Bookviews - October 2010

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

In November, the midterm elections will determine whether Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will remain Speaker of the House of Representatives, a position that puts her just two heartbeats away from being President. Current polls all indicate that her popularity and approval are in the low digits, making her a polarizing political figure, but one who nonetheless has exercised tremendous power, pushing through some of the most unpopular legislative initiates of the Obama administration. She’s the Boss: The Disturbing Truth About Nancy Pelosi by Rochelle Schweizer ($25.95, Sentinel, an imprint of Penguin Group) was published just days before this month’s report and, for anyone who follows politics, it is must reading. No doubt Democrats will not like it much for its portrait of a woman who has proven ruthless in her pursuit of a political agenda out of sync with much of the electorate, but independents and conservatives will find it a revelation because they are not accustomed to thinking of any woman as utterly ruthless. She may well be remembered for her comment on Obamacare when she told the press, “We will find out what is in it after we pass the bill.” This is a very frightening, very timely look at a person who learned politics from her father, a political boss for four decades in Maryland.

Nazi Oaks by R. Mark Musser ($12.75, Advantage Books, via Amazon.com) is one of those important books that is unlikely to get the kind of mainstream media coverage it deserves because it draws on history to reveal how the Nazi regime in Germany during the 1930s was “the greenest regime on the planet”, driven by the same Green agenda that foisted the greatest fraud in the modern era, the global warming hoax. Musser is a pastor, a 1998 graduate of Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. In 1994 he received a Master of Divinity and spent seven years as a missionary in Belarus and the Ukraine. His book documents the way the Nazi regime exploited a “return to nature” myth to capture the imagination of the Germans of that day and since the oak was a symbol of nationalism, Hitler ordered that thousands be planted all over the Reich. The practice was dubbed by Nazi environmentalists as “concordant with the spirit of the Fuhrer.” Hitler was an animal rights advocate, an environmentalist, and a vegetarian. He joined the ranks of the world’s greatest mass murderers guided by these views. What is most frightening are the parallels between the Nazi regime and the practices and views expressed by today’s environmentalists, many of whom share a contempt for humanity seeking a huge reduction in the world’s population as the key to “saving the planet.”

It’s a rare event when I know both authors of a book I’m reviewing, but that is the case with Peter C. Glover, a British writer and journalist specializing in political, media, and energy analysis, and Michael J. Economides, a professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Houston. He is internationally known for his expertise on energy. Economides is one of the editors of EnergyTribune.com and Glover is a frequent contributor. They have teamed to write Energy and Climate Wars ($24.95, Continuum, London and New York) and I cannot think of a more timely topic other than the economy. Indeed, energy plays an essential role in the economy of all nations and the authors note that those nations that use the most energy are also the wealthiest and most productive. You cannot have one without the other. In a meticulously researched book, the authors spell out what is at stake in a world where a huge hoax called global warming has impacted many policy decisions and wasted billions in the process. The social engineering agenda behind it is spelled out. Likewise, the push to replace established sources of energy such as coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear with solar and wind power is also examined and revealed to be utter nonsense. If these headline topics remain a bit of a mystery to you, then I can surely recommend this book to reveal the real forces at work regarding the energy and climate wars.

Have you ever wanted to disappear? Well, Frank M. Ahearn with Eileen C. Horan has written How to Disappear ($16.95, Lyons Press, an imprint of Globe Pequot Press) providing all the ways one should delete your social media accounts, rid yourself of discount cards that track spending, never make calls from home, work or cell phones, delete all possible data known about you, and research your destination to the fullest. These are just a few items are the result of years being a “skip tracer”, a person who tracks people down and uncovers private information about them. The usual targets are jailbirds, deadbeats, subpoenaed witnesses, and anyone else who wants to hide. It was Ahearn who, in 1997, was hired to find who it was President Clinton was having a dalliance with, the now famous Monica Lewinsky. He pinpointed the principle in the caper when Oscar statuettes were stolen in Beverly Hills. This is one of those offbeat books that I always find especially interesting.

Longtime readers of Bookviews know I tend to steer clear of books about vampires, Satchquatch, and other mythical creatures, but the third edition of The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead ($29.95, Visible Ink Press, softcover) is a massive 944 pages, 500 essays, and more than 200 photos about everyone from Vlad the Impaler to Barnabas Collins to Edward Cullen to Dracula and Lestat. Edited by J. Gordon Melton, PhD, it is an alphabetical tour of the psychosexual, macabre world of the blood-sucking undead. Without doubt, the vampire myth inspires continued fascination and is currently all the rage with television programs and films devoted to the topic. The new edition is completely update and no doubt is the most comprehensive collection of vampire low available.

I have a friend who loves dogs. He’s always had one or two since I have known him and together we have mourned the death of more than one beloved old dog he has outlived by virtue of the dog’s age or an illness. Not long ago after one companion dog had passed on, he found a new one and then a friend asked him to take care of a Jack Russell terrier. The two dogs discovered a great new friendship with each other. In Dog Walks Man: A Six-Legged Odyssey ($22.95, Lyons Press) John Zeaman shares a thought-provoking and always entertaining series of observations about what he has learned from dogs and dog walking. It is the story of Pete, a poodle, who becomes Zeaman’s partner as they explore exotic places like the New Jersey Meadowlands. He brings a journalist’s eye to what some would regard as a prosaic aspect of owning a dog and turns it into a far more meaningful experience. Anyone who has ever owned a dog will treasure this wonderful book.

I get requests to review poetry, but my policy has been to only review anthologies rather than individual poets. I like poetry and was pleased to receive Not a Muse: The Inner Lives of Women ($23.00, Haven Books, softcover) with 516 pages of poetry by more than a hundred poets from 24 countries, edited by Kate Rogers and Viki Holmes who have group the poems by topics voicing woman as lover, keeper of secrets, family, explorer, and aging, to name a few. Among the better known are Margaret Atwood, Sharen Olds, and Erica Jong, but there are many more who bring their own talent and magic to the art of poetry and prove endlessly entertaining and insightful as one makes their way through the book. This is, simply said, a wonderful collection of female poets, guaranteed to provide hours of reading pleasure.

The Lives of Real People

Welcoming a group of scholars to the White House, John F. Kennedy observed that the room contained more wisdom and knowledge “than when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” America was especially blessed to have this authentic genius, along with others, at its birth. The national bestseller, Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History, by Fawn M. Brodie ($18.95, W.W. Norton, softcover) is now available in paperback. The author was the first to explore the relationship between Jefferson and Sally Hemings, a slave and the mother of his mixed-race children. In her effort “to get inside his head”, Brodie begins in the Virginia Piedmont and Tidewater where Jefferson was born and educated. The emphasis is on his family relationships, school friends, and others.

One of the most respected and widely read authors of her time, George Eliot, was a woman who used the pen-name to hide the fact. Born Mary Anne Evans, she was the third of five children in a middle class English family. As the author of “Adam Bede”, “Daniel Deronda”, and “Middlemarch”, she was one of the most celebrated novelists in history and a bestselling author in her day and long after. She was also a truly ugly woman who experienced much heartache and rejections, but found love with a married man with whom she lived for many years until his death. She broke many of the stict social mores of her time, scandalizing London society. George Elliot in Love by Brenda Maddox will prove thoroughly enjoyable to those who have read her novels and open the door to new readers with this deeply personal biography of a woman who lived on her own terms and altered the literary landscape in the process. Another woman made a name for herself but for all the wrong reasons. In Irrepressible: The Life and Times of Jessica Mitford author Leslie Brody ($28.00, Counterpoint Press) tells the story of “the communist” in the Mitford family, one of Britain’s most famous aristocratic families. Jessica however cut her ties with what would have been a life of privilege as a teen and eventually moved to the United States, devoting herself to working for civil rights and to muckraking journalism, defined by her belief in the ultimate triumph of communist. After arriving in the U.S. in 1939m, she became one of the New Deal’s most notorious bureaucrats. A thoroughly dreadful person, even her friends regarded her as subversive and a mischief maker. She was, nonetheless, an influential journalist in her day.

The Great Fire of Rome: The Fall of the Emperor Nero and his City by Stephen Dando-Collins ($25.00, Da Capo Press) should have been a lot more interesting and it’s not because the author didn’t jam every known fact about the event in 64AD or one of the more famous emperors who allegedly “fiddled with Rome burned.” He didn’t, but that’s not the point of this book about everyone who ever had anything to do with the man or Nero himself. The author has written a number of much acclaimed books, but this one will appeal only to people who are deeply interested in the subject and the times related. This reviewer found it very slow reading for the reason cited. It is not that the book isn’t heavily researched. It is that every single bit of research finds its way into what would otherwise be expected to be a fairly riveting story of a major historical event. The result is a story bogged down in minutia.

Young Michelangelo: The Path to the Sistine by John T. Spike ($27.95, The Vendome Press) is “a vivid portrait of the artist’s first 33 years” according to Everett Fahy, the chairman of the Department of European Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The author, an art historian, gained praise previously for his biography of Caravaggio. This biography explores the thinking, evolution, and desires of a young man who was well aware of his exceptional talent. Competitive, he strove to outshine prior and contemporary artists. The result is a vivid picture of the Italian Renaissance in which he thrived. History and personality is combined in this excellent biography. A lot of people find Nostradamus and his predictions fascinating and, even if I have doubts about them, a new book by Peter Lemesurier, Nostradamus, Bibliomancer: The Man, the Myth, the Truth ($18.99, New Page Books, softcover) will prove of interest to those who want to learn more about the 16th century figure who denied that he was a prophet. Instead, he used the process of bibliomancy, the random sampling of extracts from the Bible, and then claiming “divine inspiration.” The book comes with a CD that contains facsimiles of the three original editions of the “Propheties” on which his reputation is based. Amidst the many biographers of Nostradamus, Lemesurier remains the calm center of conscientious and accurate research while presenting valuable insights into the medieval world in which he lived.

The American justice system being one created and run by humans is subject to human error and failure. Long Way Home: A Young Man Lost in the System and the Two Women Who Found Him ($26.00, Free Press) by Laura Caldwell is the story of Jovan Mosley who spent nearly six years in a holding cell for a murder he did not commit, the victim of a forced and false confession. The author is one of two lawyers who got his case dismissed after Jovan, in 199, was a 19-year-old living on the south side of Chicago in a gang-infested neighborhood. Jovan, though, was determined to avoid the common fate of others, had managed to stay out of trouble, and had even been accepted to Ohio State with the dream of becoming a lawyer. He would stay in jail awaiting trial for five long years and this story will astound and appall you. The author has published thrillers and suspense stories since 2002 and is a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Loyola Law School. Football fans, especially fans of the New York Jets, will recall Don Maynard, the wide receiver who caught Joe Nameth’s most famous pass in 1967 for a Super Bowl win. In You Can’t Catch Sunshine ($24.95, Triumph Books) Maynard tells the story of his love of football and his life in the sport, including rejection by NFL scouts who didn’t see much in him. Instead, in the AFL he would gain 10,000 yards, be a four-time Pro Bowl selection, an All-Time AFL Team member, and Hall of Fame member. Maynard let his playing do all the talking, but he has at last put his memories and life on paper for fans to share. He accomplished his dreams by not quitting or allowing himself to be defined by lesser men. This book is just fun to read.

What would we do without music in our lives? You might not recognize the name Charles Fox, but you will likely recognize “Killing Me Softly With His Song”, the great Roberta Flack hit song. Fox worked with many of the greats in the entertainment world, Jim Croce, Barry Manilow, Lena Horne, and Fred Estaire. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004 and a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Composters & Lyricists, Fox has written a memoir of a life devoted to music, Killing Me Softly: My Life in Music, from the influence of Nadia Boulanger, a renowned music composition teacher through a life that has earned him nominations for the Academy Award and two Emmys. Fox has composed the music for more than a hundred motion pictures and television films, including the themes for Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and the Love Boat. It’s been a very interesting life and one we’re glad he has shared with all of us. Fans of Led Zeppelin would go gaga over Whole Lotta Led Zeppelin by Jon Bream ($19.99, Voyageur Press, large format softcover). They are rock’n roll royalty, the band that Rolling Stone once called “the heaviest band of all time.” They have sold over 300 million albums worldwide and had the honor of being the only band to have all of their albums reach the U.S. Billboard Top 10. They are as popular today as ever and this 288 page book is filled with photos and illustrations along with an excellent and exhaustive text that traces their history from its founding in 1968 through its breakup in 1980.

