 |
Book
Reviews,
Book Lover Resources, Advice for Writers and Publishers |
| Home / Library Bookwatch |
Library Bookwatch
Table of Contents
Reviewer's Choice
White House Wild Child
Shelley Fraser Mickle
Imagine Publishing
c/o Charlesbridge Publishing
https://www.imaginebooks.net
9781623545499, $27.99, HC, 256pp
https://www.amazon.com/White-House-Wild-Child-Roosevelt/dp/1623545498
Synopsis: "I can do one of two things, I can be President of the United States or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both." -- Theodore Roosevelt
During Theodore Roosevelt's presidency from 1901 to 1909 (when Mark Twain called him the most popular man in America) his daughter Alice Roosevelt mesmerized the world with her antics and her beauty.
Alice was known for carrying a gun, a copy of the Constitution, and a green snake in her purse. When her father told her she couldn't smoke under his roof, she climbed to the top of the White House and smoked on the roof. She became the most famous woman in America (and even the world) predating Princess Diana and Jackie Kennedy as an object of public obsession.
As her celebrity grew, she continued to buck tradition, push against social norms, and pull political sway behind the curtain of privilege and access. She was known for her acerbic wit and outspoken tendencies which hypnotized both the social and political world.
Critique: "White House Wild Child: How Alice Roosevelt Broke All the Rules and Won the Heart of America" by biographer Shelley Fraser Mickle vividly places the reader in the yesteryear world of Alice Roosevelt and asks what would it have been like to be a strong-willed powerful woman of that day when women could not vote and were denied access to having political authority. Drawn from primary and secondary sources, and exceptionally well written, in the pages of "White House Wild Child" Alice Roosevelt's life comes into focus in an historically accurate account and celebration of an extraordinary woman that in many ways was ahead of her time. Unreservedly recommended for community and college/library American Women Biography/Memoir collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "White House Wild Child" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99).
Editorial Note: Shelley Fraser Mickle is the author of "The Queen of October" which was selected by Library Journal as one of the ten best adult books suitable for young adults. Her novel "Replacing Dad" won an America's Writers Award in Chicago and was adapted for film. From 2000 to 2006 she was a commentator for National Public Radio's "Morning Edition." Her husband trained under the Brigham hospital surgeons who are the focus of her nonfiction, "Borrowing Life" (2020.
The Writing/Publishing Shelf
Rethinking Writing Instruction in the Age of AI
Randy Laist
CAST
https://publishing.cast.org
9781943085101, $35.00, PB, 238pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rethinking-writing-instruction-in-the-age-of-ai-randy-laist/1145014336
Synopsis: Writing is an invaluable academic skill, but, as writing expert and academician Randy Laist points out, "it is also much more than that. It is a tool for thinking, a means of personal expression, and a vehicle of self-discovery."
Composition instructors have long been challenged to fi nd effective ways of engaging and empowering student writers. Now as we enter the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), this challenge has become even more complicated, with too many students-and too many people in general-feeling shut out of writing.
With the publication of "Rethinking Writing Instruction in the Age of AI: A Universal Design for Learning Approach", Professor Laist offers composition instructors practical ways to address the emergence of AI panic as well as insight into how to embrace it as an opportunity to strengthen writing and critical thinking skills.
Professor Laist also shows how Universal Design for Learning provides a framework that can help unpack the writing process and support instruction. "Rethinking Writing Instruction in the Age of AI: A Universal Design for Learning Approach" offers numerous hands-on writing activities that are not only engaging but also "AI proof".
Critique: This trade paperback edition of "Rethinking Writing Instruction in the Age of AI: A Universal Design for Learning Approach" by Professor Randy Laist is impressively informative, exceptionally well written, deftly organized and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in presentation, making it a timely, unreservedly recommended, and high value addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library Language Arts, Teacher Education, Writer Reference, and AI collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Rethinking Writing Instruction in the Age of AI: A Universal Design for Learning Approach" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $26.49).
Editorial Note: Randy Laist, Ph.D., is a professor of English in the School of Applied Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Goodwin University, and he is the Chair of the English Department at the University of Bridgeport. Laist received his doctorate in American literature from the University of Connecticut. He has taught in middle schools, high schools, and colleges, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Salon, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. He is also the co-editor of UDL University: Designing for Variability across the Postsecondary Curriculum.
The Language of the Night
Ursula K. Le Guin
www.UrsulaKLeGuin.com
Scribner
c/o Simon & Schuster
https://www.simonandschusterpublishing.com/scribner
9781668034903, $18.00, PB, 304pp
https://www.amazon.com/Language-Night-Writing-Science-Fiction/dp/1668034905
Synopsis: With the publication of "The Language of the Night: Essays on Writing, Science Fiction, and Fantasy", famed science fiction and fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin's sharp and witty voice is on full display in this collection of twenty-four essays (newly revised by the author a decade after its initial publication in 1979).
This outstanding collection covers a wide range of topics and includes Le Guin's origins as a writer, her advocacy for science fiction and fantasy as mediums for true literary exploration, the writing of her own major works such as A Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness, and her role as a public intellectual and educator.
"The Language of the Night" offers contemporary readers and aspiring authors a truly fascinating and intimate look into the exceptional mind of Le Guin -- whose insights remain as relevant and resonant today as when they were first published some 45 years ago.
Each thematic section comprising "The Language of the Night" is brilliantly introduced and contextualized by Professor Susan Wood (University of British Columbia) -- a literary editor and feminist activist during the 1960s and '70s.
Critique: Brought back into print for a new generation of grateful science fiction and fantasy authors and fans, "The Language of the Night: Essays on Writing, Science Fiction, and Fantasy" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Writing/Publishing collections. It should be noted for Ursula K. Le Guin fans that "The Language of the Night" is also now available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99).
Editorial Note: The late Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) was the celebrated author of twenty-three novels, twelve volumes of short stories, eleven volumes of poetry, thirteen children's books, five essay collections, and four works of translation. Her acclaimed books received the Hugo, Nebula, Endeavor, Locus, Otherwise, Theodore Sturgeon, PEN/Malamud, and National Book Awards; a Newbery Honor; and the Pushcart and Janet Heidinger Kafka Prizes, among others. In 2014, she was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2016 joined the short list of authors to be published in their lifetimes by the Library of America. Le Guin was also the recipient of the Association for Library Service to Children's May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award and the Margaret A. Edwards Award. She received lifetime achievement awards from the World Fantasy Convention, Los Angeles Times, Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, and Willamette Writers, as well as the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master Award and the Library of Congress Living Legend Award.
The Education Shelf
New Era - New Urgency
F. Joseph Merlino & Deborah Pomeroy, co-authors
Lexington Books
c/o Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
www.rlpgbooks.com
9781666949766, $135.00, HC, 402pp
https://www.amazon.com/New-Era-Urgency-Repurposing-Education/dp/1666949760
Synopsis: Co-authored by the team of F. Joseph Merlino and Deborah Pomeroy, "New Era - New Urgency: The Case for Repurposing Education" explores the unprecedented realities and challenges associated with entering a new era, such as catastrophic climate changes, advanced artificial intelligence, massive demographic shifts, and worldwide digital disinformation campaigns. This new era in human history calls for a new urgency in thinking about how we will educate present and future generations of young people.
"New Era - New Urgency" is divided into four parts:
Part I describes the profound social, technological, and demographic changes that have occurred over four hundred years since the first English settlements in Massachusetts and Virginia.
Part II describes four shadows that have served to corrupt these purposes of education: extreme wealth inequality, nativism, white supremacy, and anti-intellectualism.
Part III explores the illusions of educational reform that have over-promised college and career success, created an idolatry of math test scores, conflated memorization of facts with conceptual understanding, and confused multiple layers of policy agendas with progress.
Part IV depicts F. Joseph Merlino and Deborah Pomeroy's twelve years of experience in Egypt, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Turkey, and the U.S. in helping to craft new purposes of education for model schools in their countries that reflect their aspirations for a new generation.
Critique: F. Joseph Merlino is president of the 21st Century Partnership for STEM Education, (21PSTEM), a non-profit research and action organization. Deborah Pomeroy is Professor Emeritus of Science Education at Arcadia University. This hardcover edition of "New Era - New Urgency: The Case for Repurposing Education" from Lexington Books will prove of special interest to readers concerned with the issues relevant to how education and educational institutions can best prepare us for the on-coming and inevitable impacts of the physical, political, technological, economic, and cultural global changes -- especially those that will be generated by dramatic climate change and the advances of artificial intelligence. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "New Era - New Urgency: The Case for Repurposing Education" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, governmental, and college/university library Contemporary Educational Theory & Practice collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.
Breathe - Move - Learn With Young Children
Marcia Lee Unnever, author
Damon Pellican, illustrator
Brookes Publishing Company
www.brookespublishing.com
9781681257594, $32.95, PB, 169pp
https://www.amazon.com/Breathe-Move-Learn-Young-Children-Brain-Friendly-Social-Emotional/dp/1681257599
Synopsis: With the publication of "Breathe - Move - Learn With Young Children: 70 Activities in Mindfulness, Brain-Friendly Movement, and Social-Emotional Learning" by Marcia Lee Unnever, classroom teaches will be able to get every young child in their class ready to learn (and support their social-emotional development) with 70 fun, quick, and effective activities!
In particular, teachers of early childhood through Grade 3 will love this unique combination of SEL, mindfulness, and brain-friendly physical activity that promotes growth, development, and behavior management.
Designed to increase focus and nurture the essential skills every kid needs for social and academic success, the activities in this teacher-friendly book are a perfect complement to all of today's popular curricula. They're field-tested, easy to implement in as little as 15 minutes a day, and great for use in person or in the virtual classroom.
When used throughout the school day, the Breathe - Move - Learn activities work fast - helping kids wake up, calm down, focus, or soothe anxious feelings. Easy-to-follow scripts, illustrations, and photos allow teachers to lead the activities without extensive prep work.
A must-have for all teachers from early childhood to elementary school, Breathe - Move - Learn activities will help kids develop the mental, physical, emotional and social skills to support a lifetime of learning.
Critique: Practical, easy to implement, and fun, "Breathe - Move - Learn With Young Children: 70 Activities in Mindfulness, Brain-Friendly Movement, and Social-Emotional Learning" is thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation. Making it an ideal and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, school district, and college/university library
Early Childhood Education collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note: Marcia Lee Unnever is an Educational Trainer certified by the state of New Mexico. Since 1970, Marcia has taught thousands of preschool and elementary school children and teachers in New Mexico and California. In 2010 she founded Kids Focus, a program dedicated to helping every child and teacher feel strong, positive, healthy, and smart.
The Health/Medicine Shelf
Integrated Clinical Orthodontics
Vinod Krishnan (Editor)
Anne Marie Kuijpers-Jagtman (Editor)
Wiley-Blackwell
www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell
9781119870050, $255.00, HC, 608pp
https://www.amazon.com/Integrated-Clinical-Orthodontics-Vinod-Krishnan/dp/1119870054
Synopsis: Co-edited by the team of Vinod Krishnan and Anne Marie Kuijpers-Jagtman, this newly updated and expanded second edition of "Integrated Clinical Orthodontics" offers an overview of clinical orthodontic theory and practice to equip clinicians to take an integrated approach to orthodontic practice.
It also presents the problems of orthodontics in an interdisciplinary context to describe how the potential complexity of dentofacial problems, the medical histories of patients, and a host of other factors contribute to orthodontic outcomes.
This second edition has been expanded and thoroughly updated with new chapters and following an organized approach to the role of the orthodontist as part of a team. The cases presented include orofacial deformities, sleep disorders, esthetic smile creation and temporomandibular joint problems.
Orthodontic diagnosis and treatment are integrated into the wider health of the patient, including orthopedics, neurology, pediatrics, genetics and psychology, and the result is a modern, adaptable approach that places the patient and their needs at its center to achieve the highest possible standard of patient care.
Of special note are: New chapters on neuromuscular disorders, customized orthodontics, artificial intelligence, ethics and patient data; Expanded content on special care in dentistry; Guidance for the clinical interactions between orthodontics and other areas of dentistry and medicine; Clinical implications and applications of the integrated approach in every chapter.
Critique: An essential, comprehensive, indispensible resource for clinical orthodontists and specialists in related medical and dental fields who wish to take the holistic view of orthodontic practice, this large format ( 8.7 x 1.2 x 10.9 inches, 4.15 pounds) hardcover second edition of "Integrated Clinical Orthodontics" is an unreservedly recommended and core pick for professional, dental school, and college/university library Modern Dentistry collections and supplemental curriculum textbook studies lists. It should be noted that "Integrated Clinical Orthodontics: 2nd Edition) is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $204.00).
Editorial Note #1: Vinod Krishnan is Professor and Head of the Department of Orthodontics at Sri Sankara Dental College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
Editorial Note #2: Anne Marie Kuijpers-Jagtman is Researcher & Educator in the Department of Orthodontics at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands; and Adjunct Professor at the University of Bern, Switzerland; and University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Clinical Insertion Techniques of Orthodontic Temporary Anchorage Devices
Hu Long (Editor)
Xianglong Han (Editor)
Wenli Lai (Editor)
Wiley-Blackwell
www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell
9781119892236, $210.00, HC, 592pp
https://www.amazon.com/Insertion-Techniques-Orthodontic-Temporary-Anchorage/dp/1119892236
Synopsis: Collaboratively compiled and co-edited by Hu Long, Xianglong Han, and Wenli Lai, "Clinical Insertion Techniques of Orthodontic Temporary Anchorage Devices" is the first comprehensive guide to the clinical insertion techniques for temporary anchorage devices (TADs) and the clinical applications of TADs according to different anatomic regions.
Divided into five principle sections it provides detailed clinical insertion instructions and applications, as well as guidance on choosing an optimal insertion site, detailed insertion techniques, and potential complications and their solutions.
The first section covers general considerations, the second section explores the techniques at different insertion sites, the third section delves into the clinical applications of miniplates, the fourth section delivers the guided insertion of mini-implants, and the fifth section outlines the adverse effects of insertions. The result is a comprehensive textbook which brings TADs into orthodontic practice in a rigorous and accessible way.
"Clinical Insertion Techniques of Orthodontic Temporary Anchorage Devices" includes: Some 800 photographs and illustrations demonstrating different insertion techniques and clinical applications; Detailed coverage of all maxillary and mandibular regions as potential insertion sites; Design and application guidelines for insertion guides.
Critique: This large format (8.7 x 1.2 x 10.9 inches, 4.1 pounds) hardcover edition of "Clinical Insertion Techniques of Orthodontic Temporary Anchorage Devices" from Wiley-Blackwell is ideal and indispensable source for orthodontic clinicians looking for a reference on this area of orthodontics and would well serve as a curriculum textbook for dentistry students. A seminal and ground-breaking instructional guide that is expertly written, organized and presented, it is unreservedly recommended for professional, dental school, and college/university library Oral Health & Medicine collections. It should be noted that "Clinical Insertion Techniques of Orthodontic Temporary Anchorage Devices" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $168.00).
Editorial Note #1: Hu Long PhD is Associate Professor at West China Hospital of Stomatology in Chengdu, China.
Editorial Note #2: Xianglong Han PhD is Professor at West China Hospital of Stomatology in Chengdu, China.
Editorial Note #3: Wenli Lai PhD is Professor at West China Hospital of Stomatology in Chengdu, China.
The Photography Shelf
Trespass
Kim Watson
Broadleaf Books
www.broadleafbooks.com
9781506491134, $29.99, HC, 218pp
https://www.amazon.com/Trespass-Portraits-Unhoused-Life-Understanding/dp/1506491138
Synopsis: According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), nearly 70,000 people were unhoused in the city as of September 2022.
Writer, director, and photographer Kim Watson began connecting with these unhoused people near his LA neighborhood by delivering food out of the back of his car. As his relationships grew to become trusted friendships, he began to interview and photograph those he encountered, documenting their experiences.
Through profiles, essays, and stunning black-and-white photography, "Trespass: Portraits of Unhoused Life, Love, and Understanding" sheds light on the complex situations that lead to homelessness, the individuals who struggle to rise out of it, and those who have resigned themselves to it.
Fueled by a deep sense of care, Watson's portraits capture the hopes and demands of people in need of support and consideration. In this book of extraordinary photo essays, Watson also dares us to look inside ourselves and confront our own biases as we consider the conditions of others so, together, we can process our collective trauma and develop sustainable solutions.
Critique: A unique yet seminal contribution to our on-going national dialogue regarding the cultural, political, economic, ethical impact of homelessness on American society, "Trespass: Portraits of Unhoused Life, Love, and Understanding" is unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Contemporary Photography and American Social Issues collections. It should also be noted that "Trespass: Portraits of Unhoused Life, Love, and Understanding" is available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99) as well.
