Yates, Julia. The Fashion Careers Guidebook: A Guide to Every Career in the Fashion Industry and How To Get It. Barron’s. 2011. 192p. photogs. index. ISBN 9780764146909. pap. $18.99. CAREERS
Yates (head, creative careers, Univ. of Arts, London), with U.S. consultant Donna Gustavsen (apparel design, Rhode Island Sch. of Design), has written the definitive academic guide to fashion careers complete with a directory of 70-plus fashion occupations. While giving special emphasis to routes in and how to stand out from the crowd of applicants, the author describes significant job titles within eight specializations of the fashion industry, including fashion design, accessories design, retailing, costumes, production, textiles, education, and communication. Multiple photos accompany the text, illustrating essential aspects of the jobs described. Specific attention is given to career advice about education choices, work and internship experience, résumé and portfolio preparation, job interviews, and networking. VERDICT This guidebook is an exceptional resource for the student seeking academic direction and knowledgeable advice for a career in the fashion industry. Well organized, fact-filled, and comprehensive, the book also features relevant additional resources, including related websites, institutions of study, and where to look for jobs. Highly recommended.‚ Jane Scott, George Fox Univ. Lib., Newberg, OR
Weidensaul, Scott. The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance in Early America. Houghton Harcourt. Feb. 2012. c.480p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780151015153. $30. HIST
Beautifully written by naturalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist Weidensaul (Living on the Wind: Across the Globe with Migratory Birds), this work surveys the contest for North America from the arrival of Europeans to the aftermath of the French and Indian War in 1763, including Pontiac’s War. Although the Spanish appear within this text, the primary European actors here are the British and the French. Weidensaul sets the stage for his story by providing an overview of pre-contact Native America. This is critical, as it allows him to personalize centuries of conflict by demonstrating through numerous individuals, both native and European, how the first frontier fundamentally changed the people who lived therein. Unlike most works of this type, the author eschews a regional focus, which enables him to make connections from such disparate flashpoints as the Yamasee War in the South, William Penn’s activities in Pennsylvania, and the conflicts in New England. VERDICT This highly recommended book is appropriate for lay audiences, who should also consider Fred Anderson’s The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War.‚ John Burch, Campbellsville Univ. Lib., KY
Wilkinson, Alec. The Ice Balloon: S.A. Andrée and the Heroic Age of Arctic Exploration. Knopf. 2012. c.256p. illus. bibliog. ISBN 9780307594808. $25.95. HIST 
In 1897, Swedish national S.A. Andrée and a crew of two attempted to fly from Spitsbergen to the North Pole and back via hydrogen balloon. Wilkinson (staff writer, The New Yorker; The Protest Singer: An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger) vividly describes this little-known Arctic expedition and provides details about late 19th-century ballooning. After being aloft for nearly 66 hours while traveling 517 miles, the balloon landed 300 miles short of the pole. Thus Andrée, Nils Strindberg, and Knut Fraenkel began the hard work of crossing the Arctic to find land. The book recounts contemporary expeditions by Adolphus Greely, Fridtjof Nansen, and Charles Francis Hall, which provide historical context and flesh out the conditions met by Andrée and his crew. Andrée’s journal abruptly ends with his landing on White Island after nearly three months of sledging. No one knows exactly how or when the men died, a fact that lends greater mystery to this unusual Arctic expedition. Andrée’s last camp and journals were not discovered until 1930. VERDICT Entertaining and extremely well written, this captivating story about an obscure Arctic expedition is an essential purchase for all avid readers of exploration and polar literature. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 7/18/11.]‚ Margaret Atwater-Singer, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN
Kandel, Eric R. The Age of Insight: The Quest To Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present. Random. Mar. 2012. c.640p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781400068715. $40. PSYCH
Nobel Prize winner Kandel (neuro science, Columbia Univ.; In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind) has written a book about the flowering of art, psychology, and medicine in his native Vienna at the turn of the 20th century. He describes the linked influences and interactions of Sigmund Freud; artists Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, and Egon Schiele; writer Arthur Schnitzler; and art historians Alois Riegl, Ernst Kris, and Ernst Gombrich, and he follows their work to the present day in order to paint a coherent picture of what cognitive scientists now believe is occurring in the brains of artists as they create and audiences as they encounter powerful works of art. VERDICT Kandel, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work in finding the physical location of memory within neurons, here uses neuroscience to take on the creative mind. The result is a fascinating synthesis of art, history, and science that is also accessible to the general reader. A distinctive and important title that is also a pleasure to read; highly recommended to even the occasional reader of serious nonfiction. [See Prepub Alert, 9/11/11.]‚ Mary Ann Hughes, Shelton, WA
Not Just Joan of Arc
Barker, Juliet. Conquest: The English Kingdom of France, 1417‚ 1450. Harvard Univ. Feb. 2012. c.512p. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780674065604. $29.95. HIST
While most readers are familiar with the great battles and principal characters of the notoriously lengthy Hundred Years’ War (1337‚ 1453), which raged between England and France, the turbulent 30-year period of English rule on the continent has until now received little attention. In the aftermath of the peace established by the 1420 Treaty of Troyes, England set a course on maintaining its newly acquired territory in the face of continued resistance and internal divisions. Picking up where she left off in her last work, Agincourt, British literary biographer and medievalist Baker delves deeply into the world of the mentally disturbed Henry VI of England, the indecisive French dauphin who would become Charles VII, and the saintly Maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc. She has produced a first-rate, fluid account of this little-understood period in European history. VERDICT Baker’s narrative treatment is packed with details of an administrative, military, and political nature, leaving no aspect of the turbulent period untouched but making for a less than stimulating adventure for readers unless they come to the topic hungry for these details. Yet Conquest fills a gap in the historiography and may be invaluable for serious students and scholars of the era.‚ Brian Odom, Pelham P.L., AL
Goldstone, Nancy. The Maid and the Queen: The Secret History of Joan of Arc. Viking. Apr. 2012. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780670023332. $26.95. HIST
This fascinating dual biography weaves together the stories of two late medieval women‚ one highly familiar, the other virtually hidden from history. Goldstone (Four Queens: The Proven ç al Sisters Who Ruled Europe) presents a new interpretation of events surrounding the life and legend of Joan of Arc, seeking to uncover how and why this illiterate peasant mystic came to influence political and military policy. The backstory involves Yolande of Aragon (1381‚ 1442), queen of Sicily, duchess of Maine and Anjou, countess of Provence, and mother-in-law to the dauphin and future King Charles VII. She had personal and political motives for bringing Joan to the attention of the French court. Relying heavily on medieval French sources as well as the wildly popular medieval Romance of Melusine, Goldstone identifies the powerful Yolande as a woman who used her skill in diplomacy, her wealth, and her love for her family to ensure that the throne of France would be preserved for her daughter Marie and son-in-law Charles. VERDICT The lack of scholarly citations may cause specialists to question Goldstone’s overwhelming evidence of Yolande’s power and influence, but her entertaining narrative will intrigue general readers interested in the Middle Ages, Joan of Arc (whose 600th birthday is this year), or biographies of royal figures or women in history. ‚ Marie Marmo Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., NJ
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The following titles are reviewed in the January print issue. Visit our Reviews Center (Beta) for the full reviews.
