Nonfiction

★ Carrier: Untangling the Danger in My DNA
Bonnie J. Rough. Counterpoint (PGW, dist.), $15.95 paper (324p) ISBN 9781582435787
What is so amazing about Rough's struggle with her DNA destiny is not just the impossibly tough choices she faces in planning her own future, but the raw courage she exhibits in dealing with the choices made by the generations before her. A carrier of the rare genetic condition hypohidrotic ectoderm dysphasia, which condemns sufferers to a lifetime of debilitating infections, chronic respiratory ailments, and recurring skin rashes, Rough reports that her grandfather and brother were scarred by the disease, leaving their wives, mothers, and daughters helpless and angry. She reflects on the story of Earl, her brilliant grandfather, who died a penniless drug addict. In alternating chapters, she writes in the voices of Earl and Paula, her mother. These vignettes serve as poignant portrayals of their pain, not simply because of a crippling disease, but also the powerlessness they feel over it. "Should he just bear all of this?" Earl's wife asks Paula. "Yes," she replies, "for us." This is a story that will resonate for anyone who grew up in a family with a relative suffering from a chronic illness or addiction. (May)

Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance
Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm. Penguin, $27.95 (368p) ISBN 9781594202506
Roubini (Bailouts or Bail-ins), a professor of economics at NYU, was greeted with skepticism when he warned a 2006 meeting of the IMF that a deep recession was imminent. Along with economics historian Mihm, (A Nation of Counterfeiters) Roubini provides an in-depth analysis of the role of crises in capitalist economies from a historical perspective. With thumbnail sketches of nineteenth and twentieth century economic thought from Smith, Keynes, and others, they provide a context for understanding financial markets and the ways in which bankers and politicians relate to them. The authors also offer a theoretical context for understanding the current economic crisis and for using it as "an object lesson… [in how to foresee them], prevent them, weather them, and clean up after them." Dismissing the "quaint beliefs" that markets are "self-regulating," they take issue with the simplistic populist assumption that the present crisis was caused by greed or something "as inconsequential as subprime mortgages." They blame Alan Greenspan's refusal to use the power of the Fed to dampen unbridled speculation, choosing instead to pump "vast quantities of easy money into the economy and [keep] it there for too long." This will be a useful guide for readers attempting to get a handle on the present crisis. (May)

Cyber War: The Next Threat To National Security and What To Do About It
Richard A. Clarke and Robert K. Knake. Ecco, $25.99 (304p) ISBN 9780061962233
On today's battlefields computers play a major role, controlling targeting systems, relaying critical intelligence information, and managing logistics. And, like their civilian counter-parts, defense computers are susceptible to hacking. In September 2007, Israeli cyber warriors "blinded" Syrian anti-aircraft installations, allowing Israeli planes to bomb a suspected nuclear weapons manufacturing facility (Syrian computers were hacked and reprogrammed to display an empty sky). One of the first known cyber attacks against an independent nation was a Russian DDOS (Deliberate Denial of Service) on Estonia. Since it can rarely be traced directly back to the source, the DDOS has become a common form of attack, with Russia, China, North Korea, the U.S., and virtually every other country in possession of a formidable military having launched low-level DDOS assaults. Analysts across the globe are well aware that any future large-scale conflict will include cyber warfare as part of a combined arms effort. Clarke and Knake argue that today's leaders, though more computer savvy than ever, may still be ignorant of the cyber threats facing their national security. (Apr.)

Dragon Fighter: One Woman's Epic Struggle for Peace with China
Rebiya Kadeer, with Alexandra Cavelius. Kales, $28.95 (426p) ISBN 9780979845611
When her father is beaten, and her family is forced from their home in Uyghurstan (a swath of Chinese land north of Tibet), Kadeer's idyllic childhood comes crashing to an end. Though still a young woman, she resolves to defend Uyghurs from "tireless Communist indoctrination;" by 1957, she writes, "I wanted to stop seeing posters of Chairman Mao's adipose face, with that forever grinning mouth, plastered over every wall." Kadeer charts the routine public humiliation, banishment, execution, and forced flight of her Ugyhur friends and neighbors. In her late twenties, anxious to provide for her children and take control of the future, Kadeer reinvents herself as a businesswoman, but never turns her attention away from political activism. By the early ‘90s, the USSR has dissolved and Kadeer has become the wealthiest woman in China, but the oppression of Ugyhurs continues, remaining largely unknown outside the region. Even after Kadeer wins a seat in China's National People's Congress, she is unable to counter the negative effects of Chinese bureaucrats on the Uyghur region. Finally, her efforts land her in prison for six years. Her remarkable resilience in the face of horrendous conditions typifies her tireless lifelong struggle. Her story is a compelling testament to the human spirit's obstinate right to be free. (May)

