The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903 by Roger I. Abrams

Don't judge a book by its cover. I picked up The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903 by Roger I. Abrams hoping to get a light, entertaining account of the fabled beginnings of the fall classic. I got much more than I expected.

It takes a bit of reading before actually getting to the profiles of the players and accounts of the eight games in Abrams book. The author's real focus is the world of the World Series, which in this case was specifically Boston and Pittsburgh and by extension all of America and any country from which an immigrant might have come. The "Fanatics" is not just tacked on to the end of the title. Abrams looks deeply into who attended the games and supported the sport. Before and between the game stories are sections about the rise of the Brahmin class in Boston and how it differed from Yankee culture, the Irish working class, the industrialization of Pittsburgh, migrations from southern and eastern Europe, the pogroms of Czarist Russia, and other assorted topics.

Highlighted in the story is the group of devoted fans led by Nuf Ced McGreevy, owner of the Third Base Saloon. McGreevy and his friends traveled from Boston to Pittsburgh to root for the Boston Americans. While in the steel city, they hired bands to march around downtown to boisterously proclaim their allegiance and to accompany the team from its hotel to the field before games. At the end of the book, in accounting for what became of the major personalities after the series, Abrams reveals that McGreevy donated his baseball memorabilia collection from his saloon to the Boston Public Library, and the saloon itself was turned into a library branch.

The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903 will appeal more to readers who like history than average sports fans. For those willing to dip into the past, it is an interesting approach to learning about an era.

Abrams, Roger I. The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903. Northeastern University Press, 2003. ISBN 1555535615

Born to Win: The Authorized Biography of Althea Gibson by Frances Clayton Gray and Yanick Rice Lamb

As I research and write my book on biography, I continue to find great stories that I did not know. Here is a draft of an entry for a book about tennis star Althea Gibson. Your library should get this book if it does not own it.

Gray, Frances Clayton, and Lamb, Yanick Rice.

Born to Win: The Authorized Biography of Althea Gibson. John Wiley & Sons, 2004. 244p. ISBN 0471471658.

At five feet eleven inches tall, tennis player Althea Gibson (1927-2003), a sharecropper's daughter, was a dominant presence on the tennis court. Between 1942 and 1949, she excelled in the all black American Tennis Association, but she was ineligible to play in the all white United States Lawn Tennis Association. In 1950, Gibson applied to play in the U.S. Open and would have been denied had revered champion Alice Marble not written a public letter calling for Gibson to get her chance. Authors Frances Clayton Gray and Yanick Rice Lamb report that Gibson lost her first USLTA match but came back to eventually win championships at the U.S. Open, French Open, and Wimbledon. The authors chronicle the life of an amazing athlete who also played basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters and became a professional golfer.

Subjects: African Americans; Gibson, Althea; Teen Reads; Tennis Players; Women.

Now try: Gibson won several doubles championships at Wimbledon. In one of those matches she was paired with a Jewish partner, Angela Buxton. Bruce Schoenfeld reports how the two shunned players became good friends in The Match: Althea Gibson and Angel Buxton: How Two Outsiders - One Black, the Other Jewish - Forged a Friendship and Made Sports History. Gibson’s presence in professional tennis paved the way for Arthur Ashe, who recounted his career in Days of Grace: A Memoir. After tennis, Gibson joined the ladies golf tour. David L. Hudson, Jr. recounts the history of the ladies tour and profiles some key players in his Women in Golf: The Players, the History, and the Future of the Sport.

Thoughts on Biography and Mortality and Baseball

I have been deeply involved with biographical books for months now. As I write up my assessments of these books, I include the lifespan of the subjects, usually in the (birth year-death year) form. It is a quick way of indicating the historical era of the subject and will be useful for my chronology in the appendix.

After months of looking at (1806-1861) and (1564-1616) and (1898-1937) and more, I have begun to measure my life against the subjects. It reminds me of watching baseball's home run hitters of today pass stars of the past on the all-time home run list. Manny Ramirez has passed Ted Williams and Willie McCovey and is bearing down on Jimmie Foxx and Mickey Mantle. It is the same with me and the cultural figures in the chapter that I am now writing.

