ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News ■ A p ril 2000 / 323 N e w P u b l i c a t i o n s G e o r g e M . E b e r h a r t Africa and Blues, by Gerhard Kubik (240 pages, August 1999), pinpoints the areas in West and central Africa where blues music most likely originated, traces its genealogy through 18 African nations, and follows it to America where it influenced modern African music. Kubik shows how the blues, though it devel oped in the United States under a specific set o f social conditions, essentially belongs to Af rican culture. An essential book for music col lections. $45.00. University Press o f Mississippi. ISBN 1-57806-145-8. The Companion to African Literatures, by Douglas Killam and Ruth Rowe (322 pages, January 2000), is a detailed guide to African poetry, drama, fiction, and folklore written in English or widely available in translation. It includes authors’ biographies, notable titles, summaries o f the literatures o f various African languages, literary genres, and the politics of African literature. A rich source of information for this underappreciated body o f literature. $49.95. Indiana University. ISBN 0-253-33633-3. Directory of Financial Aids for Women, 1999-2001, by Gail Ann Schlachter (568 pages, October 1999), describes 1,750 scholarships, loans, grants, awards, and internships ear marked for women. Completely revised since the last biennial edition, this volume has 225 new entries. Information is arranged by type o f program, with indexes by program title, sponsoring organization, residency, tenability, subject, and calendar. $45.00. Reference Ser vice Press. ISBN 0-918276-80-2. Famous Firsts in the Ancient Greek and Roman World, by David Matz (154 pages, February 2000), will com e in handy for set tling bar bets and trivia contests. What was the name o f the first Vestal Virgin? Who was the first tree pruner? Who was the first to mention color gradations in marble? W hen was the first trial in Rome for poisoning? What was Plato’s first name? W ho was the first Roman to shave George M. Eberhart is senior editor o f A m erican Libraries; e-mail: geberhart@ala.org regularly? Perhaps discovering the answers to these questions could instill an appreciation o f the classics in the most postmodern minds. $35.00. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864- 0599-6. Food: A Culinary History, edited by Jean- Louis Flandrin and Massimo Montanari (592 pages, November 1999), consists o f 48 essays on the culture o f food consumption from Pa leolithic times to the McDonald’s era. Though focusing primarily on European cuisine, the contributors also examine Middle Eastern foods in antiquity and the Middle Ages. They ex plore many interesting gastronomic byways, including the origin o f Hebrew dietary laws; what the Etruscans ate; the Greek symposium feast, com p lete with poetry readings and dionysian possession; how people dined be fore forks were invented; Arab contributions to European cooking, such as cane sugar, rice, and pasta; medieval table manners; the 19th- century invasion o f Europe by foreign foods; and the link between tourism and gastronomy. A good companion piece to Jam es Trager’s The F ood Chronology (Henry Holt, 1995). $39.95. Colum bia University. ISBN 0-231- 11154-1. The Ghosts of Hopewell: Setting the Record Straight in the Lindbergh Case, by Jim Fisher (200 pages, Decem ber 1999), fo cuses on the physical evidence that implicates Bruno Hauptmann as the kidnapper o f the 20- month-old son o f Charles and Anne Lindbergh in 1936. This work is an answer to critics of his previous book, The Lindbergh Ca s e (1987), who feel that Hauptmann was framed by a conspiracy involving federal, state, and mu nicipal law enforcement agencies. Fisher, a form er FBI agent and crim inologist, cuts through the cloud of speculation to make a strong case for Hauptmann’s guilt. $24.95. Southern Illi nois University. ISBN 0-8093-2285- 4. Harrod’s Librarians’ Glossary and Refer ence Book, compiled by Ray Prytherch (787 pages, 9th ed., January 2000), contains more than 9,600 definitions o f terms in librarianship, mailto:geberhart@ala.org 324 / C&RL News ■ A pril 2000 some 1,100 o f them new since the 8th edition (1995) and 2,100 revised. New to this release is the addition o