nov06c.indd


George M. Eberhart N e w  P u b l i c a t i o n s  

Ancient Stone Sites of New England and the 
Debate over Early European Exploration, by 
David Goudsward (240 pages, July 2006), re­
counts the history of alleged pre­Columbian 
discoveries in the Northeast and the various 
theories that try to account for them. Goud­
sward remains admirably (almost frustrating­
ly) objective on the topic, refusing to weigh 
in on whether any of the stone structures are 
pre­Columbian European, colonial, native, or 
hoaxes. Chapters cover supposed sacrifi cial 
stones, the Fall River skeleton in armor, Digh­
ton Rock, the Newport Tower, Mystery Hill in 
North Salem, megalithic stone chambers, the 
Westford knight, runic inscriptions, and the 
Gungywamp stone complex. An appendix 
lists sites that are open to the public. $32.00. 
McFarland. ISBN 0­7864­2462­1. 

Cataloging Cultural Objects, by Murtha Baca, 
et al. (296 pages, September 2006), sets out 
data content standards that enable descriptive 
cataloging of paintings, sculpture, photographs, 
prints, architecture, archaeological sites, arti­
facts, and other cultural objects that might re­
side in a museum, archive, or visual resources 
collection. Developed by the Visual Resources 
Association, these new standards build on the 
concepts embedded in AACR2 and the DACS 
standard for archivists. The volume begins with 
general guidelines on defining works and im­
ages, establishing core elements, displaying 
relationships between works, designing data­
bases, and creating and maintaining controlled 
vocabularies, then provides detailed descrip­
tions of and rules for various data elements, as 
well as name and subject authorities. An essen­
tial reference for curators and digital resource 
catalogers. $67.50 for ALA members. American 
Library Association. ISBN 0­8389­3564­8. 

The Columbia Guide to American Indian 
Literatures of the United States since 1945, 

George M. Eberhart is senior editor of American 
Libraries, e-mail: geberhart@ala.org 

edited by Eric Cheyfitz (438 pages, May 2006), 
examines Native American fiction, poetry, dra­
ma, nonfiction, and autobiography as a litera­
ture of resistance and liberation. Most students 
will be unfamiliar with the bulk of this material, 
and this guide offers a useful analysis of the 
cultural perspectives that produced it. $55.00. 
Columbia University. ISBN 0­231­51102­7. 

An Encyclopedia of Swearing, by Geoffrey 
Hughes (572 pages, May 2006), presents the 
history and usage patterns for various forms 
of English­language profanity, obscenity, 
blasphemy, malediction, and racial slur. 
Though not a dictionary, it does offer en­
tries for some of the commonest cuss­words 
but prefers essays on categories (anatomi­
cal insults, euphemisms, formal oaths, graf­
fiti), themes (copulation, promiscuity, sca­
tology), ethnic groups (blacks, the French, 
Jews), broad topics (censorship, cinema, 
dictionaries, innovation, phonetic patterns, 
semantic changes), and people (Thomas 
Bowdler, Geoffrey Chaucer, David Mamet, 
Mark Twain). Hughes offers a scholarly yet 
lively and cosmopolitan analysis throughout. 
$110.00. M. E. Sharpe. ISBN 0­7656­1231­3. 

First Aid for Art: Essential Salvage Tech­
niques, edited by Jane K. Hutchins and 
Barbara O. Roberts (108 pages, September 
2006), is a practical guide for the preven­
tion and treatment of damage to books and 
paper, art objects, and scientifi c specimens. 
Each chapter lists the properties of particular 
types of materials, common types of dam­
age, supplies you might need, and what 
to do to salvage them. The instructions are 
simple enough to allow nonspecialists to 
read, comprehend, and react quickly during 
an emergency. $19.95. Hard Press Editions. 
ISBN 1­889097­69­1. 

The Forgotten Expedition, 1804–1805: The 
Louisiana Purchase Journals of Dunbar and 
Hunter, edited by Trey Perry, Pam Beasley, 

C&RL News November 2006  646 

mailto:geberhart@ala.org


and Jeanne Cle­
ments (248 pages, 
June 2006), presents 
for the first time an 
interpolated edition 
of the notes and 
journals of William 
Dunbar and George 
Hunter, who were 
commissioned by 
President Thomas 

Jefferson to explore the Ouachita River in 
northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas. 
The two scientific explorers became the fi rst 
visitors to the region to supply accurate car­
tographic information, observe the extent 
of the interactions between white traders 
and indigenous peoples, describe the fl ora 
and fauna, and conduct tests of the proper­
ties of the boiling waters in what is now Hot 
Springs National Park. Although their expedi­
tion did not cover as much territory as Lewis 
and Clark’s, Dunbar and Hunter’s were the 
first reports describing the landscapes and 
peoples of the Louisiana Purchase to reach 
Jefferson. $29.95. Louisiana State University. 
ISBN 0­8071­3165­2. 

Jay Cooke’s Gamble: The Northern Pacifi c 
Railroad, the Sioux, and the Panic of 1873, 
by M. John Lubetkin (380 pages, May 2006), 
tells the story of Philadelphia banker Jay 
Cooke’s efforts to build a railroad line from 
Duluth, Minnesota, to Seattle, a process that 

set off a chain of 
events that included 
a spurt of survey­
ing expeditions, re­
newed war with the 
Sioux, and the cre­
ation of Yellowstone 
National Park. But 
poor management 
and other diffi cul­
ties led to Cooke’s 
fi nancial collapse 

and one of the worst national economic cri­
ses before the Great Depression. Lubetkin 
ties the threads of the story together tightly 

using many primary documents relating to 
the 1871–1873 Yellowstone Surveying Ex­
peditions. $29.95. University of Oklahoma. 
ISBN 0­8061­3740­1. 

Literature from the “Axis of Evil,” edited by 
Alane Mason, Dedi Felman, and Samantha 
Schnee (293 pages, September 2006), offers 
translations of short stories and excerpts of 
writings by authors from Iran, Iraq, North Ko­
rea, Syria, Libya, Sudan, and Cuba. Compiled 
by the editors of the Words without Borders 
online magazine for international literature, the 
selections could only be made available after 
the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign 
Assets Control in 2005 relaxed its prohibition 
on the publication of literature from nations 
under embargo. Included are “The Vice Princi­
pal,” a short story by the prominent Iranian au­
thor Houshang Moradi­Kermani; “Baghdad My 
Beloved,” a poem by the exiled Iraqi poet and 
playwright Salah Al­Hamdani written shortly 
after the U.S. invasion in 2003; a selection from 
the 2005 historical novel Hwangjini by North 
Korean writer Hong Seok­jung; and the story 
“Women of the Federation,” by Havana writer 
Francisco García González. $24.95. New Press. 
ISBN 1­59558­070­0. 

Ned Kelly’s Last Days: Setting the Record 
Straight on the Death of an Outlaw, by Alex 
C. Castles and Jennifer Castles (268 pages, 
August 2006), focuses on the 137 days be­
tween the capture of notorious Australian 
outlaw and cop­killer Ned Kelly and his ex­
ecution in November 1880. Law professor 
Alex Castles takes a close look at the legal 
process leading to Kelly’s trial and fi nds 
tampered evidence, confl icting accounts, 
a corrupt police force, and the little­publi­
cized fact that the law under which Kelly 
was prosecuted had expired a few months 
earlier. The armor­suited Kelly has attained 
such a legendary status that it’s unlikely this 
will be the last word on the case, but Castles 
does clarify some of the murky politics and 
propaganda of the times. $16.95. Allen & 
Unwin; distributed by Independent Publish­
ers Group. ISBN 1­74114­538­4. 

November 2006  647 C&RL News