Arts & Humanities

Arnoldi, Charles. Charles Arnoldi. Radius. 2008. 240p. illus. bibliog. ISBN 978-1-934435-07-6. $65. FINE ARTS

This elegant work serves as the first comprehensive look at Arnoldi, a Los Angeles-based, internationally known artist. His influence on other artists is described in a foreword by Frank Gehry, who has been a friend and colleague for many years. The book also includes a candid discussion of the development of Arnoldi's career by the artist and four of the most important people in his life—dealers Gregory Amenoff, Fred Hoffman, and Charlotte Jackson, along with Michael Zakian (director, Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art). The ever-changing vision of the artist, willing to take risks and try new techniques, becomes even more apparent in the major section of the work, which features 160 full-page color illustrations of the various periods and media. The immediate, intense impact of Arnoldi's work comes through on every page, and it is a breathtaking experience to move from a multicolored sculpture to an acrylic/plywood collage to a geometric oil on canvas, all accompanied by the conversation between the colleagues. This spectacular look at one of this country's outstanding artists is highly recommended for all art, academic, and large public libraries.—Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York

Published in honor of the 100th anniversary of General Motors (GM), this beautifully produced large-format book offers a stunning visual history of the company and its most notable cars. Including classic vehicles such as Firebirds and Sting Rays and covering the gamut from the rear-engine Corvair to concept cars, this book recounts an impressive era, spanning most of the 20th century, when GM—both management and labor—took pride in the design, manufacture, and performance of its exceptional cars. Stein (The Performing Art of the American Automobile) includes a few black-and-white images from GM's early history, but the book is primarily illustrated with Michael Furman's technically exquisite studio photographs of classic cars, which capture the vehicles' grace and elegance. Bob Lutz, vice chairman of global product development for GM, and Nicola Bulgari, a renowned car collector, contribute informative introductory materials, and a number of other experts offer lively and substantive essays. Auto designer Stewart Reed provides insightful running commentary about the images. The resulting book is a strikingly beautiful and substantive history of GM. Highly recommended for all libraries, especially photography, automotive, and American history collections.—Raymond Bial, First Light Photography, Urbana, IL

Organized like an exhibition catalog, this volume presents an exceptional private collection of woven and printed textiles, hats, headdresses, and other types of bodily adornment. What makes the collection so special is that it covers the entire continent, from North Africa to the sub-Saharan regions, especially areas that are often overlooked in other books and museum collections. The chapters are organized by geographic region, introduced with scholarly overview essays—contributed by Bouttiaux (chief curator, ethnography dept., Royal Museum of Central Africa, Belgium), John Mack (The Art of Small Things), Frieda Sorber (curator, Provincial Museum of Costume & Textiles, Antwerp), and art historian Anne van Cutsem-Vanderstraete—and feature several high-quality photos of objects accompanied by short, descriptive catalog entries. The photographs simply focus on the textiles, clothes, and adornments as objects, laid out flat; unfortunately, there are no illustrations or field photographs to demonstrate how the objects would be used or appear on the wearer. Nevertheless, the volume is highly recommended for any library with holdings focusing on art, crafts, or African and Islamic studies.—Eugene C. Burt, Seattle

Tapestries are typically considered a "minor art." That is, along with furniture design, fashion, and book binding, the fabric arts are derided as less important than the traditional fine arts such as painting, sculpture, and architecture. Brosens (visiting associate professor, Catholic Univ. of Leuven, Belgium), along with a distinguished group of art historians and curators, argues for the historical and artistic importance of tapestry as an art form. Designed to accompany the Art Institute of Chicago's exhibition The Divine Art: Four Centuries of European Tapestries, this is a genuinely unique text. Its pioneering scholarship is both precise in its claims and accessibly written for a wide audience. After introductory essays, the tapestries are arranged by region and then subdivided by chronology. These works range from medieval through baroque art styles. The color illustrations and the essays that analyze each tapestry are exquisite. An essential purchase for all libraries that collect in the arts.—Katherine C. Adams, Yale Univ. Lib., New Haven, CT

Eggleston, the subject of the Whitney Museum show this book accompanies, was instrumental in ending, in the 1960s and -1970s, the resistance to color photography as a respectable art form. Eggleston saturates his extraordinary photographs with light and color, and this makes the banal seem exalted and infused with heightened significance. The images have an oracular quality in part from the sheer eclecticism of the compositions. People, trees, buildings—all are potential archetypes of the elusive cultural character of the locations he documented in his native South and, later, in more distant places like Kyoto, Orange County, and Berlin. Eggleston was inclined toward the aberrant in his choices of content—e.g., antifreeze stains on asphalt, close-ups of demented, drugged faces of the habitués of some menacing Southern underworld. Then jarringly, breathtakingly, the viewer is treated to a beautiful cloudscape that seems borrowed from the northern Renaissance, close-ups of meticulously cared-for hairstyles, or sunlight refracted through a glass of Coke. Eggleston is a deservedly venerated master, and a full tribute such as this is as compelling as it is overdue.—Douglas F. Smith, Berkeley P.L., CA

In this catalog, Sims (curator, Museum of Art & Design, New York City) and Truman T. Lowe and Paul Chaat Smith, co-curators of the corresponding exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian, explore the work of Fritz Scholder (1937–2005). He began his career as a pop art-influenced expressionist in the West Coast figurative tradition and, in the late 1960s, gained fame for his radical images of Native Americans. Scholder was one-fourth Native, having a Luiseño grandmother, but also identified with his German and English backgrounds. Inspired by artists such as the Englishman Francis Bacon and the Norwegian Edvard Munch, some of his images developed psychologically disturbing motifs, such as drunk Indians, skulls, paint-smeared faces, crucifixions, Indians shot at Wounded Knee, vampire kisses, and monsters. Scholder was a controversial figure in his lifetime and remains so today. In the important last chapter, people who knew him in different capacities talk frankly in a roundtable discussion about his struggle with issues of Indian identity. Academic and public libraries may want to consider putting this in either the Native American art section or the 20th-century art section.—Anne Marie Lane, Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie

This excellent catalog accompanies seminal German artist Kippenberger's first major retrospective in the United States. While there have been previous English-language introductions to his work (see the 1991 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art catalog and, most recently, the 2006 Tate catalog), this book offers a comprehensive, if happily messy, view. Kippenberger, who died in 1997 at the age of 44, left behind a sprawling, humorous, serious, and ambitious oeuvre ranging from warehouse-scale installations to traditional canvases and from controversial sculptures to a series of hundreds of drawings made on hotel stationary. The catalog examines Kippenberger's constructions of personal biography and modern history, exhibition and performance ephemera, and his embrace of failure as a generative strategy, as exhibition curator Goldstein explains in her introductory essay. With four thorough essays, a long interview with the artist by Jutta Koether, and a time line, this is a great resource for exploring the formal and historical issues manifested throughout Kippenberger's "problematic perspective." Recommended.—Prudence Peiffer, Cambridge, MA

This compilation of Knight's high-quality photographs of rock stars features some of the biggest of all time, including Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Van Halen, Green Day, and many others. This reviewer's favorite is a black-and-white photo of Kiss's Gene Simmons with his tongue out, confetti and sparks falling to the ground behind him. There's a great chapter on blues artists such as B.B. King, Albert Collins, and Bo Diddley and a small section featuring pictures of modern artists such as the Sick Puppies and the Answer. The 200-plus color and black-and-white photographs in this coffee-table book are large. Like the Gene Simmons photo mentioned above, all of them capture the energy and soul of the artists. There is a brief foreword written by Slash and a nine-page introduction by the author, but libraries and others will want to buy this book for the photographs. Highly recommended for all libraries serving patrons with an interest in the history of rock 'n' roll photography.—Todd Spires, Bradley Univ. Lib., Peoria, IL

The earliest Christian monastic communities were founded as hermit colonies in Egypt in the early fourth century. In the sixth century, the Benedictine order modified certain ascetic practices, and medieval monasticism became central to the growth of Christianity, its literature, and its scholarship. Weighing over ten pounds and measuring 14 inches in height, this sumptuous document on the architecture of these communities in western Europe, from the beginnings of Christianity through Le Corbusier in the 20th century, represents 12 broad historical periods. Each section includes histories of individual monastic orders with accompanying examples of their art and architecture (the architecture dominates). Looking at the interactions of different orders, their leadership, philosophies, and liturgies, art historian Krüger provides a well-defined portrait of Western Christendom. Although the full-paragraph illustration captions are often substantive, the architectural analyses are brief and considerably more limited in their vocabulary. Glorious double-page photographs, regrettably unidentified, precede each section. The excellent translation by Taylor and the informative, large-scale, perfectly lit, full-color photographs by Bednorz make this an excellent acquisition for all architecture and European history collections.—Paul Glassman, Felician Coll. Lib., Lodi, NJ

This catalog of a 2008 exhibition at New York's Neue Galerie focuses on the critical early graphic work—arguably his most important—of the Austro-German artist and illustrator Kubin (1877–1959). Self-taught and sketchily educated in the artistic ferment of 1890s Munich, Kubin focused chiefly on themes of violence, death, and sex at the time that Sigmund Freud and others were beginning to explore the existence of the unconscious. Often seen as foreshadowing the wars and horrors of the 20th century's first half, Kubin's graphic works partake of Goya and Hieronymus Bosch as well as Freud and the hothouse aestheticism of turn-of-the-century Central Europe. Hoberg (curator, Städtische Galerie; coeditor, Franz Marc: The Retrospective) compiles six essays by German and Austrian curators that illuminate the artist's graphic style, the sources of his ideas, and his own literary work. Although he enjoyed great success later as a book illustrator, Kubin's early work remains sui generis, and iconographic analysis frequently outweighs aesthetic interest. This catalog tackles both with success, but he is an artist of limited range, his work almost akin to the outsider art of the period. For advanced art history collections.—Jack Perry Brown, Art Inst. of Chicago Libs.

In this colorful collection, Searle profiles 18 contemporary knitters, including herself, who create knitted objects for display as artworks. From garments to freestanding sculpture to gallery and outdoor installations, these works have a bold presence and, in many cases, an overt political or social message. Searle provides an essay of about four pages for each artist explaining the development of the personal style and practices used by each. Full- and half-page photographs of five or six works by each artist make the book particularly appealing. Because few readers are aware of this body of work and considering the book's inherently appealing subject and accessible presentation, this is suitable for public libraries and art collections.—Kathryn Wekselman, MLn, Cincinnati

A conservative classicist working at the advent of industrialization, consumerism, and photography, Ingres felt himself to be out of step with his times. Shelton (art history, Ohio State Univ.; Ingres and His Critics) writes that the art historian's job is not to determine whether Ingres was "a classicist, a realist, or a modernist," but to help us understand Ingres as a product of the "social, political and cultural schizophrenia of the age in which he lived." Shelton traces Ingres's career chronologically, finishing with Ingres's influence on subsequent artists including unlikely candidates such as Man Ray and Cindy Sherman. With 160 color and 20 black-and-white illustrations of both drawings and paintings, this book offers an introduction to Ingres's art in an easy-to-read style. Including a time line, brief biographies of Ingres's contemporaries, and a glossary, this is a good value for public, academic, and specialized libraries.—Nancy J. Mactague, Aurora Univ. Lib., IL

"Poetry isn't what we think of as the ordinary, but what we feel and sense is underneath the ordinary," writes Addonizio (coauthor, The Poet's Companion), who is anything but ordinary, as her previous works of poetry and fiction (e.g., Tell Me; Little Beauties; What Is This Thing Called Love?) attest. Here, she offers a way in for new poets struggling to unfold the images and phrases inside their heads and a way out for waylaid poets suffering through unwanted extended hiatuses. She stresses journal writing, of course, and mandates that poets read works from established poets to help jump-start their own poems. In addition, Addonizio suggests numerous instructive and fun exercises to trigger ideas for poetry—e.g., creating poems about photos one missed taking; exaggerating the features of common objects; writing a celebration about sex (yes, she loves Whitman); playing with riddles and extended metaphors; and injecting humor into serious poems and vice versa. These exercises traverse the entire text, each chapter highlighting a different facet of poetry. Appendixes list recommended readings and online poetry resources. For poet-patrons of both public and academic libraries.—Nedra Crowe-Evers, Sonoma Cty. Lib., CA

Allen, who has written many books on India and spent his formative years there, covers the first half of Kipling's life and explains it within the context of the British presence in India. Kipling came from an artistic family but one that was not part of the ruling class; they were always considered outsiders. He compensated by becoming a great reader and observer. When given the opportunity to work on an Anglo-Indian newspaper in India, he made the most of it. Not only did he report on the doings of British society in India, but he also explored the common man, both British and Indian. In doing so, he did not endear himself, but he did get people thinking. His time in India provided him with the material for many short stories and verses as well as his novel Kim. This is a balanced account, with full disclosure of Kipling's weaknesses and his propensity for reworking the truth in his stories. One gets a good sense of the milieu in India in which he operated, and, like his biographer, one admires his pluck. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries.—Gina Kaiser, Univ. of the Sciences Lib. in Philadelphia

Every day, lovingly planned lives are ripped from unsuspecting partners and spouses by carelessness or by design. It's a story that can be told in a thousand different ways. Gillies's chronicle of her family's move to a small college town for the benefit of her husband's career charms readers before breaking their hearts when said husband leaves. By turns enlightening, funny, and gut-wrenching, this is a great read about one of the great truths of life: you can't control what happens to you; you can only control how you react. Actress Gillies (Detective Stabler's wife on Law and Order) has created an evenhanded account of a horribly difficult time in her life, which she has probed for meaning and mined for a great story. In terms of compelling reading, Happens Every Day is the nonfiction equivalent of Nora Ephron's Heartburn. A tearjerker with a bittersweet yet happy ending, this memoir is highly recommended for all libraries, especially for popular collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/08.]—Audrey Snowden, Cleveland P.L.

Mary Austin was an American writer who spent her life primarily in California and later in New Mexico. Best known for her novel The Land of Little Rain, which at the time raised a new consciousness about the desert, Austin wrote over 30 books and published many poems. Goodman and Dawson, English professors at the University of Delaware and coauthors of William Dean Howells, here focus on Austin's adulthood, spent in the American Southwest, Europe, and New York City's Greenwich Village among friends including Jack London, Ansel Adams, Willa Cather, and Herbert Hoover. The authors detail how the Southwest greatly influenced Austin's writings; her interactions with people from a variety of backgrounds, including Native Americans, Mexicans, and Chinese immigrants, inspired her to depict these cultures in her works. She championed Native American rights at a time when few others did. Her life was marked with much sadness from a divorce and a special-needs child whom Austin outlived. This well-researched book is recommended for larger academic libraries and collections on Southwestern American history and culture.—Erica Swenson Danowitz, Delaware Cty. Community Coll., Media, PA

Celebrating the 55th anniversary of the Paris Review, this third volume of interviews is introduced by Margaret Atwood with the history of the journal. Among those profiled are Chinua Achebe, John Cheever, Isak Dinesen, Joyce Carol Oates, Salman Rushdie, and William Carlos Williams, who respond to a variety of questions, many directed toward writing habits and how they view their lives. The prolific Oates finds time to pursue domestic tasks along with reading extensively, keeping a formal journal, and writing almost daily. Achebe stresses the importance of storytelling in his early life in Nigeria and how it influences his writing. Martin Amis reveals his habit of driving to an office away from home in order to write and what it was like having a famous writer as a father. Most valuable, though, is the advice given on the craft of writing. Here, amid conversations filled with humor, intrigue, and medical complaints, one can see the creative process up close. Recommended for all large collections.—Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo

The United States of the 21st century is an ocean of stories and peoples, made up of a variety of races, religions, classes, genders, languages, cultures, and sexual preferences. Reed (Mixing It Up; From Totems to Hip-Hop) and Blank (Rediscovering America) have selected 63 stories spanning more than 200 years of American life, the great majority of which are concerned with contemporary issues and ideas. The authors featured—including John A. Williams, Grace Paley, Paule Marshall, John O. Killens, Zora Neale Hurston, James T. Farrell, Robert Coover, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Ntozake Shange—use many different styles, voices, and settings in their works. The writings of Ty Pak, Bharati Mukherjee, Russell Charles Leong, Wanda Coleman, E. Donald Two-Rivers, and Jimmy Santiago Baca are especially noteworthy. The nature of "passing," acceptance, and becoming an individual are constant themes in the various cultures described. The selections are arranged alphabetically, and biographical information is provided. Another wonderful anthology from Reed, this is highly recommended.—Gene Shaw, NYPL

Although Camus deplored being labeled an existentialist philosopher, he exhibited existentialist views in his writings before Jean-Paul Sartre. Sherman (philosophy, Univ. of Montana at Missoula; Sartre and Adorno) examines Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus, The Stranger, The Fall, The Plague, and The Rebel from a philosophical viewpoint, citing Hegel, Hume, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche. He offers an extensive discussion of Camus's philosophy of the absurd, which reveals Camus's philosophy of a phenomenological ethics, all that remains of virtue ethics when social life has broken down. Camus asserts that the absurd is the contradiction between sets of principles not "amenable to reconciliation through reason." In The Myth of Sisyphus, Sisyphus, condemned to rolling a huge boulder up and down a hill, is viewed by Camus in negative terms, while Nietzsche viewed the situation positively. Meursault in The Stranger realizes that there can be no resurgence from the absurd. In Camus's last novel, The Fall, Clamence does not affirm life like Meursault but, rather, rejects it. Sherman persuasively argues that what emerges from Camus's writing is the portrait of a man of courage and decency. Recommended to all academic libraries and university foreign-language departments with strong French programs.—Bob T. Ivey, Univ. of Memphis

Sontag's son Rieff (A Bed for the Night), who served as his mother's editor until her death in 2004, has edited the first of what is to be a three-volume set of her journals—some of which were originally excerpted in the New York Times (e.g., "On Self"). It is fascinating—and sometimes distressing—to see Sontag's intense and often excoriating appraisal of herself: "No matter what I have said…my actions say…that I have not wanted the truth." The entries have been selected for "the rawness and the unvarnished portrait…of…a young person, who self-consciously and determinately went about creating the self she wanted to be"; and as Rieff puts it, "to say these diaries are self-revelatory is a drastic understatement…[my] mother was not in any way a self-revealing person." Recommended for literary collections in medium to large academic and public libraries; an optional purchase for others. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 8/08.]—Felicity D. Walsh, Emory Univ., Decatur, GA

With hip-hop's tremendous growth over the last decade, the amount of literature covering the genre has increased considerably. Yet, few books have been devoted exclusively to the poetic elements of hip-hop. Having studied under such luminaries as Cornel West and Henry Louis Gates Jr., Bradley (literature, Claremont McKenna Coll.) is emerging as a pioneering scholar in the study of hip-hop. Here, he shows that rap can be analyzed as literary verse while recognizing its essential identity as music. Dissecting hip-hop's dual rhythmic voice—rhymes over beats—Bradley uncovers rap's poetic tradition as well as its progressive contributions to the medium of poetry. He explains terms such as assonance and consonance through the lyrics of Keats and Eminem. Rap is a relatively new genre of music, but lyrical analysis reveals the use of intricate structures steeped in poetic tradition. This refreshing read challenges common assumptions that hip-hop is simple or mundane. Recommended for all public and academic libraries; this will particularly appeal to hip-hop artists and aficionados, poets, and literature students and scholars of the hip-hop generation or younger.—Joshua Finnell, McNeese State Univ. Lib., Lake Charles, LA

For his work on the castrato, Clapton (singing, Royal Acad. of Music) begins with a historical survey of the tradition, dating back to the 16th century, and draws heavily and unquestioningly on earlier publications (e.g., Angus Heriot's The Castrati in Opera). He continues with a biography of Alessandro Moreschi (1858–1922), the last living castrato and the only one of whom recordings exist. Clapton relays the life and times of Moreschi, his training at the choir school in Rome, and his career as a soloist in the Sistine Chapel Choir in a well-organized but at times unsupported narrative that will appeal to the general reader. The final section consists of a discussion of Moreschi's singing technique and recordings. Clapton includes a diarylike story of his 2006 encounter with an Italian chorus named after Moreschi, as well as overly technical chapters contributed by various scholars on the acoustics of the castrato voice, the psychology of the castrato voice, and a history of Gregorio Allegri's Miserere mei, probably the most famous of the compositions that featured castrato soloists. This is the only available biography of any castrato, but the book's uneven authority and tone make it an optional purchase.—Timothy J. McGee, Trent Univ., Peterborough, Ont.

With a résumé that boasts principal credits in more than 3200 television commercials throughout a 40-year career, Fridell, an omnipresent pitchman who has been on television hawking some product or service virtually every day, is arguably the industry's most prolific and successful actor. Now in its fourth edition and completely updated to include, among other things, obligatory Internet and cell phone ramifications, his guide is the definitive text for both aspiring and established actors seeking commercial work. A cornucopia of practical information is disseminated in two evenly divided sections, the first focusing on preparations necessary to secure an agent (e.g., head shot, résumé, training, unions, agents) and the second on the nuts and bolts of commercials (e.g., auditioning, technique, callbacks, the nature of the work, and money). Written in a friendly and encouraging can-do acting-mentor style (the author is also an esteemed theater educator), Fridell's book offers valuable vocational information and entertaining anecdotes accrued over an extended career that in its longevity is nothing short of amazing. A no-brainer acquisition for every collection supporting the textual needs of neophyte and working professional actors.—Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L., TX

Literary biographer Holroyd (Bernard Shaw; Augustus John; Lytton Strachey) admirably interweaves the histories, from the Victorian stage to modern theater, of Ellen Terry and Henry Irving and their families. In this engaging social history of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Holroyd writes informatively of the theatrical world, highlighting not only the glamour of Irving's and Terry's careers but also the toll the hard work and disappointments of their calling had on their personal lives. He speculates, offering substantiating detail, on the relationship between Irving and Terry, who spent as much time together offstage as they did on. Terry's son Edward Gordon Craig's life as an influential stage designer leads the biographer on a merry chase through his relationships with eight women and his 13 children. His sister Edith Craig's life as a suffragette, her lesbian entourage, and her contributions to the theater have not been well documented, a shortcoming Holroyd corrects. Irving's sons, Laurence and Harry, relatively minor characters in this narrative, followed in their father's footsteps but didn't reach his level of success or inherit his daring, charisma, and creativity. This well-indexed book is highly recommended for all academic libraries and all libraries with theater collections.—Susan L. Peters, Galveston, TX

It's amazing enough when a celebrity doesn't use or attribute a ghostwriter, but it's even more amazing when that celebrity is a chimpanzee. Cheeta (aka Jiggs), costar of countless Tarzan movies, appears to have written this autobiography all by himself. At 75, Cheeta is the oldest living chimpanzee ever recorded. Taken from the jungle of Liberia in 1932 by an animal importer, Cheeta describes his ordeal and his big break, when his abilities were noted by an MGM trainer and he was cast in his first Tarzan movie, Tarzan and His Mate. His last film was Doctor Doolittle (1967), and he now resides in Palm Springs, FL. Cheeta's reminiscences of old Hollywood have a fun, sardonic side, and he dishes the dirt on everyone from Mickey Rooney (didn't like him) to Rex Harrison (didn't like him) to Johnny Weissmuller (liked him). Readers who enjoy stories narrated by animals might be drawn to this, but it's no Black Beauty or Watership Down. And humorous and dishy though this may be, it is over-the-top for even the most hard-core celebrity bio maven. A marginal purchase.—Rosellen Brewer, Sno-Isle Libs., Marysville, WA

Public Enemy is undeniably one of the greatest hip-hop bands of all time. Hip-hop fans from the inner city to the suburbs can find common ground in Public Enemy's message, as the band seems more interested in spreading the word on social and political issues than getting paid. With the biting lyrics of Chuck D and his interplay with the all-time greatest hype man, Flavor Flav, Public Enemy changed the way the music industry and the world viewed rap, influencing bands from A Tribe Called Quest to the Fugees. Myrie (arts editor, Village Voice) explores the group's deep history. While the quality of the writing is inconsistent, the chronicle is an incredibly important part of music history, and Myrie does a great job of uncovering the story behind some of the band's best albums and songs. The group doesn't perform anymore, but Chuck D remains a staple on the college lecture circuit. This is a good companion to the number of bios available on the band, including Chuck D's Fight the Power: Rap, Race, and Reality. Recommended for all music collections.—Christine Schonhart, Boston P.L.

Scott's (founder, London Opera Society; The Great Caruso) book on pianist-composer Sergey Rachmaninoff is almost entirely biographical, unlike Barrie Martyn's Rachmaninoff: Composer, Pianist, Conductor and Max Harrison's Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings, which combine biography with musical analysis (both have musical examples, but Scott's book does not). The strength of Scott's book is in the numerous quotations from Rachmaninoff's letters; however, Rachmaninoff's life is of interest because of his music. Martyn and Harrison offer superior examinations of Rachmaninoff's music, and Robert Walker's popular biography (sans footnotes) Rachmaninoff has the advantage of many illustrations (Martyn's and Harrison's books also have illustrations)—inexplicably, Scott's has none. For a general treatment of Rachmaninoff's life and music, Harrison's book is the best. Recommended for libraries specializing in music or Russian materials.—Bruce R. Schueneman, Texas A&M Univ. Lib., Kingsville

Goetzmann's sweeping survey views American thought as cosmopolitan and utopian. He points out that American thought was not isolated from politics, and the American republic lionized military heroes like George Washington and Andrew Jackson. American imperial ventures often had defensive motivations: Americans saw themselves under threat from the European powers. In contrast to Frederick Jackson Turner (The Frontier in American History), Goetzmann maintains that American thought did not depend uniquely on an open frontier. To the contrary, Americans synthesized European ideas, developing them in new ways. An excellent chapter shows how Ralph Waldo Emerson developed from German idealist philosophy a new metaphysics for democracy and a religion of art. More generally, literature has often proved the principal vehicle of new ideas. Though most American thought has stressed progress, antebellum Southerners looked backward; and Goetzmann expertly presents the views of John C. Calhoun. In another chapter, "The Black Man as Intellectual," Goetzmann maintains black thinkers shared much of the worldview of the white majority. Goetzmann's wide coverage and arresting judgments make this essential for all collections.—David Gordon, Bowling Green State Univ., OH

Philosophy, with its ancient pedigree and steep learning curve, seems to demand encyclopedias and patient introductions. Yet, with all of the excellent print and Internet resources available, is another really necessary? Moseley, former university lecturer and current private tutor, presents a series of admittedly personal meditations on the major topics and thinkers in Western philosophy. These are neither encyclopedic entries nor proper essays but explorations that run the gamut from an entry on "absolute," which is opaque and confusing for the neophyte, to the out of place and ultimately uninformative "Zen." Moseley does have obvious strengths in particular subject areas as well as a conversational and sometimes humorous style. But on the whole the work is hit-and-miss, falling prey to that temptation to drop names and linguistic formulas in secondary works of philosophy regardless of necessity and without explanation. It is difficult to discern the intended audience here: the complete newcomer will find that the work requires a prerequisite familiarity with philosophical language, while advanced readers are better served by the large number of more rigorous and lucid introductions. An optional purchase.—Steven Chabot, Univ. of Toronto

In her debut volume, Bonanno personifies death as an intruder who insinuates itself into her life after the unthinkable happens, the murder of a daughter at the hands of an ex-boyfriend. Chronologically arranged, almost a novel in verse, these poems are written with startling clarity and precision, telling of a mother's and a family's first worry, the unanswered calls, the frantic drive, the certainty that the killer's face was the daughter's last image, the trial, aftermath, and the final adjustment. "Losing your daughter,/to murder,/requires adjustment," she says. This horror is the stuff of which nightmares are made. It becomes "your very own/annunciation." Written with skill in tight, spare lines without sentimentality or melodrama, Bonanno launches readers through the experience, one that evokes a universal terror. The daughter's death becomes the talisman for domestic violence, for women who must die at the hands of those who feel it is their right to kill them. In one of the final poems, "Ladybug," the daughter's nickname, the narrator "see[s] them everywhere": "Hundreds of them,/shining orange and black,/the dead and the living together—/the living/on the backs of the dead." A stunning first book; highly recommended.—Karla Huston, Appleton Art Ctr., WI

With an impressive roster of English-language translators that includes Thomas Merton, poet-priest Cardenal (b. 1925 in Nicaragua) helped Cohen, another of his translators, to select the poems of this anthology. Already known as a poet and critic when Merton inspired him to enter the monastery ("The life of a monk/is a semi-ecstasy and forty years of aridity") at Gethsemane, KY, he emerged a priest in 1965 steeped in liberation theology. In poem after poem, he chipped away at the 45-year reign of Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza ("A slave to foreigners/and a tyrant to his people/imposed by intervention") until he was toppled in 1979. Cardenal cites almost as a litany FDR's famous quip about Somoza ("He's an SOB, Mr. Welles, but he's ours"). More recent poems exhibit scientific mysticism ("Why say universe, as though it were only one/and not pluriverse?") and political maturity ("Evil is because God made man free/Because creation wasn't fascist"). In the interest of making room for more translations in this anthology, Cardenal himself requested that the bilingual format be dropped. Essential for poetry and Latin American collections.—Jack Shreve, Allegany Coll. of Maryland, Cumberland

This is the first complete English translation of a late work by Neruda, the greatest of Latin American poets, translated by O'Daly, a specialist in Neruda's late and posthumous works. In 1969, Neruda announced that this volume would be a gift to his readers on the occasion of his 65th birthday. It is a mostly bitter book about a "ceaseless" century, with 30-odd agonizing years to go, that has "left us a broken planet/jammed with skeletons." It was a century of failed communication, as "the enemy" lied to us and we lied to our own friends. The ideals of Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman were out of reach, and the polarized argued "like two blind men defending/each other's darkness." But at heart Neruda is committed to teaching "classes of light to the earth," so despite dying with every one of the century's senseless deaths, at the end of the day he raises his voice to celebrate the "chroniclers of now," the writers who can right wrongs by taking their inexorable revenge upon the guilty. Highly recommended for poetry and Latin American collections.—Jack Shreve, Allegany Coll. of Maryland, Cumberland

"A leak implies without affirming fact;/there's wiggle room should details contradict,/events reverse themselves, a photograph/prove forged. Whose grasp of evidence is firm/enough to verify its chain." So begins the title poem of this collection, which looks closely at our troubled times, as well as the troubling language and verbal abuse that surfaces in such uncertain moments: clichés and euphemisms, code words and doublespeak. The opening poem, "Uh-Oh," sets us amid the painful chaos of the falling Twin Towers: "We wept, or cursed in fear,//beseeched unanswered phones/Please God, alone." From there, Witte encounters the likes of "just war," "rendition," and "friendly fire" ("That dog won't hunt, nor ostrich fly,/that trout won't hasten to the hook"). With loose but careful measures and a keen regard for the exactly right word, Witte examines every opened can of worms before kicking it down the road. Smart, timely, and sane, this volume is highly recommended.—Louis McKee, Painted Bride Arts Ctr., Philadelphia

This 19th collection by the much-garlanded Wright (Scar Tissue) finds the poet in his familiar meditative stance, but here he imposes calibrated limits on both his universe of available influences and his stylistic range in order to ferret out "the metaphysics of the quotidian." Keeping metaphor and simile to a minimum, Wright draws his concrete imagery from the immediate, Walden-like surroundings of a country landscape ("one duck on the narrow water, pond/Stocked with clouds") with the patience and diligence of a bird-watcher, probing for signs and wonders they might suggest. What he conveys in these seemingly casual, spare, six-line poems is a sense of bittersweet impermanence, an ephemerality that underlies everything ("Like shadows, we spread ourselves until our hands touch, then disappear in the dark"). Though the work as a whole leaves an impression of existential resignation ("We lay out our own dark end"), Wright often leavens his autumnal vision with gentle, almost transparent humor. For followers of Wright's work there may be nothing new under the sun here, but that, in a way, may be his point. For larger collections.—Fred Muratori, Cornell Univ. Lib., Ithaca, NY

Journalist Campbell's funny, sweet, and yet biting memoir recounts growing up in a fundamentalist church and "dating Jesus." She offers a look into a world that many will find alien; her explanatory footnotes will help readers who may not have grown up in the Bible belt or be as scripturally literate. Campbell writes of trying to be good and gain heaven, but even as a young girl she revels in small acts of subversiveness and continually asks questions that are never answered satisfactorily. She feels about her childhood and youth that, "like a sword, fundamentalism was plunged into [my body] and then it got broken off in [me] so that [it] will never heal." Campbell knows her subject well and hopes through this book to keep a dialog open about such issues as the role of women in the church and in the world and to refocus attention upon the teachings of Christ—unfiltered. She notes that Christ's teachings are truly egalitarian in their attitude and "downright revolutionary." Suitable for all public and academic libraries.—Nancy Richie, Western Kentucky Univ., Bowling Green

This book is both a memoir of former priest and writer Carroll's life and a keen analysis of American Catholicism in the late 20th century. Carroll's An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War That Came Between Us won the National Book Award, and his Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews—A History was an acclaimed best seller. Practicing Catholic takes readers through the liberating experience of Vatican II and finishes off with the more restricting trends of current Catholic fundamentalism. Carroll convincingly shows the church's ebbs and flows and parallels them with the era's cultural, political, and economic trends. While Carroll is critical of church leadership and its policies on many fronts, he remains faithful to the core fundamentals of gospel truth. His book is actually a loving critique of a very human institution that is both in need of salvation and simultaneously an agent of grace. Brilliant prose, historically insightful, and sincere passion remain hallmarks of the author's work. The book includes an "American Catholic Chronology" and notes. Recommended for all libraries.—John-Leonard Berg, Univ. of Wisconsin-Platteville Lib.

Many histories of the papacy are either hagiographical or contentious. Collins's (history, Univ. of Edinburgh; Visigothic Spain 409–711; Early Medieval Europe 300–1000) book is concise, objective, and eminently readable—scholarly but accessible to lay readers. He includes the scoundrels as well as the saints but does a fine job of presenting the history without a lot of editorial commentary, deftly letting the events speak for themselves. He does not dwell on one period more than others, instead presenting a sweeping view of the succession of popes in their historical contexts. While not ignoring the pope's role as a religious leader, Collins is more concerned with showing the part that the various popes played in the wider civilization. Eamon Duffy's Saints and Sinners, another one-volume history of the papacy, is written from a critical Catholic perspective. Collins's work shows no denominational bias, so it might be a better choice for public libraries. Those seeking basic facts are still well served by the Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.—Augustine J. Curley, Newark Abbey, NJ

Gibson (The Cave of John the Baptist: The Stunning Archaeological Discovery That Has Redefined Christian History) takes readers along as he excavates sites associated with the death of Jesus. For example, he excavates a burial site called the Shroud Tomb near Mount Zion, in which was found human hair and a shroud. From the analysis of these, he hypothesizes how Jesus's body might have been prepared for burial and presents the general context for Jewish burials in first-century Palestine. Illustrating a common weakness of similar archaeological works, seasoned archaeologist Gibson offers robust depictions of digs, but most of his significant conclusions are conjectures at best. He establishes that leprosy did indeed exist in Jesus's time, thus biblical references to it were not mistaken identifications of psoriasis or related skin disorders. But, like any responsible archaeologist, he can only explain how this particular burial might reflect burials in Jesus's time and how goods found in association might have been ritually used. This readable work with ample endnotes is recommended where interest warrants.—Sandra Collins, Byzantine Catholic Seminary Lib., Pittsburgh

In this autobiography, Jessop chronicles her upbringing in a polygamist community and her eventual escape and crusade to rescue other women from plural marriages and abuse. A former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and controversial antipolygamy activist, Jessop, with the help of Brown (coauthor, Escape in Iraq), tells her story unevenly, finely detailing certain events and glossing over others. Her unorthodox childhood is well documented, and her tales of brainwashing, kidnapping, and physical, mental, and emotional abuse are harrowing. Later chapters detail her rebellion against the FLDS, her marriage to her cousin at age 16, her fight to rescue her sister from the church, and her battle against church and state authorities on behalf of women living in polygamist societies. Jessop's story is gripping and her work admirable, but the writing is choppy and slightly formulaic. The dialog is stilted, and Jessop, despite her passion, does not come across as a particularly sympathetic figure. Nonetheless, the story is compelling and timely and will be of interest to some public library audiences.—Julie Biando Edwards, Univ. of Montana Lib., Missoula

