New Books

November 2007

FICTION

Farewell Summer - Bradbury, Ray

Ray Bradbury, now in his mid-80s, explains in his postscript that the original Dandelion Wine manuscript included much of the material in Farewell Summer . His publisher at the time thought the book too long, and advised Bradbury to shelve the latter half. He certainly took the advice to heart. Fifty years later, here comes this satisfying denouement, one that speaks to themes of youth, aging, memory, and regrets. Reviewers praise Farewell Summer as an ideal swan song for a storied career that produced award-winning works like Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way Comes and earned Bradbury the prestigious National Medal of Arts. – Bookmarks

Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey - Weir, Alison

Booklist Starred Review: The title of this complex yet completely absorbing novel reflects the author's point of view as she reconstructs the life of the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey. That this is popular historian Weir's first novel is publishing news. Lady Jane Grey was a great-niece of King Henry VIII of England , and the term political pawn could have been invented for her. In alternating voices, each distinctively authentic, Weir lets Lady Jane and other individuals involved in her life and fate tell their sides of the story, and what a story it is. King Henry, it will be remembered, had succession problems: namely, until his marriage to his third wife, he had no male heir. Added to that was the age's seemingly irresolvable conflict between Protestants and Catholics. Therein lay the trouble for the teenage Lady Jane. She was thrust by her power-hungry and caustically Protestant parents into a plot to place her on the throne upon the death of the little king Edward VI, the late king Henry's Protestant son, instead of the legal heiress, the Catholic princess Mary. Weir finds Jane an intelligent individual, a thinker in her own right; but, tragically, given the times and the power available to the "grown-ups" around her, she ultimately could not resist the political currents swirling over her. A brilliantly vivid and psychologically astute novel. – Booklist

What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng: a Novel - Eggers, Dave

Finalist: National Book Critics Circle Award. Publishers Weekly Starred Review: Valentino Achak Deng, real-life hero of this engrossing epic, was a refugee from the Sudanese civil war-the bloodbath before the current Darfur bloodbath-of the 1980s and 90s. In this fictionalized memoir, Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) makes him an icon of globalization. Separated from his family when Arab militia destroy his village, Valentino joins thousands of other "Lost Boys," beset by starvation, thirst and man-eating lions on their march to squalid refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, where Valentino pieces together a new life. He eventually reaches America, but finds his quest for safety, community and fulfillment in many ways even more difficult there than in the camps: he recalls, for instance, being robbed, beaten and held captive in his Atlanta apartment. Eggers's limpid prose gives Valentino an unaffected, compelling voice and makes his narrative by turns harrowing, funny, bleak and lyrical. The result is a horrific account of the Sudanese tragedy, but also an emblematic saga of modernity-of the search for home and self in a world of unending upheaval.

Slaughterhouse-Five: Or the Children's Crusade - Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.

This 25 th anniversary edition has a new introduction by Vonnegut. Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden . – Amazon.com

 

We also have new copies of other Vonnegut novels that were lost from the library last year: Cat's Cradle and Welcome to the Monkey House .

MEDIA

Evolution Revolution: Paleontology, History, Biography. Festschrift 2000 for Stephen Jay Gould . Part I, by Dr. Donald Prothero, Dr. Michael Shermer, Dr. Frank J. Sulloway - VHS

Dr. Donald Prothero discusses how Gould helped launch a revolution in paleontology that continues to this day. Prothero's fact-filled, slide lecture is one of the finest summaries of how evolution works ever given. Dr. Michael Shermer presents a slide show of an exhaustive literary taxonomy and content analysis of all 300 of Gould's essays. Dr. Frank J. Sulloway focuses on the science of biography, using a dual metaphor found in much of Gould's writing (including a book of the same title): Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle. Sulloway shows how both Darwin and Gould used this and other themes in their evolutionary theories.

Evolution Revolution: Gould's Keynote Address, Part III - Gould, Stephen Jay - DVD

Dr. Gould is one of the best known and most highly decorated scientists of our age. Gould delivers a remarkable lecture filled with wit, charm, and historical anecdote. He traced the history of Western culture's uneasy relationship with the pedestal-shattering discoveries of science. – from the producer

NONFICTION

Thunderstruck - Larson, Erik

Larson's page-turner juxtaposes scientific intrigue with a notorious murder in London at the turn of the 20th century. It alternates the story of Marconi's quest for the first wireless transatlantic communication amid scientific jealousies and controversies with the tale of a mild-mannered murderer caught as a result of the invention. The eccentric figures include the secretive Marconi and one of his rivals, physicist Oliver Lodge, who believed that he was first to make the discovery, but also insisted that the electromagnetic waves he studied were evidence of the paranormal. The parallel tale recounts the story of Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen, accused of murdering his volatile, shrewish wife. As he and his unsuspecting lover attempted to escape in disguise to Quebec on a luxury ocean liner, a Scotland Yard detective chased them on a faster boat. Unbeknownst to the couple, the world followed the pursuit through wireless transmissions to newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic . A public that had been skeptical of this technology suddenly grasped its power. In an era when wireless has a whole new connotation, young adults interested in the history of scientific discovery will be enthralled with this fascinating account of Marconi and his colleagues' attempts to harness a new technology. And those who enjoy a good mystery will find the unraveling of Dr. Crippen's crime, complete with turn-of-the-century forensics, appealing to the CSI crowd. A thrilling read. – School Library Journal

Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things - Ryan, John C.

Documenting a day in the life of the average North American consumer, Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things deconstructs the American Dream by unraveling the hidden costs behind the objects around us. From our morning cup of Columbian coffee to our South Korean-made sneakers, the book traces the environmental impact of the consumer decisions most of us make without thinking. Authors Ryan and Durning of Seattle's Northwest Environment Watch tell us greenhouse gases produced in making one burger are equivalent to those emitted in a six-mile drive to the burger joint. Only occasionally verging on preachiness, this readable 88-page book is definitely worth the paper it's printed on. –Mother Jones

Contents: Prologue: 120 pounds – Coffee – Newspaper – T-Shirt – Shoes – Bike (and Car) – Computer – Hamburger – French Fries – Cola – Conclusion: Watch your wake – Appendix: This book – Notes and sources.

What to Eat - Nestle, Marion

Since its publication in hardcover last year, Marion Nestle's What to Eat has become the definitive guide to making healthy and informed choices about food. Praised as “radiant with maxims to live by” in The New York Times Book Review and “accessible, reliable and comprehensive” in The Washington Post , What to Eat is an indispensable resource, packed with important information and useful advice from the acclaimed nutritionist who “has become to the food industry what . . . Ralph Nader [was] to the automobile industry” ( St. Louis Post-Dispatch ). How we choose which foods to eat is growing more complicated by the day, and the straightforward, practical approach of What to Eat has been praised as welcome relief. As Nestle takes us through each supermarket section—produce, dairy, meat, fish—she explains the issues, cutting through foodie jargon and complicated nutrition labels, and debunking the misleading health claims made by big food companies. With Nestle as our guide, we are shown how to make wise food choices—and are inspired to eat sensibly and nutritiously. Now in paperback, What to Eat is already a classic—“the perfect guidebook to help navigate through the confusion of which foods are good for us” ( USA Today ). – from the publisher

Contents: PRODUCE SECTION: Fruits & vegetables: the price of fresh - - Organics: hype or hope -- Produce: safe at any price -- Genetically modified, irradiated, and politicized -- DAIR SECTION: Milk and more milk: subject to debate -- Dairy foods: raw and cooked -- Yogurt: health food or dessert -- DAIRY SUBSTITUTES: Margarine: accept no substitutes -- You CAN believe it's not butter -- Soy milk: panacea or just another food -- MEAT SECTION: A range of meaty issues -- Questions of safety -- Organic vs. "natural" -- FISH COUNTER: Dilemmas and quandaries -- The methylmercury dilemma -- The fish-farming dilemma -- The fish-labeling dilemma -- Safely and sustainability -- CENTER AISLES: COOL AND FROZEN: Eggs: the "incredible" edibles -- Eggs and the salmonella problem -- Frozen foods: decoding ingredients -- A digression into calories and diets -- Frozen foods: reading nutrition facts -- CENTER AISLES: PROCESSED: Wheat flour and the glycemic index -- Sugars -- Cereals: sweet and supposedly healthy -- Packaged foods: health endorsements -- Snack foods: sweet, salty, and caloric -- Foods just for kids -- Oils: fat and more fat - - BEVEAGE AISLE: Water everywhere: bottled and not -- "Healthy" drinks: sugared and artificially sweetened -- Teas and coffees: caffeine to eco-labels -- SPECIAL SECTIONS: Infant formula and baby food -- Supplements & health food -- Bread: the bakery -- Prepared foods: salads and more -- Tacking action -- Conversion tables -- Terms used to describe fats in oils and foods.

Wild Women: Crusaders, Curmudgeons, and Completely Corsetless Ladies in the Otherwise Virtuous Victorian Era  -   Stephens, Autumn

A fascinating and sometimes humorous glimpse into the lives of 150 19th-century American women who refused to whittle themselves down to the Victorian model of proper womanhood. – from the publisher. Includes such notables as Jane Addams, Louisa May Alcott, Susan B. Anthony, Gertrude Atherton, Harriet Hubbard Ayer, Nellie, Bly, Lizzie Borden, Milly, Brown, Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Henrietta Green, Ida Lewis, Carry Nation, Lucy Stone, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sojourner Truth, Harriet tubman, Ida Wells, Victoria Woodhull.

Weapon - A Visual History of Arms and Armor

Written by a team of British military historians, this beautifully illustrated, oversize volume seizes attention with the publisher's brand-name design: images surrounded by information-packed captions silhouetted against a white or a black background. Its pictures are sure to snare the substantial audience interested in the history of swords, guns, and body armor. Limiting the subject to portable armaments, the work extends from the first likely weapon (a rock) to the rifles issued to contemporary infantrymen. In most cases, the emphasis is on the tools of the ordinary soldier, his equipage through time explained with arrowed illustrations. The evolution of handheld weaponry is soon apparent, with that of firearms especially prominent. Some guns depicted here will be recognizable (think AK-47) even to those who recoil from guns. Explaining how such lethal equipment works is Weapon 's forte; another asset is the comparison of weapon categories across a suite of historical societies. – Booklist

Contents: Introduction: Swords, Spears and Projectiles -- Introduction: Swords and Daggers -- Introduction: Staff weapons -- Introduction: Firearms 1 -- Introduction: Firearms 2 -- Introduction: Firearms 3 -- Introduction: Firearms 4 -- Introduction: Armour and helmets -- ANCIENT WEAPONRY -- Overview -- Edged Weapons: Prehistoric -- Edged Weapons and Armour: Mesopotamia -- Edged Weapons and Armour: Ancient Egypt -- Edged Weapons and Armour: Ancient Greece -- Warrior: Greek hoplite -- Edged Weapons and Armour: Ancient Rome -- Warrior: Roman legionary -- Edged Weapons and Armour: Bronze and Iron Age -- Edged Weapons and Armour: Anglo-Saxon and Frankish -- Edged Weapons and Armour: Viking -- THE MIDDLE AGES -- Overview -- Swords: European 1 -- Swords: Chinese and Japanese -- Daggers: European -- Staff weapons: European -- Staff weapons: Asian -- Warrior: Mongol warrior -- Bows: Longbows and Crossbows -- Showcase: Crossbow -- Weapons and Shields: Aztec -- Helmets: European Helms and bascinets -- Helmets: Close helms, Armets and Sallets -- Warrior: Medieval knight -- Armour: European mail -- Armour: European plate -- EARLY MODERN WORLD -- Overview -- Swords: Two handed -- Swords: European Infantry and Cavalry -- Warrior: The Landsknecht -- Swords: European rapiers -- Swords: Smallswords and dress swords -- Swords: European hunting -- Showcase: Hunting trousse -- Swords: Japanese Samurai -- Showcase: Samurai sword: Wakisashi -- Warrior:The Samurai -- Swords: Indian and Sri Lanken -- Daggers: European -- Daggers: Asian -- Staff weapons: European one-handed -- Staff weapons: European two-handed -- Staff weapons: Indian -- Bows: European crossbows -- Bows: Indian and Chinese -- Longarms: Flintlocks and Matchlocks -- Showcase: Matchlock musket -- Longarms: European hunting 1600-1700 -- Longarms: European hunting 1700-1820 -- Muskets and Carbines: Asian -- Firearms: Combination weapons -- Pistols: European 1500-1700 -- Pistols: European 1700-1775 -- Armour: European tournament and parade -- Helmets: European tournament and parade -- Armour and Helmets: Asian -- Amour: Samurai -- RIFLES AND REVOLUTIONARIES -- Overview -- Swords: European -- Swords: United States -- Swords: Ottoman Empire -- Swords: Chinese and Tibetan -- Swords: Indian -- Daggers: Indian and Nepalese -- Bayonets: European -- Staff Weapons: Indian -- Edged Weapons: African -- Warrior: Zulu warrior -- Edged Weapons: Oceania -- Edged Weapons and Clubs: North American Indian -- Hunting Bows: North American -- Boomerangs and Sheilds: Australia -- Pistols: Flintlock 1775-1850 -- Pistols: Flintlock 1850-1900 -- Pistols: Percussion-cap -- Revolvers: American percussion-cap cylinders -- Warrior: US Civil War Infantryman -- Revolvers European Percussion-cap cylinders -- Pistols: Brass cartridge -- Showcase: Colt Naval pistols -- Pistols: Self-loading -- Long guns: Flintlocks -- Showcase: Baker rifle -- Muskets and rifles: Percussion -- Showcase: Lepage of Paris -- Carbines: Capping breechloader -- Warrior: The British Redcoat -- Long Guns: Muskets and rifles: Sporting -- Firearms: Ottoman Empire -- Rifles: Single-shot breechloaders -- Showcase: Enfield Pattern -- Rifles: Manually-loaded repeaters 1855-80 -- Rifles: Manually-loaded repeaters 1881-91 -- Rifles: Manually-loaded repeaters 1892-98 -- Firearms: Indian -- Firearms: Asian -- Firearms: Multi-shot weapons -- Ammunition: Pre-1900 -- Armour and Shields: Indian -- Shields: African -- Shields: Oceania -- THE MODERN WORLD (1900-2006) -- Chapter 2 Overview -- Edged weapons: African -- Bayonets: European fighting knives and bayonets -- Warrior: French WWI infantryman -- Pistols: Self-loading 1900-20 -- Pistols: Self-loading 1920-50 -- Pistols: Self-loading from 1950-- Revolvers: 1900-1950 -- Revolvers: From 1950 -- Rifles: Manually-loaded repeater -- Warrior: Red Army Infantryman -- Rifles: Self-loading repeater 1914-1950 -- Showcase: AK47 -- Rifles: Self-loading repeater 2 -- Showcase: SA80 -- Long Guns: Sporting -- Shotguns: since 1900 -- Rifles and machine gunes: Sniper guns 1914-1980 -- Rifles and machine gunes: Sniper guns 1980-2006 -- Machine guns: Recoil operated -- Machine guns: Gas operated -- Showcase: MG43 -- Light Machine guns: 1914-1945 -- Light Machine guns: 1945-1980 -- Submachine guns 1920-45 -- Showcase: MP5 -- Submachine guns: Since 1945 -- Ammunition: Since 1900 -- Anti-tank weapons: man-portable -- Grenade Launchers: Rifle-mounted -- Grenade Launchers: Stand-alone -- Warrior: US Navy Seal -- Improvised guns: 1950-1980 -- Helmets: From 1900 -- Index.

America's Art: Smithsonian American Art Museum

The Smithsonian has created a capacious and colorful volume showcasing 225 diverse works from its varied and stellar collection. Expert and engaging commentary links the lushly reproduced artworks to the many-faceted story of America : its landscapes wild and cultivated, its small towns and big cities, its people indigenous and immigrant, and the myriad changes technology has instigated. Art itself has evolved in sync with changes social, political, and technological, a process clearly delineated in this stirring pageant, a procession that includes John Singleton Copley's 1765 portrait of the singularly self-possessed colonist Mrs. George Watson; George Catlin's 1832 portrait of a Native American beauty, Sha-ko-ka; Albert Bierstadt's grand 1868 vision of the Sierra Nevada; Civil War-era photographs; Berenice Abbott's photographs of 1930s New York; Jacob Lawrence's paintings of African American life; works by Edward Hopper and Willem de Kooning; and a video installation by Nam June Paik. Here is American art in all its glory and innovation as a quest for understanding and connection, and a public collection that constitutes a genuine national treasure. – Booklist starred review

Contents: From distant shores -- This other Eden -- Liberty more than life -- Ever westward -- Hand to the plow -- Brother against brother -- The rise of industry -- An eye for beauty -- Seeing the city -- The Harlem renaissance -- South by southwest -- The Great Depression -- Folk traditions -- Americans at midcentury -- The abstract impulse -- Toward the millennium -- Catalogue.

The Faiths of the Founding Fathers - Holmes, David L.

In demystifying what has been argument fodder for over 200 years, religion scholar Holmes sorts through the carefully constructed (and ambiguous or contradictory) versions of the personal beliefs the United States' founding fathers presented to the outside world to present a sound case for what George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and others did or didn't do on Sundays. Holmes's subjects were acutely sensitive both to the dangers of state-sponsored religion as well as their reputations as leaders and went to what might seem like absurd lengths to cloak their religious leanings (Washington, for instance, rarely mentions church in his journals and, when he did attend, would leave service prior to communion), making Holmes's research and conclusions feats of deduction based on clues gleaned from letters, government documents, second- and third-hand accounts and educated speculation about motivations. – Publisher's Weekly

 

Contents: Religion in the American colonies in 1770 -- The Anglican tradition and the Virginia founding fathers -- The enlightenment religion of deism – The founding fathers and deism -- The religious views of Benjamin Franklin -- The religious views of George Washington -- The religious views of John Adams -- The religious views of Thomas Jefferson -- The religious views of James Madison -- The religious views of James Monroe -- The wives and daughters of the founding fathers -- A layperson's guide to distinguishing a deist from an orthodox Christian -- Three orthodox Christians -- The past is a foreign country.

Andrew Carnegie - Nasaw, David

New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year: In the pantheon of the industrial giants who dominated late-nineteenth-century American capitalism, Andrew Carnegie has consistently stood out as the most fascinating and enigmatic character. Celebrated as the creator of the modern steel industry, he earned equal renown for the disbursement of his vast fortune to numerous philanthropic causes. As opposed to the cold, austere image of a Rockefeller, Carnegie seemed to radiate genuine warmth and compassion. Nasaw, a prizewinning historian and biographer, has attempted to plumb the seemingly contradictory aspects of Carnegie's personality in a comprehensive and often engrossing biography. Nasaw has opted for a straight chronological narrative, beginning with Carnegie's youth in a struggling family of weavers in Dunfermline , Scotland . He proceeds to describe his inexorable rise to prominence after his emigration from Scotland to Pennsylvania , while seamlessly integrating Carnegie's personal story with the broader account of the explosion of big business. At times, Nasaw's effort to provide detail after detail bogs down the narrative. Still, the story is generally compelling. Ultimately, Nasaw cannot fully explain the man's contradictions, but this is a worthy attempt and an important examination of the man and his times. – Booklist

Bipolar Handbook: Real-Life Questions with Up-To-Date Answers - Burgess, Wes

Over seven million Americans have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which impacts the emotional, mental, and physical health of sufferers and their family and friends. In this welcome addition to the existing resource material, Burgess, a noted bipolar authority with a practice in Los Angeles , writes in a style reminiscent of having a chat with one's family doctor. His text provides a wealth of current information pertaining to the disorder, from causes and selecting a doctor to treatment and prevention. Both medical treatments and psychotherapy are covered, as are social issues like careers, healthy relationships, and coping tactics for friends and family. The last chapter explores available resources, and well thought-out appendixes complete the book. Both comprehensive and easily understood, this resource will most certainly become one of the most sought-after publications on bipolar disorder. – Library Journal

