Nonfiction Reviews

Forbes magazine’s editor and CEO collaborates with classical scholar Prevas to examine the lives of the ancient world’s greatest leaders, including Julius Caesar, Hannibal and Alexander the Great, and the lessons they have for today’s business people. Interspersed throughout are 20th- and 21st-century examples of leaders whose careers parallel those of the ancient leaders, men like Alfred Sloan, who, like Augustus consolidating the Roman Empire, transformed the motley collection of automobile companies that was General Motors in the early 1920s into the world’s largest corporation. Unfortunately, the historical studies rest uneasily alongside the contemporary business cases, which are often tenuously related to the ancient stories. Worse, the entire work rests on the unsubstantiated claim that businesses are like military empires, and the lessons drawn are often banal; for example, from the story of Hannibal’s daring winter march over the Alps to take the Romans by surprise, the authors suggest we should “think outside the box,” respond to attacks and pay attention to detail. (June)

This collaboration between broadcasting powerhouses Shipman and Kay gives career women explicit permission to demand the balance that’s been missing in their lives. The authors assert that after decades of trying to outdo men or fighting the “Mommy Wars” in the office trenches of the 1980s and 1990s, women have gained enough corporate clout to start changing the workplace to suit their needs. Shipman and Kay review the depth of women’s influence as consumers and earners, maintaining that their power gives them the right and the ability to ask for flexibility in their work lives, to negotiate assertively and effectively, to say no and to give up the guilt associated with getting their needs met. Through Shipman and Kay’s own stories of struggling with demanding work and home lives and anecdotes from other working mothers, the authors make a convincing argument that with some mental and emotional effort, women can create their ideal work and home lives. Filled with pragmatic and optimistic steps, this book will inspire readers to set in motion a flexibility-driven business revolution that can benefit all women and men, families and workforces. (June)

Perry (Population: 485) is that nowadays rare memoirist whose eccentric upbringing inspires him to humor and sympathetic insight instead of trauma mongering and self-pity. His latest essays chronicle a year on 37 acres of land with his wife, daughters and titular menagerie of livestock (who are fascinating, exasperating personalities in their own right). But these luminous pieces meander back to his childhood on the hardscrabble Wisconsin dairy farm where his parents, members of a tiny fundamentalist Christian sect, raised him and dozens of siblings and foster-siblings, many of them disabled. Perry’s latter-day story is a lifestyle-farming comedy, as he juggles freelance writing assignments with the feedings, chores and construction projects that he hopes will lend him some mud-spattered authenticity. Woven through are tender, uncloying recollections of the homespun virtues of his family and community, from which sprout lessons on the labors and rewards of nurturance (and the occasional need to slaughter what you’ve nurtured). Perry writes vividly about rural life; peck at any sentence—“One of the [chickens] stretches, one leg and one wing back in the manner of a ballet dancer warming up before the barre”—and you’ll find a poetic evocation of barnyard grace. Photos. (May)

At first glance, Beha’s situation is enviable: the 27-year-old Princeton graduate quits his job and is welcomed back into his parents’ Manhattan apartment, where he decides to dedicate himself to reading all 51 volumes of the Harvard Classics Library, a “five-foot shelf” of (mostly) Western literature from Plato to Darwin. If only it were that easy: he must come to terms with the death of a beloved aunt early in the year, then is himself afflicted with a torn meniscus and a serious case of Lyme disease. With so much personal drama, the classics frequently take a back seat, and several volumes go completely unremarked. Beha spends the most time on those books that spoke most keenly to his personal circumstances; not only does he discuss John Stuart Mill’s existential crisis at length, for example, he compares his own reaction to reading Wordsworth to the philosopher’s. The broader conclusions Beha (now an assistant editor at Harper’s) reaches about cultural values and the meaning of life are disappointingly pat; even the young memoirist concedes, “I haven’t written the book I set out to write.” (May)

