>> hello and welcome to the program the best of the best from the presses. my name is rachel, the marketing manager of the association of american university press. university and scholarly represses publishers offer a wide range of disciplines

including social scientists science, art, music, reference and even children's books. many of them published books and regional and general-interest including fiction, current affairs, biographies and memoirs. the association of american university presses is a cooperative nonprofit organization that promotes the work and influence of the university and scholarly press is. the aaup provides cooperative marketing, professional development and helps them respond -- helps them respond to publishers changing environments. this p.a. has a membership of 134 member press is including five persons in canada and europe and asia. one successful resource thus be aaup produces this annual collection development tool

entitled university press books for second and public school libraries. each year the aaup works with librarians to produce this annual bibliography of titles that are suitable for secondary schools and public libraries to the books from aaup presses are sent to members who than examine, review, select and get specific ratings to titles. the bibliography is published in june whereas initially distributed at the alua conference. it is then mailed out to 13,000 reference librarians in the fall. the new to this in mind blubber fake contains approximately 400 titles from over 60 university and scholarly press publishers. now to help launch a the 2009 edition of the university press books for public and secondary school libraries five members of the university press books committee will present a set of

titles they feel to be outstanding and some of the best books they've reviewed this year. this is an opportunity for the community to share advice and recommendations with colleagues and show the valuable contributions university of scholarly press can make to public and secondary school libraries. at the end of the presentation as promised three attendees selected will win the book raffle. each will win a predetermined set of seven of the titles presented today so please be sure to put your business card or card with your name and e-mail in the box that we will select at the end. presenting today, we have terry lent, media specialist patrick henry high school in virginia. hillary albert, a reference library in new york, judith, a professor at the georgia center university and states bridge georgia.

the director of the assignment and library in the illinois and dr. janice cougar professor of science and virginia. and with terry, we began. >> thank you. my name is terry lent. i am a high school librarian at patrick high school in ashland virginia. as part of this committee, we are looking for books that are suitable for students ages 14 to 19. so we have a pretty narrow focus but the books that we've selected as outstanding are ones that would be suitable for those aged students across the country so we are trying to have a general topic list. the first 1i would like to talk about is the oxford companion to the american musical theater,

film and television. this is a really neat book for reference collections in high schools. the entries are in alphabetical order. very easy to use. the language is suitable for high school audiences and middle school audiences. there are lots of illustrations. lots of illustrations throughout the book, which covers information on dancers, choreographers, authors, the playwright's composers, lyricists, actors, musicals and covering a large time range. everything from abroad fell on up through high school musical. lots of time lines to give students a good perspective on what's going on, both artistically and historical.

the next book is the fires of vesuvius. this is not a book i did read outstanding and i will explain why in just a minute, but i do want to bring it to your attention. this was an amazing piece of scholarly work. very comprehensive, lots of beautiful photographs of things they discovered in pompeii. if you have a latin program or cover ancient history at all this would be a great one for your teacher so. there is one chapter that has a lot of sexual content in it. again, with the illustrations are to from that time, so i didn't think it was appropriate for a general collection, circulating collection, but definitely won the your teachers

would want to know about. really good professional resource. and here are some of the photographs from that. things they've discovered. okay. and the last book i want to talk about is byzantium the surprise in life of a medieval empire. this book was based on primary sources like letters and journals, something students are becoming more and more familiar with. it covers 1,000 years of byzantium history. and the nice thing about this besides again, beautiful illustrations throughout is that they're writing is very approachable for high school students will vocabulary and again, just the style of writing made it easy for kids to understand. and this is just some of the art

that is sprinkled throughout the book. byzantium was a really good book for high school history class this. thank you. >> line hillary albert from the public library. the first book i want to talk about is different than the order that you saw a few seconds ago. the first book is called danger pay by the university of texas press. you might wonder what makes a 36-year-old woman picked up and moved a dangerous country in the middle of their troubles. and she wasn't even sure herself when she left new york as a freelance journalist and move to israel. her photographs bring an amazing world at the addition of her

words bring insight and clarity into a land and its people still traveling the west today. to understand the complexity of trying to work in an area filled with animosity we have only to look at her status as a photojournalist. to work in arab countries she must have had to have a passport with no is really stamps and yet she was living in israel. she has to hide her jewish identity and the same time is on presented by her is really co-workers who can't get in to arab countries. it is a very awkward situation. spencer makes the most every opportunity. sheathings king hussein of jordan, taking many photographs of him and interviewing him in a way that shows an incredibly human side of an immensely private human being. she describes the time and brings out an amazing era of history. the king's grandfather is

assassination, his own extension to the throne and all of his thoughts that go with it. rarely does anyone get that chance, let alone a photojournalist but there was always something about carol spencer that brought out the most people whether in pictures or words. throughout the book we follow her journey through the arab world. she meets arafat and many of his followers. for a woman the respect she gathered from these men is overwhelming and allows her to photograph a world rarely seen by anyone. her break from the mideast is a trip to sudan when she sees they're seems to pardon her in a way that she doesn't like. she sees herself becoming similar to her male colleagues and realizes she needs to step back. her return to the mideast is at the start of the first. she decides it is time for marriage and family and she starts to question her own life style and courier and put away her cameras and examines her life through words. unfortunately before she could complete this beautiful book,

cancer took her life. luckily for us her sister finished the manuscript this past year and we are left with a wonderful look inside of a special life. next book is in their own voice words, voices of the chehab by david aaron published by the rand corporation. unfortunately there are no pictures of this book. david aaron has brought us the haunting voices of the very people who could have been the children in carol spenser's photograph when she was working as a photojournalist. now they are angry young men and women. the book david aaron compiled is acting statements and writings of jihadis on every subject important to them and they're calling. it must be remembered that they are the minority. this is not a book that gives an unbiased view of islam or muslims however.

