Social Sciences

What would you do if you received a bill for parenting services from one of your parents? In his touching memoir, Cooper (art critic, Los Angeles magazine; Maps to Anywhere), winner of the prestigious PEN/Hemingway Award, builds his memories around this key incident, when his father hands him an invoice of close to $2 million for the cost of raising him. Edward Cooper is larger than life—an attorney with a big family, married many times, unfaithful, aloof, unkind. This memoir, at once funny and extraordinarily sad, begins with Edward and his only living son, the author, struggling with the older man’s deteriorating mental health and the realization that his final days are approaching. Cooper looks back on his complicated relationship with his father and actually enlists his father’s help to pull together bits and pieces of the family history. Overall, this is a fine book held together by the attention to detail and Cooper’s ability to present painful experiences with a touch of humor. The writing is efficient but not reserved. Recommended for public library collections and for academic libraries that collect contemporary memoirs.—Valeda F. Dent, Hunter Coll. Lib., New York

At 14, Erlbaum, a columnist for Bust magazine, became fed up with her mother’s latest abusive husband and left their Brooklyn apartment. This memoir chronicles Erlbaum’s teenage years, rife with typical issues that were intensified and complicated by her ongoing search for a place to call home. As the author moves from a shelter to a group home to her boyfriend’s apartment, she re-creates the chaotic environment that her mother’s revolving door of oft-abusive boyfriends and husbands had lent her from her early life through her own escalating promiscuity and drug use. Erlbaum perfectly captures the gritty landscape of the shelters, streets, and social scene of 1980s Manhattan and the gritty thoughts and feelings of a teenager immersing herself in flaky friends, lewd boys, violence, and drugs. Her uphill battle to gain independence and autonomy will rivet, and her easy, often humorous tone gives the impression of a lengthy epistle from a close, troubled friend. Highly recommended for all public and academic libraries and particularly high school libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/05.]—Amanda Glasbrenner, New York

Advertising executive and former award–winning drag queen Kilmer-Purcell can now add one more accomplishment to his résumé: promising new memoirist. This is the story, told through a haze of vodka rocks and cocaine, of the Wisconsin native’s early days in 1990s New York City, when he lived an exhausting double life working in advertising by day and as a drag queen (“Aquadisiac” or “Aqua” for short) by night to earn rent money, entertain bar-goers, and feed an insatiable drinking habit. Filled with witty dialog, confusing awakenings, and extraordinary situations, the narrative also chronicles the author’s struggle to build a conventional relationship with Jack, his male-escort boyfriend, even as Jack slips into an abyss of crack addiction. Readers will find this tale of good-boy-turned-bad-drag-queen darkly hilarious and entertaining, even as they realize they are watching lives unravel in slow motion. Highly recommended for all public and college libraries.—Mark Alan Williams, Library of Congress

During the Vietnam War, Trussoni’s father was a tunnel rat who worked his way through the underground network of tunnels in search of the enemy and possibly American POWs. Years later, his daughter Danielle made the journey to Vietnam in an attempt to feel what her father experienced there and to understand the complicated person her father was. This memoir recounts not only her father’s story of Vietnam and the story of Danielle’s pilgrimage, but also Danielle’s story of growing up with her father. Danielle’s family was dysfunctional, and eventually her parents divorced; Danielle stayed with her father for several years, while the rest of her siblings went with her mother. All three story lines are intertwined into an extremely engaging, novel-like narrative that leaves an indelible imprint on the heart and mind. Trussoni’s efforts won her the Michener-Copernicus Society of America Award for 2005–06, given every two years by the Iowa Writers’ Workshop to honor the best book written by a graduate of the workshop. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 12/05.]—Jamie Engle, Richardson, TX

Johnson, a former magazine writer and editor who has written obituaries herself, here offers an engaging study of today’s obituaries. In reviewing the structure of the typical death story, she points out how those for the famous are largely compiled and kept up-to-date during their lifetimes. Yet her study goes beyond notable people, including stories about the average Joe; notices from a number of different American newspapers are compared, with Johnson examining in particular detail the obituary style of the New York Times and its pieces on the lives of those killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. There is also coverage of obituary writing as practiced on the Internet. Ultimately, Johnson considers London the obituary capital of the world and reviews the current styles employed by the four major dailies there. While the topic is specialized, Johnson’s writing style makes the book enjoyable. She expresses proper reverence when necessary but generally keeps the subject light, with a humorous tone. Suggested for most public libraries.—Joel W. Tscherne, formerly with Cleveland P.L.

Bailey and Leland (cofounders, Sterling Consulting Group) administered 20,000 surveys to executives and employees worldwide to assess and explain how people find happiness in their work. They define three areas of workplace stress—change, pressure, and conflict—and chapters are placed under these categories, offering illustrative case studies and proposing strategies such as hearing your inner commentator, finishing small tasks to create energizing closure, and mirroring others’ body language to build social rapport. Short, easy to read, and filled with management and self-help quotes, the chapters conclude with useful summaries. Tools like a “Prosperity at Work” self-evaluation and “Mini-Makeovers” to address specific work problems are included, although the remarks on how these actually help come across as rather superficial (e.g., “I feel energized and organized when I walk into my personal work area”). Unfortunately, the authors never really share the raw data from their workplace surveys, furnishing anecdotal advice instead, with clichéd techniques such as reflecting on your work performance and interpreting events more positively. There’s nothing inaccurate or difficult to read here, but there’s nothing particularly new, either. Not recommended.—Sarah Statz Cords, Madison P.L., WI