Here is where I stand against a selection of cultural figures from the past:

• Eudora Welty - 92
• Michelangelo Buonarrati - 89
• Dr. Seuss - 87
• Washington Irving - 76
• William Faulkner - 65
• George Eliot - 61
• Anne Bradstreet - 60
• Nathaniel Hawthorne - 60
• Charles Dickens - 58
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning - 55
• Woody Guthrie - 55
• Rudolf Nureyev - 55
• Paul Gaughan - 54
  
• ricklibrarian - 54
• Mary Shelley - 53
• Frank Zappa - 53
  
• William Shakespeare - 52
• Frida Kahlo - 47
  
• Oscar Wilde - 46
  
• George Bellows - 43
• Johannes Vermeer - 43
• Margaret Wise Brown - 42
• Franz Kafka - 40
• Frederic Chopin - 39
  
• George Gerswhin - 39
• Felix Mendelssohn - 38
• Vincent Van Gogh - 37
  
• Percy B. Shelley - 29

I am quickly bearing down on Guthrie, Nureyev, and Browning. The Arts and Humanities Research Council should be alerted to send their reporters to cover the chase.

I noticed in the sports chapter that I just finished that I have already passed Babe Ruth and am in range of catching Vince Lombardi.

Seriously, sitting at 54, I view anyone who died before 80 as dying young. I think my own wishes are effecting my thinking.

Rosa Lee: A Mother and Her Family in Urban America by Leon Dash

As I write my book on readers' advisory, I try to include books that many libraries own and that are fairly current. In a way, I am working toward the conservation of some titles, hoping they won't get weeded too soon. Here is a draft review of a book that I want to keep in circulation.

Dash, Leon.
Rosa Lee: A Mother and Her Family in Urban America. Basic Books, 1996. 279p. ISBN 0465070922.

Rosa Lee Cunningham (1936-1995) had spent about fifty years in the housing projects of Washington, D.C., when journalist Leon Dash asked to shadow her. For four years, he watched her manage her home and followed her on errands: bailing children out of jail, attending funerals, and visiting drug treatment centers. At the end of this book, Cunningham dies of AIDS. Using his observations, Dash wrote about Cunningham and the lives of the desperately poor in a series of prize-winning articles for the Washington Post, which he expanded into this candid biography.

Subjects: African Americans; Civil Rights; Cunningham, Rosa Lee; Drug Addicts; Poor; Teen Reads; Washington, D.C.

Now try: In A Welfare Mother, Susan Sheehan writes about Carmen Santana, a Puerto Rican mother who income did not meet her expenses. This eye-opening book, which was expanded from an article in The New Yorker, refutes prevailing ideas about women "on the dole" wanting to be there. Alex Kotlowitz follows the life of two boys to show the difficulty of escaping the slums of Chicago in There Are No Children Here. Beverly Lowry tells how one woman escaped poverty in Her Dream of Dreams: The Rise and Triumph of Madam C. J. Walker (see this chapter).

Historical Biography on Audiobooks and in Large Print

I am putting the finishing touches on a first draft of a chapter on historical biography for my book on biography readers' advisory. One of the thing that I have been doing is checking the availability of audiobooks and large print for titles that I review. With the growing demand from an aging population and from people inclined to audio, it is helpful knowing what is available.

How you view the current situation depends on whether you view glasses as half empty or half full. Of the 71 historical biography titles in the chapter, 18 are available as unabridged audiobooks, either cassette tapes or compact discs. You may say, "See how the audiobook industry has grown! 25 percent of these popular books are in audio." If you have recently had clients expecting everything in audio, you may be disappointed.

Large print is definitely lagging. Only 9 of the 71 titles are available in large type. This might be understandable, as many of the historical biographies are lengthy. These books produced in large print might be mighty hefty. Elderly readers might not be able to hold them.

Six of the most well-known books are available in both audio and large print.

