2014 reading list, April- June

Not much opportunity for reading this spring. We were busy moving.

Deborah Bernnard, Greg Bobish, Daryl Bullis, Jenna Hecker, Irina Holden, Allison Hosier, Trudi Jacobson, and Tor Loney, The Information Literacy User's Guide: An Open, OnlineTextbook. New York: SUNY Open Textbooks, 2014.

An instruction manual for using information in contemporary society, based on the Seven Pillars Model, this textbook is intended for late high-school or undergraduate students. Complete with exercises, examples, and interactive quizzes to assess learning, it is a quick, yet valuable, primer on finding and using timely, accurate information.

 

Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind. New York: MacMillan, 1936.

A historical romance about the Great War of NorthernAggression, featuring one of the most memorable love triangles in American literature, it has thrilled readers for generations. So why isn’t Scarlett O’Hara one of our great fictional feminist icons? After all, she survives a war, defends her home, raises her family, and establishes a series of successful businesses, all in an era when women were expected to politely defer to their husbands’ will.

The short answer is, Scarlett O’Hara is not a likable character. She is bright, beautiful, and driven, but also obsessed with another woman’s husband, indifferent to the opinions or feelings of others, and will do anything for financial security. She does have a conscience, but quickly learns to ignore it, and she is no model for anyone to follow.