The Topic is Health

Ever since the passage of Obamacare, the massive “reform” of Medicare, the backlash against the bill has been growing, but aside from the fact that the program was insolvent, the costs of healthcare have been a major concern of Americans and there are a number of books out that address it.

The Healthcare Survival Guide: Cost-Saving Options for the Suddenly Unemployed and Anyone Else Who Wants to Save Money is one of those titles that relieves a reviewer from having to say anything more! Written by Martin B. Rosen and Abbie Liebowitz, MD, cofounders of Health Advocate, Inc ($6.95, Health Advocate Publishing, softcover) and can be downloaded for FREE from www.HealthcareSurvivalGuide.com. The book is the winner of the 2010 Independent Book Publisher’s Association’s Benjamin Franklin Award for the best first non-fiction book. It is a go-to source that provides quick access to information about affordable healthcare insurance and medical services. It’s filled with little-known secrets such as simply asking your doctor for a discount, keeping an eye on pharmaceutical websites for free trial offers for medications, checking out a university dental clinic and how to read a hospital bill to avoid being over-charged. And you will easy your anxiety, too, with Medical Bill Survival Guide: Easy, Effective Strategies for People Experiencing Financial Hardship by Nicholas Newsad ($11.95, Westminster Cambridge Conglomerate, softcover). Bills from insurance companies seem to be written to ensure that, like the policy, they are undecipherable. Thus, if you disagree with the billing you and thousands of others are at a distinct disadvantage. The author has remedied that with a straight-forward guide to help anyone quickly make it through the maze of dealing with medical bills with easy, effective strategies as it reveals the written and unwritten rules of patient billing and collections. For a fairly slim volume, there is a ton of useful information to be had and for the price this book is a real bargain. 101 Ways to Save Money on Health Care by Cynthia J. Koelker, MD ($13.00, Plume, softcover) points out that the average American spends over $5,000 on healthcare every year—more than any other country in the world! Even so, America has high rates of infant mortality, diabetes, and other illnesses. The Ohio-based family physician for more than twenty years provides a wealth of information from a doctor’s perspective on how to save on health expenses from medication to long-term care and everything in between. The book is well organized and not intimidating as many others are. Well worth the price for sure!

Treat Me, Not My Age by Dr. Mark Lachs, MD, ($27.95, Viking) addresses a problem that extends throughout the entire health system that treats or fails to treat older Americans based solely on their age. Physicians, hospitals, insurance companies, and nursing homes are a measure of guilt. As a result the author has provided a guide to navigating one’s way through the system as one gets older in order to avoid the medical pitfalls. Dr. Lachs is a geriatrician, a physician who specializes in the health problems of old age and one who spent two decades devoted to this specialty that often involves difficult healthcare decisions. This book will allow Boomers and older Americans to make informed decision, starting with selecting a physician and being pro-active regarding protecting and preserving one’s health. The result can be spending as little time as necessary in a system that treats people by pigeon-holing them with little regard to their specific needs. In “Gone With the Wind” one character says “I’d don’t know nothing about birthin’ babies” and that probably describes most people. Kalena Cook and Margaret Christensen, MD, have collaborated on Birthing a Better Way: 12 Secrets for Natural Childbirth ($24.95/$14.95, University of North Texas Press, hard and softcover). Ms. Cook has experienced natural childbirth and Dr. Christensen, a board certified obstetrician-gynecologist, have teamed to provide a book for expectant mothers and their caregivers with the knowledge they require for this birthing option. The alternatives in this modern world include Pitocin, inductions, epidurals, and c-sections. For the health-conscious person, there is a lot of information and insight in this book you might not find in others.

There are few fears for women that rival breast cancer. Now in its fifth edition, fully updated and revised, there’s Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book ($22.00, Da Capo Press, Lifelong Books, 736 pages, softcover). Written with Karen Lindsay, this is the bible on the topic and Dr. Love notes that there has been a revolution in the understanding of breast cancer since the first edition. There are new discoveries from basic science that call into question the concept of early detection, and the one-size-fits-all treatment that has been replaced with the idea of more aggressive treatment is more effective. The new understanding is that all breast cancers are not all the same. The sheer size of the book attests to the body of new knowledge that exists regarding prevention, diagnostic tools, and treatment options. The new edition is just out this month. I confess I am wary of diet books, but it happens that also being published is The Pink Ribbon Diet by Mary Flynn PhD, RD and Nancy Verde Barr ($16.95, Da Capo Press, Lifelong Books, softcover) that addresses the fact that breast cancer is the second most common form women encounter. Moreover, according to the American Cancer Society, a study found that maintaining one’s weight can reduce their risk. Those who gain 55 pounds or more after the age of 18 are said to be 50% more at risk. At various points in life, weight gain is seen as harmful and this book offers recommendations plus 150 recipes that provide high levels of essential nutrients without compromising taste. You would be surprised how many really tasty things are also really good for you!

It is a problem as old as mankind and is recorded in the Old Testament as the story of Cain and Abel, sibling rivalry. It often impacts on people’s lives well past childhood. Mom Loves You Best: Forgiving and Forging Sibling Relationships is the subject of a book by Cathy Jo Cress, MSW, and her daughter Kali Cress Peterson, MS, MPA ($14.95, New Horizon Press, softcover), due out officially in December. This book is not just for the garden variety hurts, real and imagined, between siblings, but for truly damaged relationships where both parties would benefit from repair them. The authors use a ten-step roadmap with specific methods for dealing with past conflicts. It also addresses the role of parents in sibling’s interactions and how reconciled siblings can better cooperate to care for aging parents. For those with emotional wounds, here’s a chance to repair them.

Now We’re Cooking!

Here are a couple of new cookbooks with which to tease and please the palate A tasty twosome, both by Rick Rogers are Coffee and Cake and Tea and Cookies ($21.99, William Morrow & Company) The former begins with advice on how to brew the perfect cup of coffee, discussing the various ways from automatic drip filter to electric espresso machines. It even includes my choice, the manual drip filter by Chemex. From there it moves on to descriptions of spiced mocha, café brulot, Irish coffee and more. After that, it offers some mouthwatering recipes for all manner of coffee cakes and cup cakes. Who could resist a spice layer cake with a praline frosting? Not me! The book devoted to tea and cookies follows a similar format with advice on brewing and pouring the perfect cup of tea and recipes for cookies that had my blood sugar level rising as I read them.

Todd Wilbur is back with Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 ($16.00, Plume, softcover) which shows the reader how to reproduce your favorite restaurant dishes at home. Wilbur is a frequent guest on Good Morning America and The Today Show. This new edition has more than a hundred recipe clones from restaurants that include Chili’s®, Applebee’s®, the Cheesecake Factory®, and the fine dining chains like Spago® and Joe’s Stone Crab®, among others. He’s sold more than four million of his books so he must be doing something right! The recipes are detailed and, as a result, easy to prepare.

Kim O’Donnel had vegetarians in mind when she wrote The Meat Lover’s Meatless Cookbook ($18.95, Da Capo Press, softcover). I am definitely not a vegetarian, but I can spot a good cookbook and this one provides more than 95 meatless recipes for once-a-week (Meatless Mondays) or full time vegetarians, including dishes ranging from gluten-free to vegan and dairy-optional fare that is not only healthy, but tasty and filling. So, falafel “burgers”, chickpea “crab cakes”, and even a pot pie with a cheddar biscuity crust can be found in this book by a trained chef and frequent contributor to the Washington Post, Real Simple, and the Huffington Post.

All War All the Time

It is sometimes said in jest that peace is just the interval while nations take time to rearm and, if history is any guide, there's sufficient proof of that. Wars also generate lots of books. A premier publisher of books devoted to America’s conflicts is Zenith Press, an imprint of Quayside Publishing Group.

It happens that I was recently watching a television documentary about Gen. George S. Patton, Jr of World War Two fame and shortly after Patton’s Third Army in World War II: An Illustrated History ($50.00) arrived. Patton’s fame was such that Dwight D. Eisenhower, the commanding general of Allied Forces, used him as a decoy to keep the German’s pinned down, anticipating an invasion at Calais, when the real invasion was to be at Normandy. Seven weeks after D-Day, Patton was put in charge of the Third Army and together they began a ten-month rampage across France, driving through Germany and deep into Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and Austria. In a turning point for the war, it was the Third Army’s famed turning movement during the Battle of the Bulge that ended Nazi hopes for victory. This large format book by Michael Green and James D. Brown, filled with more than 300 photos and an excellent text recounts that story of the battles fought by the Third Army, led by one of the greatest generals in U.S. history. Meanwhile, back home other Americans were serving the cause and The American Aircraft Factory in WWII by Bill Yenne ($24.90, large format, softcover) tells the story of an industrial phenomenon as peacetime production switched to wartime production from 1939 to 1945. Illustrated with 175 photos, its 192 pages remind us that wars are won as much at home as on the battlefield. This was America’s shining hour. Last among the recent Zenith titles is Naked in Da Nang by Mike Jackson and Tara Dixon-Engel ($17.99), a Vietnam War memoir that is one of best I’ve read in a while. It is a compelling picture of the hopes, fears, and motivations of the average American GI. It redefines the usual stories about that war that talk about drugs, booze and insanity. That never was the norm and the heroism of those that fought that war finally gets the presentation it deserves. Check out this publisher at www.zenithpress.com.

Berlin at War by Roger Moorhouse ($29.95, Basic Books) is an excellent history of what it was like to live in Berlin during the course of World War II. It was, of course, the epicenter of the Third Reich and a prime target for the air war, subjected to more raids, more aircraft, and more tonnage than any other German city. Historian Moorhouse draws on diaries, letters, archives and other sources to capture the mood of the city’s inhabitants from 1939 to 1945. It spans the short era from the extravagant celebrating of Hitler’s 50th birthday in April 1939 to the rigors of the Soviet invasion six years later. Berliners felt the effects of the war immediately as rationing began before it broke out. Blackouts followed. In a sinister reflection of the barbarity of the Nazis, the “S-Bahn Murderer” stalked the city for months, killing and raping at will before he was caught. Ordinary Germans did not all accept the Nazi Party and they found ways to express their opposition. In the end, the majority of Berliners simply sought to survive. Thousands committed suicide than live under Soviet rule. Still more thousands of its Jewish population were removed to be killed.It is a look at the effort of people trying to go about their lives in the midst of a city when madness, brutality and retribution reined.

Vietnam is the subject of Life and Death in the Central Highlands: An American Sergeant in theVietnam War, 1968-70 by James T. Gillam ($27.95, University of North Texas Press). It is a story of the author’s transformation from a poorly focused college student at Ohio University who was dismissed and then drafted into the Army, becoming a member of the First Battalion, 22nd Regiment of the Fourth Infantry Division. It only took a month for him to transition from avoiding conflict to an aggressive soldier. By January 1970 he had earned a Combat Infantry Badge and been promoted. Then his battalion took on search-and-destroy missions along the border of Cambodia, often involving intense firefights and close combat. He left the Army in June 1970 and within two weeks was back in college and destined to become a university professor. This is a gripping account of war as seen through the author’s eyes.

Books for Tots and Teens

For a clever twist on familiar fairy tales, two books for early readers by Gail Carson Levine, illustrated by Scott Nash, serve up lots of laughs in Betsy Who Cried Wolf and Betsey Red Hoodie ($8.99 and $16.99, HarperCollins Childrens Books, softcover and hardcover). Any kid who has heard the original version will find the new ones hilarious. Comedian Jeff Foxworthy has written Hide! ($17.99, Beaufort Books), a literary version illustrated by Steve Bjorkman that invites the reader to join in the game by finding hidden items in its artwork. For those age 4 and up, there’s high adventure to be found in Benjamin and Bumper to the Rescue by Molly Cox with some great photos by Oliver Toppin to illustrate the story ($16.95, BraveMouse Books, distributed by Independent Publishers Group). Benjamin is a fuzzy mouse and Bumper is a larger elephant doll. This is very much in the tradition of Winnie the Pooh and the story is filled with humorous situations as the two set out to save Benjamin’s mother since Sir Pouncelot, a cat, is known to be around. It will intrigue any youngster following along and enjoying the great artwork. This one’s a keeper.

For youngsters who already have mastered reading skills by the fourth grade, the fun continues with Case Closed? Nine Mysteries Unlocked by Modern Science by Susan Hughes and illustrated by Michael Wadnelmaier ($17.95, Kids Can Press) that will appear to their adventurous spirit and curiosity as it lays out a variety of issues involving archeology, anthropology, glaciology, and more to encourage future scientists to explore their world and ask questions. The legendary guitarist, Jimi Hendricks lives on through his recordings and now Gary Golio tells the story of his youth in Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow—A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix ($16.99, Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin). He grew up in Seattle and his father’s love and encouragement led to a life in music. The author does not shy away from Jimi’s substance abuse and provides a list of books and websites where kids, parents, and caregivers can learn about drug and alcohol abuse. Lila & Ecco’s Do-It-Yourself Comics Club by Willow Dawson ($16.95, Kids Can Press) is an introduction to being a comic book writer that provides a world of excellent advice to any kid obsessed with this art and story form.

This is an era in which television and movies are heavily devoted to stories of dragons, vampires, and other magical, mythical creatures. Here are a few books that cater to this interest. Hellfire: Plague of Dragons ($19.95, Running Press) illustrated by Tom Wood and written by Robert Weinberg has some of the best artwork I have seen of late, plus a compelling story about Thomas the Dragon Slayer and a loyal, brave band of soldiers. Its large format and story offer hours of fun reading. A companion “for true dragon fans only” is A Practical Guide to Dragon Magic ($12.95, Wizards of the Coast) allegedly by Sindri Suncatcher and it is filled with all kinds of “lessons” that anyone wishing to have their own dragon needs to know! Also from Wizards of the Coast there’s a Young Wizards Handbook How to Trap a Zombie, Track a Vampire by A.R. Rotruck ($12.95) that will intrigue any young reader age 10 and up with its advice. For my part, I want nothing to do with zombies and vampires, but kids will love this one, too. Those in their early teens will enjoy Aldwyns Academy by Nathan Meyer ($9.95, Wizards of the Coast) for any Harry Potter fan who wants more from this genre and imagines what it must be like to be a fledgling wizard like Dorian Ravensmith.

Mary America: First Girl President of the United States by Carole Marsh ($6.99, Gallipade International, softcover, available from Amazon.com) is the story of a smart orphan, age 12, who is the leader of the free world and commander-in-chief! It is a clever way to teach a young reader about how the U.S. government functions. You can learn more by visit www.maryamerica.com.

For the mid-teenager, girls and boys, there are three novels from Kane-Miller that cannot fail to provide entertainment. They are When Molly Was a Harvey Girl by Frances M Wood, Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool by Odo Hirsch, and Roll Up the Streets by John Bladek ($15.99 each). To learn more about these individual stories, visit www.kanemiller.com. These novels, all very well written for this age group, will prove to be stepping stones to novels for when they are older.

Novels, Novels, Novels

Try to imagine receiving twenty or more novels a month. And those are from large, medium and small publishers. Add in self-published and print-on-demand novels and you have a deluge of fiction that requires some serious triage.

John Le Carre, the pseudonym of David Cornwell, gained famed with “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” when it became a worldwide bestseller. He has written twenty-one novels including “The Constant Gardener”, “The Russia House” and “The Little Drummer Girl”, all of which demonstrated his considerable talent. When the Cold War ended a number of his subsequent novels did less well, but I suspect that his new novel, Our Kind of Traitor, ($27.95, Viking) will enhance his reputation as he demonstrates his insight regarding the shadow world where power really lies. Le Carre is a natural-born storyteller with an eye for detail that constructs a reality into which the reader can slip with ease. It is a very timely look at the financial collapse of investment houses and the way nations like England had to response to potential ruin. It is told through the lives of a young English couple who take a tennis vacation in Antigua and meet a Russian who is a major money-launderer. Dima wants a game of tennis, but back in London the British Secret Service that has been keeping tabs on him interrogate the couple and then recruit them. Their acquiescence takes them on a perilous journey that reveals the unholy alliances between the Russian mafia, the city of London, the government, and even competing factions of the British Secret Service. This is hardly a dry analysis, but instead a fascinating look behind the curtain when the only liquid money available to banks was often from the drug trade and organized crime!

Lior Samson is no where near as famous as John Le Carre, but he has written a suspenseful and timely novel, The Dome ($17.95, Gesher Press, Rowley, MA, softcover) about a plot to set off a “dirty” bomb using cesium-137 in Jerusalem and the desperate efforts of the Mossad to find the perpetrators before they do. It is a fast-paced novel filled with the way computers, programming, and other technical black magic combine to pose a major threat and are used as well to spot and neutralize it. The title refers to Al Aqsa, the mosque built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, a site holy to the three monotheistic religions. This novel takes you behind the scenes of modern spycraft and terrorism. One gets a sense of what life is like in Israel these days as a cast of characters, some family, some linked by a fallen hero, some master spies, must neutralize a terrifying deadly scheme. I cannot say enough good things about this novel and recommend that you check it out and purchase it at www.liorsamson.com.

A Geography of Secrets by Frederick Reuss ($25.95, Unbridled Books) also takes the reader behind the scenes and, in this case, it’s Washington, D.C. The novel is a duel story about a cartographer searching government archives for the truth about his deceased father’s diplomatic career and about an analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency who is devastated to learn that he supplied incorrect coordinates that led to a missile strike on a school in Afghanistan instead of a safe house for the Taliban. The author has two previous novels that were deemed Notable Books by the New York Times. Washington is his hometown and he knows it as a place filled with secrets and which knows a great deal about everyone’s life. It is a particularly timely story as the nation struggles to deal with dark forces far from our shores.

Another city is at the heart of a novel. Nashville Chrome by Rick Bass ($24.00, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) is the backdrop to a story based on the lives of The Browns, made up of the Brown siblings, Maxine, Bonnie and Jim Ed who once stood at the top of the American country music scene. Johnny Cash dated Maxine, Elvis Presley was engaged to Bonnie and they represented the “new Nashville sound”, a blend of country, blues and pop music. The novel jumps from their promising past and to their lonely present, particularly Maxine who is left ailing, alone and hungry for human connection. The novel is a look at an era in American music and the complexities that come with fame as this family lives in and out of the spotlight. In a City in Shadow ($27.95, Severn House) the backdrop is “hidden Manhattan” as Evan Marshall spins a tale of mystery. This is the fourth in a series that has won him a faithful following. When a frightened woman leaves a note on the street outside the apartment of sanitation supervisor, Anna Winthrop, she is spotted briefly by Winthrop who is unable to catch up with her. At the same time, a journalist, Nettie Clouchet, is tracking a human-trafficking ring. As their lives mesh a sinister apartment tower is discovered to harbor a secret that lies at the heart of the story. In a City of Tranquil Light a very different story is told by Bo Caldwell ($25.00, Henry Holt and Company). Set in the 1920s in China when Mao’s communists would drive out Chiang Kai-Shek’s nationalists, the era was also one that boded ill for missionaries who would also be driven out. Using the lives of her grandparents as source material for her second novel, the author tells of a period of turmoil that included famines, earthquakes, civil war, encounters with bandits, and winters that were “five coats cold.” It is also a love story between a man and woman, two Mennonite missionaries who have journeyed to China because they feel they are called by God to serve Him among the poor and to spread the Good News. It is a portrait of a marriage set against a radically shifting nation plunging into revolution. This is a mix of history, spirituality, and harsh reality that will keep the reader turning the pages.

In a debut novel, Safe from the Sea, author Peter Geye (24.95, Unbridled Books) tells the story of a father-son relationship set in Duluth, Michigan, when a man returns home to help is ailing father. They have been estranged for many years that began when is father survived the sinking of his Great Lakes ore boat during the son’s youth. When Noah, the son, arrives it is evident that his father is not just ill, but dying. Noah has found solace with his wife, Natalie, who decides to leave Boston and join him. This is a character-driven story and one that demonstrates the power of memory and the bonds of blood, a story of love and hope. A very different story is found in Pretty Little Things by Jilliane Hoffman ($25.95, Vanguard Press) when 13-year-old Lainey Emerson, a middle child in a home that local police are already familiar with. When she fails to return home from a night with friends her disappearance is dismissed by the Coral Springs PD as just another runaway child, but Special Agent Bobby Dees of the department’s Crimes Against Children squad thinks otherwise. He has a knack for finding lost children and his search reveals a secret Internet relationship. Dees suspects an online predator is at large and determines to find what turns out to be a prolific killer. Substitute Me, a novel by Lori L. Tharps ($15,99 Atria Books, softcover) explores the hidden world of intimate relationships in a story about an African-American 30-year-old college dropout returns to her hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan and is pressured by her upper-middle-class parents to do something useful with her life. She moves to New York and takes a job with a white professional couple of the same age, Kate and Brad Carter, to look after their young son, Oliver. Intent on merely making rent money, she soon becomes attached to Oliver becoming a true substitute for the boy’s mother and a part of the household in ways she would never have imagined.

Other nations and other worlds are the backdrop for two softcover novels. In the Blue Nude award-winning novelist, Elizabeth Rosner, ($15.00, Gallery Books) examines the complex and haunting relationship between an artist born in the shadow of postwar Germany and his muse, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor. Once a prominent painter, Danzig now teaches at San Francisco’s Art Institute. When he meets Merav, a beautiful Israeli who models for his class, he senses she may be the spark to reignite his artistic passion and skills. Merav has moved to California to escape the violence in the Middle East, but Danzig’s former home evokes her fears of the past. Together, they must examine their own and shared histories. Swedish crime fiction is the genre at which Ake Edwardson excells. In The Shadow Woman ($15.00, Penguin Books) he provides a highly anticipated second installment of his Inspector Erik Winter series. It is, as you might imagine, filled with suspense, told in a satisfying blend of Nordic ambience and cosmopolitan style. Winter is in his waning bachelor days when he must cut short a vacation when a woman is found murdered with no means of identification. A cryptic blood-red symbol at the crime scene identifies the murder as the mark of an enigmatic killer. All this is set against a world of Swedish biker gangs and a massive war between them that ripped through Scandinavia in the mid-nineties. It is a gripping story.

That’s it for October! Be sure to tell all your book-loving friends and family members about Bookviews, a monthly report on the best in fiction and non-fiction. And come back in November for even more great reading.

Bookviews - September 2010

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

There’s a new book that should be essential reading for parents, educators, employers and others dealing with the new Generation Y and its subset, the title of Tim Elmore’s Generation iY: Our Last Change to Save the Future ($16.99, Poet Gardener Publishing in association with www.GrowingLeaders.com, softcover). They are the children of the late Baby Boomers and the early Gen-X’ers between 1984 and 2002. They have been called Millennials and the Digital or Internet Generation. They are stuck in a kind of extended adolescence, experiencing a lot of depression and disillusionment as they face adult expectations in college and in the workplace. They are also the generation we will look to lead the nation soon enough and they can barely cope with their own lives, having been told how great they were by their parents, having failed to develop interpersonal skills due to iphones, ipads, texting and hours before TV and computer screens in their own imaginary world. They have been raised to be consumers, but lack the skills to be contributors. Real life and real commitments overwhelm them easily. The result is that growing numbers drop out of high school, are unprepared for the rigors of college, are prone to quit jobs rapidly, whom an older generation must wait until they get past age 25 to show signs, if any, of anything deemed maturity. Elmore says today’s adults have to begin changing how they raise, teach, and train this generation for adult responsibilities because they will be the next generation of adults, for better or worse.