f Web addresses for organiza tions and many bibliographic projects (like Project Gutenberg), especially those in the United Kingdom and the European Union. As always, this is a useful place to look for acro nyms and initialisms, antiquarian and conser vators’ terms, and obscure words and phrases like “pre-natal classification” and “titlonym” that might otherwise be difficult to track down. $166.95. Gower/Ashgate. ISBN 0-56608-018-4. In the Benedictine Tradition: The Origins and Development of Two College Librar ies, by M. Dorothy Neuhofer (260 pages, Au gust 1999), traces the traditional Benedictine enjoyment of learning and libraries in Europe from the 6th century to secularization in 1803, and its subsequent reestablishment in the United States. The early history o f the libraries o f the College o f St. Benedict and St. Jo h n ’s University, both in Minnesota, are examined in detail. $48.00. University Press o f America. ISBN 0-7618-1463-9. Killer Algae: The True Tale of a Biological Invasion, by Alexandre Meinesz (360 pages, November 1999), tells the story o f how a bright- green, tropical seaweed, Caulerpa taxifolia, came to devastate the ecosystems o f 10,000 acres along the Mediterranean coasts o f France, Spain, Italy, and Croatia. Dumped into the sea by the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco when it was cleaning its tanks, the weed un expectedly thrived in the cooler waters b e cause it was actually a resistant variety that had b een exposed to chemicals and ultra violet light in the Stuttgart Aquarium. Meinesz, a biologist at the University o f Nice, investi gated the expanding patch at the dump site in 1989 and spent the next 10 years trying to get various authorities to d o s o m e th in g a b o u t it. T h is ecohorror story maps the spread o f this toxic w eed, now expand ing unstoppably throughout the Mediterranean; it also takes a re alistic lo ok at policym akers’ in creasing scorn for biodiversity and the flawed ways in which scien tific information is communicated. $ 2 5 .5 0 . U niversity o f C h icago. ISBN 0-226-51922-8. Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers, edited by Joanne Herschfleld and David R. Maciel (313 pages, November 1999), is a collection o f 14 essays that examine the first 100 years o f film in Mexico, which has produced more films than any other Spanish- language country. Included are discussions on the silent era, comedy and ethnicity in the “golden age” o f the 1940s, border cinema, women and gender representation in contem porary films, and the comedy o f Tin Tan and Cantinflas. $55.00. SR Books, ISBN 0-8420- 2681-9. Preservation of Library and Archival Ma terials: A Manual, edited by Sherelyn Ogden (412 pages, 3rd ed:, Decem ber 1999), is an updated compilation o f all the technical leaf lets issued by the Northeast Document Con servation Center. The topics cover preserva tion planning, environment, emergency man agement, storage and handling, reformatting, and conservation procedures. Every leaflet has been updated and new ones written for this edition, which is about 100 years longer than the previous one. Though available for online d o w n lo a d in g s in c e M arch 1 9 9 9 at w w w .ned cc.org/plam3/manhome.htm , the manual was also published in print form in response to requests by NEDCC’s clients. $50.00. NEDCC, c/o FPM SI, 220 Neck Road, Haverhill, MA 01835. ISBN 0-963-4685-2-9. That American Rag: The Story of Ragtime from Coast to Coast, by David A. Jasen and Gene Jones (433 pages, November 1999), fills an important gap in musical history as it sur veys the composers and performers o f piano ragtime in all the major centers o f American music from 1897 to 1980. Not a mere precur sor o f jazz, ragtime was syncopated piano music with a specific rhythm and structure that encapsulated the spirit of the new 20th century. Its influe nce was felt everywhere— not just in Missouri, Chicago and New York, but in the South, New England, and the West, as well. Illustrations of sheet music and photos o f musi cians enhance the text. Appendi ces list ragtime composers by birth place, publications by state, and 2 ,0 0 2 p u b lish e d rag s. $ 2 9 .9 5 . Schirmer. ISBN 0-02-864743-2. ■ http://www.nedcc.org/plam3/manhome C&RL News ■ April 2000 / 325