Social Sciences

Former President Jimmy Carter's latest work is an intimate and personal portrait of his mother, Lillian Gordy Carter. A truly "remarkable" woman, "Miss Lillian" captured the heart of world leaders and whole nations. Carter takes the reader through an amazing journey from his mother's childhood to her becoming a nurse, raising a family, becoming a Peace Corps volunteer in India in her seventies, and attending state functions during Carter's presidency. Carter lovingly describes how his mother, as a nurse, would provide medical attention to anyone in need, with total disregard for social mores and the taboos of the segregated South. As he explains, "We never turned anyone away who came to our house." Miss Lillian also convinced her husband, Earl, to plant vitamin- and nutrient-rich sweet potatoes on their farm for anyone who wanted them. Throughout the work, Miss Lillian's personality and originality shine through, serving as inspiration for all. A wonderful and very personal look at a truly amazing woman, told by a son whose respect and admiration of his mother is in every word, this book is lovingly and beautifully written. Recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 12/07.]—Lisa A. Ennis, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham Lib., Lister Hill

Granddaughter of King George III and daughter of the dissolute Prince Regent (later George IV), Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales was the only popular member of the British royal family in 1817. Her death in childbed after the birth of a stillborn son plunged the country into unprecedented mourning. Sir Richard Croft, the fashionable accoucheur whose incompetence as an obstetrician led to the princess's death, killed himself three months later. Prince Leopold, her husband of little more than a year, never fully recovered from the loss. His final utterance at the end of his life 50 years later was her name. Oxford-educated author Chambers (The Devil's Horsemen) has written a fascinating and thoroughly entertaining biography of a little-known (to Americans) royal princess. Her short life provides a compelling glimpse into the Regency world. Recommended for public libraries where biographies of royalty and historical figures—not to mention Jane Austen and Regency romances!—are popular.—Elizabeth Mellett, Brookline P.L., MA

Cooper, a New York Times diplomatic correspondent, writes of her life as a privileged Liberian ultimately forced to emigrate to the United States. Sometimes humorous, at other times shocking, she is always engaging and informative although not highly reflective. Cooper describes her comfortable life in an elite Liberian family, introducing her relatives, the family servants, and Liberian language, culture, and society. In 1980, when she was a teenager, Samuel Kanyon Doe's coup d'état ended it all. The horrors of those times—the televised executions (whose victims included friends and relatives), the rapes (of her mother and schoolmates), and the recruitment of children as soldiers—are all clearly rendered. The most compelling chapters in Cooper's memoir, which goes up to her revisiting Liberia in 2003, profile a Liberian named Eunice whose tribe was living in the country when Cooper's American ancestors arrived. Her parents took in Eunice as a companion for Helene, and they became lifelong friends. Eunice's life swung from poverty to wealth (with the Coopers) and back to poverty (when the Coopers moved to America); why she did not go with them is not clear. A great book discussion selection; recommended for academic and public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/08.]—Tonya Briggs, Oberlin Coll. Lib., OH

In her highly acclaimed Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir, Erlbaum detailed her experiences as a troubled adolescent who had spent more than a year in New York City's shelter system in the 1980s. In this follow-up memoir, she is now a confident and successful 34-year-old writer who's gotten her act together, complete with a committed romantic relationship. Wanting to give something back, she decides to volunteer at the same homeless shelter at which she herself had stayed 20 years earlier. There, she meets "Sam," a brilliant but troubled 19-year-old who reminds her of her earlier self. Despite admonitions from the professionals running the shelter, Erlbaum becomes more and more deeply involved in Sam's life. Just as she is about to become Sam's legal guardian, the story takes a sharp turn for the worse, revealing new and deeper problems of which no one had been aware. This compelling and fast-paced memoir reads like a novel while providing an inside look at American social problems. Recommended for public libraries and a possible purchase for academic libraries. [Visit the author online at www.girlbomb.com.—Ed.]—Alison M. Lewis, Drexel Univ., Philadelphia

Classics professor Freeman (Luther Coll., Iowa; The Philosopher and the Druids: A Journey Among the Ancient Celts) has written an admiring and fast-paced biography of the Roman general and dictator (c.100-44 B.C.E.) called by Alexander Hamilton "the greatest man who ever lived." No one reading this account of Caesar's marvelous adventures in Gaul, Egypt, and Britain would question Hamilton's judgment. The great Romans have been favored with some good recent biographies. Freeman's book lacks the literary quality of Anthony Everitt's Cicero or the erudition and moral complexity of Adrian Goldsworthy's Caesar. Nor does Freeman trouble his reader by sharing the conjecture or feel for legend or nuance involved in narrating the life of a man who has been dead for 2000 years. Here, Caesar, descendant of military hero Marius and claiming the goddess Venus among his ancestors, is a product of the Roman slums made good. A serviceable and always accessible introduction for general readers to a man who truly did change history, this book belongs in popular collections.—Stewart Desmond, New York

