Book Reviews 199 solutions, realizing that the evidence is dent Jackson appointed the fourth Librar­ not up to that; but she does a fine job of ian of Congress, John Silva Meehan (1829– bringing most of the issues together into 1861), a former publisher with a more a thought-provoking whole. In today’s pleasing personality than his predecessor, kaleidoscopic world of information tech­ who served under nine presidents, from nology, no work can be timeless, but From Jackson to Buchanan. The apex of his ten­ Gutenberg promises to have a more ex­ ure was the designation of the Library of tended shelf life than most.—David Congress, along with the Smithsonian Henige, University of Wisconsin at Madison. Institution, as the official depositories for copyrighted works in 1846. The nadir Conaway, James. America’s Library: The came five years later, in 1851, when fire Story of the , 1800– destroyed 35,000 volumes, including 2000. Foreword by James H. Billington; two-thirds of the original Jefferson collec­ Introduction by Edmund Morris. New tion purchased in 1814. Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Pr., in asso­ Appointed the fifth Librarian of Con­ ciation with the Library of Congress, gress by President , John 2000. 226p. $45, alk. paper (ISBN G. Stephenson (1861–1864) spent most of 0-300-08308-4). LC 99-058751. his tenure as a colonel in the Union army. James Conaway’s history of the Library He is remembered best for bringing in as of Congress focuses on the thirteen Li­ his principal assistant, Ainsworth Rand brarians of Congress who have served Spofford (1864–1897). When Stephenson our national library for the past two hun­ resigned from his position at the end of dred years. The accomplishments of each December 1864, Lincoln lost no time in are examined in the context of contem­ appointing Spofford (1864–1897) as the porary historical events. The first Librar­ sixth Librarian of Congress on New ian of Congress, John James Beckley Year’s Eve that same year. Serving under (1801–1807), appointed by Thomas nine presidencies, from Lincoln through Jefferson, served concurrently as clerk of the second presidency of Cleveland, the House of Representatives. His dual Spofford saw the Library of Congress career ended with his death on April 8, through its metamorphosis from legisla­ 1807, when he was succeeded by Patrick tive resource to national cultural institu­ Magruder (1807–1815), the second Librar­ tion. Under legislation signed by Presi­ ian of Congress, also appointed by dent Ulysses S. Grant in 1870, the Library Jefferson. During the presidency of James of Congress became the sole depository Madison Magruder continued the dual for copyrighted works, a role previously role of clerk and librarian. In the course shared with the Smithsonian. The mag­ of an attack on Washington by the British nificent Library of Congress edifice that during the War of 1812, the Library of today graces the Washington landscape Congress was totally lost to fire. The li­ was Spofford’s brainchild. brary survived due to the purchase of President William McKinley appointed Jefferson’s private collection of 6,487 vol­ (1897–1899) the sev­ umes for the price of $23,950 in the win­ enth Librarian of Congress. Young is re­ ter of 1814. membered for presiding over the open­ Magruder’s successor, George ing of the then new Library of Congress Watterson (1815–1829), appointed third and for increasing its international hold­ Librarian of Congress by President Madi­ ings. He died in office in January 1899. son, was the first librarian charged with Young’s successor, also appointed by serving in the position without taking on McKinley, was (1899– the additional duty of House clerk. A po­ 1939), who served under eight presidents, litical activist, Watterson matched wits from McKinley to Franklin Delano with General and lost Roosevelt. Putnam’s forty-year tenure when Jackson won the presidency. Presi­ surpassed that of any other Librarian of 200 College & Research Libraries March 2001

Congress. His administrative acumen guished writer, lawyer, and historian, was put to the supreme test as he cared Boorstin championed the role of the book for the library’s treasures during World in the diffusion of knowledge and was War I. Before and after the war, Putnam instrumental in President Jimmy Carter’s acquired major collections elevating the signing of legislation in October 1977 that Library of Congress to one of the world’s created the Center for the Book at the Li­ great libraries. brary of Congress. Boorstin officiated at Appointed by President Franklin the opening of the new Madison Build­ Roosevelt, Archibald MacLeish (1939– ing in November 1981 during the presi­ 1944) is remembered for his administra­ dency of . tive reorganization of the ever-burgeoning The thirteenth and current Librarian of Library of Congress and for inspiring the Congress, James H. Billington (1987 to library staff throughout the trying years present) was appointed by President of World War II. One of MacLeish’s most Reagan, and to date has served under valuable contributors was his appointment three presidents, from Reagan to William of Luther H. Evans as head of the Legisla­ Jefferson Clinton. An authority on Rus­ tive Reference Service and later chief as­ sian history, Billington has brought a glo­ sistant librarian. In June 1945, about six bal perspective to the challenges of ad­ months after MacLeish’s resignation, ministration of the nation’s great library President Harry S. Truman appointed and has worked tirelessly to find new Evans (1945–1953) to serve as the tenth ways to widen access to its treasures, in­ Librarian of Congress. During Evans’s ten­ cluding the American Memory digitiza­ ure, the Library of Congress collection tion project. grew to almost 32 million items, includ­ James Conaway, author of eight books ing current acquisitions of remarkable and former Washington editor of Harper’s, quality. He resigned in the summer of 1953 has written an extremely fascinating ac­ to the newly elected President Dwight D. count; however, the lack of references Eisenhower and assumed the position of proves a serious drawback to researchers director-general of the United Nations who want access to the source of facts and Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Or­ quotations. A bibliography of more than ganization (UNESCO). one hundred and fifty items and a good President Eisenhower appointed L. index serve to soften the blow. Conaway’s Quincy Mumford (1954–1974) as the elev­ very readable prose is unfortunately re­ enth Librarian of Congress. Mumford, plete with passages illustrating the lamen­ who served under five presidents, from table fact that the previous grammatical Eisenhower to Gerald R. Ford, was the taboo of split infinitives is now widely first professionally trained librarian to be accepted and practiced. The result of a nominated in the 154 years of the library’s collaborative venture between Yale Uni­ existence. He saw the library through two versity Press and the Library of Congress, decades of unprecedented growth in both the volume itself is beautifully conceived holdings and staff. Moreover, he re­ and designed with a pleasing type font, quested and received an increase in an­ plenty of white space, and sharply fo­ nual expenditures from $9.4 million to cused black-and-white and color illustra­ almost $97 million. The tions, including photographs, maps, po­ Memorial Building of the Library of Con­ litical cartoons, and reproductions of art­ gress, which was not be completed and works. open to the public until 1980, was his Conaway’s two-century history of the brainchild. Library of Congress will be a popular Appointed by President Ford, Daniel addition to other works on the Library of J. Boorstin (1975–1987), the twelfth Librar­ Congress’s history, including David C. ian of Congress, was the grandson of Mearns’s The Story Up to Now: The Library Russian Jewish immigrants. A distin- of Congress, 1800–1946 (Library of Con­ Book Reviews 201 gress, 1947), and a complement to the ex­ book is an attempt to answer these sorts quisite coffee-table book American Trea­ of questions, to provide a theory of how sures of the Library of Congress (Abrams, interactive narratives work for both author 1997).—Plummer Alston Jones Jr., Catawba and reader. College. In the introductory chapter, Douglas offers a review of the recent publishing Douglas, J. Yellowlees. The End of Books— and critical history of hypertext narra­ Or Books without End?: Reading Interac­ tives, citing both the continuities and the tive Narratives. Ann Arbor: Univ. of disjunctions between publishing on the Michigan Pr., 2000. 205p. $34.50, alk. Web and publishing in print. Canonical paper (ISBN 0-472-11114-0). LC works such as Jane Austen’s Emma are 99-6689. available “free” online, whereas Joyce’s I think it was a combination of the dooms­ afternoon and Douglas’ s own short day title, the breathless, schoolgirl- hypertext fiction “I Have Said Nothing” with-a-crush tone in the acknowledg­ achieve near-canonicity by appearing in ments to this book, and the first of several a Norton anthology, Postmodern American grammatical errors that initially put me Fiction (1997). She defines interactive texts off J. Yellowlees Douglas’s The End of as “those that contain episodes in the form Books. The “Interactive Narrative of chunked text and a range of action ac­ Timeline” prefacing the text challenged me companying a single decision” and in a different way: Did I agree with Dou­ “joined together by links.” She further glas that Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy subdivides interactive narratives into two (1759), Joyce’s Ulysses (1914), and Ford types: hypertext fictions, which are text Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier (1915) were based, and “digital narratives,” which are interactive narratives in the same family image based. These slippery definitions as Michael Joyce’s afternoon (1990) and allow for a wide range of authorial prod­ Geoff Ryman’s 253 (1996)? If all of these uct, from computer games to novels; the were interactive narratives, what kind of terms seem to be used interchangeably narratives weren’t “interactive?” Could a throughout the book. lyric poem be interactive? What about In the remainder of her book, Douglas plays published in print, but not acted presents her theories on the connections upon the stage? Was Douglas (University between avant-garde fiction (the earliest of Florida) confusing the experimental interactive fictions?) and hypertext, on (and author-determined) fictions of Sterne how readers piece together discrete pieces with the supposedly reader-driven choices of text to form stories. She wishes to ex­ offered in hypertext fiction? Douglas’s plore in particular the “aesthetic, cogni­ tive, and physical aspects of reading … when narratives have no singular, physi­ Index to advertisers cal ending.” We, like Scheherazade’s lis­ AIAA 108, 154 tener, have a desire for the inexhaustible Archival Products 163 story—a desire that interactive stories BIOSIS 179 fulfill. But instead of “saying the same CHOICE 172, 195 thing” every time you read it (as Douglas EBSCO cover 4 claims print forms of narrative do), in­ Faxon/RoweCom cover 2 teractive narratives remove stories from Gwathmey Siegel & Assocs. 164 the confines of the static, linear, printed Haworth Press 107 page. In a reversal of the print revolution Library Technologies 146 Elizabeth Eisenstein posited, hypertext netLibrary 114-115 allows the reader to return to a OCLC 111 preindustrial fluidity and freedom from Primary Source Microfilm cover 3 the austerity of print. Interactive narra­ tives have no definite beginnings and