Tweet

| Reader Comments

Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the CrusadesJonathan Phillips. Random, $30 (464p) ISBN 978-1-4000-6580-6

University of London historian and History Channel contributor Phillips (The Second Crusade) superbly condenses the four centuries of the Crusades into a single, easily accessible volume. Islamic as well as Western sources are utilized to demonstrate the similarities between jihad and crusading. The narrative weaves a tragic tapestry, beginning with the bloodily successful First Crusade, through the establishment of the Crusader states, to the failure of subsequent Crusades, the victories of the Muslim “counter-Crusade,” and the continuing legacy of religious and cultural hatred that permeates the Holy Land. Individuals such as the “charismatic” Queen Melisende of Jerusalem; the “Leper King,” Baldwin IV; the Muslim warriors Nur ad-Din and Saladin; England's Richard the Lionheart; and many others play major and minor roles in the creation of a past that still lives today. Episodes including the “breathtaking naivete” of the Children's Crusade and the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula are effectively described. Concluding chapters examine the impact of the Crusades since the 15th century. Regrettably, little attention is given to the crusading spirit resurrected by the 1571 Battle of Lepanto. But this is an outstanding summary of centuries of religious strife, the effects of which are with us still. 8 pages of b&w photos, 5 maps. (Mar.)

“A Vast and Fiendish Plot”: The Confederate Attack on New York CityClint Johnson. Citadel, $15.95 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-8065-3131-1

One of the Civil War's more alarming might-have-beens is reconstructed in this absorbing if padded history. Johnson (Civil War Blunders) recounts the attempt by Confederate secret agents to burn down Manhattan on the night of November 25, 1864, using what they called “Greek fire”—an incendiary concoction that ignited spontaneously on contact with air. The conspiracy went up in a puff of ineptitude—the fires, set in rooms at various hotels around the city, fizzled from lack of oxygen because the arsonists left the windows closed—but the author's meticulous study of Manhattan's 19th-century flammability shows how easily it could have launched a citywide inferno. Johnson makes the incident an index of the war's soaring intensity, setting it in the context of the Union Army's burnings of rebel cities and farms, the bumbling efforts of Confederate agents in Canada to foment insurrection in the North, and the pro-Southern sympathies of prominent New Yorkers who connived at the arson plot. The laxly edited narrative also shovels in extraneous material, including a flashback to Pickett's Charge, to make the story hotter still. Johnson's comprehensive account of this usually footnoted episode shows how close it came to becoming a major tragedy. Photos. (Mar.)

Nothing Less than Victory: Decisive Wars and the Lessons of HistoryJohn David Lewis. Princeton Univ., $29.95 (364p) ISBN 978-0-691-13518-2

Thanks to its recent experience of quagmires that drain into simmering truces, America has forgotten that triumph is the proper way to end a war, argues this brash study of military blowouts. Surveying six conflicts, from the Persian invasion of ancient Greece to WWII, historian Lewis (Early Greek Lawgivers) contends that lasting peace requires a shattering victory, “a display of overwhelming force” that “expose[s] the physical and ideological bankruptcy” of the losers and precipitates “an immediate collapse in [their] will to fight.” Lewis's analysis of war as a psychological struggle and “clash of moral purposes” is lucid and forceful; it's especially telling in his incisive account of Sherman's march through Georgia, and especially provocative in his defense of the atomic bombings of Japan. (“To break the Japanese leaders out of their ideological blinders... American leaders needed to kill a lot of Japanese in a visibly shocking way.”) He's less cogent when he tries to distill profound moral purposes from the murk of the Second Punic War or Roman emperor Aurelian's squabble with Queen Zenobia of Palmyra. Lewis's tight yoking of military success with moral superiority sometimes veers close to the notion that might makes right. (Mar.)

