"Homesteading the Plains offers a bold new look at the history of homesteading, overturning what for decades has been the orthodox scholarly view. The authors begin by noting the striking disparity between the public's perception of homesteading as a cherished part of our national narrative and most scholars' harshly negative and dismissive treatment. Homesteading the Plains reexamines old data and draws from newly available digitized records to reassess the current interpretation's four principal tenets: homesteading was a minor factor in farm formation, with most Western farmers purchasing their land; most homesteaders failed to prove up their claims; the homesteading process was rife with corruption and fraud; and homesteading caused Indian land dispossession. Using data instead of anecdotes and focusing mainly on the nineteenth century, Homesteading the Plainsdemonstrates that the first three tenets are wrong and the fourth only partially true. In short, the public's perception of homesteading is perhaps more accurate than the one scholars have constructed. Homesteading the Plainsprovides the basis for an understanding of homesteading that is startlingly different from current scholarly orthodoxy. "--

The Care of Fine Books is a thorough, readable guide to caring for books of value. From a discussion of the various techniques and materials used in bookbinding to advice on handling and storage, Jane Greenfield has created a succinct yet complete resource for anyone who wants to preserve and protect their fine books. Whether you are a collector, a librarian, or a conservation professional, you will benefit from this expert advice. Learn about appropriate levels of light, temperature, relative humidity, and pollution; how to secure a collection against fire, insect infestation, flood, and theft; and methods for cleaning and repairing books that have already been damaged. Always practical and amply illustrated, this is a must-have reference for anyone who loves fine books.

Coming just after his masterpieces Journey to the End of the Night and Death on the Installment Plan, Mea Culpa is Céline's scathing denunciation of Soviet communism, written after a personal visit to that "worker's paradise" in the 1930s. In his inimitable, blistering style, Céline strips bare not only the communist experiment but also all other modern systems, showing them for what they are: illusions destined to fail because they are based on false ideas about the nature of Man. At a time when many other writers and intellectuals were fawning over the Soviet Union and the ideas of Marx and Lenin, Céline was quick to see them for what they really were, and Mea Culpa now stands as a prescient and accurate statement about the true nature of communism in the modern world. Also included in this volume is The Life and Work of Semmelweis, Céline's first book. This meditation on the heroic and tragic physician who pioneered antisepsis in medicine gives us a key to understanding Céline's vision of life and all of his subsequent work. Written in a more conventional style than his later books, Céline's genius for trenchant observation is nonetheless fully apparent.