Small Press Bk Rev-Winter 99, Pt. 2
HenryBerry
Winter 1999 - Part 2
Business/Employment
Profitable Portrait Photography - A Step-By-Step Guide to Making Money in
Portrait Photography by Roger Berg. Amherst Media, 155 Rano St. - Suite 300,
Buffalo, NY 14207; 800-622-3278; email: amb...@aol.com. 1998. 101 pp. $29.95
trade paper' 8-1/2" x 11" (0-936262-65-6). color/b+w photographs; index.
(photography; self-employment; small business)
A good proportion of the elementary, introductory information and guidance on
portrait photography pays attention to the important subject of lighting. In
the chapter Studio Lighting, Berg describes the "Four Light System" for getting
the best portraits, then goes into details of this for different effects with
flat lighting, butterfly lighting, and other kinds. Cameras and other
equipment, posing the person to be photographed, and developing proofs and
finished portraits are other relevant topics receiving adequate, though not so
extensive, treatment. Berg closes his succinct guide with sample photographs on
every page with a four-page outline of the business of portrait photography.
The Employer's Guide to Recruiting on the Internet by Ray Schreyer and John
McCarter. Impact Publications, 9104-N Manassas Dr., Manassas Park, VA
20111-5211; imp...@impactpublications.com. 1998. 274 pp. $24.95 trade paper;
7-1/2" x 9" (1-57023-096-X). illustrations; resources; appendices; index.
(employment)
The authors not only give advice on effective employee recruitment by the
Internet, but also make the case why this is called for in today's employment
market. The main reasons for this have to do with reducing costs for this
ongoing business activity and keeping up with the competition for qualified
employees, who are increasingly using the Internet in their job-seeking.
McCarter is a human-resources professional whose specialties include job
evaluations, head-hunting, and training. Schreyer is the one with extensive
experience with computer systems, including work with America Online. Together
they make an ideal team for this timely, very informative and helpful guide on
Internet recruiting.
More Money From Antiques! by Milan Vesely. Krause Publications, 700 E. State
St., Iola, WI 54990-0001. 1998. 158 pp. $12.95 trade paper (0-87341-621-X). b+w
photographs.
(self-employment; small business; antique dealer)
An extension of Vesely's earlier book Money From Antiques giving advice on how
to find, buy, and sell antiques using the Internet and how to become active as
an antiques' dealers in the thriving international market, which to a large
extent also makes skillful use of the Internet.
Children's
The Boat Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta; illustrated by David Biedrzycki.
Charlesbridge Publishing, 85 Main St., Watertown, MA 02172. 1998. 32 pp. $15.95
hardcover (0-88106-910-8). color illustrations.
(boats; ages 5-10)
Yes, there is a type of boat for each letter of the alphabet. The letter A is
for aircraft carrier. Z is for Zodiac, an inflatable boat. X is for Xebex, "a
three-masted ship that is rigged with lateen sails." Biedrzycki's vividly
colored and drawn illustrations show a fair amount of detail for each of the
many different types of boats, enabling the reader to get an appreciation of
each.
Turn of the Century by Ellen Jackson; illustrated by Jan Davey Ellis.
Charlesbridge Publishing, 85 Main St., Watertown, MA 02172. 1998. 32 pp. $17.95
hardcover (0-88106-369-X). color illustrations; bibliography.
(picture book; history; ages 7-12)
Children living in England and the U.S. at the beginning of every century from
1000AD to 2000AD describe what their lives were like. After the century
beginning with 1500AD, most of the children live in the U. S. There's a boy
living in Massachusetts, girls in Kentucky and Pennsylvania, and for the year
2000, a boy in California who watches the new millennium being greeted at
countries around the world on TV. In the earlier centuries in England, there's
a peasant boy, a young aristocratic lady studying with nuns, a pageboy, a son
of a merchant, and a chambermaid. Each of the young persons describes the
activities of a typical day and names some common objects. A listing of some
historical facts about each time period follows the descriptions.
Jambo, Watoto! - Hello, Children! by Marsha Heatwole; text by Elizabeth Massie
and Barbara Spilman Lawson. Crrative Art Press, 6850 Brookshire Dr., West
Bloomfield, MI 48322. 1998. 30 pp. $15.95 hardcover (0-9642712-3-0). color
illustrations.
(picture book; story; ages 4-10)
A mother cheetah leaves her four cubs in a safe place in the tall grass while
she goes off hunting for the day. Different animals of the African savanna try
to tempt the cubs out of the safety of the grass--but the cubs resist being
tempted out. When the mother cheetah returns, the animals tell her how obedient
and smart the cubs were. "Your children were firm," the ostrich tells her.
"Your children were wise," says the zebra. Very colorful, almost psychedelic,
illustrations.
All About Scabs by Genichiro Yagyu. Kane/Miller Book Publishers, PO Box 8515,
La Jolla, CA 92038-8515. 1998. 32 pp. $11.95 hardcover (0-916291-82-0). color
illustrations.
health; ages 4-8)
A simplified explanation of the physiology of how scabs form, with the related
explanation of the major purpose of scabs of keeping germs out of a cut or
scrap and allowing new skin to regenerate. An ideal book for teaching young
readers about this specialized topic of human biology and health. Translated
from Japanese.
Education
Electronic Communication Across the Curriculum edited by Donna Reiss, Dickie
Selfe, and Art Young. National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), 1111 W.
Kenyon Rd., Urbana, IL 61801-1096; 800-369-6283. 1998. 363 pp. $26.95 trade
paper (0-8141-1308-7). chapter notes; chapter bibliographies; glossary; index.
(computers in education)
The use of computers to enhance learning is covered from both the technical
standpoint concerning setting up systems and interfaces and also from the
standpoint of individuals working within these systems and interfaces. There's
24 essays by a diverse group of educators ranging from elementary school
teachers to university professors, with a few authors from the field of
publishing. This area of education is already fairly well-developed--so much so
that there's an acronym for it--WAC, writing across the curriculum--used by
some of the authors The essays are meant to inform other educators and
interested lay readers on the stage of development of the area. Published by an
association for teachers of English, the collected essays deal mostly with WAC;
there are a few essays relating the systems, interfaces, teacher and student
activities for WAC other subjects.
Fiction, Food, and Fun -The Original Recipe for the Read 'n' Feed Program by
Kathryn Closter, Karen L. Sipes, and Vickie Thomas; Foreword by Caroline B.
Cooney. Libraries Unlimited, PO Box 6633, Englewood, CO 80155-6633. 1998. 242
pp. $24.50 trade paper; 8-1/2" x 11" (1-56308-519-4). illustrations; charts;
forms; bibliography.
(reading; activities)
The preparation and eating of food is used as a metaphor to engage readers in
grades 6-10 in imaginative, interactive ways with 10 different young-adult
novels. For instance, with each book is a list of Preparations made up of a
shopping list, garnishes, food for thought, and whipping up the fun with regard
to the interactive projects. Whetting Their Appetite is another section with
each of the novels. Flight #116 Is Down, Don't Look Behind You, The Dark
Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural, and Maniac Magee are among the
varied sorts of novels dealt with. The subject, author, contents, and other
matters relating to each book itself are not lost in the fairly elaborate
interactive projects described, but are covered as well.
Ethnic/Minority
The Inupiaq Eskimo Nations of Northwest Alaska by Ernest S. Burch, Jr. U. of
Alaska Press, U. of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 756240, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6240.
1998. 489 pp. $49.95 hardcover; 7" x 10" (0-912006-95-1). $31.95 trade paper;
7" x 10" (0-912006-96-X). b+w photographs; illustrations; maps; charts;
footnotes; bibliography; indexes.
(Native American)
Burch engaged in a work of "salvage ethnography" by compiling oral history from
Inupiaq Eskimo elders to present a broad, detailed anthropological account of
eleven distinct nations in northwest Alaska. While there are inevitably
similarities among the Eskimo nations from common ethnic origin and
environment, Burch's oral histories relate a surprising variety of customs,
religious practices, hunting methods, lore, and other aspects facets of life in
the region, making this volume not only an intensive study of a limited area of
Alaska but also a broad picture of Alaskan Eskimo life.
Life with the Little People by Robert J. Perry; illustrated by Chester Scott.
Greenfield Review Press, Two Middle Grove Rd., PO Box 308, Greenfield Center,
NY 12833. 1998. 176 pp. $14.95 trade paper (0-912678-98-4). illustrations.
(Native American; folk literature)
Perry is a Chickasaw storyteller. While not all of his 22 stories have
identifiable "little people" (who resemble the fabled leprechauns of Irish
folktales), even those that don't involve the lore, magic-like incidents, and
wisdom related to these figures of Native American tales. Perry's stories that
do not concern timeless themes and wisdom are set in the time after Native
Americans from the Eastern U. S. were moved to the West to reservations created
by the government. Those stories set in particular times from the early 1800s
to recent years deal not only with the difficulties of relocation, but also how
the resettled Indians interacted with the White Man and to a certain degree
adapted aspects of his culture. While remaining true to the Native American
life they deal with, by their tone and many of the characters and incidents,
most of Perry's stories seem largely inventions of his rather than more or less
straightforward recountings of traditional Native American tales.
