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Call#: Van Pelt Library PS3545.I774 Z874 2005
Call#: Van Pelt Library PS153.I8 B49 1997
Beyond The Godfather, Italian American Writers Writing about the Real Italian American experience is a collection of stories from various Italian authors who offer an intimate and unique insight into what there lives were like completely disconnected from the experiences depticted in a movie like “The Godfather”. This work is not so mucha response to the film “The Godfather” as it is a reaction to those that have seen the film and can not distinguish between reality and fiction or are simply content to place stereotypical
The first story in the book is that of Louise Desalvo called “Finding My Way” and his experiences as a young boy growing up in Hoboken, New Jersey and going to grammar school. This interesting little story shows how important education was this Italian American family and the pride that they felt to become integrated into American society as opposed to the extra legal activities that you would experience in “The Godfather.” Moreover, his real-life experiences at school prove him to be quite astute and polite. This quaint story ends as it had began ground in the real experience of family, one that has no connection to the mafia.
This book takes a step back from the stereotypes that one might decide to adopt from the portrayals of Italian Americans in The Godfather. Understanding the distinction is important not only because stereotyping a group of people is ignorant, but because in realizing that the book or the movie are a work of fiction should increase one’s appreciation of the work.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1998.3.C67 P48 2004
The Google Books Project has drawn a great deal of attention, offering the prospect of the library of the future and rendering many other library and digitizing projects apparently superfluous. To grasp the value of Google's endeavor, we need among other things, to assess its quality. On such a vast and undocumented project, the task is challenging. In this essay, I attempt an initial assessment in two steps. First, I argue that most quality assurance on the Web is provided either through innovation or through "inheritance." In the later case, Web sites rely heavily on institutional authority and quality assurance techniques that antedate the Web, assuming that they will carry across unproblematically into the digital world. I suggest that quality assurance in the Google's Book Search and Google Books Library Project primarily comes through inheritance, drawing on the reputation of the libraries, and before them publishers involved. Then I chose one book to sample the Google's Project, Lawrence Sterne's Tristram Shandy. This book proved a difficult challenge for Project Gutenberg, but more surprisingly, it evidently challenged Google's approach, suggesting that quality is not automatically inherited. In conclusion, I suggest that a strain of romanticism may limit Google's ability to deal with that very awkward object, the book.
SUGGEST BOOKS TO ADD TO SAFARI BY E-MAILING TOWNELIB@SEAS.UPENN.EDU. Selected online full-text computer books from O'Reilly and other IT publishers including Addison-Wesley, Cisco Press, New Riders, Peachpit, Prentice Hall, Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference, Que, and Sams.
All the books are fully searchable and fully navigable. Browse titles and subject areas to get to relevant chapters or perform keyword searches across multiple titles simultaneously.
Call#: Van Pelt Library JF799 .I62 2006
Owen’s article is optimistic regarding future civic engagement, but often defines this engagement in terms of student political projects, voters looking at government websites, etc. She doesn’t offer much concrete evidence that these online practices translate into actual voting. She does, rather inadvertently, point out an interesting paradox: those users who are currently the most web-savvy are not yet old enough to legally vote. Furthermore, Owen’s article reveals that the Internet may only further engage those already intending to vote. She also rethinks the traditional concept of engagement, which in this case may mean community-building, blogging, etc. as opposed to actual voting.
This article gives useful breakdowns of American populations using the Internet by age, gender and race (although only in the categories “White” and “Black”) – but does not offer any analysis through more nuanced categories or race, class, geographical location, etc.
Call#: Annenberg Library Reserve P94.65.U6 J46 2006
In chapter six, Jenkins discusses the role of popular culture in emerging political communities. Jenkins (as is the case throughout Convergence Culture) is focused on how old and new media interact and the dynamics of collaboration and participation. While Jenkins recognizes the scoff-factor when implying the concept of “photoshop for democracy” (user-generated images that often map themes from popular culture onto the political campaign) is any sort of substitute for real political activism, he insists that this kind of user-generated content and mass dispersion is a serious act of citizenry. In fact, using popular culture as a means of engaging voters might just be the most effective way of re-establishing interest in politics as a part of our everyday lives. Jenkins focuses on the 2004 election and recognizes that the next step is to think of “democratic citizenship as a lifestyle.” Furthermore, online political communities seem to be segregating voters, as opposed to encouraging dialogue across ideologies. Although he seems to offer popular culture as a kind of national balm for the ailments of political fragmentation, Jenkins recognizes the inherent limits of its role in (or applicability as a model for) contemporary political communities.
For me, the most useful parts of this argument is the attention he pays to the increasing participation of average Americans (now as monitorial citizens as opposed to informed citizens) in the media landscape and the possibilities for the integration of politics and popular culture. However, he doesn’t seem to offer any real solution for the acutely polarized political landscape.
