july04c.indd


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

The Alexander Pope Encyclopedia, by 
Pat Rogers (366 pages, March 2004), offers 
772 entries on English poet Alexander Pope 
(1688–1744) that cover his life, writings, cor­
respondence, friends and enemies, themes 
and concerns, and literary techniques. One 
of the most quoted poets of the English lan­
guage, Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, Essay on 
Criticism, and Essay on Man include such 
gems as “To err is human, to forgive, divine” 
and “The proper study of mankind is man.” 
This one­stop reference explains many of 
his allusions to contemporary English social 
mores, people, literature, and places in Lon­
don. Lengthy entries are accompanied by a 
short reading list, and the book also contains 
a chronology, selected bibliography, and a 
useful index. $99.95. Greenwood. ISBN 0­
313­32426­3. 

The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the 
Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus, by 
Owen Gingerich (306 pages, March 2004), 
takes the reader on a quest to find all the ex­
tant copies of the first (Nuremberg, 1543) and 

second (Basel, 1566) 
editions of De revo­
lutionibus by Polish 
astronomer Nicolaus 
Copernicus. In 1970, 
Harvard astrophysi­
cist Gingerich be­
came fascinated with 
the greatest scientifi c 
book of the 16th 
century—the first 
to suggest that the 

earth revolved around the sun, yet one that 
Arthur Koestler in The Sleepwalkers (1959) 
alleged “nobody read”—and set out to prove, 
by examining the annotations in various 
copies, that it was in fact well­read by such 
astronomers as Galileo Galilei, Johannes 
Kepler, Erasmus Reinhold, Georg Joachim 

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

Rheticus, and many others. He ultimately ex­
amined 590 copies of the book, tracing own­
erships, assisting in theft investigations, and 
demonstrating how an “intensely technical 
16th­century treatise launched a revolution 
even more profound than the Reformation.” 
A treasure for bibliophiles and a master work 
in the history of science. $25.00. Walker & 
Company. ISBN 0­8027­1415­3. 

The Devil and the Land of the Holy Cross: 
Witchcraft, Slavery, and Popular Religion 
in Colonial Brazil, by Laura de Mello e 
Souza (350 pages, February 2004), originally 
published in Brazil in 1986, examines the 
uniquely Brazilian brand of magical religious 
culture that formed from the 16th to the 18th 
centuries as a blending of Iberian, African, 
and Indian beliefs. Mello e Souza explains the 
role of the Portuguese Inquisition in combat­
ing this popular religion, which expressed 
itself in divination, healing, talismanic magic, 
shape­shifting, animal familiars, sabbats, and 
spirit possession. $60.00. University of Texas. 
ISBN 0­292­70228­0. 

Digital Reference Services, edited by Bill 
Katz (331 pages, April 2004), is a well­chosen 
selection of ten articles on the basics and 
principles of digital reference, followed by ten 
case studies (nine of them in academic librar­
ies) that offer practical ideas from real­time 
situations. Published simultaneously as num­
ber 79/80 of The Reference Librarian, this 
monograph points out the caveats and chal­
lenges of answering queries in cyberspace. 
$34.95. Haworth. ISBN 0­7890­2320­2. 

Epic Films, by Gary Allen Smith (312 pages, 
2d ed., May 2004), reviews 355 historical 
and mythological films set from prehis­
tory through the Crusades. The majority are 
Greco­Roman or Biblical epics that have 
fascinated audiences since the early days 
of cinema. Smith has added more than 130 
films since the first edition in 1991 and re­
vised a number of entries that had received 
inadequate treatment. Accompanied by many 

392 / C&RL NewsJuly/August 2004 

mailto:geberhart@ala.org


stills of gladiators, slave girls, barbarians, and 
Romans in togas. $49.95. McFarland. ISBN 
0­7864­1530­4. 

