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Library Bookwatch

Volume 17, Number 3 March 2022 Home | LBW Index

Table of Contents

Reviewer's Choice Writing/Publishing Shelf Social Issues Shelf
Education Shelf Health/Medicine Shelf Environmental Studies Shelf
Science Shelf Cookbook Shelf Military Shelf
Civil War Shelf American History Shelf World History Shelf
General Fiction Shelf Historical Fiction Shelf Western Fiction Shelf
Fantasy/SciFi Shelf Political Science Shelf Graphic Novel Shelf
Library CD Shelf Biography Shelf Mathematics Shelf
Art Shelf Theatre/Cinema/TV Shelf Archaeology Shelf
Judicial Studies Shelf Architecture Shelf  


Reviewer's Choice


101 Tips for Surviving in a Pandemic: A Generation Z Guidebook
Kate Battaglia
Loving Healing Press
5145 Pontiac Trail, Ann Arbor, MI 48105
www.lovinghealing.com
9781615996469, $21.95, HC, 44pp

https://www.amazon.com/101-Tips-Surviving-Pandemic-Generation/dp/161599646X

Synopsis: Kate Paris Battaglia, a resilient high school student, has taken advantage of her COVID-imposed solitude to author her first book: "101 Tips for Surviving in a Pandemic: A Generation Z Guidebook".

Born near 2000, Kate allows readers to travel into the minds of a generation accustomed to the technology of the internet. However, she surprisingly does not dwell on social media to cure all ills that COVID-19 and its variants have inflicted upon the "zoomers" of Gen Z.

This astute young author: Offers advice on finding creative outlets in confined spaces; Suggests sharing resources and affection with both neighbor and stranger; Provides hope to those who have lost it in the melee of COVID variants, uncertain vaccines and treatments, and a changing educational and work landscape: Gives older generations (such as baby boomers) a new vocabulary - like vlog!

Critique: Offering a wealth of practical, innovative, effective, and even fun pandemic quarantined survival tips as simple as planting flowers and as complex as forgiveness, with the publication of "101 Tips for Surviving in a Pandemic: A Generation Z Guidebook", Kate Battaglia truly gives us a COVID guidebook that is recommended for everyone from 16 to 96. Whether home bound because of the current pandemic, or simply looking for ways to pass the time, it should be noted for that "101 Tips for Surviving in a Pandemic: A Generation Z Guidebook" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781615996452, $9.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $2.99).

Editorial Note: Born in 2004, Kate Battaglia is 17 years old. She was raised in Wellesley, MA where she attended schools through the 6th grade. Her family then moved to Dallas, Texas, where Kate and her younger sister enrolled in a north Dallas school. During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kate attended school digitally, later switching to face-to-face classrooms. Many of her peers contracted COVID; she herself had one false positive test, and later chose to be vaccinated. She is ambitious, taking numerous Advanced Placement and Honors classes in this, her junior high school year. She has been published in her high school literary magazine, and won a grade-level school award for English. Kate has also been published in Explore Big Sky.


The Writing/Publishing Shelf

A Sense of Dread
Neal Marshall Stevens
Michael Wiese Productions
12400 Ventura Blvd., #1111, Studio City, CA 91604
www.mwp.com
9781615933334, $26.95, PB, 194pp

https://www.amazon.com/Sense-Dread-Getting-Horror-Screenwriting/dp/1615933336

Synopsis: "A Sense of Dread: Getting Under the Skin of Horror Screenwriting" by professional screenwriter Neal Marshall Stevens features three main sections:

1) A detailed examination of the biological, psychological, and cultural bases of fear. What fears do we share with animals? What fears are uniquely human? What fears have we learned from our culture? From our families? From our experiences growing up? And what, exactly, is the difference between fear and dread?

2) A Sense of Dread then combines these ideas to explore the roots of human fear and apply them to storytelling for the screen. "The Toolbox of Dread" outlines the techniques for creating terror on the page. A wide array of horror subgenres are also explored, including why they exist, and what challenges each presents to the horror screenwriter.

3) Author Neal Marshall Stevens puts Theory into Practice, using examples from his own work to demonstrate how to apply his "toolbox" and the principles of "Dread" to put real scares into the pages of a screenplay. Finally, we seek to answer the question many people ask: What are you afraid of?

Critique: An absolute 'must read' combination of instructional guide and 'how to' manual for aspiring screenwriters working in the horror movie genre, "A Sense of Dread: Getting Under the Skin of Horror Screenwriting" is truly exceptional and impressively 'user friendly' in its organization and presentation, creating an ideal DIY resource for individual studies or for formal film school curriculums. While an essential addition to the core collections of professional, community, college, and university library Cinematic Studies collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "A Sense of Dread: Getting Under the Skin of Horror Screenwriting" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $21.84).

Editorial Note: Neal Marshall Stevens has been a working professional in the entertainment industry for over thirty years. Among other projects, Neal sold his original screenplay Deader to Dimension Pictures, which was subsequently produced as Hellraiser: Deader, and wrote the screenplay for Dark Castle's feature remake of Thirteen Ghosts. In addition to his work as a screenwriter, Neal has taught online for eight years for Script University, and is currently a professor in the MFA in Screenwriting program at the David Lynch Graduate School of Cinematic Arts at Maharishi International University.


The Social Issues Shelf

The Hidden History of Big Brother in America
Thom Hartmann
Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.
1333 Broadway, Suite 1000, Oakland CA, 94612
www.bkconnection.com
9781523001026, 192pp

https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-History-Big-Brother-America/dp/152300102X

Synopsis: Most Americans are worried about how companies like Facebook invade their privacy and harvest their data, but many people don't fully understand the details of how their information is being adapted and misused. "The Hidden History of Big Brother in America: How the Death of Privacy and the Rise of Surveillance Threaten Us and Our Democracy" is a thought-provoking and accessible book, in which Thom Hartmann reveals exactly how the government and corporations are tracking our every online move and using our data to buy elections, employ social control, and monetize our lives.

Hartmann uses extensive, vivid examples to highlight the consequences of Big Data on all aspects of our lives. He traces the history of surveillance and social control, looking back to how Big Brother invented whiteness to keep order and how surveillance began to be employed as a way to modify behavior. As he states, "The goal of those who violate privacy and use surveillance is almost always social control and behavior modification."

Along with covering the history, Hartmann shows how we got to where we are today, how China (with its new Social Credit System) serves as a warning, and how we can and must avoid a similarly dystopian future. By delving into the Constitutional right to privacy, Hartmann reminds us of our civil right and shows how we can restore it.

Critique: A particularly timely contribution to our national conversation and concerns about privacy in an internet and social media world, "The Hidden History of Big Brother in America: How the Death of Privacy and the Rise of Surveillance Threaten Us and Our Democracy" is a vitally important read for anyone with concerns over the erosion of democratic norms that have been the bulwark defense of the individual against abuses by the state (and now, the national and international corporations). While especially and unreservedly recommended for community, governmental, college, and university library Contemporary Social Issues, Constitutional Law, and Privacy/Surveillance Issues collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for students, academia, governmental policy makers, corporate executives, political activists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Hidden History of Big Brother in America: How the Death of Privacy and the Rise of Surveillance Threaten Us and Our Democracy" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99).

Editorial Note: Thom Hartmann is a four-time winner of the Project Censored Award, as well as the author of thirty-three books, and America's #1 progressive talk radio show host. His talk show is syndicated on local for-profit and nonprofit stations and broadcasts nationwide and worldwide. It is also simulcast on television into nearly 60 million US and Canadian homes.


The Education Shelf

Public Education
David C. Berliner, editor
Carl Hermanns, editor
Teachers College Press
1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027
www.tcpress.com
9780807766101, $118.80, HC, 352pp

https://www.amazon.com/Public-Education-Defending-Cornerstone-Democracy/dp/0807766100

Synopsis: Collaboratively compiled and co-edited by the team of David C. Berliner (Regents Professor Emeritus, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University) and Carl Hermanns (Clinical Associate Professor, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University), "Public Education: Defending a Cornerstone of American Democracy" is timely and critically important collection of contributions by which eminent education scholars and practitioners remind us that our nation's system of free universal public education is under attack, putting our very democracy in jeopardy.

Over and above preparing students for employability, American schools must prepare our youth to be informed citizens and active, constructive participants in the democratic process. These essayists, criticizing as well as lauding our educational system, believe that such a goal is best accomplished through a high-quality, public, and free system of schooling designed to serve all our children without regard to race, religion, gender, LGBTQ+ identity, (dis)ability, social class, citizenship status, or language.

In the 100th anniversary year of the Horace Mann League, these thought leaders in education take stock of enduring principles, current dilemmas, and important forward directions. With profiteers growing in numbers and seeking to take advantage of systemic breakdowns, "Public Education: Defending a Cornerstone of American Democracy" will serve as a rousing defense of our public schools for our nation's educators, parents, school board members, and politicians.

"Public Education: Defending a Cornerstone of American Democracy": Reminds all Americans of the essential roles that schools serve in contemporary society, beyond simply instilling a prescribed curriculum; Presents a counterpoint to those who promote private or charter schooling at the expense of genuine public schools; Paints a complex and multi-faceted portrait of our public education system and provides a set of diverse and provocative remedies for many pressing contemporary problems of public schooling.

Critique: Our public school systems are chronicle under funded, the target of anti-democratic forces wanting to 're-write' our American history, suppress controversial aspects of our current popular and political cultures, replace free education for all with privately funded education for some through systematically replacing public schools with private educational institutions.

"Public Education: Defending a Cornerstone of American Democracy" is a clarion call for protections and reforms to insure a sound and free public school system that will cease being a political catspaw for ambitious politicians, racist elements, and those who seek to replace history with disinformation, and the suppression of age appropriate gender issues as part of school curriculums -- all in support of the prejudices and cultural biases of minorities seeking to overrule and subvert a bulwark of American democracy.

While an essential, core addition to school district, community, college, and university library Contemporary Social Issues and Education collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of academia, educational philosophy students, school administrator, school board members, teachers, governmental police makers, political activists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Public Education: Defending a Cornerstone of American Democracy" is also available in a paperback edition (9780807766095, $39.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $37.95).

Race Conscious Pedagogy
Todd M. Mealy
McFarland & Company
PO Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9781476680330, $39.95, PB, 232pp

https://www.amazon.com/Race-Conscious-Pedagogy-Disrupting-Majority/dp/1476680337

Synopsis: In 1935, W.E.B. Du Bois asked, "Does the Negro need separate schools?" His stunning query spoke to the erasure of cultural relevancy in the classroom and to reassurances given to White supremacy through curricula and pedagogy. Two decades later, as the Supreme Court ordered public schools to desegregate, educators still overlooked the intimations of his question.

"Race Conscious Pedagogy: Disrupting Racism at Majority White Schools" by Todd M. Mealy reflects upon the role K-12 education has played in enabling America's enduring racial tensions. Combining historical analysis, personal experience, and a theoretical exploration of critical race pedagogy, "Race Conscious Pedagogy: Disrupting Racism at Majority White Schools" calls for placing race at the center of the pedagogical mission.

Critique: A timely study given the nation wide attempts to suppress and/or ban outright classroom discussions of racial issues in America's past, and which is enhanced with the inclusion of an informative Foreword by Terrence J. Roberts and an cogent Afterward by George Yancy, "Race Conscious Pedagogy: Disrupting Racism at Majority White Schools" also features two Appendices (Response to a Parent, May 2018 & Seminar in Critical Race Studies Summer Reading Assignment), a fourteen page Bibliography, and a four page Index.

While especially, urgently, and unreservedly recommended for community, school district, college, and university library Contemporary Educational Issues collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, political activists, governmental policy makers, school board members, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Race Conscious Pedagogy: Disrupting Racism at Majority White Schools" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $23.99).

Editorial Note: Todd M. Mealy (Ph.D., American Studies, Penn State University) is a writer who specializes in 19th and 20th century civil rights history and sports culture. and a contributor to Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine.


The Health/Medicine Shelf

The Mandible: An Atlas of Osteological and Radiological Anatomy
Joe Iwanaga, author
R. Shane Tubbs, author
Charles C. Thomas, Publisher
2600 South First Street, Springfield, IL 62704
https://www.ccthomas.com
9780398093785, $79.95, HC, 456pp

https://www.amazon.com/Mandible-Atlas-Osteological-Radiological-Anatomy/dp/0398093784

Synopsis: The medical science involved in osteological and radiological anatomy procedures in dental and oral surgery has progressed greatly in recent years, especially in the field of dental implants.

In dental implant surgery, the maxilla and mandible are the operative fields. The frequent complications of dental implants on the maxilla are bleeding and iatrogenic maxillary sinusitis, but these are less likely to be life-threatening injuries. However, dental implant surgery of the mandible can lead to serious complications such as mental nerve paresthesia and airway obstruction due to hematoma. Therefore, knowledge of anatomical structures relevant to the mandible is significant, and the authors have a long history of investigating normal anatomy and anatomical variations of the mandible.

When the dentist needs a comprehensive photographic review of the anatomy focusing on the mandible, including well-described anatomy and rarely shown variations with both gross and radiologic observations, "The Mandible: An Atlas of Osteological and Radiological Anatomy" by Joe Iwanaga and R. Shane Tubbs will prove to be a valuable resource that is useful for surgery.

"The Mandible: An Atlas of Osteological and Radiological Anatomy" is the first book of its kind devoted to the osteological and radiological anatomy of the mandible for dentists and oral surgeons. It will satisfy the growing demand in the field of surgery and education and will be welcomed and timely for clinicians and trainees in the field.

"The Mandible: An Atlas of Osteological and Radiological Anatomy" will also be of benefit to general dentists, dental students, and specialists and residents of periodontics, dental implant, prosthodontics, and oral surgery, as well as craniofacial surgeons, anatomists, plastic surgeons, ENT surgeons, head and neck surgeons, medical students, dental hygienists, anthropologists, and forensic specialists.

Critique: A truly exceptional and extraordinary photographic compendium, "The Mandible: An Atlas of Osteological and Radiological Anatomy" is an ideal textbook for dental students and especially recommended for both medical school and dental school curriculums and supplemental studies reading lists.


