june06c.indd George M. Eberhart N e w P u b l i c a t i o n s Bursting the Limits of Time: The Reconstruc­ tion of Geohistory in the Age of Revolution, by Martin J. S. Rudwick (708 pages, No- vember 2005), describes the long-neglected history of how an international group of scientists devel- oped a radical new conception of the age of the earth dur- ing the politically tu- multuous period of 1770 to 1848. Rud- wick explains that this “historicization of the earth” was eclipsed by the Darwinian revolution that put human evolution in center stage. However, the reconstruction of geohistory into eras (Mesozoic) and periods (Jurassic) extending millions of years into the past was no less a revolutionary act than the political manifestos of Paine, Rousseau, and Marx in an epoch where the Christian worldview accepted Biblical timelines extending only to 4004 or 6984 B.C. The result was a new science of geology—pieced together by scientists like Jean-André de Luc, Georges Cuvier, Alexan- dre Brongniart, and William Buckland—that produced a credible account of earth’s deep history. Accompanied by many antiquarian illustrations. $54.00. University of Chicago. ISBN 0-226-73111-1. Canadian Fic tion: A Guide to Reading Interests, by Sharron Smith and Maureen O’Connor (423 pages, November 2005), offers advice on which Canadian novels since 1990 are worth acquiring. Arranged by the same “appeal characteristics” that Nancy Pearl used in Now Read This—setting, story, character, language, and genre—the descriptions pro- vide a plot summary, subject keywords, and George M. Eberhart is senior editor of American Libraries, e-mail: geberhart@ala.org suggestions for further reading. Appendices list resources and Web sites, Canadian liter- ary awards, and publishers. $60.00. Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 1-59158-166-4. The Columbia Guide to Contemporary Afri­ can American Fiction, by Darryl Dickson-Carr (257 pages, September 2005), reviews black authors, movements, institutions, and publi- cations that came into prominence between 1970 and 2000. Discussions of such genres as the Black Arts Movement, the new black aes- thetic, cultural nationalism, négritude, post- soul, and hip-hop help put specifi c themes in perspective, and the detailed treatment of works by both prominent and lesser-known authors will prove helpful to students. $60.00. Columbia University. ISBN 0-231-12472-4. The Complete Copyright Liability Handbook for Librarians and Educators, by Tomas A. Lipinski (411 pages, February 2006), covers in detail all the legal copyright issues that might arise in an academic setting: the different types of infringement (direct, contributory, and vicarious); damage limitations, immunity, and the Section 512 safe harbor; the Digital Millennium Copyright Act; and three ways libraries and schools can distribute materials in compliance with the law. An appendix offers 16 model copyright policies that cover various provisions. $125.00. Neal-Schuman. ISBN 1-55570-532-4. Cravan: Myster y Man of the Twentieth Centur y, by Mike Richardson and Rick Geary (66 pages, November 2005), is the true yet specula- tive story, rendered in graphic-novel for- mat by artist Rick Geary, of Arthur Cravan, a Swiss- born pugilist, art 384C&RL News June 2006 mailto:geberhart@ala.org critic, dadaist, and charlatan who was last seen in Salina Cruz, Mexico, in 1918. During his brief career under many aliases, Cravan associated with Jack Johnson, Marcel Duch- amp, and Leon Trotsky, and married the mod- ernist poet Mina Loy. Richardson speculates that Cravan became the reclusive author B. Traven, who wrote the novel Treasure of the Sierra Madre in 1927. $14.95. Dark Horse. ISBN 1-59307-291-0. Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tra­ dition, edited by Richard M. Golden (4 vols., January 2006), brings together contributions from 172 special- ists representing 28 countries who examine Euro- pean witchcraft trials and beliefs f r o m 1 4 2 0 t o 1782. A master- ful compendium of scholarship, this encyclopedia goes well beyond the classic but now dated Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology by Rossell Hope Robbins (1959). The 757 entries include biographies of histo- rians and historical figures, folklore, religious concepts, geographical areas, specifi c inci- dents, legal procedures, and sociological ele- ments, each with sources and suggestions for further reading, many in foreign languages. The writings reflect a significant amount of research that has taken place since the 1970s into the extent and causes of the witch hunts that resulted in the execution or lynching of 35,000 to 50,000 people, predominantly but not exclusively old or single women. Even climate change is addressed, as the climax of witch persecutions in central Europe co- incided with the Little Ice Age (1560–1630). $485.00. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-57607-243-6. Paradigms Lost: The Life and Deaths of the Printed Word, by William Sonn (391 pages, February 2006), is an energetically written history of print technology that shows how changes in type production have had pro- found effects on society. Beginning with the 15th-century invention of the printing press and movable type, Sonn describes such in- novations as the steam press, the Linotype machine, phototypesetting, and computer composition. In addition to increased speed of information transmission, Sonn explores the effects of technological changes on typog- raphers’ guilds and unions over time. $35.00. Scarecrow. ISBN 0-8108-5262-4. Pets in America: A History, by Katherine C. Grier (377 pages, February 2006), traces the development of Americans’ relationships with their dogs, cats, and other domestic animals from the 18th century to the present. Using a wide variety of printed sources, including il- lustrations taken from postcards, lithographs, pet photos, and advertising, Grier examines the growth of the domestic ethic of kindness to animals, boys and cruelty, pet shops, ani- mals as friends and servants, home doctoring, and pet products. $34.95. University of North Carolina. ISBN 0-8078-2990-0. Presidential Elections, 1789–2004 (277 pages, December 2005) presents a narrative history of U.S. presidential campaigns and elections, accompanied by popular and elec- toral voting statistics by state and essays on primaries and the electoral college. $41.00. CQ Press. ISBN 1-56802-983-7. A related CQ volume is National Party Conventions, 1831–2004 (325 pages, December 2005), which gives a comprehensive listing of party platforms, key convention ballots, and signifi - cant roll calls, supplemented by a discussion of the presidential nominating process in the preconvention years, the origin and develop- ment of primaries, and historical profiles of all significant political parties. $40.00. CQ Press. ISBN 1-56802-982-9. The Ruby Slippers, Madonna’s Bra, and Einstein’s Brain, by Chris Epting (299 pages, March 2006), identifies the locations of hun- dreds of famous historical and pop-cultural June 2006 385 C&RL News artifacts. Discover the exact whereabouts of the only gas station built by Frank Loyd Wright, the world’s largest rotating globe, the pen that signed the Emancipation Proclama- tion, Abraham Zapruder’s camera, James Dean’s bongo drums, Forrest Gump’s bench, Muddy Waters’s cabin, and Alan Shepard’s Apollo 14 golf club. This is the fourth in Epting’s series of offbeat tour guides. $16.95. Santa Monica Press. ISBN 1-59580-008-5. Sensory Worlds in Early America, by Peter Charles Hoffer (334 pages, paperback ed., December 2005), explores the impressions that sights, sounds, and smells have on differ- ent cultures and how varying interpretations of sensory experience can result in political conflict and social or religious transforma- tion. Hoffer provides five examples: the fi rst encounters of the English and the Indians in North America, the perceived demons and spectral evidence of the Salem witch trials, the role of color and voice in defi ning a sense of otherness to African slaves, the richly evocative visible and auditory sacramentalism of the first Great Awakening in the 1730s, and the genuineness and candor of repub- lican sensory etiquette during the American Revolution. A colorful companion to How Early America Sounded, by Richard Cullen Rath (Cornell, 2004). $25.00. Johns Hopkins University. ISBN 0-8018-8392-X. The Street­Smart Writer, by Jenna Glatzer and Daniel Steven (296 pages, January 2006), offers valuable advice to writers on how to avoid scams and rip-offs by publishers, producers, agents, contests, editors, and publicists. The authors tell how to spot a good offer, why you might not need a liter- ary agent, what to do if you’ve already been scammed, and how to research companies and individuals. The appendix presents a sample agency agreement, interview release, permissions and contributor agreements, a trade publishing agreement, and fi lm option agreement. $16.95. Nomad Press. ISBN 0- 9749344-4-5. 386C&RL News June 2006