SirReadaLot.org

 May 2005, Issue #73

Guide to This Issue

Contents this page:  Art: Capitol Hill Architectural Heritage, Chinese Calligraphy, Digital Video, Suspense: Regina Cutter Mysteries, Fritz Kolbe, WW II Spy, The Bay at Midnight, The White League, Scifi: The Resurrected Man, Business: The Edge to Dynamic Specialization, Change I-Thinking to WE-Thinking, Biography: Domestic Violence, Showbiz Lives: Noel Coward and Cole Porter, Billie Holiday’s Life, Childrens: Hurrying Child, Exploring History Renewed, Cooking: Sustainable Seafood Recipes, Italian Jewish Cooking, Thai Dishes, Fresh Haute Cuisine, Southern Living’s Readers' Recipes, Education: Teaching Technologies, Parents Versus Peers, Native American Biographies for HighSchool  Music: Miles Davis' Jazz, Health & Spirituality: The Art of Wholeness, Destructive Trends in Mental Health, Oncology Nursing, Sex's Ultimate Pleasure, Gender Variation, Walk Yourself Healthy, Hospital's Shaping Death, Wholly Dying, Elder Care, Prevention Techniques, History: Childhood's Global Context, Women of the New Mexico Frontier, Finding Karl Plagge, Home & Garden: Remodeling the Kitchen Literature: Poet's on Place, Contemporary Iranian Literature, Beckian Fritz Goldberg's Poetry, New Directions' Laughlin Looks Back, More Red Hats Women, Nature: Birdwatching, Native Trees, Dobson's Bringing Up Boys Religion: Orthodox Ethics, Augustine's Theology in Modern Perspective, Young Traditional Catholic, A Life of Jesus, Subversive Christianity, The Gnostic Tradition, The Holy Thursday Revolution, Politics: USA World Policy, Axis of Evil Social Science: Iraqw of Tanzania Experience Development, Ethnographical Dreaming, Spanish-Speaking Americans will become 25% of USA Population, Contemporary Sociological Theory

Architecture / History

The Majesty of Capitol Hill by Thomas B. Grooms & Taylor J. Lednum (Pelican Publishing Company)

Capitol Hill is known to the world for its majestic white-domed building and as the home of the U.S. Congress. It is also the site of a quiet neighborhood of eight thousand structures that compose the largest Victorian historic district in the United States . Capitol Hill is a virtual museum of nineteenth-century American architecture – including Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Second Empire , Queen Anne, Richardsonian Romanesque, and Classical Revival. Written by Thomas B. Grooms and Taylor J. Lednum, both of whom live on Capitol Hill and work in the Office of the Chief Architect of the U.S. General Services Administration, The Majesty of Capitol Hill features some two dozen Capitol Hill homes, with their charming exteriors and stylish interiors, along with surrounding parks, churches, and historic sites such as the Congressional Cemetery and the Capitol.

The Majesty of Capitol Hill highlights the urban context of the Hill with its many parks and wide streets that create the feeling of spaciousness – one of its key attractions. Nowhere else in Washington is the original plan of Pierre L'Enfant, the man who designed the city, better preserved than on Capitol Hill. Highlights include the much-loved Lincoln and Stanton Parks , the commercial areas of Pennsylvania Avenue and Barracks Row, and the historic Eastern Market – the nineteenth‑century open public market and the heart of the neighborhood today. Photographs and information also capture significant buildings and sites such as the Frederick Douglass House and the Marine Corps Commandant's House, the oldest public residence in Washington after the White House. Also included is the Sewall-Belmont House, which stood at the center of American politics for two hundred years. Rounding out the collection are a number of historic private homes, updated to twenty-first century living.

The Majesty of Capitol Hill captures the vibrancy of this historic community and its many architectural styles, featuring both the charming exteriors and stylish interiors.

Art / Graphic Design

Chinese Calligraphy Made Easy: A Structured Course in Creating Beautiful Brush Lettering by Rebecca Yue (Watson-Guptill Publications)

Rebecca Yue's approach to Chinese calligraphy is distilled from years of teaching this ancient art. Yue started learning Chinese brush painting at the age of ten. She followed the strict disciplines under three masters; one specialized in landscape painting and the other two in bird and flower painting. Yue's systematic approach to learning has brought her many devoted followers. Most teachers prefer to demonstrate all the basic brushstrokes first and then form the characters. However, Yue's experience has taught her that students become frustrated by learning too many basic brushstrokes at one time. Her method involves learning a new brush stroke, forming new characters, and revising brushstrokes learned previously. From this process, beginners gain a sense of achievement and satisfaction by the end of every lesson. As the lessons progress, the characters introduced become more complicated. When there are enough characters to form phrases, projects are introduced with Chinese writing.

Chinese Calligraphy Made Easy presents the Hsing Shu style of calligraphy. During the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907) Kai Shu, with its precise and elegant style, became the favorite among scholars. With much support, the Kai Shu script was recorded in detail, and instructions for writing every brushstroke were passed down for posterity – no other style of calligraphy enjoyed such attention. In modern times, Hsing Shu is still the style for daily communication, although the majority of Chinese would not know in which style of calligraphy they were writing. They would, however, recognize Kai Shu because all textbooks are printed in this style.

In order to write Chinese beautifully, students must learn to choose, use, and properly care for their brushes. Brush care explained before the practical lessons begin. The writing process begins with learning how to control the movement of a brush using the wrist and elbow, in conjunction with lift and press techniques. These are explained in Chapter Three. Once equipped with these techniques, students will be able to learn all eight of the basic brushstrokes, one by one, in the lessons that follow. With each new brushstroke there are words to practice; each has been carefully chosen, with its English meaning beside it.

Students who follow all the lessons build up a collection of Chinese words, starting with simple structures and working up to more complicated compositions. At intervals there are sheets of additional words so students can practice what they have learned so far.

There are also projects try out newfound skills – these are designed not only to help readers enjoy calligraphy, but to give them insight into the traditional uses of the ancient art.

In Chinese Calligraphy Made Easy readers also learn how to make their own Chinese writing book and how to paint greetings onto cards, clothes and pottery.

There are two fold-out cover flaps carrying key information to remind readers of the anatomy of each character. With an extensive gallery of beautiful creations,  Chinese Calligraphy Made Easy is a practical and enjoyable text, guiding readers in creating their own Chinese artworks. The book is logical and well organized using a unique, systematic approach to calligraphy.

Arts & Photography

Digital Video Handbook by Tom Ang (DK)

The digital revolution has transformed video-making, allowing both amateurs and professionals to make videos to high technical standards – yet the complexities of digital video can be baffling without a reliable, user-friendly guide. The extraordinary revolution that is digital video can turn a backyard into a movie studio, transform a study into an editing suite, and make students into directors. It sounds simple enough – instead of recording an image frame by frame on to film or tape, we convert moving images into a series of numbers. And this one change opens up the entire enterprise of moviemaking to anyone with a modern personal computer. Whereas the aspiring moviemaker once needed the support of a highly specialized industrial infrastructure, much of that is now redundant. A single person can shoot broadcast-quality footage, record high-fidelity sound, and edit and post produce it on their own and at home. Better still, the formerly high cost of editing video is now almost vanishingly small.

While it is true that open access to technology is a seedbed for great moviemakers – the teenager who makes gory movies for fun grows up to be the architect of the Lord of the Rings trilogy – its significance to the majority of users is even greater.

In Digital Video Handbook, Tom Ang, a widely exhibited professional photographer and a teacher of 12 years at the university level, shares with readers the thrilling, fast-expanding, and entertaining world of video and moviemaking.

This comprehensive and inspirational handbook explains:

• How Digital Video (DV) works.
• What equipment readers need and how to use it.
• The best techniques for effective video-making.
• Editing and post-production, including the use of special effects.
• How to create their own short features.
• Common DV problems and their solutions.

Readers can keep it simple, making shorts intended for their friends and family; they can make feature-length movies using actors on location; or they can put together an investigative documentary.

Taking readers through every stage of making videos, from handling the camera to using editing software and posting finished work on the Internet, the Digital Video Handbook is a jargon-free, easy-to-understand guide that explains how digital photography works, assesses equipment and software, covers downloading images to computers, and takes a look at common problems experienced by beginners. The book contains straightforward, fully illustrated instructions, and it shows how to create impressive effects and master the editing and post-production processes.

Whatever their level of interest,  Digital Video Handbook offers readers all the key information they need to start, providing a firm foundation for more ambitious projects.

Up-to-date and comprehensive, this is the indispensable handbook on digital video.

Audio / Mysteries & Thrillers / Occult

Now You See Her [UNABRIDGED, 6 cassettes, 8 1/2 hours] by Cecelia Tishy, narrated by Anna Fields (Regina Cutter Mysteries: Blackstone Audiobooks, Inc.)

Now You See Her by Cecelia Tishy (Regina Cutter Mysteries: Mysterious Press)

In Now You See Her a suddenly psychic, 40-something divorcee uses her newly acquired ability in this, the premier novel in a new series by Cecelia Tishy, professor of American literature at Vanderbilt University and author of the popular Kate Banning mystery series.

Regina Cutter is the mother of two grown children and the victim of her husband’s midlife crisis. Out of a marriage, an income, and a place to live, she has relocated to Boston ’s Back Bay where her psychic aunt bequeathed her a townhouse – and some paranormal ability. Adjusting to her new middle-class life and taking on a new job as a police psychic, Reggie is called upon to help prove the false imprisonment of a drug felon and end the possible haunting of a recently renovated townhouse. It’s quite a long way from bemoaning a broken marriage, and newly minted psychic Cutter is just getting started.