Editorial Note: Kim Watson (https://kimwatson.com) has photographed, directed, and written for Grammy winners, Hollywood studios, and various entertainment platforms, including Disney, Nickelodeon, PBS, A&E, Warner Brothers, and many more. His work with groundbreaking hip-hop pioneers garnered both MTV and Soul Train Awards "Best Music Video" nominations, as well as NAACP recognition for his positive portrayals of African Americans. Untethered by labels, Watson has always aspired to tell a story that moves us to see the world a little bit differently, and with a lot more empathy.
Big River: Resilience and Renewal in the Columbia Basin
David Moskowitz, author/photographer
Eileen Delehanty Pearkes, narrator
Braided River
c/o Mountaineers Books
www.mountaineersbooks.org
9781680516609, $39.95, HC, 224pp
https://www.amazon.com/Big-River-Resilience-Renewal-Columbia/dp/1680516604
Synopsis: With the publication of "Big River: Resilience and Renewal in the Columbia Basin", award-winning photographer David Moskowitz and writer Eileen Delehanty Pearkes collaboratively illuminate the hydrogeology, beauty, and activity of the Columbia River, while also highlighting current challenges facing the region and the people working on sustainable solutions.
The watershed encompasses immense ecological, cultural, and economic value, the benefits of which have been wrangled over for centuries. As the region comes to terms with the unsustainable nature of our relationship with the watershed, and local Indigenous nations renew their efforts to steward their territories, we are reaching a new inflection point.
"Big River" explores possible new management strategies, including the removal of key dams that have decimated the salmon runs that are vital to tribal cultures and a healthy ecosystem.
The culmination of Moskowitz's many years of photographing the river and exploring its watershed, "Big River" seeks a path forward for the Columbia watershed, balancing the demands around water, salmon, agriculture, energy, and climate with the need for a sustainable living river.
Critique: Of special and particular interest to readers concerned with environmental issues, conservation, and spectacular photography, "Big River: Resilience and Renewal in the Columbia Basin" is an impressive and large format compendium of full color, captioned photographs showcasing the beauty and importance of the Columbia Basin country. Ideal for browsing through by the armchair traveler, important for its emphasis on the need for environmental protections and restorations, "Big River: Resilience and Renewal in the Columbia Basin" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Contemporary Photography collections and supplemental Environmental Issues curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note #1: David Moskowitz (https://davidmoskowitz.net) is a photographer, wildlife biologist, tracker, and the author of Caribou Rainforest, Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest, and Wolves in the Land of Salmon, and co-author of Peterson's Field Guide to North American Bird Nests. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Sierra, High Country News, and Audubon Magazine, as well as by organizations such as the National Wildlife Federation, Endangered Species Coalition, and Nature Conservancy of Canada.
Editorial Note 32: Eileen Delehanty Pearkes (www.edpearkes.com) explores landscape, history, and the human imagination through writing, maps, and visual notebooks, focusing on Indigenous culture and the power of water. She has researched the international Columbia River basin for more than two decades. Pearkes is the author of The Geography of Memory, A River Captured: The Columbia River and Catastrophic Change, and The Heart of a River.
Look at the U.S.A.: A Diary of War and Home
Peter van Agtmael
Thames & Hudson, Inc.
www.thamesandhudsonusa.com
9780500027028, $60.00, HC, 352pp
https://www.amazon.com/Look-U-S-Diary-Home/dp/0500027021
Synopsis: A personal chronicle of post-9/11 America, at war and at home. Through reportage and memoir, in photographs and words, with the publication of "Look at the U.S.A.: A Diary of War and Home", photographer Peter van Agtmael documents the major fault lines that have defined this era, beginning with the war in Iraq and ending with the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
Fueled by ideology, insecurity, ambition, and a deep fascination with war, Peter van Agtmael began documenting America's war in Iraq in 2005. So began a photographic odyssey that would span more than two decades generating work that grew from a deep need to understand and peel back the layers of his troubled society.
Confronting the mythologizing of war and seductive nature of conflict on the American psyche, "Look at the U.S.A.: A Diary of War and Home" visually explores the disconnect between the intergenerational wars and the home front, juxtaposing American troops in combat with their grieving families at home and the recovery of the wounded. As the accompanying narrative commentary progresses, the gaze begins to widen, to the imprints of nationalism, the election of Donald Trump, militarism, and race and class on American society.
Layered with van Agtmael's personal accounts, observations, and interviews with those he has encountered on his journey, "Look at the U.S.A.: A Diary of War and Home" is a damning, sometimes ironic critique that will make it one of the seminal photobooks on war.
Critique: Of special note for readers with an interest in photojournalism, equipment and techniques, this large format (7.6 x 1.3 x 9.6 inches, 1.74 pounds) hardcover edition of "Look at the U.S.A.: A Diary of War and Home" from Thames & Hudson is comprised of some 200 full color and impressively memorable photographs (a great many of them double page spreads). A unique approach to the use of photographs as commentary, "Look at the U.S.A.: A Diary of War and Home" is a striking and unreservedly recommended pick for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Contemporary Photography and American History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note: Peter van Agtmael is a Magnum photographer. His books include Look at the U.S.A., Sorry for the War, and Disco Night Sept 11. His work is showcased online at https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/peter-van-agtmael
Appalachian Ghost
Raymond Thompson Jr.
The University Press of Kentucky
www.kentuckypress.com
9780813198996, $45.00, HC, 136pp
https://www.amazon.com/Appalachian-Ghost-Photographic-Reimagining-Disaster/dp/0813198992
Synopsis: In the early days of the Great Depression, the search for steady work drove thousands of migrant laborers (many of whom were African American) from all over Appalachia to a rural area near Fayetteville, West Virginia. Union Carbide Corporation had begun construction on a three-mile tunnel to divert the New River, and many hands were needed.
Toiling for five years in confined spaces with poor ventilation, no means of dust control, and limited use of personal breathing protection, the workers were repeatedly exposed to pure silica dust. Many developed silicosis, an incurable and debilitating lung disease that is estimated to have caused the deaths of nearly eight hundred workers, two-thirds of whom were Black. Soon after, the US House of Representatives Committee on Labor classified silicosis as an occupational hazard.
Despite the disaster's impact, information about its severity was largely suppressed -- a decision that ensured the event faded quickly from public memory. Aside from a small plaque at Hawk's Nest State Park, which inaccurately admits to only 109 victims, there is little to mark the site of the worst industrial accident to date in the United States.
With the publication of "Appalachian Ghost: A Photographic Reimagining of the Hawk's Nest Tunnel Disaster", academician, and photojournalist Raymond Thompson Jr. explores the possibilities of that tragedy by reviving the faces and spaces of Hawk's Nest. Using primary source materials to re-create the workers' experiences in photographs, Thompson recontextualizes archival images to present a counter-archive that positions the Black experience at Hawk's Nest within the larger story of the American labor landscape.
Thompson's photographs and poetry give voice to the silenced, resisting revisionist narratives that often ignore the sacrifices of African Americans and erase their instrumental role in the development of America's infrastructure.
Critique: This large format (9.9 x 0.7 x 8.3 inches, 1.55 pounds) hardcover edition of "Appalachian Ghost: A Photographic Reimagining of the Hawk's Nest Tunnel Disaster" from the University of Kentucky Press is classic photojournalism at its best. The visual impact is truly memorable and moving. Of particular value to readers with an interest in African-American history, eco-tourism, and photography, "Appalachian Ghost" is especially recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library collections. It should be noted that "Appalachian Ghost" by Raymond Thompson Jr. is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $45.00) as well.
Editorial Note: Raymond Thompson Jr. (www.raymondthompsonjr.com) is an Assistant Professor of Photojournalism at University of Texas at Austin. He is an artist, educator, and visual journalist who holds an MFA in photography from West Virginia University and an MA in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. He has worked as a freelance photographer for The New York Times, The Intercept, NBC News, NPR, Politico, ProPublica, the Nature Conservancy, the ACLU, WBEZ, Google, Merrell, and the Associated Press.
The Cookbook Shelf
Vegan Soups and Stews for All Seasons
Nava Atlas, author
Hannah Kaminsky, photographer
BPC
c/o The Book Publishing Company
www.BookPubCo.com
9781737133414, $24.95, PB, 208pp
https://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Soups-Stews-All-Seasons/dp/1737133415
Synopsis: With the publication of Nava Atlas' "Vegan Soups and Stews for All Seasons" from BPC, the classic vegan soup cookbook is back in a new and expanded 5th edition -- and features 20 new recipes and dozens of gorgeous full-color photos by Hannah Kaminsky. The staying power of "Vegan Soups and Stews for All Seasons" is a testament to the universal love for soups.
From hearty, warming stews to fruity dessert soups, food author and recipe developer Nava Atlas ladles out more than 120 delectable recipes. Each chapter highlights the best produce available in its season: Fall celebrates the harvest, winter focuses on comfort, spring lifts the palate, and summer is all about freshness. That said, with seasonality having stretched far beyond what it was not long ago, cooks can ignore the calendar and choose whichever soup or stew will satisfy the craving of the moment.
Whether you're looking for a colorful global stew or a refreshing cold elixir, there's something for every vegan (and non-vegan!) soup lover in these pages.
Critique: Featuring full color, full page photos of the various soups and stews showcased in "Vegan Soups and Stews for All Seasons" this very special, "kitchen cook friendly', and unreservedly recommended culinary resource is fully recommended for personal, family, professional, and community library Vegan/Vegetarian cookbook collections.
Editorial Note #1: Nava Atlas's first book was Vegetariana, originally published in 1984 and most recently updated in 2021. She has written many vegetarian and vegan cookbooks, including American Harvest, Plant-Powered Protein, 5-Ingredient Vegan, Wild About Greens, and Vegan Holiday Kitchen. Nava also creates trade and limited-edition visual books on women's issues, notably, Literary Ladies' Guide to the Writing Life and Secret Recipes for the Modern Wife. Visit her websites, The Vegan Atlas (www.theveganatlas.com) and Literary Ladies Guide (www.literaryladiesguide.com).
Editorial Note #2: Hannah Kaminsky's love of desserts compelled her to start experimenting in the kitchen at a young age to create incredible, cruelty-free treats. Her online blog, www.BitterSweetBlog.com, features creative crafts, delicious treats, and mouth-watering photography. In addition to her own cookbooks, Hannah is a professional photographer whose work appears in a number of vegan cookbooks.
Asian Vegetables: A Cook's Bible
Wendy Hutton, author
Chen Choi, illustrator
Masano Kawana, photographer
Tuttle Publishing
www.tuttlepublishing.com
9780804857437, $19.99, PB, 240pp
https://www.amazon.com/Asian-Vegetables-Descriptions-Illustrations-Including/dp/0804857431
Synopsis: A complete guide to purchasing and preparing Asian vegetables and plant-based food products, "Asian Vegetables: A Cook's Bible" showcases descriptions and illustrations of 139 vegetables, including dried and preserved varieties with 145 authentic Asian recipes.
Featuring everything you need to know about the rapidly-expanding list of Asian vegetables found in supermarkets, farmers' markets, Asian grocers and specialty gourmet stores around the globe, "Asian Vegetables: A Cook's Bible" features attractive watercolor illustrations and photos, that will helps you to easily identify 139 different Asian vegetables and plant products.
The 145 recipes and 139 different vegetables range from small to large dishes, sauces, soups and so much more, ranging from Indian Chickpeas in Spicy Tomato Sauce; Malaysian-style Cabbage Stewed in Coconut Milk; Blanched Water Spinach and Tofu with Spicy Peanut Sauce; and Sri Lankan Breadfruit Curry; to Stir-fried Loofah with Oyster Sauce; Thai Wild Pepper Leaf Parcels; Chinese Garlic Chive Pancakes; Fresh Tuna Baked in Konbu Seaweed; and Spice Indian Cauliflower.
Critique: A delight to browse through and a pleasure to plan truly memorable menus with, "Asian Vegetables: A Cook's Bible" will have a special appeal to family cooks with an interest in vegan, vegetarian, and Asian cuisine. Inspiring, informative, and a prized pick for personal, professional, and community library cookbook collections, it should be noted that "Asian Vegetables: A Cook's Bible" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99).
Editorial Note #1: Wendy Hutton is a writer specializing in food and travel, who lived in Southeast Asia for more than five decades. She has written widely on the cuisines of Southeast Asia, including cookbooks such as Green Mangoes and Lemon Grass, Tropical Asian Cooking and the highly acclaimed Singapore Food.
Editorial Note #2: Sui Chen Choi is a Malaysian artist who specializes in botanical subjects, drawing them from real life. His illustrations appear in the "Plants" and "Animals" volumes of Encyclopedia of Malaysia
Editorial Note #3: Masano Kawana is one of the most exciting food, interior and landscape photographers in Asia today. Born in Japan and based in Singapore, Kawana has traveled, lived and surfed throughout the region, photographing a wide variety of subjects for books and lifestyle magazines. His books include Shunju, which won the prestigious James Beard Award in 2004.
Japanese Style Plant-Based Cooking
Yumiko Kano
Tuttle Publishing
www.tuttlepublishing.com
9784805317457, $18.99, HC, 112pp
https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Style-Plant-Based-Cooking-Macrobiotic/dp/4805317450
Synopsis: Yumiko Kano is one of Japan's best-known macrobiotic chefs and food writers. She has devoted her life to celebrating the flavor, versatility and nutritional benefits of a plant-based diet. "Japanese Style Plant-Based Cooking: Amazing Vegan Recipes from Japan's Leading Macrobiotic Chef and Food Writer" is the latest in a series of over 30 cookbooks featuring her "no meat, no eggs, no dairy, no sugar" recipes -- and the first to appear in English!
With the publication of "Japanese Style Plant-Based Cooking", Yumiko Kano shares 80 delicious, easy-to-make plant-based recipes, illustrated with mouthwatering photographs, including:
Sweet Potatoes in Spicy Sichuan Sauce
Miso-Stuffed Baked Tomatoes
Herb-Roasted Daikon Radish
Mini Broccoli Burgers with Spicy Tomato Sauce
Traditional Kyoto-style Eggplant Pickles
Creamy Yoghurt Soup with Fermented Cucumber Pickles
Yumiko Kano's recipes turn everyday vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkin, cabbage, zucchini and potatoes into culinary delights through the use of traditional fermented Japanese ingredients like soy sauce, miso, sake and mirin.
Of special note is the inclusion of a chapter devoted entirely to pickling and fermenting vegetables, with explanations of the equipment and processes used, along with 20 easy-to-make pickling recipes. In addition, Yumiko Kano provides many valuable tips on traditional Japanese cooking methods including boiling, sauteing and grilling.
Critique: Featuring a full color photo for each finished dish showcased in "Japanese Style Plant-Based Cooking", this landmark reference to Japanese cuisine is one that every vegan and vegetarian cook will want to have on their shelf! A pleasure to browse through and a delight to plan menus with, "Japanese Style Plant-Based Cooking" will prove a highly prized pick for personal, professional, and community library Ethnic & Vegan/Vegetarian cookbook collections. It should be noted that "Japanese Style Plant-Based Cooking" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.49).
Editorial Note: Yumiko Kano has published over 30 books on plant-based cooking in her native Japan. She is well-known in the West and has been featured in food and restaurant review columns in the New York Times. Born into a farming family, she always loved natural foods which has led her to a lifelong study of vegan and vegetarian cuisine. From 2000 to 2012, she cooked vegetarian Kaiseki cuisine at her award-winning restaurant Sen in Tokyo. Now, in addition to her writing, she teaches cooking classes all over Japan.
A Day in Tokyo: A Japanese Cookbook
Brendan Liew & Caryn Ng, co-authors
Smith Street Books
c/o Rizzoli
www.rizzoliusa.com
9781923049048, $29.95, HC, 240pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-day-in-tokyo-brendan-liew/1144720703
Synopsis: Co-authored by the culinary team of Brendan Liew and Caryn Ng, "A Day in Tokyo: A Japanese Cookbook" is a culinary journey through one of Japan's most vibrant cities.
From the bustling streets of Shinjuku to the hidden corners of Ueno, "A Day in Tokyo: A Japanese Cookbook" is a delicious culinary adventure from breakfast through to dinner, showcasing the diverse tastes and ingredients of Japanese cuisine. Start the day with unbelievably fluffy Funwari Hottokeki, dive into some Tokyo-born Yakisoba Pan for a much-earned midday break and end the night with crunchy and tender Tonkatsu.
Capture the delicious flavors of Tokyo at home with 96 recipes and insider tips on where to find the best local eats. "A Day in Tokyo" is the ultimate book for food and travel enthusiasts.
Critique: Beautifully and profusely illustrated throughout with full color photography, "A Day in Tokyo: A Japanese Cookbook" is a combination travel guide and cookbook that makes authentic Japanese cuisine fully and easily accessible to an American family cook. A pleasure to browse through and a delight to plan memorable menus with, "A Day in Tokyo: A Japanese Cookbook" is an especially recommended acquisition choice for personal, family, professional, and community library Ethnic & Asian Cookbook collections.