In his twenties, Lobdell's life fell apart. Searching for a lifeline, he attended church services and on the final day of a retreat, "invit[ed] Jesus into [his] heart." He felt whole again. He eventually became the full-time religion reporter for the prestigious Los Angeles Times. By then, he had left evangelicalism behind and was preparing to convert to Catholicism. He was reporting on sexual abuse scandals in the local diocese when he changed his mind about converting: joining the church seemed a betrayal of the victims who'd been sexually abused by priests and had their cases shoved under the rug by the priests' superiors. The more he looked, the darker his view of religion became: priests abused parishioners, and nothing happened; believers didn't behave better than nonbelievers; prayers weren't answered, and God didn't seem as good a father as Lobdell himself wanted to be to his own sons. Eventually, as he describes, he left his post as religion reporter. It is interesting to compare this account with Julian Barnes's recent and eloquent Nothing To Be Afraid Of. Barnes is an intellectual: he never believed in anything at all but still must come to grips with his fear of death. Lobdell's heartfelt account is probably closer to the experience of many Americans whose doubts overwhelmed them, leading them—reluctantly and after much soul-searching—to disbelief. Recommended for most public collections.—David Keymer, Modesto, CA

"What does God expect of us?" This is the central question that recurs often in Stearns's book. He answers this question by highlighting the social injustices prevalent around the world and emphasizing that many Christians in the United States remain oblivious to these needs. Stearns (president, World Vision U.S.A.) left his corner office in 1998 to help orphans in Uganda, answering God's call. Through many personal anecdotes, he pleads passionately for greater involvement by Christians in global crises of hunger, disease, and poverty. He also indicts American Christians for omitting the necessity of action from their faith. While Stearns's book includes some fresh statistics and current stories, the classic in this subgenre of Christian literature remains Ronald J. Sider's Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. Overall, Stearns's work falters from an overreliance on subjectivity and emotional appeal. Optional for larger public libraries and specialized collections.—Dann Wigner, Wayland Baptist Univ. Lib., Plainview, TX

In this well-documented, engaging, and encouraging book, Tanenbaum (Slut!: Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation), herself an observant Orthodox Jew, explains why many religious women find themselves marginalized by their religions and what they are doing about it. Drawing on wide reading and interviews with almost 100 people, both key players and observant women, Tanenbaum spells out religious women's "love-hate relationship with tradition." This book stands out from others in a similar vein by covering five different faith traditions. Tanenbaum recounts Roman Catholic women's attempts to have women ordained priests; evangelicals' efforts to overcome sexist interpretations of the Bible; the push back by conservatives in mainline Protestant churches—which ordain women—against "feminized" religion; Muslim women's endeavors for equal access to Friday prayers; and Orthodox Jewish efforts to open Torah study to women. In concluding chapters, Tanenbaum surveys religious women's sexual lives and gendered language about humans and God in worship. She succeeds in capturing the courage, humor, and grit of her protagonists without demonizing their opponents. Highly recommended for all libraries.—Steve Young, McHenry Cty. Coll., Crystal Lake, IL

In 50 chapters, Maxymuk (reference librarian, Rutgers Univ.; Uniform Numbers of the NFL: All-Time Rosters, Facts and Figures) ranks and describes the plays that he has selected as the greatest in Giants history. With key descriptions of the games in which these plays occurred, diagrams of the plays, and full contextual game details, he weaves in quotes from those involved on and off the field, and numerous game day photos. Although most of these top plays contributed toward a positive outcome for the Giants (e.g., Super Bowl victories), there are some "disasters that Giants fans would like to forget" also included here (e.g., the 1978 fumble against the Eagles). This thorough book, by an expert, will naturally be most appreciated by New York Giants fans, but general NFL-crazed enthusiasts will also enjoy it, as will some history buffs. Recommended for libraries with large sports collections and all libraries serving Giants fans. [The author is a longtime reviewer of sports books for LJ.—Ed.]—Tim Delaney, SUNY at Oswego

A more accurate, if less provocative, title for this fascinating pop culture treatise would be How Football Relates to American History and Culture. While no one thing does in fact really explain America, football does cut a very wide swath in its connection to the American experience. Relying on interviews and eclectic research sources, ESPN reporter Paolantonio links key points about the game to events, characters, cultural details, and American symbols. For example, he says that the establishment in football of down and distance, possession and territory, is tied to the American policy of Manifest Destiny. Huddles are connected to the importance of free assembly in a democracy as noted by Alexis de Toqueville. Similarly, the author demonstrates common American concepts like the frontier, race, ethnicity, immigration, leadership, social change, commercialism, celebrity worship, corruption, and teamwork in the context of football. The book is very engagingly written, with each chapter framed by an incident from the 2007 NFL season to bring to life the main argument in the body of that chapter. Paolantonio is a popular and well-known figure, and this insightful examination of why we love football will be read by a broad range of patrons.—John Maxymuk, Rutgers Univ. Lib., Camden, NJ