To highlight the wide range of publications reviewed in Choice, each month Choice editors feature some noteworthy reviews from the current issue. 
 
Armatta, Judith.  Twilight of impunity: the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic.  Duke University, 2010.  345p index afp ISBN 0-8223-4746-6, $39.95; ISBN 9780822347460, $39.95.
48-2938  KZ1203  2009-51107 CIP
 
The breakup of the federated states of Yugoslavia, which began in 1991, led to open, violent conflict between the different states and ethnic groups. One byproduct was a policy of genocide initiated by the mostly Christian Serbian forces against Kosovar Muslims. The president of Serbia was Slobodan Milosevic, who was also the titular head of its military forces and ultimately the recipient of the sobriquet “Butcher of the Balkans.” Amatta, a lawyer, a journalist, a human rights advocate, and an activist, took on the task of documenting the trial of Milosevic before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. Milosevic, who was indicted while president but arrested subsequent to his removal from office, was brought before the Tribunal on 66 charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The trial’s tales include a horrendous unveiling of inhuman acts perpetrated by official and unofficial Serbian forces against Kosovars. In the end, justice was denied when in March 2006 Milosevic died of a heart attack in his jail cell, which was attached to the Tribunal. This is a definite source for the examination of post-WW II human rights trials and post-conflict resolution institutions. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. — S. R. Silverburg, Catawba College 
 
Brunetta, Leslie.  Spider silk: evolution and 400 million years of spinning, waiting, snagging, and mating, by Leslie Brunetta and Catherine L. Craig.  Yale, 2010.  229p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780300149227, $30.00.
48-2672  QL459  2009-47224 CIP
 
This well-received book is the wonderfully entertaining product of a collaboration between Brunetta, a freelance journalist and former Fulbright scholar, and Craig, a respected evolutionary biologist and author of Spiderwebs and Silk (2003). As the book delves into the evolution, properties, and multiple uses of spider silk, it takes the reader on brief forays into Greek mythology, paleontology, the foundations of Darwinian theory, Mendelian genetics, the Watson-Crick model of DNA structure, and protein chemistry. Modern spiders produce six or more different silks, and the changes in the structure of these fibrous proteins allow them to function as glues, water-repellent packaging, rappelling ropes, snares, and trip lines. The scattering of light by protein droplets in the silk even helps to obscure spider webs from flying insects, thus aiding their capture. The authors offer a fascinating look into how modifications of the strength, stickiness, and appearance of the silk used to make trip lines or webs allow spiders to extend their senses and physical reach. Silken webs can provide a spider with a home, a fortress, and a snare, whereas lines allow it to balloon on air currents for hundreds of kilometers. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Academic and public library collections, all levels. — M. J. O’Donnell, McMaster University 
 
Bulletproof feathers: how science uses nature’s secrets to design cutting-edge technology, ed. by Robert Allen.  Chicago, 2010.  192p bibl index afp ISBN 0-226-01470-3, $35.00; ISBN 9780226014708, $35.00.
48-2633  QP517  2009-37097 CIP
 
Bulletproof Feathers is a fascinating introduction to the field of biomimetics, or bionics. Biomimetics refers to efforts to understand the design and complexity of natural, biological systems and the application of this knowledge to achieve useful new technologies. Some notable success stories of biomimetics include Velcro fasteners, modeled after burdock hooks that catch on clothing when a person hikes across a field of thistle, and the “lotus leaf effect,” in which nanoscale waxy protrusions endow a surface with a superhydrophobic property that causes water drops to roll right off (and take any contaminating dirt with them!). This book, beautifully illustrated with many real-world examples and explanatory diagrams, will be a joy to read for any fan of science and technology. Biomimetics, and its closely related discipline of bionic engineering, is a rapidly growing field at the intersection of engineering, materials science, and biology. In fact, the new International Society of Bionic Engineering was recently founded, with Professor Julian Vincent as its inaugural president. Vincent contributes the final chapter, “New Materials and Natural Design”; the other contributing authors are equally distinguished academics from departments of biology, engineering, and acoustics. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates, two-year technical program students, and general readers. — M. R. King, Cornell University 
 
Cullen, Heidi.  The weather of the future: heat waves, extreme storms, and other scenes from a climate-changed planet.  Harper, 2010.  329p index; ISBN 9780061726880, $25.99.
48-2687  QC903   MARC
 
Most Americans associate global warming with ice melting in some remote place. In the absence of local effects, people remain fairly unconcerned. Cullen, a senior research scientist at the nonprofit organization Climate Central and an environmental reporter, capitalizes on her media celebrity to predict global warming effects worldwide on a timescale covering the next 40 years. Using a conversational mode, the author makes a case for the reliability of climate models and explains how they differ slightly with their inputs. A chapter on paleoclimate introduces research methods and provides a baseline for the warming now underway because of CO₂ emissions. She makes the case that extreme weather events will become even more frequent and devastating during the lifetimes of most Americans. Cullen explains concepts and terms simply but effectively. She describes current circumstances and projects the near future for seven critical regions, including the North American Arctic and New York City. Current scholarly research documented in footnotes supports her statements. Though she does not discuss the arguments made against the consensus views held by the scientific community, her presentation is thoughtful and reasonable. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. — L. S. Zipp, formerly, State University of New York College at Geneseo  

Dinstein, Yoram.  The conduct of hostilities under the law of international armed conflict.  2nd ed.  Cambridge, 2010.  320p indexes; ISBN 9780521198134, $120.00; ISBN 9780521121316 pbk, $50.00.
48-2940  KZ6385  2009-53486 MARC
 
Though this reviewer has not had the opportunity to read the first edition of The Conduct of Hostilities under the Law of Armed Conflict (CH, Nov’04, 42-1835), the second is an excellent reference about and explication of particularly pressing legal dimensions of armed conflict. It is a dense but accessible guide to the law of the conduct of hostilities. Dinstein (Tel-Aviv Univ.) discusses important topics like lawful combatancy, prohibited weapons, legitimate military objectives, air war, and espionage, using a combination of treaty law, case law, and empirical examples. As a companion volume to the author’s War, Aggression, and Self-Defence (2001) or alone, it is a surprisingly concise yet impressively comprehensive guide to the international law of armed conflict as relates to the conduct of hostilities. The book would be useful for both graduates and undergraduates studying the laws of war; however, it is weak on the interaction between politics, institutions, and law in the production, implementation, and enforcement of the laws of war. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and research collections. — L. E. Sjoberg, University of Florida
     
FAOSTAT, from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.  Internet Resource.
48-2430

http://faostat.fao.org/ 
[Visited Oct’10] FAOSTAT is an online database providing a broad array of statistics on food and agriculture. It covers data from 210 countries and territories plus international statistics. Over a million time-series records are featured, officially going back to 1961, but with greater coverage of the past 15 years. Until recently, a limited amount of data was open to interested parties, but the most substantial information was available only through a paid subscription. As of July 1, 2010, access is completely free; however, users must register first to take full advantage of the site. Specific areas include food supply and food security, food products (with balance sheets), agricultural trade, forestry and fisheries data, land use and irrigation, use of fertilizers and pesticides, and other census data. The data come from individual countries and regional development organizations. Of the one billion-plus data points, 40 million are updated annually and some are updated daily.

To ensure accuracy, several data quality conferences have been held on monitoring and assessing the information. Records are available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, and Spanish. To facilitate use of the database, the site offers a user manual, glossary of concepts/definitions, and an important Support/FAQ page, which includes questions and answers on how to register, provides guidelines for using FAOSTAT versus national data, and presents conversion factors. This is the definitive source for international statistics on food and agriculture. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general audience. — N. Kobzina, University of California, Berkeley 
 
Fuller, Graham E.  A world without Islam.  Little, Brown, 2010.  328p index ISBN 0-316-04119-X, $25.99; ISBN 9780316041195, $25.99.
48-2827  BP50  2009-54078 CIP
 
Social scientists and historians rarely venture into the world of “what ifs.” Former CIA official Fuller (Simon Fraser Univ., Canada) asks readers to consider the world today without the variable of Islam, and his contention is that Islam is not the prime mover of contemporary events. Wearing the hats of both scholar and CIA analyst/role-player, Fuller examines the basic ideological cleavages in the Middle East between Orthodox Christianity and Western Christendom, as well as conflicts between Europe, Russia, India, and China. In other words, Fuller is not smugly satisfied with a Huntingtonesque East versus West conflict. He concludes that “[i]t is not a new revelation to note that power and any ideology tend to corrupt each other. If there was no Islam, there would certainly be other religions around playing similar roles under similar conditions. With no religions at all, we would still readily find or create other ideologies to justify the same acts. Thus, a world without Islam does not markedly change the nature of things.” Indeed, it is the author’s contention that Americans are ignorant of longstanding ideological and geopolitical struggles that long predate the founding of Islam. Summing Up: Recommended. General and public libraries. — M. L. Russell, East Carolina University 
 
