Book reviews

Winter 2007

By Gayla Marty

M, winter 2007

Birds of Minnesota and Wisconsin

By Robert B. Janssen, Daryl D. Tessen, and Gregory Kennedy

Birding has evolved in recent years from an esoteric pursuit to an engaging activity for all ages. This field guide is compact yet large enough for beautiful illustrations of 322 birds regularly seen in a region blessed by diverse habitats and migration routes. Species are grouped and color-coded. Includes a comparative reference chart and maps of the top 50 birding sites in each state. Janssen has been one of the Bell Museum's most popular field trip leaders.

Lone Pine Publishing, 2003; ISBN 1-55105-324-1; $19.95 pb

Shadowing Ralph Ellison

By John S. Wright

The life of Ralph Ellison (1913-1994) spanned the 20th century, with his landmark novel, Invisible Man (1952), at the century's midpoint. Wright has turned his abiding preoccupation with Ellison into an eloquent and engaging access point to black intellectual history, the blues- and jazz-influenced American aesthetic, and the one writer whose works are on the century's top lists of fiction and nonfiction. Wright teaches African American and African studies and English on the Twin Cities campus.

University of Mississippi Press, 2006; ISBN 1-57806-850-9; $40.00 hc

Blue Arabesque: A Search for the Sublime

By Patricia Hampl

Art and leisure, north and south, culture clash of east and west...Hampl opens door after door on figures and forces that shape everyday perceptions about time, beauty, culture, and calling. Her cast includes Henri Matisse and two of his models, along with Jerome Hill, Katherine Mansfield, and wise nuns; her path meanders from St. Paul to France, Turkey, and Israel--all inside a book that feels like a small painting in your hands. Hampl is a Regents Professor and teaches creative writing in the Department of English, Twin Cities.

Harcourt, 2006; ISBN 0-15-101506-6; $22.00 hc

MORE INFO: Contact University of Minnesota Bookstores, located in Coffman Memorial Union and the St. Paul Student Center, at 612-626-0559 or generalbooks@umn.edu. Look for faculty authors at www.bookstores.umn.edu/genref.