referencebooks

Illustrated Great Decisions of the Supreme Court, 2nd Edition

By Tony Mauro

Published by CQ Press, a division of Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 2006.

This is an 8.5" by 11" hardcover book running to 415 pages including the bibliography, index, and appendices relating to the Supreme Court, plus an alphabetical list of cases that supplements their topical arrangement in the book.

"Great" in the title doesn't indicate the author's strong approval for the Supreme Court decisions he talks about so much as an estimation of their significance in setting legal precedents and shaping some aspect of society. The book takes 108 important Supreme Court decisions and summarizes them, providing some of the historical background, excerpts from the actual decisions, explanations of some of the decisions' highlights, and explorations of the decisions' impact on American society.

The book groups the cases into twenty-four topical sections. ("Voting Rights," "Commerce Power," "Free Excercise of Religion" and "Gay Rights" are some examples.) Opening the book at random, and I'm looking at the entry for Lochner v. New York, in the section on Property Rights. The first information given is the date of the decision (April 17, 1905), the legal citation (198 U.S. 45), and the URL for the actual decision on the Findlaw website. Then the decision is summarized in two sentences, and then we have about a half a page of background info, a couple of sentences on the vote, a half a page of highlights, a few sentences excerpted from the majority opinion, and then just under a page on the impact of the case. There is also a photograph of "Lochner's Home Bakery," the business whose owner was a party to the case, which connects the case to its concrete meaning in history.

The book does a good job of connecting the decisions of the Supreme Court to the flow of American history and to their real implications in people's lives, but doesn't do quite as good a job in explaining the legal reasoning involved and the implications of the decisions in terms of the interpretation of legal principles. The author placed emphasizes accessibility and relevance over depth, which is not unreasonable but should be noted.

A useful and interesting reference book with a place in public and academic libraries.

Measures of Political Attitudes

Volume 2 of Measures of Social Psychological Attitudes

Edited by John P. Robinson, Phillip R. Shaver, and Lawrence S.
Wrightsman.

Published by Academic Press, 1999.

This is a dense and chunky 7" by 10" paperback running to 801 pages plus
a preface.

The book is a serious and thorough handbook to measures of political
attitudes, going into some detail about a large number of measures
based on political, sociological and social psychological concepts (but
mostly political concepts). The discussion includes the conceptual
basis for each scale, the actual questionnaire or samples from it, and
highlighted correlations the researchers found. Each measure is
discussed in the context of an overarching concept that becomes the
chapter-grouping for similar measures. Each of these chapters has an
introductory section explaining the overall concept and some of the
history of its measurement and a bibliography at the end. In addition
to the measures discussed in detail, each chapter also provides a list
of other measures not discussed. Additionally, there are a couple of
chapters at the beginning that are about practical issues involved in
using the measures. The chapters are:

1. Scale Selection and Evaluation
   
2. Maximizing Questionnaire Quality
   
3. Liberalism and Conservatism
   
4. Economic Values and Inequality
   
5. Democratic Values and Political Tolerance
   
6. Racial Attitudes
   
7. Political Alienation and Efficacy
   
8. Trust in Government
   
9. International Attitudes
   
10. Political Information
    
11. Political Agendas
    
12. Political Partisanship
    
13. Political Participation
    

In each section, the large number of measures described and the
differences between them reveal how differently the concepts in
question can be defined and understood.

Opening the book at random, I am looking at the a political alienation
scale published in 1960 by W.E. Thomspon and J.E. Horton, in the
section on Political Alienation and Efficacy. For this scale, there is
a statement of the variable measured, a two paragraph description of
the measure, a statement of the sample studied, information about the
reliability and validity of the measure (social science/statistics
terms that the book's audience is expected to know), a citation for the
study as originally published, a paragraph describing the results with
commentary, and finally, in a box, the questionnaire itself with its
scoring key.

This is an impressive book with a range of potential uses.

Prostitution: An International Handbook on Trends, Problems, and Policies

Edited by Nanette J. Davis.