Gordimer, Nadine.  Telling times: writing and living, 1954-2008.  W.W. Norton, 2010.  742p; ISBN 9780393066289, $39.95.
48-2514  PR9369  2010-8153 CIP
 
In her 1991 Nobel lecture, Gordimer pointed out how factual explanations always fall short of the truth of her fiction: “The life, the opinions, are not the work, for it is in the tension between standing apart and being involved that the imagination transforms both.” In the present volume, one finds the raw materials Gordimer’s imagination would come to test and transform into her major novels and short stories. The essays tell the historical moment and reveal the brutality or the nobility of an individual, an event, or a collective political decision. Here one can look at the process of an extraordinary writer–at how she selects and transforms the telling moment into character, plot, and meaning. Organized by decades, the volume covers, with precision and energy, a range of topics: childhood memories; the social/political trajectory of apartheid; censorship and the role of the writer; and the contributions of contemporary poets and intellectuals, including Octavio Paz, Edward Said, and Albert Memmi. This important volume adds to the reader’s understanding of Gordimer and of the role of the artist as “an agent of change,” as someone who is actively engaged in representing the traumas and injustices of the time and arriving at the fullest possible consciousness. Summing Up: Essential. All readers.
— E. M. Huergo, Montgomery College–Rockville Campus  
 
Handlin, Amy H.  Be your own lobbyist: how to give your small business big clout with state and local government.  Praeger, 2010.  211p bibl index afp ISBN 0-313-38155-0, $44.95; ISBN 9780313381553, $44.95.
48-2780  HD2341  2010-4270 CIP
 
Written by a New Jersey state legislator who is also a marketing professor, this unique how-to guide should be tremendously useful to any small business owner who wants to influence state or local government officials but cannot afford to engage professional lobbyists. Handlin (Monmouth Univ.) lays out a three-part approach to lobbying: target, tools, and tactics. Targeting involves making certain that the businessperson knows what responsibilities fall to state or local government and identifying the person best positioned to help. Tools describes a variety of communication approaches ranging from e-mail and petitions to testimony at public meetings. Tactics focuses on crafting a message for a particular target, either directly or through the media. The three-pronged approach comes to life through numerous examples and case studies, including an entire chapter on “sample challenges”; lists of dos and don’ts; useful explanations of how positive or negative “framing” can affect the target’s response; and an appendix containing tip sheets for holding a press conference or working a public meeting, and models for press releases, Op-Ed pieces, and petitions. A section on lobbying ethics clarifies the sometimes hard-to-distinguish lines between acceptable and potentially illegal influence attempts. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Collections serving practitioners or potential entrepreneurs. — M. S. Myers, Carnegie Mellon University

LanguageGuide.org.  Internet Resource.
48-2503 http://www.languageguide.org/ 

[Visited Oct’10] A free, evolving language-learning tool offered in 13 languages (at this writing), this Web site is, according to its home page, a nonprofit enterprise that “aims to develop three types of resources: pictorial vocabulary guides, interactive readings, and grammar guides.” The vocabulary guides are the most developed feature of the site and include a picture or symbol (i.e., numbers) the visitor can click on to access a native speaker pronouncing the word or phrase in a crisp, clear voice. Words are grouped in categories such as animals, colors, numbers, fruit, food, travel, and health (groups differ for each language). For example, on the French pictorial vocabulary page, running the mouse over a photograph of an apple brings up a window reading la pomme and a pleasant audio articulation of la pomme. When this reviewer visited, readings and grammar were available only in French, Spanish, and English, but the Webmasters encourage submissions of recorded readings in various languages. Anyone can suggest additions via a blog and/or wiki. Users can set up a free account and save words and phrases for future reference or practice. The site is easy to navigate, and its main attraction lies in its offering of basic vocabulary for the student or general user. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers.
— C. Machado, Norwalk Community College   
 
Peters, Ronald M., Jr.  Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the new American politics, by Ronald M. Peters Jr. and Cindy Simon Rosenthal.  Oxford, 2010.  320p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780195383737, $29.95.
48-2973  E840  2009-27936 CIP
 
Nancy Pelosi is the political equivalent of a Rorschach test; liberals love her and conservatives hate her. Existing treatments of Pelosi are either paeans to the House speaker or political hatchet jobs. However, she is widely acknowledged by friends and foes alike to be one of the most effective speakers in modern history–successfully shepherding Barak Obama’s legislative agenda through the House during the first two years of his presidency–and it is very appropriate to consider her place in US politics after only four years in the job. This scrupulously balanced treatment of Pelosi is written by two preeminent experts on the US Congress and politics. Peters (Univ. of Oklahoma) is the foremost expert on the US speakership in the country, and Rosenthal (Univ. of Oklahoma) is a leader in the study of women in politics. Their work puts Pelosi’s speakership in context from San Francisco to Washington during this period of political tumult and helps readers understand how she became speaker and why she has been successful (or not). Peters and Rosenthal’s highly readable and entertaining book is appropriate for all audiences from general readers to congressional scholars and will be a welcome addition in undergraduate Congress courses. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels. — S. Q. Kelly, California State University Channel Islands  