Ballard (staff writer, Sports Illustrated; Hoops Nation) provides a fascinating analysis of how ten people found their true career callings in unusual professions. These charismatic people from around the United States include a modern-day Spiderman (his legal name) who scales and repairs high-rise buildings; an ocularist who creates prosthetic eyeballs; a female lumberjack; a builder of model trains and train layouts; a film trailer narrator; and, yes, a butterfly hunter, who is also a Fulbright scholar and a winner of a MacArthur Fellowship. With a 2004 Gallup poll showing that only 50 percent of American workers are more than “somewhat satisfied” with their jobs and with “how to find a job” turning up more than 260,000 results at Amazon.com, it is little wonder that the career development field is so strong. What sets Ballard’s title apart from this saturated genre are his featured dreamers, schemers, and iconoclasts who found their careers by following their inner passion and carving out their niches. Readers learn that there are no prescriptive steps to finding one’s true life work—one should just do what one is meant to do. Ballard’s energetic, crisp writing nicely supplements Richard Nelson Bolles’s classic What Color Is Your Parachute?, and his subjects’ insights affirm the principles in Julie Jansen’s I Don’t Know What I Want, But I Know It’s Not This. Highly recommended for all career development collections.—Dale Farris, Groves, TX

Certified Financial Planner™ Garrett (Money Without Matrimony: The Unmarried Couple’s Guide to Financial Security) has been named one of the best in her field by Investment Advisor and Financial Advisor magazines, so she is well equipped to dispense advice on preparing for life’s financial milestones. This eight-volume series, which she edits, helps readers navigate their particular stretches of the superhighway of life, whether they are just starting out, saving for their children’s college education, planning an estate, or surviving the loss of a spouse. The volumes are concise and practical with running motifs of roadmaps and travel. Caring for an Aging Parent, for instance, focuses on planning for the financial welfare of aging parents, but it offers advice that is equally useful to retirees themselves, covering practical issues such as budgeting, life insurance, and Medicare. The author makes complex concepts like reverse mortgages and living trusts easy to grasp and explains how early retirement affects social security benefits. A separate volume covers estate planning in more detail, but Garrett elucidates the basics here. Meanwhile, targeting the other end of the age spectrum, Starting Out addresses issues like establishing credit and keeping debt under control—with lots of emphasis on budgeting, mapping out assets and liabilities, and tracking credit card purchases. Plenty of sensible territory is covered, e.g., whether to buy a new or used car and renting an apartment and buying a house (explained more fully in Buying a Home). Negotiating and getting the most out of employment benefits packages and saving for the future are addressed, as well as the investment landscape of interest, stocks, bonds, and financial planners. All of the books are peppered with helpful financial work sheets, checklists, and questionnaires. Garrett even offers advice on mundane but important issues like home improvements to increase senior safety or used-car considerations. The volumes may be purchased individually, but the entire set would make a handy addition to any public library business collection.—Carol J. Elsen, Univ. of Wisconsin, Whitewater

Whether you love or hate Wal-Mart, you can’t avoid reading about it. Considering that at least seven titles on the retailing behemoth were published just in 2005, what else could there be to say? Quite a lot, actually. Fishman (senior editor, Fast Company) has compiled a compelling and balanced report on Wal-Mart. Via a combination of startling statistics, personal stories from Wal-Mart founders, suppliers, and employees, and revelations about the social costs required for those low, low prices, he gives us a view into the world of discount retailing much as Eric Schlosser did for the food service industry in his exposé, Fast Food Nation. Through it all, Fishman focuses on the larger picture, the “Wal-Mart effect,” outlining how the sheer size and scale of the company leads to changes in labor relations, economics, environmental conditions, and consumer behavior, not just in the United States but globally. For example, Wal-Mart’s rigorous adherence to low prices for its goods has contributed significantly to the growth of factory jobs overseas, rather than in the United States. Overall, this is a fascinating look into Wal-Mart and its “effects” on us all. Highly recommended for all libraries.—Susan Hurst, Miami Univ., Oxford, OH

What are the secrets behind the phenomenal success of companies like eBay, Google, and Home Depot and such products as the Barbie doll and Hallmark cards? And what about world-renowned businesspeople like Oprah Winfrey and Richard Branson? Ross and Holland, a senior writer and a senior editor, respectively, for two prominent Australian magazines, profile these companies, people, and their products and write about why and how they have achieved their tremendous popularity and major financial success. According to the authors, what the companies profiled have in common is “a talent for innovation which can take many forms, inventing a whole new product, taking somebody else’s idea and making it work better, or simply taking over the market simply by selling products cheaper than anybody else.” Companies, individuals, and products profiled are arranged within categories, e.g., “The Crowd-Pleasers,” which focuses on products such as Pixar, Baby Einstein, Barbie, and Hallmark cards; and “Born To Sell,” where Ray Kroc, Michael Dell, Mary Kay Ash, and other hugely successful entrepreneurs are portrayed. Each profile describes the history of the relevant company and presents portraits of its founders and/or CEOs, along with a bibliography for further reading. This book provides an excellent starting point for those researching individual companies and is highly recommended to academic and public libraries.—Lucy Heckman, St. John’s Univ. Lib., Jamaica, NY

