I have to grin! The book is here! As soon I came home today, Bonnie revealed that a box from Libraries Unlimited/ABC Clio had arrived. Inside were my personal copies of Real Lives Revealed: A Guide to Reading Interests in Biography. We took the heavy box to the dining room table where Caramel watched closely as I opened the top flaps and removed a copy. Bonnie caught it all for the ages.
I finally know that the book is a total of 601 pages. That includes 600 reviews, a chronology of biography, three appendices, and three indexes. I hope many readers and librarians find them useful.
The official publication date is next Tuesday, June 30. There will be copies at the American Library Association Conference in July.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
The Lost Art of Walking: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Literature of Pedestrianism by Geoff Nicholson
The Lost Art of Walking: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Literature of Pedestrianism by Geoff Nicholson is my kind of book. It is partly a microhistory of walks, walkers, and walking, telling stories from ancient history to the space age. It is also a memoir, as Nicholson recounts his own walks, both in the places he has lived and in exotic locations that he has visited for the sake of walking.While I liked the stories featuring characters from history and literature, I especially enjoyed Nicholson's own story. In the first chapter, he tells about walking around Los Angeles, where few people ever leave their houses not in an automobile. On foot he sees things that many people never see. Near the end, he recounts growing up in the "county estates" (public housing) in Sheffield, England. Even as a youth he had a passion for walking. I liked this quote:
"... when I was eleven years old or so and it was reckoned that even though I was too young to be left alone in my parents' house, I was old enough to be allowed to wander the streets of Hillsborough."
The oddest story may have been about family vacations in Blackpool. Their lodgings were only for the night. They had to be out by 8:00 every morning and were not allowed back in until 5:00 in the afternoon. The family, parents and young children, walked through the tourist town, back and forth, all day. Because his parents were frugal, their entertainment options were very limited. It is surprising that he grew up to enjoy vacations and spend them walking.
Thanks to Maggie for recommending The Lost Art of Walking. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Nicholson, Geoff. The Lost Art of Walking: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Literature of Pedestrianism. Riverhead Books, 2008. ISBN 9781594489983
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Reasons to Read Biography
In the June 2009 issue of Booklist, David Wright states that he can think of only two good reasons to read biography. He thinks it is a good way (1) to learn history and (2) to "get the dirt." He enjoys exposés and confessional memoirs that reveal inner demons. In the same issue, Kaite Mediatore claims that she enjoys reading about "dames," which she describes as strong, good-humored women worth admiration. Both David and Kaite review five books, some of which are old and rare.
Since they have opened the conversation, it seems a good time to bring out my list of reasons to read biography.
Reason 1: To discover fascinating people.
Harry Harlow is one such person. He was an enthusiastic experimental psychologist at the University of Wisconsin in the 1950s, when he discovered how important parental care was to the development of young monkeys. He became a proponent of love featured on CBS Television news. Ironically, he ignored his own wife and children. Deborah Blum examines the life of a contradictory character in Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection.
Reason 2: To rediscover people we think we know well.
In our mental processing of everything that we have learned about historical figures, such as George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, we sometimes reduce them to a few facts, such as "general who became our first president" or "president who freed the slaves." In doing this we forget what truly made them remarkable. Luckily for us, biographers recollect the stories and present them fresh and new. Consider John Adams. Many people considered him pretty old and dry before David McCullough wrote his intimate biography, simply called John Adams.
Reason 3: To reassess infamous characters.
Margaret Sanger was a nurse who saw tremendous suffering in the slums of New York City in the early twentieth century. She began a crusade for birth control, which included the distribution of honest and frank information about sex. For this she was condemned by many religious, political, and law enforcement officials. Ellen Chesler recounts the life and times of a woman ahead of her times in Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America.
Reason 4: To get the story behind legendary characters.
There really was a Queen Boudica who tried to expel the Romans from Britain, but she was not the mass murderer that some legends suggest. Vanessa Collingridge uses archeological evidence to redraw the queen's image in Boudica: The Life of Britain's Legendary Warrior Queen.
Reason 5: To get the dirt. (A nod to David)
Sir Thomas Malory is often credited with establishing the tradition of knightly chivalry. According to Christina Hardyman, he was really a rapist, murderer, and thief. She makes her case in Malory: The Knight Who Became King Arthur's Chronicler.
Reason 6: To find a hero, warts and all. (A nod to Kaite)
Ethiopian widow Haregewoin Teffera did not want to foster an AIDS orphan, but her priest insisted. Once she cleaned the girl, she fell in love and began working for all her country's orphans. Melissa Fay Green describes Teffera's life and work in There Is No Me Without You: One Women's Odyssey to Rescue Africa's Children.
Reason 7: To learn history through the life of an individual.
When the heads of her friends began to fall in Paris, Marie Tussaud was there to catch them and cast them in wax. Kate Berridge recounts how a survivor of the French Revolution became a entertainment pioneer and a very rich woman in Madame Tussaud: A Life in Wax.
Reason 8: To experience adventure from the safety of one's armchair.
Despite the dangers of travel over the Andes Mountains and on the Amazon River in the eighteenth century, Isabelle Godin des Odonais set forth to cross the South American continent to rescue her husband. Robert Whitaker tells an excite tale in The Mapmaker's Wife: A True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon.
Reason 9: To celebrate one's culture.
Why did the life of an entertainer mean so much to his many fans? Novelist Bobbie Ann Mason explains in her compact biography Elvis Presley.
Reason 10: To enjoy a good book.
Take any of the nine titles from above and insert here.
Ten seems a nice number at which to stop. You might write some more reasons of your own after reading a few good biographies.
My book Real Lives Revealed: A Guide to Reading Interests in Biography publishes next week. It includes reviews of all of these titles, plus 591 more.
Since they have opened the conversation, it seems a good time to bring out my list of reasons to read biography.
Reason 1: To discover fascinating people.
Harry Harlow is one such person. He was an enthusiastic experimental psychologist at the University of Wisconsin in the 1950s, when he discovered how important parental care was to the development of young monkeys. He became a proponent of love featured on CBS Television news. Ironically, he ignored his own wife and children. Deborah Blum examines the life of a contradictory character in Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection.
Reason 2: To rediscover people we think we know well.
In our mental processing of everything that we have learned about historical figures, such as George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, we sometimes reduce them to a few facts, such as "general who became our first president" or "president who freed the slaves." In doing this we forget what truly made them remarkable. Luckily for us, biographers recollect the stories and present them fresh and new. Consider John Adams. Many people considered him pretty old and dry before David McCullough wrote his intimate biography, simply called John Adams.
Reason 3: To reassess infamous characters.
Margaret Sanger was a nurse who saw tremendous suffering in the slums of New York City in the early twentieth century. She began a crusade for birth control, which included the distribution of honest and frank information about sex. For this she was condemned by many religious, political, and law enforcement officials. Ellen Chesler recounts the life and times of a woman ahead of her times in Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America.
Reason 4: To get the story behind legendary characters.
There really was a Queen Boudica who tried to expel the Romans from Britain, but she was not the mass murderer that some legends suggest. Vanessa Collingridge uses archeological evidence to redraw the queen's image in Boudica: The Life of Britain's Legendary Warrior Queen.
Reason 5: To get the dirt. (A nod to David)
Sir Thomas Malory is often credited with establishing the tradition of knightly chivalry. According to Christina Hardyman, he was really a rapist, murderer, and thief. She makes her case in Malory: The Knight Who Became King Arthur's Chronicler.
Reason 6: To find a hero, warts and all. (A nod to Kaite)
Ethiopian widow Haregewoin Teffera did not want to foster an AIDS orphan, but her priest insisted. Once she cleaned the girl, she fell in love and began working for all her country's orphans. Melissa Fay Green describes Teffera's life and work in There Is No Me Without You: One Women's Odyssey to Rescue Africa's Children.
Reason 7: To learn history through the life of an individual.
When the heads of her friends began to fall in Paris, Marie Tussaud was there to catch them and cast them in wax. Kate Berridge recounts how a survivor of the French Revolution became a entertainment pioneer and a very rich woman in Madame Tussaud: A Life in Wax.
Reason 8: To experience adventure from the safety of one's armchair.
Despite the dangers of travel over the Andes Mountains and on the Amazon River in the eighteenth century, Isabelle Godin des Odonais set forth to cross the South American continent to rescue her husband. Robert Whitaker tells an excite tale in The Mapmaker's Wife: A True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon.
Reason 9: To celebrate one's culture.
Why did the life of an entertainer mean so much to his many fans? Novelist Bobbie Ann Mason explains in her compact biography Elvis Presley.
Reason 10: To enjoy a good book.
Take any of the nine titles from above and insert here.
Ten seems a nice number at which to stop. You might write some more reasons of your own after reading a few good biographies.
My book Real Lives Revealed: A Guide to Reading Interests in Biography publishes next week. It includes reviews of all of these titles, plus 591 more.
Monday, June 22, 2009
The Remarkable Life of William Beebe: Explorer and Naturalist by Carol Grant Gould
This is the entry for an adventure biography reviewed in my upcoming book Real Lives Revealed: a Guide to Reading Interests in Biography. William Beebe was a romantic figure who led nearly fifty expeditions for the New York Zoological Society and the American Museum of Natural History. Due to his station as director of the society's Department of Tropical studies and the wide popularity of his travel memoirs, he knew every important conservationist from Teddy Roosevelt to Rachael Carson. He also knew Noel Coward, Will Rogers, and many smart, beautiful women. Gould, Carol Grant
The Remarkable Life of William Beebe: Explorer and Naturalist. Island Press/Shearwater Books, 2004. 447p. ISBN 1559638583.
