Before there was Don Draper and Mad Men, real-life ad man Jerry Della Femina was living it up on Madison Avenue. Della Femina’s 1970 memoir From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor (Simon & Schuster, 288pgs), one of the sources of inspiration for the hit television show, was reissued this month. The book, named after a tongue-in-cheek slogan rejected by Panasonic, exposes the true hijinks and excesses of advertising’s heyday. In an interview with NPR, Della Femina discusses his time as an ad executive. “Advertising was fun,” he explains. “I wrote that it was the most fun you could have with your clothes on — and we’ll never see it again.” Comparing the antics of the characters on Mad Men with his real life experiences, he claims the show has toned down the debauchery on Madison Avenue. “Obviously it was not politically correct, but everyone took part in it and we were just enjoying doing what we were doing,” he admits. “We thought the fun would never end.”
Read more…

Recently, a document containing a sample of President Abraham Lincoln’s handwriting was discovered among the papers in the James Frazier Reed Collection at the California State Library in Sacramento. The KCRA Channel 3 website reports that Reed, the Collection’s namesake, was one of the organizers of the tragic Donner Party, and the document travelled with the Party on their fateful trip west in 1846. The Lincoln document, which lists the names of several Illinois volunteers for the Black Hawk War in 1832, has been examined by several experts from the The Papers of Abraham Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. It was “determined that Abraham Lincoln had written the title for one of the July 10 muster rolls,” stated The Papers of Abraham Lincoln organization.
Read more…

By Rachel Shukert
Paperback
Harper Perennial | 336pgs
Release Date: July 27, 2010

Summary:
Performer and playwright Rachel Shukert recounts her experiences and misadventures during a coming of age tour of Europe in the witty Everything Is Going to Be Great: An Underfunded and Overexposed European Grand Tour. With a freshly minted acting degree from NYU, Shukert wins a role as an extra in a play booked on a European tour. An error in customs leaves her passport unstamped, allowing her to travel freely throughout Vienna, Zurich and Amsterdam, experiencing booze, boys and culture shock in transit. Written in a style that Entertainment Weekly‘s Tina Jordan describes as “a cross between David Sedaris and Chuck Palahniuk”, Shukert’s irreverent observations offer an entertaining portrait of a young woman finding her way to adulthood.
Read more…

San Diego County, CA libraries have gone to the dogs. All in the name of literacy. Twice a month at the the La Mesa branch, a collie named Sunny, who is a certified therapy dog, visits the library with his handler, Gloria Laube, and listens to children read. An article posted on the American Libraries Magazine website reports that Sunny and Laube are participants in the Read to Your Breed program, which offers assistance and encouragement to kids who struggle with reading. The handler, who has created her own website (www.librarydogs.com) to promote therapy dog reading programs, is a true believer in the efficacy of these canine programs. “The use of trained therapy dogs in reading programs can result in children who feel comfortable reading out loud, read more often, attempt more difficult books, and actually look forward to reading,” states the website.
Read more…

© DC Comics

In the theme of Comic-Con and all things super hero related, the hugely popular convention isn’t the only event to make news in the comic book world this month. In early July, issue No. 600 of the Wonder Woman series hit the shelves with a brand new story line and a surprising new look, causing an uproar among fans. Under the helm of new writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Jim Lee, Wonder Woman’s iconic red and gold bustier, star-spangled blue hot pants and red stiletto knee-high boots have been banished and replaced with a blue jacket (sleeves rolled up!), a tight red top and black leggings. Huh?! Straczynski explained his reasoning behind this new look in an e-mail to The New York Times. “She’s been locked into pretty much the exact same outfit since her debut in 1941. If you’re going to make a statement about bringing Wonder Woman into the 21st century, you need to be bold and you need to make it visual,” he wrote. Lee and Straczynski have certainly made some odd fashion choices for a 21st century female super hero.
Read more…