In an eloquent, no-holds-barred indictment of globalization, Jeter, former Washington Post bureau chief for southern Africa, weaves the narratives of prostitutes in Buenos Aires and cab drivers in Brazil, tomato sellers in Zambia and an upwardly mobile black woman in Chicago into an analysis of how globalization and free trade have transformed many of the world’s manufacturing hubs into “global flea markets.” There are true moments of heartbreak, particularly when Jeter shows how globalization has slowed progress in postapartheid South Africa and mingles with racism in Brazil, where employers and the state target poor black women for forced sterilization for the putative sake of a larger work force. “The ghetto is in its ascendancy,” he writes, challenging free trade orthodoxy and its ability to reduce poverty with examples of nations like Chile which have rethought their attitudes toward globalization and are moving toward new strength and independence. Jeter’s stinging criticisms are a catalyst for a truthful and painful discussion about who a “global economy” helps and who it destroys. (May)

Journalist Peters draws on 10 years of reporting from Afghanistan and Pakistan for this important examination of “the nexus of [drug] smugglers and extremists” in the global war against terrorists. Citing firsthand testimony, classified intelligence reports and specialized studies, Peters builds a solid case for her contention that the “union of narco-traffickers, terrorist groups, and the international criminal underworld is the new axis of evil.” Ground zero is Afghanistan, where the rejuvenated Taliban depend on opium for 70% of its funds and there is “overwhelming circumstantial evidence” of Osama bin Laden’s involvement in the drug trade. Peters argues that the failure to halt this money flow to terrorist networks is “the single greatest failure in the war on terror,” and warns that stanching the flood of drug money into terrorist coffers is essential. The author offers a less-than-convincing strategy to sever the link, including “military strikes against drug lords,” “alternative-livelihood programs” for small farmers, regional diplomatic initiatives and a public relations campaign. Prescriptions aside, Peters has exhaustively framed one of the thorniest problems facing policy makers in this long war. (May)

Aside from emphasizing the obvious horrors of human trafficking, this book offers little useful information about its causes and consequences. Social activist Chalke (The Lost Message of Jesus) spotlights mostly girls and women who were duped or forced into slavery and prostitution, depicting former slaves as anonymous victims of a shady power that the book makes only a marginal attempt to investigate. The anecdotes (relayed out of context) combined with the moody portraits of trafficked women feel bizarrely staged and off-putting. While this isn’t a book that gives the reader even a general understanding of the mechanisms of human trafficking, Chalke does offer familiar actions everyone can take to ensure they don’t contribute to the business—like buying fair-trade goods and organizing petitions and fund-raisers for groups that fight trafficking. Chalke wants to call ordinary readers to action, but the content of the book will resonate deepest with those already invested in grassroots groups that fight human trafficking. (May)

Sharp shares the story of his astonishing rise out of the Toronto ghettos to founder, chairman and CEO of the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the largest group of five-star hotels in the world. Born to Polish-Jewish immigrants, Sharp began his career building apartment buildings and entered the hotel-building business in 1961. With his wife, Rosalie, the interior designer for the hotels, he decided to differentiate his brand by focusing on midsize and luxury hotels where employees are expected to deliver the best service. As the business grew, Sharp shifted his attention to charitable pursuits, including founding the Terry Fox marathon to benefit cancer research. While his story is impressive and inspiring—the company was named one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work for in America, and weathered 9/11 and the SARS outbreak with aplomb—it is bogged down with pedestrian details of the deals and process of opening many of the empire’s 150 hotels in 40 countries. While rabid fans of the hotels and of a good rags-to-riches story may cheer, other readers might be left unsatisfied. (May)

