By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

By far the greatest scandal of the Obama administration has been the revelations about the Department of Justice gun-running operation to Mexican drug cartels called “Fast and Furious.” As bad as this program proved to be—including the murder of a Border Patrol office with one of the guns involved in the program—it is the cover up that followed as the Attorney General and others stonewalled congressional inquiries. Katie Pavlich, a reporter with extensive contacts within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, has written Fast and Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and its Shameless Cover Up ($27.95, Regnery Publishing) and, while she has been interviewed on C-SPAN and a few other media outlets, the mainstream media has in general ignored this story, having buried similar evidence of wrong-doing. In short, the program was intended to smear gun shop owners with the assertion that it is they, not the drug cartels, who are responsible for the thousands of deaths that have resulted and for the establishment of drug trade routes into America and the virtual takeover of a section of Arizona as their “stash houses.” The program is an attack on the Second Amendment right to own guns by Obama, his Attorney General Eric Holder, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, all with a long history of opposition to gun ownership and now with instances of perjury in their testimony to congressional committees. She tells a fact-filled, well-documented story of this scandal and every American should read this book before they go to the polls in November.

I am not a fan of Rachel Maddow, the MSNBC host. She is a liberal. I am a conservative. That said, she has written a very good book on how America goes to war, how our military has changed, how distanced the civilian population for those doing the fighting, and how Congress has abandoned its constitutional responsibility to declare war. The U.S. has not done so since World War Two. The Founding Fathers were wary of standing armies and giving a chief executive the right to take the nation into war by himself. It was and still is a very good policy. Ms. Maddow has written a book, Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power ($25.95, Crown Publishers) that is on the bestseller lists and deserves to be. It’s a serious subject and I wish she wrote in a more serious style, but style is of little importance when discussing the fact that the U.S. has not truly won a war since WWII. Moreover, the wars we do get into drag out interminably. We won the war against the Axis and Empire of Japan in four years. We have been in Afghanistan for more than a decade and only recently exited Iraq after invading in 2003. We have little to show for either engagement. This is an important book worth reading. While I do not agree with some of her conclusions, I think she has written an important book.

The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA’s Clandestine Service by Henry A. Crumpton ($27.95, the Penguin Group) is “must reading” for anyone who wants to gain an invaluable insight into the role of intelligence gathering in general and the CIA in particular. Crumpton, now a retired officer who gave some four decades of his life to the service, provides a look at the CIA that is rare. This is not surprising given the agency’s devotion and need for secrecy. Crumpton first applied to the agency to become a spy at the age of ten! He was admitted in his early twenties and held many different positions within the agency, the last being director of national resources. He gained recognition outside the agency for his role following 9/11 in driving al Qaeda and the Taliban from Afghanistan. In a recent “60 Minutes” interview, he warned that the nation’s enemies have more spies inside American since the days of the Cold War. A corollary to Crumption’s book is Peter L. Bergen’s Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden ($26.00, Crown Publishers) a review of the long effort to find and kill the man behind 9/11 and many previous attacks on American embassies and other targets like the USS Cole. The author is an expert on Bin Laden, having written “The Osama bin laden I know”, “Holy War”, and “The Longest War”, each a careful analysis of the threat he and al Qaeda pose. His latest book provides many new details of bin Laden’s flight after the defeat of the Taliban to Tora Bora where American troops came close to capturing him. After 9/11 his life became a constant search for a safe place to hide. Bergen paints a picture of his Spartan life in hiding while trying to maintain control of al Qaeda as American drones killed his key lieutenants. His end was the result of tireless efforts by the CIA who ultimately found him less than a mile from Pakistan’s military academy.

Owning a home used to be called the American dream. When the financial markets collapsed in 2008 under the weight of “bundled” and “securitized” mortgage loans whose origin was as often as knot unknown and whose value became “toxic”, the nation woke up to what Randal O’Toole calls the American Nightmare (25.95, Cato Institute), the name of his new book. Like a lot of people, he wanted to know who’s to blame. Was it greedy bankers, corrupt politicians, or home buyers who could not meet their obligations? Surprisingly, O’Toole says that the crisis was “not caused by deregulation, low interest rates, or other federal actions along.” Instead, he points to the “conflict between federal efforts to stimulate home ownership and local efforts to discourage single-family housing.” It was, says O’Toole, growth management plans and artificial limits on building housing implemented at both the state and local level. After all, more housing means the need for more schools, more streets and parking, more police and fire personnel. What emerged over the years as what came to be called “the war on sprawl.” This is a critical public issue and O’Toole offers some solutions that include privatizing or abolishing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with privatizing public housing and zoning. If, as usual, government would get out of the way, the crisis could have been avoided and future housing bubbles, too.

I am a fan of Jonah Goldberg, a leading voice among the nation’s conservatives, but his latest book, The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas ($27.95, Sentinel Penguin) proved to be a disappointment because I found myself growing bored within the first fifteen minutes or so of reading it. It’s not that he doesn’t make a case for the misuse of language to advance liberal notions such as “one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter” or that peace comes with mutual understanding. There are lots of genuinely mushy notions that liberals believe that do not reflect history or reality, but Goldberg has written a book when a commentary would do. For those who like to wrestle with ideas, his book will prove a useful exercise.

Popular culture not only reflects our society, but is by definition fun. Comic books have been a part of that and the characters on The Big Bang Theory pay homage to its heyday. Now Brian Cronin has tapped fellow enthusiasts who have seen comic book characters go from paper to the wide screen in theatres and at home. Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia ($15.00, Plume, softcover) is very entertaining, featuring lists on all aspects of comics from characters to artists to story lines. Want to know the ten most memorable moments in DC Comics history, the ten highest grossing comic book movies of all time, or the nine celebrities who guest-starred in comics without their permission? For comic book fans, this book is one they will have to have. For fans of the movies, there’s Peter Bart’s Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob (and Sex) ($15.00, Weinstein Books, softcover) in which the former Paramount vice president and Variety editor-in-chief takes the reader on a behind-the-scenes look at Hollywood in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This is the real story as told by someone who was there and responsible in part for The Godfather, Chinatown, Rosemary’s Baby, Serpico and Paper Moon, to name just a few. For a film aficionado this book will provide some wonderful stories involving iconic stars like Steve McQueen, Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando and many others.

I have some friends who are among the funniest writers on the Earth. They have the gift of being funny on paper and that is a unique talent. One wrote for some iconic television sitcoms and the other had a kind of underground newspaper that was a guilty pleasure for people in high places until the Internet put it out of business. I am still delighted to know they think I am funny, too, even though in my other life I write very serious commentary on current events, trends, and issues. Perhaps that’s why I was drawn to Funny: The Book – Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Comedy by David Misch ($18.99, Applause Cinema and Theatre Books, an imprint of Hal Leonard Corp, softcover). Misch has the “chops” to write such a book. He wrote “Mork and Mindy” and the pilot for David Letterman’s first talk show. He has written, created, and produced programs for NBC, CBS, ABC, HBO, and a host of other channels. Indeed, his credits are too long to spend time here listing. Jason Alexander of the Seinfeld Show sums it up nicely saying, “It takes a serious mind to analyze comedy. It takes a funny mind to appreciate it. David Misch is of two minds.” This is a history and analysis of comedy that is mercifully brief, but also blessedly filled with insight that takes in the wide swath of humor from the earliest days of civilization to the present. He doesn’t miss much and, along the way, he provides a lot of laughs. On a far more serious level, Robert G. Pielke, Phd, looks at Rock Music in American Culture: The Sounds of Revolution ($40.00, McFarland & Company, softcover).This is not light reading, but it is an exhaustive look at the way rock music has shaped public attitudes while reflecting the changes in American society since the 1950s. Having lived through those decades, I can attest to the fact that Dr. Pielke has produced a worthy addition to books about them and about the bands and singers who left their mark through their music as well as a record of the events of these past times.

A number of books by Joseph D’Agnese have crossed my desk over the years. He is a passionate historian and patriot, chronicling the lives of the Founding Fathers with his co-author Denise Kiernan. They are back with a dandy little book you could put in your pocket or purse, Stuff Every American Should Know ($9.95, Quirk Books) that would be an ideal gift for a younger member of the family next month on the Fourth of July. It runs the gamut from explaining the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution to answering who invented blue jeans and why. It’s not who you think! It is a very interesting introduction to U.S. history and fills in gaps in one’s knowledge. It entertains. It makes you proud and happy to be an American.

Memoirs, Autobiographies and Biographies

A memoir of what life was like after Iranian Revolution in 1979 is told by Aria Minu-Sephehr, We Heard the Heavens Then ($25.00. Free Press) the son of one of the Shah’s most powerful military leaders when the Iranian monarchy collapsed. He was ten years old at the time and had enjoyed a modern, cosmopolitan life of privilege. He lives today because his family moved to the United States to escape the wrath of the ayatollahs. Today he is the founder of the Forum for Middle East Awareness and his book offers a firsthand account of the forces that took over Iran and why. It is, he says, a clash between modernity and religion. This is an account of growing up in the wake of being on the losing side of a revolution.

Larry King has written an entertaining memoir of his years as a reporter and television interviewer as well as his own life behind the scenes in Truth Be Told, now available in softcover ($15.00, Weinstein Books). King grew up in the Depression as the son of Russian immigrants and would become known to millions as the host of the longest running television show with the same host. It was beamed live into 200 nations and may have done more to let the rest of the world know about America than anything comparable. As a student at the University of Miami, I often visited Pumpernik’s restaurant on Miami Beach, but I was surprised to learn that King first began is broadcast career there. During his fifty years he interviewed just about everyone in show business, various tycoons and politicians. He has had his health scares along the way, but today at age 77, he is the father to two young boys, helping to coach their Little League team. It’s a good read.

From the same era of immigration, the daughter of Jacob Rabinovich tells his story and hers in a multigenerational autobiography, One Last Child, by Antonia Phillips Rabb ($23.27, Author House, softcover). Nachman Rabinovich’s son, Jacob, would grow up to found Stop & Shop, the innovator of the modern supermarket. Jacob like his parent’s other children had Tay Sachs disease and four of Jacob’s children would die during childhood. Antonia, adopted at three months of age, had zero chance of a similar fate. Her story, deftly told, is one that encompasses not just her personal life, but a near century and a quarter of change in America, years of accelerated cultural change. Twelve decades is a lot of time to cover, but she keeps the momentum going and thus provides a window to her world and ours. Rabb, a mother of six and grandmother of seventeen, is a skilled writer with nine books of poetry to her credit. This is an excellent slice of history well worth reading.

An interesting memoir is told by Paul Stutzman. When he lost his wife of 36 years to cancer, he undertook a journey that was transformative and regenerating. He tells the story of Hiking Through: One Man’s Journey to Peace and Freedom on the Appalachian Trail ($13.99, Revell, softcover) of a 2,176 mile journey through fourteen states and what he learned over five months, immersing himself in nature and befriending fellow hikers to find healing and closure. He began confused and wondering if God had a plan for his life. “I set out to find out the answer. I know it does not make much sense to the average person, but I believe God called me out to the wilderness to teach me lessons.” Many came from strangers he met along the trail; a Catholic priest on a sabbatical, a young man recently divorced, wealthy people and poor. As he learned, everyone is equal on that difficult trail from Georgia to Maine. This is an inspiring story, particularly in times when many of us feel burdened by life’s challenges, asking the same questions.

Getting Down to Business Books

It must be said that, after years of reviewing business books, there is as the Bible says, nothing new under the sun. The topics remain essentially the same, but are tweaked to respond to new technologies and trends. It doesn’t mean the books are any less useful, particularly for someone trying to create a roadmap to a career or to manage a business.

Everyone runs into obstacles in life and Bill Wackermann says you need to Flip the Script ($26.00, Free Press) a guide on “How to turn the tables and win in business and life.” The author has gained a reputation for doing that, turning around businesses by combining ingenuity and innovative branding. He has made him the youngest executive vice president at Conde Nast in the company’s history. Funny, engaging, and extremely practical, this book will be especially useful to young professionals, spelling out core principles of the process and thus achieving the respect of one’s bosses and co-workers. Attitude is much of what this book is about and Wackermann says you must find a good role model, stay open to change, project confidence, and develop a genuine sense of humility.

There was a time when women in business were either secretaries or worked along side their husbands in family businesses. Now they are a significant part of the workforce and no where is this more evident than in the corporate world. Jennifer K. Crittenden is a veteran of more than twenty years working in male-dominated companies in the U.S., Europe, and the U.K. She has written The Discreet Guide for Executive Women ($17.95, Whistling Rabbit Press, softcover) that I would recommend to any woman who wants to know how to succeed in that work environment. “Do not treat men as the enemy” counsels Ms. Crittenden and then offers a wealth of good advice on how to build relationships, spot a glass ceiling, and avoid classic errors that involve conflict, emotional behavior, and sex. Another author, also female, discusses the dynamics that prevent organizations from breaking through to new levels of productivity and innovation. Denise Moreland has written Management Culture ($16.96, Two Harbors Press, softcover), bringing twenty years of management experience in a large government agency to bear on the subject. She’s a certified associate of the Human Systems Dynamics Institute and knows whereof she speaks. She is a great believer in building respectful and positive environments. This book will prove useful to both managers and employees alike as the rules about who’s “the boss” are being re-written in the new work space. Working Successfully with Screwed-Up People ($12.99, Revell, softcover) is one of those titles that wonderfully captures the essence of a book. Elizabeth B. Brown gives the reader the grand tour of all the types of characters one encounters in the workplace and shows the reader how to get along with them despite their annoying behavior. This is a guide to not letting difficult people drive you crazy, a frequent complaint. If this describes your situation, pick up a copy!

Sharing the Sandbox: Building and Leading World-Class Teams in the 21st Century by Dean M. Brenner, president of The Latimer Group ($24.95, AG Books) addresses the way the new century has made it harder than ever to be an effective team leader. Ironically, the Internet both facilitates communication and leads people to think they are an expert who can do the job better. The author lays out a roadmap for creating winning teams that reach their goals and, in doing so, will greatly aid anyone who wants to spearhead successful projects, enhance their career, and effectively provide leadership for any team effort. Not surprisingly, he is the chairman of the U.S. Olympic Sailing Program, responsible for leading athletes and coaches preparing for the 2012 Summer Games. Greg DiCillo is the cofounder and president of Life Cycle Strategies, Inc. and an expert in marketing principles and methodologies of product management. He brings twenty years to this constant challenge and now has authored Dominate Your Space: Unleashing the Power of Your Product Managers ($16.95, Life Cycle Strategies, softcover). The book is designed for middle market and large industrial and B2B business executives, CEOs, and entrepreneurs. In short, anyone who has to sell something to someone. It is a slim book and that is a plus. It is a practical guide for assessing, building and sustaining a high performance product-management organization. If that is one of your goals, pick up this book.

To Your Health!

America may be the most health-conscious nation on Earth. The airwaves and print media are filled with constant stories about aspects of health and health maintenance. This is reflected as well in the number of books devoted to the subject.

With more than 100,000 copies sold and many five-star reviews on Amazon, Cancer: Step Outside the Box by Ty Bollinger ($31.40, 510 Squared Partners, softcover) is now in its fifth edition. Having lost seven family members to cancer, the author was motivated to understand this loss and has spent the past decade of his life to medical research in order to find alternative cancer treatments and cures. If your family has experienced a similar situation or you wish to avoid this disease that takes many forms, this is unquestionably the book to read. Heart disease is one of the major killers and The Living Heart in the 21st Century by famed cardiologist Michael E. DeBakey, MD, and Antonio M. Gotto, Jr., MD and Doctor of Philosophy ($20, Prometheus Books, softcover) is an authoritative guide regarding the common conditions affecting the heart and circulatory system that provides lifesaving tips to help both healthy people as well as heart patients. For more than four decades, the authors have set the standard in their books for reliable information on heart disease and cardiovascular health. The book is organized in an easy-to-understand format that includes the latest guidelines on reducing cardiovascular risk including the scientific rationale for these guidelines. You will learn how doctors detect, diagnose, and treat coronary heart disease if it does occur, providing valuable information so that patients can take charge of their own healthcare and communicate more effectively with their medical providers. For the layman, this is an invaluable guide.

As Americans live longer lives, the issue of dementia becomes a greater risk and problem. For those who have been diagnosed with it, Dementia: The Journey Ahead: A Practical Guide for in-Home Caregivers by Susan Kiser Scarff with Ann Kiser Zultner ($16.95, Langdon Street Press, softcover) will prove to be a great help. The transition to caregiver is often a difficult one for a spouse who must become a nurse or a child who must take on new responsibilities. An estimated six to eight million American homes experience this every year. Susan Scarff unexpectedly found herself in this situation for her husband, turning daily activities into arduous tasks and constant supervision. There was both physical and emotional hardship and her book not only chronicles the transition, but provides much useful advice for others in a similar situation.

For everyone who must deal with a physician or faces a stay at the hospital, The Take-Charge Patient: How You Can Get the Best Medical Care by Martine Ehrenclou ($19.95, Lemon Grove Press, softcover) is based on interviews with more than two hundred medical professionals. It is filled with advice on how to be your own best advocate, how to choose the right doctor and prepare for medical appointments, prevent medical and medication errors, and master your health insurance, as well as find discounted medical care, medications, and much more. This is an inside look at the way the medical system works and how to get the best medical care. It has been hailed by many in the medical community and is a treasure trove of useful information. An interesting and disturbing book along the same lines is Addicted Healers: 5 Key Signs Your Healthcare Professional May be Drug Impaired by Dr. Ethan O. Bryson ($14.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) due out in September. The author warns that prescription drug abuse represents a serious and growing public health problem in the medical profession. It puts those undergoing medical treatment at risk and urges the public to become more active in spotting the problem and reporting it. The author is an associate professor in the departments of anesthesia and psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. One hopes that the media will take notice of this book and share notice of it.

The Healthcare Cure: How Sharing Information Can Make the System Work Better by Jeff Margolis ($21.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) addresses the needs of more than 250 million Americans who have health insurance coverage. Most do not know how the healthcare system works or their role in it. It is frequently a time of confusion and frustration when they try to navigate their way through the tangled web of benefits and care. Margolis, an industry expert, offers a look at the system from the perspective of various industry participants and recommendations on how it can be adjusted to produce better results by combining information technology with the right incentives. This is a real insider’s look at the system and a worthy contribution on how to fix it.

History as Told by Scholars and Those That Lived it

I love reading history because, as the philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who do not remember history are bound to live through it again.”

The science of astronomy was advanced on June 3, 1769 when scientists of that time measured the transit of Venus as it passed directly between the Sun and the Earth. The story is told in The Day the World Discovered the Sun: An Extraordinary Story of Scientific Adventure and the Race to Track the Transit of Venus by Mark Anderson ($26.00, Da Capo Press). The event permitted scientists to discover the physical dimensions of the solar system and reveal a crucial key to worldwide navigation. Venus will repeat the trip on June 5, 2012. Anderson tells the stories of the three most important transit voyages and the men that tracked it; a French astronomer Jean-Baptiste Chappe d’Auteroche, British naval officer James Cook, and a Hungarian priest, Maximilian Hell, all of whom endured adventure and hardship to track Venus’s journey across the Sun. All theirs and other measurements from scores of other observations around the world were collected and studied, the greatest astronomical puzzle of the day was slowly pieced together, making longitude measurements at sea more accessible than ever before. It opened the door for a new age of exploration.

To the extent that we did not learn the lessons of the Great Depression, the nation is again learning its lessons—or not. Michael Hiltzil, the author of “Colossus”, has written The New Deal: A Modern History ($16.99, Free Press, softcover) that takes the reader back to that period that left millions unemployed, introduced Social Security, and by virtue of various “experiments” with the economy, stretched it out ten years until the advent of World War II. Then as now Wall Street experienced a slew of legislation that affected its ability to rebuild the economy due to constraints on credit. High rates of taxation were also the order of the day. If you are unfamiliar with that critical decade, this book will provide much insight.

Private First Class Gregory V. Short arrived in Vietnam in early February 1968. He was an 18-year-old Marine, a mortarman with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, stationed at Con Thien near the DMZ. He begins his story there in Ground Pounder: A Marine’s Journey Through South Vietnam 1968-1969 ($29.95, University of North Texas Press.) The living conditions were awful and the unit was constantly bombarded by the North Vietnamese. His next assignment was as a forward observer and, working with the U.S. Army’s 1st Air Cavalry Division and other units, he helped relieve the siege at Khe Sanh close to the Laotian border where contact with the enemy was often heavy and always chaotic. For a generation whose grandfathers fought there as well as those who find military history of interest, this is a gritty story of what it was like to fight in that long ago war. Today, Short is a retired educator who resides in Denton, Texas.

Nine Rubies by Mahru Ghashghaei as told to Susan Synder ($15.99, Ideas--Inventive Designs for Education & the Arts, available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony and iBookstore, softcover) is a testimony to friendship and the value of personal stories. In the case of Mahru, it is an Iranian woman, abandoned by her father, whose sister was abused and tricked into marrying against her will at age 13, and a shocking family secret that very nearly destroyed her life as a young woman. Through sheer strength of character, she persevered, became a nurse, and trained medical volunteers during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. With a group of friends, she adopted nine orphaned boys to keep them from foster care and further harm while the nation was at war. When staying in Iran became untenable, Mahru left her family and started a new life in America with her husband and sons. Susan Synder became her friend, someone who collected family oral histories. For insight into what life in Iran was like after the ayatollahs took control and what it still is, it is a look inside Iran and the Middle East and a reason to help bring freedom to the religious and politically strive-torn region.

Books for Younger Readers

Many children are born with hearing loss and Wendy Kupfer, the mother of a child with severe to profound hearing loss, has written a children’s book for ages three to seven, Let’s Hear It for Amigal ($16.99, Handfinger Press) to provide those with hearing aids and cochlear implants enjoy self-esteem and to help educate their friends. Amigal is a spirited child, but unhappy that she can’t hear the things we take for granted. By portraying Amigal as a confident little girl, the book provides a terrific resource for teachers, parents, and caregivers. Delightfully illustrated by Tammie Lyon, it is beautiful, upbeat story. An estimated 12,000 babies are born each year with hearing loss and this lighthearted and informative book will bring a lot of joy into their lives.

Pre-teens and older will enjoy a fantasy tale, The Rock of Ivanore – Book One: The Celestine Chronicles by Laurisa White Reyes ($16.95, Tanglewood) that begins as Marcus and other boys from the village come of age when the wizard Zyll commands them to find the Rock of Ivanore. Marcus must develop new magic powers and survive the wild lands in his search for the Rock. Filled with twists and turns, the plot will hold the reader’s attention as it is filled with adventure and action.

Teen girls will explore the often treacherous world of friendship, loyalty, and choices girls face in high school when they read The Best Friend by Melody Carlson ($12.99, Revell, softcover). Lishia Vance is flummoxed. One day she has friends. The next everyone has turned against her. When she makes friends will Riley Atkins, a popular cheerleader, things begin to look up again, but is Riley really the friend she seems or is Lishia better off without her? Carlson is an award-winning author of more than two hundred books, including “The Jerk Magnet”, reviewed here. Regine’s Book: A Teen Girl’s Last Words by Regine Stokke is taken from her real life ($16.99, Zest Books, softcover) is about her struggle with cancer, the second leading cause of death in children under 14 years of age. Nearly 50,000 new leukemia cases will be diagnosed this year alone. She began blogging about her experiences, the basis for the book, writing openly about the emotional and physical aspects of her 15-month struggle to recover. She died at home in December 2009, but her book will inspire young readers and open their eyes to the realities of this disease.

Zest Books, (http://www.zestbooks.net/) publishes lots of fun books about pop culture and The End ($12.99, softcover) is subtitled “50 apocalyptic visions from pop culture that you should know about before it’s too late.” Since the Mayan end of the world prediction is slated for December 21 this year, this is a timely book that looks at all the ways films, television, paintings, songs, literature and other works of art have depicted this ancient and on-going theme. The world has not come to an end despite all the predictions and for teens this will prove very good news.

Novels, Novels, Novels

So many novels, so little time to read them all; for the purpose of this monthly report here is a selection that offer entertainment as the summer begins.

Viking, an imprint of the Penguin Group, has long been one of the prominent publishers of fiction and they maintain their reputation with three novels, one of which is the debut of Natasa Dragnic, Every Day, Every Hour ($25.95) as translated by Liesl Schillinger. In a small Croatian coastal city in the early 1960s, five-year-old Luka, smitten by new classmate Dora, faints in excitement and is awakened by her kiss. The two become inseparable until Dora and her parents move to Paris. Then, both in their twenties, Luka and Dora meet again in Paris where Luka has an exhibition of his paintings and they fall in love. This is a classic romance filled with intense emotion. The Orphanmaster is also a debut novel ($27.95). Jean Zimmerman’s knowledge of 17th century Manhattan is the basis of her vivid reaction of the harsh reality of life in New Amsterdam in a lively and fast-paced tale of mystery, romance, political intrigue and suspense. It is 1663 and orphan children are disappearing or turning up dead. A young woman, herself an orphan, Blandine van Courvering, along with a dashing British spy, Edward Drummond, join up to search for the killer. Their budding romance is threatened by a charge that Blandine is a witch and Edward faces being hanged. Many other Dickensian characters inhabit the story at a time when the British kind is planning to wrest control of the colony. The Irish are gifted storytellers and much admired among them is Dermot Healy, the author of three novels, a memoir, a collection of stories, and five volumes of poetry. In his latest novel, Long Time, No See ($27.95) takes the reader to the isolated coastal town of Ballintra in Northwest Ireland and serves up a cast of innocents and wounded, broken misfits. It is told by Phillip Feeney, also known as “Mister Psyche”, a young man on the brink of adulthood who has been a bit undone by a recent traumatic event. He’s awaiting his exam results while living at home with his folks and doing odd jobs. He spends time hanging out with and running errands for two men some fifty years his senior, his Uncle Joejoe and his uncle’s friend, known as the “The Blackbird.” These are ordinary people made extraordinary by the author’s considerable literary gifts and the poetry that flows unconsciously from the lips of the Irish.

A number of softcover books will provide hours of entertainment and of insight into life in other nations. Zakhar Prilepin, the winner of the Russian National Bestseller Prize and Russian Super Natsbest Prize, demonstrates why he is so popular there and gaining an international reputation. He writes of life in modern Russia. His novel, Sin ($24.95, Glagoslav Publications) is a guided tour of Russia’s recent past and present, replete with the issues of unemployment, poverty, violence, and local wars, all seen through the prism of the relationships of its characters, both loved ones and strangers. It is an intensely human story that takes you to a different place that, at the same time, feels familiar. The world of WWII Egypt is the setting for Jasmine Nights by Julia Gregson ($16.00, Touchstone/Simon and Schuster) for a powerful story of love, adventure, beauty and danger. It is a travelogue of sorts, from England to Egypt to Turkey, filled with exotic sights and sounds, as Saba Tarcan, a talented singer who longs to break free from her traditional Turkish father who will not allow her to sing in public. She jumps at the change to join the Entertainment National Service Association, becoming part of a theatrical company sent to entertain the soldiers at the height of the desert war in North Africa. She is asked by the British Secret Service to take part in a covert mission and complications ensue. It’s an intricate story of two people struggling to hold onto their love for one another in perilous times.

A new novel takes one back to the legendary days of the American West based on a true story of Charley Darkey Parkhurst who died in 1880 and was celebrated as a one-eyed, tobacco-spitting, gold-rush era Wells Fargo driver, a famed California stage coach driver and outlaw killer. What wasn’t known was that Charley was a woman. Karen Kondazian has transformed his/her story into a novel, The Whip ($15.00, Hanson Publishing Group), a beautifully written story of the Old West that moves between the exploits of Charley and the heartbreak of his/her secret. Why did she choose to live as a man? It was a hard life as a “whip” as the early drivers were known. They were held in high regard. This is a very entertaining and emotionally moving reading. A more recent and far different setting is the backdrop for Shelter by Frances Greenslade ($15.00, Free Press). A debut novel, it chronicles the struggles of sisters Maggie and Jenny as they attempt to make sense of a life without parents in rural Duchess Creek, Canada in the 1970s. After their beloved father’s death in a logging accident, their mother drops them off with friends and never returns. It is a search for one’s roots that drives the story and one that women in particular will find a great read on the beach or porch.

I am not generally a fan of novels that mix reality and fantasy, by Lauren Santaniello pulls it off in Death of Ignorance ($21.95, Stories to Tell), a dark psychological thriller filled with suspense, fantasy and romance. It centers on Alex Sharrock who, after witnessing his father’s murder, as a child renounces religion and God. It takes up his life thirteen years later when the 19-year-old is the lead singer for a popular rock band. He is haunted by persistent memories, nightmares, and pushed to the brink of sanity when he discovers that he is a Seer, the last of a race believed to have been eliminated by Satan’s army centuries earlier. Not light reading by any means, but a dark, intriguing story. Finally, there’s Piero Rivolta’s Journey Beyond 2012 ($21.95, New Chapter Publishers, hardcover) that is pegged to the end-of-the-world Mayan prediction. For anyone who enjoys a philosophical journey that explores modern life, a meditation on its meaning, and the nature of our existence, this book will provide a cosmic morality tale that ranges over many of the issues that represents the headlines of our present time. It challenges our beliefs, our aspirations, and our human desire for survival.

That’s it for June! Remember to tell all your book-loving friends, family, and co-workers about Bookviews, the only monthly report on new fiction and non-fiction that provides news of books across a wide range of subjects. And come back in July for still more!

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

It is rare to read a book written to dispute and dismember another author, but in the case of Martin Sieff’s That Should Still Be Us: How Thomas Friedman’s Flat World Myths are Keeping Us Flat on Our Backs ($22.95, John Wiley and Sons), he can not only be forgiven, but celebrated for taking on the three-time Pulitzer Prize winning Thomas Friedman, one of The New York Times’ gurus and author of some of the most egregiously wrong books on the state of the world. Sieff is the Chief Global Analyst for The Globalist Research Center, a former United Press International Managing Editor for International Affairs, and widely published where it counts, such as The Wall Street Journal. One quote should suffice: “Americans are ignorant of the lessons of history, and that’s why their country is going down the tubes. The lesson of economic history is clear: there is no flat playing field in the world and there never has been. There are rich nations and poor nations. There are winners and losers.” Sieff examines why America, when it abandoned its manufacturing base, leaving it unprotected against competition from the days of Lincoln through Kennedy, and then abandoned common sense to attack the extraction, sale and use of its abundant natural resources—oil, coal, and natural gas—it successful crippled its economy. It outsourced the basis of its wealth and China, learning all the lessons of what made us rich, turned those lessons against us. If you want to truly understand the real world and why bad policies have saddled Americans with the greatest debt in its entire history, you must and should read this extraordinary book.

As the nation moves closer to the November elections and in the wake of the rout of the Wisconsin recall effort, it is clear to many that the liberal policies for decades that created Big Government with its many now nearly insolvent “entitlement” programs have begun to wear out their welcome. Even the 2008 financial crisis was triggered by the liberal housing programs—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—that had pushed the banking system to issue “sub-prime” mortgage loans. R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., founder and editor of The American Spectator which along with the National Review has been a platform for conservative philosophy and politics, has written The Death of Liberalism ($19.99, Thomas Nelson), a short, elegantly written, witty look at the roots of liberalism and the failures of communism, socialism, and fascism. He reviews the ascent of conservatism since the 1950s, the success of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, and how even Bill Clinton’s legacy is based on the conservative programs put forth by a Republican controlled Congress beginning in 1994. Tyrrell points out the loss of the grip of liberalism on the majority of Americans who, for three decades or more, have been identifying themselves in polls as either conservatives or independents in numbers far exceeding liberals. This is a very good book to read before you go to the polling both in November.
The New Levithan: How the Left-Wing Money Machine Shapes American Politics and Threatens America’s Future ($27.00, Crown Publishing) by David Horowitz and Jacob Laskin contains surprises and some frightening insights to the way public opinion and policy has been influences by billions in foundation funding. The biggest surprise for many will be the fact that it is not the Right wing that has piles of money with which to advance its policies, but the Left and the foundations are those that were begun by some of the nation’s early conservative entrepreneurs such as Rockefeller and Ford. One by one their control was taken over by liberal administrators and now their billions influence the important and policies through a huge matrix of organizations devoted to such issues as environmentalism, immigration, national security, health care, and education. The authors also chronicle the role of unions and how government employee unions at all levels have bankrupted states with pension and health benefits that those in the private sector cannot afford, but who must pay for those given to public sector employees. Between the tax-exempt organizations, government unions, and radical groups, America has seen a shift away from the fundamental values that have served it well since its establishment.

I expect to see books on political issues as we get closer to the November national elections, but one that arrived turned out to be a big disappointment, despite its title, America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Freedom by Meghan McCain and Michael Ian Black ($26.00, Da Capo Press). Billed as “humor and current events” but barely offering either, Ms. McCain is the daughter of Sen. John McCain and Mr. Black is a stand-up comedian. The idea for the book was a spontaneous suggestion that they do one together that evolved into a cross-country ride coupling two people with different political beliefs, touching base with regular folks and recording their feedback while adding their own commentary about the trip. The concept just doesn’t work despite their efforts. Ms. McCain is the better writer of the two. Mr. Black needs to learn a trade. Another disappointment was We Learn Nothing: Essays and Cartoons by Tim Kreider ($20.00, Free Press). Granted he has a following as a writer for the New York Times and his satirical cartoons, “The Pain—When Will It End?—ran in the Baltimore City Paper for twelve years. He is, like guacamole, an acquired taste, but just not my idea of funny. There is a mordant quality to his writings and cartoons. If you want to read some of the best essays of the modern era, pick up a copy of Final Fridays ($26.00, Counterpoint Press), a collection of essays, lectures, tributes and other nonfiction from 1995 onward by John Barth. For those of an intellectual inclination, this National Book Award winner’s ruminations on everything will provide considerable reading pleasure as Barth combines wit and the well turned phrase to keep you turning the pages.

This year marks Silent Spring at 50 ($25.95, hardcover, $12.99 digital, Cato Institute) subtitled “The False Crises of Rachel Carson has an official publication date in September, but in the shadow of Rio+20, the Earth Summit held in June, it is worth recalling that the book is widely credited with starting the environmental movement. The author’s style allowed a wide audience to access the “science” she was presenting, but the problem was that much of it was cherry-picked and utterly false. It was a polemic against DDT in particular and the use of beneficial chemicals that protected human health and enhanced crop yields by protecting against insect and weed predation. DDT was eventually banned despite ample evidence of its value by an EPA that ignored the data. The result was that millions around the world died from mosquito-borne malaria and other diseases that could have been deterred. There was no massive rise in the rates of cancer as Carson asserted. The book’s contributors make a powerful case as specialists in public health, economics, law, and the sciences. The lessons one can draw from it include the fact that environmental organizations continue to use the same flawed and often false data to advance their goals.

Did you know that every year in the United States more than 50,000 fake Ph.D.s are bought while only 40,000 real Ph.D.s are earned? This means there are doctors, lawyers, teachers and even ministers who purchased the degree on their wall. Degree Mills: The Billion-Dollar Industry that has Sold over a Million Fake Diplomas by retired FBI Agent Allen Ezell and John Bear, Ph.D. ($21.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) reveal how millions of people are using credentials they never earned. There are at least 5,000 fake MDs in the U.S. according to a Congressional survey. This is a very interesting book, particularly for those whose jobs involve checking on the credentials of people applying for employment in business, government, and academia.

Most books about architecture are large and filled with photos and descriptions of all manner of structures. They often address historical aspects and the aesthetics. It is the rare book on the subject that provides the layman with the real nitty-gritty, but I am happy to report that Robert Brown Butler’s Architecture Laid Bare ($25.00, softcover) does. It is a 458 page reference with 240 illustrations. Anyone with dreams of building their own home or adding to an existing one should read this book because it will prepare you to deal with an architect or construction team and have no regrets for lack of knowledge about design, structure, electrical, lighting, plumbing, and all aspects that represent a home that works in terms of your needs and aspirations. Don’t be another person who discovers too late that you have been duped. Butler writes in a conversational fashion so that you get to know the author, an architect who shares years of experience with you. It is his seventh book on the subject. Available at Amazon.com, you can learn more by visiting www.architecturelaidbare.com.

Some years ago I reviewed Nicholas A. Basbanes’ A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books ($15.95, Fine Books Press, softcover). It was a bestselling book then and remains the most comprehensive book about the passion of book collecting. There is no one to rival Basbanes for his knowledge and I was happy to learn that a new, updated, definitive edition had been published. The research is self-evident, but it is the anecdotal elements that are entertaining as the author reviews the lives of some of the great collectors. It began with the 2,200 year-old Library of Alexandra, moves on to the dawn of Western printing in the Middle Ages, into the Renaissance, and now into the advances of twentieth-century collecting. I admit I am resisting reading books in their new electric formats. I like the feel of a book in my hands. If you do, then this book will provide endless hours of reading pleasure.

Food, Wonderful Food

I have not received many cookbooks of late, but I liked Food in Jars by Marisa McClellan ($23.00, Running Press) because it reminded me of my youth when preserving all manner of items was commonplace. Canning is still popular today and this delightful books offers more than a hundred recipes for everything from jams and pickles, to chutneys and relishes. Designed for use in smaller kitchens, the small batch recipes can be prepared in an apartment after perhaps bringing items from local farmer’s market food items home. Once preserved, they can be served throughout the year. It is a comprehensive book with simple tips for first-timers to folks who have gardens and want to store their bounty. For some reason homemade always tastes better!

In these hard times when money is tight, Gabi Moskowitz looked around her and asked what if folks who may have lost a job and never learned to cook had a cookbook that would show them how to enjoy real gourmet meals for under $20 a dish? Thus was born The Brokeass Gourmet Cookbook ($16.95, Egg & Dart, softcover). It is filled with excellent ideas and tips on stock your pantry on a budget, add flavor to your meals with your own sauces, make great soups, and just a whole lot more to make dinner your favorite meal of the day without going into debt doing it. Making Perfect Popcorn by John Beigel is clearly the book the world has been waiting for ($16.95, McOsprey Publishing, softcover) if, that is, you love popcorn. Truth be told, this is an excellent A-to-Z book on the topic with all kinds of information that will enhance your popcorn experience and I was astonished how many things one needs to know to get the ultimate popcorn experience.

Memoirs, Autobiographies & Biographies

Buddy Guy is the winner of six Grammys and Billboard magazine’s Century Award. He was inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 and, now in his mid 70s, is regarded as one of the best blues guitarists alive today. He has written When I Left Home ($26.00, Da Capo Press) with David Ritz, the co-author of numerous autobiographies of musicians, including Ray Charles and Etta James. He was the son of Louisiana sharecroppers and 13 years old when he heard John Lee Hooker’s “Boogie Chillen” and his father gave him a worn-in two-string guitar. In time he would share the stages all over the world with the likes of Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and his friend and idol, B.B. King. For anyone who loves the blues, I guarantee you will love this autobiography.

Confessions of a Horseshoer by Ron Tatum ($24.95, University of North Texas Press) might seem an odd book to recommend, but Tatum is far more than a farrier, the older term for a trade he has pursued for some forty years. He joined the Marine Corp and retired from the reserves as a Major. He has been a Presbyterian minister, a juvenile probation officer, a drug/alcohol counselor, and a college dean and professor with a doctorate in high education. He still teaches college and he still shoes horses. This is a delightful book in which you will learn how he has balanced the different worlds he inhabits. It is filled with insights and humor, with reflections on all manner of things and thoughts he has encountered. For the simple delight of reading about his life, I would recommend this book highly. Another, more familiar, profession gets its day in court with Thomas P. Casselman’s memoir of his years in a small courtroom in Marguette, Michigan. I Talk—You Walk: Forty Years of Winning Defense Strategies ($18.95, Avery Color Studies, softcover) is a collection of short stories that evolve around the law, murder and mayhem, and in which the author takes the reader behind the scenes with him and private investigator Rhona Goodwin as they work their way through the case. This is the law at work at the local level, yet reflecting in many ways the more famous cases that grab the headlines. Local politics, domestic melodrama, racial bias, and townies versus outsider land barons all meet and clash in the courtroom and those at higher levels in ways that rival any big city trial.

Military Matters

Americans have been treated to news about SEAL Team 6 who took out Osama bin Laden last year, but there is another group of warriors who also deserve the thanks of the nation. Dick Couch has written Sua Sponte: The Forging of a Modern American Ranger ($26.95, Berkley Caliber) whose title means “Of their own accord.” It is the motto of the 75th Ranger Regiment. Couch, a graduate of the US Naval Academy, is uniquely suited to write this book regarding the unique and distinct military culture of this particular fighting force. In the war on Islamic terrorism, the Rangers have been given the assignment to capture or kill the enemy. They do not patrol, nor do they train allied forces. What sets them apart is the direct-action their missions involve. The book is about how such men are selected and trained. This is Special Operations in a time of war. The book has already garnered accolades from retired U.S. Army generals and others, and now it has mine.

The other side of the story is that of the jihadi warriors and a fairly astonishing book, Terrorists in Love: True Life Stories of Islamic Radicals by Ken Ballen ($15.00, Free Press, softcover) that provides a look at the real lives of those who choose to commit suicide to advance Islam’s cause. In the hands of Ballen, a veteran attorney, skilled interrogator, and founder of Terror Free Tomorrow, six men emerge as the products of societies and a religion so different from ours that it defies the imagination to understand it. These are people who believe in spirits, genies, and in the power of dreams over the reality of their lives. They live within the fierce and unforgiving world of the Islamic faith. It is a world that shapes killers who believe they are heroes.

World War Two continues to provide books about various aspects of that conflict. Intrepid Aviators: The True Story of U.S.S. Intrepid’s Torpedo Squadron 18 and Its Epic Clash with the Superbattleship Musashi by Gregory G. Fletcher ($26.95, New American Library) is just out this month. It tells the story of the young American pilots who sank Japan’s greatest battleship during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. It was 1944 and six young bomber pilots flew off the deck on a search-and-destroy mission. It would turn out to be the opening round of history’s greatest—and last—epic naval battle. The author’s father, Will Fletcher, survived being shot down, escaping into the jungles of the Philippines where he eluded capture by the Japanese with the help of Filipino guerillas. The author served as a navel aviator from 1969 to 1974 and is now an attorney.

Getting Down to Business Books

Information Bombardment: Rising Above the Digital Onslaught by Nick Bontis, Ph.D. ($28.95, Institute for Intellectual Capital Research) begins with more than a dozen pages of praise from a variety of people from the business and academic community. It is testimony to the fact that all of us are being overwhelmed by a daily torrent of information via the Internet and, of course, by other media as well. Like others I begin my day weeding out the many emails that have arrived overnight and which continue throughout the day. Dr. Bontis provides advice on how to sort through the emails, the tweets, the instant messages, websites and blogs posts that one receives or visits. He discusses how one can “de-stress” one’s life from the pressure, anxiety, fears and other health-related problems that too much information is often intended to induce. He shows how to prioritize your information sources, and in the world of business, to speed up innovation through increased collaboration among team members, colleagues and stakeholders. This are real-world solutions and, if this book describes your life, I suggest you pick up a copy and read it.

The Small-Business Guide to Government Contracts by Steven J. Koprince ($29.95, Amacom) addressed how to comply with key rules and regulations while at the same time avoiding terminated agreements, fines or worse. In short, a very useful book for the twenty-three percent of contracts the federal government reserves for all kinds of goods and services provided by small businesses. It represented just over $109 billion in 2011. Small businesses often invest a great deal of time and money to winning a government contract without considering what happens next. These contracts can lead to fines and even jail time because of all the strings attached, unique and complicated requirements and restrictions. Before reaching for the brass ring of a government contract, reach for this book! Another problem many Americans are facing is having to deal with bill collectors and William Davis has written a short book, Confessions of an Ex-Bill Collector ($24.95, available via Amazon.com, softcover) The author spent five years in the bill collection business and what he doesn’t know about it and about how you can free yourself from debt is probably not worth knowing. When I asked him about the price, he said, “Yes you have a good point, but consider what just an hour’s consultation with an attorney would be? I wanted the book to include only the best information that would benefit the consumer and not just a lot of useless information just to make the book bigger. Also the money the consumer can save not paying high interest and getting rid of bill collectors, obtaining peace of mind and being able to purchase the car or home of their dreams is worth many times the price of the book.” Another short, easy to read book is How to Understand Economics in 1 Hour by Marshal Payn ($7.95, Assent Publishing, softcover, available on Kindle as well). I wish I had read this when I was in college or any time in my youth. A lot of us get up in years without really understanding what economics is and this book remedies that. Much of the financial problems we have today is the result of people just not understanding the fundamentals. You don’t have to be a genius because Payn spells it out so well that even I felt my knowledge refreshed as a result..

A great number of books on the subject of management address the topic of character and, clearly, having the right traits makes a big difference. Lead by Greatness: How Character Can Power Your Success by David Lapin ($19.95, Avoda Books, softcover) falls into this category. The author says “Greatness of character powers leadership success more than any other single factor” and he brings his experience as a rabbi, a business strategist, and CEO of Lapin International to bear on the subject of inspiring teams, sparking innovation, and allowing companies to thrive. The combination of spiritual teacher and bottom-line-focused management expert makes for a very interesting book. It is based on his having worked with hundreds of senior executives around the world. For inspiration mixed with practical application, this book will prove helpful to anyone at any level in the world of business.

Books for Younger Readers

Many books these days for pre-and-early school children are written to impart advice on how to cope with life’s problems. Thomas and son Peter Weck have authored a number of books that both entertain and teach, illustrated by Len DiSalvo. Their latest is The Labyrinth ($15.95, Lima Bear Press, Wilmington, DE) which deals with jealousy, common among the young and old. Written for those 4 to 8 years of age, it tells the story of Princess Belinda Bean who becomes queen when her father steps aside. Mean Old Bean who wanted to be king lures her into a magic labyrinth and it is up to L. Joe Bean, the wise man of Beandom, to rescue her. Learning how to rise to new responsibilities and forgiveness are two lessons, but the story is so delightfully told that younger readers will enjoy it for a tale well told.

New Horizon Press has published two children’s books for the very young, They Call Me Fat Zoe: Helping Children and Families Overcome Obesity and Cats Can’t Fly: Teaching Children to Value New Friendships (Both $9.95) use animal characters to help children cope effectively by learning better eating habits and by overcoming shyness. For parents who are trying to address these issues, these books will prove very helpful.

Tiffany Jansen offers girls in the third and fourth grades, ages 9 and younger, worthy role models while introducing them to medieval times. Published by Medieval Maidens ($5.95, Knoxville, MD, http://www.medievalmaidens.net/). Two of this series feature Mary Tudor, a girl in the court of Henry VII of England who prepares for her sister’s Scottish wedding and feast. A second book is about the celebration of Twelfth Night. This is a highly entertaining way to learn about a past era.

A young adult fantasy, The Life Squad by Amir Yassai is a debut novel (available from Amazon.com) that those in their pre-and-early teens will likely enjoy as it poses a dilemma. What if you possessed the gift to give life, but that gift destroyed those closest to you? Discovering one day that he is able to reanimate the dead, protagonist Adam Bronn sets out to find the answers to how this mysterious gift may also be the cause of the death and despair that’s surrounded him his whole life. After meeting others with the same power, they become the “life squad” intent on preventing their powers from being used for evil. It is a classic story and one that will keep young readers turning the pages. A much lighter bit of reading is provided by Gwendolyn Heasley in A Long Way from You ($8.99, Harper Teen, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers). Eager to develop her talent as an artist, Kitsy is offered the opportunity to attend a summer art class in New York City when her best friend Corrine’s family sponsors the trip from Texas. It is a study in learning how to navigate the big city and deal with New Yorkers, especially a young man with a knack for getting under her skin. It’s a summer that is going to be about a lot more than figure drawing.

Novels, Novels, Novels

The great thing about fiction is that there is a story to suit every taste.

Jill Smolinski has a following based on her earlier novels so they will be delighted to learn she has a new one, Objects of My Affection, ($24.99, Touchstone, an imprint of Simon and Schuster). Lucy Bloom’s life is in disarray. Freshly dumped by her boyfriend and suddenly rootless after selling her home to send her teenage son, Ash, to drug rehab, she finds herself sharing a bedroom with her best friend’s pre-schooler daughter! She is, however, to start over and wangles a job cleaning clutter from the home of a renowned artist-turned-reclusive-hoarder, Marva Meier Rios. It is a major undertaking, but Lucy learns that Marva has a big secret and the two form an unlikely bond. This is a novel about how to let go of things and events in our lives, knowing what has real value and what does not.

