May 2008, Issue #109

Karen O’Connor, humorist and author of Getting Old Ain’t for Wimps, which has sold more than 200,000 copies, shares more comic and meaningful scenes from the senior side of life in The Golden Years Ain't for Wimps. With a twinkle in her eye, O'Connor invites readers to chuckle and laugh out loud at the mishaps, misunderstandings, and missteps we all make in our journey to maturity, including...

Trying to remember the thingamajigs bought at whozywhatsit for the whatchamacallits.
Figuring out how to avoid unwanted work, which sometimes takes more work.
Mixing up and mishearing words ... and the often hilarious results.
Tackling activities of youth, forgetting our bodies are a bit different now.

O'Connor is a public speaker, writing consultant, and award-winning author of 55 books. She has appeared on national radio and television programs such as The 700 Club and Lifestyle Magazine. Listeners enjoy her short stories, tales from others, and glimpses of golden moments as they discover

The significance of life after a certain age.
Joy in new friendships and experiences.
Adventures still ahead.
Purpose and meaning on deeper levels.

These humorous stories highlight the joy of being alive and the funny situations we get ourselves into. By celebrating the little things in life, such as the ability to recall any anecdote with clarity, O’Connor in The Golden Years Ain't for Wimps leads readers to rest in the bigger wonders of faith and purpose.

Audio / Health, Mind & Body / Self-Help / Motivation

Mastering the Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success: An Owner’s Manual to the New York Times Bestseller The Traveler’s Gift (5 Audio CDs) by Andy Andrews (Oasis Audio)

Andy Andrews knows first hand that the road to success is paved with seven intentional decisions. He has spent the last twenty five years studying some of history's great success stories and infusing his own life with his findings. Hailed as a ‘modern-day Will Rogers who has quietly become one of the most influential people in America,’ Andrews is a novelist and motivational speaker. The Traveler's Gift, a featured book selection of ABC's Good Morning America, has been translated into nearly twenty languages and was on the New York Times bestseller list for seventeen weeks. Andrews has spoken at the request of four different United States presidents and toured military bases around the world at the request of the Department of Defense.

Mastering the Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success guides readers to an understanding of how to integrate seven life-changing decisions into their daily lives. Andrews shares the tools needed to experience the same success and offers an in-depth explanation of the seven decisions.

The Responsible Decision: The buck stops here. I accept responsibility for my past. I am responsible for my success. I will not let my history control my destiny.
The Guided Decision: I will seek wisdom.
The Active Decision: I am a person of action.
The Certain Decision: I have a decided heart. Criticism, condemnation, and complaint have no power over me.
The Joyful Decision: Today I will choose to be happy.
The Compassionate Decision: I will greet this day with a forgiving spirit.
The Persistent Decision: I will persist without exception.

According to Andrews, these principles impact every area of life – parenting, relationships, career and financial achievement, and they help extinguish limiting behaviors. He urges listeners to embrace these principles, study them, and plug them into their own lives to create the future of their choosing.

Mastering the Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success also contains profiles of successful people and pages of exercises to help readers put these principles to work in their own lives.

Arguable, there is no one on the planet better at weaving subtle, yet life-changing lessons into riveting tales of adventure and intrigue – both on paper and on stage. These are profound lessons and the probing exercises help listeners apply them in their lives. The audio version is read by the author.

Audio / Literature & Fiction / Religious

The Duchess and the Dragon: A Novel (7 Audio CDs: unabridged) by Jamie Carie, read by Peter Sandon (Oasis Audio)

Against the rich backdrop of Regency-era England and a young America, two passionate seekers find in each other the strength to face hard truths – and confront an insidious web of deceit that may destroy all they hold dear. Jamie Carie’s second novel, The Duchess and the Dragon, tells the story of these two unlikely soul mates who live worlds apart but soon meet and turn each other’s world upside down.

Drake Weston, Duke of Northumberland, is accustomed to a life of royalty, wealth, prestige and power. Then his rage pushes him to a tragic mistake, and he must run, leaving everything behind. Not just his home, but England herself. With a pile of money on which to survive, and cloaked in a false identity, Drake steals aboard a ship of indentured servants to America only to be taken ill and robbed during the merciless sea voyage.

In Philadelphia harbor, Serena Winter, a humble, devoted Quaker, is on a mission of mercy, tending the sick aboard ships that arrive from England. Never before has she seen such squalor and misery as she finds on the latest ship. Nor has she ever met such a one as the half-conscious man with the penetrating eyes and arrogant demeanor. Though she saves his life, even taking him into her family home, there is little gratitude or humility in this man.

In The Duchess and the Dragon, Serena is nevertheless taken by Drake’s air of dark mystery as he serves as an apprentice to her silversmith father. She is certain that beneath the brash exterior is a heart in search of peace and falls in love with him. She accepts his marriage proposal only to be excommunicated for marrying non-Quaker. Not knowing Drake’s history, Serena is later shocked to discover her new status as a duchess.

Carie, a rising romance novelist, is the author of SnowAngel and winner of a 2007 National ‘Best Books’ Award. The audio version of the book is read by Peter Sandon, a retired medical doctor, who grew up in England telling stories to his younger brother.

Business & Investing / Biographies

Manischewitz: The Matzo Family – The Making of an American Icon by Laura Manischewitz Alpern (KTAV Publishing House, Inc.)

Thanks to Laura Manischewitz Alpern, the origins of Manischewitz will not be forgotten. She recounts the family's history through the lives of its leading men and women. Her insider's tale of the family that transformed the world of matzo and became a symbol of ‘100% kosher’ reminds us why the name ‘Manischewitz’ remains magical still. Man, oh Manischewitz, what a story! – Jonathan D. Sarna, Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University, from the Introduction

In Manischewitz, readers travel back to the European roots of a remarkable family who crossed the ocean from Lithuania with little baggage but their religious faith and a young man's ambitions.
”I'm going to bake matzos this year...We’ll see how it goes,” said Behr Manischewitz – one bright spring morning in 1888 a young immigrant father named Behr makes this offhand announcement to his modest wife Nesha. Within record time, the ambitious young Talmudic scholar has a burgeoning bakery and is on his way to success.

Great granddaughter Laura Manischewitz Alpern, who worked for three decades as a librarian, recounts in Manischewitz the family's history through the lives of its leading men and women.
Manischewitz is actually much more than a name. It has become, through the years, a familiar symbol as well. For some it denotes Passover, the holiday when more people consume Manischewitz matzo than any other matzo in the world. For others, it represents kosher wine, the world's bestselling kosher wine, and the only one with a slogan ("Man, oh Manischewitz") that an astronaut, Gene Cernan, once actually exclaimed during a moon-walk. For still others, it epitomizes everything that makes food kosher.

The B. Manischewitz Company began 120 years ago when its founder, Dov Behr, born in Salant, Lithuania, immigrated to Cincinnati in 1886 from the port city of Memel, then under Prussian rule. For a time, the newcomer peddled and slaughtered kosher meat in the city. Having slaughtered meat under the supervision of the famed Rabbi Israel Salanter, he was held in high regard. But in 1888, the enterprising immigrant branched out into matzo-baking. This was a common profession for Jewish immigrants, especially those trained in ritual slaughtering, for matzo too was a Jewish food strictly regulated by Jewish law and requiring supervision. Moreover, demand for matzo was rising steadily in the United States, keeping pace with the growth of America's Jewish population.

At the time that Manischewitz entered the matzo business, the industry was in a state of flux. For millennia, matzo had been made totally by hand. Then, in 1838, an Alsatian Jew named Isaac Singer, influenced by the industrial revolution, produced the first known machine for rolling matzo dough. Behr Manischewitz, a born tinkerer, would greatly improve on the technology for baking matzo. He and his gifted son, Jacob Uriah (Jake), who succeeded him upon his untimely death in 1914, created machines that automated the entire process of matzo making. By the 1920s, Manischewitz could boast of being the world's largest manufacturers of matzo, producing some 1.25 million matzos per day. Their factory in 1938 housed ‘the largest and most expensive single piece of machinery in any bakery in the world.’

For all of its outward conservatism, Manischewitz was really a revolutionary force in the long history of matzo. In addition to converting millions of Jews to machine-made matzo, it also transformed the product itself in several major ways which are described in Manischewitz. Remarkably, Manischewitz staged this revolution without calling down upon itself the jackals of heresy. The scrupulous reputation for piety of Behr Manischewitz and also of his son, Hirsch, who spent thirteen years studying in various yeshivot (Talmudic academies) in Jerusalem, helped the company to win significant rabbinic allies.

Like so many ethnic food businesses, Manischewitz was primarily a family business. It passed from fathers to sons, and in some capacity or other employed a wide variety of family members. Laura Manischewitz Alpern, herself a scion of the family, reminds readers in Manischewitz that families, especially large families like Manischewitz, are complicated and colorful. The women of the Manischewitz family – who, as in so many other cases, mostly operated behind the scenes – played an especially critical role. They might have played an even more critical business role, Alpern observes, had they but been given the chance. As for the men, they covered a broad spectrum: some more able than others, some more affable then others, some more religious than others. What united them, men and women alike, were bonds of kinship, as well as a firm allegiance to the Jewish people.

Through the years the Manischewitz family built what would today be called a ‘niche market’ – Jewish food – and it was a market that family members understood intuitively. Seeking, like all successful ethnic merchants, to broaden their base, the Manischewitzes eventually expanded both horizontally and vertically. They moved from Cincinnati to the center of Jewish life in New York. They exported matzo to Jewish communities around the world, including Russia and the Land of Israel. And they branched out from matzo, a food mostly consumed during Passover, to year-round products like Tam Tam crackers, gefilte fish, and especially kosher wine (which was actually produced by an outside company under license.) As the twentieth century wound down, Manischewitz was, by far, America's best known and largest producer of kosher foods. It had become the quintessential kosher food brand.

By then, perhaps inevitably, the business had outgrown the family that created it. Bernard Manischewitz, in 1990, found no obvious successor among family members, and put the company up for sale. Many other ethnic food companies had shifted from family control to corporate control through the years: Ronzoni, Franco-American, La Choy, Lender's and innumerable others. Ethnic foods were becoming American foods, their distinctive origins forgotten.

Manischewitz relates in a highly readable and fascinating volume the story of the Manischewitz family and their successful business. It is a very personal story, but it is also the story of America.

Business & Investing / Personal Finance

Boomers! Funding Your Future in an Age of Uncertainty by Mark Mills & Nancy Fernandez Mills (Thorndike Large Print Health, Home and Learning: Thorndike Press, Thomson Gale)

For the over 12,000 Baby Boomers who are turning 60 every day, the promise of longevity is a double-edged sword – they hope to live well into their nineties, but they are terrified of outliving their savings. With advances in medicine and greater awareness about diet, exercise, and the risks of smoking, many Boomers will make it to age 100.

In Boomers!, Mark Mills and Nancy Fernandez Mills, known for their public television series Boomers! Redefining Life after Fifty, alleviate Boomers’ fears by providing solutions for improving and maximizing their financial situations. Using stories of real people, including themselves, the Mills illustrate what to do, what not to do, and what to consider when planning for retirement. They explain a new Boomer mindset that embraces retirement as an enjoyable journey and introduce readers to other Boomers who are living meaningfully in this new stage of life.
According to Mark Mills, a seasoned broadcast financial journalist and Certified Financial Planner and Nancy Fernandez Mills, national Emmy Award-winning NBC correspondent who co-founded Lifecycle Productions, as the oldest Boomers enter their early sixties, they are poised to launch a new revolution, reinventing ‘retirement’ and redefining aging in America. Boomers are all about seeking new adventures, experiences, accomplishments, and relationships. Today's Boomers may be around to benefit from remarkable breakthroughs in fields such as stem cell research and nanomedicine, which promise dramatic advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other life-threatening illnesses. Many will use that ‘longevity bonus’ to change careers, start a business, pursue hobbies, get an advanced degree, spend time with family, and give back through civic engagement. Whatever they do, they will not withdraw to the sidelines; they will not slip quietly into later life.

Still, these wonderful prospects are not without risks and worries. Millions of Boomers are becoming empty nesters while others are coping with divorce and being single again. Many are still raising children while also caring for elderly parents. The setbacks and the opportunities at this time of life make for a mixed blessing, a yin and yang of regret and relief, sadness and joy, optimism and uncertainty. The aim of Boomers! is to inspire Boomers to grab the possibilities, and to offer guidance on navigating the challenges.

For Boomers, ‘retirement’ will not be an event but a process, an evolving life chapter that lasts for years and includes a mix of paid work, education, volunteering, family activity, travel, and recreation. Eventually, Boomers will adopt a more traditional retirement lifestyle, but at a much later age than did their parents' generation. This will happen for two main reasons. First, Boomers want to stay in the game, to enjoy the satisfaction, sense of accomplishment, and meaningful relationships that are part of the work experience. Second, they can't afford to quit. This is not a generation of dedicated savers. Growing up during the Great Depression, their parents may have learned to be thrifty. But those lessons didn't transfer to the Boomers, who came of age in affluent postwar America. For both the psychic benefits and financial rewards, Boomers will remain in the workforce in some capacity. They will make it fashionable to keep on truckin', and uncool to drop out for a life of bingo and early bird specials.

According to Boomers!, studies indicate that 75 to 80 percent of Boomers plan to do some kind of work after age 65. But will the economy have room for all these aging Boomers to keep working? Age discrimination has been a serious problem in the American workplace for years. It could become an epidemic with so many older workers in need of a paycheck. But the generation coming up after the Boomers is smaller. It has fewer workers to feed a growing economy. Many employers will need to retain the skills, experience, and solid work habits of the Boomer generation. We may see a happy coinciding of Boomers who want to keep working, and employers who need all the skilled hands they can find.

Work has become less physically demanding, which enables people to stay on the job longer. Most working Boomers are computer literate so they can handle many of today's workplace tasks. They may even be able to telecommute from home, saving employers the cost of office space. The U.S. economy has seen an increase in the use of part-time and temporary workers, which fits neatly into the Boomer desire for part-time employment in ‘retirement.’

More and more, we will find Boomers who consider themselves to be both ‘retired’ and working. Both will be true, but the work will be in a post-career job, probably part-time and hopefully in a field that is personally satisfying.

While the Mills believe many Boomers will have tremendous opportunities to live exciting and fulfilling lives as they age, they also recognize that we live in uncertain times. Americans face an array of challenges, as a nation and as individuals. From the war on terror to our bulging fiscal deficits, from global competition to global warming, we live in an era fraught with risks and uncertainties. We all get annual statements from the federal government detailing our projected Social Security benefits, but Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke calls Medicare and Social Security ‘unsustainable entitlement programs.’ To keep them going we have to either cut benefits or raise taxes. Traditional social safety nets are less reliable. The reality is that everyone is much more on their own.

Longer life spans mean we are increasingly a society of four-generation families consisting of Boomers, their children, their grand-children, and their elderly parents. Young adults and middle-aged workers cannot afford to pay Social Security and Medicare for a leisure class of Boomers, while also footing the bill for educating the young and caring for the truly old and frail. Yet that picture of the greedy Boomer geezer, and its potential for causing intergenerational strife, is a widely held concern. Well, what about a notion where two generations in the middle band together to support the truly elderly and dependent young people? In that scenario, Boomers and their adult children will carry the burden of providing care and services to the youngest, oldest, and most vulnerable members of society.

Unfortunately, many Boomers do a much better job of planning vacations than they do their own retirements. Boomers! says that crunching numbers to know how much one will need in retirement can be daunting. But more daunting is the prospect of being flat broke over the last 30 years. It appears many Boomers will be struggling as they age. The Boston College Center for Retirement Research estimates that 35 percent of older Boomers (born 1946 to 1954) are at risk of being unable to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living in retirement. For younger Boomers (born 1955 to 1964), the at-risk figure jumps to 44 percent. The reason for this gloomy outlook is a changing retirement landscape, including an increase in the Social Security retirement age, a sharp decline in traditional pensions, modest 401(k) balances, low savings rates, and longer life spans.

Financial author and public television money expert Jonathan Pond says Boomer prospects are better than most people think. "There is a lot of university and government research which suggests that Boomers are actually in better financial condition than much of the media portray," says Pond. "It doesn't mean they are not challenged, many are. But even the more pessimistic outlooks suggest that 60 to 65 percent are in pretty good shape."

Boomers! is a guide to shaping the future Boomers want. The Mills offer Boomers the tools to capitalize on what they call ‘life assets.’ They try to alleviate Boomers' fears by providing solutions. Using stories of real people, they explain a new Boomer mindset that redefines ‘retirement’ and embrace the second half of midlife as a journey full of promise. Boomers! can help the Sixties generation live and (eventually) retire in style.

They present new models for a new stage of life. From changing careers to starting a business, from saving and investing to smart moves in housing, from health care to community service, they offer advice, provide resources, and profile pioneers who are already on the road to a 21st century retirement. These are uncertain times, but Boomers have the power to create a more positive future for their families and themselves.

Cooking, Food & Wine

Cooking with the Uglesiches by John Uglesich (Pelican)

The small lunch counter in New Orleans developed a cult following after its opening in 1924 by Yugoslavian immigrant Sam Mate Uglesich. When Sam's son, Anthony, took over, the restaurant was just the kind of out-of-the-way spot where locals and regular tourists could taste the real New Orleans.

Cooking with the Uglesiches is the second cookbook from Uglesich's Restaurant, and it includes Anthony and Gail's recipes from home, as well as some of their recipes from the restaurant. This tribute to a New Orleans institution provides recipes not included in the earlier Uglesich's Restaurant Cookbook as well as pictures of the restaurant's last full day of service in May 2005.

A New Orleans institution since 1924, at one time the restaurant served primarily seafood and sandwich plates for both lunch and dinner. Later, service only included lunch. After Anthony and Gail purchased the restaurant from Sam, they expanded the menu to include more sautéed and grilled items while keeping the popular seafood dishes. Despite shortened hours and limited space, the restaurant attracted locals and visitors from around the country. People lined up around the block regularly to order one of Gail's famous Bloody Marys or a plate of Shrimp Uggie.

In Cooking with the Uglesiches, John showcases traditional Italian and American dishes, as well as new seafood creations. The recipes, divided into appetizers, side dishes, and main courses, provide numerous possibilities for any occasion. Explanations of how they were named or developed accompany each recipe.

Since he was a teenager at Fortier High School, Anthony Uglesich worked in the family restaurant, learning from his father, Sam, and uncle, Tony. Upon Uncle Tony's death, Anthony left Louisiana State University to work full time at Uglesich's. Known for his sense of humor, Anthony helped customers choose dishes and was honest when particular seafood was not up to its usual standard. Anthony was at his best when the customer allowed him to choose their meal.

While the restaurant offered Creole seafood dishes, Anthony and Gail like to prepare Italian and traditional American meals in their home. The restaurant never offered desserts, yet this cookbook provides some simple and popular desserts prepared by different family members. Finally, many people have seen the destruction that Hurricane Katrina brought to this region, yet Cooking with the Uglesiches provides a different glimpse of the storm's aftermath – the outreach, love, and support offered by the Uglesich's customers.

Anyone who ever met, came near, or ate with the Uglesich family can only be extremely excited by this new collection of their extended restaurant recipes, cool history, and cultural documents as well as their own personal home classics ... this is kind of a behind-the-scenes list of their true desires, and even though the place has been closed for some time now, just thinking of the old digs and the whole Uglesich family makes me hungry and ready to raid their kitchen! – Mario Batali, chef, author, and entrepreneur

Anthony and Gail Uglesich are two of the finest people I know. What a sad day it was when they decided to close the restaurant, a uniquely New Orleans institution! This book is a wonderful resource that offers insight into the heart and soul of New Orleans cuisine and its cooks. – John Besh, Restaurant August

Cooking with the Uglesiches will be treasured by anyone who has dined at the restaurant, as well as those who have heard about the restaurant but were never fortunate enough to have dined with Mr. Tony and Ms. Gail.

Cooking, Food & Wine

The Orvis Guide to Great Sporting Lodge Cuisine by Jim Lepage & Paul Fersen, with photography by Bruce Curtis & F-Stop Fitzgerald (Thomas Nelson)

Whether fishing the storied streams of the Rockies or hunting quail in the Deep South, the great sporting lodge is where the day's hunt is relived with friends over tables laden with game dishes, regional delicacies, and fine wine. The Orvis Guide to Great Sporting Lodge Cuisine contains favorite recipes provided by chefs from the great sporting lodges of the U.S. and Canada. Authors are Jim Lepage, vice president of the Rod and Tackle Division for the Orvis Company, a lifelong outdoorsman, and Paul Fersen, at one time the editor of the Orvis News, who has worked for Orvis for 15 years in the outdoor division, aided by experienced photographers F-Stop Fitzgerald and Bruce Curtis.

Readers journey to legendary sporting grounds from Alaska to Florida, where fish and wildlife are bountiful and the days are filled with the pursuit of sporting traditions. They visit forty of North America's premier sporting lodges, share the sporting experience, and enjoy the superior and traditional cuisine from these lodge tables. The Orvis Guide to Great Sporting Lodge Cuisine is organized by lodge and region, with a description of the experience at each lodge, recipes, and photos. For each lodge, the opening spread features a picture of the lodge and the surrounding landscape or outdoor activities – from lodges deep in America's most majestic and pristine countryside, from Alaska's Boardwalk Lodge on the shore of Prince of Wales Island to Key West's famed Marquesa Hotel where Earnest Hemingway discovered his passion for big game fishing and Tennessee Williams wrote A Streetcar Named Desire.

An exclusive collection of more than 140 recipes for game and regional favorites, The Orvis Guide to Great Sporting Lodge Cuisine celebrates the rich traditions and regional cuisine of the sporting life. This is an incomparable guide enriched with vivid photographs and descriptions that capture the charm of each lodge and the sporting activities that abound in the surrounding countryside.

From the deepest traditions of Southern cooking to the robust flavors of the American West, readers immerse their senses in the savory feasts. These are the sumptuous meals shared by sportsmen at the private dinner tables of North America's finest hunting and fishing lodges where master chefs prepare the finest cuisine fit for a royal palette.

The book is a celebration of a legendary company's love of the sporting life.

Cooking, Food & Wine

Y'all Come Eat by Jamie Deen & Bobby Deen, with Melissa Clark & a foreword by Paula Deen (Meredith Books)

…not only are my boys beautiful people inside and out they also happen to be fabulous cooks. Even though Bobby, a bachelor, doesn't cook as much as the rest of us, when he does threw something on the grill it's always a feast and usually pretty healthy too. Being a family man, Jamie cooks on a more regular basis, and I often get to sample his cooking – it makes me bust out in a big grin every time! I think: That's my boy! He even knows how to make it look pretty.… I love their latest book. It really captures that energy of how they are together. When you go to someone's house, it's not all about the food or all about the company; it's a combination of the two. And this book is a real portrait of that – great food and great folks coming together for a great time. – from the preface by Paula Deen

Jamie and Bobby Dean grew up in Georgia – first in Albany and then in Savannah – and like many Southerners, cooking and food have always been part of their lives. When their mother, Paula Deen started a sandwich delivery business in 1989, the boys took charge of deliveries. As the business grew into The Lady Restaurant, they continued to help.

In 1996 the trio opened The Lady & Sons restaurant to resounding success. The boys' first cookbook, The Deen Bros. Cookbook: Recipes from the Road, features recipes inspired by their travels to small-town, family-run businesses featured on their Food Network series, Road Tasted.

The Deen brothers’ newest cookbook, Y'all Come Eat, is filled with easy recipes for dinner. Otherwise known as Paula’s Boys, they invite readers to share their home-style cooking, whether gathering their families for a weeknight dinner, kicking back with friends on the porch, or hosting something big like a holiday bash. For a weeknight dinner, Jamie's family digs into Brooke's Homemade Meatloaf. On a Saturday night, Bobby offers party guests Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms and Creamy Artichoke and Spinach Dip. Come football season, North Carolina-Style Spicy Pulled Pork Sandwiches are a hit with tailgating friends. And no matter what the occasion, the Deen brothers tempt everyone with desserts, from Double Fudge Bread Pudding to Fresh Georgia Peach and Brown Sugar Ice Cream.

According to Y'all Come Eat, growing up with Paula as your mother means that making food is a more than a hobby or just a way to feed the family. Jamie and Bobby were both cooking by age 7 and had already learned a lot just from being around their mother in the kitchen. Every day they would come home from school, poke their heads into the pots, and ask, "When's dinner?" And every night they would sit down to a traditional, homey meal such as Bobby's Goulash or Mama's Spaghetti Casserole.

According to the book, these days the country seems to be heading away from a lifestyle that allows people to cook like that. In the culture of convenience, we want to be able to reach a hand out the car window and get a hot, fresh meal that tastes great. But if the boys learned one thing from Paula, it is that there is nothing as satisfying as the process of deciding what to cook, picking out fresh ingredients, and making something from scratch.

Of course they are not exactly home with bread rising and beans simmering all day every day either. When they are not on the road taping the TV show, they are at the restaurant, and Jamie has a baby at home so he doesn't get much downtime. That's why they know the value of a quick-cooking meal that is still fresh and delicious. And they appreciate that a can of tomato sauce, tuna, or even biscuit dough can be a terrific base for homemade meals on a fast-paced timeline.

Some of the recipes the Deen brothers share in Y'all Come Eat come from those casual weeknights when Jamie and Brooke make recipes like Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Breasts and English Pea Salad for a homey meal they can sit down together to after the baby is fed. And when Bobby has a date, dinner at home is Plan A – his date-night recipes are more elegant, such as his Bite-Size Tomato and Mozzarella Tarts or the easy but delicious Grilled Tuna Steaks with Lemon-Pepper Butter.

The best part about Y'all Come Eat is that it is simple – if readers are just starting out, the recipes are easy to make. If readers have been cooking forever, they can still appreciate the simplicity of the flavors. So Y'all Come Eat brings some great recipes that will entice everyone to clear off the kitchen table and have a few people over. In addition to the recipes and mouthwatering food photos, readers will find behind-the-scenes glimpses of the Deen Brothers.

Cooking, Food & Wine / Reference

Things Cooks Love: Implements, Ingredients, Recipes by Sur La Table with Marie Simmons, with photography by Ben Fink (Andrews McMeel Publishing)

How many knives do I need?

Does a food mill do more than puree tomatoes?

Should I buy stainless steel or copper?

What else can I do with a rasp grater?

Things Cooks Love speaks to the love that cooks of all levels feel for their tools. Whether readers are passionate about the gorgeous copper pot they just received as a gift, a rice cooker they have always wanted to try, or their grandmother's well-aged cast-iron skillet, Marie Simmons, award-winning author of eighteen cookbooks, popular cooking teacher, and established food writer, sponsored by cooking authority Sur La Table, provides inspiration to make the best use of cookware along with recipes to enhance the experience.

Simmons in Things Cooks Love teaches readers how to choose the basics, as well as demonstrates some of the more sophisticated cookware. And as food becomes more international in flavor, so does the equipment cooks must have to make it. From the commonly used to the more unusual kitchen implements, Simmons offers techniques, tips, suggestions, and recipes built around the cookware and tools already in readers’ kitchens as well as the items soon to be found there.

Things Cooks Love opens with ‘Essential Cookware and Tools,’ which includes The Basic Kitchen, detailed descriptions of everything from baking dishes and braisers to tongs and toasters, and The Well-Stocked Global Kitchen, the ultimate wish list to take the kitchen to a new level of sophistication. It is both a reference for setting up a new kitchen and a checklist for when it's time to add new items.

Once readers have explored the basics, it's time to put them to use in "Cooking with Kitchen Essentials," which offers tips for use and care, and recipes for everything from whisks to stove-top smokers. The more than 100 recipes put readers’ new or refreshed knowledge to work with dishes such as Sea Bass Poached in Orange, Basil and Wine with Citrus and Herb Sauce; Corn on the Cob with Flavored Butters; or Smoked Shrimp Wrapped with Prosciutto. Each recipe includes preparation and cooking times, serving portions, and implements necessary to prepare the dish. Alternative cookware is offered for kitchens that aren't stocked with the exact cookware or tools.

For further inspiration, the final section of Things Cooks Love, ‘Globe-Trotting Kitchen Essentials,’ explores the cookware, ingredients, and recipes of Asia, Mexico, France, India, Italy, Iberia, and Morocco. It spans the globe, visiting the world's favorite pantries and kitchens to experience the luscious tastes and simple techniques for using tools from the versatile Mexican stove-top pepper roaster and the elegant, clam-shaped Portuguese cataplana to the practical and handsome French cocotte and the iconic Spanish paella pan.

This great, visually over-the-top book combines tools, recipes, and food photos in a way that gives me kitchen inspiration and makes me hungry to both eat and cook at the same time. – Mario Batali, chef, author, entrepreneur

The first time I stepped into a Sur La Table store many years ago, it instantly became my favorite kitchenware store, and it still is. Its variety never fails to surprise me. I have always found what I needed or even what I didn't know I needed until I saw it there. – Marcella Hazan, godmother of Italian cooking in America and author of six cookbooks including Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

A book chock-full of mouthwatering recipes and really important equipment information from a cooking store that I really love. If you thought that the store wasn't perfect enough, check out the book. – Jamie Oliver, celebrity chef

Unlike any other tool-focused book on the market, this one celebrates the deep connection between cooks and their treasured tools. And unlike any cookbook, Things Cooks Love offers the most comprehensive advice on kitchenware ever. With two essential checklists for stocking the kitchen – basic pieces and exotic cookware for ethnic cuisines – Things Cooks Love includes the information readers need to confidently select the best and most durable implements.

More than a cookbook; this is a cook's book. It is for everyone who has not only a passion and enthusiasm for all things culinary, but also a sense of adventure. And just as readers’ kitchen equipment can last a lifetime, this book will serve cooks well time and again as they continue to expand their recipe repertoire and cookware collection. Simmons not only shows exactly how to use the equipment, but she also provides recipes inspired by the tools. For example, a quick read on Morocco will embolden home cooks to try a Lamb Tagine with Artichoke Hearts, Dried Apricots, and Preserved Lemon or Classic Chicken Bisteeya.

Crime & Criminology / Health, Mind & Body / Psychology & Counseling

Women's Mental Health Issues Across the Criminal Justice System by Rosemary L. Gido & Lanette Dalley (Women in Criminal Justice Series: Prentice Hall)

Women's Mental Health Issues Across the Criminal Justice System is dedicated to giving the ‘most invisible’ offenders in today’s criminal justice system – mentally ill adolescent girls and women – a face and a voice. Authors are Lanette P. Dalley, associate professor in the Social Work and Criminal Justice Programs at the University of Mary, Bismarck, North Dakota and Rosemary L. Gido, professor in the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Department of Criminology. Twenty-seven authors contributed to the 14 chapters.

According to Roslyn Muaskin in the Foreword to Women's Mental Health Issues Across the Criminal Justice System, female offenders have always been a forgotten and neglected population. The disregard and mistreatment of female offenders becomes more glaring when examining the treatment of mentally ill female offenders throughout the criminal justice system. In recent years, professionals in the criminal justice system have begun to focus on the needs of mentally ill female offenders because of the growing number of mentally ill female offenders in the criminal justice system as compared to mentally ill male offenders. Yet, gender-specific treatment policies and program models have not been widely designed and disseminated. In addition, criminal justice professionals, including police officers, probation officers, and correctional officers who acknowledge their lack of knowledge and skills in dealing with these women, point out that there is little if any funding for specialized training programs. Thus, the women continue to be invisible to society, at least until they commit another crime.

As the research presented in Women's Mental Health Issues Across the Criminal Justice System illustrates, mentally ill female offenders are difficult to manage – from their first contact within the system usually involving the police – to ultimately being warehoused in prison until their release. They bring with them not only their chronic mental illnesses but also a variety of other complex and often overwhelming problems. These women typically have persistent addictions to drugs and/or alcohol, often the result of attempting to self-medicate their mental illnesses. Addiction for many of them is the driving force in their lives, which results in their committing drug-related crimes. Coupled with these issues of substance abuse, these girls and women have often experienced a variety of traumas, either as adults or children, and socio-economic deprivations related to homelessness, unemployment, and single parenthood. It is also not uncommon for girls and women in the justice system to exhibit suicidal ideations and self-harming behaviors and to be lacking in decision-making and coping skills. The compounding of these problems too often results in repeated arrests and inappropriate ‘placements.’

Few jails and prisons have established gender-appropriate treatment and models of best practice of care. The majority of imprisoned mentally ill women and girls require treatment for their mental illnesses, trauma, and addictions; education on ways to cope with their emotional problems and addictions; vocational and life skills training; and parenting programming. Even more critical, where are the model post-release programs to provide ‘safety nets’ for them when they attempt to reenter and reintegrate into their communities?

Gido in the introduction to Women's Mental Health Issues Across the Criminal Justice System says that despite a renewed emphasis on addressing the inadequacies of the juvenile justice system for girls and its failure to address their special needs with specific programming, much needs to be done to address the barriers that result in mentally ill adolescent girls being one of the most neglected groups in the U.S. criminal justice system. Rebecca Boyd in Chapter 1 identifies current and entrenched systemic and interagency barriers to the availability and delivery of quality gender-responsive mental health services for female juvenile offenders. She offers recommendations for policy and programming change.

Focusing on one of Boyd's policy recommendations, better mental health screening and assessment for girls, Phil Stinson's research study in Chapter 2 compares results using the Massachusetts Youth Survey Instrument with two groups, detained and nondetained boys and girls. The study finds girls at age 15 present with the highest percentage of suicide ideation at intake and higher scores on the traumatic experiences scale than boys.

In Chapter 3, Judith Ryder, Sandra Langley, and Henry Brownstein offer a comprehensive review of the definition and measurement of trauma.

In Chapter 4, Mary Dodge and Terri Schreiber discuss the dramatic changes that have occurred in ‘policing the mentally ill.’ Law enforcement departments at local, state, and national levels were unprepared as the 1960s deinstitutionalization movement created a climate of ‘criminalization of the mentally ill’. Dodge and Schreiber offer insights with exploratory research examining differences in gendered interactions between police officers and the mentally ill. Laura Ketteler and Mary Dodge provide a ‘case’ from Colorado in the emergence of Crisis Intervention Training (CTI) in Chapter 5, intended to prevent the use of deadly force in police encounters with the mentally ill.

Specialty diversion courts for the mentally ill, termed mental health courts, have grown rapidly since their introduction in 1997. The Brooklyn Mental Health Court, had a high one-year retention rate (84%) and a successful outcome evaluation, based on meeting its goals of linking mentally ill offenders with mental health treatment and services, after 28 months of operation. Janice Joseph, in Chapter 6, summarizes the purpose, characteristics, and processes of these courts. Finding the system lacking in its dealings with female offenders, she offers a femicentric approach as an analytic tool to examine the heterogeneous and diverse populations of women served by these courts.

Emphasizing the high jail incarceration rates of poor and minority women, Phyllis Harrison-Ross and James Lawrence address the disproportionate representation of women with mental disorders in U.S. jails in Chapter 7. With anxiety and depression the most prevalent health problem, the authors illustrate the catastrophic results of breakdowns in jailed women's mental health care with three actual case studies.

Echoing Harrison-Ross's and Lawrence's discussion of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in jailed women, Nahama Broner, Sarah Kopelovich, Damon Mayrl, and David Bernstein report in Chapter 8 on research they conducted on the impact of childhood trauma on jailed adults with co-occurring mental and addictive disorders. They find that women were twice as likely as men to experience more severe degrees of sexual and emotional abuse and neglect in conjunction with physical neglect. Barbara Bloom and Stephanie Covington in Women's Mental Health Issues Across the Criminal Justice System, Chapter 9, stress the connection between trauma and mental illness in the lives of these women.

Chapter 10 summarizes research by Lanette Dailey and Vicky Michels in a North Dakota correctional facility for women. Sixty-two percent of the female offenders scored in the ‘at risk’ range in terms of the numbers of symptoms, their intensity, and depth of their psychological distress. More than half had chronic medical problems, and 55% needed treatment for drug addiction. Chapter 11 recognizes the challenges to the criminal justice system to meet the needs of Persons with Serious Mental Illness (PSMIs) in prisons. Arthur Lurigio and Andrew Harris delineate the role of courts, accrediting bodies, and professional associations in defining the parameters of minimally adequate mental health services in prison.

As the tides of the incarcerated flood back into U.S. communities, the reentry needs of female mentally ill offenders and girls are not being met. In Chapter 12, Stephanie Hartwell and Karin Orr present data updating their previous research in gender differences of 1,245 mentally ill offenders post-prison release by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Forensic Transition Team. Although female offenders with mental illness were more likely than males to be engaged in services post-release, they were also more likely to be ‘lost in follow up’ and recidivate to prison. Similarly, in Chapter 13, Nancy Wolff outlines the overall gendered pathway difficulties of mentally ill women offenders returning to their home communities post-release. Based on two of her research studies of reentering mentally ill women offenders and interviews with women about to leave prison, she recommends a reentry strategy based on empowerment, reintegration, and recovery, each with elements of information, skill-building, resources, and support.

Finally, in Chapter 14, Kristie Blevins and Bruce Arrigo strongly challenge the justice and mental health systems for their failure to deliver programming based on the gendered interests of women. With illustrations from the ‘case’ of Eileen Wuornos, the authors demonstrate how both systems missed the opportunity to treat her during her frequent contacts with the criminal justice system.

Given that there are few studies of mentally ill female offenders, Women's Mental Health Issues Across the Criminal Justice System provides a significant contribution to our knowledge and understanding of their needs across the major criminal justice system components – law enforcement, courts, and corrections. Clearly, as the studies document, there are serious repercussions for the lack of interest, care, and treatment of mentally ill female juvenile and adult offenders. Therefore, a special focus throughout the book is the examination of the elements of effective gender-responsive treatment and recommendations in terms of best practices for women and girls. The public and government policy makers at all levels need to be educated, as do professionals within the system and this unique and clear volume will go a long way toward educating them.

