March 2013 Database of the Month
Inter-University Consortium For Political And Social Science (ICPSR) acquires, preserves, enhances, and distributes original social science research data for research and instruction.
ICPSR data span many disciplines including sociology, political science, criminology, history, education, demography, gerontology, international relations, public health, economics, and psychology.
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Week of February 25, 2013
In the News: The Catholic Church
Pope Benedict XVI announced that he will resign as leader of the Catholic Church on February 28, 2013. Born Joseph Ratzinger, he becomes the first pope in almost 600 years to step down from the papacy. Pick up one of these books to learn more about Pope Benedict, popes of the past, and the Catholic Church.
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Against Ratzinger
By Anonymous. Translated by Antony Shugaar. Seven Stories Press, 2008
Call Number: BX1378.6 .C6613 2008
Agony in the Garden: Sex, Lies, and Redemption from the Troubled Heart of the American Catholic Church
By John Van der Zee. Thunder’s Mouth Press/Nation Books, 2002
Call Number: BX1912.9 .V36 2002
The Catholic Church and American Culture: Why the Claims of Dan Brown Strike a Chord
By Eric Plumer. University of Scranton Press, 2009
Call Number: BX1406.3 .P58 2009 Continue reading
Week of February 18, 2013
In the News: Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar
The novel The Bell Jar, about a college woman who suffers through a mental breakdown in the 1950s, was originally published fifty years ago under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. It would turn out to be the only novel published by poet Sylvia Plath. Like the book’s main character, Plath herself had gone through periods of depression that required psychiatric hospitalization. Approximately one month after the book’s release, Plath committed suicide.
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The Bell Jar
By Sylvia Plath. HarperPerrenial, 2005
Call Number: PS3566 .L27 B4 2005
Bitter Fame: A Life of Sylvia Plath
By Anne Stevenson. Houghton Mifflin, 1989
Call Number: PS3566 .L27 Z9134 1989
The Cambridge Companion to Sylvia Plat
Edited by Jo Gill. Cambridge University Press, 2006
Call Number: PS3566 .L27 Z595 2006 Continue reading
Week of February 11, 2013
In the News: Drone Strikes
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), or drones, used in warfare to kill militants have recently come under intense public scrutiny as John Brennan, President Obama’s nominee for director of the C.I.A. and current counterterrorism advisor, met with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for his confirmation hearing. A 16-page White House paper obtained by NBC News outlines what the Administration deems to be the legal use of drone strikes against suspected Al Qaeda operatives, including those who are American citizens.
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The Age of Airpower
By Martin van Creveld. Public Affairs, 2011
Features the following chapter: “Missiles, Satellites, and Drones”
Call Number: UG630 .V285 2011
Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base
By Annie Jacobsen. Little, Brown and Co., 2011
Features the following chapter: “Dull, Dirty, and Dangerous Requires Drones”
Call Number: UA26 .N4 J33 2011
The CIA at War: Inside the Secret Campaign against Terror
By Ronald Kessler. St. Martin’s Press, 2003
From the book’s summary: “The CIA at War tells the inside story of how Tenet, a son of Greek immigrants, turned around the CIA from a pathetic, risk-averse outfit to one that has rolled up three thousand terrorists since 9/11, that was critically important to winning in Afghanistan and Iraq, and that now kills terrorists with its Predator drone aircraft.”
Call Number: JK468 .I6 K42 2003 Continue reading