March 1998
We welcome review copies of books by alumni. The books are donated to the Swarthmoreana section of McCabe Library after they have been noted for this column.
n Jean (Seiler) Baldwin '44, George, Audenreed Press, 1997. When Benji and his family adopt a little brown dog they name George, little do they know what he would do for them, from leading them to safety when the house catches fire to helping thwart the abduction of a neighbor's dalmation.
John A. Byers '70, American Pronghorn: Social Adaptations & the Ghosts of Predators Past, The University of Chicago Press, 1997. Based on 14 years of research, this book is an account of the social behavior and life history of North America's only antelope, which continue to behave as though their long-extinct predators are still present.
Bruce Cratsley '66, White Light, Silent Shadows, Arena Editions, 1998. This retrospective of photographer Cratsley's work, from 1972 through 1997, includes images from every genre he has pursued. Included are 143 duotone prints exploring the mysteries of light and shadow.
Randy J. Holland '69 (ed.), The Delaware Constitution of 1897: The First One Hundred Years, The Delaware State Bar Association, 1997. Written by a group of legal writers, historians, editors, and leaders of the bench and bar, this book explores the evolution of complex legal issues in the state of Delaware's constitution while honoring its strengths and balance.
Patricia Clark Kenschaft '61, Math Power: How to Help Your Child Love Math, Even If You Don't, Addison-Wesley, 1997. Written to inspire children mathematically by giving them tools they need for success, this book--through games, questions, and conversations--presents strategies for helping parents overcome mediocre math teaching in school and parental math anxiety at home.
Richard Martin '67, Dorothy Gillespie, Radford University Foundation Press, 1998. This monograph of the life and art of Dorothy Gilles-pie offers more than 50 large-scale color plates devoted to her work of the past 20 years, along with 35 text illustrations and seven essays covering all aspects of her long career.
Michael O'Connell '89 and William Kennedy, Discover Nagano: Japan's Olympic City & Land of Apples, EC Inc., 1998. Produced to coincide with the 1998 Olympic winter games, this guide provides the visitor with information on transportation, Olympic venues, accommodations, dining, entertainment, and other helpful tips.
Lewis Pyenson '69 (ed.), Disciplines and Interdisciplinarity in the New Century, The Center for Louisiana Studies, 1997. This collection addresses the nature of disciplines and interdisciplinarity in higher education: Have we reached a turning point where students will be urged to acquire breadth rather than depth of knowledge?
Peter Pyle '79, Identification Guide to North American Birds, Part I, Slate Creek Press, 1997. This guide contains information on the molts, aging, and sexing of 395 species and 857 currently recognized subspecies that regularly breed or have bred at least once in North America.
Anne Sheldon '67, Lancastrian Letters, Mica Press, 1997. This book of poetry is a fictional account of 15th-century England's Henry V, from birth to death, told in the voices of those who knew him.
Ralph Lee Smith '51, Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions, Scarecrow Press, 1997. After reviewing the dulci-mer's special musical features, this book reveals little-known facts about the dulcimer's origins on the early Appalachian frontier and describes the major design traditions, each centered in its own geographical area.
Peggy (Bebie) Thomson '43, The Nine-Ton Cat: Behind the Scenes at an Art Museum, Houghton Mifflin, 1997. Written for readers of all ages, this book explores the workrooms at the National Gallery of Art, where guards, curators, carpenters, and more than 90,000 works of art await the events of the day.
Elizabeth R. Varon '85, We Mean to Be Counted: White Women and Politics in Antebellum Virginia, University of North Carolina Press, 1998. With this book Varon challenges the historical assumption that women of the antebellum South were largely excluded from public life and demonstrates that white women of the slaveholding class were important actors in the drama of politics.
Cecile Whiting '80, A Taste for Pop: Pop Art, Gender and Consumer Culture, Cambridge University Press, 1997. Focusing on four artists--Tom Wesselmann, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Marisol Escobar--Whiting analyzes the gendered overtones of their cultural maneuverings and how they repositioned cultural frontiers and reformulated the relations between sexes.
Copyright Swarthmore College 1998