Economist Tertzakian (director, ARC Financial Corp.) paints a grim picture of the current state of energy in the world, providing ample historical context and raising important questions about energy use in the past, present, and future. The author refreshingly reminds us that there is still plenty of oil in the ground, but it’s getting harder to access. His discussion of energy supply chains is illuminating as he makes the case that a “break point” in the system is inevitable and could cause an energy crisis. While much of what Tertzakian states is not new (e.g., the need to conserve energy resources and embrace new energy solutions), he reminds us how technology using hydrogen and other “renewable” resources might help fill the resource gap. He also points out that although the United States has long been the number one energy-using country, China may soon overtake us, with geopolitical implications; Russia may prove a more powerful energy supplier than any of the Middle Eastern countries in the future. Being an economist, Tertzakian provides a great deal of data, which may overwhelm the reader, but there is no mistaking his point that “our birthright of abundant, reliable energy is coming to an end” and that our energy options are rapidly dwindling. Highly recommended for all public libraries and business collections.—Richard Drezen, Washington Post, New York City Bureau

Samuel Insull (1859–1938) is hardly a household name, but at the height of his popularity he appeared on the cover of Time magazine as the rags-to-riches British-born secretary to Thomas Edison who amassed enormous wealth and power by supplying 32 states with cheap electricity. Veteran consumer journalist Wasik, who has written numerous books on retirement and investment tips, takes a turn at biography by attempting to update distinguished historian Forrest McDonald’s definitive Insull. Wasik’s sturdy endeavor does not match McDonald’s deft telling of how Insull transformed Edison’s invention into the illumination of millions of homes through a network of electrical power grids and how the ultimate collapse of Insull’s overleveraged position left him broken and bankrupt while ruining the finances of his supporters. Wasik may have taken his cue from current corporate scandals such as Enron and WorldCom in deciding to pluck Insull from semiobscurity, as many of Insull’s contemporaries (including FDR) believed him to be guilty (he was acquitted) of orchestrating the first large-scale corporate deception. An optional purchase for large public and academic libraries.—Peter R. Latusek, Stanford Graduate Sch. of Business Lib., CA

Beatty, Kelly & Dale Salvaggio Bradshaw. Firestarters: 100 Job Profiles To Inspire Young Women. JIST. Mar. 2006. c.256p. illus. index. ISBN 1-59357-310-3. pap. $14.95. CAREERS

Aiming to assist young women in choosing a career, the authors, who have backgrounds in advertising and marketing, here provide detailed descriptions of 100 fields based on interviews with professional women (one woman for each career) who provide firsthand information on the nitty-gritty of their work. The professions represent an inspiringly broad spectrum, including natural-light photographer, web strategist, museum conservator, opera singer, marine biologist, landscape architect, certified wedding consultant, veterinarian, and chief of police. Entries are arranged alphabetically by the first name of the woman covered, probably to promote a relaxed tone, but the information is precise yet personal and highly informative. Each woman’s entry is divided into “Job Description,” “A Day on the Job,” “Job Likes,” “Job Challenges,” “Steps to Current Job,” “Advice,” “Helpful Personality Traits,” and “Hobbies and Interests.” Reading this absorbing book is the next best thing to having a personal discussion with each of the women. Firestarters belongs on the bookshelves of high school, public, and college libraries and in university career centers. Highly recommended.—Lucy Heckman, St. John’s Univ. Lib., Jamaica, NY

Religion and politics are constantly in the news, and this timely book examines their relationship in 19th-century Europe. Historian Burleigh (The Third Reich: A New History) focuses on the philosophical ideas embedded in the interplay between religion and politics. Although his efforts make for fascinating intellectual history and a good overview, the subject requires more commentary on the why and not just on the how. For example, there is no explanation regarding why the Communists of 1848 followed religious constructs for their ideas on a secular state, which would have led to a fuller story. Burleigh, who is writing for an academic audience, is occasionally awkward, often discussing the political history first and leaving the religious aspects for the end. This raises questions along the way that could have been answered much earlier. Yet his sources are a good mix of secondary and primary material, and the bibliography will be helpful for beginning researchers. Recommended for academic libraries.—Bryan Craig, Ursuline Coll., Pepper Pike, OH

Journalist Carr has written a stunning book that is part history, part reportage, part detective story, and part personal quest. A native of Marion, IN, she has been fascinated by, even obsessed with, the infamous lynching of two black youths in her hometown in August 1930 ever since she saw the famous photograph of a crowd gathered around the dangling bodies. Because her grandfather was a member of the KKK, she felt a personal need to get to the bottom of the case, discover its details, and examine its continuing impact. Her research combines interviews, archival finds, and personal soul-searching; her sources range from eyewitnesses to current KKK members to white and black townspeople. The book’s main character, however, is the town of Marion itself as it struggles to deal with the stain of the past. This beautifully written, detail-filled work brings together the historical and personal in a powerful and moving fashion and belongs on the shelves of every U.S. library.—Anthony O. Edmonds, Ball State Univ., Muncie, IN

Colaiaco (Sch. of Continuing & Professional Studies, NYU; Martin Luther King, Jr.) offers a critical evaluation of the magisterial address that Frederick Douglass, the preeminent African American abolitionist and orator, gave in observance of Independence Day on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, NY. The author studies the gnawing contradictions between the ideals expressed by the men who conceived the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution and the American conundrum of freedom deferred that Douglass reckoned with. Douglass’s much-reprinted political jeremiad epitomized the speaker’s progress toward becoming an independent thinker and pragmatist, a transformational figure whose broader interpretation of the American promise had an impact on President Lincoln during the Civil War. In keeping with Colaiaco’s objectives (as well as those of the quintessentially American Douglass), the book also addresses the expansion of liberties for the entire social polity rather than just for blacks. A result of the recent effort by several publishers to bring monographic treatments of significant speeches to the general reading public, this compelling book would be welcome in all public and academic libraries, but especially those seeking to build or enhance their collections on historical African American culture and political rhetoric.—Frederick J. Augustyn Jr., Library of Congress

