New Books
November 2005
FICTION
The March - Doctorow, E. L.
Booklist starred review: American history is the wellspring of Doctorow's prevailing fiction, but never before has he so fully occupied the past, or so gorgeously evoked its generation of the forces that seeded our times. The march in question is that of General William Tecumseh Sherman and his Union soldiers as they slash and burn their way through Georgia and the Carolinas, and the "march to freedom" as liberated slaves fall in step with the liberating army. But it is also, given the poetic depth of Doctorow's vision, the great march of time and of humanity in all its cruelty and glory. As Doctorow dramatizes the fury, conviction, and chaos of the Civil War, he portrays historical figures, as he is wont to do, most electrifyingly Sherman himself. But he focuses most on brilliantly imagined characters who embody the epic conflicts of that cataclysmic era, including Pearl, the smart and courageous daughter of a slave and slave owner; an excessively clinical military surgeon; the valiant daughter of a Southern judge; a freed slave who becomes a war photographer; and Arly, a scheming Rebel soldier who provides shrewdly comic relief. Doctorow writes with blazing clarity about the "brutal romance" of war and its gruesome realities, with lyrical splendor about nature, and with wry wisdom and nimble satire about human folly. Heir to Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage , Doctorow's masterpiece uncovers the roots of today's racial and political conundrums, and taps into the deep and abiding realm of myth in its illumination of sorrow and beauty, the continuity of human existence, and the transcendence of tenacity, compassion, and love. - Booklist
The Clerkenwell Tales - Ackroyd, Peter
Ackroyd brings late medieval London to life in this latest of his fascinating historical novels. Working with a cast of characters drawn from The Canterbury Tales , Ackroyd deploys his usual meticulous research to reconstruct the background of Chaucer's England in a prose idiom congenial to modern readers. The thriller plot concerns a visionary nun, a sect of violent religious heretics and a shadowy group of power brokers trying to orchestrate the ouster of King Richard II by Henry Bolingbroke. But the rather creaky conspiracy narrative, supposedly based in fact, is just a peg on which to hang a panorama of 14th-century life that takes in the cathedrals, cloisters, brothels, taverns and law courts while instructing readers on all things medieval, from medicine (dove droppings applied to the feet is the recommended cure for insomnia) to fast food (at street stands, roast finches can be had two for a penny). Ackroyd's brilliant evocation of the characters' ideology and psychology lets us recognize the traces of our own time in this archaic past.
Iceberg - Cussler, Clive
Frozen inside a million-ton mass of ice--the charred remains of a long-missing luxury yacht, vanished en route to a secret White House rendezvous. The only clue to the ship's priceless--and missing--cargo: nine ornately carved rings and the bodies of its crew. - From the publisher
Pacific Vortex! - Cussler, Clive
Dirk Pitt's first, most terrific adventure! Dirk Pitt, death-defying adventurer and deep-sea expert, is out to the ultimate test as he plunges into the perilous waters of the Pacific Vortex -- a fog-shrouded sea zone where dozens of ships have vanished without a trace. The latest victim is the awesome superb Starbuck, America's deep-diving nuclear arsenal. Its loss poses an unthinkable threat to national defense. Pitt's job is to find it, salvage it, before the sea explodes. - from the publisher
Human Capital - Amidon, Stephen
Booklist Starred Review: Within a complex narrative taut with suspense, Amidon offers a rip-roaring portrait of contemporary class warfare. Drew Hagel has only the best intentions, but he has allowed the family real-estate business to steadily deteriorate. When his much-loved, levelheaded daughter, Shannon, becomes involved with wealthy, troubled Jamie Manning, Drew sees it as a way into the good graces of Jamie's father, the steely manager of a secretive hedge fund. Investing money he can't afford to lose, Drew becomes desperate when the fund tanks. Trading on his daughter's personal relationships, he sees a way to recoup his losses, and he ruthlessly pursues it. Amidon has an unerring instinct for portraying the peculiar tensions of modern society. He turns fear of failure, greed, and therapy sessions into the stuff of compelling fiction. He also juggles multiple incisive portraits, from the dilettante suburban mom with hidden depths to the down-on-his-luck limo driver with small but unreachable goals. Showing both how the rich always emerge from trouble unscathed and how the pursuit of money can taint even the most loving relationships, this is gripping but disturbing fiction that cuts close to the bone. - Booklist
The Chronicles of Narnia - Lewis, C. S.
