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Books: Text Books: American Literature
Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right (Politics and Society in Twentieth Century America)by Lisa McGirr Available from Amazon $24.95 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page From Publishers Weekly Prototypical rather than typical, suburban Orange County, Calif., provides Harvard historian McGirr with an illuminating microcosm of the historical transformations that took conservative activism from the conspiracy-obsessed fringes of the John Birch Society to the election of Ronald Reagan, first as governor of California and then as president. Drawing heavily on interviews with grassroots activists as well as a wide range of primary documents, McGirr paints a complex picture exploring the apparent contradiction of powerfully antimodern social, political and religious philosophies thriving in a modern, technological environment and translating into sustained political activity. Federal spending, beginning in WWII and continuing with massive Cold War defense contracts and military bases, was the driving force behind Orange County's booming economy. A frontier-era mythos of rugged individualism, nurtured on hatred of eastern elites who funded western growth before Uncle Sam conveniently hid this dependency. The local dominance of unfettered private development chaotically disorganized in the county's northwest, corporately planned elsewhere destroyed existing communities, producing an impoverished public sphere, a vacuum conservative churches and political activism helped fill. Migrants primarily from nonindustrial regions became more conservative in reaction to the stresses of suburban modernity, while selectively assimilating benefits. Racial and class homogeneity nurtured a comforting conformity consciously defended against outside threats. United by enemies, libertarian and social conservatives rarely confronted their differences. Against this complex, contradictory background, McGirr charts the evolution of a movement culture through various stages, issues and forms of organizing. Incisive yet fair, this represents an important landmark in advancing a nuanced understanding of how antimodernist ideologies continue to thrive. 12 illus. Copyright 2001 Cahners business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.From Library Journal Orange County, CA, has been the home of anti-Communist John Birchers, apocalypse-prophesying evangelists, "cowboy capitalists" who demanded free enterprise and an unregulated economy, libertarians opposed to a centralized government and taxes, and thousands of voters angered by liberals. McGirr (history, Harvard) presents a deft investigation of how these citizens mastered grass-roots politics to shift the conservative movement from discredited clusters of extremists to respectability and dominant party status through the 1964 Republican presidential nomination of Barry Goldwater and the election of Ronald Reagan as California's governor in 1966. Although Orange County was arguably the most conservative county in America, it was, as the author concludes, mostly populated by middle- and upper-middle-class Republican professionals trying to protect their homes from what they viewed as a morally corrupt society. McGirr has not written the sweeping, spirited narrative that Rick Perlstein presented in his Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus (LJ 2/15/01), but she presents a focused, stimulating account that demonstrates that many of the best contemporary works on the Sixties are about the rise of the Right. Strongly recommended for academic libraries and recommended for larger public libraries. Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Township Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright 2001 Reed business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. |
The American Red Cross First Aid and Safety Handbookby American Red Cross and Kathleen A. Handal List Price: $18.95 Available from Amazon $12.32 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page From The WomanSource Catalog & Review: Tools for Connecting the Community for Women; Review by FGP I remember my mother keeping an old Red Cross first aid manual in the house when I was a kid; I would consult it whenever my teddy bear needed a sling or bandage. My bear survived, but I'm not sure what happened to that book. Happily, I found this new Handbook. It still has instructions for making slings, as well as current information for dealing with all sorts of emergencies from cuts and burns to electrocutions and strokes. Be sure to keep it with your first aid kit for on-the-spot reference. Excerpted from The American Red Cross First Aid & Safety Handbook (as appears in The WomanSource Catalog & Review). Copyright(c) 1992. Reprinted by permission, all rights reserved Animal and Human Bites: If you have an animal or a human bite, you generally need medical attention because of the likelihood of infection. * If the victim has been seriously wounded, call EMS. * If the victim was bitten by an animal, you will need to contact authorities so they can find out whether or not the animal was rabid. 1. Calm and reassure the victim. Put on latex gloves or wash your hands. |