A growing number of Americans are deeply disappointed by the failure of the Obama administration’s solutions to the financial crisis and failure to turn the economy around with “stimulus” spending and other “quick fix” programs. The present mood reflects the ten years in the 1930s during the Great Depression when many current liberal programs were introduced and similarly failed. However, the legacy of the FDR administration is the “entitlement” programs such as Social Security and, later, Medicare. Both are essentially insolvent. Why don’t liberal ideas translate into any measure of success? And why are so many coercive with the intent of limiting people’s choices in a nation based on freedom? Terence P. Jeffrey, the Editor-in-Chief of CNSnews.com, has written Control Freaks: 7 Ways Liberals Plan to Ruin Your Life ($$27.95, Regnery Publishing Inc) and, in the interest of full disclosure, I have been a contributor, a commentator for this news and opinion website for many years. Putting aside the book’s title is cleverly provocative title, Jeffrey does an excellent job of providing the historic context of how the role of the federal government has grown despite the specific and limited role for it that is spelled out in the U.S. Constitution. Since the 1930s, both Democrats and Republicans alike have deliberately ignored the Constitution and even the Supreme Court has reinterpreted it or perhaps one should say misinterpreted it. Jeffrey demonstrates how increasingly intrusive into everyone’s life the federal government has become and he documents it with 57 pages of citations of the facts presented. You will be appalled by the actual debt in which the nation is mired, not just for this generation, but the next and the one after that. This is a book I would recommend everyone read before the November 2nd midterm elections. The decline in President Obama’s approval ratings suggest that people of all political persuasions are increasingly concerned about his policies and programs.

While President Obama has been successful, thanks to a party-line vote, in forcing legislation through Congress, the opposition to much of it remains. That is why, if politics interests you, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America, by Pamela Geller with Robert Spencer ($27.00, Threshhold Editions, an imprint of Simon and Schuster) will prove helpful in understanding the “transformation” Obama promised is resulting in high unemployment, a free-market system under attack, and the nationalization of large elements of the economy. This book is so thoroughly researched it takes 30 pages of small print to list all the footnotes cited throughout its text. This is a very close examination of the actual acts and statements of a president who is alienating Americans on a virtual daily basis.

Israel continues in the news, threatened by its neighbors, under attack in the United Nations, and the on-again, off-again trials of its relationship with changing U.S. administrations. How to Make Peace in the Middle East in Six Months or less Without Leaving Your Apartment by Gregory Levey ($25.00, Free Press) is the often hilarious and sometimes horrifying look at the inner workings of international government agencies. Also available in softcover is his previous book, Shut Up I’m Talking to You ($15.00, Free Press).The author relates his return to the United States after a stint in his mid-twenties writing speeches for the Israeli government. He discovered that everyone seems to believe they have the solution to the intractable Middle East’s conflicts and they all want to tell him about it. He concludes that he must find the answer for himself, sorting out the many different “answers” offered by White House officials, D.C. lobbyists, congressmen, advisers to presidential candidates, high profile journalists, and others. Unraveling the ancient claims and modern rivalries has yet to hit upon a formula for peace in a region filled with conflict. The author provides a window to the process. I recommend both books.

We are all so occupied with the daily headlines of events around the world, it is easy to forget that for millennia Europeans believed the world consisted of three parts; Europe, Africa, and Asia. The trade routes between these regions was well established in early times, but The Fourth Part of the World by Toby Lester ($16.99, Free Press, softcover) is the story of what was widely regarded as an inaccessible place, North and South America, that until 1507 wasn’t even on the maps of that era. The book is a thrilling saga of geographical and intellectual exploration that sweeps across continents and centuries. Early traders like Marco Polo and early Christian missionaries had trekked to Asia. The Portuguese were explorers of Africa and the Far East, but it took Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci to put a then unknown but rumored continent on the map. This is a piece of history worth visiting.

Writers frequently and understandably enjoy the companionship of other writers. It is a difficult and demanding craft. Memorable Days: The Selected Letters of James Salter and Robert Phelps ($25.00, Counterpoint Press) chronicles the correspondence between these two that began with a letter of admiration for James Salter’s novel, “A Sport and a Pastime” that developed into a long friendship spanning two decades. Phelps authored “Heroes and Orators” and “The Literary Life”, but is perhaps better known as the editior of “Earthly Paradise: Colette’s Autobiography.” Some two hundred letters examine the trials of writing and their mutually supportive relationship. Salter has written novels, essays, screenplays, and short stories, and divides his time between Aspen and Long Island. Phelps passed away in 1989.

If there is one thing that people who love to read have in common is the ambition to also write. Will Write for Food by Dianne Jacob ($15.95, Da Capo Press, softcover) is subtitled, “The complete guide to writing cookbooks, blogs, reviews, memoir and more” and has proven so popular it is now in its second edition. Its focus is on writing about food and for anyone wanting to break into this arena it is filled with good advice about the various genres of food writing. I have been a professional writer for decades so I can confirm that this is the real deal that is based not only on her own successful career, but on interviews with other food writers, literary agents, cookbook editors, and others. It is an essential tool for every foodie hoping to put pen to page One of the most practical cookbooks I have seen in a while is the Gooseberry Patch Keepsake Cookbook ($27.95, Oxmoor House, an imprint of Time Inc). It’s 420 pages, filled with great recipes and great color photos, of which 50 are blank pages on which you can add your own recipes, but mostly it is its unique format, a three-ring binder, so the book can lay flat on the kitchen table while you sample Gooseberry co-founders, Jo Ann Martin and Vickie Hutchins’ collection of delicious, but sensible dishes perfect for any evening meal. Gooseberry began as a mail-order business and the recipes included in their catalogs quickly became such favorites customers were saving them. Today, the company is serving its third generation of customers. You will never be without great ideas for great dinners and other meals with this timeless and timely cookbook. Check it out at www.oxmoorhouse.com.

I spent my college days driving from New Jersey to Florida on Interstate 95, so I have some memories of it. They have been awakened by Dianne Perrier’s delightful history, Interstate 95: The Road to Sun and Sand ($24.95, University Press of Florida) and, for those with similar memories of Interstate 81: The Great Warriors Trace, she has explored its history as well. Interstate 95 stretches along the East Coast from Maine’s Canadian border almost all the way to the Florida Keys, passing through fifteen states, plus the District of Columbia where Interstate 81 starts on Wellesley Island, New York and makes its way through the Appalachians to its southernmost point, Dandridge, Tennessee. Both were part of the great highway system envisioned by President Dwight Eisenhower and both created a whole new mobility for Americans, creating greater economic growth as well. If you love history as I do, you will enjoy either or both of these adventures on the highways and discover how they reflected trails blazed by Indians and early Americans.

Ever wonder why we say “God bless you” when someone sneezes? Or why hanging a horseshoe over the door is a good luck symbol? These and many other “old wives’ tales and superstitions” that are a daily part of our lives as we knock on wood to ward off bad luck or we avoid walking under ladders, are explained in Black Cats & Four-Leaf Clovers by Harry Oliver ($13.95, Perigee, softcover). I recommended his previous book, “Bubble Gum and Hula Hoops” and I recommend this one as yet another entertaining collection of information.

Relationships and Aging

Every so often one comes across a compelling title like Everyone Marries the Wrong Person: Turning Flawed in Fulfilling Relationships ($14.95, New Horizon Press, softcover) by Christine Meinecke, PhD. The author dismisses conventional viewpoints on relationships and shows how to transcend the initial infatuation called love in order to create a mature, lasting love because the two partners in the marriage change. Marriages fall apart for many reasons, but it often comes back to the expectations brought into the relationship and the simple fact that life imposes changes on both. The author offers a proven plan to salvage a marriage that is on the fast track to divorce. If this describes your own or a friend’s, than this book will likely prove helpful.

Raising Confident Readers is surely a subject close to my heart. J. Richard Gentry, PhD ($14.95, Da Capo Press, softcover) tackles a big problem insofar as studies have shown that four out of ten eight-year-olds cannot read independently, largely because of a lack of word exposure in their formative years. If you have a youngster returning to school with poor reading skills you need to step in and help. This book will show you how. The good news is that it doesn’t take long to improve a child’s reading skills and the author provides reading and writing exercises that any parent can use. There is little doubt that we live in stressful times and that our new age of technology and information access often contributes to that stress. A corollary to this is Homework Made Simple: Tips, Tools, and Solutions for Stress-Free Homework by Ann K. Dolin, M.Ed ($14.95, Advantage Books, softcover. Kids are coming home with more and more homework these days and this poses a problem for them and their parents. The author, a former public school teacher with more than 20 years experience, offers lots of good advice for parents of children from age six to 18 and identifies six key types of children who struggle with school and homework. She spells out six study skills that need to be developed and the organization of time that help students master content and build self-confidence. In a very real way, this is homework for adults and well worth reading. For parents that have children exhibiting learning problems, I recommend The Learning Tree: Overcoming Learning Disabilities from the Ground Up by Stanley I. Greenspan, MD, and Nancy Thorndike Greenspan ($26.00, Da Capo Press). Whether one is a parent of a child who is behind in several academic areas or of a gifted child with subject-specific weakness such as math, they know the issue needs to be confronted and the authors provide an overview of problems children face in early development and beyond. They not only identify the symptoms of learning disabilities, but the missing developmental steps that cause the symptoms. This book will provide peace of mind along with a game plan to address problems.

Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness by Susan Smalley, PhD, and Diana Winston ($16.95, Da Capo Press, softcover) discusses the beneficial effects of mindfulness techniques that can improve attention and concentration, decrease addictive behaviors, boost performance, and help with challenging thoughts and emotions like depression and anxiety. A good companion volume is Life Unlocked: 7 Revolutionary Lessons to Overcome Fear by Dr. Srinivasan S. Pillay, MD ($25.99, Rodale). The World Health Organization calls stress “the health epidemic of the 21st century” and given the global financial crisis, rogue nations seeking or having nuclear capabilities, and the rise of Islamo-fascism, there is plenty about which to be anxious. Dr. Pillay’s book could be called “tough love” because he advises against making excuses for not turning positive ideas into action such as how to visualize success and make it happen, explains why powerful leaders engage in infidelity, dealing with a fear of commitment or fear of rejection, and how to cope with loneliness, among other common human experiences.

Not only are Americans in particular living longer lives, they are seeking ways to live longer and healthier lives. The Longevity Diet ($14.95, Da Capo Press, softcover) by Brian M. Delaney and Lisa Walford addresses how diet can ward off health problems, delay the aging process, and extend life expectancy. This is the second edition of the book that focuses on a calorie restriction diet that the authors say can help with weight loss and prevent common ailments such as type 2 diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and high blood pressure, among other health related concerns. I cannot attest to its recommendations, but for anyone interested in this subject, there is sure to be something of value to be found in this book. I am in my seventh decade and, for most of my life, I dined at the table with parents who were dedicated to eating well. Good food and good wine is probably the best antidote to aging there is. My late Mother taught haute cuisine, the secrets of gourmet cooking and baking for thirty years, was an internationally famed authority on wine, and an author of several cookbooks. She lived to 98. My Father lived to 93 and would probably have lived longer had a trip to a hospital not contributed to shortening his life. A large consort of Americans is aging. A whole generation of Baby Boomers from the 1950s is beginning to retire or at least receive Social Security. Thus, Aging Gracefully, Aging Defiantly by Norma Roth ($18.95, Author House, softcover) not only proved to be interesting and inspiring reading to me, but will no doubt find a large audience among my contemporaries. The expression is that old age is not for sissies and there’s enough truth in that for Roth to have developed “ten tips to keep people off your back” when family and others begin to wonder if you are having “senior moments”, occasional forgetfulness that, in someone younger, would be ignored. This book is so full of really good advice on making the transition to one’s sixties and beyond that I cannot say enough good things about it. If you have an aging member in your family or a friend possibly having a problem or two as they age, I recommend you give them this book.

