Nonfiction Book Reviews

Novelist and naturalist Bass (The Lives of Rocks) gets up close and personal with local fauna, flora and folks in this account of the passing seasons in northwestern Montana’s Yaak Valley wilderness range, where he and his family—four of the estimated 150 inhabitants of the half-a-million-acre region—have dwelled for 13 years. January is the dark month; March heralds the mud season; May brings hard rains and the first aspen buds. July and August are when fire, “a forest’s breath,” both renews the landscape and threatens homes. Come October, “a heroic fatigue” sets in after spring’s heady growth and summer’s steady pace, and spirits surge on a brittle, sunny day in December. Bass complements naturalistic observations with anecdotes about his neighbors, like the accommodating old-timers who winch his truck out of a ravine. Throughout, the author anchors his celebration of nature’s elegant order with his rhapsodic relationship to the wild marsh outside his writing cabin, and the uncompromising wilderness it represents. Bass has mined his valley for several other books, but there is no shortage of nature’s grace for him to exalt. (July)

Haupt, former raptor rehabilitator and seabird researcher, embarks on an urban ornithological expedition to defend the honor of the crow, the ubiquitous bird whose corvid family precedes Homo sapiens by several million years and whose symbolic and actual role as a scavenger and “liaison” between life and death evokes reactions ranging from revulsion to awe. Attracted to the sight of the birds nesting in her backyard, the author follows them as they forage in the moss along neighborhood streets and cavort in a nearby wildlife preserve. Her forays into Seattle’s “tenacious wild” demonstrate evidence of the crow community’s social complexity, their extensive vocabulary and fierce loyalty to their mates and species, Haupt enlivens her observations with tidbits from crow mythology and history, discovering that their bad press dates to the 14th-century outbreak of the bubonic plague when the birds scavenged the dead bodies lying in the streets, “beginning, horribly, with the eyeballs.” Despite some awkward prose, Haupt succeeds in humanizing the object of her naturalist obsession and affection. (July)

Gerber (Awakening the Entrepreneur Within) turns his attention to business invention in this slim, straightforward book that distills the essential knowledge needed to create a completely original company. He identifies four essential facets of building a new company—visual, emotional, functional and financial—and the five essential skills: concentration, discrimination, organization, innovation and communication. Gerber shares success stories and insightful advice on how to conquer obstacles. He ends the book with a noble challenge to any company—to be a business with a conscience, to be responsible for the condition of the world it finds itself in and the condition of the people with whom it interacts, among others. Each chapter ends with takeaway points summarizing key ideas; the points are available as podcasts on a companion Web site. This quick, original, well-organized read is a valuable tool for budding entrepreneurs. (July)

Tattoo parlors are showcases for the socially disreputable, the brazenly nonconformist and the indelibly creative, all on display in this colorful memoir. First-time author and veteran tattoo artist Johnson has a million tales of the tattoo demimonde, who come to his Sea Tramp in Portland, Ore., as well as tattoo shops around the country. Into his shop walk scamsters and freaks; a gangster whose gun-toting posse rattles Johnson into misspelling their boss’s tat; a punk femme fatale who lures him into a trap; and a probable serial killer who has the names and Social Security numbers of his victims emblazoned on his skin. Ruggedly individualistic artists are part of the show, as is Johnson himself: “I have no shoes and no driver’s license and I’ve been smoking gooey Mexican heroin and snorting piles of coke off a switchblade for three days straight,” opens one tale. (In a grungy management primer, Johnson offers tips on customer service, employee relations and the importance of bathrooms so clean that “some daisy-assed pantsuit could feel safe and secure” in them.) The book is little more than a collection of shaggy-dog stories, but Johnson’s stingingly profane prose, storytelling chops and offbeat sensibility definitely get under the reader’s skin. (July 14)

In this critical investigation of former vice president Cheney’s role in George W. Bush’s administration, Warshaw (The Keys to Power) reveals how Bush and Cheney split the presidency, each using the office’s power to advance agendas that rarely overlapped. This suited Bush’s limited agenda and experience well; while he focused on education reform and faith-based initiatives, he was content to leave Cheney in charge of economic and foreign policy. As head of Bush’s transition team, Cheney staffed virtually the entire administration with longtime associates who shared his vision of a strong—some have called it “imperial”—executive. He and his staff controlled political appointments and drafted most of the 800-plus signing statements affixed to bills that declared the president’s refusal to enforce selected parts of laws passed by Congress. Warshaw rejects analyses that portray either Cheney or Karl Rove as puppet masters in favor of portraying Bush as capable in the spheres that mattered to him, where Cheney was careful not to interfere. Thoroughly researched and insightful into the complexities of both personalities, the book offers an engaging look at the most controversial presidency since Nixon’s. (June)

Kaminer (Free for All) weighs in on her disillusionment with the ACLU after serving on the national board in post-9/11 America. She contends that under the stewardship of Anthony Romero, who stepped into the executive director position one week before the September 11 attacks, the ACLU has become increasingly partisan, personalized and focused on fund-raising at the expense of its core beliefs. Kaminer describes herself as a “dissident member” of the board, and revisits her many battles with Romero and his supporters as she fought their refusal to challenge the government’s terrorist watch lists or aid Guantánamo Bay detainees—as less financially stable groups spearheaded the cause. Kaminer admits that she “can’t claim objectivity,” and she is least effective when she allows herself too much leeway on this point, for example, psychoanalyzing those she disagrees with or peppering her writing with references to Branch Davidians and “the Kool-Aid.” However, her depiction of how group members not only follow the herd but also ostracize the “troublemaker” is compelling, and her book is brave and informative. (June)

Fox (Internet Riches), an e-business success coach (who lists Bill O’Reilly and Larry King among his client list), offers a beginner’s guide to harnessing the Internet to help grow business. He presents succinct advice on how to attract customers online, arguing that marketing is no longer a series of one-way blasts at consumers but a two-way communications system, and that an increasingly personal approach is expected from online business; he urges marketers not to waste energy trying to get customers to their own Web sites, but to get online and find customers where they are already hanging out. He explains the best ways to utilize e-mail lists and newsletters, RSS feeds, online viral marketing, social networking (Facebook, LinkedIn), microblogging (Twitter), online video and radio/podcasts, tele-seminars and webinars, search engine keyword advertising and affiliate program advertising. Interviews with specialists and real-life examples round out the lessons. The book is aimed at absolute newbies, so while experienced Internet users may find this too basic, it will be a godsend to those who are intimidated by the digital revolution. (June)

Starobin, staff correspondent for the National Journal, delivers a meticulously researched and up-to-the-minute analysis of the United States’ role in global politics, culture and society. Arguing that the U.S. has reached the end of its tenure as a unipolar superpower, Starobin analyzes the weaknesses in America’s political and economic institutions that have led to a widening gap in prosperity (both within its own borders and vis-à-vis other developed nations) and hindered its ability to set the pace of progress. He demonstrates how theories of widespread chaos in a post-American era are constructed, using as an example the fall of Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf, America’s key ally against the Taliban in Afghanistan—but he shies away from this model, suggesting how the new world order might be one in which power is assumed by another nation (possibly China) or shared among several (India, Brazil and the E.U.). He also questions the validity of classically defined nation-states in favor of the possibility that economic and social interactions between cross-national regions, powerful city-states or global movements might supersede the relevance of individual nations. The result is a narrative of extraordinary range and contemporary relevance. (June)

Ross (The Missing Peace) and Makovsky (Making Peace with the PLO) contend that if the U.S. wants to broker peace in the Middle East, it must cease operating from ideological assumptions and “see the world as it is.” Ross, now an adviser to Hillary Clinton, was chief negotiator for the Clinton administration, and Makovsky is with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy; their call comes with real bona fides. “Context matters,” they write—but they, too, fail to consider the entire context in question: Israel is all but denied agency, as the authors fail to address the impact of its occupation of Palestinian lands. What may be the crux of the book is found in a mention of This Much Too Promised Land by Ross’s former deputy, Aaron David Miller, which examines American negotiating mistakes, including the efforts of his and Ross’s team. Ross and Makovsky’s open antagonism to Miller suggest they may be less interested in learning from errors than in explaining why everyone else is wrong. (June)

Ubiquitous video technology and the Internet have ushered in a “peep culture” that makes us all either—or simultaneously—exhibitionists or voyeurs, according to this eye-opening study. In good participant-observer fashion, Niedzviecki (Hello, I’m Special) dives into our mania for observing and revealing pseudo-secret personal information: he starts a blog, applies to reality television shows, does video surveillance around his house and slips a GPS tracking device into his wife’s car. He’s content to merely interview, rather than join, the middle-aged couples who post their amateur porn online. He argues instead that peep culture reprises an ancient impulse to bond through the sharing of intimacies, but worries that our digital version of village gossip and primate grooming is a weak and fraudulent foundation for community (out of his 700-odd Facebook friends and blog readers, only one showed up for his offline party). Niedzviecki’s smart mixture of reportage and reflection avoids alarmism and hype while capturing the strange power of our urge to see and be seen. (June)