Eating With The Enemy: How I Waged Peace with North Korea From My BBQ Shack in Hackensack
Robert Egan and Kurt Pitzer. St. Martin's, $25.99 (400p) ISBN 0312571306
"Why can't an ordinary guy have a solution for an extraordinary problem?" is the question that Robert Egan asks himself each morning. This energetic entrepreneur, owner and operator of a New Jersey diner, got his first taste of diplomacy when he befriended Vietnamese diplomats in the early ‘80s. But his real entre into the field was via Han Song Ryol, the North Korean ambassador to the U.N. Over platters of ribs, fishing trips, and ball games Egan slowly insinuates himself into inner circles that have confounded or eluded most career diplomats. The fearless Egan makes several trips to North Korea, replete with drug-induced interrogations, before nearly making a deal to recover the USS Pueblo. A bulldog with a heart of gold, Egan's genuine affection and desire to "do good" shines through his gruff exterior. Not only does he arrange for the North Korean Women's soccer team to compete in the U.S., he also sets up a shopping trip to a New Jersey Wal-Mart. Egan's ego looms large and his flip comments can be annoying, but readers still have to acknowledge that, for a guy who grew up on the streets settling scores with his firsts, he's accomplished a lot. (May)

Hoboes: Bindlestiffs, Fruit Tramps, and the Harvesting of the West
Mark Wyman. Hill and Wang, $28.00 (368p) ISBN 9780809030217
Historian Wyman offers a richly detailed study of the thousands of workers who followed the booming railroads west during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in order to pick, prepare, and load crops, from cotton, wheat, and hops to apples, beets, and oranges. These transients moved about the country, often accompanied by their families, who worked as well. They endured generally low wages, backbreaking labor, and awful living conditions—mitigated only slightly in the 1910s, for the select few who could afford automobiles and were thus granted greater mobility. Periodic efforts to unionize, especially by the radical Industrial Workers of the World, were invariably met with hostility. Wyman's extensive research translates into readable, often moving prose with details that illuminate the lives of previously obscure people and reveals a surprising ethnic and racial diversity among this often-overlooked group. The author of several books, Wyman has become a leading source on the American West and here makes a case for a more complex narrative of the region, one that ought to include hoboes in the list of "Western heroes," along with "cowboys and Indians, explorers and entrepreneurs, first settlers and gunslingers." (May)

The House At Royal Oak: Starting Over & Rebuilding a Life One Room at a Time
Carol Eron Rizzoli. Black Dog & Leventhal (Workman, dist.), $28.95 (272p) ISBN 9781579128401
Organized in an order that follows its own meandering logic (in much the same way one would restore an old house), Rizzoli's tale is full of insights and quiet humor. Along the way she finds time to talk recipes, local resources, habitats, wildlife, small town life, learning a new business, family, friends, and of course, her guests. "A bed-and-breakfast done right is an idealized kind of home, more homey somehow than a real one." As she and her husband learn the ropes of running a cozy B&B, the author finds herself collating wedding programs for a complete stranger, searching for local produce, and learning "safe" and "unsafe" topics of conversation in her new home town. Rizzoli frankly examines her life and her new role in the service industry, questioning how she'll be able to care for her guests when her own life is falling apart. As with any major project (construction or otherwise) things fall apart; after two years and plenty of experience under her belt, they're hit with hurricane, reminding author and reader alike of the unpredictable mysteries to be found in the pursuit of dreams. (Apr.)

I Love You And I'm Leaving You Anyway: A Memoir
Tracy McMillan. It Books, $25.99 (352p) ISBN 9780061724657
McMillan acknowledges conventional wisdom in this oddly paced memoir: "any chick old enough to have acquired a Diet Coke habit has heard that your relationships with men will be based – one way or another – on the one you had with your father." The film and TV writer (The United States of Tara) believes that her failed marriages are a reflection of the connections, however imperfect, she has tried to forge with her father, a pimp, drug dealer, and convicted felon incarcerated most of her life. McMillan's relationship attempts dominate the discussion: there's Scott, her first boyfriend in high school, who already has a girlfriend. There's her third ex-husband, Paul, a Harvard grad from an affluent family, and "a lot like my dad. They both loved me and left me anyway. Then, once they were gone, they refused to let me go." Only when McMillan manages to accept her father for who he is does she get beyond her past and look to the future. But by the time she realizes that her young son, about whom she talks not nearly enough, is the true love of her life, the story comes to an abrupt end. (May)

If A Tree Falls: A Family's Quest to Hear and Be Heard
Jennifer Rosner. Feminist, $16.95 paper (256p) ISBN 9781558616622
Rosner turns what could have been a depressing story into a gentle meditation on sound and silence, love and family. She writes with honesty and empathy about her daughter Sophia's diagnosis with deafness and the adjustments she and her husband had to make. She describes the birth of her second daughter, Juliet, a few years later (who received a similar diagnosis) and shares the programs and technology available to help the hearing impaired. "Bill and I were talkers. We were constantly debating, questioning, arguing, doubting, agreeing, wondering aloud. And we were hearers, in the hearing world. A soundless, wordless world was unimaginable to us." The author can't resist looking into the hows and whys of her situation and examines her family tree only to find relatives generations ago who had been deaf. She also works to reconcile her difficult relationship with her mother and asks frequent theoretical questions: "What are the elements essential for identity, for personhood, for perception and existence?" She fills the discussion with philosophy and grace. (May)

The Invention Of Paris: A History in Footsteps
Eric Hazan. Verso (Norton, dist.), $29.95 (400p) ISBN 9781844674114
French writers from Balzac to Voltaire have bemoaned the slow deterioration of Paris, and Hazan gladly joins the cry, aiming his jaundiced eye at the "tragedy" of modernization currently holding the city in its grip. Still, even as the radical author bitterly ponders the future of the City of Lights, he proves himself an engaging guide to the Paris he knows best: the heart of an intellectual metropolis rarely known to outsiders. Hazan's brick-by-brick account of the city's history of strife and political posturing is riveting, as is his back-story of every arrondissement, corner café, and street beggar (including his favorite). The chapter "Red Paris" points a knowing finger at the memento mori of Occupied France: "Thanks to plaques showing where those who were shot or deported lived and met, it is possible to sketch the outline of a Resistance Paris…" Moving backwards through history, Hazan also traces the roots of revolt through several generations of Parisian society, touching upon such figures as Tocqueville and Raspail along the way. Finally, it's the city's most loveable fop, Baudelaire himself, through who's eyes readers see the flop-houses, carousels, graveyards, and the Seine, a not always beautiful sight that nonetheless few will be able to resist. (Apr.)

Life Before Letters
Peter Weidhaas. Locus (www.locus-international.com), $15 paper (262p) ISBN 9780984282418
For twenty-five years, Weidhaas ran the Frankfurt Book Fair, becoming an international cultural figure in the process. In this biography, the author and literary ambassador writes about growing up in the midst of WWII Berlin, his identity as a German causing grand internal conflict and a compulsion to dissect the meaning of his heritage through extensive travel through Europe and Latin America. Weidhaas spends much of this personal memoir wrestling with ideas of cultural identity in the wake of mass trauma, but his tale has the meandering, disjointed feel of an autobiography unanchored by a unifying arc or endpoint; unfortunately for this volume, he's saved the details of his professional life for another memoir, See You In Frankfurt, to be released simultaneously. As a standalone volume, this circuitous work will have readers feeling they've been led in circles, with no particular destination in mind. (Apr.)

Losing My Cool: How A Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture
Thomas Chatterton Williams. Penguin, $25.95 (226p) ISBN 9781594202636
In Williams' debut, he offers a memoir that focuses on his upbringing, primarily credited to a father who instilled in him a value of education and mature study habits over sports and recreation. Williams recalls that he spent many summer days growing up pouring over flash cards or his seemingly never-ending stack of books, while his peers swam and played outside. What little free time he had he spent at a local park playing basketball and idolizing the older boys, one in particular who loved Hip-Hop and had gained the street cred that came from violence when defending one's honor. Williams credits Hip-Hop and its legends for his ever-growing curiosity of what it means to be black, and initially considered popular rappers to be historians of African American culture. As Williams enters adulthood and begins his first semester at Georgetown, he meets people of many different ethnicities and cultures and his opinions of the black identity begin to change . Williams' innate respect for knowledge and analysis emerges, and he discovers the value of the people around him and real experience over image. (May)

