Newspapers Books

"Bent Pins to Chains: Alaska and its Newspapers" adds an important and fresh dimension to understanding Alaska's history. For the history buff and researcher it puts under one cover for the first time a detailed record of the newspapers that served Alaska since its purchase from Russia 140 years ago as an unexplored wilderness. It is a detailed compendium of Alaska newspapers and their towns, editors, owners, civic contributions and shenanigans. Lew Williams who has lived the life of a pioneer publisher and Evangeline Atwood, a writer and wife of a pioneer publisher, write about the life they both have lived.

Alaska newspapers matured with the state. The authors record their growth from handwritten flyers, to four early editors who became governors, to modern dailies that led the push for statehood and are today recognized by Pulitzer prizes. Naturally the Anchorage newspaper war between the two competing dailies and the final buyout of the Anchorage Times by the Anchorage daily news is recorded. A plus is Williams' "Final Word: What is a Newspaper?" Especially since Alaska's early day newspapers would not fit the description of today's technological successes.

Williams, who took over the recording of Alaska's newspapers after Atwood died, shows a historian's dedication to accuracy of names, dates, places and events. It is a wonderful foundation for anyone who wants to delve further into the whys and consequences. I hope his next step will be to put on his investigative reporter hat and flesh out the stories he so briefly tells.

Final word: It is a record of Alaska's newspapers, essential to understanding the origin, growth and maturing of the 49th state.

I write the above as a 44-year Alaskan and former journalism professor.

I'm a big fan of the "Best American" series of books. Nowhere can the reader find such great collections of stories and articles in the fields of Sports, Travel, Crime, Mysteries, Short Stories, and so on. "Best American Magazine Writing 2003" was my first experience with this particular catagory, and I immediately noted that it contains entries from both the 2003 Sports and Crime volumes.

Fantastic prose and exemplary storytelling are key features to the Best American books, and this one is no exception. The highlights from this collection include a discussion of Icebergs and Global Warming called "Terminal Ice," a retelling of football coach George O'Leary's downfall called "Lying in Wait," a chilling account of Holocaust victims used to create an anatmy guide in "The Most Dangerous Beauty," and reportage on the Hezbollah terrorist movement called "In the Party of God."

The only drawback to this collection is that the articles and stories vary so widely in subject matter that some will likely be of much more interest to any individual reader than others. Nevertheless, it's a keeper.

Design annuals are often visual pron. This is the rare anthology that is beautiful and informative. Lovely design examples that all interface, product, graphic, and information designers will grow from...

The "Reader" presents a series of basic newspaper stories written in the Bisayan language (specifically, the Cebuano dialect) with vocabulary at the bottom of each story. A full English translation for all stories are collected in another section as is a full, annotated vocabulary. The "Reader" is very useful; however, it could have been organized in a little more helpful manner. For example, the voculary for each story is not alphabetized for easy reference. Nevertheless, it is recommended for beginning students of the language.

I found the short articles in this collection to be quite fascinating. When I first saw the book, I really thought nothing of it, until I opened it up - I couldn't put it down. I was compelled to read every single article, advertisement, etc. It's a fun coffee table book that's quite a conversation piece. If I hadn't ventured to Stonington, ME, I would have never discovered this great find!!

Wendt doesn't simply give a throrough history of the Tribune, but he also goes in depth in telling of major historical events and the growth of Chicago.

If you grew up speaking/reading/writing Chinese and are fluent in conversational Chinese, but clueless when it comes to listening to the news, then this textbook is for you. Using traditional and simplified characters on facing pages, the book takes authentic news cast and provide the student with vocabulary and grammatical components. The grammar notes are not detailed, however, because the student should already fluent in Chinese; the words are academic words and those that one often hears on the news. Overall, a good textbook for those of you who are fluent. A separate video tape which contains the actual news broadcast covered in the book is also available (0887271952).

