jan08c.indd George M. Eberhart N e w P u b l i c a t i o n s Death in the Pot: The Impact of Food Poi­ soning on History, by Morton Satin (258 pages, August 2007), reviews some recent and historical episodes of food adulteration and tampering. Mod- ern incidents include the dioxin poisoning of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in 2004, the discovery of a virulent strain of E. coli as a result of the 1993 Jack in the Box outbreak, the Spanish toxic oil outbreak of 1981 (attributed to cooking oil, but was it pesticides?), the Jamaican ginger extract adulteration that left thousands of Ameri- cans paralyzed with “jake leg” in 1930, and the case of the private cook Mary Mallon who was arrested in 1907 and detained for years as a typhoid fever carrier. Among the earlier cases he discusses are ergot as a cause of the Salem witchcraft outbreak, ar- senic ingestion accounting for King George III’s madness, and epidemics of lead poi- soning in wine that led to the decline of the Roman Empire. $24.00. Prometheus. 978-1- 59102-514-6. The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenome­ na, by J. Gordon Melton (380 pages, Octo- ber 2007), serves as a general introduction to spiritual and mystical experiences, sacred sites, and seemingly paranormal events as- sociated with the major religious traditions. Melton layers a scholarly outlook over a concise and popular treatment of such phe- nomena as Marian apparitions, spiritualist séances, sacred shrines and relics, and psy- chic healing. Well-written and illustrated, with many suggestions for further reading. $24.95. Visible Ink. 978-1-57859-209-8. George M. Eberhart is senior editor of American Libraries, e-mail: geberhart@ala.org Fool’s Gold: Why the Internet Is No Substi­ tute for a Library, by Mark Y. Herring (191 pages, September 2007), points out the dan- gers (to both libraries and the general public) of an overreliance on the Web as an informa- tion resource. Many of the pitfalls he iden- tifies are well-known—disinformation and fraud, often-irrelevant search-engine results, link rot, the googleization of everything, the dead end of e-books, the myth of the pa- perless society, and the paucity of pre-1990s information—but Herring assembles it all entertainingly if occasionally crankily, such as when he addresses rampant Internet por- nography or what he perceives as misguid- ed, overzealous mass-digitization advocates. $45.00. McFarland. 978-0-7864-3082-6. A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca, by Andrés Reséndez (314 pages, November 2007), tells the story of the ill-fated Narváez expedition, which left Spain for Florida in 1528. After a forced landing near Tampa Bay, 300 men set out on a trek inland, but following many misadventures with the Indians, grueling marches, debili- tating illnesses, and a harrowing raft voyage across the Gulf to the Texas coast, only four survivors—Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and three companions—made their way back to civilization by walking across to the Pacifi c and south to Mexico. Their experiences with the Indians, both as captives and as travel- ing healers, convey the precariousness of fi rst contact. The author’s account is well-docu- mented and less speculative than Paul Sch- neider’s similar Brutal Journey (Holt, 2006). $26.95. Basic Books. 978-0-465-06840-1. Lincoln Legends, by Edward Steers Jr. (264 pages, October 2007), tackles 14 myths about Abraham Lincoln’s life and sets the record straight in this scholarly analysis. Beginning with the doubtful authenticity of the birth- place cabin in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Steers goes on to deconstruct legends about the C&RL News January 2008 42 mailto:geberhart@ala.org gravesite of Ann Rut- ledge (Abe’s fi rst love), Lincoln’s baptism, his purported homosexu- ality, Mary Lincoln’s al- leged Confederate sym- pathies, the lost draft of the Gettysburg Ad- dress, Edwin Stanton’s complicity in the assas- sination plot, the innocence of Dr. Mudd, and the identity of the man who held Booth’s horse outside the Ford’s Theatre. $24.95. University Press of Kentucky. 978-0-8131-2466-7. Definitely not a myth is the story of the at- tempted theft of Abraham Lincoln’s body from its tomb in Springfield in 1876 by a group of counterfeiters who planned to hold it for ran- som in return for the release from Joliet prison of a fellow con man. Stealing Lincoln’s Body, by Thomas J. Craughwell (250 pages, April 2007), describes this little-known crime, the prevalence of counterfeiting in post–Civil War America, and the subsequent 1901 re-inter- ment of Lincoln’s corpse in a steel cage sur- rounded by theft-proof concrete (inspired by railway-car magnate George Pullman’s own burial in 1897). $24.95. Belknap Press. 978- 0-674-02458-8. If you are surprised by the audacity of 19th-century counterfeiters, don’t be. As Ste- phen Mihm explains in A Nation of Counter­ feiters: Capitalists, Con Men, and the Making of the United States (457 pages, September 2007), “the history of bank notes, both real and counterfeit, captures the get-rich-quick scheme, the confidence game, and the ma- nia for speculation” that obsessed the era. Mihm says that the transformation of fl imsy paper bank notes into concrete capital is “part of the hidden history of America’s eco- nomic development.” In fact, it was only the government crackdown on counterfeiters of the 1870s that led to a more stable cur- rency—punctuated by debates over gold or silver standards and the establishment of a central bank—and ended a wild and wooly century of forgery. $29.95. Harvard Univer- sity. 978-0-674-02657-5. Maps: Finding Our Place in the World, edited by James R. Akerman and Robert W. Karrow Jr. (400 pages, November 2007), accompanies the 2007–2008 Chicago exhibition of maps spear- headed by the Newberry Library and the Field Museum of Natural History. Like the city-wide exhibits, this volume covers many eras and map genres, from simple pathfinding to world and regional maps, charting American history, con- ceptual maps, and mapping imaginary worlds. The final chapter is a masterful essay on the de- velopment of maps as consumer merchandise by art historian (and cocurator of the exhibition with Akerman) Diane Dillon. $55.00. University of Chicago. 978-0-226-01075-5. Another essential volume for any map library is the Historical Atlas of the United States, by Der- ek Hayes (280 pages, January 2007), a brilliant work of art on many levels, from its selection of 535 significant, full-color historical maps to its interpretation of their content. A joy to peruse casually, this volume also serves as an excellent visual introduction to American studies. $39.95. University of California. 978-0-520-25036-9. When Nature Strikes, by Marsha L. Baum (227 pages, July 2007), examines the intersections of meteorology and the law, from torts aris- ing from a slip on the ice and contracts cov- ering hurricane dam- age, to weather-safety inventions protected by patent law, redress for faulty forecasts, civil lia- bility of coaches for ath- lete heat deaths, looting and other crimes in the wake of a disaster, and legislation regulating weather emergencies. Baum notes that legal issues in the future will encompass global warming law, weaponiza- tion of the weather, and medical malpractice lawsuits for failure to consider weather-sensi- tivity disorders. This fascinating look at the so- cial consequences of severe weather is accom- panied by a glossary of terms from acid rain to winter weather advisories. $44.95. Praeger. 978-0-275-22129-4. January 2008 43 C&RL News