ACRL College & Researc Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

New Publications

George M. Eberhart

The Catholics of Ulster,by Marianne Elliott (642 pages, March 2001), begins in the remote pagan past, as the author explains, because of the quarrel between Irish Catholics and Protestants as to which faith is the true Christianity, and goes all the way to the post- 1999 power-sharing situation in Northern Ireland. A staunchly revisionist history, this book recounts Irish history from the viewpoint of northern Catholics, a group that has been on the losing end of many conflicts but whose story is rarely told in the first person. Elliott, who has also written books on the United Irishmen and Wolfe Tone, had difficulty with this one because, as she writes in her prologue: “I have discovered in myself lingering prejudices and sensitivities which I either believed I had left far behind or never recognized in the first place, and I know that I am not alone.” She then proceeds to serve up well- documented arguments that dispel some major myths, among them: The Catholic gentry were not so much exiled and dispossessed as converted; the penal laws of 1695-1707 were not intentionally anti-Catholic; the Ulster Catholics are not rebels by definition, though they may resent the excesses of loyalists; and there never was a Gaelic Catholic race whose land was stolen by imported Protestant planters. A lucid and honest treatment of more than 1,000 years of complex cultural conflict. $35.00. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-01903-X.

The Last Tasmanian Tiger,by Robert Paddle (273 pages, January 2001), chronicles the wanton persecution and extinction of the Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephaluś) in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Paddle claims that this dog-like marsupial became a convenient scapegoat among sheep farmers for the rural depression, feral dog predations, sheep-stealing, and the increasing number of rabbits that affected the profitability of agriculture in Tasmania. One of his more controversial ideas is the idea of “placental chauvinism”—that 19th-century scientists and farmers considered marsupials second-class animals compared to placentals and passively allowed the thylacine’s demise in spite of evidence that it had little to do with livestock depredations. Paddle also documents the little-known fact that “Benjamin,” the last Tasmanian tiger in captivity, was actually a female and died because of the appalling conditions at the Hobart Zoo in 1936. $64.95- Cambridge University. ISBN 0-521-78219-8.

George M. Eberhart is senior editor of American Libraries; e-mail: geberhart@ala.org

Live Television Drama, 1946- 1951,by William Hawes (390 pages, March 2001), examines a neglected period in American and British television history, six years of live drama that gave postwar audiences a novel, escapist experience different from the movies or radio. Extensive coverage is given to the NBC anthologies Kraft Television Theatre and Philco Television Playhouse, and the CBS anthologies Ford Theatre and Studio One, all of which became training centers for writing and acting talent. Appendices list the titles and cast members on BBC, NBC, and CBS shows for each night. For example, on November 20, 1950, viewers had the choice of tuning in to “Goodnight, Please” on the Lux Video Theatre, “The Floor of Heaven” by Sylvia Chatfield on Studio One, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” on Lights Out, or Oscar Wilde’s “The Canterville Ghost” on Robert Montgomery Presents. Compare that to any Monday night 50 years later. $45.00. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0905- 3.

A Modern Renaissance Li- brary: 200 Selections from the Collection of Edward R. Leahy,edited by Michael Knies (136 pages, November 2000), documents two exhibits at the University of Scranton in 2000- 2001 from the private library of 1968 alumnus Leahy that showcased his collecting inter- ests: medieval and renaissance books from 1475 to l600, English literature and printing, Cosway and other fine bind- ings, modern illuminated manuscripts, hor- ror and science fiction, and children’s books. This catalog contains substantive biblio- graphical, historical, and biographical infor- mation on the books and their authors, along with 56 color and 135 black-and-white im- ages. $30.00, plus $4.00 p/h. Weinberg Me- morial Library, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA 18510. ISBN 0-9705592-0-8.

Quotations on the Vietnam War,by Gregory R. Clark (294 pages, March 2001), tells the story of the war differently and in some ways more ef- fectively than a standard his- tory. Though arranged in chronological order with no topical subdivisions, these 3,300 quotations by leaders, participants, activists, journal- ists, and scholars are well-cho- sen, harsh, and poignant. Clark, who wrote the excel- lent lexicography, Words of the Vietnam W^z«rfMcFarlarid, 1990), provides full attribution and context for each quota- tion, from Ho Chi Minh’s 1946 statement, “There is nothing left but to fight,” to the anonymous GI graffito in Saigon, “As I slide down the banister of life I’ll always remem- ber Vietnam as a splinter in my ass.” $65.00. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0945-2.

Reading the Skies: A Cultural History of English Weather, 1650-1820,by Vladimir Jankovic (272 pages, April 2001), is an important contribution to the early history of meteorology. Pre-industrial England had few clues about the true cause of atmospheric events, and the seemingly unpredictable British weather often provided opportunities for speculation for anyone with a vivid imagination and a religious or political ax to grind. Many 18th-century broadsheets, tracts, and scientific observations focused on such extraordinary phenomena as aurorae, waterspouts, lightning strikes, mock suns, earthquakes, and fireballs—all of them called “meteors” in the classic sense of “transient aerial phenomena,” although shooting stars would be included, as well. An interesting chapter on “public meteors” shows how the Great Storm of 1703 and the aurorae of 1716 produced lively religious and philosophical debates on the limits of human knowledge. An excellent acquisition for history of science collections. $55.00. University of Chicago. ISBN 0-226-39215-5.

Rhino's Cruise through the Blues,by Barry Hansen (208 pages, October 2000), provides a quick visual history of blues recordings from the music’s origins to its current revival. Better known as radio DJ Dr. Demento, Hansen is also a respected blues musicologist and record collector, and in this book he offers blues newbies a taste of the genre. $19-95. Miller Freeman. ISBN 0-87930-625- 4.

The War of the Worlds,by H. G. Wells and edited by Wellsian scholar Leon Stover (321 pages, May 2001), is the seventh in a series of texts of Wells’s first editions, extensively annotated and analyzed by Stover, who provides the social, political, and scientific background to appreciate the 1898 novel properly. Unlike the movie it was made into, Wells’s science fiction is laced with elements of Saint-Simonian social philosophy and scientific progressivism that begs for commentary. $55.00. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0780- 8.

Also released at the same time is Wells’s The Sea Lady: A Tissue of Moonshine (1902), a dark dystopian fantasy featuring a mermaid. $49.50. ISBN 0-7864-0996-7.