Books in the Library

Chinua Achebe (1930-2013)

Week of April 1, 2013

In the News: Chinua Achebe and African Literature

Award-winning Nigerian author Chinua Achebe has died at the age of 82. His works include Things Fall Apart (1958), No Longer at Ease (1960), Beware, Soul Brother: Poems (1972), and the children’s book, Chike and the River. At the time of his death, Achebe was the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and a Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University.

   

Achebe’s Things Fall Apart
By Ode Ogede. Continuum, 2007
Call Number: PR3987.9 .A3 T5366 2007

African Literature as Political Philosophy
By M.S.C. Okolo. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007
Call Number: PR9340.5 .O56 2007

Anthills of the Savannah
By Chinua Achebe. Anchor Press, 1988
Call Number: PR3987.9 .A3 A83 1988 Continue reading

Women in Science

Week of March 25, 2013

In the News: Women in STEM

Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies presented its 2013 Women’s Leadership Forum on March 15. This year’s event focused on Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and featured a keynote address by former NASA astronaut, Jan Davis, Ph.D. Women’s History Month at FAU concludes this week with a meditation workshop, a discussion on women and leadership, Pampered OWLS, and a symposium on “Boundaries, Bodies and Dissidence: Negotiating New Spaces of Feminist Knowledge.” For more information visit the Women’s History Month events page and a recent article published in the UP, FAU’s student magazine. A very thorough library guide on Women’s History Month is available here.

     

Athena Unbound: The Advancement of Women in Science and Technology
By Henry Etzkowitz et al. Cambridge University Press, 2000
Call Number: Q130 .E85 200 (Also available online via EBSCOhost)

Between Monsters, Goddesses, and Cyborgs: Feminist Confrontations with Science, Medicine and Cyberspace
Edited by Nina Lykke & Rosi Braidotti. Zed Books, 1996
Call Number: Q158.5 .B48 1996

Building Inclusive Science: Connecting Women’s Studies and Women in Science and Engineering
Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 2000
Call Number: Q130 .B85 2000 Continue reading

Hugo Chávez (1954-2013)

Week of March 11, 2013

In the News: Hugo Chávez (1954-2013)

Venezuelan president, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, has died. (From Encyclopædia Britannica: “Chávez styled himself as the leader of the “Bolivarian Revolution,” a socialist political program for much of Latin America, named after Simón Bolívar, the South American independence hero. Although the focus of the revolution has been subject to change depending on Chavez’s goals, its key elements include nationalism, a centralized economy, and a strong military actively engaged in public projects. His ideology became known to many as simply chavismo.”)

 

America’s Blind Spot: Chavez, Oil, and US Security
By Andres Cala. Continuum, 2012
On Order

Axis of Unity: Venezuela, Iran & the Threat to America
By Sean Goforth. Potomac Books, 2012
Call Number: JZ1314 .G64 2012

The Bolivarian Revolution
By Simon Bolivar. Introduction by Hugo Chávez. Verso, 2009
Call Number: F2235.3 .A25 2009 Continue reading

The Catholic Church

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.

 

 

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

Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar

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.

 

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

Drone Strikes

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.

 

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

Tarantino / Elvis

Week of January 28, 2013

In the News: Quentin Tarantino / Elvis Presley

Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained recently received five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Tarantino first garnered major critical acclaim over twenty years ago with the release of Reservoir Dogs (1992) – Mr. White, Mr. Orange, Mr. Brown, Mr. Pink….

Also In the News: Elvis Presley’s concert, Aloha from Hawaii, was broadcast live via satellite forty years ago in 1973.

   

QUENTIN TARANTINO

Inglourious Basterds (DVD)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino. Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2009
Call Number: PN1997.2 .I5526 2009 (At Jupiter)

Jackie Brown (DVD)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino. Miramax Home Entertainment, 2002
Call Number: PN1997 .J233 2002 (At Jupiter)

Kill Bill. Vol. 1 (DVD)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino. Miramax Home Entertainment, 2004
Call Number: PN1997.2 .K544 2004 (At Jupiter) – on order at Boca Continue reading

Hockey

Week of January 14, 2013

In the News: Hockey

Hockey returns…. The NHL and the players union have reached an agreement that would end the 113-day lockout. The 48-game season is slated to begin on January 19.

30 for 30 (Volume 01, DVD 01) (DVD)
ESPN. 2010
Call Number: GV576 .A1522 2010
Kings ransom: Explores the changes that occurred in 1988 in the National Hockey League after the game’s biggest star, Wayne Gretzky was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings. By playing in the United States, Gretzky caused something of a renaissance for the sport there, but in Canada, where hockey is the most popular sport, the trade was met with outrage. The documentary also features glimpses of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars of the late 1980s and early 1990s, including John Candy, Kevin Costner, Timothy Hutton and Tony Danza.

The Big M: The Frank Mahovlich Story
By Ted Mahovlich. Edited by Susan M. McKinney. Sports Pub., 1999
Call Number: Available online via EBSCOhost

Brian McFarlane’s History of Hockey
Sports Pub., 1997
Call Number: Available online via EBSCOhost Continue reading

The Rolling Stones

Week of January 7, 2013

In the News: The Rolling Stones at 50

The Rolling Stones keep on rolling….The British band, featuring Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Charlie Watts, celebrated their fiftieth anniversary in 2012.

 

According to the Rolling Stones
By Mick Jagger et al. Edited by Dora Loewenstein and Philip Dodd. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003
Call Number: ML421 .R64 A3 2003

Blown Away: The Rolling Stones and the Death of the Sixties
By A. E. Hotchner. Simon and Schuster, 1990
Call Number: ML421 .R64 H65 1990

Dance with the Devil: The Rolling Stones and Their Times
By Stanley Booth. Random House, 1984
Call Number: ML421 .R64 B66 Continue reading

Cigarettes & Lincoln

Week of November 26, 2012

In the News: Cigarette Packaging / Lincoln

The cigarette plain-packaging law goes into effect on December 1st … in Australia. From that date, all cigarettes must be sold in dark brown packaging and be free of any logos.

Also In the News: Steven Spielberg’s latest movie, Lincoln, opened in theaters on November 9th. To supplement your viewing experience, pick up one of the many books (published between 2010 and 2012) that we have on the 16the U.S. president.

 

   

CIGARETTES AND SMOKING

Advertising Sin and Sickness: The Politics of Alcohol and Tobacco Marketing, 1950-1990

By Pamela E. Pennock. Northern Illinois University Press, 2007
Call Number: HF6161 .L46 P46 2007

Ashes to Ashes: America’s Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris
By Richard Kluger. Alfred A. Knopf, 1996
Call Number: HV5760 .K58 1996

The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America
By Allan M. Brandt. Basic Books, 2007
Call Number: HD9130.8 .U5 B72 2007 Continue reading