The Lives of Real People

Every so often someone writes a memoir that is so unique that is quite compelling. That’s the case with Black & Bulletproof : An African-American Warrior in the Israeli Army (24.95, New Horizon Press) that is officially due out in December. It is the story of Marcus Hardie, a man who was raised in the gang-infested streets of Los Angeles, but who through intelligence and pure grit escaped to graduate from college and law school, and became a special assistant to a California governor. Religion had always played a role in his life, but he found himself increasingly drawn to Judaism and, because he always amerced himself in anything that interested him, he volunteered to help out at a Jewish home for the aged, learning about the Holocaust from its survivors, discovering the pleasure of the discipline that Judaism offers through study of its holy book, the Torah, and finding a welcome from Jews who saw passed his skin color. He not only converted, but journeyed to Israel where he worked in the offices of the Mayor of Israel who later became Prime Minister. His commitment went further when, at age 28, he volunteered to join its Defense Force despite being told it was largely composed of people a decade younger. His experiences in the elite anti-terrorism unit are worth reading as is the entire book as proof that real faith is colorblind.

The life of Howard Hughes, the billionaire who took a company that made oil drill bits and multiplied it into a life making films in Hollywood, developing aircraft, and owning a number of Las Vegas casinos. He eventually became famed for his reclusive ways, avoiding the media, conducting the business of his empire by phone, and ultimately becoming the focus of a fake autobiography that made international news when he exposed its author who went to jail. Now his story takes an even more extraordinary turn in Boxes: The Secret Life of Howard Hughes by Douglas Wellman ($10.95, softcover), available from WriteLife or via Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com and other outlets. Wellman became friends with Eva McLelland and in the course of that friendship she confided to him that she and Hughes had been married for several decades before his passed away. When they met in Panama, he became smitten with her, but remained a mysterious figure, until they married and he revealed his true identity. With her help, Wellman delved into the way he literally enlisted a mentally ill, aging substitute to lead people to believe he was a man of bizarre behavior unable to function in society, a recluse. The real Hughes lived a quite normal life behind this clever ruse to avoid the Internal Revenue and an army of lawyers pursuing him. I have no doubt he was able to pull this off and this book documents how he did it. Another compelling story is told in Wanted: Gentleman Bank Robber – The True Story of Leslie Ibsen Rogge, One of the FBI’s Most Elusive Criminals by Dane Batty ($15.95, Nish Publishing, Hillsboro, NC, softcover). For twenty years he robbed more than thirty banks without firing a shot. Caught and jailed twice, he escaped and went sailing around the Caribbean with his wife and dog! His life was filled with adventures that took him to Alaska, Antigua, and Cancun. For years the FBI tried to capture him, but it wasn’t until he turned himself in that his life of crime ended. In this book, he relates his successes, failures, robbery techniques, his passion for sailing and his love for his wife. If this interests you, then download the first chapter at www.nishpublishing.com. You will want to read the whole book after that. A very different tale of life on the water is told by Rick Rinehard in Men of Kent: Ten Boys, a Fast Boat, and the Coach Who Made Them Champions ($14.95, Lyons Press, an imprint of Globe Pequot Press, softcover). A private school in Kent, Connecticut and its rowing team became a sensation in 1972, meriting a banner headline in the New York Times’ sports section when it had a 46-0 winning streak, broke three course records, and claimed a national championship in the Royal Regatta in England. Rinehart was part of that team and he relates this extraordinary story of the team and its coach. The author now lives in Lafayette, Colorado, and he has written a story that is well worth reading.

World War Two has spawned enough books to fill an entire library. The greatest conflict in modern history, it continues to fascinate those whose interest is military history. Inside the Nazi War Machine: How Three Generals Unleashed Hitler’s Blitzkrieg Upon the World by Bevin Alexander ($26.95, NAL Caliber) is the story of how Rommel, von Manstein and Guderian turned the Blitzkrieg (lightning war) into a fearsome weapon of war in France in 1940 and elsewhere. The war began in 1939 with the invasion of Poland, drawing both Britain and France into it. America joined in 1941 after Pearl Harbor. Alexander, a renowned expert on military strategy and history, recounts how Hitler botched his best opportunity to defeat Great Britain. These generals changed the face of modern warfare forever. A later war in Vietnam produced a Medal of Honor winner for his role at Dai Do during a three-day battle in which the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, numbering only eight hundred men, victoriously fought back ten thousand North Vietnamese Army regulars. Noble Warrior ($28.00, Zenith Press) is told by that Medal of Honor recipient, James E. Livingston, along with Colin D. Heaton and Anne-Marie Lewis. He had been the commanding office of 2/4’s Echo Company. When you consider that 80% of all Medals of Honor are awarded posthumously, his story is even more inspiring because, despite wounds received, his service in the Marines was far from over after that battle. In 1975, he returned to Vietnam to help plan and execute the evacuation of Saigon. After the war he served in a variety of positions around the world, retiring as a major general in 1995. Our two most recent wars, ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan remind us of our need for such men.

Getting Down to Business Books

The Smart Swarm by Peter Miller ($26.00, Avery, an imprint of Penguin Group) is subtitled, “How understanding flocks, schools, and colonies can make us better at communicating, decision making, and getting things done.” Miller is a senior editor at National Geographic so it’s obvious where the idea for this interesting book originated. While not specifically a “business” book, it is a look at the basic principles behind how groups self-organize and tackle problems and how that applies to human activities in business, politics, and technology. Computer scientists studied ant colonies’ governing rules to write programs to streamline factory processes, telephone networks, and truck routes. Groups in nature have had millennia to develop their strategies and there is much to learn from them. The Connectors by Maribeth Kuzmeski ($22.95, Wiley) offers a pragmatic approach for many of today’s job seekers because the job market, such as it is, is flooded with competition and, in these days of online communication, it is essential to understand how to survive in a virtual world. It takes more than just a resume. The author says the key is networking, networking, networking, and then she tells you how. “You want to be the first person who comes to mind when someone in your network hears about a great job opening.” Good advice!

Competitive Selling: Out-Plan, Out-Think, Out-Sell to Win Every Time is one of those titles that tells you the author means business (no pun intended!). Landy Chase ($22.95, McGraw-Hill) discusses how the marketplace today offers many choices for consumers. As a result, today’s salesman or woman has to develop an attitude that says they are going to crush the competition. The author takes one through the gamut of obstacles to overcome in making the sale such as value versus price, how to evaluate client needs, the games people play, the need for face time, and the art of closing the sale, among many other aspects. Brian Tracy is the author of Time Power: A Proven System for Getting More Done in Less Time Than You Ever Thought Possible and now he has an audiobook version available ($39.98, Hachette Audio) in which he shares his system on how to make better decisions faster, set clear goals, overcome the people problems that sap your time, and the five tools and techniques you can use to make you more productive.

For anyone trying to understand what is happening to the U.S. economy Robert E. Wright’s Fubarnomics: A Lighthearted, Serious Look at America’s Economic Ills ($26.00, Prometheus Books) takes a stab at explaining it. “Fubar” is a WWII acronym for “fouled up beyond all repair.” The author is the Nef Family Chair of Political Economy at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. He formerly taught at NYU’s Stern School of Business for many years, so don’t let the small college credential fool you. I have one caveat and that is the style, not the content, of the book which tends to spend too much time explaining everything and trying to be clever in the process. Economics can be quite boring to everyone except economists and the author seems to be over-compensating for that. You will, however, if you hang in, learn why the nation experienced a financial crisis and what the author recommends we do to get out of the mess.

A Bounty of Books for Kids and Teens

September is traditional as the month the kids go back to school. Getting a child into the reading habit early in life is one of the greatest gifts any parent can give and Bookviews has received a bounty of books for ages from the very young (who must be read to) to those up through their teens.

Starting with toddlers, there’s a cleverly packaged group of four “early learning board books” with pop-up market and press-out characters called Market Day by Victoria Roberts and Tomislav Zlatic ($19.95, Kane Miller of Tulsa, Oklahoma. These books introduce them to colors, shapes, opposites, and numbers. They represent a great way to teach these concepts. Kane Miller is a major publisher of children’s books and the quality is always excellent. Here are a few more. The Gobble Gobble Moooo Tractor Book by Jez Alborough ($15.99) spins of tale of how, as Farmer Dougal sleeps, sheep and other animal friends board his tractor and take turns making noises. And what kid doesn’t love to do that? The illustrations are fun, too. For the very early, first readers there’s A Garden for Pig by Kathryn K. Thurman, illustrated by Lindsay Ward ($15.99). Pig lives on an apple farm and is frankly tired of apples for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He dreams of vegetables. His dream comes true after some fun adventures. Then there’s The Church Mouse by Graham Oakley ($16.99) in which Arthur the mouse invites the other mice to live there. It doesn’t take long for people to notice and Sampson the church case, Arthur’s friend, must confront the population explosion. When a burglar sneaks in to steal the candle holders, the mice and Sampson capture him and alert the townspeople and there is, of course, a happy ending. Based on a true story, Old Age, Eagle Hero ($15.99) recounts the story of an eagle raised and adopted by a northern army detachment during the Civil War as told by Patrick Young and illustrated by Anne Lee. A nice combination of animal and history story.

A great toddler and early reader series is the Howard B. Wigglebottom series for ages 4 to 8 by Howard Binkow and illustrated by Susan F. Cornelison. These are excellent teaching tools and includes Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen, Listens to His Heart, Learns about Bullies, Learns About Mud and Rainbows, and Learns It’s OK to Back Away. They are priced at $15.00 each and produced by a non-profit organization, the We Do Listen Foundation of Sarasota, Florida, in association with Lerner Publishing Group of Minneapolis, MN. Teachers love these books because they use humor and real situations with which children can identify. They have won tons of awards such as Best Home School Product of the Year for Children, Learning Magazine Teacher’s Choice for Children, Independent Publishers Annual Award of Excellence, and others. To check them out, visit www.wedolisten.com.

The children’s book author, Jane Yolen, has had her 300th book published this month. She has won every award there is for her stories and poems. She marks the milestone with Elsie’s Bird ($17.99, Philamel Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group), illustrated beautifully by David Small. For those aged seven to ten, this is a beautiful story of a young girl and her father after his wife had died. He leaves Boston for life as a farmer in Nebraska and Elsie’s only friend is a canary that sings to cheer her. There is a bit of drama to this story when it escapes its cage, but it has a very happy ending.

Raindrops: A Shower of Colors by Chieu Anh Urban and illustrated by Viviana Garofoli is another book for the pre-schooler, aged 3 to 5, that teaches what the various colors’ names are in a “board” book that will stand up to handling ($8.95, Sterling Publishing). The author was born in Vietnam in 1975 and fled to the U.S. with 7,000 others. She grew up in Northern Virginia and now lives near Washington, D.C. with her three daughters. Another book about the rain is full of poetry. One Big Rain was compiled by Rita Gray and illustrated by Ryan O’Rouke ($9.95, Charlesbridge Publishing). It will light up the imagination of any youngster, ages 7 to 10, and prove a perfect book to read on a rainy day. Charlesbridge is one of my favorite children’s book publishers and Boo Cow by Patricia Baehr, wonderfully illustrated by Margot Apple, is a hilarious story of how the Noodleman’s discovered, after leaving city life, that their chicken farm came with a ghost, a Boo Cow, that they thought was scaring the chickens who they though were not laying eggs. Turns out there was an egg thief lurking around. Any pre-schooler will love having this read to them and any early reader will get a lot of laughs out of it.

