ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 330 / C&RL News ■ March 2001 N e w P u b l i c a t i o n s George M. Eberhart Academ ic Libraries As High-Tech G ate­ ways: A Guide to Design and Space Deci­ sions, by Richard J. Bazillion and Connie L. Braun (250 pages, 2d ed., November 2000), is a significant expansion o f the authors’ 1995 edition, augmented by photos and diagrams o f newly constructed library projects at the Uni­ versity o f Kentucky and Winona State Univer­ sity. Web access makes a significant debut in this edition, along with the new concept o f “commissioning the building,” or making sure the com pleted structure functions in the way the ow ner intended. Anyone designing a new academic li­ brary in the next year or two will want to consult this book in the early phase o f the plan­ ning process. $55.00. ALA Edi­ tions. ISBN 0-8389-0792-X. American Libraries before 1876, by H aynes McMullen (179 pages, September 2000), is a survey o f U.S. libraries prior to 1876, the year often consid­ ered the beginning o f the modem library move­ ment. McMullen chronicles w hen American li­ braries w ere founded, where they persisted, and why Americans established and used dif­ ferent kinds o f libraries. Not counting private, school, and Sunday-school libraries, he has identified 10,032 collections that existed b e ­ fore 1876 in the current area o f the 50 United States— a larger number than on e might e x ­ pect for a fledgling republic. An essential con ­ tribution to the history o f our profession. $62.50. Greenwood. ISBN 0-313-31277-X. The Art of Publishers' Bookbindings, 1815- 1915, by Ellen K. Morris and Edward S. Levin (127 pages, May 2000), describes the exhibi­ tion at the Grolier Club o f 254 bindings and provides an opportunity to com pare stylistic similarities, differences, and trends in 19th-cen­ tury b ook art. Variant bindings for the same George M. Eberhart is senior editor o f American Libraries; e-mail: geberhart@ala.org book are contrasted in on e section, while an­ other compares design, materials, and produc­ tion methods in different countries. $37.50. William Dailey Rare Books, 8216 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046. ISBN 0-915148-21-8. The Duck Stamp Story, by Eric Jay Dolin and B ob Dumaine (206 pages, April 2000), recounts the history o f one o f America’s first and most colorful efforts to raise funds for wildlife con­ servation. T he m oney raised from duck stamp sales is still used to acquire and protect wet­ lands and other habitats. The 1934 inaugural stamp gave wa­ terfowl hunters a way to con­ tribute to the future health o f ducks and geese. This volume describes the history, the art, and the stamps in this ongoing effort to purchase wildlife ref­ uge land. $29-95. Krause Pub­ lications, 700 E. State St., Iola, WI 54990. ISBN 0-87341-814- X. Guide to the Offshore W ildlife of the Northern Atlantic, by Michael H. Tove (250 pages, January 2001), is a field guide to the air-breathing animals found in the Atlantic O cean north o f the Tropic o f Cancer. It in­ cludes detailed descriptions and color illustra­ tions o f the birds, whales, seals, and turtles an observer might spot on the open sea. Unique to this guide are depictions o f the surfacing patterns o f various species o f whales and dol­ phins, and 12-month range abundance charts for 12 locations off the coast o f North America and six areas in Europe. Descriptions o f bird flight behavior and variant plumage also make this a useful identification tool. $24.95. Uni­ versity o f Texas. ISBN 0-292-78171-7. Historical Dictionary of Law Enforcement, by Mitchel P. Roth (480 pages, D ecem b er 2000), contains more than 900 entries, both biographical and definitional, on the history o f policing. Roth covers many jurisdictions, among them the city police departments o f mailto:geberhart@ala.org C&RL N ew s ■ M arch 2001 / 331 New York City, Los Angeles, B erkeley, and Chicago; state p o lice in Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, and N ew Je rs ey ; su ch national forces as the FBI, Scotland Yard, the French Sûreté, and the Royal Canadian M ounted Po­ lice; and m any organizations and individuals seldom cov ered elsew