William J. Cobb has written a most unusual novel, The Bird Saviors, ($26.95, Unbridled Books) about a teenage mother who counts birds at a time when there are fewer and fewer of them around here Pueblo, Colorado home. An avian flue has been ravaging the bird population and is a metaphor for an era of bleakness. Her mother has abandoned her fundamentalist preacher father and now he wants to marry her off to an older man with two wives. It’s time for Ruby to make a break for it and she does. An ornithologist arrives and, like Ruby, thinks birds are special and a romance develops. All the primary emotions are captured, defiance, anger, compassion, and unexpected love.

For those who love a good mystery, they are likely to enjoy Cheryl Crane’s new novel, Imitation of Death ($24.00, Kensington Publishing Group) with a sale date of August and formal release in September. Crane is the only child of famed film star, Lana Turner. She grew up in the world of Hollywood glamour, murder and mystery. I enjoyed her previous novel, “The Bad Always Die Twice” in which she introduced us to realtor and amateur sleuth Nikki Harper. Among Hollywood realtors Nikki is a superstar, but her investigative skill levels are well below par. Her first case ended with her best friend behind bars and now a body has been found in a dumpster behind her friend, Victoria Bordeaux’s mansion. Nikki wants to help but soon discovers the list of suspects keeps growing. The one thing of which she is convinced is that the Jorge Delgado, a childhood friend and son of Victoria’s housekeeper is innocent. There is plenty here to keep one turning the pages for an entertaining few hours in a world Crane knows well. Hollywood is also the setting for The Director’s Cut—Backstage Pass #3 by Janice Thompson ($14.99, Revell, softcover) in which the central character, Tia Morales, is used to call the shots as the director of a popular sitcom, “Stars Collide”. Life on the set is orderly, but outside the studio it is another matter as she tried to make her family behave as well as her stars do. Yes, she’s a bit of a control freak, but that’s also her charm in this story of learning to take life a bit easier and letting it lead where it may.

I am always a bit wary of novels based on ancient biblical texts, real or imagined, but the popularity of “The Da Vinci Code” is enough to indicate that many people do enjoy such tales. If so, they will enjoy Q Awakening by G.M. Lawrence ($25.95, Variance Publishing, Cabot, Arkansas) Among biblical scholars where is a widespread belief that a “Q” manuscript, a lost Christian gospel, exists. The novel’s protagonist, Declan Stewart’s destiny is inextricably intertwined with “Q”—for the German word for quelle (the source). This is an international thriller that stretches from the deserts of Sinai to the coasts of New Zealand, the streets of Zurich to the mountains of Syria. Stewart is compelled to find the clues to solve mystery of the gospel and there are others who do not want the world to know about it. This is also a spiritual hero’s journey. You will not be disappointed if you join his journey.


For those who like short stories and, in particular, fantasies, Steven Erickson delivers with The Devil Delivered and Other Tales ($14.99, Tor Books) which consists of four speculative novellas that Erickson wrote in between his ten volume series, “The Malazan Book of the Fallen.” Does this guy ever take time out to eat and sleep? What he does is writer some compelling fiction with each story so different from the other you will just have to take my word that this collection is a real bargain and deals with some very interesting themes.

That’s it for July. Come back next month for the best in new non-fiction and fiction, offering news about books you might not learn about anywhere else. Tell your book-loving friends, family and co-workers about Bookviews.com so they too can enjoy this eclectic report. See you in August!

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month


As we head toward the elections in November, Stanley Weintraub, a historian and award-winning author of more than fifty books, has a new one, Final Victory: FDR’s Extraordinary World War II Presidential Campaign ($26.00, Da Capo Press) that, for those old enough to recall that era or young enough to be curious about it, will prove a fascinating visit to the past. I was about ten years old at the time and, like most of the young men fighting in Europe and Asia, had never known any other President that Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Elected initially in 1932, he had already served three terms when no other President had served more than two—based on a tradition set by George Washington. By 1941, he was a very sick man, suffering from a weakening heart in addition to having been crippled by polio prior to having first been elected. Would Americans turn to a younger Tom Dewey, a Republican, or stick with FDR who was visibly aged? Weintraub takes the reader through all the political machinations in both Parties, the campaign rigors, the selection of the relatively unknown Harry Truman as FDR’s running mate, and the election. His fourth term would last 83 days until felled by a cerebral hemorrhage, but he had ensured that the Democrat Party held onto the White House. The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution ensured that no President thereafter could hold the office for more than two terms.

Many are asking who will be Mitt Romney’s choice for the Vice Presidential candidate and many believe it will be Florida’s first-term Senator, Marco Rubio. He has authored an autobiography, An American Son, ($26.95, Portfolio, Penguin Sentinel) that covers his family’s roots in Cuba, the decision to flee Castro in the 1950s, and his political career and rise to become speaker in the Florida legislature and, from there to the U.S. Senate. At age 41, he has proven to be an articulate spokesman for conservative principles. The autobiography reads smoothly and, if Romney selects him, his Hispanic roots will no doubt be part of that decision given the growing U.S. population of Americans with Hispanic ancestry. There are no surprises here, but those with an interest in American politics will find it a useful introduction to him. The candidacy of Mitt Romney is arousing predictable interest in his religion. Mormons have served this nation in positions of public trust since the days of the Eisenhower administration. Joanna Brooks has written The Book of Mormon Girl: A Memoir of an American Faith ($14.00, Free Press, softcover) that tells her story of what it was like growing up in Church of the Latter-day Saints. She is a scholar of religion and American culture, and a senior correspondent for ReligiousDispatches.org. For the many people who know nothing about the Mormon faith, I would surely recommend her book for the introduction it provides. Among the strictures of the faith, she learned there would be no tea, no coffee, no cigarettes, no alcohol of any kind, and no caffeine. Like many who struggle with their faith, she tells of moving away from it during a controversial moment in the Church’s history, but also of returning so that her daughters could know the comfort of the faith in which she grew up. It is a heart-warming, honest story.

Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele have teamed to write books on the state of America over the years and they don’t like what they see. The Betrayal of the American Dream ($26.99, Public Affairs) examines how the middle class, the key to America’s economic success in many ways, has been systematically destroyed by what they identify as wealthy elites in combination with a government that does their bidding. This is an unrelentingly dour and depressing book, but it is also an unflinching look at the way outsourcing has eliminated many of the jobs that afforded the middle class a good life. I did not always find myself in agreement with their solutions, but I also could find little to argue with regarding the unfairness of policies that benefit the rich and large corporations while stripping wage earners of promised benefits and unfairly taxing them as a group. Coming at a time when Americans are suffering a new Great Depression, their book is particularly timely.

Events before and since 9/11 and occurring in the past decade in the Middle East have awakened Americans to the realization that they have been under attack by Islam since the 1980s with attacks as well on our embassies and on the USS Cole. Many plots have been thwarted since 9/11, but the fact that has not truly taken hold in the West is that Islam has been at war with all “unbelievers” for 1,400 years. The Koran not only requires war, but gives Muslims permission to kill anyone who dares to disagree with Islam or who says anything negative about its founder, Muhammed. To understand him and the malignant “religion” he created, I would recommend that you read Ali Sina’s Understanding Muhammad and Muslims (18.95, softcover). Sina, born in Iran, did not fall pray to the insidious way Islam captures the minds of those born into the faith and he has devoted his life to helping Muslims escape from Islam through his organization, http://www.faithfreedom.org/. It is a masterful, scholarly work that examines the life of Muhammad and reveals him in ways that demonstrate how he created a cult around himself. It was an ugly, violent, narcissistic life and one that now holds more than a billion people around the world in its grasp.

For a change of pace, let me state for the record that I do not believe in ghosts and never had. Two books have arrived for people who do. One is The Science of Ghosts: Searching for Spirits of the Dead by Joe Nickell ($18.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) who takes ghosts seriously and examines evidence for contact from eyewitness accounts to spirit photographs, and even forensic trace evidence. Filled with case studies, this book will interest other fans of ghostly affairs. Then there’s A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to the Most Haunted Places in America by Terrance Zepke ($9.95, Safari Publishing, softcover, $4.50 ebook). The author grew up in a part of South Carolina which is said to have lots of ghosts and “haints.” A journalist by training, she takes you on a tour of the Trans-Allegheny lunatic asylum in West Virginia, the Birdcage Theatre in Arizona, and the Colonial Park Cemetery in Georgia, among a dozen other places. There are popular theories about ghosts that include the view that they do not know they’re dead or that they have unfinished business.

For women interested in fashion and a healthy lifestyle, there’s Ballet Beautiful by Mary Helen Bowers ($20.00, Da Capo Press, softcover) and The Book of Styling: An Insider’s Guide to Creating Your Own Look by Somer Flaherty ($16.99, Zest Books, softcover). The author of the former book was a member of the New York City Ballet and is now a highly regarded fitness instructor. When Natalie Portman had to portray a ballet dancer in “Black Swan”, it was Bowers that helped her achieve the transformation. Her book is filled with photos and a world of good advice regarding a sustainable health regimen rather than fad diets or overworking one’s body. And once you have become slim and gorgeous (or not) there’s Flaherty’s book that brings together a decade of experience in the fashion industry as a stylist, journalism instructor, editor and writer. The book will be particularly useful for ‘tweens’, teens, and younger women, finding the right look or a variety of looks The book takes the reader through all of the popular styles and is filled with great advice.

Peace of Mind

The one thing that we most seek in life is peace of mind. As often as not, factors beyond our control interfere with that. The sales of various pharmaceuticals intended to provide an escape from anxiety is testimony to this quest.

Learning to Breath: My Yearlong Quest to Bring Calm to My Life ($15.00, Free Press, softcover) by Priscilla Warner tells the story of her lifelong panic disorder. More than 40 million Americans are estimated to have an anxiety disorder of some kind. By the usual standards, Ms. Warner should have been content. She was a college graduate, an accomplished art director, the coauthor of a New York Times bestseller, “The Faith Club”, happily married and the mother of two grown sons. When she read about Tibetan monks who had meditated so effectively they were able to change their brains, she wanted in. She went in quest of meditation’s secrets, trying all manner of ways to achieve a similar change. This book, part memoir, part a guide to rewiring one’s brain, makes for some very interesting reading. Dr. Gordon Livingston, MD, a psychiatrist, has authored The Thing You Think You Cannot Do: Thirty Truths about Fear and Courage ($19.99, Da Capo Press, softcover), a study of fear. He takes the reader from the primal impulse to escape death to the modern-day compulsion to avoid failure and humiliation. Such fears can become overwhelming and debilitating. Indeed, he catalogs a collection of human fears that include loss, intimacy, aging, inadequacy, discussing how people can choose to face them head-on. The author endured the loss of his own sons, one to suicide and another to leukemia, just thirteen months apart. When I think back on my own life, it has been remarkably free of fear, but it is never far from my thoughts. There is an antidote to fear. It is courage. It’s there inside of you and this book will help you tap into it.

Steven Hassan, an expert on cults, has written Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults and Beliefs ($9.95, Freedom of Mind Press, Newton, MA, softcover). He has helped thousands of people victimized by abusive relationships or who have joined cults that exercise mind-control. A former cult member in his youth, after breaking free he became a licensed mental health counselor and holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Cambridge College. If someone you know is trapped in a situation and you want to help, you should read this book and equip yourself to know how to extricate them. You can learn more by visiting www.freedomofmind.com.

Due off the press in September from Central Recovery Press, Nancy L. Johnson, a licensed psychotherapist and substance abuse treatment practitioner, has authored My Life as a Border Collie: Freedom from Codependency ($16.95) a fun book on a serious topic. She shares the life lessons she learned from her observations of the relationship exhibited by her border collie, Daisy. She noticed similar traits in herself that resembled codependency, “our tendencies to attend to others, to herd, to overreact.” The book includes new and specific information on the subject, but it is written with a light touch regarding out-of-balance relationships as she brings 35 years of her professional experience to bear on the subject. She sure has learned a lot from Daisy!

Unlike the heroes of earlier wars, those who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan did not return to victory parades and confetti. In Marguerite Guzman Bouvard’s book, The Invisible Wounds of War ($18.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) she tells the story of an estimated 4,300 veterans who return with crippling post-traumatic stress disorder. A resident school at Brandeis’ Women’s Studies Research Center, her book is a plea for Americans to recognize the plight of male and female soldiers as they pay a heavy psychological cost. These have been the two longest wars in which American military have engaged and the book focuses on the extreme duress of being in a combat zone with no clear frontlines with enemies who could be anyone among the civilian population. All this is compounded by multiple deployments. Lost limbs and other injuries bespeak the horrors of war, but the wounded mind needs repair as well.

Something Spectacular: The True Story of One Rockette’s Battle with Bulimia by Greta Gleissner ($ 16.00, Seal Press-an imprint of Perseus Books, softcover) is about a girl who dreamed of becoming a Rockette, the famed chorus line at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. They are all gorgeous, talented, and slim. Ms. Gleissner shares her personal chronicle about the devastating effects bulima exacted on her personal and professional life during her time as a Rockette. On the outside she was a happy-go-lucky dancer, but on the inside she was a food addict tortured by obsessive, self-destructive voices. Her bulimia began when she was a freshman in high school and slowly began to consume her entire life. By the time she joined the Rockettes, she was binging up to ten times a day, chasing a high that only comes from purging. It is a truly frightening story and a cautionary one. Cured at last, today she has a master’s in social work and a practice in New York City. Any bulimic should read this book and its encouraging story of overcoming this debilitating disorder.

In these difficult times, motivating oneself can be a problem, but Bob Prentice wants to give you a helping hand with his book iMotivate Me ($17.95, softcover) He has found fresh ways to address motivation and provides the tools for increasing it. This is not a new topic as books go, but I think the author has brought a variety of practical ideas and exercises so the reader can act on its recommendations.

Raising Children

There are those who see corporations as employing thousands and providing goods and services people want and those who, like socialists, see them as a threat to mankind, preferring to have government make all the decisions about your life for you. Joel Baken is among the latter and has written Childhood Under Siege: How Big Business Targets Your Children ($15.00, Free Press, softcover). Having previously penned “The Corporation”, this book expands on its themes, blaming “profit-seeking corporations” for using marketing to “manipulate” children’s emotions and inculcate “obsessive consumerism.” Of course, marketing does that to adults as well though some might point out that consumerism is what underwrites a thriving economy. This is, in general, a book filled with hysteria, but it occasionally makes a good point or two.


Surviving Your Adolescents: How to Manage and Let Go of Your 13-18 Year Olds ($14.95, ParentMagic, Inc, softcover) by Thomas W. Phelan, PhD is one of those titles that tells you everything you need to know about the book. The author notes that these are the years in which things can go terribly wrong in the form of unwanted pregnancies, death in auto accidents, drug and alcohol problems. He discusses how parents can deal with being snubbed at the dinner table when they ask “How was your day?” When told “Nothing”, he reminds the reader that there is a strong connection between parent/teen relationships and adolescent safety. He offers a five-part job description to parents of teens to establish a comfortable coexistence. Coming Around: Parenting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Kids ($14.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) isn’t officially due off the press until October, but is included here because parents who encounter the issues involved will surely welcome news of this book. The author, Anne Dohrenwend, PhD, ABPP, is a psychiatrist who specializes in counseling LGBT kids and their families. It is filled with strategies for youngsters to cope with school, church, sports authority figures, and others, as well as friends and the child’s siblings. She reminds the reader that their children’s future does not depend on being trouble-free and, indeed, learning how to cope with what life has dealt them is what parent and child must learn. The book asserts that as many as 7.2 million Americans under the age of 20 are lesbian or gay and that most adult GLB’s knew they were that way by the age of nine.

Just published this month by New Horizon Press is a book that addresses the greatest tragedy in a parent’s life, When Your Child Dies: Tools for Mending Parent’s Broken Hearts by Avril Nagel and Randie Clark ($14.95, softcover). Death claims babies, infants, children and adolescents every year, as well as adult children. The authors, both of whom lost a child, provide readers with compassionate, pragmatic tools to handle the emotional, practical, and psychological challenges that confront parents so that they may learn how to regain and redefine their lives while holding close their child’s memory.

Deep Thinking

I receive a steady stream of books from Prometheus Books of Amherst, New York, and many are devoted to topics that address matters of the intellect and philosophy. Among the latest to arrive are the following.

The Marvelous Learning Animal: What Makes Human Nature Unique by Arthur W. Staats ($27.00) Instead of innate tendencies and inherited traits, this professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Hawaii has concluded that what sets us aside from all other primates is our ability to learn. Endowed with a brain that has one hundred billion neurons, humans are learning creatures, a process that begins at birth. The Language of Life: How Communication Drives Human Evolution by James Lull and Eduardo Neiva ($19.00, softcover) explores the totality of communication processes that create and sustain biological equilibrium and social stability. In this book that introduce a new discipline, evolutionary communication, to analyze how humans used communication to survive and to deal with sex, culture, morality, religion and technological change. A change of pace is provided by Joe Carlen’s The Einstein of Money: The Life and Timeless Financial Wisdom of Benjamin Graham ($25.00) a man who Warren Buffett has acknowledged many times as a primary influence on his approach to investing. During his life, Graham wrote six books on the topic and was known as the Dean of Wall Street. With access to his posthumously published memoirs, Carlin tells the colorful story of his business career and personal life. It makes for very lively reading.

Other publishers have books to offer that provide some interesting insights as well. Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back by Andrew Zolli and Ann Marie Healy ($26.00, Free Press) made its debut in July. Together the authors offer an in-depth primer on the emerging field of resilience research, the study of how individuals, communities, organizations, economies and even the planet can better adapt to dramatically changing circumstance. The history of human civilization, about five thousand years, is testimony to how some societies demonstrated resilience while others disappeared. Most certainly the last century and this one has been one of rapid technological change and that, in turn, is affecting current events. Another book on this topic is Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges by Dr. Steven M. Southwick, MD, and Dr. Dennis S. Charney, MD ($22.99, Cambridge University Press). The authors are professors of psychiatry and experts in posttraumatic stress and resilience. They offer some inspiration stories of ordinary people who have triumphed over adversity and identify the ten resilience factors that each one used to beat the odds and to flourish. Most people will face some sort of crisis in their lives, the loss of a loved one, a serious accident, divorce, and they can take a toll on our physical and emotional well-being. This book offers both science and solutions the reader can use to their benefit.

Lastly, there’s Models Behaving Badly: Why Confusing Illusion with Reality Can Lead to a Disaster on Wall Street and in Life ($16.00, Free Press, softcover) by Emanuel Derman. The author is the head of risk at Prisma Capital Partners and a professor at Columbia University where he directs their program in financial engineering. Starting as a theoretical physicist, he worked from 1985 to 2002 on Wall Street, running quantitative strategies research groups in fixed income, equities and risk management. He was appointed a managing director at Goldman Sachs & Company in 1997. The financial models he developed there have become widely used industry standards. The question he asks in this book is whether it is possible to create a representation of the world and what happens when they are wrong? It is his view that there is no reliable science of behavior, only limited and faulty analogies. Suffice to say, this is a provocative book at a time when such models are in wide use.

Novels, Novels, Novels

Summer is traditionally thought of as a time when people catch up on their reading while vacationing or just relaxing at the beach or around the home. For this reason, there are a few more novels in this month’s edition than usual.

For fun, there’s Norman Schreiber’s Out of Order ($14.95, Topquark Press, softcover) that had me laughing from the first page to the last. Schreiber, whom I have known for decades, takes us inside a Brooklyn condominium where the president of the coop board has been murdered and chopped up. It falls to Michael Levine, a psychotherapist, to be among the first to discover the body. Through Levine’s distinct New York perspective, we are introduced to a cast of condo characters, any one of whom you’d personally want to kill with your bare hands. By the time the second murder victim shows up, you cannot put the story down. It is hilarious. Every so often a comic novel comes along that provides relief from the other genres and Russell Potter’s Pyg: The Memoirs of Toby, the Learned Pig ($15.00, Penguin, softcover) is a tour de force. Written in the form of a rediscovered memoir “edited” by Potter, it tells the story of Toby who lived in the late 18th century. After winning a blue ribbon at a livestock fair, he is rescued from the butcher’s knife by Sam, his guardian and steadfast companion. Potter perfectly captures the style of literature from that period as he tells how Toby and Sam join a traveling circus and become a national sensation. In time Toby earns top university spots at Oxford and Edinburgh where he meets the era’s luminaries such as Samuel Johnson, Robert Burns and William Blake. It’s a lot of fun.

The Age of Desire by Jennie Fields ($27.95, Viking) tells the story in fictional form of Edith Wharton, the novelist of the Gilded Age, who at 45 fell in love with a handsome young journalist and had an affair with him. It put a tremendous strain on her relationship with her governess, Anna Bahlman, turned literary secretary, who was also her confessor and life-long friend. Others, too, were troubled and Ms. Fields has written a real page-turner for anyone who enjoys reading about matters of the heart, even if blinded by infatuation. Based on a thorough knowledge of Wharton’s life, her famous friends like Henry James, and her travels, the novel is enhanced further by the discovery of a cache of more than 100 letters from Edith to Anna. Another Viking novel just out this month is also well worth reading. It’s Maryanne O’Hara’s Cascade ($25.95) and it is an excellent debut. It is 1935 in Cascade, Massachusetts where Desdemona Hart Spaulding has had to trade in her art school training and dreams of moving to New York to pursue a career. Her ailing, bankrupt father dies. She is married to Asa Spaulding and stands to lose her father’s legacy, the Shakespeare Playhouse, as the Massachusetts Water Board decides to turn Cascade into a reservoir. Everything she has or wanted is being lost to her. In the midst of this, Jacob Solomon, a fellow artist arrives. I won’t give away the twists and turns of this story, but it is filled with nuance and insight, emotion and determination.

The deep bond between a mother and her child is explored in a novel of the same name, Mother & Child, by Carole Maso ($26.00, Counterpoint Press) that is a meditation on life and death that crosses invisible psychological and mystical realms of life. This will appeal to those who enjoy stories about ghosts and UFO, but it is devoted to the kind of reality a mother and child construct between them. For those who love ancient mythology, shape-shifting dragons, lots of action and a modern heroine, there’s Forged in Fire by J.A. Pitts, ($26.99, Tor/Forge), the third volume of an urban fantasy. Sarah Jane Beauhall is a blacksmith turned dragon slayer in a world secretly run by them. It’s about magic, danger, and all the elements that lovers of fantasy thrive upon.

I am convinced that every lawyer in America wants to write a novel and, given the profession they’re in, they often see the worst of life. As the narrator of Linda Rocker’s debut novel says, “If you’re looking for an interesting place to commit a murder, you can’t do better than West Palm Beach.” Punishment ($18.95, Wheatmark, softcover) is informed by the fact that the author is a retired judge and her knowledge of the justice system. It is the story of a high profile murder trial complicated by a bailiff’s murder, the bombing of the courthouse, and the victim’s father seeking revenge. Yes, it is a very lively story about a number of very dead victims. A novel that gave me pause is Show Time ($15.95, Lost Coast Press, softcover) because Phil Harvey hasn’t just come up with a thriller, but rather a grim story of pathological insanity on several levels. It is about a new reality show in which three women and four men risk death by starvation or freezing or by each other as contestants when they are left on an island in Lake Superior and the survivors are promised $400.000. Every that occurs is broadcast. Suffice to say this novel speaks to the worst instincts of those who created the show, those participating, and those watching. Everything about it is vile and I would recommend NOT reading it.

There has always been a market and audience for “naughty” books involving sex and the enormous success of “Fifty Shades of Grey”” is testimony to that. Tiffany Reisz makes her debut with The Siren ($14.95, Harlequin MIRA, softcover) It is an exploration of bondage, sadism and masochism, with Nora Sutherlin, a writer of erotica, at the center of a story. It is a fairly predictable story written to provide titillation. The author is described as a graduate with a B.A. in English who has “five piercings and one tattoo. She has only been arrested twice.” If you want to lower your IQ and feel thoroughly ashamed of yourself, this is the book for you.

Short stories can carry a punch and Cynthia Lang’s Sarah Carlisle’s River and Other Stories ($12,95, Mill City Press, softcover) demonstrates a real talent for them. The namesake of the title, Sarah, is featured in the lead story. She had lived a life of wealth until the War of 1812 ended the family fortune. Nine short stories provide many different characters whom we recognize in our own way, each altered by a life experience. It’s a great read for this summer and any time.

That’s it for August. Whew! The year is flying by, but I will be back in September to discuss some of the new books of the autumn when the publishing industry gets into high gear. Tell all your book-loving friends, family and co-workers about Bookviews.com and come back.

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

If there is one book a voter should read before they go to the polls in November, it is Dr. Paul Kengor’s The Communist: Frank Marshall Davis—The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mentor ($27.00, Threshhold, a division of Simon and Schuster). Many of the mysteries of the decisions the President has made since taking office become clear in the light this book sheds on one of the most formative persons in Obama’s life. At the invitation of his grandfather, Davis was asked to mentor the adolescent and teenaged Obama during his youth in the 1970s, in Hawaii. Frank Marshall Davis was a member of the Communist Party USA from about 1943 and dedicated to the success of Stalin’s Soviet Union. As Dr. Kengor notes, “He felt a connection to Frank that he painfully concedes he was unable to find in his mother, father, stepfather, grandfather, grandmother, siblings or anyone else who comprised his origins and life journey.” To hide Davis’ true identity, Obama’s memoir, “Dreams from my Father”, refers to him as “Frank” some twenty times by name and as a friend of his family. Dr. Kengor is the author of “Dupes”, a book about the way the Communist Party and its Soviet managers misled Americans, some of whom became secret agents and sympathizers holding positions of power in the FDR, Truman, and Eisenhower administrations. One cannot understand the history of that era without reading “Dupes.” In a similar fashion, one cannot understand Obama without reading his biography of Frank Marshall Davis

All things Greek seems to be a trend this month. I am happy to note that Stephen Greenblatt’s Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning book, The Swerve: How the World Began Modern ($16.95, W.W. Norton, softcover) is now available in a softcover edition. It is the story of the discovery of “On the Nature of Things”, a philosophical epic written circa 50 BC by a Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius and the story as well of Poggio Bracciolini who, in 1417, found the book in a German monastery and made it possible for its views to influence the leaders of the Renaissance and many others including our own Thomas Jefferson. It is a visit to a time seven centuries ago that was, in turn, influenced by the book written five centuries earlier. Anyone who loves history in general and the history of ideas in particular will love this book. Serendipitously, Michael K. Kellogg’s The Greek Search for Wisdom ($28.00, Prometheus Books) has also been published. The philosopher Alfred North Whitehead once said that all of Western philosophy was “but a series of footnotes to Plato.” It is a remarkable story of how the Greek philosophers, poets, dramatists, and historians left their mark on our world as the author looks at ten outstanding examples of Greek wisdom and provides portraits of the men who contributed to it. I recommended Stephen Mitchell’s translation of Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad when it was first published by the Free Press and I am pleased to report that is now available in paperback ($15.99). Tolstoy called it a miracle and Goethe said it astonished him. The story of Achilles and Patroclus, Hector and Priam, has dazzled readers for 2,700 years. Mitchell’s translations of classics from Gilgamesh to the poetry of Rilke are wonders in themselves, selling thousands of copies, and this one is filled with energy and simplicity, grace, and the pulsing rhythms of Homer’s original text.


Iran is very much in the news and has been since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Its declared enemies have been the United States and Israel. At this writing, it very much looks like there will be a military action to thwart its intended objective of acquiring nuclear weapons. As such, we read a lot about the ravings of his leaders, the supreme leader, an ayatollah, and the clownish Mamoud Ahmadinejad, its president. Jamie Maslin, a travel writer, though warned against going to Iran, hitchhiked his way there and, in Iranian Rappers and Persian Porn: A Hitchhiker’s Adventures in the New Iran ($16.95, Skyhorse Publishing, softcover) we learn about the people of Iran who, it turns out, pretty much hate the authoritarian government that holds them in its grip through terror. A Brit, he is warmly welcomed by ordinary Iranians who introduce them to the many ways they defy the regime, where Christian churches are national heritage sites, where alcohol is sold on the black market and, in the process, takes us into an Iran few in the West even know exists. It is a reminder that it is not the Iranian people who are our enemy. It is the fanatical Islamic regime that holds them prisoner in their own nation.

The subject of the scandals that have plagued the Catholic Church has been in the news for many years now and Dr. Angela Senander, an associate professor of theology at Merrimack College in the Archdiocese of Boston, has written Scandal: The Catholic Church and Public Life ($14.95, Liturgical Press, softcover) that Catholics and others will find of great interest. It arrives as the Church will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council in October and a special “Year of Faith” called for by the Pope. And it arrives as the Church in America finds itself in conflict with the Obama administration over aspects of Obamacare that require its institutions to act against its fundamental belief in the sacredness of human life. “From political life to higher education to healthcare,” writes Dr. Senander, “the term ‘scandal’ has often served as a conversation-stopper among Catholics and the larger public. I hope this book will reverse that dynamic—and turn reflection about scandal into a conversation-starter.” The best cure for a problem is to shine light upon it.

For fans of the utterly bizarre, I recommend you pick up a copy of Ripley’s Believe it or Not: Download the Weird ($28.95, Ripley Publishing), ample proof that people are the strangest creatures on Earth. This large format, coffee table book filled with pages that are extravagantly illustrated with photos. There’s one of a 14 year old girl with a tongue that measures three-and-a-half inches (you have to see it to believe it). The pages devoted to parasites from tapeworms to ticks will gross you out and there are too many other strange things that, no doubt, will provide hours of fun. Matt Lamb has authored Dead Strange ($12.99, Zest Books, softcover) that offers “the bizarre truths behind 50 world-famous mysteries.” In a short, entertaining book he looks at everything from the Big Bang theory to the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot to alien abductions and crop circles. This is a fun way to learn about the common myths and claims that people either believe or disbelieve. Lamb comes down on the side of commonsense and facts in every case.

I am the very antithesis of the environmental movement because I concluded long ago it was not about the environment but rather a means to attack our economic system, our use of energy, and an obstacle to growth. That said, Charlotte Gill, the author of Eating Dirt: Deep Forests, Big Timber, and Life with the Tree-Planting Tribe ($16.95, Greystone Books, softcover) has written an interesting story of a woman who has spent twenty years working as a tree-planter. While I disagree with her views on the timber industry, I admire her devotion to trees and to replacing those cut down to meet our need for wood in all its manifestations, not the least of which is shelter. The author is a skilled writer and is passionate about her subject, having planted a million trees. Her story will no doubt please many who share her views.

September is the month youngsters return to school and one of the best books you can give a student age 8 and up is The World Almanac® for Kids 2013 ($13.99, World Almanac Books, softcover). The Almanac chronicles the highlights of 2012 with items about its notable people, places and events, alongside of lots of new, fascinating facts. It is a great homework helper, reference, and is unfailingly entertaining. Every page is a marvel of design, using all manner of art and photography as it runs the gamut of topics that include the world’s nations, technology and computers, energy, animals, music and dance, movies and television. Any young reader with an interest in the world will benefit greatly from this book.

The Subject is Food

Thomas Jefferson, the author of our Declaration of Independence, was a man of many interests and one of them was food. He found American food to be rather bland and, when he was asked by Congress in May 1784 to negotiate with European powers, he choose to live in Paris and, in the process, to amass as much knowledge of French cuisine as possible. He was aided in this by James Hemings, the brother of his slave and lover, Sally Hemings, who joined him and studied under the great chefs of Paris in return for gaining his freedom. The story is told in Thomas Jefferson’s Crème Brulee ($19.95, Quirk Books) and for anyone who loves fine dining and wine, it will prove a real delight. Jefferson found time to study agriculture and winemaking while living in France and when the two men returned, they brought with them champagne, designs for pasta presses, seeds, cheeses, and—yes—crème brulee.

I love barbeque and, if you do as well, you will surely enjoy Bob Devon’s The Complete Wood Pellet Barbeque Cookbook ($17.95, Square One Publishers, softcover), a comprehensive guide filled with tips, tricks, and recipes for wood pellet grill users. Starting with the basics, the book takes one chapter by chapter into topics that include spice blends, marinades, and sauces to maximize the flavors of beef, chicken, pork, fish, turkey, and more. This lifts grilling beyond franks and burgers and opens up a whole world of dining pleasure. From the same publisher comes The Ultimate Allergy-Free Snack Cookbook by sisters Judi and Shari Zucker ($15.95, Square One Publishers, softcover) and it will prove welcome by the more than twelve million people diagnosed with food allergy problems; the majority of whom are children under the age of 18 and, for them, many parents are preparing their own snacks. This duo have been writing cookbooks since they were 17 and this latest contains more than a hundred kid-friendly recipes that will satisfy their love of snacks and provide a healthy alternative.

My late Mother, Rebecca, taught haute cuisine for more than three decades and was an internationally recognized authority on wine. She used to say “You are what you eat.” She read widely about nutrition. She would have enjoyed Dr. William J. Walsh’s new book, Nutrient Power: Heal Your Biochemistry and Heal Your Brain ($29.95, Skyhorse Publishing). It is about a nutrient therapy system that postulates that nutrient imbalances can alter brain levels of key neurotransmitters, disrupt gene expression of proteins and enzymes, and cripple the body’s protection against environmental toxins. These imbalances, says Dr. Walsh, express themselves as behavioral disorders, autism, and even Alzheimer’s disease. If the nutrient deficiency can be identified then a drug-free therapy can be initiated to correct the imbalances. It makes a lot of sense to me and if you are looking for answers to behavioral problems in yourself or others you know, this book may hold the key to solving them.

History of the Wild West

The old West, a relatively brief period at the end of the 1800s and early 1900s, nonetheless exerts a grip on the American imagination as no other period. It has been the subject of countless films and, of course, books. There are historians who focus on the era and, in particular, the colorful, if deadly, train robbers and others.

We can thank the University of North Texas Press for keeping their memory alive. Three new books provide hours of pleasure with The Deadliest Outlaws: The Ketchum Gang and the Wild Bunch by Jeffrey Burton ($24.95, softcover), He Rode with Butch and Sundance: The Story of Harvey ‘Kid Curry’ Logan by Mark T. Smokov ($29.95), and The McLaureys in Tombstone, Arizona: An O.K. Corral Obituary by Paul Lee Johnson ($29.95).

After Tom Ketchum was sentenced to death for attempting to hold up a railway train, his attorneys argued that the penalty was cruel and unusual for such a crime. After the appeal failed he became the first and only thief to be executed for the crime. When hanged in 1901, his head was torn away by the rope as he fell from the gallows. Born near the fringe of the Texas frontier, he was orphaned at age nine and raised by older brothers. He became a ranch hand and trail driver, murdered a man, and fled. After returning he and his brother Sam killed two men in New Mexico and, with two others, the Ketchum gang was born.

Kid Curry has finally received his due as a member of the Wild Bunch led by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He was an ugly piece of work with a violent temper made worse by alcohol, though not the bloodthirsty killer others have claimed. His biographer asserts that Curry planned and carried out the gang’s train robbers and that there is no concrete evidence that Cassidy ever participated. The fate of Tom and Frank McLaury was to be gunned down by the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday at the O.K. corral. Both were exonerated though the shootout would continue to take several more lives in its wake. Individually or all three books offer a picture of what life was like on the frontier.

Children’s Books, the Ideal Gifts

In a world filled with bad news, impressionable children can grow up without a realization that it is filled with many good people. That is why I especially liked Lynea Gillen’s Good People Everywhere ($15.95, Three Pebble Press, a laminated hardcover) beautifully illustrated by Kristina Swarner. In simple language and pictures, it reinforces the understanding that, while bad people may make headlines, good people go about their lives by useful and helpful all around the world. The author has been a school teacher and counselor for more than thirty years. Ideal for those ages 3 and up to about 6 or 7. I heartily recommend it.

One of my favorite publishers of children’s books is Kids Can Press. Its fall catalog is filled with wonderful books to entertain those so young the books can be read to and those who are early readers. Among them is Susan Hood’s The Tooth Mouse, illustrated by Janice Nadeau ($16.95). It is based on the French version of our tooth fairy story in which a mouse leaves money in exchange for their baby teeth. When the old Tooth Mouse announces it is time to name her successor, Sophie wants to be selected, but she must fulfill three tasks to prove she is brave, honest and wise. Toads on Toast by Linda Bailey and illustrated by Colin Jack ($16.95) is a very funny tale of Momma Toad’s efforts to save herself and her babies from ending up on Fox’s frying pan. It is pure fun from beginning to end as she outwits him.

Four Kids Can books present their stories comic book style for kids ages 4 to 8, pre-school to third grade. They are Binky Takes Charge by Ashley Spires; That Spooky Night by Dan Bar-el, illustrated by David Huyck; Luz Makes a Splash by Claudia Devila (all $16.95) and Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas by Melane Watt ($17.95). Each offers a story to capture the imagination of a young reader as well as teach a few useful life lessons. For a dash of reality, there’s poet Marilyn Singer’s A Strange Place to Call Home ($16.99) illustrated by Caldicott medalist Ed Young. Kids love animals and fourteen different ones are described along with the dangerous places that are their habitats. It is a testimony to the incredible diversity of life and its adaptability.

For youngsters in a bilingual family that speaks and reads both English and Spanish, there’s Healthy Foods from A to Z (Comida Sana de la A a la Z) by Stephanie Maze and photos by Renee Comet ($15.95, Moonstone Press) both of whom have many books to their credit. The book features “faces” made from the various fruits and vegetables that offer a great way for a youngster, age 4 to 8, to learn about them. It also includes projects and information for children and their parents. If I had as Many Grandchildren as You by Lori Stewart ($19.95, Palmar Press) is a great gift for grandparents to give to their grandchildren with his lively, warm-hearted verse that offers an optimistic message illustrated by excellent photography. It is written for children looking for some adventuresome fun and for grandparents finding their special role as makers of memories, as it sparks imagination and creativity.

I have long been a fan of the books published by American Girl. Many are based on characters set in a particular era. A new one is Caroline Abbott and the series set in the time of the 1812 war begins appropriately with Meet Caroline growing up two hundred years ago with a story that shows girls how to stay steady and believe in themselves during difficult times. Caroline is nine years old and lives near Lake Ontario in Sackets Harbor, New York. Her father is a shipbuilder, but British soldiers have captured him and her cousin, so she must navigate the challenges of wartime. It is the first of six historical novels written by Kathleen Ernst and there is also an 18-inch Caroline doll. At $6.95 each, this series will intrigue girls age 8 and older.

If there’s a child or children in your life, beyond the love you give, you should also be giving them books that tell them about their world in which they live, its history, and to pass on good values and knowledge.

Novels, Novels, Novels

The torrent of new novels continues and, as often as not, I have to tell authors seeking reviews that I tend to take note of novels from established publishers, large and small, whose livelihood depends on what they offer. Self-published authors are not only up against what they publish, but against countless other self-published authors all seeking reviews.

An auspicious debut is Flesh ($25.95, Black Heron Press) by Vietnam-born Khanh Ha, set at the beginning of the 20th century when Vietnam was still under the control of France. It begins with the beheading of a bandit in front of his wife and two young sons. The oldest son, Tai, embarks on a mission to retrieve his father’s skull and find a suitable burial site. Then to have revenge on the man who betrayed his father’s trust. It is a journey, too, for the reader into a former time of indentured labor, the back streets of Hanoi with its opium dens, and a vast gap between desperate coolies and the lawless rich. Along the way Tai falls in love as the story twists and turns on its way to revenge as the author explores the human psyche. By contrast, Return to Willow Lake: A Lakeshore Chronicles Book is the ninth novel by Susan Wiggs ($24.95, Harlequin) already a bestselling novelist with a large following. It takes the reader to the Catskill town of Avalon on the shores of Willow Lake for a summer of laughter and tears, of old dreams and new possibilities. It reminds us of how important home is. Sonnet Romano seems to have life figured out. Her career at UNESCO is on the rise and she has just won a Hartstone fellowship that will send her to work overseas. Her boyfriend, the campaign manager of her father’s senate race, is happy for her as well. All this comes apart when she learns her mother is unexpectedly expecting and the pregnancy is high risk. At which point Sonnet puts everything on hold to head home. This is a big juicy story of interesting characters and a plot that keeps you turning the pages.

Joanne Harris, the author of “Chocolat” that was made into an Oscar-nominated film, and eleven other bestselling novels, is back with a sequel, Peaches for Father Francis, ($26.95, Viking) that is sure to please the readers of “Chocolat” in which eight years have passed and Vianne is summoned back to the village of Lansquenet where she used to run her chocolate shop. Returning with her daughters, Anouk and Rosette, is seems as if everything and nothing has changed in the small village. The relationships with your one-time best friend, Josephine, is still in an ambiguous with her lover, Roux, and is the mother of a son born just days after Rosette’s birth. Her adversary Father Francis Reynaud still feels persecuted and misunderstood, but the most obvious change has been the arrival of a large number of Moroccans and the tensions this has caused. Harris is a master of exploring such relationships and readers of “Chocolat” will surely enjoy her return to this story after the passage of time. James Phoenix makes his debut with FrameUp ($27.95, Grey Swan Press) as we go along with a private eye, Fenway Burke. Need I say it is set in Boston? It is a classic hardboiled detective novel with a set of memorable characters that includes a huge fellow nicknamed Tiny who runs the city’s largest bookie operation. Toss in a white-bearded lobsterman, and Fenway’s love interest, Megan, a public defender, and you have a story about a kid who’s been framed for murder. Bodies pile up and Fenway discovers he’s up against a violent and talented international hit man. Just staying alive makes this quite an adventure.

Stacks of softcover books keep getting higher every day as new novels arrive. Here is a selection of some of the most recent arrivals.

The Garden of Evening Mists by Malaysian author, Tan Twan Eng, ($15.99, Weinstein Biooks) is the work of a novelists who has already enjoyed much acclaim for his first novel, “The Gift of Rain.” This is an intricate novel about a woman, Teoh Yun Ling, who is retiring from the Supreme Court bench in Kuala Lumpur. Much earlier in her life, she and her sister had been interned in a Japanese slave-labor camp. They had survived the horrors by recalling in exacting detail the exquisite Japanese gardens of Kyoto they had once visited as a family. When she returns to the Cameron Highlands of Malaya, she seeks out Nakamura Aritomo, the exiled former gardener of the Emperor of Japan who has created the only Japanese garden in all of Malaya. She asks his instruction to create a garden in his sister’s memory. Suffice to say there is so much to this novel that it draws the reader into a different era, a different culture, and the interweaving of lives. Jonathan Tropper follows up his breakout novel, “This is Where I Leave You” which was named one of the best of the year by the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and others. Three years later, Tropper has written One Last Thing Before I Go ($26.95, Dutton) whose central character is 44-year-old Drew Silver, a washed-up musician getting by on royalty checks from a long faded hit song. His ex-wife is about to re-marry and his Princeton-bound daughter, Casey, has just informed him that she’s pregnant. When he learns that his heart needs an emergency, life-saving surgery, he makes a very unusual decision to become a better man if it kills him. There’s wit and insight in this story so it was worth the wait for it.

Here is a quick look at a number of softcover novels worth reading. Two are from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing, are Dying to Read by Lorena McCourtney ($14.99), a fast-paced and witty romantic mystery about a private investigator trying to determine who lives at a particular address. When the house happens to contain a dead body, an ordinary investigation gets complicated. Perfectly Ridiculous by Kristin Billerbeck looks at the life of a normal teenage girl and her struggles to fit it and not be “different.” Her overprotective parents don’t make that easy, especially when a free trip to Argentina includes their decision to go along.

The Other Half of Me by Morgan McCarthy ($15.00, Free Press) is a debut novel set in a mysterious Welsh estate of Evendon and a family whose lives draw you in, especially when the father goes missing and an emotional roller coaster ride begins. Jerry B. Jenkins, by contrast, has written more than 175 books including the Left Behind series. In The Breakthrough ($14.99, Tyndale House Publishers) he continues his “11th Precinct” series. Boone Drake, the youngest bureau chief of the Chicago Police Department’s Major Case Squad, must tackle life’s hard decisions, forced to decide from being there for his family and spearheading a human-trafficking sting in China. There are some real moral choices to be made, but he heads to Beijing to find a young boy before he disappears forever. In a summer filled with forest fires, in One Foot in the Black ($14.95, MCM Publishing) Kurt Kamm tells a coming-of-age story of a young forest fire fighter. Fleeing an abusive father, Greg Kowalski joins a firefighting crew only to suffer the loss of his team’s captain, a man who had become a mentor. While the story is fiction, it is a depiction of how wildfires are fought and the dangers they pose. It pulses with the dangers faced and the inner struggles of anger and loss.

It was perhaps inevitable that someone would parody the bestselling “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E.L. James and “Fanny Merkin”, a.k.a. Andrew Shaffer, has done that in Fifty Shames of Earl Grey ($13.99, Da Capo Press). It is the story of innocent and unsuspecting Anna Steal who meets a young, rich CEO named Earl Grey (yes, same as the tea) who sweeps her off her feet. It probably helps if you read James’ book, but it doesn’t matter because Shaffer’s is a madcap piece of fun though, if I may say so, not everyone’s cup of tea.

That’s it for September! Remember to tell your family, friends, and co-workers about Bookviews.com, the one source for many of the best new books that you may well not read about anywhere else. Then come back in October!

By Alan Caruba


My Picks of the Month

There are a number of new books that address major issues that were published last month and they are worthy of your attention.

 The Great Oil Conspiracy ($22.95, Sky Horse Publishing) by Dr. Jerome Corsi, PhD, concisely puts to rest all the manufactured hysteria about oil, documenting that it is not the result of dead dinosaurs and vegetation—so-called fossil fuels—but rather is continuously produced from deep within the Earth. The scientific term is “abiotic” and the book reveals how the U.S. government, following World War II, hid the fact that the German Nazi regime had perfected the way to convert coal to fuel to pursue the war. Thousands of documents describing the “Fischer-Tropsch process” were confiscated and kept from public knowledge. Dr. Corsi debunks the “peak oil” theory that said the world would run out of oil in 1970 and which has been thoroughly disproved by the many discoveries of vast oil reserves since then. Given the vast, untapped reserves of the U.S., the nation could be energy independent if the government would stand aside and open the domestic and offshore fields for exploration and extraction.

Love her or hate her, syndicated conservative columnist, Ann Coulter, already the author of eight bestselling books, is back with Mugged: Racial Demagoguery From the Seventies to Obama ($26.95, Sentinel, in imprint of the Penguin Group), One of the great mysteries of politics for me was the way the Democratic Party morphed into the party defending civil rights while the GOP was cast as the opponents of black and other Americans. It is quite absurd because it was the Republican Party that came into being just before the Civil War and it was for the abolition of slavery. Even after the war, the Democratic Party fought civil rights laws right up to the 1960s. Coulter does her usual superb, well researched and documented job of spelling out the reality of today’s politics and how, leading up to the election of Barack Obama and since, the charge of “racist” is almost exclusively one made by liberal politicians. Indeed, civil rights have been hijacked from black Americans and is now devoted to white feminist, illegal immigrants, and gays. Coulter is never boring, especially when she is challenging things you believe.

The Freedom of Information Act that permits Americans to secure government, i.e. public records, but it is being sorely abused. Congress is still trying to find the truth behind the “Fast and Furious” operation that involved running guns to Mexican drug cartels, so you can imagine the obstacles the present administration is creating for anyone seeking the truth. Christopher C. Horner, a Washington attorney and Senior Fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, has authored The Liberal War on Transparency: Confessions of a Freedom of Information ‘Criminal’ ($27.00, Threshhold Editions, an imprint of Simon and Schuster). He details the stonewalling and the lengths that Obama administration officials have gone to hide what they are doing. It involves an epidemic of the use of private emails, even private desktop computers, and third-party servers used to hide the conduct of public business. This and other means of keeping the public in the dark are revealed. As always, shining light on these dark corners is essential when millions of public funds are at stake and policy decisions threat our freedoms. In a similar fashion Who’s Counting? How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk by John Fund and Hans Von Spakosky ($16.99, Encounter Books) examines voter fraud which can defeat the majority by distorting election outcomes. It took the Supreme Court to determine the winner of the Bush-Gore election and it is an insidious threat to the right of all voters to be secure in the outcome of any election, but particularly the one that will occur on November 6 this year.

My friend, Burt Prelutsky, a popular blogger and former Hollywood writer for many sitcoms, is no friend to liberals and no fan of Barack Obama. His new book, Barack Obama, You’re Fired! And Don’t Bother Asking for a Letter of Recommendation ($19.95, softcover) has a forward by Bernard Goldberg, a regular on Fox TV’s Bill O’Reilly’s show, who said he believes Burt is the reincarnation of Mark Twain as he calls out liberals for their actions and beliefs. Burt is very funny. He has collected his commentaries that reveal the foolishness and chicanery of Obama and his fellow travelers. Noted personalities from Joe Wambaugh and Michael Medved, to Pat Sajak have praised his writings, including the late Andrew Breitbart. You can get your copy at burtprelutsky.com. B.K. Eakman’s Agenda Games: How Today’s High-Stakes Political Combat Works ($17.95, Midnight Whistler Publishers, softcover) takes the reader whose only information about politics comes from the mainstream media and pulls back the curtain on every political “game” in which legislators and candidates engage. She takes the reader, chapter by chapter to discover the way politicians address (or don’t address) issues involving health care, the budget, national security, education and others. Like many of her generation, she had moved from support for an ever-growing government to one that questioned Big Government. Only she devoted herself to uncovering the truth about how politics-as-manipulation had brought so many to this pace. Her book is well worth reading if you keep wondering why you are hearing and reading things that your eyes and common sense says just ain’t so.

Hardly a day goes by when some claim made in the name of science by those opposed to the benefits science provides is not in the headlines. Alex B. Berezow and Hank Campbell have authored Science Left Behind: Feel-Good Fallacies and the Rise of the Anti-Scientific Left ($26.99, Public Affairs) and for anyone trying to sort out the truth from the opposition to vaccines, use of the nation’s vast reserves of coal, oil and natural gas, genetically modified crops that yield more harvest along with other advantages, and, of course, issue involving climate, this is most certainly the book to read. Particularly valuable is their look at the way science journalism has been corrupted. Many of the most important issues for our nation’s future are examined and explained in ways that anyone can understand. Steve Goreman, Executive Director of the Climate Science Coalition of America, has written a very entertaining and informative book, The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Climatism ($22/95, New Lenox Books, softcover) that I would heartily recommend everyone read for the way he exposes the absurd claims made by those who would exploit public fears about global warming or, as it is now called, climate change. With a foreword by Harrison Schmitt, US Senator and former Apollo astronaut, Goreham systematically works through the absurdities behind eliminating incandescent light bulbs, driving electric cars, or using wind power, among others, as an alternative to understanding that the 4.5 billion year old Earth’s climate is not determined by anything mankind does and has everything thing to do with the Sun, the oceans, and elements beyond any possibility of control. An interesting phenomenon of modern life is explored by Giles Slade in The Big Disconnect: The Story of Technology and Loneliness ($19.00, Prometheus Books, softcover). He notes how, through our history, intimacy with machines has often supplanted mutual human connection. In a modern context, the reliance on smart phones act as substitutes for companionship and asks why sixty million Americans report that isolations and loneliness are major sources of unhappiness. I am not sure that he correct in his assertions, but neither do I want to ignore the questions he raises, nor the recommendations he offers.

For those with ambitions to write nonfiction, from memoirs to journalism, but who feel they haven’t adequate training, I recommend they pick up a copy of You Can’t Make This Stuff Up by Lee Gutkind ($16.00, Da Capo Press, softcover), the author and editor of nearly thirty books, founder and editor of Creative Nonfiction magazine. This is a grand tour of creative nonfiction providing challenging writing exercises, analytical reflections on the techniques the best writers use, tips on getting published, and much more. I have been a nonfiction writer my whole life and I can confirm this book will turn you into one as well. Offbeat and entertaining, Francine Brokaw takes one Beyond the Red Carpet: The World of Entertainment Journalists ($11.99, Sourced Media Books, softcover) provides an uncensored view of life as an entertainment journalist with the help of thirty colleagues who share their personal stories and funny anecdotes about celebrity interviews. The author has had a long career interviewing major celebrities over the years and if you aspire to this career, this is the one book you should read.

Reading History, Understanding the Present

If I were told I could only read one genre of books, it would be history. I have learned more about the past, the people who shaped it, the way its errors are often repeated, and why “the past is prologue” to our present times.

Quick! Who was the sixth President of the United States? It was John Quincy Adams, the son of the second President, John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers of the Republic. I have often wondered why he has been overlooked by biographers. Happily Harlow Giles Unger in John Quincy Adams ($27.50, Da Capo Press) has written an extraordinary biography of an extraordinary man who served the new nation is many roles, as the minister to six European nations, a Congressman for sixteen years, and as the sixth President. Returning to the House of Representatives, he was a champion of human rights, led the anti-slavery movement, saved free speech and the right to political dissent in Congress.. He is best remembered for defending the rights of self-liberated slaves from prosecution due to their mutiny aboard the slave ship, the Amistad. In so many ways he was the right man at the right time in the right place. I heartily recommend this book.

Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History by John Fabian Witt ($32.00, Free Press), a Yale law professor explores how slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation helped shape the modern laws of armed conflict. In particular, he reviews the code of 157 rules issued by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and how they became the basis for rules established in the Geneva Conventions and today’s internationally accepted laws of war. This is particularly timely in an era of asymmetrical warfare in the form of Islamic terrorism and the potential acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran, a nation that has declared its intention to destroy Israel and maintained a state of war with the United States since its seizure of our diplomats in 1979. Witt points out that the conduct of war was subjects of great concern to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln, every bit as much as modern presidents. He charts the development of such laws in America from the founding to the cataclysm of the Civil War to the dawn of the modern era.

In 1962, I was discharged from the U.S. Army after having had my service extended as the result of the Cuban Missile Crisis that ended on October 28, 1962 when Krushchev agreed to removed nuclear missiles from that island prison, averting a nuclear war. It is agreed that it was John F. Kennedy’s finest moment in office. What followed is detailed in The Fourteenth Day: JFK and the Aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis by David G. Coleman ($25.95, W.W. Norton) and for those who love history as much as I it is an interesting account of what flowed from that confrontation as the Kennedy administration was greeted initially with acclaim and almost immediately found itself under siege by the media and political opponents. It is a narrative of events in the Oval Office from October 1962 to February 1963 and has the added benefit of being based on JFK’s secret tapes. As he and his advisors walked a thin, dangerous line with the Soviets, he fashioned a response to them that reduced tensions, but drew the line in Berlin, a victim of the Cold War and flashpoint.

As Hispanics have replaced Afro-Americans as a growing minority in the U.S., Danny Quintana presents the Hispanic voices of those who migrated throughout America after World War II from northern New Mexico, southern Colorado, and Old Mexico to America’s cities. Immigrants from Mexico were driven by the same forces as other nationalities, seeking employment, education, and opportunity in the magnet that America became from its earliest years. In Caught in the Middle: Stories of Hispanic Migration and Solutions to America’s Immigration Dilemma ($16.95, The Beckham Publications Group, softcover) Quintana counters the misconceptions about today’s migrants, legal and illegal. It is well worth reading to understand who they were and are, and the dilemma in which they find themselves.

Journeys on the Silk Road: A Desert Explorer, Buddha’s Secret Library, and the Unearthing of the World’s Oldest Printed Book by Joyce Morgan and Conrad Walters ($24.95, Lyons Press) is the story of the discovery of the Diamond Sutra, written in 868 AD, 500 years before the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg. It is the world’s oldest book and is the story of how Aurel Stein, a Hungarian-born scholar and archaeologist employed by the British service, traveled thousands of miles across the Gobi Desert to meet with the Chinese monk to secure the Diamond Sutra, unlocking the story of the famed Silk Route that, for centuries, was traveled by merchants to bring spices and objects from the East to the West. It is a totally fascinating story. Exploration is the theme of The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen by Stephen Brown ($27.50, DaCapo Press), the story of a man who accomplished in two decades when other explorers of his day couldn’t do in a lifetime. He became the first person to reach the four great geographical mysteries of the world—the Northwest and NortheasPassages, along with the North and South Poles. This first full-scale biography tells the story of an intensely private man whose life was fill with sordid affairs, family quarrels, and financial problems arising from borrowing money he did not repay. In the end, he gave his life trying to rescue a rival explorer. The world needs heroes like Amundsen, warts and all.

The third edition of The Handy History Answer Book by David L. Hudson, Jr. has been published ($21.95, Visible Ink Press, softcover) and for anyone who wants to grasp the role of history and its impact on the present, this is the book to own! This concise guide to all things historical is a treasure of information about invention, philosophy, politics, culture, sports, business, law, media and religion. It deserves to be in everyone’s personal library and provides hours of insight and entertainment.

Memoirs

People write memoirs for a variety of reasons, but often to help others who have experienced what they have and to offer their stories by way of encouraging them to overcome and cope.

Believe: My Faith and the Tackle that Changed my Life by Eric LeGrand with Mike Yorkey ($23.99, HarperCollins) is the story of how, on October 16, 2010, LeGrand, a Rutgers defensive tackle was injured by a tackle that left him paralyzed from the neck down. He knew his life would never be the same. He battled his way back to make a new life for himself and has become a hero to men like Tim Tebow and Gov. Chris Christie who lent their support. He has since become an analyst for the Rutgers Football Radio Network. His story is an inspiration to anyone on how to turn a setback into a new life. There’s also a younger reader’s edition. Many women have to undergo mastectomies as the result of cancer and Susan Cumming’s Adventures of a One-Breasted Woman: Reclaiming My Moxie after Cancer ($12.95, Booksmyth Press, softcover) will provide inspiration and entertainment in this memoir of her first six years after treatment for early-stage breast cancer. She was a struggling New York actress when diagnosed, she is now a twenty-year survivor and a gifted writer with a very active funny bone that will prove a tonic for any other woman encountered this in their life. She’s living testimony to the saying “When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.”

Coming soon is Michael Aaron Rockland’s wry memoir of his life as a cultural attaché in the American embassy in Spain. The time is the mid-1960s. In An American Diplomat in Franco Spain ($15.00, Hansen Publishing Group, softcover) Rockland tells of “working to give Spaniards a favorable impression of U.S. culture and to help cultivate democratic forces in Spain, but my job was complicated by the fact that we were cozy with their dictator in order to maintain three nuclear bases during the Cold War with the Soviets.” The memoir is filled with behind-the-scenes stories including a day spent alone with Martin Luther King in Madrid to a search for missing hydrogen bombs, and much more. He recounts how his six years abroad changed him and instilled a life-long love affair with Spain. It is impossible to put down as he tells of the years that were the death-rattle of the Franco regime told in a very entertaining style. He is currently a professor of American studies at Rutgers University and the author of several acclaimed books.

Getting Down to Business Books

As always there is a continuous stream of new books devoted to various aspects of business and finance, all of which are intended to help the reader learn how to achieve success.

Combining public affairs, high finance, and reflections on the 2008 financial crisis, John Allison, former BB&T Corporation chairman and CEO who becomes the CEO of the Cato Institute—a leading DC think tank this month, has written The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure: Why Pure Capitalism is the World Economy’s Only Hope ($28.00, McGraw-Hill). It should be mandatory reading for every member of Congress and the White House. Allison, who was the longest-serving CEO of a top-25 financial institute, spells out why Wall Street was no the cause of the financial mess we’re in, why more regulation of the financial industry is not the answer, and why lower unemployment rates cannot be achieved by more controls on the free market of goods and services. He describes how government incentives to make more mortgage loans blew up the real estate bubble that burst in late 2008. It is an indictment of how Congress misunderstands and completely mismanages the nation’s financial institutions. When you are through reading the remarkable book, you will be a committed capitalist in the finest sense of the word as he spells out what can and must be done to promote a healthy free market. As America went down the socialist road that has ruined the economies of European nations, we have found ourselves on the precipice of collapse. Allison’s book explains how and why we must step back and restore economic growth and stability.

Raising capitol for a new enterprise has always been a challenge and an interesting new book, The Kickstarter Handbook, by Dan Steinberg ($14.95, Quirk Books, softcover) that addresses how “Creators. Innovators. Dreamers. Schemers” can find patronage in the digital age. The author discusses Kickstarter.com, an online platform for the purpose of “crowd funding.” It taps the ability of people to donate money to a project and tells how dozens of artists and inventors have tapped this source of funding and offers advice on how to go about making a good presentation. I enjoy watching the poker tournaments on television so naturally The Shark and the Fish: Applying Poker Strategies to Business Leadership by Charley Swayne ($19.95, ECW Press, softcover) caught my eye. The author discusses things such as how to avoid losing control and going “full-tilt”, a poker phrase for letting negative emotions control one’s actions. Other topics include how to turn losses into lessons, and how to perfect the art of negotiating a deal. For someone just starting out in the business world or seeking the keys to making the right moves in a business, this book is filled with interesting and useful ideas.

New Sales Simplified: The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development by Mike Weinberg ($17.95, Amacom, softcover) is one of the many new books from a publisher that specializes in business books. The author asserts that maintaining a constant flow of buyers is clear and simple, and doesn’t depend on the economy. He advises against waiting for current economic trends to end and to apply the basics of salesmanship and being proactive. Anyone is sales can benefit greatly from this book. Also from Amacom, comes the second edition of The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It’s Too Late by Leigh Branham ($24.95, Amacom). Written by an expert on employee engagement, Branham believes that employee turnover is largely preventable and reveals what really pushes talented, dedicated people out the door. He provides an arsenal of innovative strategies to help business leaders and managers keep the people upon which their company depends. These range from loss of trust in senior leaders to feeling devalued, along with a lack of growth opportunities, stress, and the need for coaching and feedback.

Books for Younger Readers and Teens

Parents these days are so fortunate to have some of the best books in the world to give their children, to encourage learning, and guide them through stages of growth. Of course, it helps if your father, Jeffrey Wilson, is a novelist and you’ve grown up around books and even thinking about writing one of your own. That’s what Connor Wilson has done with A Giant Pencil ($12.95, Magic Dreams Publishing, softcover) and considering the idea occurred when he was eight years old and the book was published when he nine, that probably makes him the nation’s youngest traditionally-published fiction writer. Aimed at readers from 5 through 8 or so, it is an entertaining story about how a young sibling and thoroughly “fussed at” kid learns that the world is a lonely place when no one is “fussing” at you. And sometimes it is for your own good. This book marks a strong beginning for a young writer.

For the youngest readers, ages 6 and up,there’s Night of the White Deer by Jack Bushnell and illustrated by Miguel Co ($16.95, Tanglewood Books). It is a timeless, enchanting story about the appearance of a legendary white deer and a journey into the nighttime sky as a magical deer takes a young boy into the sky through the lights of the aurora and shows him countless other creatures. Was it just a dream or did it really happen? Closer to the Earth is a new addition to “The Kissing Hand” series by Audrey Penn, illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson, as we continue the adventures of Chester Raccoon, begun in 1993 ($16.95, Tanglewood Books.) In Chester the Brave little Chester learns the meaning of bravery and how to overcome his fears with a strategy, Think-Tell-Do. The artwork alone is worth the price, but the story is priceless. Molly, By Golly! The Legend of Molly Williams, America’s First Female Firefighter by Dianne Ochiltree, illustrated by Kathleen Kemly, ($16.95, Calkins Creek/Boyd Mills Press) tells the true story of a wintry day in the early 1800s when New York City’s Fire Company Number 11 is in trouble. A deadly snowstorm is blowing and many of the company’s volunteers are sick. When the fire alarm sounds, who will save the neighborhood? Molly Williams, the company’s cook, that’s who. Readers will learn how fires were fought in early America. Looking and Seeing: Learning to Observe by Carol J. Rosen ($17.00, Bookstand Publishing, softcover) provides photos of animals, insects and flowers by way of teaching the very young how to differentiate between them while learning about them. It will sharpen their ability to spot the differences and appreciate them at the same time. For readers 10 years and older, there’s a historical novel, Precious Bones by Mike Ashley-Hollinger ($16.99, Delecorte Press), a suspense-filled story set in 1949’s rural Florida that has all but vanished. Lori and her father, Nolay, who is part Miccosukee Indian, live on the edge of a swamp and when two men are found dead within two weeks, Nolay is accused. Lore, nicknamed Bones, sets out to investigate what really happened. This is a riveting coming-of-age novel that even adults would enjoy.

I am a great fan of American Girl and the many fine books it publishes for girls of all ages. Years ago I created a media spoof called The Boring Institute and for twenty years it made news with its lists of the most boring celebrities, films and television, so naturally my eye was caught by Bored No More! Quiz Book ($9.95) that is filled with ideas and advice to keep any girl, age 8 and up, so busy she won’t have time to be bored. A great investment for any parent as is Slumber Wonders: Make All Your Slumber Party Dreams Come True ($9.99) filled with advice on planning and throwing eight dream sleepovers, including shopping lists. I Love Art will bring out the artist in every little girl including some colorful stickers. In a similar fashion there’s Picture Yourself Here: Turning your favorite photos into silly scenes using the ideas and punch-outs inside ($12.99).

The teen years can be filled with all manner of fears that can inhibit their enjoyment and two books arrived recently that will be welcomed by parents of youngsters who are shy or just not getting the most of these development years. Both are published by New Harbinger Publications and are written by psychologists who help teens overcome these common problems. Get Out of Your Mind & Into Your Life for Teens ($15.99, Instant Help Books, a division of New Harbinger, softcover) has three authors to offer essential skills to teen readers to help them cope with anxieties and develop emotional intelligence to avoid or move passed unhealthy behaviors and simple self-doubt. It’s about self-acceptance and the lessons that counter some of the attitudes imparted by our culture. The Shyness & Social Anxiety Workbook for Teens ($16.95, Instant Help Books, softcover) by Jennifer Shannon will prove especially helpful for those teens who will learn how to grow more independent and focus on their social development if they suffer from too much social anxiety and shyness. It can provide a real breakthrough. Both books are written and illustrated in ways that connect directly to teen readers and are illustrated with cartoons in which they will see themselves, plus exercises and worksheets to develop their self-confidence.

Novels, Novels, Novels

Sometimes I think everyone wants to write a novel and, these days, anyone can get theirs published. I rarely take note of self-published novels, preferring to rely on those from large to small publishing houses whose livelihood depends on selling what they offer. Here’s a look at a selection from the deluge I receive every month.

The Lighthouse Road by Peter Geye ($23.95, Unbridled Books) addresses the universal themes of family loyalty, the need to be loved, and greed. Geye's novel has been compared with “Snowfalling on Ceders” and “The Shipping News." In his novel he uses the sea as the background, telling a story of Thea Eide, a young Norwegian immigrant who seeks a new life outside Duluth in the 1890s. still shocked to learn that her resident family has fallen apart and that she is adrift. It is an intricate and compelling novel that takes you to another time, but explores challenges common to every generation. Lovers of fantasy will enjoy Steven Erickson’s Forge of Darkness: Book One of the Kharkanas Trilogy ($27.99, Tor) as further proof of this author’s mastery of the genre. Filled with characters, it is an epic table of the fall of he Malazan Empire and involves the forging of a sword unlike any other for use in a devastating civil war, bitter family rivalries, wild magic, and unfettered power. Andrew Britton’s debut novel, “The American” won raves as an accomplished writer of internationally thrillers and he returns with The Operative ($25.00, Kensington) about a secret agent who is finally setting into a peaceful life after more than a decade on the deadly front lines of the war on terror. That is shattered when Ryan Kealey is swept into a merciless terror attack during a charity gala in downtown Baltimore. Dozens are death or injured, including the wife of CIA Deputy Director John Harper who turns to him as the one man with the expertise and freedom from government interference to pursue the perpetrators. He begins to uncover an unimaginable conspiracy and you won’t be able to put this novel down until the last page.

As usual, the bulk of the novels I receive are softcover books, so let’s look at some recent arrivals.

Just in time for Halloween, there’s Laura Levine’s Death of a Neighborhood Witch ($24.00, Kensington) and entertaining story, part of the Jaine Austin mysteries, is set in Beverly Hills where freelance writer and chocoholic, Jaine, battles crime and cellulite. One of her neighbors is Cryptessa Muldoon and when she is murdered, Jaine becomes the cop’s prime suspect. It’s great fun to read and the big question is whether Jaine will make it to Halloween without eating all the candy she’s bought for trick or treaters.

Shades of Orange with Many Greens is subtitled “visions of Paul Cezanne” by Walter E. Thompson ($15.95, Langson Street Press) an art historian and painter in his own right. Drawing on Cezanne’s life, the novel brings to life the erratic and bizarre character of the artists who, for 56 years, withstood intense criticism and constant rejection for the works that now costs millions to purchase. Not until late in his life was he hailed as a great impressionist. Thompson captures his travails the reader is taken to the era and the artist. The Miracle Inspector by Helen Smith ($12.99, Tyger Books) is a literary dystopian thriller set in the near future. England has been partitioned, women are not allowed to work outside the home, the arts are suppressed. A young couple, Lucas and Angela, try to escape London with disastrous consequences. The author has already earned plaudits for her previous novels and will no doubt earn more with this intriguing new one. We’re happy to see Juliette Fay’s new novel, The Shortest Way Home ($15.00, Penguin Books). Sean Doran has spent the last two decades working as a nurse in disaster-stricken countries around the world. When he makes one of his infrequent trips back to his boyhood home in Massachusetts he’s planning to be there for a few weeks at most, but finds the household on the brink of crisis. His Aunt Vivvy who raised him and his siblings after his mother died is showing signs of dementia and his sister Deirdre has moved to New York leaving no one to look after Sean’s 111-year-old nephew, Kevin. He finds himself playing a reluctant parent while falling in love with a woman from his past. Suffice to say there is plenty of drama here.

An interesting novel Aloha, Mozart by Waimea Williams ($18.95, Luminis Books, softcover) tells the story of young girl born into an impoverished Hawaiian family with the gift of a beautiful voice who rise in the world of European opera, attracting the attention of powerful men. In 1968, in Salzburg, Austria, she must confront the Nazi heart of the classical music scene in which she finds herself and, on the evening of her brilliant premiere with Soviet tanks threatening to invade the city, she must choose between recognition and the world stage or leave the city with her life and her conscience intact. Music lovers in particular will enjoy this one. In Gone to the Forest by Katie Kitamura ($15.00, Free Press) tells the story of a fiercely beautiful colonial country teetering on he brink of civil war. The novel is a gripping, psychologically intense story about the destruction of a family, a farm, and a country. The nation is not identified but embodies a bit of Kenya, Argentina, India and Zimbabwe. The author’s debut novel in 2009, “The Longshot”, won raves and this one is likely to do the same.

That’s it for October. Come back next month for a look at the best in non-fiction and fiction that may be overlooked elsewhere. And tell your book-loving friends, family and coworkers about Bookviews.com!

By Alan Caruba


Fast Food Vindicationby Lisa Tillinger Johansen, MS, RD, a registered dietician, ($11.98, J, Murray Press, softcover) dispels the widespread belief that Americans are getting fat because of the fast-food outlets throughout the nation. In a clear, easy-to-understand text she offers the reasons why there is an epidemic of obesity in Americaand, indeed, in many other nations. People are just eating too much, not getting enough exercise, and snack too often. She notes that sit-down restaurants, more often than not, offer too much food on the plate and fill up the bread tray, thus providing more food than you need to eat at a sitting, as opposed to fast-food outlets that now commonly offer alternatives to a juicy, delicious hamburger or other food choice. And it comes down to choices and moderation. One thing is for sure, it is not the government’s job to intervene in what your child eats in school or what you eat. That’s your job. How people arrive at their beliefs in all manner of things, true or not, is the subject of Second That Emotion: How Decisions, Trends, and Movements are Shaped by Jeremy D. Holden ($25.00, Prometheus Books) an advertising and communications professional knows a lot about how to influence people’s opinions and he has written a lively, interesting book about the way people form those opinions. Contrary to the view that we arrive at our opinions via slick Madison Avenue and other “spin”, Holden shows that while advertising and propaganda can provide a spark and social media can provide the kindling, individuals create consumer, political, and cultural trends based, more often than not, on thought processes that they know logically are flawed. This is a book about the decision-making process and how our passion for an idea, a politician, or a brand is often emotion-based and fuels our support for movements of all kinds. For writers who take their work seriously, Constance Hall has written Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooth: Let Verbs Power Your Writing ($26.95, W.W. Norton) and it will greatly enhance anything you write as she takes the reader through contemporary and classic examples to demonstrate how to overcome some of the “rules” we carry around in our head about what works and what doesn’t.



No doubt, the many fans of Bruce Springsteen will welcome news of the first biography in 25 years to be written with the full cooperation of Springsteen. Peter Ames Carlin has written Bruce ($28.00, Touchstone, an imprint of Simon and Schuster) and was granted unprecedented access to the artists, his family, friends, and bandmates, past and present, including Clarence Clemons’ final interview before his passing. It does justice to his more than four decades of a remarkable career that has yielded twenty Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award along with more than 120 million albums sold. It is a revealing account of an American music icon who overcame an unhappy childhood that included a mentally ill father who suffered from depression. It’s all here in a hefty book that is just short of 500 pages. Carlin has authored other such biographies including the Beach Boys and Paul McCartney. 



















No More Pointless Meetings by Martin Murphy (17.95, Amacom, softcover) takes a harsh, but accurate view of the way so many meetings fail to accomplish their goal of effective and productive collaboration. It doesn’t have to be that way says the author who presents an alternative he calls workflow management—how to get more done in less time and with much less grumbling for participants. Over the years I have seen any number of books on this topic and Murphy’s book offers a very comprehensive guide for managers to identify information gaps and use workflow sessions to create value for the entire organization. Murphy is the founder and president of Quantum Meetings, a management education consultancy whose clients includes some of biggest corporate names as well as nonprofits. If this is a problem within your organization, you should get a copy of this book.



Here are some new books for kids age 4 through 7 years. In no particular order, there’s Steve Light’s Zephyr Takes Flight, a picture book about an airplane-loving little girl that teaches important lessons about imagination, friendship and family ($16.99, Candlewick). Zephyr wants to fly and she has a secret door in her room that leads to a place full of flying machines where she a little pig named Rumbus share all kinds of adventures. The author has written and illustrated many children’s books. Nightime Ninja by Barbara DaCosta, is mostly one of artwork by Ed Young, a Caldecott Medalist, ($16.99, Little Brown and Company) in which a pint-size ninja climbs and clambers around the house taking thevery young to hot springs, salt flats, oil ponds and other extreme

By Alan Caruba

By Alan Caruba

 

Military historian and retired U.S. Marine, Dick Camp, the author of a slew of books, has written Shadow Warriors: The Untold Stories of American Special Operations During WWII ($30.00, Zenith Press) which, despite the nearly seven decades that have passed, still have the capacity to amaze. It is the story of the top-secret exploits of the brilliant, courageous, and previously unacknowledged heroes. Only in recent years have their exploits been declassified and Camp provides an action-packed narrative of units that composed the special forces, laying the groundwork for many of our present-day units such as the SEALS and others. Camp’s book addresses both the European and Pacific theaters which required elaborate spy networks, covert parachutists, amphibious raids, and, yes, even the occasional catastrophic mission failure.

By Alan Caruba

By Alan Caruba
























Another tale is sure to become a favorite among the young set is The Christmas Tree Elf ($19.95, hardcover, $9.95 ebook, Valentine Sheldon Co.)by Valentine D’Arcy Sheldon and beautifully illustrated by Jeremiah Humphries. It tells a story about Mrs. Claus who always wanted a Christmas tree to decorate and Santa brings one home. They love the tree but become so busy preparing for Christmas that it is not until Christmas Eve that they realize they have not watered it. A Mysterious elf shows up to save the tree and teach them that all living things need care and attention. This book has garnered many excellent reviews and recommendations. You can add mine.

By Alan Caruba
Founding Member, National Book Critics Circle

My Picks of the Month

As the European Union totters on collapse as several member nations face default and as the U.S. fails to address and solve its own financial problems, perhaps the one book you need to read to understand what is happening now, in the past, and in the near future is James Rickards Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis ($26.95, Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin) that explains in an easily understood fashion what U.S. policy makers have done or failed to do to protect the integrity and value of the U.S. dollar, the nation’s economy, and its natural security, All three are interlinked. Rickards tells of previous currency wars, their causes and outcomes, identifying the present situation as the third such war. He discusses how, when this war is over, the global balance of economic power may look very different and America’s role on the world stage could be dramatically reduced. The failure of the so-called Super Committee to agree on spending cuts and the possibility of sequestration or automatic cuts are part of this larger picture. At present, the annual Gross Domestic Product, the value of the sale of all goods and services, is approximately $14 trillion. The national debt is now $15 trillion and growing. You don’t have to be a math genius to see where this is going.

It’s not going to leap onto any bestseller list but it surely deserves to be widely read. It’s Regulators Gone Wild: How the EPA is Ruining American Industry by Rich Trzupek ($23.95, Encounter Books). A chemist and principal consultant at Mostardi Platt Environmental, he has been an environmental consultant for twenty-five years for several Fortune 500 companies. Trzupek brings a wealth of scientific knowledge and his experience to focus on something many people suspect, but lack the time to explore. The Environmental Protection Agency, established in 1970, has long since strayed from its original purpose to ensure clean air and water, becoming a rogue agency more concerned with aggressive regulation of all aspects of our lives, but in particular all business and industrial activity, large and small. The result is jobs lost because of decisions not to start or expand a business, or to conduct it offshore. For years now the EPA has been waging a war against access to and the use of all the facets of energy Americans need and use. This is a surprisingly short book for such a big topic, but the author covers all the bases and the examples he cites are chilling. I strongly recommend this excellent expose of a government agency run amuck.

These are election times as the merits of the GOP candidates are being evaluated and we are now beginning to look back at the previous administration with some perspective. A softcover edition of Decision Points by former President George W. Bush ($18.00, Broadway) is now available and provides his story of his life and the reasons he made the decisions he did during two terms leading the nation; the first involving the 9/11 attacked that changed our lives in its wake. The President comes across as a man with a deep religious faith, but also uniquely prepared for the job as the son of a former President, a pilot in the Reserves, a businessman, and as Governor of Texas. He comes across as honest, doing the best he could, and pretty much what we all saw at the time. Mitt Romney is a GOP candidate that many want to know better and R.B. Scott has authored Mitt Romney: An Inside Look at the Man and His Politics ($16.95, Lyons Press, softcover) that answers many of the questions in voter’s minds. It is the first independent, unauthorized biographical profile and draws on research from two decades, including interviews with people who know him well, allies and adversaries alike. The book also looks at the Mormon Church and its march toward the religious mainstream. If you’re still trying to make up your mind, you will be aided by this book.

December is the month when book lovers look for interesting gifts and anyone who loves elephants—and I do—I recommend An Elephant’s Life: An Intimate Portrait from Africa by Caitlin O’Connell ($29.95, Globe Pequot Press) which is filled with her photos of elephants being elephants in glorious color. The author is a leading field biologist who has immersed herself in a study of elephant society for nearly two decades. Her narration of the photos is kept to a minimum so that the pictures speak for themselves, but it is also invaluable for the understanding and insight it provides. This is photojournalism and nature documentary at its best. It is an intimate portrait. A totally different, but hearty, recommendation is for Insidethe Jewish Bakery by Stanley Ginsberg and Norman Berg ($24.95, Camino Books, Philadelphia, PA) subtitled “Recipes and Memories from the Golden Age of Jewish Baking.” There are few joys to rival fresh-baked breads, bagels, and other taste treats. The Ashkenazi Jewry from Eastern Europe brought with them baking traditions that went back centuries, as did the Sephardic or Mediterranean Jews. This book is more than a collection of recipes and because so much of Jewish cuisine has become part of the American dining scene, you don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy this book. But it helps! The authors recall their youth in Brooklyn and the Bronx, large Jewish enclaves even today. The recipes are based on professional formulas, but adapted for home kitchens. The book is enhanced by many color photos of a range of breads, pastries, cookies and cakes. It’s a great Hanukkah or Christmas gift.

I love big, fat books filled with useful information and was greatly impressed when I received African American Almanac: 400 Years of Triumph, Courage and Excellence by Lean’tin L. Bracks ($22.95, Visible Ink Press, Canton, MI, softcover). It has biographies of more than 750 influential figures, is filled with little known or misunderstood historical facts, enlightening essays on significant legislation and movements that explore the past, the progress, and current conditions of African Americans. As a true almanac, it covers the civil rights movement, African American literature, art and music, as well as religion, advances in science and medicine, theatre, film and television. It is a tremendous value for the vast amount of information it provides.

One of the most common questions I receive comes from writers who want to know if I can recommend a literary agent or a publisher for their book. The best answer I have is to pick up a copy of Jeff Herman’s encyclopedic 2012 Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents ($29.99, Sourcebooks, softcover). It is an extraordinary compilation of data about the many publishing houses that exist, what their preferences are, who their personnel are, and everything else you need to know. The same applies to the section on agents and to independent editors who can assist a writer. The guide even includes a section on the future of book publishing in regard to the ever-changing technology as well as resources for writers, websites and a glossary for those new to the process of finding the people that can transform a manuscript into a finished book. Herman has a track record of representing bestselling authors and this guide will prove a worthy investment.

Memoirs, Biographies & Autobiographies

Kurt Vonnegut whose novels like “Slaughterhouse Five”, “Cat’s Cradle”, and “Breakfast of Champions” became iconic markers of the twentieth century. Generally speaking, the man, himself, was not well known. His life was a series of tragedies that include his mother’s suicide, being a prisoner during World War II, the loss of a sister to cancer. One suspects he survived because he distilled it in his novels and leavened it with his unique sense of humor. Fans will welcome Charles J. Shields’ And So It Goes—Kurt Vonnegut: A Life ($30.00, Henry Holt and Company). It is an authorized biography, the result of five year’s research, hundreds of interviews, and more than 1,500 letters. Just out in November, it has been greeted with praise, hailed as “triumphant” and “definitive”, the best praise may be that it is very entertaining.

The passing of Apple’s Steve Jobs evoked worldwide notice. George Beahm just had his book, I, Steve: Steve Jobs in his Own Words ($10.95, Agate Publishing, softcover) published. It is a collection of Job’s quotations a vast array of topics, from anxiety to zen. Nor is this a fat compendium of lengthy statements, but rather a selection of short takes, often no more than a single sentence, so the 200 quotes actually fit in the palm of your hand. They capture his thoughts, ideas, and opinions on business, technology, culture, and life. Just as we look back at the genius of Edison in his era of innovation and invention, future generations will do the same for Jobs.

The story of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomatic envoy who risked his life to save the lives of more than 100,000 Jewish men, women, and children during World War II. Alex Kershaw tells that story in The Envoy ($16.00, Da Capo Press, softcover) recounts the final winter of the war and the extraordinary story of how Wallenberg used “safe passage” passes and secret “safe houses” throughout Budapest, using material gleaned from international archives as well as interviews with eyewitnesses, survivors and relatives of those whom he saved. The Talmud says that he who saves a single life, save the entire world. Wallenberg’s fate remains unknown, but his story lives on. Fast forward and Anna Badkhen offers a memoir of Afghanistan and Iraq from the point of view of a war reporter in Peace Meals: Candy-Wrapped Kalashnikovs and Other War Stories ($15.00, Free Press, softcover). It is an unsparing and intimate history of the last decade’s most vicious conflicts, bringing the human elements to life along with the dehumanizing realities of war, the people, the compassion they scraped from catastrophe, and the food they ate to survive. It is a very different view of the conflict that reflects the culture that has declared jihad against the West.

Manny Pacquiao, who many consider the best boxer of our times, has his life told in Pacman by Gary Andrew Poole ($15.00, Da Capo Press, softcover) that takes one behind-the scenes in this first major biography. More than a superb athlete, Pacquiao is a cultural icon known as much for his philanthropy to his country. He has been elected a congressman in his native Philippines, using his position to fight the severe poverty from which he came. Many predict he will one day be the president of that nation. In a classic rags to riches story, fans of boxing in particular will greatly enjoy this biography. From the music scene, fans of the group, Black Sabbeth, will enjoy Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbeth, a memoir by Tony Iommi ($26.00, Da Capo Press) that recounts how his band emerged around 1968 to break through the folksy songs of the hippie subculture to address war, famine, and political corruption, shocking and angering people with a new genre that would be known as heavy metal. As their lead guitarist he recounts how an accident sliced off the tips of the two middle fingers on his right hand, affecting the way he played, producing the deeper, more powerful musical tones for which the band became famous. He recounts his drug and alcohol abuse, marital discord, and the constant management problems that included exists by band members, the most famous of which was Ozzy Osbourne.

Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski recount the surprising story between a busy ad executive and a hungry little boy, Maurice Maczyk, who she encountered one day on a Manhattan street corner. An Invisible Thread ($25.00, Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster) tells the story of how something about the boy touched her heart “as if we were bound by some invisible, unbreakable thread.” The boy, born to an abusive father and drug-addicted mother, living in welfare hotels with his knife-weilding grandmother, had all the odds stacked against him, but he had a special spirit and what began as a simple lunch shared between strangers became a weekly ritual and life-changing friendship. Ron Franscell’s The Sourtoe Cocktail Club, ($18.95, Globe Pequot Press, softcover) is subtitled “The Yukon odyssey of a father and son in search of a mummified human toe…and everything else.” A lifelong journalist, the author grew up in Wyoming. He has witnessed and written about the evolution of the American West, the first months of the Afghan war and the devastation of Hurricane Rita. The author of many books, this one is an account of a road trip with his son where they drank a cocktail containing a mummified human toe and spent the longest day of the year under an Arctic sun than never set. Quite simply, he is an extraordinary writer and the memoir can be read for the pleasure of his prose. Anyone who has ever owned a horse will identify with and thoroughly enjoy Jana Harris’s Horses Never Lie About Love ($24.00, Free Press). When she and her husband moved to Washington State, she wanted to fulfill her dream of starting a horse farm. On a visit to a ranch where horses had been corralled for sale, she fell in love with a handsome mare and her foal, a black colt. When they were delivered three months later, however, she was unrecognizable, having survived a range five that had scarred her head and ears, and damaged her lungs. Could this now half wild horse be gentled? Harris’s book is a heartwarming story of the bonds between those who love horses and the horses who love them back.

Memoirs can also be painful while being cathartic. Betrayal and the Beast by Peter S. Pelullo is subtitled “a true story of one man’s journey through childhood sexual abuse, sexual addition, and recovery” ($15.95, Only Serenity LLC) Pellulo focuses on his corporate life in the music industry where he gained recognition for recording acts like the Rolling stones, Foreigner, and Stevie Wonder. He was active as well in the telecom industry, the Internet, and the financial world, but despite success in these fields, he could not overcome the scars of the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of two older neighborhood kids in the 1950s. This book points up, as Pelullo notes, that it is estimated that one in three girls and one in four boys experience sexual abuse before the age of 18. In his case, it led to a hidden life of sexual promiscuity and pain he sought to dull with prescription drugs, alcohol, and work. He had no one he considered a close friend. This book tells of his journey to recovery which he shares to give other victims like himself hope they too can recover.

Reading History

My understanding of the present and concerns about the future are informed by a life spent reading history. It never fails to fascinate me.

A brilliant new book about the history of Christianity is Rodney Stark’s The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World’s Largest Religion ($27.99, HarperOne). From an obscure Jewish sect whose teacher was executed by the Romans, the story of Christianity is quite extraordinary one. Stark previously authored “The Rise of Christianity”, but this new book carries history forward from its origins to the conquest of Roman society. His new book applies his considerable intellect to the last two thousand years, often challenging the conventional interpretations of many major events in the Christian narrative. He argues that Constantine’s conversion did the Church a great deal of harm and notes that the majority of converts to early Christianity were women. Some books on religion engage the reader in ways that either strengthen or decrease their faith, but this is a book of history and, as such, it is filled with insights that depart from much that is taken for granted by the faithful. Most surely, Stark’s belief that religion must disappear to allow for a more secular world, confident of its own achievements, is provocative, but he also explains why faith remains vigorous almost everywhere around the world and why Christianity continues to play an important role.

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to have lived in an earlier century? If so, you are in for a treat when you read The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century by Ian Mortimer ($15.00, Touchstone Books, a division of Simon and Schuster, softcover. “Imagine yourself in a dusty London street on a medieval summer morning. A servant opens an upstairs shutter and starts beating a blanket. A dog guarding a traveler’s packhorses starts barking. Nearby traders call out from their market stalls…and you, in the middle of all this, where are you going to stay tonight? What are you wearing? What are you going to eat?” Instead of stories about jousts and chivalry, Mortimer brings to life, the daily sights, sounds, smells and tastes of England in the Middle Ages, hundreds of years before electricity, indoor plumbing, and modern medicine. This is history experienced in ways most other books do not convey.

The American Revolution tends to be taught in fairly sterile terms of battles and books about the leaders, but it was fought by real people and experienced by others that by Noel Rae ($30.00, Lyons Press) whose thoughts and experiences were captured in diaries, letters, memoirs, newspapers and other sources of the time has been captured in a great read, The People’s War: Original Voices of the American Revolution. To gain insight to what it meant to live through that long, tumultuous period, this book is the one to read. We are familiar with George Washington and his colleagues, but here we are introduced to a farm boy who ran away to sea at age twelve, a pretty young widow roughed up by Tory ruffians, and a slave who escaped to the British after witnessing his mother being flogged. Not everyone favored the Revolution in much the same way we differ among ourselves over today’s conflicts. This is history at its most entertaining and authoritive, as told by witnesses to the events.

Much of history is about wars and two define much about America. Grant’s Final Victory: Ulysses S. Grant’s Heroic Last Year recounts the last year of the military genius brought the Civil War to an end and served as President. Charles Bracelen Flood goes beyond Grant’s memoirs, written in his final days, beset by terminal cancer and cheated of his wealth by a business partner. They were his effort to save his family from destitution and, finished just four days before his death, became a bestseller. Flood paints a picture of a man devoted to his family. His determination, love of family and nation, is captured in this biography. Pearl Harbor Christmas: A World at War, December 1941 by Stanley Weintraub ($24.00, Da Capo Press) recalls the days that followed December 7, 1941 that brought the U.S. into the World War that had been raging in Europe and Asia while Americans resisted being drawn into it. The Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor altered history forever. An award-winning historian, author and co-author of more than fifty books, Weintraub describes how Churchill, at great risk, traveled to the U.S. to meet with Roosevelt to set in motion the events of WWII. He arrived on December 22. The book captures the unique feeling of a nation on the brink of war and provides the an insight to the strategic planning of the two most respected politicians of the 20th century. Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 by Ian W. Toll ($35.00, W.W. Norton) chronicles the first two years the followed the attack on Pearl Harbor that claimed 2,500 lives and dealt a blow to U.S. naval power, locking American and Japan in a titanic struggle for control of the Pacific ocean, a struggle that became the largest naval war in history. It tells of the panic, triumph, and sacrifice of the early months of the epic contest and the admirals, political leaders, sailors and pilots on both sides of the conflict. From Pearl Harbor to the Battle of Midway, the collapse of the Japanese Empire was set in motion. Little wonder this aspect of the war holds our interest to this day. This book is a gripping story that anyone who loves history will devour despite its length or because of it.

Some years just stand out in our nation’s history, 1776, 1864, 1941 and 1968. The last is the subject of a book, The 1968 Project: A Nation Coming of Age by the staff of the Minnesota Historical Society ($24.95, Minnesota Historical Society Press, softcover) does a terrific job with texts and photos catching the highs and lows of a year that was unique culturally, politically, and in so many other ways. 1968 saw the assassination of both Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy. It was the year of the Democratic Party national convention in Chicago with its epic battles with protests in Lincoln and Grant parks. Hubert Humphrey was the Democratic nominee. Richard M. Nixon was the GOP choice and, in November, he was the winner. There were more than 549,000 troops in Vietnam; 17,000 had been killed in combat that year. For a sense of a turning point that influenced much of what has since followed, this is an excellent book to read.

For the younger reader there is perhaps nothing more inspiring than to read the lives of men and women who, as Sandra McLoed Humphrey puts it, “made a difference.” They may learn about such people on television or from movies, but nothing is quite so intimate than to hold a book in one’s hands and to read about them. That’s why I would recommend They Stood Alone! 25 Men and Women Who Make a Difference ($14.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) by Ms. Humphrey who takes the reader on a tour in which she says, “heroes are ordinary people who accomplish extraordinary things…” From DaVinci and Newton to Curie and Einstein, from Gandhi to Neil Armstrong and Rosa Parks, this is a gift that should be under the tree or near the menorah as it celebrates vision and courage.

Advice, Advice, Advice

In the world of books there is no end to advice on every single aspect of life. One of the most challenging is how to find a mate and then how to fashion a successful marriage. It’s not easy but Bari Lyman has written Meet to Marry: A Dating Revelation for the Marriage Minded ($14.95, Health Communications, softcover). Lyman has coached hundreds of singles as a modern-day marriage-broker and her book helps the single reader to find their way to lasting love. She teaches how to recognize one’s own blind spots and to change the way one thinks when mind-sets hinder relationships. One must first be able to live in harmony with oneself while being visible to one’s partner. She offers a three-step program—Assess, Attract and Act. I think this book will help a lot of singles avoid the pitfalls and take the right steps. Then there’s the question, “What does your husband—whom you still love—do that drives you nuts?” It was a question that Jenna McCarthy posted on her Facebook page and out of it came If It Was Easy, They’d Call the Whole Damn Thing a Honeymoon: Living with and loving the TV-Addicted, Sex-Obsessed, Not-So-Handy Man You Married ($15.00, Berkley Publishing, softcover). McCarthy is happily married and the mother of two daughters. She is also the author of five books and a very funny writer who brings laughter and clarity it to this subject. Women will identify with what she deems male idiocy, but she also dishes some straight talk to the girls as they navigate through marriage.

A very different approach is found in Draw Close ($19.99, Revell) written for Christian couples by Willard F Hartley, Jr. and his wife, Joyce. They share their insights for growing a strong marriage with a devotional because they believe one must draw close to God as well as each other. They must be doing something right. They have been married 48 years! The book addresses a variety of topics that every couple faces in marriage ranging from love to time issues, honesty, harmful habits, selfish demands, criticism, respect, parenting, and so much more. If one’s marriage includes a mouthy, moody teenager, I have just the book for you. It’s Dr. Kevin Leman’s Have a New Teenager by Friday ($17.99. Revell) in which this family expert and author of more than forty books reveals how to deal with the most familiar bad attitudes of teenagers with advice that really works; how to gain respect, establish healthy boundaries, communicate effectively, turn selfish behavior around, and be the influence for the better person you want your teenager to be. Two other Revell books to check out are A Confident Heart: How to Stop Doubting Yourself & Live in the Security of God’s Promises by Renee Swope ($13.99, softcover) and Walk Strong, Look Up by Chantel Hobbs ($13.99, softcover) the author of “Never Say Diet” who is back with a book on the healthful benefits of walking to transform your physical, mental, and spiritual outlook. It is filled with practical advice.

Stephen R. Covey gained fame with his book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” which sold 20 million copies and he is back now with The 3rd Alternative: Solving Life’s Most Difficult Problems ($28.00, Free Press) which looks at the traditional way of conflict resolution—my way or your way. He offers a third way in which the parties engaged in “creative dialogue” and temporarily suspend their entrenched positions. This is not exactly a big breakthrough, unless you’re one of those people who believe in “my way or the highway” and then maybe you need to read this book! Most of life involves a degree of flexibility and compromise and that is what Covey’s new book addresses.

Last Laughs: A Pocketful of Wry for the Aging seems an appropriate way to close out this discussion of advice books ($14.95, Two Harbors Press). Actually, Everett Mattlin serves up a collection of essays that skip all the usual feel-good chatter about growing old and gets right to all its most annoying aspects. His advice is to get lazy and be lazy in your “golden years” because as he says, there is nothing wrong with spending your time wallowing in all the wonderfully clichés of old age, a comfy rocking chair, old movies on TCM, your favorite libation, and just remember the good old days. It works for me!

Getting Down to Business

Ronn Torossian has built a reputation for himself and for his public relations firm, 5W Public Relations, over the years as being among the top practitioners of PR that benefits his clients in New York, Los Angeles, and points in between as one of Inc Magazine’s list of the top 500 entrepreneurial firms. So what should a successful PR professional do at this point in his career? Write a book of course. For immediate Release, written with Karen Kelly ($24.95, Benbella Books, Dallas, TX) is testimony to the triumphs and pitfalls of public relations. It is filled with good advice based on real world case histories of what works and what doesn’t. Over my 40+ years as a public relations counselor I can attest to the many ways this book can help everyone from the CEO of a giant corporation to a start-up new business. Much of what we read or hear in the media is directly related to the information provided by PR practitioners as they seek to help their clients and, indeed, federal and state governments engage in massive amounts of PR to advance their agendas and policies, so it isn’t just private enterprise. Non-profits, too, use PR for their causes. This is one of the best books on PR that I have read in years.

