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Newly Published: The Musical World of Marie-Antoinette

New on our bookshelf:

The Musical World of Marie-Antoinette: Opera and Ballet in 18th Century Paris and Versailles
Barrington James

For decades, eighteenth-century Paris had been declining into a baroque backwater. Spectacles at the opera, once considered fit for a king, had become “hell for the ears,” wrote playwright Carlos Goldoni. Then, in 1774, with the crowning of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, Paris became one of the world’s most vibrant musical centers.

Austrian composer Christophe-Willibald Gluck, protégé of the queen, introduced a new kind of tragic opera—dramatic, human and closer to nature. The expressive pantomime known as ballet d’action, forerunner of the modern ballet, replaced stately court dancing. Along the boulevards, people whistled lighter tunes from the Italian opera, where the queen’s favorite composer, André Modeste Grétry, ruled supreme.

This book recounts Gluck’s remaking of the grand operatic tragedy—long symbolic of absolute monarchy—and the vehement quarrels between those who embraced reform and those who preferred familiar baroque tunes or the sweeter melodies of Italy. The turmoil was an important element in the ferment that led to the French Revolution and the beheading of the queen.

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Newly Published: Coming All the Way Home

New on our bookshelf:

Coming All the Way Home: Memoir of an Assault Helicopter Aircraft Commander in Vietnam
Fred McCarthy

In 1968, twenty-one-year-old Fred McCarthy transitioned from the monastic life of a seminary student to that of a U.S. Army helicopter gunship commander in Vietnam. Despite preparation from a family tradition of decorated combat service, a strong sense of patriotism, a love for aviation, and a desire for adventure, he got far more than he bargained for.

Written after 50 years of reflection, reading, and study, this memoir tells both a universal story about war, adventure, and perseverance and, also shares the intensely personal experience of the Vietnam War and its legacy for those who fought in it. McCarthy describes many of his missions, reflects on the nature of being a combat helicopter pilot, and processes the experience through his poetry, letters home, and reflective analysis.

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Newly Published: The Metatheater of Tennessee Williams

New on our bookshelf:

The Metatheater of Tennessee Williams: Tracing the Artistic Process Through Seven Plays
Laura Michiels

Tennessee Williams’ characters set the stage for their own dramas. Blanche DuBois (A Streetcar Named Desire), arrived at her sister’s apartment with an entire trunk of costumes and props. Amanda Wingfield (The Glass Menagerie) directed her son on how to eat and tries to make her daughter act like a Southern Belle.

This book argues for the persistence of one metatheatrical strategy running throughout Williams’ entire oeuvre: each play stages the process through which it came into being–and this process consists of a variation on repetition combined with transformation. Each chapter takes a detailed reading of one play and its variation on repetition and transformation. Specific topics include reproduction in Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), mediation in Something Cloudy, Something Clear (1981), and how the playwright frequently recycled previous works of art, including his own.

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Newly Published: Islands and Captivity in Popular Culture

New on our bookshelf:

Islands and Captivity in Popular Culture: A Critical Study of Film, Television and Literature
Laura J. Getty

The choices that individuals make in moments of crisis can transform them. By focusing on fictional characters trapped on fictional islands, the book examines how individuals react when forced to make hard choices within the liminal space of a “prison” island. At stake is the perception of choice: do characters believe that they have the power to choose, or do they think that they are at the mercy of fate? The results reveal certain patterns—psychological, historical, social, and political—that exist across a variety of popular/public cultures and time periods.

This book focuses on how the interplay between liminality and the Locus of Control theory creates dynamic sites of negotiated meaning. This psychological concept has never before been used for literary analysis. Offered here as an alternative to the defects of Freudian psychology, the Locus of Control theory has been proven reliable in thousands of studies, and the results have been found, with few exceptions, to be consistent in both women and men. That consistency is explored through close readings of islands found in popular culture books, films, and television shows, with suggestions for future research.

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Newly Published: Elio Petri

New on our bookshelf:

Elio Petri: Investigation of a Filmmaker
Roberto Curti

Elio Petri (1929-1982) was one of the most commercially successful and critically revered Italian directors ever. A cultured intellectual and a politically committed filmmaker, Petri made award-winning movies that touched controversial social, religious, and political themes, such as the Mafia in We Still Kill the Old Way (1967), police brutality in Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), and workers’ struggles in Lulu the Tool (1971). His work also explored genre in a thought-provoking and refreshing manner with a taste for irony and the grotesque: among his best works are the science fiction satire The 10th Victim (1965), the ghost story A Quiet Place in the Country (1968), and the grotesque giallo Todo modo (1976). This book examines Elio Petri’s life and career, and places his work within the social and political context of postwar Italian culture, politics, and cinema. It includes a detailed production history and critical analysis of each of his films, plenty of never-before-seen bits of information recovered from the Italian ministerial archives, and an in-depth discussion of the director’s unfilmed projects.

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Newly Published: Walking the Camino de Santiago

New on our bookshelf:

Walking the Camino de Santiago: Essays on Pilgrimage in the Twenty-First Century
Edited by Tiffany Gagliardi Trotman

The Camino de Santiago, the Route of Saint James, the Way—all describe a pilgrimage with multiple routes that pass through Spain and end at the Cathedral of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela. In the 21st century, this medieval tradition is seeing a revival with travelers, both spiritual and secular, who embrace it for different reasons. Offering insight into the personal journeys of contemporary pilgrims, this collection of new essays explores cultural expressions of the Camino from the perspective of literature, film and graphic novels, and looks beyond Spain and the “Caminoisation” of other historical routes.

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Newly Published: The New Witches

New on our bookshelf:

The New Witches: Critical Essays on 21st Century Television Portrayals
Edited by Aaron K.H. Ho

After Charmed ended in 2006, witches were relegated to sidekicks of televisual vampires or children’s programs. But during the mid-2010s they began to resurface as leading characters in shows like the immensely popular The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, the Charmed reboot, Salem, American Horror Story: Coven, and the British program, A Discovery of Witches. No longer sweet, feminine, domestic, and white, these witches are powerful, diverse, and transgressive, representing an intersectional third-wave feminist vision of the witch. Featuring original essays from noted scholars, this is the first critical collection to examine witches on television from the late 2010s. Situated in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement, essays examine the reemergence and shifting identities of TV witches through the perspectives of intersectional gender studies, hauntology, politics, morality, monstrosity, violence, queerness, disabilities, rape, ecofeminism, linguistics, family, and digital humanities.

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Newly Published: Adventure Journalism in the Gilded Age

New on our bookshelf:

Adventure Journalism in the Gilded Age: Essays on Reporting from the Arctic to the Orient
Edited by Katrina J. Quinn, Mary M. Cronin and Lee Jolliffe

These new essays tell the stories of daring reporters, male and female, sent out by their publishers not to capture the news but to make the news—indeed to achieve star billing—and to capitalize on the Gilded Age public’s craze for real-life adventures into the exotic and unknown. They examine the adventure journalism genre through the work of iconic writers such as Mark Twain and Nellie Bly, as well as lesser-known journalistic masters such as Thomas Knox and Eliza Scidmore, who took to the rivers and oceans, mineshafts and mountains, rails and trails of the late nineteenth century, shaping Americans’ perceptions of the world and of themselves.

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New Harry Potter Catalog and Sale

Happy Birthday Harry Potter (and happy birthday, Neville Longbottom)! In honor of “The Boy Who Lived,” we’re introducing this year’s catalog sale dedicated to all things Hogwarts. Find detailed characterizations of your favorite wizards and witches, deep dives into the series’ many literary allegories and sociologies on the fandom at large. Our 2021 Harry Potter catalog has magic in store for the film buffs, bookworms and anyone in between. From now through August 9, use coupon code HOGWARTS25 on the McFarland site for 25% off our Harry Potter catalog.

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Newly Published: The Language of Vinyl

New on our bookshelf:

The Language of Vinyl: Record Industry Terms and Phrases of the Golden Era
Randy McNutt

Ever hear of a butt splice? A cover? An iron mother? A biscuit? These were terms used in the heyday of vinyl records, from 1949 to the mid-1980s. This colorful and almost forgotten language was once used by record producers, label owners, disc jockeys, jukebox operators, record distributors, and others in the music industry. Their language is collected in this dictionary. Each entry offers both an explanation of a term’s meaning as well as its context and use in the history of the record business.

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Newly Published: Dear Abby, I’m Gay

New on our bookshelf:

Dear Abby, I’m Gay: Newspaper Advice Columnists and Homosexuality in America
Andrew E. Stoner

What role did America’s newspaper advice columnists play in shaping and forming societal attitudes toward LGBTQ people throughout the 20th century? They served the dual function of offering advice and satisfying the curious. They also often provided the first mention of homosexuality outside of newspaper crime blotters. More than 100 million readers regularly read the columns.

This book chronicles some of the most popular and widely circulated newspaper columns between the 1930s and 2000, including Ann Landers, Dear Abby, Helen Help Us!, Dr. Joyce Brothers, The Worry Clinic, Dear Meg, Ask Beth, and Savage Love. It examines the function of these columns regarding the place of LGBTQ people in America and what role they played in forming a public opinion. From these columns, we learn not only the framework of how straight Americans understood their homosexual brethren, but also how attitudes and feelings continued to evolve.

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Newly Published: Final Exams

New on our bookshelf:

Final Exams: True Crime Cases from Forensic Pathologist Cyril Wecht, rev. ed.
Cyril H. Wecht, M.D., J.D. and Dawna Kaufmann

This book is an in-depth exploration of four fascinating true crime cases from the files of Cyril H. Wecht, M.D., J.D. Coauthored by crime writer Dawna Kaufmann, it explores both the technical and the human sides of murder—and includes new and shocking revelations for each case. Presented first is the puzzling death of a wealthy self-help guru at the hands of “The Harlem Kevorkian” and the case’s latest legal ramifications. Next is the abduction of a little girl, held captive within shouting distance of her loved ones, and her killer’s bizarre trial. The third case is the story of a relative who refused to give up on solving the vicious murder of a popular dentist when law enforcement tried to cover up the crime. Last is an unimaginable tale of two heroic grandparents who worked to save a baby from the depths of evil.