Worth gained her midwife training in the 1950s among an Anglican order of nuns dedicated to ensuring safer childbirth for the poor living amid the Docklands slums on the East End of London. Her engaging memoir retraces those early years caring for the indigent and unfortunate during the pinched postwar era in London, when health care was nearly nonexistent, antibiotics brand-new, sanitary facilities rare, contraception unreliable and families with 13 or more children the norm. Working alongside the trained nurses and midwives of St. Raymund Nonnatus (a pseudonym she’s given the place), Worth made frequent visits to the tenements that housed the dock workers and their families, often in the dead of night on her bicycle. Her well-polished anecdotes are teeming with character detail of some of the more memorable nurses she worked with, such as the six-foot-two Camilla Fortescue-Cholmeley-Browne, called Chummy, who renounced her genteel upbringing to become a nurse, or the dotty old Sister Monica Joan, who fancied cakes immoderately. Patients included Molly, only 19 and already trapped in poverty and degradation with several children and an abusive husband; Mrs. Conchita Warren, who was delivering her 24th baby; or the birdlike vagrant, Mrs. Jenkins, whose children were taken away from her when she entered the workhouse. (Apr.)

Gifford has led an eventful life, one previously chronicled in the 1992 memoir I Can’t Believe I Said That! In her sixth book, the talk-show host (15 years on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee; a year and counting on The Today Show) and singer shares more stories, observations and corny jokes in pursuit of providing food for thought, amusement or inspiration. In her introduction, she writes, “I find the humor in tragedy and the underlying sadness in laughter. And in all of it I find hope. I hope you will, too.” Then it’s off to the races: she claims to have invented Spanx, describes her “gnarly” feet (and foot-lift at age 54), proclaims her happiness at her lack of technology savvy and describes an awkward visit to the gynecologist. Among the wacky stories and “odd-servations,” there is serious fare; for example, she touches upon her famous husband’s infidelity, the sweatshop scandal that plagued her in the 1990s and her father’s death. She also writes about her children, religion and various creative pursuits. That’s where the title comes in: while Gifford notes she is no longer fertile in terms of reproduction, she is “Fertile Myrtle” in terms of her creativity and productivity. Fans will be delighted—and detractors will be irritated—by the book’s mix of earnest life lessons and self-conscious kookiness. (Apr.)

A distinguished scholar of American history makes a significant contribution to Oxford’s excellent series Pivotal Moments in American History in this definitive analysis of the United States’ 1877 war with the Nez Percé. West (The Contested Plains) integrates a broad spectrum of sources to depict the fate of a people whose history of friendship with the U.S. dated to 1805. The Nez Percé were caught up in the questions posed by the Civil War and the period of expansion that followed: “who would be the Americans and what obligations would bind them together?” Such questions influenced Idaho and Oregon, where the Nez Percé lived, as much as Massachusetts and Virginia. The 1877 war, the Nez Percé’s epic journey to reach the Canadian border, American conquest and Indian exile is the heart of the book, and West tells it brilliantly. No less compelling is his account of the Nez Percé taking up farming and making and selling Indian trinkets, developing their image as “beloved losers” and negotiating their return home—on white terms, but with honor and integrity upheld. 40 b&w illus., maps. (Apr.)

In this inspiring account, noted journalist and playwright Nelson documents the wartime journey of Greta Kuckhoff, a young German, and her valiant colleagues who formed a potent resistance to the Hitler regime in its glory days. When Kuckhoff returned home from America in 1929 after university study, she joined with a band of young Communists, leftist Jews and other German antifascists to thwart the rise of Hitler at the risk of torture and death. Nelson explains in telling detail about the Nazis’ tight grip on power after the 1933 Reichstag fire, eliminating all political foes, including Jews and other “non-Aryan” types, yet the Kuckhoffs, Mildred and Avrid Harnack, and other members of the Red Orchestra (Rote Kapelle) fought fascist censorship, slid their people into Nazi ministries, helped Jews to flee and provided the Allies with vital information to aid the war effort. Nelson’s riveting book speaks proudly of Greta, Mildred and all of the nearly three million Germans who resisted Hitler’s iron will, and gives the reader a somber view of hell from the inside. (Apr.)