Subjects: Beebe, William; Explorers; Naturalists; Zoologists
Now try: Beebe’s own books mix memoir and science. His titles include Two Bird Lovers in Mexico, Half Mile Down (about deep sea diving), and Galapagos: World’s End. A more recent naturalist who will go anywhere to get a story is David Attenborough. He recounts his career of making nature films in Life on Air: Memoirs of a Broadcaster. Zoologist Gerald Durrell describes growing up with animals in his highly entertaining My Family and Other Animals. Carl Sagan was another enthusiastic scientist who doubled as media celebrity. Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos by William Poundstone captures a life in the pursuit of knowledge that is free of difficult science reading. Peter Matthiessen has also traveled the world seeking to see wildlife in natural habitats. In The Snow Leopard he describes his attempt to see the reclusive cats on the rocky cliffs of the Himalayan Mountains.Friday, June 19, 2009
Juliette Morgan, Librarian for Racial Equality
In a sidebar in the book that I reviewed yesterday, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, Phillip Hoose briefly tells about white support for the boycott of the Montgomery buses by African Americans in 1955 and 1956. He devotes two paragraphs to librarian Juliette Morgan, who was terrorized by white supremacists after her letter stating her admiration for blacks who stood up against repression ran in the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper. Hoose says that after months of death threats and constant harassment through the night, she committed suicide.
Wanting to know more, I found "Juliette Hampton Morgan: A White Woman Who Understood" on the website Teaching Tolerance, A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. This article tells how Morgan, a woman with deep Southern roots, began calling for an end to Jim Crow laws in 1939, sixteen years before the boycott. For years she wrote letters to the Montgomery Advertiser and participated in interracial prayer groups. For her outspoken stand, she lost jobs, lost friends, and became estranged from her family. Despite her isolation, the Carnegie Library hired her as a reference librarian. When her letter in support of the boycott ran in the newspaper, the city's mayor demand that she be fired, but the library refused, even when the mayor withheld library funding.
According my calendar calculations, Morgan survived through the boycott and retained her job past the crisis, but the strain must have taken its toll. Interracial violence continued in the city for years after the boycott. Severely depressed, she resigned from the library on July 15, 1957. Her mother found a bottle of sleeping pills beside her body the next morning.
The Reverend Martin Luther King mentioned Morgan in his book Stride Toward Freedom, and she has been remembered with induction into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame. We need a librarian's hall of fame to remember brave librarians, such as Morgan and Judith Krug.
Wanting to know more, I found "Juliette Hampton Morgan: A White Woman Who Understood" on the website Teaching Tolerance, A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. This article tells how Morgan, a woman with deep Southern roots, began calling for an end to Jim Crow laws in 1939, sixteen years before the boycott. For years she wrote letters to the Montgomery Advertiser and participated in interracial prayer groups. For her outspoken stand, she lost jobs, lost friends, and became estranged from her family. Despite her isolation, the Carnegie Library hired her as a reference librarian. When her letter in support of the boycott ran in the newspaper, the city's mayor demand that she be fired, but the library refused, even when the mayor withheld library funding.
According my calendar calculations, Morgan survived through the boycott and retained her job past the crisis, but the strain must have taken its toll. Interracial violence continued in the city for years after the boycott. Severely depressed, she resigned from the library on July 15, 1957. Her mother found a bottle of sleeping pills beside her body the next morning.
The Reverend Martin Luther King mentioned Morgan in his book Stride Toward Freedom, and she has been remembered with induction into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame. We need a librarian's hall of fame to remember brave librarians, such as Morgan and Judith Krug.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
I continue to read juvenile biographies. The only thing "juvenile" about them is that they are intended for older elementary or middle school students. The writing in many of these serious books is honest and economic. Though they are on the short side, their authors include enough details to tell their stories well. Horrible injustice is described truthfully, and the courage of individuals is lauded. If these books were formatted and bound as typical adult nonfiction, they might easily pass as such.Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose is one such book. In 133 pages, Hoose tells the mostly forgotten story of a teenage African American who was arrested in early 1955 for not giving up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus, nine months before Rosa Parks also refused to relinquish her seat. Few people praised Colvin for her stand. Most of her classmates in high school shunned or ridiculed her for getting in trouble. She lost her case and was sentenced to a year of probation. Despite the trouble that resulted from her initial stand, she later joined in a long shot case in Federal Court to declare Montgomery's segregating of buses unconstitutional. Her testimony helped win that case of Browder v. Gayle, which was later affirmed by the U. S. Supreme Court.
Colvin's story is not, however, triumphant. Because she was an unwed mother, she was even shunned by many leaders in the civil rights movement. It was many years after the events that her role was "rediscovered" and celebrated. In the meantime, she lived a hard life.
Readers learn a lot about Montgomery, the South, and the fall of the old racist ways in Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice. It's not just for kids.
Hoose. Phillip. Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice. Farrar Strauss Giroux, 2009. ISBN 9780374313227
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Helping Job Hunters: Recommendations and Resources for Librarians
Forty or fifty librarians met at the Oak Brook Public Library for a program about assisting job seekers in the public library called Helping Job Hunters: Recommendations and Resources for Librarians yesterday. Starting at 9:30 a.m. and ending at 1:30 p.m., this combined DuPage Library/Metropolitan Library systems offering was an oddly-timed two-thirds day workshop (by the time you add travel), but I am glad I did not leave early to eat lunch. The last hour and a half had most of the practical library service suggestions. Besides, there were snacks, including a delicious vegetable tray, to tide us over until lunch.
The main presenter was Diane Shelton, a career counselor whose company is called Follow Your Instinct. She spoke about the emotions of job seekers and the role of librarians helping them. She knew of what she spoke, having been laid off by the University of Chicago Hospitals in March 2009. She said that in many cases receiving a pink slip is a total surprise. In her case, the hospital had assured everyone in her department only two days earlier that there would be no cutbacks. Like many suddenly unemployed people, she then went through the stages of job loss grief. Being a counselor may have tempered her grief, but the sting was still there.
Shelton spoke first about the emotions of the unemployed, who feel that they have lost control of their lives. She explained empathetic/reflective listening skills, which librarians and other professionals utilize to help the jobless. Attentive, non-judgmental listening is the first of the services that we need to provide. Shelton stressed that it is easy to discourage these already fragile clients and provided a long list of things not to say, including:
Letting them grieve, you listen and help them with their practical concerns.
Part of the discussion centered on how to help the seemingly "powerless." Several librarians recounted how they have helped people without any computer skills find their way through online job search and application procedures. When to stop "helping" was a big question, as some of these people would like to have constant hand holding. Some would also prefer the library staff do all of their typing and job seeking. Shelton emphasized that we must not enable these people to become burdens on the library. That helps neither the library nor the job seekers, who must ultimately take responsibility for reordering their lives. Teach the jobless to help themselves.
The second half of the program was a panel discussion. Jeanne Friedell spoke about how the Oak Park Public Library started a job club that meets on Tuesdays. Two professional job coaches are managing it for the first four months. Librarians and outside speakers give 30 minute talks, and the participants learn to network.
Jane Klingberg from Triton College discussed their program to help job seekers with their resumes. I learned that a lot has changed since I last put together my own resume. Resumes should be one page; only the most experienced job seekers should venture to use a two-page resume today. She recommended writing in 8-point font to get the content into a nicely formatted single page. Only include work and experiences from the past ten years on your resume. Her place of employment recommends starting the resume with a statement of the job seeker's objective; studies show that half of the employers really want this and the other half do not. The second element on the resume should be a summary of skills aimed at the specific position advertised. She said that resume templates from Microsoft Word should be avoided because 1) they are hard for unskilled computer users to manipulate and 2) employers are tired of looking at the cookie-cutter results.
Fidencio Marbella spoke about programs for job seekers at the Melrose Park Public Library. In workshops at his library, he has incorporated roll playing to make the point that resumes have to look good to be considered. A volunteer plays the employer going through resumes. Fidencio gives that volunteer a stack of sample resumes and five seconds to evaluate each. The point is quickly made that appearance is critical. He also described how his library got grants and solicited funds from area businesses for their job programs. (Fidencio impressed me as a speaker who can draw an audience into his subject. I'd welcome hearing him discuss other topics.)
Chris Schabel, who was once laid off by Sears, described the job resource center that the Aurora Public Library has set up. The room has computers with two-hour sign-ins for job seekers and a collection of career materials. Chris said that she knew from experience that many area employers advise applicants get help with online applications at the public library.
There were numerous website recommendations. Snagajob.com was recommended for people seeking low paying jobs, which are often difficult to find in many of the other online job services. Klingberg recommended librarians bookmark the soon-to-be-remodeled CCJobNet.com, a source put together by the junior colleges of northern Illinois; these Chicago area job listings do not often make the national job boards. Several speakers recommended Indeed, a mega-search across many job banks.
The main presenter was Diane Shelton, a career counselor whose company is called Follow Your Instinct. She spoke about the emotions of job seekers and the role of librarians helping them. She knew of what she spoke, having been laid off by the University of Chicago Hospitals in March 2009. She said that in many cases receiving a pink slip is a total surprise. In her case, the hospital had assured everyone in her department only two days earlier that there would be no cutbacks. Like many suddenly unemployed people, she then went through the stages of job loss grief. Being a counselor may have tempered her grief, but the sting was still there.
Shelton spoke first about the emotions of the unemployed, who feel that they have lost control of their lives. She explained empathetic/reflective listening skills, which librarians and other professionals utilize to help the jobless. Attentive, non-judgmental listening is the first of the services that we need to provide. Shelton stressed that it is easy to discourage these already fragile clients and provided a long list of things not to say, including:
- "I know how you feel."
- "It's part of life's plan."
- "Look what you have to be thankful for."
- "This is behind you now: it's time to get on with your life."
- Statements beginning with "You should" or "You will."
Letting them grieve, you listen and help them with their practical concerns.
Part of the discussion centered on how to help the seemingly "powerless." Several librarians recounted how they have helped people without any computer skills find their way through online job search and application procedures. When to stop "helping" was a big question, as some of these people would like to have constant hand holding. Some would also prefer the library staff do all of their typing and job seeking. Shelton emphasized that we must not enable these people to become burdens on the library. That helps neither the library nor the job seekers, who must ultimately take responsibility for reordering their lives. Teach the jobless to help themselves.
