Bookshelf

What's Been Happening

Modern Arab Art: Formation of Arab Aesthetics by Nada M. Shabout, assistant professor of visual arts and design (University Press of Florida).

The book provides a historical and theoretical overview of Arab art since the 1940s, based on interviews with Arab artists, reviews of Arabic resources and visits to numerous sites and galleries in the Arab world. Shabout investigates questions of colonialism, Orientalism and class and analyzes the use of the Arabic letter, a major trend in modern Arab art.

Encyclopedia of American Jewish History, edited by Eunice G. Pollack, lecturer of history, and Stephen H. Norwood, professor of history at the University of Oklahoma (ABC-CLIO).

This two-volume encyclopedia is the first reference work that examines all aspects of the American Jewish experience in depth. The articles, organized by topic, cover more than three and a half centuries of the influence and impact of Jewish immigrants and their descendants. Topics include contributions of Jewish Americans to the professions and academia, culture and the arts, literature, journalism, labor movements, politics, the sciences, music and American popular culture in general.

The Replica of the Ark of the Covenant in Japan: The Mystery of MiFune-Shiro by Gene Cho, Regents Professor of music (iUniverse). Puzzled by a passage in the Old Testament implying that some of the contents of the Ark of the Covenant had been removed, Cho set out to learn the fate of the missing articles. Based on evidence from linguistics, genetics, archaeology and anthropology, he proposes that the contents were carried by itinerant tribes through centuries of migration across Central Asia and finally to Japan, where the articles (or their replicas) are preserved to this day.

Evan Brain! Adventures of a Delusional Kid Superhero by Eve Becker-Doyle ('85 M.J.) of Dallas and her 15-year-old son, Evan Brian "Brain" Doyle. Evan also illustrated the nonfiction humor book about his antics as a child. Following his mother's version of each chapter — which include stories about his affinity for comics and troubles with teachers and babysitters — is Evan's fantasy rendering of the incident. Also included are cartoons by his sister, UNT freshman Tory Doyle. The authors have been interviewed by Good Morning Texas and a Family Circle reporter who was doing a story on quirky kids.

Revolutionizing Children's Records: The Young People's Records and Children's Record Guild Series, 1946-1977 by David Bonner ('86) of Austin (Scarecrow Press). Part of the American Folk Music and Musicians Series, the book tells the history of the first commercially significant record clubs in the world. By applying book club methods to the field of phonograph records, YPR and CRG attracted some 100,000 subscribers at their peak and served as many as 1 million members in their existence. Bonner traces their influences to the beginnings of music education in the 19th century and explains how the two companies intersected important developments in mass marketing, recording technology, educational philosophy, folk music, contemporary composition and Cold War politics. A detailed discography listing every YPR and CRG recording, including all known writers and performers, is included.

The Elements of Disaster Psychology: Managing Psychosocial Trauma — An Integrated Approach to Force Protection and Acute Care by James Greenstone ('74 Ed.D.) of Fort Worth (Charles C. Thomas Publishers). Without the theory that accompanies other texts, the book focuses on the basic information needed by crisis and disaster responders in the field — from initial deployment to final debriefing. It was designed as a supplemental text in emergency management, crisis intervention and disaster psychology classes and can be used for first and second responder training as well as in the field and office.

Deadpan by Kelly A. Holt ('03) of Bedford (Main Street Rag Publishing Co.). This book of poems, selected for publication after being named a finalist in the 2007 Main Street Rag poetry book award contest, includes "If You're Reading This I'm Sorry" and "The Best Way to a Man's Heart Is to Saw Through His Breastplate." Holt's work has appeared in journals such as Allegheny Review, American Literary Review and Fugue. This is her first collection of poetry.

Corner of Blue by Sharon Tate McAnear ('69) of Durango, Colo. (Capstone Fiction). The first in a planned series of five inspirational novels, Corner of Blue traces the story of Jemmabeth Forrester, a girl in a small Panhandle farming community in the 1960s and '70s, expecting to marry her first-grade love but distracted by a "buckaroo lawyer" and getting plenty of advice from the good-hearted townspeople.

Eric and the Enchanted Leaf: A Night with Echo by Deborah K. Frontiera, illustrated by Korey Scott ('02) of Denton (KAM Publishing). In this third children's book illustrated by Scott, Eric visits Austin to watch its famous bats fly out from their colony under the Congress Avenue Bridge and uses his Enchanted Leaf to talk to a bat named Echo. Scott has more books and educational material scheduled for release this year.

Benchmarking for Hospitals: Achieving Best-in-Class Performance without Having to Reinvent the Wheel by Victor Sower ('90 Ph.D.) of Huntsville, Jo Ann Duffy and Gerald Kohers (ASQ Quality Press). This book, which identifies how best-in-class hospitals achieved excellence, is organized to allow readers with no knowledge of the benchmarking process to understand and apply it. The book contains detailed case studies that will enable hospitals that are working to improve their processes to conduct their own "first cut" at benchmarking. Sower is a professor of management at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville.

The Jakester by Barbara McDaniel Smith (M.Ed. '72) of Gainesville. This children's book tells of the adventures and misadventures of a farm dog named John Jacob Redhealer III, or the Jakester, as told by the dog and "translated into people talk" by the author. His life includes dealing with Hanna and Cindy (the other two dogs on the farm), playing pranks on visiting guests and constantly scheming how to get into the house. Smith was an elementary school teacher for 12 years in Dallas and Richardson and a school counselor in Plano for two years. She and her husband, Wilbur Smith ('64), live on their farm outside Gainesville.