ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 40 / C&RL News ■ January 2004 George M. Eberhart The B o o k p la te Jo u rn a l, published by the Bookplate Society, launched a new series in March 2003 after 20 years of publishing. P u b l is h e d tw ic e a y e a r in an en larged format, the journal is n o w 72 p ag es. The first issue of the new series includes articles o n I ris h J a c o b e a n b o o k p l a t e s , W e lsh b ookplate collectors, and Charles A twood Kofoid and scientific book collecting at the Uni­ versity of California at Berkeley. Annual mem­ bership in the Society is $50.00 or £30. To re­ quest a sample copy of the Bookplate Journal, contact Michael Whitelock, 2 St. Bride’s BayView, Broadhaven, Pembrokeshire, United Kingdom, SA62 3JG. A Culture o f Conspiracy: A pocalyptic V i­ sions in Contemporary America, by Michael Barkun (243 pages, N ovem ber 2003), e x ­ am ines th e o d d fusion a n d flow ering of right-wing conspiracy theories w ith both re­ ligious and secular m illennialism and b e ­ liefs in an official cover-up of an alien p res­ ence on earth. Barkun analyzes the origins and concepts of such theories as the New W orld O rder (in w hich pow erful groups are secretly attem pting to seize control of the w orld using fleets of black helicopters, con­ centration cam ps for dissenters, and mind- control techniques) and UFO conspiracism involving cattle m utilations, abductions, u n ­ derground caverns, and reptoid aliens. Of p a rtic u la r in te re s t are se c tio n s o n h o w conspiracists reacted to the Septem ber 11 attacks a n d the existence of anti-Catholic, anti-Masonic, and anti-Semitic them es in the m ore extrem e literature. $24.95- University of California. ISBN 0-520-23805-2. G e o rg e M . E b e rh a rt is s e n io r e d it o r o f A m e ric a n Lib ra rie s, e -m a il: g e b e rh a rt@ a la .o rg E a rth , editor-in-chief Jam es F. Luhr (520 p a g e s, O c to b e r 2003), is a n o th e r visual blockbuster of a collaboration b etw een DK and the Sm ithsonian Institution similar to A nim al, their 2001 effort. It’s divided into five major sections: planet earth (rocks, m in­ erals, and geological processes), land (land- forms and habitats), oceans (oceans, seas, a n d c o a s ts ), a tm o s p h e r e ( c lim a te a n d w eather), a n d tectonic earth (continental plates). A visual tim eline from the Big Bang to the last glacial ep o c h provides a nutshell perspective on earth’s history, w hile illus­ tra tio n s o f sp e cific p la c e s (su c h as th e Giant’s Causeway, Mt. St. Helens, Great Slave Lake, the Kara Kum Desert, the Serengeti Plains, cities like Manila and Chicago, and the Baltic Sea) are accom panied by expla­ nations of h o w they originated. $50.00. DK Publishing. ISBN 0-7894-9643-7. En cyclo p e d ia o f th e G reat D epression, edited by Robert S. McElvaine (1,134 pages, 2 vols., Novem ber 2003), contains m ore than 500 essays on every aspect of the 1930s, from N ew Deal legislation, politics, and the econom y to fam ous people, music, crime, civil rights, a n d sports. A lthough the focus is prim arily on th e United States, the b ook a lso a d d re s s e s e c o n o m ic c o n d itio n s in Canada, Mexico, Europe, and other co u n ­ tries. T he entries are w ritten by 270 scholars in history and oth er specialized fields and each provides sources for further reading. A m oderate nu m b er of photo g rap h s lend interest. $265.00. T hom son/G ale. ISBN 0- 02-865686-5. H istorically Black Colleges and Universi­ tie s: A R e fe re n ce H and book, by Cynthia L. Jackson a n d Eleanor F. N unn (252 pages, Septem ber 2003), offers b o th a history of HBCUs and a discussion of their continued role and function in 21st-century higher e d u ­ cation. Included are chapters on legislation and court decisions, HBCU funding, North C arolina’s innovative Historically Minority Universities Bioscience and B iotechnology N e w P u b l i c a t i o n s mailto:geberhart@ala.org C&RL News ■ January 2004 / 41 Program Initiative lau n ch ed in 1993, and suggestions for research that should be con­ ducted on these institutions. A ppendices list HBCUs by state and selected graduates of HBCUs. $45.00. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-85109- 422-9. M y F e llo w A m e r ic a n s , by M ich ael W aldm an (336 pages, 2 CDs, N ovem ber 2003), presents the full text of 43 U.S. presi­ d e n ti a l a d d r e s s e s f ro m G e o r g e W ashington’s first inaugural to George W. Bush’s March 2003 address on Iraq. Excerpts from each speech are recorded on the ac­ c o m panying CDs, featuring n a rra tio n by f o rm e r C lin to n p o lic y a d v is o r G e o rg e S tephanopoulos and the actual voices of each president from Benjamin Harrison on. W aldm an offers background on each ad­ dress, accom panied by m any illustrations. A creativ e au d io v isu al p a c k ag e . $45.00. Sourcebooks. ISBN 1-4022-0027-7. P io n e e r A v ia to rs o f th e W orld, by Hart Matthews (208 pages, July 2003), provides a short biography of the first individuals in 108 countries w ho piloted heavier-than-air m ach in es in a su sta in ed flight from th e W right B ro th ers’ first success in 1903 to 1950, w h e n th e first k n o w n Jo rd a n ia n p i­ lot c o m p le te d his training. Nationalities are d e te rm in e d by p lace of birth w ithin m o d ­ e