Nonfiction Reviews: Week of 5/19/2008

In this engaging mélange of personal essays, previously published profiles and reports from the forefront of scientific and technological research, Kennedy (The First Man-Made Man) takes readers on a “safari” where the awesome sights to behold are ordinary citizens blessed with outlandish ambitions to transform the world into a “kinder, sexier, smarter, funnier, or more compassionate place.” The book spotlights such visionaries as world-renowned neurologists, a precocious parrot, rabble-rouser Vermin Supreme (self-professed “Emperor of the New Millennium”), inventor Amy Smith (who received a MacArthur “genius” award after Kennedy's profile first appeared) and occasionally the author herself, who experiments with alternate fuel sources and normative definitions of marriage and intimacy. Kennedy excels at making the complex compelling and in identifying the personal motivations driving these innovators. Although there are a few limp essays in the collection (notably on singer Conor Oberst), the eponymous essay on Alex Comfort (The Joy of Sex)—is a stylish and wholly original triumph. Written in a form inspired by the seminal book, the piece is a moving elegy to the elusive author who was alternately reviled and celebrated—without ever being fully understood. (Sept.)

In this lively and informative volume, Vanderbilt (Survival City) investigates how human nature has shaped traffic, and vice versa, finally answering drivers' most familiar and frustrating questions: why does the other lane always seem faster? why do added lanes seem to intensify congestion? whatever happened to signaling for turns? He interviews traffic reporters, engineers, psychologists studying human-machine interactions and radical Dutch urban planners who design intersections with no pavement markings, traffic signs or signals. Backed by an impressive array of psychological, sociological, historical, anecdotal and economic research, the author's presentation is always engaging and often sobering: his findings reveal how little attention drivers pay to the road and how frequently they misjudge crucial information. Sections on commuting distances and the amount of driving done by women versus men (guess who runs more household errands?) feel fresh and timely. Referring to traffic as “an environment that has become so familiar we no longer see it” and a “secret window onto the soul of a place,” Vanderbilt heightens awareness of an institution and its attendant behaviors that are all too often taken for granted. (Aug.)

In this uneven debut, Dempsey details his bird-watching misadventures as he and two friends quest after America's rarest birds. The hapless trio try to defend osprey in Florida, pacify Texan smugglers, unwittingly set up a spotting scope in the middle of a busy road, lug around (and forget) a cooler of fancy cheeses on a trip through Arizona. Although amusing, the series of pratfalls blunt and obscure Dempsey's more pointed observations on why birders are so passionate about the pursuit and the urgency bird watching takes on in the face of habitat destruction. When the author writes passionately about pine beetle damage in Colorado or permits readers access to a triumphant glimpse of a cerulean warbler, the episodes cease reading like vacation-slide narrative and approach an affecting honesty with comments such as this one (prompted by a rain-swept outing in Washington State): “Once again, birding had loaned me a calmness that seemed to push me apart from the concerns of the world.” (Aug.)

In this involved but highly readable manifesto, economist Galbraith (Created Unequal) argues that only liberals remain in thrall to conservative economics, insisting that doctrines such as monetarism, supply-side economics and balanced budgets have failed the test of evidence and time. Republicans, he contends, have tacitly dropped them to create a swollen “predator state” that plunders public resources for corporate profit through such nostrums as private health insurance, No Child Left Behind, and Social Security privatization. He exhorts liberals to stop kowtowing to market solutions and budget-balancing and embrace a bold (though frustratingly nonspecific) New Deal featuring aggressive government planning and regulation and massive growth-promoting federal deficits. Galbraith's tour of economics abounds in arresting facts and opinions (tax cuts do not stimulate savings or investment, he argues), but his conclusions are not always clear: after demolishing justifications for free trade, he then urges readers not to worry about America's vast trade deficits—even though they threaten, he notes, to cause a catastrophic collapse of the dollar. His is a stimulating if sometimes scattershot challenge to conventional wisdom. (Aug. 5)

This breezily optimistic guide to career rejuvenation and triumph by Bledell (Three Steps to Success) offers up a blueprint to achieve “Outstanding Success”—Bledell's term for garnering $40 million in a lifetime—with strategic and practical sections that aim to hone behaviors at work to achieve more focused results. In metaphors that occasionally grate, Bledell emphasizes becoming a “heat-seeking missile” focusing closely on desired goals, constantly maximizing value, taking ownership of work projects and avoiding burnout. The book provides a number of helpful scenarios of people going astray in their careers and failing to achieve their objectives—or where they succeeded and how. While more applicable to corporate jobs with a clear ladder to follow than unconventional careers where the path is less certain, this book is effective in its motivational tone, which encourages readers about how to think about and manage their careers. (Aug.)

