Nonfiction

The six notorious and passionately opinionated daughters of the second Baron Redesdale knew many key figures of the 20th century, from Hitler and Churchill to Evelyn Waugh and Lucian Freud. The sisters wrote some 12,000 letters to each other over a span of 80 years—the last was a fax sent in 2003 by 83-year-old Deborah to the dying 93-year-old Diana—and 5% are included here. The turbulent years before and during WWII produced the most noteworthy correspondence: Jessica scandalized her family by running away with her Communist cousin, and Diana divorced a Guinness heir to marry British fascist leader Oswald Mosley. Anti-Semitic Unity gushes like a schoolgirl over Hitler and tells Jessica that she wouldn’t hesitate to kill Jessica’s Communist husband for Nazism—but in the meanwhile she hopes they can be friends. Nancy writes cheerily to the imprisoned Diana after secretly testifying against her during the war. In later years, Jessica irritated her sisters from her home in America and broke completely with Diana over political differences. Peppered with colorful nicknames, filled with love, encouragement, jealousy and gossip, and written primarily to amuse the recipients, the letters testify to the bonds of sisterhood. Diana’s daughter-in-law has diligently edited the mammoth correspondence, although readers will need to fill in the gaps with Mitford biographies and memoirs. B&w illus. (Nov. 6)

Since moving to New York in 1981 at age 20, Shapiro has realized her dream: she has written articles for the New York Times, Washington Post, Salon.com and Glamour, and three memoirs. In this lively, inspiring and dishy memoir/advice book, she shares the secrets of her success, some learned the hard way, others gleaned from her stellar array of mentors, including Ian Frazier and Howard Fast (who was married to her mother’s cousin). Fast’s wife, Bette, also provided young Susan with advice: ”get your own career and money, so the men can’t control you.... But cooking and wearing a dress won’t make you a Barbie doll.” Fast himself cautioned her against self-indulgence: “just get to work. Remember, a plumber never gets plumber’s block.” Shapiro made other connections on her own as a grad student at NYU, which led to a job as a researcher at the New Yorker, which led to more connections. Not everybody’s going to have a bestselling relative, but everybody has a high school English teacher—that was Shapiro’s first guru—and she makes it clear that she learned as much from him as she did from her high-profile mentors. (Oct.)

Is the Constitution a democratic document? Yes, says University of Richmond historian Holton (Forced Founders), but not because the men who wrote it were especially democratically inclined. The framers, Holton says, distrusted the middling farmers who made up much of America’s voting population, and believed governance should be left in large part to the elites. But the framers also knew that if the document they drafted did not address ordinary citizens’ concerns, the states would not ratify it. Thus, the framers created a more radical document—“an underdogs’ Constitution,” Holton calls it—than they otherwise would have done. Holton’s book, which may be the most suggestive study of the politics of the Constitution and the early republic since Drew McCoy’s 1980 The Elusive Republic, is full of surprising insights; for example, his discussion of newspaper writers’ defense of a woman’s right to purchase the occasional luxury item flies in the face of much scholarship on virtue, gender and fashion in postrevolutionary America. Holton concludes with an inspiring rallying cry for democracy, saying that Americans today seem to have abandoned ordinary late-18th-century citizens’ “intens[e]... democratic aspiration,” resigned, he says, to the power of global corporations and of wealth in American politics. (Oct.)

The title of this testament to one woman’s appetite comes from Brillat-Savarin, who wrote of a 10th muse—Gasterea, goddess of the pleasures of taste. Many food writers would argue that this 10th muse is actually Judith Jones. For nearly half a century, Jones, an editor of literary fiction and a senior vice-president at Knopf, has served as midwife to some of the most culturally significant cookbooks of our time, introducing readers to newly discovered talents like Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, Madhur Jaffrey and Claudia Roden, to name but a few. In this quiet, spare memoir, set against the shifting landscape of modern cookery in America, Jones reveals herself to be every bit as evangelical about good food and honest cooking as her authors, locating the points where her relationships with these writer-gastronomes and her own gustatory education converged. She ran an illegal restaurant in Paris, learned from Julia Child to de-tendon a goose (a set of maneuvers involving a broomstick), received a tutorial in fresh-bagged squirrel from Edna Lewis and counted James Beard among her mentors. At the end, the book is tinged with sadness over the decline of serious home cooking and the current fixation on dishing up fast and easy mediocrities. But Jones’s belief in the primordial importance of cooking well is ultimately inspiring, and it fires these pages as it has fired her life. (Oct.)

Adams builds his latest book (after 2004’s The Religion War) out of entries from his blog, which results in a lot of short chapters and abrupt changes in topic. Still, some ongoing themes do emerge, as the bestselling cartoonist discusses his wedding plans—including his fear that he’ll “dance like a drunken monkey” at the reception—and his struggle with spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological condition which took away his voice during intimate conversations even though he could still give speeches to large audiences. He even tosses in a few Dilbert strips, with several examples of gags that were suppressed by his syndicate (he couldn’t show a police officer firing a gun, for example, but a doughnut that shoots bullets met with approval). Readers who only know Adams through the comics page will discover a saltier tone to his cynicism. “If you have the choice of working as the guy who craps on the carpet, or the guy who has to clean it up,” runs one bit of advice, “only one of those jobs lets you read a magazine at the same time.” The randomness of this collection may not attract many new fans, but it’s likely to keep his already sizable audience amused. (Oct. 18)

Like Pamela Des Barres (I’m with the Band), James was a California It Girl and very young groupie of the early rock-and-rollers, and in this candid, workmanlike autobiography, she shares her accidental fame. James was the product of beautiful, well-connected Beverly Hills parents who divorced: the father became a transvestite, coming out to James when she was a young adult at Musso & Frank’s in Hollywood, as depicted in a wild opening chapter; the mother, Diana, went through a succession of husbands and eventually relinquished caretaking of her daughter to the state. Having dated Bob Dylan by age 13, James ran away from the Visa Del Mar orphanage to New York and hung out at Andy Warhol’s Factory. She met Denny Laine of the Moody Blues, who became an abusive husband and father of her child while she was still in her teens. She shopped on Kings Road in Chelsea and partied with members of the Beatles, the Who and the Rolling Stones, among others. When the marriage didn’t work, she took her son back to California and romanced Jackson Browne. Somehow James makes do with a little help from her friends, finding modeling work, doubling for Diane Keaton and going back to school. Ever cheery, never self-pitying, her memoir is by turns insipid and sweet. (Oct.)

