Tricks and Traitors

Before beginning this post, I sat thinking about the word traitor. Was it like the word sailor, in which a sailor is one who sails? That would mean a traitor traits, which didn’t make any sense. So, I did what all good librarians do – I looked it up in the dictionary. It seems that traitor derives from the Latin verb tradere, which means “to betray”. The word tradition is a relative (interesting…). It seems that there’s always been someone willing to betray their traditions for the sake of their own wants or needs.

IN THE LIBRARY:

The Dark Eagle: The Story of Benedict Arnold by Clifford Lindsey Alderman

Fallen Founder: A Life of Aaron Burr by Nancy Isenberg

Patriotic Treason: John Brown and the Soul of America by Evan Carton

The Spy Next Door: The Extraordinary Secret Life of Robert Philip Hanssen, the Most Damaging FBI Agent in U.S. History by Elaine Shannon and Ann Blackman

The Rosenberg File: A Search for the Truth by Ronald Radosh

My Life as a Spy: One of America’s Most Notorious Spies Finally Tells His Story by John A. Walker, Jr.

Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot by Antonia Fraser

Countdown to Valkyrie: The July Plot to Assassinate Hitler by Nigel Jones

Traitors Among Us: Inside the Spy Catcher’s World by Stuart A. Herrington

Molehunt: The Secret Search for Traitors that Shattered the CIA by David Wise

We the People…

Happy Constitution Day! (Well, technically, it was yesterday, but I think we need to celebrate it everyday.) On September 17, 1787 was completed in Philadelphia by the Constitutional Convention, after having worked through a long summer to draft the laws for the new government. An amazingly flexible document, it has served as the foundation of the U.S. for more than 200 years – it is the oldest written constitution in the world.

IN THE LIBRARY:

America’s Constitution: A Biography by Akhil Reed Amar

A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution by Carol Berkin

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison edited by Edward J. Larson and Michael P. Winship

Our Constitution by Donald A. Ritchie

The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution by David O. Stewart

The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation by John Hennessey and Aaron McConnell

Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution by Woody Holton

The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution by Linda R. Monk

ON THE WEB:

The United States Constitution

The National Archives

Wikipedia’s Constitution Entry

The Library of Congress

The National Constitution Center

Stormy Weather – Hurricanes

Here in Twin Falls, we rarely have to deal with severe weather;  our major thunderstorms or snowstorms are definitely survivable. Not so for people living, say,  in “Tornado Alley”. For people on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, hurricanes are another torment – wind and water whipped into a frenzy is not  a happy combination. As the busiest months of the hurricane seasons (for both the Atlantic and Pacific) are coming to an end, we thought we’d share some information and stories about one of Mother Nature’s most deadly weapons. (Something Idahoans can be thankful we don’t have to worry about…)

IN THE LIBRARY:

• 1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina by Chris Rose
• Category 5: The Story of Camille, Lessons Unlearned from America’s Most Violent Hurricane by Ernest Zebrowski and Judith A. Howard
• Divine Wind: The History and Science of Hurricanes by Kerry Emanuel
• Eye of the Storm: Inside the World’s Deadliest Hurricanes by Jeffrey O. Rosenfeld
• The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Douglas Brinkley
• Inside the Hurricane: Face to Face with Nature’s Deadliest Storms by Pete Davies
• No Ordinary Heroes: 8 Doctors, 30 Nurses, 7,o00 Prisoners, and Category 5 Hurricane by Damaree Inglese with Diana G. Gallagher
• The Storm: What Went Wrong and Why During Hurricane Katrina: The Inside Story from One Louisiana Scientist by Ivor van Heerden and Mike Bryan
• Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming by Chris Mooney
• DVD: When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts

ON THE WEB:

• The National Hurricane Center FAQs
• Wikipedia’s Hurricane Entry
• NASA’s Hurricane Page
• Ready.gov (useful for other emergencies, too)

The Secret Life of Cities

For some reason, I’ve always been fascinated by what goes on underneath a city. Whether looking at excavations of ancient sites or simply the workings of transportation, water, or electrical systems, the idea that there is something more under the surface is intriguing. Here is a collection of resources that open up what is going on “down under”.

BOOKS:

Beneath the Metropolis: The Secret Lives of Cities – Alex Marshall

The City Beneath Us: Building the New York Subways – New York Transit Museum with Vivian Heller

Lost Civilizations: Rediscovering Ancient Sites Through New Technology – Austen Atkinson

Splendors of the Past: Lost Cities of the Ancient World – National Geographic Society

The Urban Treasure Hunter: A Practical Handbook for Beginners – Michael Chaplan

Underground – David Macaulay

The Works: Anatomy of a City – Kate Ascher

WEBSITES:

Guerrilla History and Underground Exploration

History Channel – Cities of the Underworld