In 1933 Paul Klee’s work was branded as ‘Entartete Kunst’ (Degenerate Art) by the National Socialists and he was dismissed from his professorial post at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts. This led him, together with his wife Lily, to return to his ‘real home’ of Bern. Here his avant-garde art was not understood and Klee found himself in unasked for isolation. In 1935 Klee started to suffer from a mysterious disease. The symptoms included changes to the skin and problems with the internal organs. In 1940 Paul Klee died, but it was only 10 years after his death that the illness was actually given the name ‘scleroderma’ in a publication about Klee. However, the diagnosis remained mere conjecture. Since his adolescence, the dermatologist and venereologist Dr. Hans Suter has been fascinated by Paul Klee and his art, and more than 30 years ago this fascination spurred him to commence research into the illness and its influence on the art of Paul Klee’s final years. It was due to Dr. Suter’s meticulous investigations that Klee’s illness could be defined as ‘diffuse systemic sclerosis’. In this book the author assembles his findings and describes the rare and complex disease in a clear and comprehensible way. Further, he empathetically interprets more than 90 of Klee’s late works. The point of view of a dermatologist renders a unique source of information. It provides, on one hand, new insights into everyday medical practices at the University of Bern in the 1930s, which will fascinate doctors and local historians alike. While, on the other hand, art historians and art lovers will be absorbed by the newly discovered links between Paul Klee's work and his illness.

Though numerous volumes have been written on human observations about children, very few volumes present God's perspective on them as recorded in the Bible. Precious in His Sight fills the gap admirably. Not only is this volume unique, it is also comprehensive. The author covers all of the children in the Bible, intensively studying the biblical text as well as incorporating insights from the best historical works on childhood and child-rearing in ancient times. The author's sensitivity to the cultural and sociological factors impinging on families in biblical times is everywhere apparent. In order to appreciate what the book of Proverbs says about children, for example, one must understand how children were treated and viewed in other cultures during Old Testament times. Everything the Bible says about children applies to contemporary childhood, according to the author. He finds biblical examples and abundant implications for children's physical, emotional, social, and spiritual development. The principles that can be garnered from this incisive work will help educators and parents in the teaching and training of children today.

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In The Representation of External Threats, Eberhard Crailsheim and María Dolores Elizalde present a collection of articles that trace the phenomenon of external threats over three continents and four oceans, offering new perspectives on their development, social construction, and representation.

The U.S. Ocean Commission Report identified the need for regional ecosystem assessments to support coastal and ocean management. These assessments must provide greater understanding of physical and biological dynamics than assessments at global and national scales can provide but transcend state and local interests. This need and timeliness is apparent for Long Island Sound, where a multi-state regional restoration program is underway for America’s most urbanized estuary. Synthesis of the Long Island Sound ecosystem is needed to integrate knowledge across disciplines and provide insight into understanding and managing pressing issues, such as non-point sources of pollution, coastal development, global climatic change, and invasive species. Currently, there is a need for a comprehensive volume that summarizes the ecological and environmental dynamics and status of Long Island Sound and its myriad ecosystems. It has been 30 years since a comprehensive summary of Long Island Sound was prepared and 50 years since the pioneering work of Gordon Riley. Major advances in estuarine science are providing new insights into these systems, and yet, the condition of many estuaries is in decline in the face of continuing coastal development. There is an opportunity to lay a foundation for integrative coastal observing systems that truly provide the foundation for improved decision-making. This book will provide a key reference of our scientific understanding for work performed over the past three decades and guide future research and monitoring in a dynamic urbanized estuary.

"In Staging Holiness. The Case of Hospitaller Rhodes (ca. 1309-1522) Sofia Zoitou offers a study of the history of relic collections, devotional rituals and sites invested with special meaning in Rhodes, during a time when the island became one of the most frequented ports of call for ships carrying pilgrims from Venice to the Holy Land. Scrutinizing late medieval travel reports by pilgrims from all over Europe along with extant historical, archaeological, visual and material evidence, Sofia Zoitou traces the various forms of the Rhodian cultic sites' evolution and perception, ultimately considered as an overall artistic strategy for the staging of the sacred"--