March 2001    

Classic Country: Legends of Country Music Author: Charles K. Wolfe Publisher: Routledge $85.00 Cloth; $17.95 Paper (318p.) ISBN 0415928265 Cloth ISBN 0415928273 Paper This book is a representative collection of articles by one the preeminent scholars of 20th century American acoustic and country music. Primarily based on interviews with surviving artists, these profiles were originally published in a number of periodicals including Country Music Magazine's Journal of the American Academy for the Preservation of Old-Time Country Music, Old Time Music, Country Sounds Precious Memories and Bluegrass Unlimited. Other pieces originate from the author's contributions to notes for sound recordings. The topics are divided into seven categories beginning with Country Music Hall of Fame members early western influences and new artists carrying on the tradition. The result is an excellent overview of an important historic period in American cultural history where rural electricity brought radio into the lives of more Americans. The book is illustrated with black and white photographs. Charles K. Wolfe is the year 2000 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Association for Recorded Sound Collection and is professor of English and Folklore at Middle Tennessee State University. Wolfe is also the author of many other music titles and is the editor of the University press of Kentucky's Country Music Annual.  --Jonathan Colcord Deserts of Africa Author: Michael Martin Publisher: Stewart, Tabori & Chang $50.00 Cloth (191p.) ISBN 1584790288 This book is a colorful, luminous view of Africa's desert country: the Sahara, the volcanic deserts of Rift Valley, the Kalahari and Namib. The author photographs desert plants & wildlife, & nomadic peoples. Over the crest of a dune appears one of the last great salt caravans of the Sahara with camels, bells, and swathed figures in tall saddles. A beautiful light scans distant sand formations. The photographs remain in one's memory for a long time.  --Zenta Taylor Inside Charter Schools: The Paradox of Radical Decentralization Editor: Bruce Fuller Publisher: Harvard University Press $29.95 Cloth (285p.) ISBN 067400325X The timely collection of essays surveys the range and innovation of the charter school movement in the United States. Since the publication of a Nation at Risk several decades ago, public policy makers have valiantly, but often vainly sought remedies to the perceived failure of the public education system. One answer adopted by many communities across the nation is the so-called, Charter School. The charter school movement has also become a battleground for the partisan bickering that has so slowed Congressional leadership of late and is even now a dividing issues between the major political parties. The essays describe six charter schools and propound the general sentiment of the editor that the movement represents an entrenchment of local flavor to education as contrasted with a national view.  --James Ryan The Literary 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Novelists, Playwrights, and Poets of All Time Author: Daniel S. Burt Publisher: Facts on File $35.00 Cloth; $19.95 Paper (400p.) ISBN 0816043825 Cloth ISBN 0816043833 Paper As the author says, this book more or less answers the question of what reading material would be most desirable if you were stranded on a desert island. It is largely Burt's own opinion supported by suggestions from his colleagues and students. The rankings from 1 to 100 will, of course, probably generate much disagreement. They certainly did among the aforementioned colleagues whose rankings varied widely based on their subject specialties. But, those finally chosen for mention in the book are time-honored favorites from ancient times to the present, representing varied nationalities and cultures. They range from Shakespeare (#1), Dickens (#6), and Sophocles (#13) to Emily Dickinson (#54), Richard Wright (#97) and Oscar Wilde (#100). Each entry contains biographical information and commentary on the author's work and life. An especially nice feature of the book is the inclusion of photographs or other likenesses of all but one of the authors.  --Donna Roscoe The Ratings Game Author: Andrew Fight Publisher: John Wiley $95.00 Cloth (273p.) ISBN 0471491349 Companies that are organized to rate the credit capacity of other companies have become important players on the economic field claims author Andrew Fight in his new book. Fight traces the evolution of such companies and develops the ways in which such companies have gained status by recognition by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Fight details the basic premise of credit rating companies as designed to protect investors from companies that may not gain capital or increase the equity of investors. The seemingly simple task of providing a baseline assessment of a companies likelihood to be profitable can, as Fight explains, be daunting and can often result in unforeseen consequences such as the recent economic crisis in Asia. The work includes analysis of credit ratings companies around the world and includes case studies that amplify the author's topics. The book, comprehensive in scope and compact in pages, is liberally traced with the Fight's concerns that the emerging credit rating companies exercise far too much influence over world credit markets.  --James Ryan Thieves, Deceivers, and Killers: Tales of Chemistry in Nature Author: William Agosta Publisher: Princeton University Press $26.95 Cloth (241p.) ISBN 0691004889 Although I learned it in elementary school, it still seems alien to me that the majority of the earth's creatures communicate not by the spoken word or visual signals but by other means, namely secretion or exchange of organic chemicals. In Thieves, Deceivers, and Killers, William Agosta describes the way various organisms both attract and repel other organisms by initiating certain scents. For example, some species mimic other organisms to fool them into believing they are one of their own in order to lay their eggs. These actions provide both food and shelter for the mimics young. Some organisms have also used scent for tricking other species into believing they are others in order to frighten them into action. An example of this is when human hunters used wolf urine to maneuver deer into prime hunting areas. These chemical responses allow organisms to both communicate and manipulate other organisms. I highly recommend this book equally for research purposes and for general free reading.  --Kevin French Weimar Republic: Through the Lens of the Press Editor: Hendrick Neubauer Publisher: Konemann Inc. $19.95 Cloth (415p.) ISBN 3829026978 Covers the third decade of the 20th century in Germany, between the Great War and the beginning of Hitler's rule. A collection of duotone photographs brings to life people who lived so many years ago, but look vivid, faces full of expressions familiar to us. And we want to reach out, to stop them from committing follies, from stepping off a precipice, from... But, of course, the reader is helpless to change the past, & just feels sad & moved by a glimpse of those pre-destruction days.  --Zenta Taylor Published by YBP Library Services 999 Maple St., Contoocook, NH 03229 USA v: 800.258.3774   f: 603.746.5628 w: www.ybp.com   e: academia@ybp.com All rights reserved.