Getting new business and then servicing it are the subjects of two softcover books of interest. Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Social Media Marketing by Neal Schaffer ($21.95, Windmill Networking) While most who sign up on Linkedin for the purpose of getting a job, Schaffer explores the network’s potency in connecting sales and marketing forces and backs it up with 15 business owners and professional’s case histories. The book shows how to create a sales-oriented profile and connections policy to attract more leaders. He recommends becoming an industry thought leaders by establishing your own community within the LinkedIn demographic. The networking website clearly offers many such opportunities and this book shows you how to get the maximum value from it. Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service is now in its fifth edition ($18.95, Amacom), testimony to its advice on how customers both shop and relate their experience. Readers will benefit from its new tips, tools, and techniques to impress and retain customers, on problem-solving, working with generational and cultural differences and even how to handle the “customer from hell.” For the start-up or the old pro, this book has proven itself over and over again.

When Life Strikes: Weathering Financial Storms by Cal Brown ($24.95, Brown Books Publishing Group, Dallas, TX) takes a look at the many different problems that life throws in our path, examining questions that include what if “I lost my spouse?”, “I lost my career?”, “I lost my investments?”, along with similar questions regarding marriage, the loss of parents, stolen identity, the loss of health and even one’s mind! The author is a financial planner and brings his experience to bear on these common situations. The book is filled with excellent advice on how to prepare for these problems, looking ahead for the sale of one’s spouse, children, and personal future. Put this one on your “must read” list. In Affluence Intelligence: Earn More, Worry less, and Live a Happy and Balanced Life ($25.00, Da Capo Press) authors Stephen Goldbart, PhD, and Joan Indursky Difuria, MFT, join to discuss what constitutes a fulfilling, financially secure life in which you work at what you love, have satisfying relationships, and life a life that has meaning and purpose. We often do not address these questions until too much time has passed by, so a book like this allows you to begin to focus well before it’s too late.

A rather specialized book is Andrew J. Sherman’s Harvesting Intangible Assets: Uncovering Hidden Revenue in Your Company’s Intellectual Property ($29.95, Amacom). The author says that most companies allocate little structured attention to cultivating the resource of their intellectual property; companies that do include Google, IBM, Amazon, and others. Based on his work with some of the world’s most innovative and successful companies, Sherman presents systematic methods for managing, measuring, maximizing, and protecting these assets in an information-centric, innovation-driven world.

Exile onWall Street: One Analyst’s Fight to Save the Big Banks from Themselves ($29.95, Wiley) by Mike Mayo could not be more timely in light of the events of 2008 and the “Occupy Wall Street” attack on the nation’s banking system. The author is an award-winning Wall Street analyst, Mayo writes about the biggest issue of our time, the role of finance and banks in America. In doing so, he lays out the truth about practices that have diminished capitalism and tarnished the banking sector. He brings to bear his experience working at six Wall Street firms, analyzing banks and protesting against bad practices for two decades. In doing so, he blows the lid off the true inner workings of the big banks. This book deserves not only to be read, but to be a template for correcting the ills and misfortunes of today’s banking community.

Children’s & Young Adult Books

I am one of those people that thinks that, under the Christmas tree, there should be books as well as toys. A child can always return to a favorite book for some quiet time and usually benefit from its story.

There’s Hanukkah, too. The Jewish festival of lights and one of the most entertaining and charming stories with that holiday theme is The Story of Hanukkah Howie, written by Jan Dalrymple and illustrated by her husband, Bob Dalrymple ($18.00, Peanut Buttler Publishing, Seattle, WA) in which a toddler awakes one day with a spike of hair on the top of his head and one by his ear. This is followed by more such spikes of hair and always as Hanukkah is close at hand. It is an amusing tale of how Howie tries to cope with this strange phenomenon as he grows older until a youngster points out that his hair resembles of menorah with nine candles. If there’s a Jewish youngster around 6 to 9 or so that you know, this would make a great gift. Parents can read the story to those of pre-school age.

For the very young there are books that are indestructible, made with thick cardboard pages and covers, but wonderfully illustrated. Parents can develop a love for books by giving them as a gift and reading from them at bedtime. One example is A Bedtime Kiss for Chester Raccoon by Audrey Penn and illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson ($7.95, Tanglewood Publishing, Terra Haute, IN). As a beam of sun makes the rounds of his nest, young Chester’s imagination gets the best of him as various creatures are conjured up and sleep is slow to arrive. From the same publisher there’s Wild Rose’s Weaving by Ginger Churchill and illustrated by Nicole Wong ($15.95) for the early reader, 5 to 7, about a little girl whose grandmother wants to teach her how to weave, but she wants to play outside and enjoy nature. When she returns home, there’s a rug that’s been woven that has all the colors and shapes of nature and Rose decides she too wants to learn how to weave. Jabberwocky Books has published a book specifically for the pre-teen who suffers from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and there’s an estimated one in one hundred that do. Stuck by Rhonda Martin, M.A., ($15.77) and illustrated by Denis Proulx is about a seven year-old girl who gets “stuck” on things like cleaning her hands, the use of words, and even saying goodbye to her parents. The book will help both the OCD child and their parent deal with the disorder and to know that they are not facing it alone.

Kids Can Press is a publishing dynamo for children’s books. For those ages 3 to 5 there’s My Name is Elizabeth! Written by Annika Dunkler and illustrated by Matthew Forsythe ($13.95) about a little girl who loves her name and does not want to be called anything else like Liz or Lissie. It’s very funny in a sweet way. From the same publisher and also for this age group is Hocus Pocus by Sylvie Desrosiers and illustrated by Remy Simard ($14.95) about a battle of wits between a magician’s rabbit named Hocus Pocus and the magician’s grumpy canine called Dog. Dog wants to sleep. Hocus Pocus wants to eat carrots. The two have a merry time trying to outwit each other. This age group will also enjoy The Call of the Cowboy by David Bruins and illustrated by Hilary Leung ($16.95) about a little cowboy who has to learn that all the noise he is making is annoying his friends, especially a bear and a ninja. They go off on their own and he discovers the value of being quiet around others who return to be his friends again.

For others, Kids Can Press, has some educational books that are also fun to read. Ages 4 to 7 or so will enjoy Look at That Building! A First Book of Structures by Scot Ritchie ($16.95) that’s a brightly illustrated introduction to basic construction concepts of walls, floors and roofs, as well as the many different kinds of structures there are, even in nature. Basic concepts of physical science and space are explained in Motion, Magnets and More by Adrienne Mason will illustrations by Claudia Davila ($18.95). Any parent who works in these fields will want to share this with their child. That’s how young scientists and engineers are guided. And breathes there a child who is not fascinated by dinosaurs? From its series, Tales ofPrehistoric Life, there’s Ankylosaur Attack by Daniel Loxton, illustrated by the author and Jim W.W. Smith ($16.95) and when I say “illustrated” I mean absolutely extraordinary artwork that brings that lost era alive. The story is a real adventure.

Young Adult

For young adults, there’s a graphic novel, The Sign of the Black Rock by Scott Chantler ($17.95, Kids Can Press) from the Three Thieves series, part two. Told comic book style, it is a story of friendship, betrayal, and escape—all on one dark and stormy night as Dessa, Topper and Fisk continue their search from Grayfalcon in the hope he will lead them to Dessa’s brother. It’s a long night at Black Rock Inn, only to come face-to-face with their pursuer, Captain Drake. It’s a page turner. Just published in November by Philomel Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group comes Snow in Summer: The Tale of an American Snow White by Jane Yolen ($16.95) in which the fairy tale is turned into a modern, rather grim story of young Summer, a girl growing up in West Virginia who loses her mother and her baby in childbirth, followed by her father’s marriage to a step-mother with a very dark side to her personality. Yolen has authored more than three hundred books, has won a heap of awards, and knows how to spin a tale. The SeaWall by Leslie Ann Keatley ($11.99, Arbor Books, softcover) is a timely novel set in the fictional town of Moss Ridge, California, where 17 year-old Audrey Kelly finds herself the target of a group of bullies known as the Cheerleaders. Fed up with being a victim, Audrey sets out on a campaign of revenge against the group’s leader, Caroline, but her so-called harmless pranks get out of hand. The novel demonstrates what can happen when frustration and anger get out of control and how dangerous such aggression can be. The book works just as well for an older reader, too.

A new Christmas-themed story is The Taste of Snow by Stephen V. Masse ($20.00, Good Harbor Press, Medford, MA) is ideal for ages 8 through 14. It takes the reader to an Alpine wonderland, Gartendorf, Austria, just days before the Feast of Saint Nicholas where eleven-year-old Nicole Kinders has stopped at Boznik’s market stall on the way to school so her younger sister, Ashley, can buy a sweet. Boznick offers Nicole a candy cane saying, “This is a magic candy cane. The magic will be revealed.” One taste unlocks memories of the most wonderful flavors in her memory. But trouble is waiting when Nicole intervenes in a quarrel between students on the tram home from school. Will the candy cane’s magic work to recapture the joy of the season? You will have to read it to learn. Chengli and the Silk Road Caravan by Hildi Kang ($14.95, Tanglewood) takes the reader to China in 630 A.D. where Chengli is an orphaned errand boy in Chang’an. At age 13 he feels ready for independence and joins a caravan on the merchant route known as the Silk Road. In part he is searching for a father who disappeared many years earlier. Also on the caravan is a princess and her royal guards. This is a coming of age story filled with adventure and heroism that will delight a young reader. Finally, for lots of fun, there’s Elliott Stone and the Mystery of the Summer Vacation Sea Monster by Carl DiRocco ($8.99, Blue Martin Publications, softcover) in which Elliot, unhappy to be missing events and friends far from the Vermont family cabin on Neshobe Island in the middle of Lake Bomoseen thinks he may have spotted a sea monster and meets Marley “a totally cute girl next door” that turns the summer into an adventure.

Novels, Novels, Novels

David H. Brown puts his experience dealing with Washington, D.C. agencies, taps the current interest evoked by the forthcoming election, and then hypothesizes that would happen if an act of terrorism killed the incoming and outgoing presidents and vice presidents on Inauguration Day! The succession would go to the Speaker of the House and next to the President of the Senate Pro Tempore, but neither is available to serve. Instead, a new Speaker is named and she is given the oath of office, vowing revenge for the perpetrators. You’re not likely to put down Next in Line to the Oval Office ($25.99, but only $16.30 direct from Author House, also available as an e-book) as the search is on to track down the killers. A very timely novel, indeed!


Chick-Lit

There is a gusher of softcover novels available and, in no particular order, there’s It’s a Waverly Life by Maria Murnane ($14.95, Amazon Encore), a sequel to “Perfect on paper: The (Mis)adventures of Waverly Bryson.” Waverly is a popular blogger whose fans call her an ‘American Bridget Jones.’ Busy with her dating advice blog, Waverly has also fallen in love with Jake McIntyre, a physical therapist for the NBA in Atlanta. Having had one broken heart with a previous romance, she is struggling. Life is getting very complicated for Waverly and if this sounds like ‘chick-lit’, it is. The girls will love this one and, no doubt, A Pinch of Love by Alicia Bessette ($15.00, Plume) who tells a warm-hearted story about the young widow of a Katrina volunteer who forms an unlikely friendship with Ingrid her 9-year-old neighbor. Rose Ellen ‘Zell’ Roy is still morning the death of her husband Nick who died on a relief mission. She has taken up baking to pass the time and has set her eye on winning the grand prize to donate in Nick’s honor. The theme of female friendship is explored in Inseparable by Dora Helt, as translated by Jamie Lee Searle ($14.95, Amazon Crossing, also available as an e-book) Life can be complex. Christine’s best friend ran off with her now ex-husband and she is pretty sure she doesn’t need another BFF in her life. Still reeling from her recent divorce, she is hardly looking forward to her upcoming 44th birthday. Then her editor assigns her to write a column about what she’s been through and, when she does, her two other friends hatch a plan, a surprise party, to snap her out of her doldrums. Believe it or not, this is often a laugh-out-loud story as it we discover how important friendships are. This one is a winner!

Mysteries

For the guys (and girls) who prefer some mystery, a bit of violence, and psychological complexity, there’s Already Gone by John Rector ($14.95, Thomas & Mercer, softcover). Rector’s complex characters and intricate plots have won him plaudits from the media, fellow writers, and a burgeoning fan base. This is his third novel. His main character is Jake Reese, who is teaching writing at a university in the Southwest, has been married to Diane for just over a month, and has a mild drinking problem more or less under control. What could go wrong? Everything. After leaving a local bar to head home, he is assaulted y thugs who do not take his money or car, but just his wedding ring and the finger it was on! The local police are not much help, so he decides to track down his attackers himself. Then he receives news that his wife’s body was found in a car wreck. In his previous life, Jake was a criminal and he reaches out to the crime boss who mentored him for help. Suffice to say this novel has more twists and turns than you can imagine, all quite gripping and worth reading. Another mystery story is Waterfall by David Zini ($17.95, Langdon Street Press) in which police investigators Mark Truitt and Jamie Littlebird are trying to unravel a succession of deaths at Midwest Research Labs, a Minnesota business. The finger points to the Pallidin family that owns the labs, but are they villains or just pawns in a deadly game to control the world’s population? At the center of the story is a vicious contract killer with total disdain for humanity. Scary? You bet!

That’s it for 2011

Wow! 2011 is in the history books and we will now turn our attention to 2012, a year for a national election and who knows what else? In terms of new fiction and non-fiction, I can predict the usual deluge because there is no end to storytelling and to books of all kinds that help us ensure good health, run our businesses better, and provide insight into history. Others teach us about cooking and baking, child care and parenting, and every other aspect of life. Some ask me if ebooks will replace traditional ones. My answer is no. Nothing can replace a book you can hold in your hands and then put on a shelf to revisit.

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By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

A book that has proven so provocative that even Congress is currently trying to fashion a re-write of laws applying to its members is Throw Them All Out: How Politicians and Their Friends Get Rich off Inside Stock tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism that would Send the Rest of Us to Prison ($26.00, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Its author, Peter Schweizer, is the William J. Casey Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He has a resume as long as your arm. The service his book provides is one that the Washington, D.C. corps of journalists has largely ignored for years in what Schweizer calls “an incestuous relationship” based on the fact that journalists fear losing access to the members of Congress if they dared to expose the larceny that takes men and women elected to office go from moderate income to owning millions. The book describes the process and names names when it comes to the graft involved that includes insider trading, conflicts of interest, and kickbacks. This goes well beyond mere bribery, something regarding as rather old-fashioned at this point. Since Congress has exempted itself from laws that would send others doing the same thing to jail, the process has been completely legal. “Unfair, unethical, and immoral—but legal. By leading a team that examined the records Congress critters are required to make public, albeit a year after the transactions, Schwiezer was able to put together a book that is an astonishing revelation of self-enrichment at the expense of the public they are said to serve.

The Tea Party movement in America was a spontaneous response to legislation passed during the first two years of the Obama administration to aroused dispute and rejection, the best known of which is “Obamacare.” An interesting new book, Ten Tea Parties: Patriotic Protests that History Forgot by Joseph Cummins ($18.95, Quirk Press) tells the story, not only of the famed Boston Tea Party, but of others in the American colonies from Philadelphia to New York and other cities. It offers a thorough explanation why the British imposed taxes on tea, the role in played in the lives of the colonists, and how the taxes, one that followed the Sugar and Stamp Acts, galvanized Americans of that era to resist Great Britain and ultimately declare their independence. It is an exciting rendition of the people and events that sparked the American Revolution.

Some books are just so extraordinary that one marvels at the intelligence and creativity they represent. This is the case with Theodore Gray’s Elements Vault: Treasures of the Periodic Table ($39.95, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers), a slip-cased box of wonders based on an earlier book, “The Elements”, by Popular Science columnist, Theodore Gray in 2009. The book eventually ended up on the Wall Street Journal’s bestseller list and thousands of people discovered the genius of the periodic table, listing all the chemical and mineral elements of which our planet is composed. It was created by a Russian chemist, Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev. Gray’s new book, co-authored with Simon Quellen Field, is a response to the readers who wanted to learn even more about the elements, to touch and feel some of them if possible. It is possible because the book contains samples including pure gold, silicon, boron, europium and zirconium. Throughout the book are 23 important historical and supplementary documents related to the elements and the field of chemistry. It is an extraordinary experience enhanced by many stunning photos by Gray. This book should earn a shelf of awards but the biggest reward will be for the reader who delves into it.

Another large format book is the Lights of Mankind: The Earth at Night as Seen from Space ($32.50, Lyons Press, imprint of Globe Pequot Press), edited by L. Douglas Keeney. At night the Earth from space is a two-billion kilowatt map of civilization and the cities that are lighted to reveal where electricity keeps its cities active long after the sun has set on them. Japan is a garland of lighted islands in the Pacific, Egypt is mostly in darkness except for the Nile that snakes through its desert, bejeweled in light. These are photos, taken by NASA’s astronauts in a program that the current administration has ended. Any aficionado of space exploration will enjoy this remarkable tribute to the only planet in our galaxy that not only supports life, but is illuminated by it.

You might not think concrete is a particularly interesting topic, but you would be wrong. In Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World’s Most Common Man-Made Material ($26.00, Prometheus Books) Robert Courland provides a lively history to a material that we use for buildings, bridges, dams, and road. It is everywhere man lives and works, and it has been around for a very long time. King Herod of Judea, a major builder, as well as Roman Emperor Hadrian, and others all relied on concrete, so it’s history is intertwined with the rise of civilization. In America, Thomas Edison once owned the largest concrete plant in the world. Buildings like the Coliseum and the Pantheon are testimony to the skill of ancient architects and builders. The secrets of concrete were lost for nearly a thousand years after the fall of the Roman Empire, but were rediscovered in the late 18th century. It wasn’t until the end of the 19th century that the use of concrete exploded. Anyone with an interest in history will enjoy this book.

Now that the holidays are over many are thinking about their cooking and baking skills, often to either begin or to improve on them. For them there’s Kitchen on Fire: Mastering the Art of Cooking in 12 Weeks (Or Less) by Olivier Said and Chef MikeC. ($35.00, Da Capo Press) and Baking with the Cake Boss by Buddy Valastro ($30.00, Free Press). The former book was written by the founders and instructors of the acclaimed Berkeley cook school of the same name and it prepares the reader to take on any recipe in any cookbook and even to invent new recipes. This is a book about cooking principles which one can apply to any meal. Extensively illustrated, it is a good book for the new bride or anyone who has not learned the fundamentals of cooking. This is a great way to become a master chef in the comfort of one’s own home. The latter book takes its name from the author’s popular television show, The Cake Boss, and offers “100 of Buddy’s Best Recipes and Decorating Secrets.” All manner of delicious treats plus great ways to decorate cakes and other baked goods are described and illustrated with mouth-watering photos.

There is considerable distrust these days of journalism and journalists these days. Thus, The Bloomberg Way: A Guide for Reporters and Editors by Matthew Winkler, Editor-in-Chief of Bloomberg News ($45.00, Bloomberg Press, an imprint of Wiley) would be a good investment for any journalist. I don’t expect the general public to plunk down that kind of money to learn the rules of financial reporting, but I do think that journalists, students, business professionals and anyone who wants to write about money should make the investment. Winkler’s approach is pragmatic and stresses the ethical standards we expect of today’s journalists. As he says, there is no such thing as being first if the news is wrong. He advises that a journalist explain the role of money in all its forms to reveal the true meaning of the news. At a time when the news is filled with reports about unemployment, huge deficits and debt, the threat to the Euro, this is a very timely, important book.

The election of President Obama spurred the increased sale of handguns, so if you are among those who have made such a purchase or possess handguns, I recommend The Complete Illustrated Manual of Handgun Skills by Robert Campbell ($27,99, Zenith Press, softcover). The manual provides instructions for taking care of your firearms, from cleaning to general maintenance. It demystifies the sometimes confusing array of ammunition available in every caliber, and provides the basics on firearm safety, marksmanship, competitive shooting, hunting, and person protection. The author is a former peace officer with twenty years on the job. He has published more than six hundred articles.

Memoirs, Autobiographers, Biographies, Etc

Many Americans are looking back at the Reagan era with fondness these days, remembering how he handled economic problems, the threat of Soviet-style Communism, and the other great issues of his time. John A. (Jack) Svahn was a close adviser of Reagan, serving him during both of his terms as the Governor of California and as President. In that capacity he was the a Commissioner of Social Security, Undersecretary of Health and Human Services, and as the U.S. Commissioner to the Canal Alternatives Commission in Panama. He has written “There Most Be a Pony in Here Somewhere”: Twenty Years with Ronald Reagan ($18.95, Langdon Street Press, softcover) The memoir blends humor with a serious, candid look at both the political and personal moments spent as part of Reagan’s inner circle. He writes that Reagan was an optimist, a man who always saw the glass as half full, not half empty. This book is an important contribution to our knowledge and insight regarding Reagan and will surely please his legion of admirers.

The world has moved on since the horrendous 7.0 earthquake in January 2010 destroyed its capitol city and surrounding areas. In Rubble: The Search for a Haitian Boy ($l6.95, Lyons Press, an imprint of Globe Pequot Press, softcover.) Sandra Marquez Stathis who had lived and worked in Haiti for four years as a human rights observer in the 1990s, tells of her return to search for Junior Louis, an unforgettable boy she had met when he was seven years old and homeless. He was like a son to her and she was determined to find out if he had survived. Her story is not just his story, but a story of Haiti, and a very compelling one. It is only natural to give scant attention to events occurring in far-off lands, but So Far to Run: The Memoir of Liberian Refugee by Louise Geesedah Barton ($l3.95, Bascom Hill Publishing Group, softcover) is quite extraordinary given that Liberia was established on the African coast as a place to which slaves could return from their captivity in America. At the age of seven Louise became a domestic servant in Monrovia. She had a thirst for knowledge, but just as she was entering collage, Liberia was overrun by deadly rebels, forcing her to flee for her life. Thousands died in the conflict and she spent the next ten years on the run, much of it on foot, through two countries and escaping to a third by motoring over 70 miles in a small boat through the high seas. She currently lives in Atlanta where she now is an advocate for those who remain refugees, unable to return to their homes. We tend to forget that there is plenty of poverty right here in America.

Sandra’s Story: It’s Not Gonna Be a Very Good Day by Garrett Mathews ($14.95, Plugger Publishing, softcover) follows a year in the life of Sandra, a fifth grader who lives in a $200 a month apartment with holes in the wall and mice in the ceiling. A retired columnist of the Evansville, Indiana Courier & Press, Matthews tells of being asked to speak to Sandra’s class and, in the process, learns that many of the boys and girls had never been to a mall, a museum, or a baseball game. He began to take three or four at a time to these places. It was an eye-opening experience for Mathews and his book reminds us that many children in America are living in poverty. The book is filled with events that will touch your heart and open your eyes. Bruce Farrell Rosen is a very talented writer who shares the same publisher as William Soroyan, Laurence Ferlinghetti and Allan Ginsburg, but he is no hippie. He has written If You Ever Need Me, I Won’t Be Far Away ($18.50, Alma Rose Publishing, softcover). It is a classic memoir, drawing on his life and it is dedicated to his mother who was clearly an extraordinary person, a psychic , and a family of fairly unique, if flawed individuals. Tolstoy said that “All happy families are alike. Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” This memoir is testimony to that. Rosen tells us of his life, his family, his marriage, et cetera, but he does so quite movingly and you might just, like looking in a mirror, see someone you recognize.

Sports are so much a part of American life that those who play and those who coach become demigods. One of the best biographers of sports figures, Carlo DeVito, has written Parcells: A Biography ($24.95, Triumph Books) about a football legend, Bill Parcells, a two-time Super Bowl winning coach of the New York Giants, taking us through his life beginning with his 15-year collegiate coaching career, examining his demand for perfection from his players and coaches, which may just explain why he has turned around many NFL franchises, including the Jets and Patriots. The book covers the life of a man who says, “You are what your record says you are.” In Parcells’ case, it is the record of a winner on and off the field. Basketball, too, has its legion of fans at the collegiate and professional level. One of the most successful collegiate coaches is Jim Boeheim is told by Scott Pitoniack in Color Him Orange: The Jim Boeheim Story ($24.95, Triumph). A Basketball Hall of Fame coach for his alma mater, Syracuse University, it is an inspiring story that begins with his youth in a small town, making the Syracuse team as a walk-on, turning down lucrative offers to coach elsewhere, and the incredible run to the NCAA championship in 2003. Along the way he coached young men who went onto great careers in basketball.

There is a growing mythology about the 1960s as a decade of drugs, anti-war protests, the assassinations of Kennedy and King. Among the minor players was Ed Sanders who became a counterculture icon. Fug You ($26.99, Da Capo Press) is his story and, for someone who played such a small role in that decade’s events and dedicated himself to legalizing marihuana, it is a hefty tome. Sanders ran the Peace Eye Bookstore and founded a folk-rock group called the Fugs. He came in contact with some real movers and shakers of the era such as Allan Ginsberg, Frank O’Hara, Andy Warhol, and William S. Burroughs. Time has passed him by, but it can’t be said he didn’t live an interesting life. This is a Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl by Paul Bannigan ($26.99, Da Capo Press) is a biography of musician Dave Grohl, a key figure in bands that included Nirvana, Foo Fighters, and Queens of the Stone Age. The ups and downs of Grohl’s life will no doubt be of interest to rock fans, including his reaction to Curt Cobain’s suicide made him put aside his career, but he was drawn back in when Tom Petty asked him to play drums with the Heartbreakers on a Saturday Night Live session. He has known great success and being homeless, so the biography is quite a ride since the 1980s.

In a delightful memoir Joann Puffer Kotcher put her values on the line when, fresh out of the University of Michigan, a year of teaching, she became an American Red Cross Donut Dolly in Korea, later setting up four duty stations in Vietnam where she visited the troops from the Central Highlands to the Mekong Delta, the South China Sea to the Cambodian border. She tells her story in Donut Dolly: An America Red Cross Girl’s War in Vietnam ($24.95, University of North Texas Press). This is a unique, personal view of the war, recorded in a journal she kept during her tour. And it wasn’t just handing out donuts. She was once abducted, dodged an ambush in the Delta, and experienced that war in a way that most memoirs do not tell. It is an inspiring story of the men who go to war and of a woman who put her life on the line to bring a measure of cheer when they did. Years ago as a child, I had the opportunity to see and hear Eleanor Roosevelt, then in her later years in the wake of World War II and the beginnings of the United Nations. She had been the First Lady for thirteen years and had redefined the role. In Eleanor Roosevelt’s Life of Soul Searching and Self-Discovery ($19.95, Flash History Press, Paoli, PA, softcover) Ann Atkins tells her remarkable story, highlighting her role in championing African-Americans, Jews, and women. FDR said she was his eyes and ears as she traveled to the front lines of the Pacific and throughout the nation. She was much more. She was his conscience, urging him to accept the changes occurring nationwide and worldwide. Rather than accept society’s rules, she challenged them and, in the process, led a meaningful, purposeful, and successful life.

To Your Health

Parents have lots of questions about maintaining their children’s health and happily Nutrition: What Every Parent Needs to Know is now out in his second section from the American Academy of Pediatrics ($14.95, softcover), edited by William H. Dietz, M.D. and Loraine Stern, M.D. Both have impressive resumes and the book is a complete guide regarding nutritional health from birth through adolescence. It includes standards of weight and height, eating disorders, allergies, and concerns about food safety. The new edition has been updated since it was first published a decade ago. The editors stress that teaching children healthy eating habits is an on-going activity and advises on how to allow for individual preferences, as well as the importance of shared mealtimes that are stress and guilt-free.

The Complete Book of Bone Health by Diane L. Schneider, M.D. ($21.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) is a comprehensive survey of osteoporosis, its nature and causes, along with sensible approaches toward its prevention and management. The most common problem older people encounter is hip fractures and can even be killers; one in five women will die within a year of breaking a hip and one in three men. The good news is that one can reduce one’s risk for breaking bones and it can be prevented at any age. The is a fat book of information on everything from basic health, risk factors, bone density scans, the role of exercise and nutrition, and much more. It is designed to be practical and user-friendly, so that anyone interested in maintain strong bones and good health will come away with a world of information that can prolong and enhance one’s life.

Anti-Aging Cures: Life Changing Secrets to Reverse the Effects of Aging by Dr. James Forsythe ($25.99, Vanguard Press) will surely interest anyone who wants to retain their youthful looks, energy, and lifestyle. A foreword by Suzanne Somers says “The key to youth, good health, and vitality as we age comes from our body’s master hormone, human growth hormone. By rejuvenating the master hormone gland using a range of safe and natural biostimulators, as this book shows, we can improve the quality and duration of the human lifespan.” Since my own knowledge of such matters is slim, I can only say that it appears to provide a useful body of information, but since I am also in my seventies, I have little doubt that, one way or the other, one’s body is going to age despite one’s best efforts. I rely on a full range daily of vitamins and minerals and would certainly recommend them. The author devotes attention to those that work best with regard to the aging process.

Military Matters

Wars have always played a role in history and their potential continues to threaten peace. Several books regarding various aspects of war reflect the ongoing interest in this topic.

Time has published Special Ops: The hidden world of America’s toughest warriors by Jim Frederick ($19.95, Time Home Entertainment Inc.). Frederick is a Time international editor who has reported on the world of military special operations, from the U.S. Navy SEALS who eliminated Osama bin Laden in Pakistan to the Green Berets of the Vietnam War. He traces the history of this units, the missions they fought, from World War II to present missions in a lively, well illustrated book. Continuing these topic, there’s MARSOC: U.S. Marine Corps Special Operations Command by Fred Pushies ($24.99, Zenith Press, softcover) that traces the Marine Corps rich tradition of special operations—the tip of the spear—from World War II’s famed Marine Raiders to Vietnam’s legendary Marine Force Recon companies. In the wake of 9/11, the need for special operations forces dramatically increased and the Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC) was created in 2006. Its mission is to win wars before they begin, taking combat beyond the frontlines.

Airmen will enjoy two books devoted to former aircraft. The Douglas DC-3 Dakota and the North American F-86 Sabre are subjects of an “Owner’s Workshop Manual.” The former was written by Paul and Louise Blackah and the latter by Mark Linney ($28.00 each, Zenith Press). The Douglas DC-3 revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Tough, reliable, and easy to operate, it played a crucial role in World War II. The F-86 was the first operation Allied swept-wing transonic jet fighter of the post-war era that fought with distinction in the Korean War where it was pitted against the Soviet MIG-15. Both books are sure to please those who flew them and anyone interested in military aircraft.

There are countless books on World War II from the American point of view, but Colin D. Heaton and Anne-Marie Lewis have co-authored The German Aces Speak ($30.00, Zenith Press) that tells the story of those who flew against the Allies and is a reminder of how effective they were. As military history, it will surely interest those who find this of interest. A memoir, Brothers at War, by Werner Gramskow ($14.00, Arbor Books, softcover) tells the story of a boy in Hamburg, Germany in the 1930s who dreamed of going to America. His brother, Hans, had moved their ten years before the start of World War II, but history intervened and Werner was drafted into the Wehmacht. He eventually served in Stalingrad and, knowing he was marching to certain death, he hid out in a tiny German village. Unbeknownst to Werner, Hans had returned to their homeland as an intelligence officer with the U.S. Army. By serendipity, Hans found Werner and, when the war ended, sponsored his immigration to the U.S. It is a fascinating story. Lastly, from WWII is Last Man Standing: The 1st Marine Regiment on Peleliu by Dick Camp. For nearly 70 years historians and military brass have debated the necessity of the invasion of the small Japanese-held Island. What is not debated is the determination, perseverance and sacrifice displayed by a regiment known as “The Old Breed.” Peleliu would become on of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history and now its story is told in a work of excellent military history.

Science, Real and Fake

The vast global warming fraud, perpetrating since the 1980s, has caused a lot of people to be turned off by claims said to be based on scientific investigation and findings. Suffice to say the alleged data supporting global warming, now called climate change, was found to be utterly corrupt. So naturally, along comes John Grant’s book, Denying Science: Conspiracy Theories, Media Distortions, and the War against Reality ($25.00, Prometheus Books). Unfortunately, it is just Grant’s reality as he continues to rail against “deniers” of the discredited “science”. The book is one long rant against what he regards as “unscientific” ideas regarding a wide range of topics. Suffice to say there is no such thing as a “consensus” among scientists because science exists to be both challenged and expanded with new findings. The book is essentially rubbish. Caveat emptor.

Also from Prometheus Books, Drive and Curiosity: What Fuels the Passion for Science ($26.00) by Istvan Hargittai, PhD, DSc is a tribute to many fine scientists who have advanced our knowledge and improved our world. Little known to those outside the scientific community are the challenges they had to endure while retaining their belief in their discoveries that were often derided by others in their field. In one case, chemist Dan Shechtman who discovered “quasiercrystals” in 1982 encountered rejection and mockery for years, but in 2011, he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Anyone with an interest in science or who teaches courses to encourage students to pursue careers in science will enjoy this book. Philip Kitchner, a philosopher, has written Science in a Democratic Society ($28.00) to explore issues such as “climate change”, religiously inspired constraints on biomedical research, and similar topics. As with many such books, its appeal is limited to those who want to grapple with such matters. The historic record is filled with science frauds and is testimony to the human failings of those who perpetrate them knowingly or not. In a comparable fashion, Sam Harris has written The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values ($15.00, Free Press, softcover). Harris takes a distinctly liberal approach to the questions he raises, but it all comes down to the ancient debates about good and evil.

Deadly Powers: Animal Predators and the Mythic Imagination by Paul A. Trout ($26.00, Prometheus Books) is an evocative exploration of the origin and function of storytelling, based on thousands of years in which our human predecessors had to cope with predatory animals who thought then and now that we were a tasty meal. The mythology that emerged from this served as a warning about them and responded to our visceral fears of them that exist to this day. It has manifested itself in literature, including children’s fairytales, and in modern movies in which fantastical creatures threaten humanity. It has shaped human culture and readers will find this an interesting book.

Novels, Novels, Novels

So many novels—hardly a day goes by that I do not receive an email request to review a novel or two. Many increasingly are self-published and stories of the success their authors have found as ebooks now abound. The publishing scene is changing, but this reviewer still prefers what I call “dead tree” books, the traditional book one can hold in one’s hands without worrying if the battery will die.

Some novelists are so good at what they do they develop a fan base that looks forward to their next piece of work. This has been the case for me regarding the novels of Lior Samson, a pseudonym for a writer whose first three novels, “Bashert”, “The Dome” and “Web Games” took the reader to Israel for some classic spy-counterspy suspense. His newest novel, The Rosen Singularity, ($16.95, Gesher Press, an imprint of Ampersand Press, softcover) departs from that and I would be lying if I did not say I was delighted to find myself quoted on the back cover saying “This extraordinary author has the ability to anticipate events in ways that enhance his novels.” This time Samson delivers a medical thriller; one with plenty of action from page one to the end. The main character, Rosen David, is a research biologist who prefers to mine the work of others to find patterns and, indeed, he makes a major discovery. In 2005, Steve Jobs told a commencement audience at Stanford that "Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.” Rosen has stumbled upon a discovery that puts his life and those around him at risk. The cast of characters include an invisible network of people who want to cheat death and think Rosen’s research can make that happen. I promise you that, if you read this Samson novel, you will want to read the other three.

Perlmann’s Silence by Pascal Mercier, the author of the acclaimed “Night Train to Lisbon” ($26.00, Grove Press) is surely worth celebrating. It is an exploration of grief, a profound story of a man struggling to cope with the death of his wife and the impact it has on his life. Phillipp Perlmann is a noted linguist. Scheduled to speak at a gathering of international academics in a seaside town near Genoa, he struggles with the text of the keynote presentation until he realizes he can produce nothing. His confidence has deserted him and, desperate, he decides to plagiarize the work of a Russian colleague who is not able to attend the gathering. But Leskov unexpected arrival is suddenly announced and Perlmann panics. He contemplates even more drastic measures. Deeply emotional and intellectual novels like this are a rare occurrence. Italy is the setting for Joe Costanzo’s new novel, Calabria to be specific. In Restoration ($15.95, Charles River Press, softcover) Stephano Strazzi, an Italian-American from the fiction town of Roccamonti returns to recapture his memories of being raised there before his family immigrated to America. He quickly falls under its spell and, in the process of trying to help restore a medieval church, he finds himself in the midst of an old vendetta that erupts with frightening consequences. Constanzo was born in Pedivigliano and draws on the wellspring of his own life to create a compelling story that reflects both the enchantment and the passions of Italy. A veteran journalist, he displays a fine eye for detail and as a novelist he adds to his reputation as an excellent storyteller.

The American West is the setting for Richard S. Wheeler’s The Richest Hill on Earth ($25.99, Forge) as he turns is well-established storytelling talent to a tumultuous time in Montana history when the copper kinds battled for riches, glory, and control of Butte, the fledging government of the then-new State. Caught up in the struggle are the miners, their wives and children, journalists, and even psychics, all trying to make their fortune in the late 1890s. Several memorable characters play out their part in the struggle, from newspaper editor John Fellowes to Marcus Daly, an Irish immigrant of humble origins who rose to create the Anaconda Copper Mining Copper and his political rival, William Andrews Clark who bought a seat in the U.S. Senate, and Augustus Heinze who tried to steal the mines using lawyers and bribed judges, only to be crushed by the Rockefellers. This is fictionalized history, but it is also a very entertaining look at the real story behind the struggles that hinged on wealth and power. When it comes to westerns, novels that evoke a fabled period, few do it better than Jim Best. His latest is Murder at Thumb Butte ($12.95, Wheatmark, Tucson, AZ, softcover) and I guarantee that you will also want to read The Shopkeeper and Leadville. These are part of a “Steve Dancy” series and, in the case of “Murder at Thumb Butte”, it is the spring of 1880 and Dancy has traveled to Prescott, Arizona to gain control of a remarkable invention. He has barely unpacked when he learns that his friend, Jeff Sharp, has been arrested for a midnight murder and Dancy launches an investigation to find who really did it. The problem is, the whole town of Prescott wanted him dead! He turns to another old friend, Captain Joseph McAllen of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency to sort out the suspects and find the real killer before Sharp ends up swinging from the gallows. Best is best at dialogue and his novels move along at a swift pace with some of the best dialogue you’ll find. Nothing fancy, but it reflects real people in real situations. Treat yourself to one or all three of the series.

Murder mysteries are a favorite genre in fiction and D.C. Brod delivers a good one in Getting Lucky (24.95, Tyrus Books) with the story of a freelance writer who is hired to finish one of the stories written by a young reporter killed in a hit-and-run accident. In the process she uncovers shady Illinois land deals. At the same time she is trying to come up with enough money to keep her mother in an assisted living facility. Conflict of various kinds is at the heart of the story that moves along at a satisfying pace. At timely as today’s headlines regarding illegal aliens, Craig McDonald, an Edgar Award nominee, takes us to New Austin, Ohio in El Gavilan ($24.95, Tryus Books) where the locals are struggling with waves of undocumented workers who exert tremendous pressure on schools, police and city services. Three very different kinds of cops scramble to maintain control and impose order, but the rape-murder of a Mexican-American woman triggers a brutal chain of events that threaten to leave no survivors. You will keep turning the pages in a story filled with shifting alliances and circumstances.

A finalist for Germany’s prestigious Friedrich Glauser Prize for Best Crime Novel, Morgue Drawer Four by Jutta Profit ($14.95, Amazon Crossing) is one of several new softcover novels worth reading. It is a change of pace blending a witty genre-bending fusion of hard-boiled crime fiction and a comic ghost story that takes place in cosmopolitan Cologne’s seamy underbelly, a hidden world of gangsters, hustlers, and its red light district. A mismatched pair of impromptu detectives is at the center of the story. One is the ghost of a recently murdered career criminal seeking justice and the other is a quiet, unassuming coroner with the blessing or curse of being able to communicate with the deceased! This is a quirky, well-paced, and very entertaining story. A very different time and place is the setting for an Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg ($15.00, Penguin, softcover) in her debut as a novelist. It is 1830 and Neil McKenzie has accepted a post on the islands of St. Kilda, an isolated archipelago off the coast of Scotland. He is there to minister to a small community of islanders. Joining him is his pregnant wife, Lizzie. He is there to test his own faith against the old pagan ways of the islanders who live in squalor. The result is that his faith, marriage, and their sanity is tested in a place of extreme hardship and unearthly beauty. Mary Shelley gave us Frankenstein and Erica Ferencik gives us Dr. Astra Nathanson in Repeaters ($14.95, Waking Dream Press, Framingham, MA, softcover) and the question must be asked, why are women so good at writing stories that scare the pants off you, have you checking the locks on the doors, and keeping the lights on to fend off the dark? I am not giving away any secrets by telling you that the “repeaters” are the murdered among us, forced to repeat their lives until they find someone to love and thus granted eternal peace. Failing that, they bear the scars of the manner in which they were murdered in past lives. This is one scary story that readers who like their thrills bloody will love.

In today’s economy with headlines such as the collapse of a major hedge fund, bailed out banks, and famed media moguls, Richard Wanderer has authored The Holiday Party ($15.95, Two Harbors Press, softcover) that features a high-powered media mogul holding a dark secret, a publisher with a belief in the supernatural, and an assistant who no longer wants to assist. The result is a novel of corporate greed that leaps off its pages. Adam Gladstone is an heir to the family media empire and, with his brother, is running the business like a family. Meanwhile, mogul Daniel Davenport’s mistress is tired of being his concubine and assistant, and wants to take over the Gladstone umpire for herself, not Daniel. The author, a member of the California Bar, brings his experience working in the advertising departments of major magazines and newspaper publishing companies to good use in this novel that rings true as it explores the machinations of greed and betrayal.

Fans of short fiction will enjoy Geoff Schmidt’s Out of Time ($14.95, University of North Texas Press, softcover) a winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. A debut collection, it is a meditation on meaning and mortality. In his stories, vengeful infants destroy and rebuilt the world, rival siblings and their mother encounter witches and ghosts, along with others, all of whose time is running out. This is definitely a very different literary cup of tea!

That’s it for January as we all embark on a tumultuous year in which people and parties are pitted against one another for the future of the nation. Tell your family, friends, and coworkers about Bookviews.com, the most eclectic monthly report on news fiction and non-fiction. And come back in February for more!

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

In my parent’s home, the living room was a library. One wall was floor to ceiling shelves and among the books was the complete set of the Harvard Classics, the books that constituted an education in Western philosophy, history and literature. Another shelf was for the Encyclopedia America. These sets of books were very popular in pre-television America as was the Book of the Month Club. Americans, whether they graduated high school or went to college, could self-educate and many did. Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America by Daniel J. Flynn ($27.95, ISI Books, Wilmington, DE) looks at the lives of people like historians Will and Ariel Durant, Mortimer Adler’s Great Books movement, economist Milton Friedman, longshoreman-philosopher Eric Hoffer, and science fiction writer Ray Bradbury’ to reveal the impact they had on the generations of the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s before television became the drug of choice. As Flynn puts it, “Stupid is the new smart” and anyone watching TV these days or observing the too-connected and too-distracted newer generations would be hard pressed to disagree. These are delightful, brief biographies of people from humble backgrounds who became major movers and shakers in the intellectual life of the nation.

Michael Grabell has authored Money Well Spent? ($28.99, Public Affairs) and I would suggest you save some money by taking a pass on it. It is, in essence, an apologia for the Obama administration’s massive stimulus effort, but to his credit, even Grabell says “For all its promise, the federal stimulus package became one of the most reviled pieces of legislation in recent memory.” Conservatives hated the massive outlay of billions, seeing it as a form of political patronage for unions and others who got a piece of it. Liberals thought that not enough money was spent. Grabell makes a mighty effort to justify it, but in the end, it just doesn’t stand up to serious scrutiny. It is not the government’s job to pick winners or losers. The banking system was bailed out because it could not be allowed to fail. The stimulus just rewarded states and cities that had, like the federal government, spent too much, signed civil service union contracts that were far more rewarding than private citizens could expect from their jobs, and wasted money on various projects. The stimulus spent $825 billion with little to show for it except an increase in the largest debt in the nation’s history.

An interesting book that may well save you money is Scammed by Chistopher Elliott ($24.95, Wiley) in which he reveals that many kinds of scams that exist to part you from your hard earned cash. Most of us are familiar with the scams out of Nigeria and, increasingly, other foreign nations, but Elliot provides an introduction to scams that include non-existent charities or by companies that sell you their products. He advises you avoid “gift cards” that rake in $90 billion annually, but only 7% are redeemed! Fake liquidation sales are another. Marking up the price of a product and then announcing a sale is yet another. If you read this book, you will no doubt conclude its price was well worth the money it will save you. Guy P. Harrison, a freelance writer, has gathered together 50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True ($18.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) that is an entertaining look at why some people believe in astrology (instead of astronomy) or are still looking for Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Others believe that aliens from outer space helped build the pyramids or their bodies are stored in Area 51. Harrison says that humans are a believing specie and, as such, prone to believe in things that lack any scientific proof and can be absurd. Regrettably, he stumbles when it comes to “global warming”, the greatest hoax of the modern era and he is skeptical of all religious beliefs. Overall it is refreshing to read a skeptic’s views even if some require some more skepticism themselves.

Every so often a really beautifully produced book reaches my desk. A case in point is the Southern Living® Wedding Planner & Keepsake ($29.95, Oxmoor House). It is the perfect gift for the bride-to-be whether they want to splurge or are working with a tight budget. Either way, its advice is excellent and will enable one to stay organized while creating a keepsake. Its lay-flat, concealed wire binder has pockets in which to save business cards, receipts, dress swatches, and other items that add up to memories. It will help keep track of every detail, including checklists and worksheets. It is also wonderful eye candy with more than 175 images, including more than a hundred full-color photos from real, dream weddings across the South. Those girls know how to do weddings!

I suspect that most people have no idea of the sheer immensity of India, but it has long held a fascination for those in the West as an exotic place. One of its gifts to us has been Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, the recipient of the Booker Prize, two Academy Awards for the adapted screenplays of “A Room with a View” and “Howard’s End”, and many other awards. Happily, the first collection of stories by this talented writer has been published after nearly ten years. A Lovesong for India: Tales from the East and West ($26.00, Counterpoint Press) debuts this month and each of the stories provides a glimpse into the lives of men and women who call India home. In one, a young girl in pre-Mumbai, then Bombay, leaves a pre-arranged marriage for New York where she meets, falls in love and marries the son of a famous Indian actor. Their return becomes the topic of tabloids. In stories set in India, England and New York City, we are treated to her lifelong meditation on the East and West, and the emotions and experiences that united us across oceans, cultures, and lifetimes.

Editorial Services

Are you writing a book? Need some copywriting or ghostwriting? Could you use a personal writing coach? For these services and everything related to writing, check out http://www.ronmarr.com/ which is the website of—guess who?—RON MARR. I have known him for years and he has authored books and written for leading magazines and newspapers. If you want to start a project, are half-way through one and stuck, or need keen judgment regarding a finished one, visit his website. You will be happy you did.

Minding Your Mind

Writers learn to pay attention to what they are thinking and to constantly “feed” their mind with new information and ideas. The process of growing up is one of training the mind to deal with the world, learning what to avoid that might cause injury, learning from experience, and coping with various fears and anxieties. A host of books address how to make your mind a better servant of a better life.

A Better Way to Think: Using Positive Thoughts to Change Your Life by H. Norman Wright ($12.99, Revell, softcover) debuted in October and offers practical and positive steps to create “healthy patterns of self-talk”, discovering how, with time, it is possible to change, and most importantly, gaining control over one’s emotions and behavior. Biblically based, it is a useful book for anyone, but I would think of particular use to those in adolescence or dealing with any stage of maturity. Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life: Train your Brain to get More Done in less Time by Paul Hammerness, MD, and Margaret Moore with John Hanc ($16.95, Harlequin Enterprises, softcover) is the result of the work by a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist and a noted executive wellness coach and change specialist, and co-founder of the Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School. Together they offer a way to overcome mental disorganization and distraction with their often debilitating side-effects of stress, anxiety, frustration, and a sense of frenzy. It is based on neuroscience and their work with people who had had disorganized minds. If this problem sounds like one you have or that of someone you know, this book can be extremely helpful. In a comparable fashion, Chip Conley offers Emotional Equations ($24.00, Free Press) filled with simple formulas that help the reader focus on things they can change in their life while identifying those one can’t. It’s a way of understanding and managing one’s emotional life. There are, as you can see, dozens of such books with, no doubt, more to come. I am sure some do help, but can only report those that are new and available.

