By Alan
Caruba
My Picks of the Month
For most
of the history of the nation, Muslims played virtually no role in its politics
or culture, but journalist Paul L. Williams examines the phenomenal rise of
Islam in the United States in Crescent
Moon Rising: The Islamic Transformation of America ($20.00, Prometheus
Books, softcover) that reviews Islam’s beginnings in the nation; initially as
the rise and influence of the Nation of Islam among African Americans. In 1965,
the Hart-Celler Act abolished national origin quotes and led to successive
waves of Muslim immigrants who entered the nation from Palestine, Kuwait, Iraq,
Southeast Asia, Africa, Turkey and other parts of the world. Given the attack
on 9/11, a wake up call for most Americans, Williams addresses a number of
disturbing concerns about the Muslim presence such as the proselytizing and
recruitment among convicts and ties to terrorist organizations. Drawing on a
large body of statistics and other data, Williams predicts that Islam will be a
major religion in America in a matter of decade. Given the resurgence of al
Qaeda in the recent attacks in Algeria and Mali, and the spread of the religion
worldwide, this is a book that is well worth reading.
If you
think that U.S. borders, particularly in the southwest, are adequately
protected against drug smuggling and illegal immigration, pick up a copy of Homeland Insecurity: Failed Politics,
Policies, and a Nation at Risk ($19.95, BookLogix, softcover) by Brett
Braaten. The author’s career spans 29 years with the original Customs agency
that, after 9/11, was integrated into the 2002 Department of Homeland Security.
Braaten offers a unique and extremely well informed look behind the myths that
surround Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as the new law enforcement
agency is now called. He warns that politics, no matter which administration,
past and present, cripples the ability of special agents to do their job in
many cases, not the least of which is deporting illegal aliens. The rivalries
between the FBI, the IRS, the ATF and other agencies continue to this day,
further degrading the effectiveness of ICE. Add in political correctness and
you have a situation where potential terrorists are handled with kid gloves
while wheelchair-bound senior citizens are manhandled by the Transportation
Safety Administration agents. Braaten takes the reader behind the scenes,
including the few notable cases where terrorists were thwarted—always by alert
passengers and no thanks to the system that is supposed to track them and stop
them. He offers some good suggestions as to what can and should be done to
correct the current lack of real protection and one that has the nation playing
host to several million illegal aliens, and to increasingly emboldened drug
cartel gangs.
Late last
year I received a fascinating essay by Don Fredrick titled “Can It All Be a
Coincidence?” Fredrick looked at President Obama’s many friends and associates,
indicating the inter-relationship between them and surrounding him. Many are
unsavory in a variety of ways; close friends, the Ayers, were former domestic
terrorists. The preacher of the church he attended for over two decades was
famed for his anti-American sermons. Suffice to say it is a long list that
raises many question. Fredrick has gathered together that article with more than
a hundred others in a book, Can It All
Be a Coincidence? ($15.99, via Amazon, $3.99 Kindle) that runs almost 600
pages that those who are not fans of Obama will find of great interest. The
author maintains a website at http://www.theobamatimeline.com.
If you are
among the many millions who depend on talk radio to get news and opinion from a
conservative point of view, than you will enjoy Fred V/ Lucas’ new book, The Right Frequency: The Story of Talk
Radio Giants Who Shook Up the Political and Media Establishment ($18.95,
History Publishing Company, softcover). L. Brent Bozell III president of the
Media Research Center, says, “Author Fred Lucas chronicles conservative talk-radio
stars over the decades, reminding us how they kept the American idea alive.
Lucas travels back to the early days of talk radio history, describing, for
example how Fulton Lewis predicted to Mike Wallace in the 1950s that the
Republican Party could be a majority party if they would only let the
conservatives run it, instead of wishy-washy, me-too moderates.” That was quite
prescient given the way the recent reelection of President Obama is widely
attributed to a weak candidate and failure to wage a more aggressive campaign.
The Republicans have had a succession of presidents from Eisenhower to Nixon to
Reagan and the two Bush presidencies. It took until 1994 to gain control of
Congress during the Clinton administration, but political power kept slipping away
and today’s talk radio stars, led by Rush Limbaugh, will have plenty to rail
against for the next four years. As history, this is an excellent book, well
worth reading.
