Barbarians (DVD)

by A&E

General Collection D135 .B37 2003

Four episodes from the award winning A&E Biography.

Thirteen Days

by Robert F. Kennedy

General Collection E183.8 .R9 K43 1999

The unique, gripping account of the perilous showdown between the United States and the Soviet Union. During the thirteen days in October 1962 when the United States confronted the Soviet Union over its installation of missiles in Cuba, few people shared the behind-the-scenes story as it is told here by the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy. In a clear and simple record, he describes the personalities involved in the crisis, with particular attention to the actions and attitudes of his brother, President John F. Kennedy. He describes the daily, even hourly, exchanges between Russian representatives and American. In firsthand immediacy we see the frightening responsibility of two great nations holding the fate of the world in their hands. (barnesandnoble.com, from the publisher)

Gideon’s Trumpet

by Anthony Lewis

General Collection KF228 .G53 L49 1989

A history of the landmark case of James Earl Gideon’s fight for the right to legal counsel. Notes, table of cases, index. The classic backlist bestseller. More than 800,000 sold since its first pub date of 1964. (barnesandnoble.com, from the publisher)

Changing Minds

by Howard Gardner

General Collection BF637 .C4 G37 2006

Think about the last time you tried to change someone’s mind about something important: a voter’s political beliefs; a customer’s favorite brand; a spouse’s decorating taste. Chances are you weren’t successful in shifting that person’s beliefs in any way. In his book, Changing Minds, Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner explains what happens during the course of changing a mind and offers ways to influence that process.

Remember that we don’t change our minds overnight, it happens in gradual stages that can be powerfully influenced along the way.This book provides insights that can broaden our horizons and shape our lives. (barnesandnoble.com, from the publisher)

Village Voice Film Guide

edited by Dennis Lim

General Collection PN1998 .V47 2007

From America’s original alternative newspaper, a guide to nearly 200 of the best and most important movies of all time.

For more than 50 years, New York City’s Village Voice has offered passionate, well-written, high-spirited film coverage, often celebrating offbeat movies that were ignored or dismissed in the mainstream media. Now the Voice has selected the greatest films that its influential critics have championed over the years and collected these landmark reviews in a book that stands as a singular history of film culture and film criticism. Ranging from silent-era standouts like Pandora’s Box, Hollywood favorites like The Searchers, and international masterworks like Weekend to cult movies like Pink Flamingos, modern classics like Taxi Driver, and contemporary indie cinema like Donnie Darko, this guide will be an indispensable reference for dedicated film lovers everywhere.

The Village Voice was founded in 1955. Most reviews in this guide are by noted critics J. Hoberman, Andrew Sarris, and Jonas Mekas, with additional reviews by other Voice critics. (barnesandnoble.com, from the publisher)

Struggle Against Slavery: A History in Documents

by David Waldstreicher

General Collection E447 .W35 2001

From slave ships to plantations to freedom, The Struggle Against Slavery traces the remarkable history of the heroic fight to end slavery, from its North American beginnings in the early 1600s to its violent demise in the mid-1800s with the Civil War. Captured in their own words from transcripts, diaries, memoirs, newspaper clippings, drawings, and other documents are the stories of how slaves and free blacks fought against the dehumanization of slavery by developing anti-racist arguments, creating their own institutions, physically escaping, and fighting with weapons. An exceptional social, political, and cultural history of the period, The Struggle Against Slavery is filled with stirring tales of survival and strength, bringing to life the African-American experience in early America. (barnesandnoble.com, from the publisher)

Michael’s Book of Wedding Crafts

by Linda Kopp

General Collection TT149 .M53 2006

Natural Causes

by Dan Hurley

General Collection RA1250 .H87 2006

More than 60 percent of Americans use herbal and dietary supplements, from Saint John’s wort to vitamin E, fueling sales that total $20 billion a year despite a marked lack of evidence that these products are either safe or effective. Aside from extensive coverage of ephedra, the weight-loss supplement linked to the death of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Belcher in 2003, the media has been disturbingly silent about the danger posed by the natural remedies flooding the market today. Award-winning journalist Dan Hurley breaks the silence in Natural Causes. Hurley charts the shocking rise in deaths, disfigurements, and life-threatening injuries caused by supplements deceptively promoted as “safe and natural,” and brings to light the backroom politics that led to the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, which essentially freed the industry from any FDA oversight. In unprecedented detail, he shows how the industry concealed the truth about dozens of untested treatments, from the placebo effect of supplements like echinacea and gingko to the adverse and even fatal reactions brought on by vitamins, Chinese herbal remedies, and supplements like bitter orange and L-tryptophan. Like Fast Food Nation, Natural Causes blends hard facts with harrowing personal stories and provides a hard-hitting, frightening look at an industry and a cultural trend that is out of control. (barnesandnoble.com, from the publisher)

Little Book of Plagiarism

by Richard A. Posner

General Collection K1485 .P67 2007

If plagiarism is, as Oscar Wilde claimed, the sincerest form of flattery, the world is teeming with flatterers. According to the worst reports, bestselling authors, bloggers, platinum-selling musicians, and Ivy League students all over the world are busy cutting, pasting, and copying somebody else’s intellectual property. With this sage little book, polymath Richard A. Posner rushes to our rescue with a strikingly straightforward examination of a legal issue that seems to grow more complicated by the day. (barnesandnoble.com)

Never Suck a Dead Man’s Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI

by Dana Kollmann

General Collection HV8074 .K6 2007

A former crime-scene investigator describes the stuff that perps take away from the places they violate and, particularly, the stuff they leave behind. (barnesandnoble.com, Kirkus Reviews)