Don't Marry a Sailor!

Atlantic Circle: A wonderfully unorthodox account of of a transatlantic voyage..., by Kathryn Knight (HC, 1985, ex-lib, $1)

Kathryn Knight writes like a dream, but her experiences, at least at first, read more like a nightmare. Her father loves to sail, she does not. She is a gourmet cook, writes for Town and Country, and loves showers. She marries a sailor. (Problem #1). Her father gives them a 30 foot ketch for their honeymoon. (Problem #2). She figures she can cope with sailing around Penobscot Bay in Maine. He figures she can cope with crossing the Atlantic. (BIG problem #3). Off they go, and go, and go for 10 years. A baby slows them down a little, but the journey is never really over for almost 10 years. Only then does she get to stay on land. Only then can she routinely shower. Somehow through all of this the marriage stays strong.

You can find this book in the new non-fiction table, avail. 9/30.

Stalin on Lenin

On Lenin, by J. Stalin (small soft cover book, 1950, $3.50, which is 1/3 the internet price.)

This is another book published in Moscow. Included are several photos and drawings of both men. This book can be found with the others in the Russian section, avail. 9/30.

Northern Forests

Northeastern Wilds: Journeys of Discovery in the Northern Forest, by Stephen Gorman (oversize TPB, 2002, $2.50)

The Northern Forest contains over 26 million acres in the Adirondacks, and in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Most of these acres, far from tourist areas, are owned by private owners. Gorman travels across these lands, "by canoe, kayak, dogsled, pick-up truck, float-plane, schooner, ski, snowshoe and on foot", during all the seasons of the year. He writes about what he finds. He writes about what is starting to change, and suggests what to do to prevent it.

For me the best part, though, was not the essays but the most incredible photos. Looking at them, I found myself feeling they were in high def. Stunning, stunning, stunning. Plus they brought back memories of my trips in the White Mountains and Maine. I remember some of those views, and they were tinged with magic, and so are the photos in this book. Look for this book in the Americana section, next to the military history section, avail. 9/30.

Great Books series -- SOLD --

We've just received 24 new volumes of the acclaimed Great Books series by Encyclopedia Brittanica.  All but one are actually still in shrink-wrap, and the total number is close to half of a full set.  We have these at $3 per book in our Sets section but would do a bulk price if you want them all.  A great way to start accumulating a set at a workable price!

Modern Library editions

If you collect Modern Library editions of literary classics, note that our shelf is pretty full and includes several titles in jackets.  Happy shopping!

Cookbooks (1953 and 1968)

I was sorting through the cookbooks and ran across these gems:

The Complete Meat Cookbook: Roasts, Casseroles, Skilletries, Pressure Cooking, Meat Sauces, Soups, Barbecues, Herb Cookery, Stuffing, Salads, Sandwiches, Appetizers, Poultry, Picnic Specials, Ready-To-Eat Meats, Chafing Dish Service, Garnishes, by Beth McLean (HC, 1953, $7, which is 1/3 the internet price.)
Note: Ready-to-eat meats are coldcuts. Frozen meats are for when you buy a large part of an animal. (Being sure to use butcher paper only for storage of less than a month, although my grandmother used butcher paper to store meat a lot longer than that, and it still tasted fine.) Also, does any one else still have a chafing dish? Does anyone else even know what a chafing dish is?

Live High on Low Fat: A Gourmet Cook Book For Cholesterol Watchers, by Sylvia Rosenthal (HC,1968, $6, which is 1/3 the internet price)

It is hard to believe but it was only in 1962 that the American Heart Association came out recommending a low fat diet to decrease the possibility of heart attacks and strokes. Research showed the death rate from coronary heart disease was lowest in Japan and highest in California. The most "interesting" research took place in Norway after the war. When Norway was under Nazi occupation  there were less deaths from coronary heart disease. (Not only was there much less food to eat, but the plants that manufactured hard fats were bombed.) Well, that is one study we sure won't be replicating soon!

The author was born in Schenectady and married a doctor. It was after he had a heart attack that she started trying to cook with low fat. Her neighbors were amazed that her food still tasted good! They suggested she write a book, and here it is.

Look for these books in the cooking section.

From the North Korean Perspective (1976)

For the Independent Peaceful Reunification of Korea, by Kim Il Sung (TPB, 1976, $2)

"Due to the propaganda fed them by their government, the average American is completely ignorant of the true facts in Korea. Publication of the selection of some of the works of President Kim Il Sung on reunification is intended to help the American people become aware of the criminal role of the U.S. played in Korea, hopefully stimulating them to take action to force the Washington government to withdraw its 40,000 troops and nuclear weapons and stop the financial and political aid to the south Korean puppet regime."

Wow, where would I start to comment on that! I wonder if Kim Il Sung actually believed all that? Look for this book in the Asia section, avail. 9/30.

Cross Country in a 1942 Open Cockpit Biplane **SOLD**

The Cannibal Queen: An Aerial Odyssey Across America, by Stephen Coonts (HC, 1992, $3)

Stephen Coonts, a former Navy pilot, has written a bunch of bestsellers, including Flight of the Intruder and Under Siege. This book is different.  Coonts takes off in his 49 year old plane from Boulder, Colorado, on his way to a family reunion in Disney World. His 14 year old son flies in the back seat. As they travel back and forth across the country for three months, equipped with only a map and a compass, they get to know the plane, their country, and themselves. Look for this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 9/28.

The Cross as Symbol and Ornament

The Cross as Symbol and Ornament, collected, drawn and described by Johannes Troyer (HC, 1961, $2, has some stains and foxing)

Wow, who would have thought there were over 100 versions of the Cross. And so beautifully drawn, one cross per page. The crosses are divided into four sections: the Precursors, the Dissembled Cross, the Latin Cross, and the Greek Cross. The Precursors are the pre-Christian crosses. The Dissembled, the ones used when displaying the Cross was illegal.

In his lifetime this author has done it all: calligraphy, illustrations, sculpture, murals, and stained glass. He even managed to escape the Nazis. You can find this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 9/28.

"History of the Negro Plot" (1741) **SOLD**

The New York Conspiracy, by Daniel Horsmanden (TPB, 1971, $1.50)
I picked up this book  and wondered what it was all about. Turns out Manhattan has an ugly past. 1741 was a hard year. The economy was just coming out of a depression. The winter had been incredibly severe. Black slaves (as well as a few Indian ones) were now 20% of the population, and whites were worried about slave revolts. War with France and Spain was imminent, and  the port was vulnerable. Meanwhile new arrivals were looked at with suspicion. Were they Catholic? Were they spies?
 
A gang of thieves had just been convicted. Suddenly there were fires, too many to be accidental. A black man was seen running, and it became clear: black slaves, as well as some poor whites, were plotting to burn the fort, and massacre the whites! During the next 6 months 170 people would be arrested, 150 blacks and 20 whites. About 60 would eventually be released, 80 would be banished, 20 would be hung, and 13 would be burned alive at the stake. The trials did not end until the trial judges' families were also accused.

This book written in 1741 defends the verdicts.  Even today historians argue about how much of a conspiracy there was.  Read this book and come to your own conclusions, not only about what happened in 1741, but also whether such a thing could happen now.

 Look for this sad book in the African-American section, avail. 9/27.

Wilderness Trapping in Canada

Once apon a time there was a man who boxed, not badly, but not well. So when he met a girl named Mary and they were married, he became a photographer. Except that his business failed, and since it was the depression, there were no other jobs to be had. But then this man had a sudden revelation. He would travel to the Canadian north and become rich trapping furs. To his shock, Mary thought this was a good idea. And so they went north and learned to trap. Some years were good, and some were not. There were illnesses, the birth of a baby, the arrival of WWII, black bears and oh, so many other things, but they went on trapping for 17 years. Having Mary there was a big help. She was a great mother, and more importantly, a great shot with a rifle. (Black bears beware!)

Mink, Mary and Me: The Story of a Wilderness Trapline, by Chick Ferguson (HC, 1946, $4)

This book is in rough shape, which is why it is only $4. ALL of the printed pages have smeared ink. The cover has blobs of paint on it. And, there are a lot of  racist comments. So why in the world am I recommending this book? First, the story is good, but mostly it is the more than 30 photos. (Amazingly they are ink-free.) What can I say. I am a sucker for stories about Canada. Look for this book in the Canadian section, avail. 9/27.

Lost Canadian Gold Mines!

Canadian Treasure Trails, edited by T. W. Paterson (TPB, 1976 ,$2)

"16 true stories of lost mines or buried treasure from Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, and Ontario..."
This book won't help you get rich, but it won't make you much poorer either. Look for it in the Canadian section, avail. 9/27.

Lumberjack Preacher

Lumberjack Sky Pilot, by Frank A. Reed (HC, 1965, autographed, $5, which is 1/3 the internet price.)

"Preacher, what is your greatest ambition in life?" Frank answered, "To pilot men to the skies!" The lumberjack said in all seriousness, "Well, you ought to make a good 'sky pilot'; you seem to know the way."

These are the stories of 6 "sky pilots" as they bring God's ministry to the lumberjack camps in the North Country of the Adirondacks, Minnesota and New England. These are also the stories of life in the camps. Included are over 50 amazing photos. Look for this book in the new non-fiction table, or in the general non-fiction section, avail. 9/27.

V. I. Lenin

"Workers of All Countries Unite", tops the title pages of these  four books by Lenin.
(You will not be surprised to find out that these books were published in Moscow and Peking)

Letters From Afar (1951, $2.50)
Socialism and War (1950, $2.50)
Can the Bolsheviks Retain State Power (1951, $1, binding is bad)
Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1970, $2)

Look for these books in the Russian Section, avail. 9/27.