this book is unfiltered access to people and their words and writings in a way not often available. through this book people are better able to understand their enemy as you might say and support the -- was supports them. there's an introductory section that provides background and origins to jihadis and the movement and threats they pose. with actual accounts of the tax and a life lived as and with jihadis come error in hopes of greater insight people will begin to understand the mentality of the group so obviously unique in this world. discussions about suicide bombings, kidnappings and raising of children are all included. most interesting is how the jihadis often contradict one another while still heading toward a common goal. included are quotes from prominent men such as bin laden, al-zawahiri as well as unknown

foot soldiers of the movement and it's these on known for the soldiers that really grabbed you when you hear what they have to say. most of them are the ones who become suicide bombers. all the testimony included have been gathered together on a database and being kept for the public and you can access them. the book itself will help anyone who wants to gain insight into those we want to understand. in the book in the back there is a section i find interesting called tips for the traveling terrorist and it is an act will book that in a terrorist who is going to be leaving the country gets and i'm just going to quote a few of the things they said. don't wear short pants that show sox when you're standing up. the pants should cover the socks because intelligence authorities know that fundamentalists don't wear long pants. don't wear clothes made in suspect countries such as iran,

pakistan, iraq, sudan, libya, north korea and cuba. underwear should be the normal type that people wear, not the kind that you would wear if you were a fundamentalist. i'm still trying to figure out what fundamentalist wears underwear different from ours. you should differentiate between men and women's perfume. if you use women's perfume you are in big trouble. [laughter] there are about to pages of that, and, i don't know. i'm still trying to figure it out. the next book is called asylum denied a refugees struggle for safety in america published by the university of california press. from people who would do anything to ruin the country and destroy us to someone desperate to live among us. asylum denied is an amazing journey through the labyrinth of u.s. immigration system. david kenney protested daniels

policies against farmers in kenya and lead a boycott at the young age of 20. because this incident he was tortured and feared for his life while finally trying to start a t boycott. when he was finally released, france and the peace corps helped him get a scholarship in the united states for basketball, a sport he never played but he was very tall. once he got to the united states, he thought he would be able to start in search of new life they have only just begun. and it's true david's high as we begin the journey through tortures and fickle process. this is a picture of him starting the rallies. and this is him with two of his lawyers. they are standing on the shares. [laughter] this book is an intense read.

at once a compelling biography hard to put down a perfect for a public library, but at the same time it opens a person's eyes and shows a side of the united states that is so often hidden from the ordinary citizen. the incredible amount of bureaucracy that exists it almost seems as a real at times and hard to believe officials come up against are not in a third-world country. so much of the asylum process is based on her block. which judge do you get, what number do you have, what country are you from? here is a man who followed all the rules, was in the united states going to school, married and expecting his first child and suddenly his luck ran out. the fear and trepidation he lived through trying to get back seemed almost as torturous as the act will torture he escaped. when he did finally get back he was there just in time to see his baby girl born.

america's nuclear wastelands politics, accountability and cleanup by max power published by washington state university press. for country so many people want to get into, we americans often treat its land with incredible distain. in the united states rushed for new weaponry in the second world war, no one fought through what would happen to all the waste and there's actually still waste from the original bombs. then came the cold war and in our race that led to the buildup of nuclear sites across the country and many of them redundant. after all if one side was to get struck by a missile you would want to have another one to keep going building missiles to strike back. in a clear and cyclamen are max power looks at the issue on the largest of the wastelands, the effort site in washington state. this site is unique with its high concentration of waste

stored in temporary single shelves, tanks underground. unfortunately temporary is exactly what the word means and the 20 years since they were built between the 40's and 60's has long since expired and the pollution continues. everyone involved agrees cleanup needs to be done, but it's going to take an incredibly long time and it will give a range of amount of job they are still finding out when. the great thing about this book, america's nuclear waste land is that the book's use long technical language to get across the basic history of nuclear weapons and the contamination issues as well as the political environment making it the perfect addition for any public library. i think i kind of saved the best for last. stat spotting a field guide to identify and dubious data by

joel best, university of california press. previous books rely on statistics and most traders believe them and i admit i'm one of them. numbers like trillions or percentages all tend to overwhelm people and when used by knowledgeable people we tend not to question where they came from. an stat spot and jolt six different media stories and debunks them all. he uses various methods, blunders, sources, definitions and measurements and then gives a format to tell the reader what to look for. he gives examples and then he explains them. my favorite example in the book is a really big blunder using classic careless calculations that have to do with underage drinking. in a 2006 study published in a medical journal it was concluded underage drinkers and problem drinkers accounted for more than one-third of the money spent on alcohol in the united states. they calculated under age drinkers who they figured were

12 to 20 consume 18% of all alcoholic drinks. more than 20 billion drinks a year. a really big number. i see the word billington and i kind of freaked out. earlier in the book it was published each age group has 4 million people in it, so 12 million, there would be 4000012-year-olds and 4000013-year-olds and so on. so there are about 36 million people who can be classified as potential underage drinkers. if we decide 36 million into 20 billion we get 550 drinks per person per year. [laughter] that is young people would have to average 46 drinks per month. the researchers have already calculated only 47.1% of young people were drinkers making it about 17 million drinker's consuming 20 billion drinks per year meaning that they would have to average around 1,175

drinks per year, nearly 100 drinks per month or about one drank every eight hours. [laughter] already disfigure contradicts the own data that said the only consume 35.2 drinks per year, and that point to really freaked me out, like a little shocked. actually when you figured by multiplying 17 million by 35.3 drinks per month, you get 600 million drinks per month times 12 months you get 7.2 billion drinks per year, not 20 billion francs. so already you can tell that's a classic blunder. still a great deal but not quite as alarming. the researchers who played under age drinkers who drink daily are an overwhelming problem and more worrisome than older drinkers should still be questioned. it isn't that easy for underage drinkers to find that time to drink. most of it on weekends and probably averaged less than 45 drinks per month.