Published by Greenwood Press, 1993.

This is a 6" by 9" clothbound book running to 403 pages including a bibliography, name index, subject index, and contributors bios, plus a preface.

Unlike most reference books, this one is the product of extensive original research not published elsewhere. Sixteen scholars, in addition to the editor, contributed articles on prostitution in sixteen different countries. The countries covered are Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England & Wales, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Taiwan, The United States, Vietnam, and Yugoslavia (still a country at the time of publication). The book is therefore a strongly multicultural reference work (though Africa and the Middle East are not represented).

Each article covers interdisciplinary angles on prostitution: social and legal definitions; history and trends for each country; social organization of prostitution; theories of prostitution (why people do it and what it means); contemporary status and life-styles of prostitutes; law enforcement; politics; intervention; and social policy.

Though the authors pay attention to varying interpretations of prostitution, including feminist and traditionalist perspectives, none give much credence to libertarian views and all regard prostitution unequivocally as a social problem, owing to its connection to poverty, dependency, vulnerability, inequality, and health issues for the women involved (and though the title doesn't say it, the book is restricted to female prostitution). This would probably make the book somewhat offensive to many self-described "sex workers," who view their line of work as a rational choice and don't see themselves as poor.

Opening the book and putting a finger down randomly, I'm in the chapter on England and Wales, reading the following:

Economic Misery

Overall, the positivist hegemony prevailed when it came to the question of the female offender. But some Marxist-influenced sociologists and economists proposed that prostitution was the result of "infraction," a legal issue, and not "action," a behavioral problem, and studies sought to examine factors external to the individual. Here, prostitution entailed recognizing men's sexual needs and women's economic misery. The common denominator linking all forms of prostitution was the external influence of the role of poverty rather than the stigmatized identity. Even William Acton, the British physician, recognized that the main cause of prostitution was "cruel biting poverty" and the "lowness of the wages paid to workwomen in various trades" (Acton 1857:62). Du Chatalet (1857) similarly regarded prostitution as the outcome of extreme economic need, and, although he recognized that prostitutes "acquired" physical and gynecological problems, he asserted that this was the consequence of prostitution, not the cause."

This section goes on to quote Friedrich Engels on marriage as a form of prostitution, and then continues to look at other theories, including a "neo-positivist perspective on victimology," and a feminist critique. The section I quoted followed a few paragraphs on the "positivist model," which was dominant in England and Wales prior to the influence of Marxism, and "focused on the motivational and behavioral systems of criminals." (I find it fascinating to see how prostitution, which has always had an interesting status as both the first and last frontier of the free market, is typically condemned by capitalist societies, whose systems are based on the same principle.)

This is an interesting and informative book. It has more of a point-of-view than many reference books, but it still gives a reasonably comprehensive treatment of its subject. I think it would be enriched if it somehow incorporated the prostitutes' own viewpoints and perspectives in its presentation of the discourse on prostitution. The book is generally critical of the stigmatization of prostitutes, but the absence of their own voices seems to reinforce that stigmatization.

A Soviet Lexicon: Important Concepts, Terms, and Phrases

By Roy D. Laird and Betty A. Laird

Published by Lexington Books, 1988.

This is a small paperback, measuring 5" by 8" and running to 203 pages including the appendices and the introduction.

The introduction begins,

This book is designed to provide a basic understanding of the words, concepts, and phrases essential to interpreting the Soviet system, its politics and economics, its problems, successes, failures, and goals.

Following a twenty-three page introduction to the Soviet system, the book consists of a glossary of translated and transliterated terms from the Soviet political system, each defined in one or two sentences from an anticommunist Sovietological point-of-view.