Biography
Cordery, Stacy A. Juliette Gordon Low: The Remarkable Founder of the Girl Scouts. Viking. Feb. 2012. c.400p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780670023301. $27.95. BIOG
Penn, Thomas. Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England. S. & S. Mar. 2012. c.480p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781439191569. $28. BIOG
Sebba, Anne. That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor. St. Martin’s. Mar. 2012. c.352p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781250002969. $27.99. BIOG
Economics
Anderson, Maggie. Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest To Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy. PublicAffairs: Perseus. Feb. 2012. c.320p. maps. index. ISBN 9781610390248. $25.99. ECON
Cowen, Tyler. An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies. Dutton. Apr. 2012. c.384p. index. ISBN 9780525952664. $26.95. ECON
Cross, Dick. Just Run It!: Running an Exceptional Business Is Easier Than You Think. Bibliomotion. Apr. 2012. c.224p. illus. ISBN 9781937134006. pap. $22.95. BUS
Kluth, Andreas. Hannibal and Me: What History’s Greatest Military Strategist Can Teach Us About Success and Failure. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). 2012. c.336p. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781594488122. $26.95. BUS
History
Davies, Andrea Rees. Saving San Francisco: Relief and Recovery After the 1906 Disaster. Temple Univ. 2011. c.220p. photogs. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781439904336. pap. $29.95. HIST
Goldstein, Phyllis. A Convenient Hatred: The History of Antisemitism. Facing History and Ourselves. 2011. c.432p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780981954387. pap. $17.95. HIST
In Country: Remembering the Vietnam War. Ivan R. Dee. Feb. 2012. c.344p. ed. by John Prados. index. ISBN 9781566638685. $27.95. HIST
Ozment, Steven. The Serpent and the Lamb: How Lucas Cranach and Martin Luther Changed Their World and Ours. Yale Univ. 2012. 344p. illus. index. ISBN 9780300169850. $35. HIST
Platt, Stephen R. Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War. Knopf. Feb. 2012. c.496p. illus. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780307271730. $30. HIST
Law & Crime
Dorsen, David M. Henry Friendly, Greatest Judge of His Era. Belknap: Harvard Univ. Mar. 2012. c.506p. index. ISBN 9780674064393. $35. LAW
Friel, Bob. The Barefoot Bandit: The True Tale of Colton Harris-Moore, New American Outlaw. Hyperion. Apr. 2012. c.432p. photogs. ISBN 9781401324162. $25.99. CRIME
King, Gilbert. Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America. Harper: HarperCollins. Mar. 2012. c.400p. photogs. index. ISBN 9780061792281. $26.99. CRIME
Lankford, Susan Madden. Born, Not Raised: Voices from Juvenile Hall. Humane Exposure. Mar. 2012. c.242p. illus. bibliog. index.
ISBN 9780979236631. pap. $24.95. LAW
Phelps, M. William. Never See Them Again. Kensington. Mar. 2012. c.320p. ISBN 9780758273383. $25. CRIME
Parapsychology
Moody, Raymond, M.D., with Paul Perry. Paranormal: My Life in Pursuit of the Afterlife. HarperOne: HarperCollins. Feb. 2012. c.256p. ISBN 9780062046420. $25.99. PARAPSYCH
POLITICAL SCIENCE
Parnell, Sean with John Bruning. Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan. Morrow. Mar. 2012. c.384p. ISBN 9780062066398. $26.99. POL SCI/MEMOIR
Psychology
Laham, Simon. The Science of Sin: The Psychology of the Seven Deadlies (And Why They Are So Good for You). Three Rivers: Crown. Feb. 2012. c.224p. ISBN 9780307719348. pap. $14. PSYCH
Winter, Alison. Memory: Fragments of a Modern History. Univ. of Chicago. 2011. c.312p. illus. index. ISBN 9780226902586. $30. PSYCH
Writers on the Edge: 22 Writers Speak About Addiction and Dependency. Modern History. (Reflections of America). Feb. 2012. 200p. ed. by Diana M. Raab & James Brown. index. ISBN 9781615991099. $32.95; pap. ISBN 9781615991082. $19.95. PSYCH
Social Sciences
Chandler, Susan & Jill B. Jones. Casino Women: Courage in Unexpected Places. ILR: Cornell Univ. 2011. c.240p. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780801450143. $29.95. SOC SCI
Treuer, David. Rez Life. Atlantic Monthly. Feb. 2012. c.352p. photogs. ISBN 9780802119711. $26. SOC SCI
Travel & Geography
Stavans, Ilan. Return to Centro Histórico: A Mexican Jew Looks for His Roots. Rutgers Univ. Feb. 2012. c.208p. photogs. bibliog. ISBN 9780813551913. $24.95. TRAV
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