if you cut the figure by five you reduce it by another billion schilling the calculation errors truly can shape the results. the last part of bob stat-spotting gives the reader's hands how to go out stat-spotting on their own. it's kind of like bird watching and this book gives a great addition to any public library. thank you. >> it now a little change of pace im judith repman where i teach on the school library to leave the program on the 75 books for this year's bibliography i select the five of for so engaging and outstanding i wanted to share them with you. my first book and i promise i'm not going to break into song at any point is bombay anna the real story of remarkable adventures of the king and i

governess by university of california press. you, like me, probably assume the musical include a mix of fact and fiction. while the readers of bombay anna will learn that in this case truth proves to be much more remarkable than the a fictional account we know so well. susan morgan is a distinguished professor of english at miami university who has written and researched extensively in areas of southeast asia and victorian women, so bombay anna to it's perfectly into that category. morgan did ten years of research before publishing this book and she quickly discovered that banaa was a woman who truly reinvented herself as she lived her life. when we think about reinventing ourselves we might think about making a fresh start, learning a new set of skills, maybe moving to a new place. anna to all those things and much more. she was born november 26, 1831 as anna edwards in bombay. her mother, who already had one

daughter was only 15-years-old when anna was born. her father who died and never met anna was a soldier for the british east india company. are you thinking about the anna of the king and i, the wellborn british girl? not exactly. she was engel of indian and never traveled until she became an adult. she was however intellectually curious and intelligent but her circumstances were very modest. she always loved books and reading and she always took advantage of opportunities to educate herself. she married the love of her life when she was 18 and 1849 and proceeded to give birth to two children. her marriage lasted ten years and her husband passed away and that's when the reinvention of anna began. she and her children took a boat to singapore in 1859, and this is the part of the book that gets the most coverage by the author. this is when she becomes the king and i governess. she believed to start her new

life and support her family she had to portray herself as a proper young british widow without access to family to support her and her family said that's what she said she was. she began to take students. and 1861 the king of siam asked the agent in singapore to acquire a british leedy to become a governess for his children. at the time, there may have been 50 european women in singapore, and most would not have been able to travel to siam to take the jobs of the job fell to anna. she said her daughter to england to go to school and she and her son left for siam. anna was one of the only people who ever had extensive access to the royal on harm and siam. the king, who does not really look much like him in my opinion, had 82 children. the royal non-harm was actually like a small city. anna estimated that 9,000 women

and children lived here. were the priests and visited daily. the women included female relatives, wives, and slaves. noble and powerful families in siam frequently sent their doctors to be part of the harem. the next five years, anna came to know and teach many of these women and children including the crown prince. she did not live in the harem however. she and her son had a house nearby. of course when you think about the movie and the musical you think about the hands of romance. so what about these hands of romance between anna and the king? let me quote a passage of what morgan has to say on that topic. of course there was no romantic interest between anna or the king on either part. to cast their relationship in the free of the conditional romance is to do an injustice to them both and is also to the injustice to what is really interesting about anna's life. this child of poverty and

ignorance somehow metamorphosing into the highly literate gentle widow and singapore, governor royalty and siam, musical duenna and sanskrit scholar in germany traveling journalist in russia and international author and public lecturer in the united states and canada. it was a phenomenal and even dazzling feet. i highly recommend this story. it's very, very engaging. my next title is 500 years of jicama women's history by e. elizabeth martinez and anti-war activist herself published by rutgers university press. this is the book to have on hand when patrons come into the library looking for insight into sonia sotomayor and what helped bring her where she is today. the book is by land tells the

story through powerful officials as it does through its insightful text. while the author is focused on mexican-americans women's history there is considerable overlap with women from other latina backgrounds. the book is not written as a single narrative, although it is organized into thematic chapters that follow a time line. much of the focus is on the struggle for equal rights and social justice. through the pages of this book you meet women like to see on the photograph here, the post posters. the chicago police department labeled lucey more dangerous than 1,000 rioters. how did she learn that label? gif helped found the international workers of the world in 1915 and traveled the country organizing mexican and other workers of color. next please. you will also meet dolores huerta, she co-founded with cesar chavez. arrests over 20 times she

organized strikes, led boycotts, participated in negotiations and by had a lot of children. her short biography is one entry in a lengthy section on the struggle for farm workers rights in this country. the last photograph i will share shows two sisters, nadine and patsy cordova. teachers in mexico they were suspended and later fired for teaching chicana history to their glasses of mostly hispanic students. they were told not to teach about the u.s. constitution, social justice or about individuals including dolores huerta. the sisters sued the district and one damages. they moved on to become teachers and albuquerque. what year did that take place? 1997. less than 15 years ago. still this level of discrimination and prejudice. the number of primary source

illustrations makes this an excellent addition to any high school or public library collection but after you are drawn to looking at the faces of the speeches he will also be able to put them in context using the english or spanish text provided. chapters are devoted to a wide range of topics such as writers, music and film and chicana in public office. a bibliography of reading is included but sat leedy item lacks an index. this is one book that doesn't have any illustrations so you just get to revel in some of the words you will hear about our founding fathers and mothers. this book is the founders of the founders word portraits from the american revolutionary iraq edited by joseph kaminski and published by the university of virginia press. while this is not the kind of book you might sit down and read from cover to cover you get considerable enjoyment out of dipping into it and reading what was written about the character

of 30 influential americans, 28 men and two women, abigail adams and martha washington, from the revolutionary era. kaminski's idea for this book comes from the concept of the commonplace, database of quotations on different subjects. cernansky used his own common pleas to collect references to the character, mannerisms, physical and intellectual descriptions and everyday activities but not on the politics of the revolutionary era. the groups of quotations formed a portrait of a real individual with all his or her glory as well as full at least as the falls were. the quotes are almost all from diaries and correspondence at the time. each of the 30 entries begins with a brief biographical sketch and the book includes a lengthy bibliography for further reading and extremely thorough in dix but let me share a few passages to give you a sense of why i thought this was such an

outstanding resource for everyone. in 1774, silas deane wrote the following to elizabeth dean about patrick henry. mr. henry is also a lawyer and the completist speaker on a bird. if his future speeches are equal to the small samples they will be worth preserving. but in a letter i can give you no idea of the music and his voice or the high rot yet natural elegance of the style and manner. john nicholas doesn't sound like much of a fan of thomas jefferson when he wrote the following to george washington in 1798. i do now know him to be one of the most artful, intriguing industrious and double faced politicians in all of america. in 1789, martha washington gives a glimpse into the earliest fishbowl experience of the first lady in this letter she wrote to

fannie washington. i live a very dull life and know nothing that passes in the town. i never go to the public place. indeed, i think im or a state prisoner than anything else. there are certain bound set for me i must not depart from and as i cannot do what i like i am of dustin in and stay home a great deal. [laughter] i thought i would close with a short passage john adams wrote to abigail from france in 1878 and you can guess to the subject ase. live in our old colleague enjoys a privilege here that is much to be envied. being 70 years of age, the leedy is not only allowed him to embrace them as often as he pleases, but they are perpetually in praising him. i told him yesterday i would write this to america. [laughter] yes indeed, benjamin franklin. my next book is sort of in the same team of leaders of our country. this is abraham lincoln by james

