Libraries and Museums Books

Why did Einstein have to wait so long to gain a Nobel Prize? From who nominated him to which parts of his work were considered and who made the award decision, EINSTEIN'S NOBEL PRIZE: A GLIMPSE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS is more than just a survey of Einstein's prize - it uncovers the processes of the Nobel as a whole. The author reviewed the sixty nominations Einstein received from 1910 to 1922, analyzing arguments against relativity and the Committee's hesitation. The insights here should not be missed by an with an interest in scientific achievement; particularly college-level students of science and technology.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Professor Scott makes exemplary scholarship look easy. Having just finished William Freehling's "Road to Disunion: Secessionists at Bay 1776-1854", a brilliant exposition of the sociopolitical history of the U.S. antebellum South, I wanted to see how another nineteenth-century New World society, also heavily invested in slavery, ended the institution. I was gratified to find one of the most carefully written modern histories I have ever read. Using clear, direct prose, Scott effortlessly renders nineteenth-century Cuba's variegated social geography, its tortuous legal gymnastics, and the complicated social and racial tensions that determined the course of emancipation. In the process, she disassembles previous explanations of why Cuban slavery devolved as it did: for instance, she demonstrates that slavery was not antithetical to technological advancement or intensified capitalist organization of sugar production. Her detailed treatment of the role and nature of Chinese indentured labor--its relationship to slavery; the economic, ethnic and social dimensions of the opportunities it offered plantation owners and managers--comprises a breathtaking glimpse into the grim polyethnic logic of plantation profits in the New World, even as it demolishes theories that the presence of Chinese laborers reveals the fatal weaknesses of slave labor in Cuba. Indeed, one of the enduring themes of the period is the bewilderingly hybrid nature of Cuban plantation labor during the transition away from slavery. At any given sugar mill, one might encounter slaves (both African and Afro-Cuban), Chinese indentured laborers, autonomous gangs of Chinese contractors, prisoners, free wage-earners, tenant farmers and Spanish soldiers all breaking their backs to harvest and process the cane. One is also left with a clear picture of the dramatic geographic differences--the huge and technically advanced mills of Matanzas in the west, Havana's distinctly urban dynamic, the east's rebellious and racially mixed smallholders. Add to this the turbulent military and colonial contests that shaped, and were shaped by, the process of emancipation, and Professor Scott's achievement becomes even more astonishing. Throughout all this, she smoothly incorporates illuminating quantitative analysis (in the form of dozens of tables), and poignant personal dramas as slaves persistently participated in the processes that would determine their freedom.

This book is a catalog of the 1983 exhibition of the Harvard College Library, the Ukrainian Research Institute, and the Ukrainian Studies Fund of Harvard University which marked the 50th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933. As such, the book is more pictures than words, but they present a powerful case against not only the Stalinist regime, but against Stalin himself in only eighty-some pages.

To understand the current economic, political, and social situation in struggling Ukraine one needs to understand the Ukrainian psyche. To understand the Ukrainian psyche one must understand their peculiar history as an oft-invaded frontier-land, and especially as a vassal of Russia for nearly a millenium. This book starkly illustrates a particularly grim episode which occurred early in the 70 year period of Soviet subjugation.

Although the famine was not limited strictly to Ukraine, it was a Stalin-induced event primarily directed at breaking down Ukrainian resistance to collectivization and destruction of the "kurkuls", the rich Ukrainian peasant class. An overarching aim of Stalin's was the completion of Ukrainian subjugation which had not yet been successful to that point of Soviet rule.

This catalog of the 1983 exhibition is a powerful examination of one of the clearer cases in world history of state terrorism. Although viewed in retrospect, the collection of both illustrations and photographs appears as a remarkable foreshadowing of human tragedies like the holocaust, Rawanda, and Bosnia. The book is must reading and a vital reference for anyone with an interest in Ukraine.

While this is a fictional account of Sue, the story gives children a broad look at what's involved in putting together a dinosaur for a museum display. From the dig, to carefully cleaning the bones, and putting them together on display at the museum - all from a mouse's eyes. This is a delightful children's book for all ages!

I was researching folklore in the New England coastal region when I came across this book. It was wonderfully written and provided me with everything I was looking for. Horace Beck obviously knows what he is writting about. I give this book 5 stars!

The Library offers an unbiased forum to research anything regarding Belarus, Byelorussia, White Russia, White Ruthenia or the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Find out how Arabic script was used by the Tartars instead of Cyrillic. Location : The Francis Skaryna Library & Museum 37 Holden Road North Finchley London N12 Tel : 081.445.7774 Nearest Tube/Metro/Subway : Woodside Park (Northern line)

My son really enjoys all the Franklin books. They all teach lessons to children that they can relate to. Franklin's Class Trip teaches children that they don't have to be afraid of new things.

Bette Oliver has written what to my knowledge is the first comprehensive look at the development of what we know today as the Louvre and the Biblioteque National (National Library). Both institutions were developed during times of turmoil. The good news was that during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods a number of items were, ahem, donated to the cause from various places in Europe. The bad news was that some of the more radical Revolutionaries during the Terror (1793-1794) would have destroyed much of what had been collected, and other people would have been quite happy to see much of the collection put elsewhere, especially in their own collections! In the end, though, both institutions accumulated major collections of priceless cultural artifacts that helped establish Paris as one of the major cultural centers of the western world.

This is a short book, less than one hundred pages. Yet Bette Oliver (who, I should admit I know through our mutual participation in historical conferences and who I consider a friend) tells the story in a compelling and complete way. I was especially interested in the fate of material after the second fall of Napoleon. Interestingly, a number of items were returned not to the place from where they were liberated by Napoleon, but to places from where they had previously been liberated! Bette Oliver's writing style is easy to read and always interesting. This book fills in a fascinating part of the story of this epoch and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the period.

[...]

This book is the perfect companion for anyone interested in sharing any historical military items that your family owns. It gives addresses to various military museums and instructions on how to present your items to the museum. It inspires you by showing examples of letters from grateful museum curators and the book has interesting stories of people who had served in the military.
You won't need any other reference book on the subject after buying this book!

If you've read any of the Stink Squad books, than you know that Katherine O'Neal's sense of humor is great. Excellent plays on words that kids will enjoy. Slight gross-out humor will amuse the boys and the overall story will keep girls interested. Hilarious!