Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 8/4/2008
-- Publishers Weekly, 8/4/2008
nonfiction| Web Pick of the Week |
 The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table Amy Goldman, photos by Victor Schrager. Bloomsbury, $35 (272p)ISBN 9781596912915The luscious beauty of heirloom tomatoes is captured in this paean to one of the world’s most evocative fruits. Goldman, a grower and horticultural preservationist, looks at the tomato’s history, provides tips for gardeners and presents gorgeous, artistically rendered photos of different varieties in all shapes and sizes along with their stats: size, weight, flavor, best uses, etc. From the “Bonny Best” to the “Black Zebra” to “Aunt Ruby’s German Green,” the photos are seductive and the text engaging. For the last third part of the book, Goldman provides recipes, proving that these tomatoes are not just another pretty face, although the accompanying photos themselves look pretty enough to eat. Goldman embraces many cultures in her recipes, using the tomatoes in salsa, cocktails, pasta, tapas and, of course, the quintessential American dish: fried green tomatoes. The recipes are simple and healthful, ranging from tricolor gazpacho to Savory Tomato Custard to Cherry Tomato Focaccia. Forget about that pale, hard, tasteless stacked tomato in your local supermarket and go wild; this is a book to inspire passion. (Aug.) |
NONFICTION
Dying to Get High: Marijuana as Medicine
Wendy Chapkis and Richard J. Webb. New York Univ., $70 (245p) ISBN 9780814716663; $22 paper 9780814716670
Sociologist Chapkis (Live Sex Acts: Women Performing Erotic Labor) and educator Webb chronicle the experiences of caregivers, patients and local officials in the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, a nonprofit formed in the wake of California’s “Compassionate Use Act of 1996” dedicated to education, research and providing cannabis to patients suffering from “chronic and life-threatening illnesses.” Focusing on cannabis’s benefits to the seriously ill, the authors investigate many aspects of this complicated issue, including marijuana cooperatives versus big pharma, the power of making one’s own health care decisions, and the implications of alternative medicine’s growing mainstream cachet. Chapkis and Webb rely on “[a]necdotal patient reports, not clinical trials,” noting that the DEA and National Institute on Drug Abuse have for decades successfully instituted a policy of blocking “even carefully designed, FDA-approved research on the medical value of marijuana.” While the authors mention arguments against medical marijuana (“‘crude botanicals’ are not real medicine; marijuana is reduced to and synonymous with smoking…; and ‘feeling better’ isn’t always therapeutic”), patient testimony is largely positive and discussion of adverse effects limited. Still, this volume presents a great deal of information and perspective, and should be of value to the chronically ill and their caregivers, as well as those involved in public policy. (Aug.)
From Schlub to Stud: How to Embrace Your Inner Mensch and Conquer the Big City
Max Gross. Skyhorse, $12.95 paper (224p) ISBN 9781602392632
Most readers will recognize, if only in the unlikely celebrity of Knocked Up’s Seth Rogan, Gross’s self-applied title, the schlub: “Someone a little unkempt. A little out of shape. A little clumsy. A little gauche. A little insulated. A little bookish.” Others might just as easily call him a chubby nerd. Regardless, this endearing memoir is less a how-to (or even a success story) and more a genuine, funny series of vignettes from Gross’s life in New York City. A writer for the New York Post, Gross can turn a phrase (“Journalism is perhaps the greatest repository of schlubs known to man,” he notes) but his storytelling finesse belies the usual deadline-driven work. Whether unspooling the tale of bedbugs in his apartment (and their effect on his romance) or his indulgent Jewish mother (“I grew up under the impression that I was of a brand of Semitic royalty”), Gross is a gentle kidder, with himself and others. Though the title’s an overstatement—this schlub doesn’t transform so much as persevere—Gross’s shaggy mensch charm makes for an enjoyable read. (Aug.)