Education / Preschool & Kindergarten / Science

Science Adventures: Nature Activities for Young Children by Elizabeth A. Sherwood, Robert A. Williams & Robert E. Rochwell (Gryphon House)

There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrain of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. – Rachel Carson, 1965

With more than 125 activities, Science Adventures opens up an amazing world of exploration and discovery through nature activities in urban, suburban, or rural settings. Each chapter focuses on one of the standards set by the National Academy of Sciences as adapted by the authors to address the developmental and educational needs of preschoolers. Each chapter begins with the simplest activities and ends with the most challenging ones. Authors are Elizabeth A. Sherwood, assistant professor of early childhood education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville; Robert A. Williams, recently retired professor; and Robert E. Rockwell, professor emeritus and former program director of the early childhood education program at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.

Each activity has information on how it relates to other curriculum areas, plus an assessment component and related science standards. Many of the activities feature suggestions for including families, adaptations for ESL students, modifications for children with special needs, or appropriate ways to use technology with young children.

Chapters in Science Adventures include:

Looking, Listening, and Learning: The Beginning of Science (Science as Inquiry)
Ramps, Wheels, and Wings: Learning About the Physical World (Physical Science)
Bugs, Birds, and Blossoms: Learning About Living Things (Life Science)
Soils, Shadows, and Sunshine: Learning About Earth and Weather (Earth and Space Science)
Weighing, Working, and Watching: The Tools of Science (Science and Technology)

By using materials from nature to introduce children to the basic concepts of scientific inquiry, the authors provide children with the opportunity to develop a bond with nature and the outdoors. It is important to provide children with opportunities to learn about and interact with nature because, for many reasons, children are not always able to spend time outdoors when they are at home. Every teacher can find ways for children to observe growing plants, whether they are dandelions in a crack in the blacktop, grass growing in a paper cup on the windowsill, tomato plants in a community garden, or the sycamore tree on the corner up the street. These encounters can have an impact that lasts a lifetime, and each time teachers take children outside and share an appreciation of the natural world, they will help to reinforce that impact.

The activities in Science Adventures encourage children to learn in all settings, but stress the importance of their being able to experience science and nature outdoors. Spending time outdoors

Creates a more optimistic outlook in both children and adults and may reduce symptoms of hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder.
Enables children to practice and develop physical skills and improves motor development.
Supports creativity and resourcefulness as children create their own materials for play and learning.
Stimulates children's brain development and learning.
Develops children's social skills in an environment that differs from a classroom and seems to give some children more confidence.
Provides opportunities for children to explore, question, and develop theories about how things work.
Enhances children's understanding of the environment.

The authors designed the sections of Science Adventures to give teachers, briefly and simply, all the information needed to carry out the activities successfully. The short introduction to each activity provides enough information to help them decide if it will be appropriate for the children they teach. The 3+, 4+, and 5+ boxes appearing at the beginning of each activity indicate the age appropriateness for each activity.

Standards are increasingly crucial in current education practices; therefore, the authors identify the Science Content Standards and Science Process Skills addressed in each of the activities; they are a combination of national standards and various state early learning standards.

Words You Can Use contains vocabulary appropriate for each activity. Some words may sound too advanced for young children, but the authors urge teachers to keep in mind that the words are not to be memorized by the children – exposure to the vocabulary words is what is important. Children, and all of us, learn new words by hearing them used frequently in a meaningful context, and young children are no exception.

Want to Do More? provides suggestions for building on and expanding the initial activities. Most of these ideas are at the same skill level as the original activity, although a few are more complex. Learning in Other Curricular Areas shows how the activity meets standards for other curricular areas, such as mathematics and literacy.

Observing and Assessing Children includes an assessment component, which is essential to each activity. While the children are involved in the activity, teachers make and record observations to document their learning. Can the child talk about the activity and use some or all of the related vocabulary words? Some children have better language skills and are able to share their knowledge verbally, while other children may be better at showing the teacher what they have learned. For assessment purposes, teachers base their observations on the behavior of each child and not on the children as a group.

Children need to explore their environments, and Science Adventures makes it an adventure. From Big Step Measuring and Rocks That Write to The Ant Restaurant and How Far Can You Squeeze a Squirt?, the engaging activities in Science Adventures makes exploring the environment fun and easy. The book is for anyone who wants to help children develop a relationship with the environment. The activities are simple to do and introduce children to the outdoors and to how scientists work.

Entertainment / Humor / Health, Mind & Body / Relationships

Sex and Sensibility: Ten Women Examine the Lunacy of Modern Love...in 200 Cartoons edited by Liza Donnelly (Twelve)

Internet dating, adultery, and women's lib; S&M, sex toys, and threesomes – Sex and Sensibility covers it all. And then some...

In the warped and fertile minds of cartoonists, desire is digital, porn is the norm, and nothing is taboo. Edited by Liza Donnelly, Sex and Sensibility is a book of 200 cartoons, all by female cartoonists, that captures the zeitgeist of sex and love today. Ten women examine the ups and downs of love and lust in the twenty-first century. Donnelly, a contract cartoonist with the New Yorker, has been a cartoonist for over twenty years. She also teaches courses on Women and Humor, Composition, and The History of American Cartooning at Vassar College.

These 200 cartoons forge new ground in the proverbial battle of the sexes. Most of the selections could never have been published before, either for being too risqué, or for tackling an aspect of love that simply didn't exist until now, such as texting. Sex and Sensibility captures the nuances of 21st century romance – or lack there of. The book features works by Donnelly, Roz Chast, Signe Wilkinson, and many others. Eight of the ten artists are regular contributors to The New Yorker, and two are Pulitzer-prize winning editorial cartoonists. Together they not only nail what it means to be modern and in love, they also offer insights into the ways that women's thoughts on the subject have changed, and how the cartooning and humor industries have reflected that, from it's earliest peaks in the ‘20s with Dorothy Parker, Mae West and their ilk, to its low points in the ‘50s and the subsequent feminist resurgence in the ‘60s and ‘70s, to its varied and brilliant incarnations today. Alongside the cartoons are bios and personal essays from each humorist.

Sex and Sensibility flaunts the sass and wit of 10 eminent artists – many of whom are regular contributors to the New Yorker – who've mastered the satisfying one-two punch of image and caption. – San Francisco Bay Guardian

With keen eyes and sharp minds, the cartoonists in Sex and Sensibility show us ourselves – in love and in bed. Like Jane Austen before them, these ladies of laugh are forging new ground on the subject of love. The cartoons brilliantly, hilariously and incisively capture the topic, offering a panoramic view of love and sex today, as well as insight into how women's thoughts on the subject have changed – and are being accepted – in recent years.

Entertainment / Sports

An American Journey: My Life on the Field, in the Air, and on the Air by Jerry Coleman & Richard Goldstein, with a foreword by George Will (Triumph Books)

No broadcaster has earned a more affectionate following than Jerry Coleman. When you read this memoir, you will not only know why, you will join his legions of followers. – from the foreword by George Will

"There are only two important things in life: the people who you love and who love you, and your country." These words have shaped every moment of Jerry Coleman's life.

Coleman is the second baseman on some of the greatest teams in baseball history, a six-time World Series champion, a highly decorated Marine Corps dive-bomber and fighter pilot who served during both World War II and the Korean War, a major league manager, and a Hall of Fame broadcaster with more than four decades of experience. Had Jerry Coleman been just one of these things, his life would still be remarkable. The fact that he is all of them has made him a legend to millions of baseball fans across the country.

In An American Journey, Coleman, along with The New York Times' Richard Goldstein, writes for the first time about the family violence and hardship he endured as a child, his memories of serving in two armed conflicts, and what it was like playing with Yogi, Mickey, and DiMaggio. Coleman also talks honestly about his short managing career and provides a behind-the-scenes look at his many years in the broadcast booth.
This is a man who is beloved by his family, friends, former teammates, fellow veterans, and millions of baseball fans around the world. Born in San Jose, California, and raised in San Francisco, Coleman endured a childhood marred by family turmoil, but that environment failed to dampen an optimistic spirit that would later endear him to fans across the nation. Traveling across the country to play for the legendary New York Yankees, Coleman twice put a halt to his promising career and traveled across the globe to serve his country during World War II and the Korean War, the only Major League Baseball player to ever do so. After retiring as one of the most decorated players in team history, Coleman began his second career as a baseball broadcaster for CBS, the Yankees, and eventually the San Diego Padres, where he has become the voice of the team to an entire generation of fans. Even a detour to the dugout, where he managed the 1980 Padres to a losing record, did little to shake Coleman's love for the game, or the fans' love for him. In An American Journey, Coleman's own words paint a portrait of a man too humble to acknowledge a fact those around him have always accepted: Coleman is one of the most admirable and popular men in the history of baseball.

An American Journey is a heart-warming story of a Marine, a ballplayer, a broadcaster and a revered American figure. It is an inspiring, enlightening, and often humorous look back at the life of one of the game's greatest treasures. As Coleman himself might say, "You can hang a star on that!"

Foreign Language / Arabic

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic by K.F. Habel (Complete Idiot's Guide Series: Alpha)

Arabic is among the world's most difficult languages for English speakers to learn, and condensing lessons into an Idiot's Guide proved to be quite a task. I think you will be happy with the results. – from the Introduction

Based on Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) – the most common and accepted version of this splintered language – The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic teaches beginners and those needing a refresher the essentials of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and conversation. The book includes English-to-Arabic and Arabic-to-English appendices and a 60-minute CD. The book was written by Kirk Habel, who, as an adult, studied Modern Standard Arabic at the Defense Language Institute, graduating with honors, and then completed his training at the Military Intelligence School before joining the U.S. Army as an Arabic linguist. Habel has also served as a translator and interpreter for U.S. military and civilian officials and interpreted Arabic for members of the British, Polish, Japanese, and Ukrainian Armies.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic starts out like the other guides in this series: “You're no idiot, of course.” According to Habel, mastering Arabic is a useful goal in this day and age, but all those new sounds are enough to tie a person’s tongue up in knots. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic gives readers commonsense ways to build their knowledge of the language. In this Complete Idiot's Guide, readers get:

Hundreds of helpful phrases for everyday conversation.
Important grammar points every Arabic speaker should know.
An English-Arabic word list to help build vocabulary.
Tips and cautions to help readers avoid embarrassing mistakes.

Readers also get the information they need to

Pronounce words correctly.
Conjugate verbs and form coherent sentences.
Order in a restaurant and complete common business transactions in Arabic.
Converse with the locals when traveling in an Arabic-speaking country.
Put their Arabic skills to use in an emergency situation.
Get started writing Arabic script.
Understand Arabic history and culture.

Habel starts by telling readers what The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic is not – it is not a complete Arabic course. A truly complete course would require several volumes, and because readers are looking for an Idiot's Guide, they probably don't have enough time to go through several volumes to learn the language. In fact, there is no single book in existence that answers all of the challenges presented by teaching Arabic to English speakers.

If readers have no experience with Arabic, then The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic is a perfect introduction to the language – they will find a wealth of common phrases from which to build their Arabic vocabulary. If readers are concerned with learning a dialect and think that it might be better to study a particular dialect first, Habel reminds them that many words used in dialect are shortened versions of words from standard Arabic. If they learn the proper words first, they will have no problem learning the dialect when their language skills improve.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic does not contain many long sentences or paragraphs that readers rehearse and memorize. Lessons are generally short, with the expectation that readers will return to them several times. Habel says his experience in learning Arabic and working with other linguists over the years has shown that if readers want to learn to speak, they are going to have to learn to put sentences together for themselves. By filling the pages with his sentences, readers might quickly grow bored and put the book on a shelf.

According to Habel, Arabic presents several problems for new students. The language is written from right to left, top to bottom. The sounds of the language are created in different parts of the mouth and throat than English speakers are used to. Until recently, very few resources were available to Arabic students. Only those people who have spent years studying the language can understand many of the guides and texts written so far about Arabic. Few English speakers have had access to Arabic media or people who speak Arabic on a day-to-day basis. Now, more than 100 years since the first attempts were made to bring Arabic to the English-speaking world, there is still no standardized, accepted method of writing Arabic letters in ways that a normal English speaker can readily understand!

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic is divided into six primary parts. Each part focuses on a particular aspect of speaking Arabic in everyday situations. Part 1, "Just Your Basic Language," gives readers an introduction to where in the world they can expect to hear Arabic spoken. Readers learn how to make the sounds of the Arabic language, which in some cases may mean ‘teaching’ the voice box some new tricks. After learning how to make all of the sounds in Arabic and learning what sounds they won't find in Arabic, they will move on to putting some sounds together to make their first Arabic words.

Part 2, "Excavating Grammar," starts out with verbs, which are the foundation and most important of all Arabic words. After learning how to use verbs in different situations, the book adds other pieces of sentences, one-by-one around the verbs, until readers are able to express complete ideas. Before this part is over, they know how to speak simple phrases and ask questions – which is very important to learning how to speak Arabic correctly.

Part 3, "Express Yourself," covers readers’ first interactions with Arabic speakers. Readers start by learning how to politely greet and address new friends and acquaintances. Then, they learn how to introduce those friends to other friends. They learn how to tell others about themselves while asking them questions about themselves. After readers are familiar with talking about themselves, they see how to engage in everyday conversation about the weather, various entertainment, and hobbies.

Part 4, "Transportation," talks about getting around in Arab lands. This part starts by helping them plan the trip. They learn when and where they might travel and what the best times to go are. Part 5, "Touring in Arabic," gives readers all they need to know about what they may find when they start to explore Arab lands. If readers are the shopping type, they will love Chapter 20, which tells how to enjoy dinner in a local restaurant before moving on to Chapter 22, where they see how to replace or find the items they may have used up or left at home.

Part 6, "Getting Things Done," focuses on teaching readers how to speak effectively – how to say what they need to say in order to get things done. They learn how to take charge of situations and put Arabic to their own uses. Chapter 24 then shows them how to ‘get the word out’ through the telephone lines or by telling others their opinions. In Chapter 25, they learn how to speak in business situations and also how to speak about all of the household items they might need if they decide to stay longer. Then Chapter 26, the last chapter, shows them how to handle emergencies.

Finally someone has put out a truly beginning level Arabic text. Teaching Arabic is becoming more popular in schools around the world. It is hard to find a beginning level text for English speakers, and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arabic provides a solid foundation for learning the language, a perfect introduction. Between the speaking lessons throughout the book and the writing introduction that can be applied to any vocabulary, readers have enough information in this volume to stay busy for a long time.

Health, Mind & Body / Alternative Medicine

The Detox Strategy: Vibrant Health in 5 Easy Steps by Brenda Watson, with Leonard Smith (Free Press)

In June 2006 the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that nearly one-quarter of global disease is caused by environmental exposures, but perhaps most striking is what it said next: "Well-targeted interventions can prevent much of this environmental risk," saving what could amount to millions of lives every year. This simple truth is the main reason I bring you The Detox Strategy. – from the Introduction

Low on energy? Dealing with chronic illness? Having trouble losing weight? According to naturopath Brenda Watson, toxins might be to blame. From the mattress to the toothpaste to the nonstick pans to the food we eat and the (bottled) water we drink – regardless of where and how readers live, every day their bodies are bombarded with chemicals that can alter the way the body works, affecting its natural processes and capacity to heal and maintain vibrancy.

In The Detox Strategy, Watson, the bestselling author of The Fiber35 Diet: Nature's Weight Loss Secret, and an expert on internal cleansing and detoxification, introduces readers to the RENEW program, to help reverse the effects of aging and rejuvenate the body and mind. The program offers a holistic approach to protecting and nurturing the body's innate purification physiology.

The book, written with medical doctor Leonard Smith, includes a detailed herbal supplement plan for flushing out harmful toxins – including heavy metals like lead and mercury – plus original recipes for nourishing meals that further promote detoxification. The Detox Strategy teaches cleansing concepts that are clinically proven, and it provides readers with the necessary tools to live in an energized body.

Watson says that when she first began cleansing it was considered ‘odd’ or ‘strange’ by many people. Yet, this healing philosophy has become more accepted over the last ten years. A cultural shift has brought the topic of toxins to the forefront of the public's attention, alongside the issue of global warming. Watson says it is her mission to teach people how to live in a toxic world is a personal one. More than twenty years ago she was battling poor health, weight gain, and fatigue, and it was then that she discovered the natural healing principles that would ultimately change her life. Since then it has become her passion to educate others and share with them the natural remedies that helped her achieve the health that she enjoys today. Through her work as a naturopathic doctor and founder of five natural health clinics in Florida that specialize in colon hydrotherapy and detoxification, she has watched people transform their lives in ways unimaginable to most who rely solely on traditional medicine or who think they must live with persistent illness, pain, and exhaustion.

The purpose of The Detox Strategy is to provide information about the connection between environmental toxins and the health of the human body. And the book is also a call to action to readers to protect not only their health but also the future of the planet.

Readers will find many tried and true ideas on how to nourish and take care of oneself and the environment. They will also find that many techniques and strategies require only a slight shift from what they have already been doing. It's an easy-to-follow plan they can personalize for their life.

Watson's strategy jumpstarts the body's natural cleansing physiology and protects the complex system of organs involved in detoxification. The RENEW process is designed to Reduce (exposure to toxins in the environment), Eliminate (current toxins in the body), Nourish (the body's cells to support their natural structure, function, and capacity to detoxify), Energize (through exercise, physical activity, and relaxation). The final step is Wellness – a process the author has used herself for 20 years with success.

Outlining six essential steps to reducing toxins in the environment, Step 1 – Reduce – encourages readers to install air filters or commit to proper ventilation, buy water filters, ditch the toxic household goods and products with all-natural alternatives, make their own cleaning products or purchase environmentally friendly ones, eat organic whenever possible, and enhance digestion with enzyme or probiotic supplements.

In Step 2 – Eliminate – Watson takes readers through the body's natural detoxification methods, and helps readers understand the ways in which they can support its functions. The Detox Strategy recommends a four-step herbal cleansing program, each outlined with easy-to-follow instructions, as well as additional strategies to encourage toxin elimination – from colon hydrotherapy to fiber intake to dry skin brushing.

With simple steps to nourish the body properly to encourage optimal self-detoxification, Step 3 – Nourish – outlines a regimen of supplements and sources of high-quality nutrients to incorporate into the detox program. It includes Watson's personal Detox Diet, with recipes and suggestions focusing on organic foods, lean proteins, and fiber-rich produce, as well as recommendations to severely cut down or forgo sugar, sugary beverages, caffeine, and alcohol.

With Step 4 – Energize – Watson outlines specific exercises and relaxation techniques designed to stimulate the lymphatic system, taking readers to Step 5 – Wellness – putting it all together – with daily schedules to stay on the path to optimum wellness.

Commonly used in ancient and traditional societies, herbal cleansing remains central to health care in Asian, Indian and Native American cultures. In her five-part RENEW program, written with physician Smith, nutritional consultant Watson (The Fiber35 Diet) applies her winning style, demonstrated in her PBS specials, to educate readers about pervasive toxins that cause alarming rates of illness and death. With facts, studies and statistics, Watson contends that consumers cannot rely on regulating agencies to protect them (for example, in 1972 the U.S. banned the carcinogen DDT, but it is still produced here, exported to other countries and then imported back in DDT-treated foods grown there). …The weight of toxic exposure from unavoidable sources (pesticides, dental work, processed foods, home furnishings, clothing, playground equipment and fluorescent lighting, among many others) can seem overwhelming, but Watson's balanced approach provides readers with effective ways to gradually lessen the load. – Publishers Weekly

While other detoxification books offer suggestions, The Detox Strategy provides a specific plan of action for readers who want to begin the process of clearing toxins immediately. It corrects false notions, such as the belief that the body can detoxify itself on its own, teaches cleansing concepts that are researched and clinically proven, and provides readers with the necessary tools to live in a purer and more energized body.