Editorial Note: Brendan Liew and Caryn Ng have spent more than a decade travelling to Japan, traversing its cities and rural countryside to explore, learn, and live the local culture and cuisine.
In 2016, they established a pop-up Japanese restaurant, Chotto, in Melbourne, bringing traditional ryokan-style breakfasts to the city. The cafe transported diners to Japan on a cultural and culinary journey spanning old and new, inspired by everything from countryside dinners on the Nakasendo trail, to the food of Japan's far north and deep south, and the animated feasts of Studio Ghibli.
A chef by training, Brendan has worked at restaurants including Kadeau in Copenhagen and Benu in San Francisco, and the three-Michelin-starred Nihonryori Ryugin in Tokyo and Hong Kong. He studied the craft of ramen making in Osaka before settling on specialising in kappo and modern kaiseki cuisine.
Sushi: More Than 60 Simple-to-Follow Recipes
Ryland, Peters & Small
www.rylandpeters.com
9781788795821, $16.95, HC, 160pp
https://www.amazon.com/Sushi-More-simple-follow-recipes/dp/1788795822
Synopsis: The Japanese term 'sushi' is used for dishes based on 'sumeshi', which is meaning vinegared rice, the most vital part of sushi-making.
"Sushi" from the staff of Ryland, Peters & Small begins by explaining how to cook the rice perfectly and then introduces simple rolled sushi using classic ingredients such as cucumber, tuna or salmon. Once you've mastered these easy ones you can explore more adventurous variations.
The recipes use easy-to-source ingredients, including everything from spinach, asparagus and carrots to prawns, crab and smoked salmon. There are also recipes for related raw bar dishes such as sashimi and poke, as well as others for making great accompaniments, like fabulous pickles and three ways with wasabi.
With "Sushi" as your menu planning resource, you can have parties where you provide the ingredients and guests make up their own hand rolls from their favourite ingredients, or you can do it for them - it takes no time at all! This is really easy party food, healthy snack food -- and great fun for kids too, to make and to eat.
Critique: Beautifully illustrated with color photographs of finished sushi dishes, and featuring more than 60 simple-to-follow recipes, "Sushi" will enable even the most novice kitchen cooks to turn out professional quality sushi dishes suitable for all manner of dining opportunities. An inspiring pleasure to browse through one memorable recipe at a time, "Sushi" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, and community library cookbook collections.
Editorial Note: "Sushi" is a new collection of beautifully photographed recipes, collaboratively compiled by the expert food and drink editors at Ryland Peters & Small, and originally created by their highly-regarded cookery authors.
Taste of Home Ultimate 5 Ingredient Cookbook
Taste of Home
https://www.tasteofhome.com
c/o Trusted Media Brands
https://www.trustedmediabrands.com
9798889770183, $19.99, PB, 256pp
https://www.amazon.com/Taste-Home-Ultimate-Ingredient-Cookbook/dp/B0C99K1C5W
Synopsis: With the promise of saving time, money, and avoiding stress, "Your Best Home-Cooked Meal is Only 5 Ingredients Away" by Taste of Home is thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly culinary collection that brings you family-favorite recipes that are easy to make and guaranteed to please.
The dishes all come together with a handful of ingredients so you can spend less time at the market, less money on your grocery bill and less time in the kitchen. Satisfying main dishes, soups and sandwiches, snacks and appetizers, side dishes, salads, soups, desserts... they're all here, and all made with a few items. Plus, there is a bonus chapter on grilling guarantees that you'll always have the perfect menu on hand for backyard cookouts, block parties, family reunions and other warm-weather get-togethers.
Critique: Finished dishes beautifully presented with full color photography, "Taste of Home Ultimate 5 Ingredient Cookbook" is an ideal reference resource for crating memorable menus for any and all dining occasions from breakfast to banquet. An inspiring delight to page through and thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' in organization and presentation, "Taste of Home Ultimate 5 Ingredient Cookbook" will prove a welcome and popular pick for personal, professional, and community library cookbook collections. It should be noted that "Taste of Home Ultimate 5 Ingredient Cookbook" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99).
Editorial Note: Taste of Home is America's #1 food/lifestyle brand, inspiring togetherness through cooking, baking and entertaining. Featuring recipes shared by today's home cooks, Taste of Home magazine has hundreds of thousands of subscribers throughout North America and publishes best-selling cookbooks and newsstand specials. The brand's web site is a top destination, featuring kitchen-tested recipes, how-to techniques, cooking videos and more. Taste of Home has more than 6.3 million fans on Facebook, 2 million followers on Instagram, 2.6 million Pinterest followers and receives more than 28 million unique monthly visitors.
The Wildlife Shelf
Turtles of North America
Kyle Horner
Firefly Books Ltd.
www.fireflybooks.com
9780228104667, $29.95, PB, 208pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/turtles-of-north-america-kyle-horner/1144278230
Synopsis: Turtles are among the most fascinating, attractive, easily recognized and loved vertebrates on the planet. Yet, of the hundreds of species worldwide, well over half are in danger of becoming extinct due to habitat loss, road mortality, disease, commercial fishing, harvesting for food or sale as pets. Turtles need our help to survive; this book describes some of these common threats to turtles, and how we can take positive action to help them survive and thrive.
Turtles have been around since the time of the dinosaurs - over 230 million years. They have an amazing ability to heal from injuries that would kill many other species as well as incredible physiological capabilities. From tunneling deep into the earth and making kilometer-deep oceanic dives, to full-body freezing in winter and tolerating hot sandy beaches, turtles have remarkable abilities that are belied by their slow-and-steady public image.
Turtles of North America begins with an introduction to turtle biology, how they diversified over time and how we classify the groups of turtles that exist today. A section about anatomy details their basic body plan, and how it varies to take advantage of different environments. A section about behavior covers how they live, from what they eat to what eats them, and their importance in the environment.
Fully illustrated species accounts describe the 64 species of turtles that inhabit the continental United States and Canada and the oceans that surround them. For each turtle there are photographs and text that show how to identify the species and give information about its life history. A range map shows where each turtle may be found. To complete this comprehensive guidebook, numerous additional pages highlight interesting or unusual aspects of North American turtle species, and a section about turtle conservation tells you how to protect and support turtles.
Critique: This large format (7.5 x 0.63 x 9.5 inches, 1.75 pounds) soft cover edition of Kyle Horner's "Turtles of North America: An Illustrated Field Guide to the Turtles of the Continental United States and Canada" from Firefly Books is informatively enhanced for the reader's benefit with the inclusion of full color photographs, a one page Glossary, a three page Index, and an Introduction by Sue Carstairs. Exceptionally well organized and presented, "Turtles of North America" is very special and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library North American Wildlife collections in general, and supplemental Turtle Identification curriculum studies lists in particular.
Editorial Note #1: Kyle Horner (http://kylehorner.com) is a naturalist and environmental educator who has taught at parks, zoos, botanical gardens, non-profits and the University of Guelph. He was introduced to birds at an early age by his father but has a particular interest in fostering appreciation for some of nature's less-beloved creatures.
Editorial Note #2: Sue Carstairs (BSc, DVM) is the executive and medical director at the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre in Peterborough, Ontario. She also teaches a wildlife course to veterinary technicians at Seneca College.
The American History Shelf
The New Suburbia
Becky M. Nicolaides
Oxford University Press
www.oup.com/us
9780197578308, $35.00, HC, 576pp
https://www.amazon.com/New-Suburbia-Diversity-Suburban-Angeles/dp/0197578306
Synopsis: America's suburbs have been transforming. The conventional story of suburbs as bastions of white, middle-class homeowners no longer describes the suburbs of America's cities. Today they house a more typical cross-section of the nation -- rich, poor, Black American, Latino, Asian, immigrant, the unhoused, the lavishly housed, and everyone in between. Stories of everyday suburban life, in the process, have taken on new inflections.
Nowhere are these changes more vivid than in Los Angeles. In this suburban metropolis and global powerhouse, lily white suburbs have virtually disappeared, and over two-thirds of the County's suburbs have become majority minority. Examining this vanguard of change from the postwar to the present, "The New Suburbia: How Diversity Remade Suburban Life in Los Angeles after 1945" follows the Asian Americans, Black Americans, and Latinos who moved into white neighborhoods that once barred them. They bought homes, enrolled their children in schools, and began navigating suburban life. They faced a choice: would they remake the suburbs, or would the suburbs remake them?
In places like Pasadena, San Marino, South Gate, and Lakewood, suburbanites faced the challenges of living together in difference. With the publication of "The New Suburbia", historian Becky Nicolaides explores a range of community experiences, from internal resegregation to suburban poverty, an embrace of law-and-order culture to police brutality, friendly neighbors to social withdrawal. In some communities, diverse residents continued longstanding habits of exclusion and perpetuated metropolitan inequality. In others, they embraced more inclusive, multicultural suburban ideals. Through it all, the common denominators of suburbia remained -- low-slung landscapes of single-family homes and families seeking the good life.
An authoritative work based on a half-century of quantitative data and unpublished oral histories and interviews, "The New Suburbia" explores vital landscapes where the American dream has endured, even as the dreamers have changed.
Critique: A seminal and ground-breaking study, "The New Suburbia: How Diversity Remade Suburban Life in Los Angeles after 1945" is informatively enhanced for the reader's benefit with 114 pages of Notes and a 33 page Index. Of special and particular interest to readers concerned with non-white demographic urban/suburban studies, "The New Suburbia" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library collections. It should be noted for students, academia, political activists, governmental policy makers, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The New Suburbia" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $17.99).
Editorial Note: Becky M. Nicolaides (www.beckynicolaides.com) is a research affiliate at the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West. She is also the author of "My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-Class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920-1965" and the co-editor of "The Suburb Reader". She has served on the LA Mayor's Office Civic Memory Working Group and is a lifelong Angeleno.
Street Fight: The Chicago Taxi Wars of the 1920s
Anne Morrissy
The Lyons Press
www.lyonspress.com
c/o The Globe Pequot Press
www.globepequot.com
9781493068678, $29.95, HC, 272pp
https://www.amazon.com/Street-Fight-Chicago-Taxi-1920s/dp/1493068679
Synopsis: Bricks and bottles of acid through the windshield. Bullets shot from the running boards of racing cabs, passengers screaming in the backseat. Bombs exploding in garages, beneath parked cars, on the front porches of jurors' homes. Accusations of favoritism and collusion with city leaders and law enforcement; bribery and extortion and grand jury investigations. Mysterious accidents and brutal attacks and devastating fires, leaving a trail of widows in their wake. These were Chicago's Taxi Wars, a violent and deadly battle for supremacy of the city's new and lucrative taxi industry during the Jazz Age.
In 1915, at the dawn of the automobile era, visionary car salesman John D. Hertz (better remembered today for his successful foray into rental cars) and his partner, Walden W. Shaw, founded Chicago's Yellow Cab Company. This wildly successful venture would go on to inform and inspire the modern taxi industry as we know it today in Chicago and throughout the United States.
But as the Roaring Twenties glamorized lawlessness on the city's streets, Yellow Cab's meteoric rise invited increasingly aggressive competitors. Cab drivers battled each other in the streets over fares, allegiances and turf claims, their skirmishes escalating from sophomoric pranks to cold-blooded murder, mass shootings, and acts of domestic terrorism.
In the 1920s, one rival in particular ascended to pose a threat to Yellow Cab's dominance: the Checker Taxi Company. Behind the scenes, pulling the strings at Checker, was Morris Markin, who was desperate to expand his influence even as Chicago's gangsters attempted to wrest his control away.
Working from extensive research and interviews with descendants and experts, author Anne Morrissy vividly recreates Chicago's Taxi Wars, bringing to print for the first time this deeply compelling but nearly forgotten story.
Buffeted by a supporting cast of colorful combatants and larger-than-life Jazz Age characters that included Johnny Torrio, Al Capone, Joe Kennedy, Gene Tunney, Jack Dempsey, and Chicago mayor William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson, "Street Fight: The Chicago Taxi Wars of the 1920s" reveals the history these deadly wars that played out on the city's streets a century ago, endangering the lives of passengers and passersby, while at the same time forming the regulatory foundation that still governs cab, limo and rideshare transportation in the 21st century.
Critique: A seminal and ground-breaking study, "Street Fight: The Chicago Taxi Wars of the 1920s" by Anne Morrisy is informatively enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of a sixteen page section of B/W historical photos, eighteen pages of Notes, and a ten page Index. Extraordinary, fascinating, and offering immense appeal to readers with an interest in the history of organized crime, the history of Chicago, and automotive/transportation history, "Street Fight" is recommended a prized and singularly unique addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library collections. It should be noted for non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Street Fight" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $21.49).
Editorial Note: Anne Morrissy (https://annemorrissy.com) is a writer and magazine editor with a passion for narrative history. Her first book, Running the Reds: The First 100 Years of the Water Safety Patrol, 1920-2020, was published in 2019. A graduate of Kenyon College, she splits her time between Chicago and Williams Bay, Wisconsin.
Making the Frontier Man
Matthew C. Ward
University of Pittsburgh Press
https://upittpress.org
9780822947875, $60.00, HC, 384pp
https://www.amazon.com/Making-Frontier-Man-Authority-Backcountry/dp/0822947870
Synopsis: For western colonists in the early American backcountry, disputes often ended in bloodshed and death. With the publication of "Making the Frontier Man: Violence, White Manhood, and Authority in the Early Western Backcountry", Matthew C. Ward (Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Dundee in Scotland.) examines early life and the origins of lawless behavior in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio from 1750 to 1815. It provides a key to understanding why the trans-Appalachian West was prone to violent struggles, especially between white men.
Traumatic experiences of the Revolution and the Forty Years War legitimized killing as a means of self-defense (of property, reputation, and rights) transferring power from the county courts to the ordinary citizen. Backcountry men waged war against American Indians in state-sponsored militias as they worked to establish farms and seize property in the West. And white neighbors declared war on each other, often taking extreme measures to resolve petty disputes that ended with infamous family feuds.
"Making the Frontier Man" focuses on these experiences of western expansion and how they influenced American culture and society, specifically the nature of western manhood, which radically transformed in the North American environment. In search of independence and improvement, the new American man was also destitute, frustrated by the economic and political power of his elite counterparts, and undermined by failure. He was aggressive, misogynistic, racist, and violent, and looked to reclaim his dominance and masculinity by any means necessary.
Critique: An original, seminal and groundbreaking study, "Making the Frontier Man: Violence, White Manhood, and Authority in the Early Western Backcountry" is informatively enhanced for the reader's benefit with the inclusion of a thirty page Bibliography, twenty-eight pages of Notes, and a five page Index. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Making the Frontier Man" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and college/university library American History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in American frontier history that "Making the Frontier Man" from the University of Pittsburgh Press is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $57.00) as well.
Tombstone, Arizona Mystique
David D. de Haas, author
Donald Chaput, author
Caxton Press
https://www.caxtonpress.com
9780870046483, $26.95, HC, 440pp
https://www.amazon.com/Tombstone-Arizona-Mystique-David-Haas/dp/0870046489
Synopsis: Ed Schieffelin's 1877 discovery of silver in the dangerous southeastern Arizona desert set in motion a whirlwind series of events which ended up creating what would emerge as history's most influential mining camp, that of Tombstone, Arizona.
The subsequent happenings which were to follow in the ensuing 146 years of the town's history would make Tombstone iconic, legendary, and forever in the world's psyche -- as well as one of the few old west mining camps which has evolved and thriving to this day.
Through the years, multiple boom-bust cycles, and five different distinct eras, Tombstone would continue reimagining itself to stay alive and relevant. "Tombstone, Arizona Mystique" tells the history of how Tombstone, and its mystique, all came about, and the extraordinary influence it has had on the world since its founding in 1877.
Critique: History that reads with all the inherent drama of a finely crafted novel, "Tombstone, Arizona Mystique", co-authored by David D. de Haas and Donald Chaput is an impressively informative, exceptionally comprehensive, deftly written, organized and presented history that is informatively enhanced for the reader's benefit with the inclusion of two Appendices (Tombstone's Boom-Bust-Boom Timelines & For Some, A final Common Meeting Ground), thirty-eight pages of Notes, a ten page Bibliography, a two page listing of Illustrations, and a seventeen page Index. Of special and particular value to readers with an interest in the Old West in general, and the vivid and entertaining history of Tombstone, Arizona in particular, "Tombstone, Arizona Mystique" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library American History and Arizon History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note #1: Don Chaput is a curator emeritus of the Natural History Museum, Los Angeles. He is a consultant to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography and has been a contributor to the Smithsonian's Handbook of North American Indians. He has written on mining and law and order in the American West as well as in the Philippines, Australia, Canada, and Mexico. His books on the Southwest include biographies of the Earp brothers, lawman-train robber Burt Alvord, and frontier surgeon Dr. George Goodfellow and also co-authored Cochise County Stalwarts and most recently (2020) The Earps Invade Southern California.