Elton John, once known for his over-the-top attire and wild glasses, has sold over 250 million records and garnered more than 50 Top 40 Hits. In this comprehensive portrait, music journalist Buckley plumbs the highs, lows and multiple rebounds Elton has weathered during his astounding 40-year career. Buckley (Strange Fascination: David Bowie—The Definitive Story) compiled numerous interviews from friends and business associates, interlacing their comments with extensive research. He utilized books, articles, radio and television broadcasts, the Internet and podcasts to uncover the complex family and professional life of Reginald Dwight aka Elton John. The book’s strong point, recounting the smallest details of Elton’s life and music, could turn to tedium for the less than avid fan. Buckley admits he once dismissed Elton’s music as belonging to the softer side of the music business. So researching the story of the musically precocious six-year-old (born in 1947), who announced he was going to be a concert pianist when he grew up, was a revelation: “Elton John has been a blues singer, a singer-songwriter, a glam rock icon, a drug addict, a married man, a moaner and whiner, a tireless fundraiser and humanitarian, a married man (again), a controversialist, and, ultimately, a living legend.” With the extensive bibliography, discography and photos, this entertaining biography will definitely appeal to devoted Elton John fans and aficionados of music history and popular culture. (Oct.)

Hampl (Blue Arabesque; I Could Tell You Stories) begins her very personal memoir with one hand clutching her dying mother Mary’s hand, the other composing an obituary on a yellow tablet—an apt sendoff for an avid reader of biographies. As years of dutiful caretaking and a lifetime of daughterhood come to an end, Hampl reflects on her middle-class, mid-20th century middle-American stock, the kind of people who “assume they’re unremarkable... even as they go down in licks of flame.” Since her Czech father, Stan, couldn’t afford college during the Depression, he made a livelihood as a florist. Hampl’s wary Irish mother, a library file clerk, endowed her with the “ traits of wordiness and archival passion.” Like Hampl, Mary was a kind of magic realist—a storyteller who, finding people and their actions ancillary, “could haunt an empty room with description as if readying it for trouble.” The memoir begins with the question of why, in spite of her black-sheep, wanderlust-hippie sensibilities, Hampl never left her hometown of St. Paul, Minn. In the end, the reason is clear. There was work to do, beyond daughterly duty: “Nothing is harder to grasp than a relentlessly modest life,” she writes. With her enchanting prose and transcendent vision, she is indeed a florist’s daughter—a purveyor of beauty—as well as a careful, tablet-wielding investigator, ever contemplative, measured and patient in her charge. (Oct.)

It’s not laws or constitutional theory that rule the High Court, argues this absorbing group profile, but quirky men and women guided by political intuition. New Yorker legal writer Toobin (The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson) surveys the Court from the Reagan administration onward, as the justices wrestled with abortion, affirmative action, the death penalty, gay rights and church-state separation. Despite a Court dominated by Republican appointees, Toobin paints not a conservative revolution but a period of intractable moderation. The real power, he argues, belonged to supreme swing-voter Sandra Day O’Connor, who decided important cases with what Toobin sees as an “almost primal” attunement to a middle-of-the-road public consensus. By contrast, he contends, conservative justices Rehnquist and Scalia ended up bitter old men, their rigorous constitutional doctrines made irrelevant by the moderates’ compromises. The author deftly distills the issues and enlivens his narrative of the Court’s internal wranglings with sharp thumbnail sketches (Anthony Kennedy the vain bloviator, David Souter the Thoreauvian ascetic) and editorials (“inept and unsavory” is his verdict on the Court’s intervention in the 2000 election). His savvy account puts the supposedly cloistered Court right in the thick of American life. (A final chapter and epilogue on the 2006–2007 term, with new justices Roberts and Alito, was unavailable to PW.) (Sept. 18)

At the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders after WWII, America’s lead prosecutor, Chief Justice Robert Jackson, had an Achilles’ heel: cross-examination. Thus emerged a young attorney, Thomas Dodd, whose inquisition of the brilliant Hermann Göring provided the centerpiece of the trials. Walter Cronkite, who covered Nuremberg, said years later that Dodd had saved the day. These letters reveal that Dodd felt slighted by Jackson early on and almost left before the trial. Unexpectedly, in 1990, his children discovered Dodd’s voluminous correspondence from Nuremberg to his wife, Grace. What shines through these letters describing the trial and events leading up to it is the writer’s unfussy concern for righteousness, which under the circumstances meant winning the case—and in the proper way. (One Nazi general he interrogated, Dodd said, “really should not be in prison... he is and was persona non grata with the Nazis.”) Dodd (who like his son, presidential hopeful Christopher, later became a senator) was a very good writer; his descriptions of the trial and the defendants (Göring reminded him of a “captured lion”) are evocative. These excerpted letters make for fascinating reading and must be considered an essential addition to Nuremberg studies. 8 pages of b&w photos. (Sept. 11)

Thomas Paine’s critique of monarchy and introduction of the concept of human rights influenced both the French and the American revolutions, argues Vanity Fair contributor and bestselling author Hitchens (God Is Not Great) in this incisive addition to the Books That Changed the World series. Paine’s ideas even influenced later independence movements among the Irish, Scots and Welsh. In this lucid assessment, Hitchens notes that in addition to Common Sense’s influence on Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence, Paine wrote in unadorned prose that ordinary people could understand. Hitchens reads Paine’s rejection of the ministrations of clergy in his dying moments as an instance of his unyielding commitment to the cause of rights and reason. But Hitchens also takes Paine to task for appealing to an idealized state of nature, a rhetorical move that, Hitchens charges, posits either “a mythical past or an unattainable future” and, Hitchens avers, “disordered the radical tradition thereafter.” Hitchens writes in characteristically energetic prose, and his aversion to religion is in evidence, too. Young Paine found his mother’s Anglican orthodoxy noxious, Hitchens notes: “Freethinking has good reason to be grateful to Mrs Paine.” (Sept.)

Berman (On the Town: One Hundred Years of Spectacle) establishes the personal tone of this collection of original essays in his introduction, recalling how New York City’s “very special form of peace, harmony, and democracy... had unraveled” in the 1970s and ’80s. The bonding of firsthand recollection to broader historical issues continues throughout the anthology, co-edited by poet, critic and photographer Berger. Joe Anastasio uses his morning subway commute to reflect on his former life as a graffiti artist, while Leonard Levitt’s journalistic background informs his account of the lack of transparency in the city’s police department. For every quirky “only in New York” moment, like Jim Knipfel’s subway crazies or Luc Sante’s East Village commerce (both legitimate and not), there’s hefty political discussion, such as Leonard Greene’s un-nostalgic look back at Ed Koch’s record on race relations. Not every contribution works: Richard Meltzer’s rant about the “North American Calcutta” has a creaky, outdated feel, and Meakin Armstrong’s essay about New York’s literary culture is little more than a string of authors and book titles. But with 230 photographs sprinkled throughout, this multivoiced collection establishes itself as a unique document of the city’s last three decades. (Sept.)