Gaston, a landscape architect, has spent her life searching for her family and a sense of home. In the author's note, she states that her book is the "story of three people over three generations who barely knew one another." Gaston knew only that her grandmother was beautiful and died tragically young; Gaston's father was an enigma, having deserted the family when Gaston was a child. In midlife, Gaston was given a box that contained old diaries belonging to her grandmother, Rosamond Pinchot, a famous actress and legendary beauty of the 1920s and 1930s who committed suicide at 33. Pinchot's diaries reveal the story of a young socialite from an illustrious family who suddenly became a Broadway celebrity, a wife, and a mother and, just as quickly, disappeared from spoken memory. The discovery of her grandmother's diaries has taken Gaston on a journey not only of family and home but also of celebrity, politics, death, betrayal, and, eventually, understanding and hope. Highly recommended for public and larger academic libraries.—Teri Shiel, Westfield State Coll. Lib., Westfield, MA

Oglesby (New Left Reader), a freelance writer and former activist, provides an engrossing memoir of his involvement in Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). The largest and most famous (and infamous) student activist organization of the 1960s, SDS attracted Oglesby primarily because he saw it as a means of opposing the Vietnam War. Somewhat older than most activists of the time, in 1965 he left his job at the Bendix Corporation (where he had a top-secret classification) and spent the next five years as a key member of the SDS leadership, serving as president in 1965–66 and as a leading advocate of nonviolent approaches to opposing the war. Oglesby writes of reaching out to liberal organizations and politicians in the hope of establishing a broad coalition for change and reveals fascinating details of the group's inner workings. Scorned by radical revolutionaries in the group (e.g., Bernadine Dorhn), he was excommunicated from it as the Sixties ended and his memoir comes to a close. Fine prose and revealing details highly recommend this for academic and most public libraries.—Anthony Edmonds, Ball State Univ., Muncie, IN

A painful childhood is grist for the mill in contemporary memoirs, and this one has all the necessary components: a controlling, mentally ill father and distant mother, stints in group homes, and experimentation with drugs. Yet somehow, Sontag rises above the predictable in this gripping, quirky, unusual look back at a childhood that would have ruined adulthood for most people. Sontag's father was a respected physician who insisted on keeping track of every area of his two daughters' lives, down to the growth of their hair and the length of their fingernails. Her mother, a social worker, stood helplessly by, watching, for example, as her husband locked Sontag out of the house on a cold Chicago night to "teach a lesson" about forgetting one's house keys. Ultimately, Sontag's mother shoulders most of the blame for this family gone haywire because of what Sontag sees as her inability to leave the marriage or to put her daughters and their welfare before the demented standards of her spouse. Sontag's voice remains clear, authentic, and humorous throughout. Recommended for public libraries.—Jan Brue Enright, Augustana Coll. Lib., Sioux Falls, SD

Yang (cofounder, Words Wanted), of the Southeast Asian Hmong people, was born in a refugee camp in Thailand in 1980. Her family was forced to flee the Pathet Lao, of Laos, who singled out the Hmong in retribution for their aiding the Americans during the Vietnam War. With no homeland to return to and not necessarily welcome in Thailand, Yang's family took the opportunity to come to the United States and make a new life. Through all the tumult, Yang's grandmother was a particularly loving influence, providing strength and the stories that molded Yang's identity as a Hmong woman as her family settled in St. Paul, MN. Unable to trust her "voice" in English, Yang struggled in school until an English teacher recognized her talent and encouraged her writing. She is indeed a natural storyteller. Yang chronicles her family's journey and draws the reader into the Hmong culture with the stories she shares along the way. Most powerfully rendered is her relationship with her grandmother. Highly recommended for both public libraries and academic libraries with Asia collections.—Patti C. McCall, Albany Molecular Research, NY

Kate Field, a journalist and celebrity in 19th-century America, has disappeared from our collective memory. Scharnhorst (English, Univ. of New Mexico; Bret Harte) draws on a wide range of primary documents to reconstruct her life, filling in a missing piece of cultural history. Field grew up in a theatrical family; her father was occasionally a journalist and newspaper owner, and her first writings were published in the family newspaper. Throughout her life, she freelanced for a number of prestigious publications, including the Chicago Tribune and the New York Herald. From 1890 to 1895, she edited and published the weekly Kate Field's Washington, which gave her free rein to lobby for her own causes. Not an easy person to categorize, she argued for black rights yet was passionately opposed to immigration. She founded a woman's club after she was refused entrance to the New York Press Club during a visit by Charles Dickens, but she was never a supporter of universal suffrage. She associated with literary celebrities such as the Brownings, Anthony Trollope, and Dickens and was herself the subject of press coverage. A focus on the details of her daily life, such as her lecture schedule, and many summaries of her writings weigh this biography down, making it difficult to get a broader sense of the woman who was Kate Field. Academic libraries with women's and journalism history collections should purchase.—Judy Solberg, Seattle Univ. Lib.

