dec07c.indd George M. Eberhart N e w P u b l i c a t i o n s Asylum: A Mid­Century Madhouse and Its Lessons about Our Mentally Ill Today, by Enoch Callaway (196 pages, August 2007), is a memoir of the Worcester (Massachu- setts) State Hospital in the years 1948–1950 when the author served there as a resident psychiatrist in the days before the psycho- pharmacology revolution. The methods for treating psychosis in that era included elec- troconvulsive treatment, barbiturate seda- tives, lobotomy, insulin shock therapy, hy- drotherapy, and simplistic psychoanalysis. However, Callaway argues that society can learn something from the asylum experience in caring for our deinstitutionalized schizo- phrenics who are now on the streets, cared for by their families, or within the criminal justice system. $44.95. Praeger. 978-0-275- 99704-5. Of related interest is The Madness of Mary Lincoln, by Jason Emerson (255 pages, September 2007), which argues convincing- ly that Mary Todd Lincoln did indeed have mental illness severe enough to justify her commitment in 1875. Based on the discovery in 2005 of long-lost correspondence relating to her life and insanity, Emerson concludes that Mary Lincoln showed signs of bipolar disorder (manic depression) even before her husband was assassinated, an event that led to erratic and occasionally psychotic behav- ior, and that her son’s decision to institution- alize her came reluctantly, painfully, and as a last resort. $29.95. Southern Illinois Uni- versity. 978-0-8093-2771-3. Books on Fire, by Lucien X. Polastron (371 pages, August 2007), chronicles the destruc- tion of books and libraries throughout his- tory, from ancient Alexandria through World War II to the invasion of Iraq. Although scholarly and well-documented in most re- spects, the narrative sometimes seems an- George M. Eberhart is senior editor of American Libraries, e-mail: geberhart@ala.org ecdotal and rambling—but this may be par- tially due to the translation from the French. Polastron finishes up with some one-sided, negative digressions on weeding and online vs. print collections that are a bit off-topic. Nonetheless, he has unearthed many little- known incidents of biblioclasm that make this title a worthy acquisition. $24.95. Inner Traditions. 978-1-59477-167-5. The Citizen’s Guide to Lobbying Congress, by Donald E. deKieffer (196 pages, rev. ed., September 2007), is a practical, straightfor- ward manual on how to infl uence lawmak- ers. Chapters cover letter-writing campaigns, hearings, the press, etiquette, the Hill blitz, funding and spending, alliances, and re- sources. A useful handbook for understand- ing the methods and gimmicks of lobbyists, even if you’re not planning on using them yourself. $17.95. Chicago Review Press. 978- 1-55652-718-0. The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism, edited by Olivier Roy and Antoine Sfeir (430 pages, September 2007), explores the prin- ciples, organizations, personalities, history, geography, and politics of Islamism, defi ned as a “broad intellectual, religious, and politi- cal school within contemporary Islam whose adherents cling to the doctrine that the faith is indivisible, and base their actions on its fundamental principles.” Originating with the early 20th-century Muslim Brotherhood, Islamism includes both reformists and revo- lutionaries. This volume is a translation and update of the 2002 Dictionnaire mondial de l’islamisme. $75.00. Columbia University. 978-0-231-13130-8. A related title translated from the French is A Glossary of Islam, by Domi- nique Sourdel and Janine Sourdel-Tho- mine (187 pages, March 2007), which includes short definitions and explana- tions of theological and juridical schools, historical figures, Qur’anic symbols and December 2007 757 C&RL News mailto:geberhart@ala.org themes, and religious rites and institutions within Islam in general. $18.00. Edinburgh University. 978-0-7486-2138-5. Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies (Ro­ manies), by Donald Kenrick (343 pages, 2d ed., July 2007), assembles some essential facts about Romany people, places, events, organizations, and culture. A chronology of Gypsy history supplements this concise dictionary written by an international Ro- many scholar. $85.00. Scarecrow. 978-0- 8108-5468-0. Horror Films of the 1970s, by John Ken- neth Muir (662 pages, 2 vols., September 2007), has been reissued in paperback, in case you missed the 2002 hardcover and were intrigued by the author’s Horror Films of the 1980s (C&RL News, May 2007). Muir calls the 1970s the “disco decade,” a tense transition between the Peace Corps ’60s and the yuppified ’80s, where economic, social, religious, technological, environmental, and political fears coalesced on the screen as images within Dawn of the Dead, The Wicker Man, The Exorcist, Westworld, Night of the Lepus, and The Boys from Brazil. Ex- cellent commentary and insights. $49.95. McFarland. 978-0-7864-3104-5. How Mathematics Happened: The First 50,000 Years, by Peter S. Rudman (314 pages, July 2007), answers two questions: Why did ancient cultures develop math in a particular way and how did the Egyp- tians, Babylonians, Mayans, and Greeks think about numbers, multiplication, frac- tions, and algebra? Readers will need a basic comfort level with mathematical ex- pressions, but Rudman salts his narrative with diagrams, brain teasers (with answers in the back), and anecdotes to make it all more fun. Along the way he examines zig- gurats and pyramids, how pebble counting evolved into written numbers, and how the Babylonians used Pythagorean triples a millennium before Pythagoras. $26.00. Pro- metheus. 978-1-59102-477-4. The Kenana Handbook of Sudan, edited by Peter Gwynvay Hopkins (884 pages, July 2007), offers encyclopedic coverage of Africa’s largest country. Sponsored by the Kenana Sugar Company of Sudan and pub- lished by Kegan Paul in London, this handbook goes far beyond descriptions of the economy, agriculture, in- dustry, and pe- troleum reserves designed to encourage in- vestors. There are chapters on archaeology, history, art, literature, religion, food and drink, fl ora and fauna, the environment, coral reef div- ing, tourism, and politics, accompanied by maps and hundreds of color photographs, all intended to offset the one-sided picture presented in the media of starving refugees from the Darfur region. Of particular inter- est are photos from the Sudan Archive at the University of Durham that show life under the Anglo-Egyptian mandate; the old seaport of Suakin, with its buildings made of coral, a Christian center in the Middle Ages and one of the last slave export cen- ters in the 19th century; and excerpts from Tayeb Salih’s 1996 novel Bandarshah. $49.95. Kegan Paul, distributed by Colum- bia University. 978-0-7103-1160-3. The Missouri Compromise and Its After­ math: Slavery and the Meaning of Amer­ ica, by Robert Pierce Forbes (369 pages, May 2007), takes a fresh look at the de- bates over slavery that surrounded the Mis- souri Compromise of 1820 and argues that they served to polarize and radicalize both North and South on the issue. The Missouri debates gave Southerners the opportunity to hone and articulate a proslavery ideol- ogy, while Northerners for the fi rst time realized the grim realities of American sec- tionalism that could split the Union apart if C&RL News December 2007 758 the nation’s idealized vision of liberty and equality were applied to slaves. Forbes also reveals the role of James Monroe in stretch- ing the powers of the presidency to engi- neer the compromise behind the scenes, and follows the politics of slavery through 1854, when the law was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. $45.00. University of North Carolina. 978-0-8078-3105-2. Pots and Plays, by Oliver Taplin (309 pag- es, September 2007), makes a strong case for the connection between the painting of mythological scenes on 4th-century B.C. Greek pottery found in southern Italy and the performance of those scenes in the con- temporary tragedies of Aeschylus, Sopho- cles, and Euripides. Taplin contends that these “tragedy pots” were primarily made for display at funerals and within tombs so that the survivors could glean some com- fort from a visual reminder that death and suffering were an essential part of life. Ex- amples are given for each playwright as well as for unknown plays. $75.00. J. Paul Getty Museum. 978-0-89236-807-5. A Practical Guide to Information Literacy Assessment for Academic Librarians, by Carolyn J. Radcliff, et al. (180 pages, July 2007), describes numerous methods for testing and surveying information literacy in a higher-education setting, especially in conjunction with the 2000 ACRL competen- cy standards. A final section offers advice on statistical analysis of the results and re- porting the findings to stakeholders. $45.00. Libraries Unlimited. 978-1-59158-340-3. Putting “America” on the Map, by Seymour I. Schwartz (400 pages, October 2007), is an entertaining and thoroughly researched history of Martin Waldseemüller’s 1507 world map, the first to use “America” to designate the New World. The only known copy was rediscovered in a German private collection in 1901, and 100 years later the Library of Congress (LC) purchased it for a record $10 million. Schwartz, a renowned surgeon as well as a collector of rare maps, offers many intrigu- ing details about what has been called the “holy grail” of Ameri- can cartography, its provenance, its creator, its im- portance as the first map to de- pict clearly a separate Western Hemisphere with the Pacific as a separate ocean, and the long negotiations that led to its pur- chase. The map is part of a larger exhibit opening December 13 called “Exploring the Early Americas” in LC’s Jefferson Build- ing. $29.95. Prometheus. 978-1-59102-513- 9. Where Fate Beckons, by John Dunmore (291 pages, August 2007), examines the life of the largely forgotten French naval offi cer and explorer Jean-François de La Pérouse (1741–1788), best known for his ill-fated scientific expedition to the Pacifi c, where his two ships were destroyed on a reef in the Solomon Islands. But he also played an important role in the American Revolution and made notable visits to Alaska, Califor- nia, Japan, Russia, Hawaii, Easter Island, and Samoa. $45.00. University of Alaska. 978-1-60223-002-6. December 2007 759 C&RL News