Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Library Hours During Finals



The library’s hours during finals will be:

Thursday, May 2nd         7:45 am – 1:00 am
Friday, May 3rd                 7:45 am – 6:00 pm
Saturday, May 4th           10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sunday, May 5th              2:00 pm1:00 am
Monday, May 6th            7:45 am – 1:00 am
Tuesday, May 7th            7:45 am – 1:00 am
Wed., May 8th                  7:45 am – 6:00 pm
Thursday, May 9th          7:45 am – 4:30 pm
Friday, May 10th              Closed (Graduation)
Saturday, Sunday             Closed

Aging Our Way






Loe, Meika. Aging Our Way: Lessons for Living from 85 and Beyond. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

Call no.: 646.79 L822a

Publisher's Description: In 1998, Hallmark unveiled their new "One-Hundredth-Birthday" cards, and by 2007 annual sales were at 85,000. America is rapidly graying: between now and 2030, the number of people in the U.S. over the age of 80 is expected to almost triple. But how long people live raises the question of how well they live.

Aging Our Way follows the everyday lives of 30 elders (ages 85-102) living at home and mostly alone to understand how they create and maintain meaningful lives for themselves. Drawing on the latest interdisciplinary scholarship on aging and three years of interviews with the elders, Meika Loe explores how elders navigate the practical challenges of living as independently as possible while staying healthy, connected, and comfortable. While most books on the subject treat old age as a social problem and elders as simply diminished versions of their former selves, Aging Our Way views them as they really are: lively, complicated, engaging people finding creative ways to make their aging as meaningful and manageable as possible. In their own voices, elders describe how they manage everything from grocery shopping, doctor appointments, and disability, to creating networks of friends and maintaining their autonomy. In many ways, these elders can serve as role models. The lessons they have learned about living in moderation, taking time for themselves, asking for help, keeping a sense of humor, caring for others, and preparing for death provide an invaluable source of wisdom for anyone hoping to live a long and fulfilling life. Through their stories, Loe helps us to think about aging, well-being, and the value of human relationships in new ways.

Written with remarkable warmth and depth of understanding, Aging Our Way offers a vivid look at a group of people who too often remain invisible--those who have lived the longest--and all they have to teach us.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Sociology/IndividualinSociety/?view=usa&ci=9780199797905

Monday, April 29, 2013

Understanding Iran






Polk, William R. Understanding Iran: Everything You Need to Know, From Persia to the Islamic Republic, From Cyrus to Ahmadinejad. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

Call no.: 955 P749u

Publisher's Description: William R. Polk provides an informative, readable history of a country which is moving quickly toward becomingthe dominant power and culture of the Middle East. A former member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Council, Polk describes a country and a history misunderstood by many in the West. While Iranians chafe under the yolk of their current leaders, they also have bitter memories of generations of British, Russian and American espionage, invasion, and dominance. There are important lessons to be learned from the past, and Polk teases them out of a long and rich history and shows that it is not just now, but for decades to come that an understanding of Iran will be essential to American safety and well-being.

Publisher's Book Page: http://us.macmillan.com/understandingiran/WilliamRPolk

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Orthodoxy






Chesterton, G. K. Orthodoxy. New York: Doubleday, 2001.

Call no.: FDC 239.9 C420o

Publisher's Description: Chesterton's timeless exploration of the essentials of Christian faith and of his pilgrimage to belief (more than 750,000 copies sold in the Image edition) is now reissued with an incisive Introduction by bestselling author Philip Yancey.

For G.K. Chesterton, orthodoxy carries us into the land of romance, right action, and revolution. In Orthodoxy, a classic in religious autobiography, he tells of his pilgrimage there by way of the doctrines of Christianity set out in the Apostles' Creed.

Where science seeks to explain all things in terms of calculation and necessary law, Chesterton argues on behalf of the Christian doctrines of mystery and free will. Sanity, he says, belongs to the poet who accepts the romance and drama of these beliefs rather than to the logician who does not. This sanity is not static. It does not mean merely learning the right doctrines and then lapsing into a refined meditation on them. Chesterton dismisses such an inactive belief as "the greatest disaster of the nineteenth century." For him, right thinking is a waste without right action.

For Chesterton the populist, political ction often spells revolution. He discovers in the doctrines of original sin and the divinity of Christ ever-present seedbeds of revolt in the face of the tyrannies of money and power.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Midnight on the Line






Gaynor, Tim. Midnight on the Line: The Secret Life of the U.S.-Mexico Border. New York: Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's, 2009.

Call no.: 364.137 G256m

Publisher's Description: A probing, ground-level investigation of illegal immigration and the people on both sides of the battle to secure the U.S.–Mexico border.


With illegal immigration burning as a contentious issue in American politics, Reuters reporter Tim Gaynor went into the underbelly of the border and to the heart of illegal immigration: along the 45-mile trek down the illegal alien “superhighway.” Through scorpion-strewn trails with Mexican migrants and drug smugglers, he met up with a legendary group of Native American trackers called the Shadow Wolves, and traveled through the extensive network of tunnels, including the “Great Tunnel” from Tijuana to Otay Mesa, California. Along the way, Gaynor also meets Minutemen and exposes corruption among the Border Patrol agents who exchange sex or money for helping smugglers.

The issue of illegal immigration has a complexity beyond any of the political rhetoric. Combining top-notch investigative journalism with a narrative style that delves into the human condition, Gaynor reveals the day-to-day realities on both sides of “the line.”


