New Books
April 2008
REFERENCE
The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry in Anthologies, 13th edition
For over a hundred years, The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry in Anthologies has been the preeminent index for answers to questions about the world of poetry, identifying the author of a poem or the anthologies in which it can be found when only a title, first line, or last line is known. This latest edition-a "must have" for libraries-brings its index up to date as of May 31, 2006. This latest version features 85,000 classic and contemporary poems by 12,000 poets. Also included are works in translation and for the first time poetry in Spanish, Vietnamese, and French. The subject organization of the poems is especially useful. Hundreds of new subjects have been added, indexing poems on highly relevant topics such as Osama bin Laden, the war in Iraq , Dick Cheney, the Internet, and Rosa Parks, as well as timeless subjects like the Bill of Rights, unspoken love, faith, and inspiration. Our impressive team of consultants includes J. D. McClatchy, Harvey Shapiro, and former poet laureate Mark Strand. From The Norton Anthology of Poetry (2005 edition) to Poetry after 9/11 and Garrison Keillor's Good Poems , this new edition puts readers in touch with the best of the latest anthologies and the lasting favorites.
Fodor's China, 2008
Guidebook to China , including coverage of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing .
FICTION
Skylark Farm - Arslan , Antonia
Booklist Starred Review: Genocide figured in both world wars, but whereas the Holocaust is massively attested, the deliberate extermination of Armenians in 1915 is far less so. Retired professor Arslan's first novel, based upon the experiences and using the names of her family, conjures that terrible time with consummate art. Arslan adopts the tones of a teller of legends as, first, she introduces her grandfather Yerwant , an important physician in his Italian adopted hometown, and her diminutive aunt Henriette , a survivor of 1915, as she knew them when a child. Then, in the book's two principal parts, she depicts the prelude to and outburst of the genocide in the small western Turkish city in which the Arslans lived, and then the trek south to Aleppo in Syria that the city's other Armenian women, girls, and elderly were forced to make on foot by soldiers who harassed them constantly. Not many survived, but Henriette , then a child, and, because he was playing in a sister's old dress when the other males were taken, three-year-old Nubar made it, eventually to Italy and Yerwant . Squirmingly suspenseful throughout, this soul-shaking novel feels like a masterpiece. – Booklist
Finn - Clinch, Jon
Embarking from a scene in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , Clinch has written a debut novel of harrowing intensity. When Jim and Huck find a dead man in a house floating down the Mississippi , the room with the body is filled with mysterious oddities: a wooden leg, two black masks, crude scrawlings over the walls, etc. Huck does not know that the corpse, shot in the back, is his father. Clinch meticulously fills in the backstory of Finn (or "Pap Finn," as Twain usually referred to him). He uses the details of the floating-house scene, and much of Twain's plotting, characters, and themes, to create a story at once intricately entwined with Huckleberry Finn and separate from that novel in tone and focus. The author makes no attempt to duplicate Twain's humor and satire. Instead, he sets his sights on humanity's immense capacity for evil. While Huck's innate good heart won the battle against his society-produced conscience, allowing him to help the runaway slave, Finn has neither the heart nor conscience to aid anyone. Clinch's book contains many surprises: Huck is a mulatto; the extremely racist Finn fancies black women; Finn's father (Judge Finn) is the wealthiest and most respected citizen in town and yet, in significant ways, more evil than his son. Many fans of Twain's masterpiece will want to read Clinch's inspired interpretation of Pap, but some might find it too gruesome, and too void of hope. In any event, Clinch offers a wealth of material for AP English and college-level papers. – School Library Journal
Change of Heart - Picoult , Jodi
Picoult bangs out another ripped-from-the-zeitgeist winner, this time examining a condemned inmate's desire to be an organ donor. Freelance carpenter Shay Bourne was sentenced to death for killing a little girl, Elizabeth Nealon , and her cop stepfather. Eleven years after the murders, Elizabeth 's sister, Claire, needs a heart transplant, and Shay volunteers, which complicates the state's execution plans. Meanwhile, death row has been the scene of some odd events since Shay's arrival-an AIDS victim goes into remission, an inmate's pet bird dies and is brought back to life, wine flows from the water faucets. The author brings other compelling elements to an already complex plot line: the priest who serves as Shay's spiritual adviser was on the jury that sentenced him; Shay's ACLU representative, Maggie Bloom, balances her professional moxie with her negative self-image and difficult relationship with her mother. Picoult moves the story along with lively debates about prisoner rights and religion, while plumbing the depths of mother-daughter relationships and examining the literal and metaphorical meanings of having heart. The point-of-view switches are abrupt, but this is a small flaw in an impressive book. - Publishers Weekly
The Road to Cana - Rice, Anne
Publishers Weekly Starred Review. In the New Testament, the miracle at the wedding at Cana -where Jesus turned water into wine-marks the commencement of his tumultuous three-year ministry. In Rice's beautifully observed novel, a sequel to 2005's Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt , however, the wedding miracle is in fact the culmination of an intimate family saga of love, sorrow and misunderstanding. As the novel opens, Yeshua (Jesus) struggles with a sense of restlessness of purpose and a deep love for a comely kinswoman. Waves of isolation sweep over him as he comes to understand that serving the Lord's will takes precedence over the desires of his own heart. Whereas the first novel in this series hewed so closely to Scripture and to the author's meticulous research as to be somewhat arid as fiction, this book, imagining the "lost" young adulthood of Jesus, offers wise and haunting speculation where the Bible is silent. And the final chapters, which pick up the story with the New Testament's accounts of Jesus' baptism, temptation and early miracles, manage to be soulfully insightful even while faithfully tracking the Gospels. Rice undertakes a delicate balance: if it is possible to create a character that is simultaneously fully human and fully divine, as ancient Christian creeds assert, then Rice succeeds. – Publishers Weekly
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears - Mengestu , Dinaw
New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year, Publishers Weekly Starred Review: For anyone who's caught the gaze of a foreign-born waiter or cabdriver and wished for a deeper understanding of his half-glimpsed life, reading fiction is one way to crack open the dusty window that often separates us. It's all the more intriguing when the writer is as observant as 29-year-old Dinaw Mengestu , who immigrated to America in 1980, after his family fled Ethiopia 's genocidal Red Terror. His haunting and powerful first novel, "The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears," is one of the first to give voice to that experience. His story centers on 36-year-old Sepha Stephanos , who left his mother and brother in Ethiopia 17 years earlier, after his father was brutalized and escorted to his death by soldiers backing Mengistu Haile Mariam , the Communist dictator who overthrew the senile Haile Selassie . For the past decade, Stephanos has been quietly reading Dostoyevsky, Dante and Naipaul behind the counter of his convenience store in a run-down Washington , D.C. , neighborhood. Into this world of suppressed dreams and frustrated memories walks Naomi, an angular 11-year-old know-it-all who, like Stephanos , misses her African father. She starts visiting Stephanos regularly and reads the newspaper with him, stealing his heart as she gravely shakes her head over the failure of American policy in the Middle East and the lack of resources devoted to the global AIDS crisis. The spark between this spirited girl and cautious man shines through in their dialogue, which is among the sharpest in the book. It also draws Stephanos closer to Naomi's mother, Judith, a single, white professor who stands out because she's renovating one of the grand old houses in this predominantly black neighborhood, and also because her daughter's skin is "lighter than black but darker than white." Soon, Judith and Stephanos begin a hesitant romance, pushing him to consider for the first time what it might feel like to be part of a family again. But the same wave of gentrification that brought Judith and Naomi into Stephanos ' neighborhood ushers in economic and social pressures threatening his livelihood. Judith's shining four-story mansion also becomes a powerful symbol of the tipping social scale, as longtime black residents are evicted from the area. – San Francisco Chronicle
