Publication: Times Higher Education Circulation: 13297 Date: 09/07/2015 Readership: 39891 Type: Consumer Magazine Weekly . [ UK ] Size (cm²): 1 Display Rate (£/cm²): 10.79 AVE: 10.79
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David Abulafia , professor of Mediterranean Academics, history, University of Cambridge Ruth Scurr's John Aubrey: My Own life (Chalco administrators and & Windus) brill iantly recontigurc~ the ~l rt of biography by using what aTC main ly his own senior sector figures words to creaTe 11 diary of the life of this extraordin ary 17th -centllry :1miquary who tell us about the two wrote and wrote, and ye t published vcry linle indeed in his OlVn li fet ime. This ),C;1I" Ill.Hks the books they plan to take 600lh anniversary of the P on\l~lIcse n Hlqllcst of Cellla, :lI1 d I sha ll return with profit :lIld on holiday: a new pleasure to Peter Ru ssc ll' ~ Prince Henry 'the Navlgator': A life, which cxplu Rebecca Boden, director of the Centre for Organisational Research, University of Roehampton Brenda 1\lurphy's delightful book Brewi ng IdenUtles: Globalisatlon, Gulnness and the Production of Irlshness (peter Lang) should convince the holidaying academic th:'lt work can be fun. Murphy travels (he world, exploring the political economy of the velvet brew and its role in producing Irish l1:'1tional identity by imen 'iewing the people who m:lke it and sharing a pim with those who drink it. To return to earth, I'll turn to 1"l:1chiavelli's The Prince, the cl;lssic exposition on how governing might involve not just following the rules but bend ing them in order to stay in power - how apposite for the modern academy. 44 Times Higher Education 9 July 2015 Copyright material. Copying is only permitted under the terms of a Newspaper Licensing Agency agreement (www.nla.co.uk) , Copyright Licensing Agency agreement (www.cla.co.uk) or with written publisher permission. IPCB Tel: 020 7708 2113 - Fax: 020 7701 4489 [email protected] www.ipcb.co.uk BOOKS : Chris Brink, vice-chancellor, Newcastle University, winner of Outstanding l eadership and Management Team , Times Higher Education Leadershi p and Management Awards 20 15 I'm a logician, and 1'rn afraid it shows, so this summer 1 will look over the fence imo the world of rhetoric by reading M llrk Forsyth's Th e Elem ents of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase (Icon), which is ahout figures of speech, from :lI1aphoT<1 to zeugm John Gilbey lectures in IT service management, Aberystwyth University Always on the lookout for something original in 3n academic teXI, I foulld it in John Warren's The Nature of Crops: How We Came to Eat the Plants We Do (CA B!), an engagingly wri1tCn look at the development of modern food crops, with refcrence to more than 50 examples that you have probably never thought hard about. An old favourite is Gi lbert White's Th e Natural Hi story of Selborne. In a series of tetters, Whitc presents his views - occasion.ll ly mistaken, but who can say otherwise? - of natur;11 history from the pcrspcclh'e of an 18th-century country cleric observing the changes in his HampshIre parish. The sometimes /lowery style ma)' irk modern readers, but there is fine material here, offering a vhid piCTUre of a place and lime. Les Gofton, teaching fell ow in sociolo gy, Durham University The Fatal Shore is Robert Ilughcs' extraordinary ,1CCOUIlf of the transportation of "ulldesirables" to l\usrralia, Georgia11 EIlgbnd's alternp! to deal with threats to property ill a SOeil' !' y with neith~r rill' mea ns nor the will ro .:reate l~quit;lbk methods uf redisrrihuti oll, and dominated by a class without' th e imelle.:t or humanity to conceive a humane r(,sp()l1~C. Tom Pefchard's After DJango: Making Ja u in Postwar France (University of j\llichigan Press) (Ie bunks the mythology of the rrench as t'i\'ili~ed, sympathetic patrons of a 1l1 ,lck ;\mcrican art form, ;lnd instead ofkrs .1 very 46 Times Higher Education 9 July 2015 BOOKS profess(lr of ge ri:ltric medici ne who bl"':,l lllC a phil(lsopher is worth revisiting (or irs profound illsighh on cOl1sciousncss and Illonality, ex pressed with rea l-wo del relevance and considera ble wit. i hea rd him spe:tk ycars ago, ,wd this is like the Illan: Aminul Hoque, lecturer in education , Go ldsmiths, Un iversity of london This Slimmer I :till looking forward to rere,lding Chris Kearncy's Tho Monkey's Mas k: Id entity, Memory, Narrative and Voice. This insightful book takes a refreshingly original look :t t the identity "rid Sall y Hunt, general secretary, University and COllege Union human story of artistic values twisted around Nick Hillman, director, Harry McShane: No Mean Fighter, ;vIcShane's personal ambitions and complex cultur.ll and Higher Education Policy Institute :tutohiography wrinen with joan Smith. social COIllCxtS. BOIh :Ire thrilling works of Da vid Turner's Th o Old Boys: The Decline and Rise is a talc of poverty, politics and Ihe strugg le scholarship. of the Public Sc ho ol (Yale University Press) is for a better life in shipbuilding Glasgow. written with verve and punctureS:1 nllmber This hook encompasses the dawn of the Elizabeth Greene, professor emerita of English, of miscol1ccptions, including the idea that 20th cenlltry, the First World War, the hunger Qu een's University, Canada these schools were always strons ac'Hlelllic:tlly. marches :tnc! the devcloping political and [ wanl to read 11I0rc JUlles Merrill, and My OWl! rese:lf(;h looks at the relntionshi p industri:tl struggle th rough the life of one L1ngdnn H ammer's James Merrlll: Ufe and Art between public s<:llOols and rhe Slate, so I've man. and it is an extraordinary story. The (Knopf), the first full-length biography, seems enjoyed harrumphing each time Turner ignores TUC report Women and Casuallsation: Wome n's li ke a good srarr. H:lmmcr "is interested in it. I'm tempted to re\'isit Jogging Round Majorca Experiences of Job In security focuses the mind the \V.I)'S the poct'~ life ha s heen im;tgined hy the iOl1r11;"t 1i ~ t Gordon Wes!. Pllbli sht'd in as it hi ghlights how the growrh of insecure and lived" :1I\d Merri ll's life waS;J brilliant 1929, it is a delightful account of a lTip to this W01'k has impacted heavily on women wit h complement to his winy, forll1 ~disr poetry. Balearic isl:tnd in pre-tourist d:tys, im:luding caring responsibili ties. Via th e cXJX' riences of As fobors become murc prominent, it seems (ravelling by mule. I h:tve no intention of 12 womCIl , the study shows how those who a good time to revi si t Victoria Nelson's visiting the place, bllt Ciln't help wondering need fl exi bil ity arc increasingly marginalised ill The Secret Ute of Puppets, a magisteria l yet if it could still bl' the peaceful haven thar jobs with fluclua ting hours, insecu re contral'IS, funk y di sc u s~i o n of pUPI>c IS, rollOts - and West describes . low pay and no proS!,!."':1 of promotion. humans. BClwarh this wide- ranging examin ation of books :md film s li es Ne lson's thesis Fiona Ingleby, research fellow in thM our worldvicw is in mmsition from evolutionary genetics, Uni ve rsity of Sussex Aristotelian to Platonic. My rr:twls and love of animals have Ill "de IllC p:tssiol1:tle about conservation, so I'm about Neil Gregor, professor of modern Eu ropean to start reading Beth Shapiro's How to Clone history, University of Southa mpton a Mammoth: The Science of De· Extinction r :lIn currently cnjoying Matthew Kelly's (princcton University Prcss). I'm hoping it will Quartz and Feldspar: Dartmoor - A British be:1 thought-provoking di scussion of human Landscape In Modern Times (Vim:1ge), whi ch intervention in n:tturc :tnd conserv:ttion effort's, surveys human encounters with, and action rather than a m:lllu:t1 for anyone wanting to upon, the apparently timeless, immutable Jeremy Holmes, chief operating offi cer, crcate their own Jurassic Park. I'd also like granite uplands of Devon an(1 Cornwall Unive rsities UK to revisit Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, which since the late 18th century. Eft-gantly written, Simon Arlllit:tgc, nl'\vly appointed professor of I h,wen't re:td since my undergmduate degree. shrewdly observed, and a perfect read for poetry at the University of Oxford, is good at It S('C111S panicu!:trly rcl ev:l1l1 at a time when those "slaycationing" there in partiwlar. wry, reflectivc commcntary, drawing on local polit icians across thc world :trc struggling to ror those seeking further shores, David det:t il. His travelogue Walking Away (Faher commit to helping the environment. Ahulafi:t'S fine 2008 book, The DIscovery & Faber ) comes fr0111 walking England's of Mankind : Atlantic Encounters In the Age of southwest pcninsuln; we'll be on holiday Fred Ingli s, honorary professor of cultural hi story, Columbus, demonstrates how England's in Cornwa ll so I'm anticipating slowing 10 his Un ive rsity of Watwick colonialist history was - th ro ugh commerce, pace and his mcl:t Jlcholic bur strangely My first choice, RaYlllond Gcuss' Politics tra vel , migra tion and war - al ways closely uplifting ronco Myoid favourite is Ra ymond and the