Publisher's Book Page: http://us.macmillan.com/midnightontheline/TimGaynor

Friday, April 26, 2013

A High Price






Byman, Daniel. A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

Call no.: 363.325 B994h

Publisher's Description: The product of painstaking research and countless interviews, A High Price offers a nuanced, definitive historical account of Israel's bold but often failed efforts to fight terrorist groups. Beginning with the violent border disputes that emerged after Israel's founding in 1948, Daniel Byman charts the rise of Yasir Arafat's Fatah and leftist groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine--organizations that ushered in the era of international terrorism epitomized by the 1972 hostage-taking at the Munich Olympics. Byman reveals how Israel fought these groups and others, such as Hamas, in the decades that follow, with particular attention to the grinding and painful struggle during the second intifada. Israel's debacles in Lebanon against groups like the Lebanese Hizballah are examined in-depth, as is the country's problematic response to Jewish terrorist groups that have struck at Arabs and Israelis seeking peace. In surveying Israel's response to terror, the author points to the coups of shadowy Israeli intelligence services, the much-emulated use of defensive measures such as sky marshals on airplanes, and the role of controversial techniques such as targeted killings and the security barrier that separates Israel from Palestinian areas. Equally instructive are the shortcomings that have undermined Israel's counterterrorism goals, including a disregard for long-term planning and a failure to recognize the long-term political repercussions of counterterrorism tactics.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Politics/ComparativePolitics/MiddleEast/?view=usa&ci=9780199931781

Thursday, April 25, 2013

We Must Not Be Afraid to Be Free






Collins, Ronald K. L. and Chaltain, Sam. We Must Not Be Afraid to Be Free: Stories of Free Expression in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

Call no.: 342.730853 C696w

Publisher's Description: In a stinging dissent to a 1961 Supreme Court decision that allowed the Illinois state bar to deny admission to prospective lawyers if they refused to answer political questions, Justice Hugo Black closed with the memorable line, "We must not be afraid to be free." Black saw the First Amendment as the foundation of American freedom--the guarantor of all other Constitutional rights. Yet since free speech is by nature unruly, people fear it. The impulse to curb or limit it has been a constant danger throughout American history.

In We Must Not Be Afraid to Be Free, Ron Collins and Sam Chaltain, two noted free speech scholars and activists, provide authoritative and vivid portraits of free speech in modern America. The authors offer a series of engaging accounts of landmark First Amendment cases, including bitterly contested cases concerning loyalty oaths, hate speech, flag burning, student anti-war protests, and McCarthy-era prosecutions. The book also describes the colorful people involved in each case--the judges, attorneys, and defendants--and the issues at stake. Tracing the development of free speech rights from a more restrictive era--the early twentieth century--through the Warren Court revolution of the 1960s and beyond, Collins and Chaltain not only cover the history of a cherished ideal, but also explain in accessible language how the law surrounding this ideal has changed over time.

Essential for anyone interested in this most fundamental of our rights, We Must Not Be Afraid to Be Free provides a definitive and lively account of our First Amendment and the price courageous Americans have paid to secure them.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Law/ConstitutionalLaw/?view=usa&ci=9780195175721

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Europe's Angry Muslims






Leiken, Robert S. Europe's Angry Muslims: The Revolt of the Second Generation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Call no.: 908.8297 L533e

Publisher's Description: Bombings in London, riots in Paris, terrorists in Germany, fury over mosques, veils and cartoons--such headlines underscore the tensions between Muslims and their European hosts. Did too much immigration, or too little integration, produce Muslim second-generation anger? Is that rage imported or spawned inside Europe itself? What do the conflicts between Muslims and their European hosts portend for an America encountering its own angry Muslims?

Europe's Angry Muslims traces the routes, expectations and destinies of immigrant parents and the plight of their children, transporting both the general reader and specialist from immigrants' ancestral villages to their strange new-fangled enclaves in Europe. It guides readers through Islamic nomenclature, chronicles the motive force of the Islamist narrative, offers them lively portraits of jihadists (a convict, a convert, and a community organizer) takes them inside radical mosques and into the minds of suicide bombers. The author interviews former radicals and security agents, examines court records and the sermons of radical imams and draws on a lifetime of personal experience with militant movements to present an account of the explosive fusion of Muslim immigration, Islamist grievance and second-generation alienation.

Robert Leiken shines an unsentimental and yet compassionate light on Islam's growing presence in the West, combining in-depth reporting with cutting-edge and far-ranging scholarship in an engaging narrative that is both moving and mordant. Leiken's nuanced and authoritative analysis--historical, sociological, theological and anthropological--warns that "conflating rioters and Islamists, folk and fundamentalist Muslims, pietists and jihadis, immigrants and their children is the method of strategic incoherence--'in the night all cats are black.'"

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Politics/InternationalStudies/InternationalSecurityStrategicSt/?view=usa&ci=9780195328974

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Imagining the Middle East






Jacobs, Matthew F. Imagining the Middle East: The Building of an American Foreign Policy, 1918-1967. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011.

Call no.: 327.73056 J153i

Publisher's Description: As its interests have become deeply tied to the Middle East, the United States has long sought to develop a usable understanding of the people, politics, and cultures of the region. In Imagining the Middle East, Matthew Jacobs illuminates how Americans' ideas and perspectives about the region have shaped, justified, and sustained U.S. cultural, economic, military, and political involvement there.

Jacobs examines the ways in which an informal network of academic, business, government, and media specialists interpreted and shared their perceptions of the Middle East from the end of World War I through the late 1960s. During that period, Jacobs argues, members of this network imagined the Middle East as a region defined by certain common characteristics--religion, mass politics, underdevelopment, and an escalating Arab-Israeli-Palestinian conflict--and as a place that might be transformed through U.S. involvement. Thus, the ways in which specialists and policymakers imagined the Middle East of the past or present came to justify policies designed to create an imagined Middle East of the future. Jacobs demonstrates that an analysis of the intellectual roots of current politics and foreign policy is critical to comprehending the styles of U.S. engagement with the Middle East in a post-9/11 world.


Publisher's Book Page: http://www.uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=2122

Monday, April 22, 2013

Family Pictures






Green, Jane. Family Pictures. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2013.

Call No.: F GRE

Publisher's Description:  New York Times bestseller Jane Green delivers a riveting novel about two women whose lives intersect when a shocking secret is revealed.

