Que Vivan los Tamales!: Food and the Making of Mexican Identity (BOOK): by Jeffrey M. Pilcher
This writing on the history of Mexico examines how food has affected and mirrored the development of nationalism in the country. Pilcher describes the early colonial conflict between the Mexican natives' consumption of corn and the European use of wheat. Tracing this conflict through the colonial period into the 20th century, he shows periodic attempts by Mexican elites and governmental officials to define Mexican culture and identity through a Europeanization of foods. That process essentially ended in the 1940s when the popular foods of the country were proclaimed to be the Mexican cuisine, resulting in a fusion of the two traditions. This well-written book highlights the interaction of the regional and national and the role of women in developing a national identity. Of interest to most academic libraries, it belongs in many public libraries as well. - Mark L. Grover, Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT
A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World (BOOK): by William J. Bernstein
"Entertaining and greatly enlightening . . . Mr. Bernstein is a fine writer and knows how to tell a great story well . . . A Splendid Exchange is a splendid book." -- John Steele Gordon, The New York Times
"Excellent . . . Bernstein is equally at home plumbing the romantic dawn of trade or untwisting the mind-wracking complexity of modern international commerce." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Superb . . . [A] significant contribution . . . A Splendid Exchange is a work of which Adam Smith and Max Weber would have approved." -- Paul Kennedy, Foreign Affairs
"Timely and informative . . . Fascinating and surprisingly exciting . . . A saga of epic proportions." -- Booklist
America's Economic Moralists: A History of Rival Ethics and Economics (BOOK): by Donald E. Frey
Since colonial times, two discernable schools have debated major issues of economic morality in America. The central norm of one morality is the freedom, or autonomy, of the individual and defines virtues, vices, obligations, and rights by how they contribute to that freedom. The other morality is relational and defines economic ethics in terms of behaviors mandated by human connectedness. America's Economic Moralists shows how each morality has been composed of an ethical outlook paired with a compatible economic theory, each supporting the other. Donald E. Frey adopts a multidisciplinary approach, not only drawing upon historical economic thought, American religious thought, and ethics, but also finding threads of economic morality in novels, government policies, and popular writings. He uses the history of these two supported yet very different views to explain the culture of excess that permeates the morality of today's economic landscape.
Brazil as an Economic Superpower?: Understanding Brazil's Changing Role in the Global Economy (BOOK): edited by Lael Brainard, Leonardo Martinez-Diaz
Brazil is once again getting attention in the northern hemisphere. Long seen as an economic backwater, Brazil now occupies key niches in energy, agriculture, service industries, even high technology markets. Yet the nation still struggles with endemic problems of inequality and with a traditional ambivalence toward deep integration with the world economy. The authors' analysis focuses particularly on five key topics: agribusiness, energy, trade, social investment, and multinational corporations. The net result is an invaluable analytical contribution and a provocative look into the future of our global economy and into the workings of one particularly important component of that system.
Built to Win: Creating a World-Class Negotiating Organization (BOOK): by Hallam Movius, Lawrence Susskind
“Take a close look at a complex topic, providing a roadmap to better understanding.” --BizEd Magazine (July/August 2009)
Can Latin America Compete?: Confronting the Challenges of Globalization (BOOK): edited by Jerry Haar and John Price
"[The authors] have edited what is clearly the most extensive, detailed and useful book on competitiveness in Latin America. The book features an impressive roster of experts that analyze the key areas where Latin America needs to improve its competitiveness--ranging from education and labor markets to property rights, legal reform and security."--Latin Business Chronicle
"…a skillful contribution to the ongoing debate over how to achieve competitiveness and how countries in the region can face the challenges presented by globalization."--Luis Alberto Moreno, president, Inter-American Development Bank
"This is an important book for those who track the region’s performance. Using case studies, the authors cogently illustrate many of the issues that weaken the region’s competitiveness."--Roberto Newell G., CEO, Mexican Competitiveness Institute (IMCO)
China and Globalization: The Social, Economic and Political Transformation of Chinese Society (BOOK): by Doug Guthrie
This is easily one of the most comprehensive, incisive, and readily intelligible introductions to the numerous perplexities of economic, social, and governmental changes in post-Mao China...Given his willingness to confront central issues in Chinas modernization head on, Guthries work remains a superior guidebook to that historic process. Essential.-- Choice, (April 2009)
How to Manage in a Flat World: 10 Strategies to get Connected to Your Team Wherever They Are (BOOK): by Susan Bloch and Philip Whiteley
Manage, motivate, and communicate with teams that span continents while mastering all the resources available to global managers, from technology to travel. How to Manage in a Flat World is based on exclusive interviews with dozens of successful global managers.