After the Civil War, when the wider nation was turning its back on the promises of Reconstruction and its commitment to racial egalitarianism, blacks and whites in a small Michigan town lived together on a basis of singular racial equality. In her first book, Cox (scholar in residence, Newberry Lib.) traces the unique history of Covert from the 1860s to the 20th century. Drawing on a variety of sources, from obscure genealogical material to standard secondary studies, she intertwines the national scene of segregation and discrimination with a local story of relative racial equality. Six families, identified in a separate section, are the focus of this historic drama. Libraries with an interest in race relations in mid- to late 19th-century America, as well as those with the specific regional interest, would be wise to choose this distinctive work, even if they already own Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua’s America’s First Black Town: Brooklyn, Illinois, 1830–1915, a study of the country’s first black-majority municipality.—Theresa McDevitt, Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib.

Eicher (The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War) turns to the personalities and politics of the Confederate government to explore and explain the South’s failure to win its independence. He follows a long trail of historians who argue that Dixie died from states’ rights. Because the Confederacy lacked a strong central government, owing to politicians who placed states’ rights above all else, and was not overseen by effective leadership that could convey a compelling national identity, it was not capable of survival. Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, battled with his generals and the Confederate Congress over appointments, conscription, the use (and even arming) of slaves in the war effort, presidential authority, and peace initiatives. While Southerners developed a deep commitment to the idea of a Southern nation, they lacked the will and means to achieve it. Eicher insists that Jefferson Davis is largely responsible for these circumstances. Students of the Confederacy and the Civil War will appreciate Eicher’s vignettes of secessionists, generals, and Confederate cabinet officers, but they will not find much new here in information or argument. Recommended only for university and public libraries wanting comprehensive Civil War holdings.—Randall M. Miller, Saint Joseph’s Univ., Philadelphia

In the year 1300, Osman, a Muslim tribal leader in Asia Minor (the future Turkey), dreamed that he would found a great, centuries-spanning empire. Of course, he and his descendants fulfilled that vision with the Ottoman Empire, which lasted from the Crusades until after World War I. Finkel, a noted Ottoman scholar who contributed to the History Channel’s forthcoming special, The Ottoman Empire, has penned possibly the first book in English on the entire history of the Ottoman Empire for general readers. In her well-written narrative, she breaks with Western scholarship by not treating the empire as the stereotypical “Sick Man of Europe,” preferring to let the extensive Turkish sources tell a story of an enormous, complex, multiethnic state. Her story culminates with the rise of the Turkish republic in the early 1920s and a new founding myth based on the speech of Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk). Finkel, writing from the Turkish point of view, uses Turkish titles and place names that will be unfamiliar to most of her audience. In spite of this, her book should be in most general and academic libraries.—Robert Harbison, Western Kentucky Univ. Lib., Bowling Green

Eventually conquered by Alexander the Great after centuries of stability, Persia’s Achaemenid Empire (550–331 B.C.E.) stretched from the Indus Valley to beyond the Nile and left a trail of treasures in its wake. In collaboration with the National Museum of Teheran, the British Museum (BM) in London held the largest ever display of these Achaemenid artifacts (it ended Jan. 8 but can be viewed virtually at www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/persia/). Editors Curtis and Tallis, the keeper of the Ancient Near Eastern department and the special assistant in that department at the BM, respectively, oversee chapters written by scholars from various universities and museums that focus on facets of life under the dynastic rulers. Although a great deal of scholarship went into the text, the photos of the vases, jewelry, and assorted other artifacts generated between the sixth and fourth centuries B.C.E.—complete with descriptions—are the book’s real focus. A glossary, concordance of BM object numbers, and bibliography are provided; however, there is no index. This is not a scholarly history of the Achaemenid Empire; for that, readers should look to Lindsay Allen’s The Persian Empire. Readers, in fact, need not have extensive knowledge of this time period to enjoy Forgotten Empire. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.—Sean Michael Fleming, Lebanon P.L., NH

The 1970s has become a hot decade for academic attention, generating important studies like Bruce J. Schulman’s The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics and Edward D. Berkowitz’s Something Happened: A Political and Cultural Overview of the Seventies. Like Schulman, Jenkins (history & religious studies, Pennsylvania State Univ.: The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity) is primarily interested in the causes of Reaganism and the dominance of the conservative movement in American politics. He defines his decade as the period from 1975 to 1986, arguing that the “late seventies [was] a time of serious political change,” despite claims that nothing much happened between Nixon’s resignation and Reagan’s election. Jenkins finds that the conservative reaction to crime, drugs, AIDS, race, gay rights, and the Communist menace cohered into a powerful political force in these years, creating the opportunity for a leader like Reagan to gain power. By 1986, several political defeats were weakening the movement, but characteristics of the conservative revolution can still be seen in American politics today, such as an “absolutist moral vision” and a tendency to define issues in black/white, good/evil terms. Jenkins effectively blends American politics and world events with the popular culture of the time. His introduction stands alone as a cogent political-social critique, though the entire book is a joy—and revelation—to read. This significant work of political history is highly recommended for academic and large public libraries.—Thomas A. Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, PA