In this account of the momentous Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Mahler (Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning) profiles key figures of the defense: JAG lawyer Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, constitutional law professor Neal Katyal and the defendant, Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's former driver. The book chronicles this legal odd couple—Swift, the gregarious blowhard, and Katyal, the diligent straight man—as they struggle to keep their client alive in Guantánamo Bay and craft a case challenging the legality of President George W. Bush's military tribunals. The author narrates their burgeoning relationship with each other and their client—in one endearing passage, Swift seeks counseling for his relationship with Hamden at the same time that he seeks therapy to save his marriage. While Mahler skillfully humanizes the characters and institutions at the heart of the case, the book sags under detailed forays into arcane aspects of the American justice system and irrelevant personal vignettes that feel forced and slow the pace. For whatever dramatic tension the book lacks, Mahler amply conveys the heroism of his protagonists. (Aug. 13)

The world is overflowing with opportunities for a determined publicist, enthuses public relations counselor Levine in this updated media relations classic. With an encouraging tone and a splash of humor, the author introduces readers to the PR pro's mindset (“There are two speeds in today's media world: fast and dead”) and describes every facet of a successful publicity campaign, stressing the skills readers need to develop—familiarity with available media outlets, the art of the pitch and networking, stellar written and oral skills and a broad perspective—that will get the attention of movers and shakers in print and electronic media. According to Levine, limited means are no bar in public relations as long as confidence, dynamism and, above all, moxie exist in abundance. Levine's theories are steeped in specifics, and readers will find his examples of highly successful campaigns (such as the launch of M.A.D.D.) and flops (remember New Coke?) instructive and entertaining, and his book a clear-eyed and clever bible for the enterprising grassroots publicist. (Aug.)

In his latest book, Choate (Hot Property) takes up cudgels against Thomas Friedman and proponents of globalization, blaming Republicans and Democrats for creating a system in which “corporate money, both domestic and foreign, dominates U.S. governance.” Whereas Friedman sees “flatteners,” such as the Internet and outsourcing, Choate sees “rounders,” the pitfalls of globalization that include nationalism, militarism and cultural rivalries. Choate denounces what he sees as the current litany of economic abuses, including a global corporate culture in which “today's economic concentration... is so large scale and so far-flung that regulation is beyond the capacity of any individual government.” Choate provides advice for reining in the ravages of globalization, including reforming (and potentially leaving) the World Trade Organization, redressing campaign finance law and curbing illegal immigration. However, his prescriptions seem victim to the very problem they seek to remedy: global interdependence and untamed corporate power have already curtailed the ability of individual nations to pursue isolationist policies. While his solutions may fall flat, his book is accessible, well-written and wisely inserts itself into the upcoming U.S. election, which has re-energized the debate on NAFTA and globalization. (Aug.)

With a scholarly voice leavened by poetic sensibility, Nadkarni (Rainforests) explores trees from root to canopy, tracing their powerful role in shaping human commerce, spirituality, even language—a fascinating section examines the preponderance of tree-based metaphors. The author, a renowned canopy biologist, pre-sents a wealth of entertaining arboreal facts and figures, but her personal anecdotes are the book's most compelling and inimitable feature: she describes a visit to a Baptist church where the pastor spoke of “the need to find an entity that will protect us... and hold us... when we are frightened” with “limbs that would support us forever, never tiring... helping us find quiet and calm in our lives.” Nadkarni relates being so “amazed and pleased that the pastor would include a description of trees and their spiritual benefit in his sermon” that she didn't realize that he was talking about Jesus. Despite an occasional pedantic tone, the author's belief that “when humans become sufficiently aware of... a single tree, a forest fragment, or the whole biosphere, they will find ways to protect it” is inspiring and her enthusiasm, contagious. Photos. (Aug.)

Novelist Burgess's memoir of her idyllic 15-year marriage cut short by the death of her husband from cancer proves startling, memorable and deeply moving. Burgess (Loose Threads) moves backward in time before arriving at husband Ken's shattering diagnosis of lung cancer in November 2002. In the late 1980s, at age 31, she quit her job in government and moved from Washington, D.C., to Spokane, not far from her mother's eastern Washington farm. Burgess was determined to change her life and within a year had embarked on a fairy tale romance with an executive at the company she worked for, Ken Grunzweig, a twice-widowed (one of his wives was shockingly murdered) jet-setter 19 years older with a teenage daughter. Two children, a busy, prosperous life and several moves followed, until the family relocated back to Spokane before illness struck Ken. With gentle, deliberate strokes, Burgess portrays her love for her devoted, athletic husband and the seven months of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy that led to his crushing physical debilitation. Her narrative grows increasingly engrossing, yet difficult to read, as Ken, the fighter, is forced to constantly face death. Burgess's journey possesses bravery and open-eyed clarity. (Aug.)

Crosby, a California high school English teacher with 17 years experience, wants America to fix its ailing educational system. His earlier book, The $100,000 Teacher, focused on paying teachers better to encourage better performance; this latest proposes a broader range of changes, from student behavior to a basic rethinking of how quality education should be assessed. After explaining that he's arguing for a complete overhaul of the system, not some marginal tweaking of the rules, Crosby sets out his 38-point plan, in 38 brief chapters. He begins simply: building more inviting-looking schools, ending social promotion, enticing experienced teachers to troubled schools and reviving vocational education as an option for the non-college bound. These widely acceptable ideas buffer the shock from some of his more heterodox ideas—banning teacher unions, recognizing excellence in teaching with merit bonuses, ending teacher tenure, cutting special education spending, ending compulsory education after the ninth grade and giving up on smaller class sizes, because there simply aren't enough great teachers to staff twice as many classrooms. Crosby speaks from a world of experience; his “political incorrectness” may bother some readers, but many will appreciate his honesty and his willingness to think outside the box. (Aug.)

Deathbed visions and coincidences are often classified as supernatural phenomena and the stuff of bad late-night television. But do such classifications do a disservice to the experiences of the dying and the bereaved? Through lengthy oral histories of eerie telepathic and paranormal phenomena, this book attempts to strip away the stigma from analyzing the inexplicable—yet commonly reported—odd incidences that accompany death—the “feeling of unease,” the visit from the dying. The authors argue that these reported experiences must be studied, even if they deviate from conventional understanding of the “real” or “normal.” What if our minds were wired in a way that has not yet been documented by science? What if hospice workers were more open to the experiences of the dying? Although the Fenwicks' exuberance frequently feels naïve, the scores of testimonies—as well as Peter Fenwick's renown as a neuropsychiatrist—do lend their queries credibility. Ultimately, the authors demonstrate that it may be immaterial if these stories are scientifically plausible since merely documenting these incidences can heighten our understanding of the mind during death and enhance our ability to comfort the dying and their families. (Aug.)

Former CIA analyst Pollack (The Threatening Storm) has devised an eloquent argument in favor of long-term American involvement in Middle East politics, arguing that American security and prosperity is contingent upon an orderly and democratic Middle East. A self-professed “liberal internationalist,” the author advocates sustained engagement rather than a foreign policy that has been characterized by “reluctance” and is consistently “episodic, tried on the cheap, and shortsighted.” Pollack keeps his sweeping survey lucid and readable and is refreshingly frank with the reader (“let's not kid ourselves: America's first and most important interest in the Middle East is the region's oil exports”). This book provides a thorough—if disheartening—diagnosis of the region's ailments—the burgeoning unemployment, poverty and population growth—and analyzes how repressive governments, a hidebound education system and a self-serving bureaucracy have destroyed the region's potential for foreign investment. Pollack's “grand strategy”—a decades-long commitment similar to the Marshall Plan to transform despotisms into democracies that promote economic expansion—should stimulate animated and necessary debate and a recasting of America's role in the Middle East. (July 22)

Speeches are meant to be heard, not read. Even so, most of the ones Cohen analyzes in this lively work are consequential; not all, however, are “the greatest.” Edited versions of the speeches are included, and on the page, many are flat; others read better than they sounded (and still sound on recordings). Nixon's “Checkers” speech now seems mawkish, the sentiments of Kennedy's “New Frontier” speech overblown. Yet Cohen, a professional speechwriter, is a sure guide, starting with the words, which now appear prescient, of Williams Jennings Bryan's 1896 “Cross of Gold” speech. Most important speeches are recognized as such when given, but Cohen doesn't tell us why that's so. He does, however, emphasize how campaigners have adapted their words and styles to changing media and audiences. What seems great in one setting (say, a convention) may fail in another (on television). What's clear from these speeches is that the great ones take a risk and are given at a particular moment for a particular purpose. This is an ideal book for the campaign season. (July)

Anderson, who died in 2007, and Keith (Final Bearing) collaborate on this first-rate account of the USS Nautilus—the world's first nuclear submarine, which Anderson commanded—and its “historic transpolar crossing” in 1958. Anderson took command of the Nautilus in 1957 at the height of the Cold War. Within months, the Soviets launched Sputnik I and shook Americans' confidence in their technological edge. Eager to demonstrate U.S. prowess, the Eisenhower administration approved a dramatic expedition to the North Pole beneath the permanent ice pack that blankets the Arctic Ocean. After turning back once, the Nautilus began its 2,000-mile journey across “mostly uncharted waters” in July 1958. The success of Operation Sunshine II captured the world's attention and “significantly boosted the sagging spirits of Americans.” Anderson first told the story of the Nautilus's mission in the 1959 Nautilus 90 North, but this version incorporates new, recently declassified information and is likely the most definitive and entertaining firsthand account we'll get. Fans of naval history in particular will enjoy this inspirational adventure story. Photos. (July)