mcpherson published by oxford university press. i wish i had -- i should have brought my copy to show you all. i wish i had with me because you'd be amazed and i will tell you why in just a second. i can't begin to imagine how many pages have been written about the president of the united states and the bicentennial year of his birth many more millions of pages will be written so how could and author hope to capture the essence of lincoln from birth through his legacy and 65 short pages? and its loss 65 did pages, its 65 small pages. as mcpherson points out in the book of lincoln could deliver the greatest speech at gettysburg using only 272 words and speaking for just two minutes perhaps it is possible for a book that can easily be read in one sitting to help those of us who are not lincoln

scholars better understand his life and legacy. mcpherson brings credentials to the effort. he's in a emeritus professor of history and won the pulitzer prize for battle cry freedom. he spent a lifetime studying the civil war and individuals associated with the war sow is depth of knowledge and perspective is great. i found several important and impressive aspects of this short volume. lincoln's entire life is covered from birth to death to legacy. i particularly appreciated the way mcpherson used lincoln's own words to tell his story and more importantly helpless understand lincoln's thinking on slavery and the importance of preserving our union. lincoln consistently stated he considered slavery to be a social, moral and political wrong but at the same time lincoln had sworn to preserve the constitution which did sanctions lately in some states. the chapter that addresses how

lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation and dealt with this conflict his own intellectual conflict on the subject is fascinating reading. a critical bibliography of of their works and sources about lincoln is included as our notes for the text. if you don't read any other books about lincoln in this bicentennial year do yourself a favor and update your knowledge and understanding by spending an evening with a short but very powerful for all book. i too saved the best for last. are we there yet the golden age of american family vacations. the author is susan sessions, history faculty professor at brigham young university. this book was published by the university of kansas press. this is successful many levels.

for many of us is a trip down memory lane through the reflective lens of our cultural history. for others it is an introduction to the changes taking place

ha what to capitalize on the idea of merchandising marketing themselves. if you're thinking you've never heard of hobby land that's because hopalong didn't link hobby land to another tv star so when he retired hobby land retired with him. you will also read about gene autry and annie oakley one of my favorites, but the longest

narrative is devoted to disneyland no surprise there, and the role played shaping america's vacation. would anybody like to guess what the original disneyland theme was when the park opened in 1955? 1 dollar. keep in mind rides and attractions did require tickets that cost more, but 1 dollar. the final two chapters back to nature and summer in the country show other popular options for family vacations. two things i really enjoyed about this title with the utá @&c @&c"p% excerpts from advertising of the era. i will close with an advertising quote that shows just how much times have changed to read in the summer of 1959, ford advertised its car as america's schoolroom on wheels. it's a big country and our history was made all over it.

the way to see it is by car traveling great distances is no problem in our full-sized comfortable american cars. thank you. [applause] >> the section i got were ais portion of the 900 the 200 certainly and eclectic spread of assignments. my first book i will tell you about is vanished islands and hidden continents of the pacific. patrick nunn is professor of oceanic sciences at university of south pacific and fiji. what a great assignment. as i wrote this review what came to mind first were images of adventures in paradise, the tv show starring gardner mckay and reading national geographic articles. nunn begins there are a few topics that captured the imaginations of people within

the last few centuries more than the idea of finished islands. he tells about a trip he took to the island in the feg group. long ago, they told me, an island had existed between [inaudible] one of immense cultural importance in the district. then one day it abruptly disappeared. it slipped underneath the surface of the water. only a few of its occupants survived. sometimes today my informants told me when they cross the channel where the island once was the shouts and screams of people can be heard coming up from the ocean depths and that is why you must show respect by removing your hat and being quiet when you cross the channel for if you are too loud cries from below cannot be heard and those of during and frustration will agitate the sea and capsize your boat.

nunn realized convergences between the stories of the atlantis and other islands and what he understood about the cycles of oceanic islands were too much to ignore so he set about to document them. he found of course some legends are made up but very often of legends have a basis in some/b geological fact.grñ he also says that legends are one thing but in this day and age we also have a phenomenon known as a pseudoscience and nunn is quite particular about wanting to debunk that. he says there are dangers and allowing antiscientific believes to dominate any field of legitimate research. the book itself includes maps, the drawback to this book is the only culbert picture and here we are doing this pacific, this gorgeous area. the only colored picture is the cover of the book. i don't know why the publisher decided to go cheap but the maps are all extremely clear and i have pictures of two of them. so that's good. but any of the photographs are

just in blurry black-and-white. nunn end this very excellent treatment with a plea for solid scientific research and documentation. he says there's no shortage of good reasons for learning about the vanished island of the pacific or indeed anywhere in the world that islands have disappeared is beyond doubt. the collapse of brunsdale island flanks in future posey range of threats to coastal people throughout the region of which house our planners and others need to be aware but the entire field of inquiry has been overshadowed by a tidal wave of pseudoscience theorizing. this has become institutionalized in stark defiance of the huge body of empirical data. he demonstrates admirably that science has so many unsolved mysteries and there are worlds yet to discover that are a legitimate that we don't need any more pseudoscientific stories. this would be really good for a student during a report on

pseudoscience what is the truth or anyone who is interested in learning more about part of the world we don't know that much about and that would be the south pacific. and a second book, the jewish bible. this is published by the jewish publication society as part of a series called the gps died. they're fairly short, about 200 pages and treat different topics of jewish theology or jewish practice for history. the authors were challenged to present this very complex topic, the bible and biblical scholarship in a relatively short volume. they had to be authority of and informative without being too scholarly and i think they succeeded admirably. the book isn't for high school and college students whether for classroom or religious education. it would also be really good for an adult bible study group either jewish or christian is seeking another perspective. the table of contents, and this

is not -- just so i can be sure i can get all the ideas and. they start with how the bible came to be the bible, origins of the hebrew text of a torah scroll with wonderful color from the of original manuscripts and those of us used to seeing the christian bible tells manuscript it's fascinating to see another version of the bible and a similar format. there's discussion about biblical translation and it's fascinating. this is if we can pause for a while this account is wonderful. it's a polyglot version meaning many languages and of course i lose the exact part i want. it includes the he broods latin translation of the hebrew that it includes aramaic and the

latin version of aramaic so it is back-and-forth to inflation. plus arabic and a latin translation of the arabic. very interesting to see how that part of the bible can to be. there are discussions of storytelling in the bible. biblical law, biblical poetry and discussion of the books of profits, the wisdom literature, the different methods of bible study and the jewish tradition including planes since reading, allegorical reading, inquiry or interpreter of reading and mystical reading. they talk about commentaries as well, summarizing the principal jewish commentaries which began in the 800's to modern times. it also includes a feminist commentary as an example of a contemporary comment, andõábqv -pjñ teach how to read the text more closely. modern commentaries incorporate new discoveries and archaeology

and new literary theological and personal in sight. they conclude by reminding us the bible is a text endlessly open to interpretation. each comment and every commentary is a link in the chain of interpretation that joins generations and ultimately feeds back to biblical times. so as i said this would work for jewish or christian audiences and present a really clear in somewhat different on that estimate and i terrie recommended the public library or high school library. opening the kuran was another interesting book. the author -- at leah chose to highlight this because it is a very, very clear treatment of what is becoming an important subject for us to know more about and it's a very complex subject fraught of course with a tremendous amount of emotional baggage. the author, walter wagner is a

muslim. he teaches history in biblical studies at the theological seminary and lutheran theological seminary all in philadelphia. in the introduction he writes in the name of god most gracious most merciful, the words with which qur'an begins opens an understanding of this book of islam and through it, islam, muslims, contemporary situations and ourselves the kuran is the basis for islamic piety, politics, social life, mission and more. it is the daily comfort, died, resource, liberating power, incentive for hope for over a billion people and more. he says misunderstandings of the kuran by muslims and non-muslims especially in recent years of lead to distortions in hostilities. the concepts such as jihad, martyrdom, the role of women, the treatment of mom muslims all

of which fuel fear, river and conflict. wagner says his aim is to engage the kuran's spurring told up and recognize its impetus to foster a devout ethnic community to have an understanding of islam and along with muslims create equitable social orders. this book offers on muslims and entry into the kuran in ways which readers might start to understand and perhaps apt kuran aspect to their own situations. the word kuran means proclamation. each word is spoken and specifically placed weary days by god. rather than the biblical books chapters and verse is that we are accustomed to the kuran is divided into 14 sections and then some are long and some are short. and wagner's very thorough treatment, he includes basic narrative for judy esen and christianity, islam basic narrative and cord positions. he goes into the setting.

the times in which the messenger, social political and cultural context that mohammed lived in. he talks about the origin of transmission and the structure of the kuran, interpretation, terrorist passages. he does have a chapter on women and the treatment of women. he also has a wonderful paralleled chapter shelling the same individuals as they are treated in the jewish christian bible and in the kuran for example abraham and jesus and mary all of the home have a treatment in the kuran as well. there's also a glossary. there are notes. he has an appendix that has the traditional names and the parallel list of biblical figures who also appear in the kuran. the only drawback of this book is the layout.

it is really, really dull. but, the content is what really sparkles. this book would be an excellent addition to high school and public library collections and would be a really great choice for an adult sunday school class. this book was absolutely great fun, tales for a little rebels. the subtitle is a collection of radical children's literature. the editors point out the children's literature has always been an ideological going back to colonial times when remember the primer was adam's fall we said all, be with a picture of the bible by life to end this book it and some even 400 years ago we were telling children through their literature how they ought to be looking at the world and behaving. but in the early 20th century, progressiveness and leftists took this concept to their part of the ecological spectrum. radicals taught children to take collective action to effect

change, to trust their own instincts, to explore alternative social arrangements and use history to understand how and why today's world. in recent years right-wingers have made efforts to counter left-wing propaganda with books such as help mom, there are liberals under myett, from 2005, and america a patron of a primer by our friend, lynn cheney and then there's also left behind the kids, by jury and tim. but backed the selections for this book. and 1908 the socialist premier was published. a book of the first lessons for the little ones in words of one syllable and one very brief example which i don't have an illustration was less than five, again that was two syllables come all men will work who want no shirt. here is a man who begs. why does he not go to work? he could but he can get no job.

a fat man owns the mine. a fat man owns the land. so we're playing a private ownership. there is a 1934 pioneer called mother goose with updates on part karkh blogs to bark, peas porridge hot and this little pig and that is too small to read it so i will share some of the verses. peas porridge hot, malden's to cold, smylie soup in a pot calling these old. richard gephardt, poor get the cold, others did it in a pot nine days old. some eat stinking hash of there's still grow. help the workers smashed their capitalistic world. workers will get the hot, there won't be any cold. workers search the garbage pot for anything nine days old. just roll off the tonya story time, don't they? [laughter] nellis light on this one either.

this is a fun book. the story of the coat from 1946, it's not this picture. the story of your code from the sheep on a range of australia to the textile mill in massachusetts to the clothing factory in new york to the story in your town and it points out your coat was not made by one worker alone. it was not made in one place alone. it was made by wind dee dee company worker synergen reason of different places all working together. this is the story of your coat. do you still think is just an ordinary cote? this slide is from a publication called girls can be anything. i need a little feminist part in this and it's part of a story about a family having dinner. so you'll be the nurse and i will be the doctor maria said. that is the way it goes, adam said.