| Lincoln: A Long Shot, a Long Shadow |
With this upcoming 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, publishers are readying more books than ever on the Great Emancipator. For more Lincoln titles, check out our roundup. The Great Comeback: How Abraham Lincoln Beat the Odds to Win the 1860 Republican NominationGary Ecelbarger. St. Martin’s/Dunne, $25.95 (304p) ISBN 9780312374136 During Lincoln’s one term as a Whig in the House of Representatives (1847-49), he alienated colleagues by opposing the popular president James Polk and the equally popular Mexican War. Lincoln’s law partner,William Herndon, said that when he returned to Illinois, Lincoln was “a politically dead and buried man.” Not long after, joining the new Republican Party, Lincoln twice lost bids for a Senate seat and failed an 1856 reach for the Republican vice presidential nomination. Independent scholar Ecelbarger (Three Days in the Shenandoah) artfully shows how, from a career in cinders, Lincoln rose in a mere two years to seize the presidential nomination in May 1860. Ecelbarger describes diligent work and ground-laying by Lincoln and various allies. Ecelbarger also reveals a ravenously ambitious Lincoln whistle-stopping across America, railing against the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, and making a national reputation. More to the point, we see Lincoln as smooth backroom political operator, wooing reluctant eastern Republicans wary of the man they’d considered a political loser and ill-kempt backwoods attorney. Ecelbarger’s scholarship is sound, his prose enthralling and his topic one that has not previously received due diligence in the Lincoln literature. (Sept.)  Vindicating Lincoln: Defending the Politics of our Greatest PresidentThomas L. Krannawitter. Rowman & Littlefield, $24.95 (376p) ISBN 9780742559721 Author and professor Krannawitter (A Nation Under God? The ACLU and Religion in American Politics) has written a stirring, carefully considered exploration of Abraham Lincoln’s principles, defending them against criticism leveled at Lincoln over the years by prominent academics and pundits. Even though Krannawitter equates opposition to Roe v. Wade with opposition to slavery (both deny the primacy of human rights), his strident personal politics don’t affect the quality of his scholarship. His impressive work takes on both conservative and liberal historians who diminish Lincoln’s stature by ascribing expedient motives to his decisions, asserting that Lincoln was guided, even in “the most difficult and trying times,” by a commitment to natural law and the idea that all men are created equal. Especially convincing is Krannawitter’s argument regarding Lincoln’s seemingly paradoxical support of the fugitive slave law. He also explains Lincoln’s famous 1862 interchange with Horace Greely—yes, he did say, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it,” but followed up with, “and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it”—and takes on the contention that Lincoln supported big government while the South opposed it. (Aug.) |
Habit: The 95% of Behavior Marketers Ignore
Neale Martin. FT Press, $24.99 (208p) ISBN 9780131357952
In his first book, communications consultant-to-the-stars (Sprint, Nextel, Cisco, Nortel, TI, Motorola) and “expert in consumer behavior” Martin uses ideas from the worlds of science, technology, psychology, history, philosophy and business to demonstrate how a consumer’s unconscious controls most of his or her behavior. As a result, Martin argues, companies large and small are wasting money and energy engaging the wrong part of the brain—rather than worrying over expected behavior or ultimate satisfaction, marketers should focus on how buying habits form through simple, time-tested methods like reward and repetition. How else would brands like Microsoft—infamously frustrating but ingrained in the culture—and Starbucks coffee—overpriced but ubiquitous (and literally addictive)—make it? In a reportorial style fit for both marketing executives and savvy consumers, Martin presents interviews with marketers, researchers and scientists that outline the principles supporting his method, delineating the executive mind from the habitual (unconscious) mind, exploring how an ideal product like the iPod targets both minds, and providing a blueprint for creating habitual buyers. Martin’s argument requires readers to suspend some long-held beliefs about consumers, but rewards them with some eye-opening perspective. (Aug.)
