LSU Faculty Published Books

Printing is not supported at the primary Gallery Thumbnail page. Please first navigate to a specific Image before printing.

Switch View to List View Slideshow

Dirty Little Angels

2009
Christopher Tusa

Set in the slums of New Orleans, among crack houses and abandoned buildings, Dirty Little Angels is the story of 16-year-old Hailey Trosclair. When the Trosclair family suffers financial hardship and a miscarriage, Hailey finds herself looking to God to save her family. When her prayers go unanswered, Hailey puts her faith in Moses Watkins, a failed preacher and ex-con. Fascinated by Moses¿ lopsided view of religion, Hailey and her brother Cyrus begin spending time at an abandoned bank that Moses plans to convert into a drive-through church. Gradually, Moses¿ twisted religious beliefs become increasingly more violent, and Hailey and Cyrus find themselves trapped in a world of danger and fear from which there may be no escape.
Atmospheric Aerosols: Characterization, Chemistry, Modeling, and Climate

2009
Kalliat T. Valsaraj

Atmospheric aerosols play a large role in air pollution in urban areas and in regulating climate. They also play a role in the ongoing debate on global warming potentials of various species. To understand the proper roles of aerosols in the atmosphere, we need data on their physical
characterization, their chemistry and appropriate models to project into the future. Apart from general discussions in textbooks, there are not very many monographs devoted to the aspects outlined above. This symposium series book will describe the characteristics of atmospheric aerosols, the
chemistry of aerosols, and finally the interplay between aerosol modeling and global climate changes using specific case studies.

The book is organized into three sections: Characterization, Chemistry and Modeling of Atmospheric Aerosols. The characterization section of the book includes three chapters. The chapters include: The role of morphology on aerosol particle reactivity; The chemistry portion of the book covers
several interesting topics including secondary aerosols and the chapters include: Surface activity of perfluorinated compounds at the air-water interface; Atmospheric chemistry of urban surface films; Photochemistry of secondary organic aerosol formed from oxidation of monoterpenes; Finally the
modeling section of the book includes two very interesting chapters; Understanding climatic effects of aerosols: modeling radiative effects of aerosols; Environmental effects to residential New Orleans following hurricane katrina: indoor sediment, vapor-phase and aerosolized contaminants.
Feel These Words: Writing in the Lives of Urban Youth

2009
Susan Weinstein

Feel These Words is the story of nine young people from Chicago--Jig, Crazy, TeTe, Mekanism, Robbie, Marta, Patricia, Jose, and Dave--who regularly write poetry and/or song lyrics, but not for school. The Writers, as author Susan Weinstein calls them, are skilled in a variety of literacy-centered discourses through which they develop sophisticated understandings of core rhetorical issues and explore concepts of identity, social positioning, gender roles, and sexuality. Despite a deep engagement with imaginative composition, their work regularly goes unrecognized or is devalued due to the normative trends in standardized curricula and testing. Weinstein argues that this devaluation exists because their writing is informed by discourses that use language, forms, and styles different from--and at times at odds with--the mainstream. She explores the ways in which educators can focus not simply on what they believe kids need to be taught, but also on what makes them want to learn.
Governing After Crisis: The Politics of Investigation, Accountability and Learning

2008
Arjen Boin

The constant threat of crises such as disasters, riots and terrorist attacks poses a frightening challenge to Western societies and governments. While the causes and dynamics of these events have been widely studied, we know little about what happens following their containment and the restoration of stability. This volume explores 'post-crisis politics,' examining how crises give birth to longer term dynamic processes of accountability and learning which are characterised by official investigations, blame games, political manoeuvring, media scrutiny and crisis exploitation. Drawing from a wide range of contemporary crises, including Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, the Madrid train bombings, the Walkerton water contamination, Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia and the Boxing Day Asian tsunami, this is a ground-breaking volume which addresses the longer term impact of crisis-induced politics. Competing pressures for stability and change mean that policies, institutions and leaders may occasionally be uprooted, but often survive largely intact.
The Variational Approach to Fracture

2008
Blaise Bourdin

Presenting original results from both theoretical and numerical viewpoints, this text offers a detailed discussion of the variational approach to brittle fracture. This approach views crack growth as the result of a competition between bulk and surface energy, treating crack evolution from its initiation all the way to the failure of a sample. The authors model crack initiation, crack path, and crack extension for arbitrary geometries and loads.
The Mathematical Theory of Finite Element Methods

2008
Susanne C. Brenner

This is the third and yet further updated edition of a highly regarded mathematical text. Brenner develops the basic mathematical theory of the finite element method, the most widely used technique for engineering design and analysis. Her volume formalizes basic tools that are commonly used by researchers in the field but not previously published. The book is ideal for mathematicians as well as engineers and physical scientists. It can be used for a course that provides an introduction to basic functional analysis, approximation theory, and numerical analysis, while building upon and applying basic techniques of real variable theory. This new edition is substantially updated with additional exercises throughout and new chapters on Additive Schwarz Preconditioners and Adaptive Meshes.
Essays in Derivatives: Risk-Transfer Tools and Topics Made Easy

2008
Don M. Chance

In the updated second edition of Don Chance's well-received Essays in Derivatives, the author once again keeps derivatives simple enough for the beginner, but offers enough in-depth information to satisfy even the most experienced investor. This book provides up-to-date and detailed coverage of various financial products related to derivatives and contains completely new chapters covering subjects that include why derivatives are used, forward and futures pricing, operational risk, and best practices.
Girls' and Women's Wellness: Contemporary Counseling Issues and Interventions

2008
Laura Hensley Choate

Comprehensive in scope and practical in execution, this guide includes strategies, examples, assessment methods, workshop outlines, and handouts for clients. Choate (counselor education, Louisiana State U.) and her contributors focus on both short-term and long-term solutions as they address body image, managing conflict and anger, cognitive models to improve self-esteem, women's college experiences, life balance for working women, intervention against sexual assault, and intimate partner violence. Especially interesting is their approach to counseling women about spirituality. Unlike many counselors, they allow for the positive influence of organized faith and for individual perceptions and choices within a range of faiths or combinations of faiths. They also give online and print resources for every topic.
Branding Texas: Performing Culture in the Lone Star State

2008
Leigh Clemons

Ask anyone to name an archetypal Texan, and you're likely to get a larger-than-life character from film or television (say John Wayne's Davy Crockett or J. R. Ewing of TV's Dallas) or a politician with that certain swagger (think LBJ or George W. Bush). That all of these figures are white and male and bursting with self-confidence is no accident, asserts Leigh Clemons. In this thoughtful study of what makes a "Texan," she reveals how Texan identity grew out of the history--and, even more, the myth--of the heroic deeds performed by Anglo men during the Texas Revolution and the years of the Republic and how this identity is constructed and maintained by theatre and other representational practices.

Clemons looks at a wide range of venues in which "Texanness" is performed, including historic sites such as the Alamo, the battlefield at Goliad, and the San Jacinto Monument; museums such as the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum; seasonal outdoor dramas such as Texas! at Palo Duro Canyon; films such as John Wayne's The Alamo and the IMAX's Alamo: The Price of Freedom; plays and TV shows such as the Tuna trilogy, Dallas, and King of the Hill; and the Cavalcade of Texas performance at the 1936 Texas Centennial. She persuasively demonstrates that these performances have created a Texan identity that has become a brand, a commodity that can be sold to the public and even manipulated for political purposes.
Jefferson Davis and the Civil War Era

