ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

New Publications

George M. Eberhart

Ablaze! The Mysterious Fires of Spontaneous Hu- man Combustion,by Larry E. Arnold (478 pages, Feb- ruary 1996), examines the long history and bizarre cir- cumstances of spontaneous human combustion (SHC), in which an individual burns in the absence of a known, con- ventional source of fire. In some cases the person is al- most completely reduced to ashes while surrounding combustibles escape unharmed. Although hotly denied by skeptics, SHC does have an impressive evidential caseload that Arnold examines in detail, all along testing the validity of.the facts as reported and the opin- ions of those who may be premature in reject- ing them. The author admits he does not have all the answers, but outlines a few theo- ries that may ac- count for some of the phenomena in question. A few very graphic photo- graphs of SHC cases accompany the text. The major flaw in this volume is the lack of an index, which is probably the publisher’s do- ing rather than the author’s negligence. A healthy antidote to the quasiscientific pronouncements by pundits at Prometheus Books. $24.95. M. Evans and Co., 216 E. 49th St., New York, NY 10017-1502. ISBN 0-87131-789-3.

Guide to the Aqueducts of Ancient Rome,by Peter J. Aicher (183 pages, 1995), describes the complex network of tunnels and arcades that distributed the city’s water supply. Twelve maps pinpoint the positions of the eleven aqueducts in the modern city, supplemented by photographs and reprints of drawings from

Thomas Ashby’s 1935 sur- vey. $40.00. Bolchazy- Carducci, 1000 Brown St., Wauconda, IL 60084. ISBN 0-86516-271-9.

The Office Equipment Adviser,by John Derrick (634 pages, 3d ed., October 1995), strives to be a self- contained buyer’s guide to everything from computers to phone systems for the small- or medium-sized of- fice. It excels in examining the pros and cons of various systems, but treads lightly when describing specific brands; conse- quently, it would be wise to consult qualitative magazine reviews as well. In any case, the com- parative information it provides is often diffi- cult to find in other sources and usually scat- tered, so if you need a one-stop, end-of-fiscal-year, use-it-or-lose-it guide to faxes, copiers, scanners, and postage meters, this is a very good choice. A new edition is scheduled for September (let’s hope the index is expanded). $24.95. What to Buy for Busi- ness, Inc., 924 Anacapa St., Suite 4G, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. ISBN 1-88256-858-3.

Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm: Chronology and Fact Book,by Kevin Don Hutchison (269 pages, December 1995), provides detailed information about the daily and hourly events, missions, and movements from the invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 to the end of Desert Storm in April 1991. Although there is little analysis of negotiation and strategy, Hutchison’s timeline is an impressive assemblage of official U.S. records and coalition sources. Appendices include a glossary, a list of coalition POWs and service people killed in action, and the order of battle for both coalition and Iraqi forces. $69.50. Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881. ISBN 0-313-29606-5.

Another essential reference on this topic is the Encyclopedia of the Persian Gulf War, by Mark Gross-man (522 pages, December 1995), which covers the events, armaments, politics, and personalities of the conflict. Grossman explores much wider issues than Hutchison, and includes in his own timeline the Iran-Iraq War and events going back to the 19th century. Of particular interest is an ap- pendix with l60 pages of primary documents, among them various U.S. Executive Orders, the complete UN Resolutions, President Bush’s news conferences, various interviews of Saddam Hussein, and documents relating to Iraq’s ca- pability for chemical and biological warfare. Also included is a short appendix of Anglo- American slang used by the coalition forces. (My favorite is “Johnny Weissmuller shower,” a shower that is so cold that it makes you scream like Tarzan.) $75.00. ABC-CLIO, 130 Cremona Dr., Santa Barbara, CA 93117. ISBN 0-87436- 684-4.

George Eberhαrt is editor/compiler ofThe Whole Library Handbooks (ALA Editions, 1991, 1995). He served as editor of C&RL News from 1980 to 1990.