Price (Love and Hate in Jamestown) here chronicles the short but dynamic history of Pixar Animation Studios. He sets the stage by describing the Walt Disney Company of the 1950s and 1960s, considered to be the unrivaled film animator of the time, and then reveals how Disney fell into complacency, losing its creative edge over the decades. This, in part, opened the way for young computer geeks like Ed Catmull and animators like John Lasseter to abandon the traditional cel animation technique, opting for those of the emerging computer era. The success of the technological breakthroughs they developed while working for filmmaker George Lucas resulted in the founding of Pixar in 1986. Prior to this, Steve Jobs of Apple Computer had invested heavily in the company, later becoming its owner. In the early 1990s, after much experimentation, Pixar succeeded in creating its first feature-length hit, Toy Story, quickly followed by others, including Finding Nemo and recent Academy Award winner Ratatouille. Despite these critical and financial triumphs, Jobs eventually sold Pixar to Disney. Although Price's explanation of certain computerized animation applications can be overly technical, this is still a most fascinating and entertaining story of how a struggling little company overcame many odds to become a major Hollywood entity. Recommended for public libraries and cinema study collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/08.]—Richard Drezen, Washington Post/NYC Bureau, New York

For many years, the two standard histories of the 1960s in the United States have been Todd Gitlin's The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage and Milton Viorst's Fire in the Streets: America in the 1960s. A writer would need lots of confidence and energy to dethrone these works, and DeGroot (modern history, Univ. of St. Andrews, Scotland; A Noble Cause?: America and the Vietnam War) has what it takes. Told impressionistically rather than strictly chronologically (because "the 1960s lacked coherent logic"), this is perhaps an unorthodox history, but it's a solid work of scholarship nonetheless. The chapter titles, taken mostly from influential rock lyrics of the era (e.g., "You Say You Want a Revolution"), set the tone, although DeGroot doesn't dwell on the pop culture aspects of the Sixties. More serious in purpose, his book transcends the Sixties of "sacred memory" and considers the impact of world events (e.g., the Chinese Cultural Revolution) and the rise of American conservatism. As DeGroot comments, "The door of idealism was opened briefly and was then slammed shut." An impressive collage of 67 standalone essays, this work is an important contribution to the literature of contemporary history. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.—Thomas A. Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, PA

Following the success of his previous mob histories, Paddy Whacked and The Westies, English relates the rise and fall of the mob in Havana, from the early days of Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano to the cruel regime of Batista and then Castro's revolution. English's engaging narrative reads with the gripping quality of fiction: the dark underworld of Havana comes to life in the author's lively descriptions of gambling, drugs, and sex. Using government hearings, published sources, and his own recent interviews, the author shows us Lansky and the mob, for whom Cuba was a dream come true—a gambling Mecca turned money magnet—all under the protection of the corrupt Batista administration. Mobster types descended on the island for a share of the excitement and profits, but revolution was fermenting. The dream burst as Castro and the "bearded ones" targeted gambling, corruption, and American influences so prevalent in Havana. English mixes his own insights about the Cuban Revolution into his specific accounts of mob influence and criminal activity. The results are highly recommended for public and academic libraries.—Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Libs., Alabama

The complex task of drawing comparison and contrast between two of the most chronicled lives of the 20th century is easily and compellingly handled by Herman (How the Scots Invented the Modern World). Spanning the globe and dozens of decades, Herman never sinks into the clichés of these two men's biographies but rather deconstructs some of the cherished myths surrounding them while maintaining a warm and lively tone. From India to South Africa to London, they seemed to cross paths in life yet could never reach a true understanding of each other. Churchill, the ardent defender of the British Empire, had trouble accepting modern political realities and fixated upon Gandhi as the ultimate threat to his beloved England's legacy. Gandhi, in turn, achieved global superstar status but could not unite Indian politics and eventually became a hindrance, then an irrelevance, to Indian independence. These two men may have been presented historically as enemies, or at least proxy enemies, but Herman brings out the true issues that divided them yet made them remarkably similar holdovers of the Victorian era. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/08.]—Elizabeth Morris, Barrington Area Lib., IL

Realizing that his knowledge of American history between Columbus's discovery and Plymouth Rock over 100 years later was sketchy at best, Pulitzer Prize—winning former journalist Horwitz (Confederates in the Attic) sets out to educate himself with his own explorations. He intertwines his experiences retracing the early conquistadors, adventurers, and entrepreneurs through such regions as Newfoundland, the Dominican Republic, and the American South, Southwest, and New England with thoroughly researched accounts of the territories themselves, the natives who were historically affected, and the motives of the explorers. Along the way, Horwitz meets many interesting people who have studied and/or appropriated the early discoverers for their own purposes: a conquistador reenactor who likens De Soto to a drug lord, the Zuni tribe of New Mexico, an expert on 16th-century combat, the fraternal Improved Order of the Red Men, and the Dominican belief in a Columbus jinx. At the end of his journey, Horwitz recognizes that all the truths he uncovered will never quash the myths of American history, especially the Pilgrim mystique. This readable and vastly entertaining history travelog is highly recommended for public libraries.—Margaret Atwater-Singer, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN

Klein (history, emeritus, Univ. of Rhode Island; The Genesis of American Industry, 1870–1920) presents an engaging, annotated, and accessible portrait of 18th- through early 20th-century inventors and entrepreneurs who fashioned America into the world's economic powerhouse. Rather curiously inserting the device of "Ned," a fictional visitor to the major expositions in Philadelphia (1876), Chicago (1893), and New York City (1939), all of which educated the public on industrial plans and progress, Klein highlights the famous—Thomas Edison, J.P. Morgan, and George Westinghouse—and the lesser known—including Nikola Tesla, Samuel Insull, and Charles Coffin—while also surveying the proliferation of industry based on their inventions, notably the railroad, steamship, and electric motor. Given his greater focus on the late 19th century, Klein might best have concluded with the electric illumination displays of the Pan-American Exposition of 1901, but "Ned" doesn't go there. Although "Ned" is at the 1939 World's Fair, the author scarcely mentions the rise of the automobile, the greatest agent of change during the early 20th century. This book will especially satisfy new or younger devotees of American applied scientific and technological history. Recommended for public libraries.—Frederick J. Augustyn Jr., Library of Congress

Meier (Black Earth: A Journey Through Russia After the Fall) examines the life of an American citizen who became a believer in world revolution only to be ensnared in Stalin's worldwide spy organization. Isaiah ("Cy") Oggins (1898–1947) was educated at Columbia University and joined the Communist Party in 1924. After marrying Nerma Berman, another convert to the cause, he began a life of foreign travel, with Cy in the service of the Soviet state. Shortly after Stalin's purges of the Thirties, Oggins was taken into the gulag and never released, though he was visited by U.S. diplomats. Meier has surprisingly little to say about the disillusionment of believers as the Soviet police state showed its true colors. Yet this compelling read is much more than the life of one man caught up in the web of Soviet intrigue. Its memorable cast includes J. Edgar Hoover, Whittaker Chambers, and HUAC. In piecing his story together, Meier had access to rarely opened KGB archives and help from Oggins's son, Robin. The copious notes make the book appropriate for academic libraries, and the dramatic story makes it suitable for public libraries as well. Highly recommended.—Edward Cone, New York

Morris (history, Ben-Gurion Univ.) offers a study of Israel's war of independence, effectively debunking many of the myths surrounding it. He divides that war into phases: civil war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews, begun in November 1947, followed by a Pan-Arab (i.e., Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq) invasion in May 1948. The Arab defeat in the civil war resulted in hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs fleeing, most expecting to return behind a triumphant Arab invasion force. Although outnumbered, the Israelis had spent months after the UN partition resolution in 1947 preparing for war, while their opponents spent more time calling for jihad against the Jews, which naturally inspired Jewish fear of a second Holocaust. The Israelis had a unified command system, internal lines of communication, and the ideological fervor that came from defending their homes. The invaders (the author's term), meanwhile, lacked coherent leadership and a unified strategy, so by the fall of 1948 the Israelis had achieved local military supremacy. Morris disputes the assertion that Israel had an overall policy of ethnically cleansing the Palestinians. He meticulously documents the expulsions and atrocities that occurred on both sides. His work demonstrates that passion, not polemic, about this controversial era leads to good history. Recommended for all libraries.—Frederic Krome, Univ. of Cincinnati, Clermont Coll.

This third recent book on the sinking of a U.S. nuclear attack submarine in 1968 attempts to reconstruct both the tragedy and the events leading up to it. While Stephen Johnson's Silent Steel failed to identify a cause for the loss of the boat and its 99-man crew, Ed Offley's Scorpion Down broke through U.S. Navy silence and convincingly postulated that the Scorpion was sunk deliberately by a Soviet sub in retaliation for the loss of a Soviet sub the month before and that the navy knew this and concealed it to prevent a general naval war from breaking out. Sewell (coauthor with Clint Richmond, Red Star Rogue) and Preisler ("Tom Clancy's Power Plays" series) bring further information: that Robert Ballard of Titanic deep-sea exploration fame was secretly involved in locating and exploring the Scorpion wreck while working at Woods Hole, using the Titanic as a cover story. They also focus on the John Walker spy case (naval officer Walker was found to have spied for the Soviets from 1968 to the mid-1980s) and the highly damaging intelligence that Walker provided to his Soviet handlers. The authors interweave several detailed narratives of crewmen and their families. The overall sensational tone and the use of reconstructed events and conversations make for a lively narrative, but readers will be better served by Offley's book. Libraries with an interest in naval affairs will no doubt want both books.—Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS

These books offer two different approaches to the regime of Lorenzo de Medici, de facto ruler of Florence in the late 1400s. Unger's Magnifico is a popularly written yet scrupulous biography, while Simonetta's Montefeltro Conspiracy is new historical detection about a violent episode in Lorenzo's life. Unger (contributing writer, New York Times) uses contemporary narratives and current scholarship to detail the life of a man initiated into politics at 16 and who consolidated his power against rivals, the Pazzis, after they famously tried to kill him (and did assassinate his brother) in the Duomo in 1478. Thenceforth, Lorenzo strengthened his hold over Florence. Facing an alliance between Pope Sixtus VI and Ferrante, king of Naples, he gambled everything, traveled to Naples, and threw himself on Ferrante's mercy, splitting the alliance and forcing his rivals to come to terms. By the time of his death, he was rightly hailed as the most sagacious politician in Italy, architect of the balance of power among the five principal realms of the Italian peninsula. Unger's comments on Lorenzo's shaky management of the family bank and misuse of the Florentine treasury are sage though hardly original. He also conveys the value of Lorenzo's vernacular poetry and famous patronage of the arts and letters.

The work by Simonetta (Italian & medieval studies, Wesleyan Univ.) is a bird of another feather, more brightly plumed. In a previously closed archive, he unearthed a ciphered letter from Federigo de Montefeltro, the famed humanist and condotierre duke of Urbino, to Pope Sixtus, written shortly before the Pazzi conspiracy of 1478. Drawing on a contemporary book on ciphers written by his own ancestor, Simonetta broke the letter's code. In a stunning act of historical sleuthing (moving the topic into greater depth and focus than Lauro Martines's April Blood: Florence and the Plot Against the Medici), he has unearthed solid evidence linking Montefeltro and the pope directly to the conspirators in a plot to assassinate the Medicis and end their rule of Florence. Simonetta concludes with intriguing speculation on why Botticelli, though a Medici loyalist, accepted a commission from Sixtus to paint the interior walls of the Sistine chapel in Rome, and he speculates on the political significance of Botticelli's most famous paintings, The Birth of Venus and Primavera. Both books are warmly recommended for large public libraries, and academic collections will want Simonetta. [For Magnifico, see Prepub Alert, LJ 1/08.]—David Keymer. Modesto, CA

In 1938, Franklin D. Roosevelt, to his lasting regret, appointed Joseph Kennedy ambassador to the Court of St. James. Kennedy spent three years in Great Britain, during that uneasy time when it was threatened by the Nazis' European conquests and by American isolationism that left it without financial or military support. Swift (The Roosevelts and the Royals: Franklin and Eleanor, the King and Queen of England, and the Friendship That Saved History) offers a revisionist portrayal of Kennedy, who became one of the most hated men in England. Swift downplays Kennedy's anti-Semitism by claiming that he did more for Jewish refugees than FDR's other European ambassadors. He explains Kennedy's rants about Great Britain's inevitable defeat by stating that he was echoing, not creating, U.S. sentiment. After his 1940 resignation, he devoted his life to promoting the political careers of sons John, Robert, and Ted, as well as encouraging the professional lives of his other children, who, Swift says, benefited from their father's public-mindedness but were also conflicted by his flaws. This well-told account takes a less harsh view of Joseph Kennedy than Ronald Kessler's Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded and Edward J. Renehan Jr.'s The Kennedys at War, 1937–1945. Recommended for public libraries.—Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA

This selection of General Washington's letters constantly reminds us that the course of the American Revolution need not have gone as it did and that when "history" happens, there's no knowing how it will turn out: Benedict Arnold's treason might have succeeded in delivering West Point to the British, for instance, and Washington might have been replaced as commander. But reading here, you come to understand why the Colonies prevailed and why Washington achieved his semi-legendary stature. These letters, mostly to prominent military and political figures, reveal Washington's skill as a soldier, diplomat, and politician. Lengel (assoc. editor, Washington Papers Project) provides a brief note for each selection, giving its context as needed. The letters themselves cover a variety of subjects, such as details of enemy troop movements, views of French grand strategy in North America, propaganda intended to find its way into print, general orders, exhortations to the troops, and private ruminations. Lengel stresses that his book is by no means exhaustive. Nevertheless, his choices are superb, covering the highlights of Washington's Revolutionary tenure while illustrating his extraordinary personality. Although many academic libraries that own the comprehensive volumes of Washington's papers may opt not to buy this abbreviated offering, it is recommended for those without the series and for public libraries.—Richard Fraser, M.I.L.S., Los Angeles

The two key contenders for influence in the Nixon administration were "the equally matched Laird and Kissinger," writes Van Atta (Trust Betrayed: Inside the AARP). Today, Nixon's first-term secretary of defense, Melvin Laird, is the less familiar of the duo. Wisconsin's Laird entered Congress in 1952 and was instrumental there in the growing federal support for medical research. He took the defense post in 1969 and, according to Van Atta, was more responsible than Nixon or Kissinger for withdrawing U.S. troops through his "Vietnamization" policy. In this authorized biography, Laird also gets credit for ending the draft and, later, for engineering the choice of Gerald Ford for vice president and the appointment of Leon Jaworski as Watergate special prosecutor. Van Atta now works at Reader's Digest, where Laird has been a contributor since leaving politics. The length of this book will deter many readers, and its sunny style will put off some scholars. Still, in placing Laird at the center of the era, Van Atta has made a significant contribution. His research is based on hundreds of interviews with subjects including Kissinger and Laird's friend and political ally the late President Ford, who contributed the foreword. Recommended for larger academic and public libraries and essential for any Wisconsin library.—Bob Nardini, Nashville, TN

Levy (senior fellow, Cato Inst.) and Mellor (president & general counsel, Inst. for Justice), both affiliated with libertarian think tanks, have chosen 12 Supreme Court cases that, in their opinion, severely limited individual rights through the expansion of government. As their introduction makes clear, they are conservatives who favor limited government intervention, and the cases they have chosen reflect their position. The chapters are organized by the constitutional issues raised by each case, such as promoting the general welfare, regulating interstate commerce, and property rights. The authors' critiques of these issues are sure to provoke debate. However, they do examine each case on the basis of legal reasoning and in each chapter lay out the flaws in the Court's thinking that make each decision in their view a "bad" one. These explanations are the strong points of the book. Although some readers will disagree with their viewpoint, Levy and Mellor have done a good job of explaining their thinking. Public libraries may be interested in this book for legal collections, but academic libraries can find other, more scholarly titles.—Becky Kennedy, Atlanta-Fulton P.L.

Schilling (JWS Group), a former accountant with Columbia Hospital Corporation/HCA, here writes about his experience as a whistleblower in an immense Medicare fraud case. While the criminal convictions of company participants were reversed on appeal, Schilling's efforts resulted in $1.7 billion being returned to the federal government in a settlement. Schilling writes chronologically, ranging from his own CPA certification to his work with Columbia/HCA and his discovery of internal fraud. After filing his secret action under the federal False Claims Act, he left the company, then returned in an undercover capacity, monitored by the FBI. The author recounts the fear, stress on his family, and doubts that plagued him while he dealt with his company superiors, federal agents, prosecutors, and his private attorneys. The best parts of the book are Schilling's tart comments on the eventual civil settlement of the claims and the "Postscript: 10 years later," in which another writer interviews the participants on both sides and discusses the case and Schilling's role. While not as extensive as Henry Scammell's Giantkillers: The Team and the Law That Help Whistle-Blowers Recover America's Stolen Billions, Schilling's memoir is a worthwhile addition to this subject area in general collections.—Harry Charles, Attorney at Law, St. Louis, MO

Zittrain (Internent Governance & Regulation, Oxford Univ.; cofounder, Berkman Ctr. for Internet & Society, Harvard Univ.) cogently explores two opposing scenarios for the future of the personal computer (PC) and the Internet. He defines PCs and the Internet as types of "generative technologies," nonhierarchical, open systems that invite and encourage broad participation over top-down hierarchy and external regulation. The existing generative paradigm has been challenged by both computer manufacturers and government, each with a different agenda. Big business is increasingly pushing for closed appliances allowing companies exclusive right to determine software their systems will use and providing them with full access to information about consumer behavior. Government agencies seek the power to leverage technologies for surveillance-based information gathering. For Zittrain, these interests conflict with the desire of consumers and Internet users for privacy, choice, and community. He cites Wikipedia as an example of "netizenship," a messy but effective way of resolving issues without the need for external regulation. This is a passionate and intelligent book, of interest to students and scholars of cyber law and Internet/society issues.—Michael Dashkin, New York

When the Bush administration launched a full-scale war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq in 2003, it argued, among other things, that the removal of the Iraqi dictator would usher in a new democracy in that country. Iraq's democratization, in turn, would have a ripple effect throughout the Middle East. This prediction has not materialized, and Iraq today has degenerated into a country of dubious cohesion and monumental socioeconomic and political problems. Some commentators have blamed the Iraq War on the interventionist and militaristic thrust of Washington's foreign policy, while others have attributed Iraq's current problems to the failure of adequate planning and post-reconstruction endeavors. Ferguson, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur, here expands a documentary film of the same title that he wrote and directed, producing a highly informative and fascinating work. Most of those interviewed had not completely opposed the invasion of Iraq but are now critical of the war's conduct. Drawing on the film's footage and numerous additional interviews with high-level officials, journalists, and many others involved in the formulation and conduct of the war, Ferguson portrays a devastating picture of arrogance and incompetence that has led to Iraq's chaotic condition today. Recommended for academic and public libraries.—Nader Entessar, Univ. of South Alabama, Mobile, AL

