Bookviews - August 2012

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

As America heads over the fiscal cliff toward financial collapse, there’s a book that does a great job of explaining the federal budget and the politics that surrounds it. It does so in a manner that anyone without any understanding beyond the media reports can, indeed, understand. Red Ink: Inside the High-Stakes Politics of the Federal Budget by Paul Wessel ($22.00, Crown Business) arrives at just the right time prior to the national elections because two diametrically opposed views are held by the presidential candidates and others in their respective political parties. Among the surprises it contains is the fact that nearly two-thirds of the budget is on autopilot and goes out the door without an annual vote by Congress. In 2009, for the first time in the nation’s history, every dollar of revenues had been committed to the so-called “entitlement” programs before Congress even walked in the door! Suffice to say, the book is filled with very scary revelations about the conduct of our government as regards too much borrowing, too much spending, and too little restraint. One reads a book like this in order to take what steps one can to protect one’s assets.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Peace of Mind

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Raising Children

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

A far better approach to preparing your children to live in the real world is Mary Hunt’s Raising Financially Confident Kids ($12.99, Revell, softcover). She warns that our children are being groomed to become world-class consumers, and they are well on their way to becoming future debtors. The author agrees that they are being manipulated in much the same way adults are to buy things they may not need. Ms. Hunt is a personal finance expert who has developed a plan to “debt-proof” one’s children by teaching them how to handle money, neutralize the glamour of easy spending, and develop a set of values having to do with money, credit, and debt. Having raised two sons, she speaks from personal experience as well, suggesting that one start at age seven or eight. Since many parents are encountering debt problems, this book will prove useful for all age groups! I was raised in an era when parents did not discuss sex with their children, but that is not an option in the present era when children grow up with all manner of sexual language and images in everyday life. It starts when they are quite young and Deborah Roffman has penned Talk to Me First: Everything You Need to Know to Become Your Kid’s ‘Go-To’ Person’ about Sex ($14.99, Da Capo Press, Lifelong Books, softcover). It is filled with excellent advice on topics such as teaching kids to view the sexually-saturated media critically, becoming approachable to ask questions regarding sex, and learning how to communicate with information, clarity about values, anticipatory guidance, and setting limits. The author has written extensively on this subject and really knows what she is talking about. The fact is that kids are going to be able to get their information about sex from a myriad of sources including, of course, popular culture. Today’s parent has the responsibility to be the primary source of advice and guidance for age-appropriate information.

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

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

Deep Thinking

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

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

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

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

Novels, Novels, Novels

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bookviews - July 2012

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

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

As the nation moves closer to the November elections and in the wake of the rout of the Wisconsin recall effort, it is clear to many that the liberal policies for decades that created Big Government with its many now nearly insolvent “entitlement” programs have begun to wear out their welcome. Even the 2008 financial crisis was triggered by the liberal housing programs—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—that had pushed the banking system to issue “sub-prime” mortgage loans. R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., founder and editor of The American Spectator which along with the National Review has been a platform for conservative philosophy and politics, has written The Death of Liberalism ($19.99, Thomas Nelson), a short, elegantly written, witty look at the roots of liberalism and the failures of communism, socialism, and fascism. He reviews the ascent of conservatism since the 1950s, the success of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, and how even Bill Clinton’s legacy is based on the conservative programs put forth by a Republican controlled Congress beginning in 1994. Tyrrell points out the loss of the grip of liberalism on the majority of Americans who, for three decades or more, have been identifying themselves in polls as either conservatives or independents in numbers far exceeding liberals. This is a very good book to read before you go to the polling both in November.

The New Levithan: How the Left-Wing Money Machine Shapes American Politics and Threatens America’s Future ($27.00, Crown Publishing) by David Horowitz and Jacob Laskin contains surprises and some frightening insights to the way public opinion and policy has been influences by billions in foundation funding. The biggest surprise for many will be the fact that it is not the Right wing that has piles of money with which to advance its policies, but the Left and the foundations are those that were begun by some of the nation’s early conservative entrepreneurs such as Rockefeller and Ford. One by one their control was taken over by liberal administrators and now their billions influence the important and policies through a huge matrix of organizations devoted to such issues as environmentalism, immigration, national security, health care, and education. The authors also chronicle the role of unions and how government employee unions at all levels have bankrupted states with pension and health benefits that those in the private sector cannot afford, but who must pay for those given to public sector employees. Between the tax-exempt organizations, government unions, and radical groups, America has seen a shift away from the fundamental values that have served it well since its establishment.

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

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

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

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

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

Food, Wonderful Food

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

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

Memoirs, Autobiographies & Biographies

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

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

Military Matters

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

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

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

Getting Down to Business Books

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

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

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

Books for Younger Readers

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

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

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

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

Novels, Novels, Novels

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

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

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

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

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

The classic horror story is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The unabridged text from the 1833 third edition is captured and enhanced by the illustrations of Zdenko Basic and Manuel Sumberac’s images that take you back to the times when the book was written ($18.95, Running Press) in what is called a Steampunk version. Intended for teenage readers, it will prove equally pleasing—and scary—for adults who have always meant to read it, but never got around to it. Lovers of suspense will enjoy The Last Policeman ($14.95, Quirk Books, softcover) by Ben H. Winter, an Edgar Award nominee. It takes place in a pre-apocalyptic America and world that has six months to live before a giant asteroid hits it. Detective Hank Palace sees the effect this has on Concord, New Hampshire where suicide is commonplace as people decide not to wait for the end. At the scene of one such death, he concludes that it is a murder, but with only six month’s to go, his colleagues say why investigate? He does anyway and we are treated to how crazy the world gets. This novel never lets you go once you start and raises some interesting questions about one’s work ethic, moral responsibility, and mortality.

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

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

Bookviews - June 2012

By Alan Caruba

My Picks of the Month

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Memoirs, Autobiographies and Biographies

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

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

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

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

Getting Down to Business Books

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

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

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

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

To Your Health!

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

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

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

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

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

History as Told by Scholars and Those That Lived it

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

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

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

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

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

Books for Younger Readers

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

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

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

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

Novels, Novels, Novels

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

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

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

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

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

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