Since its release in the middle of the last century, The Chronicles of Narnia have enchanted over sixty million readers—children, as well as adults. This hardcover edition includes all seven books, plus C. S. Lewis's essay, , “On Three Ways of Writing for Children,” where he explains precisely how the magic of Narnia first came to life. - from the publisher
Foxmask - Marillier, Juliet
Booklist starred review: The daughter of her people's leaders, 16-year-old Creidhe is beautiful, highly skilled in midwifery and the domestic arts, completely qualified to be the perfect wife. Unfortunately, though she has loved moody Thorvald since childhood, his name isn't among those her parents suggest as suitors. And then Thorvald discovers that his father is the infamous, brutal king, Somerled. Feeling cursed to become a tyrant himself, Thorvald embarks for the distant islands in which Somerled may have resided. Creidhe stows away in his boat, which is swept off-course to the Long Knife people, childless warriors haunted by the Unspoken, possessors of powerful magic. Another great story full of well-developed characters from this fine fantasist. - Booklist
Northern Lights - Roberts, Nora
Roberts shines again with a nuanced tale of the Alaskan wilderness and the appealing eccentrics who cluster there. Former Baltimore cop Nate Burke accepts the unlikely post of police chief of Lunacy, Alaska (pop. 506), to stave off the depression caused by divorce and the traumatic death of his partner, for which he holds himself partly responsible. His early days in the close-knit town are quiet except for minor disturbances and a dalliance with a feisty bush pilot, Meg Galloway. Then Meg's father, who disappeared 16 years before, is found frozen in a remote mountain cave, an ice ax in his chest. The discovery that Pat Galloway was murdered—most likely by a local—shakes up the town and drives his murderer to commit a second, cover-up killing. Though state authorities dismiss that death as suicide, Nate pursues it as a crime—a decision that puts him at odds with many outspoken Lunatics, as the townspeople call themselves. With quiet inexorability he fields the flak, uncovers long-forgotten events and finds a tough but loving balance with the fiercely independent Meg. Though billed as romantic suspense, the novel forsakes artificial genre conventions in favor of a wry, affectionate look at community bonds, generational wounds and soul-testing landscapes. The result is a richly textured novel that captures the intimacy of smalltown police work, the prickliness of the pioneer spirit and the paradox of a setting at once intimate and expansive, welcoming and hostile, indisputably American and yet profoundly exotic to those in the Lower 48. - Publisher's Weekly
Stallion Gate - Smith, Martin Cruz
Smith seamlessly blends fact and fiction in this towering novel. The story begins at Los Alamos in 1945, where hordes of people arrive and set up a community almost overnight. Sgt. Joe Pena, an Indian in the U.S. Army, is ordered by his superior, Capt. Augustino, to find or fabricate proof that Robert Oppenheimer is spying for "the commies." The charge is silly, Pena knows, but he fails to convince Augustino, who also ignores the sergeant's evidence against two actual traitors at the site: Harry Gold and Klaus Fuchs. Pena's troubles multiply with his involvement with local Native Americans, disturbed by the mysterious activities on their land. As the days pass and work on the atom bomb progresses, the clash between Pena and the insanely bigoted captain becomes unavoidable. It occurs at the peak of suspense and leaves a lasting impact on the reader. This is a monumental thriller in which the tormented Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, General Leslie Groves and other historic figures live again. Equally memorable is Joe Pena, a genuine hero. - Publisher's Weekly
Gil's All Fright Diner - Martinez, A. Lee
Two friends–Earl (as in the Earl of Vampires) and Duke (as in the Duke of Werewolves)–are driving along one evening when their truck runs out of gas. They wind up at an all-night diner in Rockwood, a small desert town that has a bit of a zombie problem. They help Loretta, the diner's owner/cook, fend off the zombies that are drawn to her eatery. Impressed, she asks the two to stay on and help her take care of some other supernatural problems in the town and to learn who is raising the ghouls. Duke and Earl discover that Tammy (also known as Mistress Lilith, Queen of the Night) and her loyal but dumb boyfriend are plotting to end the world in order to resurrect the old gods. Similar in style and humor to the work of Douglas Adams and Joe R. Lansdale, and Shaun of the Dead , this comic horror-fantasy is packed with warped humor and action. The characters are likable, three-dimensional, and quirky. The story is fast paced, interesting, and unpredictable. Martinez carves out a nice little bit of entertainment with surprising depth. -School Library Journal