Beginning with the very origin of the universe, American Book Award–winning author Brown (Ready from Within: Septima Clark and the Civil Rights Movement) shows that history is more than the written records of the gadfly species Homo sapiens. In a multidisciplinary narrative subtly emphasizing the mutual impact of people and planet, Brown covers Earth’s history from the big bang through the development of life and the growth of civilization. Nice concrete details give immediacy to the most remote events: “The gold in the ring on your finder has to be more than 4.5 billion years old.” Brown’s story covers the globe, encompassing the Mongols and Vikings, Mayans and Aztecs, as well as the Islamic Empire and Europe. Brown looks at the gold rush that followed Columbus’s American voyages and the impact of chocolate, tomatoes, potatoes, tobacco and chili peppers on European habits. In a blink the Industrial Revolution and world wars lead to the new millennium. While much of the story is familiar, Brown’s writing lucidly knits each topic into a vast historical mosaic. This exciting saga crosses space and time to illustrate how humans, born of stardust, were shaped—and how they in turn shaped the world we know today. 33 b&w illus. (Sept.)

In 1976, graduate student Ulrich asserted in an obscure scholarly article that “well-behaved women seldom make history.” But Ulrich, now at Harvard, made history, winning the Pulitzer and the Bancroft Prizes for A Midwife’s Tale—and her slogan did, too: it began popping up on T-shirts, greeting cards and buttons. Why the appeal, Ulrich wondered? And what makes a woman qualify as well-behaved or rebellious? Several chapters of this accessible and beautifully written study are brilliant. In one, Ulrich follows the lead of Virginia Woolf (who invented an ill-fated fictional sister of Shakespeare) by digging into what we know—and don’t know—about the women in the Bard’s family. In another, she offers a piercing analysis of “four 19th-century Harriets”—ex-slaves Tubman, Jacobs and Powell, and novelist Stowe—to uncover the interplay of race and gender in questions of liberation. And in a third, richly illustrated chapter, she utilizes a medieval book of days as a window into women’s labor through the ages. If other chapters, such as a wide-ranging exploration of the Amazon myth and a rumination on second-wave feminism, don’t cohere as tightly or showcase Ulrich’s strengths as an extraordinary interpreter of ordinary records, this can be forgiven in a work that is so often sharp and insightful. 26 illus. (Sept. 7)

Weidensaul (Return to Wild America) traces bird watching in America from colonial times to the present, when powerful binoculars and other sophisticated technologies have revolutionized the sport. He entertainingly describes many early naturalists who shot and collected birds, including Mark Catesby, John and William Bartram, some military men and an intrepid woman named Martha Maxwell. By the late 19th century, when entire bird populations had been decimated for sport, food and the millinery trade, formidable society ladies began demanding avian protection, the Audubon Society was created and recreational birding, featuring binoculars instead of guns, was born, aided by the emergence of field guides like Roger Tory Peterson’s. Today, says Weidensaul, there are millions of birders in the United States, and the sport has entered a new phase, emphasizing competitive birding, lists, rarity chasing and Big Year records. For Weidensaul, this is not a good thing. He finds that people who concentrate on competition and listing often forget the enjoyment of mere observation and the importance of conservation. A naturalist and federally licensed bird bander, he is passionate about birding. His vivid descriptions of his own experiences should send many a reader out of doors to look for “the small, contained miracle that is a bird.” Photos. (Sept.)

Noted forensic expert Ramsland (The Forensic Science of C.S.I.) disappoints with this plodding history of the evolution of forensic investigation. Tracing the earliest roots of what has become an invaluable component of criminal investigations and legal proceedings, Ramsland begins in ancient Greece, with Heraclitus’ and Paramenides’ philosophies of change and permanence as the governing forces of the world. Moving her way through the Industrial Revolution and Charles Dickens’s apparent coining of the word “detective,” Ramsland laboriously documents case after case as investigators refine methods of fingerprinting, poison detection, ballistics and identification of potential repeat offenders. Ramsland concludes with a brief exploration of the future of forensic investigation, from sophisticated DNA analysis to the global role of forensics in the age of terrorism. Too little time is spent on some of history’s most notorious cases (such as Lizzie Borden and Leopold and Loeb), with Ramsland instead offering numerous accounts of husbands poisoning their rich wives. Despite a subject so ripe for historical and sociological examination, Ramsland waters down her topic until the cases run together. Without any variation in her chronological narration, Ramsland will lose even the most dedicated of readers and C.S.I. fans. (Sept. 4)

Behar, cohost of ABC’s The View, doesn’t have any advice of her own to dispense. Instead, she offers brief personal essays from more than 100 of her best friends (children’s author David A. Adler and comedian Anne Meara among them). These mood boosters include “I look at my friend Chip deMatteo’s eighth grade picture” (Bruce Hornsby) and “My remedy is my ukulele. I sit and strum my blues away” (Tony Danza). Danielle Broussard is “a big believer in the idea that there is very little that a new pair of shoes and a Klondike bar can’t fix.” At best, those like Regis Philbin remind us that exercise reduces stress and releases endorphins. In the end, perhaps the best advice comes from actor Richard Anderson, “The world is imperfect. Be cognitive. Work hard. Stay out of politics.” But you might have figured that one out on your own. (Sept.)

