Responding to Terrorist Attacks

August 11, 2010

This week’s student intern guest blogger is Phil Marcus, a rising junior at James Madison University.

The title I’m blogging about, Emergency Response to Terrorism: Job Aid (ERT), was first printed in May of 2000.  While I don’t know how well it was selling at the time, I’m sure that sales greatly rose after 9-11. 

This little comb-bound booklet goes into great detail about the steps and procedures that should be taken to deal with a terrorist attack.  Whether toxic or explosive, this publication covers it all.  As we well know, acts of terrorism can occur at any time, and without much warning. 

A very important point is that Emergency Response to Terrorism: Job Aid, goes into detail about how to preserve evidence from an act of terrorism.  This surely is an asset, because without evidence no crimes can be traced back to the responsible party.  Almost anything can be considered evidence, especially items such as the ‘black box’ from the 9-11 attacks that is carried in every airplane.   If these boxes had not been found after 9-11, much of the information we have now on the attacks would have ever been known. The ERT deals with many similar issues.

I think  the ERT is a must read for anyone interested in obtaining knowledge about how to deal with acts of terrorism – specifically how to respond, as a citizen, to an act of terrorism. Copies can be purchased on our website, reviewed at the FEMA Web site, or in libraries.

13 Comments | FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency, Terrorism | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by govbooktalk

Pruning Trees

August 6, 2010

Our summer intern guest blogger for this post is Alex Ronchetti, a rising sophomore at American University.

In high school I worked a summer job doing landscaping for houses around town.  Part of that job required me to prune trees so that they didn’t grow onto sidewalks or utility lines.  I picked up how to prune properly from watching others and by practicing, because I thought there was no instruction manual on how to do this.  Imagine my surprise when I was searching through the GPO’s Bookstore and saw a Forest Service guidebook called How to Prune Trees.

This is a short how-to manual developed by the Department of Agriculture and the Forest Service, but it’s chock full of good information.  It describes the three main reasons you should be pruning; safety, health of the tree, and aesthetic value.  It then talks about the proper ways to prune trees also showing diagrams that show where to cut on the branch.  The writing is easy to understand and the diagrams certainly help show examples of what the authors are talking about.  There is also a section on proper cleaning of cutting tools and treating wounds that gave me insights that I hadn’t had before.

 A short and sweet title that provides good information on the proper care of trees, you can purchase it from the GPO here, read it online here, or find it in a library near you here.

3 Comments | Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by govbooktalk

Notable Documents: Gardens and Urban Landscapes

August 4, 2010

“Touching” is not a word usually applied to Government publications, but it’s an appropriate one for “Memoryscape,” one of the case studies in Restorative Commons: Creating the Health and Well-Being through Urban Landscapes. This U.S. Forest Service publication, one of Library Journal’s 2009 Notable Government Documents, is an attractively packaged and well-illustrated collection of thought pieces, case studies, and interviews focused on the idea that biophilia – the basic human need for contact with nature – can and must be fostered in urban settings. As Oliver Sacks says in his Foreword, “I would even suggest that a sort of subtype of biophilia may be hortophilia, or a special desire for gardens….In many cases, gardens and nature are more powerful than any medication.” I know that whenever I pass an urban common garden, it always evokes positive feelings in me, even though I’m not a gardener myself. A walk or hike in a park definitely takes me out of myself and my problems, and it seems to work that way for most folks I know.

All the more pressing then, is the need to make nature and gardens available in such places as Rikers Island (a jail), Red Hook (a blighted urban neighborhood in New York City), Fresh Kills Park (a landfill), and Bosnia-Herzegovina (the site of horrific ethnic cleansing in the 1990’s).The essays and interviews in Restorative Commons describe the innovative garden/landscape projects in these places and others, along with the stories of the people who are running the programs and those benefiting from them vocationally and psychologically.

And then there’s “Memoryscape,” about the place in Westfield, Massachusetts known as “100 acres.” Brian Murphy, his brother Harold, and many of their friends used this area – an area of trees, dirt roads, and wildlife – as their “romping grounds.” Brian was killed at the World Trade Center, and Harold used his skills as a real estate developer with an interest in open space conservation to have 30 acres of this urban landscape permanently preserved. He takes his brother’s kids there to show them their dad’s “place” and, aside from a planned trail, it will stay as it is, rusted train trestle and all, so they and future generations can romp there, too. There are informal 9/11 memorials like this in the Boston and LA areas, where the planes took off, in the Greater New York area and adjoining suburbs, and in the DC area, too. (We could see the smoke from the Pentagon from our office windows that day).

 This is an inspiring and hope-filled book. You can get,view, or order your own copy here or find it in a library here.

11 Comments | Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by govbooktalk

A Different Kind of Translator: The Work of Nisei Linguists

July 22, 2010

It’s always good to get a fresh perspective on familiar things – in this case, on those Government books we love. I’ve asked the summer interns in our office to select a publication that interests them and write about it. What they picked and wrote about is really interesting, and I think you’ll feel that way, too.

 Our first intern is Camille Turner, a rising junior at the University of Delaware.

The first time that I really began to grasp the severity of World War II was when I did a project on Pearl Harbor. Yet, even after years of learning about  the techniques and tactics utilized by all countries involved, and the toll it took on participants and non-participants alike, I had never heard of anything so charged  with personal conflict as the decisions made by second generation Japanese American (Nisei) soldiers.

Nisei Linguists: Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service during World War II from the Army Center of Military History details the efforts of Nisei who were recruited by the U.S. Army as translators and interpreters. Trained in a secret school, these Nisei soldiers were placed in a unique position, determined to protect the country in which they were raised, while simultaneously embracing the Japanese culture they were taught to value and burdened by the knowledge that many of their family members and friends had been removed from their homes on the West Coast and placed in isolated camps by the country and Army they were serving. (Don’t be concerned if you haven’t heard about this group of nearly 6,000 soldiers: for many years, their work was a military secret, and no official history was published about them until 1994).

As this book explains, in a time of strained American and Japanese-American relations, the Nisei linguists helped to ease tensions and maintain communication between the two groups. Complete with maps and photographs documenting the training process, it follows the work of the linguists chronologically, including the upbringing of several officers, and their service up until the early occupation of Japan in February of 1946.

One of the remarkable aspects of this text is the objectivity of the author in relating the specific events the Nisei had to face, including the bombing of Pearl Harbor by their ancestral country. The author manages to detail respectfully the feelings of multiple groups of citizens in the United States through a multitude of controversial and painful incidents, including the strain on the Nisei officers as their loyalty was questioned continuously by the country they were working to defend against the country they were taught to cherish and respect.

This book is a must read for any World War II enthusiast and a great source of insight into a little-known chapter of military history. You can get a copy here, review it here, or find it in these libraries.

Leave a Comment » | Government Printing Office (GPO), U.S. Army, World War II | Permalink
Posted by gpoturner2010

Afghanistan and International Law

July 14, 2010

Since 1901, the Naval War College (NWC) has produced its “Blue Book” series on various international law topics. Over the years, I’ve thumbed through a few of these volumes. I remember one on the law of piracy that would be very relevant today, given the shenanigans off the Somali coast. The latest Blue Book is even more timely. The War in Afghanistan: A Legal Analysis is a compilation of essays from an International Law Expert’s Workshop held at the NWC. It touches on just about every aspect of the war, from the legal issues surrounding the original coalition intervention to the vexed problem of the status of combatants.

The first paper in the “The War in Afghanistan in Context” section was totally engrossing. “Afghanistan and International Security” by Adam Roberts, Senior Research Fellow of the Centre for International Studies, Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford, and President-elect of the British Academy is a tour de force of clear and logically-structured writing that delineates the historical and political background of Afghanistan, prior efforts by outside power to control it, and the vexing legal issues the current situation presents. Particularly noteworthy was his point that it’s difficult  for the coalition gradually to turn over power to the national government in a place where most of the citizenry historically have had no use for any central government. After I finished reading, I was impressed by the author’s grasp of his subject and absolutely daunted by the challenges Afghanistan presents.

Another excellent paper, “Combatants” by W. Hays Parks, Senior Associate Deputy General Counsel, International Affairs Division, Office of General Counsel, U.S. Department of Defense, concludes that the Bush Administration’s decision to deny prisoner of war status to Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters was correct under long-established international law, but that its supporting statements were incorrect.  I found this essay to be particularly well-documented and lucidly written.

There’s much more to The War in Afghanistan: A Legal Analysis. Some of the discussions depend upon close readings of international precedents that make it heavy going for a lay reader, but all have value for the student of international affairs and the rule of law.

You can find the complete text of The War in Afghanistan: A Legal Analysis  here, browse through it  here, purchase a copy, or look through it at a library.