The Environmental Studies Shelf

From the Ground Up
Alison Sant
Island Press
2000 M St NW Suite 650, Washington, DC 20036
www.islandpress.org
9781610918961, $35.00, PB, 304pp

https://www.amazon.com/Ground-Up-Efforts-Create-Resilient/dp/1610918967

Synopsis: For decades, American cities have experimented with ways to remake themselves in response to climate change. These efforts, often driven by grassroots activism, offer valuable lessons for transforming the places we live. With the publication of "From the Ground Up: Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities", design expert and author Alison Sant focuses on the unique ways in which US cities are working to mitigate and adapt to climate change while creating equitable and livable communities. She shows how, from the ground up, we are raising the bar to make cities places in which we don't just survive, but where all people have the opportunity to thrive.

The efforts discussed and showcased in "From the Ground Up: Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities" demonstrate how urban experimentation and community-based development are informing long-term solutions. Sant shows how US cities are reclaiming their streets from cars, restoring watersheds, growing forests, and adapting shorelines to improve people's lives while addressing our changing climate. The best examples of this work bring together the energy of community activists, the organization of advocacy groups, the power of city government, and the reach of federal environmental policy.

"From the Ground Up: Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities" is comprised of 12 case studies, drawn from research and over 90 interviews with people who are working in these communities to make a difference. For example, advocacy groups in Washington, DC are expanding the urban tree canopy and offering job training in the growing sector of urban forestry. In New York, transit agencies are working to make streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians while shortening commutes. In San Francisco, community activists are creating shoreline parks while addressing historic environmental injustice.

Critique: Especially and unreservedly recommended reading for environmental activists and governmental policy makers, "From the Ground Up: Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities" is a clarion and illustrated call to action regarding the necessity for communities to become climate resilient in the face of inexorable climate change driven impacts while acknowledging and addressing the unfortunate social and racial injustice of past urban developments. While highly recommended for community, governmental, college, and university library Environmental Studies & Issues collections, it should be noted for personal and professional reading lists that "From the Ground Up: Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $33.25).

Editorial Note: Alison Sant is a co-founder and partner in the Studio for Urban Projects, an interdisciplinary design collaborative based in San Francisco. She has taught at the California College of the Arts, the San Francisco Art Institute, and the College of Environmental Design, University of California Berkeley.


The Science Shelf

Explorers of Deep Time
Roy Plotnick
Columbia University Press
61 West 62nd Street, New York, NY 10023-7015
http://cup.columbia.edu
9780231195348, $35.00, HC, 344pp

https://www.amazon.com/Explorers-Deep-Time-Paleontologists-History/dp/0231195346

Synopsis: Paleontology is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossils to classify organisms and study their interactions with each other and their environments.

Paleontology is also one of the most visible yet most misunderstood fields of science. Children dream of becoming paleontologists when they grow up. Museum visitors flock to exhibits on dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. The media reports on fossil discoveries and new clues to mass extinctions. Nonetheless, misconceptions abound: paleontologists are assumed only to be interested in dinosaurs, and they are all too often imagined as bearded white men in battered cowboy hats.

With the publication of "Explorers of Deep Time: Paleontologists and the History of Life" Professor Roy Plotnick provides a behind-the-scenes look at paleontology as it exists today in all its complexity. He explores the field's aims, methods, and possibilities, with an emphasis on the compelling personal stories of the scientists who have made it a career. Paleontologists study the entire history of life on Earth; they do not only use hammers and chisels to unearth fossils but are just as likely to work with cutting-edge computing technology.

Professor Plotnick presents the big questions about life's history that drive paleontological research and shows why knowledge of Earth's past is essential to understanding present-day environmental crises. He introduces readers to the diverse group of people of all genders, races, and international backgrounds who make up the twenty-first-century paleontology community, foregrounding their perspectives and firsthand narratives. He also frankly discusses the many challenges that face the profession, with key takeaways for aspiring scientists.

Critique: Informed and informative, exceptionally well written, thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Explorers of Deep Time: Paleontologists and the History of Life" is especially recommended reading for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers wanting to know the illustrated facts about the everyday work of real-life paleontologists. While especially and unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library Paleontology collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists, it should be noted that "Explorers of Deep Time: Paleontologists and the History of Life" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $19.24).

Editorial Note: Roy Plotnick is professor emeritus in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is also a fellow of the Geological Society of America and the Paleontological Society.


The Cookbook Shelf

Betty Crocker Simply Delicious Diabetes Cookbook
Betty Crocker
Mariner Books
www.marinerbooks.com
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
www.harpercollins.com
9780358659075, $24.99, PB, 352pp

https://www.amazon.com/Crocker-Simply-Delicious-Diabetes-Cookbook/dp/0358659078

Synopsis: Managing diabetes by what you eat does not have to feel overwhelming or even like you're depriving yourself of good, palate pleasing, appetite satisfying meals. Not when you have the "Betty Crocker Simply Delicious Diabetes Cookbook" which offers 162 easy, delicious recipes to help you enjoy a healthy meal plan, with a variety of flavorful foods that satisfy.

The chapters comprising the "Betty Crocker Simply Delicious Diabetes Cookbook" span every meal and snack of the day ranging from Flavor-Packed Basics, Scrumptious Breakfasts, Tasty Light Meals & Snacks, to Colorful Salads & Veggies, Satisfying Dinners, and Sweet Treats & Refreshing Drinks (it's possible!).

Each of six features has tips to focus on one area to help you stay on track without feeling like you're on a diet, covering topics like how to dine out at restaurants, how to deliciously add flavor to foods without unwanted fat or sodium, smart snacking choices, and more! You'll find fast prep recipes for satisfying meals in minutes, as well as gluten free, vegetarian and vegan options, plus tips to help the recipes turn out successfully, no matter what your cooking experience. Enjoy the wide variety of these recipes for the foods you like to eat while sticking to a healthy meal plan.

Critique: If it's Betty Crocker, you know its going to be good! Profusely and beautifully illustrated with full color photography throughout, the "Betty Crocker Simply Delicious Diabetes Cookbook" is an inspiring culinary compendium for planning truly memorable meals for diabetics and non-diabetics alike! An impressive compendium of thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' step-by-step recipes, the "Betty Crocker Simply Delicious Diabetes Cookbook" is unreservedly recommended for personal, family, professional, and community library cook book collections. It should be noted that the "Betty Crocker Simply Delicious Diabetes Cookbook" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99).

Your Daily Veg
Joe Woodhouse
Kyle Books
c/o Octopus Publishing
236 Park Avenue, New York NY 10017
http://www.kylebooks.com
9780857839664, $26.99, HC, 192pp

https://www.amazon.com/Your-Daily-Veg-Joe-Woodhouse/dp/0857839667

Synopsis: Bold, fuss-free cooking that just happens to be vegetarian, "Your Daily Veg: Innovative, fuss-free vegetarian food" by vegetarian chef Joe Woodhouse celebrates everyday vegetables in a fresh and modern way. Chapters focus either on one core vegetable or a group of similar vegetables, celebrating seasonality and encouraging you to make swaps if you don't have the exact ingredients. These recipes can then be used as a base for experimenting.

Starting with the ingredient and working forward from there, Woodhouse recipes blend textures, spices and flavors to create satisfying meals that use minimal ingredients but achieve maximum flavor. With tips on how best to prep dishes and advice on minimising stress and time in the kitchen, each recipe comprising "Your Dailey Veg" is as straightforward and thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' in presentation.

Critique: Beautifully and profusely illustrated in full color, "Your Daily Veg: Innovative, fuss-free vegetarian food" is an innovative compendium of palate pleasing, appetite satisfying, vegetarian dishes that will make any meal truly memorable. A culinary treasury whose meal-time delights range from Spiced Cauliflower with Celery & Blue Chip Dip; Curried Lentil & Spring Green Hand Pies with Green Chilli; and Griddled Aubergine, Garlic, Yoghurt, Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Brown Butter; to Green Beans with Shallot & Garlic Cream & Toasted Breadcrumbs; Tomato Broth with Thyme Dumplings; and Creamed Corn, Soft-Boiled Egg & Garlic Chilli Crisp. "Your Daily Veg" is a delight to browse through and plan menus with -- making it an unreservedly recommended addition to personal, family, professional, and community library cookbook collections. It should be noted that "Your Daily Veg" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $13.99).

Editorial Note: Joe Woodhouse has been vegetarian since the age of 10, teaching himself how to cook. He later trained as a chef and spending years working in kitchens such as Vanilla Black and the Towpath Cafe, as well as working at events with restaurants such as the Quality Chop house. Acclaimed as being one of the best vegetarian chefs in the business, his work has featured in publications such as Bon Appetit.

Leon Happy One-Pot Vegetarian
Rebecca Seal, author
Chantal Symons, author
Conran
c/o Octopus Books
236 Park Avenue, New York NY 10017
www.octopusbooksusa.com
9781840918038, $24.99, HC, 224pp

https://www.amazon.com/Happy-Leons-Leon-One-pot-Vegetarian/dp/1840918039

Synopsis: The award-winning healthy UK restaurant chain LEON is back once again with the publication of "Leon Happy One-Pot Vegetarian" a culinary collection showcasing more than 100 fuss-free, full-of-flavor recipes for vegetarian and vegan main course dishes that can be created with only one cooking pot, pan or baking tray.

Even the most novice of kitchen cooks can enjoy simple-to-follow, satisfying recipes that are perfect for any dining occasion, whether it is a mid-week supper, a quick weekend lunch or something more impressive (but easy) for friends or family. From fiery tray bakes to comforting casseroles, "Leon Happy One-Pot Vegetarian" is all about the food and not the washing up, leaving you more time to veg-out after the meal eaten.

There are simple instructions on how to plan a one-pot meal, including batching and freezing, a seasonal chart of fruit, vegetables and herbs to help you maximize flavor and take advantage of fresh produce, a guide for keeping a well -stocked cupboard, and tips throughout for easily converting vegetarian recipes to vegan and easy swaps for ingredients that just aren't your thing.

Critique: From exotic recipes ranging from Pea & Ricotta Puff Tarts; Dan-Dan Inspired Noodles; and Harissa-Roasted Roots with Feta, Almonds & Chickpeas; to Ackee Fried Rice; Giant Pasta Shells Stuffed With Herbed Ricotta; and Braised Spiced Okra & Broad Beans, "Leon Happy One-Pot Vegetarian" is enhanced with the inclusion of beautiful full color photography throughout, "Leon Happy One-Pot Vegetarian" is a vegetarian's delight and will prove to be an enduringly favorite and appreciated addition to personal, professional, and community library Vegetarian Cookbook collections.

Editorial Note #1: Rebecca Seal has written about food and drink for the Financial Times, Evening Standard, the Observer, the Guardian, Red and The Sunday Times. Her cookbooks include Istanbul: Recipes from the heart of Turkey and Lisbon: Recipes from the heart of Portugal, as well as co-authoring LEON Happy Soups, LEON Happy One-pot Cooking, LEON Fast Vegan, LEON Happy Curries and LEON Happy Fast Food with John Vincent. She is one of the food and drink experts on Channel 4's Sunday Brunch.

Editorial Note #2: Chantal Symons' passion for cooking was ignited when, as a teenager, she was diagnosed as allergic to dairy, eggs and wheat. She believes everyone should take joy and satisfaction from food and so she specializes in freeform cooking. Chantal has worked as a personal chef, caterer, restaurateur and in food product development. She is also a champion barbequer, and has won several competitions including Jamie Oliver's 'Big Feastival'.

Salad: 100 Recipes for Simple Salads & Dressings
Janneke Philippi
Smith Street Books
c/o Rizzoli
300 Park Avenue South, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10010
www.rizzoliusa.com
9781922417619, $27.00, HC, 256pp

https://www.amazon.com/Salad-Recipes-Simple-Salads-Dressings/dp/1922417610

Synopsis: Salads are so versatile: healthy and inexpensive meals that can be thrown together using endless combinations of ingredients and a little creativity. Dressed up or pared back, a salad can be as simple as tossing a few green leaves in a bowl or served as a main meal packed with vegetables, grains, or your choice of protein.

"Salad: 100 Recipes for Simple Salads & Dressings" is an impressive culinary collection and filled from cover to cover with light, everyday meals for all occasions, with dressings to mix and match, ideas for toppings, and simple breads and crackers to make from scratch.

Filled with beautiful photography and suggestions to make each dish your own, Salad is a book about so much more than the humble lettuce.

Critique: There is so much more to a salad than just lettuce and dressing from a grocery store bottle. That is made clarion clear with the publication of "Salad: 100 Recipes for Simple Salads & Dressings" showcasing Janneke Philippi's culinary compendium totally devoted to the subject of palate pleasing, appetite satisfying, visually impressive DIY salads. Enhanced for the kitchen cook's menu planning with the inclusion of fabulous photography of finished recipes for memorable salads, "Salad: 100 Recipes for Simple Salads & Dressings" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, family, and community library cookbook collections.

Editorial Note: Janneke Philippi is a cookbook author, food stylist who writes recipes for many magazines. She has a monthly column in the popular Dutch food magazine Delicious.

In Minutes
Clodagh McKenna
Kyle Books
c/o Octopus Publishing
236 Park Avenue, New York NY 10017
http://www.kylebooks.com
9781914239083, $24.99, HC, 176pp

https://www.amazon.com/Minutes-much-time-have-tonight/dp/1914239083

Synopsis: Compiled by Clodagh McKenna for family cooks with a limited time for preparing palate pleasing, appetite satisfying, nutritious meals, "In Minutes: 10, 20, 30" is a cookbook that's here to help. Whilte most cookbooks suggest menu choices that focus on giving specific recipe ideas around occasions or certain types of food, "In Minutes: 10, 20, 30" turns this concept on its head, because most nights of the week the cook at home will ask themselves 'how much time do I actually have to make dinner tonight?'

For "In Minutes: 10, 20, 30", Clodagh has devised recipes that will fit to what time you have, showing you how to make super-quick 10 minute suppers that are packed with flavor, 20 minute meals that are easy and accessible to all, and 30 minute recipes that will please anyone sitting down at the family table for a memorable meal.