Essential Shakespeare Handbook, by Leslie 
Dunton­Downer and Alan Riding (480 pages, 
April 2004), offers clear commentaries on 
each of the Bard’s 39 plays, complete with 
historical background and sources, dramatis 
personae, plot summaries, key quotations, 
literary significance, performance history, and 
an abundance of illustrations showing stage 
and film productions. Also included are chap­
ters on Shakespeare’s life and times, Elizabe­
than and Jacobean theatre, Shakespearean 
language, and the narrative and lyric poems. 
$25.00. DK. ISBN 0­7894­9333­0. 

History in Quotations, by M. J. Cohen and 
John Major (1,008 pages, January 2004), 
presents 9,000 quotations in 90 thematic 
chapters that focus on key periods, themes, 
or movements in world history, from ancient 
Mesopotamia to modern globalization. The 
authors have selected quotations that capture 
the spirit of the times, drawing on cuneiform 
tablets, dynastic annals, chronicles, state pa­
pers, legal judgments, letters, memoirs, news­
papers, songs, plays, poems, and novels. The 
words are most often those of the participants 
or the witnesses to major events, such as Jean 
Froissart, who said in his Chronicles (1373) 
about the Black Death, “A third of the world 
died.” £30.00. Cassell. ISBN 0­304­35387­6. 

The History of Science and Technology, 
by Bryan Bunch with Alexander Hellemans 
(776 pages, April 2004), presents a year­by­
year chronicle of discoveries and inventions 
from the first use of tools 2.6 million years 
ago to 2003. Each year’s achievements are 
subdivided by such subjects as anthropology, 
archaeology, astronomy, biology, chemistry, 
communication, computers, construction, 
earth science, ecology and the environment, 
electronics, energy, food and agriculture, 
materials, mathematics, medicine and health, 
physics, tools, and transportation. Scattered 
throughout the chronology are brief biogra­
phies of prominent scientists and more than 
100 short essays on significant events like the 
value of pi and the Human Genome Project. 
Bunch notes in the introduction that many 
of the essays and chronicle entries were 

originally included in Timetables of Science 
(1989) and Timetables of Technology (1993), 
which he cowrote with Hellemans, but there 
are significant changes and additions. The 
comprehensive index aids access. $40.00. 
Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0­618­22123­9. 

Magnificent Mihirungs: The Colossal 
Flightless Birds of the Australian Dream-
time, by Peter F. Murray and Patricia Vick­
ers­Rich (410 pages, March 2004), reviews 
the palaeontological data on the odd­looking 

members of the ex­
tinct family Dromor­
nithidae, huge rela­
tives of geese that 
died out in Australia 
some 40,000 years 
ago. One species 
stood more than 
eight feet tall. The 
authors relate the 
discovery of the fi rst 
fossils and describe 
the birds’ classifi ca­

tion, bone structure, appearance, posture, 
body mass, habitat, diet, and evolution. The 
name “mihirung” comes from an Aboriginal 
tradition of giant emus that lived in the 
Dreamtime. $75.00. Indiana University. ISBN 
0­253­34282­1. 

(“Civic engagement...” continued from page 
388) 

9. See the “By the People” Web site at 
www.pbs.org/newshour/btp. 

10. Doble Research Associates, “Terror­
ism: What Should We Do Now? Results from 
Citizens Forums” (Dayton, OH: National Is­
sues Forums Institute, 2003). www.nifi .org 
/terrorism_03.pdf. 

11. Frances Moore Lappe, “Diet for a 
Small Planet” (New York: Ballantine Books, 
1971). 

12. Nancy Kranich, Anne Heanue and Tay­
lor Willingham, “Libraries—Public Forums for 
Today’s Critical Issues,” American Libraries, 
34, #1 (January 2003): 68–70. 

13. Kellogg Commission on the Future of 
State and Land Grant Universities, “Renew­
ing the Covenant: Learning, Discovery, and 
Engagement in a New Age and Different 

(continued on page 400) 

C&RL NewsJuly/August 2004 / 393 

www.nifi
www.pbs.org/newshour/btp