Amateur historian Danby resurrects “the forgotten campaign of World War II” in this excellent popular history. While the world's attention was focused on Normandy, a second, smaller invasion—Operation Dragoon—landed on the French Riviera on August 15, 1944, to open another supply route for Allied troops. When Hitler ordered a “general withdrawal from France” on August 16, the Allies rushed to trap and destroy the retreating enemy. But a shortage of fuel and German rearguard attacks foiled the Allied plan. While Danby provides an overview of the entire campaign, he focuses on a single, pivotal battle at the village of Allan where one infantry company encountered a German army corps headquarters. The infantrymen fought heroically and prevailed despite heavy losses—including the author's grandfather. The fight to liberate southern France is often derisively called the “Champaign Campaign,” but the action at Allan was one of many fierce small-unit clashes that argue otherwise. Danby's revisionist view of the campaign—supported by extensive research including dozens of interviews with survivors—is a sprightly and evocative tribute to the troops of Operation Dragoon. 16 pages of photos; maps. (July)

Although Nathanael Greene's military accomplishments generally receive less attention than Benedict Arnold's or Lafayette's, historians consider him the better general. Journalist Carbone's lively chronicle corrects this neglect. A young Rhode Island businessman, Greene (1742–1786) was only a private in his state militia, but his political influence vaulted him to its command when fighting broke out in 1775. Washington saw Greene's impressive astuteness, and Greene became the Continental Army's youngest general. His greatest feats came after 1780, when Washington sent him to the south, an area that had ruined three previous generals. Leading poorly equipped troops and vastly outnumbered by Cornwallis's forces, he fought off the British; frustrated, Cornwallis marched north to Yorktown and defeat. Bad investments and his guarantee of loans to obtain military supplies left Greene owing huge sums, and he spent the last two years of his life struggling with creditors. Inevitably the book focuses on the war, wartime politics, the Americans' inability to support the army financially and Greene's military success. He should be better known, and this well-researched history aimed at a popular audience is a good first step. (July)

Former Washington Post correspondent Schram (Avoiding Armageddon) airs a long list of grievances in this impassioned exposé of government callousness toward veterans. While including other issues, this indictment focuses on the Department of Veterans Affairs' slow, disputatious processing of disability claims, which can drag on through years of arbitrary decisions, byzantine appeals and lost paperwork, with claimants sometimes dying before a final ruling. Drawing on eye-glazing excerpts from bureaucratic reports, Schram blames these problems not just on red tape but on an adversarial mindset at the VA, where the operating principle, he says, is “safeguard the money and not the vets.” Schram unearths some egregious injustices: the VA declined one Iraq veteran's disability benefits because “ '[s]hrapnel wounds all over the body [are] not service connected.' ” But most cases involve disability claims for cancer, diabetes or psychiatric problems, where the VA puts on the vet the burden of proving a link with decades-past exposures to Agent Orange or traumatic stress; Schram contends these should get the benefit of the doubt from a revamped “Department of Veterans' Advocacy.” His is an eye-opening, if one-sided, j'accuse. (July)

One of the most dangerous, intriguing Mafia chieftains ever, Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso served as an apprentice thief and killer before rising to boss of the infamous Lucchese crime family, according to Carlo, a childhood neighbor of the South Brooklyn native. Carlo (The Ice Man) depicts a violent teen doted on by his gangster father and his mob godfather, Sally Callinbrano, groomed in the art of the kill and Cosa Nostra values. As his enterprises in hot goods and drugs prospered, Casso became the chief enforcer and mob royalty, able to buy a stylish lifestyle as well as an assortment of crooked cops and FBI agents. Tucked away in this book's blood-drenched pages is a picture-perfect love story between Anthony and his wife, Lillian Delduca. And for Mafia-obsessed readers, there are fascinating tidbits from the now jailed Casso about mob bosses John Gotti and Paul Castellano, Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, Hoover's FBI, the Russian mob and several thug rubouts. This powerful story is required reading for anyone with a yen for the Mafia, the criminal underworld and a law enforcement system struggling to keep up. 8 pages of b&w photos. (July)