2 Comments | Afghanistan, Government Printing Office (GPO), Legal Analysis, Naval War College, U.S. Navy | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by gpoturner2010

Summer Travels

July 7, 2010

Government publications are more than just books. Guest blogger Kelly Seifert reminds us that maps and guides can be just as engrossing, especially at this time of year.

If you’re planning on doing some travel around the country this summer, you can start your planning with the National Parks System Map and Guide. It features a map of the United States, including Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, showing the locations of parks, historic sites, and other properties operated by the National Park Service. On the reverse side, an alphabetical list of each National Park System property describes its activities, services, and facilities. If you’re planning on exploring any of the 391 destinations of the National Parks Service this summer, this is an essential take along. You can also easily access this publication by visiting your local Federal depository library. Locate a library in your area here.

To make your trip complete, check out these other great publications as well: 1) the National Trails System: Map and Guide, which includes descriptions of national historic and scenic trails, and 2) the National Wildlife Refuge System: A Visitor’s Guide, which contains a map showing national wildlife refuges that provide recreational and educational opportunities. The Visitor’s Guide also provides tips for visiting national wildlife refuges and lists refuges in all 50 States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, along with the best wildlife viewing season and the features of each refuge.

Why leave the country for a little R&R when there are so many national treasures right on your doorstep? Happy Travels!

4 Comments | Government Printing Office (GPO), National Park Service, Travel and Tourism | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by gpoturner2010

Notable Documents: Historic Orchards

July 1, 2010

Although Keats called autumn the season of mellow fruitfulness, these days you can find just about any fruit at any time, thanks to modern agriculture and international trade. It was not always so, though. Fruitful Legacy: A Historic Context of Orchards in the United States, a Library Journal 2009 Notable Government Document, reveals the surprisingly complex history of fruit trees in the United States. In colonial times, the trees tended to be tall and grown from seed. The resultant fruit was not particularly tasty because apples and other tree fruits were grown for cider and animal feed, not to be eaten raw by humans. So-called garden orchards, tended behind walls by the well-to-do, were the main sources for “eating fruit”, and if a particular variety was out of season, our forebearers were out of luck.

Grafting and other techniques eventually produced larger and more productive orchards. These days, trees are bred to be dwarfs, which explains why older engravings show kids tossing down apples or pears from high up in trees, while today’s apple pickers are about as tall as the trees they pick from.

Aside from lots of information on the continuing evolution of America’s orchards, this book from the National Park Service’s Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation also addresses the surprisingly numerous heritage orchards and individual trees that are, or are eligible to become, entries in the National Register of Historic Places. Some of these are reserves for the germplasm of fruit varieties that otherwise would be lost to us, while others preserve the way orchards and fruit trees were planted and used throughout our history.

Fruitful Legacy provides a bonus: a selection of gorgeous botanical drawings of classic American fruits, as well as photos of fruit trees and fruit tree stands in national parks and monuments.

I found Fruitful Legacy to be a surprisingly interesting read, a generator of ideas for trips to parks (the Moses Cone Memorial Park, part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, sounds intriguing and not impossibly far from where I live), and a visual treat. You can browse it here, get a copy here, and find it in a library near you here. Now, should I have an apple or a pear with lunch?

5 Comments | National Park Service | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by govbooktalk

Senator Byrd and the Roman Republic

June 30, 2010

The passing of Senator Robert C. Byrd from the American political scene also marks the departure of a great American character. This fiddle-playing high school graduate who earned a law degree at night (in 1963) and a college degree via correspondence courses (in 1994) regularly quoted the Bible, the classics, and large swaths of memorized poetry on the floor of the Senate was also a historian of the institution he loved most: The United States Senate.

Curiously, his reverence for the Senate and fierce defense of its constitutional role resulted in a most remarkable Government book on ancient Rome: The Senate of the Roman Republic: Addresses on the History of Roman Constitutionalism. The roots of this book lay in Senator Byrd’s determined opposition to the idea of the line-item veto, which would grant the President the power to veto particular items in appropriations bills. Byrd viewed this proposal as usurping the Senate’s role and a threat to constitutional checks and balances. As a result, to quote Senate Historian Richard C. Baker’s Foreword, the Senator “initiated a series of fourteen addresses in opposition to the proposed line-item veto concept. During the following five and a-half months, he delivered each of the speeches – packed with names, dates, and complex narratives – entirely from memory and without recourse even to notes on consultation with staff aides.” (Italics in the original).