Reggie's two grown children worry about her, but she's happier than she's ever been. But even her sixth sense doesn't prepare her for Detective Frank Devaney's request: to determine once and for all if he put the right man behind bars thirteen years ago. The crime was murder, the victim a politi­cian's son, and though the evidence was slim, the brass pushed for a quick arrest. To this day the prisoner, sentenced to life, has never stopped proclaiming his innocence.

A case this cold sounds like a dead end. But before Reggie can politely refuse, she gets a ‘hot tip,’ a fiery sensation below her ribcage as she reads a letter from the prisoner. In between visits to the murder site and talks with folks who lived nearby at the time, Reggie does her ‘real job’ – working at a resale-clothing store for cash-strapped women reentering the workplace – and walks the Beagle she shares with a scruffy motorcycle enthusiast, R. K. Stark, who wants her to learn to ride. Now nothing can stop her from burning up the pavement, doing old-fashioned legwork as she searches for the truth.

Long-vanished clues are tough to coax out, and a fledgling psychic's ability can be unreliable. Add a crime scene turned luxury high-rise, a Back Bay house erupting in weird noises, a mumbling bag lady, and an entrepreneur working in a white limo – and Reggie is wishing for ESP on demand. It may be the only thing that could save her when her investigation into the past leads to new and pressing danger...

In, Now You See Her, an appealing mix of foolish enthusiasm and derring-do, Reggie make a reasonably credible and quite likable amateur detective, and Tishy does a good job conveying the feel of contemporary Boston . We’ll be hearing more from this new detective.

The audio version is enhances by the work of Anna Fields, who has narrated many titles, having garnered several AudioFile Earphones Awards and won the coveted Audie Award.

Audio / History / Military

A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich: The Extraordinary Life of Fritz Kolbe, America's Most Important Spy in World War II [UNABRIDGED, 8 CDs, running time 10 hours] by Lucas Delattre, narrated by Michael Prichard (Tantor Media, Inc.)

In 1943, a young official named Fritz Kolbe, a bureaucrat, from the German foreign ministry arranged to meet with Allen Dulles, then an OSS officer in Switzerland and later the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Kolbe had decided to betray his country. Over the next two years, Kolbe passed on countless valuable documents about German war efforts by tying the pages to his thigh and praying to avoid customs searches. He described the location of munitions factories and relayed diplomatic reports on Germany 's intelligence operations and relations with other Axis nations like Romania and nominally neutral countries like Spain . Viewed by many Germans as a traitor, he was erased from the history books and, after Hitler's fall, his diplomatic career came to an end. Drawing on recently declassified materials at the National Archives in Washington and Kolbe's personal archives, Lucas Delattre, a journalist formerly of Le Monde, who now works for the Council of Europe, in A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich has written an extraordinary tale of an ordinary man who knew the most valuable service he could provide his country was to betray it.

The audio version is narrated by Michael Pritchard. Named one of the top ten Golden Voices by Smart Money, Prichard has recorded many audiobooks during his career.

Maybe the greatest spy coup of World War II. – William Casey, Former Director of the CIA

A longtime German correspondent for Le Monde, Delattre has supplemented his firsthand experience with extensive research and is terrific on conditions in Germany during the war. – Publishers Weekly

For a long time hardly anyone was aware of just how courageous and determined Fritz Kolbe was in resisting the Nazi regime... [A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich] draws a fascinating picture of Fritz Kolbe as an example of quiet resistance. It shows his courage, his firm convictions, but also the tragic limits of his influence on events during the war. – Joschka Fischer, Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister of Germany

Allen Dulles profited so much from the information supplied by Kolbe that he became head of the CIA. Kolbe, on the other hand, was considered a traitor. He died forgotten. With this fascinating narrative, Lucas Delattre remedies that injustice. – Marianne

[The] forgotten story of the civil servant ... is an espionage thriller and a morality play. – Stern

A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich, a useful book, is the first full-scale biography of Kolbe, one of the major Allied agents in Nazi Germany. It is an electrifying account, told with novelistic detail, of the German who worked behind the scenes to become America 's crucial anti-Nazi spy. A work of remarkable scholarship that moves with the swift pace of a John le Carre thriller, A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich is a chilling addition to the literature of espionage.

Business & Investing / Management & Leadership

The Only Sustainable Edge: Why Business Strategy Depends on Productive Friction and Dynamic Specialization by John Hagel & John Seely Brown ( Harvard Business School Press)

The continuing quest for efficiency yields diminishing returns – lasting advantage increasingly depends on shifting management horizons beyond the enterprise and mastering new management techniques to mobilize third party resources and to accelerate the building of distinctive capabilities across enterprises.

In The Only Sustainable Edge, renowned business strategists John Hagel and John Seely Brown argue that future market leaders will be organizations that develop an institutional capacity to work closely with highly specialized firms to get better faster. The authors identify the peripheries of companies, industries, and rapidly developing economies as having the best opportunities for innovation and growth, where capability building can be leveraged across enterprises to increase value and ignite unprecedented creativity. In this context, Hagel and Brown suggest that most executives view off shoring and outsourcing much too narrowly as options simply to achieve near-term operational cost savings. They argue instead that these options will force a profound redefinition of business strategy. They say most companies in developed economies are too complacent about these changes and run the risk of destroying economic value as global competition intensifies.

Highlighting the emergence of global process networks, Hagel, business strategist and former McKinsey & Company consultant, and Brown, former Director of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center , maintain that companies must reevaluate not only their business strategy, but the very nature of the firm itself to achieve market advantage. In The Only Sustainable Edge, they outline a pragmatic three-stage migration path to accelerate capability building:

• Deepening specialization within firms.
• Mobilizing best-in-class capabilities across enterprises.
• Fostering learning across broad networks of enterprises global process networks and specialized local business ecosystems.

Nagel and Brown say that dynamic specialization will force companies to make difficult choices regarding their areas of distinctive capability, but also make it easier to collaborate with business partners in ways that accelerate capability building. True innovation will then result from the productive friction caused by diverse groups working together to solve real business problems. Nagel and Brown discuss new generations of information technology that amplify the potential for productive friction, but they make it clear that these IT platforms must be woven into a fabric of shared meaning and trust-based relationships across diverse business partners.

In The Only Sustainable Edge, the authors explore the co-evolution of core operating process outsourcing and off-shoring, and stress their roles in increasing dynamic specialization within firms. They highlight the emergence of loose coupling as a new model for managing business processes and driving rapid incremental innovation across multiple enterprises. Finally, Hagel and Brown discuss the implications of these changes in the business landscape for public policy. They make the case that global talent markets, rather than product or financial markets, will increasingly shape where value gets created and captured. They suggest that governments need to reconceive public policy in terms of its potential to accelerate talent development.

As a practitioner working with global supply chains, I find this book captures the essence of our efforts to orchestrate loosely coupled networks on a global basis. This book is a must-read for all executives seeking to improve the performance of their global supply chain. – Victor Fung, Group Chairman, Li & Fung

The two great theorists of information technology, John Hagel and John Seely Brown, show the importance of talent development, specialization, connectivity, and coordination. This indispensa­ble book is an absolutely fascinating guide for business leaders. – Walter Isaacson, President, the Aspen Institute, and author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

In a rapidly evolving global capitalist system, this book is the shortest path to survival and success – it is a bible for the new connected age. It is an absorbing narrative, an acute assessment of the environment, and a must-read for everyone. – Vinod Khosla, General Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

The authors document the impact of globalization and provide a road map for competitive suc­cess through continual cultivation of distinctive capabilities. Their compelling message is relevant for those developing strategies for institutional survival in the private and the public sectors. – William H. Janeway, Vice Chairman, Warburg Pincus LLC

Hagel and Brown's vision of new innovation processes is compelling and quite frightening. These disruptive forces will create exciting growth opportunities for the firms that harness them and will ruin those that ignore them. – Clayton M. Christensen, Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School and author of The Innovator's Dilemma and The Innovator's Solution

The Only Sustainable Edge offers a valuable guide for organizations seeking answers for operating effectively in a borderless world. The Only Sustainable Edge is both intellectually powerful and eminently practical, with clear-cut questions and guidelines for business success in the global economy. The book introduces fascinating views on how to renew strategic thinking with valuable insights on how to spur innovation and talent development. Hagel and Brown challenge conventional thinking with an in-depth analysis of the forces shaping the current business environment. The book clarifies the stages of evolution for organizations and constructs a framework for creating sustainable value through accelerated capability building. It may also force more than a few executives to rethink their strategies.

Biographies & Memoirs / Recovery

A Private Family Matter: A Memoir by Victor Rivas Rivers (Atria Books)

“This is a story about how I was saved by love at a time when most people considered me beyond rescue," begins Victor Rivas Rivers in A Private Family Matter, a chronicle of how he escaped the war zone of domestic violence – too often regarded as a ‘private family matter’ – and went on to become a good man, a film star, and a prominent activist.

Cuban-born Rivers begins by recalling when he was kidnapped, along with three of his siblings, by his own father, who abandoned Victor's pregnant mother and took the children on a cross-country hell-ride that nearly ended in a fatal collision. This journey of survival portrays how, instead of becoming a madman like his father, Rivers was saved by ‘angels.’ Miraculously, seven families stepped forward, along with teachers and coaches, to empower him on his road from gang member to class president, through harrowing and hilarious football adventures at Florida State and with the Miami Dolphins, to overcoming the Hollywood odds and becoming a champion for all those impacted by domestic violence.

Rivers turned his life around dramatically – going from hard-core gang-member to senior class President and lettering in four sports. He attended Florida State University on a full football scholarship, where he was a team captain and scholar athlete, mentored by Coach Bobby Bowden, before his 1978-79 seasons as a free agent draft pick with the Miami Dolphins.

