march05c.indd


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

Elec tric and Hybrid Cars: A Histor y, by 
Curtis D. Anderson and Judy Anderson (189 
pages, November 2004), demonstrates that 
alternate forms of automobile propulsion are 
not a purely modern obsession. The Ander­
sons note that there were six electric cars at 
the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 
and they bring readers right up to the 21st 
century with the Corbin Sparrow, the Honda 
Insight, and the Toyota RAV4 EV. Full dis­
cussions of the technologies involved and 
their impact on the environment are pro­
vided, along with many historical advertise­
ments and illustrations. $45.00. McFarland. 
ISBN 0­7864­1872­9. 

The First Crusade: A New Histor y, by 
Thomas Asbridge (408 pages, August 2004), 
tells the story of Europe’s successful retak­
ing of Jerusalem from the Muslims at the end 
of the 11th century and explains the forces 
that impelled thousands of knights, nobles, 
and peasants to make a perilous journey to 
the Holy Land. Asbridge has written a vivid 
account that makes this remarkable armed 
pilgrimage understandable to modern read­
ers. $35.00. Oxford University. ISBN 0­19­
517823­8. 

The Gordon File: A Screenwriter Recalls 
Twenty Years of FBI Sur veillance, by 
Bernard Gordon (344 pages, October 2004), 
reveals what it was like to be on the Hol­
lywood blacklist in the 1950s. Gordon, who 
joined the Communist Party for a few years 
during World War II and was subpoenaed by 
the House Un­American Activities Commit­
tee in 1953, was put under FBI surveillance 
from 1944 to 1970, as shown by the 145 
pages of redacted FBI files reprinted here 
(only half of the total number released to 
him under the Freedom of Information Act). 
Despite the blacklisting, Gordon turned out 

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

eight movie screenplays, among them Earth 
vs. the Flying Saucers and Hellcats of the 
Navy. A chilling memoir. $29.95. University 
of Texas. ISBN 0­292­72843­3. 

The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey, by Chris 
Beard (348 pages, December 2004), explores 
the remote past of human origins, beginning 
with the author’s discovery in China of a fos­
sil that he contends is the common ances­
tor of modern monkeys, apes, and humans. 
Beard’s arguments that Eosimias is part of the 
anthropoid lineage puts him at odds with the 
long­standing theory that Africa was the birth­
place of the higher primates, but he skillfully 
interweaves personal anecdotes about fossil 
discoveries and the history of evolutionary 
theories with necessary descriptions of pri­
mate teeth and postcranial bones. $27.50. 
University of California. ISBN 0­520­23369­7. 

Pop Culture Arab World!: Media, Arts, 
and Lifestyle, by Andrew Hammond (376 
pages, December 2004), offers a fascinating 
overview of politics and culture in the post­
colonial Middle East. Anyone who wants to 
understand the complexities of Arab societ­
ies or better serve the needs of Arab stu­
dents would do well to consult this book, 
which has sections on media (including 
game shows, reality TV, and tabloids), cin­
ema, music (especially Arabpop), theater, 
popular religion (with excellent discussions 
on the belief in jinn, spiritual healing, TV 
evangelists, and strict Wahhabism), belly 
dancing, consumer culture, sports, and Ara­
bic language and literature (including Quran 
scholarship). Each chapter concludes with a 
description of key people and terms. $85.00. 
ABC­CLIO. ISBN 1­85109­449­0. 

Strange Angel: The O ther worldly Life 
of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Par­
sons, by George Pendle (350 pages, January 
2005), recounts the odd life of maverick rock­

(continued on page 246) 

March 2005  239 C&RL News 

mailto:geberhart@ala.org


to his service at MSU, Besant was director of 
the Linda Hall Library, assistant director for 
public service at the Ohio State University 
library, and assistant director for technical 
service at the University of Houston library. 
Besant has been active in state and national 
organizations, having served as the president 
of the Kentucky chapter of SLA twice, and 
chaired the State Assisted Academic Library 
Council of Kentucky from 1989­1990 and 
1997­2000. 

Charles T. Cullen, president and librarian of 
the Newberry Library in Chicago, has retired. 
Cullen has been president of the Newberry 

Library since 1986, forging an era of fi nancial 
stability, academic accomplishment, and pub­
lic access. During his tenure, the Newberry Li­
brary has seen its endowment increased from 
$27 million to $63 million, which has ensured 
support for active acquisition, emerging schol­
arship, the strengthening of staff positions and 
resources, and technological advancement. 
Under Cullen’s stewardship, the Newberry 
was an early adopter of new technology, be­
coming one of the first independent research 
libraries to have a Web site and to network 
via a state­of­the­art intranet. The Newberry 
Library is an independent humanities library 
that is free and open to the public. 

(“Grants and Acquisitions” continued from page 241) 

including Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Ar­ for a broad range of railroad equipment from 
kansas, Tennessee, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, railroad cars to tools and fittings. Other mate­
and Missouri. The shop files include diagrams rials donated include Frisco maps, stationary, 
and schematics (including painting diagrams) labor agreements, and publications. 

(“New Publications” continued from page 239) 

et­fuel pioneer and occultist Jack Parsons, 
whose research at Caltech led to the devel­
opment of military ballistic missiles. Pendle 
successfully weaves together the threads of 
Parsons’s relatively unknown career—his in­
terest in space travel and science fi ction, his 
immersion in thelemic magick based on the 
writings of the notorious Aleister Crowley, 
and his untimely death in a chemical explo­
sion at his home in 1952. Much better writ­
ten than John Carter’s Sex and Rockets (Feral 
House, 2000), Pendle’s biography also pro­
vides a glimpse of the southern California 
culture in the 1930s and 1940s that allowed 
such a free thinker to flourish. $25.00. Har­
court. ISBN 0­15­100997­X. 

Thunderbirds: America’s Living Legends 
of Giant Birds, by Mark A. Hall (204 pages, 
December 2004), examines Indian legends 
and modern sightings of big birds with wing­
spans of up to 20 feet. The most interesting 
instance of the latter was a flap (one might 
say) of reports in southern Illinois in the sum­
mer of 1977, one of which involved a large 

bird that tried to carry off a 10­year­old boy 
in Lawndale, witnessed by two adults. Hall 
has assembled an intriguing list of cases and 
traditions that are difficult to explain. $15.95. 
Paraview. ISBN 1­93104­497­X. 

Vanishing Point, by Richard J. Tofel (216 
pages, August 2004), reexamines the un­
explained disappearance of New York Su­
preme Court Judge Joseph Crater in August 
1930, an event that made him the most fa­
mous missing person until Jimmy Hoffa. As 
part of his inquiry, Tofel looks at political 
corruption in New York City and the decline 
of the Tammany Hall political machine that 
Crater was involved with. Over time, specu­
lation on the case has ranged from his out­
right murder by thugs enforcing a showgirl’s 
blackmail scheme to Crater taking it on the 
lam to escape a corruption investigation. 
Tofel suspects Crater died suddenly at the 
brothel of notorious madam Polly Adler, 
who used her underworld connections to 
make the corpse disappear. $24.95. Ivan R. 
Dee. ISBN 1­56663­605­1. 

246C&RL News March 2005