For an idea of what's included, here are the first fifteen terms defined in the "D" sequence:

• dacha
  
• Decembrists
  
• Defense Council
  
• dekulakization
  
• democracy
  
• democratic centralism
  
• democratic centralists
  
• deputies
  
• de-Stalinization
  
• détante
  
• detskii sad
  
• developed socialism
  
• deviation
  
• dialectical materialism
  
• dialectics
  

A book on the Soviet system that gives such brief definitions of key terms ("dialectical materialism" is explained in 62 words, one of the book's longer entries) is of pretty limited use. By now, Google will do a better job in providing an understanding of Soviet terms than this book does. In 1988, though, I imagine it could have been pretty handy for someone doing a surface-touching undergraduate or High School research assignment. In 2005 though, I would say it points to the need for a more in-depth reference work on the Soviet system and Russian history.

International Boundaries: A Geopolitical Atlas

By Ewan W. Anderson.

Published by Routledge, 2003.

This is a heavy, 7.5" by 10" hardbound book running to 941 pages including the main section and the index, plus a preface; list of abbreviations and acronyms; a key for statistics; an introduction; a key to the maps; and some regional maps, all on slick, high-quality paper.

The main function of the book is to spell out the current status and history of the borders of every country in the world. Opening the book at random, I am at entry #73, for Guyana. (The political "long form" of country names, in this case "Co-operative Republic of Guyana," is not given anywhere.) The entry for Guyana is three and a half pages long, one page of which is a gray-scale map. The entry briefly describes Guyana's geographic setting, and then talks about its land boundaries with other countries, including a list of legal settlements with its neighboring countries, verbal descriptions of its borders, and some data for each border, including "approximate boundary accordance with topographical features," "potential geographical accessibility," "potential political instability," and something called "Geopolitical index." In addition, we get information about maritime boundaries, a list of recent incidents (none listed for Guyana), information about paramilitaries (a number high enough that it seems to represent employees in all branches of the military), information about trade, natural resources, data on the "RUSI Index of Martial Potency," and national land boundary vulnerability data.

The descriptive text is very dry and objective. Boundaries are defined by summarizing agreements that have been signed by countries and their neighbors, or left in "unsettled" status where no clear agreement exists (as with the border between India and China). I'm not sure how to judge the statistical information that's provided.

I was curious to see how the book treats the boundaries between Israel and the Occupied Territories. There is no entry for Palestine, but there are separate entries, in the regular sequence of countries, for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Other national movements aren't given the same status for their territories, however, which is understandable given their number; an arbitrary line has to be drawn.

This is a very nice compilation of hard facts, useful for people studying international politics.

The Language of Nuclear War: An Intelligent Citizen's Dictionary

By Eric Semler, James Benjamin, and Adam Gross.

Published by Harper and Rowe, 1987.

This is a 5.5" by 8" hardbound book running to 325 pages including the bibliography and list of acronyms and abbreviations, plus a brief preface.

The preface states,

"[...] Technical terms pervade the nuclear debate; public officials, experts, and the news media alike speak of nuclear issues in a jargon that often leaves us feeling alienated and powerless.
      The Language of Nuclear War attempts to correct this problem by enabling everyone to understand the obscure and sometimes incomprehensible terminology of nuclear war. We hope that, regardless of their positions on the issues, readers will learn enough to be able to reflect intelligently on the arms race and nuclear war."

Because this book and others covering similar territory in our library date from the late 80's at the latest, we can only guess as to how much the vocabulary relating to nuclear war has changed over time. Unfortunately, the fall of the Soviet Union killed the debate on nuclear weapons without actually leading to nuclear disarmament or even a slowdown on global production of nuclear weapons. So, though books like this from the 80's may be dated, unless I am mistaken they are all we have on this important subject.

Here is a list of the first fifteen entries in the I sequence:

• IF DETERRENCE FAILS
  
• IMAGING RADAR
  
• IMPLOSION
  
• IMPLOSION WEAPON
  
• IMPULSE KILL
  
• INDEPENDENT DETERRENT
  
• INDIRECT APPROACH
  
• INERTIAL GUIDANCE
  
• INFRARED SENSOR
  
• INTERACTIVE DISCRIMINATION
  
• INTERCEPTOR MISSILE
  
• INTERCHURCH PEACE COUNCIL (IKV)
  
• INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILE (ICBM)
  
• INTERFERENCE
  
• INTERIM COMMITTEE
  

The definitions range in length from a couple of sentences to about a page, and are clearly written and informative.