Neuroscience is the basis for Allyson Lewis’ new book, The 7 Minute Solution, ($25.00, Free Press). Ms. Lewis is a well known time management expert and motivational speaker and her thesis is that change is often made up of tiny choices and habits that must be made on a daily basis. Employing her technique can, she says, lead to major improvements in any facet of life. My own life is one of a comfortable routine designed to ensure proper nutrition, rest, and a routine that allows maximum performance. Her book appears to confirm these habits of the mind and body. For those “at loose ends” much of the time, this book can prove very helpful. Seeking Enlightenment by Catherine H. Morrison is subtitled “The spiritual journey of a psychotherapist” ($26.99, Two Harbors Press, softcover). She asks if you are frustrated with your spiritual journey, wondering and searching. Through her own story and her professional knowledge and skills, she provides information about one’s emotional evolution and into maturation.

There are few challenges worse than dealing with someone with a mental disorder. It takes a toll on everyone around them. One is “borderline personality disorder” (BPD) and in Compassion for Annie: A Healthy Response to Mental Disorders ($16.95, Langdon Street Press, softcover) Marilyn Dowell who describes the behaviors that someone with BPD exhibits through the story of a fictional married couple, chapter by chapter explaining what it is to struggle with the disorder, someone exploring what it is, and how it can be dealt with. Dancing in the Dark: How to Take Care of Yourself When Someone You Love is Depressed 15.95, Central Recovery Press, softcover) by Bernadette Stankard and Amy Viets is a guidebook for those in or out of recovery who live with or care for one of the millions of Americans who battle depression every year. In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that one in twenty Americans over the age of 12 has suffered from depression. The book offers tried-and-true suggestions, helpful hints, and up-to-date resources for anyone whose life is affected by the depression of another. Breaking Free from Depression: Pathways to Wellness ($21.95, The Guilford Press, softcover) is authored by a leading psychiatrist, Dr. Jesse Wright and his daughter, Dr. Laura McCray, a family physician, both of whom have seen thousands of depressed patients in their practices. They understand that depression is different for everyone and that there is no universal cure. Their book samples the numerous treatments available, allowing the reader to put together a personalized anti-depression action plan. The big softcover outlines six strengths-based treatment methods along with numerous worksheets, questionnaires, and exercises that can guide the reader toward a healthy, successful outcome.

As this was being written, a friend is on a succession of flights from Washington, D.C. to Copenhagen and then to New Orleans. It is part tourist and business travel over a week’s time and he knows how to get through it successfully. This is in sharp contrast to the more than 25 million people who suffer from fear of flying, aerophobia. Flying Fear Free: 7 Steps to Relieving Air Travel Anxiety by Dr. Sandra M. Polino, MD.Ed, Psy.D ($14.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) addresses the fears associated with commercial flights. If you are one of the four million that take one on any given day, the author explores and defines the causes and associated phobias, offering her proven approach (and experience as a former flight attendant). She discusses a number of therapies, stress and relaxation techniques, and behavioral tools to make the experience more comfortable.

Biographies, Memoirs, Etc

I have no idea how many biographies of Adolf Hitler have been published, but there are a lot. R.H.S. Stolfi wanted to write one that would explain why Hitler was so evil. The result was Hitler: Beyond Evil and Tyranny ($27.00, Prometheus Books) and, aside from the fact that he revisits already known facts, the effort to get into Hitler’s demented brain was hardly worth it. Hitler was a very successful nut job who saw himself as Germany’s messiah and who played on that nation’s anger over the outcome of World War One. He had a talent for speaking to groups large and small. But he was still a nut. You don’t have to read this book to come to that conclusion. That such people have risen to positions of power is hardly news. Where mental instability is concerned, the memoir Crazy Enough by Storm Large ($25.00, Free Press) may prove of interest to fans of the rock star or of anyone who finds her story of trying to cope with her mother’s full blown mental illness and making a lot of bad early decisions about her own life, sleeping with strangers, experimenting with drugs, and having no roots. An invitation to sing with a friend’s band opened her life to that of music and gave her the opportunity to pull back from the edge. This is an artist’s journey of self-realization, but it is also a tad raw and crude in ways the younger crowd will like.

It is a great relief to read a memoir that does not involve some kind of confession regarding the numerous ways people find to screw up their lives. Charlie: A Love Story by Barbara Lampert ($14.95, Langdon Street Press, softcover) is for anyone who has ever loved a dog and been loved in return. Lampert is a psychotherapist and the best therapy in her life is her Golden Retriever, Charlie. He inspired the author as he overcame numerous health problems, exhibiting a zest for life and courage. The memoir is of Charlie’s last few years. I have a friend who has always had dogs as his companions. He has cared for them and he has seen them die. He has grieved them and he has renewed his life by finding new ones. This is a short, wonderful read. Fat is the New 30 by Jill Conner Browne ($14.95, Amazon Publishing, softcover) is not really a memoir in the usual sense of the term. It is “The Sweet Potato Queen’s Guide to Coping with (the Crappy Parts of) Life. The author aka the Queen, has a large following with 6,200 chapters in 22 countries around the world based on her previous books. She started her reign in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1982 when she and some friends decided to join the local St. Patrick’s Day parade. Since 1999, she has penned one bestseller after another. This new collection of essays will be released in March with an official publication date of April. Suffice to say, she knows how to keep the reader entertained and passes along a lot of wisdom as she does.

Anyone who has had the good fortune to grow up in a small town will thoroughly enjoy Side-Yard Superhero by Rick D. Niece, PhD ($15.95, Five Star Publications, softcover). In this case it is DeGraff, Ohio and this is a memoir of his life as a newspaper boy whose route included Bernie Jones, confined to a wheelchair with severe cerebral palsy, but with an indomitable spirit that inspired Rick who went on to become an educator, starting as a school teacher and ultimately becoming a university professor, provost, and president of the University of the Ozarks. Everyone’s childhood memories are specific to themselves, but the author’s memories have universality to them that evoke gentler times and better values than are found in present times. For Rick, his customers on that route were some of his best teachers, but especially Bernie. It’s a heartwarming memoir of a time and place I hope will not be lost to the matrix of digital connections to the world outside.

A new graphic book is out, The Zen of Steve Jobs, by Caleb Melby and JESS3, in collaboration with Forbes Media ($19.95, Wiley, softcover), displays the talents of a freelance writer and a creative agency that specializes in data visualization for major corporate clients. If you grew up reading comic books and are a fan of the late genius behind the success of Apple Computer Company, this story envisions Jobs friendship with a Japanese Zen Buddhist priest, Kobun Chino Otogawa. The story moves back and forward in time from the 1970s to 2011, the year of Job’s death, and the period when Kobun taught Jobs “kinhin”, a walking meditation, as Jobs sought “ma”, the Japanese concept of simplicity. It translated into the design of many Apple products.

Mathematics

I knew early on in life that my mind was not wired for the acquisition or use of mathematics. I am a wordsmith and struggle to this day with the simplest efforts at arithmetic. Oddly, my late father was a Certified Public Accountant and could do sums in his head with ease. Three new books are devoted to this topic.

Colin Pask has authored Math for the Frightened: Facing Scary Symbols and Everything Else That Freaks You Out about Mathematics ($19.00, Prometheus Books, softcover. It is a noble effort to help the math-challenged and it succeeds. Pask, a mathematician, introduces the reader to the main ideas of mathematics and explains how they are expressed in symbols, explaining how and why they are used. He takes the reader on a trip into the world of mathematics, explaining how it is used in science and elsewhere in ways that makes it a very entertaining and enlightening experience. Math for Life by Jeffrey Bennett ($25.00, Roberts and Company Publishers, Greenwood Village, CO) is subtitled “Crucial ideas you didn’t learn in school.” Bennett presents a wide array of simple math skills that can be used in every day applications, many of which are a mystery to those whose doubt their math skills. In doing so, he shows how math plays a role in everything from taking out a loan to understanding important national issues. It focuses on quantitative thinking, not on solving equations, and offers suggestions on how to improve the teaching of math in schools.

The Glorious Golden Ratio by Alfred S. Posamentier and Igmar Lehman ($27.00, Prometheus Books) is definitely for those who love mathematics, exploring how for centuries mathematicians, scientists, artists and architects have been fascinated by a ratio that is ubiquitous in nature and commonly found across many cultures. It is called “the Golden Ratio” because of its prevalence as a design element and its seemingly universal esthetic appeal. From the ratio of certain proportions of the human body and the heliacal structure of DNA to the design of ancient Greek statues and temples, as well as modern masterpieces, it is a key pattern with endless applications and manifestations.

The Business of Business

America is about freedom, liberty, and that includes the opportunity to become wealthy. This explains why there are so many books devoted to the subject. Here a few of the latest.

Get Rich Click! The Ultimate Guide to Making Money on the Internet by Marc Owtrofsky ($22.99, Free Press) is a classic example of advice by an author, an online pioneer and internet entrepreneur whose various enterprises earn $75 million annually. The author shares the strategies that made him a multimillionaire despite having no technical skills and never creating a single website. There’s no arguing with the fact that the internet has become the most powerful business tool in history while changing how fortunes are made. This book shows the reader how to make money online with no money upfront, how to use readily available apps to save money and make it online, how to effectively use blogs, email, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube, and how to buy Internet traffic and resell it for many times your original investment. Creating the right environment to build wealth is the subject of Stephen M.R. Covey and Greg Link’s new book, Smart Trust: Creating Prosperity, Energy, and Joy in a Low-Trust World ($27.00, Free Press). Covey previously authored a bestseller, “The Speed of Trust” and with his business partner, they share principles and anecdotes of numerous “outliers” of success from people and organizations that utilize the techniques they describe. Following the 2008 financial crisis, it was obvious to them that the greatest challenge to world economic growth was the subsequent loss of confidence and trust. They identify the loss of trust as a key factor in the current malaise and impediment to the economy.

On an individual basis, Mary Hunt offers 7 Money Rules for Life: How to Take Control of Your Financial Future ($17.99, Revell). In an economy where credit card debt has reach $828 billion and 77% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, and 43% have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, this is a very timely book. Too many Americans have not been taught how to handle their personal finances and this book seeks to remedy that, especially for those wallowing in debt. Consider, too, that the current president has increased the national debt more than all previous presidents combined! The rules she offers are simple and sensible. This book may just be the best investment anyone coping with debt can read and apply to their own life.

Those in management positions will benefit from 2600 Phrases for Setting Effective Performance Goals by Paul Falcone ($11.95, Amacom, softcover). The author says “Motivation is internal, and I can’t motivate your any more than you can motivate me, but as a leader within your organization, you’re responsible for creating an environment in which people can motivate themselves.” This is a handy and sage guide coaches the reader on how to reinforce core competencies and he critical characteristics for concise, compelling, and actionable goals, using tried and true phrases that managers can use to encourage higher levels of individual accomplishment. The “Knock’em Dead” series have proven helpful addressing various aspects of business and the newest addition is for those seeking a new job. How to Write a Killer Resume: The Ultimate Job Search Guide 2012 by Martin Yate, CPC, teaches how to turn job interviews into job offers. Yates is a leading expert in the world of job search and career management, the author of several books in the series. In a difficult job environment, this is the one book I would recommend to anyone seeking a new job for its advice on how to write a resume, get job interviews, and negotiating the best offer. This book, now in its 26th edition, is packed with the latest online tools, tips, and tricks to land the job you want.

Economics is often called the “dismal science” and William A. Barnett, the Oswald Distinguished Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of Kansas, Director at the Center for Financial Stability in New York and a senior fellow at the ICS Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, has authored Getting It Wrong: How Faulty Monetary Statistics Undermine the Fed, the Financial System, and the Economy ($35.00, MIT Press, softcover). This is not light reading and not directed to the general reader, dealing as it does with economic measurement, arguing that governments, corporations, and even household lack the requisite information to judge systemic risk. Better data could have signaled the misperceptions and preventing the erroneous systemic-risk assessments that imploded the financial system in 2008. At the heart of this book is his assertion that the U.S. Federal Reserve has been providing inaccurate monetary statistical data. It is a worse case toxic mix.

Kid’s Books


Not too many books for the very young and teens of late, but it’s early in the year. Howard B. Wigglebottom is back in Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns About Sportsmanship: Winning Isn’t Everything by Howard Binkow and illustrated by Sue Cornelison ($15.00, Thunderbolt Publishing, www.wedolisten,com) Aimed at those age 4-8 years old and especially those who think they have to win every time and are angry and unhappy when they don’t. Told through an amusing text, supported by lively artwork, this book reflects the importance of being a team player and the ideals of good sportsmanship. It’s a great way to impart these lessons. My only concern is that winning is an important component of success in life. In a similar fashion, a series written and illustrated by Susan Castriota teaches valuable life lessons in Wilson Gets Adopted and Wilson Learns Manners ($12.95 each, available from Barnes and Noble and Amazon) Wilson is a poodle who was adopted by the author and in both books he and his doggie friends learns to appreciate his good luck and the importance of good manners to get through life smoothly. These two books are aimed at the fourth grade reading level. The author is a talented artist. They are, as you might imagine, a delightful way to impart some lifelong values and one cannot start too young to do that.

A favorite publisher of mine is American Girl (http://www.americangirl.com/) and they have kicked off 2012 with a number of books. Their “McKenna” series by Mary Casanova for those eight and up, illustrated by Brian Hailes, features ten year old McKenna in two books, McKenna and McKenna, Ready to Fly ($12.95 each) In the former, McKenna who has always done well in school and gymnastics begins to find that, in fourth grade, learning has become more challenging. She is helped by a wonderful tutor who happens to be in a wheelchair. An injury in gymnastics sidelines McKenna and she must reacquire her confidence and move on. In the latter story, her cast is coming off and she must learn how to help others conquer their fears and deal with other’s jealousies. Take the Challenge! Crazy Challenges and Silly Thrills to Explore Your Talents and Everyday Skills by Apryl Lundsten and illustrated by Galia Bernstein ($9.95) is also for those eight years old and up. Through a series of fast and fun games, readers learn how to find all kinds of ways to stretch their skills and explore their talents with more than a hundred different challenges. This book is a great confidence builder for little girls.

American Girl is famous for creating characters sustained through a number of books. In August 2011 it introduced two girls of different races in 1853 New Orleans, Cecile Ray and Marie-Grace are part of a six-book series to demonstrate the power of friendship through this historical figures who reach across boundaries of race and culture to help their families, friends, and community during a time of great need. This is an inspirational series and one I am pleased to recommend.

The Jerk Magnet by Melody Carlson ($12.00, Revell, softcover) is aimed at today’s teenage girls. When Chelsea Martin’s future stepmother helps transform her from a gawky and geeky girl into the hottest girl at her new school she discovers that her new look is attracting lots of guys who have one thing in common; they’re jerks. Being the center of attention also gets in the way of finding a good friend to other girls. When a great guy catches her eye, Chelsea must come up with a way to get his attention or will her new image ruin everything? Carlson has authored more than 200 books and shows her fine hand in this one, providing inspiration and worthwhile learning experiences.

Novels, Novels, Novels

Every so often you pick up a novel that is so authentic, so well paced, so filled with details that can only be drawn from the author’s actual experience that it draws you into its plot so swiftly that you have to know how it ends because the characters have become real for you. Imagine, then, if al Qaeda in 2002 had gotten its hands on a small Soviet-era nuclear device intended to be used in the event of a conflict with NATO. That is the plot of Barbarossa by Charles Faddis, ($14.95, Orion Strategic Services, Edgewater, MD) a retired CIA officer who spent twenty years in the Near East and South Asia, working against terrorist groups, rogue states, and WMD smuggling networks. Not every former clandestine agent turns out to be a skilled novelist, but Faddis is. He has four prior novels to his credit. He takes us inside the CIA as they discover via drone surveillance that the nuke has been acquired and being moved to an area in Iraq under the control of al Qaeda. From there on a special operations team must be put together, bringing the main character of the story, Bill Boyle, and his longtime girlfriend, Aphrodite, a former Greek terrorist in her own right. Set mostly in the Near East, the novel provides a powerful and utterly frightening insight to the minds of Islamic terrorists then and now. It also serves as a powerful reminder that the clandestine service is the front line of defense against the nation’s enemies. The novel is available via Amazon.com.

J.A. Jance has been entertaining readers for years with her Ali Reynolds series, the J.P. Baumont series, the Joanna Brady series, and four interrelated southwestern thrillers featuring the Walker family. How does she do it? Talent and hard work! Her latest Ali Reynolds’ novel is Left for Dead ($25.99, Touchstone Books, imprint of Simon & Schuster), just out this month. Set in Arizona, along a desolate border plagued by illegal immigrant crossings and an escalating drug war, when one of Ali’s classmates from the Arizona Police Academy is gunned down during a seemingly routine traffic stop, she rushes to the hospital where Santa Cruz deputy Jose Reyes clings to life. She meets her friend, Sister Anselm, who is serving as a patient advocate for another seriously injured victim. Suffice to say, like all good mysteries, this one involves characters with whom you identify and events that unravel in surprising ways, all the time avoiding becoming more drug cartel victims themselves. Ireland in1956 is the time and setting for Frank Delaney’s The Last Storyteller ($26.00, Random House). It was a time when Ireland was impoverished, not just financially, but emotionally and intellectually. The struggle for independence from England had gone on for decades and would continue for decades, but it is the Ireland in which Ben McCarthy lives and contemplates his life. He yearns for carefree former days and for Venetia, the girl now married to another man. Entangled with an IRA gun-runner, Ben must find his way toward a better life, unencumbered by his past and his present concerns. Delaney is an acclaimed writer, born in Tipperary, Ireland, but now living in the U.S. This novel is the third in a series, the first two of which garnered high praise. Delaney is, himself, a master storyteller.

Another thriller asks what happens when the world’s economic system collapses. Dan Romain provides his answer in The Quaker State Affair ($22.95, Two Harbors Press) in a thriller that seems ripped from the headlines and will not let you stop reading as it presents a world in which oil prices are skyrocketing, nuclear secrets are stolen, and events begin to come together to undermine the global system based largely on trust as money moves at lightning speed from bank to bank, et cetera. The one man whom the government turns in the crisis is a physicist who wants nothing to do with it. America’s salvation or ruin hangs in the balance. It should not surprise you that the author was among those who predicted the 2008 economic meltdown or that he build one of the most successful insurance firms in the country. A combination of experience and talent results in this novel. There’s excitement to be found in Code Blood by Kurt Kamm ($14.95, MCM Publishing, softcover) that connects the lives of a fire paramedic, a Chinese research students with the rarest blood in the world, and the blood-obsessed killer who stalks her. The story opens when Colt Lewis, a young Los Angeles County fire paramedic responds to a fatal car accident where the victim dies in his arms. Her foot has been severed, but is nowhere to be found. In the week that follows, he risks his career to find the victim’s identity and her missing foot. It leads him to an underworld of body part dealers and underground Goth clubs. The sense of reality Kamm evokes has been the mark of his first two novels, this one, and the one he’s working on. Another novel also deals with body parts. It’s Tessa Harris’ The Anatomist’s Apprentice ($15.00, Kensington, softcover), the first of a “Dr. Thomas Silkstone” mystery series. This novel is set in 18th century England that combines that historical setting with a forensic investigation of the death of Sir Edward Crick, late citizen of Oxfordshire. He was a dissolute young man, mourned only by his sister and, when her husband comes under suspicion of murder, she seeks the help of Dr. Silkstone, a pioneering forensic detective from Philadelphia. The author will make you familiar with the world of the laboratory, scalpels, dissections, and other elements that will keep anyone who enjoys today’s “CSI” television shows highly entertained.

Historical fiction has the advantage of being based on actual personalities and events. Erasmus: The Man Who Laid the Egg—Luther, the Man Who Hatched It by Barth Hoogstraten ($28.00, Two Harbors Press) examines the lives of this rivals of the Reformation Movement and how their personal debate nearly destroyed the Catholic Church, at the time the world’s greatest empire. It transports the reader back to the 16th century and tells of Erasmus’ effort to reform the Church from the inside, arguing his belief in humanism, and of Luther, a fellow priest and scholar, who thought the Church could not be reformed from the inside and had become so corrupt a new system of belief in Christianity had to replace it. Anyone who enjoys history and particularly this portion that transformed it will enjoy this chapter in which two brilliant and diverse minds eventually became adversaries in the greatest debate of that era.

I am at a loss to describe Blueprints of the Afterlife by Ryan Boudinot ($14.00, Black Cat, softcover) which is set in a future where the distinctions between nature, humanity and technology have all blurred. It is called absurdist fiction, satire, and no doubt a lot of other things. The author has been compared with Vonnegut and Barthelme, and praised by Tom Robbins, the author of “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” and other novels. It has been called “speculative madness” by Kirkus Reviews. It is, suffice to say, a very bizarre future and, if this kind of thing interests you, it will more than get the job done.

That’s it for February! Come back in March to learn about the new novels and non-fiction books, some of which will prove helpful while others will simply entertain. Tell your friends, family and co-workers about Bookviews.com.

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

Charles Murray, a scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, has written a number of books that have garnered both recognition and controversy. He’s back with another that is sure to do the same, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 ($27.00, Crown Forum). Murray has looked back, dating his conclusions from November 21, 1963 when the assassination of President Kennedy set the nation off in a new direction with Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” spending and the expansion of the Vietnam War. Murray, however, is interested in the values Americans shared then and the erosion of those shared values, along with the rapid pace of technological and other changes in society, has brought us to the point where the old class divisions have given way to a new, narrow “elite” of perhaps five percent of the population and everyone else. These are people, 25 and older, the children of the “Boomers” who arrived on the scene after World War Two. These are the people in management and the professions, those whose rise has depended on superior educations and just generally being smarter than others. At the top are those who have “risen to jobs that directly affect the nation’s culture, economy, and politics.” This book is not light reading, densely and thoroughly researched, and coming to conclusions about our society, our culture, and our future that do not bode well unless our former, nationally shared values can be renewed and restored.

In his book, American Nightmare, Randal O’Toole ($25.95, Cato Institute, softcover) says “The 2008 financial crisis was not caused by regulation, low interest rates, or other federal actions alone, but by the conflict between federal efforts to stimulate home ownership and state and local efforts to discourage single-family housing.” O’Toole argues that policies implemented by state and local governments to slow the supply of houses caused wild swings in housing prices. No doubt that urban growth policies and stringent zoning and land-use laws played a role, but the heart of the financial crisis was the purchase by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac of mortgages that were then “bundled” and sold as secure assets. Together they still own some 50% of all the mortgages in American and the “toxic” assets they created bankrupted investment houses and put banks at risk of insolvency. If this is a topic of interest to you, the book is surely food for thought.

Another phenomenon in American life has been the spontaneous movement called the Tea Party. We tend to forget it was a response against the passage of Obamacare. It has since evolved and had a significant affect on the 2010 elections, electing enough Republicans in the House of Representatives to give the party control and narrowing Democrat control of the Senate. Tea Party Patriots: The Second American Revolution by Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin ($23.00 Henry Holt and Company, softcover) tells the story of what may well be the most famous modern grassroots movement, a political force with which to reckon. It is composed of people who believe the federal government is increasingly out of control, over-regulating, borrowing and spending recklessly. If you believe power in America belongs to the people (the Constitution says it does), then this book will interest you with its long range plan for the future that applies to the government, the educational system, and even the entertainment media.

All In: The Education of General David Petraeus ($29.95, The Penguin Press) is a book for anyone trying to understand the Iraq war and our continued presence in Afghanistan, now the longest war in U.S. history. Written by Paula Broadway with Vernon Leob, it is by a woman who graduated with honors from West Point and knows the U.S. Army A-to-Z. She has had considerable access to the man who now is director of the CIA and who had an illustrious military career. Patraeus is the classic over-achiever, gifted with intelligence, the personality of a born leader, and a dedication to his nation. He wrote the Army manual on counter-insurgency and saved the Iraq war when former President Bush ordered the “surge”. He was put in command in Afghanistan by President Obama where his methods achieved a measure of success, but the real message of the book is that billions have been wasted on that effort. The sheer level of corruption there was and is a defeat for U.S. efforts. Much of this book will appeal to those who are interested in recent military history and the men charged with carrying out our campaigns in a region that defies modernization and democracy as we know it in the West. It is well written, well-researched, and a lesson about U.S. efforts since 9/11.

A book written by an environmentalist, David Owen, The Conundrum: How Scientific Innovation, Increased Efficiency, and Good Intentions Can Make Our Energy and Climate Problems Worse ($14.00, Riverhead Press, softcover) overtly and inadvertently exposes the failure of the environmental cult and the “solutions” it offers for things over which humans have no control, i.e., the climate and population. At its heart, Owen embraces environmental beliefs in manmade emissions of “greenhouse gases” that are believed to cause “global warming” when, in fact, the Earth’s atmosphere keeps it from being a desiccated version of Mars or the Moon. Carbon dioxide is the gas that is responsible for all vegetation on Earth and, without it, all animal life would die. Owen exposes the failure of environmental beliefs, ideas, and its desire to “transform” human behavior to “save the Earth” which requires no saving. While goals of clean air and clean water are laudable, a massive bureaucracy determined to require changes in our behavior and the destruction of our economy is not. For a quick look into the “greener than thou” mentality, this book is worth reading.

The gun invented by Samuel Colt is famed as the one that won the West. Later two gentlemen, Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson created some marvelous firearms. Now a book, Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun by Paul M. Barrett ($26.00, Crown Publishers) tells the story of the invention of the iconic handgun of modern times. In the 1980s, Gaston Glock, an obscure Austrian engineer, came up with an innovative design of a handgun, one with only 36 durable, interchangeable parts, and one that could fire 17 bullets without reloading. It has since become the handgun of choice for two-thirds of America’s law enforcement departments and countless handgun owners. It is an intriguing story of genius marketing, uncanny timing, and the glamour that came to be associated with the semi-automatic handgun, filled with political maneuvering, bloody shoot-outs, and even an attempt on the life of the inventor. In turbulent and dangerous times, it is a reminder that Founding Fathers understood the need for an armed citizens as a brake on a potentially tyrannical government. There’s a reason why, after guaranteeing freedom of speech, the press, religious practice, and free assembly in the First Amendment, the right to own and bear arms was the Second Amendment.

Rabbi Shumley Boteach has authored 27 books and his latest is Kosher Jesus ($26.00, Geffen Publishing House.) It is bound to stir controversy because Rabbi Boteach asserts that the biblical Jesus and the historical Jesus are quite different and the facts that can be known about the human Jesus cancel out the belief that he was also divine. This is, of course, the heart of Christianity which assigns divinity to Jesus, but Rabbi Boteach makes a strong case that the human Jesus was a charismatic rabbi in a time of tumult in Israel as Jews sought to throw off the occupation of the Roman Empire. Citing the gospels as well as the Torah and Talmud, Rabbi Boteach effectively demonstrates that the historical Jesus was preaching exclusively to Jews as a Jew. The New Testament that came about several decades after his crucifixion is the Christian sect’s effort to seek accommodation with the Romans and assign a divinity that no Jew of that time or the present would ever accept as anything other than a form of paganism. That said, the author argues for Jesus as a bridge between the two religions, both faced with an Islamism that threatens them. It is, to say the least, a thought-provoking book.

I love “fun” books, often collections of items that have become part of our national culture. Scandalous! 50 Shocking Events You Should Know About (So You Can Impress Your Friends ($13.99, Zest Books, softcover) fulfill this description with a timeline that begins in 1906 with the murder of famed architect Stanford White by his ex-lover’s rich husband and concludes with the drama of the 2000 Bush-Gore election that was decided by a Supreme Court verdict. The events are real and they made headlines for good reasons. Over the years I have edited Bookviews I have rarely included individual poets because it tends to bring a deluge of books by other poets. Poetry is a highly individual literary artform and I prefer anthologies with lots of different poems from which to select. Recently I received Night of the Republic by Alan Shapiro ($21.00, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). As a founding member of the National Book Critics Circle, I note that he was an award finalist and has won many awards for his work. Being a traditionalist, I like my poetry to rhyme and am reminded of Robert Frost’s definition of modern poetry as “playing tennis without the net.” Shapiro does not rhyme, but he brings a poet’s eye to his own life and life around him. His work reflects well on our republic.

Editorial Services

Are you writing a novel, a memoir, and any other kind of book or project? Need some mentoring and editing to ensure it comes out just right? If so, I recommend you visit http://www.ronmarr.com/ and access the experience and skills of a published author, a former journalist, and a skilled magazine writer who can help you produce something of which you can be proud. I have known Ron for years, have his books in my collection, and seen him guide many writers of varying skill levels toward the satisfaction of a job well done.

Pregnancy, Caring for the Ill, and other Health Issues

The 7th edition of Your Pregnancy Week by Week ($15.95, Da Capo Press, softcover) is now available. Co-authors, Dr. Glade Curtis, MD, and Judith Schuler, have written 18 books together over the years. Dr. Glade is board certified by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and this book has been updated to provide as comprehensive a body of information about pregnancy as you will find anywhere. Formatted in an weekly schedule, it covers all the questions and concerns that pregnancy involves, including a new appendix for couples having trouble conceiving. Not all pregnancies go smoothly and High-Risk Pregnancy—Why Me? Understanding and Managing a Potential Preterm Pregnancy is a medical and emotional guide by Kelly Whitehead with Dr. Vincenzo Berghella, MD ($26.95, Evolve Publishing, softcover). A scientist by training, the author was facing a high risk “preemie” pregnancy after the loss of her first child at nearly 23 weeks. She discovered there was a scarcity of information for women facing a similar situation and joined forces with Dr. Berghella, a specialist in fetal/maternal medicine. The objective was to write a book that the lay person could understand. An estimated 500,000 women in the U.S. encounter this and now there’s a book to guide them through to successful births. An interesting and disturbing book, Grade A Baby Eggs: An Infertility Memoir by Victoria Hopewell ($15.95, Epigraph Books, softcover) addresses the 7.3 million couples “whose eggs and sperm are not quite up to the task. Infertility is an existential slap in the face.” The author, a clinical psychologist who has held academic appointments at the medical schools of both Harvard and Cornell, reveals the truth about the in-vitro fertilization industry, “a wild-west baby business where women’s eggs are bought and sold over the Internet, and prices are based on everything from the donor’s SAT scores to how much you’re welling to pay to make sure your baby is technically Jewish.” The IVF attempts each year average more than $12,000 each “and it’s virtually unregulated” says the author. For anyone encountering this problem, this book must be read. It deserves wider media attention as well.

Walking on Eggshells: Caring for a Critically Ill Loved One ($14.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) by Amy Sales is filled with pragmatic advice and insightful self-assessments for caregivers. It advises what to say in difficult conversations, how to regain the patient’s sense of control, and new methods for self-care in order to bring their best to care-giving. This book addresses the unique needs of care-givens of parents, children, adult children, and spouses. It offers advice for care-givers who need to attend to their own health while providing for seriously ill loved ones. Anyone who has been through it will tell you it can be a difficult and daunting task. If you or someone you know is dealing with this, this book will prove invaluable. In April the Central Recovery Press of Las Vegas will publish When the Servant Becomes the Master by Dr. Jason Z.W. Powers, MD ($18.95, softcover) described as “a comprehensive addiction guide for those who suffer with the disease, the loved ones affected by it, and the professionals who assist them.” It covers a wide range of topics from what addiction is, its dynamics and neurochemistry; to drugs of abuse, treatment approaches and interventions, to relapse prevention. Not all addictions involve substance abuse. The book includes gambling, food, and sex addictions as well. Addiction is treated like a disease, not a moral failure. Colleagues have great praise for this book, noting that it is filled with relevant, clinically useful information that will help people understand addiction and take the right steps toward healing.

A Lethal Inheritance: A Mother Uncovers the Science Behind Three Generations of Mental Illness by Victoria Costello ($19, Prometheus Books, softcover) is part memoir, detective story, and scientific investigation as the author tells the story of the mental unraveling of her 17-year-old son compelled her to look back into her family history for clues to his condition. She traced it back to his great grandfather’s suicide in 1913, but that brought no relief because, within two years of Alex’s diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, both she and her youngest son succumbed to two different mental disorders, major depression and an anxiety disorder. After a struggle to secure the best mental health care for her sons and herself, they each achieved full recovery. In the process, she discovered new science that explains how clusters of mental illness traverse family generations. If this describes your family or one you know, this book provides needed information and insight, particularly now that it is known that mental illness can be passed or skip from generation to generation.

Love, Loss, and Laughter: Seeing Alzheimer’s Differently by Cathy Greenblat ($24.95, Globe Pequot Press) is a remarkable collection of photos and text by the author who documents that those receiving an emerging kind of care that treats the person, not just the “patient”, is a portrait of how Alzheimer’s can be dealt with effectively by sustaining their connections to others, to their own past lives, with a level of success higher than is generally believed at this time. The book has a foreword by Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, the daughter of movie star, Rita Hayworth, who had Alzheimer’s. “This book is not about the difficulties of dementia can cause, as some might expect. It is about the lives that continue in spite of it. It really is about seeing Alzheimer’s differently.” She is the president of Alzheimer’s Disease International and honorary vice chair of the Alzheimer’s Association (USA). The book is filled with excellent and inspiring advice for the families of those afflicted with this cruel disease. It’s photos are wonderful and it would make a great gift for anyone who is caring for a loved one.

Love, Love, Love

What kind of a world would it be without love? Dreadful! Much Ado About Loving: What our Favorite Novels can Teach you about Date Expectations, Not-so-Great Gatsbys, and Love in the Time of Internet Personals is one of those titles that pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the book. For lovers of fiction, Jack Murnighan and Maura Kelly ($19.99, Free Press) have gotten together to examine the vast body of literature with the view that there is much to be learned from the characters portrayed that can be applied to our own lives as we read about their foibles, misadventures, and eventual triumphs. The authors, relationship gurus, know that finding and keeping love is often tough for present-day folks who often turn to all manner of self-help books, daytime TV, magazines, friends, relatives and shrinks for guidance. This is a book about how to form relationships and make them work, using literature as signposts.

We know that fifty percent of marriages these days do not last, but Tiffany Current, the author of How to Move In With Your Boyfriend (and Not Break Up With Him) is of the opinion that living in sin ain’t what it used to be. She thinks that “shacking up” is almost a rite of passage with more couples living together than ever ($12.95, Hunter House, softcover). Let us note that Tiffany successfully navigated the perils of her live-in relationship and went on to marry the man who provided the fodder for her entertaining guidebook. She admits they got off to a rocky start and, as many couples discover, cleaning habits, house rules, and decorating tastes, and everything else can turn into an argument. She emphasizes communication, teamwork, and compromise to make a relationship work. It’s a witty and very sensible book that any girl should read.

Love for No Reason: 7 Steps to Creating a Life of Unconditional Love by Marci Shimoff ($15.00, Free Press), a bestseller, is now in softcover and has been hailed by Dr. Mehmet Oz, Jack Canfield, the co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and has a foreword by Marianne Williamson, all renowned in their own fields as relationship gurus. The best relationships in life are based on this principle and, if you are seeking to achieve it, this is the right place to begin. Then there is love at the end of life. When All That’s Left of Me is Love: A Daughter’s Story of Letting Go by Linda Campenella ($17.99, Tate Publishing, softcover) was published in August 2011, so I am reporting on it a bit belatedly, but its message is eternal and the memoir about learning her mother had terminal cancer will resonate with many who have had time to bid goodbye to a beloved parent while ensuring their last days would be filled with as much joy as possible. She made that last year count and those who are experiencing a similar situation, they should too.

Loving History

When it comes to reading, I love history and a number of excellent new books serve it well.

We are all taught about the Lewis and Clark expedition, commissioned by Thomas Jefferson, our third President. It did much to help open up the American West, at that time largely terra incognita to most who lived along the East Coast and in the South. Thomas C. Danisi has written a biography, Uncovering the Truth About Meriwether Lewis ($26.00, Prometheus Books), shedding light on the adventurous life and controversial death of this great explorer. Lewis encountered many difficulties in his life, suffering from incurable malaria for much of it, being court martialed at one point, enduring the challenges of the expedition, and either being murdered at the end or taking his own life.


The Civil War was the nation’s great trauma and continues generate many books on the subject. One of the latest is Decided on the Battlefield: Grant, Sherman, Lincoln and the Election of 1864 by David Alan Johnson ($27.00, Prometheus Books). The critical election for Lincoln’s reelection is the focus as the war had dragged on for more than three years with no end in sight. Lincoln was being challenged by George B. McClellen and he needed a victory to lift the voter’s spirits. It was the battles of Generals Grant and Sherman that made that possible and, in particular, the conquest of Atlanta. Lincoln would be reelected with a majority of 400,000 votes. The war would continue for five months before the South surrendered and the republic was reunited. This is a very interesting book on many levels and well worth reading. The South, of course, has its own version of the Civil War and it is served up by Leonard M. Scruggs in The Uncivil War: Shattering the Historical Myths ($16.95 plus $2.95 shipping, Universal Media, Inc., softcover). For southerners and others who pursue this chapter of our history, there is much they will find of interest in this book. For the South, the issue was state’s rights and the U.S. Constitution which they replicated in large part for the Confederacy. The war’s casualties were nothing less than astonishing. Its conduct was brutal.

Another brutal conflict occurred when Egyptians revolted against the decades of dictatorship of Hosni Mubarack and the military that backed him. Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People is Greater Than the People in Power by Wael Ghonim ($26.00, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) tells the story of the author’s anonymous launch of a Facebook page in 2010 to protest the death of an Egyptian man at the hands of the security forces. The page’s followers quickly expanded and, on January 14, 2011, it made history when more than 350,000 friends clamored to join and a revolution was declared. Ghonim was captured and held for twelve days of brutal interrogation. This is a remarkable story of how the modern communications technology of social networking on the Internet sparked a revolution and what came to be called the Arab Spring.

A much lighter topic is the subject of The Persian Room Presents: An Oral History of New York’s Most Magical Night Spot by Patty Farmer ($28.95, Vantage Press) which tells the story of this famed gathering place for the glitterati and visitors to the city. For more than forty years, from 1934 to 1975, the Persian Room showcased an unparalleled array of performers and many of them recall it. Among its contributors are Andy Williams, Polly Bergen, Diahann Carroll, Carol Lawrence, and others. It is filled with show business stories of the famous entertainers and other figures of that era. It is a wonderful remembrance of a past time of glamour and talent.

Kid’s Books, Younger Readers

The next time you’re feeling blue, if you have a pre-schooler, one in grade school, buy a book for their age group and watch how much fun it is to read it together. For pre-teens, sometimes called “tweens”, there are some excellent new books as well.

You can never go wrong with a published called Kids Can Press. They have some of the most imaginative books for both age groups. When I read the ones for the very young, I find myself laughing just like one of them!

Dear Flyary, as in “diary”, by Dianne Young and illustrated by John Martz ($16.95) is a hoot! It involves a kid from another galaxy who gets bright, new red spaceship and all problems that ensue when it begins to make strange noises, not unlike cars do on occasion. The fun is in the language of the story which is a space-talk version of English and very amusing. This one is for the very young up to around five. Also for this age group is Larf, written and illustrated by Ashley Spires ($16.95) about a hairy, seven-foot-tall vegetarian Sasquatch who is quite content to live alone with his pet bunny, Eric. Thinking he is the only Sasquatch, when he reads that another Sasquatch will be at a nearby town, he decides to go. He disguises himself (which is not easy for a Sasquatch to do) but it turns out it’s just some guy in a costume. Fate intervenes in the form of Shurl, a girl Sasquatch—also disguised—who he invites for supper. A happy ending is expected. A Hen for Izzy Pippik, written by Aubrey Davis and beautifully illustrated by Marie Lafrance ($16.95) has the feel of a Yiddish tale from former times. When a chicken turns up on Shaina’s doorstop, she tries to return him to her owner, Mr. Pippik, but he’s no where to be found. As time goes alone, more chicks are born until they are everywhere in the town. The townspeople discover that the chickens were so popular that business began to boom as people came from all around to see them. When Mr. Pippik turns up, he decides to give them all to the town. Roosters crowed. Children cheered. Hens cackled with glee! Virginia Wolf by Kyo Maclear and Isabelle Arsenault ($16.96) is not about the famed author—spelled Woolf—but rather the sister of Vanessa who has awakened in a foul mood, like an angry wolf. Cheering her up is the task before Vanessa and this is the story of how she did it.

On a more serious and educational note, there’s Faith: Five Religions and What They Share by Dr. Richard Steckel and Michele Steckel ($17.95) and provides a brief description of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. There are chapters on the cultural aspects of each such as their houses of worship. For ages six to ten or so, this book provides an look at the way various people pursue their religious lives. Get Outside: The Kids Guide to Fun in the Great Outdoors ($16.95) is written y Jane Drake and Ann Love, and illustrated by Heather Collins. It is filled with activity that will put kids in touch with life beyond computer games and television, from building a birdhouse, making a tire swing, planting a garden, and much more. When I was a child, we were outdoors all the time and I would recommend this one to today’s parents.

Early readers, aged seven to ten or so, will enjoy three stories that include Jasper John Dooley: Star of the Week by Caroline Adderson with illustrations by Ben Clanton ($15.95). These are books where the story is the main attraction. This book is the first of a series about Jasper, a quirky and enthusiastic boy with an offbeat view of the world. Young readers will find much to laugh about when they read this one. Lower the Trap: The Lobster Chronicles 1 by Jessica Scott Kerrin ($15.95) tells of a gargantuan lobster caught by the main character’s father and the adventures that result. It’s a delightful introduction to lives devoted to the bounty of the sea. Finally, there’s The Island Horse by Susan Hughes ($16.95) It is a wonderful story of a girl who has to move to Sable Island off the coast of Nova Scotia, but home to wild horses. While Ellie loves horses, she is not happy to leave her little village. Once there, however, she forms a friendship with a beautiful chocolate-colored horse, but will he and his herd be taken away? These three books are a great introduction to the fun of reading.

Novels, Novels, Novels

The flood of novels continues and, happily, there are a number of very good ones worth recommending.

For those who love stories involving America’s intelligence services, The Right Guard by Alexandra Hamlet ($24.95, Foxboro Press, Annapolis, MD) is going to prove a suspenseful and satisfying story with ramifications of present times. Set in 1978, it reflects the present political and economic climate of the United States. Recall that Jimmy Carter was still president and the Iranian hostage taking of our diplomats was still a year away. When more than one million military weapons and equipment are missing from U.S. military inventories across the nation, CIA operatives struggle to find out who is involved in a secretive, “phantom” group hostile to a wildly spending, intrusive U.S. administration. The action is set against the world of intelligence and defense in the 1970s and chapters often begin with actual newspaper articles relating to the topics that are contained in the novel. This is the author’s debut novel and one can only hope she has another on the way.

Before the Poison ($25.99, William Morrow) by Peter Robinson is an old-fashioned thriller about a composer, Chris Lowndes, who leaves California after twenty-five years there writing musical scores for films. He has decided to return to the Yorkshire dales in England where he has bought, sight-unseen, a big, old, remote mansion. Turns out that his realtor neglected to mention that it was the scene of a murder in 1953 and Grace Fox, the wife of the victim was hanged for having poisoned him. Intrigued, the more he learns about the case, the more convinced he becomes that she was innocent. Despite warnings, he digs into it and you will dig into this mystery too. A thriller by Aric Davis, A Good and Useful Hurt, ($14.95, 47North, Las Vegas, softcover) features a tattoo artist who uses the ashes of the customer’s loved ones in their tattoos. The author is himself a tattoo artist who works at a popular parlor in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the novel his fictional tattoo artist is on a collision course with a serial killer. As more requests for similar tattoos commemorating a lost one, his life begins to spin out of control when Deb, another tattooist, joins his firm and a romance ensues. This is a complex story worth reading. In a Long Drive Home by Will Allison ($14.00, Free Press, softcover) a single impulsive act leads to unintended consequences. When Glenn Bauer jerks his steering wheel to scare a reckless driver, it results in a crash that kills the driver. Realizing that he is the only witness to the accident—as well as the likely cause—he begins to lie to the police, his wife, and even his six-year-old daughter. When his wife panics with the potential of punishment, he begins to wonder if he did cause the crash. This novel is an exploration of culpability.

Everybody Says Hello by Michael Kun ($30.00, Livingston Press, University of West Alabama, softcover) is about someone we all know. In this novel it’s Sid Straw and his correspondence, and it reveals a man who is a good and decent person, but one for whom things just always take a wrong turn. He comes close to a right decision, but then swerves into a wrong one. Sid tries too hard, says a little too much, makes that extra effort that proves his undoing. If he could get out of his own way, his life was be so much better. This novel draws you into his life and is written by an author whose work has been well received over the past two decades. Welcome to the world of Sid Straw. The South has given us many fine novelists and has his own distinct culture. In The Lost Saints of Tennessee ($25.00, Atlantic Monthly Press), Amy Franklin-Willis mines the fault lines in one Southern working class family as it moves from the 1940s to the 1980s. It revolves around Ezekiel Cooper and his mother, Lillian. As the saying goes, if Zeke didn’t have bad luck, he wouldn’t have any luck at all. He loses his twin brother to a mysterious drowning and his wife to divorce. Only the ghosts remain for him in Clayton, Tennessee and he decides to leave and, in doing so, leaves behind two adolescent daughters and his estranged mother, herself a figure of sadness too, hoping to save what remains of her family. Zeke finds refuge with sympathetic cousins in Virginia’s horse country until he must decide whether to cling to the past or to move on. This novel is the real deal. In The Union Quilters ($15.00, Plume, softcover) Jennifer Chiaverini takes us back to the days of the Civil War with a story that addresses the challenges faced by women left behind when their men answered the call to arms and as they dealt with southern sympathizers as well as the many ethical questions the war raised. An informal group of women come together for comfort and support in a deeply moving story of an era fraught with conflict.

The Pacific Northwest is the setting for an historically based novel, Bring Me One of Everything ($16.95, Grey Swan Press, softcover) by Leslie Hall Pinder. Twenty-five years ago this Canadian writer debuted with her first novel to much critical acclaim. Four years later her second novel was published and now, twenty years later she returns after devoting herself to being an attorney protecting the rights of indigenous people. The result infuses this novel with her knowledge of native rituals and practices. An anthropologist, Austin Hart, who was charged by the Smithsonian to “bring me one of everything”, he was responsible in the 1950s for bringing the last of the totem poles of the Haida tribes who inhabit the Queen Charlotte islands in British Columbia. Now Alicia Purcell has been commissioned to create the libretto for an opera about him. The fusion of both their lives and the conflicts within her life are the heart of this remarkable novel.

For those who love an epic story, Jack Whyte has authored The Forest Land ($25.95, Forge) based on the life of the heroic figure of Scotland’s William Wallace. It is the first in his “Guardian’s trilogy” that will include the fight for Scotland’s freedom by Robert the Bruce and Sir James (the Black) Douglas. This is history writ large and in a fashion that will please anyone who loves the great battles of the past and the men who led them.

That’s it for March. So much to read and enjoy. So much more to come. Tell your family and friends about Bookviews.com so they too can have their lives enriched by the fiction and non-fiction that light up the dark places of our heart and illuminate our lives with their stories. Come back in April!

by Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

I love reading history and for anyone trying to figure out the trends occurring worldwide there is no better way of understanding what is occurring now. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson ($30.00, Crown) addresses and answers questions that have stumped the experts for centuries. Acemoglu is the Killian Professor of Economics at MIT and Robinson is a political scientists and economist, an expert on Latin America and Africa, teaches at Harvard. The book is a hefty tome, but reads smoothly as the authors explore why some nations are wealthy and others are poor. One example is the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Some nations have had several revolutions without any real change in the way they are governed. Egypt is such an example. The authors address the question of whether America’s best days are behind it and whether China authoritarian growth machine is sustainable. Without giving away any secrets, the answer to the question of growth and failure is freedom. Put this book on your reading list this year. Charles Goyette has written Red and Blue and Broke All Over: Restoring America’s Free Economy ($25.95, Sentinel, an imprint of the Penguin Group) takes a look at our present crisis from a libertarian point of view and, not surprisingly concludes that the increasing size of government, crony capitalism, and too much spending has brought us to the brink of a financial crisis even greater than what occurred in 2008. It is a thought-provoking book and very timely. Sometimes you cannot improve on an author’s own description of what he has written. I am a fan of James D. Best’s novels based on the old West and the early days of the American Republic, so I was not surprised that he turned his hand to non-fiction to write Principled Action: Lessons from the Origins of the American Republic ($13.95, Wheatmark, Tucson, AZ, softcover). “Prior to 1776, world history was primarily written about kings and emperors. The American experiment shook the world. Not only did the colonies break away from the biggest and most powerful empire in history, they took the musings of the brightest thinkers of the Enlightenment and implemented them. The Founding of the United States was simultaneously an armed rebellion against tyranny and a revolution of ideas-ideas that changed the course of world history. Principled Action shows how the Founders built this great nation with sacrifice, courage, and steadfast principles.” There is no more important time in our present times to learn the how and why of the founding of our great republic. This highly readable book is a very good place to start.

