These are just a few of our new titles. Come over to the library and check them out. The synopsis for each book is from Barnes and Noble.
The Supremes Greatest Hits: The 37 Supreme Court Cases That Most Directly Affect Your Life by Michael G. Trachtman
--Does the government have the right to seize your house in order to build a shopping mall? Can it determine what you can do to your own body? How far can it go in regulating your use of the Internet? The answers to those questions come from the Supreme Court—and its rulings have shaped American life, justice, and culture. Here are 37 of the most significant issues the Court has grappled with—from equal rights to privacy rights, from the limits of speech to the boundaries between church and state. Many of these cases read like thrillers…right down to their cliff-hanging endings.
The Fibromyalgia Controversy by Michael C. Hall--As many as fifteen million American women, or 5 percent of the adult female population in the US, suffer from the disabling medical condition known as fibromyalgia. If one takes into account husbands, partners, children, and other close relatives, the proportion of the American population directly or indirectly affected by fibromyalgia could be as high as 10 percent, or thirty million persons. Nonetheless, the medical community is divided over the reality of this condition. One side argues, sometimes heatedly, that the patients are masquerading - pretending a disability they know they do not have. The other side counters, with equal passion, that fibromyalgia sufferers are abused by a society that fails to give them the support they deserve while painfully suffering from this severely debilitating illness. Without taking sides, Dr. M. Clement Hall presents six fictional, though factually based, case studies of typical patients from differing socioeconomic backgrounds and describes the varying investigations, diagnoses, and treatments they have undergone. Each of these case studies represents a composite of many years of clinical practice rather than one specific patient. Collectively, they cover the range of experiences fibromyalgia patients are likely to have encountered. By taking this unique approach, Dr. Hall presents an objective overview of the fibromyalgia situation today in North America. Patients, family members, and physicians will see themselves reflected in the descriptions and will gain a broader understanding of this challenging illness.
This Day in Civil Rights History by Randall Williams--This Day in Civil Rights History, by renowned civil-rights activist Randall Williams, is a day-by-day survey of the people, places, and events that impacted the civil rights movement and shaped the future of the United States. Flip to any date and you’ll find fascinating, informative facts and anecdotes:
February 1, 1960 — Four African-American college students in Greensboro, North Carolina, entered the local Woolworth’s department store, sat down at the lunch counter, and demanded to be served. This courageous act launched the student sit-in movement throughout the region.
March 2, 1955 — Nine months before the historic arrest of Rosa Parks, fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin was arrested for violating the segregation laws on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus.
September 30, 1962 — James Meredith became the first African-American student allowed to enroll at the University of Mississippi.
November 4, 1960 — The U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Gomillion v. Lightfoot, establishing an important precedent in the voting rights of African-American citizens.
$20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline will Change Our Lives for the Better by Christopher Steiner--Imagine an everyday world in which the price of gasoline (and oil) continues to go up, and up, and up. Think about the immediate impact that would have on our lives.Of course, everybody already knows how about gasoline has affected our driving habits. People can't wait to junk their gas-guzzling SUVs for a new Prius. But there are more, not-so-obvious changes on the horizon that Chris Steiner tracks brilliantly in this provocative work.Consider the following societal changes: people who own homes in far-off suburbs will soon realize that there's no longer any market for their houses (reason: nobody wants to live too far away because it's too expensive to commute to work). Telecommuting will begin to expand rapidly. Trains will become the mode of national transportation (as it used to be) as the price of flying becomes prohibitive. Families will begin to migrate southward as the price of heating northern homes in the winter is too pricey. Cheap everyday items that are comprised of plastic will go away because of the rising price to produce them (plastic is derived from oil). And this is just the beginning of a huge and overwhelming domino effect that our way of life will undergo in the years to come.
The Morehouse Mystique byJohn Eves--More than just an institutional biography, this story of Morehouse College discusses how the all-male African American school in Atlanta continues to build its legacy as an institution that develops its students into successful men of the highest caliber. Though Morehouse offers its students an excellent liberal arts education in an environment that is conducive to academic, social, and spiritual growth, the book posits that it has something more to explain its extraordinary success rate. The analysis of this quality—deemed “the Morehouse Mystique”—includes an appraisal of the challenges of being black and male in America and examines the college’s astute approach to leadership development, which has produced such famed alumni as Martin Luther King Jr., and Spike Lee. By carefully dissecting the way that Morehouse nurtures its students, the discussion maintains that other institutions, and by extension American society, can take better strides toward helping black men reach their full potential.
A Return to Values by Bob Beauprez-- Acknowledging that the Republican Party's compass is askew, former congressman Bob Beauprez makes the case for the GOP to return to its founding values and principles. Analyzing the successes, failures, and lost opportunities of the Republican-controlled Congress and White House, Beauprez indentifies several crumbling foundations that led to the election defeats in 2006-including his own. He explains his own guiding principles by drawing upon his real-world experience to examine why he became both a conservative and a Republican, reaching the conclusion that trust from voters must be earned through substantive action, not bought by empty political rhetoric.
July 18 was the 50 anniversary recognition of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird. Our library plans to highlight this anniversary this semester with several activities. Mrs. Kenneth is planning a display to showcase the author and the book; we have ordered posters to hang in the library; we will be showing the movie several times for students; and we will have a trivia quiz for faculty and students. Finally, we will have a day of readings from the book, and we hope to recruit instructors and staff who may have a favorite passage from the book to share.
We have ordered the 50th anniversary edition of the novel, plus the book Scout, Atticus and Boo: A Celebration of 50 "Years of To Kill a Mockingbird," to add to our book collection. The book is a collection of essays by celebrities and writers who have been affected by the book. The essays are interesting since they reveal how many different ways the book can be seen through the various characters and themes. Some of these contributors are Oprah Winfery, Rick Bragg, Tom Brokaw, Rosanne Cash, Scott Turow, James Patterson, Wally Lamb and Allen Gurganus. There is hardly anyone who has read To Kill a Mockingbird the book has not touched.
