On the scholarly tip

Now that I have a job for next year....

things are getting back to normal.

I have two courses on the schedule for the fall term. One of them has already filled up, and the other is nearly half full.

If you get a chance, get to your library and check out the latest issue of the Journal of Popular Culture. There are two comics related articles. The one I read deals with a comparison between WWII and post-9/11 comics and the themes they utilized to convey the national mission afterwards. The author refers to them as "children's propaganda," and I have a quibble regarding the target audience for comcis these days, but other than that it is a good article.

The other, on the masculinity of the superheroes body, well let's just say I let that one go on by.

A good book that you probably won't want to read is Michael Hogan's Cross of Iron. It is all about foreign policy and political ideology in the early Cold War. It is superbly researched but reaches near 500 pages of text (hence the part where you shouldn't want to read it).

A good book that you should read is Bernard Lewis's A Crisis of Islam. It is a quick overview of Islamic history that hits the high point related to the War on Terror and Osama bin Laden. Very well-written and brief, coming in at aroun 170 pages. Lewis is legend.