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Discusses how Johns Hopkins University Press agreed to publish a dissertation on Bryn Mawr School, a top private academy for girls--until school officials complained. (EV)

Examines the recent academic publishing trend of producing series of books on "hot" topics. Cites critics who claim that the proliferation of such series has politicized series, that some series continue despite outliving their usefulness, and that a good series requires a great deal of labor by scholarly editors. (DB)

A new trend in academia is studying the social, historical, and cultural significance of food as a way to discuss human nature and individual societies. Food can be seen as an indicator of social status, an expression of cultural identity, or even viewed as a political activity. Many scholars argue that food studies has been an overlooked subject, but some critics feel the field lacks seriousness.

Psychology and sociology have traditionally focused on mental disorders and other negative aberrations in human nature, but they are increasingly looking towards the more positive aspects of their fields of study. University of Pennsylvania psychology professor Martin E.P. Seligman wants his field to move from its traditional model of disease to one of health, and the University of Chicago's Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has studied the possibility of focusing on positive topics like happiness and creativity. These studies are not part of the mainstream, and some psychologists disagree with treating psychology as a kind of moral authority., Psychologists lead movement to shift scholars' attention away from societal ills and toward studying what works IF you've taken a psychology course in the past 25 years, you know these [...]

Some have reshaped disciplines and created academic stars; others have little impact while skewing publishing priorities WHEN IT CAME TIME for David L. Eng to choose a publisher for his [...]

Byline: JENNIFER K. RUARK and D.W. MILLER OFFENSE IS THE BEST DEFENSE? At first, Mignon Adams was both moved and delighted by an e-mail message she received from a student. [...]

Byline: JENNIFER K. RUARK The summer we were 11, my best friend Suzy and I owned this town. The campus quadrangle that ran from Main Street down the length of [...]

Byline: JENNIFER K. RUARK No one wants to talk numbers, and they'd much prefer to discuss presses other than their own, but there's no getting around the fact that the [...]

Byline: JENNIFER K. RUARK There's never been peace without the threat of war, argues Sir Michael Howard in his new book, The Invention of Peace (Yale University Press), and until [...]

Byline: JENNIFER K. RUARK and LILA GUTERMAN HEART TO HEART: Two spring books, both about economics, play on Adam Smith's 'invisible hand' of the marketplace with the same title: The [...]

Byline: PETER MONAGHAN and JENNIFER K. RUARK TOO QUICK TO RE-JOYCE:An anthology of 20th-century Irish writing with nothing by James Joyce? Yes, indeed, much to the dismay of its editor, [...]

Byline: JENNIFER K. RUARK Contrary to psychological tradition, the way the human mind works is not universal, argues Richard E. Nisbett, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan [...]