Editorial Note #2: David D. de Haas, MD received his BS degree in Biochemistry from UCLA in 1979, his MD at the Chicago Medical School in 1983, and became board certified in both emergency medicine and internal medicine after completing a dual residency at the Kern Medical Center (UCLA affiliate) in 1987. After practicing emergency (and some internal) medicine for nearly 40 years he retired in 2021. He has published numerous medical and Wild West articles and is the moderator of the highly popular "Wild West Collectors" Facebook page. In 2020 he coauthored his first book, The Earps Invade Southern California, with Donald Chaput.
Unburied Lives
Laurie A. Wilkie
University of New Mexico Press
www.unmpress.com
9780826362995, $65.00, HC, 304pp
https://www.amazon.com/Unburied-Lives-Historical-Archaeology-1869-1875/dp/0826362990
Synopsis: According to the accounts of two white officers, on the evening of November 20, 1872, Corporal Daniel Talliafero, of the segregated Black 9th cavalry, was shot to death by an officer's wife while attempting to break into her sleeping apartment at the military post of Fort Davis, Texas. Historians writing about Black soldiers serving in the West have long accepted the account without question, retelling the story of Daniel Talliafero, the thwarted "rapist".
With the publication of "Unburied Lives: The Historical Archaeology of Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Davis, Texas, 1869-1875", Professor Laurie A. Wilke takes a different approach, demonstrating how we can "listen" to stories found in things neglected, ignored, or disparaged in the form of documents not consulted, architecture not studied, material traces preserved in the dirt.
With a focus on Fort Davis, Professor Wilkie brings attention to the Black enlisted men and non-commissioned officers. In her archaeological accounting, Wilkie explores the complexities of post life, racialized relationships, Black masculinity, and citizenship while also exposing the structures and practices of military life that successfully obscured these men's stories for so long.
Critique: A seminal and ground-breaking study, "Unburied Lives: The Historical Archaeology of Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Davis, Texas, 1869-1875" is informatively enhanced for the reader's benefit by Professor of Anthropology & Social Science Laurie A. Wilkie with the inclusion of Illustrations, Tables, a Prologue & Epilogue, twenty pages of Notes, a twenty page Bibliography, and an eight page Index. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Unburied Lives: The Historical Archaeology of Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Davis, Texas, 1869-1875" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal reading lists and college/university library 19th Century American History, Black Studies, and Cultural Anthropology collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Unburied Lives: The Historical Archaeology of Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Davis, Texas, 1869-1875" is also available in a paperback edition (9780826365675, $34.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $34.95).
Editorial Note: Laurie A. Wilkie (https://anthropology.berkeley.edu/laurie-wilkie) is the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor of Social Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. Her books include Strung Out on Archaeology: An Introduction to Archaeological Research, The Lost Boys of Zeta Psi: A Historical Archaeology of Masculinity at a University Fraternity, and The Archaeology of Mothering: An African-American Midwife's Tale.
The World History Shelf
The Roman Imperial Succession
John D. Grainger
Pen & Sword Books
c/o Casemate (US distribution)
www.casematepublishers.com
https://www.penandswordbooks.com
9781526766045, $34.99, HC, 256pp
https://www.amazon.com/Roman-Imperial-Succession-John-Grainger/dp/1526766043
Synopsis: With the publication of "The Roman Imperial Succession", historian John D Grainger analyses the Roman imperial succession, demonstrating that the empire organized by Augustus was fundamentally flawed in the method it used to find emperors. Augustus' system was a mixture of heredity, senatorial and military influences, and these were generally antagonistic.
Consequently the Empire went through a series of crises, in which the succession to a previous (and usually dead) emperor was the main issue.
The infamous 'Year of the Four Emperors', AD 69, is only the most famous of these crises, which often involved bouts of bloody and destructive civil war, assassinations and purges. These were followed by a period, usually relatively short, in which the victor in the 'crisis' established a new system, juggling the three basic elements identified by Augustus, but which was as fragile and short lived as its predecessor; these 'consequences' of each crisis are discussed.
The lucid and erudite text found in "The Roman Imperial Succession" is effectively supported by numerous genealogical tables and dozens of depictions of emperors.
Critique: "The Roman Imperial Succession" is informatively enhanced for the reader's benefit with the inclusion of B/W illustrations, a five page List of Emperors, ten pages of Notes, and a four page Index. A seminal and comprehensive work of history that reads with the inherent interest level of a well crafted novel, "The Roman Imperial Succession" is a welcome and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library Ancient Roman History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted that this edition of "The Roman Imperial Succession" from Pen & Sword Books is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781399021432, $24.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $2.99).
Editorial Note: John D. Grainger is a former teacher and historian of great experience with a particular interest in Classical and Hellenistic Greek history.
Ancient Rome in Fifty Monuments
Paul Roberts
Thames & Hudson, Inc.
www.thamesandhudsonusa.com
9780500025680, $39.95, HC, 256pp
https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Rome-Fifty-Monuments-Roberts/dp/0500025681
Synopsis: As the old saying goes -- Rome wasn't built in a day. It was constructed, developed, and expanded over several centuries and under many different emperors. This story of continual creation and renewal lies at the heart of "Ancient Rome in Fifty Monuments" by museum curator Paul Roberts.
Rome's history has been explored by countless classicists, historians, poets, and authors, but until now, it was a rare occasion to its history being recounted through the building programs of its emperors -- building programs which transformed a small village in Italy into the apogee of empire.
With the publication of "Ancient Rome in Fifty Monuments', Roberts draws upon his experience as a curator for the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England as he takes the reader on an historical tour of ancient Rome that ranges from the luxurious bathhouses of Caracalla and Diocletian, the rowdy Circus Maximus, and the Colosseum, to monuments such as the Column of Trajan that celebrated Rome's imperial project. Roberts expertly weaves together the latest archaeological research with social and cultural history, vividly evoking the story of a city always in some way rising, falling, and being rebuilt.
Roberts tells this story emperor by emperor, seeking out the personalities behind the great building projects and the very human motivations that gave rise to their construction -- and destruction. When and why were they built? What did they add to the lives of the people who used them? What impact did they have on the shape of the city? Often the importance of a monument lies not intrinsically in the structure itself, but instead in the political, social, or cultural developments at its foundations.
Through these monuments and the emperors who built them, Rome's mythical and real past are intertwined, reflecting the empire's triumphant yet often turbulent history.
Critique: Beautifully and informatively enriched for the reader's benefit with 150 color illustration, as well as the inclusion of a two page Plan of Rome, a two page bibliography of Further Readings, and a four page Index, this large format (7.7 x 1.2 x 10.1 inches, 2.38 pounds) hardcover edition of "Ancient Rome in Fifty Monuments" from Thames & Hudson is a unique and very welcome contribution to the ever growing library of Imperial Roman History. Exceptionally well organized and presented, "Ancient Rome in Fifty Monuments" is an extraordinary and unreservedly commended addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library History of Rome collections and supplemental Roman History curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note: Paul Roberts (www.ashmolean.org/people/paul-roberts) is research keeper of the department of antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. He has curated numerous popular exhibitions, including "Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum" at the British Museum in 2013 and "Last Supper in Pompeii" at the Ashmolean in 2019 - 2020.
The Civil War Shelf
We Shall Conquer or Die
Derrick Lindow
Savas Beatie LLC
www.savasbeatie.com
9781611216684, $32.95, HC, 240pp
https://www.amazon.com/We-Shall-Conquer-Die-Partisan/dp/1611216680
Synopsis: Western Kentucky during the American Civil War was the scene of a deadly and expensive 'war within a war' which raged there behind the front and often out of the major headlines. In 1862, the region was infested with guerrilla activity that pitted brother against brother and neighbor against neighbor in a personal war that recognized few boundaries. The raiding and fighting took hundreds of lives, destroyed or captured millions of dollars of supplies, and siphoned away thousands of men from the Union war effort.
With the publication of "We Shall Conquer or Die: Partisan Warfare in 1862 Western Kentucky", Derrick Lindow tells this little-known story for the first time.
Confederate Col. Adam Rankin Johnson and his 10th Kentucky Partisan Rangers wreaked havoc on Union supply lines and garrisons from the shores of southern Indiana, in the communities of western Kentucky, and even south into Tennessee. His rangers seemed unbeatable and uncatchable that second year of the war because Johnson's partisans often disbanded and melted into the countryside (a tactic relatively easy to execute in a region populated with Southern sympathizers). Once it was safe to do so, they reformed and struck again.
In the span of just a few months Johnson captured six Union-controlled towns, hundreds of prisoners, and tons of Union army equipment. Union civil and military authorities, meanwhile, were not idle bystanders. Strategies changed, troops rushed to guerrilla flashpoints, daring leaders refused the Confederate demands of surrender, and every available type of fighting man was utilized, from Regulars to the militia of the Indiana Legion, temporary service day regiments, and even brown water naval vessels. Clearing the area of partisans and installing a modicum of Union control became one of the Northern high command's major objectives.
This deadly and expensive war behind the lines was fought by men who often found themselves thrust into unpredictable situations. Participants included future presidential cabinet members, Mexican War veterans, Jewish immigrants, some of the U.S. Army's rising young officers, and the civilians unfortunate enough to live in the borderlands of Kentucky.
Lindow spent years researching through archival source material to pen this important, groundbreaking study. His account of partisan guerrilla fighting and the efforts to bring it under control helps put the Civil War in the northern reaches of the Western Theater into proper context. It is a story long overdue.
Critique: A seminal and ground breaking contribution to the ever expanding library of American Civil War histories, "We Shall Conquer or Die: Partisan Warfare in 1862 Western Kentucky" is informatively enhanced for the reader's benefit with the inclusion of a number of B/W historical photos, a seven page Bibliography, a seven page Index, a high value and prized pick for personal, professional, community, and college/university library collections and supplemental American Civil War curriculum studies lists. Also readily available for students, academia, Civil War buffs, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject, "We Shall Conquer or Die: Partisan Warfare in 1862 Western Kentucky" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99).
Editorial Note: Derrick Lindow (www.kentuckycivilwarauthor.com/home) teaches 8th grade United States history in Owensboro, Kentucky. He graduated from Kentucky Wesleyan College (2010) with a BA in history and holds an MA in Education from the University of the Cumberlands. In 2023, he earned his MA in history from Western Kentucky University. He is the 2015 Dr. Tom and Betty Lawrence National History Teacher Award recipient from the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and the 2019 James Madison Fellow for the state of Kentucky. Derrick is the creator and co-administrator of the Western Theater in the Civil War website, which brings together authors and historians to write about that crucial area of the war.
The Confederate Navy Medical Corps
Guy R. Hasegawa
McFarland & Company
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9781476694511, $39.95, PB, 245pp
https://www.amazon.com/Confederate-Navy-Medical-Corps-Organization/dp/1476694516
Synopsis: The Confederate Navy's medical service is usually overlooked in histories of the American Civil War, yet it was vital in maintaining the fighting strength of the South's navy and marine corps.
Confederate medical officers not only manned war vessels, they staffed navy yards and land-based hospitals, gathered supplies, participated in raids, examined recruits, and even served at defensive shore batteries.
Many such officers had served in the United States Navy, while others were recruited from civil life. Enlisted personnel and civilian physicians also helped the navy provide medical care -- used in managing battle wounds and other injuries but more often devoted to preventing and treating disease. Malaria was particularly common among sailors and marines stationed in the swampy regions of the South.
"The Confederate Navy Medical Corps: Organization, Personnel and Actions" by Guy R. Hasegawa is the first published study devoted entirely to the medical corps of the Confederate navy. It provides a carefully researched look at the men, structure, facilities, and activities of the organization. Of special note is the inclusion of a complete list of men known to have been commissioned as naval medical officers is included.
Critique: Informatively enhanced for the reader's benefit with the inclusion of two Appendices (Commissioned Medical Offices in the C&N; Duties of Medical Officers), twenty-two pages of Chapter Notes; a ten page Bibliography, and an eight page Index, "The Confederate Navy Medical Corps: Organization, Personnel and Actions" is a seminal historical study and a uniquely recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library American Civil War History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and dedicated Civil War history buffs that "The Confederate Navy Medical Corps: Organization, Personnel and Actions" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $25.99).
Editorial Note: Guy R. Hasegawa is a retired editor and pharmacist living in suburban Maryland. He has published numerous scholarly articles and books on Civil War medicine and is a frequent contributor to Civil War Navy--The Magazine. (www.civilwarmed.org/people/hasegawa)
The Military History Shelf
Standing Up Space Force
Forrest L. Marion
Naval Institute Press
www.nip.org
9781682472392, $39.95, HC, 312pp
https://www.amazon.com/Standing-Up-Space-Force-Transforming/dp/1682472396
Synopsis: Although the United States won the race to the moon, the Soviets were far more active in space than Americans during the decade that followed. By the 1980s, some space experts feared the United States was in danger of being surpassed in space, including dual-use systems that might be employed offensively in a military confrontation. A few experts, looking ahead, recommended a space force within roughly two decades.
With the publication of "Standing Up Space Force: The Road to the Nation's Sixth Armed Service", Forrest L. Marion has organized the creation of such an American space force chronologically by presidential administration, beginning in the middle of the Clinton years and progressing through the Trump administration. During the Clinton and George W. Bush years, the move to national security space was incremental. The Obama presidency witnessed the rise of NewSpace entrepreneurs whose impressive space activities facilitated their initial partnering with U.S. government National Security Space (NSS) missions helping the United States keep pace with China and Russia.
During the Trump administration, all necessary elements finally came together. Most significantly, presidential-congressional leadership and bipartisan support that eventually produced the fiscal 2020 national defense authorization act (NDAA). Because the NDAA authorized and provided for the Space Force, when the President signed the defense bill on 20 December 2019, at the same moment he officially established the nation's sixth armed service.
Critique: The birth of the Space Force as arguably the sixth branch of the American military is an inherently fascinating one that is exceptionally well laid out and presented in the pages of "Standing Up Space Force: The Road to the Nation's Sixth Armed Service" from the Naval Institute Press. Informatively enhanced for the reader's benefit with the inclusion of a six page Appendix (Space Policy Directive 4, 19 February 2019), fifty-eight pages of Notes, a twenty page Selected Bibliography, and a thirteen page Index, "Standing Up Space Force: The Road to the Nation's Sixth Armed Service" is unreservedly recommended as a unique and timely pick for personal, professional, community, and college/university library American Military Aviation History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Standing Up Space Force: The Road to the Nation's Sixth Armed Service" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $29.99) as well.
Editorial Note: Forrest L. Marion (www.usni.org/people/forrest-marion) graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in civil engineering and earned a master's degree in military history from the University of Alabama and a doctorate in U.S. history from the University of Tennessee. He is a retired U.S. Air Force Reserve officer and served as staff/oral historian (federal civil service) at the Air Force Historical Research Agency from 1998 to 2023, including three overseas deployments (two in military status) and two stateside deployments. Marion is the author of three military history works. From 2011 to 2015, he worked primarily for the Office of the Secretary of Defense Historical Office on a coauthored history of the reserve components.
Great Battles of the Early Roman Empire
Simon Elliott
Pen & Sword Books
c/o Casemate (US distribution)
www.casematepublishers.com
https://www.penandswordbooks.com
9781399069830, $36.95, HC, 192pp
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Battles-Early-Roman-Empire/dp/1399069837
Synopsis: With the publication of "Great Battles of the Early Roman Empire", archaeologist and historian Simon Elliott describes eight of the greatest, most decisive battles of the Roman Empire of the first to third centuries.
The list includes battles fought from the highlands of Scotland and the forests of Germany to the deserts of the Middle East. They show how the vaunted Roman legions adapted to extremes of terrain and climate as well as a wide array of very different foes, from the wild Caledonian tribes to the sophisticated, combined-arms armies of Sassanid Persia with their war elephants and superb cavalry. Some of the battles even pit the Roman legions against their own kind in brutal civil wars.
After an introductory chapter on the Imperial Roman army, detailing its organization, equipment, tactics and doctrine, the author moves on to describing each battle in detail. Dr. Elliot sets the strategic context and background of the chosen engagement before analyzing the size and composition of the opposing forces, also detailing the nature of the enemy faced. The maneuvers leading up to the battle are described, followed by deployment and the course of the fighting itself. Finally, the aftermath and implications of the battles outcome are assessed. The well-researched and engaging text is supported by clear maps.
Critique: Informatively enhanced for the reader's benefit with the inclusion of an Introduction and a Conclusion, "Great Battles of the Early Roman Empire" also features a twenty-two page Appendix (The Principate Roman Military), a six page Bibliography, and a three page Index. Fascinating, detailed, and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in style, organization and presentation, "Great Battles of the Early Roman Empire" is an extraordinary and highly prized pick for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Ancient Rome History/Military collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in Ancient Rome that this outstanding study is also readily available from Pen & Sword Books in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99).