Yesterday, Amazon sent out a press release announcing that eBook sales have now outpaced hardcover sales and touting the increased sales of lower priced Kindle units. Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, stated, “Amazon.com customers now purchase more Kindle books than hardcover books – astonishing when you consider that we’ve been selling hardcover books for 15 years, and Kindle books for 33 months.” In the past three months Amazon has sold 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books it has sold in the U.S. In the past month, Amazon has increased that ratio by selling 180 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books it’s sold. The number of eBooks sales in the first half of 2010 is more than triple the number sold in the first half of 2009. Amazon also applauds a group of five authors that have sold more than 500,000 Kindle books. Charlaine Harris, Stieg Larsson, Stephenie Meyer, James Patterson, and Nora Roberts have all passed the half million mark.
Read more…

By Chevy Stevens
St. Martin’s Press | 352pgs
Release Date: July 6, 2010

Summary:
Annie O’Sullivan, a young realtor on Vancouver Island, deals with the aftermath of her brutal abduction in Still Missing, the debut novel by Chevy Stevens. On a warm day in August, Annie has a lot on her mind during a slow open house, but when a friendly man shows up at the end of the day, her hopes of a sale begin to rise. Instead of brokering a real estate deal, Annie is kidnapped, held captive for a year in a desolate cabin in the wilderness, and repeatedly raped by her captor. The plot interlaces details of her year in hell, told through Annie’s therapy sessions, with her fight to regain normalcy after the ordeal has ended. She may have physically escaped her horrific prison, but is still searching for a vital part of her being that is still missing.
Read more…

The virtues of the iBooks app and the iPad’s function as an eReader have been the subject of several previous posts here at In the Stax, and while most early adopters utilize the device for entertainment and productivity purposes, it is also emerging as an educational tool for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) that have communication difficulties. In a recent post for BlogHer Shannon Des Roches Rosa proclaims the family iPad, won in a raffle, to be a “near miracle” for her son Leo, who has autism. With several autism-focused AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) apps available, such as TapToTalk, Proloquo2Go, and iCommunicate, children with speech or communication difficulties can improve their skills and gain confidence. “We maintain a list of social questions for Leo to work on; with iCommunicate, we were able to create a list of answers to those questions for him to access and tap on any time — and (bonus) he even did some of the icons’ voiceovers.”
Read more…

"The Birth of Old Glory" by Percy Moran

In the spirit of patriotism surrounding the 4th of July, history professor Marla Miller has written a new book about Betsy Ross, the iconic patriot best known for sewing the first American flag. In Betsy Ross and the Making of America (Henry Holt, 467pgs) Miller investigates the story of Ross and her most famous creation, drawing some very interesting conclusions. Working as an upholsterer, Ross’ skill and quality of craftsmanship was well known, and it is documented that she made numerous flags, pennants and standards for the government during the Revolutionary War. But, there is no written historical record proving the seamstress made America’s first flag by herself. “Miller reminds us, the flag, ‘like the Revolution it represents, was the work of many hands,’” writes Marjoleine Kars in a review for The Washington Post.
Read more…

By Tess Gerritsen
Ballantine Books | 336pgs
Release Date: June 29, 2010

Summary:
Tess Gerritsen’s dynamic duo, detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles, return in Ice Cold the eighth installment of the bestselling Rizzoli & Isles series. The novel opens with Isles attending a medical conference in Wyoming, and embarking on an impromptu ski trip with friends. The leisurely outing takes a dangerous turn as their SUV breaks down in the midst of a snow storm, and the group enters the tiny village of Kingdom Come looking for shelter. Isles and friends come upon an unsettling scene; the remote community appears to be hastily abandoned, though there are chilling signs that someone remains, watching. In Boston, a few days later, Rizzoli is notified that Isles’ burned body has been found. This shocking news incites the detective to conduct her own investigation into Kingdom Come, uncovering the village’s malevolent secrets, and learning the truth about Isles’ death. Could this be the end of a beautiful friendship?
Read more…