Critique: Profusely and beautifully illustrated throughout, "In Minutes: 10, 20, 30" is simply packed from cover to cover with timed, step-by-step preparation instructions for an impressive variety of quick, easy, fun meal-time menu suggestions that range from Warm Lentil Salad with Goat's Cheese; Moroccan Prawn Rice Bowl; Tofu Pad Thai; and Happy Hotdogs with Oh Yeah Yum Sauce; to Steak with Thai Sriracha Sauce; Quick Chermoula Fish Parcels; The Juiciest Burger of All; and Everyone Loves Spicy Sausage Pasta Bake. Of special note is that each recipes comes with a one paragraph commentary by Clodagh. A fun and prized addition to personal, professional, and community library cookbook collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "In Minutes: 10, 20, 30" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note: Clodagh McKenna is a chef, restaurateur, broadcaster and author who studied in France and New York and trained and worked at Ballymaloe Cookery School, Ireland. She is the author of six books including Clodagh's Weeknight Kitchen, Clodagh's Suppers and Clodagh's Irish Kitchen.


The Military Shelf

Fighting the Forever War
Lisa M. Mundey
McFarland & Company
PO Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9781476688893, $39.95, PB, 258pp

https://www.amazon.com/Fighting-Forever-War-Experience-Afghanistan/dp/1476688893

Synopsis: During two decades of fighting in Afghanistan, U.S. service members confronted numerous challenges in their mission to secure the country from the threat of al-Qaeda and the Taliban and assist in rebuilding efforts.

Because the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan occurred simultaneously, much of the American public conflated them or failed to notice the Afghanistan War; and most of the war's archival material remains classified and closed to civilian researchers.

Drawing on interviews and letters home, "Fighting the Forever War: The U.S. Service Member Experience in Afghanistan, 2001-2014" by military historian Lisa M. Mundey relates the Afghanistan War through the experiences of American troops, with firsthand accounts of both combat and humanitarian operations, the environment, living conditions and interactions with the locals.

Critique: Occasionally illustrated with black/white photography, "Fighting the Forever War: The U.S. Service Member Experience in Afghanistan, 2001-2014" is enhanced for academia with the inclusion of a three page Glossary, twenty-eight pages of Chapter Notes, a ten page Bibliography, and a three page Index. Exceptionally well organized and presented, "Fighting the Forever War: The U.S. Service Member Experience in Afghanistan, 2001-2014" is an extraordinarily informative and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library Contemporary American Military History collections in general, and Afghanistan War studies lists in particular. It should be noted for students, academia, military history buffs, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Fighting the Forever War: The U.S. Service Member Experience in Afghanistan, 2001-2014" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $23.99).

Editorial Note: Lisa M. Mundey is an American and military historian who has worked both in academia and U.S. Army history. She has written extensively on U.S. operations in Afghanistan.

The First Black United States Marines
Ronald K. Culp
McFarland & Company
PO Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9780786477142, $35.00, PB, 272pp

https://www.amazon.com/First-Black-United-States-Marines/dp/0786477148

Synopsis: On June 1, 1942, the United States Marine Corps broke a 144-year tradition and enlisted the first black Marines. Three months later, more than 400 black volunteers began their training as members of the 51st Composite Defense Battalion at Montford Point, a Marine camp of over five square miles located within Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Informed by personal interviews, "The First Black United States Marines: The Men of Montford Point, 1942-1946" takes an in-depth look at the African American men who braved the color barrier and became the first black Marines. Beginning with a look at the pre-World War II Marine Corps, it examines the creed and contemporary image of the USMC. The main focus is the experiences of the new black Marines.

Additional topics comprising "The First Black United States Marines: The Men of Montford Point, 1942-1946" include internal Marine perspectives on the admittance of blacks, initially enforced quotas, and the difficulties of segregation. Appendices provide information regarding monthly inductions into the Marine Corps from 1941 to 1945; rank and pay structure; depot and ammunition companies from 1943 to 1946; and Pacific Ocean area units of fire for ground weapons.

Critique: A unique and long awaited history that is an impressively informative contribution to both African-American 20th Century and 20th Century American Military histories, "The First Black United States Marines: The Men of Montford Point, 1942-1946" by Retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel Ronald K. Culp is enhanced for academia and dedicated military history buffs with the inclusion of a six Appedices, twelve pages of Chapter Notes, an eight page Bibliography, and a three page Index. "The First Black United States Marines: The Men of Montford Point, 1942-1946" is a very strongly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library African American Demographic Studies and World War II History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.


The Civil War Shelf

Day by Day through the Civil War in Georgia
Michael K. Shaffer
Mercer University Press
1501 Mercer University Drive, Macon, GA 31207-0001
www.mupress.org
9780881468243, $35.99, HC, 480pp

https://www.amazon.com/Day-through-Civil-War-Georgia/dp/088146824X

Synopsis: Until now, a comprehensive daily account (1,630 days) of Georgia's social, political, economic, and military events during the Civil War did not exist. During the 160 years since the conflict's termination, many fine accounts of wartime Georgia have rolled off various presses.

"Compiled by Civil War historian Michael K. Shaffer, "Day by Day through the Civil War in Georgia" is comprise of daily entries derived from a quill scrolling the parchment or a press imprinting type on the day the activity occurred.

For academician and historian Shaffer, constraint proved a continuing challenge, while the unearthing of a few dramatic quotes, without a date associated, negated their use in this resource. Many former reference books were too much North or too much South, but with this effort, Shaffer strikes a balance between the combatants while remembering the struggles of enslaved persons, folks on the home front, and merchants and clergy attempting to maintain some sense of normalcy.

Historians and students will benefit from utilizing "Day by Day through the Civil War in Georgia" in future research endeavors. As such, this work will become the standard reference book for those studying the Civil War in Georgia. The inclusion of maps, footnotes, a detailed index, and bibliographical references will aid those wanting more.

Critique: A unique, extraordinary and impressively informative contribution to the growing library of American Civil War histories, "Day by Day through the Civil War in Georgia" is exceptional in its organization and presentation, making it an ideal and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library collections and supplemental studies reading lists.

Editorial Note: Michael K. Shaffer is a Civil War historian, instructor, lecturer, newspaper columnist, and author. He is a member of the Society of Civil War Historians, Historians of the Civil War Western Theater, and the Georgia Association of Historians. Shaffer teaches Civil War courses at Kennesaw State University's College of Graduate and Professional Education and at Emory University.

Voices of the Army of the Potomac
Vincent L. Burns
Casemate Publishers
1940 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083
www.casematepublishers.com
9781636240725, $37.95, HC, 384pp

https://www.amazon.com/Voices-Army-Potomac-Personal-Reminiscences/dp/1636240720

Synopsis: As American Civil War historian David W. Bright noted in "Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory" -- "No other historical experience in America has given rise to such a massive collection of personal narrative 'literature' written by ordinary people." This "massive collection" of memoirs, recollections and regimental histories make up the history of the Civil War seen through the eyes of the participants.

With the publication of "Voices of the Army of the Potomac: Personal Reminiscences of Union Veterans", Burns provides an overview of what Civil War soldiers and veterans wrote about their experiences. It focuses on what Union veterans remembered, what they were prepared to record, and what they wrote down in the years after the end of the war. In an age of increased literacy many of these men had been educated, whether at West Point, Harvard or other establishments, but even those who had received only a few years of education chose to record their memories.

The writings of these Union veterans convey their views on the cataclysmic events they had witnessed but also their memories of everyday events during the war. While many of them undertook detailed research of battles and campaigns before writing their accounts, it is clear that a number were less concerned with whether their words aligned with the historical record than whether they recorded what they believed to be true. "Voices of the Army of the Potomac: Personal Reminiscences of Union Veterans" explores these themes and also the connection between veterans writing their personal war history and the issue of veterans' pensions.

Understanding what these veterans chose to record and why is important to achieving a deeper understanding of the experience of these men who were caught up in this central moment in American life.

Critique: A welcome and expertly presented contribution to the growing library of American Civil War histories, biographies, and memoirs, "Voices of the Army of the Potomac: Personal Reminiscences of Union Veterans" is an inherently fascinating, impressively informative, and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library American Civil War collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, civil war enthusiasts and historians, as well as non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Voices of the Army of the Potomac: Personal Reminiscences of Union Veterans" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $17.49).

Editorial Note: Vincent Burns has a Bachelor's and Master's degree in American History from the University of Memphis. His previously published titles include The Fifth New York Cavalry in the Civil War (McFarland, 2014) and a novel entitled Moonlight in Vermont.


The American History Shelf

The Material World of Eyre Hall
Carl R. Lounsbury, editor
GILES
c/o Maryland Center for History and Culture
610 Park Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201-5149
https://gilesltd.com
9781911282914, $89.95, HC, 448pp

https://www.amazon.com/Material-World-Eyre-Hall-Chesapeake/dp/1911282913

Synopsis: Erected in 1759 on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Eyre Hall is still occupied by descendants of its builder. It retains a rich variety of objects from furniture and books to silver and paintings acquired by the family, reflecting the tastes and aspirations of its many different generations. Only a small handful of places in Virginia can claim such continuity.

The material culture of Eyre Hall illustrates the ever changing meanings of this place in American culture from the seventeenth- through the twenty-first century. It represents the cultural endeavors of southern society that was built on slavery and suffered the tribulations of wars, emancipation, and economic depressions.

Compiled and edited by Professor Carl R. Lounsbury, "The Material World of Eyre Hall: Four Centuries of Chesapeake History" is an original study that explores the mutability of this inheritance in the wake of such transformative events.

"The Material World of Eyre Hall: Four Centuries of Chesapeake History" is divided into four sections. The first recounts the history of those who lived at Eyre Hall. The second examines the architecture of the house and its service buildings. The third explores the formal garden. The fourth section is a catalogue raisonne of its objects.

Critique: Profusely illustrated throughout, "The Material World of Eyre Hall: Four Centuries of Chesapeake History" is a coffee-table style volume (9.5 x 1.5 x 11.5 inches) that will have relevance for students of residential architecture and regional American history. With informative essays covering the changing fortunes of the Eyre family over the last four centuries, their home's architecture and landscape, "The Material World of Eyre Hall" includes illustrated catalog commentaries on Eyre Hall furniture, silver, ceramics, glass, paintings, maps, prints, books, musical instruments, sheet music, costumes, textiles, ironwork, and arms. A volume that could well serve as a template for other studies of long established, notable, and enduring American homes, "The Material World of Eyre Hall" is unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library collections.

Editorial Note: Edited by Carl R. Lounsbury, Senior Architectural Historian, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (retired), Adjunct Associate Professor of History, College of William and Mary With an Introduction by Dr. Cary Carson, Senior Vice President of Research at Colonial Williamsburg, retired. Contributions by Laura Barry, Bennie Brown, Edward Chappell, Sam Florer, Erik Goldstein, Haley Hoffman, Neal Hurst, Angelika Kuettner, Mark Letzer, Carl R. Lounsbury, George McDaniel, Katie McKinney, Elizabeth Palms, Margaret Pritchard, Sumpter Priddy, Will Rieley, Alexandra Rosenberg, Gary Stanton, Robert Watkins, and John Watson.

Synopsis; Erected in 1759 on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Eyre Hall is still occupied by descendants of its builder. It retains a rich variety of objects from furniture and books to silver and paintings acquired by the family, reflecting the tastes and aspirations of its many different generations. Only a small handful of places in Virginia can claim such continuity. The material culture of Eyre Hall illustrates the everchanging meanings of this place in American culture from the seventeenth- through the twenty-first century. It represents the cultural endeavors of southern society that was built on slavery and suffered the tribulations of wars, emancipation, and economic depressions. This study explores the mutability of this inheritance in the wake of such transformative events. The book is divided into four sections. The first recounts the history of those who lived at Eyre Hall. The second examines the architecture of the house and its service buildings. The third explores the formal garden. The fourth section is a catalogue raisonne of its objects.

The Founders' Fortunes
Willard Sterne Randall
Dutton
c/o Penguin Group USA
https://www.penguin.com
9781524745929, $29.00, HC, 336pp

https://www.amazon.com/Founders-Fortunes-Money-Shaped-America/dp/1524745928

Synopsis: In 1776, upon the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers concluded America's most consequential document with a curious note, pledging "our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor". Lives and honor did indeed hang in the balance, yet just what were their fortunes? How much did the Founders stand to gain or lose through independence? And what lingering consequences did their respective financial stakes have on liberty, justice, and the fate of the fledgling United States of America?

"The Founders' Fortunes: How Money Shaped the Birth of America" is landmark account in which historian and academician Willard Sterne Randall investigates the private financial affairs of the Founders, illuminating like never before how and why the Revolution came about.

"The Founders' Fortunes" uncovers how these leaders waged war, crafted a constitution, and forged a new nation influenced in part by their own financial interests. In an era where these very issues have become daily national questions thanks to the presidency of Donald J. Trump, the result is a remarkable and insightful new understanding of our nation's bedrock values.

Critique: Impressively informative and exceptionally well written, "The Founders' Fortunes: How Money Shaped the Birth of America" is a unique and welcome addition to community, college, and university library American History collections. Enhanced for academia with the inclusion of eight pages of Notes, and eight page Bibliography, and a seventeen page Index, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Founders' Fortunes: How Money Shaped the Birth of America" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99).

Editorial Note: Willard Sterne Randall is a Distinguished Scholar in History and Professor Emeritus at Champlain College. Prior to academia, he worked for seventeen years as an investigative reporter -- during which he garnered the National Magazine Award, the Hillman Prize, the Loeb Award, and the John Hancock Prize -- eventually pursuing advanced studies in history at Princeton University. As a biographer and lecturer, he specializes in the history of the Founding Era.

