Nonfiction Reviews: Week of 8/20/2007

Tyson, syndicated columnist and bestselling author of Dummies guides to personal finance, investing and mutual funds, provides a solid guide to breaking counterproductive money habits and adopting a healthy approach to personal finance. His first suggestion—assess your money knowledge—is simple for readers to implement, thanks to several handy quizzes that identify the gaps that lead to common mistakes. Tyson offers tips for dealing with procrastination, money avoidance and disorganization, as well as assessing money beliefs and practices. The book's gem is a personal financial action plan that allows easy assessment of current assets and retirement goals. Common sense advice on budgeting strategies, reducing expenditures and taxes, and borrowing and debt management adds up to an effective, if familiar, plan for achieving control over and maximizing financial assets. Chapters on investing, managing risk, insurance and hiring financial help round out this comprehensive approach. This book demystifies the many obstacles—from the logistical to the conceptual—to smart financial planning. (Dec.)

Three fascinating works are packaged here: two unpublished manuscripts by former slaves Wallace Turnage (1846–1916) and John Washington (1838–1918), and an illuminating analysis of them by award-winning historian Blight. Turnage's journal (“a sketch of my life or adventures and persecutions which I went through from 1860 to 1865”) is about his attempted escapes and their dire consequences: from his first, when he “didn't know where to go,” to his successful “fifth and last runaway.” His account is particularly noteworthy in its revelation of the slave and free-black networks he found and utilized. Washington's “Memorys of the Past” moves from his “most pleasant” early childhood through “the many trials of slavery” and the disruptions of the Civil War, ending with his successful escape in 1862. As Blight observes, it's “very much a coming of age story,” offering a unique window on life (learning to read, falling in love, finding religious faith) in a slave society. Blight provides an accessible historical and literary context for the manuscripts and explores, as fully as possible, the men's lives not covered in their manuscripts (both are self-emancipated). These powerful memoirs reveal poignant, heroic, painful and inspiring lives. (Nov.)

French journalist and war correspondent Hatzfeld offers brief, pithy accounts of 14 survivors of the three-day Rwandan genocide of 1994, in which 10,000 Tutsis seeking refuge in churches were slaughtered by machete-wielding Hutus. The survivors describe both devastation, as “neighbors with whom [they] used to chat” became executioners, and the degradation of later being marginalized by Rwandan society. Announcing their presence with “whistles and songs,” the Hutu killers arrived regularly in the morning and left in the late afternoon, their violent sprees corresponding with victims' efforts to “hide the children in small groups under the papyrus” at sunrise, and to emerge from hiding places in the marsh “when the killers had finished their work” at sunset. Even though each account tells the same harrowing story, each voice is unique. Bringing cumulative power to what, in lesser hands, might have been a random collection of historical accounts, Hatzfeld's wrenching collection compels an active response to the genocides occurring today. (Nov.)

Goldstein has his hands full trying to impart useful guidelines for business owners and corporate executives with intellectual properties to manage. The problem? Numerous legal nuances and inconsistent treatment of intellectual property within the U.S. and international legal codes. Goldstein, who teaches law at Stanford, explains the Byzantine legal codes that apply to patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets. He also includes a look at how the Internet muddies the waters when it comes to intellectual property. However, Goldstein's colorless style and use of legal jargon, even when telling near-sordid tales of individuals who have played the patent system purely for profit, will be tiresome to the casual reader. But for those familiar with the issues, he offers insight into the current situation and how to compete while minimizing the risk of running afoul of the law. Goldstein also offers his predictions for the future, given protectionism's cyclical nature. Though he holds out hope of a slackening in the presently stringent environment, there's little hope for greater clarity, Goldstein contends. (Nov. 8)

One of the world's most respected poetry critics, and a Harvard professor, Vendler began her career with a short book about W.B. Yeats's prose and plays (Yeats's Vision and the Later Plays). This new monumental study of the technical (and, ultimately, emotional) accomplishment in Yeats's poems represents something close to a life's work: it will surely attract international attention. Like Vendler's The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets, this volume looks at the way a great poet put individual poems together, and at why “the formal shapes of a temporal art” work as they do. A preliminary chapter looks at form, proportion and meter in three famous poems; later installments consider the progress of the “series of technical investigations” in his sometimes airy, incantatory early verse; the “efforts to combine high and low” speech that marked his ballads; his anxious, and finally majestic, Irish transformations of the originally English-and-Italian sonnet; and his metamorphosis of the eight-line stanza (ottava rima) into a fit motor for the masterpiece “Among School Children.” Vendler's careful book will likely advance the way experts see Yeats, but she also speaks to all the readers who care about the Irish Nobelist's body of poetry, which looks more complex, and more delightful, through Vendler's lens. (Nov.)

In this casually brilliant collection of “great book” recommendations, Dirda, a Pulitzer Prize–winning critic for the Washington Post Book World, discusses titles ranging from well-known favorites such as Sherlock Holmes and Beowulf to more obscure writers such as Jaroslav Hasek and John Masefield. Dirda is a charming and exceedingly well-read host, erudite without slipping into pretension. He is more generous and less canonical than Harold Bloom, to whose work Dirda owes a debt in style and substance. The book creates a pleasurable but somewhat maddening sensation in the committed reader, who will be tempted to read most of Dirda's selections based on his brief summations. The complete works of Christopher Marlowe are summed up in five eventful pages, and Dirda makes Edward Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire sound so essential over the course of three pages that one forgets it would take the better part of a year to actually read. Dirda's greatest accomplishment, however, is rescuing many formerly illustrious masters from the dustbin of our culture's pitifully short memory: James Agee, G.K. Chesterton and Ernst Junger are just three who benefit from their inclusion in this indispensable volume. (Nov.)

This work by acclaimed Churchill biographer Gilbert examines an often-neglected aspect of the British leader's career: his relationship to Jews and Jewish issues. Drawing on a treasure trove of primary documents, Gilbert shows how Churchill grew beyond the kind of friendship with individual British Jews that his father enjoyed into a supporter of Jewish causes—most notably a Jewish state in Palestine. (In later years, Churchill even referred to himself as an “old Zionist.”) Gilbert shows that Churchill recognized as early as 1933 that Hitler's regime posed a grave danger for European Jewry. Yet, as Gilbert shows, in the late 1930s, Churchill upset Zionist leaders with his support for limiting Jewish immigration to Palestine out of a concern for British interests in the Arab world. The work is chock-full of narrative, with little interpretation, and some readers might wish for more discussion of questions, such as Churchill's description of Bolshevism (which he loathed) as a “Jewish movement.” But this work is a must-read for those interested in Churchill and in Jewish history. 8 pages of photos; maps. (Nov. 1)

What do Larry King, Ed Koch and Richard Dreyfuss have in common? All three, we learn in this light book of profiles, had a bar mitzvah at age 13. On the one hand, this is a fairly superficial celebrity multi-biography that almost cynically panders to celebrities, with a couple of politicians thrown in. There are very few women represented, and almost no reflection on the spiritual commitments made in the bar mitzvah. But on the other hand, there's something to be said for the specific and focused nature of this book, with all these people chronicling a single rite of passage that has remained steadfast through centuries of change. (And of course, who can resist then-and-now celebrity photographs?) Two of the most touching stories are of deaf actress Marlee Matlin's bat mitzvah, since she had to learn Hebrew phonetically, and of her friend and mentor Henry Winkler, who struggled through his bar mitzvah because of dyslexia. Actor Kirk Douglas had two bar mitzvahs—one at the traditional age, and the other at 83, to honor his mother. Though frivolous—the chapter on the woman who bar mitzvahed her dogs and had them read the “woof-Torah” adds nothing helpful—some profiles are intriguing. (Nov. 6)

Realizing that “it takes more than thirty minutes a night to fix everything that's destroying America,” Colbert bravely takes on the forces aligned to destroy our country—“whether they be terrorists, environmentalists, or Kashi brand breakfast cereals.” His various targets include nature (“I've never trusted the sea. What's it hiding under there?”), the Hollywood Blacklist (“I would have named enough names to fill the Moscow phone book”), and atheists (“Imagine going through life completely duped into thinking that there's no invisible, omniscient higher power guiding every action on Earth. It's just so arbitrary!”). Colbert also provides helpful illustrations and charts (“Things That Are Trying to Turn Me Gay”), a complete transcript of his infamous speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner, and a special “Holiday” DVD, all of which add up to a book that is sure to be a bestseller and match the success of Colbert's former Daily Show boss Jon Stewart's America (The Book). (Oct.)

Meticulously researched with nearly 100 new interviews with family members and co-workers, this epic biography offers a multifaceted portrait of the Viennese-born filmmaker and reappraisal of his films. Preminger's “creativity was fueled by abrasion,” says Hirsch, so nearly every film boasts testimony from actors who were verbally abused. His explosive rows extended to censors, crew members and studio heads. But Hirsch also reveals the gentler side of “Otto the Terrible,” protecting fragile stars and doting on his family. “With family, Otto was like a marshmallow, and capable of great love in a primal way,” says Erik, his son with Gypsy Rose Lee. Film buffs will enjoy the candid looks behind his volatile productions (including Laura, Anatomy of a Murder, Hurry Sundown). Historians will appreciate Preminger's belated recognition for breaking the blacklist (he credited Dalton Trumbo for writing Exodus nine months before Kirk Douglas did the same with Spartacus) and dismantling the oppressive censorship board (he released The Moon Is Blue and Man with the Golden Arm without the Production Code's seal of approval). This is a long-overdue critical biography of the temperamental titan with a genius for self-promotion. Photos. (Oct. 21)

