ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


108 /  C&RL News

New 
Publications

G e o rg e  M . E b erh art

T he C a m b r id g e  Illu s ­
tr a t e d  H is to r y  o f  G e r­
m a n y , by Martin K itchen 
(352 pages, O ctober 1996), 
p resents the highlights o f 
German history from the b e­
ginning o f the Middle Ages 
to the modern era. Kitchen 
puts into p e rsp e c tiv e  the 
co u n try ’s political history, 
from its origins as a collec­
tion o f small, German-speak
ing states to its current status 
as a major European power. 
T h e  c o m p le x ity  o f  G e r
many’s past provides insight into its vitality as a
prosperous modern democracy. $39.95. Cam­
bridge University Press, 40 W. 20th St., New
York, NY 10011-4211. ISBN 0-521-45341-0.

Collective Vision: C reatin g a C on tem po ­
ra ry  Art Museum (129 pages, November 1996)
exam ines the process o f starting and dramati­
cally expanding Chicago’s Museum o f Contem­
porary Art (MCA). The museum’s highlights in­
clu d e C h risto ’s first w rap ping o f a p u b lic
building (1969), Frida Kahlo’s first U.S. exhibi­
tion (1978), and Je ff K oons’s first full-scale mu­
seum exhibition (1988), accom panied by his­
toric photos. Color photos o f 40 works from
the MCA permanent collection are juxtaposed
with informative text on more than 30 featured
artists. $24.95. University o f Chicago Press, 5801
S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637. ISBN 0-933856-
43-1 (paper).

Finding Im ag es O n lin e , by Paula Bernstein
(357 pages, O ctober 1996), is a step-by-step
guide to searching online services and the In­
ternet for usable digital images. After a brief
outline o f image basics and a discussion o f who
offers images, Bernstein goes into the details of
selecting a place to search and general search
tech n iques. B esid es Com puServe, AOL, Mi
crosoft Network, and the Internet, specific im­
age libraries are covered: Kodak Picture Ex­
ch an g e, the Eastm an E x ch an ge, Publishers
Depot, and Muse. Numerous case studies and
exam ples are included to aid searches. A 69-
page subject index to online resources is of­
fered as an appendix. $29.95. Online, Inc., 462
Danbury Rd., Wilton, CT 06897-2126. ISBN 0-

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 

 

910965-21-8.

A  G u id e  to  R ock A rt 
Sites: Southern California 
and Southern Nevada, by 
David S. Whitley (218 pages, 
November 1996), is much 
more than a trail guide to 
38 petroglyph and p icto
graph sites for amateur ar-
cheologists. In addition, it 
details the current theory 
that most Native American 
rock art was painted or en­
graved by shamans who had 
undergone a vision quest at 
the site. Since the art was 

intended to depict the visions experienced by 
the shaman while in an altered state o f co n ­
sciousness, the many enigmatic and distorted 
features o f the images can be explained. The 
ev id en ce for oth er interpretations— hunting 
magic, boundary markers, solstice observato­
ries— is less compelling. Whitley also provides 
an interesting summary o f how rock art sites 
can be dated using time-specific clues, relative 
condition, and rock varnish analysis. Color pho­
tographs accom pany descriptions o f each o f 
the sites. $20.00. Mountain Press Publishing, 
P.O. B ox 2399, Missoula, MT 59806. ISBN 0-
87842-332-X.

The In te rp re ta tio n  o f D ream s a n d  Por­
tents in Antiquity, by Naphtali Lewis (167 
pages, 2d ed., 1996), brings together transla­
tions o f Egyptian, Greek, and Roman authors 
on the topics o f prophecy and dreams. O f par­
ticular interest are The Interpretation o f  D ream s 
by Artemidoros, a remarkably Freudian Greek 
who lived in Asia Minor in the 2nd century, 
and The B o o k  o f  Prodigies by Julius O bsequens, 
w hose chronicle o f odd events is difficult to 
find in English. $15.00. Bolchazy-Carducci Pub
lishers, 1000 Brown St., Unit 101, Wauconda, 
IL 60084. ISBN 0-86516-256-5.