Born of Lakes and Plains
Anne F. Hyde
W. W. Norton & Company
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
www.wwnorton.com
9780393634099, $40.00, HC, 464pp

https://www.amazon.com/Born-Lakes-Plains-Mixed-Descent-American/dp/0393634094

Synopsis: Often overlooked, there is mixed blood at the heart of America. And at the heart of Native life for centuries there were complex households using intermarriage to link disparate communities and create protective circles of kin. Beginning in the seventeenth century, Native peoples (Ojibwes, Otoes, Cheyennes, Chinooks, and others) formed new families with young French, English, Canadian, and American fur traders who spent months in smoky winter lodges or at boisterous summer rendezvous.

These families built cosmopolitan trade centers from Michilimackinac on the Great Lakes to Bellevue on the Missouri River, Bent's Fort in the southern Plains, and Fort Vancouver in the Pacific Northwest. Their family names are often imprinted on the landscape, but their voices have long been muted in our histories.

With the publication of "Born of Lakes and Plains: Mixed-Descent Peoples and the Making of the American West" by Professor Anne F. Hyde is a path breaking history that restores them in full.

Vividly combining the panoramic and the particular, "Born of Lakes and Plains" follows five mixed-descent families whose lives intertwined major events: imperial battles over the fur trade; the first extensions of American authority west of the Appalachians; the ravages of imported disease; the violence of Indian removal; encroaching American settlement; and, following the Civil War, the disasters of Indian war, reservations policy, and allotment.

During the pivotal nineteenth century, mixed-descent people who had once occupied a middle ground became a racial problem drawing hostility from all sides. Their identities were challenged by the pseudo-science of blood quantum (the instrument of allotment policy) and their traditions by the Indian schools established to erase Native ways. As "Born of Lakes and Plains" shows, they navigated the hard choices they faced as they had for centuries: by relying on the rich resources of family and kin.

Critique: A unique, inherently fascinating, ground-breaking study of Native American history in the American West, "Born of Lakes and Plains: Mixed-Descent Peoples and the Making of the American West" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library American History & Native American History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. Enhanced with the inclusion of maps, an informative prologue (Seasons of Marriage and War) and an epilogue (The Twentieth Century), a four page listing of Acknowledgments, seventy-eight pages of Notes, a section of black/white historical photos, and a nineteen page Index, it should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Born of Lakes and Plains: Mixed-Descent Peoples and the Making of the American West" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $19.99).

Editorial Note: One of our foremost historians of the North American West and a professor of history at the University of Oklahoma, Anne F. Hyde is also the author of "Empires, Nations, and Families", winner of the Bancroft Prize, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.


The World History Shelf

Queens of Jerusalem
Katherine Pangonis
Pegasus Books
148 West 37th Street, 13th Floor, New York, NY 10018
www.pegasusbooks.com
9781643139241, $28.95, HC, 272pp

https://www.amazon.com/Queens-Jerusalem-Women-Dared-Rule/dp/164313924X

Synopsis: In 1187 Saladin's armies besieged the holy city of Jerusalem. He had previously annihilated Jerusalem's army at the battle of Hattin, and behind the city's high walls a last-ditch defence was being led by an unlikely trio that included Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem. They could not resist Saladin, but, if they were lucky, they could negotiate terms that would save the lives of the city's inhabitants.

Queen Sibylla was the last of a line of formidable female rulers in the Crusader States of Outremer. Yet for all the many books written about the Crusades, one aspect is conspicuously absent: the stories of women. Queens and princesses tend to be presented as passive transmitters of land and royal blood. In reality, women ruled, conducted diplomatic negotiations, made military decisions, forged alliances, rebelled, and undertook architectural projects.

Queen Sibylla's grandmother Queen Melisende was the first queen to seize real political agency in Jerusalem and rule in her own right. She outmanoeuvred both her husband and son to seize real power in her kingdom, and was a force to be reckoned with in the politics of the medieval Middle East.

The lives of her Armenian mother, her three sisters, and their daughters and granddaughters were no less intriguing.

Critique: A simply fascinating, original, and detailed history that is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Crusader History & Medieval Palestine collections, "Queens of Jerusalem: The Women Who Dared to Rule" by Katherine Pangonis is a model of historical research. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Queens of Jerusalem: The Women Who Dared to Rule" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $18.99).

Editorial Note: Katherine Pangonis is a historian specializing in the medieval world of the Mediterranean and Middle East. She holds MA degrees in literature and history from Oxford University and University College London. She has a particular interest in rewriting the voices of women into the historical narrative, re-examining understudied areas of history and bringing her findings into the public eye.

The Emperors of Byzantium
Kevin Lygo
Thames & Hudson, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110-0017
www.thamesandhudsonusa.com
9780500023297, $39.95, HC, 336pp

https://www.amazon.com/Emperors-Byzantium-Kevin-Lygo/dp/0500023298

Synopsis: The Byzantine empire was one of the most successful states of the Middle Ages, ruling over a huge terrain straddling Europe and western Asia for eleven hundred years from the fourth to fifteenth centuries.

These rulers, who included famous figures such as Constantine the Great and Justinian I, a scattering of women, as well as ruthless usurpers, left their mark upon the modern world with the establishment of the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith, the creation of a visual template for Christian art, and the magnificent artistic achievements of Hagia Sophia and Mount Athos.

Each illustrated biographical entry comprising "The Byzantine Emperors" by historian Kevin Lygo contributes to the story of how Byzantium shaped art, culture, religious beliefs, and justice systems, as well as the role this extraordinary empire played in halting repeated invasions, allowing the idea of "Europe" to flourish. Through this compelling history, Lygo paints vivid portraits of the entire Byzantine cast, with tales of petty revenge, religious devotion, sexual intrigue, and artistic brilliance. From soaring intellectuals to illiterate peasants, eunuchs, and despots, this is a humanizing portrayal of the individuals whose rule profoundly impacted the lives of millions.

Critique: Enhanced with the inclusion 180 magnificent color illustrations supporting and exceptionally well written, organized and present historical study that is unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library Byzantine History, Christian History collections, "The Emperors of Byzantium" will have great appeal for history students, academia and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in the subject.

Editorial Note: Kevin Lygo is an expert in Islamic and Byzantine art, and has traveled across Europe and the Middle East extensively. He has previously edited the publications "Portraits of the Masters: Bronze Sculptures of the Tibetan Buddhist Lineages" and "Pages of the Qur'an: A Study of Islamic Calligraphy"

Limits of Empire: Rome's Borders
Simon Forty, author
Jonathan Forty, author
Casemate Publishers
1940 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083
www.casematepublishers.com
9781636240763, $34.95, HC, 200pp

https://www.amazon.com/Limits-Empire-Borders-Simon-Forty/dp/1636240763

Synopsis: The borders of the Roman Empire were frontiers that were often wild and dangerous. The expansion of the empire after the Punic Wars saw the Roman Republic become the dominant force in the Mediterranean as it first took Carthaginian territories in Gaul, Spain and north Africa and then moved into Greece with purpose, subjugating the area and creating two provinces, Achaea and Macedonia. The growth of the territories under Roman control continued through the rise of Julius Caesar (who conquered the rest of Gaul) and the establishment of the empire: each of the emperors could point to territories annexed and lands won.

By AD 117 and the accession of Hadrian, the empire had reached its peak. It held sway from Britain to Morocco, from Spain to the Black Sea. And its wealth was coveted by those outside its borders. Just as today those from poorer countries try to make their way into Europe or North America, so those outside the empire wanted to make their way into the Promised Land -- for trade, for improvement of their lives or for plunder. Thus the Roman borders became a mix (just as our borders are today) of defensive bulwark against enemies, but also control areas where import and export taxes were levied, and entrance was controlled. Some of these borders were hard: the early equivalents of the Inner German Border or Trump's Wall -- Hadrian's Wall and the line between the Rhine and Danube. Others, such as these two great rivers, were natural borders that the Romans policed with their navy.

With the publication of "Limits of Empire: Rome's Borders" co-authors Simon and Jonathan Forty examines these frontiers of the empire, looking at the way they were constructed and manned and how that changed over the years. "Limits of Empire" looks at the physical barriers ranging from the walls in Britain to the Fossatum Africae in the desert. It also looks at the traders and the prices that were paid for the traffic of goods, as well as the civil settlements (vici) which grew up around the forts and fortlets and what life was like for soldiers, sailors and civilians.

Critique: Superbly illustrated in full color throughout, "Limits of Empire: Rome's Borders" is an impressively informative, exceptionally well written, deftly organized and presented study that is especially recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Ancient Roman History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Limits of Empire: Rome's Borders" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $13.49).

Editorial Note: Simon Forty was educated in Dorset and the north of England before reading history at London University's School of Slavonic and East European Studies. He has been involved in publishing since the mid-1970s, first as editor and latterly as author. Son of author and RAC Tank Museum curator George Forty, he has continued in the family tradition writing mainly on historical and military subjects including books on the Napoleonic Wars and the two world wars. Recently he has produced a range of highly illustrated books on the Normandy battlefields, the Atlantic Wall and the liberation of the Low Countries with co-author Leo Marriott.

The Greek Hoplite Phalanx
Richard Taylor
Pen & Sword Books
c/o Casemate (US distribution)
www.casematepublishers.com
https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
9781526788566, $52.95, HC, 544pp

https://www.amazon.com/Greek-Hoplite-Phalanx-Infantry-Classical/dp/152678856X

Synopsis: The Greek hoplite and the phalanx formation have been the subject of considerable academic debate over the past century. With the publication of "The Greek Hoplite Phalanx: The Iconic Heavy Infantry of the Classical Greek World", academician and historian Richard Taylor provides an overview of the current state of play in the hoplite debate in all its aspects, from fighting techniques to the social and economic background of the 'hoplite revolution', in a form that is accessible for the general reader and military history enthusiast.

"The Greek Hoplite Phalanx" then goes further: offering a new perspective on the hoplite phalanx by putting it in the context of other military developments in the Mediterranean world in the middle of the first millennium BC. Dr. Taylor argues that the Greek phalanx was different in degree but not in kind from other contemporary heavy infantry formations and that the hoplite debate, with its insistence on the unique nature of the hoplite phalanx, has obscured the similarities with other equivalent formations. The result is a fresh take on a perennially popular subject.

Critique: An inherently fascinating and impressively informative work of meticulous historical scholarship, "The Greek Hoplite Phalanx: The Iconic Heavy Infantry of the Classical Greek World" is enhanced for academia with the inclusion of a five page List of Battles, a three page Glossary, thirty pages of Notes, a one page listing of Abbreviations & Translations, a seven page Bibliography, and a five page Index -- making "The Greek Hoplite Phalanx: The Iconic Heavy Infantry of the Classical Greek World a welcome and highly recommended addition to the growing library of Ancient Greek cultural and military histories. While it is enthusiastically recommended for community, college, and university library collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, and non- specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Greek Hoplite Phalanx" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $32.99).

Editorial Note: Dr Richard Taylor holds BA and DPhil degrees in Ancient History from Oxford University. His doctoral thesis won the Hellenic Foundation prize for best UK thesis in classics and ancient history (and forms the basis for part of The Macedonian Phalanx ). He has published a number of articles on ancient history and warfare in Slingshot, the journal of the Society of Ancients. He has worked in publishing and IT, and is currently employed at a UK university.

On Bloody Sunday
Julieann Campbell
Monoray
c/o Octopus Books
236 Park Avenue, New York NY 10017
www.octopusbooksusa.com
9781800960404, $29.99, HC, 384pp

https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Sunday-History-Aftermath-People/dp/1800960409

Synopsis: In January 1972, a peaceful civil rights march in Northern Ireland ended in bloodshed. Troops from Britain's 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment opened fire on marchers, leaving 13 dead and 15 wounded. Seven of those killed were teenage boys. The day became known as 'Bloody Sunday'.

The events occurred in broad daylight and in the full glare of the press. Within hours, the British military informed the world that they had won an 'IRA gun battle'. This became the official narrative for decades until a family-led campaign instigated one of the most complex inquiries in history.

In 2010, the victims of Bloody Sunday were fully exonerated when Lord Saville found that the majority of the victims were either shot in the back as they ran away or were helping someone in need. The report made headlines all over the world.

While many buried the trauma of that day, historian and campaigner Juliann Campbell (whose teenage uncle was the first to be killed that day) felt the need to keep recording these interviews, and collecting rare and unpublished accounts, aware of just how precious they were. Fifty years on and with the publication of "On Bloody Sunday: A New History Of The Day And Its Aftermath - By The People Who Were There", survivors, relatives, eyewitnesses and politicians, shine a light on the events of Bloody Sunday, together, for the first time.

As they tell their stories, the tension, confusion and anger build with an awful power. "On Bloody Sunday" unfolds before us an extraordinary human drama, as we experience one of the darkest moments in modern history -- and witness the true human cost of conflict.

Critique: Enhanced for academia with the inclusion of a map of the Bogside Area, an informative Introduction and Afterword, a five page list of Acknowledgments, three Appendices (Speakers & Sources; List of Fatalities and Wounded; Chapter Notes), black/white photos, and a five page Index, "On Bloody Sunday: A New History Of The Day And Its Aftermath - By The People Who Were There" is a comprehensive and detailed combining of personal eye-witness accounts and historical research. While an especially and highly recommended addition to community, college, and university library 20th Century British & Irish History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "On Bloody Sunday: A New History Of The Day And Its Aftermath - By The People Who Were There" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $10.99).

Editorial Note: A PhD Researcher at Ulster University's School of Law exploring the impact of post-conflict storytelling and a director of the Pat Finucane Centre for Human Rights, Julieann Campbell's seventeen-year-old uncle, Jackie Duddy, was the first person to be killed on 30 January 1972. For more than a decade, Julieann has worked to document and archive the collective experiences of that day. As a former Chair of the Bloody Sunday Trust, she took on the role of family press officer ahead of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry in 2010.

Romanians and Hungarians: Historical Premises
C. Sassu
Histria Books
www.histriabooks.com
9781592111312, $29.99, HC, 136pp

https://www.amazon.com/Romanians-Hungarians-Historical-Premises-Sassu/dp/1592111319

Synopsis: Romanians and Hungarians have been linked throughout history since the Middle Ages. Both peoples have bravely fought to defend Christianity against Islamic terror, oftentimes shoulder to shoulder. Despite their close ties, controversies have often arisen leading to conflicts at various times throughout their mutual history, most recently at the beginning of World War II, when through the Diktat of Vienna, Hitler and Mussolini awarded large portions of Romanian territory to Hungary.

