New and recommended
Previous "New and Recommended"
Abraham Lincoln, 1809-2009
Looking for Lincoln: the Making of an America Icon / Kunhardt
E 457.2 .K86 2008
A companion book to the recent PBS special hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. which takes a fresh look at the Lincoln legend from multiple angles.
McPherson, James M. Abraham Lincoln. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
E 457 .M46 2009
The author, a Princeton University Historian, has written a lot about Lincoln and the Civil War era. He offers this short biography however, because "Amid [the] cascade of information, I believe there is room for a brief biography that captures the essential events and meaning of Lincoln's life without oversimplification or overgeneralization." At 65 pages, with another 12 pages for notes and an annotated bibliography, this is definitely one to read.
Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World / edited by Eric Foner
E 457 .O97 2008
A collection of eleven new essays by prize-winning historians on Lincoln and his times, family, religion and politics.
Our Very Illustrious Brother, Abraham Lincoln: A Bibliography of the Louis D. Carman Lincolniana Collection in the Library of the Supreme Council, 33&s30;, S.J. / Larissa P. Watkins. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2007.
04 .W335o 2007
Freemason Louis Carman donated his collection of 567 books and 600 pamphlets on and about Abraham Lincoln to the Southern Jurisdiction Supreme Council library in Washington, D.C. in 1932. The collection is unique in that it contains many materials by Masons about Lincoln and ways he embodied the ideals of the fraternity, even though not a member. An example of such a work is Carman's own Abraham Lincoln Freemason, which is included in facsimile.
There are many ways to celebrate the Lincoln bicentennial. If you can't get to Washington, D.C., New York City or Springfield, IL (or any of the other venues) to see the special exhibitions in person, most have great information on their websites: With Malice toward None exhibit at the Library of Congress; One Life: the Mask of Lincoln at the National Portrait Gallery; Abraham Lincoln, An Extraordinary Life at the National Museum of American History; Abraham Lincoln In His Own Words, at the New-York Historical Society.
American History and Culture
Ancestors of American Presidents / compiled by Gary Boyd Roberts
Call number: CS 69 .R59 2009
This new edition from the New England Historic Genealogic Society is updated to include our new president's lineage. At 838 hefty pages, it's almost hard to imagine that every American isn't somehow related in some way to one of our Presidents! Covers ancestral tables, descents from royalty for presidents and first ladies, charts outlining kinships among presidential families and many indexes and appendices, all with full documentation. A wonderful resource and fun to browse or study. A recent interview on NECN with the author may be found here.
The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: the Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army / Paul Douglas Lockhart
Call number: E 207 .S8 L63 2008
A new biography on the Prussian soldier turned Revolutionary War hero recently featured on our blog.
Electrifying Time: Telechron and GE clocks, 1925-55 / Jim Linz
Call number: TS 544 .L56 2001
From Concept to Completion: A Dissertation-Writing Guide for History Students
Call number: D 16 .F93 2008
Girl Scout Collectors' Guide: a History of Uniforms, Insignia, Publications, and Memorabilia / Mary Degenhardt and Judith Kirsch
Call number: HS 3359 .D44 2005
Includes everything but the cookies!
Let it Begin Here: April 19, 1775 / Don Brown
Call number: JUV E 241 .L6 B77 2008
Children's author Don Brown has created a picture book with a new look at the famous day with details and background not covered in Dennis Fradin's book with the same title, so the two complement each other quite well.
Military Service Records at the National Archives / compiled by Trevor Plante
Call number: CD 3042 .H68 P53 2007
What's available, what's digitized and where to find government military records.
The Music of Pythagoras: How an Ancient Brotherhood Cracked the Code of the Universe and Lit the Path from Antiquity to Outer Space / Kitty Ferguson
Call number: B 243 .F47 2008
While not really a biography of the Greek mathematician, science writer Ferguson reviews his life, his legend and the effects his thinking has had on generations of scientists and philosophers.
Rituals and Ceremonies in Popular Culture / Edited by Ray B. Browne
Call number: E 169.12 .R55 1980
The War Power: Original and Contemporary / Louis Fisher
Call number: JK 339 .F57 2008
A pamphlet from the New Essays on American Constitutional History series from the American Historical Association. The series provides a reliable and accessible introduction to various aspects of American constitutional history - in this case a review of constitutional aspects of wars fought by Americans or on American soil.
Masonic and fraternal
Arthur Alfonso Schomburg, black bibliophile and collector: a bibliography / Elinor Des Verney Sinnette
Call number: 16.5 .S36 S56 1989
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a branch of the New York Public Library, is a vital resource for scholars and this biography introduces the man - and Freemason - behind its collection and purpose.
The Bonseigneur Rituals: A Collection of 18th Century New Orleans Masonic Rituals / Edited by Gerry L. Prinsen
Call number: 17.9759 .B6 2008 v.1 and v.2
A reprinting of the rituals found in the George Longe collection of early Louisiana Masonic documents in the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University.
Committed to the Flames: the History and Rituals of a Secret Masonic Rite / Arturo deHoyos and S. Brent Morris
Call number: 14.6 .D4 2008
This book deciphers and publishes the three manuscript ritual books written by Robert B. Folger. It also includes biographical and historical information to place the Folger Manuscripts in context.
The Compasses and the Cross: a History of the Masonic Knights Templar / Stephen Dafoe
Call number: 14.5 .D33 2008
The author of Nobly Born: An Illustrated History of the Knights Templar provides greater depth to the origins and history of the Masonic Knights Templar from the 18th century to the present. Christopher Hodapp provides the foreword.
Freemasonry Today: the Best of 10 Years, 1997-2007
Call number: 11 .F74 2008
Knowledge of the Heart: Gnostic Movements and Secret Traditions; Transactions of the 8th International Conference, 2006 / edited by Robert A. Gilbert
Call number: 10.11 .K65 2007
The Mark Degree / David Mitchell
Call number: 14.31 .M55 2003
Marking Well: Essays on the Occasion of the 150th Anniversary of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England and Wales and its Districts and Lodges Overseas / Edited by Andrew Prescott
Call number: 14.31 .M3 2006
Masonic Mnemonics: Memory Aids for Masonic Rituals / David Royal
Call number: 14 .R6 2008
Masonic Records, 1717-1894, being Lists of all the Lodges at Home and Abroad Warranted by the Four Grand Lodges and the United Grand Lodge of England / by John Lane
Call number: 01 .L265m 2000
Patriotism and Fraternalism in the Knights of Columbus: a History of the Fourth Degree / Christopher J. Kauffman
Call number: HS 1538 .K583 K3 2001
Outline of the Rise and Progress of Freemasonry in Louisiana / James B. Scot
Call number: 17.9759 .S35 2008
An enlarged facsimile of a book first published in 1873, with a new introduction by Alain Bernheim.
The Rose Conspiracy / Craig Parshall
Call number: 66 .P37 2009
A new book in the growing genre of murder mysteries involving secret societies that begins in the Smithsonian with the discovery of a new document about Lincoln's assassination and along the way uncovers occultism and Freemasonry.
Tell me about the Mark Degree / Neville Barker Cryer
Call number: 14.31 .C79 2007
What do you know about Ritual? The Complete Mason's Commentary / Neville Barker Cryer
Call number: 14.21 .C957 2008
What do you know about the Royal Arch? Ten lectures / Neville Barker Cryer
Call number: 14.31 .C795 2002
Women's Agency and Rituals in Mixed and Female Masonic Orders / Edited by Alexandra Heidle & Jan A. M. Snoek
Call number: 80 .W96 2008
"Women have been structurally part of the Masonic enterprise from at least the middle of the 18th century," writes Snoek in the preface to this international collection of articles that broadly addresses women and Freemasonry.
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