About Some of Mark's Writing 
» Click here to take a look inside the book, read exerpts or purchase it from Amazon.com. | Music at the Crossroads: Lives & Legacies of Baltimore Jazz Publisher: Apprentice House (2010) The first book to chronicle and celebrate the rich jazz history of Baltimore, Music at the Crossroads presents lively profiles of legends like Billie Holiday, Eubie Blake, Cab Calloway, and Chick Webb, as well as analyses of neglected figures such as pianist Ellis Larkins, Gary Bartz, and legendary jazz educator and composer Hank Levy. The book’s first two sections present new interpretations and detailed outlines of these significant musicians’ lives. The final section illuminates the history of Baltimore’s jazz scene, from its heyday of Pennsylvania Avenue and the Left Bank Jazz Society, to the present day and beyond. The final section also includes a map of those Pennsylvania Avenue jazz clubs and a comprehensive list of Left Bank Jazz Society concerts. Informed by primary source research and enhanced by original and classic photographs, the book’s chapters are written by regional and national jazz journalists and musicians as well as by members of Loyola University’s unique Aperio program, in which students and professors collaborate to conduct and publish groundbreaking original research. Whether you’re looking for a factual guide, for new portraits of the lives and work of legendary musicians, or for reminiscences by those who made and heard the music, Music at the Crossroads: Lives and Legacies of Baltimore Jazz offers a feast for the mind, ears and eyes. |
» Click here to take a look inside the book, read excerpts or purchase it from Amazon.com. | Autism and Representation Publisher: Routledge (2008) Autism, a neuro-developmental disability, has received wide but often sensationalistic treatment in the popular media. Though a great deal of clinical and medical research has been devoted to autism, neither traditional humanities disciplines nor the new field of Disability Studies has had anything significant to say about it. This volume, the first scholarly book on autism and the humanities, brings scholars from several disciplines together with adults on the autism spectrum to investigate the diverse ways that autism has been represented in novels, poems, autobiographies, films and clinical discourses; it also explores the connections and demarcations between autistic and “neurotypical” creativity. Using an empathetic scholarship that unites professional rigor with experiential knowledge derived from the contributors’ lives with or as autistic people, the essays address such questions as: In what novel forms does autistic creativity appear, and what unusual strengths does it possess? How do autistic representations—whether by or about autistic people—revise conventional ideas of cognition, creativity, language, (dis)ability and sociability? This timely and important collection breaks new ground in literary and film criticism, aesthetics, psychology and Disability Studies. It will surely appeal to anyone interested in autism and related disabilities, as well as to literary scholars, rhetoricians and film critics. From the reviews: "This book is an excellent resource for any scholar interested in disability studies and autism. It brings theory to bear on what may be called a cognitive disability, places the diagnosis of autism in a historical and cultural context, and addresses issues of representation (by self and other)." - Felice Aull, Literature, Arts and Medicine Database. ". . . excellent. . . . Includes a range of voices well worth attending to. . . . Osteen offer[s] astute and sensitive appraisals of a wide range of novels, parental accounts and autobiographies." - Michael Fitzpatrick, Spiked-online.com ". . . redresses a major shortcoming in disability studies. . . . Autism and Representation represents a turning point and . . . what most distinguishes it is Osteen's thematic preoccupation with 'empathetic scholarship.'" - Chris Gabbard, Disability Studies Quarterly. |
» Click here to take a look inside the book, read excerpts or purchase it from Amazon.com. | American Magic and Dread: Don DeLillo's Dialogue with Culture Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (June 2000) From the reviews: "Mark Osteen's . . . book offers an excellent overview of Don DeLillo's novelistic career and deserves a careful reading by anyone interested in DeLillo." - Theron Britt, Modern Fiction Studies "Reading DeLillo as both cultural critic and literary stylist, American Magic and Dread analyzes a novelist seeking an art of resistance and beauty. Like the subject of his book, Osteen shows us how literature's magic can fortify us, albeit only partially, against the social forces in which we are enmeshed." - Philip Nel, Studies in the Novel "There is much in Osteen's reading of DeLillo's work from Americana to Underworld that is to be admired. . . . [An] interest in representation and resistance is sustained throughout Osteen's readings, often ingeniously so." - Thomas Carmichael, Contemporary Literature Don DeLillo’s America  The Don DeLillo Society |
