American Parenting

Adoption is a quintessentially American institution, says George Mason University English and history professor Barbara Melosh, in that it embodies optimism, generosity of spirit and confidence in "social engineering." In Strangers and Kin: The American Way of Adoption, Melosh offers a history of adoption from the early 20th century to today. Drawing on records of adoptions and individual stories, she presents thoughtful comments on current debates surrounding adoption, including transracial adoption and the ethics of international adoption. Adoption calls people "to hope and trust anew in the only authentic kinship we know: bonds forged in love and sustained by will and commitment." (Harvard Univ., $29.95 320p ISBN 0-674-00912-6; Nov. 1)

As president of the National Urban League, Hugh B. Price established the Campaign for African-American Achievement, a program to advance American children's academic success. He shares the program's philosophy in Achievement Matters: Getting Your Child the Best Education Possible. Advising parents to "encourage children to read anything, from baseball cards to comic books," to "take your youngsters on field trips and to work" and to "make sure [your child's] school knows that you are actively involved in your child's education," Price lays out a plan for parents to inspire their children to achieve. Agents, Barbara Lowenstein and Madeline Morel. (Dafina, $27 256p ISBN 0-7582-0119-2; on sale Aug. 28)

Movie Must-Reads

"It's amazing there has never been a source to turn to for all the basic information about the movies," writes Clint Eastwood in his introduction to The American Film Institute Desk Reference: The Complete Guide to Everything You Need to Know About the Movies. Responding to Eastwood's observation, editors Melinda Corey and George Ochoa have packed this colossal volume with information on "movie basics" (the fundamentals of how films are made); "movie crafts" (aspects of the business, including acting and special effects); profiles of actors, directors and others; and lists of significant films. Throughout, celebrity essays written by Angela Lansbury, Martin Scorsese and a handful of others add a unique perspective. (DK, $40 608p ISBN 0-7894-8934-1; Dec.)

The Encyclopedia of Great Filmmakers pays homage to the personalities behind such films as The General (Buster Keaton), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel) and The Player (Robert Altman). Cataloguing filmmakers alphabetically, University of Kansas theater and film professor John C. Tibbetts and Literature/Film Quarterly editor James M. Welsh have provided biographical portraits of more than 150 popular and influential filmmakers. Each entry gives an explanation of the filmmaker's beginnings and entry into the industry and then discusses his or her key films and their major themes. Appendices list great documentary filmmakers and great animation filmmakers. (Checkmark, $19.95 paper 384p ISBN 0-8160-4385-X; Nov.)

One hundred years ago, cowboys were a driving force in popular culture, "giving life to the brand-new motion picture industry, riding on the coattails of the still-solvent but fading traveling Wild West show extravaganzas, and the still-flourishing dime novel publishing boom." Asserting that cowboys "never really went away," journalist Holly George-Warren presents Cowboy: How Hollywood Invented the Wild West. Fantastically illustrated with vintage movie posters and film stills, the book covers the films of actors from Roy Rogers to Clint Eastwood; the western musicals of Gene Autry; cowboy style from Stetson hats to pointy-toed boots; and legendary cowboys such as Hopalong Cassidy and Buffalo Bill. (Reader's Digest, $32.95 224p ISBN 0-7621-0375-2; Oct.)

Help Yourself

As children, most people learn that selfishness is not an enviable quality. But, says Jungian analyst Bud Harris, there is one kind of selfishness that can actually help people value themselves and their lives "enough to pursue the decision to become people of substance"; he calls it "sacred selfishness." In Sacred Selfishness: A Guide to Living a Life of Substance, Harris lays out specific steps readers can take in order to live a life of "self-realization, meaning, value, and love." His overall purpose is to show how learning more about one's self can bring an experience of love and wholeness, and those seeking a deeper sense of self will heed his message. Agent, Barbara Braun. (Inner Ocean, $24.95 368p ISBN 1-930722-12-5; Sept.)

For those reeling from the mental pain of events such as last September's terrorist attacks, popular psychologist Lee Jampolsky offers Healing Together: How to Bring Peace into Your Life and the World. Although the book will be published on September 11, it doesn't deal exclusively with overcoming that event. He divides his book into three parts: the first explains what to do when tragedy enters your life; the second gives step-by-step guidelines for personal and global healing; and the third presents suggestions for moving forward after tragedy strikes. In addition to this book, Jampolsky has written about "peace psychology" in his previous works, including The Art of Trust. Agent, Barbara Neighbors Deal. (Wiley, $24.95 256p ISBN 0-471-23685-3; Sept.)