he was already putting on the white dr. costume. girls are always and nurses and police are always doctors. why is that, said marina? that's the way it is, adam said. she wanted to pop and at that point i said. could i have the stethoscope please there's? that night she told her father at dinner i don't like adam at all. i thought he was to be your favorite? he is to be but do you know what he said today? what, asked father? he said girls can't be doctors, they just have to be nurses. well, that's just plain silly, her father said. of course they can be doctors. they can? certainly they can, said father. so you get the idea, and these were radical in the years they were published. other sections include subversive science and traumas of the ecology, work, workers and money, or a nice -- of course the labor movement, history and he rose, a person is

a person, which includes a wonderful excerpt, and here is a slide from the pogo step mother goose written by lewis carroll but illustrated by our friend, walt kelly and of course now we have to understand who pogo evin was but it's a nice trip down memory lane for many of us. every section has information about the author and about the content. there is a list of further reading for each section and some surprises because the concept what radical children's literature is who would have bought millions of cats would be a radical literature but according to these authors in some context could be. harold and the purple crayon. they don't explain why but it would be fun to go back. and things like the push card war certainly been things that could be considered radical. the authors conclude saying today children's literature continues to be a vehicle for

expressing visions of a more just world. we wish to place such new work with any longer tradition of radical children's literature and we want to call the terms radical, children's and literature in question period will sort of literature is appropriate for children? what responsibility to the adults have two children to keep them informed about the issues of the day like global warming, terrorism, political and corporate greed? at what point must protection stop and preparation began? we invite you to think about how these pieces address the issues that animated the radical thinkers of the past and those are concerns still very much with us today. the next generation will face challenges progress of tables old and new can help them address such problems and inspire them to create a better future for everyone. i do recommend this provocative collection, and i think it could be an admission for public library readers i think for high

school social studies unit this would provide good food for thought. and finally, the princeton dictionary of ancient egypt. what came to mind when i was reading this and choosing it for review was going back to there were beginning reference class how do you judge a really good reference book and this certainly meets all the criteria. it is certainly authority of. the authors are ian shaw and paul nicholson. senior lecturer at the university of liverpool, nicholson is the senior lecturer harvard university. i would consider this an essential volume for any reference collection. it's the second edition and it incorporates the most important discoveries in scholarship in the field since the first publication in 1995. the illustrations are lavish clear photographs that show art, artifacts and places, maps are extensive and large enough to read and photocopy. its encyclopedia of in scope.

the entries to with big issues of course, mummies, the pharaohs, the gods but also fundamentally the mundane issues as well. what people ate, board and studied. for example of for alcoholic beverages, the year, the most common of alcoholic beverages, formed an important part of the egyptian by it. the entry then goes on to 300 words explaining the archaeological evidence how beer was brewed. it began with partly baked cakes of portly bride. it then goes on to talk about red and white why and where they winemaking areas were and and cultural views. the depiction of the banquet in the tomb of a female guest says if meek 18 cups of wine for i wish to drink until drunkenness. my insight is like a straw. what a way to be immortalized. comment such drunkenness was

regarded as indicative of the abundance of the feast and therefore to be encouraged. a passage about all ivory strictly speaking library was elephant tusks, but the ancient egyptians also used hippopotamus teeth. in 1997 the bones of a young african elephant were found in tomb 14 locality six and here accomplice 3500 to 3200 bc. this is the earliest alphabets real. i've reworking probably took place under the centralized control of polis workshops. a passage about science the need to solve particular problems such as moving of large weeks of stone or calculations of the pyramids was usually the inspiration for particular development in the egyptian science, which does not seem to have existed as a concept except in border concept in its own

right. .. the book is basically a result of the photographers request for an introduction to his collection of.

the editor discovered no comparable work at the university of washington or the archives of the american heritage center. consequently the texting grew up around what was then known. so the tax is broken up into the region's natural and human history and the chapters are individually offered with the experts for the field. the natural history chapters include the geology of the desert, water environmental changes, things about birds, horses, insects found in the region, basically the animal life. sagebrush, plant diversity through the area so basically the plant life of the region. the human history chapters discuss in the early and have a tense, the rock art that it developed, as time you're on and that the buildings of the railroad, and ranches and the conservation efforts.

this first vote shows of the inscription of the 19th century emigrant's at the top of independence rock which is on the california organophosphate mormon trail near the red desert and this is nature on a county in wyoming. if you look closely on the whole you concede inscription there. the next one shows the extremes of the area to be flat and all of a sudden you have this rock jutting out and is a lie can uncover and a model left, this is on a 8-mile lake in thises and carbon county, wyoming. and in the final shot is an aerial shot of the high and savory irrigation reservoir which is an earthen dam in carbon county, wyoming. if you look at the back of the fodor you can see that as for the damages and the water. overall, the book is a wonderful combination of geography and history of our great nation made

visible through the sharp photographs. my second title is one i found interesting and i think it is because i come from a family who is involved in the medical field and so when i looked at the healthy skeptic, cutting through the hype about your health, by dr. robert davis, i was somewhat amused because i could think of certain family members while reading it. from the book jacket we learn that robert -- dr. robert davis is an experienced medical journalist. his affairs degrees are in public health and health policy and he teaches at emory university is school of public health. his work has been on cnn, pbs, web md, and in the wall street journal. now, the following exurbs as i go through them, i selected in

the cartoons because the cartoons give focus to what the theme of the chapter is and as we look at the individual cartoons you will gain a sense of what that focuses of the book, the entire book. so the first one you will see their, you can read at the bottom, it says how health studies are conducted and we have to scientists there. one is on a ladder selecting the topic for the week, the other one has a dart in hand in heim said and either bad this week or good this week. so that introduces the chapter which is the first chapter and says, says to? how we know what we think we know. basically it gives the background. dr. davis uses dr. john harvey kellogg as an example in the

first chapter. he became famous and respected as a medical authority even though he selectively chose findings of medical science and to support some of his nonconventional ideas. in he would cite the testimony of eminent authors to support what he wanted. as a result, he wrote 50 books and edited a magazine called in good health, and gave numerous lectures. his battle creek sanitarium attracted the rich and the famous. such people as henry ford, thomas edison and emulate earhart. now, the author warns dr. davis warns about other similar health promoters we use phrases such as studies show, research proves, such as the many ads you can see on tv late at night if you're watching tv, you'll see all the commercials, and see them. so dr. davis goes on to explain briefly how to wake findings

from the study is based on methodology. he ranks methodology is from least to most credible. he frames eight questions for a reader to evaluate the studies worth and provides a list of trustworthy references. now, the next cartoon introduces chapter three and you see this poor woman in a bookstore looking somewhat bewildered. she is looking at the diet books which are nicely broken into fiction and nonfiction. [laughter] okay, and this introduces chapter rawitch is untitled don't eat that! dr. davis highlights some of the more famous diets in this chapter and how one in particular is the atkins diet which as you know favors' fatty foods that avoids carbohydrates. dr. davis refers to the controversy that surrounded dr. atkins way to an overall condition of health care, when