Rising Sun: A Novel - Critchon, Michael
The celebrity-studded opening of a huge Japanese office building is marred by the murder of a beautiful American woman. Lt. Peter Smith is called in to investigate and is requested to bring along John Connor, an expert on Japanese culture and fluent in the language. So begins a riveting tale that combines suspense, technology, and a full-scale economic battle for survival. YAs will have no problem following the complex corporate business schemes described by Crichton, whose loyalties are obviously with America. Readers who fear that the Japanese are taking over the U. S. economy will not be reassured. - School Library Journal
The Day After Tomorrow - Folsom, Allan
Paul Osborn, an orthopedic surgeon from Los Angeles, looks up from his table in a Paris cafe and sees the face of the man who murdered his father 30 years earlier. At the same time as he is pursuing the killer, the London police have a series of decapitated corpses on their hands; Osborn falls in love with the French Prime Minister's mistress; and a German industrialist is recuperating from a stroke in a private sanatorium in Arizona. All of these disparate elements come together nicely in the end. Readers who enjoy a sprawling plot involving Nazis, chases across Europe, and lots of unexpected twists and turns will love this fast-paced thriller. - School Library Journal
NONFICTION
The Oxford Anthology of African-American Poetry - Rampersad, Arnold
If daring and argument forge identity, Stanford professor Rampersad (Life of Langston Hughes) has succeeded in "allowing black poets to create with their own words a portrait of the African-American people." Neither consonant nor cautious, the diversity of the anthology's subject matter is trumped only by its poetic range: Amiri Baraka's and Sonia Sanchez's experimentation vibrate against the classic lyrics of Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks, mixing visions and trading trials. The anthology, arranged by theme rather than author or time period, simultaneously grounds and sets the reader adrift in a terrain stretching from the American South to Africa, from the contemporary back to slavery. - Publisher's Weekly
1812: The War That Forged a Nation - Borneman, Walter R.
This thoroughly readable popular history of the War of 1812 may exaggerate in its claim that the war forged America's national identity; after all, there were enough regional identities left lying around after the conflict to cause a national civil war. But otherwise it's a fine narrative history that traces the major of events of the war, from the preliminary plots by James Wilkinson and Aaron Burr that revealed the ambitions of Westerners for territorial expansion, through New England's secessionist Hartford Convention to the Battle of New Orleans, which wrapped up the war in 1815. Borneman makes clear that the performance of the American army was mostly disgraceful, that the Canadians can pat themselves on the back for courage and endurance and that the decisive victory of the American navy was not the famous frigate duels but the Battle of Lake Champlain in 1814. Borneman is also strong in vivid personal portraits (the gigantic Winfield Scott and the diminutive and sickly James Madison) and evenhanded as far as atrocities (too many, by all parties) are concerned. Even the annotation and bibliography of this sound introduction will propel those whose curiosity is piqued to read further in all directions. - Publisher's Weekly
The Art & Craft of Playwriting - Hatcher, Jeffrey
With his hands-on experience, shrewd advice and absolute passion for the theater, Jeffrey Hatcher is the perfect tutor for aspiring playwrights. He keeps his instruction lively and clear by using many examples from a variety of plays - from Hamlet to Amadeus. Hatcher not only gives you a good sense of the "big ideas," he also fills you in on all the particulars ... how to work intermissions into a play, when to use music, how to furnish your stage space. Complete, practical and inspirational, this guide takes you behind the scenes and deep into the real world of playwriting. - from the publisher
Contents: Introduction -- Drama and Theatre -- The Six Elements of Aristotle -- Space, Time and Casuality -- Getting the Great Idea and Turning It Into a Play -- Structure -- Great Beginnings -- Great Middles -- Great Endings -- Dialogue -- Hedda Gabler : A Script Analysis -- Three Interviews: Lee Blessing, Marsha Norman and Jose Rivera -- Afterword -- About the Author -- Index.
