Happy New Year! I hope you had a restful holiday season celebrating with family and reading something new!

As well as spending a lot of time with all of our extended family, I spent a large portion of my holiday break indexing a book! The Sacred Mirror by Robert Edler is the work I had the privilege of working through this holiday. The experience and process of indexing is always thrilling! To be such an important, albeit anonymous, part of a finished book gets my adrenaline flowing. I feel elated when helping an author in this final stage of writing their book. It truly is a privilege to be entrusted with this important resource. Book indexing has been a rewarding and educational experience for me. An experience I hope to continue to pursue with more intention.

The Sacred Mirror by Robert Elder will be available in April 2016 (University of North Carolina Press). The topic of the book thoroughly discusses evangelicalism, identity, and honor culture in the deep south. With our current political climate and other civil issues hitting the headlines, the timing of this book could not be better. The whole time I was reading (and reading, and re-reading) this book I felt like many of the issues and observations Dr. Elder were making could apply to our societal structure today. I particularly find myself thinking on his observations about the shaming and guilt people of the south felt during the antebellum period as a result of their church affiliations whether Methodist, Baptist or Presbyterian . It’s quite astounding to realize that some of the sexual impurity issues “society” finds taboo to discuss or teach about today are rooted in traditions dating back to the founding of this country. Reading this book has opened my mind and understanding of the world we live in. While this book is a scholarly work intended to be a resource for those studying the antebellum time period of evangelicalism, anyone interested in understanding the roots of our nation would benefit from reading this work.

This is why I love to index books. Constantly learning something new, problem solving through a difficult entry, getting in the mindset of the end user of the book to make the index that much more effective. Indexing is not something I sought out, but it has found me. My passion for books, for learning, for reading, for helping others, for doing something unique, it all comes together when I index. It truly is a happy place for me. If you are interested in learning more about indexing, I suggest you check out the American Society for Indexing for robust resources. You may also want to grab a copy of Indexing Books by Nancy Mulvany.

The Sacred Mirror is the fifth book that I have indexed. My other indexes can be found in the backs of these books:

Emigration, Nation, Vocation: The Literature of English Emigration to Canada, 1825-1900 by Carter F. Hanson (Oct. 2009, Michigan State University Press)

Anselm (Great Medieval Thinkers) By Sandra Visser and Thomas Williams (2008, Oxford University Press)

The Devil’s Topographer: Ambrose Bierce and the American War Story by David M. Owens (Aug. 2006, Univ. of Tennessee Press)