Fiction
Tangled Vines by Diane Noble. Alabaster Books/Multnomah Publishers, PO Box
1720, Sisters, OR 97759. 1998. 337 pp. $11.99 trade paper (1-57673-219-3).
(popular novel)
Evil doings in a glamorous setting: Noted mystery writer Theodora Whimple
disappears upon the publication of her latest book. K. C. Flynn, her niece and
the publisher of a small-town newspaper, sets out to find her. Flynn's
sleuthing leads her to a Napa Valley winery, where she uncovers a macabre cult
named the Angels of Fellowship. With the aid of her former fiancee Sheriff
Elliot Gavin, Flynn exposes the cult and rescues Theodora. Noble is the author
of two novellas from the publisher of this mystery, and five historical novels.
Behind the Red Mist by Ho Anh Thai. Curbstone Press, 321 Jackson St.,
Willimantic, CT 06226; curb...@connix.com. 1998. 250 pp. $14.95 trade paper
(1-880684-54-3).
(short stories; Vietnamese literature)
Ten short stories from a Vietnamese author of eleven previous works of fiction
who was a writer-in-residence at the U. of Washington, Seattle, in the Fall
1998. Born in 1960 in Hanoi, the author was evacuated from this city when it
became a target for bombings in the escalation of the Vietnam War. After his
education and service in the Vietnamese People's Army, he entered the Foreign
Ministry. About half of the stories in this collection bring in the Vietnam War
in one way or another. In the title story, a young man in Hanoi in the 1980s is
suddenly thrust back into the American bombings of Hanoi in 1967 after
receiving an electric shock. Other stories in styles ranging from satire to
poignancy deal with common experiences and universal themes, sometimes in
locations other than Vietnam. The experience of his country from the Vietnam
War through reconstruction and modernization and his own experiences as a
child, in the Army, and in the Foreign Ministry are reflected in these stories.
History
That Day in Dallas - Three Photographers Capture on Film the Day President
Kennedy Died by Richard B.Trask. Yeoman Press, 35 Centre St., Danvers, MA
01923. 1998. 136 pp. $19.95 trade paper; 8-1/2" x 11" (0-9638595-2-8). b+w
photographs; notes; index.
(JFK assassination)
Trask befriended Kennedy White House photographer Cecil Stoughton, Associated
Press photographer James Altgens, and Dallas free-lance photographer Jim Murray
when he did his previous 640-page hardcover titled Pictures of the Pain:
Photography and the Assassination of President Kennedy. This related book by
Trask includes photographs by these three photographers that were left out of
his previous book with chronicles by Trask of the activities, thoughts, and
reflections of theirs related they related to Trask. The photographers'
personal accounts make the assassination poignant and sorrowful in a way that
the numerous books analyzing controversies or journalistically recounting the
episode do not. Plus the large majority of the 115 photographs from the three
photographers have not been seen before.
The Royal Navy in the European Waters During the American Revolutionary War by
David Syrett. U. of South Carolina Press, 937 Assembly St., Carolina Plaza -
8th floor, Columbia, SC 29208. 1998. 24 pp. $24.95 hardcover (1-57003-238-6).
maps; notes; bibliography; index.
(British maritime history; Revolutionary War)
When the America War for Independence broke out, British political leaders,
especially Lord North, did not make any connection between it and Britain's
naval strength in European waters. This turned out to be a serious mistake.
Because Britain failed to gain sufficient naval superiority in the English
Channel, western Mediterranean, and other areas--which it could
have--swift-sailing American privateers could slip in and out of European ports
for supplies for the American armies and also France was able to send forces to
fight on the American side against the British in North America. Furthermore,
Britain's failure to control European waters allowed France and Spain to
conduct naval operations against the British in the West Indies and Indian
Ocean, further weakening Britain's war effort against the rebellious colonies.
Analyzing British political positions and decisions, including the favoring of
building bigger warships instead of the smaller frigates which could keep up
with the American privateers, and describing the varied, inter-related, naval
operations, Syrett maintains Britain's seriously-flawed naval strategy had a
lot to do with its defeat in the American Revolutionary War. Syrett is a
professor of history at Queens College, CUNY, and author of several books on
aspects of naval history.
Judgment at Gallatin - The Trial of Frank James by Gerard S. Petrone. Texas
Tech U. Press, Box 40137, Lubbock, TX 79409; 800-832-4042. 1998. 240 pp. $28.95
hardcover (0-89672-398-4). b+w photographs; illustrations; bibliography; index.
(U. S. frontier; outlaws)
After his brother Jesse was killed in 1882, his brother Frank turned himself in
to authorities in Gallatin, Missouri, where he was tried for a double murder
and train robbery in Winston, MO, in 1881. Frank's trial became a forum for
conflicting sympathies of different groups in post-Civil War America and the
closing stages of the settlement of the West with its political and social
factions based on various interests such as farming and the growing cities.
Many of the social tensions reflected in the trial were represented by
particular--often eccentric, flamboyant, or questionable--characters, portrayed
with novelistic touches. Among such characters are Confederate sympathizers
(James was a Confederate guerrilla turned outlaw), journalists, politicians,
and high-powered lawyers. Frank James was a acquitted despite overwhelming
evidence against him. Petrone is a doctor and Western lore and history buff who
has written a colorful, yet also well-founded and analytic, account of Frank
Jame's notorious trial.
Stories Grandma Never Told - Portuguese Women in California by Sue Fagalde
Lick. Heyday Books, PO Box 9145, Berkeley, CA 94709. 1998. 282 pp. $17.50 trade
paper (1-890771-05-8). b+w illustrations; bibliography.
(regional history; women's studies)
Vignette-like biographical pieces on over 60 Portuguese women exemplifying the
backgrounds, genealogies, and activities of California's Portuguese women among
the nearly one million Portuguese of that state. The Portuguese presence in
California started in 1542 with the arrival of a Portuguese seaman sailing
under the Spanish flag. Although Portuguese immigrants to California since then
and their American-born descendants have not received as much notice as other
ethnic groups in California, the portrayals of the many Portuguese women show
their work and influence in all areas of California society. Although Lick
writes about the many women subjects, the contents is like oral history.
Seeds of Struggle, Harvest of Faith - The Papers of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe
Catholic Cuarto Centennial Conference on the History of the Catholic Church in
New Mexico edited by Thomas J. Steele, S. J., Paul Rhetts, and Barbe Awalt. LPD
Press, 2400 Rio Grande Blvd. NW #1213, Albuquerque, NM 87104-3222;
800-249-7737; email: Pau...@aol.com. 1998. 454 pp. $49.95 hardcover
(1-890689-00-9). $27.95 trade paper (1-890689-01-7). b+w photographs;
illustrations; chapter notes.
(regional history; Southwest; collected articles)
Twenty-three essays which together form an interwoven picture of the history of
the Southwest from the first Spanish explorers in the 16th century to the mid
20th century--including exploration and development of settlements, conversion
of the Native Americans of the region, biographies of individual priests and
missionaries, and the impact of Catholicism on the areas's culture and the
architecture of churches. While the work of Spanish Catholic clerics and
laypersons and the place of Catholicism are not identical to the region's
history, they are essential to it--so that this collection of fairly
specialized essays concomitantly gives an overview of the history of the
southwest. Most of the essays deal with specific individuals, activities, and
themes in a straightforward, lightly reflective style. Clergymen, academics,
local historians, anthropologists, and independent scholars are among the
authors of the essays.
The English Common Reader - A Social History of the Mass Reading Public,
1800-1900, Second Edition by Richard D. Altick; with a Foreword by Jonathan
Rose. Ohio State U. Press, 1070 Carmack Rd., Columbus, OH 43210-1002. 1998. 468
pp. $45.00 hardcover (0-8142-0793-6). $19.95 trade paper (0-8142-0794-4).
footnotes; appendices; bibliography; index.
(books; social history; 19th-century Britain)
Altick treats the range of the significant sociological elements contributing
to the growth of literacy as well as the development of the book trade and
related advances in printing technology in England in the 19th century in this
second edition of his work first published in 1957. The range of elements are
in general those which are found with the widespread democratization of society
and culture in the modern age, especially the growing literacy. Other elements
include religion, utilitarianism, education, and public libraries. Altick also
devotes chapters to the book trade and to periodicals and newspapers. The work
contains analysis and commentary on the relevant sociological developments
related to activities such as distribution and sales outlets. This new edition
does not add to or revise parts of the first edition, but is put out to make
available in paper a commendable study of an important aspect of the history of
publishing and reading in response to the current rise of interest in these
subjects.
Literature
Following Tradition - Folklore in the Discourse of American Culture by Simon J.