A precarious world recuperating from the horrors of WWII and clawing for stability emerges in former BBC producer and author Moss’s portrait of Britain and America in the postwar world. While today American dominance may seem an inevitable fact, Moss outlines how a crumbling Great Britain “turned over its now-faded world leadership to the United States.” With great attention to historical details, Moss (Klaus Fuchs) evinces the various American motivations for accepting that position: to limit the Communist threat, which in turn would limit the need for future defense spending; to unite the disparate European nations and secure the American ideal of “free institutions”; and to maintain European markets for American goods. Moss describes the political and diplomatic give-and-take that led to the Marshall Plan, NATO and other steps that made America a world power. Very informative, this book will also entertain readers with Moss’s irreverent metaphors (he compares Ernest Bevin’s reluctance to become entangled in European alliances to “a commitment-phobic man on a date”). It’s a timely analysis of the development of America’s role in international diplomacy at a time when the world’s balance of power could again shift. Photos. (Apr.)

With a crisp detachment that belies his vulnerability and caring, Stein (The Lonely Patient) masterfully records the relentless pain—physical and psychological—that brings Lucy Fields, a 29-year-old Vicodin addict, to his door with “a peculiarly common modern American condition.” Though the literate and likable Brown University med school prof administers another drug that should block the effects of the Vicodin, he readily admits its success is far from perfect. A daunting addiction unfolds; Fields, college-educated and from an intact family, paradoxically defies yet also encompasses the stereotypical drug-user—she is both self-aware and self-destructive. It’s Lucy’s arc of illness that keeps this haunting narrative moving forward, but it’s Stein’s clear-eyed compassion that catapults her story from pathetic to sympathetic. “To enjoy treating addicts... one needed a sense of irony, the belief that everyone’s life vacillated between euphoria and sorrow,” Stein says. Experts might disagree on treating addiction, but Stein’s prescription is hard to dispute: first treat the illness, and then the aching soul sickness that caused it. “To work with addicts is to enter the profession of possibility,” he learns. In this uplifting chronicle, Stein celebrates Lucy’s victory and his own. (Apr.)

Hornstein, a professor of psychology at Mount Holyoke, investigates personal testimonies of madness for what they can teach us about mental illness and its treatment. The author spent several years attending meetings of “survivors’ ” groups, such as the Hearing Voices Network in the U.K., whose members hear voices but reject the notion that they are mentally ill. In addition to these stories, Hornstein presents many forms of personal expression by those suffering from mental illnesses, including archived video recordings, writings through history and the artwork of the Prinzhorn collection (of which the eponymous jacket is an example), the basis for the modern understanding of “outsider art.” Hornstein concludes that mental illness is primarily based in trauma, as opposed to the dominant view of biological and hereditary origins. Behind the psychiatric profession’s attachment to such views she sees, as do other psychiatric dissidents, the profiteering influence of prescription drug companies. A wealth of compelling characters includes the eccentric and the heartbreakingly resilient. Despite some repetition of narrative detail, the fascinating avenues Hornstein pursues and the humanity and thoroughness of this exploration make a serious contribution to critiques of contemporary psychiatry. (Apr.)

Admitting that he was 11 or 12 before realizing “Give My Regards to Broadway” was not about the Broadway of his hometown, Long Branch, N.J., former U.S. poet laureate Pinsky (The Figured Wheel) also makes it clear that his interest in smalltown America is not all nostalgic: “There is a horror to the small-town gaze, its readiness to judge and categorize, its narrowness.” Kicking off with a consideration of Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson, a singular allegory of racial consciousness, Pinsky concludes with a 1924 KKK rally in his hometown. Pinsky builds his portrait of the American small town through an accretion of recurring works, artists and themes, covered in passing and usually in unexpected ways. Besides other literary depictions—of Faulkner, Wilder, Cather and others—several films are Pinsky’s focus: Hitchcock’s study of a serial killer in a small town, Shadow of a Doubt, as well as Sturges’s outsider-inspired The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek. There is an element of strain in later portions to maintain an earlier momentum. But overall, this book is characterized by a poet’s eye, balanced sentiment and learning worn lightly. 17 illus. (Apr.)

The genius of novelist Jean Rhys (1890–1979) is painfully depicted in this compelling short biography, exploring what it was like to live such a tortured life. Rhys was overlooked for decades until Wide Sargasso Sea, her postmodern shift of emphasis on Jane Eyre, became an instant sensation in 1966. Three times married to ne’er-do-wells and enduring an unhappy dollop of motherhood, Rhys was better known as the lover of Ford Maddox Ford. According to British author Pizzichini (Dead Man’s Wages), both Ford’s “predatory paternalism” and his novelist’s flattery attracted and repelled her, as did the criminal element of society. Pizzichini searches Rhys’s background for clues to her self-destructive judgments. Born in Dominica as Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, she was later a free-spirited young outsider in starchy, empirical England and elsewhere in Europe. Stuck with men who couldn’t make ends meet, Rhys had a brief career in prostitution and also worked as a chorus girl. Evocative and empathetic, Pizzichini still offers no fully satisfactory explanation for the explosiveness of Rhys’s interior life: “She found life difficult because she found it hard to be herself.” 20 photos. (Apr. 29)

Part oceanography lesson, part memoir, this cheerful book examines Ebbesmeyer’s life and work as a pioneering oceanographer (the first to work for Mobil/Standard Oil, in 1969) and connoisseur of beach-combed artifacts. His primary interest is ocean currents, especially gyres—great circular, interlocking currents that sweep the Earth’s waters with clockwork regularity—and the flotsam they carry around the planet. Everything from athletic shoes and bathtub toys to messages in bottles and corpses have provided data to help Ebbesmeyer trace currents. He recounts how flotsam guided colonization and exploration, from Norse explorers to Christopher Columbus (the first to master the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre). Today, Ebbesmeyer says, the human propensity for creating garbage has also made flotsam an environmental concern, with too many studies “neatly filed away and forgotten.” This account, made lively with the help of journalist Scigliano (Puget Sound), might encourage many readers to dream of “roundi[ng] the gyres” like Ebbesmeyer, “searching out the world’s trashiest beaches.” Illus. (Apr.)

Coen, a Chicago Tribune reporter, dissects one of the most pivotal mob criminal prosecutions, the Family Secrets case, in his revealing, shocking book on self-destructive Cosa Nostra members engaged in a death dance of suspicion and betrayal. Members of the Chicago Syndicate, also known as the Outfit, under the taut leadership of Frank Calabrese Sr., did their share of graft, bribery, extortion, bookmaking and murder, much like in the glory Capone days, but in 1998, Calabresi’s son Frank Jr.—who had “had it with his father’s abusive ways and broken promises”—decided to become an FBI turncoat and get the goods on his father and the powerful men around him. Giving an unfettered glimpse into the strata of the Chicago criminal organization, Coen tallies the strategies of the clever mob mouthpieces, the extensive wise guy body count, and the Feds’ relentless pursuit through the indictment and sentencing. Superbly crafted, this is a tragic, clear-sighted account of how Chicago’s mighty mob was brought to heel. Photos, map. (Apr.)

The phrase “drinking the Kool-Aid” is a mystery to young people today, as is “45rpm.” Even older folks don’t know the origins of “raked over the coals” and “cut to the chase.” Keyes (The Quote Verifier) uses his skill as a sleuth of sources to track what he calls “retrotalk”: “a slippery slope of puzzling allusions to past phenomena.” He surveys the origins of “verbal fossils” from commercials (Kodak moment), jurisprudence (Twinkie defense), movies (pod people), cartoons (Caspar Milquetoast) and literature (brave new world). Some pop permutations percolated over decades: Radio’s Take It or Leave It spawned a catch phrase so popular the program was retitled The $64 Question and later returned as TV’s The $64,000 Question. Keyes’s own book Is There Life After High School? became both a Broadway musical and a catch phrase. Some entries are self-evident or have speculative origins, but Keyes’s nonacademic style and probing research make this both an entertaining read and a valuable reference work. (Apr.)