The second half of the program was a panel discussion. Jeanne Friedell spoke about how the Oak Park Public Library started a job club that meets on Tuesdays. Two professional job coaches are managing it for the first four months. Librarians and outside speakers give 30 minute talks, and the participants learn to network.
Jane Klingberg from Triton College discussed their program to help job seekers with their resumes. I learned that a lot has changed since I last put together my own resume. Resumes should be one page; only the most experienced job seekers should venture to use a two-page resume today. She recommended writing in 8-point font to get the content into a nicely formatted single page. Only include work and experiences from the past ten years on your resume. Her place of employment recommends starting the resume with a statement of the job seeker's objective; studies show that half of the employers really want this and the other half do not. The second element on the resume should be a summary of skills aimed at the specific position advertised. She said that resume templates from Microsoft Word should be avoided because 1) they are hard for unskilled computer users to manipulate and 2) employers are tired of looking at the cookie-cutter results.
Fidencio Marbella spoke about programs for job seekers at the Melrose Park Public Library. In workshops at his library, he has incorporated roll playing to make the point that resumes have to look good to be considered. A volunteer plays the employer going through resumes. Fidencio gives that volunteer a stack of sample resumes and five seconds to evaluate each. The point is quickly made that appearance is critical. He also described how his library got grants and solicited funds from area businesses for their job programs. (Fidencio impressed me as a speaker who can draw an audience into his subject. I'd welcome hearing him discuss other topics.)
Chris Schabel, who was once laid off by Sears, described the job resource center that the Aurora Public Library has set up. The room has computers with two-hour sign-ins for job seekers and a collection of career materials. Chris said that she knew from experience that many area employers advise applicants get help with online applications at the public library.
There were numerous website recommendations. Snagajob.com was recommended for people seeking low paying jobs, which are often difficult to find in many of the other online job services. Klingberg recommended librarians bookmark the soon-to-be-remodeled CCJobNet.com, a source put together by the junior colleges of northern Illinois; these Chicago area job listings do not often make the national job boards. Several speakers recommended Indeed, a mega-search across many job banks.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Liberty and Libraries: Playing with Quotations
Have you ever accidentally changed a word in a quotation and still found it meaningful? I can not reconstruct why, but on Saturday I started thinking about "life, libraries, and the pursuit of happiness." It sounded so good, I suspected that I had actually heard it before, and I had. I searched the Internet and found the phrase has been used many times.
I then wondered whether "library" or libraries" could be substituted for "liberty" in other quotations and still make some sense. So I gathered "liberty" quotations and tried the word switch on them. Many did not make any sense, but a few did. Here are the ones that I liked. Some of the best are near the end.
"No man's life, library, or property are safe while the legislature is in session." Judge Gideon J. Tucker
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public library." John Adams
"The love of libraries is the love of others." William Hazlitt
"What more felicity can fall to creature, than to enjoy delight with libraries." Edmund Spenser
"Seek freedom and become captive of your desires, seek discipline and find your library." Frank Herbert
"He that would make his own library secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression." Thomas Paine
"I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me libraries, or give me death." Patrick Henry
"The basis of a democratic state is libraries." Aristotle
"Civilization begins with order, grows with libraries, and dies with chaos." Will Durant
"The advance of libraries is the path to both a safer and better world." George W. Bush
"America will never run... And we will always be grateful that libraries have found such brave defenders." George W. Bush
"Education is a better safeguard of libraries than a standing army." Edward Everett
"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of libraries is no vice!" Barry Goldwater
Of course, none of the figures named really made these statements. I wish they or someone else had.
I then wondered whether "library" or libraries" could be substituted for "liberty" in other quotations and still make some sense. So I gathered "liberty" quotations and tried the word switch on them. Many did not make any sense, but a few did. Here are the ones that I liked. Some of the best are near the end.
"No man's life, library, or property are safe while the legislature is in session." Judge Gideon J. Tucker
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public library." John Adams
"The love of libraries is the love of others." William Hazlitt
"What more felicity can fall to creature, than to enjoy delight with libraries." Edmund Spenser
"Seek freedom and become captive of your desires, seek discipline and find your library." Frank Herbert
"He that would make his own library secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression." Thomas Paine
"I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me libraries, or give me death." Patrick Henry
"The basis of a democratic state is libraries." Aristotle
"Civilization begins with order, grows with libraries, and dies with chaos." Will Durant
"The advance of libraries is the path to both a safer and better world." George W. Bush
"America will never run... And we will always be grateful that libraries have found such brave defenders." George W. Bush
"Education is a better safeguard of libraries than a standing army." Edward Everett
"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of libraries is no vice!" Barry Goldwater
Of course, none of the figures named really made these statements. I wish they or someone else had.
Monday, June 15, 2009
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard
I have returned to the deep, dark, dangerous Amazon River. In The Lost City of Z, which I read last month, David Grann mentioned that Theodore Roosevelt explored the region in 1913. To learn more about the Roosevelt expedition, I borrowed the audiobook edition of The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard. Though the story spans ten compact discs, I finished it in only four days, lucky to have had much good weather for gardening/listening.Millard starts her story about Roosevelt and his ill-conceived journey with the 1912 convention of the Progressive Party. Two weeks before the convention Roosevelt survived an assassination attempt in Milwaukee. With a bullet still lodged in his chest, wearing a bloodstained shirt for effect, he took the podium to accept the nomination to run for a third term as president of the United States. Losing the election to Woodrow Wilson, he was then without a political office and open for adventure. After accepting an offer to speak in several South American countries, he accepted another invitation to take a trip on the Amazon River or on one of its tributaries. As originally conceived, the journey was simply sight-seeing. Once he was in South America, however, the former president was easily talked into a more arduous venture, a boat trip down the uncharted River of Doubt. He had always dreamed of being a real explorer.
The expedition required months of travel just to reach the headwaters of the fabled river. During that time many porters deserted and most of the pack animals died. Most of the provisions (gourmet foods, heavy scientific instruments, and other items appropriate only for the original pleasure cruise) were lost. The band of men, including Roosevelt's son Kermit and the Brazilian explorer Candido Mariono da Silva Rondon, were in dire straits already when they reached the headwaters, not knowing what lay before them. Rocky rapids, impassible waterfalls, piranha, malaria, poisonous snakes, and hostile tribes who had never seen outsiders were only a few of the dangers. Roosevelt and his guides did not even know how long the river was or whether it really emptied into the Amazon.
As I was listening, I kept wondering "Did Roosevelt die in Brazil?" It seemed like I would remember that if it were true! Millard foreshadowed that Roosevelt wrote about the trip afterward. Still, I was expecting to hear that he had died. I would not have been surprised if the whole expedition died, though I knew that it survived. There were no easy days on the River of Doubt.
Readers who enjoy adventure should seek this book.
Millard, Candice. The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey. Books on Tape, 2005. ISBN 1415924562
Thursday, June 11, 2009
The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction, second edition by Joyce Saricks
I read fiction occasionally. As only an infrequent fiction reader, I am still happy to see a new second edition of The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction by Joyce Saricks. I have several reasons. First, I do help readers select fiction almost daily from the reference desk and can use all the help that an expert like Joyce offers. Second, it has been eight years since her first edition; there are many new books and authors to consider. Third, the previous edition is looking a bit worn; it is nice to have a new book with a more attractive cover; clients do notice when you help them with old resources. Finally, Joyce has expanded her vision of genre fiction, adding "literary fiction." I am more inclined to read these books than many of the more "established" genres. (Actually that was there in the first edition, but somehow it sticks out more to me now.)It does not matter whether you prefer fiction or nonfiction to appreciate Joyce's introduction, which includes good advice for anyone helping clients find good books. I like her distinction between "suggesting" and "recommending" books. When suggesting books, we are bringing the reader more into the process of finding his or her books; we are collaborating and allowing the client to more gracefully decline the titles we name. When we recommend books, we are stamping them with our approval, which backfires on us when we are way off the mark.
The arrangement of the chapters is new. Just looking at the table of contents I realize where my own interests lie. Almost every book I would like to read falls into Part 3 Intellect Genres, with its chapters on literary fiction, mysteries, and science fiction. I might enjoy a few books from Part 4 Landscape Genres, but Part 1 Adrenaline Genres and Part 2 Emotions Genres have little appeal to me. Identifying appeal is what readers' advisory is all about. I wonder whether we could do psychological testing to identify reading types. I'm sure that I'd score a 3 on the Saricks Test.
Joyce has rewritten all the chapters and updated all the "suggested" titles. Librarians and readers rejoice! Read Joyce!
Saricks, Joyce G. The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction. Second Edition. American Library Association, 2009. ISBN 9780838909898
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Library Journal Reviews Shift Their Focus
I often question whether I am writing this blog more for readers or librarians. I compromise sometimes and write for librarians that read. I never suspected that Library Journal was in the same situation. So, I read "The 'Verdict' on Reviews" with interest.
The change of focus from writing for librarians to writing for readers makes sense, for the reviews are increasing available electronically in databases and online catalogs aimed at library clients. These readers may be puzzled by phrases such as "for academic libraries" in reviews of books that they got at their small public libraries. Someone with a passion for a subject might not appreciate indirectly being labeled an "academic." With WorldCat, Amazon, and the Internet in general identifying books that they borrow through interlibrary loan, it makes little sense to tell them that their reading choices are in or out of the mainstream. There is virtually just one large collection of books now, and all the readers worldwide are our clients.
I am not sure that I want my reviews to be twitterable. I like the idea of selectors spending a few moments thoughtfully considering titles, but I know how busy librarians are. Ironically, I will miss the "academic libraries only" statements because they gave me an excuse to skip over reviews.
With limited budgets during hard economic times, some librarians are going to struggle to identify the few books that they can buy. It may have just gotten harder.
The change of focus from writing for librarians to writing for readers makes sense, for the reviews are increasing available electronically in databases and online catalogs aimed at library clients. These readers may be puzzled by phrases such as "for academic libraries" in reviews of books that they got at their small public libraries. Someone with a passion for a subject might not appreciate indirectly being labeled an "academic." With WorldCat, Amazon, and the Internet in general identifying books that they borrow through interlibrary loan, it makes little sense to tell them that their reading choices are in or out of the mainstream. There is virtually just one large collection of books now, and all the readers worldwide are our clients.
I am not sure that I want my reviews to be twitterable. I like the idea of selectors spending a few moments thoughtfully considering titles, but I know how busy librarians are. Ironically, I will miss the "academic libraries only" statements because they gave me an excuse to skip over reviews.
With limited budgets during hard economic times, some librarians are going to struggle to identify the few books that they can buy. It may have just gotten harder.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Moving an Index from Microsoft Excel XP to Microsoft Word XP
I indexed my book Real Lives Revealed, which is being published at the end of this month, myself. I first created the indexes in Microsoft Excel XP. Then I converted them to text in Microsoft Word XP, which turned out not to be as intuitive as it should have been. For anyone faced with the same task, here is what I did.
Step for Moving Index from Microsoft Excel XP to Microsoft Word XP
A. What to do in Excel
1. Open Excel.
2. Make sure that your index content has been sorted into the order that you want it to be in the final form. If there are a few lines that do not sort properly because of Excel character sorting rules, do not worry. You can move them into the proper spot later in Word.
3. Click "Select All." This will highlight everything, even hundreds of pages.
4. Copy all the Excel content.
B. What to do in Word
5. Open Word.
6. Paste content from Excel into Word. You will notice that it is in a table. You will want to get it out of the table.
7. Click "Select All." (This is a step that I missed repeatedly when I could not get the process to work.)
8. Click "Table."
9. Point to "Convert."
Here is where it can get weird.
10. If "Table to Text" is in black, click it and skip to step #14. If "Table to Text" is gray, click a blank spot on the page outside the table.
11. Click Table again.
12. Point to "Convert" again. This time "Table to Text" will be black. Click "Table to Text."
14. In the pop up box, under "Separate text with" choose "Paragraph marks." Click "OK."
15. Your index should now be in Word without table outlines. You can now move lines of text that did not sort properly.
Perhaps there is a better way, but that is the way that worked for me.
If you do write a book, indexing it yourself can give you satisfaction that the job is done correctly. I also found numerous typos in the text in the process, some of which looked right to other proofreaders. I urge you also to consider indexing for quality control that only you may be able recognize.
Step for Moving Index from Microsoft Excel XP to Microsoft Word XP
A. What to do in Excel
1. Open Excel.
2. Make sure that your index content has been sorted into the order that you want it to be in the final form. If there are a few lines that do not sort properly because of Excel character sorting rules, do not worry. You can move them into the proper spot later in Word.
3. Click "Select All." This will highlight everything, even hundreds of pages.
4. Copy all the Excel content.
B. What to do in Word
5. Open Word.
6. Paste content from Excel into Word. You will notice that it is in a table. You will want to get it out of the table.
7. Click "Select All." (This is a step that I missed repeatedly when I could not get the process to work.)
8. Click "Table."
9. Point to "Convert."
Here is where it can get weird.
10. If "Table to Text" is in black, click it and skip to step #14. If "Table to Text" is gray, click a blank spot on the page outside the table.
11. Click Table again.
12. Point to "Convert" again. This time "Table to Text" will be black. Click "Table to Text."
14. In the pop up box, under "Separate text with" choose "Paragraph marks." Click "OK."
15. Your index should now be in Word without table outlines. You can now move lines of text that did not sort properly.
Perhaps there is a better way, but that is the way that worked for me.
If you do write a book, indexing it yourself can give you satisfaction that the job is done correctly. I also found numerous typos in the text in the process, some of which looked right to other proofreaders. I urge you also to consider indexing for quality control that only you may be able recognize.
Monday, June 08, 2009
Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love by Myron Uhlberg
When you have a great story, you need to tell it.Myron Uhlberg was born the hearing son of two deaf parents at a time when deaf people were at best ignored and at worst considered undesirables. In his memoir Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love, he recounts how as a child he often heard people make crude remarks about "the dummies." People on the subway would turn away with disgust from his parents as they signed. Store clerks, teachers, and doctors treated them as if they were stupid. Even his grandparents, aunts, and uncles did little to help; none of the family would bother to learn sign language. In 1930s Brooklyn, deafness was a social disease.
As early as age four, Uhlberg became his parents "voice," negotiating with the butcher for a better piece of meat, getting the proper change, demanding that they be served. He even had to translate at his own parent-teacher conferences; he admits that he tried to edit the teacher's criticisms, but his father could tell from facial expressions that the teacher was not praising Myron's school work. He also had to listen in the night for his brother's epileptic seizures and wake his parents when he could not handle them by himself.
Uhlberg is now an author of children's books. Near the end of Hands of My Father, he tells the story that inspired his book Dad, Jackie, and Me, a picture book about Jackie Robinson and the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers.
Childhood was hard for Uhlberg, but he looks back with warmth and humor in Hands of My Father. He portrays his parents as intelligent, loving people who demanded much from him but gave him much in return. While some of his stories are sad, others are funny. Readers will run through most of their emotions reading this inspiring memoir.
Uhlberg, Myron. Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love. Bantam Books, 2009. ISBN 9780553806885
Friday, June 05, 2009
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome: A Reference Librarian Looks at Consumer Health Reference Sources
This is Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Awareness Month. EDS is a group of connective tissue disorders which may, depending on the type and severity, make a person super flexible, reduce mobility, cause constant pain, or even threaten life. Basic to all is that a person's collagen is defective, resulting in stretched skin and dislocated joints. The Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation website is a good starting point for learning about the condition.
A good website from which to learn about the life of a person with EDS is LibrarianInBlack. Last week Sarah Houghton-Jan wrote about her life with EDS. As a dedicated librarian intent on educating readers, she embedded two videos about other EDS cases and photos showing hyperelastic skin and joints. She also included a link to the Ehlers-Danlos Support Group. You can also look through the recent posts and archives of LibrarianInBlack to see what an active person Sarah is despite her condition.
The following is a collection of EDS resources available in public libraries (many at the Downers Grove Public Library). Readers will notice that there is disagreement in the EDS literature as to how many types of the syndrome exist. No one source tells the whole story. Persons with EDS will, of course, seek many sources to help them understand their prognosis. Friends and family are urged to take time to also explore many resources.
Missing from the list are book-length EDS memoirs. I found none through our local library system catalog, Worldcat, or Amazon.
Reference Books
Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 31st ed., 2007 - A user has to look at two entries to see all that the dictionary says about about EDS. On page 603 is an entry "Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome" which provides a pronunciation and the names of the two dermatologists for whom the syndrome is named, Edvard Ehler of Denmark, 1863-1937 and Henri Alexandre Danlos of France, 1844-1912. For more information, readers have to turn to page 1854 and look under "syndromes." Dorland's describes six types of EDS (down from ten) and includes a photo of hyperextensible skin.
American Medical Association Family Medical Guide, 4th ed., 2004. - This AMA guide has about a page of information about EDS under the heading of "Autosomal Dominant Disorders." Across pages 969-70 are paragraphs about symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. Near the end is a stern warning to parents to reduce injuries by preventing their children from "showing off" their unusual flexibility.
Dictionary of Syndromes and Inherited Disorders by Patricia Gilbert, 3rd ed., 2000 - Gilbert says that an alternate name for the syndrome is "joint laxity." On pages 102-5, she describes population incidence of EDS, genetic causation, syndrome characteristics, and case management. She emphasizes the need for good dental care.
Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment by Stephen J. McPhee and Maxine A. Papadakis, 2009 ed. - CMDT does not have a separate entry for EDS, but it is mentioned in entries for mitral valve prolapse (p. 301), cardiac involvement in miscellaneous systemic disease (p. 373), cardiac patient and pregnancy (p. 374), and thoracic aortic aneurysms (p. 414).
Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 17th ed., 2008 - Harrison's includes about two large pages of professional level content about EDS, pages 2465-67. A chart explains eight types of EDS. The syndrome is also mentioned in entries about skin manifestations of internal disease (p. 335), bleeding (p. 366), valvular heart disease (p. 1472), cardiac manifestations of systemic diseases (p. 1499), aortic aneurysms (p. 1563), stroke (p. 2519), and osteoporosis (p. 2400).
Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, 3rd ed., 2006 - Like other resources, the encyclopedia describes many types of EDS and explains family genetic patterns. Friends and family may appreciate the prognosis section, which describes the challenges of living with EDS. A total of five pages is included in the encyclopedia. Entries in two other Gale titles, Gale Encyclopedia of Children's Health and Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders, 2nd ed., resemble this entry. The latter, however, also mentions EDS in entries for other syndromes.
Genetic Disorders Sourcebook, 3rd ed., 2004 - Only two brief pages about EDS. A bit disappointing.
Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders and Birth Defects by James Wynbrandt and Mark D. Ludman, 3rd ed., 2008 - The authors note that EDS experts have proposed that the official number of types of EDS be reduced to six, but they then describe ten types anyway. Two full pages of data.
Encyclopedia of Skin and Skin Disorders by Carol Turkington and Jeffrey S. Dover 3rd ed., 2007 - The authors focus on skin in their entry about EDS but also describe the overall condition of the EDS patient on pages 125-26.
Rudolph's Pediatrics, 21st ed., 2003 - This pediatrics medical guide describes the clinical features of six types of EDS and emphasizes injury prevention (shin guards, knee pads, braces). Surgical correction is also discussed.