Readers hoping for sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll won't be disappointed by the legendary guitarist's autobiography. As he retraces every step of his career, from the early stints with the Yardbirds and Cream to his solo successes, Clapton also devotes copious detail to his drug and alcohol addictions, particularly how they intersected with his romantic obsession with Pattie Boyd. His relationship with the woman for whom he wrote “Layla” culminated in a turbulent marriage he describes as “drunken forays into the unknown.” But he genuinely warms to the subject of his recovery, stressing its spiritual elements and eagerly discussing the fund-raising efforts for his Crossroads clinic in Antigua. His self-reckoning is filled with modesty, especially in the form of dissatisfaction with his early successes. He professes ambivalence about the famous “Clapton is God” graffiti, although he admits he was grateful for the recognition from fans. At times, he sounds more like landed gentry than a rock star: bragging about his collection of contemporary art, vigorously defending his hunting and fishing as leisure activities, and extolling the virtues of his quiet country living. But both the youthful excesses and the current calm state are narrated with an engaging tone that nudges Clapton's story ahead of other rock 'n' roll memoirs. (Oct. 9)

A definitive account of the last remaining team to have gone almost a century without earning a World Series championship, this illustrated team history displays the superb gifts that have graced the authors' similar studies (Yankees Century; The Dodgers). Stout combines skillful writing with methodical research to produce detailed and insightful reporting on the truth behind team myths. (The book is not authorized by the Cubs organization.) He shows how the 1906 Cubs, “perhaps the best club of that time period,” won the 1907 and 1908 world championships while also being “underachievers” who quickly collapsed after their championships. He notes long-time owner P.K. Wrigley took almost seven seasons after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers to sign black players. And his account of the 1969 season, when they lost the division title to that year's “Amazin' Mets,” deftly shows that the team really wasn't as good as its record looked, with too many wins earned against weaker new expansion teams. Johnson's copious selection of photographs brilliantly displays all Cub eras in their glory and misery, from a cover photo of “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks joyously clicking his heels in Wrigley Field, to a full-page photo of a black cat crossing third baseman Ron Santo's path during a game against the Mets that helped decide the fate of the 1969 season. (Oct. 1)

The title of this sprightly history is apt both because of the helicopter's seemingly miraculous ability to float above the earthly realm and pluck mortals from the jaws of disaster, and for the nearly superhuman feats of engineering accomplished in its development. Chiles (Inviting Disaster) gives an anecdote-studded history of the inspired and eccentric breed of garage mechanics who tamed the helicopter's tendency to tip over in winds, twirl uncontrollably and shake itself to pieces to give us the sturdy, poised aircraft we know today. Gears and aerodynamics don't take over the book. Chiles explores the helicopter's role in history and culture, from its visionary beginnings, when housewives were expected to ferry kids to school in the family chopper, to its heroic age during the Vietnam war, to its present workaday role lifting and hauling, monitoring traffic and car chases, saving victims of flood waters and skyscraper infernos and serving as Hollywood's conveyance of choice for bad guys. Chiles darts about this landscape, sometimes cruising through a lucid narrative of technological development, sometimes hovering awhile to sketch a character study of some “helicoptrian” enthusiast or take in a daring aerial rescue. The result is an engaging blend of pop science and pop culture. (Oct. 30)

Humans think they are “free, conscious beings, when in truth they are deluded animals,” writes London University economics professor Gray (Black Mass) in a series of brief and intriguing mini-essays. His themes include the similarities between hypnotism and financial markets and uncomfortable truths behind drug use and its prohibition. In a chapter called “Deception,” Gray traces Humanism from Plato through Postmodernism. He critiques both science and religion: “Science can advance human knowledge, it cannot make humanity cherish truth. Like the Christians of former times, scientists are caught up in the web of power; they struggle for survival and success; their view of the world is a patchwork of conventional beliefs.” At a certain point, it can be difficult to see where Gray's allegiances lie. He tears down institutions, especially consciousness, self, free will and morality, and questions our ability to solve the problems of overpopulation and overconsumption: “Only a breed of ex-humans can thrive in the world that unchecked human expansion has created.” So what's left? Gray recommends a devaluation of progress, mastery, and immortality, and a return to contemplation and acceptance: “Other animals do not need a purpose in life. Can we not think of the aim of life as being simply to see?” This comforting question punctuates an otherwise profoundly disturbing meditation on humankind's real place in the world. (Oct.)

Buddha preached the “Middle Way,” advising individuals to avoid the extremes of behavior and thought: if one engages with tolerance and moderation, one will find enlightenment. Marinoff, a “philosophical counselor” and Buddhist practitioner, teaches that the “ABCs” of Aristotle, Buddha and Confucius can pave the way not just to happiness but to finding balance in an increasingly globalized world. The book starts strong, with five chapters relating these ABCs to the individual. But the second part, which extends the conceit to dealing with drugs, poverty, terrorism and other global problems, is less successful. Marinoff's inclination toward rant over reason may polarize readers rather than driving them toward the prescribed balance and thoughtfulness. For example, he writes, “Whenever some inane American billboard or subway advertisement asks me, 'Is your child on drugs?' I sometimes think, 'I sure as hell hope so.' Good drugs may be his best chance of getting off all the bad drugs... the Ritalin... the televangelism... and the Starbucks coffee.” Though Marinoff says, “I too have finally been driven to an extreme—the extreme center. It's peaceful here, and quiet,” his book is anything but quiet. Readers may wish for more solutions, indeed more of the Middle Way. (Oct.)

Though Erlich (Target Iraq) offers an alternative explanation for Iranian-U.S. mistrust and the growing possibility of an American strike against Iran, he doesn't back it up convincingly. He writes: “The U.S. ruling elite always wants to confuse national security with corporate/military interests. The people of the United States face no immediate threat from Iran.... But Iran does threaten the interests of the... elite who run the United States.” Yet he does very little to support this thesis other than repeat it, as if that would make it true. Drawing on familiar observations, he offers a clear, if occasionally patronizing picture of contemporary Iran, but the reasoning behind his flat-out denial that Iran is developing nuclear weapons boils down to: it would be hard to do; people I like tell me it's not so; and the mainstream media are just telling you what the ruling elite wants you to think. Admittedly, it's hard to prove something's nonexistence, but Erlich's effort is unlikely to convince people who don't already agree with him. (Oct.)

Documentary filmmaker Kuran challenges the mushroom cloud as the prevailing image of a nuclear explosion in this fascinating, if uneven new photographic compilation. Accumulated over the course of a decade, Kuran's collection ranges from straightforward bomb blueprints to jarring juxtapositions of bombs exploding against palm trees, taken during the 1946 “landmark” Operation Crossroads at the Bikini Atoll. All of his images predate 1963—the year Kennedy signed the Limited Test Treaty Ban—capturing a slice of life from a politically tense era. Kuran chooses to illustrate only a half-dozen of the more than 300 atmospheric nuclear tests conducted by the U.S. government: the most graphic shots are serial frames of houses being crushed, their roofs being blown off and structures crumbling. There are also oddly clinical portraits of swaddled photographers clutching oxygen masks, gingerly retrieving contaminated cameras after an explosion. Also of note are the vivid, full-color images of specific bombs, which stand in contrast to the telegraphic prose that accompanies them. Kuran's narrative skills may be lacking, but his sense of visual storytelling is right on target. (Oct. 1)

Though this authoritative examination of today's static corporate management systems reads like a business school treatise, it isn't the same-old thing. Hamel, a well-known business thinker and author (Leading the Revolution), advocates that dogma be rooted out and a new future be imagined and invented. To aid managers and leaders on this mission, Hamel offers case studies and measured analysis of “management innovators” like Google and W.L. Gore (makers of Gore-Tex), then lists lessons that can be drawn from them. He doesn't gloss over how difficult it will be to reinvent management, comparing the new and needed shift in thinking to Darwin's “abandoning creationist traditions” and physicists who had to “look beyond Newton's clockwork laws” to discover quantum mechanics. But the steps needed to make such a profound shift aren't clearly outlined here either. The book serves primarily as an invitation to shed age-old systems and processes and think differently. There's little humor and few punchy catchphrases—the book has less sparkle than Jeffrey Pfeffer's What Were They Thinking?—but its content will likely appeal to managers accustomed to b-school textbooks and tired of gimmicky business evangelism. (Oct.)

Shell and Moussa, both on the Wharton School faculty, aim to help readers get attention and sell their ideas through strategic relationship-based persuasion, or “woo”—or “winning others over.” The authors consider wooing to be one of the most important skills in a manager's repertoire; while the concept may seem simple, mastering it is an art. The challenge is in striking a balance between what the authors identify as the “self-oriented” perspective—where focus is on the persuader's credibility and point of view—and the “other-oriented” perspective, which focuses on the audience's needs, perceptions and feelings. Drawing on their experience in teaching executives to negotiate, the authors examine the most important moments of influence and provide a four-step process to achieving goals: survey your situation, confront the five barriers, make your pitch and secure your commitments. They offer a practical guide to improving one's wooing skills, highlighting successes and failures from history and the present day. An entertaining and useful guide to acquiring the power of woo, this book will help readers beyond the professional realm. (Oct.)

Exposing the seamy underbelly of the retail mutual fund industry, this helpful primer by seasoned financial advisor Edelman offers step-by-step instructions for how to beat it at its own game. We have more to worry about than the ordinary fallibility of mutual fund managers, he explains; the entire industry has become “flush with liars, crooks, and charlatans.” Writing in a calm, well-reasoned manner, Edelman (Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth) explores basic concepts of portfolio management and retirement, and college and elder-care savings approaches. The book gets off to a slow start as Edelman works to ensure that less sophisticated readers are not passed by. After a sobering look at deceptive marketing practices, illegal market timing, late trading and excessive and hidden fees in the retail mutual fund sector, Edelman breaks down the options for ordinary people to regain their savings from crooked hands, in a detailed, interactive guide to portfolio selection. Edelman's clear writing and helpful advice are sure to win him a satisfied audience. (Oct. 2)

Legendary profiler and bestselling author Douglas (Mindhunter), who pioneered the FBI's systematic study of serial killers, offers his insights into one of this country's most chilling killers—Dennis Rader, a seemingly innocuous family man and municipal employee, whose brutal murders terrorized Wichita, Kans., for three decades. Identifying himself by the initials BTK (for Bind, Torture, Kill), Rader (who in 2005 pled guilty to 10 murders and is serving consecutive life sentences) taunted the press and law enforcement, striking at random in savage attacks that often decimated families, and then confounded his pursuers with long dormant periods. With the aid of People magazine writer Dodd, Douglas nicely weaves the story of his own development as a profiler with the history of BTK's crimes and his own role in the investigation, drawing on analyses he developed early on in the rampage; he noted, for instance, “the razor sharp control” the killer maintained after his crimes. While the stomach-turning story of BTK's crimes has been told by others, Douglas's unique professional experience and his exclusive personal access to Rader offers a different perspective, even as the answer to the question of how such a monster comes to be remains elusive. (Oct.)

True-crime historian Schechter (co-author, The A-Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers) delivers a thrilling account of a murder case that rocked Manhattan at the turn of the 20th century. Roland Molineux, a socially ambitious chemist,was a proud member of the Knickerbocker Athletic Club, where he was considered a talented but snooty sportsman, repeatedly instigating spats with the club's athletic director, Harry Cornish. Pursuing women with the same determination he brought to sports, Roland doggedly wooed Blanche Chesebrough, an equally ambitious young woman with operatic aspirations. But when one of Molineux's romantic competitors, Henry Barnet, died, Cornish was poisoned (he survived) and his landlady died, Roland topped the list of suspects. The ensuing investigation and sensational trial became one of the costliest in New York State history. Schechter expertly weaves a rich historical tapestry—exploring everything from the birth of “yellow” journalism to the history of poison as a murder weapon—without sacrificing a novelistic sense of character, pacing and suspense. The result is a riveting tale of murder, seduction and tabloid journalism run rampant in a New York not so different from today's. B&w photos. (Oct)

Borne out of a quest to understand her sister Carolyn's lifelong sinister behavior (which, systems engineer Oakley suggests, may have been compounded by childhood polio), the author sets out on an exploration of “evil,” or “Machiavellian,” individuals. Drawing on the advances in brain imaging that have illuminated the relationship of emotions, genetics and the brain (with accompanying imaging scans), Oakley collects detailed case histories of famed evil geniuses such as Slobodan Milosevic and Mao Zedong, interspersed with a memoir of Carolyn's life. Oakley posits that they all had borderline personality disorder or antisocial personality disorder, a claim she supports with evidence from scientists' genetic and neurological research. All the people she considers, Oakley notes, are “charming on the surface” but “capable of deeply malign behavior” (traits similar to those found in some personality disorders), and her analysis attributes these traits to narcissism combined with “cognitive and emotional disturbances” that lead them to believe they are behaving in a genuinely altruistic way. Disturbing, for sure, but with her own personal story informing her study, Oakley offers an accessible account of a group of psychiatric disorders and those affected by them. Illus. (Oct.)

Capra, author of the classic The Tao of Physics, makes the case in this fascinating intellectual biography for the great artist Leonardo being the unsung “father of modern science.” Drawing on approximately 6,000 pages and 100,000 drawings surviving from Leonardo's scattered notebooks, Capra explores the groundbreaking research of this quintessential Renaissance man. Illegitimate, born in a Tuscan village in 1452, Leonardo did not receive a classical education, a fact that, Capra notes, later freed him from the intellectual conventions of his time and allowed him to develop his own holistic, empirical approach to science. Apprenticed with Verrocchio in Florence around the age of 15, Leonardo became an independent artist when he was 25, but his intellectual appetites demanded more. He taught himself Latin and began the famous notebooks, a record of his artistic and scientific explorations. The recurring patterns he saw in nature led him to create what Capra calls a science of “wholeness,” of “movement and transformation.” Capra expresses his own intellectual kinship with Leonardo's “multidisciplinary perspective” on science, one that “recognizes the fundamental interdependence of all natural phenomena”—a view he sees as particularly relevant today. Illus. (Oct. 30)

American readers will most likely remember zoologist Morris as author of 1967's The Naked Ape, a pop science bestseller highlighting the similarities between human behavior and that of other members of the animal kingdom. But his voluminous autobiography devotes very little space to that success, which played only a small part in his fame in England, where he hosted the television show Zootime. Chapter upon chapter is replete with anecdotes about what can go wrong when taping a show with live animals, as well as the offstage antics of his chimpanzee sidekick, Congo. After The Naked Ape became an international sensation, Morris and his wife decamped to Malta, setting up another long string of charming stories about the life as an ex-pat Brit, with guest appearances by fellow naturalist David Attenborough. (There's also a memorable cameo, much later, by Marlon Brando, wanting to discuss the banality of evil over dinner.) The final chapter is devoted to a lengthy diary of a three-month cruise around the world, in which Morris no longer bothers trying to shape his digressive storytelling, but simply lets his impressions flow. The tone is enjoyably amiable, but it's questionable whether Morris, now almost 80, still registers on the U.S. cultural radar. Photos. (Oct.)

Journalist and historian Beran (Jefferson's Demons) provides a lively and entertaining look at a pivotal decade, in which three “revolutionary” leaders took actions that, he says, would shape world events “for a dozen decades”: Lincoln's role in the emancipation of slaves and winning the Civil War; Bismarck's unification of Germany and the rise of that country's continental hegemony; and Tsar Alexander II's part in freeing the serfs and the short-lived moderation of czarist rule. Making superb use of short vignettes, Beran provides fascinating insights on the importance of these events, noting, for example, that had Lincoln not triumphed, the institution of slavery “would have derived fresh strength from... 'scientific' racism, social Darwinism, jingo imperialism, [and] the ostensibly benevolent doctrines of paternalism.” However, the book gives insufficient background on the events covered, and there is only cursory treatment of Reconstruction and the Polish revolt against Russian rule in 1863. Nonetheless, Beran captures the decade's importance in a style that is both informative and dramatic. (Oct. 16)

As one grows older and life's choices seem to diminish, it's easy to regret the roads not taken, which then lead to an inability to embrace your life as it is now. A remedy can be found in Johnson and Ruhl's wonderfully insightful, possibly even life-changing book. Jungian psychologists and the co-authors of Contentment, Johnson and Ruhl believe the roads-not-taken needn't be cast aside; they can—and must—be integrated into present-day life and used to find new opportunities for fulfillment and wholeness. How? By engaging in what the authors refer to as “active imagination”—a disciplined, spiritual form of inner dialogue. The book is intelligent, refreshingly free of psychobabble and best of all heralds the power of the imagination to transform and possibly keep you out of trouble. (Oct.)

Relationship counselor Dellasega adds to her long list of self-help books dealing with mean and troubled women (Surviving Ophelia, Girl Wars, Mean Girls Grown Up). Chock-full of real-life, victim-oriented stories by complaining women, Dellasega's latest is based on the idea that no one can hurt a woman more than a member of her own family, especially if the aggressor is female. Dellasega, a professor in the College of Medicine and in the department of humanities and women's studies at Penn State, offers depressing tales of women betraying their sisters and mothers-in-law humiliating their sons' wives. No longer a symptom of what used to be called a “dysfunctional family,” Dellasega labels this unrest “Relative Relational Aggression” or “Relative RA.” By the end, one can't help but long for the sensible advice of the late Ann Landers. Once, when someone wrote in to her asking what to do when a family member was rude to you, Landers told her to simply say, “Excuse me?” But then where's the drama in that? (Oct.)

In this surprising new collection of Soviet writer Kharms's short pieces, including poetry and journal entries (one of which appeared in the New Yorker earlier this month), readers will find echoes of Beckett, Ionesco and Kafka, among others. Indeed, Kharms (1905–1942) was part the OBERIU (Association of Real Art), a Soviet artists' collective often described as Absurdist in orientation. A self-proclaimed member of the avant-garde, Kharms made often violent nonsense out of everyday life. In 1931, he was briefly exiled because his work did not promote Socialist Realism, as Yankelovich explains in an informative introduction. Kharms's life suffered a complete reversal after his return, a fact that shows in his writing. There's a youthful showiness to the earliest work that is replaced by a more fierce desperation in the later years, when Kharms often went hungry and knew his work would not be published. The book's wonderfully contradictory title, is in unexpected contrast to the weary resignation of a journal entry: “Today I wrote nothing. Doesn't matter.” Yankelovich, who provides the fine translations, makes much of the dramatic possibilities inherent in the work but almost combatively refuses to read any political meaning into his subject's writings, which alternate between playfulness and a sense of futility. (Oct.)

In this sumptuous volume, O'Kane combines an overview of Islamic art and architecture with a cursory history of Islam's empires and dynasties. Beginning with a brief discussion of the earliest mosque from the seventh century, and showing how Islamic architects created a distinctive artistic tradition, O'Kane (The Iconography of Islamic Art) follows architectural and artistic ideas to the 19th century. Major monuments, such as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the Great Mosque of Damascus, the Sultan Hasan mosque in Cairo, the Alhambra in Moorish Spain and the Taj Mahal, are highlighted, as are many works of art, including colorful mosaics, lace-like wood and stone carvings and exquisite manuscript paintings. O'Kane stresses the significance of religious and secular symbolism, and points out the craftsmanship that makes this art a feast for the eye. He does a credible job of surveying a vast panorama of art and culture, but it's difficult to compress so much complex material into one volume. The wealth of glorious full-color illustrations make this beautifully designed book an excellent introduction to the art of Islam. (Oct. 24)