While numerous books have appeared recently on the topic of Islamic jihad, few have focused specifically on jihad in South Asia. Jalal (history, Tufts Univ.) here examines the concept of jihad as it has been understood over the past several centuries in that region. She notes that more than a third of all Islamic people live in South Asia and that the meaning of jihad has undergone significant changes there over time, owing largely to political and social transitions. Jalal focuses on India in its precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial periods, showing how Islamic faith and the understanding of jihad have adapted in light of new historical circumstances. But she also considers the situation in present-day Pakistan, with its militaristic understanding of jihad, showing the historical roots to this understanding and discussing the ways in which it is problematic. Jalal uses a variety of resources, including ones from historical, literary, and legal contexts. Through this study, she provides a more thoughtful and insightful perspective on jihad than can be found in many other works. Highly recommended.—John Jaeger, Dallas

Schlesinger (political reporting, Washington Journalism Ctr., Boston Univ.), son of the late historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., has penned a detail-packed volume chronologically covering presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt through the current Bush administration, with extensive insight into how these leaders have had their messages crafted and packaged. His short introduction does cover pre-FDR presidents (after all, even Washington got help with his speeches), but his focus starts with FDR as the first president to engage in communication through mass media. While some presidents utilized more speechwriters than others, and some accepted their writers' speeches as merely an "outline" from which to ad lib, all recognized the necessity of the speechwriter position. Schlesinger's chapters move from one administration to the next without transitional language and often jump midstream into the next term. Nonetheless, as a whole, the book succeeds as a perspective on the last 75 years of American history, albeit with lots of detail and less interpretation. Recommended for public and academic libraries.—Leigh Mihlrad, Albany Medical Coll., NYPsychology

This is a brutally honest memoir by a woman who discovered at age 11 what it feels like to be noticed—not as a cute preteen but as an alluring sex object. From then on, Cohen sought out sexual partners—more than 40 of them over a dozen years. Growing up in northern New Jersey, Cohen and her best friends began hooking up with guys at friends' apartments in New York when their parents were out. When her mother entered medical school in the Philippines, all parental supervision seems to have gone—until her father returned to assume some of his duties. But, anxious to be cool with his daughters' friends, he smoked pot with them and encouraged their sexual pursuits. Cohen headed to Massachusetts for college, only a half day's drive from partners and pot in New York. Then, for the next 15 years and 225 pages, Cohen hops from place to place, always finding men to sleep with, desperate to feel loved, addicted to her power over men, losing herself in need. Cohen is not proud of her past—she says she is disgusted—but this memoir gives readers a forthright look at the addiction of promiscuity. Highly recommended.—Linda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, PA

Codirectors of the Mental Health and Media Center at Harvard Medical School, clinical psychologist Kutner and health researcher Olson, his wife, surveyed 1,254 12- to 14-year-olds and 500 parents about violent video games, played by almost all boys and many girls. About half the kids play games rated "M" for age 17 and older. The significant correlations they found between game use and increased bullying, assault, and lower grades leave the authors unperturbed, and they shrug off major researchers like Craig Anderson along with warnings from the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Their one-word summary is "relax," because fears of harmful effects are no different from historic public uproars about dime novels, gangster films, and comic books. They even liken Pokémon to chess, where pawns and pieces are at war! An industrial-strength whitewash, this book is not recommended, despite its sensible warning to keep household guns unloaded and locked up.—E. James Lieberman, George Washington Univ. Sch. of Medicine, Washington, DC

Wickersham's memoir unravels the twisted branches of family ties in the aftermath of her father's suicide as she attempts to answer the question, Why did he do it? Certainly no book, as she herself admits, could answer a question at once so metaphysical and so very personal, but Wickersham's effort is worth the read. Her writing about a chaotic occurrence like suicide using that most formal and impersonal of structures, the index, seems contrived at first, but the short pieces falling under each heading are gems of true insight and lovely prose. The story veers disconcertingly from the chronological into the broader scope of her father's life and relationships so that by its midpoint, the book is more a diffuse collection of vignettes than an earnest pursuit of the "answer." (For example, while no one may be able to tell where the road to suicide begins, this reviewer is fairly certain it's not with the story of the author's own engagement years before her father's death.) Despite its few flaws, this book is beautifully written and haunts the reader long after it's closed. Recommended for all public libraries.—Elizabeth Brinkley, Granite Falls, WA

Nugent—popular-culture observer, blogger, music critic, and biographer (Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing)—is, in justification of this extended essay's title, either a nerd or a recovering nerd. Present in all of his ruminations here are his ambivalence about his nerd status and his consideration of whether the designation is valid or void, flattering or pejorative—and the lack of stand-taking on that fundamental issue is a bit wearisome. But on the whole, this often fun, sometimes serious work offers stimulating insight into the lives of socially awkward, ultra-intellectualizing kids and hints at a happy ending for the despised-in-high-school set. To his credit, Nugent never once cites the easy example of über-nerd Bill Gates. Long passages on the online video and role-playing subcultures are not terribly gripping, but the associations Nugent makes between nerdism on the one hand and Asperger's syndrome and autism on the other are disturbing yet hopeful. Recommended for public libraries and psychology/media/sociology collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/07.]—Scott H. Silverman, Bryn Mawr Coll. Lib., PA

Evans, who has authored several travelogs (e.g., It's Not About the Tapas; Fried Eggs with Chopsticks), here offers another compelling adventure. Although she did not traverse Argentina completely on horseback, horses do play a role, with Evans going riding in different parts of the country. From the pampas to Patagonia (and various parts in between), she weaves interesting tales of Argentine history, her own triumphs and mishaps, and the sheer joy of exploring a new country. The horse theme (as with her New Zealand book theme) does not always carry its weight and may really be unnecessary: her writings can stand on their own—no gimmick or hook needed. Recommended for libraries with large travel collections.—Lee Arnold, Historical Soc. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Thirty-six mothers, mostly professional writers, have contributed stories of travels with children to this volume. Sometimes harrowing and sometimes heartwarming, the pieces (all but two original to this collection) range from typical family vacations to barely controlled chaos to trips planned as adventures from the start. In "From Absinthe to Zeitgeist," Adrienne St. John-Delcroix takes her teenaged daughter to Brussels, and, somehow, the two end up roaming Europe with her daughter's boyfriend. Susan Wolter Nettell writes hilariously of a 12-hour train trip with her sister and her sister's two-month-old quadruplets. These are short memories of specific journeys, without tips or generalizations, leaving readers to come to their own opinions and infer any travel advice. While each piece is delightfully entertaining, some revealing the joy of family trips, others as riveting as horror flicks, that all of the contributions are by women—and mostly work-at-home authors at that—does make the collection seem somewhat uniform; some male authors and a wider range of perspectives would have been welcome. Suitable for large public libraries.—Erica L. Foley, Clinton-Macomb P.L., Clinton Twp., MI

If ever there was a haunted city, it could be London—or so thinks Jones (Haunted Britain and Ireland), who runs a tour company, Discovery Walks. His new guide provides the curious with 25 walks that promise a plethora of historic—plus a few contemporary—ghostly sightings. Jones considers the Tower of London to be England's most haunted sight, but other areas of London fare equally well. In the chapter "Royal London," he tells of the headless woman in St. James Park and Mayfair's most haunted house. Even Buckingham Palace has its ghost: a monk in chains who appears only on Christmas day. Another chapter surprises with a more recent ghostly sighting outside Fortnum & Mason. For fans of blood and gore, Jones includes a chapter on Jack the Ripper's routes and murder sites. For each haunted walk, Jones provides easy-to-use information about the nearest tube station, distance and estimated duration of the route, best times to visit, and good spots to stop for refreshments. The maps are easy to follow, and the book is enhanced by numerous color photographs (none very scary, however). Ghostly spots outside London (e.g. Hampton Court, Windsor) are also included. This distinctive guide falls into the take-with category, but it does have a comprehensive index for those with research in mind. Recommended for larger travel and British history collections in public or academic libraries.—Janet Ross, formerly with Sparks Branch Lib., NV

What better way to see Europe than by staying where most traveling Europeans do, i.e., not in four-star hotels but at campgrounds scattered from Ankara to Zempinska! The author has spent over 30 years "car camping" in Europe (that is, driving to a campground and using it as a base for adventures), and her enthusiasm for the "relaxed and unpretentious" Europeans she has encountered comes through. In this detailed guide to car camping throughout Europe, a revision of her 2001 edition, Mickelsen provides detailed information on each campground: how to get there, what amenities are offered, and what local sights should not be missed. When possible, she lists telephone numbers and other pertinent information. She has personally been to every campground and knows what she's writing about. Sure, the library shelves on European vacation destinations groan from the weight of standard tourist books, but this one takes readers beyond the ordinary and opens up vistas that will enhance their visit. Her advice: bring a bike, look for out-of-the-way adventures, and rub elbows with Europeans "who enjoy laughing and talking with you at the common cooking and washing-up areas. You share with them the experience of...pouring over maps together, [and] exchanging funny travel stories." Sounds like a truly memorable experience. Essential.—Joseph L. Carlson, Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA