Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 04/20/2009

-- Publishers Weekly, 4/20/2009

NONFICTION

As You Were: To War and Back With the Black Hawk Battalion of the Virginia National Guard
Christian Davenport. Wiley, $25.95 (272p) ISBN 9780470373613
Following the experiences of five members of 2-224th Aviation Regiment, Virginia Army National Guard, from federal activation through a one-year deployment in Iraq and back again, Washington Post reporter Davenport reveals the heroism and sacrifice of citizen-soldiers across the country. Like thousands across the country, these five find their lives violently shaken by notice of activation, pulled from families, careers and, for Miranda Summers, a senior year at William and Mary. In Iraq, they found a war zone waiting encountering insurgent gunfire flying into Baghdad, Fallujah and Ramadi; on rescue missions; or flying an “angel flight”, the first leg escorting a fallen soldier home. Davenport, embedded with the regiment on their 2005-06 deployment, follows up on his story with accounts of home-side challenges. This book honors well the citizen-soldiers of the National Guard and the Army, Navy and Marine Corps Reserves, while giving readers a vivid sense of life before, during and after engagement in a far-off war. (May)

From Hester Street to Hollywood: The Life and Work of Anzia Yezierska
Bettina Berch. Sefer International (www.bettinaberch.com), $15.95 paper (274p) ISBN 9781607251842
Author Berch (The Woman Behind the Lens, The Endless Day) reviews the life of Anzia Yezierska (1880?-1970), the celebrated Jewish-American writer dubbed the “Sweatshop Cinderella” for her fictional portrayal of immigrant Jewish women in novels and stories. Having emigrated from Poland in 1893, Yezierska went on to land a scholarship to Columbia Univ.’s Teacher’s College and a job teaching “domestic science” in New York City schools. She became active in bohemian NYC socialist circles, where she met her first husband Jacob Gordon, as well as Arnold Levitas, who would father her illegitimate child. Her 1917 affair with eminent philosopher John Dewey (then a Dean at Columbia) opened the doors of the literary world to her. Based largely on her own experiences, Yezierska’s stories are written in idiomatic English, artfully constructed to maintain the Yiddish flavor of her immigrant characters; her first story, published in 1919, launched a long and groundbreaking career (many of Yezierska’s books, including story collection How I Found America and Hungry Hearts, are still studied in academia). Berch’s faithful biography captures well this “surprisingly modern woman,” as well as her lasting influence and importance. (Mar.)

The Lives of Ants
Laurent Keller and Elisabeth Gordon. Oxford Univ., $27.95 (256p) ISBN 9780199541867
Science writer Gordon and ecology-evolution professor Keller (University of Lausanne) present a general-audience overview, short on jargon and long on storytelling, of Earth’s most populous and successful genera. Keller and Gordon present ant life in 32 chapters, covering the vast expanse and variation of ant behavior, social structure, reproduction, genetics and ecology while highlighting their importance to ecosystems world-wide. Species of ants that nest underground are crucial for the aeration and nutrient content of soil; in the tropics, leafcutter ants feed leaves to underground fungi “farms,” transferring nutrients from the rainforest canopy to depths of 15 feet below earth’s surface. Even all-consuming hordes of army ants, marching across the plains of Africa, benefit the planet by creating a mobile ecosystem (flies and butterflies depend on their dung, birds and reptiles feast on both ants and their prey). Human intervention, meanwhile, has introduced species to new habitats, often with destructive results (fire ants in the southern United States, Argentine ants in Europe). Illuminating, entertaining and thought-provoking, without a hint of superiority, this witty species profile will appeal to general readers interested in alien animal kingdom behavior, and/or the effects of invasive species on economics and public health. (Apr.)

Paris: From the Ground Up
James H.S. McGregor. Harvard Univ., $29.95 (338p) ISBN 9780674033160
McGregor, the University of Georgia’s comparative literature department co-head, adds to his city history series (Rome: From the Ground Up) with this definitive portrait of Paris. Combining chronological history with a cultural exploration of all things architectural, artistic and practical, this volume is a popular record that could serve as a comprehensive textbook for City of Lights 101. Crafted with fluency and fluidity, McGregor can be overwhelming in his level of detail; great churches, museums and the artists responsible for them, from Gaul to DeGaulle, are all examined in extreme close-up. To his credit, McGregor acknowledges that the “human history of the place that became Paris is exceedingly long,” and keeps it lively with public bath tours, the secrets of aqueducts and central heating, tales of martyrs from St. Denis to Joan of Arc, and unending cathedral construction (emphasizing Notre Dame); the Sorbonne, marketplace evolution and the great plague all play their part. The Louvre is explored meticulously in many permutations, as are the sewers and even the language. McGregor makes a convincing case that Paris, like Athens and Rome, is a city “that combined political power and cultural preeminence... the only conceivable place to succeed.” 105 color illustrations, 30 halftones, 10 maps. (Apr.)