Note: If you are not fluent in Chinese, this textbook is not appropriate for you either as a main text or a supplement. Although having taken 2 years of college Chinese, a student can work through this book (with great effort), non-fluent students (in their third year of college Chinese) are better off using A New Text for a Modern China (0887273122) or China Scene (0887273300).

An entire season has passed since we last heard from Marie-Christine de Medici, the young American woman whose earlier visit to the French Riviera was quickly transformed from carefree vacation to murder investigation --- or rather, multiple-murder investigation. But that was over the summer, when Cannes and its environs likely would be crawling with bothersome criminals anyway. It's Christmas now, a time of peace and goodwill toward men, if you don't count the occasional man who turns up decidedly and deliberately dead.

Marie-Christine's holiday adventure begins quietly enough, with her parents and assorted other family members joining her at her Grand-mère's stately home in the Riviera town of Grasse not far from Cannes. Also invited to the celebration is Sister Felicity, a medieval manuscript expert from Scholastica Abbey on Cape Cod who proved instrumental in unraveling the summertime mystery. Given her presumed hotline to the Spirit --- and her memory of the harrowing events just four months earlier --- you might think she would reconsider this trip. But no. Sister Felicity is undaunted by the prospect of spending time once again with the unusual de Medicis and helping to guard a priceless illuminated manuscript that dates back to the 15th century.

You can probably tell where this is going, but that doesn't mean you won't enjoy the ride. Yes, the manuscript disappears, and yes, a dead body appears. But there seems to be no apparent connection between the body, which belongs to Chrissy's uncle, and the manuscript other than being under the same roof for a time, a roof that belongs, of course, to Grand-mère. And though the apparent victim is a family member, Chrissy's interest in the double mystery goes far beyond the personal. As the long-distance publisher of Grasse's local newspaper, Le Loup Garou, Chrissy has a professional interest in solving the crimes --- namely, a much-needed scoop that could breathe new life into the stagnant paper.

Adding a touch of romantic diversion is the appearance of Claude Bizzard, the Paris police inspector whom Grand-mère had earlier invited to spend Christmas with the family. Presumably, she's well aware that the man makes Chrissy weak in the knees, and equally presumably, she enjoys Chrissy's behavior when he's around more than she would ever admit. Bizzard lends his support to the investigation, which involves a fair amount of religious intrigue added to the theft and murder.

Mary-Jane Deeb handles the intricate plot with her usual skill, though I confess I found some of the background and conversations about the two manuscripts --- did I fail to mention there were two manuscripts? --- to be confusing. But I decided to disregard my confusion and get back to enjoying the story and its many references to culinary delights, taking place in France and all. Yes, Deeb knows her food and describes it well. Expect to salivate a time or two.

A CHRISTMAS MYSTERY IN PROVENCE is an entertaining book that would make a delightful gift for mystery lovers --- as well as readers like me who would buy pretty much anything with "Christmas mystery" in the title.

The author of this book Thomas Kiernan pretty much set out to write a book smearing Rupert Murdoch. He might have except that humans were born with brains. We can think for ourselves. Did Kiernan? This book examines Murdochs rise to prominence in a media family. He helped save the family business as his first job. Kiernan attacks the man for 'tabliodism'.

The author almost blames him for starting the whole yellow journalism thing. Murdoch does not own the 'National Enquirer', but he did create 'the Star' (u.s.) to compete with it. I actually ended up liking the man despite the many problems he has faced. Kiernan should get a life. If he really wants to question a mans' integrity.... write about Bill Clinton! GeronL. a reader

"Covering the Courts" consists of 18 short chapters written by lawyers and authors about the media and the judicial system in the United States. Topics covered include: the O.J. Simpson and McVeigh cases, cameras in the courtroom and what makes a fair trial. It is clear from this book that those who work for the courts don't always get along with those who report on the courts, and vice versa. I think books like these open up the dialogue between both camps and could possibly result in what both sides want: free press and fair trials. A very interesting read!