Today Rivers is a star of more than two dozen films, with such memorable roles as Magic Mike, the prison gang warlord in the cult hit Blood In/Blood Out and as Joaquin Murrietta, Antonio Banderas' ill-fated brother in The Mask Of Zorro. In 1999 Victor became the national spokesperson for the National Network to End Domestic Violence, an alliance of shelters and statewide advocacy groups around the country. Having broken the cycle of violence, Rivers is a devoted husband and father – what he believes are his two most important roles.

Grippingly powerful and moving...[this] true story of how a child was raised by a village of some caring, courageous individuals...inspires us all...Masterfully written. – Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas

A story filled with integrity, courage, and humanity – all the things that exemplify Mr. Rivers. The journey makes the man. Thank you for sharing this with us. – Andy Garcia

I know Victor Rivas Rivers' father. He was my father. I know the terror, dread, bruises, inescapability and madness of his violent childhood. It was my childhood. Now I know Victor Rivas Rivers – brave, honest, brilliant and good. This book is a document of his soul's triumph over cruelty. It urges every one of us to break the deadening and debilitating silence by telling our stories. It is a purging, a liberation. – Eve Ensler

Rivers' story reflects an amazing portrait of a young man overcoming the odds and also charges readers to assist victims of domestic violence. Though at times Rivers's odyssey is heartbreaking and disturbing, A Private Family Matter is ultimately a triumphant testament to humanity, courage, and love. Profound and poignant, it is a compelling memoir with a cause.
Biographies & Memoirs / Entertainment

Noel and Cole – The Sophisticates by Stephen Citron (Hal Leonard), just out in paperback, celebrates the fascinating lives of Noel Coward and Cole Porter.

Noel Coward, the celebrated playwright, would never have been caught dead without a full Martini glass and a tailor-made tuxedo. Some of the cleverest, funniest and most romantic songs ever written came from the pen of Cole Porter. He traveled the world, knew all manner of nobility, hobnobbed with all the show business greats and stayed on top in the musical theatre world for more than 30 years.

Aside from being geniuses in music and theatre, Coward and Porter shared many other similarities. Both men were born in small towns during the late 19th century, had strong supportive mothers, died in their 73rd year and were gay. In alternating chapters Stephen Citron, a professional composer, lyricist and lecturer himself, in Noel and Cole – The Sophisticates traces the careers of the two stars. He anchors the pair in a tradition that reflects their restless times and analyzes the qualities that made each man an original.

During the first half of the 20th century, Coward and Porter were far more shocking than the racy artists of today. In his music, Porter introduced anything; for example, he flirted with sex for money in "Love for Sale " and "I'm a Gigolo," sadism in "Why Do You Want to Hurt Me So?" and transvestism in "A Skipper from Heaven Above." The subjects of some of Coward's plays – drugs, blackmail (Suite in Three Keys), an older woman with a younger man, even incest as in The Vortex and a menage a trois in Design for Living are the stuff of shocking drama today.

Porter and Coward have come to represent the ultimate in sophistication and urbanity "Anything Goes," Private Lives, "Night and Day," Blithe Spirit, "It's De-Lovely," Bitter Sweet, "Begin the Beguine," Kiss Me, Kate, are but a few of the imperishable plays, musicals, and songs they created. It is a body of work that was tremendously exciting when it first appeared and remains remarkably popular today.

Based on previously unpublished manuscripts, lyrics, scores, dozens of letters and interviews, Noel and Cole – The Sophisticates includes more than 50 black-and-white photos and music and lyrics to some of their songs.

An exhilarating, scholarly, copiously illustrated tribute to two men who brought priceless perfection to literacy, and the art of popular entertainment. Citron… is at best analyzing music and lyrics: neither pretentious nor patronizing to the layman. – The Evening Standard

… As a reference work, the volume is well indexed, and the useful bibliography directs readers to other useful resources. For most serious music collections. – Richard Lornzen, Univ. of Washington , Library Journal

Noel and Cole – The Sophisticates presents a fresh and often surprising portrait of these two geniuses and their works, and is packed with numerous photographs. This book interweaves their biographical strands with consummate skill, giving readers a clear insight into both men's private lives, illuminating their musical achievements, including a frank discussion of their homosexuality. Ultimately, Noel and Cole – The Sophisticates is an essential reference, as well as a fascinating dual biography of two men who brought style and dazzle to the art of popular entertainment.

Business & Investing / Management & Leadership

Creating We: Change I-Thinking to WE-Thinking, Build a Healthy, Thriving Organization by Judith E. Glaser (Platinum Press)

According to Judith E. Glaser, an executive and organizational coach and the CEO/president of Benchmark Communications, Inc., these phrases have the power to undermine and poison a company:

• If only they would . . . !
• They screwed up, it's their fault!
• I have my own goals and numbers to meet!

If readers hear any of these phrases at work, they should exercise great caution.

Creating We, by visionary executive coach Judith E. Glaser, goes to the root of the problem in organizations today, illuminating how ‘I-centric’ work environments cause ‘unhealthy thinking’ to form and doom companies to failure.

Especially in companies which have recently been acquired, merged, restructured, downsized, are in the midst of rapid growth and expansion, or have lost the sense of unity they once had, this book shows leaders how important they are and how they can create healthy work environments so that the company can become ‘WE-centric’ and achieve breakthrough success.

Creating We is a watershed event, so perfectly on target that the holy grail of leadership is within the grasp of every business leader. – Frank Palantoni, Former Worldwide CEO, Gerber Products; Director of Lexicon Genetics; Director of Gerber Life Insurance

This book is a thorough investigation and synthesis of the best thinking on leadership. Judith Glaser's new and fresh perspective helps leaders see how to create leaders, not followers. This book must be read by anyone who aspires to be a WE-centric leader. – John Watson, Ph.D., Senior Director, Licensing & Development, Pfizer, Inc.

Judith writes with the conviction of a person who finds true meaning in her work. She cares and it shows! Creating We goes beyond describing the way we should work – it describes the way we should live! – Marshall Goldsmith, author of The Leader of the Future, Global Leadership: The Next Generation and Learning Journeys

Judith Gaser's book, Creating We, is a practical hands-on guide to developing leaders at all levels. She shows us how leaders can energize and develop other leaders – a must-read for any leader. – Noel Tichy, Professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business

Creating We is a blueprint for ridding the corporate world of paralyzing groupthink and the barriers of blame and corporate castes that impede innovation and progress. – Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman of General Motors

In Creating We Glaser provides an alternative to the self-serving mentality that gets in the way of good ideas and well-meaning people. Her book, focused on personal and organizational transformation, goes beyond the hype and offers practical solutions, real-life examples, and useful tools. Glaser's experience and inspirational leadership provides the roadmap. This reference guide is highly recommended.

Children’s

Grandma's Hurrying Child by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Kay Chorao (Gulliver Books, Harcourt, Inc.) is the story of that special day when Grandma embraces her sweet ‘hurrying child’ for the very first time.

Maddy and her grandmother recount the story of the granddaughter's birth. As Grandma tells it, in Grandma's Hurrying Child Maddy was a baby in a great big hurry. On the day she was born, everyone rushed to welcome her into the world. But Grandma, hurrying from far away, worried she wouldn't get to the birth in time.

The book was written by Jane Yolen, the award-winning author of more than two hundred books for children and adults, including How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? and Hoptoad, and illustrated by Kay Chorao who has illustrated almost eighty well-loved children's books, including Whose House? and her own The Baby's Lap Book.

Master storyteller Yolen and renowned illustrator Chorao, both loving grandmas, have created a warm read-aloud in Grandma's Hurrying Child that children and their grandparents will want to share again and again. What a sweet, sweet book, for grandmothers, starting with the illustration on the front cover, showing Grandma and Maddy on the swing, sharing the story.

Children’s (Ages 9-12) / Reference / History

The History Encyclopedia by Simon Adams, Philip Brooks, John Farndon, Will Fowler, & Brian Ward (Lorenz Books) was previously published as Exploring History.

In this concise and visual presentation, readers discover how humans populated the world, how weapons were invented and developed, how they changed the way men, cities and countries related to each other, and how art, theater, fashion, government and architecture evolved.

The History Encyclopedia was written by Simon Adams, Philip Brooks, John Farndon, Will Fowler, and Brian Ward, who have a wide range of experience writing reference works about history for children, for school use, and to make history fun and interesting for children. The book takes readers through time, showing the reality of what it was like to live in the past. It investigates the whole period of human existence, from prehistoric times to life in the modern world. In its pages readers discover how farming started, and how food was first grown and harvested so that communities were formed. And they learn how developments in science and medicine increased our lifespan, and improved the quality and effectiveness of our lives over the centuries.

In The History Encyclopedia the development of human civilization is explained in a lively and accessible visual style, using artworks, pictures and diagrams to show how great cities were built and destroyed, wars were lost and won, new religions were born, and how advances in science and exploration transformed everyday life and the living environment.

Young readers can follow the development of human civilization from prehistory to the modern world, with over 1500 photographs and artworks. Features include:

• Fact boxes, which highlight key dates.
• Clear maps, which show the major historical sites.
• Information panels, which provide extra details.

The History Encyclopedia makes factual material accessible and interesting for young people. The high spots of human achievement are all brilliantly brought to life in this fascinating and lively book, with over 1,500 vivid illustrations, maps and photographs. This informative book is ideal for every home reference library.

Cooking, Food & Wine

Ocean Friendly Cuisine: Sustainable Seafood Recipes from the World's Finest Chefs by James O. Fraioli, with a foreword by Jean-Michel Cousteau (Willow Creek Press)

Arctic char, hoki, opah, sablefish, sanddabs, tilapia, wreckfish – a trip through today's fish markets seems to require a degree in marine biology, and maybe learning a foreign language. What are these fish? Where do they come from? How do chefs and home cooks cook them? Most importantly – are these fish in any sort of danger of being overfished?

