Inyo County Free Library - New Acquisitions
September 2016 - October 2016
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 & recreationLiterature History & geography |
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By Winchester, Simon Publishing Date: [2015] Classification: 900 Call Number: 909 WIN The New York Times best-selling author of The Men Who United the States traces the geological history of the Pacific Ocean to assess its relationship with humans and indelible role in the modern world. |
Notes on the death of culture: essays on spectacle and society By Vargas Llosa, Mario Publishing Date: 2015 Classification: 900 Call Number: 909.82 VAR "A provocative essay collection that finds the Nobel laureate taking on the decline of intellectual life In the past, culture was a kind of vital consciousness that constantly rejuvenated and revivified everyday reality. Now it is largely a mechanism of distraction and entertainment. Notes on the Death of Culture is an examination and indictment of this transformation--penned by none other than Mario Vargas Llosa, who is not only one of our finest novelists but one of the keenest social critics at work today. Taking his cues from T. S. Eliot--whose essay "Notes Toward a Definition of Culture" is a touchstone precisely because the culture Eliot aimed to describe has since vanished--Vargas Llosa traces a decline whose ill effects have only just begun to be felt. He mourns, in particular, the figure of the intellectual: for most of the twentieth century, men and women of letters drove political, aesthetic, and moral conversations; today they have all but disappeared from public debate. But Vargas Llosa stubbornly refuses to fade into the background. He is not content to merely sign a petition; he will not bite his tongue. A necessary gadfly, the Nobel laureate Vargas Llosa, here vividly translated by John King, provides a tough but essential critique of our time and culture"-- |
The Arctic grail: the quest for the North West Passage and the North Pole, 1818-1909 By Berton, Pierre Publishing Date: 2000 Classification: 900 Call Number: 910 BER Author of many books relating to places and historical periods, Berton describes the dozens of expeditions mounted and hundreds of men lost trying to find the fabled Passage and Pole before Robert Peary reached the Pole in 1909. He draws on primary documents including hand-written journals, ship logs, and private diaries. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) - (Book News) |
The life of Captain James Cook By Beaglehole, J. C. Publishing Date: [1974] Classification: 900 Call Number: 910.924 BEA An authority on Pacific exploration analyzes the major influences on Cook's character and assesses his role and achievements as an explorer and seaman - (Baker & Taylor) |
By Hawkes, Jacquetta Publishing Date: 1963 Classification: 900 Call Number: 913.082 HAW Vol. 1. About archaeology. The old stone age and the evolution of man. The new stone age and the beginning of farming. Mesopotamia and Palestine. The Egyptian world.-- vol. 2. Asia Minor, Greece and Italy: the classical world and its background. India, China and elsewhere. Britain and Europe. America. |
Nepal: the kingdom in the Himalayas By Hagen, Toni Publishing Date: 1971, c1961 Classification: 900 Call Number: 915.49 HAG Translation of Nepal. Originally published: Bern : Kümmerly & Frey, 1960. |
By Thubron, Colin Publishing Date: 1975 Classification: 900 Call Number: 915.64 THU The people, their history and the beauty of an island on the brink of tragedy. In this book, the author intertwines myth, history and personal anecdote in a quest from which the characters and places, architecture and landscape all spring vividly to the reader's eye. |
By Thubron, Colin Publishing Date: 1994 Classification: 900 Call Number: 915.8042 THU Covering the vast miles between the ruined caravan cities of Turmenia to the beautiful and treacherous Pamir and Tien Shan mountains, a portrait of China explores its oppressed past, recent liberation, and hopeful future. National ad/promo. - (Baker & Taylor) |
By Matthiessen, Peter Publishing Date: 1972 Classification: 900 Call Number: 916.76 MAT Peter Matthiessen exquisitely combines nature and travel writing to portray the sights, scenes, and people he observed firsthand in several trips over the course of a dozen years. From the daily lives of wild herdsmen and the drama of predator kills to the field biologists investigating wild creatures and the anthropologists seeking humanity's origins in the rift valley, The Tree Where Man Was Born is a classic of journalistic observation. |
Publishing Date: 2009 Classification: 900 Call Number: 930.1 A professional field guide and practical companion to archaeology features how-to photographic sequences of field surveys and step-by-step excavations, profiles of archaeological pioneers, and information on handling and recording finds and dating artefacts. - (Baker & Taylor) |
