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Table of Contents
Reviewer's Choice
Hacked Again
Scott N. Schober
www.scottschober.com
Privately Published
www.HackedAgain.com
9780996902205 $29.95 hc / $9.99 Kindle www.amazon.com
Hacked Again: It Can Happen to Anyone... Even a Cybersecurity Expert is a "must-read" for the
Information Age. Author Scott N. Schober, a cybersecurity professional, tells of the frustrations
and high cost of being hacked, or targeted by online thieves and scammers. In one case, a
seemingly ordinary (at first glance) customer used a stolen credit card to buy a large order of
expensive goods, leaving him and his bank to suffer the inevitable chargeback; in another, his
bank's lax security measures left his company's account vulnerable to fraudulent charges from
hackers using stolen identities. The majority of Hacked Again is devoted to no-nonsense,
plain-terms instructions for protecting your privacy, your finances, and your reputation from
cybercrime. From crafting strong passwords (the recent cloud hack of celebrity nude pictures was
due to the celebrity victims' use of weak passwords!), to limiting third-party vendor access to
sensitive data, to learning how secure your bank really is prior to opening a business account and
more, Hacked Again is practical-minded, enlightening, accessible, and worthy of the highest
recommendation.
Veterans Voices
Robert H. Miller & Andrew Wakeford
National Geographic Press
101 West 104th Street, Suite 8, New York, NY 10025
www.nationalgeographic.com
9781426216381, $35.00, HC, 256pp, www.amazon.com
Through intimate photographs and poignant stories, "Veterans Voices: Remarkable Stories of
Heroism, Sacrifice, and Honor" is a heart-rending book that showcases the courage, heroics, and
sacrifice of selected U.S. soldiers and veterans. This deeply moving, timely celebration of
veterans highlights the heroes in our midst by bringing these brave men and women to life.
"Veterans Voices" blends beauty and impact and gorgeous photographic displays with inspiring
storytelling. Compelling and inspiring, "Veterans Voices" is especially recommended for
community library collections and would be an appropriate choice as a library memorial fund
acquisition. A unique celebration of the human spirit, a compendium of real life examples of
courage, exceptional well written, organized and presented, "Veterans Voices" is one of those
singular volumes that will linger in the mind and memory long after the book itself has been
finished and set back upon the shelf.
Reading in Bed
Brian Doyle
ACTA Publications
4848 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60640
www.actapublications.com
9780996136204, $19.95, PB, 215pp, www.amazon.com
Comprised of brief headlong essays about books, writers, reading, and readers, "Reading in Bed"
by Brian Doyle reflects upon the scent of books, their papery wings that flutter as you read, the
amazing variety of books people secretly carry in their cars, the way that refrigerators hosting
stories of every kind are actually a literary genre, the way we all make scurrilous moral
judgments when surreptitiously scanning other people's bookshelves, the subtle joy of reading a
select series of books, the pleasures of reading box scores and Ships in Port in the newspaper, the
terrible epidemic of misplaced apostrophes in American life, and the most elegant literary form
of them all -- the essay. Doyle also offers notes on Jorge Luis Borges, Robert Louis Stevenson,
Tony Hillerman, Joseph Conrad, Cynthia Ozick, Jan Morris, William Blake, Andre Dubus III, the
moist, moist delights of sea novels, a particular interview with the nonfiction author Pope
Emeritus Benedict XVI, and so much more that will make the reader laugh and snarl and ponder
the endless pleasure of books and their creators. "Reading in Bed" is a book to enjoy, enlighten
and inspire. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Reading in Bed" is an
extraordinary, thoughtful and thought-provoking read from beginning to end, and very highly
recommended for personal reading lists of all bibliophiles, as well as an enduringly popular
addition to community library collections.
The International Studies Shelf
The Reawakening of the Arab World
Samir Amin
Monthly Review Press
146 West 29th Street, Suite 6W, New York, NY 10001
www.monthlyreview.org
9781583675984, $89.00, HC, 288pp, www.amazon.com
According to Marxist economist Samir Amin, the recent Arab Spring uprisings comprise an
integral part of a massive "second awakening" of the Global South. From the self-immolation in
December 2010 of a Tunisian street vendor, to the consequent outcries in Cairo's Tahrir Square
against poverty and corruption, to the ongoing upheavals across the Middle East and Northern
Africa, the Arab world is shaping what may become of Western imperialism - an already
tottering and overextended system. "The Reawakening of the Arab World: Challenge and Change
in the Aftermath of the Arab Spring" examines the complex interplay of nations regarding the
Arab Spring and its continuing, turbulent seasons. Beginning with Amin's compelling
interpretation of the 2011 popular Arab explosions, the book is comprised of five chapters -
including a new chapter analyzing U.S. geo-strategy. Amin sees the United States, in an
increasingly multi-polar world, as a victim of overreach, caught in its own web of attempts to
contain the challenge of China, while confronting the staying power of nations such as Syria and
Iran. The growing, deeply-felt need of the Arab people for independent, popular democracy is the
cause of their awakening, says Amin. It this awakening to democracy that the United States fears
most, since real self-government by independent nations would necessarily mean the end of U.S.
empire, and the economic liberalism that has kept it in place. The way forward for the Arab
world, Amin argues, is to take on, not just Western imperialism, but also capitalism itself.
Exceptionally well organized and presented, "The Reawakening of the Arab World: Challenge
and Change in the Aftermath of the Arab Spring" is very highly recommended for community,
college, and university library International Studies reference collections in general, and
Contemporary Arab Political Science supplemental reading lists in particular. It should be noted
for students and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in the subject that "The
Reawakening of the Arab World" is also available in a paperback edition (9781583675977,
$24.00) and in a Kindle format ($17.99).
The Political Science Shelf
Climate Change in World Politics
John Vogler
Palgrave Macmillan
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10001
www.palgrave-usa.com
9781137273437, $32.00, PB, 211pp, www.amazon.com
In "Climate Change in World Politics", John Vogler ( Professorial Research Fellow in
International Relations at Keele University, UK) examines the international politics of climate
change, with a focus on the United Nations Framework Convention (UNFCCC). Professor
Vogler considers how the international system treats the problem of climate change, analyzing
the ways in which this has been defined by the international community and the interests and
alignments of state governments. Enhanced with the inclusion of figures, tables, a list of
abbreviations, eight pages of notes, sixteen pages of references, and a nine page index, "Climate
Change in World Politics" is an extraordinary study that is very highly recommended for
community, college, and university library Political Science and Environmental Studies reference
collections and supplemental studies reading lists. Academics, students, governmental policy
makers, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject should note that
"Climate Change in World Politics" is also available in a Kindle edition ($27.40).
Libertarianism For Beginners
Todd Seavey, author
Nathan Smith, illustrator
For Beginners LLC
155 Main Street, Suite 211, Danbury, CT 06810
www.forbeginnersbooks.com
9781939994660, $15.95, PB, 176pp, www.amazon.com
Simply stated, Libertarianism is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as its principal
objective. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and freedom of choice, emphasizing political
freedom, voluntary association, and the primacy of individual judgment. Libertarianism isn't
about winning elections. It is a description of how, in the opinion of libertarians, free people
ought to treat one another, at least when they use the law, which they regard as potentially
dangerous. If libertarians are correct, the law should intrude into people's lives as little as
possible, rarely telling them what to do or how to live. A political and economic philosophy as
old as John Locke and John Stuart Mill, but as alive and timely as Rand Paul, the Tea Party, and
the novels of Ayn Rand, libertarianism emphasizes individual rights and calls for a radical
reduction in the power and size of government. "Libertarianism For Beginners" lays out the
history and principles of this often misunderstood philosophy in lucid, dispassionate terms that
help illuminate today's political dialogue. While very highly recommended for highschool,
community, college, and university library Political Science reference collections and
supplemental studies lists, it should be noted for political science students and the non-specialist
general reader with an interest in Libertarianism that "Libertarianism For Beginners" is also
available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).
The Art Shelf
The House of the Singing Winds
Selma N. Steele, Theodore L. Steele, Wilbur D. Peat
Indiana Historical Society Press
450 W Ohio Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202
http://www.indianahistory.org
9780871953988, $39.95, HC, 208pp, www.amazon.com
First published in 1966, this newly revised 2016 edition of "The House of the Singing Winds: The Life and Work of T.C. Steele" is an informed and informative account of the life and work of T. C. Steele, one of Indiana's most renowned artists. For this reissue of "The House of the Singing Winds", sixty-two of the volume's seventy-six illustrations, including all ten color plates, have been newly photographed and reproduced according to the highest modern standards. The text includes a brief biography by the painter's grandson, Theodore L. Steele; a poetic memoir of Steele's last Brown County years by Selma N. Steele; an appreciation of Steele's work by art historian Wilbur D. Peat; and (new to the 2016 edition) an essay on Selma Steele, written by Rachel Berenson Perry. "The House of the Singing Winds" is commended to the attention of American art history students and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject. "The House of the Singing Winds" is enthusiastically recommended for both community and academic library American Art & Artists reference collections in general, and T. C. Steele supplementary studies lists in particular.
Frederic Remington: A Catalogue Raisonne II
Peter H. Hassrick, editor
University of Oklahoma Press
2800 Venture Drive, Norman, OK 73069
www.oupress.com
9780806152080, $75.00, HC, 328pp, www.amazon.com
Peter H. Hassrick is Director Emeritus and Senior Scholar at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
Frederic Sackrider Remington (October 4, 1861 - December 26, 1909) was an American painter,
illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in depictions of the Old American West,
specifically concentrating on the last quarter of the 19th-century American West and images of
cowboys, American Indians, and the U. S. Cavalry. Compiled and edited by Professor Hassrick,
and based on decades of scholarship and research, "Frederic Remington: A Catalogue Raisonne
II" (published in cooperation with the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming), is an
essential resource for scholars, collectors, museum curators, historians of the American West,
and anyone seeking definitive information on the life and art of Frederic Remington. Profusely
illustrated with 150 figures and 100 color plates, each of which is accompanied by informed and
informative commentary in the form of insightful essays by notable art historians, "Frederic
Remington: A Catalogue Raisonne II" is an impressive compendium of scholarship. Of special
note is the chapter considering Remington's enduring bond with the horse and its representation
in his paintings, and follows an examination of Remington's ties to Theodore Roosevelt that
reveals how the two men helped move the American conscience toward wildlife preservation.
Because Remington is perhaps the most frequently faked American artist, this impressive study
also includes an assessment of the authentication process for evaluating Remington's works.
"Frederic Remington: A Catalogue Raisonne II" is especially recommended the personal reading
lists of Frederic Remington enthusiasts, as well as community and academic library American
Art History collections in general, and Frederick Remington supplemental studies in
particular.
Alexander Girard: A Designer's Universe
Susan Brown, author
Mateo Kries & Jochen Eisenbrand, editors
Vitra Design Museum
c/o Distributed Art Publishers
155 Sixth Avenue, 2nd floor, New York, NY 10013-1507
www.artbook.com
9783945852057, $85.00, HC, 512pp, www.amazon.com
The late Alexander Girard (1907-1993) was a pre-eminent mid-20th century designer whose
work spanned many disciplines, including textile design, graphic design, typography, illustration,
furniture design, interior design, product design, exhibit design, and architecture. "Alexander
Girard: A Designer's Universe " is a richly illustrated catalogue that draws on the vast holdings in
Girard's private estate, which were exhaustively investigated for the first time at the Vitra Design
Museum. "Alexander Girard: A Designer's Universe" presents the oeuvre of the multi-talented
designer in all its facets, while offering the first scholarly, critical examination of his work. Six
essays address Girard's textile and graphic design for the furniture manufacturer Herman Miller,
interior design projects such as the Irwin Miller House in Columbus, Indiana (1953), and the
restaurant La Fonda del Sol in New York (1960), his activities as a pioneering exhibition
organizer and curator, his roots in Italy and his passion for folk art, which resulted in a collection
of more than 100,000 objects and served as one of the most important sources of inspiration for
his own work. In addition to extensive portfolios with never-before-shown archive materials, the
publication also provides a biography and a complete list of works, plus articles by Susan Brown,
Jochen Eisenbrand, Barbara Hauss, Alexandra Lange, Monica Obniski and Jonathan Olivares.
Girard's collection can be found in the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. "Alexander
Girard: A Designer's Universe" will prove to be an invaluable and enduringly appreciated
addition to personal, community, and academic library 20th Century American Art History
reference collections in general, and Alexander Girard supplemental studies reading lists in
particular.
The Biography Shelf
Journey Interrupted
Hildegarde Mahoney
Regan Arts
65 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012
www.reganarts.com
9781682450130, $26.95, HC, 304pp, www.amazon.com
In the spring of 1941, seven-year-old Hildegarde Ercklentz and her family leave their home in
New York City and set off for their native Germany, where her father has been recalled to the
headquarters of the Commerz & Private Bank in Berlin. It was meant to be an epic journey,
crossing the United States, the Pacific, and Siberia. But when Hitler invades Russia, a week-long
stay in Yokohama, Japan, becomes six years of quasi-detention, as Hildegarde and her family are
stranded in Japan until the war's end. Impressively well written and a compelling read from first
page to last, "Journey Interrupted: A Family Without a Country in a World at War" by
Hildegarde Mahoney is spellbinding memoir in which she recounts her family's moving saga that
takes the reader from the family's courage in the face of terrible difficulties, including forced
relocation, scarce rations, brutal winters in the Japanese Alps, to their joyous reunion with their
German relatives in Hamburg, and their eventual return to New York City in 1950. Richly
detailed and remarkably vivid, "Journey Interrupted" is a personal story unlike any other. The
inspiring tale of an extraordinary family adapting to the hazards of fate, and finding salvation in
each other, "Journey Interrupted" is very highly recommended for community and university
library Biography collections. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "Journey
Interrupted" is also available in a Kindle edition ($12.99).
Stanley Fish, America's Enfant Terrible
Gary A. Olson
Southern Illinois University Press
1915 University Press Drive
SIUC Mail Code 6806, Carbondale, IL 62901
www.siupress.com
9780809334766, $32.50, HC, 192pp, www.amazon.com
Stanley Eugene Fish (born April 19, 1938) is an American literary theorist, legal scholar, author
and public intellectual. He is currently the Floersheimer Distinguished Professor of Law at
Cardozo Law School in New York City. "Stanley Fish, America's Enfant Terrible: The
Authorized Biography" by Gary A. Olson (President of Daemen College, the author of
"Justifying Belief: Stanley Fish and the Work of Rhetoric" (9780791456125, $31.95, PB, 200pp)
and co-editor of "Postmodern Sophistry: Stanley Fish and the Critical Enterprise"
(9780791462140, $26.95, PB, 328pp) begins with Fish's escape from the working-class
neighborhoods of 1940s and 1950s Providence, Rhode Island, for the university life at the
University of Pennsylvania and then Yale. His meteoric rise through the academic ranks at a
troubled Vietnam-era UC-Berkeley was complemented by a 1966 romp through Europe that
included drag racing through the streets of Seville in his Alfa Romeo. He went on to become an
internationally prominent scholar at Johns Hopkins before moving to Duke, where he built a
star-studded academic department that became a key site in the culture and theory wars of the
1980s and 1990s. Olson discusses Fish's tenure as a highly visible dean at the University of
Illinois at Chicago who clashed publicly with the state legislature. He also covers Fish's most
remarkable and controversial books, including Fish's masterpiece, Surprised by Sin: The Reader
in "Paradise Lost," which was a critical sensation and forever changed the craft of literary
criticism, as well as Professional Correctness and Save the World on Your Own Time, two books
that alienated Fish from most liberal-minded professors in English studies. Olson concludes his
biography of Fish with an in-depth analysis of the contradictions between Fish's public persona
and his private personality, examining how impulses and events from Fish's childhood shaped his
lifelong practices and personality traits. Also included are a chronology of the major events of
Fish's life and never-before-published photos. Based on hundreds of hours of recorded interviews
with friends, enemies, colleagues, former students, family members, and Fish himself, along with
material from the Stanley Fish archive, "Stanley Fish, America's Enfant Terrible" is a clearly
written narrative of the life of an important and controversial scholar and very highly
recommended, especially for academic library Contemporary American Biography collections. It
should be noted for personal reading lists that "Stanley Fish, America's Enfant Terrible" is also
available in a Kindle edition ($30.88).
The Fiction Shelf
Louisiana Saves the Library
Emily Beck Cogburn
Kensington
c/o Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street, Floor 21, New York, NY 10018-2522
www.kensingtonbooks.com
9781617739934, $15.00, PB, 320pp, www.amazon.com
For Louisiana Richardson, desperate times call for crazy-like-a-fox measures. As the new
librarian at Alligator Bayou Parish's struggling library, she's returning to her Southern roots and
facing trouble hotter than fresh cornbread out of the oven. Somehow, she's got to draw readers
back in and prove the library is still vital -- even as domineering parish board head Mrs.
Gunderson plans to shut it down for good. If that means Louise has to resort to some
unconventional methods like outrageous inter-library Zumba classes, and forming a book club
that's anything but Oprah-approved, well, it wouldn't be the first time she went out on a limb.
Soon Louise is doing everything she can to rally the whole community. Before she knows it, she's
sparking welcome changes (and uncovering surprising secrets) throughout her new town. And
between glasses of sweet tea, bowls of mouth-watering gumbo and the warmth of a tantalizing
new love, the newly single Southern mom might find a life she never imagined -- and a place to
finally call home. Simply stated, "Louisiana Saves the Library" is a wonderfully engaging and
entertaining read from beginning to end and author Emily Beck Cogburn is an impressively
gifted and accomplished storyteller. Very highly recommended for community library General
Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Louisiana Saves the
Library" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).
Magpie's Blanket
Kimberly D. Schmidt with Jennifer A. Whiteman
University of New Mexico Press
MSC05 3185
1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM 87131-0001
www.unmpress.com
9780826356321, $19.95, PB, 184pp, www.amazon.com
"Magpie's Blanket" by Kimberly D. Schmidt is a deftly crafted novel that brings that is based
upon the massacres of Native Americans that occurred at Sand Creek and Washita -- told from a
woman's perspective. A stirring account of violence and bloodshed, as well as of healing and
forgiveness, "Magpie's Blanket" begins with the story of a young Southern Cheyenne woman
who survived the horrific Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 only to witness a second attack on her
people at the Washita Massacre in 1868. Through the memories of three generations of Cheyenne
people, the novel recounts the events of the massacres and the century-late reconciliation after
the townspeople's misguided attempt to re-create the "battle" of the Washita with descendants of
US soldiers. Although a work of fiction, "Magpie's Blanket" is impressively faithful to historical
events and is a compelling and informative read from beginning to end. Very highly
recommended for community library General Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal
reading lists that "Magpie's Blanket" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).
History's Child
Charles M. Boyer
New Issues Poetry & Prose
Western Michigan University
1903 West Michigan Avenue, Kalamazoo, MI 490085463
http://wmich.edu/newissues
9781936970391, $18.00, PB, 590pp, www.amazon.com
Tadek Gradinski grows up witnessing the multiple invasions and crimes of World War II sweep
over his village. After the war, at fourteen, he begins to run messages and guns for the anti-Stalin
diehards still hiding in the woods. At seventeen he's leading a double life, falling in love with a
village girl, and dreaming about marriage and a job, while spying on NKVD agents at night. But
someone betrays the partisans: their camp is destroyed; Tadek is arrested, tortured, and swept
away into the Gulag with a twenty-five year sentence. A deftly crafted and compelling read from
beginning to end, "History's Child" is one of those saga-length novels that will linger in the mind
and memory long after it has been finished and set back upon the shelf. "History's Child" is very
highly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as community and academic library
Literary Fiction collections.
Salinger's Letters
Nils Schou
Sandstone Press
c/o Dufour Editions, Inc.
PO Box 7, 124 Byers Road, Chester Springs, PA 19425-0007
www.dufoureditions.com
9781910124659, $17.00, PB, 218pp, www.amazon.com
Dan Moller is an unsuccessful author living with his dentist wife. A dentist himself, Dan has no
room in his head for anything but his work and its inexplicable failure to find acceptance. One
day, two Americans arrive at his door anxious to buy his side of the correspondence he has had
with the mysterious author JD Salinger. They have a price in mind, but can Dan really sell these
treasures? Perhaps he should visit the United States and find out what Salinger himself thinks.
Original, entertaining, and showcasing the impressive literary talents of author Nils Schou,
"Salinger's Letters" is an extraordinary novel that is very highly recommended for both
community and academic library General Fiction collections. For personal reading lists it should
be noted that "Salinger's Letters" is also available in a Kindle edition ($3.99).
The Book of Marie
Terry Kay
Mercer University Press
1400 Coleman Avenue, Macon, GA 31207-0001
www.mupress.org
9780881460827, $23.00, HC, 271pp, www.amazon.com
In the spring of 1962, a young black girl is killed at a civil rights demonstration on a university
campus in Atlanta. The next day a home in Georgia is burned. Both events are etched into the
memory of Cole Bishop, eerily playing out the predictions of a former classmate named Marie
Fitzpatrick. Cole and Marie are high school seniors when they first meet in fall 1954. He is a
native-born Southerner accepting the traditions of segregation as a way of life. Marie is a recent
transplant from Washington, DC, a brilliant and assertive nonconformist with bold predictions
about a new world that is about to be ushered in by desegregation. Their story revolves around
the fiftieth reunion of the Overton High School class of 1955. "The Book of Marie" is a
compelling novel about a generation of whites and blacks who ignited the war of change. Yet, it
is also as much about the power of place and the finding of a home, as it is about the history of
events. A compelling and deftly crafted read from beginning to end, "The Book of Marie" is very
highly recommended for community and academic library General Fiction collections. For
personal reading lists it should be noted that "The Book of Marie" is also available in a
paperback edition (9780881465532, $16.00) and in a Kindle format ($12.00).
The Iron Horse
Paul Pedford
Linford Western Library
Ulverscroft Large Print (USA), Inc.
PO Box 1230, West Seneca, NY 14224-1230
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781444826067, $20.99, Large Print PB, 288pp, www.amazon.com
Josiah Wakefield and Dan Sturgis are young Civil War veterans employed by the Union Pacific
Railroad. Their job is to hunt down the hired gunmen who are wrecking the UPR's supply trains.
It's suspected that someone is trying to slow the railroad's westward progress. After a vicious
firefight on the Nebraska plains, the pair's continued pursuit takes them to the dissolute city of
Omaha - where, between their new acquaintance Bill Hickok who has been hired on to help
them, and corrupt city marshal named Deke Pritchett, their troubles are only just beginning.
Another terrific western from the pen of Paul Pedford who is clearly establishing himself as a
master of the genre, "The Iron Horse" is replete with unexpected twists and turns that produced a
riveting read that will be greatly appreciated by all western action/adventure enthusiasts. "Iron
Horse" is absolutely recommended for personal reading lists (especially for those who require a
large print format) and community library Western Fiction collections.
The Architecture Shelf
Relentless Pursuit of an Architecture
Siew Man Kok, et al.
ORO Editions
420 E 55th St, Suite 7F, New York, NY 10022-5142
www.oroeditions.com
9781935935445, $50.00, Flexibound, 300pp, www.amazon.com
The complexities of working in a densely urbanized, highly regulated environment with an
extreme tropical climate are not always immediately apparent in the clearly articulated forms
produced by MKPL Architects. This Singapore-based studio approaches its master planning,
architecture, landscape, and interior work with agility of thought and conviction of purpose.