The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious DynastyG.J. Meyer. Delacorte, $30 (640p) ISBN 978-0-385-34076-2

Arguably the most famous rulers in world history, Tudor monarchs Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I were, according to journalist and author Meyer (A World Undone), “cold and ruthless egotis[ts]” whose self-created myths have prevailed over reality in our historical memory of them. Henry VII, the first Tudor, was a competent ruler who filled the royal treasury with gold, avoided war, and shrewdly consolidated his power by stripping away the nobility's autonomy. By contrast, Henry VIII's determination to enforce his religious change on his people led to a reign of terror, and his squandering of his riches contributed to the monarchy's later collapse under Charles I. His children fared little better, from the fervently evangelical boy-king Edward VI to the fanatically Catholic Mary, England's first woman ruler, who burned 300 of her subjects for heresy. Elizabeth is portrayed as selfish to the point of childishness, aspiring only to preserve her life and her rule. History buffs will savor Meyer's cheeky, nuanced, and authoritative perspective on an entire dynasty, and his study brims with enriching background discussions, ranging from class structure and the medieval Catholic Church to the Tudor connection to Spanish royalty. 4-color inserts, 1 map. (Mar.)

The Edge of Physics: A Journey to Earth's Extremes to Unlock the Secrets of the UniverseAnil Ananthaswamy. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25 (288p) ISBN 978-0-618-88468-1

Despite 20th-century physics' revelations, from relativity and quantum mechanics to the physics of the atom's nucleus and the life cycles of stars, “ninety-odd percent of the universe is a complete mystery,” says a scientist quoted by Ananthaswamy, a consulting editor for New Scientist. Dark matter, dark energy, quantum gravity: these are the topics that keep physicists awake at night, requiring bigger, more massive, more extreme experiments to test theories and uncover clues. The author takes readers behind the scenes of these experiments in some of the most inhospitable places in the world, leading the tour with wit and an eye for compelling detail. First is a “pilgrimage” to Mount Wilson Observatory, where astronomers first measured the expansion of the universe. Next we go 2,341 feet underground in a defunct Minnesota iron mine to search for particles that could reveal dark matter. Sensitive telescopes embedded in the thick ice of Siberia's Lake Baikal and Antarctica search for neutrinos. These experiments and others are heroic in every sense, and Ananthaswamy captures their excitement—and the personalities of the scientists behind them—with enthusiasm and insight. Illus. (Mar.)

Chasing the White Dog: An Amateur Outlaw's Adventures in MoonshineMax Watman. Simon & Schuster, $25 (320p) ISBN 978-1-4165-7178-0

Journalist Watman chronicles America's longstanding love affair with distilled spirits, a love that he shares. As long as people have been making booze, the government has wanted to control it, and Watman colorfully illustrates a conflict that stretches from the Whiskey Rebellion through Prohibition. Watman travels from Colorado to Virginia to cover the current battles between moonshine producers and government agents, a journey that takes him from “nip houses” to NASCAR events. Watman also details his own complicated, and comical, attempts to manufacture hard liquor at home. He is a capable journalist and has an impressive grasp of the craft of distillation and the science behind it. His historical writing is lively as well, and he profiles fascinating, little-known characters and events like Johnny McDonald and the Whiskey Ring scandal during the Grant administration. Despite Watman's talents, however, his narrative meanders, in large part because Watman doesn't write as well about himself as he does about other people. Yet even though the parts don't add up to a satisfying whole, they remain entertaining enough to keep the pages turning. (Mar.)

Fly Fishing with Darth Vader: And Other Adventures with Evangelical Wrestlers, Political Hitmen, and Jewish CowboysMatt Labash. Simon & Schuster, $25.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-4391-5997-2

Journalist Labash takes readers to the fringes in his portraits of people and places outside the mainstream and, very often, beyond our ken. His subjects are outlandish and unforgettable: take Dave “Mudcat” Saunders, the hunting, cussing, NASCAR-loving political strategist who promises to deliver the rural white vote for the Democrats. Or Kinky Friedman, the Jewish cowboy running for governor of Texas under the campaign slogan “Why the Hell Not?” His profiles of disgraced former Washington, D.C., mayor Marion Barry, corrupt former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards, Rev. Al Sharpton, and Vice President Dick Cheney stand out for their affecting portrayals of the humanity behind the larger-than-life personas. On occasion, Labash settles for lampoon and ad hominem attacks rather that insightful critique, as in his too-easy rant against Facebook or his mean-spirited report from the floor of an academic conference on adult entertainment. But when he sticks to profiling the antics of the lunatic journalists, political hacks, and ego-loving candidates that he so clearly adores, he gives readers a real glimpse at the strangeness and silliness that suffuse American political life. (Mar.)