Mao Tsetung's Philosophy **SOLD**

Five Essays on Philosophy, by Mao Tsetung (soft cover, 1977, $2)

Printed in China, this little book has five chapter headings:
On Practice (1937)
On Contradiction (1937)
On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People (1957)
Speech at the Chinese Communist Party's National Conference on Propaganda Work (1957)
Where Do Correct Ideas Come From (1963)

In reading Mao's Speech, I was surprised at how gentile he sounded.  He wrote, "In leading our country, two alternative methods, or in other words two alternative policies, can be adopted- to "open wide" or to "restrict". To "open wide" means to let all people express their opinions freely, so that they dare to speak, dare to criticize and dare to debate; it means not being afraid of wrong views and anything poisonous; it means to encourage argument and criticism among people holding different views... To "restrict" means to forbid people to air differing opinions and express wrong ideas...  To "open wide", or to "restrict"- we must choose one or the other of these two policies. We choose the former, because it is the policy which will help to consolidate our country and develop our culture."

I guess at some time he must have changed his mind, or was his speech always supposed to be only  the "propaganda" that the title of his speech refers to? Which ever, it is instructive to read writings from the "other side", or do you disagree?

 I will shelve this book in the Asia/ China section, avail. 9/27.

Matthias: Prophet or Cult Leader?

The Kingdom of Matthias: A Story of Sex and Salvation in 19th-Century America, by Paul Johnson (TPB, 1994, $2)

To say Robert Matthews was a character is the understatement of the year, yet the early 19th Century was filled with such characters. He was arrested for being a false prophet, yet was released. He would be arrested for murder, but found guilty only on a much lesser charge. He was definitely different, both from the traditionalists of the time, and from the reformists. Having been rejected by them both (and later by Joseph Smith), he formed his own religion, or "Kingdom". His teachings were strange, inconsistent and filled with rage. He preached against meek men, and disobedient women. He did not believe in working for wages (but lived very well indeed off his rich friends and followers). He considered being ill a sin, as well as the eating of pudding, pies and roasted meats. Marriages on the outside of the Kingdom were voided once you joined his group. (One follower left the group because of too many "changing of wives". He would shortly return for his wife just before she was to be joined to another man!) Of Matthias' own legal wife, he whipped her frequently, refused to work to support his children or her, and would desert them to found the Kingdom. Was he a con man, insane, or merely another "fanatic" of the time, someone who was filled with too much righteousness? No matter what you decide, you have to admit he made himself noticed, in part because this was the time of the first daily newspapers, who loved, just loved, to report anything scandalous. Poe, Hawthorne and Mellville would all be influenced by him, and one of his former followers would become the activist, Sojourner Truth. Now that would have been an interesting time to be alive.

Find this book in  with the new non-fiction, or eventually in the general non-fiction section. It will be on the shelves as of 9/27. 

Upstairs and Backstairs in the White House

My Thirty Years Backstairs At the White House, by Lillian Rogers Parks (HC, 1961, $3)

Parks first visited the White House when she was four and her mother, the first maid of the White House, couldn't find someone to watch her. After polio, she was a small child, and walked with crutches, but she would also become a White House maid. Her mother looked after the Tafts, Wilsons, Hardings, and Coolidges. "Little Lillian" herself would look after the Hoovers, Roosevelts, Trumans and Eisenhowers.

Upstairs At the White House: My Life with the First Ladies, by J. B. West (HC, 1973, $3)
When asked what he did as a chief usher, West replied "I do what I am told to do." Earlier, a chief usher ushered in visitors to see the first family. Now the term is obsolete, but no one has figured out a better one. This is his view of life with the first families, from Roosevelt's to Nixon's.

Haven't you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall at the White House? Now you can, at least partially. Parks gives a view into an earlier era, and from a woman's perspective. West's view is later, and from a man's perspective. If you read them both, you can compare the views. Look for them on the new non-fiction table, or, eventually, in the biography section. (Avail. 9/27.)

A File of the East German Secret Police.

The File: A Personal History, by Timothy Garton Ash (TPB, 1997, $2.50)

In 1978 a young Englishman went to East Berlin to study. He had lied to get in. He had said he was writing his doctoral thesis on Berlin under Hitler, but actually he was there to write about Berlin under communism. The secret police, the Stasi, were suspicious. They started a file on him. Informants were asked to report on him.

Fifteen years later, East and West Berlin are united, and the secret files are made available to him. Ash takes his memories, his diaries, and his Stasi file back to Berlin, to find out who his true friends had been, and to confront those who had informed on him.

 This is another of those books I only meant to blog about, but ended up reading to the very end. The answers to his questions are not the black and white ones he, or I, expected. Then I found myself asking, what would I have done if I had been there?  The harsh true answer is I don't know. Probably no one does. The lessons of this book linger long after the reading is done.

You can find it on the new non-fiction table, avail. 9/27.

Nutrition by Heinz (1956)

Nutritional Data, by Heinz Nutritional Research Division (Spiral binding, 1956, $6, which is 1/3 the internet price)

After WWII  "the Nobel Prize was awarded for the discovery that pantothenic acid... is the key to acetate metabolism; hundreds of other discoveries flooded the biochemical literature."  Included here is "new" information on vitamins, essential elements, proteins, amino acids and the metabolism of foods. There are also 26 pages of food tables with nutritional values. What I found the most interesting, though, was the section on malnutrition: what symptoms to look for, what blood tests to run, and how to treat it, especially with infants and in elderly. I was shocked to find out how just how recent this knowledge was. (Note: some of the information is easily understood, and part is best left to the biochemists.)

I should have guessed that companies like Heinz would do nutritional research on their products, especially baby food. This was long before dietary information was printed on every package. We have sure come a long way. Look for this book in the nutrition section, avail. 9/27.

Utopias of Thomas More (1516) and William Howells (1892)

Utopia, by Sir Thomas More (TPB, 1999, $1.75)

A Traveler from Altruria, by William Dean Howells (TPB, 1996, $1.75)

Both of these books were written during times of massive change. At first progress looked wonderful, but eventually there came a sense that something was wrong. Commercialism, city populations, and the numbers of the poor were all exploding. Moral values were disappearing. More and Howells wanted people to notice. Look for both these books in the classics section, avail. 9/27.

Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra **SOLD**

Rochester's Orchestra: A History of The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Its Educational Programming 1922 to 1989, by William L. Cahn (TPB, 1989, $5, which is 1/3 the internet price.)

"It was Mr. Eastman's hope to educate and develop a large musical audience by combining the showing of superior motion picture films along with the presentation of the best symphonic music, including operatic scenes and the dance. He did not think that an appreciation for symphonic music could be developed overnight. It would take regular exposure for audiences to become accustomed to hearing it, and for children to grow up knowing it. To accomplish this he caused the Eastman Theatre Orchestra, an ensemble of approximately 70 players to be formed."

The theatre opened on September 2, 1922  with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, followed by the movie The Prisoner of Zenda. "Thereafter, weekly programs continued to be presented, with motion picture programs (some with organ accompaniment) shown for six days and a concert performed on the seventh day, until the cessation of silent movie programs in 1929."

There is a lot more to learn here, and many photos to see. Look for this book in the local section, and enjoy! (Avail. 9/27)

Randy Shakespeare

Shakespeare's Bawdy: A Literary and Psychological Essay and a Comprehensive Glossary, by Eric Partridge (PB, 1969, $1.75)

Partridge is described as a leading lexicographer, and I believe it.  His "comprehensive glossary"  takes up 170 pages. He informs us of  both the non-sexual "bawdy", or the merely vulgar words, as well as the truly "sexual bawdy". These word's meanings are not the ones I learned in high school, but I suspect they were the ones Shakespeare meant. The audiences at the Globe would not have been very high-brow.

 Look for this book next to the Shakespear's plays, avail. 9/27.

Writing About History

What is history? Does the history of your family or community count?
Why should we study history?
Who writes it? Is it only scholars?
What kinds of documents are there out there to check?  What kind of artifacts? Where do we find these things? How do we analyze them?
Whether for school or for publication, how do you write about history?

These books show you the way:

Reading and Writing American History: An Introduction to the Historian's Craft, by Peter Hoffer and William Stueck (oversize TPB, 1994, two volumes, each $2)
     Volume I covers the years up through the Civil War.
     Volume II covers from Reconstruction through the Persian Gulf War.

Nearby History: Exploring the Past Around You, by David E. Kyvig (TPB, 1996, $2.50) -- SOLD

(Writing this makes me think of my father who loved history. After retirement he tried to find out about the Ohio Valley where he spent his teenage summers. I never paid attention till it was too late. Luckily, he had written down what he had found, but it could so, so easily have been lost, just because I didn't want to listen. So take my advice, and write down your stories and histories.  Even if no one wants to listen to you now, someone in the future may.)

Look for these books in the writing section.

Carl Rogers

Client-Centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications, and Theory, by Carl Rogers (HC, 1951, has some underlining, $6, which is 1/3 the internet price.)


----SOLD-----
On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy, by Carl Rogers (HC, 1961, stained cover, $3.50, which is 1/3 the internet price.)

Look for these books in the psych. section

Breathtaking Barns!

Do you like barns? Big barns, or small barns? Old barns or new barns? Barns built out of wood, or out of stone? Barns without decoration, or with "Mail Pouch Tobacco" on the side? This book has photos of them all. Most exciting of all are instructions and photos of building a barn from the framing to a finished barn.

Barn: The Art of a Working Building for $15, to be found in the Art section.

Cat behaviors (SOLD)

What Is My Cat Thinking? (The essential guide to understanding pet behavior), by Gwen Bailey (HC, 2002, $2)

Each page has three photos of a cat along with a translation of what his behavior means.There are also all those informative "Did you know" squares.

All I can say is, where was this book when I was staying with my friend and her five cats! Over the years I was  scratched or bit at least once a visit. Julia, my friend, tried to train me, but sometimes I forgot who was boss in her home. The worst experience? One of her cats swatted at me with her claws out and somehow managed to get one of her claws stuck deep in my finger. We were both unnerved by it all. She sat very still and just looked at me to do something. I looked at her and hoped she wouldn't do something. We both survived, and Julia one again tried to teach me proper behavior around cats. Now, if I had read this book, I might have a few less scars. Look for this book in the pets section, avail. 9/27.

