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

Touching the Web of Southern Novelists

2006
David Madden

David Madden is one of the South's most notable contemporary writers. His interests are remarkably vast. He has published award-winning fiction, poetry, plays, critical works, and essays on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from history to popular culture. This collection represents Madden's essays on various other southern writers and his own struggle to come to terms with how the works and lives of these writers have influenced his own life and work.By analyzing the charged image of the spider web, as described in chapter four of Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men, Madden shows that it is a central symbol for his involvement with the interconnected, complex tradition of contemporary southern literature. Touching the Web of Southern Novelists brings together essays on Faulkner, Warren, McCullers, Wolfe, Agee, and a new essay on Evelyn Scott. More than a collection of criticism, the book explores, in overlapping, far-reaching ways, how influence works its way through the southern literary tradition. It also includes an unusually detailed index.Two of the common elements in the essays are the dynamics and consequences of the relationship of an ostensible hero to his or her witnesses and the art of fiction, especially in the technique of using a charged image-a term that Madden invented. Another element is the overwhelming, if sometimes hidden, effect of the Civil War upon southern fiction. Madden provocatively argues that no northerner can write a "true" Civil War novel. All Southern fiction comes out of the Civil War, he argues, and that Absalom, Absalom! is the best Civil War novel because of its complex implications-not because it is overtly about the war.Perhaps most powerful because of its semi-autobiographical nature, Touching the Web of Southern Novelists will appeal to anyone with an interest in literary studies and how art and life in southern novels are entwined with each other-caught in a web.
Early Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Critical Analysis

2006
Johnny L. Matson

Early Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders is the first in a series aimed at addressing the rapidly expanding field of assessment and treatment of children with mental health issues and/or development disabilities. Early Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders is aimed at the researcher of practitioner who works with those young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. In addition to covering major research developments in differential diagnosis and early intervention, the author's provide a critical review and analysis of core concept that define this area.

The first chapter of the book reviews the development of definitions of autism along with early methods for diagnosing this area of developmental disabilities. Chapter two covers some of the most discussed theories of etiology along with a review of prevalence and the author's opinions on why the number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder has increased markedly in recent years. A chapter on the most commonly used assessment methods and a critique of the psychometric properties of each is followed by three chapters on treatment. We have broken the treatment chapters down based on type of intervention. The first treatment chapter covers specific target behaviors or small sets of behaviors. A second chapter covers training for the packaged comprehensive treatment models with particular emphasis on the TEACCH, UCLA-YAP and the University of California Santa Barbara Autism Research and Training Program. Each of these programs gives a unique perspective on treatment for these young children. The final treatment chapter covers the recent developments in pharmacotherapy for autism spectrum disorder, with a critical analysis and review of the data.

We hope the overview presented proves to be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the field. We present one perspective on this exciting and innovative area of research and treatment. Hopefully, it will serve as one useful source to those who wish to provide the most up to date evidence based intervention to these young developmentally challenged children.
Understanding the Medieval Meditative Ascent: Augustine, Anselm, Boethius, & Dante

2006
Robert McMahon

The Confessions, Proslogion, and Consolation of Philosophy, likethe Divine Comedy, all enact Platonist ascents. Each has a pilgrimfigure, guided dialogically on a journey of understanding. Each rises toprogressively higher levels of understanding and culminates in asupreme intellectual vision. The higher levels contain and surpassearlier understandings and thereby reconfigure them, but implicitly, forthe questing pilgrim rarely stops to reflect on the stages of his ascent.Augustine's conclusions about time in book 11, for example, embracememory as time past, but he does not reconsider his account ofmemory in book 10 from this new perspective. He left these for hisreader's meditation, as a spiritual exercise. In this way, a Platonistascent generates implied meditative meanings, which scholars haveexplored only in part.
Performance Tests for Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Including Fundamental and Empirical Procedures

2006
Louay Nadhim Mohammad

ASTM Committee D04 on Road and Paving Materials is active in sponsoring symposia and the publication of technical papers related to the standardization work of the Committee. This STP, Performance Tests for Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA), Including Fundamental and Empirical Procedures, resulted from the Committee D04 Symposium held on December 9, 2003, at the ASTM Standards Development Meeting in Tampa, Florida. This critical topic was chosen to provide practitioners with a forum to discuss the development, application, and field experience of both empirically and mechanistically based performance test procedures for use in HMA mixture design and quality control. This volume provides a collection of research and practical papers from international as well as state agency research and technology activities on the use of performance tests for HMA mixture design and field control, and includes 13 papers accepted for presentation at the symposium.
The Radon Transform, Inverse Problems, and Tomography

2006
Gestur Ólafsson

Since their emergence in 1917, tomography and inverse problems remain active and important fields that combine pure and applied mathematics and provide strong interplay between diverse mathematical problems and applications. The applied side is best known for medical and scientific use, in particular, medical imaging, radiotherapy, and industrial non-destructive testing. Doctors use tomography to see the internal structure of the body or to find functional information, such as metabolic processes, noninvasively. Scientists discover defects in objects, the topography of the ocean floor, and geological information using X-rays, geophysical measurements, sonar, or other data.This volume, based on the lectures in the Short Course The Radon Transform and Applications to Inverse Problems at the American Mathematical Society meeting in Atlanta, GA, January 3-4, 2005, brings together articles on mathematical aspects of tomography and related inverse problems. The articles cover introductory material, theoretical problems, and practical issues in 3-D tomography, impedance imaging, local tomography, wavelet methods, regularization and approximate inverse, sampling, and emission tomography. All contributions are written for a general audience, and the authors have included references for further reading.
The Portable Edgar Allan Poe

2006
Edgar Allan Poe

The Portable Edgar Allan Poe compiles Poe's greatest writings- tales of fantasy, terror, death, revenge, murder, and mystery, including "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Masque of the Red Death," and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," the world's first detective story. In addition, this volume offers letters, articles, criticism, visionary poetry, and a selection of random "opinions" on fancy and the imagination, music and poetry, intuition and sundry other topics.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
A Dictionary of Continental Philosophy

2006
John Protevi

A comprehensive reference work of notoriously difficult concepts and themes in continental philosophy

With over 450 definitions and articles by an international team of specialists, this comprehensive dictionary covers the thinkers, topics, and technical terms associated with the many intersecting fields known as continental philosophy. Special care has been taken to explain complex ideas, methods, and figures. Entries strive for clarity and concision, offering helpful definitions and sober, reliable accounts of key concepts. Professionals, students, and general readers alike will find the dictionary an invaluable reference tool and a treasured addition to the library shelf.

Key features include:

· in-depth entries on major figures and topics

· over 190 shorter articles on other figures and topics

· over 250 items on technical terms used by continental thinkers, from "abjection" (Kristeva) to "worldhood" (Heidegger)

· coverage of related subjects that use continental terms and methods

· extensive cross-referencing, allowing readers to relate and pursue ideas in depth
Read On...Horror Fiction

2006
June Michele Pulliam

Hundreds of popular horror fiction titles are described and categorized according to their underlying appeal features, and under topics and themes you'll never find in the library catalog: the plot thickens (complex plots), fear factors (truly terrifying), big city horror, over-the-top weirdos, and many other themes that appeal to horror readers and fans.
Use these unconventional, sometimes whimsical reading lists to identify read-alikes rooted in shared appeal features or in the specific characteristics on which the lists are based. Post individual lists on your library Web site, put them in your newsletter, or use them for patron handouts to encourage circulation and reading. Horror fiction readers and fans looking for new reading material will enjoy browsing through this book and using it to create checklists or reading plans. Readers' advisors who wish to better acquaint themselves with the genre and its newer publications, particularly in terms of appeal features, will find a treasury of ideas here as well.

Looking for a new way to find suggestions for readers seeking that great new horror read? How about some fresh ideas for that Halloween horror fiction display? You've come to the right place.
Read On...Horror Fiction categorizes hundreds of popular horror fiction titles--not according to standard subgenres and themes, but according to their underlying appeal features, and under topics and themes you'll never find in the library catalog. Choose the plot thickens (complex plots), I'm too sexy for my fangs (erotic horror), graffiti and gore (big city horror), favorite monsters, or any of the many other themes that appeal to horror readers and fans.
The book includes approximately 350 of the best and most current horror fiction titles, and a few popular classics as well, offering bibliographic information and brief, punchy plot summaries designed to spark reader interest and capture the appeal connection. These unconventional, sometimes whimsical reading lists can be used to identify read-alikes rooted in shared appeal features or in the specific characteristics on which the lists are based. Post specific lists on your library Web site, put them in your newsletter, or use them for patron handouts to encourage circulation and reading.
Horror fiction readers and fans looking for new reading material will enjoy browsing through this book, and using it to create checklists or reading plans. Readers' advisors who wish to better acquaint themselves with the genre and its newer publications, particularly in terms of appeal features, will find a treasury of ideas here as well. Libraries may wish to order multiple copies--one for the readers' advisor and reference desk and one to the circulating collection. desk, and one for the circulating collection.
Methods in Microbiology, Volume 35: Extremophiles