The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Vintage)by Jane Jacobs List Price: $15.95 Available from Amazon $10.85 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page Product Review "The liveliness of her mind is a joy to behold, as is her common sense and a prose style uncluttered with the litter of empty jargonher book is well and timely met." - The Globe and Mail "This is vintage Jane Jacobs: quietly authoritative, profoundly accessible, and disdainful of the blinkered viewpoints of academic theorists." - The Calgary Herald "Witty, beautifully written--the culmination of Jacobs' previous thinking, and a step forward that deftly invokes a broader philosophical, even metaphysical, context." - Publishers Weekly "Jane Jacobs has become more than a person. She is an adjective." - Toronto Life From the Trade Paperback edition. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Book Description A classic since its publication in 1961, this book is the defintive statement on American cities: what makes them safe, how they function, and why all too many official attempts at saving them have failed. |
Writing the Popular Novelby Loren D. Estleman and John T. Lescroart List Price: $15.99 Available from Amazon $11.19 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page Book Description Bestselling author Loren D. Estleman has honed his craft throughout a career spanning more than 50 novels. Now readers can benefit from his expertise with Writing the Popular Novel. With engaging, uplifting advice, this book gives aspiring authors a guide to making their dreams come true and features: * An overview of literary genres and how to decide which one is best suited for the reader * Tips on how to conduct research(and how to make the leap from research to writing) * An in-depth look at dialogue, point of view, and other techniques As compelling as it is insightful, this book is the one you can't do without!
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You Are Being Lied To: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Mythsby Russ Kick List Price: $24.95 Available from Amazon $15.72 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page From Library Journal Containing expos?s on topics ranging from Columbus to Columbine, this collection of stimulating articles Disinformation Books' inaugural title challenges popular beliefs on the Big Bang and the depredations of hackers. Kick, author of Psychotropedia and a columnist for the Village Voice, has collected an impressive array of articles by such contributors as Sydney Schanberg of the New York Times, in which he asks why John McCain persistently blocks public disclosure of MIA files, and the lesser-known Jim Marrs, a Kennedy conspiracy zealot and freelance journalist who discusses missing data from historical tragedies, including the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations and the Lockerbie bombing. Do gay teens really constitute a suicidal risk group? Was Jesus a myth? The best articles will surely compel readers to pursue further reading; none should be accepted as exhaustive. Public libraries ought to invest in a copy to keep alongside other sources of skepticism; academic libraries will find the scholarship uneven but provocative. [You may obtain a free e-book copy of this title if you purchase the paperback from http://store.disinfor.com; the e-book may also be purchased separately for $8.85. Ed.] Robert C. Moore, ITworld.com, Southboro, M. - Robert C. Moore, ITworld.com, Southboro, MA Copyright 2001 Reed business Information, Inc. Counterpoise, Vol. 5, No. 3/4 " a bargain well worth owning" |
Polio: An American Story by David M. Oshinsky List Price: $30.00 Available from Amazon $18.90 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page From Publishers Weekly The key protagonists in historian Oshinsky's (Univ. of Texas, Austin) account of the bruising scientific race to create a vaccine are Jonas Salk, a proponent of a "killed-virus" vaccine, and Albert Sabin, who championed the "live-virus" vaccine. As revered as these men are in popular culture, Oshinsky records their contemporaries' less complimentary opinions (even Sabin's friends, for instance, describe him as "arrogant, egotistical and occasionally cruel"). Oshinsky (A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy, etc.) looks at social context, too, such as the impact of the March of Dimes campaign on public consciousness—and fear—of polio. Tying in the role polio victim FDR played in making the effort a national priority, the precursory scientific developments that aided Salk and Sabin's work, and the ethical dilemmas surrounding human testing, Oshinsky sometimes bogs down in details. But all in all, this is an edifying description of one of the most significant public health successes in U.S. history. 