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NEW PUBLICATIONS

C&RL News, February 2007
Vol. 68, No. 2

by George Eberhart

African-American Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations, by Kathlyn Gay (569 pages, December 2006), describes 109 holidays, festivals, and commemorations observed by Americans of African descent. Celebrations of all types are included, from Kwanzaa and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday to the Tuskegee Airmen Convention, the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, the Millions More March, and local church homecomings and revivals. Each entry offers historical background, information on how the event came about, observance and customs, helpful Web sites and readings, and contact information. Three appendixes provide a chronology of events in the history of African-American holidays, a calendar of festivals, and a geographical breakdown of events. Library price, $58.00. Omnigraphics. ISBN 978-0-7808-0779-2.

Dawn P. Williams has produced a new and expanded edition of Who’s Who in Black Canada (402 pages, November 2006), a directory of 734 Canadians of color who have achieved prominence in the arts, athletics, business, community organizations, education, science and engineering, government, law, media, and other endeavors. New to this edition are a photo gallery and an In Memoriam section. Some of the entries are in French, especially those featuring residents of Quebec. $31.99 U.S. www.wwibc.ca. ISBN 978-0-9731384-2-9.

African American Librarians in the Far West: Pioneers and Trailblazers, edited by Binnie Tate Wilkin (331 pages, June 2006), concludes this trilogy of preferred purchases for Black History Month. This volume profiles 23 African-American librarians who contributed to the advancement of the profession in Arizona, Nevada, California, Hawaii, and the Pacific Northwest. $55.00. Scarecrow. ISBN 978-0-8108-5156-6.

Castles Against Ignorance: How to Make Libraries Great Educational Environments, by Edmund A. Rossman (167 pages, September 2006), was written to inspire public librarians to become even greater proactive champions of learning and culture in a world where cluelessness prevails, but its suggestions translate well into academia. Rossman, adult services librarian at Shaker Heights (Ohio) Public Library, begins each of the 27 chapters with an anecdote that demonstrates a critical skill or concept he wants to explore, followed by a practical exercise that will help the reader assess personal competencies or core library functions. Topics range widely from posture and active listening to dealing with conflicts and intolerance, institutional outreach, and strategic planning. Imbued with enthusiasm and filled with suggested readings. $20.00. BookSurge LLC. ISBN 978-1-4196-4097-1.

A Global History of Architecture, by Francis D. K. Ching, Mark M. Jarzombek, and Vikramaditya Prakash (800 pages, August 2006), takes a timeline approach to examine the panorama of world architecture from neolithic Chinese villages to Rem Koolhaas’s Seattle Public Library. The authors arrange the book into 18 chronological time periods in which major styles, structures, and historical forces are discussed. Numerous plans, cutaways, maps, and photos accompany the descriptions in each section, which offer a sense of synchrony not found in regional studies. The realization that Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Chichén Itzá in Yucatan, Quwwat-ul-Islam in Delhi, Great Zimbabwe in southern Africa, and Chartres Cathedral in France are roughly contemporary provides an extra layer of insight. $75.00. John Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-26892-5.

Gulliver As Slave Trader: Racism Reviled by Jonathan Swift, by Elaine L. Robinson (241 pages, July 2006), asserts that, in addition to being a satire of contemporary travelogues and European government, Gulliver’s Travels (1725) was also a condemnation of Christianity’s toleration of the African slave trade, especially the horselike Houyhnhnms and their treatment of the human yahoos, whom Robinson contends are black. The biggest clue is that the ships that Gulliver says he sailed on were all named for African slave ships, and the ports of call he stops at during his prosperous voyages were notorious slave ports. $35.00. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-2586-0.

The Incredible Band of John Philip Sousa, by Paul Edmund Bierley (453 pages, October 2006), is the ultimate sourcebook on the “March King” and his band, which toured the country by railroad for 40 years performing energetic music for audiences in both small towns and large cities. The Sousa Band’s smooth sound, with its quick encores and a variety of both serious and popular pieces, was played by the finest soloists and managed by a master showman and conductor. Bierley tells the band’s history, gives biographies of the star performers and staff, details the band’s year-long world tour in 1911, and relates numerous anecdotes about specific performances. Appendixes include a list of the dates and locations of all 15,623 concerts between 1892 and 1931, an all-time band roster, instrumentation, typical concert programs, the band’s full repertory of songs, and a complete discography. $60.00. University of Illinois. ISBN 978-0-252-03147-2.

Postcard History of the Early Santa Fe Railway, by Don Harmon (236 pages, September 2006), was a labor of love for the author, who worked in the freight traffic department of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway for 40 years and has been collecting postcards of its trains and depots for even longer. This sturdily bound volume showcases 654 color and black-and-white Santa Fe postcards whose images and annotations offer a unique perspective on the railway, its offices, engines, and employees. Readers can trace railway routes through 12 states—Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California—with stops identified on a 1914 AT&SF map on the inside cover. A 16-page section describes the trackside hotels and restaurants of Fred Harvey (1835–1901), who, in an era before dining cars, revolutionized the way Santa Fe passengers ate their meals. Another chapter illustrates the reading rooms and clubhouses built by the railway for their employees. Reading Room Superintendent S. E. Busser wrote the following motto for the rooms: “Give a man a bath, a book, and an entertainment that appeals to his mind and hopes by music and knowledge, and you have enlarged, extended, and adorned his life.” Some real-photo postcards show derailments, wrecks, hurricane damage, roundhouses under construction, a railway hospital ambulance, the “Santa Fe de-Luxe” air-cooled train that ran from Chicago to Los Angeles from 1911 to 1917, and a work crew moving blocks of ice for refrigerator cars in Waynoka, Oklahoma—home of the “largest ice plant in the United States.” $49.95, plus $7.05 s/h. Harmon Publishing, P.O. Box 14806, Shawnee Mission, KS 66285-4806; (913) 268-6149. ISBN 978-0-9674874-1-0.

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