Life is not easy for me being a snob and a reverse snob simultaneously,” writes Epstein (Friendship) in this engaging, irascible collection. The longtime editor of the American Scholar is indeed omnidirectional in his disdain—“nature was overrated,” he sniffs while driving through the Pacific Northwest—but some targets get extra attention. Chief among them are allegedly overrated intellectuals like Mortimer Adler (a “clown savant” with a “coarse and deeply vulgar mind”), Edmund Wilson (“a bald, pudgy little man with a drinking problem, a nearly perpetual erection and a mean streak”) and Harold Bloom (“nearly perfect unreadability”). Modern America is condemned for its “perpetual adolescence” and aversion to Henry James. And the feminists, Marxists, queer theorists and other “hacks” running the Modern Language Association are lashed for replacing literary aesthetics with trendy politics in university English departments (a critique that is stated more than shown). Epstein goes easier on actual (and dead) producers of literature in appreciative essays on Keats, Proust, Truman Capote and Max Beerbohm. And he’s downright fond of fixtures in his own life, from a favorite Chinese restaurant to his dad, a true adult who wore black socks and business shoes to the beach. Throughout, Epstein cuts the cantankerousness with wry humor and perceptive erudition. (Sept. 6)

Robison’s thoughtful and thoroughly memorable account of living with Asperger’s syndrome is assured of media attention (and sales) due in part to his brother Augusten Burroughs’s brief but fascinating description of Robison in Running with Scissors. But Robison’s story is much more fully detailed in this moving memoir, beginning with his painful childhood, his abusive alcoholic father and his mentally disturbed mother. Robison describes how from nursery school on he could not communicate effectively with others, something his brain “is not wired to do,” since kids with Asperger’s don’t recognize “common social cues” and “body language or facial expressions.” Failing in junior high, Robison was encouraged by some audiovisual teachers to fix their broken equipment, and he discovered a more comfortable world of machines and circuits, “of muted colors, soft light, and mechanical perfection.” This led to jobs (and many hilarious events) in worlds where strange behavior is seen as normal: developing intricate rocket-shooting guitars for the rock band Kiss and computerized toys for the Milton Bradley company. Finally, at age 40, while Robison was running a successful business repairing high-end cars, a therapist correctly diagnosed him as having Asperger’s. In the end, Robison succeeds in his goal of “helping those who are struggling to grow up or live with Asperger’s” to see how it “is not a disease” but “a way of being” that needs no cure except understanding and encouragement from others. (Sept.)

Painful healing from a freak bicycle accident burns at the heart of this collection of lyrical anecdotes by Alaskan poet Shumaker. From the moment of impact with a wild-driving kid on an ATV in 2000, as the author is cycling along a highway in Fairbanks with her husband, Joe, she must find a way back from near-death to a meaningful life. Her work is a combination of diarylike entries made during and after her recovery (she suffered from a skull fracture, small strokes, a collapsed lung and a broken finger) and memories from childhood growing up with a frustrated single mom in Tucson, Ariz. These past snippets reveal her mother’s Norwegian farm roots and early, bitter, short-lived marriage to the man who got her pregnant; subsequently, Shumaker, as the oldest sibling, had to care for her two younger sisters and brother as their mother spiraled downward, working low-wage jobs, bringing men home and suffering increasing ill health from asthma. In the present sections, the author, hospitalized on and off as her injury-related ailments recur, has to decide to forgive or prosecute the rough-riding boy on the ATV, who is 17 and grudgingly contrite about the accident. Overall, the past and present sections overlap uneasily and seem to constitute two separate literary enterprises, although Shumaker’s prose possesses throughout a limpid serenity. (Sept.)

What are the life lessons we can glean from Shakespeare’s characters? According to Dromgoole, the artistic director of London’s Globe Theatre, Shakespeare is better than religion for “interpreting the world.” Unfortunately, Dromgoole, in spite of his background, isn’t able to pull off the conceit. The first half of the book follows his childhood, then chronicles life in a touring company. En route, Dromgoole extracts monologues from Shakespeare’s plays to underscore his point; in essence: forget the Bible, just read the bard of Avon. When not extolling the educative virtue of Shakespeare’s characters, Dromgoole pays court to distinguished performers, such as Peter O’Toole and Judi Dench. He reserves special attention for Michael Bryant, who plays the smaller Shakespearean roles, proving there are no small roles in Shakespeare’s plays. A purist, Dromgoole rails against directors’ concepts that stand between the play and the audience. And while his affection and high regard for Shakespeare is obvious, he’s too chatty for the academic reader and too self-involved for the general public. Chapter heads are both enigmatic and narcissistic. While an actor will garner insights into how to interpret legendary characters, the book has too much Dromgoole and not enough Will. (Sept.)

Price, a senior writer at Sports Illustrated for 13 years and author of Pitching Around Fidel: A Journey into the Heart of Cuban Sports, finds his past in the most unfamiliar places when he moves to the south of France to report on European sports for a year. Inside his coverage of every new competition in every new city lurks Price’s profoundly American self-consciousness. Lambasted at every turn for Bush’s war on terror, Price’s American identity is formed defensively as he spars with European opponents over the war, politics and history. Luckily, Price couldn’t be further removed from the ugly American stereotype. He’s perceptive, open-minded and intelligent, transcribing Europe with the confident, lofty lyricism of an American sportswriter who has found his voice. His metaphors hit the mark, whether summing up the doping accusations against Lance Armstrong, eating eggs with Ted Williams, experiencing the fanaticism of the India-Pakistan cricket rivalry, exploring Europe’s obsession with soccer or sitting down with prospective NBA centers from the former Eastern bloc. Price is aware that the biggest action has a way of following him wherever he goes. Indeed, his memoir is a stroll through a minefield of recent European headlines—the train bombings in Madrid, the Le Pen vote scare in France and the 2004 Athens Olympics. The personal becomes political and the political gets personal in this travel memoir, as national identities and sports collide. (Sept.)

The pursuit of the Great Pumpkin among Rhode Island gardeners becomes the passion of Texas-based Wall Street Journal bureau chief Warren in this gently ironic, thoroughly engaging work. Growing the world’s heaviest pumpkin (the record tops around 1,500 pounds) has become an international sport, requiring full-time planning and cultivation, and amply rewarded in prizes at fairs and in TV appearances. Warren focuses on a group of winners among the Rhode Island club of growers, led by father and son duo Dick and Ron Wallace, who live south of Providence. She follows their fastidious planning over the 2006 growing season, from early tilling of a new patch of land (they burned out the old patch by pouring in too many supplements and fertilizers) to careful selection of seeds from previous monster prizewinners via online auctions, then germinating seedlings in an incubation chamber; this is followed by a strict planting, culling, watering and fertilizing schedule. While wives feel neglected, the men obsessively care for their pumpkin patches, coaxing the behemoths to amass 30 pounds a day at peak growth, and fending off destroyers such as deer, foaming stump slime and cracks in the shell. Each of these growers shares tales of heartbreak, but Warren peaks the anticipation with the big fall weigh-ins, lending a humorous, poignant touch to this hearty gardener’s tale. (Sept.)

