New Books:
Ref 200.97303 M528m J. Gordon Melton. Melton’s encyclopedia of American religions. 8th ed. 2009.
Very authoritative guide to the larger faiths and every variation.
Ref 294.503 J71d W.J. Johnson. Oxford dictionary of Hinduism. 2009.
Concise definitions of significant terms, leaders, historical & geographical names.
174.26 A365s Jonathan Aldred. The skeptical economist: revealing the ethics inside economics. 2009.
Argues that the dismal science is constructed on ethical assumptions.
201.309 A736s Karen Armstrong. A short history of myth. 2005.
The religious scholar surveys a universal part of human culture.
248.482 N934 O74b Michelle O’Rourke. Befriending death: Henri Nouwen & the spirituality of dying. 2009.
Based on his writings and events from his life.
262.509 K29e Joseph F. Kelly. The Ecumenical Councils: a history. 2009.
Gives their context, what happened, and how they affected history.
270.4092 L268c Lanfranc of Canterbury. On the Body & Blood of the Lord. 2009.
In The Fathers of the Church series. Also includes works from Guitmund of Aversa.
274.3608 J22l Franz Jägerstätter. Letters & writings from prison. 2009.
The Austrian farmer who refused to join the Nazi army, despite the council of his priest & bishop.
279.5 Z84m Franco Zocca, SVD. Melanesia & its churches. 2007.
Focuses especially on indigenous Christian churches.
294.59218 B627c Brian Black. The character of the self in Ancient India: priests, kings, & women in the early Upanisads. 2007.
Analyses narratives & dialogues not often considered in other studies.
301.023953 B977a Rainer F. Buschmann. Anthropology’s global histories: the ethnographic frontier in German New Guinea, 1870-1935. 2009.
How historians & anthropologists worked & competed.
305.4203 D131w Frances Dahlberg, ed. Woman, the gatherer. 1981.
Anthropological essays on women around the world and throughout history.
305.56633094 O13c Joseph Obrebski. The changing peasantry of Eastern Europe. 1976.
How peasant societies respond to the approach of modernity.
305.568 G569i George Gmelch. The Irish tinkers: the urbanization of an itinerant people. 1977.
Anthropological study of the Rom in Ireland.
305.89996 B465a Sula Benet. Abkhasians: the long-living people of the Caucasus. 1974.
Anthropology of the Georgian people.
305.8698 S799y Allyn M. Stearman. Yuquí: forest nomads in a changing world. 1988.
The Brazilian Indians.
306 W332a Alisse Waterston, ed. Anthropology off the shelf: anthropologists on writing. 2009
Scholarly essays on their discipline.
306.461 D483d Katherine A. Dettwyler. Dancing skeletons: life & death in West Africa. 1996.
Anthropological fieldwork among a malnourished people.
338.4791 L154w Scott Laderman. Tours of Vietnam: war, travel guides, & memory. 2009.
The tourism business in Vietnam, balancing the history of war with people’s perceptions.
342.730026 H177o Kermit L. Hall, ed. Oxford guide to United States Supreme Court decisions. 2009.
450 scholarly summaries.
519.542 B693i William M. Bolstad. Introduction to Bayesian statistics. 2nd ed. 2007.
A guide to the important statistical method.
523.2 B864i David Brodie. Ice, rock, & beauty: a visual tour of the new Solar System. 2008.
Very easy-to-use guide to each planet and object out there.
523.43 F721p François Forget. Planet Mars: story of another world. 2006.
Based on the latest findings; nice photographs.
551.312 P771w Henry Pollack. A world without ice. 2009.
A geophysical study of the significance of ice to the world, & how we’re changing things.
567.9 H816h Jack Horner. How to build a dinosaur: extinction doesn’t have to be forever. 2009.
Jurassic Park technology updated and improved.
591.9 B199i Channa Bambardeniya. Illustrated atlas of wildlife. 2009.
Stunning illustrations.
598.014 W453o Diana Wells. 100 birds and how they got their names. 2002.
Delightful ornithological and etymological romp.
616.9362 R671m Fiammetta Rocco. The miraculous fever-tree: malaria & the quest for a cure that changed the world. 2003.
Attempts to control the disease that caused death on a huge scale
646.77 R795t David Rose, ed. They call me Naughty Lola. 2008.
Hilarious collection of personal ads from the London Review of Books.
658.4012 M667sb Henry Mintzberg. Strategy bites back. 2005.
How strategic planning is lot less complicated and more important than generally understood.
782.14 V584a Giuseppe Verdi. Aida. 1996.
Two CDs with Nilsson, Corelli & Bumbry; libretto; historical commentary & criticism.
791.45023 F911 E57f Ralph Engelman. Friendlyvision: Fred Friendly & the rise & fall of television journalism. 2009.
Biography of the single most important figure in television news reporting.
811.54 K18l Mary Karr. The liar’s club: a memoir. 1995.
The poet’s childhood in a mean and lean Texas town.
811.54 K18li _______. Lit: a memoir. 2009.
The third of her memoirs, this one recounting her descent to alcoholism and her return to health.
813.54 G664r Mary Gordon. Reading Jesus: a writer’s encounter with the Gospel. 2009.
The Catholic novelist and memoirist attempts to locate who Jesus truly was – and is.
813.6 B811s Alan Bradley. The sweetness at the bottom of the pie. 2009.
A murder mystery featuring an 11-yr-old chemist and a postage stamp.
823.912 K74 R777w David Rooney. The wine of certitude: a literary biography of Ronald Knox. 2009.
Puts the works of this multifaceted writer and translator into context.
896.03 A177e Chinua Achebe. The education of a British-protected child: essays. 2009.
17 autobiographical essays from the Nigerian novelist.
902.0783 C974d Will Cuppy. The decline and fall of practically everybody. 1950.
Unique perspectives on the main characters of human history. Very dry wit.
909 M169h William H. McNeill. A history of the human community. 3rd ed. 1990.
A history of the world.
937.07092 N449 S559n David Shotter. Nero Caesar Augustus: Emperor of Rome. 2008.
Not a monster, but a young, weak politician overwhelmed by events.
942.052 C946 H977t Robert Hutchinson. Thomas Cromwell: the rise & fall of Henry VIII’s most notorious minister. 2007.
Perhaps the man most responsible for the destruction of English monasticism.
951 C178 v.5 pt 1 Denis Twitchett, ed. The Sung Dynasty & its precursors, 907-1279. 2009.
Another volume in the magisterial Cambridge History of China.
951.90424 H157c David Halberstam. The coldest winter: America & the Korean War. 2007.
Comprehensive history of the strange, tragic “police action.”
973.46 A213h W741h Garry Wills. Henry Adams & the making of America. 2005.
Discusses the making and the impact of his history of the Jefferson administration.
DVDs
232.932 M575j Joseph of Nazareth. 2000. 100-minute biography.
271.738092 R826 E65t The Thirty Year Man. Concerns the career of Fr William Ross, SVD.
271.971092 T282 Saint Teresa of the Andes. 1989. Mini-series; Spanish with subtitles.
782.14 P961to Tosca. 2005. Georghiu, Alagna, & Raimondi, with the Covent Garden Orchestra.
808.5309 W317g The great debaters. 2007. A debate coach leads his small black college team to victory.
CDs
781.620968 S611i Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Ilembe: honoring Shaka Zulu. 2008.
781.6259 K41r Roumanie: complaints roumaines. 1994. Panpipe folk tunes.
781.629162 B828a Máire Breatnach. Angels kisses. 1993. Modern Irish music.
781.6296711 L529m Les mille & une nuits de la savane: the Bamum of Cameroon. 1979. French music.
781.654 C614 Classic swing. 1999. Twelve of the greatest tunes.
781.654 K55 Kings of swing. 1998. 3 CDs, 1 each for Benny Goodman, Count Basie, & Glenn Miller.
781.656 A825g James Asher. The great wheel. 1990. A variety of musical styles, instrumental.
781.656 W594m Rob Whitesides-Woo. Mountain light. Instrumental meditations.
813.54 S121s Louis Sachar. Small steps. 2006. 5 disks. Novel about an ex-con.