With enthusiasm for seafood cookery at an all-time high and overnight airfreight shrinking our globe, professionals and home cooks alike are facing an array of choices like never before. It is no longer a world of generic fish recipes. Especially in today's environmental and health conscience world, chefs and consumers would like to know more about what they are eating, while making it look and taste sumptuous on the plate.

Endorsed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Jean-Michel Cousteau, Ocean Friendly Cuisine embarks on an exciting odyssey – marine expert and adventure author James O. Fraioli explores where various fish come from, how they are harvested, and how the finest chefs prepare them. Combining stunning photography and facts, Fraioli, former filmmaker, environmentalist, writer and photographer, fishing editor for Lake Life Magazine, rescue scuba diver and world-class fisherman, brings us face-to-face with the ‘best’ and ‘good’ species of fish, crus­taceans and mollusks that we should be choosing when selecting seafood.

And on that journey, readers discover dozens of gloriously-designed recipes. Each selected from leading chefs, including notables Emeril Lagasse and Northwest Chef Tom Douglas. The result: fabulous dishes which are both savory and environmentally friendly.

Seafood lovers will be happy to hear that there are a multitude of abundant, well-managed seafood stocks that offer a world of exciting flavor experiences. – Laura Fleming, Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute

This book is a must-have addition to the library of all enlightened seafood lovers, especially those of us who care about the origins and sustainability of the fish and shellfish we choose to eat. James O. Fraioli has produced a book that is as handsome as it is useful and intelligent. – James M. Lawrence, Editor, EatingWell, The Magazine of Food & Health

Ocean Friendly Cuisine clearly demonstrates that there can be a responsible approach to the future of sustainable seafood. – Chef Roy Yamaguchi, Roy 's Restaurants

The obvious choice for your health and for the health of the oceans is to serve safe and ecologically friendly seafood from known sources. Ocean Friendly Cuisine is an excellent resource for the environmentally conscious chef. – Brad Buckley, The Abalone Farm

More than just a collection of recipes, Ocean Friendly Cuisine is a culinary adventure into the underwater world. Simple, colorful and informative, it answers questions about today's international rainbow of seafood, and gives the ultimate in recipes to bring fascinating – and healthy – choices to the table. These stunning recipes not only taste good, but make readers feel good about themselves as human beings.

Cooking, Food & Wine

Classic Italian Jewish Cooking: Traditional Recipes and Menus by Edda Servi Machlin, with a foreword by Joan Nathan (ECCO) is a guide to Italian Jewish cuisine, with more than 300 recipes.

Italian Jewish cuisine has existed for more than 2,000 years, originally introduced into the region by Jewish settlers from the Middle East , North Africa , Spain , and Portugal and expanded throughout subsequent generations.

Classic Italian Jewish Cooking starts with the ancient Italian adage Vesti da turco e mangia da ebreo ("Dress like a Turk and eat like a Jew"). In this volume of Italian Jewish recipes, Edda Servi Machlin, a native of Pitigliano , Italy , a Tuscan village that was once home to a vibrant Jewish community, reveals the secrets of this delicate and unique culinary tradition that flourished for more than two thousand years.

Italian Jewish cuisine was always more than a mere adaptation of Italian dishes to the Jewish dietary laws; it was a brilliant marriage of ancient Jewish dishes and preparation methods to the local ingredients that relied on the imaginative use of fresh herbs, spices, fruit, and vegetables. Fifteen hundred years later, with the influx of Iberian refugees, it was enriched by some Sephardic (from Spain and Portugal ) dishes.

The recipes in Classic Italian Jewish Cooking represent the essentials of Italian Jewish cuisine – from soups, pasta, polenta, and rice, to fish, meat and poultry; from pizza and bagels to delectable desserts. Here readers will find recipes for the quintessential Italian Jewish dishes – from Goose ‘Ham,’ Spicy Chicken Liver Toasts, and Jewish Caponata to Sabbath Saffron Rice, Purim Ravioli, and Tagliatelle Jewish Style (Noodle Kugel); from Creamed Baccalà, Red Snapper Jewish Style, and Artichokes Jewish Style to Creamed Fennel and Fried Squash Flowers; from Couscous Salad and Sourdough Challah Bread to Haman's Ears, Honey Cake, and Passover Almond Biscotti.

A historian by trade and a humanitarian by nature, Edda Machiin continues to be a gift to the Jewish world and, for all of us, a living testament to the over 2,000 year legacy of Italian Jewry. – Joan Nathan

Classic Italian Jewish Cooking brings out the unique and traditional foods of two old worlds combined. Machlin resurrects and pays homage to an almost vanished culture whose recipes and tradition deserve to be passed on for generations to come! – Mario Batali

Selected from Machlin's three widely admired books on Italian Jewish cuisine and filled with beautifully rendered memories from her birthplace, this collec­tion of simple but tasty dishes is not only a treasure for every Jewish home, but it also introduces these  recipes to a broader audience. This comprehensive collection is a tribute to a rich cultural heritage and a rare gift to food lovers. With a special section on Jewish holiday menus, Classic Italian Jewish Cooking is a volume to treasure for generations.

Cooking, Food & Wine

Vatch's Thai Kitchen: Thai Dishes to Cook at Home by Vatcharin Bhumichitr, with photography by Peter Cassidy (Ryland, Peters & Small)

Vatch – Vatcharin Bhumichitr – a well-known chef and author of numerous books on Thai cooking – has establishments in London which have always been listed in the Top Ten Thai restaurants in Britain , and his new restaurant in Miami , Tamarind Thai Restaurant, has just opened. Among his many best-selling titles are The Essential Thai Cookbook, Vatch's Southeast Asian Cookbook, Vatch’s Thai Streetfood, The Taste of Thailand , and Thai Vegetarian Cooking.

Vatch's Thai Kitchen is a collection of the best of Thai food. The recipes have been written especially for people cooking in a Western kitchen, but using Thai ingredients widely available in supermarkets and Asian stores.

For readers who haven't cooked Thai before, Bhumichitr recommends starting with easy nibbles to serve with drinks. Appetizers and party bites include Shrimp wrapped in Crisp Noodles, Chicken Satay, those famous Fish Cakes, and Vegetable Fritters with Sesame Seeds. Thailand is known for wonderful soups and salads, and the author recommends them as the second thing to prepare; for example, Hot and Sour Soup with Shrimp; Cauliflower, Mushroom, and Coconut Soup; Chicken Salad with Mint and Roasted Sesame Seeds; and Vegetable Salad with Peanut Dressing. The third thing for new Thai chefs to try is one-dish meals such as favorite Pad Thai (stir-fried noodles), Spicy Duck with Sticky Rice, and Mee Krop (crisp deep-fried noodles).

Other favorites include:

• Delicious curries and pickles to tickle the tastebuds are Green Curry with Shrimp, Baby Clams with Chile Oil and Basil, and Chicken Curry Noodle.
• Main dishes – Chicken Stir-Fried with Ginger and Pineapple, Shrimp with Chile and Basil, and Pork with Garlic and Fresh Chile.
• Sweet things, such as Sticky Rice with Mango, Thai Fruit Salad, Coconut Ice Cream, and Tropical Fruit Drinks (the original smoothies).

A useful list of websites and mail order sources will help readers track down interesting suppliers of ingredients, utensils, and other items of interest.

Bhumichitr introduces the best of Thai cooking in Vatch's Thai Kitchen, direct from London to the kitchens of America . The book is enhanced by the elegant photography of Peter Cassidy, one of Europe 's finest food and travel photographers.

Cooking, Food & Wine

Conscious Cuisine: A New Style of Cooking from the Kitchens of Chef Cary Neff by Cary Neff (Sourcebooks, Inc.)

At the start of his career, French-trained chef Cary Neff used sauces rich with cream and butter without giving it a second thought. Taste was the one and only priority. Conscious Cuisine was born out of his desire to do something totally different – to stretch the boundaries of healthful cuisine. What if low-calorie, nutritious food could still be packed with the flavor he was known for delivering? What if fresh fruits and vegetables, used at the peak of their season, were added to virtually every meal to give it new life?
Neff has established Conscious Cuisine, which he delivered at LaCosta and Miraval Resort and Spa, where he was executive chef for eight years, as one of the nation's leading spa cuisines. Conscious Cuisine has been featured in major magazines including Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Food and Wine, New York Times Magazine and Metropolitan Home, as well as on The Oprah Winfrey Show and Today.

According to Neff, "Cooking is one of the most memorable, creative, romantic and caring gestures you can make for another or for yourself.” Thai, Mediterranean and American Southwestern flavors, among others, are explored throughout the pages of Conscious Cuisine. Neff reveals that through appropriate lifestyle choices, sinfully delicious foods such as Blue Corn Waffles, Thai Coconut and Shrimp Bisque, Citrus Five-Spice Marinated Duck Breast and Lavender Creme Brulee will delight the palate without excessive fat and calories. His goal is for everyone, from amateur gourmets to busy moms, to be able to make more conscious choices in their shopping and cooking habits. With that in mind, Neff goes through the grocery store and provides basic rules of thumb that help the shopper in every area.

Conscious Cuisine provides cooking terminology to help readers better understand how professional chefs adapt new recipes with ease.

The book includes information on:

• Shopping seasonally for food.
• Outfitting the kitchen with healthful foods.
• Procuring hard-to-find natural ingredients.
• Choosing the foods that are the least processed; learning some of the countless ways of preparing vegetables and whole grains.
• Complementing meals with animal proteins rather than having them as the main ingredient.

The book also provides a full nutritional analysis of each recipe to illustrate the benefits of Conscious Cuisine.