Saving Creation: Nature and Faith in the Life of Holmes Rolston III
Christopher J. Preston. Trinity Univ., $25.95 (256p) ISBN 9781595340504
Environmental ethicist Holmes Rolston III, grandfather of the global environmental movement, has spent his life reconciling scientific study with Judeo-Christian religious teachings. Rolston’s former student Preston (Grounding Knowledge) synthesizes Rolston’s writing, extensive interviews, and a deep knowledge of the history and influence of Rolston’s work for a satisfying biography. As a seminary student at Richmond, Virginia’s Davidson College, and a doctoral candidate at the University of Edinburgh, Preston began developing a contrary view of Protestant Reformed theology, rejecting predestination and emphasizing the concept of God’s grace. He was forced out of his first pastoral assignment over his “modern” views on natural history; settling in Bristol, Virginia, with a more educated congregation, he returned whenever possible to the nature studies of his school years, preaching against the industrialization of Appalachia and the “dominion interpretation” of scripture: “Nature’s real value was as something living and dynamic... in its ongoing creativity.” After leaving his pastorate to study the philosophy of science, he made his academic breakthrough with his first professional paper, 1975’s “Is There an Ecological Ethic?” This lively intellectual biography fully examines the biblical and academic traditions from which Rolston’s philosophy developed, and the world-wide movement which developed from it. (Mar.)

The Uncivil University: Intolerance on College Campuses
Gary A. Tobin, Aryeh K. Weinberg and Jenna Ferer. Rowman & Littlefield, $39.95 (336p) ISBN 9780739132660; $24.95 paper ISBN -678
In this alarming, well-sourced analysis, researchers for the Institute for Jewish & Community Research (Tobin is also president) find anti-Israel propagandists using the banner of academic freedom to intimidate, marginalize and indoctrinate. Rejecting the idea that academic freedom is an unimpeachable right or that objectivity in teaching is an idealistic impossibility, the authors explore offenses including some “great lengths [taken] to justify crimes committed by Palestinians,” an annual Divestment Conference to keep University money from Israel-friendly companies, and the lingering bugaboo that Jews control America. Though examples can seem insignificant (University of Georgia student Adam Gobin in a school paper opinion piece?), the authors warn that dismissing their evidence as “insignificant [or] limited in scope” is “denial”; the anecdotal evidence, they claim, is a major and growing symptom of the university’s failure to uphold its mission, helping students strive for truth through objective, fact-based research. Though they include practical recommendations, clear-headed rebuttals to opposing arguments, interviews with varied students, and sober deliberation on the university’s responsibilities, the authors’ occasional hat tip to a larger agenda (“Even journalism has some rules about separating news from opinion pieces”) hurts their credibility. (Mar.)

Vietnam if Kennedy had Lived: Virtual JFK
James G. Blight, Janet M. Lang and David A. Welch. Rowman & Littlefield, $34.95 (456p) ISBN 97807425566997
The historical “what if” that won’t go away, John F. Kennedy’s unrealized Vietnam strategy gets a comprehensive workout in this volume by political science professor Welch and international relations professors Blight and Lang. Using first-hand documents, audio recordings and a conference-based research technique they call “critical oral history,” the authors assimilate a “virtual” JFK to decide the course of the war. The 2005 Musgrove Conference brought together scholars and former White House officials for three days of discussion; the evidence quickly split into two camps. Skeptics conclude that, after the1963 assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem, JFK would done just what Lyndon did in 1965: send in tens of thousands more American troops. The opposing side points to Kennedy’s 1963 plan to withdraw a thousand men, as well as the lessons of the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the Cuban Missile Crisis, to suggest he would have resisted the hawkish voices around him. The authors go ahead and determine a winner, the war-ending JFK who would have withdrawn the troops and taken the political beating that came with it. Though the book offers other new insights (PBS broadcaster and former LBJ advisor Bill Moyers, a possible Kennedy-McNamara “back-channel”), it plods through much heavily trafficked territory. (Apr.)

LIFESTYLE

Faith, Hope and Healing: Inspiring Lessons Learned from People Living With Cancer
Bernie S. Siegel and Jennifer Sander. Wiley, $24.95 (240p) ISBN 9780470289013
In this collection of first-person accounts, doctor and author Siegel (Love, Medicine, and Miracles) brings together almost three dozen cancer patients (or close relations of) to share their stories and the lessons they’ve learned. Many entries tackle the moment of diagnosis (the first, from survivor Angela Passidomo Trafford, opens with the line, “How many times do I have to have cancer?!”), while others pick up at the moment the diagnosis first hits home; still others focus on the end, like Ann Martin Bowler, whose sick brother passed days after a reinvigorating near-death experience. Lynn Zeller contributes a list of the “eight practices” she discovered through cancer that have led to a “wonderfully expanded experience of life” (including a focus on gratitude, mindfulness, and the idea that the universe “is in a conspiracy for my good”); Edwina Ford focuses on her afflicted husband’s admiration, and efforts on behalf, of Lance Armstrong’s post-surgery Tour de France comeback. For each piece, Siegel provides a reflection and a moral (“Life’s difficulties are what teach us to grow”) that clarify and encourage. Anyone struggling with cancer will find many relatable voices and, in Siegel, a compassionate expert commentator. (Apr.)

Skinny Bastard: A Kick-in-the-Ass for Real Men Who Want to Stop Being Fat and Start Getting Buff
Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. Running, $14.95 paper (288p) ISBN 9780762435401
Apparently fearing their market’s reaching the saturation point, the latest iteration of Freedman and Barnouin’s bestselling Skinny Bitch series goes after another demographic entirely—men—but without altering the strident, withering approach they’ve perfected in Skinny Bitch and its follow-ups. That may be a mistake—the kind of cutting humor that comes off as challenging when aimed at fellow women seems (rightly or wrongly) more chilling when aimed across the gender aisle, with the real possibility of turning men off. Still, those happy to take the scorn with the solution are invited to “strap on a pair...[and] get ripped.” Much of the strict Skinny Girl regimen is translated directly: sugar, simple carbs, meat and dairy are out; fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains and whole wheat are in. The authors also discuss evidence for and against soy, the male epidemic of hypertension and heart disease, and the failings of government health-monitoring departments (like the USDA and FDA). Helpful grace notes include a chapter of support for the big changes (titled “Don’t Be a Pussy”) and shopping lists of approved brands and foods. (May)

ILLUSTRATED

The Smartest Animals on the Planet: Extraordinary Tales of the Natural World’s Cleverest Creatures
Sally Boysen with Deborah Custance. Firefly, $35 (192p) ISBN 9781554074563
The first studies of animal intelligence focused on chimps, gorillas and orangutans, simply because humans assumed intelligence was the province of higher primates; other species, it was thought, acted through instinct. Then twentieth century field biologists began reporting observations of problem-solving in many other species: bees dancing to convey pollen locations, whales using complex sounds to communicate across entire ocean basins, crows using sticks to pull grubs from tree bark, salamanders differentiating between smaller and larger food sources. Each animal is placed into one of seven categories—tool making and use, communication, learned social behaviors, individual self-awareness, numerical ability, language learning and group cooperation/mutual protection—though they clearly overlap, showing how animals place on different axes of intelligence (a dolphin exhibits tool use and learned culture skills when showing her pup how to fish with a sponge). Vibrant color photographs and diagrams illustrate species and behavioral sequences like the different facial cues of baboons (the “kings of expression”). Clearly-written text is aimed primarily at adults, but suitable for middle school and advanced elementary school students (with help from the included glossary). An ideal family gift, this should also find use in the classroom. (Apr.)

CHILDRENS

Fiction

Heart of a Shepherd
Rosanne Parry. Random House, $15.99 (176p) ISBN 9780375848025
In Parry’s debut novel, 11-year-old Brother (his given name is Ignatius: “Guess they ran out of all the good saints by the time they got to me”) helps manage his family’s Oregon ranch. With his father in Iraq, his four older brothers at school or in the military, and his mother painting abroad, caring for family’s livestock falls to Brother, his grandparents and some hired help. Though he is eager to prove to his siblings, grandparents and most importantly, his father, that he can handle it, Brother nonetheless struggles with the rigors of the job, his father’s and brothers’ absence and the stress of war (“I could never do it.... I could never take those salutes and the ‘yes, sirs’ and then take moms and dads into danger”). Slowly, Brother fills the shoes of his elders and realizes his own calling when he is literally tested by fire. Brother’s spiritual growth and gentle but strong nature, in tandem with details of ranch life and the backdrop of war, add up to a powerful, unique coming-of-age story. Ages 8–12. (Mar.)