 
From the author of Another Piece of My Heart comes Family Pictures, the gripping story of two women who live on opposite coasts but whose lives are connected in ways they never could have imagined.  Both women are wives and mothers to children who are about to leave the nest for school.  They're both in their forties and have husbands who travel more than either of them would like.  They are both feeling an emptiness neither had expected.  But when a shocking secret is exposed, their lives are blown apart.  As dark truths from the past reveal themselves, will these two women be able to learn to forgive, for the sake of their children, if not for themselves?


Publisher's Book Page: http://us.macmillan.com/familypictures/JaneGreen

War: What Is It Good For?






Phillips, Kimberley L. War! What Is It Good For?: Black Freedom Struggles and the U.S. Military From World War II to Iraq. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012.

Call no.: 355.0089 P544w

Publisher's Description: African Americans' long campaign for "the right to fight" forced Harry Truman to issue his 1948 executive order calling for equality of treatment and opportunity in the armed forces. In War! What Is It Good For?, Kimberley Phillips examines how blacks' participation in the nation's wars after Truman's order and their protracted struggles for equal citizenship galvanized a vibrant antiwar activism that reshaped their struggles for freedom.


Using an array of sources--from newspapers and government documents to literature, music, and film--and tracing the period from World War II to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Phillips considers how federal policies that desegregated the military also maintained racial, gender, and economic inequalities. Since 1945, the nation's need for military labor, blacks' unequal access to employment, and discriminatory draft policies have forced black men into the military at disproportionate rates. While mainstream civil rights leaders considered the integration of the military to be a civil rights success, many black soldiers, veterans, and antiwar activists perceived war as inimical to their struggles for economic and racial justice and sought to reshape the civil rights movement into an antiwar black freedom movement. Since the Vietnam War, Phillips argues, many African Americans have questioned linking militarism and war to their concepts of citizenship, equality, and freedom.


Publisher's Book Page: http://www.uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=2203

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Quality with Soul






Benne, Robert. Quality with Soul: How Six Premier Colleges and Universities Keep Faith with Their Religious Traditions. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001.

Call no.: FDC 377.8 B439q

Publisher's Description: This book demonstrates that, despite much evidence to the contrary, there are still Christian colleges and universities of high academic quality that have also kept their religious heritages publicly relevant. Respected scholar Robert Benne explores how six schools from six different religious traditions (Calvin College, Wheaton College, St. Olaf College, Valparaiso University, Baylor University, and the University of Notre Dame) have maintained "quality with soul." These constructive case studies examine the vision, ethos, and personnel policies of each school, showing how--and why--its religious foundation remains strong.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

The Holocaust






Haugen, David and Musser, Susan, eds. The Holocaust. (Perspectives on Modern World History). Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011.

Call no.: J 940.5318 H741h

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.gale.cengage.com/servlet/ItemDetailServletCr?region=9&imprint=070&titleCode=GPMWHL&cf=p&type=3&id=257673

Friday, April 19, 2013

The Storyteller






Picoult, Jodi. The Storyteller. New York: Atria, 2013.

Call no.: F PIC

Publisher's Description: Some stories live forever . . . 


Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day’s breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother’s death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage’s grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can’t, and they become companions.

Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret—one that nobody else in town would ever suspect—and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged, and the integrity of the closest friend she’s ever had clouded, Sage begins to question the assumptions and expectations she’s made about her life and her family. When does a moral choice become a moral imperative? And where does one draw the line between punishment and justice, forgiveness and mercy?

In this searingly honest novel, Jodi Picoult gracefully explores the lengths we will go in order to protect our families and to keep the past from dictating the future.


Publisher's Book Page: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Storyteller/Jodi-Picoult/9781439102763

Lincoln on War






Holzer, Harold, ed. Lincoln on War: Our Greatest Commander-in-Chief Speaks to America. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin, 2011.

Call no.: 973.7 L638ho

Publisher's Description: President Lincoln used his own weapons—his words— to fight the Civil War as brilliantly as any general who ever took the field. In Lincoln on War, historian Harold Holzer gathers and interprets Lincoln’s speeches, letters, memoranda, orders, telegrams, and casual remarks, organizing them chronologically and allowing readers to experience Lincoln’s growth from an eager young Indian War officer to a middle-aged dove congressman to a surprisingly hardened and determined hawk as the Union’s commander-in-chief.

We observe a man willing to sacrifice life and treasure in unprecedented quantities, to risk wounding the pride of vain generals, and even to mislead the public if it meant the preservation of an unbreakable union of states, the destruction of slavery, and the restoration of America as an example to inspire the world. This volume covers strategy; tactics; the endless hiring, sustaining, motivating, and dismissal of commanders; military discipline; and military technology. Modern commanders-in-chief have repeatedly quoted Lincoln to justify their own wars, so it behooves us as citizens to know Lincoln’s record well. From masterpieces such as the Gettysburg Address to lesser-known meditations on God’s purposes, Lincoln on War is the first book to highlight exclusively Lincoln’s sublime and enduring words on war.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.workman.com/products/9781565123786/

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Roman Mythology






Nardo, Don. Roman Mythology. (Mythology and Culture Worldwide.) Detroit: Lucent Books, 2012.

Call no.: J 292.07 N166r

Publisher's book page: http://www.gale.cengage.com/servlet/ItemDetailServletCr?region=9&imprint=070&titleCode=LMCWL&cf=p&type=3&id=265779

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Calling Me Home






Kibler, Julie. Calling Me Home. New York: St. Martin's, 2013.

Call no.: F KIB

Book Description: Sixteen-year-old Isabelle McAllister longs to escape the confines of her northern Kentucky hometown, but after her family's housekeeper's son rescues her from a Newport drunk, the boundaries seem smaller than ever. 


Falling for a black boy in late 1930s Kentucky isn't just illegal, it's dangerous. Signs at the city limits warn Negroes, “Don’t let the sun set on you here.” Despite repeated warnings, Isabelle and Robert disregard the racial divide, starting a chain of events that threatens jobs, lives, and generations to come.

Decades later, black hairstylist Dorrie Curtis agrees to drive her elderly white client cross-country to a funeral. Over the years, Miss Isabelle has become more than just a customer, but the timing couldn't be worse. First, Dorrie's seeing a man she's afraid she could fall for, but one thing is more obvious than ever: Trust is not her strong suit. Second, she knows her teenager's in big trouble; he just hasn’t told her yet. 

When a phone call from home confirms Dorrie's fears, Miss Isabelle's tale of forbidden love illuminates Dorrie’s dilemma, merging the past and present in a journey with unexpected detours and a bittersweet destination.


Author's Web Site: http://juliekibler.com/calling_me_home

The Internment of Japanese Americans






Hay, Jeff, ed. The Internment of Japanese Americans. (Perspectives on Modern World History.) Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012.

Call no.: J 940.531773 In8h

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.gale.cengage.com/servlet/ItemDetailServletCr?region=9&imprint=070&titleCode=GPMWHL&cf=p&type=3&id=262408

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The Korean War






Immell, Myra, ed. The Korean War. (Perspectives on Modern World History.) Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011.

Call no.: J 951.9042 K841i

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.gale.cengage.com/servlet/ItemDetailServletCr?region=9&imprint=070&titleCode=GPMWHL&cf=p&type=3&id=262410

Monday, April 15, 2013

Ghana Must Go






Selasi, Taiye. Ghana Must Go. New York: Penguin, 2013.

Call No.: F SEL

Publisher's Description: Kweku Sai is dead. A renowned surgeon and failed husband, he succumbs suddenly at dawn outside his home in suburban Accra. The news of Kweku’s death sends a ripple around the world, bringing together the family he abandoned years before. Ghana Must Go is their story. Electric, exhilarating, beautifully crafted, Ghana Must Go is a testament to the transformative power of unconditional love, from a debut novelist of extraordinary talent.

Moving with great elegance through time and place, Ghana Must Go charts the Sais’ circuitous journey to one another. In the wake of Kweku’s death, his children gather in Ghana at their enigmatic mother’s new home. The eldest son and his wife; the mysterious, beautiful twins; the baby sister, now a young woman: each carries secrets of his own. What is revealed in their coming together is the story of how they came apart: the hearts broken, the lies told, the crimes committed in the name of love. Splintered, alone, each navigates his pain, believing that what has been lost can never be recovered—until, in Ghana, a new way forward, a new family, begins to emerge.

Ghana Must Go is at once a portrait of a modern family, and an exploration of the importance of where we come from to who we are. In a sweeping narrative that takes us from Accra to Lagos to London to New York, Ghana Must Go teaches that the truths we speak can heal the wounds we hide.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781594204494,00.html?Ghana_Must_Go_Taiye_Selasi

Ten Tortured Words






Mansfield, Stephen. Ten Tortured Words: How the Founding Fathers Tried to Protect Religion in America . . . and What's Happened Since. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007.

Call no.: 342.730852 M317t

Publisher's Description: In the steamy summer of 1787, as America's founding fathers fashioned their Constitution, they told the most powerful institution in their new nation what it must not do:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

Few Americans understand the miracle in world history these ten words represent. For the first time in human experience, the legislative power of a nation was forbidden from legislating the conscience of man. And for over one hundred and fifty years, religion flourished, institutions of faith multiplied, and revivals transformed whole communities. Th elected representatives of the people often called for days of prayer, recognizing that religion is essential to national character.

So what happened? Why is it that today a cross-shaped memorial or a religious symbol in a city seal is considered a violation of the Constitution? Why are pastors threatened if they speak out about politics and children kept from even asking about religion in the public schools?

Ten Tortured Words separates historical fact from fiction, illuminating the events and personalities that shaped the writing of the Establishment Clause. In his straightforward, award-winning style, cultural historian Stephen Mansfield interprets the societal shifts that have led to the current rift between religion and politics, and takes a surprising look at what lies ahead for freedom of religion in America.


Publisher's Book Page: http://www.thomasnelson.com/ten-tortured-words.html

Sunday, April 14, 2013

God's Pursuit of Man






Tozer, A. W. God's Pursuit of Man. 2nd WingSpread ed. Camp Hill, Penn.: WingSpread Publishers, 2007.

Call no.: FDC 231.7 T669g

Publisher's Description: Tozer's profound "prequel" to The Pursuit of God. Previously published as The Divine Conquest and The Pursuit of Man, WingSpread Publishers has released this book with a new title that better describes Tozer's original intention for this book. Although written two years after the publication of The Pursuit of God, Tozer's God's Pursuit of Man speaks fervently of God's desire for man to be saved and the action He takes as He "invades" the human soul. A beautiful new cover will reach a whole new generation of readers.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Castles






Stephenson, Charles, ed. Castles: A History of Fortified Structures, Ancient, Medieval & Modern. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2011.

Call no.: 728.81 C279s

Publisher's Description: While the word “castle” conjures up an image of the classic medieval stone edifice, resplendent with towers and turrets, battlements and barbicans, and the odd oubliette, the impulse to build defensive works is as old as civilization itself; and the evolution of such architecture not only encompasses global cultures but is also a physical expression of the changing face of military tactics and technology.


Castles takes a uniquely architectural approach to deconstructing all forms of fortification, showing how the work of architect, stonemason, and engineer evolved to repel the increasingly destructive power of an attack, from siege engine to artillery. While the medieval castle is analyzed in detail, the book addresses a broad chronology of defenses—from the earliest fortresses and walled cities of the ancient world through to the point in the 19th century when modern weapons forced armies underground. Castles uses stylish two-tone engravings to dissect a wealth of examples from both western and eastern cultures; “anatomies” that annotate the classic structures for both their architectural and military significance; and “Then and Now” features that offer unique comparisons between castles in their pomp as depicted in illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, maps, and paintings, and matching color photographs of those same castles as they appear today. This architectural review of soaring towers and redoubtable walls provides both a fascinating narrative and an essential visual reference for the general and military historian.


Publisher's Book Page: http://us.macmillan.com/castles-1/CharlesStephenson

Friday, April 12, 2013

The Sound of Broken Glass






Crombie, Deborah. The Sound of Broken Glass. New York: William Morrow, 2013.

Call No.: F CRO

Publisher's Description: In the past . . .


On a blisteringly hot August afternoon in Crystal Palace, once home to the tragically destroyed Great Exhibition, a solitary thirteen-year-old boy meets his next-door neighbor, a recently widowed young teacher hoping to make a new start in the tight-knit South London community. Drawn together by loneliness, the unlikely pair forms a deep connection that ends in a shattering act of betrayal.

In the present . . .

On a cold January morning in London, Detective Inspector Gemma James is back on the job now that her husband, Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid, is at home to care for their three-year-old foster daughter. Assigned to lead a Murder Investigation Team in South London, she's assisted by her trusted colleague, newly promoted Detective Sergeant Melody Talbot. Their first case: a crime scene at a seedy hotel in Crystal Palace. The victim: a well-respected barrister, found naked, trussed, and apparently strangled. Is it an unsavory accident or murder? In either case, he was not alone, and Gemma's team must find his companion—a search that takes them into unexpected corners and forces them to contemplate unsettling truths about the weaknesses and passions that lead to murder. Ultimately, they will begin to question everything they think they know about their world and those they trust most.


Publisher's Book Page: http://www.harpercollins.com/books/The-Sound-of-Broken-Glass-Deborah-Crombie?isbn=9780061990632&HCHP=TB_The+Sound+of+Broken+Glass

Builders of Hope






Urbanska, Wanda. Builders of Hope: A Social Entrepreneur's Solution for Rebuilding America. Winston-Salem, N.C.: John F. Blair, 2011.

Call no.: 363.55763 Ur1b

Publisher's Description: Builders of Hope rescues teardown housing and renovates it in place or physically moves the structures, creating new neighborhoods wholly comprised of recycled homes. Working directly with municipalities, the nonprofit organization saves entire historic neighborhoods from the wrecking ball during urban redevelopment. Each year, Builders of Hope diverts millions of pounds of construction debris from landfills; turns abandoned and blighted structures into attractive, affordable, and energy-efficient homes; develops and revitalizes neighborhoods; and provides “green-collar” job training for ex-offenders, the homeless, and at-risk youth.


The Wall Street Journal writes that Builders of Hope’s first community, Barrington Village in southeast Raleigh, “might be the most politically correct housing development on the planet.” The organization has enjoyed explosive growth and is now redeveloping neighborhoods in Raleigh, Fuquay-Varina, Durham, Cary, and Charlotte and reaching beyond North Carolina to New Orleans, Louisiana, and Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas.

In Builders of Hope, Wanda Urbanska chronicles the story of the pioneering organization from inception to realization, showing how it has created a new paradigm for affordable housing. Impressive before-and-after photographs and floor plans offer insight into how Builders of Hope operates. Builders of Hope demonstrates how Nancy Welsh’s original, audacious model of social entrepreneurism offers a timely, environmentally sustainable, and economically feasible solution for rebuilding America. The book will be published to celebrate Builders of Hope’s fifth anniversary. Proceeds from book sales will go toward funding its HopeWorks work-mentor program.


Publisher's Book Page: http://www.blairpub.com/alltitles/buildersofhope.html

The Organization's Web Site: http://www.buildersofhope.org/

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Ancient Egyptian Art and Architecture






Nardo, Don. Ancient Egyptian Art and Architecture. (Eye on Art.) Detroit: Lucent Books, 2012.

Call no.: J 709.32 N166a

Publisher's Description: A unique combination of history, biography, and artistic techniques, the clear narrative of this exciting series provides an overview of the development of different types of art and artistic movements. These colorful titles explore the roots and influences of different genres and key components that define the style. In addition to discussing the pioneers of the art, each subject-specific title considers the changes the genre has undergone from its inception to its present status on the world scene.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.gale.cengage.com/servlet/ItemDetailServlet?region=9&imprint=000&titleCode=LEAL&cf=p&type=3&id=264062

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

The Icecutter's Daughter






Peterson, Tracie. The Icecutter's Daughter. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2013.

Call No.: F PET

Publisher's Description: As the lone female in a houseful of men, Merrill Krause dedicates her life to caring for her family and their business, as her dying mother asked. Besides, it suits her; she's never felt like she fits what most people expect in a girl--she'd rather work with her father’s horses and assist with the ice harvest. And though she’s been mostly content up to this point, a part of her wonders if there will ever be anyone who will notice her amid the bevy of brothers determined to protect her from any possible suitors.


When Rurik Jorgenson arrives in their small Minnesota town to join his uncle's carpentry business, he soon crosses paths with Merrill. But unlike other men, who are often frightened away by her older brothers, Rurik isn't intimidated by them or by Merrill's strength and lack of femininity. The attraction between them begins to build...until Rurik's former fiance shows up with wild claims that bring serious consequences to Rurik.

Can Rurik and Merrill learn to trust God--and each other--when scandal threatens their newfound love?

Tracie Peterson's love for history and research fuel the bestselling stories she writes. She is the author of more than ninety novels and the recipient of the 2011 ACFW Lifetime Achievement Award. Tracie and her family live in Montana.


Publisher's Book Page: http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/the-icecutter-s-daughter/289010

African American Literature






Currie, Stephen.  African American Literature. (Lucent Library of Black History.) Detroit: Lucent Books, 2011.