Chef Cary Neff's passion for purity utterly oozes from the pages. His recipes are extremely healthy – better still, they explode with bold flavor. I would recommend this innovative work to anyone who wants to eat well. – Charlie Trotter, Chef and Owner of Charlie Trotter's Restaurant

… To his credit, Neff, chef at Chicago's Miraval Life in Balance Resort, makes good on most of these superlatives in his book, which is as much a manifesto for a beautiful way of life – wholesome, elegant, flavorful – as it is a cookbook. Earnest and articulate, Neff is an able culinary innovator. In an entire chapter on low-fat sauces he coaxes strange bedfellows into happy marriages: carrot-cardamom sauce, saffron-chive sauce, beet-ginger sauce. – Publishers Weekly

"Conscious cuisine" is what Neff calls the food he cooks at Miraval Spa near Tucson , AZ , among the top spa resorts in the country. Here he presents dozens of recipes for the sophisticated but healthful food he serves – one of the major reasons for the spa's popularity. Dozens of color photographs, many of them full page, show off the gorgeous presentations that add to the appeal of Neff's boldly flavored dishes. For diet collections and others where spa cookbooks like Jeanne Jones's Canyon Ranch Cooking or Michael Stroot's Golden Door Cookbook have been popular. – Library Journal

In Conscious Cuisine Neff shares 250 imaginative ways to prepare meals that are exceptionally savory and healthy. From a top-rated spa, the book presents bold methods fused with vibrant fresh tastes to create extraordinary food. Readers will enjoy the descriptive and colorful photos that come alive within the pages, demonstrating that Conscious Cuisine is as visually appealing as it is delicious. Readers may use the book for inspiration to come up with new approaches to cooking and eating every day and to open their senses to new possibilities.

Cooking, Food & Wine

Southern Living Our Readers Top-Rated Recipes compiled and edited by Jane E. Gentry and the staff of Southern Living (Oxmoor House, Southern Living)

Southern Living’s devoted readers love great cooking, and, in this case, over 300,000 of them have tested, tasted, and rated their favorite recipes online. This first-ever collection of Southern Living reader-rated, five-star favorites includes over 550 recipes covering every cooking need imaginable, each accompanied by reader reviews from the AOL Food Website.

Features of Our Readers Top-Rated Recipes include the Top Ten all-time winners, quick kitchen tips, substitution ideas, cooking secrets from readers, and meal planning made easy with 20 all-occasion menus. In addition to reader recommendations, the recipes have also been tested by Southern Living Test Kitchens.

Contents include:

• Top 10 Reader-Rated Favorites
• Menus
• One-Dish Meals
• Healthy & Light
• Appetizers & Beverages
• Breads
• Dishes
• Salads
• Sandwiches & Soups
• Side Dishes
• Desserts

Because readers will want to know, the top ten reader-rated recipes are:

1. King Ranch Chicken Casserole
2. Santa’s Shortbread Cookies
3. Creole Jambalaya
4. Hearty Potato Soup in Italian Bread Bowls
5. Low-and-Slow Baby Back Ribs
6. Chicken Fajita Pizza
7. Fruit Punch
8. Bacon-and-Egg Casserole
9. Baked Sweet ‘n’ Savory Mashed Potatoes
10. Linzer Cookies

The photos are mouth watering; this editor advises readers not to look at the book hungry. Our Readers Top-Rated Recipes is a must-have collection; a real keeper to please family and friends.

Education / Technology

Taxonomy for the Technology Domain by Lawrence A. Tomei (Information Science Publishing)

Educators have come to embrace classification systems for the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains for teaching. However, with the advent of multimedia, interactive, student-focused, instructional technologies, the need to push the envelope of teaching with technology has surfaced – a new domain for technology is needed to take advantage of this newest strategy for teaching and learning.

Many educators accept teaching with technology as perhaps the most important instructional strategy to impact the classroom since the introduction of the textbook. In Taxonomy for the Technology Domain, author Lawrence A. Tomei, Dean of Academic Services and Associate Professor of Education at Robert Morris University , suggests a new classification system. That system includes the domains (levels, steps) of literacy, collaboration, decision-making, infusion, integration, and technology. As with most taxonomies, each step offers a progressively more sophisticated level of complexity by constructing increasingly multifaceted objectives addressing increasingly complex student learning outcomes.

Chapters with reference to the domain levels, include:

1. Domains of Teaching

2. Psychologies of Learning

3. Taxonomies of Education

4. Technology and Education: The Implications

5. Taxonomy for the Technology Domain

6. Technology Literacy (Level 1.0)

7. Technology Collaboration (Level 2.0)

8. Technology for Decision-Making (Level 3.0)

9. Technology Infusion (Level 4.0)

10. Technology Integration (Level 5.0)

11. Technology: The Study of Technology (Level 6.0)

12. Investigation into the Taxonomy for the Technology Domain

Taxonomy for the Technology Domain affects all aspects of how technology is used in elementary and secondary classrooms, corporate training rooms, and higher education classrooms. The book is targeted at students, teachers, instructional designers and scholars. Taxonomy for the Technology Domain is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students at universities with technology-related programs and is recommended for library acquisition, to be used in support of the teaching of such programs.

Entertainers / Music / Biographies & Memoirs / African-American

With Billie by Julia Blackburn (Pantheon)

From award-winning author Julia Blackburn, an author whose ability to conjure lives from other times and places is so vivid that one suspects she sees ghosts, here is a portrait of a woman whose voice continues to haunt anyone who hears it.
Billie Holiday’s life is inseparable from an account of her troubles, her addictions, her arrests, and the scandals that repeatedly put her name in the tabloid headlines of the 1940s and 1950s. Volatile, unpredictable, her moods and faces were so various that she could seem to be a different woman from one moment to the next.
Holiday led a turbulent life from the very beginning. Born Eleanor in Philadelphia on April 7, 1915 , Billie was brought to Baltimore to live with her uncle's mother. There she grew up fast, surrounded by drinking, drugs, and prostitution. She spent time in a reform school called the House of Good Shephard and at the age of fourteen moved to New York City to be with her mother. During this time Holiday changed her name and began to sing. During the 1970s, biographer Linda Kuehl collected numerous photos, letters, news clippings, and legal documents and conducted and recorded more than 150 interviews with many of the colorful people who knew Holiday throughout her life. In With Billie, we hear the voices of those people – piano players and dancers, pimps and junkies, lovers and narcs, producers and critics, fellow musicians, each recalling intimate stories of the Billie they knew. They tell of her rise to fame and the depth of her generosity and courage; her wild sense of humor; her emotional troubles and addictions; her relationships with men; the passion she brought to the act, and art, of singing; and her early death at the age of forty-four.

Biographer Kuehl never completed the book she set out to write, but her research survived. Blackburn carefully culled through Kuehl's archive and added her own commentary in a unique documentary style resulting in With Billie, an extraordinary account of one of the most legendary figures in the world of jazz. What emerges is a portrait of a complex, contradictory, enthralling woman, a woman who knew what really mattered to her.

With Billie paints a sympathetic and incisive portrait of the profoundly gifted, charismatic singer. It's the book you feel ... Lady Day herself would have written. – Francine Prose, 0: The Oprah Magazine

This addition to the tide of Billie Holiday books is extremely welcome. Nowhere else is the context of her life and work so vividly captured.  – Toni Morrison
Billie Holiday was – and is – a singer who stays in the mind of everyone who heard her.  Like all jazz musicians, she sang about who she was at the moment and during all that preceded that moment.  Julia Blackburn’s With Billie tells Billie’s own stories of that life and this book becomes part of the music. – Nat Hentoff

Reading With Billie, one is convinced that she has only just left the room but will return shortly. The poignant, intimate, illuminating stories about Lady Day are, in With Billie, deftly woven into a riveting, powerfully evocative, sometimes disjointed, narrative that provides a more complete and complex portrait of Billie Holiday than any before – a this haunting account of the great singer.

Entertainers / Music

The Last Miles: The Music of Miles Davis, 1980-1991 by George Cole (Jazz Perspectives Series: The University of Michigan Press) is the story of the final recordings of perhaps the greatest jazz musician of the twentieth century.

The Last Miles centers on the last decade of Davis ' life, when he emerged from a five-year hiatus from music. The focus is on the music Davis recorded and played, and how it evolved in the eyes of the musicians with whom he played. George Cole devotes at least one chapter to each album Davis recorded during this period, and the full track-by-track descriptions contain the stories behind the songs. The Last Miles offers nearly 100 interviews with some of Davis's closest associates and musical friends, many of whom have never before been interviewed about their time with him, including Paul Buckmaster, George Duke, Chaka Khan, Branford Marsalis, Easy Mo Bee, Steve Porcaro, Wallace Roney, David Sanborn, and many more, as well as interviews with thirty-one of the thirty-six band members Miles had in this period, including Bob Berg, Robben Ford, Darryl Jones, Marcus Miller, John Scofield, and Mike Stern, among others.

Cole, a freelance music and technology journalist, uncovers thousands of new facts, including a lost Miles Davis album, how Davis got into hip-hop, and how he worked in the studio and on stage.  In addition, The Last Miles includes new photos of Davis , a discography, details of unreleased material, Davis 's guest recordings, soundtrack recordings, tribute albums, artists who covered Davis 's 1980s music, compilations, and more.

Very moving, emotional material. – Gordon Meltzer, Davis 's last road manager and executive producer of the Doo-Bop album

An important book. – Brian Priestley, jazz pianist, critic, reviewer, and co-author of The Rough Guide to Jazz

Bravo! Thank you for telling it like it was! – Randy Hall, singer/guitarist

George Cole's writing, his choice of references, his descriptions of many incidents – it is all so clear and respectful, and shows a deep understanding. – Palle Mikkelborg, composer, arranger, and producer of the Aura album

The Last Miles is the first book to center exclusively on the music Davis made in the last decade of his life, and it is sure to satisfy the most serious Davis fans.