The Gathering - Enright , Anne
Winner of the Man Booker Prize, Booklist Starred Review, Amazon.com Editors' Choice. Pretty early on in The Gathering you realize that in her lingering portrait of the Hegarty clan (and this isn't hyperbole--they are a family of 12), Irish novelist Anne Enright will wrestle with all the giant literary tropes that have come before her. Family, of course, is the big one, but with equal intensity she explores death and dying, the sea and its siren song, sex, shame, secrecy, unreliable memories, madness, "the drink," and--always in the shadows--England. That said , it's not like any other novel about the Irish that I've read. The story of the Hegartys is indeed bleak, and hard, but it surges with tenderness and eloquent thought which, in the end, are the very things that help this family (or at least her narrator Veronica) survive. Through her eyes, and in Enright's skillful imagination, those small turning-point moments of life that we all know in some form or another--a petty fight, a careless word, an event witnessed--come together in an unshakeable vision of how you become the person you are. – Amazon.com
The God of Animals - Kyle, Aryn
Sixth-grader Alice Winston is having a tough year. Her older sister dropped out of high school and ran off to marry a rodeo cowboy. Her father's horse ranch is teetering on the edge of solvency. Her depressed mother won't get out of bed. And her shop partner just drowned in a canal. Unprepared for the increasingly adult role she finds herself playing, Alice starts telling lies, and soon finds herself in a complicated relationship with her alienated English teacher. Though the powerful building of portents doesn't fully pay off in the end, this is a very impressive debut. Kyle's prose is graceful and mature, and her themes are subtly stitched into the story. Her portrayal of Desert Valley , Colorado , ravaged first by drought and then by rain, captures the isolation and hardship that can characterize western life and also the encroachment of those--the subdivision people--for whom the weather means nothing. A powerful tale, from a writer with real promise, of a girl coming of age amid a dying way of life. - Booklist
Good-Bye, Mr. Chips - Hilton, James
Hilton's classic novel about a beloved teacher at an English boys' school.
To Sir, with Love - Braithwaite, E. R.
The inspirational story of one man overcoming prejudice in a tough London East End school. When a woman refuses to sit next to him on the bus, Rick Braithewaite is saddened and angered by her prejudice. In post-war cosmopolitan London he had hoped for a more enlightened attitude. When he begins his first teaching job in a tough East End school the reactions are the same. Slowly and painfully some of the barriers are broken down. He shames his pupils, wrestles with them, enlightens them and eventually comes to love them. To Sir With Love is the story of a dedicated teacher who turns hate into love, teenage rebelliousness into self-respect, contempt into consideration for others - the story of a man's own integrity winning through against all the odds. – from the publisher
Up the Down Staircase - Kaufman, Bel
One of the best-loved novels of our time. It has been translated into sixteen languages, made into a prize-winning motion picture, and staged as a play at high schools all over the United States ; its very title has become part of the American idiom. Never before has a novel so compellingly laid bare the inner workings of a metropolitan high school. Up the Down Staircase is the funny and touching story of a committed, idealistic teacher whose dash with school bureaucracy is a timeless lesson for students, teachers, parents--anyone concerned about public education. Bel Kaufman lets her characters speak for themselves through memos, letters, directives from the principal, comments by students, notes between teachers, and papers from desk drawers and wastebaskets, evoking a vivid picture of teachers fighting the good fight against all that stands in the way of good teaching. – Amazon.com
NONFICTION
ADHD and Me: What I Learned from Lighting Fires at the Dinner Table - Taylor, Blake E. S.
A college freshman this fall, Taylor was five when he was diagnosed with ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He's been medicated all these years, but even when he remembered to take his pills, that's only been a small part of his learning to cope with ADHD. Taylor 's still more impulsive, more hyperactive and more open to distractions than others. He can also be more energetic and more passionate than anyone else. He has learned to see his neurological differences as a mixed blessing—yes, he's obsessive, but channeled toward a good cause, that can translate to hyperfocused . He veers off the subject, but that can spur creativity, thinking outside the box. Taylor relates the stories of his ADHD mishaps in no special order—how he set fire to the dining room in ninth grade, how he was bullied in sixth grade, how he was victimized by his first-grade teacher—as if to emphasize that a variety of problems can always happen. After describing each incident, he follows up with a cause and effect discussion of what he learned from what went wrong, followed by a solutions section, a few brief tips for other kids to try. Taylor speaks to fellow teens and their families with an authority few experts can muster. – Publishers Weekly
Cartoon Art for World Peace - Exhibition Catalogue
A catalogue from an exhibition of cartoon art from around the world which was shown at the United Nations in 2008. The exhibition featured a selection of prize-winning cartoons from the annual international competition held by the Aydın Doğan Foundation of Istanbul , Turkey , for 25 years. Each year, more than 3,000 cartoons are entered into the competition, 300 of which are presented to an international jury. To date, more than 7,200 artists of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds representing more than 128 countries have submitted entries for this competition. The exhibition was sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations and the Aydın Doğan Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of education, supporting media studies and promoting cultural and social advancement in Turkey . The Foundation believes in the importance of creating awareness among nations and that the common language of the cartoon gives the opportunity to go beyond borders and bond through freedom of expression.
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World - Hawken , Paul
Booklist Starred Review. The profusion of good causes and the nonprofit groups that advance them can seem laughably overwhelming, but without altruistic grass-roots efforts, the world would be a far less merciful place. Environmentalist Hawken believes that we are in the midst of a world-changing rise of activist groups, all "working toward ecological sustainability and social justice." Rather than an ideological or centralized movement, this coalescence is a spontaneous and organic response to the recognition that environmental problems are social-justice problems. Writing with zest, clarity, and a touch of wonder, Hawken compares this gathering of forces to the human immune system. Just as antibodies rally when the body is under threat, people are joining together to defend life on Earth. Hawken offers a fascinating history of our perception of nature and human rights and assesses the role indigenous cultures are playing in the quest for ecological responsibility and economic fairness. Hawken also presents an unprecedented map to this new "social landscape" that includes a classification system defining astonishingly diverse concerns, ranging from farming to child welfare, ocean preservation, and beyond. Fresh and informative, Hawken's inspired overview charts much that is right in the world. – Booklist
Contents: The beginning -- Blessed unrest -- The long green -- The rights of business -- Emerson's savants -- Indigene -- We interrupt this empire -- Immunity -- Restoration.
The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science - Angier, Natalie
Award-winning science journalist Angier takes us on a "guided twirligig through the scientific canon." She draws on conversations with hundreds of the world's top scientists, and her own work as a reporter for the New York Times, to create an entertaining guide to scientific literacy--a joyride through the major scientific disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy. It's for anyone who wants to understand the great issues of our time--from stem cells and bird flu to evolution and global warming. It's also one of those rare books that reignites our childhood delight in figuring out how things work: we learn what's actually happening when our ice cream melts or our coffee gets cold, what our liver cells do when we eat a caramel, how the horse shows evolution at work, and that we really are all made of stardust.--From publisher description. – from the publisher
Contents: Introduction: Sisyphus Sings with a Ying -- Thinking Scientifically: An Out-of-Body Experience -- Probabilities: For Whom the Bell Curves -- Playing with Scales -- Physics: And Nothing's Plenty for Me -- Chemistry: Fire, Ice, Spies, and Life -- Evolutionary Biology: The Theory of Every Body -- Molecular Biology: Cells and Whistles -- Geology: Imagining World Pieces -- Astronomy: Heavenly Creatures.
Edith Wharton - Lee, Hermione
Finalist for The National Book Critics Circle Award. Booklist Starred Review: Likely to replace R. W. B. Lewis' groundbreaking Edith Wharton (1975) as the definitive biographical treatment, because of new sources (as well as the author's sensitive interpretation of these sources), Lee's tremendous biography of one of the most important American writers rises to landmark status. Generally thought of as the grand dame of American letters, Edith Wharton grew up and married in New York City high society and subsequently wrote about that milieu. Her popular image as handed down from her generation onward is that of a character from the pages of her own fiction: a grand, stiff society matron. But the formidable Mrs. Wharton is given great humanity here. Lee conducts an enlightening exploration of the rarefied yet, ironically, provincial and narrow world of Wharton's formative years, which were undergoing a "jostle of social forces" between old and new money. Those very conflicts supplied her with the material she exploited throughout her long career. Upon her sad marriage, which eventually ended in divorce, Lee casts sympathetic and clarifying light. And in weighing Wharton's considerable time spent living in Europe , Lee brings to the fore Wharton's continued American consciousness. As expected for such a respected biographer of writers, Lee nimbly integrates analysis of Wharton's works into the bigger life story. – Booklist
Contents: An American in Paris -- Making up -- Pussy Jones -- Italian backgrounds -- The Decoration of Houses -- The republic of letters -- Obligations -- The legend -- Friends in England -- Mme. Warthon -- L'Ame close -- La demanderesse -- Getting what you want -- Fighting France -- Une seconde patrie -- Pavillon /Chateau -- The Age of Innocence -- Jazz -- A private library -- All souls' -- Edith Wharton's family tree.
The Human Touch: Our Part in the Creation of a Universe - Frayn , Michael
Booklist Starred Review: When a playwright does physics, the spotlight falls on the actor at center stage. And 500 years after Copernicus pushed our planet to the periphery, Frayn finds that Earth's curious inhabitants still dominate the cosmic drama. Among the creatures inhabiting this chaotic universe, only Homo sapiens registers natural phenomena in a consciousness that translates them into mathematical formulas and verbal narratives. Frayn probes the mental dynamics that generate the numbers and words that ensnare quarks and quasars, only to find himself bumping up against stubborn paradoxes: How can the scientific laws that reduce man to an absurd accident depend for their very existence on human thought? How can the ruptures pervading quantum probability simply disappear in the seamless music of the human mind? Why does the rigid determinism governing atoms and molecules sustain the free decisions of a human brain? Why do computers that mimic mental functions still lack a human will? Readers looking for tidy answers will find none. But those looking for exciting intellectual vistas will find them here. In a science that spans galaxies and eons, Frayn finally discerns the remarkable magic of the human imagination here and now. A rare work illuminating both the syntheses of art and the rigor of science. – Booklist
Jane Goodall : The Woman Who Redefined Man - Peterson, Dale
New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year, Booklist Starred Review. When Goodall first presented her discoveries about chimpanzees at a scientific conference, she was ridiculed by the chairman. She was too young, too blond, too pretty to be a serious scientist, and worse yet, she had virtually no formal scientific training. She had been a secretarial school graduate whom Leakey had sent out to study chimps only when he couldn't find anyone better qualified. And he couldn't tell her what to do in the field--nobody could--because no one before had made such an intensive and long-term study. Biographer Peterson shows how remarkable Goodall's accomplishments were, detailing not only how she revolutionized the study of primates, our closest relatives, but how she helped set radically new standards and a new intellectual style in the study of animal behavior. And he reveals the very private quest that led to another sharp turn in her life, from scientist to activist – from the publisher
The Motion Paradox: The 2,500-Year-Old Puzzle Behind All the Mysteries of Time and Space - Mazur, Joseph
Zeno's four paradoxes have bamboozled the greatest mathematical minds, for he purported to prove that motion is impossible, a conclusion somewhat at variance with experience. In this history of puzzlement over the paradoxes, mathematician Mazur begins by imagining Zeno stumping the entire ancient-Greek brain trust except for Aristotle, who offered refutations of Zeno. With Aristotle's own notions of motion refuted by Kepler , Galileo, and Newton , Zeno enjoyed a brief renaissance but seemed tamed once more by calculus and its mathematical tool kit. Motion and time again were continuous, not infinitely divisible, which is the underlying assertion that lets Zeno claim that fleet-footed Achilles can never catch up to a tortoise that has a head start. Then, as Mazur relates, Planck's discovery of the quantum, and Einstein's of relativity, restored Zeno's paradoxes to philosophical relevance. Entrained with some requisite algebra, Mazur's account achieves an entrancing verbal clarity in its discussion of the success and limits of mathematically modeling motion, and itself is a fine example of popularizing a famous philosophical mind-bender. – Booklist
Contents: PART 1. A COMMOTION OF ABSURDITIES -- Preamble to the paradoxes of motion -- Zeno's visit to Athens -- The world through Aristotle's eyes -- PART 2. ZENO SURVIVES THE RENAISSANCE -- Speed becomes a quantity -- Galileo Galilei , the father of modern science -- Dance of the planets -- PART. 3. ZENO IN THE SANDS OR TIME -- A step back for time -- Descartes and the magic of x and y -- The arrow's trajectory -- Falling toward the enlightenment -- PART 4. A COMMOTION OF ABSURDITIES, REVISITED -- The speed of light -- The space-time revolution -- Oops, things get grainy again -- There's no next, but what's next? -- The one stream.
Peace Be Upon You: Fourteen Centuries of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Coexistence - Karabell , Zachary
Booklist Starred Review: Historians have so often focused on religious conflict--crusades, jihads, pogroms--that author Karabell fears many readers have forgotten how often the devout have lived in peace with those of different faiths. To dispel this unfortunate forgetfulness, he develops a wide-ranging narrative highlighting epochs of interfaith toleration and cooperation. Readers visit, for instance, ninth-century Baghdad, where a Muslim caliph invited Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist theologians to compare beliefs; later, the tour moves on to thirteenth-century Toledo, where Muslims, Jews, and Christians collaborated in translating important classical texts; and, still later, Karabell turns to mid-twentieth-century Beirut, where disparate religions hammered out a national pact for sharing governance. Karabell concedes that some regimes have pursued ecumenical harmony merely to secure economic and political advantage, but he insists that such harmony actually reflects peace-fostering doctrines central to all of the Abrahamic faiths. Applying such doctrines, Karabell concedes, has grown more difficult in a modern world transformed by the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism. But he understands that Fundamentalists can pursue their bloody aims only by reducing the past to a litany of grievances crying out for vengeance. A book restoring to that past the complexities of peace and cooperation greatly enhances the prospects for the future. – Booklist
Contents: Introduction -- In the name of the Lord -- At the court of the caliph -- The sacrifice of Isaac -- The crusades -- Saladin's jihad? -- The philosopher's dream -- The lord of two lands -- The tide begins to turn -- Brave new worlds -- The age of reform -- Hope and despair -- In an otherwise turbulent world -- Coda : is Dubai the future? Maps -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Index.
Religious Literacy: What Every American Should Know But Doesn't - Prothero , Stephen R.
Publishers Weekly and Booklist Starred Reviews. The author opens this important book with a paradox. To wit, Americans are deeply religious and profoundly ignorant about religion; that is, one of the most religious countries is also a nation of "religious illiterates." Prothero calls religious illiteracy dangerous because religion is one of the greatest forces for good--as well as evil--in the world. Nowadays, standing on shaky religious ground can be literally a matter of life and death. To cite two brief examples of America 's religious illiteracy: only half of American adults can name one of the four Gospels, and 10 percent of Americans believe that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife. Prothero defines religious literacy--what it is, and what it is not. He also discusses the two great religious revivals in U.S. history, the Second Great Awakening of the nineteenth century and the postwar revival of the 1940s and 1950s. He argues both the constitutionality and the necessity of teaching--with an emphasis on spreading knowledge, not inculcating values--about religion in public schools and higher education. He suggests that every U.S. public high school should require a course on the Bible and another on the religions of the world. And he devotes an entire chapter to "a modest list" of a hundred or so religious terms that he deems essential, from Abraham to Zionism , to any American's religious knowledge. A must-read on its subject. – Booklist
Survival of the Sickest: The Surprising Connections Between Disease and Longevity - Moalem , Sharon
Author Moalem must have been the kind of child who liked to pick things up and look at them every which way, inside and out. Why else ask whether there is a reason for such afflictions as diabetes, sickle-cell anemia, and antibiotic-resistant infection? Everyone knows such ailments are a curse, a punishment, or, at minimum, bad luck--right? On the other hand, as Moalem notes, if every living thing dances to the same two-step imperative, survive and reproduce, then even the diseases our increasingly homogeneous society struggles to conquer once must have served a purpose. So, why high cholesterol? Perhaps this tendency and myriad other diseases endured so that their hosts might survive to reproduce, evolutionarily speaking. Maybe asking these kinds of questions will help scientists learn how to predict who is at risk and will lead to individualized intervention to prevent or minimize the impacts of genetic illnesses. Fortunately for readers, for neurogeneticist Moalem and writing collaborator Prince, fun with words, genes, and ideas is part of the deal. – Booklist
Under a Green Sky: Global Warming, the Mass Extinctions of the Past, and What They Can Tell Us about our Future - Ward, Peter D.
Popular science writer and paleontologist Ward presents breaking news about the link between past mass extinctions and global warming. Disarmingly engaging, Ward combines tales of his own punishing fieldwork with a piquant history of the controversies that have dogged scientists seeking the cause of the "mother of all extinctions" in the Permian period. This provides the foundation for a stunning discovery: evidence of past greenhouse extinctions. As Ward carefully parses the data and its implications, he observes, "the key to climate change seems to be both the level and the rate at which carbon dioxide rises in the atmosphere," no matter its source. Ward also illuminates the symbiosis between ocean currents and climate change, then explains why, as the northern ice cap melts, it is likely that the Atlantic conveyor current system will be altered, thus accelerating climate change. Ward asserts that humankind has flourished during a remarkable period of climatic stability and notes how tragic it will be if our carbon habit brings this boon to a catastrophic end. An important addition to the necessary literature of global warming. - Booklist
Contents: Welcome to the revolution! -- The overlooked extinction -- The mother of all extinctions -- The misinterpreted extinction -- A new paradigm for mass extinctions -- The driver of extinction -- Bridging deep past with near past -- The oncoming extinction of winter -- Back to the Eocene.
Why Beauty Is Truth: The History of Symmetry - Stewart, Ian
Booklist Starred Review. Anyone who thinks math is dull will be delightfully surprised by this history of the concept of symmetry. Stewart, a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick ( Does God Play Dice? ), presents a time line of discovery that begins in ancient Babylon and travels forward to today's cutting-edge theoretical physics. He defines basic symmetry as a transformation, "a way to move an object" that leaves the object essentially unchanged in appearance. And while the math behind symmetry is important, the heart of this history lies in its characters, from a hypothetical Babylonian scribe with a serious case of math anxiety, through Évariste Galois (inventor of "group theory"), killed at 21 in a duel, and William Hamilton, whose eureka moment came in "a flash of intuition that caused him to vandalize a bridge," to Albert Einstein and the quantum physicists who used group theory and symmetry to describe the universe. Stewart does use equations, but nothing too scary; a suggested reading list is offered for more rigorous details. Stewart does a fine job of balancing history and mathematical theory in a book as easy to enjoy as it is to understand .– Publishers Weekly
Contents: The scribes of Babylon -- The household name -- The Arabian poet -- The gambling scholar -- The cunning fox - - The frustrated doctor and the sickly genius --The luckless revolutionary -- The mediocre engineer and the transcendent professor -- The drunken vandal -- The would -be soldier and the weakly bookworm -- The clerk from the patent office -- A quantum quintet -- The five-dimensional man -- The political journalist -- A muddle of mathematicians -- Seekers after truth and beauty
Civilization: A New History of the Western World - Osborne, Roger
We frequently hear speculation that the West is engaged in a "clash of civilizations" with the Muslim world. So it is useful, perhaps even vital, that the West periodically examine the roots, history, and current condition of its civilization. Osborne is clearly an admirer of the richness and magnificent achievements of Western civilization. However, he is no cultural chauvinist, and he eloquently poses the dilemma implicit in a culture that could produce the glories of classical Greece and the Renaissance and the barbarism of Nazi Germany. Osborne follows a chronological approach that ranges from prehistory to the post-cold war period. Fortunately, he avoids the pitfalls of trying to tell too much, concentrating on vital and specific themes within particular epochs, including such topics as the development of democratic institutions in Athens , the growth of industrial capitalism, and the nature of totalitarianism under Hitler. This is a well-written, easily digestible survey illustrating that there remains much to be cherished within the common threads of our diverse civilization. – Booklist
Contents: In the Beginning: Prehistory and Illiterate Societies -- A Torrent of Words: Change and Custom in Classical Greece -- The Birth of Abstraction: Plato, Aristotle and the Rational Mind -- The Universal Civilization: Rome and the Barbarians -- Augustine's Vision of Christianity: From Rebel Sect to Universal Faith -- Religion as Civilization: The Establishment of Western Christendom -- Another Way of Living: The Medieval Town and Communal Life -- Art as Civilization: Wealth, Power and Innovation in the Italian Renaissance -- The Search for the Christian Life: The European Reformation as a New Beginning -- Kings, Armies and Nations: The Rise of the Military State -- Us and Them: Colonization and Slavery -- The Rational Individual: Theory and Practice in Making Society -- Enlightenment and Revolution: Politics and Reason in France and America -- Industrialization and Nationalism: British Dominance and the Ideology of Freedom -- From Rural Colonies to Industrial Continent: The Making of Modern America -- Towards the Abyss: Technology, Ideology, Apocalypse -- The End of Civilization: Depression, Extremism and Genocide in Europe, America and Asia -- The Post-War World: From Social Cohesion to Global Marketplace.