The MBA Oath: Setting a Higher Standard for Business Leaders
Max Anderson and Peter Escher. Penguin/Portfolio $24.95 (288p) ISBN 9781591843351
The authors, not long out of Harvard Business School, along with many other classmates and supporters, are proponents of the hot new idea of an "MBA oath," similar in some ways to the Hippocratic Oath, as an inspiration and accountability tool for the jungle-like business climate. Shadows of Enron and assorted villain-companies, and the dire financial situation of the current recession drive the project, which they view even at this early state as a successful effort to clothe business managers with foundational ethics and morality. Now a global movement, the eight-point oath involves promises of responsibility, growth, development, honesty, and respect for the law. The authors dissect it thoroughly, with illustrations from a variety of interesting case studies and tests. As more than 10,000 schools worldwide offer MBA degrees, the writers caution that a business school ranking is influenced by the average compensation of a graduate during his first year after school and that compensation, rather than value, has become the keystone of an education. They also note that a sixty-four-page ethics manual proved powerless in the hands of Enron management. Suggesting that managers operate at a baseline level of doing no harm, The MBA Oath is a strong call for ethical reform. (May)

The Notebook
José Saramago. Verso (Norton, dist.), $23.95 (288p) ISBN 9781844676149
With The Notebook, Nobel Prize winner, Saramago, who died on Friday, offers the reader a rare glimpse into his personal life with the publication of a year’s worth of blog entries. Encouraged by his family, Saramago agreed to blog about any and everything he had to say. What emerged is an incredibly poetic and realistic glimpse into our world, often through a political lens. Not only does the author comment on emerging policies in the United States, but he writes exceptionally moving pieces concerning the Middle East, Italy, and many other regions of the globe. Saramago also tackled less harrowing topics; in one anecdote he describes the beauty of Lisbon and his affection for the breathtaking city. He reserves his kindest words, however, for recollections of and gratitude for his friends and mentors, usually other literary giants. Though Saramago’s political pieces shine, he didn’t ignore other aspects of society, voicing concern over the increasing acceptance of violence in the media and in our homes. Beautifully crafted and honest, Saramago’s notebook is elegant in tone and style while clearly conveying a legend’s take on our evolving society. (May)

The Secrets of Abu Ghraib Revealed: American Soldiers on Trial
Christopher Graveline and Michael Clemens. Potomac (www.potomacbooksinc.com), $29.95 (336p) ISBN: 9781597974417
When the Abu Ghraib prison scandal came to light, it rocked the international community. To some, it represented their greatest fears about American imperialism and corruption. To others, it was the deepest perversion of American idealism and honor. Either way, action had to be taken by the United States Government, and it had to be determined, just, and fast. Author Graveline was a prosecutor on the cases. Co-author Clemens was a special investigator. Together they come to the sensationalized material with a dispassionate focus on facts and the investigative process, a refreshing change from the journalistic tendency to hyperbole. However, that same objectivity makes the material often dry, and the lack of a clear narrative makes it hard to keep track of all the fact-finding, interminable motions, and blurred amalgam of trials for a series of similar defendants. While it becomes difficult to remember all the players, readers benefit from Graveline and Clemens' well-documented recollections. This story was long overdue, but readers should be advised that this is more C-SPAN than COPS. Readers expecting editorializing or a compelling narrative will be disappointed. But patient readers who want to dig through transcripts will be appreciative of the authors' dedication to objectivity. (May)

Ten Technologies To Save The Planet: Energy Options for a Low-Carbon Future
Chris Goodall. Douglas & McIntryre/Greystone, $17.95 paper (320p) ISBN 9781553655251
Goodall, a columnist for the U.K. Sunday Independent, (How to Live a Low-Carbon Life) offers a welcome breath of fresh air that lands somewhere between technophiles who optimistically believed free-market would create technologies to combat global warming, and pessimists who hold a more catastrophic view. While he steps on the toes of some environmentalists, his solutions seem realistic, if initially costly. In his view there is no one-size-fits-all solution for the energy crisis. Britain, he argues, has "awesome wave and tidal energy" that can be captured by water mills, but is too cloudy to depend on solar energy. He gives an appraisal of the possibilities for making solar energy more efficient and less costly by using nontechnology to "precisely arrange the atoms on the printed semiconductor surface," a process developed in the UK and being marketed in Germany. Also discussed are the benefits of large off shore wind-turbine farms, capturing carbon from coal powered utilities, and Biofuels. None of the technologies he considers are yet competitive with fossil fuels, but with sufficient start-up capital from private and public sources, and large enough markets to allow economies of scale, they could be. His straightforward evaluation of green technologies should interest technology buffs or investors and he raises a number of questions that merit serious debate. (May)

