Social Sciences Reviews, October 15, 2010
Oct 15, 2010
Biography
Feiner, Shmuel. Moses Mendelssohn: Sage of Modernity. Yale Univ. (Jewish Lives). Nov. 2010. c.256p. tr. from Hebrew by Anthony Berris. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780300161755. $25. BIOG
Feiner (modern Jewish history, Bar Ilan Univ., Israel) presents a fascinating portrait of an important Enlightenment figure. Mendelssohn (1729–86) departed from his assumed destiny as a Torah scholar to become a man of “arts and sciences,” a German Jewish philosopher and scholar, especially well known for his work Jerusalem as well as his translation of the Pentateuch and other biblical texts into German. More important, however, was his advocacy of Enlightenment rationalism, intellectual autonomy, and religious tolerance. Feiner also covers the tension between Mendelssohn as a public figure and Mendelssohn’s desire to lead a private life in the parlor, his study, synagogue, and silk factory. (He was an important leader of the textile industry.) VERDICT Feiner’s biographical bildungsroman is a respectful and balanced treatment of the “Socrates of Germany” and the “Father of Reform Judaism,” appropriate for both academic and public library collections. With a helpful chronology of Mendelssohn’s life and a concise, selected bibliography. Expect more high-caliber titles from this new partnership between Yale University Press and the Leon D. Black Foundation.—Brian Smith McCallum, Arlington Heights Memorial Lib., IL
Schmidt, Leigh Eric. Heaven’s Bride: The Unprintable Life of Ida C. Craddock, American Mystic, Scholar, Sexologist, Martyr, and Madwoman. Basic Bks: Perseus. Dec. 2010. c.352p. photogs. index. ISBN 9780465002986. $28.95. BIOG
In a scholarly work with a misleading, hyped-up title, Schmidt (American religious history, Harvard Univ.; Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality—from Emerson to Oprah) explores the life and intellectual evolution of the activist Ira C. Craddock (1857–1902). Born when American women were denied a voice in society, she fought courageously for universal gender equality—but gained little of it for herself. In thematically arranged chapters, each with its own internal chronology, Schmidt shows Craddock’s failed efforts as the notorious Anthony Comstock (of the “Comstock Laws”) harried her tenaciously, bringing criminal charges against her (she went to jail once for a brief time), confiscating her pamphlets on sex and love, and pursuing her from city to city. Moreover, her highly conventional mother, convinced that her daughter was insane, kept trying to commit her to an asylum. When Comstock succeeded in another criminal case against her, Craddock committed suicide rather than go to jail again. VERDICT Schmidt’s arrangement results in much repetition and backtracking, but his book is a piece of thorough scholarship, best as a research tool for those studying social, cultural, and activist movements of the late 19th century.—James F. DeRoche, Alexandria, VA
Communications
Landers, James. The Improbable First Century of Cosmopolitan Magazine. Univ. of Missouri. Nov. 2010. c.376p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780826219060. $34.95. COMM
Landers (journalism & technical communications, Colorado State Univ.; The Weekly War: Newsmagazines and Vietnam) chronicles Cosmopolitan’s first 100 years and the stories of four strong-willed people who shaped it. When John Brisbane Walker bought Cosmopolitan in 1888, it was a respectable but nondescript literary magazine. He transformed it into the most popular U.S. general-interest magazine, one that attempted to sell its well-educated, middle-class readership on a progressive, reformist social agenda. William Randolph Hearst later turned it into the flagship of his media empire and helped invent the genre of the exposé and muckraking journalism. After the editorship of Ray Long, which ushered in the Jazz Age with fiction by Theodore Dreiser and Edna Ferber, it fell into decline until, in 1965, Helen Gurley Brown began to invent the Cosmo we know today. VERDICT This solid history of one magazine also touches on trends in American mass media, politics, and mores over the past 125 years. Despite his use of repetition, cumbersome statistics, and a sometimes confusing nonchronological organization (a time line would have been useful), Landers is an effective storyteller who has done his research. Recommended for students of media studies and American social history as well as die-hard Cosmo fans.—David Gibbs, Georgetown Univ. Lib., Washington, DC
Linfield, Susie. The Cruel Radiance: Photography and Political Violence. Univ. of Chicago. Nov. 2010. c.344p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780226482507. $30. COMM
Photographs of war atrocities and genocides are very difficult to look at and comprehend, but, as Linfield (journalism, New York Univ.) writes, only by viewing such images can people begin to understand, rectify, and perhaps prevent these horrors. She first traces the history of photography criticism, devoting much space to the work of Susan Sontag and Roland Barthes, then delves into the role photojournalism has played in documenting human-rights violations in places such as Auschwitz, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, and Abu Ghraib. Rounding out her study are profiles of three influential photojournalists—Robert Capa, James Nachtwey, and Gilles Peress. VERDICT While Linfield’s book contains graphic descriptions of the photographs and events that she examines, it is not an exploitative or titillating exposé. Instead, it is a somber, heartfelt plea for readers to see the truth and acknowledge and understand the consequences of humans’ potential for inhumanity. This should be required reading for students of journalism and political science and general readers with an interest in human-rights activism.—Donna Marie Smith, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., FL
Economics
Akula, Vikram. A Fistful of Rice: My Unexpected Quest To End Poverty Through Profitability. Harvard Business Pr. Nov. 2010. c.224p. ISBN 9781422131176. $26.95. bus
Akula, founder and chair of SKS Microfinance, here relates his personal journey after a life-changing moment in 1995 when working in India in microfinance for the first time (“lending very small amounts of money to very poor people”) with the nonprofit Deccan Development Society (DDS). A woman asked him if a lending program could be started in her village, but after being told by the DDS director that funds were not available, Akula informed the woman, who replied: “Am I not poor, too?” “This was a defining moment for me,” he says. “We had to find a way to change microfinance—to make it available to any Indian, or any poor person anywhere in the world…to escape poverty.” This event led Akula to organize and create SKS Microfinance, which is now successful. The struggles to develop SKS as well as the innovations that made it successful are recounted. VERDICT Not only for those interested in economics and business, this is for anyone looking to read an inspirational story of a person who works toward helping the poor and succeeds at truly making a difference.—Lucy Heckman, St. John’s Univ. Lib., Jamaica, NY
Hovey, Craig. The Accountant’s Guide to the Universe: Heaven and Hell by the Numbers. Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin’s. Nov. 2010. c.176p. ISBN 9780312376246. $21.99. bus
Hovey (economics, Nazareth Coll.) does what has never been done before—he’s written a concise, entertaining introduction to accounting. The accounting basics of credits and debits are couched within a story of epic proportions, with a fictional author, Mr. Adams, now caught in purgatory, being charged with writing this tome to balance out the bad karma gained from the less-than-acceptable accounting practices he used during his life. This thin volume unfurls the narrative of the fictional company Hair Apparent to impart definitions, explanations, and examples, working its way through journal entries, balance sheets, and more, while diving into accounting, economics, and even some principles of entrepreneurship. VERDICT While this might not be everyone’s idea of leisure reading, Hovey does present an introduction to accounting in a fun way that leaves the reader wondering what’s going to happen next to Mr. Adams, while wading through the complexities of starting a business and using accounting to make sense of the world. A good supplement to traditional accounting texts, and a useful place for beginners to start.—Elizabeth Nelson, UOP Lib., Des Plaines, IL
Hubbard, Glenn & Peter Navarro. Seeds of Destruction: Why the Path to Economic Ruin Runs Through Washington, and How To Reclaim American Prosperity. FT: Pearson. 2010. c.288p. illus. ISBN 9780137027736. $26.99. ECON
Hubbard (dean, Columbia Business Sch.; former chair, U.S. Council of Economic Advisors) and Navarro (business, Univ. of California–Irvine) are deeply concerned about America’s economy. Here they intentionally aim at positive economics (what is) and normative economics (what should be) as they translate their apprehensions into concrete policy proposals. Description of basic macroeconomic theory is followed by prescription for reversing course from “the path to economic ruin,” which they unabashedly ascribe to Washington’s bad economic policies. Many writers criticize the U.S. stimulus efforts and the staggering shortfalls of the entitlement programs or assign blame for the recent housing bubble, but Hubbard and Navarro propose a set of realistic solutions. The authors bring their vast academic and policy experience to bear on weighty issues such as U.S. oil dependence, health-care reform, Medicare, and housing imbalances. Their solutions have a distinctly bipartisan flavor, with smaller government and lighter taxes for tastes of the Right and interesting new oil import taxes that should appeal to the Left. VERDICT Recommended for a general audience with marginal interest in economic policy; required reading for those crafting U.S. economic policy.—Jekabs Bikis, Dallas Baptist Univ.
