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The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945
Slang: The People's Poetry
T. C. Steele and the Society of Western Artists, 1896-1914
Distrust, American Style: Diversity and the Crisis of Public Confidence
The Devil You Dance With: Film Culture in the New South Africa
Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945. Most people know that Hitler's Germany maintained a system of concentration camps, killing centers, labor camps and prisoner-of-war camps. But only a small circle of specialists understood the scope and complexity of the Third Reich's detention system, which held millions of people between 1933 and 1945. And even they have been surprised to learn, through painstaking research, the extent of the system. Indiana University Press has published Volume 1 of The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945. The monumental seven-volume work, produced by the museum's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, will describe the 20,000 camps and ghettos that the Nazis and their allies operated from Norway to North Africa and from France to Russia. "Our research has revealed that the Nazi concentration camp universe was much larger than scholars had previously believed," says editor Geoffrey Megargee. When researchers started work on the project 10 years ago, Megargee said, they thought there had been maybe 5,000 camps. Volume 1 describes three groups of camps: those established in the first years of Hitler's rule; major concentration camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Buchenwald, Dachau and Bergen-Belsen; and special camps for Polish and German children and adolescents. The volume's two books total 1,700 pages, with 192 photographs and 23 maps, and with a foreword by Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. Top

Slang: The People's Poetry. In his new book, Slang: The People's Poetry (Oxford University Press, 2009), Indiana University Assistant Professor Michael Adams describes -- and passionately defends -- slang as the creative expression of the every day. The first major work on American slang in nearly a decade, Slang neatly bridges the gap between pop culture and academia with a thorough examination of the ways Americans continually reinvent or combine words to keep language a living, breathing entity. Adams calls himself a "historian of the English language" specializing in the history, theory and practice of lexicography, but he's is no stranger to pop culture. He previously authored Slayer Slang: A 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Lexicon (Oxford University Press, 2004) and in early 2006 was even a (tongue-in-cheek) Stephen Colbert target on "The Colbert Report" (for daring to define Colbert's "truthiness" and naming it the word of the year at the annual meeting of the American Dialect Society). In Slang: The People's Poetry, Adams references language ranging from Chaucer to Buffy.The book is divided into four sections: First is an attempt to define "slang." Next is a chapter on how people use slang to form identities, either to align with or separate from a particular group, followed by a chapter on slang as a means of poetic or creative expression. Finally, he describes the neurology of slang and how our brains actually process language. In the final portion of the book, "It's All in Your Head," Adams describes the way Shakespeare's surprising use of language ("godded" as a verb, as in "He godded me," in Coriolanus) creates greater activity in the brain. In the same way, he writes, the occasional novelty or witticism that pops up in conversation might not be identified as poetry -- or even slang, necessarily -- but it may be "language with style" that resembles poetry or slang. "It's impossible to prove, of course, but one suspects that poets and speakers of slang alike have always understood, intuitively, that they were manipulating the linguistic reactions of those in the vicinity of their speech, pushing even the most obdurately normal among us into momentary abnormality," he writes. Top

T. C. Steele and the Society of Western Artists, 1896-1914. In this new book by Rachel Berenson Perry, fine arts curator for the Indiana State Museum, readers can learn about the development of Midwest impressionism. T. C. Steele and the Society of Western Artists, 1896-1914, chronicles the Society of Western Artists from its inception in 1896 to its last sponsored exhibit in 1914. Comprising the top artists from Indianapolis, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati, the annual traveling exhibition enhanced the stature of the work of Western artists through exposure to a wider public and by garnering reviews in the nation's art periodicals. A founding and active member of the society, Hoosier Group artist T. C. Steele executed some of his best landscape works during the years the society was active. Berenson Perry examines Steele's thoughts on plein air painting, his role as a catalyst for the development of regional Midwest impressionism and the Brown County Art Colony, his painting techniques, and his unwavering devotion to nature. The volume features 60 color reproductions of artworks by the society's major artists, complete annual catalog listings, and original exhibition reviews. "Steele and the others reserved their most important paintings every year for the Society of Western Artists traveling show, which means that the illustrations in this book are splendid," said Martin Krause, of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. "The span of this organization, 1896-1914, coincides pretty precisely with the best years for our artists -- those in which they were bound most closely and collegially together to the benefit of their art." In addition to being a prolific author of articles in magazines such as American Art Review, Traces of Midwest and Indiana History, Rachel Berenson Perry wrote the introduction to The Artists of Brown County (IU Press, 1994) and is author of The Life and Work of Ada Walter Shulz. She lives in Nashville, Ind. Top

Distrust, American Style: Diversity and the Crisis of Public Confidence. Social science research has shown an erosion of social trust among Americans over past decades. Political scientists have warned that this erosion threatens our ability to govern ourselves, as the democratic process relies upon community organizing and civic engagement. Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis faculty member Sheila Suess Kennedy examines these challenges to social trust from an increasingly complex modern society, but argues that instead of trying to reduce our differences we must focus on the principles and institutions that hold us together. Kennedy contends that our ability to trust our neighbors depends upon our ability to "trust our social and governing institutions" and catalogues the ways in which those institutions have betrayed our trust over the past decade. She argues that restoring trust in social and governing organizations is the key to rebuilding our national psyche. To begin the process, she says, we must reclaim constitutional, accountable government. She argues that the first steps should focus on reforming the electoral process, improving public accountability, and repairing America's tattered social safety net, with a particular emphasis on health care. Kennedy is a professor of law and public policy at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Her previous books include What's a Nice Republican Girl Like Me Doing in the ACLU? and God and Country: America in Red and Blue. Top

The Devil You Dance With: Film Culture in the New South Africa. Film culture in South Africa, like other public life aspects of the country post-apartheid, has undergone a major transformation during the first decade of democracy there. In her new book, The Devil You Dance With: Film Culture in the New South Africa (University of Illinois Press), Audrey McCluskey, IU associate professor of African American and African Diaspora studies and director of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, presents 25 interviews with filmmakers. Many of the directors include those who had been exiled or severely restricted as well as others who make up a new crop of insurgents. "The talented artists interviewed here are overcoming a devilish legacy in pursuing their passion for filmmaking and performance," writes McCluskey in her introduction. "They offer alternative voices that mirror the restless, hungry soul of the new South African nation." The collection includes a biographical profile of each filmmaker. Top

Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine. The idea that God pre-selects some individuals for salvation and others for damnation has divided Christian believers for more than 1,500 years. Peter Thuesen, professor and chair in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, traces the history of the contentious idea of predestination, with particular attention to its evolution in the American marketplace of competing ideas. Most closely associated with theologian John Calvin, whose 500th birthday is July 10, the doctrine dates from the writings of St. Augustine and, before that, the letters of Paul. It was a central element of faith for the Puritans who settled New England, bringing comfort to those who were sure they were chosen and terror to those who feared they were not. Thuesen argues that predestination is a thread that runs through American church history, touching off denominational splits and coloring debates over heaven and hell, and God's involvement in human affairs. He shows how the doctrine influences contemporary Christianity, including "purpose-driven" evangelical megachurches. "Thuesen draws us into the battles with such skill that we can almost feel the heat," writes E. Brooks Holifield of Emory University. Marc Arkin writes in the Wall Street Journal that Predestination is "commendably concise and accessible, filled with insight, and leavened with the occasional flash of dry wit." Top

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