Modern Ballistic Armor **SOLD**

Modern Ballistic Armor: Everything You Need to Know (clothing, bomb blankets, shields, vehicle protection), by Duncan Long (TPB, 1986, $2)

The back cover reads as follows: "Modern Ballistic Armor details how to shield yourself from bombs and bullets. Or do you feel lucky?" This book was written in 1986, but it is still interesting. It is filled with photos, statistics and diagrams. I especially liked the photo of a police officer who had been shot in the chest with a .375 Magnum from one inch away. Not just is he still alive, but he is smiling!

Look for this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 9/27.

Tony Hillerman on writing, and his life.

Talking Mysteries: A Conversation with Tony Hillerman, by Tony Hillerman and Ernie Bulow (HC, 1991, $2.50)

Hillerman is known from his Edgar Award winning novels. Here he tells of his life, of getting to know the Navajo culture, and of how he writes novels. Included is a Jim Chee mini-mystery from 1981. Look for it in the writing section, avail. 9/27.

Cowboy Roping and Rope Tricks (1928)

Cowboy Roping and Rope Tricks, by Chester Byers (TPB, 1996 edition, originally published in 1928, $2)

Byrns wrote this book after twenty years of experiences in "stampedes, rodeos, roundups and frontier days all over the country." Included are 18 diagrams of how to do rope tricks. Buy this book and have some fun! Look for it in the new-nonfiction section, avail. 9/27.

More H. G. Wells

Journalism and Prophecy: An Anthology (1893-1946), by H. G. Wells, compiled and edited by W. Warren Wagar (HC, 1964, $3)
Well described himself as "a journalist", but he was much more than that. "He must also be numbered among the perceptive prophets of his time. A prophet sees the future, warns his contemporaries against its terrors, and urges them with passion into the ways they should go. From superhighways to atomic warfare, from the flight to the suburbs to the need for One World, Wells saw what was coming and offered his formulas for salvation to a world confronted by many of the same problems we know today.

This volume presents for the first time a large and characteristic selection from the more than 100 books written by Wells and from his hundreds of articles which have not appeared before in book form..."

Look for this book in the last shelf of the general non-fiction section, avail. 9/27.

Poems by Billy Graham's wife:

Footprints of a Pilgrim: The Life and Loves of Ruth Bell Graham, by Ruth Bell Graham  (TPB, 2001,$2)

Ruth Bell Graham is mostly known as the wife of Billy Graham, but is she something more?

These are her poems. "In her work, you'll hear a voice you may sometimes recognize as your own- that of a wife, a mother, a sweetheart, a child; a woman, an adventurer, a visionary and even, occasionally, a doubter. Ruth Graham has many voices, and she doesn't try to hide or disguise even one of them."

Included here are added stories, interviews and photos. Look for this book in the poetry section, avail. 9/27.

A trip to Narnia through German eyes- SOLD

       Most of us are familiar with C.S. Lewis' tales of Narnia. Here is a German translation of the first book, " The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe " (titled " Der Konig Von Narnia "or " The King Of Narnia "). 

(HC, 1977, $8.00 which is  1/3 the internet price ).

The best tool... is the screwdriver?

One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw, by Witold Rybczynski (TPB, 2000, $2)

Back in 1999 an editor for the NY Times called Rybczynski. He wanted an article written for a special millennium issue of the Sunday magazine. That sounded like fun, until the editor mentioned the subject: the best tool of the millennium. "The best tool is hardly as weighty a subject as the best architect or the best city, topics I could really sink my teeth into", comments Rybczynski.Worse yet, the editor wanted it to be a hand tool.

So off Rybczynski goes looking for "the best tool" of the 1800s. The Ancients had already invented a lot of tools, so it wasn't an easy task. Finally he settles on the lowly screwdriver (It was his wife who suggested it).

What follows is a merry chase of tools through the ages, eventually ending in a race between Mr. Robinson's screwdrivers and Mr. Phillip's. In 1936 the Phillips screwdriver was used in  a Cadillac auto plant, and by 1939 the competition was over. Phillips had won without breaking a sweat. So it is today, even though Consumer Reports recently challenged both to a rematch, and found  the Robinson one to be faster and with less "cam-out". (So was Beta-max superior to VHS tapes, but does anyone remember Beta? Or, come to think of it, do many people even remember VHS?)

Enjoy this romp down the road of tools, and in passing check out all those weird drawings of antique tools and machines.You can find this little book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 9/23.

Frank E. Peretti

The Prophet (TPB, 1992, $1.75)

The Veritas Project:
Vol. 1, Hangman's Curse (HC, 2001, $2.75)
Vol. II, Nightmare Academy (HC, 2002, $2.75)

I am still a little confused. Some books are said to be written by  Frank Peretti, and some by Frank E. Peretti. Some books even name both as their author.(Oh, help...) Even after researching this mystery, I am still confused, but  I think they are the same person. Anyway, he (if not "they") is a popular Christian writer, with a book scheduled to come out later this year. (Of that much, I am sure.) Peretti's background is with the Assembly of God, and his writings revolve around spiritual warfare. The above books, as well as several others by him, are located in the popular Christian writers' section.

Monk, and Star Trek...

Star Trek: 30 years, by TV Guide (oversize TPB, 1996, $2.50)
This Official Collector's Edition has four sections- The Roddenberry Legacy,
Behind the Scenes, The Fan Universe, and an Episode Log ("Your launch point for every Star Trek series episode and movie aired to date.")  Ye ha!

*SOLD*
Monk, The Official Episode Guide, by Terry Erdmann (TPB, 2006, $2)

Look for both these books in the movie/ TV section.

Caring For Someone With Alzheimer's

The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for Persons with Alzheimer Disease, Related Dementing Illnesses, and Memory Loss in Later Life, by Nancy Mace and Peter Rabins (TPB, 1999, autographed by Peter Rabins, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, $7, which is 1/3 the internet price.)

A lot has happened since this book first came out in 1981. This 1999 edition is now also out of date, but I doubt it will make much of a difference. I was amazed how very practical the suggestions are. I can think of many times in the past when  I would have liked to have been able to pass this book on to someone who needed it. Most important of all, this book will remind you that you are not the only one having to cope with such an overwhelming situation. If you are in such a situation, check the organizations at the end of book to see if they might be able to help you. Also, look for a caretaker's support group that meets in your area. I know the difference a support group can make when you are hurting and scared.

You can find this book in the mental health section of the medical section, avail. 9/23.  

Sex and the Love-Life (1935)

Sex and the Love-Life, by William Fielding, (author of The Caveman Within Us) (HC, 1935, $3)

Wow, this book has it all:  chapters on "Man's Sexual Nature", "Women's Sexual Nature", Preparation for marriage, Hygiene in marriage, Hygiene in pregnancy, Birth control, "Women's love rights", VD, Menopause, Sexual disorders of men, Sexual disorders of women, and Sexuality of the parent and the child.

This book was reprinted 12 times between 1930  and 1935. That people would buy so many books during the depression says something about how desperate people were to get information. I found it most interesting as to the parts a former owner thought important enough to underline in pencil: jealousy (never justified) the changes that occur in pregnancy, women's nerves and quarreling ("the price of sexually cheated womanhood") and premenstrual feelings. The parts underlined in ink included "The standards of feminine virtue, modesty, reserve and reticence have been set up by men as the dominating sex; and woman's dependence on the breadwinner and the protector of the brood has caused her subservience to man. Any divergence from tradition instituted by man as the patriarch or supreme head of the family, has brought penalties and sorrow to women." Getting so close to a former owner gives me goose bumps.

I was shocked to find the book so modern. Look for this book in the glass case at the front of the store.

Submarines

Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of WWII, by Robert Kurson (HC, 2004, $3)
In 1991 two deep wreck divers found a WWII German U-boat 230 feet below the surface and 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey. How did it get there? All the official records said there was no sunken U-boat there, but there it was. This is the story of the divers' 6 year attempt to solve the mystery, and to bring closure to the victim's families.

Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage, by Sherry Sontag (HC, 1998, $3)

Big Red: Three Months on Board a Trident Nuclear Submarine, by Douglas Waller (HC, 2001, $3)
Now wouldn't that be just the coolest thing to do, provided of course you didn't suffer from claustrophobia.

The Terrible Hours: The man behind the greatest submarine rescue in history, by Peter Maas (HC, 1999, $3)
"On the eve of WWII, America's newest submarine plunged helplessly to the North Atlantic bottom during a test dive. Miraculously, 33 crew members still survived. While their wives and girlfriends waited in nearly unbearable tension on shore, their ultimate fate would depend on one man... That man was a US Navy officer, Charles "Swede" Momsen."
I haven't read this book, but I have read an earlier book on the "Swede" by the same author. Regardless of which version you read, this is one of the most amazing demonstrations of courage you could ever imagine.

Look for these in the Military history section.

Quebec (1927)

Quebec, The French-Canadian Province: A Harmony of Beauty, History and Progress, published by the Roads Department (Tourist Bureau)  (SC, 1927,  both front and back covers of (?) simulated leather have separated from the rest of the book, $4)

Even with all its problems this a sweet book, filled with photos, drawings and all kinds of information. When flipping through the pages I came across this tidbit. "Here [in Quebec] are the most productive asbestos mines in the world. The strong, white, silky mineral fibre, which is textile and incombustible, is extracted from a green serpentine rock. To this unique combination of valuable qualities, asbestos owes its increasing demand in industry. It is very much in demand for the manufacture of packing, brake-lining, heat, and electric insulation, and in fire-proof fabrics and building material." (Everything, I guess, except for the lungs.)

Look for this fascinating look back to 1927 in the front glass case.

The Sopranos

The Sopranos: A Family History, by Allen Rucker (oversize HC,  2000, $5)

Look for it in the TV/ Movie section

Fingerstyle Blues Guitar

Beginning Fingerstyle Blues Guitar, by Arnie Berle (oversize TPB, 1993, $3.50)
"A step-by-step method for learning this rich and powerful style."

CD included.
Look for it in the music section.