rn political b o u n d a rie s, so that Austria- H ungary actually has th re e p io n e e r avia­ tors, a Czech, an Austrian, a n d a H u n g a r­ ian (w ho, incidentally, w as Harry H oudini, a p ilo t for sev en m o n th s b e fo re he b e ­ c am e an e s c a p e artist). A tim elin e a n d n u m e ro u s p h o to s of th e flights a n d the p i l o t s a c c o m p a n y t h e t e x t . $ 3 9 -9 5 . M cFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1522-3. A rela te d M cFarland title is R ace to the Sky, by S tep h en B. G o d d a rd (222 pages, D ecem ber 2003), w hich describes the com ­ p e titio n b e tw e e n the W right B rothers and o th e r aviation p io n ee rs to b e c o m e th e first to attain p o w e re d flight. G o d d a rd points o u t th e parallels w ith th e sp ace race 60 y e a rs la te r, e s p e c ia lly a fte r P r e s id e n t McKinley m ade th e q u e st a national p ri­ ority in o rd e r to have th e ad v a n ta g e of m ilita ry a e r ia l r e c o n n a is s a n c e . W h ile Sam uel Langley cost th e A m erican g o v ­ e rn m e n t a n d his Sm ithsonian b en efacto rs $70,000, the W rights disdained governm ent funding a n d sp e n t less th a n $1,000 over th ree years to achieve their goal. $39-95. ISBN 0-7864-1594-0. Praise the Lord and Pass the Penicillin, by D ean W. Andersen (228 pages, Septem ber 2003), is yet another excellent volum e in McFarland’s informal series of wartime m em ­ oirs. A ndersen annotates 93 letters he w rote to his wife and parents w h e n he served for three years as a m edic in the Pacific theater of W orld War II. The text is accom panied by m any photos published for the first time, i n c l u d in g s e v e r a l t a k e n o f G e n e r a l Yam ashita’s surrender at Baguio on August 15, 1945. $29.95. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864- 1670-X. A related title is B a ta a n Death March: A Soldier’s Story, by Jam es Bollich (222 pages, N ovem ber 2003), a reprint of a 1993 pri­ vately p u b lis h e d m em o ir d e scrib in g the author’s capture and internm ent by the Jap a­ n ese from 1942 to 1945. $18.95. Pelican. ISBN 1-58980-167-9. R o b in Hood: A M yth ic B io g ra p h y , by Stephen Knight (247 pages, May 2003), ex­ am ines the legend of Robin of Locksley, m edieval good outlaw and redistributor of wealth. Although the evidence for a histori­ cal Robin H ood is slim, the myth has flour­ ished for 700 years, and Knight traces its various elem ents from trickster figure to noble thief to countercultural free spirit, with a strong analysis of its treatm ent by Holly­ w ood. $25-00. Cornell University. ISBN 0- 8014-3885-3. S ta n Lee a n d th e R ise a n d Fall o f th e A m e rica n Co m ic Book, by Jordan Raphael and Tom Spurgeon (320 pages, Septem ber 2003), chronicles the career of the co-cre­ ator of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and other Marvel Comics characters. Based on interviews with the illustrator and his friends and relatives, as well as docum ents in the University of W yoming Stan Lee archive, the b o o k traces Lee’s heritage from his early w o rk o n Captain A m erica Comics in the 1940s to his still-pending law suit against Marvel for proceeds from the Spider-Man film. $24.95. Chicago Review. ISBN 1-55652- 506-0. 42 / C&RL News ■ January 2004 The Zapruder Film: R efram ing JFK 's A s­ sa ssin a tio n , by David R. Wrone (368 pages, O ctober 2003), m eticulously reexam ines the 27-second Abraham Z apruder film of the K ennedy assassina­ tion and concludes that m ore than three gunshots w ere fired from m ore than one d ire c tio n a n d th a t n o n e w e r e lik e ly fired by Lee Harvey O sw ald . T his w ill come as a surprise to those w ho w atched The K ennedy Assas­ s i n a t i o n : B e y o n d Conspiracy Novem ber 20 on ABC-TV, which fe a tu re d D ale M yers’s th re e -d im e n sio n al com puter anim ation that seem ed to convinc­ ingly validate the Osw ald-as-lone-assassin theory. However, there is apparently room for m uch doubt, and Wrone com m ented in the Detroit Free Press that Myers was manipulat­ ing data to suit his preconceptions. He also declines to speculate on w ho fired the shots, preferring to specialize on showing how the film decisively refutes the Warren Commission’s findings. $29.95. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-1291-2 A n o th e r d e ta ile d stu d y is The Great Zapruder Film Hoax: Deceit a n d Deception in the Death o f JFK, edited by Jam es Fezter (496 pages, Septem ber 2003), a collection of analyses that em erged from the Zapruder Film Symposium held at the University of Minne­ sota at Duluth on May 9-11, 2003, that point out anomalies in the film that have led some to speculate that it w as altered (or even m anufactured) to distort the record, w hich if true could negate the findings of both Wrone and Myers. $27.95. Catfeet Press. ISBN 0-8216-9547-X. An audio record of the four days from the assassination to JFK’s funeral procession at Arlington National Cemetery is contained on a 60-minute CD narrated by Dan Rather that accom panies P resident K en n e d y Has Been Shot, by the N ewseum with Cathy Trost and Susan Bennett (300 pages, Novem ber 2003). The b ook is filled with additional ac­ counts and reminiscences by new s report­ ers on those grim events 40 years ago. $29.95. Sourcebooks. ISBN 1-4022-0158-3. ■