Editorial Note: Dr Simon Elliott (www.simonelliott20.com) is an archaeologist, historian and broadcaster. He has written numerous books on themes related to the classical world and military history, and frequently appears on broadcast media as a presenter and expert. Amongst others, his books published by Casemate Publishers include Ancient Greeks at War (2021), Old Testament Warriors (2021) and Romans at War (2020). He is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Kent, Trustee of the Council for British Archaeology, Ambassador for Museum of London Archaeology, President of the Society of Ancients, and Guide Lecturer for Andante Travels and Hidden History Travel.
Fort Monmouth
Melissa Ziobro
Brookline Books
c/o Casemate Publishers
www.casematepublishers.com
9781955041225, $24.95, PB, 240pp
https://www.amazon.com/Fort-Monmouth-Armys-House-Magic/dp/1955041229
Synopsis: The history of Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, begins in May 1917 when, as part of its wartime mobilization, the Army authorized four training camps for signal troops. One camp, located in central NJ, would eventually be known as "Fort Monmouth," in honor of the soldiers of the American Revolution who fought and died at the nearby battle of Monmouth.
This camp was located on the site of an old racetrack and luxury hotel, remnants of the famed Gilded Age at the Jersey Shore. Though much of the site was overgrown and infested with poison ivy, it afforded the Army significant advantages: proximity to the port of Hoboken and a train station, good stone roads, and access to water.
Corporal Carl L. Whitehurst was among the first men to arrive at Camp Little Silver. He later recalled that the site appeared to be a "jungle of weeds, poison ivy, briars, and underbrush." The Army Signal Corps carved a camp out of that wilderness, and trained thousands of men for war there. The Signal Corps also built laboratories that worked on pioneering technologies, like air to ground radio, from their very inception. Though the base was supposed to be temporary, it wound up outliving the war. It was for decades known as the "Home of the Signal Corps," and, until its closure in 2011, was still innovating some of the most significant communications and electronics advances in military history.
The US Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM), which left Fort Monmouth in 2011, for Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, can trace its roots to the establishment of the Signal Corps training camp and research and development laboratory at Fort Monmouth in 1917, and Netflix, the site's next owner, has a powerful legacy to live up to.
From celebrity homing pigeons to the radars that detected the incoming Japanese planes at Pearl Harbor to early space communications and night vision technologies, Fort Monmouth, once called the "Army's House of Magic," was the birthplace of innovation and technological revolution and the home of a uniquely diverse group of military and civilian heroes and scientists.
Critique: Informatively enhanced for the reader's benefit with the inclusion of an Introduction and a Conclusion, thirty-one pages of Notes, and a three page Select Bibliography, "Fort Monmouth: The US Army's House of Magic" is a seminal, precise and exceptionally well presented American military history. While available for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.95), "Fort Monmouth: The US Army's House of Magic" is an unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library collections and supplemental American Military History & Strategy curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note: Melissa Ziobro is the Director of Public History at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, NJ. She also serves as the Curator of the campus's Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music. She was the last Command Historian at Fort Monmouth prior to the base's closure in 2011. (www.monmouth.edu/directory/profiles/melissa-ziobro)
Pathfinder Pioneer
Colonel Raymond E. Brim, USAF (Ret.)
Casemate Publishers
www.casematepublishers.com
9781636244631, $24.95, PB, 312pp
https://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Pioneer-Memoir-Bomber-Pilot/dp/1636244637
Synopsis: "Pathfinder Pioneer: The Memoir of a Lead Bomber Pilot in World War II" is an engaging personal story of how an 18-year-old miner shoveling ore from deep in the ground in Utah suddenly found himself, only two years later, 30,000 feet in the air over Nazi Germany, piloting a Flying Fortress in the first wave of America's air counteroffensive in Europe.
Like thousands of other young Americans, Ray Brim was plucked by the U.S. Army to be a combat flyer, and was quickly pitted against the hardened veterans of the Luftwaffe. Brim turned out to have a natural knack for flying, however, and was assigned to the select squadron developing lead Pathfinder techniques, while experimenting with radar. He was among the first to test the teeth of the Luftwaffe's defenses, and once those techniques had been honed, thousands of other bomber crews would follow into the maelstrom, from which 80,000 never returned.
"Pathfinder Pioneer: The Memoir of a Lead Bomber Pilot in World War II" gives the reader vivid insights into the genesis of the American air campaign, told with the humor, attention to detail and humility that captures the heart and soul of our "Greatest Generation."
Brim was one of the first Pathfinder pilots to fly both day and night missions leading bomb groups of 600-plus bombers to their targets. At the onset of his missions in the spring of 1943, B-17 crews were given a 50-50 chance of returning. Each of his raids were nerve-wracking forays into the unknown; with struggles to survive the damage to his plane due to flak and German fighter attacks, in order to bring his 10-man crew home, often wounded but still alive.
Critique: Enhanced for the reader's benefit with the inclusion of fourteen pages of historic B/W photographs, and an informative Introduction by Rebecca Saywell, "Pathfinder Pioneer: The Memoir of a Lead Bomber Pilot in World War II" is an extraordinary story and a highly prized addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library World War II Military Aviation History/Memoir collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. Originally published by Casemate in a hardcover edition (2016), it should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Pathfinder Pioneer: The Memoir of a Lead Bomber Pilot in World War II" is also now available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99) as well.
Editorial Note: Raymond E. Brim was born in 1922 in the mining town of Dividend, Utah where he grew up the son of the bookkeeper and the town's only nurse. He studied political science at the University of Utah but dropped out to enlist in the Army Air Corps. He trained as a fighter pilot; however was assigned to a B-17 bomber, 482nd Squadron, where he flew missions over Germany during 1943 and 1944. As a Pathfinder pilot Ray pioneered radar technology leading both day and night raids as far as Berlin. Colonel Ray Brim died in 2019 at the age of 96 in the company of family and friends.
Invasion On
Stephen M. Rusiecki
Naval Institute Press
www.nip.org
9781682479209, $39.95, HC, 368pp
https://www.amazon.com/Invasion-D-Day-Making-American-Narrative/dp/168247920X
Synopsis: With the publication of "Invasion On: D-Day, the Press, and the Making of an American Narrative", Stephen M. Rusiecki describes the process of how and why Americans developed a standing narrative of the World War II operation known as D-Day based upon a common, press-enabled, thematically framed narrative.
This story of June 6, 1944 is the one which has endured for more than seven decades. How did this early, single narrative of the D-Day landings, hastily though deliberately constructed in real time by America's radio networks and newspapers, come together on 6 June 1944 to become the story of that event in the years and decades after World War II? This version is what has dominated the imaginations and consciousness of Americans ever since.
Ultimately, "Invasion On" explains how America's collective understanding of D-Day (essentially the American D-Day story) was born. Rusiecki explores in detail the mechanics of precisely how radio broadcasts and newspapers in the 24-hour period surrounding 6 June 1944 gathered and then communicated facts, images, impressions, attitudes, and meaning that formed for all Americans nearly simultaneously a common narrative organized around four thematic themes.
These four themes (the significance and grand scale of the operation, the sacralization of the event, the gifted and talented nature of the Allied senior leaders, and the purity and valor of the average American soldier) would remain fixed in the American consciousness for decades to come in any discussion of June 6, 1944.
By addressing the news-making process during D-Day, "Invasion On" further explores what information was available to the press; how the press assigned meaning to, or perceived, that information; and what information remained unavailable to the press on 6 June 1944 due to censorship or procedural breakdowns caused by the friction of war.
In the end, "Invasion On" is about the process by which the print and broadcast media constructed a very specific storyline of D-Day in the moment, a narrative that granted D-Day a unique and war-defining status in the minds of the American public or the sort enjoyed by few events in American military history.
Critique: A seminal and ground-breaking study, "Invasion On: D-Day, the Press, and the Making of an American Narrative" is informatively enhanced for the reader's benefit with the inclusion of an eighteen page Introduction (The Birth of an American Narrative), a twelve page section of B/W historical photos, thirty-six pages of Notes, a sixteen page Bibliography, and a thirteen page Index. A welcome and unique contribution to the growing body of World War II histories, "Invasion On: D-Day, the Press, and the Making of an American Narrative" is a highly prized and definitively recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library WWII collections and supplemental Communications/Media Studies curriculum lists. It should be noted for students, academia, military history buffs, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Invasion On: D-Day, the Press, and the Making of an American Narrative" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $25.75).
Editorial Note: Lt. Col. Stephen M. Rusiecki is the Dean of Academics of the U.S. Army Inspector General School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and the author of two other books on the European Theater in World War II.
Men of God - Men of War
Robert C. Doyle
Naval Institute Press
www.nip.org
9781682474181, $34.95, HC, 224pp
https://www.amazon.com/Men-God-War-Chaplains-Ministers/dp/1682474186
Synopsis: With the publication of "Men of God, Men of War: Military Chaplains as Ministers, Warriors, and Prisoners", Robert C. Doyle tells the stories of chaplains who have served in America's wars. In his exploration of military chaplaincy, Doyle poses questions about their brand of service to the United States. He examines the complexities of the chaplains' vocation -- the types of services they performed, the roles they assumed in combat and as prisoners of war, and how they interacted with the military personnel they served and supported. Doyle also explores the high price many paid for their commitment to their unique type of service.
"Men of God, Men of War" illuminates the histories of chaplains who did their duty selflessly to God, to their country, to the soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen with whom they found themselves in very dire circumstances over the past three hundred years. Chaplains throughout American history have served bravely and selflessly at home and in the field, both under fire and "behind the wire". Chaplains also served as sources of motivation, inspiration, and peace for military personnel in times of hardship, especially in captivity. Doyle vividly illustrates that while they are now treated as non-combatants, chaplains' vital role as leaders cannot be underestimated or understated.
Additionally, "Men of God, Men of War" examines how chaplains performed under fire in hostile environments, beginning with the Revolutionary War through the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. The chaplains of the Revolution were patriots first, soldiers second, and men of God third. From the Civil War to modern times, these men gave hope to the hopeless, absolution to those soldiers who stood before their Maker before battles, and faith in themselves and their comrades so necessary for men in combat. Doyle's research shows that military chaplains have always remained necessary to men at war, even in a modern secular military.
Critique: A unique, seminal, and ground-breaking study, "Men of God, Men of War: Military Chaplains as Ministers, Warriors, and Prisoners" features an informative Preface, a ten page Bibliography, twenty pages of Notes, and a sixteen page Index. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Men of God, Men of War: Military Chaplains as Ministers, Warriors, and Prisoners" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended contribution to community and college/university library American Military History/Biography collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, military buffs, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Men of God, Men of War: Military Chaplains as Ministers, Warriors, and Prisoners" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $27.19)
Editorial Note: Robert C. Doyle became a Fulbright professor at the Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat in Germany in 1994 and later taught at the Universite Strasbourg II in France for three years. He taught American History at Franciscan University of Steubenville from 2000 and retired as Professor Emeritus of History in 2022. He worked on several documentary projects and also provided research consultancy for the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (USAF). He is also the author of several books on prisoners of war, including, A Prisoner's Duty: Great Escapes in Military History (1997).
The Biography Shelf
The Anne Boleyn Bible
Mickey Mayhew
Pen & Sword Books
c/o Casemate (US distribution)
www.casematepublishers.com
9781399083720, $36.95, HC, 216pp
https://www.amazon.com/Anne-Boleyn-Bible-Mickey-Mayhew/dp/1399083724
Synopsis: Anne Boleyn (c. 1501 or 1507 - 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution by beheading for treason, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation.
Today, almost 500 years later Anne Boleyn still sells, but she sells in segments; a biography here,
a study over there on her guilt and something else yonder concerned with where she lived or what she liked to wear. With the publication of "The Anne Boleyn Bible", historian and biographer Mickey Mayhew covers not just her life in Tudor England, but her life onscreen, in theater, on TV and also the impact of the first black actress to play her, is the definitive, all-encompassing story of Anne Boleyn from 1501 (or thereabouts) to 2023.
Having examined the ardent fandom of Anne Boleyn for his doctorate, Dr Mickey Mayhew is in a unique position to offer something new to say on this much-discussed 'tragic' Tudor queen and is not afraid to tackle some of the less palatable aspects of her life.
Also, "The Anne Boleyn Bible" is the first to examine with authenticity the reality of Anne's relationship with the most important man in her life, the man whose name she repeated in comfort while facing the Swordsman of Calais on the scaffold, having spent her life promulgating his doctrine; Jesus Christ himself. As for the aforementioned executioner, Dr Mayhew's research in Calais and Saint-Omer can now lift a lid on a few of the particulars of this elusive and yet essential figure of Anne Boleyn mythos; and yes, now he even has a name as well.
Critique: A simply fascinating and impressively informative work of seminal and ground breaking scholarship of a subject that has been extensively (even exhaustively) studied in the past, "The Anne Boleyn Bible" also features a sixteen page section of B/W photos, a seven page Bibliography, a two page Filmography, and a four page Index. While a very special and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library 16th Century English Royal History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Anne Boleyn Bible" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99).
Editorial Note: Lifelong Londoner Mickey Mayhew recently completed his PhD on the cult surrounding 'tragic queens' Anne Boleyn and Mary Queen of Scots. In that time, he was also co-author on three books relating to Jack the Ripper, published by The History Press. His first non-fiction work, The Little Book of Mary Queen of Scots, was also published by The History Press in January 2015; I Love the Tudors, by Pitkin Publishing, arrived in 2016. He has a column in the journal of The Whitechapel Society, having previously been a film and theatre reviewer for various London lifestyle magazines. Through 2018/2019, he was an assistant researcher on several projects for London South Bank University.
The General Fiction Shelf
Widows on the Wine Path
Julia Jarman
Boldwood Books
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781785130397, $17.99, PB, Large Print, 344pp
https://www.amazon.com/Widows-Wine-Path-Julia-Jarman/dp/1785130390
Synopsis: Viv, Janet and Zelda know all about facing the wobbly first year of becoming a widow due to their friendship being forged when they ran away from the same dreary support group. Forming instead The Muscateers -- a much more lively widows' wine club, and welcoming Libby with open arms as a new member.
Libby feels lost without Jim, her husband of more than thirty years, but the warmth, friendship and fun the women wrap her up in inspires her to begin to look to the future. When a solo trip to the theatre brings a blast from the past back into her life, things are looking up.
But as cravat-wearing, smooth-talking Monty Charles sweeps Libby off her feet, the women of the Muscateers smell a rat. They know only too well that the first year of widowhood is prime for making mistakes, and they're determined to protect their friend. And as Monty soon finds out to his cost, never underestimate a Widow on the Wine Path...
Critique: A brilliant, entertaining, deftly crafted, and simply fun read from start to finish, author Julia Jarman's Widows on the Wine Path"is an original story of love and laughter, friendship and finding your feet. Of special interest to fans of women's friendship themed novels, this large print edition of "Widows on the Wine Path" from Boldwood Books is certain to be a welcome and prized addition to personal reading lists and community library Contemporary Fiction collections.
Editorial Note: Julia Jarman (https://juliajarman.com) describes herself as an author of books for all ages. Her books are listed on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Jarman.
The Literary Fiction Shelf
Buffalo Dreamers
John Newman
Sweet Grass Press
c/o Farcountry Press
www.farcountrypress.com
9781591523123, 248pp
https://www.amazon.com/Buffalo-Dreamers-Novel-John-Newman/dp/1591523125
Synopsis: For Sam Comstock, a young Iraq war vet with PTSD, the need to find a way to heal his wounded soul is a matter of life or death. His Marine sniper skills lead him to Montana on a mission to help manage an infamous wildlife challenge: killing migratory buffalo outside Yellowstone Park that are presumed to carry an infectious disease for cattle.
This places Sam seriously at odds with a renegade band of Indian warrior-dreamers who are determined to save the buffalo from slaughter. Thrown together and isolated in the Montana wilderness, meanwhile relentlessly pursued by the combined forces of military, law enforcement, and the cattle industry, Sam and his native compatriots must depend upon one another for survival.
Along the way, Sam becomes enmeshed in the way of the buffalo, confronting his suicidal pain and emerging from a long trail of suffering.
Through Sam, we come to understand that we have much to learn from our native neighbors. We may even discover our own inner buffalo spirit.
Critique: Impressively original, eloquently crafted, fully entertaining, thoughtful and thought-provoking, "Buffalo Dreamers" by novelist John Newman is a fascinating and unreservedly recommended addition for community and college/university library Literary Fiction collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of contemporary Native American themed fiction fans that "Buffalo Dreamers" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Editorial Note: John Newman studied creative writing at Stanford University. His interest in native affairs and culture began at an early age when he helped construct the Ishi trail to honor the last surviving member of the Yahi tribe. He also studied the Washoe language with the tribe near Lake Tahoe, their ancestral home, and for many years served as Chairman of the Museum of the American Indian in Marin County, California. While ranching in Montana he became acquainted with the neighboring Cheyenne tribe, sweated with families, and was invited to participate in the 400-mile Ft Robinson break-out run from Nebraska through Pine Ridge and back to reservation in Lame Deer. His goal as a writer is to create character-based stories set principally in Montana and the west, where natives and anglos confront a spiritually infused world in which predators and prey uneasily coexist, and humans are on equal terms with other creatures; a present day that is primordial on every level. In the process, his characters learn from one another and overcome personal demons and historical trauma.
