Nonfiction Reviews

In a narrative set between the years of 1940 and 1976, Pham (Catfish and Mandala) recounts the story of his once wealthy father, Thong Van Pham, who lived through the French occupation of Indochina, the Japanese invasion during WWII, and the Vietnam War. Alternating between his father’s distant past and more recent events, the narrative take readers on a haunting trip through time and space. This technique lends a soothing, dreamlike quality to a story of upheaval, war, famine and the brutality his father underwent following a childhood of privilege (“And that strange year, the last of the good years, all things were granted. Heaven laid the seal of prosperity upon our land. We were blessed with the most bountiful harvest in memory”). For those not familiar with Vietnamese history, Pham does an admirable job of recounting the complex cast of characters and the political machinations of the various groups vying for power over the years. In the end, he also gracefully delivers a heartfelt family history. (June)

The titular firebrand in this revealing history is not an individual but a curious and ambitious project: the establishment, in March 1863, of a permanent Union outpost in Florida to serve as a haven for fugitive slaves and to “help ignite the destruction of Southern slavery from within.” In readable prose and relying exclusively on primary sources, historian Ash (When the Yankees Came) tells the little-known but crucial story of how 900 newly freed slaves, under the leadership of white abolitionist officers, captured Jacksonville. They fought alongside white Union troops and liberated slaves until their mission was abruptly aborted by their commanding officer, Gen. David Hunter, one of the dimmest stars in the Union Army firmament. Ash makes a strong case that the successes of the two black regiments changed the course of war by convincing President Lincoln to authorize the full-scale enlistment of African-Americans. By the end of the war, some 200,000 black troops had served in the Union Army. Without them, Ash contends, “the Union might very well have failed to conquer the Confederacy.” (July)

The contemporary philosopher Richard Rorty (1931–2007) was the epitome of a successful academic—educated and then employed at prestigious institutions, he saw his influence extend into sociology, cultural studies and literary criticism. Harvard assistant professor Gross concentrates on Rorty’s professional successes in academia and sends a discouraging message to both the graduate student and the academy. Using Rorty’s career as a case study, Gross observes the “social hierarchy” among disciplines and notes that academics are largely motivated by desires for intellectual prestige, that “radical intellectual innovation is most likely to come, not from young scholars, but from those who are sufficiently established as to be able to take bold professional risks,” and that “aspiring intellectuals compete with one another for the limited attention of mentors.” Citing the case of Rorty’s first wife, Amélie—who was also trained as a philosopher, but was repeatedly forced to sacrifice her career for Rorty’s—Gross illuminates the unequal opportunities for the ambitious wives of male intellectuals. The book’s subtle yet scathing critique of the tenure and promotion systems within universities reveals how such systems actually inhibit innovation in young scholars. A specialized sociological study of the academy, this book will appeal to all those concerned with the state of research in higher education. (June)

Federal public defender Wax masterfully delivers a harrowing story of the erosion of civil liberties after the September 11 terrorist attacks in a powerful testimony that reads like a thriller. Wax follows the stories of two men he represented, both victims of post-9/11 counterterrorism measures. The first—American citizen and fellow lawyer Brandon Mayfield—was arrested by the FBI as a suspect in the Madrid train station bombings in 2004, after the FBI claimed that a latent fingerprint found on the scene matched Mayfield’s. The second story revolves around Adel Hamad, a Sudanese-born hospital administrator arrested in Pakistan while doing refugee relief work. Imprisoned for six months in “a fetid hell” for alleged connections with al-Qaeda, Hamad was hooded and shackled and transferred to Guantánamo Bay, where he has languished for the past four years. With considerable finesse, the author narrates these two gripping stories in alternating chapters through each stage of his clients’ cases. Wax offers personal insight and professional outrage; his is a powerful voice that deserves to reach all Americans. (June)

The controversial pundit dishes out and takes punishment in this anthology of rancorous essays by him and the leftist comrades he abandoned to embrace the invasion of Iraq. The editors laud Hitchens as a “morally courageous,” “indispensable” thinker whose elegant polemics sparkle under fire; sadly, this selection hardly supports such glowing tributes. Hitchens’s post-9/11 pieces rehearse themes that he considers too self-evident to bother justifying: the irreconcilability of Islamist “fascism” with humane liberal values; the mortal peril posed by Saddam’s dictatorship; the imperative to destroy both and the left’s “moral cretinism” in questioning the rationale or methods for doing so. Hitchens’s arguments rely on debater’s tactics—stiffened with muscular rhetoric (“When [cluster bombs] are dropped on... Taliban troops, they do have a heartening effect”), personal vitriol (“fat sluts,” he dubs the Dixie Chicks) and school-yard taunts (“Well, ha ha ha and yah, boo”). His detractors sometimes reciprocate (Richard Seymour calls him a “tumescent cadaver”), but Gary Malone, Juan Cole and George Scialabba offer poised rebuttals. There’s red meat aplenty for pro- and anti-Hitchens readers, but more blood than light is shed on the underlying issues. (June)

Morris, a writer for the New York Times, mixes humor and social commentary in this courageous book, revealing the bitter grief of his mother’s death and the joyous re-emergence into life of Joe, his widowed father. Hapless and lacking in social graces, the author’s 79-year-old father, a former New York judge for the state department of motor vehicles, loves off-color jokes and appreciates the late pop icon Dinah Shore. Morris, a lonely gay journalist, acts as senior adviser and moral chaperone to his dad’s girlfriends, who include lovely Edie, low-carb Ann, nutty Rita, egghead Roz and serviceable Gracie. Never losing sight of the complex relationship between aging parents and adult children, the commitment-phobic son conquers some key intimacy issues to wade into a love affair with a man, while learning tolerance and openness from his father’s juggling of female companions. Ultimately, the inspirational memoir captures all the needed laughs and emotions that go with love and life in the waning years of parent-child bonding. (June)