Dispatches from the Front: News Ac- counts of American Wars, 1776–1991,by Nathaniel Lande (416 pages, December 1995), gathers together nearly 70 accounts of battles, treaty signings, and pa- rades by American war correspon- dents from Con- cord to Kuwait. Among the writers and journalists de- scribing horrific military conflicts are Thomas Paine, George W. Kendall, Whitelaw Reid, Henry Villard, Stephen Crane, Ernest Hemingway, William Shirer, Dorothy Thompson, Edward R. Murrow, Keyes Beech, Walter Lippman, Peter Arnett, and David Hackworth. Besides providing literary glimpses of heroism and history, these reporters offer some insight into the motivations and excuses for war as they try to make sense out of events both for their readers and themselves. For some reason, eyewitness accounts of America’s many Indian wars are not included. $35.00. Henry Holt and Co., 115 W. 18th St., New York, NY 10011. ISBN 0-8050- 3664-4.

Pirates and Seafaring Swashbucklers on the Hollywood Screen,by James Robert Parish (228 pages, May 1995), profiles 137 films featuring buccaneers and freebooters from 1914 to 1992. Perennially popular, pirate films have made a minor comeback since Hook in 1991. Parish provides cast lists, plot synopses, extracts of reviews, and anecdotes about each film. (Few of these features are historically accurate, so you may wish to hit the VCR pause button and peruse David Marley’s Pirates and Privateers of the Americas (ABC-Clio, 1994) for quick fact checks.) $42.95 postpaid. McFarland & Co., Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640. ISBN 0-89950-935-5.

Presidential Libraries and Museums: An Illustrated Guide,by Pat Hyland (175 pages, 1995), describes the holdings and exhibits of the nine presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration, as well as the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace and the Rutherford B. Hayes Memorial Museum and Library (both administered privately), and the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum (still under construction). The book provides a walking tour of each library, with comments on each president’s landmark legislation, treasured possessions, and childhood reminiscences. $39.95. Congressional Quarterly Books, 1414 22nd St., N.W., Washington, DC 20037. ISBN 0-87187-960-3.

The Regions of Spain: A Reference Guide to History and Culture,by Robert W. Kern (411 pages, October 1995), examines the historical, literary, and artistic aspects of Spain’s 18 regions and 50 provinces. Each chapter looks at the characteristics of a region (such as Catalonia or Andalusia), then focuses on the provinces that comprise it (such as Granada or Tarragona). The vital statistics and descriptions of the economy, history, literature, art, customs, music, historic sites, and cuisine of each province offer a unique perspective on a country that has always been strongly localized. A valuable addition to Western European collections. $55.00. Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881. ISBN 0-313-29224-8.

Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia,by John Clute (312 pages, October 1995), paints with broad brushstrokes the themes, trends, and titles in science fiction books, magazines, film, and television since the genre’s beginnings in the late 19th century. This is an entertaining and informative overview that is, as the author writes, “a guided tour of stories about a million tomorrows.” The historical context in which science fiction was born and has flourished is given close scrutiny. For those wishing more detail, see the award-winning Encyclopedia of Science Fiction by John Clute and Peter Nicholls (Orbit, 1992). $39.95. Dorling Kindersley, 95 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. ISBN 0-7894-0185-1.

Correction

In “ACRL honors the 1996 award winners” (April 1996), Larry Hardesty’s career should have included a stint at DePauw, not DePaul, University. The editors regret the error.

A Taliesin Legacy: The Architecture of

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Apprentices,by Tobias S. Guggenheimer (256 pages, August 1995), illustrates and assesses the work of 39 of Wright’s protégés—among them acclaimed architects like E. Fay Jones, John Lautner, and Paolo Soleri— who studied at the Taliesin Fellowship, Wright’s revolutionary center for revolutionary design. These apprentices share their views on Wright and the philosophy of his organic architecture as it is expressed in their own works. Many of the photographs were taken from the personal archives of the students and are published here for the first time. Some of the projects featured are Biosphere 2, the Scottsdale Cardiovascular Center, the Okinawa Hilton Hotel, and many private residences. $59.95. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 115 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10003- ISBN 0-442-01879-7.