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Newly Published: The Limits of #MeToo in Hollywood

New on our bookshelf:

The Limits of #MeToo in Hollywood: Gender and Power in the Entertainment Industry
Margaret Tally

In October 2017, actress Alyssa Milano sparked the #MeToo movement. The ensuing protests quickly encompassed far more than Harvey Weinstein and the entertainment industry. They expressed women’s outrage at male workplace behavior in every sector and social class and even helped elect a new generation of women leaders in 2018.

But what has been the effect of #MeToo in the entertainment industry itself? This book traces the movement’s influence on the stories being told, on changing representations of women’s lives and bodies, and on the slow changes among the producers who shape the stories.

Analyzing a wide set of TV and film genres—including crime, legal and medical dramas, comedies, horror and reality programming—this book covers the complex ways that media respond to social movements: They sometimes give voice to brand-new or previously silenced stories, but just as often make facile references that can blunt the potential for change, or even fuel cultural backlash.

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Newly Published: Beyond Sustainability

New on our bookshelf:

Beyond Sustainability: A Thriving Environment, 2d ed.
Tim Delaney and Tim Madigan

This book approaches environmentalism via two academic disciplines, sociology and philosophy. Both have concerns about the environment’s ability not only to sustain itself but to thrive. The authors argue that rather than simple sustainability, we must promote thrivability for the sake of protecting the environment and all living things.

In this greatly expanded second edition, the authors have updated data and examples, introduced new topics and concepts, and emphasized the need to lessen our dependence on fossil fuels. Numerous topics are explored, from the differences between sustainability and thrivability, and the overuse of plastic, to mass extinction, the role of natural disasters and more. The COVID-19 pandemic offers an added perspective on the relationship between disease and the environment.

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New in Softcover: The Women of Hammer Horror

Now available in softcover:

The Women of Hammer Horror: A Biographical Dictionary and Filmography
Robert Michael “Bobb” Cotter

The Hammer studio is best known for its horror film output from the mid-1950s through the 1970s. This book provides facts about the hundreds of actresses who appeared in those films, including ones released in the twenty-first century by a resurgent Hammer. Each woman’s entry includes her Hammer filmography, a brief biography if available, and other film credits in the horror genre. The book is illustrated with more than 60 film stills and posters.

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Newly Published: Amazin’ Upset

New on our bookshelf:

Amazin’ Upset: The Mets, the Orioles and the 1969 World Series
John G. Robertson and Carl T. Madden

In October 1969, the New York Mets stunned the sports world by defeating the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in a memorable World Series. Their five-game triumph capped off a true Cinderella season, when the woebegone National League franchise rose from laughingstock to popular champions. The histories of both the Mets and Orioles are traced, along with their paths to the climactic ’69 Series. A batter-by-batter recap of all five games gives a box seat view to a storied moment in baseball history.

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Newly Published: Being Dragonborn

New on our bookshelf:

Being Dragonborn: Critical Essays on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Edited by Mike Piero and Marc A. Ouellette

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the bestselling and most influential video games of the past decade. From the return of world-threatening dragons to an ongoing civil war, the province of Skyrim is rich with adventure, lore, magic, history, and stunning vistas. Beyond its visual spectacle alone, Skyrim is an exemplary gameworld that reproduces out-of-game realities, controversies, and histories for its players. Being Dragonborn, then, comes to signify a host of ethical and ideological choices for the player, both inside and outside the gameworld. These essays show how playing Skyrim, in many ways, is akin to “playing” 21st century America with its various crises, conflicts, divisions, and inequalities. Topics covered include racial inequality and white supremacy, gender construction and misogyny, the politics of modding, rhetorics of gameplay, and narrative features.

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Newly Published: Herman Melville

New on our bookshelf:

Herman Melville: A Companion
Corey Evan Thompson

This reference work covers both Herman Melville’s life and writings. It includes a biography and detailed information on his works, on the important themes contained therein, and on the significant people and places in his life. The appendices include suggestions for further reading of both literary and cultural criticism, an essay on Melville’s lasting cultural influence, and information on both the fictional ships in his works and the real-life ones on which he sailed.

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Newly Published: Sylvia Hatchell

New on our bookshelf:

Sylvia Hatchell: The Life and Basketball Legacy
Roberta Teague Herrin and Sheila Quinn Oliver

As a young girl, Sylvia Hatchell longed to play little league baseball and, later, high-school basketball, but both were closed to her because she was a girl. In college, her world shifted when she discovered a passion for coaching that would lead her to become a Naismith Hall of Fame coach of women’s basketball at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In this book, Coach Hatchell’s life story unfolds against the backdrop of Title IX and women’s struggle for equal opportunities in athletics. She celebrates triumphs (such as winning the 1994 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament) and weathers sadness and failure (such as the loss of her parents, surviving cancer, and being forced to resign from her dream job in 2019).

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Newly Published: Smyslov, Bronstein, Geller, Taimanov and Averbakh

New on our bookshelf:

Smyslov, Bronstein, Geller, Taimanov and Averbakh: A Chess Multibiography with 220 Games
Andrew Soltis

A crucial decision spared chess Grandmaster David Bronstein almost certain death at the hands of the Nazis—one fateful move cost him the world championship. Russian champion Mark Taimanov was a touted as a hero of the Soviet state until his loss to Bobby Fischer all but ruined his life. Yefim Geller’s dream of becoming world champion was crushed by a bad move against Fischer, his hated rival. Yuri Averbakh had no explanation how he became the world’s oldest grandmaster, other than the quixotic nature of fate. Vasily Smyslov, the only one of the five to become world champion, would reign for just one year—fortune, he said, gave him pneumonia at the worst possible time. This book explores how fate played a capricious role in the lives of five of the greatest players in chess history.

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Newly Published: Women Powered!

New on our bookshelf:

Women Powered!: A New Paradigm of Influence and Equity
Theresa del Tufo and George Banez

Power is the critical ingredient and the missing link in women’s struggle for equality. Although there have been giant steps towards gender parity, there are still barriers to overcome. This book is an action-based guide that demonstrates in specific and systematic ways how to replicate the successes of women who have effectively wielded and kept power. Through interviews, various women in high-ranking government, administrative and business roles share their journeys and influences, and how they developed the competencies and foundational traits to influence others. The author proposes the application of a new power construct—the WomenPower Paradigm—which rejects traditional Machiavellian concepts of power in favor of strategies such as honesty, trust, and mentoring.

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Newly Published: Scarlett Johansson

New on our bookshelf:

Scarlett Johansson: The Life and Films
Kim R. Holston and Warren Hope

Despite her prominence as an actress, fashionista, social activist and the “sexiest woman in the world,” Scarlett Johansson has kept her life private. Her work ethic has been strong since her film debut in North (1994) at age 10. Then in 2003, Lost in Translation brought kudos and launched her adult career.

While she never abandoned the independents, Johansson became a leading lady in very big films, including eight outings as former Russian assassin Black Widow thwarting alien incursions in The Avengers and other films in the Marvel Universe.
This book surveys Johansson’s life and films from childhood to her 2019 Academy Award nominations for Jojo Rabbit and Marriage Story. Each film entry includes a plot synopsis, extracts from contemporary reviews, behind-the-scenes information, and the author’s analysis of the film. Looked at in-depth are the three Woody Allen collaborations, her role as Black Widow, and the films in which she becomes “the other.”

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Newly Published: The Nickelodeon ’90s

New on our bookshelf:

The Nickelodeon ’90s: Cartoons, Game Shows and a Whole Bunch of Slime
Chris Morgan

There is an entire generation that grew up on Nickelodeon. The network started to get its footing in the ’80s and in the ’90s became the defining voice in entertainment for kids.

For the first time ever, in this book, the entire expanse of ’90s Nickelodeon has been collected in one place. A mix of personal reflection and media criticism, it delves into the history of each show with humor and insight. It revisits shows such as Rugrats, Clarissa Explains It All, and Legends of the Hidden Temple, one by one. More than an act of nostalgia, this book looks critically at the ’90s Nick catalog, covering the good, the bad, and the weird.

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New in Softcover: The American International Pictures Video Guide

Now available in softcover:

The American International Pictures Video Guide
Gary A. Smith

American International released a tide of low-budget, sensationalistic films aimed at the teenage audience, finding its greatest success in the horror genre. This is a comprehensive alphabetical guide to AIP movies that are or have been available in home viewing formats such as DVD and VHS. A brief history of the company, which produced movies from the 1950s until the 1980s, is provided. AIP television and unfilmed projects are also covered, and numerous photographs complement the text.

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Newly Published: Eldorado and the Quest for Fortune and Glory in South America

New on our bookshelf:

Eldorado and the Quest for Fortune and Glory in South America
Peter O. Koch

This book traces the origin of the legend of El Dorado and the various expeditions that set out to locate that mysterious land of untold wealth in South America. Motivated by both fanciful rumors of a golden city ruled by a man who coated himself daily with gold dust, and the more practical allure of a region abundant in cinnamon trees (a spice that was worth its weight in gold to Europeans), many conquistadors convinced themselves that another native empire awaited their conquest. These quests for fortune and glory would lead to an encounter with fierce female warriors who were believed to be the Amazons of ancient Greek lore, and the discovery of the mighty river later named for the legendary Amazon tribe.

The first half of this book details the lesser-known accounts of German interest in locating the wealth of a golden kingdom called Xerira and an elusive passage at Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo which supposedly led to the Pacific Ocean. The second section focuses on the various Spanish efforts to discover El Dorado, each of which was eventually doomed to despair, disappointment, and death.

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Newly Published: The Fight for Dublin, 1919–1921

New on our bookshelf:

The Fight for Dublin, 1919–1921: Urban Warfare in the Irish Struggle for Independence
Joseph McKenna

In Dublin, the War of Irish Independence (1919–1921) was an intense and dirty battle between military intelligence agents. While IRA flying columns fought the British Army and the Black and Tans in the countryside, the fighting in Ireland’s capital city pitted the wits of IRA commander Michael Collins against the cloak-and-dagger innovations of British Intelligence chief Colonel Ormonde de l’Épée Winter. Drawing on detailed witness statements of Irish participants and documents and biographies from the British side, this history chronicles the covert war of assassinations, arrests, torture and murder that climaxed in the Bloody Sunday mass assassination of British intelligence officers by IRA squads in November 1920.

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Newly Published: The Netflix Vision of Horror

New on our bookshelf:

The Netflix Vision of Horror: A Narrative Structural Analysis of Original Series
Sotiris Petridis

Since the emergence of on-demand streaming platforms, television as a storytelling medium has drastically changed. The lines between TV and cinema are blurred. Traditionally, television relied on narrative forms and genres that were highly formulaic, striving to tease the viewer onward with a series of cliffhangers while still maintaining viewer comprehension. Now, on platforms such as Netflix, the lack of commercial breaks and the practice of “binge-watching” have led to a new type of television flow that urges viewers to see and consume a series as a whole and not as a fragmented narrative.

This book examines the structuring methods of 13 Netflix original horror series, including Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Stranger Things, Hemlock Grove, The Haunting of Hill House, and Santa Clarita Diet. Although these shows use television as the medium of storytelling, they are structured according to the classical rules of film.

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Newly Published: The Neurology of the Vertebral Subluxation Complex in Chiropractic

New on our bookshelf:

The Neurology of the Vertebral Subluxation Complex in Chiropractic
Sheldon T. Sharpe, D.C.

The foundation of chiropractic care has always been the relationship between the musculoskeletal system and the nervous system. The understanding of this relationship has become more sophisticated and we now realize that the integrity of the human frame and its ability to move as designed can have implications in pain perception, muscle control, coordination, sleep, internal organ function, and immune response. This book provides an in-depth review of the ways in which abnormal movement in the musculoskeletal system (particularly the spine) will result in altered nervous system function and the potential for poor health.

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Newly Published: Black Ball 10

New on our bookshelf:

Black Ball 10: New Research in African American Baseball History
Edited by Leslie A. Heaphy

Under the guidance of Leslie Heaphy and an editorial board of leading historians, this peer-reviewed, annual book series offers new, authoritative research on all subjects related to black baseball, including the Negro major and minor leagues, teams, and players; pre-Negro League organization and play; barnstorming; segregation and integration; class, gender, and ethnicity; the business of black baseball; and the arts.

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Newly Published: All Available Light

New on our bookshelf:

All Available Light: The Life and Legacy of Photographer Ted Polumbaum
Judy Polumbaum

As a young journalist during the Red Scare of the early 1950s, Ted Polumbaum defied Congressional inquisitors and suffered the usual consequences—he was fired, blacklisted, and trailed by the FBI. Yet he survived with his integrity intact to build a new career as an intrepid photojournalist, covering some of the most critical struggles of the latter half of the 20th century.
In this biography, written two decades after his death, his daughter introduces this quirky, accomplished, politically engaged family man of the “Greatest Generation,” who was both of and ahead of his times. Polumbaum’s fortitude, humor and optimism emerge, animated by the conscience of principled dissidence and social activism. His photography, with its unpretentious portrayals of the famous, the infamous, and the unsung heroes of humanity around the world, reflects his courage in the face of mass hysteria and his lifelong commitment to social justice.

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Newly Published: Extremist Mindsets and Strategies

New on our bookshelf:

Extremist Mindsets and Strategies
S. Clara Kim

Presenting an analysis of modern-day extremism, this book explores how any group of people or participants in a movement—political, ideological, racial, ethnonational, religious, or issue-driven—can adopt extremist mindsets if they believe their existence or interests are threatened.

Looking beyond “fringe” resistance groups already labeled as terrorists or subversives, the author examines conventional organizations—political parties, religious groups, corporations, interest groups, nation-states, police, and the military—that deploy extremist strategies to further their agendas. Dynamics of mutual causation process between dominant and resistant extremist groups are explored, including how resistant extremisms surface in response to oppressive and abusive measures advanced by the dominant groups to further their interests and maintain supremacy through systemic injustices, as happens in slavery, caste systems, patriarchy, colonialism, autocracy, exploitive capitalism, and discrimination against minorities.

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Newly Published: Playing with the Guys

New on our bookshelf:

Playing with the Guys: Masculinity and Relationships in Video Games
Marc A. Ouellette

A lot of work has been done talking about what masculinity is and what it does within video games, but less has been given to considering how and why this happens, and the processes involved. This book considers the array of daily relationships involved in producing masculinity and how those actions and relationships translate to video games. Moreover, it examines the ways the actual play of the games maps onto the stories to create contradictory moments that show that, while toxic masculinity certainly exists, it is far from inevitable. Topics covered include the nature of masculine apprenticeship and nurturing, labor, fatherhood, the scapegoating of women, and reckoning with mortality, among many others.

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Newly Published: The Enduring Fantastic

New on our bookshelf:

The Enduring Fantastic: Essays on Imagination and Western Culture
Edited by Anna Höglund and Cecilia Trenter

Fantastic fiction is traditionally understood as Western genre literature such as fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Expanding on this understanding, these essays explore how the fantastic has been used in Western societies since the Middle Ages as a tool for organizing and materializing abstractions in order to make sense of the present social order. Disciplines represented here include literature studies, gender studies, biology, ethnology, archeology, history, religion, game studies, cultural sociology, and film studies. Individual essays cover topics such as the fantastic creatures of medieval chronicle, mummy medicine in eighteenth-century Sweden, how fears of disease filtered through the universal and adaptable vampire, the gender aspects of goddess worship in the secular West, ecocentrism in fantasy fiction, how videogames are dealing with the remediation of heritage, and more.

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Newly Published: Dr. Strangeglove

New on our bookshelf:

Dr. Strangeglove: The Life and Times of All-Star Slugger Dick Stuart
William J. Ryczek

Dick Stuart (1932–2002) began as a minor league first baseman, noted for his outsized ego and terrible fielding. His brash personality and 66 home runs for the Lincoln Chiefs of the Western League made him a national figure in 1956. In 1958, he came up to the majors in Pittsburgh and played some fine seasons with the Pirates, and later the Boston Red Sox. In 1961, he was selected for the National League All-Star team, and he led the American League in RBI in 1963.

A wise-cracking bon vivant, his career was not what it might have been. If he had worked harder, he might have been a better player. If Bill Mazeroski hadn’t ended the 1960 Series with a home run, Stuart, who was on deck, might have been the hero. Yet his great hitting ability, quick wit and love for the limelight made him one of the most interesting players of his era.

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Newly Published: Penn State Bowl Games

New on our bookshelf:

Penn State Bowl Games: A Complete History
Tommy A. Phillips

With play-by-play coverage of every Nittany Lion bowl game, this book chronicles Penn State football’s vibrant history all the way back to the 1923 Rose Bowl. The team broke the color barrier at the Cotton Bowl in 1948, finished undefeated after back-to-back Orange Bowl victories in 1969 and 1970, and reigned over the college football world with national championships in the 1983 Sugar Bowl and 1987 Fiesta Bowl.

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Newly Published: John Wayne Was Here

New on our bookshelf:

John Wayne Was Here: The Film Locations and Favorite Places of an American Icon
Roland Schaefli

John Wayne worked on film sets around the globe. This book follows the trail, from his beginnings on the Fox backlot to his final filming in Lone Pine, California. Locations in Mexico, Normandy, Rome, Madrid, London, Ireland, Libya and Africa are covered, along with his favorite vacation spots in Hawaii, Acapulco, Greece, Monaco, and the Hollywood hot-spots he frequented. Anecdotes revisit his most famous scenes, including Rooster Cogburn’s charge in True Grit (1969) and Davy Crockett’s last stand in The Alamo (1960). Production details describe how San Diego stood in for Iwo Jima, how Old Tucson was turned into El Dorado, and how Genghis Kahn ruled over the deserts of Utah. Never before published photos present then-and-now views in this first of its kind guided tour for film location hunters and Wayne aficionados.John Wayne worked on film sets around the globe. This book follows the trail, from his beginnings on the Fox backlot to his final filming in Lone Pine, California. Locations in Mexico, Normandy, Rome, Madrid, London, Ireland, Libya and Africa are covered, along with his favorite vacation spots in Hawaii, Acapulco, Greece, Monaco, and the Hollywood hot-spots he frequented. Anecdotes revisit his most famous scenes, including Rooster Cogburn’s charge in True Grit (1969) and Davy Crockett’s last stand in The Alamo (1960). Production details describe how San Diego stood in for Iwo Jima, how Old Tucson was turned into El Dorado, and how Genghis Kahn ruled over the deserts of Utah. Never before published photos present then-and-now views in this first of its kind guided tour for film location hunters and Wayne aficionados.

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Newly Published: The Legacy of World War II in European Arthouse Cinema

New on our bookshelf:

The Legacy of World War II in European Arthouse Cinema
Samm Deighan

World War II irrevocably shaped culture–and much of cinema–in the 20th century, thanks to its devastating, global impact that changed the way we think about and portray war. This book focuses on European war films made about the war between 1945 and 1985 in countries that were occupied or invaded by the Nazis, such as Poland, France, Italy, the Soviet Union, and Germany itself. Many of these films were banned, censored, or sharply criticized at the time of their release for the radical ways they reframed the war and rejected the mythologizing of war experience as a heroic battle between the forces of good and evil.

The particular films examined, made by arthouse directors like Pier Paolo Pasolini, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Larisa Shepitko, among many more, deviate from mainstream cinematic depictions of the war and instead present viewpoints and experiences of WWII which are often controversial or transgressive. They explore the often-complicated ways that participation in war and genocide shapes national identity and the ways that we think about bodies and sexuality, trauma, violence, power, justice, and personal responsibility–themes that continue to resonate throughout culture and global politics.

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Newly Published: Coaching Women’s Softball

New on our bookshelf:

Coaching Women’s Softball: A Practical Guide with Insights from Players
Steve Meyer

What do women softball players look for in a coach? Drawing on interviews with 50 college players and a survey of players from all NCAA divisions, this book explores what players want and need: someone who connects with them on and off the field, a competent leader who knows and loves the game and mentors them with a vision beyond softball.

Coaches from major Division One conferences, as well as Divisions Two and Three and Junior College ranks, share their experiences and coaching strategies—among them four-time Olympian Laura Berg, Baylor University Coach Glenn Moore, University of South Carolina Coach Bev Smith, and four coaches with national championships to their credit. Taking cues from the coaches and players themselves, softball coaches will have the tools they need to revolutionize their approaches.

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Newly Published: Modern Paraguay

New on our bookshelf:

Modern Paraguay: Uncovering South America’s Best Kept Secret
Tomás Mandl

Paraguay has been called the least-known country in Latin America, an island surrounded by land, and the “South American Tibet.” For many years, foreign writers and journalists described it as an enigmatic land where a peculiar people endured calamities and Nazis sought refuge.

Tomás Mandl spent 2016 to 2020 traveling through the country, meeting leading minds and sifting through data. Drawing on more than 40 interviews with historians, political scientists, economists, journalists and diplomats, this book provides a timely assessment of Paraguay’s strengths, challenges and developmental outlook, and their implications for the world.

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Newly Published: Children at the Border

New on our bookshelf:

Children at the Border: An American Human Rights Crisis
Jo-Anne Wilson-Keenan

The Trump administration violated the rights of migrant children who fled brutal violence in the Northern Triangle of Central America. Their rights are human rights. This book explores the administration’s policies and practices of family separation at the U.S. southern border and its confinement of migrant children that, in some cases, experts describe as torture. Specific connections are made between harmful actions on the part of government officials and agencies, and provisions that protect against them in The Convention on the Rights of the Child and four other UN conventions. Awareness of the violations and the safeguards afforded to children may help preserve children’s human rights.

The book also examines efforts of humanitarian organizations, courts, and legislators to reclaim and defend migrant children’s rights. The author’s research includes information from international and national government documents, news reports, and interviews and stories that resulted from networking with advocates in both Arizona and Mexico. The young asylum seekers were called “criminals” and “not-innocent” by the President. However, his narrative is contradicted by vignettes that describe children’s own experiences and beliefs and by photographs of them taken by advocates in Arizona and by the author in shelters in Mexico where families await asylum.

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Newly Published: Dutch Fortifications

New on our bookshelf:

Dutch Fortifications: An Illustrated History from the Roman Era to the Cold War
Jean-Denis G.G. Lepage

Covering 2000 years–from Roman times through the Cold War–this book describes the evolution of military architecture in the territory today known as the Netherlands. A vital ally of the Dutch–their numerous rivers and canals–played a central role in the defensive strategy of the country, particularly since the 17th century. A general history covers the innovators, architects and engineers of each period and their involvement in the development of fortifications. Illustrations detail the technical features of defensive structures, alongside discussion of the weapons and tactics they were designed confront.

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Newly Published: Painters and Their Paintings: Ashe County, North Carolina

New on our bookshelf:

Painters and Their Paintings: Ashe County, North Carolina
Doug Munroe with Kim Hadley

Nestled in the northwestern corner of North Carolina, the mountainous Ashe County boasts the most picturesque landscapes that painters and other artists could hope to find. This spirit of natural artistry runs deep through the county’s culture—towns offer murals, street art, galleries and institutions like the Florence Thomas Art School. Even in West Jefferson, a town in which getting lost is impossible, there is an “art district.” Truly an art destination, Ashe County is home to hundreds of painters inspired by the natural beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the New River valleys.

This book showcases the talented painters of Ashe, professionals and hobbyists alike, across generations and paint media. Works from 103 artists are represented in 415 full color images.

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Newly Published: Adapting Superman

New on our bookshelf:

Adapting Superman: Essays on the Transmedia Man of Steel
Edited by John Darowski

Almost immediately after his first appearance in comic books in June 1938, Superman began to be adapted to other media. The subsequent decades have brought even more adaptations of the Man of Steel, his friends, family, and enemies in film, television, comic strip, radio, novels, video games, and even a musical. The rapid adaptation of the Man of Steel occurred before the character and storyworld were fully developed on the comic book page, allowing the adaptations an unprecedented level of freedom and adaptability.

The essays in this collection provide specific insight into the practice of adapting Superman from comic books to other media and cultural contexts through a variety of methods, including social, economic, and political contexts. Authors touch on subjects such as the different international receptions to the characters, the evolution of both Clark Kent’s character and Superman’s powers, the importance of the radio, how the adaptations interact with issues such as racism and Cold War paranoia, and the role of fan fiction in the franchise. By applying a wide range of critical approaches to adaption and Superman, this collection offers new insights into our popular entertainment and our cultural history.

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Newly Published: Surviving Theresienstadt

New on our bookshelf:

Surviving Theresienstadt: A Teenager’s Memoir of the Holocaust
Vera Schiff

After the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939, Vera Schiff and her family were sent to Theresienstadt. Touted as the “model ghetto” for propaganda purposes, as well as to deceive Red Cross inspectors, it was in fact a holding camp for famous Jews—in case the world was to inquire. For most, however, it was the last stop on the way to the gas chambers. Those “lucky” enough to remain alive faced slave labor, starvation and disease.

Shiff’s intimate narrative of endurance recounts her and her family’s three years in Theresienstadt, the challenges of life under postwar communism, and her escape to the nascent and turbulent state of Israel.

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Newly Published: Vampires from Another World

New on our bookshelf:

Vampires from Another World: The Cinematic Progeny of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds and Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Simon Bacon

This book begins at the intersection of Dracula and War of the Worlds, both published in 1897 London, and describes the settings of Transylvania, Mars, and London as worlds linked by the body of the vampire. It explores the “vampire from another world” in all its various forms, as a manifestation of not just our anxieties around alien others, but also our alien selves.

Unsurprisingly, many of the tropes these novels generated and particularly the themes they have in common have been used and adapted by vampire narratives that followed. From Nosferatu to AlienInterstellarStranger Things, and many others, this book examines how these narratives have evolved since the end of the nineteenth century. Bringing together texts and films from across the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, from the far reaches of outer space and the distant future, it concludes that the unexpected and the unknown are not always to be feared, and that humanity does have the power to write its own future.

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Newly Published: Arctic Cinemas

New on our bookshelf:

Arctic Cinemas: Essays on Polar Spaces and the Popular Imagination
Edited by Kylo-Patrick R. Hart

Arctic cinemas represent a noteworthy new subfield of film studies, and in the current era of unprecedented global warming, interest in the Arctic region and its cinematic portrayals has never been greater. Individually and collectively, films pertaining to Arctic inhabitants and experiences have substantially influenced viewer perceptions of the region throughout the world, often serving as blank slates for the fantasies and projections of individuals elsewhere with regard to its challenging landscape and perceived “otherworldliness.”

Written by a blend of academic scholars, artists, and filmmakers, this collection of essays provides a transnational overview of the variety of works—ranging from art films and documentaries to horror and road movies—that fall under the conceptual rubric of “Arctic cinemas,” and examines their contributions to past and present perceptions of the Arctic. Theoretical and analytical approaches represented here include critical theory, cultural studies, ecocriticism, ethnography, gender studies, genre theory, historiography, and indigenous studies.

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Newly Published: Writing Madness, Writing Normalcy

New on our bookshelf:

Writing Madness, Writing Normalcy: Self and Stigma in Memoirs of Mental Illness
Lisa Spieker

What does it mean to be “mad” in contemporary American society? How do we categorize people’s reactions to extreme pressures, trauma, loneliness and serious mental illness? Importantly—who gets to determine these classifications, and why?

This book seeks to answer these questions through studying an increasingly popular media genre—memoirs of people with mental illnesses. Memoirs, like the ones examined in this book, often respond to stigmatizing tropes about “the mad” in popular culture and engage with concepts in mental health activism and research. This study breaks new academic ground and argues that the featured texts rethink the possibilities of community building and stigma politics. Drawing on literary analysis and sociological concepts, it understands these memoirs as complex, at times even contradictory, approaches to activism.

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Newly Published: Television’s Outlander

New on our bookshelf:

Television’s Outlander: A Companion, Seasons 1–5
Mary Ellen Snodgrass

Over its five seasons on the air, the televised series Outlander has combined romance, adventure, history, and time travel into a classic saga of love, war, and the ties that bind family together. After surviving the 1746 uprising of the Scottish Highlanders, the intrigue-ridden Paris of Charles Stuart, and a sea voyage across the Caribbean, Claire and Jamie Fraser finally settle in the mountains of North Carolina. There, they build a community of immigrant farmers who continue to struggle for justice, democracy, and independence from British colonialism.

This companion volume offers detailed information on more than 125 topics including characters, themes, places, events, actors, herbalism, and historical chronology. For fans and scholars alike, it separates fact from fiction and aids in understanding the effects of the 1746 Jacobite uprising on the formation of the United States.

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Newly Published: The Mythopoeic Code of Tolkien

New on our bookshelf:

The Mythopoeic Code of Tolkien: A Christian Platonic Reading of the Legendarium
Jyrki Korpua

J. R. R. Tolkien is arguably the most influential fantasy writer of all time–his world building and epic mythology have changed Western audiences’ imaginations and the entire fantasy genre. This book is the first wide-ranging Christian Platonic reading on Tolkien’s fiction. This analysis, written for scholars and general Tolkien enthusiasts alike, discusses how his fiction is constructed on levels of language, myth and textuality that have a background in the Greek philosopher Plato’s texts and early Christian philosophy influenced by Plato. It discusses the concepts of ideal and real, creation and existence, and fall and struggle as central elements of Tolkien’s fiction, focusing on The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and The History of Middle-earth. Reading Tolkien’s fiction as a depiction of ideal and real, from the vision of creation to the process of realization, illuminates a part of Tolkien’s aesthetics and mythology that previous studies have overlooked.