Cry, the Beloved Country : A Novel of South Africa ( Twayne's Masterwork Studies)
Contents: Chronology: Alan Paton's life and works – HISTORICAL AND LITERARY CONTEXT – Historical background – Importance of the work – Critical reception – A READING – From a dark wood – Style, language, characters – Stephen Kumalo : the quest – Stephen Kumalo : desolation – Arthur Jarvis: a vision of hope – James Jarvis: emancipation – Stephen Kumalo : towards the mountain – Some conclusions – Notes and references – Selected bibliography – Index.
The Norton Anthology of Poetry - Ferguson , Margaret
Long the classic anthology of poetry in English, The Norton Anthology of Poetry , Fifth Edition, adds to its wealth of known and loved poems a rich gathering of new poetry. Beginning with Beowulf , newly represented by selections from Seamus Heaney's dazzling translation, and continuing to the present day, The Norton Anthology of Poetry includes 1,100 poems by 250 poets in the Shorter Edition. Many major figures—from Chaucer and Shakespeare to Ashbery and Walcott—have expanded sections, and a range of outstanding younger voices have been newly added. Concise annotations, biographical sketches, an Essay on Versification by Jon Stallworthy , and, new to this edition, an Essay on Poetic Syntax by Margaret Ferguson help readers understand and enjoy the poems. – from the publisher
The Penguin Book of Romantic Poetry - Wordsworth, Jonathan
The Romanticism that emerged after the American and French revolutions of 1776 and 1789 represented a new flowering of the imagination and the spirit, and a celebration of the soul of humanity with its capacity for love. This collection sets the acknowledged genius of poems such as Blake's ' Tyger ', Coleridge's ' Kubla Khan' and Shelley's ' Ozymandias ' alongside verse from less well-known figures and women poets such as Charlotte Smith and Mary Robinson. We also see familiar poets in an unaccustomed light, as Blake, Wordsworth and Shelley demonstrate their comic skills, while Coleridge, Keats and Clare explore the Gothic and surreal." "This volume is arranged by theme and genre, revealing unexpected connections between the poets. In their introduction Jonathan and Jessica Wordsworth explore Romanticism as a way of responding to the world, and they begin each section with a preface, notes and bibliography. – from the publisher
Best American Poetry (2002) - Creeley , Robert
Since its inception in 1988, The Best American Poetry series has achieved brand-name status in the literary world as the preeminent showcase of each year's most important contributions to American poetry. This year's exceptional volume, edited by Robert Creeley , a figure revered across teh wide spectrum of American poetry, features a diverse mix of established masters, rising stars and the leading lights of a younger generation. The pleasure of the poems selected here, Creeley explains in his introduction, is "that they caught my fancy, some almost outrageously, some by their quiet, nearly diffident manner, some by unexpected turns of thought or insight, others by a confident authority and intent." With comments from the poets elucidating their work, a thought-provoking introduction from Creeley , and Lehman's always popular foreword assessing the current state of poetry, The Best American Poetry 2002 will prove as irresistible to new readers as it is indispensable for poetry fans everywhere. – from the publisher
Contents: Up to speed / Rae Armantrout -- The pearl fishers / John Ashenbery -- The Golgotha local / Amiri Baraka -- 12² / Charles Bernstein -- from Zero Star Hotel / Anselm Berrigan -- Injunction / Frank Bidart -- The body / Jenny Boully -- Ballad of the comely woman / T. Alan Broughton - - What I threw into the grave / Michael Burkard -- Opposed glimpse of Alice James, Garth James, Henry James, Robertson James and William James / Anne Carson --On the screened porch / Elizabeth Biller Chapman -- Lullaby for cuckoo / Tom Clark --Corpus delicti / Peter Cooley -- Traced red dot / Clark Coolidge --Long after ( Mallarmé ) / Ruth Danon -- Midsummer / Diane di Prima -- Moon cornering / Theodore Enslin -- O Patriarchy / Elaine Equi -- Animals out of the snow / Clayton Eshleman -- Drones and chants / Norman Finkelstein -- To a student who reads "The second coming" as sexual autobiography / Jeffrey Franklin -- Independence Day / Benjamin Friedlander -- Surreal love life / Gene Framkin -- Carried across / Forrest Gander -- Beginning with a phrase from Simone Weil / Peter Gizzi -- Reunion / Louise Glück -- The gold star / Albert Goldbarth -- Affirmation / Donald Hall -- TCAT serenade: 4 4 98 (New Haven) / Michael S. Harper -- you: should e shoo be / Everett Hoagland -- 9-11-01 / Fanny Howe -- Poem (across dark stream) / Ronald Johnson -- Flying (Maxine Kumin -- Great / Bill Kushner -- Broken world (for James Assatly ) / Joseph Lease -- Felix culpa / Timothy Liu -- On Antiphon Island / Nathaniel Mackey -- And even you elephants? (Stein 139/Titles 35) / Jackson Mac Low -- Perfect front door / Steve Malmud -- Address to Winnie in Paris / Sarah Manguso -- Butter & eggs / Harry Mathews -- The quarry (1- 13) / Duncan McNaughton --To my father's houses / W.S. Merwin -- Ashberries : letters / Philip Metres -- Trail / Mong-Lan -- Behind the orbits / Jennifer Moxley -- Sympathy / Eileen Myles -- Sunday night / Maggie Nelson -- Sonnet / Charles North -- Haunt / Alice Notley -- Snapshot from Niagara / D. Nurkse -- Frontis nulla fides / Sharon Olds -- Twenty-six fragments / George Oppen -- Starred together / Jena Osman -- Fretwork / Carl Phillips -- A roof is no guarantee / Pam Rehm -- Ends of the earth / Adrienne Rich -- Les demoisells dÁvignon / Corinne Robins -- Tenets of roots and trouble / Eliabeth Robinson -- Self -Portrait with critic / Ira Sadoff -- I do not know myself / Hugh Seidman -- You also, nightingale / Reginald Shepherd -- For Larry Eigner , Silent / Ron Silliman -- Poem after Haniel Long / Dale Smith -- In way of introduction / Gustaf Sobin -- Some of we and the land that was never ours / Juliana Spahr -- Call / John Taggart -- from Raton Rex, part I / Sam Truitt -- Do flies remember us / Jean Valentine -- Eye contact / Lewis Warsh -- Return to Saint Odilienberg , Easter 2000 / Claire Nicolas White -- In charge / Nathan Whiting -- Illumined with the light of fitfully burning censers / Dara Wier -- Nostalgia II / Charles Wright -- A sheath of pleasant voices / John Yau .