Teaching Electronic Information Literacy: A How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians,edited by Donald Barclay (179 pages, November 1995), highlights ways in which librarians can teach electronic search strategies and the Internet to both novice and partially experienced users. The emphasis is on practical examples and guidelines. An optional diskette, formatted for Windows, features more than 65 color graphics that illustrate key points and data from the manual. Manual, $39.95. ISBN 1-55570-186-8. Diskette, $15.00. ISBN 1-55570- 109-4. Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 100 Varick St., New York, NY 10013.

In the same series of manuals is Finding Government Information on the Internet, edited by John Maxymuk (264 pages, November 1995), which coders the topics, tools, and Internet resources for retrieving federal, state, local, and international information. $39.95. ISBN 1-55570-228-7.

The Upside of Downsizing: Using Library Instruction to Cope,edited by Cheryl

LaGuardia, Stella Bentley, and Janet Martorana (249 pages, September 1995), offers some strategies for maintaining bibliographic instruction programs when budgets and personnel have been slashed. Contributors include Janice Simmons-Welburn, Ann Coder and Margie Smith, Donald G. Frank, Michele G. Hanson, John Kupersmith, Joan H. Worley, Joseph Boissé, and Carla Stoffle. $39.95. Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 100 Varick St., New York, NY 10013. ISBN 1-55570-217-1.

Vital Statistics on the Presidency: Washington to Clinton,by Lyn Ragsdale (455 pages, November 1995), presents a comparative analysis of all 42 American presidents from a variety of standpoints: personal backgrounds and political experience, the presidential selection process, public opinion, speeches and public appearances, policy decisions, bureaucracy, and relations with Congress and the courts. More than 150 tables and figures illustrate these comparisons, while the author’s insightful analysis details how the office has evolved since the 18th century. $46.95. Congressional Quarterly Books, 1414 22nd St., N.W., Washington, DC 20037. ISBN 1-56802-050-3.

Warfare in the Classical World,by John Warry (224 pages, October 1985), traces the art of warfare from Homeric times to the fall of the Roman Empire in considerable detail and with plentiful illustrations of soldiers in uniform, equipment, weapons, warships, siege machines, and archaeological sites. The book’s 14 chapters cover specific historical periods which are tied together by a continuous timeline from l600 B.C. to 800 A.D. on every page. An excellent analytical and visual supplement to primary classical texts. $19.95. University of Oklahoma Press, 1005 Asp Ave., Norman, OK 73019- ISBN 0-8061-2794-5.

What Is Life? The Next Fifty Years: Speculations on the Future of Biology,edited by Michael P. Murphy and Luke A. J. O’Neill (191 pages, October 1995), commemorates the publication in 1944 of Erwin Schrödinger’s book What Is Life? in which he addressed genetics from a physicist’s perspective. The contributors, among them Stephen Jay Gould, Manfred Eigen, John Maynard Smith, and Lewis Wolpert, tackle questions about our current understanding of the origin of life, evolution, the origin of human inventiveness, developmental biology, and the basis for consciousness. Much of the book assumes a fundamental knowledge of molecular biology, but for anyone in that profession or career path it will stimulate thinking about existence, behavior, and the mind. $24.95. Cambridge University Press, 40 W. 20th St., New York, NY 10011-4211. ISBN 0-521-45509-X.

World War I Songs,by Frederick G. Vogel (530 pages, December 1995), examines how the music of World War I reflected American moods from isolation and pacifism to vicious jingoism and unabashed sentiment. In Part One, Vogel analyzes the types of songs that were published and how they kept the home fires burning. The second part is a list of all World War I songs verified as published in the United States. Part Three presents the lyrics to more than 300 songs of the era, and a 117-page index lets you find titles, composers, lyricists, publishers, topics, and keywords-in-context of the song lyrics. One song written by Will Rossiter in 1917 captures the mix of excitement and dread that typifies the soldier’s lot in any war: “We Don’t Know Where We’re Going (but We’re on Our Way.” $85.00. McFarland & Co., Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640. ISBN 0-89950- 952-5. ■

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