Health, Mind & Body / Religion & Spirituality / New Age

The Art of Being: Recapturing the Self by Catherine Laroze (Stewart, Tabori & Chang)

Envision the personal quest [for] a privileged space where silence, tranquility, and listening are open doors leading to the recapture of our own selves.

Stress is one of the most common complaints in a society where too many people try to pack too much activity into too little time. The effort to keep up, to be constantly ‘doing,’ can lead to an imbalanced life and, even worse, to serious health problems.

In The Art of Being, French philosopher Catherine Laroze provides an antidote to this culture of activity by proposing the exact opposite: a culture of inactivity.
Through her own retreats to the mountains, Laroze has learned both the importance and the pleasure of taking time for oneself. Embracing the art of doing nothing, says Laroze, takes us a long way toward finding inner harmony, balance, and self-knowledge. Her poetic text addresses the struggles of contemporary life and suggests numerous paths – solitude, periods of silence, contemplation of nature, childlike curiosity – to achieving a much-needed sense of retreat. Not only will such moments allow us to feel refreshed and rejuvenated, but they will give us the opportunity to learn important lessons about ourselves.

Part thought-provoking essay and part stress-relief manual, The Art of Being is an inspirational guidebook to finding a better way of living.

Health, Mind & Body / Psychology & Counseling

Destructive Trends in Mental Health: The Well-Intentioned Path to Harm edited by Rogers H. Wright & Nicholas A. Cummings (Routledge)

Psychology, psychiatry, and social work have been captured by an ultra-liberal agenda.

Before dismissing this claim as right-wing, conservative backlash, it must be noted that it comes from two lifelong liberal activists whose careers have been defined by radical positions and actions, many of which were enacted through their leadership roles within the American Psychological Association (APA) itself. To back it up, the editors have assembled an impressive collection of leading scholars, practitioners, and researchers in Destructive Trends in Mental Health, an insiders’ critique.

Operating under the premise that special interest groups have used faulty – even false – science to promote political agendas, contributing authors examine contemporary issues such as homophobia, the psychology of victim-hood, cultural sensitivity, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD), managed care, and intelligence research. Chapters challenge the APA's recent stances on gay marriage, pedophilia, abortion, and boxing, exposing a trend in which they see ideology trumping science at the highest levels. The argument is not against high-minded goals such as cultural or sociopolitical diversity – the book rather warns of the dangers of actively discouraging valid scientific inquiry when it could lead to results that might not be politically correct.

Destructive Trends in Mental Health argues for a reevaluation of the practices and policies of professional organizations in the mental health fields, of the needs of the public they ultimately serve, and of how practitioners deliver care to their patients. The book was edited by Rogers H. Wright, Ph.D., past president of Division 12 and founding president of Division 31 of the American Psychological Association, and founding president of the Council for the Advancement of the Psychological Professions and Sciences (CAPPS). And Nicholas A. Cummings, Ph.D., Sc.D., distinguished professor, University of Nevada, Reno, and president of the Cummings Foundation for Behavioral Health, past president of the APA as well as its Divisions 12 (Clinical) and 29 (Psychotherapy). Wright and Cummings argue that unless steps are taken to reverse these trends, the mental health professions will suffer fatal blows to their credibility and, in the long term, their economic viability.

Buttressed and burnished by a glittering Who's Who in scientific and professional psychology, Wright and Cummings persuasively and forcefully dramatize how the mental health professions will enhance patient benefits by removing from the therapeutic process such destructive barriers as political correctness and intrusive ideologies. – Robert Perloff, Ph.D., Distinguished Service Professor, Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh ; Past President, American Psychological Association

Want to avoid foolishness, stupidity, and harm? Read this book; highly recommended. – Michael Hoyt, Ph.D. Chief of Adult Psychiatry, Kaiser Permanente

Destructive Trends in Mental Health could not be more timely, confronting issues that bedevil healthcare – namely, the physician glut that has arisen, transforming medicine and mental health from science-based, health-seeking, Hippocratic endeavors to pharma-mandated, dollar-seeking enterprises, saying whatever to embellish diagnosis and treatment. – Fred Baughman, M.D., author of The ADHD Fraud: How Psychiatry Makes ‘Patients’ out of Normal Children

This book brings together outstanding and respected mental health scholars to challenge the permeation of mis- and disinformation being foisted on the public, the medical profession, and the mental health communities. With such noted scholars challenging these trends, the public has greater insight into what has heretofore been blindly accepted. – David Stein, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Longwood University ; author of Unraveling the ADD/ADHD Fiasco: Successful Parenting without Drugs

Organized psychology has been captured by a small group that is dumbing down psychology while pursuing its own agenda. This book shows how this oligarchy threatens to destroy the science and profession of psychology and wreak harm on an unsuspecting public that trusts and depends on psychology. It deserves very wide readership. – Arnold A. Lazarus, Ph.D., ABPP, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University

In this disturbing book, the authors offer compelling arguments for a reevaluation of recent policy decisions in psychology today. An eye-opening read from cover to cover, the information contained in Destructive Trends in Mental Health will undoubtedly challenge readers’ views of the APA and the field of professional psychology, but also more generally their faith in health care systems and the purity of scientific inquiry.

Health, Mind & Body / Sex

Secrets of the Sexually Satisfied Woman: Ten Keys to Unlocking Ultimate Pleasure by Laura Berman & Jennifer Berman, with Alice Burdick Schweiger (Hyperion)

For decades, women's sexuality has been little more than a hush-hush topic that tends to make most people uncomfortable. Drawing on their vast experience in the fields of urology and couples therapy, and combining their professional, clinical approach with thousands of real women's answers to what makes them sexually satisfied, Drs. Laura and Jennifer Berman, leading experts on women's sexual health, in Secrets of the Sexually Satisfied Woman offer women the awareness and the tools they need to live a satisfying sex life. They address common sexual myths and expectations that have limited women's sexual pleasure. For instance, they reveal that orgasms are not the key to women's sexual satisfaction, and that sexual satisfaction is blind to religion, conservatism, or sexual orientation.

Dr. Laura Berman, clinical assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and psychiatry at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University and founder/director of the Berman Center in Chicago, and Dr. Jennifer Berman, assistant professor of Urology and director of the Female Sexual Medicine Center at the UCLA Medical Center, topple common misconceptions and reshape conventional wisdom based on their National Women's Sexual Satisfaction Survey. Extrapolating from the study results, the Bermans address the psychological and medical factors that affect sexuality while providing advice on how women can improve their sex lives and enhance sexual pleasure.

Secrets of the Sexually Satisfied Woman addresses women directly, citing the personal differences that make all of their experiences unique. Written with the help of Alice Burdick Schweiger, a freelance writer specializing in health and relationships, the book instructs women in the techniques that enable them to achieve pleasure and sexual satisfaction with a professionalism that is lacking in many of today's magazines and self-help publications. The Bermans cover not only the physical side of sex and sexuality but also the significance of love and healthy relationships. They teach women the importance of having a healthy relationship with themselves in order to enhance and define their sexuality as a whole.

Not since The Hite Report twenty-five years ago has female sexuality been so comprehensively addressed and analyzed. Secrets of the Sexually Satisfied Woman is a valuable and accessible resource for women – it gives the tips, tools, and guidelines needed to achieve ulti­mate lovemaking. By following the guidelines of the Ten Keys to Unlocking Ultimate Pleasure, women and their partners can realize their sexual potential. From self-stimula­tion to the joys of sex toys and vibrators, the doctors cover it all, providing an accessible guide to a happy sex life.

Health, Mind & Body / Sociology / Gender Studies

Gender, Nature, and Nurture, Second Edition by Richard A. Lippa ( Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers)

Written by Richard Lippa, Professor of Psychology at California State University in Fullerton , one of the foremost authorities in the field, Gender, Nature, and Nurture presents the latest scientific findings on gender differences, similarities, and variations – in sexuality: cognitive abilities, occupational preferences, personality, and social behaviors. The impact of nature and nurture on gender is examined from the perspectives of genetics, molecular biology, evolutionary theory, neuroanatomy, anthropology, sociology, and psychology. The result is a balanced synthesis of diverse points of view. Lippa's text summarizes each side of the nature-nurture debate, and in witty, imagined conversation between a personified ‘nature’ and ‘nurture,’ it identifies weaknesses in the arguments offered by both sides. Lippa’s review defines gender, summarizes research on gender differences, examines the nature of masculinity and femininity, describes theories of gender, and presents a ‘cascade model,’ which argues that nature and nurture constitute the threads that wave together to form the complex tapestry known as gender.

Gender, Nature, and Nurture, Second Edition has these new features:

• New research on sex differences in personality, moral thought, coping styles, sexual behavior, and antisocial behavior.
• New research on masculinity, femininity, and psychological adjustment.
• Results of a new meta-analysis of sex differences in real-life measures of aggression.
• New sections on non-hormonal direct genetic effects on sexual determination; hormones and maternal behavior; research on male and female attitudes toward computers; and on gender, work, and pay.
• Expanded accounts of sex differences in children's play and activity levels, social teaming theories of gender, and social constructionist views of gender.
• A new glossary of key terms and concepts.