Import/Export: How to Take Your Business Across Borders (BOOK): by Carl A. Nelson
Doing business across national borders is more profitable than ever. In the exhaustively revised fourth edition, Import/Export provides step-by-step guidance to show you how to take part in the booming world economy.
Innovation Tournaments: Creating and Selecting Exceptional Opportunities (BOOK): Christian Terwiesch, Karl T. Ulrich
Managers, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists all seek to maximize the financial returns from innovation, and profits are driven largely by the quality of the opportunities they pursue. Based on a structured and process-driven approach this book demonstrates how to systematically identify exceptional opportunities for innovation.
Insufficient Funds: Savings, Assets, Credit, and Banking Among Low-Income Households (BOOK): edited by Rebecca M. Blank and Michael S. Barr
One in four American adults doesn't have a bank account. Low-income families lack access to many of the basic financial services middle-class families take for granted and are particularly susceptible to financial emergencies, unemployment, loss of a home, and uninsured medical problems. Insufficient Funds explores how institutional constraints and individual decisions combine to produce this striking disparity and recommends policies to help alleviate the problem.
The authors ultimately argue that if we want to demand financial responsibility from low-income households, we have an obligation to assure that these families have access to the banking, credit, and savings institutions that are readily available to higher-income families. Insufficient Funds highlights where and how access is blocked and shows how government policy and individual decisions could combine to eliminate many of these barriers in the future.
Key Concepts in Marketing (BOOK): by Jim Blythe
--Introduces and examines the key issues, methods, models and debates that define the field of marketing today.
Key Concepts in Public Relations (BOOK): by Bob Franklin
“The plethora of facts and theories is handled skilfully and the erudition worn so lightly that the best compliment a reader can make is that one is barely conscious of the huge amount of ground covered by the book and that it is the work of five different authors… Ultimately, it is the sheer variety of topics covered that impresses, as if the authors are deliberately making a point of the breadth of PR today” - Communication Director
Made in China: Secrets of China's Dynamic Entrepreneurs (BOOK): by Winter Nie, Katherine Xin, Lily Zhang
China's rapid economic growth has made it a vital market for the biggest multinational corporations, most of which have invested heavily in China. Yet those corporations face their toughest competition not from other multinationals, but from China's own homegrown businesses. China's entrepreneur class has grown and their businesses are succeeding primarily due to their knowledge of the domestic market, quick adaptation to market changes, and their resourcefulness. To paraphrase Sun Tzu, it is best to know one's enemy.
Managing Project Delivery: Maintaining Control and Achieving Success (BOOK): by Trish Melton, Peter Iles-Smith
Successful projects are the basis for a successful company, but many professionals lack the basic skills required to manage projects successfully. The Project Management Toolkit guides readers through each of the four key life-cycle stages that lead to effective project management. Focused on successful project delivery in the engineering, industrial and process sectors, the books are aligned to the standard PMP (Project Management Professional) body of knowledge from the PMI and APM project management organizations and develop the PM knowledge that career project managers and those who only intermittently lead projects will be expected to use. The books tailor these tools to meet the particular challenges faced in these sectors, which can vary considerably from the needs of the IT, customer or financial services projects that are routinely covered in other guides. Each book can be used as a standalone guide or be combined to provide a complete and powerful PM resource.
Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde (BOOK): by Jeff Guinn
Journalist Guinn (Our Land Before We Die), in this intensely readable account, deromanticizes two of America's most notorious outlaws (they were never... particularly competent crooks) without undermining the mystique of the Depression-era gunslingers. Clyde Barrow, a scrawny kid in poverty-stricken West Dallasin the late 1920s, stole chickens before moving on to cars, following in the footsteps of his older brother, Buck. In 1930, he met 19-year-old Bonnie Parker, and during the next four years Clyde, Bonnie and the ever-revolving members of the Barrow Gang robbed banks and armories all over the South, murdering at least seven people. Bonnie, who fancied herself a poet, wrote, Some day they'll go down together, and they did, in a Louisiana ambush led by famed ex–Texas Ranger Frank Hamer. With the brisk pacing of a novel, Guinn's richly detailed history will leave readers breathless until the final hail of bullets. 16 pages of black and white photos
A small sample of the materials available in Circulation concerning space exploration.
Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon (BOOK): by Craig Nelson
Starred Review. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon. In this extensively researched account of that epic achievement, former publishing executive and prize-winning author Nelson (The First Heroes) moves seamlessly between Apollo 11 astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, their nervous families and the equally nervous NASA ground crew. Nelson follows Armstrong in nail-biting detail as he tries to find a place to land with less than a minuteÖs worth of fuel remaining. A large central section of the book digresses to provide some backstory on the feverish American-Soviet game of one-upmanship in the year leading up to the Apollo 11 launch. For instance, Nelson describes Apollo 8 as an almost reckless gamble by NASA to beat the Russians in sending men to orbit the moon The book also describes the sad personal toll the mission took. Collins was best able to deal with the cost of fame yet expressed the anticlimax of life after Apollo 11: I seem gripped by earthly ennui. Space fans and readers who remember that momentous time will find this an exciting read. (June 29)
Space Travel and Culture: From Apollo to Space Tourism (BOOK): edited by Martin Parker and David Bell
Explores the significance of the first Apollo moon landing and how the countless books, films, and products associated with factual space fiction had an affect on popular culture and artistic practice, but not social sciences and humanities
Group Theory in the Bedroom and Other Mathematical Diversions (BOOK): by Brian Hayes
“If you ever lie awake pondering the complexities of the universe, you may have a soul buddy in Brian Hayes.” —New Scientist
“Hayes is an assured and genial guide through the often thorny wilds of computation and mathematics.” —The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis–St. Paul)
“[This book] is a marvelous collection of thought-provoking essays that both inform and entertain. You’ll be amazed by the things you’ll discover in these stories.” —Ron Graham, professor of mathematics, computer science and engineering, University of California, San Diego, former chief scientist of AT&T, and past president of the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America and the International Jugglers Association
New resource available for Information Technology majors or just those who'd love to be better versed in protecting their computer.
Web Security Testing Cookbook: Systematic Techniques to Find Problems Fast (BOOK): by Brian Hope and Ben Walther
Don't live in dread of the midnight phone call telling you that your site has been hacked. With Web Security Testing Cookbook and the free tools used in the book's examples, you can incorporate security coverage into your test suite, and sleep in peace.
Check these out in Brooks Library. Reading library books and checking out library films keeps our planet greener than if each individual were to buy those items themselves. Especially if you're only going to read or watch that material once!
Energy in America: A Tour of Our Fossil Fuel Culture and Beyond (BOOK):by Ingrid Kelley
" A Tour of Our Fossil Fuel Culture and Beyond, Ingrid Kelley delivers a concise yet comprehensive explanation of the key intersections of energy, the environment, the economy, and sustainability. Kelley describes how our power is generated and delivered, how to cut our still profligate use of it, what renewable energy options are open to us, and - most important to this audience - how planners can apply the lessons of sustainability in their communities . . . the chapter titled "Community Energy and Sustainability" is a goldmine for planners . . . I plan to use Kelley's book this spring as a text in my graduate school class on climate change. In fact, I think it should be on every planner's shelf."--Planning Magazine
Green Living Handbook: A 6 Step Program to Create an Environmentally Sustainable Lifestyle (BOOK): byDavid Gershon
A movement . . . of unquestionable zeal is challenging consumption at the grassroots . . . local support groups called EcoTeams are methodically helping members reduce the amount and kind of material that flows in and out of homes. The New York Times
The process works even for those who consider themselves hard-core environmentalists. A senior sales executive and an EcoTeam member says, As a result of the awareness the group has brought us, we all have changed our consumption habits and our lifestyles, in the products we purchase, and the utilities we use . The Philadelphia Inquirer
Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What to do About It (BOOK): byRobert Glennon
America faces a water-supply crisis. Profligate consumption of water for agriculture, power generation, industry, and homes has led to reduction of groundwater, threats to rivers, and danger to many of the nation’s lakes. Much of the blame for this state of affairs lies with uncontrolled growth in the nation’s South and Southwest. Desert cities such as Las Vegas use fountains as decorations. Phoenix households draw down the finite resources of ever-shrinking Lake Mead. In great detail, Glennon documents present and future water crises in Georgia, California, and even seemingly water-rich Michigan, noting that states generally end up competing with one another over water allocation and that international conflict follows in short order. Desalination offers little immediate hope because of economic and ecological barriers. Glennon submits a list of possible reforms to decrease water consumption. Some, such as waterless toilets, are technological innovations. Others, such as restructuring sewer systems, require governmental intervention. --Mark Knoblauch
