[bksvol-discuss] Fw: History and Current Events January 2010
- From: "Amber Wallenstein" <amber.wallens@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:32:05 -0500
History and Current Events January 2010
"Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history,
there could be no concept of humanity."
~ Herman Hesse (1877-1962), German-Swiss writer
New and Recently Released!
The Road Out of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murders
- by Anthony Flacco with Jerry Clark
Publisher: Union Square Press
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/03/2009
ISBN-13: 9781402768699
ISBN-10: 1402768699
Fair warning to readers who don't enjoy gruesomely detailed investigations into
horrendous--and all too real--crimes: this book is not for you. The Road
Out of Hell documents the grisly murders committed by Gordon Stewart Northcott
on his chicken ranch in Wineville, California, between 1926 and 1928--aspects
of which were the focus of the 2008 film Changeling. It also describes the
traumatic experiences of Northcott's nephew, Sanford Clark, who was held
captive,
brutalized, and forced to help kill the boys trapped at the ranch. Though
author Anthony Flacco embellishes the official record somewhat, Clark's son
Jerry
ends the book with an epilogue that showcases Clark's inner strength and
emotional resilience.
When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New
Global Order - by Martin Jacques
Publisher: Penguin Press
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/12/2009
ISBN-13: 9781594201851
ISBN-10: 1594201854
Making predictions that China will supplant the West as an economic superpower,
Martin Jacques (a scholar and a columnist for Britain's Guardian) has written
a cautionary analysis of the cultural, political, and ethnic changes facing the
world. Specifically evaluating how China's cultural mores will influence
the country's impact on the world, he also offers an overview of Chinese
history and an analysis of current economic trends--including America's decline.
As "comprehensive as it is compelling" (Publishers Weekly), this book offers a
perspective on the future that will appeal most to readers who are already
familiar with this topic.
Tear Down This Wall: A City, a President, and the Speech That Ended the Cold
War - by Romesh Ratnesar
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/03/2009
ISBN-13: 9781416556909
ISBN-10: 1416556907
As the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall approached in November
of last year, news reports often focused on contemporary celebrations and
retrospectives of the Wall's fall. In Tear Down This Wall, author Romesh
Ratnesar focuses on the speech given by U.S. President Ronald Reagan at the
Brandenburg
Gate in June 1987, in which he challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to pull down the
wall separating East and West Berlin. Drawing on interviews with former Reagan
Administration officials, journalists, historians, and eyewitnesses, Ratnesar
gives an excellent overview of the geopolitics of the time and the relationship
that evolved between Reagan and Gorbachev.
First Chapter
The Fatal Strain: On the Trail of Avian Flu and the Coming Pandemic - by Alan
Sipress
Publisher: Viking
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/12/2009
ISBN-13: 9780670021277
ISBN-10: 067002127X
The news this past fall was full of accounts of H1N1--swine flu--and the
precautions you could take to stay healthy. But do you remember avian flu, which
was big news in 2004? Centered in Asia, this quickly mutating strain of flu
struck wild and domestic fowl and soon spread to their handlers. Author Alan
Sipress warns that the point at which it becomes easily spread from person to
person will mark the beginning of an epidemic of drastic proportions--and
while Sipress focuses on avian flu, the points he makes are just as relevant to
swine flu. Focusing on how flu spreads and how politics affects how it's
handled, The Fatal Strain is an eye-opener.
Focus on: Microhistories
The King of Vodka: The Story of Pyotr Smirnov and the Upheaval of an Empire -
by Linda Himelstein
Publisher: Harper
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 05/01/2009
ISBN-13: 9780060855895
ISBN-10: 0060855894
Though not on as broad a topic as the books by Mark Kurlansky that set off the
microhistory craze (Cod, for example), this profile of "the king of vodka"
and the product he made famous worldwide will appeal to students of Russian
history, vodka aficionados, and fans of business writing. In addition to the
story of the rise, fall, and resurrection of the Smirnov (now Smirnoff) brand,
journalist Linda Himelstein addresses the effect that vodka had on Russian
society as well as the effect of the Bolshevik revolution on the Smirnov
family. All in all, it makes for a "heady tale of tying one on" (Kirkus
Reviews).
First Chapter
A history of the world in 6 glasses - Standage, Tom
Publisher: Walker & Co.
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 05/30/2005
ISBN-13: 9780802714473
ISBN-10: 0802714471
Standage starts with a bold hypothesis-that each epoch, from the Stone Age to
the present, has had its signature beverage-and takes readers on an
extraordinary
trip through world history. The Economist's technology editor has the ability
to connect the smallest detail to the big picture and a knack for summarizing
vast concepts in a few sentences. He explains how, when humans shifted from
hunting and gathering to farming, they saved surplus grain, which sometimes
fermented into beer. The Greeks took grapes and made wine, later borrowed by
the Romans and the Christians. Arabic scientists experimented with distillation
and produced spirits, the ideal drink for long voyages of exploration. Coffee
also spread quickly from Arabia to Europe, becoming the "intellectual
counterpoint
to the geographical expansion of the Age of Exploration." European
coffee-houses, which functioned as "the Internet of the Age of Reason,"
facilitated
scientific, financial and industrial cross-fertilization. In the British
industrial revolution that followed, tea "was the lubricant that kept the
factories
running smoothly." Finally, the rise of American capitalism is mirrored in the
history of Coca-Cola, which started as a more or less handmade medicinal
drink but morphed into a mass-produced global commodity over the course of the
20th century. In and around these grand ideas, Standage tucks some wonderful
tidbits-on the antibacterial qualities of tea, Mecca's coffee trials in 1511,
Visigoth penalties for destroying vineyards-ending with a delightful appendix
suggesting ways readers can sample ancient beverages.
First Chapter
Coal: A Human History - by Barbara Freese
Publisher: Perseus Publishing
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 01/06/2003
ISBN-13: 9780738204000
ISBN-10: 0738204005
Coal, once carved into jewelry by ancient Romans, now fuels industrial plants
and trains, keeps homes warm, and according to EPA studies, causes enough
pollution to kill 30,000 people in the U.S. each year. Tracing the history of
coal from its foundations three million years ago through its role in industry,
air quality, and disease, author Barbara Freese touches on coal's impact, from
causing the building of railroads and canals to creating air in London so
black that visibility was limited to only a few yards. "Engrossing and
sometimes stunning" (The New York Times), this wide-ranging microhistory of a
vital
mineral ends with a call to reduce usage.
First Chapter
Table of Contents
The Founding Fish - by John McPhee
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 09/01/2002
ISBN-13: 9780374104443
ISBN-10: 0374104441
Ah, the shad, the freshwater river fish that, as legend would have it, fed
George Washington's troops at Valley Forge and even played a role in Abraham
Lincoln's assassination. Find that hard to believe? Shad fisherman (and
Pulitzer Prize winner) John McPhee peppers his examination of the humble fish
with
his own tales from the river as well as conversations with fish biologists,
shad-dart makers, zooarcheologists, fish anatomists, and river historians--but
you'll have to read the book to find out the truth behind the legends. Don't
miss this insightful, passionate, and humorous look at the shad; for more
on a similar theme, check out Mark Kurlansky's Cod.
First Chapter
Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World - by
Mark Pendergrast
Publisher: Basic Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 04/21/2000
ISBN-13: 9780465054671
ISBN-10: 0465054676
Coffee. Some of us don't drink it, some of us can't get through the day without
it, but it's unlikely that anyone reading this would have a hard time
identifying
the smell of coffee or the shape of a coffee bean. Any other questions you may
have about it will be answered here, including where coffee originated and
whether or not its creation truly came about thanks to some dancing goats. And
in between discourses on the political and financial impact of coffee's
popularity on Latin American workers, author Mark Pendergrast offers up tales
of coffee giant Starbucks and coffee substitutes like Postum. If you're still
jonesing for a hit of caffeine after finishing Uncommon Grounds, you might want
to try the author's take on Coke in For God, Country, and Coca-Cola.
First Chapter
The ten-cent plague : the great comic-book scare and how it changed America -
Hajdu, David
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 03/18/2008
ISBN-13: 9780374187675
ISBN-10: 0374187673
A vivid study of the lost world of comic books examines the influence of this
pulpy, lavishly illustrated medium on the evolution of American popular culture
in the wake of World War II and before the emergence of television as a mass
medium, focusing on the battle against comic books by church groups, community
elite, academics, and a right-wing Congress.
First Chapter
The fever trail : in search of the cure for malaria - Honigsbaum, Mark
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 05/01/2002
ISBN-13: 9780374154691
ISBN-10: 0374154694
Using the legend of a Spanish countess, who was cured of malaria by drinking a
medicine made from the cinchona tree, to guide them, three British explorers
embark on a mission to find the elusive cinchona tree to rid the world of this
debilitating disease, in a riveting true account of bravery and geopolitical
rivalry that pitted the New World against the Old.
First Chapter
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