june08c.indd


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

Earth: The Sequel, by Fred Krupp and Mir­
iam Horn (279 pages, March 2008), asserts 

that there is one 
way to encourage 
market forces to 
develop the new 
technologies essen­
tial to slow global 
warming effective­
ly: entrepreneurial 
environmentalism. 
A carbon emissions 
cap­and­trade sys­

tem could provide economic incentives to 
venture capitalists willing to invest in alter­
native energy development. Innovative so­
lar, geothermal, hydroelectric, biofuel, and 
other solutions await the right combination 
of policy and financing, as Krupp and Horn 
optimistically demonstrate in several chap­
ters that showcase some of the visionaries 
behind these projects. Krupp is the presi­
dent of the nonprofit advocacy group En­
vironmental Defense Fund, which has had 
many lobbying successes over the years, 
from the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 to 
California’s Global Warming Solutions Act 
of 2006. Probably this appeal to America’s 
corporate self­interest is the only way for 
us to cut emissions by 80 percent over the 
next 50 years. $24.95. W. W. Norton. 978­
0­393­06690­6. 

The Execution of Willie Francis, by Gilbert 
King (362 pages, March 2008), examines the 
facts of the case of Willie Francis, a black 
teenager sentenced to death for a murder 
he may not have committed (at least in the 
first degree) in 1944 in St. Martinsville, Loui­
siana. Because the execution in the cumber­
some electric chair nicknamed “Gruesome 
Gertie” was botched by drunken prison 
guards, Willie survived. Public outcry pre­

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

vented another try the following week and a 
sympathetic lawyer, Bertrand DeBlanc, took 
his case all the way to the Supreme Court 
on the grounds that he had already gone 
through cruel and unusual punishment. The 
sharply divided court rejected the appeal 
5–4, and Willie went back to the chair in 
1947. King explains this long­forgotten case 
compellingly and puts it in the context of 
the early civil rights struggle. The Supreme 
Court did not decide a similar case again un­
til April 16, 2008, when it ruled 7–2 in Baze 
v. Rees that lethal injection was not cruel or 
unusual. $26.00. Basic Civitas Books. 978­0­
465­00265­8. 

The Guadalcanal Air War, by Jefferson J. De­
Blanc (240 pages, May 2008), is the author’s 
personal memoir of his days as a top­gun 
Marine pilot during two tours of combat in 
Guadalcanal in 1942–1943, as well as oth­
er action in the Pacific Theater. DeBlanc 
(who won both a Medal of Honor and Navy 
Cross) recounts his experiences surviving in 
the jungle with the help of Solomon Islands 
Coastwatchers after he was shot down by a 
Japanese Zero near the island of Kolomban­
gara. In addition to his wartime narrative, 
DeBlanc describes his feelings on returning 
to the islands to take part in the dedication 
of the Guadalcanal Memorial in 1992. Sadly, 
he passed away just six months before this 
book was published. $24.95. Pelican. 978­1­
58980­587­3. 

Hubert’s Freaks, by Gregory Gibson (274 
pages, April 2008), sports one of the most 
intriguing subtitles in recent history: “The 
Rare­Book Dealer, the Times Square Talker, 
and the Lost Photos of Diane Arbus.” The 
book revolves around Hubert’s Museum, 
a sideshow attraction on 42nd Street (lo­
cated where Madame Tussaud’s is now) in 
business from 1926 to 1965 that featured a 
flea circus, a snake dancer, a sword swal­
lower, and such human oddities as Sealo the 

356C&RL News June 2008

mailto:geberhart@ala.org


Seal Boy, Melvin 
Burkhart (the “Ana­
tomical Wonder”), 
the Human Canary, 
and the World’s 
Tallest Cowboy. In 
the 1960s it was 
managed by the ex­
uberant Charlie Lu­
cas, whose papers, 
pamphlets, and 

photos lingered in storage after his death in 
1993 until they were acquired by a Brook­
lyn vendor in 2002. Philadelphia rare­book 
dealer Bob Langmuir purchased the collec­
tion in 2003 for $3,500 and was surprised 
to find some unknown photos by Diane Ar­
bus, who had done some of her best work 
with Hubert’s freaks. Gibson paints a vivid 
picture of this lost subculture of strange­
ness that thrived less than two blocks away 
from the New York Public Library. This fas­
cinating saga has an unresolved coda: Lang­
muir was to have auctioned off the now­
authenticated Arbus photos in April 2008, 
but the Brooklyn vendor sued him for un­
derpayment and the sale was canceled. 
$24.00. Harcourt. 978­0­15­101233­6. 

Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James W. 
Loewen (444 pages, 2d ed., April 2008), has 
been thoroughly updated from the 1995 edi­
tion and is well worth an upgrade. Loewen 
tears apart the inaccuracies in six new 
high­school history textbooks that he ana­
lyzed in 2006–2007 and adds a chapter on 
“Choosing Not to Look at the War in Viet­
nam” and sections on the Iraq Wars and the 
war on terrorism. But even with the worst 
textbooks, good teachers can make history 
interesting, Loewen argues, by teaching 
against the texts, by adding multicultural 
elements where none exist, and encour­
aging critical thinking and open debate 
among their students. This is a crucial step, 
because five­sixths of all Americans never 
take a history course after high school and 
may well be ill­equipped to analyze and 
understand controversial political and social 

issues. $26.95. New Press. 978­1­59558­
326­0. 

A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Big­
horn, the Last Great Battle of the Ameri­
can West, by James 
Donovan (528 pag­
es, March 2008), 
tells the story of 
the campaign, the 
battle, and the af­
termath with ad­
mirable clarity and 
objectivity, quaran­
tining the numerous 
Custer controversies 
within 180 pages 
of footnotes to keep the narrative fl owing 
smoothly. Donovan bases his interpretation 
of the battle on his critical assessment of the 
oft­confl icting primary sources, memoirs, In­
dian accounts, and archaeological evidence 
that resists reconciliation. He carefully uses 
quoted dialogue only when it’s taken from 
accounts by eyewitnesses or those who in­
terviewed them, and pays close attention to 
the sequence of events, at the same time in­
jecting color into the background and per­
sonalities of the major participants. $26.99. 
Little, Brown. 978­0­316­15578­6. 

Librarians wishing to amplify their Little 
Bighorn collections should also consider 
Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn since 1876 
(University of Oklahoma, April 2008), which 
focuses on the preservation and memorial­
ization controversies surrounding the bat­
tle site; Lakota Noon, by Gregory Michno 
(Mountain Press, 1998), an analysis of all the 
known Indian narratives; Archaeology, His­
tory, and Custer’s Last Battle, by Richard Al­
lan Fox Jr. (University of Oklahoma, 1993), 
a detailed site survey that lends credence to 
the theory that the Little Bighorn was more 
rout than last stand; The Custer Myth, by Wil­
liam A. Graham (new ed., Stackpole, 2000), 
a compilation of primary sources; and Custer 
and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, by Thom 
Hatch (paperback ed., McFarland, 2000), a 
nicely illustrated encyclopedia. 

June 2008  357 C&RL News