Summer Reading – V. I. Warshawski Novels

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Martha

The cover of Sara Paretsky's novel Brush Back

Sara Paretsky, author of 17 V. I. Warshawski novels (and several other fiction and nonfiction works), is well-known in the mystery and detective genres for her hard-boiled female private investigator, a character type that has traditionally been male. Warshawski may be sexy and dress well, but those are not her only attributes. She is a strong, competent, cynical, gritty, and yet funny woman who does not fall into the pit of feminine tropes. Warshawski primarily, but not exclusively, investigates financial crime, a milieu Paretsky is familiar with from a previous career.

Want to see what Paretsky has to say about these novels, check out this video: Kirkus TV Interview with New York Times Bestselling Author Sara Paretsky.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/ChuRRmCTsQs[/youtube]

Why else should you read her? For one, the primary setting is one of our near by metropoli, Chicago. Paretsky mentions real streets there that you may have visited. This spring in fact I was on Milwaukee Avenue, where Warshawski’s office is located in later books. Another point is that her novels draw you in from the first chapter, the fast pace keeps you reading, while the intricate plot will keep you absorbed. Perfect for a few lazy summer evenings. Lastly, you grow to love (or hate) the three dimensional characters. I truly think that if you are a mystery and detective fiction fan you will enjoy her immensely.

For her V. I. Warshawski novels, Paretsky’s won the Crime Writers’ Association Silver Dagger for Blood Shot, a Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for lifetime achievement in 2002, and a Gold Dagger for Blacklist. She was also awarded the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Grand Master Award in 2011.

This is a list of V. I. Warshawski novels with links to information about them and their locations in the Andersen Library. Titles without links can be borrowed using UW Request from other UW System libraries.

Do you prefer movies? Check out Kathleen Turner’s portrayal of the detective in the 1991 film V. I. Warshawski.

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Friday Fun: The Sopranos

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Barbara

Did you know? The last episode of HBO‘s drama The Sopranos aired on June 10th in 2007. Hard to believe it’s been that long. Steven Holden, writing for The New York Times in 1999 said, “”The Sopranos” sustains its hyper-realism with an eye and ear so perfectly attuned to geographic details and cultural and social nuances that it just may be the greatest work of American popular culture of the last quarter century.” Wow.

Cover of book Reading The SopranosDon’t take his word for it! You can watch it again (or for the first time), and you don’t need to subscribe to anything! Andersen Library has all six seasons in the 2nd-floor Browsing DVD Feature Film collection at “call number” SOP (They’re alphabetical by title.). If you really want to learn more, there’s an ebook for you: Reading the Sopranos: Hit TV from HBO (fully online from ebrary, or preview some pages via Google Books). There are articles also, including scholarly articles, such as “Tony Soprano as the American everyman and scoundrel: How The Sopranos (re)presents contemporary middle‐class anxieties” (Journal of Popular Culture, 2014, vol.47:no.3, pp.451-469) and “Waddaya lookin’ at? Re-reading the gangster genre through ‘The Sopranos’” (Film Quarterly, 2002, vol.56:no.2, pp.2-13).

Please ask a librarian (visit the Reference Desk, call 262.472.1032, or choose to email or chat) for assistance with finding additional materials.

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New Stuff Tuesday – June 7, 2016

Posted on June 7, 2016 by Carol

Open Space - Mind Maps: Positions in Contemporary Jewellery

Open Space – Mind Maps: Positions in Contemporary Jewellery
Ellen Maurer Zilioli (ed.)
NK7101.5 .S8 O64 2016
New Arrivals Island, 2nd floor

If you’d like to get your creative juices flowing, this exhibition volume is a good place to begin. The jewelry portrayed here is a bit on the exotic side. For starters, when was the last time you wore jewelry made from cardboard, books, gut, pigskin, credit cards, socks, or plastic table cloths? — Me, neither! There are a few more traditional materials, like silver, bronze or beads, but they’re always combined with other media.

The 30 (mostly) European artists featured in the exhibit are exploring new frontiers with their highly original creations and techniques. Their jewelry is by turns quirky, funny, puzzling, charming, and sometimes just plain weird. My absolute favorite is the Smurf brooch. However, the necklace made from an eviscerated stuffed Elmo just seems wrong!

But however you characterize these objets d’art, they are original and boundary-pushing. Andersen Library has many other books on jewelry and jewelry-making to spark your creativity.