The Vietnam War: A Concise International History
Mark Atwood Lawrence. Oxford, $18.95 (224p) ISBN 9780195314656
In this history, University of Texas associate history professor Lawrence (Assuming the Burden: Europe and the American Commitment to War in Vietnam), sifts through centuries of struggle in the small Southeast Asian nation, beginning with the Trung sisters’ first century fight to throw off Chinese domination, to illustrate how America, for the Vietnamese, was just another in a long line of ultimately vanquished enemies. Lawrence locates the Trung sisters’ spiritual heir in Ho Chi Minh, the communist revolutionary who quoted the Declaration of Independence before finding himself at war with a U.S.-backed South Vietnamese insurgency. The book lives up to its brief and accessible billing, but overall there is little new regarding the “international” players, France, China, and the Soviet Union; largely American-centric, the narrative rests on major U.S. developments from the 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution to the fall of the American Embassy in 1975. That said, the author ably encapsulates the uses and abuses of American power, which should prove familiar to anyone following news of the current war. (Aug.)
Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His GirlStacey O'Brien. Free Press, $23 (240p) ISBN 9781416551737
Owls permeate literature and mythology, an ancient animal (“some 97 million years” old) that has fascinated for centuries; still, few people have had as intimate an encounter with the mysterious night birds as biologist O'Brien. As a student researcher at Caltech, she fell in love with an injured four-day-old barn owl and seized the opportunity to adopt him permanently. She named him Wesley, and for 19 years kept, cared for and studied him, forging a tremendous relationship with the still-wild animal, as well as a vast understanding of his abilities, instincts and habits: “He was my teacher, my companion, my child, my playmate, my reminder of God.” Her heartwarming story is buttressed by lessons on owl folklore, temperament (“playful and inquisitive”), skills, and the brain structure that gives them some amazing abilities, like spotting a mouse “under three feet of snow by homing in on just the heartbeat.” It also details her working life among fellow scientists, a serious personal health crisis, and the general ins and outs of working with animals. This memoir will captivate animal lovers and, though not necessarily for kids, should hold special appeal for Harry Potter fans who’ve always envied the boy wizard his Hedwig. (Aug.)
LIFESTYLE
The Pita Principle: How to Work with and Avoid Becoming a PAIN IN THE ASS
Robert Orndorff and Dulin Clark. JIST Works, $22.95 (224p) 9781593575519
Despite some self-help jargon and overuse of quotation marks, this book will educate readers about personality types and how to work with them. The authors work the PITA acronym (Pain In The Ass) in seemingly every way imaginable, for example designating people Sealed (closed-off), Crusty (grouchy) or Overstuffed (self-important) PITAs. Happily, these metaphors work, describing accurately and simply common defense reactions and how to manage. Psychologist Clark and long-time educator and consultant Orndorff are gentle in their approach, encouraging readers not to attack or dismiss difficult coworkers: “[It] helps to understand that defense reactions are to a degree shared by everyone. No one is exempt from feeling defensive.” Most surprising is the authors’ emphasis on self-reflection and accountability in their readers, offering easy-to-understand methods to change your own PITA qualities. This traditional, considerate and well-organized handbook should prove valuable for people struggling to spend their work days more peacefully. (Aug.)
