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Friday, September 11

Auxilary Sciences of History - New Books

Check these books out today.

Pineapple Culture: a History of the Tropical and Temperate Zones (BOOK): by Gary Y. Okihiro

Few other images convey the nature of the tropics as effectively as the pineapple. Yet, this now-commonplace fruit was once a much-sought-after rarity that signified elegance and hospitality while it simultaneously destroyed cultures and launched empires. Okihiro traces the impact this one commodity has exerted throughout time aided by the vagaries of geography, ambitions of governments, heroics of explorers, and vanities of businessmen. Though he focuses on the predominance of James Dole’s Hawaiian Pineapple Company, Okihiro also constructs a thorough time line for the pineapple’s rise to influence and acceptance that ranges from the species’ genesis in a remote corner of South America, to its temptation of European botanists and its unwitting role in the overthrow of Hawaii’s royal government. Seamlessly fusing geography with anthropology, horticulture with international politics, Okihiro draws a comprehensive portrait of how a singular fruit can unite a world. --Carol Haggas

The Companion to Hispanic Studies (BOOK): edited by Catherine Davies

What is "Hispanic Studies"? This companion gives a concise and accessible overview of the discipline as taught today and suggests new directions for future developments. This essential book provides all the necessary introductory information on the subject and will be especially useful for students who have already started courses in Spanish/Hispanic Studies, or who are considering doing so in the future. Written by a team of leading scholars each with established teaching experience this collection of short essays explores topics as diverse as the history of the Spanish language, Islamic Andalusia, race and class in the Spanish Golden Age, Catalan nationalism, the Madrid "movida," Latin America cinema, tango in Argentina, Evita Peron, "testimonio" and the cultural significance of the US-Mexican border.

Money Saved: Read Periodicals/Magazines at the Library

Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz; Can She Outsmart Microsoft and Google? Read up in Periodicals on the 2nd Floor!

FORBES (Sept 7, 2009) – “Retirement, When You Should Say No to a 401(K),” “A Hedge Fund’s Slick Tricks,” “Science, Supplements & Omega-3,” and “100 Most Powerful Women.”

HARPER’S (Sep 2009) – “Scenes from the Iranian Uprising,” Minority Death Match,” and “Dehumanized.”

READER’S DIGEST (Sep 2009) – “Ha!, the Humor Issue,” “How to Swap Anything,” and Crime Alert!, 13 Things a Burglar Won’t Tell You.”

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN (Jul 2009) – “Nuclear Waste: Yucca Is Dead. Now What?,” “Celiac Disease Insights: Clues to Solving Autoimmunity,” “Mysteries of the Neandertals,” “A Way to Reduce Drug Side Effects,” and “Could Iron Reignite Superconductors?”

SKIING (Sep 2009) – “Gear Guide 2010,” Breakthrough” Meet the Game-Changing Ski Design,” and “Most Influential Skier of All Time.”


SUNSET (Sep 2009) – “The Sunset Guide,” “How to Find the Freshest Seafood,” “The Secret Coast: 147 Hidden Beaches, Trails, Inns, Restaurants, and More,” and “Compact Kitchen Garden.”

WIRED (Aug 2009) – “Unintelligent Design: Nature’s Screwups,” “Takedown: Is Google a Monopoly,” “The New Rules for Digital Gentlemen and Other Highly Evolved Humans,” “How to Avoid: E-mail Errors, Facebook Faux Pas, Twitter Tribulations, Blogging Blunders,” and “Advice from Inglorious Basterd: Brad Pitt.”

Film: The Wind and the Lion, Sean Connery

Available in Media Circulation.

The Wind and the Lion (DVD): At the beginning of the 20th century an American woman is abducted in Morocco by Berbers. The attempts to free her range from diplomatic pressure to military intervention.



Thursday, September 10

HEADLINES: Save Money by Reading Magazines/Periodicals at Brooks Library

Stay informed. Read these articles on the 2nd floor in Periodicals.

AMERICAN SCHOLAR, THE (SUM 2009) – “Still No End in Sight,” Why Your Waitress Might be Smarter than You,” and “Ronald Reagan is Overrated

ATLANTIC, THE (Sep 2009) – “Cheating: Sex and the Married Man,” “What Washington Doesn’t Get About Healthcare – Here’s How to Fix it,” “Quentin Tarantino Explains Himself,” and “Ben Bernanke’s Brass Knuckles”

BACKPACKER (Sep 2009) – “Are You Smarter than a Boy Scout?,” “America’s Newest Trails,” “How to Predict Weather, Stay Dry in Any Storm, Hike Steep Trails Safely, Start a Survival Fire,” and “Rate Your Outdoor I.Q.”

BUSINESS WEEK (Sep 2009) – “Best Places to Launch Your Career” and “Housing Market’s Hidden Strength.”

ECONOMIST, THE (Sep 5, 2009) – “Technology Quarterly,” “Electric Cars Rev Up,” “The Dangers of Being Rich in China,” “History According to Putin,” “Life, Death and Health Care in America,” “Vancouver’s Olympic Anxieties,” and “The Vote that Changed Japan.”

ESPN (Aug 24, 2009) – “College Football Kickoff!,” “The Ten Wildest Seconds in Sports,” “The Legends of Colt McCoy,” “Our Diabolical Conference Previews,” and “ The Most Revealing Player Poll Ever.”

Music: Listen to Aaron Copland today!

Available in the Music Library on the 4th floor.

Tender Land, The (CD): opera in two acts by Aaron Copland, 1900-1990

Aaron Copland didn't have the theatrical instinct of a George Gershwin or even a Gian Carlo Menotti, but that didn't keep him from writing one of the best operas we have in the "American" vein. The Tender Land was composed in 1953 on a commission from Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II--who since the premiere of Oklahoma! 10 years earlier could afford such largesse--and received its premiere on April 1, 1954 at the City Center in New York.

Concerning a girl transformed into a young woman by her first experience of love, The Tender Land is set in the American Midwest during the 1930s. The libretto was inspired by photographs taken by Walker Evans of a rural, Depression-era mother and her daughter that had appeared in James Agee's book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. The music is cut from the same cloth as that of Appalachian Spring--the melodic, easygoing, folkish vein that Copland could manage about as easily as breathing.

Wednesday, September 9

Film: Mrs. Doubtfire, Robin Williams

Mrs. Doubtfire (DVD): After a bitter divorce, an actor disguises himself as a female housekeeper to spend secret time with his children held in custody by his Ex.