Bronner. Utah State U. Press, Logan, UT 84322-7800. 1998. 614 pp. $49.95
hardcover (0-87421-239-1). b+w photographs; notes; bibliography; index.
(folklore; American culture)
Bronner engages in a very complex study of folklore in American culture.
Folklore, however, is not taken as a definite, antiquarian, anthropological
subject, but as a matrix playing a central role in preserving ideals and values
forming the traditions of American society. Changing interpretations of
folklore are not changes n American society, but means to keep the traditions
alive, and lively, and to affirm them. Ethnic folklore, folklore of the
frontier, and more refined, psychologistic, symbolic folklore such as the tales
of the Brothers Grimm all play a part in this. Bronner expounds how folklore
evolves from being an expression of an ethnic or national group to becoming a
subject of academic study; or of cultural studies, which is generally the field
of this book. Practically considering folklore the agency for the integrity of
tradition and thus the coherence of society, Bronner places a heavy stress on
folklore. It certainly loses its charm, simple aesthetic, and everyday moralism
in Bronner's Germanic-like, Hegelian, treatment of it. Under Bronner's
laborious study, ascribing so many facets and involutions to it, folklore
almost dissolves as a subject. Despite what questions and difficulties
Bronner's book may present, it is a milestone in folklore studies, which the
author sees as part of the flourishing field of cultural studies. Bronner is a
professor at Pennsylvania State U. with much background in the study of culture
and folklore.
Exile and Creativity - Signposts, Travelers, Outsiders, Backward Glances edited
by Susan Rubin Suleiman. Duke University Press, Box 90660, Durham, NC
27708-0660. 1998. 452 pp.$54.96 hardcover (0-8223-2187-4). $18.95 trade paper
(0-8223-2215-3). b+w photographs; chapter notes; index.
(collected essays; creativity; the arts)
All except one of the 19 essays originally appeared in a 1996 special double
issue of Poetics Today. The one exception is Henry Louis Gates's essay on James
Baldwin, a slightly modified version of the one in his recent book Thirteen
Ways of Looking at a Black Man. The essays are unpredictable in subject,
perspective, time period, location, and type of artist dealt with or
memoir-like material from the essay's author. The conjunction of exile and
creativity allows a wide latitude, allows invention even. Although exile is a
modern--modernist--condition and theme, different essays deal with aspects of
the Renaissance, the Inquisition, and the Spanish Conquest of the New World;
though most do take up modern artists and themes such as displaced Jews,
Renoir, Paris between the World Wars, and James Joyce. The authors try to
decide the contrived questions whether it is the loss of homeland and familiar
surroundings or the encounter with new circumstances and related challenges
which accounts for the extraordinary creativity of artists. The question cannot
be answered--but the academic authors' wrestling with it unearths new facets of
the perennial cultural and artistic issue.
Vonnegut in Fact -The Public Spokesmanship of Personal Fiction by Jerome
Klinkowitz. U. ofSouth Carolina Press, 937 Assembly St., Carolina Plaza - 8th
floor, Columbia, SC 29208. 1998. 168 pp. $24.95 hardcover (1-57003-237-8).
notes; bibliograpy; index.
(criticism)
Klinkowitz, a professor at the U. of Northern Iowa, sheds light on both
Vonnegut's moral perspective and the manner in which he represents it.
Vonnegut's affability along with his understated, impish, frequently
self-effacing personality mask his perspective and criticism of modern culture
and political acitivites. As with Richard Brautigan, Vonnegut's creative
writing seems benign and idiosyncratic. Vonnegut's writing seems sheerly
diversionary and amusing, almost fatuous. But as Klinkowitz quotes him,
"[E]verything I believe in was taught in junior civics during the Great
Depression--at School 43 in Indianapolis, with full approval of the school
board." While cloaked in his fiction by its zaniness and outlandish contexts,
Vonnegut's beliefs are denoted in his nonfiction such as essays and op-ed
pieces. The author extensively studies the variety of Vonnegut's nonfiction,
which is usually overlooked, as well as major works of fiction of his to show
that Vonnegut is not an uprooted, capricious modernisn, but a self-acknowledged
son of the heartland.
The Small Press Book Review is posted quarterly on the Internet newsgroup
alt.books.reviews. SPBR reviews noteworthy books in all fields from small
presses and independent publishers, including university presses. Inquiries and
review copies can be sent to Henry Berry, PO Box 176, Southport, CT 06490;
203-332-7629 phone/fax; email: henry...@aol.com.