Terrorism And The Economy: How the War on Terror is Bankrupting the World
Loretta Napoleoni. Seven Stories, $13.95 paper (192p) ISBN 9781583228951
Napoleoni (Terror, Inc.) lays the blame for the current economic crisis on the Bush Administration's response to 9/11. Launching unwinnable wars on two fronts was, she argues, not only a disproportionate response, but came with unintended consequences. Because the Administration did not think it was feasible to raise taxes to cover the cost of the wars, the U.S. was dependent on international finance, particularly China. This bankrupted the U.S. economy, Napoleoni argues, and triggered "the biggest credit crunch in modern history," while creating conditions for the emergence of Islamic finance as "the most dynamic sector of global finance." Swinging from sweeping generalizations to genuinely intriguing ideas, the author draws upon past characterizations by Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes of what she calls "[t]rue, authentic capitalism." She calls the capitalist of the past "an adversary worthy of respect" in comparison to those today, "made rich by globalization [who] are either thieves or simpletons." (May)

Three Wishes: A True Story of Good Friends, Crushing Heartbreak, and Astonishing Luck on Our Way to Love and Motherhood
Carey Goldberg, Beth Jones, and Pamela Ferdinand. Little, Brown, $24.99 (288p) ISBN 9780316079068
As a Moscow correspondent for the L.A. Times and a reporter for the New York Times, Goldberg's life was driven by career deadlines. Yet, like her friends Jones, a recently divorced writer, and Ferdinand, a single reporter for the Washington Post, Goldberg longed for a child. Having just ended a relationship, Goldberg decided to order eight vials of sperm from California Cryobank, a deceptively hopeful maneuver that pushed all three down the path toward motherhood. That they actually make it, and find long-term relationships along the way, makes for a happy journey, but the power of this three-pronged narrative is the trio's candor regarding the compromises and complications that arise in the process of becoming mothers. Ironically, the anonymous vials of sperm never fulfill their intended purpose, but instead become a symbol of empowerment, giving each woman the green light to let go of bad relationships, find fulfilling new connections, and determine their own destinies. This personal, carefully recounted tale will resonate with any career woman wondering if it's too late to have it all. (Apr.)

★ Where The Road Ends: A Home in the Brazilian Rainforest
Binka Le Breton. St. Martin's/Dunne, $25.99 (304p) ISBN 9780312574055
This book reveals all the enchantment of the rainforest, as well as its mysteries and dangers. The author and her agricultural economist husband moved to Brazil twenty years ago to take over an abandoned farm in a beautiful but remote locale. Le Breton's story the challenges and joys they faced adapting to the community and working to realize their dream of bringing environmental awakening to the region through the establishment of the Iracambi Rainforest Research Center. Her tale has everything, from bandits to insane elections to horribly delayed projects to the artificial insemination of the cows. The cast of characters, colorful in the extreme, includes a squatter cowboy who can fix almost anything, neighbors involved in vendettas, homeless bridegrooms, and women who take sewing seminars in the farmhouse kitchen hoping to make money from the new skills, in spite of the prevailing attitude that a woman's place was in the home. In spite of myriad setbacks, there is tremendous goodwill. "Most Brazilians spent their salary the day they received it, and most shopkeepers put up their prices accordingly. If you were quick off the mark you might find an item in the supermarket going at last week's price, but the supermarket staff tended to be quicker than you were." Le Breton's can-do attitude and successful gerry-rigging makes her an entertaining MacGyver of the jungle. (May)

LIFESTYLE

The New Blue Ridge Cookbook: Authentic Recipes From Virginia's Highlands to North Carolina's Mountains
Elizabeth Wiegand. Globe Pequot, $18.95 paper (304p) ISBN 9780762755479
Freelance food writer Elizabeth Wiegand (The Outer Banks Cookbook) turns her attention to North Carolina's famed Blue Ridge Mountains for this unique collection of old and new local specialties. After a short history of the region, Wiegand offers recipes for starting off the day with Sweet Potato Pancakes, homemade chicken sausage, or "Mountain Pie," a regional favorite from Blacksburg, Virginia that's a riff on traditional blueberry cobbler topped with fruit instead of streusel. Wild Mushroom Rugelach is a savory twist on a sweet favorite, and Green Goddess Chevre dressing, chicken soup with wild ramps, and Grilled Apple Ginger Trout Fillets are inspired. An amiable and enthusiastic host, Wiegand guides readers through the region, offering advice on berry picking ("remember that bears and field mice also like blueberries, and snakes like the mice"), a short history of moonshine, and getting the most out of a country ham. Though she occasionally gets a little too local, dishes such as a simple, yet pitch-perfect Chicken Fried Steak, Applejack and Cider-Brined Pork Chops, and the sophisticated Grilled New York Strip with Bourbon Onions, Swiss Chard and Confit Potatoes bring redemption. Photos. (May)