Black Trials: Citizenship from the Beginnings of Slavery to the End of Caste - Weiner, Mark Stuart
This book is the best of its kind—a serious, deeply felt reflection on the weight of history on contemporary affairs. Weiner, a historian/attorney at Rutgers School of Law, examines how court proceedings involving black people—and whites trying to assist them—have served as windows onto race relations and the power of whites over blacks in the U.S. from its earliest days. Using specific cases (such as those of the Amistad, the Scottsboro Boys, Black Panther Huey Newton and Mumia Abu-Jamal), he charts changes in Americans' civic inclusiveness—i.e., "what it means to be an American," and whether it includes blacks—and the long struggle for civic inclusiveness in the U.S., a struggle not yet over. The law, in Weiner's view, affects, as much as it reflects, the larger culture; while the law adjusts the rules that govern individuals' behavior, it's also a litmus test of the power of jurisprudence to improve the lot of the least powerful. His worries about the ability of a liberal definition of civic participation to sustain itself without an anchor in religious faith are worth considering. Weiner's history reveals, as he acknowledges, decent progress in American race and ethnic relations over the decades. But, as he also recognizes, there's always more to be done. - Publisher's Weekly
Contents: Let us make a tryal : Joseph Hanno and Cotton Mather, Boston, 1721 -- This villainous conspiracy : the great Negro plot, New York, 1741 -- Air too pure : Somerset's case, London, 1772 -- I should not turn her out : Crandall v. Connecticut, Hartford, 1833 -- All we want is make us free : the Amistad, Washington, 1841 -- Christian witness : Jones v. Van Zandt, Cincinnati, 1847 -- The law of blood : John Brown, Virginia, 1859 -- Original purity : the Ku Klux Klan trials, South Carolina, 1871 -- In the nature of things : the civil rights cases, California, 1883, and Plessy v. Ferguson, Louisiana, 1896 -- Black, white, and red : the Scottsboro boys, Alabama, 1931 -- Hearts and minds : Brown v. Board of Education, Kansas, 1954 -- To die for the people : Huey Newton, California, 1968 -- Confirmation : Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas, Washington, 1991 -- Statistics and citizenship : Mumia Abu-Jamal, Philadelphia, 2001.
Capote: A Biography - Clarke, Gerald
In this riveting biography, Clarke, former Time writer, depicts the sad sequence of sparkling achievements and overwhelming despair that marked the life of Truman Capote. Between the publication of his short stories in the late 1940s and the success of In Cold Blood in 1966, Capote, Clarke demonstrates, was a supreme writing talent and an intimate of the rich and famous, whose names, with his, filled the gossip columns. But the uneasy stability of that glittering schizophrenia crumbled with pressures brought on by years of researching and writing In Cold Blood . His complex relationships the murderers whose crime he detailed in that book drained him; witnessing their executions seemed to destroy his emotional equilibrium. The last 20 years of his life -- he was 59 when he died in 1984 -- were shattered by a series of debasing love affairs, and he was haunted by the reawakened demons of a lonely Southern childhood. Readers will be dazzled both by the life lived and the compelling skill with which Clarke brings it before us. - Publisher's Weekly
Coyote: Seeking the Hunter in Our Midst - Reid, Catherine
An appreciative piece of literary natural history chronicling the emergence of an eastern coyote population. Poet/naturalist Reid returned to her childhood homelands in the Berkshires and was captivated by another new arrival: the coyote, which had slipped into southern New England from Canada in the 1950s. "The habitat is ideal-because of the way we use it-for an animal to exploit a patchwork shaped by our dependence on electricity and cars," Reid writes. Without ever appearing to lecture, she conveys much of the information naturalists have gathered on the eastern coyote, a larger version of the western variety that shares some DNA with the wolves of Ontario, which gives rise to discussions of hybridization and mutualism. She outlines the coyote's place in our cultural landscape. The fear it engenders has roots in coyote attacks on young children, but deer hunters also loathe the coyote because it kills fawns; on the other hand, Reid tells of orchard owners who would be grateful for a thinned deer population. It's all about achieving balance, which is something a parallel story line shows the author seeking in her own Berkshire experience, the pleasure and trials of returning to a place she previously fled. Casts a fresh eye on the new canid in the neighborhood. - Kirkus
The First Crusade: A New History - Asbridge, Thomas
This concise, fascinating account begins with a brief discussion of the events and individuals who influenced Pope Urban II's call for a holy war in 1095. Blending recent research with 11th- and 12th-century writings, Asbridge describes the extraordinary circumstances that introduced the pacifist Christian church to militarism and launched tens of thousands of men and women on a journey they could scarcely comprehend. The number of significant participants of the First Crusade was huge, but the author keeps the telling manageable by focusing on two dozen of the most famous. Readers learn about their appearance, backgrounds, and beliefs before setting out with them for Jerusalem. Vivid eyewitness accounts are quoted, with corrections made for obvious errors, such as estimates of numbers of fighters. The frenetic preparations for departure, the horrors of the journey, and the savage battles are described with compelling realism. The bloody sack of Jerusalem concludes the main narrative, but an aftermath covers the subsequent lives of the major participants, and a conclusion evaluates the crusade's long-term impact. Several useful features include 9 maps, 16 pages of black-and-white photographs of medieval art and fortifications, an annotated cast of characters, and a glossary. - School Library Journal
The Great Betrayal: Fraud in Science - Judson, Horace F.
