New Releases by Julie Smith

Covering print, photography, film, radio, television, and new media, this textbook instructs readers on how to take a critical approach to media and interpret the information overload that is disseminated via mass communication. This fourth edition of Keys to Interpreting Media Messages supplies a critical and qualitative approach to media literacy analysis. Now updated with conceptual changes, current examples, updated references, and coverage of new developments in media— particularly in digital, interactive forms—this book addresses all forms of information disseminated via mass communication. Organized into three sections, the book first presents a theoretical framework for the critical analysis of media text that covers the definition of media literacy as well as fundamental principles and concepts. Part II focuses on the application of this methodological framework to the analysis of advertising, journalism, American political communications, and interactive media. Part III considers specific mass media issues, such as violence in the media, media and children, and global communications, and discusses outcomes of having a media-literate population.

50 Hikes in the Sierra Nevada charts the thousands of miles of trails crisscrossing the Sierras’ pine clad slopes and stark, treeless mountaintops, that make this region a hiker’s paradise. Including the perfect mix of classic Sierra treks and lesser-known routes, the author has focused on the most scenic destinations. The guide provides comprehensive, step-by-step directions for each hike and offers a glimpse into the natural and human history of the area. In addition, each chapter includes an up-to-date topographic map, directions to the trailhead, distance and elevation data, hike difficulty rating, and pertinent contact information.

Allyson Brown---the Girl Gatsby, they called her. A woman of wealth, hostess of fabled parties, patron of the arts, especially of poets. Found floating in her own swimming pool, shot to death. Poet and fledgling detective Talba Wallis gets an urgent call from the sister she barely knows, Janessa. The Girl Gatsby was Janessa''s close friend. But this call isn''t an invitation to an elegant literary salon. Janessa wants off the hook as the principal murder suspect. Investigating, Talba and her perpetually irascible boss, Eddie, find the reality behind the Gatsby glamour. Allyson Brown was widely hated, a con artist who neglected her children, failed to pay her bills, and lied to everyone. The one person she loved may have ushered her to her death. The case takes Talba and Eddie from literary parties to Gulf Coast bait shops, from biker bars to abandoned wharves, and finally to the story of another Gatsby, which may yield answers, or greater mysteries. Louisiana Lament is Talba''s journey through the not-so-genteel Southern literary scene, where backbiting and petty jealousies abound and mint juleps are served with canapés of carnage. At the publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

When PI Talba Wallis gets a frantic phone call from Orleans Parish Prison, the last person she expects to hear from is her boss''s lawyer daughter, Angie. Popped for drug possession, Angie insists the drugs were planted. She''s a target for representing a neighborhood group protesting the illegal commercial use of a marina by its owner, Judge Buddy Champagne. According to Angie, the judge is dirty---and he''s the one who had her set up. Talba and her boss, Eddie, are outraged---knowing Angie as they do, they pull out all the stops for her. And when Talba goes undercover as a housekeeper for Judge Champagne, she finds a household straight out of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, with the judge playing Big Daddy. The weak son and the hot daughter-in-law are in residence, being "between jobs." Big Mama''s absent, though---she died some time ago, and the judge is now adding his fiancée to the mix. That would be Miss Kristin LaGarde, an impossibly lovely, and possibly innocent, young lady who seems hopelessly in love with the old coot. Talba dredges up lots of interesting material; such as that someone was accidentally electrocuted at the marina and that the judge is in bed with certain bail bondsmen. She finds evidence of bribes and kickbacks. He''s dirty all right. When the story breaks and the scandal deepens, Judge Champagne winds up dead. And, to her surprise, Talba is asked to investigate. Did politics kill the judge? Or was it his own family? At the publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

What can be done to overcome these problems?".

