The second year is that daunting time when the previously docile and adorable infant inevitably develops a mind of her own. In this book, Jerome Kagan takes a provocative look at the mental developments underlying the startling transitions in the child’s second year.

It is Kagan’s premise that the roots of self-awareness emerge in the second half of the second year of life. He also suggests that the underlying cause may be more biological than social. His book develops these ideas through a series of brilliant observations on the behavior of two-year-olds.

Kagan charts, for example, the emerging sense of standards (the possibility of right and wrong) that reveals itself positively when the child suddenly begins to smile after a successful action, and negatively when the child starts to become concerned about flaws in objects and mistakes in her own behavior. When this concern with standards spreads to the child’s irresistible impulse to imitate adults, Kagan observes a remarkable phenomenon: the twenty-month-old child suddenly begins to show signs of distress before she even tries to imitate an action that is beyond her ability. Kagan argues that this distress could arise only from the child’s growing sense of what she can and can’t do—her awareness of herself.

Correspondence of a Church Father.

Jerome (Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus), ca. 345–420, of Stridon, Dalmatia, son of Christian parents, at Rome listened to rhetoricians, legal advocates, and philosophers, and in 360 was baptized by Pope Liberius. He traveled widely in Gaul and in Asia Minor; and turned in the years 373–379 to hermetic life in Syria. Ordained presbyter at Antioch in 379 he went to Constantinople, met Gregory of Nazianzus and advanced greatly in scholarship. He was called to Rome in 382 to help Pope Damasus, at whose suggestion he began his revision of the Old Latin translation of the Bible (which came to form the core of the Vulgate version). Meanwhile he taught scripture and Hebrew and monastic living to Roman women. Wrongly suspected of luxurious habits, he left Rome (now under Pope Siricius) in 385, toured Palestine, visited Egypt, and then settled in Bethlehem, presiding over a monastery and (with help) translating the Old Testament from Hebrew. About 394 he met Augustine. He died on 30 September 420.

Jerome’s letters constitute one of the most notable collections in Latin literature. They are an essential source for our knowledge of Christian life in the fourth–fifth centuries; they also provide insight into one of the most striking and complex personalities of the time. Seven of the eighteen letters in this selection deal with a primary interest of Jerome’s: the morals and proper role of women. The most famous letter here fervently extols virginity.

What is the function of literature? Initially framed as a problem toward the end of the eighteenth century, this question has been posed with ever greater insistence throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. During this period, the natural sciences and the human sciences have both staked claims to intellectual and moral authority, while literature—and poetry in particular—has experienced a serious crisis of legitimation. That embarrassment became acute in the 1970s and 1980s when Western literature, moving along various postmodern avenues, seemed to have turned against itself.

In Social Values and Poetic Acts, Jerome J. McGann addresses this predicament. He argues that during the past two centuries literature has turned to certain distinctively modern social practices, that it has undergone what Matthew Arnold termed a “crisis of life.” McGann’s thesis, a radical Left translation of Arnold, gathers the whole of the Western canon into an “antithetical discourse.” He calls for a comprehensive program of rehabilitation of literature, involving a radical reinterpretation of the literary history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He also exhorts the scholarly and writing communities to rededicate themselves to an engaged and contestatory writing, interpretation, and teaching. In the course of the argument, he appropriates postmodernism and deconstruction into socially conscious forms of cultural work.

An indispensable guide to audio journalism grounded in NPR’s journalistic values and practices, with tips and insights from its top reporters, hosts, editors, producers, and more.
 
A lot has changed in media in recent years, but one thing that remains steadfast is National Public Radio’s (NPR) position as a trusted source of news in the United States. Now producing dozens of shows and podcasts, plus livestreams and coverage on other media platforms, NPR is the leading authority on reporting, writing, and delivering audio news and storytelling to today's diverse audiences. In this completely revised guide, audio journalism trainer Jerome Socolovsky offers a look into just how NPR does it, following the same journey a story would from idea to the moment it reaches its listeners.
 
Based on more than eighty interviews with producers, reporters, editors, hosts, and other NPR staffers, Sound Reporting reveals how stories get pitched; how they are reported, produced, written, edited, voiced, and tailored to multiple media formats; and how shows and podcasts are put together. It begins with a presentation of NPR's values and includes a new chapter on journalist safety, a topic of timely importance. Podcasts, now part of the mainstream of the media universe, are treated alongside traditional programs throughout.
 
In these pages, the voices of NPR staff offer a glimpse into their profession. Discover how correspondent Ruth Sherlock overcame seemingly insurmountable odds as she raced to the scene of a devastating earthquake in Turkey, the four main ways Ramtin Arablouei incorporates music into podcasts, and how “Weekend Edition” host Ayesha Rascoe touches listeners so deeply she received a pair of homemade potholders in the mail from one of them. Reading this book is like sitting in a room full of top-notch producers, seasoned correspondents, trusted hosts, and rigorous editors—all telling you inspiring stories about their craft to help you learn from their experience.
 
At a time when the legitimacy and authority of journalism are under critique, transparency into how the news is made is more important than ever. This book offers a fascinating look behind the scenes at a premier public media organization and will be a trusted resource for anyone in or exploring a future in audio journalism.
 

When we are startled by the new, confronted with discrepancies, our knowing gives way to uncertainty—and changes. In the distinctive manner that has made him one of the most influential forces in developmental psychology, Jerome Kagan challenges scientific commonplaces about mental processes, pointing in particular to the significant but undervalued role of surprise and uncertainty in shaping behavior, emotion, and thought.

Drawing on research in both animal and human subjects, Kagan presents a strong case for making qualitative distinctions among four different types of mental representation—perceptual schemata, visceral schemata, sensorimotor structures, and semantic networks—and describes how each is susceptible to the experience of discrepancy and the feeling of surprise or uncertainty. The implications of these findings are far-reaching, challenging current ideas about the cognitive understandings of infants and revealing the bankruptcy of contemporary questionnaire-based personality theory. More broadly, Kagan’s daring, thoroughly informed, and keenly reasoned book demonstrates the risks of making generalizations about human behavior, in which culture, context, and past experience play such paramount and unpredictable roles.