Nonfiction Reviews

In this absorbing blend of bright-eyed reportage and hands-on participation, journalist Milgrom demystifies the creepy art of bringing dead creatures back to life and dispels the myth that taxidermists merely “stuff animals.” The author’s quest to understand the compulsion of obsessed hobbyists and exacting scientists alike to duplicate what nature has created starts in a New Jersey family workshop, where three generations—including the last chief taxidermist for the American Museum of Natural History—have mounted everything from three-toed sloths to fireflies. She visits the English sculptor who preserves dead animals for British artist Damien Hirst’s displays; explores the arcane subculture of American taxidermy conventions where hundreds vie for best in show awards; and wanders the halls of the bankrupt Mr. Potter’s Museum of Curiosities as collectors bid for auction lots of Victorian-era displays of squirrels drinking port and “bespectacled gentlemen lobsters.” Though her own squeamish attempts to preserve a squirrel are less than stellar, Milgrom’s initial uneasy curiosity blossoms into genuine appreciation for a true art form, an enthusiasm the author imparts with style in this substantial study. (Mar.)

The legendary outfielder remains an idol in this starstruck authorized biography. Journalist Hirsch (Hurricane: The Miraculous Journey of Rubin Carter) makes Mays “the savior” of the floundering Giants franchise, celebrates his “supernatural” power, speed, and fielding chops and his godlike physique; toasts his “innocence and joy,” abstemious lifestyle, and kindness to children; and credits him with stopping a San Francisco race riot with a public service announcement. Hirsch is more restrained about his subject’s darker side, his financial difficulties and his often cold and prickly personality. He barely mentions Mays’s use of amphetamines, which he does not connect to the athlete’s frenetic on-field demeanor and recurrent collapses and hospitalizations for “exhaustion.” Hirsch is more incisive on the racial tensions roiling a fast-integrating baseball during Mays’s career, and on the shift to a faster, more aggressive style of play that Mays helped inaugurate. The author is at his best probing the strategy and mechanics behind Mays’s feats of fielding and baserunning; his detailed exegeses of individual plays, including an epic account of the over-the-shoulder catch in the 1954 World Series, reveal just how much art and science went into being Willie Mays. In Hirsch’s admiring portrait, Mays is certainly awe inspiring, but also remote and a bit impersonal. (Feb.)

Harris, a reporter for National Journal, details the rise of a “band of mavericks” in national security and intelligence organizations that has erected “an American surveillance state.” In this timely and admirably balanced account, Harris focuses on the role of a handful of key figures, including Reagan-era National Security Adviser John Poindexter, as they campaigned for information technology to identify terrorists. The controversial Poindexter started the campaign after the 1983 bombing of Marine barracks in Lebanon; the mission was imbued with greater urgency after September 11; with the support of the Bush administration, the National Security Agency (NSA) acquired a research project that Poindexter had developed called Total Information Awareness that uses advanced data-mining techniques to collect mountains of data—and has trapped countless innocent citizens in the NSA’s “electronic nets.” After the NSA’s warrantless surveillance was exposed in 2005, Congress passed largely cosmetic reforms that left the surveillance state intact. Harris carefully examines how the nexus between terrorism and technology has complicated the age-old “conflict between security and liberty” and calls for a national debate on the issue. This informative and dramatic narrative is an excellent place to start. (Feb.)

Journalist Biggers tallies up the human cost of more than two centuries of coal mining in southern Illinois in an intimate, informative yet uneven book. Part historical narrative, part family memoir, part pastoral paean, and part jeremiad against the abuse of the land and of the men who gave and continue to give their lives to (and often for) the mines, the book puts a human face on the industry that supplies nearly half of America’s energy. Biggers excavates the history beneath the homestead at Eagle Creek where his family lived for eight generations. The displacement of the indigenous Shawnee, the hidden legacy of slavery, the bitter and bloody conflicts between miners and their bosses, and the environmental devastation wrought by the mines are detailed as part and parcel of the region’s coal-mining history—a history obliterated along with the mountaintops and clean streams scraped away by the miners’ steam shovels. Written in a personal and poetic style, the book suffers from poor organization, but it offers a rare historical perspective on the vital yet little considered industry, along with a devastating critique of the myth of “clean coal.” (Feb.)