Best American Poetry 2003 - Lehman, David
How fitting it is that Komunyakaa , a bold and brilliant poet from the African American South and a decorated Vietnam War veteran, selected the year "best" poems for the seventeenth volume in this exciting series, given the unusually conspicuous role poetry played in the news, including the poets' protest against the war in Iraq, as observed by series editor Lehman in his trenchant foreword. And there is, indeed, a palpable urgency and sharp awareness of the precariousness of life in the potent and diverse poems Komunyakaa has so astutely gathered. Brigit Pegeen Kelly's "The Dragon," a stunning description of a startling sight--two swarms of bees fly a snake over a garden--is followed by Galway Kinnell's intense remembrance of 9/11. Richard Howard's martini-dry wit plays in enlivening counterpoint to the down-home heat of Rodney Jones, and Wendell Berry and Michael Goldman unflinchingly assess the state of our species. By the close of this superbly edgy collection, the reader is torn between wonder and despair over humankind's capacity for beauty and horror. – Booklist
Contents: The end of Out of the past / Jonathan Aaron -- from A locked room / Beth Anderson -- Dedicated to the one I love / Nin Andrews -- Some further words / Wendell Berry -- Curse / Frank Bidart -- Rambling on my mind / Diann Blakely -- Art tatum / Bruce Bond -- from 1000 lines / Catherine Bowman -- Perfect attendance : short subjects made from the staring photos of strangers / Rosemary Catacalos -- Aeon Flux : June / Joshua Clover -- Litany / Billy Collins -- Six sketches : when a soul breaks / Michael S. Collins -- World history / Carl Dennis -- Skin / Susan Dickman -- Fox trot Fridays / Rita Dove -- Open door blues / Stephen Dunn -- Journal / Stuart Dybek -- The vagrant hours / Charles Fort -- Ponderosa / James Galvin -- An offer received in this morning's mail : / Amy Gerstler -- Landscape / Louise Glu¨ck -- Report on human beings / Michael Goldman -- Max Jacob's shoes / Ray Gonzalez -- Beauty / Linda Gregg. The opaque / Mark Halliday -- Rhythmic arrangements (on prosody) / Michael S. Harper -- Sad little breathing machine / Matthea Harvey -- Villanelle / George Higgins -- The desire manuscripts / Edward Hirsch -- Summer night / Tony Hoagland -- Success / Richard Howard -- Ten sighs from a sabbatical / Rodney Jones -- Some rain / Joy Katz -- The dragon / Brigit Pegeen Kelly -- When the towers fell / Galway Kinnell -- After Horace / Carolyn Kizer -- Love blooms at Chimsbury after the war / Jennifer L. Knox -- Proverb / Kenneth Koch -- Y2K (1933) / John Koethe -- In the hall of bones / Ted Kooser -- The music of time / Philip Levine -- Jihad / J.D. McClatchy -- To Zbigniew Herbert's bicycle / W.S. Merwin -- Dear alter ego / Heather Moss -- A history of color / Stanley Moss -- The loaf / Paul Muldoon -- Four deaths that happened daily / Peggy Munson -- Asparagus / Marilyn Nelson -- Poem for the novelist whom I forced to write a poem / Daniel Nester. What happened to everybody / Naomi Shihab Nye -- Queen Min Bi / Ishle Yi Park -- Anniversary / Robert Pinsky -- What the paymaster said / Kevin Prufer -- Sequoia sempervirens / Ed Roberson -- The disappearances / Vijay Seshadri -- Sleet / Alan Shapiro -- For Nazim Hikmet in the old prison, now a Four Seasons Hotel / Myra Shapiro.-- Song with a child's pacifier in it / Bruce Smith -- There's trouble everywhere / Charlie Smith -- Translating / Maura Stanton -- Lines / Ruth Stone -- The restaurant business / James Tate -- The lost boy / William Tremblay -- After your death / Natasha Trethewey -- On being asked to discuss poetic theory / David Wagoner -- In a rut / Ronald Wallace -- Premonition / Lewis Warsh -- In sky / Susan Wheeler -- Man running / Richard Wilbur -- The world / C.K. Williams -- My work / Terence Winch -- Scrabble with Matthews / David Wojahn -- Clemency / Robert Wrigley -- After the opening, 1932 / Anna Ziegler -- Reading the bones : a Blackjack Moses nightmare / Ahmos Zu -Bolton II.
Best American Poetry (2004) - Hejinian , Lyn
Celebrates the vitality and richness of poetry in the United States and Canada today. Guest editor Lyn Hejinian , acclaimed for her own innovative writing, has chosen seventy-five important new poems and contributed a provocative introductory essay. Through her selections, Hejinian has created an essential nexus -- a meeting place for readers to encounter an extraordinary range of poets. With illuminating comments from the writers, and series editor David Lehman's insightful foreword evaluating the current state of the art, The Best American Poetry 2004 is an indispensable addition to a series that has established itself as the first word on what's new and noteworthy in the poetry of our times. – from the publisher
Contents: Foreword / David Lehman -- Introduction / Lyn Hejinian -- Chicken / Kim Addonizio -- from Solea of the Simooms / Will Alexander -- from Dang me / Bruce Andrews -- Almost / Rae Armantrout -- Your friend's arriving on the bus / Craig Arnold -- Wolf ridge / John Ashbery -- The Eye like a strange balloon mounts toward infinity / Mary Jo Bang -- 20 questions / Alan Bernheimer -- Sign under test / Charles Bernstein -- Token enabler / Anselm Berrigan -- from Blasted fields of clover bring harrowing and regretful sighs / Mark Bibbins -- The Walk / Oni Buchanan -- a cloud of dusk / Michael Burkard -- Gnosticism / Anne Carson -- Landscape with a calm / T.J. Clark -- The Centrifuge / Billy Collins -- 3-4-00 / Jack Collom -- Ode to my flint and boom Bolivia / Michael Costello -- Bad modernism / Michael Davidson -- You art a scholar, Horatio, speak to it / Olena Kalytiak Davis -- Prose of the world order / Jean Day -- 13 / Linh Dinh -- All souls / Rita Dove -- Draft 55: Quiptych / Rachel Blau DuPlessis -- short sorry / kari edwards -- Sibling rivalry / Kenward Elmslie -- 337,000, December, 2000 / Aaron Fogel -- Saints / Arielle Greenberg - Anyway / Ted Greenwald -- Nostalgia of the infinite / Barbara Guest -- from Baby / Carla Harryman -- Poe, an assay (I) / Jane Hirshfield -- For 'Fiddle-de- dee ' / John Hollander -- Catholic / Fanny Howe -- [Record] / Kenneth Irby -- from Urban renewal / Major Jackson -- King of repetition / Marc Jaffee -- The Man / Kenneth Koch -- To an audience / John Koethe -- Ignis fatuus / Yusef Komunyakaa -- The Dark continent / Sean Manzano Labrador -- After Mahler / Ann Lauterbach -- Sound and cerement / Nathaniel Mackey -- Lateral disregard / Harry Mathews -- Some versions of pastoral / Steve McCaffery -- Mars needs terrorists / K. Silem Mohammad -- 8 little theatres of the cornices / Erín Moure -- The Last time I saw Chris / Paul Muldoon -- No rewriting / Eileen Myles -- State of the union / Alice Notley -- Blue collar holiday / Jeni Olin -- RSVP / Danielle Pafunda -- Real toads / Heidi Peppermint -- Here 2 / Bob Perelman -- Pleasure / Carol Phillips -- Samba / Robert Pinsky -- In the first circle of limbo / Carl Rakosi -- Ideas gray suits bowler hats Baal / Ed Roberson -- The 3D matchmove artist / Kit Robinson -- The story / Carly Sachs -- III / Jennifer Scappettone -- Love song / Frederick Seidel -- A burning interior / David Shapiro -- Compliance engineering / Ron Silliman -- Son of the ransom of the dark / Bruce Smith -- They're putting a new door in / Brian Kim Stefans -- Dog that I am / Gerald Stern -- La Florida / Virgil Suárez -- Acanthus / Arthur Sze -- Bounden duty / James Tate -- The theorist has no samba! / Edwin Torres -- Meditatio lectoris / Rodrigo Toscano -- Appeal to the grammarians / Paul Violi -- Trying to make music / David Wagoner -- In praise of Han Shan / Charles Wright -- Contributors' notes and comments -- Magazines where the poems were first published.