2008
William James Cooper Jr.

In his masterpiece, Jefferson Davis, American, William J. Cooper, Jr., crafted a sweeping, definitive biography and established himself as the foremost scholar on the intriguing Confederate president. Cooper narrows his focus considerably in Jefferson Davis and the Civil War Era, training his expert eye specifically on Davis's participation in and influence on events central to the American Civil War. Nine self-contained essays address how Davis reacted to and dealt with a variety of issues that were key to the coming of the war, the war itself, or in memorializing the war, sharply illuminating Davis's role during those turbulent years.
Cooper opens with an analysis of Davis as an antebellum politician, challenging the standard view of Davis as either a dogmatic priest of principle or an inept bureaucrat. Next, he looks closely at Davis's complex association with secession, which included, surprisingly, a profound devotion to the Union. Six studies explore Davis and the Confederate experience, with topics including states' rights, the politics of command and strategic decisions, Davis in the role of war leader, the war in the West, and the meaning of the war. The final essay compares and contrasts Davis's first inauguration in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1861 with a little-known dedication of a monument to Confederate soldiers in the same city twenty-five years later. In 1886, Davis -- an old man of seventy-eight and in poor health -- had himself become a living monument, Cooper explains, and was an essential element in the formation of the Lost Cause ideology.
Cooper's succinct interpretations provide straightforward, compact, and deceptively deep new approaches to understanding Davis during the most critical time in his life. Certain to stimulate further thought and spark debate, Jefferson Davis and the Civil War Era offers rare insight into one of American history's most complicated and provocative figures.
The Folklore Muse: Poetry, Fiction, and Other Reflections by Folklorists

2008
Frank A. de Caro

Folklore--the inherently creative expression, transmission, and performance of cultural traditions--has always provided a deep well of material for writers, musicians, and artists of all sorts. Folklorists usually employ descriptive and analytical prose, but they, like scholars in other social sciences, have increasingly sought new, creative and reflexive modes of discourse. Many folklorists are also creative writers, some well known as such, and the folk traditions they research often provide shape and substance to their work. This collection of creative writing grounded in folklore and its study brings together some of the best examples of such writing.

Contributors to this collection include Teresa Bergen, John Burrison, Norma E. Cantu, Frank de Caro, Holly Everett, Danusha Goska, Neil R. Grobman, Carrie Hertz, Edward Hirsch, Laurel Horton, Rosan Augusta Jordan, Paul Jordan-Smith, Elaine J. Lawless, Cynthia Levee, Jens Lund, Mary Magoulick, Bernard McCarthy, Joanne B. Mulcahy, Kirin Narayan, Ted Olson, Daniel Peretti, Leslie Prosterman, Jo Radner, Susan Stewart, Jeannie Banks Thomas, Jeff Todd Titon, Libby Tucker, Margaret Yocom, and Steve Zeitlin.
Comedy Matters: From Shakespeare to Stoppard

2008
William W. Demastes

Comedy Matters traces the long tradition of the expansive comic embrace of cultural difference and diversity that manages to survive even in some of mankind s darkest moments. Demastes argues that comedy has a hard-nosed, pragmatic dimension that can be mobilized against belligerent cultural forces. Drawing from the works of Shakespeare, Stoppard, and a number of other comic masters, Comedy Matters demonstrates how comedy continues to work against cultural regimentation by striving to re-calibrate our decision-making processes and challenging the stultifying rigidity of human economy in the broadest sense of the term.
Spalding Gray's America

2008
William W. Demastes

Spalding Gray's (1941-2004) career in the theatre spanned one of the most dynamic periods of American history and culture. From the 1960s and into the 21st century, Gray took the stage and mesmerized his audiences with twisted and often hilarious tales about life in America and abroad. Spalding Gray's America traces Gray's life from his work with the famous Performance and Wooster Groups to his career as a storyteller famously presenting captivating monologues in his signature plaid shirt while sitting behind a desk on an otherwise bare stage. His monologues include Sex and Death to the Age 14, Swimming to Cambodia, Gray's Anatomy, Monster in a Box, It's a Slippery Slope, and Morning, Noon and Night. Successful as these monologues were on the stage, many of them have also been converted to feature films, including Swimming to Cambodia, directed by Jonathan Demme, and Gray's Anatomy, directed by Steven Soderbergh. Gray's stories provide a quirky, full-color portrait of America in the last half of what has been famously labeled "the American century." They are poignant, touching, and often troubling, but they're also vividly insightful and invariably funny. Spalding Gray's America captures the essence of Spalding Gray's theatre and storytelling. And it reveals Gray's deep but conflicted passion for the homeland that gave him the opportunity to be a true American original.
Wittgenstein on Rules and Nature