Distant Waves: A Novel of the Titanic
Suzanne Weyn. Scholastic, $17.99 (336p) ISBN 9780545085724
Weyn’s historical novel climaxes with the sinking of the Titanic, but it begins in 1898 when narrator Jane, the second of five sisters, is four years old and observing her mother, a medium, contact the spirit world for the first time. That same life-changing day, on their way to a spiritualist community outside Buffalo, N.Y., the newly-fatherless family is caught in an artificial earthquake caused by real-life scientist Nikola Tesla. The beginning of the novel centers on the girls’ mother’s spiritual work, with Jane unsure of her mother’s clairvoyance. Science has an equally important role, as Jane becomes obsessed with Tesla, following his career in the paper and then seeking him out. The story’s pace is slow, but it picks up as the years pass, and Jane falls in love with Tesla’s assistant, Thad. After a trip to England, the sisters find themselves on the Titanic—the author uses a touch of the fantastic to provide a (mostly) happy conclusion. The interplay of science, spirituality, history and romance will satisfy. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)

Purge
Sarah Darer Littman. Scholastic, $16.99 (240p) ISBN 9780545052351
Written in first person, including journal entries, Littman’s chronicle of teen bulimia unfolds as 16-year-old Janie describes her stay in a rehabilitation center for eating disorders. For Janie, bingeing and purging make her feel in control of a body she hates. After a humiliating scene at her sister’s wedding in which her disease is discovered, she tries to kill herself and is brought to the center for treatment. Unfortunately, her stay is predictable and her counterparts come across as clichéd. Janie’s recounting of the events leading up to her suicide attempt, however, is entirely relatable and her feelings authentic (“Was there ever a period of time when I was able to love food unreservedly, without thinking of it as ‘the enemy’ the minute it was in my stomach?”). Most realistic is her friendship with childhood pal Kelsey, and their big fight is devastating, as is Janie’s losing her virginity to a boy who treats her badly. Littman (Confessions of a Closet Catholic) offers a good, if limited, addition to the resources available for teens suffering with this issue. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)

One Wish
Leigh Brescia. WestSide (www.westside-books.com), $17.95 (218p) ISBN 9781934813052
Chubby Wrenn Scott’s wish to be popular seemingly comes true after she lands a lead role in her high school’s production of Grease. Finally getting to rub elbows with the cool kids, she allows fellow cast members to give her a beauty makeover and begins shedding pounds at an alarming rate. Readers will quickly recognize that she is traveling down a path toward self-destruction; it isn’t until family members discover her secret for weight loss that Wrenn is forced to come to terms with the harm she is doing to herself. Brescia tackles important issues in her first novel, and Wrenn’s thoughts and the characters’ dialogue feel honest, though supporting characters are less developed. Wrenn’s shallowness makes her less sympathetic (she dismisses the man her mother is dating based on his name alone, and when asked what kind of boy is her “type,” she replies, “Guys who are good looking and popular”), but no less believable. Wrenn does finally show some growth and depth in the final chapters when she is undergoing therapy for anorexia, and begins to reflect on the choices she’s made. Ages 14–up. (Apr.)

Freaked
J.T. Dutton. HarperTeen, $16.99 (304p) ISBN 9780061370793
It’s 1993, and there’s a lot going wrong in Scotty Loveletter’s life. His goldfish has died, his well-known sex-therapist mother is considering posing for Playboy, his stepfather is getting ready to fly the coop and he’s stuck at a “last-resort” boarding school. Scotty’s one consolation (besides copious amounts of drugs): the music of his idols, Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. “I have lived my life according to all the rules of Jerryism. I have shared my women (if my mother counts) and I have shared my wine (sometimes out the car window or all over my shirt and shoes).” When his drug-dealing roommate whisks him and a “townie” classmate away to attend Jerry’s Freedom Concert on Long Island, Scotty has little idea of the adventures that are in store, which include being ditched at Grand Central Terminal and getting into the concert without a ticket. Dutton’s debut will appeal most to readers who share Scotty’s taste in music and recreation. Others may find the rambling narrative, 1990s setting and references, and over-the-top antics hard to get into. Ages 14–up. (Mar.)

