New Publications

George M. Eberhart New Publications The Bear: History of a Fallen King, by Michel periments with concrete in the late 18th and Pastoureau, translated by George Holoch early 19th centuries, but it wasn’t until the (343 pages, October 2011), correlates the de- 1890s, when concrete began to be routinely cline of the European brown bear in medi- reinforced by iron and steel bars, that con- eval art and myth with the triumph of Chris- struction took off. Unfortunately, as Courland tianity over paganism. Venerated in ancient points out, rebar is extremely prone to oxida- times by Germanic, Celtic, and Slavic tribes tion, which gradually causes the surrounding as the king of beasts, the bear’s reputation as concrete to deteriorate and requires expen- an invincible demonic force was targeted by sive restoration. Much of 20th-century Ameri- Christian kings and prelates for destruction— can infrastructure—bridges, roads, buildings, often quite literally, as in the great German dams—is crumbling because of this corro- bear massacres organized by Charlemagne in sion, giving these projects a life span of 100 the late 8th century. Pastoureau shows how years or less. Only in the past two decades by the 12th century Christianity had adopted have engineers begun testing and using non- the lion as an alternative symbol, eventually ferrous rebar. $26.00. Prometheus, 978-1- dethroning and emasculating the bear into 61614-481-4. muzzled circus animals and children’s toys. $29.95. Belknap Press of Harvard University. Explorers of the Nile: The Triumph and Trag- 978-0-674-04782-2. edy of a Great Victorian Adventure, by Tim Jeal (510 pages, November 2011), recounts Concrete Planet, by Robert Courland (396 the search for the source of the White Nile pages, November 2011), surveys the history between 1856 and 1876 by seven intrepid of concrete, the British explorers—Richard Burton, John world’s most Hanning Speke, James Augustus Grant, common man- Samuel Baker, Florence von Sass, David made substance, Livingstone, and Henry Morton Stanley. Much composed of a more than a long-needed update to Alan mix of rocks, Moorehead’s The White Nile (1960), Jeal’s sand, cement, vivid narrative examines the consequences of and water. The their discoveries on the peoples and politics Romans set the of Uganda and the Sudan, extending all the gold standard way to the secession of South Sudan in 2011. in concrete con- In particular, he includes much new informa- struction, creat- tion on the enigmatic Speke, gleaned from ing structures excised portions of his book and other first- that have lasted hand sources. $32.50. Yale University. 978-0- nearly 2,000 years. The Pantheon in Rome, 300-14935-7. completed in 126 CE, remains the largest un- reinforced concrete dome in the world. After The Eye of the Connoisseur: Authenticating the Roman Empire collapsed, the formula for Paintings by Rembrandt and His Contempo- making concrete was lost and not rediscov- raries, by Anna Tummers (349 pages, No- ered for some 1,300 years. Improvements in vember 2011), examines the art of connois- cement led to occasional architectural ex- seurship, or the ability to identify instinctively the artist who painted a picture. In a post- George M. Eberhart is senior editor of American Libraries, modern world, the context of a painting or e-mail: [email protected] sculpture has become more important than April 2012 227 C&RL News its author- On the Ground: An Illustrated Anecdotal ship, and History of the Sixties Underground Press in the art of the U.S., edited by Sean Stewart (203 pages, the con- November 2011), brings together abundant noisseur samples of artwork from alternative news- has dwin- papers from 1967 to 1974, supplemented by dled in val- interviews with 25 people who produced, ue, making illustrated, and distributed them—including miscata- Al Goldstein, Paul Krassner, Bill Ayers, Trina loging and Robbins, and Spain Rodriguez. The collec- museum tion captures the excitement, commitment, deacces- and anarchy of the era. $20.00. PM Press. sions more 978-1-60486-455-7. frequent. Tummers tries to reverse this trend by fo- Steam: An Enduring Legacy: The Railroad cusing on the methodology of art connois- Photographs of Joel Jensen, with essays seurs in the field of Dutch and Flemish 17th- John Gruber and Scott Lothes (160 pages, century paintings and the criteria they use October 2011), showcases 150 photographs in making attributions. She also deals with of steam locomotives taken since the late distinctions between originals and copies, 1980s by Joel Jensen, who manages to make shared authorship between master and pu- each black-and-white image look timeless. pils, stylistic irregularities, and the intangible Often shot against spectacular Western assessment of quality. Well-documented vistas, Jensen’s photos chronicle the raw and richly illustrated, this volume addresses power of the steam engine and the rugged a neglected aspect of art history. $60.00. J. engineers and mechanics who keep them Paul Getty Museum. 978-1-60606-084-1 running. $50.00. W. W. Norton. 978-0-393- 08248-7. Hedy’s Folly, by Richard Rhodes (261 pages, November 2011), tells the story of Austri- Texas, New Mexico, and the Compromise an-American actress Hedy Lamarr and her of 1850, by Mark J. Stegmaier (434 pages, collaboration with pianist and composer revised ed., January 2012), is a detailed George Antheil that led to their 1942 pat- examination of one of the most important ent for a frequency-hopping, radio-directed boundary disputes in U.S. history. First torpedo that resists jamming efforts. Lamarr published in 1996 by Kent State University contributed the concept (based on conver- Press, the book identifies the Texas–New sations she overheard in the 1930s by Ger- Mexico boundary as the most serious sec- man and Austrian weapons experts) and tional crisis prior to the Civil War, though Antheil the mechanism, which was par- often eclipsed by other aspects of the com- tially based on a player-piano apparatus. promise bill, such as the revamped fugitive The technology was rejected by the U.S. slave law and California statehood. Steg- Navy during the war, because it sounded maier contrasts the attitudes of Presidents too bulky to the Navy brass, and the patent Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore to the expired in 1959. However, Rhodes notes crisis, which involved sending U.S. troops that Lamarr’s frequency-hopping, spread- to the New Mexico Territory to thwart a spectrum concept was reworked several potential invasion by Texans, and surveys times between 1945 and 1978 by U.S. de- the roles played by William Seward, Daniel fense agencies, leading to a reevaluation of Webster, Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, her skills as an inventor. $26.95. Double- and Henry S. Foote. $34.95. Texas Tech day. 978-0-385-53438-3. University. 978-0-89672-697-0. C&RL News April 2012 228.

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