Lehigh University Books

Scholar Eileen S. DeMarco presents Reading and Riding, the very first in-depth study of Hachette and Company's railroad bookstore network, The Bibliotheque des Chemins de Fer, which originated in 1853 to market a collection of books to train travelers and evolved into France's first national chain bookstore. Focusing on events from 1826 to 1914, Reading and Riding traces the supervisors, suppliers, operators, and consumers of the network, how financial clout, more than political discourse, was destined to shape landmark decisions in the commerce of book distribution. Extensively researched, with a selected bibliography, alphabetic list of authors and book titles of The Bibliotheque des Chemins de Fer, and an index, Reading and Riding is a scholarly case study sure to particularly intrigue bibliophiles.

The first question you have to ask yourself about this book is 'why would I care about a company that had a bunch of bookstores in railway stations.'

The answer gets more complex than you would imagine. For one thing, this was the first time that a wide spread distribution system for books became available. Second, the system became very profitable, and other publishing companies wanted to move into train stations, and the Government got involved. This became a fight between political influence and market forces.

This book focuses on a time long past, but it's analysis may continue as the train station has been replaced by the airport, virtually all of which have book stores. As far as train stations are concerned, on a long train ride recently, only three stations I visited had book stores: Chicago, Washington and New York (Penn Station).

This book is based on research done by the author as part of her graduate school work.

An American Musical Dynasty: A Biography Of The Wolle Family Of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania by music historian and educator Paul S. Larson (Professor Emeritus, Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) is a unique and fascinating historical examination and history of the Wolle family whose influential and enduring musical tradition was founded in the American colonial era of the 1700's. The rise of their music intertwined with the Moravian Church tells the history of the Moravian culture, as well as that of a very fine style of exquisite concert music. An American Musical Dynasty is a deftly written, thoroughly researched, and highly recommended biographical saga tracing family, music, faith, and way of life throughout centuries of American history.

This book really helped me understand the subject and do well in the exam.
What struck me was how clearly the concepts were explained. The author understands the subject extremely well and knows how to explain it. It is full of solved examples which helped me a lot.

Many readers--not just history buffs--will find The Golden Ghetto: The American Commercial Community at Canton and the Shaping of American China Policy, 1784-1844 fascinating and enlightening. Jacques M. Downs' comprehensive study of American merchants involved in the China trade during the first sixty years of U.S.-China relations, published in 1997 after a lifetime of exhaustive research, is now the definitive work on this topic. The Golden Ghetto is divided into three sections: (1)an account of the American community at Canton [or Guangzhou] under the restrictive Canton System established by Chinese officialdom to buffer the Central Kingdom from the potential harm of foreign activity and influence; (2) a detailed study of American firms and some 200 merchants involved in the China trade over six decades; and (3) an exploration of the path to the first Sino-American treaty--the 1844 Treaty of Wanghsia [Wangxia] negotiated by lawyer, politician, and diplomat Caleb Cushing after the Opium War (1839-42). Focusing on individual actions and attitudes--which Downs has culled from a wealth of sources including letters, diaries, and company histories--his presentation takes on a personal tone, occasionally reading more like a novel than a work of history. At the heart of his account is American trade in tea and silk, and increasingly in opium in the early 19th century. Downs does not mince words in condemning opium traders regardless of their nationality and the deleterious effects of the opium enterprise, but at the same time he explains how opium trade profits came to form the financial bedrock of the foreign community at Canton. He argues persuasively that American merchants with direct personal experience in China, and to a lesser extent missionaries, had a significant influence on official U.S. China policy. Readers familiar with U.S.-China relations in the 20th and early 21st centuries, and in particular with the proliferation of American business interests in China in the past two decades and with the political implications thereof, will find that Downs' study resonates with contemporary as well as historical relevance.