I keep wondering if it is going to take another 9/11 for Americans to wake up to the threat of Islamo-fascism that exists within our very midst? Peter Feaman has written The Next Nightmare: How Political Correctness Will Destroy America ($14.99, Dunham Books, softcover) with a foreword by Congressman Allan West. It is a short read, but it is one that makes clear how the failure to recognize the spread of Islamic fanaticism within the nation continues to pose a threat to our society, noting how the number of mosques has gone from around fifty after World War II to more than 1,200 today and that many, if not most, are centers for radical Islamism, including recruiting efforts inside America’s prison population. How Americans cannot witness the assault by Muslim communities on European nations and not understand that it can and will happen here is suicidal. Put this one on your reading list! Of course, not all Muslims are plotting terrorism and Irshad Manji’s book, Allah, Liberty and Love: The Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom ($16.00, Free Press, softcover) reveals how, within Islam, many of its faithful are yearning for a reformation and greater tolerance of other faiths. The author gained notice with her bestselling book, “The Trouble With Islam Today”, and she makes her case for the need for change. She teaches “moral courage” and that is necessary for change from within and for the willingness to speak out against the imposition of Sharia law by terrorism that intimidates its victims and encourages its perpetrators. The United States has had a long history of dealing with the Middle East dating back to President Thomas Jefferson’s decision to respond to attacks on American ships by Barbary pirates (“to the shores of Tripoli”). In 1866, American missionaries founded a small college in Beirut, Lebanon that would later be renamed the American University of Beirut. Under the leadership of four generations of the Bliss and Dodge families, it became an influential institution of higher learning. It’s story is told in American Sheikhs by Brian VanDeMark ($25.00, Prometheus Books). Far more than just a family saga, it is the story of how the university graduated countless leaders, legislators, ambassadors, educators, scientists, doctors and businessmen whose lives and accomplishments played a significant role in the modern history of the Middle East. Anyone who loves to read history will enjoy this book.

Just out this month is the second edition of a terrific compendium of facts, The Handy Religion Answer Book by John Renard, PhD, ($21.95, Visible Ink, softcover) that provides a world of facts about the different faiths; what people believe and how their faith profoundly influences the way they act. It provides descriptions of major beliefs and rituals worldwide. This publisher also offers"The Handy Science Answer Book ($21.95) now in its fourth edition. These books are treasuries of knowledge that will make you the smartest, best informed person in the room! For folks who like to find a lot of information in one spot, there’s International Affairs by Davis K. Thanjan ($22.95, Bookstand Publishing, Morgan Hill, CA, softcover). Nation by nation, the author has accumulated the most recent information with an emphasis of U.S. foreign policy and foreign relations. The result is a quick, short analysis of each nation’s economic and strategic importance in relationship to U.S. interests. It is a prodigious piece of research that puts the data at your fingertips and for anyone who wants to understand America’s position in the world today, it is filled with insights that would require tons of research that, happily, the author has done for you..

This is a political year and there are some 600,000 public offices up for election throughout the nation. Though it is not widely known, the majority of Americans self-identify as politically conservative. For them Craig Copland has written the 2012 Conservative Election Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Elect Conservatives from Dog Catcher to President ($14.95, available in various e-reader formats at www.conservawiki.com and elsewhere). This is an excellent book that covers all aspects of planning, running, and winning an election. (It’s even available for free if you are a conservative running for office.) While its purpose is to elect conservatives, this book is so thorough that, it must be said, a liberal candidate would benefit just as much from it. I have seen a number of such books over the years and this qualifies as one of the best.

Animal lovers, particularly of horses, will love The Rescue of Belle & Sundance: One Town’s Incredible Race to Save Two Abandoned Horses by Birgit Stutz and Lawrence Scanlan ($22.00,Da Capo Press.) The horses had been abandoned on Mount Renshaw in Canada’s British Columbia province. Everything was fine until winter set in at which point a four-person effort to save them turned into a village-wide, week-long mission to dig a path off the mountain through six feet or more of snow to create an 18-mile descent to safety. It is a delightful story that is well worth reading. In December of last year I recommended The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe by Theodore Gray. It was rather pricey in its hardcover edition, but now for those who love science and learning, it is available in softcover for $19.95 (Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers) offering gorgeous photos of the 118 elements in the periodic table, packed with information about the building blocks of the universe. This is the kind of book that, in the hands of a young or old exploring mind, opens entire new vistas to our world, stimulating one’s sense of wonder.

Like everyone else, I like to dress fashionably and, frankly, have not given it much thought. Jessica Wolfendale and Jeanette Kennett have and the result is an interesting book, Fashion—Philosophy for Everyone ($19.95, Wiley-Blackwell, softcover). This is not one of your usual fashion books on what’s hot and what’s not. It is a serious look at the subject by two scholars, an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at West Virginia University and a Professor of Moral Psychology at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Together they explore the strong connection between fashion and the aesthetic of an era, the difference between the servile and sensible fashionista, the politics of individual style and fashion choices, and much more. It is a book for the intellectual fashionista and, believe it or not, a lot of fun to read. What I know about woman’s fashion you could put in a bug’s ear, but fortunately Dr. Jennifer Baumgartner, a practicing clinical psychologist and wardrobe consultant has written a book to help the fashion-challenged in time for the new spring line. You Are What You Wear: What Your Clothes Reveal About You ($16.00, Da Capo Press, softcover) provides insights into the way your choices reflect inner struggles, fears, desires and dream. Her book’s nine chapters diagnose nine distinct shopping complaints and wardrobe mistakes from failing to dress one’s age to being a slave to labels. For anyone who approaches the purchase of new clothes either buying and spending too much or with a certain sense of dread, this is definitely the book to read!

Memoirs, Biographies, Lives

Reading about other people’s lives, whether they are famous or just sharing their experiences, is one of the best ways to understand your own life. A number of books fit that description this month.

One of the delights of my youth were the Saturday matinees where one could see movies starring cowboys like Roy Rogers and his wife Dale Evans, both of whom transitioned to television. Roy was in the tradition of singing cowboy and had a long career. He and Dale had thousands of fans and Tricia Spencer was among them. She has written a delightful book, The Touch of Roy and Dale ($21.95, West Quest, softcover) subtitled, “The impact and influence of Roy Rogers, the King of the Cowboys, and Dale Evans, the Queen of the West, as Only Their Fans Could Tell It.” In the 1990s She acquired a treasure of 40,000 pieces of fan mail from the Rogers estate and draws on them and the collected recollections and essays of their children, family friends, and western silver screen stars and others emerge a picture of a couple who lived their Christian faith. The book is greatly enhanced by many photos from their lives. Roy and Dale left behind a great legacy, including their non-profit charity, The Happy Trails Foundation, that can be enjoyed in this wonderful book.

Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul by Mark Bego ($16.95, Skyhorse publishing, softcover) will surely please her fans. She celebrated her 70th birthday in March and the author, one of the best popular culture biographers around, has provided a no-holds-barred look at this extraordinary talent. I was surprised to learn she recorded her first album at age 14 and found stardom in her twenties. It has not been an easy life. She had two teen pregnancies and an abusive marriage, plus drinking problems, and battles with her weight. Then there was the murder of her father, so fabled as her singing career has been, she has had her share of troubles. In the end, it will be her career that people will remember her for, but for those who want to know about the rest, this book will fill in the gaps. Another singer/song writer who left his mark on American culture was Woody Guthrie and Robert Santelli, executive director of the Grammy Museum, has written a homage to him in This Land is Your Land ($24.00, Running Press). This large format book is a definitive Guthrie biography, filled with the kind of information that often comes as a surprise. Among his numerous friendships, for example, were John Steinbeck, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan. Guthrie is remembered for his advocacy for the working man and it was a part of all his music. His travels throughout the nation inspired much of it. Any fan of folk music will want to add this book to their library.

The story of four remarkable sisters is told in Sisters of Fortune: America’s Caton Sisters at Home and Abroad by Jane Wake ($16.99, Touchstone, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, softcover) reads like a Jane Austen novel, but they were real life women, daughters born to wealth in nineteenth century America, arguably the first American heiress. There was Marianne, a soul-mate to the Duke of Wellington; Bess who was a wizard at the stock market and successful speculator; Louisa who became the first American duchess and was a friend of the Queen; and Emily who stayed home in America, marrying a Scots-Canadian fur trader, remaining her sister’s lifeline to their childhood home and family life.

For lovers of history, Westholme Publishing of Yardley, PA, is a treasure of excellent books. Due out officially in May is The Final Mission by Elizabeth Hoban and Lt. Col. Henry Supchack ($24.95) about a mission in July 1944 that the Colonel was flying in his B-17 when it was hit by antiaircraft fire. As the plane was going down, he realized it was on a collision course with an Austrian village and managed to steer it away before escaping the craft. He would later be liberated by Patton’s Third Army in 1945. Years later, little did he know that a world away, an Austrian entrepreneur was searching for the pilot that had fallen out of the sky and whom he had never forgotten. This is an inspiring story of forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing from the devastation of war. Click on www.westholmepublishing.com to check out a number of interesting books drawn from history that are well worth reading.

The Book of Drugs, a Memoir is Mike Doughty’s account ($16.00, Da Capo Press, softcover) of a life that could have been wasted in addictions to drugs and alcohol, but which he escaped after several close calls with death convinced him he had to get sober. In a music career that included a 90s rock group, Doughty began to make a name for himself, but his addictions stole the joy from the fame that came his way. When Dave Matthews signed him to his label, ATO Records, he realized he had been given a second change to redeem himself and his music. He has stayed sober for more than eleven years and this story will interest those who following the contemporary music scene and who will enjoy a look behind the spotlights and glamour. There may be no more frightening experience than to be falsely accused of a crime and been found guilty in a court of law. That was the experience of Gloria Killian, a law student who spent 16 years in prison for a murder she did not commit. Her story is told in Full Circle: A True Story of Murder, Lies and Vindication by Gloria and journalist Sandra Kobrin ($24.95, New Horizon Press) and just out this month. After ten years in prison, massive exculpatory evidence, hidden evidence, and prosecutorial misconduct and perjury was found and ultimately led to her release. During her years of incarceration, she became an advocate for others who were unjustly convicted and for the humane treatment of women prisoners. What happened to her could happen to anyone and her book is a riveting story of injustice and redemption.

A very different story is told in The Sorcerer’s Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adria’s Elbulli ($16.00, Free Press, softcover) by Lisa Abend. Available at last in softcover, the author was given extraordinary access to a famed chef and his restaurant; one elected the best restaurant five times before it made international headlines when it closed in 2011. Here is a look behind the scenes where culinary magic is created and how he trained a new generation of chefs as they struggle to master the long hours, the techniques, and the tensions evoked. For “foodies”, it is a grand read.

To Your Health!

There are so many books that address various aspects of one’s health that there is hardly any condition that does not deal with a problem shared by others.

Paintracking: Your Personal Guide to Living Well with Chronic Pain by Deborah Barrett ($20.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) is a perfect example. Millions of people suffer from debilitating chronic pain from arthritis, fibromyalgia, low back pain, chronic headache syndromes, neuropathies and other painful conditions. This book offers a hands-on approach to improving life with chronic pain, whatever its underlying cause. The author is a psychotherapist and sociologist with firsthand experience. She provides a systematic method to empower individuals with the ability to navigate the often overwhelming array of treatment options in order to incorporate the most effective ones into their lives. The same publisher also offers Choosing Cesarean: A Natural Birth Plan by Dr. Magnus Murphy, MD, and Pauline McDonaugh Hull ($21.00, Prometheus Books, softcover). Cesarean delivery is often portrayed as an emergency procedure when a woman cannot deliver naturally, but the authors argue that these attitudes are misguided. While not promoting planned cesarean delivery as the best or safest option for all women the authors make a case for it as an option. Written in accessible, jargon-free language with a glossary of medical terms, it is a very useful guide for women, their families, and medical professionals as well.

Freeing Yourself from Anxiety: 4 Simple Steps to Overcome Worry and Create the Life You Want by Tamar Chansky, PhD ($16.00, Da Capo Press, softcover) is one of those titles that says it all. It is written for everyone, not just for those struggling with anxiety disorders or depression. She explores how one can change negative thoughts to achieve a more rational way of seeing oneself and the world, using real life examples of the way fear of criticism, procrastination, perfectionism and other ways people encounter and foster anxiety in their lives. If this problem is one in your own or the life of someone else you know this book will prove a life-changing experience. Harness Your Dark Side: Mastering Jealousy, Rage, Frustration and other Negative Emotions is the subject of Al Graves’ new book ($14.95, New Horizon Press, softcover). The author is a licensed psychologist, a PhD who addresses how we can stop being so hard on ourselves, providing strategies and techniques to confront the negative drives, deep-rooted incorrect beliefs, and troubled feelings that make up our dark sides. He offers therapeutic self-help exercises and strategies to living well by becoming aware of our emotions. Our prisons are filled with people who failed to do so and our lives are often stunted by our own failure to harness our feelings. This is the first step to real self-help for many people. New Horizon Press has many self-help books worth checking out at www.newhorizonpress.com.

Why Is Brian So Fat? We all know examples of some child, often dealing with a dysfunctional family, who turns to eating as a way to avoid dealing with his feelings. Gary Solomon, PhD knows whereof his speaks ($14.95, Central Recovery Press) and that is why he has written a book for youngsters aged 8 to 14, along with families dealing with overeating issues, as well as teachers and other professionals trying to help such youngsters. Due out officially in May, the book focuses on a young boy’s feelings and what changed his life so that he could get in touch with those feelings. There are very few books that address the subject of overeating and the resulting obesity. It includes a list of websites that children and adults can access to learn more about it. Written in a friendly and welcoming tone, young readers will instantly relate to Brian.

What’s Cooking?

My mother taught the fine art of gourmet cuisine for more than three decades, so we had a lot of cookbooks in our home. They ranged from inspired and gorgeous to useful and practical. I tend to look at cookbooks with a practiced eye.

These days there are all sorts of crazes about food with everyone telling everyone else they’re too fat, eating too much the wrong thing, will surely die from fast food, et cetera. Eating in moderation is the key to good health and, after that, eat the main course before you treat yourself to dessert, okay? I was reminded of these time-tested truths while reading Shirley Law Jacobus’ We’re Eating What? It is “a memoir, recipes, and how-to-guide from America’s longest-running gourmet group” ($24.95, Publish America, softcover) that truly lives up to its title. The author invites the reader into her life and the lives of a group of people who loved to prepare and taste new foods. For anyone who shares this enthusiasm, the book will read like an old friend who is sharing favorite recipes and memories of good times together with friends. It is offbeat and a lot of fun.

We tend to associate cookbooks with countries like France and Italy, but Poland, that’s unique. Of course, every nation and group has its own particular cuisine and getting to know about it is part of the fun. Rose Petal Jam by Beata Zatorska and Simon Target ($35.00, Tabula Books) is a real treat as Ms. Zatorska shares memories of learning to make rose petal jam, pierogi, and other Polish recipes in the kitchen of her grandmother’s farmhouse in a remote village in the foothills of the Karkonosze Mountains where she grew up in the 1960s and 1970s. Accompanied by her husband, Simon, Beata spent a summer exploring her home country in what became a culinary journey as well. The book is beautifully and lavishly illustrated with hundreds of full color photographs of the recipes, the countryside, and the main cities, Warsaw, Gdansk and Krakow. You will want to try your hands at beetroot-shoot soup, cabbage rolls, beef goulash, apple pancakes, Carpathian vanilla torte and, of course, rose petal jam.

I confess I have never understood why anyone would give up meat, pork, fish or any other animal worth eating to pursue a vegan lifestyle. A lot of people, however, must be doing this because there are three vegan cookbooks on my desk. Chloe’s Kitchen: 125 Easy, Delicious Recipes for Making the Food You love the Vegan Way by Chloe Coscarelli ($18.99, Free Press, softcover) lives up to its title by this TV personality. The book’s foreword by Dr. Neal D. Barnard explains how a vegan diet can help you lose weight, reduce cholesterol, and deal with diseases. The author demonstrates that vegan cooking need not be bland, visually unappetizing and mostly just sprouts. Fact is, the photos will make your mouth water. Da Capo Press is a major publisher of books about the vegan lifestyle and two of its latest titles are Gluten-Free Vegan Comfort Food by Susan O’Brien ($18.00, softcover) and Let Them Eat Vegan! ($20.00, softcover) by Dreena Burton, a hefty book with 200 recipes while the “gluten” book offers 125. Ms. Burton has authored two previous books of vegan recipes while Ms. O’Brien wears a number of hats as a food-management consultant.

Getting Down to Business

The way the Internet has changed doing business so swiftly that a new book, The Age of the Platform by Phil Simon ($19.95, Motion Publishing, Las Vegas, NV, softcover) will prove a very useful way to make sense and take advantage of it. It is subtitled “How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google Have Redefined Business” and Simon, a technology expert, shows how these companies have pioneered an entirely new business model based on a model that other businesses, large and small, should adopt if they want to thrive in the years ahead. The key has been their ability to secure passionate users, adapt quickly to change, embrace risk-taking and experimentation, continually add valuable planks—products, services or user communities, and integrate multiple devices, websites, and services under one umbrella. It is a treasure trove of information that can help any enterprise grow.

Earn What You’re Really Worth by Brian Tracy ($25.99, Vanguard Press) is a practical program for getting to the top for today’s businessperson. Whether you work at an entry level position or aspire to the corner office, this book is about working smarter, gaining respect, and earning more. There’s a lot of pressure on everyone these days of high unemployment to either keep or secure a job. The author offers tested strategies for modern career advancement for employees who are undervalued by their companies, people in job transition situations, students who are entering the workforce, and, of course, those who are unemployed. It is a combination of a motivational book with one that provides insights to today’s workplace. Due out next month, the author of The 3 Power Values: How Commitment, Integrity, and Transparency Clear the Roadblocks to Performance ($32.95, Jossey-Bass) by David Gebler examines how the culture of the workplace can harm any business venture and why it is necessary to spot the signs that it is harming growth. He points to troubling shop talk that suggests workers believe they are just cogs in a machine, are working under a cloud of fear, and simply in a survival mode. This can happen to any company and can lead to costly problems when safety procedures are ignored or internal scandals occur. Removing roadblocks like inconsistent policies and bad managerial attitudes keep employees from applying the right values to their jobs. It is filled with good advice to keep everyone happy, motivated, and on the right track so that everyone enjoys the feeling of success. Snap: Seizing Your Aha! Moments by Katherine Ramsland ($25.00, Prometheus Books) is not just about business, but it surely applies in that area. The author examines how sudden flashes of inspiration have triggered many discoveries and inventions throughout history, offering a fascinating overview of the latest neuroscience thought processes or “snaps.” She explains that snaps are much more than new ideas. They are insights plus momentum, often occurring after ordinary problem solving hits an impasse. When the brain “reboots”, the solution can suddenly pop into our heads. Written in an accessible, jargon-free narrative, it can jump-start your problem solving skills.

If money is the root of all evil, than many of us are rooting for it! David Walman takes us on a journey, The End of Money: Counterfeiters, Preachers, Technies, Dreamers—and the Coming Cashless Society ($25.00, Da Capo Press) in which he explores what the world would be like without cash, giving the reader a crash course on the rise and fall of physical money, beginning with Marco Polo’s fascinating with the paper notes who saw circulating in China, then taking a look at the gold standard and the ascent of national currencies. In our rapidly changing, technologically advanced world, people around the world are embracing new ways of replacing the local bank with a cell phone apt. It is an interesting look at the way the exchange of money has changed over the years and what it is likely to be in the future.

Novels, Novels, Novels

Douglas Wilson likes to write books. He has authored over thirty on a variety of topics. As the pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, he brings his experience and deft wit to bear in a satirical novel called Evangellyfish ($21.00, Canon Press) about the slow-motion collapse of the fictional Chad Lester’s Midwest megachurch. As the head pastor of Camel Creek, Lester is riding high as thousands gather every Sunday to hear him preach, others hear him via the airwaves, and his books are read by millions (often before he reads them himself.) Then Lester is accused of molesting a young male counselee and everything starts to come unglued. This is a gripping novel about sex, scandal, and hypocrisy in contemporary church culture. You will laugh, get angry, and laugh some more, but you will not be bored.

The gospels of the New Testament get a re-write in Kristen Wolf’s audacious novel about Jesus, The Way ($25.00, Crown Publishers) told through the experiences of a tomboy, Anna, who is disguised as a boy and sold to a band of shepherds and then captured by a secret society of women hiding in the desert. Instead of running away she embraces their teachings and healing abilities they call “the Way.” And along the way she crosses paths with Jesus and with a “magician” who uses accomplices to simulate healing and make his living from the money the crowds give him. The actual events portrayed mingle with the fictional ones she creates as she relates life in ancient Israel devoted to an omnipotent male deity and the powerful Roman occupiers. Both the old Testament and New celebrate the role of women and this novel brings a perspective that many will find challenging and fascinating.

If the stacks of novels in my office suggest anything, it is that lots of women are writing them these days insofar as most of those I have received of late are by women. One that stands out is Glow by Jessica Maria Tuccelli ($25.95, Viking) and though it debuted just last month it is already collecting rave reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist to name just two. It involves six generations of a family that evolve through deep-rooted ethnicity, family secrets, and the land they believe is theirs. It begins in 1941 when Amelia McGee, a young woman of Cherokee and Scotch-Irish descent, active in the NAACP, hastily puts her young daughter, Ella, on a bus to Georgia. What follows is a story told in five voices, rich in the history that preceded Ella, reflecting the society and politics of the South. Having lived in Georgia in the 1960s, the novel had a familiar to it and rings true. Also from Viking is a completely different and often quite daffy family story, A Surrey State of Affairs by Ceri Radford ($25.95), who assumed the character of a 53-year-old meddling mother, Constance Harding, to blog a satire of the conservative, middle class values of England’s “Home Counties” for the Daily Telegraph. Expanded into a novel, Constance, long oblivious to much of what has been going on around her, including a scandal involving her husband, a daughter who’s become a bit of a strumpet, and a son who will not settle into a proper Surrey lifestyle. You don’t have to be British to get a kick out of how the blinds fall from Constance’s eyes or how she copes.

Among the softcover novels is Gothic Spring by Caroline Miller, her second novel, ($15.95, Koho Pono). Victorine Ellsworth knows something about the death of the vicar’s wife…but what? Is she the killer? Or the next victim? It is a journey into a mind that is unraveling. She is a young woman poised at the edge of sexual awakening and cursed with more talent and imagination than society will tolerate. The conflict between her desire and the restrictions that rule her life lead to tragic circumstances arising out of the death of the vicar’s wife. The Caribbean is famed as a place to vacation, but for those who live there, it can be a challenge. Dr. Alvin G. Edwards has played a role in the popular Caribbean television series “Paradise View” while also a medical practitioner who resides in Antigua. Now he’s an author as well with Once Upon An Island ($14.95, Author House). It is a fictionalized account of events experienced by friends, family and others concerning a family that leaves Jamaica to start a new life on Antigua, but who discover the transition isn’t as easy as they had thought. Life on a new island comes with the same problems as life on the larger one, particularly if the legal systems leave something to be desired. The author’s island is fictional, but for a taste of life in the Caribbean, this novel is probably as close to the truth as you will experience.

That’s it for April! The world of non-fiction and fiction is alive and well, and changing. What you will find here is a selection of traditional hard and softcover books. What you will not find are ebooks even though they are in ascendancy as new way to read books. If you enjoy Bookviews monthly look at new and unique titles, tell your family, friends and coworkers to visit here to get news of books you may not find anywhere else. And come back in May!

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

I have known Brian Sussman from the years when he and I would get together on the radio in his hometown of San Francisco on KFSO to discuss the events of the day. A television journalist turned meteorologist, Sussman used his knowledge to debunk the global warming hoax and, when a cache of emails between its leading perpetrators was leaked to the Internet, he wrote “Climategate”, a book still worth reading, but his latest book, Eco-Tyranny: How the Left’s Green Agenda Will Dismantle America ($25.95, WND Books) should be “must” reading for anyone who has begun to suspect something very dangerous about the activities of the leading environmental organizations, the United Nations Environmental Program, and the Environmental Protection Agency, all of whom are engaged in an attack on private property, the keystone of capitalism and foundation of the U.S. economy. Step by step, Sussman demonstrates how environmentalism hides its deep roots in communism and its contempt for humanity. Even as the global warming hoax fell apart, the Greens are engaged in a new version in the name of “sustainability”, claiming the Earth cannot sustain its population and the use of its bounty, particularly in the area of energy, is destroying the Earth. Communism is responsible for at least 110 million deaths since it was introduced in Russia in 1917 and later in China and elsewhere. It is the enemy of freedom and its latest reincarnation as environmentalism is as well. This is a chilling examination of the way Americans are being denied access to the nation's treasure trove of oil, natural gas, and coal. It is a look at the way more and more of the landmass of the nation is being put off-limits to development by the government. If you read no other book this year, this would be the one I would recommend for your sake, for your family’s and the nation’s future.

Funding the Enemy: How US Taxpayers Bankroll the Taliban by Douglas A. Wissing ($25.00, Prometheus Books) is one of those books that the mainstream press doesn’t want you to know about. The author was recently interviewed on C-Span as he related the way that the government, over two administrations, has mismanaged billions of development and logistics dollars, bolstered the drug trade, and literally dumped untold millions into Taliban hands. It is a scathing critique of the war in Afghanistan. The troops in the field are well aware that the war is lost and of the way the corrupt Karzai government and the Taliban has gamed all the “development” money spent there to enrich his cronies as well as the Taliban we’re told we are fighting. The result is that Americans have been funding both sides of the war. While Americans have a general awareness of the menace that Islam poses for the nation and the world, one can gain a far more thorough understanding by reading Ali Sina’s new book, Understanding Muhamad and Muslims ($18.95, Felibri.com, an imprint of Freedom Bulwark Publication). As an occasional contributor to Sina’s website, FaithFreedom.org, I have come to know Sina through his books and writings. Born in a Muslim family in Iran, educated in Italy, and now living in Canada, Sina has established himself as a leading critic of Islam and has helped thousands to leave Islam and secure a life free of this cult built around the life of Muhamad. Passing himself off as a prophet, Muhamad fashioned a religion to impose his will on gullible followers. Sina has put together a psychological portrait of a man for whom the ends always justified the means. The violence associated with Islam was an early element of the emerging cult and is, of course, practiced today by suicide bombers and those who perpetrated 9/11. I highly recommend this book.

Dog lovers and owners will love Things Your Dog Doesn’t Want You To Know by Hy Conrad and Jeff Johnson ($12.99, Sourcebooks, softcover), a collection of essays written from dog’s point of view revealing why they do what they do. Just as human behavior is often a mystery, now you can learn why they wait by the table for scraps, regard your bed as theirs, and “The Reason I Ate the Sofa” among more than a hundred other topics by Conrad, one of the original writers for the TV series “Monk” and Johnson who works in advertising. It is hilarious and a great gift for anyone sharing their lives with a dog. I have a friend, Ron Marr, who has always had companion dogs in his life. He is also the author of An Explorer’s Guide: The Ozarks—Includes Branson, Springfield & Northwest Arkansas ($21.95, The Countryman Press, Woodstock, VT, softcover) that is available via Kindle as well. It has been completely updated in its second edition and it is a treat, especially as more Americans are choosing to vacation in destinations to which they can drive. The Ozarks offer a bounty of cultural delights, museums, great dining and shopping. Ron’s guide is jam-packed with the kind of information that guarantees some great one-day trips or longer stays for all manner of recreation. Did you know that you can visit “Stonehenge” in Rolla, Missouri, or that the region is filled with some great state parks? Here’s a book that unlocks a wonderful part of the nation.

Do you ever get the feeling that we live in a society that encourages immaturity through escapism, various distractions, and an emphasis on youth? Do you suspect you have not fully matured in your own life? If so, an interesting book, Dare to Grow Up: Learn to Become Who You are Meant to Be by Paul Dunion ($16.95, Bartleby Press, Savage, MD, softcover) is a soulful new guide to personal accountability and emotional maturity. This book is about a self-examined life, offering counsel on how to develop self-loyalty, avoiding self-betrayal, and developing a solid foundation for emotionally intimate relationships. In short, it is about integrity and when you have that, your life is vastly improved. I normally am wary of self-help books, but this one is well worth reading.

Memoirs, Biographies, Autobiographies

I confess that over the decades I have seen so many books written by survivors of the Holocaust—the Nazi program to kill all the Jews of Europe—that I have sometimes thought that every one of them has written a book about it. I think they have written these memoirs as a warning to future generations not to forget what occurred in the mid-20th century. Three softcover books representative of this genre have arrived and each one of them is worth reading. Noike: A Memoir of Leon Ginsburg ($15.00, Avenger Books) by his daughter Suzanne Ginsburg. Leon Ginsburg has been the subject of several books on World War II. Known as a child by his Hebrew name, Noike, Leon was the only child survivor from Maciejow, a shtetl of 5,000 in Eastern Poland (now part of the Ukraine). Leon was interviewed by Peter Jennings for his seminal book, The Century and by Jane Marks for her book, Hidden Children of the Holocaust. It is an extraordinary story of survival by a ten-year-old child who eluded death many times. Surviving the Angel ofDeath by Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri ($8.95, Tanglewood) was written for younger readers, age 12 and up, but older readers will find its story of twins who arrived in Auschwitz at age ten and, while their parents were swiftly killed in its gas chambers, were turned over to Dr. Josef Mengele who performed sadistic “medical” experiments. Many sets of twins died as a result. It is the story of extraordinary evil and, yes, of survival. Lastly, there’s Bitter Freedom: Memoir of a Holocaust Survivor by Jafa Wallach ($18.95, Gihon River Press), the personal account of a Polish Jew who survived a Nazi sweep of Southern Poland. After sending her 4-year-old to safety, she with her husband spent twenty-two agonizingly long months in a grave-like space hidden by a brave Pole, the town’s mechanic, who provided food and water. The hole was located less than twenty feet from a Gestapo headquarters in the small town of Lesko. Ultimately the family made their way to America in May 1947.

Religion is at the heart of an interesting memoir by Mary Johnson, An Unquenchable Thirst, ($32.95, Bond Street Books, an imprint of Random House Canada). At age 17 Mary Johnson saw a picture of Mother Teresa, founder of the Missionaires of Charity, and was so moved by it that she entered a convent in the South Bronx to begin her training. From a typical Texas teenager she was transformed by her quest for meaning in her life, for an identity. She became Sister Donata and rose through the ranks of the order to find herself working with Mother Teresa. All along the way, however, she had to wrestle with her own desire for love and a deeper personal connection to a life with faith. In 1997 she left the order after twenty years and has become a respected teacher and public speaker.

A life spent around madness is the subject of Riding Fury Home: A Memoir by Chana Wilson ($17.00, Seal Press, softcover). In 1958, when she was age of seven, her mother held a rifle to her head and pulled the trigger. The gun jammed and she was taken away for the first of many visits to a mental hospital. Other suicide attempts would follow and the author chronicles forty years of her relationship with her mother and the way it was affected by the changes in the social landscape of their time. She was the sole caretaker of her mother and it was not until she left for college in Iowa that she was able to break the dysfunctional bonds and find her own space which included her own lesbianism. The author has been a psychotherapist for twenty-five years and this book must surely have been cathartic.

A more traditional biography is found in Gordon Bowker’s James Joyce ($35.00, Farrar, Straus and Giroux) due out in June. Fans of this author will find this an absorbing account of his life and work. Bowker deftly connects all the dots between his writing and his life such as how his years in Trieste influenced the shaping of “Ulysses” and the way he dealt with friends, poverty, and ill health. The miracle is how he was able to write epic novels celebrating the lives of ordinary people. He was an extremely complex man and hard even on his friends. Joyce is an acquired taste and regarded as a literary giant. This may well be the best biography to have been written about him.

Finally, Ron Reagan, the former President’s son, authored a memoir of their lives together that is now in softcover, My Father at 100, ($16.00, Plume). For fans of Ronald Reagan, this is a privileged portrait by someone who knew him as a father, a mentor, and a moral compass. A century after Reagan’s birth, even his son had to undertake a journey to learn about his youth. It is an interesting story.

Reading History

In March a Financial Times article was titled “Bleak Outlook for U.S. Newspapers” and called them “America’s fastest-shrinking industry.” Advertising revenues are half what they were in 2005 and now at 1984’s levels. Part of the challenge has come from the growth of the Internet as the go-to source for news, but part can be attributed to the loss of confidence in the objectivity and accuracy of what newspapers, with exceptions, report as news or fail to report entirely. For those like myself who began his career as a reporter and editor, that is sad news, but Christopher B. Daly, a veteran journalist and historian, has just had a splendid book published, Covering America: A Narrative History of a Nation’s Journalism ($49.95, University of Massachusetts Press) that will please its readers on many levels. Daly remains optimistic, noting that American journalism has always been challenged, going through deep change in the 1830s and again in the 1920s. Daly provides a lively, interesting review of journalism’s many personalities, events and trends. It is an excellent work of history concerning the profession and business of journalism, filled with anecdotes and intriguing facts. It surely belongs on the shelves everywhere journalism is celebrated.

An excellent look at The Elizabethans by A.N. Wilson ($30.00, Farrar, Straus and Giroux) is out this month. It is worth reading because this period in England’s history set in motion so much that followed. It was a time of exceptional creativity, wealth creation, and political expansion and was filled with colorful and dynamic characters, not the least of which was Elizabeth I. Sir Francis Drake not only defeated the Spanish Armada, but circumnavigated the world. Shakespeare wrote his plays in this period. Declaring its independence from the Church, England laid the foundations for the explosion of the British Empire. This extraordinary era is captured in a single volume that anyone interested in history will want to read and add to their personal library.

If you love a historical mystery, you will enjoy Midnight in Peking, subtitled “How the murder of a young Englishwoman haunted the last days of old China” by Paul French ($26.00, Penguin original). It is a true crime story about the murder of a British school girl, Pamala Werner, found at the base of the Fox Tower. With the Japanese already in Manchuria and encircling Peking, an investigation by a former Scotland Yard officer takes him deep into Peking’s seedy underworld of crime, drugs, and prostitution. Her father’s life is consumed with his own investigation. The author provides the resolution and transforms a front page murder into an absorbing and emotional expose.

History was on Tim Wendel’s mind when he wrote Summer of 68: The Season that Changed Baseball and America Forever ($25.00, Da Capo Press). For those too young to recall and those old enough to do so, 1968 was a tumultuous year, filled with political turbulence, civil unrest, and violence. There were riots in a hundred cities and the year saw the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy. 1968 was also “the year of the pitcher” with men like Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Luis Tiant of the Cleveland Indians, Denny McClain of the Detroit Tigers, and Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals. Wendel captures the spirit of the time and weaves together the stories of the year’s events, the teams and players in a thoroughly entertaining fashion; particularly for anyone who loves the game. This book demonstrates the deep connection between the nation and its national game. For Yankees fans, there's The New York Times Story of the Yankees ($29.95, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers). Edited by Dave Anderson, it is a compendium of 382 articles, profiles, and essays from 1903 to the present. This book will bring joy and hours of great reading for any fan of this legendary team, Anderson is one of the leading sportswriters of our era and has done a great job selecting and organizing the book that is also filled with memorable photos.

We are getting deeper into the election year activities that will dominate the latter part of the year. For anyone who loves history and all the electioneering paraphernalia, there is a unique book, Presidential Campaign Posters, from the Library of Congress that includes 100 ready-to-frame posters ($40.00, Quirk Books). Each poster is accompanied by a short text about the particular election, starting in 1828 with Andrew Johnson’s campaign. This is a great way to learn about the campaigns that have shaped our nation. Not surprisingly, candidates have pretty much campaigned on the same issues.

Getting Down to Business Books

There is a constant stream of books about doing business. Anyone who is engaged in management, sales or entrepreneurial endeavors can benefit from them. A lot about success has to do with one’s personal attributes. The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling ($28.00, Free Press) have teamed up to address the issue of execution because, as they say, MBA programs focus heavily on strategy, but virtually no training in execution—actually getting things done. The authors work for the FranklinCovey firm, a company with operations in 141 nations worldwide, providing guidance to corporations and organizations on getting the best results by training people to be their best and to thus achieve their goals. The book addresses strategic organizational changes that improve performance. Anyone in a managerial position will greatly benefit from reading this book.

There is lots of buzz about doing business in China as that huge market has become available to companies large and small. It has its pitfalls, however, and Stephen M. Perl, MS, MBA, an expert in Asia trade, has penned Doing Business with China: The Secrets of Dancing with the Dragon ($19.99, ChinaMart USA Book Publishing, Los Angeles, softcover). It’s estimated that China represents a $10 trillion market that is up for grabs in the next decade. This book is essential reading for any American firm that wants to do business in China. It is a practical, nuts-and-bolts handbook. There are secrets to establishing successful relationships with the Chinese government and business leaders. This book provides an invaluable cultural, political, and business insight from the U.S. perspective and it is not just for CEOs of large companies. Rather, it applies to small companies as well, to entrepreneurs, and is useful for government and private think-tank policymakers, as well as employees, who are doing or planning to do business with China.

Parenting and Women’s Issues

To most men, women remain a mystery. Being either sex poses its unique challenges and there are books with advice. Susanna Foth Aughtmon has written I Blame Eve: Freedom from Perfectionism, Control Issues, and the Tendency to Listen to Talking Snakes ($12.99, Revell, softcover), a humorous and encouraging book that explores “our deep need to be in control.” It blends Scripture (Revell is a Christian publishing house) with insight and the view that there is “a unique path laid out for each of us.” In contrast, Orna Gadish addresses the fact that 47% of young adults have never been married, 51% are living without a spouse, and choosing to be single is now a worldwide phenomenon. Don’t Say I Do! Why Women Should Stay Single ($14.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) officially due off the press in July. Our society has afforded women the freedom to hold jobs that give them a freedom that did not exist for earlier generations. The author focuses on the “inadequacies and dissatisfaction with traditional marriage” encouraging women to think for themselves and stay single. Clearly this is transforming the male-female relationship that has been the keystone for society and has significant implications for the future. I am old fashioned enough to think that marriage has worked well enough for generations and single women raising children have a raft of problems that need to be addressed. Some women, however, will find comfort in this book.

Parenting has long been a topic for authors and these days are no different. The loss of parental control to schools and government agencies is beginning to percolate into a major issue. Honeycomb Kids: Big Picture Parenting by Anna M. Campbell, the mother of three ($17.95, Chelsea Green Publishing, softcover) has a strong environmental focus. Unfortunately the way environmentalists have been terrorizing children with doomsday scenario needs to be addressed, but this book, despite its otherwise useful advice, contributes to this problem. I don’t recommend it. One reason for concern is the way schools have been turned into indoctrination centers for environmentalism and increasingly for teaching socialism as superior to capitalism. Your Teacher Said What? Trying to Raise a Fifth Grade Capitalist in Obama’s America by Joe and Blake Kernan ($15.95, Two Harbors Press, softcover) recounts the challenges of teaching the value of free market capitalism to a child in the grip of the nation’s educational system and a popular culture that attacks capitalism in the name of the redistribution of wealth, communism’s promise. Prior to his anchoring duties, Joe Kernen was CNBC’s on-air stock editor, after having joined the Financial News Network. Previously he had been a stock broker. If this is your concern too, I recommend you read this book. A growing trend over the years has been homeschooling and it is well known that such children score better and do better than their contemporaries in schools that often resemble minimum security prisons. More than 1.5 million Americans have chosen this for their children. Homeschooling: Why and How by Gail Nagasako ($15.95, Two Harbors Press, softcover) provides a wealth of information on how parents can provide their children with an excellent education and positive socialization.

Bay and Her Boys: Unexpected Lessons I Learned as a (Single) Mom by Bay Buchanan ($25.00, Da Capo Press) offers a very different, far more cheerful look at parenthood. As of 2011, 24% of children in the United States were living in single-family homes. It is no longer a rarity. A former Treasurer of the U.S., she is a political strategist and an influential conservative leader. She tells of a surprise and devastating divorce twenty-three years ago. Pregnant at the time, she was left to raise her sons while becoming a working mom. She hopes to change the national dialogue about single women while recounting what it was like to hold on to traditional values. The book offers some very good advice for all mothers, single or married.

A problem that has been gaining more public attention is autism. Stop Autism Now: A Parent’s Guide to Preventing and Reversing Autism Spectrum Disorders by Dr. Bruce Fife ($17.95, Picadilly Books, Ltd., Colorado Springs, CO, softcover), a prolific author of health-related books, addresses the fact that more than a million people have autism and it appears to be on the rise. Other related disorders include attention deficit and hyperactivity syndrome. Autism remains a mystery to the medical community and to the parents of children, but this book undertakes to solve the mystery offering a theory on the brain’s microglia that have a function similar to white blood cells, protecting the brain from assaults by infectious microorganisms and toxins. Dr. Fife says it is not a hopeless condition and offers his solutions. I cannot attest to his findings, but he makes a strong case.

Parents will love Don’t Sit on the Baby! The Ultimate Guide to Sane, Skilled, and Safe Babysitting by Halley Bondy ($12.99, Zest Books, softcover). Due out in June, babysitting is a popular part-time job for teens and this book is written for parents to their babysitters to impart everything they need to know from dealing with diaper rash to CPR. It is filled with advice on what to expect from infants to those age ten and provides strategies for communicating with parents. If you are the parent of a teenager contemplating this as a way to earn a few dollars, I would heartily recommend you give them this book.

Books for Kids and Young Readers

There are so many books for kids and younger readers that it is a bounty of entertainment and knowledge.

Starting with books that a parent can share with pre-schoolers, reading to them, or for early readers, there’s a new addition to the popular “Chester Raccoon” series. A Color Game for Chester Raccoon by Audrey Penn, illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson ($7.95, Tanglewood) it is made to survive the often rough handling the very young give a book. Its great artwork and text provides an introduction to different colors. The Animal Masquerade by Marianne Dubuc ($16.95, Kids Can Press) is a fanciful tale of animals that disguise themselves as other creatures, providing an introduction to different creatures in a very entertaining way. A very amusing story is told in The Klampie Mystery by Luis Rodriguez ($14.95, Mascot Books) about Samantha who gets a life-sized stuffed Koala toy whose arms clamp onto anything. When her family takes a trip to Australia, she takes the toy named Klamie along and there the fun begins when a real koala replaces it. A growing concern among parents is the way video games and electronic devices not only keep kids indoors, but ill-serve the development of their imagination, a key factor in creativity. That’s why I liked OneDay I Went Rambling by Kelly Bennett, illustrated by Terri Murphy ($17.95, Bright Sky Press) for those ages 5-8. It is about a boy who finds all kinds of things while playing outside and how his imagination converts them into things like a pirate’s magic ring. This is a great book for the very young. Kids are naturally fascinated by all living creatures and that can include insects. Bug Off! Creepy, Crawly Poems by Jane Yolen, illustrated by some great photos by Jason Stemple ($16.95, WordSong, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press, Honesdale, PA) is an excellent introduction to bees, butterflies, ants, spiders and other common insects.

A Pirate Girl’s Treasure: An Origami Adventure by Peyton and Hilary Leung ($18.95, Kids Can Press) that uses the Japanese art of folded paper sculptures combined with a story about a girl whose pirate grandfather sends her a treasure map. This, too, is for the pre-schooler or very early reader, aged four and up. Parents of twins will welcome Take Two! A Celebration of Twins by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen, illustrated by Sophie Blackall ($16.95, Candlewick) may have something to do with the fact that Lewis is a twin. It is filled with facts about all things “twin”, fraternal, identical, and record-setting, all told with poetry. Daisy’s Perfect Word by Sandra V. Feder and illustrated by Susan Mitchell is a great introduction to independent reading and the joys of playing with language. As a longtime writer, I am biased, but the gift of reading and writing is one of the best a parent can pass along to any youngster.

For readers age eight and older, a number of books will provide hours of great reading. Robert Jae Sky has written To Dream the Impossible ($9.95, Create Space, Charleston, SC, available from Amazon.com). This father of three and grandfather of five was inspired by Olympic gold medalist Ross Powers and has written a lovely story of Rippy, a rabbit who wants to ski despite being told by everyone that rabbits do not ski. Not one to take no for an answer, Rippi perseveres and young readers will learn a value lesson while being highly entertained by this story. Margaret and the Moth Tree by Brit and Kari Trogen ($15.95, Kids Can Press) It is a classic story of an orphanage, a wicked woman who runs it, how Margaret defeats her and learns the power of making friends to find happiness in life. Alexander, Spy Catcher by Diane Stormer ($10.95, iUniverse, softcover) is about Alexander and his brother Ben who enjoy the usual things while coping with learning algebra, sports tryouts, and talking with girls. Then they discover that their Uncle Charlie may be in danger because of a secret government project he is working on. When they tell him of the strange things they have noticed, he disappears without a trace! They have to help their family discover what has happened to him and therein lies a gripping story. Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers by Chris Grabenstein ($16.99, Harpercollins Childrens) is a title that instantly appealed to me. Written by a former improv comedian and president of the New York chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, it introduces seventh-grade mastermind, Riley and his pals, the “Gnat Pack”, as they fight the town bully and his crooked cop of a father. They liberate dogs held captive in a puppy mill and thwart a bank robbery! This one is a real page turner that is sure to please.

Finally and especially for girls, American Girl has a number of new books with clever twists such as its “Innerstar University” series that include The New Girl and Behind the Scenes, ($8.95 each) books that have twenty different ends starring the reader. These are interactive and take place on the Innerstar University campus where girls can discover how their decisions can change the outcome of the story. Clever idea. Another useful book is A Smart Girl’s Guide to Liking Yourself—Even on Bad Days ($9.95) that teaches how to overcome low self-esteem and develop confidence; always a good thing for any youngster. A series of mysteries featuring young girls in different time periods of America’s history includes The Crystal Ball, The Hidden Cloud and The Cameo Necklace at an affordable $6.95 each. In each a girl experiences an adventure that will keep any reader turning the pages.

Novels, Novels, Novels

Day after day I receive emails promoting new novels. They come from established publishing firms and from self-published novelists. They are so frequent I have an automatic email reply message wish them well, but noting that the volume of new novels makes it impossible to accept their request.

Here are just a few new novels that have arrived in the last month or so. Let’s begin with the hardcover novels and move on to the softcover. I am convinced that inside of every lawyer is a novelist. Margaret McLean is a former criminal prosecutor who has drawn on a notorious chapter of Boston history as the framework of her second novel, Under Oath ($24.90, Forge) to create an exciting courtroom mystery involving a murder, conspiracy, and the infamous code of silence that has kept murders on the streets. When gangster Billy Malone stands accused of killing Trevor Shea, a suspected informant, with a poisoned dose of heroin, prosecutor Annie Fitzgerald must get witnesses to testify. When her chief witness is killed the question is whether justice will prevail over FBI cover-ups and a jury that defies their instructions. This is a worthy contribution by Emily St. John Mandel from one of the best publishers of novels, Unbridled Books. The Lola Quartet by ($24.95) begins with a photograph. Eilo Sasaki takes a picture of a young girl she meets while handling a home foreclosure in Florida. The child bears a striking resemblance of her brother Gavin and is approximately ten years old. Her last name is Montgomery and, ten years earlier, Gavin’s girlfriend, Anna Montgomery, disappeared amidst rumors that she was pregnant. When Gavin is shown the photo, he begins to ask questions about the past. This is her third novel and Mendel is making a name for herself in literary circles and with a growing fan base. If you read this novel, you know why.