This brilliant photographic compilation by small Malaysian-based diving collective ScubaZoo introduces the ecology of oceanic reefs, both temperate and tropical. Though technological advances and the devastation of global reefs have spurred many experienced diver-photographers to publish photo collections, the dazzling photography in this one stands out dramatically, as does its inclusion of images made simultaneously by still and video photographers (the book includes a DVD.) The photographs allow close study of coral, fish, crustaceans and many other enchanting creatures, while the video shows the vivid activity of the reef habitat. The helpful text provides a solid introduction to reef ecology, divided into reef landscapes, their inhabitants' survival behaviors, conservation issues and a broader look at reefs worldwide. The sole problem with the book is the lack of scale indications: it's hard to tell if a given animal is minute or enormous. But this is a small quibble: the book provides an excellent introduction to fragile reef ecosystems. (Sept.)

This new book from Steene, a master of underwater photography, provides a detailed tour of the marine environments of the Caribbean, the Western Pacific and the Austral-Indonesian archipelago he's been exploring for 40 years with marine scientists like Gerald Allen (with whom Steene collaborated on several field guides). The colors of these underwater habitats alone are mind boggling; add an enormous cast of corals, sponges, anemones, fish and many other creatures—including some so newly discovered they haven't been named or described—and the material could become truly disorienting. Fortunately, the brief introductory text provides specific insights into the habitats included, and photo captions indicate size, location and even lens and lighting info (though a glossary of terms would have been helpful). More than 300 pages of spectacular color photos, including a vast range of species and behaviors (like mating frogfish and cuttlefish), examples of camouflage and mimicry (like a Mimic Octopus impersonating 14 different sea species, from a seasnake to a jellyfish), and astonishing color variations (more than a dozen brightly patterned flatworms), make this book hard to put down. Like visions of another world, these photographs have a magical quality that should delight anyone with an interest in animals, the sea or photography in general. (Sept.)

DePalma, pastry chef at upscale Italian restaurant Babbo in New York City (owner Mario Batali contributes a foreword), approaches Italian-American desserts from three directions: traditional Italian (Polenta Cookies from the Veneto); Italian-American, learned at the elbow of her Calabrese grandmother (in a charming introduction, DePalma recalls how her grandmother used to visit her family in Virginia, stepping off the plane from New York bearing hunks of cheese, cans of olive oil and DePalma's favorite taralli); and what are best described as American-Italian. The latter are true hybrid desserts, such as a crustless Yogurt Cheesecake with Pine Nut Brittle, which combines mascarpone and the Greek-style yogurt now widely available in U.S. grocery stores. This concoction has probably never appeared on any menu in Italy, but it successfully marries ingredients and techniques from both places, without losing sight of the genuine quality that is the hallmark of Italian food. DePalma's tone is genuine, too, whether she's recalling how she woke up in the middle of the night in her Brooklyn apartment to obsess over a lemon tart or patiently explaining why real balsamic vinegar is costly, but worth it. (Oct.)

Jacobsen, managing editor of the magazine The Art of Eating, presents the ultimate macropedia for oysters, covering not just geography, but also philosophy, consumerism, epicurean splendor and the proper way to grow a pearl. The first of the guide's three sections, Mastering Oysters, covers such cocktail party talking points as “A Dozen Oysters You Should Know” and “The Aphrodisiac Angle,” and presents a primer on how and why oysters taste as they do. Chapter two accounts for half the book's page count and is a travelogue across the Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, a movable feast up and down the east and west coasts of North America. Jacobsen ends his research with “Everything You Wanted to Know About Oysters but Were Afraid to Ask.” (The title exemplifies one of the very few times that his writing goes stale). Here he lists the best ways to ship, store and shuck, and explains why it is perfectly all right to eat oysters in months that do not have an “r” in them. He also serves up 20 or so recipes, including Coconut Oyster Stew with ginger and lemongrass and Baked Oysters in Tarragon Butter, simple to make but complex in flavor. (Sept.)

This densely packed compendium from Yankee magazine takes recycling to the level of extreme sport. Whether you're trying to get that last smear of ketchup out of the bottle, make your cell phone last longer or find a second use for an old terra-cotta pot saucer, this book will explain how. Written in a cozy style, it covers every room in the house as well as outdoor sports and hobbies, lawn and garden, the home workshop and motor vehicles of all sorts. Got some old gardening gloves? Reuse the fingers to cover scissor points or make tiny drawstring bags. This book has Make It Last tips to maximize an item's life span, Fix It Fast tips for repairing in a hurry and Pass It Along tips to get rid of stuff you don't want but can't bear to throw away. For the truly fanatical, each chapter has a “Domestic Challenge” quiz. Just about anyone will find many of these ingenious, imaginative and practical hints useful, but with suggestions like saving old bath rugs for moving heavy appliances, readers trying to simplify their lives with feng shui may want to pass on this one. (Dec.)

This latest volume from the 1001 Ideas series (...for Windows, ...for Color and Paint, etc.) gives practical, imaginative help on how to create a dream kitchen or cure a dysfunctional one, whether you're designing from scratch, remodeling or just frustrated with your cooking space. After instructing the reader on organizational principles and “finding efficiency” in the kitchen, with an emphasis on balancing accessibility with tidiness and making the most of your space, the authors delve into the details of cabinets, countertops, overhead and vertical spaces, previously unusable nooks and crannies, etc. Clever inventions such as a cookbook holder hung from the bottom of a cabinet, multicolored collapsible silicon colanders, pull-down shelves and triangular sink “tilt-outs” to hold the soap offer stylish and playful relief for the space-challenged. This book is a good addition to any remodeler's library. (Sept.)

In their newest in the You series, physicians Oz and Roizen and a supporting cast of contributors explain why the body ages and how readers can become “anatomical puppeteers,” mastering their genes, bad habits, environmental pollution and stress while igniting the body's ability to stay fit, strong and healthy. According to the authors, avoiding such major causes of death as cancer and heart disease increases life expectancy by only just under a decade. With their talent for creating vivid, humorous images (amplified by cartoon drawings), they describe 14 “major agers” and how readers can use what is known about telomeres (which look like the plastic ends of shoelaces), mitochondria (the body's energy powerhouses) and other components of body functioning to repair and rejuvenate cells. While the hefty amount of detailed information might seem overwhelming, the suggestions in the authors' “tool box” are straightforward and, frequently, simple: walking a half hour each day; consistently getting enough sleep; relieving stress with yoga, meditation and chi gong; removing toxins from the home; and avoiding accidents, for example. Perhaps most simple—and surprising—is their claim that one of the best predictors of aging is your perception of your own health. With the facts and tools laid out here, readers will be able to articulate, challenge and change those perceptions through positive action. (Oct.)

Liponis, a corporate medical doctor, theorizes that it isn't aging that kills a person: it's their immune system. According to the book, “Immune system hyperactivity” can be stopped at any age by incorporating healthy lifestyle changes. An interesting quiz (“How Fast Are You Aging?”) points to major factors in an overactive immune system. Smoking, poor air quality, being overweight, overuse of antibiotics, low birth weight, loneliness and stress all have a negative impact on your score, while eating right, getting enough sleep and exercise, having a pet and a good sex life will put you in the plus column. Liponis renders the complicated immune system understandable by comparing it to our nation's Homeland Security—investigating intruders and warding off potential threats. His seven steps to a healthy system (breathe, eat, sleep, dance, love, soothe, enhance) are well reasoned and sensible. However, the eight-day meal plan may not be to everyone's liking, and Liponis occasionally lapses into a touchy-feely, new-age tone that may turn off some readers. (Sept.)

Signature

Reviewed by Mark Rotella

As a teenager, I collected every album the Beatles put out, starting with their first U.S. release, 1964's Meet the Beatles, to their last, Let It Be, in 1970. As Paul sang “Mother Mary comes to me/ speaking words of wisdom,” I heard the wisdom of an aged sage.

But as Jonathan Gould states in his brilliant biography of the Beatles, the band had “effectively ended before any of them had reached the age of thirty.”

There have been several biographies of the band (including two outstanding ones, Bob Spitz's The Beatles and Devin McKinney's Magic Circles: The Beatles In Dream and History), but Gould leaves the gossip to others and instead relies on their music to tell the story, starting with the early days as a band in Liverpool (with Paul McCartney on guitar and Stuart Sutcliffe on bass) to the recordings at the Abbey Road studios in London (where Yoko became everpresent and George stormed out threatening to quit).

They got their start in Hamburg, Germany, and were soon managed by a young, eager former furniture salesman named Brian Epstein, and produced by George Martin, a recording executive known for novelty records.

Gould, a former musician, has written an engrossing book, both fluid and economical (aside from one overlong section on the concept of “charisma”). Page after page, you can hear the music; Gould's deft hand makes the book sing. This is music writing at its best.

“It begins with a musical wake-up call,” Gould writes of “A Hard Day's Night”—“the harsh clash of a solitary chord that hangs in the air for an elongated moment, its densely packed notes swimming into focus like eyes adjusting to the light.” On “Here Comes the Sun,” Gould describes George's music, written as he became more steeped in Indian philosophy amidst turmoil within the band, as “rays of sun cutting across the melting ice of winter... of coming through a long and arduous experience and emerging whole at the end.”

Focusing on the Beatles' influences, musical (Elvis, Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys) and otherwise (marijuana, LSD, the Maharishi Mahesh yogi), Gould elucidates the mystery of the band that changed the course of Western popular music. (Oct.)

Mark Rotella, senior reviews editor at Publishers Weekly, is the author of The Saloon Singers, about the great Italian-American crooners, to be published by FSG in 2008.