Historian Freeman (The Philosopher and the Druids: A Journey Among the Ancient Celts) paints a flattering portrait of Caesar in this admirable biography, exalting his cunning, military skill, political insights and allegiance to the plebeian class. In fast-paced prose and detailed historical sketches, Freeman traces Caesar’s life from early youth onward, covering his marriage and service as a priest (or pontifex); his election to pontifex maximus in 63 B.C.; his command of Roman forces in the Gallic Wars; his ascension to leader of the republic; and his famous assassination. Drawing on Caesar’s own writings, Freeman portrays him as a brilliant military strategist whose defense of Roman land in the Gallic Wars extended the rule of Rome from Italy to the Atlantic. Caesar returned to Italy in 49 B.C. and became dictator three years later, seeking to improve the republic through civic reforms, including the taking of a proper census, the building of a library, the codification of Roman law and the conversion of Rome to a solar calendar. Although Freeman’s biography reveals little new information about Caesar, his cultural and historical knowledge bring the emperor to life and humanize him in a way no writer before him has succeeded in doing. (May)

Poet and biographer Epstein (Lincoln and Whitman: Parallel Lives in Civil War Washington) never explains the rationale for this reliable but familiar account of the Lincolns’ frequently tempestuous marriage. If he had access to previously untapped sources, he does nothing to highlight them, and there’s little reason why this book should supersede either Jean H. Baker’s magisterial Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography or even Ruth Painter Randall’s respected Mary Lincoln: Biography of a Marriage. What Epstein brings is a novelistic, almost lyrical touch, as in this passage, from Mary’s perspective, as her husband lay dying: “Slowly the room grows larger with the light. The April days are long. Hold back the light. Let the day never dawn that looks upon his death.” Well born, Mary was also highly strung, insecure, jealous and, like Abraham, prone to fits of depression. He suffered her rages silently, tolerated her profligate spending even when it became a political embarrassment and twice consoled her in the midst of his own grief upon the successive losses of two of their four sons. Sadly, in the end, their marriage seems to have been largely a pageant of tragedies: a black lily Epstein need not have attempted to gild. (May)

Although a well-mined biography topic, the Medici dynasty continues to fascinate, and critic Unger (The Watercolors of Winslow Homer) offers a smart, highly readable and abundantly researched book, making particularly good use of Medici family letters and earlier biographical sources such as Machiavelli’s writings. Heir to a vast international banking empire and trading cartel with branches in Venice, London and Geneva, Lorenzo de’ Medici (1449–1492) was born to rule. Naturally sociable and charismatic with a common touch, famous temper and cynical world view, the teenaged Lorenzo excelled in classics, riding, arms, archery and music. He pursued liaisons with both women and men, represented his sickly father, Piero, on an important diplomatic mission and thwarted his father’s enemies during a legendary ambush. His accomplishments do not stop there: as Florence’s de facto ruler, Lorenzo actively collaborated with the artist Botticelli, was a master tactician and diplomat, and survived a papal-sanctioned assassination attempt that claimed the life of his beloved brother. Renaissance Florence—where wealthy aristocrats rubbed shoulders with the poor on narrow city streets and whose art and intellectual life dazzled Europe—is itself an intriguing character, proving Unger’s mastery over his facts. Illus. (May)

Over the past 20 years, some of the most striking economic growth in history has been taking place in Asia, and former Economist editor-in-chief Emmott (The Sun Also Sets) combines solid economic and political analysis with entertaining personal accounts to discuss three countries in the center of the phenomenon. Emmott paints richly detailed portraits of China, India and Japan, examining the global implications of their growing rivalry while remaining attentive to issues that extend beyond the region, such as the environment and nuclear weapons proliferation. Several of his conclusions are familiar: China’s rapid economic growth is coming into conflict with its political authoritarianism; there is vast potential for India’s growth if public policy can properly encourage it; Japan’s aging and shrinking population could lead the country into further economic decline. The true strength of the book lies in Emmott’s ability to guide the reader through the intricate—often fraught—relationships between these countries without losing focus. Particularly welcome is his ability to discuss potential trouble spots in the region without degenerating into alarmism. This serious and stimulating book will be indispensable to anyone interested in where these countries are headed—and where they might take us. (May)

This is the journeyman Bill Buckley. Part memoir, part political history and part reportage, Flying High sparkles with joie de vivre and syntactical expertise, giving lively accounts of Nikita Khrushchev’s historic—and theatrical—visit to the United States, the 1960 Republican convention and fallout, and National Review’s heady first years. Readers are made privy to Buckley’s behind-closed-doors meetings with other right-wing mavens as they debate the John Birch Society, commission Buckley’s brother-in-law, Brent Bozell, to ghostwrite The Conscience of a Conservative and attempt to propel its putative author Goldwater into political office—only to find themselves dramatically excluded from the 1964 campaign. Although the book’s scattered time line is slightly jarring (Buckley jumps between the 1964 campaign and affectionate memories of Goldwater), that does not detract from this book’s modest and utterly satisfying pleasures. (May)

With his trademark mordant wit, journalist Taibbi explores the “black comedy” of the American polis, where a citizenry shunted out of the political process seeks solace in “conspiratorial weirdness and Internet-fueled mysticism.” Trained from birth to be excellent consumers, Americans have become experts in “mixing and matching news items to fit [their] own self-created identities,” according to the author, who embeds himself in these pockets of people as he travels to the Congress press gallery, Iraq, meetings of the 9/11 Truth Movement, and goes undercover at a Christian Retreat. He pillories born-again Christians and the 9/11 conspiracy theorists, concluding that despite their differences: “Both groups were and are defined primarily by an unshakeable belief in the inhumanity of their enemies on the other side; the Christians seldom distinguished between Islamic terrorism and, say, Al Gore–style environmentalism, while the Truthers easily believed that reporters for the Washington Post, the president and the frontline operators of NORAD were equally capable of murdering masses of ordinary New York financial sector employees.” Thoughtful Democrats, Republicans and independents will find common ground in this book that punctures pretense, hypocrisy and know-nothingness. (May 6)

Journalist Cooley (Unholy Wars) passionately inveighs against counterfeit money in this lively and well-researched—if occasionally overheated—exposé. Cooley delivers an entertaining history of debased currency, whose origins date back to the third millennium B.C. and has a long history as a weapon of war. Cooley recounts British counterfeiting aimed at destabilizing the American colonies and the 1860s Union effort to spread fake Confederate dollars which contributed to wild inflation in the South. Nazis notoriously used Jewish concentration camp inmates to counterfeit massive quantities of dollars and sterling (depicted in the Oscar-winning Austrian film The Counterfeiters), and Cooley paints a vivid picture of the economic catastrophe this might have caused had all the forgeries been put into circulation. A disturbing recent development has been the flood of “supernotes,” superbly forged $100 bills pouring into circulation for 20 years, most likely from North Korea or Iran. Since 1995, the U.S. has redesigned its currency to foil counterfeiters, but the notes continue to appear. According to Cooley, the media prefers to cover more spectacular crimes such as terrorism, although counterfeiting causes greater economic damage; this compelling account illuminates this neglected issue, and readers will not be disappointed. (May)

The rise and fall of the Sawyer Miller Group, a political consultancy firm, makes for a whirlwind look at international electioneering in this thoroughly engrossing book. The firm grew out of a partnership among the political neophytes who essentially invented the “American-style of campaigning” and served as backroom strategists in every presidential contest from Nixon to George W. Bush. Editor at The Times in London, Harding draws on over 200 interviews to reconstruct the behind-the-scenes history of the Sawyer Miller Group’s meteoric rise to power and influence, offering an intimate look at the firm’s involvement in global politics—its hand in steering Corazon Aquino to power in the Philippines, its clients’ successful campaigns in South America and its machinations in Chile and Israel. The author closes the main part of his narrative in the early 1990s, with the firm’s crushing defeat in Peru, a company shift toward corporate clients (e.g., Coca-Cola) and an acrimonious buyout. Though Harding spends little time on domestic politics or his protagonists’ personal lives, this fascinating book vividly renders political history with clear insight and rich detail. (May)

With charm and insightful anecdotes about the Parisian and Provençal food-driven life, cookbook author Wells and her husband, Walter, artfully recreate their quarter-century–long courtship with flavorful France. Their two distinct voices—complemented by black-and-white photos and more than 30 simple recipes for couscous salad, salmon tartare, and scrambled eggs with truffles—detail the couple’s forays into “going native.” As they endeavor to adapt to the fashions and lifestyle of the French capital, Patricia takes on the task of researching a city’s worth of tastes, textures and smells, visiting tea salons, pastry shops, boulangeries and chocolate makers for her Food Lover’s Guide to Paris, while Walter settles into a new position as editor at the International Herald Tribune. Their Parisian interlude soon turns into a permanent French sojourn when they are seduced by the parasol pines and terraced vineyard belonging to an 18th-century farmhouse called Chanteduc. With their purchase of this northern Provençal abode, the remains of urban life fall to the wayside. This thoroughly enjoyable narrative describes the lavish, flavorful rewards of a life spent abroad. (May)

Arriving in Manhattan for a McCall’s magazine summer internship when she was 21, Ralston was smitten with big-city life. Soon she had the career of her dreams, a Chelsea apartment, even a film student fiancé. Then, on a feature assignment for Life, she met Robb, a photographer for National Geographic, and her life was up-ended. Before long, Ralston was leaving her boyfriend and New York City, to move with Robb to his home state of Texas. They settled first in Austin, but Robb wanted a less urban lifestyle, so they bought land with a creek and an old stone barn in the Texas Hill Country. Robb’s busy schedule of international photo shoots left Ralston in charge of house renovations, hardly her forte. Then Robb had his next idea—they’d raise lavender on their limestone-rich land, which was similar to the soil of Provence. Ralston agreed, provided they start having children. Together, they began a successful niche-industry, growing and processing lavender into a variety of marketable products. In this satisfying and enjoyable story, the reluctant Ralston eventually falls in love with their fields of lavender. (May)

This hilarious insider look at fringes of journalism and magazine publishing is written with a gleeful burning-his-bridges-behind-him vibe. Edison is a child of the ’70s who came across High Times magazine and immediately recognized that it “was a miracle of lifestyle journalism.” A daily high school pothead, he delivers an amazingly detailed remembrance of life in New York City after his surprising acceptance into New York University and then, after dropping out, Columbia University, which leads to jobs working first for the World Wrestling Federation, then writing porn novels, before moving on to men’s magazines like Cheri. He shamelessly admits that “putting out inconsequential slap rags was a lot of fun.” After a dalliance with the Raunch Hands punk group, Edison is back writing for Hustler and Penthouse, until he finally gets an editing job at High Times. This stint—the bulk of the book—provides a riotous look at that magazine’s stoned style, where the staff couldn’t arrive on time to planned meetings unless Edison could “fold the fabric of the universe onto itself and led the staff through some sort of cosmic wormhole.” (May)

The titular bottle, from a cache of allegedly fine, allegedly French wine, allegedly owned by Thomas Jefferson in the 1780s, set a record price when auctioned in 1985. The subsequent brouhaha over the cache’s authenticity takes wine journalist Wallace on a piquant journey into the mirage-like world of rare wines. At its center are Hardy Rodenstock, an enigmatic German collector with a suspicious knack for unearthing implausibly old and drinkable wines, and Michael Broadbent, a Christie’s wine expert, who auctioned Rodenstock’s lucrative finds. The argument over the Jefferson bottles and other rarities aged for decades, flummoxed a wine establishment desperate to keep the cork in a controversy that might deflate the market for antique vintages. (In the author’s telling, a 2006 lawsuit almost settles the issue.) Wallace sips the story slowly, taking leisurely digressions into techniques for faking wine and detecting same with everything from Monticello scholarship to nuclear physics. He paints a colorful backdrop of eccentric oenophiles, decadent tastings and overripe flavor rhetoric (Broadbent describes one wine as redolent of chocolate and “schoolgirls’ uniforms”). Investigating wines so old and rare they could taste like anything, he playfully questions the very foundations of connoisseurship. (May)

In this whirlwind, worldwide tour of fisheries, Grescoe (The Devil’s Picnic) whiplashes readers from ecological devastation to edible ecstasy and back again. In disturbing detail, he depicts the “turbid and murky” Chesapeake Bay, where, with overharvested oysters too few to do their filtering job, fish are infested with the “cell from hell,” a micro-organism that eats their flesh and exposes their guts. He describes how Indian shrimp farms treated with pesticides, antibiotics and diesel oil are destroying protective mangroves, ecosystems and villages, and portrays the fate of sharks—a collapsing fishery—finned for the Chinese delicacy shark-fin soup: “living sharks have their pectoral and dorsal fins cut from their bodies with heated metal blades.... The sharks are kicked back into the ocean, alive and bleeding; it can take them days to die.” But these horrific scenes are interspersed with delectable meals of succulent Portuguese sardines with “fat-jeweled juices” or a luscious breakfast of bluefin tuna sashimi, “cool and moist... halfway between a demi-sel Breton butter and an unctuous steak tartare”; the latter is a dish that, due to the fish’s endangered status, Grescoe decides he won’t enjoy again. The book ends on a cautiously optimistic note: scientists know what steps are needed to save the fisheries and the ocean; we just need the political will to follow through. Grescoe provides a helpful list of which fish to eat: “no, never,” “depends, sometimes” and “absolutely, always.” (May)

In 1992, author and NPR commentator Greene was invited onstage to sing “Surf City” with the 1960s surf duo, Jan and Dean. Greene didn’t know it at the time, but he would spend the next 15 years touring and performing with them. Greene narrates the tedium and joy of touring as a middle-aged man with other middle-aged men whose greatest celebrity was three to four decades in the past. Yet Jan and Dean were unlike any other oldies road show, for Jan had suffered injuries in a 1966 car accident so severe that they affected every moment of his life. Greene travels a circuit of state fairs, stadiums, amusement parks and corporate showrooms, living a grown-up version of his teenage fantasy. His main focus is the peculiarities of life in the heartland, the dynamics of performing and the deep, unspoken friendships among men who make their livings on the road. Greene also has a series of bizarre encounters with aging celebrities ranging from James Brown to Frank Sinatra. Throughout, Greene shows unusual sensitivity to detail. At times, however, one wishes he would have provided more background on his subjects, as the nuances of surf rock are pretty obscure to many under the age of 60. Overall, the structure of the book mirrors perfectly life on the road—a blur studded with moments of great intensity. (May)

America’s impending pension problem is brutally simple: private companies and governments have pledged to provide retirement income and health care for workers, but have not set aside the money to make good on their promises. Typical accounts of the crisis tend to obfuscate the issue and fixate on laying blame, but Lowenstein (Origins of the Crash) has a refreshing perspective—he tells three fascinating stories in American economic history and situates the current pension problems in the struggle for dignity for workers. Lowenstein regards fixing pensions as a worthy culmination to a century’s struggle for justice rather than a painful chore unfairly foisted on the present by the past. Unfortunately, after this incisive and inspiring history lesson, the 10 pages at the end devoted to solutions are too abstract and unoriginal. The book gives the reader lively stories and historical insight, but may disappoint those looking for policy recommendations. (May 5)

Fullan (Leading in a Culture of Change) argues that the world is too complex for any theory to possess unassailable certainty, and leaders should shy away from relying on a single blueprint for success. Instead, good leaders should use theories of action to guide their decisions, but remain open to new data that may direct further action. Fullan advocates adopting “theories that travel”—practical insights that travel across sectors, geography and culturally diverse situations and point to actions likely to be effective given the circumstances. To help managers navigate change, Fullan share six secrets designed to help with large-scale reform: “Love Your Employees,” “Connect Peers with Purpose,” “Capacity Building Prevails,” “Learning Is the Work,” “Transparency Rules” and “Systems Learn, and provides guidelines for making these secrets work. Although the six secrets are hardly radically new ideas and are presented as a bit of a panacea, Fullan’s practical guide is a lucid and encouraging book, likely to appeal to and assist managers at all levels. (May)

