6. New Book Notes

Notes on new books relevant to various aspects of Davis History.

Historic Preservation, Second Edition by Tyler, Ligibel & Tyler

Historic Preservation: An Introduction to It's History, Principles, and Practice, Second Edition. By Norman J. Tyler, Ted J. Ligibel, and Ilene R. Tyler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. 375 pages, including 91 line drawings and 69 b&w photographs. $29.95 (paper); $14.27 (Kindle). The essential features of this book are depicted in the accompanying graphic. As can be seen there, this is a textbook intended for adoption in upper division undergraduate courses with the same title as this book. As such, if one knows nothing about a topic addressed in the book, the treatment is both informative and interesting. However, if one knows something about a topic, the treatment seems superficial and incomplete. This contradiction seems to be an unavoidable feature of textbooks as a genre and is an observation on this kind of book rather than a criticism. J. L.

The American College Town by Blake Gumprecht

The American College Town By Blake Gumprecht. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2008. 448 pages, including 82 illus and 12 maps. $34.95 cloth. Selected aspects of a relatively short stretch of time in Davis history are reported and commented on in Chapter 5, pp. 145-188. J. L.

The Leftmost City by Gendron and Domhoff

The Leftmost City: Power and Progressive Politics in Santa Cruz. By Richard Gendron and G. William Domhoff. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2009. 240 pages. $27.00 (paper); $14.85 (Kindle).