New History Books at the Library!

Here are some new books hitting the shelves soon at GPL:


Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades
by Phillips, Jonathan

A fresh, no-nonsense take on the causes, human cost and continued relevance of the medieval Crusades. A straightforward, pertinent study replete with passionate personages both Christian and Muslim. (Kirkus)







Rebel Land: Unraveling the Riddle of History in a Turkish Town
by de Bellaigue, Christopher

A brave investigation into the buried history of Armenian massacre and Kurdish violence in a small Turkish village. Conversant in Turkish and charmed by the cosmopolitan nature of the people, foreign correspondent de Bellaigue was posted to Istanbul for some years before he began to question the official Turkish story that the forced deportation and massacre of Armenians during World War I had been provoked by their rebelliousness and collusion with Russia. (Kirkus)



Strange Days Indeed: The 1970s: The Golden Days of Paranoia
by Wheen, Francis

The meat of Wheen's lucid discussion is what can be considered a golden age of the paranoid style of politics, as the historian Richard Hofstadter put it, and of widespread paranoia in general. Literate, authentic to period detail and often entertaining . . . (Kirkus)

Recent Tempting Titles - 900s

Click on any image or title link to place a hold via the online catalog. You can also now see a full list of the books librarians have ordered in the last two months by clicking on the Coming Soon button on the left of any library web page or as a tab on the catalog page. (Not all are in the online catalog yet, as these few selections are, but they're on the way.)

The nonfiction books of Tempting Titles are arranged by Dewey Decimal order, just the way they would be arranged on the New Book Shelves. Here are today's offerings:

900s - Geography, Travel, History

A History of Histories: epics, chronicles, romances, and inquiries from Herodotus and Thucydides to the twentieth century by John Burrow

"This unprecedented book by one of Britain’s most admired historians describes the intellectual impact that the study and consideration of history has had in the Western world over the past 2,500 years. Treating the practice of history not as an isolated pursuit but as an aspect of human society and an essential part of the culture of Europe and America, John Burrow magnificently brings to life and explains the distinctive qualities found in the work of historians from the ancient Egyptians and Greeks to the present." (Publisher's description)

The Complete Travel Detective Bible: the consummate insider tells you what you need to know in an increasingly complex world! by Peter Greenberg

"This ultimate "physician’s desk reference" for travelers addresses the questions, anxieties, concerns, and desire for essential information that are common to seasoned and novice travelers alike." (Publisher's description)

Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? : a swashbuckling tale of high adventures, questionable ethics, and professional hedonism by Thomas B. Kohnstamm

"The colorful adventures of a budding travel writer in Brazil. After pursuing an advanced degree in Latin American studies, Kohnstamm reluctantly took a position as a researcher at a large Wall Street firm. The restless author quickly tired of the corporate drudgery and, after some hesitation, accepted an assignment to update Lonely Planet's guidebook on Brazil. - Readers will relish the countless stories of the author's misadventures, but Kohnstamm brings more than just anecdotes: He offers a solid understanding of the mechanics of the travel-writing industry and a unique ability to illuminate that world to readers. Notable for its spirited prose and insightful exploration of the less-romantic side of travel writing." (Kirkus Reviews)

Honorable Bandit: a walk across Corsica by Brian Bouldrey

"Bouldrey teaches creative writing at Northwestern University, and his own writing here certainly qualifies as creative. There are real gems as he describes his family life, his fellow travelers down Corsica’s GR20, and his blue passport 'outing' him as an American. His style is chatty, humorous, and self-deprecating, which makes for an enjoyable read." (Library Journal)

In Arabian Nights: a caravan of Moroccan dreams by Tahir Shah [No image available]

"Shah delves into Moroccan society and culture; his experiences will make readers want to trace his footsteps abroad. Although comparisons to Frances Mayes's Under the Tuscan Sun and Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence are obvious, this account is unforgettable because of its author's innate storytelling abilities." (Library Journal)

The Year of the Goat: 40,000 miles and the quest for the perfect cheese by Margaret Hathaway

"Back-to-the-land fantasies aren't new, but Hathaway gives theirs a modern twist by emphasizing 'terroir,' the idea that 'food is rooted in the land,' and of connecting 'the palate to the place.' Local-eating, slow-food activists will find much to chew on here." (Publisher Weekly)

Genealogy Online by Elizabeth Powell Crowe

"With years of experience online, Elizabeth Powell Crowe has become an authority on online genealogical research. She explains how to trace your family tree in an easy-to-understand way that anyone can follow." (AOL Genealogy Forum)

The Plot Against Pepys by James Long and Ben Long [No image available]

"Samuel Pepys is most famous for the diary he kept between 1660 and 1669, as well as his eyewitness accounts of the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London. As Secretary of the Admiralty, he played an important role in the development of the British navy. Yet in 1679, Pepys was imprisoned in the Tower of London on suspicion of treason, charged with being a secret Catholic and supporter of the Catholic Duke of York. [Authors] investigate the mystery behind this arrest." (Library Journal)

Metro Stop Paris: an underground history of the City of Light by Gregor Dallas

"Seasoned historian Dallas ... serves up exquisite slices of Parisian lore. Twelve Métro stops in the city of lights come blazing to life in this unusual tome. 'There are many histories of Paris,' the author writes, 'but they won't fit in a pocket or a traveling sack.' Instead he gives us 'little vignettes drawn from Paris's rich two-thousand year history.'" (Kirkus Reviews)

That Summer in Sicily by Marlena De Blasi

"In 1995, De Blasi and her Italian husband sought a place to stay in the Sicilian mountains and were directed to the Villa Donnafugata, a grand hunting lodge populated by widows, farmers and an imperious mistress: Tosca Brozzi. This book reads like a suspense novel complete with a surprise ending, and though Tosca's story is compelling, it's in De Blasi's telling of it that the true magic lies." (Publisher Weekly)

The Last Day: wrath, ruin, and reason in the great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 by Nicholas Shrady [No image available]

"Shrady takes a brief, brilliantly encapsulated look at the physical and spiritual damage wrought by a famous catastrophe. ... Shrady takes stock of a disaster second only to the destruction of Pompeii and pursues the city's gradual regeneration thanks to the tireless work of Portugal's secretary of state, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo. [who] attempted to silence the sermons of woe by the powerful Jesuit Gabriel Malagrida, among others, and encouraged scientifically minded thinkers to look into the earthquake's natural causes. Faced with the task of rebuilding, Carvalho embraced the Enlightenment's new spirit of urban planning, endorsing plans that reflected 'the kind of social and economic change that was necessary ...'"

The Imperial Capitals of China: a dynastic history of the Celestial Empire by Arthur Cotterell

"From British scholar Cotterell, a thoroughgoing history of China's ruling dynasties and their extraordinary achievements in architecture. Cotterell's work takes the traveler deep into the fascinating recesses of each dynasty." (Kirkus Reviews)

Basrayatha: the story of a city by Mohammed Khudayyir

"Basrayatha is a literary tribute by author Mohammed Khudayyir to the city of his birth, Basra, on the Shatt al-Arab waterway in southern Iraq. Just as a city’s inhabitants differ from outsiders through their knowledge of its streets as well as its stories, so Khudayyir distinguishes between the real city of Basra and Basrayatha, the imagined city he has created through stories, experiences, folklore, and insights." (International Publishers Market)

A Voyage Long and Strange: rediscovering the New World by Tony Horwitz

"What do Americans really know about the discovery of their continent? Visiting the sadly puny Plymouth Rock prompted this energetic, likable author to delve into the historic record and sniff out the real story behind America's creation myth, from one section of the country to the other." (Kirkus Reviews)

The Hudson: America’s river by Frances F. Dunwell

"Fifteen chapters trace the river's history, beginning with Henry Hudson's exploration and the Dutch who settled along its banks in the 17th century and moving on to the colonial wars between the English and the French and their Native American allies, the American Revolution, the Industrial age following the Civil War, and the 20th century, when the river was best known for its pollution. Dunwell also reveals how the river has inspired artists (the Hudson River school), writers (Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper), conservationists who worked to preserve the scenic vistas and historical sites, and environmentalists who worked to clean up the river." (Library Journal)

Terra Cotta Soliders from a Chinese Tomb

The Tomb of 10,000 Warriors ranks up there as one of the top ten archeological discoveries according to Patrick Hunt’s Ten Discoveries that Rewrote History. Luckily for us Southern Californians who can’t make it to China, the Bower’s Museum in Santa Ana, is exhibiting, Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China’s First Emperor through October 12 2008. The exhibit will unveil 20 complete life-sized figures, the most ever to have left China, in a 120-object touring archive of rare artifacts over 2200 years old.

To learn more about this amazing discovery, check out two new books at the library, The Terra Cotta Army: China’s first Emperor and the birth of a nation by John Man.

"A judicious exploration of the circumstances and meaning behind the terra cotta army interred with China's first emperor. (Kirkus Reviews)

China's First Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors by Frances Wood

"a tightly structured, nimble pocket portrait of China's First Emperor, Qin Shihuangdi." (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Events - Civil War historian Ed Bearss

Smithsonian Magazine celebrated its 35th year in 2005 with an issue that profiled "35 Who Made A Difference." The Authors, Artists & Friends lecture series will feature a second member of those thirty-five illustrious difference makers. One of those people, John Dobson, the father of sidewalk astronomy and the designer of a portable mount that supports his large, inexpensive telescopes, and perhaps astronomy's greatest cheerleader, spoke at the Library in January. Our next lecture will feature historian Ed Bearss (pronounced bars) on Monday, April 16, to help kick off National Library Week.

After serving in the Marines and earning degrees at Georgetown and Indiana universities, Bearss joined the National Park Service (where he is now chief historian emeritus) and devoted himself to the study of the American past, particularly the struggle between the blue and the gray. When he compares contemporary America to the 1860s, his allegiance is clear, as he stated in Smithsonian Magazine (November 2005), "We're in an age of Teflon people now. People then were more original, more individual."

Yet when he has to, Bearss can stand squarely in the present, as he has proved rather often of late, enmeshed in one 21st-century battle after another—over the suburban development that has threatened to engulf Civil War battlefields.

At Gettysburg, for instance, an "idyllic vista is broken by a water tower that went up a few years ago, part of a new industrial park. Just to the right of it, investors want to build a casino with 3,000 slot machines. He remembers visiting Manassas in 1941, when it was a sleepy rural area; now, when he leads bus tours there, they often end up stalled in shopping center traffic. At Petersburg in the early 1960s, he saw where an 1864 fort was bulldozed to make way for a mall; now the mall itself is nearly derelict. 'The development is advancing more irresistibly than Grant's army did on Richmond," Bearss grumbles.'" (Smithsonian Magazine, November 2005)

For more information about authors at the Library see our website,
http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/library/authors_artists_friends.asp