Best of
Read-For-School

1976

Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions


John Fire Lame Deer - 1976
    A full-blooded Sioux, he was many things in the white man's world -- rodeo clown, painter, prisioner. But, above all, he was a holy man of the Lakota tribe. Seeker of Vision The story he tells is one of harsh youth and reckless manhood, shotgun marriage and divorce, history and folklore as rich today as ever -- and of his fierce struggle to keep pride alive, though living as a stranger in his own ancestral land.

Peasants Into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870-1914


Eugen Weber - 1976
    For a hundred years and more after the Revolution, millions of peasants lived on as if in a timeless world, their existence little different from that of the generations before them.The author of this lively, often witty, and always provocative work traces how France underwent a veritable crisis of civilization in the early years of the French Republic as traditional attitudes and practices crumbled under the forces of modernization. Local roads and railways were the decisive factors, bringing hitherto remote and inaccessible regions into easy contact with markets and major centers of the modern world. The products of industry rendered many peasant skills useless, and the expanding school system taught not only the language of the dominant culture but its values as well, among them patriotism. By 1914, France had finally become La Patrie in fact as it had so long been in name.

The Lottery Rose


Irene Hunt - 1976
    He withdraws into a safe and secret world of beautiful gardens filled with roses—just like those in the library book he treasures.When Georgie wins a small rosebush in a grocery store lottery he gives it all the love and caring he’s never had. Georgie’s life begins to open up for him when the courts send him to a home for boys where he will be safe. Slowly, and not without pain, Georgie learns to give—and to receive—love…

Toliver's Secret


Esther Wood Brady - 1976
    Disguised as a boy, she manages to smuggle a message to General George Washington.

Biology of Plants


Peter H. Raven - 1976
    The new edition offers a wealth of new information, especially in the areas of taxonomy, genomics, plant hormones, and Arabidopsis research.

Beyond Culture


Edward T. Hall - 1976
    For too long, people have taken their own ways of life for granted, ignoring the vast, international cultural community that srrounds them. Humankind must now embark on the difficult journey beyond culture, to the discovery of a lost self a sense of perspective. By holding up a mirror, Hall permits us to see the awesome grip of unconscious culture. With concrete examples ranging from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake to the mating habits of the bowerbird of New Guinea, Hall shows us ourselves. Beyond Culture is a book about self-discovery; it is a voyage we all must embark on if mankind is to survive.Fascinating and emotionally challenging. . . . The book's graceful, non-technical style and the many illuminating, real-life illustrations make it a delight to read. --Library JournalHall's book helps us to rethink our values. . . . We come away from it exhilarated. --Ashley MontaguIn this penetrating analysis of the culturally determined yet 'unconscious' attitudes that mold our thought, feeling, communication and behavior. . . . Hall makes explicit taken-for-granted linguistic patterns, body rhythms, personality dynamics, educational goals. . . . Many of Hall's ideas are original and incisive . . . [and] should reward careful readers with new ways of thinking about themselves and others. --Publishers WeeklyA fascintaing book which stands beside The Hidden Dimension and The Silent Language to prove Hall one of the most original anthropologists of our era. --Paul Bohannan

The Phantom of Kansas


John Varley - 1976
    Also included in the John Varley Reader

Ordinary People


Judith Guest - 1976
    Calvin is a determined, successful provider and Beth an organized, efficient wife. They had two sons, Conrad and Buck, but now they have one. In this memorable, moving novel, Judith Guest takes the reader into their lives to share their misunderstandings, pain...and ultimate healing. (back cover)

Islamic Science: An Illustrated Study


Seyyed Hossein Nasr - 1976
    The work shows the history of Islamic science through beautiful illustrations.

From Neuron to Brain: A Cellular and Molecular Approach to the Function of the Nervous System


John G. Nicholls - 1976
    The new Fourth Edition, while maintaining this focus, has been completely reformatted and updated.The emphasis, as before, is on experiments, and on the way they are carried out. Using a narrative approach, the authors follow a line from the original inception of a new idea to an account of research being done today. The wealth of new facts, techniques, and concepts, however, presented a challenge in keeping the book to a manageable size. Inevitably, the authors have had to delete descriptions of certain classical experiments.Largely in response to readers' comments, elements of format and presentation have been changed for this new edition—more headings have been introduced, the paragraphs are shorter, and the illustrations, now in full color, have been clarified. As in previous editions, references are cited throughout the text, and appendices are provided to help readers unfamiliar with the nervous system deal with essential facts and definitions. Intended for use in upper-level undergraduate, graduate, psychology, and medical school Neuroscience courses, From Neuron to Brain will be of interest to anyone, with or without a specialized background in biological sciences, who is curious about the workings of the nervous system. It presents a readable and coherent account of how cellular and molecular approaches can provide insights into the workings of the brain.

Tom Paine and Revolutionary America


Eric Foner - 1976
    

An Introduction to the Study of Insects


Donald J. Borror - 1976
    Extensive use of identification keys acquaints students with all the families of insects in the United States and Canada and provides means for students to identify 95% or more of the insects found occurring in North America.

Drama of the English Renaissance: Volume 2, the Stuart Period


Russell A. Fraser - 1976
    All plays edited for this anthology by the scholars Russel Fraser and Norman Rabkin.

California: The Great Exception


Carey McWilliams - 1976
    As he examined the reasons for the prodigious growth and productivity that have characterized California since the Gold Rush, he praised the vitality of the new citizens who had come from all over the world to populate the state in a very short time. But he also made clear how brutally the new Californians dealt with "the Indian problem," the water problem, and the need for migrant labor to facilitate California's massive and highly profitable agricultural industry. As we look back now on 150 years of statehood, it is particularly useful to place the events of the past fifty years in the context of McWilliams's assessment in California: The Great Exception. Lewis Lapham has written a new foreword for this edition.

Drama of the English Renaissance: Volume 1, the Tudor Period


Russell A. Fraser - 1976
    All plays edited for this anthology by the scholars Russell Fraser and Norman Rabkin.

Old Rail Fence Corners: Frontier Tales Told By Minnesota Pioneers


Lucy Leavenworth Wilder Morris - 1976
    These simple, direct accounts, collected at the beginning of the twentieth century, paint vivid pictures of life in Minnesota from the 1840s to the 1860s. A new introduction by Marjorie Kreidburg describes the life and times of the book and of Lucy Leavenworth Wilder Morris, its remarkable editor.Praise for Old Rail Fence Corners: "These personal anecdotes are the stuff of social history--the testimony of ordinary, everyday people, which, when pieced together, give us a picture of pioneer life." --Marilyn J. Lass, Minnesota Reviews