Inyo County Free Library - New Acquisitions
November 2018 - January 2019
These are books and media new to the library and cataloged by the Inyo County Free Library.
Additional information about each title can be found in the catalog (click on the title). For older acquisition lists choose from Select another list. To request any of these titles please contact your local library branch.
Non-Fiction | Computer science, information & general worksPhilosophy & psychologyReligionSocial sciencesLanguageScienceTechnologyArts & recreationLiteratureHistory & geography |
By Barrett, Frank Publishing Date: 2015 Classification: 900 Call Number: 914.1048 BAR In an unreliable 800 Saab with 120,000 miles on the clock, just like Ian Rankin's Edinburgh detective Inspector Rebus, Frank Barrett embarks on a literary quest around Britain, from Eliot's East Coker to Austen's Bath, Winnie-the-Pooh's Hartfield to Dracula's Whitby. |
Rome and Vatican City: a complete guide with itineraries By Gallico, Sonia Publishing Date: c2007 Classification: 900 Call Number: 914.5632 GAL |
Meander: east to west, indirectly, along a Turkish river By Seal, Jeremy Publishing Date: 2012 Classification: 900 Call Number: 914.961 SEA The course of the Meander is so famously indirect that the river's name has come to signify digression - an invitation Jeremy Seal is duty-bound to accept while travelling the length of it in a one-man canoe. In this book, the author illuminates his account with a wealth of cultural, historical and personal asides. - (Gardners) |
By Grant, Michael Publishing Date: 2000 Classification: 900 Call Number: 937.07 GRA "This book seeks to provide short biographies of the Twelve Caesars: Julius Caesar and the first eleven Roman emperors who followed him"--Page 1. Contents: From Republic to Empire -- Julius Caesar -- Augustus -- The Julio-Claudian emperors -- Tiberius -- Caligula -- Claudius -- Nero -- The Civil Wars -- Galba -- Otho -- Vitellius -- The Flavian Emperors --Vespasian -- Titus -- Domitian -- Conclusion: the success and failure of the Caesars. |
Constantine the great: the man and his times By Grant, Michael Publishing Date: 1994 Classification: 900 Call Number: 937.08 GRA The Emperor Constantine was one of the great, charismatic figures of the ancient world. He was directly responsible for two momentous transformations that greatly affected our history and civilization: the founding of Constantinople as the Roman capital and the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity. With knowledge gained from modern research in all relevant fields, including archaeology, papyrology, and art history, Michael Grant traces the controversies that surround this intriguing ruler back to their very beginnings. He draws a compelling portrait of Constantine, assessing the emperor's achievements as a general in command of his armies and as a resourceful politician and reformer. In art, politics, economics, social developments, and particularly in religion, the life of Constantine acts as a bridge between past and present. Michael Grant goes beyond the bias of literary sources and reveals the private man behind the public persona: the superstitious beliefs underpinning Constantine's hallucinatory visions and dreams that heralded his conversion to Christianity; his persecution of paganism in the name of Christianity that set precedents for centuries to come; and the relationship between church and state that gave way to the totalitarianism of the Late Roman Empire. Was he the last notable Roman emperor, or the first medieval monarch? Was the great convert a saint and hero, or should we regard him as a murderer who killed his wife, his eldest son, and many of his friends to further his own ambitions? These are just some of the issues raised in this revelatory biography. |
By Quinn, Josephine Crawley Publishing Date: [2018] Classification: 900 Call Number: 939.44 QUI Who were the ancient Phoenicians, and did they actually exist? The Phoenicians traveled the Mediterranean long before the Greeks and Romans, trading, establishing settlements, and refining the art of navigation. But who these legendary sailors really were has long remained a mystery. In Search of the Phoenicians makes the startling claim that the "Phoenicians" never actually existed. Taking readers from the ancient world to today, this monumental book argues that the notion of these sailors as a coherent people with a shared identity, history, and culture is a product of modern nationalist ideologies--and a notion very much at odds with the ancient sources. Josephine Quinn shows how the belief in this historical mirage has blinded us to the compelling identities and communities these people really constructed for themselves in the ancient Mediterranean, based not on ethnicity or nationhood but on cities, family, colonial ties, and religious practices. She traces how the idea of "being Phoenician" first emerged in support of the imperial ambitions of Carthage and then Rome, and only crystallized as a component of modern national identities in contexts as far-flung as Ireland and Lebanon. In Search of the Phoenicians delves into the ancient literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and artistic evidence for the construction of identities by and for the Phoenicians, ranging from the Levant to the Atlantic, and from the Bronze Age to late antiquity and beyond. |