2008
Keith Dromm

The celebrated 20th century philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, developed an interest in his later career in natural forms of behavior, what he calls 'primitive' and 'natural reactions', and the role they play in our linguistic and other intellectual practices.
To many, Wittgenstein appears to be advancing a theory about these practices as originating in natural forms of behavior. However, theories of this sort seem out of place in philosophy, especially in light of Wittgenstein's own expressed views on the purpose of philosophy. Keith Dromm offers a way of understanding these apparently incongruous aspects of Wittgenstein's writings that is more consistent with his views on the proper purpose of philosophy.
The book shows that Wittgenstein does not in fact offer theories about natural human behavior. Rather, these references belong to a type of philosophical reasoning that is not meant to contribute to our knowledge, as explanations in science do, but instead to help clarify our thinking on certain philosophical topics. In particular, they serve to relieve apparent tensions between the things we do know. This book offers a more useful interpretation of a recurring motif in Wittgenstein's later writings that has puzzled many of his readers.
Levinas and Education: At the Intersection of Faith and Reason

2008
Denise Egéa-Keuhne

This first book-length collection on Levinas and education gathers new texts written especially for this volume by an international group of scholars well known for their work in philosophy, educational theory, and on Levinas. It provides an introduction to some of Levinas's major themes of ethics, justice, hope, hospitality, forgiveness and more, as its contributing authors address some fundamental educational issues such as: what it means to be a teacher; what it means to learn from a teacher; the role of language in the curriculum; literature, ethics, and education; moral education and human relations in schools; ethics of responsibility and philosophical-pedagogical discourse; educational hospitality and interculturalism; unconditional responsibility and education; educating for participatory democratic citizenship; the pedagogy of peace; logic, rationality, and ethics; connecting teaching to spirituality.

Levinas always insisted that his aim was not to provide "a program," and accordingly, it is not the intent of the authors to look in Levinas's texts for a set of guidelines, rules, or precepts to be applied to education. Rather, this study invites educators, and researchers in philosophy and philosophy of education, to a thoughtful and critical reading of Levinas, and to engage with his unique style of analysis and questioning as they uncover with these authors the necessity and the possibility of thinking education anew in terms of ethics, justice, responsibility, hope and faith.
Conversations with Ursula K. Le Guin

2008
Carl Howard Freedman

Conversations with Ursula K. Le Guin assembles interviews with the renowned science-fiction and fantasy author of The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, The Lathe of Heaven, and the Earthsea sequence of novels and stories. For nearly five decades, Le Guin (b. 1929) has enjoyed immense success--both critical and popular--in science fiction and fantasy. But she has also published well-received works in such genres as realistic fiction, poetry, children's literature, criticism, and translation. In the pieces collected here, Le Guin takes every interview not as an opportunity to recapitulate long-held views but as an occasion for in-depth intellectual discourse. In interviews spanning over twenty-five years of her literary career, including a previously unpublished piece conducted by the volume's editor, Le Guin talks about such diverse subjects as U.S. foreign policy, the history of architecture, the place of women and feminist consciousness in American literature, and the differences between science fiction and fantasy. Carl Freedman is professor of English at Louisiana State University and is the author of Critical Theory and Science Fiction; The Incomplete Projects: Marxism, Modernity, and the Politics of Culture; and George Orwell: A Study in Ideology and Literary Form.
Verdi and the French Aesthetic: Verse, Stanza, and Melody in the Nineteenth-Century Opera

2008
Andreas Giger

Focusing on Verdi's French operas, Giger shows how the composer acquired an ever better understanding of the various approaches to French versification while gradually bringing his works in line with French melodic aesthetic. In his first French opera, Jérusalem, Verdi treated the text in an overly cautious manner, trying to avoid prosodic mistakes; in Les Vêpres siciliennes he began to apply more freedom, scanning the verses against some prosodic accents to convey the lightheartedness of a melody; and in Don Carlos he finally drew on the entire palette of prosodic interpretations. Most of Verdi's melodic accomplishments in the French operas carried over into the subsequent Italian ones, setting the stage for what later would be called operatic verismo. Drawing attention to the significance of the libretto for the development of nineteenth-century French and Italian opera, this text illustrates Verdi's gradual mastery of the challenges he faced, and their historical significance.
A Delicate Dance: Autoethnography, Curriculum, and the Semblance of Intimacy