From the Socialist perspective

Some of a recent donation were books and pamphlets written either by communists or by socialists. I am not sure what you who are reading this think of either one. In my own opinion we learn the most by listening to people who think differently from us. I will therefore be blogging about some of these books. What do you think about this?
Most of these books still have to be priced and shelved. When they are they will be shelved either in the philosophy section, the Russian section, or other sections that seem appropriate.

South Africa in the 1980s

Robben Island: Ten years as a political prisoner in South Africa's most notorious penitentiary, by Indres Naidoo (TPB, 1983, $1.50)

Robben Island is located only miles from luxury motels. Various types of prisoners were kept there. The Dutch imprisoned rebel blacks there, later it was slaves, and later still lepers. At  the time this book was written both the author and  Nelson Mandela were there. After ten years Naidoo was released but banned from staying in South Africa. He writes to urge anti-apartheid groups to keep fighting and for the businesses that support apartheid to cease their support, or else be "condemned" by future generations. He also writes this book to give hope and support to his countrymen.

South Africa:Black Blood on British Hands, by Charles Longford (70 page pamphlet,  1985, published by the Revolutionary Communist Party, $2)
Since this pamphlet was written by the Communist Party, you can already figure out its bias. The British government and ruling class are terrorists. Sanctions are ineffective except to appease their [the Western politicians'] "guilty consciences". Strikes by the South African workers will be the only way to bring "liberation from apartheid tyranny and imperialist domination.

One wonders what these writers think of the changes of the last 20 years. Liberation has come, but communism has not. Look for these books in the African section, avail. 9/20.

"The Long Walk" from Siberia to India (1941) **SOLD**

The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom, by Slavomir Rawicz (TPB, 1997 edition of book first published in 1956, $2)

In June of 1939 he married. In August he was part of the Polish army attacking the Germans. By November he had been arrested as a spy by the Soviets. One year later he would be sentenced to 25 years in a Siberian labor camp. He would arrive there two months later, after a long trip by train, followed by a 1000 mile march in chains through three blizzards. Eventually he and a small number of fellow prisoners escaped. They marched out of Siberia, through China, through the Gobi Desert, through Tibet, and over the Himalayas to British India. And all they had with them was an ax, a knife and some food. Even after they reached safety their journey was not over. It took months for them to get back their health and be able to join the British Army.

Finally the war is over, and Rawicz wants to go home, but Stalin now controlls Poland. Soldiers returning to Poland from the west sometimes disappear along with members of their families. So now, even after all his suffering, Rawicz can not go home.

 He later writes this book so that "people in the west will know about the inhumanity of Stalin's Soviets and their hirings", but also so he can set to rest his demons. How can humans go through so much and still survive? Look for this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 9/20.

The Outline of History, by HG Wells **SOLD**

The Outline of History, by H.G. Wells (4 volumes, HC, 1922, $10 for the set, which is 1/3 the price quoted on the internet.) Amazingly these books are still in print, or at least they were in 2005!

Wells was an author, historian, socialist and teacher. He learned to love reading when he broke his leg at age 8. He started working as a draper, but soon got a scholarship to the Royal College of Science. There he studied  biology under Huxley. As a socialist and pacifist he was against entering WWI, but after the war started he changed his mind and supported it. After WWI ended he visited with Lenin and Trotsky in Russia, and found himself disillusioned with the direction Russia was moving in. He wrote The Outline of History while he was still disillusioned. Later he would again travel to Russia, meet with Stalin, and find him a better leader, although too "rigid". (Stalin was supposed to have thought Wells a fool.) Wells is known as one of the fathers of science fiction and, as one who foretold the advanced weapons of WWII, including the atomic bomb. What an amazing man!  These four volumes will be avail. on 9/20.

"Slim", by William Wister Haines **SOLD**

Slim, by William Wister Haines (HC, reprinted in 1935, $25)

This book is not in the best condition, and has no dust jacket. Still, when looking it up on the internet I was shocked to see the prices it brings, probably because it has been out of print since 1959, yet still a favorite of railroad buffs and linemen. The book realistically portrays the working class of the Depression era, and was based on his experiences during that time as an electric lineman on a rail road. He took the job when he couldn't get a job as an engineer, discovered his writing ability and never looked back. Slim, the movie, came out in 1937 with the lead played by Henry Fonda. Haines' later book, Command Decision, came out in 1949 and starred Clark Gable. Put that together with all the rest of his novels and screenplays and he turns out to someone really special. Oh, and his uncle was Owen Wister, who wrote The Virginian. (I guess I am glad I looked up this rather beat up book, and why I love my job.) Look for this book in the glass case at the front of the store, avail. 9/19.

Horatio Hornblower Inspired Star Trek's Captains!

The Hornblower Companion, by C.S. Forester (HC, 1964, $15, which is 1/3 the price on the internet. Both this book and its dust jacket are in fine condition.)
"The story of how the Hornblower Saga came to be-- with thirty maps illuminating all of the major naval exploits of this legendary figure."

In 1929 Forester needed reading for his summer on a boat. He found three volumes of The Naval Chronicle, a old magazine written by and for naval officers. One of the volumes included the actual text of the 1814 Treaty of Ghent, the treaty that ended the War of 1812. Forester read those magazines, pondered over the precise wording of the Treaty, and wondered, "what if..." Little did he realize he had started a literary voyage that would take him to write 11 novels.  Both Hemingway and Churchill were enthusiasts. Gene Roddenberry used Horatio as the model for both Star Trek's James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard. Then there were the movies- with Gregory Peck, and more recently with Ioan Graffudd. And the radio broadcasts, one of which starred Micheal Redgrave as Horatio.  (That's one fact I didn't know.) For me though, it was experiencing the books themselves, as I read them to my father in his nursing home bed, that will stay with me always. So check out the novels, check out this companion, and check out the movies. I can promise you, you won't be sorry.  Look for this book inside the glass case in the front, avail. 9/19.

P.S. Forester also wrote the African Queen!

Watergate's "Deep Throat"

When I was in my late teens, I watched the Watergate scandal come out of seemingly nowhere, and end up being the only thing anyone talked about. Long after it was all over, people where still asking who was Deep Throat? How did he know so much? And why did he leak it to the press? It was all a great mystery, in the midst of the mystery of why the break-ins even happened. For those of you too young to remember any of this, the times were awful, but never boring.

A G-Man's Life: The FBI, Being "Deep Throat", and the Struggle for Honor in Washington, by Mark Felt and John O'Connor (HC, 2006, $3)

In 2005, after 33 years of secrecy, Mark Felt, the former associate director of the FBI, finally admitted he had been "Deep Throat". Most people were shocked. Still, some questions remain and may never be answered.

After retiring in June of 1973, he faced retirement feeling like a traitor to his country and to the FBI. Soon his wife would be dead and his daughter still estranged. To me this book is about a man having to make choices. For most of his life his duty to the country came first. After his retirement he would have more decisions to make. What do you think, does he find redemption? This book will be in the bio. section, avail. 9/19.

The Indoor Noisy Book ***SOLD***

The Indoor Noisy Book, by Margaret Brown (HC, originally printed in 1942, date of this one is unknown, $1)

I mention this cute children's book just because it was the book my kindergarten teacher gave to me before I left school to have my tonsils out. I know this means nothing to you, but it sure did to me. This edition is much newer and the colors much brighter than in my copy, but even so I love my copy best. You can find this one (but NOT mine) in the children's section, avail. 9/19.

Church Revivals (1901)

The Why, When and How of Revivals, by Bishop Mallalieu (small HC, 1901, $3.50)

I was interested in this book because I thought it would talk about the kind of revivals that had tents. Instead, this book talks more about general religious revival and the conversion of sinners. "Times are perilous."  Rum, "the dance, the theater, vile pictures, and vile literature combine to corrupt our youth." The Bishop also talks against "blind" ministers of the church, ones that "know their Shakespeare better than they know the Bible", ones that make rituals too important, and those who call themselves "progressive theologians" who are found in the "so-called liberal Churches" and who read Voltaire, Paine, and Spinoza. (Oops, what did the Bishop think of CRDS? Confession: my father was a graduate of Colgate, and yes he did at least like Paine.)

I found interesting the writer's disagreement with the time revivals were usually held, the first week of January. Thinking of all that snow in our area, I can see his point.  I did feel a kinship to him during his section on "looking out for strangers". He writes of attending a church where no one spoke to him, not even the janitor. Most churches I have attended as a stranger have been a lot more friendly than that, but there were a few...

Even though I may personally be of a much more liberal leaning than Bishop Mallalieu, I find myself in some parts agreeing with him. Read this book and make up your own mind. (It can be found in the Protestant religion section, avail. 9/19.)

Same Sex Unions

Same Sex Unions In Premodern Europe, by John Boswell (TPB, 1994, $3)

"Yale historian John Boswell, one of our most respected authorities on the Middle Ages, produces extensive evidence that at one time the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches not only sanctioned unions between partners of the same sex but sanctified them in ceremonies that bear striking resemblance to heterosexual marriage ceremonies."  An interesting point Boswill brings up is the lack of information on lesbian relationships or ceremonies. What ever you think of all this, you will have to agree that this book has an impressive number of footnotes. Look for this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 9/19.

Labor Law Reform

Muller v. Oregon: A Brief History with Documents, by Nancy Woloch (TPB, 1996, $1.50)

Muller v. Oregon was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1908. From that point on women in factories and laundries could work only a ten hour day. Reformers had decided not to ask for reform of labor laws that also included men, as it would have been unsuccessful. Instead they made the point that women were at higher risk of injury and illness after long hours than were men, and that as well, the health of women would affect future generations. In the 1960s and 1970s, as a result of the Civil Rights Act and the feminist movement, judgement of the case changed.  Prior to 1960, this case was considered a huge win for labor reform. After 1960 it was seen to have set back equal rights by its assumption that women are weaker than men.  Actual documents of the time make up more than half of this book. Find this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 9/19.

Textbook on Aternative Medicines

Vibrational Medicine (The No. 1 Handbook of Subtle-Energy Therapies), by Richard Gerber, M.D. (TPB, 2001, 605 pages, $3)

"Trained in a variety of alternative therapies as well as conventional Western medicine, Dr. Gerber provides an encyclopedic treatment of energetic healing, covering subtle-energy fields, acupuncture, Bach flower remedies, homeopathy, radionics, crystal healing, electrotherapy, radiology, chakras, meditation, and psychic healing."

There is a lot of this that I don't understand, even after reading some of the book, but then I am many times behind the times. Try it and see what you think. Look for it in the New Age section, avail. 9/19. (And yes, since I am putting it in the New Age section my bias is obvious.) P.S. The Bach of Bach's flower remedies is NOT John Sebastian, but Edward Bach of England. (Just in case you needed to know.)

The Minister's Daughter Who Wouldn't Come Home

I read this book last year and found it amazing.

The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story From Early America, by John Demos (TPB, 1994, $2) Winner of the Bancroft Prize, and finalist of the National Book Awards.    SOLD

English Puritans in Mass. "endeavored to 'civilize' a 'savage' native populace. There, in February 1704, a French and Indian war party descended on the village of Deerfield, massacring some inhabitants and abducting others. Among the captives were the eminent minister John Williams and his five children. Williams would eventually be released, but his small daughter Eunice remained with her captors. Years later, to the horror of her family," she decided to stay with her native family, convert to their religion of Catholicism, take a Mohawk husband, and would have a child with him. Eventually she would return to her family to visit, but not to stay.  Her family could never understand why she would chose to stay with such "savages".  Demos theorizes that she may have found the respect given by Mohawks to their women more to her liking than the life she would have had with her Puritan family. Look for this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 9/19.

Mary Shelley's Lost Children's Story

Maurice or the Fisher's Cot: A Long Lost Tale, by Mary Shelley (HC, 1998, $3)

Written in 1820, two years after Frankenstein, this 39 page story was never published but given to the family of the little girl it was written for.  In 1997 that little girl's great grand-niece would be sorting papers and find the lost work! In this book we not only get to read the story of Maurice, but we also get to know the history behind its writing and the story of its discovery. Included are many drawings, paintings, and even photos of the manuscript. Read it and enjoy. (You can find it in the classics section, avail. 9/19)

A Civil War Goal- Total Destruction.

The Destructive War: William Tecumseh Sherman, Stonewall Jackson, and the Americans, by Charles Royster (TPB, 1991, $2.50)

"From the moment the Civil War began, partisans on both sides were calling not just for victory but for extermination. And both sides found leaders who would oblige... Royster looks at William Tecumseh Sherman and Stonewall Jackson, the men who came to embody the apocalyptic passions of North and South...  An incisive dual biography... and a cautionary examination of the American penchant for patriotic bloodshed, The Destructive War is a work of enormous power." This winner of the Bancroft Prize in American History can be found on the new non-fiction table, avail. 9/19.

The Existential Analytic Movement

Existence: A New Dimension in Psychiatry and Psychology, edited by Rollo May (HC, 1958, $8, which is 1/3 the internet price.)

Apparently existential analysis had been developing in Europe for over 30 years but hadn't made it across the ocean.  Thus, this "new dimension" was  only new in 1958 to those in America.  Look for this book in the psych. section.

Revolutionary War Adventures

Ordinary Courage: The Revolutionary War Adventures of Joseph Plumb Martin, edited by James Marin (TPB, 1993, $2)  SOLD


Joseph Plumb Martin was no one special. He was 14 when George Washington became the leader of the Continental Army. When he was 16 he joined the army, where he would stay until the end of the war in 1783. In his later years he was urged to write down his experiences. He had had little schooling, but yet he managed to write "the only detailed memoir of the Revolutionary War by a common soldier."  He tells of  both death and boredom, servere hunger and thirst, servere cold and heat, and illnesses of all kinds (smallpox, pleurisy, yellow fever, and a broken ankle). He tells of his anger at the civilians who won't give them food, and the jeering of members of the militia who thought the Continental soldiers were lazy. He tells of spies being hung, of units threatening mutiny because of lack of food , and of getting no pay for months, of digging trenches, chasing deserters, foraging for food, and always the marching somewhere else. "He fought in major engagements that in 1776 included the defense of Long Island and NYC and the Battle of White Plains, in 1777 the Battle of Germantown ...and the defense of the Delaware River forts, in 1778 the Battle of Monmouth... and in 1781 the seige of Yorktown." We owe this man and the men like him much gratitude. The book will be located on the new non-fiction table, available 9/17.

From Inner City to the Ivy League ----- SOLD

A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League, by Ron Suskind (TPB, 1998, $1.75) 

Ron Suskind is a staff writer for the Wall Street Journal. In 1995 he won the Pulitzer prize for a two-part series about the high-school years of Cedric Jennings. Cedric Jennings is an honor student at a Washington D.C. inner city school. He earns a place in a summer program at MIT. One year later he is accepted by Brown University, but once there he finds himself unprepared both intellectually and socially. Many of his peers are rich whites. Others are middle-class blacks. With neither does he have anything in common. Still, he has intelligence and determination. As Jonathan Yardley writes, "A story of sheer human grit that should be read by others as example and inspiration."

Look for his courageous story on the new non-fiction table. Avail. 9/17.

I, the Aboriginal

I, the Aboriginal, by Douglas Lockwood (TPB, 1988, $8, which is 1/3 the internet price.)

Lockward tells the life story of his countryman, Waipuldanya:

"I'm a full-blood Aboriginal of the Alawa tribe... in the Northern Territory. I have been through the fires of tribal initiation. .. I married a tribal woman chosen for me... My life changed dramatically in 1953... when a white doctor chose me as his driver and orderly. Since then I have treated white and black people with the white man's medicine... In spite of my knowledge, my acquired citizenship and sophistication, I am still and always shall be an Aboriginal. I have a duty to the tribe."  Waipuldanya was given the Medal of Freedom by the Australian government. This is his story. Look for it on the new non-fiction table. Avail. 9/17.

Abandoned and Adopted

Giving Away Simone: A Memoir, by Jan Waldron (TPB, 1997, $2)
"Waldron tells of her compelling, turbulent and maddening original relationship with the daughter she gave away. Jan's baby, Simone, was the 5th generation of women in her family to be abandoned by their mothers. Determined to fight this 'undertow of conditioned exiting, an affliction of easy farewells,' Jan reunites with her daughter, now renamed Rebecca, when Rebecca was 11. They spent the next 13 years trying to come to terms with each other..."

This book can be found on the new non-fiction table, avail. 9/17.

The American West

**SOLD
The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Selections from the Journals Arranged by Topic, edited by Gunther Barth (TPB, 1998, $2)
"Brevity is the characteristic of the present volume", states Barth in the preface, and he is right. The book is nicely done, and only 220 pages long.

The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West, by Patricia Limerick (TPB, 1987, $2.50)
Limerick sees the West as "grounded in primary economic reality- the hardheaded questions of profit, loss, competition, and consolidation", and not "as a series of quaint, violent, and romantic adventures- most with happy endings." She sees her work as bringing together separate new versions of the West's history.

Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s, by Donald Worster (TPB, 1979, $2)
This is quite a book. I am having a hard time putting it down. The horror of the dust storms, which caused people and animals to suffocate, trains to derail, and  Washington D.C. to be coated in dust, were always expected to go away "next year". Instead they came back year after year. Finally even the self-reliant westerners were forced to beg for help. See if you agree with Worster's theory of Capitalism run amok causing both the depression and the dust bowls.

**SOLD**
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, by Marc Reisner (TPB, 1993, $2)

"The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a most precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruption and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecologic and economic disaster... Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and businesses to ensure the city's growth." (Can anyone say "Chinatown"?)

Look for these books on the new non-fiction section.
P.S. My father loved the Louis L'Amour movie "Conagher", where in the 1880s the heroine ties poems to tumbleweed. Sorry Dad, but tumbleweed, or Russian thistle, wasn't  introduced to the plains until 1906. Oh, well, it is still  a good movie.

"Stuff Christians like"

If you remember our Christian books section in the old shop, it was pretty small, ten shelves in a dark corner.  If you like Christian books, you owe it to yourself to check out our new, expanded, 21-shelf department in a bright and cheerful corner room with four big windows!  We have a large and varied selection of theology, church history, Bibles and Bible study guides, and popular Christian books by Catholic and Protestant authors.  There's also a large selection of bargain 50 cent paperbacks and dollar hardcovers.

Our booth at the book fair

We're pleased to report sales of $540 at the Rochester Antiquarian Book Fair Sept. 10.  This was made up of sales ranging from $95 to $1.50.  Our booth is always great for finding a little treat to take home as a souvenir of the fair! 

If you missed the fair, it's once a year and information is available from any member of Rochester Area Booksellers.  We set books aside all through the year -- many of these are now out in the shop and will be new to you, so stop in and see us!

Handweaving

A Handweaver's Pattern Book, Revised Edition, by Marguerite Davison (HC, 1977, self published, $8, which is 1/3 the internet price)

"A Handweaver's Pattern Book is devoted solely to four-harness patterns which may be made by threading the warp through the heddles and developing them through treadle manipulation and tie-up of the harnesses. The pattern selection gives a wide variety of material for all types of weaving, whether professional or amateur... Many of the patterns are original; the others come from many sources. Some are particular pets of contemporary weavers, have been developed from manuscript notes of former weavers, or are combined from several fundamental units."  That all sounds cool, whatever it means. Probably it does make sense if you are a weaver.

Look for this book on the new non-fiction table.

Reggae

Reggae: The Rough Guide, by Steve Barrow (TPB, 1997, $2)

"The Rough Guide to Reggae is a near definitive guide to the music of Jamaica. The island has produced some 100,000 records over the last 45 years- an extraordinary output for a population of little more than two million."

**SOLD**
Bob Marley: Soul Rebel (The Stories Behind Every Song, 1962-1981), by Maureen
Sheridan  (TPB, 1999, $2)

Look for these in the music section.

Farming (1872 to 1989)

Letters From An American Farmer, by J. Hector St. John Crevecoeur (PB, reprint of 1782 edition, $1)

Crevecoeur was unique. Born the son of a French count, he moved to Canada, and then to NY. He would work as a surveyor, merchant, explorer,farmer and politician. He was also, in my mind really confused. His main theme was that Americans were conquering the wilderness and its Indians, transforming America into something safe and great. Americans were learning to control their destiny. From battling the land came a new identity, a new vitality, and  a new value system. As the first American author widely read in Europe, he was able to introduce Europe to the American dream. Europeans, especially from France, began to immigrate to America. That sounds like a good thing, until  you find out that a lot of them died when they got here. (Oops.)

He wrote a lot about the simplicity of the American life, but simple he was not. He loved America but was a loyalist during the Revolution, plus he spent much of his later life in France. He believed in having slaves,  but thought slavery was a poison. He talked a lot about American self-sufficiency, but risked his life to go back to France to reclaim his land after the French Revolution. He was big on family, but abandoned them. He saw Indians as inferior, yet respected the Oneidas who adopted him. He portrayed himself as being a farmer,  even though he had only farmed for a short while. Finally, he believed in the connection of the farmer with the land he farmed, but Crevecoeur himself hired others to farm his lands. Hmmm.

A lot more straight forward is:
Farm: A Year in the Life of An American Farmer, by Richard Rhodes (HC, 1989, $3)

Rhodes, who won the Pulitzer for an earlier book, follows life on a two square mile Missouri farm. The farmer and his wife struggle with animals, weather, the government and with new technologies of machinery, chemicals and genetics. City people think of farming as being a simple life. It isn't. I found that out on my trips to rural Ohio. (Florence, thank you for all your teachings.)

Look for these books on the new non-ficion table, avail. 9/16.

Ripped from the headlines... Bill Millard is found!

Once Upon A Time in Computerland: The Amazing Billion-Dollar Tale of Bill Millard's Computerland Empire, by Janathan Littman (TPB, 1990, $2)

Back when this book was written William Millard had just sold his company, Computerland. Then he and his wife just vanished, leaving behind a tax bill which now, with interest and penalties, is over 100 million dollars. A law firm and private investigators had been looking for him when he was spotted at a restaurant in the Grand Caymen Islands having a holiday dinner with his daughter. Quietly subpoenas were obtained for his bank accounts, but J.P. Morgan "accidently" (?) sent information to Millard's daughter about the probe. Millard started moving money, the government hot on his trail, catching some of the money he couldn't move in time. (Don't worry, he has plenty of money stashed all over the place. He's had 20 years to hide it.) He now says through a lawyer that he never went into hiding, nor did he know he owed tax to the U.S. government. Yeh, right. This time you have to root for the IRS.

Look for this book on the new non-fiction table. Avail. 9/16.

Little Women it ain't.--SOLD--

"He stalked her every step- for she had become his obsession..."

A Long Fatal Love Chase, by Louisa May Alcott (PB, 1997, $1)
"A story of dark love and passionate obsession that was considered 'too sensational' to be published in the author's lifetime, A Long Fatal Love Chase was written for magazine serialization in 1866, two years before the publication of Little Women. Buried among Louisa May Alcott's papers for more than a century, its publication is a literary landmark- a novel that is bold, timeless, and mesmerizing." (And it sure ain't Little Women.) Look for this book in the classics section, avail 9/16.

War of the Roses

The Wars of the Roses: Through the Lives of Five Men and Women of the Fifteenth Century, by Desmond Seward (HC, 1995, $2.50)
Here is the story of the House of the White Rose, and the House of the Red Rose, the rival dynasties of York and Lancaster, and their 30 years of war and slaughter.

In actuality the Yorks did have a rose on their shield, but the Lancasters did not. "Only under Henry VII did the red rose become the Lancastrian badge, retrospectively: to facilitate the pretty conceit of the Tudor Rose- part red, part white, symbolizing the merciful  union between the two dynasties which had brought peace to a distracted land."

Look for this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 9/16.

Traveler's Guide to Asia

The Travelers' Guide to Asian Customs and Manners: How to Converse, Dine, Tip, Drive, Bargain, Dress, Make Friends, and Conduct Business While In Asia, by Elizabeth Devine (TPB, 1998, $3)

After reading just a few pages here, I could see how complicated the customs of other cultures are. Included here is information for China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand. (Wow, that covers a lot of ground!)
Very well organized, very complete.  352 pages. Look for it in the travel section, avail. 9/16.

Local History DVD

Two DVDs telling 4 stories of local history:
Stories of the Fox sisters, Capt. William Morgan's disappearance, William Lyman's murder, and the story of  Hansome Lake.

Visions won "Best of the Fest" in our film festival, among with other awards elsewhere.
Find it in the local section, priced at $3, avail. 9/16.

JFK, RFK and the others around them

Just before we moved we received a donation of paperbacks on the Kennedys, and here they finally are! Most books are on JFK and RFK, but there are also some on Jacky. All priced around $.50 because of brown pages, but otherwise they are in good shape. (There are no split bindings! Isn't that just amazing!) All are from the 1960's.

"I don't like to lose," JFK said once. His biographer Gene Schoor (see below) writes,"All his life John F. Kennedy looked for challenges. And never more so than in his early years and young manhood. First it was the fierce and friendly rivalry with his older brother, Joe, Jr, Then it was trying to make the football teams he wasn't big enough for... overcoming poor grades... fighting constant injuries to win a swimming meet or to get into a Navy that had turned him down..."

The more special of the collection:
The Kennedy Courage: Profiles in Courage of a great American Family, edited by Edward Hymoff

A Nation of Immigrants, by John F. Kennedy
Published posthumously, this is his call for a complete revision of the immigration law.

Mr. Kennedy and the Negroes, by Harry Golden
"We face... a moral crisis as a country and as a people. It cannot be met by repressive police action. It cannot be left to increased demonstrations in the streets. It cannot be quieted by token moves... It is a time to act in the Congress, in your state and local legislative body, and above all, in all of our daily lives"- JFK

Young John Kennedy, by Gene Schoor (see above)

White House Nanny, by Maud Shaw

The Accidental President: The Election Year Blockbuster on LBJ, by Robert Sherrill
The back of this book reads "a needed expose or a brutal hatchet job, it is a MUST reading." For me the most amazing thing is the cover, with LBJ drawn to look like hawk!

A New Day, by Robert F. Kennedy
What makes this so poignant is it's inscription on the back of the cover. "Assassinated 6/5/68- 12:15 AM. Died 6/6/68- 1:15 AM. Funeral 6/8/68- Arlington, Washington, D.C." You can just feel the writer's grief and pain.


Portrait of a President, by William Manchester (see below)

The Untold Story- Why the Kennedys Lost the Book Battle, by Lawrence Van Gelder
"The real reasons they tried to suppress "The Death of a President". How Manchester's book fired the LBJ-RFK feud..."

The STRANGEST story here is about the book not in this collection. William Manchester had become friends with JFK when they were both healing from war wounds in a Boston hospital. After her husband died, Jackie asked Manchester to write a book about the days before and just after her husband's assassination. Manchester supposedly worked 100 hour weeks for more than a year in order to meet a 1967 deadline. He finished in time, 1200 pages later, but only after a two month hospitalization for exhaustion. Then the trouble started. The family was furious about some of the manuscript's revelations. They tried to block the book. Eventually a compromise was reached and 7 pages were deleted before publishing. Those 7 pages are still sealed. One wonders when the public will get to know what was in them.

Look for all these books (except for Death of a President)in a box on the floor of the bio. section.

Niagara Falls -- SOLD --

Niagara: History of the Falls, by Pierre Berton (TPB, 1992, $2)
The best history I've seen on the Falls, but watch out for that small print. It will be in the local section- avail. 9/16.

Books on Sexuality

We also have a new collection of books on sexuality, as well as many  titles on GLBS subjects. Check out our sexuality section for new books, with more not yet priced or shelved.  I will blogging some of the best books later.

Computer books

We have received quite a few computer manuals from the early 2000s. I priced most at $2, but come in, check them out, and make us an offer. They are on the floor in the science section.

Math

The Math Book: From Pythagoras to the 57th Dimension, 250 Milestones in the History of Mathematics, by Clifford Pickover  (HC, 2009, $6, which is 1/3 the internet price)

"Journey with Pickover as he traces 250 achievements like ancient ant "odometers," the first abacus, the discovery of computer-generated fractals, and the quest for new dimensions. Here also are remarkable thinkers from Pythagoras and Euclid to modern-day math  icon Martin Gardner and cosmologist Max Tegmark. Chronologically organized, each entry is short enough to digest in a few minutes and is presented along with a striking full-color image."

"For me," writes Pickover, "mathematics cultivates a perpetual state of wonder about the nature of mind, the limits of thoughts, and our place in this vast cosmos."

Even though I don't understand much of those last two paragraphs, I can still swear to this being the most amazing math book I have ever seen. Those 250 "striking full-color images" are like nothing I have ever seen, even in art books. (f you want this book you had better get here quick- before I buy it for myself just so I look at the art!)

Look for it on the new non-fiction table.

Leon Trotsky

The trilogy of
The Prophet Outcast: Trotsky, by Isaac Deutscher

( 3 PB, from the mid 1960s, yellowed pages, $2 for set of three) 
Vol. I,  1879-1921
Vol. II, 1921-1929
Vol. III, 1929-1940 (spine is cracked)
Look for them in the bio. section.

James Kavanaugh

3 hardcovers by the noted poet :
(He was one of my mom's favorites.)

Faces in the City ($3)
There Are Men Too Gentle To Live Among Wolves (($3)
Winter Has Lasted Too Long (ex-lib. $1)

You can find these books in the poetry section.