Call no.: J 810.9896 C936a

Publisher's Description: African-American history is significant and integral to the larger history of the United States. Emboldening this dynamic, the Lucent Library of Black History places important topics in context so that readers will understand the connection between black history and the sweep of America?s story. This high-quality series focuses on both broad movements like Black Nationalism, as well as more narrowly defined events such as Reconstruction.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.gale.cengage.com/servlet/ItemDetailServlet?region=9&imprint=000&titleCode=LLBH&cf=p&type=3&id=258784

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Need Tax Forms?

The library has FINALLY received its copy of 2012's "Reproducible Copies of Federal Tax Forms and Instructions." We're placing it on reserve until later this month when tax season has passed so that those who need a form can copy it (or scan it at the scanning station and print it via the computer lab).

By the way, you can also access the tax forms at http://www.irs.gov/Forms-&-Pubs. The link to e-file your taxes is there also.

The Blues






Uschan, Michael V. The Blues. (Lucent Library of Black History.) Detroit: Lucent Books, 2012.

Call no.: J 781.643 Us1b

Publisher's Description: African-American history is significant and integral to the larger history of the United States. Emboldening this dynamic, the Lucent Library of Black History places important topics in context so that readers will understand the connection between black history and the sweep of America?s story. This high-quality series focuses on both broad movements like Black Nationalism, as well as more narrowly defined events such as Reconstruction.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.gale.cengage.com/servlet/ItemDetailServlet?region=9&imprint=000&titleCode=LLBH&cf=p&type=3&id=263775

Monday, April 08, 2013

Baseball as a Road to God






Sexton, John. Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game. New York: Gotham Books, 2013.

Call no: 796.357 S

Publisher's Description: For more than a decade, New York University President John Sexton has used baseball to illustrate the elements of a spiritual life in a wildly popular course at NYU. Using some of the great works of baseball fiction as well as the actual game's fantastic moments, its legendary characters, and its routine rituals—from the long-sought triumph of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, to the heroic achievements of players like the saintly Christy Mathewson and the sinful Ty Cobb, to the loving intimacy of a game of catch between a father and son—Sexton teaches that through the game we can touch the spiritual dimension of life.


Baseball as a Road to God is about the elements of our lives that lie beyond what can be captured in words alone—ineffable truths that we know by experience rather than by logic or analysis. Applying to the secular activity of baseball a form of inquiry usually reserved for the study of religion, Sexton reveals a surprising amount of common ground between the game and what we all recognize as religion: sacred places and time, faith and doubt, blessings and curses, and more.

In thought-provoking, beautifully rendered prose, this book elegantly demonstrates that baseball is more than a game, or even a national pastime: It can be a road to a deeper and more meaningful life.


Publisher's Book Page: http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781592407545,00.html?Baseball_as_a_Road_to_God_John_Sexton

Medieval European Art and Architecture





Nardo, Don. Medieval European Art and Architecture. (Eye on Art.) Detroit: Lucent Books, 2012.

Call no.: J 709.02 N166m

Publisher's Description: This new title in Lucent's Eye on Art series describes the major artistic and architectural works of Europe's medieval era. The book includes discussions of castles, cathedrals, and other large structures, sculptures, paintings, mosaics, stained glass, tapestries, illuminated manuscripts, and other artistic endeavors from this era. Also included are descriptions of the Romanesque and Gothic styles.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.gale.cengage.com/servlet/ItemDetailServlet?region=9&imprint=000&titleCode=LEAL&cf=p&type=3&id=264911

Sunday, April 07, 2013

The Freedom of Faith-Based Organizations to Staff on a Religious Basis






Esbeck, Carl H; Carlson-Thies, Stanley W.; and Sider, Ronald J. The Freedom of Faith-Based Organizations to Staff on a Religious Basis. Washington, D.C.: Center for Public Justice, 2004.

Call no.: FDC 361.75 Es12f

Publisher's Description: This important new book sets the record straight on the right of faith-based organizations to hire staff compatible with the religious mission and vision of their programs.


Are faith-based social-service providers permitted to select staff based on religion if their programs receive government funds?

Despite what opponents would like to think, the general freedom of religious groups to hire and fire on a religious basis is only curtailed in some states and some localities and under some federal laws if the group accepts government funds. There is no general rule that requires faith-based organizations to give up this important freedom when they use government funds to serve their communities.

Why does the law often respect this important religious freedom when religious organizations collaborate with government and why should it always respect it? What are the policy justifications for this so-called "job discrimination" and the constitutional arguments? What difference does Charitable Choice make?

A new book by Carl Esbeck (Christian Legal Society and the University of Missouri Law School), Stanley Carlson-Thies (Center for Public Justice), and Ron Sider (Evangelicals for Social Action) provides the analysis and arguments. The book also includes a bibliography and excerpts of key federal statements and regulations that provide helpful background.

Saturday, April 06, 2013

Reader-Friendly Reports






Daniel, Carter A. Reader-Friendly Reports: A Non-Nonsense Guide to Effective Writing for MBAs, Consultants, and Other Professionals. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012.

Call no.: 808.06665 D221r

Publisher's Description: The book that has taught thousands of students how to write winning business reports.


For more than 30 years, Carter A. Daniel has been teaching MBA students at Rutgers University the art of effective business communication with the aid of his eminently practical guide Reader-Friendly Reports.
Now available to the public for the first time, this beloved resource gives you everything you need to translate your hard-won figures, conclusions, and insights into concise and powerful reports. No definition of communication, no history, no theory, no diagrams Reader-Friendly Reports simply shows you how to:
  • Target your audience
  • Determine your purpose
  • Develop your points
  • Organize your ideas
  • Make smooth transitions
  • Conduct research
  • Illustrate with clear graphs and charts
Reader-Friendly Reports (the “Daniel Manual”) is the A to Z guide to ensuring you meet your first priority: making sure people can understand and remember your report from beginning to end.


Publisher's Book Page: http://www.mhprofessional.com/product.php?isbn=0071782850

Friday, April 05, 2013

Benediction






Haruf, Kent. Benediction. New York: Knopf, 2013.

Call no.: F HAR

Publisher's Description: From the beloved and best-selling author of Plainsong and Eventide comes a story of life and death, and the ties that bind, once again set out on the High Plains in Holt, Colorado.

When Dad Lewis is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he and his wife, Mary, must work together to make his final days as comfortable as possible. Their daughter, Lorraine, hastens back from Denver to help look after him; her devotion softens the bitter absence of their estranged son, Frank, but this cannot be willed away and remains a palpable presence for all three of them. Next door, a young girl named Alice moves in with her grandmother and contends with the painful memories that Dad's condition stirs up of her own mother's death. Meanwhile, the town’s newly arrived preacher attempts to mend his strained relationships with his wife and teenaged son, a task that proves all the more challenging when he faces the disdain of his congregation after offering more than they are accustomed to getting on a Sunday morning. And throughout, an elderly widow and her middle-aged daughter do everything they can to ease the pain of their friends and neighbors.

Despite the travails that each of these families faces, together they form bonds strong enough to carry them through the most difficult of times.  Bracing, sad and deeply illuminating, Benediction captures the fullness of life by representing every stage of it, including its extinction, as well as the hopes and dreams that sustain us along the way. Here Kent Haruf gives us his most indelible portrait yet of this small town and reveals, with grace and insight, the compassion, the suffering and, above all, the humanity of its inhabitants. 

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.randomhouse.com/book/219368/benediction-by-kent-haruf

Vox Medical Spanish and English Dictionary





Vox Medical Spanish and English Dictionary. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011.

Call no.: R 610.3 V947

Publisher's Description: Don't let a language barrier prevent you from giving your patient the best care possible.

From the most successful bilingual dictionary range in North America comes this dictionary that equips you with the medical terminology you need to know to effectively communicate with Spanish-speaking patients. This book is ideal for a wide range of professionals such as physicians, nurses, physician's assistants, technicians, therapists, and administrators. And you do not need any previous experience with Spanish. You're ready to treat Spanish-speaking patients without hesitation.
It includes:
  • 38,000-plus headwords and 35,000 sub-entries
  • A complete grammar overview and verb charts
  • A guide to common idioms and slang
  • A phrasebook section that includes more than 250 phrases for interviewing and examining patients
Publisher's Book Page: http://catalogs.mhhe.com/mhhe/viewProductDetails.do?isbn=0071749187

Thursday, April 04, 2013

The Graves Are Walking






Kelly, John. The Graves Are Walking: The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People. New York: Henry Holt, 2012.

Call no.: 941.5081 K297g

Publisher's Description:  A magisterial account of the worst disasters to strike humankind—the Great Irish Potato Famine—conveyed as lyrical narrative history from the acclaimed author of The Great Mortality.


Deeply researched, compelling in its details, and startling in its conclusions about the appalling decisions behind a tragedy of epic proportions, John Kelly’s retelling of the awful story of Ireland’s great hunger will resonate today as history that speaks to our own times.

It started in 1845 and before it was over more than one million men, women, and children would die and another two million would flee the country. Measured in terms of mortality, the Great Irish Potato Famine was the worst disasters in the nineteenth century—it claimed twice as many lives as the American Civil War. A perfect storm of bacterial infection, political greed, and religious intolerance sparked this catastrophe. But even more extraordinary than its scope were its political underpinnings, and The Graves Are Walking provides fresh material and analysis on the role that Britain’s nation-building policies played in exacerbating the devastation by attempting to use the famine to reshape Irish society and character. Religious dogma, anti-relief sentiment, and racial and political ideology combined to result in an almost inconceivable disaster of human suffering.

This is ultimately a story of triumph over perceived destiny: for fifty million Americans of Irish heritage, the saga of a broken people fleeing crushing starvation and remaking themselves in a new land is an inspiring story of revival.

Based on extensive research and written with novelistic flair, The Graves Are Walking draws a portrait that is both intimate and panoramic, that captures the drama of individual lives caught up in an unimaginable tragedy, while imparting a new understanding of the famine's causes and consequences.

Publisher's Book Page: http://us.macmillan.com/thegravesarewalking/JohnKelly

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat






Moore, Edward Kelsey. The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat. New York: Knopf, 2013.

Call No.: F MOO

Publisher's Description: Meet Odette, Clarice, and Barbara Jean. . .
           
Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat is home away from home for this inseparable Plainview, Indiana, trio.  Dubbed “the Supremes” by high school pals in the tumultuous 1960s, they weather life’s storms together for the next four decades. Now, during their most challenging year yet, dutiful, proud, and talented Clarice must struggle to keep up appearances as she deals with her husband’s humiliating infidelities. Beautiful, fragile Barbara Jean is rocked by the tragic reverberations of a youthful love affair. And fearless Odette engages in the most terrifying battle of her life while contending with the idea that she has inherited more than her broad frame from her notorious pot-smoking mother, Dora.

Through marriage, children, happiness, and the blues, these strong, funny women gather each Sundayat the same table at Earl’s diner for delicious food, juicy gossip, occasional tears, and uproarious banter.

With wit and love, style and sublime talent, Edward Kelsey Moore brings together four intertwined love stories, three devoted allies, and two sprightly earthbound spirits in a big-hearted debut novel that embraces the lives of people you will never forget.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.randomhouse.com/book/219373/the-supremes-at-earls-all-you-can-eat-by-edward-kelsey-moore

Drugs and Drug Policy





Kleiman, Mark A. R.; Caulkins, Jonathan P.; and Hawken, Angela. Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Neeeds to Know. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

Call no.: 362.29 K672d

Publisher's Description: While there have always been norms and customs around the use of drugs, explicit public policies--regulations, taxes, and prohibitions--designed to control drug abuse are a more recent phenomenon. Those policies sometimes have terrible side-effects: most prominently the development of criminal enterprises dealing in forbidden (or untaxed) drugs and the use of the profits of drug-dealing to finance insurgency and terrorism. Neither a drug-free world nor a world of free drugs seems to be on offer, leaving citizens and officials to face the age-old problem: What are we going to do about drugs?