Many terms concern the state of bilateral negotiations between the US or NATO and the Soviets, which of course no longer applies. Terminology about weapons systems is probably more current, but I am really not sure.

The datedness of this book underlines the need for a newer reference work on nuclear weapons and war, as well as underlining the lack of media discussion of this continuing policy issue.

It's a useful book.

United States Immigration: A Reference Handbook

By E. Willard Miller and Ruby M. Miller.

Published by ABC-CLIO in their Contemporary World Issues series, 1996.

This is a 6" by 9" hardbound book running to 305 pages plus a brief preface.

This book aims to provide a full complement of reference information on U.S. immigration, including statics, information about policy and law, chronologies, bibliographies (including audiovisual resources), historical trends, directory information, and a glossary. The information is presented in chapters, subchapters, and bite-sized sub-subchapters, with some data tables in the mix.

The six chapters (with subchapters in parentheses) are:

1. Immigration: A Perspective (Roots of Immigration; U.S. Immigration Policy; Immigration Trends; Illegal Immigration; Migrants; Refugees; Immigration out of the United States; Impact of Immigration; References)
   
2. Chronology (Laws and Regulations; Legislative Process Leading to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986; Chronology of Refugee Admissions; Illegal Immigration)
   
3. Laws and Regulations (Immigration; Naturalization; Refugees; Special Legislation)
   
4. Directory of Organizations (Immigration; Migration; Migrant Workers; Refugees; Organizational Sources)
   
5. Bibliography (Reference Sources; Books; Journal Articles and Government Documents; Selected Journal Titles)
   
6. Audiovisual Aids (Immigration; Immigration Legislation; Immigrants; Aliens; Migrant Labor; Refugees; Regional Immigration)
   

The information presented is quite objective and factual. I am always looking for a lack of objectivity in reference books, and thought I had spotted it in the table of contents to this one. In the first chapter section on Refugees, the sub-subchapters listed are Hungary, Cuba and Vietnam - and that's it. Aren't there a lot of Palestinian refugees in the U.S.? Aren't there a lot of refugees from Central and South American dictatorships? Turning to that subchapter, our explanation is right in the first sentence: "As a result of U.S. criteria concerning which immigrants can be classified as refugees, nearly all the refugees who have entered the United States since the 1940's have been from communist countries (Table 15)." It was thoughtful of the authors, in my opinion, to provide this explanation right up front, and state that they are using the U.S. government definition of a refugee in the data that they present.

I would say that this is a handy and reliable guide to factual information about U.S. immigration.

Encyclopedia of the American Left

Edited by Mari Jo Buhle, Paul Buhle, and Dan Georgakas.

Published by Garland, 1990.

This hardbound single-volume encyclopedia is 7" X 10" and runs 928 pages, not including the acknowledgments, introduction, "oft-cited acronyms, terms, movements and people," biographical note, and list of contributors.

The book has 880 pages of encyclopedic entries on people, parties, places, publications, unions, political and intellectual movements, and historical events. There is also an index of names and a subject index.

As examples of the depth of this resource, the entry on the Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company is over a page, the entry on Herbert Marcuse over a page and a half, the entry on Eugene Debs is three pages in length, and the entry on the composer Aaron Copland is just under a page long.

Speaking of Aaron Copland, I would say that the inclusion of a good number of artists and literary figures for the political aspects of their aesthetic innovations and not necessarily any overt political content in their work is an interesting element of this resource and a contribution to the study of the American Left. Isadora Duncan is another artist included because her work was understood and intended to be revolutionary via its aesthetic meaning alone.

Respect for the subjects discussed is evidenced by the editorial choices about what to call things. For example, if you want to look up Maoism, you will find a "See" reference to "Antirevisionism (Maoism)," respecting the Maoists' own self-designation in the context of international communism of the time.