What emerges is a distillation of the complex into the simple - comfortable spaces that can
influence the way people live, and forms that can inspire a new perception and appreciation of
the physical environment. "Relentless Pursuit of an Architecture: MKPL Architects" captures the
design conscience of the studio through the writings of its founding directors. It is as much a
meditation on 'the practice of practice' as a presentation of some of MKPL's most important
work. It is also a window on the unique urban, regulatory, commercial, and landscape context of
Singapore. "Relentless Pursuit of an Architecture" unfolds fourteen manifestations of MKPL's
inventive spirit via projects in Singapore and elsewhere in Asia, presenting an in-depth reflection
on project particularities and processes, as well as outcomes. "Relentless Pursuit of an
Architecture" is enhanced with the inclusion of an informed and informative foreword by Dr
Erwin Viray which precedes the features on commercial, institutional, private, and governmental
projects of a variety of scales illustrated by full-color photographs and drawings. Exceptionally
written, organized and presented, "Relentless Pursuit of an Architecture" is an invaluable and
extraordinary addition to professional and academic library Architectural Studies reference
collections and supplemental curriculum reading lists.
The Education Shelf
Understanding and Teaching American Slavery
Bethany Jay & Cynthia Lynn Lyerly, editors
University of Wisconsin Press
1930 Monroe Street, Third Floor, Madison, WI 53711-2059
www.uwpress.wisc.edu
9780299306649, $34.95, PB, 340pp, www.amazon.com
No topic in U.S. history is as emotionally fraught as the nation's centuries-long entanglement
with slavery. How can teachers get students to understand the racist underpinnings of that
institution -- and to acknowledge its legacies in contemporary America? How can they overcome
students' shame, anger, guilt, or denial? How can they incorporate into the classroom important
primary sources that may contain obsolete and racist terms, images, and ideas? Collaboratively
compiled and co-edited by Bethany Jay (Associate Professor of History at Salem State
University) and Cynthia Lynn Lyerly (Associate Professor of History at Boston College),
"Understanding and Teaching American Slavery" is specifically designed for college and high
school teachers, and is a critical resource for understanding and teaching this challenging topic in
all its complexity. Opening with Ira Berlin's reflections on ten elements that are essential to
include in any course on this topic, "Understanding and Teaching American Slavery" offers
practical advice for teaching specific content, utilizing sources, and getting students to think
critically. Contributors address, among other topics: slavery and the nation's founders, the diverse
experiences of the enslaved, slavery's role in the Civil War, and the relationship between slavery
and the northern economy. Other chapters offer ideas for teaching through slave narratives,
runaway ads, spirituals, films, and material culture. Taken together, the essays comprising
"Understanding and Teaching American Slavery" will material help instructors to tackle
problems, discover opportunities, and guide students in grappling with the ugliest truths of
America's past. Simply stated, no academic library Teacher Education and American History
reference collection should be without a copy of "Understanding and Teaching American
Slavery", and no highschool, college, or university teacher covering the subject of slavery in
America and its continuing (and ugly) legacies of racism should approach teaching the subject in
their classrooms without a careful reading of "Understanding and Teaching American
Slavery".
Solving the Student Loan Crisis
Cryn Johannsen
New Insights Press
9780996548670, $11.95 PB / $9.99 Kindle, 150pp, www.amazon.com
Higher education should not be a business from which many profit while millions go into a
lifetime of debt! American higher education is at the point of colossal failure. Thanks to the
creation of "Higher Ed Inc.", we now live in a dysfunctional country with millions of Americans
struggling to pay or completely unable to pay their student loan debts. Millions of new students
going to college will end up equally in debt, saddled with loans and unable to join the middle
class and enjoy the American dream. The student loan debt crisis is no longer a matter that each
student or family can solve on their own. We need everyone to put our voices together to push
aggressively for change. "Solving the Student Loan Crisis" by Cryn Johannsen is a critically
important read for the millions of current student loan debtors, future students and parents about
to take out loans, as well as the educational institution policymakers and local, state, and federal
politicians who want to help fix our broken system of higher education. A strongly recommended
addition to community and academic library collections, it should be noted for students and
non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject of student debt that "Solving the
Student Loan Crisis" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).
Art Projects for Middle School
Susan Manes
Crystal Productions
PO Box 2121, 401 Hickory Street, Fort Collins, CO 80522
www.crystalproductions.com
9781562907297, $24.95, CP7243, 80pp, PB, www.amep.com
Spiral bound so it can lay flat upon a desk or a table, "Art Projects for the Middle School" by
Susan Manes is comprised of more than 50 classroom art projects and rubrics. "Art Projects for
the Middle School" features more than 50 drawing, painting, sculpting, and multimedia art
projects that introduce important concepts like the elements of art, art styles like Abstract
Expressionism and Pointillism, and skills such as perspective, proportion and shading. Rubrics
help students understand how projects are evaluated. Offering hours and hours of educational and
recreational activities, "Art Projects for Middle School" is very highly recommended for art class
supplemental curriculums and for the home schooling parents of middle school aged
children.
Innovation Age Learning
Sharon Sam Sakai-Miller
ISTE
1530 Wilson Blvd., Suite 730, Arlington, VA 22209
www.iste.org
9781564843555, $24.95, PB, 220pp, www.amazon.com
Ready or not, education has entered the Innovation Age, where it's not about what students know
but what they can do with what they know. Teachers can prepare students thrive in the
Innovation Age by teaching them at three levels, closing the learning environment gap, and
systematically infusing technology. In "Innovation Age Learning: Empowering Students by
Empowering Teachers", Sharon Sam Sakai-Miller (the Director of Technology Integration
Services at the San Lorenzo Unified School District, Oakland, California) draws upon her many
years of experience and expertise to share her vision for active, constructivist-based approach to
learning, one which is infused with innovation skills and which leads to proven student success.
In this strategy, students are challenged to cultivate empathetic thinking skills in order to become
innovators who can turn knowledge into effective real-world solutions. Impressively well
written, organized and presented, "Innovation Age Learning" is very highly recommended for
academic library Teacher Education instructional reference collections and supplemental studies
reading lists. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Innovation Age Learning" is also
available in a Kindle edition ($12.95).
When School Policies Backfire
Michael A. Gottfried & Gilberto Q. Conchas, editors
Harvard Education Press
8 Story Street, 1st floor, Cambridge, MA 02138
www.harvardeducationpress.org
9781612509082, $66.00, Library Binding, 232pp, www.amazon.com
All educators, be they faculty, administrators, or school board members, share the moral
obligation to "first, do no harm" when it comes to the students they serve. But collaborative
compiled and co-edited by the team of Michael A. Gottfried (an Associate Professor in the
Gevirtz School's Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara,
and a member of the editorial board of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis) and Gilberto
Q. Conchas (Professor of Educational Policy and social context at the University of California,
Irvine, and who is also the interim Chair of the Department of Chicano Studies, acting Associate
Dean of Social Sciences, as well as the Visiting Professor of Sociology at the University of
California, Santa Barbara), "When School Policies Backfire: How Well-Intended Measures Can
Harm Our Most Vulnerable Students" shows that education policies do not always live up to our
educational ideals, especially with reference to educational policies intended to help our most
vulnerable students. "When School Policies Backfire" draws our attention to education policies
designed to help disadvantaged students that instead had the perverse effect of harming them by
exacerbating the very problems they were intended to solve. The rigorous case studies that
comprise "When School Policies Backfire" are contributed by a diverse group of scholars with
different methodological approaches. The cases address important areas of education reform,
from literacy and technology programs to school closings, school choice, and accountability
policies. Each case shows how and why a particular program backfired. Taken together, they
present a wide-ranging critique of the kinds of policies that compose the cornerstones of current
education reform efforts. Many books have examined policies that fall short of achieving their
goals, or that result in unintended consequences. But few have documented the effects of policies
whose failures have been so spectacular. "When School Policies Backfire" is a sobering reminder
of the responsibility that policy makers and researchers bear for the well-being of our most
vulnerable students. While very highly recommended for school district and academic library
Educational Studies collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists of educators and the
non-specialist general reader with an interest in the subject that "When School Policies Backfire"
is also available in a paperback edition (9781612509075, $33.00).
Finding Voice
Nancy Dean & Natalie Danaher
Capstone Press
151 Good Counsel Drive, Mankato, MN 56001
http://www.capstonepub.com
http://www.mycaptstone.com
9781496606075, $24.95, PB, 200pp, www.amazon.com
Written by Nancy Dean (Professor Emerita at the P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School,
University of Florida) with the assistance of elementary school classroom teacher Natalie
Danaher, "Finding Voice: Introductory Lessons to Teach Reading and Writing of Complex Text,
is a foundational book for elementary students and teachers that addresses close reading of
complex text through understanding and practicing the elements of voice. "Finding Voice" is
essentially a collection of classroom lessons that cover the tools authors use to shape voice and
meaning: diction, detail, imagery, figurative language, and tone. Every voice lesson includes a
quotation selected from a wide range of engaging fiction and nonfiction text, two discussion
questions, an exercise that encourages students to practice what they have learned, and discussion
suggestions so that possible answers are at the teacher's fingertips. The lessons will help students
understand the elements of voice in what they read and encourage them to try out the elements of
voice in their own writing. The "Finding Voice" lessons comprising this instructive textbook are
specifically designed for students in grades 3-6. These lessons provide focused examination and
practice for a specific element of voice and take only 10-20 minutes of class time. The lessons of
"Finding Voice" fit well with any literacy and language arts curriculum. As students work with
each element of voice, they will improve their ability to critically analyze text. Students will also
learn to apply the elements of voice to their own writing, creating a clear voice of their own.
Thoroughly 'user friendly' in content, organization and presentation, "Finding Voice" is very
highly recommended for college and university library Teacher Education instructional reference
collections. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "Finding Voice" is also available in
a Kindle edition ($9.99).
The Parenting Shelf
Becoming Brilliant
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff & Kathy Hirsh-Pasek
American Psychological Association
750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242
www.apa.org/books
9781433822391, $19.95, PB, 344pp, www.amazon.com
In just a few years, today's children and teens will forge careers that look nothing like those that
were available to their parents or grandparents. While the U.S. economy becomes ever more
information-driven, our system of education seems stuck on the idea that "content is king,"
neglecting other skills that 21st century citizens sorely need. "Becoming Brilliant: What Science
Tells us About Raising Successful Children" by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff (Unidel H. Rodney
Sharp Professor of Education and Professor of Psychology and Professor of Linguistics and
Cognitive science at the University of Delaware) and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek (Stanley and Debra
Lefkowitz Distinguished Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Temple University
and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution) offers solutions that parents can implement
right now. Backed by the latest scientific evidence and illustrated with examples of what's being
done right in schools today, "Becoming Brilliant" introduces the "6Cs" of collaboration,
communication, content, critical thinking, creative innovation, and confidence, along with ways
parents can nurture their children's development in each area. Expertly written, organized and
presented, "Becoming Brilliant" is especially 'reader friendly' and highly recommended for
personal, community and academic library Parenting Skills collections.
The Literary Studies Shelf
Figures of Catastrophe
Francis Mulhern
Verso
20 Jay Street, 10th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201-8346
www.versobooks.com
9781784781910, $26.95, HC, 176pp, www.amazon.com
In "Figures of Catastrophe: The Condition of Culture Novel", literary critic Francis Mulhern
uncovers a hidden history in the fiction of the past century, identifying a central new genre: the
condition of culture novel. Reading across and against the grain of received patterns of literary
association, tracing a line from Hardy and Forster, through Woolf, Waugh and Bowen, to
Barstow, Fowles, Rendell, Naipaul, Amis, Kureishi and Smith, he elucidates the recurring topics
and narrative logics of the genre, showing how culture emerges as a special ground of social
conflict, above all between classes. The narrative evaluations of culture's ends (the aspirations
and the destinies of those whose lives are the subject of these novels) grow steadily darker over
time, and the writing itself grows more introverted. A concluding discussion elicits the
characteristics of the English condition of culture novel, in an international setting, and closes in,
finally, on the central conundrum of the genre: its uncanny reprise, in its own plane, of the
historical arc of the modern labor movement in Britain, from its beginnings in the late nineteenth
century through its post-war heyday to the seemingly inexorable decline of recent decades. An
extraordinary, thoughtful and thought-provoking study, "Figures of Catastrophe" is very highly
recommended for community and academic library Literary Studies reference collections and
supplemental curriculums. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "Figures of
Catastrophe" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).
The Victorian Bookshelf
Jess Nevins
Marketing Department
McFarland & Company
PO Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
9781476665009, $29.95, PB, 265pp, www.amazon.com
"The Victorian Bookshelf: An Introduction to 61 Essential Novels" by Jess Nevins (a Reference
Librarian at Lone Star College in Tomball, Texas) is an introductory guide to the canon of
Victorian literature that covers 61 novels by authors ranging from Jane Austen to Emile Zola.
Brief critical essays describe what each book is about and argue for its cultural, historical and
literary importance. Literary canons remain a subject of debate but critics, readers and students
continue to find them useful as overviews (and examinations) of the great works within a given
period or culture. The Victorian canon is particularly rich with splendid novels that educate,
enlighten and entertain. Informed and informative, "The Victorian Bookshelf" is impressively
well written, organized and presented, making it an ideal and highly recommended addition to
both community and academic library Victorian Literary Studies reference collections and
supplemental curriculum reading lists. Academics, students, and non-specialist general readers
with an interest in Victorian literature should note that "The Victorian Bookshelf" is also
available in a Kindle edition ($14.43).
The Writing/Publishing Shelf
Comedy Writing Secrets, third edition
Mark Shatz with Mel Helitzer
Writer's Digest Books
c/o F+W Media
10151 Carver Road, Suite 200, Blue Ash, OH 45242
www.writersdigest.com
9781599639611, $17.99, PB, 235pp, www.amazon.com
Mark A. Shatz is a professor of psychology at Ohio University, Zainesville. In addition to
teaching humor writing, he has extensive international experience as a teacher, speaker, and
seminar leader. He draws upon his many years of experience and expertise to create an
invaluable and thoroughly 'user friendly' guide to writing humor. Now in a newly updated and
expanded third edition, "Comedy Writing Secrets: The Best-Selling Guide to Writing Funny and
Getting Paid for It" truly lives up to its extended title and reveals the secrets of successful humor
writing that will the comedy writer's laughing out loud. "Comedy Writing Secrets" covers all the
basics of joke construction, as well as in-depth comedy-writing techniques that apply to a variety
of print and online markets. "Comedy Writing Secrets" features: Hundreds of updated one-liners,
anecdotes, and bits from top comedians like Louis C.K., Conan O'Brien, Tina Fey, Amy
Schumer, Rodney Dangerfield, Jon Stewart, Steve Martin, Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Fallon,
George Carlin, Zach Galifianakis, Stephen Colbert, Erma Bombeck, and more; Exclusive tips for
injecting humor into articles, speeches, advertisements, greeting cards, and more; New
instruction on writing for online markets and social media; Advice on brainstorming and editing
to beat writer's block and generate new material; Exercises and expanded instructions for
exaggeration, reverses, word play and more to practice and refine your writing skills. "Comedy
Writing Secrets" is enthusiastically recommended for personal, professional, community, and
academic library Writing/Publishing instructional reference collections. For personal reading lists
it should be noted that "Comedy Writing Secrets" is also available in a Kindle edition
($9.99).
Creating Nonfiction
Jen Hirt & Erin Murphy, editors
State University of New York Press
State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246-0001
www.sunypress.edu
9781438461151, $75.00, HC, 254pp, www.amazon.com
"Creating Nonfiction" is a collection of twenty essays and interviews with authors that will open
the eyes of readers and writers to the formal possibilities of creative nonfiction. Included in the
pages of "Creating Nonfiction" are examples of memoirs, personal essays, literary journalism,
graphic essays, and lyric essays, and the content is equally diverse, with topics ranging from
childbirth to child labor, from dandelions to domestic violence. Whereas most anthologies leave
readers to speculate about the evolution of each contribution, "Creating Nonfiction" provides
companion interviews that offer insight into the inspiration, drafting, and revision process that
produced the essays. Cheryl Strayed talks about how working as a reporter for her hometown
newspaper influenced her later writings. Dinty W. Moore reflects on the delicate balance between
observation and judgment when writing about subjects whose values differ from your own.
Kristen Radtke explains how she decides between textual and visual images when creating a
graphic essay. Although they offer an eclectic mix of voices and styles, what these essays all
have in common is that ultimately, as contributor Faith Adiele observes, truth becomes art.
Exceptionally well organized and presented, "Creating Nonfiction" is an informative, insightful,
thoughtful and thought-provoking read throughout and very highly recommended for community
and academic library Writing/Publishing reference collections and supplemental studies reading
lists. For personal reading lists of aspiring writers it should be noted that "Creating Nonfiction" is
also available in a paperback edition (9781438461168, $24.95) and in a Kindle format
($13.99).
Master of The Cinematic Universe
John Bucher & Jeremy Casper
Michael Wiese Productions
12400 Ventura Blvd., #1111, Studio City, CA 91604
www.mwp.com
9781615932412, $14.95, PB, 130pp, www.amazon.com
Cooperatively written by John Bucher (an award-winning writer / director / producer from Los
Angeles, California) and Jeremy Casper (an award-winning writer / director / producer from Los
Angeles, California, and who currently teaches film at the Los Angeles Film Studies Center
where he has held workshops for well over a thousand short films with his students and alumni)
"Master of The Cinematic Universe: The Secret Code to Writing In The New World of Media" is
a guide to the future of trans-media storytelling. Content creators of every flavor are constantly
needing to expand the mediums they can work in. "Master of The Cinematic Universe" serves as
an invaluable resource for using the timeless truths of story structure to craft established as well
as up and coming short-form media formats. Exceptionally well written, organized and
presented, "Master of The Cinematic Universe" is very highly recommended for both community
and academic library Theatre/Cinema/TV instructional reference collections. For the personal
reading lists of students, film buffs, and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in the
subject, it should be noted that "Master of The Cinematic Universe" is also available in a Kindle
edition ($11.59).
The Library Science Shelf
Exploring Discovery
Kenneth J. Varnum, editor
ALA Editions
c/o American Library Association
50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611
www.alastore.ala.org
9780838914144, $95.00, PB, 304pp, www.amazon.com
Ken Varnum has been working with digital information technologies since he became a librarian
in 1994, Compiled and edited by Varnum, "Exploring Discovery: The Front Door to Your
Library's Licensed and Digitized Content" features first-hand profiles of 19 library projects.
Varnum and his roster of contributors offer guidance on the complete range of discovery
services, from the broad sweep of vendors' products to the fine points of specialized holdings.
Topics include: migrating from a traditional ILS to a library services platform; creating a task list
for usability testing of discovery; managing internal development requirements within the
constraints of a small or mid-sized library; applying agile software methodology to a Blacklight
implementation; real-world examples of usability testing, including a small liberal arts college's
implementation of VuFind; meeting the challenge of three different metadata formats; practices
in the Primo community for integrating open access content into the front end; serving mobile
users with an app and responsive Web design; analyzing the use of facets in search; using a
single discovery tool across a library, museum, and archive; and implementing discovery with
geospatial datasets. "Exploring Discovery" is easy to dip into as needed, and provides a
comprehensive examination of discovery services that will prove invaluable to IT, web
development, electronic resource management, and technical services staff. Exceptionally well
written, organized and presented, "Exploring Discovery" is very highly recommended for
community, corporate, governmental, and academic library "Library Science" instructional
reference collections and supplemental studies curriculum reading lists.
E-Learning and the Academic Library
Scott rice & Margaret N. Gregor, editors
McFarland & Company
PO Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
9780786496426, $55.00, PB, 200pp, www.amazon.com
Scott Rice is the coordinator of Technology Services at Belk Library and Information Commons
at Appalachian State University. He has also served as the E-Learning Librarian for Belk Library.
Margaret N. Gregor is the Instructional Materials Center Coordinator and the Martha and Nancy
Lee Bivens Distinguished Scholar for Children and Reading at Appalachian State University. In
"E-Learning and the Academic Library: Essays on Innovative Initiatives" they have
collaboratively compiled and co-edited twelve erudite contributions from experts and deftly
organized them into four major sections: Orientations; Physical and Virtual Spaces; Enhancing
the Classroom; Making Reference Better. Enhanced with the inclusion of an informative
Introduction, and Appendix of web sites (Useful URLs), a ten page Bibliography, a two page
listing of the contributors and their credentials, and a nine page Index, "E-Learning and the
Academic Library" is very highly recommended for professional library staff and academic
Library Science instructional reference collections.
The Librarian's Nitty Gritty Guide to Content Marketing
Laura Solomon
American Library Association
50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611
www.alastore.ala.org
9780838914328, $50.00, PB, 128pp, www.amazon.com
Content marketing is the most effective way to increase the value of a library to that library's
patrons. When librarians deliver content that library users find useful and relevant, they give a
compelling answer to the personal question of what's the value of being a librarian. "The
Librarian's Nitty Gritty Guide to Content Marketing", by Laura Solomon (Library Services
Manager for the Ohio Public Library Information Network) speaks directly to public relations
personnel, web librarians, and other library staff responsible for the library's online presence.
Filled with nuts-and-bolts advice on how to increase the library's value to its users, "The
Librarian's Nitty Gritty Guide to Content Marketing": defines the essential characteristics of
effective content marketing; explores methods of audience assessment; demonstrates how to
optimize content for sharing; explains the elements of an editorial calendar for sustainable
content, and shows how to create once and re-purpose many times; describes meaningful metrics
for the library context; points out 5 common mistakes and how to avoid them; provides a
template for creating personas; and includes first-hand accounts from library marketers. Making
content marketing concepts bite-sized and easily digestible, "The Librarian's Nitty Gritty Guide
to Content Marketing" shows libraries how to market effectively by focusing on what library
users find useful and relevant and is very highly recommended for college and university Library
Science instructional reference collections, and should be considered a core addition of 'in-house'
library staff collections for community, corporate, governmental, academic, and NGO library
collections.
Dynamic Research Support for Academic Libraries
Starr Hoffman, editor
Facet Publishing / Neal-Shuman Publishers
c/o American Library Association
50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611
www.alastore.ala.org
9781783300495, $95.00, PB, 224pp, www.amazon.com
Higher education and academic libraries are in a period of rapid evolution. Technology,
pedagogical shifts, and programmatic changes in education mean that libraries must continually
evaluate and adjust their services to meet new needs. Research and learning across institutions is
becoming more team-based, crossing disciplines and dependent on increasingly sophisticated and
varied data. To provide valuable services in this shifting, diverse environment, libraries must
think about new ways to support research on their campuses, including collaborating across
library and departmental boundaries. "Dynamic Research Support for Academic Libraries" is
intended to enrich and expand your vision of research support in academic libraries by: inspiring
you to think creatively about new services; sparking ideas of potential collaborations within and
outside the library; increasing awareness of functional areas that are potential key partners;
providing specific examples of new services, as well as the decision-making and implementation
process; and encouraging you to take a broad view of research support rather than thinking of
research and instruction services, metadata creation and data services etc as separate initiatives.
"Dynamic Research Support for Academic Libraries" provides illustrative examples of emerging
models of research support and is contributed to by library practitioners from across the world.
Knowledgeably compiled and expertly edited by Starr Hoffman (Head of Planning and
Assessment at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she assesses many activities,
including the library's support for and impact on research), "Dynamic Research Support for
Academic Libraries" is strongly recommended for college and university Library Science
instructional reference collections and supplemental studies reading lists.
The Mathematics Shelf
Foundations of Mathematics
Philip Brown
Mercury Learning & Information
c/o Stylus Publishing, Inc.
22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012
www.styluspub.com
9781942270751, $49.95, PB, 382pp, www.amazon.com
"Foundations of Mathematics: Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry and Calculus" by Philip Brown
(Associate Professor at Texas A&M University at Galveston) offers the university student or
interested reader a unique mathematics reference book by covering the basics of algebra,
trigonometry, geometry, and calculus. There are many instances in "Foundations of
Mathematics" to demonstrate the interplay and interconnectedness of these topics. Professor
Brown presents definitions and examples throughout for clear, easy learning. Numerous
exercises are included at the ends of the chapters, and readers are encouraged to complete all of
them as an essential part of working through the book. "Foundations of Mathematics" offers a
unique experience for readers to understand different areas of mathematics in one clear, concise
text. Special features include: the basics of algebra, trigonometry, geometry, and calculus;
inclusion of all of the mathematics needed to learn calculus; demonstrations of the interplay and
interconnectedness of these topics; and the use of numerous examples and exercises to reinforce
concepts. Classroom teachers should note that Instructors' resources are available from Mercury
Learning & Information upon adoption of "Foundations of Mathematics" as a curriculum text
book.