2008
Laura M. Jewett

Drawing on data gathered through a three-year autoethnography, A Delicate Dance couples the author's experiences teaching multicultural education and learning to zydeco dance in order to explore semblances of intimacy across self and other. More specifically, the book looks at semblances of intimacy embodied on the dance floor and the implications such intimacy might have for thinking about curriculum and qualitative research. This lively narrative encourages readers to consider what it might mean to envision curriculum as an embodied locale - much like zydeco dancing - where the play of epistemological forces replaces technocratic force; and where students experience the relative weight of desire, fear, and knowledge, the reciprocal touch of self and other, and the mysterious momentum of the semblance of intimacy.
Social and Economic Control of Alcohol: The 21st Amendment in the 21st Century

2008
Carole L. Jurkiewicz

As a toast to success, a drowning of sorrows, a rite of passage, and the fuel for most social activities, alcohol plays a central role in our culture. Alcohol generates nearly $160 billion in US revenues annually and is a major source of tax revenue, making the stakes in the modern debate over its use, misuse, and regulation staggeringly high. Factor in the costs of alcohol-related illness and addiction, alcohol-related deaths, evolving social mores, legal precedents, and increasingly aggressive advertising and marketing and an already controversial subject becomes a heated, vigorous, and complicated battle.

Synthesizing the divergent, interdisciplinary perspectives on alcohol sales, regulation, and consumption into a cohesive whole, Social and Economic Control of Alcohol: The 21st Amendment in the 21st Century draws on the expertise of key academic and legal figures to become the seminal volume in this burgeoning field of inquiry. Amidst a rapidly changing milieu of regulations, cultures, and emotions, it objectively re-examines issues surrounding the regulation and sale of alcohol with unparalleled breadth, depth, and unbiased focus.

The book examines the foundation and basis for our current regulatory policy and how that foundation has shifted dramatically with changes in the law, marketing, consumer influence, and the impact of alcohol on society. With strong and relevant comparisons to historical studies and evaluations of past legislation, this book presents a critical analysis and definition of concepts and applications regarding alcohol control.

Double-blind, peer-reviewed contributions outline specific concerns related to the development of new laws and policies, and consider how those policies may affect individuals, organizations, law, and society in general. Highlighting current findings and trends, this volume allows for a better understanding of the potential correlation and causal relationship between regulation, sales, and consumption patterns.
Handbook of Research on Computer Mediated Communication

2008
Sigrid Kelsey

Technology has changed communication drastically in recent years, facilitating the speed and ease of communicating, and also redefining and shaping linguistics, etiquette, and social communication norms.""The Handbook of Research on Computer Mediated Communication"" provides academics and practitioners with an authoritative collection of research on the implications and social effects computers have had on communication. With 65 chapters of innovative research compiled in this comprehensive reference source, this handbook of research is a must-have addition to every library collection.
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and Related Tales

2008
J. Gerald Kennedy

Edgar Allan Poe's only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket is a pivotal work in which Poe calls attention to the act of writing and to the problem of representing the truth. It is an archetypal American story of escape from domesticity tracing a young man's rite of passage through a series of terrible brushes with death during a fateful sea voyage. Included are eight related tales which further illuminate Pym by their treatment of persistent themes--fantastic voyages, gigantic whirlpools, and premature burials--as well as its relationship to Poe's art and life.
Applied Tribology: Bearing Design and Lubrication

2008
Michael M. Khonsari

Applications of tribological technology in bearings are wide and varied in industries ranging from aerospace, marine and automotive to power, process, petrochemical and construction. Applied Tribology, 2nd edition not only covers tribology in bearings but demonstrates the same principles for other machine components, such as piston pins, piston rings and hydrostatic lifts, as well as in more recent technologies such as gas bearings in high-speed machines and computer read-write devices.

Maintaining a balance between theoretical analysis and practical experience with co-authors from academia and industry, this new edition is significantly revised and expanded with new material. Features include;

* Two brand new chapters on seals and bearing failure modes and bearing health monitoring techniques

* Coverage of new developments in full-film, dry, and partial lubrication; gas bearings; and ball and roller bearings

* Design guides based on full Reynolds equation that enable accurate prediction of load capacity, power loss, temperature rise

* Comprehensive presentation of important design factors involving material and lubricants.

