New Publications
America Brushes Up: The Use and Marketing of Toothpaste and Toothbrushes in the Twentieth Century, by Kerry Segrave (230 pages, January 2010), reviews the history of dental advertising, from early hog’s-bristle brushes and Dr. Lyon’s Tooth Powder to Oral-B power toothbrushes, tartar control, and teeth whiteners. Segrave concludes that marketers turned Americans in the 20th century into a nation of commercially prepared dentifrice users through mostly false and exaggerated claims (with the notable exception of the addition of fluoride in 1955, leading to the American Dental Association’s [ADA] endorsement of Crest in 1960) that have been criticized by the Federal Trade Commission, the ADA, and consumer groups. $35.00. Mc-Farland. 978-0-7864-4754-1.
A good companion to this is the Oxford Dictionary of Dentistry, by Robert Ireland (410 pages, May 2010), a compendium of definitions encompassing anatomy and physiology of the teeth, pathology, oral surgery, orthodontics, dentist’s tools, and therapeutics. Many useful diagrams and tables are scattered throughout, and appendices containing lists of foramina, arteries, nerves, veins, sinuses, and muscles of the head and neck will add value to your next visit to the dentist. A companion Web site offers expanded entries and color illustrations. $24.99. Oxford University. 978-0-19-953301-5.
The California Snatch Racket, by James R. Smith and W. Lane Rogers (393 pages, July 2010), retells 15 true-crime stories of ransom kidnappings in California during the 1920s and 1930s. Some are relatively well-known, such as the 1933 abduction in San Jose of Brooke Hart and the lynching of his alleged murderers, and evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson’s alleged kidnapping in 1926. The others are more obscure yet evocative of the era, making this a colorful selection for criminal justice collections. $16.95. Craven Street Books. 978-1-884995-63-7.
The First White House Library: A History and Annotated Catalogue, edited by Catherine M. Parisian (398 pages, March 2010), is a comprehensive description of the 193 books (plus one map and one terrestrial globe) purchased with federal funds for the first library in the White House in 1850–1853. President Millard Fillmore and First Lady Abigail Fillmore were both book lovers and set up the library as part of their transformation of the second-floor oval drawing room into a study and family entertainment space. Charles Lanman, at that time librarian of the War Department, aided the Fillmores in selecting and procuring specific titles. Parisian was able to identify the specific editions of the books, long since dispersed, that constituted the first library by examining Treasury Department vouchers and two catalogues of the Executive Mansion library from the Rutherford Hayes and Theodore Roosevelt administrations. Her catalogue of the library provides both a description of the contents and illustrations, as well as context on why each book was appropriate for the presidential residence. $55.00. Penn State University. 978-0-271-03713-4.
Jazz Books in the 1990s, by Janice Leslie Hochstat Greenberg (211 pages, April 2010), lists more than 700 English-language nonfiction books published from 1990 to 1999. Issued as part of the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies series of specialized monographs, the book’s entries are categorized into biographies, history, instruments, essays and criticism, musicology, regional studies, discographies, record guides, pictorial works, reference materials, and conference proceedings. $45.00. Scarecrow. 978-0-8108-6985-1.
New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs, edited by Michael J. Ryan, Brenda J. Chinnery-Allgeier, and David A. Eberth (624 pages, June 2010), should spark some interest in the giant ceratopsian herbivores of the Cretaceous, especially in the light of Montana State University’s announcement in July that Triceratops and Torosaurus are actually the same dinosaur at different stages of growth. Although that point isn’t addressed in these papers from a 2007 symposium at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta, almost every other aspect is, from taxonomy and discoveries to biology and behavior, making this one of the most important horned dinosaur monographs since Richard S. Lull’s 1933 overview. Nonspecialists will enjoy Peter Dodson’s memoir “Forty Years of Ceratophilia” and science historians will appreciate Darren H. Tanke’s rediscovery of William E. Cutler’s Eoceratops skeleton, excavated in 1920 in Alberta’s Dinosaur Provincial Park, among the specimens at the Natural History Museum in London. An accompanying CD-ROM includes a history of ceratopsian discoveries in Canada and a list of specimens recovered. $110.00. Indiana University. 978-0-253-35358-0.
The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature, edited by Ilan Stavans, et al. (2,666 pages, September 2010), includes extracts from the works of 201 Latino writers, defined as any author of Hispanic ancestry who has either lived most of the time in the United States or who has helped define the U.S. Latino community through a body of work. The range of materials selected for this anthology is truly stunning. Divided into six historical sections from “Colonization” (1537–1810) to “Into the mainstream” (1980 to the present), the editors manage to find space for writings by such diverse luminaries as the Spanish explorers Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and Garcilaso de la Vega; the soldier-poet Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá; Cuban patriot José Martí; poets William Carlos Williams, Miguel Algarín, and Martin Espada; novelists Oscar Hijuelos, Rudolfo A. Anaya, Isabel Allende, Reinaldo Arenas, and Luis Alberto Urrea; essayist/activist César Chávez; playwrights René Marqués, María Irene Fornés, Luis Valdez, Nilo Cruz, and José Rivera; and selections from cartoons, popular sayings, legends and stories, and popular song from salsa to hip-hop. $59.95. W. W. Norton. 978-0-393-08007-0.
Reading Emily Dickinson’s Letters: Critical Essays, edited by Jane Donahue Eberwein and Cindy MacKenzie (293 pages, December 2009), offers insights into the often overlooked correspondence of Amherst’s reclusive poet. Dickinson’s letters contain riddles, images, and concepts similar to those in her poems, making them a rich source of information on her poetic themes and styles. These essays examine the letters as examples of 19th-century gift culture, domestic metaphor, condolence messages, shared views on books and literature, commentary on women’s roles, veiled eroticism, and nuanced use of emphasis and alliteration. $39.95. University of Massachusetts. 978-1-55849-741-2.
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