History Books

BETWEEN WORLDS: Interpreters, Guides, and Survivors
by Frances karttunen. B&W photo section. Condition: UNREAD 1994 Rutgers University Press hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), assumed first printing. Content: This is an important and interesting book for historians, IMHO. The author describes the lives of 16 men and women who acted as guides and interpreters for explorers, missionaries, and anthropologists. Included are Dona Marina, who interpreted for Cortes; Sacajawea, who traveled with Lewis and Clark; and Charles Eastman, who was a Sioux physician at Wounded Knee. Karttunen provides succinct biographies of the selected individuals and a final chapter of her own analysis. Her primary focus is exploring how each interpreter lived on the margins of two societies. She is particularly sensitive to gender and ethnic issues but does not address the linguistics of the work that these interpreters did. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 8.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping

DERRIDA AND THE END OF HISTORY (Postmodern Encounters)
by Stuart Sim. Condition: NEW 2000 Icon/Totem paperback, reprint. Content: Derrida's critique of Fukuyama's claim that history "as we know it" has ended is highlighted as one of his most valuable contributions to the postmodern cultural debate. This book places Derrida's rejection of Fukuyama's claim within the context of a wider tradition of 'endist' thought. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 3.49 + $ 2.94 first class shipping

MAPS AND HISTORY: Constructing Images of the Past
by Jeremy Black. Color and B&W maps and illustrations. Condition: NEW 1997 Yale University Press hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, first priting. Content: Historical atlases offer an understanding of the past which is invaluable to historians, not only because they convey a previous age's sense of space and distance but also because they reveal what historians and educators of those periods thought important to include or omit. This book - the first comprehensive and wide-ranging account of the historical atlas - explores the role, development and nature of this important reference tool and discusses its impact on the presentation of the past. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 9.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

THE NEW HISTORICISM
edited by H. Aram Veeser. Condition: UNREAD 1989 Routledge Trade Paperback, no printing given. Tiny edgewear. Content: Following Clifford Geertz and other cultural anthropologists, the New Historicist critics have evolved a method for describing culture in action. Their "thick descriptions" seize upon an event or anecdote--colonist John Rolfe's conversation with Pocohontas's father, a note found among Nietzsche's papers to the effect that "I have lost my umbrella"--and re-read it to reveal through the analysis of tiny particulars the motive forces controlling a whole society. Contributors: Stephen J. Greenblatt, Louis A. Montrose, Catherine Gallagher, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Gerald Graff, Jean Franco, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Frank Lentricchia, Vincent Pecora, Jane Marcus, Jon Klancher, Jonathan Arac, Hayden White, Stanley Fish, Judith Newton, Joel Fineman, John Schaffer, Richard Terdiman, Donald Pease, Brooks Thomas. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 14.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

PAST IMPERFECT: History According to the Movies (A Society of American Historians Book)
edited by Mark C. Carnes. Over 400 B&W movie stills and photos. Condition: UNREAD 1996 Henry Holt very large hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Content: This is a wonderful book for historians and movie lovers alike. Carnes persuaded 60 historical writers, including such popular figures as Gore Vidal, William Manchester, Antonia Frasier, James McPherson, and Frances FitzGerald, to write an original piece on an historical film. The authors gleefully skewer, pick apart, praise, and censure film classics such as Gone with the Wind, Mutiny on the Bounty, A Man for All Seasons, Spartacus, Jurassic Part, Patton, etc. There is, not surprisingly, considerable nitpicking over historical details, but the writers seem to share a common fondness for the movies. Indeed, several confess that their interest in history was first awakened by a film they saw as a child. Film buffs will thoroughly enjoy. More of the films covered: 1776 (my favorite musical), Henry V, Joan of Arc, Columbus, Aguirre, Black Robe, Last of the Mohicans, The Alamo, Glory (does not fare well at all!), The Molly Maguires, Fort Apache, Wyatt Earp, Khartoum (love this one!), Reds (don't miss this one); The Front, Matewan, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Bonnie & Clude, Fat Man and Little Boy, Mississippi Burning (horrible movie), All the President's Men, and many others. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 7.79 + $ 3.39 media shipping.

PLAGUES AND PEOPLES
by William H. McNeill. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1977 Anchor/Dougleday HARDCOVER & DJ (in mylar jacket), no printing given. Tanning to white DJ edges but none to interior pages. DJ has been price-clipped and there is a bookstore embossed seal bottom title page. Content: Upon its original publication, Plagues and Peoples was an immediate critical and popular success, offering a radically new interpretation of world history as seen through the extraordinary impact--political, demographic, ecological, and psychological--of disease on cultures. From the conquest of Mexico by smallpox as much as by the Spanish, to the bubonic plague in China, to the typhoid epidemic in Europe, the history of disease is the history of humankind. With the identification of AIDS in the early 1980s, another chapter has been added to this chronicle of events, which William McNeill explores in his new introduction to this updated editon. Thought-provoking, well-researched, and compulsively readable, Plagues and Peoples is that rare book that is as fascinating as it is scholarly, as intriguing as it is enlightening. "A brilliantly conceptualized and challenging achievement" (Kirkus Reviews), it is essential reading, offering a new perspective on human history. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 7.79 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

SACRED JOURNEYS IN A MODERN WORLD
by Roger Housden. Beautiful color photos of the sites. Condition: UNREAD 1998 Simon & Schuster hardcvoer & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. DJ shows edgewear top edge. Content: Housden takes us on a "sacred" journey to: St. Catherine's in the Sinai; New York; the Sahara; The Ganges; Big Sur; Konya; and Africa. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 8.49 + $ 3.39 media shipping.

SEX IN HISTORY
by Reay Tannahill (Food in History). B&W illustrations. Condition: UNREAD, BUT NOT PERFECT, 1992 Scarborough large soft cover (490 pages), revised & updated edition. Problem: shelfwear diagonal crease bottom front cover corner - you know when some idiot shoves a book back on the shelf where there is no room for it - that's what caused this crease. Content: Sanity on the subject of sex is all too rare; wit is in even shorter supply; and an engaging style is about as commonplace as eyebrows on an egg. Reviewer: "Tanahill's writing is witty,interesting, and unbiased. She addresses the history of sexuality in almost every country and culture (not just Europe, which is what usually happens) and gives a history of humankind, from the Neolithic Revolution to the 1980s. It's well-researched and incredibly informative, filled with facts about gender roles and sexuality (and how this affects everything else in a society) throughout time." Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 6.49 + $ 3.39 media shipping.

TRIBAL RUGS: A Buyer's Guide
by Lee Allane. Color photos of the rugs. Condition: NEW 1996 Thames & Hudson large soft cover, no printing given. Content: The distinctive rugs still made by many peoples of tribal origin in Asia, the Americas and North Africa have become widely sought after for their decorative and fuctional role in enlivening today's interiors. This comprehensive guide contains independent advice for the buyer. It explains what tribal rugs are, and exactly how they are made, discussing how weaving techniques, tools and material affect their character and quality. It offers advice on how to buy a rug from choosing the right one to value for money. The cultural context in which these various rugs are made is explored, with descriptions of the different ethnic weaving groups, and sections on their historical, religious and cultural backgrounds. Covers Asia, North Africa, and Native America. Questions welcome. [1 copy availaable]
$ 11.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping.