june04c.indd


N e w  P u b l i c a t i o n s  George M. Eberhart 

Academic Design: Sharing Lessons 
Learned, by Bill Ammentorp and Bill Warner 
(78 pages, January 2004), describes the 
process developed for Minnesota’s two- and 
four-year colleges to design and improve 
academic programs. The authors offer a 
proven four-phase model for planning for 
and preparing an academic design plan. 
Illustrated with numerous charts, examples, 
and tables. $40.00. Society for College and 
University Planning, 339 E. Liberty St., Suite 
300, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. 

A Basic Course in Iraqi Arabic with MP3 
Audio Files, by Wallace M. Erwin (389 pages 
+ CD, March 2004), though first published in 
1969, is still the definitive guide to Arabic 
spoken by educated Muslims in Baghdad— 
a variety that is generally understood 
throughout Iraq and in many parts of the 
Arab world. All vocabulary, examples, 
and drills are given in Latin script. The 
MP3 files provided were remastered from 
audiocassettes that accompanied the original 
edition. Iraqi-English and English-Iraqi 
glossaries are provided. $39.95. Georgetown 
University. ISBN 1-58901-011-6. 

Charting Louisiana: Five Hundred Years 
of Maps, edited by Alfred E. Lemmon, John 
T. Magill, and Jason R. Wiese (383 pages, 
December 2003), presents the cartographic 
history of the territory and the state in this 
collection of 193 high-quality reproductions 
of maps. The six chapters discuss the 17th-
century cartography of the northern Gulf 
coast, the 18th-century Bourbon colony, 
Louisiana territory from 1803 to 1820, the 
state in the 19th century, Louisiana in the 
modern age, and New Orleans through three 
centuries. Produced in an oversize format of 
11.75 by 14 inches, the book also features 
paintings, lithographs, and photographs 
illustrating each period. $95.00. Historic New 
Orleans Collection. ISBN 0-917860-47-0. 

George M. Eberhart is senior editor of American Libraries, 
e-mail: geberhart@ala.org 

The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film 
and Television, by John Kenneth Muir (621 
pages, February 2004), profiles the celluloid 
and video lives of 71 superheroes, whom 
Muir defines as characters of extraordinary 
capabilities or powers who “have a propensity 
to fight evil in all its forms, whether criminal, 
terrorist, or demonic.” Arrangement is by 
superhero, which in Superman’s case covers 
five feature films, two live-action TV series, an 
animated TV series, and one TV movie musical. 
Muir characterizes the superhero genre as a 
uniquely American myth that he tracks from 
the early age of straight-faced crime-fi ghters, 
through its camp and nostalgic phases, and 
to more recent incarnations as dark heroes, 
powerful heroines (pioneered by Buffy the 
Vampire Slayer), and reimagined characters. 
$59.95. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1723-4. 

Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big 
History, by David Christian (642 pages, 
February 2004), offers a wide-angle-lens 
view of world history, starting with the Big 
Bang and the physical 
origins of our sun and 
earth (science’s closest 
approach to a creation 
narrative), through 
human evolution 
and the fl owering of 
agrarian and modern 
cultures, to serious 
questions about the 
future sustainability of 
civilization as we know 
it. The author taps into fields not normally 
associated with historical studies—cosmology, 
paleontology, anthropology, ecology, and 
archaeology—to create a coherent synthesis of 
knowledge about the planet earth and how 
our species has shaped and been shaped by 
it. Although “big history” was only formally 
identified as a methodology by Fred Spier 
in 1996, other interdisciplinarians, such as 
Stephen Hawking, John Gribbin, Alfred 
W. Crosby, Nigel Calder, and William H. 
McNeill, have written similar big-picture 

338 / C&RL NewsJune 2004 

mailto:geberhart@ala.org


overviews. But Christian has hit a home 
run with his clear presentation, instructive 
charts and timelines, useful summaries, 
and wide-ranging suggestions for further 
reading. This book should be required 
reading for any extraterrestrials visiting the 
earth for the first time. $34.95. University 
of California. ISBN 0-520-23500-2. 

Owls of the World: Their Lives, Behavior 
and Survival, by James R. Duncan (319 
pages, November 2003), examines the 
biology, conservation, and folklore of 
the 205 species of owls. Many color 
photographs accompany the text and 
species descriptions. Duncan also adds 
interest by including short contributions by 
other owl specialists on such research topics 
as hybridization, owl mortality, parasites, 
owl enclosures, and the 2001 discovery of a 
new species, the Sumba hawk owl. $40.00. 
Firefly. ISBN 1-55297-845-1. 

Oxford Dictionary of British Place-Names, 
by A. D. Mills (533 pages, November 2003), 
updated for the publisher’s recent series 
of paperback reference books, gives the 
origin of some 17,000 locations in England, 
Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, 
the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man. 
Many of the English names have been 
remarkably persistent over the past 1,000 
years and offer insight into the terrain, 
economy, or people of another era. For 
example, Penton Mewsey in Hampshire 
originally meant “farmstead paying a 
penny rent to the de Meysi family,” and 
Donegal in Ireland derives from Dúin na 
nGall (“fort of the foreigners”), referring 
to the Danes who were active there in the 
9th century. $14.95. Oxford University. 
ISBN 0-19-852758-6. 

Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to 
Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography, 
by Douglas Keister (288 pages, April 2004), 
reveals the meanings hidden in the symbols 
carved into gravestones, mausoleums, 
memorials, and other mortuary art. The 
guide explains the cemetery symbolism of 
grape clusters and pine cones, stags and 
partridges, lamps and lyres, vacant chairs 
and draped urns, angels and crosses. Also 
included is a comprehensive acronym list 

of societies, clubs, and organizations that 
might appear on a tomb. Among the many 
illustrations are photos of unusual graves 
belonging to Oscar Wilde, Joe DiMaggio, 
and Dick Whittington’s cat. $24.95. Gibbs 
Smith. ISBN 1-58685-321-X. 

Tarot and Other Meditation Decks, by Emily 
E. Auger (214 pages, January 2004), focuses 
on the art and aesthetics of Tarot cards, rather 
than their divinatory meanings. Using the 

popular 1910 Rider-
Waite deck (created 
by artist Pamela 
Smith for occultist 
Arthur Waite) as a 
type specimen against 
which other decks can 
be compared, Auger 
places 20th-century 
Tarot card designs 
within the context 
of such artistic and 
literary movements as 

surrealism and gothicism. She also proposes 
a typology for modern meditation decks, 
grouping them into those that use the Rider-
Waite deck as an aesthetic standard and those 
that diverge significantly and symbolically 
from it. With numerous illustrations and a 
substantial bibliography. $39.95. McFarland. 
ISBN 0-7864-1674-2. 

The United States Government 
Internet Manual, 2003–2004, edited by 
Peggy Garvin (764 pages, January 2004), 
is a welcome companion to the offi cial 
United States Government Manual that 
uses a similar arrangement to describe 
the Web sites for more than 2,000 
departments, offices, and agencies of the 
federal government. It encompasses sites 
on Mars exploration, hazmat safety, the 
Human Genome Project, the Copyright 
Office, arctic health, savings bonds, 
the Plain English Network, climate 
diagnostics, digital preservation, and 
students.gov. Appendices provide the 
URLs for all members of Congress and 
congressional committees, while four 
indexes offer access by sponsor or site 
name, publication, SuDoc number, and 
subject. $59.00. Bernan Press. ISBN 0-
89059-912-2. 

C&RL NewsJune 2004 / 339 

http:students.gov