The report can be tempered with some good news for the certifiably visually handicapped. Worldcat shows another six or seven of these titles available as recording for the blind and dyslexic. I do not note these in my chapter because they are not available commercially of to the general public.

I hope the state of audiobook availability is better in fiction. Who knows?

WorldCat Is the Place to Identify Audiobooks

Client requests for audio versions of books has increased in libraries over the past five or ten years. In my library, when asked for an audiobook, I always check our consortium's catalog first; if my library or another member library in our system owns the wanted audiobook, it is simple to place a reserve. If no member owns an audio version of a book, the next question has often been whether such audiobook truly exists. In the past, I have often searched Amazon, a habit I developed when I noticed links to editions on title records. Now, I have changed my ways.

As I am adding titles to the book that I am writing about readers' advisory for biography, I am trying to identify when audiobooks are available. Of course, this is getting more complicated as the formats multiply. Sticking to cassettes and compact discs because they are more likely to be available through interlibrary loan, I am finding that WorldCat is the easiest and most reliable source of audiobook information.

As I completed a chapter about Scientific Biography, I ran a test against Worldcat, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble websites to see which identified the most unabridged audiobooks. Here are some of my findings:

Reluctant Mr. Darwin by David Quammen

• WorldCat - CDs from both BBC and Audio Partners
• Amazon - CDs from Audio Partner
• Barnes & Noble - CDs from BBC

The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester

• WorldCat - CDs from HarperCollins and Recorded Books, cassettes from HarperCollins
• Amazon - CDs from HarperCollins
• Barnes & Noble - CDs from HarperCollins, cassettes from HarperCollins

The Day Donny Herbert Work Up by Rich Blake

• WorldCat - CDs from Books on Tape
• Amazon - nothing
• Barnes & Noble - nothing

Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio by Jeffrey Kluger

• WorldCat - CDs from Tantor Media
• Amazon - CDs from Tantor Media
• Barnes & Noble - CDs from Tantor Media

Crashing Through by Robert Kurson

• WorldCat - CDs and cassettes from Books on Tape
• Amazon - only abridged CD from Random House
• Barnes & Noble - only abridged CD from Random House

Longitude by Dava Sobel

• WorldCat - CDs from Books on Tape and Random House, cassettes from Books on Tape
• Amazon - unabridged cassettes from Macmillan
• Barnes & Noble - only abridged cassettes from Macmillan

This pattern continued through my test. Amazon and Barnes & Noble rarely identify all the editions that are cited on WorldCat. WorldCat also identifies some audiobooks that are not generally available, i.e. recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic which are restricted to clients with special needs.

So, WorldCat is the spot for the audiobook identifications. Knowing that editions exist, they can then either by purchased or perhaps borrowed form holding libraries.

Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry

I have always enjoyed reading about other cultures and foreign countries. The appeal is to learn about or experience a different time and place. That is not what I expected to find in a book titled Books: A Memoir, Larry McMurtry's latest work of nonfiction. How different could a bookseller's life be than a librarian's life? Very different, it turns out.

The book as physical object is much more important to the antiquarian bookseller. McMurtry is always concerned with editions, conditions, and inscriptions. Is there a dust jacket? Who has owned this book? What is it worth in dollars and cents? As a librarian, I just want an attractive copy that someone will borrow, not a first edition with proper markings.

As a public librarian, I need to acquire books that will appeal to various members of the community. While not every book is going to appeal to multitudes, I do want to see each go out several times with some regularity. As a bookseller, McMurtry only has to find one person to buy each book. Of course, that is not always easy. He describes numerous books that he kept in stock for decades before either selling it to a customer or throwing it into a big sale to another bookseller.

If McMurtry is correct, antiquarian booksellers sell more to other booksellers than to customers. They seem more like collectors than business people sometimes. Many seem to have a strong love of books that warps their profit instinct. Many of the colleagues that McMurtry describes have gone out of business.

I do recognize a common concern in McMurtry's statement on page 249:

The bane of large secondhand book dealers is that junk inevitably seeps in, and the iron rule is that good books do not pull bad books up: bad books pull good books down.