Memoirs, Autobiographies and
Biographies
When
Rolling Stone magazine published an article about Gen. Stanley McChrystal in
which some critical views of his subordinates were published, the General felt
compelled to submit his resignation to the President. It was accepted and a
long, distinguished military career by a West Point graduate, son of a West
Point graduate and a father her revered came to an ended. Gen. McChrystal has
had his memoir published, My Share of
the Task, ($29.95, Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin) and for anyone
interested in our military and our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it says a lot
about the way our modern army trains its leaders and how they accept that
responsibility. In 2009 Gen. McChrystal was appointed the Commander of the NATO
coalition in Afghanistan to lead 100,000 troops from 46 allied nations. He has
had a distinguished career and it is unfortunate he was sabotaged by a
journalist more interested in gossip and accomplishments. His memoir is an
instructive look at the way our military is producing a unique blend of
soldiers and scholars, but it is also an insight regarding the values that
instruct the way they live lives devoted to the defense of the nation in what
has always been a politicized military directed, as the Constitution requires,
by civilians in office. An expert in counter-terrorism, Gen. McChrystal is an
example of the meritocracy that our military represents. His memoir is close to
400 pages, not counting footnotes that document it. It is highly detailed and
it reveals the values he learned at West Point and over the course of his career.
As such it offers a useful look at the men who put their lives on the line for
a nation they love.
Jane
Austen has become a cottage industry, generating movies based on her novels,
and still widely read today for such classics as “Pride and Prejudice” that
will celebrate its two hundredth anniversary of publication this month. Paula
Byrne has written The Real Jane Austin:
A Life in Small Things ($15.95, Harper) in which the acclaimed writer of
biographies focuses on the key moments, scenes and objects which helped
determine the course of Austen’s life and then reappear, transposed, in her
novels. Instead of just piling fact on fact as in the case of the usual
biography, this book offers a portrayal of her life that lends further insight
to the power of her novels, as well as the major influences such as her
father’s religious faith and her mother’s aristocratic pedigree. She was
determined to become a published author and it was her father’s support that
led to the publication of her first book, an effort that took several years. Anyone
who is a fan of her novels will greatly enjoy this biography.
People who
have passed through major trials in their lives often examine them in the form
of a memoir. This is the case of Jennie Morton who has written Standing Strong ($17.95) who fought a
long battle to regain custody of her children after losing them to her
ex-husband. Now the founder of the Children’s Justice Foundation, Morton says
“It’s a widespread and very damaging myth that mothers always get custody.” Her
memoir recounts how her two former husband teamed up with their friends in the
local courts to systematically strip her of her rights and deny her access to
two of her children. She lost her job and her savings due to the cost of
litigation, but she also discovered an inner strength she never knew she had.
She would eventually graduate summa cum laude with honors, earning a Bachelor
of Science degree and was accepted into South Texas College of Law in 2003. For
women encountering this problem, the book will be an inspiration.
Another
memoir provides an insight to life in Uganda during the 1960s as the
physician-author tells the story of a turbulent political time when Uganda
transitioned to self-rule. Dr. Negesh Tajani is currently Professor Emiritus of
Obstetrics and Gynecology at the New York Medical College and a professor at
the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. This is the story of her
42-year marriage to a Ugandan colleague and her move to Kampala where they
spent eleven years. I Hear a Song in My
Head: A Memoir in Stories of Love, Fear, Doctoring, and Flight ($26.00, New
Academia Publishing, softcover) is a love story on one level and of the
practice of medicine on another.
Relationships, Making Them
and Saving Them
An
interesting approach to finding love can be found in Much Ado About Loving by Jack Murnighan and Maura Kelly ($14.00,
Free Press, softcover) that is subtitled “What our favorite novels can teach
you about data expectation, not so-great Gatsbys, and love in the time of internet
personals.” Finding love these days
isn’t easy in an era of online dating and open relationships, even if they have
increased our choices. As a result, people turn to advice about modern-day
courtship, but much of it, the authors note, can be found in classic novels by
authors ranging from Jane Austin to William Faulkner. This is a lively
exploration of common dating issues such as the worst kinds of people to date,
how we handicap ourselves when it comes to finding good relationships, and, in
the process we discover how classic literature is still relevant today.
As Leil
Lowndes, the author of How to Create
Chemistry with Anyone: 75 Ways to Spark It Fast…and Make It Last ($16.00,
Da Capo Press, softcover) reminds us, love is one of the most fundamental human
needs, but the chemistry of love and attraction is fickle. It can be mutual or
painfully one-sided. It fades when the “spark” fades. Lowndes, who has written
a number of bestselling books on communications techniques returns with an
examination of the chemistry of love, drawing on the latest research in
cognitive sciences, she makes it understandable and applicable for anyone
looking for long-term love. Marriage
Rescue: Overcoming Ten Deadly Sins in Failing Relationships by Gary
Direnfeld, MSW, RSW ($14.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) will officially be
published in April explores for unhappy spouses why their marriages are
unsatisfying, dysfunctional, and deteriorating with a look at ten ways spouses
can cause marital strife, learn how to identify what they are doing wrong, and
provides strategies to mend and revitalize their unions. It is his belief that
the divorce rate of fifty percent can be avoided by identifying the behaviors
and attitudes that every struggling couple must address. If this describes your
marriage of that of someone you know, this book will prove very helpful. Also
from the same publisher it is well known that, while the arrival of a new baby
brings couples much happiness, after the birth many women feel overwhelmed by
feelings of sadness, fear and despair. During the postpartum period, it is
estimated that 85% of women experience some mood disturbance. Dr. Susan
Benjamin Feingold, a psychologist, has written Happy Endings, New Beginnings: Navigating Postpartum Disorders ($14.95,
New Horizon Press, softcover) and provides proven techniques for overcoming
unhappiness during postpartum. It doesn’t have to be a frightening,
overwhelming time. Her book dispels misconceptions and myths about postpartum
depression. Utilizing her vast experience, Feingold guides women on how to
prepare for or recover from stressful times, frightening systems, and
conflicting problems in relationships, complex maternity issues, and the
feelings of anxiety that often follow a birth, getting themselves off to a good
start.
Some of
our habits contribute to bad relationships and, while Making Habits, Breaking Habits: Why We Do Things, Why We don’t, and How
to Make Any Changes Stick by Jeremy Dean ($26.00, Da Capo Press) isn’t
strictly about relationships, it is about those habits we embrace and often
have difficulty breaking. Dean explores the anatomy of habit-forming behavior,
offers tips and solutions for those who have tried and tried again to alter bad
behavior or institute good behavior, only to give up after the first week. This
is serious psychology and an often fascinating look at the way habits are
formed, reinforced, and strengthened throughout our lives. Not all habits are
bad, but the ones that are can often take weeks and months to eliminate from
our lives. The vices, smoking, drinking, and comparable bad behaviors can be
changed and this book can help anyone seeking to make that change.
On Writers, Writing, and
Selling Books
If there
is one thing that reviewers these days are aware of it is that many people are
not only writing books, but they now have the capability of publishing them on
their own. Though writing is a literary endeavor, it is also for some like myself
a business and, in fact, has always been whether the topic is fiction or
non-fiction. That is why The Business of
Writing: Professional Advice on Proposals, Publishers, Contracts, and More for
the Aspiring Writer ($19.95, Allworth Press), edited by Jennifer Lyons, is
a good investment who has gathered together thirty industry professionals to
share their perspectives on the nuts and bolts of publishing. One could spend
years learning what this one book imparts. Similarly, Blueprint Your Bestseller: Organize and Revise Any Manuscript with the
Book Architecture Method ($16.00, Perigee, softcover) by Stuart Horwitz is
less about the business of writing as about the techniques involved in
transforming first drafts into something that would gain publication. Here
again, aspiring writers would benefit. Finally, once one has published their
own book or been published, it usually falls to the author to do the bulk of
the promotion unless one has a publisher with a budget to advertise and
publicize the book. Phillip Lopate is a preeminent writer of the personal essay
and has written a guide to for anyone who wants to pursue this genre. To Show and Tell: The Craft of Literary
Nonfiction ($16.00, Free Press, softcover) will help a writer navigate
between fiction and nonfiction while discussing the state of writing,
publishing and creative nonfiction today. If you want to read some of his work,
Portrait Inside My Head ($26.00,
Free Press) is also out this month as a collection of essays that paints a
vivid, personal portrait of a major literary figure’s lifetime in New York. If
you haven’t read his work, this is a good introduction and, if you have, his
guide may inspire you to try your hand at it.
Patricia
Fry has written Talk Up Your Book; How
to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals,
Conferences, and More ($19.95, Allworth Press, softcover). If writing a
book is hard work, promoting it is as well. One has to be prepared to travel,
speak, and create an audience and market for it. This book is filled with
excellent advice on how to find speaking opportunities, handle yourself in
front of an audience, organize and present workshops, and generate publicity
for your presentations. Years ago such books did not exist, but in this era of
the Internet, mass media, and other opportunity to call attention to one’s
book, it is essential to master these skills. I am always surprised to be
contacted by self-published authors who have no idea how to make a
presentation, even briefly in an email or who just cold-call. It would be wise
to invest some time in learning the ropes and these books will prove helpful.
Getting Down to Business
Books
Get Rich Click! The Ultimate Guide to
Making Money on the Internet
by Marc Ostrofsky ($15.00, Free Press, softcover) whose initial, self-published
book on the subject became a New York Times bestseller and topped other
comparable lists. That book is now available in paperback. Ostrofsky is an
online pioneer and internet entrepreneur whose various enterprises earn $75
million annually, so the man knows whereof he writes. The Internet is arguably
the most powerful business tool in history and you too can make your own
fortune on it, but it would be a good idea to read his book first.
Building Winning Enterprises Through
Productivity by Isaac
Johnson ($13.95, Mill City Press, Minneapolis, softcover) comes at a time when
many businesses are concentrating on short-term fixes to improve the bottom
line; lay-offs, budget cuts, and product development short cuts. Johnson’s slim
guidebook walks the reader through a five-step process that takes a longer view
by taking steps to improve productivity and thus maintaining one’s business
with a blend of consistency, adaptation, adaptation, and an unwavering focus.
There’s no
doubt the economic climate is battering American businesses and one way to help
is to “buy American.” My Company ‘Tis of
Thee: 50 Patriotic American Companies American Consumers Should Know About by
Roger Simmermaker ($12.95, www.howtobuyAmerican.com) features companies that deserve
consumer support for their products that, in turns, aids the economy. This is a
passion of the author who has written four books on the subject since 1996 and
been a guest on many news programs and featured in newspapers and magazines as
a result. Whether it is products for the home and office, food and beverages,
toys and other items one routinely uses, you will find a U.S. company that
provides them in this book.
Books for Younger Readers
I am a
great believer in getting children reading early, often by reading to them in
their pre-school years, perhaps before they go to sleep. Later they can be
given books appropriate to their age to encourage the habit of reading. I know
that ebooks are the future, but nothing can replace the feel of a real book
being held in one’s hands, pages turning, and the magical communication between
the author and reader. Books for the very young are enhanced by artwork and photos.
All of it engages and enriches their minds.
Many
children’s books author want to impart good values and what better one than Peace which just happens to be the
title and subject of Wendy Anderson Halperin’s new book ($16.99, Atheneum Books
for Young Readers, Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing). Given the
conflicts that have been raging around the world, Ms. Halperin has gathered a
collection of inspiring quotes on the question of how to bring and spread peace
worldwide. Buddha said “Friendship is the only cure for hatred, the only
guarantee of peace. The poet Walt Whitman who witnessed the Civil War said,
“Peace is always beautiful.” The book is beautifully illustrated by the author
and ideal for children aged 4 to 8. Elaina Redmond has a mission. She wants to
teach and inspire young readers, ages 6 to 12, to appreciate The Power of the Penny, the title of
her book, subtitled “Abraham Lincoln Inspires a Nation” ($18.09, available via
Internet outlets and via www.thepowerofthepenny.com). It is handsomely illustrated by
Scott Stewart and has won a Benjamin Franklin Award and a Mom’s Choice award.
The book teaches children the value of civic duty, philanthropy, and financial
literacy, fancy terms for learning the value of saving for the future,
participating in the life of one’s community and nation, and to appreciate the
value of something as small as a penny. She integrates the life of Lincoln, who
appears on the penny, into the book as an example of the personal values one
should strive to attain. By any measure, this is a book one would want any
child to read.