Pettegree, Andrew.  The book in the Renaissance.  Yale, 2010.  421p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780300110098, $40.00.
48-2407  Z291  2009-26513 CIP
 
This new book by Pettegree (Univ. of Saint Andrews) is sure to become a classic account of the first age of print, roughly the period from Gutenberg to the end of the 17th century. At heart it is a history of the book business: the story of how printers learned to become economically and culturally viable. Early printers, it appears, were less dependent on disseminating the classics–the humanist myth–and more appreciative of everyday work of the ephemeral sort. The numbers here could be very large; the monastery of Montserrat ordered 200,000 indulgences in two years. Books could be profitable too, but misjudging the market was easy, and a miscalculation of the enormous investment required could be fatal. Gutenberg died a bankrupt, and many of his contemporaries fared little better. By the end of the 16th century, however, printing was a well-established and profitable component of the European world. This book is a pleasure to read. Not only does Pettegree tell a story well, but he avoids becoming bogged down in the minutiae beloved by many bibliographers. As a result, this book is an ideal text for undergraduates and sure to become recommended reading for courses in early modern history and literature as well as the book. Instructors and students also will appreciate the judicious bibliography. A required book for liberal arts and graduate programs at all levels. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers; general readers. — P. L. Holmer, Southern Connecticut State University 
 
Satz, Debra.  Why some things should not be for sale: the moral limits of markets.  Oxford, 2010.  252p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780195311594, $35.00.
48-2612  HB95  2009-35769 CIP
 
Satz (Stanford Univ.) here provides a rigorous analysis of the relation between morality and the role of markets. Outlining and critically analyzing some of the most cherished assumptions regarding markets, Satz is not satisfied to provide a simple, scathing critique. At every turn, she prompts readers to engage in conversations regarding the heterogeneity of markets by laying out in comprehensive fashion both the theoretical and the practical implications of adopting a number of perspectives on the role of markets, e.g., egalitarianism, specific egalitarianism, libertarianism, and Marxism. Importantly, her analysis is both historical and analytic in its focus. Discussing the usual suspects, namely, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Marx, and Keynes, Satz moves beyond the traditional discussions to challenge readers to consider a number of contemporary problems, e.g., women’s reproductive labor, women’s sexual labor, child labor, voluntary slavery, and the growing trade in human organs. Satz’s contribution will be useful for a wide range of scholars concerned with ethics, moral theory, and economics. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals/practitioners.
— M. A. Martinez-Saenz, Wittenberg University  
 
Sherry, Mark.  Disability hate crimes: does anyone really hate disabled people?.  Ashgate, 2010.  164p bibl index; ISBN 9781409407812, $59.95.
48-2999  HV6250  2010-6002 CIP
 
Over the course of the last three decades, 40-plus states and the US federal government have enacted a number of laws and legislation attempting to deal with the ever-increasing rise of hate crimes in the US. Unfortunately, people with disabilities are the forgotten victims of many hate crimes. The FBI maintains the longest running and most comprehensive database concerning hate crimes, and buried within the mountain of statistics is the little explored issue of disability hate crimes and their victims. In his groundbreaking work, Sherry (Univ. of Toledo) shows that disability hate crimes do exist and have unique, distinguishable characteristics. Disability hate crimes are worldwide. They are just as violent and hyper-aggressive as their sibling hate crimes, yet disability hate crime victims are more egregiously harmed. The work discusses cases of disability hate crimes globally but focuses primarily on the US and UK. This work will help readers to define hate crimes as well as place the issue of disability hate crimes in their wider social context. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. — W. Jakub, Franciscan University of Steubenville  
 
Shih, Clara.  The Facebook era: tapping online social networks to market, sell, and innovate.  [2nd ed.].  Prentice Hall, 2011.  350p index afp ISBN 0137085125 pbk, $24.99; ISBN 9780137085125 pbk, $24.99.
48-2786  HD30  2010-17030 CIP
 