Since the fall of the USSR, many writers have covered the Russian Revolution and the Romanovs. None, however, has so completely approached the era from a cultural standpoint as King (The Fate of the Romanovs). He delves deep to display and study the people, places, and pageantry of the Russian court and to illuminate this “insular universe” whose very nature in turn explains many of the issues that brought about the Russian Revolution. In pointing out that after the revolution, Olga, sister of Nicholas II (who ruled from 1894 to 1917), bemoaned the “decay that hung over the dynasty as it entered the twentieth century,” King does not connect the dots to the personalities involved in Russia’s revolutionary activity, but he need not. His revelations of the pleasures and possessions of the imperial court draw a clear picture of the rot from within. This volume, filled with many color and black-and-white illustrations (not seen), fills the gaps created by purely political and historical treatments of the era. Orlando Figes’s Natasha’s Dance: A Cultural History of Russia comes the closest to the domain of King’s book, which is much more thorough and strays less into the distant past. A great companion to Russian Revolution and Nicholas and Alexandra collections in all libraries.—Harry Willems, Southeast Kansas Lib. Syst., Iola

World War II was a dark time of widespread evil, brightened by the quiet acts of humanity of ordinary individuals. In this work, offered by a publisher affiliated with the United Church of Christ, folklorist Klempner recounts the stories of ten brave people who risked everything to save Dutch Jewish children because they felt a responsibility for those being mistreated. Their oral histories are filled with interesting details of daily life under the Nazi boot, how they conspired to defy a brutal dictatorship, and their constant fear of discovery. The author conducted these interviews also as a way of discovering more about the life of his father, himself a quiet survivor. Those interested in this topic should also review Andre Stein’s Quiet Heroes: True Stories of the Rescue of Jews by Christians in Nazi-Occupied Holland, Pearl M. Oliner’s more academic Saving the Forsaken: Religious Culture and the Rescue of Jews in Nazi Europe, and The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations: Rescuers of the Jews During the Holocaust; The Netherlands, edited by Jozeph Michman and Bert Jan Flim. Although the broader historical issue is important—particularly when there are dangerous extremists who deny that the Holocaust even took place—this particular volume is an optional purchase most suitable for public libraries and collections specializing in this subject.—Daniel K. Blewett, College of DuPage Lib., Glen Ellyn, IL

Leebaert (government, Georgetown Univ.; The Fifty-Year Wound: The Price of America’s Cold War Victory) sheds a bright light on the covert operations that have played a significant role in the long history of human armed conflict. Beginning around 1200 B.C.E. with the Trojan Horse and continuing through the U.S. Army’s Delta (or Special Operations) Force and the current war in Iraq, he successfully illuminates the special role of elite soldiers, suicide squads, rangers, guerrillas, Green Berets, and special forces from all nations. The author shows these units’ successes—e.g., the storming of Chapultepec in the Mexican-American War—and failures, such as Mosby’s Rangers, Confederate partisans in 1864, and the attempted rescue of the Iranian hostages in April 1980. Although the text runs to over 600 pages, the story is narrated in a lively, modern parlance, which makes it that much more relevant and keeps the pages turning. Leebaert’s last book (see above) was a best seller—this book should be as well. Highly recommended for all collections.—David Lee Poremba, Detroit P.L.

Picard (Elizabeth’s London: Everyday Life in Elizabethan London) has made a career of writing about London during particular historical eras, and in her Victorian volume she retains the wry tone that makes her social histories so entertaining. Beginning with the scatological (in this case, relating to odors) and finishing with death, she builds her history on primary sources—the diaries of Victorians—as well as published accounts from the era. She looks at the roles of women, the classes, royalty, poverty, the railways, and healthcare, all the while tucking in short, detailed entries on breweries, how to be a lady, the soiling of the Thames and the unfortunately named Thomas Crapper, a pioneer in bathroom plumbing. She also stays close to the story with more and perhaps bawdier personal observations than fit the academic norm, but Picard is not striving to write traditional history. She traces the particulars of London’s part in England’s industrial revolution through such projects as the London Underground and the building of the Thames Embankments. While there is minor overlap with Gavin Weightman’s slimmer history, London’s Thames: The River That Shaped a City and Its History, Picard’s broader text will enlighten and amuse. Recommended for public and academic libraries and certainly for her fans.—Robert Moore, Bristol Myers Squibb Co., N. Billerica, MA

With his famed Atlanta exposition address in 1895, Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) succeeded the just-deceased Frederick Douglass as America’s national black spokesman. Carroll (editor in chief, Independent Film & Video Monthly; Saving the Race: Conversations on Du Bois from a Collective Memoir of Souls) reprints Washington’s 1901 autobiography, Up From Slavery, prefacing it with 20 contemporary perspectives on what exactly Washington’s legacy has been or should be. Her contributors discuss education, ethics, economics, identity, and community; they comment not merely on ex-slave Washington’s chosen path for blacks to take from slavery to freedom and his ranking in the pantheon of black heroes and villains, but also the best path for black advancement today and tomorrow. They invariably return to the old split between economic self-advancement and political struggle, between Washington’s bottom-up, mass-based approach and W.E.B. Du Bois’s top-down, “Talented Tenth” approach.