he died, he died at age 72 from injuries he received as a result of a fall but questions arose around what caused the fall a year before that he had a heart attack and his doctor claimed that it didn't have anything to do with the diet. so dr. davis also points to other fad diets such as the one proposed by suzanne somers with a combination of types of food and. ever get, she eliminated carbohydrates i think, but he also introduces claims made by the south bay to weight watchers and each right before your blood type and shows how they are suspect. so basically our author stresses that the research indicates witness and lifestyle are the key is, not the diet. so things to remember when you are thinking of diet claims, think about your personal

health, avoid extremes, pay attention to the fitness and exercise, and basically a good staff and avoid the job. pretty good i think there now the next one, the last cartoon for this book introduces chapter nine. here we have and this has been the, sitting in on the exam and the doctors talking to the wide and he is saying his biological clock news rewinding. and this introduces -- introduces chapter nine call the, anti aging doctors: don't get sick, don't get old, don't die! [laughter] so dr. davis begins the chapter by saying how he was not well, when he tried to participate in the american academy of anti aging madison conference in his professional capacity as a medical journalist. so what he did was he signed up as an individual and he attended

the lectures anyway. so when he went and looked at the exhibits like we see here at our conference here, he found a lot of promotional literature for the conference advertising to the doctors how to expand your cash practice, how to practice plastic surgery, how to make as our health claims, and offer products that push use of supplements with no scientific basis such as anti oxidants and hormones. the author points out, dr. davis points out that in some cases the study's actually reveal that these substances relate two actually dying earlier rather than later. so you have to be careful. now, overall dr. davis warren and the general public should be aware of a board certified in anti aging positions because they are not the same as other mainstream boards such as the

journal of medicine, family practice, or orthopedics. also be aware of cert entitled seven janet s. which is for clinical age management because it involves nothing more than home training in multiple choice exams. now, over all the book provides a healthy dose of reality when it comes to extreme claims for such things as diet, anti aging, immediate cures, campaigns on cholesterol, use of sunscreen, getting all sorts of tests, and various preventive measures. it is written in such a way that is easily understood and it can find a home in a public library and in the high school library. i believe it would be a great source for it debate teams to use because they will get into some of these issues when i go on to debate, and for persuasive speaking classis. i think it even could be used to

stress critical evaluation of sources with regard to information literacy. now myç last book is the atlasf exploration, is probably really my favorite one. it basicallyç it is a typical atlas, but what it does it divides the the information in the content into early exploration which includes topics of first civilization, alexander the great, roman empire, islamic travelers, the journeys of marco polo, one and the events and activities that happen in china and africa. the continents are included and are divided individually and when the focus is on the early explorations of age consonant. it even trees oceanography because of the whole topic of exploring the ocean charting the

depp, examining the ocean liner, a nurse in a commercial values that the oceans hold for us, it involves current exploration, expands exploration of deserts', the tropics, polar regions, planets and beyond. the book provides biographical sketches of the explorers alo with a time charge of major expeditions. now, the first i've chosen, it shows the article that was entitled, missions to the orient. and you can kind of see the larger photographs of that, and it depicts the jazz of it missionaries instructing people after being invited by the officials and the missionaries were key to spreading knowledge of china to europe. on the next one is called crossing the appellations and is showing the indian life in

virginia and the frontiersman, daniel boone, escorting pioneers traveling west in search of good farmland. and the final one is from the heroic age. it chose an ice cave within an iceberg, one of the natural wonders photographed by herbert pontine during robert scott expedition to antarctica from 1910 to 1913. and if you look close enough and my behind in the back to sid, scotts ship, the terra nova, can be seen in the background through the cave which is in the iceberg so it is way back there in the distance. and the map on the side shows the exploration of roads. now if you have ever taught social studies or geography or history in middle school, you'll know that this atlas of exploration can supplement any tax and provide a solid information for any student projects. it's a wonderful resource both

for school and public libraries and. thank you very much. [applause] >> this event was part of the 2009 american library association annual conference here for more information visit to a l.a..org. >> what is the black belts? >> the black belt is a region of america, a region of the south that extends, virginia, all the way to texas and it is historical roots or origins really dates back to the antebellum time, it is a place or african-americans form the majority of the population, a string of counties african-americans from the majority of population but where plantation agriculture of primarily cotton really served as the economic engine for the region is so that dates back to the antebellum era, but that

stretches for word to the middle of the 20s century and beyond where african-americans string of counties are formed the majority of black population and agriculture remain dominant. but then in each state to the black belt forms a the same reason as of an alabama the alabama black belt is a string of about 15 county stretching from the border of georgia the central alabama the supporter of the mississippi. >> what is the political significance? >> is critical because of that is the heart of the african-american population in alabama, but also in all the other states with the exception of mississippi rehab the mississippi delta but in most of the seven states that is very fine african-american majority populations. knox county, alabama, for example after -- to the represent 80 percent of the population so when we think about the migration of african-americans, the great migrations in the first after

world war i in world war ii they're coming out of the black belt the south and so it's not only the center of the african-american population in this out that really serves as of the corps for the emerging black population in the urban areas of the north and the west. >> tell us about lowndes county, alabama. >> is really a debacle of the alabama black belt, geographically located between montgomery and selma, montgomery to the east end selma to the west. it was founded -- established in the 1830's and by 1865, it has a long history but by 1865 there was the center of top production but also developed one -- >> a lot of slavery to absolutely, plantation slavery revolving around tauzin was the absolute core, but over time it remain an agrarian economy tied to the exploitation of african-americans --

african-american laborers in the post emancipation time with sharecropping, peonage, all the way through the post-world war two era but african-americans remain the majority of population. 80 percent black, but in 1965 there were precisely zero register black voters so is a white minority that had an zero -- not just a small percentage to -- zero in its 80 percent african-american and the reason for that was because of this long legacy of racial violence african-americans were excluded with largely because of the political process, largely because of their meeting as exploitable laborers but it was made possible by the use and a long memory of violence dating back to the emancipation. as a local people have but then also those who were familiar