Rushkoff (Nothing Sacred) offers a shrill condemnation of how corporate culture has disconnected human beings from each other. An engaging history of commerce and corporatism devolves into an extended philippic on how increasing personal wealth and the rise of nuclear families constituted a failure of community—whose services are now provided by products and professionals. While he makes some good points—for instance, about how some laws are now written to favor the rights of corporations above the rights of human beings, and the phenomenon of pro-wealth spirituality as espoused by The Secret, Creflo Dollar and Joel Osteen—he skews wildly off-course lamenting how “basic human activity... has been systematically robbed of its naturally occurring support mechanisms by a landscape tilted toward the market’s priorities.” His unsupported and flawed assumption that societal interdependence is a natural or even preferable state for all people, everywhere, his disdain for filthy lucre and joyless recasting of independence as “selfishness” will leave readers weary long before the end. (June)

Brugmann, an urban development expert, argues passionately in favor of what he terms “urban advantage”— the unique constellation of economies and political life spawned by population density and sheer size of cities. According to Brugmann, urban advantage has been the catalyst for the great social and economic revolutions of the last century, including the end of the cold war. He reasons that higher population densities in eastern bloc cities made it easier for refuseniks, nationalists and artists to extend their organizational networks, and the geometric increase in communication made monitoring by the state all but impossible. More recently, urbanization has been creating new opportunities for indigent Third World populations across the globe, as seen in Dharavi, a Mumbai slum turned billion-dollar mercantile economy attracting waves of migrations from rural areas. The book’s examples of cities that have misunderstood or misused urban advantage (e.g., Detroit and Kuala Lumpur) are just as compelling as the success stories. Even if the text lacks the punch of good journalism, the book is replete with detail and compelling analyses. (June)

“Is the notion of the East as a zone of special erotic possibilities purely a matter of Western fantasy and wishful thinking...?” This question is at the center of Bernstein’s wide-ranging, critically astute history of the complicated relationship between Western male sexuality and the East. The book opens in 2006 Shanghai and concludes in contemporary Bangkok; in between, we are led through a sweeping yet focused, male-centered history of sexuality, spanning a broadly defined East and West, from antiquity to the 21st century. Bernstein examines Flaubert’s sexual exploits in Egypt, where he vividly recorded “a sensual intensity, impossible in the West”; British explorer Richard Burton’s travels through the Middle East, India and Africa, all exemplified by a sexual artistry uncultivated in Christian Europe; the fascinating case of the secretive Henry de Montherlant, a pederast who spent years in North Africa “greedy for flesh” and eventually took his own life. Former New York Times correspondent Bernstein (Fragile Glory) writes lucidly and with verve. This probing, absorbing and eclectic study critically challenges morally and politically correct interpretations of the Western sexual exploitation of the East. 12 illus. (June 2)

Celebrated novelist and biographer O’Brien (The Country Girls trilogy) is a keen cicerone to the strange and insatiable love life of “the lame poet with the features of Adonis.” Drawing on Marchand’s three-volume biography of Lord Byron, while adding to this her immersion in letters and journals, O’Brien presents a figure we can see all-around. With a perennial worry about his weight, not to mention his right clubfoot, Byron, O’Brien says, compensated by indulging in homosexual relationships, most notably with John Edleston, and heterosexual trysts. Indeed, Byron always seemed to be in love and on the run, traversing Europe from Spain and Portugal to Albania and Greece. His travels and his loves inspired Manfred, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and, above all, Don Juan. Of interest as well are Byron’s hot-and-cold relations with publisher John Murray, the Shelleys (who were largely appalled by Byron’s lifestyle) and Dr. Polidori, whose novel on “the vampyre” would inspire an industry. At times a bit breathless, this compact life sets the emotional background for a poet who today is more famous for his life story than his work. 8 pages of illus. (June 15)

This provocative, ill-organized defense brief tries to exculpate Thomas Jefferson from growing evidence that he fathered at least one child with his slave Sally Hemings. An attorney, Hyland (also a member of the board of the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society) marshals all the available evidence, weak as well as strong, to argue that others were more likely than the squire of Monticello to have fathered Hemings’s children. Biographers, he charges, have “mangled professional standards in seizing upon the emotionally charged DNA results” that indicate a genetic link between Jefferson and Hemings’s descendants. The trouble is that a legal brief is not a historical argument. Hyland has done his own research and interviewed other researchers, but he fails to see the historical context of the evidence or to provide a balanced assessment of the known facts. In this respect, he’s ill-equipped to take on great contemporary experts of the matter, especially award-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed, whose work he terms a “concocted myth.” Surely not the last word on the matter, regrettably it’s not dependable word either. (June)

