Looking for something to read over Spring Break? Of course you are!
Check out some of the new titles on the recently updated new book displays located in the main stacks, and in the computer lab next to the reference desks.
The fate of cities : urban America and the federal government, 1945-2000
by Roger Biles
Review from Choice:
Biles (history, Illinois State Univ.) adds to his substantial body of work on cities and the policies that shape them, covering presidential administrations from Truman to Clinton. He follows each administration's urban policy directives and focuses on their effects on housing, transportation, and poverty. Especially strong is the chapter on Johnson's Great Society; it could stand on its own as a reading in undergraduate history, urban studies, or political science courses. Biles shows that while only Carter's policies advanced the interests of cities, uneven political support hindered the implementation and sustained success of his programs. The transfer of power (and funding) from federal to local and state levels under Reagan's New Federalist policies (endorsed and continued by Bush I) paved the way for Clinton's neoliberal programs, such as Empowerment Zones and workfare. The final chapter restates the main points too briefly; Biles misses an opportunity to reflect upon the larger picture of US urban places and to contextualize the 21st-century US city. Meticulously researched and documented, yet accessibly written, this book rewards students of the policies of particular presidential administrations as well as careful readers seeking to understand the waning of urban revitalization programs during the late 20th century. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. A. E. Leonard New York City College of Technology
Call number: HT123 .B49 2011
America walks into a bar : a spirited history of taverns and saloons, speakeasies, and grog shops
by Christine Sismondo
Library Journal Review:
Breezy, anecdotal, and pun-laden yet complete with a selective bibliography of print sources, Sismondo's (humanities, York Univ., Toronto; Mondo Cocktail: A Shaken and Stirred History) book surveys a myriad of American drinking establishments, accenting their importance in social, political, and cultural history and discerning subtle differences over the centuries. (Her treatment of non-U.S. drinking customs and establishments is sparse.) The author writes that these venues served as community centers; places for self-definition, determination, and articulation; surrogate corporate boardrooms; and town halls. Replete with coverage both of those who favored and those who opposed the habit of communal drinking in America, the book also covers such topics as the Pilgrims' fondness for beer and the playing out in taverns of central dramas in the lives of figures as diverse as George Washington and John Wilkes Booth. VERDICT Joining a growing list of works, mainly by journalists, on alcoholic drinks and drinking (e.g., Eric Burns's Spirits of America and Daniel Okrent's Last Call), appealing to an apparently unquenchable thirst for information on the topic, this book treads ground familiar to many academic historians but may prove revelatory to popular history readers to whom it is primarily addressed. Recommended.
Call number: GT3803 .S57 2011
The Cubalogues: Beat writers in revolutionary Cuba
by Todd F. Tietchen
Review from Choice:
Tietchen (Union County College) has found a new approach to the Beat Generation, not an easy task. In focusing on Beat travel writings set in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution, he reveals a social awareness in the US literary movement. The author is particularly good on Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Amiri Baraka, and the little-known Mark Schleifer. The work of other writers--for example, C. Wright Mills, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., and the neglected Harold Cruse--is brought in for context. Tietchen knows the Cuban literary scene of the period as well as the US literary scene, and he has telling observations about the pivotal writer and critic Guillermo Cabrera Infante, a one-time Castro supporter who went into exile in London in 1965. The US is still haunted by the Cuban Revolution, and this first-rate book contributes to understanding US politics (both in the Cold War and after) as well as Bohemian writing. Tietchen writes concisely and clearly. The bibliography is superb and the index extensive. Summing Up: Essential. All readers. B. Almon University of Alberta
Call number: PS228.B6 T54 2010
If you need help finding any additional titles, don't hesitate to contact a librarian here.
