Nonfiction Reviews

In time for the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, Schoultz, a University of North Carolina political science professor, offers an exhaustive study of the relationship between the U.S. and Cuba in the 20th and early 21st centuries. It would be a shame if the book's heft made it too intimidating for some readers to pick up, because it's an approachable, deeply satisfying narrative with a clear-eyed and persuasive critique of U.S. policy toward Cuba and, more broadly, of U.S. policy toward any weaker nation that has ever stubbornly asserted its sovereignty. Schoultz examines how the benevolent arrogance of U.S. State and Defense department advisers made schemes like the Bay of Pigs possible, and how racism steered American policy in the 20th century. He keeps the story a page-turner by maintaining his focus: analyzing U.S. policy from a U.S. perspective, speculating neither about the quality of Castro's leadership or the quality of life in Cuba. This is a gripping, expertly told story of one of the most complicated foreign policy relationship in the western hemisphere. (Apr.)

Scion of a once prosperous family impoverished by apartheid, former South African president Thabo Mbeki's ambition as a revolutionary leader was tightly tangled with his family's history and (often painful) influence, contends South African journalist Gevisser. Mbeki's “dislocated, in effect parentless childhood” and early exposure to Christian, Communist and nationalist ideals laid the ground for his first student actions against systemic injustice; exile in 1960s England, Moscow and sub-Saharan Africa; his absorption of Black Power and Black Consciousness ideas; and his tumultuous return through the top ranks of the African National Congress (ending in 2008's ignominious loss to rival Jacob Zuma). The author argues that the controversial leadership of the constitutionally reserved and secretive Mbeki reveals a deep “disconnect” born out of his “traumatic past” that fed his service to the ANC: a “movement that was his family... that ultimately rejected him” and prevented him from putting his “breathtaking vision of the future” into practice. While Gevisser's speculations on Mbeki's psychological makeup might put off some readers, the painstakingly researched narrative remains a judicious and an eye-opening account of a life intersecting history at the most profound level. (Apr.)

Ben Jonson claimed that Shakespeare “was not of an age, but for all time!” Conversely, noted British Shakespeare scholar Bate (The Genius of Shakespeare) attempts to prove that the Bard effectively represents the politically and socially complicated 16th-century environment and that his work can then—theoretically—illuminate his mysterious personal life with the notable exception of his marriage. While much is conjectured here, the scant biographical resources are well-used to painstakingly define Shakespeare's careers as actor, poet and playwright and to refute popular myths such as his purported retirement from writing. Bate's approach is more successful in confirming that Shakespeare typifies his age than in providing substantive biographical information based on hints hidden in the prolific body of work. Even so, Bate offers an excellent resource for students of English literature and the Elizabethan era in this thoughtful, well-researched and even playful explication of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets as they resonated in both the Elizabethan sphere and the less austere Stuart court while remaining relevant today. Illus. (Apr. 17)

In this lively exposé, journalist Stern dissects the direct-response marketing business (which includes both infomercials and home shopping networks), a $300 billion industry, larger than the film, music and video game industries combined. There's guilty-pleasure revelations aplenty: how the traditional sales pitch adapted to a televisual format by, for example, real-time number tracking that allows network officials to tell on-air talent, through tiny earpieces, that, say, twirling a piece of jewelry around a finger causes sales to spike and how hosts persuade Americans to buy products like the Inside-the-Shell Electric Egg Scrambler, Power Scissors, the Miracle Broom and, of course, the most successful on-air product to date, the celebrity-driven skin-care regime Proactiv. There's psychology here, too: the author describes the mindset of the typical late-night tired consumer, falling for tricks they wouldn't necessarily fall for in a store. Stern is the perfect host to this slightly seedy world, well-informed and “transfixed by the zany nature of it all.” (Apr.)

Currently seen as waitress Olive Snook in ABC's Pushing Daisies, the Tony Award–winning singer-actress Chenoweth looks back at her multifaceted career, which has encompassed recordings (As I Am), films (Four Christmases), television (The West Wing), Broadway (Wicked), solo concerts, animation (Tinker Bell), opera and Opryland. Beginning with the intriguing speculation that her unknown birth mother could be watching her career rise, she recalls her Oklahoma childhood and vocal training when she learned “[t]he music didn't come from notes and lyrics; it came from life and mileage.” Personal revelations, such as her experiences with Ménière's disease, are balanced with bubbling backstage anecdotes. A chapter about her on-and-off relationship with writer-producer Aaron Sorkin includes a section written by Sorkin himself. With digressions, detours and words like “whack-a-noodle,” the book is busy with show-biz flip quips and writing reminiscent of Julia Phillips's You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again (minus the drugs and invective). Chenoweth has a frenzied, free-associative style; it's as if she's speaking breathlessly into a tape recorder between sitcom scenes. To use her phrase, this book is “a hoot and a holler”—a fast-paced frolic that her fans will appreciate. (Apr. 14)