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Newly Published: Watergate’s Forgotten Hero

New on our bookshelf:

Watergate’s Forgotten Hero: Frank Wills, Night Watchman
Adam Henig

Nearly everyone who played a significant role in the Watergate saga has been scrutinized except one key participant: night watchman Frank Wills.

On the evening of June 17, 1972, in Washington D.C, the twenty-four-year-old security guard was on duty at the Watergate Office Building when he detected a break-in. A high school dropout with only a few hours of formal guard training, Wills alerted the police who caught five burglars, ultimately igniting a national political scandal that ended with the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

The only African American identified with the Watergate affair, Frank Wills enjoyed a brief moment in the limelight, but was unable to cope with his newfound fame, living the remainder of his life in obscurity and poverty. Through exhaustive research and numerous interviews, the story of America’s most famous night watchman finally has been told.

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Newly Published: That’s Entertainment

New on our bookshelf:

That’s Entertainment: A Biography of Broadway Composer Arthur Schwartz
Tighe E. Zimmers

Arthur Schwartz (1900–1984), a premier composer of American Popular Song during the mid-20th century, has been overlooked by historians. This first full-length biography covers his work on Broadway and in Hollywood, where he was known as the “master of the intimate revue” for his songs in the 1930s with Howard Dietz.

Schwartz wrote music for films in the 1940s—with Academy Award nominations for They’re Either Too Young or Too Old and A Gal in Calico—produced two popular movie musicals—Cover Girl and Night and Day—and was among the first songwriters to work in the new medium of television. The author describes his creative process and includes behind-the-scenes stories of each of his major musicals.

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Newly Published: Women in the Life of Andrew Jackson

New on our bookshelf:

Women in the Life of Andrew Jackson
Ludwig M. Deppisch, M.D.

Andrew Jackson is one of the most significant and controversial United States Presidents. This book follows Jackson’s life and death through the lives of six women who influenced both his politics and his persona. His mother, Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson, introduced him to their Scots-Irish heritage. Jackson’s wife, Rachel Donelson Jackson provided emotional support and a stable household throughout her life. Emily Donelson, his niece, was the White House hostess for most of his presidency and was one of the few women to stand up to Jackson’s overbearing nature. She, along with Rachel Jackson and Mary Eaton (the wife of Jackson’s Secretary of War) was also involved in the Petticoat Affair, a historic scandal that consumed the early Jackson administration. His daughter-in-law, Sarah Yorke Jackson, and niece, Mary Eastin Polk, supported Jackson in his retirement and buttressed his political legacy. These six women helped to mold, support, and temper the figure of Andrew Jackson we know today.

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Newly Published: Writers by the River

New on our bookshelf:

Writers by the River: Reflections on 40+ Years of the Highland Summer Conference
Edited by Donia S. Eley and Grace Toney Edwards

The Highland Summer Writing Conference (HSC), held each summer along the banks of the ancient New River at Radford University’s Selu Conservancy, brings together and inspires writers as they participate in the communal art of creating and sharing. Over the years, many prestigious Appalachian authors have taught workshops to like-minded students, many of whom became published authors in their own right. This book, a celebration of the HSC, is a collection of reflective essays, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction contributed by 41 authors and student-authors who have taken part in the conference over a span of 43 years.

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Newly Published: Garden Neighborhoods of San Francisco

New on our bookshelf:

Garden Neighborhoods of San Francisco: The Development of Residence Parks, 1905–1924
Richard Brandi

San Francisco is not known for detached houses with landscaped setbacks, lining picturesque, park-side streets. But between 1905 and 1924, thirty-six such neighborhoods, called residence parks, were proposed or built in the city. Hundreds like them were constructed across the country yet they are not well known or understood today. This book examines the city planning aspects of residence parks in a new way, with tracing how developers went about the business of building them, on different sites and for different markets, and how they kept out black and Asian residents.

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Newly Published: Jane Austen

New on our bookshelf:

Jane Austen: A Companion
Laura Dabundo

Written for readers at all levels, this book situates Jane Austen in her time, and for all times. It provides a biography; locates her work in the context of literary history and criticism; explores her fiction; and features an encyclopedic, readable resource on the people, places and things of relevance to Austen the person and writer. Details on family members, beaux, friends, national affairs, church and state politics, themes, tropes, and literary devices ground the reader in Austen’s world. Appendices offer resources for further reading and consider the massive modern industry that has grown up around Austen and her works.

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Newly Published: Thomas Hardy

New on our bookshelf:

Thomas Hardy: A Companion to the Novels
Ronald D. Morrison

Thomas Hardy enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a novelist before devoting his talents to writing poetry for the remainder of his life. This book focuses on Hardy’s remarkable achievements as a novelist. Although Victorian readers considered some of his works controversial, his novels remained highly regarded. His novels still appear in the syllabi of courses in Victorian literature and the British novel, as well as courses in feminist/gender studies, environmental studies, and other topics.

For scholars, students, and the general reader, this companion helps to makes Hardy’s novels accessible by providing a detailed biography of Hardy, plot summaries of each novel, and analyses of the critical contexts surrounding them. Entries focus on the people, cultural forces, literary forms, and movements that influenced Hardy’s novels. The companion also suggests approaches for original interpretations and suggestions for further study.

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Newly Published: Baseball Under the Lights

New on our bookshelf:

Baseball Under the Lights: The Rise of the Night Game
Charlie Bevis

Night games transformed the business of professional baseball, as the smaller, demographically narrower audiences able to attend daytime games gave way to larger, more diversified crowds of nighttime spectators. Many ball club owners were initially conflicted about artificial lighting and later actually resisted expanding the number of night games during the sport’s struggle to balance ballpark attendance and television viewership in the 1950s.

This first-ever comprehensive history of night baseball examines the factors, obstacles and trends that shaped this dramatic change in both the minor and major leagues between 1930 and 1990.

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Newly Published: Blood and Steel

New on our bookshelf:

Blood and Steel: Ryan White, the AIDS Crisis and Deindustrialization in Kokomo, Indiana
Ruth D. Reichard

Set in the 1980s against a backdrop of the AIDS crisis, deindustrialization and the Reagan era, this book tells the story of one individual’s defiant struggle against his community—the city of Kokomo, Indiana. At the same time as teenage AIDS patient Ryan White bravely fought against the intolerance of his hometown to attend public school, one of Kokomo’s largest employers, Continental Steel, filed for bankruptcy, significantly raising the stakes of the fight for the city’s livelihood and national image. This book tells the story of a fearful time in our recent history, as people in the heartland endured massive layoffs, coped with a lethal new disease and discovered a legacy of toxic waste. Now, some 30 years after Ryan White’s death, this book offers a fuller accounting of the challenges that one city reckoned with during this tumultuous period.

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Newly Published: Mark Gruenwald and the Star Spangled Symbolism of Captain America, 1985–1995

New on our bookshelf:

Mark Gruenwald and the Star Spangled Symbolism of Captain America, 1985–1995
Jason Olsen

From 1985 to 1995, Mark Gruenwald was the head writer for Captain America. During this decade, Gruenwald wrote some of the most essential stories in Captain America’s history and guided the comic through an eventful period of both world history and comic book history. This book dissects the influence of the world at large on Gruenwald’s stories and the subsequent influence of Gruenwald’s work on the world of comics. The book’s ten chapters discuss a wide range of topics including the generational tensions inherent in a comic about a G.I. Generation hero, written by a baby boomer, for an audience of Gen Xers; the enduring threat of the Red Skull and the never-ending aura of World War II; the rising popularity of vigilante characters during the ‘90s; and how Captain America fits into the war on drugs and its “just say no” mentality. Set against the declining American patriotism of the 1980s and 1990s, this book places special emphasis on the symbolism of the most American of superheroes.

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Newly Published: Beware of Dog

New on our bookshelf:

Beware of Dog: How Media Portrays the Aggressive Canine
Melissa Crawley

For many of us, the only way we meet “dangerous” dogs is through news reports about vicious attacks, and films and TV shows that feature out-of-control versions of man’s best friend. But there’s more to the Bad Dog’s story than sensational headlines and movie beasts. A deeper look at these representations reveals a villain much closer to home.

This book takes the reader on a rich journey through depictions of violent dogs in popular media. It explores how press accounts and screen stories transform canines into bloodthirsty hunters, rabies-infested strays, ferocious fighters, rogue law enforcement partners and diabolical pets, all adding up to a frightening picture of our usually beloved companions. But, when media tells the dangerous dog’s story, it is often with a deep connection to the person on the other end of the leash.

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Newly Published: Media Environments and Mental Disorder

New on our bookshelf:

Media Environments and Mental Disorder: The Psychology of Information Immersion
William Indick

The information environments that modern society requires us to master and engage in are based in literacy and digital communication. Mediated information not only passes through our brains, it alters and rewires them. Since our environment, to a large extent, is shaped by the way we perceive, understand, and communicate information, we can even think of mental disorders as symptoms of maladaptation to our media environments.

This book uses this “media ecology” model to explore the effects of media on mental disorders. It traces the development of media from the most basic forms–the sights and sounds expressed by the human body–to the most technologically complex media created to date, showing how each medium of communication relates to specific mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and autism. As the digital age proceeds to envelop us in an environment of infinite and instantly accessible information, it’s crucial to our own mental health to understand how the various forms of media influence and shape our minds and behaviors.

