Students, educators, and everyone fascinated by the people who determine the course of history, will want to include The Dictionary of Biography, Laurel Paperback Original, $2.95, in their library.
Editor George Kurian has compiled concise biographical entries on 3,000 prominent statesmen, authors, scientists, religious leaders and other important movers and shakers. Arranged in easy-to-use alphabetical order, the dictionary is cross-referenced and supplemented with a pronunciation key and other essential guides. Each biographical entry includes the person’s place of birth, nationality, principal achievements, plus major publications and creative work.
…With summer approaching, theres definite emphasis on toning up the body and cutting down on calories. For all the dos and don’ts, read, Recipes for Busy People, by Kelly Services. Warner Books, 256 pp., &2.50 soft-back. The publication offer an assortment of quick recipes for after-work diet delights, and dishes for large parties.
…While on the subject of diets, there is also Short Rations, Confessions of a Cranky Calorie-Counter by Joan M. Scobey, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 206 pp., $9.95, hardcover.
…In case you are searching for that perfect Fathers Day gift, if dad is a sports enthusiast, give him They Call Me Assassin, by Jack Tatum with Bill Kushner, Everet House, 251 pp., $9.95, hardcover. The topic of violence in sports has been treated many times, and this book, already in its third printing, gives us Tatum’s views.
…For all the men who always wanted to know something about sewing but were afraid to ask, get Sewing Hints For Men by A. Jay Abrams and Sondra R. Albert, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 128 pp., $9.95 hardcover.
…A landmark book that delves into the art of black textiles is Into Indigo, African Textiles and Dyeing Techniques by Claire Polakoff, Anchor Press/Doubleday, 269 pp., $7.95 soft-back. This publication, by a professor of History and Art at Yale University, probes the history, myths and magic surrounding the five major techniques of dyeing.
…the answer is reading.
The question? How do we gain knowledge without experience. Reading is the key to open the many doors of achievement and success. And it is a two-way street. We’d like to know what you think, Are books or authors being overlooked? Are your interests among those highlighted in this column? Let us know.
Brown Sugar By Donald Bogle, Harmony Books, $15.95
They’re the dark divas, red hot mamas, bronze beauties, and colored cuties. They appear on opera stages and disco floors; on the silver screen and in smokey cabarets. The history of Americas black female superstars has finally been brought together by Donald Bogle, and the reader should by quite happy for the telling. They’re all here — The Supremes and Labelle; Donna Summer and Dinah Washington; Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price; Cicely Tyson and Dorothy Dandridge; Ma Rainey and Sarah Vaughan. These women and scores of others trace a history of Americas attitudes on race and sex. Each possesses a talent that commands respect and the majority have triumphantly survived, while some have suffered tragic personal failures.
Bogle comments on their public images and personal styles, their private lives and outspoken personalities. He offers a behind-the-scenes view of the trials and triumphs of superstardom, and casts light on a seldomly explored aspect of this nations cultural history. The book contains over 250 illustrations — some never before printed — and even the pages are sepia-toned for congruity.
The many legendary ladies in Brown Sugar give the reader a stimulating peek at the black female performer and the effect she had on her respective period in history.
Ghost Story By Peter Straub Pocket Books, $2.95
If novels about vampires, witches, and things-that-go-bump-in-the-night are your cup of tea, Ghost Story will seem like ambrosia to you. Its a classic horror story that rivals Dracula, Rosemary’s Baby, and The Shining in sheer terror and suspense. What is the worst thing you’ve ever done? I won’t tell you that, but I’ll tell you the worst thing thats ever happened to me — the most dreadful thing.
Four elderly men in a small town meet regularly to drink good whiskey, eat good food and tell good ghost stories. On one particular evening — exactly one year after a member of their group had died of a heart attack [or was it fright?] — they begin to discover that the most dreadful thing had not yet happened, but was about to occur.
From their common guilt of long ago — the accidental death of a Woman — the four begin to share the same nightmare — they see each other’s death. Suddenly, the town itself is gripped by an unknown evil force — livestock, and then people, are found dead and mysteriously drained of blood. A school boy who died years before suddenly reappears.
One by one, the four men die horrible deaths, until the remaining man is pitted against the nameless terror —and his own fate.
Straub’s combination of suspenseful writing, macabre events, and true-to-life characters gives the reader the ultimate thrill of an authentic horror story — this story sounds true.
Read it if you dare…then turn out the lights and try to sleep.
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