In "Romanians and Hungarians: Historical Premises", which was originally published during those tumultuous times, historian C. Sassu discusses the historical premises of Romanian-Hungarian relations and tries to explain, as lucidly as possible, the real value of the affirmations made, in the hope that minds unbiased by passion and not narrowed by self-interest will find it useful and opportune to understand the true elements of this controversy.

"Romanians and Hungarians: Historical Premises" also provides informative insights for anyone seeking to understand the historical background of Romanian-Hungarian relations.

Critique: "Romanians and Hungarians: Historical Premises" is enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of illustrations and several useful maps that help the reader understand the issues presented. An exceptionally well written, exhaustively researched, informed and informative, impressively organized and presented study, "Romanians and Hungarians: Historical Premises" is an especially recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Romanian History and Hungarian History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Anatomy of a Nation
Dominic Selwood
Constable
9781472131898, 672pp

https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Nation-History-Identity-Documents/dp/1472131894

Synopsis: From an obscure, misty archipelago on the fringes of the Roman world to history's largest global empire and originator of the world's mongrel, magpie language called Old English -- this is Britain's past. But, today, Britain is experiencing an acute trauma of identity, pulled simultaneously towards its European, Atlantic and wider heritages. To understand the dislocation and collapse, we must look back: to Britain's evolution, achievements, complexities and tensions. "Anatomy of a Nation: A History of British Identity in 50 Documents" offers a ground-breaking new take on British identity by historian and barrister Dominic Selwood who explores over 950,000 years of British history by examining 50 documents that tell the story of what makes Britain unique.

Some of these documents are well-known. Most are not. Each reveal something important about Britain and its people. From Anglo-Saxon poetry, medieval folk music and the first Valentine's Day letter to the origin of computer code, Hitler's kill list of prominent Britons, the Sex Pistols' graphic art and the Brexit referendum ballot paper, "Anatomy of a Nation" reveals a Britain we have never seen before. People are at the heart of the story: a female charioteer queen from Wetwang, a plague surviving graffiti artist, a drunken Bible translator, outlandish Restoration rakehells, canting criminals, the eccentric fathers of modern typography, and the bankers who caused the finance crisis.

Selwood vividly blends human stories with the selected 50 documents to bring out the startling variety and complexity of Britain's achievements and failures in a fresh and incisive insight into the British psyche. This is history the way it is supposed to be told: a captivating and entertaining account of the people that built Britain.

Critique: Offering a unique, informative, and compelling approach to the study of British history, "Anatomy of a Nation: A History of British Identity in 50 Documents" by Dominc Selwood is enhanced for academia with the inclusion of two Appendices (The Many Names of Britain & A Note on the Changing English Alphabet); a thirty-six page Bibliography; thirty-three pages of Notes; and a nine page Index. While especially and unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library British History collections and supplemental curriculum studies, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academics, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Anatomy of a Nation: A History of British Identity in 50 Documents" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99).

Editorial Note: Dominic Selwood is a historian and barrister. An author and novelist, he is also a frequent contributor to national newspapers, radio and television. He has a doctorate in history from the University of Oxford and a masters from the Sorbonne. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries. He lives in London and can be contacted with Twitter: @DominicSelwood

Apartheid's Black Soldiers
Lennart Bolliger
Ohio University Press
215 Columbus Road, Suite 101, Athens, OH 45701
www.ohioswallow.com
9780821424551, $80.00, HC, 240pp

https://www.amazon.com/Apartheids-Black-Soldiers-national-Militaries/dp/0821424556

Synopsis: In anti-colonial struggles across the African continent, tens of thousands of African soldiers served in the militaries of colonial and settler states. In southern Africa, they often made up the bulk of these militaries and, in some contexts, far outnumbered those who fought in the liberation movements' armed wings. Despite these soldiers' significant impact on the region's military and political history, this dimension of southern Africa's anticolonial struggles has been almost entirely ignored in previous scholarship.

Black troops from Namibia and Angola spearheaded apartheid South Africa's military intervention in their countries' respective anticolonial war and postindependence civil war. Drawing from oral history interviews and archival sources, with the publication of "Apartheid's Black Soldiers: Un-national Wars and Militaries in Southern Africa", academician Lennart Bolliger challenges the common framing of these wars as struggles of national liberation fought by and for Africans against White colonial and settler-state armies.

Focusing on three case studies of predominantly Black units commanded by White officers, Professor Bolliger investigates how and why these soldiers participated in South Africa's security forces and considers the legacies of that involvement. In tackling these questions, he rejects the common tendency to categorize the soldiers as "collaborators" and "traitors" and reveals the un-national facets of anticolonial struggles.

Finally, "Apartheid's Black Soldiers: Un-national Wars and Militaries in Southern Africa" provides a unique analysis of apartheid military culture that shows how South Africa's military units were far from monolithic and instead developed distinctive institutional practices, mythologies, and concepts of militarized masculinity.

Critique: Enhanced for academia with the inclusion of maps, illustrations, fifty-two pages of Notes, a two page 'Note on Interviews Conducted by the Author, a twenty-two page Bibliography, and a six page Index, "Apartheid's Black Soldiers: Un-national Wars and Militaries in Southern Africa" is a significant and unique study that is the result of meticulously detailed scholarship involving numerous oral histories from Black Namibian and Angolan troops who fought in apartheid South Africa's security forces. While especially and unreservedly recommended for college and university library South African Military History collections, it should be note for the personal reading lists of students, academia, and non- specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Apartheid's Black Soldiers: Un-national Wars and Militaries in Southern Africa" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $63.99).

Editorial Note: Lennart Bolliger is a lecturer in international history at Utrecht University (Utrecht, Netherlands). Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Asian and African Studies of the Humboldt University of Berlin and a visiting researcher at the History Workshop of the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa). His research has previously been published in the Journal of Southern African Studies and the South African Historical Journal.


The General Fiction Shelf

Mona Passage
Thomas Bardenwerper
Syracuse University Press
621 Skytop Road, Suite 110, Syracuse, NY 13244-5290
www.SyracuseUniversityPress.syr.edu
9780815611394, $29.95, HC, 298pp

https://www.amazon.com/Mona-Passage-Novel-Veterans-Writing/dp/0815611390

Synopsis: "Mona Passage" is a novel by Thomas Bardenwerper and the story of two neighbors in San Juan, Puerto Rico: Galan Betances, a Cuban emigrant, and Pat McAllister, a young Coast Guard officer.

During long evenings spent together talking on their Calle Luna rooftop, a deep friendship develops based on shared traumas and a common desire to heal. When Galan learns that his sister, Gabriela, is going to be committed to a mental health facility in Cuba, he plans her escape to Puerto Rico.

Pat, whose Coast Guard cutter patrols the Mona Passage for drug traffickers and migrants, warns Galan that such a journey will be treacherous -- perhaps fatal. Aware of the dangers but determined for Gabriela to live a full life, Galan hands over all the money he has to a Dominican smuggler based out of a San Juan nightclub, and Gabriela begins her terrifying journey.

Knowing that his cutter may be all that separates Galan and Gabriela (and haunted by the human suffering he has witnessed at sea) Pat must decide. Will he remain true to his oath, as his older brother had done in Iraq? Or will he risk his own future, and perhaps his freedom, for his closest friend?

On a moonless night, two armed vessels converge in the Mona Passage, and three lives change forever.

Critique: A compelling and fully engaging novel about friendship, honor, and the complexities involved when trying to determine what the 'right thing' would be, "Mona Passage" is one of those rare novels that will linger in the mind and memory long after it has been finished and set back upon the shelf. While also available for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $22.49), "Mona Passage" is unreservedly recommended for community library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections.

Editorial Note: Thomas "Buddy" Bardenwerper served for five years in the US Coast Guard. He is currently pursuing a JD and a master's in public policy at Harvard Law School and the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Blood Ties
Heather Atkinson
Boldwood Books
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781800482814, $39.00, Large Print, PB, 595pp

https://www.ulverscroft.com/title.php?sqlCmd=isbn%3D9781800482760

Synopsis: The Queen of Glasgow, Toni McVay, is no ordinary crime boss. For one thing, she likes to discipline disappointing employees by scooping out their eyeballs and keeping them as souvenirs.

Jamie Gray and his gang the Blood Brothers are happy to do her dirty work in return for lessons in the ways of the local underworld, but are in no doubt that they need to keep Toni sweet to keep themselves safe.

Rival families The Gordons and The Thompsons are ready for a turf war, keen to take over the lucrative Gallowburn estate, and weaken Toni's grip on the city. But can the old enemies really trust each other enough to join forces? And will their assumption that the Blood Brothers are the weak link in the McVay empire, prove to be their greatest mistake?

Meanwhile Jamie's past refuses to stay hidden, and as his biggest secret looks set to be revealed with explosive consequences, Jamie faces the battle of his life. To keep his family safe, to keep his friends safe, to keep himself safe, and to keep the woman he loves alive.

Critique: A skillfully crafted and compelling read from first page to last, this large print paperback edition of "Blood Ties" by novelist Heather Atkinson will have a very special appeal to fans of organized gangland conflicts with its roster of memorable characters, unexpected plot twists, and the author's effective, entertaining, narrative driven storytelling style. Simply stated, "Blood Ties" is highly recommended for personal reading lists and community library collections.

Editorial Note: Heather Atkinson is a prolific author and can be followed on various internet platforms: Website: www.heatheratkinsonbooks.com; Twitter at #heatheratkinso1; Facebook: The Books of Heather Atkinson; Instagram: heathercrimeauthor


The Historical Fiction Shelf

Gettysburg by Morning
Randy O'Brien
Histria Books
www.histriabooks.com
9781592111015, $29.99, HC, 280pp

https://www.amazon.com/Gettysburg-Morning-Randall-OBrien/dp/1592111017

Synopsis: It's July 4, 1861, and the featured speaker at this year's Independence Day celebration at Concord, MA, is high-spirited and fiercely patriotic Eloise Edwards. She rails against the South's attack on Fort Sumter and the injustice of slavery. A newspaper article recounting the speech inspires her brother Edward to enlist. The siblings' father, a War of Independence veteran, dies, and Edward decides he doesn't want to join the Union army after all and runs away. Heartbroken, Eloise returns to the family telegraph office, committed to a life of boredom and servitude. The disappointment in her brother devastates Eloise.

In a dramatic moment, she decides that she will take her brother's place and fight for the honor of her family and the country. She joins the Massachusetts 20th and lives through several horrific battles, including the most devastating conflict in U.S. history, Gettysburg. General George Custer discovers her talent as a telegraph operator, and she soon rises through the ranks and to the war room at the White House, where she works daily with President Abraham Lincoln. One night, as Eloise sleeps at her post, Lincoln sees a copy of the newspaper article featuring Eloise's speech. He reads it, is inspired by it, and borrows key phrases for the most famous speech in American history, The Gettysburg Address.

There are over two hundred documented cases of women dressing as men to fight in the Civil War. "Gettysburg by Morning" by Randy O'Brien places the reader on the battlefield with a patriotic young woman fighting arm-in-arm with her fellow soldiers. Historical characters like Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, George Custer, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and others make reading "Gettysburg by Morning" like being a witness to our nation's Civil War.

Critique: A deftly crafted historical novel by an author with a meticulous flair for narrative driven storytelling that is expertly combined with an eye for historical detail, "Gettysburg by Morning" is a riveting and entertaining read from cover to cover that will have a special appeal for Civil War buffs. Simply stated, "Gettysburg by Morning" is unabashedly recommended for personal reading lists and community library Historical Fiction collections.

Editorial Note: An award-winning radio journalist and book reviewer, Randy O'Brien has a B.S. degree from Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, majoring in English and minoring in History and Secondary education. He was the News Director of WMOT-FM for three decades, reporting hard news and features. He was also an adjunct writing instructor at MTSU and Watkins School of Art and Design and a former President of the Tennessee Screenwriting Association.


The Western Fiction Shelf

Librarians of the West: A Quartet
Hazel Rumney, editor
Five Star Books
c/o Gale Cengage Learning, Inc.
20 Channel Center Street, Boston, MA 02210
https://www.gale.com/five-star
www.cengageptr.com
9781432881054, $25.95, HC, 301pp

https://www.amazon.com/Librarians-West-Quartet-Candace-Simar/dp/1432881051

Synopsis: Compiled and edited by Hazel Rumney, "Librarians of the West: A Quartet" is an anthology of four deftly written and thoroughly entertaining western adventure short stories by four true masters of the genre and format.

"Too Much Dancing Going On" by Randi Samuelson-Brown is the account of an independent-minded young woman in a wide-open Montana who loved books and horses, and later a certain literary young man.

"The Cowboy, The Librarian, and the Broomsman" by Mark Warren is the story of Lyle Hardiman, an easy-going, illiterate, Montana cowboy who accidentally blunders into the new library with his horse (he thought it was a livery). He meets the new librarian, Miss Rebecca Spark, and sets into motion a chain of events that will ensure the little town of Burnt Creek a place in the history books. With the help of the local saloon/shop sweeper, Lyle will discover a path laid out for him by destiny -- a path that leads to the heart of Miss Rebecca Spark.

"The Book Mama" by Charlotte Hinger is the story of Lady Jane Woodruff, a woman who is stranded with an abusive husband in a harsh new country and relies on the wisdom of an ancient African American woman to guide her to freedom.

"Terrible and Wonderful" by Candace Simar is the story of fourteen-year-old Pearl Ellingson who learns life's hard lessons as she struggles to start a library in frontier North Dakota in "Terrible and Wonderful."

Critique: With its theme of books and libraries in the Old West, "Librarians of the West: A Quartet" is an impressively entertaining read from cover to cover. Of special note is the inclusion after each of the four stories is a succinct biographical entry of the author. Simply stated, "Librarians of the West: A Quartet" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to the personal reading of dedicated western fans and certain to be an enduringly popular contribution to community library Western Fiction collections.