Within the alphabetic sequence of entries are helpful collections of "See" references, such as "Jewish Americans: see ARTEF; Cahan, Abraham, Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs; The Freie Arbeiter Shtimme; Gold, Michael, [etc. to 20 listings]."

The articles go into much very useful and interesting detail, communicating their subjects' connection to history in context and providing information that is likely not to be included in mainstream histories that only touch on the same subjects.

Career Opportunities in Politics, Government, and Activism

By Joan Axelrod-Contrada.

Published by Ferguson, an imprint of Facts On File, 2003.

This is an 8.5" by 11" hardback book running to 274 pages including the appendices and index, plus 14 pages of preferatory material.

The front matter includes a preface by John Kerry, a discussion of the "industry outlook," an acknowledgements section and an introduction called "How to use this book," which begins, "Welcome to a world of possibilities. Whether you dream of running for political office, planning cities, monitoring legislation, fighting for a cause, or joining the Peace Corps, this book should help you get started."

The book is organized into three major categories, and talks about job opportunities in each. The categories are Politics, Government, and Activism. The Politics section has subsections for Political Campaigns (including such careers as Pollster, Political Consultant, and Political Party Staffer) and Political Office (including things like School Board member, City Councilor, Mayor, Governor and President of the United States). The Government section has subsections on Local/State -- General Positions (including such things as Management Analyst and Public Information Officer); Local Government (including things like Recreation Supervisor, Urban and Regional Planner, Municipal Clerk and Election Official); Local/State Specialists (including Environmental Specialist, Victim Advocate, Auditor, Ethics Investigator, and Antidiscrimination Worker); State/Federal Legislative Staff (including things like Congressional Page, Legislative Assistant, and Research Analyst); Other State/Federal Positions (like Paralegal, Policy Analyst, and Speechwriter); and International Affairs (like Foreign Service Officer and Intelligence Operative). The Activism section has jobs that are not within government but nevertheless interact with government in some way. The sections are Nonprofit Advocacy and Administration (including such jobs as Program Director, Fundraiser and Director of Volunteers); Public Interest (including Canvasser, Environmental Activist, Consumer Activist, Government Reform Activist, and Public Interest Lawyer); Community, Social and International Issues (including Community Organizer, Women's Rights Activist, Peace Worker, and Conflict Resolution Specialist); Lobbies, Unions and Associations (including things like Lobbyist, Labor Union Organizer, and Association Membership Director); and Service Programs (including Peace Corps and Americorps Volunteer).

There are ten Appendices, and many of those have several parts. These cover pay scales, organizational charts of government agencies, graduate school programs, advocacy groups of different types, trade publications, a guide to running for political office, and other useful information.

Each job profile begins with a chart showing the main duties, alternate titles, salary ranges, employment prospects, and educational requirements. A "career ladder" diagram shows a typical career path from the entry level to the top. This is followed by a factual description of the position that talks about a typical day on the job, the types of projects handled, and a bulleted list of typical responsibilities. Relevant professional associations and unions are also listed. The job entries finish with a section of tips for gaining employment in that job.

This is an extremely practical and useful book for someone wanting to start a career in government or advocacy.

It is an interesting strength of the book that advocacy work is presented as part of the overal world of government and politics and not as something that belongs in a different reference work.

The Routledge Historical Atlas of Presidential Elections

By Yanek Mieczkowski

Published by Routledge, 2001.

This is full-color paperback book measuring 7" by 10" and running 160 pages.

Following a brief introduction and foreword are two- or three-page long sections on each U.S. Presidential election since 1789. These sections consist of text providing the historical context and describing each election, with a bit of analysis; a map that shows the breakdown of the vote by state (Democrat, Republican, Other); and pie charts showing the total electoral and popular votes for that election.

The information conveyed by these historical maps is very interesting and often surprising. I would never have guessed that in 1956 the only states that went for Adlai Stevenson were Southern states, for example. The analysis offered of each election is brief but informative.

At the end of the book is a bibliography for further reading, consisting of citations to 52 books, and a thorough index.