Health, Mind & Body / Medicine

The Stem Cell Dilemma: Beacons of Hope or Harbingers of Doom? by Leo Furcht & William Hoffman, with a foreword by Brock Reeve (Arcade)

From the beginning of the human experience, dreams of regeneration and immortality run like river currents through all cultures. What is different today is our capacity to understand and our growing ability to control the basic unit of life – the cell. Because stem cells in the early embryo direct the development of the organism, understanding that process has enormous implications for medicine and health care. To capture the unparalleled versatility of stem cells, to make ‘regenerative medicine’ a reality, will take a lot of work. It will be necessary to figure out how to direct these cells down the development pathway so that they can be used to repair diseased or damaged tissues. That would mean for medicine what the moon shot meant for space exploration and what the invention of the transistor meant for electronics. That is why the stakes are so high and why countries, states, provinces, and institutions around the world are funneling funds into the new research field.... The race is on to find more effective treatments and possible cures. – from the preface by Brock Reeve, executive director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and half-brother of the late Christopher Reeve

In the world of medicine, nothing arouses such passion and controversy as stem cells – the architects of our bodies and repair masters of our tissues and organs.

We are standing at a scientific crossroads, the likes of which the world has never seen. It is a moment that will change forever the practice of medicine and the future of life as we know it. Today's scientists are showing us how stem cells create and repair the human body. Unlocking these secrets has become the new Holy Grail of biomedical research. But behind that search lies a sharp divide. Stem cells offer the hope of creating or repairing tissues lost to age, disease, and injury. And because of this ability, stem cells hold the potential to incite an international biological arms race.

The Stem Cell Dilemma tells readers everything they ever wanted to know about stem cells: what they are, how they work, and why their use has become so controversial.

Proponents see in stem cells the promise of dramatically improving our ability to treat, if not cure, a whole host of debilitating and deadly diseases. On the other side of the divide, opponents believe that using stem cells from human embryos is the equivalent of committing homicide, which raises the thorny question of when human life begins.

The Stem Cell Dilemma was written by Leo Furcht, Allan-Pardee professor and chairman of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Minnesota Medical School, and William Hoffman, medical writer and editor at the University of Minnesota Medical School. The book

Tells the complete story of stem cell science, starting with Renaissance artist, engineer, and anatomist Leonardo da Vinci.

Explains the latest scientific developments and how they are revolutionizing the world of medicine with new treatments and cures for devastating injuries and diseases.
Details how stem cell research is rapidly becoming a tool of economic competition in our age of globalization and American exceptionalism.
Describes how stem cell research will give new meaning to human sexuality and reproduction.
Reveals that the U.S. Department of Defense is funding stem cell research to build an artificial immune system that can be used to test vaccines in case of a bioterrorism attack.
Tells how we, in the 21st century, are entering a bio-renaissance and what it means to be human in a technological age.

Stem cells possess the power to regenerate and repair body tissue, Furcht and Hoffman remind readers. Some of that power has been tapped, for instance, in countering bone-marrow failure. But stem cells' theoretical potential to regenerate and restore all of the body's tissues, particularly via embryonic stem cells, will be fully realized, if ever, only after extensive research. Although researchers are unveiling the mystery of stem cells everyday, and much lies in the province of possibility, Furcht and Hoffman verify that those possibilities are based on good science. Their treatment of the stem-cell issue acknowledges that embryonic stem-cell research raises bioethical as well as biological questions, and that economic considerations play a role in its development.

They treat the ethical issue with respect, applying a cross-cultural perspective to everything from designer babies to the commodification of life. They make a case for continued research with some intelligent form of governance. The denial of federal funds, they fear, will contribute to the brain drain of researchers from the United States, despite infusions of state, philanthropic and venture capital.

Noting that the biorevolution gives humankind a potentially, vast power to expand the boundaries of life, the authors ask, Are we prepared to understand that power, seize it, and use it wisely? The Stem Cell Dilemma is a cogent survey giving readers the tools to address that daunting question. Nothing is starry-eyed in this plainspoken, well-tuned text; it is a lucid, candid, timely, and levelheaded investigation of stem-cell medicine.

Health, Mind & Body / Reference

The Official Anti-Aging Revolution: Stop the Clock, Time is on Your Side for a Younger, Stronger, Happier You, 3rd Edition by Ronald Klatz & Robert Goldman (Basic Health Publications, Inc.)

Anti-aging medicine is a new medical specialty that extends the concept of preventive health care to include the early detection, prevention, and reversal of aging-related diseases, coupled with aggressive yet gentle disease treatment. It is no surprise that this is a rapidly growing field – a baby boomer turns fifty every thirty seconds, and, with the help of specific nutritional supplements, exercise, and diet, boomers are transforming the definition of aging.

Physicians Ronald Klatz and Robert Goldman are pioneers in anti-aging medicine and the founders of The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M), the world's leading medical and scientific society of clinical anti-aging medicine. Their 1996 ground-breaking book on living a longer, healthier life has been revised and updated for the third time to include the latest cutting-edge information for consumers who want to learn how their bodies work, how they age, and what they can do about it.

With medical information doubling every three and a half years, life spans of 110 to 125 years may soon be a reality. Klatz and Goldman in The Official Anti-Aging Revolution combine cutting-edge research and the latest medical breakthroughs on longevity, with practical ways for integrating this information into readers' daily lives.

The Official Anti-Aging Revolution is a comprehensive resource on the biological processes involved in aging, including the culprits largely responsible for tipping the clock. It includes information on the nutrients that can increase the length and quality of life and the exercises that increase strength, flexibility, and mental acuity. Additionally, the authors explain how lifestyle impacts longevity.

This new edition of the book features a complete look at the human endocrine system and the hormones it produces – hormones that affect the development and decline of the human system. It explains how to weigh the pros and cons of hormone therapy, naturally stimulate hormone production, replenish nutrient stores, strengthen the immune system, nourish the body, burn fat and build lean muscle, revitalize during sleep, and maintain a youthful mind and spirit.

In The Official Anti-Aging Revolution readers learn how to reduce body fat, stimulate metabolism, promote muscle mass, enhance immunity, boost vitality, reduce stress, increase sexual drive and performance, combat wrinkles and fine lines, detoxify from environmental hazards, reverse cellular aging, and improve mood, memory and sleep. These guidelines for longevity are incorporated into the health and lifestyle regimes practiced by those who work in the field. Anti-aging specialists share their personal life-extension programs, describing the specific exercises, daily supplements, pharmaceuticals, dietary protocol, sleep habits, relaxation and stress relief techniques, and even their secrets. To help readers design their own plan, a longevity test is provided as an evaluation tool.

Klatz and Goldman predict that by the year 2029, advancements in stem cell research, therapeutic cloning, and nanotechnology will be harnessed into applications that improve and extend the human life span. It is their belief that the proper use of biotechnology in combination with appropriate changes in nutrition and exercise offer a vital life span nearly double that now enjoyed by the average American.

With The Official Anti-Aging Revolution those who are now in middle age, experiencing an expanding waistline, receding hairline, waning sex life, and/or trouble in recalling names and events, have a practical resource for ‘stopping the clock.’ The book teaches them how to live longer, healthier, and happier. Written by cutting-edge experts in the newly evolving field, this clear and comprehensive reference is an essential resource for anyone who wants to learn how their bodies work, how they age, and what they can do about it.

Health, Mind & Body / Relationships / Social Sciences

He's Just Not Up for It Anymore: Why Men Stop Having Sex, and What You Can Do About It by Bob Berkowitz & Susan Yager-Berkowitz (William Morrow)

Men not interested in sex? You’re kidding, right? Can this really be true?

It is, for the estimated 20 million American men and women who are in relationships in which the man has stopped being sexually intimate. He's Just Not Up for It Anymore reveals the counterintuitive truth: Many men are just not up for it anymore. To find out why, bestselling author and relationship expert Bob Berkowitz and his wife, Susan Yager-Berkowitz, the "Marriage Experts" on ThirdAge.com, began an unprecedented survey of more than 4,000 men and women in this situation, gathering data and following up with hundreds of interviews with respondents.

Why don't these men want to have sex? Is the problem physical, emotional, or psychological – or are these guys simply bored with their partners? Is it unexpressed anger about other aspects of their relationships? Are they depressed? Now that there is limitless access to pornography, are some men no longer able to be turned on without it? Are they becoming satiated? Do they have a fully functioning libido, just not for their wives? Or is decreased interest in sex just an unacknowledged but natural fact of life for a lot of men? And do they want their libidos back?

Further, how do their partners feel about this? Are they dejected or relieved? Do they suspect infidelity, asexuality or homosexuality, or just blame themselves? What are they doing about it? What could they do?

In He's Just Not Up for It Anymore, Bob, who hosted the highest rated show in the history of CNBC, the groundbreaking Real Personal, a nightly look at relationships and sexuality, and Susan, a long-time magazine writer, reveal a reality that affects far more American marriages than anyone may realize.

According to the book, wives can make things better by:

Checking any medication their husbands have been prescribed to see if a possible side effect is diminished sex drive.
If they want to go into marriage counseling and their partners don't, go alone. (They might be pleasantly surprised at his reaction.)
Have realistic expectations about sex. It's never going to be what it was in the first couple of years.
Broaden their definition of sex. There is lovemaking beyond intercourse.
There is evidence that male obesity and erectile dysfunction are linked. If either or both of them think they are overweight, diet and exercise together.

He's Just Not Up for It Anymore also exposes these myths:

He's gay. (Only one percent of the men and two percent of the women agreed with this, and, after all, only about four percent of the general male population is gay.)
He's having sex with someone else. (Eighty percent of the male respondents said they were faithful.)
He's asexual. (Only about one percent of the general population is asexual.)
He doesn't have the time. (Just six percent of the men agreed with that.)
He's too tired. (Although forty-four percent of the women thought this was the reason, only fourteen percent of the men agreed.)
He wasn't interested in sex to begin with. (Only three percent of the men agreed with this.)
When couples stop having sex, divorce is inevitable. (The divorce rate is well below the national average for these marriages.)

He's Just Not Up for It Anymore reveals the facts behind this phenomenon and offers solutions that can get couples back on the road to sexual intimacy.

A book that millions of men could benefit from . . . this really could be the Last Taboo. . . the real point here, the Berkowitzes say, isn’t casting blame on anyone. It’s understanding the issues and jump-starting all these stalled libidos. – New York Newsday

He's Just Not Up for It Anymore provides a unique window into the sexless man's mind. The book helps couples identify and understand the many and varied reasons men lose their desire – so that men and women can understand this issue and begin to address the problems that inhibit intimacy.

Health, Mind & Body / Relationships / Self-Help / Psychology & Counseling

Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by Sue Johnson (Little, Brown and Company)

Are you looking to enrich a healthy relationship, revitalize a tired one, or rescue one gone awry?

Whereas other forms of couple therapy have been shown in studies to be only about 35 percent effective in healing relationships, Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (ETF), developed by Sue Johnson, has achieved an astounding 75 percent success rate. And 86 percent of couples report feeling happier in their relationships. Endorsed by the American Psychological Association as scientifically proven, the results appear to be long-lasting. ETF works because it views the love relationship as an attachment bond. This idea, once controversial, is now supported by science, and has become widely popular among therapists around the world. In Hold Me Tight, Johnson, clinical psychologist and a recognized leader in the new science of close relationships, teaches that the way to save and enrich a relationship is to reestablish safe emotional connection and preserve the attachment bond. With this in mind, she focuses on key moments in a relationship – from Recognizing the Demon Dialogue to Revisiting a Rocky Moment – and uses them as touch points for seven healing conversations.

The message of Hold Me Tight is simple: Forget about learning how to argue better, analyzing the early childhood, making grand romantic gestures, or experimenting with new sexual positions. Instead, get to the emotional underpinnings of the relationship by recognizing that couples are dependent on their partners in much the same way that children are on parents for nurturing, soothing, and protection. Through stories from her practice, advice, and exercises, readers learn how to nurture, protect, and grow their relationship, ensuring a lifetime of love.

Wonderful! ... Hold Me Tight blends the best in research findings with practical suggestions from a caring and compassionate clinician. This fabulous book will be of great benefit...to couples trying to find their way to better communication and deeper, more fulfilling ways of being with each other. Bravo! – Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., author of Parenting from the Inside Out
Sue Johnson [is] the most original contributor to couples therapy to come along in the last 30 years. This book will touch your heart, stimulate your mind, and give you practical strategies for improving your marriage. It will be an instant classic. – William J. Doherty, Ph.D., author of Take Back Your Marriage
A truly revolutionary, breakthrough book... the most important, valuable book for couples published in the 21st century. – Barry McCarthy, Ph.D., author of Getting It Right the First Time

At last, a road map through Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy with its creator. Dr. Johnson's superb science, humor, and clinical wisdom are finally accessible to all of us. I couldn't pick a smarter, warmer, and more real guide for this journey. – John Gottman, Ph.D., bestselling author of The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work and coauthor of And Baby Makes Three
A much needed message to all couples and therapists and I recommend it to all. – Harville Hendrix, Ph.D., author of Getting the Love You Want and Receiving Love

The most successful approach to creating loving relationships is now, for the first time, available to the general public. Hold Me Tight paves the way for couples to a deeply fulfilling and enduring bond as Johnson shares her groundbreaking and remarkably successful program for creating stronger more secure relationships. The book offers hope to relationships in crisis.

History / Americas / Political Science / Biographies & Memoirs

The Liberal Republicanism of John Taylor of Caroline by Garrett Ward Sheldon & C. William Hill, Jr. (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press)

The Liberal Republicanism of John Taylor of Caroline is the first comprehensive chronological study of the works of a significant but little-known figure in early American history. A confidant of Thomas Jefferson, John Taylor of Caroline County, Virginia (1753–1824) represented the anti-Federalist position during the Constitutional debates and wrote extensively on government, economics, slavery, and liberty in the early republic.

Written by Garrett Ward Sheldon, John Morton Beaty Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Virginias College at Wise, and Charles William Hill, Jr., Henry H. and Trudye Fowler Professor of Public Affairs at Roanoke College, The Liberal Republicanism of John Taylor of Caroline results in a discovery that redefines the current scholarly debate on early American political thought. It finds that John Taylor reconciles Lockean liberalism and Classical Republicanism in ways that challenge the belief that liberalism's basis in natural rights, individualism, limited, impartial government, and laissez-faire economics is incompatible with republican concern for civic virtue, corruption, patronage, public credit, stock companies, centralized government, and standing armies. Taylor's writings provide a revealing perspective on American government that clears away much of the confusion of recent scholarship and offers a view of the Constitution that will be startling to many twentieth-century minds. Ironically, the Classical Republican paradigm which resurrects John Taylor, is seriously challenged by his theories, and yet is responsible for rescuing him from the reproach of being the premier ‘states' rights’ philosopher.

Taylor's conception of government is based on the Lockean view that people are free, equal, and independent individuals who possess natural rights and should have the moral liberty to choose any form of government that suits them, without obligation to hereditary rulers or established social classes. Taylor acknowledges distinctions based only on individual merit: talents, education, and industry. In his view progress occurs as human reason improves and, therefore, government should be kept in close touch with its constituents through regular elections, rotation in office, and instructed representatives. Separation of powers and checks and balances among those in office are insufficient to keep officials from becoming oppressive, whether they be Federalists or Jeffersonians.

Taylor is well known for his defense of states' rights, but, always a unionist, the importance of decentralized government for him must be understood in the context of cultural pluralism and transparent government. Internationally, healthy open government will maintain peaceful relations with other countries and promote free trade while avoiding wars for economic domination and imperialistic plunder.

Hill in The Liberal Republicanism of John Taylor of Caroline summarizes Taylor's political thought. He argues for a government dedicated to serving the ‘common good’ or ‘national interest.’ By this, he means that government should not serve a partial good or a particular interest. Therefore, Taylor's definition of a good government is one which impartially protects citizens' natural rights of life, liberty and property equally, without preference or favoritism. Such a government is ‘limited’ in performing these specific functions, and, therefore, will be frugal, requiring only small taxes to support such restricted duties while protecting individuals' natural rights through courts of adjudication. This Lockean idea of limited, impartial government preserving citizens' rights equally is opposed, for Taylor, to the British type of government, which serves particular interests in society by granting exclusive privileges, monopolies, etc., supported by high taxes which effectively transfer wealth from the many to the few in power. Thus, for Taylor, a laissez-faire economy respects ‘natural property’ (derived from land and labor) and corresponds to honest government, while a mercantile economy fosters ‘artificial property’ (derived from government manipulation of taxes and paper) and corresponds to corrupt government. Honest government promotes basic equality of wealth through the wide distribution of property, and the market reinforces the honesty of government through an economically independent democratic citizenry. Corrupt government, by contrast, leads to greater economic inequality, by transferring the wealth of the many to the few through taxation and government economic schemes causing an increasing drift to centralized economic and political power and tyranny.

The importance of decentralized government, or states' rights, to Taylor is best understood in this context. The more decentralized and accessible the government is to the people, the more likely it is to remain honest, under their scrutiny, and ‘republican,’ i.e., limited to protecting citizens' natural rights equally and impartially.' The more centralized and remote (or national) the government is, the more easily it can hide from the people and deceive them with special interest schemes that rob the citizens and promote tyranny. Corresponding to this emphasis on decentralized power for the maintenance of honest government is Taylor's insistence upon the military power residing in the states' militias, as an expression of the people and preserving liberty, and not in a national standing army serving the centralized government against the people. Similarly, for Taylor, the rights of free speech, free press, and freedom of religion preserve the open quality of good government necessary to citizens' knowledge and control of the state, while tyrannical government preserves its control through censorship, restrictions on knowledge, and religious persecution.

According to The Liberal Republicanism of John Taylor of Caroline, good government, for Taylor, is limited to punishing vice (criminal violation of citizens' rights) and promoting the ‘good’ qualities in human nature: respect for others' natural rights, moderate wealth, ‘liberality and patriotism’ – all of which equal virtue. Such a government is premised in reason. Evil government, by contrast, excites the bad qualities in human nature: greed, oppression, lust for power, ambition, and avarice. These constitute vice and are based in force and fraud.

So, John Taylor's ‘Classical Republican’ concerns about civic virtue, frugality, corruption, patronage, high finance, tyranny, and standing armies is compatible with his Lockean liberal conceptions of human nature, natural rights, and limited, impartial government. They are combined in a consistent political philosophy which responded to the several worldviews – medieval, mercantilist, republican, and liberal – that dominated his age.

When John Taylor of Caroline is viewed from the twin perspectives of Lockeanism and Classical Republicanism, his ideas provide inspiration for any who are concerned about homogenization of culture and loss of individual freedom, nationally and internationally. The Liberal Republicanism of John Taylor of Caroline fills an important gap in our understanding of early American political thought.

