ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 218 / C&RL News ■ M arch 2002 N e w P u b l i c a t i o n s George M. Eberhart Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide to the World's Wildlife, edited by David Bumie and Don E. Wilson and produced in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution (624 pages, N ovem ber 2 0 0 1 ), profiles more than 2,000 species, most of w hich are fea­ tu red in an o u t­ standing array o f p ho tograp hs that show id en tify in g characteristics and key aspects of their biology and e co l­ ogy. The next best thing to a zoo visit, Animal showcases some species that are rarely or never found in zoos, and offers distribution maps and a summary description for each, from mammals, birds, and reptiles to fishes and invertebrates. The information is meticulously up-to-date; for ex­ ample, African bush and forest elephants are recognized as separate species, a classification that was definitively confirmed by molecular studies only in 2001. An international team of 70 zoologists and naturalists chose the species to be included, thus eliminating any North American or European bias. A superb one-vol­ ume reference that will see much use. $50.00. DK Publishing. ISBN 0-7894-7764-5. Just as current and graphically fascinating is the completely misnamed Dinosaur Ency­ clopedia, published in association with the American Museum of Natural History (376 pages, October 2001), which, yes, includes dinosaurs, but also features fossil fishes, am­ phibians, non-dinosaurian reptiles such as plesiosaurs and diapsids, birds, and extinct mammals— namely, animals that a true dino­ saur book would leave out. Supplemented with a geological timeline and biographies of famous paleontologists, this volume serves as an excellent overview of the procession of life on earth as we currently understand it. $29.95. DK Publishing. ISBN 0-7894-7935-4. George M. Eberhart is senior e d ito r o f Am erican Libraries, e-mail: geberhart@ala.org The Browsable Classroom: An Introduc­ tion to E-Learning fo r Librarians, by Carolyn B. Noah and Linda W. Braun (169 pages, January 2002), demonstrates some models and techniques for designing effec­ tive Web-based distance-learning programs. Many of the examples come from university or community college education courses. $45.00. Neal-Schuman. ISBN 1-55570-425-5. The Columbia Guide to Asian American History, by Gary Y. Okihiro (323 pages, De­ cember 2001), examines attitudes toward resi­ dent Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States over the past 200 years. Specific fo­ cuses include Hawaii before European con­ tact, the anti-Chinese movement in 19th-cen­ tury C aliforn ia, and the W orld War II internment camps for Japanese-Americans. An extensive historiography and resource guide make this an excellent research tool. $45.50. Columbia University. ISBN 0-231-11510-5. Fire in Sierra Nevada Forests: A Photo­ graphic In terp re tatio n o f Ecological Change Since 1849, by George E. Gruell (238 pages, October 2001), compares historical black-and-white photographs of landscapes in the Sierra Nevada with photographs taken in the 1990s in order to assess the long-term environmental changes that had occurred in the region. Gruell, a retired wildlife biologist, selected 168 images out of thousands avail­ able in universities, public libraries, historical societies, and private collections. The photo pairs are arranged into four vegetation and climate zones; the captions identify landscape features and analyze the vegetation changes in the past 100 years or more. Mountain Press. $20.00. ISBN 0-87842-446-6. The Great A tlas o f the Stars, by Serge Brünier (112 pages, October 2001), provides full-color telescopic photographs of the 30 major constellations visible from the north­ ern hemisphere. Each has a transparent mylar overlay that identifies the stars and draws the traditional lines between them; details of the more prominent stellar features are given on mailto:geberhart@ala.org C&RL N ew s ■ M a rc h 2002 / 219 the opposite page. A helpful guide for ob­ servers with binoculars or small telescopes. $59.95. Firefly Books. ISBN 1-55209-643-2. Another outstanding atlas from Firefly is the World Atlas o f the Oceans (264 pages, October 2001). This reprints in segments the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans, produced by the Canadian Hydrographic Service, a superb chart of submarine depths and features, supple­ mented here with the panoramic topographic drawings of Heinrich C. Berann, which show what the ocean bottom would look like with­ out the water. Well-illustrated essays cover oce­ anic commerce, oilfields, tides, currents, fish­ eries, coral reefs, geology, and marine ecol­ ogy. $50.00. ISBN 1-55209-585-1. Piracy, Slavery, and Redemption: Barbary Captivity Narratives fro m Early M odern England, edited by Daniel J. Vitkus (376 pages, November 2001), presents seven ac­ counts written by Englishmen who served time as slaves in the Islamic states of North Africa, formerly known as the Barbary coast. The narratives were written and published betw een 1577, when Jo h n Fox escaped from captivity in Egypt, and 1704, when Joseph Pitts’s account o f his captivity and conver­ sion to Islam was published. Each narrative is annotated with footnotes to explain con­ text and vocabulary, and an extended intro­ duction by Nabil Matar places the com plex relationship o f European trade and North African piracy into perspective. Despite some exaggeration and ethnocentrism, these cap­ tivity narratives presented British readers with their first nonfictional glimpse into the world of Islam. $52.50. Columbia University. ISBN 0-231-11904-6. For those who want to go further and read American captivity narratives in the Barbary states, consult Paul Baepler’s White Slaves, African Masters (376 pages, April 1999). These range from the 1798 tale of Jo h n Foss, ran­ somed by the Thomas Jefferson administra­ tion for a tribute totaling a sixth of the annual federal budget, to the story o f Ion Perdicaris, whose apparently staged abduction in Tangier in 1904 prompted Theodore Roosevelt to send warships to Morocco. $46.00. University of Chicago. ISBN 0-226-03403-8. Sextopia: Stories o f Sex and Society, ed­ ited by Cecilia Tan (181 