Newspaper and Magazine Articles
"Kids' Illnesses Spark Battle with State: A California Mom Spent Years Trying to Figure Out What Made Her Children Sick, Then Almost Lost Them," Chicago Tribune, March 20, 2008, p. 4 - A story about how a pattern of bruises and injuries in her children nearly led to abuse charges against a mother whose children have EDS.
"A Life with Purpose," Swimming World, May 2005, pp. 29-30 - A profile of Nancy Burpee, a champion swimmer who has had EDS for 40 years.
"Coping with Livelong Pain," Toronto Star, April 30, 2009, p. U10 - A story about how a pain clinic is helping a mother and her two daughter, all of whom have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
"A Mother's Burden," Santa Fe New Mexican, August 8, 2007, p. D1 - A story about a mother and three daughters with EDS. Tells how use of braces reduced pain and injuries in the children.
"After a Multitude of Tests, an Answer from Grandmother's Memory," New York Times, August 24, 2004, p. E5 - A story about the difficulty of diagnosing EDS in infants and toddlers.
Websites
Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation - Sarah says that this is the website with the most useful information.
Ehlers-Danlos Support Group - This British site has a message board and a section with advice for living with EDS.
Mayo Clinic - The Mayo Clinic website includes a basic definition, symptoms, causes, complications, treatment, and advice for coping with the syndrome.
Medline Plus - This site from the National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health tells us that EDS is also called "cutis elastica." The EDS page includes links to articles from nonprofit organizations and medical journals.
National Organization for Rare Disorders - Basic information on EDS, identifying eight types. The site has a list of recommended websites.
NLM Gateway - Search this website to find basic information, medical journal articles, and clinical trials that may be recruiting participants.
Final Note
My abbreviated notes about these resources, of course, oversimplify what they contain, but together they suggest the vast amount of information on the topic. Ironically, there is still much that is not known or understood, and being a rare condition, as Sarah explains, EDS is not a priority in medical research. I hope that you spend a bit of time with these resources to comprehend the uncertainty of the EDS experience and the hand dealt to people with the syndrome.
A good website from which to learn about the life of a person with EDS is LibrarianInBlack. Last week Sarah Houghton-Jan wrote about her life with EDS. As a dedicated librarian intent on educating readers, she embedded two videos about other EDS cases and photos showing hyperelastic skin and joints. She also included a link to the Ehlers-Danlos Support Group. You can also look through the recent posts and archives of LibrarianInBlack to see what an active person Sarah is despite her condition.
The following is a collection of EDS resources available in public libraries (many at the Downers Grove Public Library). Readers will notice that there is disagreement in the EDS literature as to how many types of the syndrome exist. No one source tells the whole story. Persons with EDS will, of course, seek many sources to help them understand their prognosis. Friends and family are urged to take time to also explore many resources.
Missing from the list are book-length EDS memoirs. I found none through our local library system catalog, Worldcat, or Amazon.
Reference Books
Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 31st ed., 2007 - A user has to look at two entries to see all that the dictionary says about about EDS. On page 603 is an entry "Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome" which provides a pronunciation and the names of the two dermatologists for whom the syndrome is named, Edvard Ehler of Denmark, 1863-1937 and Henri Alexandre Danlos of France, 1844-1912. For more information, readers have to turn to page 1854 and look under "syndromes." Dorland's describes six types of EDS (down from ten) and includes a photo of hyperextensible skin.
American Medical Association Family Medical Guide, 4th ed., 2004. - This AMA guide has about a page of information about EDS under the heading of "Autosomal Dominant Disorders." Across pages 969-70 are paragraphs about symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. Near the end is a stern warning to parents to reduce injuries by preventing their children from "showing off" their unusual flexibility.
Dictionary of Syndromes and Inherited Disorders by Patricia Gilbert, 3rd ed., 2000 - Gilbert says that an alternate name for the syndrome is "joint laxity." On pages 102-5, she describes population incidence of EDS, genetic causation, syndrome characteristics, and case management. She emphasizes the need for good dental care.
Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment by Stephen J. McPhee and Maxine A. Papadakis, 2009 ed. - CMDT does not have a separate entry for EDS, but it is mentioned in entries for mitral valve prolapse (p. 301), cardiac involvement in miscellaneous systemic disease (p. 373), cardiac patient and pregnancy (p. 374), and thoracic aortic aneurysms (p. 414).
Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 17th ed., 2008 - Harrison's includes about two large pages of professional level content about EDS, pages 2465-67. A chart explains eight types of EDS. The syndrome is also mentioned in entries about skin manifestations of internal disease (p. 335), bleeding (p. 366), valvular heart disease (p. 1472), cardiac manifestations of systemic diseases (p. 1499), aortic aneurysms (p. 1563), stroke (p. 2519), and osteoporosis (p. 2400).
Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, 3rd ed., 2006 - Like other resources, the encyclopedia describes many types of EDS and explains family genetic patterns. Friends and family may appreciate the prognosis section, which describes the challenges of living with EDS. A total of five pages is included in the encyclopedia. Entries in two other Gale titles, Gale Encyclopedia of Children's Health and Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders, 2nd ed., resemble this entry. The latter, however, also mentions EDS in entries for other syndromes.
Genetic Disorders Sourcebook, 3rd ed., 2004 - Only two brief pages about EDS. A bit disappointing.
Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders and Birth Defects by James Wynbrandt and Mark D. Ludman, 3rd ed., 2008 - The authors note that EDS experts have proposed that the official number of types of EDS be reduced to six, but they then describe ten types anyway. Two full pages of data.
Encyclopedia of Skin and Skin Disorders by Carol Turkington and Jeffrey S. Dover 3rd ed., 2007 - The authors focus on skin in their entry about EDS but also describe the overall condition of the EDS patient on pages 125-26.
Rudolph's Pediatrics, 21st ed., 2003 - This pediatrics medical guide describes the clinical features of six types of EDS and emphasizes injury prevention (shin guards, knee pads, braces). Surgical correction is also discussed.
Newspaper and Magazine Articles
"Kids' Illnesses Spark Battle with State: A California Mom Spent Years Trying to Figure Out What Made Her Children Sick, Then Almost Lost Them," Chicago Tribune, March 20, 2008, p. 4 - A story about how a pattern of bruises and injuries in her children nearly led to abuse charges against a mother whose children have EDS.
"A Life with Purpose," Swimming World, May 2005, pp. 29-30 - A profile of Nancy Burpee, a champion swimmer who has had EDS for 40 years.
"Coping with Livelong Pain," Toronto Star, April 30, 2009, p. U10 - A story about how a pain clinic is helping a mother and her two daughter, all of whom have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
"A Mother's Burden," Santa Fe New Mexican, August 8, 2007, p. D1 - A story about a mother and three daughters with EDS. Tells how use of braces reduced pain and injuries in the children.
"After a Multitude of Tests, an Answer from Grandmother's Memory," New York Times, August 24, 2004, p. E5 - A story about the difficulty of diagnosing EDS in infants and toddlers.
Websites
Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation - Sarah says that this is the website with the most useful information.
Ehlers-Danlos Support Group - This British site has a message board and a section with advice for living with EDS.
Mayo Clinic - The Mayo Clinic website includes a basic definition, symptoms, causes, complications, treatment, and advice for coping with the syndrome.
Medline Plus - This site from the National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health tells us that EDS is also called "cutis elastica." The EDS page includes links to articles from nonprofit organizations and medical journals.
National Organization for Rare Disorders - Basic information on EDS, identifying eight types. The site has a list of recommended websites.
NLM Gateway - Search this website to find basic information, medical journal articles, and clinical trials that may be recruiting participants.
Final Note
My abbreviated notes about these resources, of course, oversimplify what they contain, but together they suggest the vast amount of information on the topic. Ironically, there is still much that is not known or understood, and being a rare condition, as Sarah explains, EDS is not a priority in medical research. I hope that you spend a bit of time with these resources to comprehend the uncertainty of the EDS experience and the hand dealt to people with the syndrome.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
A Wall of White: The True Story of Heroism and Survival in the Face of a Deadly Avalanche by Jennifer Woodlief
In the five days leading up to the afternoon of March 31, 1982, snow had fallen constantly on the slopes above the Alpine Meadows ski resort near Lake Tahoe, California. Knowing that the risk of avalanche was very high, resort managers had closed the grounds, sent nonessential staff away, and assigned ski patrol crews to bring down controlled amounts of snow with explosives. By that afternoon many cars were completely hidden under snow and plows were failing to keep roads clear. Some guests were stranded in the resort condos, unable to leave the valley. While the staff was concerned about dangerous conditions, no one imagined that three slopes would give up their snow simultaneously, burying the resort headquarters. In A Wall of White: The True Story of Heroism and Survival in the Face of a Deadly Avalanche, Sports Illustrated journalist Jennifer Woodlief reports on a monster storm, tragic avalanche, and subsequent rescue efforts.For a reader like me, who grew up where an inch or two of snow fell every five years, A Wall of White tells a pretty incredible story. Who could imagine that much snow? Over twelve feet in ten days! Woodlief explains the meteorological conditions, the dynamics of mountain snow, the methods of avalanche prevention, and the difficulties of rescuing people from the almost concrete formations formed after avalanches. She also profiles staff and guests of the resort and describes their movements on the day that the resort headquarters was destroyed.
A Wall of White will appeal to readers who enjoy a bit of science with a large dose of human drama. Libraries should add it to their disaster story collections.
Woodlief, Jennifer. A Wall of White: The True Story of Heroism and Survival in the Face of a Deadly Avalanche. Atria Books, 2009. ISBN 9781416546924
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Critter Encounters: Exploring Our Fascination with the Animal Kingdom by Richard Conniff
I have written an a chapter about popular science readers' advisory for a book being edited by Jessica Moyer. At Jessica's request, it takes an interdisciplinary approach, recommending media as well as books for people who enjoy learning about science. She is calling the book Integrated Advisory Service: Breaking Through the Book Boundary to Better Serve Library Users. Look for the book in Spring 2010.
