Latest Alumni Publications
Ben Bradley (1971, Human Sciences)
Darwin’s Psychology (OUP, 2020)
This book presents a Darwin new to contemporary science, lighting a way forward for those who seek to base psychology on the foundation of evolutionary biology, while challenging the misunderstandings and misrepresentations of Darwin’s work current in biology and the social sciences.
It is the first book dedicated to examining Darwin’s own extensive writings about agency, interdependence, and psychological matters, proving that Darwin’s psychology stands at the forefront of twenty-first century moves toward an evolutionary biology in which organisms lead and genes follow.
Darwin’s Psychology also shows that, for Darwin, what is most human about human agency flows from the fact we are what he called ‘social animals,’ whether we are talking about emotions, sexual desire, conscience, or culture, and thus, in developing this social approach, his work challenges the assumption that psychology can make sense as the study of individuals.
Victor Chen (1966, Social Studies)
Notes from a Plague Year: Spring 2019 – Spring 2020 (iUniverse, 2020)
This book continues the author’s bizarre discoveries in how he has been used in “science” and history, including the “coronavirus” pandemic and economic free-fall that is now punishing New York and much of the world. It relies largely on his readings in American newspapers, and, he hopes, it may help guide people to a calmer future.
Edward Clarke (1995, English)
A Book of Psalms (Paraclete Press, 2020)
This collection of poems engages in new and animating ways with one of the profoundest texts of our past, the Book of Psalms. These poems are Clarke’s response to his experience of reading the Psalter through once every month according to Cranmer’s divisions in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer.
John Jervis (1965, PPE)
Modernity Theory (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018)
Modernity theory approaches modern experience as it incorporates a sense of itself as ‘modern’ (modernity), along with the possibilities and limitations of representing this in the arts and culture generally (modernism). The book interrogates modernity in the name of a fluid, unsettled, unsettling modernism.
Joanne Lennan (2008, BCL)
In The Time of Foxes (Simon & Schuster, 2020)
‘A fox could be a shape-shifter, a spirit being. It could appear in human form if this suited its purposes; it could come and go as it pleased, play tricks, lead men astray.’ An escapee from the Family in Japan; an animal activist with something to hide; a café-owner in Sydney reconnecting with her estranged husband; even a journalist on Mars, face-to-face with his fate. The world has taught these men and women how to change shape, to be cunning – but have they also learned to be wise? In The Time of Foxes is a collection of short stories, about the times in which we live, with one story featuring St Catz.
Avital Livny (2003, Oriental Studies)
Trust and the Islamic Advantage: Religious-Based Movements in Turkey and the Muslim World (CUP, 2020)
In much of the Muslim world, Islamic political and economic movements appear to have a comparative advantage. Relative to similar secular groups, they are better able to mobilize supporters and sustain their cooperation long-term. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Turkey, a historically secular country that has experienced a sharp rise in Islamic-based political and economic activity. Drawing on rich data sources and econometric methods, Avital Livny challenges existing explanations – such as personal faith – for the success of these movements.
Instead, Livny shows that the Islamic advantage is rooted in feelings of trust among individuals with a shared, religious group-identity. This group-based trust serves as an effective substitute for more generalized feelings of interpersonal trust, which are largely absent in many Muslim-plurality countries. The book presents a new argument for conceptualizing religion as both a personal belief system and collective identity.
Catherine Randall (1984, Modern History)
The White Phoenix (The Book Guild Publishing, 2020)
Aimed at 9-12 year olds, The White Phoenix is set in London in 1666. After the sudden death of her father, 13-year-old Lizzie Hopper and her mother must take over the family bookshop in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral. But England is at war with France and everywhere there are whispers of dire omens. As rumours of invasion and plague spread, Lizzie battles prejudice, blackmail and mob violence to protect the bookshop she loves. When the Great Fire of London breaks out, Lizzie must rescue more than just the bookshop. Can she now save the friend she wasn’t supposed to have?
James Rogers (1984, Modern Languages)
Assignment Moscow: Reporting on Russia from Lenin to Putin (I.B. Tauris, 2020)
In Assignment Moscow, former foreign correspondent James Rodgers analyses the news coverage of Russia throughout history, from the coverage of the siege of the Winter Palace and a plot to kill Stalin, to the Chernobyl explosion and the Salisbury poison scandal.
Rick Thompson (1966, English)
Park Life: A Year in the Wildlife of an Urban Park (Grosvenor House, 2020)
Park Life follows a year in the life of an urban park in the county town of Warwick in central England. There are tips on identification of species, the legends and folklore associated with many of them, some little known scientific facts, and some surprising rarities. Park Life reflects on the importance of access to green space for the eighty percent of us who live in towns and cities – brought into sharp focus by the pandemic lockdown. Regular contact with the natural world has never been more important for our physical and mental wellbeing.
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