Stories from the other side (of taxes) **SOLD**

The April Game: Secrets of an Internal Revenue Agent, by Diocenes (HC, 1973, $1.50)

Even though very out of date this book is a fascinating read. For instance, did you know that IRS agents have their personal tax forms audited almost every year, that the Egyptians were the first people to be taxed, or that for our first 100 years as a country our government made most of its money from customs duties, internal excise (think whiskey) taxes, and sales of land in the Midwest and West. Our first income tax, to pay for the Civil War, lasted only 9 years.

"Diocenes" tells many stories. The one I liked most was about someone who donated 70 paintings and took a deduction of $100 for each of them. (This was in pre-1973 dollars!) The art curator of the college that now owned them said they were worthless. Another agent went to a shop where more of the paintings were for sale, and was able to buy one for only $10. Since they didn't have enough to prove fraud, they could only decrease the donation to $2 a painting. The tax payer was furious, and mailed one of the paintings to the agent. The agent then put the painting he thought was worthless into his church bazaar. Guess what someone paid for it!

Look for this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 9/14.

NYC's Tammany Hall

Honest Graft: The World of George Washington Plunkitt, by William Riordon (With Original Conflicting Interpretations by James Olson and James Mooney) (TPB, 1993, $2)

Tammany Hall bosses provided services for the poor, but mostly money into their own pockets. For a quarter of a century Plunkitt was one of the great powers in Tammany Hall. At one time he held the positions of Assemblyman, Alderman, Police Magistrate and County Supervisor, and drew three salaries at once. (And that was just his legal earnings. No wonder he was a very rich man!)

 "He is in the contracting, transportation, real estate, and every other business out of which he can make money. He has no office. His headquarters is the County Courthouse bootblack stand. There he receives his constituents, transacts his general business and pours forth his philosophy", says Riordon, who collected and published Plunkitt's words in a newspaper column.

Plunkitt believed there are two kinds of graft- honest and dishonest. He also believed what he did was the honest kind of graft. Read this book and make up your own mind. My own opinion? I would have loved to talked with him, but not to have him as my government official. This book will be on the new non-fiction table on 9/14.

You and Heredity, 1939 **SOLD**

You and Heredity, by Amram Scheinfeld (HC, 1939, $3)

The author is a layman, who searched for answers for himself, and then decided to share them. Hitler is in power and claiming Germans as the master race. Genetics labs are spilling out new data every day. Eugenics radicals are screaming out for birth control and sterilization to decrease the number of "unfit". Environmentalists are crying out for education, hygiene and social reform to increase the number of "fit". How can a layman make sense of any of this? Is it, or is it not, safe to have children? Using the knowledge available in 1939, Scheinfeld works his way through the issues. I found him amazingly modern, except when he was not. Look for this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 9/14.

P.S. Did you know?-
     Sterilization became legal in the U.S. in California in 1907. By the time this book was published 27 other states had made sterilization legal, and 27,000 people, 60% of whom were women, had been sterilized, nearly half of them in California alone. What's the story there? ( So, it wasn't only the Germans who sterilized.)

Freedom of the Press, 1735

A Brief Narrative of the Case and "Tryal" of John Peter Zenger, Printer of the New York Weekly Journal, edited by Paul Finkelman (TPB, 1997, $2)

 Sir William Cosby arrived as the new governor of the New York colony. A greedy and obnoxious man, he made enemies easily. His opposition hired John Zenger, a failed businessman, to print a newspaper critical of Cosby. This political gambit would soon take on a life of its own. Cosby had Zenger arrested for seditious libel, meaning what he had published was critical of the government. ( Even if what was published was true, Zenger would still be guilty.) The grand jury refused to indict. Cosby then rearrested him and created a new court to try him in. The New York Chief Justice, Lewis Morris, ruled that Cosby had no authority to create a new court without legislative approval, so Cosby fired Morris and appointed his own Chief Justice.  He then also disbarred Zenger's lawyers, and appointed his own friend to be Zenger's lawyer. Cosby's attempt, however, to place only his supporters on the jury was foiled.

Enter Alexander Hamilton for the defence! The jury acquitted the printer, even though he was actually guilty, a clear case of what would now be called jury nullification. From that point on, royal governors could no longer stop the printing of material critical of either themselves or the government in England. By 1770 even English juries were deciding in favor of a free press.

The publication of Zenger's account of the trial became famous both in the colonies and England. The case would help shape the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The Narrative would continue to be quoted throughout the years: before WWII, in 1964, and when Nixon was trying to keep the Pentagon Papers from being published.

Look for this fascinating book on the new non-fiction table. (Avail. 9/14)
P.S. Ironically, Zenger didn't actually write The Narrative himself. He had a ghost writer!

The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment **SOLD**

Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, the new and expanded edition, by James Jones (TPB, 1993, $2.75)

I had meant to only skim the introduction, but ended up reading the whole book. This stuff makes my skin crawl, but sometimes we need to know about life's dark side.

In 1932 the United States Public Health Service started a study of 399 black sharecroppers from Alabama with late stage syphilis. The PHS would still be following them in 1972 when news of the study hit the newspapers. Three issues were investigated. Were the men informed of their having end stage syphilis? Did they know that they would not be treated for the syphilis? As test subjects were they exploited  because they were illiterate, poor and black?

Pretty much the answer to the first two questions is no. They were only told that they had "bad blood", and most assumed they were being treated for it. They were promised free health care, hot food on the days they saw a doctor, and money when they died to cover their burial costs. In 1932 if you were poor and hungry this would have seemed like a good deal.

To me the worst crime of this study was the lack of treatment given the men. In the 1930s the only treatment for syphilis was arsenic and mercury, which had to be taken for a year, and killed as many people as it cured. In the 1940s  though, penicillin was invented, and worked, but was never given to these men. Amazingly even 40 years later, many of the men would still be alive. Many, though, would not be.The horror doesn't even end there, as during the study some of the men had infected their wives, and some of these women had infected their children. In 1975 compensation would be paid, but no one admitted guilt.We should have no surprise when blacks distrusted government information regarding the AIDs epidemic.

Equating this study with the Nazi experimentation is an exaggeration, but the parallel is clear.  Hopefully the new regulations that came after these revelations will prevent evil like this from occurring again.

Look for this book in the Afro-American section, but if I ever get other copies of this book they will go into both the medical and American history sections. To have it only in the Afro-American section seems disrespectful. (Avail. 9/14)

Marietta Holley, the "female Mark Twain" (1887)

Samantha at Saratoga, or "Racing After Fashion", by Josiah Allen's Wife (Marietta Holley) (HC, 1887, $1, as book and binding have parted ways, as well as other problems.)

One of the things that makes this volunteer job such a pleasure is finding forgotten treasures. I looked up this author only because I couldn't figure out who the author was, Mrs. Allen, or Ms. Holley. It turns out that Ms. Holley wrote 10 books on the fictional  Mrs. Allen, and this is the most famous one.

Holley was one of the first three female American humorists, and her popularity rivaled that of Mark Twain. This book made it onto the best seller list for the decade of the 1880s. With her gentile satire she took on the issues of women's rights and  alcohol prohibition. She was friends with Susan B. Anthony and Clara Barton. Extreme shyness and a slight speech impediment kept her from public speaking. Even so, she was invited to speak before Congress. (She declined.) Mrs. Allen, the character of her most popular books, was a married New England farmer's wife who took various trips around the country. Ironically, Holley was never married, and had hardly ever left her family's farm.

I am sorry this book is in such awful shape. Still, I got to tell you about a forgotten heroine. You can find this book in the glass case at the front of the store. (Avail 9/14)

Ireland

**SOLD**
A Pathway to Peace, by Gerry Adams (TPB, 1988,$1)
Who was Gerry Adams? A member of the IRA? A planner of Belfast's Bloody Friday bombings? What is known is who he is now- the president of Sinn Fein, and the head of the Irish assembly. This is his 1988 strategy for peace.

**SOLD**
Spies in Ireland: The Most Mysterious Chapter in German/Irish War Relations, by Enno Stephen (PB, 1963, yellowed pages, $.50)
During WWII the Republic of Ireland remained neutral. Northern Ireland supported Britain. And the IRA bombed London. Was this just more of the usual, or was the IRA allied with Hitler?

The Stalker Affair: The Shocking True Story of Six Deaths and a Notorious Cover-Up, by John Stalker (HC, 1988, $2.50)
In the winter of 1982, 6 unarmed men were shot by a Northern Ireland special anti-terrorist unit. Stalker was brought in to investigate the charges of murder against the police. Some claimed the six had been assassinated. Two years later, when Stalker was finally making progress with the investigation, he was suspended. Why? Read Stalker's story and his conclusions here..

How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe, by Thomas Cahill (TPB, 1995, $2)
"As the Roman Empire fell, as all through Europe matted, unwashed barbarians descended on the Roman cities, looting artifacts and burning books, the Irish, who were just learning to read and write, took up the great labor of copying all of western literature." "It would never have occurred to [those of the Roman Empire] that the building blocks of their world would be saved by outlandish oddities from a land so marginal that the Romans had not bothered to conquer it, by men so strange they lived in little huts on rocky outcrops and shaved half their heads and tortured themselves with fasts and chills and nettle baths." And yet that is what happened. Read it here.

Look for these books (along with other new books on Ireland) on the floor of the European history section. (Avail. 9/14)

"Quotes By and About Gay Men"

 A Queer Reader: A Compendium of Quotes By and About Gay Men Throughout the Ages, edited by Patrick Higgins (TPB, 1993, $4.50, which is 1/3 the internet price.)  **SOLD**

"A Queer Reader is a rich collection of quotes and short excerpts about the gay experience through the centuries, from Plato to Andy Warhol. Arranged chronologically and drawing on sources from the Satyricon to the Gay News, from Michelangelo's Sonnets to a speech in the House of Lords, from graphic graffiti found in Pompeii to a Playboy interview with David Bowie, this unprecedented collection draws on novels, speeches, biographies, autobiographies, histories, and ephemera to present gay history as never before."

