june05c.indd


George M. Eberhart N e w  P u b l i c a t i o n s  

Alexander the Corrector, by Julia Keay 
(269 pages, June 2005), reexamines the life 
of Alexander Cruden (1699–1770), the cre­
ator of a biblical reference book, A Com­
plete Concordance to the Holy Scriptures 
of the Old and New Testaments (1738), 
which has endured in multiple editions to 
the present time. Cruden was incarcerated 
several times in madhouses, earning him a 
reputation as a lunatic, but Keay attempts 
to resuscitate his honor by arguing that he 
was only socially inept, the eccentric vic­
tim of mores unsympathetic to the obses­
sions that fueled both his sexual fantasies 
and the perfectionism that resulted in an 
exhaustive single­handed scholarship usu­
ally attainable only by committee. Cruden’s 
achievement is even more remarkable in 
that it was completed in his spare time as a 
proofreader in London. An enriching eluci­
dation of 18th­century ethics. $27.95. Over­
look. ISBN 1­58567­690­X. 

Belle Starr: The Bandit Queen, by Burton 
Rascoe (340 pages, November 2004), is a re­
print of the 1941 biography that attempts to 

synthesize what was 
known at the time 
about the legendary 
female outlaw Belle 
Starr (1848–1889), 
born Maybelle 
Shirley in Jasper 
County, Missouri. 
Although portrayed 
in American fi lms as 
a gun­slinging des­
perado, Belle Starr 
was more an indi­

vidualist survivor in a frontier stacked against 
women who made poor choices in marriage 
partners. Belle’s life is an instructive example 

George M. Eberhart is senior editor of American 
Libraries, e-mail: geberhart@ala.org 

of how Civil War loyalties and frontier injus­
tices combined to inspire a misleading cine­
matic legend. Little remembered today—her 
secluded grave near Porum, Oklahoma, can 
be located only by asking friendly neigh­
bors, as I did in October 2002—Belle Starr 
is worth rediscovering. As Jennifer Hender­
son wrote in “Belle Starr: Lies in the Cin­
ematic Skies,” Big Reel, April 2003: “Much 
of her fame arose from whom she associ­
ated with rather than what she actually did. 
Her misdeeds, such as horse theft and social 
impropriety, were not enough to create the 
‘post–Civil War outlaw’ reputation she ulti­
mately earned.” Although Rascoe’s work is 
entertaining, it should be read in conjunc­
tion with Glenn Shirley’s Belle Starr and Her 
Times (University of Oklahoma, 1982) and 
Phillip W. Steele’s Starr Tracks: Belle and 
Pearl Starr (Pelican, 1998). $15.00. Univer­
sity of Nebraska. ISBN 0­8032­9003­9. 

Cumberland Island: A History, by Mary 
R. Bullard (415 pages, January 2005), is 
a superb example of how local histories 
should be researched and written. A col­
orful portrayal of Georgia’s largest sea is­
land, Bullard’s book examines the minu­
tiae of Cumberland’s residents and events 
from the first Indian habitations to recent 
attempts to save it from development. Bul­
lard, a descendant of the Carnegie family 
who owned much of the island from 1881 
to 1972 when it was designated a National 
Seashore, is uniquely qualified to assess the 
island’s importance as a historical and en­
vironmental treasure. $39.95. University of 
Georgia. ISBN 0­8203­2267­9. 

The Great Earthquake and Firestorms 
of 1906, by Philip L. Fradkin (418 pages, 
April 2005), revisits the chaos engendered 
by three days of devastating fi re following 
the temblors early in the morning of April 
18, 1906. Fradkin focuses on the human 
decisions that heightened the tragedy, from 

June 2005  483 C&RL News 

mailto:geberhart@ala.org


the fl ames be­
ing fed by prop­
erty owners who 
torched their own 
buildings because 
insurance policies 
covered fi res and 
not earthquakes, 
to the de facto 
martial law that 
led both mili­
tary and quasi­
military forces to 

shoot and kill an undetermined number 
of civilians suspected of looting. The un­
precedented photographic documentation 
of the destruction leads Fradkin to com­
pare the firestorms to those of Dresden 
and Tokyo during World War II. Essential 
background reading for next year’s cen­
tennial. $27.50. University of California. 
ISBN 0­520­23060­4. 

The Joy of Teaching, by Peter Filene (159 
pages, March 2005), provides some guid­
ance for new college instructors who are 
developing and teaching their fi rst cours­
es. Using examples of syllabi, gaming 
ideas, and rubrics for evaluation, Filene 
emphasizes that teaching undergraduates 
is a three­way interactive relationship be­
tween student, teacher, and subject matter. 
The suggestions offered here will prove 
useful to teachers in the humanities, natu­
ral sciences, social sciences, and perhaps 
even library science. $17.95. University of 
North Carolina. ISBN 0­8078­5603­7. 

The Poetry Home Repair Manual, by Ted 
Kooser (163 pages, February 2005), of­
fers friendly and practical advice not only 
on how to write poetry, but how to think 
like a poet. Kooser, the 13th poet laure­
ate consultant in poetry to the Library 
of Congress, sprinkles dozens of sample 
verses throughout this guide, which is not 
so much a catalog of poetic forms as an 
inspirational handbook to help the begin­
ning poet discover his or her style and 

voice. $19.95. University of Nebraska. 
ISBN 0­8032­2769­8. 

Spying from Space, by David Christo­
pher Arnold (209 pages, January 2005), 
describes the development of the air 
force’s satellite tracking and control sys­
tem from the early days of the space race 
to 1969. Originally set up to monitor the 
secret Corona spy satellites launched by 
the Discoverer missions (1959–62) to take 
photographs of the Soviet Union, the Air 
Force Satellite Control Facility headquar­
tered in Sunnyvale, California, tracks De­
partment of Defense satellites, receives 
and processes the signals they send, and 
relays commands to them. A little­known 
but vital chapter in American space his­
tory. $48.00. Texas A&M University. ISBN 
1­58544­385­9. 

Two Women in the Klondike, by Mary E. 
Hitchcock (197 pages, March 2005), is the 
fi rst­hand account of how two wealthy so­
cialites from New York City ventured to 
Dawson City, Yukon, to try their hands at 
prospecting in the Klondike gold fi elds. 
The author, a 49­year­old widow, and her 
friend Edith May Van Buren, the 38­year­
old grandniece of President Martin Van 
Buren, packed up their belongings (in­
cluding a giant circus tent, a movie projec­
tor, an ice cream freezer, and a flock of pi­
geons) and traveled across Alaska in 1898 
to spend two months in a muddy mining 
camp. First published in 1899, Hitchcock’s 
memoir brings the sights and personalities 
of the gold rush to life. $24.95. University 
of Alaska. ISBN 1­889963­68­2. 

Order ACRL publications online 

All ACRL publications are available 
for online purchase through the ACRL 
Web site. Just visit the www.acrl.org 
/publications to order your selec­
tions. Members receive a 10 percent 
discount. 

484C&RL News June 2005

http:www.acrl.org