Nordic, Central, & Southeastern Europe 2016-2017 By Payerhin, Marek Publishing Date: [2016] Classification: 900 Call Number: 940 PAY "This is an annually updated presentation of each sovereign country in Nordic, Central and Southeastern Europe, past and present. It is organized by individual chapters for each country and presents a complete and authoritative overview of each regions 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. 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 16th edition, the content is thorough yet perfect for a one-semester introductory course or general library reference. Available in both print and e-book formats and priced low to fit student and library budgets." -- publisher description. |
The Oxford illustrated history of medieval Europe Publishing Date: 1988 Classification: 900 Call Number: 940.1 Numerous illustrations, maps, and genealogies illuminate the often murky period ranging from the fall of Rome to the dawn of the Renaissance, with discussions of religious, political economic and social movements - (Baker & Taylor) |
The great raid on Cabanatuan: rescuing the doomed ghosts of Bataan and Corregidor By Breuer, William B. Publishing Date: c1994 Classification: 900 Call Number: 940.5425 BRE Early on the morning of January 28, 1945, a small detachment of volunteers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Henry A. Mucci, leader of the 6th Ranger Battalion, embarked from their base in the Philippines on the most audacious rescue operation ever undertaken. Their objective: Penetrate thirty miles behind enemy lines and liberate 511 POWs from Cabanatuan, the notorious Japanese POW camp where thousands of American prisoners had been brutally tortured and killed. Little did Mucci's Rangers know when they got under way that morning that over the next few days and nights they would be making history. Written by acclaimed military historian William B. Breuer, The Great Raid on Cabanatuan is a riveting account of that rescue mission and the gallant soldiers who carried it out against overwhelming odds. Based largely on interviews with the heroes who survived the operation, and featuring twenty-eight previously unpublished photographs - many of them taken while the raid was in progress - it brings to life in electrifying detail the dramatic events that took place on the night of the raid, January 30, and during the harrowing days that followed. In sketching out the many roads that led to Cabanatuan, Breuer brilliantly combines oral history with dramatic narrative to bring to life some of the most spectacular events of the war in the Pacific. We relive the hellish battles for Bataan and Corregidor, where in 1942 American and Filipino soldiers fought bravely to hold back the Japanese invasion force. We experience firsthand the horrors of the Bataan Death March on which tens of thousands of prisoners lost their lives en route to Cabanatuan. And we learn of the American underground and guerilla operations in the Philippines during the Japanese occupation from the men and women behind them, including Margaret Utinsky, leader of "Miss U's underground," and Claire Phillips, the glamorous lounge singer turned spy-master. A gripping chronicle of one of the most harrowing rescue missions ever undertaken as told in all its gritty detail by the heroes who made it happen, The Great Raid on Cabanatuan is both a first-class piece of military scholarship and a thrilling adventure story. |
Killing the rising sun: how America vanquished World War II Japan By O'Reilly, Bill Publishing Date: 2016 Classification: 900 Call Number: 940.5426 ORE Autumn 1944. World War II is nearly over in Europe but is escalating in the Pacific, where American soldiers face an opponent who will go to any length to avoid defeat. The Japanese army follows the samurai code of Bushido, stipulating that surrender is a form of dishonor. Killing the Rising Sun takes readers to the bloody tropical-island battlefields of Peleliu and Iwo Jima and to the embattled Philippines, where General Douglas MacArthur has made a triumphant return and is plotting a full-scale invasion of Japan. Across the globe in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team of scientists are preparing to test the deadliest weapon known to mankind. In Washington, DC, FDR dies in office and Harry Truman ascends to the presidency, only to face the most important political decision in history: whether to use that weapon. And in Tokyo, Emperor Hirohito, who is considered a deity by his subjects, refuses to surrender, despite a massive and mounting death toll. Told in the same page-turning style of Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus, Killing Patton, and Killing Reagan, this epic saga details the final moments of World War II like never before. |
By Lanchester, John Publishing Date: c2007 Classification: 900 Call Number: 941.082 LAN The author describes his atypical youth as the son of an international banker and former nun, the loving, protective family shell he needed to overcome in order to mature, and the secrets that overshadowed his parents' lives. |
The wicked wit of Winston Churchill By Churchill, Winston Publishing Date: 2001 Classification: 900 Call Number: 941.084 CHU Sir Winston Churchill was the greatest orator of his day, the greatest statesman of his age, and the greatest Englishman of the 20th century. This enchanting collection gathers hundreds of his funniest and wickedest quips in tribute to the exhilarating wit of this great-hearted, infuriatingly conceited, wildly funny, and brilliantly talented Englishman. - (Independent Publishing Group) |
By Tombs, Robert Publishing Date: 2014 Classification: 900 Call Number: 942 TOM "The English and Their History presents the momentous story of England "first as an idea, and then as a kingdom, as a country, a people and a culture." Here, in a single volume, is a fresh and comprehensive account of the English and their history. With extraordinary insight, Robert Tombs examines language, literature, law, religion, politics, and more while investigating the sources of England's collective memory and belief. The English and Their History spans 700,000 years, from the island's very first inhabitants to the present day, stopping along the way to recount the tales of conquerors, kings, and queens; a nation's myths and legends, facts and extraordinary truths. No history of England has come close to matching the scale and scope of this historical masterwork--with an eye for detail to rival his ambition, Tombs has managed to cover every significant happening and development over hundreds of thousands of years while accessibly explaining how they connect. But The English and Their History is more a work of narrative nonfiction than one of reference or record, expertly guiding the reader from footprints in the mud of early Homo sapiens through Shakespeare, Reformation, revolution, and industrialization in a narrative stretching all the way to the present"-- |
Dreyfus: a family affair, 1789-1945 By Burns, Michael Publishing Date: c1991 Classification: 900 Call Number: 944 BUR A riveting saga of six generations of a French Jewish family, from the French Revolution to the Vichy regime of WWII, but dramatically centered on the notorious Dreyfus affair of the late 1890s. Burns shows how the Dreyfus case helped shape the political landscape of 20th-century France, how it resonated beyond French borders, and how anti-Semitism assumed its modern form in the crucible of the affair. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or. - (Book News) |
Napoleon: the immortal emperor By Gengembre, Gérard Publishing Date: 2003 Classification: 900 Call Number: 944.05 GEN "Astre ou desastre - brilliant star or utter disaster, liberator or dictator, divine savior or parvenue opportunist - such is the dichotomy that lies at the heart of the enduring appeal of the Napoleonic legend. Always alert to the power of myth, Bonaparte made sure that he projected the right image at every stage of his astounding career, from the thin-faced, long-haired young man of action painted by Gros in the 1790s through David's new Hannibal crossing the Alps on horseback (1800) to the Zeus-like emperor portrayed by Ingres in 1806. Even in death, the fallen idol inspired the great sculptor Francois Rude to apotheosize him as a tragic hero, his head wreathed in laurel." "More than 300 illustrations reveal the profound effect Napoleon's legacy has left on the world. This copiously illustrated volume includes rare and previously unknown art and ephemera featuring the likeness of the great leader, including many portraits, chateaux and palaces, battlescapes and scenes of grandiose ceremony as well as reproductions of clothing, jewels, furniture, porcelain, and silver, each a paradigm of Empire elegance. And the fascination with Napoleon continues today. He is frequently examined in film, a medium in which the Emperor has been portrayed by the greatest actors, among them Albert Dieudonne, Charles Boyer, and Marlon Brando. No wonder, given that Napoleon was an ardent, serial lover of beautiful, aristocratic women, all the while consistent in his bittersweet devotion to Josephine de Beauharnais, the wife he divorced for the sake of an heir she could not produce."--BOOK JACKET. |
The affair: the case of Alfred Dreyfus By Bredin, Jean-Denis Publishing Date: 1986 Classification: 900 Call Number: 944.081 BRE Discusses the celebrated scandal that tore turn-of-the-century France apart. |
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