Midway, Stalingrad, El Alamein: these great battles of 1942 are the conventional turning points of WWII. Downing (The Rise of Enemies) advances the decisive events by a year, making a provocative case that the German failure to take Moscow, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the British launching of Operation Crusader in North Africa established the conditions for Axis defeat. All three took place within 22 days, and Downing uses a narrative approach to establish the connections among them. Crusader, he says, demonstrated the importance of logistics even in high-tech war: the British Empire could sustain operations on a scale impossible for the Germans and Italians. The attack on Moscow was a final desperate lunge after victory in a campaign characterized by the massive overextension of German forces and resources. Pearl Harbor was an effort to escape a dilemma generated by brutally aggressive policies in Asia. The originality of Downing’s argument is the strength of his indictment of “stupidity, incompetence, short-sightedness and evil in high places” on all sides. But it took almost four years and millions of lives for overwhelming force to grind down feckless ambition. 16 pages of b&w photos, 3 maps. (June)

Although Punch magazine famously commented on the humor of Nikita Khrushchev’s desire to visit Disneyland during his 1959 trip to America, Carlson a former writer for the Washington Post, can still mine the tour with hilarious results, due in equal parts to Khrushchev’s outsized provocateur personality and the bizarre and thoroughly American reaction to his visit. Numerous secondary players provide comic support: then vice president Richard Nixon’s fixations on mano a mano debates with the quicksilver premier; Boston Brahmin and U.N. ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Khrushchev’s tour guide, who dutifully filed daily analysis of Khrushchev’s public tantrums; popular gossip columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, who in a noteworthy example of bad taste attacked Mrs. Khrushchev’s attire. A host of other American icons also make appearances: among them Herbert Hoover, Marilyn Monroe, Shirley MacLaine and Frank Sinatra. Although Carlson’s focuses on the comic, there are insights into Khrushchev’s personality, many provided by his son Sergei, now a respected professor at Brown University, illuminating the method in Khrushchev’s madness. All in all, in Carson’s hands the cold war is a surprisingly laughing matter. (June)

In this wonderful book, Lane (Power, Sex, Suicide), a biochemist at University College London, asks an intriguing and simple question: what were the great biological inventions that led to Earth as we know it. (He is quick to point out that by “invention,” he refers to nature’s own creativity, not to intelligent design.) Lane argues that there are 10 such inventions and explores the evolution of each. Not surprisingly, each of the 10—the origin of life, the creation of DNA, photosynthesis, the evolution of complex cells, sex, movement, sight, warm bloodedness, consciousness and death—is intricate, its origins swirling in significant controversy. Drawing on cutting-edge science, Lane does a masterful job of explaining the science of each, distinguishing what is fairly conclusively known and what is currently reasonable conjecture. At times he presents some shocking but compelling information. For example, one of the light-sensitive pigments in human eyes probably arose first in algae, where it can still be found today helping to maximize photosynthesis. While each of Lane’s 10 subjects deserves a book of its own, they come together to form an elegant, fully satisfying whole. 20 illus. (June)

If you can imagine Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes all grown up, this supercharged guide for amateur thrill seekers would probably replace Hobbes as his constant companion. Ostensibly in order to encourage the notion that “to a point, the ability to wage risk is a useful and worthwhile attribute,” professional engineer Gurstelle (The Art of the Catapult) lays out detailed instructions for making “black powder” (gunpowder), rockets, flamethrowers and other devices that will endanger your digits and eyebrows. To the author’s credit, he is equally detailed in his prescriptions of safety gear and precautions. He also details more hedonistic thrills, such as absinthe, cigarette smoking and “thrill eating” à la the Travel Channel’s Andrew Zimmern—“in small amounts,” he says, “they add bite and depth to the flavor of life.” Most of the recipes and blueprints that Gurstelle shares with fellow “Big-T” (thrill-seeking) personalities, can be found all over the Internet, but this antidote to the usual cautious self-help guides is written well if occasionally in overheated prose, and, more important, is presented responsibly. Illus. (June)