Call#: Van Pelt Library JK1764 .T75 2004
Call#: Van Pelt Library JK1764 .D37 2005
Ch. 1: “Electronic Political Discussion”
This chapter offers an overview of various online communications, including electronic email lists, Usenet and blogs. Davis addresses the question of whether or not online discussions make any difference in political processes, institutions or societal behavior and ultimately decides that the prophesized utopia of direct democracy has not yet been achieved. The obstacles facing such restructuring include: inequality in the levels of accessibility and the fragmented nature of electronic political discussion. Even the more tempered notion of deliberative democracy faces hurdles - most notably human reliance on technological solutions.
This chapter is a helpful summary of current online discussion forums and briefly pulls apart the kind of Trippi-esque claims of revolution. I'm going to utilize the rest of this book in order to examine the broad claims of internet revolution which, in the case of much writing about the internet, seem devoid of factors like accessibility.
Call#: Van Pelt Library JK2281 .C67 2004
This chapter analyzes five cases of online politics, including the use of the internet by Bush and McCain in 2000, the phenomenon moveon.org, Web White and Blue and the “instant response meter” developed by Speakout.com. The moveon.org case study discusses the evolution of the wildly successful organization which proved to have a mobilizing capacity beyond all expectation. It summarizes its strategy of providing a voice for those unheard during the Clinton scandal as well as using the Internet to broaden the early donor pool. The article mentions in the last few sentences that there is no conservative counterpart to the MoveOn model, perhaps because “grassroots action works better in opposition – and the conservatives are in power.” I think this is a valid point and worth examining in relation to the Democratic takeover in the midterm elections although at the moment it seems too early for a conservative backlash.
As the chapter points out, Joan Blades and Wes Boyd (the founders of MoveOn) are not political candidates. They (in the vein of many environmentalists or human rights organizations responding to a specific problem) started their site/online petition as a reaction to the Clinton impeachment issue and grew to become a kind of brand of endorsement for selected democratic candidates. Also, they bundle donor choices to make sizable contributions to a slate of candidates. Would any one candidate be able to mobilize the kind of broad support this portal of the people harnessed?
Call#: GA108.7 .C53 1992
Call#: Van Pelt Library GT596 .P386 1998
Call#: Z5917.H6 N6 1929b
Call#: Z5916 .C78 1960
Call#: PN3353 .H37 1988
Call#: Van Pelt Library PS374.J48 B59
Call#: PR868.T3 T7
Call#: Van Pelt Library PS374.H55 S54 1995
Call#: PS374.U5 H35 1985
These are two most practical how-to books on glass blowing. Ed Schmid couldn't find text books for the glassblowing classes he was teaching, so he created them. Fully illustrated (actually hand drawn and lettered) and full of sensible advice.
Call#: Fine Arts Library HT123 .C443 2001
Call#: Fine Arts Library NK5106 .G56 2003
Collection of clinical textbooks, journals, and reference materials. Excellent source for background information.
Access Medicine - McGraw-Hill's AccessMedicine.com is an online reference resource that includes Harrison's Online, Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment, other core medical texts, Lange clinical review library, USMLE review, drug information, patient education, and many more resources.
MD Consult - Web portal containing full-text content of over 50 publishers and other organizations. Access includes full text textbooks, Clinics of North America, full text journals, practice guidelines, drug information, yearbooks and patient education.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PS153.I8 B49 1997
The book Beyond the Godfather: Italian American Writers on the Real Italian American Experience, is a collection of essays written by writers of Italian descent. The book is in response to the wide popularity of The Godfather. The popularity of this book and movie has overshadowed the culture of Italians. As a result, these essays were compiled in order to give an overview of the styles of writing of the Italian Americans.
There are three main sections of the book: Memories and Memoirs, Italian American Literature and Identity Politics. Memories and Memoirs are full of anecdotes from Italian American everyday lives. In Louise DeSalvo’s story, “Finding My Way,” he discusses his education experience growing up. From this essay, it is apparent the importance of family as well as education in the life of this Italian American. The Italian American Literature section mainly discussed the different types of styles of writing. This is used to show the diversity in terms of its culture. Lastly, Identity Politics discusses the role that Italian Americans have in the United States. In the essay, “Italian Americans and American Politics,” Michael Barone discusses the influential role of Italians in the U.S. government, and the prominent figures, such as Fiorello LaGuardia, that were present in society.
The purpose of this book was to respond to the stereotypes of Italian Americans that was created by The Godfather. Although Mafia is an aspect of Italian Americans, the book highlights other aspects of their culture. Most notably, it shows the power that Italian Americans have in America. However, this power is through respectable positions in government and not through illegal ways. In addition to this, the importance of family is evident through the essays written, which is mirrored in the movie.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1998.3.C67 P48 2004