Black Venus 2010: They Called Her “Hottentot” Edited by Deborah Willis. Temple Univ., $34.95 (288p) ISBN 978-1-4399-0205-9

Her name was Sarah Baartman. Born in South Africa in 1789, she died in Paris in 1815—after five years of being displayed (sometimes in a cage) for entertainment and “scientific study”; her pickled buttocks and genitalia remained on public display at the Musée de l'Homme until 1974 and her remains were finally returned to South Africa in 2002. During her period of fame and exploitation, she was known as the “Hottentot Venus.” Willis (Posing Beauty) offers a comprehensive, inclusive, and coherently organized anthology that embraces “scholarly and lyrical, historical and reflexive” responses to Baartman, as a woman, as a black woman, as an object, as an icon, as an inspiration to creative artists, and as a catalyst to scholars. The book moves from Baartman's life and times to an assessment of the figure of the “Hottentot Venus” in contemporary art and a broader consideration of the historic public display of black women. Appended is a photo gallery that is as essential and diverse as the texts. This remarkable volume satisfies the academic reader with scholarly essays and moves the general reader with its creative expression, making it fascinating and accessible to any one. (Mar.)

Peddling Peril: How the Secret Nuclear Trade Arms America's EnemiesDavid Albright. Free Press, $27 (320p) ISBN 978-1-4165-4931-4

Albright, founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security, offers an uneven exposé on the “illicit trade in nuclear technology” and the threats it poses to American security. Following in the traces of such earlier investigations as Gordon Correra's Shopping for Bombs (2006), Albright details how the “convergence of easy money and weak [export] controls on the sale of high tech equipment created a perfect storm” that was easily exploited by North Korea and such rogue proliferators as A.Q. Khan, the founder of Pakistan's nuclear program, who established a “transnational network of smugglers” to sell nuclear weapons capabilities to Iran, Libya, and North Korea. Albright also examines the efforts of al-Qaeda to obtain nuclear weapons and the cat-and-mouse game between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency over that nation's nuclear ambitions. While acknowledging that nuclear proliferation is “difficult to detect and stop,” the author cautions against fatalism—“a deadly foe”—but the turgid prose and esoteric nuclear tutorials slow the narrative and likely will tax the understanding, if not patience, of lay readers. (Mar.)

Greed to Green: Solving Climate Change and Remaking the EconomyCharles Derber. Paradigm (www.paradigmpublishers.com), $18.95 paper (272p) ISBN 978-1-59451-812-6

Derber, professor of sociology at Boston College, makes a radical but persuasive argument that our current form of capitalism, with its short-term thinking, is the cause of climate change, and that we can't solve the latter without confronting the former. He contends that in order to be moved to action sufficient to avert calamitous global warming, we need to feel the crisis viscerally, not just understand it intellectually, and forge solutions that “not only ward off the long-term catastrophe but also help solve today's most burning crises: economic deep recession, vanishing jobs, unstable oil prices, Middle East wars, rotten education, deteriorating public infrastructure, poverty, and financial insecurity.” Derber is optimistic about Obama's strategies but foresees “enormous structural obstacles” to their implementation, and concludes that social justice and environmental movements—however riddled with weaknesses—are our “best last hope for solving global warming on the urgent time scale required.” Despite the urgency and seriousness of his message, Derber conveys an appealing enthusiasm that may inspire concerned citizens to action rather than apathy or despair. (Mar.)

The Politics of Cocaine: How U.S. Foreign Policy Has Created a Thriving Drug Industry in Central and South AmericaWilliam L. Marcy. Lawrence Hill, $26.95 (336p) ISBN 978-1-55652-949-8

Marcy investigates why South American drug trafficking has remained so hardy and lucrative even as the U.S. has spent billions—usually on wrongheaded measures, as he sees it—to combat both production and export. Costly raids and drug seizures have had minimal impact on production and no impact on U.S. consumption, argues Marcy. Furthermore, the U.S.'s obsession with coca crop eradication without any equivalent spending on economic development has kept the coca farmers without a viable market around which to design an alternative industry. But there are no simple solutions, according to Marcy: drug legalization “could spawn more problems than it solves,” and the disparity in power between the U.S. and Latin American nations keeps the “war on drugs” unwinnable. While the prose can be dry, Marcy's connections and conclusions richly reveal how intricately the legitimate and illegal economies are entangled across two continents. (Mar.)

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is HardChip Heath and Dan Heath. Broadway, $26 (320p) ISBN 978-0-385-52875-7

The Heath brothers (coauthors of Made to Stick) address motivating employees, family members, and ourselves in their analysis of why we too often fear change. Change is not inherently frightening, but our ability to alter our habits can be complicated by the disjunction between our rational and irrational minds: the self that wants to be swimsuit-season ready and the self that acquiesces to another slice of cake anyway. The trick is to find the balance between our powerful drives and our reason. The authors' lessons are backed up by anecdotes that deal with such things as new methods used to reform abusive parents, the revitalization of a dying South Dakota town, and the rebranding of megastore Target. Through these lively examples, the Heaths speak energetically and encouragingly on how to modify our behaviors and businesses. This clever discussion is an entertaining and educational must-read for executives and for ordinary citizens looking to get out of a rut. (Mar.)

Saving Gracie: How One Dog Escaped the Shadowy World of American Puppy MillsCarol Bradley. Howell (Wiley, dist.), $21.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-470-44758-1

Journalist Bradley exposes the hidden world of puppy mills, where dogs are caged like chickens and forced to repeatedly breed until they die. Unlike most factory farm animals that endure painful confinement and are slaughtered within six months of birth, mill breeding dogs are sentenced to many years of existence in deplorable conditions; many don't learn to walk because their cages don't give them enough room to stand. Bradley details the raid of one such mill, Mike-Mar Kennel in Oxford, Pa., which led to the seizure of more than 300 dogs, mostly adults that had languished for years with broken limbs and untreated diseases. Dog 132, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel later named Gracie, was rescued during the raid. Nearly blind, with decayed teeth and a strong aversion to human contact, Gracie flourished under the love and patience of her adoptive owner, Linda Jackson. Bradley's powerful narrative will tug at heartstrings, raise public awareness, and, hopefully, help put an end to puppy mills. (Feb.)

Spirited: Connect to the Guides All Around YouRebecca Rosen with Samantha Rose. Harper, $24.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-06-176624-4

Psychic medium Rosen, in this part memoir, part self-help work, helps readers to tune into their own intuitive abilities. Self-described as just a regular gal who works out in the gym, drops her kids at school, and then “talks to the dead for a living,” the author reveals that binge eating and depression in college led to her plea for help and consequent discovery of messages from her deceased grandmother relayed through “automatic writing.” In time, Rosen—who lectures, offers workshops, and has advised such Hollywood stars as Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox Arquette—realized that her gift enabled her to receive messages from spirits hoping to reconnect with loved ones (quite often, she asserts, their mission is to advise their family members to do what they didn't do in life or avoid mistakes the spirits made). According to the author, each individual is born with lessons that must be learned in order to grow spiritually; those who fail to progress, she reveals, must deal with their “baggage” in the afterlife. Though her story in itself is fascinating, Rosen's goal is to help readers hone their psychic powers: she includes meditation exercises (a primary way of connecting with spirit energy) as well as other techniques. Rosen's conversational tone and easygoing sense of humor lend warmth and accessibility to her otherworldly journey. (Feb.)

Hold Me Tight and Tango Me Home: A MemoirMaria Finn. Algonquin, $13.95 paper (240) ISBN 978-1-56512-517-9

Shaken by the discovery that her Cuban husband and salsa partner was having an affair, Finn, a contributor to New York magazine, embarked on learning to tango as a way of healing her broken heart, and chronicles her journey in this rather dry memoir. In tango, an Argentinean dance form originating in the immigrant neighborhoods and brothels of Buenos Aires, she tapped the “sources of human sorrow and human happiness” and found a safe comfort and intimacy among strangers. From standing on the sidelines watching the elegant, accomplished couples to plunging into her initial lessons at the South Street Seaport and attending her first milongas, or social dances, Finn had to connect with a series of constantly changing partners, some better at leading than others, and some more forgiving than others about her mistakes. Finn organizes her memoir around the tango steps—from la salida (the basic) through la caminata (the walk), la volcada (the fall), el boleo (the throw), all the way to el abrazo (the embrace)—which also cleverly mirror her stages of grief, from anger to acceptance. Sadly, her foray remains journalistically stilted rather than tango sensuous, and rarely warms the reader. Along with her personal story, involving a trip to a wedding in Buenos Aires and documenting there the gay tango scene, she nicely elucidates the evolution of the dance, through the music of Astor Piazzolla and Carlos Gardel, and traces briefly its flashpoints across the globe, from America to Finland and Turkey. (Feb.)

He Crashed Me So I Crashed Him Back: The True Story of the Year the King, Jaws, Earnhardt, and the Rest of NASCAR's Feudin', Fightin', Good Ol' Boys Put Stock Car Racing on the MapMark Bechtel. Little, Brown, $25.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-316-03402-9

Stock car racing had long been a Southern phenomenon, but 1979 changed everything. A fight at the live, nationally televised Daytona 500 between Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough helped, especially since monstrous snowstorms over the race's weekend essentially made the East housebound, contributing to big ratings. There was more to NASCAR's rise to legitimacy, according to Bechtel, a senior editor at Sports Illustrated. From cowboy boots to Smokey and the Bandit, America was becoming consumed with the South's culture, and NASCAR fell right in line. A fledgling television network called ESPN needed sports programming to fill its schedule, and NASCAR was happy to oblige. Hotshot rookie Dale Earnhardt's fearless driving and working-class appeal landed a legend and the foundation of its future popularity. Throughout, Bechtel uses the 1979 NASCAR season as his backdrop, profiling the motley crew of racers and executives who were at the forefront. What could have been a painful juggling act becomes an illuminating, informative, and entertaining read, as the engaging and droll Bechtel is in complete control from start to finish. 8-page color insert. (Feb.)

Lifestyle

Food

Giada at Home: Family Recipes from Italy and CaliforniaGiada De Laurentiis. Clarkson Potter, $35 (240p) ISBN 978-0-307-45101-9

The newest cookbook from De Laurentiis (after Giada's Kitchen: New Italian Favorites) straddles two continents with wonderful recipes from Italy and California. Chapters of this friendly and inviting book are titled by course, such as Appetizers and Desserts, as well as by ingredient and occasion (e.g., brunch). The author includes straightforward instructions for classic Italian fare, such as steak involtini; Chianti-marinated stew; pecorino and bean salad; and limoncello granita, as well as a selection of such modern dishes as grilled asparagus and melon salad; pea pesto crostini, and lemon hazelnut tiramisù. Chock-full of mouthwatering dishes for easy entertaining (Italian fried olives; whole wheat pita chips with mascarpone-chive dip; and vegetable parmesan), this appealing collection is supplemented with informative, short essays on ingredients including olive oil and dried and fresh herbs. (Apr.)

Daisy: Morning, Noon and Night: Bringing Your Family Together with Everyday Latin DishesDaisy Martinez with Chris Styler. Atria, $30 (256p) ISBN 978-1-4391-5753-4

Unpretentious Latin home cooking gets a glossy sheen in this friendly, comprehensive cookbook. Martinez—star of the Food Network's Viva Daisy!—draws from her own Puerto Rican traditions as well as her annual family journeys to Spanish-speaking countries around the world for her ambitious collection of recipes. Martinez also covers a wide array of events, from cocktail parties to elaborate dinner parties and weekend brunches. She tailors her recipes for the time-strapped with such dishes as “Faster-Than-Takeout Chicken in Green Sauce” alongside special chapters on “weeknight” dishes, like her guava—cream cheese turnovers with frozen puff pastry and “a stitch in time” tips for making dishes ahead. Though simplified, her recipes still incorporate their distinct regional flavors—with ingredients such as salt cod, alcaparrado, and coconut milk. (Mar.)