An orthopedic surgeon whose Mayo Clinic residency he recalled in Hot Lights, Cold Steel, Collins reaches further back to tell of his days as a Chicago construction worker and, later, medical student. For a few years after college, Collins enjoyed the physicality of constructing curbs and gutters and drinking beer with his pals. But Collins, the oldest of eight boys in a close-knit Irish Catholic family, felt a vague yearning for something more meaningful, which finally coalesced into the dream of becoming a doctor. The Notre Dame graduate went back to college for two years of pre-med courses and entered Loyola at the ripe old age of 26. The next few years were a reality check: the rote memorization in medical school, the petty tasks assigned to an on-call med student and the shock, in his last year of medical school, of finding his intern had committed suicide. Collins received a battlefield promotion to intern. He eventually found himself right at home with the “orthopods,” who lack the pretension of the other surgical specialists. This is a perceptive, no-frills memoir of a surgeon who succeeded by dint of hard work and brains. (June)

Two words sum up the authors’ advice to patients: be skeptical. Aussie journalists Moynihan (Too Much Medicine?) and Sweet (coauthor, The Big Fat) try to channel Jerome Groopman’s bestselling How Doctors Think but wind up wanting. The writers gamely encourage hard-edged skepticism by offering anecdotes of medical mismanagement along with questions and strategies to aid a patient’s decision-making about procedures or medications. “[I]t can be a mistake to sit back and hand over control for our health care,” they caution. This is not a new concept, and there’s certainly no such thing as too much information, but the authors’ assumption that all you have to do is ask the right question to elicit the right answer is troubling. When a practitioner makes a recommendation, it’s a safe bet it’s already his or her best guess. Still, the simple guide to “what to ask” at the end of each chapter will go far to arm the timid or nervous patient with ammunition to open an honest conversation—and the assurance you’re making the most informed decision possible. (June 24)

There was a time when Ignazio Silone was the most famous Italian author in the world. His earliest novels, such as Fontamara and Bread & Wine, were praised for their depictions of peasant life in his native Abruzzo. As Pugliese reveals in this solid and engaging biography, Silone’s literary reputation in his own country was complicated by his political legacy; having joined the Italian Communists to advocate social justice and fight fascism, the author was dismayed by the party’s authoritarian tendencies and was eventually expelled. Pugliese (whose previous book was on Carlo Rosselli, Silone’s contemporary in the Italian socialist movement) builds his biographical case in careful blocs of information, describing the drama while maintaining the narrative. This holds true even during a review of the controversial discovery, 20 years after Silone’s death, of documents that suggest he might have given information to the Fascist police while still a Party member. In graceful prose, Pugliese offers a few intriguing theories (was Silone shielding someone? was he hiding a homosexual affair?), but reluctantly concedes that we may never know the full truth. Whatever did happen, Pugliese concludes, led Silone to create “some of the most poignant and powerful fiction of the 20th century.” (June)

In the 1950s and ’60s, the 24 hours of Le Mans in France were not just a race but, according to Playboy editor Baime, “the most magnificent marketing tool the sports car industry had ever known.” It was also incredibly dangerous, the site of the biggest tragedy in racing history—Pierre Levegh’s Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR slamming into an embankment and leaving at least 75 dead in 1955. Baime’s narrative culminates in the 1966 Le Mans race—where Ford cars placed first, second and third—and the fierce competition between Ford and Ferrari. Ford head Henry Ford II realized that in order to compete in the world market, his cars had to win races—and he could accomplish both by winning at Le Mans. Blocking him was the “agitator of men,” Enzo Ferrari, who devoted his life to building the perfect champion automobile and who prevented Ford from buying Ferrari in 1963. Both men’s quest for victory trickles down to their workers. Henry II spent millions on technology and manpower to build the perfect car, the GT40, while displaying limited patience after years of failure. Meanwhile in Italy, Ferrari’s world-class drivers faced their own difficulties pleasing their calculating, results-driven boss. Baime’s skillful reporting and introspective writing style make for an insightful portrait of two automobile legends, as well as an exciting account of a bygone era in racing and in American culture. 8-page color insert. (June)

Humorist O’Rourke shifts gears, covering and combining past pieces on cars (for Automobile, Car and Driver, Esquire and Forbes) with new material to set this auto anthology in motion. Much has been reworked “because the writing—how to put this gently to myself—sucked.” Starting with car journalism language (“Drop the bottle and grab the throttle”), he steers the reader toward California cars: “Many automobiles were purchased to attract members of L.A.’s eight or ten opposite sexes.” He writes about a variety of vehicles, from off-road racers to Philippine jeepneys (“a Willys cut in half and lengthened”). Accelerating the humor, he updates his 1979 account of a 700-mile weekend trip through Michigan and Indiana: “I can imagine what the farm girls and small town teen angels who looked so longingly at the Harley-Davidson FXE-80 Super Glide would have thought if I had been riding a Segway: 'dork.’ ” His early essay “How to Drive Fast on Drugs While Getting Your Wing-wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink” is followed by wild road trips, NASCAR nights and selecting “a new grocery hauler, parent trap, Keds sled, family bus.” Never in neutral, O’Rourke offers laughter on wheels. (June)

Robinson, a former contributing editor to Ladies’ Home Journal, wryly narrates this memoir about growing up with a stern navy father who abruptly takes up breeding the then little-known gerbil in the late 1960s. Though her mother equates the creatures with rats, and her father must keep his behavior hushed in his military circles, his hobby soon becomes an obsession that he believes will not only make him an income but allow him to retire. Robinson grew up as a fish out of water navy brat in the 1970s with a strong-willed mother and younger siblings—including her sister Gail who died of cystic fibrosis at age four. But her father is the true focus; he accidentally discovers that gerbils have epileptic seizures, a discovery that leads him to become the world’s largest supplier of gerbils bred for research. Robinson intersperses her compelling narrative with accounts of gerbil mayhem, managing to milk a great deal of humor and pathos out of the rodent that eventually became a common children’s pet. (June)

Novelist (Birds in Fall; Lick Creek) Kessler’s account of tending a small herd of milking goats in Vermont captures both the lush, poetic paradise of rural life and the raw, unrelenting drama of dairying. Kessler, a Saab-driving ex-Manhattanite, purchases two Nubian goats, breeds them and helps his wife, Dona, a trained doula, attend to the birth of four goat kids the following spring. The amusing zoomorphic and anthropomorphic descriptions, where goats forage as if they were at a sample sale and milk-fed kids stagger “like street junkies,” dissipate as Kessler endures a season of goat wrangling, haying and hunting coyotes. Kessler gives the legal aspects of unpasteurized cheese a cursory inspection; his devotion centers on a budding relationship with animals, the earth and goat cheese. He’s a back-to-the-land naturalist, who supports his detailed personal observations with extensive research as he explores the cultural, historical and biological aspects of pastoralism. While the tome’s lengthy poetic journal entries on animal husbandry and cheese making hardly qualify as a comprehensive manual, the observant, unsanctimonious read is bound to inspire hobby farmers and consummate cheese lovers. (June)

This funny and idiosyncratic Japanese-fast-food memoir and quasi-spiritual autobiography from NPR commentator Raskin contains at its core, despite its oddball title, a deeply human story. The author grew up on Long Island and attended Wharton business school after college, which led to an internship in Japan and a life-long connection with the country. Over the years, Raskin also got involved with a number of women, without maintaining fidelity or forming a permanent attachment. Relocation to the West Coast and numerous Internet hookups eventually led to therapy and a fellowship, where he began to accept his sexual compulsivity and met the mentor who recommended finding some form of Higher Power. Raskin’s unorthodox choice of Momofuku Ando, the nonagenarian inventor of instant ramen and Nissin Food Products chairman, led to several futile attempts to contact and meet him. The result is a painfully humane and hilariously candid journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance. At first, the book’s intentions aren’t explicit, the structure is near confusing, and the narrator’s crisis feels shallow. But the various strands eventually weave together into a satisfying whole that becomes a quirky, unique memoir. (June)

Noted novelist and journalist Helprin (Winter’s Tale) wrote an op-ed in the New York Times in 2007 arguing for an extension of the term of copyright. In response, he received 750,000 caustic, often vulgar e-mails from those he calls the anticopyright movement—a mostly vague cabal led, apparently, by law professor Lawrence Lessig, and whose house organ is the “Chronicle of [Supposedly] Higher Education.” Now Helprin gets his revenge with a splenetic riposte that veers from a passionate defense of authors’ rights and the power of the individual voice to a misanthropic attack on a debased America populated by “Slurpee-sucking geeks,” “beer-drinking dufuses” and “mouth-breathing morons in backwards baseball caps and pants that fall down.” We’re treated to his views on everything from tax policy and airport security to the self-regard of academic literary critics. Drowning in this ocean of bile is a defense of authors’ right to control their work and defend its integrity against appropriation and distortion by others, and an examination of the historical and legal basis of copyright offered in elegant prose and with a rapier-sharp wit. But Helprin’s pugnacity may repel even those who agree that copyright is a “bulwark of civilization.” (May)