Amen. Our shelves look so much better after a good weeding, and the good books become easier to find.

I thought that Books: A Memoir started kind of slowly. It seems so strange at first to have such very short chapters with lots of empty pages between chapters. When he opens a shop, the narrative really seems to take off, as he has many odd stories to tell.

Recommended for readers who like quirky, opinionated books.

McMurtry, Larry. Books: A Memoir. Simon & Schuster, 2008. ISBN 9781416583349

How to Do Biography: A Primer by Nigel Hamilton

Nigel Hamilton has put out another book about the writing of biography. Last year he published Biography: A Brief History. This year he has issued a practical guide for the writing and selling of biography to publishers called How to Do Biography: A Primer. Some topics that first time writers might not expect in this book include how to get permissions to quote from documents and how to prepare to defend a book from challenges by offended parties.

Believing that biographers do need to have a sense of the history of the genre, Hamilton covers a little of the same ground that he covered in his previous book. "Real life depiction has always been controversial," says the author. A good biography focuses not on facts and incidents but on character reputations. If the subject or family and friends are living, an honest biography is certain to offend. Shakespeare knew this and stuck to historical plays when depicting monarchs, trying not to land in jail or to lose his head.

Hamilton offers good advice about writer focus:

Asking yourself who, ultimately, will be interested in, or willing to read, the life you're recounting should be your constant concern. When biographies fail to spark interest, become tedious or unsatisfying, it is usually because the biographer had lost his commitment to engage the reader and is taking the audience for granted, by getting too self-absorbed in the life he is depicting. Never forget or neglect the reader!

We should all remember that. Hamilton's book, which includes a chapter on the responsibilities of the memoir writer, should be popular in many public and college libraries.

Hamilton, Nigel. How to Do Biography: A Primer. Harvard University Press, 2008. ISBN 9780674027961.

On a Road in Africa by Kim Doner

Though I have not finished many adult books lately, I am enjoying the children's books that Bonnie and Laura have been bringing home. Yesterday, I found a very colorful book with a story told in verse called On a Road in Africa by Kim Doner by my pillow. I am always pleased to find a book about Africa. Doner's book tells about the work day of an animal rescue worker in Nairobi, Kenya. The verse is witty and the artwork shows a diversity of people and wildlife, just as you would expect in Kenya.

Kenya has had so many problems lately, with its contested election, the riots that followed, AIDS, and poverty. It is refreshing to see a lighter view with a hopeful message, offering a vision for the way life ought to be in that beautiful land. If enough children can believe in friendship, perhaps it can become true.

Even the end panels are well used in this attractive book. There you will find English words and Swahili translations. Get the book and read it right before you turn off the light. Lala salama.

Doner, Kim. On a Road in Africa. Tricycle Press, 2008. ISBN 9781582462301

Bryson's Dictionary for Writer and Editors by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson says in his introduction to Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors that he has been writing for over thirty years. In that time he has had to look up a lot of words to see 1) how to spell them, 2) whether they mean what he thinks they mean, and 3) how to make them plural. He has also needed to identify many people and places. Being industrious and always thinking about another book to publish, he has kept all his research and created this unusual reference book with an abundance of small facts.

As a reference librarian, I do not really see an advantage to using Bryson's book over other works, such a the American Heritage Dictionary, but it is fun. (Of course, I actually find using the American Heritage Dictionary fun.) Occasionally, Bryson editorializes a little, such as letting you know that he thinks "snuck" is going to replace "sneaked," but he does not really try to be humorous in this work. Mostly, I just like seeing what words gave Bryson trouble. He too at some point had to look up "phenomenon" to check the vowels (I almost added extra syllables. I have sometime said "phenomenonanon.") If he has had to look up all these words, his accomplishments seem infinitely greater. Perhaps prospective writers can look at this book and say, "If Bill can overcome all this and write well, maybe I can, too."