History / Americas / Social Sciences / Anthropology / True Accounts

House of Mourning: A Biocultural History of the Mountain Meadows Massacre by Shannon A Novak (University of Utah Press)

It is precisely through the process of making a power situation appear a fact in the nature of the world that traditional authority works. – Maurice Bloch, "Symbols, Song, Dance, and Features of Articulation," 1974

On September 11, 1857, some 120 men, women, and children from the Arkansas hills were murdered in the remote desert valley of Mountain Meadows, Utah. This notorious massacre was, in fact, a mass execution: the victims were bludgeoned to death or shot at point-blank range. The perpetrators were local Mormon militiamen whose motives have been fiercely debated for 150 years.

In House of Mourning, Shannon A. Novak goes beyond the question of motive to the question of loss. Who were the victims at Mountain Meadows? How had they settled and raised their families in the American South, and why were they moving west once again? What were they hoping to find or make for themselves at the end of the trail? By integrating archival records and oral histories with the first analysis of skeletal remains from the massacre site, Novak, assistant professor of anthropology, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, offers a detailed and sensitive portrait of the victims as individuals, family members, cultural beings, and living bodies.

The history of the massacre has often been treated as a morality tale whose chief purpose was to vilify (or to glorify) some collective body. Resisting this tendency to oversimplify the past, Novak explores Mountain Meadows as a busy and dangerous intersection of cultural and material forces in antebellum America.

Novak in the preface to House of Mourning tells how in early August she got a call from the state archaeologist, Kevin Jones. He said that some human remains had been unearthed in southern Utah and hoped she might analyze them, especially their injury patterns. He paused. “They're from the Mountain Meadows massacre;” he said, as if this would explain everything. But the words meant little to her at the time. Though she had grown up in Utah, she had never been especially interested in the history of the state – only its prehistory, as reconstructed from the archaeological record and the skeletal remains of its native peoples.

Yet, Novak says, the Mountain Meadows massacre would prove to be as complex, compelling, and potentially divisive as any battlefield atrocity or act of ethnic cleansing. Moreover, it involved the kind of religious conflict that Americans tend to associate with the Middle East or the Middle Ages. To this day, people are fighting over what really happened at Mountain Meadows. Each major version of the story has tended to attract a distinct following, more or less formally organized, with its own meetings, commemorations, sacred places, and historical narratives. But because these narratives are both emotionally charged and open to interpretation, they are ripe for manipulation.

In the case of Mountain Meadows, the significance was suggested to Novak many times, especially by descendants of the massacre victims.

There is, according to Novak, the tendency to frame the story in narrow, parochial terms. In the existing literature, all eyes have focused on Utah. Invariably, what happened at Mountain Meadows is recounted from a western point of view; in the extreme case, the massacre is treated as little more than a footnote to Mormon history. The Utah perspective is shared by all the major works on the subject, even those that explicitly charge the Mormon leadership with a ‘monumental crime’. Thus the very best historical studies and the most provocative exposés have this much in common: they tell us a great deal about the killers and rather little about those who were killed.

House of Mourning aims to redress the balance. It shifts attention from the question of motive to the question of loss. For once, the story of the massacre begins in the South rather than the West; among Baptists and Methodists rather than Mormons; and with the rush to the goldfields rather than the exodus to Zion. Unlike other studies of Mountain Meadows, this one is mostly about unheralded lives in the hills rather than infamous deaths in the desert.

In 1999 the church set out to renovate the site. Archaeologists from Brigham Young University (BYU) were commissioned to survey the area, monitor excavation, and prevent any disturbance of the suspected graves below. Despite these precautions, on August 3, 1999, a construction backhoe penetrated a mass grave and disinterred thousands of human bones. On August 6 Utah state archaeologist Kevin Jones issued a permit to excavate the historic site. The antiquities permit required scientific analysis of the human remains. At the request of BYU and the state archaeologist, Novak initiated the analysis on August 10, 1999. Reinterment was scheduled for September 10, 1999, in conjunction with the dedication of the new grave site memorial. Sorting, reconstruction, and documentation of the cranial material proved to be extremely time-consuming. To allow more time for the analysis, Jones proposed a compromise, according to which most of the bones would be buried at the rededication while the skulls and cranial fragments would remain in the lab until the following spring. On September 8, however, this agreement was nullified. On the authority of Governor Mike Leavitt, the archaeological permit was rewritten so that the human remains could be reburied at once. This new arrangement allowed just twenty-four hours to complete the analysis. On the morning of September 10, exactly one month after the study had begun, the remains were turned over to Brigham Young University and interred later that day beneath an impressive new monument at Mountain Meadows.

Any historical account of Mountain Meadows must rely heavily on some rather dubious sources: the testimony of known killers, the reconstructed memories of seventeen young children, and reams of propaganda that have been generated by Mormon apologists and their often fanatical opponents. No journals or logs are known to have been recovered from the wagon train (though rumors persist that Alexander Fancher's diary was stolen by the killers and perhaps secretly stored in the LDS archives). Yet a great many public records, including census and mortality schedules, legal documents, and family histories, provide evidence of the victims' lives both in the Ozarks and on the trail.

In writing House of Mourning, Novak says she drew on many sources, including the sample of human remains unearthed in 1999. If all the lines of evidence could be followed out and woven together, a detailed picture would emerge of each of the victims at Mountain Meadows.

Yet according to Novak, such a picture was impossible to attain, even for a single individual. All the available sources had severe limitations and often provided only fragmentary clues about any given rider on the train. Some riders, especially the hired hands, were nearly impossible to track in the archival records; only through family histories was she able to learn anything about them. The easiest to follow were household heads with substantial holdings, especially those whose offspring had married and were resident on adjacent farms. As a result, eleven extended families, including yeoman farmers, a few prosperous slaveholders, and one self-described merchant, provide the bulk of the documentary evidence for House of Mourning. About 70 percent of the victims at Mountain Meadows were members (by birth or by marriage) of these eleven kin groups. Most of the remainder, at least thirty of the victims, seem to have been neighbors, employees, or distant kin of the ‘core’ families.

The mass grave contained an even smaller sample – twenty-eight men, women, and children, or about a quarter of those who died at Mountain Meadows. The skeletal remains were fragmented and commingled, presenting a jigsaw puzzle of more than 2,600 pieces. In the limited time available for the analysis, Novak was able to sort all the cranial remains and partially reconstruct eighteen skulls. The postcranial remains (those below the head) and most of the teeth were not sorted into individual skeletons but could be grouped only according to age and sex characteristics.

Under these circumstances she says, the temptation is to divide the population into aggregate categories – young versus old, male versus female, diseased versus healthy – and abandon the effort to reconstruct individuals. A case study, if it is well chosen, can shed light on a vast sociological landscape. Thus the bodies that converged, and the corpses that were left, at Mountain Meadows may be rich with information, but only if the right questions are posed and vigorously pursued. What were the social and economic factors that brought this particular group together, first in the Ozarks and then on the overland trail? How was daily life managed on a highland farm or a wagon train by men, women, and their extended kin? How was it that their deaths – and bodies – became symbolic capital that was used locally and nationally in political debates? And ultimately, how were such social, political, and biological processes manifested in human bones?

Forensic anthropologist Shannon Novak has written a haunting account of the lives of the forgotten band of Arkansas travelers who died at Mountain Meadows on September 11, 1857. A superbly qualified specialist who examined the bones of the men, women, and children betrayed and murdered on that awful day, Dr. Novak brings a scientist's dispassionate perspective to their story. As a compelling writer and wide-ranging scholar, her knowledge and compassion help us better understand and appreciate these voices from the dust. – Will Bagley, author of Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows

Shannon Novak shows us the way that bioarchaeology can combine with history to provide a more complete and accurate story of the past – better than either can do by itself. Her researching of the history of the Arkansas emigrants and their roots goes well beyond the efforts of most works of this kind. – George W. Gill, professor emeritus of anthropology, University of Wyoming

House of Mourning is a bold experiment in a new kind of history, the biocultural analysis of complex events. She brings the focus onto the people massacred, and she asks haunting questions – questions she was not allowed the time to answer fully.

History / Americas / Terrorism

Willful Blindness: Memoir of the Jihad by Andrew C. McCarthy (Encounter Books)

Long before the devastation of September 11, the war on terror raged, but only one side, radical Islam, was fighting it as a war. For the United States, the frontline was the courtroom. So while the American government prosecuted a relative handful of ‘defendants,’ committed militants waged a campaign of jihad – holy war – targeting New York City and American society itself for annihilation.

Andrew C. McCarthy in Willful Blindness takes readers back to the beginning of the war on terror – not the atrocities of September 11, but the first bombing of the World Trade Center in February 1993 when radical Islamists effectively declared war on the United States.

The jihad continues. But now, fifteen years after radical Islam first declared war by detonating a complex chemical bomb in the heart of the global financial system, former federal prosecutor McCarthy provides an insider's perspective on America's first response. McCarthy led the historic prosecution against the jihad organization that carried out the World Trade Center attack: the ‘battalions of Islam’ inspired by Omar Abdel Rahman, the notorious ‘Blind Sheikh.’ In Willful Blindness, he unfolds the troubled history of modern American counterterrorism. It is a portrait of contrast: a zealous international network of warriors dead certain, despite all odds, that history and Allah are on their side, pitted against the world's lone superpower, unsure of what it knows, of what it fights, and of whether it has the will to win.

It is the story of a nation and its government consciously avoiding Islam's animating role in Islamic terror. From the start, it led top U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies to underestimate, ignore, and even abet zealots determined to massacre Americans. Even today, according to McCarthy, after thousands of lives have been lost, the United States averts its eyes from this harsh reality.

McCarthy was a top federal prosecutor, investigating some of the most significant cases in recent history. In 1995, he led the conspiracy prosecution against twelve jihadists for conducting a war of urban terrorism against the United States – a war that included the bombing of the World Trade Center and an even more ambitious plot to strike several New York City landmarks. Decorated with the Justice Department's highest honors, he retired from government in 2003, after helping launch the 9/11 investigation. Currently he is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C., and a contributing editor at National Review.

[Willful Blindness] is arguably the most stirring, brilliantly written, and devastatingly honest book on terrorism that has ever been published – McCarthy tells the shocking story of our nation’s refusal to acknowledge the deadly adversary we are facing and his analysis of the nature of radical jihad, war against the West will change the way you look at our future. Brutally candid and eloquent … I could not put it down until I finished the last page. I sat in stunned silence, but also eternally grateful that one of our top public servants has the guts to tell it like it is: a worldwide jihad movement has operated in plain sight in our country, where policy makers were, and are, too politically correct to recognize it. – Steven Emerson, author of the bestseller American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us and Executive Director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism
Finally, from the legal front line, a devastating account of the peril we put our country in when we treat terrorist atrocities as if they were mere crimes. Andy McCarthy was there when the jihad began. Read this book and you'll understand why this war is a war, and why we have no choice but to fight it and win it. – Rush Limbaugh

In any intellectual street fight or battle, I want Andy McCarthy on my side – he is a smart and forceful intellectual ally. In a time of war, this is all the more so, and America is lucky to have him on hers. – William J. Bennett, Fellow, The Claremont Institute

In this annotated retrospective, the prosecutor … dissects the miscues between federal agencies that led to that event while laying bare the challenges facing the war on terror today.… The most enduring oversight, however, at least from McCarthy's perspective, is the refusal among academics and political leaders to confront fundamentalist Islamic tenets, the 800-pound gorilla that is somehow always in the middle of the room when terror strikes. The jihadist philosophy that guided the Blind Sheikh is traced through generations of Islamic thinkers to the Prophet Mohammed himself. Though McCarthy's language is at times cumbersome, his firsthand account of jihad's rise and the sheikh's trial of the century is an important contribution (and in some instances, counterpoint) to existing literature on the attack that foreshadowed disaster to come. – Publishers Weekly

From his perch as a government prosecutor of the jihadists responsible for the bombing, McCarthy in Willful Blindness takes readers inside the twisted world of Islamic terror. The insider’s view is unique and compelling. The book takes ‘us against them’ thinking to the extreme, drawing attention to the failing of political correctness in identifying and naming the enemy. Nevertheless in the world as it exists today, it seems we should be able to distinguish between the objectives of moderate and radical, fundamentalist Islam and between religious and national policy.

History / Military / Strategy

Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare edited by Daniel Marston Carter Malkasian (Osprey Publishing)

Throughout history armies of occupation and civil power have been repeatedly faced with the challenges of insurgency.

And in the modern world, insurgency, terrorism and the resulting bloodshed have become facts of life, and the difficulties armies face in controlling them have been graphically demonstrated, not least in Iraq and Afghanistan. Strategies and tactics used to counter insurgencies range from conventional military operations to a combination of military and political strategy, including propaganda, psi-ops and other approaches. In addition, armies, sometimes reluctantly, have had to adopt new doctrines and tactics to deal with the problems of insurgency and diverse counterinsurgency strategies have been developed.
Edited by Daniel Marston, Senior Lecturer in War Studies at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and Carter Malkasian, who directs the Small Wars Program at the Center for Naval Analyses, Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare examines developments in counterinsurgency from the early 20th century to the present. Marston and Malkasian bring together a range of military and civilian experts to examine the development and practice of counterinsurgency doctrine. Each author, an expert in his field, discusses in depth the conduct and outcomes of operations across the globe, including the Arab-Israeli conflict, Afghanistan and Iraq, and draws out the lessons to be learned from them.
The book considers thirteen ‘small war’ conflicts. Each of the thirteen chapters discusses a conflict and its background, the strategies and tactics developed in the attempt to contain and defeat the insurgency and their success or otherwise, and the contribution of the conflict to the overall development of counterinsurgency in modern warfare. Each chapter assesses the effectiveness of specific strategies and tactics in the conflict, including military operations, political reforms, propaganda, and psi-ops.

Contents and contributors include:

British Aid to the Civil Power: Ireland 1916-21 to Palestine 1948 – Professor Charles Townshend, Professor of International History at Keele University, UK.
U.S. Operations in the Philippines 1898-1948 – Professor Anthony James Joes, Professor of Political Science at Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia.
The Banana Wars – Major Bruce Gudmundsson, USMCR (Retired), historian who specializes in tactical innovation.
German Partisan Operations 1939-45 – Dr. Peter Lieb, Senior Lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Department of War Studies, and Research Fellow at the European Studies Research Institute, University of Salford.
French Operations from Indo-China to Algeria: 1945-63 – Professor Douglas Porch, Chair of the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
British COIN in Malaya 1948-60 – Dr. Richard Stubbs, Professor of Political Science, former Chair, Department of Political Science, McMaster University.
U.S. Operations in Vietnam – Lieutenant Colonel John A. Nagl, who led a rank platoon in Operation Desert Storm and operations officer of Task Force 1-34 Armor in Iraq in 2003-04.
British Operations in Aden – Jonathan Walker, member, British Commission for Military History.
British Operations in Northern Ireland – Colonel Richard Iron OBE, who oversaw the development of NATO land doctrine for six years, and was appointed mentor for the senior Iraqi Army commander in Basra in 2007.
The Rhodesian Experience – Dr. J.R.T. Wood, was previously the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Research Fellow at the University of Rhodesia
Israeli Operations – Dr. Sergio Catignani, Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence.
Operations in Afghanistan – Dr. Daniel Marston, Research Fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University.
U.S. and British Operations in Iraq – Dr, Carter Malkasian, director of research on stability and development, Center for Naval Analyses in Alexandria, Virginia.

A wide-ranging, sophisticated anthology that all serious students of counterinsurgency should read and savor. Challenging, candid and provocative. – Francis J. ‘Bing’ West, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, author of No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah and The Village

The editors have recruited an impressive lineup of contributors comprising many of the leading experts... they provide an introduction to some of the – leading counterinsurgency campaigns of the 20th century. Soldiers and civilians alike will learn a great deal here to help them better understand the challenges that confront us in Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond. – Max Boot, Senior Fellow in national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of The Savage Wars of Peace and War Made New

A fine collection that should contribute significantly to contemporary debates about what leads to success or failure in counterinsurgency. The provocative essays reveal that such conflicts are always unique, requiring counterinsurgent forces to develop cultural awareness and learning organizations if they want to have any hope of victory. – Dr. Conrad Crane, lead author of The US Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual

The book shows that counterinsurgencies have a mixed record of success, and lessons learned in one conflict have not always been remembered in the next. Standing armies have generally been ill-equipped to defend against insurgents. Various forms of ‘nation-building’ have been part of the counterinsurgency arsenal for over 100 years. Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare is a timely, serious, and yet accessible survey, presented by an amazing array of experts, of a critical facet of modern warfare and present-day global conflict.
Home & Garden / Antiques & Collectibles

Signature Prints: Jet Set Glamour of the '60s & '70s by Roseann Ettinger, with photography by Rich Cutrone (Schiffer Publishing Ltd)

Non-wrinkling, silk jersey clothing, with bold and colorful prints signed by the most distinguished fashion designers of the day became popular in the 1960s, especially for glamorous people who traveled worldwide. It was dynamic clothing photographed by the celebrity press that became coveted by the general public.

Signature Prints, written by Roseann Ettinger, proprietress of Remember When, an established clothing boutique in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and photographed by New York City fine fashion photographer Rich Cutrone, is the first serious record of those textiles that swept the fashion world and inspired copy-cat items for ready-to-wear customers. Over 350 color photographs display party and casual styles of ‘signature prints’ that remain classic today. Italy's Emilio Pucci started the rage, and he quickly was followed by fashion designers Mr. Dino, Paganne, Eduardo, and more. The book shows hundreds of signature prints from 18 clothing designers as well as many unknowns.

Ettinger in the Introduction to Signature Prints tells how almost a decade ago, she, while writing Psychedelic Chic, stumbled upon a treasure trove of sixties and seventies fashions that made a huge impact on her. The clothing's colors, prints, and fabrics were intoxicating. As her research continued, she searched the internet for more Pucci dresses and began to see a trend: buyers were selling dresses that looked like Pucci designs and felt like Pucci fabric, but in fact were ‘Pucci-esque,’ ‘Pucci-style,’ and even ‘pseudo-Pucci.’ At the time, Ettinger was able to pick up Paganne or Mr. Dino dresses for less than fifty dollars, a Bessi or Leonard of Paris cost more, and a real Pucci print was a couple of hundred dollars. Today, the prices have escalated to the hundreds for some of the knock-off prints and to the thousands for rare vintage Pucci prints.

According to Signature Prints, the jet age of the 20th century encompassed much more than advances in aircraft. After World War II, international aviation was responsible for a close relationship with the fashion world. Exotic lands were being visited, different cultures were being observed, and fashion was changing to suit the needs of jet-setters who traveled from coast to coast as well as climate to climate. Jet travel, beginning around 1958 with the use of the Boeing 707 and Lockeed L188 Turboprop jetliners, brought people and places closer together.

The fashion clothing industry changed with the help of BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation), now British Airways, which was the first airline to offer a new service to its travelers, information regarding preferable types of clothing to pack and the right fabrics to choose for a particular destination. This service, called the Travel Fashion Advisory Service, provided packing lists for worldwide locations and their corresponding climates. It gave lists for both First Class and Economy Service baggage allowances.