“Hope is a fierce longing,” Ostlere writes, reflecting on the first few months after her brother's boat disappeared in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. “It can beat your heart for months.” Ostlere, who lives in Calgary, Canada, knew David, who was 36 years old, was planning the trip from Ireland to Madeira, but he'd asked her not to tell their parents—trying to decide when to inform them is the first of several emotional struggles she faces, one which fills her with self-recrimination. In an effort to resolve her grief (which she comes to recognize is “a question without an answer”), Ostlere heads to Madeira shortly after the (presumed) accident, and then a year later to Ireland and the Scottish island where David lived with his girlfriend. Her emotional pain is raw, especially in passages where she compares David's adventurous lifestyle to her choice of domesticity, or the anger that comes when she finally realizes how reckless and ill-prepared he'd been to attempt this trip at all. For all the influence David's unknown fate wields over events, it's these internal intimacies, and the tracing of their effect on her relationships with other surviving family, that give the memoir its most enduring power. (Apr.)

These are not the telegenic, slickly scrubbed docs of Grey's Anatomy. But Eule's account of three female interns offers a far more compelling portrait of the unique transition from tentative student to skilled M.D. The transformation begins on the third Thursday of March 2006 for Stephanie Chao, Michele LaFonda and Rakhi Barkowski with the computerized program that matches newly minted doctors with teaching hospitals, fascinating in itself, and then long hours, perplexing cases and demanding senior residents and attending physicians who mold the young doctors into confident and compassionate practitioners. What's remarkable about the account is Eule's perspective as Stephanie's longtime boyfriend and a clear-eyed journalist. Each of the women explores her passion for medicine and discovers its place in the life she hopes to live. But the lessons the women learn from their patients are striking: “The people in the end who were comfortable with death, the ones who were ready to go, were the people who talked about a good family life.” This is a traditional medical coming-of-age that pleasantly surprises with its reach far beyond the hospital walls. (Mar. 3)

Johanson (Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind), the paleoanthropologist who in 1974 discovered the famed 3.2-million-year-old hominid named Lucy, and Scientific American editor Wong delve deeply into the significance of Lucy, her probable ancestors and her probable successors, including modern humans. The authors capture the curiosity, passion and excitement that Johanson and his colleagues bring to their research, as well as the mundane, backbreaking aspects of fieldwork. Wong and Johanson are also expert at framing the science that informs judgments about what defines a hominid species, such as brain size, the ability to walk upright and facial structure. They probe the equally important question of what drove human evolution, examining three major approaches: a social model, a dietary model and an environmental model. Johanson is adept at framing the debates within his famously contentious discipline, ranging from fundamental questions about the fossil record to theories of early human migration, the fate of the Neanderthals and the controversy over the highly publicized recent discovery of fossil “hobbits” on the Indonesian archipelago. The writing is accessible, especially considering the challenging nature of the science that shapes our understanding of human evolution. (Mar.)

Two famous British institutions will celebrate their centenaries in 2009: the Security Service and the Secret Intelligence Service, better known as MI5 and MI6. They maintain an aura of secrecy, a touch of sophistication and a hint of melodrama even in this age of populist candor. Thomas (Descent into Danger), who enjoys justified respect as an authority on the intelligence world, has a broad spectrum of contacts and confidants in both services. He taps their memories and insights in this reconstruction of Britain's intelligence operations from the Age of Empire through the cold war and into today's constantly metamorphosing Islamic challenge. The emphasis on personal evidence at the expense of archival sources gives the work an anecdotal tone and a contemporary focus that makes the subtitle misleading. Both are compensated for by the immediacy of the material and the vividness of the narration, presenting a fascinating cast of moles and double agents, whistle-blowers and politicians. For the ambience of the closed world that inspired James Bond and George Smiley, this book is a winner. (Mar. 3)

Several thousand Jews and over 100,000 others of Jewish descent served in the Wehrmacht from 1939 to 1945. Rigg dips into material he mined for Hitler's Jewish Soldiers to present a selection of personal histories. Many enlisted to protect their families, often in vain; Rigg tells heartrending stories of soldiers risking their lives in battle as relatives disappeared into extermination camps. When police grew suspicious of his forged papers, Karl-Heinz Löwy enlisted in the elite Waffen-SS, apparently its only Jewish member, and fought heroically. Helmut Krüger and Karl-Heinz Schleffler were serving faithfully when Hitler ordered all half-Jews discharged in 1940. Although they and the others discharged spent much of the war in dreadful labor camps, far more of them survived than thousands who appealed successfully to remain in service. Readers expecting expressions of shame will be surprised—most felt proud of their wartime experiences. Few admitted knowing of the Holocaust, but all knew Jews were being mistreated and felt helpless to change matters. As Rigg compellingly shows, these were men dealing with crushingly stressful circumstances as best they could. 64 photos. (Mar. 3)