46 b&w photos not seen by PW. (Apr.) Copyright © Reed business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From School Library Journal Adult/High School–This well-grounded account documents the quest for a polio vaccine. It reveals professional rivalries and clinical breakthroughs, describes a new era in approaches to public philanthropy, and re-creates the tenor of American culture during the 1940s and '50s, when every city, suburb, and rural community faced potential tragedy from annual outbreaks of the disease. The decades-long contentious relationship between doctors Albert Sabin and Jonas Salk provides the centerpiece of this story. Virologists were split into two main camps: those pursuing the development of an attenuated live-virus vaccine versus those focusing on a killed-virus vaccine, with adherents of the latter believing it would prove not only safer and more effective, but also quicker and cheaper to mass produce. Historical context is provided by detailing how Franklin D. Roosevelt raised public awareness, how his influence led to the emergence of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis and the March of Dimes, and the subsequent creation of the poster child concept as a way of creating grassroots fundraising. The writing dramatically captures both tensions and ethical dimensions inherent in moving from laboratory work with monkeys to human experimentation and, eventually, to implementation of a massive inoculation program reaching 1.3 million schoolchildren in the 1954 Salk vaccine trials. While this part of the story and the public adulation of Salk have been told elsewhere, Oshinsky amplifies the tale with data explaining why the Sabin oral vaccine became the one preeminently adopted internationally, and why the debate has continued. Sixteen pages of arresting black-and-white photographs are included.–Lynn Nutwell, Fairfax City Regional Library, VA Copyright © Reed business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. |
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrongby James W. Loewen List Price: $16.00 Available from Amazon $10.08 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page From Publishers Weekly Sociology professor Loewen lambastes history textbooks as both too inaccurate and too bland to engage students. Copyright 1996 Reed business Information, Inc. From Booklist When textbook gaffes make news, as with the tome that explained that the Korean War ended when Truman dropped the atom bomb, the expeditious remedy would be to fire the editor. Loewen would rather hire a new team of authors bent on the pursuit of context instead of factoids. In Loewen's ideal text, events and people illuminating the multicultural holy trinity of race, gender, and social class would predominate over the fixation on heroes and acts of government. Such is the mood adopted throughout this critique of 12 American history texts in current use. Vetting 10 topics they commonly address--from the Pilgrims to the Vietnam War--Loewen bewails a long train of alleged omissions and distortions. To account for the deplorable situation, he offers this quasi-Marxist explanation: "Perhaps we are all dupes, manipulated by elite white male capitalists who orchestrate how history is written as part of their scheme to perpetuate their own power and privilege at the expense of the rest of us." Certainly students' appalling ignorance of history is troublesome, and broken families and excessive TV viewing are at least the equals of white male conspirators as the cause. However, libraries located where dissatisfaction with textbooks exists should be interested in Loewen's critique. Gilbert Taylor --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. |
Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned (Don't Know Much About...)by Kenneth C. Davis List Price: $13.95 Available from Amazon $10.74 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page Product Review Finally, someone who tells history like it was, without the old textbook gloss that's put so many students into premature naptime and misinformed the few who stayed awake. Davis corrects the myths and misconceptions from Columbus up through the Clinton administration, and shows that truth is more entertaining than propaganda. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Amazon.com Audiobook Review Kenneth Davis's aim in this program, as it is in all the titles of this popular series, is to make learning relevant and fun. He succeeds marvelously. Davis has an easygoing style and a good sense of humor. And most importantly, he knows how to present the "big picture." His history of the United States is not a series of isolated incidents that happened long ago with no bearing on contemporary American life. Listening to this presentation, we recognize patterns, notice how problems of the past resurface in our own present, and realize that history is what makes us today. We are also presented with a look at American history that is far more honest than anything gleaned from traditional textbooks. Heroes and villains alike are presented, warts and all, and the "less savory moments" in America's past are discussed frankly. For, as Davis explains, "the real picture is much more interesting than the historical tummy tuck." The theme running through the program, from pre-European settlement to the Reagan years, is the struggle for power--the never-ending battle between the haves and have-nots that is the "essence of history." Six hundred years of history are broken up into manageable segments though a series of questions (spoken in a number of different voices to help distinguish them from the main narration), each of which is given a specific answer and then discussed in the context of its contemporary setting and perhaps past and future events. This is a crash course that focuses on the basics but will inspire listeners to want to know more--which is really what learning's all about. (Running time: six hours, four cassettes) --Uma Kukathas --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. |
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