Judson eloquently examines the nature and causes of scientific fraud. Although the process of science has built-in checks and balances such as peer review and paper refereeing, the author calls these "moribund" and asks "whether in fact and to what extent science really is self-correcting." Judson begins with some of the giants of science: Mendel, Darwin, Pasteur, Freud. It turns out that each of these men fudged their data in one way or another, whether by omitting numbers that didn't fit desired results, or manipulating photographs, or not using experimental controls. Judson recognizes that there are difficulties in examining historical scientists' behavior through a modern lens, and he deals with the associated complexities by asking tough questions: What if their cheating led to a correct answer? Where is the line between intuition and lying? The Great Betrayal goes on to describe enough modern cases of scientific fraud to leave readers reeling. The most damning revelations in the book are those showing how whistle-blowers are treated by the scientific establishment, and Judson's showcase for this is Margot O'Toole, who called for correction or retraction of a paper co-authored by noted biologist David Baltimore and was subsequently vilified for her actions. The so-called "Baltimore case" became one of the ugliest and most revealing controversies in late-20th-century science. In the end, Judson offers hope that science may become truly open through electronic publishing. Whether the free exchange of criticism offered by the Internet will refresh science remains to be seen, but without learning from its defects, Judson writes, this great endeavor will ultimately fail. - Amazon.com
Contents: Prologue -- A Culture of Fraud -- What's It Like? A Typology of Scientific Fraud -- Patterns of Complicity: Recent Cases -- Hard to Measure, Hard to Define: The Incidence of Scientific Fraud and the Struggle Over Its Definition -- The Baltimore Affair -- The Problems of Peer Review -- Authorship, Ownership: The Problems of Credit, Plagiarism, and Intellectual Property -- The Rise of Open Publication on the Internet -- Laboratory to Law: The Problems of Institutions When Misconduct Is Charged -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Index.
Frozen Earth: The Once and Future Story of Ice Ages - Macdougall, J. D.
With all the concern about global warming, it may be surprising to read that "today's climate is just a geologically short warm spell in a continuing ice age." In this lucid and informative book, Macdougall ( A Short History of Planet Earth ), an earth science professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, introduces some of the scientists who have studied the Earth's ice ages, including the celebrated 19th-century naturalist Louis Agassiz, who put forth the theory, revolutionary at the time, of a global ice age; the amateur scientist James Croll, who propounded the idea that cycles of glacial and interglacial climates are related to changes in Earth's orbit around the Sun; and J. Harlan Bretz, who studied the catastrophic glacial flood that produced the "Channeled Scablands" of Washington state. That glaciers once extended from the North Pole to the Mediterranean was a fact accepted only gradually, and Macdougall examines in detail the clues—rock formations, glacial deposits, fossils and sediment cores—that scientists have used to prove the existence of continental ice sheets, as well as to study them. He closes with a discussion of our current ice age, suggesting that global warming may bring it to a premature end. - Publisher's Weekly
Contents: Ice, ice ages, and our planet's climate history -- Fire, water, and God -- Glaciers and fossil fish -- The evidence -- Searching for the cause of ice ages -- Defrosting earth -- The ice age cycles -- Our planet's icy past -- Coring for the details -- Ice ages, climate, and evolution -- The last millennium -- Ice ages and the future.