West (history & Africana studies, Coll. of the Holy Cross) enters the debate with a five-chapter biographical essay that seeks to place Washington in his own time and place and to match his program with the possibilities of his day. Parsing the vocabulary and grammar that Washington used to render his vision of the “Negro problem” and its national solution, the author portrays Washington as a practical, moral idealist who constructed a vision dubbed “race relations” to reconcile the clashing values of democracy and apartheid. Provocative in conception, West’s work redirects thinking about basic issues of segregation and racial justice. Along with Carroll and her contributors, West’s reflections offer fresh considerations on the complex consequences of American racism, of its contemporary relevance, and of blacks’ sometimes schizophrenic thinking about securing their self-identity, position, and advancement in America. Both books are recommended for collections on black life and history.—Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe

This is a breezy, quickly paced narrative that captures the vitality and verve of Paris in the interwar years. Although Weber (American studies, emeritus, Univ. of Notre Dame; The Literature of Fact) takes his title from an unfinished story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he eschews the usual focus on literary giants like Hemingway and his circle for the little-known lives and early careers of columnists, journalists, and reporters drawn to the city that had replaced London as the “center of American journalism in Europe.” Many of these scribes went on to achieve fame—Eric Sevareid, William L. Shirer, Henry Miller, Janet Flanner, and Walter Kerr. Based largely on the personal recollections of such figures, Weber also re-creates a lost period in international journalism, a time when perhaps 60,000 American journalists, amateur and professional alike, lived in France and contributed to a variety of publications, including such important organs as the European editions of the New York Herald and the Chicago Tribune. Readers will also learn how foreign correspondents capitalized on the expanding interests of homebound readers by making the jump from simple news gathering to the publication of personal reflection pieces like John Gunther’s Inside Europe. A valuable addition to literary and journalistic history collections.—Marie Marmo Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., NJ

Zeitz (American history, Univ. of Cambridge) combines previous scholarship and primary sources to study the cultural history of American women in the 1920s. The title of the book is somewhat misleading as it is not about “flappers” so much as the people who helped create and promote the image of the flapper, that young woman with bobbed hair and cloche hat who was fond of cigarettes, jazz, the Charleston, and skimpy dresses. Zeitz examines the roles played by writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, fashion designer Coco Chanel, various advertising specialists, and film actresses Clara Bow and Louise Brooks in developing and promoting the image of the modern American woman who was embodied by the flapper. Zeitz expands on the scholarship about women as consumers just after the 1920s that was previously undertaken by Frederick Lewis Allen in Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s and Kathy Peiss in Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in Turn-of-the-Century New York. This enjoyable and readable book has a target audience of the general public and undergraduates and is recommended for both.—Diane Fulkerson, Univ. of West Georgia Lib., Carrollton

First-time author Sabin offers a practical and cohesive look at the earth-centered religion of Wicca, offering crisp definitions of what the elements of Wicca practice are (energy, visualization, meditation) and, as important, what they are not (satanic worship, hex making, broom flying). Her explanations of the ethics, philosophy, tools, and types of Wicca reveal a religion that is created by its practitioners as a “path to self-empowerment” through the use of earth-based imagery, the study of deities, and the employment of elemental energies. Readers are treated to a nifty exploration of Wicca’s mystical aspects that ties together correspondences, discusses the various deities, dispels myths, and provides historical context for many Wiccan traditions. Sabin’s chapter on the eight sabbats (holidays timed with certain celestial points of the year) is especially informative. Another highlight and distinction from other beginner books is a detailed list of the various Wiccan sects and their unique practices. Highly recommended for all public libraries.—Janet Tapper, Western States Chiropractic Coll., Portland, OR

Lunar and solar eclipses have always been monumental historical events, and those that were recorded in ancient and medieval times often assist modern-day historians in dating historical documents and events. This book, the third in Llewellyn’s new “Special Topics in Astrology” series, examines how eclipses can help predict world events of the next decade and beyond. Teal (Predicting Events with Astrology) draws on more than 30 years of astrological experience to explain how eclipses are linked to earth elements, how recent eclipses have affected world events, and how future eclipses through 2015 will affect the world. She then discusses the role of eclipses in personal development and transformation and provides a number of real-life examples. While not a reference source, Eclipses would fit in well in a public library or subject-specific library with New Age materials. Patrons interested in horoscopes, current and future events, and how eclipses can assist in personal development would find it an interesting read.—Brad Eden, Univ. of Nevada Libs., Las Vegas

In the foreword to this self-help memoir, parapsychologist Hans Holzer calls Yolana the “best deep trance medium in the world today”—but it was a long, hard road to this success. After a pregnancy at 14, Yolana was eventually homeless. Her triumph came about when she accepted (and used) her gift as a psychic; today, she is called upon by celebrities, CEOs, world leaders, and law enforcement officials. Because she believes that we all have psychic abilities and even our own spirit guides but are out of tune with our psychic selves, she advises each of us to look at ourselves honestly and follow our instincts. Yolana seems very down-to-earth about her psychic abilities, and her enjoyable book reads a bit like a charming aunt telling you the story of her life—you have to like her whether or not you believe her. This book, which adds to the growing genre written by and about mediums, should attract many readers given the recent success of television shows like Medium. Recommended for larger public libraries.—Mary E. Jones, Los Angeles P.L.