Collected through intimate encounters over an impressive range of travels, Mexico’s menagerie of voices tell the unique story of contemporary China’s seismic social shifts from the point of view of the marginalized and disaffected. A musician and writer, Mexico is a remarkably eloquent and perceptive participant-observer. Focusing on and dissecting broader cultural, political and economic issues in episodic chapters, he puts faces and names to the staggering statistics. We learn about the government-estimated “5 to 10 million active homosexuals,” through the story of a closeted graphic designer. We meet an infamous photojournalist who chronicles China’s mining disasters, corruption, car accidents and environmental degradation. We encounter bohemians—80-year-old women selling marijuana on the side of busy streets and slackers whose indolence is a protest against the frenzied consumerism that surrounds them. One such self-proclaimed “social parasite” opened a bar in a trendy area of Beijing to sell drinks at cost and only to his friends. The overall effect is a seamless portrait of a complex modern society in which an ancient culture persists in spite of lightning-speed economic changes. (Apr.)

Industrial hog farming joins slavery and massacres of Native Americans on the list of Christianity’s sins in this muddled manifesto. Animal-rights litigator Wise (Rattling the Cage) investigates the titular North Carolina riverbank, where Smithfield Foods’ pig slaughterhouse now occupies land once worked by slaves and, earlier, inhabited by Indians before Europeans evicted them. The point of his ham-fisted and somewhat offensive comparison is that, in contrast to the Indians’ fauna-friendly religion, Christian teachings license a cruel “dominion” over animals, just as they once justified slavery and violence against indigenous peoples. Wise’s disorganized exposé of the pork industry lumps genuine outrages together with banalities; he seethes when pork scientists treat pigs as statistics rather than as individuals and frowns on paintings of pigs at the World Pork Expo. Worse, his thesis that religious beliefs drive the mistreatment of animals is overstated—it was spiritual malaise more than economic interests, he speculates, that caused Native Americans to start overhunting deer for colonial deerskin export markets. Readers who root around a bit will find more cogent discussions of animal-rights issues elsewhere. (Apr.)

In this striking analysis of American global dominance, Lipschutz (Global Politics as if People Mattered) explores the formal and unwritten rules behind what he regards as an economic and political hegemony of unprecedented scope. This American-guided “Imperium” (as opposed to just empire, which for Lipschutz carries misleadingly limited territorial connotations) is “a mechanism of global discipline and order” that, while centered in Washington, incorporates various centers of state and suprastate power—including allied governments and institutions like NATO and the WTO. Its roots run far back, but it advanced considerably in practical and formal ways post-9/11, when the Bush administration declared what German political theorist Carl Schmitt called a state of “exception” to expand the sovereign authority of the executive, buttressed by a global economic system founded on the dollar. This is a fascinating and vital addition to literature on globalization, empire, citizenship and international law; a sure bet for readers interested in the true limits of, and prospects for, “change” in a new American administration. (Apr.)

Longman and Boshara, both of the think tank the New America Foundation, tackle the most worrisome of American early 21st-century problems: environmental preservation, exurbanization and car culture, the country’s uneven health-care system and the debt and credit crises. They connect seemingly disparate U.S. social ills: urban sprawl, car-choked highways and the health-care crisis, for example, and they offer policy solutions from the core Progressive ideals of the early 20th century—including the practice of thrift as a road to financial independence. They note a return to yeomanry—their term for Americans’ increasing rates of entrepreneurship and independent contract work to escape the “wage slavery” of working for a large corporation. Calling for “stronger,” rather than bigger government to regulate big business, they evoke Teddy Roosevelt’s assertion that regulation should only “give each man as good a chance as possible to develop the qualities he has in him.” Despite the subtitle, this is not a lofty blueprint but an astute policy guide, communicating the urgency for reform in health care, banking and transportation without resorting to shrillness or stridency. (Apr.)