2006
Fred A. Rainey

This latest volume in the Methods in Microbiology series provides an overview of the methods used for the isolation, cultivation and handling of a wide variety of extremophiles, both at the stage of their isolation from natural samples and in pure culture. It contains protocols specific for work with extremophiles, as well as adaptations of “standard microbiology protocols modified to enable the handling of extremophiles. Emphasis will be on detailed time-tested protocols that are specific for work with extremophiles and adaptations of “standard microbiology protocols that have to be modified to be suitable for handling extremophiles.
Republicanism, Religion, and the Soul of America

2006
Ellis Sandoz

As debates rage over the place of faith in our national life, Tocqueville's nineteenth-century crediting of religion for shaping America is largely overlooked today. Now, in Republicanism, Religion, and the Soul of America, Ellis Sandoz reveals the major role that Protestant Christianity played in the formation and early period of the American republic. Sandoz traces the rise of republican government from key sources in Protestant civilization, paying particular attention to the influence of the Bible on the Founders and the blossoming of the American mind in the eighteenth century. Sandoz analyzes the religious debt of the emergent American community and its elevation of the individual person as unique in the eyes of the Creator. He shows that the true distinction of American republicanism lies in its grounding of human dignity in spiritual individualism and an understanding of man's capacity for self-government under providential guidance. Along the way, he addresses such topics as the neglected question of the education of the Founders for their unique endeavor, common law constitutionalism, the place of Latin and Greek classics in the Founders' thought, and the texture of religious experience from the Great Awakening to the Declaration of Independence To establish a unifying theoretical perspective for his study, Sandoz considers the philosophical underpinnings of religion and the contribution that Eric Voegelin made to our understanding of religious experience. He contributes fresh studies of the character of Voegelin's thought: its relationship to Christianity; his debate with Leo Strauss over reason, revelation, and the meaning of philosophy; and the theory of Gnosticism as basic to radical modernity. He also provides a powerful account of the spirit of Voegelin's later writings, contrasting the political scientist with the meditative spiritualist and offering new insight into volume 5 of Order and History . Republicanism, Religion, and the Soul of America concludes with timely reflections on the epoch now unfolding in the shadow of Islamic jihadism. Bringing a wide range of materials into a single volume, it confronts current academic concerns with religion while offering new insight into the construction of the American polity--and the heart of Americanism as we know it today.
Beliefs and Leadership in World Politics: Methods and Applications of Operational Code Analysis

2006
Mark Schafer

Focusing on how policy makers make decisions in foreign policy, this book examines how beliefs are causal mechanisms which steer decisions, shape leaders and perceptions of reality, and lead to cognitive and motivated biases that distort, block and recast incoming information from the environment.
Above the Age of Reason: Miracles and Wonders in the Long Eighteenth Century

2006
Matthew Smith

This final volume in the subseries is a coda to the 1731 campaigns. Paid for by Walpole's administration and postdating Francklin's conviction for seditious libel, the pamphlet is a point-by-point rebuttal of the Craftsman's agenda, blistering and confident.
Interpreting Nikolai Gogol within Russian Orthodoxy: A Neglected Influence on the First Great Russian Novelist

2006
Leonard J. Stanton

Presents a tripartite thesis - that the Orthodox religion (though not Russian Orthodox) functions as a sub-text throughout Gogol's work; that Gogol works were of a moralist vein; and that Gogol's torch was passed not to Russian Orthodox writers, but to Jewish writers of Yiddish tales.
Dante's Pluralism and the Islamic Philosophy of Religion

2006
Gregory B. Stone

This book explores the Islamic roots of the Western values of tolerance and religious pluralism, and considers Dante from the perspective of the Arab-Islamic philosophical tradition. It examines the relations between Islamic and Western thought, the historical origins of Western values, and the tradition of tolerance in classical Islamic thought.
Dante's Pluralism and the Islamic Philosophy of Religion

2006
Gregory B. Stone

This book explores the Islamic roots of the Western values of tolerance and religious pluralism, and considers Dante from the perspective of the Arab-Islamic philosophical tradition. It examines the relations between Islamic and Western thought, the historical origins of Western values, and the tradition of tolerance in classical Islamic thought.
Econometric Analysis of Financial and Economic Time Series: Part A

