NONFICTION
The Black Book of Bosnia: The Consequences of Appeasement, editedby Nader Mousavizadeh (BasicBooks, $10). Since August 1992, when theNew Republic ran an editorial titled 'Rescue Bosnia,' the terriblefate of the former Yugoslavia has been the magazine's 'obsession.' Sosays Nader Mousavizadeh, TNR's assistant literary editor, in hispreface to this collection of New Republic essays and editorials onBosnia. The book's title is a reference to the famous Black Book, arecord of Nazi atrocities in the Soviet Union during World War II.Part One, 'The Legacy of the Balkans,' features pieces analyzing thehistory of ethnic conflict in the region and the outside world'sindifference to it. Part Two, 'A People Destroyed,' assemblesreportage from 'the shattered landscapes of Yugoslavia.' Part Three,'Indecision and Impotence,' examines the conflict and the Westernresponse (or lack thereof) from political and strategic angles. PartFour, 'The Abdication of the West,' recaps the magazine's Bosniaeditorials -- 'a call for action and a chronology of outrage' -- manywritten by TNR literary editor Leon Wieseltier. CautionsMousavizadeh: 'It is hard to read them without bitterness. . .Theyremind us that we, too, have the blood of Bosnia on our hands.'
Dying from Dioxin: A Citizen's Guide to Reclaiming Our Health andRebuilding Democracy, by Lois Marie Gibbs and the CitizensClearinghouse for Hazardous Waste (South End Press, $20; $40hardcover). Dioxin is the inadvertent chemical byproduct ofindustrial processes that involve chlorine or the burning of chlorinewith organic matter (the pulp and paper industry, with its relianceon chlorine bleaching, is a major source of the chemical). Onceproduced, dioxin enters our air and water and finds its way into ourfood; in the body, it lingers. Dioxin has been linked to serioushealth problems, including cancer (consider that a form of dioxin isa main component of Agent Orange). Should we worry? Absolutely, saysGibbs, founder and executive director of the Citizens Clearinghousefor Hazardous Waste and organizer of the Love Canal protests: 'Theaverage boy, girl, woman, or man in the United States has enough oralmost enough dioxin in his or her body to damage his or her health.'Part One of Dying from Dioxin covers the science, political historyand health effects of dioxin; Part Two presents organizing strategiesfor those interested in working for a dioxin-free environment.
The New Girl: Girls' Culture in England, 1880-1915, by SallyMitchell (Columbia University Press, $17.50). In late-19th-centuryEngland, as educational and employment opportunities for women becamemore widespread, young women approaching adulthood began to think ofthemselves in a different way. 'Both working-class and middle-classgirls increasingly occupied a separate culture,' writes Mitchell.'The new girl -- no longer a child, not yet a (sexual) adult --occupied a provisional free space.' Mitchell finds expressions ofthis new culture in literature (books such as Three Girls in a Flatand A Plucky School-Girl) and in magazines (Girl's Own Paper, Girls'Reader), in the rising popularity of outfits like the Girl Guides andorganized sports for girls. This flush of liberation didn't last,however; by 1920, novelists and magazine editors were pushing girlsback toward ideals of marriage and family. As Mitchell puts it in herconclusion, 'one way to contain the girl who has learned to imagineher future as a healthy, strong, well-educated professional is toteach her that romance is at the core of life.'
Encyclopedia of European Cinema, edited by Ginette Vincendeau(Facts on File, $23.95). The entries range from the brief (a snippeton Ronald Colman's British career, before he came and conqueredHollywood in the '20s) to the magisterial (a five-page history ofGerman cinema, with a supplement, later in the alphabet, on NewGerman Cinema). The entry on the director Pedro Almodovar, Spain'sanswer to John Waters, stresses the melange-like quality of hismovies: 'a simultaneous celebration and parody of cinema verite, neo-realism, thrillers, musicals and horror' and mentions the'unprecedented freedom' accorded Almodovar by his production company,El Deseo. The entry on Jean Renoir notes that both Orson Welles andFrancois Truffaut called him 'the greatest film-maker in the world.'