Lincoln
plays a major role in another book, Emancipation
Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Liberty ($24.95, Abrams Books for
Young Readers) by Tonya Bolden, the author of a number of award-winning books.
This is a book for readers about ten and older, but it also serves an adult
reader quite well The Emancipation
Proclamation was issued by Lincoln 150 years ago and for the generations since then,
it is difficult to imagine what it must have been like for the estimated eleven
million slaves. The issue was divisive enough to spark a Civil War. For the
South, it was an issue of state’s rights and the financial future of the
slave-owners. This is an excellent book of the history of those times, an
examination of how the Constitution dealt with slavery prior to the war, the
various laws passed to preserve slavery or avoid its spread. The book is
extensively illustrated with artwork and photos from that era. Lincoln joined
the ranks of liberty’s greatest heroes when he issued the Proclamation, but it
would take a century more before African-Americans gain their full rights as
American citizens.
Girls in
their teen years are especially fortunate insofar as there are publishers who
pay attention to their interests and needs. Zest Books is one of them,
publishing books for young men as well, but two of its latest are A Girl’s Guide to Fitness by Erin
Whitehead and Jennipher Walters ($12.99) and The Prom Book by Lauren Metz ($16.99). Both are officially due off
the press in April. The fitness books offers good advice on how to fit physical
activity in their busy lives and addresses a lot of issues such as eating
disorders, why trying to be perfect is boring, avoiding over-training, and much
more that any girl should know as part of their pursuit of health. The prom is
a major social event in a girl’s life and the book will help the reader plan
for it in every way necessary. This is some serious, no-nonsense advice that
will go far to make the special evening memorable. Another of my favorite
publishers is American Girl.
Its
magazine of the same name is celebrating its 20th anniversary with
its January/February issue. The magazine has enriched the lives of girls age 8
and up. There’s a year-long birthday celebrating that includes a contest for
girls who want to appear on its cover with entries to be postmarked no later
than February 28. The magazine has a circulation of 441,000 with the average
age being 10.5 years. It’s wholesome and worth giving any girl a subscription
in contrast to much of the trash vying for their attention.
Novels, Novels, Novels
Between
the major and smaller publishers, as well as the increase in self-published
novels, the numbers keep growing. Here’s a look at some of the latest.
J.A. Jance
has more than 22 million books in print and returns with Deadly Stakes ($25.99, Simon and Schuster). After suffering
heartbreak at the hands of a cyber-sociopath, Lynn Martinson believes she has
finally found happiness with her new boyfriend, Chip Ralston. However, when his
gold-digging ex-wife is found murdered and abandoned in Arizona’s Camp Verde
desert, the couple find themselves in jail with a rapidly expiring plea deal
designed to make them testify against one another. This is the kind of
heart-pounding action that has amassed a huge audience of fans for her novels.
James Sheehan is the master of the legal thriller and he is back with The Lawyer’s Lawyer ($22.99, Center
Street, imprint of Hachette Book Group). After agreeing to represent a
convicted serial killer whom he believes was framed, Jack Tobin has enraged the
system, but he relentlessly searches for the truth where it is often spoken of,
but is often not found. He’s in the fight for his life and the outcome is in
doubt right up to the last page. It is, as they say, a real page-turner. Make
sure you have the time to read it through as you will have a hard time putting
it down.
A bevy of
softcover novels represent the many genres of fiction. Aric Davis’s new novel, Rough Men ($14.95, Thomas & Mercer)
is about a father who must confront the demons of his past and risk the promise
of a better future to avenge the killing of his son. This is an edgy crime
fiction and solid crime thriller that begins when a detective shows up one cold
night with the news that his son is dead, killed under dubious circumstances
after taking part in an armed robbery. He enlists his brother and others to
track down the killers as it explores the bonds of family. Also from the same
publisher is Rules of Crime by L. J.