Muñoz, the permanent representative of Chile to the UN organized a conference in March 2005 about global challenges to democracy. A project of the Community of Democracies—an informal network now comprising more than 100 countries seeking to further democratic government globally—this book collects the papers that were presented at that conference. The participants hailed from the UN Development Program, various think tanks, and government agencies and wrote under three themes: a current survey, regional overviews, and the future. The two papers in the third section are by far the strongest. One of them, by Cristovam Buarque, discusses what globalized democracy might look like and the various kinds of peace that it might bring. In the other, Francis Fukuyama reflects on his “end of history” thesis ten years later. The other pieces are superficial at best. For example, the paper on the Arab world is only three pages long, despite the importance of the region. Libraries that want something current on the state of democracy could better choose Fareed Zakaria’s The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad.—Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York

In a time of highly partisan and combative politics in Washington, when many political pundits detect deep social and philosophical divisions within the electorate, along comes a book by a self-described conservative Republican that offers some hope that common ground may exist. Dreher, a writer and editor for the Dallas Morning News, presents himself as an out-of-the-mainstream Republican. As the lengthy subtitle suggests, his variety of Republicanism has much in common with the 1960s hippie, liberal Democrat, and while this may sound improbable, it is quite logical. Dreher notes that he’s heard from many other like-minded Republicans who share his frustration with establishment Republicans. He properly credits Russell Kirk, the father of modern American conservatism, as the source of his beliefs. Basically, Kirk’s emphasis on traditional values, the most important being the family, provides a common point for nonmaterialist, other-oriented conservatives and liberals to meet. This is a pleasant read, but for a fuller understanding of Kirk, one should read his own books or W. Wesley McDonald’s fine recent biography, Russell Kirk and the Age of Ideology. Recommended for larger public libraries.—Thomas J. Baldino, Wilkes Univ., Wilkes-Barre, PA

Haunted by photographs of prisoners at the Tuol Sleng prison in Cambodia, where in the late 1970s many thousands were tortured and all but seven perished, Irish-born photojournalist Dunlop searched for its commandant, the zealous Cambodian executioner who was called Comrade Duch. In this historical account of his quest and the Khmer Rouge’s genocidal reign in Cambodia and its aftermath, Dunlop interweaves stories of both the victims and the perpetrators, the indifference and the ignorance of the West, as well as his own personal journey to understand how and why the horrific happened and why the world seemingly turned a blind eye. Dunlop’s search leads him, in 1999, to one Hang Pin, a born-again Christian relief worker and schoolteacher whom he soon realizes is Comrade Duch. When confronted by Dunlop, Duch admits his guilt: “My unique fault is that I didn’t serve God, I served men, I served communism.” Comrade Duch is still in prison awaiting trial. His photo and confession to the authorities were published, but Dunlop wonders if that did more to stifle the truth than bring about justice. Well written, harrowing, and blunt, this book is recommended for public and academic libraries.—Patti C. McCall, Albany Molecular Research Inc., NY

Afghanistan is fading as a current-events topic, but this report on the postwar situation is a creditable contribution. Drawing on her experiences as a humanitarian aid worker in that country, Jones (Next Time She’ll Be Dead: Battering and How To Stop It) focuses on the problems that the U.S. government claims to have solved: political anarchy, destruction of infrastructure, and equal justice. The three sections of her narrative are set, respectively, “In the Streets,” “In the Prison,” and “In the Schools.” Part 1 sets the context for the book through encounters with various local fighters, the press, and Afghan men bitter over broken American promises. The prison section is the most painful to read, as Jones documents the impossible situation of women imprisoned for the crime of having been abused in various ways by men (e.g., a woman forced into prostitution by her husband was charged with adultery). Jones is particularly biting in her criticism of nonprofit agencies that don’t stay for the long haul (though she doesn’t account for the small number who have stayed and had some success). Scholars will disagree with some of her generalizations about Islam and will cavil about the short postwar time span her book covers. Still, for policy issues, this book pairs nicely with editor Antonio Donini’s Nation-Building Unraveled: Aid, Peace and Justice in Afghanistan. Recommended for large public and all academic libraries.—Lisa Klopfer, Eastern Michigan Univ. Lib., Ypsilanti

In this wide-ranging exploration, Lévy (Who Killed Daniel Pearl), the French filmmaker, philosopher, and journalist, attempts to paint a portrait of contemporary America and Americans. Interviewing strippers, prison guards, college students, clergymen, doctors, writers, actors, and politicians (among many others), he travels across the country observing and analyzing a nation he has gradually come to respect and like. He compares his task to that of another Frenchman—Alexis de Tocqueville—whose classic Democracy in America (1835) clearly and sympathetically differentiated American culture from European society by noting how the ethic of individualism and the value of political freedom helped create a more pure form of democracy. Unlike Tocqueville, however, Lévy fills his account with a preponderance of criticism about almost everyone and everything: European anti-Americanism, Bush’s “small-mindedness,” the Christian Right, and the “Puritanism” of MoveOn.org. Although his often page-long sentences and dash-filled thought fragments are full of passion and commitment, they may also confuse readers. (And why does he call Pat Buchanan a “Jeffersonian” and Dick Cheney a “Jacksonian”?) His interviews often come across as monolog rather than dialog. Many readers may feel more vertigo from his shoot-from-the-hip commentary than Lévy himself experienced in his travels. For larger libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/05.]—Jack Forman, San Diego Mesa Coll. Lib.