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Newly Published: War, Revolution and Remembrance in World Cinema

New on our bookshelf:

War, Revolution and Remembrance in World Cinema: Critical Essays
Edited by Nancy J. Membrez

Two World Wars engulfed Europe, Asia and the United States, leaving indelible scars on the landscape and survivors. The trauma of civil wars in Spain (declared) and Latin America (tacit) spanned decades yet, contradictorily, bind parties together even today. Civil wars still haunt Africa where, in more recent years, ethnic cleansing has led to wholesale genocide. Drawing on the emerging field of Memory Studies, this book examines narrative and documentary films, made far from Hollywood, that address memory—both traumatic and nostalgic—surrounding these conflicts, despite attempts by special interests to erase or manipulate history.

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Newly Published: Reaching for Normal

New on our bookshelf:

Reaching for Normal: A Mother’s Memoir of Raising a Child with Brain Cancer and Chronic Illness
By Amy Daniels

When Amy and Dave learned that their six-month-old daughter, Emily, was diagnosed with a slow-growing brain tumor, they were devastated. Throughout her childhood, they managed their daughter’s complex cancer, all the while striving just to be an ordinary, normal family. In doing so, Amy kept her emotions close and plastered on smiles, some genuine, as she worked in between cancer clinic appointments, had another baby, and attended cul-de-sac potluck dinners. The smiles were harder to put on when Emily suffered from a massive stroke just before her 8th birthday. Amy suddenly found herself a parent to an active toddler and an almost eight-year-old who could no longer talk, walk, or feed herself. Emily’s spirit remained shockingly unscathed. In the end, it was she who reminded the family to laugh, smile, and finally accept that they were anything but ordinary. This memoir of motherhood at its hardest reveals what went on behind closed doors and beneath the smiles, as Amy writes in raw, honest detail about her relationship with her spouse, juggling work demands, raising her typically developing son, and finding lasting friendships throughout each of Emily’s setbacks.

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Newly Published: Exploring The Orville

New on our bookshelf:

Exploring The Orville: Essays on Seth MacFarlane’s Space Adventure
Edited by David Kyle Johnson and Michael R. Berry

This is the first book to take a deep dive into the philosophical, social, moral, political, and religious issues tackled by Seth MacFarlane’s marvelous space adventure, The Orville. These new essays explore what The Orville has to say on everything from climate change, artificial intelligence, and sexual assault, to gender, feminism, love, and care. Divided into six “acts” (just like every episode of The Orville), with the show as its backdrop, the book asks questions about the dangers of democracy and social media, the show’s relationship to Star Trek and the puzzle of time travel.

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Newly Published: Television Movies of the 21st Century

New on our bookshelf:

Television Movies of the 21st Century
Vincent Terrace

For the major broadcast networks, the heyday of made-for-TV movies was 20th Century programming like The ABC Movie of the Week and NBC Sunday Night at the Movies. But with changing economic times and the race for ratings, the networks gradually dropped made-for-TV movies while basic cable embraced the format, especially the Hallmark Channel (with its numerous Christmas-themed movies) and the Syfy Channel (with its array of shark attack movies and other things that go bump in the night). From the waning days of the broadcast networks to the influx of basic cable TV movies, this encyclopedia covers 1,370 films produced during the period 2000-2020. For each film entry, the reader is presented with an informative storyline, cast and character lists, technical credits (producer, director, writer), air dates, and networks. It covers the networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, Ion, and NBC) and such basic cable channels as ABC Family, Disney, Fox Family, Freeform, Hallmark, INSP, Lifetime, Nickelodeon, Syfy, TBS and TNT. There is also an appendix of “Announced but Never Produced” TV movies and a performer’s index.

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Newly Published: Beulah Bondi

New on our bookshelf:

Beulah Bondi: A Life on Stage and Screen
Axel Nissen

Best known for her roles in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It’s a Wonderful Life, and Make Way for Tomorrow, Beulah Bondi (1889-1981) had a 60-year long acting career and an interesting on-screen life. Despite starting her professional acting career at 30, she made her mark on the film industry as a character actress. Before making a name for herself on-screen, she worked at the Stuart Walker stock company and performed on Broadway. This biography is the first to unpack Bondi’s life before and throughout her film career. This work also explores Bondi’s early family life in Indiana with a Jewish underwear salesman and a Presbyterian poet for parents.

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Military History Sale

Our extensive catalog of military history books now features more than 1,000 titles in print, and among them are many of our bestsellers. No matter your interests (or those of the history buff in your life), you’re sure to find a good fit. Through Memorial Day, May 31, get 25% off all military history titles with coupon code MILITARY25!

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Newly Published: Is Superman Circumcised?

New on our bookshelf:

Is Superman Circumcised?: The Complete Jewish History of the World’s Greatest Hero
Roy Schwartz

Superman is the original superhero, an American icon, and arguably the most famous character in the world—and he’s Jewish! Introduced in June 1938, the Man of Steel was created by two Jewish teens, Jerry Siegel, the son of immigrants from Eastern Europe, and Joe Shuster, an immigrant. They based their hero’s origin story on Moses, his strength on Samson, his mission on the golem, and his nebbish secret identity on themselves. They made him a refugee fleeing catastrophe on the eve of World War II and sent him to tear Nazi tanks apart nearly two years before the US joined the war. In the following decades, Superman’s mostly Jewish writers, artists, and editors continued to borrow Jewish motifs for their stories, basing Krypton’s past on Genesis and Exodus, its society on Jewish culture, the trial of Lex Luthor on Adolf Eichmann’s, and a future holiday celebrating Superman on Passover. A fascinating journey through comic book lore, American history, and Jewish tradition, this book examines the entirety of Superman’s career from 1938 to date, and is sure to give readers a newfound appreciation for the Mensch of Steel!

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Newly Published: Strictly Fantasy

New on our bookshelf:

Strictly Fantasy: The Cultural Roots of Tabletop Role-Playing Games
Gerald Nachtwey

Role-playing games seemed to appear of nowhere in the early 1970s and have been a quiet but steady presence in American culture ever since. This new look at the hobby searches for the historical origins of role-playing games deep in the imaginative worlds of Western culture. It looks at the earliest fantasy stories from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, at the fans–both readers and writers–who wanted to bring them to life, at the Midwestern landscape and the middle-class households that were the hobby’s birthplace, and at the struggle to find meaning and identity amidst cultural conflicts that drove many people into these communities of play. This book also addresses race, religion, gender, fandom, and the place these games have within American capitalism. All the paths of this journey are connected by the very quality that has made fantasy role-playing so powerful: it binds the limitless imagination into a “strict” framework of rules. Far from being an accidental offshoot of marginalized fan communities, role-playing games’ ability to hold contradictions in dynamic, creative tension made them a necessary and central product of the twentieth century.

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Newly Published: Stephen A. Douglas, Western Man

New on our bookshelf:

Stephen A. Douglas, Western Man: The Early Years in Congress, 1844-1850
Reg Ankrom

It didn’t take long for freshman Congressman Stephen A. Douglas to see the truth of Senator Thomas Hart Benton’s warning: slavery attached itself to every measure that came before the U.S. Congress. Douglas wanted to expand the nation into an ocean-bound republic. Yet slavery and the violent conflicts it stirred always interfered, as it did in 1844 with his first bill to organize Nebraska.

In 1848, when America acquired 550,000 square miles after the Mexican War, the fight began over whether the territory would be free or slave. Henry Clay, a slave owner who favored gradual emancipation, packaged territorial bills from Douglas’s committee with four others. But Clay’s “Omnibus Bill” failed. Exhausted, he left the Senate, leaving Douglas in control.

Within two weeks, Douglas won passage of all eight bills, and President Millard Fillmore signed the Compromise of 1850. It was Douglas’s greatest legislative achievement. This book, a sequel to the author’s Stephen A. Douglas: The Political Apprenticeship, 1833–1843, fully details Douglas’s early congressional career. The text chronicles how Douglas moved the issue of slavery from Congress to the ballot box.

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Newly Published: Cities and Homelessness

New on our bookshelf:

Cities and Homelessness: Essays and Case Studies on Practices, Innovations and Challenges
Edited by Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III and Mickey P. McGee

Homelessness in America’s cities remains a growing problem. The homeless today face the same challenges as in years past: poverty, tenuous or no ties to family and friends, physical and mental health issues, and substance abuse. Compared to the 1950s to 1970s, more homeless are now sleeping on city streets versus in shelters or single room hotels. Homelessness rates are affected by economic trends, lack of equitable and inclusive healthcare and housing, decline in public assistance programs, and natural and man-made disasters. This collection of essays covers case studies, innovations, practices and policies of municipalities coping with homelessness in the 21st century.

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Newly Published: A Supernatural Politics

New on our bookshelf:

A Supernatural Politics
Edited by Lisa Macklem and Dominick Grace

What makes a horror television drama interesting? Like any other drama, it is often the character development or plot, and this certainly applies to the dramatically-resonant Supernatural and its beloved characters. However, Supernatural has achieved a dedicated fandom and a record-breaking 15-season run by skillfully engaging with the social reality inhabited by the show’s audience. Additionally, the show plays with the fourth wall by having an in-world fandom for the main characters. Supernatural‘s many layers have garnered the attention of academics who analyzed the show’s engagement with diverse topics such as the #MeToo movement, consumerism, and the American Dream. This collection of essays studies the topical issues and politics that added depth and maturity to Supernatural, separated it fromX-Files knock-offs, and garnered the show its own cult following.

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Newly Published: Hollywood and the Military Bureaucracy

New on our bookshelf:

Hollywood and the Military Bureaucracy: Depicting America’s Fighting Forces at Their Best and Worst
Bob Herzberg

Through a century of movies, the U.S. military held sway over war and service-oriented films. Influenced by the armed forces and their public relations units, Hollywood presented moviegoers with images of a faultless American fighting machine led by heroic commanders.

This book examines this cooperation with detailed narratives of military blunders and unfit officers that were whitewashed to be presented in a more favorable light. Drawing on production files, correspondence between bureaucrats and filmmakers, and contemporary critical reviews, the author reveals the behind-the-scenes political maneuvers that led to the rewriting of history on-screen.

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Newly Published: Iceman of Brooklyn

New on our bookshelf:

Iceman of Brooklyn: The Mafia Life of Frankie Yale
Michael Newton

Largely forgotten now, Frankie Yale was an influential New York mobster of the early 20th century whose proteges included future leaders of New York’s five Mafia families and Chicago’s outfit. His influence extended to Chicago, where he personally committed two of the city’s most notorious underworld assassinations and waged a five-year war to wrest control of Brooklyn’s docks from Irish rivals. His murder marked New York City’s first use of a Tommy gun in gangland warfare, the same weapon used in Chicago’s St. Valentine’s Day massacre seven months later. Yale’s passing destabilized Gotham’s Mafia, paving the way for an upheaval that modified and modernized the structure of American syndicated crime for the next six decades. Despite Yale’s prominence during his life, this is the first biography to survey his life and career.

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Newly Published: Busted

New on our bookshelf:

Busted: A Vietnam Veteran in Nixon’s America
W.D. Ehrhart

This book picks up where Passing Time: A Vietnam Veteran Against the War left off, and completes the trilogy begun with Vietnam-Perkasie: A Combat Marine Memoir. It begins with the Coast Guard raid on Ehrhart’s oil tanker and ends with the conclusion of his trial for possession of “controlled substances,” a span of time that corresponds almost exactly with the opening of the House Judiciary Committee’s hearings on the impeachment of Richard Nixon and Nixon’s resignation and pardon by Gerald Ford.

Along the way, Ehrhart encounters a wise and sympathetic lawyer, an MG Midget, a local New Jersey cop who thinks he’s Wyatt Earp, New York City detectives who arrest him for armed robbery of a liquor store, a forklift that can turn on a dime, a Coast Guard prosecutor who wants to teach Ehrhart a lesson, the Carranza Memorial, and three ghosts who are as real as you and me.

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Newly Published: Presenting Persis Khambatta

New on our bookshelf:

Presenting Persis Khambatta: From Miss India to Star Trek—The Motion Picture and Beyond
Sherilyn Connelly

In 1965, 18-year-old Persis Khambatta became the third woman to be crowned Miss India. After moving to England and then to the United States, she found worldwide fame in the first Star Trek movie in 1979, and in 1980 she became the first Indian presenter at the Academy Awards.

The American film industry seemed never to forgive Khambatta for being a non-white woman who refused to do nude scenes. After failing to sustain a career as either a producer or a performer, she achieved a triumph before her sudden death in 1998 with the publication of her book Pride of India: A Tribute to Miss India.

Based on contemporary news articles and primary sources, this first biography examines Khambatta’s Hindi and English-language film and television work, and demonstrates the many ways she was ahead of her time as a filmmaker, feminist, and humanitarian.

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Newly Published: The Food Network Recipe

New on our bookshelf:

The Food Network Recipe: Essays on Cooking, Celebrity and Competition
Edited by Emily L. Newman and Emily Witsell

When the Television Food Network launched in 1993, its programming was conceived as educational: it would teach people how to cook well, with side trips into the economics of food and healthy living. Today, however, the network is primarily known for splashy celebrity chefs and spirited competition shows.

These new essays explore how the Food Network came to be known for consistently providing comforting programming that offers an escape from reality, where the storyline is just as important as the food that is being created. It dissects some of the biggest personalities that emerged from the Food Network itself, such as Guy Fieri, and offers a critical examination of a variety of chefs’ feminisms and the complicated nature of success. Some writers posit that the Food Network is creating an engaging, important dialogue about modes of instruction and education, and others analyze how the Food Network presents locality and place through the sharing of food culture with the viewing public. This book will bring together these threads as it explores the rise, development, and unique adaptability of the Food Network.

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Newly Published: J.B. Rhine

New on our bookshelf:

J.B. Rhine: Letters 1923–1939: ESP and the Foundations of Parapsychology
J.B. Rhine

During the 1930s a new approach to exploring human consciousness began at Duke University with Professor J. B. Rhine’s experimental research on extra-sensory perception, or ESP. His findings on telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and psychokinesis challenged conventional disbelief. Rhine’s findings and his first popular book, New Frontiers of the Mind, ignited excitement and controversy—among not only scientists but the public at large.

Rhine’s letters chronicle his efforts to find reliable evidence of psychic ability, from the séance room to psychic animals and finally to a university research laboratory.

Covering the years 1923–1939, they reveal a gripping story of groundbreaking research, told in the words of the main player as he worked with his team, subjects, critics and supporters alike.

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Newly Published: South Carolinians in the Battle of Gettysburg

New on our bookshelf:

South Carolinians in the Battle of Gettysburg
Derek Smith

July 1, 1863. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee advanced across the Pennsylvania countryside toward the small town of Gettysburg—less than 90 miles from Washington, D.C.—on a collision course with the Union Army of the Potomac. In Lee’s ranks were 5,000 South Carolina troops destined to play critical roles in the three days of fighting ahead. From generals to privates, the Palmetto State soldiers were hurled into the Civil War’s most famous battle—hundreds were killed, wounded or later suffered as prisoners of war.

The life-and-death stories of these South Carolinians are here woven together here with official wartime reports, previously unpublished letters, newspaper accounts, diaries and the author’s personal observations from walking the battlefield.

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Newly Published: Having Their Say

New on our bookshelf:

Having Their Say: Athletes and Entertainers and the Ethics of Speaking Out
Kristie Bunton

After Natalie Maines of The Dixie Chicks expressed her opposition to the Iraq War and President Bush in a country music concert, she was told to “shut up and sing.” When NFL player Colin Kaepernick protested police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem, he was applauded by some and demonized by others. Both had their careers irrevocably altered by speaking out for their beliefs.

This book examines the ethical issues that arise when famous people speak out on issues often unrelated to the performances that brought those figures to public attention. It analyzes several celebrity speakers—singers Taylor Swift and the Chicks; satirist Jon Stewart; actor Tom Hanks; and athletes Serena Williams, Stephen Curry, Colin Kaepernick, and Naomi Osaka—and demonstrates that justifiable speaking requires celebrity speakers, journalists, and audiences to consider ethical issues regarding platform, intent, and harm. Celebrity speakers must exercise ethical care in a digital world where audiences equate celebrity status with authority and expertise about public issues. Finally, this book considers how people who are not famous can understand their ethical responsibilities for speaking out about public issues in their own spheres of influence.

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Newly Published: Understanding Kierkegaard’s Parables

New on our bookshelf:

Understanding Kierkegaard’s Parables
Russell Hamer

Kierkegaard is often praised for his poetic writing style. Throughout his works, especially his pseudonymous ones, he often breaks from philosophical prose and instead uses extended metaphors, fairy tales, parables, and allegories. This book, which is the first that directly addresses Kierkegaard’s parables, argues that they help the reader undergo transformative change. It asks why Kierkegaard uses parables in a broad sense, how they function as a form of indirect communication, why Kierkegaard must remain secretive about the purpose of the parables, and how this secrecy plays an important role in Kierkegaard’s authorship.

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Newly Published: Base Ball 12

New on our bookshelf:

Base Ball 12: New Research on the Early Game
Edited by Don Jensen

Base Ball is a peer-reviewed book series published annually. Offering the best in original research and analysis, it promotes study of baseball’s early history, from its protoball roots to 1920, and its rise to prominence within American popular culture. This volume, number 12, includes thirteen articles on topics ranging from the career of pitcher Harry Coveleski, Philadelphia baseball pioneer Thomas Fitzgerald, and a baseball power couple, James and Harriet Coogan, to early Brooklyn baseball, the game in Canada during World War I, and the amateur teams sponsored by typewriter companies.

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Body, Mind and Spirit Sale

It’s early springtime in the mountains around McFarland’s campus, and we’re all waiting for the first explosion of color that the trees will soon bring. Because we just can’t contain our excitement for the upcoming warm-weather hikes, garden blooms and maybe an outdoor meditation session or two, we’re giving 30% off our entire BodyMind & Spirit catalog. Our catalog includes everything from books about spirituality, to our Health Topics series, a cannabis studies selection and our growing imprint, Toplight Books, devoted to all things personal development. Browse our catalog and use coupon code BMS30 at checkout through May 4th.!

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Newly Published: Star Trek, History and Us

New on our bookshelf:

Star Trek, History and Us: Reflections of the Present and Past Throughout the Franchise
A.J. Black

Since 1966, the Star Trek television franchise has used outer space and the thrilling adventures of the crews of the U.S.S. Enterprise to reflect our own world and culture. Kirk and Spock face civil rights issues and Vietnam war allegories while Picard, Data, and the next generation seek an ordered, post-Cold War stability in the Reagan era.

The crews of Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise must come to terms with our real life of war, manifest destiny in the 21st century, and the shadow of 9/11. Now, as the modern era of the franchise attempts to portray a utopia amidst a world spinning out of control, Star Trek remains about more than just the future. It is about our present. It is about us.

This book charts the history of Gene Roddenberry’s creation across five decades alongside the cultural development of the United States and asks: are we heading for the utopian Federation future, or is it slipping ever further away from reality?

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Newly Published: “He probably won’t shoot you”

New on our  bookshelf:

“He probably won’t shoot you”: Memoir of an Adult Protective Services Case Manager
Mark Mehler

Adult Protective Services (APS) is the social service system charged with aiding older people and disabled adults who are being mistreated by others or cannot meet their own basic needs for health and safety (self-neglect). These are America’s most vulnerable citizens, and they often suffer for years, while remaining largely invisible to the greater world.

Written from the inside of APS, Mark Mehler’s memoir of his seven years as a crisis case manager reveals a world that very few people see, and addresses why and how people do this work, what they take away from it and the price that they pay to do it.

Ranging from horrifying to uplifting and bizarrely funny, the stories recounted here witness human frailty and disaster, and the efforts of some dedicated caseworkers to stem that tide.

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Newly Published: Cold War Frequencies

New on our bookshelf:

Cold War Frequencies: CIA Clandestine Radio Broadcasting to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
Richard H. Cummings

Published for the first time, the history of the CIA’s clandestine short-wave radio broadcasts to Eastern Europe and the USSR during the early Cold War is covered in-depth. Chapters describe the “gray” broadcasting of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty in Munich; clandestine or “black” radio broadcasts from Radio Nacional de Espana in Madrid to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine; transmissions to Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Ukraine and the USSR from a secret site near Athens; and broadcasts to Byelorussia and Slovakia. Infiltrated behind the Iron Curtain through dangerous air drops and boat landings, CIA and other intelligence service agents faced counterespionage, kidnapping, assassination, arrest and imprisonment. Excerpts from broadcasts taken from monitoring reports of Eastern Europe intelligence agencies are included.

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Newly Published: Women of Valor

New on our bookshelf:

Women of Valor: The Rochambelles on the World War II Front, rev. ed.
Ellen Hampton

Women in an armored division! General Leclerc had never heard of such a thing. But if he wanted the 19 brand-new ambulances, he would have to take their women drivers too. Known as the Rochambelles, their courage won the admiration of their comrades and changed many minds. These women learned to drive through mortar fire, to pull men from burning tanks, to stanch blood and ease pain. Above all, they learned that no matter who was doing the shooting, the greater enemy was hatred. Only three of the fifty-one women who served in the group published a memoir, and their stories have been all but lost. This book, newly revised and updated, reveals their daring and accomplishments, from Normandy to Berchtesgaden.

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Newly Published: Hellships Down

New on our bookshelf:

Hellships Down: Allied POWs and the Sinking of the Rakuyo Maru and Kachidoki Maru
Michael Sturma

On 12 September 1944, a wolfpack of U.S. submarines attacked the Japanese convoy HI-72 in the South China Sea. Among the ships sunk were two carrying Allied prisoners of war. Men who had already endured the trials of Japanese captivity faced a renewed struggle for survival at sea.

This book tells the broader story of the HI-72 convoy through the stories of two survivors: Arthur Bancroft, who was rescued by an American submarine, and Charles “Rowley” Richards, who was rescued by the Japanese. The story of these men represents the thousands of Allied POWs who suffered not only the atrocious conditions of these Japanese hellships, but also the terror of friendly fire from their own side’s submarines. For the first time, the personal, political and legal aftermath of these men’s experiences is fully detailed. At its heart, this is a story of survival. Charting the survivors’ fates from rescue to their attempts at retribution, this book reveals the trauma that continued long after the war was over.

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Newly Published: Rape-Revenge Films

New on our bookshelf:

Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study, 2d ed.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

Often considered the lowest depth to which cinema can plummet, the rape-revenge film is broadly dismissed as fundamentally exploitative and sensational, catering only to a demented, regressive demographic. This second edition, ten years after the first, continues the assessment of these films and the discourse they provoke. Included is a new chapter about women-directed rape-revenge films, a phenomenon that—revitalized since #MeToo exploded in late 2017—is a filmmaking tradition with a history that transcends a contemporary context.

Featuring both famous and unknown movies, controversial and widely celebrated filmmakers, as well as rape-revenge cinema from around the world, this revised edition demonstrates that diverse and often contradictory treatments of sexual violence exist simultaneously.

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Newly Published: The Avengers in Video Games

New on our bookshelf:

The Avengers in Video Games: A Guide to Solo Adventures and Mighty Marvel Team-Ups, with Creator Interviews
Blair Farrell

For decades, Marvel Comics’ superhero group the Avengers have captured the imagination of millions, whether in comics, multi-billion dollar grossing films or video games. Similar to the chronology of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Avengers video games first started with titles driven by single characters, like Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor and Captain America. Over time, the games grew to include more and more heroes, culminating in playing experiences that featured the Avengers assembled.

This is the first-ever book assessing the video games starring “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.” Featured games span consoles and platforms, from popular PlayStation and Xbox titles to an arcade game in danger of being lost to time. All video games are covered in depth, with each entry including game background and a detailed review from the author. Some game entries also include behind-the-scenes knowledge from the developers themselves, providing exclusive details on the Marvel video game universe.

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Newly Published: Rachel Carson

New on our bookshelf:

Rachel Carson: A Literary Companion
Mary Ellen Snodgrass

Rachel Carson was a marine biologist credited with the founding of the ecology movement and the rise in ecofeminism. One of her most popular works was Silent Spring, which challenged the use of DDT (an insecticide infamous for its negative environmental effects) and questioned the claims of modern industry. Carson also wrote essays, reviews, articles, and speeches to educate the public about the impacts of chemical pollutants on both the environment and the human body. This literary companion provides readers with Carson’s key messages via an A-to-Z index of topics discussed in her works including carcinogens, endangered species, and radioactivity.

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Newly Published: At the Intersection of Disability and Drama

New on our bookshelf:

At the Intersection of Disability and Drama: A Critical Anthology of New Plays
Edited by John Michael Sefel Amanda Slamcik Lassetter, Jill Summerville

“Cripples ain’t supposed to be happy” sings Anita Hollander, balancing on her single leg and grinning broadly. This moment—from her multi-award-winning one-woman show, Still Standing—captures the essence of this theatre anthology. Hollander and nineteen other playwright-performers craftily subvert and smash stereotypes about how those within the disability community should look, think, and behave. Utilizing the often-conflicting tools of Critical Disability Studies and Medical Humanities, these plays and their accompanying essays approach disability as a vast, intersectional demographic, which ties individuals together less by whatever impairment, difference, or non-normative condition they experience, and more by their daily need to navigate a world that wasn’t built for them. From race, gender, and sexuality to education, dating, and pandemics, these plays reveal there is no aspect of human life that does not, in some way, intersect with disability.

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Newly Published: Velodrome Racing and the Rise of the Motorcycle

New on our bookshelf:

Velodrome Racing and the Rise of the Motorcycle
R.K. Keating

A hybrid machine–powered at times by steam, electricity or internal combustion–the motorcycle in its infancy was an innovation to help bicycle racers go faster. As motor age technology advanced, the quest for greater speed at the velodrome peaked, with riders reaching speeds up to 100 kph on bikes and trikes without brakes, suspensions or gear boxes. This book chronicles the individuals and events at the turn of the 20th century that led to the development of motor-powered two-wheelers.

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Newly Published: The Minds Behind Shooter Games

New on our bookshelf:

The Minds Behind Shooter Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers
Patrick Hickey, Jr.

Featuring interviews with the creators of 39 popular video games–including Halo 3Call of Duty: Modern WarfareMedal of Honor and Metroid Prime–this book gives a behind-the-scenes look at the origins of some of the most iconic shooter games. Interviewees recount endless hours of painstaking development, the challenges of working with mega-publishers, the growth of the genre and the creative processes that produced some of the industry’s biggest hits, cult classics and indie successes.

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Newly Published: LSU Bowl Games

New on our bookshelf:

LSU Bowl Games: A Complete History
Neal Golden

Telling the story of LSU football through coverage of each of the Tigers’ 50 bowl games–from 1907 through 2019–this book provides summaries of the team’s regular season, and their opponents’ season, along with quarter-by-quarter game highlights, important stats, and quotes from players and coaches. Bowl games are presented in a number of notable contexts, including games against Hall of Fame coaches (1936-1938 Sugar Bowls, 2010 Capital One Bowl), games that featured Heisman Trophy winners (1959-1960 Sugar Bowls, 2019 Peach Bowl), LSU’s first games against black players (1965 Sugar Bowl, 1972 Bluebonnet Bowl), and the first game played by a U.S. football team in a foreign country (1907 Bacardi Bowl).

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Newly Published: Marcus Reno in the Valley of the Little Big Horn

New on our bookshelf:

Marcus Reno in the Valley of the Little Big Horn: Limited Means, Excessive Aims
Frederic C. Wagner III

Major Marcus Reno’s actions at the Battle of Little Big Horn have been both criticized and lauded, often without in-depth analysis. This book takes a fresh look the battle and events leading up to it, offering answers to unanswered questions. The author examines the meanings of “orders” given in Custer’s command and how they were treated, the tactics and fighting in the valley, Reno’s alcoholism, and his last stand on the hilltop named for him.

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Newly Published: Star Wars and the Hero’s Journey

New on our bookshelf:

Star Wars and the Hero’s Journey: Mythic Character Arcs Through the 12-Film Epic
Valerie Estelle Frankel

The original Star Wars trilogy famously follows Joseph Campbell’s model for the hero’s journey, making Luke Skywalker’s story the new hero quest for a modern age. With the nine-plus film saga complete, however, new story patterns have emerged as the hero’s journey is imagined over and over for characters of different ages, genders, and backgrounds. The prequels offer the plot arc of the villain’s journey through Anakin. Leia and Padme, while damsels in the men’s story, break out to undergo their own ordeals. The heroine’s journey is exemplified by Rey and Jyn. Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Vader must accept the loss of power and fade into spirit guardians, perpetuating the lifecycle. By the sequel era, the original trio become mentors to the younger generation and finally must do the same. Meanwhile, the Mandalorian explores a different form of the quest as he transforms from immature warrior to patriarch. This book tracks the journeys of over 20 characters throughout the franchise.

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Newly Published: Putin Confronts the West

New on our bookshelf:

Putin Confronts the West: The Logic of Russian Foreign Relations, 1999–2020
René De La Pedraja

Russia’s surprising return to the world stage since 2000 has aroused the curiosity—if not the fear—of the West. Gradually, the Kremlin went from a policy of deference to foreign powers to acting with independence. The driver of this transformation was President Vladimir Putin, who with skillful caution navigated Russia back into the ranks of global powers. In theaters of conflict such as Georgia, Syria and Ukraine, the Kremlin won significant victories at little cost to consolidate its decisive position.

Following a chronological approach from the fall of the Soviet Union to the present, this book draws on new documents to describe how Russia regained its former global prominence. Clear accounts of key decisions and foreign policy events—many presented for the first time—provide important insights into the major confrontations with the West.