Best American Poetry (2005) - Muldoon, Paul
This eagerly awaited volume in the celebrated Best American Poetry series reflects the latest developments and represents the state of the art today. Paul Muldoon, the distinguished poet and international literary eminence, has selected -- from a pool of several thousand published candidates -- the top seventy-five poems of the year. With insightful comments from the poets illuminating their work, and series editor David Lehman's perspicacious foreword, The Best American Poetry 2005 is indispensable for every poetry enthusiast. – from the publisher
Contents: Foreword / David Lehman -- Introduction / Paul Muldoon -- In view of the fact / A.R. Ammons -- In dearest, deepest winter / John Ashbery -- Catholic Encyclopedia / Maureen Bloomfield -- I want to be your shoebox / Catherine Bowman -- Roommates: noblesse oblige, Sprezzatura , and Gin Lane / Stephanie Brown -- Beats / Charles Bukowski -- Irregular masks / Elena Karina Byrne -- Seven Changs / Victoria Chang -- To Jacques Pépin / Shanna Compton -- Poets march on Washington / James Cummins -- Urban myth / Jamey Dunham / Five roses in the morning / Stephen Dunn / Everything I needed to know / Karl Elder -- Revolution / Lynn Emanuel -- Pre-Raphaelite pinups / Elaine Equi -- Magical sadness of Omar Cáceres / Clayton Eshleman -- 19--:an elegy / Andrew Feld -- I need to be more French. Or Japanese / Beth Ann Fennelly -- In praise of my prostate / Edward Field -- Adam and Eve's dog / Richard Garcia -- Watch / Amy Gerstler -- Blue on her hands / Leonard Gontarek -- Advice for a stegosaurus / Jessica Goodheart -- Searchers George Green -- Turn of the screw / Arielle Greenberg -- For Kateb Yacine / Marilyn Hacker -- I may after leaving you walk quickly or even run / Matthea Harvey -- Contributors' notes / Stackey Harwood -- Variations on two black cinema treasures / Terrance Hayes -- Seesaws / Samuel Hazo -- Motes / Anthony Hecht -- Propagation of the species / Jennifer Michael Hecht -- from The fatalist / Lyn Hejinian -- Remorse after a panic attack in a Wisconsin field, 1975 / Ruth Herschberger / Burlap sack / Jane Hirshfield -- In a quiet town by the sea / Tony Hoagland -- Ants / Vicki Hudspith -- Chapter in the life of Mr. Kehoe, fisherman / Donald Justice -- Blessing from my sixteen years' son / Mary Karr -- Hell and love / Garret Keizer -- Wolf / Brigit Pegeen Kelly -- Shelley / Galway Kinnell -- In the graveyard of fallen monuments / Rachel Loden -- Hell / Sarah Manguso -- Ill-made almighty / Heather McHugh -- Space marriage / D. Nurske -- Song: I love you; who are you? / Steve Orlen -- Dear owl / Eugene Ostashevsky -- Death is intended / Linda Pastan -- Dislocations: seven scenarios / Adrienne Rich -- All the ghosts / James Richardson -- How I became impossible / Mary Ruefle -- Home to roost / Kay Ryan -- Media effects / Jerome Sala / Constanza Bonarelli / Mary Jo Salter -- Grilled cheese sandwich / Christine Scanlon -- Moscow / Jason Schneiderman -- Hate poem / Julie Sheehan -- Sunlight / Charles Simic -- Impasse / Louis Simpson -- For Hughes Cuenod , in his 100th year / W.D. Snodgrass -- Waiting for a ride / Gary Snyder -- Twenty questions / Maura Stanton -- End of the day on second / Dorothea Tanning -- Swing / James Tate -- Marijuana / Chase Twichell -- For a man who wrote CUNT on a motel bathroom mirror / David Wagoner -- From the notebooks of Anne Verveine , VII / Rosanna Warren -- Ballad of the subcontractor / Marlys West -- from The Maud Project / Susan Wheeler -- Some words inside of words / Richard Wilbur -- Bareback Pantoum / Cecilia Woloch -- Short history of my life / Charles Wright -- Big ball of foil in a small New York apartment / Matthew Yeager -- Black cat blues / Kevin Young.