(Note: I knew Dick Baker when he was Senate Historian and asked him about the Senator’s role in writing both this book and his 4-volume The Senate: 1789-1989. He assured me that the Senator was indeed the author of these books, not just a speech reader.)

The Senate of the Roman Republic is replete with scholarly references to Polybius, Tacitus, and Montesquieu, as well as impassioned arguments against the line-item veto – surely a unique method of resisting encroachment on the rights of the Senate, and one we’ll not likely see again. Likewise, the departure of Robert Byrd, a man of the 20th century whose personality retained a bit of the flavor of the 19th, will leave Congress with a bit less color and zest.

You can browse in The Senate of the Roman Republic here, get a copy here, or find it in a library here.

To view a page listing all of Senator Byrd’s historical works, go here.

1 Comment | Congress, U.S. Senate | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by govbooktalk

100 GPO Years Revisited

June 25, 2010

My agency, the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), usually is more concerned with getting information from other Federal agencies digitized, printed, posted, and disseminated than in publishing our own books – that’s been our job in the Federal Government for almost 150 years. When we do publish something of our own, such as our Style Manual, about which I blogged awhile back, it’s worthy of note.

That’s my lead-in to 100 GPO Years, 1861-1961, published to mark GPO’s centennial. I’m sure it didn’t make a particular splash in the world of books back then, but it’s a rare and beloved commodity for those of us who work here, or used to. After a brief history of pre-GPO public printing, replete with scandals and corruption (and that’s why Congress decided to establish GPO), the book chronicles GPO’s activities year by year. The growth of GPO paralleled that of the Federal Government, spurred on by the Civil War, two world wars, the Cold War, the New Deal, the Great Society, and all of the other historical developments that gave rise to America’s present status as a superpower. For all of these momentous chapters in our history, GPO was there, printing the Emancipation proclamation, the declarations of war for both world wars, the UN Charter, and innumerable other documents of our democracy. Remarkably, though, we’re still at the same location as we were in 1861, at the corner of North Capitol and H Streets NW in Washington, DC. Instead of one small building, there are four large ones, as well as facilities nationwide.

On June 23, 2010 – the 150th anniversary of the congressional resolution that established GPO – a reprint of 100 GPO Years was a centerpiece of the kickoff of GPO’s sesquicentennial celebration.  It’s a facsimile reprint, but with a new Foreword, an excellent index, and a colophon that describes the typefaces of both printings. On March 4, 2011, 150 years to the day after the inauguration of both GPO and Abraham Lincoln (it was the first day GPO was open for business), GPO will publish a new history. Until then, you can learn a lot about us by reading the straightforward narrative and sampling our unique historic photograph collection in 100 GPO Years. You can read the reprint on our anniversary Web site or purchase a copy here. Soon it will be available in Federal depository libraries nationwide. If you can’t wait, you can find the original printing  in some libraries.

Happy birthday to us!

20 Comments | Government Printing Office (GPO) | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by govbooktalk

Notable Documents: A Ponzi Scheme and the SEC

June 23, 2010

One of the points I’ve been trying to make via this blog is that Government publications can be well written, well designed, and otherwise comparable to books published by mainstream trade and academic publishers. For this Library Journal Notable Federal Government Document, though, I’m not going to make that point. Investigation of Failure of the Securities and Exchange Commission To Uncover Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme is the classic stereotyped Government document. It has an indigestible title, a 19-page table of contents, weighs a ton (or at least 3 pounds, 4 ounces) and is written in deadpan Governmental investigatory prose. In addition, the subject matter is pretty depressing. Stings and Ponzi schemes may be amusing in movies and books, but not if you’re the one who gets taken to the cleaners. To make matters worse, this report demonstrates that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) repeatedly failed to detect wrongdoing on the part of the perpetrator.

So why did Library Journal cite this report as a Notable Document, and why am I blogging about it? According to LJ, “This report examines the agency’s failure to investigate complaints it received over many years regarding Madoff’s activities. Along with supplementary material on the SEC web site, it clearly and fully addresses the commission’s shortcomings.” According to me, as an assiduous reader of international news, there are few places in the world where a government would investigate itself intensively and publish irrefutable information on its shortcomings to its own citizens. This report was covered thoroughly by the media when it was first issued. Although few would read it from cover to cover (me included), the facts are now out there for all to see and ponder.