Poet Snyder refers to Mount Tamalpais as “San Francisco’s backyard wilderness.” But Killion’s brief history makes clear that the location has been an integral part of San Francisco’s outdoor culture since the 19th century. Although “Tamalpais” is a Miwok Indian word, what role the mountain played in their traditions has been lost. Place names on the mountain commemorate settlers who hiked its slopes, and the genteel poets and writers of the post–Civil War generations created most of the “Indian” legends associated with it. But it was with Kenneth Rexroth and the burgeoning San Francisco scene of the 1930s that Tamalpais found its place in American literature, and later Jack Kerouac placed scenes in The Dharma Bums on the small mountain. Snyder is Tamalpais’s greatest poet, and his essay recalling three circumambulatory hikes on the mountain is a highlight of the book. Poems by Rexroth, Snyder and Lew Welch are interspersed throughout, and multiblock color prints by Killion (who collaborated with Snyder on The High Sierra of California) pay homage both to Tamalpais and the Japanese masters of ukiyo-e, who perfected the complicated technique. (May)

Goldstein, author of Antipasti and Italian Slow and Savory, ably whittles down the expansive gastronomy of Spain into a worthy, compact cookbook. Instead of attempting an impossible feat—to include every component of the Spanish table in a glossy, chic nutshell—she wisely chooses the best of each dish, starting with five basic sauces that can be applied to the seafood, meat, vegetable and egg recipes that follow. Though a few dishes are larger than a typical small-plate (Asturian white bean stew or paprika-marinated pork tenderloin, for example), Goldstein stays true to the fundamental procedures and ingredients used in modern Spanish kitchens. Salty, spicy and sweet, Goldstein offers innovative tapas, showcasing the best of each of Spain’s diverse regions. Each recipe comes with wine pairings, both Spanish and non-Spanish, and the book begins with a clever rundown of Spain’s history, cheeses, cured meats and fish. While some recipes might seem daunting for beginners (cleaning squid or handling a whole octopus), there is also an entire chapter dedicated to “Shop-and-Serve Tapas” that require little to no preparation. With vibrant photos and straightforward instructions, this book has all the makings of a reliable source of fun, crowd-pleasing ideas for the contemporary cook. (June)

At the L.A. Farmers Market, shoppers can select from the best farm-fresh goods representative of Southern California’s bounty, but the market, a favorite among tourists and locals almost since its 1934 founding, also hosts dozens of small restaurants, bakeries and stalls selling prepared food. In time for the market’s 75th anniversary Cianciulli, a food writer and Food Network producer, collects recipes from 48 of these eateries, some that have been around since the market’s beginning or close to it, others more recent and reflective of L.A.’s diverse, ever-changing population. Cianciulli divides the book into four categories (breakfast, sandwiches and light bites, main meals and desserts), with such dishes as La Korea’s Korean-style short ribs, a Middle Eastern falafel sandwich at Moishe’s and Breadworks’ toothsome Hungarian cinnamon loaf. Cianciulli prefaces recipes from each place with a brief history, an introduction to the lively owners and an evocative description of the atmosphere it generates, so reading feels like a walk down the bustling market aisles. Though most of the recipes use ingredients available from the farm stands, the farmers and the ideal of sourcing food locally are not the book’s focal point, which may disappoint some readers. Most, however, will be thrilled to have access to such a wide array of favorite recipes and to help celebrate the long life of this vibrant institution. (May)

What is perhaps most striking about this collection of 100 recipes, drawn by Morton’s cofounder Fritsch from the menu of Morton’s Steakhouse in Chicago, is that the majority of the entries do not involve steak. It’s a mixed blessing: steamed mussels and the mixed green salad are wallflowers, but tuna sashimi burgers and five-onion soup shine bright. Chicken salad, at least, is given a boost with Granny Smith apples and dried cranberries. Fritsch, also executive chef of Morton’s, also has a special place in his heart for veal served with spaetzle, french fries topped with blue cheese and sautéed duck breasts with port and garlic. Of course, when the focus turns to proper preparation of a mature cow, it is hard not to fall in love. Assuming access to a good, neighborhood butcher, the herb-encrusted double porterhouse rules the herd, though the rib eye, the strip, the tenderloin and the filet mignon all get their due as well as their salt and garlic. For something spicy, there is a Bloody Mary London broil or a sirloin served with three-peppercorn sauce. And leftovers need not go to the dog when they can be used for breakfast the next day in dishes like steak Benedict or Klaus’s corned beef hash. (May)

