Three UW Press Titles Named "Outstanding" University Press Books

Arctic Spectacles, The Adventures of Eddie Fung, and Memory and Vision received "Outstanding" ratings by members of the 2008 University Press Books Committee, in the 2008 edition of University Press Books Selected for Public and Secondary School Libraries. Outstanding titles are defined as having exceptional editorial content and subject matter, and are essential to most library collections.

The University Press Books Selected for Public and Secondary School Libraries is an annual collection development tool published by the Association for American University Presses (AAUP) for two divisions of the American Library Association: The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and the Public Library Association (PLA).

Following are the committee members comments about each book:

Arctic Spectacles: The Frozen North in Visual Culture, 1818-1875, by Russell A. Potter

"Russell Potter traces the story of the long, drawn-out exploration of the Northwest Passage and the early quest to reach the North Pole. Potter paints the visual pictures of the Arctic by gathering letters, diaries, cartoons, sketches, and even playbills and newspaper articles to show the Arctic in all of its beauty and savage glory. He uses full-color plates of the era to create a visual history of the mysterious, untamable frozen North. He has created a work that is conceptually unique in its handling of the polar passion to explore the nineteenth century Arctic." - Barbara Bertoldo (AASL)

The Adventures of Eddie Fung: Chinatown Kid, Texas Cowboy, Prisoner of War, edited by Judy Yung

"What a life! Eddie Fung was born in Chinatown, ran away from home to become a cowboy, became the only Chinese-American soldier to be captured by the Japanese in World War II, worked on The Bridge on the River Kwai, and even went on to marry the woman who interviewed him as part of a different book project. This tale of resourcefulness and heroism will find broad appeal with high school students and teachers." - Judith Repman, PhD (AASL)

Memory and Vision: Arts, Cultures, and Lives of Plains Indian People, by Emma I. Hansen

"The expansive collection of cultural artifacts in the Plains Indian Museum of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center is captured in this book through vivid, color photography and explained through descriptive commentary by the Plains Indians." - Laura L. Summers, PhD (AASL)

"Memory and Vision is the story of the Native American Indians of the Great Plains including such tribes as the Cheyenne, Lakota, Shoshone Blackfeet, Comanche, Hidatsa, Crow and other Plains tribes. It describes the fundamental traditions of these cultures in brilliantly colored photographs and beautifully detailed descriptions of spiritual, cultural and economic life." - Dr. Terri Maggio (PLA)