Mayer, Robert. Quick Cash: The Story of the Loan Shark. Northern Illinois Univ. Nov. 2010. c.328p. ISBN 9780875804309. $35. bus
While popular culture has portrayed the loan shark as a Mafia associate using strong-arm tactics on his clients, Mayer’s book gives us a historical portrait of these predatory lenders, who were at work long before the Mafia was involved. Mayer (political science, Loyola Univ.) traces high-interest lending from the late 19th century through the latest financial crisis. While the book focuses on Chicago, it does reference lending practices throughout the South and New York City. Chapters delve into the social issues of the early 20th century that created a market for these high-interest loans, the various government policies that tried to regulate the lenders, and the legal and economic changes that gave rise to the current methods of payday lending since the 1980s. VERDICT Mayer is an authority on the subject and has created an original and multidisciplinary look at subprime lending in the United States that is accessible to a wide variety of readers, including students and professionals. Recommended.—John Rodzvilla, Emerson Coll., Boston
Education
DelFattore, Joan. Knowledge in the Making: Academic Freedom and Free Speech in America’s Schools and Universities. Yale Univ. Nov. 2010. c.336p. index. ISBN 9780300111811. $35. ED
Although this book’s title and cover may appear unassuming, the contents are enough to shake up any American educator, whether in K-12 education or at the university level. Americans often pride themselves on the freedoms the First Amendment offers; however, educators may find that those freedoms do not necessarily apply to them in the classroom. DelFattore (English & legal studies, Univ. of Delaware; The Fourth R: Conflicts Over Religion in America’s Public Schools) is well versed in the limited freedom and choices educators have. She explains how universities and school boards enjoy a fair amount of protection in matters of free speech, whereas individual educators do not, especially those in the K-12 fields. Verdict For educators or anyone with a stake in the American educational system, this important and effective book provides in-depth analyses of court cases that have shaped the climate of freedom for educators over the years.—Kate Neff, Pedro Menendez H.S., St. Augustine, FL
History
Brands, H.W. American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865–1900. Doubleday. Oct. 2010. c.624p. ISBN 9780385523332. $35. HIST
Brands (Dickson Allen Anderson Professor of History, Univ. of Texas–Austin; Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt) here argues that the capitalist revolution of the mid- to late 19th century was perhaps the best thing that could happen to the American people, albeit at a cost. Individuals such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, J. Pierpont Morgan, and John D. Rockefeller provided the means to win the Civil War, bind the nation together with railroads, begin larger-scale agriculture in the plains, increase industrial production, and enlarge the country’s population through massive immigration from both Europe and Asia. Brands also shows that American capitalism corrupted local, state, and federal government, built a financial system that swung between boom and bust, drastically reduced the Native American population, and established Jim Crow segregation in the South, while also creating a working environment that brought forth the union and populist movements. VERDICT Although this is a familiar story, the author’s focus on how the business climate affected the rest of society provides a distinctive perspective on the era. His work, drawn from secondary sources, is a good, solid contribution for undergraduates and other readers interested in the Gilded Age.—Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. Lib., Parkersburg
Hoffer, Peter Charles. “Cry Liberty”: The Great Stono River Slave Rebellion of 1739. Oxford Univ. (New Narratives in American History). Nov. 2010. c.176p. photogs. maps. index. ISBN 9780195386615. $19.95. HIST
Hoffer (history, Univ. of Georgia; Past Imperfect: Facts, Fictions, Fraud—American History from Bancroft and Parkman to Ambrose, Bellesiles, Ellis, and Goodwin) revisits the circumstances that led to 21 whites dying at the hands of enslaved blacks on September 9, 1739, along South Carolina’s Stono River. Intertwining past and present, he narrates a path through a maze of unarticulated intentions and postevent glosses. Working in the mold of historian as storyteller-artist and social scientist, Hoffer interrogates sparse records, sprawling terminology, and previous interpretations and supplies a commentary on historical methods and uses of fragmentary primary sources. The result is this engaging primer on slaves’ backgrounds, behaviors, and relationships in Colonial South Carolina’s Lowcountry, a typical entry in this series. Hoffer lays open whites’ fantasies and fears and their fashioning interpretations to reinforce their views of freedom and slavery within an ideology of white supremacy. VERDICT Hoffer contributes both clarity and complexity to the Stono stories that have come before. General readers and students from high school upward will find this book easier to start and finish than Mark M. Smith’s Stono or Jack Shuler’s Calling Out Liberty.—Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe
Kern, Susan. The Jeffersons at Shadwell. Yale Univ. (Lamar Series in Western History). 2010. c.384p. illus. index. ISBN 9780300153903. $30. ARCHAEOL
Archaeologist Kern (history, visiting, Coll. of William and Mary) has done a welcome service here to the disciplines of archaeology and American history in her study of Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia childhood home, which burned down in 1770. Kern’s approach, sifting through not only the artifacts to be uncovered at the Shadwell site, but also the contextual historical record, is tremendously illuminating. She begins at the level of the household at Shadwell, with material culture comparisons between the home life of the Jeffersons and the plantation’s over 60 enslaved African Americans. Period historical documents provide greater detail on the social importance of Shadwell, the Jefferson family, and their plantation business. In essence the documents become part of Kern’s larger artifact assemblage. VERDICT This book should be welcomed not only by historical archaeologists of America’s Colonial period, but other archaeologists as well, who will be well served by Kern’s approach to creating a vivid account of life at Jefferson’s boyhood home. The ease with which the text is written also provides nonspecialists with rich access to this part of history, much as Ivor Noël Hume’s Martin’s Hundred did for another Virginia site. Highly recommended. —John E. Dockall, staff archeologist, Prewitt and Assocs., Inc., Austin, TX
Morris, Ian. Why the West Rules—For Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future. Farrar. Oct. 2010. c.768p. photogs. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780374290023. $35. HIST