Bethany Frankel is a three-time bestselling author, a popular TV reality star, successful businesswoman and devoted mom. She makes her fiction debut with Skinnydipping ($25.00, Simon and Schuster), a sexy and hilarious story of Faith Brightstone, an iconic aspiring actress just out of college who wants to conquer Hollywood and have all the perks of fame. Like so many others, her plans do not pan out as she gains a behind-the-scenes experience, suffers heartbreak, and abandons La La Land for New York. The resemblance to Frankel’s real life is unmistakeable. Faith is discovered at a fancy food show after establishing a business, becomes a reality TV star, and wins a contest for her own show. Frankel’s fans will jump at the chance to read this thinly disguised autobiographical novel. A unique look at life in Israel is provided by Sayed Kashua, an Arab who has enjoyed success there, having written two previous novels and as the creator of a groundbreaking Israeli sitcom, “Arab Labor”. He straddles two cultures and his novel, Second Person Singular, ($25.00, Grove Press) is about an Arab criminal attorney in Jerusalem who has a thriving practice in the Jewish part of Jerusalem. By chance, in a bookstore he picks up a book by Tolstoy that has a love letter in his wife’s handwriting. He is immediately consumed by suspicion and jealousy, and determined to find the book’s previous owner. This is a powerful novel of love and betrayal, a complex psychological mystery, and a searing dissection of individuals who live in a divided society.

Some softcover novels offer entertainment and insight. The Mermaid Garden by Santa Montefiore ($16.00, Simon and Shuster) is now in softcover. It is a complex and compelling story that spans four decades in the lives of its characters, set in Tuscany and on the coast of Devon, England that begins when a young girl spies on a beautiful palazzo from beyond its iron gate. Abandoned by her mother and left in poverty by her alcoholic father, ten year old Floriana finds La Magdalena a perfect place to escape into daydreams. One day she is spotted by Dante, the son of the villa’s wealthy owner. He invites her inside and shows her the villa’s enchanting Mermaid Garden. They become friends and Floriana becomes convinced that her destiny in that garden with him. The story moves to a charming old hotel by the sea that has fallen on hard times. When a charming, handsome Argentine artist, the lives of the owner and her family. Another story takes you to Japan. The Briefcase by Hiromi Kawakami traces the story of Tsukiko who happens to meet a former high school sensei (teacher) in a local bar. Their relationship develops from a perfunctory acknowledgement of each other as they eat and drink alone at the bar into an enjoyable sense of companionship, and finally into a deeply sentimental love affair. Memoirs of a Porcupine by UCLA professor Alain Mabanckou is set in Africa ($15.95, Soft Skull Press) and is an example of magical realism based on an African legend that says all human beings have an animal double! Some are benign while others are wicked. When Kibandi at age ten is initiated into this world, he fuses with an animal and, from then on, he and his porcupine double become accomplices in nefarious adventures.

Last, but hardly least, is a delightful collection of 88 “short-short” stories found in Flush Fiction ($16.95, softcover) “you can read in a single sitting.” Published by Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader (Ashland, Oregon), it was compiled by the editors of the Bathroom Reader’s Institute. They are all shorter than a thousand words and run the gamut of various genre from humor to mystery, romance to adventure, et cetera. You can check it out at http://www.bathroomreader.com/ and for folks who love to read no matter where they are, it is a real treat.

That’s it for May. Be sure to tell all your book-loving friends, family, and coworkers about Bookviews.com so they too can learn about the many fiction and non-fiction books that stand out from the deluge and deserve to be read. Then come back in June for more!

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

By far the greatest scandal of the Obama administration has been the revelations about the Department of Justice gun-running operation to Mexican drug cartels called “Fast and Furious.” As bad as this program proved to be—including the murder of a Border Patrol office with one of the guns involved in the program—it is the cover up that followed as the Attorney General and others stonewalled congressional inquiries. Katie Pavlich, a reporter with extensive contacts within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, has written Fast and Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and its Shameless Cover Up ($27.95, Regnery Publishing) and, while she has been interviewed on C-SPAN and a few other media outlets, the mainstream media has in general ignored this story, having buried similar evidence of wrong-doing. In short, the program was intended to smear gun shop owners with the assertion that it is they, not the drug cartels, who are responsible for the thousands of deaths that have resulted and for the establishment of drug trade routes into America and the virtual takeover of a section of Arizona as their “stash houses.” The program is an attack on the Second Amendment right to own guns by Obama, his Attorney General Eric Holder, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, all with a long history of opposition to gun ownership and now with instances of perjury in their testimony to congressional committees. She tells a fact-filled, well-documented story of this scandal and every American should read this book before they go to the polls in November.

I am not a fan of Rachel Maddow, the MSNBC host. She is a liberal. I am a conservative. That said, she has written a very good book on how America goes to war, how our military has changed, how distanced the civilian population for those doing the fighting, and how Congress has abandoned its constitutional responsibility to declare war. The U.S. has not done so since World War Two. The Founding Fathers were wary of standing armies and giving a chief executive the right to take the nation into war by himself. It was and still is a very good policy. Ms. Maddow has written a book, Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power ($25.95, Crown Publishers) that is on the bestseller lists and deserves to be. It’s a serious subject and I wish she wrote in a more serious style, but style is of little importance when discussing the fact that the U.S. has not truly won a war since WWII. Moreover, the wars we do get into drag out interminably. We won the war against the Axis and Empire of Japan in four years. We have been in Afghanistan for more than a decade and only recently exited Iraq after invading in 2003. We have little to show for either engagement. This is an important book worth reading. While I do not agree with some of her conclusions, I think she has written an important book.

The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA’s Clandestine Service by Henry A. Crumpton ($27.95, the Penguin Group) is “must reading” for anyone who wants to gain an invaluable insight into the role of intelligence gathering in general and the CIA in particular. Crumpton, now a retired officer who gave some four decades of his life to the service, provides a look at the CIA that is rare. This is not surprising given the agency’s devotion and need for secrecy. Crumpton first applied to the agency to become a spy at the age of ten! He was admitted in his early twenties and held many different positions within the agency, the last being director of national resources. He gained recognition outside the agency for his role following 9/11 in driving al Qaeda and the Taliban from Afghanistan. In a recent “60 Minutes” interview, he warned that the nation’s enemies have more spies inside American since the days of the Cold War. A corollary to Crumption’s book is Peter L. Bergen’s Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden ($26.00, Crown Publishers) a review of the long effort to find and kill the man behind 9/11 and many previous attacks on American embassies and other targets like the USS Cole. The author is an expert on Bin Laden, having written “The Osama bin laden I know”, “Holy War”, and “The Longest War”, each a careful analysis of the threat he and al Qaeda pose. His latest book provides many new details of bin Laden’s flight after the defeat of the Taliban to Tora Bora where American troops came close to capturing him. After 9/11 his life became a constant search for a safe place to hide. Bergen paints a picture of his Spartan life in hiding while trying to maintain control of al Qaeda as American drones killed his key lieutenants. His end was the result of tireless efforts by the CIA who ultimately found him less than a mile from Pakistan’s military academy.

Owning a home used to be called the American dream. When the financial markets collapsed in 2008 under the weight of “bundled” and “securitized” mortgage loans whose origin was as often as knot unknown and whose value became “toxic”, the nation woke up to what Randal O’Toole calls the American Nightmare (25.95, Cato Institute), the name of his new book. Like a lot of people, he wanted to know who’s to blame. Was it greedy bankers, corrupt politicians, or home buyers who could not meet their obligations? Surprisingly, O’Toole says that the crisis was “not caused by deregulation, low interest rates, or other federal actions along.” Instead, he points to the “conflict between federal efforts to stimulate home ownership and local efforts to discourage single-family housing.” It was, says O’Toole, growth management plans and artificial limits on building housing implemented at both the state and local level. After all, more housing means the need for more schools, more streets and parking, more police and fire personnel. What emerged over the years as what came to be called “the war on sprawl.” This is a critical public issue and O’Toole offers some solutions that include privatizing or abolishing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with privatizing public housing and zoning. If, as usual, government would get out of the way, the crisis could have been avoided and future housing bubbles, too.

I am a fan of Jonah Goldberg, a leading voice among the nation’s conservatives, but his latest book, The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas ($27.95, Sentinel Penguin) proved to be a disappointment because I found myself growing bored within the first fifteen minutes or so of reading it. It’s not that he doesn’t make a case for the misuse of language to advance liberal notions such as “one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter” or that peace comes with mutual understanding. There are lots of genuinely mushy notions that liberals believe that do not reflect history or reality, but Goldberg has written a book when a commentary would do. For those who like to wrestle with ideas, his book will prove a useful exercise.

Popular culture not only reflects our society, but is by definition fun. Comic books have been a part of that and the characters on The Big Bang Theory pay homage to its heyday. Now Brian Cronin has tapped fellow enthusiasts who have seen comic book characters go from paper to the wide screen in theatres and at home. Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia ($15.00, Plume, softcover) is very entertaining, featuring lists on all aspects of comics from characters to artists to story lines. Want to know the ten most memorable moments in DC Comics history, the ten highest grossing comic book movies of all time, or the nine celebrities who guest-starred in comics without their permission? For comic book fans, this book is one they will have to have. For fans of the movies, there’s Peter Bart’s Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob (and Sex) ($15.00, Weinstein Books, softcover) in which the former Paramount vice president and Variety editor-in-chief takes the reader on a behind-the-scenes look at Hollywood in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This is the real story as told by someone who was there and responsible in part for The Godfather, Chinatown, Rosemary’s Baby, Serpico and Paper Moon, to name just a few. For a film aficionado this book will provide some wonderful stories involving iconic stars like Steve McQueen, Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando and many others.

I have some friends who are among the funniest writers on the Earth. They have the gift of being funny on paper and that is a unique talent. One wrote for some iconic television sitcoms and the other had a kind of underground newspaper that was a guilty pleasure for people in high places until the Internet put it out of business. I am still delighted to know they think I am funny, too, even though in my other life I write very serious commentary on current events, trends, and issues. Perhaps that’s why I was drawn to Funny: The Book – Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Comedy by David Misch ($18.99, Applause Cinema and Theatre Books, an imprint of Hal Leonard Corp, softcover). Misch has the “chops” to write such a book. He wrote “Mork and Mindy” and the pilot for David Letterman’s first talk show. He has written, created, and produced programs for NBC, CBS, ABC, HBO, and a host of other channels. Indeed, his credits are too long to spend time here listing. Jason Alexander of the Seinfeld Show sums it up nicely saying, “It takes a serious mind to analyze comedy. It takes a funny mind to appreciate it. David Misch is of two minds.” This is a history and analysis of comedy that is mercifully brief, but also blessedly filled with insight that takes in the wide swath of humor from the earliest days of civilization to the present. He doesn’t miss much and, along the way, he provides a lot of laughs. On a far more serious level, Robert G. Pielke, Phd, looks at Rock Music in American Culture: The Sounds of Revolution ($40.00, McFarland & Company, softcover).This is not light reading, but it is an exhaustive look at the way rock music has shaped public attitudes while reflecting the changes in American society since the 1950s. Having lived through those decades, I can attest to the fact that Dr. Pielke has produced a worthy addition to books about them and about the bands and singers who left their mark through their music as well as a record of the events of these past times.

A number of books by Joseph D’Agnese have crossed my desk over the years. He is a passionate historian and patriot, chronicling the lives of the Founding Fathers with his co-author Denise Kiernan. They are back with a dandy little book you could put in your pocket or purse, Stuff Every American Should Know ($9.95, Quirk Books) that would be an ideal gift for a younger member of the family next month on the Fourth of July. It runs the gamut from explaining the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution to answering who invented blue jeans and why. It’s not who you think! It is a very interesting introduction to U.S. history and fills in gaps in one’s knowledge. It entertains. It makes you proud and happy to be an American.

Memoirs, Autobiographies and Biographies

A memoir of what life was like after Iranian Revolution in 1979 is told by Aria Minu-Sephehr, We Heard the Heavens Then ($25.00. Free Press) the son of one of the Shah’s most powerful military leaders when the Iranian monarchy collapsed. He was ten years old at the time and had enjoyed a modern, cosmopolitan life of privilege. He lives today because his family moved to the United States to escape the wrath of the ayatollahs. Today he is the founder of the Forum for Middle East Awareness and his book offers a firsthand account of the forces that took over Iran and why. It is, he says, a clash between modernity and religion. This is an account of growing up in the wake of being on the losing side of a revolution.

Larry King has written an entertaining memoir of his years as a reporter and television interviewer as well as his own life behind the scenes in Truth Be Told, now available in softcover ($15.00, Weinstein Books). King grew up in the Depression as the son of Russian immigrants and would become known to millions as the host of the longest running television show with the same host. It was beamed live into 200 nations and may have done more to let the rest of the world know about America than anything comparable. As a student at the University of Miami, I often visited Pumpernik’s restaurant on Miami Beach, but I was surprised to learn that King first began is broadcast career there. During his fifty years he interviewed just about everyone in show business, various tycoons and politicians. He has had his health scares along the way, but today at age 77, he is the father to two young boys, helping to coach their Little League team. It’s a good read.

From the same era of immigration, the daughter of Jacob Rabinovich tells his story and hers in a multigenerational autobiography, One Last Child, by Antonia Phillips Rabb ($23.27, Author House, softcover). Nachman Rabinovich’s son, Jacob, would grow up to found Stop & Shop, the innovator of the modern supermarket. Jacob like his parent’s other children had Tay Sachs disease and four of Jacob’s children would die during childhood. Antonia, adopted at three months of age, had zero chance of a similar fate. Her story, deftly told, is one that encompasses not just her personal life, but a near century and a quarter of change in America, years of accelerated cultural change. Twelve decades is a lot of time to cover, but she keeps the momentum going and thus provides a window to her world and ours. Rabb, a mother of six and grandmother of seventeen, is a skilled writer with nine books of poetry to her credit. This is an excellent slice of history well worth reading.

An interesting memoir is told by Paul Stutzman. When he lost his wife of 36 years to cancer, he undertook a journey that was transformative and regenerating. He tells the story of Hiking Through: One Man’s Journey to Peace and Freedom on the Appalachian Trail ($13.99, Revell, softcover) of a 2,176 mile journey through fourteen states and what he learned over five months, immersing himself in nature and befriending fellow hikers to find healing and closure. He began confused and wondering if God had a plan for his life. “I set out to find out the answer. I know it does not make much sense to the average person, but I believe God called me out to the wilderness to teach me lessons.” Many came from strangers he met along the trail; a Catholic priest on a sabbatical, a young man recently divorced, wealthy people and poor. As he learned, everyone is equal on that difficult trail from Georgia to Maine. This is an inspiring story, particularly in times when many of us feel burdened by life’s challenges, asking the same questions.

Getting Down to Business Books

It must be said that, after years of reviewing business books, there is as the Bible says, nothing new under the sun. The topics remain essentially the same, but are tweaked to respond to new technologies and trends. It doesn’t mean the books are any less useful, particularly for someone trying to create a roadmap to a career or to manage a business.

Everyone runs into obstacles in life and Bill Wackermann says you need to Flip the Script ($26.00, Free Press) a guide on “How to turn the tables and win in business and life.” The author has gained a reputation for doing that, turning around businesses by combining ingenuity and innovative branding. He has made him the youngest executive vice president at Conde Nast in the company’s history. Funny, engaging, and extremely practical, this book will be especially useful to young professionals, spelling out core principles of the process and thus achieving the respect of one’s bosses and co-workers. Attitude is much of what this book is about and Wackermann says you must find a good role model, stay open to change, project confidence, and develop a genuine sense of humility.

There was a time when women in business were either secretaries or worked along side their husbands in family businesses. Now they are a significant part of the workforce and no where is this more evident than in the corporate world. Jennifer K. Crittenden is a veteran of more than twenty years working in male-dominated companies in the U.S., Europe, and the U.K. She has written The Discreet Guide for Executive Women ($17.95, Whistling Rabbit Press, softcover) that I would recommend to any woman who wants to know how to succeed in that work environment. “Do not treat men as the enemy” counsels Ms. Crittenden and then offers a wealth of good advice on how to build relationships, spot a glass ceiling, and avoid classic errors that involve conflict, emotional behavior, and sex. Another author, also female, discusses the dynamics that prevent organizations from breaking through to new levels of productivity and innovation. Denise Moreland has written Management Culture ($16.96, Two Harbors Press, softcover), bringing twenty years of management experience in a large government agency to bear on the subject. She’s a certified associate of the Human Systems Dynamics Institute and knows whereof she speaks. She is a great believer in building respectful and positive environments. This book will prove useful to both managers and employees alike as the rules about who’s “the boss” are being re-written in the new work space. Working Successfully with Screwed-Up People ($12.99, Revell, softcover) is one of those titles that wonderfully captures the essence of a book. Elizabeth B. Brown gives the reader the grand tour of all the types of characters one encounters in the workplace and shows the reader how to get along with them despite their annoying behavior. This is a guide to not letting difficult people drive you crazy, a frequent complaint. If this describes your situation, pick up a copy!

Sharing the Sandbox: Building and Leading World-Class Teams in the 21st Century by Dean M. Brenner, president of The Latimer Group ($24.95, AG Books) addresses the way the new century has made it harder than ever to be an effective team leader. Ironically, the Internet both facilitates communication and leads people to think they are an expert who can do the job better. The author lays out a roadmap for creating winning teams that reach their goals and, in doing so, will greatly aid anyone who wants to spearhead successful projects, enhance their career, and effectively provide leadership for any team effort. Not surprisingly, he is the chairman of the U.S. Olympic Sailing Program, responsible for leading athletes and coaches preparing for the 2012 Summer Games. Greg DiCillo is the cofounder and president of Life Cycle Strategies, Inc. and an expert in marketing principles and methodologies of product management. He brings twenty years to this constant challenge and now has authored Dominate Your Space: Unleashing the Power of Your Product Managers ($16.95, Life Cycle Strategies, softcover). The book is designed for middle market and large industrial and B2B business executives, CEOs, and entrepreneurs. In short, anyone who has to sell something to someone. It is a slim book and that is a plus. It is a practical guide for assessing, building and sustaining a high performance product-management organization. If that is one of your goals, pick up this book.

To Your Health!

America may be the most health-conscious nation on Earth. The airwaves and print media are filled with constant stories about aspects of health and health maintenance. This is reflected as well in the number of books devoted to the subject.

With more than 100,000 copies sold and many five-star reviews on Amazon, Cancer: Step Outside the Box by Ty Bollinger ($31.40, 510 Squared Partners, softcover) is now in its fifth edition. Having lost seven family members to cancer, the author was motivated to understand this loss and has spent the past decade of his life to medical research in order to find alternative cancer treatments and cures. If your family has experienced a similar situation or you wish to avoid this disease that takes many forms, this is unquestionably the book to read. Heart disease is one of the major killers and The Living Heart in the 21st Century by famed cardiologist Michael E. DeBakey, MD, and Antonio M. Gotto, Jr., MD and Doctor of Philosophy ($20, Prometheus Books, softcover) is an authoritative guide regarding the common conditions affecting the heart and circulatory system that provides lifesaving tips to help both healthy people as well as heart patients. For more than four decades, the authors have set the standard in their books for reliable information on heart disease and cardiovascular health. The book is organized in an easy-to-understand format that includes the latest guidelines on reducing cardiovascular risk including the scientific rationale for these guidelines. You will learn how doctors detect, diagnose, and treat coronary heart disease if it does occur, providing valuable information so that patients can take charge of their own healthcare and communicate more effectively with their medical providers. For the layman, this is an invaluable guide.

As Americans live longer lives, the issue of dementia becomes a greater risk and problem. For those who have been diagnosed with it, Dementia: The Journey Ahead: A Practical Guide for in-Home Caregivers by Susan Kiser Scarff with Ann Kiser Zultner ($16.95, Langdon Street Press, softcover) will prove to be a great help. The transition to caregiver is often a difficult one for a spouse who must become a nurse or a child who must take on new responsibilities. An estimated six to eight million American homes experience this every year. Susan Scarff unexpectedly found herself in this situation for her husband, turning daily activities into arduous tasks and constant supervision. There was both physical and emotional hardship and her book not only chronicles the transition, but provides much useful advice for others in a similar situation.

For everyone who must deal with a physician or faces a stay at the hospital, The Take-Charge Patient: How You Can Get the Best Medical Care by Martine Ehrenclou ($19.95, Lemon Grove Press, softcover) is based on interviews with more than two hundred medical professionals. It is filled with advice on how to be your own best advocate, how to choose the right doctor and prepare for medical appointments, prevent medical and medication errors, and master your health insurance, as well as find discounted medical care, medications, and much more. This is an inside look at the way the medical system works and how to get the best medical care. It has been hailed by many in the medical community and is a treasure trove of useful information. An interesting and disturbing book along the same lines is Addicted Healers: 5 Key Signs Your Healthcare Professional May be Drug Impaired by Dr. Ethan O. Bryson ($14.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) due out in September. The author warns that prescription drug abuse represents a serious and growing public health problem in the medical profession. It puts those undergoing medical treatment at risk and urges the public to become more active in spotting the problem and reporting it. The author is an associate professor in the departments of anesthesia and psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. One hopes that the media will take notice of this book and share notice of it.

The Healthcare Cure: How Sharing Information Can Make the System Work Better by Jeff Margolis ($21.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) addresses the needs of more than 250 million Americans who have health insurance coverage. Most do not know how the healthcare system works or their role in it. It is frequently a time of confusion and frustration when they try to navigate their way through the tangled web of benefits and care. Margolis, an industry expert, offers a look at the system from the perspective of various industry participants and recommendations on how it can be adjusted to produce better results by combining information technology with the right incentives. This is a real insider’s look at the system and a worthy contribution on how to fix it.

History as Told by Scholars and Those That Lived it

I love reading history because, as the philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who do not remember history are bound to live through it again.”

The science of astronomy was advanced on June 3, 1769 when scientists of that time measured the transit of Venus as it passed directly between the Sun and the Earth. The story is told in The Day the World Discovered the Sun: An Extraordinary Story of Scientific Adventure and the Race to Track the Transit of Venus by Mark Anderson ($26.00, Da Capo Press). The event permitted scientists to discover the physical dimensions of the solar system and reveal a crucial key to worldwide navigation. Venus will repeat the trip on June 5, 2012. Anderson tells the stories of the three most important transit voyages and the men that tracked it; a French astronomer Jean-Baptiste Chappe d’Auteroche, British naval officer James Cook, and a Hungarian priest, Maximilian Hell, all of whom endured adventure and hardship to track Venus’s journey across the Sun. All theirs and other measurements from scores of other observations around the world were collected and studied, the greatest astronomical puzzle of the day was slowly pieced together, making longitude measurements at sea more accessible than ever before. It opened the door for a new age of exploration.

To the extent that we did not learn the lessons of the Great Depression, the nation is again learning its lessons—or not. Michael Hiltzil, the author of “Colossus”, has written The New Deal: A Modern History ($16.99, Free Press, softcover) that takes the reader back to that period that left millions unemployed, introduced Social Security, and by virtue of various “experiments” with the economy, stretched it out ten years until the advent of World War II. Then as now Wall Street experienced a slew of legislation that affected its ability to rebuild the economy due to constraints on credit. High rates of taxation were also the order of the day. If you are unfamiliar with that critical decade, this book will provide much insight.

Private First Class Gregory V. Short arrived in Vietnam in early February 1968. He was an 18-year-old Marine, a mortarman with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, stationed at Con Thien near the DMZ. He begins his story there in Ground Pounder: A Marine’s Journey Through South Vietnam 1968-1969 ($29.95, University of North Texas Press.) The living conditions were awful and the unit was constantly bombarded by the North Vietnamese. His next assignment was as a forward observer and, working with the U.S. Army’s 1st Air Cavalry Division and other units, he helped relieve the siege at Khe Sanh close to the Laotian border where contact with the enemy was often heavy and always chaotic. For a generation whose grandfathers fought there as well as those who find military history of interest, this is a gritty story of what it was like to fight in that long ago war. Today, Short is a retired educator who resides in Denton, Texas.

Nine Rubies by Mahru Ghashghaei as told to Susan Synder ($15.99, Ideas--Inventive Designs for Education & the Arts, available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony and iBookstore, softcover) is a testimony to friendship and the value of personal stories. In the case of Mahru, it is an Iranian woman, abandoned by her father, whose sister was abused and tricked into marrying against her will at age 13, and a shocking family secret that very nearly destroyed her life as a young woman. Through sheer strength of character, she persevered, became a nurse, and trained medical volunteers during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. With a group of friends, she adopted nine orphaned boys to keep them from foster care and further harm while the nation was at war. When staying in Iran became untenable, Mahru left her family and started a new life in America with her husband and sons. Susan Synder became her friend, someone who collected family oral histories. For insight into what life in Iran was like after the ayatollahs took control and what it still is, it is a look inside Iran and the Middle East and a reason to help bring freedom to the religious and politically strive-torn region.

Books for Younger Readers

Many children are born with hearing loss and Wendy Kupfer, the mother of a child with severe to profound hearing loss, has written a children’s book for ages three to seven, Let’s Hear It for Amigal ($16.99, Handfinger Press) to provide those with hearing aids and cochlear implants enjoy self-esteem and to help educate their friends. Amigal is a spirited child, but unhappy that she can’t hear the things we take for granted. By portraying Amigal as a confident little girl, the book provides a terrific resource for teachers, parents, and caregivers. Delightfully illustrated by Tammie Lyon, it is beautiful, upbeat story. An estimated 12,000 babies are born each year with hearing loss and this lighthearted and informative book will bring a lot of joy into their lives.

Pre-teens and older will enjoy a fantasy tale, The Rock of Ivanore – Book One: The Celestine Chronicles by Laurisa White Reyes ($16.95, Tanglewood) that begins as Marcus and other boys from the village come of age when the wizard Zyll commands them to find the Rock of Ivanore. Marcus must develop new magic powers and survive the wild lands in his search for the Rock. Filled with twists and turns, the plot will hold the reader’s attention as it is filled with adventure and action.

Teen girls will explore the often treacherous world of friendship, loyalty, and choices girls face in high school when they read The Best Friend by Melody Carlson ($12.99, Revell, softcover). Lishia Vance is flummoxed. One day she has friends. The next everyone has turned against her. When she makes friends will Riley Atkins, a popular cheerleader, things begin to look up again, but is Riley really the friend she seems or is Lishia better off without her? Carlson is an award-winning author of more than two hundred books, including “The Jerk Magnet”, reviewed here. Regine’s Book: A Teen Girl’s Last Words by Regine Stokke is taken from her real life ($16.99, Zest Books, softcover) is about her struggle with cancer, the second leading cause of death in children under 14 years of age. Nearly 50,000 new leukemia cases will be diagnosed this year alone. She began blogging about her experiences, the basis for the book, writing openly about the emotional and physical aspects of her 15-month struggle to recover. She died at home in December 2009, but her book will inspire young readers and open their eyes to the realities of this disease.

Zest Books, (http://www.zestbooks.net/) publishes lots of fun books about pop culture and The End ($12.99, softcover) is subtitled “50 apocalyptic visions from pop culture that you should know about before it’s too late.” Since the Mayan end of the world prediction is slated for December 21 this year, this is a timely book that looks at all the ways films, television, paintings, songs, literature and other works of art have depicted this ancient and on-going theme. The world has not come to an end despite all the predictions and for teens this will prove very good news.

Novels, Novels, Novels

So many novels, so little time to read them all; for the purpose of this monthly report here is a selection that offer entertainment as the summer begins.

Viking, an imprint of the Penguin Group, has long been one of the prominent publishers of fiction and they maintain their reputation with three novels, one of which is the debut of Natasa Dragnic, Every Day, Every Hour ($25.95) as translated by Liesl Schillinger. In a small Croatian coastal city in the early 1960s, five-year-old Luka, smitten by new classmate Dora, faints in excitement and is awakened by her kiss. The two become inseparable until Dora and her parents move to Paris. Then, both in their twenties, Luka and Dora meet again in Paris where Luka has an exhibition of his paintings and they fall in love. This is a classic romance filled with intense emotion. The Orphanmaster is also a debut novel ($27.95). Jean Zimmerman’s knowledge of 17th century Manhattan is the basis of her vivid reaction of the harsh reality of life in New Amsterdam in a lively and fast-paced tale of mystery, romance, political intrigue and suspense. It is 1663 and orphan children are disappearing or turning up dead. A young woman, herself an orphan, Blandine van Courvering, along with a dashing British spy, Edward Drummond, join up to search for the killer. Their budding romance is threatened by a charge that Blandine is a witch and Edward faces being hanged. Many other Dickensian characters inhabit the story at a time when the British kind is planning to wrest control of the colony. The Irish are gifted storytellers and much admired among them is Dermot Healy, the author of three novels, a memoir, a collection of stories, and five volumes of poetry. In his latest novel, Long Time, No See ($27.95) takes the reader to the isolated coastal town of Ballintra in Northwest Ireland and serves up a cast of innocents and wounded, broken misfits. It is told by Phillip Feeney, also known as “Mister Psyche”, a young man on the brink of adulthood who has been a bit undone by a recent traumatic event. He’s awaiting his exam results while living at home with his folks and doing odd jobs. He spends time hanging out with and running errands for two men some fifty years his senior, his Uncle Joejoe and his uncle’s friend, known as the “The Blackbird.” These are ordinary people made extraordinary by the author’s considerable literary gifts and the poetry that flows unconsciously from the lips of the Irish.

A number of softcover books will provide hours of entertainment and of insight into life in other nations. Zakhar Prilepin, the winner of the Russian National Bestseller Prize and Russian Super Natsbest Prize, demonstrates why he is so popular there and gaining an international reputation. He writes of life in modern Russia. His novel, Sin ($24.95, Glagoslav Publications) is a guided tour of Russia’s recent past and present, replete with the issues of unemployment, poverty, violence, and local wars, all seen through the prism of the relationships of its characters, both loved ones and strangers. It is an intensely human story that takes you to a different place that, at the same time, feels familiar. The world of WWII Egypt is the setting for Jasmine Nights by Julia Gregson ($16.00, Touchstone/Simon and Schuster) for a powerful story of love, adventure, beauty and danger. It is a travelogue of sorts, from England to Egypt to Turkey, filled with exotic sights and sounds, as Saba Tarcan, a talented singer who longs to break free from her traditional Turkish father who will not allow her to sing in public. She jumps at the change to join the Entertainment National Service Association, becoming part of a theatrical company sent to entertain the soldiers at the height of the desert war in North Africa. She is asked by the British Secret Service to take part in a covert mission and complications ensue. It’s an intricate story of two people struggling to hold onto their love for one another in perilous times.

A new novel takes one back to the legendary days of the American West based on a true story of Charley Darkey Parkhurst who died in 1880 and was celebrated as a one-eyed, tobacco-spitting, gold-rush era Wells Fargo driver, a famed California stage coach driver and outlaw killer. What wasn’t known was that Charley was a woman. Karen Kondazian has transformed his/her story into a novel, The Whip ($15.00, Hanson Publishing Group), a beautifully written story of the Old West that moves between the exploits of Charley and the heartbreak of his/her secret. Why did she choose to live as a man? It was a hard life as a “whip” as the early drivers were known. They were held in high regard. This is a very entertaining and emotionally moving reading. A more recent and far different setting is the backdrop for Shelter by Frances Greenslade ($15.00, Free Press). A debut novel, it chronicles the struggles of sisters Maggie and Jenny as they attempt to make sense of a life without parents in rural Duchess Creek, Canada in the 1970s. After their beloved father’s death in a logging accident, their mother drops them off with friends and never returns. It is a search for one’s roots that drives the story and one that women in particular will find a great read on the beach or porch.

I am not generally a fan of novels that mix reality and fantasy, by Lauren Santaniello pulls it off in Death of Ignorance ($21.95, Stories to Tell), a dark psychological thriller filled with suspense, fantasy and romance. It centers on Alex Sharrock who, after witnessing his father’s murder, as a child renounces religion and God. It takes up his life thirteen years later when the 19-year-old is the lead singer for a popular rock band. He is haunted by persistent memories, nightmares, and pushed to the brink of sanity when he discovers that he is a Seer, the last of a race believed to have been eliminated by Satan’s army centuries earlier. Not light reading by any means, but a dark, intriguing story. Finally, there’s Piero Rivolta’s Journey Beyond 2012 ($21.95, New Chapter Publishers, hardcover) that is pegged to the end-of-the-world Mayan prediction. For anyone who enjoys a philosophical journey that explores modern life, a meditation on its meaning, and the nature of our existence, this book will provide a cosmic morality tale that ranges over many of the issues that represents the headlines of our present time. It challenges our beliefs, our aspirations, and our human desire for survival.

That’s it for June! Remember to tell all your book-loving friends, family, and co-workers about Bookviews, the only monthly report on new fiction and non-fiction that provides news of books across a wide range of subjects. And come back in July for still more!

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

It is rare to read a book written to dispute and dismember another author, but in the case of Martin Sieff’s That Should Still Be Us: How Thomas Friedman’s Flat World Myths are Keeping Us Flat on Our Backs ($22.95, John Wiley and Sons), he can not only be forgiven, but celebrated for taking on the three-time Pulitzer Prize winning Thomas Friedman, one of The New York Times’ gurus and author of some of the most egregiously wrong books on the state of the world. Sieff is the Chief Global Analyst for The Globalist Research Center, a former United Press International Managing Editor for International Affairs, and widely published where it counts, such as The Wall Street Journal. One quote should suffice: “Americans are ignorant of the lessons of history, and that’s why their country is going down the tubes. The lesson of economic history is clear: there is no flat playing field in the world and there never has been. There are rich nations and poor nations. There are winners and losers.” Sieff examines why America, when it abandoned its manufacturing base, leaving it unprotected against competition from the days of Lincoln through Kennedy, and then abandoned common sense to attack the extraction, sale and use of its abundant natural resources—oil, coal, and natural gas—it successful crippled its economy. It outsourced the basis of its wealth and China, learning all the lessons of what made us rich, turned those lessons against us. If you want to truly understand the real world and why bad policies have saddled Americans with the greatest debt in its entire history, you must and should read this extraordinary book.

As the nation moves closer to the November elections and in the wake of the rout of the Wisconsin recall effort, it is clear to many that the liberal policies for decades that created Big Government with its many now nearly insolvent “entitlement” programs have begun to wear out their welcome. Even the 2008 financial crisis was triggered by the liberal housing programs—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—that had pushed the banking system to issue “sub-prime” mortgage loans. R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., founder and editor of The American Spectator which along with the National Review has been a platform for conservative philosophy and politics, has written The Death of Liberalism ($19.99, Thomas Nelson), a short, elegantly written, witty look at the roots of liberalism and the failures of communism, socialism, and fascism. He reviews the ascent of conservatism since the 1950s, the success of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, and how even Bill Clinton’s legacy is based on the conservative programs put forth by a Republican controlled Congress beginning in 1994. Tyrrell points out the loss of the grip of liberalism on the majority of Americans who, for three decades or more, have been identifying themselves in polls as either conservatives or independents in numbers far exceeding liberals. This is a very good book to read before you go to the polling both in November.
The New Levithan: How the Left-Wing Money Machine Shapes American Politics and Threatens America’s Future ($27.00, Crown Publishing) by David Horowitz and Jacob Laskin contains surprises and some frightening insights to the way public opinion and policy has been influences by billions in foundation funding. The biggest surprise for many will be the fact that it is not the Right wing that has piles of money with which to advance its policies, but the Left and the foundations are those that were begun by some of the nation’s early conservative entrepreneurs such as Rockefeller and Ford. One by one their control was taken over by liberal administrators and now their billions influence the important and policies through a huge matrix of organizations devoted to such issues as environmentalism, immigration, national security, health care, and education. The authors also chronicle the role of unions and how government employee unions at all levels have bankrupted states with pension and health benefits that those in the private sector cannot afford, but who must pay for those given to public sector employees. Between the tax-exempt organizations, government unions, and radical groups, America has seen a shift away from the fundamental values that have served it well since its establishment.

I expect to see books on political issues as we get closer to the November national elections, but one that arrived turned out to be a big disappointment, despite its title, America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Freedom by Meghan McCain and Michael Ian Black ($26.00, Da Capo Press). Billed as “humor and current events” but barely offering either, Ms. McCain is the daughter of Sen. John McCain and Mr. Black is a stand-up comedian. The idea for the book was a spontaneous suggestion that they do one together that evolved into a cross-country ride coupling two people with different political beliefs, touching base with regular folks and recording their feedback while adding their own commentary about the trip. The concept just doesn’t work despite their efforts. Ms. McCain is the better writer of the two. Mr. Black needs to learn a trade. Another disappointment was We Learn Nothing: Essays and Cartoons by Tim Kreider ($20.00, Free Press). Granted he has a following as a writer for the New York Times and his satirical cartoons, “The Pain—When Will It End?—ran in the Baltimore City Paper for twelve years. He is, like guacamole, an acquired taste, but just not my idea of funny. There is a mordant quality to his writings and cartoons. If you want to read some of the best essays of the modern era, pick up a copy of Final Fridays ($26.00, Counterpoint Press), a collection of essays, lectures, tributes and other nonfiction from 1995 onward by John Barth. For those of an intellectual inclination, this National Book Award winner’s ruminations on everything will provide considerable reading pleasure as Barth combines wit and the well turned phrase to keep you turning the pages.

This year marks Silent Spring at 50 ($25.95, hardcover, $12.99 digital, Cato Institute) subtitled “The False Crises of Rachel Carson has an official publication date in September, but in the shadow of Rio+20, the Earth Summit held in June, it is worth recalling that the book is widely credited with starting the environmental movement. The author’s style allowed a wide audience to access the “science” she was presenting, but the problem was that much of it was cherry-picked and utterly false. It was a polemic against DDT in particular and the use of beneficial chemicals that protected human health and enhanced crop yields by protecting against insect and weed predation. DDT was eventually banned despite ample evidence of its value by an EPA that ignored the data. The result was that millions around the world died from mosquito-borne malaria and other diseases that could have been deterred. There was no massive rise in the rates of cancer as Carson asserted. The book’s contributors make a powerful case as specialists in public health, economics, law, and the sciences. The lessons one can draw from it include the fact that environmental organizations continue to use the same flawed and often false data to advance their goals.

Did you know that every year in the United States more than 50,000 fake Ph.D.s are bought while only 40,000 real Ph.D.s are earned? This means there are doctors, lawyers, teachers and even ministers who purchased the degree on their wall. Degree Mills: The Billion-Dollar Industry that has Sold over a Million Fake Diplomas by retired FBI Agent Allen Ezell and John Bear, Ph.D. ($21.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) reveal how millions of people are using credentials they never earned. There are at least 5,000 fake MDs in the U.S. according to a Congressional survey. This is a very interesting book, particularly for those whose jobs involve checking on the credentials of people applying for employment in business, government, and academia.

Most books about architecture are large and filled with photos and descriptions of all manner of structures. They often address historical aspects and the aesthetics. It is the rare book on the subject that provides the layman with the real nitty-gritty, but I am happy to report that Robert Brown Butler’s Architecture Laid Bare ($25.00, softcover) does. It is a 458 page reference with 240 illustrations. Anyone with dreams of building their own home or adding to an existing one should read this book because it will prepare you to deal with an architect or construction team and have no regrets for lack of knowledge about design, structure, electrical, lighting, plumbing, and all aspects that represent a home that works in terms of your needs and aspirations. Don’t be another person who discovers too late that you have been duped. Butler writes in a conversational fashion so that you get to know the author, an architect who shares years of experience with you. It is his seventh book on the subject. Available at Amazon.com, you can learn more by visiting www.architecturelaidbare.com.

Some years ago I reviewed Nicholas A. Basbanes’ A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books ($15.95, Fine Books Press, softcover). It was a bestselling book then and remains the most comprehensive book about the passion of book collecting. There is no one to rival Basbanes for his knowledge and I was happy to learn that a new, updated, definitive edition had been published. The research is self-evident, but it is the anecdotal elements that are entertaining as the author reviews the lives of some of the great collectors. It began with the 2,200 year-old Library of Alexandra, moves on to the dawn of Western printing in the Middle Ages, into the Renaissance, and now into the advances of twentieth-century collecting. I admit I am resisting reading books in their new electric formats. I like the feel of a book in my hands. If you do, then this book will provide endless hours of reading pleasure.

Food, Wonderful Food

I have not received many cookbooks of late, but I liked Food in Jars by Marisa McClellan ($23.00, Running Press) because it reminded me of my youth when preserving all manner of items was commonplace. Canning is still popular today and this delightful books offers more than a hundred recipes for everything from jams and pickles, to chutneys and relishes. Designed for use in smaller kitchens, the small batch recipes can be prepared in an apartment after perhaps bringing items from local farmer’s market food items home. Once preserved, they can be served throughout the year. It is a comprehensive book with simple tips for first-timers to folks who have gardens and want to store their bounty. For some reason homemade always tastes better!

In these hard times when money is tight, Gabi Moskowitz looked around her and asked what if folks who may have lost a job and never learned to cook had a cookbook that would show them how to enjoy real gourmet meals for under $20 a dish? Thus was born The Brokeass Gourmet Cookbook ($16.95, Egg & Dart, softcover). It is filled with excellent ideas and tips on stock your pantry on a budget, add flavor to your meals with your own sauces, make great soups, and just a whole lot more to make dinner your favorite meal of the day without going into debt doing it. Making Perfect Popcorn by John Beigel is clearly the book the world has been waiting for ($16.95, McOsprey Publishing, softcover) if, that is, you love popcorn. Truth be told, this is an excellent A-to-Z book on the topic with all kinds of information that will enhance your popcorn experience and I was astonished how many things one needs to know to get the ultimate popcorn experience.

Memoirs, Autobiographies & Biographies

Buddy Guy is the winner of six Grammys and Billboard magazine’s Century Award. He was inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 and, now in his mid 70s, is regarded as one of the best blues guitarists alive today. He has written When I Left Home ($26.00, Da Capo Press) with David Ritz, the co-author of numerous autobiographies of musicians, including Ray Charles and Etta James. He was the son of Louisiana sharecroppers and 13 years old when he heard John Lee Hooker’s “Boogie Chillen” and his father gave him a worn-in two-string guitar. In time he would share the stages all over the world with the likes of Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and his friend and idol, B.B. King. For anyone who loves the blues, I guarantee you will love this autobiography.

Confessions of a Horseshoer by Ron Tatum ($24.95, University of North Texas Press) might seem an odd book to recommend, but Tatum is far more than a farrier, the older term for a trade he has pursued for some forty years. He joined the Marine Corp and retired from the reserves as a Major. He has been a Presbyterian minister, a juvenile probation officer, a drug/alcohol counselor, and a college dean and professor with a doctorate in high education. He still teaches college and he still shoes horses. This is a delightful book in which you will learn how he has balanced the different worlds he inhabits. It is filled with insights and humor, with reflections on all manner of things and thoughts he has encountered. For the simple delight of reading about his life, I would recommend this book highly. Another, more familiar, profession gets its day in court with Thomas P. Casselman’s memoir of his years in a small courtroom in Marguette, Michigan. I Talk—You Walk: Forty Years of Winning Defense Strategies ($18.95, Avery Color Studies, softcover) is a collection of short stories that evolve around the law, murder and mayhem, and in which the author takes the reader behind the scenes with him and private investigator Rhona Goodwin as they work their way through the case. This is the law at work at the local level, yet reflecting in many ways the more famous cases that grab the headlines. Local politics, domestic melodrama, racial bias, and townies versus outsider land barons all meet and clash in the courtroom and those at higher levels in ways that rival any big city trial.

Military Matters

Americans have been treated to news about SEAL Team 6 who took out Osama bin Laden last year, but there is another group of warriors who also deserve the thanks of the nation. Dick Couch has written Sua Sponte: The Forging of a Modern American Ranger ($26.95, Berkley Caliber) whose title means “Of their own accord.” It is the motto of the 75th Ranger Regiment. Couch, a graduate of the US Naval Academy, is uniquely suited to write this book regarding the unique and distinct military culture of this particular fighting force. In the war on Islamic terrorism, the Rangers have been given the assignment to capture or kill the enemy. They do not patrol, nor do they train allied forces. What sets them apart is the direct-action their missions involve. The book is about how such men are selected and trained. This is Special Operations in a time of war. The book has already garnered accolades from retired U.S. Army generals and others, and now it has mine.

The other side of the story is that of the jihadi warriors and a fairly astonishing book, Terrorists in Love: True Life Stories of Islamic Radicals by Ken Ballen ($15.00, Free Press, softcover) that provides a look at the real lives of those who choose to commit suicide to advance Islam’s cause. In the hands of Ballen, a veteran attorney, skilled interrogator, and founder of Terror Free Tomorrow, six men emerge as the products of societies and a religion so different from ours that it defies the imagination to understand it. These are people who believe in spirits, genies, and in the power of dreams over the reality of their lives. They live within the fierce and unforgiving world of the Islamic faith. It is a world that shapes killers who believe they are heroes.

World War Two continues to provide books about various aspects of that conflict. Intrepid Aviators: The True Story of U.S.S. Intrepid’s Torpedo Squadron 18 and Its Epic Clash with the Superbattleship Musashi by Gregory G. Fletcher ($26.95, New American Library) is just out this month. It tells the story of the young American pilots who sank Japan’s greatest battleship during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. It was 1944 and six young bomber pilots flew off the deck on a search-and-destroy mission. It would turn out to be the opening round of history’s greatest—and last—epic naval battle. The author’s father, Will Fletcher, survived being shot down, escaping into the jungles of the Philippines where he eluded capture by the Japanese with the help of Filipino guerillas. The author served as a navel aviator from 1969 to 1974 and is now an attorney.

Getting Down to Business Books

Information Bombardment: Rising Above the Digital Onslaught by Nick Bontis, Ph.D. ($28.95, Institute for Intellectual Capital Research) begins with more than a dozen pages of praise from a variety of people from the business and academic community. It is testimony to the fact that all of us are being overwhelmed by a daily torrent of information via the Internet and, of course, by other media as well. Like others I begin my day weeding out the many emails that have arrived overnight and which continue throughout the day. Dr. Bontis provides advice on how to sort through the emails, the tweets, the instant messages, websites and blogs posts that one receives or visits. He discusses how one can “de-stress” one’s life from the pressure, anxiety, fears and other health-related problems that too much information is often intended to induce. He shows how to prioritize your information sources, and in the world of business, to speed up innovation through increased collaboration among team members, colleagues and stakeholders. This are real-world solutions and, if this book describes your life, I suggest you pick up a copy and read it.

The Small-Business Guide to Government Contracts by Steven J. Koprince ($29.95, Amacom) addressed how to comply with key rules and regulations while at the same time avoiding terminated agreements, fines or worse. In short, a very useful book for the twenty-three percent of contracts the federal government reserves for all kinds of goods and services provided by small businesses. It represented just over $109 billion in 2011. Small businesses often invest a great deal of time and money to winning a government contract without considering what happens next. These contracts can lead to fines and even jail time because of all the strings attached, unique and complicated requirements and restrictions. Before reaching for the brass ring of a government contract, reach for this book! Another problem many Americans are facing is having to deal with bill collectors and William Davis has written a short book, Confessions of an Ex-Bill Collector ($24.95, available via Amazon.com, softcover) The author spent five years in the bill collection business and what he doesn’t know about it and about how you can free yourself from debt is probably not worth knowing. When I asked him about the price, he said, “Yes you have a good point, but consider what just an hour’s consultation with an attorney would be? I wanted the book to include only the best information that would benefit the consumer and not just a lot of useless information just to make the book bigger. Also the money the consumer can save not paying high interest and getting rid of bill collectors, obtaining peace of mind and being able to purchase the car or home of their dreams is worth many times the price of the book.” Another short, easy to read book is How to Understand Economics in 1 Hour by Marshal Payn ($7.95, Assent Publishing, softcover, available on Kindle as well). I wish I had read this when I was in college or any time in my youth. A lot of us get up in years without really understanding what economics is and this book remedies that. Much of the financial problems we have today is the result of people just not understanding the fundamentals. You don’t have to be a genius because Payn spells it out so well that even I felt my knowledge refreshed as a result..

A great number of books on the subject of management address the topic of character and, clearly, having the right traits makes a big difference. Lead by Greatness: How Character Can Power Your Success by David Lapin ($19.95, Avoda Books, softcover) falls into this category. The author says “Greatness of character powers leadership success more than any other single factor” and he brings his experience as a rabbi, a business strategist, and CEO of Lapin International to bear on the subject of inspiring teams, sparking innovation, and allowing companies to thrive. The combination of spiritual teacher and bottom-line-focused management expert makes for a very interesting book. It is based on his having worked with hundreds of senior executives around the world. For inspiration mixed with practical application, this book will prove helpful to anyone at any level in the world of business.