Lauded as the “Trump of the Tropics” and the “Steven Spielberg of Real Estate,” Perez has written a book that—according to Donald Trump—“has taken all the lessons from the school of hard knocks and given you a leg up on the competition and a tremendous head start in becoming as successful as him. Or me!” Since not all readers are going to be billionaire builders, what can the average person glean from this volume written by “the country’s number-one private developer”? Readers will find much to appreciate in Perez’s clear presentation of his “five guiding principles” including passion, discipline and learning from loss. Perez’s motivational language translates easily into concrete advice emphasizing the importance of research, focus and planning—for instance, Perez advocates starting small: “Pick an achievable goal, then be unwavering in your pursuit of it.” Subsequent sections focus on the fundamentals of picking properties and “The Ten Commandments of Negotiation.” By building on each chapter and drawing on case studies from his own career, Perez annotates his own decisions with advice and recommendations to provide the reader a solid guide to getting into the real estate market. (May)

Spragins’s ingenious book is the rare self-help volume that young women would elect to read and decidedly enjoy. The author profiles 35 highly accomplished women and asks them to write a letter of counsel or encouragement addressed to their younger selves. The result is a collection of life directives that are highly personal and disarmingly honest. The contributors—who include actress Jessica Alba, activist Zainab Salbi and comic book artist Ariel Schrag—are stars in their own right, but their letters reveal that even winners have problems—the same fears, concerns and shortcomings as anyone else. And in many cases they are still struggling—which raises the question: how wise can women in their 20s and 30s (no matter how accomplished) be? Very, it turns out. These artists, athletes and entrepreneurs compassionately address bad relationships, bullies, eating disorders and crises of faith without ever sounding jaded or condescending. This book offers sound advice and is highly recommended for women just starting out. (May)

Hagedorn (People and Folks), a scholar of gangland culture for more than 20 years, contends that gangs have existed since the Roman Republic and will continue to thrive as long as globalization continues to create untenable situations for the urban poor. Hagedorn surveys street gangs from Mumbai, Paris, L.A., Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and 15th-century Florence, examining the role race and ethnicity play in gang formation (the white Gaylords of Chicago, the Latin Kings) and how the gang itself can be regarded as an alternative social institution, providing protection and economic opportunities for neglected populations. Hagedorn’s description of gangs as institutionalized “living organisms” explains why they are so difficult to eradicate. Although Hagedorn is an undeniable authority on the topic and has logged plenty of face time with gang members, his work relies rather heavily on analyzing academic studies as opposed to providing in-depth descriptions of his own firsthand observations. His focus on old school “gangsta rap” also reveals a slight disconnect from his youthful subjects, as he refers to passé artists such as Cypress Hill as popular modern-day performers. While Hagedorn has produced a well-organized, well-researched and sensitive study, readers hungry for more ethnographic accounts should turn to Sudhir Venkatesh’s Gang Leader for a Day. (May)

Linguist Crystal (How Language Works) elucidates the “serendipitous nature of language study” as he meanders from Wales to San Francisco by way of England and Poland, taking every opportunity for linguistic exploration. A somewhat rambling travelogue is paired with Crystal’s idiosyncratic thought processes, and the book is full of descriptive anecdotes culminating in linguistic intrigue. Often something simple such as an impromptu “Good morning” from a Welsh shepherd is the trigger, in this case prompting the history of the shepherd’s “crook” of the book’s title. Crystal searches for—and finds—surprising topics in the lush cultures surrounding him, including the etymology of the name of a Welsh town which contains 58 letters (it’s Llanfairpwll for short), causing him to speculate on why words containing “consonants like m, n, l, and r” are considered “the most beautiful,” to discuss the “linguistic processes of a wordplayer” and to conclude with a version of Hamlet in which every word begins with “h.” In a conversational style that includes plenty of quirky facts, Crystal captures the “exploratory, seductive, teasing, quirky, tantalizing nature of language study,” and in doing so illuminates the fascinating world of words in which we live. (May)

The moral that natural historian Lembke (From Grass to Gardens) has learned from her observation of cat life—“All purrs are not the same”—evokes the three main themes of this short, sweet book: the complexities of animal and human behavior, the interactions between owner and pet and what modern civilization owes its domesticated and wild animals. What makes the book work is the author’s ability to simplify complex topics such as the human genome project while presenting, in depth, the fascinating worlds of less complicated subjects: groundhogs, cottontail rabbits, carpenter bees, chickens, turtles, snails and, of course, cats. She also features a range of fascinating fellow animal lovers, such as Tommie, a “totally enamored turtle fan” who runs a one-man turtle rescue squad. Lembke provides careful observations of disparate elements of the natural world and convincingly argues that while there is “no basic difference” between human and animal capacities for suffering and pleasure, human beings are different in one important way. We have “the ability to reflect on what we do, the power to act humanely.” (May)

In 1996, NYU physicist Sokal published a paper entitled “Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity” in an academic journal. Shortly thereafter, and to great furor, Sokal reported that his paper was a parody of postmodernism. This collection of 10 essays, six of which have been previously published, expands upon the central ideas of that academic joke. Sokal demands a “respect for evidence” and attacks postmodernists, fundamentalists and “the muddle-headed of all political and apolitical stripes.” The opening chapter presents the original hoax paper in its entirety, with the addition of annotations describing how he came to write it and explaining all the inside jokes. In subsequent chapters, Sokal explains how postmodernists “confuse truth with claims of truth, fact with assertions of fact, and knowledge with pretensions to knowledge,” and demonstrates how pseudoscientists have adopted a similar perspective. In biting prose, he analyzes the concept of “therapeutic touch” being promoted in nursing and “Vedic science” being advanced by Hindu nationalists. Though he concludes with his weakest argument—that religion is simply another form of pseudoscience—Sokal consistently asks the reader to think clearly and follow the evidence, regardless of where it may lead, and for that alone he deserves respect. (May)

Novelist and science writer Halpern (Four Wings and a Prayer) wades bravely into the morass of modern memory research to sort the truth from a wide assortment of “hyperbole and promises and platitudes.” The news is mixed: most of us won’t develop Alzheimer’s, but everyone will suffer some memory loss. After describing the different types of memory, Halpern gamely undertakes a series of brain scans used to reveal brain damage and tries diagnostic tests that measure memory through the ability to recall words, images and smells. Researchers have identified a gene closely linked with Alzheimer’s, but drugs to treat or prevent memory loss are still far from reality, Halpern says, adding that for many drug companies, the success of a remedy is measured only by how quickly it moves off the shelves. Armed with a mix of hope and healthy skepticism, the author also examines claims that eating chocolate (among other things) or solving puzzles can improve brain function. “So much of who we know ourselves to be comes from what we remember,” Halpern writes, and her timely book offers a vivid, often amusing introduction to a science that touches us all. (May)

Prolific thriller writer Hagberg (Dance with the Dragon) and former Soviet naval officer Gindin recount the 1975 mutiny aboard the FFG Storozhevoy, a Russian antisubmarine warfare ship, which inspired Tom Clancy’s international bestseller. Gindin was a senior lieutenant and chief engineer on the Storozhevoy when it was seized by Capt. Third Rank Valery Sablin. An idealist who “actually believes the Party line,” Sablin intended to sail the ship into the Baltic Sea and broadcast an appeal to the Russian people to overthrow the corrupt Kremlin leadership. He secured the crew’s support by promising them “an early out from the navy,” and arrested the captain and the ship’s officers, including Gindin, who refused to cooperate. Upon hearing the news, Kremlin leader Leonid Brezhnev ordered his navy to “find that ship and sink it.” Under attack, the mutiny fizzled and the ship and crew were spared, but the personal repercussions were severe. Another nonfiction account of the Storozhevoy mutiny, The Last Sentry, was published in 2005, but the eyewitness testimony of coauthor Gindin justifies a retelling. Unfortunately, tutorials on subjects as diverse as historical mutinies and Soviet executions slow the narrative, and the documentation is bare bones. (May)

Former New York Times reporter Clendinen tells how he persuaded his frail mother to sell her house and move to Canterbury Tower in Florida, a geriatric apartment building where many of her friends already lived. With caring staff, a swimming pool, spacious apartments and cocktail parties, the place seemed almost idyllic, and “Mother” (as the author refers to her) spent her first four years there in a whirl of social activities. But in 1998, the 83-year-old suffered a stroke and eventually moves into the nursing wing, finally succumbing in early 2007. Around this central narrative, Clendinen spins other stories and observations about the lifestyles of the “new old age.” He also describes how his mother’s old friends ignored her completely when she was wheeled into the apartment tower for a cabaret after her stroke and his painful decision to withdraw her medications. Overall, Clendinen offers a mixed bag, with some stories coming across as poignant and others depressing, in need of some larger meaning—which could have been found, perhaps, in either Clendinen’s own alluded-to midlife crisis or a more robust discussion of senior care. (May)

Psychiatrist Dobransky applies the formulaic approach of his first book, The Secret Psychology of How We Fall in Love, to a subject of which he can have no firsthand knowledge: why women need friends for health and happiness. Using the pedestrian prose of his coauthor, Dobransky shares what he calls “the secret code of friendship”: consistent, mutual, shared positive emotion. The author continues to state the obvious when he says that negative emotion and stress are friendship killers, and he advises his readers to build up their internal self-esteem so that they won’t appear needy to others. Dobransky’s basic thesis—that women need to make friends in order to belong—is equally simplistic, and a more nuanced version has been expressed elsewhere, such as in Deborah Tannen’s You Just Don’t Understand, a source that Dobransky refers to but doesn’t include in his bibliography. The repetitive and overcomplicated diagrams that appear on almost every page add little to the author’s message. (May)

This is the first of a two-volume chronicle telling the modern-day story of the 7th Infantry, a regiment which has seen more active service than any other over its 200-year history. Historian McManus (Alamo in the Ardennes) begins with the Korean War. The 7th came ashore in late 1950, just in time to meet the onslaught of Chinese forces. After bitter fighting, it returned to the front in South Korea to participate in bloody offensives both large and small. Only one battalion of the 7th fought in Vietnam, and the author recounts its four years of conflict before moving on to the 1990s, when reforms had converted the army into an all-volunteer force of professionals, superbly equipped and ready to fight in Iraq. There, the 7th inflicted great damage on the foe but rarely suffered a casualty. McManus’s overview of recent wars from the 7th’s point of view draws on exhaustive research and interviews with veterans. The result is a book devoted largely to battlefield human interest stories, miniautobiographies of soldiers and exciting but disconnected accounts of individual unit actions that may engage military buffs more than the general reader. (May)

Dugard (The Last Voyage of Columbus) offers a fast-paced, colloquially written account of the Mexican War of 1848, constructed around the experiences of the U.S. Army’s corps of junior officers. Shaped by the common experience of West Point and tempered by battle, these comrades in arms (including Lee, Grant, Davis and Sherman) matured into the leading generals and statesmen on both sides of the Civil War. Dugard introduces others as well, from Union artilleryman Henry Hunt to Confederate icon Stonewall Jackson, who also learned their craft fighting the Mexicans. At the war’s end, commanding general Winfield Scott saluted West Point’s graduates as the key to America’s victory over Mexico. The image of a band of brothers transformed into enemies by conscience and politics is a familiar trope of the Civil War, but Dugard’s spirited narrative animates a group of men whose force of character, professional skill and ability to think outside conventional limits revitalized the sclerotic army. Readers will conclude this book with reinforced awareness of why the Civil War was so long and so bitterly fought: because, as Dugard shows, the contending armies were shaped and led by a remarkably capable—and experienced—body of officers. (May)

Can social isolation be bad for your health? Can stress make rheumatoid arthritis flare up? Is there a link between the amount of control a person has over his or her life and the likelihood of suffering a heart attack? British psychoanalyst Leader and biologist Corfield attempt to answer these and other questions in a sometimes stimulating but more often repetitious and outmoded study. Already, most American schools of medicine no longer hold to a single-cause theory, which Leader and Corfield go so far as to claim “is more a belief system than a rational perspective.” Yet drawing on case studies, the authors argue that modern medicine continues to often ignore the role of the mind-body connection as both a cause and cure for illness. Their take is from a distinctly psychoanalytical perspective and they suggest that both a holistic approach and therapy could prevent sickness and help with treatment: in a case involving an 18-year-old diabetic, they link her refusal to follow a treatment regimen to her underlying feelings about her father. According to the authors, medical practices in the U.S. could be improved greatly if doctors took the time to listen to their patients and ask questions in order to learn if psychological events might underpin physical ailments. (May)

In these essays reprinted, for the most part, from the American Scholar, Yale clinical surgery professor Nuland ponders various aspects of the practice of medicine and patient care. Opening the collection by urging his colleagues toward introspection and self-awareness, Nuland stresses that doctors make life-and-death decisions based on their own emotions, strengths, insecurities and very human needs. In another essay concerning human cloning and manipulating DNA to achieve human immortality, the author suggests we put the brakes on radical technologies whose uncertain consequences we have only begun to contemplate. On a trip to China, Nuland is intrigued by a thyroid operation performed under acupuncture where the patient was wide awake and smiling and suffered no anesthetic aftereffects after a two-and-a-half-hour excavation of her neck. Elsewhere, in an essay on grief written shortly after 9/11, Nuland calls Islamic fundamentalism “a sickness of the soul,” and in the book’s final entry, he himself grieves over a cardiac patient who died while waiting for a new heart. Although solid and perceptive, these essays are also occasionally flowery and verbose, and do not offer the rich insights of the author’s bestselling How We Die. (May)

Cushman, whose well-received Fires in the Bathroom covered high school students, teamed up with psychologist and Tufts professor Rogers to explore how to teach middle school students more effectively. What’s a teacher to do when “she’s trying to be so nice and they’re setting fires in the bathroom,” a high school student had asked in the first volume. Much of the material that Cushman gathered (from 40 students in five cities) is about basic classroom skills. Teachers should listen carefully to what’s on their students’ minds and “put the currents in your classroom to good use, rather than work against them,” the authors advise. “Be strict and be nice,” they say, which is hard, but “walking that line is one way you show that you are on your students’ side when it comes to helping them learn.” Cushman and Rogers quote frequently from their student panel, helping readers grow accustomed to their ways of expressing themselves, and include several self-evaluation worksheets for teachers. While there’s little new, for teachers fresh out of college and headed for inner-city classrooms, this book may be a useful resource. (May)

Sey writes of her career in internationally competitive gymnastics, which culminated when she won the 1986 U.S. national championship at age 17. From the start Sey was an underdog, ever the second-best athlete on the team hoping to prove herself with tenacity and toughness. She endured numerous injuries—including a broken femur, which could have ended her career—as well as an eating disorder, depression, isolation and tremendous strain on her family. With each new sacrifice that her parents and brother made to support her, the stakes crept higher, inuring them all to gymnastics’ inherent physical and psychological trauma. After claiming the U.S. title, Sey was “shell-shocked and exhausted,” suddenly robbed of her lifelong motivation. “I’d always been a fighter, a come-from-behind girl. Now that I was on top, the battle would be unwinnable.” The memoir’s poignant glimpses at Sey’s adult struggle to reckon with her past are regrettably sparse, and her prose occasionally lapses into wordiness, but overall, she has written a courageous story befitting a comeback kid—a timely release for the 2008 Olympics. (May)

Through stunning, high magnification photographs and clear explanatory text, insect expert Chinery (a British naturalist, lecturer and author of several Collins Guides to insects) introduces readers to the complexity of insect anatomy and behavior. This beautifully printed photographic celebration, featuring more than 250 pictures, deserves to gain Chinery—and his subject matter—a much wider fan base. Chinery took many of the photos himself in climates ranging from deserts to rainforests, though the most stunning images were taken not with cameras but an electron microscope, which allows for a magnification so large that the individual scales of a butterfly’s wing look like pop art. Though not specifically aimed at children, the book would appeal to them as, in addition to the photographs, Chinery’s easygoing, friendly captions provide accessible information. The book’s chapters center on different aspects of insect life—moving, eating, camouflage and so on—and though Chinery dips in and out of some subjects very quickly, the power of the images more than compensates. (Apr.)

St. John, a food columnist and the executive chef of three Mississippi restaurants, offers a refreshingly small book on grilling. Unlike many of the oversized and oversauced efforts of his BBQ contemporaries, this one “assumes that you already know how to light charcoal, rotate food, keep it away from direct flames, and make crosshatch marks.” It thus wastes no time in offering up simple, minimal instructions, buoyed by dozens of color photos, albeit many of the author himself. St. John is certainly not beyond the joys of good ole boy cuisine, but adds a touch of class. He likes andouille, but likes it better when it’s used to stuff a prime rib. There is Beer Can Chicken, but he prefers to call it Yardbird with Barley and Hops Enema. Three different mint julep recipes liven up a chapter on cocktails and there is Grilled Peach Shortcake for dessert. But most of all there is seafood. Bottom-dwellers represent with Grilled Crawfish Pizza made with a Basil Tapenade, tricky Shrimp-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms, and Soft-shell Crab with Cucumber-Dill Dressing. And among the finer finned filets there are Grilled Grouper Madeira, Marinated Cedar-Plank Salmon and Snapper Pontchartrain. No-stick marinades are key to many of his dishes: oil-based with hints of balsamic vinegar and spices that vary slightly depending on whether the target is meat, fish or poultry. (May)

While working in California as the executive chef for Google, Ayers “came to believe that we can all eat delicious, clean, fast cuisine that is good for us, good for the community, and good for the Earth.” In his first cookbook, Ayers shares recipes that fed the young minds at Google for more than six years as well as tips on eating, shopping and cooking smart. Ayers isn’t telling readers anything new, but his clear and concise recipes are inspiring. “The Smart Pantry” section includes lists of Ayers’s favorite vinegars, oils and grains, and includes creative recipes for homemade condiments like Chutney-Yogurt Crust for fish, Roasted Jalapeno Ketchup, and “Flavor Cubes,” such as one made with carrot juice, eggplant and garlic puree frozen in ice trays and used to add quick flavor to soups or sauces. The “Smart Recipes” section offers such original recipes as a Jade Smoothie, made with cucumber, apple cider and lemon sorbet, and Dragon Breath Noodles, with peanut butter, ginger and honey. Photos. (May)

Originally published in 1945, this cookbook has sold over 3.4 million copies in Sweden, according to the publisher, and is now available in the U.S. for the first time. In a country that celebrates most special occasions with a coffee klatch that includes seven different kinds of cookies, this guide has served as a culinary bible. With more than 300 recipes — many of which have been culled from bake-off contest winners—the book is divided into categories like “Sweet Breads,” “Rolls,” “Rusks” and “Cakes.” Among the popular treats are the buttery wreath and pretzel-shaped cookies familiar to collectors of cookie tins; several variations on Danish pastry; puffy, raisin-studded saffron buns eaten around Christmas time; and Prinsesstärta, an elaborate sponge, preserves, marzipan and cream confection typically found at the coffee klatch. Also included are several gluten-free, egg-free and sugar-free sweets. Though the recipes themselves are short on direction, tips for using the proper equipment and ingredients, and strategies for achieving the desired look and textures, are interspersed throughout. As many American readers have tried Swedish cuisine only at their local Ikea store, this cookbook provides a window to a celebratory culture and its many intriguing flavors. (Apr.)

In 2006, the Culinary Institute of America gathered chefs from Spain and around the world to attend a conference on Spanish cuisine and its impact on the “world table.” This splendid book brings the conference to life with vivid photos and exciting recipes, beautifully written by Shulman (Mediterranean Harvest), covering Spain’s regions, the history and importance of different courses and the high-quality ingredients used in Spanish cooking, from wine and sherry to potatoes and rice. The recipes, by chefs from Spain, Japan, Peru and the U.S., are a perfect mix of ultra-traditional Spanish dishes like Tortilla Española and Paella Valenciana, updated classics such as a gorgeous Beet and Cherry Gazpacho, and international dishes inflected with Spanish flair, such as Sushi Paella. Some of the recipes use fairly advanced techniques, and many ingredients are not widely available, though some substitutions are suggested and, along with a glossary, a helpful list of sources is provided. But with Shulman’s excellent insights into Spanish products and ways of preparation, even the more difficult recipes feel accessible. (Apr.)

The warm, languid air of the South filters through this engaging book, in which Foose shares the traditional recipes that she ate while growing up on the Mississippi Delta and has returned to after training as a pastry chef in France and traveling the world. Gently humorous stories about family and friends form a seamless part of her instructions for community recipes like Strawberry Missionary Society Salad, as well as pleasant surprises like Tabbouleh, Curried Sweet Potato Soup, and Chinese Grocery Roast Pork that take Southern food beyond stereotypes. Fried chicken and grits do appear, but for such classics Foose emphasizes relatively simple, wholesome preparations that are rich without loading on more butter and oil than necessary. Although recipes for Gumbo Z’Herbs, Chile Lime Skirt Steak, and creamy succotash are mouthwatering enough just to read about, many cooks will be tempted to flip straight to the last chapters, where her enticing breads and pastries provide the book with a winning flourish. The cook may be Southern, but the appeal of the dishes she presents should reach well beyond people who grew up in the land of four-hour lunches and sweet tea savored on a porch swing. (Apr.)

This comprehensive compendium of gardening facts, helpful hints and earthy advice is an unusually readable, user-friendly gardening encyclopedia. The book’s first section covers the basics of what a gardener needs to get started: principles of landscape design, “What Plants Need,” gardening gear and how to buy plants. Damrosch, who aims to “answer as many questions about gardening as possible,” gives more than the standard instructions for making compost and buying pruning tools; she includes details like parts of plants and a comprehensive guide to botanical names that give beginning gardeners an unusually sophisticated and scientific footing. Her intimate, up-to-date, down-to-earth writing is distinctly rooted in the garden, with humor born of experience: “A garden hose is like a lover that you can’t live with and can’t live without. No scientific advance, to my knowledge, has yet tamed its willful nature.” With sections on annuals, perennials, vegetables, herbs, fruits, bulbs, lawns, trees and even houseplants, to name a few, and with specifics for individual plants in each section, this book will be a useful addition to the collections of seasoned gardeners as well as novices. (Apr.)