Kotkin (The City) offers a well-researched—and very sunny—forecast for the American economy, arguing that despite its daunting current difficulties, the U.S. will “emerge by midcentury as the most affluent, culturally rich, and successful nation in human history.” Nourished by mass immigration and American society’s “proven adaptability,” the country will reign supreme over an “industrialized world beset by old age, bitter ethnic conflicts, and erratically functioning economic institutions.” Although decreasing social mobility will present a challenge, demographic resources will give the U.S. an edge over its European rivals, which will be constrained by shrinking work forces and rapidly proliferating social welfare commitments. Largely concerned with migration patterns within the U.S., the book also offers a nonpartisan view of America’s strengths, identifying both pro-immigration and strongly capitalist policies as sources of its continued prosperity. However, Kotkin tends to gloss over the looming and incontrovertible challenges facing the country and devotes limited space to the long-term consequences posed by the current recession, the rise of India and China, and the resulting competition over diminishing energy resources. Nevertheless, his confidence is well-supported and is a reassuring balm amid the political and economic turmoil of the moment. (Feb.)

Beginning with the recent financial crisis, Green, the former CEO of HSBC and an ordained Anglican priest, launches into a deeply reflective examination of globalization, urbanization, and the market economy. Drawing on a diverse range of sources—from the Koran to The Wealth of Nations, T.S. Eliot to Thomas Friedman—and placing market vicissitudes into a broad historical context, he contends that globalization has passed the point of no return and that, despite its flaws and failings, the market economy is the best economic arrangement available. Green pivots to consider the importance of corporate and personal responsibility in an increasingly interdependent world. Though the author does describe the Christian foundations for his own metaphysical and ethical views, he spends more time discussing Goethe’s Faust than any Gospel. Green never calls for any particular reform; rather he makes an inspiring and erudite case for individuals to make moral sense of their lives and strive to make a better world despite the inherent imperfections in human nature and the globalized marketplace. (Feb.)

In this riveting and timely read, former Goldman Sachs investment banker Smith (The Global Bankers) takes readers on a roller-coaster ride of a history lesson, covering 100 years of peaks, valleys, booms, and busts on Wall Street and concluding with a stellar account of the recent financial crisis. He traces the evolution of such financial powerhouses as Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and Lehman Brothers and scrupulously chronicles the interplay between market forces and political, technological, and cultural shifts. The pace never slackens nor does the book buckle beneath the weight of Smith’s research—long accounts of industry shakeups are interspersed with anecdotes about the colorful personalities that have shaped Wall Street, from early-20th-century finance titans Andre Meyer of Lazard Frères, and Sidney Weinberg, one of the early drivers behind Goldman Sachs, to present-day moguls Michael Bloomberg and Henry Paulson. Novices as well as industry insiders will find Smith’s perspective edifying; his account of Wall Street’s history reveals how turbulence and adaptation are hallmarks of the capital markets. (Jan.)

Artfully balancing conceptual precision and editorial care with a deep sense of urgency, this volume of essays on one of the 20th century’s great theorists of totalitarianism and anti-Semitism offers a stimulating examination of Arendt’s political and philosophical writings. The pieces analyze the sociopolitical ramifications of her life as well as more focused discussions of key topics in the social and the political realms. Cathy Caruth offers an exemplary reading of the relationship between the Pentagon Papers and Arendt’s notion of the modern political lie that attempts not simply to cover over mistakes but to replace reality entirely by fabricating new histories. Uday Mehta gives a fascinating outline of Arendt’s views on politics and terror, while Christopher Hitchens offers some brief, idiosyncratic reflections on anti-Semitism. Contributors return repeatedly to Arendt’s 1963 coverage of the trial of Nazi official Adolf Eichmann. The essays lack a consensus on Arendt’s notion of the “banality of evil,” but it is precisely the rich variety of interpretations together with a wonderful selection of images from her personal library that make the collection so compelling. (Jan.)

In 1887, the future leader of the Russian revolution, Vladimir Ulyanov (later Lenin), was 17 when his 21-year-old brother was hanged for his role in a bungled attempt to assassinate Czar Alexander III. Historians consider this the seminal event that launched Lenin’s career as a revolutionary. Wesleyan history professor Pomper (The Russian Intelligentsia) delivers an absorbing and surprisingly detailed account of Alexander Ulyanov’s short life and even shorter career (four months) as a terrorist. Although a small minority among Russia’s many reformers, violent revolutionaries hit the jackpot in 1881 by assassinating Czar Alexander II. This produced not the hoped-for reform but the opposite: mass arrests, informers, and oppressive laws. Yet plots to kill his successor flourished. Pomper describes half a dozen fanatic students at St. Petersburg University who recruited Alexander, assembled bombs, printed literature, and laid plans until the police, informed of the plot, arrived. Lenin never mentioned his brother, but others did, and Pomper delivers a spirited account of this obscure figure, skillfully interweaving a vivid portrait of 19th-century Russian culture and revolutionary ferment. 16 pages of illus. (Jan.)

As the primary conduit for goods and people, the Seine helped turn Paris into a thriving commercial center. But the river also brought destruction and death through periodic winter flooding. Important efforts were made in the 19th century to regulate the river, but a key proposal to raise the level of the quay walls was botched. By the second week of 1910, water from rising rivers washed through and wreaked havoc on villages upriver from Paris. By January 22, Parisians were forced out of homes; the river and the warehouse district of Bercy was particularly devastated and with it the city’s precious wine supply. Water from the Seine was carried by the Métro into other areas on the right bank, but Parisians rallied. They established wooden walkways while soldiers rescued people from the water and prevented looting without occupying the city. Enlivened by period photographs of a flooded Paris, this is a capable, well-researched history of a modern city’s battle with nature, but Rhodes College history professor Jackson’s attempts to make connections with recent events like Katrina or the suburban Paris riots are tepid. 17 b&w photos. (Jan.)

The early, relatively heroic days of the conflict in Afghanistan are memorialized in this engrossing if glamorized war saga. Blehm (The Last Season, a B&N Discover Award winner) follows the exploits of Capt. Jason Amerine’s Special Forces team Alpha 574, which choppered into Afghanistan in November 2001 to help future Afghan president Hamid Karzai organize anti-Taliban insurgents in the south. The team’s mission—to turn chaotic and perpetually stoned Pashtun tribesmen into effective soldiers—seems impossible and, ultimately, proved unnecessary. Indeed, according to Blehm’s account, the Green Berets’ worst enemies were other Americans: meddling CIA honchos and army brass, a do-nothing Marine officer, and the air force spotter who mistakenly called in an air strike on 574’s position, with ghastly results. The author overplays the comradely bond between Karzai and Amerine, who come off as a latter-day Washington and Lafayette, but doesn’t quite succeed in wringing a military epic out of what was essentially a turkey shoot. Still, Blehm’s warts-and-all account of the U.S. military machine in action is full of tension, color, and real pathos. 16 pages of b&w photos. (Jan.)

Although “the second Elizabethan era” has been a period in which the majority of the British basked in comfort, security, and luxury, it is also the reign in which Britain effectively stopped being British, contends the opinionated and entertaining Wilson (After the Victorians). The prolific novelist and historian points to immigrants who have not integrated or learned English, the virtual dissolution of the Church of England, the injection of American culture, and membership in the European Union as destructive of the common culture and national identity. According to Wilson, the late Princess Diana “paradoxically reminded people of why monarchy is a more satisfactory system of government than republicanism. It allows a focus on persons, rather than upon institutions.” The Profumo affair strengthened the press, but intelligent people who wanted their sex lives to remain private were frightened away from politics. Delightfully sharp-witted and sharp-tongued, and always controversial and ironic, Wilson takes no prisoners as he calls Queen Elizabeth II badly educated, Churchill an embarrassment in his last days as prime minister, and Tony Blair a Thatcherite who lacked the one thing necessary to be a successful Thatcherite, namely the enjoyment of being hated. 24 pages of b&w illus. (Jan.)

Mathematically minded readers who’ve always wondered how great athletes do what they do will learn from Goff how to “view the world of sports through the lens of physics.” Goff, a sports enthusiast and Lynchburg College physics professor, is more than comfortable analyzing a variety of feats of physical prowess, such as a spectacular play in the final seconds of a legendary 1982 Stanford-Berkeley college football game. After analyzing that play with its five lateral passes, Goff moves on to stage 16 of Lance Armstrong’s 2004 Tour de France win, and a record-breaking long jump by Bob Beamon at the 1968 Summer Olympics. While the discussion of the mechanics of angular momentum using the spins and rotations of ice skating and diving (Katarina Witt and Greg Louganis, respectively) will be familiar to nearly anyone who’s read a physics textbook, Goff surprises with chapters on how to “bend it like Beckham,” win at sumo wrestling, and use statistics and probability to predict college football outcomes. Sports fans with a knowledge of geometry and trigonometry will enjoy Goff’s cheerful revisiting of memorable athletic events. 70 illus. (Jan.)

Thirty-odd years ago, adventurer and environmentalist Turk (Cold Oceans) watched his dog root around in newly thawed dirt and jump wildly in response to some primeval scent in the earth. In that moment, Turk had a clear vision that the margin between life and death depends on a tactile, sensory awareness of the environment that incorporates but also transcends logic. Although he gradually forgot this lesson, it came hurtling back to him one day in July 2000 when he met Moolynaut, a Siberian shaman who introduced him to the “Other World” and the ways it impinges on the “Real World.” In prose by turns ponderous and lively, Turk narrates his journey to Siberia, the people he meets, and his introduction to the mysterious Moolynaut, who seems, like Shakespeare’s Prospero, to have created a storm that washes Turk and his companion onto the shore of her village. Eventually, Turk finds himself standing naked, balancing on one foot, holding his right hand behind his back and pointing straight in front of him with his left arm as Moolynaut heals his fractured pelvis. During these moments, Kutcha, the Raven Spirit, teaches Turk to see that the Other World and the Real World are united. In what could have been an intriguing memoir but instead is mundane and uninspiring, Turk unconvincingly rehearses many of the mantras of New Age spirituality magic—even as he offers a breathtaking glimpse of life in a small, forgotten Siberian village. (Jan.)

In this collection of previously published articles and excerpts from his books, Pulitzer Prize–winner Maraniss (Clemente) ranges over topics from the death of his sister and the deaths of strangers on September 11 to the political fortunes of Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Al Gore and the timeless contributions to sports of legendary figures like Vince Lombardi, Muhammad Ali, and Roberto Clemente. With his characteristic elegance, Maraniss explores in these sketches just how ordinary life is until it is not. Thus, he gathers memories from survivors that seem trivial—such as the student walking into his German class at Virginia Tech joking with his professor—but that provide a reflection of the universal in the particular. He also examines in these essays the odd, chaotic mixture of banality and horror in the tragic experience itself. Visiting Vietnam with American soldier Clark Welch, Maraniss witnesses Welch conversing with North Vietnamese villager Nguyen Van Lam—two sworn enemies over 30 years ago—and marvels at the connections of history and individual lives and the intentions that rip people apart and sew them back together. Maraniss wonders how Vince Lombardi might have reacted to the shift of power between players and coaches in today’s professional football world. Behind all his quaint notions of spartan discipline, team love, and obedience to the leader, Lombardi above all was adaptable, reacting to conditions quickly enough to bend things his way. Maraniss’s lively sketches illuminate the lives of significant cultural and political figures and intimately capture various moments that define modern American cultural history. (Jan.)

Tom and Dick Smothers had confrontations with CBS censors when they did their satirical television series from 1967 to 1969. To write this authoritative and entertaining examination of a comedic cornerstone, TV critic Bianculli (Teleliteracy) interviewed scores of producers and performers. He reveals what went on behind the cameras and also probes “the generational, artistic, and moral duels being fought in the ’60s.” He opens with the childhood of the brothers (and sister) when their father became a WWII POW fatality. After high school and college bands, the brothers rode the folk music wave into San Francisco’s Purple Onion, switched to comedy at Aspen, and recorded their debut comedy album in 1960, exploding into fame on Jack Paar’s Tonight show. After the failure of their 1965–1966 CBS sitcom, they went full throttle when their variety series, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, began taping in 1967, pushing boundaries “musically, comically, satirically, politically” and courting controversy. They strove for topicality while CBS scrambled to avoid it: “For CBS, almost every mention of religion, sex, drugs, politics, and war was anathema.” Reviewing each episode, entire sketches and individual gag lines, the book probes internal battles, with Tom Smothers “fighting censors, executives, affiliates, and increasingly his own managers and staff members.” Documenting each event that led to the show’s cancellation, he concludes this entertaining and well-researched bio with the duo’s huge influence on “today’s TV troublemakers and iconoclasts.” (Dec. 1)

Coinciding with the release of Avatar, James Cameron’s first film in over a decade, Time reporter Keegan’s solid biography of the dynamic director sheds welcome light on his cinematic achievements. Growing up in Ontario and later Los Angeles, Cameron was an accomplished artist and budding scientist who would bring his fascination with new technology to all his films. From his days doing grunt work for Hollywood indie legend Roger Corman—including his first directing job, helming Piranha 2—Cameron pursued his artistic vision with a passion that often translated into a tyrannical on-set presence. His string of action hits in the 1980s—Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss—made him one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood, and he continued through the 1990s, culminating in the 1997 blockbuster Titanic. With each film, Cameron strove for new technological feats, from shooting tricky underwater dialogue scenes in The Abyss to the reconstruction of a near life-size version of the doomed ship in Titanic. Keegan explores not only the director’s achievements on film, including an in-depth look at the 3D-film Avatar but also his often tumultuous personal life (including his five marriages). Fans of the charismatic director will welcome a look behind the scenes of some of the biggest movies in the last two-plus decades. (Dec. 15)

In this chatty, self-absorbed memoir told with a hefty dose of name-dropping and a devout reverence for fame and fortune, British interior decorator Haslam proudly reveals his intimate connections with many members of British and American high society from the 1950s to the present, from his distant relation to Princess Diana to his brief but adoring encounters with Tallulah Bankhead, Mick Jagger, the Beatles, Joan Crawford, and many more. Indeed his busy social life started young; for most of the first hundred pages he is a fairly wide-eyed ingénue at Eton, followed by stints in London, New York, California, and back to London as a magazine editor, interior designer, and columnist. His has been a life where everyone and everything is “darling” and “divine”; in his world, elevator doors open to reveal Salvador Dalí, and Andy Warhol is a frequent and amusing dinner companion.” While claiming to be “telling all,” Haslam hides most of what makes many memoirs truly personal and affecting; in exchange readers get a chance to feel as if they are on a first-name basis with the stars. His superficial obsession with high society is, still, highly entertaining and refreshingly honest, and will delight those who travel in international circles of design and fashion. (Dec.)

It’s hard for folks who didn’t live through the 1960s to imagine what it was like to live in a drug- and sex-soaked culture, one where traditional values were drowned in a rush of hedonism and hippiedom. Names like Timothy Leary and Ram Dass bring back all the memories and all the conflicts. In this beautifully constructed study, Lattin (Jesus Freaks) brings together four of the most memorable figures from that period. Each comes across as a flawed genius and irrepressible fanatic. The author says of Leary that he “activate[d] conservative anxiety in America,” but this could easily describe any of the players in this grim and gritty story. Laying out their stories side by side in roughly chronological form, the author traces the lives of each of the players, exposing a kind of dysfunctional relationship among them that is not part of our corporate memory. This is a fast-moving, dispassionate recounting of a seminal period in our history, and all in all, a wonderful book. (Jan.)

Princess is her name, not her title. Yet Zulu brings almost regal strength, hope, and a sense of responsibility to this memoir. Born in Kabwe, Zambia, Zulu had little more than a ninth-grade education, learning more on Africa’s diverse streets. She tells of the toll AIDS took on her life, ripping away her parents before it came for her. With astounding perspective, Zulu happily claims her HIV-positive diagnosis as God’s mission. Against custom and her husband’s wishes, Zulu speaks out about her status, risking divorce and excommunication. She bears Zambia’s burden by educating her countrymen about the disease, a journey that takes her from truck drivers on African roads all the way to Pennsylvania Avenue and the White House. In this book, she puts faces on the population of HIV-positive Africans. “Death is so much more common in Africa, but does it hurt less?”: Zulu demands respect for people with HIV and asks the world to be aware of Africa’s needs. Openly and tirelessly, she turns AIDS into an injury to the global body that readers won’t be able to ignore. (Jan.)

Spiritual lecturer, writer, and self-described “pleasure seeker” Cole-Whittaker (What You Think of Me Is None of My Business) draws on Eastern and Western religious traditions, as well as New Thought prosperity principles and Hermetic philosophy, to present a message of abundant happiness. All that’s needed is to realize that everything and everyone is already perfect. Easier said than done, perhaps? Cole-Whittaker’s concepts come to life with parables, contemplation exercises, empowering mantras, and simple yet insightful metaphors. Thoughts, deeds, and actions are often compared to seeds that offer better yield when tended in a positive way. Negativity is presented as bad computer programming worth removing. Since humans are inherently perfect, recognizing that perfect state requires letting go of such toxic emotions as greed or envy. Living your bliss has practical use in overcoming career, relationship, and health difficulties. Philosophically, there’s certainly room for debate (if everyone is perfect, why does crime exist?), and the author’s call to research the health benefits of colloidal silver are questionable. While many readers won’t accept all of Cole-Whittaker’s conclusions, the exuberance of her writing is contagious. (Jan.)

This first book by Tomlinson, a management consultant, is a perfect fit for the booming spirituality market, particularly for enthusiastic, evangelical 20- and 30-something audiences. He begins his personal musings with a simple thesis: it is too easy to become a “comfortable Christian” and we must always search for ways to express our active devotion to God and Jesus Christ. This premise is not particularly innovative, but his writing style is straightforward and personally honest. The author acknowledges his own struggles with pride while retelling, often with humor, his only-too-human attempts to reach lofty spiritual goals such as charity and purity. Every chapter opens with vivid and iconic imagery—a spoon, a bit of floss, a pager—tangible symbols throughout the book for more abstract ideas like obedience, joy, and comfort. In sum, the product is endearing and inspiring, especially appealing to young, male evangelicals. One chapter specifically devoted to the intersection of his spirituality and military service will also draw the interest of Christian men and women in the armed forces. Tomlinson’s debut leaves room for future development while it meets the expectations of readers and the genre as a whole; he is worth watching. (Jan. 1)

There’s no shortage of guides to simple living, and now there’s one more, from a charismatic Christian viewpoint. In Chuck and Pam Pierce’s new book on the topic, the charismatic Christian ministers write about spiritual and material simplicity with a vocabulary that will connect with an audience that may be suspicious of more mainstream books about frugality. Simplicity is not just about cleaning out closets, Pam suggests; it involves “walking around the perimeter of activities, options, commitments, even relationships, and examining them with an eye of wisdom.” Both write chapters;Pam’s center around issues like technology, Sabbath, money, and clutter, while Chuck’s focus on a spiritual-warfare approach to anxiety and stress. While the book contains helpful advice for all regarding things like electronic media fasts and a spiritual approach to simplicity, its value has definite limits. Noncharismatic readers may struggle with Chuck’s tangential references to eschatological prophecies and “seven-year cycles,” his assumption that “everyone in Christendom would want to read [his previous] book when it came out,” and his apparent conflation of the United States with “God’s covenant people.” (Jan.)

Adams’s upbeat “you can do it, too” message finds a new home in this book written with children’s author Lavette. Using the “Points of Power” presented on her daily radio show and themes from her gospel songs, Adams advances her belief that God has a plan for each life that includes success and happiness. She develops 37 points, each packaged with scripture passages and thoughts for further consideration, with a collection of stories about people who have overcome various struggles. She is transparent about her own failures and triumphs as well. After losing her father at a young age, Adams went on to college and a brief stint at teaching before launching a lucrative gospel music career that has generated 17 albums and $40 million over 20 years. A single mother of one child, Adams also has been divorced twice, but with her characteristic glass-half-full outlook, she sees good in everything that has happened to her. Christians who subscribe to the prosperity gospel message, as well as her fans, will most appreciate Adams’s prescription for fulfillment. (Jan.)

Nelson, author of 14 books, believes that spiritual journeys are team efforts. He adapts Daniel Goleman’s concept of emotional intelligence to Christian life, harnessing it to create teams that assist in developing spiritual lives. Experiencing the spiritual trip with others speeds the journey. Spiritual Intelligence “road maps” include Bible study and shared experiences of team members and human pathfinders. Nelson is a professional leadership trainer who views nurturing the soul as the mission that can fuel church growth. Spiritual maturity requires an organized effort beyond Sunday worship; it can be attained by creating disciples who then become pathfinders for others. By helping others, the author says, Christians get beyond emotional stumbling blocks and grow in relation to a heavenly parent. His ideas on gathering together, writing a covenant, and maintaining group harmony, activities for which he provides workbook exercises, keep the book moving along. He neatly defines five dominant soul types that the local church encounters and how a church can create teams to work together as spiritual partners. In a world of superficial social networking, Nelson proposes committed relationships. (Jan.)

In this comprehensive review of statements in the Bible about economics, wealth and poverty, New Testament scholar and author Witherington (The Brother of Jesus) analyzes canonical texts and their contemporary applications for Christians. Aiming to help the faithful avoid perils of “selective misuse” of scripture (the sin of prosperity preachers who focus on the Jabez prayer and isolated wealth proverbs), Witherington uses a creation theology lens: “all things ultimately belong to God.” While acknowledging the wisdom of Old Testament guidance, the author urges a “New Testament theology of stewardship and giving,” which calls Christians, guided by the Lord’s Prayer, beyond tithing to sacrificial giving. From unpacking perplexing gospel stories like “the dishonest steward” to offering concrete advice on how to separate from a culture of conspicuous consumption (discerning between necessities and luxuries and practicing debt forgiveness are among the practices he advocates), this cogent, accessible scholarly analysis contributes to the current economic conversation and urgently calls people of faith to review and reform their role as God’s stewards. Appendixes include popular Christian myths about money, and a powerful and apt 18th-century sermon on money by John Wesley. (Jan.)

The Eldredges’ newest book has bestseller written all over it. The pair addressed men and women separately in Wild at Heart (John) and Captivating (Stasi) and now put that knowledge together in a book on marriage. Christianity, they say, is a love story set amid war, with marriage “a living, breathing portrait laid out before the eyes of the world so that they might see the story of the ages.” For them, marriage is the perfect storm that brings together basic differences in men and women, individual styles of relating, sin, and brokenness. The Eldredges offer sound advice on topics such as the delights of companionship, understanding the enemy is Satan and not your spouse, finding your marriage’s mission, taboo topics, and, yes, sex. They are honest and forthright, never skirting a difficult issue; instead, they offer hope, insight, and their own lives as examples of what God can accomplish. Their summation of marriage: “It can be done. And it is worth it.” So is this book. (Dec.)

John Lennon will likely be remembered for two things: helping found the Beatles and writing the song “Imagine.” Those accomplishments, however, only scratch the surface of a complex and fascinating life. Writer and artist Tillery explores Lennon’s spirituality as it develops, beginning with childhood traumas, through his time with the Beatles, and finally, in his role as a social activist. Throughout his short life, Lennon fought many existential battles with himself and whatever he thought of as “God.” To interpret Lennon’s spiritual hunger, Tillery draws upon the work of Victor Frankl, the Austrian psychiatrist and WWII death camp survivor who wrote volumes on the importance of people finding meaning in their lives by focusing outward. The author characterizes Lennon as a loving man who, in the latter part of his life, was able to find some semblance of peace and to encourage others to do the same. Lennon searched for and sang about the truth, discarding religious indoctrination and accepted norms when they proved unhelpful. If this is Lennon’s legacy, one could do a lot worse. (Dec.)

Many books and articles are devoted to the biographies and ideas of the two great Jewish philosophers, Maimonides (1138–1204) and Spinoza (1632–1677). Angel comes up with the laudable notion of comparing and contrasting their views in a single volume. This is a bold venture, since he is an Orthodox rabbi and his predecessors in the Amsterdam Jewish community excommunicated Spinoza as a heretic in 1656, just two years after the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue was founded in New Amsterdam (now New York). Angel, born into Seattle’s Sephardic community, became the New York synagogue’s rabbi in 1969 and now serves as rabbi emeritus. Although he is respectful of many notions advocated by Spinoza, Angel makes clear his preference for the thinking of Maimonides. He explores what each of them had to say about faith, reason, God, Torah, superstition, and the relationship between Jews and non-Jews, invariably advocating the positions espoused by Maimonides. This thoughtful presentation will appeal to everyone interested in religion, Judaism, theology, and philosophy. (Dec.)