Great Lonesome
John D. Nesbitt
Five Star Books
c/o Gale Cengage Learning, Inc.
20 Channel Center Street, Boston, MA 02210
https://www.gale.com/five-star
www.cengageptr.com
9781432868321, $25.95, HC, 269pp

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Lonesome-John-D-Nesbitt/dp/1432868322

Synopsis: Reese Hartley has come to Wyoming to settle on his own land. But his cattleman boss expects his hired men to turn their homestead claims over to him. Hartley resists and is let go.

He then meets a woman named Muriel. She has come west to look for land, but her cousins want to exploit her. A cowboy is found dead on the range, and an underage female cousin of Muriel is found dead. This girl, Nancy, has a history of flirting, and suspicion falls on Hartley.

After interviewing Nancy's father and an unsavory drunk, Hartley confirms that the perpetrator of the murders is a man who got Nancy pregnant. When the villain flees, the marshal and a small posse set out on a chase along bluffs and canyons, there to have the showdown. Hartley and Muriel make plans to take up homestead claims in an area called the Great Lonesome.

Critique: A deftly crafted novel with fully defined and memorable characters, "Great Lonesome" by John D. Nesbitt is an inherently riveting read from cover to cover. A blend of action/adventure with a well plotted mystery, "Great Lonesome" is one of the author's best and unreservedly recommended for the personal reading lists of dedicated western fans and community library Western Fiction collections.

Editorial Note: John D. Nesbitt teaches English and Spanish at Eastern Wyoming College. He has had ten short fiction collections, four contemporary western novels, and thirty traditional western novels published in various hardbound, large print, audio, and mass-market paperback editions. He has also written a guide to writing fiction and a Boise State Western Writers Series booklet on Robert Roripaugh. Nesbitt has also won three awards from the Wyoming State Historical Society (for fiction), two awards from Wyoming Writers for encouragement of other writers and service to the organization, two Wyoming Arts Council literary fellowships (one for fiction, one for non- fiction), four Western Fictioneers Peacemaker finalist awards for fiction, the Peacemaker award for short fiction, two Western Writers of America Spur finalist awards for mass-market paperback original novel and short fiction, and four Spur awards for mass-market paperback, short fiction, and poem.

Captain McRae
William Heuman
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781785419645, $TBA, Large Print, PB, 328pp

https://www.ulverscroft.com/title.php?sqlCmd=isbn%3D9781785419645

Synopsis: The Missouri River is the gateway to the West aboard paddle wheel river boats whose pilots must deal with a thousand miles of mud, sudden torrents, treacherous currents, hidden snags, unexpected inlets, hostile Indians hidden behind every bend. But river boat pilot Brant McRae knows every turn in it like the back of his hand. When he finally becomes a captain of his own boat it mysteriously catches fire and burns into ruin while tide up at its dock. Then strangers hire him to pilot the Western Star up the Big Muddy. McRae suspects there's something sinister about this job - but not that he carries a contraband cargo, rather it is something so much worse!

Critique: A western novel and river boat fans pure entertainment delight, "Captain McRae" is an original and inherently engaging read from cover to cover. Along with cliff-hanger plot twists and a simply riveting confrontation with a massive and lethal Native American uprising, there is also an element of romance with an unexpected reveal. This large print paperback edition of William Heuman's "Captain McRae" from the Linford Western Library series is authentically recommended for both the personal reading lists of western action/adventure novels and community library Western Fiction collections.

Editorial Note: William Heuman is also the author of the Vintage Ace Double, "Hardcase Halloran/The Ghost Riders"; "Guns at Broken Bow"; Bullets for Mulvane"; "Then Came Mulvane"; "Secret of Death Valley"; and "Gunhand from Texas".

Law and Outlaw
William Vance
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781785419560, $TBA, Large Print, PB, 336pp

https://www.ulverscroft.com/title.php?sqlCmd=isbn%3D9781785419560

Synopsis: The old woman was dying. That meant a lot of things to U.S. Marshall Will Titus. It meant sorrow, for she'd raised him from a baby, one of the only seven survivors of a wagon trans who men and women had been butchered by a Mormon vigilante group called the Danites. With the old woman's death it meant one fewer good person in a world where they were rare enough already. But mostly, it meant the eventual arrival of Bart Laney. Bart was the son of the dying woman and almost a brother to Will -- but a brother gone wrong. While Will had chosen a U.S. Marshal's badge, Bart had gone down the outlaw trail. Now Will had to deal with Bart's outlaw comrades, bounty hunters after a dead or alive reward for Bart, the Mormon church leaders in the little town of Circle City -- and the dreaded Danites.

Critique: With plenty of gun play and bodies piling up, "Law and Outlaw", with its Mormon culture subtext, is a fascinating and fully entertaining read that will have special appeal to all dedicated western action/adventure fans. This large print paperback edition from the Linford Western Library series is highly recommended for personal reading lists and community library Western Fiction collections.


The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf

Rise of the Mages
Scott Drakeford
Tor Books
c/o Tor/Forge Books
120 Broadway, 22nd Floor, New York, NY 10271
www.tor-forge.com
9781250820150, $27.99, HC, 400pp

https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Mages-Age-Ire-1/dp/1250820154

Synopsis: Emrael Ire wants nothing more than to test to be a weapons master. His final exam will be a bloody insurrection, staged by corrupt nobles and priests, that enslaves his brother. With the aid of his War Master tutor, herself an undercover mage, Emrael discovers his own latent and powerful talents. To rescue his brother, Emrael must embrace not only his abilities as a warrior but also his place as last of the ancient Mage Kings -- for the Fallen God has returned!

Critique: All the more impressive when considering that "Rise of the Mages" is author Scott Drakeford's debut as a novelist and that this superbly crafted and epic fantasy saga is the first volume in his new 'Age of Ire' series and will keep enthusiastic readers eagerly awaiting the next installment. Populated with memorable characters, unexpected plot twists, and all the action that fans of a military oriented fantasy could ask for, "Rise of the Mages" is unreservedly recommended for personal and community library science fiction and fantasy collections. It should be noted for all dedicated fantasy action/adventure fans that "Rise of the Mages" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99).


The Political Science Shelf

America's Voucher Politics
Ursula Hackett
Cambridge University Press
One Liberty Plaza, Fl. 20, New York, NY 10006
www.cambridge.org
9781108491419, $99.99, HC, 304pp

https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Voucher-Politics-Elites-Learned/dp/1108491413

Synopsis: What explains the explosive growth of school vouchers in the last two decades? With the publication of "America's Voucher Politics: How Elites Learned to Hide the State", academician Ursula Hackett shows that the voucher movement is rooted in America's foundational struggles over religion, race, and the role of government versus the private sector.

Drawing upon original datasets, archival materials, and more than one hundred interviews, Hackett shows that policymakers and political advocates use strategic policy design and rhetoric to hide the role of the state when their policy goals become legally controversial. For over sixty years of voucher litigation, white supremacists, accommodationists, and individualists have deployed this strategy of attenuated governance in court.

By learning from previous mistakes and anticipating downstream effects, governmental policymakers and political activists supporting K-12 public schools can avoid painful defeats, gain a secure legal footing, and entrench their policy commitments despite the surging power of rivals. An ideal case study, education policy reflects multiple axes of conflict in American politics and demonstrates how policy learning unfolds over time.

Critique: Enhanced for academia and the non-specialist general reader with the inclusion of a forty page Appendix, a twenty-eight page list of References, and a seven page Index, "America's Voucher Politics: How Elites Learned to Hide the State" is an extraordinary study offering research based and insightful analysis of the history and contemporary employment of school vouchers and their selective education purposes, as well as their political implications. While highly recommended as a unique and critically important contribution to our on-going national discussion of school vouchers, "America's Voucher Politics: How Elites Learned to Hide the State" is a highly recommended addition to community, college, and university library Contemporary Educational Issues & Political Science collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of governmental policy makers, academia, and education activists that "America's Voucher Politics: How Elites Learned to Hide the State" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781108812054, $29.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $24.00).

Editorial Note: Ursula Hackett is Senior Lecturer in Politics at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her Oxford doctorate won the Political Studies Association's Sir Walter Bagehot Prize in Government and Public Administration. She researches religion, race, public policy, and American Political Development, and speaks on American politics regularly at Chatham House and the UK Foreign Office.

I, Citizen
Tony Woodlief
https://tonywoodlief.com
Encounter Books
https://www.encounterbooks.com
9781641772105, $30.99, HC, 264pp

https://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Blueprint-Reclaiming-American-Self-Governance/dp/1641772107

Synopsis: "I, Citizen: A Blueprint for Reclaiming American Self-Governance" by Tony Woodlief is a story of hope, but also of peril. It all began when our nation's polarized political class started conscripting everyday citizens into its culture war. From their commanding heights in political parties, media, academia, and government, these partisans have attacked one another for years, but increasingly they've convinced everyday Americans to join the fray.

Why should we feel such animosity toward our fellow citizens, our neighbors, even our own kin? Because we've fallen for the false narrative, eagerly promoted by pundits on the Left and the Right, that citizens who happen to vote Democrat or Republican are enthusiastic supporters of Team Blue or Team Red. Aside from a minority of party activists and partisans, however, most voters are simply trying to choose the lesser of two evils.

The real threat to our union isn't Red vs. Blue America, it's the quiet collusion within our nation's political class to take away that most American of freedoms: our right to self-governance. Even as partisans work overtime to divide Americans against one another, they've erected a system under which we ordinary citizens don't have a voice in the decisions that affect our lives. From foreign wars to how local libraries are run, authority no longer resides with We the People, but amongst unaccountable officials. The political class has stolen our birthright and set us at one another's throats.

"I, Citizen: A Blueprint for Reclaiming American Self-Governance" is the story of how that all happened and what we can do about it today. America stands at a precipice, but there's still time to reclaim authority over our lives and communities.

Critique: Informed and informative, impressively well organized and presented, "I, Citizen: A Blueprint for Reclaiming American Self-Governance" should be available to as large a readership as possible. A timely clarion call for protecting our constitutional democracy which is under constant attack for political, social, and cultural elites, and financed by corporations, compounded by an ever expanding economic imbalance between the 1% and the rest of us, "I, Citizen: A Blueprint for Reclaiming American Self-Governance" offers insights combined with 'real world' possible remedial responses.

While especially and unreservedly recommended as a vitally important addition to community, college, and university library Contemporary Political Science & Social Issues collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of political science students, academia, governmental policy makers, political activists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "I, Citizen: A Blueprint for Reclaiming American Self-Governance" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note: Tony Woodlief is executive vice president at State Policy Network, a nationwide community that cultivates and supports state-based organizations working on behalf of citizen freedom and self-determination. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Michigan, and is an award-winning columnist whose work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, National Review, American Conservative, and Governing magazine.

Letters to Martin
Randal Maurice Jelks
Lawrence Hill Books
https://www.lawrencehill.com/books
c/o Chicago Review Press
814 North Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60610
www.chicagoreviewpress.com
9781641606035, $26.99, HC, 224pp

https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Martin-Meditations-Democracy-America/dp/1641606037

Synopsis: Evoking Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail", with the publication of "Letters to Martin: Meditations on Democracy in Black America", Professor Randal Maurice Jelks has compiled twelve meditations, each written in the form of letters to King, to speak specifically to the many public issues we presently confront in the United States, including economic inequality, freedom of assembly, police brutality, ongoing social class conflicts, and geopolitics.

Professor Jelks invites readers to reflect on US history by centering on questions of democracy that we must grapple with as a society. Hearkening to the era when James Baldwin, Dorothy Day, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Richard Wright used their writing to address the internal and external conflicts that the United States faced, "Letters to Martin" is a contemporary revival of the literary tradition of meditative social analysis.

Critique: Timely and timeless, "Letters to Martin: Meditations on Democracy in Black America" is an inherently engaging, thoughtful and thought-provoking read that will have a very special and enduring appeal to social activists, students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in African American history and demographics. A deftly crafted work that combines meticulous scholarship with an inherently skillful style of organization and presentation, "Letters to Martin: Meditations on Democracy in Black America" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library African American History collections and supplemental African American curriculum reading lists. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Letters to Martin: Meditations on Democracy in Black America" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $18.99).

Editorial Note: Currently teaching American Studies, African Studies, and African American Studies at the University of Kansas, Randal Maurice Jelks is a professor, a documentary producer, and the author of "African Americans in the Furniture City" and "Benjamin Elijah Mays, Schoolmaster of the Movement". Professor Jelks has most recently written "Faith and Struggle in the Lives of Four African Americans: Ethel Waters, Mary Lou Williams, Eldridge Cleaver and Muhammad Ali". He was also an executive producer of the documentary I, Too, Sing America: Langston Hughes Unfurled.


The Graphic Novel Shelf

Emma Dreams of Stars: Inside the Gourmet Guide
Story by Emmanuelle Maisonneuve and Julia Pavlowitch
Art by Kan Takahama
Kodansha
https://kodansha.us
9781647290573 $19.95 pbk / $10.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Emma-Dreams-Stars-Inside-Gourmet/dp/1647290570

Emma Dreams of Stars: Inside the Gourmet Guide is an autobiographical, full-color graphic novel written by Emmanuelle Maisonneuve and Julia Pavlowitch and brought to life with the expressive manga artwork of Kan Takahama. The story follows the challenging yet rewarding life of Emma, the first woman ever hired as an inspector for the famous "Michelin Guide", a French publication well-known for ranking the highest quality restaurants. Though Emma dreamed of glamour and great feasts, the reality she encountered was far more nuanced; restaurants are difficult businesses to run smoothly, let alone at the highest level demanded of the guide's strict rating system. Adding or removing a star to the "Michelin Guide" can enshrine or destroy a restaurant's future - an exercise of power with the potential to be heartbreaking, given the passion of the chefs and the staff. Emma Dreams of Stars is a fascinating, behind-the-scenes read from cover to cover, highly recommended for both personal and public library graphic novel collections, and a choice pick especially for gourmets and restaurant connoisseurs.