Also,
The Khaki Closet: What you need to know about the U.S. Military if you're gay, lesbian, bisexual or have tested "positive" on the  HIV test, published by Citizen Soldier (small pamphlet, 1992, $.75)

Color me naive, but I learned a lot from reading this little book. I had known that military personnel found to be gay were discharged from the services, but not that they might go to prison for years, and have to give up their pensions. It would seem that the army is less aggressive in this than the air force, and the air force is less aggressive than the marines, but they all are aggressive against lesbians. Things have certainly changed quickly in the last few years.

These books can be found in the sexuality section. (Avail. 9/14)

Zora Neale Hurston -- SOLD

Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston (TPB, 1978 edition of 1937 novel, $2.50)

Hurston went her own way. She was against the New Deal, communism, affirmative action and integration of the schools because she thought they wouldn't work. She was a brilliant anthropologist, folklorist, and ethnographical researcher, studying the people of the American South, as well as Haiti, Honduras and other places. She was a feminist when American black writers were mostly men. Her characters spoke in dialect, which her peers labeled as racist. Her peers also wrote about politics and racial struggles, while she wrote about individuals. When she entered the world of the Harlem Renaissance she worked closely with Langston Hughes and was praised. Later Wright and Ellison would criticized her, and she was eventually ignored. She would end her life working as a substitute teacher and a maid, but she was not forgotten. Both Alice Walker and Toni Morrison were heavily influenced by her. Their Eyes Were Watching God is her best known novel. Look for it in the Afro-American section (though it would be just at home in the anthropology section). (Avail. 9/9)

WWII- Heroes and Villians

Hitler's Scientists: Science, War and the Devil's Pact, by John Cornwell (HC, 2003, $3.50)

"For the first three decades of the twentieth century, Germany held the premier position for science throughout the world. German scientists were the most accomplished and honored in their fields, winning the lion's share of Nobel prizes. But in 1933 came Hitler. Jewish scientists were dismissed... Nazi ideology began to dominate Germany's science communities. Some scientists enthusiastically collaborated... most merely acquiesced, arguing that science lies outside politics and morality. By the end of the WWII few German scientists remained untainted by a regime bent on genocide and racial conquest." Cromwell asks whether scientists are truly responsible for the consequences of their discoveries. Can science of the 21st century be kept outside politics and morality? History says no. So now what do we do?

The Wooden Horse, by Eric Williams (HC, 1950, $3.50, which is 1/3 the Internet price.)
In 1942 two British officers made a wooden horse and by means of it escaped from a German prison camp. Incredibly they made it back to England, only to find that, for them, even at home there would be no "normal"..

In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors, by Doug Stanton (HC, 2001, $3.50)
This is the story most close to me. Many years ago when I was still working as a nurse I had a patient who played big band music on his radio. We got to talking and he told me he was a WWII vet. "I was on the USS Indi.", he said. (I looked at him blankly.) " We carried the atomic bomb across the Pacific." (I was starting to look interested.) "We were sunk by the Japanese on our trip home."  (Now I was horrified.) "After we were rescued, that second ship was also sunk, but this time we were only in the water for a short time." (That was awful, and I told him so.)  And no more was said.

Many people of my generation learned of the Indi. sinking from its mention in the movie Jaws. I had seen Jaws, but the reference had slipped on by me. It had to have been more than 10 years later that I again heard of the Indi., remembered the man's story, and realized just how much he had left out. I will always feel regret that I hadn't been able to appreciate how much he had lost and suffered to defend America and freedom. I had met a hero, but since he didn't tell me he was one, I didn't know it. At least now I can say to you, "Read this book so you will know", and to that sailor, a much belated "Thank you".

You can find these books on the new non-fiction table.

Ethnic American History- Native American

Among the  American History donations are ones about Native Americans.
The best, in my opinion:

The World Turned Upside Down: Indian Voices from Early America, Colin Calloway (TPB, 1994, $1.75)  **SOLD**
This book "offers a broad range of Indian voices from various historical situations, points of view, and sources. It will do more than almost any scholarly study to help students unlearn the stereotypes, both old fashioned and currently fashionable, that prevent them from seeing Native Americans as people who lived in and made history just as Europeans did."  Native Americans voices are seldom heard in history books. Their records were oral. Their women ignored because they were women.  This book has been a long time coming.

Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England, by William Cronon (TPB, 1983, $2)
Changes, which won the Parkman Prize, "offers an original and persuasive interpretation of the changing circumstances in New England's plant and animal communities that occurred with the shift from Indian to European dominance."

What Caused the Pueblo Revolt of 1680?, by David J. Weber (TPB, 1999, $1.50)
Weber's colleague suggested that he "bring together several essays that examine the causes of the Pueblo revolt of 1680, a dramatic event in the history of early America. In 1598, Spaniards came north from Mexico to plant a permanent colony in what is today New Mexico in the heart of the American Southwest. Eight decades later, Pueblo Indians destroyed the colony and drove Spaniards out of their lands. The conquered became the conquerors. That turn of events was so unusual that it continues not only to intrigue us but to demand explanation."

I have a question. Are any of these scholars Native? If not, and they appear not to be, then what do Native scholars think of the Revolt? If the Native perspective is left out, can the picture be complete?

Look for these books in the Native American section.

Jazz -- SOLD

Dizzy: the Life and Times of John Birks Gillespie, by Donald L. Maggin (HC, 2004, $3.50)
"As one of the primary creators of the bebop and Afro-Cuban revolutions, he twice fundamentally changed the way jazz improvisation was done. And he later extended his revolutionary reach by transforming the aesthetic of big band jazz."

Look for it on the new non-fiction table.

History and Society

Many of our newly arrived books concern history and society. Now if  "history and Society" doesn't cover a lot of ground, I don't know what does.  If you are interested in learning about the issues of home and family, sex and gender roles, race and ethnicity, work, religion, social class or culture, these books are just up your alley.

The one I liked the best:
The Private Side of American History: Readings in Everyday Life (Volume II), edited by Thomas R. Frazier (TPB, 1975, $2)

The one I understood the least:****SOLD****
At the Edge of History: Speculations on the Transformation of Culture, by William Thompson (TPB, 1971, $1)
History is "a thrilling mind-expanding speculation that one follows, like a metaphysical whodunnit."
(Metaphysical stuff and I don't get along, so that explains my confusion. Maybe you will do better.)

Look for these books in a box on the floor in the American History section. (Good luck if you buy that second one!)

Atlas of Human Anatomy (1927)

Atlas of Human Anatomy, by Dr. Johannes Sobotta, (Oversized HC, 1927, 785 pages, $22)

This book seems to be bound in a library-like binding, but has none of the  markings of an ex-lib. It has been well used, with some underlinings, and some pages reinforced with tape. Still, for its age, it is in good condition. The pages are very little discolored, and the drawings, both in color and black and white, are beautiful. ( How did they do such detailed drawings?) Similar books in a bit better condition are listed on the internet for over $100. You can have this one for only $22.  (I think the pictures alone are worth that, but I am biased.) Look for this book in the reference section.

Calling All Fredonia, N.Y. Genealogists!

Selections of Editorial Miscellanies and Letters, Published in the Fredonia Censor at Various Times Between 1842 and 1894, by Willard McKinstry (HC, 1894, $19, condition- see below)

"In my more than fifty years of connection with the publications of the Fredonia Censor, I have of course witnessed many changes. I have lived to see my eightieth year, and a large part of these years have been spent in this village... I came to Fredonia as a young man, and purchased the Censor office at the close of the 21st year of its publication... In undertaking the publication of this volume, I desire to commemorate the friends  of my younger days and the few who remain, for whom I have a very warm regard."

The condition of this book is rough. The first two pages are loose. The very top part of  the title page and page 9 are missing, but the rest of the pages are in wonderful shape for being over 100 years old. (How is it that old paper can stay so white?) Both front and back bindings are loose but intact.

If you can overlook its condition, this book is a gem, especially if you are interested in the genealogy of the area. As he writes in his preface, "The pages devoted to family genealogy, I inserted for the benefit of near relatives interested in the preservation of the data given." Bless him for his thoughtfulness back in 1894!

This book can still be reprinted. The only listing for an actual copy of Selections asks   $84, and it is hardly in any better shape than ours, so $19 is a great price. McKinstry writes of his amazement in the changes in  his world during the last half of his century. What would he say to all the changes, both good and bad, that have happened since? Look for this book in the front glass case.

The Strange Tale of the Vanishing Man

The Man Who Fell From the Sky: The true story of the gaudy life and bizarre demise of '20s tycoon Alfred Loewenstein- and the modern-day quest to solve the tantalizing mystery of his death, by William Norris (HC, 1987, $2.50)

This is one heck of a story. I meant only to blog about it, but then ended up reading the whole book. Loewenstein was one of the most powerful and rich industrialists of Europe. He had always been a flamboyant risk taker, but when he started losing money he became even more so.
 On July 4th, 1928 he got on a plane with five others to go to Brussels. Somewhere over the English Channel he went into the plane's bathroom, vanished, and no one could figure out how or why. Was it suicide, an accident, or was it murder? Since he had disappeared over international waters, the French decided it was not their problem. The Belgians eventually decided the same thing. So did the British.
His body would eventually be found in the ocean by fishermen. He was buried in Brussels. No one came to the funeral, not even his wife. His grave would never get a tombstone.

Is this not the strangest tale? Look for this book on the new non-fiction table.(Avail. 9/7) Have fun!

African American History

Newly arrived African American History books,
including the following:

Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration, by James Grossman (TPB, 1991, $2- has a small amount of markings in the margins.)
Southern blacks moved north in 1916 to find "freedom". At first these black immigrants to Chicago thought their life was good. They could earn high wages in cash, vote, and go to integrated schools. But as Ralph Ellison would explain 25 years later, freedom means having "a democracy in which the Negro will be free to define himself for what he is, and within the framework of that democracy, for what he desires to be." More than migration would be needed to accomplish that goal. More importantly, is that goal being met even now? We have a black president, but is that enough?

To be found in the African American section (Avail. 9/7)