Yates makes an excellent attempt at showing how Lehigh University developed throughout two periods since its founding in 1876. The university was ahead of its time when it was founded trying to combine science and engineering. While this is the myth that is propagated today we see that Lehigh remain largely fixated on the sciences and technical education. While in the late 1920's the school saw diversification it would still take a long time to develop a humanities curriculum.
This book is really only for those interested in the administration of Lehigh during its founding to the 1980's. It is a very well done book and those who have dealt with the administration will find its growth interesting. The 1960's section is probably one of the more interesting for current students and you can really see the modern part of the university being formed. The university has grown in many ways over the year from the entrance of women to cross disciplinary programs. This book gives a start to how the university organized and is a fascinating read for people who want to see Lehigh in the early and formative years to a long and hopefully bright future.

This is a well researched, thorough, incitefull read for those interested in the Lehigh Valley. The illustrations, Cameo appearances and data tables all flow nicely and fully enhance the standard text. The narrative is complete but not complex and easy to follow for even the non science types. The history section was interesting and complete. I recommend this book to all interested parties.

This book takes the reader through how the areas around Russia have recentered themselves since the fall of the Soviet Union. While many of these countries may have wanted to reflect independence the CIS has been essential for them to maintain a semblance of trade. The disequilibrium in International relations is explored around the world by a variety of authors and Smolanksy expertly puts together an interesting book. It is very well written and is well worth the read for those looking to start out in international relations and want to see how world diplomacy is changing.

"Perception Of Magic In Medieval Spanish Literature" by Jennifer M. Corry (Assistant Professor of Spanish, Berry College, Rome, Georgia) is a work of seminal scholarship as it introduces the reader to the literature of medieval Spain with a special focus upon the depiction of magical practices held by the writers of that period in Spanish history. Religious, political and social events are explored to provide a framework and background to understanding Spain's unique historical development and the impact of the Spanish perspective on the lives and works of Spanish authors. Organized into four major chapters: Magic; Spanish Intellectual and Medical Treaties; 'Real' Magical Practitioners in Spain; and Magic in Medieval Spanish Literature. Professor Corry then draws some succinct and documented conclusions concerning how medieval Spanish writers viewed the role and practice of magic. Enhanced with a lengthy section of Notes, a 'List of References', and a comprehensive Index, "Perception Of Magic In Medieval Spanish Literature" is a core addition to academic library Spanish Literature and Medieval Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Goldman is magnificent. His breadth and depth of knowledge, his pace, speech cadence (even his accent), integrated with morsels of insight and humor make this lecture series fun, occasionally hilarious and always seriously riveting. Take notes, pause the iPod and make sure you get it as each lecture builds on the last and concepts can be subtitle, turning on a word or line that makes all the difference.

The story told is focused on an historical development of scientific knowledge over the last 400 years as an introduction to knowledge (of any kind) since Plato and those remarkable Greeks. That is, what do we "really" know and how do we know it? This has become a question of paramount importance for a variety of reasons: Since the mind-bending surprises of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics early in the last century confounded reality and experience; radicalized byproducts of the Sixties giving birth to inanities of Postmodernism on the Left now running our university humanities departments; coalescence, organization and muscular financing of Creationists (Intelligent Design, name changed to "Critical Analysis") on the Right; and a widespread failure of Western education, especially in the United States. As Goldman notes, since WWII the US government has spent heavily in science and we see via the iPod, PC, HD, cell phone, scientific revelations lead to technology driving national economies (and their military machines) as well as individual (materialistic) wealth. For Goldman these attacks on science from the Postmodern Left (gunning for objectivity and universal truths) and Creationists on the Right (teaching religion in science class) are due to ambivalent faults in the concept of knowledge itself. Is our view of nature what nature "really" is, or is what we know simply a convenient model? If the later, knowledge can change when new discoveries are made and so what we thought we "knew" we didn't know. Political ramifications of this are obvious. Who can claim to be right, just, know what is good, evil and best if even science doesn't know - "it's all just a matter of opinion", so anything goes. At the very least, those in power, in the other party, or with scientific claims to global warming and mass extinctions merely make up someone's "opinion", and opinions are very easy to direct with marketing, PR and talk radio in a consumer society. The costs come in our inability to decipher science from junk science, politics, entertainment and utter nonsense. The US is steered ever more by unchallenged agendas Left or Right, both leaving reason out except when it serves them, or cherry picking reason's results to spin things their way.

