Books published by Pennsylvania State University Press

Textbook Reds is a work in the sociology of education, and literary sociology and history. Rodden shows that the deepest roots of German Democratic Republic society were indeed located in the institution that molded the youth of its citizens.

Explores electoral changes in Pennsylvania since 1960, finding that the recent "culture-wars realignment" has significantly altered the old New Deal party system, especially since the early 1990s. Contains illustrations plotting political alignment of Pennsylvania counties.

Titology is the field of literary studies that focuses on the significance of a title in establishing the thematic developments of the pages that follow. This book presents a theoretical discussion of the significance of the title as a foundation for scholarly criticism.

For almost forty years, from 1378 to 1417, the Western Church was divided into rival camps headed by two competing popes. The so-called Great Schism provoked a profound anxiety throughout Europe. Looking beyond the ecclesiastical storm, this book aims to find an outpouring of artistic responses to one of the great calamities of the Middle Ages.

Based on interviews and years of close interaction with more than 60 Iowa farm families, Bell answers two critical questions concerning sustainable agriculture: why some farmers are becoming sustainable farmers and why, as yet, most are not.

This text examines the effects of changes in local justice brought on by the French Revolution. It looks at the pre-revolution seigneurial courts and compares them with the revolutionary justice of the peace, finding that the revolution made access to justice easier for rural inhabitants.

Examines the ramifications of the fear of imminent death that many National Assembly deputies felt as they anticipated an attack from the soldiers of Louis XVI in the days preceding the fall of the Bastille, at the beginning of the French Revolution.

Analyzes current understandings of victimhood in discussions of child soldiers, identity politics, violent conflict, and global responses to atrocity.

Explores the theoretical and political implications of self-interest within the context of neoliberal political, theoretical, and methodological imperatives.

Addresses the question of why institutions meant to attract citizen participation succeed in strengthening civil society and improving state responsiveness and transparency in some places, but fail in others. Focuses on urban politics in Porto Alegre (Brazil), Montevideo (Uruguay), and Caracas (Venezuela).

"Examines decentralization and recentralization in the developing world, focusing on a comparison of Brazil and South Africa in the 1990s. Argues that decentralization follows declines in executive power, while subsequent recentralization is contingent upon presidents gaining exceptional governing opportunities, especially by resolving economic crises"--Provided by publisher.

Examines the role of protest movements in the evolution of democracy in Mexico from the Tlatelolco massacre of 1968 to the defeat of the PRI in the elections of 2000.

Explores the role of the classical past in the construction of urban identity in late medieval Italy. Focuses on the appropriation of classical symbols, ancient materials, and Roman myths to legitimate the regimes of various Italian city-states.

Examines the role in Chilean politics during the 1970s and 1980s of cultural beliefs and values surrounding the family. Draws on election propaganda, political speeches, press releases, public service campaigns, magazines, newspaper articles, and televised political advertisements.

Examines the life and poetry of Magda Portal, a major figure in Latin American revolutionary politics. Includes a selection of poems available for the first time in English translation.

This text tells the story of Henry Disston's saw manufacturing company and the factory town he built. It describes in detail the rise of one of the US's largest and most powerful family-owned businesses from its beginnings in 1840 to its heyday in the 1940s when their products were known worldwide.

A collection of essays on the metaphysical, political, theological, ethical and psychological writings of Spinoza. Examines the ways in which his philosophy presents a resource for the re-conceptualization of friendship, sexuality, politics and ethics in contemporary life.

Henry W Shoemaker authored hundreds of pamphlets and books on nature, history, and folklore. He was the publisher of several influential newspapers in Pennsylvania, including the "Altoona Tribune" and the "Reading Eagle". This title includes some of the early writings of folklorist Henry W Shoemaker.

An examination of humanitarianism in Western society. Argues that humanitarianism has become a staple part of modern media and celebrity culture.

Examines how African-American as well as international films deploy film noir techniques in ways that encourage philosophical reflection. Combines philosophy, film studies, and cultural studies.

This text offers an exploration of the impact of World War I mobilization on American political development in the interwar period and its legacy for the New Deal era and beyond.

Examines the political economy of growth in Venezuela since the discovery of oil in 1920.

Examines the relationship between philosophy and literature through an engagement with Plato's dialogues.

Drawing on his own diary, as well as secret documents and transcripts of high-level meetings, Anatoly Chernyaev recounts the drama that swept the Soviet Union between 1985 and 1991. Chernyaev was Gorbachev's confidant and chief foreign policy aide for most of that period.

A wide-ranging exegesis that systematically traces the history of philosophical conceptions of the passions in the work of such thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Spinoza, Descartes, Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant and Freud. It asks whether passion tortures people because it blinds them.

An anthology which details fallacy theory and particular fallacies through classics from the history of philosophy to modern literature today. Topics including contemporary theory and criticism, analyses of specific fallacies and the relation between fallacies and teaching, are discussed.

A collection of articles that address Jane Addams (1860-1935) in terms of her contribution to feminist philosophy and theory through her work on culture, art, sex, society, religion, and politics.

A collection of essays on the American Revolution in Pennsylvania. Topics include the politicization of the English- and German-language press and the population they served; the Revolution in remote areas of the state; and new historical perspectives on the American and British armies during the Valley Forge winter.

A collection of essays examining the various social, cultural, and economic intersections of rural place and global space, as viewed through the lens of education. Explores practices that offer both problems and possibilities for the future of rural schools and communities, in the United States and abroad.