mar09c.indd


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

Al­Qaida’s Doctrine for Insurgency, translated 
and analyzed by Norman Cigar (192 pages, 
January 2009), provides a rare glimpse into 
the strategy and tactics of radical Islamic ter­
rorist cells. Cigar, a former Pentagon military 
analyst who is now a research fellow at the 
Marine Corps University, has translated A Prac­
tical Course for Guerrilla War by Abdel Aziz 
al­Muqrin, the leader of the mujahedeen group 
al­Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (QAP) from 
May 2003 to June 2004, when he was killed in 
a shootout with police in Riyadh. The manual 
offers both an overview of jihadist doctrine as 
well as advice on taking hostages and assas­
sinations. Cigar’s intent in making it available 
to an English­speaking audience is to provide 
some insight into how these groups think and 
operate. $55.00. Potomac. 978­1­59797­252­9. 

A Country Storekeeper in Pennsylvania: Cre­
ating Economic Networks in Early America, 
1790–1807, by Diane E. Wenger (263 pages, 
December 2008), examines the operations, cus­
tomers, and business records of a general store 
in Schaefferstown, Lebanon County, Penn­
sylvania, at the turn of the 19th century. The 
family of the owner, Samuel Rex, preserved a 
wealth of daybooks, ledgers, bills, and receipts 
relating to the store that have been preserved 
in several local archives, enabling the author to 
determine the goods that Rex sold in his store, 
the types of customers he served, his use of 
teamsters, and the merchants in Philadelphia 
from whom he obtained many of his wares. 
Wenger points out that Rex’s store served as 
a cultural intersection that brought together 
both German speakers and English speakers, 
as well as local farmers, craftsmen, and iron­
workers. $55.00. Pennsylvania State University. 
978­0­271­03412­6. 

The Encyclopedia of Psychological Trauma, 
edited by Gilbert Reyes, Jon D. Elhai, and 

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

Julian D. Ford (720 pages, October 2008), is 
an in­depth compilation of terms, symptoms, 
causes, diagnoses, clinical guidelines, thera­
pies, and theories relating to traumatic stress 
and the condition that often follows it, Post­
traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Considering 
all the psychological stresses the 20th century 
has produced, it is remarkable that PTSD was 
not defined until 1980. This encyclopedia en­
capsulates the state of the art in the early 21st 
century. $160.00. Wiley. 978­0­470­11006­5. 

The Last Witch of Langenburg: Murder in a 
German Village, by Thomas Robisheaux (427 
pages, February 2009), tells the story of Anna 
Schmieg, who was accused of poisoning 
a neighbor by sending her a little cake on 
Shrove Tuesday in 1672. Rumors of witchcraft 
surfaced, even after physicians at Altdorf Uni­
versity conduct­
ed an autopsy 
(an uncommon 
practice at the 
time) that indi­
cated traces of 
arsenic in the 
dead woman’s 
stomach. After 
two torture ses­
sions, Schmieg 
confessed to the 
murder but said 
she had intend­
ed the poison for her daughter. The incident 
resulted in one of the last witchcraft trials and 
executions in the district and is also notable 
for the extensive documentation located in the 
Hohenlohe Castle at Neuenstein, a treasure 
trove of minutiae that allowed Robisheaux to 
assemble a coherent narrative. A good com­
panion book is Michael Kunze’s Highroad to 
the Stake (University of Chicago, 1987), which 
records the detailed trial of the Pappenheimers, 
a vagrant family accused of witchcraft in Ba­
varia in 1600. $26.95. W. W. Norton. 978­0­
393­06551­0. 

190C&RL News March 2009

mailto:geberhart@ala.org