Competition: are you kidding: What competition? I created this course around the Lippa book. The author draws the reader in… The additions will make the book an even stronger teaching tool, and cement its position as unique in the marketplace in presenting balanced and up-to-date coverage of sex differences... – Lori Van Wallendael, PhD, University of North Carolina-Charlotte

There is a real need for one text to synthesize both sides of this still raging debate. This book meets that need. The book is able to describe an expansive amount of research on complex topics and not intimidate students in the process. – Christa Spears Brown, PhD, UCLA

Readers of all levels should find this book informative, entertaining, and most of all worthwhile. – Psychology of Women Quarterly

Lippa's engaging book stands as one of the few to tackle gender and its biological and environmental influences based on it thorough review of the research in both areas....ideally suited for newcomers to the subject – lower and upper-division undergraduates...and general readers. – CHOICE

Gender, Nature, and Nurture is a lively, engaging and fair-minded ‘primer’ and an ideal book for courses on gen­der studies, the psychology of women or of men, and gender roles. Its wealth of updated information will stimulate professional readers, its accessible style will captivate student readers, and its forthright examination of the relation between scientific debate and public policy will captivate general readers.

Health, Mind & Body / Health & Fitness

The Walking Deck: 50 Ways to Walk Yourself Healthy by Shirley Archer (Health Deck Series: Chronicle Books)

Walking – almost everyone does it.

Walking does not cost money, takes little time, and involves low-impact stress joints, making it an accessible form of exercise for seniors, expectant mothers, and those recovering from surgery or injury.

Studies show that the benefits that come from simply walking can be enormous. Walking as little as 30 minutes daily is one of the easiest, safest, and most enjoyable ways to keep in shape and reduce stress. Regular and moderate walking can reduce the risk of heart disease by as much as 40 percent. Other health benefits include improved bone health, reduced blood cholesterol, better mental performance, and sounder sleep. Not only does it improve physical health overall, it allows time to reconnect with nature, friends, and pets – warding off anxiety and depression and increasing the quality of life.

Written by Shirley S. Archer, health and wellness educator and fitness specialist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, The Walking Deck introduces simple ways to incorporate the benefits of walking into one’s routine, providing convenient ways to meet health and fitness goals. Cards cover form, technique, how to monitor intensity, proper stretching and strolling, plus 20 specialty itineraries for hoofing it everywhere from the beach to the mall to city streets.

Individual cards feature waking techniques, stretching exercises, toning exercises, and specialty walks: from the Easy Stroll to the Power Walk and from the Hill Walk to the Toning Circuit Walk. Each card includes an illustration with a description, tips, or suggested variations on the reverse side. Other specialized walks include the Mall Walk, the Urban Walk, the Dog Walk, and the Meditation Walk.

An introductory fold-out card delineates training guidelines as recommended by the U.S. Surgeon General and the American College of Sports Medicine; conscientious walking tips regarding posture, safety, form, and frequency; as well as tips on how to monitor progress, how to add variety and how to advance in the program. Other cards feature a Fitness Test, a Calorie-Burning Chart, and a Walking-Pace Chart to help readers determine where to begin and how to proceed on a regimen best suited for them.

The Walking Deck provides practical and thorough information in a handy and portable format. It helps readers adapt this simple act to meet their health and exercise goals and promote well-being of mind, body, and spirit. A compact deck of cards packed with a lot of information and even bigger benefits, The Walking Deck is also a wonderful gift of health.

History / Patterns

Growing Up: The History of Childhood in a Global Context by Peter N. Stearns (Edmondson Lecture Series: Baylor University )

In 1975 Dr. E. Bud Edmondson of Longview , Texas , began an endowment fund at Baylor University to honor his father, Mr. Charles S. B. Edmondson. Edmondson's wanted the proceeds from the fund used to bring to the University outstanding historians who could synthesize, interpret, and communicate history in such a way as to make the past relevant to the present generation. Growing Up is Edmondson lecture twenty-eight, made up of the transcripts of two lectures, essays given by Peter N. Stearns on the topics of childhood in two varied global settings, over time:

1. Childhood in Agricultural Societies – The Emergence and Elaboration of a Powerful Model
2. Childhood Amid Modernization and Globalization

Editor of the Journal of Social History, Peter Stearns, currently provost at George Mason University, is a prolific author, having recently published The Battleground of Desire: The Struggle for Self-Control in Modern America; Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in Western Society; Gender in World History; and World History: Patterns of Change and Continuity. Stearns also is editor of the recently published six-volume Encyclopedia of European Social History from 1350 to 2000. He is active in several professional organizations including the American Historical Society, the Society of French Historical Studies, the Social Science History Association, and the International Society for Research on Emotion.

No historian takes the long view and the big picture more seriously than Peter Stearns. In these provocative and important essays, Stearns challenges historians of childhood to think seriously and globally by outlining a world history of childhood. – Paula S. Fass, Margaret Byrne Professor of History, University of California at Berkeley

Growing Up, the very first book to delineate the global history of childhood, brilliantly demonstrates how a focus on children can bring the major themes in world history to life. Succinctly and convincingly, Peter Stearns analyzes the implications of the transitions from a hunting and gathering to an agricultural and industrial economy and traces the distinctive ways that diverse civilizations and religious traditions approached childhood. This study will be the starting point for all future attempts to place childhood in comparative perspective. – Steven Mintz, John and Rebecca Moore Professor of History, University of Houston

Stearns explores how some of the larger patterns of world history intersect with the intimate experience of childhood. Readers will note with respect the range of learning that underpins this informative text, and they will discover with gratitude how interesting and provocative the history of childhood is. – Raymond Grew, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Michigan

Growing Up is the first book written on the history of childhood within a global context. Baylor has provided a starting point for future discussion of how childhood happens through time and across cultures.

History / Americas / Sociology / Women’s Studies

Women of the New Mexico Frontier, 1846-1912, Revised by Cheryl J. Foote (University of New Mexico Press)

Just in time for Mother's Day, Albuquerque author and educator Cheryl J. Foote chronicles the lives of ordinary women living on the New Mexico frontier from 1846-1912.

Women of the New Mexico Frontier, 1846–1912 is a collection of essays that include biographical sketches and writings from women of all walks of life who helped bring about the Americanization of the New Mexico Territory , from the Mexican War until statehood in 1912. These women were wives of missionaries, soldiers and military officers, and government officials who came from the eastern part of the United States . Unearthing previously overlooked records from historical archives, Foote examines the full gamut of women's experiences on the raucous Old West frontier of New Mexico .

For this edition, Foote, who teaches at the Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute, has provided a new introduction, which highlights information uncovered since the book’s original publication in 1990.

Throughout, Foote does not shy away from sensitive topics, including alcoholism, domestic violence, and prostitution. . . . She has unearthed some women’s documents that were either unknown or have been overlooked, and she has encouraged others to delve into southwestern women’s history. – Glenda Riley, Alexander M. Bracken Professor Emeritus of History, Ball State University , Muncie , Indiana

Battered wives, Presbyterian missionaries, army laundresses – these are the people that Cheryl Foote presents in Women of the New Mexico Frontier. Even though she restricted her portraiture to Anglo-American women, Foote still found individuals about whom we usually know too little. For example, a particular strength of this book is the new dimension it brings to our understanding of army women. – The Journal of Arizona History

Based on careful research, Women of the New Mexico Frontier brings to our attention the lives and work of obscure but nevertheless significant women. For the first time, the lives of Anglo women from the Eastern United States are examined vis-à-vis the Americanization of New Mexico Territory.

History / Jewish / Biographies & Memoirs

The Search for Major Plagge: The Nazi Who Saved Jews by Michael Good ( Fordham University Press)

In 2005, in Jerusalem, Karl Plagge joins Oskar Schindler and some 380 other Germans honored as a ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ hero by the State of Israel for protecting and saving Jews during the Holocaust.

Perhaps in other places only a small amount of determination was lacking in order to prevent or decrease the atrocities. I never felt that this needed special courage. It required only the conviction and strength that anyone can draw from the depth of moral feelings that exists in all humans. – Major Karl Plagge, from a letter written in 1956

While all ‘Righteous Gentiles’ share the stamp of conscience, Plagge’s story is of a unique kind of courage – that of a German army officer who subverted the system of death to save the lives of some 250 Jews in Vilna, Lithuania. One of those he saved was Michael Good’s mother.

The Search for Major Plagge is the culmination of Michael Good's five-year search to discover the identity of the mysterious German army officer who saved his mother and 250 Jews from certain death. Good, a physician in Durham , Connecticut , was captivated by his mother's Holocaust survival story and after a visit to Vilna in the summer of 1999, he decided to launch an investigation to find out everything he could about the man whose courage spared hundreds of lives.

The book operates on two historical levels. The first reconstructs the experience of the author's family in Vilna in the 1940s, recounting both his parents' stories of survival. The second is the account of Good's research, as he builds a team of researchers from around the world and gradually pieces together the story of how Plagge was transformed from a Nazi party activist into a man determined to resist the genocidal machine he had helped create.

On July 1st 1944 , Major Plagge gathered his workers at the slave labor camp he ran and gave a warning that would save many of their lives. He told them the SS was coming to evacuate the labor camp and, "you know how well the SS takes care of its Jewish prisoners." With that, Good's mother, Pearl , her family, and 100 other Jews fled to the basement of the building where they hid for three days.

This wasn't Major Plagge's only act of resistance and compassion. Plagge went to Berlin and argued for the lives of 19,000 Jews who were scheduled to be executed, and he saved the lives of hundreds by issuing them yellow ‘life’ certificates declaring them indispensable laborers in his camp. He insisted his workers have the same amount of food to eat as his German officers, and Plagge even fired one of his officers who reportedly kicked a Jewish worker.

But Plagge never saw himself as a hero. He was plagued with guilt and called his efforts inadequate. When German judges were ready to give him a classification of innocence during his post-war trial, he refused it. He instead asked the court to give him the ‘fellow traveler’ label, which acknowledged his contribution to the rise of the Nazi Party.

"There are always some people," Pearl Good said of the man who saved her life when he didn't have to, "who decide that the horror is not to be."

Against the background of the Holocaust which has robbed so many of their faith, here is a story to restore one's faith. – Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People

This is a riveting book, written as an involved detective story, and an exemplary tale of unassuming human courage. After the Vilna Ghetto was liquated by the Nazis in September 1943, a group of Jews survived in the houses of HKP (An industrial workplace of the German army) almost until the liberation, protected by the Wehrmacht commander of the outfit, Major Plagge, who stood up for his Jews even against pressures from the Gestapo. – Benjamin Harshav, Yale University

… This is an exceptional story of one man's bravery and compassion in a world where six million Jews were murdered. – George Cohen, Booklist

The Search for Major Plagge explores how one man's moral choices saved hundreds of lives. Interviewing camp survivors, opening German files that had been untouched for more than fifty years, and translating newly discovered letters by Plagge, Good weaves an amazing tale. This unforgettable book is the first portrait of a man who simply refused to play by the rules and reminds us of the many ways human beings can resist evil.

Home & Garden / Remodeling & Renovation

Kitchen and Bath Idea Book Collection (Idea Books) [BOXED SET] by Joanne Kellar Bouknight, Andrew Wormer (The Taunton Press)

New Kitchen Idea Book by Joanne Kellar Bouknight ( Taunton 's Idea Books Series: The Taunton Press)

New Bathroom Idea Book by Andrew Wormer ( Taunton 's Idea Books Series: The Taunton Press)

Taunton 's new Kitchen and Bath Idea Book Collection includes both the New Kitchen Idea Book and the New Bathroom Idea Book boxed together as a set.

New Kitchen Idea Book starts from the premise that the kitchen has become less utilitarian and more creative – a place where homeowners express their personal style as much as they would in any other room of the house. Homeowners are spending time and money making it the true heart of their home. By that same token, new appliance technology allows for a more useful kitchen, while hiding the pragmatism behind aesthetics. With all these new possibilities comes an overwhelming array of choices. Homeowners need guidance, and New Kitchen Idea Book provides that guidance. The book, written by Joanne Kellar Bouknight, a licensed architect, helps readers figure out their desires and how to create them, whether it’s a contemporary, brushed-stainless workroom worthy of an upscale restaurant; a rustic, farmhouse-style great room with wood flooring and a couch; or an elegant, streamlined space for a small city apartment. For every style – new appliance technology and cabinetry, fixtures and faucets, doors and counter materials, sinks, pulls, built-ins, and bookcases – New Kitchen Idea Book helps homeowners create the kitchen of their dreams.

New Bathroom Idea Book begins with the idea that the bathroom today is also getting more attention than ever – homeowners are realizing its value as a personal retreat and resale enhancer. Gone are the days of garish tile and fuzzy toilet seat covers; now, bathrooms are about taste and style. People want them to be both beautiful and functional, and manufacturers have provided more choices in materials and fixtures. This book, written by Andrew Wormer, an experienced builder and bathroom remodeler, covers them all, with ideas for tiny half-baths, medium-size his-and-hers, and large, luxurious home spas. Specifics on ventilation, waterproofing, faucets, showers, and tubs, give readers the knowledge they need to create the bathroom they want. With 325 photographs from today’s leading designers and architects, New Bathroom Idea Book gives homeowners hundreds of ideas about how to make the bath one of the most enjoyable and beautiful rooms in the house.

Both of the books in Kitchen and Bath Idea Book Collection are brimming with visual inspiration. Photos will inspire readers with creative ways to solve problems and enhance the quality of each space. This collection offers practical information and a wide array of design ideas to appeal to every budget and taste.

Literature & Fiction / Poetry / Travel

Poets on Place: Tales and Interviews from the Road edited by W. T. Pfefferle, with a foreword by David St. John (Utah State University Press)

Out to see America and satisfy his travel bug, W. T. Pfefferle resigned his position as director of the writing program at Johns Hopkins University and hit the road to interview sixty-two poets about the significance of place in their work. The gathering of voices and ideas in Poets on Place is illustrated with photo and word portraits from the road and represented with suitable poems.

The poets include, among others: James Harms, Martha Collins, Linda Gregerson, Richard Tillinghast, Orlando Ricardo Menes, Karen Volkman, Lisa Samuels, Marvin Bell, Michael Dennis Browne, David Allan Evans, , Robert Wrigley, Nance Van Winckel, Christopher Howell, Mark Halperin, Barbara Drake, Floyd Skloot, Ralph Angel, Carol Muske-Dukes, David St. John, Sharon Bryan, Donald Revell, Claudia Keelan, Alberto Rios, Richard Shelton, Jane Miller, William Wenthe, Naomi Shihab Nye, Peter Cooley, Miller Williams, Denise Duhamel, Campbell McGrath, Terrance Hayes, Alan Shapiro, Nikki Giovanni, Charles Wright, Rita Dove, Henry Taylor, Dave Smith, Nicole Cooley, Michael S. Harper, C. D. Wright, Mark Wunderlich, James Cummins, Frederick Smock, Mark Jarman, Carl Phillips, Scott Cairns, Elizabeth Dodd, Jonathan Holden, Bin Ramke, Kenneth Brewer, and Paisley Rekdal.

In Poets on Place Pfefferle locates the urgencies of American poetry, poet by poet, against the backdrop of real places, actual landscapes, allowing his poets to reflect upon the landscapes of childhood or the vistas of a particular past. He also found poets who live comfortably in the fiercely imagined landscapes of their interior lives, their personal desires and hopes, and shows the way these more private and internal tensions are mirrored in a poem's more literal, external landscape. Poetry is forever looking to discover and describe what we mean by a sense of ‘home.’ In this collection of interviews, each poet struggles with the details of his or her own biography, of the complexities of residence and movement, in order to speak with the voice of place, the voice of landscape, within the poetic voice. We begin to see in the course of the interviews in Poets on Place that, although collected individually, these voices weave together into a fabric that exhibits a profound sense of American poetic community.

Pfefferle journeys deep into the American heartland to ...record the . . . songs of and photograph poets in their habitat. – David Citino, poet laureate of Ohio State University
These interviews . . . exhibit the profound richness and dazzling diversity of American poetry and its poets. – David St. John, from the foreword

Every generation or so we are reminded that thinking about ‘Place’ is enormously significant, especially to us North Americans. Notice the name: who we are is where we are. ‘Place’ is intelligence and emotion as well as geography, but it is geography, and this amazing collection of interviews reminds us all of that fact and of that glory. … – Bin Ramke

Poets on Place is an extraordinary and unique collection of interviews with American poets. Collected with intelligence and wit by Pfefferle on his cross-country travels, these interviews on the importance of place and landscape in poetry exhibit the profound richness and dazzling diversity of American poetry and its poets.

Literature & Fiction / Anthologies / Iranian

Strange Times, My Dear: The Pen Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature edited by Nahid Mozaffari, poetry edited by Ahmad Karimi Hakkak (Arcade Publishing) is the book over which Arcade sued the U.S. Government.

For thousands of years, multiple ethnicities, languages, and religions have coexisted in Iran , and they continue to do so despite traumatic events and transient ideologies. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the United States has been virtually cut off from Iran 's culture. Despite war, repression, and censorship, a veritable cultural renewal has taken place in Iran over the past quarter-century, not only in literature but in music, art, and film. Here in translation for the first time are selections from the work of over forty writers – both men and women – from three generations.

This anthology of fiction and poetry, Strange Times, My Dear, edited by Nahid Mozaffari, showcases the developments in Iranian literature over this period. Mozaffari, with a Ph.D. in history and Middle Eastern studies from Harvard University , has taught Middle Eastern history at the New School in New York and at Cabot University in Rome . In her introduction, Mozaffari offers an overview of contemporary trends in Persian liter­ature and describes the general state of Iran since the revolution.

According to Dick Seaver, editor in chief of Arcade Publishing, after Arcade contracted to publish Strange Times, My Dear, the editors learned that to proceed with its publication would subject them to a possible fine of $1,000,000 and ten years in prison. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury demanded that to avoid these penalties Arcade would have to apply to them for a permit. This was in their view a blatant violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of the press, and Arcade decided to proceed without a permit. Further, together with PEN American Center , the Association of American Publishers Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division, and the Association of American University Presses, filed a lawsuit in federal court against the U.S. Government in late September 2004 asking for an injunction against enforcement of the OFAC regulations.

In December 2004, without responding directly to their lawsuit, the Treasury Department issued a ‘general license’ allowing Arcade to "freely engage in most ordinary publishing activities" involving countries on America 's ‘enemies list.’ While this is a step in the right direction, Arcade firmly believes that no organ of government has the right or authority to decide what publishers can publish and what the public may read. Even as ‘general licenses’ can be issued, so too can they be revoked, thus reinstating censorship.

Ambitious . . . It seems remarkable that these writers have escaped the wrath of the authorities, given their candor. A diverse sampling of contemporary Iranian letters and a welcome tool for anyone seeking to understand a complex culture that has long been explained away as The Enemy. – Kirkus Reviews

An extraordinary collection of fiction and poetry, this rich and varied collection – or, to use the Persian term, golchine, bouquet – provides a much needed window onto a largely undiscovered branch of world literature. Strange Times, My Dear brings to readers both literary enjoyment and a fuller understanding of Iran's complex contemporary culture and goes a long way toward filling the gap in our knowledge.

Literature & Fiction / Poetry

Lie Awake Lake by Beckian Fritz Goldberg (Oberlin College Press)

Already one of America 's most admired poets, with a substantial following, Beckian Fritz Goldberg joins the FIELD Poetry Series as the winner of the annual poetry prize with her new collection, Lie Awake Lake. Goldberg, author of three previous books