Bryson, Bill. Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors. Broadway Books, 2008. ISBN 9780767922692

The Jew of Home Depot and Other Stories by Max Apple

I am a big Max Apple fan. I have been ever since I read The Oranging of America and Other Stories back in 1976 when he was a professor at Rice University in Houston. I was living in Texas at the time, too, and enjoyed how he set some of his entertaining stories in places that I knew, like the Astrodome. I also really enjoyed his memoirs of growing up Jewish in Grand Rapids, Michigan I Love Gootie: My Grandmother's Story and Roommates: My Grandfather's Story. Understandably, I was excited to learn about The Jew of Home Depot and Other Stories, his first story collection in twenty years.

Apple continues to know where I go. I started the collection while on vacation in Saugatuck, Michigan. Bonnie and I went up to Muskegon one day to see some museums and old houses. The next morning I discovered "Indian Giver," an Apple story set in Muskegon of all places. I had seen the tourist sites. Apple took me to the junkyards where men were trying to practice their religious faiths while making a living off used auto parts and scrap metal.

In a larger sense, Apple knows where we all go. His stories take place at basketball games, pharmaceutical conventions, playgrounds, stereo stores, hotel lobbies, and the local Home Depot. These are common places but his characters are extraordinary. They always seem to have unique problems that somehow beautifully reveal universal themes. There are a couple of stories set in nursing homes, "Strawberry Shortcake" and "Adventures in Dementia," that will connect with many readers. Again, Apple knows where we go or may be going sometime soon.

The title story takes the reader back to Texas to a college town where a Jewish family is temporarily living across the street from a fraternity house. What the teenage son sees out his window shocks him. The story is brilliant and the last paragraph is a classic twist that I will say no more about.

I find that few people seem to know about Apple. I look really smart when I introduce his books to story readers. Try his books and then spread the word.

Apple, Max. The Jew of Home Depot and Other Stories. John Hopkins University Press, 2008. ISBN 9780801887383

Most Checked Out Biographies at Thomas Ford, 1999-2008

I am weeding lots of books this summer. When I ran a report of our biography section, I sorted it by number of checkouts. I was slightly surprised by the results. I knew the top two books would be at the top but I did not realize that the third and fourth books were that popular. I think book discussion groups may have influenced this list. I also notice that eight of the ten books are memoirs. The two books that are third person accounts about historical figures utilize letters and diaries heavily.

Here's the list, based on January 1999 to date (the length of time our library system has used its current vendor):

1. John Adams by David McCullough (57)

2. It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life by Lance Armstrong (55)

3. The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride (52)

4. The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls (49)

(tie) A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (49)

6. Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama (38)

7. Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott (37)

8. Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love by Dava Sobel (36)

9. Population - 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time by Michael Perry (35)

(tie) The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raise 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less by Terry Ryan (35)

The checkouts include when our copies were loaned to other libraries, but they do not show when our readers got the same titles through interlibrary loan. I assume the two balance out, i. e. that our copies have gone to other libraries as much as other libraries' copies have come into our library.

I am obviously not deleting these books.

I'd be interested in learning what the top circulating biographies are in your library, too.

The Rolling Stones: In the Beginning by Bent Rej

I have always preferred the Beatles to the Rolling Stones, though I have come to appreciate the music of the latter more as I have aged. This is funny because author Bent Rej says in The Rolling Stones: In the Beginning that no one over thirty liked the Stones in 1965. Well, I'm way beyond that now as are many Stones fans. I still perk up when I hear "Jumpin' Jack Flash" or "Satisfaction." It must be my lateblooming rebellious urges.

The title is slightly misleading. Rej spent a year photographing the Stones, March 1965 to the summer of 1966. They had already been together a couple of years, so it was not really the beginning. Because Brian Jones liked him, he was given almost unlimited access to their concerts, rehearsals and travels. Rej even shot a photo story for a fan magazine in their homes (mostly apartments and hotel rooms) for which all the members cooperated, though Mick Jagger did so grudgingly. (They did not have much in their living spaces. All were pretty bare.) Rej says that he forgot about the photos until 40 years later. They now form a sort photobiography of five very young men serious about their music and learning how to appreciate their wealth.

He contends that it is the period that group found its identity. Their brief try at wearing matching suits had passed and their confidence was growing. Brian Jones, who founded the group, was in decline as a leader already, and Mick Jagger was becoming the focus of fan attention. Though they drank excessively, no one was taking drugs yet. It was a cleaner and softer time, though innocence is not a word that I would use.

I recommend the book in my book as another title to offer when readers like The Beatles: The Biography by Bob Spitz. There is a lot less detail than the Beatles book but the photos really draw you back to the time. Putting the Stones on the CD player helps, too.

Rej, Bent. The Rolling Stones: In the Beginning. Firefly Books, 2006. ISBN 9781554072309

I Wish I'd Been There: Twenty Historians Bring to Life Dramatic Events That Changed America

If you had a time machine and could travel back to an event that changed the course of American history, what event would you choose? This is the question editor Byron Hollinshead asked twenty well-known historians in I Wish I'd Been There: Twenty Historians Bring to Life Dramatic Events That Changed America. Each replied with an essay about the time and place that he or she finds most interesting, often an incident related to a book that he or she has written. Of course, the times chosen vary greatly. The first is a visit to the ancient native American community of Cahokia on a festival day and the last is a meeting between President Lyndon Johnson and Alabama Governor George Wallace to discuss police violence at civil rights demonstrations in Alabama.

I think that I would like to witness the Wright Brothers flights at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903 to be present when easy distant travel became probable. Of course, there is always bad with good, as aerial warfare also became more possible on that day. I would also like to be in Washington, D.C. on the day in 1800 that Congress accepted Thomas Jefferson's books to establish the Library of Congress. Did Congress realize the importance of its act? None of the historians chose these events.

Mary Beth Norton chose to view the Salem witch trials as her wish come true. As a historian she has a list of questions that she believes that she could answer by being there. Carolyn Gilman wishes that she could witness Meriwether Lewis realizing that his Corps of Volunteers would need Shoshone Indian help to reach the Columbia River. Clayborne Carson chose the civil rights march in Washington in 1963, an event that he actually did attend as a college student. He'd like to go back and see what he missed.

Some of the historians are authors that many librarians and readers will recognize, such as Joseph J. Ellis, Robert V. Remini, Thomas Fleming, and Geoffrey C. Ward. Because it collects such noted writers, I Wish I'd Been There: Twenty Historians Bring to Life Dramatic Events That Changed America can serve as a good introduction to reading history. It can be offered as a sampler for readers in search of new interests. It will also appeal to magazine or short story readers, who would rather have an essay than a book. The book is available in many public libraries, as is a followup, I Wish I'd Been There, Book Two: European History.

Hollingshead, Byron, ed. I Wish I'd Been There: Twenty Historians Bring to Life Dramatic Events That Changed America. Doubleday, 2006. ISBN 9780385516198

Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor

A benefit of handling books and talking to readers is finding new books to read. My daughter Laura has been working as a substitute circulation clerk at our library this summer and, as you might expect, she has been checking lots of children's books. Every now and then one catches her eye and she brings it home. Last week she brought home Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor and shared it with the rest of us. I don't think I have laughed so hard since the first time I read Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw.

It is so appropriate that Laura brought the book home to us, for there was a lot of Fancy Nancy in Laura when she was little. As a parent I could really relate to the 32 page story of a girl who likes to dress up and decorate and go out for ice cream. I don't want to spoil the surprises so I won't say any more. The book rings true and readers of all ages may enjoy it.

There is a whole series of Fancy Nancy books and we are working our way through them all now. Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy is a lot of fun to read. By the way, "posh" is fancy for fancy.


O'Connor, Jane. Fancy Nancy. Houghton Mifflin, 2006. ISBN 0060542098.

When the Book Is All Finished

When the book is all finished
When the writing is done
I will close up the laptop
And just have some fun
I will go to a garden
And smell the roses all day
Then I'll go to the city
And there I will stray
I'll see all of the paintings
In a gallery display
Then I'll go to a snack shop
Where I'll fill up a tray
With ice cream and cake
And a cookie or two
When the book is all finished
That's just what I'll do.