ILLUSTRATED
Jeff Koons
Edited by Francesco Bonami. Yale Univ., $45 (136p) ISBN 9780300141948
In her foreword, Pritzker Director of Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Madeleine Grynsztejn, describes artist Jeff Koons’s work as “a panorama of our culture’s desires, fantasies, absurdities, banalities, and delights” rendered with a “celebratory, almost childlike sense of wonder.” Skilled in a variety of mediums and materials, Koons combines the aesthetic force of Pop, Surrealism and Imagism to produce the eye-popping exhibitions profiled here, from his 1970s Chicago work to his latest work with inflatables, enormous stainless-steel animal balloons and “Hulk Elvis.” Koons’ first two exhibitions, 1979’s “Pre-New” and “The New,” feature actual household appliances illuminated in Plexiglas cases, playfully reviving the novelty and awe these items were meant to inspire in the middle class consumer. 1988’s Banality series features Koons’s own Hummel-esque porcelain figurines, one of which features the Pink Panther embracing a half-naked woman, another Michael Jackson and his monkey, Bubbles. A few photographic self-portraits-as-advertising give readers a short glimpse of the artist, one of which features Koons apparently lecturing a classroom of eager children on how to “exploit the masses.” In addition to exhibition overviews, Bonami also contributes several fine introductory essays and includes a long conversation between Koons and Chicago curator Lynne Warren. (July)
FICTION
Gypsy Blood
Steve Vernon. Five Star, $25.95 (371p) ISBN 9781594147067
Vampires, a succubus and dead spirits inhabit this confusing and rushed series opener. Half-gypsy Carnival fights the occasional otherworldly creature while working as a fortune-teller. Carnival also faces opposition from his father, whose soul is trapped within his son’s chest, and protests Carnival’s pursuit of a romantic relation with a vampire. The use of the father falls particularly flat; as only a few characters are able to hear him (and only intermittently), the device will leave the reader puzzled. Carnival himself often comes across as bewildered to the point of hopelessness, leading readers to wonder why he’s heading up this winding story. Vernon (Nothing to Lose) keeps things moving at a decent clip, but the adventure eventually dissolves into confusion. (July)
Jimmy the Hand: Legends of the Riftwar, Book III
Raymond E. Feist and S.M. Stirling. Eos, $13.95 paper (384p) ISBN 9780060792947
Feist and Stirling bring humor and pathos to 13-year-old Jimmy the Hand’s third escapade (after 2002’s Murder in La Mut). Krondor’s ever-resourceful boy thief, not content with helping Princess Anita and Prince Arutha make a seaward escape from the city’s viceroy, rescues Hotfingers Flora and some unlucky fellow thieves from prison. Jimmy goes into exile with grateful Flora, hoping to find her Land’s End relatives, and soon winds up aiding another damsel in distress: fellow teenager Lorrie Merford, searching for her younger brother, who was kidnapped by her parents’ killers. This simple, charming fairy tale will appeal to adult fans of the Riftwar books as well as mature teens who don’t mind a bit of romance in their sword-and-sorcery. (Aug.)
OrcsStan Nicholls. Orbit, $14.99 (784p) ISBN 9780316033701
This shelf-bending omnibus comprises the first U.S. release of Nicholls’s Orcs trilogy (Bodyguard of Lightning, Legion of Thunder and Warriors of the Tempest), originally published in the U.K. in 1999 and 2000. When a warband of orcs run afoul of their tyrannical mistress on a mission to retrieve an invaluable artifact, they set in motion a series of cataclysmic events that could free their race from long-standing persecution or obliterate them from the realm forever. Pursued by an irate sorceress, ruthless bounty hunters and two vengeance-obsessed armies, Captain Stryke and his misfit band of mercenary orcs embark on a desperate quest to find a set of ancient “instrumentalities” that could save them and their magic-filled world from destruction at the hands of human interlopers. With grand scale world building, labyrinthine plotlines, extensive backstory and pedal-to-the-metal action, Nicholls captures adventure fantasy at its very best. This edition—which also includes a short story entitled “The Taking” (a prequel to the three novels), and an in-depth author interview—will be a cult classic with quest fantasy fans on both sides of the Pond. (Sept.)
The Red Country
Sylvia Kelso. Five Star, $25.95 (273p) ISBN 9781594147074
Kelso’s third installment in the Rihannar Chronicles (after 2007’s The Moving Water) has a rich, imaginative storyline, but that vision is blurred by an excess of invented language that tends to distract. Arrogant, irrational Princess Sellithar runs away from home, followed by her unflappable tutor, Kastir. As they encounter numerous strange creatures and characters from earlier in the series, Kastir pits residents of the desert against inhabitants of the farmlands, and the princess must find a way to patch up both the kingdom and her quarrelsome relationship with Zam, a telepathic mage who becomes her paradoxical love interest. While Kelso’s invention is tremendous and his love-hate bantering somewhat engaging, his hyper-stylized narrative drags down the fun. (Oct.)