Contents: 1. Bipolar disorder basics -- Cycling in bipolar disorder -- Time course -- Causes of bipolar disorder -- Bipolar mania -- Bipolar depression -- Bipolar types I, II, and III -- Mixed-state bipolar disorder -- Getting the right diagnosis -- Misdiagnosis -- Bipolar disorder in our culture -- 2. Healthy life changes you should make now to decrease bipolar symptoms -- Stress drives bipolar disorder -- Stress reduction and relaxation techniques -- Sleepers, awake! Sleep and bipolar disorder -- How to get a good night's sleep -- Sleeping pills and alcohol -- Nutrition and weight loss -- Vitamins, herbs, and supplements -- Exercise -- Caffeine, alcohol, drugs, and tobacco -- Health fads -- How to stop smoking painlessly -- Six steps for reducing bipolar symptoms -- 3. Medical treatment for bipolar disorder -- Mood stabilizers -- Carbamazepine (Equetro, Tegretol, Carbatrol, and other brands), Oxcarbazepine (Trileptal), Valproate and valproic acid (Depakote and Depakene), Lithium salt (Eskalith, Lithobid, and other brands), Lamotrigine (Lamictal), Topiramate (Topamax), Gabapentine (Neurontin), Tiagabine (Gabitril), and Levetiracetam (Keppra) -- Atypical antipsychotics -- Olanzapine (Zyprexa), Ziprasidone (Geodon), Quetiapine (Seroquel). Clozapine (Clozaril), Risperidone (Risperdal), and Aripiprazole (Abilify) -- Antianxiety medications -- Alprazolam (Xanax), Lorazepam (Ativan), Clonazepam (Klonopin), Diazepam (Valium) -- Seldom used medications that can help bipolar disorder -- Clonidine (Catapres), MAO inhibitors : Tranylcypromine (Parnate) and Phenelzine (Nardil), Liothyronine (Cytomel), Thyroxin (Synthroid), Verapamil (Isoptin), Diltiazem (Cardizem), and Nifedipine (Adalat) -- New medications for bipolar disorder -- Antalarmin, Mifepristone (Mifeprex), Memantine (Namenda), Riluzole (Rilutek), Pregabalin (Lyrica), Aprepitant (Emend), and Modafinil -- Treatments for bipolar disorder that do not use medications -- Medications that can make bipolar disorder worse -- The dramatic effect of seizures on depression -- 4. How to find the right doctor -- 5. Psychotherapy -- Types of psychotherapy -- Understanding the differences between types of therapists -- The benefits of psychotherapy for bipolar disorder -- Why bipolar disorder cannot be treated with psychotherapy alone -- Choosing a therapist -- The four stages of bipolar recovery -- 6. Practical life strategies for career success -- Understanding your strengths and weaknesses -- Defining career success -- Seven questions to ask yourself when choosing a career -- Interviewing and getting a job -- Decrease your stress at the workplace -- Dealing with supervisors and coworkers -- Boundary issues in the workplace -- Work attitudes and vulnerabilities -- Disability -- Five major causes of disability in bipolar disorder -- A seven-step plan for success in the workplace -- 7. Finding and maintaining healthy personal relationships -- Making conversation -- Learn to make small talk : a three-step method -- Socializing -- Love relationships -- Sex -- Anger and jealousy -- Fantasies and obsessions -- Social boundaries in relationships -- Finding the right partner -- Starting new relationships -- Don't get hurt by other people -- A bipolar golden rule : help other people keep from hurting you -- Now that I'm myself again -- Seven rules for safe bipolar dating -- 8. Women's issues in bipolar disorder -- Bipolar premenstrual syndrome -- Pregnancy -- Women's sexual issues -- Hormone supplementation -- Bipolar women in abusive relationships -- 9. Crisis management : how family members can help prevent crises -- Spouses, partners, and friends -- Warning signs -- Psychosis -- Hospitalization -- Attitudes that make it difficult to recover from bipolar disorder -- What to do when nothing is working -- 10. Resources -- Using the Internet to fight bipolar disorder -- Online Internet forums : bipolar news and chat groups -- Organizations and the services they provide -- U.S. government health and information services -- Privately owned bipolar Websites -- Professional books on bipolar disorder and medical science -- Psychobiological and philosophical books -- Bipolar and health books for the general reader -- Epilogue -- Appendix A. The official DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for mania and atypical depression -- Appendix B. The National Institute of Mental Health list of the symptoms of mania, combined bipolar and unipolar depression, and psychosis.

Challenging Nature: The Clash Between Biotechnology and Spirituality - Silver, Lee M.

Silver, a molecular biologist at Princeton , examines new dimensions of the contentious debate between science and religion over cloning and other biotechnologies, and brings fresh insights to it. Many Western religious people believe biotechnology is an attempt to play God and that human clones would be created not in God's image but in the image of humankind. Such arguments rest on the nature of humanity, and Silver points out that the only characteristic that makes us human is not that we have a soul but that we have human parents. Silver also explores the debate over genetically modified foods and synthetic crops. He argues that the organic and natural foods movements make their case on spiritual grounds, imbuing Mother Nature with a spiritual force equal to the force of the Christian God. Silver points out, however, that Mother Nature is a violent, not a benevolent, deity, and can cause more disasters than the making of synthetic foods ever will. Finally, Silver points out that biotechnology presents little problem for Eastern religions that believe in reincarnation. In the words of one Buddhist scientist, therapeutic cloning "restarts the cycle of life." Silver's provocative ideas and his graceful prose open new avenues for discussion of the challenges that face science and spirituality. – Publishers Weekly

 

Prologue -- Part I. SPIRITS -- Soul and Spirit Stories -- Science, Faith, and Religion -- Spiritual Categories -- A Scientific Critique of the Soul -- The Origin of Spiritual Beliefs -- Part II. HUMAN BEINGS -- Not Quite Human, But Not Quite Not -- The Embryonic Soul -- The Politics of Cloning -- Counting Souls -- Human-Animal Combinations -- Part III. MOTHER NATURE -- Metaphor and Reality -- Darwin 's Unwanted Explanation -- Organic, All-Natural Food -- All-Natural Medicine -- Part IV. BIOTECHNOLOGY AND THE BIOSPHERE -- In the Service of Humankind -- The Battle for Mother Nature's Genes -- Paradise Lost and Gained -- Part V. THE FINAL CHAPTER? -- Culture, Religion, and Ethics -- Technology -- Magic and The Future of the Human Soul.

The Gift of Fear: And Other Survival Signals That Protect Us From Violence - de Becker, Gavin

Each hour, 75 women are raped in the United States , and every few seconds, a woman is beaten. Each day, 400 Americans suffer shooting injuries, and another 1,100 face criminals armed with guns. Author Gavin de Becker says victims of violent behavior usually feel a sense of fear before any threat or violence takes place. They may distrust the fear, or it may impel them to some action that saves their lives. A leading expert on predicting violent behavior, de Becker believes we can all learn to recognize these signals of the "universal code of violence," and use them as tools to help us survive. The book teaches how to identify the warning signals of a potential attacker and recommends strategies for dealing with the problem before it becomes life threatening. The case studies are gripping and suspenseful, and include tactics for dealing with similar situations. People don't just "snap" and become violent, says de Becker, whose clients include federal government agencies, celebrities, police departments, and shelters for battered women. "There is a process as observable, and often as predictable, as water coming to a boil." Learning to predict violence is the cornerstone to preventing it. De Becker is a master of the psychology of violence, and his advice may save your life. – Library Journal

 

Contents: In the presence of danger -- The technology of intuition -- The academy of prediction -- Survival signals -- Imperfect strangers -- High-stakes predictions -- Promises to kill (understanding threats) -- Persistence, persistence (dealing with people who refuse to let go) -- Occupational hazards (violence in the workplace) -- Intimate enemies (domestic violence) -- "I was trying to let him down easy" (date stalking) -- Fear of children (violent children) -- Better to be wanted by the police than not to be wanted at all (attacks against public figures) -- Extreme hazards -- The gift of fear – Epilogue – Recommended reading – Index.

Secret Language of the Renaissance: Decoding the Hidden Symbolism of Italian Art - Stemp, Richard

During the Renaissance, artists traditionally encoded meanings into symbols, some of which drew upon a traditional repertoire available to educated people in the era. These hidden messages—which ranged from the esoteric to the political to the religious—could be communicated in everything from the position of a hand to the placement of the sun and moon. The Secret Language of the Renaissance helps us discover them anew, as lecturer, author, and director Richard Stemp teaches you the art of reading these paintings. Magnificently illustrated throughout, this remarkable book has three distinct parts. The first surveys the literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, and decorative arts of this remarkable period. Section two reviews the essential elements of symbolic language in Renaissance art, including the use of color, geometry, light and shade, composition, proportion, perspective, and body language; the explanatory examples reach from Crivelli's Annunciation to Donatello's Mary Magdalene . And the final part features themes including Mythology, War and Peace, and Death and Eternity. – from the publisher

Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination - Gabler, Neal

Winner, Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography. Touted by the masses as America 's beloved storyteller, derided by cultural gatekeepers as a philistine, Walt Disney was undeniably one of the most significant figures on the twentieth-century cultural scene. And as Gabler shows in this massive, thoroughly researched biography, Disney's cultural influence went far beyond the beloved cartoon characters he created. The early work produced by Disney and his talented staff--the phenomenal Mickey Mouse shorts of the early 1930s and such groundbreaking feature-length films as Snow White and Pinocchio --drew near-universal critical acclaim and massive commercial success. After World War II and a disastrous strike that shattered the benevolent if paternalistic utopia Disney had created for his employees, he disengaged from the cartoons, much to their detriment, to tackle new enterprises including live-action movies, TV, and theme parks. An ambitious planned community was on the drawing board at the time of his death in 1966--confirming evidence for Gabler's contention that Disney aimed to provide Americans not with escape, as is commonly thought, but with "control and the vicarious empowerment that accompanied it." Although Gabler focuses on corporate matters at the expense of critical treatment of the films, he presents a balanced treatment of the man and his achievements, realistically assessing Disney's considerable impact and offering insight into the hidden, restless soul who constantly challenged himself, risking the financial stability of his empire more than once in his unceasing pursuit of his dreams. – Booklist

The World That Trade Created: Society, Culture, And the World Economy, 1400 to the Present - Pomeranz, Kenneth

Reveals unexpected and provocative connections, both between the local and the global and between culture and economy. In the classroom, these eighty case studies can be divvied up for short, focused assignments, allocated among student groups... However they reach students, these short and well-written essays deserve a large audience. Why are railroad tracks separated by the same four feet, eight inches as ancient Roman roads? How did 19th-century Europeans turn mountains of bird excrement from Peru into mountains of gold? Where has most of the world's oil come from in the 20th century? - World History Connected .

 

This new edition of The World That Trade Created reveals the answers to dozens of tantalizing questions like these. In a series of brief, highly readable vignettes the authors bring to life international trade and its actors--including migrants and merchants, pirates and privateers, sailors and slaves, traders and tree-tappers. In the process they make clear that the seemingly modern concept of economic globalization has deep historical roots. The authors also demonstrate that economic activity cannot be divorced from social and cultural contexts. The second edition provides enhanced coverage of Africa, the Middle East , and the 20th century, and features eighteen new vignettes, including two new pieces on oil. – from the publisher

 

Contents: Foreword by Kevin Reilly -- Introduction -- 1. THE MAKING OF MARKET CONVENTIONS -- The Fujian Trade Diaspora -- The Chinese Tribute System -- Funny Money, Real Growth -- When Asia Was the World Economy -- Treating Good News as No News -- Aztec Traders -- Primitive Accumulation: Brazilwood -- A British Merchant in the Tropics -- How the Other Half Traded -- Deals and Ordeals: World Trade and Early Modern Legal Culture -- Traveling Salesmen, Traveling Taxmen -- Going Nonnative: Expense Accounts and the End of the Age of Merchant Courtiers -- Empire on a Shoestring: British Adventurers and Indian Financiers in Calcutta, 1750-1850 -- 2. THE TACTICS OF TRANSPORT -- Woods, Winds, Shipbuilding, and Shipping: Why China Didn't Rule the Waves -- Better to Be Lucky than Smart -- Seats of Government and Their Stomachs: An Eighteenth-Century Tour -- Pioneers of Dusty Rooms: Warehouses, Trans-Atlantic Trade, and the Opening of the North American Frontier -- People Patterns: Was the Real America Sichuan ? -- Winning Raffles -- Trade, Disorder, and Progress: Creating Shanghai , 1840-1930 -- E Unum Pluribus -- Guaranteed Profits and Half-Fulfilled Hopes: Railroad Building in British India -- A Brief Trip Across the Centuries -- 3. THE ECONOMIC CULTURE OF DRUGS -- Chocolate: From Coin to Commodity -- Brewing Up a Storm -- Mocca Is Not Chocolate -- The Brew of Business: Coffee's Life Story -- America and the Coffee Bean -- Sweet Revolutions -- How Opium Made the World Go Round -- Chewing Is Good, Snorting Isn't: How Chemistry Turned a Good Thing Bad (Coca) -- 4. TRANSPLANTING: COMMODITIES IN WORLD TRADE -- Unnatural Resources -- Bouncing Around -- Golden Misfortune: John Sutter in the Wilds of California -- California Gold and the World -- Beautiful Bugs -- How to Turn Nothing into Something: Guano's Ephemeral Fortunes -- Fur and Fashion in the Far East -- Not Just Peanuts: One Crop's Career in Farm and Factory -- As American as Sugar and Pineapples -- Saved from Sugar Shock -- How the Cows Ate the Cowboys -- The Tie that Bound -- The Good Earth? -- One Potato, Two Potato -- Trying to Get a Grip: Natural Rubber's Century of Ups and Downs -- 5. THE ECONOMICS OF VIOLENCE -- Map: The Slave Trade, 15th-19th Centuries -- The Logic of an Immoral Trade -- As Rich as Potosi -- The Freebooting Founders of England's Free Seas -- The Tropical Dutch: How the Burghers Became Slavers -- The Luxurious Life of Robinson Crusoe -- No Islands in the Storm: Or, How the Sino-British Tea Trade Deluged the Worlds of Pacific Islanders -- The Violent Birth of Corporations -- Buccaneers as Corporate Raiders -- Looking for the Next Worst Thing: Emancipation, Indentures, and Colonial Plantations after Slavery -- Bloody Ivory Tower -- Never Again: The Saga of the Rosenfelders -- 6. MAKING MODERN MARKETS -- Silver Lining -- Currency over Country? -- Weighing the World: The Metric Revolution -- Growing Global: International Grain Markets -- How Time Got That Way -- The Ghost of Maximilian -- How the United States Joined the Big Leagues -- Banking on Asia -- Fresher Is Not Better -- Packaging -- Trademarks: What's in a Name? -- Learning to Feel Unclean: A Global Marketing Tale -- Things Go Better with Red, White and Blue: How Coca Cola Conquered Europe -- Survival of the First -- It Ain't Necessarily So -- Where is Andorra ? -- 7. WORLD TRADE, INDUSTRIALIZATION, AND DE-INDUSTRIALIZATION -- Map: The World Economy in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries -- Sweet Industry: The First Factories -- Fiber of Fortune: How Cotton Became the Fabric of the Industrial Age -- Combing the World for Cotton -- Killing the Golden Goose -- A Triangular Trade in Ideas: Early Modern Europe, China, and Japan -- Sweet Success -- Lighting the Night and Darkening the Day -- No Mill Is an Island -- Feeding Silkworms, Spitting Out Growth -- From Rocks--and Restrictions--to Riches: How Disadvantages Helped New England Industrialize Early -- American Oil -- Running on Oil, Building on Sand -- Epilogue: The World Economy in the Twenty-First Century -- Abbreviated Bibliography -- Index.

