J. Hoberman '71 has published The Magic Hour: Film at Fin de Siecle (Temple University Press, 2003). "The 'magic hour' is the name film-makers give the pre-dusk late afternoon, when anything photographed can be bathed in a melancholy golden light," reads the publisher's description. "A similar mood characterized the movies of the 1990s, occasioned by cinema's 1995-96 centennial and the waning of the twentieth century, as well as the decline of cinephilia and the seemingly universal triumph of Hollywood. The Magic Hour: Film at Fin de Si�cle anthologizes J. Hoberman's movie reviews, cultural criticism, and political essays, published in The Village Voice, Artforum, and elsewhere during the period bracketed by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the World Trade Towers." In a review in The New York Times, Ted Loos wrote: "In his new collection of criticism from The Village Voice and other publications, J. Hoberman comes across as one of the few film writers whose work has no expiration date. It may even be better read after the fact because he takes the long view every time."

Hoberman, the lead film critic for The Village Voice since 1986 and an adjunct professor of cinema at Cooper Union, is the author of six other books about film. In addition, he has co-curated several museum exhibitions, most recently "Entertaining America: Jews, Movies, Broadcasting," an innovative media-driven show at the Jewish Museum in New York.

David R. Segal '62 has published a reissue of his book Recruiting for Uncle Sam: Citizenship and Military Manpower Policy (University Press of Kansas, 2002). Choice magazine called it "Required reading for those involved in the policy debate and decision making." Military Review sees it as "the definitive overview of U.S. military manpower history." The publisher's description reads: "Which citizens have fought America's wars? Which ones should fight in the future, and how should they be recruited? Should military or other national service be an obligation for every citizen? David Segal's probing look at the complex issues behind these questions tells us much about the changing manpower needs of our armed forces and about the evolution of civil-military relations in the United States."

Segal, professor of sociology, government and politics, and public affairs, as well as director of the Center for Research on Military Organization, at the University of Maryland, is co-editor of Life in the Rank and File and The Social Psychology of Military Service and co-author of The All-Volunteer Force. Look for his Alumni Perspective about who serves in today's military in the summer 2003 issue of Binghamton Alumni Journal.

Dror Abend-David, MA '95, PhD, has published 'Scorned my Nation': A Comparison of Translations of The Merchant of Venice into German, Hebrew, and Yiddish (Peter Lang Publishing, 2003). "In this book, the German history of The Merchant of Venice highlights the Central European detour that Shakespearean reception underwent in Hebrew and Yiddish," wrote reviewer Michael Shapiro, professor of English and director of the Sheldon and Anita Drobny Interdisciplinary Program for the Study of Jewish Culture and Society at the University of Illinois. "Such a detour, with its various discomforts, is used to penetrate a current historical and political historiography, rendering Shylock a character that remembers various languages and locations, as well as multiple alternatives for political self-definition. This complex Shakespearean character speaks in many voices and for various purposes and is the only character that can provide the missing link between two contradictory Jewish stereotypes -- a persecuted and victimized underling and a merciless and violent plaintive, holding out his knife to draw blood."

Dror Abend-David is an assistant professor at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, and has published academic articles, translations, poetry, and short stories in various magazines and collections. He is a lover of poetry, drama and translation.

Peter Temes '88 (formerly Peter Boros) has published Against School Reform (And in Praise of Great Teaching) (Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 2002). "In the midst of the continuing controversy over the right ways to bring change to American schools, Peter Temes's book is a firebell in the night," reads the publisher's description. "In Against School Reform Mr. Temes . . . sets out a straightforward prescription for our schools which centers on the life of the individual teacher and rejects the billion-dollar school reform industry. . . . More tests won't fix our schools, Mr. Temes writes. Bigger, better ideas about education won't fix things either. But great teachers can fix our schools, one classroom at a time."

Temes, now president of the Antiock New England Graduate School in New Hampshire, has taught at Harvard University and served as president of the Great Books Foundation in Chicago.

Steven G. Kellman '67 has published Switching Languages: Translingual Writers Reflect on Their Craft (University of Nebraska Press, 2003), a book he edited and for which he wrote the introductory essay. "Switching Languages is the first anthology in which translingual authors from throughout the world examine their experiences writing in more than one language or in a language other than their primary one," reads the publisher's description. "Driven by factors as varied as migration, imperialism, a quest for verisimilitude, and a desire to assert artistic autonomy, translingualism has a long and brilliant history."

Kellman is a professor of comparative literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is the author of The Translingual Imagination and The Self-Begetting Novel, and is the co-editor of UnderWords: Perspectives on Don DeLillo's Underworld.

Seth Segall '69 has published Encountering Buddhism: Western Psychology and Buddhist Teachings (State University of New York Press, 2003), a book he edited in which "practicing psychologists explore the mutual impact of Buddhist teachings and psychology in their lives and practice," notes the publisher's description. "By investigating the degree to which Buddhist insights are compatible with Western science and culture, [the contributors] then consider what each philosophical/psychological system has to offer the other.

Segall is assistant clinical professor at Yale University School of Medicine, director of psychology and psychology training at Waterbury Hospital, and vice president of Lotus: The Educational Center for Integrative Healing and Wellness.

Tom Yulsman '77 has published Origins: The Quest for our Cosmic Roots (Institute of Physics Publishing, 2003). "With stunning regularity, the search for our cosmic roots has been yielding remarkable new discoveries about the universe and our place in it," reads the publisher's description. "In this compelling book, veteran science journalist Tom Yulsman joins the men and women engaged in this quest, chronicling their latest discoveries and describing in clear and engaging terms what they mean."

"From the interior of protons to the edge of the universe, and from the control room of an atom smasher to an observatory atop a volcano, Origins takes readers on a journey at the cutting edge of science," writes Yulsman about his book. "How could the universe have sprouted from nothing? What is the origin of galaxies? How do solar systems form? And how did Earth become an oasis of life -- one that has produced a species intelligent enough to ask these questions? I began the journalistic research to answer these questions in 1996, when I joined the faculty of the University of Colorado's School of Journalism and Mass Communication as an associate professor [where Tom is co-director of the Center for Environmental Journalism]."

Yulsman lives near Boulder with his wife, Sylvia Fibich '77 and their two children, Sam, 12 and Anna Rose, 9.