The Battle of Ole Miss
Civil Rights v. States’ Rights
by Frank Lambert
LD3413 .L36 2009
New Book Island, 2nd floor
As we all know, the middle years of the twentieth century were a very tumultuous time for the civil rights struggle for African Americans. All aspects of life were affected by the color line, including education. This week’s featured title focuses on higher education – one with which we all can relate.
Lambert, history professor at Purdue University, brings us the story of James Meredith, an African American student that enrolled for classes at University of Mississippi in 1962. The riot that took place after his matriculation earned a spot in the record books as one of the deadliest clashes of the era. The author provides a first-hand account of many of these events, as he was a student at Ole Miss at the time. While Lambert highlights the local situation, he also explores the historical context of Mississippi and the South – the sociocultural factors that contributed to the blow-up.
The Big Burn:
Teddy Roosevelt & the Fire That Saved America
by Timothy Egan
E757 .E325 2009
New Book Island, 2nd floor
Usually when you hear of a fire, big or small, you think of complete devastation, right? This week’s featured title required a second look because of its claim about a fire that ’saved’ America.
Egan, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, takes a notable and destructive event from United States history and provides the context for its irrationally positive outcome. He explores the great forest fires just after the turn of the last century, the Big Burn of 1910, in which the national forests of Montana, Idaho and Washington were lost. The author gives voices and life to the rangers and firefighters that valiantly fought to contain the flames, as well as Theodore Roosevelt, known for his staunch support for conservation. Fans of either the great outdoors, Teddy or American history should a take a look at this book.
On Feb. 1st in 1884, a portion of the first Oxford English Dictionary (OED) was printed. This venerable dictionary is going strong today. UWW students and staff have online access to it, and can even sign up to receive the “Word of the Day” by RSS feed or click on “Lost for words?” to get a random word and its definition.
This Time Is Different:
Eight Centuries of Financial Folly
by Carmen Reinhart & Kenneth Rogoff
HB3722 .R45 2009
New Book Island, 2nd floor
The financial crisis that we are experiencing: it’s unlike every other economic crash that we’ve ever known, right? The chain of events leading up to the current moment had created a situation like we’d never seen before, right? This week’s featured book might have something different to say.
Reinhart and Rogoff, economics professors at University of Maryland and Harvard, respectively, scoured through eight centuries of financial data and found this time isn’t really all that much different. As they state in the preface, “Our basic message is simple: We’ve been here before.” They contend that these sorts of events actually occur pretty consistently over time. The authors cover varying types of fallouts, from sovereign defaults to banking sector crashes. As scholars, Reinhart and Rogoff provide plenty of support for their argument, not only their analysis, but also with data appendices – an excellent source for further research.
If anything, it should give one hope: we’ve recovered from previous crises, so we can do it again.
Side note: the quote from the cover features Niall Ferguson, author of The Ascent of Money (New Stuff Tuesday – 24 March 2009).
Atomic America:
How a Deadly Explosion and a Feared Admiral
Changed the Course of Nuclear History
by Todd Tucker
TK1345 .I2 T83 2009
New Book Island, 2nd floor
It seems like at least once a week (or more frequently), a story pops up in the news relating to nuclear energy and the struggle to contain it. The current state of global instability, coupled with the focus on sustainability, have put this controversial power source at the center of an intense debate. This week’s featured title looks to the past to explain its history and to provide caution for its future.
Tucker, a former Naval officer, examines the events of an explosion at SL-1, a nuclear reactor near Idaho Falls, ID in early 1961. The blast at the US Army installation took the lives of three people, making it the only fatal event of its kind in American history. While the Army placed the blame on ‘human error’, the author takes the opportunity to uncover what really happened in the middle Idaho. What he finds is not only poor engineering, but a nuclear-induced craze among the military branches to control nuclear power. He contends that the incident at SL-1 provide an excellent example for guiding today’s management of one of the most feared and revered forces in the world.
The Library is very excited to announce that a trial of the Historical Abstracts database is now available for use by all faculty, staff, and students. The trial will be active until the end of spring semester.
Historical Abstracts is a companion database to America: History and Life, also available through the Library. It contains citations to articles and book reviews on topics in world history from 1450 to the present. Historical Abstracts does not include coverage of United States or Canadian history (these are covered by America: History and Life).
Both databases are from Ebscohost, and provide links with some records to the full text of the articles in other databases. For records without full text links, you will see the Find It button which will provide you with a menu of options for accessing the full text.
So for your next historical research topic, remember Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life! Between the two of them, these databases have information on almost any topic in the world!
On December 11, 1936, Edward VIII voluntarily abdicated the English throne. And he gave it up for love! In honor of this anniversary I will admit that I enjoy historical fiction & nonfiction about royal families and historical rulers of various countries. It all started at the Bristol Renaissance Faire one summer, where I bought some books by Sharon Kay Penman, and since then I’ve discovered authors like Philippa Gregory, Margaret George, Carolly Erickson, and many others who bring these historical figures to life.
Andersen Library has books on Edward VIII (as well as on other historical rulers). Search the HALCat library catalog for the keyword phrase “windsor edward” to find titles such as King of fools (3rd-floor Main Collection, DA580 .P29 1988), Edward VIII (3rd-floor Main Collection, DA580 .D64 1975), and A king’s story: The memoirs of the Duke of Windsor (3rd-floor Main Collection, DA580 .A2 1951). Andersen Library also has books by all of the authors I mentioned above, though none are about Edward VIII. You can find materials on particular rulers by searching for their names as subjects, or, get a long list to browse with an Advanced Search for queens kings empresses emperors rulers (“any of these”) in Subjects.
Please ask a librarian if you’d welcome assistance with finding materials.
John Lennon was shot to death on December 8, 1980. I always think of Lennon at this time of year, not because this is when he died, but because “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” is one of my favorite songs, and it’ll be on the radio a lot now. You also can search on YouTube to hear many, many renditions of it, including videos with Lennon’s recording.
Andersen Library has materials on John Lennon, if you’re interested. Search the HALCat catalog to find titles such as “I read the news today”: The social drama of John Lennon’s death (3rd-floor Main Collection, ML420.L38 F64 1994) and Come together: John Lennon in his time (3rd-floor Main Collection, ML420 .L38 W5 1991). A search of the UW System Libraries finds a recording of the Happy Xmas number on the Shaved Fish album, available to UWW students and staff through the free Universal Borrowing service. Article databases can be searched to find articles such as the front-page New York Times article “John Lennon of Beatles is killed; suspect held in shooting at Dakota” (Dec. 9, 1980).
Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.
Galápagos at the Crossroads:
Pirates, Biologists, Tourists and Creationists
Battle for Darwin’s Cradle of Evolution
By Carol Ann Bassett
F3741 .G2 B38 2009
New Book Island, 2nd floor
Back in grade school, I remember learning about the islands off the coast of Ecuador where thousands of species of plants and animals could be found only there. The islands also provided Darwin with the scientific evidence to support his theory of natural selection. This week’s featured book alerts readers that the birthplace of The Origin of Species is at risk due to economic exploitation.
Bassett, writing instructor at the University of Oregon, presents the case that the Galápagos Islands, known for their natural and unique beauty, could (or more accurately, will) be lost forever if something doesn’t change. She tells the history of the islands and their exploration by Spanish conquistadors and adventurous scientists and naturalists. The author then takes a chapter to discuss each stakeholder in the current situation, from the tour companies to fishermen to the pirates. If you are looking for an example of the battle between the natural environment and human encroachment, this book provides the perfect case.
One more thing, which I (as a librarian) thought was cool: Bassett not only includes a bibliography, but breaks up the sources by type, with books, magazines/journals, etc. – makes your life easy when trying to figure out citations!
Through November 15th we have access to Alexander Street Press’s “American History in Video” collection, which contains more than 1500 titles (500 hours) of newsreels and documentaries from such sources as PBS.
Since seasonal and H1N1 flu references are everywhere this fall, of course I searched for something about flu. I was not disappointed.
See the “Influenza 1918” episode of the PBS American Experience series (1998).
Of course, you can search for other topics that interest you. You can search for and view Universal newsreels from particular dates. For example, for October 22nd there are narrated newsreels of the opening of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Guggenheim Museum in New York City (1959) and the 1964 Presidential candidates Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Baines Johnson. You can find videos on Amelia Earhart and “Two Days in October” that juxtaposes a day (Oct. 17, 1967) in the Vietnam War and a day (Oct. 18, 1967) at a non-violent protest in Madison, WI.
Use it while you can!