Also from the same publisher is O n  U n
b e lie v a b le  T a le s : P a la e p h a tu s  P eri 
Apiston, translated with introduction and com ­
mentary by Ja c o b  Stern (167 pages, 1996), 
which adds a new English translation to the 
Greek 1902 Teubner edition o f Nicolaus Festa. 
Palaephatus, who possibly lived in the 4th cen -

G eorge E berh art is a sso cia te ed ito r o f  A m erican 
Libraries



February 1 9 9 7  /  109

tury B .C .E., was probably the 
first to rationalize Olympic my­
thology as poetic license with 
the facts. $20.00. ISBN 0-86516-
310-3 (paper).

M a r y  Surratt: An A m e ri
ca n  Tragedy, by Elizabeth 
Steger Trindal (3 0 4  pages,
1996), chronicles the life of the 
boardinghouse keeper who 
was implicated in the plot to 
assassinate Abraham Lincoln. 
She was executed on July 7, 
1865, along with others impli
cated in the murder. Trindal 
brings together, in narrative 
form, all the evid ence that 
Surratt was perhaps an inno­
cent victim. It is curious that 
pleas for clemency by John T.
Ford and Mrs. Stephen A. Douglas were ignored 
by President Andrew Johnson. A well-docu­
mented examination of the facts. $26.95. Peli­
can Publishing Co., 1101 Monroe St., Gretna, 
LA 70054. ISBN 1-56554-185-5.

The M e d ia  Equation: H o w  People Treat 
Computers, Television, and New Media Like 
Real People and Places, by Byron Reeves and 
Clifford Nass (305 pages, September 1996), de­
stroys many cherished myths about free will, 
the suspension of disbelief, and the ability of 
the American people to make objective and 
rational choices based on information obtained 
through audiovisual media— if the authors’ re­
search is valid. After repeating a large number 
of standard psychological tests in which one of 
the participants was replaced with a television 
set or computer, Reeves and Nass discovered 
that the reactions o f the human participants 
were the same as if they were interacting with 
other humans. This was true for many different 
parameters— manners, personality, emotion, so­
cial and gender roles, and form. The apparent 
reason is that in the 20th century human brains 
are encountering (for the first time since they 
evolved) intelligent nonhuman entities. Even 
though these entities are composed entirely of 
pixels and sound bites, our brains react as if 
they are the same as us.

The authors go on to say that understand­
ing this “media equation” is a boon for soft­
ware designers and media packagers who can 
create better products by making them behave

and re sp o n d  in m ore 
positive, hum an ways. 
But there is a dark side to 
all this that is not alluded 
to once in these pages—  
perhaps because in addi­
tion to being communica­
tio n  p r o fe s s o r s  at 
Stanford, the authors are 
also “consultants to indus­
try in computing and the 
new media.” The down­
side is that their findings 
also explain why, for ex­
ample, that misinforma­
tion and disinformation 
p erp etu ated  by m edia 
sources might be subcon­
sciously viewed as more 
reliab le than o b jectiv e 
and thorough expositions 

in books and journals. Or why violence in au­
diovisual media, though repeatedly causing 
negative reactions, is more memorable than a 
nonviolent scenario and that this arousal, where 
little if any pain is experienced or perceived, 
may explain how people might be influenced 
to commit violent acts with no regard for the 
consequences.

It’s clear that more research must be done 
in this area, but for now read this book and 
find out just how human your monitor is. $27.95. 
Cambridge University Press, 40 W. 20th St., New 
Y o r k , NY 1 0 0 1 1 - 4 2 1 1 . ISBN  1 - 5 7 5 8 6 -
052-X. ■

Advertiser index
ACRL 102
Academic Press 92
Amigos Bib. Council 97
Blackwell 111
Britannica Online 82
Brodart Publishing 87
CISTI 85
Dorling-Kindersley 65
EBSCO cover 3
Gale Research cover 2
ISI 77, 104, 

112, cover 4
OCLC 74
Readmore 78