In Performance and Femininity, Arons examines a series of texts by eighteenth-century German women in order to illuminate how women writers of the time used theater and performance both to investigate female subjectivity and to intervene in the dominant cultural discourse of femininity. Arons's study focuses on works featuring heroines who, for the most part—like their authors—lead lives with public dimensions, primarily by working as actresses. The texts she chooses all call attention to the difficulties that the eighteenth-century conception of the self as sincere and antitheatrical presented for women. By highlighting the fact that the social audience that determines a woman's reputation is almost always a fickle and untrustworthy "reader" of female subjectivity, these works expose the untenable position into which the discourse of sincerity placed women, paradoxically requiring them to perform the very naiveté that was, by definition, not supposed to be performable. Arons's original argument takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from the fields of literary criticism, cultural studies, theatre history, and performance studies, and reveals how these women writers exposed ideal femininity as an impossible act, even as they attempted to reproduce that act in their writing and in their lives.

*In Stock*

*Reading & Book Signing: Tuesday, Nov. 17, 4:30pm-5:30pm at the University Bookstore*

Item: 140397329

From Carnegie Mellon's own Studio for Creative Inquiry comes this beautiful new book of local photographs!

You may know the landscape of Pittsburgh by its hills, rivers, roads, buildings, and trees, but the eye is strongly drawn to the text and symbols of the signs that comfort with familiarity, that irritate you with their distractions, that please you with their symmetry, or that illustrate the economic condition of a neighborhood. Signs are always trying to say something. Signs make our spaces a mongrelization of type-styles, graphics, and fashions: The futuristic becomes the modern becomes the dated becomes the retro. The passage of time provides the subtexts of rust, faded paint, and delamination. Signs are necessarily brash, democratic, and confessional. But I've said too much. Let the signs speak for themselves.

The Pittsburgh Signs Project invited photographers from the 14 counties of southwestern Pennsylvania to submit images and comments and the result is Pittsburgh Signs Project: 250 Signs of Western Pennsylvania, a full-color book showcasing the signs of our region, past and present. Published by Carnegie Mellon University Press, the project was made possible in part by a grant from Pittsburgh 250 Community Connections.

*In Stock*

Item: 088748510

Jerr Boschee's book covers the basic principles of social entrepreneurship, typical outcomes experienced by the pioneers in the field, some common stakeholder concerns, the single greatest obstacle for nonprofits adopting or expanding entrepreneurial strategies, and 14 critical success factors. The book also contains "A Practical Lexicon for Social Entrepreneurs" that defines more than 80 key terms (often in the form of mini-tutorials) and a selected print and electronic bibliography (the electronic entries are annotated).

*In Stock*

*Lecture & Book Signing: Monday, Nov. 23, 4:30pm, Porter Hall 100*

Item: 097775100

In this stunning follow-up to the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown demonstrates once again why he is the world’s most popular thriller writer. The Lost Symbol is a masterstroke of storytelling--a deadly race through a real-world labyrinth of codes, secrets, and unseen truths...all under the watchful eye of Brown’s most terrifying villain to date. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol accelerates through a startling landscape toward an unthinkable finale.

As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object--artfully encoded with five symbols--is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation...one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon’s beloved mentor, Peter Solomon--a prominent Mason and philanthropist--is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations--all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.

As the world discovered in The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, Dan Brown’s novels are brilliant tapestries of veiled histories, arcane symbols, and enigmatic codes. In this new novel, he again challenges readers with an intelligent, lightning-paced story that offers surprises at every turn. The Lost Symbol is exactly what Brown’s fans have been waiting for...his most thrilling novel yet.

*In Stock*

Item: 038550422

Staging Stigma is a captivating excursion into the bizarre world of the American freak show. Chemers critically examines several key moments of a performance tradition in which the truth is often stranger than the fiction. Grounded in meticulous historical research and cultural criticism, Chemers' analysis reveals untold stories of freaks that will change the way we understand both performance and disability in America. This book is a must-have for serious students of freakery or anyone who is curious about the hidden side of American theatrical history.

*In Stock*

*Reading & Book Signing: Tuesday, Nov. 17, 4:30pm-5:30pm at the University Bookstore*

Item: 023061066

Doug Cooper has created a 2010 calendar, which features some of his many images of Pittsburgh. These panoramic views mix details of contemporary life with historic time, showing neighborhood scenes against a background of such iconic places as Forbes Field and the J&L Mill. This 10" x 14" calendar is beautifully printed in a format that captures all the details of Pittsburgh's rich history that Cooper includes in his well-known Pittsburgh murals. It provides a mural for each month!

*In Stock*

Item: 088748514

The first book published by the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Ron Donoughe's Essence of Pittsburgh: The Paintings of Ron Donoughe in the Plein Air Style shows the diverse texture and character of the Western Pennsylvania landscape through the eyes of a painter. The book serves as a time capsule of our region. The 140-page, full-color book contains a foreword by Barbara L. Jones, curator, Westmoreland Museum of American Art, and an essay, "The Roots of Plein Air Painting in Pittsburgh," by Frank J. Kurtik and Gary Grimes. It also features an appendix containing a thumbnail of each painting, along with comments by the artist regarding the stories behind it.

*In Stock*

Item: 096374334

In the sports world, the coach is a person of high status but with voice and speech coaches, this is not always the case. Janet Madelle Feindel has honed her career by developing a program of teaching and coaching than brings the work of the voice trainer to the presidium.

Over the last thirty years, there have been great strides in voice training in a number of areas but sadly, directors have often been unaware of these strides.

The author shows that the study of the voice and speech as well as the Alexander technique for the director should be an integral part of the director's training. Feindel provides an overview of basic voice and speech production, the Alexander and ways to integrate these principles into the rehearsal process and methods for working most effectively with voice and speech/Alexander coaches.

The Thought Propels the Sound is a must book for directors and directing students but also for voice and dialect coaches, Alexander teachers, medical specialists, speech pathologists, actors and singers and anyone interested in the performers voice in the theatre.

*In Stock*

*Reading & Book Signing: Tuesday, Nov. 17, 4:30pm-5:30pm at the University Bookstore*

Item: 159756206

Interaction Designers—whether practicing as Usability Engineers, Visual Interface Designers, or Information Architects—attempt to understand and shape human behavior in order to design products that are at once usable, useful, and desirable. Although the value of design is now recognized as essential to product development, the field is often misunderstood by managers and other team members, who don’t understand a designer’s role in a team. This can cause inefficient and ineffective products.

Thoughts on Interaction Design gives individuals engaged in this profession the dialogue to justify their work to other stakeholders. It provides a framework upon which to build intellectual discourse, and it substantiates the rigorous and unique nature of interaction design work. Ultimately, the text exists to provide a definition that encompasses the intellectual facets of the field, the conceptual underpinnings of interaction design as a legitimate human-centered field, and the particular methods used by practitioners in their day to day experiences.

*In Stock*

*Lecture & Book Signing: Wed. November 18, 4:00pm, Newell Simon Hall 1305 (Michael Mauldin Auditorium)*

Item: 012378624

Breaking new ground in the field of Black Freedom Studies, Grassroots at the Gateway reveals how urban black working-class communities, cultures, and institutions propelled the major African American social movements in the period between the Great Depression and the end of the Great Society. Using the city of St. Louis in the border state of Missouri as a case study, author Clarence Lang undermines the notion that a unified "black community" engaged in the push for equality, justice, and respect. Instead, black social movements of the working class were distinct from---and at times in conflict with---those of the middle class. This richly researched book delves into African American oral histories, records of activist individuals and organizations, archives of the black advocacy press, and even the records of the St. Louis' economic power brokers whom local black freedom fighters challenged. Grassroots at the Gateway charts the development of this race-class divide, offering an uncommon reading of not only the civil rights movement but also the emergence and consolidation of a black working class.

*In Stock*

*Lecture & Book Signing: Friday, Nov. 20, 4:30pm, Baker Hall*

Item: 047205065