Books for Younger Readers

Many books these days for pre-and-early school children are written to impart advice on how to cope with life’s problems. Thomas and son Peter Weck have authored a number of books that both entertain and teach, illustrated by Len DiSalvo. Their latest is The Labyrinth ($15.95, Lima Bear Press, Wilmington, DE) which deals with jealousy, common among the young and old. Written for those 4 to 8 years of age, it tells the story of Princess Belinda Bean who becomes queen when her father steps aside. Mean Old Bean who wanted to be king lures her into a magic labyrinth and it is up to L. Joe Bean, the wise man of Beandom, to rescue her. Learning how to rise to new responsibilities and forgiveness are two lessons, but the story is so delightfully told that younger readers will enjoy it for a tale well told.

New Horizon Press has published two children’s books for the very young, They Call Me Fat Zoe: Helping Children and Families Overcome Obesity and Cats Can’t Fly: Teaching Children to Value New Friendships (Both $9.95) use animal characters to help children cope effectively by learning better eating habits and by overcoming shyness. For parents who are trying to address these issues, these books will prove very helpful.

Tiffany Jansen offers girls in the third and fourth grades, ages 9 and younger, worthy role models while introducing them to medieval times. Published by Medieval Maidens ($5.95, Knoxville, MD, http://www.medievalmaidens.net/). Two of this series feature Mary Tudor, a girl in the court of Henry VII of England who prepares for her sister’s Scottish wedding and feast. A second book is about the celebration of Twelfth Night. This is a highly entertaining way to learn about a past era.

A young adult fantasy, The Life Squad by Amir Yassai is a debut novel (available from Amazon.com) that those in their pre-and-early teens will likely enjoy as it poses a dilemma. What if you possessed the gift to give life, but that gift destroyed those closest to you? Discovering one day that he is able to reanimate the dead, protagonist Adam Bronn sets out to find the answers to how this mysterious gift may also be the cause of the death and despair that’s surrounded him his whole life. After meeting others with the same power, they become the “life squad” intent on preventing their powers from being used for evil. It is a classic story and one that will keep young readers turning the pages. A much lighter bit of reading is provided by Gwendolyn Heasley in A Long Way from You ($8.99, Harper Teen, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers). Eager to develop her talent as an artist, Kitsy is offered the opportunity to attend a summer art class in New York City when her best friend Corrine’s family sponsors the trip from Texas. It is a study in learning how to navigate the big city and deal with New Yorkers, especially a young man with a knack for getting under her skin. It’s a summer that is going to be about a lot more than figure drawing.

Novels, Novels, Novels

The great thing about fiction is that there is a story to suit every taste.

Jill Smolinski has a following based on her earlier novels so they will be delighted to learn she has a new one, Objects of My Affection, ($24.99, Touchstone, an imprint of Simon and Schuster). Lucy Bloom’s life is in disarray. Freshly dumped by her boyfriend and suddenly rootless after selling her home to send her teenage son, Ash, to drug rehab, she finds herself sharing a bedroom with her best friend’s pre-schooler daughter! She is, however, to start over and wangles a job cleaning clutter from the home of a renowned artist-turned-reclusive-hoarder, Marva Meier Rios. It is a major undertaking, but Lucy learns that Marva has a big secret and the two form an unlikely bond. This is a novel about how to let go of things and events in our lives, knowing what has real value and what does not.

William J. Cobb has written a most unusual novel, The Bird Saviors, ($26.95, Unbridled Books) about a teenage mother who counts birds at a time when there are fewer and fewer of them around here Pueblo, Colorado home. An avian flue has been ravaging the bird population and is a metaphor for an era of bleakness. Her mother has abandoned her fundamentalist preacher father and now he wants to marry her off to an older man with two wives. It’s time for Ruby to make a break for it and she does. An ornithologist arrives and, like Ruby, thinks birds are special and a romance develops. All the primary emotions are captured, defiance, anger, compassion, and unexpected love.

For those who love a good mystery, they are likely to enjoy Cheryl Crane’s new novel, Imitation of Death ($24.00, Kensington Publishing Group) with a sale date of August and formal release in September. Crane is the only child of famed film star, Lana Turner. She grew up in the world of Hollywood glamour, murder and mystery. I enjoyed her previous novel, “The Bad Always Die Twice” in which she introduced us to realtor and amateur sleuth Nikki Harper. Among Hollywood realtors Nikki is a superstar, but her investigative skill levels are well below par. Her first case ended with her best friend behind bars and now a body has been found in a dumpster behind her friend, Victoria Bordeaux’s mansion. Nikki wants to help but soon discovers the list of suspects keeps growing. The one thing of which she is convinced is that the Jorge Delgado, a childhood friend and son of Victoria’s housekeeper is innocent. There is plenty here to keep one turning the pages for an entertaining few hours in a world Crane knows well. Hollywood is also the setting for The Director’s Cut—Backstage Pass #3 by Janice Thompson ($14.99, Revell, softcover) in which the central character, Tia Morales, is used to call the shots as the director of a popular sitcom, “Stars Collide”. Life on the set is orderly, but outside the studio it is another matter as she tried to make her family behave as well as her stars do. Yes, she’s a bit of a control freak, but that’s also her charm in this story of learning to take life a bit easier and letting it lead where it may.

I am always a bit wary of novels based on ancient biblical texts, real or imagined, but the popularity of “The Da Vinci Code” is enough to indicate that many people do enjoy such tales. If so, they will enjoy Q Awakening by G.M. Lawrence ($25.95, Variance Publishing, Cabot, Arkansas) Among biblical scholars where is a widespread belief that a “Q” manuscript, a lost Christian gospel, exists. The novel’s protagonist, Declan Stewart’s destiny is inextricably intertwined with “Q”—for the German word for quelle (the source). This is an international thriller that stretches from the deserts of Sinai to the coasts of New Zealand, the streets of Zurich to the mountains of Syria. Stewart is compelled to find the clues to solve mystery of the gospel and there are others who do not want the world to know about it. This is also a spiritual hero’s journey. You will not be disappointed if you join his journey.


For those who like short stories and, in particular, fantasies, Steven Erickson delivers with The Devil Delivered and Other Tales ($14.99, Tor Books) which consists of four speculative novellas that Erickson wrote in between his ten volume series, “The Malazan Book of the Fallen.” Does this guy ever take time out to eat and sleep? What he does is writer some compelling fiction with each story so different from the other you will just have to take my word that this collection is a real bargain and deals with some very interesting themes.

That’s it for July. Come back next month for the best in new non-fiction and fiction, offering news about books you might not learn about anywhere else. Tell your book-loving friends, family and co-workers about Bookviews.com so they too can enjoy this eclectic report. See you in August!

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month


As we head toward the elections in November, Stanley Weintraub, a historian and award-winning author of more than fifty books, has a new one, Final Victory: FDR’s Extraordinary World War II Presidential Campaign ($26.00, Da Capo Press) that, for those old enough to recall that era or young enough to be curious about it, will prove a fascinating visit to the past. I was about ten years old at the time and, like most of the young men fighting in Europe and Asia, had never known any other President that Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Elected initially in 1932, he had already served three terms when no other President had served more than two—based on a tradition set by George Washington. By 1941, he was a very sick man, suffering from a weakening heart in addition to having been crippled by polio prior to having first been elected. Would Americans turn to a younger Tom Dewey, a Republican, or stick with FDR who was visibly aged? Weintraub takes the reader through all the political machinations in both Parties, the campaign rigors, the selection of the relatively unknown Harry Truman as FDR’s running mate, and the election. His fourth term would last 83 days until felled by a cerebral hemorrhage, but he had ensured that the Democrat Party held onto the White House. The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution ensured that no President thereafter could hold the office for more than two terms.

Many are asking who will be Mitt Romney’s choice for the Vice Presidential candidate and many believe it will be Florida’s first-term Senator, Marco Rubio. He has authored an autobiography, An American Son, ($26.95, Portfolio, Penguin Sentinel) that covers his family’s roots in Cuba, the decision to flee Castro in the 1950s, and his political career and rise to become speaker in the Florida legislature and, from there to the U.S. Senate. At age 41, he has proven to be an articulate spokesman for conservative principles. The autobiography reads smoothly and, if Romney selects him, his Hispanic roots will no doubt be part of that decision given the growing U.S. population of Americans with Hispanic ancestry. There are no surprises here, but those with an interest in American politics will find it a useful introduction to him. The candidacy of Mitt Romney is arousing predictable interest in his religion. Mormons have served this nation in positions of public trust since the days of the Eisenhower administration. Joanna Brooks has written The Book of Mormon Girl: A Memoir of an American Faith ($14.00, Free Press, softcover) that tells her story of what it was like growing up in Church of the Latter-day Saints. She is a scholar of religion and American culture, and a senior correspondent for ReligiousDispatches.org. For the many people who know nothing about the Mormon faith, I would surely recommend her book for the introduction it provides. Among the strictures of the faith, she learned there would be no tea, no coffee, no cigarettes, no alcohol of any kind, and no caffeine. Like many who struggle with their faith, she tells of moving away from it during a controversial moment in the Church’s history, but also of returning so that her daughters could know the comfort of the faith in which she grew up. It is a heart-warming, honest story.

Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele have teamed to write books on the state of America over the years and they don’t like what they see. The Betrayal of the American Dream ($26.99, Public Affairs) examines how the middle class, the key to America’s economic success in many ways, has been systematically destroyed by what they identify as wealthy elites in combination with a government that does their bidding. This is an unrelentingly dour and depressing book, but it is also an unflinching look at the way outsourcing has eliminated many of the jobs that afforded the middle class a good life. I did not always find myself in agreement with their solutions, but I also could find little to argue with regarding the unfairness of policies that benefit the rich and large corporations while stripping wage earners of promised benefits and unfairly taxing them as a group. Coming at a time when Americans are suffering a new Great Depression, their book is particularly timely.

Events before and since 9/11 and occurring in the past decade in the Middle East have awakened Americans to the realization that they have been under attack by Islam since the 1980s with attacks as well on our embassies and on the USS Cole. Many plots have been thwarted since 9/11, but the fact that has not truly taken hold in the West is that Islam has been at war with all “unbelievers” for 1,400 years. The Koran not only requires war, but gives Muslims permission to kill anyone who dares to disagree with Islam or who says anything negative about its founder, Muhammed. To understand him and the malignant “religion” he created, I would recommend that you read Ali Sina’s Understanding Muhammad and Muslims (18.95, softcover). Sina, born in Iran, did not fall pray to the insidious way Islam captures the minds of those born into the faith and he has devoted his life to helping Muslims escape from Islam through his organization, http://www.faithfreedom.org/. It is a masterful, scholarly work that examines the life of Muhammad and reveals him in ways that demonstrate how he created a cult around himself. It was an ugly, violent, narcissistic life and one that now holds more than a billion people around the world in its grasp.

For a change of pace, let me state for the record that I do not believe in ghosts and never had. Two books have arrived for people who do. One is The Science of Ghosts: Searching for Spirits of the Dead by Joe Nickell ($18.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) who takes ghosts seriously and examines evidence for contact from eyewitness accounts to spirit photographs, and even forensic trace evidence. Filled with case studies, this book will interest other fans of ghostly affairs. Then there’s A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to the Most Haunted Places in America by Terrance Zepke ($9.95, Safari Publishing, softcover, $4.50 ebook). The author grew up in a part of South Carolina which is said to have lots of ghosts and “haints.” A journalist by training, she takes you on a tour of the Trans-Allegheny lunatic asylum in West Virginia, the Birdcage Theatre in Arizona, and the Colonial Park Cemetery in Georgia, among a dozen other places. There are popular theories about ghosts that include the view that they do not know they’re dead or that they have unfinished business.

For women interested in fashion and a healthy lifestyle, there’s Ballet Beautiful by Mary Helen Bowers ($20.00, Da Capo Press, softcover) and The Book of Styling: An Insider’s Guide to Creating Your Own Look by Somer Flaherty ($16.99, Zest Books, softcover). The author of the former book was a member of the New York City Ballet and is now a highly regarded fitness instructor. When Natalie Portman had to portray a ballet dancer in “Black Swan”, it was Bowers that helped her achieve the transformation. Her book is filled with photos and a world of good advice regarding a sustainable health regimen rather than fad diets or overworking one’s body. And once you have become slim and gorgeous (or not) there’s Flaherty’s book that brings together a decade of experience in the fashion industry as a stylist, journalism instructor, editor and writer. The book will be particularly useful for ‘tweens’, teens, and younger women, finding the right look or a variety of looks The book takes the reader through all of the popular styles and is filled with great advice.

Peace of Mind

The one thing that we most seek in life is peace of mind. As often as not, factors beyond our control interfere with that. The sales of various pharmaceuticals intended to provide an escape from anxiety is testimony to this quest.

Learning to Breath: My Yearlong Quest to Bring Calm to My Life ($15.00, Free Press, softcover) by Priscilla Warner tells the story of her lifelong panic disorder. More than 40 million Americans are estimated to have an anxiety disorder of some kind. By the usual standards, Ms. Warner should have been content. She was a college graduate, an accomplished art director, the coauthor of a New York Times bestseller, “The Faith Club”, happily married and the mother of two grown sons. When she read about Tibetan monks who had meditated so effectively they were able to change their brains, she wanted in. She went in quest of meditation’s secrets, trying all manner of ways to achieve a similar change. This book, part memoir, part a guide to rewiring one’s brain, makes for some very interesting reading. Dr. Gordon Livingston, MD, a psychiatrist, has authored The Thing You Think You Cannot Do: Thirty Truths about Fear and Courage ($19.99, Da Capo Press, softcover), a study of fear. He takes the reader from the primal impulse to escape death to the modern-day compulsion to avoid failure and humiliation. Such fears can become overwhelming and debilitating. Indeed, he catalogs a collection of human fears that include loss, intimacy, aging, inadequacy, discussing how people can choose to face them head-on. The author endured the loss of his own sons, one to suicide and another to leukemia, just thirteen months apart. When I think back on my own life, it has been remarkably free of fear, but it is never far from my thoughts. There is an antidote to fear. It is courage. It’s there inside of you and this book will help you tap into it.

Steven Hassan, an expert on cults, has written Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults and Beliefs ($9.95, Freedom of Mind Press, Newton, MA, softcover). He has helped thousands of people victimized by abusive relationships or who have joined cults that exercise mind-control. A former cult member in his youth, after breaking free he became a licensed mental health counselor and holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Cambridge College. If someone you know is trapped in a situation and you want to help, you should read this book and equip yourself to know how to extricate them. You can learn more by visiting www.freedomofmind.com.

Due off the press in September from Central Recovery Press, Nancy L. Johnson, a licensed psychotherapist and substance abuse treatment practitioner, has authored My Life as a Border Collie: Freedom from Codependency ($16.95) a fun book on a serious topic. She shares the life lessons she learned from her observations of the relationship exhibited by her border collie, Daisy. She noticed similar traits in herself that resembled codependency, “our tendencies to attend to others, to herd, to overreact.” The book includes new and specific information on the subject, but it is written with a light touch regarding out-of-balance relationships as she brings 35 years of her professional experience to bear on the subject. She sure has learned a lot from Daisy!

Unlike the heroes of earlier wars, those who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan did not return to victory parades and confetti. In Marguerite Guzman Bouvard’s book, The Invisible Wounds of War ($18.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) she tells the story of an estimated 4,300 veterans who return with crippling post-traumatic stress disorder. A resident school at Brandeis’ Women’s Studies Research Center, her book is a plea for Americans to recognize the plight of male and female soldiers as they pay a heavy psychological cost. These have been the two longest wars in which American military have engaged and the book focuses on the extreme duress of being in a combat zone with no clear frontlines with enemies who could be anyone among the civilian population. All this is compounded by multiple deployments. Lost limbs and other injuries bespeak the horrors of war, but the wounded mind needs repair as well.

Something Spectacular: The True Story of One Rockette’s Battle with Bulimia by Greta Gleissner ($ 16.00, Seal Press-an imprint of Perseus Books, softcover) is about a girl who dreamed of becoming a Rockette, the famed chorus line at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. They are all gorgeous, talented, and slim. Ms. Gleissner shares her personal chronicle about the devastating effects bulima exacted on her personal and professional life during her time as a Rockette. On the outside she was a happy-go-lucky dancer, but on the inside she was a food addict tortured by obsessive, self-destructive voices. Her bulimia began when she was a freshman in high school and slowly began to consume her entire life. By the time she joined the Rockettes, she was binging up to ten times a day, chasing a high that only comes from purging. It is a truly frightening story and a cautionary one. Cured at last, today she has a master’s in social work and a practice in New York City. Any bulimic should read this book and its encouraging story of overcoming this debilitating disorder.

In these difficult times, motivating oneself can be a problem, but Bob Prentice wants to give you a helping hand with his book iMotivate Me ($17.95, softcover) He has found fresh ways to address motivation and provides the tools for increasing it. This is not a new topic as books go, but I think the author has brought a variety of practical ideas and exercises so the reader can act on its recommendations.

Raising Children

There are those who see corporations as employing thousands and providing goods and services people want and those who, like socialists, see them as a threat to mankind, preferring to have government make all the decisions about your life for you. Joel Baken is among the latter and has written Childhood Under Siege: How Big Business Targets Your Children ($15.00, Free Press, softcover). Having previously penned “The Corporation”, this book expands on its themes, blaming “profit-seeking corporations” for using marketing to “manipulate” children’s emotions and inculcate “obsessive consumerism.” Of course, marketing does that to adults as well though some might point out that consumerism is what underwrites a thriving economy. This is, in general, a book filled with hysteria, but it occasionally makes a good point or two.


Surviving Your Adolescents: How to Manage and Let Go of Your 13-18 Year Olds ($14.95, ParentMagic, Inc, softcover) by Thomas W. Phelan, PhD is one of those titles that tells you everything you need to know about the book. The author notes that these are the years in which things can go terribly wrong in the form of unwanted pregnancies, death in auto accidents, drug and alcohol problems. He discusses how parents can deal with being snubbed at the dinner table when they ask “How was your day?” When told “Nothing”, he reminds the reader that there is a strong connection between parent/teen relationships and adolescent safety. He offers a five-part job description to parents of teens to establish a comfortable coexistence. Coming Around: Parenting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Kids ($14.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) isn’t officially due off the press until October, but is included here because parents who encounter the issues involved will surely welcome news of this book. The author, Anne Dohrenwend, PhD, ABPP, is a psychiatrist who specializes in counseling LGBT kids and their families. It is filled with strategies for youngsters to cope with school, church, sports authority figures, and others, as well as friends and the child’s siblings. She reminds the reader that their children’s future does not depend on being trouble-free and, indeed, learning how to cope with what life has dealt them is what parent and child must learn. The book asserts that as many as 7.2 million Americans under the age of 20 are lesbian or gay and that most adult GLB’s knew they were that way by the age of nine.

Just published this month by New Horizon Press is a book that addresses the greatest tragedy in a parent’s life, When Your Child Dies: Tools for Mending Parent’s Broken Hearts by Avril Nagel and Randie Clark ($14.95, softcover). Death claims babies, infants, children and adolescents every year, as well as adult children. The authors, both of whom lost a child, provide readers with compassionate, pragmatic tools to handle the emotional, practical, and psychological challenges that confront parents so that they may learn how to regain and redefine their lives while holding close their child’s memory.

Deep Thinking

I receive a steady stream of books from Prometheus Books of Amherst, New York, and many are devoted to topics that address matters of the intellect and philosophy. Among the latest to arrive are the following.

The Marvelous Learning Animal: What Makes Human Nature Unique by Arthur W. Staats ($27.00) Instead of innate tendencies and inherited traits, this professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Hawaii has concluded that what sets us aside from all other primates is our ability to learn. Endowed with a brain that has one hundred billion neurons, humans are learning creatures, a process that begins at birth. The Language of Life: How Communication Drives Human Evolution by James Lull and Eduardo Neiva ($19.00, softcover) explores the totality of communication processes that create and sustain biological equilibrium and social stability. In this book that introduce a new discipline, evolutionary communication, to analyze how humans used communication to survive and to deal with sex, culture, morality, religion and technological change. A change of pace is provided by Joe Carlen’s The Einstein of Money: The Life and Timeless Financial Wisdom of Benjamin Graham ($25.00) a man who Warren Buffett has acknowledged many times as a primary influence on his approach to investing. During his life, Graham wrote six books on the topic and was known as the Dean of Wall Street. With access to his posthumously published memoirs, Carlin tells the colorful story of his business career and personal life. It makes for very lively reading.

Other publishers have books to offer that provide some interesting insights as well. Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back by Andrew Zolli and Ann Marie Healy ($26.00, Free Press) made its debut in July. Together the authors offer an in-depth primer on the emerging field of resilience research, the study of how individuals, communities, organizations, economies and even the planet can better adapt to dramatically changing circumstance. The history of human civilization, about five thousand years, is testimony to how some societies demonstrated resilience while others disappeared. Most certainly the last century and this one has been one of rapid technological change and that, in turn, is affecting current events. Another book on this topic is Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges by Dr. Steven M. Southwick, MD, and Dr. Dennis S. Charney, MD ($22.99, Cambridge University Press). The authors are professors of psychiatry and experts in posttraumatic stress and resilience. They offer some inspiration stories of ordinary people who have triumphed over adversity and identify the ten resilience factors that each one used to beat the odds and to flourish. Most people will face some sort of crisis in their lives, the loss of a loved one, a serious accident, divorce, and they can take a toll on our physical and emotional well-being. This book offers both science and solutions the reader can use to their benefit.

Lastly, there’s Models Behaving Badly: Why Confusing Illusion with Reality Can Lead to a Disaster on Wall Street and in Life ($16.00, Free Press, softcover) by Emanuel Derman. The author is the head of risk at Prisma Capital Partners and a professor at Columbia University where he directs their program in financial engineering. Starting as a theoretical physicist, he worked from 1985 to 2002 on Wall Street, running quantitative strategies research groups in fixed income, equities and risk management. He was appointed a managing director at Goldman Sachs & Company in 1997. The financial models he developed there have become widely used industry standards. The question he asks in this book is whether it is possible to create a representation of the world and what happens when they are wrong? It is his view that there is no reliable science of behavior, only limited and faulty analogies. Suffice to say, this is a provocative book at a time when such models are in wide use.

Novels, Novels, Novels

Summer is traditionally thought of as a time when people catch up on their reading while vacationing or just relaxing at the beach or around the home. For this reason, there are a few more novels in this month’s edition than usual.

For fun, there’s Norman Schreiber’s Out of Order ($14.95, Topquark Press, softcover) that had me laughing from the first page to the last. Schreiber, whom I have known for decades, takes us inside a Brooklyn condominium where the president of the coop board has been murdered and chopped up. It falls to Michael Levine, a psychotherapist, to be among the first to discover the body. Through Levine’s distinct New York perspective, we are introduced to a cast of condo characters, any one of whom you’d personally want to kill with your bare hands. By the time the second murder victim shows up, you cannot put the story down. It is hilarious. Every so often a comic novel comes along that provides relief from the other genres and Russell Potter’s Pyg: The Memoirs of Toby, the Learned Pig ($15.00, Penguin, softcover) is a tour de force. Written in the form of a rediscovered memoir “edited” by Potter, it tells the story of Toby who lived in the late 18th century. After winning a blue ribbon at a livestock fair, he is rescued from the butcher’s knife by Sam, his guardian and steadfast companion. Potter perfectly captures the style of literature from that period as he tells how Toby and Sam join a traveling circus and become a national sensation. In time Toby earns top university spots at Oxford and Edinburgh where he meets the era’s luminaries such as Samuel Johnson, Robert Burns and William Blake. It’s a lot of fun.

The Age of Desire by Jennie Fields ($27.95, Viking) tells the story in fictional form of Edith Wharton, the novelist of the Gilded Age, who at 45 fell in love with a handsome young journalist and had an affair with him. It put a tremendous strain on her relationship with her governess, Anna Bahlman, turned literary secretary, who was also her confessor and life-long friend. Others, too, were troubled and Ms. Fields has written a real page-turner for anyone who enjoys reading about matters of the heart, even if blinded by infatuation. Based on a thorough knowledge of Wharton’s life, her famous friends like Henry James, and her travels, the novel is enhanced further by the discovery of a cache of more than 100 letters from Edith to Anna. Another Viking novel just out this month is also well worth reading. It’s Maryanne O’Hara’s Cascade ($25.95) and it is an excellent debut. It is 1935 in Cascade, Massachusetts where Desdemona Hart Spaulding has had to trade in her art school training and dreams of moving to New York to pursue a career. Her ailing, bankrupt father dies. She is married to Asa Spaulding and stands to lose her father’s legacy, the Shakespeare Playhouse, as the Massachusetts Water Board decides to turn Cascade into a reservoir. Everything she has or wanted is being lost to her. In the midst of this, Jacob Solomon, a fellow artist arrives. I won’t give away the twists and turns of this story, but it is filled with nuance and insight, emotion and determination.

The deep bond between a mother and her child is explored in a novel of the same name, Mother & Child, by Carole Maso ($26.00, Counterpoint Press) that is a meditation on life and death that crosses invisible psychological and mystical realms of life. This will appeal to those who enjoy stories about ghosts and UFO, but it is devoted to the kind of reality a mother and child construct between them. For those who love ancient mythology, shape-shifting dragons, lots of action and a modern heroine, there’s Forged in Fire by J.A. Pitts, ($26.99, Tor/Forge), the third volume of an urban fantasy. Sarah Jane Beauhall is a blacksmith turned dragon slayer in a world secretly run by them. It’s about magic, danger, and all the elements that lovers of fantasy thrive upon.

I am convinced that every lawyer in America wants to write a novel and, given the profession they’re in, they often see the worst of life. As the narrator of Linda Rocker’s debut novel says, “If you’re looking for an interesting place to commit a murder, you can’t do better than West Palm Beach.” Punishment ($18.95, Wheatmark, softcover) is informed by the fact that the author is a retired judge and her knowledge of the justice system. It is the story of a high profile murder trial complicated by a bailiff’s murder, the bombing of the courthouse, and the victim’s father seeking revenge. Yes, it is a very lively story about a number of very dead victims. A novel that gave me pause is Show Time ($15.95, Lost Coast Press, softcover) because Phil Harvey hasn’t just come up with a thriller, but rather a grim story of pathological insanity on several levels. It is about a new reality show in which three women and four men risk death by starvation or freezing or by each other as contestants when they are left on an island in Lake Superior and the survivors are promised $400.000. Every that occurs is broadcast. Suffice to say this novel speaks to the worst instincts of those who created the show, those participating, and those watching. Everything about it is vile and I would recommend NOT reading it.

There has always been a market and audience for “naughty” books involving sex and the enormous success of “Fifty Shades of Grey”” is testimony to that. Tiffany Reisz makes her debut with The Siren ($14.95, Harlequin MIRA, softcover) It is an exploration of bondage, sadism and masochism, with Nora Sutherlin, a writer of erotica, at the center of a story. It is a fairly predictable story written to provide titillation. The author is described as a graduate with a B.A. in English who has “five piercings and one tattoo. She has only been arrested twice.” If you want to lower your IQ and feel thoroughly ashamed of yourself, this is the book for you.

Short stories can carry a punch and Cynthia Lang’s Sarah Carlisle’s River and Other Stories ($12,95, Mill City Press, softcover) demonstrates a real talent for them. The namesake of the title, Sarah, is featured in the lead story. She had lived a life of wealth until the War of 1812 ended the family fortune. Nine short stories provide many different characters whom we recognize in our own way, each altered by a life experience. It’s a great read for this summer and any time.

That’s it for August. Whew! The year is flying by, but I will be back in September to discuss some of the new books of the autumn when the publishing industry gets into high gear. Tell all your book-loving friends, family and co-workers about Bookviews.com and come back.

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

If there is one book a voter should read before they go to the polls in November, it is Dr. Paul Kengor’s The Communist: Frank Marshall Davis—The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mentor ($27.00, Threshhold, a division of Simon and Schuster). Many of the mysteries of the decisions the President has made since taking office become clear in the light this book sheds on one of the most formative persons in Obama’s life. At the invitation of his grandfather, Davis was asked to mentor the adolescent and teenaged Obama during his youth in the 1970s, in Hawaii. Frank Marshall Davis was a member of the Communist Party USA from about 1943 and dedicated to the success of Stalin’s Soviet Union. As Dr. Kengor notes, “He felt a connection to Frank that he painfully concedes he was unable to find in his mother, father, stepfather, grandfather, grandmother, siblings or anyone else who comprised his origins and life journey.” To hide Davis’ true identity, Obama’s memoir, “Dreams from my Father”, refers to him as “Frank” some twenty times by name and as a friend of his family. Dr. Kengor is the author of “Dupes”, a book about the way the Communist Party and its Soviet managers misled Americans, some of whom became secret agents and sympathizers holding positions of power in the FDR, Truman, and Eisenhower administrations. One cannot understand the history of that era without reading “Dupes.” In a similar fashion, one cannot understand Obama without reading his biography of Frank Marshall Davis

All things Greek seems to be a trend this month. I am happy to note that Stephen Greenblatt’s Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning book, The Swerve: How the World Began Modern ($16.95, W.W. Norton, softcover) is now available in a softcover edition. It is the story of the discovery of “On the Nature of Things”, a philosophical epic written circa 50 BC by a Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius and the story as well of Poggio Bracciolini who, in 1417, found the book in a German monastery and made it possible for its views to influence the leaders of the Renaissance and many others including our own Thomas Jefferson. It is a visit to a time seven centuries ago that was, in turn, influenced by the book written five centuries earlier. Anyone who loves history in general and the history of ideas in particular will love this book. Serendipitously, Michael K. Kellogg’s The Greek Search for Wisdom ($28.00, Prometheus Books) has also been published. The philosopher Alfred North Whitehead once said that all of Western philosophy was “but a series of footnotes to Plato.” It is a remarkable story of how the Greek philosophers, poets, dramatists, and historians left their mark on our world as the author looks at ten outstanding examples of Greek wisdom and provides portraits of the men who contributed to it. I recommended Stephen Mitchell’s translation of Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad when it was first published by the Free Press and I am pleased to report that is now available in paperback ($15.99). Tolstoy called it a miracle and Goethe said it astonished him. The story of Achilles and Patroclus, Hector and Priam, has dazzled readers for 2,700 years. Mitchell’s translations of classics from Gilgamesh to the poetry of Rilke are wonders in themselves, selling thousands of copies, and this one is filled with energy and simplicity, grace, and the pulsing rhythms of Homer’s original text.


Iran is very much in the news and has been since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Its declared enemies have been the United States and Israel. At this writing, it very much looks like there will be a military action to thwart its intended objective of acquiring nuclear weapons. As such, we read a lot about the ravings of his leaders, the supreme leader, an ayatollah, and the clownish Mamoud Ahmadinejad, its president. Jamie Maslin, a travel writer, though warned against going to Iran, hitchhiked his way there and, in Iranian Rappers and Persian Porn: A Hitchhiker’s Adventures in the New Iran ($16.95, Skyhorse Publishing, softcover) we learn about the people of Iran who, it turns out, pretty much hate the authoritarian government that holds them in its grip through terror. A Brit, he is warmly welcomed by ordinary Iranians who introduce them to the many ways they defy the regime, where Christian churches are national heritage sites, where alcohol is sold on the black market and, in the process, takes us into an Iran few in the West even know exists. It is a reminder that it is not the Iranian people who are our enemy. It is the fanatical Islamic regime that holds them prisoner in their own nation.

The subject of the scandals that have plagued the Catholic Church has been in the news for many years now and Dr. Angela Senander, an associate professor of theology at Merrimack College in the Archdiocese of Boston, has written Scandal: The Catholic Church and Public Life ($14.95, Liturgical Press, softcover) that Catholics and others will find of great interest. It arrives as the Church will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council in October and a special “Year of Faith” called for by the Pope. And it arrives as the Church in America finds itself in conflict with the Obama administration over aspects of Obamacare that require its institutions to act against its fundamental belief in the sacredness of human life. “From political life to higher education to healthcare,” writes Dr. Senander, “the term ‘scandal’ has often served as a conversation-stopper among Catholics and the larger public. I hope this book will reverse that dynamic—and turn reflection about scandal into a conversation-starter.” The best cure for a problem is to shine light upon it.

For fans of the utterly bizarre, I recommend you pick up a copy of Ripley’s Believe it or Not: Download the Weird ($28.95, Ripley Publishing), ample proof that people are the strangest creatures on Earth. This large format, coffee table book filled with pages that are extravagantly illustrated with photos. There’s one of a 14 year old girl with a tongue that measures three-and-a-half inches (you have to see it to believe it). The pages devoted to parasites from tapeworms to ticks will gross you out and there are too many other strange things that, no doubt, will provide hours of fun. Matt Lamb has authored Dead Strange ($12.99, Zest Books, softcover) that offers “the bizarre truths behind 50 world-famous mysteries.” In a short, entertaining book he looks at everything from the Big Bang theory to the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot to alien abductions and crop circles. This is a fun way to learn about the common myths and claims that people either believe or disbelieve. Lamb comes down on the side of commonsense and facts in every case.

I am the very antithesis of the environmental movement because I concluded long ago it was not about the environment but rather a means to attack our economic system, our use of energy, and an obstacle to growth. That said, Charlotte Gill, the author of Eating Dirt: Deep Forests, Big Timber, and Life with the Tree-Planting Tribe ($16.95, Greystone Books, softcover) has written an interesting story of a woman who has spent twenty years working as a tree-planter. While I disagree with her views on the timber industry, I admire her devotion to trees and to replacing those cut down to meet our need for wood in all its manifestations, not the least of which is shelter. The author is a skilled writer and is passionate about her subject, having planted a million trees. Her story will no doubt please many who share her views.

September is the month youngsters return to school and one of the best books you can give a student age 8 and up is The World Almanac® for Kids 2013 ($13.99, World Almanac Books, softcover). The Almanac chronicles the highlights of 2012 with items about its notable people, places and events, alongside of lots of new, fascinating facts. It is a great homework helper, reference, and is unfailingly entertaining. Every page is a marvel of design, using all manner of art and photography as it runs the gamut of topics that include the world’s nations, technology and computers, energy, animals, music and dance, movies and television. Any young reader with an interest in the world will benefit greatly from this book.

The Subject is Food

Thomas Jefferson, the author of our Declaration of Independence, was a man of many interests and one of them was food. He found American food to be rather bland and, when he was asked by Congress in May 1784 to negotiate with European powers, he choose to live in Paris and, in the process, to amass as much knowledge of French cuisine as possible. He was aided in this by James Hemings, the brother of his slave and lover, Sally Hemings, who joined him and studied under the great chefs of Paris in return for gaining his freedom. The story is told in Thomas Jefferson’s Crème Brulee ($19.95, Quirk Books) and for anyone who loves fine dining and wine, it will prove a real delight. Jefferson found time to study agriculture and winemaking while living in France and when the two men returned, they brought with them champagne, designs for pasta presses, seeds, cheeses, and—yes—crème brulee.

I love barbeque and, if you do as well, you will surely enjoy Bob Devon’s The Complete Wood Pellet Barbeque Cookbook ($17.95, Square One Publishers, softcover), a comprehensive guide filled with tips, tricks, and recipes for wood pellet grill users. Starting with the basics, the book takes one chapter by chapter into topics that include spice blends, marinades, and sauces to maximize the flavors of beef, chicken, pork, fish, turkey, and more. This lifts grilling beyond franks and burgers and opens up a whole world of dining pleasure. From the same publisher comes The Ultimate Allergy-Free Snack Cookbook by sisters Judi and Shari Zucker ($15.95, Square One Publishers, softcover) and it will prove welcome by the more than twelve million people diagnosed with food allergy problems; the majority of whom are children under the age of 18 and, for them, many parents are preparing their own snacks. This duo have been writing cookbooks since they were 17 and this latest contains more than a hundred kid-friendly recipes that will satisfy their love of snacks and provide a healthy alternative.

My late Mother, Rebecca, taught haute cuisine for more than three decades and was an internationally recognized authority on wine. She used to say “You are what you eat.” She read widely about nutrition. She would have enjoyed Dr. William J. Walsh’s new book, Nutrient Power: Heal Your Biochemistry and Heal Your Brain ($29.95, Skyhorse Publishing). It is about a nutrient therapy system that postulates that nutrient imbalances can alter brain levels of key neurotransmitters, disrupt gene expression of proteins and enzymes, and cripple the body’s protection against environmental toxins. These imbalances, says Dr. Walsh, express themselves as behavioral disorders, autism, and even Alzheimer’s disease. If the nutrient deficiency can be identified then a drug-free therapy can be initiated to correct the imbalances. It makes a lot of sense to me and if you are looking for answers to behavioral problems in yourself or others you know, this book may hold the key to solving them.

History of the Wild West

The old West, a relatively brief period at the end of the 1800s and early 1900s, nonetheless exerts a grip on the American imagination as no other period. It has been the subject of countless films and, of course, books. There are historians who focus on the era and, in particular, the colorful, if deadly, train robbers and others.

We can thank the University of North Texas Press for keeping their memory alive. Three new books provide hours of pleasure with The Deadliest Outlaws: The Ketchum Gang and the Wild Bunch by Jeffrey Burton ($24.95, softcover), He Rode with Butch and Sundance: The Story of Harvey ‘Kid Curry’ Logan by Mark T. Smokov ($29.95), and The McLaureys in Tombstone, Arizona: An O.K. Corral Obituary by Paul Lee Johnson ($29.95).

After Tom Ketchum was sentenced to death for attempting to hold up a railway train, his attorneys argued that the penalty was cruel and unusual for such a crime. After the appeal failed he became the first and only thief to be executed for the crime. When hanged in 1901, his head was torn away by the rope as he fell from the gallows. Born near the fringe of the Texas frontier, he was orphaned at age nine and raised by older brothers. He became a ranch hand and trail driver, murdered a man, and fled. After returning he and his brother Sam killed two men in New Mexico and, with two others, the Ketchum gang was born.

Kid Curry has finally received his due as a member of the Wild Bunch led by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He was an ugly piece of work with a violent temper made worse by alcohol, though not the bloodthirsty killer others have claimed. His biographer asserts that Curry planned and carried out the gang’s train robbers and that there is no concrete evidence that Cassidy ever participated. The fate of Tom and Frank McLaury was to be gunned down by the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday at the O.K. corral. Both were exonerated though the shootout would continue to take several more lives in its wake. Individually or all three books offer a picture of what life was like on the frontier.

Children’s Books, the Ideal Gifts

In a world filled with bad news, impressionable children can grow up without a realization that it is filled with many good people. That is why I especially liked Lynea Gillen’s Good People Everywhere ($15.95, Three Pebble Press, a laminated hardcover) beautifully illustrated by Kristina Swarner. In simple language and pictures, it reinforces the understanding that, while bad people may make headlines, good people go about their lives by useful and helpful all around the world. The author has been a school teacher and counselor for more than thirty years. Ideal for those ages 3 and up to about 6 or 7. I heartily recommend it.

One of my favorite publishers of children’s books is Kids Can Press. Its fall catalog is filled with wonderful books to entertain those so young the books can be read to and those who are early readers. Among them is Susan Hood’s The Tooth Mouse, illustrated by Janice Nadeau ($16.95). It is based on the French version of our tooth fairy story in which a mouse leaves money in exchange for their baby teeth. When the old Tooth Mouse announces it is time to name her successor, Sophie wants to be selected, but she must fulfill three tasks to prove she is brave, honest and wise. Toads on Toast by Linda Bailey and illustrated by Colin Jack ($16.95) is a very funny tale of Momma Toad’s efforts to save herself and her babies from ending up on Fox’s frying pan. It is pure fun from beginning to end as she outwits him.

Four Kids Can books present their stories comic book style for kids ages 4 to 8, pre-school to third grade. They are Binky Takes Charge by Ashley Spires; That Spooky Night by Dan Bar-el, illustrated by David Huyck; Luz Makes a Splash by Claudia Devila (all $16.95) and Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Christmas by Melane Watt ($17.95). Each offers a story to capture the imagination of a young reader as well as teach a few useful life lessons. For a dash of reality, there’s poet Marilyn Singer’s A Strange Place to Call Home ($16.99) illustrated by Caldicott medalist Ed Young. Kids love animals and fourteen different ones are described along with the dangerous places that are their habitats. It is a testimony to the incredible diversity of life and its adaptability.

For youngsters in a bilingual family that speaks and reads both English and Spanish, there’s Healthy Foods from A to Z (Comida Sana de la A a la Z) by Stephanie Maze and photos by Renee Comet ($15.95, Moonstone Press) both of whom have many books to their credit. The book features “faces” made from the various fruits and vegetables that offer a great way for a youngster, age 4 to 8, to learn about them. It also includes projects and information for children and their parents. If I had as Many Grandchildren as You by Lori Stewart ($19.95, Palmar Press) is a great gift for grandparents to give to their grandchildren with his lively, warm-hearted verse that offers an optimistic message illustrated by excellent photography. It is written for children looking for some adventuresome fun and for grandparents finding their special role as makers of memories, as it sparks imagination and creativity.

I have long been a fan of the books published by American Girl. Many are based on characters set in a particular era. A new one is Caroline Abbott and the series set in the time of the 1812 war begins appropriately with Meet Caroline growing up two hundred years ago with a story that shows girls how to stay steady and believe in themselves during difficult times. Caroline is nine years old and lives near Lake Ontario in Sackets Harbor, New York. Her father is a shipbuilder, but British soldiers have captured him and her cousin, so she must navigate the challenges of wartime. It is the first of six historical novels written by Kathleen Ernst and there is also an 18-inch Caroline doll. At $6.95 each, this series will intrigue girls age 8 and older.

If there’s a child or children in your life, beyond the love you give, you should also be giving them books that tell them about their world in which they live, its history, and to pass on good values and knowledge.

Novels, Novels, Novels

The torrent of new novels continues and, as often as not, I have to tell authors seeking reviews that I tend to take note of novels from established publishers, large and small, whose livelihood depends on what they offer. Self-published authors are not only up against what they publish, but against countless other self-published authors all seeking reviews.

An auspicious debut is Flesh ($25.95, Black Heron Press) by Vietnam-born Khanh Ha, set at the beginning of the 20th century when Vietnam was still under the control of France. It begins with the beheading of a bandit in front of his wife and two young sons. The oldest son, Tai, embarks on a mission to retrieve his father’s skull and find a suitable burial site. Then to have revenge on the man who betrayed his father’s trust. It is a journey, too, for the reader into a former time of indentured labor, the back streets of Hanoi with its opium dens, and a vast gap between desperate coolies and the lawless rich. Along the way Tai falls in love as the story twists and turns on its way to revenge as the author explores the human psyche. By contrast, Return to Willow Lake: A Lakeshore Chronicles Book is the ninth novel by Susan Wiggs ($24.95, Harlequin) already a bestselling novelist with a large following. It takes the reader to the Catskill town of Avalon on the shores of Willow Lake for a summer of laughter and tears, of old dreams and new possibilities. It reminds us of how important home is. Sonnet Romano seems to have life figured out. Her career at UNESCO is on the rise and she has just won a Hartstone fellowship that will send her to work overseas. Her boyfriend, the campaign manager of her father’s senate race, is happy for her as well. All this comes apart when she learns her mother is unexpectedly expecting and the pregnancy is high risk. At which point Sonnet puts everything on hold to head home. This is a big juicy story of interesting characters and a plot that keeps you turning the pages.

Joanne Harris, the author of “Chocolat” that was made into an Oscar-nominated film, and eleven other bestselling novels, is back with a sequel, Peaches for Father Francis, ($26.95, Viking) that is sure to please the readers of “Chocolat” in which eight years have passed and Vianne is summoned back to the village of Lansquenet where she used to run her chocolate shop. Returning with her daughters, Anouk and Rosette, is seems as if everything and nothing has changed in the small village. The relationships with your one-time best friend, Josephine, is still in an ambiguous with her lover, Roux, and is the mother of a son born just days after Rosette’s birth. Her adversary Father Francis Reynaud still feels persecuted and misunderstood, but the most obvious change has been the arrival of a large number of Moroccans and the tensions this has caused. Harris is a master of exploring such relationships and readers of “Chocolat” will surely enjoy her return to this story after the passage of time. James Phoenix makes his debut with FrameUp ($27.95, Grey Swan Press) as we go along with a private eye, Fenway Burke. Need I say it is set in Boston? It is a classic hardboiled detective novel with a set of memorable characters that includes a huge fellow nicknamed Tiny who runs the city’s largest bookie operation. Toss in a white-bearded lobsterman, and Fenway’s love interest, Megan, a public defender, and you have a story about a kid who’s been framed for murder. Bodies pile up and Fenway discovers he’s up against a violent and talented international hit man. Just staying alive makes this quite an adventure.

Stacks of softcover books keep getting higher every day as new novels arrive. Here is a selection of some of the most recent arrivals.

The Garden of Evening Mists by Malaysian author, Tan Twan Eng, ($15.99, Weinstein Biooks) is the work of a novelists who has already enjoyed much acclaim for his first novel, “The Gift of Rain.” This is an intricate novel about a woman, Teoh Yun Ling, who is retiring from the Supreme Court bench in Kuala Lumpur. Much earlier in her life, she and her sister had been interned in a Japanese slave-labor camp. They had survived the horrors by recalling in exacting detail the exquisite Japanese gardens of Kyoto they had once visited as a family. When she returns to the Cameron Highlands of Malaya, she seeks out Nakamura Aritomo, the exiled former gardener of the Emperor of Japan who has created the only Japanese garden in all of Malaya. She asks his instruction to create a garden in his sister’s memory. Suffice to say there is so much to this novel that it draws the reader into a different era, a different culture, and the interweaving of lives. Jonathan Tropper follows up his breakout novel, “This is Where I Leave You” which was named one of the best of the year by the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and others. Three years later, Tropper has written One Last Thing Before I Go ($26.95, Dutton) whose central character is 44-year-old Drew Silver, a washed-up musician getting by on royalty checks from a long faded hit song. His ex-wife is about to re-marry and his Princeton-bound daughter, Casey, has just informed him that she’s pregnant. When he learns that his heart needs an emergency, life-saving surgery, he makes a very unusual decision to become a better man if it kills him. There’s wit and insight in this story so it was worth the wait for it.

Here is a quick look at a number of softcover novels worth reading. Two are from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing, are Dying to Read by Lorena McCourtney ($14.99), a fast-paced and witty romantic mystery about a private investigator trying to determine who lives at a particular address. When the house happens to contain a dead body, an ordinary investigation gets complicated. Perfectly Ridiculous by Kristin Billerbeck looks at the life of a normal teenage girl and her struggles to fit it and not be “different.” Her overprotective parents don’t make that easy, especially when a free trip to Argentina includes their decision to go along.

The Other Half of Me by Morgan McCarthy ($15.00, Free Press) is a debut novel set in a mysterious Welsh estate of Evendon and a family whose lives draw you in, especially when the father goes missing and an emotional roller coaster ride begins. Jerry B. Jenkins, by contrast, has written more than 175 books including the Left Behind series. In The Breakthrough ($14.99, Tyndale House Publishers) he continues his “11th Precinct” series. Boone Drake, the youngest bureau chief of the Chicago Police Department’s Major Case Squad, must tackle life’s hard decisions, forced to decide from being there for his family and spearheading a human-trafficking sting in China. There are some real moral choices to be made, but he heads to Beijing to find a young boy before he disappears forever. In a summer filled with forest fires, in One Foot in the Black ($14.95, MCM Publishing) Kurt Kamm tells a coming-of-age story of a young forest fire fighter. Fleeing an abusive father, Greg Kowalski joins a firefighting crew only to suffer the loss of his team’s captain, a man who had become a mentor. While the story is fiction, it is a depiction of how wildfires are fought and the dangers they pose. It pulses with the dangers faced and the inner struggles of anger and loss.

It was perhaps inevitable that someone would parody the bestselling “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E.L. James and “Fanny Merkin”, a.k.a. Andrew Shaffer, has done that in Fifty Shames of Earl Grey ($13.99, Da Capo Press). It is the story of innocent and unsuspecting Anna Steal who meets a young, rich CEO named Earl Grey (yes, same as the tea) who sweeps her off her feet. It probably helps if you read James’ book, but it doesn’t matter because Shaffer’s is a madcap piece of fun though, if I may say so, not everyone’s cup of tea.

That’s it for September! Remember to tell your family, friends, and co-workers about Bookviews.com, the one source for many of the best new books that you may well not read about anywhere else. Then come back in October!