Gourmet Game NightCynthia Nims. Ten Speed, $17.99 paper (160p) ISBN 978-1-58008-088-0

While many types of entertainment have suffered during the recession, the popularity of board games is on the rise. And with more game nights at home, there of course is the need for more hors d'oeuvres. Nims (Memorable Suppers) comes to the rescue and applies several different snack strategies in an effort to eliminate such social dilemmas as sticky playing cards, greasy dice, and stained Monopoly money. Skewers make for a perfect hands-off approach to treats like lamb and olive kebabs and herb-marinated shrimp. Sandwiches are a time-honored way to stay dainty. Among the 10 offered are chicken salad with orange and walnuts and petits croque monsieurs with Gruyere and plum tomatoes. And if it is a food that cannot be stabbed or placed between slices of bread, it can probably be miniaturized and self-contained. Witness the baby baja tacos, where seafood, cilantro, and sour cream are wrapped tight in a six-inch tortilla, or the stuffed large pasta shells with kale-ricotta filling. Nims also includes tiny desserts, such as mocha cheesecake bars, and large drinks, like lava lounge punch, with rum and Chambord, to help placate sore losers. (Mar.)

The Routes of Man: How Roads Are Changing the World, and the Way We Live TodayTed Conover. Knopf, $26.95 (336p) ISBN 978-1-4000-4244-9

[Signature]

Reviewed by Jeb Brugmann

In The Routes of Man, Conover, author of the NBCC award—winning Newjack, reveals globalization's neural system growing along the world's expanding and connecting road systems. Governments and smugglers, armies and insurgents, and the local poor and international NGOs negotiate their ambitions at border crossings, checkpoints, and dives. Tracing the route of rare mahogany from Peru's illegal jungle logging camps to Manhattan's brownstones, he examines how highways connect the fates of forests, untouched tribes, and finicky antique collectors. In the Himalayan frontier of Kashmir, highways are ventures of national territorial control, and in China a growing superhighway system underscores the disparity between the haves and have-nots.

Conover's voice is that of a sobered Kerouac, tamed by a bigger conscience, and on an open road increasingly controlled by corporate, government, and military interests. His acclaimed narrative gifts are on full display in a wonderfully evenhanded treatment of the roadway in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Highways have been co-opted for Israeli settlements, and Palestinian professors, engineers, and migrant laborers construct ever-shifting back-road routes and taxi-hops to earn their living. With Conover as our guide, we move through Israeli checkpoints in Palestine's West Bank and witness the daily indignities faced by corralled Palestinian commuters and the psychological angst of Israeli soldiers. There is no open road here, just a gritty, fractured infrastructure of hatred that strangles both nations.

More subtly, Conover reveals the highway as common social territory, particularly as the meeting place between men and women. His treatment of east African truck drivers—whose travels are suspected to be linked with the global spread of AIDS—avoids stereotype and sensationalism. He is as attentive to and interested by the drudgery of transporting goods as with the truckers' polygamy or encounters with sex workers and police bribery. We meet truck drivers who are true gentlemen and tough, articulate women fully capable of negotiating roadside life. Conover maintains a commitment to accurate portrayal and embraces the whole world, not only its dramatic aspects.

The Routes of Man seeks to describe more than to explain this ever-connecting world. It does the former with an agility that leaves the reader anticipating the next adventure. But the narrative fails to build the argument posed in its subtitle: that roads themselves have become a source of change in the world, independent of the nations, armies, and cities that build, control, and fill them with trade and traffic. But this many-textured journey is not to be missed. Conover deftly navigates the romance and harsh reality of a world intent on a real and not just a virtual connectedness.

Jeb Brugmann is author of Welcome to the Urban Revolution: How Cities Are Changing the World.

Also on PW

PW Picks: May 7, 2012 more...

PW's Best Books of 2011

Get ready for BEA with PW!