Rachel Herz's THE SCENT OF DESIRE in Publishers Weekly

From August 27, 2007 Publishers Weekly

The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell
Rachel Herz. Morrow, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-06-082537-9

"Herz, a Brown University professor specializing in the psychology of smell, demonstrates that this sense is vital to our well being—so important to mental and physical health that its loss can drive some people to suicide. Herz explores the relationships between scent, emotion and behavior, emphasizing that scent is an important component of sexual attraction and thus crucial for the survival of our species. Many intriguing facts enliven her book. For example, scents are intimately connected to memory and can be used as memory aids; olfaction shuts down while we are asleep; newborns and their mothers recognize each other by their scent. Herz debunks the mystique of aromatherapy, which she says is effective because of our emotional associations with scents rather than because of any direct action of the scent. Emerging technologies of scent, such as electronic noses that can sniff out terrorists, breath analyzers that can detect diseases and marketing theories based on scents, are given a chapter, but Herz admits that she would rather see the development of technologies to restore the sense of smell to people who have lost it, because for her, scent “is essential to our humanity.” This illuminating book argues convincingly that the sense of smell should never be taken for granted. (Oct. 9)"

To see the rest of the article, please click here.

David Blight's A Slave No More featured in Fall books round-up!

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 26, 2007

Book harvest Fall's cornucopia of titles includes works by Plame, Clinton, Greenspan, Halberstam, Roth and Sebold
By Jane Henderson, Post-Dispatch Book Editor

"'A Slave No More' by David W. Blight (Harcourt). Blight focuses on two recently found emancipation narratives, and the biographies, of two slaves who escaped to freedom."

David Blight's A Slave No More Reviewed in Publishers Weekly

From Aug. 20, 2007 issue of Publishers Weekly
A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Including Their Own Narratives of Emancipation
David W. Blight. Harcourt, $25 (336p) ISBN 978-0-15-101232-9

Three fascinating works are packaged here: two unpublished manuscripts by former slaves Wallace Turnage (1846–1916) and John Washington (1838–1918), and an illuminating analysis of them by award-winning historian Blight. Turnage's journal (“a sketch of my life or adventures and persecutions which I went through from 1860 to 1865”) is about his attempted escapes and their dire consequences: from his first, when he “didn't know where to go,” to his successful “fifth and last runaway.” His account is particularly noteworthy in its revelation of the slave and free-black networks he found and utilized. Washington's “Memorys of the Past” moves from his “most pleasant” early childhood through “the many trials of slavery” and the disruptions of the Civil War, ending with his successful escape in 1862. As Blight observes, it's “very much a coming of age story,” offering a unique window on life (learning to read, falling in love, finding religious faith) in a slave society. Blight provides an accessible historical and literary context for the manuscripts and explores, as fully as possible, the men's lives not covered in their manuscripts (both are self-emancipated). These powerful memoirs reveal poignant, heroic, painful and inspiring lives. (Nov.)

Ronald Florence's LAWRENCE AND AARONSOHN in the Providence Journal

The roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict
BY EDWARD J. RENEHAN JR., The Providence Journal, Sunday, August 19, 2007

LAWRENCE AND AARONSOHN: T.E. Lawrence, Aaron Aaronsohn, and the Seeds of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, by Ronald Florence. Viking. 528 pages. $27.95.

"Florence does a superb job of contrasting these two fascinating characters. The flamboyant, romantic Lawrence who was so attracted by the free life of tribal randomness seems the polar opposite of the methodical, scientific Aaronsohn who was so dedicated to the creation of a Jewish homeland. In crafting complex and absorbing portraits of his two protagonists, Florence has produced a singular and important book that does much to illuminate the roots of today’s debate over borders and birthrights in the troubled Middle East."

For the complete review, please click here.

Davis Deal in 8/13 Publishers Daily

Knopf Wins Final Book in Davis Trilogy
By Matthew Thornton -- Publishers Weekly, 8/13/2007 7:24:00 AM

The final book in Yale historian David Brion Davis’s landmark examination of slavery, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation, has gone to Ashbel Green and Andrew Miller at Knopf; agent Wendy Strothman sold world rights. The deal concluded an eight-house auction that also included a final round of bids from Simon & Schuster, Basic, FSG and Norton.

The first volume in Davis’s trilogy, The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture, was published in 1966 and won the Pulitzer Prize. The second volume, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution: 1770-1823, was published in 1975 and won the National Book Award, the Bancroft Prize and the Beveridge Award. Both books were published by Cornell University Press. This final volume will consider the antislavery movement’s interaction with emerging social reform movements in both Britain and America, and its effects on the boundaries of social protest. Knopf expects to publish in 2013.

For the story, please click here.