» Click here to take a look inside the book, read excerpts or purchase it from Amazon.com. | The New Economic Criticism Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (May 5, 1999) Praise for The New Economic Criticism: "It's a wonderful collection, and the introduction puts the whole matter firmly, irrevocably on the agenda for literary and cultural studies. Brava." - Deidre McCloskey, University of Iowa "Finally-some evidence that it may be possible to get beyond literary critics playing with economic terminology as though it was a forbidden box of matches and economists congratulating themselves that they can be autodidacts in rhetoric just as easily as they find virtual markets in the souls of medieval serfs. In this volume economics meets cultural studies, and both sides actually listen to one another." - Philip Mirowski, University of Notre Dame |
» Click here to take a look inside the book, read excerpts or purchase it from Amazon.com. |
The Economy of Ulysses: Making Both Ends Meet Publisher: Syracuse Univ Pr (Sd) (May 1995) **Winner of Donald Murphy Prize for Best First Book in Irish Studies, 1995 Praise for The Economy of Ulysses: "It is hard to think of anything to do with economic questions that has been left out of . . . this brimming, bounteous book. . . . A notable example is his subtle and powerful reading of 'Cyclops.' . . . The insights of this chapter are carried forward into the brilliant discussions of the dynamics of cliche, fraudulence, and forgery in 'Eumaeus.'" - Steven Conner, James Joyce Broadsheet "Time and again, Osteen takes material that seems to have been exhausted in terms of further interpretation and significantly adds to one's understanding of the work's complexity." - Michael Patrick Gillespie, James Joyce Quarterly "Osteen's arguably magisterial study of the economies of Ulysses both sheds new light on the problem of narrative and narration in Joyce's text and redefines . . . the critical tradition surrounding it." - Gregory Castle, English Literature in Transition "Osteen's grandly architectural approach to Joycean economics is powerfully complemented by a close reading of the text, and this combination assures that his book will be an indisputable starting point for anyone working with the rich systems of exchange, reciprocity and mutually constitutive realities in Joyce." - Garry Leonard, James Joyce Literary Supplement |
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Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell. One of the most exciting novels you'll ever read: a dazzling, ingenious, visionary exploration of the theme of eternal recurrence. The Tragedy of Arthur, by Arthur Phillips. Witty, self-reflexive novel about a forged—or is it rediscovered?—Shakespeare play called The Tragedy of Arthur. Fans of Nabokov and Auster will enjoy this tale, which is post-modern in the best sense. Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel. Delightfully detailed historical novel about Thomas Cromwell, a mysterious figure attached to Henry VIII during his break from the Roman Catholic Church. Mantel evokes sixteenth-century life with masterly breadth and precision. The Boy in the Moon, by Ian Brown. Poignant, provocative memoir by the father of a son with a rare, severely disabling medical condition; a profound meditation on the nature and limits of the human. A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan. This novel in stories employs a dazzling array of voices and styles to track a set of loosely-linked people associated with punk rock music, and to trace the depredations visited upon them by the "goon squad" of time. Egan’s light touch allows her deeper themes to emerge almost effortlessly. 
Barefooted Town, by David Binney. A scintillating set of new originals from this prolific post–bop alto player, showcasing a broad palette of textures and timbres; also spotlights tenorist Mark Turner and emerging trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire. Transatlantic, by Chris Potter and the DR Big Band. Dense, thoughtful arrangements of Potter’s compositions fuel inspired his soloing on this album of propulsive original tracks. The Time of the Sun, by Tom Harrell. The latest in Harrell’s string of superlative recordings with his exciting quintet. The compositions—all Harrell’s—encompass a myriad of styles, ranging from the moody title track to the funky "Ridin.’" Listen for virtuoso tenor player Wayne Escoffery. Bird Songs, by Joe Lovano and Us Five. These compelling re-imaginings of Charlie Parker tunes will make you appreciate their beauty all over again. The most revelatory rendering is the group’s remodeling of the usually rapid "Donna Lee"---as a ballad. Rising star Esperanza Spalding plays bass. |
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