with clowns county refer to it as bloody lowndes because of this long history of really a vicious form of violent white supremacy. >> so what happened, professor, in 1966 in lowndes county, alabama? >> it is amazing because of the beginning of 1965, this is a remarkable story, the beginning of 196580 percent black zero register black voters by the end of 1966, a local movement of local african-american activists and a snake organizers had not only -- >> the student nonviolent coordinating committee. >> grassroots serreze organization that develops a project in the beginning of 1965 led by silkworm carmichael who we always associate with black power, by the end of 1966 not only have they succeeded in registering at the majority of the african-american voters, but

they have created an independent countywide political party. to challenge to the local white democrats for control of the county courthouse and didn't just create a political party that was a mere shadow of of the normal democratic party which revolves around politics, but they traded erratically democratic party that all people have the right and hold within them the possibility to control or make the decisions that affect their lives so they said domestic workers, sharecroppers, people with limited education, african-americans who have been disenfranchised on to become the sherrif, ought to have a right to be, probate judge in the like. so it is really a remarkable story of transition and possibilities going from complete absolute exclusion to challenging white supremacy for the creation of this in a political party. >> had that happen?

>> the grass roots organizing come it begins in early march with a handful of people deciding that we are going to try to register to vote is so they go down to the courthouse, the first day to register and all i turned away and they are asked to leave their names, to identify who they were, which was a dangerous thing because now the buy community knew who they were and they were exposed to the possibilities of economic and physical retaliation. >> and was there retaliation by skimming there was as the movement begins to grow person by person household by household and community by community african-americans particular sharecroppers and tenebrous are evicted in mass and actually by the end of december have to form a tent city in the local movement organization and that is just one aspect. nightriders, repeatedly targeted african-american leaders but then also people in 10 city.

anybody who house and was associated with s sec acted as were targeted for racial violence in, people lost their jobs, many had to leave the county. and some never came there again. there was this long process, to hide the possibility they would lose their jobs and continue to organize and not just a round of the vote. that was the initial catalyst, but like so much of the african american freedom struggle that gets ignored, they quickly moved behind the votes to buy for quality education and schoolers still segregated after brown, to desegregate white schools, the primary with schools that are there. and to improve and increase the opportunities for black farmers and so they are organizing black farmers and, of course, moving beyond to lashley organize independent political parties to

gain control. >> 80 percent african-american in 1966, what kind of participants -- participation in the lowndes county freedom organization was there? >> slow at first. there was a lot of fear and people -- it's funny because when the carmichael and it as an sec move into laos county in the beginning of 1966 the college is limit the decision not to talk about reading in the pan a political parties because they knew that folks would say how is this going to work. in other words, they knew that the democratic party was unnecessarily of them but they said what is an alternative that you're talking about and is it really possible but after developing a r9 months of movement experiences people said the democratic party's local democrats aren't going to let us in and they're doing these things. jonathan daniels a sncc volunteer is murdered in cold blood in august of 65 so reflecting on these movement

experiences lead people slowly by dozens at first and then by may 66 when they hold a convention about 900 people participate in the county, 5,000 eligible black voters, 900 show up and participate in the primary that gets them on the ballot. by the time the november election you have roughly about 2,000 or 2200 african-americans cast their ballots in the vote, and some many others were turned away from participating in those living in sharecropping farms were still afraid it. many teachers were afraid for fear of losing their job. >> and how did they go from zero registered voters to the number of registered voters that they had in? how did they get around all the obstacles? >> that is the slow and hard work of canvassing as carmichael called it. the principal obstacle at the

time was fear here it was a legitimate fear of white violence, but by knocking on those stores, tapping into social networks, tapping into community networks, drawing people in person by person and family by family and saying, we are all in this together and if you want to change your lives condition, one of the things that sncc organizers talked about, they said this is in politics the sick of politics, this is actually if you want to change your life circumstances, if you want pedro is any need to join the movement. if you want to have a say in the decisions that affect lives, where your children go to school, then you need to join the movement and is slow going. with a knock on doors and people look at them and say, look, there are courteous but we don't want to get in that mess, we know it's dangerous. but it begins to build momentum not only around the votes, but then also of them the broader

ideas and themes which i call freedom rights. it is the combination of civil rights, the vote and then also human and education rights, equality in housing and talking to people about that that really gets them involved and offering them a program for securing it that gets people to sign up, to join and make a public decision to support the movement. >> who was john cuban? >> a central figure in the allowance county freedom struggle. he is a local person who grows up in an lowndes county and the 1940's after you graduate from high school moved to birmingham and works in the steel mills and then he returns to lowndes county in the late '50s and while he was in birmingham he worked with the movement there, working with fred and shuttles

worth and the alabama christian movement for human-rights and then when he returns to lowndes county in 1960 is talking to people try to get them interested in a voter registration campaign. the focusing, it is too dangerous and too risky but in 1965 he is able to get a couple people to go with emma and he serves essentially as a chair person of the local movement organization, the allows cutting christian movement for him and rights and as chairperson of the lowndes county freedom organization come in a political party with its balance symbol of the black panther party doesn't run for office and in 1966 but in 1970 he is actually elected as a the first african-american sherrif in lowndes county. the books talk about what is the trajectory of a black politics from that moment forward with the movement does not have been without him or release a dozen have been in a way that it does without john hewitt.

>> in 1966 did the lowndes county freedom organization have electoral success? >> no. >> y not? >> a couple reasons. in the november election they run seven african-american candidates for local office and all are defeated by a couple of hundred votes. for a myriad of reasons. one was intimidation on election day by a wide polling officials, ballot fraud and in large chicanery, the sending people to the wrong polling sites. in bringing in and checking in from plantations african-american workers and giving them balance and say this is the ballot and the people you are voting for an obviously all right democrats and that is said and so they have no choice and then simple to organizers in the

movement that's said that we weren't as prepared as we could have been. we have a transportation system but it wasn't as effective as it could have been. we're still young at this and still some people we have to bring in, but they tried it and they came close ended was -- individually they were successful, but because they received 40 percent of the total votes which is a remarkable number percentage for a startup third-party, 80 percent of the african-american votes they were able to get on a the ballot to. we were able to be recognized by the state and so the black panthers which later on the black panther party opened in california and adopted at the black panther symbol which becomes a permanent presence for the immediate future in the state of alabama for elens