The Romantic Fiction Shelf
Wedding Bells By The Sunflower Cliffs
Georgina Troy
Boldwood Books
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781804261279, $42.00, PB, Large Print, 387pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wedding-bells-by-the-sunflower-cliffs-georgina-troy/1144585631
Synopsis: Event planners Izzy and Jess are badly let down when a Jersey socialite hires them for the busiest weeks of the season and then cancels at the last minute. The girls are left with no bookings and no money. Feeling despondent, they agree to a night out to cheer themselves up and meet the captivating and aristocratic Ed. He invites them on a luxury yacht cruise to Nice, together with his two brothers and some friends. Romance builds through heady days of blue skies and warm seas, but when a last-minute wedding booking is offered, the girls must return to Jersey, and real life has to begin again... or has it?
Critique: The stuff of which Hallmark Channel movies are made, "Wedding Bells By The Sunflower Cliffs" by Georgina Troy is now available in a large print trade paperback edition from Boldwood Books. With her distinctive and narrative driven storyteller style, Troy has created a fun and original read that will fully entertain readers with an interest in romance novels with memorable characters, a wealth of unexpected plot twists and turns, and an truly satisfying and cleverly presented 'happy ending'. "Wedding Bells By The Sunflower Cliffs" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to both personal reading lists and community library Contemporary Romance Fiction collections.
Editorial Note: There is an extensive listing of novels by Georgina Troy on line at https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/7224225.Georgina_Troy
A Man and a Maid
Anne Stenhouse
Linford Romance Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781444852684, $25.00, PB, Large Print, 318pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-maid-and-a-man-anne-stenhouse/1144840121
Synopsis: Edinburgh, 1819. Tabby Royce, an apothecary's daughter, is turned out to domestic service when her father dies. As a lady's maid in the Edinburgh home of a surgeon, she meets the doctor's man, Cal Morrison. There, she is drawn into the intrigue and underworld of surgical anatomy dissections! Will Tabby turn them in? Or will she fulfil her dreams and join them?
Critique: A deftly crafted and memorably entertaining historical romance from start to finish by novelist Anne Stenhouse, "A Man and a Maid", this large print paperback edition from the Linford Romance Library series is an ideal and unreservedly recommended pick for community library Historical Romance collections and the personal reading lists of all dedicated romance fiction fans.
Editorial Note: As a novelist and storyteller, Anne Stenhouse enjoys writing dialogue-rich historical romance with lashings of humor and a swirl of thematic mystery. Her heroines defy and manipulate the conventions of their time with sparkling wit. Heroes with a touch of arrogance must be ripe for comeuppance and that's what her ladies are about.
The Western Fiction Shelf
Double-Barrelled
Dirk Hawkman
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781444852950, $25.00, PB, Large Print, 252pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/double-barrelled-dirk-hawkman/1130920558
Synopsis: The money, the looks, the brains - rich banker Abdon Timpson has it all...and he knows it. But his arrogance doesn't help him when the sheriff cuffs him and locks him up for the night. But now there's a gunman on the loose, and this outlaw is a dead ringer for Abdon. The shootings don't stop when Abdon's in jail, though. And it looks like his folks have been hiding something from him. Abdon will learn a thing or two about himself - and it isn't going to be pretty.
Critique: A riveting read from first page to last, "Double-Barrelled" by Dirk Hawkman was first published as a Black Horse Western in 2020. It is now newly available as part of the Linford Western Library series in a large print paperback edition. A prized selection, "Double-Barrelled" is highly recommended personal pick for the legions of action/adventure western novel fans and will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition for community library Western Fiction collections.
Editorial Note: Dirk Hawkman is also the author of "Texan Secrets" and "Vulture Wings".
Time of Reckoning
Colin Bainbridge
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781444852929, $25.00, PB, Large Print, 228pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/time-of-reckoning-colin-bainbridge/1130920548
Synopsis: Ry Tyler is in no doubt; he has recently seen his old friend Slim Freeman alive and kicking. So how come Freeman's grave is on Boot Hill?
Tyler's search for the truth leads him into a world of intrigue and danger, where nothing is as it seems. What about the marshal and his deputy? What about Sadie Roundtree and the oldster, Diamondback Casey? Can he count on anybody? And that's before the notorious Lassiter gang arrives in town. Are they involved somehow? Does the island in the middle of Green Fork River with its decaying riverboat wreck hold a clue to the answers?
Tyler must follow a long and dangerous trail till he arrives at the final time of reckoning.
Critique: First published as a Black Horne Westerns in 2019, "Time of Reckoning" by Colin Bainbridge is now available to a new generation of action/adventure western fans from the Linford Western Library series. Colin Bainbridge (who also writes under the pseudonyms of Emmett Stone, Jack Dakota, and Vance Tillman) is a master of the western genre and his "Time of Reckoning" novel, which is unreservedly recommended for personal and community library Western Fiction collections, is a 'must' for all dedicate western fans.
Editorial Note: There is an extended listing of novels by Colin Bainbridge online at https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/1570982.Colin_Bainbridge
The Bolas
Caleb Rand
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781444852936, $25.00, PB, Large Print, 270pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-bolas-caleb-rand/1130920596
Synopsis: Will Chalk and his partner set out to deliver horses to a US Army post near the New Mexico border. But when they meet a fellow Texan being troubled by a ruthless land-grabber, their thoughts of returning home are put aside.
From the timberline of Condor Pass, Bruno Ogden is defiling the ranchland of Hog Flats to such an extent that grazing livestock becomes impossible. Furthermore, in nearby White Mesa, a few influential townsfolk are also involved in a dramatic scheme to drive ranchers off their land, and that includes Mollie Broad and her waterless ranch.
When unnecessary and cowardly killings take place, Will suddenly finds himself involved. With his tough old partner and a couple of loyal Bluestem workers, he attempts to turn the tables on Ogden and the spread of his Bolas company. But Will knows that mercenary gunfighters are more dangerous opponents than cowboys and hoe-men.
Critique: Originally published in 2019 as a 'Black Horse Western, and now available in a new large print paperback edition from the Linford Western Library series, "The Bolas" by veteran western novelist Caleb Rand will prove a popular and appreciated addition to both personal reading lists of action/adventure western fans and community library Western Fiction collections.
Editorial Note: Carl Bernard worked for 25 years in High Education before retiring to write full time. He has written more 45 Black Horse Westerns under the pseudonyms of Abe Dancer and Caleb Rand.
Jack Parker Comes of Age
Ed Roberts
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781444852943, $25.00, PB, Large Print, 228pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jack-parker-comes-of-age-ed-roberts/1130920588
Synopsis: Jack Parker, the fifteen-year-old son of the sheriff of Benton County, does not enjoy a close and loving relationship with his father. But when a vicious range war erupts in the area, the two are drawn closer when they find themselves fighting against an incursion by a band of Texan freebooters. And it looks as though the youngster is destined to follow in his father's footsteps...
Critique: A fun read from first page to last, this large print paperback edition from the Linford Western Library series of "Jack Parker Comes of Age" by western novelist Ed Roberts will prove a prized pick for the personal reading lists of all action/adventure western fans and an ideal addition to community library Western Fiction collections.
Editorial Note: Simon Webb (www.simon-webb.com) is the author of more than 30 westerns that are published under both his own name and also a number of pseudonyms, including Ed Roberts, Ethan Harker, Brent Larssen, Harriet Cade, and Fenton Sadler. In addition to westerns, he has written many nonfiction books, chiefly on the subjects of social history and education.
The Pinfire Lady
P. J. Gallagher
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781444852981, $25.00, PB, Large Print, 252pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-pinfire-lady-pj-gallagher/1130920561
Synopsis: Abigail, Lady Penraven is an Englishwoman who became set adrift in the wilderness of the Great American Desert. But she is made of stern stuff, has skill with firearms, and establishes herself as a gunfighter and wagon master. During a trek westwards, seeking the inheritance left by her deceased father, she encounters numerous perils that will test her mettle to the full.
Critique: The first of three original and simply outstanding western novels starring Lady Abigail Penraven, this large print paperback edition of P. J. Gallagher's "The Pinfire Lady" from the Linford Western Library collection is action packed and a thrill of a read from beginning to end. Highly recommended for both personal reading lists and community library Western Fiction collections, the other two titles in this outstanding trilogy include "The Pinfire Lady Strikes Back" and "The Return of the Pinfire Lady".
Editorial Note: P.J. Gallagher served in the British Army. He has written and had published close on 20 articles for The Journal of the Royal Artillery. He has competed for the past 20 years in Cowboy Action Shooting and is a collector of antique firearms. He lives in Woodville, Ontario.
Gunsmoke Express
Gillian F. Taylor
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781444852974, $25.00, PB, Large Print, 198pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gunsmoke-express-gillian-f-taylor/1130920547
Synopsis: Thanks to a tip-off, Sheriff Alec Lawson and his deputies fight and capture the notorious outlaw Saul York. But the trouble doesn't end there.
Alec falls desperately ill and when he recovers, he finds that York's lawyer has got him out on bail. Although still weakened by his illness, Alec is determined to get back to work.
He soon finds himself in the action again, but fatigue leads to a terrible mistake and he begins to doubt his abilities. Will his frailty endanger his friends? York is still out there somewhere, protected by his ambitious lawyer.
When York becomes his prime suspect in a murderous robbery, Alec Lawson must push himself to close the net on the elusive outlaw. He'll have to face down a lynch mob, the killer outlaw and his own doubts to get the job done, whatever the cost to himself.
Critique: The stuff of which classic westerns are made, "Gunsmoke Express" by Gillian F. Taylor is a simply riveting read from start to finish. A 'must' for the personal reading lists of all dedicated western fiction fans, this large print edition of "Gunsmoke Express" from the Linford Western Library collection is a highly prized pick for community library Western Fiction collections.
Editorial Note: There is a lengthy listing of books by Gillian F. Taylor readily available online at https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/3092231.Gillian_F_Taylor
Deadly Carnage
Edwin Derek
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781444852967, $25.00, PB, Large Print, 252pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/deadly-carnage-edwin-derek/1130920569
Synopsis: When the train carrying him is derailed, Confederate prisoner-of-war Jeff Kyle is surprised when a Yankee sergeant helps him escape. However, the sergeant is actually Confederate scout Mike Avison in disguise. Together, the two hatch a plan to escape to freedom; but fate intervenes in the shape of Clara Marston, who has in her possession a key to a mysterious strongbox at a bank in Independence, which she believes will make her fortune. Soon the three are joined on their journey by widowed homesteader Pollyanna Cooper, and so begins a journey full of peril and intrigue.
Critique: A fun read from start to finish, "Deadly Carnage" showcases author Edwin Derek's flair for narrative driven storytelling and fully engages the reader from first page to last. This large print paperback edition of "Deadly Carnage" from the Linford Western Library series is highly recommended for personal reading lists and community library Western Fiction collections.
Editorial Note: There is a lengthy listing of books by Edwin Derek readily available online at https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/75241.Edwin_Derek
Gunman's Pledge
Ethan Flagg
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781444852998, $25.00, PB, Large Print, 234pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gunmans-pledge-ethan-flagg/1130920578
Synopsis: Infamous gunslinger Wes Longbaugh is heading for his next job in Utah when he comes across a traveler cast afoot in Nevada's arid Humboldt Sink. Never one to turn the other cheek when help is needed, Wes intercepts the staggering loner.
It turns out that Mace Farlow was the sole outlaw to survive a stagecoach robbery that had gone badly awry. All the other robbers had been gunned down due to the treachery of a turncoat. Mace tags along with his savior but is determined to track the double-crosser down.
Fate, however, takes a hand when trouble in the next town leads to flight and a stand off in a lonely canyon where Mace is killed. Before he dies, the aging outlaw makes his young sidekick promise to abandon the precarious life of a gunslinger. But this is far harder to achieve than Wes could ever have imagined.
Critique: Dedicated western fiction fans be warned, once started reading Ethan Flagg's "Gunman's Pledge" it will be very difficult to stop until the last page of this superbly crafted action/adventure novel is finished. Now available from the Linford Western Library collection in a large print paperback edition, "Gunman's Pledge" is a riveting and recommended pick for both personal reading lists and community library Western Fiction collections.
Editorial Note: Ethan Flagg is the pen-name of Graham Dugdale. He acquired his interest in American Western history following a period working as a teacher in New Mexico. He also compiles crossword puzzles for a weekly country sports newspaper and has produced 11 walking guides all based in the north of England. There is an online listing of his books at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/673765.Graham_K_Dugdale
The Mystery/Suspense Shelf
Mystery At The Chateau
Kate Finnemore
Linford Romance Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781444852707, $25.00, PB, Large Print, 210pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mystery-at-the-chateau-kate-finnemore/1144840124
Synopsis: The Chateau de la Fee Morgane is a once magical castle abandoned that is now left to rot after a devastating fire. But eccentric Aristide de Montfaucon is determined to restore it to its former glory.
The school year gets off to a good start for university student Lexi, working as an assistant when she finds herself falling happily in love with English teacher Romain. Then her grandmother Darriel Dayton, the world-renowned star of stage and screen on holiday nearby, receives a chilling poison-pen letter.
Critique: A deftly blended novel of romance and cozy mystery, "Mystery At The Chateau" by Kate Finnemore is a fun read from start to finish. This large print edition of "Mystery At The Chateau" rises to the level of literary elegance and is unreservedly recommended for personal reading lists and community library fiction collections.
Editorial Note: Kate Finnemore is also the author of "An Impossible Love" (2019) and "Never To Be Told" (2020) both published in the Linford Romance Library large print series.
Murder on the Dance Floor
Katie Marsh
Boldwood Books
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781785139208, $42.00, PB, Large Print, 432pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-on-the-dancefloor-katie-marsh/1144371753
Synopsis: They DID promise her a killer hen weekend... Jeanie's getting married, and (despite her completely impossible four sisters) her best friends Clio and Amber are determined to give her a bachelorette weekend to remember.
They're in matching pink T-shirts and the drinks are flowing... But the night turns out to be unforgettable for all the wrong reasons when a girl turns up dead on the dancefloor. And - even though she's a stranger - she is wearing one of Jeanie's hen T-shirts.
Who is she? And why are the police convinced that the hens are involved? Can the newly formed Bad Girls Detective Agency solve the murder? And in time to get Jeanie up the aisle?
Critique: A fun read for 'whodunnit' mystery fans from start to finish, this large print trade paperback edition of Katie Marsh's new novel, "Murder on the Dancefloor" from Boldwood Books is original, riveting, and a mystery lover's delight. Memorable characters, a wealth of unexpected plot twists, and a dramatic finale, "Murder on the Dancefloor" will prove a prized pick for community library Mystery/Suspense collections and personal reading lists.
Editorial Note: Katie Marsh (https://katie-marsh.com) wrote romantic fiction before turning to crime. Her debut novel was a World Book Night pick and her books are published in ten languages. Katie loves to talk to her readers on Instagram @katiemarshauthor
Death By The Thames
Anita Davison
Boldwood Books
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781835188705, $42.00, PB, Large Print, 525pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/death-by-the-thames-anita-davison/1144389945
Synopsis: Flora Maguire's life is perfect - a beautiful home in Belgravia teeming with servants, a loving husband, and new baby Arthur to enjoy. But when she is invited to tour St. Philomena's Children's Hospital in a deprived area near London's newly-built Tower Bridge, she is shocked. Because there she uncovers a scandal with a dark heart -- poor children are going missing from the hospital.
The police seem either unable or unwilling to investigate, so Flora teams up with the indomitable matron of the hospital, Alice Finch, to try to get to the bottom of it. Soon Flora is immersed in the seedy, dangerous underbelly of criminal London, and time is running out to save the children. Will they get to them in time, or was their fate decided the day they were born...
Critique: A Flora Maguire mystery from cozy mystery novelist Anita Davison, this large print trade paperback edition of "Death by the Thames" from Boldwood Books is an impressively crafted and riveting read from start to finish. Fascinating, original, memorable, "Death by the Thames" is a highly recommended pick for personal reading lists and will prove a welcome and popular addition to community library Mystery/Suspense collections.
Editorial Note: Anita Davison is also the author of Miss Merrill and Aunt Violet Mysteries set in WWI from Boldwood Books. Murder in the Bookshop was released in August 2023, and the second in the series, Murder in the Library, is scheduled for early 2024. A listing of her books in available at https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/13735328.Anita_Davison
Murder in Moscow
Kelly Oliver
Boldwood Books
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781804832011, $42.00, PB, Large Print, 321pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-in-moscow-kelly-oliver/1144395477
Synopsis: 1918 Moscow -- Will following her heart mean losing her head? At the very least it could mean losing her job.