FICTION

Before I Forget
Leonard Pitts, Jr. Agate/Bolden, $16 paper (364p) ISBN 9781932841435
In a seamless transition to fiction, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Pitts Jr. (Becoming Dad) delivers an unsettling, compelling first novel about secrets, illness, and the role of African-American men in society and family life. His absorbing story centers on unmarried father of one Mo Johnson, a faded 1970s soul star living in Baltimore, and diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 49. Overwhelmed with regrets, and unable to confess his diagnosis, he sets out to make things right with two men long absent in his life: his teenage son, Trey, an unwed father facing armed-robbery charges; and his father, Jack, now ravaged by cancer. Mo and Trey take a cross-country road trip to visit Jack in his final days, each character a simmering cauldron of secrets, grief, and recrimination about to boil over. Unfolding like a film (big names are already attached to a possible movie adaptation), the novel takes readers to rural 1940s Mississippi, South Central L.A. in the swingin’ 1950s, and present-day Las Vegas with immersing dialog and vivid, powerful imagery. Bold in spirit and scope, this is a rare, memorable debut that should net Pitts a wide new expanse of fans. (Mar.)

Book of Clouds
Chloe Aridjis. Grove, $14 paper (224p) ISBN 9780802170569
Aridjis’s lithe debut novel is a brooding, dreamy tale of a young Mexican woman in Berlin, burrowing an escape from the siblings and expectations awaiting her back home. Placing first in a nationwide language exam, university student Tatiana wins a year’s room and board in Germany, quickly dissolving into Berlin life (“On some days I felt attached to the city and assimilated, on others like some kind of botched transplant with a few renegade veins”) and deciding to stay on when the scholarship runs dry. After a series of odd jobs, Tatiana lands with Dr. Friedrich Weiss, an eccentric historian who needs an assistant to transcribe a number of his “mesmeric” dictations. A loner with a fertile imagination, Tatiana is well-suited to the job, and quickly grows absorbed; Weiss’s obsession with Berlin’s Nazi and Stasi past dovetails nicely with Tatiana’s fascination with the city’s underbelly. Ultimately, the characters and landmarks of this ephemeral novel (Tatiana included) never quite emerge from a fog of mystery, making this less a satisfying narrative than a lofty meditation on the power of what’s obscured and unknowable. (Mar.)

Julia and the Master of Morancourt
Janet Aylmer. Harper, $14.99 paper (240p) ISBN 9780061672958
Aylmer (Darcy’s Story) retains the Austen-era settings of her debut but adds an original cast of characters to her entertaining but underdeveloped sophomore effort. Twenty-year-old Julia Maitland is ready to find a husband. Lord Dominic Brandon has proposed, delighting Julia’s socially ambitious mother, despite Brandon’s unsavory reputation and rumored ties to smuggling. Though her father favors Jack Douglas—who lacks a title but will inherit his father’s fortune—Julia has eyes only for Kit, Jack’s younger brother, who will inherit very little. When Julia accompanies her Aunt Lucy to the estate of Lucy’s recently deceased childhood friend, she is stunned to see Kit, who inherited the estate and new surname from his godmother, making him the Master of Morancourt. The attraction between the pair blossoms but Julia knows a loveless union still awaits unless she can convince her family otherwise. Aylmer is more enamored of the period than of her characters, and the plot serves as merely a framework for sumptuous descriptions of Regency-era events and fashions. Despite a treasure trove of Austen-era trivia, a stronger narrative would have made the love affair more compelling. (May)

The Wildwater Walking Club
Claire Cook. Hyperion, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 9781401340896
The lives of a suddenly jobless corporate executive, a teacher navigating a difficult relationship with her daughter and a young lavender farmer intertwine in Cook’s straightforward novel. When a generous compensation package gives Noreen “Nora” Kelly—whose career defined her identity—18 months salary to forge a new path, she realizes she has little in common with her former work companions and strikes up a friendship with next-door neighbor Tess Tabares, who’s struggling to connect with her college-bound daughter. The women begin taking daily walks and soon Rosemary “Rosie” Stockton, who owns her family’s lavender farm, joins in. Despite their very different—yet all very prickly—personalities, the three women soon form a tight bond. With her easygoing style, Cook (Must Love Dogs) engages readers, drawing them into the daily lives of these new friends. Geographical inconsistencies—the novel is set in Massachusetts but has a distinctive Southern flair—may bother some readers but most will be satisfied with this breezy beach read. (May)