Best American Poetry (2006) - Collins, Billy
Going strong since 1988, each volume in this excellent series is distinct. This year Collins , America 's funniest, slyest, and most diabolically charismatic poet, takes the helm, prompting series editor Lehman to write an unusually frank foreword in which he measures the gap between Collins' great popularity with readers and the venomous criticism of his peers. Collins follows with an introduction in which he asserts that the most "alive and immediate poems . . . combine an acute awareness of tradition with a unique freshness of voice." Given the high-wire acrobatics of his own work, it's no surprise that Collins selected 75 vital and imaginative poems, many evincing "playful irreverence." There's Denise Duhamel's "Please Don't Sit Like a Frog, Sit Like a Queen"; Amy Gerstler's hilarious missive to a rebellious six-year-old on being boiled alive; Rachel Hadas citing Seuss, not Zeus; Bob Hicok at the movies; Kay Ryan on thin ice; and Mary Jo Salter asking, "Who says science fiction / is only set in the future?" Poetry writ large. – Booklist
Contents: Verities / Kim Addonizio -- See the pyramids along the Nile / Dick Allen -- from Couple from Hell / Craig Arnold -- A worldly country / John Ashbery -- Speech in a chamber / Jesse Ball -- Letter from my ancestors / Krista Benjamin -- You must have been a beautiful baby / Ilya Bernstein -- Apologia to the blue tit / Gaylord Brewer -- Rhetorical figures / Tom Christopher -- Sestina for the newly married / Laura Cronk -- Our generation / Carl Dennis -- Toward some bright moment / Stephen Dobyns -- Please don't sit like a frog, sit like a queen / Denise Duhamel -- The land of Is / Stephen Dunn -- Souvenir / Beth Ann Fennelly -- List of first lines / Megan Gannon -- For my niece, Sidney, age six / Amy Gerstler -- Bust of a young boy in the snow / Sarah Gorham -- The death of Winckelmann / George Green -- My first mermaid / Debora Gregor -- The curve / Eamon Grennan -- Monsieur Pierre est mort / Daniel Gutstein -- Sects from A to Z / R.S. Gwynn -- Bird, weasel, fountain / Rachel Hadas -- Refusal to notice beautiful women / Mark Halliday -- On the way to the doctor's / Jim Harrison -- The problem of describing color / Robert Hass -- Hour / Christian Hawkey -- Talk / Terrance Hayes -- My career as a director / Bob Hicok -- The Ferry / Katia Kapovich -- At Gettysburg / Laura Kasischke -- Just a second ago / Joy Katz -- Seventeen ways from Tuesday / David Kirby -- The Laws of probability in Levittown / Jennifer L. Knox -- Found / Ron Koertge -- Sally's hair / John Koethe -- Tonight / Mark Kraushaar -- Double abecedarian: please give me / Julie Larios -- Demographic / Dorianne Laux -- That's not butter / Reb Livingston -- Eyes scooped out and replaced by hot coals / Thomas Lux -- Blenheim / Paul Muldoon -- Albert Hinckley / Marilyn Nelson -- Briefcase of sorrow / Richard Newman -- The poet with his face in his hands / Mary Oliver -- Small town rocker / Danielle Pafunda -- The sharper the berry / Mark Pawlak -- Race / Bao Phi -- Two poets meet / Donald Platt -- The great poem / Lawrence Raab -- Roadside special / Betsy Retallack -- The other woman's point of view / Liz Rosenberg -- Discounting Lynn / J. Allyn Rosser -- Thin / Kay Ryan -- A phone call to the future / Mary Jo Salter -- Memoir / Vijay Seshadri -- Misjudged fly ball / Alan Shapiro -- House of cards / Charles Simic -- Homesick / Gerald Stern -- The loser / James Tate -- Body english / Sue Ellen Thompson -- Misprision / Tony Towle -- What I never told you about the abortion / Alison Townsend -- Counterman / Paul Violi -- Harvesting the cows / Ellen Bryant Voigt -- The Driver / David Wagoner -- Prayer to tear the sperm-dam down / Charles Harper Webb -- Ponies / C.K. Williams -- Sex elegy / Terence Winch -- Gratification / Susan Wood -- A happy thought / Franz Wright -- Religion / Robert Wrigley -- The call / David Yezzi -- Clam ode / Dean Young.
New British Poetry - Paterson, Don
The only definitive anthology of contemporary British poetry available in the United States , New British Poetry presents the exciting work of thirty-five poets from England , Scotland , and Wales . Eliot Prize-winning Scottish poet Don Paterson and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Charles Simic followed two rules: the poets chosen should be born after 1945 and should have at least two books published in Britain .
Contents: Preface by Charles Simic -- Introduction by Don Paterson -- Gillian Allnutt : Scheherazade, The Silk Light of Advent, Held To, Notes on living inside the lightbulb , The Road Home -- Simon Armitage : Very Simply Topping Up the Brake Fluid, Poem, The Tyre , The Dead Sea Poems -- John Ash: The Ungrateful Citizens, The Sky My Husband, Memories of Italy --, Sujata Bhatt: ( Sherdi ), Muliebrity , What Is Worth Knowing?, Fischerhude , 2001 -- John Burnside: Parousia , The Old Gods,-- Robert Crawford: The Saltcoats Structuralists , The Handshakes, The Result, Fiat Lux , Alba Einstein -- Fred D'Aguiar : Airy Hall Nightmare, The Cow Perseverance, Sound Bite, Home -- Peter Didsbury : The Shorter Life, That Old-Time Religion, Part of the Bridge, Chandlery -- Michael Donaghy : Machines, Shibboleth, The Bacchae , Caliban's Books, A Repertoire -- Carol Ann Duffy: Prayer, Warming Her Pearls, Little Red-Cap, Circe -- Ian Duhig : Fundamentals, Chocolate Soldier, The Lammas Hireling -- Paul Farley: Treacle, The Lamp, Diary Moon, An Interior, Peter and the Dyke -- James Fenton: Wind, A Staffordshire Murderer, In a Notebook -- Mark Ford: Looping the Loop, The Long Man, Early to Bed, Early to Rise -- John Glenday : Concerning the Atoms of the Soul, A Day at the Seaside, The Garden, The Empire of Lights, Hydrodamalis Gigas , -- Lavinia Greenlaw : , Reading Akhmatova in Midwinter, Three, The Spirit of the Staircase, Zombies, Electricity -- W. N. Herbert: Slow Animals Crossing, Cabaret McGonagall, Smirr , The King and Queen of Dumfriesshire , -- Selima Hill: I Will Be Arriving Next Thursday in My Wedding-Dress, I Know I Ought to Love You, My Sister's Jeans, A Small Hotel, Please Can I Have a Man: -- Michael Hofmann: Ancient Evenings, The Machine That Cried, The Late Richard Dadd , 1817-1886, Lament for Crassus: -- Kathleen Jamie: The Way We Live, The Bogey-Wife, Skeins o Geese, Pipistrelles , The Hill-track: -- Alan Jenkins: Visiting, Portrait of a Lady, Barcelona, Inheritance: -- Jackie Kay: Even the Trees, In my country, Finger, The Shoes of Dead Comrades, [from] Other Lovers: -- Gwyneth Lewis: Pentecost, 'One day, feeling hungry', Woods, The Flaggy Shore, [from] Welsh Espionage: ix Advice on Adultery: -- Roddy Lumsden : Always, An Older Woman, Piquant, The Man I Could Have Been: -- Glyn Maxwell: My Turn, The Poem Recalls the Poet, Helene and Heloise: -- Jamie McKendrick : Ancient History, Sky Nails, Six Characters in Search of Something, The One-Star: -- Andrew Motion: The Lines, A Wall, A Glass of Wine, The Letter, Mythology: -- Sean O'Brien: Cousin Coat, After Laforgue , The Amateur God: -- Alice Oswald: April, Bike Ride on a Roman Road, Sea Sonnet, Wedding, Prayer: -- Ruth Padel : Tinderbox, Skin, Angel, The Starling, On the Line: -- Don Paterson: The White Lie, St Brides: Sea-Mail, Imperial: -- Peter Reading: [from] Stet, Salopian : -- Christopher Reid: A Whole School of Bourgeois Primitives, What the Uneducated Old Woman Told Me, In the Echoey Tunnel, Mermaids Explained, Fetish: -- Robin Robertson: Fall, Fugue for Phantoms, Artichoke, Wedding the Locksmith's Daughter, The Immoralist: -- Anne Rouse: Testament, Faith Healers, Memo to Auden, The Anaesthetist : -- Jo Shapcott : Muse, My Life Asleep, Motherland, The Mad Cow in Love, Phrase Book: -- Index of Authors and Titles -- Index of First Lines.
4/30/08, K. St. Clair