The Comix/Graphic Novel Shelf
Susanna Moodie: Roughing It in the Bush
Introduction by Margaret Atwood
Carol Shields & Patrick Crowe
Second Story Press
20 Maud Street, Suite 401, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5V 2M5
c/o Orca Books (distribution)
www.us.orcabook.com
9781772600032 $22.95 http://secondstorypress.ca
Featuring an introduction by Margaret Atwood, Susanna Moodie: Roughing It in the Bush is a
full color graphic novel adaptation of the classic memoir by Canadian author Susanna Moodie
(1803-1885), a middle-class, British-born woman who married for love instead of for money.
She and her husband became settlers in Canada (a British colony at the time), where she
experienced poverty and hardship firsthand. Given her own trials and tribulations, Moodie was
aghast to read other people's unrealistically glowing portrayals of colonial life. In "Roughing It in
the Bush", Moodie explicitly described the suffering she and her husband endured as
impoverished settlers - difficult manual labor, struggling to feed their children and keep them
clothed, the horror of disease outbreaks, and more. Moodie's intention was to give prospective
settlers an accurate picture of colonial life so that they could better prepare themselves. A
fascinating glimpse into ground-level Canadian history as well as the life story of a courageous
and principled woman, Susanna Moodie: Roughing It in the Bush is highly recommended for
teen and adult readers, as well as public library graphic novel collections.
Thoreau: A Sublime Life
Maximilien Le Roy, author
A. Dan, illustrator
NBM Publishing
160 Broadway, Ste. 700, East Wing, New York, NY 10038
www.nbmpub.com
9781681120256, $19.99, HC, 88pp, www.amazon.com
Best known today for his groundbreaking book "Walden", Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 -
May 6, 1862) was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister,
development critic, surveyor, and historian. "Thoreau: A Sublime Life" is a superbly presented
graphic novel biography that relates the forward looking inspirational life of this great author,
philosopher and pioneering ecologist. Henry David Thoreau was also the father of the concept
"civil disobedience" which he used against slavery and the encroachment of government, based
upon the same political and social principles that motivated all of the reform movements in
American today including the struggle for Women's Rights, Civil Rights, LGBT Rights, and the
Occupy Wall Street phenomena. Compelling and entertaining, informed and informative,
"Thoreau: A Sublime Life" is very highly recommended for highschool and community library
American Biography and Graphic Novel collections. For personal reading lists it should be noted
that "Thoreau: A Sublime Life" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).
Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing
Eddy Zeno
TwoMorrows Publishing
10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614
www.twomorrows.com
9781605490663, $17.95, PB, 112pp, www.amazon.com
With a comics career dating back to 1941, including inking early issues of Captain America, Al
Plastino was one of the last surviving penciler/inkers of his era. Laboring uncredited on
Superman for two decades (1948-1968), he co-created Supergirl, Brainiac, and the Legion of
Super-Heroes, drawing those characters' first appearances, and illustrating the initial comics story
to feature Kryptonite. He was called upon to help maintain the DC Comics house-style by
redrawing other artists' Superman heads, most notoriously on Jack Kirby's Jimmy Olsen series,
much to his chagrin. His career even included working on classic daily and Sunday newspaper
strips like Nancy, Joe Palooka, Batman, and others. With a foreword by Paul Levitz, this edition
of "Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing" by comics historian Eddy Zeno (who is also the author
of Curt Swan: A Life In Comics) was completed just weeks before Al's recent passing. In these
pages, the artist remembers both his struggles and triumphs in the world of comics, cartooning
and beyond. A near-century of insights shared by Al, his family, and contemporaries Allen
Bellman, Nick Cardy, Joe Giella, and Carmine Infantino along with successors Jon Bogdanove,
Jerry Ordway, and Mark Waid paint a layered portrait of Plastino's life and career. Very highly
recommended for personal, community, and academic library American Comics History
collections, "Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing" features a wealth of illustrations show just
how influential a figure he is in the history of comics.
The Audiobook Shelf
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte, author
Adapted by Christina Calvitt
L.A. Theatre Works
681 Venice Boulevard, Venice, CA 90291
9781682660065 $29.95 www.latw.org
Jane Eyre is the full-cast audiobook performance of the stage adaptation of the classic novel by
Charlotte Bronte, originally published in 1847. This streamlined interpretation resonates with the
original work's social criticism of domestic abuse and maltreatment of students, as well as its
strong principles of morality as reflected in the convictions of the eponymous heroine. Jane Eyre
is a young woman who grows up scorned by her own family. Attending a boarding school
provides a means of escape, but the school's conditions are so atrocious that a deadly disease
spreads among the students. A moral quandary haunts her adulthood; she secures a good job as a
governess, and falls in love, but the man she has lost her heart to carries a dark secret that
threatens to destroy all the happiness she dares to feel. Brought to life by a supremely talented
ensemble, the L.A. Theatre Works rendition of Jane Eyre is a new way to experience this
treasured classic, and highly recommended especially for public library collections. 2 CDs, 2
hours 1 min.
The Swiss Family Robinson
Johann David Wyss
Naxos of America, Inc.
1810 Columbia Avenue, Suite 28, Franklin, TN 37064
www.naxosaudiobooks.com
9781843799467, $28.98, CD, www.amazon.com
An epic tale of adventure and survival, The Swiss Family Robinson has been a bestseller ever
since it was originally published in 1812, just over 200 years ago, and has become a classic of
western literature. Written by Swiss pastor Johann David Wyss, "The Swiss Family Robinson"
begins with a shipwreck. A boat carrying a family of settlers to a distant colony is driven onto a
reef just off an uncharted tropical island. The sailors desert the ship in lifeboats, leaving the
Swiss family on board. They weather the storm, build a makeshift raft of empty casks and head
for the island. Once on dry land, they set about exploring their new surroundings. Using their
wits and ingenuity, they build a new life together and make many amazing discoveries. Narrator
Jonathan Keeble provides the listener with an impressive 'theater of the mind' experience, making
this superbly produced audio book edition "The Swiss Family Robinson" very highly
recommended for personal, community, school, and university library collections. (4 CDs;
Running Time 4:56:52).
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu
Joshua Hammer, author
Paul Boehmer, narrator
Highbridge Audio Books
270 Skip Jack Road, Prince Frederick, MD 20678
www.highbridgeaudio.com
978168168429, $23.99, CD, www.amazon.com
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious
Manuscripts provides something unusual in equating an Indiana Jones-style adventure with a
real-world story of how a band of librarians in Timbuktu pulled off a heist to save Arabic texts
from Al Qaeda, and is a powerful account of how a mild-mannered librarian and historian's
smuggling job preserved a critical piece of a library. His goal was to sneak all 350,000 volumes
out of the city to safety in southern Mali: a seemingly impossible job that succeeded through grit,
determination, and adventure. His powerful story of preservation issues, jihadi encounters, and
changing governments and perspectives makes for a gripping true-life story certain to delight any
with an affection for books and historic preservation challenges. Narrator Paul Boehmer does
author "Joshua Hammer's extraordinary account full justice, making "The Bad-Ass Librarians of
Timbuktu" very highly recommended for both community and academic library audio book
collections. (Complete and Unabridged, 8 CDs, 8 Hours).
Farewell to the Master
Harry Bates
Brilliance Corporation
PO Box 887, Grand Haven, MI 49417
www.brillianceaudio.com
9781511357043, $14.99, CD, www.amazon.com
Harry Bates was an American science fiction writer and editor who would, most likely, be totally
forgotten today if it were not for this one extraordinary story of an alien named Klaatu and a giant
and super-powerful robot. The story became the basis for the 1951 and 2008 films The Day the
Earth Stood Still. However, as is often the case, the movie took only some elements from the
story and changed others completely. In the story, for example, the robot is named "Gnut." In the
movie, it became "Gort." Many people who read the story and see the movies seem to feel that,
although the first movie became a classic, the original story has a much more interesting and
thought-provoking twist than either of the movies. Ably narrated by Jim Roberts, "Farewell to
the Master" is a complete and unabridged recording of Bates' original science fiction short story,
and is brought back to an new generation of appreciative science fiction enthusiasts. Simply
stated, "Farewell to the Master" is very highly recommended for personal and community library
science fiction audio book collections. (2 CDs, 1 hour, 39 minutes).
The Library CD Shelf
Don Williams in Ireland
Don Williams
RED Distribution
c/o Webster Public Relations (publicity)
http://websterpr.com
$15.98 www.amazon.com
Don Williams in Ireland: The Gentle Giant in Concert is a DVD showcasing smash-hit American
country singer Don Williams on stage abroad. Williams' natural bass-baritone voice carries swift
and smooth in this showcase treasury, the next best thing to witnessing one of his performances
in person. Highly recommended! The tracks are "Good Ole Boys Like Me", "Some Broken
Hearts Never Mend", "Lay Down Beside Me", "Younger Days", "She Never Knew Me", "Elise",
"How Did You Do It", "From Now On", "If Hollywood Don't Need You", "Till The Rivers All
Run Dry", "It Must Be Love", "I Believe In You", "Imagine That", "Tulsa Time", "Amanda",
"You're My Best Friend", "Lord I Hope This Day Is Good", "I Recall A Gypsy Woman", and
"Louisiana Saturday Night".
The Whole World in Her Hands
Monika Herzig
Whaling City Sound
1310 Tucker Road, No. Dartmouth, MA 02747
www.whalingcitysound.com
c/o Naxos of America, Inc. (dist.)
1810 Columbia Avenue, Suite 28, Franklin, TN 37064
www.naxosaudiobooks.com
$16.99 www.amazon.com
Jazz artist, pianist, composer, and educator Monika Herzig presents The Whole World in Her
Hands, a jazz album enriched with the performances of expert musicians from around the globe -
guitarist Leni Stern (Germany/NYC), percussionist Mayra Casales (Cuba),trombonist Reut
Regev (Israel), flutist/saxophonist Jane Bunnett (Canada), drummer Arianna Fanning
(Indian-American), and more. Both original compositions and expressive rearrangements of
classic hits are present in this extraordinary album, enhanced with bonus video content. The
tracks are "Plenty of Nothing" (5:06), "Mosquitoes" (4:14), "The Cat That Stole The Moon"
(3:04), "In a Nutshell" (5:26), "Song for Argentina" (5:49), "istop" (5:30), "Royals" (5:22), "Oh
Muddy Waters" (4:59), "2-Way Mirror" (4:32), "A Total Non-Impossibility" (5:40), "Peaceful
Piece" (3:48), and "The Whole World In Her Hands" (5:09). Also highly recommended for jazz
connoisseurs is the album "Swing That Music!" ($14.99, in which vocalist/soprano sax player
Danny Bacher and associates pay tribute to the legendary jazz greats Louis Armstrong, Louis
Prima, and Louis Jordan, with vibrant performances of some of their most widely beloved
songs.
A New Dream
Lynn Tredeau
www.lynntredeau.com
Privately Published
$12.95 CD / $9.99 download cdbaby.com
A New Dream is the third original solo piano album by award-nominated music artist Lynn
Tredeau. Gentle yet complex, the winding soundscape takes the listener's mind on a magical tour
in this quietly beautiful and reflective listening experience. Highly recommended, especially for
piano music connoisseurs. The tracks are "Awaken" (4:13), "Deepest Part of the Lake" (4:24),
"Living in a Dream" (3:06), "Courageous" (3:53), "Lunch with Vincent" (3:18), "Pixie Dance"
(3:33), "Winter Thaw" (3:52), "Seasons Change" (4:03), "Land of Enchantas" (3:01), "A Quiet
Memory" (3:26), "Ocean of Tears" (3:34), "Innocence" (3:10), and "Shadow of Your Absence"
(4:01).
