oct08c.indd


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

Alien Volcanoes, by Rosaly M. C. Lopes 
and Michael W. Carroll (150 pages, May 
2008), offers a well­illustrated roundup of 
volcanic activity on the moons and planets 
of our solar system. From Earth’s own erup­
tion of Krakatau in 1883 (the most destruc­
tive volcanic event in recorded history), to 
the ancient domes, rifts, rilles, fi ssures, cra­
ters, calderas, and coronas of Venus, Mars, 
and the Moon, and to the flows and plumes 
of the Jovian satellite Io, this volume lays 
out the evidence for both active and ex­
tinct volcanoes on our planetary neighbors. 
$29.95. Johns Hopkins University. 978­0­
8108­8673­7. 

Deering Library: An Illustrated History, 
edited by Nina Barrett (148 pages, April 

2008), cel­
e b r a t e s  
the 75th 
a n n i v e r ­
sary of the 
C h a r l e s  
D e e r i n g  
L i b r a r y ,  
w h i c h  
served as 

Northwestern University’s main library from 
1933 to 1970. Assistant University Librar­
ian for Special Libraries Jeffrey Garrett has 
written an introduction that describes the 
library’s major collections. Other authors 
cover its architect, James Gamble Rogers; 
the library’s magnificent Gothic features, 
statues, carvings, inscriptions, landscaping, 
and stained glass; and an overview of Deer­
ing’s history through 2008. As one student 
said, “Deering was magnificent. You could 
not enter without knowing you were in a 
university. It soared, it inspired, it created 
dreams, and made one want to succeed. 
It was also a great place to find a date.” 

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

$40.00. Northwestern University. 978­0­
8101­2502­5. 

The Meinertzhagen Mystery: The Life and 
Legend of a Colossal Fraud, by Brian Gar­
field (352 pages, February 2008), unravels 
the layers of legend and lies surrounding 
British sol­
dier, spy, and 
naturalist Col. 
Richard Mei­
n e r t z h a g e n  
( 1 8 7 8 – 1 9 6 7 ) .  
His real­life ex­
ploits in East 
Africa, the Mid­
dle East, and 
Europe made 
him a model for 
his friend Ian 
Fleming’s so­
phisticated spy 
James Bond, and perhaps for John Buchan’s 
hero Sandy Arbuthnot. But Meinertzhagen 
frequently invented fantastic and unverifi ­
able stories, revised his diaries continually, 
and claimed responsibility for the legendary 
“haversack ruse” in Palestine in 1917, even 
though it was someone else’s idea and failed 
to fool the Turkish army anyway. He stole 
bird specimens from other taxidermists’ col­
lections, then relabeled them as his own dis­
coveries. His claims that he met with Hitler 
three times in Berlin in the 1930s to plead 
for Jewish emigration to Palestine, once with 
a loaded gun in his pocket, are dubious. His 
first wife died in 1928 from a gunshot wound 
to the head that some view suspiciously, al­
though it was ruled an accident. Garfi eld 
dissects all the evidence with skill and fas­
cination, concluding that Meinertzhagen’s 
achievements “were genuine, but somehow 
he was obsessed with gilding each lily in 
ornate filigree so byzantine and heavy that 
it suffocated the flower within.” $17.95. Po­
tomac. 978­1­59797­160­7. 

C&RL News October 2008  576 

mailto:geberhart@ala.org