In her latest book, Kremezi, award-winning author and esteemed expert on Greek cuisine, presents a collection of more than 100 recipes. Drawing on the ancient traditions of southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, these dishes employ a wide range of aromatics, from smoky Aleppo peppers to fragrant dried rosebuds and wild fennel. A helpful guide offers tips on purchasing, storing, grinding and experimenting with lesser-known seasonings such as nigella, which is similar to aniseed, and mahlep (wild cherry seeds). Recipes range from the familiar (hummus garnished with paprika and sautéed whole chickpeas, lamb and eggplant moussaka) to the exotic (Tunisian meat pies, mussels fried in ouzo batter), and all place special emphasis on health by highlighting fresh produce and minimizing dairy fats. Full-page color photographs offer extra guidance. The soul of the book, however, is the section dedicated to spice blends, sauces and condiments, such as a Catalan roasted tomato sauce with almonds, hazelnuts and dried ñora peppers, that can be prepared ahead, making hot and spicy weeknight meals a breeze. (May)

Bhide (The Everything Indian Cookbook) provides a personal look at modern Indian cooking, showcasing new versions of her native cuisine that pay homage to tradition but also acknowledge the everyday lifestyle of India today. While Bhide’s recipes use authentic spices and techniques, she departs from the stereotype of complicated meals that take hours to prepare. Her recipes focus on spices and flavor, spanning the gamut of Indian cuisine. She also includes recipes for meat, rice, breads and desserts. Highlights include coriander-and-fennel crusted lamb chops, curried scallops, and onion bread stir-fry. Scattered throughout are personal stories on a variety of subjects, including a visit to Vaishno Devi Maa’s Temple and recollections of a meal prepared by grand master Indian chef Imtiaz Qureshi. Bhide also provides a detailed spice pantry section and an insider’s guide to time- and labor-saving ingredients. The author offers a refreshing look at the diverse and changing cuisine of India, with a new perspective that will be embraced by Indian food lovers everywhere. (Apr.)

Setting aside Spanish, Italian and Greek olive oils, Gage (Bread and Chocolate) profiles 15 American producers and highlights olive oil’s merits to demonstrate the difference it makes in food and to emphasize that American oils can be as good as those from Europe. Gage’s brief portraits of different oil companies are engaging and informative: at the outset, she explains olive oil fundamentals—production, the industry’s American history, classification, food pairing—but the profiles bring it all to life as she describes visiting California groves and her conversations with the passionate people who run them. The recipes use olive oil both subtly (as in a red wine calamari stew) and overtly (mashed potatoes drizzled with olive oil, for example). The dishes, which generally require only intermediate kitchen skills (though sometimes above-average access to specialty ingredients, such as Persian lime olive oil), are mostly Mediterranean inspired, and in Gage’s detailed introductions she often recommends specific oil varieties to use. Home cooks will be glad to come across this appreciation of a versatile and delicious ingredient. (Apr.)

Former talk show host Lake, producer of the documentary The Business of Being Born, joins with Epstein, the film’s director, to further probe the subject of birth in America. Asserting that the “high tech, low touch” trend in medicalized births has usurped parents’ sense of power and choice, the authors present a detailed examination of the birthing experience, beginning with their own personal accounts. Employing the premise that although one can’t predict what will happen during birth, one can prepare, they present options that women should consider, including home birth and the use of a midwife or doula. Lake and Epstein point out that while 99% percent of births in the U.S. take place in hospitals and one-third are cesareans, the vast majority of births are not high risk and may not require medical intervention. But the fear of pain combined with unnecessary hospital protocols cause many couples to narrow or relinquish their options. The authors discuss the pros and cons of such interventions as episiotomies, epidurals and electronic monitors, and encourage women to carefully question their practitioners and hospital personnel. Above all, the authors advocate a safe and empowered birth, whether one chooses a hospital, home or birth center. (May)