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New Stuff Tuesday – May 31, 2016

Posted on May 31, 2016 by James Castrillo

Empire of Things Book Cover

Sleeping Giant:
How the New Working Class Will Transform America
by Tamara Draut
HD8072.5 .D73 2016
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

Tamara Draut’s latest work outlines the evolution of working class Americans over the past 50 years. While the core of america’s middle class that emerged in the 1950s was white and associated with manufacturing jobs, the working class in 2016 looks much different. Today’s middle class workers are increasingly women and people of color. The jobs are also no longer manufacturing jobs or in steel mills. Jobs are now in the service sector like fast food workers, nannies, janitors, and transportation drivers. While covering the evolution of the working class, Draut also goes deeper by outlining what these workers want and are fighting for in the workplaces. Issues such as stronger union protections and the #FightFor15 are discussed in tandem through the work. Sleeping Giant is as much a history of the working class as it is a history of America’s growing diverse population.

If you are interested in this book, you may consider this interview with the author discussing the book.

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Andersen Library Memorial Day, Summer Hours

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Barbara

Andersen Library is closed for the Memorial Day weekend (Sat.-Mon., May 28-30).
clip art of sunSummer Session hours begin Tues., May 31:

M-TH: 7:30am – 9pm
F: 7:30am – 4:30pm
Sat: CLOSED
Sun.: Noon – 8pm*

*EXCEPTION: Closed Sun.-Mon., July 3-4

Remember that even when the Library is closed or you are traveling, you can:

  • Search article databases …just login when prompted with your campus Net-ID (same as for your campus email or D2L),
  • Search Andersen Library’s holdings of Books, Media, and more, and use links to the titles that are online,
  • Renew your checked-out books, DVDs, etc., online through My Account online,
  • Consult online guides for assistance, including citation guides for APA, MLA, and Turabian format, and class assignment guides, and
  • Ask a librarian for help using email or chat, or phone us at the Reference Desk (262-472-1032 – leave a voice mail for a call back if we’re not there), Summer session Reference Desk hours are Mon-Tues 9am-9pm, Wed-Thurs 9am-5pm + 5-9pm on Ask a Librarian chat, Fri 9am-4:30pm, and Sun. noon-8pm when the Library is open.
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Friday Fun: Star Wars

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Barbara

Happy anniversary, Star Wars (May 25th)! Did you know, that on May 25th in 1977 the original Star Wars movie was released? It was an enormous Memorial Day weekend box office hit.

You can celebrate by watching it again! Andersen Library has a copy of Star Wars in the 2nd-floor Browsing DVD Feature Films at “call number” Sta (they’re alphabetical by title). In fact, we have the original trilogy there (Star wars: A new hope, The Empire strikes back, and Return of the Jedi), and the prequel trilogy (The phantom menace, Attack of the clones, Revenge of the Sith) so you can make a whole Star Wars weekend of it. For extra fun you could check out the parody film Spaceballs too (2nd-floor Browsing DVD Feature Films, Spa).

And there’s more than the films! Search Research@UWW to find that Andersen Library has books such as The ultimate Star Wars and philosophy: You must unlearn what you Cover of The Ultimate Star Wars and philosophyhave learned (online ebook from Wiley), novels such as Star Wars: The Force awakens (2nd-floor Browsing Books, PS3556.O756 F67 2015), video games such as Star Wars battlefront (2nd-floor Browsing Video Games, Xbox One Sta 2015), and graphic novels such as Star Wars rebellion. Volume 2, The Ahakista gambit (2nd-floor Browsing Graphic Novels, PN6728.S73 B334 2008).

Please ask a librarian (visit the Reference Desk, call 262.472.1032, or choose to email or chat) for assistance with finding additional materials.

May the Force be with you this weekend!

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New Stuff Tuesday – May 24, 2016

Posted on May 24, 2016 by Martha

Hamilton: The Revolution book cover

Hamilton: The Revolution:
Being the Complete Libretto of the Broadway Musical, with a True Account of its Creation, and Concise Remarks on Hip-hop, the Power of Stories, and the New America
by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter
ML50.M6733 H3 2016
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

Who amongst us has not heard of Hamilton, yearned to experience Hamilton, died to be Hamilton? OK, maybe it’s just me.

Tickets to the hit hip-hop Broadway musical are nearly impossible to come by, at this point they are virtually sold out, although you can try the lottery and cross your fingers. Don’t fear you though. Fortunately, you can still be subsumed by Hamilton, albeit from the sidelines. This book offers a behind-the-scenes view of Hamilton the musical. It includes the complete libretto, photographs of the musical and candids of it’s cast, as well as an account of the creation of the musical, from the composition of the first song of the show in 2009 to the opening night in 2015. You want to know how Pippa Soo got the part of Eliza? It’s in here.