No one presents the military history of the ancient world with greater insight and panache than Strauss (The Trojan War). His latest work tells the story of a slave from the Balkans, a gladiator who in 73 B.C. led an uprising of 700 gladiators that eventually attracted over 60,000 followers. Strauss depicts Spartacus as a charismatic politician, able to hold together a widely disparate coalition of Celts, Thracians, Germans and Italians. As a general, he was a master of maneuver and mobility, keeping the ponderous Romans consistently off balance. Strauss reconstructs the rebels' movements across southern Italy and their development into an army good enough to overcome Rome's legions in battle after battle. Not until Marcus Licinius Crassus was given command of Roman forces did Spartacus face an opponent who could match him. Spartacus forced a battle that resulted in complete defeat and his anonymous death. But the uprising he sparked left a permanent mark on the Roman psyche and made Spartacus himself a figure of myth as well as history, as Strauss shows at the end of this brisk, engrossing account. 8 pages of b&w illus., maps. (Mar. 17)

Against the cacophony that pervades our lives, novelist LeClaire (The Lavender Hour) offers a persuasive antidote: silence. Sixteen years ago, LeClaire decided to devote a 24-hour period to not speaking, and it became a twice-a-month practice. LeClaire draws deeply on this experience in calling for a wholesale rethinking of noise and a greater appreciation for quietude and nature. Especially revealing are scenes in which the author or her friends, husband and other family struggle with her practice. It is within this conflict that LeClaire finds the lessons that she wishes to pass on to her readers. With Ann Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea as a model, LeClaire, too, focuses especially on women, encouraging them to carve out a silent space in a demanding world. Both book and the practice seem at once self-indulgent and eminently sensible. LeClaire's prose is colloquial, friendly and familiar, and the book is as much memoir as it is inspiration. Nineteen photos by LeClaire's son illustrate each chapter opening. (Mar.)

This slim yet largely torturous memoir covers Whitbread winner Mosley's two marriages totaling almost 60 years, several love affairs, a religious crisis and much else. Now wheelchair-bound and in his 80s, the novelist and screenwriter delves into his dysfunctional family background, which includes his father, Oswald Mosley, who gave his life to the Fascist cause, plus a mother, Oswald Mosley's first wife, who gave her short life to this man. Mosley had a stammer, which he several times attributes to a mechanism of self-defense, and ultimately found himself in analysis.The childhood pattern of self-service as a means of survival continues into maturity: when one wife dies, the next organizes her funeral.The title refers to Mosley's lifelong acceptance of paradox within a Christian setting. His meeting with a charismatic Anglican minister proves essential in setting Mosley on a path to editing a monthly called Prism and to come to grips with his extramarital loves: “the proper working-out of difficult fate or chance does not seem to favour persons who keep to rules so much as those who trust and are ready to take off and fly.” (Mar. 26)

The story of Clay Whiffen started out no differently than that of countless others diagnosed with autism: his parents, author Leeann and her husband, Sean, felt they could only watch as their happy baby morphed into a child they did not recognize. At first, the parents, in their 20s, denied their son could be autistic. (In the foreword, Dr. Bryan Jepson writes that in the mid-1980s, autism was a rare condition—1 in 5,000 children; by the mid-1990s, it had become the most common developmental disability with 1 in 150 children diagnosed.) But soon, Leeann writes, “I feel compelled to do whatever it takes to help Clay.... I stay up all hours of the night investigating everything related to autism.” As Sean worked hard to cover the cost of Clay's treatment, Leeann became a master networker. The Whiffens decided on an applied behavior analysis program, and “I press forward in sheer faith that what we do will help him.” Although the book's dialogue is often stilted, Whiffen has written an inspirational and educational story. (Mar.)

In a no-holds-barred insider examination of the private world of baseball umpires, both minor and major leagues, Weber, a New York Times reporter, dives into the rough basic training school for the men who call balls and strikes in this irresistible book. As a 52-year-old student umpire, the author dons the mask and learns the fundamentals, while spending almost three years visiting baseball venues across the country, as well as interviewing former umpires, players and coaches. Many candidates dream of making it to the majors, as about 100,000 amateur baseball umpires call games in the U.S., Weber writes, but only 68 pro umpires make it to the big show. Baseball fans will love the insightful, richly textured account of Weber trying to master the plate stance, monitoring each pitch and maintaining a proper strike zone in a physically demanding occupation. However, his book lifts heads-and-shoulders above other baseball tomes by putting a funny, surprising treasury of anecdotes from the sport at its entertaining core.(Mar.)

Since Wikipedia was launched online in 2001 as “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit,” it has blossomed to more than a billion words spread over 10 million articles in 250 languages, including 2.5 million articles in English, according to Wikipedia cofounder Wales in the foreword. Lih, a Beijing-based commentator on new media and technology for NPR and CNN, researched Wikipedia and collaborative journalism as a University of Hong Kong academic, and he has been a participating “Wikipedian” himself for the past five years. He notes the site has “invigorated and disrupted the world of encyclopedias... yet only a fraction of the public who use Wikipedia realize it is entirely created by legions of unpaid and often unidentified volunteers.” Other books have surfaced (How Wikipedia Works; Wikinomics), but Lih's authoritative approach covers much more, from the influence of Ayn Rand on Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales and the “burnout and stress” of highly active volunteer editor-writers to controversies, credibility crises and vandalism. Wales's more traditional earlier encyclopedia, the peer-reviewed Nupedia, began to fade after he saw how Ward Cunningham's software invention, Wiki (Hawaiian for “quick”), could generate collaborative editing. Tracing Wikipedia's evolution and expansion to international editions, Lih views the encyclopedia as a “global community of passionate scribes,” attributing its success to a policy of openness which is “not so much technical phenomenon as social phenomenon.” (Mar.)

