| Volume 1 |
September 2005 |
Issue 2 |
Book 'em looks at selected books that are on, or have
recently been, on the New Book display, as well as other news in the
world of books. A complete list of books (and other materials)
cataloged in the past month may be found at http://hiraml.hiram.edu/ftlist.
Book 'em is published monthly from August through May. Please
direct any comments to the editor, David Everett.
New Books
This month History seems to be well represented. The Bonus Army: An
American Epic. (NY:
Walker and Company, 2004
- call
number 973.916 Dic) by Paul Dickson and Thomas B. Allen tells the of
the 1932 march on Washington, D.C. by some 45,000 World War I veterans
seeking support for the cash bonus promised them eight years earlier and
now badly needed by many during the Depression. Instead, they were
driven from the city by soldiers under the command of Gen. Douglas
MacArthur. R. G. Robertson's Rotting
Face: Smallpox and the American Indian. (Caldwell, ID: Caxton
Press, 2001 - call
number 616.912 Rob) is a general introduction to the spread of
deadly disease among native Americans with the focus on the smallpox
epidemic of 1837-1838 that killed an estimated 20,000 Native Americans
on the Upper Missouri.
If, as Thomas Carlyle stated, the history of the world is but the
biography of great men, then the history theme continues with a number
of biographies. Although Carlyle might be surprised to
discover they are all about famous women! Charles Slack's Hetty:
The Genius and Madness of America's First Female Tycoon (NY:
ECCO, 2004 - call
number 332.092 Gre-S) tells the story of Hetty Green, known as the
"Witch of Wall Street," who was worth an estimated $100
million when she died in 1916. Obsessive
Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie (NY: Atlas, 2005 - call
number 539.752Cur-G) by Barbara Goldsmith attempts to look beyond
the myth of the iconic Curie to provide her real life story. The
book is part of the series Great Discoveries (which includes David
Foster Wallace's Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity,
2003 - call number 511.3 Wal). Finally, the story of Althea
Gibson, the first African-American to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open is
told in Born to Win: The Authorized Biography
of Althea Gibson (NY: John Wiley and Sons, 2004 - call
number 796.342092 Gib-G) by Frances Clayton Gray and Yanick Rice
Lamb.
Two memoirs continue the history theme. Bela Zsolt's Nine
Suitcases: A Memoir (NY: Schocken, 2004 - call number 940.5318092
Zso)
was one of the first Holocaust memoirs having been published first in
weekly installments in a Hungarian journal in 1946 and 1947. Zsolt
was one of Hungary's best know authors, publishing ten novels and four
plays before World War II. Zsolt and his wife survived but lost
his mother, brothers, and sisters and his wife's parents and her
13-year-old daughter by a first marriage. In
the Service of the Tsar Against Napoleon: The Memoirs of Denis Davidov,
1806-1814 (London: Greenhill Books, 1999 - call
number 940.2742 Dav) tells the experiences of the Russian officer
(and Tolstoy's inspiration for Denisov in War and Peace) in Russia's war
with Napoleon, including his experience as a partisan leading a series
of raids against the French.
Presidential rhetoric and the relation between the press and the
President take center-stage in Writing JFK:
Presidential Rhetoric and the Press in the Bay of Pigs Crisis
(College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2004 - call
number 972.91064 Ben) by Thomas W. Benson. The author,
Professor of Rhetoric at Penn State, analyzes two speeches and a press
conference (the text of each is included) as case studies for
presidential rhetoric and what we now call "spin control."
Dance history and American culture come together in
Jennifer Fisher's Nutcracker Nation
(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003 - call
number 792.842 Nut-F). Fisher, who teaches dance history,
traces the history of this Russian ballet from its 1892 premier in
Russia to the present where it is a part of America's Christmas
tradition with countless productions each year.
Finally, there are six new titles from the Cambridge
Companion series from the Cambridge University Press. The
new titles are for the Roman Republic (2004 -
call number 937.02
Cam),
Harriet Beecher Stowe (2004 - call number 813.37
Cam), Jewish American
Literature (2003 - call number 810.98924
Cam), Postmodernism (2004 -
call number 149.97 Cam), Walter Benjamin (2004 -
call number 838.912
Ben-C), and Quine (2004 -
call number 191
Qui-C). Don't forget to add "Cambridge Companion to"
in front when doing title searches in the catalog, e.g., Cambridge
Companion to the Roman Republic.
Coming Soon (the following
books are on order or in process)
The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate’s Deep Throat by Bob
Woodward. The Watergate
reporter and now Washington Post editor tells the story of his
relationship with arguable the most famous source in American journalism
history.
Where We Have Hope: A Memoir of Zimbabwe.
American-born Andrew Meldrum went to Zimbabwe as a reporter for
the Guardian. He stayed for
more than 20 years until his expulsion in 2003
The American Enemy: The History of French Anti-Americanism..
French historian Philippe Roger traces the origins and
history of anti-American discourse in France.
. . . And a Time to Die: How American Hospitals Shape the End of Life
by Sharon R. Kaufman. Uses
case studies to look at how hospitals treat (from a clinical standpoint)
patients in the last stages of life.
Obituaries
Dennis Lynds on August 19th at
age 81. A best-selling
mystery novelist, Lynds is best known for the series featuring one-armed
detective Dan Fortune, which he wrote under the pseudonym Michael
Collins
Web Site of the Month
Hiram
Reads! at http://library.hiram.edu/hiramreads.html
Find out what others in the Hiram community are reading
and recommending. Submit your own recommendations, with a
paragraph or two describing the book and why you are recommending it, to
David Everett at everettdd@hiram.edu.
The pages changes with every new recommendation that is received.
Other News
There will be a reception on Friday, September
16 at 4:15 p.m. in the Writing Center to honor Dr. Rodney Hessinger for
the recent publication of his book Seduced, Abandoned, and Reborn:
Visions of Youth in Middle-Class America, 1780-1850 (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005). Dr. Vivien Sandlund will
provide remarks and refreshments will be served.
|