Archaeologist Morris (Classics & history, Stanford Univ.; coauthor, The Greeks: History, Culture, and Society) draws on his vast knowledge of the ancient world in a risky attempt to make sense of the future as well as our past. He posits four benchmarks for comparing societies: their success or failure in energy capture, organization/urbanization, war making, and information technology/literacy. For each criterion, he provides measures of comparison that allow him to address the question of the West’s dominance over the East in the past two centuries and to ask whether the West’s lead is sustainable. He admits that the measures he uses are crude but argues that they allow us to examine dynamics of social change from early times onward. He predicts that, barring catastrophe, China will take the lead in 20 to 50 years. As with Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse, Morris’s conclusions will provoke controversy, but he asks the right questions. Ultimately, his book is more successful in its goals than Diamond’s. VERDICT Accessible and solid, this may be as popular as Diamond’s work. It should be in every library.—David Keymer. Modesto, CA
Sandlin, Lee. Wicked River: The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild. Pantheon. Oct. 2010. c.304p. illus. maps. index. ISBN 9780307378514. $26.95. HIST
Quiet riverside towns and boys in straw hats lazily fishing as paddle steamers sail by are historical images associated with the Mississippi River, the most important river in the United States and central to the history of the nation and the mid- to late 19th-century writings of Mark Twain. In this engaging work, Sandlin, an essayist who has written frequently for the Chicago Reader, draws on the extensive body of folklore, essays, and legends from the early part of the century, before Twain’s works, to re-create life on and along the river during a wilder time. Beginning in the earliest years of the 19th century, when native Americans ruled the river and white settlements were few and far between, he takes the reader down the river, culminating with Twain’s late 19th-century journey on a steamboat, when such vessels were no longer common and a boat sailing was “as safe on the river as she’d been in heaven.” VERDICT This engaging narrative of lyrical tales will entertain most readers, especially those interested in American studies or wishing to learn more of the history and folklore of this important river. Regional libraries must acquire.—Theresa McDevitt, Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib.
Law & Crime
Chemerinsky, Erwin. The Conservative Assault on the Constitution. S. & S. Oct. 2010. c.305p. index. ISBN 9781416574682. $27. LAW
Chemerinsky (founding dean, Univ. of California–Irvine Sch. of Law) brings his constitutional law expertise to this analysis of recent trends in American jurisprudence, which he believes are tipping the legal scales too far right. He shows how historically accepted principles of American constitutional law, such as separation of church and state, have been diluted by a new conservative mentality that is political, not legal, in nature. He argues that the resulting new brand of political jurisprudence in constitutional law is more an offspring of the ballot box than the natural evolution of legal theory, thus allowing, for example, public displays of religious symbols that would have been banned by earlier courts. Chemerinsky also asserts that the implementation of the death penalty is fraught with unfair procedures exacerbated by an increasingly conservative federal judiciary and legislation enacted by a conservative Congress that makes it harder for individuals, even those wrongly convicted, to gain relief. Verdict Writing for a scholarly audience, the author clearly makes the case that conservative ideology has diluted traditional constitutional rights and liberties. Recommended for academic, public, and law libraries.—Philip Y. Blue, New York State Supreme Court Criminal Branch Law Lib., First Judicial Dist., New York
Crawford, Tad. Legal Guide for the Visual Artist. 5th ed. Allworth. 2010. c.304p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781581157420. pap. $29.95. LAW
The target audience for attorney Crawford’s revised handbook is a broad array of visual artists—including printmakers, photographers, cartoonists, sculptors, textile artists, and illustrators. An expert on art law, Crawford provides these artists with what they need to know about copyright, contracts, sales, commissions, taxes, working with museums and galleries, and dispute resolution. He uses actual court cases to illustrate how the law is applied to disputes involving art and artists, and he supplies sample forms for publishing and commission agreements, bills of sale, and deeds of gift. VERDICT This is an indispensable handbook for the visual art community. The basics are presented clearly and thoroughly and with practical examples. New material on graffiti art, privacy and the visual artist, and online copyright issues update this seminal work.—Joan Pedzich, Harris Beach PLLC, Rochester, NY
Standiford, Les & Joe Matthews. Bringing Adam Home: The Abduction That Changed America. Ecco: HarperCollins. Mar. 2011. c.304p. photogs. ISBN 9780061983900. $24.99. CRIME
Novelist Standiford and investigating officer Matthews chronicle the riveting search for the murderer of Adam Walsh, a six-year-old boy abducted from outside a store in a Florida mall in July 1981. Most readers know the America’s Most Wanted TV series and John Walsh, its host and the victim’s father. The story behind the long and convoluted search for Adam’s killer, which eventually became a cold case, takes many twists and turns. Few held out any hope of ever solving the mystery of who left the severed head of a child in a canal, and why Matthews, once part of the initial team brought in from another jurisdiction, was asked by Adam’s parents to again try to unearth the truth. In December 2008, the case was finally resolved, thanks in large part to the dogged determination of a small team of experts with access to technology not available when the crime happened. The final gut-wrenching, horrific piece of evidence brought a long-awaited closure. VERDICT An essential read for those interested in forensic science and true crime.—Claire Franek, MSLS, Brockport, NY
Parapsychology
Bullard, Thomas E. The Myth and Mystery of UFOs. Univ. Pr. of Kansas. Oct. 2010. c.424p. illus. bibliog. ISBN 9780700617296. $34.95. PARAPSYCH
It takes courage to proclaim a widely held modern belief as a myth or folktale, and Bullard isn’t willing to declare the whole UFO phenomenon as bunk. He does, however, look at UFOs through his own training as a university professor with a Ph.D. in folklore and comes to many fascinating conclusions. Bullard is well known in the UFO community because he leaves the door open that there may be some basis in reality behind UFO stories while also contending that the UFO field is fertile ground for rumor and legend. His bibliography is impressive, and the book is a full account of UFO sightings and the development of “Ufology.” He concludes that there is enough evidence to suggest that UFOs deserve a place in academic inquiry, with more scientific research needed. While full of interesting information, this isn’t an easy read; he writes like a scholar and there is much to plow through. VERDICT Those interested in the UFO phenomenon will find tons of interesting material to ponder and a different way of looking at it.—Mary E. Jones, Los Angeles P.L.