I mention this now because I just read an article in the May-June 2009 issue of Sierra that is in the same spirit. Richard Conniff write about some of his favorite books and DVDs about nature and wildlife in "Critter Encounters: Exploring Our Fascination with the Animal Kingdom." He even includes two titles that I recommend: American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon by Steven Rinella and Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O'Brien. Another old favorite that he suggests is My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell.
The "Mixed Media" section of Sierra often has good reading recommendations. Also watch the back pages of Audubon to find popular science titles.
I mention this now because I just read an article in the May-June 2009 issue of Sierra that is in the same spirit. Richard Conniff write about some of his favorite books and DVDs about nature and wildlife in "Critter Encounters: Exploring Our Fascination with the Animal Kingdom." He even includes two titles that I recommend: American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon by Steven Rinella and Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O'Brien. Another old favorite that he suggests is My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell.
The "Mixed Media" section of Sierra often has good reading recommendations. Also watch the back pages of Audubon to find popular science titles.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
ricklibrarian's Short Guide to Family History on the Web
I created this short list of websites of interest to family historians for my workshop at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library. The workshop was focused on using Heritage Quest, to which the library subscribes, but I wanted to provide further resources that may be useful to novices and experienced amateur genealogists. I have added these links to the Library's website. Here I expand and get more personal with the reflections.
Local Resources
Cook County Clerk's Office - Genealogy Online: Search for birth, death, and marriage records from Cook County, Illinois. You will have to register, but registration is free. Due to privacy laws, none of the data is recent.The Newberry Library's Chicagoancestors.org: In addition to the Newberry Library files, there are links to many Chicago area genealogy and history websites. Of course, a trip to the Newberry is even better. I found much about my ancestors in New England through books in the Library's collection.
Western Springs Historical Society: Network of Western Springs residents interested in local history and genealogy. Information about the society's collections, programs, and events.
Illinois State Archives: Links to a variety of Illinois records of interest to family historians, including vital records, court records, and military service records.
National Archives - Great Lakes Region: Describes resources of the National Archives with visiting hours and contact information. It used to be difficult to get an appointment to use the microform readers at the National Archives. With so many people now on the Internet, there are plenty of openings to use the equipment.
General Resources
Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet: A portal to over 240,000 websites of interest to family historians.Family History Archives: A combined catalog of family histories and local history books from leading libraries and archives across the country. Hosted by Brigham Young University.
Family Search: Internet access to some of the genealogy resources of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints.
Find a Grave: A searchable database of grave records from across the country. Use the search link in the body of the page, not the rectagular ad at the top of the site's pages.
Mike's Index: Found on the Fox Valley Genealogical Society's website, Mike's Index searches 243 genealogy periodicals.
The USGenWeb Project: Volunteers from counties all over the United States are putting their files up on the Internet to help family historians. I think this is one of the most interesting projects on the web. I have often found interesting lists on the county level webpages. Cemetary records are a strength of this resource.
Google Books: With so many books about local history scanned as part of the Google Books project, it is a great source for genealogy. The books not under copyright have full text viewing. Knowing about the other books, allows researchers to identify books to borrow through interlibrary loan or view at genealogy libraries. I found sources about many of my New England, Maryland, and Texas ancestors here.
Monday, June 01, 2009
My Geek Chart is Rather Simple
Ricklibrarian's Geek Chart
My Geek Chart as I post it looks a bit like a Y for "Yes" which is a nice thought. It also looks somewhat like an upside down peace symbol. I think it will adjust accoding to my activity.
Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum
This week's audiobook is a really old book - Sailing Alone Around the World by Captain Joshua Slocum. In this travel adventure story, Slocum recounts his precedent setting solo sailing journey around the globe in his sloop Spray, which he began in April 1895. The trip took three years two months and covered over 42,000 miles. During that time, Slocum never sprang a leak in the boat that he had rebuilt himself. He did, however, lay over in port to refit the masts, sails, and rigging several times, giving him ample time to meet people around the world. He was mostly treated kindly by port authorities and colonial governors and many other sailors were hospitable, but he did spread carpet tacs on the deck at night to foil some harborside thieves.
Early in the journey, he expressed some mild loneliness, but he found books, dolphins, and birds to be good companions. He went months sometimes without speaking to anyone other than the ghost of helmsman from the Pinta, whom he brought aboard off the Iberian Coast. He found singing helped during the lonely times, turning to old sailors' tunes and hymns. His favorite books were by Robert Louis Stevenson, whose widow he met during the voyage. He also met President Paul Kruger of the Transvaal, who stubbornly insisted that the world was flat.
While alone at sea, Slocum heard no news, but when he pulled into port, he caught up as best he could. Sometimes he found letters waiting for him. Mostly, he talked to the locals, who told him what other sailors had told them when they arrived. This is how he learned of the war between Spain and the United States just as he sailed into the Caribbean on his way home to New England. He got past the Transvaal and Orange Free State as they heated up for the Boer War of 1899-1903. As these two wars indicate, colonialism was still an unquestioned reality of international affairs. Modern readers may be dismayed by his description of native peoples of Terra del Fuego as "savages." They may also dislike that he killed every shark that he could. Otherwise, he claims that he disliked ending any life - fowl, fish, or mammal.
I enjoyed listening to the familiar voice of narrator Nelson Runger reading Slocum's text. I am uncertain whether the book's charms came more from the text or from Runger's narration. I gladly recommend the audiobook.
Slocum, Joshua. Sailing Alone Around the World. Recorded Books, 1988. ISBN 9781436104739
Early in the journey, he expressed some mild loneliness, but he found books, dolphins, and birds to be good companions. He went months sometimes without speaking to anyone other than the ghost of helmsman from the Pinta, whom he brought aboard off the Iberian Coast. He found singing helped during the lonely times, turning to old sailors' tunes and hymns. His favorite books were by Robert Louis Stevenson, whose widow he met during the voyage. He also met President Paul Kruger of the Transvaal, who stubbornly insisted that the world was flat.
While alone at sea, Slocum heard no news, but when he pulled into port, he caught up as best he could. Sometimes he found letters waiting for him. Mostly, he talked to the locals, who told him what other sailors had told them when they arrived. This is how he learned of the war between Spain and the United States just as he sailed into the Caribbean on his way home to New England. He got past the Transvaal and Orange Free State as they heated up for the Boer War of 1899-1903. As these two wars indicate, colonialism was still an unquestioned reality of international affairs. Modern readers may be dismayed by his description of native peoples of Terra del Fuego as "savages." They may also dislike that he killed every shark that he could. Otherwise, he claims that he disliked ending any life - fowl, fish, or mammal.
I enjoyed listening to the familiar voice of narrator Nelson Runger reading Slocum's text. I am uncertain whether the book's charms came more from the text or from Runger's narration. I gladly recommend the audiobook.
Slocum, Joshua. Sailing Alone Around the World. Recorded Books, 1988. ISBN 9781436104739
Friday, May 29, 2009
Fred Astaire by Joseph Epstein
If Fred Astaire had stood still, no one would have been impressed, according to Joseph Epstein in his quick-reading book Fred Astaire. Astaire was between 5' 6" and 5' 10" in height (no one seems to know for sure for the studios kept this information secret), and his head was large for his body. His hands were oversized, his torso undersized, and his arms lacked "visible" muscles. But Astaire didn't stand still. He was a dancer, some say the greatest ever.The dust jacket identifies Epstein's book as a "portrait." As such, it is a quick look at Astaire's dance and movie career, from his early days out of Omaha, Nebraska, to his work in London, New York, and Hollywood. He began dancing with his less polished, more energetic sister Adele, with whom his name was always paired on Broadway and London. Only after she retired and married did he venture to Hollywood where his initial screen tests were panned. Astaire's Broadway reputation helped get him a secondary role in Joan Crawford's Dancing Lady, in which he impressed the movie producers enough to give him another chance.
Much of the book discusses Astraire's on screen and professional relationships with his dancing partners and contemporaries, with Ginger Rogers and Gene Kelly getting the most attention. According to Epstein, Astaire and Rogers were not really happy dancing together and never saw themselves as a team. Both tried (but not very hard) to end the act, but the producers foresaw large profits in keeping them together for a series of movies. To her credit, Rogers complained less than most of the other dance partners about the excessive rehearsals on which Astaire insisted. Epstein says Aistaire was at his best with Rogers, but ironically Rogers shone more after she escaped. Astaire and Kelly were never friends and rarely appeared together, but Epstein portrays them as respectfully different in style and philosophy.
While there is some personal, behind-the-scenes information about Astaire, this book avoids gossip. Epstein indicates that there really wasn't much about which to gossip, for Astaire was a conservative man who was faithful to his wife. The book is as much a work of criticism as a biography, and despite Epstein's knocks on the lameness of movie plots, I now want to see some old Astaire musicals. Fred Astaire should be popular with dance and movie fans.
Epstein, Joseph. Fred Astaire. Yale University Press, 2008. ISBN 9780300116953
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Google Web Elements for Feeds on Library Websites
This week's American Libraries Direct includes a story about new Google Elements, saying that it is very easy to add news feeds to websites. Here is a test. It does seem very easy. Instead of taking a basic feed, I typed the keyword "books" into a custom feed box. Most of the news displayed seemed on topic. What do you think?
Watch for a moment and the stories will change.
Here is another using the keyword "library."
Those are pretty broad categories. Here is something more specific: memoirs.
It is very easy. Whether it serves a great purpose is another question.
Watch for a moment and the stories will change.
Here is another using the keyword "library."
Those are pretty broad categories. Here is something more specific: memoirs.
It is very easy. Whether it serves a great purpose is another question.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tales of Terror by Edgar Allan Poe
I started reading Edgar Allan Poe in junior high. The creepy stories about strange deaths really appealed to me then. They still do, so I borrowed Tales of Terror performed by Jack Foreman on audio CDs. Foreman's reading is mesmerizing, and I am now struck by Poe's eloquent descriptions and drawn-out listen-to-me-for-awhile storytelling. He really knew how to build suspense.
I remembered some of the stories very well despite the decades since I last read them. I knew just what was going to happen in "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Fall of the House of Usher," and they were not hurt one bit by familiarity. I had forgotten the surpring end of "The Pit and the Pendulum." I was most interested in hearing "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," having just recently read The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl. As a model for Sherlock Holmes, C. Auguste Dupin does not disappoint.
Many a fowl and retched weed met an inglorious end while I listened to Poe in the garden.
Poe, Edgar Allan. Tales of Terror. Recorded Books, 1981. 4 compact discs. ISBN 1402549113
I remembered some of the stories very well despite the decades since I last read them. I knew just what was going to happen in "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Fall of the House of Usher," and they were not hurt one bit by familiarity. I had forgotten the surpring end of "The Pit and the Pendulum." I was most interested in hearing "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," having just recently read The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl. As a model for Sherlock Holmes, C. Auguste Dupin does not disappoint.
Many a fowl and retched weed met an inglorious end while I listened to Poe in the garden.
Poe, Edgar Allan. Tales of Terror. Recorded Books, 1981. 4 compact discs. ISBN 1402549113
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The Protest Singer: An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger by Alec Wilkinson
When Alec Wilkinson asked for an interview and permission to write a book about Pete Seeger, the folk singer said that too many books and articles had already been written. All that Seeger thought was missing was a book that could be "read in one sitting." Taking the hint, Wilkinson wrote The Protest Singer: An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger, a book that can be read during an evening or on a cross country airplane flight. The main text is only 118 small pages including 30 photographs. Much of it appeared previously as an article in New Yorker. As a short and somewhat rambling account, The Protest Singer serves best as an introduction to Seeger for readers who are too young to know much about the subject or as a recollection for older fans. In this book, Wilkerson mostly tells about his visits with Seeger, recounting the stories that the singer told him. It will please the musician's admirers.The Protest Singer also seems to bother Seeger critics, who are ready to challenge his memory and interpretation of events with their own. This was to be expected as the past never seems to be really behind us in America (or anywhere else for that matter). Popular history writing is as much about the present day struggle for the minds and souls of readers as it is about fairly describing historical events, figures, and eras, and Seeger is one person about whom few who remember him are neutral. This is a book by and for his fans. Instead of just complaining, a critic should write a book for the disparagers. Public libraries will buy that book also.
Personally, I enjoyed The Protest Singer, which describes the start of the folk music movement and its relationship with political causes, such as labor unions, civil rights, and war protests. Wilkinson portrays Seeger as a singular character within that movement, who is forthright with his opinions and ready to challenge the political, corporate, and military establishment. He also tells how the singer survived blacklisting by playing wherever he could, subsistence farming and bartering. Throughout the book are details about his musical career, which has emphasized audience participation over performance. He is still a person to rally a crowd around a cause or song.
After reading the book, I listened to The World of Pete Seeger on vinyl, two discs full of songs many people my age will recognize. My favorite is the sad and reflective "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" I also recently heard the recent CD Pete Seeger at 89, enjoying the instrumental pieces most of all. That he can really play the banjo well has been lost in all the controversy.
Wilkinson, Alec. The Protest Singer: An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger. Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. ISBN 9780307269959
Monday, May 25, 2009
Honey Bun Rose
Memorial Day seems a good day to just stop and enjoy the gardening. I've spent most of the morning in the yard with the flowers and an audiobook. Click on the Honey Bun rose to see how my garden grows.
We hope that you are enjoying the holiday with flowers, books, and friends.
We hope that you are enjoying the holiday with flowers, books, and friends.
Friday, May 22, 2009
The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America by Raymond Arsenault
Not many people remember Marian Anderson. When she died in 1993 at age 96, her career as a singer of art songs and spirituals was far in the past. She was already a historical figure, for her name was often paired with Eleanor Roosevelt, who had died nearly thirty years earlier. She had been mostly forgotten.According to Raymond Arsenault in his book The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America, Anderson was as important a civil rights figure as boxer Joe Louis, baseball star Jackie Robinson, and seamstress Rosa Parks. With her beautiful voice and insistence on her right to be heard in the finest concert halls despite her race, she exposed the absurdity of Jim Crow laws. In the 1930s, she had spent nearly three years in Europe singing for enthusiastic audiences and had been accorded many privileges of fame. Back in the United States, she could not even get a hotel room in many cities because of her skin color. In 1939 she was at the center of a controversy in Washington, D.C., where both the Daughters of the American Revolution and the public schools denied her auditoriums for a concert. Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR because of its "whites only" rule for Constitution Hall. When Anderson sang at the only venue allowed, the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, 75,000 people came.
The Sound of Freedom is a laudatory account of Anderson's career and her role in the civil rights movement. Arsenault portrays the singer as a humble and somewhat shy person, who never set out to be a hero. Many people both black and white helped her grow into the role that she played. If I had had this biography when putting together my forthcoming book Real Lives Revealed, I could have put it in either the Inspirational chapter under "Exemplary Lives" or the Historical chapter under "Human Rights and Social Justice Stories." The Sound of Freedom should be in most public libraries.
Arsenault, Raymond. The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America. Bloomsbury Press, 2009. ISBN 9781596915787
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Christmas in May: Ordering Books
Novelist have long had an eye on writing tales for Christmas. Since Charles Dickens wrote a series of Christmas stories, including "A Christmas Carol," they have used the holiday season as a backdrop. Lately, they have almost flooded the market with Christmas-inspired books. In 2008 we saw Santa Clawed by Rita Mae Brown, The Spy Who Came for Christmas by David Morrell, Small Town Christmas by Debbie Macomber, A Christmas Grace by Anne Perry, The Christmas Sweater by Glenn beck, and Dashing Through the Snow by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark.
Here it is May 21, only seven shopping months to Christmas, and the Thomas Ford Memorial Library already has these 2009 Christmas novels ordered:
I'm sure there will be more.
Here it is May 21, only seven shopping months to Christmas, and the Thomas Ford Memorial Library already has these 2009 Christmas novels ordered:
- Christmas List by Richard Evans
- Christmas Promise by Anne Perry
- Home for Christmas by Andrew Greeley
- Lakeshore Christmas by Susan Wiggs
- Plum Pudding Murder by Joanne Fluke
- Wish for Christmas by Thomas Kinkade
I'm sure there will be more.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir by Neil White
On May 3, 1993, Neil W. White, III entered a minimum security prison on a narrow peninsula on the Mississippi River in Carville, Louisiana. Soon after being praised by several national business journals as a model for entrepreneurs, White had been caught kiting checks to support his growing magazine empire, which included New Orleans Magazine, Louisiana Life, and Coast Magazine. The story of his quick fall from a life of luxury, professional acclaim, and a happy family to bankruptcy, societal disdain, and divorce is one element in his unusual account of a year in prison, In the Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir.On that fateful day, White had no idea where he was. Due to a shortage of federal prison space, some inmates not considered dangerous were being sent to the Federal Medical Center at Carville, formerly called the National Leprosarium, a residential, long-term hospital for leprosy patients. Though the population of patients had shrunk dramatically over decades, there were still more than 100 in residence. Some had been there over half a century. On his way to his assigned room (which could not be called a cell because it had no door), he noticed people missing legs, fingers, and parts of their faces. Not knowing where he was and with whom he was sharing space, he was troubled. What was about to happen to him?
What happened was that White was immersed in a community of inmates and patients, both unhappy about the "marriage of convenience" forced by the federal prison system. Distrust was high for good reason, and White thought that he could write a sensational book about the situation to sell as soon as his eighteen-month sentence ended, helping him regain his status and wealth. What he learned instead, after breaking rules to interview patients, led him to question his whole way of life. His gentler, more reflective book took fifteen years to write.
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir is a highly entertaining book. White includes a fascinating cast of characters - most with names changed. His short chapters recount daily encounters with patients and inmates, visits from his family, and a battle with the prison system that the patients eventually win. Most public libraries should get this forthcoming book, which according to the publicity, will be heavily promoted across the South.
Readers may be interested in learning more about leprosy. A good starting spot is the World Health Organization wesite, which discusses the disease, its treatments, and its incidence around the world.
White, Neil W., III. In the Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir. William Morrow, June 2009. ISBN 9780061351600
Monday, May 18, 2009
The Prince of Frogtown by Rick Bragg
Until now, I have not read Rick Bragg's books about his kin in Alabama. There are so many other books to read, and I was not sure I wanted to get involved in another dysfunctional family story. With elements of alcohol, poverty, hunting, fishing, fighting, fast cars, heartache, and living a macho life in a rural setting from which some people can not escape, his books sounded too much like life where I grew up. Hitting too close to home. But I wanted an audiobook as I left the library Monday and The Prince of Frogtown was sitting in the library's new items display, so I took it. By the next afternoon when I went back to work, I had already listened to four of seven discs.In The Prince of Frogtown, Bragg tells a classic tale well - that of a man who will not control his vices - Bragg's father. The author can not excuse Charles Bragg of his many sins, for he is still too hurt himself, but he looks deeply into all the elements that formed his father. There was the father's father and brothers who all spent their weekends in drunkenness. There was the mill town where everyone breathed the cotton dust. There were friends who were just as trapped by their early marriages and big families. What lifts the story is Bragg's graceful, eloquent storytelling and his determination to find something good to say about a lousy father. In this, he succeeds.
Between his chapters about his father, Bragg inserts little stories about his relationship with his stepson. In these, he struggles to find the proper way to be a father, a difficult task for someone who had such a bad example. The extent to which he succeeds is debatable, but he seems to be loved even in ineptitude.
The Prince of Frogtown should interest many readers and would be a great choice for discussion groups. I now want to go back to Bragg's previous writings.
Bragg, Rick. The Prince of Frogtown. Books on Tape, 2008. ISBN 9781415953990
Sunday, May 17, 2009
What You Might See at the Brookfield Zoo
A superhero getting a foot massage
Smiling faces in unlikely places
Cookie is out only on weekends now.
A cardinal flying byAwful Library Books
Ulotrichous twitted. Librarian.net noticed. I am re-blogging.
Mary Kelly and Holly Hibner, two librarians from Michigan, have a crusade to get public libraries in their state to weed. They have a blog Awful Library Books, which shows books that should have been removed from collections long ago. They are kind and do not reveal the libraries at which they find these "gems." Take a look. You may both laugh and cringe.
Mary Kelly and Holly Hibner, two librarians from Michigan, have a crusade to get public libraries in their state to weed. They have a blog Awful Library Books, which shows books that should have been removed from collections long ago. They are kind and do not reveal the libraries at which they find these "gems." Take a look. You may both laugh and cringe.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Knucklehead: Tall Tales & Mostly True Stories about Growing Up Scieszka by Jon Scieszka
One good thing leads to another. Dana, a children's librarian at the Thomas Ford, noticed that I had read some juvenile biographies and offered me another, Knucklehead: Tall Tales & Mostly True Stories about Growing Up Scieszka by Jon Scieszka. Thanks, Dana. It was a very funny book.Scieszka, who has written The Stinky Cheese Man and other books with Lane Smith and who is a champion of reading for boys, grew up the second of six sons in Flint, Michigan. Knucklehead is a memoir of that rough, crazy time, when he and his brothers would try about anything that sounded dangerous. It is a wonder they did not die or, at least, burn the house down. The book includes a couple of Knucklehead "Do not try" Warnings after stories. It hardly seems necessary, except if there were Knuckleheads in the 1950s and 1960s, there may still be Knuckleheads now. It also helped that his mother was a nurse.
As a contemporary of Scieszka agewise, I enjoyed recalling cub scouts, baseball cards, model planes, Halloween costumes, Dick and Jane, tiny toy soldiers, etc. The black and white family photos with the period furniture, wallpaper, and clothes evoke my own memories. I suspect many of my old friends might enjoy this book just as much or more than young readers. Dana had the right idea. Offer it to older readers.
Scieszka, Jon. Knucklehead: Tall Tales & Mostly True Stories About Growing Up Scieszka. Viking, 2008. ISBN 9780670011063
Monday, May 11, 2009
Mrs. Dred Scott: A Life on Slavery's Frontier by Lea VanderVelde
Who was Mrs. Dred Scott, wife of the slave whose claim for freedom was denied by the U. S. Supreme Court in 1857? According to Lea Vandervelde in her new book Mrs. Dred Scott: A Life on Slavery's Frontier, Harriet Robinson was a black woman born in Virginia around 1818 and taken to the Northwest Territory in 1835, where she met and married Etheldred Scott, a slave at Fort Snelling. Not much verifiable personal information about Harriet is really known. As a woman, a servant, and the member of an enslaved race, she was unnoticed by diarists and journalists of her time and historians subsequently. VanderVelde, however, has found enough documentary evidence (tax, census, and court records) to place Harriet at the scene of many momentous events both in territorial Minnesota and later in St. Louis. Most importantly, she was a party to the famous case that further divided an already fractured nation.What many readers may not know before reading this history is that many slaves had successfully sued for freedom before the Dred and Harriet Scott case. These slaves had been taken into and resided in free states and territries north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Juries had consistently ruled in favor to release them for having been in states where slavery was illegal. Why the Scotts did not gain their freedom is a "one-thing-after-another" story worthy of satirical novels. In their eleven year legal quest, they went through six lawyers of varying talent, two of which died on them. They were at one point denied freedom because they could not prove who owned them. In the end, the dirt poor couple were opposed by some of the richest people in the country.
As a detailed history, Mrs. Dred Scott will please committed history readers. Most pleasure readers will not make the effort. There is, however, a lot of potential for a novelist to come along and rework the content into historical fiction. With so little really known about Harriet herself, the novelist would have a fairly clean slate. The supporting cast is great. The characters include her husband and two daughters, Indian agent Lawrence Taliaferro, the explorer Joseph Nicollet, the painter George Catlin, many Indian chiefs, John C. Fremont and many other military figures from the War with Mexico, the powerful Chouteau family of St. Louis, U. S. Grant, millionaire John F. A. Sanford, and, of course, Roger Taney and the rest of the U. S. Supreme Court. VanderVelde includes a handy gallery of photos in the book to help the reader keep them straight. The book could also be the basis of a great television mini-series.
I spent weeks reading this big book and feel rewarded for the effort. I certainly know a lot more about the plight of Sioux and Chippewa Indians, the widespread use of slaves in the "free" territories, the corruption of the U. S. government by the American Fur Company, the renting of slaves in St. Louis, and the racism of the 1857 U. S. Supreme Court. Mrs. Dred Scott should be in most public libraries.
VanderVelde, Lea. Mrs. Dred Scott: A Life on Slavery's Frontier. Oxford University Press, 2009. ISBN 9780195366563
Saturday, May 09, 2009
George Catlin: Painter of Indian Life by Richard Worth
I am currently reading Mrs. Dred Scott: A Life on Slavery's Frontier by Lea VanderVelde. In this book, the author tells about a young slave named Harriet in the employ of the Indian agent at Fort Snelling in the territory that later became Minnesota. The time is the 1830s. It is remarkable that many people whose names are remembered in history passed through the remote outpost in the few years that Harriet was there. In addition to many Indian chiefs and warriors, military officers, and agents of the American Fur Company, there were the explorer Joseph Nicollet and the painter George Catlin. Because the settlement was small and her master entertained most of the important visitors, Harriet saw and probably cooked for most of them. It was there that she met and married Dred Scott, whose name is also remembered.The figure that most interests me is George Catlin. Bonnie and I saw a collection of his paintings at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum when we were in Washington for the American Library Association Conference in 2007. When I saw George Catlin: Painter of Indian Life by Richard Worth on our children's new book display, I had to borrow it.
I am impressed by how much more honest children's biographies are now than when I was a child in the 1960s. Then the purpose of most juvenile biographies was to present glowing examples of good people for young minds to absorb. Rarely was anything disagreeable ever mentioned. In George Catlin: Painter of Indian Life, Richard Worth does still make a case for the painter having lived a significant life, but he includes evidence of Catlin's darker side - selfishness, unreasonable behavior, and neglect of his family. Readers realize that Catlin never really enjoyed his success, wanting something more in life that never materialized. We usually did not learn such things when I was a kid.
Though only eighty pages, George Catlin: Painter of Indian Life includes a good representation of Catlin's paintings, a map of his expeditions, a timeline of his life, and an account of the painter's life that has enough detail to satisfy an adult reader. This book aimed at grades 6-9 is part of the Show Me America series, which also includes books about John Turnball, Mathew Brady, Lewis Hine, and Corothea Lange, all painters or photographers.
Worth, Richard. George Catlin: Painter of Indian Life. Sharpe Focus, 2008. ISBN 9780765681522
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
Here are some travel tips. When exploring deep in the Amazon rain forest, expect misadventure. Learn to tolerate vicious insect. Don't be surprised when you find maggots in your wounds. Don't break any of your limbs, for your companions will abandon you. When canoeing, don't drag your hands in the water! Plan for the moment when staying alive becomes more important than finding Eldorado. Also, read The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann before you go. You may change your mind.In his book Grann mixes an account of the famous 1925 Amazon expedition of British explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett with the story of his own investigation into Fawcett's fate. Fawcett was a celebrated member of the Royal Geographical Society at the time that he led a son, his son's friend, and a small party of guides and pack animals into the forest. The Englishman was convinced that a great ancient city was to be found within the white spaces on his maps. Shunning all the latest technology, such as two-way radio and light aircraft, he set off to move fast through the forest. After sending back the last guides from deep in the Mato Grosso region of Brazil, he was never heard from again.
Grann reports that around 100 people died trying to rescue Fawcett in the ensuing years. Not all of the expeditions were well documented. Many people simply disappeared in the rain forest. Some were known to have been killed by the secretive tribes who lived in the forest and were sometimes discribed as cannibals. What could Grann possibly find 80 years later?
I do not want to spoil the story, so I will let you read about Grann's discoveries yourself.
Grann, David. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. Doubleday, 2009. ISBN 9780385513531
Monday, May 04, 2009
Dakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris
Eleven people from our church came to our house last week for a discussion of Dakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris. The book is a collection of very personal essays by Norris about her returning to live in her grandparents house in South Dakota after living in New York City. She had planned to reside in the rural community for only a couple of years as her family decided what to do about the house and furnishings, but she and her husband stayed. In addition to rediscovering rural life, Norris also visited Benedictine monasteries to practice a more contemplative life. Dakota is the first of a series of books Norris has written about her spiritual journey.While the group seemed generally supportive of the book, there were a few dissenters. A question that came up is why Norris felt the need to take retreats when she seemed so alone most of the time any way? Also, why Norris said so little about her husband in this book was asked. Of course, several of the group had read subsequent books and were able to fill in gaps in our knowledge.
This bring up the subject of just how self-revealing are memoirs and do authors get better at it? I am reminded of Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam. Hickam held back some of details and stories from the book, which he later revealed in Sky of Stone and Coalwood Way. Like Hickam, Norris had a certain objective with her first book and only so much would fit into the text. Also, she may have just not been ready to tackle her husband's depression when she wrote Dakota.
As a person who grew up in a small town in a remote area, I felt Norris was fair and enlightened in her assessments of rural life. I especially enjoyed her descriptions of the western part of the Dakotas, which I thought starkly beautiful the one time that I saw it. I liked that at night she could see lights from over twenty miles away. I sometimes think that that is my kind of place. I would enjoy reading more.
Norris, Kathleen. Dakota: A Spiritual Geography. Ticknor & Fields, 1993. ISBN 0395633206
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