Fiona Figg trails her nemesis Fredrick Fredricks to Moscow. But when she arrives at the grand Metropol Hotel, the bounder has vanished. After Fiona doesn't show up for work at the War Office, Kitty Lane raises a red flag and tracks her to Russia. Seeking haven at the British Embassy, Kitty and Fiona become embroiled in a plot to overthrow the Bolshevik government.
But the plot turns deadly when Fiona goes undercover as a governess in the household of Iron Viktor, the Bolsheviks' Head of Secret Police. And when Viktor turns up dead in his study, Fiona finds herself wanted for murder and on the lam. Can Fiona and Kitty find the real killer and escape the Kremlin before it's too late? Or will this dangerous game of Russian roulette be their last?
Critique: A brilliant blend of mystery and foreign intrigue, "Murder in Moscow" by Kelly Oliver is an historical cozy mystery set in the early and turbulent times of the Bolshevik/Communist takeover of Russia at the end of World War I. This large print trade paperback edition of "Murder in Moscow" from Boldwood Books is especially and enthusiastically recommended for the personal reading lists of cozy mystery fans and community library Mystery/Suspense collections.
Editorial Note: Kelly Oliver (https://kellyoliverbooks.com) is the author of three award-winning bestselling mystery series and dozens of nonfiction books.
Death on a Train
Anita Davison
Boldwood Books
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print, Inc.
www.ulverscroft.com
9781835188804, $17.99, PB, Large Print, 368pp
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Train-Anita-Davison/dp/183518880X
Synopsis: 1905 London is a heady mix of unimaginable wealth and simmering political tensions, and with war looming, all Flora Maguire wants is to keep her family safe.
But when a body is found on a train bound for Paddington and her beloved charge Viscount Edward Trent is accused of murder, she's determined not to leave the investigation to the police. Flora has trodden the path of amateur sleuth before, but with so much at stake, this time it's personal.
Slowly the body of the victim starts giving up its secrets, and Flora and her husband Bunny become mired in a murky world of spies, communists and fraudsters. And with the police more sure than ever that Edward is their murderer, Flora must work fast, if she's going to save him, and ensure a murderer doesn't remain on the loose!
Critique: Originally published as "The Bloomsbury Affair", this new large print edition of novelist Anita Davison's cozy mystery from Boldwood Books has been re-titled "Death on a Train" and is a fascinating and fun read from start to finish for all 'whodunnit' cozy murder mystery fans. Simply stated, "Death on a Train" will prove an immediate and welcome addition to personal reading lists and community library Historical Mystery/Suspense collections.
Editorial Note: Anita Davison (www.fantasticfiction.com/d/anita-davison) is also the author of Miss Merrill and Aunt Violet Mysteries set in WWI from Boldwood Books in a large print format. Murder in the Bookshop was released in August 2023, and the second in the series, Murder in the Library, is scheduled for early 2024. The Flora Maguire series of five Edwardian mysteries from Boldwood Books was released from between October 2023.
The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf
Secrets & Sacrifices
Cath Lauria
Aconyte Books
https://aconytebooks.com
9781839082917, $16.95, PB, 336pp
https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Sacrifices-Regency-Cthulhu-Novel/dp/1839082917
Synopsis: When Cassandra Wright's father was accused of murder her whole life fell apart, leaving her with no prospects, no money, and a broken engagement. But Cassandra always suspected foul play. Five years later, she's determined to discover the truth.
With her childhood friend Thomas reluctantly acting as her new husband-to-be, Cassie must talk her way into the home of her former fiance, who she's convinced knows more than he ever let on. Once inside she'll have to navigate the pitfalls of polite society while attempting to dig deep into her father's life.
There are dark, twisted secrets lurking in the shadows, and Cassie must unravel them before they can consume her.
Critique: Of special interest to fans of historical fantasy, dark fantasy, regency romance, and the arcane world of H. P. Lovecraft, "Secrets & Sacrifices" by Cath Lauria is a deftly crafted, inherently fascinating, and solidly entertaining read from start to finish. Inspired by the game, 'Call of Cthulhu', and readily available for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.95), "Secrets & Sacrifices" is a solid pick for community and college/university library Fantasy Fiction collections.
Editorial Note: Cath Lauria (https://cathlauria.com) is a Colorado girl who loves snow and sunshine. She prefers books to TV shows, has a vast collection of beautiful, edged weapons, and could totally survive in the wild without electricity or running water, but would really prefer not to. She loves writing speculative fiction of all genres, and has a long list of publications under her belt as romance author Cari Z.
The Library CD Shelf
Available Light
Daniel Janke Winter Trio
danieljanke.com
Chronograph Records
chronographrecords.com
$12.99 CD / $11.49 MP3
https://www.amazon.com/Available-Light-Daniel-Janke-Winter/dp/B0CXG35H7D
Available Light is an international collaboration between three talented music artists - pianist Daniel Janke (Canada), drummer Ariel Tessier (France), and bassist Basile Rahola (Spain). Daniel Janke personally composed the original contemporary jazz tracks (there are also three tracks of traditional music), which flow with vibrant beauty to craft an immersive soundscape. Available Light is an excellent choice for personal and public library music collections, and also makes a wonderful gift. The tracks are Song for Margaret, Available Light, Giant, Blessed Assurance (Traditional), Man of Constant Sorrow (Traditional), Eleanor's Waltz, River Ice (Traditional), Cafe Bonton, and Gospel for Betty.
Valley of Silence
The Brenan Brothers
craigbrenan.com
Privately Published
$TBA CD / $TBA digital
https://open.spotify.com/album/6WbJYItVQY1d96SmGDEzmg
Valley of Silence is a contemporary jazz album of arrangements and original compositions by The Brenan Brothers (Craig Brenan on trombone and Jim Brenan on tenor and soprano saxophones), with contributions from David Lavoie on trumpet, Sean Craig on alto and baritone saxophones, Earl MacDonald on piano, Rubim De Toledo on bass, and Dave Laing on drums. In keeping with the album's title, the pieces promote reflection and meditative thought. Valley of Silence is a choice pick for connoisseurs of soulful jazz and public library music collections, highly recommended. The tracks are Blackbird, Rosewood, Tri Seamair, Serenity, Theme for Maxine, Valley of Silence, Fly With the Wind, and 49th Parallel.
Magpie
Sarah Jerrom
sarahjerrom.com
TPR Records
tprrecords.ca
$TBA CD / $10.32 MP3
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CV32RC6R
Sarah Jerrom presents Magpie, a chamber jazz suite that balances storytelling and music, created with contributions from a diversity of vocalists and performers on woodwinds, horns, piano, bass, drums, and more. Inspired by the folkloric nursery rhyme "One for Sorrow", Magpie explores themes of feminism, infertility, grief, hope, and love. Profound and powerful, Magpie is an emotional treasure highly recommended for both personal and public library collections. The tracks are Part I: The Road, Part II: For Joy, Part III: Circling Feathers, Part IV: The White Elk, Part V: Nest Predator, Part VI: Carrion, Part VII: The Mountain Cries, and Part VIII: Crystallization.
Horns of Hope
Aimee-Jo Benoit with The New Assembly
Chronograph Records
chronographrecords.com
$9.99 CAD digital
https://aimee-jobenoit.bandcamp.com/album/horns-of-hope
Horns of Hope is a vocal jazz album featuring Aimee-Jo Benoit performing vocals, Carsten Rubeling on trombone, Mark DeJong on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Andre Wickenheiser on trumpet, Daniel Gaucher on drums, Mark Limacher on piano and Rhodes synthesizer, and Jon Wielebknowski on upright bass and electric bass. Inspired by the concept of "the horns of the dilemma", Horns of Hope is about perseverance in spite of pain and loss. Intense, powerful, and ultimately uplifting, Horns of Hope is highly recommended for both personal and public library music collections. The tracks are Barefoot, Bird on a Wire, A Soft Place to Land, Little Green, Moon at the Window, Where Will I Be?, You Were Here, and Free.
Unfoldings
Ian Wardenski Quintet featuring Tamara Tucker
ianwardenski.com
Privately Published
$TBA CD / $4.95 MP3
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CX6PRSW2
Unfoldings is a five-movement musical suite composed by guitarist Ian Wardenski and performed by the Ian Wardenski Quintet, featuring Tamara Tucker's beautiful voice (as a wordless instrument in select compositions), Mercedes Beckman on alto sax, Savino Palumbo on piano, Amy Shook on bass, and Frank Russo on drums. An extraordinary, emotionally moving jazz combo that will entice and delight connoisseurs of the genre, Unfoldings is highly recommended for both personal and public library music collections.
The Library DVD Shelf
The Taste of Things
IFC Films
www.ifcfilms.com
2 h 15 min., 2024 (PG-13)
Rent HD $4.99, Buy HD $14.99
https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/0K4LRESATXWU8BAJC952DFGJW1
Synopsis: "The Taste of Things" is set in France, 1889. The story of Eugenie, an esteemed cook, and Dodin, the fine gourmet who she has been working for over the last 20 years, their simmering passions inevitable erupt in a luxurious and lavishly filmed historical period love story.
Critique: An inherently fascinating and entertaining film that has been raised to the level of cinematic excellence by the collaborative work of director Anh Hung Tran, co-writers Marcel Rouff & Anh Hung Trans, and starring Juliette Binoche, Benoit Magimel, and Emmanuel Salinger. "The Taste of Things" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and college/university library Film/Cinema DVD collections.
The Art Shelf
Painting Skies in Pastel
Sandra Orme
Search Press Ltd.
https://www.searchpress.com
9781782219897, $23.95, PB, 128pp
https://www.amazon.com/Painting-Skies-Pastel-atmospheric-skyscapes/dp/1782219897
Synopsis: A sky can make or break a landscape painting. With the publication of "Painting Skies in Pastel: Creating Dramatic Clouds and Atmospheric Skyscapes", award-winning artist Sandra Orme teaches aspiring artist working with pastels just how to create a broad range of skies in pastel, from sunsets and sunbeams, rain and storms, through to delicate dusks and dawns. Containing:
An invaluable guide, all the essential materials and techniques are clearly explained and "Painting Skies in Pastel also includes a section on color theory focuses on those aspects key to painting skies: how to retain vibrancy; how to avoid muddy colors through the use of 'bridging' colors; and how many pastels to use for best effect.
With "Painting Skies in Pastel" the art student will learning to build skills gradually through 6 step-by-step demonstrations of particular skies worked from photographs, each looking at a particular sky effect, from the bright clouds on a fresh, blustery day to rich sunsets. Each main stage is shown both before and after blending for clarity.
Sandra's 'sky clinic' offers more specialist and technical help on some of the common problems readers might encounter when painting skies in pastel. Also featured is a kind of "first-aid course" in how to identify and correct common problems.
Replete with numerous handy tips and many examples of Sandra's stunning landscapes throughout, and assuming no prior knowledge, she both instructs and inspirse you to create beautiful, realistic skies with confidence.
Critique: Exceptionally well organized and presented, and enhanced with a wealth of instructive visual examples, this large format (8.63 x 0.38 x 11.06 inches, 1.21 pounds) paperback edition of Sandra Orme's "Painting Skies in Pastel: Creating Dramatic Clouds and Atmospheric Skyscapes" from Search Press is an ideal and recommended addition to personal, professional, community, art school, and college/university library Pastel Drawing & Landscape/Seascape Painting instructional reference collections. It should be noted that "Painting Skies in Pastel" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.69).
Editorial Note: Sandra Orme is an associate artist with Unison Colour and has her own sets of sky pastels that she sells at workshops and online. She is also a member of the art collective, Peak District Artisans (www.peakdistrictartisans.co.uk). She regularly exhibits at local and national shows as well as galleries, and has exhibited with The Pastel Society at The Mall Galleries in London. (www.galleryinthegardens.co.uk/sandra-orme)
She has published 'how to' articles with both the SAA and The Artist magazines, and runs online video tutorials. Sandra has a website, www.sandraorme.com, with an online shop. She is active on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Painting into the Light
Jenny Aitken
Search Press Ltd.
https://www.searchpress.com
9781800921276, $25.95, PB, 160pp
https://www.amazon.com/Painting-into-Light-atmospheric-paints/dp/1800921276
Synopsis: With the publication of "Painting into the Light: How to Work Atmospheric Magic with Your Oil Paints" by Jenny Aitken, aspiring artists will learn how to successfully paint scenes that vividly capture magical effects of light from behind the subject. Good contre-jour (painting into the light) artworks cause the viewer to squint, with light seeming to glow from the canvas. They can look like a kind of magic, with their hazy light and colour singing out. "Painting into the Light" demystifies lighting in oils, and provides a practical guide to the process, showing exactly how to create the illusion.
Inside "Painting into the Light" is to be found a wealth of information on simplification, tonal control, capturing accurate color, working both indoors and outdoors, painting landscapes and still life, creating atmospheric depth, and even mastering the illusion of space. Through detailed step-by-step demonstrations and beautifully illustrated techniques, professional artist and art teaching Jenny Aitken reveals how to infuse every painting with vibrant, lifelike light. Of special note is a section on troubleshooting tricky paintings will show the aspiring artist that every painting is salvageable, but with an understanding of light and color, that it is much more likely that they will find success the first time round.
Critique: This large format (8.5 x 0.44 x 11 inches, 1.51 pounds) paperback edition of Jenny Aitkins' "Painting into the Light: How to Work Atmospheric Magic with Your Oil Paints" is an ideal pick for DIY oil painting studies and art class oil painting curriculums. Highly recommended for community, art school, and college/university library Oil Painting Instruction Reference collections, it should be noted that "Painting into the Light" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $17.05).
Editorial Note: For Jenny Aitken, teaching painting is an absolute passion - her main aim is for students to be encouraged, informed and creatively enthused. She began tutoring and demonstrating ten years ago, and now runs online courses and art holidays in the UK, Italy and France. Since graduation in Art & Art History from Aberstwyth University, she has exhibited widely and won many awards. She was elected an associate member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists in 2021, and won the Topbond Marine Award in 2022. Jenny is a regular contributor to The Artist Magazine, course tutor, and an online tutor, with a series of 25+ modules on painting in oils and acrylics. She also produces shorter painting videos on YouTube (@jennyaitkenart) and has a website at https://jennyaitken.co.uk
Easy Acrylic Painting
Jennifer Funnell
Search Press Ltd.
https://www.searchpress.com
9781800922211, $19.95, PB, 144pp
https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Acrylic-Painting-Beginner-Tutorials/dp/1800922213
Synopsis: With the publication of Easy Acrylic Painting: Beginner Tutorials for Small Still Lifes" from Search Press, expert art instructor Jennifer Funnell has created an ideal instructional guide for anyone who had always wanted to try acrylic painting but felt intimidated,.
Featured are 15 small still life paintings to achieve and unleash the inner artist. With step-by-step instructions and clear explanations, this all-inclusive 'how to' manual and guide will build your skills and knowledge from the ground up.
Jennifer Funnell is an experienced and acclaimed visual arts teacher who has specifically crafted "Easy Acrylic Painting" specifically for beginners and holds a great deal of value for even the more experienced. Her decade's worth of drawing and painting experience shines through as she breaks down the process into simple, easy-to-understand steps with traceable outlines. No prior experience or drawing skills required!
Acrylic paint is the perfect medium for beginners. Its expressive and opaque nature allows for easy corrections if mistakes happen along the way. You will feel empowered to explore your creativity, knowing that you have the flexibility to fix any errors and bring your vision to life. Whether you're a complete beginner or have dabbled in other mediums, "Easy Acrylic Painting" will guide you towards creating fifteen captivating little works of art. Unleash your creativity today!
Critique: Clearly living up to the promise of its title, "Easy Acrylic Painting: Beginner Tutorials for Small Still Lifes" is thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation -- making it a high value selection for personal, professional, community, art school, and college/university library DIY and art class curriculum studies lists. Simply stated, "Easy Acrylic Painting" is of particular value and relevance for aspiring artists with a particular interest in Acrylic Painting, Still Life Art, and Watercolor Painting.
Editorial Note: Jennifer Funnell (www.jenniferfunnell.com) is a visual arts teacher in Denver, Colorado. She has a BFA in Art Education from Kendall College of Art and Design and an MA in Art and Design from the University of Northern Colorado. In addition to teaching high schoolers, Jennifer teaches adults via Zoom. She is passionate about teaching the process of creating art and experimenting with a variety of techniques. She can be followed on Instagram @jenniferfunnellvisualarts and on YouTube where her painting videos have a loyal following.
Modern Still Life: From Fruit Bowls to Disco Balls
Sari Shryack
Walter Foster Publishing
c/o Quarto Publishing Group USA
www.quartoknows.com
9780760388730, $22.99, PB, 144pp
https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Still-Life-beginners-painting/dp/0760388733
Synopsis: Anyone can learn to paint! Now with the publication of "Modern Still Life: From Fruit Bowls to Disco Balls" the aspiring artist can join with popular artist and instructor Sari Shryack and enjoy approachable DIY lessons that make painting still lifes with acrylic fun, fresh, and feasible.