At the end of President George W. Bush’s first term, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was prepared to leave politics and return to an academic post at Stanford University before she was drafted by Bush to be secretary of state. Two years later, polls showed American voters regarded her as the most powerful woman in the country. In this gripping and intelligent account, Washington Post correspondent Kessler chronicles those two years, drawing on his firsthand experiences traveling with Rice as well as an impressive array of documents and interviews. Kessler organizes the book by region, vividly dramatizing Rice’s travels and negotiations overseas—the chapter including her visits to Khartoum and Darfur is a standout—while providing thoughtful analysis and historical background to put these vignettes in context. Kessler praises Rice for a number of successes, including her role in weakening a secret CIA prison system in Europe, but he also criticizes her failure to provide a “coherent foreign policy vision” and her “weakness at implementation and follow-up.” This balanced, detailed text offers invaluable insight into Rice’s rise to power, though its exclusive focus on foreign policy may limit its appeal. (Sept.)

In this flawed, uneasy mix of business analysis and psychological study, business consultants Marcum and Smith offer a defense of ego and its broadly misunderstood counterpart, humility, along with a discussion of how to maneuver ego to effectively encourage individual talent and sound business practice. Though the very word has negative connotations, the authors see ego as a vital asset to business growth. Employees who handle ego effectively are more confident, assertive and willing to listen to others and thus more equipped to compete and excel. Those who don’t are forced to work from a place of defensiveness and an oversensitivity to outside judgment. Marcum and Smith effectively demonstrate the benefits of successful ego management in situations as varied as Fred Rogers’s fight to keep government funding for PBS and Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman” speech, but their plans for ego management in the workplace are vague, confusingly organized and unspecific. The authors have backgrounds in business and psychology, but skim too swiftly over both to be satisfying on either level. Without firm strategy, this is a magazine article stretched to book length, neither informative nor particularly entertaining. (Sept.)

Rhodes scholar Klaus chronicles a 2005 semester spent teaching the English language and U.S. history in Arbil, showing that the semiautonomous, historically distinct region of Iraqi Kurdistan also experiences many of the contrasts, tensions and challenges facing Iraq as a whole in the post-Saddam years. Hoping to give his students a better understanding of the actions and character of the United States, Klaus leads discussions of African-American history and pop culture that invite both teacher and students to consider how American history might inform the problems and decisions facing the ethnically, religiously and politically divided Iraqis. Although well liked, Klaus finds his perspective frequently challenged by his students. The reader, too, might question the otherwise keen-eyed Klaus’s largely unexamined faith in free markets, elections and the good intentions of U.S. foreign policy, this last leading him to dismiss specific questions about Bush administration ties to the oil industry as “unanswerable questions of conspiracy” or “fanciful tales of oil grabs.” Nonetheless, these vignettes and profiles add welcome depth to the too homogenous image of the Kurds and Kurdish nationalism in the Western media. (Sept.)

Two very different lives run in parallel in award-winning British journalist Lamb’s riveting account of Zimbabwe’s brutal civil war in the 1970s, “the elation of becoming the last British colony in Africa to win independence [in 1980]... and then the descent into madness.” By alternating chapters from the perspectives of Aqui Shamvi, a poor black woman, and Nigel Hough, a wealthy white man, Lamb (The Africa House) brings both the personal and the political home to the reader. Her level tone and everyday language make the dramatic story all the more compelling. Though Aqui and Nigel are linked for a few years by her employment as his children’s nanny, their lives mostly move along very separate paths as black Africans are dispossessed by the colonialist Land Acts, urban black quarters are demolished under President Robert Mugabe’s orders and violent squatters occupy white-owned land. Lamb’s indictment of Mugabe and his African enforcers and European enablers is complete; however, she achieves remarkable balance and demonstrates an extraordinary capacity to take the reader into the racism- and colonialism-torn worlds of two decent people, neither at home in their native land. (Sept.)

Matthews, who covered the Middle East for the Baltimore Sun, documents the changes that the rise of George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon brought to the American-Israeli relationship in this ambitious journalistic effort. As earlier prospects for negotiations with Palestinians receded into the background, the two leaders pursued ambitious, sometimes conflicting and ultimately ill-fated plans to advance their interests unilaterally, a development which, in Matthews’s analysis, reduced the chances for peace. Quoting extensively from politicians, military personnel and others in the U.S., Israel, the Palestinian territories and international organizations, Matthews offers a balanced, if opinionated, view of the conflict and of the major personalities that have shaped it. While the author paints relatively sympathetic portraits of Bush and Sharon, he is far less sanguine about the causes they have chosen to endorse, deploring missed opportunities to implement a two-state solution. He particularly faults Bush’s grandiose visions of regime change and democracy promotion for weakening America’s hand. Though numerous details and anecdotes provide more padding than relevance, Matthews’s account remains readable and offers much of interest to the student of Israeli or American politics. (Sept.)

Former professor Nichols (Lincoln and the Indians) spotlights President Eisenhower’s efforts “to eliminate discrimination within the definite areas of Federal responsibility,” aiming to end the “myth” that Eisenhower was personally and politically opposed to the enactment and enforcement of civil rights legislation. Nichols builds his argument on Eisenhower’s actions: desegregation of the District of Columbia and the armed forces, as well as his support of justice Earl Warren and use of the military to enforce the Brown v. Board of Education decision. He attributes skepticism about Eisenhower’s motives to the president’s “restrained rhetorical style,” arguing that Eisenhower’s embrace of “a traditional interpretation of the separation of powers” led to his silences. That he “was a gradualist and shared misconceptions about black people common to white politicians of his era” may have played a role as well. That “he called firmly for obedience to law... yet undermined that demand by asserting how little law could accomplish” certainly diminished his civil rights reputation. Nichols takes potshots at Harry Truman and Warren, attributes Lyndon Johnson’s actions to “his presidential ambitions” and John F. Kennedy’s “promises of progress” to “campaign rhetoric,” giving this otherwise balanced study an opinionated bent. B&w photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)

In this compassionate and clear-eyed analysis, sociologist Newman and journalist Chen posit that the middle class gains of the 1990s have been imperiled by the recent rollback of New Deal–style government aid. Millions of Americans climbed above the poverty line at the end of the 20th century, but since then, the risk of falling back has grown substantially. This policy-oriented collection of case studies addresses the plight of the 57 million near-poor, a largely overlooked “missing class” just out of reach of public assistance. Despite decent wages, the authors argue, the near-poor are saddled with various burdens that keep them hovering one disaster away from outright poverty and put their children at high risk of sliding down the economic ladder. Drawing on interviews conducted from 1995 to 2002 with families and public service professionals in the New York area, the authors chart in alternately uplifting and dismal detail the distinct perspectives of several low-income households. While they don’t address those entering the missing class from above and perhaps too easily extrapolate from their conclusions, Newman and Chen contribute significantly to the dialogue on America’s widening inequities. (Sept.)