2006
Dek Terrell and R. Carter Hill

The editors are pleased to offer the following papers to the reader in recognition and appreciation of the contributions to our literature made by Robert Engle and Sir Clive Granger, winners of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Economics. The basic themes of this part of "Volume 20 of Advances in Econometrics" are time varying betas of the capital asset pricing model, analysis of predictive densities of nonlinear models of stock returns, modelling multivariate dynamic correlations, flexible seasonal time series models, estimation of long-memory time series models, the application of the technique of boosting in volatility forecasting, the use of different time scales in GARCH modelling, out-of-sample evaluation of the Fed Model in stock price valuation, structural change as an alternative to long memory, the use of smooth transition auto-regressions in stochastic volatility modelling, the analysis of the balanced-ness of regressions analyzing Taylor-Type rules of the Fed Funds rate, a mixture-of-experts approach for the estimation of stochastic volatility, a modern assessment of Clives first published paper on Sunspot activity, and a new class of models of tail-dependence in time series subject to jumps. This series aids in the diffusion of new econometric techniques. Emphasis is placed on expositional clarity and ease of assimilation for readers who are unfamiliar with a given topic of a volume. It illustrates new concepts.
Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery Approaches Based on Rule Induction Techniques

2006
Evangelos Triantaphyllou

This book outlines the core theory and practice of data mining and knowledge discovery (DM & KD) examining theoretical foundations for various methods, and presenting an array of examples, many drawn from real-life applications. Most theoretical developments are accompanied by extensive empirical analysis, offering a deep insight into both theoretical and practical aspects of the subject. The book presents the combined research experiences of 40 expert contributors of world renown.
Autobiographical Reflections

2006
Eric Voegelin and Ellis Sandoz

The thirty-fourth volume of The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin consists of Voegelin's Autobiographical Reflections , reprinted from the 1989 edition with additional annotations; a glossary of terms used in Voegelin's writings, illustrated with examples from throughout the Collected Works ; a volume index; and a cumulative index. The last covers the entire edition, apart from The History of Political Ideas, which has its own index, and volumes 29 and 30, the Selected Correspondence , which are at present not published. The glossary lists, defines, and illustrates from the author's writings many of the key terms employed, paying particular attention to the Greek terms. The cumulative index supplies a more comprehensive access to the contents of the entire Collected Works. Together, the glossary and index systematically include names, subjects, ideas, writings, and terms, making this culminating volume an indispensable help for any serious study of Eric Voegelin's oeuvre.
Advances in Damage Mechanics: Metals and Metal Matrix Composites with an Introduction to Fabric Tensors

2006
George Z. Voyiadjis and Peter I. Kattan

The book presents the principles of Damage Mechanics along with the latest research findings. Both isotropic and anisotropic damage mechanisms are presented. Various damage models are presented coupled with elastic and elasto-plastic behavior. The book includes two chapters that are solely dedicated to experimental investigations conducted by the authors. In its last chapter, the book presents experimental data for damage in composite materials that appear in the literature for the first time.
The Coupled Theory of Mixtures in Geo-Mechanics with Applications

2006
George Z. Voyiadjis and Chung R. Song

Geomaterials consist of a mixture of solid particles and void space that may be ?lled with ?uid and gas. The solid particles may be di?erent in sizes, shapes, and behavior; and the pore liquid may have various physical and chemical properties. Hence, physical, chemical or electrical interaction - tween the solid particles and pore ?uid or gas may take place. Therefore, the geomaterials in general must be considered a mixture or a multiphase material whose state is described by physical quantities in each phase. The stresses carried by the solid skeleton are typically termed "e?ective stress" while the stresses carried by the pore liquid are termed "pore pressure. " The summation of the e?ective stress and pore pressure is termed "total stress" (Terzaghi, 1943). For a free drainage condition or completely undrained c- dition, the pore pressure change is zero or depends only on the initial stress condition; it does not depend on the skeleton response to external forces. Therefore, a single phase description of soil behavior is adequate. For an intermediate condition, however, some ?ow (pore pressure leak) may take place while the force is applied and the skeleton is under deformation. Due to the leak of pore pressure, the pore pressure changes with time, and the e?ective stress changes and the skeleton deforms with time accordingly. The solution of this intermediate condition, therefore, requires a multi-phase c- tinuum formulations that may address the interaction of solid skeleton and pore liquid interaction.
Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long

2006
Richard Downing White

From the moment he took office as governor in 1928 to the day an assassin's bullet cut him down in 1935, Huey Long wielded all but dictatorial control over the state of Louisiana. A man of shameless ambition and ruthless vindictiveness, Long orchestrated elections, hired and fired thousands at will, and deployed the state militia as his personal police force. And yet, paradoxically, as governor and later as senator, Long did more good for the state's poor and uneducated than any politician before or since. Outrageous demagogue or charismatic visionary? In this powerful new biography, Richard D. White, Jr., brings Huey Long to life in all his blazing, controversial glory. White taps invaluable new source material to present a fresh, vivid portrait of both the man and the Depression era that catapulted him to fame. From his boyhood in dirt-poor Winn Parish, Long knew he was destined for power--the problem was how to get it fast enough to satisfy his insatiable appetite. With cunning and crudity unheard of in Louisiana politics, Long crushed his opponents in the 1928 gubernatorial race, then immediately set about tightening his iron grip. The press attacked him viciously, the oil companies howled for his blood after he pushed through a controversial oil processing tax, but Long had the adulation of the people. In 1930, the Kingfish got himself elected senator, and then there was no stopping him. White's account of Long's heyday unfolds with the mesmerizing intensity of a movie. Pegged by President Roosevelt as "one of the two most dangerous men in the country," Long organized a radical movement to redistribute money through his Share Our Wealth Society--and his gospel of pensions for all, a shorter workweek, and free college spread like wildfire. The Louisiana poor already worshiped him for building thousands of miles of roads and funding schools, hospitals, and universities; his outrageous antics on the Senate floor gained him a growing national base. By 1935, despite a barrage of corruption investigations, Huey Long announced that he was running for president. In the end, Long was a tragic hero--a power addict who squandered his genius and came close to destroying the very foundation of democratic rule. Kingfish is a balanced, lucid, and absolutely spellbinding portrait of the life and times of the most incendiary figure in the history of American politics.
Modern Baptists: A Novel

2006
James Wilcox

Universally and repeatedly praised ever since it first appeared in 1983, Modern Baptists is the book that launched novelist James Wilcox's career and debuted the endearingly daft community of Tula Springs, Louisiana. It's the tale of Bobby Pickens, assistant manager of Sonny Boy Bargain Store, who gains a new lease on life, though he almost comes to regret it. Bobby's handsome half brother F.X. -- ex-con, ex-actor, and ex-husband three times over -- moves in, and things go awry all over town. Mistaken identities; entangled romances with Burma, Toinette, and Donna Lee; assault and battery; charges of degeneracy; a nervous breakdown -- it all comes to a head at a Christmas Eve party in a cabin on a poisoned swamp. This is sly, madcap romp that offers readers the gift of abundant laughter.
Modern Baptists was included in Harold Bloom's The Western Canon, in GQ magazine's forty-fifth anniversary issue as one of the best works of fiction in the past forty-five years, and among Toni Morrison's "favorite works by unsung writers" in U.S. News and World Report.
Using Computers in Educationals and Psychological Research: Using Information Technologies to Support the Research Process

2006
Jerry W. Willis
Saving the Nation: Economic Modernity in Republican China

2006
Margherita Zanasi

Economic modernity is so closely associated with nationhood that it is impossible to imagine a modern state without an equally modern economy. Even so, most people would have difficulty defining a modern economy and its connection to nationhood. In Saving the Nation, Margherita Zanasi explores this connection by examining the first nation-building attempt in China after the fall of the empire in 1911.

Challenging the assumption that nations are products of technological and socioeconomic forces, Zanasi argues that it was notions of what constituted a modern nation that led the Nationalist nation-builders to shape China's institutions and economy. In their reform effort, they confronted several questions: What characterized a modern economy? What role would a modern economy play in the overall nation-building effort? And how could China pursue economic modernization while maintaining its distinctive identity? Zanasi expertly shows how these questions were negotiated and contested within the Nationalist Party. Silenced in the Mao years, these dilemmas are reemerging today as a new leadership once again redefines the economic foundation of the nation.
Market Reform in Society: Post-Crisis Politics and Economic Change in Authoritarian Peru

2005
Moisés Arce

Going beyond the usual state-centric approach to the study of the politics of neoliberal reform, Moisés Arce emphasizes the importance of understanding the interaction between state reformers and collective actors in society. In Market Reform in Society he helpfully focuses our attention on how various societal groups are affected by different types of reform and how their responses in turn affect the state's subsequent pursuit of reform.

As a country characterized by strong state autonomy and widespread disintegration of civil society and representative institutions during the 1990s when Alberto Fujimori was president, Peru serves as an excellent case for examining how collective actors can succeed in influencing the reform process. Arce compares reforms in three areas: taxation, pension privatization, and social-sector programs in poverty alleviation and health decentralization. Differences in the concentration or dispersion of costs and benefits, he shows, affected incentives for groups to form and engage in collective action for supporting, opposing, or modifying the reforms.