I started with Kane Miller and there still others to recommend to readers aged 10 to 14, small, short novels. A series called “Extreme Adventures” by Justin D’Ath includes Shark Bait and Scorpion Sting and there are “Chloe & Levesque” mysteries, Double Cross and Over the Edge, both by Norah McClintock, a charming story Hooray for Anne Hibiscus who loves to sing and has some serious stage fright when chosen to sing at school in front of the president. A visit to www.kanemiller.com will tell you more, but I can tell you these books, generally priced at $5.99, are just right to slip in a backpack or a pocket.

For parents who embrace a conservative philosophy and want to pass it on to their children, particularly those old enough to be asking questions of the direction the nation is taking, capitalism versus socialism, differences between Republicans and Democrats, then I would recommend Janie Johnson’s Don’t Take My Lemonade Stand: An American Philosophy ($24.95, Bascom Hill Publishing Group, Minneapolis, MN, softcover). This is one of the best books on these fundamental topics I have read in a very long time and it is written in a fashion that any teenager can understand (and smart pre-teens, too) and enjoy. As noted in my recommendation of “Generation iY” above, it is essential to get this new generation involved now if we are to have a future in which widely accepted American values continue to guide the nation.

Novels, Novels, Novels!

The fall is the season, along with spring, when publishers unleash an avalanche of new fiction and 2010 is no exception. I have stacks of hardcover and softcover novels to wade through and will do so this month and those ahead.

William Morrow, now an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, has been around the publishing scene a long time with many fine novels to its credit. If you like mysteries and thrillers, they have two, Judgment & Wrath by Matt Hilton ($24.99) and Bad Boy by Peter Robinson ($25.99). Hilton is already building a following as this is second novel starring Joe Hunter whom some would call a vigilante. When a father comes to him to help rescue his daughter from her abusive millionaire boyfriend, Hunter cannot say no. The problem is that the daughter does not want to be rescued and a psycho contract killer has been hired to kill her and her boyfriend. There are plenty of questions to be answers and plot twists to keep any guy turning the pages. The same holds true for Robinson’s novel in which Detective Inspector Alan Banks stars, as he has through a series of novels since 1987. He’s away on holiday in San Francisco when a distraught woman arrives at the Eastvale police station desperate to speak to him. His partner Annie Cabbot steps in. She has found a loaded gun in her daughter’s bedroom, a punishable offense under British law (did I mention both authors are British and their novels reflect that?) but the situation quickly spins out of control. It turns out that her best friend and roommate is Banks’ daughter who was last seen running off to warn the owner of the gun, a very bad boy. Things get very shocking, very quickly. The Brits seem to have a special talent for such stories.

Venom by Joan Brady is subtitled “a novel of suspense” ($26.99, Touchstone, a Simon and Schuster imprint) and it more than lives up to its title starring two characters from a previous novel and takes the readers from Illinois to an Alabama bee farm, and into the high-stakes world of industrial espionage in London while shadowing the lives of those affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Complicated? Oh yes, but it never stops from the moment an ex-con, David Marion, opens the door to a man sent to kill him. Shortly after, he calmly walks away from his house, gets into his beat-up Volkswagen, and drives away as a huge explosion leaves his home a burning pit. It is assumed the body that’s found is him. Suffice to say, you will not be able to put this book down because it is filled with twists and turns that will keep you turning the pages. Power Slide is part of the Darcy Lott mysteries series by Susan Dunlap ($25.00, Counterpoint Press). Darcy, a stunt double, is on location at the Port of Oakland, positioned for a power slide, a dangerous trick in which she falls off a bike and skids under an 18-wheeler. An injury ensues, making for trouble between her and her boyfriend, a stunt driver, Damon Guthrie. Meanwhile, Darcy’s siblings are pressuring her to search for Mike, their missing brother. Complicated enough for you? Women authors seem especially adroit at complex stories and either one of these will prove a very satisfying piece of fiction.

It is a time of great turmoil in America. The United States, operating under the Articles of Confederation, is on the brink of total collapse. The military has been reduced to near extinction, economic turmoil is everywhere, and world powers are circling like vultures to pick off parts of the new nation and largely unknown continent. To address this, a group of fifty-five men meet secretly in Philadelphia starting in May 1787 to replace the Articles with a Constitution. That is the heart of the novel by James B. Best, Tempest at Dawn, ($28.95, Wheatmark, Tucson, AZ, available via Amazon.com). It took Best twelve years to research and write this novel, but it was worth it. While the story of the writing of the Constitution has been told many times, the novel captures the real drama that ensued behind closed doors as they hammered out what is now the oldest living constitution and the foundation of the nation. Read it for its historical value. Read it for its dramatic value. But read it!

Finally, there are two interesting novels about living in a different culture and nation than one’s place of birth. Cecile Garnst Berg is the author of Blonde Lotus ($15.00, Haven Books, softcover). When she ran away from her native Norway in the late 1980s in search of adventure, Berg knew little about China, but after a casual stop in Beijing she decided to visit for a while. That was over twenty years ago and she hasn’t left. The novel is reminiscent of “Lost in Translation” and “Sex and The City”, as her main character, Kat Glose, discovers a very different China while falling in love with it and its people. This is an interesting way to learn about the real China while being thoroughly entertained in the process. In a similar fashion, I Was an Elephant Salesman by Pap Khouma ($55.00/$18.95, Indiana University Press, hardcover and softcover) tells the story of an illegal immigrant, an African street vendor in Italy who has invented a life for himself as an itinerant trader of carved elephants, small ivories, and other trinkets. It is, in a larger sense, the story of a Europe coming to grips with multiracial, multi-religious, and multi-cultural realities while the main character struggles to hold on to his identity and dignity under very difficult circumstances. A bestseller in Italy, it has been translated by Rebecca Hopkins. It is a very rewarding reading experience in many ways.

That’s it for September! Remember to tell your friends about Bookviews so they too can learn about the many new books that can hold the key to their questions or just entertain with a lively story.

See you in October!

Bookviews - August 2010

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

There’s no debate that North Korea is the classic “rogue nation”, making nuclear weapons and missiles for sale to anyone that has the price. Ruled by dictators, now into the second generation, reading anything good about the place is rare. You will, however, find it in Eating With the Enemy: How I Waged Peace with North Korea From my BBQ Shack in Hackensack by Bobby Egan and Kurt Pitzer ($25.95, St. Martin’s Press). It is the story of how Egan who was involved with the issue of POW/MIAs from the Vietnam War era caught the eye of government officials along with his Vietnamese contact, Le Quang Khai during a time when Vietnam was trying to normalize relations with the U.S. in the early 1990s. What occurred next with North Korea, however, was unprecedented. Khai talked to the North Korean consulate about Egan and recommended they get to know him. It led to a meeting with North Korean consul Han Song Ryol and an amazing friendship was forged over the course of a decade. Egan accomplished a great deal over the years using his gift for friendship. His story suggests that the effort can accomplish much even in the face of longstanding hostilities between the two nations. The World for Ransom by D.R. Burgess ($26.00, Prometheus Books) looks at the rise of piracy along the Somali coast. A jurist and historian, he argues a case for linking piracy and terrorism that goes much deeper than just the headlines. It may offer civilized society the key to fighting international terrorism if terrorists were defined as pirates. It would eliminate the current maze of legal restrictions that hampers the prosecution of both pirates and terrorists. For anyone interested in the legal aspects of dealing with terrorism, this makes for some very interesting reading.

If science is your area of interest, you might consider reading Absolutely Small: A Layman’s guide to the Miraculous Realm of Quantum Theory that Explains Our Everyday World. Written by Dr. Michael D. Fayer, PhD, ($24.00, Amacom) it looks at everyday realities we take for granted and how physics attempts to explain them. Why are blueberries blue and oranges orange? Why does white-hot molten lava look red while the sun appears yellow? Most quantum physicists can only provide answers that will make your hair catch on fire, but Dr. Fayer has the gift of explaining the complex in a way that is completely accessible and, happily for me, free of math. This is an intriguing and excellent book that unravels the mysteries of nature and life around us. Those who keep an eye on such things believe that Iceland is in for a major volcanic eruption that could make the most recent one small by comparison. If such things interest you, pick up a copy of Volcano: Iceland’s Inferno and the Earth’s Most Active Volcanoes ($19.95, National Geographic, softcover), edited by Ellen J. Prager with a foreword by Marcia K. McNutt, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey. Despite the claims that humans are altering the atmosphere and causing climate change (they’re not), even the most disinterested observer knows instinctively that the powers of the Earth are so much more vast that the claims are absurd. Volcanoes are living testimony to that and, an eruption in Iceland could transform the weather of the northern hemisphere as it spews enormous amounts of chemicals and cloud-filled particulates into the atmosphere. The other major volcanoes are examined with a reminder of what occurred when Mount Pinatubo altered the climate for years after its eruption.

Amil Imani’s new book, Obama Meets Ahmadinejad uses satire to reveal some fundamental truths about these two men. Ahmadinejad, of course, is the president of Iran and so hated there that crowds filled the streets to protest. Iran is the classic Islamic nation that uses brutality and oppression against its own people. Imani’s book ($17.95, Free American Press, softcover) has already been hailed by some of the leading voices warning against the Islamic threat to freedom and liberty. They include Robert Spencer, the author of “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades; Dr. Wafa Sultan, author of “A God Who Hates”; and Dr. Ali Sina, the author of “Understanding Muhammad and founder of FaithFreedom.org. It is available directly from his website, http://www.amilimani.com, or from Amazon.com. Amani, born in Iran, is an American with deep insights regarding Islam. He has been warning Americans and others around the world about the threat the present Iranian regime represents to its own people, the Middle East, and global peace. I add my voice to those recommending it. For those who want to delve into Islam, Ibn Warraq, the author of “Why I am Not a Muslim” has had a collection of his essays, Virgins? What Virgins?, published ($19.00, Prometheus Books) that are insightful, controversial, and frequently witty. He discusses the totalitarian nature of contemporary political Islam and explores whether there is any prospect for a reformation comparable to the Protestant Reformation in the West. Indeed, one essay is titled, “Why the West is Best.” One really needs to read this and comparable books to truly understand the threat to western civilization that Islam poses.

Britain continues to produce some great literature, art and entertainment. A case in point was the television series, “Prime Subject”, starring Helen Mirren. I watched every episode in the 1990s when it was aired and am delighted that Prime Suspect: The Complete Collection will debut in September in a 9-disc set of feature length mysteries as well as a 50-minute behind-the-scenes special ($124.99, Acorn Media.) The tenacious, driven, and flawed main character, Detective Jane Tennison, has risen through the ranks, solving some awful crimes while battling office sexism and her own demons. Mirren is an Oscar® and Emmy ® winner, and her performance in this series is testimony to her extraordinary talent. For sheer viewing pleasure, this is worth having in your own collection of great drama or as a great gift. Since the 1950s when I discovered the poetry of Dylan Thomas, I have often taken a collection of his poems from the bookshelf to read again and again. They are magical and totally unique. Along the way I have read biographies of the man, memoirs of his last trip to New York in 1953 where he died from what was medically deemed an “alcoholic insult” to the brain. His personal life was messy. A drunkard, he was married, the father of a son, Colm, and a daughter, Aeronwy. She took ten years to set her memories of him to paper, starting with the move her parents made to a boathouse in the small Welsh village of Laugharne when she was six. She would become her father’s literary executor, a writer and poet in her own right. In 2009 she passed away just before the British publication of My Father’s Places. The American edition will be officially published in September by Skyhorse Publishing ($19.95). For those who love his poetry and other writings, this book fills in a missing piece of the puzzle that was Dylan Thomas

I have always been fond of books that contain information in a compact presentation that would be difficult to acquire otherwise. Such is Nathan Belofsky’s The Book of Strange and Curious Legal Oddities ($13.95, Perigee, softcover). There are those, including myself, who think there are just too many laws being passed, burdening enterprise and individuals without good reason. This entertaining book is proof of that as it reveals a plethora of often idiotic laws such as the one in 2006 that got a Brooklyn man sentenced to 5 to 11 years in jail for killing a goldfish. Reaching back in history, it is astonishing how frequently the death penalty was the choice for almost any infraction. The creation of writing, first on stone tablets, papyrus, and printing led to the publication of many laws, many of which dealt with crimes common to the modern times, but whose punishment was draconian. The proliferation of laws has led to the increase in lawyers, but the book does demonstrate that humans have long striven for order in society. Entertaining in a totally bizarre way is People of Walmart: Shop and Awe by Luke Wherry, Adam and Andrew Kipple ($12.95, Sourcebooks, softcover), due out in September. It is page after page of photos of people who shop there wearing and doing very strange things in such a public place. Every page makes you wonder whatever possessed these people to even leave the house. Weird tattoos. Weirder haircuts. Still weirder clothes. It would make a great gift for the Walmart shopper in your life.