Nations Without States: A Historical Dictionary of Contemporary National Movements

By James Minahan

Published by Greenwood Press, 1996.

This is a hardbound book, 6.5" X 9.5", running 692 pages including the index.

This is an eye-opening and useful book. It has brief chapters on 210 different movements attempting to achieve some form of independent statehood for their national people. We are aware of the Palestinian cause, the cause of the Basque separatists and the cause of the Kurds, but how many of us are aware of the Bashkir, the Gagauz, the Ainu or the Norman national movements? Or that Palestine declared its independence in 1988, or that the Basques declared their independent state in 1931?

Groups whose activities are mainly a part of recent history are not separated from presently active groups, but the outline of the history of each nationalist movement ends with a few words about its present (at the time of publication) status. Missing, however, is data on the popularity of the movements with the populations they represent, a fact that no doubt varies among these movements.

Each chapter has sections on population, geography, the national movement's flag, the people and language, the nation's history and a brief bibliography of sources for further reading. (Evidence of the author's orientation with respect to these national movements is his respectful reference to each nation as a nation, without the use of quotation marks, whether or not they have declared their independence, let alone received UN recognition. I note this not as a flaw but as a point of information.)

This is a very valuable reference book.

Historical Dictionary of Arab and Islamic Organizations

By Brank A. Clements

From the series, Historical Dictionaries of International Organizations

Published by Scarecrow Press, 2001.

This is a 5" X 8" cloth bound book of 347 pages plus some extensive preferatory materials, which include a foreword, a list of abbreviations and acronyms, and a chronology of the Arab world.

The dictionary itself has a broad scope, including private companies, labor unions, professional organizations, NGO's, political parties and government entities, but also people, geographic areas, nations and other entries providing contextual background (like Gulf War (1991), Nasserism, and Arab Revolt (1916-1919)), all in the same alphabetic sequence.

Each entry summarizes the history of the organization and its historical role. Organizations that haven't existed for long are also often included, but often not. There is, notably, no entry for Al Jazeera, and oddly, no entry for Al Qaeda (though there are entries for some political organizations that have been called terrorist, and there is an entry for Usama bin Laden, though "Al Queda" is not mentioned in it). There is also no entry for the Red Crescent Society, the Islamic Counterpart to the Red Cross.

As indications of the dictionary's depth, the entry for OPEC (under Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries with no "see" reference from OPEC) is 2 and a quarter pages in length; the entry for Arab Common Market (ACM) is just under a page; the entry for International Muslimah Artists Network (IMAN) is a half a page, and International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) gets ten lines.

Interestingly, there is no entry for Bir Zeit University in Palestine. Also, not only is there no entry for Mohammad Mossadegh, the Iranian Prime Minister who was ousted with the help of the CIA in favor of the monarchy in the mid-50's, but there is no mention of Mossadegh in the entry on Iran, whose historical section begins with the revolution against the Shah in 1979. These omissions are probably less of an indication of political bias than a sign of the limitations of a small historical dictionary like this one, but if even someone like myself, who knows little about the Middle East, notices such omissions, then they may be significant.

International Handbook of National Parks and Nature Reserves

Edited by Craig W. Allin

Published by Greenwood Press, 1990.

This is a clothbound book of 6.5" X 9.5" and 539 pages including the index, plus some preferatory material.

The information in this book is truly useful and very difficult to find elsewhere.

It provides information on national parks an nature reserves in 26 countries (including the United States).

The book is organized into separate chapters for each country discussed, with each written by a different authority. As you can tell from the length of the book and the number of countries in it, each chapter has some length to it.

The chapter on Chile is one of the shorter ones, at 21 pages. It begins with a discussion of Chile's physical geography, then the history of its national park system, then a listing of its parks, then a discussion of those parks by region and climate zone, and finally a discussion of the park system's administration. Other chapters are arranged similarly.

Besides being a useful resource for those studying national parks, browsing the book really awakens the travel bug and the desire to see the planet's natural places while they are still healthy.