Little-known Facts about Well-known Stuff - Hoffman, David

Who of us hasn't seen Shrek , can't recite Green Eggs and Ham , or isn't awed by a painting by Matisse? But as familiar as those icons may be, what isn't as well-known is that Shrek is Yiddish for "monster," that Dr. Suess wrote Green Eggs and Ham only after being challenged to produce a book using less than 50 different words, or that for two months, Matisse's Le Bateau hung upside-down at the Museum of Modern Art in New York – and none of the 116,000 visitors noticed. Author David Hoffman goes from A(rt Museums) to Z(oos) – and all points in between – to unveil the details, back stories, top secrets, and twists of fate that have gone into shaping the world we know and the things we love. Whether the subject is Ben & Jerry's, Franken Berry or Barry Manilow, this compendium of offbeat statistics and specifics is certain to astound and surprise. Serving up a wealth of revelations that are sure to start (or stop) a conversation, Little-Known Facts about Well-Known Stuff is a must-have for know-it-alls, information addicts, pop culture junkies, and curious readers of every age. – from the publisher

101 Things You Should Know How to Do - Powell, Michael

When you reach the end of what you know, you're more than ready to read this book! If you feel like the world is collapsing around you, or you want to brush up your life skills, or even if you think you've got it all nailed, you'll be enthralled by the tips, tipoffs, straightforward advice, and expert guidance that is packed into this book. Step-by-step instructions introduce you to 101 of the most important things you'll ever need to know. By the time you've finished you'll be able to hold a baby, shoot a free throw in basketball, eat a lobster, play chess, juggle, and heaps of other stuff you didn't even know you needed to know. Never again will you be rattled by a nosebleed, a pair of chopsticks, a flat tire, or a bee sting. You'll be better equipped to attract friends, lovers, wealth, and health while avoiding fights, hangovers, stress, jet lag, and chat room howlers. – from the publisher

More poetry than you can shake a stick at.

The Owner's Manual for the Brain , 3 rd edition - Howard, Pierce J.

In Howard's view, available books concerning the brain fall "into two categories: research reports and practical applications." His book is intended as "an explicit overlap between these two categories," and it succeeds nicely. It provides fascinating insight into the workings of the human brain and their implications. Its language is accessible to the lay reader but not simplistic; in this, it resembles Carl Sagan's popular works, and in fact, Howard may, like Sagan, be thought of as a popularizer who presents real science in an engaging and entertaining way. Moreover, the book is organized to be a useful reference as well as to be read cover to cover. Of particular interest is the "Quick content guide," which guides teachers, doctors, parents, salespeople, and other categories of reader to chapters they may find of special interest. Boxes containing relevant quotes from sages as diverse as Ogden Nash, Pythagoras, and Golda Meir accompany the text; and pithy observations on the thrust of the text appear in the margins. A wonderful combination of coffee-table book, engaging and informative reading experience, and handy reference. – Booklist

MAPS

A World Transformed / 1607: When Cultures Collided - Map

Verso: "When cultures collided," show a recreation of the Native American site, Wereowocomoco and the European colony of Jamestown .

8 Planets: The New Cosmic Order / 19 Trillion Miles to Explore - Map

"In a move that's already generating controversy and will force textbooks to be rewritten, Pluto will now be dubbed a dwarf planet. But it's no longer part of an exclusive club, since there are more than 40 of these dwarfs, including the large asteroid Ceres and 2003 UB313, nicknamed Xena - a distant object slightly larger than Pluto discovered by [astronomer Mike Brown, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena ] last year. 'We know of 44' dwarf planets so far, Brown said. 'We will find hundreds. It's a very huge category.' A clear majority of researchers voted for the new definition at a meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Prague , in the Czech Republic . The IAU decides the official names of all celestial bodies. The tough decision comes after a multiyear search for a scientific definition of the word 'planet.' The term never had an official meaning before. According to the new definition, a full-fledged planet is an object that orbits the sun and is large enough to have become round due to the force of its own gravity. In addition, a planet has to dominate the neighborhood around its orbit. Pluto has been demoted because it does not dominate its neighborhood. Charon, its large 'moon,' is only about half the size of Pluto, while all the true planets are far larger than their moons. In addition, bodies that dominate their neighborhoods, 'sweep up' asteroids, comets, and other debris, clearing a path along their orbits. By contrast, Pluto's orbit is somewhat untidy."

REFERENCE

2007 Encyclopædia Britannica

With over 1,100 new and updated entries, over 4,000 contributors, and 65,000 articles, the 2007 Encyclopædia Britannica is unsurpassed. In an age when anyone can post their version of the facts on the Internet, Encyclopædia Britannica maintains its reputation as the most trusted source of the information and ideas people need for work, school, and the sheer joy of discovery. The unique four-part organization of the traditional 32-volume set makes it the ideal Encyclopedia for every enquiry. The 12 volume “Micropædia” gives quick and concise answers with a summary of the essential facts and acts as a gateway to Knowledge in Depth. The 17 volume “Macropædia” Knowledge in Depth, gives you complete and thorough understanding in all subjects. The one-volume “Propædia” is the outline of knowledge, a guide to learning that will help you in pursuing any subject in depth. The two-volume “Index” is the key to Britannica. More than 720,000 references take you to the exact page you need, quickly and easily. With articles written by experts in their fields, including an extensive list of Nobel Prize-winning authors, Britannica has several thousand more entries than its nearest competitor with magnificent photographs, illustrations, maps, charts, and diagrams that bring the text to life. – from the publisher

Oxford Chinese Dictionary

An essential reference both for English-speakers learning Chinese and Chinese-speakers learning English, this brand new Oxford Chinese Dictionary offers authoritative, up-to-the-minute coverage, with over 88,000 words and phrases, and 130,000 translations in a practical format. The Dictionary 's clear layout makes it accessible and straightforward to use, and a detailed index system of radicals helps you find the entry you need quickly and easily. Chinese simplified characters, orthodox characters, and pinyin forms are given for each. Putonghua tones are included. The Dictionary has also been updated to include the very latest vocabulary, including bioterrorism, e-shopping, WAP phone, domain name, and SARS. The CD-ROM offers an essential and quick reference tool, eliminating the multi-stage look-up process in the print dictionary. The CD contains character recognition and audio pronunciations for 22,000 single-characters.

Talking Chinese Dictionary and Instant Translator - CD-ROM

CD-ROM offers a Chinese-English dictionary by entering Chinese, pinyin, or English words and phrases; assistance in reading Chinese documents, using pop-up windows to display pinyin form and English translation for each character as the mouse pointer is held over it; and full audio of Mandarin pronunciations for all single-character dictionary entries. Accompanies the Oxford Chinese Dictionary .

China - DK Publishing Staff

The DK travel guide helps you to get the most out of your trip to China , providing expert recommendations as well as detailed practical information. The opening chapter Introducing China maps the country and sets it in its historical and cultural context. Each of the seven regional sections is divided into area chapters that cover from one to three provinces each. Here you will find descriptions of the most important sights with maps, pictures and illustrations. Hotel and restaurant recommendations can be found in Travelers Needs . The Survival Guide contains practical information on everything from transport to personal safety. – from the publisher

Handbook to Life in Prehistoric Europe

This plump, densely packed compendium presents a comprehensive overview of human settlement and experience in Europe from its beginnings to about the period of the Roman conquest of the western regions. Obviously, such an enormous span of time is crammed with cultural development, the rise of new technologies, and dramatic changes in the realm of agriculture. Even the landscape and weather patterns were in flux as massive glaciers formed and retreated. Since this all occurred in a period prior to written history, McIntosh has used archaeological evidence to focus on what anonymous individuals and societies have left behind in the form of arts, crafts, husbandry, technology, and other such artifacts. While the table of contents can be used as an outline, the extensive index leads to the details. Thematic chapters are broken down into smaller and smaller units, such as Economy, leading to Domestic Animals, leading to Pigs. The black-and-white illustrations range from photos to archaeological drawings to artists' renderings. An almost overwhelming bibliography is appended, and suggestions for further reading based on this list are generously strewn throughout the text. Inordinately detailed, this is a gold mine for serious students absorbed in both sweeping topics and focused minutiae. Complex and comprehensive. – School Library Journal

The American Dictionary of Criminal Justice: Key Terms and Major Court Cases - Champion, Dean John

Over 5,000 terms, concepts, and names are included in the third edition. The dictionary includes numerous illustrations, figures, and tables that provide readers with visual portrayals of important criminal justice facts. The Supreme Court Cases section contains nine hundred and eighty of the most recent and significant leading U.S. Supreme Court cases that have been abridged in a short paragraph format to highlight the major facts, holdings, and rationales. The complete case citations are boldfaced in brackets for more complete information about the case principals (e.g., Penry v. Johnson , 532 U.S. 782, 121 S.Ct. 1910 (2001) [Johnny Paul PENRY, Petitioner, v. Gary L. JOHNSON, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division] ( Habeas Corpus Petitions; Jury Instructions; Sentencing).

Eileen McCabe Memorial Books

Thanks to a generous donation from the class of 1965

All Reference

Backgrounds to American Literature (5 volumes)

Backgrounds to American Literature examines the history, development, and people integral to the evolution of American literature. Ideal for middle and high school readers, this set places American Literature in its historical, cultural, and social context. Each volume explores a particular period's political, religious, cultural, economic, and social trends and discusses how they affected the literature of the time. From romanticism and transcendentalism to realism and regionalism, these engaging volumes completely cover the backgrounds of the major periods of American literature.

Each volume also includes:

•  A glossary of terms related to the period

•  A biographical glossary

•  Sidebars with extracts from notable works, biographical anecdotes, and more

•  A timeline of social, literary, and historical developments

•  Recommended works for further reading

•  Illustrations relating to the literature of the period

•  and more.

Accessible and easy-to-use, this set is ideal for students seeking a deeper understanding of American literature.

Volumes include:

•  Colonialism and the Revolutionary Period

•  Romanticism and Transcendentalism

•  American Realism and Regionalism

•  American Modernism

•  Contemporary American Literature .

Backgrounds to English Literature (5 volumes)

The five-volume Backgrounds to English Literature set puts English literature in context by providing the historical, cultural, and social background of each major period. Each volume is a basic introduction to the period: its history, leaders, important laws, social and religious movements, scientific developments, and details of daily life in different regions and classes within Great Britain . This set summarizes the literary genres of each period and discusses representative writers and works.

In The Renaissance readers discover a period that celebrated human potential and achievement and was defined by the Protestant Reformation and a creative burst in drama and poetry by the likes of Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Donne. Looking through The Romantics , they learn about the origins of romanticism, the age of revolution, and the economic, social, and artistic developments reflected in the work of such figures as Blake, Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, and Byron. The Victorians provides insight into a time of industrial growth, urbanization, and scientific and economic upheaval and the work of Dickens, Tennyson, and Hardy among others. The Modernist Period: 1900-1945 addresses the effect of two World Wars, an economic depression, and the resulting uncertainty, desperation, and cynicism expressed by English writers such as Eliot, Lawrence, Joyce, and Yeats. Post-War Literature 1945 to the Present explores the impact of decolonization, mass popular culture, women's liberation, and postmodernism on works by Orwell, Beckett, Atwood, Rushdie, and others.

Each volume includes:

•  A timeline of events in science, technology, the arts, literature, and history

•  A glossary of terms related to the period

•  A biographical glossary of major writers

•  Recommended books and Web sites for further research

•  Full-color illustrations of artwork and architecture related to the literature of each period.

Facts on File Companion to American Poetry (2 volumes)

The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry is a new and indispensable encyclopedic guide to American poetry with more than 1,200 entries, ranging in length from 500 to 1,500 words. Intended for high school and college students, this invaluable resource explores the various writers, works, themes, and movements of this intriguing literary genre.

Volume 1 contains entirely new material, including new entries on poems, and extensive, new coverage on poets before 1900. Volume 2 is a revised and updated edition of The Facts On File Companion to 20th-Century American Poetry , with more than 100 new entries added on important poems and recent poets. Appendixes include a general bibliography and a list of winners for major poetry prizes.

Coverage includes:

•  Poets, representing a range of styles, influences, and ethnicities, from the Puritan period to today's avant-garde and from the most widely studied and anthologized to the obscure but influential

•  Major poems

•  Important literary schools and movements in American poetry, including Abolitionist, Transcendentalist, Romantic, Beat, Imagist, Fugitive, Black Mountain, Deep Image, Objectivist, Language, and others

•  Influential periodicals, critical essays, and poetry collections

•  Major poetry awards and societies.

Facts on File Companion to Classical Drama

The great era of classical drama continues to be widely studied today. One of the most extensive works of its kind, The Facts On File Companion to Classical Drama examines the history and development of ancient Greek and Roman drama from the late sixth century B.C.E. through the first century C.E.. In a highly readable, A-to-Z format, approximately 400 entries cover the 80 complete plays that survived from the classical era; the major authors; the background, characters, and themes of the dramas; and the conventions and practices of their respective theaters. Appendixes include a complete list of authors and titles known to have existed. Authoritative enough for scholarly study, this accessible reference is also a perfect addition to high school and college classrooms.

Entries include:

•  Authors: Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Euripides, Menander, Seneca, Sophocles, Terence, and Plautus

•  Dramas: Agamemnon , Antigone , Oedipus Rex , The Suppliant Women , and more

•  Characters: divinities such as Apollo, Dionysus, Heracles, Prometheus, and Zeus, and mortals such as Clytemnestra, Achilles, Iphigenia, Orestes, and Oedipus

•  Settings: Athens , Thebes , Rome , Troy , and more

•  Genres: comedy, tragicomedy, tragedy, and satyr plays

•  Historical personages: Pericles, Themistocles, Augustus, Julius Caesar, and more

•  Concepts, themes, and theatrical terms: chorus, oracle, strophe, deus ex machina, and more.

Facts on File Companion to the British Novel (2 volumes)

A popular topic of study for high school and college courses, the British novel has influenced literature across the globe. Spanning the early 17th century to the modern day, this comprehensive reference offers a thorough study of the writers, works, and concepts important to this genre. In two authoritative volumes, The Facts On File Companion to the British Novel provides more than 1,000 entries, covering novels, novelists, and more from the British Isles as well as the British Commonwealth . Indexes, appendixes, bibliographies for many entries, a glossary of important terms, and extensive cross-references make this two-volume set the perfect companion to any classroom or course of study.

More than 1,000 entries cover:

•  Novels: from the early 18th-century Robinson Crusoe and Tom Jones to the late 19th-century Pride and Prejudice and David Copperfield to modernist classics like Ulysses and postcolonial works

•  Authors: including Martin Amis, Jane Austen, Joseph Conrad, Charles Dickens, Henry Fielding, Thomas Hardy, Kazuo Ishiguro, Henry James, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, George Orwell, Sir Walter Scott, J. R. R. Tolkien, Anthony Trollope, Evelyn Waugh, Virginia Woolf, and more

•  Influential periodicals

•  Subgenres

•  Concepts, terms, and themes: including Angry Young Men, Bloomsbury Group, epistolary novel, formalism, modernism, Newgate fiction, satire, and more.

Facts on File Companion to the World Novel, 1900 to the Present (2 volumes)

The Facts On File Companion to the World Novel, 1900 to the Present is a new two-volume reference guide featuring more than 600 entries on the world's greatest modern novels and novelists, including everything from acknowledged classics to the best of contemporary fiction. Written in a clear, engaging style with contributions from literary scholars around the world, this appealing work is an essential tool for students of great literature. The analyses of novels and biographies of authors are complemented by appendixes including a bibliography and a list of writers by geographic region.

Coverage includes:

•  Chinua Achebe

•  All Quiet on the Western Front

•  Isabel Allende

•  Albert Camus

•  Doctor Zhivago

•  Marguerite Duras

•  Umberto Eco

•  Carlos Fuentes

•  Gabriel García Márquez

•  Günter Grass

•  Ba Jin

•  Franz Kafka

•  Milan Kundera

•  Thomas Mann

•  Haruki Murakami

•  The Name of the Rose

•  Night

•  Norwegian Wood

•  Orhan Pamuk

•  Boris Pasternak

•  Marcel Proust

•  Erich Maria Remarque

•  José Saramago

•  The Stranger

•  The Tin Drum

•  Elie Wiesel

•  and much more.

Facts on File Companion to World Poetry, 1900 to the Present

The Facts On File Companion to World Poetry, 1900 to the Present is a comprehensive introduction to 20th and 21st-century world poets and their most famous, most distinctive, and most influential poems. Containing approximately 500 entries that span the globe and cover the most prominent writers from each continent and many of the world's islands, this indispensable guide is the perfect companion to poetry courses. Appendixes include a general bibliography, a list of poets by geographic region, and a list of Nobel Prize winners.

Coverage includes:

•  Poets, including Rainer Maria Rilke, Pablo Neruda, Léopold Senghor, Aimé Césaire, Derek Walcott, Anna Akhmatova, Rabindranath Tagore, Federico García Lorca, Bei Dao, and many more

•  Major poems, such as The Poems of Dr. Zhivago , Sonnets to Orpheus , and "Ode To Walt Whitman"

•  Important concepts and movements, such as field poetics and French rap.

Magill's Survey of American Literature (6 volumes)

Offers profiles of major U.S. and Canadian writers accompanied by analyses of their significant works in fiction, drama, poetry, and nonfiction.

Magill's Survey of American Literature , originally published in 1991 with a 1994 supplement, offered profiles of major U.S. authors of fiction, drama, and poetry, each with sections on biography, general analysis, and analysis of the author's most important works - novels, short stories, poems, plays, works of nonfiction. The Revised Edition updates these essays and adds many new ones, covering 339 writers at the heart of literary studies.

Expanding the Scope
For this edition, we added 73 new authors to the 266 already profiled. For the first time, Canadians are included, such as Margaret Atwood, Robertson Davies, Mavis Gallant, Anne Hébert, Farley Mowat, Alice Munro, and Michael Ondaatje.

In addition, an effort was made to cover even more minority and women writers. Also featured are authors of young adult literature, such as Judy Blume, M. E. Kerr, Madeleine L'Engle, Walter Dean Myers, Gary Paulsen, and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Bringing Things Up to Date
All the original essays were evaluated for their currency, and more than 100 were given substantial revision, in many cases by the original contributor. The "Biography," "Analysis," and "Summary" sections were updated to include recent developments: new titles or awards, changes in residence or employment, and alterations in critical and popular reception. For these essays, one or more sections on specific works (novels, poems, short stories) were added.

For all essays, the bibliographies--lists of the author's works and sources for further consultation--were revised to provide readers with the latest information.

A new feature for this edition is a sidebar in each essay called "Discussion Topics." They may address the writer's body of work, specific works, or life as it relates to his or her literature. Aimed at students, teachers, and members of reading groups, they can be used as paper topics or conversation points.

Critical Survey of Poetry (8 volumes)

ALA/RUSA Outstanding Reference Source. The Critical Survey of Poetry, Second Revised Edition combines all previously published essays in the Critical Survey of Poetry from the Foreign Language Series (1984), the Supplement (1987), and the English Language Series, Revised Edition (1992) into one eight-volume edition containing all 580 previously covered poets as well as 117 poets never before covered in any Salem Press publication. These poets are arranged alphabetically, from Dannie Abse through Louis Zukofsky, and range in diversity: They are as ancient as Ovid and as recent as Li-Young Lee; as culturally diverse as Yehuda Amichai and Aimé Césaire; as geographically divided as Australia 's Les Murray and Mexico 's Octavio Paz.

It was the editors' goal to present the poets most often addressed in North American secondary and university curricula, as well as to present new voices that have received recognition since the previous editions of more than a decade ago: More than 30 poets born in or after 1950 are included in these pages. Finally, the increasingly global and multinational/multiethnic nature of our world has dictated the combination of the previous English Language and Foreign Language editions of the Critical Survey of Poetry into this Second Revised Edition .

The “poet essays” found in volumes 1-7 vary in length, with none shorter than 2,000 words and most significantly longer. Each essay provides ready-reference top matter, including full birth and (where applicable) death data; full listings of literary works by genre, including first dates of publication in both languages where English translation was preceded by foreign-language publication; and bibliographical sources for further study.

The format of the articles is standardized to allow predictable and easy access to the types of information of interest to a variety of users. Each poet essay is broken into the following sections: Principal poetry, Other literary forms, Achievements, Biography, Analysis, several sections on discrete poems or poetry collections, Other major works, and Bibliography. All essays are signed by academicians.

The final volume is devoted to a block of 58 “overview essays” and research aids, divided into three sections: “Criticism and Theory (7 essays), “Poetry Around the World” (45 essays), and “Research Tools” (6 teaching aids and reference appendices). Of these overview essays and reference aids, 8 are completely new, and 23 have been updated. To each of the overview essays–most of which previously lacked bibliographies for further study–the editors or updaters have added a substantial Bibliography section listing critical and interpretive books and articles, as well as anthologies where appropriate and useful.

Critical Survey of Drama (8 volumes)

Critical Survey of Drama, Second Revised Edition , combines, updates, and expands two earlier sets, Critical Survey of Drama, Revised Edition, English Language Series , published in 1994, and Critical Survey of Drama, Foreign Language Series , published in 1986. The eight-volume revised set contains a total of 602 essays, of which 538 discuss individual dramatists and 64 cover overview topics. The set also contains a listing of major dramatic awards, a time line of drama history, a glossary, and bibliography.

Of the revised edition's 538 profiles of individual dramatists, 79 are completely new essays--mostly on playwrights who have recently come to be regarded as established figures in the theater. In addition to the entirely new author profiles, more than 88 profiles have been updated and revised to include the authors' new works and achievements, as well as developments in their personal lives. The bibliographies in these and all other author profiles have been updated and annotated. Besides listing new productions and publications and honors and awards, these essays provide analyses of significant new works.

Each essay on a dramatist provides such ready-reference material as birth and death dates, and a list of the author's major dramatic works (with dates of first production and publication). Each essay opens with a brief survey of the author's publications in literary forms other than drama, a summary of the writer's professional achievements and awards, an extended biographical sketch that centers on the writer's development as a dramatist, and an extensive critical analysis of the writer's major dramatic works. Following this discussion is a list of major publications in fields other than drama and an annotated bibliography of critical works about the author.

Overview essays, which are arranged under broad subject headings, cover dramatic traditions in the United States , the British Isles, Europe, Africa, Asia , and other parts of the world, as well as various genres and techniques. Among the more than 30 new overview essays added to this edition are original articles on Native American Drama, American Regional Theater, Asian Drama, Southeast Asian Drama, Melodrama, Deaf Theater, Feminist Theater, Political Theater, and Gay and Lesbian Theater. More than 25 of the original overview essays have been updated to reflect current trends in the theater. These revised essays include African American Drama, Irish Drama, French Drama Since the 1600's, Chinese Drama, Australian Drama, Musical Drama, and Experimental Theater.