Financial and tech consultant Tatum’s excellent guide brings fresh insight that will help fast-growing companies navigate the fatal trap of “no man’s land,” a perilous zone where they have outgrown the habits and practices that fueled their early growth but have not yet adopted new practices and resources to cope with their new situation and challenges. “The growth that leads a company into No Man’s Land will not lead a company out of it,” warns the author. In the adolescent growth stage that kicks in around the 20-employee mark, companies must return to the fundamental promise they offer customers, shifting from intuitive and undisciplined leadership from the founder and low wages and grueling hours for employees to a more efficient and scalable system. Often, this transition requires a new set of leaders with experience at large companies and a different financial structure. Tatum’s potent guide communicates the key ideas vividly with engaging stories and evocative writing, and will help leaders identify and survive a key phase in a company’s growth. (Sept.)

Environmental journalist Thomson, founding producer and senior editor of National Public Radio’s “Living on Earth,” combines introspection with objective reporting in this engaging account of his six-month pilgrimage to Siberia’s Lake Baikal, the deepest, oldest and supposedly purest body of fresh water on earth. Thomson includes everything from thoughts about his failed marriage and his relationship with his brother and fellow traveler James to colorful impressions of the people he meets as he documents his quest, shattering the myth of the lake’s reputed capacity to cleanse itself. Researchers tell him that the air and water are full of thousands of tons of pollutants and contaminants from Baikal’s paper mill and nearby farms, industry and power plants. Tiny filter-feeding shrimp do cleanse the water, but in the process they move the contaminants into the food chain and concentrate them, so the fish eaten by the people living around Lake Baikal now pose a serious health threat. Nevertheless, many Russians continue to believe that the waters of the Sacred Sea are pristine. Thomson’s book is a lucid and sobering reminder of the destructive effects human activity has on the planet. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)

Army generals frequently remain little known outside the military. That was true of four-star general Clark until he decided to seek the Democratic Party nomination for the 2004 presidential race. In a combination memoir, patriotic tract and broadside about contemporary American politics, Clark explains how his dismay with the Bush administration’s determination to invade Iraq “without good reason” primed him to seek the presidency. On the campaign trail, Clark suggested that using military force to defeat terrorists would likely prove futile. Instead, he touted the value of negotiation. How a four-star general ended up less hawkish than the civilian in the White House is linked to the events of his life, from growing up in the segregated city of Little Rock, Ark., to becoming NATO’s supreme allied commander, Europe. The freshest material covers his command of international peacekeeping troops in Kosovo, as the 1990s civil war in the former Yugoslavia threatened to engulf neighboring countries. Little will be unfamiliar to those who supported Clark’s presidential bid, or of interest to those who didn’t. (Sept.)

The four teams in the NFC East have won 10 Super Bowls, and Maske, a sports columnist for the Washington Post, offers an up-close look at these storied franchises throughout 2006. Legendary Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs struggles in his second stint with the team; controversial receiver Terrell Owens tries to make nice with his new employer, the Dallas Cowboys; the New York Giants surge and then struggle under disciplinarian coach Tom Coughlin and young quarterback Eli Manning; and the Philadelphia Eagles adjust to a slow start and a season-ending injury of their star, quarterback Donovan McNabb. The book excels when Maske profiles key characters—such as Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells or Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. Too often, however, Maske offers breezy accounts of games and interviews. He looks at how running an NFL team has become a major endeavor, and while his extensive (if not overwhelming) coverage of the collective bargaining agreement shows how the league has become a big business, it takes away from the stories of a new generation of driven men with limited time, limited earning potentials and big dreams of winning a Super Bowl. That kind of personal touch is missing far too often in this ambitious but anticlimatic book. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.)

This absorbing study of the Allied occupation of Germany and Austria from 1945 to 1949 shows that the end of WWII by no means ended the suffering. A vengeful Red Army visited on German women an ordeal of mass rape, while looting the Soviet occupation zone of almost everything of value, from watches to factories. Millions of ethnic Germans were driven from Poland and Czechoslovakia, stripped of their possessions and subjected to atrocities on the way. The Western Allies behaved better, but sidestepped the Geneva Conventions, using German POWs as slave laborers and letting thousands of them die in captivity, while keeping their zones on starvation rations. Nor were the Germans, with their own death camps finally coming to the world’s appalled attention, in a good position to complain. Journalist and historian MacDonogh (The Last Kaiser: A Life of Wilhelm II) gives a gripping, if choppy account of the occupation while portraying Truman, Churchill and Stalin at Potsdam as squabbling over the spoils as feral children scrabbled through the ruins. The result is a sobering view of how vengeance stained Allied victory. Photos. (Aug.)

Veteran Venezuelan journalists Marcano and Tyszka have aimed for rare middle ground with a biography that neither extols nor decries Venezuelan president Chávez. The account mostly moves chronologically, presenting details about Chávez’s humble beginnings in the Venezuelan plains and his ascent through the military ranks. Chávez’s 1992 failed coup attempt is explained in great detail, as is the attempt to oust him in 2002. The authors seamlessly weave in interviews with people who know Chávez well, offering a glimpse into his psychology. The narrative also delves into Chávez’s love life, as well as the dynamics of his relationship with Fidel Castro. Though the pace of the book is inconsistent, with some events receiving a surplus of detail while others feel rushed, it’s generally smart and well-written, making it a good start for those curious about Chávez, and a treat for those who closely follow the Venezuelan leader and yearn for a less biased overview of his life. (Aug.)

former Hill & Knowlton CEO Dilenschneider covers the bases on what those with power should do to retain and expand it, from keeping up with the times (or as he puts it, “Accept, Adapt, and Accelerate—or Atrophy”) to encouraging innovation, seizing opportunities and developing extensive networks of personal and professional contacts. Using examples from his own history as well as insights from other successful and influential business builders, Dilenschneider shares tried-and-true advice applicable to anyone who wants to get ahead and stay ahead in business management and ownership. Dilenschneider’s personal experiences are particularly interesting and instructive, such as his decision to leave his well-paid position at Hill & Knowlton when he realized the company was going in a direction he no longer agreed with, or his willingness to learn from those he admired, who in turn became generous mentors. He also discusses newer technologies and promotional techniques such as blogging. Dilenschneider has had a varied career, and the reader leaves this small volume wishing he had been willing to share more of it. (Aug.)

Lindsay, a sociologist at Rice University who has previously worked with pollster George Gallup Jr., looks at the rise of evangelical Christian influence in the spheres of power of American public life: political, intellectual, cultural and economic. Based on interviews with 360 leaders from these spheres, including two former presidents, as well as a command of what everybody else has heretofore written, Lindsay demonstrates how over the past two decades evangelicals have moved into positions of great influence. From a sociological point of view, their path to power is easy to discern through networks of relationships or institutions that have seeded larger political and economic institutions. This growing network has produced new leaders whose ideas and actions are motivated by their Christianity. The interviews allow Lindsay to cite numerous examples that make his point persuasively. He is a sympathetic observer who understands that evangelicalism is as reformist as any other movement that has ascended to power in America. Yet he also understands that evangelicalism has made accommodation to the larger public life it seeks to reform, a tension he calls “elastic orthodoxy.” This important work should be required reading for anyone who wants to opine publicly on what American evangelicals are really up to. (Oct.)

In the summer of 1961, Brewster, a white seminary student from the North, worked at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where both Martin Luther King Sr. and Jr. were pastors. In this moving memoir, he recalls his first encounters with Atlanta’s segregated restrooms, restaurants and public swimming pools, and describes finding the spontaneous church services of the black Baptist tradition both unnerving and energizing. When local white ministers didn’t embrace Brewster’s idea of setting up meetings between black and white church youth groups, Brewster’s eyes were opened about the intransigent racism of ostensibly moderate white clergy. (Less dramatically, Brewster also learned about that staple of Southern cuisine, grits, during his Atlanta summer.) Brewster’s book is valuable not only for the record of his own awakenings, but for the personal anecdotes about King Sr., who emerges as a passionate, wise man with a sense of humor equal to his sense of justice. Though Brewster is not attempting to analyze the Civil Rights movement, he does offer useful insights about the importance of hymnody in black churches’ freedom struggle. The prose is uneven; often, Brewster’s descriptions are vivid and energetic, but occasionally he lapses into didactic clichés (“I was shaken. This experience would change my life.”). On the whole, however, this memoir is engaging and inspiring. (Oct.)

Psychologist and former teacher Urban (Life’s Greatest Lessons) offers a new set of Ten Commandments, which he hopes will appeal to people of all faiths. Drawn from Christian scriptures, they include five things to avoid, e.g., “Don’t be seduced by popular culture,” but learn to think for yourself; “Don’t fall in love with money and possessions”; and “Don’t judge other people,” recognizing that pride is at the root of negative behaviors. He also offers five positive commands, including “Keep a positive outlook on life,” “Have impeccable integrity” and “Help those in need.” Perhaps out of his desire to find unity among people of any faith or no faith, Urban finds the “central message” of the scripture in the Bible’s more general commands to “love God, be good, do good, and love others.” His ideas on avoiding judging seem to encompass critical thinking as well. For example, those who oppose Norman Vincent Peale’s Power of Positive Thinking are described as “self-righteous, judgmental fundamentalists.” While Urban’s easy-to-read book is full of both common and uncommon sense, ultimately it lacks depth, and its goal to use scripture to appeal to every possible audience may backfire. (Sept. 18)

This searching history of western thinking about the relationship between religion and politics was inspired not by 9/11, but by Nazi Germany, where, says University of Chicago professor Lilla (The Reckless Mind), politics and religion were horrifyingly intertwined. To explain the emergence of Nazism’s political theology, Lilla reaches back to the early modern era, when thinkers like Locke and Hume began to suggest that religion and politics should be separate enterprises. Some theorists, convinced that Christianity bred violence, argued that government must be totally detached from religion. Others, who believed that rightly practiced religion could contribute to modern life, promoted a “liberal theology,” which sought to articulate Christianity and Judaism in the idiom of reason. (Lilla’s reading of liberal Jewish thinker Hermann Cohen is especially arresting.) Liberal theologians, Lilla says, credulously assumed human society was progressive and never dreamed that fanaticism could capture the imaginations of modern people—assumptions that were proven wrong by Hitler. If Lilla castigates liberal theology for its naïveté, he also praises America and Western Europe for simultaneously separating religion from politics, creating space for religion, and staving off “sectarian violence” and “theocracy.” Lilla’s work, which will influence discussions of politics and theology for the next generation, makes clear how remarkable an accomplishment that is. (Sept. 14)

Lucado (When Christ Comes; Facing Your Giants) digs deeply into one of the most famous and oft-quoted passages of the Bible—John 3:16. First situating it in its biblical context as part of Jesus’s I thought our style was to use an apostrophe without the additional s for Jesus and Moses. Let me know. conversation with Nicodemus, Lucado then dissects the 26-word promise phrase by phrase, picking out key theological ideas that provide hope to Christians. What does it mean that God “so loved the world”? What must we do to gain everlasting life? Using his trademark folksy style, Lucado employs great stories and real-life illustrations to drive home points about God’s love, justice and determination to save. The chapter on hell (pinging off the phrase “shall not perish”) is alone worth the price of admission; it’s uncharacteristically hard-hitting for Lucado, with the beloved pastor drawing a line in the sand for evangelicals who might be tempted to believe in universal salvation or who imagine hell as a mere metaphor. That chapter, in fact, could and should be further developed in a book of its own. Some of Lucado’s points in this book are devastatingly insightful, others only gimmicky or superficial; still, the book is an excellent entry into the popular Texas writer’s body of work. It’s short, marvelously accessible and followed by a 40-day Bible study on the life of Jesus (excerpted from Lucado’s prior books). (Sept. 11)

Christian television personality and bestselling author Meyer (Battlefield of the Mind; Approval Addiction) turns her prolific pen to living life with passion. “It’s time to take action and make your life count,” she says. In typical Meyer fashion, she spends the rest of the book informing readers how to do just that: “Make a decision to be an excellent person”; “If you really cannot stand your life, then do something about it”; and “Make up your mind regarding what you believe, have God’s words to back it up, and don’t ever back down.” She first describes how passion and purpose work together, then provides directives on how to pursue that passion with purpose, particularly in areas such as spirit, mind, emotions, finances and the physical body. Declarative sentences that get right to the point are a Meyer trademark, and fans won’t be disappointed here. Pithy pull-out aphorisms and “I Dare You” sidebars help readers break down the concrete steps of dreaming big. Meyer’s message is sound, if unoriginal—“Let’s be determined to fulfill our purpose”—and her method stern yet loving. Fans will enjoy this enthusiastic manual for Christian living. (Sept. 4)