Sari Shryack runs the popular social media channels @not_sorry_art. She teaches painting classes online and in person, offers painting retreats domestically and internationally, hosts a podcast, and writes a blog. "Modern Still Life: From Fruit Bowls to Disco Balls" is her first book and the ideal opportunity for Sari to do what she does best: make painting accessible to all, something that Sari is especially passionate about.
In its pages, aspiring artists will learn: Why paint still lifes; How to use acrylic paints, as well as tools like brushes and canvases; To be open, curious, and forgiving of your own mistakes as an artist; About drawing for painting; How to compose objects for a still life; Color mixing and how to use color palettes to create different moods and styles; How to use other painting media besides acrylic, including oil paints -- and so much more!
In addition to the foundational information listed above, "Modern Still Life: From Fruit Bowls to Disco Balls" features complete step-by-step painting projects for creating disco balls, unexpected everyday objects, and more in Sari's signature dynamic style. You can also personalize the pieces using your own items and colors.
The principle message of this ideal DIY instruction guide is that there's no need to go out and buy expensive art tools and props for painting. With "Modern Still Life: From Fruit Bowls to Disco Balls" as your comprehensive 'how to' guide you will find how easy and fun it is to paint what you have on hand.
Critique: This large format (8.5 x 0.36 x 11 inches, 1.75 pounds) paperback edition of "Modern Still Life: From Fruit Bowls to Disco Balls" from Walter Foster Publishing is an ideal beginner's guide to painting fun, fresh still lifes in oil and acrylic. A welcome and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, art school, and college/university library Still Life Art and Acrylic Painting collections and supplemental curriculum lists, it should be noted that "Modern Still Life: From Fruit Bowls to Disco Balls" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $21.84) as well.
Editorial Note: Sari Shryack (www.sari.studio) is an oil and acrylic painter in Austin, Texas, where she lives with her husband and their two young children. Her colorful works cover many subjects and techniques, including landscapes, still lifes, portraits, disco balls, and memes. Through her consistent daily practice and dedication to finding beauty in the mundane, Sari has built a large online following and successful small business that she runs with her husband called Not Sorry Art. The name is a play on Sari's own name, which is pronounced "ser-e," not "sorry."
Through her business, Sari sells prints and original pieces online, runs painting retreats, teaches online painting classes, writes a blog, and hosts a podcast. Making art accessible to all is Sari's goal and motivation.
A Beginner's Guide to Modern Calligraphy & Brush Pen Lettering
Maki Shimano
Tuttle Publishing
www.tuttlepublishing.com
9780804857710, $18.99, PB, 144pp
https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Guide-Modern-Calligraphy-Lettering/dp/0804857717
Synopsis: With the publication of "A Beginner's Guide to Modern Calligraphy & Brush Pen Lettering: Learn to Create Beautiful Hand Lettering for Invitations, Cards, Journals and More!", master calligrapher Maki Shimano shows you all the techniques and provides hundreds of colorful examples to inspire you.
Creating your own calligraphy is very easy using Shimano's time-tested method of breaking down each letter into a small number of strokes. And she provides dozens of ideas for decorative motifs such as wreaths, balloons, birthday cakes -- and so much more!
"A Beginner's Guide to Modern Calligraphy & Brush Pen Lettering" is an easy step-by-step guide by an experienced calligraphy teacher allows even the most novice aspirant to develop their skills quickly as it covers: Starting with the basic tools and techniques of hand lettering; Learning to draw 8 elegant typefaces with just 2 or 3 simple strokes; Creating compositions with fancy flourishes, "bounce" and rhythm: Designing a planner, journal, place cards, greeting cards, gift tags, invitations, etc.
Critique: This large format paperback edition form Tuttle Publishing is an ideal DIY introduction into the art and craft of calligraphy and the use of brush pen lettering. Thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "A Beginner's Guide to Modern Calligraphy & Brush Pen Lettering" is specifically recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library collections and art school curriculum studies lists. It should also be noted for calligraphy students that "A Beginner's Guide to Modern Calligraphy & Brush Pen Lettering" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.49).
Editorial Note: Maki Shimano began learning calligraphy at an early age and has become the preeminent teacher and practitioner of modern calligraphy in Japan. She is an author, typographer and freelance artist who works in the bridal industry as a wedding planner. She creates traditional Japanese calligraphy as well as modern English calligraphy for a wide variety of clients and applications.
The Native American Studies Shelf
All That Glitters Is Ours
Roberta Carol Harvey
Sunstone Press
www.sunstonepress.com
9781632936295, $52.95, HC, 776pp
https://www.amazon.com/Glitters-Theft-Indian-Mineral-Resources/dp/1632936291
Synopsis: The U.S. Army General Pope stated in 1878 that it was absolutely imperative that Indian Nations realize the United States' premeditated and calculated determination to dispossess the "savage" and occupy his lands and that "it is certain that the larger part of the country claimed by him will, in some manner, pass into the possession of the white race."
The insatiable drive for a continental empire resulted in the iron triangle of the federal government, the military and big business working in concert to steal Indian mineral lands. They knowingly and willfully unleashed the pioneer vigilantes to commandeer Indian resources.
The Commissioner of Indian Affairs J.Q. Smith wrote in 1876: "Wherever an Indian reservation has on it good land, or timber, or minerals, the cupidity of the white man is excited, and a constant struggle is inaugurated to dispossess the Indian, in which the avarice and determination of the white man usually prevails."
"Every art, trick, and device of the unscrupulous land pirate is resorted to," admonished Colonel Preston.
Yet it was brutal warfare, massacres, disease, and starvation that decimated Indian populations, leaving them destitute, to be replaced by industrial tycoons, timber barons, mineral magnates, and capital investors profiting from the "savage's" minerals in the bowels of the Earth.
Documented and detailed, "All That Glitters Is Ours: The Theft of Indian Mineral Resources" is that story.
Critique: Organized by state and chronology, "All That Glitters Is Ours: The Theft of Indian Mineral Resources" by historian Roberta Carol Harvey (who is a member of the Navajo Nation) is a truly massive history of how the acquisition of natural resources were taken over by the U.S. Government and its white citizens (most often by force of arms and broken treaties) from Native Americans. A work of immense and dedicated research, impressively organized and presented, "All That Glitters Is Ours" must be considered an essential and core addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library Native American History collections and supplemental Native American Demographic Studies curriculums. It should be noted for students, academia, Native American Rights activists, governmental policy makers, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject tht "All That Glitters Is Ours" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781632936332, $44.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $19.99).
Editorial Note: Robert Carol Harvey is a citizen of the Navajo Nation, an attorney and an historian. She holds BA, MBA and JD degrees from the University of Denver and is a lecturer on Indian law related to policy, land, water and natural resources. She is committed to Indian sovereignty, ending assimilation policies and promoting accurate education. She is also the author of The Earth is Red: The Imperialism of the Doctrine of Discovery; The Eclipse of the Sun: The Need for American Indian Curriculum in High Schools; The Iron Triangle: Business, Government, and Colonial Settlers' Dispossession of Indian Timberlands and Timber; Warrior Societies: A Manifesto; and Social Contributions of Colorado's American Indian Leaders For the Seven Generations to Come -- all published by Sunstone Press.
The Computer Shelf
The Art of Machine Learning
Norman Matloff
No Starch Press
www.nostarch.com
9781718502109, $49.99, PB, 272pp
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Machine-Learning-Algorithms-Data/dp/1718502109
Synopsis: Packed with real datasets and practical examples, "The Art of Machine Learning: A Hands-On Guide to Machine Learning with R" by Norman Matloff will help you develop an intuitive understanding of how and why ML methods work, without the need for advanced math.
As you work through "The Art of Machine Learning", you will learn how to implement a range of powerful ML techniques, starting with the k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN) method and random forests, and moving on to gradient boosting, support vector machines (SVMs), neural networks, and more.
With the aid of real datasets, you will delve into regression models through the use of a bike-sharing dataset, explore decision trees by leveraging New York City taxi data, and dissect parametric methods with baseball player stats. You will also find expert tips for avoiding common problems, like handling "dirty" or unbalanced data, and how to troubleshoot pitfalls.
"The Art of Machine Learning covers: How to deal with large datasets and techniques for dimension reduction; Offers details on how the Bias-Variance Trade-off plays out in specific ML methods; Presents models based on linear relationships, including ridge and LASSO regression; and a Real-World image and text classification and how to handle time series data
Machine learning is an art that requires careful tuning and tweaking. With "The Art of Machine Learning" as your guide, you will be ale to master the underlying principles of ML that will empower you to effectively use these models, rather than simply provide a few stock actions with limited practical use.
Critique: It should be noted that a basic requirement of "The Art of Machine Learning" is a basic understanding on the part of the reader with respect to graphs, charts and familiarity with the R programming language. Exceptionally well organized and presented, "The Art of Machine Learning" is an ideal and unreservedly recommended pick for personal, professional, and college/university library Computer Programing Languages and Mathematical/Statistical Software collections and supplemental studies lists.
Editorial Note: Norman Matloff (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Matloff) is an award-winning professor at the University of California, Davis. Matloff has a PhD in mathematics from UCLA and is the author of The Art of Debugging with GDB, DDD, and Eclipse and The Art of R Programming (both from No Starch Press).
The Theatre/Cinema/TV Shelf
Still Rolling: Inside the Hollywood Dream Factory
Dwight Little
McFarland & Company
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9781476691299, $29.95, PB, 234pp
https://www.amazon.com/Still-Rolling-Inside-Hollywood-Factory/dp/1476691290
Synopsis: The Hollywood career of Dwight Little includes directing and producing major motion pictures for multiple studios, acclaimed television series and even video games. With the publication of his memoir, "Still Rolling: Inside the Hollywood Dream Factory", he takes his readers along on a movie-making adventure that is by turns funny and brutally honest.
There are many on-set interactions with well-known producers and stars along with detailed descriptions of film shoots from the wilds of India to the banks of the River Kwai. Also included are tales from the jails of Madrid to the jungles of Fiji and the cold war streets of Budapest. The work seamlessly connects the Golden Age of Hollywood to the highly successful premium television of today.
Make or break creative battles, Hollywood intrigues, unpredictable studio executives, and temperamental actors are all documented in colorful detail. Whether the reader is an aspiring filmmaker or just a movie lover, "Still Rolling: Inside the Hollywood Dream Factory" has it all, including a unique insight into television directing in the new streaming age and 41 photos -- many of them on-set.
Critique: Organized into two major sections (Movies, Television), "Still Rolling: Inside the Hollywood Dream Factory" is a fascinating and informative memoir that will be of particular value to readers with an interest in Movie/Video production and direction, as well as personal, professional, community, and college/university library American Cinematic History/Memoir collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for film students and aspiring film makers that "Still Rolling: Inside the Hollywood Dream Factory" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $19.99).
Editorial Note: DGA member Dwight Little has directed studio movies for Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, and multiple independent movies with wide theatrical release. He has also directed three television movies and ninety hours of Network Television. (https://www.dwightlittledirector.com)
The Architecture Shelf
Laboratorio de Vivienda
Michael Meredith, author
Hilary Sample, author
Actar D
c/o Actar Publishers
https://actar.com
9781638401124, $49.95, HC, 200pp
https://www.amazon.com/Laboratorio-Vivienda-Michael-Meredith/dp/1638401128
Synopsis: In 2017, Mexico's Institute for the National Fund for Workers' (INFONAVIT) Center for Research for Sustainable Development launched a program to solicit new approaches to affordable housing. To better understand the possibilities, and to better educate developers, workers, and students about the research, INFONAVIT engaged with MOS to develop a master plan for a campus of 32 built prototypes and design an education center to promote awareness and study of workers' housing typologies.
The selection process revealed various categories and themes for which the projects could be classified. Some projects rethink the fundamentals of low-income housing's spatial organization (corridors, courtyards, roofs), some rework labor and construction, and some recast structure or material. The forms of these works are generally economical but, unlike early-modernist projects at the Weissenhof Estate, their attitude is not one of a radical break. If anything, these works relate to the vast, varied world of contemporary vernacular construction - the majority of the built world that Architecture glosses over. Each house responds to different climates, each house maintains their designed solar orientation, each house exhibits potential for growth by aggregation, repetition, or various strategies of extension, infill, and addition. All of the houses retain their individual identities within the larger campus.
Presenting the 32 projects selected and built, including research, drawings, and descriptions by the architects, and an essay by Canadian Centre for Architecture Director Giovanna Borasi titled "A Large Urban Garden Where You Can Learn About Architecture," this edition of "Laboratorio de Vivienda" from Actar D considers the problem of low-income housing by bringing thoughtful attention and expertise of architects, considering how these proposals, assembled into a collective, would work together toward creating not an estate but a community for Apan. For, given the limited resources of such works, each decision gains greater significance and has greater impact on the design and on the life of its inhabitants.
Critique: This large format (9.5 x 0.9 x 13 inches, 3 pounds) hardcover edition of "Laboratorio de Vivienda" co-authored by Professors Michael Meredith and Hilary Sample, will prove to be of immense value to architectural students and practitioners with an interest in residential architecture, regional architecture, and urban/land use planning. With its bilingual text (English/Spanish) and profusely illustrated throughout, "Laboratorio de Vivienda" is especially recommended as a unique and invaluable addition to personal, professional, and college/university library Architectural Studies collections and supplemental curriculum lists.
Editorial Note #1: Michael Meredith is a Professor at Princeton University's School of Architecture and co-founder of MOS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Meredith_(architect)
Editorial Note #2: Hilary Sample (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Sample) is the IDC Professor of Housing Design at Columbia University GSAPP and co-founder of the New York-based architecture and design studio MOS.
The Criminology Shelf
Understand the Cyber Attacker Mindset
Sarah Armstrong-Smith
Kogan Page Inc.
www.koganpage.com
9781398614307, $131.00, HC, 304pp
https://www.amazon.com/Understand-Cyber-Attacker-Mindset-Counteract/dp/1398614300
Synopsis: With the publication of "Understand the Cyber Attacker Mindset: Build a Strategic Security Programme to Counteract Threats", cyber security expert Sarah Armstrong-Smith provides a comprehensive look at the inner workings of cyber attackers in the digital age and presents a set of strategies that organizations can deploy to counteract them. With technological advancements in cybersecurity, attackers are increasingly falling back to social engineering and preying on people's vulnerabilities.
"Understand the Cyber Attacker Mindset" examines different types of cyber attackers, explores their motivations, and examines the methods used. It also reviews key industry developments such as cybercrime as a service, brokers and syndicates, nation-sponsored actors, insider sabotage and the challenges faced by law enforcement in tracking and apprehending attackers.
"Understand the Cyber Attacker Mindset" offers expert, strategic guidance on how organizations can improve their cybersecurity operations in response, including enhancing security awareness training, educating employees to identify and resist manipulation, understanding the importance of cultural variances and how board-level decision-making can directly influence attacks.
Written by renowned cybersecurity leader Sarah Armstrong-Smith, "Understand the Cyber Attacker Mindset" draws on interviews with ex-criminals and top experts in the field to share rich insights and a wide range of case studies profiling notable groups, such as Anonymous, Lapsus$, FIN7, Nigeria's Yahoo Boys, Sandworm, and the Lazarus Group.
The human side of cybersecurity has never been so important.
Critique: Absolutely essential reading for anyone charged with a responsibility of defending against cyber attackers, whether domestic criminals or hostile government operators, "Understand the Cyber Attacker Mindset: Build a Strategic Security Programme to Counteract Threats" is especially recommended for personal, professional, community, corporate, governmental, and college/university library cyber crime/computer hacking, and law enforcement collections, as well as supplemental Criminology curriculum studies lists. It should be noted that "Understand the Cyber Attacker Mindset" is also readily available from Kogan Page in a paperback edition (9781398614284, $35.97) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $34.17).
Editorial Note: Sarah Armstrong-Smith has been recognized as one of the most influential leaders in cybersecurity and UK tech and has over 20 years' experience delivering and advising C-suite executives on large-scale business & ICT continuity, cybersecurity, data protection and resilience programmes. She is the Chief Security Advisor at Microsoft and works with strategic and major customers across Europe to help them enhance their security strategies and capabilities. Prior to Microsoft, she was the Group Head of Business Resilience & Crisis Management at The London Stock Exchange Group, the Head of Continuity & Resilience, Enterprise & Cyber Security at Fujitsu and also held roles at EY and AXA. She has been on the front-line of many major incidents, including IT failures, data breaches, and fraud. She is a Fellow of the British Computer Society.
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Diane C. Donovan, Editor
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
e-mail: mwbookrevw@aol.com
www.midwestbookreview.com
Copyright ©2001
Site design by Williams Writing, Editing &
Design