FEATURED TITLES
DECEMBER 2015
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War
By: Abbott, Karen
E608 .A25 2014
Review from: Library Journal
September 15, 2014
In this riveting work, Abbott (Sin in the Second City) tells the story of the Civil War through the eyes of four women who dared
to risk everything to serve as spies for their respective causes. Unlike biographical works such as Larry G. Eggleston's Women
in the Civil War that devote a chapter to each subject, these women's tales move from one account to the next throughout the
years. The result is a highly entertaining narrative with the pace and tone of a novel, albeit one told from the singular viewpoint
of women who had an unusual amount of access to both Union and Confederate military and political leaders…
My Backyard Jungle: The Adventures of an Urban Wildlife Lover Who Turned His Yard into Habitat and Learned to
Live with It
By: Barilla, James
QH541.5.C6 B37 2013 eBook
Review from: Booklist
February 05, 2013
Barilla's jaunty title and amusing opening pages give the impression that this is a larky tale about a family man conducting a
naive ecological experiment when he has his Columbia, South Carolina, property certified as wildlife habitat by the National
Wildlife Federation. And he does face comical if instructive dilemmas, such as when a wily squirrel eats every peach and
nectarine on his newly planted trees and when he has to deal with nuisance wildlife removal. But Barilla has worked with
wildlife at Yellowstone and travels far beyond his verdant neighborhood to investigate what exactly is at stake in interactions
between humans and wildlife in our ever-more-crowded world…
Tales from a Revolution: Bacon's Rebellion and the Transformation of Early America
By: Rice, James D.
F229 .R48 2012
Review from: Choice
July 01, 2013
This pocket-sized book relating the familiar story of Bacon's Rebellion manages to further humanize the principal characters
and to serve up a descriptive context more than the many other studies of the rebellion. But there is not much of an interpretive
effort, nor does the author come up with any definite conclusions to the questions debated through the centuries: was
Nathaniel Bacon himself a democrat and/or a reformist? Rice (SUNY Plattsburgh) remains neutral on all controversial aspects
of the rebellion, but this is a lively narrative. Important contributions include highlighting the roles of warring Indian tribes
caught amid impossible dilemmas proffered by the whites, and Indian perspectives. In a section on hypothetical outcomes
regarding Bacon's Rebellion, the author concludes that regardless of who the participants were, the rebellion helped shape an
evolving American identity…
Ship of Death: A Voyage That Changed the Atlantic World
By: Smith, Billy G.
RA644.Y4 S58 2013 eBook
Review from: Choice
April 01, 2014
Smith has crafted an excellent work of historical detection. Using primary sources, he contributes to the tradition of medicalcolonial history initiated by Alfred Crosby in The Columbian Exchange (CH, Mar'73). The author offers few heroes, creating a
realistic narrative about the ill-fated attempt of English colonists who in 1792 traveled aboard the Hankey to establish a colony
based on paid rather than slave labor in Bolama, West Africa. Plagued by inept leadership, these mostly secular abolitionists
brought smallpox, met warlike natives, and encountered yellow fever. Sailing to the New World when their lease expired, they
carried the mosquito vector for yellow fever, initiating an epidemic in 1793 that changed the course of the Haitian revolution.
Few passengers survived to return to England…
The Book of Money: Everything You Need to Know about How World Finances Work
By: Conaghan, Daniel and Dan Smith
HG221 .C736 2013
Review from: Choice
April 01, 2014
Those without a monetary, finance, or economics background will appreciate this nontechnical overview of money. Written in
clear, unassuming language, the book consists of 12 chapters; each provides an introduction to one aspect of money (e.g.,
history, banks, markets, business, law). Chapters are enhanced by the inclusion of sidebars such as the "Money Timeline" for a
quick history of money; the "Jargon Busters" (throughout) for definitions; and the "Quick Reference" (throughout) for topicrelated facts and trends…
The Long and the Short of It: The Science of Life Span and Aging
By: Silvertown, Jonathan
QP85 .S495 2013 eBook
Review from: Choice
April 01, 2014
Throughout history, humans have sought a fountain of youth. Though this elixir has not yet been bottled, life expectancy
appears to have doubled over the past two centuries. How this longevity has been achieved, while at the same time curbing
senescence, serves as the plot for the entertainingly detailed examination that ecologist Silvertown (Open Univ., UK; An Orchard
Invisible, CH, Sep'09, 47-0267) presents. In attempting to dissect the factors responsible for longevity, the author looks at all
manner of life, from bacteria to bristlecone pines and invertebrates to primates, and checks the diets, environments, genetics,
and other possible influencing factors. He questions why other species have different life-spans and what elements control the
aging process. One enigma is why human females outlive males…
A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra)
By: Oakley, Barbara
QA11.2 .O23 2014
Review from: Library Journal
August 01, 2014
According to engineering professor Oakley (Oakland Univ., Rochester, MI), math requires both creative (diffuse) as well as
analytical (focused) thinking. She discusses how to toggle between the two for best results, and goes on to describe how to
learn from both the top down and bottom up. In this relatively short book, Oakley provides a broad look at learning in general,
and demonstrates through multiple exercises, photographs, and diagrams how to re-sculpt one's brain to learn more
effectively...
Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis
By: Bynum, Helen
RC310 .B96 2012 eBook
Review from: Choice
September 01, 2013
Tuberculosis is a contagious disease that thrives in crowded conditions, affecting every social class, geographic location, and
race. It was responsible for one of every five deaths in early-19th-century America. The most common treatments in the 1800s
focused on climate, exercise, indoor ventilation/air flow, and diet. In the mid-20th century, the discovery of streptomycin
decreased the presence of the disease worldwide. Tuberculosis infections remained low until the late-20th century when drugresistant forms of tuberculosis caused a resurgence of tuberculosis cases. In 2010, approximately 8.5 million cases of
tuberculosis were observed internationally. Spitting Blood describes this history from the ancient period to the late-20th
century from a social and cultural history perspective…
Strange Medicine: A Shocking History of Real Medical Practices Through the Ages
By: Belofsky, Nathan
R133 .B33 2013
Review from: Booklist
July 01, 2013
For a very long time, medical professionals often did more damage than healing. Quackery abounded. Preying on the
desperation and gullibility of the sick, arrogant and ignorant medical practitioners recommended wacky remedies and foisted
harmful procedures on patients. As recently as the 1800s, physicians were medical wrecking balls, inflicting on the sick therapies
as extreme as bloodletting, purging, and blistering. Belofsky offers a brief, unnerving, and fascinating romp through medical
history, from Babylonia to ancient Egypt, Greece, the Roman Empire, medieval times, the Renaissance, and nineteenth-century
America. He includes anecdotes and summaries of outlandish treatments along with quotes by and about healers. A sampling
of the strangeness includes medical astrology, balancing the four humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile), the use
of urine as a health elixir, bloodletting to the point of exsanguination, and tongue mapping…
Smarter Crime Control: A Guide to a Safer Future for Citizens, Communities, and Politicians
By: Waller, Irvin
HV7431 .W3265 2014 eBook
Review from: Booklist
December 15, 2013
The U.S. has the most expensive criminal justice system in the world, imprisons more people than other nations, and yet
continues to have the highest rates of violent crimes. Why haven't all the money and prisons made a difference in the rates of
murders and drug offenses? Canadian scholar and crime consultant Waller examines the ample research on policing, the courts,
and the correctional system for strategies that can actually reduce and prevent crime and unwind the policies that have
racialized crime and punishment in the U.S. Beyond the troubling crime statistics, Waller explores initiatives to reduce a range
of crime, from violence against women to gun violence to traffic fatalities…