here, su ch as private detectives, vigilante groups, W estern lawmen, Wells Fargo, Pinkerton, the Texas Rangers, and the short-lived Arizona Rangers. A total o f 27 appendices offer interesting lists for aspiring historians o f crim inology, including the nam es and founding dates o f th e first p o lice forces in each country, and the nam es o f the prefects o f the Paris P olice through 1956. $99-50. G reen ­ w ood. ISBN 0-313-30560-9. Scientific Laws, Principles, and Theories: A Reference Guide, by Robert E. Krebs (402 pages, N ovem ber 2 000), is an essential com pi­ lation o f an cien t and m od ern assum ptions about h o w the w orld w orks. Som e are appar­ ently inviolate, like N ew ton’s laws and prin­ ciples or K epler’s three laws o f planetary m o­ tion ; o th ers are c o n je c tu re s , lik e P ercival Lowell’s theory o f life o n Mars (b ased o n the c a n a li) and J e a n B ea u m o n t’s theory for the origin o f m oun­ tains, w hich are important for tracking the history o f science. A handy referen ce to have o n hand if you find yourself attend­ ing physics-faculty cocktail par­ ties, and better than a G oog le s e a r c h fo r fin d in g Le B e l ’s T h e o r y o f Is o m e r s . $ 6 5 .0 0 . G reenw ood. ISBN 0-313-30957- 4. The Turk, Chess Automaton, b y G erald M. Levitt (2 5 8 pages, D e c em b e r 2 000), is a detailed and th orou ghly d o cu m en ted history o f T h e T u rk , B a r o n v o n K e m p e le n ’s fra u d u le n t c h ess-p lay in g m ach in e that astou n d ed the w orld from 1770 until 1854 w h en it w as d e ­ stroyed in a fire. A lthough assu m ed at first to h ave b e e n m anip ulated by a hu m an o p era ­ tor rather than som e m ysterious p ro to -co m ­ puter, the sec ret o f its hid d en w orkin gs was k n ow n to only a few over the years. Such n o tab les as Fred erick th e Great, N ap oleon B onaparte, and Charles Carroll— the last sur­ viving signer o f the D eclaration o f Indepen­ d en ce— played chess gam es with T h e Turk. Hidden inside the autom aton was the op era­ tor, w ho by candlelight had to k eep track o f the o p p o n en t’s m oves, w ork the arm appara­ tus to m ove the p ieces, nod T h e Turk’s head and roll his eyes, and w ork the m echanism that m ade it say “É ch ec!” This is a fascinating footnote in the history o f technology, all o f it accom p anied by gam es T h e Turk played and reprints and translations o f essays and b o o k ­ lets relating to the m achine, including an e s ­ say by Edgar Allan P oe. $50.00. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0778-6. Understanding the Cold W ar A Historian's Personal Reflections, by Adam B. Ulam (327 pages, N ovem ber 2000), is a thoughtful m em ­ oir o n the rise and fall o f the Soviet Union, interspersed with m any personal anecdotes by the form er director o f Harvard’s Russian R e­ search Center. Although Ulam died o f can cer b efore it was com pleted, his m any friends, colleagues, and family m em bers filled in the gaps o f the narrative with rem iniscences and tributes. T h e b o o k begins with his dramatic departure at age 16 from Lwôw, Poland, in 1 9 3 9 , o n ly s ix d ay s b e f o r e Hitler’s invasion, and recounts th e m a in th e m e s o f h is 18 b ooks, am ong them Stalin: Th e M an a n d His E ra (Viking, 1973) and Expansion a n d Coexistence: The H istory o f Soviet F oreign Policy, 1 9 1 7 -6 7 (Praeger, 1968). U nencum bered by the respon­ sibilities o f conservative schol­ arship, Ulam lets lo ose with un­ restrained observations: “With the political hypochondria that co m es so easily to o n e b o m in Eastern Europe, I could not see h o w the Soviet U nion w ould stand idly by w hile Am erican society was tear­ ing itself apart [with Vietnam War protests], thereby tem pting the Kremlin to m ake mis­ c h ie f ’; and “Sifting through so m any instances o f horror and brutality [caused by Hitler and Stalin], I encou ntered now and then passages o f w eird ‘com ic relief.’ Tyrants, like ordinary mortals, have their hum orous sid e.” An h o n ­ est, hum an assessm ent o f the 20th century’s greatest crises. $ 30.00. L eop olis P ress, 530 Kellogg Drive, Charlottesville, VA 22903- ISBN 0-9679960-0-7. ■