Histories of the Hanged: The Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire - Anderson, David
An account of Britain's final bloody decade in Kenya, this book tells the story of the brutal war between the colonial government and the insurrectionist Mau Mau between 1952 and 1960. New findings cast the Gikuyu rebels --hardly the terrorists they were thought to be--in a new light and reveal the British to be brutal aggressors in a "dirty war" that involved, among others, Winston Churchill and Harold MacMillan. This book portrays a teetering colonial empire in its final phase--employing whatever military and propaganda methods were necessary to preserve an order that could no longer hold. - from the publisher
How to Write a Selling Screenplay - Keane, Christopher
There are a lot of fine "how to write a screenplay" titles out and about, but what makes Keane's How To Write a Selling Screenplay unique is the examination on a step-by-step basis of a screenplay, The Crossing, that the author wrote. The teacher/pupil-type exchange, as you closely examine the screenplay, reads almost as if you were asking pertinent questions in class at just the right moments. Keane discusses each screenwriting point (opening sequence, inciting incident, plot point #1, etc.) as it occurs in his screenplay. This makes for twice the fun as you learn solid screenwriting tactics and get to read a thrilling story to boot! - Library Journal
Contents: Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Getting Started -- The Story -- Character -- Creating Characters -- Building Your Story -- Plot & Structure -- The Scene -- Dialogue -- The Format -- After It's Written -- The Rewrite -- Finding an Agent -- The Business of Hollywood -- Writing for Television -- The Adaptation -- Collaboration -- The Crossing: A Screenplay -- Epilogue: Keep Writing -- Recommended Reading.
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I've Learned - Alda, Alan
Alda, Emmy winning star of television's M*A*S*H as well as a writer and director, candidly details his turbulent childhood and the lessons he learned during his event-filled life in this breezy collection of remembrances and anecdotes. His father, Robert, was a fairly famous actor, and this led to a somewhat unconventional lifestyle (for the 1940s and 1950s anyway) for young Alan. Fondly, he remembers traveling around the country following his father's career and hanging out with unusual characters from his father's burlesque shows, while at the same time dealing with real adolescent troubles, such as encounters with bullies at the various schools where he never really fit in. He also shares details of the family's struggles with his mother's undiagnosed schizophrenia. Alda shows how he not only coped with these hurdles but also learned from them, as stories from his successful adult life round out the book. Refreshingly, this collection of biographical sketches is written in a good-natured and compassionate way. - Booklist
Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers' Rights at Wal-Mart - Featherstone, Liza
Fortune magazine's "Most Admired Company" for two years running, Wal-Mart offers its customers low prices and its shareholders big profits, but as freelance journalist Featherstone argues, this comes at great cost. Wal-Mart's success is based not only on its inexpensive merchandise or its popularity but on bad labor practices. Using a close investigation of the class action suit Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, In c. and extensive interviews with female workers, Featherstone indicts Wal-Mart for low wages, discriminatory policies and sexist practices. "[Our] district manager sometimes held lunch meetings at Hooters restaurants," one female employee explains; another recalls being asked to work "off the clock." Failure to post open positions, exclusively male social gatherings, pay discrimination, "persistent segregation of departments"—all are part, she argues, of Wal-Mart's deep-rooted culture of sexism. Many women employed full-time at Wal-Mart make so little that they are dependent on public assistance: "It is curious that Wal-Mart—the icon of American free enterprise and self-sufficiency...—turns out to be one of the biggest 'welfare queens' of our time," Featherstone writes. She doesn't give much time to related topics—racism, exploited overseas labor—but this is a clearly written and compelling book. It may not keep readers from their local Supercenters, but it should make them take a closer look at who's working the register. - Publisher's Weekly
Contents: Introduction: American Goliath -- Female troubles -- "Made in America": the culture and its promises -- "An exceptional woman:" (non)promotions at Wal-Mart -- Always low wages! -- Retail beyond Wal-Mart -- WWJD? organize Wal-Mart! -- Attention shoppers -- Epilogue.
Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife - Roach, Mary
Roach, who explored the fate of cadavers donated to science in Stiffed (2003), now turns her sharp eye and droll observations to what happens to a person's essence after death. Roach travels the world in search of answers: she heads to India to conduct research with a doctor who investigates cases of children whose families claim they are reincarnations of people from nearby villages and have the memories to prove it; she goes to the University of Arizona and meets with mediums currently working today; she tries her hand at telecommunication with the dead in the forests of California; and she even tries her hand at getting in touch with her own inner medium at a school in England. Roach is dogged in her approach as she examines each phenomenon through the lens of scientific fact. The journey is gripping and Roach's witty asides liven up an already interesting and unusual read. - Booklist
Contents: You again : a visit to the reincarnation nation -- The little man inside the sperm, or possibly the big toe : hunting the soul with microscopes and scalpels -- How to weigh a soul : what happens when a man (or a mouse, or a leech) dies on a scale -- The Vienna sausage affair : and other dubious highlights of the ongoing effort to see the soul -- Hard to swallow : the giddy, revolting heyday of ectoplasm -- The large claims of the medium : reaching out to the dead in a University of Arizona lab -- Soul in a dunce cap : the author enrolls in medium school -- Can you hear me now? : telecommunicating with the dead -- Inside the haunt box : can electromagnetic fields make you hallucinate? -- Listening to Casper : a psychoacoustics expert sets up camp in England's haunted spots -- Chaffin v. the dead guy in the overcoat : in which the law finds for a ghost, and the author calls in an expert witness -- Six feet over : a computer stands by on an operating room ceiling, awaiting near-death experiencers.
Stories of English - Crystal, David
Leading British linguist Crystal immediately distinguishes his pluralistic study of English's evolution from the standard, narrowly focused histories by describing not only how it evolved on an isolated island example from a Germanic language to the standard English we know today, but also on marginalized regional dialects, vernaculars and other "nonstandard" examples, beginning with the origins of Old English. He shows, for example, how even Chaucer and Shakespeare embraced dialects in The Canterbury Tales and Henry V. There are also lighter moments, such as Crystal's examination of the Anglo-Saxon intonations of Yoda in Star Wars and of Tolkein's Middle Earth idioms. Writing of the 18th century, the author contrasts the proscriptions of Dr. Johnson and others regarding spelling, grammar and pronunciation with the efforts of Americans such as Noah Webster to differentiate American from British English. (Regional and ethnic variations elsewhere in the British Empire receive more cursory treatment.) - Publisher's Weekly
Contents: 1. The origins of Old English. The Celtic language puzzle -- 2. The Old English dialects. The rise and fall of West Saxon -- 3. Early lexical diversity. Understanding Danes -- 4. Stylistic variation in Old English. Grammatical transition -- 5. The transition to Middle English. Two Peterborough Chronicles -- 6. A trilingual nation. Lay Subsidy dialects -- 7. Lexical invasions. The first dialect story -- 8. Evolving variation. Well well -- 9. A dialect age. Where did the -s ending come from? -- 10. The emerging standard. Complaining about change -- 11. Printing and its consequences. The first English dictionary -- 12. Early modern English preoccupations. Choosing thou or you -- 13. Linguistic daring. Avoiding transcriptional anaemia -- 14. Dialect fallout. A beggarly portrayal -- 15. Stabilizing disorder. Delusions of simplicity -- 16. Standard rules. Glottal stops -- 17. New horizons. Tracking a change : the case of y'all -- 18. Linguistic life goes on. The grammatical heart of nonstandard English -- 19. And dialect life goes on. Dialect in Middle Earth -- 20. Times a-changin'. Appendix : The location of the towns and counties of England referred to in this book.
Shakespeare's King Lear
Text of the play with a synopsis, historical notes, and a 48-page essay by critic Harold Bloom.
