The Language Instinct: How the Mind Produces Language by Steven Pinker

Most of us have been speaking, writing, and using language for most of our lives. But why do we say things like we do, and why is there so much misunderstanding in a media-saturated world? Steven Pinker attempts to explain our somewhat quirky language behavior in this very entertaining book. He doesn’t talk about abstract concepts, or word formation, or word derivation. He talks about an inborn need to communicate by speech, and tries to figure out why people say things the strange and interesting ways they do.

Pinker is one of the best of those writers (like Stephen J. Gould or Malcom Gladwell) who are able to present scientific concepts in a painless fashion. But he is not a mere “popularizer”. He has a background in linguistics, psychology and biology , and a good ear. In this book, as you can tell by the title, he makes a case for human language being more instinctual than learned behavior. It is located on the second floor at call number P106 .P476 1994.

Niagara University Library also has a number of other books by Pinker, all of which are guaranteed to make you smarter, including The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature (BF341 .P47 2002), How the Mind Works (QP360.5 .P56 1997), The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window Into Human Nature (P107 .P548 2007) and Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Human Language (P106 .P477 1999).
-Charles Dabkowski, Acquisitions Librarian

The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America by Thurston Clarke

An inspiring book that chronicles Robert Kennedy’s 1968 campaign for the presidency. Drawing on interviews with friends, political advisors and campaign workers (several who had never been interviewed before), Thurston Clarke has created a fresh and illuminating account of Robert Kennedy’s short-lived campaign for the presidency. Kennedy emerges from these pages as a politician who was not afraid to challenge the conscience and moral sensibility of the American electorate and never hesitated to speak his mind regardless of who his audience was. A must read. It is shelved on the basement level at call number E851 .C63 2008.

Also recommended:

A Time It Was: Bobby Kennedy in the Sixties by Bill Eppridge (photographs and text) and Pete Hamill (essay)

A collection of photographs that Life photographer Bill Eppridge took of RFK during the 1968 campaign. Accompanying the photographs is an essay by journalist and longtime Kennedy friend Pete Hamill.
-Jonathan Coe, Head of Reference

Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions by Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem is a noted feminist, author and political activist. During the 1970s and 80s, Steinem worked to draw attention to the inequalities in work place and other forms of gender discrimination. She founded a magazine devoted to women called Ms., co-founded of the Women's Media Center, and worked with the National Women's Political Caucus.

Her Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions was published 25 years ago to controversy. It is a collection of personal essays and written "as if women mattered." The essays cover a wide variety of topics and tones, from humorous ("If I were a Playboy Bunny") to political to cultural. She writes about anything and everything in clear, concise sentences.

Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions is one of the founding texts of the feminist revolution and as our national conversations turn back to sexism in American lives, its claims still ring prescient and true. It is shelved on the second floor at call number HQ1413.S675 A36 1983.
-Ellie Jones, Fall 2008 Reference Department practicum student

Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer

Fischer provides a fresh and insightful look at George Washington’s Revolutionary War strategy, focusing on the New Jersey campaign during the desperate winter of 1776/77. Washington’s Crossing is a riveting and highly readable account of the events leading up to Washington’s iconic Christmas night crossing of the Delaware River and the battles which followed. It is also a cogent examination of the military tactics employed by both the British and American forces during this pivotal moment in American history. It is shelved on the basement level at call number E263.P4 F575 2004.
-Michael Lavin, Reference Librarian