Father and daughter marketing experts and bestselling authors of The Fall of Advertising, the Rieses explore the gulf between management and marketing and show why this gulf is bad for business, customers and the economy. They demonstrate how the two groups think differently: management deals in reality (left brain), while marketing deals in perception (right brain). This dichotomy extends to every facet of operation, including product versus brand, better versus different products and communicating versus positioning. The authors use a multitude of company examples from Booz Allen Hamilton, McDonald's, Pepsi and MasterCard to elucidate their points, showing how the two groups approach vital issues such as growth, competition and branding, underscoring the need for both marketing and management to understand the other side's perspective and priorities. The Rieses are persuasive in their argument, examining tried-and-true brands as well as those that have faded. Entertaining and enlightening, this book has much for executives and managers at all levels to ponder. (Mar.)

Smith's memoir of a career spent brokering sales of sovereign debts (also known as government debts) makes for a gripping read. With a raconteur's gusto, the author describes his flight from a solidly conservative New England Jewish upbringing into a world of high-stakes wheeling and dealing. He plied his trade in developing markets, where shortages of hard currency force governments to offer promises of payment for imported goods or services. The author bought and sold these debts, thriving on the risk (he lost $15 million in one day in “the ruins of the Russian economy” in 1988) and the rewards (in three years he had more than made up his losses). He details his travels to five continents seeking creditors looking to cut their losses and investors willing to take on the tremendous risk, hoping for a windfall should an ailing government ever fulfill its obligation. Smith clearly explains the mechanics of international debt trading—now a $1.7 trillion industry—and his yarns of successes, failures and dangerous near-misses are thrilling. (Mar.)

A psychologist who has worked for years in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, Rosofsky presents a disturbing, often moving account of the lives of some of the two million men and women who reside in America's 18,000 nursing homes. Like the police officer or bartender whose perspective on society is shaped by his work, Rosofsky, who professionally sees only problematic residents of institutions, has a slightly skewed (and very grim) sample. However, the dispiriting tenor of the title and the emphasis on confused and depressed men and women are leavened with the author's bursts of wit, his welcome guidance on how to evaluate nursing homes and assisted-living centers and his frank ruminations on his own aging and health issues and the deaths of his parents and mother-in-law. What could have been a morose account of loss, suffering and death is lightened by the humorous and helpful treatment of an emotionally laden topic. (Mar.)

McGeough (Manhattan to Baghdad) offers a meticulously researched, if in places excessively detailed treatment of Palestinian political history. Based on interviews conducted with key players and Hamas leader Khalid Mishal, the narrative focuses on the attempted assassination in 1997 of Mishal by Mossad, the Israeli secret service, and examines how the bungled poisoning catalyzed Hamas—previously marginalized and labeled a terrorist group—to rise to power. The brazen attempt on Mishal's life in broad daylight while he was taking his sons for a haircut in Amman, Jordan, galvanized the movement; Mishal became a household name in the Middle East and Hamas members called him “the martyr who did not die.” By 2004, Hamas's refusal to abandon the use of suicide bombers turned international opinion against the organization, but by this time even Jimmy Carter had visited Mishal, and Arafat's PLO had been pushed aside as the sole representative of the Palestinian cause. This is the definitive chronicle of the Middle East crisis during the Clinton years and in the post-9/11 era. (Mar.)

In this intelligent but unnecessarily obtuse exploration of ecological and cultural crisis, Parr (Deleuze and Memorial Culture) examines the “new culture of sustainability” and how it challenges “our current historic condition... of global climate change, multinational and financialized capitalism, increased religious fundamentalism, and rising militarism.” She looks at the positives and negatives of ecobranding and the power of celebrities to bring change; compares and contrasts the “militarism,” segregation and Disneyfication of gated communities with the ecological approach, with its embrace of conflict and effort to “empower people and communities” in ecovillages. Parr argues that while action is necessary to alter our social course, that action must be based on thoughtful questioning of status quo economics; she claims that a sustainability culture will bring art and science together, based on local conditions yet remaining open to the world. Unfortunately, the academic writing style is so difficult to read that it may discourage all but the most committed readers. (Mar.)

Prius drivers and recyclers take note: according to debut author Schendler, your efforts to be environmentally correct are admirable, but are hardly the kind of urgent, unified action we need to really make an impact on global climate change. In fact, he says, by focusing on small individual actions, you may be actually harming the environmental movement. A pioneer in the sustainability movement, Schendler points out that “there is a hangover from the 1970s that continues to hamper the environmental movement today.” Using examples from his own consulting work as the executive director of Community and Environmental Responsibility at Aspen Skiing Company, he asserts that real change can only come from tough decisions by big businesses and through legislation. Rather than sacrificing ROI to integrate green practices, Schendler says that companies must make profit-driven decisions that complement their business models in order to carry out meaningful and lasting environmental change. By challenging status quo thinking about sustainability and taking the point of view of the business executive and the worker in the field, Schendler offers a perspective that is refreshingly realistic and pragmatic. (Mar.)

Chandler (Not the Girl Next Door: Joan Crawford) draws on her interviews with the 86-year-old Mae West, known for her “risqué brand of humor,” in this chatty memoir. West carefully constructed and guarded the image of her personality as a woman who enjoyed sex at a time when “skirts had to cover ankles.” She contended she was “never vulgar. The word for me was suggestive.” West (1893–1980) craved the spotlight from a young age and had been a success in vaudeville, where she began to write her own material. Her screen legend perfected her sexually playful alter ego in such films as She Done Him Wrong, which contained her most quoted line: “Come up and see me sometime.” Chandler also includes West's first-person account of her 10 days in jail, when she was found guilty of producing an immoral Broadway show, her first full-length play, Sex. West remained a box-office draw into her 70s, appearing in the 1970 film Myra Breckinridge. Whether discussing her love life or advising on playwriting or beauty tips, Mae West was always entertaining. Photos. (Feb.)

Responding to criticism of the skyscrapers he was building in 1983, Pritzker Prize–winning architect Philip Johnson (1906–2005) replied, “I am a whore.” The 16 essayists in this volume, edited by Petit, assistant professor at Yale's School of Architecture—and originally presented in a symposium co-sponsored in 2006 by Yale and the Museum of Modern Art—tackle Johnson's “whoredom,” his enormous influence as a curator and the mixed quality of his built legacy from historical, theoretical and sociological perspectives. The contributors admit, as Joan Ockman writes, that “his claim to fame may be his greatest claim to fame,” and that few of his critics could be as truthful about his shortcomings as was the architect himself. His involvement with Father Coughlin's anti-Semitism in the 1930s runs through many of the essays, but so does admiration for the compound he developed in New Canaan, Conn., for his Glass House and other outlying buildings. One finishes this book with the feeling that Johnson is a case for further study, summed up by one essayist as the star of “a reality-TV show that ran longer than anyone could have imagined.” 163 b&w and 53 color illus. (Feb. 24)

Syndicated humor columnist Wolfsie pens an insightful and delightfully unsentimental biography of his dog, Barney, who became a legendary figure in central Indiana. When Wolfsie was a television feature reporter during the 1970s, he awoke one morning to the sounds of a howling stray beagle. After taking him in—and coming home from work to find that the dog had shredded a good deal of his house—Wolfsie began taking the newly named Barney to work with him, where his on- and off-set antics became the hit of the show, leading to a new “human/canine team” whose adventures lasted for more than a decade (the station management especially liked it when Barney, on-air, relieved himself on a competing station's advertising). Barney appeared at schools and state fairs, fulfilling the mission that Wolfsie describes as the unique ability “to touch lives.” In the end, while it is deeply moving when Barney dies, it is sadder still—for both author and reader—as Wolfsie cogently observes how corporate cutbacks in news operations have ended the era when such features as the onscreen antics of a lovable beagle were an integral part of local newscasts. (Feb.)

How does one go about writing a biography of a man about whom we know virtually nothing? Yes, we have the gospel accounts about the 12th disciple. And we have some evidence from church tradition about the man who betrayed Jesus and handed him over to the Roman authorities. Gubar (Poetry After Auschwitz), Distinguished Professor of English at Indiana University, has done a magnificent job of collecting and analyzing the scriptural accounts of Judas's life and lore, combining them with 2,000 years of the church's constant reimagining of the Judas story. Readers will be amazed at how often the disciple is depicted in art, music and literature. And even more surprising will be the role he later played in shaping history, growing “into a revered savior” in the minds of 20th-century Nazi propagandists. Gubar is relentless in her documenting of “changing conceptualizations of a figure with multiple personalities during the trajectory of a convoluted career.” The evolution of the Judas myth is an important story, one not to be missed. (Mar.)

