Preview Shelf: Notable New Books by CDPL Volunteer, Janice Clauser

“The Last Kings of Norse America: Runestone Keys to a Lost Empire” by Robert Johnson recalls a 450-year gap in North American history, between the Vinland voyages of Leif Eriksson shortly after 1000 A.D. and the famous year of 1492. David Clary tells about “George Washington’s First War,” detailing Washington’s important activities in the French and Indian War of 1754-63. What Jane Austen’s heroines can teach modern women about men, marriage, and lasting happiness is the subject of “The Jane Austen Guide to Happily Ever After” by Elizabeth Kantor. Here’s one tip: “Acquire the forgotten skill her heroines possess – the ability to discern his intentions.”

“Snow-Storm in August” by Jefferson Morley recalls 1835 in Washington, D.C. Riots against slavery were named for Beverly Snow, former slave turned successful restaurateur, when he became the target of mobs’ rage. “Shooting Victoria” by Paul Murphy portrays Victorian England through eight assassination attempts on the Queen, whose courage is evident in this quote: “It is worth being shot at – to see how much one is loved.”

Steve Kemper’s “A Labyrinth of Kingdoms” is an account of Heinrich Barth’s 1850 British expedition into unexplored regions of Islamic North and Central Africa, a 1,000-mile adventure.

The new “Civil War Sketch Book: Drawings from the Battlefront” by Harry Katz gathers the best of the drawings made by “special artists” like Winslow Homer and Thomas Nast, prototypes for contemporary combat photographers. Brad Lookingbill’s “American Military History” reader has 16 chapters of short documents providing many approaches to the development of American military institutions and practices. ” Eric Kandel’s “The Age of Insight” takes us to Vienna where in 1900, leaders in science, medicine, and art began a revolution that changed how we think about the human mind.

New novels start with “The Bourne Imperative,” a Jason Bourne novel by Eric Lustbader. In Stuart Woods’ “Unnatural Acts,” Stone Barrington is hired to talk sense into a hedge fund billionaire’s son, and finds the job becoming a trail of entrapment and murder. “Death Comes Silently” is a Death on Demand mystery by Carolyn Hart about the owner of a bookstore dealing with murders, set during a South Carolina winter. “The Dream of the Celt” by Mario Vargas Llosa deals with the historical subject of native populations in the Belgian Congo and Amazon, where Roger Casement’s work leads to a tainted image, hiding his pioneering human rights efforts.

“Tubes” by Andrew Blum is a journey to the center of the Internet. The author goes inside the physical infrastructure and “flips on the lights,” revealing an utterly fresh look at the online world we think we know. It’s a “series of tubes” which we’ll understand better with Blum’s reporting and lucid explanation. A reviewer writes, “You will never open an email in quite the same way again.”