ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

New Publications

George M. Eberhart

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

The Cambridge Historical Dictionary of Disease,edited by Kenneth F. Kiple (412 pages, June 2003), is a condensation and update of the last section of The Cambridge World History of Human Disease (Cambridge, 1993) without the bibliographies and illustrations. The result is a volume that stands well on its own to document the characteristics of l6l diseases from AIDS to yellow fever and how physicians have diagnosed, treated, and understood them throughout histoiy. A thorough subject index includes symptoms as well as obsolete or alternate terms like “King’s Evil” and “Hansen’s disease.” $75.00. Cambridge University. ISBN 0-521-80834-0.

Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America,by Todd DePastino (325 pages, October 2003), traces modern homelessness from its roots in the post-Civil War tramp armies through the populist hoboes of the Great Depression to the street people of today. DePastino argues that these manifestations of hobohemia cause enough social consternation that they drive public welfare policy, labor legislation, the promotion of mass consumption, and suburbanization. In any case, this history offers a rare glimpse of the varying cultural images of the homeless as fear-inducing or comic American icons. $32.50. University of Chicago. ISBN 0-226-14378-3.

Directory of Ethnic & Multicultural Publishers, Distributors and Resource Organizations,edited by Vladimir F. Wertsman (107 pages, 5th ed., 2003), provides contact information for 570 publishers and other vendors that offer multicultural books, periodicals, and media. Most are based in the United States, but companies from other countries are included if they have exhibited at ALA or other professional conferences. David Cohen has provided an introduction and an annotated bibliography of multicultural resources. $10.00 (plus $5.00 shipping). Published by the ALA Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, but distributed by Center Focus Publishing, 7847 N. Caldwell Ave., Unit D, Niles, IL 60714-3320.

The Encyclopedia of Surfing,by Matt Warshaw (774 pages, October 2003), pro- vides 1,500 descriptions of the people, places, techniques, and culture involved in the sport of surfing, from its Polynesian roots to the Triple Crown contests. Compiled by the former edi- tor of Surfer maga- zine, the book’s entries are both fac- tual and entertain- ing, even to nonsurfers, who might be surprised to learn that Mark Twain tried surfing (unsuccessfully) in Hawaii in 1866, that Maine has roughly 100 full-time surfers, that Dick Dale’s 1961 single “Let’s Go Trìppin’” is considered the first true surf record, and that about 35% of surfers use a right-foot-forward stance (“goofyfoot”) on a surfboard. Con- tains much more detail than Trevor Cralle’s equally awesome Surfin’ary: A Dictionary of Surfing Terms and Surfspeak (2d ed., Ten Speed, 2001), which defines some 3,000 words and phrases. $40.00. Harcourt. ISBN 0-15-100579-6.

First Have Something to Say,by Walt Crawford (141 pages, June 2003), offers sage advice on successfully writing articles and books for the library profession. Chapters on working with editors, reviewing books, finding your niche, overwriting, and believing your own stuff are filled with practical tips for getting ideas and research published in library journals, books, electronic newsletters, and other venues. Crawford also addresses the ups and downs of giving speeches at conferences, with or preferably without PowerPoint. $29.00. ALA Editions. ISBN 0-8389-0851-9.

Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs,by Adrienne Mayor (319 pages, September 2003), examines the use of biological and chemical weapons in antiquity, from the invention of poison-tipped arrows by the Greeks and their use in the Trojan War to the use of combustible chemicals (naphtha and petroleum) with projectiles by the Romans, Byzantines, and Muslims. Mayor, a folklorist and classicist, also takes a look at poisoned food and water supplies, intentional plague contaminations, and the deployment of venomous wildlife in warfare, and she concludes that unscrupulous weapons and inhumane tactics are not a modern invention. $27.95. Overlook Press. ISBN 1-58567- 348-X.

Historical Dictionary of Saudi Arabia,by John E. Peterson (258 pages, 2nd ed., September 2003), adds and revises numerous entries and updates the chronology and bibliography included in the 1993 edition. The book describes people, places, and events on the Arabian peninsula from the al-'Ubayd culture in the 4th millennium through the end of 2002. Appendices include genealogies, the 1992 “Basic Law” that serves as a constitution, and 13 tables of social and economic statistics. $75.00. Scarecrow. ISBN 0-8108-4677-2.

Another new regional Scarecrow title is Historical Dictionary of Mesopotamia, by Gwendolyn Leick (186 pages, September 2003), which offers data on the land between the Tigris and Euphrates in pre-Islamic times. $65.00. ISBN 0-8108-4649-7.

The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries, edited by Robert G. Sewell (vol. 60, 2003), is a special issue on “The Book As Art, Literature and History” with six articles based on lectures given at the university within the past two years. Among them are descriptions of Otto Ege’s manuscript fragment collection, 19th-century women illustrators, and the earliest printed texts in the world (Buddhist prayers found in 8th-century Japanese wooden miniature pagodas). The issue is available as a separate monograph for $25.00 from the Rutgers University Libraries.

Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scrip- ture and the Faiths We Never Knew,by Bart D. Ehrman (294 pages, September 2003), discusses the widely disparate groups of be- lievers who competed for converts during the first four centu- ries of Christianity— in particular the Jew- ish-Christian Ebionites, the anti- Jewish Marcionites, various Gnostic sects, and the proto- orthodox theolo- gians who ultimately prevailed in their choice of doctrine and preferred scrip- tures. Not until the late 4th century did the gospels, acts, and epistles that we know as the 27 books of the New Testament come into consensus as in- spired writings; prior to that time, many other texts (some deliberate forgeries) vied for at- tention. Ehrman examines 47 of these New Testament apocrypha to discover what they reveal about the variety of early Christian beliefs. $30.00. Oxford University. ISBN 0- 19-514183-0.

For those without ready access to the alternative scriptures, Ehrman has provided a companion volume, Lost Scriptures: Books That Did Not Make It into the New Testament (342 pages, September 2003). $30.00. ISBN 0-19-514182-2.

Meteorites, Ice, and Antarctica,by William A. Cassidy (349 pages, October 2003), gives a first-hand account of the U.S. Antarctic Search for Meteorites project, which Cassidy founded in 1976. ANSMET has retrieved more than 11,000 meteorite specimens from the Antarctic ice sheet, a few of them originating from the surfaces of Mars and the Moon. Cassidy describes the types of meteorites found and why the southern continent has proven such a fertile field for their discovery. $30.00. Cambridge University. ISBN 0-521-25872-3.

Nazi Propaganda Films: A History and Filmography,by Rolf Giesen (287 pages, July 2003), focuses on nationalist feature films and feature-length documentaries produced in Germany between 1933 and 1945. Published just before the death of Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003)—whose documentary on the 1934 Nuremberg Rally, Triumph of the Will, is considered the prototypical Nazi propaganda film—this book is less a cinematic analysis than a dissection of the radical social and political purposes these films were meant to promote. As Hitler’s public relations minister Joseph Goebbels put it, “The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it.” Of course, it can’t happen here, can it? Appendixes include cast and crew lists and a who’s who. $55.00. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1556-8.

Operation Cyanide: Why the Bombing of the USS Liberty Nearly Caused World

War III,by Peter Hounam (289 pages, September 2003), deserves more than passing interest in the light of new allegations in October that Israel did intentionally attack the intelligence-gathering ship during the Six-Day War in 1967, killing 34 American servicemen and wounding 170. At the time and ever since, the official word has been that it was a case of mistaken identity, despite the fact that a large American flag was flying and the attack lasted for 40 minutes. Hounam claims the attack was to be blamed on Egypt, thus bringing the United States into the war on the side of Israel with a nuclear retaliation against President Nasser. This conclusion directly controverts the evidence amassed in A. Jay Cristol’s The Liberty Incident (Brasseys, June 2002), but some people—notably former Secretary of State Dean Rusk, retired Admiral Thomas Moorer, retired Captain Ward Boston who led the naval investigation into the incident, and many of the surviving USS Liberty crew members,—agree. $24.95. Vision, distributed by the Independent Publishers Group. ISBN 1-904132-19-7. ■

Edward Tufte, The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint

New essay by Edward Tufte (‘The Leonardo da Vinci of Data’ the new YORK times) on how PowerPoint presentation slideware corrupts thought. 28 pages, full color, $7 postpaid. Order directly from Graphics Press at www.edwardtufte.com, or Graphics Press, P.O. Box 430, Cheshire, CT 06410, or call 800 822-2454.

For information about Edward Tufte’s one-day course, ‘Presenting Data and Information’ see www.edwardtufte.com