Scholarship Bound

Exporting American Dreams

Six years after Thurgood Marshall argued Brown v. Board of Education before the U.S. Supreme Court, Kenyan independence leaders asked the civil rights icon to help write their constitution. Mary L. Dudziak, Judge Edward J. and Ruey L. Guirado Professor of Law and History in the USC Gould School of Law, who also holds an appointment in political science, tells the little-known story of Marshall’s journey to Africa. There he could become something he could not in his own country: a black man helping to found a nation. In Exporting American Dreams: Thurgood Marshall’s African Journey (Oxford University Press, 2008), she explores how his involvement with Kenya’s founding affirmed his faith in law and influenced his later role as a Supreme Court justice.

God’s Heart Has No Borders

In understanding the contributions religious activists are making to immigration rights in post- 9/11 America, sociology professor Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo provides a comprehensive view of how Muslim, Christian and Jewish groups are working to counter xenophobia. Based on years of fieldwork, the book looks at Muslim Americans defending their civil liberties after 9/11; Christian activists responding to death and violence at the U.S-Mexico border; and Christian and Jewish clergy defending the labor rights of Latino immigrants. God’s Heart Has No Borders: How Religious Activists Are Working for Immigration Rights (University of California Press, 2008) examines the intersection of migration and religion, calling attention to those who have dedicated themselves to securing the human dignity of newcomers.

Weegee and Naked City

“One good murder a night, with a fire and a hold-up thrown in,” said Arthur Fellig (better known as Weegee), when explaining how he stayed in business. This proto-paparazzo’s tabloid-style photographs captured the underbelly of New York City, introducing wartime America to the pleasures of gawking at crime scenes and misbehaving rich people. For the first time since their original publication, Weegee’s photos are presented as they appeared in tabloids from the 1930s and ’40s in Weegee and ‘Naked City’ (University of California Press, 2008) by Associate Professor of Art History and Fine Arts Richard Meyer and his co-author.

Drug Abuse

In Drug Abuse: Concepts, Prevention and Cessation (Cambridge University Press, 2008) Steve Sussman, professor of preventive medicine and psychology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and Susan L. Ames, assistant professor at the Keck School’s department of preventive medicine, provide an understanding of the parameters of drug abuse. They discuss the conceptual issues regarding definitions of drug use, misuse, abuse and dependence, while presenting a comprehensive source of information on the prevention and cessation of drug abuse. With hopes that their text will help advance research on drug problems, the authors address a variety of theories currently applied to drug programs.

Requiem or Revival?

More than a dozen years after the launch of the North American Free Trade Agreement, there has been a growing amount of criticism from citizens of the three member nations as progress toward economic integration has stalled. Mexico’s economy remains far behind those of Canada and the United States, and such pressing issues as energy security remain unanswered. In Requiem or Revival?: The Promise of North American Integration (Brookings Institution Press, 2007), Carol Wise, associate professor of international relations, and her co-editor have compiled essays by scholars and policymakers from all three nations that dissect NAFTA’s failure to fulfill its early promise and evaluate the prospects for further integration.