Recently Published Books

Winter 2008 , Volume 30, Number 1

Faculty Fellows

Through the Labyrinth: The Truth About How Women Become Leaders
By Alice Eagly and Linda Carli
Harvard Business School Press, 2007, 336 pages

Despite real progress, women remain rare enough in elite positions of power that their presence still evokes a sense of wonder. In Through the Labyrinth, IPR Faculty Fellow Alice Eagly and Linda Carli examine why women’s paths to power remain difficult to traverse.  They propose the labyrinth as a better image than the glass ceiling and explain how to navigate through it. They also address questions of female leadership and stereotypes and organizational obstacles to that leadership. Using research, anecdotes, and personal accounts, they paint a compelling portrait of the barriers and restrictions that women in leadership roles face. The authors evaluate whether such restrictions are present and, when they are, what we can do to eliminate those barriers. Eagly is James Padilla Chair in Arts and Sciences and professor of psychology. Carli is professor of psychology at Wellesley College.

Identification for Prediction and Decision
By Charles F. Manski
Harvard University Press, 2008, 368 pages

Charles Manski’s new book is a full-scale exposition of his methodology for analyzing empirical questions in the social sciences. He recommends that researchers first ask what can be learned from data alone and then ask what can be learned when data are combined with credible weak assumptions. Inferences predicated on weak assumptions, he argues, can achieve wide consensus, while ones that require strong assumptions almost inevitably are subject to sharp disagreements. Manski, Board of Trustees Professor in Economics and an IPR faculty fellow, organizes the book into three parts. Part I studies prediction with missing or otherwise incomplete data. Part II concerns the analysis of treatment response, which aims to predict outcomes when alternative treatment rules are applied to a population. Part III studies prediction of choice behavior.

Distributed Leadership in Practice
James Spillane and John Diamond, eds.
Critical Issues in Educational Leadership Series
Teachers College Press, 2007, 208 pages

In Distributed Leadership in Practice, IPR Faculty Fellow James Spillane and his colleague John Diamond have edited a volume that illuminates the sometimes confusing and little understood concept of “distributed leadership.” Designed for educational practitioners, policymakers, and researchers, the book explores how distributed leadership differs from other leadership frameworks and shows how the day-to-day practice of leadership is an important line of inquiry for those interested in improving school leadership and by extension, school performance. The book is filled with case studies providing clear examples of what a distributed perspective is and how it can be connected to research. Spillane is Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Chair in Learning and Organizational Change. John Diamond is assistant professor of education at Harvard University.

Faculty Associates

Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City
By Mary Pattillo
University of Chicago Press, 2007, 400 pages

Mary Pattillo’s Black on the Block uses the historic rise, alarming fall, and equally dramatic renewal of the city’s North Kenwood–Oakland neighborhood to explore the politics of race and class in contemporary urban America. There was a time when North Kenwood–Oakland was plagued by gangs, drugs, violence, and the font of poverty from which they sprang. But in the late 1980s, a group of activists rose up to tackle the social problems that had plagued the area for decades. Black on the Block tells the remarkable story of how these residents laid the groundwork for a revitalized and self-consciously black neighborhood that continues to flourish today. Pattillo is professor of sociology and African American studies and an IPR faculty associate.

Oncofertility: Fertility Preservation for Cancer Survivors
By Teresa Woodruff and Karrie Ann Snyder
Springer, 2007, 300 pages

Woodruff and Snyder’s Oncofertility discusses this new medical phenomenon that has emerged as an interdisciplinary field bridging the biomedical and social sciences. They examine issues regarding an individual’s fertility options, choice, and goals in light of cancer diagnosis, treatment, and survival. While cancer survival rates have increased steadily over several decades, particularly among younger patients, more aggressive forms of treatment often compromise a cancer patient’s ability to conceive. Today, emerging reproductive technologies are giving patients and their families more options at the time of diagnosis to ensure future fertility. Woodruff is Thomas J. Watkins Memorial Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and an IPR faculty associate. Snyder is a lecturer in sociology and an IPR faculty associate.

Exporting Press Freedom: Economic and Editorial Dilemmas in International Media Assistance
By Craig LaMay
Transaction Publishers, 2007, 350 pages

In his new book Exporting Press Freedom, Craig LaMay details the extensive history of independent public affairs media, as well as the tribulations that it has faced due to hostile political regimes and the demands of the consumer marketplace. International media assistance first gained prominence in 1989 and it is still today an important aspect of international democracy-promotion aid. LaMay strives to show how the dilemma of media independence and sustainability is best understood as an economic problem rather than one of poor editorial standards or lack of will. He is assistant professor of journalism and an IPR faculty associate.