ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 2 1 8 / C& R L N e w s ■ F e b ru a ry 2001 N e w P u b l i c a t i o n s George M. Eberhart The C re a tio n o f A m e rica, by Francis Jennings (340 pages, September 2000), is, de­ pending on your viewpoint, either an u n ­ abashed revisionist history of the American Revolution or an inspired excavation of its real causes and concerns minus the patriotic trap­ pings that have surrounded it, like layers of an onion, since Yorktown. Jennings, the author of W e Invasion o f America (1975), A m bigu­ ous Iroquois Empire (1984), and Empire o f For­ tune (1988), asserts that this is an essay, not a definitive work. Nonetheless its central thesis, that at the heart of the Revolution was an urge to transform the Great North American Land Grab from a British to an American enterprise, is based on sources as authentic as any main­ stre a m a n aly sis. For Allan W. Eckert fans, this m a k e s a n e x c e lle n t supplement to The Wil­ d ern ess W ar (1978). $54.95. Cambridge Uni­ versity Press. ISBN 0­ 521-662.55-9 E n e r g y E f f ic ie n c y Manual, by Donald R. W u lfin g h o ff (1,531 pages, April 2000), contains a wealth of prac­ tical information on how to reduce utility costs and make both residences and businesses more energy efficient. The first section offers some 400 suggestions (“Install automatic flue damp­ ers on fuel-fired water heaters” and “Increase the thermal resistance of the panels in curtain walls”) and detailed instructions on how to accomplish them, with a scorecard on the sav­ ings potential, rate of return, reliability, and ease of retrofit or initiation for each. The sec­ ond section provides essential background in­ formation in plain language on energy m an­ agement tools, energy sources, mechanical equipment, insulation, and lighting. If you ever wondered how compression cooling works or why incandescent lighting is inefficient, this G eo rge M. Eberh art is senior e d ito r of A m e ric a n Libraries; e-mail: geberhart@ala.org book is the place to find out. A natural acqui­ sition for engineering libraries, it may also come in handy if your library is scheduled for a reno­ vation. $199.95. Energy Institute Press, 3936 Lantern Drive, Wheaton, MD 20902. ISBN 0­ 9657926-7-6. Galveston and the 1900 Storm: Catastro­ phe and Catalyst, by Patricia Beilis Bixel and Elizabeth Hayes Turner (174 pages, Au­ gust 2000), tells the story of the catastrophic hu rrican e that nearly leveled G alveston, Texas, on September 8, 1900, killing an esti­ mated 6,000 people and filling the streets of the unprotected port city with wreckage. How­ ever, the authors also focus on how Galveston responded to the disaster. Relief efforts by city governm ent, Clara Barton and the Red Cross, Af­ rican American leaders, and the Women’s Health Protec­ tive Association ultimately led to changes that affected di­ saster relief, Progressivism, municipal reform, and engi­ neering technology in the city as well as the rest of the United States. Of particular value is an examination of the attitudes of G alveston’s black population and their re­ sponse to the crisis. $60.00. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-70883-1. Popular American Recording Pioneers, 1 8 9 5-192 5, by Tim G racyk w ith Frank Hoffman (444 pages, November 2000), cov­ ers the lives of some 100 musicians w ho made recordings during the pre-microphone acous­ tic era. A wide range of music is included— Tin Pan Alley num bers, B roadw ay show tunes, ragtime and coon, parlor ballads, early jazz, early country, blues, quartet arrange­ m ents (before quartets w ere described as “barbershop”), and dance music of all kinds. This compilation rescues biographical and discographical information from periodical sources that are difficult to find. $39-95. Haworth ISBN 0 -7890-1220-0 mailto:geberhart@ala.org C&RL News ■ February 2001 / 219 The Quotable Calvin Coolidge, edited by Peter Hannaford (183 pages, November 2000), attempts to resurrect the 30th president’s repu­ tation from the mists of misquotation and ne­ glect that have surrounded him since the 1930s. Though a fiscal conservative, Coolidge had some progressive ideas on w om en’s suffrage, welfare, workplace safety, and election reform. The 240 quotations are taken from his entire career and range from faith and fishing to taxes and teachers. $19.50. Images from the Past, P.O. Box 137, Bennington, VT 05201. ISBN 1- 884592-33-3. Woodrow Wilson fans can turn to The Real Woodrow Wilson, by James Robert Carroll (113 pages, November 2000), consisting of an in­ terview with Arthur S. Link, w ho tells the story of his 35 years as editor of the 69-volume set of Wilson papers. $19-50, from the same pub­ lisher. ISBN 1-884592-32-5. The Universe Unveiled: Instruments and Images throu g h History, b y B ruce Stephenson, Marvin Bolt, and Anna Felicity Friedman (152 pages, November 2000), show­ cases astronomical charts and instruments from the 15th to the 19th centuries h o u sed in Chicago’s Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum. The text serves as a nontechnical supplement to the excellent photos o f astro­ labes, horoscopes, sundials, globes, and star maps that helped our ancestors understand space, time, the earth, and the universe. $29.95. Cam­ bridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-79143-X Unobtrusive Evaluation of Reference Ser­ vice and Individual Responsibility: The Ca­ nadian Experience, by Juris Dilevko (220 pages, October 2000), is based on two sur­ veys on the quality of reference service in Canada, both using unobtrusive, proxy-based methods. One focused on government docu­ ments collections, while the other used ques­ tions framed from current new spaper stories to test whether the reference staff in large public libraries considered a knowledge of daily news events an important context for answering questions. Though the results were generally disappointing, Dilevko offers som e useful analysis on why reference failure occurs. Par­ ticularly enlightening is a chapter that followed up on what happened w hen librarians made unm onitored referrals to outside sources. $24.95. Ablex. ISBN 1-56750-507-4. ■ 220 /C&RL News ■ February 2001