Shih (CEO, Hearsay Labs) has updated her book, which is warranted by the immense changes in the social Web since the 2009 publication of the first edition. Many of the featured platforms of the first edition, such as MySpace, are now uninteresting for business, while Twitter and LinkedIn are significantly more important. In this reviewer’s opinion, a more accurate title would be “The Social Media Era.” The book contains many new examples of how companies are innovatively using the social Web to better know and support customers and reach new audiences for business functions including sales, marketing, customer service, innovation, collaboration, and recruiting. Each chapter ends with an actionable to-do list including items such as “Consider building a crowdsourced ideation community to track market demand for proposed features and generate new ideas.” Shih has created associated Web discussion threads for each chapter to allow readers to share experiences. The book contains case studies, some of which are locatable in the index under “case studies.” Sidebars from renowned social media authorities vary from idiosyncratic anecdotes to useful recommendations. A new chapter for nonprofits, health care, education, and political organizations is very helpful. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All business collections. — C. Wankel, St. John’s University, New York  
 
Stepto, Robert B.  A home elsewhere: reading African American classics in the age of Obama.  Harvard, 2010.  179p bibl index afp; ISBN 9780674050969, $22.95.
48-2544  PS153  2010-3532 CIP
 
Known for his cultural/literary work in reader-response (e.g., From behind the Veil: A Study of African American Narrative, CH, Jul’80; 2nd ed., 1991), Stepto (Yale) here presents yet another study that challenges readers to consider how literary works of one era respond to those of another. The author divides the work into two sections. The first section comprises a series of three lectures on Barack Obama (as writer and how he engages with classic African American literature). The essays place Obama in conversation with Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, and Toni Morrison. Stepto discusses the themes of paternal search, identity formation in school houses, and paternal abandonment, respectively. In section 2, which is in effect an appendix, the author reprints essays written between 1985 and 2006. He begins by joining the writers, as a writer, with a personal essay set on the day of the March on Washington. He returns to Toni Morrison, a favorite of Obama, and ends with a reading of Willard Savoy’s novel Alien Land (1949). To appreciate the richness of this collection and the connections Stepto makes, readers will need to be familiar with the works he references. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. — T. T. Green, University of North Carolina at Greensboro 
 
Underhill, Paco.  What women want: the global marketplace turns female-friendly.  Simon & Schuster, 2010.  214p bibl index; ISBN 9781416569954, $25.00.
48-2789  HQ1421  2010-20462 MARC
 
Underhill’s latest book examines the changing cultural role of women in the global marketplace. Based on his personal research and observations, Underhill’s newest volume follows his earlier works–Why We Buy (rev. ed., 2008) and Call of the Mall (2001)–to reveal trade secrets of retailers and how women are the target of marketers. By examining the role of women as homemakers–literally–Underhill reports how women influence the design of homes and every room under the roof. Through a history of design, Underhill retells the evolution of the home. From kitchen to bath to home office and home gym, women have made their mark on design. Once outside the home, the author continues to describe how retailers such as Lowe’s and Best Buy contemplate women. Hotels, electronic and clothing retailers, casinos, shopping malls, grocery and drug stores, all have evolved with the female in mind. Underhill’s extensive career in retail research is evidenced by the personal case studies and research findings from previous years. The 16 chapters are followed by the author’s personal note and a short list of suggested readings and bibliography. Underhill’s wit and humor make the reading enjoyable as well as educational. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All business collections and readership levels. — N. E. Furlow, Marymount University  
 
Woloson, Wendy A.  In hock: pawning in America from independence through the Great Depression.  Chicago, 2010 (c2009).  233p index afp ISBN 0-226-90567-5, $35.00; ISBN 9780226905679, $35.00.
48-2903  HG2101  2009-18828 CIP
 
Woloson’s study comes at an appropriate time. It is a scholarly reminder about the most common source of liquidity for cash-strapped folks throughout US history. Before the easy access to unsecured loans represented by credit cards in recent decades, pawnshops emerged as the widespread alternative to the pressures of short-term cash needs. Contrary to popular opinion, pawnbrokers and their clients operated within a highly regulated world, dealing with customers whose repeat appearances in store ledgers attest to strong personal connections. Pawnbrokers needed to be aware of the current market to set the value of goods taken in as collateral for interest-bearing loans. The reality of the pawnshop as the creditor of last resort for the economically marginal belies the perception of the business as a front for stolen goods, or as little more than a scalping operation set up to exploit the poor and powerless. Woloson (independent historian) frees the business from its 19th-century anti-Semitic entanglements and points to the highly symbiotic relationship among pawnshops, the industrial city, and wage-dependent workers in a cash-poor society. Well written and accessible to a wide and diverse audience. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Most levels/libraries. — J. Kleiman, University of Wisconsin Colleges 

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