Home Publications College & Research Libraries News index.xml February New Publications

NEW PUBLICATIONS

C&RL News, February 2006
Vol. 67, No. 2

by George Eberhart

American Babel: Rogue Radio Broadcasters of the Jazz Age, by Clifford J. Doerksen (157 pages, June 2005), explores the impact of independent radio stations of the 1920s—those that were not affiliates of Westinghouse, GE, AT&T, or RCA—on popular culture and broadcasting preferences. Doerksen profiles WHN of New York City, which featured hot jazz and lowbrow nightclub shows, and went against contemporary opinion by pioneering commercial sponsorships; WHAP of New York City, a classical station with an overtly racist and nativist agenda; KWKH of Shreveport, home of pioneer shock jock William K. Henderson; and WCBD of Zion, Illinois, a beacon of gospel music and evangelical fundamentalism. The author has rewritten conventional radio history by looking in some unusual places. $34.95. University of Pennsylvania. ISBN 0-8122-3871-0.

Death Rays, Jet Packs, Stunts and Superstars: The Fantastic Physics of Film’s Most Celebrated Secret Agent, by Barry Parker (231 pages, December 2005), reveals the secrets behind Q’s gadgets and 007’s cars and physical stunts. Parker, a physics professor at Idaho State University and a big James Bond fan, looks at the mechanics of skiing and bungee jumping, lasers and holograms, minijets and autogyros, magic pens and homing devices, car chases and speedboats, and the ballistics of rockets and bullets. Not as detailed as Mark C. Glassy’s The Biology of Science Fiction Cinema (McFarland, 2001), but a fun romp with a handful of equations, charts, and diagrams. $25.00. Johns Hopkins University. ISBN 0-8018-8248-6.

A Farewell to Justice: Jim Garrison, JFK’s Assassination, and the Case That Should Have Changed History, by Joan Mellen (545 pages, November 2005), is one of two recently published books that have rekindled intense debate among JFK scholars. Mellen sifts over old and new evidence surrounding New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison’s prosecution of Clay Shaw as a conspirator, and makes a convincing case that the CIA was closely involved in the murder. This conclusion is hard—but perhaps not impossible—to square with that of the other book, Ultimate Sacrifice, by Lamar Waldron with Thom Hartmann (912 pages, November 2005), which asserts (just as convincingly) that Kennedy’s death was orchestrated by three Mafia dons, under investigation by the Justice Department, who knew that he and his brother Robert were planning a coup and invasion of Cuba in December 1963 and figured that the government would go to any length to keep the operation secret to avoid a nuclear war with the Soviet Union—including a massive cover-up of the assassination involving the CIA-operated patsy, Lee Harvey Oswald. In addition to new analysis of the Zapruder film that clearly disposes of the single-bullet theory (see David R. Wrone, The Zapruder Film, University Press of Kansas, 2001, and the “stabilized” footage at www.jfkmurdersolved.com/film/Zapruderstable.mov), these two books effectively sink both the Warren Commission report and Gerald Posner’s Case Closed (Random House, 1993). A Farewell to Justice, $29.95, Potomac Books, ISBN 1-57488-973-7. Ultimate Sacrifice, $33.00, Carroll & Graf, ISBN 0-7867-1441-7.

Herbert Putnam: A 1903 Trip to Europe, edited by John D. Knowlton (115 pages, September 2005), presents a snapshot of the mind of Librarian of Congress and ALA President Herbert Putnam (1861–1955) through the letters he wrote to his wife and daughters while on a trip through Great Britain, Holland, Germany, Scandinavia, and Russia. He dines and plays golf with Andrew Carnegie, who warns that “he is in retreat and doesn’t want to talk libraries or hear about libraries.” Extensively annotated by Knowlton, the correspondence reflects Putnam’s bibliographic interests and cultural tastes, as well as the sights and society of turn-of-the-century Europe. $25.00. Scarecrow. ISBN 0-8108-5172-5.

Historical Dictionary of Afghan Wars, Revolutions, and Insurgencies, by Ludwig W. Adamec (401 pages, 2nd ed., October 2005), serves as a quick reference to Afghan people, events, and issues from the Middle Ages to the present. Entries are shorter than those in Frank A. Clements, Conflict in Afghanistan: A History (ABC-CLIO, 2003), but more numerous. With an extensive chronology, historical introduction, and helpful bibliography, this volume updates the 1996 edition to mid-2005. $70.00. Scarecrow. ISBN 0-8108-4948-8.

The Indian Interviews of Eli S. Ricker, 1903–1919, edited by Richard E. Jensen (495 pages, October 2005), contains interviews conducted by Nebraska judge Eli S. Ricker (1843–1926) with Indian eyewitnesses to the Wounded Knee massacre, the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and other events that were already fading from memory when he began to gather information for a book he planned to write but never completed. Ricker was rare among his contemporaries in that he saw the Native American viewpoint of American history as valid as the white man’s version. A second volume, The Settler and Soldier Interviews of Eli S. Ricker, 1903–1919, focuses on the occupiers. Each volume, $55.00. University of Nebraska. ISBN 0-8032-3949-4 (vol. 1) and 0-8032-3967-8 (vol. 2).

The Oxford History of Christian Worship, edited by Geoffrey Wainwright and Karen B. Westerfield Tucker (916 pages, December 2005), examines the worldwide traditions of Christian liturgy from the apostolic era to the ecumenical convergences of the late 20th century. The volume’s 38 contributors provide an in-depth scholarly examination of both Catholic and Protestant ritual by time, place, and topic, with special looks at women in worship, liturgical music, the spatial setting, visual arts, and vestments and ritual objects. An essential overview for theological collections. $55.00. Oxford University. ISBN 0-19-513886-4.

Another recent Oxford title is The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, edited by Ted Honderich (1056 pages, 2nd ed., July 2005), which provides succinct academic definitions of 2,230 philosophical concepts, terms, techniques, schools, and individuals. Appendixes include logical symbols, maps of philosophy, and a chronology. $60.00. ISBN 0-19-926479-1.

Wave of Destruction, by Erich Krauss (244 pages, December 2005), follows the fortunes of four families in Ban Nam Khem, Thailand, during and after the devastating tsunami of December 26, 2004. Krauss, who happened to be in the country for a martial arts competition, joined the relief effort and felt compassion for the people he met who had lost everything. He decided to tell their harrowing stories and draw attention to the fate of this fishing village 80 miles north of the resort beaches at Phuket. We meet Wimon, who managed to survive four successive 40-foot waves in a rickety fishing boat; Nang, who saved herself by climbing to the top of a tall coconut tree; Dang, who fought a corrupt mining company to gain access to land where her family and neighbors were lying dead; the blind masseuse Puek and his wife Lek, who endured the horrors of a refugee camp; and the policemen, doctors, and nurses who had to improvise services during an unimaginable emergency in a place where life was hard even before the waves hit. $24.95. Rodale. ISBN 1-59486-378-4.

George M. Eberhart is senior editor of American Libraries, e-mail: geberhart@ala.org