facilitated by the transatlantic slave trade, and reveals the real-world import of storytelling, reminding us of the power of myths and mythmaking, and the high stakes of appropriation and homage.
On Racial Icons
Blackness and the Public Imagination
Rutgers University Press
In On Racial Icons, Nicole R. Fleetwood focuses a sustained look on photography in documenting black public life, exploring the ways in which iconic images function as celebrations of national and racial progress at times or as a gauge of collective racial wounds in moments of crisis.
Jewish Peoplehood
An American Innovation
By Noam Pianko
Rutgers University Press
Jewish peoplehood has eclipsed religion—as well as ethnicity and nationality—as the prevailing definition of what it means to be a Jew. In Jewish Peoplehood, Noam Pianko examines the history, the current significance, and the future relevance of a term that assumes an increasingly important position in American Jewish and Israeli life.
Intersections of Harm
Narratives of Latina Deviance and Defiance
Rutgers University Press
In this innovative new study, Laura Halperin examines literary representations of harm inflicted on Latinas’ minds and bodies, and on the places Latinas inhabit, but she also explores how hope can be found amid so much harm. Analyzing contemporary memoirs and novels by Irene Vilar, Loida Maritza Pérez, Ana Castillo, Cristina García, and Julia Alvarez, she argues that the individual harm experienced by Latinas needs to be understood in relation to the collective histories of aggression against their communities.
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