ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 454 / C&RL News ■ June 1998 N e w P u b l i c a t i o n s George M. Eberhart Architecture and Ornament: An Illustrated D ictio n ary, by Margaret Maliszewski-Pickart (198 pages, February 1998), serves as a field guide to many of the elements seen in Ameri­ can architecture and taught in architectural history courses. The first part consists of pho­ tographs and drawings depicting the vari­ ous types and parts of windows and doors, walls, roofs, colum ns, stairs, ornam ents, mouldings, arches, vaults, and domes. This section shows the difference betw een Flem­ ish and one-third running brick bonding pat­ terns, among other things. The second part is a dictionary with cross-references to the illustrations, and the appendix demonstrates how to describe a building by identifying its elements. $35.00. McFarland & Co., ISBN 0- 7864-0383-7. Based on a True Story: Latin American His­ t o r y a t th e M o vie s, edited by Donald F. Stevens (243 pages, December 1997), exam­ ines 13 feature films that portray the history of Latin America, from the pretentious 1492: The Conquest o f Paradise to the nostalgic Like W a te r fo r C hocolate and the gritty Pixote. Each of the essays addresses the past, both as seen in the movies and as scholars have interpreted it. According to Stevens, since many people are exposed to history through films alone, historians should con­ sider this a challenge, not an assault, and address cinematic truths as well as inaccura­ cies: “People are interested in the past, and historians, plodding empiricists though we may be, have something important to say to a postmodern culture.” $50.00. SR Books, 104 Greenhill Ave., Wilmington, DE 19805-1897. ISBN 0-8420-2582-0. The D akota War: The United States A rm y Versus th e Sioux, 1862-1865, by Micheal Cloclfelter (267 pages, April 1998), chronicles the conflict of an Indian War in Minnesota and the Dakota Territory that was prompted by the massacre of nearly 800 white settlers G e o rg e M . E b e rh a rt is associate e d it o r o f A m erican Libraries; e -m a il: g e b e rh a rt@ a la .o rg in August 1862. Largely overshadow ed by the much bloodier events of the Civil War, the Dakota War pacified the Minnesota Indi­ ans but generated problems with other Lakota groups, which resulted in the much better- know n Little Bighorn and W ounded Knee massacres. Contains a detailed analysis of the politics, strategy, and tactics of the campaign. $39.95. McFarland & Co, ISBN 0-7864-0419-1. Desk Reference on the Federal Budget, by Bruce Wetterau (344 pages, January 1998), answers 516 questions about federal taxes and spending in a succinct and lucid man­ ner. For example: How do we know w hen a recession has begun? What is “backdoor spending”? What was the 1997 balanced bud­ get agreement? What was President Carter’s economic record? An excellent guide for be­ ginners and the perplexed. $49.95. Congres­ sional Quarterly Books, ISBN 1-56802-378-2. The Encyclopedia o f Native Am erican Le- g a l T r a d it io n , e d ited by Bruce Elliott Johansen (410 pages, March 1998), includes detailed descriptions of nearly two dozen Native American legal and political systems, as well as summaries of Indian law cases, acts of Congress, and treaties. Few visitors to the site of the first English colony at Jamestown are aware that representative gov­ ernment in America was practiced by Native Americans centuries before European con­ tact, and that the Iroquois Confederacy was one of John Adams’ models for his vision of the U.S. Constitution. An essential work for legal and Native American collections. $95.00. Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-30167-0. The Handbook o f Knots by Des Pawson (l60 pages, March 1998), will appeal to anyone who as a child used to gaze at the knot pic­ tures in unabridged dictionaries, wondering how in heck they actually worked. This hand­ book gives much better instructions, in color and with annotations. The need for tying an appropriate knot can strike unexpectedly, even in academia; so if your merit badge know-how has evaporated, check out the mailto:geberhart@ala.org C&RL News ■ June 1 9 9 8 / 4 5 5 loops, hitches, and splices in this manual. $16.95. DK Publishing, ISBN 0-7894-2395-2. The Historical Encyclopedia o f World Sla­ ve ry, edited by Junius P. Rodriguez (805 pages, 2 volumes, March 1998), lives up to its title by encompassing the various forms of human enslavement practiced since an­ cient times in most countries and cultures. The more than 650 entries written by some 200 specialists are notable for their scope, detail, and objectivity. In addition to com­ mentary on the well-known “peculiar insti­ tution” of the Antebellum South, these vol­ umes offer facts, context, and analysis on such other topics as the Danish slave trade, C h e ro k e e s la v e ­ o w n e rs , R u ssian serfdom, the Roman concepts of pecu- liu m a n d servus vicarius, how the tr a n s itio n from slave to free labor evolved in various parts of the world, and abolition in Is­ lam ic c o u n tr ie s . These volumes are a solid contribution to u n d e rs ta n d in g th e fo rc e s th a t shaped slavery and the ethics that con­ doned it. $150.00. ABC-Clio, ISBN 0- 87436-885-5. T h e H is t o r y a n d U se o f O u r E a r t h 's C h e m ic a l E le m e n t s , by Robert E. Krebs (346 pages, January 1998), is a reference guide for undergraduates that describes the characteristics of and uses for each of the 112 elem ents in the Periodic Table. A co n ­ venient source for looking up w hat bis­ m uth and germ anium are all about, the book contains an extensive glossary and schem atic diagram s for each of the ele­ ments. $39-95. G reenw ood Press, ISBN 0- 313-30123-9. Information Imagineering: Meeting at the Interface, edited by Milton T. Wolf, Pat Ensor, and Mary Augusta Thomas (253 pages, March 1998), contains essays selected by editors for ALA’s LITA and LAMA divisions that exam­ ine the effects technology will have on fu­ ture libraries. Dedicated to and inspired by the ideas of the late Paul Evan Peters, the collection features essays by Charles W. Bailey Jr., Carol L. Ritzen-thaler, Howard Besser, Murray S. Martin, and others. $36.00 (ALA members, $32.40). ALA Editions, ISBN 0-8389-0729-6. Another wide-ranging collection of prog­ nostications is Fin d in g Common Ground: Creating the Library o f the Future Without Diminishing the Library o f the Past, edited by C heryl La­ Guardia and Bar­ b a ra A. M itchell (478 pages, March 1998), consisting of papers presented at a March 1996 con­ ference at Harvard College Library. Fo­ cusing on practical, realistic solutions ra th e r th an free- flo atin g s p e c u la ­ tion, the 50 c o n ­ trib u to rs (largely academ ic and re ­ search librarians) explore ideas for coping w ith new te c h n o lo g y , u se r instruction, evolv­ ing m e th o d s o f scholarship, new electronic resources, and changing organizational structures. $75.00. Neal-Schuman Publishers, ISBN 1-55570-290- 2. Ju d ic ia l Process in A m e rica , by Robert A. Carp and Ronald Stidham (432 pages, 4th ed., February 1998), is a succinct and read­ able overview of civil and criminal proce- dure in federal and state courts for the n o n ­ lawyer. Although the previous edition is only a few years old, this one includes a new section on juvenile courts, tort and product liability reform, and new material on the effect of party affiliation on a judge’s decisions. $36.95. Congressional Quarterly, ISBN 1-56802-394-4.