"Underachiever, and proud of it," read millions of Bart Simpson T-shirts in the early 1990s. But lots of adults aren't proud of their underachiever status, and Kenneth W. Christian has written Your Own Worst Enemy: Breaking the Habit of Adult Underachievement to help them overcome this habit. People who have a fear of failure and commitment, organizational difficulties or a tendency to misjudge success's demands will benefit from Christian's 15-step program, which focuses on visualizing and achieving goals. Christian is the founder of the Maximum Potential Project, an organization designed to help underachievers, and his book offers case studies and tried-and-true advice. (HarperCollins/Regan, $23.95 288p ISBN 0-06-039392-0; on sale Sept. 17)

Social Lives

Following up on studies like The Loss of Happiness in Market Democracies, The Health of Nations: Why Inequality Is Harmful to Your Health is a timely summation of recent economic research that shows how extreme prosperity always comes at the expense of others' poverty—and perhaps of one's own well-being. Ichiro Kawachi, director of the Harvard Center for Society and Health, and Harvard School of Public Health professor Bruce P. Kennedy focus on how (as any Buddhist will tell you) "merely wishing for more money seems to lead to unhappiness" and, looking internationally, ask "are we happier and healthier [as Americans] as a result of all our consumption and accumulation?" Their counterintuitive answer is a resounding "no." (New Press, $25.95 240p ISBN 1-56584-582-X; Sept. 1)

With chapter subtitles such as "Identity Tourism, Avatars, and Racial Passing in Textual and Graphic Chat Spaces" and "Making Race Happen Online," Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet shows the tenaciousness of race categories in cyberspace, despite the Web's touring as a raceless utopia. Lisa Nakamura, associate professor of English at Sonoma State University, argues that "race, as vexed a term as that has come to be, is an indispensable part of the 'root' that warrants, anchors and conditions the lives of actual users in cyberspace to the world offline," and that only by paying close attention to race's offline vicissitudes will we understand online life. (Routledge, $18.95 192p ISBN 0-415-93837-6; Aug. 1)

In The Politics of Deviance, Anne Hendershott (Moving for Work), a sociologist at the University of San Diego, laments the death of deviance as a concept within sociology, along with a consequent "destigmatizing [of] deviant behaviors" within the real social world. In chapters like "Medicalizing the Deviance of Drug Abuse," "Expanding the Market for Mental Illness" and "Postmodern Pedophilia," Hendershott details a process whereby, in her view, "all behaviors are created equal" within the culture, and a market model of what is desirable in a society (i.e., that a kind of manufactured demand for rebellion drives permissiveness) rules—to society's detriment. An indictment of what Hendershott feels has taken place within her field over the last 30 years, this book, published by a California think tank, attempts nothing less than a rearticulation of social conservatism. (Encounter [www.encounterbooks.com], $26.95 200p ISBN 1-893554-47-3; Aug.)

Hot Spots in the "War on Terror"

As the U.S. rather publicly contemplates a strike against Iraq, Kenneth M. Pollack, the Council on Foreign Relations' deputy director for National Security Studies, offers a frank and statistically based historical assessment of Iraq's performance in war, along with the performances of Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Audi Arabia and Syria. Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948—1991 begins with the first of Egypt's engagements with Israel, and ends with the Gulf War, devoting a chapter each to the aforementioned nations (Iraq gets more than 100 pages), and focusing on everything from preparedness to unit cohesion. While it is often more technical than most readers will want, expect journalists to be combing the book (which includes 36 maps) in search of backstory. (Univ. of Nebraska, $49.95 784p ISBN 0-8032-3733-2; Oct. 22)

Although the public's interest in Afghanistan-based military operations may be waning, Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban brings readers from the 3rd century B.C.E. (with a nod to the 2,000 years preceding) to the beginnings of Hamed Karzai's government. This secondary source—based account by Stephen Tanner (Epic Retreats: From 1776 to the Evacuation of Saigon) tells the story of this historical crossroads as it passes, violently, from Alexander to the Mongols, the Durrani Empire, the British, the Soviets and Mujahideen, the Taliban, and "the Americans." (Da Capo, $26 352p ISBN 0-306-81164-2; Aug.)