Anne of Green Gables may be one of the most beloved of books, selling more than 50 million copies since it was first published 100 years ago. But according to Ryerson, a Canadian scholar and co-chair of the L.M. Montgomery Institute, Anne's creator was both secretive and “an emotional and forceful advocate of her own legend.” So Ryerson seeks out the truth about Montgomery and the writing of her novel, including the possible sources for Anne Shirley, a high-spirited, irrepressibly optimistic, redheaded Canadian orphan. Among Anne's antecedents were the bestselling Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and a proliferation of stories and poems about orphan girls named Ann, such as James Whitcomb Riley's popular nursery rhyme “Little Orphan Annie,” based on a girl orphaned during the Civil War. Montgomery's fear of aging and outsider status as a motherless child brought up by aging grandparents also fed into her image of Anne as did her adopted cousin Ellen Macneill, also an orphan. But this lackluster study won't find many takers beyond Montgomery scholars and rabid Anne Shirley fans. 16 pages of color photos. (July)

Bets made over a beer between scientists rarely make the headlines, but in 2004 Stephen Hawking conceded that he'd lost a bet and that a view he had held for 30 years was wrong. According to Stanford physicist Susskind (The Cosmic Landscape), one of the leaders of the anti-Hawking camp, the argument was a simple one: if information falls into a black hole, is it lost forever? Hawking's theory that information is destroyed undermined everything scientists thought they knew about quantum physics. Susskind gives readers a course in black holes, quantum physics and string theory as he explains his belief that information cannot be destroyed. Along the way he introduces bizarre theories like the Holographic Principle (which he helped develop), claiming that the third dimension is an illusion and that energy and matter are just forms of information. Susskind also profiles two hot-shot South American physicists who helped deliver the coup de grace to Hawking's argument. Black hole and Hawking fans should go for this book, even if the great physicist was wrong. B&w illus. (July 7)

McWilliams's (A Revolution in Eating) knowledge of American history and food production (he's a fellow in agrarian studies at Yale) provides a firm foundation to this colorful chronicle of pest management in the United States. The author traces a history in which timber harvesting, monoculture and various forms of development contributed to the spread of insects that feed on crops. McWilliams marks the beginning of “the professional fight against insects” with the 1841 publication of a book for farmers by Thaddeus William Harris, a self-taught entomologist. Agricultural journals advised farmers on how to protect tobacco crops from hornworms and wheat from weevils. Trains and barges hastened the spread of the Colorado potato beetle and chinch bugs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture added a Division of Entomology, but early biological and cultural methods soon faded as companies found profit in selling pesticides; DDT, first a miracle for eradicating malaria-carrying mosquitoes, became the bane of environmentalists thanks to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. McWilliams's treatment is as well written as it is thorough and should appeal to readers interested in history as well as environmental issues. Illus., maps. (July)

These entertaining essays offer insight into a world of singular strangeness—of giant panda colonoscopies and anorexic moray eels—modern zoological medicine in short, a field where the practitioners are as passionate as their patients are unwilling. Twenty-eight wild animal doctors recount their most memorable cases—polar bear hernias, hippo root canals, rhino pedicures—in vignettes ripe with humor and pathos. Editor Spelman compares the challenges of wild animal medicine with infant pediatric care—both “their patients can't speak”—and expounds on the slow process of bonding with patients too timid or aggressive to approach and examine. Readers will be dazzled by stories of recapturing a fugitive herd of wild bison from the outskirts of Paris and medical marvels developed to treat especially small or sensitive patients: a new anesthetic method pioneered for a tiny poison dart frog, prosthetic leg braces built for giraffes. Spelman writes, “Zoo vets are known for their stamina, strong constitutions, steady hands, good aim, and healthy knees”—these affectionate testaments ensure that compassion can be added to the equation. (July 1)

This grandiose conspiracy theory about secret Nazi influence in America starts with breathtaking literal-mindedness. The Nazis, contends Marrs (Crossfire), obtained advanced technologies—flying saucers, time travel, antigravity—through psychic communion with “non-human intelligences”; then, after the Third Reich's fall, Nazi fugitives may even have used King Solomon's treasure to set up an international business empire and got in on the JFK assassination. Gradually, though, the Nazi threat subsides to a bar-stool libertarian's rant against psychiatric drugs, the Homeland Security apparatus, gun control, Social Security, income taxes and fluoridated water; they all portend to Marrs a creeping American fascism. Nazis are but bit players in this New World Order, run by shadowy “globalists” who “control” everything and created not just Nazism but communism and America's military-industrial complex. (Usual suspects include the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderberg Group and Arnold Schwarzenegger.) Marrs's dubiously sourced argument spins eye-glazing webs of circumstantial connections between Germans, American businessmen and U.S. government officials, in a kind of six degrees of Adolf Hitler parlor game. The result is vintage Marrs—a turgid stew of nonsense. (July)

Blending an eclectic mish-mash of medical history with hilarious anecdotes about her own unsavory illnesses, real or imagined, Traig (Devil in the Details) creates a self-poking, sympathetic memoir. Essentially, these are essays about her various “somatoform disorders,” a condition, as she describes, “in which you translate stress, or unhappiness, or too much free time, into actual physical symptoms.” Coming to terms with a body she always hated, the author, who is the daughter of a doctor, has grown comfortable diagnosing her own aches and pains, thanks especially to the Internet, and delves merrily into a chronological account of her sufferings from childhood to adulthood: food poisoning at Jewish summer camp, anorexia, compulsive obsessive disorder, “essential tremor,” eczema, irritable bowel syndrome, bad teeth. Occasionally, she offers tongue-and-cheek history, when hypochondria was blamed on an excess of black bile, called the “Hebraic debility.” Traig can write winningly about the 10-pound weight of her oversized breasts or home stool collection and still be charmingly witty. She savors the attention that being sick accords her, though the cure-all Prozac has robbed her of her complaints and granted her the unthinkable: health and happiness. (July)

In this painstakingly researched volume, naval historian Earle addresses the struggle to salvage major shipwrecks from the late 17th century through the early 19th century. He focuses primarily on British expeditions, although the wrecks come from many countries, most notably Spain, which lost countless treasure ships to reefs, battles and hurricanes. Particular emphasis is placed on the dreamers who gambled fortunes to rummage the ocean floors, as well as on professional divers and their dangerous craft. For Earle, the slow transformation of wild undersea treasure hunts into a semireasonable business tracks the dawning of the Industrial Age and the attempt to temper risk through the new stock markets. Overall, Earle is only as good as his primary sources. Where the records are colorful, we get engaging characters and vivid detail. Where the records run dry, readers are subjected to tedious descriptions of lawsuits and patent applications. Particularly strong sections include Daniel Defoe's appearance as a luckless investor and the wreck of the Earl of Abergavenny, which drowned 260 souls, most notably Capt, John Wordsworth, the younger brother of William Wordsworth. While the book would have benefited from some trimming, it remains a fascinating overview of an occupation that continues to lure scientists, scoundrels and dreamers. (July)

In his travel narrative, Bergeijk chronicles his three-month trip along the Trans-Sahara Highway to sell his used Mercedes 190 D. His primary goal is to turn a pretty profit, but he hopes for a little adventure in the process. And he finds it: being chased by two unknown cars in Morocco, getting his car stuck in a mine field and maneuvering through corrupt border officials. Unfortunately, while Bergeijk experiences events that would harrow the soul of any ordinary traveler, he does not fully bring the adventure to life. What propels the narrative, though, are his portrayals of desert towns where sand is everywhere—“in your bag, in your food, even in your underwear”—and where everything looks desolate. Likewise, the historical background on early explorations of Saharan Africa (by men like Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Capt. James Riley and Mungo Park) and on the attempt to build a trans-Sahara railroad add texture to his own excursion. In the end, Bergeijk provides an illuminating introduction to Saharan Africa and the economic implications of its used car trade. Photos. (July)

Singer-songwriter-humorist Friedman, author of more than 20 books (including Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned and You Can Lead a Politician to Water, but You Can't Make Him Think), now offers a collection of his Texas Monthly columns plus new essays. These musings (“the leftover lyrics of my life on the road”) get an added boost from 20 outrageous drawings by the gutsy quadriplegic cartoonist John Callahan. What emerges can be satirical and evocative, as in his chapter on car radio music at night: “You're blowing through Dripping Springs, and the hills are dark shadows; the highway's just a ribbon in the hair of a girl you used to know.” Free-flowing and free associative, occasionally punctuating with puns, he targets topics from Jack Ruby and Michael Chabon to Texas etiquette and politics. Kinky's writing here is funny, focused and hugely entertaining. (July)

From the “tens of thousands” of photographs he took of Robert Kennedy, former Life magazine photographer Eppridge has culled his most evocative images for this “photographic history of one of the nation's most compelling figures,” published to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his assassination. Following Kennedy from 1966, Eppridge chronicled Kennedy's '68 presidential campaign trail, his battles with Eugene McCarthy in the Democratic primaries and victory in California, which would have sent “his campaign into orbit.” Soon after the victory speech, Eppridge heard eight gunshots—“the sound I will never forget”—and snapped the grim final images of Kennedy, bleeding in the arms of a stunned supporter. A devastated Eppridge captured the national grief that followed, the funeral train from New York to Washington, D.C., attended everywhere by “a cross-section of America... old, young, women, men, black, white.” The photographer's dual focus on the candidate (whose back, legs and hands are caught more often than his full face) and his audience (caught reaching, touching, running alongside, and lastly, saluting) speaks powerfully and wordlessly of Bobby Kennedy's charismatic presence in the late '60s. (June)

Pépin's latest incarnation as the refined face of quick and easy home cooking has worked as a public TV show and in his last book. This follow-up wisely sticks with the same model, highlighting dishes that can be assembled with relatively little effort, assuming the cook has some experience, and that seldom use more than 10 or 15 ingredients, often fewer. The sequel has more international flair, as in the spongy Tibetan flatbread and chili con carne, but his simple preparations of French classics like frisée aux lardoons and pumpkin gratin shine brightest. The main addition is a section of prose-only “minute recipes”; mostly hors d'oeuvres, they vary in adherence to the minute label from some that are less recipes than concepts like seasoning olives or shaving radishes over baguette slices to those like the pine nut–covered baked cheese balls that take as long to prepare as the regular recipes. Pépin encourages using supermarkets “the right way,” to buy both ingredients that will minimize prep time, such as canned beans, and a small number of the best ingredients available, whether fresh shellfish or fish fillets, good olives or olive oil. Fans of his last book, as well as any cooks looking for ideas on faster but still appealing dishes, will find much to enjoy. Color photos not seen by PW. (Oct.)

Child psychologist Grosshans has worked with hundreds of families during the past 15 years. With the help of Burton, a clinical social worker with 35 years of experience, she outlines a plan to address the “mayhem and madness” of families that are out of kilter. The problem, as Grosshans sees it, is an imbalance of family power. The kids are running the show, Grosshans claims, and making a “royal mess of it.” Ineffective parents—fueled by the past 40 years of advice that emphasizes talking, feelings and children's self-esteem—have relinquished power, setting the natural hierarchy of the family on its head. The result is anxious, unruly children who run their apologetic parents ragged. Grosshan's solution is to help parents combine love with leadership; to that end, she offers a five-step program to restore order, self-control and cooperation. Taking time-out a step further, she guides readers through a method of calming children she calls the “parent hold.” The author also addresses common problem areas, including sleeping, eating and toileting. Though readers may find some of her advice a bit stern (e.g., she nixes the family bed and disapproves of transitional objects), Grosshans emphasizes that spanking or bullying are not options. Her carefully scripted, levelheaded technique aims not to punish but to help kids graciously step down from their thrones. (July)

Dietician and mother of two, Behan (Eat Well, Lose Weight, While Breastfeeding) covers all the bases in her latest work. Concerned with child obesity, Behan believes parents can protect their children by “taking on an approach to eating and feeding... that promotes optimal health and strong family relations.” In order to do this, Behan argues, parents must first “establish and protect family mealtime, and introduce children to a variety of truly good food.” The author explains, very specifically, how parents can achieve this. She discusses how and when to introduce solids and includes charts of specific foods and amounts to feed per day. An alphabetical “Superior Foods” list gives readers tips on how to buy, store and prepare over 100 fruits, vegetables, proteins, grains, etc. She then explains how to make homemade baby food and suggests combos such as sweet potato and banana puree and, later, offers her favorite recipes (basics like roast chicken and beef stew) for when children begin to eat table food (after age one). Also included are practical tips on how to promote healthy eating, such as turning the television off at mealtimes and watering down juice to limit sugar and calories, and effectively teaching table manners. This is an excellent, comprehensive guide worthy of all parents' collections. (July)

Formerly a professor at Stanford University and currently the Marie Curie Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of Sussex in England, Boaler probes the question of why so many kids hate math and what can be done about it. Befitting a math maven, Boaler approaches the problem from many angles, noting that even as the U.S. nears the bottom of international rankings in mathematical achievement, our need to fill jobs in science, medicine, technology and other math-related areas is growing. But the widespread aversion to math is no mystery: in her longitudinal studies of how children learn, Boaler has discovered that while school math is often boring and widely hated, teachers can ignite the curiosity that leads to success by using a more communicative, or project-based, approach. Instead of lecture-based, silent classrooms that promote passive learning, Boaler reveals that when students talk, collaborate, question and become actively engaged, math scores go up and attitudes improve. Boaler's enthusiasm for her subject is infectious, and even the most avid math haters will be intrigued by her fresh and passionate outlook. In addition to ideas for the classroom, the author also includes ways to make math fun and fascinating for kids at home. Parents and educators alike will count this book an inspiring resource. (July)

With an endearing mix of down-to-earth practical solutions and funky DIY projects, this book provides readers with much-needed information on how to renovate habits and home to move closer to a zero-carbon existence. The Hrens, respectively a carpenter and a photovoltaic installer living in Durham, N.C., give specific and technical advice, based on their own experience, on how to lower energy use within and outside the house, with 36 projects ranging from simple and inexpensive activities like sealing drafts, resetting the water heater thermostat and planting potatoes in a barrel to more heavy-duty and costly tasks such as installing a green roof or a solar hot-water heater and replacing a lawn with a permaculture garden. Some projects, such as building an outdoor cob oven—which the authors themselves describe as time-consuming with low energy savings—will be of little interest to any but devoted backyard hobbyists. Converting from a flush toilet to humanure, which involves lugging five-gallon buckets of human waste to a compost pile on a weekly basis, is even less likely to be adopted by the urban dwellers the Hrens hope to influence. But just about anyone will find something useful to do in this book, and the detailed, clear and enlightening chapter on understanding home energy use is, alone, almost worth the purchase price. (June)

Former Wall Street Journal reporter Cox (The Book of New Family Traditions) has left no quilt square unstitched in this dizzying compilation of everything you've ever wanted to know about quilting and then some. Far from being merely a quaint tradition of an older generation, quilting is now a $3 billion business, according to Cox, that serves over 27.7 million quilters across the U.S. Cox enthusiastically fills the pages with photos, sidebars, resource sections and tips. She also includes a special section titled “12 Projects from Renowned Quilters” that offers patterns for the beginner to the advanced quilter with four-color photos. While quilting by hand may still be popular, and even preferred by the author, she includes detailed information on sewing machine manufacturers, quilt design software, quilting podcasts and Web shows. She also provides inspiration for quilters through profiles of teachers like Eleanor Burns and Kaffe Fassett, complete with their personal tips. This book is an essential resource for hobbyists and professionals alike, and is sure to be a classic for years to come. (June)

Correction: Our May 12 reviews for Mujahababes and Heavy Metal Islam cited incorrect publisher information. The respective publishers of the books are Melville House and Three Rivers.

As the Olympics focus the world's attention on China, an array of books examine that burgeoning country from a variety of perspectives.

Ex-Washington Post Beijing bureau chief Pan focuses these 11 profiles on China's lonely dissidents: a filmmaker documents a Mao-era dissident who wrote a prison manifesto in her own blood; a doctor acclaimed for blowing the whistle on the SARS epidemic is arrested for writing about the Tiananmen Square massacre; an editor tests the party's tolerance for muckraking. These narratives show China's social and political tensions playing out through personal enmities, petty bribery and subtle moral compromises. Pan's stirring reportage shows that, even in China, the individual can make a difference—at a price. B&w photos. (June)

There's nary a tranquil moment in this tumultuous history of China's capital. Journalist Becker (The Chinese) surveys centuries of invasion, civil war and revolution played out against vicious infighting in the Forbidden City. Throughout, Becker observes, Beijing stayed remarkably intact, a charming cityscape of bustling markets and intimate courtyard houses. Far more destructive, in the author's telling, has been China's plunge into modern capitalism, with the 2008 Olympics delivering the coup de grace: soulless high-rises, roaring highways and Wal-Marts have replaced most of Old Beijing. Becker pens an engrossing elegy for that vanished city, and a cri de coeur against China's contempt for its own past. (July)

The rise of modern China serves as a backdrop for Chen's engrossing saga of her late husband Jack's family. In three generations the Chens journeyed in the 1860s from China to Trinidad, later to London, and back to China, rising from landless peasant to revolutionary, from aide to China's first president, Sun Yat-sen, to editorial cartoonist. The intimate, often harrowing details of Chen's (The Dragon's Village) potent narrative, which includes revolutions, political turmoil and warfare, present a vivid panorama of the people behind China's development. B&w photos. (June)

America's fate looks dicey in the showdown with the Chinese juggernaut, warns this vigorous jeremiad. Fingleton (In Praise of Hard Industries) argues that China's “East Asian” development model of aggressive mercantilism and a state-directed economy “effortlessly outperforms” America's fecklessly individualistic capitalism. Nor will economic development democratize a “quasi-fascist” Confucian culture. More likely, Fingleton contends, is “the Confucianization of America” as Chinese wealth subverts American politics and media. Fingleton's brief against Confucian societies can seem vague and paranoid; fortunately, his economic analysis is incisive. His most telling critique is of American business elites and policymakers, who have wrecked the U.S. economy, he insists, by promoting laissez-faire nostrums, free trade and a hollowed-out service economy. More compelling than Fingleton's exaggerated dread of the Confucian dragon is his well-supported case for economic nationalism. (Mar.)

Journalism professor and former newspaper reporter Polumbaum looks at the metamorphosis of Chinese media over the past few decades through the voices of 20 Beijing journalists, many of whom began careers in the shadow of the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations. Despite popular presumption, Polumbaum claims that Chinese media is not a “controlled, mechanistic system” populated by party loyalists; even in its Communist Party establishment papers, it's a diverse and evolving industry populated by dedicated professionals. Not only are the journalists included here highly ethical and aware, they're also largely upbeat. All are well educated 20-to-40-year-olds working at government and commercial organizations, and though readers may miss dissident voices, Polumbaum's subjects are open and persuasive, and each oral history has charm and detail to spare. (May)