Dwyer, Jeff. Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Monterey and California’s Central Coast. Pelican. 2010. c.224p. photogs. index. ISBN 9781589808096. pap. $14.95. PARAPSYCH
This entrancing book is the latest in Dwyer’s excellent paranormal investigation series. Previous titles cover ghost hunting in Los Angeles, San Francisco, wine country, and the gold rush region. Dwyer, in his unnervingly cheerful tone, provides the historical details, intimate circumstances, and litany of tragic events (e.g., natural catastrophes, accidents, murders, suicides) that make each site fodder for paranormal activity. For each location, and there are hundreds, Dwyer shares his personal experience and corroborated information about the type and possible identity and motivations of the apparition or phenomenon. Entries also furnish what to expect if experiencing the phantasm through personal sensitivity and provide ample advice on how best to capture the ghostly activity by means of varying technologies. Appendixes are filled with additional resources, websites, and paranormal investigation organizations. VERDICT It is hard to imagine a more thorough exploration of the paranormal activity in this or any other region. A vivid read and well-researched guide for serious ghost hunters that also makes a handy travel companion for California history buffs.—Janet Tapper, Univ. of Western States, Portland, OR
Illes, Judika. The Weiser Field Guide to Witches: From Hexes to Hermione Granger, from Salem to the Land of Oz. Weiser. Oct. 2010. c.272p. illus. ISBN 9781578634798. pap. $14.95. PARAPSYCH
Illes (Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells) here wrestles with the thorny issue of what exactly a witch is and points out that some form of witch/wise woman exists in every culture. She also acknowledges that those definitions vary from magical beings that wiggle their noses and turn their husbands into cats to wise women serving as herbalists and healers in their local communities. Illes blithely and intelligently embraces all of the above and annotates brief descriptions of all things witchy. Chapters include types of witches, famous witches of the past (real and mythological), the media’s witch darlings, animal familiars, tools of the trade, and ideas for witchy travel destinations. Along the way, she clears up a few misconceptions—not all witches are Wiccan, and not all Wiccans consider themselves witches. VERDICT Well written and organized for ease of use, this small book should fly on its broomstick off the shelves of most public libraries.—Janet Tapper, Univ. of Western States, Portland, OR
Political Science
An Ethical Compass: Coming of Age in the 21st Century; The Ethics Prize Essays of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. Yale Univ. Nov. 2010. c.416p. ISBN 9780300169157. pap. $18. INT AFFAIRS
This book consists of 30 essays by winners of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity Ethics Prize, which is awarded to full-time undergraduate juniors or seniors. The subjects addressed convey the complexity and importance of what is understood as ethics. One wishes the book had included the criteria for prize selection; the essays share a remarkable reflective quality—often relating to the authors’ personal experiences—and the assumption that “we are implicated [morally] by our mere existence in this world,” as contributor Mae Gibson writes. The essays’ breadth emerges through six categories: Conflict, Memory, Conscience, Education, Illness, and God. An essay on the wartime trauma of Bosnian women speaks through a nuanced reading of Euripides’ The Trojan Women. Another finds in quotidian episodes an evil from the “decline in the internalization of ethics and moral imperatives.” “Who Killed Superman” considers popular culture a source of the destructive notion that goodness is dull. VERDICT Collectively such themes bear a maturity and originality that betray none of the stereotypes associated with their student authors. Highly recommended for all readers who consider ethical reflection central to social life.—Zachary T. Irwin, Pennsylvania State Univ.–Erie;
The Case for Withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Verso, dist. by Norton. Oct. 2010. c.185p. ed. by Nick Turse. ISBN 9781844674510. pap. $14.95. INT AFFAIRS
The U.S. war in Afghanistan was hailed by many American commentators as a “necessary” or “good” war. It has now become the longest war in American history. In this highly readable and sobering volume, Turse (assoc. editor, TomDispatch.com; The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives) and his contributors, including Andrew Bacevich, Juan Cole, and Chalmers Johnson, provide arguments for U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. When President Obama ordered a troop surge of 30,000 in late 2009, he did so against the counsel of high-ranking officials who cautioned against the pitfalls of escalating the conflict. The contributors here, while not polemical, aim at a broad audience to demonstrate how expanding ground combat operations in Afghanistan and boosting air strikes, especially by unmanned drones, have had devastating consequences for Afghan society. The pieces examine historical context, provide useful “facts on the ground,” and describe the extent of government corruption and incompetence that Washington has supported in Afghanistan. VERDICT This book will not change the minds of those who view military intervention as an effective method of conducting international relations, but the arguments it contains are carefully cataloged and explained, allowing informed general readers to look beyond the headlines and learn more.—Nader Entessar, Univ. of South Alabama, Mobile
Fatah, Tarek. The Jew Is Not My Enemy: Unveiling the Myths That Fuel Muslim Anti-Semitism. McClelland & Stewart. Oct. 2010. c.232p. bibliog. ISBN 9780771047831. $24.95. INT AFFAIRS
Fatah, a Pakistani-born Canadian journalist and liberal Muslim leader, has written a valuable and courageous book, condemning the widespread hostility to Jews expressed by some Muslim clerics and political leaders in seeking not only to undermine the legitimacy of Israel but to denigrate Jews generally. Fatah analyzes the Koran and other Islamic texts to show that such positions are not inherent to Islam but are historical distortions. He admits that the emergence of Israel fueled anti-Jewish rhetoric but explains that its virulence reflects the weakness of contemporary Muslim cultures and the sense of Muslim Arab racial superiority that has obstructed Muslim countries from transforming themselves to succeed in the modern world. He provides examples of religious, literary, and historic conditions that have generated hostility to Jews and balances these with numerous examples of an open and collaborative Islamic perspective. He calls on Muslim leadership to reject hateful views, abandon its addiction to victimhood, and work to build an enlightened society to end hatred of Jews and other non-Muslims. VERDICT An important book for the general reader, illuminating a wide range of Islamic texts in arguing for a tolerant and progressive version of Islam.—Elizabeth R. Hayford, emerita, Associated Colls. of the Midwest, Evanston, IL
The Presidency of George W. Bush: A First Historical Assessment. Princeton Univ. Oct. 2010. c.398p. ed. by Julian E. Zelizer. index. ISBN 9780691134857. $75; pap. ISBN 9780691149011. $29.95. POL SCI
Zelizer (history & public affairs, Princeton Univ.; Jimmy Carter) has gathered an A-list of American historians who present a detailed analysis of the presidency of George W. Bush. Each essay examines a particular facet of Bush’s two terms, including such topics as terrorism, faith-based initiatives, energy policy, education, and the war in Iraq. Most of the 12 contributions are scholarly assessments without the partisan political rhetoric found on newspaper op-ed pages or cable TV news shows. Some of the essays, particularly those on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, go over territory that will be familiar to most readers. The more interesting chapters, one by Zelizer, delve into Bush’s place in the American conservative movement. Another thought-provoking treatise is David Greenberg’s (history, journalism, & media studies, Rutgers Univ.) study of the Bush administration’s denigration of professional expertise on subjects such as global warming, judicial nominations, and evolution. VERDICT It may be too soon for many readers to consider a historical analysis of the George W. Bush presidency. But Zelizer’s work provides a valuable benchmark for historians to build upon.—Robert Bruce Slater, Stroudsburg, PA
Sharlet, Jeff. C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy. Little, Brown. 2010. c.352p. index. ISBN 9780316091077. $26.99. POL SCI
In his 2008 best seller, The Family, Sharlet reports on the influential leaders who make up the secretive fundamentalist group known as the “The Fellowship,” which is led by Doug Coe, acknowledged as a major spiritual leader in the evangelical and fundamentalist movements. Now Sharlet continues the investigation, focusing on the townhouse at 133 C Street in Washington, DC, owned by the organization, and three politicians associated with it: Nevada U.S. senator John Ensign, South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, and Mississippi congressman Chip Pickering. Sharlet combines reports on scandals associated with these men with descriptions of the prayer group and leadership activities the men participate in at the townhouse, also revealing international programs in countries like Lebanon and Uganda that appear to receive government funding and support through the Fellowship members’ associations with Congress and presidential administrations. However, the links to the house at C Street are not always clear. Last, Sharlet reports on what he believes is widespread proselytizing by the U.S. military officer corps in violation of both the First Amendment and U.S. military code, but the relationships between the proselytizing officers and Fellowship leaders are not clearly defined. VERDICT Readers who enjoyed The Family will find more to interest them in this book. Recommended for public libraries.—Jill Ortner, SUNY at Buffalo Libs.
Weiner, Jay. This Is Not Florida: How Al Franken Won the Minnesota Senate Recount. Univ. of Minnesota. Oct. 2010. c.288p. ISBN 9780816670383. $24.95. POL SCI
Weiner (MinnPost.com) is a veteran sports journalist who was serendipitously thrust into covering the 2008 Al Franken vs. Norm Coleman election recount. He adapted brilliantly, delving fearlessly into the complex legal machinations of the recount, objectively observing the candidates as they navigated through the minutiae of Minnesota election law. Weiner’s book is a significant illustration of the infrastructure of democracy: he deftly translates arcane recount procedures and legal jargon into straightforward prose. However, the main characters in Weiner’s drama aren’t Franken and Coleman, who are covered only peripherally, but lawyers such as Marc Elias and Fritz Knaak, whom Weiner often sketches in impressionistic tones that lend the book some welcome humanity amid the legal thicket of absentee ballot statutes and judicial opinions. VERDICT This is an exhaustive examination and an electoral law primer written at a level accessible to all readers seriously engaged in the legal and political story. Political science and electoral law specialists will want to read it. Casual readers will probably want to wait for a more accessible, character-focused narrative on this bit of recent history. —Dennis J. Seese, Jefferson-Madison Reg. Lib., Charlottesville, VA
Psychology
SARK. Glad No Matter What: Transforming Loss and Change into Gift and Opportunity. New World Library, dist. by PGW. Nov. 2010. c.224p. photogs. ISBN 9781577319351. pap. $18.95. self-help
San Francisco–based inspirational artist and speaker SARK (Succulent Wild Woman: Dancing with Your Wonder-Full Self!) invites readers to transform loss and pain into joy in this work printed with her handwriting and illustrated with multicolor artwork. Sharing her own experiences of loss, including the deaths of her mother, Marvelous Marjorie, and her cat, Jupiter (featured prominently in her earlier writings), SARK invites us to acknowledge strong and ambivalent feelings surrounding loss and to experience them in a middle place between love and hate where healing happens. Readers are then guided to find the GLAD (giving lovingly and daringly) parts of negative feelings and to identify, experience, accept, and share the gifts of death that lead to changes and opportunities. Each section concludes with a “screen of contemplation” (ideas for further reflection), quotes and “remarkable resources” (books, websites, music). The book ends with personal stories from people who have been transformed through change and loss. VERDICT SARK leads by example, offering gentle, humorous, and colorful instructions for learning to move through life’s difficult times.—Lucille M. Boone, San Jose P.L., CA
Social Sciences
Dublanica, Steve. Keep the Change: A Clueless Tipper’s Quest To Become the Guru of the Gratuity. Ecco: HarperCollins. Nov. 2010. c.320p. ISBN 9780061787287. $24.99. SOC SCI
The author of the popular WaiterRant.net blog (and companion book) offers a freewheeling exploration of the hows and whys of tipping in America. Starting with waitstaff and working outward, Dublanica interviews individuals in various tip-dependent occupations, from doormen to deliverymen to phone sex operators. Frequently he works alongside or patronizes (and tips!) them. Jetting gleefully to Portland, OR, (baristas), Los Angeles (bartenders), and Las Vegas (strippers and cab drivers), and enjoying plentiful cigars and dirty vodka martinis along the way, Dublanica builds up to an overblown but insightful epiphany about exactly why people tip. An otherwise helpful appendix about tipping at the holidays contains an unfortunate piece of bad advice: Dublanica recommends giving liquor to service providers who can’t accept cash tips (a risky practice unless the individual is known not to be an active or recovering alcoholic). VERDICT This idiosyncratic, somewhat self-indulgent book is by turns crude and thoughtful, encompassing both an overlong, sophomoric fantasia about a waiter’s nightmare shift and meditations on Bible verses (Dublanica was once a seminary student). Funny and illuminating, it’s recommended to anyone seeking enlightenment about gratuities and willing to indulge the author’s feisty style.—Janet Ingraham Dwyer, State Lib. of Ohio, Columbus
Giridharadas, Anand. India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation’s Remaking. Times Bks: Holt. Jan. 2011. c.288p. ISBN 9780805091779. $25. SOC SCI
Giridharadas (columnist, International Herald Tribune) is a first-generation American whose parents migrated from India in the 1970s to “beat the odds of a bad system” in their native country. In a reverse migration, the author now reports on the way in which that system has changed. He argues that there has been a psychological change in India and a revolution in private life as well. Like a morality play, each chapter reflects a different inner quality, while woven together in the narrative are bits of the author’s family history. The portraits—a Mumbai migrant worker, a lower-caste entrepreneur who owns finishing schools, the industrialist Mukesh Ambani, a septuagenarian Marxist poet, single working women, and the saga of two brothers—show the myriad ways in which India has changed and yet remains the same. VERDICT Some of the author’s conclusions may be debatable to some familiar with India, but overall, the book is well thought out, and it will add to the growing genre of titles about postmillennial India, such as Mira Kamdar’s Planet India.—Ravi Shenoy, Naperville P.L., IL
Steinberg, Avi. Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian. Nan A. Talese: Doubleday. Oct. 2010. c.416p. ISBN 9780385529099. $26. soc sci
Here is a novel way to deal with your personal problems: become a prison librarian. Steinberg, a Harvard graduate, felt that he was not living up to expectations. Almost as therapy, he took a job as a prison librarian in a tough Boston prison. Like Gulliver, he now tells about his two years in this foreign environment. First, he had to confront the challenge of bringing literature to people who may never see the light of day again. Then, in a creative writing course he taught for inmates, he listened to their stories, reflecting on his own life as he did so. When it finally struck him that he was an unwilling jailer he left the job. There are some striking similarities between Steinberg’s memoir and Piper Kerman’s Orange Is the New Black, with both memoirists Ivy League graduates unlikely to be destined for prison, Steinberg as librarian, Kerman as an inmate. VERDICT This is an excellent choice for those considering prison librarianship, and those wishing to learn more about prison life. Prison librarians should of course consider it for their collections, too.—Frances Sandiford, formerly with Green Haven Correctional Facility Lib., Stormville, NY
Travel & Geography
Starr, William W. Whisky, Kilts, and the Loch Ness Monster: Traveling Through Scotland with Boswell and Johnson. Univ. of South Carolina. Dec. 2010. c.240p. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781570039485. $29.95. TRAV
Starr (A Guide to South Carolina Beaches) is a Samuel Johnson and James Boswell fanatic. He here relates meeting Scots along his travels who drew a blank when asked about Johnson and Boswell, despite the men’s whirlwind journey through Scotland in 1773. Each wrote about the trip in books that added to their literary acclaim—Johnson is the author of the Dictionary of the English Language, and Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Starr traces their trek in reverse via car, using their own words as guides and inspiration as he tours the great Scottish sites (and partakes in the great Scottish beverage). Not content to limit himself to their paths, he also explores other parts of Scotland. VERDICT True confession: this reviewer was one of those who couldn’t completely place Johnson and Boswell, but this book proved enjoyable nonetheless. Scottish history and travel buffs and Johnson and Boswell enthusiasts will find this fun and inspiring.—Lee Arnold, Historical Soc. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
The Wars of the Roses
Ashdown-Hill, John. The Last Days of Richard III. History Pr., dist. by Trafalgar Square. Dec. 2010. c.192p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780752454047. $26.95. BIOG
Historian Ashdown-Hill (Eleanor the Secret Queen) chronicles the last 150 days of the reign (1483–85) of Richard III, the last Plantagenet king. Richard is portrayed here not as a doomed king waiting for defeat but as a strong monarch actively pursuing his policies and plans for his kingdom. Ashdown-Hill brings to light typical daily activities, plans to deal with Henry Tudor’s threat to the throne, and arrangements for a second marriage after the death in March 1485 of Richard’s beloved wife, Anne Neville. The remainder of the book delves into the treatment of Richard’s body after his death at the Battle of Bosworth, his burial, and his tomb built by Henry VII. Most intriguing is a discussion of the recent discovery of a living descendent of Richard III’s sister Anne of Exeter. VERDICT With its new details and perspectives about Richard’s last days and its use of original sources, this book will be an essential read for Ricardians and all interested in studying the Wars of the Roses, here accessible to them without being marred by hundreds of years of interpretations, rumors, and biases.—Troy Reed, Southeast Regional Lib., Gilbert, AZ
Hicks, Michael. The Wars of the Roses. Yale Univ. Oct. 2010. c.352p. bibliog. ISBN 9780300114232. $45. HIST
The English civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses lasted for 30 years (1455–85) and led to the Tudor monarchy with the ascension of Henry VII after the defeat of Richard III. Hicks (medieval history, Univ. of Winchester, UK) does a remarkable job of outlining the preconditions for this compelling dynastic struggle that tore England apart (and provided fodder for both Shakespeare and over five centuries of study). Hicks contends that this conflict between the houses of York and Lancaster was inevitable after Henry IV’s fairly questionable usurpation of the throne from Richard II in 1399. His examination of the social and economic background illustrates the agency of English citizens affected by the conflict. Most engaging is how Hicks describes the foolishness and scheming of key figures, e.g., the somewhat incompetent Henry VI and the ambitious Richard Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III), whose well-rounded portrayal here refreshingly shows that his ambitions were not necessarily in line with those of a Machiavellian traitor. VERDICT Another creditable work is Christine Carpenter’s The Wars of the Roses: Politics and the Constitution in England, which focuses more specifically on constitutional issues. All readers interested in late medieval history, whether or not they have Carpenter, will appreciate this.—Brian Renvall, Mesalands Community Coll., Tucumcari, NM