Mairs is an extraordinary woman. The acclaimed author of the spiritual autobiography Ordinary Time suffers from multiple sclerosis, yet is able to write with passion about a God that others in her position would have walked away from a long time ago. A convert to Catholicism, Mairs often finds herself on the other side of the political and ideological fence from her church’s hierarchy, but her gift for finding the sacred in everyday life is so steeped in a Catholic worldview that she must keep practicing her faith. The author draws strength from prayer and some religious devotions, but she focuses that strength through her political activism in a world that needs justice. Her self-deprecating humor is wonderful—much like the writing of Anne Lamott, although Mairs manages to create her own style. As one who suffers from a debilitating disease, Mairs has been continually challenged with the spiritual truth that it is who people are rather than what they do that makes them worthy of divine love. This is a tough but integral lesson for anyone who takes spiritual matters seriously. Through her writing, Mairs illustrates the difference between orthodoxy and faith. She chooses the latter, and given her life experiences, she should know. (Sept.)

Martin, an author and Jesuit priest, lifts the curtain on theater life in this account of his experiences as theological adviser to an off-Broadway play, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. It was the role of a lifetime for Martin, who had access to all the players involved in the production from the first readings to the play’s five-week run in 2005. Although the play, which deals with the fate of the disciple who betrayed Christ, is compelling in and of itself, the way Martin combines the story line with historical detail and conversations with the actors, playwright and director is utterly captivating. Martin takes readers inside the play and into the minds of the key players, showing everything from glimpses into their spiritual lives to their reactions to the mixed reviews the play received. As a writer, editor and parish priest, Martin was obviously stage-struck by his encounter with the theater. But his transparency is sweet and refreshing, particularly when he talks about the ways in which the play affected him spiritually. His ability to translate and dissect the gospel story of Judas for a troupe of thespians echoes through his writing, making this a book that is bound to draw applause from a diverse audience. (Sept.)

Loori, the revered and celebrated founder and abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in New York, has authored numerous books on Zen Buddhist practice (The Eight Gates of Zen). In this ultraslim illustrated primer, Loori distills that experience and wisdom into a resolute and economical guide for beginners. It will likely become a classic. Part One addresses the Zen basics such as meditation positions, hara focus, breathing, walking meditation and home practice. This section is particularly friendly for beginners with its concise instructional essays, most under 1,000 words. Loori’s deceptively simple prose, arising from decades of practice and teaching, hits its mark as an arrow hits center target: the means and results are evident, but the flight is elegantly invisible. Part Two, a dharma talk on “The Great Way,” effectively imparts “a direct expression of the spirit of Zen by the teacher to his… students.” Tools such as an appropriately short glossary and suggested reading list are complemented by a 70-minute CD (not heard by PW). The CD offers timed zazen sessions of 10 and 30 minutes, plus a brief talk by Loori on the benefits of meditation. This book-and-CD package promises to be a graceful gem in the legendary cosmic Diamond Net. (Sept.)

Bowler, a professor of the history of science at Queen’s University in Belfast, aims to show that “the renewed state of war between fundamentalists and atheistic Darwinists is not the only game in town,” because “there have always been religious thinkers looking for a middle way” to integrate Christian and evolutionary ideas. While not himself an advocate of any “middle way”—Bowler is a religious skeptic—he believes this stream of thought deserves more attention. Alongside outbreaks of controversy such as the Huxley-Wilberforce debates, the Scopes trial or contemporary battles over science education, Bowler portrays a broad movement, spearheaded by liberal Christians and religiously inclined evolutionists, to interpret evolution as God’s plan. Integrating cultural and political factors into the historical description, Bowler sees a great deal at stake. Political and social beliefs about competition, cooperation, and human improvability also come into play, as well as classic theological questions of suffering, freedom, and moral responsibility—or more recently, the value of animals and the environment. Although breadth sometimes comes at the expense of depth—Bowler treats some topics superficially and admits to finding some academic theology “totally incomprehensible”—overall this is a well-balanced survey that does justice to the complexity of the encounter and the variety of possible responses. (Sept.)

Zen priest Hagen, author of Buddhism Plain and Simple and Buddhism Is Not What You Think, offers a brief and wonderfully accessible primer on meditation, which can be a surprisingly difficult practice for many beginners. He helpfully defines meditation via negativa: meditation is not a self-help program, a quick fix, a mind-training technique or a way to relax before jumping right back into the fray of our busy lives. It’s a lifelong practice that can, and should, seep into every arena of the quotidian, so that when we’re attentively folding laundry or taking out the trash, we’re doing meditation. It involves teaching the mind “just to be here,” says Hagen. Three dozen microchapters are organized into sections on getting started, establishing a daily practice and doing meditation “for the long run.” While there are a few black-and-white illustrations to get readers to try seated meditation in different postures, Hagen emphasizes that it’s also okay to sit in a chair (without slouching), stand, walk barefoot or even lie down. The key is to be constant, meditating at “precisely the same time every day” and allowing the mind to settle into the present. “Meditation isn’t something we apply to our life,” Hagen insists. “Rather, we take it up as our life.” (Sept.)

The Five Love Languages meets Myers-Briggs at church? It sounds like the setup for a joke, but it’s actually the premise of a book, and a decently thoughtful book at that. Perrine, who specializes in pastoral counseling and spiritual formation, draws upon Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas, who provides a foreword here. The idea is that individuals relate to God in very different ways, and should tailor their spiritual practices to capitalize on their strengths and overcome their weaknesses. This individuality is nothing to be ashamed of; rather, Perrine insists, we must rejoice in the startling human variety God has created. Perrine offers nine basic spiritual types: the activist, the ascetic, the caregiver, the contemplative, the enthusiast, the intellectual, the naturalist, the sensate and the traditionalist. Readers are invited to take a diagnostic quiz to establish their primary temperament, which they can learn more about in the second half of the guide. The idea for this book is not new; Marita Littauer explored religious temperaments in Your Spiritual Personality, and the Gallup organization presented helpful statistics along these lines in Living Your Strengths: Discover Your God-Given Talents and Inspire Your Community. Still, it’s a worthwhile read, especially for pastors, youth workers and other church leaders. (Sept.)

Correction: The June 11 review of Joan Chittister’s Welcome to the Wisdom of the World and Its Meaning for You (Eerdmans, Aug.) should have been starred.