Golden
The Movement
TheMovementVibe.com
$10.00 CD https://rootfire.net/product-category/the-movement
Golden is an album from reggae band The Movement, inspired by the majesty of mathematics,
including concepts such as the Golden Ratio, the Golden Mean, the Golden Spiral, and the
Fibonacci code, which have been observed to appear in nature or even in human DNA. Elements
of nature are reflected in this mesmerizing album, the debut release through not-for-profit label
Rootfire (https://rootfire.net). A "must" for connoisseurs of mind-expanding reggae! The tracks
are "Blinded", "Dancehall", "Golden", "Fair Warning", "Smoke", "Rescue", "On Top", "Home",
"Through the Heart", "Retriever", "Habit 2016", and "Wild Time".
The Library DVD Shelf
Simplified Tai Chi for Beginners: 48 Form
Helen Liang
YMAA Publications
PO Box 480, Wolfeboro, NH 03894-0480
9781594392894 $29.95 www.ymaa.com
8th degree kung fu black belt master and professional martial arts instructor Helen Liang presents
Simplified Tai Chi for Beginners: 48 Form, an instructional DVD designed to teach viewers of
all skill and experience levels a simplified 48-posture tai chi form. This practice takes only ten
minutes to perform once learned, yet promotes health, exercise, and mental clarity. Simplified
Tai Chi for Beginners: 48 Form is divided into brief, viewer-friendly segments with step-by-step
instructions; each form is shown from multiple camera angles. A superb self-study or teaching
tool, Simplified Tai Chi for Beginners is highly recommended for anyone interested in learning
this accessible, low-impact, whole-body exercise, which can be fully performed in 10 minutes
once mastered. 180 min.
The Life of Verdi
Narrated by Burt Lancaster
Acorn Media
c/o RLJ Entertainment
$49.99 www.acornonline.com
Academy Award winner Burt Lancaster narrates The Life of Verdi, a 1982 Italian-language
biographical television miniseries, now available on DVD with SDH subtitles. Giuseppe Verdi
(1813-1901) was an extraordinarily talented Italian composer; his private life was as tumultuous
as his music was popular. Dramatizing Giuseppe's trials, heartbreak, scandals, and more, The
Life of Verdi is a fascinating revelation of the man behind the music. It should be noted that The
Life of Verdi contains some scenes of violence. Highly recommended, especially for public
library DVD collections. 7 episodes on 4 DVDs, SDH subtitles.
The Theatre/Cinema Shelf
In Performance
J. V. Mercanti
Applause Books
c/o Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing Group
19 West 21st Street, Suite 201, New York, NY 10010
www.applausebooks.com
9781480396623, $16.99, PB, 280pp, www.amazon.com
A professional director and casting director, JV Mercanti is the director of acting for the musical
theatre program at Pace University's School of the Arts, New York, NY. Mercanti draws upon his
many years of experience and expertise "In Performance: Contemporary Monologues for Men
and Women Late Thirties to Forties" to provide a thoughtfully curated collection, wherein actors
preparing for an audition or searching for quality scenes to hone their chops will find a wealth of
contemporary material from American and British plays. Almost all of the works are from the
year 2000 to the recent 2014 Broadway production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night-Time, chosen from the point of view of a professional acting teacher, director, and casting
director. Along with covering the basics of how to match the best monologue to the actor and
how to approach the rehearsal and performance of a piece, "In Performance: Contemporary
Monologues for Men and Women Late Thirties to Forties" provides a synopsis of the plays,
character descriptions, and lists of questions specific to each monologue that will direct the actor
toward shaping a complex, honest, and thoughtful performance with a strong emotional
connection, a clear arc, and playable actions. There is also a brief lesson on appropriate rehearsal
behavior and preparation. "In Performance: Contemporary Monologues for Men and Women
Late Thirties to Forties" is very highly recommended for personal, professional, community
theatre, community library, and academic library Acting/Auditioning instructional reference
collections and supplemental studies reading lists.
Acting 2.0
Anthony Abeson
Smith & Kraus
177 Lynne Road, Hanover, NH 03755
www.smithandkraus.com
9781575259024, $16.95, PB, 165pp, www.amazon.com
Anthony Abeson's actor-training is an amalgam of his work with Peter Brook, Jerzy Grotowski,
Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler and Harold Clurman. Many of his students have gone on to
successful careers in theatre, film and television. In "Acting 2.0: Doing Work that Gets Work in a
High-Tech World" Abeson draws upon his many years of experience and expertise to discuss the
consequences of the American acting culture's emphasis on using rather than developing talent.
In the opening of "Acting 2.0), he says "I want to empower you with practical tools with which to
do good work that gets work in the room work on the stage and screen that inspires all of us, that
arouses not prurience or violence but that precious something, intangible but of inestimable
value, that is being destroyed from our lives : our humanity. Enhanced with the inclusion of a
four page Bibliography and a two page Author Biography, "Acting 2.0" will prove an informative
and instructive read for anyone aspiring to an acting career. While very highly recommended for
personal, professional, community theatre, community library, and academic library Theatrical
Studies reference collections and supplemental studies reading lists, it should also be noted that
"Acting 2.0" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).
The Civil War Shelf
The Cavalry of the Army of the Cumberland
Dennis W. Belcher
McFarland & Company
PO Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
9780786494804, $45.00, PB, 356pp, www.amazon.com
During its two-year history, the cavalry of the Union's Army of the Cumberland fought the
Confederates in some of the most important actions of the Civil War, including Stones River,
Chickamauga, the Tullahoma Campaign, the pursuit of Joseph Wheeler in October 1863 and the
East Tennessee Campaign. They battled with legendary Confederate cavalry units commanded by
Nathan Bedford Forrest, John Hunt Morgan, Wheeler and others. By October 1864, the cavalry
grew from eight regiments to four divisions (composed of units from Pennsylvania, Michigan,
Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and Tennessee) before participating in Sherman's
Atlanta Campaign, where the Union cavalry suffered 30 percent casualties. "The Cavalry of the
Army of the Cumberland" by American Civil War historian Dennis W. Belcher provides an
informed and informative history of the Army of the Cumberland's cavalry units including a deft
analysis of their success and failures, as well as a re-evaluation their alleged poor service during
the Atlanta Campaign. Enhanced with the occasional inclusion of black-and-white period
photography, "The Cavalry of the Army of the Cumberland" is very highly recommended for
community and academic library American Civil War collections. For the personal reading lists
of civil war historians and military history buffs, it should be noted that "The Cavalry of the
Army of the Cumberland" is also available in a Kindle edition ($29.99).
The Agriculture Shelf
Compendium of Grape Diseases, Disorders, and Pests, second edition
Wayne F. Wilcox, Walter D. Gubler, Jerry K. Uyemoto
APS Press
3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121
www.shopapspress.org
9780890544792, $119.00, PB, 232pp, www.amazon.com
Grapes, both table grapes and wine grapes, are the most widely planted fruit crop with 7.5
million hectares grown throughout the world. They are also one of the most management
intensive crops in existence. "Compendium of Grape Diseases, Disorders, and Pests" is now in a
fully updated and expanded second edition and a critically important, comprehensive diagnostic
and pest management guide for grape crops that is a "must" for anyone growing grapes for
commercial or personal purposes. The collaborative work of Wayne F. Wilcox (Cornell
University and the New York State Agricultural Experiment station, Geneva), Walter D. Gubler
University of California, Davis), and Jerry K. Uyemoto (Unites States Department of
Agriculture--Agricultural Research Service, University of California, Davis), the "Compendium
of Grape Diseases, Disorders, and Pests" is deftly organized into four major sections: Diseases
Caused by Biotic Factors; Mites and Insects that Cause Disease-like Symptoms in Grapes;
Disorders Caused by Abiotic Factors; Grapevine Disease Management. Enhanced with the
inclusion of an informative Introduction, two Appendices; a twelve-page Glossary; and an
eleven-page Index, "Compendium of Grape Diseases, Disorders, and Pests" is very highly
recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Agricultural Studies
reference collections in general, and Grape Disease Control supplemental studies reading lists in
particular.
The Sports Shelf
Soccermatics
David Sumpter
Bloomsbury Press
175 Fifth Avenue, Suite 315, New York, NY 10010
www.bloomsbury.com
9781472924124, $27.00, HC, 304pp, www.amazon.com
David Sumpter is a professor of applied mathematics at Uppsala University in Sweden, where he
runs the Collective Behavior Research Group. In "Soccermatics: Mathematical Adventures in the
Beautiful Game" Professor Sumputer documents the game of soccer as the most mathematical of
the team sports sports and that it is riddled with numbers, patterns, and shapes. The answer to
how to make sense of these numerical factors lies in mathematical modeling, a science with
applications in a host of biological systems. In the pages of "Soccermatics" Professor Sumpter
brings the two together in a fascinating, mind-bending synthesis. "Soccermatics" address such
questions as: What's the similarity between an ant colony and Total Football, Dutch style? How
is the Barcelona midfield linked geometrically? And how can we relate the mechanics of a
Mexican Wave to the singing of cicadas in an Australian valley? Professor Sumpter deftly
reveals the world of mathematical modeling as expressed and illustrated through the prism of
soccer. Soccer is indeed more than a game and this study is packed from cover to cover with
game theory. While very highly recommended to highschool, college, university, and community
library Sports Studies and Applied Mathematics reference collections and supplemental
curriculum lists. For the personal reading of academicians and soccer fans, it should be noted that
"Soccermatics" is also available in a paperback edition (9781472924131, $16.26) and in a Kindle
format ($9.99).
The American History Shelf
Deadwood Saints and Sinners
Jerry L. Bryant and Barbara Fifer
Farcountry Press
PO Box 5630, Helena, MT 59604
9781560376460 $14.95 www.farcountrypress.com
Part of the "Beside Reader Series", Deadwood Saints and Sinners is an anthology of amazing
historical vignettes about the people of Deadwood, a gathering of mining camps that flourished
among the gulches of Deadwood and Whitewood creeks of South Dakota in the late 1800's.
Deadwood became the inspiration for a popular Western television series of the same name, but
these completely true tales about the good, the bad, and the ugly residents of Deadwood just
might be more astounding than fiction! From Sarah Ann Erb, a woman rancher who kept both
guns and bulldogs for protection, to Samuel Fields, an African-American U.S. Cavalry veteran
seeking his fortune in Deadwood after a failed bid for Congress, to Cynthia Cleveland, who
sought to spread the temperance movement and spoke out against "demon run", Deadwood
Saints and Sinners is filled cover to cover with larger-than-life characters. Highly
recommended!
Charcoal and Blood
Silvio Manno
University of Nevada Press
Mail Stop 0166, Reno, NV, 89557-0166
9781943859009 $29.95 www.unpress.nevada.edu
Charcoal and Blood: Italian Immigrants in Eureka, Nevada and the Fish Creek Massacre is an
in-depth history of a criminal slaughter perpetrated against an Italian and Swiss immigrant
community on Nevada's mining frontier. These Italian and (often Italian-speaking) Swiss
immigrants were skilled at turning wood into charcoal, which burned at hotter temperatures and
was vital for processing certain ores. Yet charcoal buyers often paid in scrip rather than cash, and
the stores that redeemed the scrip sold goods at vastly inflated prices. Teamsters also seized a
expanding cut of charcoal revenue, and charcoal production became more difficult as the
surrounding area was increasingly deforested. A union was formed to demand higher prices for
charcoal, which led to extreme tensions with non-union charcoal sellers and their buyers. These
tensions culminated in the Fish Creek Massacre of August 18, 1879, in which five charcoal
burners were slain, six more were wounded, and fourteen were taken prisoner by a sheriff's
posse. Charcoal and Blood draws upon a wealth of resources in its effort to untangle what exactly
unfolded on that fateful day, as well as the economic and political forces that created the
massacre, and the subsequent trial of the charcoal burners. A sober and serious-minded account,
Charcoal and Blood is highly recommended for public and college library American History
collections.
When the Basques Ruled California
John J. O'Hagan
Caxton Press
312 Main Street, Caldwell, ID 83605-3299
9780870045899 $17.95 www.caxtonpress.com
When the Basques Ruled California is a close study of California history from 1784 to 1834, a
time when virtually all positions of political, military, and ecclesiastical power were held by
Basques (people of an ethnic group that traces its heritage to the Basque Country area, which
straddles north-central Spain and south-western France). Chapters explore Basque influence and
legacy on the California territory, its succession of leaders, major incidents of crime or rebellion,
and more. Written with scholarly precision and attention to detail, yet accessible to readers of all
backgrounds, When the Basques ruled California is a welcome addition to American and
California history collections.
The Handy State-by-State Answer Book
Samuel Willard Crompton
Visible Ink Press
43311 Joy Rd., #414, Canton, MI 48187-2075
www.visibleinkpress.com
9781578595655, $21.95, PB, 450pp, www.amazon.com
How did colonies, territories, and land purchases shape the United States of America? What
differences and similarities are there between the states? What does each state bring to the union?
Compiled and presented by Samuel Crompton, "The Handy State-by-State Answer Book: Faces,
Places, and Famous Dates for All Fifty States" explores the history, growth, politics, people, and
more of each of the 50 states. It is a resource for learning about the events and personalities that
influenced and affected each state, its history, government, cities, and culture. "The Handy
State-by-State Answer Book" is an ideal and convenient place to look for state facts and trivia. In
addition to the state motto, nickname, and when it entered the union, "The Handy State-by-State
Answer Book" addresses intriguing questions about the people, places, and events that lend a
unique character to each state's boundaries, government, and places of interest, such as: How
important were the Beach Boys to the making of California's culture? Are the Hawaiians still in
charge of their state and its economy? Why was it so easy for the Pilgrims and the Puritans to
take over eastern Massachusetts? Who were the first inhabitants of what is now South Dakota?
Does it ever stop raining on the Washington coast? Exceptionally well written, organized and
presented, "The Handy State-by-State Answer Book" is very highly recommended for school and
community library American History collections. For personal reading lists it should be noted
that "The Handy State-by-State Answer Book" is also available in a Kindle edition ($18.99).
The World History Shelf
Knights of the Holy Grail
Tim Wallace Murphy
Watkins Publishing
Angel Business Club
359 Goswell Road, London, EC1V 7JL, UK
www.watkinspublishing.com
9781905857227, $28.95, PB, 320pp, www.amazon.com
The Knights Templar were among the wealthiest and most powerful of the medieval Western
Christian military orders and were prominent actors in Christian finance. Officially endorsed by
the Roman Catholic Church in 1129, The Knights Templar existed for nearly two centuries
during the Middle Ages. The Templars' existence was tied closely to the Crusades; when the
Holy Land was lost, support for the Order faded. Rumors about the Templars' secret initiation
ceremony created distrust, and King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the Order, took
advantage of the situation. In 1307, many of the Order's members in France were arrested,
tortured into giving false confessions, and then burned at the stake. Under pressure from King
Philip, Pope Clement V disbanded the Order in 1312. The abrupt disappearance of a major part
of the European infrastructure gave rise to speculation and legends, which have kept the
"Templar" name alive into the modern day. "Knights of the Holy Grail: The Secret History of
The Knights Templar" by Tim Wallace Murphy explains the heretical spiritual beliefs of the
Knights Templar and the Rex Deus families and examines their role in the loss of the Holy Land.
Murphy also charts their achievements in a range of endeavors, from building castles and
cathedrals to laying the foundations of the modern marketplace. Informed and informative,
Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Knights of the Holy Grail" is very highly
recommended for community library collections. For academicians and non-specialist general
readers with an interest in the medieval military order and its relationship to the Holy Grail, it
should be noted for personal reading lists that "Knights of the Holy Grail" is also available in a
Kindle edition ($2.99).
The Music Shelf
The Art of Singing Onstage and in the Studio
Jennifer Hamady, author
Hal Leonard
33 Plymouth Street, Ste. 302, Montclair, NJ 07042
9781495050268, $19.99 182 pages, www.halleonardbooks.com
"The Art of Singing Onstage and in the Studio: Understanding the Psychology, Relationships,
and Technology in Performing and Recording" is a helpful vocal training book with an emphasis
on managing technology on stage and in the studio and interacting effectively with those who
operate it. following an earlier vocal training text, "The Art of Singing," "The Art of Singing
Onstage and in the Studio" continues to educate singers about performance, communication with
supportive technology workers, and learning more about the tools of the trade. A compact text,
this book begins with some brief overviews on voice performance and performance anxiety,
relationships between singers, producers and engineers and more, technology in music and its
implications, and a history of vocal performance in music. Following chapters deal with singers
vs. cast and crew, and encouraging partnership with responsibility instead of blame, and also
mastering the tools of recording. Additional chapters cover studio/stage comparisons in live
sound and performance, television and touring. Finally, Chapter fourteen deals with other tools
of the vocal music business, such as contracts, finding trusted technological and
professional/managerial staff, and "embracing plan B," which translates to if you must get a day
job, keep it in a related field. Finally, the author encourages the vocal performer to face a brave
new world and begin the show, building good working relationships and continuing a passion for
lifelong learning in vocal performance. "The Art of Singing Onstage and in the Studio" is an
eminently practical work for aspiring and experienced vocal performers, covering many hidden
areas of performance enhancement or the reverse, detraction.
Make Your Own Music
Richard McCready
Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing
33 Plymouth St, Suite 302, Montclair, NJ 07042
www.halleonardbooks.com
9781480397453, $24.99, PB, 154pp, www.amazon.com
Richard McCready teaches music technology at River Hill High School in Clarksville, Maryland,
and is also the music technology resource teacher for Howard County, Maryland. In "Make Your
Own Music: A Creative Curriculum Using Music Technology", McCready draws upon his many
years of experience and expertise to provide an organized approach to creating your own music
using modern technology. It contains lessons, skill sets, and projects for using the PreSonus
Music Creation Suite. An valuable and practical tool for the enthusiast, student, or teacher,
"Make Your Own Music" is a complete classroom curriculum for both learning and teaching
music technology, incorporating composition ideas, notation skills, and digital audio workstation
proficiencies. Each chapter focuses on building musical and compositional knowledge using
Notion and/or Studio One. "Make Your Own Music" is organized into easily digestible chapters
that cover topics such as Getting Started with Recording, Getting Started with Notion, Creating
Electronic Music with Virtual Instruments in Studio One, and Mixing and Mastering in Studio
One. Each chapter contains three demonstrable skills that students can learn by working through
self-paced projects, examples of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics)
problem-solving strategies from music technology history, and composition assignments with
reproducible grading sheets for teachers. Supporting materials can be accessed online. They
round out the educational and instructional experience through video tutorials and printable
documents. Ideal for self-study as well as classroom music curriculums, "Make Your Own
Music" is very highly recommended for individual, community, school, and university Music
Education reference collections and supplemental studies reading lists.
The Sounds of Louisiana
Roger Hahn, author
Chris Osborne, illustrator
Pelican Publishing Company
1000 Burmaster Street, Gretna, LA 70053-2246
www.pelicanpub.com
9781455621026, $24.95, PB, 128pp, www.amazon.com
"The Sounds of Louisiana: Twenty Essential Music Makers" chronicles the creation of new
categories of music like zydeco and jazz and the addition of distinct flavors to established genres
like rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, funk, and hip-hop, journalist. Author and journalist Roger
Hahn provides an informed and informative overview of Louisiana's impressive role in the
musical heritage of the last two centuries. He documents twenty musicians and musical groups
who have (and still are) shaping the face of music in America. Included are profiles of the
well-known and the obscure (but no less influential) musicians such as Jelly Roll Morton, Clifton
Chenier, Irma Thomas, Buddy Guy, Li'l Wayne, and Hunter Hayes. Each individual profile
centers on the cultural inheritance, accomplishments, and influence of the artists and features a
full-color portrait by artist Chris Osborne. Enhanced with the inclusion of a bibliography is
provided for further reading, "The Sounds of Louisiana" is a unique and highly recommended
addition to community and academic library American Music History collections. For personal
reading lists it should be noted that "The Sounds of Louisiana" is also available in a Kindle
edition ($23.70).
The Cookbook Shelf
Happy Homestyle Chef
Annette Crossley
Outskirts Press, Inc.
10940 S. Parker Road, #515, Parker, CO 80134
www.outskirtspress.com
9781478757412, $25.95, PB, 228pp, www.amazon.com
Comprised of more than 150 recipes for basic home-cooked dishes that would please any palate,
satisfy any appetite, and are consistently 'kitchen cook friendly', "Happy Homestyle Chef: My
First Homestyle Cookbook" by Annette Crossley is an ideal starter cookbook for the novice
homemaker and will prove to be a welcome and enduringly popular addition to community
library collections. The recipes range from Homemade Italian Lasagna; Fish and Chips;
Oven-Baked Chicken with Basil; Stir-Fried Chow Mein with Four Vegetables; and Creamy
Smoked Sweet Potato Soup; to Mexican Guacamole; Caramel-Covered Apples; Summer Salad
with Orange Vinaigrette; Authentic Mexican Flan; Cinnamon Date Cake; Skinny Blast
Smoothie; and White Strawberry Sangria. "Happy Homestyle Chef" is an ideal and highly
recommended compendium of superbly presented and occasionally illustrated recipes for dishes
that would grace any dining occasion from simply family meals to elegant dining occasions.
Healthy Speedy Suppers
Katriona MacGregor
Nourish
c/o Watkins Media Limited
19 Cecil Court, London, England, WC2N 4EZ
www.nourishbooks.com
9781848992993, $24.95, HC, 176pp, www.amazon.com
Katriona MacGregor is an English chef, cookery writer and journalist who writes a hugely
popular weekly column for The Telegraph. Her personal experience of stress, fatigue and
autoimmune thyroid disease has lead her to create recipes that are simple to make but focus on
good ingredients and wholesome food. In "Healthy Speedy Suppers: Quick, Healthy and
Delicious Recipes for Busy People", Katriona draws upon her years of experience to compile and
preset recipes for dishes that will inspire anyone who feels too tired or busy to cook at the end of
the day. The recipes comprising "Healthy Speedy Suppers" take no more than 40 minutes to
make, and are packed with good quality, wholesome ingredients, and tasted fantastic. Beautifully
illustrated throughout and featuring dishes that range form Smoked Haddock and Leek Chowder;
Yogurt-Marinated Chicken with Courgette Slaw; Corned Beef Hash with Roast Tomatoes; and
Spiced Sausage-Stuffed Romano Peppers; to Baked Eggs with Salmon and Spinach; Chickpea
and Black-Eyed Bean Chili; Grainy Mustard Mayonnaise; and Curly Kale, King prawn and
Cashew Stir-Fry, "Healthy Speedy Suppers" is a delight to browse through, inspiring to plan
menus with, and a highly recommended addition to personal, family, and community library
cookbook collections. It should be noted that "Healthy Speedy Suppers" is also available in a
Kindle edition ($9.99).
Naturally Lean
Allyson Kramer
Lifelong Books / Da Capo Press
c/o Perseus Book Group
250 W. 57th St., Suite 1500m New York, NY 10107
www.perseusbooksgroup.com
9780738218564, $22.99, PB, www.amazon.com
In the pages of "Naturally Lean", culinary expert Allyson Kramer has compiled 125 recipes for
gluten-free, plant-based dishes that are as palate pleasing as they are appetite satisfying. Suitable
for vegan diets and anyone with a gluten health problem, these nutritious and delicious dishes
range from Oil-Free Roasted Broccoli; Kabocha, Apple, and Fennel Bisque; Simple Soft and
Chewy Granola Bars; and Chocolate Cheesecake; to Crispy Baked Falafel; Zucchini-Laced
Fusilli; Portobello Bacon; and Cheesy Chili Sweet Potato Fries. Each individual recipe is
provided with a succinct introductory commentary, a listing of ingredients, step-by-step
instructions, portion yield, and per serving information for calories, grams of fat, sodium,
carbohydrates, and protein content. An absolute "must" for anyone requiring a gluten free diet,
"Naturally Lean" will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to personal, family, and
community library cookbook collections. Beautifully illustrated and thoroughly 'kitchen cook
friendly in organization and presentation, it should be noted that "Naturally Lean" is also
available in a Kindle edition ($14.99).
Basque
Jose Pizarro
Hardie Grant Books UK
5th & 6th Floors, 52-54 Southwark Street, London, England, SE1 1UN
http://www.hardiegrant.com.au
9781784880262, $39.95, HC, 256pp, www.amazon.com
Compiled by Jose Pizarro (who worked at the award-winning El Meson de Dona Filo restaurant
in Madrid before moving to London, where he cofounded the Brindisa restaurants, with two new
restaurants set to open in 2016), "Basque: Spanish Recipes From San Sebastian & Beyond" is
comprised of eighty regional recipes from the beautiful Basque country of northern Spain. From
its obsession with the perfect pintxos to boasting the most Michelin starred restaurants per capita
in the world, the Basque country in northern Spain offers plenty for food lovers. "Basque"
showcases recipes for the area's most-loved dishes, including the traditional bacalao (salt cod
with pisto and allioli) and hake "a la plancha" with potatoes and Romesco sauce. Chef Pizarro
dispels the myth that creating traditional Spanish fare is a laborious task and shows even the most
novice of kitchen cooks how they can bring the experience of dining in city tapas bars to their
very own kitchen and enjoy croquetas (stuffed fried potato croquettes), tortilla de patatas
(Spanish omelette), and Jamon Iberico (cured ham). Featuring stunning views of the Basque
country, "Basque" is a trip to the culinary heart of Spanish culture. Beautifully illustrated
throughout, "Basque" is very highly recommended for personal, family, professional, and
community library Ethnic Cookbook collections.
The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches
Susan Russo
Quirk Books
215 Church Street, Philadelphia PA 19106
www.quirkbooks.com
9781594744389, $18.95, PB, 320pp, www.amazon.com
The sandwich has evolved from its humble beginnings as two slices of bread holding a slab of
meat because an British aristocrat didn't want to interrupt his card came. Susan Russo's "The
Encyclopedia of Sandwiches: Recipes, History, and Trivia for Everything Between Sliced Bread"
is an inherently fascinating browse the features tried-and-true recipes, tips and tricks, and
fascinating regional and historical trivia about the best snack of all time. Quick how-to
instructions will ensure that every Panini is toasted to buttery perfection, every Sloppy Joe is
deliciously sloppy, and every Dagwood is stacked to perfection! Beautifully and profusely
illustrated, and showcasing recipes that range from the Chicken Salad Sandwich; an Eggplant
Parmesan Sub; the Hoagie; a Potato Chip Sandwich; the Pound Cake Sandwich; the Spamwich;
Tea Sandwiches, and so many more! Packed with The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches is essential
reading for sandwich connoisseurs everywhere and is enthusiastically recommended for personal,
professional, family, and community library cookbook collections. It should be noted that "The
Encyclopedia of Sandwiches" is also available in a Kindle edition ($13.99).
The Philosophy Shelf
Beasts in Eden
Emile Benoit
Eudaimon Press
http://eudaimonpress.webs.com
9780988227712, $15.95, PB, 364pp, www.amazon.com
Emile Benoit is the pseudonym an the American academician and the author of the critically
acclaimed "Essays and Aphorisms on the Higher Man" and "The Artistic Perspective", as well as
the full length play "A Midsummer Night's Hangover". He holds both B.A. and M.A. degrees in
philosophy from San Diego State University. "Beasts in Eden" is a work of literary and
philosophical existentialism which does not argue for any particular theory but instead attempts
to provide insight into what it means to live a unique and noble human life, the kind of existence
that establishes the human being as something quite extraordinary in the natural world. Erudite,
iconoclastic, thoughtful and thought-provoking, "Beasts in Eden" is particularly recommended
for academic library Contemporary Philosophy collections. For personal reading lists for
academics and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in the subject, it should be noted
that "Beasts in Eden" is also available in a Kindle edition ($9.95).
The Health/Medicine Shelf
Life After Encephalitis
Ava Easton
Routledge
711 - 3rd Avenue, Floor 8, New York, NY 10017-9209
www.routledge.com
9781138847200, $170.00, HC, 220pp, www.amazon.com
Encephalitis is an acute inflammation of the brain. Symptoms include headache, fever,
confusion, drowsiness, and fatigue. Further symptoms include seizures or convulsions, tremors,
hallucinations, stroke, and memory problems. In 2013, encephalitis was estimated to have
resulted in 77,000 deaths, down from 92,000 in 1990. Encephalitis continues to affect tens of
thousands of people every year. Ava Easton is a health scientist and researcher specializing in
encephalitis, acquired brain injury, and neuro-narratives. She has worked at The Encephalitis
Society since 2000, and became Chief Executive in 2011. Ava is also an Honorary Fellow at the
University of Liverpool and lectures around the world on encephalitis and its consequences. In
"Life After Encephalitis: A Narrative Approach" Easton provides a unique insight into the
experiences of those affected by encephalitis, sharing the rich, perceptive, and often powerful,
narratives of survivors and family members. "Life After Encephalitis" shows how listening to
patient and family narratives can help us to understand how they make sense of what has
happened to them, and also help professionals better understand and engage with them in
practice. "Life After Encephalitis" will also be useful for considering narratives associated with
brain injuries from other causes, for example traumatic brain injury. Exceptionally well written,
organized and presented, "Life After Encephalitis" is very highly recommended for medical
school and academic library Brain Injury reference collections and supplemental studies reading
lists. For the personal reading lists of professionals working in rehabilitation settings, survivors
of encephalitis, their families, and care givers, it should be noted that "Life After Encephalitis" is
also available in a paperback edition (9781138847217, $35.95) and in a Kindle format
($32.92).
Beat Osteoporosis with Exercise
Karl Knopf
Ulysses Press
PO Box 3440, Berkeley CA 94703-3440
www.ulyssespress.com
9781612435558, $15.95, PB, 144pp, www.amazon.com
As people (especially women) get older, osteoporosis becomes a big concern. There are things
can be done to keep it from adversely affecting daily life. Featuring more than 100 step-by-step
exercises divided into detailed fitness plans, "Beat Osteoporosis with Exercise: A Low-Impact
Program for Building Strength, Increasing Bone Density and Improving Posture" by Dr. Karl
Knopf (coordinator for the fitness therapist program at Foothill College of California) guarantees
that, regardless of current fitness level, anyone can radically improve all aspects of your health,
including: Preventing bone loss; Increasing mobility; Avoiding fractures; Building strength;
Lowering risk of injury; Improving balance; Fixing posture. As these exercises become a regular
habit, there will be an improved and sustainable quality of life while engaging in favorite
physical activities, such as golf, hiking, fishing, tennis or even salsa dancing. "Beat Osteoporosis
with Exercise" provides a safe, age-appropriate, customizable approach to exercise that offers
stability to bones and bone structure while lowering risk of injury. Profusely illustrated with
step-by-step instructions, "Beat Osteoporosis with Exercise" is very highly recommended for
community, health clinic, and academic library Health/Medicine instructional reference
collections. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "Beat Osteoporosis with Exercise "
is also available in a Kindle edition ($10.54).
Biomedical Device Technology: Principles and Design, second edition
Anthony Y. K. Chan
Charles C. Thomas, Publisher
2600 South First Street, Springfield, IL 62704
http://www.ccthomas.com
9780398090838, $85.00, HC, 758pp, www.amazon.com
Now in a thoroughly updated second edition, "Biomedical Device Technology: Principles and
Design" provides a comprehensive approach to studying the principles and design of biomedical
devices as well as their applications in medicine. It is written specifically for engineers and
technologists who are interested in understanding the principles, design and applications of
medical device technology. "Biomedical Device Technology: Principles and Design" is also
intended to be used as a textbook or reference for biomedical device technology courses in
universities and colleges. It focuses on the functions and principles of medical devices (which are
the invariant components) and uses specific designs and constructions to illustrate the concepts
where appropriate. "Biomedical Device Technology: Principles and Design" selectively covers
diagnostic and therapeutic devices that are either commonly used or that their principles and
design represent typical applications of the technology. In this second edition, almost every
chapter has been revised -- some with minor updates and some with significant changes and
additions. A collection of relevant published papers and book references is added at the end of
each chapter. Based on feedback, a section on 'Common Problems and Hazards' has been
included for each medical device. In addition, more information is provided on the indications of
use and clinical applications. Two new areas of medical device technology have been added in
the two new chapters on 'Cardiopulmonary Bypass Units' and 'Audiology Equipment'.
"Biomedical Device Technology: Principles and Design" is strongly recommended for medical
school curriculums and academic library Medical Technology instructional reference collections
and supplemental studies reading lists.
The Photography Shelf
The New West
Robert Adams
Steidl
c/o Distributed Art Publishers
155 Sixth Avenue, 2nd floor, New York, NY 10013-1507
www.artbook.com
9783869309002, $40.00, HC, 136pp, www.amazon.com
Robert Adams (born May 8, 1937) has photographed the geography of the American West for
over 40 years. His award winning work has been widely exhibited both in Europe and the United
States. "The New West: Landscapes Along the Colorado Front Range" is an extended
photographic essay about Colorado freeways, tract homes, low-rise business buildings and signs.
In five sequences of pictures taken along the front wall of the Colorado Rocky Mountains,
Adams has documented a representative sampling of the whole suburban Southwest. The views
have a double power. At first they shock; normally we try to forget the commercial squalor they
depict. Slowly, however, they reveal aspects of the geography (the shape of the land itself, for
example) that are beyond man's harm. Originally published in 1974, "The New West" is now
regarded as a classic in American photography. This beautiful new edition of "The New West" is
especially recommended for community and academic library American Photography collections,
and includes new scans, as well as an informed and informative Foreword by John Szarkowski
marking this iconic volume's fortieth anniversary.
The Autism Shelf
Strategies for a Successful Mealtime
Maureen Flanagan, MA, CCC-SLP
Autism Asperger Publishing Company
11209 Strang Line Road, Lenexa, KS 66215
9781942197133 $21.95 www.aapcpublishing.net
Strategies for a Successful Mealtime: A Program for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
and Related Disabilities Who Have Eating Difficulties is a guide for parents, caregivers, teachers,
and more for helping children maintain a healthy diet in spite of obstacles such as aversion to
certain food textures, difficulty accepting or using food utensils, general resistance to trying new
foods, and so on. Maureen Flanagan, MA, CCC-SLP walks the reader through typical and
atypical feeding development from infancy onward, and offers guidance for analyzing children's
oral movement patterns and their ability to register and regulate sensory information. Strategies
for a Successful Mealtime is packed cover to cover with expert techniques and advice, all
thoroughly accessible to lay readers as well as medical professionals. Highly recommended. "The
support provided by a structures environment will enable children with ASD to focus on the task
of eating and drinking. Supports are often simple and easy to arrange, such as providing a stable
seating position or changing the plate so it does not have a pattern on it."
The Language Studies Shelf
The Other Middle Ages
Kenneth F. Kitchell, Jr. with contributions by Mary Moffitt Aycock
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers
1570 Baskin Road, Mundelein, IL 60060
9780865168374 $29.00 www.bolchazy.com
The Other Middle Ages: A Medieval Latin Reader is a text created especially to help
intermediate Latin students gain a greater command of the language. Seventy-nine selections of
Latin prose and poetry are thematically grouped, with notes and vocabulary-building information.
A "how to use this book" set of guidelines and an extensive lexicon round out this excellent
resource from award-winning instructor Kenneth F. Kitchell, Jr., professor emeritus of classics at
University of Massachusetts.
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Diane C. Donovan, Editor
Midwest Book Review
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Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
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http://www.midwestbookreview.com
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