Are you curious to see what all the excitement is about? Check out this YouTube clip of the Hamilton cast performing the song “Alexander Hamilton” at the White House, including an introduction by President Barack Obama [youtube]https://youtu.be/ZPrAKuOBWzw[/youtube]

and a live stage performance of the same song (“Alexander Hamilton”) complete with awesome costumes, music, lyrics, and dance

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Friday Fun: Historical Atlases

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Barbara

Here’s some fun for history and map buffs:

American Panorama: An atlas of United States history, is an ongoing project at the University of Richmond that currently offers maps of

  • The forced migration of enslaved people, 1810-1860
  • The overland trails, 1840-1860
  • Foreign-born population, 1850-2010, and
  • Canals, 1820-1860

It also links to a digital edition of the 1932 Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States, but some of it has been enhanced, e.g., “animated to show change over time or made clickable to view the underlying data.” This resource provides nearly 700 maps to enjoy! Use the table of contents to browse the 14 chapters in the atlas and make selections of maps.

excerpt of screenshot from digitized 1932 atlas showing Wisconsin and Minnesota college and university locations For example, choose “Colleges, Universities, and Churches, 1775-1890” and then “Colleges and Universities” in 1775, then click on “Animate” in the lower left corner to watch the change in the number and geographical distribution of schools over time. But wait! Where’s UW-Whitewater on the 1890 map?? Click “text” in the upper right corner to read information about what institutions were excluded.

Want more? Andersen Library has lots of historical atlases, some with special subject emphases! Search Books, media and more (UW-Whitewater) to find gems like

Please ask a librarian (visit the Reference Desk, call 262.472.1032, or choose to email or chat) for assistance with finding additional materials.

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Bison: Our National Mammal

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Barbara

President Obama signed Public Law 114-152, the National Bison Legacy Act, on Monday, May 9, designating the bison as our official national mammal. Among the many organizations supporting the legislation were:

  • The InterTribal Buffalo Council – Its mission is “Restoring buffalo to the Indian Country, to preserve our historical, cultural, traditional and spiritual relationship for future generations.”
  • The American Bison Society – This group was originally established in 1905 after the incredible bison slaughter of of the 1800’s.

You can read more about the legislation from Congress.gov.

Cover of American Bison bookYou can learn more about bison using Andersen Library resources, such as the books American bison: A natural history (3rd-floor Main Collection, QL737.U53 L68 2002, or online via ebrary) and The hunting of the buffalo (3rd-floor Main Collection, SK297 .B7 1962 or preview via Google Books). The U.S. Dept. of the Interior, which displays a male buffalo on its departmental seal, provides “15 facts about our national mammal: The American bison” online. Articles may be found using Library databases, such as “Conservation genetics and North American bison (Bison bison)” (The Journal of Heredity, 2009, vol.100:no.4, pp.411-420. doi:10.1093/jhered/esp024). Historical information about “The range of the bison in Wisconsin” (Transactions. of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 1937, vol.30, pp. 117-130) has been digitized and posted online.

Please ask a librarian (visit the Reference Desk, call 262.472.1032, or choose to email or chat) for assistance with finding additional materials.

Andersen Library is a federal and Wisconsin depository library with federal and state government documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in various formats (print, DVD/CD-ROM, online). Check out your government at Andersen Library!

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New Stuff Tuesday — May 17, 2016

Posted on May 17, 2016 by Diana

Empire of Things Book Cover

Empire of Things:
How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First
by Frank Trentmann
HC79.C6 T74 2016
New Arrivals, 2nd floor

Perhaps you just packed up all your things and moved out of a dorm room, house, or apartment and into a new place (or returned to your family’s home for the summer). Did you have a lot of things? As someone who moved six times (in 5 states) between the years 2007 and 2013, I often think about the amount of stuff that I accumulate over time. This week’s new book is all about how many peoples around the world developed consumer cultures since the fifteenth century. Although consumerism is often thought of as uniquely American, Trentmann shows how various societies developed a taste for new consumer goods such as coffee, tea, tobacco, and cotton. He argues that the rise of a trade in consumer goods was inextricably bound up with conquest and the rise of empires and he demonstrates the repercussions of the global consumer economy. This book brings together narratives from all over the world, not just Europe and America, and ends with a meditation on waste and excess.

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