Nordic, Central, & Southeastern Europe 2018-2019 By Thompson, Wayne C. Publishing Date: [2018] Classification: 900 Call Number: 940 THO |
NEW RELEASE By Thompson, Wayne C. Publishing Date: [2019] Classification: 900 Call Number: 940 THO Provides annually updated information on each sovereign country in Western Europe, past and present. It is organized by individual chapters for each country, covering the region's geography, people, history, political system, constitution, parliament, decentralization and states if a federation, parties, political leaders and elections. There are also sections on foreign and defense policy, economy, culture, future and a comprehensive bibliography. --From publisher description. |
Ghost soldiers: the epic account of World War II's greatest rescue mission By Sides, Hampton Publishing Date: 2002 Classification: 900 Call Number: 940.5425 SID During World War II, 121 Marines slip behind enemy lines in the Philippines to rescue 513 POWs, including the last survivors of the Bataan Death March, in an epic show of bravery for both groups. |
Halsey's typhoon: the true story of a fighting admiral, an epic storm, and an untold rescue By Drury, Bob Publishing Date: c2007 Classification: 900 Call Number: 940.5459 DRU In December 1944, America's most popular and colorful naval hero, Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, unwittingly sailed his undefeated Pacific Fleet into the teeth of a powerful typhoon. Three destroyers were capsized, sending hundreds of sailors and officers into the raging, shark-infested waters. Over the next sixty hours, small bands of survivors fought seventy-foot waves, exhaustion, and dehydration to await rescue at the hands of the courageous Lt. Com. Henry Lee Plage, who, defying orders, sailed his tiny destroyer escort USS Tabberer through 150-mph winds to reach the lost men. Thanks to documents that have been declassified after sixty years and dozens of first-hand accounts from survivors--including former President Gerald Ford--one of the greatest World War II stories, and a riveting tale of survival at sea, can finally be told.--From publisher description. |
Hero of the empire: the Boer War, a daring escape and the making of Winston Churchill By Millard, Candice Publishing Date: [2016] Classification: 900 Call Number: 941.084 MIL "At age twenty-four, Winston Churchill was utterly convinced it was his destiny to become prime minister of England one day, despite the fact he had just lost his first election campaign for Parliament. He believed that to achieve his goal he must do something spectacular on the battlefield. Despite deliberately putting himself in extreme danger as a British Army officer in colonial wars in India and Sudan, and as a journalist covering a Cuban uprising against the Spanish, glory and fame had eluded him. Churchill arrived in South Africa in 1899, valet and crates of vintage wine in tow, there to cover the brutal colonial war the British were fighting with Boer rebels. But just two weeks after his arrival, the soldiers he was accompanying on an armored train were ambushed, and Churchill was taken prisoner. Remarkably, he pulled off a daring escape -- but then had to traverse hundreds of miles of enemy territory, alone, with nothing but a crumpled wad of cash, four slabs of chocolate, and his wits to guide him. The story of his escape is incredible enough, but then Churchill enlisted, returned to South Africa, fought in several battles, and ultimately liberated the men with whom he had been imprisoned. Churchill would later remark that this period, "could I have seen my future, was to lay the foundations of my later life." Millard spins an epic story of bravery, savagery, and chance encounters with a cast of historical characters -- including Rudyard Kipling, Lord Kitchener, and Mohandas Gandhi -- with whom he would later share the world stage. But Hero of the Empire is more than an adventure story, for the lessons Churchill took from the Boer War would profoundly affect 20th century history."-- |
Publishing Date: 2001 Classification: 900 Call Number: 941.5 MOO First published in 1967 and now updated to cover such recent events as the Good Friday Agreement and the withdrawal of British troops from regular patrols in Northern Ireland, this new edition of a perennial bestseller narrates and interprets Irish history as a whole. - (NBN) |
