Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable New Books

The Crawfordsville District Public Library’s Director, Larry Hathaway, tells how the library staff has long wanted a place where library patrons could enjoy the outdoors. Crews from Edwards & Van Matre Construction have now erected the 16 x 50 foot timber-framed depot structure in the grassy area between the two parking lots. “Furnishings” will be added soon.

Subjects involving groups of people fill several new books. “Almost President” holds Scott Farris’ biographies of the men who lost the race but changed the nation. The inside cover begins, “Henry Clay is one of a dozen men profiled who have run for the American presidency and lost but who-even in defeat-have had a greater impact on our history than many of those who have served in the Oval Office.” “The Oil Kings” by Andrew Cooper writes how the U.S., Iran, and Saudi Arabia changed the balance of power in the Middle East, and how oil came to dominate U.S. domestic and international affairs, revealed in newly declassified documents and interviews with some key figures of the time. “Throw Them All Out” is Peter Schweizer’s report on how politicians and their friends get rich off insider stock tips, land deals, and cronyism that would send the rest of us to prison. “Masters of Management”, showing how business gurus and their ideas have changed the world for better and for worse, is Adrian Wooldridge’s study which takes into account the rise of the Internet, the power of emerging markets, the recession of 2008, and more recent developments in management theory.

Here’s a group of various non-fiction titles that might intrigue many people. “Cities of Gold” by Bill Yenne tells of legendary kingdoms, quixotic quests, and the search for fantastic New World wealth, beginning with a poem by Edgar Allan Poe: “Over the mountains of the Moon, Down the Valley of the Shadow, Ride, boldly ride; The shade replied – “If you seek for Eldorado!” Before Europeans explored the New World, rumors of fabulous wealth in distant lands were shared so often that they were assumed to be true. In “Sugar Nation” Jeff O’Connell tells the hidden truth behind America’s deadliest habit and the simple way to beat it. “Extra Virginity” is Tom Mueller’s story of the “sublime and scandalous world of olive oil”. H. W. Brands’ “Greenback Planet” explains how the dollar conquered the world and threatened civilization as we know it. “Pity the Billionaire” by Thomas Frank “chronicles a confused time, a period when Americans rose up against imaginary threats and rallied to economic theories they understood only in the gauziest terms”. “The Language Wars” is a history of proper English by Henry Hitchings. He says the English language is a battlefield, that arguments over correct usage have been bitter, and often they’ve had more to do with morality and politics than with language itself.

The first of two new books about the military is “When We Went to War” by Greg Kline about the invasion of Normandy June 6, 1944, the long aftermath, and the earlier events which made it inevitable. The cover shows sailors aboard the USS Indianapolis and the crew preparing to fly a new B-24 to England. The second book is “American Sniper”, the autobiography of the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history, Navy SEAL Chris Kyle.