* State-of-the-art presentation and up-to-date references of pertinent scientific and applied topics in tribology

* Numerous examples that reinforce the understanding of concepts and provide procedures for the design and performance analysis of components

Applied Tribology, 2nd edition provides a valuable and authoritative resource for mechanical engineering professionals working in a wide range of industries with machinery including turbines, compressors, motors, electrical appliances & electronic components. Senior and graduate students in mechanical engineering will also find it a useful text and reference.
Louisiana Culture from the Colonial Era to Katrina

2008
John Lowe

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson acquired 828,000 square miles of French territory in what became known as the Louisiana Purchase. Although today Louisiana makes up only a small portion of this immense territory, this exceptional state embraces a larger-than-life history and a cultural blend unlike any other in the nation. Louisiana Culture from the Colonial Era to Katrina, a collection of fourteen essays compiled and edited by John Lowe, captures all of the flavor and richness of the state's heritage, illuminating how Louisiana, despite its differences from the rest of the United States, is a microcosm of key national concerns--including regionalism, race, politics, immigration, global connections, folklore, musical traditions, ethnicity, and hybridity.

Divided into five parts, the volume opens with an examination of Louisiana's origins, with pieces on Native Americans, French and German explorers, and slavery. Two very different but complementary essays follow with investigations into the ongoing attempts to define Creoles and creolization. No collection on Louisiana would be complete without attention to its remarkable literary traditions, and several contributors offer tantalizing readings of some of the Pelican State's most distinguished writers--a dazzling array of artists any state would be proud to claim. The volume also includes pieces on a couple of eccentric mythologies distinct to Louisiana and explorations of Louisiana's unique musical heritage.

Throughout, the international slate of contributors explores the idea of place, particularly the concept of Louisiana as the center of the Caribbean wheel, where Cajuns, Creoles, Cubans, Haitians, Jamaicans, and others are part of a New World configuration, connected by their linguistic identity, landscape and climate, religion, and French and Spanish heritage. A poignant conclusion considers the devastating impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and what the storms mean for Louisiana's cultural future.

A rich portrait of Louisiana culture, this volume stands as a reminder of why that culture must be preserved.
Clinical Assessment and Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders

2008
Johnny L. Matson

Autism spectrum disorder has received increasing research in recent years, with more information on assessment and treatment than can be readily assimilated from primary literature by clinicians. Clinical Assessment and Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders summarizes evidence-based assessments and intervention for Autism across the life-span, providing clinicians with a practical overview of how best to assess and treat this disorder. The book begins with a discussion of what warrants a determination of being "evidence based" and a description of the disorder from a life span perspective. The book also provides a chapter on differential diagnosis of autism relative to other disorders. What follows are separate sections on assessment and intervention. These chapters discuss first how to assess and then separately how to treat behavioral problems, communication and social skills issues, academic and vocational skills, and the use of pharmacology and an assessment of possible pharmacological effects. Intended for practitioners assessing and treating children with developmental delays, the book provides clinicians with best practices for assessing and treating delays associated with autism. Covers the full range of Autism Spectrum Disorders Covers the lifespan Focuses on evidence-based assessment and treatment.
Realism, Photography, and Nineteenth-Century Fiction

2008
Daniel Akiva Novak

This fascinating account of the relationship between photography and literary realism in Victorian Britain draws on detailed readings of photographs, writings about photography, and fiction by Charles Dickens, George Eliot and Oscar Wilde. While other critics have argued that photography defined what would be 'real' for literary fiction, Daniel A. Novak demonstrates that photography itself was associated with the unreal - with fiction and the literary imagination. Once we acknowledge that manipulation was essential rather than incidental to the project of nineteenth-century realism, our understanding of the relationship between photography and fiction changes in important ways. Novak argues that while realism may seem to make claims to particularity and individuality, both in fiction and in photography, it relies much more on typicality than on perfect reproduction. Illustrated with many photographs, this book represents an important contribution to current debates on the nature of Victorian realism.