This volume by Allyn, director of the literacy organization LitLife, reminds parents that through reading aloud they can “teach the beauty of language and joys of rhythm and rhyme” and introduce their offspring to the “Big Wide World.” Part one of this book—a combination of Jim Trelease’s Read-Aloud Handbook and Anita Silvey’s 100 Best Books for Children—offers 10 reasons why parents should read to their kids: to develop shared values, to fall in love with language, to build comprehension, among them. Useful, too, are Allyn’s Four Keys, revealed in an apt mnemonic, READ: a Ritual of coming together in an Environment conducive to reading with Access to the right book at the right time for a Dialogue. Chapter Four’s 14 landmark books, from Pat the Bunny to Harry Potter (with Margaret Wise Brown, Dr. Seuss and Maurice Sendak titles included) will resonate with parents, but the best feature may be a brief section called “How to Read Aloud,” which teaches parents exactly how and why to read to children in order to elicit interest, engagement and response. The bulk of the book is Part three, “all the best books for the moments that matter most,” an alphabetical listing of 50 themes, from adoption to “New Baby” to “Your Imagination.” (Apr.)

Autism is now the most commonly diagnosed developmental disability, with one in 150 children falling somewhere within the “spectrum.” Koegel, a psychologist and LaZebnik, the mother of an autistic son, follow up Overcoming Autism with an expert-cum-parent perspective plus the contribution (and pencil drawings) of LaZebnik’s 15-year-old son, Andrew. The first of six sections reviews terms, techniques and interventions essential to understanding and managing life with autism. The following sections focus on making and keeping friendships; dating, sex and romance; successful school experience; life beyond high school and college; and improving daily life. Each chapter features real-life narratives from the LaZebniks and Koegel; lists of practices and prompts; FAQs; anecdotes about kids and issues like distinguishing between private and public behavior or how parents can supervise from a distance; a “making it work for your kid” section; and sample dialogues for teaching and communication. Some of the suggestions, for example, for dealing with bullies, carrying on a meaningful conversation and developing good manners, are so good they ought to be taught to every middle and high schooler, autistic or not. This book shows parents how their autistic kids can function and thrive with dignity, self-respect and autonomy, something many parents never believed possible. (Mar.)

In 1911, the Louvre’s most famous denizen disappeared. Two books recount the sensational crime and a field of fascinating characters.

In this charming account of the brazen 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre and the two-year quest to bring her home, Scotti (Basilica) explores not only the puzzling crime but also the source of the painting’s universal appeal and its provenance. On the morning of Tuesday, August 22, La Joconde was found missing from the Salon Carré. Even with help of renowned French criminologist Alphonse Bertillon, the trail was cold from the start. Rumors abounded about greedy, wealthy American collectors and the Louvre’s lax security. No one in Paris was above suspicion, not even the young Pablo Picasso. While the portrait was finally recovered in Florence in 1913, its theft apparently the result of a young Italian’s misguided patriotism (the painting’s probable subject is a young Florentine, Lisa del Giocondo), Scotti is eager to remind readers that the mystery is far from over. The true motive for the theft—and the possible connection to a larger ring of art thieves—remains tantalizingly unknown by the end of this lively recounting. Photos. (Apr.)

The 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa serves as the centerpiece for the Edgar Award–winning Hooblers’ (In Darkness Death) unwieldy account of life and crime in belle époque Paris. But the Hooblers devote so much time to the history of detection, in both fiction and real life, that the prized painting’s disappearance soon slips the reader’s mind. The authors locate the French obsession with the painting’s disappearance in a general fascination with crime, from the fictional thief Arsène Lupin, the hero of popular serials, to real 19th-century figures such as Vidocq, a former criminal turned investigator who inspired Poe—and Alphonse Bertillon, whose criminal identification system based on body measurements was a precursor to the science of biometrics. A lengthy look at the Parisian art scene is overly digressive, though Picasso and his pal Apollinaire’s tenuous connection to the Mona Lisa theft provides one of the book’s rare dramatic sections. When the painting is finally recovered in Florence in 1913, the reader is left as unsatisfied by the Hooblers’ scattered history as by the Italian-born thief’s dubious rationale for the theft. 16 pages of b&w photos. (Apr. 3)