Getting Down to Business

The paralysis that has seized the economy, accompanied by the massive government spending we’re told will get us out of it has forced Americans to seriously question what some economists, particularly those writing for mainstream publications, keep telling us. Most people know that, if you’re in debt, the first thing to do is stop spending, cut back on expenses, and begin saving as much money as possible. I am sure most people would be astonished to learn that, over the past twenty years, Americans have purchased $6 trillion more in goods from other nations than we have sold to them. This is just one of the many facts to be found in Ian Fletcher’s book, Free Trade Doesn’t Work, What Should Replace It and Why ($24.95, U.S. Business & Industry Council, Washington, D.C., softcover). Normally, reading anything dealing with economics makes my eyes glaze over, but Fletcher provides a lively look at the realities of why the U.S. is in such a terrible place economically. Primarily, we are not manufacturing goods as we once did and, when we do the work is often outsourced to nations like China and India, for assembling here. The result is fewer jobs for Americans, less tax revenue for the nation, and a trade deficit. Any time trade is discussed in terms of protecting U.S. industries, some people cry “protectionism”, but the fact is that other nations practice it all the time. Free trade is a misnomer. Letting your global competitors beat your brains out is a very bad idea. I recommend this excellent analysis. I only hope those in power and executives responsible for making decisions for American companies will read this excellent book. The place to go is http://www.freetradedoesntwork.com.

Financial Serial Killers: Inside the World of Wall Street Money Hustlers, Swindlers, and Con Men seems ripped from today’s headlines and it is surely interesting reading ($24.95, Skyhorse Publishing). Tom Ajamie and Bruce Kelly note that, in the fiscal year 2009, the FBI saw a 105% increase in new high-yield investment fraud investigations compared to 2008; 314 such cases versus 154. Many involved losses exceeding $100 million. The authors identify the warning signs and strategies that perpetrators of fraud use to scam average Americans out of their life savings. Ajamie is an attorney who has recovered hundreds of millions from fraudulent individuals, corporations, and organized crime organizations. Kelly is the news editor for Investment News and provides true stories of people who have been scammed, explaining how they could have avoided their losses. The problem is, like Bernie Madoff, some con artists can have good reputations. The book is full of good advice to save you from financial fraud. You’re not too young or too old to read this book. Another book for people trying to figure out survival in these hard times is If I’m So Smart…Where Did All My Money Go? Balancing Your Financial Objectives for Lasting Wealth by Doug Warshauer ($24.95, CFMB Books, Morton Grove, IL). The author looks, for example, at why so many people bought homes they couldn’t afford with mortgages they couldn’t pay? Also, why people with good salaries can’t seem to put money aside at the end of the month in savings or an investment account? The book is about financial stability for families, individuals, and senior citizens. Using a fictional financial seminar, he explains his recommendations through the stories of ten people attending it. If this is a problem with which you are grappling, this book will prove helpful.

Anyone hiring the “linkster generation”, born after 1995, knows they are quite different from their predecessors such as Generation Y, born 1981 to 1995, and earlier ones such as Generation X and, of course, the Baby Boomers. All require special handling and skills. Happily, Meagan Johnson and her dad, Larry Johnson, have written Generations, Inc. ($16.95, Amacom, softcover) to provide the key to understanding the different comfort levels and expectation of these very different generations. The book addresses the need to create cross-generational alliances, reconcile disparate values, and different work styles. Today’s manager may find themselves managing great talent from five or more generations and each has different approaches to the workplace. When I started in the workplace there were no cell phones, ipods, or computers. This old dog had to learn new skills and use new technology. I am in the “traditional generation”, but many of the Baby Boomer generation, 1946-1964, intend to stay on past retirement age and they work well with others, but are experiencing age discrimination. Those in Generation Y cannot even imagine being that old! A lot of folks are trying to navigate through the new world of “social media” in order to use it more effectively to grow their business. Sherrie A. Madia, PhD and Paul Borgese have written The Social Media Survival Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Grow Your Business Exponentially with Social Media ($24.95, Full Court Press, an imprint of Base Communications, Voorhees, NJ). Here’s the lowdown on what Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube is all about. The authors offer advice on the best practices, pitfalls to avoid, and step-by-step strategies for creating smart social media campaigns. This is an excellent guide to the confusing new world of interactive websites, blogs, podcasts, social network sites, image and video-sharing e-communities, and so much more that is available to the savvy marketer. It no longer matters if you are a mom-and-pop operation or a big corporation. Knowing what choices to make and how to maximize social media to sell one’s product or service is still the bottom line. Little wonder that the one job category that is growing these days is that of social media manager!

Better Make It Real: Creating Authenticity in an Increasingly Fake World by Jill J. Morin, ($32.95, Praeger) addresses the increasing demand for trust and transparency from corporations in addition to the quality of their products and services. The headlines are testimony to that, but how does a company achieve that? Ms. Morin provides a guide that focuses on organizational authenticity as a company strives to assure its many stakeholders from employees to customers, vendors and other business partners. It’s not a destination. It’s a journey. She provides a roadmap stressing perception, people, products and services, and place. The Corporate Storyteller: A Writing Manual Style Guide for the Brave New Business Leader by Elaine Stirling ($13.95, Rising Star, softcover) takes a look at the way texting, emails, Facebook and Twitter has changed the way people communicate. Ms. Stirling says formal letters, thank you notes, and snail mail correspondence are all disappearing. Too often, however, hitting the send button before proofing and editing one’s message are frequent communication pitfalls. Too many business folk are fearful these days and this book will help eliminate that.

The Topic is Health & Happiness

Are you wondering how the new health care law will affect your life, your family, or your business? It’s not light reading, but Bad Medicine: A Guide to the Real Costs and Consequences of the New Health Care Law by Michael D. Tanner ($10, Cato Institute) is just over 50 pages of tightly written, well researched, and carefully footnoted bad news. It’s more a booklet than a book, but why quibble when you discover that Obamacare, as promised, does not achieve universal coverage, will cost more than $2.7 trillion over ten years of full implementation, will increase the cost of coverage for younger, healthier workers, and will increase taxes by more than $669 billion between now and 2019. My experience with Cato publications is that they are so well prepared that they are bulletproof to any charge of partisanship. Little wonder than surveys show that well over 65% of Americans want Obamacare repealed.

Judging from the news reports and ads on television, diabetes is on the rise. The disease is largely controlled with pharmaceutical insulin, but there was a time when that did not exist and many died as a result. Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle ($24.99, St Martins Press) by Thea Cooper and Arthur Ainsberg is set to officially be published in September so mark your calendar if you find reading medical history of interest. This book tells how, in 1918, Elizabeth Hughes, the daughter of Charles Evans Hughes, who would become a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was suffering from juvenile diabetes mellitus. At the time it was a virtual death sentence. However, in Toronto, a surgeon and his assistant had successfully purified insulin from animal pancreases and a little-known pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly, would make insulin available. Elizabeth became one of the first to receive insulin injections. The whole story is fraught with drama due to scientific jealousies that nearly derailed the discovery along with intense business competition. I heartily recommend this book.

The Preemie Primer: A Complete Guide for Parents of Premature Babies—from Birth through the Toddler Years and Beyond is one of those titles that pretty much says it all as regards its contents ($16.95, Da Capo Press, softcover) and, for parents of premature babies it is “must” reading. Authored by Dr. Jennifer Gunter, MD, it reflects the fact that approximately five hundred thousands babies are born prematurely every year in the United States. Dr. Gunter provides a comprehensive resource that covers everything from delivery and hospitalization to issues involving preemie development. Virtually every aspect is covered in the book. In a similar fashion, Life Over Cancer by Dr. Keith I. Block, MD, is written by an author who, as medical director of the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment in Evanston, Illinois, has treated thousands of patients who have gone onto to live full lives beyond their original prognosis. Now he has distilled almost thirty years of experience into the first book that gives patients a systematic, research-based plan for developing the physical and emotional vitality they need to meet the demands of treatment and recovery. For anyone encountering cancer in their lives, this too is “must” reading. Atypical: Life with Asperger’s in 20 1/3 Chapters by Jesse A. Saperstein ($14.95, Perigee, softcover) is an account of living with Asperger’s syndrome, the mildest form of autism. I frankly was totally unaware of this syndrome, largely because it has been stigmatized for so many years that little has been written or spoken of it. This memoir demystifies a condition that is characterized by repetitive routines or rituals, peculiarities in speech and language, and difficulties with empathy that lead to socially inappropriate behavior. Until 1994, it was not even recognized as a separate disorder. Those afflicted suffer from being teased or bullied because of their inability to fit in. The book is itself a triumph over the disorder and is worth reading just for its story. Indeed, you may recognize its symptoms in someone you know.

Seth David Chernoff faced death as a two-time cancer survivor and, as a result, he learned to experience the fullness of life. He shares that knowledge in A Manual for Living: Reality, a User’s Guide to the Meaning of Life ($15.95, Spirit Scope Publishing, softcover). With nearly fifty years of reviewing under my belt, I tend to steer clear of such books because, frankly, they come out every year in one form or another, but this one pulls no punches as Chernoff writes about the hard subjects of death, illness, fear, finding balance, a toxic environment, and our perception of what is real, our finances, and our need to accumulate things. He asks and answers questions we often ask about why are we always in a hurry? Are our physical ailments caused by frustration, anxiety or stress? And why is it such a challenge to maintain inner peace? Since life comes with no guarantees except an expiration date, it’s probably a good idea to learn how to find a measure of real happiness. I suspect the increase in books about how to live life fully has something to do with the horrid economic times that are imposing hardships on so many. Finding the Zone: A Whole New Way to Maximize Mental Potential by Gordon D. Lawrence ($19.00, Prometheus Books, softcover) discusses the mental attitude we feel when we excel at work or play. He suggests that our minds are actually wired from birth to achieve the zone, though we often do not experience it enough. Based on research on the mind, attitudes, and motivation, he offers advice on how to find your own zone. Not due out officially under November, Tapping the Source by a trio of authors ($17.95, Sterling) this book asserts that success in life results not just from random choice, predetermined fate, good connections, or even hard work. Many comparable books encourage people to overcome negative attitudes and habitual thoughts, but say the authors, they often create more frustration than fulfillment. This book teaches a pragmatic daily practice that offers a seven-step process to quiet one’s mind and tap into one’s inner strength. I do not know if it will work, but I suspect it will be of great help to those seeking peace of mind and a more meaningful life.

Books for Kids and Teens

This is the time for a trip to the beach and, for the pre-school and early readers, Sunny Bunnies by Margie Blumberg and illustrated beautifully by June Goulding ($15.95, MB Publishing) tells in rhyme the story of a family trip that is charming and a good way to prepare any youngster for his or her first trip. As the world continues to shrink thanks to the ease of communications and travel, children need to grasp not only how big it is, but also how modernization is making nations more alike in many ways. I See the Sun in China, written by Dedie King with illustrations by Judith Inglese, has both English and Mandarin Chinese text that is aimed at children 5 years and older ($12.95, Satya House Publicans, Hardwick, MA, softcover) as it relates a trip by a Chinese girl who, along with her family, visits her aunt in Shanghai, a gleaming city of commerce, the equal of any such city in the world. It is officially due for publican in October along with I See the Sun in Nepal. For the young reader, it is like spending a day in either place. I thoroughly enjoyed it and so will the younger set.

