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Show Ga I a FbTb GAa La La Ea RaYi Get ready, get set, shop! BY JAMES L DICKERSON As the holidays approach, bookstore shelves are already beginning to fill with gift books that are big, bold, beautiful and beguiling. If youre the type who likes to get an early start, we have a few selections to jumpstart your holiday shopping. When documentary maker Ken Burns discovered was an experience. lake so many others. the New Yorker prize-winnin- g ju. g it thought he knew exactly w hat ja was all about, only to learn, once he began his research, just how far off the mark he A had been. of Americas History Music (Knopf. $65. ISBN 06794455 IX) is a companion volume to PBS series Burns' on ja scheduled to air in January 2001. by Geoffrey C. Ward, this book offers a compact history of the ja era. along with a splendid collection of photographs. Not meant to be a comprehensive guide, the book focuses primarily on the music and lives of Louis Armstrong. Duke Islington. Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, though scores of other musicians are drawn into the narrative. It is through the lives of those four men that Bums and Ward are able to present the larger picture of how a peculiarly Southern art form transformed an entire nation. If someone on your list has an interest in history, particularly the time period from 1492 to 1600, then you're in luck. Ja.: Historical Atlas of Exploration (Checkmark Books, $35. ISBN 0816042489), by museum curator Angus Konxiani, is a fascinating guide to the golden age of world exploration. Konstam details the dates and events associated with explorers such as Ferdinand Magellan. St. Francis Xavier. Vasco Nunez de Balboa and Sir Francis Drake, to name a few. The maps, illustrations and color pho (Firefly. $35. ISBN 1552095509) examines the life cycle and patterns of the insect world's most charismatic species. Written by Phillip Schappert, a charter member of the North American Butterfly Association, the book details the life cycles of butterflies, from egg to caterpillar to winged insect. More than 3(X) color photographs, all beautifully done, show the various stages of a butterfly's life, making the book an ultimate guide to the world of butterflies. Also noteworthy is The Family Butterfly Book by Rick Mikula (Storey Books. $16.95. ISBN 1580 7292X). which offers projects and e activities in addition to information. At a time when we are inundated with celebrity images every day on tele field-guid- that, as he came to realize, a significant period was draw ing to a dose in the 1940s and '50s. The demise of the steam University of South Carolina Press, $24.95 ISBN 157003382X and his in caring for a REVIEW wounded Confederate he recognizes the humanity ofthe other side. ISBN ; Trains r.o War. Gives voice to those who endured the horror of combat against a skilled and resolute enemy force. Dale Wilson, professor, American Military University Into the Shadows Furious The Brutal Battle for New Georgia by Brian Altobeilo Available at fine bookttoret everywhere from Presidio'A'Press AmcfKJA I on mnM I'uhlidicT o Miliurt llotoiv min ttw pir 'tl $29.95 hardcover, & After being discharged from the military, Rubin returned home to South Carolina, hoping to embark on a career in journalism. Over the next few years, his plans changed as he worked on local papers in New Jersey and Virginia. All the time he was writing and.editing articles, Rubin was indulging a lifelong passion for trains. Primarily, that meant spending leisure hours taking photographs of steam and diesel locomotives, crack passenger trains and unheralded freights in a variety of eastern and southern slates on an assortment of railroads. Adding poignancy to Rubin's account is the fact MMXiL locomotive, replaced by the sleeker and more efficient diesel, coincided w ith the general shift in travel away from the train. Changes in travel brought social and cultural changes that transformed America, the author's native South in The sense of isolation that characterized the towns where Rubin lived and worked was breaking down. Soon the small papers he knew so well would vanish, swallowed up by regional and national of chains. And the railroads he admired would lose their identities through mergers. While chronicling these momentous changes and lamenting much of what was being lost, Rubin also describes his own coming of age. We see him gain confidence in his writing, endure loneliness before meeting the woman he marries, and decide to leave journalism for college teaching. Dozens of the author's photos accoin-- i pany the chapters. A Memory of Trains will leave readers saddened hy all that disappeared when railroads lost their grandeur, but they will appreciate the memories this autobiography stirs. H r. BY ROGER CARP Iziuis D. Rubin, Jr., shares a delightful tale of his professional coming of age amid the closing of a w ondrous era in American railroading in his latest book, A A Memory Memory of Trains. A retired journalist and professor of Southern literature, he shares stories and photographs that illuminate the years after the Second World town Mim Pi Mhmvt Co 1st jv ISBN 0810944790) is a retrospective collection of the British photographer's work. Included are photographs draw n from his entire career, with special emphasis placed on his images of the roy al family (his photos of Princess Diana offer a haunting window into her soul) and movie stars such as Vanessa Redgrave, Uma Thurman and Emma Thompson. Snowdon's photo of Richard Harris and Peter O'Toole having tea in an ornate hotel says more about celebrity than words could ever tell. Agatha Christie, sitting at a writing hutch, dressed to the nines but wearing house slippers, creates an atmosphere of my stery that is both daunting and fragile at the same instant. When it comes to portraits. Snowdon is about as good as it gets. Behavior and Future By Louis D. Rubin, Jr. is tested when r Photographs By Snowdon (Abrams. $75. OF TRAINS A Yankee boy faces difficult choices, $17.95 tury. The Boll Weevil and Others Kathleen Ernst I s, A MEMORY RETREAT FROM GETTYSBURG 5) Hardcover superstars. In your search for a captivating gift, consider the butterfly. Over the centuries, these sprightly beauties have captured the imaginations of naturalists, poets and children. A World for Butterflies: Their Lives, RAIaLaRiOADlS tmxjfBfitB'ajr patriotic feeling vision and in newspapers and magazines, it is important to remember that the first modern-da- y celebrity photographers were artists in their own right. One in particular comes to mind: Lord Snowdon, born Tony Armstrong-Jonehas been taking photographs of celebrities for nearly half a cen- tographs are first rate, and the stories are often spellbinding: These explorers were, after all, among the world's first . ' n , ' Rotter Carp is on the staff of Classic-ToTrains magazine. |