Im agination, was liule noriccd on el11w incd with :.imilar histories lived and Ta!lis' Reflections of a Metaphysical Flaneur and publica tion, but it is a miniarure classic played Ollt in Europe :tnd beyond. Other Essays. This collection of pieces from a worthy of Strenuous rereading. It is ,I 9 July 2015 Times Hi gher Edu cation 47 pungelll a nd :11 times scornful call for rea lism in political theory, which is to s:ly :ltlentio n not to vapouring about rights :lnd v;tlues, but to the hardness o f action and context. My secolld choice is a 110vel , JOhll Williams' Augustus, :In epistolary fiction dr:llll:ltising the gre:lt emperor's life in :III its magnificence - a feat of :l1>Ionishillg le:lming and a dazzling eX:lmple of how 10 write living hi~tOry. Xerxes is one of history's most vil~ied lloyd llewellyn-Jones, professor of ancient Greek figures; a byword for autocracy, and Iranian studi es, Uni ve rsity of Edinburgh Having jllst returned from lrall, 1'111 rcadiug he enthralled and terr~ied the West Ri cha rd Stoneman's Xerxes: A Persian Ufe for a generation (Ya le University Press), the first :lltempt si nce Plutarch to wrile an Ac haemenid royal biography. Xerxes is one of the most vilified figures in history; a byword for autocracy, he enrhralled and terrified the \'{Ies t for a generation. Then rll return to Iktqer Main's gruundbreaking work Khomelnl: Ufe of the Ayatollah, :I I>cnetr:lting study of t he radical :lnd cll:lrismalic Imam. Kh ollleini is one of Henriette louwerse, senior lecturer in Dutch, the most vili fied fig ures in histOry; :t byword University of Sheffield , and chair of the Association for 'UHoCf:lCy, he (mhrallc<1 and terrified the for low Countri es Studies In the UK and Ireland West for:l gcneration .. .plus fll challge. Exploring the Dut ch Empire: Agents, Networks and In stitutions, 1600·2000 (Bloomsbury), edited by Cati" Antunes and Jos Gommans, eX~lIllincs the fornl:ll and informal heterogeneous networks Ihat emerged with Dutch expansion overseas from the 17th century onwards. AS:l lilerary scholar, I am particularl y interested in how Ihcsc tranSll:ltion:l1 and tmnscuirural connections affected the identity and self-i mage of rh e Dutch. And since I will be travelling 10 11:1] )', France :lnd the Netherlands o\'er the summer, if seems fitting 10 revisit Louis Coupcrus' 1906 family saga Old People and the things That Pas.s, about [I alllle passIOnnel committcd in the Dutch E:asllndies and involving much, much travelling around Europc. Karen McAulay, music and academic services li brarian and postdoctoral researcher, Roya l Conservatoire of Scotland I hope 10 read Artistic Practice as Research In Mu sic: Theory, Criticism, Practice (Ashgate), l·di fCd h}' Mine Dogantan-Da.:k. Two of the contributors, Celia Duff), "nel Stephen 13ro;ul, arc m)' Wlle[lgues, and practice-b:lsed n,>SC:lrch is big on our agenda, so this will be stimulating. If there's time, I'll revisit Gcr:lrd Genctle's Paratexts: Thresholds of interpretation (literature, Culture, Theory). Pa ratext is rcally importallt in Ill)' own research. lk fore rC:lding G"lIetle, I had :llready drawn parallels between W.llte]' Scott'S Tin: Antiquary :llld t'ullICIllI>Ofary writing ill Scottish music pn·faccs, so I was delightc(1 to benefit from his thoughts un par:l1 CX I in Scott's novels. lisa Mckenzie, resea rch fellow in the department of sociology, l ondon School of Economics It's been a rough ye:lr for those of us who tight' il1cqualit)' - and it becall1c worse:lt lOpm 011 7 r"la y. I'm in need of dissent, rllle breaking, a bit of anarchy. So Ill)' perfect Sll illmer rcad is [I book Ihal has the words " rules" and "stupidity" in its title and critiques mindless hure:tllCf:lCY: David Gr:tcbcr's The Utopia of Rul es: On Technology, 48 Tim es HIJ!her Education 9 July 2015 president"), supported by a ne twork of R. C. Richardson. emeri tu s professor of history, "sllu-bosses", a nd a ll ueavering away to University of Winchester create "demoralisation" across the C:1I11PUS. David Cressy's lively new swdy Ch arles 1 and PillS ( a dUll/gel William Wh yte's Redbrlck: the People of England (Oxford Un i\'e rsity [11'('5s) A Social and Architectural History of Britain's leaves aside the elite n:lf"r:llive of this troubled Ci vic Unive rsities (Oxford University Press) reign and focuses instead 011 rh e bclicfs, is a magnificent review of the two-centuries cxpectations, acti ons a nd reactions of the vaS t long evolurion of the civics, from anti majority of the kins's suhjects and how the:.e O xbridge Uni versil )' College London and directly contributed to the straining of King's College l.o ndon vi a Manchester and loyalties, 10 civil war, and to Charles' Birmingham serving Iheir local eCOIlOl11i es to downf:lli. It prompts me to go uack to Keele a nd Essex. The perce ptil'e epilogue, e h ri stO pher Hill's 1972 classic The World Turned t , Redbrick si nce 1997" sces the cil'ic returning Upside Down, which is complellwlHary in a to the future, a n enti t)' fe-embedded in its IHII1luer of ways - chronologicall y, local conUllUni l Y. methodologicall ), and in tlw two authors' "iiii;:~'" shared focus on radical an irudes. '" History Sandeep Parmar, lecturer in • from below", they bOl h show, is far 100 En glish, University of imponalH 10 Ill' overlooked. Liverpool I' ll be re:lding Langdon HlIIegonda Ri etveld, professor of Hammers James Merrill: sonic culture , Lon don South Bank Life and Art (Knopf). University Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy A major figure in post Richard ~ ' I iddleto n 's Studying (1"lelv;lIc Ho use). I have read Ri chard war Americ:m poet ry, Popular Mu sic does exactl y l loggarl's 1957 book Th e Uses of Literacy many a nd a fo rl11al and wh:lt its title pro mises, in a times. Hoggart wa ~ a working-class aca demic high I)' erudite poel, well-considered m(ln ner. When il" who wrorc beautifully ,Ibout a time I don't Merrill was the son of was first published in 1990, a remember, but I have heard these stories and the co-founder of the re\'iewer asked wh y it is necessa ry to these narrativcs all my life. This book allows urokerage firm Merrill be so difficult auout sim ple pleasur('s- me to be who I am. In a place that is some Lynch. Lklrn [() wea irh and yet M iddleton shows that our pleasurcs arc timcs foreign. privi lege, he produced an enormolls amouTlt not so simple after all. A classic to revisi t of poetry, including The Ciu/llgill8 Light at 25 years on. Hy COlll raSt, How to Write about David Palfreyman, bursar and fell ow. SlllIdolfcr, inspired uy conversa tiolls wi th the Music: Exce rpts from the 33% Series, Magazines, New College, Oxford dead via a Ouii:l board. Jahan Ramaz:lI1i 's Books and Blogs with Advice from Industry· leadlng .l ames McKeen Ca ttcll"s University Control is ATran snational Poetics is fo und ati o na l to a Writers (Bl ool\1 suury), ed ited uy Marc :l colk'C tioll of essays on the managl'r1lent rethinking of poetry across shifting cult ural \"('oodworth and Al ly-Jane Crossan, provides of US unive rsities a cemury ago. The modern ground (la nguage, migration, genre, iniluence). a diverse set of experienced voic('s in different (19005) universi ty is lameIHe<1 as a n entity And like a ll imponant scholarship, it opens up word lengths; ideal for tr;l\'el condilio ns domina ted by "a boss" (:Ika '" the uni\'ersiry new forward paths on rereading. during the summer. 9 July 2015 Times Higher Education 49 Nicola Roltock, deputy director of the Ann Singleton , senior research fellow, Centre for Research in Race and School for Poli cy Studies, University of Bristol Education, University of Birmingham and co-chair, Statewatch Trustees Top of my to-read list is Lauren A. Rivera's Migr:ltion, state policy and glubal ecollomic Pedigree: How Elite Students Got Elite Jobs rrallsform,ltions produce fasci nating suhject (Princeton University Press). While under m:ltcrial. Understanding this d YIl :l mic field, standing disadvantage i:. important, the consequences for people's lives and related insufficient attention t('1l(ls to he paid to how polky chall enges requires meticulous those who :Ire privileged gain and re t:lin dOC lllnt:nwtion and rigorous !,;Title:l l thei r posi tio n and power: such thinking. Along with the critically analys is is crucial if we arc trul), esselll i,lJ work done by ro move to a more equal Statewateh (www.statcwatch. societ),. I hope to re visi t bell org), two new books should hooks' Yearning: Race, Gender he srand:lrJ reading in Ihi s and Cultural Politics, which fi eld. Daughter of Good bri ngs togelllC r an :lnal),sis Fortune: A Twentleth·Century Like everybody else, I read The Silence flf thl' .. e three things in Chinese Peasant Memoir of the Lambs when it was published. a W:ly I had not hitherto (Unive rsi ty of W:ls hington But why are today's students still so known to he possibl e in Press) by Chen I-Iuiq in with aC:ldellli 50 Times Hi gher Education 9 July 2015 BOOKS ;lnlhropo logy famously asscrrs rh:lt "din is beSt know n as David Cameron's fO nll('r esscmi:llly disorder", specific 10 particular :I