Throughout Goldman's survey a great deal is made of evolving theories (too much) in a Kuhnian fashion of replacement rather than refinement, where differences between phases of theoretical development are emphasized rather than their similarities. This leads to the all-or-nothing opinion that incomplete is incorrect, requiring every discipline be born fully-grown with no opportunity for discovery, where expanding the initial idea is indictment rather than affirmation. Granted, some hypotheses deserve abandonment (and frequently are) but substantiated ideas may simply be graduating from adolescence, not something entirely new. While Goldman is far from either Postmodern or Creationist (occasionally you'll wonder because he so convincingly articulates each position) this all-or-nothing tactic can in Goldman's series be seen as a tool for both sides against science and reason. Sometimes he overstates matters, perhaps to make a point. For example, Kepler discovered elliptical orbits from Brahe's data when only perfect heavenly circles were "believed" possible. But there was insufficient resolution to see ellipses in that data. Thus Kepler violated one particular brand of the scientific method. But so what? It's called insight. Ellipses are not so different from circles after all. It's not as though Kepler said, "Ah ha! Proof of string theory and eleven dimensions!" Goldman's inspection of debates and attempts by various scientists as pragmatists (science works, who cares if theories are what nature really is?) and positivists (the reason science works is precisely because our theories describe what nature really is) reveals little-known battles between giants and friends like Einstein and Bohr. Goldman's chronicling of this struggle among scientists to rectify the basis for certain knowledge (almost nothing comes from modern philosophers) produces some exciting turns, tips off the listener to unheard of great minds (Michael Polanyi), and does so with the thrill and humor of a well written novel.

Hailperin(H) has done a great job in this book.It deals with a logic where the values of the probabilities have a semantic interpretation equivalent to the truth values in standard conditional logic.H shows how Boole's original 3 solutions methods/techniques can be shown to be equivalent to a linear(parametric)programming construction.The two chapters demonstrating the various linear programming applications are superb.It is strange that no economists or decision theorists have made use of Hailperin's work to implement a general theoretic approach to decision making UNDER BOTH RISK AND UNCERTAINTY.
H shows that the most general case of probability analysis involves intervals(two numbers) and not single ,unique,precise one number answers.
This book is also valuable from a history of science and philosophy prespective.H shows that all logical probability theorists,including J M Keynes, have overlooked the work of Bolzano in 1837.Bolzano appears ,then, to have been the first to treat probability as a branch of logic explicitly after Leibniz.H gives long overdue credit to J Hosiasson for her 1930 improvements on the inductive logic contained in chapter 12 of J M Keynes's A Treatise on Probability(1921;TP),which is still the best,overall book ever written on probability and decision making under both risk and uncertainty.
There is one small error in this book.H incorrectly claims that Keynes's approach to probability was "...fundamentally non numerical..."(p.137).Keynes defined " nonnumerical" to mean that TWO numbers had to be used ,in general,to estimate a probability relation.Keynes's clear definitions,using italics for emphasis,are contained on p.32 and p.160 of the TP.Keynes then adapted and improved upon Boole's original approach to calculating upper and lower (greatest and least)bounds for probability estimates.Keynes made a modified version of Boole's problem XX (TP,pp.192-194) the foundation for his approach to induction and analogy in Part III of the TP in chapter 20(pp.235-237)and chapter 22(pp.254-257).This required his concept of "finite " probability ,which was applicable to both numerical and non numerical probabilities.
This means that Hailperin's linear programming approach can also serve as a way of representing Keynes's approach to interval estimates.