Americans looking for a strong, moderate Muslim voice that publicly condemns terrorism and the second-class status of women should consider it done—not once and for all, but nonetheless consistently and fiercely. Hasan, an American Muslim woman whose efforts to inform others about the Islam that she practices and to correct narrow-minded extremists have earned her regular appearances on Fox News and MSNBC, has revised Why I Am a Muslim (2004), adding fresh material. Its arguments, based in Hasan's personal experience and religious knowledge, are as relevant now as they were five years ago. The book is directed primarily at non-Muslim Americans to show them Qur'anic texts and Islamic beliefs and practices that challenge unfavorable stereotypes. But Hasan also takes on her fellow Muslims, urging them to distinguish cultural mores from religious orthodoxy, especially concerning the treatment of women. That she continues to face such oppressive interpretations of Islam by other Muslims undermines her arguments that Islam is “not like that.” But readers will wish that she and others continue with such courageous correctives. (Mar. 1)

In what could be described as religious gonzo journalism, Roose documents his experiences as a student for a semester at Liberty University, the largest Christian fundamentalist university in the United States. Coming from progressive Brown University, the author admits that the transition to Liberty, with its iron-clad attempts at controlling student behavior, came with much anxiety. He trains himself to control his foul language and even begins to pray and study the Bible regularly, much to the bewilderment of his liberal Quaker parents. He suffers his way through a course debunking evolution, but finds enjoyment in a Scripture class. Roose may be young—he's a 19-year-old college sophomore—but he writes like a seasoned veteran and obviously enjoys his work. He quickly makes friends at Liberty, but is naïvely stunned and not a little disgusted by their antigay rhetoric. School founder Rev. Jerry Falwell granted Roose an interview for the student newspaper shortly before the famous evangelical's death in May 2007. “Complicated” is how Roose describes Falwell, which is a good descriptor for his undercover student experience. (Mar.)

In 1939, just before he died, Freud published Moses and Monotheism, his last creative effort. He applied psychoanalytic insights to the story of Moses. Using a somewhat similar approach, augmented by her skills in literary analysis, Zornberg (The Beginning of Desire), a Jerusalem resident and biblical scholar with a Cambridge Ph.D. in English literature, looks at several figures from the Bible, including Adam, Eve, Noah, Jonah, Esther, Abraham, Rebecca, Isaac, Joseph and Ruth. Unfortunately, Zornberg lacks Freud's ability to write clearly, so her text is dense and studded with such odd words as facticity, dysprovidential, conversive, transferential, problematizes, futural, asymbolia and performative. Also, she displays her impressive erudition by quoting obscure Talmudic, psychological and literary sources. The result is a hard-to-read treatise that will be of interest only to a small group of academics. (Mar.)

In an exquisite memoir that often reads like a novel, writer Wilkes (In Mysterious Ways: The Death and Life of a Parish Priest) recounts and reflects upon his life as a Catholic. Although his journey includes a decade as a Protestant and ongoing discomfort with certain aspects of Catholicism, Wilkes deftly mines its imagery and its figures, particularly the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, a major and recurring influence. As Wilkes meanders through a life that begins in a working-class Cleveland neighborhood, he candidly relates his passages of sin and saintliness, including a conversion-in-reverse when he gains fame as a writer and an interlude following the end of his first marriage in which he lives among the poor, caring for society's castoffs. Readers will experience his confusion, the “decaying smell of [his] dying soul” and his triumphs as they wonder if the “it” he seeks will find him and whether he will marry again or become a monk. This is fine, engrossing reading for all who appreciate the struggle inherent in the spiritual quest. (Mar.)

Culbreth, founder of Committed to Freedom Ministries and a sexual abuse survivor, offers evangelical Christian readers an emotionally charged resource. She shares the stories of now adult men and women who were sexually, verbally and emotionally abused by their parents, teachers or church workers as children. After each true story, the details of which are maddeningly horrific, the author offers counterpart suffering that Jesus Christ endured at the hands of men. Where individuals have been rejected, shamed, humiliated and brutalized, so was Christ. Culbreth's approach is a novel one, yet readers may finish the text feeling as though much of these victims' suffering remains “unsettled business,” since, as the author states, many of the victims haven't yet been able to move past the crimes committed against them as children. Culbreth does offer suggested self-reflection or group discussion questions to aid victims of abuse, and her final word on the value of locating supportive family, friends, clergy and other professional resources is helpful as well. (Mar.)

Smith, a pastor and former news reporter and talk show host who contributes to the Washington Post's “On Faith” blog, challenges ordinary people to let God use them for impossible tasks. Such submission requires “crazy faith,” knowing God will bring success even when the task seems impractical and illogical. Appropriate for anyone experiencing a calling or facing a crisis, the author cautions that “fear cancels faith” and must be overcome by staring down life's Goliaths. Following an introductory chapter, each subsequent chapter includes the solidly researched life story of someone with “crazy faith,” followed by a “Crazy-Faith Challenge” for group study or individual reflection. From biblical characters like Moses and King David to heroes of black history like Harriet Tubman and Nelson Mandela, these driven dreamers aren't as ordinary as the title asserts. Yet their humble beginnings suggest anyone could develop similar determination. Read as a whole, their patchwork of history becomes a united tale of faith against all odds. Feisty, enthusiastic and encouraging, the author's language will inspire readers to face seemingly insurmountable challenges with “superhuman energy.” (Mar.)