The well-documented prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay are not aberrations, as the Bush administration claims, but rather the continuation of a half-century of torture by the CIA, says McCoy (history, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison; The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia). He shows how, since 1950, the CIA and various nations have augmented traditional physical torture with psychological abuse techniques of “sensory disorientation” and “self-inflicted pain,” which he documents with some gruesome first-person accounts by victims and with stories of doctors who conducted horrific experiments. After 9/11 the Bush administration took on many of these practices willingly—and not as a weapon of last resort. McCoy’s most insightful chapter analyzes torture’s effectiveness, and the results are as grim as the torture methods used: in the three years following 9/11, intelligence led to the arrest of 5000 terrorist suspects, but evidence was found to charge only three and to convict just one. The author concludes that legal interrogation, as practiced by the FBI, is much more successful than torture for eliciting useful information. He states, further, that America’s tarnished reputation, greatly worsened by its prisoner abuse, is a casualty of the war. This sober inquiry into the flaws and evils of torture is strongly recommended for all libraries.—Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA

The Cold War often produces images of missile silos bristling with rockets armed with nuclear warheads. But there was another dimension that is much less well known: the struggle for the hearts and minds of the First, Second, and Third Worlds. President Eisenhower was an early advocate of psychological warfare and promoted several major initiatives that focused on nonlethal competition between the Soviets and the Americans. Atoms for Peace, People-to-People, and other cultural exchange programs were designed to present everyday Americans as a people living blissfully in a classless society. Osgood (history, Florida Atlantic Univ.) has produced a remarkable work that charts a new course in the heavily traveled Cold War historiography. Building on recent research, such as that in Robert B. Bowie and Richard H. Immerman’s Waging Peace: How Eisenhower Shaped an Enduring Cold War Strategy, Osgood has synthesized an enormous number of primary and secondary sources, including recently declassified government documents, in this exceedingly important book that newly reveals Eisenhower as an activist president with a long-term influence on national security. The impact of psychological warfare has been underrepresented in much recent Cold War literature, and Osgood’s study fills a gap in our understanding of this 50-year struggle. Highly recommended for all collections.—Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames

While everyone has the occasional attack of nerves, the National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 19 million adults suffer from anxiety disorders, i.e., anxiety or panic that is so severe or unrelenting that it interferes with normal life. While psychiatrists often prescribe antidepressants, some of which seem to have antianxiety effects, Burns (psychiatry & behavioral sciences, Stanford Univ. Sch. of Medicine; Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy) recommends cognitive-behavioral therapy, a type of talk therapy in which patients are taught to recognize and deliberately change their negative patterns of thought and action. Although there are many other acceptable titles that can help people do this on their own—including Edmund J. Bourne’s The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook and Judith Bemis and Amr Barrada’s Embracing the Fear: Learning To Manage Anxiety and Panic Attacks—Burns’s book has several features to recommend it. Besides being well written and accessible, with lots of patient narratives to spark interest, it lays out exactly what readers need to do to feel better. In addition, Burns’s earlier title on depression, Feeling Good, is much beloved by the self-help crowd, so there will be some demand for this new one. For most public libraries.—Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, WA

Based on interviews and her own experiences, author and journalist Krasnow (communications, American Univ.; Surrendering to Marriage: Husbands, Wives, and Other Imperfections) illustrates how all daughters can improve their relationships with their mothers. Her thesis embraces the belief that healing can be achieved in even the most horrible relationships and that healing gives peace and understanding to the daughter as she ages. This very upbeat and insightful text will surely be of wide interest, since the mother-daughter relationship rivets nearly all women’s attention, but it especially speaks to middle-aged women who have already achieved a level of maturity, achievement, and independence in their lives. A bibliography and/or a notes section would have enhanced the author’s work (there are only a few pages of references); all the same, it is highly recommended for public libraries of all sizes.—Kay Brodie, Chesapeake Coll., Wye Mills, MD

Previously published in the United Kingdom, where it enjoyed best-seller status, this book outlines a three-part plan for people wishing to step back and review their lives. Righton, a former journalist with the BBC, fills each section with more than 45 distinct charts and inventory sheets that identify bad and good influences and activities and how one’s time is being spent. Readers complete these “audits,” embarking on a journey that will allow them to discover who they really are and who they want to be. In the final phase, Righton encourages and motivates her audience to pursue the goals and life passions identified in the evaluation process by finding and making the necessary life adjustments. Though her highly organized and precise approach may intimidate those who are uncomfortable with scheduled living and multitasking, Life Audit provides a thorough and businesslike evaluation process that will suit detail-oriented readers. Recommended for public libraries.—Crystal Renfro, Georgia Inst. of Technology Lib. & Information Ctr., Atlanta

Husband and wife Redford (director, Behavioral Medicine Research Ctr.; psychology, psychiatry, & medicine, Duke Univ.) and Williams (president, Williams Lifeskills, Inc.) coauthored Anger Kills and Lifeskills. Their latest collaboration presents an eight-week, easy-to-follow program that teaches readers how to handle anger in various situations. The material is aimed at both “hot reactors”—folks who tend to overact when things don’t go their way—and “cool reactors,” those more likely to swallow their emotions. Following a succinct introduction to emotional control and scientific data on emotional intelligence, the authors break down their program, discussing how to gain control of reactions, resolve problems and implement solutions, empathize with others, and more. The material includes program participants’ success stories as well as tales of the authors’ own struggles with anger control and a handy self-assessment tool. This book concentrates more on anger management than does Neil H. Katz’s Communication and Conflict Resolution Skills or Dudley Weeks’s The Eight Essential Steps to Conflict Resolution and nicely covers both ends of the anger management spectrum. Highly recommended for public libraries.—Dale Farris, Groves, TX