When the book is all finished
When the writing's complete
I'll back up all the files
And then put up my feet
I'll sleep late in the morning
Read the paper in bed
Wear pajamas to breakfast
And when I'm properly fed
I will listen to music
And I'll not multi-task
When the book is all finished
Is that too much to ask?

Daring to Look: Dorothea Lange's Photographs and Reports from the Field by Anne Whiston Spirn

Some of the most remembered images from the Great Depression and the migration of farmers and other workers during the Dust Bowl years were from the camera of photographer Dorothea Lange. In black and white she caught the worried expression on the migrant mother's face, the paternal look of the sharecropper watching his daughter pull worms off tobacco leaves, and proud smile of an oldest son who had saved money to buy a bicycle for the family. Her photographs practically defined the hard times of the 1930s.

According to photographer Anne Whiston Spirn, Lange does not get the credit she deserves as an artist and pioneer of photography. Many histories of American photography do not even mention her. Spirn tells how a large exhibit of Lange's work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1966, three months after her death, seemed to celebrate and end the consideration of her work. Many of her photographs and field reports for the Farm Security Administration have remained locked away unseen until now, as Spirn has arranged their publication.

Spirn thinks Lange suffered critical neglect because she took photographs with a purpose, not intended for galleries. She spent much time alongside the downtrodden, learning their stories and observing their struggles. For every set of photographs that she submitted to her agency, she wrote reports detailing the lives of her photographic subjects. Views expecting artifice in art are surprised by the simplicity and clarity and do not think to label the images "art."

In Daring to Look, Spirn looks at Lange's assignments during the 1939 year, which may have been her greatest, as she toured California, North Carolina, and the Pacific Northwest with little rest. With Lange's reports, the book gives readers an intimate look at American life just before the Second World War changed everything. Many libraries should consider this great book.

Spirn, Anne Whiston. Daring to Look: Dorothea Lange's Photographs and Reports from the Field. University of Chicago Press, 2008. ISBN 9780226769844

The Big Read from Compact Disc to iPod

A couple of weeks ago a plain brown rectangular box landed on my desk when I was not looking. When I noticed it, I wondered what it could be, as it was too narrow for books. Upon opening it, I found fourteen compact discs from the National Endowment for the Arts, one for each book in its The Big Read book discussion program. A questionnaire asking what uses our library would make of the came with the CDs, suggesting that we try to find innovative ways to incorporate them into our collections and programs.

My idea is to load them onto patron iPods. I'm not sure if there will be a big demand, but we might as well add them onto our iPod book collection. I checked with the NEA by email and the organization has no objections. I was told we have full broadcast rights. I guess that we could turn them into podcasts, too.

Being curious, I listened to three programs, each lasting about one half hour. I particularly enjoyed An Introduction to To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, which includes readings by Anne Twomey and comments by author Elizabeth Spencer, justice Sandra Day O'Connor, actor Robert Duvall (who played Boo Radley in the movie), playwright Horton Foote (who adapted the novel for the film), and others. Dana Gioia of the NEA narrated. In the background at points is music from the film. O'Connor tells how small town life in rural Arizona was just like that in rural Alabama. Spencer, Duvall, and Foote had lots of interesting things to say about the characters and setting. After listening, I wanted to read the book again immediately.

The CDs about The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck were also interesting. The later even has bonus tracks, including a segment from an interview of Steinbeck by Eleanor Roosevelt.

I do not know if all public libraries got these. I may have replied to an offer. I do not remember, a sign of my age I suppose. Whatever, I'm glad we have them.

101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out by Josh Pahigian

Baseball landmarks are almost everywhere, if you will only look. At least, that is how it seems after reading 101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out by Josh Pahigian. Look past the major cities. Many communities had beloved minor league or semi-pro teams at some point in the past. Major leaguers hale from all sorts of places large and small. Memorabilia can land just about anywhere. I see lots of interesting places to visit, such as the House of David Museum in Benton Harbor, Michigan to learn about the bearded, long-haired barnstorming team.