A Talba Wallis Novel By night the glamorous Baroness de Pontalba, by day New Orleans’ hippest P.I., Talba Wallis is dumbfounded when she can’t do a simple background check on an old friend—Babalu Maya just doesn’t seem to exist on paper. Four days later, she doesn’t exist at all. As Talba threads her way backward through Babalu’s short, difficult life, she finds an intricate pattern of violence and fear, and a shadowy Mr. Big with homicidal intent. Talba butts right into everybody’s business in Clayton, Louisiana, a small town with a big, ugly secret, where being black, mouthy, and smart are the three qualities most likely to get her killed. As she uncovers dark truths, events and people spiral into nasty motion in a story that has more twists and turns than the Mississippi River.

Police detective Skip Langdon tries to track down Errol Jacomine, a corrupt evangelical preacher who wants to become president of the United States.

Talba Wallis--African American poet, leader of New Orleans'' café society, and fledgling private detective--is hired by veteran sleuth Eddie Valentino to find a dangerous lothario who seduces teenage black girls who then mysteriously vanish.

This volume assesses the changing nature of the UK''s bilateral relations within the EU. The authors argue that effective bilateral relations are vital to effective decisionmaking and that with repeated EU enlargement they are becoming increasingly important. While France and Germany working in tandem have for many years acted as a motor of integration, few other countries have actively sought to build up good bilateral relations on a systematic basis. Since the 1998 ''step change initiative'' the UK has been trying to do just this. The book shows that the UK has begun to build up long-term bilateral cooperation that will serve as the backdrop to specific bilateral initiatives —particularly in the areas of defense, social policy, and internal security —enabling it to push the process of integration further.

"Blood types" and "Cul-de-sac" feature favorite heroine attorney Rebecca Schwartz; "Always Othello" features Detective Skip Langdon.

Even Rebecca Schwartz is nonplussed when she learns that Chris Nicholson, her law partner and best friend, is a suspect in a murder case. Chris says she has an alibi, but she won''t say what it is. Rebecca has to wonder what could be so shameful that she can''t even tell her best friend. She''s amazed when she learns that her partner has a secret life as did the victim. One thing is certain: if Rebecca doesn''t shake some skeletons from closets - and fast - Chris is going to prison.

La Nouvelle-Orléans, la nuit du Mardi gras. Juché sur son char, Chauncey St. Amant, le roi du carnaval, parade au milieu d''une foule en délire. Soudain, une femme déguisée en cow-girl brandit deux pistolets d''opérette. Amusé, le roi la salue... et s''effondre. Chauncey était un notable. Skip Langdon, simple flic mais jeune fille de bonne famille, connaît bien ce milieu. Elle se voit donc confier la délicate mission d''enquêter " discrètement " avec ses collègues plus gradés... Secrets d''alcôve, carcan des conventions, racisme enraciné, : dans le Sud profond, la vérité n''est jamais bonne à dire. Or Skip, justement, n''a pas la langue dans sa poche...

The June 1994 European elections offer the first opportunity for electors in twelve countries to vote as citizens of the European Union. The intense debate surrounding ratification of the Maastricht Treaty showed that many citizens feel increasingly out of touch with European institutions and decision-making. The treaty extends the powers of the European Parliament, yet once again the election campaigns look sat to focus on-domestic issues in the individual member states rather than on the effect on the whole Union of matters such as unemployment, immigration and the environment.

Rebecca Schwartz is a fairly normal Bay-area attorney. But when she almost gets busted for playing piano in a bordello, and Kandi, a part-time student-prostitute is killed in her home, and then the killer stalks Rebecca, it''s time to take action--which is just what she does....

Lawyer-sleuth Rebecca Schwartz heads to an Easter morning sunrise service and gets the shock of her life when she sees a real body nailed to the cross. Rebecca learns the man was a tourist. And he''s only the first to die. A man identifying himself as the Trapper is out to destroy San Francisco''s tourist trade by killing visitors. But when the cops arrest an innocent man as the Trapper, Rebecca takes on an impossible defense and goes undercover to find a killer . . .

When the smiling King of Carnival is killed at Mardi Gras, policewoman Skip Langdon is on the case. She knows the upper-crust family of the victim and that it hides more than its share of glittering skeletons. But nothing could prepare her for the tangled web of clues and ancient secrets that would mean danger for her--and doom for the St. Amants.... "Smith is a gifted writer." THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD