From the Stacks: July 13, 2007

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Utne Reader's library is abuzz with a steady flow of 1,500 magazines, newsletters, journals, weeklies, zines, and other lively dispatches from the cultural front that are rarely found at big-box bookstores, newsstands, or even online. So we share the highlights (and occasional lowlights) of what's landing in our library each week in 'From the Stacks.' Check in every Friday for the latest edition.

A tenacious library marshal shows off some serious action-film moves to track down a rare book thief in Jason Shiga's new graphic novel Bookhunter, published by Sparkplug Comic Books. The unswerving Special Agent Bay does not work alone; he relies on forensic experts, a heavily armed SWAT team, and a very agile Bookmobile to retrieve the book in question -- a valuable 19th-century English bible. After analyzing the masterful forgery left in the stolen book's place, he enlists the help of the American Library Association's 'top profiler,' who pegs the thief as a 'a caucasian bookbinder, age 32-40... She is shy, intelligent and may have a lisp or word repetition stutter. She was a childhood bedwetter.' I won't ruin the ending, but as a librarian I must note that Bookhunter's many hilarious action sequences include card catalogues, reshelving carts, exit gates, and some on-top-of-the-stacks running. Shiga also illustrates my deepest, darkest library fear: that of being squeezed between two rows of compact shelving. -- Danielle Maestretti

In DESIGNER/builder social justice issues are at the forefront of discussions on urban environments. For the July/August issue, Sam Smith of the web magazine Progressive Review critiques the burgeoning smart growth movement in 'Not Too Smart Growth.' Smith argues that smart growth too often tries to impose a new model on an area, unrealistically expecting people to move or adapt instead of improving their current surroundings. While lamenting the past sins of urban planning, including the ways in which communities are undervalued, he emphatically asserts that 'next to economists, no group has been so consistently wrong and harmful to the human spirit as urban planners.' -- Julie Dolan

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