Pregnancy guru Murkoff (What to Expect When You’re Expecting) explains that a healthy pregnancy actually begins long before sperm and egg meet. In fact, she suggests that couples add at least three months to the requisite nine in order to prepare both their bodies for the best outcome. Backed by research and expert advice, Murkoff and Mazel present a preconception program that includes tips on what to eat (and not eat), how to maintain a healthy weight and advice about preconception medical care, such as having a physical and dental checkup. The text points out that dads are vitally important to pre-pregnancy health, with warnings that heavy drinking and smoking can damage or reduce sperm, as can certain sports such as spinning, cycling or heavy workouts. (Shaded boxes throughout the text address the ways in which men can contribute to baby-to-be’s successful arrival.) The text also covers fertility issues, clearly explaining “the biology of baby making” and outlining the options available to couples who are facing conception problems. Readers who like to think ahead will also benefit from a detailed fertility planner, which includes a fertility chart to track ovulation and space to record various pre-baby appointments and information. Couples who are trying to conceive will find plenty of useful ideas to consider and implement in the months preceding their baby’s debut. (May)

From the author who gave us “85 Ways to Tie a Tie” comes this “essential guide for the modern man.” And by modern, Fink apparently means precontemporary. His is a world where metrosexuals never existed and technology left no footprint beyond the sending of a text message. Odd for a writer who is also a physicist at the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Nor does he exhibit the slightest hint of cultural irony in this all-man almanac, and that, in turn, makes for a certain type of macho charm. Or maybe it’s just the decidedly British tone of the work, which has been available in the U.K. since its 2006 first edition. Factoid lovers will find it hard not to enjoy the curious and random collection of lists, charts and instructions. Learn how to choose your best man or how to pick the best urinal in a public bathroom. View the Hamilton-Norwood scale of male pattern baldness, or a diagram showing “Eight Ways to Lace Your Shoes.” Chivalry, guns and tree houses are all dwelled upon in-depth. Learn a bar trick, carve a turkey, start a campfire. While Fink uses his powers mostly for good, a section on “How to Start Smoking” is misguided at best, alarmingly advising readers, “There are a number of advantages associated with smoking which may for some offset the known disadvantages.” (May)

Here are a couple of BBQ cookbooks to get home cooks thinking of summer.

Lang is serious about being serious, and that starts with his credentials. His career began at Le Cirque; he then moved on to Daniel, Carnevino in Las Vegas, and a stint as a private chef. Along the way, he opened Daisy May’s BBQ, one of Manhattan’s best barbecue shacks. Thus, with four-star knowledge, he brings pork, beef, lamb and the lowly chicken to the open flame with a mix of science, anecdote and a wide array of seasonings. The chapter on pork begins not only with a look at the importance of fat but also the importance of collagen and the differences between commodity and heirloom pork. There’s an interview with Dave Arnold of the French Culinary Institute that explores the relation between heat and meat and why foods stick to hot surfaces. His recipe for a marinated wet-aged rib eye explains that the wonders of Worcestershire sauce have to do with the flavor-enhancing qualities of anchovies and tamarind. Nearly every entry is composed of several brief preparation recipes, since each meat is uniquely paired with a seasoning combination for specific reasons. Before cooking the spit-roasted spring lamb, for instance, one must make a basting butter, seasoning blend, herb bundle and glaze. Even something that looks simple, like the delicious classic, burnt ends (a take on barbecued brisket), involves a mustard paste, a seasoning blend, a wrapping mixture and a finishing sauce. Seriously. (May)

Lilly, a world-champion pit master and executive chef of Alabama’s Big Bob Gibson’s Bar-B-Q, shares long-held family secrets from the restaurant’s founder in this homage to pure barbecue tradition. Lilly covers the process from beginning to end, starting with the setup, varieties of grills and cookers, wood selection and seasoning. Throughout, he provides valuable tips on everything from temperature gauges to positioning chicken on the grill. As acknowledgment that flavor is important but the true measure of barbecue is the tenderness and moistness of the meat, many of Lilly’s recipes focus on slow cooking and include more than meat. Bell pepper bundles, big mama’s pound cake, honey-garlic tomato sauce and grilled marinated mushrooms show the breadth of his expertise. Beef, pork and chicken are, as expected and deserved, the focus of much of his attention. Mushroom-crusted beef tenderloin, pork shoulder and barbecue ribs are among the gems he includes. 75 full-color photos. (May)