The Oxford History of Christian Worship
A comprehensive and authoritative history of the origins and development of Christian worship to the present day. Backed by an international roster of experts as contributors, this book examines the liturgical traditions of Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant, and Pentecostal traditions throughout history and across the world. With 240 photographs and 10 maps, the full geographical spread of Christianity is covered, including Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, East Asia, and the Pacific. Following contemporary trends in scholarship, it covers social and cultural contexts, material culture and the arts. Written to be accessible to the educated layperson, this unique and beautiful volume will appeal to clergy and liturgists and more generally to students and scholars of the liturgy, Christian theology, church history, and world history. - from the publisher
Contents: Preface -- Abbreviations -- Christian Worship: Scriptural Basis and Theological Frame / Geoffrey Wainwright -- The Apostolic Tradition / Maxwell Johnson -- The Empire Baptized / John Baldovin S.J. -- The Ancient Oriental Churches / Christine Chaillot -- The Conversion of the Nations / Michael Driscoll -- Anglo-Saxon Holy Week / Brad Bedingfield -- Western Christendom / Timothy M. Thibodeau -- The Bohemian Brethren / David Holeton -- Byzantine and Slavic Orthodoxy / Alexander Rentel -- Reforms, Protestant and Catholic / Nathan Mitchell -- The Age of Revolutions / Conrad Donakowski -- The Lutheran Tradition in the German Lands / Hans-Christoph Schmidt-Lauber -- The Lutheran Tradition in Scandinavia / Nils-Henrik Nilsson -- The Reformed Tradition in Switzerland, Germany, and France / Bruno Bürki -- Katharina Schütz Zell / Elsie Anne McKee -- The Reformed Tradition in the Netherlands / K. H. W. Klaassens -- The Reformed Tradition in Scotland / Duncan Forrester -- The Reformed Tradition in Korea / Seung Joong Joo -- Anglicans and Dissenters / Bryan D. Spinks -- The Church of South India / Samson Prabhakar -- The Uniting Church in Australia / Robert Gribben -- The Anabaptist Tradition: Mennonites / John Rempel -- The Anabaptist Tradition: The Baptists in Britain / Christopher Ellis -- Pentecostal and Charismatic Worship / Telford Work -- North America / Karen Westerfield Tucker -- Roman Catholics in Hispanic America / Jaime Lara -- Mainline Protestants in Latin America / Wilhelm Wachholz -- Mission and Inculturation: East Asia and the Pacific / Anscar J. Chupungco O.S.B. -- Mission and Inculturation: Africa / Chris Nwaka Egbulem O.P. -- The Liturgical Movement and Ritual Revision / André Haquin -- Ecumenical Convergences / Geoffrey Wainwright -- Women in Worship / Teresa Berger -- Liturgical Music / William Flynn -- United in Song? / Geoffrey Wainwright -- The Spatial Setting / James F. White -- Baptismal Fonts / Anita Stauffer -- The Visual Arts / Marchita B. Mauck -- Vestments and Objects / Joanne Pierce -- Future Prospects / Geoffrey Wainwright and Karen Westerfield Tucker -- Notes -- Illustration credits -- Index.
REFERENCE
Encyclopedia of Artists - 6 volumes
The purpose of this encyclopedia is to provide a comprehensive, highly illustrated introduction to Western art and artists from the Middle Ages to the present day. Each of the 223 entries for painters, sculptors, and printmakers comprises a double-page spread and includes a description of the artist's life and work; a data file listing key facts about the artist, including important works; comparable artists and relevant glossary terms; a feature box that discusses the artist's style in detail; and a large illustration that clarifies some aspect of the artist's work. The selection of artists includes not only the usual Old Masters and Impressionists, but also some who might be less familiar. The sixth volume consists of entries about major periods and movements from Abstract art to the Utrecht School, a glossary, an index, and a list of resources for further reading. A time line begins each volume. This compact set is an excellent resource for beginning research on an artist or a style. - Booklist
Oxford Spanish Dictionary and CD - 3 rd edition
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American National Biography, Supplement 2
Extends the coverage from the original 24-volume ANB to include notables who died prior to the end of 2001. Supplement 2 also includes hundreds of figures of note from the past not included in the original edition of the ANB or Supplement 1 . More than 500 new biographies include leaders John S. McCain Sr. and Ronald Reagan, first ladies Abigail Fillmore and Letitia Tyler, entrepreneurs Adolph Coors and Orville Redenbacher, notorious figures James Earl Ray and Morris Childs, writers Ken Kesey and Eudora Welty, and musicians Tito Puente and Perry Como. There are bibliographies after each entry and a cumulative revised index of occupations and realms of renown. - from the publisher
Novels for Students, volume 22
This series presents analysis, context, and criticism on commonly studied novels. The latest volume includes chapters on The Name of the Rose, The Satanic Verses, Sophie's Choice, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Elmer Gantry, A Death in the Family, and Dandelion Wine , among others.