Motivational speakers and a married couple (Pat is cofounder of the Orlando Magic), the Williamses make a convincing case that theirs is the best strategy for marital harmony. Giving credit to the late Dr. Ed Wheat, who made the BEST (Blessing, Edifying, Sharing, and Touching) acronym popular in the 1980s, the author pair scores point after point demonstrating the power of these four principles in keeping a marriage happy. They explain the necessity of first developing and maintaining a Christ-centered marriage, from which couples will gain the strength to persevere through life’s challenges. This resilience will then necessarily spill over into the rest of the home, which in the Williamses’ case includes 19 children. In seemingly effortless two-part harmony, these winsome and warm authors take turns sharing specific insights from the male/female perspective, creating a win-win game plan for every Christian family. (Dec.)

Eight years after President George W. Bush began federal support for faith-based social services, the program is still contested by both the right and the left. Daly, a senior fellow at Demos, a nonpartisan public policy think tank, offers the current economic crisis as a good reason why President Obama should redouble efforts to more fully embrace it. His dense, scholarly review of the history of faith-based initiatives, which he traces to 19th-century German and Dutch welfare systems, may be the most comprehensive and evenhanded to date. Daly charts the evolution of the First Amendment’s establishment clause from strict institutional separation of church and state to one that emphasizes equal treatment for religious and secular service providers. Daly is convinced that faith-based social service providers offer the best moral standards for protecting families and communities, though it is clear he is referring mainly to Christian providers. In pluralistic 21st-century America, where people of no particular faith are the fastest-growing segment of the religious landscape, it’s not clear that the public is ready to trust religious institutions more than secular ones. (Dec.)

Coleman, one of the editors of a complete translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol) published by Viking in 2006, has selected key passages of this famous work and put each in context for the modern reader. His Holiness the Dalai Lama contributed introductory commentary to this concise volume. Both verse extracts and prose commentary provide a brief but intense introduction to subtle Buddhist concepts of mind, the self, impermanence, karma, and continuity of consciousness after death. The translation is beautifully clear, the content complex; a glossary explains in precise detail terms and concepts used in the text. The idea that death, the intermediate state, and rebirth may mirror the sleep, dreams, and awakening of ordinary life help guide the reader into this challenging set of ideas. Parallels with modern accounts of near-death experiences are also noted. This glimpse into the extraordinary intricacy of Buddhism shows how a major Tibetan text addressed the needs of both the living and the dead. (Dec.)

Literary critic Ilan Stavans highlights Hispanic literature.

In this erudite “biographical exploration” of Gabriel García Márquez and his One Hundred Years of Solitude, Stavans follows García Márquez from his Colombian childhood in Aracataca through his time as law student and journalist, up to his screenwriting days in Mexico City. Stavans outlines the cultural, historical, and geographical factors that influenced the development of García Márquez’s leftist politics and his view that “ 'good novels must be a poetic transposition of reality.’ ” Stavans (Dictionary Days), Amherst College professor of Latin American and Latino culture, concludes that the Colombian author’s “contribution lies in his capacity to... renovate the novel as a literary genre, infusing it with ingredients indigenous to the Americas.” This survey of García Márquez’s literary heritage might prompt enthusiasts to further reading. (Jan.)

Stavans (On Borrowed Words) displays an admirably broad reach in these 33 essays (previously published mainly in the Nation and the Chronicle of Higher Education), most on Spanish-language fiction from Cervantes to Sandra Cisneros and José Saramago. Some essays discuss wider topics, including how Spanish spread among the Western Hemisphere’s largely Indian peoples. Exploring Jewish issues, Mexican-Jewish-American Stavans includes a particularly interesting piece on anti-Semitism in Latin America. His writing reflects his deep love of the creative imagination and is full of pungent observations, such as, “A vast majority [of humanities professors] make a profession of being pretentious.” Stavans’s own graceful writing exemplifies his definition of his craft: “The critic is a compass that helps one to navigate the cultural map.” (Jan.)