Journalist Joyce has conducted a groundbreaking investigation of a little-known movement among Christian evangelicals that rejects birth control and encourages couples to have as many children as possible. The movement, which takes its name from a verse in Psalm 127, advocates a retreat from society and a rejection of government policies that encourage equal rights for women, pregnancy prevention and an individualistic ethic. Quiverfull families share with more mainline Protestant groups, such as the Southern Baptist Convention, a belief that wives should submit to their husbands. But the group goes further by insisting that children be homeschooled and daughters forgo a college education in favor of early marriage and childbearing. The book probes a San Antonio–based ministry called Vision Forum, which began as a Christian homeschooling resource and now promotes “biblical patriarchy” through seminars and retreats. Members of the movement use militaristic metaphors and see themselves waging a war to win back the culture and rescue American society. The book lacks an in-depth historical account of the movement's connections to 19th- and 20th-century American fundamentalism or its accommodation with modernity, especially its heavy use of Internet blogs. Yet future historians and journalists will owe Joyce a debt of gratitude for her foray into this still nascent religious group. (Mar.)

Sherrer and Garlock, longtime collaborators and time-tested speakers/teachers, address how to stop doing the things we hate, those bad habits that threaten to overcome us. The best step, they say, “is simply to admit our need to change, then to rely on God's help to follow through.” The pair touch on key bad habits such as feeling inferior, worrying, addictive behaviors and controlling and manipulating, as well as less obvious “habits” such as maintaining an impure heart and leading an unbalanced life. Readers will find an easy entrée into the world of bad habits and lots of true but easier-said-than-done advice such as “Work to resolve conflicts with other people” and “Whatever the source of your fear, you can find freedom through faith in the Word of God.” The book is fine as a cursory look at overcoming bad habits, but those doing the deep work of life change will need to look elsewhere. (Mar.)

In this panoramic view of two millennia of Christian history, Butler Bass (Christianity for the Rest of Us) attempts to give contemporary progressive (the author prefers the term “generative”) Christians a sense of their family history, refracted through little known as well as famous men and women whose work within and outside the institutional church fueled sometimes “alternative” practices as they tried to follow Jesus the Prophet. “Without a sense of history, progressive Christianity remains unmoored,” argues Butler Bass, a former columnist for the New York Times syndicate. Organized chronologically, each section of the book includes a chapter on religious observance and one on social justice, illuminating the author's conviction that authentic Christianity can be discovered in the practice of loving God and neighbor. Laced with stories from the author's own life and with contemporary examples of “generative Christianity,” Butler Bass's version of Christian history includes familiar figures like the fourth-century church father Gregory of Nyssa and lesser-known individuals like the 19th century American abolitionist Maria Stewart. Is this truly “the other side of the story,” as the subtitle proclaims? It's definitely a start. (Mar.)

When Abrahams was growing up, her world was neatly divided between those who would live forever in a paradise on earth and all the “worldly” people her Jehovah's Witness family prayed for. Her congregation forbade Christmas and Halloween, aggressively shunned anyone who left the fold and taught children that birthday parties were of the devil. For kicks in her early teens, Abrahams would go witnessing door-to-door with her pal Lisa, a die-hard J-Dub. This acerbic, witty memoir chronicles the first 23 years of Abraham's life with candor and a good dose of comedy. Unlike other memoirs written by the disenchanted, Abrahams musters some affection for her decent but screwed-up family, and even for the religion itself. Where the story hits a rough patch is in her account of her late teens and early 20s, when she dropped out of high school; rushed into a disastrous teen marriage; fell into alcohol, drugs and adultery; and finally “fired Jehovah as [her] personal bodyguard” and became an apostate divorcée. None of this is particularly funny, and Abrahams's tale of self-destruction ends abruptly enough that readers will wonder how she managed to pull herself together. (Mar. 3)

Zen monk and punk rocker Warner offers a “big snarly ball of confessional vomit” in his third book, following Hardcore Zen and Sit Down and Shut Up. The snarly ball is his own suffering, fodder for the Zen cushion: his mother's and grandmother's deaths, the dissolution of his marriage and lots of day-job insecurity when the Japanese monster-movie company he works for downsizes and gets sold. As ever, Warner is unafraid to smash idols, including his own celebrity status as a Zen master. “Not only am I not that thing, but no one is,” he writes, and that means everybody from the Dalai Lama to fellow students of his Japanese teacher who disliked his being picked as the teacher's successor. Warner is honest—he would say his attitude is seeing things as they are, a Zen bent. Those familiar with his previous work will find this book exceptionally plainspoken and pungent, in keeping with his idiosyncratic vow “to be an a**hole for the rest of my life.” That's a lot of honesty. (Mar. 1)

Stearns, the CEO of World Vision, says Christians have a huge hole in their lives, an emptiness that comes from ignoring the plight of the poor. He details his own quest to fill this hole by leaving Lenox Inc., where he was CEO, to run a not-for-profit that helps feed, clothe, and educate children worldwide. Unlike many evangelical Christians, Stearns believes poverty is explained by something more than choices, and lifting cultures from the systemic causes of poverty requires a multi-pronged approach. This accessible book will make it into the hands of evangelical Christians who may not pick up one of the many ABA books on issues of hunger, access to clean water, malaria and AIDS. Readers of Rick Warren, Jim Wallis and N.T. Wright will find Stearns synthesizing thoughts from them as well as from economists and missionaries.This is a passionate and motivating magnum opus from the leader of one of the most recognized aid organizations in the world. The book is a surprisingly no-holds-barred prophetic voice in the wilderness crying out to rich Americans, “Repent and help your world neighbors.”(Mar. 10)