City of light: the making of modern Paris By Christiansen, Rupert Publishing Date: 2018 Classification: 900 Call Number: 944.361 CHR "In 1853 the French emperor Louis Napoleon inaugurated a vast and ambitious program of public works, directed by Georges-Eugène Haussmann, the prefect of the Seine. Haussmann's renovation of Paris would transform the old medieval city of squalid slums and disease-ridden alleyways into a "City of Light" characterized by wide boulevards, apartment blocks, parks, squares and public monuments, new railway stations and department stores, and a new system of public sanitation. City of Light charts this fifteen-year project of urban renewal which-despite the interruptions of war, revolution, corruption, and bankruptcy-set a template for nineteenth and early twentieth-century urban planning and created the enduring landscape of modern Paris now so famous around the globe. A lively and engaging read, City of Light is a book for anyone who wants to know how Paris became Paris"-- |
By Hierman, Brent Publishing Date: [2018] Classification: 900 Call Number: 947 HIE Published and updated annually, Russia and Eurasia deals with the twelve independent republics that became members of the Commonwealth of Independent States following the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1992. The text focuses strongly on recent economic and political developments with shorter sections dealing with foreign policy, the military, religion, education, and specific cultural elements that help to define each republic and differentiate one from the other. Approximately one-third of the book is devoted to Russia, but also includes sections on Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. How the Commonwealth of Independent States came into being and how it has evolved since 1992 is also discussed. The combination of factual accuracy and up-to-date detail along with its informed projections make this an outstanding resource for researchers, practitioners in international development, media professionals, government officials, potential investors and students. |
By Leibo, Steven A. Publishing Date: 2018 Classification: 900 Call Number: 950 LEI An annually updated presentation of East & Southeast Asia past and present, providing introductory regional and comparative chapters followed by distinct sections on each country in the region. --Adapted from publisher description. |
The Middle East and South Asia 2018-2019 By Cantey, Seth Publishing Date: 2018 Classification: 900 Call Number: 956 CAN |
By O'Rourke, P. J. Publishing Date: 1992 Classification: 900 Call Number: 956.7043 ORO The author of Parliament of Whores takes a look at freedom around the world, discussing the Gorbachev-Reagan summit, the Berlin Wall, elections in Paraguay and Nicaragua, Russia after the aborted coup, Saddam Hussein, liberals, and more. Reprint. - (Baker & Taylor) |
Desert sniper: how one ordinary Brit went to war against ISIS By Nash, Ed Publishing Date: 2018 Classification: 900 Call Number: 956.9104 NAS What makes an ordinary but highly educated Englishman, with no previous military training, decide to travel and fight in one of the most brutal conflicts on the planet? Desert Sniper is an extraordinary, true account of one man's journey from well-meaning volunteer to battle-scarred combat sniper, placing himself daily in the line of fire to fight one of the greatest evils of this new century. Ed Nash has travelled across the globe, and is working with refugees in Burma, when he first becomes aware of the terrible atrocities being committed under ISIS's newly established 'Caliphate', covering vast tracts of Iraq and Syria. In June 2015, he chooses to undertake the hazardous journey, via Northern Iraq, to Syria, to join ill-equipped and poorly trained but battle-hardened Kurdish forces as they attempt to halt Daesh's relentless advance. Nash is an articulate, insightful and refreshingly honest companion as he unpacks the shifting complexities of the political and military situation in which he finds himself. As one of a motley band of foreign volunteer fighters - veterans of other conflicts, adventurers and misfits, from many different countries - we follow him through his rudimentary training and early combat operations as he and his companions slowly gain the trust and respect of their Kurdish colleagues. Nash shows us the realities of the war on the ground in Syria in fascinating detail; the privations of the ordinary Kurdish soldiers, the terrible price paid by civilians caught in the cross-fire, the ever-present danger of lethal suicide bombers and occasional moments of striking beauty in amongst the carnage. A modern classic in the making, Desert Sniper will prove to be one of the most unforgettable accounts to emerge from the war against ISIS. |
By Wiafe-Amoako, Francis Publishing Date: [2018] Classification: 900 Call Number: 960 WIA |
By Thompson, Wayne C. Publishing Date: [2018] Classification: 900 Call Number: 971 THO This is an annually updated presentation of Canada past and present continues to provide the reader an in-depth look at the country's culture, geography, people, economy, politics and future. The combination of factual accuracy and up-to-date detail along with its informed projections make this an outstanding resource for researchers, practitioners in international development, media professionals, government officials, potential investors and students. Now in its 34th edition, the content is thorough yet perfect for a one-semester introductory course or general library reference. |