Investigation of Failure of the Securities and Exchange Commission To Uncover Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme is available online, for purchase, and in libraries.

6 Comments | Securities and Exchange Commission | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by govbooktalk

Notable Documents: The Navy and Indochina, 1945-1965

June 18, 2010

Continuing with my review of Library Journal’s 2009 Notable Government Documents, today’s selection is The Approaching Storm: Conflict in Asia, 1945-1965. This first volume in a new Naval History and Heritage Command  series is designed to present “well-illustrated, engagingly written, and authoritative booklets that detail the Navy’s major involvement” in the Vietnam War.

The Approaching Storm is an auspicious beginning to this series. Its concise text places the Navy’s Southeast Asian operational activities in the post-World War II decade into the context of American and international politics. It’s instructive to follow internal political developments in South Vietnam, particularly during the Ngo Dinh Diem regime, and its effects on U.S.-Vietnamese naval collaboration. Despite the Navy’s best professional efforts in both riverine and blue water operations, “the greatest drawback to the development of the navy and other South Vietnamese armed forces was the involvement of their officers in plots, coups, and other political intrigues.” The book also presents a clear account of the Tonkin Gulf incident – a classic example of how the fog of war can obscure the facts for even the participants most closely involved in the action.

Profusely illustrated by photographs and useful maps, The Approaching Storm also includes accounts of individuals involved in the events of the time. I was particularly interested in “Escape from Laos”, which tells the story of Navy Lieutenant Charles F. Klusmann, whose reconnaissance aircraft was shot down over central Laos in 1964. After almost three months of captivity, Lieutenant Klusmann and a number of others escaped from their Pathet Lao prison camp. After three days, Klusmann and one other escapee made it to friendly lines – one of the few American flyers to escape from captivity in Laos during the entire course of the war.

Like Navy Medicine in Vietnam, a previous volume in this series that I’ve blogged about, The Approaching Storm is an excellent brief account of one aspect of the Vietnam War – still perhaps the most controversial armed conflict in American history –  whose story is neither well-known nor well-understood. You can get a copy here, browse through it here, or find it in a library here.

10 Comments | U.S. Navy, Vietnam | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by govbooktalk

Notable Documents: The Sun-Earth Relationship

June 16, 2010

When I was a kid, I had a serious interest in astronomy. I owned one of those pocket guides to the solar system and read and reread the entries on the Sun and the planets. While it was fun to think about the latter, especially the possibilities of extraterrestrial life (I was also reading Galaxy, If, and other sci-fi magazines), the Sun was mainly the object of a slightly nervous awe. In the age of the Cold War and the hydrogen bomb, the power of the Sun was almost too overwhelming to contemplate. A lot of it was the sheer size and heat – and what sentient creature doesn’t fear a colossal fire?

The Sun, the Earth, and Near-Earth Space, one of Library Journal’s 2009 Notable Government Documents, provides, among other things, hypothetical voyage to, and even into, the Sun. Subtitled “A Guide to the Sun-Earth System”, this handsome, profusely illustrated book  from NASA is accessible and well-written enough for a layperson like me to understand; it’s the facts that are overwhelming. I hate to admit it, but despite my youthful interests, I didn’t remember, or didn’t know, that sunspots are huge magnetic fields generated by the Sun’s incredibly turbulent nuclear furnace, their darkness representing their cooler (7,000 C. versus the 10,000 C. of the solar surface) temperatures. I knew that the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle was prone to cause magnetic disturbances that affected radio electro-magnetic fields on earth, but didn’t realize that the spots themselves were magnetic fields. I also didn’t know that the widespread 1989 electrical blackouts that affected Quebec and parts of the United States were due to the solar flare, coronal mass ejection (CME) and geomagnetic storm of March 13 of that year.

The Sun, the Earth, and Near-Earth Space is packed with historical and scientific information about the Sun and its relationship with our planet – which means with all of us – that I found totally engrossing. The verdict: an excellent read for a non-scientist interested in astronomical phenomena, a fine textbook for a college-level course, and a reminder of how much we depend on this much-worshipped but little-understood source of all energy and life.

To read portions of The Sun, the Earth, and Near-Earth Space, go here. You can get a copy (a scan doesn’t do this book justice) in paperback or hardback. To find it in a library, try this.

39 Comments | NASA | Permalink
Posted by govbooktalk

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