Author of an acclaimed memoir (Leaving Church) and a gifted preacher, Taylor is one of those rare people who truly can see the holy in everything. Since everyone should know such a person, those who don't can—no, must—read this book, with its friendly reminders of everyday sacred. Taylor's 12 chapters mine the potentially sacred meaning of simple daily activities and conditions, like walking, paying attention, saying no to work one Sabbath day each week. Hanging laundry is setting up a prayer flag, for God's sake. Since Taylor, an Episcopal priest, no longer pastors a church, she can “do church” everywhere: in line at the grocery store interacting with the cashier, walking a moonlit path with her husband. Her candor is another of the book's virtues: she is a failure at prayer, and cannot explain why or how it is, or isn't, answered (“I do not know any way to talk about answered prayer without sounding like a huckster or a honeymooner”). Savor this book. (Feb.)

Baylor University law professor and former prosecutor Osler challenges Christian support for the death penalty by fitting the story of Jesus' trial and death into the modern criminal justice process in the United States. His chapters follow the arc of Christ's last days and examine their symmetry with aspects of modern criminal trials, noting the use of a paid informant, denial of habeas corpus and humiliation of the convicted. The chapter on last meals offers compelling ligatures between the public's fascination with death row inmates' last requests—foods like chicken-fried steak and chili cheese dogs—and the celebration of the Eucharist, which commemorates “the last meal of a man who knew he would be killed by the state the next day.” At times Osler's thesis—that God's “creation of an earthly Christ subjected to capital punishment seems to reveal his intent that we care not only about that man, but that process”—gets lost in the details of the extended parallel. Yet the book makes an effective, and surprisingly gentle, case against the death penalty, an argument aimed at the majority of American Christians who see no irony in supporting capital punishment while following one who was a defendant and victim of it. (Feb.)

We all talk about it, but historian Sommerville says we don't do so in the right way. This work seeks to end the confusion in American public life over what religion is by studying the definition of the word itself rather than the thing. “Religion is something,” Sommerville argues, “that must be defined before we can identify cases.” Sommerville says we need a nominal rather than a functional definition, but readers may grow frustrated that he never states exactly what this would be. His work's strength, however, is in showing us the ways we use the word religion—and the problems those usages produce—in a variety of fields such as education, law, science and politics. In politics, for example, we often make the mistake of treating religion as a set of ideas when instead we should think of it as an experience of transcendence. General readers may find this distinction irrelevant and see Sommerville's discussion as frustrating if not overly theoretical. Still, scholars will appreciate the important questions the author raises about language, theory and methodology when we talk about religion. (Feb.)

A longtime student of the Dalai Lama, Mehrotra has collected more than 25 years of his interviews with the Tibetan spiritual and political leader. The discourses on happiness, compassion and the commonalities among religions, edited from notes and transcripts, cover ground familiar to those acquainted with the Dalai Lama's prolific output, but the general reader may be disoriented by the spiritual master's in-depth exploration of complex Buddhist concepts about phenomena, consciousness and shunyata (emptiness). The author, an Indian public television talk show host and secretary/trustee of His Holiness' Foundation for Universal Responsibility, has edited several previous books on the Dalai Lama and is able to ask detailed, sometimes esoteric questions about Buddhist ideas and practice. The responses reflect the Dalai Lama's longstanding interest in the intersection between Buddhism and scientific inquiry as well as his knowledge of the various Mahayana philosophical schools. While this book may not always be accessible to beginning students of Buddhism, frank reflections after the spring 2008 protests in Tibet and elsewhere update readers on the current thinking of this Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Despite the promise of simplicity made by the title, most readers interested in the Dalai Lama's thoughts would be better served reading his own books. (Feb.)

In an age when atheists such as Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris are loudly challenging the existence of God, former Oxford University Templeton scholar Overman resurrects the age-old attempt to make the case for God's existence. Such arguments for God's existence dominated theology from the Middle Ages through the 18th century, and students of philosophy of religion still debate Aquinas's cosmological argument, Anselm's ontological argument and Kant's moral argument. Overman builds on Aquinas's formula by contending that we understand God's existence through an understanding of the world (cosmos). The contingency and dependence of creatures and creations reveals the existence of a Being that is a necessary Cause and neither contingent nor dependent. Overman takes this argument one step further and argues that knowledge of God is ultimately personal knowledge. He examines the ways that thinkers from Kierkegaard and Buber to Tolstoy and Simone Weil develop their own knowledge of God and proposes them as models of our knowing God. While Overman's attention to these thinkers offers a fresh approach to the case for God's existence, much of his book is a tired review of well-known materials. (Feb.)