Books published by Ohio State University Press

In the works and letters of his later years, Wilkie Collins continually expressed his displeasure over copyright violations. Wilkie Collins and Copyright: Artistic Ownership in the Age of the Borderless Word by Sundeep Bisla asks whether that discontent might not also have affected the composition of Collins''s major early works of the 1850s and 60s. Bisla''s investigation into this question, surprisingly, does not find an uncomplicated author uncomplicatedly launched on a defense of what he believes to be rightfully his. Instead, Bisla finds an author locked in fierce negotiation with the theoretical underpinnings of his medium, the written word, underpinnings best delineated by the twentieth-century deconstructionist Jacques Derrida. Collins''s discomfort with copyright violation comes to be in tension with his budding understanding of the paradoxical nature of the "iterability" of the word, a nature presenting itself as a conflict between the settling and breaking manifestations of linguistic repetition. In his efforts at resolving this paradox, Collins adopts a mechanism of recursive self-reflexivity through which each story reflects upon itself to a more fundamental extent than had its predecessor. This self-reflexive exploration has significant consequences for the author''s own iterability-menaced subjectivity, a striking example of which can be seen in the fact that the name being sought in Collins''s last masterpiece, The Moonstone, will end up being "MY OWN NAME" - in other words, "WILKIE COLLINS."

Betting the Line: Sports Wagering in American Life is a study of gambling, particularly sports gambling, and how it has thrived in American culture. According to Davies and Abram, the culture of betting results from two complementary influences in American society: risk taking and speculation. This is the first effort by academic writers to describe and interpret the history of sports wagering in the United States. Although many books have been written about "how to bet and win," Betting the Line presents a serious history of this popular activity, from the colonial and Civil War eras to today, from early betting on horse racing and baseball to the modern venues of basketball and football.By considering topics as diverse as the business of a bookie, the expansion of legalized gambling, and the increase in popularity of televised sports, the authors offer readers an insightful look into a practice that has become commonplace in American popular culture. In a mere seventy years, the number of states where gambling is legal jumped from one to forty-eight. Yet Nevada remains the only state where sports betting is legal. This book challenges many long-standing myths and stereotypes that revolve around the enterprise, arguing that sports gambling is reflective of the American free enterprise culture.Blending historical facts with interesting tidbits and anecdotes, this lively book both engages and informs. Betting the Line makes a major contribtuion to American social and cultural history as well as to sports history.Richard O. Davies is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Nevada, Reno.Richard G. Abram is an instructor in the Core Curriculum Program at the University of Nevada, Reno.