pages, Ju ne 2001), is an intriguing collection o f 11 short Science­ fiction stories that explore the nature of eroti­ cism and sexual experience in utopian or dystopian futures. Among the contributors are Catherine Asaro, Renée M. Charles, Eric Del Carlo, M. Christian, and Suzy McKee Charnas, whose erotic, science fiction, and fantasy fic­ tion have appeared in many magazines and anthologies. This is the 32nd offering from Cir­ clet Press, a small but energetic publisher of alternative fiction. $14.95. Circlet Press, 1770 Mass. Ave., #278, Cambridge, MA 02140. ISBN 1-885865-31-7. The Story o f Rats, by S. Anthony Bamett (202 pages, April 2002), examines the psychology and sociology of these common rodents, es­ pecially in their interactions with humans. Barnett, who has been studying rats since his days with the Ministry of Food in wartime Lon­ don, asks such questions as: Are rats diaboli­ cally clever? Do they get bored? Can they think? Are rats gluttons? What happens when they get overcrowded? The many infections carried by wild rats, such as plague and Weil’s dis­ ease, make the answers crucial ones for con­ trolling rodent populations. $14.95 (pbk). Allen & Unwin; distributed by Independent Publish­ ers Group. ISBN 1-86508-519-7. W hite Zombie: Anatomy o f a Horror Film, by Gary D. Rhodes (352 pages, D ecem ber 2001), is an exhaustive treatment of what some critics see as a minor cinematic classic that was released by United Artists in 1932. White Zombie starred Bela Lugosi as an evil practi­ tioner o f voodoo in one of his best perfor­ mances. The film has some impressive and atmospheric visual sequences that have in­ spired a cult following. Rhodes includes an analysis o f eveiy aspect o f the film— its nar­ rative and imag­ ery, its source material in Hai­ tian voodoo, the context o f inde­ p e n d e n t film - making in the early 1930s, sto­ ries from par­ ticipants in the film, audience responses, criti­ cal re ce p tio n , 220 / C&RL News ■ M arch 2002 the film’s impact on popular culture, its place in film history, and an essay on the life and career of director Victor Halperin. This mas­ sively docum ented w ork will please both academ ic film historians and horror-genre buffs, and it deserves to b e emulated as a model for single-film scholarship in the fu­ ture. $65.00. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0988-6. The W om en o f A fghanistan under the Taliban, by Rosemarie Skaine (198 pages, March 2002), was mostly written prior to Sep­ tember 2001, though the author and pub­ lisher masterfully managed to squeeze in a few last-minute references to the United States counterattack and the Taliban’s then- uncertain future. Skaine catalogs the hard­ ships and atrocities imposed by the regime on Afghan women, 30 o f whom were inter­ viewed in 2000 after they had fled the coun­ try. The final chapter summarizes the political and diplomatic efforts made by organizations and individuals in other countries to rebuild Afghan society and women’s roles within it. $29.95. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1090-6. W orld W ar II in American A rt, by Robert Henkes (157 pages, December 2001), analyzes the works of artists who experienced the in­ tensity and emotion of the war firsthand, both in battle and on the homefront. Arranged by subject matter, the book includes sections on combat, the wounded, survivors, prisoners, ruins, the dead, religion, recreation, and vic­ tory. Many of the paintings depicted are housed in the collections of the Army, Navy, and Air Force museums, as well as the personal col­ lection of artist Edward Reep, who wrote the foreword. $39.95. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864- 0985-1. ■ ( “Back to Europe"continued from page 206) not market to the United States, and see new products and services from around the world. To the first-time visitor, the fair may be simply overwhelming with its thousands of exhibitors and activities. The more seasoned veterans in the ACRL group did an excellent job of showing the neophytes how to make their time in Frankfurt productive. The book fair also marks the highlight of the publishing year in Germany, and many publishers release major titles in conjunction with this annual event. German, Austrian, and Swiss newspapers typically publish literary supplements that review the cream of the crop. Many librarians collect these supple­ ments and peruse them for well-reviewed titles to add to their collections. Mike Olson accomplished the Herculean task of gathering 22 of these supplements from newspapers large and small, culling 325 titles from them, and compiling these titles into a bibliography, the first volume in a series. His bibliography is an invaluable tool for anyone who wants to know what is hot this year.5 Many o f the ACRL librarians have biblio­ graphic responsibilities beyond Germany and Western Europe. By walking through the halls devoted to Central and Eastern Europe, Af­ rica, Asia, and Latin and South America, one can quickly assemble a long list of titles that may otherwise have been impossible to iden­ tify through standard sources. Whether one needs to know about cur­ rent titles from Armenia or wants to find a good source for reference works from Argen­ tina, Frankfurt is the place to be. Notes 1. Details and information on the Frank­ furt B o o k Fair are a v ailab le at http:// www.frankfurt-book-fair.com. 2. Background information on Greece as guest o f honor may b e found at http:// w w w .g re e ce .g r/ C U L T U R E / L ite ra tu re / greeceinfrankfurt. stm. 3. “IBLC meets … Representatives of A m e rica n L ib ra rie s : V o rträ g e und Veranstaltungen im IBLC-Forum.” For a list o f th e talks, s e e http://w w w .stub.uni- frankfurt. de/messe/meets. htm. 4. It should not be forgotten that many Europeans were also victims o f the World Trade Center tragedy. 5. Michael P. Olson, New Books fro m Ger­ many, Austria, a n d Switzerland: A Bibliog­ raphy on the Occasion o f the 53rd Frankfurt Book Fair, 10-15 October 2001, Harvard Col­ lege Library Series in Germanic Bibliographies, vol. 1 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard College Library, 2001). ■ http://www.frankfurt-book-fair.com http://www.greece.gr/CULTURE/Literature/ http://www.stub.uni-