RELIGION
Medicine, Religion, and Health: Where Science and Spirituality Meet
Harold G. Koenig. Templeton, $17.95 paper (248p) ISBN 9781599471419
In the past decade, numerous studies have touted the positive impact of prayer and spiritual practice on physical health. Well-known Duke University physician and psychiatrist Koenig offers a practical overview of the benefits of the relationship between religion and medicine as well as a detailed survey of the ways in which religion and medicine might work together beneficially. Using research studies of medical patients, he demonstrates that many patients say that their religious practices and beliefs enable them to cope with their illnesses or diagnoses. Koenig broadens his study to focus on the ways that religious belief influences mental health, immunological and neurological diseases, cardiovascular problems and longevity. For example, one study links the incidence of type-II diabetes with nonattendance at religious services; those not attending such services were twice as likely as attendees to have elevated levels of a protein that predicts the development of the disease. Koenig’s helpful book concludes by encouraging health care professionals to be attentive to their patients’ religious behaviors as a part of their overall medical history. (Sept.)
The Pope’s Legion: The Multinational Fighting Force That Defended the Vatican
Charles A. Coulombe. Palgrave McMillan, $26.95 (272p) ISBN 9780230600584
With a makeup and passion reminiscent of the forces that fought the armies of Mordor in Tolkien’s Return of the King, the Pontifical Zouaves occupy a little-known chapter in Catholic Church history. Coulombe (Vicars of Christ) tells their story in detail, claiming this is the first time it has been related in such depth in English. The Zouaves, who took their name and style of dress from Algerian tribesmen, came from four continents and at least 17 countries to fight a 10-year war that began with the Sardinian seizure of Romagna in 1860 and Pope Pius IX’s decision to resist the emerging Italian nationalist movement. Although the Zouaves’ quest ultimately failed, their history is replete with many heroic moments, and their deep spirituality later influenced Catholics in other military units. Coulombe acknowledges that few today treasure the Zouaves’ memory because of a general disdain for Catholic militancy, but he is heartened by a recent revival of interest in their story. Military aficionados will enjoy this as much as readers attracted by the Zouaves’ connection to Catholic history. (Sept.)
Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha
Jack Kerouac. Viking, $24.95 (160p) ISBN 9780670019571
In 1958, Kerouac published his groundbreaking novel The Dharma Bums, which met with great acclaim and has since been heralded as the opening salvo of an indigenous American Buddhism. This fall, Viking is repackaging that novel in a 50th-anniversary edition while also releasing Kerouac’s unsung and long-forgotten tale of the Buddha’s life, published in book form for the first time. The titular theme of “wake up” is rehearsed throughout Kerouac’s story of Prince Siddartha Gotama, who left an indolent but meaningless life of riches to embrace asceticism and enlightenment. Drawing on multiple sutras and accounts of the Buddha’s life, Kerouac focuses on Gotama’s renunciation of worldly things by repeating that trope with several other wealthy characters who forsake riches in favor of nirvana. The prose is as meandering as it is beautiful, with Kerouac’s Buddha spouting memorable sayings about sensation, illusion, emptiness and suffering. If there is an almost evangelistic zeal to this loose collection of axioms and Buddhist conversion stories, Kerouac at least states that openly: “The purpose is to convert,” he explains at the outset. (Sept.)