It’s written for ages 8-10 or thereabouts, any early reader, and it is hilarious. Clementine – Monkey Princess by Adam Knight and illustrated b y Nora Kay Golay ($11.95, Monkey Monkey Media, 552 12th St., Suite 101, Elko, NV 89801) Clementine is a very bright young girl who loves to climb things. Her dad nicknames her a Monkey Princess and the word got around. In fact, it reached a far off jungle where a group of monkeys decided they should have a Monkey Princess. A team of monkey commandos were dispatched to kidnap her! They immediately fell in love with her. Back home her parents were hot on her trail to the land of Flim. Much adventure ensues until she and her family return home. If you have a little monkey of your own at home, this book will keep him or her in stitches.

The Jewish new year celebration, Rosh Hashanah, arrives in September and Margie Blumberg, the author of the “Sunny Bunnies” series, teamed with illustrator, Laurie McGaw, to publish Avram’s Gift ($10.00, MB Publishing). It is the story of a young Jewish boy, Mark, growing up in America. A picture on the wall of his home; that of his great-great-grandfather, Avram, portrays a stern-looking man. When the family gathers to celebrate, he learns the story of this man as his grandfather answers his questions. He learns of the shofar, a ram’s horn, a gift passed from generation to the other and how each is linked to the past and to the ancient heritage of Judaism. Suffice to say, this is a story for a young Jew, but it is also every immigrant family’s story. As the High Holy days approach, it would make an ideal gift. For teen Christian girls, there’s a series from Revell called “His Princess” by Sheri Rose Shepherd intended to provide biblical insights regarding some of the questions that arise in a young girl’s life today. His Princess: Girl Talk with God ($14.99, Revell) contains devotional reading that serve as a guide to those in these age group.

From Heaven to Hell as in Hellfire: Plague of Dragons will satisfy the demand for fantasy stories, resplendent with excellent artwork. Written by Robert Weinberg from a story and artwork by Tom Wood ($19.95, Running Press) this thriller based on the period of the Black Death in Europe, is the story of a lost manuscript and art by a 14th century French wine merchant who was a confidant of popes and kings, Robertus of Avignon, who along with his brother Thomas and a loyal, brave band of soldiers, must deal with a pack of dragons. Wood’s work has sold millions of products since 2005. Weinberg, a prolific author, is a two-time winner of the World Fantasy Award, along with others. Though presumably aimed at teens, it would intrigue older readers as well. Elminster Must Die is a fantasy genre novel written by Ed Greenwood ($25.95, Wizards of the Coast). The book is part of The Saga of Shadowdale series and focuses on Elminster’s shattered world after the goddess of magic’s murder. Once the most powerful wizard in the world and the bane of villainy, Elminister is now a tired old man with a lot of enemies. Though the wizard is immortal, the author uses the story to explore what it means to grow old and nearly powerless. Any lover of fantasy of any age will thoroughly enjoy this story that debuts this month. It’s back to school next month and that’s the theme of Tianna Logan and the Salem Academy for Witchcraft Written by Timothy Craig Everhart ($22.00, American Book Publishing, softcover) it tells of how, after her parents are killed, Tainna is left in the care of her grandmother and enrolled in the Salem Academy for Witchcraft where adventure exists around every turn. She soon learns about the night her parents died and a book is discovered after being hidden in the academy and, surprise, it belongs to her. The story is filled with wonderful twists and turns that are sure to delight any young person who has read through all the Harry Potter novels and is yearning for more spooky stuff.

Novels geared to the younger set provide some fun summer reading, particularly for the girls. John Belushi Is Dead by Kathy Charles ($14.00, Gallery/MTV Books), a debut novel, offers an offbeat and unexpectedly moving story of two teenagers whose obsession with celebrity death begins to interfere with their lives. It follows pink-haired Hilda and her long friend, Benji, as they haunt the places where celebrities have died and, while their adventures begin as fun and games, neither can escape the danger and sadness inherent in their unusual hobby.

Teens have loved the debut series from Stephanie Morrill as have the identified with high school student, Skylar Hoyt and her struggle to discover who she is. So Over It ($ll.95, Revell) is the final book of The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt series. Eager to get away at the end of her senior year, she jumps at the change to spend the summer with her grandparents in Hawaii. Revell is a leading Christian book publisher and the story has a religious theme to it, but is essentially a coming-of-age story. Also from Revell, Perfectly Dateless by Kristin Billerbeck ($9.99) is about the countdown to the prom for Daisy Crispin in which she has 196 days to find the right date, but she has a problem. Her parents won’t let her data or even talk to a guy on the phone! She wears lame homemade clothes and possesses few social skills, so she has more than one problem. Can she turn her parents around? Can she enjoy one of the great rituals of teen life? You will have to read the book.
Novels, Novels, Novels!

There are so many novels being published these days that it takes a superhuman effort to keep up with them all. Here are just a few that have arrived at Bookviews.

Following up his debut with 8 in the Box, Raffi Yessayan is back with a terrific cop thriller, 2 in the Hat ($25.00, Ballantine Books). The author knows the Boston crime scene having formerly been the chief prosecutor of the elite Gang Unit in Boston’s Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. Now he is practicing criminal defense law and writing novels that portray a stark gripping portrait of law enforcement professionals on the job and under the gun. The title comes from cop lingo for “two shots to the head.” The novel focuses on a major spike in gang homicides that has the city on edge. When a pair of students is bizarrely slain, homicide detective Angel Alves suspects there’s a serial killer on the loose. His partner agrees, noting similarities to the work of the Prom Night Killer whose unsolved crimes are a decade old. This is the kind of book you cannot put down once you begin to read it.

James King tells a very different story in Bill Warrington’s Last Chance ($24.95, Viking) about the main character’s desire to make things right with his long-estranged children before a recently diagnosed disease takes its toll. His children, however, have their own issues. One is trying to raise her headstrong teenage daughter on her own while another is unable to move on with his life after his wife’s death. A third’s self-absorbed philandering threats his career and family. To get their attention, he kidnaps his 15-year-old granddaughter, April, who is a willing accomplice, eager to escape her mother. This is a compelling multigenerational saga told with humor, compassion, and considerable insight to a wounded family’s dynamics.

I love history and when a novel incorporates it well it makes an entertaining read. This is the case of Tiberius Julius Alexander by Daniel M. Friedenberg ($22.00, Prometheus Books) that reconstructs the conflicted life of a figure from ancient Jewish history. Mentioned by Flavius Josephus, a historian in the days when Rome ultimately tired of Jewish resistance and destroyed Jerusalem, Tiberius was a real person, the son of a pious Jew living in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. He, however, was not interested in his heritage and became an apostate, joining the ranks of the Roman army, devoting himself to a career as a soldier in military and civil service. Friedenberg uses what is known of Tiberius’s real life and times to serve up a fictional memoir that brings to life Roman society in the Near East of the first century with all its luxurious refinements, brutal realities, competing religious cults, and social unrest.

Let’s take a stroll through the stacks of softcover novels. It’s likely the theme of one or more of these books will catch your interest. One that leaps off the stack is The Breaking of Eggs by Jim Powell ($15.00, Penguin Books). A debut novel, it is the story of the curmudgeonly Feliks Zhokovski, Polish by birth, Communist at heart, who at age 61 finds that everything on which his life is based is crumbling. It is 1991 and the Berlin Wall as fallen and Communism has collapsed. What unfolds includes a reunion with a brother in Ohio he hasn’t seen in fifty years and much more to fill the empty vessel that his life had become. Also set in foreign shores is The Debba by Avner Mandelman ($14.95, Other Press). In Middle East lore, the Debba is a mythical Arab hyena that can turn into a man who lures Jewish children away from their families to teach them the language of beasts. It is also the name of a play by the main character’s father that was staged just once in Haifa in 1946, causing a riot. The year is 1977 and David Starkman, his son, has renounced his Israeli citizenship and is living in Canada when he learns of his father’s gruesome murder. He returns to Israel to settle his father’s affairs only to learn his father’s will demands the play be staged within 45 days of his death. What unfolds is filled with dark forces as the novel barrels toward its shocking climax.

Murder and mayhem are major themes of novels. Here are a few that tap into them.

Murder in the Hamptons by Danita Carter ($15.00, Atria Books, division of Simon and Schuster) brings the worlds of music, money, and murder together when a rapper and his unruly crew move into an elite community in the Hamptons where Coco Beach is a private enclave of black society snobs are incensed when a rapper moves in. When the sister of TuSmArt is founding floating face down in the bay, the police deem her death a suicide, but he knows better and vows to find her killer. Dead in the Dregs by Peter Lewis ($14.95, Counterpoint) is set in northern California’s wine country where renowned wine critic, Richard Wilson, makes a living elevating and destroying winemaker’s reputation with the stroke of a pen. When he disappears after a Napa Valley wine tasting it is not long before his body is founding floating in a vat at Norton’s Winery. What a way to go! His sister enlists the help of her ex-husband to hunt for the killer and, while the police work to quickly clear the case, the trail begins to fade. The trail leads all the way to Burgundy, France. My late Mother, an international authority on wine would have loved this novel. Cadger’s Curse by Diane Gilbert Madsen ($14.95, Midnight Ink Books) is a debut novel with an interesting back story. Hired by a software giant in Chicago to vet some new trainees who need top security clearance, freelance insurance investigator, DD McGil arrives at headquarters to find her brother-in-law is dead. Her investigation reveals the trainees’ strange connections, industrial espionage, and a counterfeiting operation that threatens the world economy. At the same time, her Scottish aunts arrives for the holidays with what might be a long-lost, unpublished Robert Burns manuscript. It is authentic? Meanwhile, the murders pile up!

Stephen J. Harper’s novel, The Partnership, (Borealis Books) reminds us of why we love John Grisham novels involving lawyers. This one is a legal thriller that involves the behind-the-scenes of a large law firm with elements of a power struggle, some insider trading, with a dash of twisted romance and a friendship that turns horribly sour. The author draws on his own three decades as a lawyer. Having joined the firm as law student associates and clawed their way to the top, the two attorneys have become arch rivals and any trace of idealism they might have had is long gone as they compete for the premier position on the executive committee and the affections of a beautiful woman. Mystery and thriller readers will get their money’s worth with this novel. An entirely different story can be found in Sweetwater Burning by Heather Sharfeddin ($15.00, Bantam Books) that is set in the small Idaho town of Sweetwater. It is there that Chas McPherson tends his sheep and keeps to himself. Honoring his familial ties, he hires a home-care nurse to help care for his elderly father in his last days. Mattie Holden arrives and makes her place in the home just as trouble ensues when the home of the town’s lone Muslim family is burned on Christmas Eve and the town begins to point a finger at Chas. It is up to Sheriff Edelson, new to Sweetwater, to untangle the strange stories about the McPherson men and, in particular, Chas’ father, Franklin, a long time minister believed to be able to look into people’s souls. This is definitely not your standard novel, but it is a compelling story.

Finally, there's a coming-of-age novel Ticket To Ride by Philip Scott Wikel ($8.95, Julian Day Design, available via Amazon,com). Set in the 1970s, it is filled with allusions to literary and rock’n roll classics as Morgan and Livy move from being innocent 17-year-olds to becoming fully realized adults. This is an interesting look at an era that included the Vietnam War, the “sexual revolution”, and a wide distrust of politicians, the government, organized religion, and anything considered part of the “establishment.”

That’s it for August! Tell all your book-loving friends and family about Bookviews. You can even sign up to be a “Follower” of this monthly report on the best in non-fiction and fiction. It’s back to school time next month and Labor Day signals a new business cycle after the summer months. Lots of great new books on the way (some mentioned in this month’s report).