The Library CD Shelf

The Shape of My Heart
Jami Templeton
JamiTempleton.com
Privately Published
$TBA CD / $9.49 MP3

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QC71DB6

The Shape of My Heart is a selection of beloved classic jazz and blues American songs performed by dulcet vocalist Jami Templeton. Each song has been carefully selected for its portrayal of crucial emotions, aspirations, or turning points in life. Joel Frahm on tenor saxophone, Andy Langham on piano and melodica, Edwin Livingston on bass, and Charles Ruggiero on drums surround and support Jami Templeton's memorable performance, in this treasure for personal and public library music collections. The Shape of My Heart also makes an excellent gift for any season! Highly recommended. The tracks are Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground, Shape of My Heart, Can't Help Lovin' That Man, Black Velvet, Let's Stay Together, Need You Now, Room at the Top, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, Ain't Misbehavin', I Fall in Love Too Easily, and The Dance.

Honky Tonk Man
Bob Luman
Content Rewind Records
$TBA CD / $9.49 MP3

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09JB5JB3J

Honky Tonk Man gathers beloved songs performed by peerless country music artist Bob Luman (1937-1978), bringing them from the vaults of history to the listening pleasure of connoisseurs today. Luman's flair rockabilly, western swing, and even doo wop show through in his unmatched vocals and mastery of the guitar. Honky Tonk Man is a timeless treasure for connoisseurs, and highly recommended for both personal and public library music collections. The tracks are Still Loving You, Honky Tonk Man, Come on Home and Sing the Blues to Daddy, Everyday I Have to Cry Some, The Gun, Gettin' Back to Norma, It's All Over (But the Shouting), The Great Snow Man, Woman Without Love, Knee Deep in the Blues, Guitar Man, I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine, Cleanin' Up the Streets of Memphis, and Today I Started Loving You Again.


The Biography Shelf

Paris Blue: A Memoir of First Love
Julie Scolnik
www.JulieScolnik.com
Koehler Books
www.koehlerbooks.com
9781646634712, $29.95 hc / $2.99 Kindle, 252pp

https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Blue-Memoir-First-Love/dp/1646634713

Synopsis: In Paris, 1976, twenty-year-old American student Julie Scolnik had just arrived in the City of Light to study the flute when, from across a sea of faces in the chorus of the Orchestre de Paris, she is drawn to Luc, a striking (and married) French lawyer in the bass section.

"Paris Blue: A Memoir of First Love" is a compelling memoir of an ebullient young American and a reserved Frenchman which will transport its readers to the cafes, streets, and concert halls of Paris in the late seventies, and, spanning three decades, evolves from deep romance to sudden heartbreak, and finally to a lifelong quest for answers to release hidden, immutable grief.

Against a magical backdrop of Paris and classical music, "Paris Blue: A Memoir of First Love" is a true life story (with a dark underbelly) about the tenacious grip of first love.

Critique: A deftly crafted, inherently fascinating, and impressively candid memoir by someone who has a genuine flair for writing her compelling life story that is usually the province of award-winning literary fiction authors, "Paris Blue: A Memoir of First Love" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library Contemporary American Biography & Memoir collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Paris Blue: A Memoir of First Love" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781646634699, $17.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $2.99).

Editorial Note: Julie Scolnik is an accomplished concert flutist and the founding artistic director of Mistral Music, a chamber music series that since 1997 has been known for its virtuosi artists and imaginative programming and the personal rapport she establishes with audiences. Julie also maintains an informative website for "Paris Blue" at www.JulieScolnik.com

Dracul: Of the Father: The Untold Story of Vlad Dracul
Dr. A. K. Brackob
Gaudium
c/o Histria Books
www.histriabooks.com
9781592110278, $39.99, HC, 456pp

https://www.amazon.com/Dracul-Father-Untold-Story-Vlad/dp/1592110274

Synopsis: Stories of the person popularly known as Dracula have fascinated people around the world for generations. Both the fictional vampire created by the Irish author Bram Stoker at the end of the nineteenth century and the fifteenth century Prince called Vlad the Impaler, the man regarded as the historical Dracula, have become part of universal culture. Yet few realize that the Wallachian ruler dubbed "the Impaler," is not the original Dracula. Instead, that distinction belongs to his father who is a little-known prince called Vlad Dracul (before 1395 - November 1447).

The elder Vlad, who gained the sobriquet Dracul or Dracula when Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund of Luxemburg initiated him into the Order of the Dragon in February 1431, was among the most important political personalities of his day. He far surpassed his more famous namesake in those qualities that define a great ruler.

Vlad Dracul struggled to protect the independence of his land, under the most difficult of circumstances, against the threats posed by his powerful neighbors, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. In so doing, he in no small way contributed to the survival of his principality at a time when Ottoman expansion in the Balkans expunged countries such as Bulgaria and Serbia from the map of Europe.

Several books have been devoted to the study of his famous son, Vlad the Impaler, but any search for the historical Dracula must begin with the story of the father. Now, for the first time, based on extensive documentary research, the true story of the man who founded the Dracula dynasty is revealed in Dr. A. K. Brackob's biography, "Dracul: Of the Father: The Untold Story of Vlad Dracul"

Critique: An inherently fascinating and absorbing read from first page to last, "Dracul: Of the Father: The Untold Story of Vlad Dracul" is a deftly crafted, impressively informative, exceptionally well written, organized and presented biography that will have a special appeal to the legions of interested readers in the Dracula legend, lore and history, and to students of Romanian and Turkish medieval history. "Dracul: Of the Father: The Untold Story of Vlad Dracul" is highly recommended for personal, community, college, and university library Historical Biography collections.

Editorial Note: A.K. Brackob has a Ph.D. in history from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a specialist on the history of southeastern Europe during the Middle Ages and author of Mircea the Old: Father of Wallachia, Grandfather of Dracula.


The Mathematics Shelf

Irrationality and Transcendence in Number Theory
David Angell
CRC Press
6000 NW Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487
www.crcpress.com
9780367628376, $99.95, HC, 240pp

https://www.amazon.com/Irrationality-Transcendence-Number-Theory-Angell/dp/0367628376

Synopsis: With the publication of "Irrationality and Transcendence in Number Theory", mathematician David Angell tells the story of irrational numbers from their discovery in the days of Pythagoras to the ideas behind the work of Baker and Mahler on transcendence in the 20th century.

"Irrationality and Transcendence in Number Theory" focuses on themes of irrationality, algebraic and transcendental numbers, continued fractions, approximation of real numbers by rationals, and relations between automata and transcendence. It also serves as a guide and introduction to number theory for advanced undergraduates and early postgraduates. Readers are led through the developments in number theory from ancient to modern times. Also included are a wide range of exercises, from routine problems to surprising and thought-provoking extension material.

"Irrationality and Transcendence in Number Theory" uses techniques from widely diverse areas of mathematics, including number theory, calculus, set theory, complex analysis, linear algebra, and the theory of computation. It is eminently suitable as a primary textbook for advanced undergraduate courses in number theory, or as supplementary reading for interested postgraduates. Each chapter concludes with an appendix setting out the basic facts needed from each topic, so that "Irrationality and Transcendence in Number Theory" is fully accessible to readers without any specific specialist background.

Critique: Exceptionally informative, impressively organized and presented, "Irrationality and Transcendence in Number Theory" is an ideal selection as a curriculum textbook. While highly recommended for college and university library Mathematical Set Theory, Number Theory, and Number Systems collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Irrationality and Transcendence in Number Theory" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $79.96).

Editorial Note: David Angell studied mathematics at Monash University and the University of New South Wales, Australia, earning a Ph.D. from the latter institution with a thesis on Mahler's method in transcendence theory. He has been a member of the academic staff in the School of Mathematics at UNSW since 1989, and has consistently received glowing evaluations of his teaching both from colleagues and from students. He has for many years been the problems editor for Parabola, the online mathematics magazine produced by UNSW, as well as contributing a number of articles to the magazine.


The Art Shelf

Metalwork from the Arab World and the Mediterranean
Doris Behrens-Abouseif
Thames & Hudson, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110-0017
www.thamesandhudsonusa.com
9780500971116, $85.00, HC, 340pp

https://www.amazon.com/Metalwork-Arab-World-Mediterranean-Sabah/dp/0500971110

Synopsis: "Metalwork from the Arab World and the Mediterranean" by Doris Behrens-Abouseif (Professor Emerita at SOAS, University of London, and previously Nasser D. Khalili Chair of Islamic Art and Archaeology at SOAS), is the latest in the series on the treasures of The al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, presents metalwork made in Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Yemen from the early Islamic period through the end of the Ottoman era in the nineteenth century.

The pieces comprising "Metalwork from the Arab World and the Mediterranean" include exquisite platters, serving vessels, candlesticks, and pen boxes produced for royal courts, but also many beautifully decorated bronze domestic items, such as bowls, lunch boxes, door knockers, buckets, and lamps.

Rooted in earlier artistic traditions from the Mediterranean, Iraq, Iran, and the Indian subcontinent, the metalwork traditions showcased in "Metalwork from the Arab World and the Mediterranean" reflect the complex history of the Arab world following the advent of Islam.

The collection starts in the Late Antique period, which informed the early Islamic royal styles of the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid dynasties, and goes on to trace the emergence of Mosul as a center for metalwork in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; the influential courtly Mamluk style during the Bahri period (1250 - 1380s); the Circassian era (1380s - 1517); the growth of the European export market in the fifteenth century; distinctive vernacular styles in Yemen during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries; and the many revivals and fusions of international styles over six centuries of Ottoman rule (1517 - 1900s).

Finally, an enigmatic group of zoomorphic fittings that defy easy dating is celebrated for the craftsmanship and charm of its animal figures.

Critique: Enhanced with the inclusion of 350 full color illustrations, and highly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Islamic Art collections, "Metalwork from the Arab World and the Mediterranean" is an impressively informative and beautifully illustrated large coffee-table style volume (8.62 x 10.87 inches) that features many important unpublished pieces and must be considered essential reading for specialists, but it will fascinate and inform the non-specialist general reader with an interest in Islamic culture and history, metalwork, and the decorative arts of the Arab world.

Art of the Baltic States
Serge Fauchereau
Thames & Hudson, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110-0017
www.thamesandhudsonusa.com
9780500025130, $60.00, HC, 294pp

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Baltic-States-Serge-Fauchereau/dp/0500025134

Synopsis: With the publication of "Art of the Baltic States", scholar and art critic Serge Fauchereau presents the modern art scene of the Baltic countries, showing how artists from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia created their own art movement rooted in Baltic life.

By the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Baltic artists and writers were starting to reclaim and promote their artistic heritage as radically distinct from that of the invading nations, with pioneers such as M. K. Ciurlionis and Vilhelms Purvitis demonstrating rare originality in their work.

Focusing on the modern era, Fauchereau tackles a broad range of artistic fields such as painting, sculpture, photography, and art criticism and includes works by Petras Kalpokas, Aleksandra Belcova, and Eduard Ole, among many others.

"Art of the Baltic States" is deftly organized into three main chapters, documenting the history of art in each country. Enriched with some 294 illustrations drawn from important museum collections, Fauchereau covers key art movements as well as their rich and complex historical background, from time under the Czars and the German crown to the invasion by the Soviet Union and beyond.

With each country showcased in its own lavishly illustrated section, "Art of the Baltic States" is a wonderfully informative guide to a vibrant field in European art history that is often overlooked but deserves rediscovery and a place on the global stage.

Critique: A unique, impressively informative, and magnificently presented volume, "Art of the Baltic States" will prove to be an extraordinary, enduringly welcome, and highly prized addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library European Art History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: Serge Fauchereau is a scholar and art critic. He was also a professor of American literature at New York University, and has curetted major exhibitions at the Pompidou Center. Serge Fauchereau has published over twenty books, including a dozen monographs such as Braque, Jean Arp, Kupka, and Malevich.

Hogarth
David Bindmind
Thames & Hudson, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110-0017
www.thamesandhudsonusa.com
9780500204771, $24.95, PB, 240pp

https://www.amazon.com/Hogarth-World-Art-David-Bindman/dp/0500204772

Synopsis: William Hogarth (10 November 1697 - 26 October 1764) was one of the great eighteenth-century painters, a marvelous colorist, and an innovator at all levels of artistic expression. Now in a newly updated and expanded edition, with the publication of "Hogarth" as part of the renowned World of Art series from Thames & Hudson, art historian and Hogarth scholar David Bindman surveys the works of this artist whose wry humor and sharp wit was reflected in his prolific paintings and prints, including The Rake's Progress and Marriage A-la-Mode.

William Hogarth was also a master of pictorial satire, highlighting the moral and political issues of the day with delightful detail and comedy -- themes that continue to resonate deeply with our own times. This new edition of "Hogarth" has been specially updated to include a discussion of Hogarth's representation of Black people in eighteenth-century Britain, a subject that has long been overlooked in his many works.

Critique: Impressively informative, exceptionally well written, beautifully and profusely illustrated in with full color reproductions of this master artist's work throughout, "Hogarth" is a vivid, insightful, inherently interesting, insightful, and an seminal study of the artist William Hogarth and will prove to be an enduringly welcome addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library European Art History collections in general, and William Hogarth supplemental curriculum reading lists in particular. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Hogarth" by Professor Emeritus Daid Bindman is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99).

Editorial Note: David Bindman is an emeritus professor of the history of art at University College London. He is currently a fellow of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University, and he was a visiting professor of history of art at Harvard, 2011 - 2017. His publications include Blake as an Artist, Hogarth and His Times: Serious Comedy, Ape to Apollo: Aesthetics and the Idea of Race in the 18th Century. Since 2006, he has been the editor with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., of the Image of the Black in Western Art series, in twelve volumes so far.

Camille Pissarro: The Studio of Modernism
Christophe Duvivier, editor
Josef Helfenstein, editor
Prestel Publishing
www.prestel.com
9783791378275, $70.00, HC, 336pp

https://www.amazon.com/Camille-Pissarro-Modernism-Christophe-Duvivier/dp/3791378279

Synopsis: As one of the founding figures of Impressionism, Camille Pissarro (10 July 1830 - 13 November 1903) exerted considerable influence over the movement's other members, such as Paul Ce zanne, Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Edgar Degas, and Mary Cassatt.

Collaboratively compiled and co-edited by Christophe Duvivier (Director of the Museums of Pontoise, France.) and Josef Helfenstein (Director at the Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland), "Camille Pissarro: The Studio of Modernism" focuses on Pissarro's collaborations with these and other artists. It also celebrates the avant-garde quality of his painting, particularly in his contributions to Neo-Impressionism.

Focusing on his role in the revolutionary Impressionist movement of the 1870s, "Camille Pissarro: The Studio of Modernism" traces Pissarro's work in dialog with his fellow artists, particularly Cezanne and Gauguin, and also reveals his influence on works by Alfred Sisley, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac and others.

In addition to pages of exquisite reproductions of works by Pissarro and his contemporaries, "Camille Pissarro: The Studio of Modernism" also features illuminating essays about his influences on Van Gogh, his approach to the female figure, and the role of synthesis among the early Impressionists.

Readers will come away with a new understanding of how Pissarro's unique talent for collaboration and unity was vital to the development of French painting in the late 19th century.

Critique: A coffee-table style volume (10.19 x 1.38 x 12.06 inches), "Camille Pissarro: The Studio of Modernism" is enhanced for academia with the inclusion of a ten page Biography, an eight page listing of Exhibited Works, and a two page Selected Bibliography. The essays are impressively informative, the artwork is superbly reproduced in full color. The result is a volume that would make an ideal Memorial Fund selection for their Art History collections by both community and academic libraries. "Camille Pissarro: The Studio of Modernism" is especially recommended for art history students, academia, artists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject.

Greatest Garden: The Paintings of David More
Mary-Beth Laviolette
University of Calgary Press
https://press.ucalgary.ca
9781773852249, $39.99, PB, 112pp

https://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Garden-Paintings-David-More/dp/1773852248

Synopsis: David More (born 1954) is a Scottish botanical illustrator who was born in Dingwall and educated in Kent. Books he has illustrated include Collins GEM Trees (1980), Trees of North America (1988), with the late Alan Mitchell, and the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Trees (2003) by John White. He has also contributed artwork for many other books, magazines and posters, including a design for the Natural History Museum in London

More is one of western Canada's truly exceptional painters and is based in the rural hamlet of Benalto, near Red Deer Alberta. More is part of a generation of landscape artists who emerged in the 1970s to make beauty out of the ordinary and challenge the expected with bold acts of creation.

Throughout his career, More has returned to the garden as a deeply functional yet ritualistic space of human endeavour. The garden is a place of shelter and sanctuary, of colour and fragrance, of order and wilderness. The garden is a private space, carefully tended and planted, observed en plein air or through the living-room window. The garden is a public space, a park where people gather to let their natures blossom. The garden is the world, the nature that sustains and surround us, the environment we all live within, and all have a responsibility to cultivate and tend.

"Greatest Garden" is a visual celebration of More's engagement with the garden as a multifaceted subject. Featuring over fifty original artworks, "Greatest Garden" encompasses a career spent in conversation with gardens in their many and varied forms. With lively brushwork, a keen sense of colour, and an aptitude for expressive drawing and varied composition, More has found the garden in expected and unexpected places.

Critique: . With the publication of "Greatest Garden: The Paintings of David More" by Mary-Beth Laviolette, we are welcomed to walk its sunlit paths one beautiful page at a time. Each superbly reproduced painting is captioned and interspersed with quotations and commentaries that will prove of immense interest and thematic appropriateness. A lovely volume to simply page through from cover to cover, "Greatest Garden" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Contemporary Canadian Art collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Greatest Garden" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $31.57).

Editorial Note: Mary-Beth Laviolette is an independent curator and writer with a visual art practice spanning forty years. She is also the author of An Alberta Art Chronicle and A Delicate Art: Artists, Wildflowers, and Native Plants of the West. She has curated exhibitions for the Art Gallery of Alberta, Calgary's Glenbow Museum, the Whyte Museum, and more. Mary-Beth is also the recipient of many awards, including the Alberta Centennial Medal and Artist in the Spotlight.

Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy
Monique Kornell
Getty Publications
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 500, Los Angeles, CA 90049-1682
www.getty.edu/publications
9781606067697, $50.00, HC, 248pp

https://www.amazon.com/Flesh-Bones-Anatomy-Monique-Kornell/dp/1606067699

Synopsis: For centuries, anatomy was a fundamental component of artistic training, as artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo sought to skillfully portray the human form. In Europe, illustrations that captured the complex structure of the body (spectacularly realized by anatomists, artists, and printmakers in early atlases such as Andreas Vesalius's De humani corporis fabrica libri septem of 1543) found an audience with both medical practitioners and artists.

"Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy" by Monique Kornell (who is an independent scholar and curator specializing in the history of anatomical book illustration and the study of anatomy by artists) examines the inventive ways anatomy has been presented from the sixteenth through the twenty-first century, including an animated corpse displaying its own body for study, anatomized antique sculpture, spectacular life-size prints, delicate paper flaps, and 3-D stereoscopic photographs. Drawn primarily from the vast holdings of the Getty Research Institute, the over 150 striking images, which range in media from woodcut to neon, reveal the uncanny beauty of the human body under the skin.

Critique: A masterpiece of anatomy based art, "Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy" is a unique and impressively informative coffee-table style ( 8 x 1.1 x 11 inches) art book that will be an especially prized addition to personal, professional, community, art school, medical school, college, and university library Human Figure & Anatomy Art Book collections.

Editorial Note: This edition of "Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy" is published to accompany an exhibition on view at the Getty Research Institute at the Getty Center from February 22 to July 10, 2022.


The Theatre/Cinema/TV Shelf

Instincts of a Talent Agent
Marc Guss
www.MarcGuss.com
Cypress House
9780998785479, $18.95, HC, 128pp

https://www.amazon.com/Instincts-Talent-Agent-Entrepreneurial-Takeaways/dp/0998785474

Synopsis: "Instincts of a Talent Agent: Entrepreneurial Takeaways from an Industry Insider" by professional talent agent Marc Guss is a candid and 'real world' combination instructional guide and how-to manual written revealing to aspiring actors and others new to the profession how they can establish their acting careers in the entertainment industry by using an entrepreneur's specific skill set.

"Instincts of a Talent Agent" also shares Marc's deeply personal experiences from the trenches with names like Lauren Bacall, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Christopher Reeve, Quentin Tarantino, Whoopi Goldberg, J.J. Abrams, Dr. Phil, and others, what he learned, and how to apply those principles.

"Instincts of a Talent Agent" includes cautionary tales and hilarious moments, all of which contribute to telling it like it is, and is especially meant for those who are truly serious about a career in entertainment. Highlights include: Tips for breaking into the business and immediately making your mark; How to claim and cultivate your own niche; Establishing and building your brand; Navigating cutthroat players and other survival and growth strategies; How to make social media a powerful and efficient creative tool.

Of special note is the inclusion of practical take-aways at the end of each chapter and a comprehensive Reader's Guide.

Critique: Also readily available in a paperback edition (9780998785486, $14.95), "Instincts of a Talent Agent: Entrepreneurial Takeaways from an Industry Insider" is an absolutely essential, informative, instructive, and thoroughly 'user friendly' read for anyone contemplating or trying to create a career in theatrical or cinematic acting. "Instincts of a Talent Agent: Entrepreneurial Takeaways from an Industry Insider" is an especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Theatre/Cinema collections in general, and Acting/Auditioning reading lists in particular.


The Archaeology Shelf

The Red Sea Scrolls
Pierre Tallet, author
Mark Lehner, author
Thames & Hudson, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110-0017
www.thamesandhudsonusa.com
9780500052112, $39.95, HC, 320pp

https://www.amazon.com/Red-Sea-Scrolls-Ancient-Pyramids/dp/0500052115

Synopsis: Archaeologist Pierre Tallet's discovery of the Red Sea Scrolls (the world's oldest surviving written documents) in 2013 was one of the most remarkable moments in the history of Egyptology. These papyri, written some 4,600 years ago, and combined with fellow archaeologist Mark Lehner's research, changed what we thought we knew about the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza.

With the publication of "The Red Sea Scrolls: How Ancient Papyri Reveal the Secrets of the Pyramids", and for the first time, the world-renowned team of Egyptologists Tallet and Lehner give us the definitive account of this astounding discovery. The story begins with Tallet's hunt for hieroglyphic rock inscriptions in the Sinai Peninsula and leads up to the discovery of the papyri, the diary of Inspector Merer, who oversaw workers in the reign of Pharaoh Khufu in Wadi el-Jarf, the site of an ancient harbor on the Red Sea. The translation of the papyri reveals how the stones of the Great Pyramid ended up in Giza. Combined with Lehner's excavations of the harbor at the pyramid construction site the Red Sea Papyri have greatly advanced our understanding of how the ancient Egyptians were able to build monuments that survive to this day.

Tallet and Lehner narrate this thrilling discovery and explore how the building of the pyramids helped create a unified state, propelling Egyptian civilization forward. A lavishly illustrated volume, "The Red Sea Scrolls: How Ancient Papyri Reveal the Secrets of the Pyramids" captures the excitement and significance of these seminal findings, conveying above all how astonishing it is to discover a contemporary eyewitness testimony to the creation of the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World.

Critique: An invaluable, unique, profusely illustrated, and impressive contribution to the growing library of Egyptology, "The Red Sea Scrolls: How Ancient Papyri Reveal the Secrets of the Pyramids" is an essential addition to personal, professional, museum, community, college, and university library Egyptology collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of archaeology and Egyptology students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Red Sea Scrolls: How Ancient Papyri Reveal the Secrets of the Pyramids" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $26.49).

Editorial Note #1: Mark Lehner is president of Ancient Egypt Research Associates and research associate at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. He has conducted fieldwork at Giza for over forty years. He is the author of the bestselling The Complete Pyramids and the definitive volume on the subject, Giza and the Pyramids.

Editorial Note #2: Pierre Tallet is a professor of Egyptology at the Sorbonne and president of the French Society of Egyptology. He is the leader of the archaeological mission at Wadi el-Jarf, where he discovered the Red Sea Papyri.


The Judicial Studies Shelf

Private Prosecution in America
John D. Bessler
Carolina Academic Press
700 Kent Street, Durham, NC 27701
www.cap-press.com
9781531020064, $120.00, HC, 1024pp

https://www.amazon.com/Private-Prosecution-America-Unconstitutionality-Twenty-First/dp/1531020062

Synopsis: "Private Prosecution in America: Its Origins, History, and Unconstitutionality in the Twenty-First Century" by academician and attorney John D. Bessler is the first comprehensive examination of a legal practice that dates back to the colonial era.

Tracking its origins to medieval times and the English common law, "Private Prosecution in America" shows how "private prosecutors" were once a mainstay of early American criminal procedure. Private prosecutors (acting on their own behalf, as next of kin, or though retained counsel) initiated prosecutions, presented evidence in court, and sought the punishment of offenders.

Until the rise and professionalization of public prosecutors' offices, private prosecutors played a major role in the criminal justice system, including in capital cases. After conducting a 50-state survey and recounting how some locales still allow private prosecutions by interested parties, with the publication of "Private Prosecution in America", Bessler argues that such prosecutions violate defendants' constitutional rights and should be outlawed.

Critique: A major work of original and meticulous historical research and scholarship, "Private Prosecution in America: Its Origins, History, and Unconstitutionality in the Twenty-First Century" is an extraordinary and unique contribution the history of American jurisprudence. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Private Prosecution in America: Its Origins, History, and Unconstitutionality in the Twenty-First Century" is especially and unreservedly recommended as a very special and prized addition to professional, community, college, and university library judicial studies collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for law students, academia, members of the legal profession, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Private Prosecution in America: Its Origins, History, and Unconstitutionality in the Twenty-First Century" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $92.00).

Editorial Note: John D. Bessler teaches at the University of Baltimore School of Law and the Georgetown University Law Center. He is also counsel with the Minneapolis law firm of Berens & Miller, P.A. In 2018, he was a visiting scholar at the Human Rights Center of the University of Minnesota Law School and received the University System of Maryland Regents' Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship, Research, or Creative Activity.


The Architecture Shelf

Brutalism Reinvented
Agata Toromanoff
Prestel Publishing
www.prestel.com
9783791388113, $50.00, 240pp

https://www.amazon.com/Brutalism-Reinvented-Agata-Toromanoff/dp/3791388118

Synopsis: Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (6 October 1887 - 27 August 1965), also known as Le Corbusier, was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. His career spanned five decades, and he designed buildings in Europe, Japan, India, and North and South America.

Drawing from the radical approach of the controversial architectural movement of Le Corbusier, today's Brutalist buildings are both sophisticated and elegant. As the hundreds of exterior and interior photos showcased with the publication of "Brutalism Reinvented" by Agata Toromanoff, architects have taken advantage of new technology to make concrete-based structures that are refined and alluring, as well as stylish and modish unlike their predecessors.

Each chapter comprising "Brutalism Reinvented" is dedicated to a different type of building and is introduced with a selection of iconic structures as an essential visual reference for Brutalism's new look. In some instances the overall strength of the aesthetic is paired with equally forceful materials such as glass, metal and brick; other examples show how classically brutalist lines are integrated into generously proportioned, light-filled spaces.

An informative celebration of Brutalist architecture's legacy, "Brutalism Reinvented" is an exciting exploration of how today's most innovative architects are discovering the inherent beauty of powerful concrete volumes that was at the heart of Le Corbusier's original vision.

Critique: Profusely illustrated throughout, "Brutalism Reinvented" addresses single-family homes, multi-dwellng units, cultural venues, offices, public buildings, hospitality buildings, and sacred architecture. The erudite and informative commentary, combined with the photograph illustrations, makes "Brutalism Reinvented" a unique and unreservedly recommended acquisition for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Architectural Studies collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: Agata Toromanoff is an art and design historian. She has worked for art collectors and galleries, and has curated and managed numerous contemporary art projects. She has authored several books on art, design, photography and architecture, including "Raising the Roof: Women Architects Who Broke Through the Glass Ceiling".


James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Diane C. Donovan, Editor
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