AUDIO
Let’s Face It
Kirk Douglas, read by Jason Alexander. Blackstone Audio, unabridged, five CDs, 6 hrs., $19.95 ISBN 9781433209918
Jason Alexander, though certainly a multifaceted actor with a wide array of stage and screen accomplishments, remains inextricably linked to playing George Costanza on Seinfeld. Narrating Douglas’s latest memoir, Alexander walks a delicate tightrope. He speaks in a sage-like tone and pitch that capture the spirit and essence of Douglas without falling into the trap of mimicry. Some of the most delightful passages involve Douglas’s recollections of witty exchanges among his show business contemporaries, almost all of whom the 91-year-old Douglas has outlived. Like many leading men of his era, Douglas was forced to downplay his ethnic heritage on the way to mainstream stardom, so his memories of Yiddish culture are especially poignant. Alexander treats the material with grace and dignity. He also delivers an especially memorable portrayal of Douglas’s devoted wife Anne. Granted, some of the musings about contemporary politics and pop culture may seem random, but fans looking to savor a connection with a living legend will not be disappointed. A Wiley hardcover (reviewed online). (May)
While America Aged: How Pension Debts Ruined General Motoros, Stopped the NYC Subways, Bankrupted San Diego, and Loom as the Next Finanial Crisis
Roger Lowenstein, read by Michael McConnohie. BBC Audiobooks America, unabridged, eight CDs, 9.5 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 9781602834385
Reports on pension insecurity, union battles and financial instability are unsettling stuff. Which makes it all the more worthwhile that Michael McConnohie reads Lowenstein’s front-line report on pension squabbles in American urban outposts. McConnohie, who sounds like NBC anchor Brian Williams with a bit more gravel in his throat, renders the story of aging workers and how to support them with stern authority. If at times McConnohie is so stentorian as to sound like he has been carved out of granite, he does a solid job of underscoring the seriousness of the problems that Lowenstein investigates. Listening to him is like taking in a particularly in-depth audio version of the nightly news. A Penguin hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 17). (May)
A Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Father
Augusten Burroughs, read by the author. Macmillan Audio, unabridged, eight CDs, 9 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 9781427204257
Superb production values transform an ordinary audio into a special experience. Original songs by Patti Smith, Sea Wolf, Ingrid Michaelson and Tegan Quin (from Tegan and Sara), said to be inspired by this work, are a welcome accompaniment to Burroughs’s dark relationship with his father. So, too, are the wonderful sound effects, including the cacophony of a Mexican outdoor market and frightening forest noises. The narration itself doesn’t live up to the carefully orchestrated acoustical touches nor is it as good as the author’s delightful audio renditions of his previous works. Burroughs reads extremely slowly, as if he is savoring every word he has written; however, the average listener will eventually cringe at the plodding pace and emphasis on every syllable. In contrast, the quick rhythms of his own younger self as well as those of his Southern parents are welcome diversions. This audio would best serve adult speakers of English as a second language brushing up on their listening skills. Native speakers will need hefty doses of caffeine to get through it. A St. Martin’s hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 24). (May)
Selections from Moyers On Democracy
Bill Moyers, read by the author. Random House Audio, unabridged selections, five CDs, 6 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 9780739357965
Moyers came to national prominence as a key policy and media advisor inside LBJ’s inner circle and went on to achieve tremendous acclaim for his ground-breaking approach to news reporting and documentary filmmaking. Never one to shy away from controversial topics, Moyers has recently found himself on the front lines of a number of political and cultural battles. This collection of speeches provides a clarion call with regard to such matters as media conglomeration, the growing divide between the haves and have-nots, and threats to religious liberty. For the most part, Moyers remains focused on preaching to his choir, seeking to motivate complacent allies rather than change the hearts and minds of foes. Yet, Moyers’ address to West Point cadets about national defense and his lecture to a group of environmental leaders on the urgency of building bridges with the Christian Evangelical community, offer at least some potential paradigm shifts for transcending the current Red State/Blue State divide. A Doubleday hardcover (reviewed online). (May)
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Our Reviewers |
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Barbara Axelson |
Stephen Milioti |
Isabelle Gason |