In Drugs and Drug Policy, three noted authorities survey the subject with exceptional clarity, in this addition to the acclaimed series, What Everyone Needs to Know. They begin by, defining "drugs," examining how they work in the brain, discussing the nature of addiction, and exploring the damage they do to users. The book moves on to policy, answering questions about legalization, the role of criminal prohibitions, and the relative legal tolerance for alcohol and tobacco. The authors then dissect the illicit trade, from street dealers to the flow of money to the effect of catching kingpins, and show the precise nature of the relationship between drugs and crime. They examine treatment, both its effectiveness and the role of public policy, and discuss the beneficial effects of some abusable substances. Finally they move outward to look at the role of drugs in our foreign policy, their relationship to terrorism, and the ugly politics that surround the issue.

Crisp, clear, and comprehensive, this is a handy and up-to-date overview of one of the most pressing topics in today's world.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Law/CriminalLawandProcedure/?view=usa&ci=9780199764501

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

The Taste of War






Collingham, Lizzie. The Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food. New York: Penguin, 2011.

Call no.: 940.531 C691t

Honors: New York Times Notable Book - 2012

Publisher's Description: Food, and in particular the lack of it, was central to the experience of World War II. In this richly detailed and engaging history, Lizzie Collingham establishes how control of food and its production is crucial to total war. How were the imperial ambitions of Germany and Japan - ambitions which sowed the seeds of war - informed by a desire for self-sufficiency in food production? How was the outcome of the war affected by the decisions that the Allies and the Axis took over how to feed their troops? And how did the distinctive ideologies of the different combatant countries determine their attitudes towards those they had to feed?


Tracing the interaction between food and strategy, on both the military and home fronts, this gripping, original account demonstrates how the issue of access to food was a driving force within Nazi policy and contributed to the decision to murder hundreds of thousands of 'useless eaters' in Europe. Focusing on both the winners and losers in the battle for food, The Taste of War brings to light the striking fact that war-related hunger and famine was not only caused by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, but was also the result of Allied mismanagement and neglect, particularly in India, Africa and China.

American dominance both during and after the war was not only a result of the United States' immense industrial production but also of its abundance of food. This book traces the establishment of a global pattern of food production and distribution and shows how the war subsequently promoted the pervasive influence of American food habits and tastes in the post-war world. A work of great scope, The Taste of War connects the broad sweep of history to its intimate impact upon the lives of individuals.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781594203299,00.html?The_Taste_of_War_Lizzie_Collingham#


Monday, April 01, 2013

Reclaiming Our Food

Cobb, Tanya Denckla. Reclaiming Our Food: How the Grassroots Food Movement Is Changing the Way We Eat. Photo Essays by Jason Houston. North Adams, Mass.: Storey Publishing, 2011.

Call no.: 641 C634r

Publisher's Description: Reclaiming Our Food tells the stories of people across the United States who are finding new ways to grow, process, and distribute food for their own communities. It is a practical guide for building a local food system. Where others have made the case for the local food movement, Reclaiming Our Food shows how communities are actually making it happen. This book offers a wealth of information on how to make local food a practical and affordable part of everyone's daily fare.

The projects described in this book are cropping up everywhere, from urban lots to rural communities and everywhere in between. In Portland, Oregon, an organization called Growing Gardens installs home gardens for low-income families and hosts follow-up workshops for the owners. Lynchburg Grows, in Lynchburg, Virginia, bought an abandoned 6.5-acre urban greenhouse business and turned it into an organic farm that offers jobs to people with disabilities and sells its food through a local farmers' market and a CSA. Sunburst Trout Farm, a small family business in rural North Carolina, is showing that it's possible to raise fish sustainably and sell to a local market. And in Asheville, North Carolina, Growing Minds is finding ways to help bring fresh foods into schools.

Author Tanya Denckla Cobb offers lessons and advice straight from innovative food leaders of more than 50 food projects across the United States. Photographic essays of 11 community food projects, by acclaimed photographer Jason Houston, detail the unusual work of these projects, bringing it to life in unforgettable images.


Publisher's Book Page: http://www.storey.com/book_detail.php?isbn=9781603427999&cat=Food%20&%20Drink

Sum It Up






Summitt, Pat with Sally Jenkins. Sum It Up. New York: Crown Archetype, 2013.

Call No.: B SUMMITT

Publisher's Book Description: Pat Summitt, the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history aad bestselling author of Reach for the Summitt and Raise The Roof, tells for the first time her remarkable story of victory and resilience as well as facing down her greatest challenge: early-onset Alzheimer's disease.
Pat Summitt was only 21 when she became head coach of the Tennessee Vols women's basketball team. For 38 years, she has broken records, winning more games than any NCAA team in basketball history. She has coached an undefeated season, co-captained the first women's Olympic team, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and has been named Sports Illustrated 'Sportswoman of the Year'.
She owes her coaching success to her personal struggles and triumphs. She learned to be tough from her strict, demanding father. Motherhood taught her to balance that rigidity with communication and kindness. She is a role model for the many women she's coached; 74 of her players have become coaches.
Pat's life took a shocking turn in 2011, when she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, an irreversible brain condition that affects 5 million Americans. Despite her devastating diagnosis, she led the Vols to win their sixteenth SEC championship in March 2012. Pat continues to be a fighter, facing this new challenge the way she's faced every other--with hard work, perseverance, and a sense of humor.

Publisher's Book Page: http://www.randomhouse.com/book/222050/sum-it-up-by-pat-head-summitt-and-sally-jenkins