Pahigian had a lot of sites to consider given the broad reach of baseball through the country. (He stuck to just U.S. sites in this volume. Perhaps he can issue a sequel with special baseball places in Latin America, Canada, and Japan.) He starts with the most obvious site, which is the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Then he chooses two more neutral sites, the Field of Dreams Movie Site and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. With his fourth choice, not able to avoid the inevitable, he chooses a team-related site, and wouldn't you know it, it is Monument Park in Yankee Stadium. I know I'd pick Wrigley Field or Fenway Park over Yankee Stadium any day, but it is his book. Next year, you won't even be able to go to the current Yankee Stadium as the team moves to a new location. The Monuments are supposed to go to the new stadium, but it will not be hallowed ground, like the ballparks in Boston and Chicago.

The author includes some odd places, especially toward the back of the book. I doubt that the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona will let you see Ted Williams frozen remains. Are we supposed to drive by and honk? Balco Labs in Burlington, California also sounds like a place few will want to visit, unless there are free steroid samples. Cook County Criminal Courts Building where the Black Sox scandal unfolded I can understand wanting to see.

The Elysian Fields are listed at 96 in the book. It seems like a major spot in the history of the game, and I would put in way up in the list. Pahigan explains that he thinks the site is overrated because early baseball games were played in many other places that have now disappeared. I would turn that argument around to say that because a very small portion of the Elysian Fields is still marked for visitors it could represent all the sites that are lost. Perhaps the author does not want to disappoint readers with the spot because there is so little to actually see.

Perhaps a sports book reading club would like to discuss this work. There could be many lively and probably pointless debates.

The author includes a lot of fascinating details about some of the sites, and I enjoyed reading player names that I had forgotten. I wish that he had put in a U.S. map marking the locations or put a geographical index to aid someone looking for places regionally. (A nod to Bonnie who first noticed that these reference aids were missing.) Still, it is a book many readers will enjoy and is a good acquisition for libraries.

Pahigian, Josh. 101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out. Lyons Press, 2008. ISBN 9781599212517

The Legend of Colton H. Bryant by Alexandra Fuller

Alexandra Fuller's new book The Legend of Colton H. Bryant may seem an unusual story to comfortably secure readers from the cities and suburbs of our country. The young men and women of Evanston, Wyoming lack the educational advantage, career ambitions, and financial foresight of their urban counterparts who attend highly-ranked high schools in preparation for college and careers. While the setting may be different, youths from ghettos may find the story line more understandable. Coming from a rural community dominated by the oil industry, I recognize the basic truth of the story right away.

Like his father and grandfather before him, Colton H. Bryant (1980-2006) dreamed of being a cowboy but settled for rough necking in the Upper Green River Valley of Wyoming. Having been an accident prone boy who was well-known in the emergency room of the local hospital, the reckless young man who lived on Mountain Dew and hamburgers claimed he would not live to see his twenty-fifth birthday. He exceeded his prediction by eight months and died in an easily avoidable oilfield drilling accident. He was the fourth rig hand working for Ultra Petroleum to die in eighteen months. According to Fuller, the aggressively profit-minded company was fined a nominal amount for not having safety rails and did little for Bryant's family.

In this intimate biography of the ill-fated Bryant, Fuller portrays a working class character that would do anything for his friends and family, including the dangerous work that he and many other men with few options do. The author explains in her afterward to the book that she changed one name and rearranged the time sequence slightly for dramatic effect. She also took some liberties with conversations, which of course could not be so well remembered. The result is a compelling quick reading narrative.

Many readers will remember Fuller for her African memoirs Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight and Scribbling the Cat. She does not appear as a character in this story of her new homeland. Her old fans and teen readers will enjoy this novel-like biography, which should be in most public libraries.

Fuller, Alexandra. The Legend of Colton H. Bryant. Penguin Press, 2008. 202p. ISBN 9781594201837.