Can the economic crisis have an effect on our health? Oxford Senior Research leader Stuckler and Stanford epidemiologist Basu offer insight into the economic crisis—including the Great Recession—and its effect on public health, arguing that countries attempt to fix recessions by balancing budgets, but have failed to protect public well-being. They demonstrate how maintaining a healthy populace is intimately entwined with the health of the social environment. Filled with graphs and charts, the book shows how government's investment in social welfare improves the public's health, due to the creation of unemployment programs, pensions, and housing support. Each chapter offers historical facts from the 1930s in United States, to Russia and Indonesia in the 1990s, to present-day Greece, Britain, Spain, and the U.S., revealing how the government's mismanagement of the economic crisis has resulted in the public's poor health and an epidemic of diseases. The authors argue that it is the politicians' job to ensure that people's health needs are met, rather than their ability to pay. Societies will prosper when they invest in people's health both in good times and in bad. The question remains: what steps need to be taken to prevent widespread suffering both now and in the future? (June)

Reviewed on 06/14/2013 | Details & Permalink

The trials and tribulations desperately poor Oqa, a hamlet in northern Afghanistan so remote that regional officials don't even know it exists, comes to life through the story of Thawra, a carpet weaver, and her family. Badkhen, a Russian-born war correspondent, charts the woman's work over a year of weddings, childbirth, Ramadan, and winter snowstorms. Amid the tedium and grinding poverty—made bearable by opium for the young and old alike—the local Turkoman women have over the centuries earned the distinction of producing some of the finest carpets in the world. It's an existence that Westerners can scarcely comprehend, Thawra's family surviving on less than a dollar a day, earned for an exquisite piece of craftsmanship that will command thousands in the US. Badkhen gains astonishing access to male-only gatherings, earning their lasting respect, and ably documents the infinitesimal though significant influence that Thawra has as breadwinner in this patriarchal society. More travelogue than reportage, her prose is rich and unhurried, evoking the harshness of the desolate landscape. Oqa's isolation means Osama bin Laden may be unknown, but the Taliban is not; their presence an inescapable fact of life, one that propels Badkhen's story to a simple yet chilling dénouement. (June)

Reviewed on 06/14/2013 | Details & Permalink

UN special advisor Sachs (Price of Civilization) revisits the Cold War challenges facing the Kennedy administration during the Strangelove-ian era between October 1962 and September 1963. In this careful study, Sachs zeroes in on four key speeches Kennedy delivered in the months prior to his assassination in November 1963. Specifically, the book focuses on the American University commencement address known as the Peace Speech, also the theme of the author's Reith Lecture for the BBC six years ago. JFK, together with gifted speechwriter Ted Sorensen—his "intellectual alter ego"—set out a strategy for nations to live in "mutual tolerance", with ramifications that extend into the 21st century. Influenced by the writings of Winston Churchill and Pope John XXIII, the two collaborated to send a message of hope to the Class of 1963. Two weeks later Kennedy flew to Ireland where he delivered this message to members of the Irish Parliament. By July he announced a partial test ban treaty to the nation, and brought this news to the UN General Assembly. While sound bites of the Kennedy-Sorensen collaboration echo in modern classrooms—"Ask not what your country can do for you"—the messages in these four speeches seem all too pertinent today. (June)

Reviewed on 06/14/2013 | Details & Permalink

Led by an anonymous blogger, Blog Del Narco has been chronicling the horrific violence that has become an integral part of Mexico's drug trade. Here, excerpts from the blog are presented in both Spanish and English alongside video stills and images from the blog. Squeamish readers are advised to heed the warning banner wrapped around the book, as the images consist solely of crime scenes: beheadings, gunshot victims, mass executions, dismembered bodies (one instance occurred at a children's museum), and other unforgettably gruesome sights, all accompanied by their respective backstories. The reason for the graphic images, the authors state in their introduction, is both to publish "the undistorted reality of the situation" as well as aid relatives of those killed in the hope that they can recognize and claim the body of a loved one. Perhaps most disturbing is the reactions of the police and military to all the carnage; is indifferent at best and complicit at worst. The book is horrifying, but the group's noble goals—to reveal the brutal acts committed in their country by the often glamorously-portrayed cartels—require a tremendous amount of bravery and resolve. (May)

Reviewed on 06/14/2013 | Details & Permalink

In this self-help book for Christian woman who struggle with body image, Cabrera and Wierenga (Chasing Silhouettes) offer the perspectives of a licensed clinician and an author who has personally battled anorexia, respectively. While the authors mention that one not need share the Christian faith in order to adopt an outlook of personal worth that precludes dangerous eating patterns, the bulk of the advice strongly emphasizes reliance on Christ. Replete with anecdotes and supportive phrasing, the book covers such challenges as physical recovery from pregnancy, preparing nutritious meals for one's family, and managing social relationships. The counsel regarding how to balance personal needs with those of one's marriage hinges on the concept that women need to feel cherished while men need to feel respected. Though the language devoted to this and other topics remains sympathetic, it grows repetitive, privileging God to solving specific problems. Each chapter ends with a list of thoughts for reflection and tools for change, while the chapters themselves typically consist of less specific healing terminology, positive quotations, and personal stories. Women who agree with the authors' spiritual assessments will benefit from this book's encouraging tone. (May)

Reviewed on 06/14/2013 | Details & Permalink

The activists profiled in Haugerud's lively study of political satire don tuxedos and furs for rallies and hold champagne flutes as protest props. Under fictive, ultra-rich personas like "Alan Greenspend" and "Robin Eublind", the Billionaires question "the compatibility of wealth and democracy" through a polished form of "political street theater." Croquet on Central Park's Great Lawn or a tax-day stunt aboard the Boston Tea Party Ship Museum marry "humor, parody, surprise, and hidden identity" with "flashy visuals" to subvert their opponents' messages. Rutgers anthropologist, or "Ivana Itall", followed the group from 2004-2012 as a sympathetic observer attending meetings, interviewing members, and chatting with passersby in the wake of carefully coordinated antics. Behind-the-scene details like prank-day jitters or the hours of improvisation and mannerism practice needed to get into "billionaire shape" should charm fans of Stephen Colbert's satirical comedy, while grassroots organizations from any political bent will appreciate Haugerud's analysis of the efficacy of parody and image marketing. A danger of their theatrics is that details of the issues they champion can get lost among the irony-deficient. Nevertheless, Haugerud successfully illuminates America's staggering wealth inequality at the core of the Billionaire's message while investigating the comedic possibilities and limitations of their methods. (May)

Reviewed on 06/14/2013 | Details & Permalink

Images as vast and as haunting as their subjects comprise the bulk of this collection, which accompanies a new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Moving in roughly chronological order through the Civil War years, Met photography curator Rosenheim attentively argues that the rise of popular photography coincided with the onset of the Civil War to signify the beginning of the modern era. Examining the use of war images in newspapers and political campaigns, the sentimental obsession over portraiture by soldiers and their families, and the national mourning enacted through mass images, Rosenheim weaves the rhetorical and material realities of the war years by attaching them to the photographic image. While his explanations of changes in photographic technology and methodology are of interest primarily to specialists, the majority of the text is gracefully directed toward the images themselves. Grandiose landscapes, macabre and sobering images of the wounded, portraits startlingly bare in their sentiment—the hundreds of images carry the heft of history. The Civil War has received plenty of attention in popular publications and, increasingly, in serious academic contexts; the bald reality captured in these diverse photographs, however, manages still to add an affecting contribution to the discussion. Color illus. (May)

Reviewed on 06/14/2013 | Details & Permalink

Broderick (Orangutan) was raised in Northern Ireland's County Tyrone during the "Troubles" that spanned nearly four decades. These formative years are told through snippets of daily life: beatings from teachers at his school, conversations with relatives, and various "firsts" as an adolescent. The news of the day—the bombings, kidnappings, and murders of Catholics and Protestants—influenced the everyday routine under his protective mother. Desperate to keep her family safe, she refuses him any independence: "The answer is no, and that's that." With her son on the brink of total rebellion, she relents and Broderick matures from the mischievous, curious altar boy into a teenager with everything to prove and nothing to lose. Somehow, Broderick keeps the reader on the edge of laughter through many otherwise horrifying experiences and bad choices. He is a storyteller of great depth, sharing his life with the kind of brutal honesty and narrative skill rarely expected or found in a memoirist. Broderick is a writer's writer who has achieved a profound telling of his experience of Northern Ireland's Troubles. (May)

Reviewed on 06/14/2013 | Details & Permalink

Endeavoring "to argue for the value of an eastern Kentucky ecosystem against the value of a short ton of eastern Kentucky coal," two University of Kentucky faculty members make a forceful case for preserving one of the "most biologically diverse landscapes in North America." Each with years of environmental research and teaching in the Reece (Lost Mountain) and Krupa possess an intimate familiarity with this Appalachian wilderness and the pressures it faces. In 1923 the denuded Robinson Forest was deeded to the University of Kentucky. Regenerated, it is now home to 60 tree species, the state's cleanest waterways, and tremendous topographical and species diversity; a lush verdure that stands starkly opposed to the flattened wastelands of mountaintop removal coal mining all around. The monetary value of the forest's timber and coal remain a constant pressure, but the authors persuasively contend that the value of the forest as a teaching tool and vestige of Kentucky heritage is higher still. They lobby for preservation, but also demonstrate that sustainable forestry strategies could permit for some timber extraction while protecting the greater, enduring resource—the ecosystem itself. Photos & maps. (May)

Reviewed on 06/14/2013 | Details & Permalink

African-American Studies professor Umoja adds a much-needed chapter to the history of the Civil Rights Movement with his well-sourced chronicle of the Mississippians who risked life, limb, and livelihood by arming themselves against "White supremacist terrorism". Though groups like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Congress on Racial Equality promoted nonviolence, they also relied on "covert armed protection". Indeed, armed self-defense" was "common practice for southern black activists." These men and women argued: "non-violent stuff ain't no good. It'll get you killed." The possibility of armed resistance came to be an important bargaining chip between civil rights groups and federal officials who often declined to intervene in the increasingly violent confrontations. However, after the 1964 deaths of civil rights workers James Chaney, Mickey Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman, support for nonviolence disintegrated; some disaffected civil rights leaders adopted paramilitary tactics or turned to the nascent Black Nationalist groups to protect civil rights workers. Increasingly, the Black Panthers and other Black power leaders gained ascendency as White supremacists continued their assaults on Black communities well into the 1970s. Umoja's eye-opening work is a powerful and provocative addition to the literature of the civil rights movement. (May)

Reviewed on 06/14/2013 | Details & Permalink