Sellers ($ 14.95) whose bestselling Detective Jackson series has earned many
fans. In this novel, he takes on the case of the kidnapping of his ex-wife. At
first he suspects his alcoholic former wife, Renee, has hidden herself away,
but the truth is far worse as becomes evident when the kidnappers demand a
ransom from her wealthy fiancé. Meanwhile, his protégée, Lara Evans, is working
on a troubling case of her own, the savage beating of a University of Oregon
coed who may have been involved in a secret sorority. The action never stops as
the solution to these parallel crimes run their course. Camilla Lackberg is the
top selling female author in Europe, having sold more than ten million copies
of her books worldwide with four million sold in her native Sweden. Americans
were introduced to her in 2010 when this crime sensation’s “The Ice Princess”
was published. The third segment of her chilling series is The Stonecutter ($15.99, Free Press) has just been published and
continues the story of local detective Patrik Hedstrom and his girlfriend,
Erica Falck, a crime-solving duo whose first child has just been born. The
suspicious drowning that claims the life of the young daughter of close friends
and, as they investigate, it threatens to tear apart the rural fishing village
where a secret lurks that spans generations.
Stephen
Dau’s haunting debut novel, The Book of
Jonas, ($16.00, Plume) is about war, memory, guilt, and atonement as the
author, a former international aid worker turned writer, takes the reader deep
inside the human cost of military intervention, exploring war’s rippling
repercussions and soul-searing wounds. It focuses on the refugee of a Middle
East war who is taken into the family in the U.S. after an American soldier
saves him the night he flees his village. There are many interesting twists and
turns in this novel that will appeal to those who oppose war and its shared
tragedies. On a far happier note, Gerrett Mathews takes the reader back to 1965
in Barking Signals (Badly) During
Goldwater ($25.00, www.pluggerpublishing.com). It an underdog story of a
14-year-old boy, puny and shy, living in a little town in Virginia’s mountains
where it is decided that he can be helped by playing second-string quarterback
on the school’s jayvee team. Written by a retired journalist who has eight
other books to his credit, this will appeal to anyone who grew up in those
years and who love sports as much as he does. It will remind any male reader of
the aspirations of those teen years, but it is in many ways a timeless,
entertaining story that will remind you why you first fell in love with sports.
There is a
genre of books intended to appeal to women readers. The Girl’s Guide to Love and Supper clubs by Dana Bate ($14.95,
Hyperion) whose debut novel chronicles irrepressible Hannah Sugerman’s
rebellion from her academic parents and wonky career path in the nation’s
capital as she explores the underground supper-club business. His power-broker
family don’t like the match with her boyfriend and, when that relationship
falls apart, she continues to explore life as it takes many unexpected changes.
Disasters and political careers collide while friendships and love affairs
thrive. This author knows Washington. D.C. in ways that do not make it into the
newspapers as power, policy, and real life combine for a delightful first
novel.
Mary Ellen
Taylor’s The Union Street Bakery ($15.00,
Penguin) tells the story of Daisy McCraes’ life. She has lost her job, broken
up with her boyfriend, and been reduced to living in the attic about her
family’s store, a bakery, while learning the business. When a long-standing
elderly customer passes away, he bequeaths Daisy a journal dating back to the
1850s, written by a slave girl named Susie. When she reads it, she learns more
about her family and her own heritage than she ever dreamed. What she finds are
the answers she has longed for her entire life and a chance to begin again with
the courage and desire she thought she had lost.
Three
novels have a spiritual theme. Karen Kingsbury’s The Chance ($22.90. Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster)
a hardcover due out in March; One Sunday
by Carrie Gerlach Cecil ($14,99, Howard Books); and My One Square Inch of Alaska by Sharon Short ($16.00, Plume), a
debut novel. The “Alaska” book brims with Midwestern 1950s nostalgia and is
devoted to the importance of fulfilling one’s dreams as Will Lane and his
ambitious older sister, Donna, shake off the strictures of their small
industrial Ohio town and embark on the adventure of a lifetime. In “One Sunday”
Alice Ferguson’s career as the assistant editor of a Hollywood tabloid gets
turned upside down when a charming Southern doctor not only gets her pregnant,
but dares to fall in love with her. When she moves to Tennessee, she is
befriended by her African-American neighbors, Pastor Tim and his wife. Alice
learns the power of forgiveness and lets real love into her life. “The Chance”
is hard to describe except to say it has an intricate plot that will capture
your imagination as a chance meeting with singer Rod Stewart has a powerful
impact on Karen Kingsbury’s life.
That’s it for February! Remember to come back in March and
to tell your book-loving friends about Bookviews.com.