Advances in jet air travel inspired fashion clothing designers, who picked up on their growing trend to attract customers and their creativity abounded. Resort wear fashions were geared for exotic beaches at Nassau, Bermuda, and Jamaica. Hollywood's regulars enjoyed the popular resort town of Acapulco, Mexico. New York jet-setters enjoyed Palm Beach, Florida. In 1960, it took only four hours to fly from New York to Jamaica; seven hours from New York to Paris; and ten hours from New York to Rome. Flying to Bali, Indonesia, and the Orient became commonplace among designers, celebrities and members of high society who thought nothing of flying to Rome, London, or Paris for a weekend to attend a party or an event. Their clothing had to travel well. It was not the days when ocean liners could take huge steamer trunks filled with clothing that needed to be pressed or steamed, and you brought your maid or butler on the trip with you. The new international jet-setters were on the move and raring to go.

As early as the late 1950s, Emilio Pucci’s silk printed blouses and pants "literally swept the fashion scene in Jamaica and Florida," according to American Fabrics. His clothing designs also were popular and being worn by tourists in Palm Beach and Montego Bay. This direction in resort wear was the impetus for the overall ‘Pucci-mania’ that evolved throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. Emilio Pucci's silk jersey dresses created an international sensation. Weighing only three or four ounces, glamorous day dresses and evening gowns of silk jersey could be packed into a suitcase and taken out after a flight virtually wrinkle-free. What was even better was that Pucci silk prints could be packed in a carry-on suitcase and be ready to wear upon arrival. Pucci silk dresses, gowns, palazzo pants, and blouses were quite expensive when they were first introduced, and that encouraged many copycat designers to follow his lead throughout the 1960s and create their own prints, that sold for around $9.98 for an off-the-rack style.

Signature Prints covers Aremis, Artemis, Bessi, Don Manuel, Eduardo, Emilio Pucci, Leonard of Paris, Lilly Pulitzer, Marc, Maurice, Mr. Dino, Ogust for Penthouse Gallery, Paganne, Roberta di Camerino, Serbin, Shaheen, trissi, Vera, and Signature Scarves. There is also a Bibliography and Index

Here is a trip down memory lane: the original garments shown in Signature Prints bring high prices today, and contemporary signature prints are again important fashion statements. The pages of Signature Prints drip with color and high-fashion style, including period shoes, jewelry, handbags, and other accessories that relate Ettinger’s knowledge of the style and period. Beautifully photographed, the book is both nostalgic and inspiring.

Home & Garden / Crafts & Hobbies / Religion & Spirituality /Rituals

Bead One, Pray Too: A Guide to Making and Using Prayer Beads by Kimberly Winston (Morehouse Publishing)

I did not expect that this handful of beads would set me on a path of prayer that would change the way I think about God and my relationship to him. But it did. After a week or so of praying with the beads every day, I began to feel my mind click off in the middle of the recitation. The almost constant chatter that runs through my head – my perennially long list of chores and tasks and worries – began to recede. In its place came a stillness, a place where there is only me, my beads, and my longing for God. – from the book

Beading is a hugely popular craft. A 2005 survey by Craftrends showed that beading is the fastest growing sector in the crafts market, with participation up 37 percent over 2004. Between 2000 and 2002, consumer craft purchases soared more than 25 percent – an increase from $23 billion to $29 billion.

Every major world religion has a tradition of praying with beads and these are explored in Bead One, Pray Too, including the history and use of beads and specific prayers. In stories and pictures, Kimberly Winston, recipient of the 2005 American Academy of Religion Award for Best In-Depth Reporting on Religion, shows how people of all faith traditions use prayer beads as a spiritual tool and a means of expressing their creativity. A thorough introduction to both the Catholic and Anglican rosaries, complete with photographs and instructional diagrams, rounds out the historical portion of the text.

An inspirational, how-to guide for making and praying with beads, Bead One, Pray Too takes everyone – from novices to accomplished craftspeople – through the steps of fashioning sets of beads to enhance their spiritual journey. Readers learn not only about the spirituality of praying with beads, but also how to make their own, describing in detail and with diagrams how to make sets of prayer beads for personal use.
Bead One, Pray Too is a three-part offering. The first part introduces readers to prayer beads of the world's religious traditions. Part two takes a look at the traditional Catholic rosary and the Anglican rosary it gave birth to and places them within the context of the world's religious traditions. Part three is the ‘hands-on section’; it instructs readers on how to make their own prayer beads and explores the symbolism they can impart through the materials they chose.

The book includes twelve color photos by award-winning craft photographer Andy Lyons, as well as line drawings with beading instructions. Included also is a selection of blessings, prayers, and liturgies for beads.

Part history, part missal and part crafting how-to, this is a treasure trove of faith and spiritual contemplation. Winston, an award-winning religion journalist, occasional PW contributor and avid beader, takes readers on a fascinating journey through the tradition of prayer beads. … The second part, which is even more inviting, reveals myriad ways to use the tactile to reach the spiritual. From poems to psalms to saints, Winston offers bead-by-bead suggestions, all the time emphasizing that prayer beads are a tool for prayer and not an object of devotion... they are not there to be the focus of your prayers, but to help you focus your prayers. Practically, the final section provides the nitty-gritty of tools, materials and techniques necessary for creating individual rosaries and chains, complete with resources for choosing and finding particular types of beads. The combination of Winston's personal anecdotes with her obvious knowledge of and love for the practice makes this a lovely addition to any praying person's repertoire. – Publishers Weekly (starred review)

In Bead One, Pray Too, Kimberly Winston has created a treasure trove of information and pastoral guidance. There is in this rich, visually handsome volume that mix of deft writing, informed affection for one's subject, and gentle concern for one's readers which occurs all too rarely and then only in the hands of a devout and gifted writer. – Phyllis Tickle, Compiler, The Divine Hours

From the beginning of this book I could hear the hymn 'Peace Give I to Thee' and that is exactly what Kimberly has done. She helps us to create this tangible form of prayer for ourselves and gives us her love, her prayers and her blessing to start our own journey. – Kathy Cueva, President, Prayers & Squares, The Prayer Quilt Ministry

Bead One, Pray Too is the most comprehensive, informative, and enjoyable review of the Christian tradition of using and making beads as an aid to prayer and spirituality that I have read. People of all traditions will find something valuable here to help enhance their prayer life. – Ken Norian, TSSF Minister Provincial, Third Order, Society of St. Francis in the Americas

Almost every major world religion has a tradition of praying with beads and all of them are explored in this lovely book. In stories and in pictures, Bead One, Pray Too celebrates prayer beads as a spiritual tool – and a means of creative expression – for people of all faith traditions. Easy-to-follow instructions, complete with simple diagrams, are provided for Anglican prayer beads, Catholic rosaries, and more. Readers will enjoy the glimpse into the ancient, yet contemporary, path to holiness that they'll find in Bead One, Pray Too, the definitive guide to making and using prayer beads. This book is also a must-have for those who love the art and craft of beading.

Home & Garden / Crafts & Hobbies

Crochet Designs for Kids: 20 Projects to Make for Girls & Boys by Lucinda Guy (Trafalgar Square Books)

Here is a collection for readers who love to crochet for kids; each of the 20 projects is accompanied by directions and color illustrations. The designs emphasize color and styling, and the patterns are grouped by season.

Crochet Designs for Kids is Lucinda Guy’s collection of 20 crochet projects for 2-5 year olds, including, dresses, sweaters, hats, scarves, toys and blankets. Designed by Guy, an experienced designer specializing in children’s knitwear, the collection aims to inspire readers to make original items in simple crochet for small kids to wear, use, and play with.

These designs are all about brilliant color and fun-filled styling, and the patterns are grouped by season; from tops, dresses, jackets, scarves, and hats, to bags, blankets and toy animals. Sections include:

Spring – Soft, sweet, and gentle for spring, these easily made designs are crocheted in a classic pure wool yarn.
Summer – Light, airy, and ideal for summer dressing, these simple projects are made in a fine cotton yarn.
Fall – Pure wool yarns are used for these easy and wonderful fall designs. They are not only stylish but also practical.
Winter – Cozy, warm pure wool is used to make these comforting winter items. Easy to make, easy to use, and wear.

The projects are suitable for both beginners and more experienced crocheters, because only single or double crochet or easy-to-learn fancier stitches are used. While some of the garments can be made quickly – such as the Summer Cap, Winter Warmers, and the Posy Headscarf – other projects, although essentially simple to crochet, will take a little longer and need an extra bit of patience to assemble, such as the Bon-Bon Blanket or the Ariadne Doll.

If readers are concerned that even these projects are not simple enough, they can be simplified. For example, readers do not have to make the motifs for the garments – Milo for the Milo Owl Sweater, Marcel the Snail for the striped top, Bessie Bird for the coat, or the posies for the Posy Pinafore, but this would be a shame since these are the elements that bring the garments alive and make them stand apart from the ordinary.

Beginners can also omit any stripes or embroidery and just make a plain garment. Guy advises readers to simplify if they must and change the colors to suit them, but above all, to be inspired.

Crochet Designs for Kids is a vibrant, must-have collection for readers who love to crochet for kids. This book should appeal to everyone from grandparents who want to crochet a warm and comfy blanket, to parents wanting really unique clothes and fun toys.

Home & Garden / Crafts & Hobbies / Architecture / Drawing & Modeling

Master Builder: Bridges by Gretchen G. Bank (Master Builder Series: Thunder Bay Press)

The stories of modern bridges are stories of engineers at their best, dreaming grand dreams of tremendous potential benefit to mankind and then realizing those dreams in ways consonant with the environment, both natural and previously built. Though there also have been misdirected schemes and pork-barrel projects and political corruption and disruption of neighborhoods associated with bridge building, the stories of the overwhelming majority of our grandest bridges are about technological daring and adventure and creative competition for the common good. – Henry Petroski, Engineers of Dreams

Bridges have been fascinating casual viewers and experts alike for thousands of years. With historical and contemporary photographs, Bridges brings those landmarks to life, and then, using this collector's kit, lets readers re-create them at home.

Bridges is a book for people who are fascinated by bridges and everything about them – how they came to be, how they were imagined, and how they were built. The four bridges included in the volume – the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, the Tower Bridge in London, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco – are familiar the world over, icons of their respective cities, each beautiful and powerful in its own way.

Each bridge made manifest a technological breakthrough in its day. The Brooklyn Bridge was the first bridge to be supported by steel cables and remained the longest suspension bridge in the world for twenty years after its completion. London's Tower Bridge, located in the world's busiest port in the mid-nineteenth century, combined hydraulics technology with suspension bridge principles. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is still the world's widest long-span bridge, and the Golden Gate Bridge successfully married exquisite design with sophisticated structural engineering in the heavily debated and dangerous location of the Golden Gate strait.

On the pages of Bridges, readers discover the stories behind the bridges – why they were built where they were, the years of turmoil and politics involved in each bridge, the visionaries whose dreams were realized, and the technological innovations. Photographs taken at the time of the bridges' construction offer a contrast to the images of the structures today. Bridges helps readers delve into the golden age of engineering, between the mid-nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, to experience the evolution and intricacies of bridge design and construction.

Readers use the full color model pieces to create intricate three-dimensional models. Fully constructed, each model measures approximately 27 inches in length and 8 inches in height – perfect for tabletop display. The kit includes detailed, step-by-step instructions for easy model assembly, special acetate pieces to create realistic bridge cables for the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges, and two automatic LED lights to illuminate both towers of the Golden Gate Bridge.

This one of a kind book and kit gives readers the opportunity to become master architects in their own way. With Bridges, bridge lovers can discover and build four of the world's most famous bridges in beautiful and intricate detail.

Home & Garden / Crafts & Hobbies / Interior Design

Junk Beautiful: Room by Room Makeovers with Junkmarket Style by Sue Whitney & Ki Nassauer (The Taunton Press)

One person's trash is another's treasure. That's a fact of life that the Junkmarket gals know only too well. Through their annual Minneapolis flea market, The Junk Bonanza, Sue Whitney and Ki Nassauer have helped countless devotees transform junk into one-of-a-kind furnishings and accessories. Working their magic on every room of the house in Junk Beautiful they present conversational case studies that introduce clients and explore their needs. With characteristic humor, they take readers through each renovation adventure, from shopping for recycled materials to the actual construction projects. They include complete materials lists, and paint chips and fabric swatches, so that everything can be recreated down to the last detail.
When Whitney and Nassauer met while watching their sons play hockey, they say they discovered they shared another passion: junk. While others scoured flea markets for pretty and practical items, they were the ones seeking out ‘the junk’ no one else wanted so they could recycle it to create custom-made furnishings and accessories. Soon these hockey moms founded Junkmarket, a successful retail business and workshop for repurposing items where they introduced an environmentally responsible design philosophy that blends practicality with aesthetics. The joys of junking spread like wildfire and the rest is history.

Now, in Junk Beautiful, Whitney and Nassauer, who have made numerous appearances on media outlets such as the ‘Today’ show, HGTV and the Oxygen network, share tips on treasure hunting and repurposing to show readers how to transform living spaces from ho-hum to junk-beautiful. By following their mantra of ‘simple yet stunning,’ readers can turn flea market finds and dumpster discoveries into a distinctive look that is inexpensive yet finely rooted in good design.

With photographs and sketches, Junk Beautiful shows how to create a home that is unique and livable in which fine antiques and family heirlooms blend with curbside cast-offs. Nine rooms presenting decorating and storage challenges are featured in the book. For example, a traditional dining room in search of a more modern vibe gets an injection of industrial junk – plastic rain gutter covers become ultra-cool blinds, while old stove grates make a statement as new trivets. And Whitney transforms her own daughter's bedroom from girlish to ‘contemporary cottage-industrial’ by incorporating a few simple touches: a metal flood light clipped to a vintage ladder makes a bedside reading lamp; salvaged pegboard disguises a dated popcorn ceiling; a hospital gurney becomes an unexpected bathroom vanity.

For the total DIYer, Junk Beautiful contains how-to instructions for nearly 30 projects. "Junkers are not only stylish people but they are also concerned about the environment," the authors say. "For years, we have been encouraging people to create their own style, one piece of junk at a time, and while doing this, they're also saving the earth by breathing new life into the stuff no one else wants. A junk beautiful room reflects a social philosophy and the kind of style that money alone can't buy."

Assembled by the masters of junk, this visual, how-to book is overflowing with ideas that are fresh, original and fun! If you are tired of living in a cookie-cutter home that looks like a page from a catalog, then this book is definitely for you. – Danny Seo, author of the Simply Green series
In today's disposable world it's refreshing to see the ingenuity and creativity illustrated by Junk Beautiful, where ordinary, mundane or seemingly hopeless items are transformed into fabulously functional repurposed pieces. This book is a must-have for all garage sale, flea market, thrift store junkies! – Tim Luke of HGTV's Cash In the Attic
There are some people who can take garbage and turn it into a beautiful work of art or piece of furniture; the Junkmarket Gals are that type of people. In their new book, Junk Beautiful, authors Sue Whitney and Ki Nassauer provide a guide for how they do it. The book offers tips, step-by-step instructions, photos and illustrations to keep you on track. – The Austin American-Statesman

Readers join the Junkmarket Gals as they shop for the goods, wrangle unsuspecting homeowners, and pull together gorgeous decor on a dime. With inspiring blueprints for creating highly personal looks, down-to-earth charm, engaging text, and step-by-step instructions, Whitney and Nassauer take the most humble objects from the most unusual places, and show how to spin gold from straw. A decorating guide like no other – inviting and irreverent.

Literature & Fiction / Women’s

Nice to Come Home To: A Novel by Rebecca Flowers (Riverhead Hardcover)
In her debut novel, Rebecca Flowers, independent radio producer and commentator, takes a familiar story – a 36-year-old woman finds herself unmarried, childless, and suddenly empty-handed – and completely re-imagines the plot's direction for a fresh, funny take on finding family in the modern world. In the tradition of Elinor Lipman or Marisa de los Santos (Love Walked In), Flowers in Nice to Come Home To delivers a story of love, family, and community that breaks the mold of the conventional love story.
Thirty-six-year-old grant writer Prudence Whistler is standing in the lobby of the Connecticut Avenue Sheraton when she sees the woman she was supposed to be by now: a very pregnant blond striding by with two little girls and a handsome husband in tow. Glowing and full of purpose, the woman looks so much like Pru she could be her twin – except, of course, for the fact that Pru is still single and childless. (And worse; she's recently been fired from her job.) Blinking in bewilderment, Pru wonders: how could she have neglected to have a family by this point in her life?

In Nice to Come Home To everyone around Pru seems to be settling down. Her once single girlfriends have married and had babies. Her gay best friend is discussing marriage with his partner. Even her irresponsible younger sister, Patsy, is the single mother of a two-year-old. But when Pru panics at losing her mediocre boyfriend of two years – and begins to see the door to her traditional family life closing – she accidentally finds something even better: a new definition of family and happiness. First, it's the crazy cat who moves into her apartment. Then come Pru's headstrong sister and two-year-old niece. Then the niece's dog, the sister's ex-boyfriend, and, ultimately, Patsy and Pru's widowed mother. With the strength of her modern new household, Pru musters the confidence to open the dress shop she's always wanted in town – and discovers an extended family of sorts in the community of shop owners and devoted customers.

In the process, Pru discovers that life isn't something you jot down in your planner, and love is elusive when you rely on your head instead of your heart. Filling her life with nonconformist characters, Pru also learns that a deep commitment to others can open doors you never dreamed of. Then, just when she least expects it, the man of her dreams walks right through one of them.

Pru's witty, funny observations and her attempts to pick up the pieces of her life and journey down a road she never expected to be on will have readers cheering her on in Flowers' engaging, heartfelt, wise, and deftly written novel. – Booklist

A lovely, funny story about the saving graces of surrogate families and unexpected love. The narrator, Pru, has such a self-effacing, irreverent sense of humor that I couldn't help but root for her all the way. – Lolly Winston, New York Times bestselling author of Good Grief and Happiness Sold Separately
So fresh and funny and warm, it echoed in my head long after I had closed the book . . . Beautifully written, with wit and heart to spare . . . She's Jane Austen gone mod, and I can't recommend this hopeful and endearing tale strongly enough. – Joshilyn Jackson, author of Gods in Alabama
Rebecca Flowers is a genius of the small and lucent, the details that make a character live and breathe: revelatory moments, quirky and dead-on metaphors, searingly funny observations. You will know Pru Whistler the way you know real people and you'll miss her the second you finish the book. – Marisa De Los Santos, author of Love Walked In

Endearing, romantic, and satisfying, Nice to Come Home To is a charming, crowd-pleasing debut. Laugh-out-loud funny and eminently satisfying, the book is a happy-ending novel about one woman's approach to love and happiness and what she learns about herself along the way. Flowers takes what could have been a standard-issue, chick lit subject and delivers something richer than the standard-issue readers see everywhere today. It's not a story about dating but about finding a family where you least expect it. Wry, heartwarming, and thoughtful, it will appeal to those who realize that the good life we have is not necessarily the one we planned for.

Mysteries & Thrillers

Child 44: A Novel by Tom Rob Smith (Grand Central Publishing)
Child 44, written by 28-year-old screenwriter and first-time novelist Tom Rob Smith, chillingly recreates the Russian state where ’There is no crime.’
Stalin's Soviet Union strives to be a paradise for its workers, providing for all of their needs. One of its fundamental pillars is that its citizens live free from the fear of ordinary crime and criminals.
But in this society, millions do live in fear . . . of the State.

Death is a whisper away. The mere suspicion of ideological disloyalty – owning a book from the decadent West, the wrong word at the wrong time – sends millions of innocents into the Gulags or to their executions. Defending the system from its citizens is the MGB, the State Security Force. And no MGB officer is more courageous, conscientious, or idealistic than Leo Demidov.
A war hero with a beautiful wife, Leo lives in relative luxury in Moscow, even providing a decent apartment for his parents. His only ambition has been to serve his country.
But in Child 44 the impossible happens. A different kind of criminal – a murderer – is on the loose, killing at will. At the same time, Leo finds himself demoted and denounced by his enemies, his world turned upside down, and every belief he has ever held shattered. The only way to save his life and the lives of his family is to uncover this criminal. But in a society that is officially paradise, it's a crime against the State to suggest that a murderer – much less a serial killer – is in their midst. Exiled from his home, with only his wife, Raisa, remaining at his side, Leo must confront the vast resources and reach of the MBG to find and stop a criminal that the State won't admit exists.

Child 44 is a remarkable debut novel – inventive, edgy and relentlessly gripping from the first page to the last. – Scott Turow
An amazing debut-rich, different, fully formed, mature . . . and thrilling. – Lee Child, NY Times bestselling author of Bad Luck and Trouble
Achingly suspenseful, full of feeling and the twists and turns that one expects from le Carré at his best, Child 44 is a tale as fierce as any Russian wolf. It grabs you by the throat and never lets you go. – Robert Towne, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Chinatown
Child 44 telegraphs the talent and class of its writer from its opening pages, transporting you back to the darkest days of postwar Soviet Russia with assured efficiency and ruthlessly drawing you into its richly atmospheric and engrossing tale. – Raymond Khoury, NY Times bestselling author of The Last Templar and Sanctuary
This is a truly remarkable debut novel. Child 44 is a rare blend of great insight, excellent writing, and a refreshingly original story. Favorable comparisons to Gorky Park are inevitable, but Child 44 is in a class of its own. – Nelson DeMille, NY Times bestselling author of Wild Fire

Child 44 is a remarkable first novel, a thriller unlike any readers have ever read. It is a relentless page-turner, a terrifying evocation of a paranoid world where no one can be trusted, and a surprising, unexpected story of love and family, of hope and resilience. The book has it all: great writing, a fast-moving plot, Soviet era-police work, and a vicious serial killer.

Mysteries & Thrillers

Roux Morgue by Claire M. Johnson (Mary Ryan, Pastry Chef, Mysteries: Poisoned Pen Press)

If he didn't shut up and stop attacking that plate, I was going to hurl myself across the table, grab his fork, and stab him with it. I coughed to sneak a glance at my watch. I'd been smiling non-stop for exactly one hour and forty-three minutes. The longer I maintained this false bonhomie, the crankier I got. By this point, it didn't feel like a smile so much as a bad case of lockjaw. Benson kept scraping his fork across his plate in a precise effort to capture every milligram of his dessert. He'd been prattling non-stop for the last fifteen minutes, only pausing to make determined grooves on a plate that couldn't have been cleaner than if it had been through an autoclave. With every pass, my ballistic meter rose a few notches. We were now at level ‘irritable’ and heading into ‘dangerous.’ – from the book

What makes the connection between cuisine and crime so strong? Is it the dangerous idea that what we eat, or drink, can kill us? Or is it that we believe that food and its consumption celebrate life and should not open a gateway to death?

Author of the Mary Ryan, Pastry Chef, Mysteries series, Claire M. Johnson knows cuisine: she completed the California Culinary Academy’s program for professional chefs in 1983 and worked as a pastry chef in San Francisco and Oakland for eight years.

In Roux Morgue sadly, Mary Ryan lost her stellar career at hot San Francisco eatery American Fare by solving the murders under its roof. Set in the restaurant world, Beat Until Stiff, Johnson’s first novel in the series, won the 1999 Malice Domestic Writer’s Grant. Mary is a great character, bitchy, smart, and nobody's fool. She's hard working, creative, loves her art. And she grants herself enough insights to help restart a life that went sour despite all the sweets that surround her workday. Celibacy is growing old. But she's alive to the possibilities for scams and frauds so rife in the restaurant industry.

Now in Roux Morgue, the follow-up to Beat Until Stiff, broke and trying to upgrade from bitter to productive, Mary Ryan takes a gig at her alma mater, a cooking school just over the Golden Gate bridge. Initially she welcomes renewed contact with former colleagues and is ecstatic to be teaching. But what's with the war between the traditionalists in the toques and the chefs who want to plate for more modern taste?

To make matters worse, Homicide Detective O’Connor has enrolled as a student, claiming to be on disability from the San Francisco Police Department.
In the middle of this turf war, Mary is confronted by Dean Robert Benson who tells Mary she must either force Coolie Martin to leave the school or lose her job. Why would Coolie’s father, a member of the Board of Directors, allow this to happen? But when faculty and staff begin dying, Mary thinks that Coolie’s forced exit might only be part of a larger, more sinister plot.
Acting on a hint from O’Connor, Mary contacts the only person who can help her, her nemesis Thom Woods. Will Mary and Thom uncover the truth before another chef bakes his last pie?

Roux Morgue is a sacher torte of a book, delightfully layered with prose, plot, pace and character. Dig into Roux Morgue immediately! And order anything this terrific cozy writer whips up in her highly talented and well-stocked literary kitchen. – Julia Spencer-Fleming, Edgar finalist and author of I Shall Not Want

Sexual tension, cooking tips and a neatly packaged mystery. All in all, a tasty tale. – Kirkus Reviews

Food Channel addicts will enjoy the inside details on cooking school politics, while fans of quirky mysteries will like the outrageous adult behavior on display. – Library Journal

The growing rift between the dinosaurs and the young brats on the teaching staff at San Francisco's École d'Epicure fuels the highly amusing action in Johnson's superior second cozy to feature funky pastry chef Mary Ryan (after 2002's Beat Until Stiff). Mary is unpleasantly surprised when Inspector O'Connor of SFPD homicide shows up as a student claiming he's on stress leave. Although the cop is her ex-husband's married best friend, Ryan and the sexy O'Connor have obvious chemistry. … When one chef dies after an allergic shellfish reaction with no shellfish on the menu, and another is strangled at home, Ryan suspects something more sinister than differences of culinary theory. In one of many farcical scenes, Ryan enlists the aid of a hostile friend-of-a-friend to hack into École's computer system to dig for answers. This enjoyable romp should gain Johnson new fans. – Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Johnson's return to mystery in Roux Morgue is good news for those who love culinary crimes with bite. Bitchy, beautiful Mary is a fine guide to the world of food and is primed for further adventures into different aspects of its high pressure, high finance, high-wire acts. In Roux Morgue, Johnson demonstrates the regardless of the reason, culinary capers are as enticing as ever.

Mysteries & Thrillers / Medical Thriller

Cold Plague: A Novel by Daniel Kalla (Forge Books)

Daniel Kalla is the international bestselling author of Pandemic, Resistance, Rage Therapy, and Blood Lies. Having spent the last 10 years working as an emergency room physician at a teaching hospital in Vancouver, Kalla enthralls readers with an insider's view in his thought-provoking novels. His latest, Cold Plague, tackles the science behind the fatal and fast-moving Mad Cow Disease.

In Cold Plague, an amazing discovery is made at the South Pole: deep beneath Antarctic glaciers, there is a pristine, untouched lake kept liquid by volcanic vents. When the water proves to have healing powers, the demand is immediate, and practically overnight a new, multi-billion dollar industry is born.

On the other side of the world, Noah Haldane, World Health Organization doctor and hero of Pandemic, battles a sudden Mad Cow disease outbreak in a rural French province. As deadly as Mad Cow is, however, what he encounters is worse. Fresh from a brush with a pandemic flu, Noah recognizes the deadliness of a prion – the enigmatic microscopic protein responsible for mad cow disease. His doomed patients are infected with super prions – rogue proteins that violently attack the brain and kill with the speed of a virus.

Despite intense international pressure to declare the outbreak a random occurrence, Noah suspects that factors other than nature have ignited the prion’s spread among animals and people in France. As he investigates further, he discovers that the threat is not from Mother Nature alone. Facing a spate of disappearances and unexplained deaths, Noah uncovers a conspiracy that stretches from St. Petersburg to Beverly Hills, and from the North to the South Pole.

So conspiracy is afoot in Cold Plague, and Noah must contend with greed, short-sightedness and a disregard for human life to stop more people from dying a grisly death. He is not afraid to tell the world of impending disaster, but will he live long enough to reveal the truth?

… meticulously detailed and carefully plotted new thriller… – Publishers Weekly

[A] well-written novel ... Kalla, an emergency room physician, employs just enough medical realism to carry a wild tale through one cliff-hanger chapter after another. – Library Journal

Kalla's latest medical thriller, following Blood Lies (2007), creates a very believable scenario...Kalla develops his Robin Cook-like plot effectively, generating plenty of suspense and layering on the kind of scientific detail that fans of medical thrillers crave. – Booklist

A suspenseful novel, Cold Plague travels from St. Petersburg to Beverly Hills as the deadly prion threatens to spread throughout the world. Inspired by the real-life discovery of water in Antarctica and the true, deadly potential of prions, Kalla uses his knowledge of science and medicine to bring his plot to life. Cold Plague is a chilling glimpse into the makings of a disaster.

Religion / Bible / Commentaries / Reference

From Literal to Literary: The Essential Reference Book for Biblical Metaphors, 2nd edition by James Rowe Adams (The Pilgrim Press)

Some people have problems with metaphors. The poet John Brehm had one of these metaphorically challenged people in a freshman class that was studying Matthew Arnold's classic nineteenth-century poem ‘Dover Beach,’ which likens the decline of organized religion to the outgoing tide of the ‘Sea of Faith.’ When the student complained that the expression confused her, the teacher gently asked what confused her about it.

"I mean, is it a real sea?" she asked.

"You mean, is it a real body of water that you could point to on a map or visit on vacation?"

"Yes;" she said. "Is it a real sea?"

Those lines of dialogue are now part of a poem Brehm wrote – a poem that continues with the words he wanted to say, but did not.

It is a real sea. In fact it flows right into the Sea of Ignorance,

IN WHICH YOU ARE DROWNING.

Let me throw you a Rope of Salvation before the Sharks of Desire gobble you up.

Let me hoist you back up onto this Ship of Fools so that we might continue our search for the Fountain of Youth. Here take a drink of this. It's fresh from the River of Forgetfulness. – from the Introduction

This newly updated second edition of From Literal to Literary examines over 165 biblical metaphors – fifteen of which are new. These metaphors are examined in an effort to reveal the insights of the scriptures to the skeptic as well as the conventional Christian. From Literal to Literary includes an index to Hebrew and Greek words, an index of Bible citations and a pronunciation guide for transliterated Hebrew and Greek words.
This reference volume was written by James Rowe Adams, past president of The Center for Progressive Christianity and a member of both the Honorary Advisory Council for the Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity and the Advisory Panel for the Faith Futures Foundation, which has offices in the U.S. and Australia. Adams retired from parish ministry in 1996 after serving for nearly thirty years as rector of St. Mark's Church on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Personal commitment to an organized religion in most of the industrialized western world has declined almost to the vanishing point. Church attendance in North America and Ireland appears to be the exception, but both countries show evidence of the general trend toward secularism. At the same time, however, interest in matters loosely labeled ‘spiritual’ may be at an all-time high. Fascination with the mysteries of life and death has drawn people to motion picture theaters to see fantasies such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings while preachers in mainline churches on a Sunday morning look out over rows of empty pews. Too many preachers have ignored the fact that if there is another reality beyond the one people can see, touch, and feel, that realm can be reached most effectively through fantasy, and fantasy's partners – metaphors and extended metaphors such as art, poetry, drama, music, dance, and myth. Like knotholes in a fence around a construction site, metaphors allow the curious to peek into the realm of God.

Adams says that in his opinion, Christians who can't cope with metaphors have done their best, perhaps unintentionally, to spoil the faith for the rest of us. Part of progressive Christianity's task is to reclaim the classic metaphors for what they are: figures of speech that inspired beautiful narratives. To name a few: Son of God, Resurrection of the Dead, Body of Christ, and Kingdom of Heaven.

According to From Literal to Literary, over the years, many people have abandoned Christianity because their teachers and preachers were metaphorically disabled. Once they discover that religious language is primarily figurative by nature, the experience of faith can open up for them. They can be a follower of Jesus without thinking that ‘heaven’ is a place, that a ‘son’ has to be a biological relative, or that ‘dead’ necessarily refers to the condition they are in when the undertaker comes for you.

Adams in From Literal to Literary describes how a few authors of documents that are regarded as holy scripture let their readers know that they were writing metaphorical language. The author of the Gospel according to John is one of them. Near the beginning of the book (Chapter 3), the author tells a story about a leader of the Jews named Nicodemus who completely missed the point of what Jesus was saying by taking literally Jesus' words about being born anew: "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Then, toward the end of the book (Chapter 16), the author again reminds readers about the nature of this kind of writing by attributing to Jesus the comment, "I have said these things to you in figures of speech."

St. Paul's letters show that he had little interest in taking the Hebrew Scriptures, his Bible, as being either historical or factual. Writing to the community in Corinth about the Exodus events, he said, "These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us." (I Corinthians 10:11) The Greek word Paul used for ‘warning’ was typos, which originally meant a blow from a hammer and then a mark left by a blow, hence our word ‘type.’ In other words, Paul looked at the ancient stories as marks along the way, trailblazes, that offer guidance on life's journey. Paul revealed in a letter to the Jesus followers in Galatia how he found guidance in such stories. In reviewing the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar, he wrote: "Now this is an allegory." (Galatians 4:24) Paul does not question the historical accuracy of the stories, but at no point does he suggest that anyone could find the meaning of the ancient texts by taking them literally. To be useful in drawing readers into the realm where ultimate meaning may be glimpsed, scripture must be read as metaphor.

...shows how multiple translations of the Bible color our attitude toward some of the most basic concepts... – Anatoly Liberman, Professor of Germanic Philology, University of Minnesota and author of Word Origins... And How We Know Them – Etymology for Everyone

An exceptionally fine book that midwives the movement from the narrowness of biblical literalism to the expansiveness of biblical literacy – a very relevant resource for recovering the rich resonances of biblical and Christian language. – Marcus J. Borg, author of Reading the Bible Again for the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously but Not Literally

Makes clear how extensively connotations picked up later have shaped our understanding of the original Bible texts and bring us closer to that original meaning. The organization and form of presentation make it readily available for sermon preparation and Bible study, and if it is widely used, it can contribute greatly to a more intelligent and informed Christianity. – John B. Cobb, Jr., Professor Emeritus, Claremont School of Theology

A magnificent compilation of the words that have exercised such power in the development of our religious tradition. Those who still try to defend the claim that the Bible is the literal Word or words of God will be undone by this volume, which reveals so compellingly how slippery and changeable its words really are. Adams has struck an oblique but powerful blow against the kind of biblical idolatry that is today squeezing the very life out of Christianity. – John Shelby Spong, author of The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love

From Literal to Literary is a professional reference tool ideal for sermon preparation and Christian education. Enlightening and liberating, it opens the Bible to all thinking people who can now enjoy it without compromising their scientific perspective.

Religion & Spirituality / Christianity / Hinduism / Comparative Religion

A Christian Pilgrim in India: The Spiritual Journey of Swami Abhishiktananda (Henri Le Saux) by Harry Oldmeadow (The Library of Perennial Philosophy Series: World Wisdom)

This book is squarely addressed to seekers who might find in Abhishiktananda's life and work a light to help guide them on their way, no matter on which particular path they might be traveling. In an age when we are surrounded by the clamor of false prophets on all sides it is my hope that readers will find inspiration (in-the-spirit-ness) in the example of this obscure, humble, and immensely courageous French monk. His own perplexities and contradictions, his foibles and idiosyncrasies, remind us that Abhishiktananda was a very human figure with his feet on the ground, so to speak. – from the Introduction

A Christian Pilgrim in India provides a biographical account of the remarkable French Benedictine monk, Henri Le Saux (1910-1973), who spent the last two-and-a-half decades of his life in India where he immersed himself in Hindu spirituality and became Swami Abhishiktananda. The book traces the elaboration of the central themes of his writings, and offers an assessment of his significance as an exemplary figure in the modern encounter of religious traditions of East and West. It also situates Abhishiktananda's intellectual and spiritual contribution within the context of the perennial philosophy.

A Christian Pilgrim in India offers a unique and comprehensive biography of Le Saux, an extraordinary Catholic monk who in 1949 answered an inner call to India where he spent the rest of his life as a renunciate. Following a series of mystical illuminations he thoroughly immersed himself in Indian culture, philosophy, and spirituality. During his years in India he produced a series of arresting works dealing with such themes as monasticism and the trans-religious ideal of renunciation, the nature of mystical experience and its relation to religious forms, and Hindu-Christian dialogue.

A Christian Pilgrim in India includes an in-depth biography with memories from friends, an 8-page photo signature, a map of important locations in the life of Abhishiktananda, an Appendix with a chronology of Abhishiktananda's life and select quotes, a glossary of Sanskrit and Hindi terms, and an index. It includes a compilation of Abhishiktananda's spiritual aphorisms as well as a full bibliography of his writings – those aphorisms include:

Truth cannot be given because it does not belong to anyone. . . . Truth is not the object of possession – rather, one can only be possessed by the truth.
Reason may discuss, but experience knows.
Like you, I come from God; like you, it is to Him that I am going; apart from that, nothing else matters.
Diversity does not mean disunity, once the Center of all has been reached.
Who is a Christian? Who is a Hindu? Who is a Muslim? I know only the children of my Father who is in heaven.
God is everywhere, God alone is both hidden and unveiled in his manifestation.

Harry Oldmeadow's insightful reflection on the life and writing of Swami Abhishiktananda – missionary, ashram pioneer, theologian of the Hindu-Christian encounter, and spiritual explorer – is a valuable contribution to our understanding of interreligious learning today. Building on biographical studies of Le Saux, Oldmeadow probes further the personal and theological dynamics underlying Le Saux's questions and insights.... Oldmeadow's thought experiment is refreshing, provocative, and worthy of close attention by everyone interested in Le Saux and his legacy. – Francis X. Clooney, S.J., Parkman Professor of Divinity, Harvard University

A wonderful and fascinating book! The definitive introduction to the legacy of Abhishiktananda, the French Benedictine to whom it was given to become a Master of the Vedantic way. – Wolfgang Smith, author of Cosmos and Transcendence: Breaking Through the Barrier of Scientistic Belief

Professor Oldmeadow's treatment of the life and thought of Abhishiktananda is a much-needed corrective to the type of confused, syncretic religious pluralism one meets with only too often today. Moreover, the great value of this book is its examination of the spiritual principles at the heart of both monasticism and sannyasa. – Timothy Scott, author of Symbolism of the Ark

Nothing seemed to vex him; he was always smiling and happy. I treated him as my pal. He was lucid.... He did things without ill-feeling or criticism. . . . He was pure like a child, and strikingly honest. – Mother Yvonne Lebeau

A Christian Pilgrim in India is the unique and comprehensive biography, generously illustrated, of an extraordinary man. The book discusses the collision of religions in the modern world and the integration, synthesis or reconciliation of them within him – how he came to this insight as Gandhi did.

Religion & Spirituality / Christianity / New Testament / Reference

St. Paul's Ephesus: Texts and Archaeology by O.P. Jerome Murphy-O'Connor (Liturgical Press)
In St. Paul's Ephesus, renowned scholar Jerome Murphy-O'Connor does for Ephesus what he did for Corinth in his award-winning St. Paul's Corinth. Murphy-O'Connor, OP, professor of New Testament at the École Biblique of Jerusalem, combs the works of twenty-six ancient authors for information about ancient Ephesus, from its beginnings to the end of the biblical era. After presenting the textual and archaeological evidence, Murphy-O'Connor takes the readers on a walk through St. Paul's Ephesus and describes the history of Paul's years in the city.

The fourth-century B.C.E. poet Duris of Elaea called Ephesus "the most besung of all the Ionian cities." It was the western terminus of the road from India and the capital of perhaps the richest province in the Roman empire. It enshrined the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the world. Toward the end of the first century C.E. the city became the home of the evangelist who produced the final version of the Fourth Gospel. The city was Paul's base for just over two years, and because of the letters he wrote from Ephesus it is the best documented period of his career. Ephesus, in consequence, has a claim on the attention of anyone interested in the origins of Christianity or in the life of one of the most extraordinary cities of antiquity.

Our knowledge of its rich history derives from scattered allusions in a variety of Greek and Latin authors. The references have been combined in any number of scientific works, where they are synthesized and summarized. Such concentration on the essentials inevitably robs the texts of their immediacy, vigor, and charm. It is a way of learning the basic facts about the city, but it leaves the city's personality in the shadows. For grasping the ethos of Ephesus there is no alternative to the first-hand accounts of visitors. These reflect the moods the city inspired in the writers and the small things that caught their fancy.

Murphy-O’Connor in St. Paul's Ephesus quotes from a wide variety of authors and as extensively as possible. The unfortunate consequence is a certain amount of repetition. The data on a given point sometimes appear in a number of different places. These disadvantages, however, are easily transformed into benefits. The personal assemblage of data permits a critical assessment, and repetitiousness raises the important questions of sources and traditional themes.

In St. Paul's Ephesus he divides the authors into two groups within which he follows a simple alphabetical order. The first, ‘Historians,’ is self-explanatory, and many of the names found in his Corinth book also appear in the volume. The second category, ‘Poets and Novelists,’ is at first surprising. Corinth did attract the attention of a number of poets, but no novelist ever set a story there. Ephesus, on the contrary, figures prominently in a series of novelistic works. For their appeal these needed to paint a realistic background, but their real importance lies in what they reveal of the perception of Ephesus in the popular mind. Only in these texts does it become clear to what extent Ephesians looked back to a glorious Greek past without any Romans.

Murphy-O’Connor makes Strabo the opening chapter, both because he was just a generation before Paul, because his lengthy account touches on all the significant aspects of the history of Ephesus, and because is the best introduction to the different facets of the city's life.

The framework of the section devoted to each author is substantially the same. It opens with a brief presentation of the writer's life in which particular attention is paid to the nature of the work from which the citation is taken and to the question of whether he actually visited Ephesus. The text is then quoted at length and is followed by a commentary. The function of the latter is to heighten the intelligibility of the text and also, when necessary, to raise critical questions concerning the reliability or completeness of the information.

According to St. Paul's Ephesus, the other principal source of our knowledge of Ephesus is archaeological excavation. In 1995 the Austrian Archaeological Institute, Vienna, celebrated one hundred years of research at Ephesus. During that century the number of volumes published on various aspects of the vast site might give the impression that all had been smooth sailing. In fact there had been serious storms, of which the most dangerous was the First World War (1914-1918). Work resumed at Ephesus only in 1926.

Best known for his foundational methodology of giving primacy to papyri and inscriptions in the study of New Testament Greek, Deissmann was the first New Testament scholar to realize the importance of the archaeological exploration of Ephesus. While other scholars concentrated their researches on the geography and monuments of the Holy Lands he believed strongly that the historical background of early Christianity must be sought throughout the Greco-Roman world. Ephesus, he believed, was the ideal site to test this hypothesis. Deissmann visited Ephesus in 1906 and again in 1909. Thus he was able to appreciate fully the report on the sorry condition of the site sent to him in 1925 by Joseph Kell (1878-1963), who had been working with the Austrians at Ephesus since 1904. Tons of mud were deposited on excavated areas when the ruins were flooded periodically. The roots of the abundant vegetation were fragmenting fragile decorative masonry. Earthquakes in 1919 and 1924 had caused structural damage. Deissmann used his immense prestige to raise funds from various organs of the German government, and from the Rockefeller family in New York, in order to put Kell and an Austrian team back in the field. The Austrians proved themselves worthy of Deissmann's trust. Their subsequent record of excavation, restoration, and publication is unlikely ever to be surpassed.

In addition to their impeccable scientific publications, German-speaking archaeologists working on major sites in western Turkey share another unusual trait. They write guidebooks to their excavations. Walter Radt's guide to Pergamum comes immediately to mind, as does Joseph Keil's guide to Ephesus. It was not surprising, therefore, that the field archaeologists who have dedicated their lives to Ephesus should have made a guidebook their contribution to the celebration of the centenary of their work there.

Under the editorship of Peter Scherrer, fifteen Austrians and twelve Turks combined to produce the authoritative Ephesus: The New Guide, which is written with the zest of first-hand knowledge and incorporates the most recent research.

Contents of Part 1 of St. Paul's Ephesus include: The Ancient Texts, the Historians section includes Strabo Introduces Ephesus, Appian, Athenaeus, Caesar, Cicero, Dio Cassius, Dio Chrysostom, Herodotus, Ignatius of Antioch, Flavius Josephus, Livy, Luke, Pausanias, Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger, Plutarch, Seneca, Tacitus, and Vitruvius. The Poets and Novelists section includes Achilles Tatius, Acts of John, Acts of Paul, Antipater of Sidon, Callimachus, Philostratus, and Xenophon of Ephesus.

Contents of Part 2 include two chapters. Chapter One includes The Center of Ephesus in 50 C.E.: Paul in Jerusalem, A Quick Visit to Ephesus, and A Walk with Paul through Ephesus. Chapter Two includes Paul's Ministry in Ephesus: Paul's Years in Ephesus, Hearing about Apollos, Johannite Disciples of Jesus, Separation from the Synagogue, Other Episodes, Missionary Expansion in Asia, Crisis in Galatia, Communications with Philippi, Imprisonment, The Third Letter to Philippi, Trouble in the Church at Ephesus, Letters to the Lycus Valley, Letters to Laodicea and Ephesus?, A Free Man Again, Consternation Caused by Corinth, and Ephesus Much Later. St. Paul's Ephesus also contains notes, a bibliography, a subject index, a classical author index, and a New Testament index.

Although Ephesus has been a ruin for many hundreds of years, readers of St. Paul's Ephesus will find themselves transported back to the days of its flourishing. With this book, readers can now picture themselves walking through this second of the two major centers of Paul's missionary work, with its houses, shops, and monuments, and temple of Artemis.

Religion & Spirituality / Science & Religion

God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist by Victor J. Stenger, with a foreword by Christopher Hitchens (Prometheus Books)

Until relatively recently, the argument between theists and atheists … was largely based on two implicitly shared assumptions. The first was that science and religion belonged, in the famous words of Stephen Jay Gould, to ‘non-overlapping magisterial.’ The second was that science and reason could not actually disprove the existence of a deity or a creator: they could no more than show that there was no good or sufficient evidence to justify such a belief.

One sometimes suspects that the acceptance of the ‘non-overlapping’ verdict was a cause of some relief to many nonscientists such as myself, who prefer to argue with religion from different premises. But with the arrival on the scene of Victor Stenger's book, the already revived and extended argument for unbelief has undergone a sort of quantitative and qualitative acceleration. One side in this dispute is going to have to yield. – from the Foreword by Christopher Hitchens

Throughout history, arguments for and against the existence of God have been largely confined to philosophy and theology. In the meantime, science has sat on the sidelines and quietly watched this game of words march up and down the field. Despite the fact that science has revolutionized every aspect of human life and greatly clarified our understanding of the world, somehow the notion has arisen that it has nothing to say about the possibility of a supreme being, which much of humanity worships as the source of all reality.

Physicist Victor J. Stenger contends that, if God exists, some evidence for this existence should be detectable by scientific means, especially considering the central role that God is alleged to play in the operation of the universe and the lives of humans. Treating the traditional God concept, as conventionally presented in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, like any other scientific hypothesis, Stenger in God: The Failed Hypothesis examines all of the claims made for God's existence. Stenger, adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado and professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at the University of Hawaii, considers the latest Intelligent Design arguments as evidence of God's influence in biology. He looks at human behavior for evidence of immaterial souls and the possible effects of prayer. He discusses the findings of physics and astronomy in weighing the suggestions that the universe is the work of a creator and that humans are God's special creation.

Stenger in the preface to God: The Failed Hypothesis reports that in a poll taken in 1998, only 7 percent of the members of the US National Academy of Sciences, the elite of American scientists, said they believed in a personal God. Nevertheless, most scientists seem to prefer as a practical matter that science should stay clear of religious issues. Perhaps this is a good strategy for those who wish to avoid conflicts between science and religion, which might lead to less public acceptance of science, not to mention that most dreaded of all consequences – lower funding. However, religions make factual claims that have no special immunity from being examined under the cold light of reason and objective observation.

Besides, scientific arguments for the existence of God, that is, arguments based on observations rather than authority, have been made since ancient times – as early as 77 BCE by Marcus Tullius Cicero (43 BCE) in his work De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods). Particularly influential was William Paley with his Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity Collected from the Appearance of Nature, first published in 1802. In more recent years, many books have been published purporting that modem theoretical and empirical science supports the proposition that God exists, and the popular media have been quick to promulgate this view. Very few books or media stories have directly challenged that assertion. But if scientific arguments for the existence of God are to be allowed into intellectual discourse, then those against his existence also have a legitimate place.

In Stenger’s 2003 book, Has Science Found God? he critically examined the claims of scientific evidence for God and found them inadequate. In God: The Failed Hypothesis, he goes further and argues that by this moment in time science has advanced sufficiently to be able to make a definitive statement on the existence or nonexistence of a God having the attributes that are traditionally associated with the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God.

To be sure, the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God is not well defined. He focuses on those attributes of the God that the bulk of believers in each of these varied groups worship. Some of these attributes are also shared by the deities of religions outside the three great monotheisms. In the three monotheisms, God is viewed as a supreme, transcendent being – beyond matter, space, and time – and yet the foundation of all that meets our senses that is described in terms of matter, space, and time. Furthermore, this God is not the god of deism, who created the world and then left it alone, or the god of pantheism, who is equated with all of existence. The Judeo-Christian-Islamic God is a nanosecond-by-nanosecond participant in each event that takes place in every cubic nanometer of the universe, from the interactions of quarks inside atomic nuclei to the evolution of stars in the most distant galaxies. What is more, God listens to every thought and participates in each action of his very special creation, a minute bit of organized matter called humanity that moves around on the surface of a tiny pebble in a vast universe.

Stenger’s primary concern in God: The Failed Hypothesis is to evaluate the less familiar arguments in which science provides evidence against the existence of God.

The process he follows is the scientific method of hypothesis testing. The existence of a God is taken as a scientific hypothesis and the consequences of that hypothesis searched for in objective observations of the world around us. Various models are assumed in which God has specific attributes that can be tested empirically. That is, if a God with such attributes exists, certain phenomena should be observable. Failure to pass a specific test is regarded as a failure of that particular model. Furthermore, if the actual observations are as expected in the absence of the specified deity, then this can be taken as an additional mark against his existence.

According to Stenger, where a failure occurs, the argument may be made that a hidden God still may exist. Generally speaking, when we have no evidence or other reason for believing in some entity, then we can be pretty sure that entity does not exist. We have no evidence for Bigfoot, the Abominable Snowman, and the Loch Ness Monster, so we do not believe they exist. If we have no evidence or other reason for believing in God, then we can be pretty sure that God does not exist.

After evaluating all the scientific evidence, Stenger concludes that beyond a reasonable doubt the universe and life appear exactly as we might expect if there were no God.
This paperback edition of God: The Failed Hypothesis contains a new foreword by Christopher Hitchens and a postscript by the author in which he addresses criticisms of his New York Times bestselling first edition.

Marshalling converging arguments from physics, astronomy, biology, and philosophy, Stenger has delivered a masterful blow in defense of reason. God: The Failed Hypothesis is a potent, readable, and well-timed assault upon religious delusion. It should be widely read. – Sam Harris, author of the New York Times bestsellers The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation

Darwin chased God out of his old haunts in biology, and he scurried for safety down the rabbit hole of physics. The laws and constants of the universe, we were told, are too good to be true: a setup, carefully tuned to allow the eventual evolution of life. It needed a good physicist to show us the fallacy, and Victor Stenger lucidly does so. The faithful won't change their minds, of course (that is what faith means), but Victor Stenger drives a pack of energetic ferrets down the last major bolt hole and God is running out of refuges in which to hide. I learned an enormous amount from this splendid book. – Richard Dawkins, author of the New York Times bestseller The God Delusion

This book stands alone among many other publications of similar vein, in that it is written from a standpoint of a professional scientist whose arguments, besides their clear logic, are bolstered by facts of science. Stenger convincingly shows in this book that a combination of factual evidence with a simple logic makes the belief in the supernatural entities untenable. A valuable addition to every school library. – Mark Perakh, Professor of physics emeritus, California State University, Fullerton, author of Unintelligent Design

A fascinating and thought-provoking book that won't convince a single ‘believer’ but is fascinating and thought-provoking nonetheless. – Marcus Chown, author of The Quantum Zoo

Finally someone has had the guts to take on this topic. And God: The Failed Hypothesis is better than might be expected, in fact, a great book, carefully reasoned, extremely tough and impressive. It will be of interest both to casual readers and to scholars interested in the latest arguments about the existence of God.

Science / Botany / Natural History

Cacti of Texas: A Field Guide by A. Michael Powell, James F. Weedin & Shirley A. Powell (Grover E. Murray Studies in the American Southwest Series: Texas Tech University Press)

One hundred thirty-two species, subspecies, and varieties of cacti may be found in Texas. About one hundred of them occur in the state’s Trans-Pecos region, one of the most cactus-rich areas of the United States, but at least one kind can be found in every county of the state. Cacti of Texas is an identification guide to the genera, species, and varieties of Texas cacti, with maps showing the distribution of each.
Based on the comprehensive reference Cacti of the Trans-Pecos and Adjacent Regions (2004), by A. Michael Powell and James F. Weedin, this field guide provides briefer, less detailed treatments of the entire state’s species. More than three hundred, full-color photographs of the cacti in flower and in fruit, each placed with its description in the text, highlight the book. Readers may identify cacti using color photographs of the plants, keys, distribution maps, and descriptions of the vegetative characters, flowers, and fruits.
The introduction is full of details about the biology and morphology of the family Cactaceae and the uses, horticulture, and conservation of cacti. A glossary of cactus terms, an exhaustive list of literature, and a thorough index complete Cacti of Texas.
The book was written by A. Michael Powell, distinguished professor emeritus of biology and director of the Herbarium at Sul Ross State University; James F. Weedin, professor in biology/geology at the Community College of Aurora, Colorado, and a research associate with the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute; and Shirley A. Powell, retired science teacher, author, and botanical illustrator.

According to Cacti of Texas, the Chihuahuan Desert Region (CDR) holds more species of cacti than any other comparable area in North America. This center of cactus diversity lies mostly in northern Mexico; it extends into the United States only in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas and some adjacent parcels m New Mexico and Arizona. This area west of the Pecos River in Texas measures about 32,000 square miles, or 20.5 million acres, equivalent in size to the state of Maine. The Trans-Pecos shares some species and vegetation types with the Edwards Plateau (‘Hill Country’) of Central Texas, the Tamaulipan thorn-scrub of the Rio Grande valley, the Great Plains of the Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico, and the Apachean floristic region of southeastern Arizona. However, by far the greatest part of the Trans-Pecos vegetation and flora pertains to the Chihuahuan Desert. Consequently, the Trans-Pecos is one of the major centers of cactus distribution in the United States.

In Trans-Pecos Texas, the southern Big Bend area is best known as cactus country. The lowest elevation in the entire CDR lies in the Boquillas Basin near the Rio Grande, just down slope from the southeastern foothills of the Chisos Mountains. Living specimens and sub fossil remains of desert plants indicate that the Boquillas Basin served as a major biological refugium during the last Ice Age and thus must have been one of the major dispersal centers for Chihuahuan Desert species.

The definitive work on which Cacti of Texas is based, Cacti of the Trans-Pecos and Adjacent Areas, was the first book to emphasize the cacti of the region. Several publications with wider geographic coverage that have included the Trans-Pecos cactus flora are cited in the Bibliography. The main purpose of Cacti of Texas is to provide simpler, less technically detailed treatments of the species. Cacti of Texas at least briefly mentions essentially all Texas taxa of Cactaceae and should allow confident identification of cacti throughout Texas, excepting varieties of Echinocereus reichenbachii and three eastern species of prickly pears, which are briefly described. The authors have prepared treatments for all cactus taxa known to occur in the Trans-Pecos except for certain races of Opuntia leptocaulis and certain prickly pears. Cactus species of areas outside the Trans-Pecos are not keyed but are discussed along with the Trans-Pecos species or in separate sections at the end of the genera sections. Photographs and distribution maps representing most of these taxa are included, except for some opuntias.

Cacti of Texas is appropriate for use by dedicated nonprofessionals, self-taught hobbyists and naturalists, and serious students of cacti. Visitors to the national parks, state parks, and other natural areas in regions adjacent to the Trans-Pecos will find this book useful, essential to identifying the cacti. The manual, with its beautiful full-color photographs and distribution maps, will be important to professionals in national and state park resource interpretation, wildlife biology, ecology, range management, and environmental consulting.

Social Sciences / Anthropology / History / Americas

The Other Game: Lessons from How Life Is Played in Mexican Villages by Phillip Dahl-Bredine & Stephen Hicken (Orbis Books)

Be led to a bigger, more inclusive, and surely much better world! – Richard Rohr, author of Everything Belongs

Since most of us care about world poverty, we are tempted to think that if only everyone in the world were to share the life standards of those in the United States, the world would be a much better place. But in our day this initial response has a serious flaw: the earth as a planet does not possess sufficient resources for all of the world's people to live as we currently do in the United States. In fact, according to the 2005 Ecological Footprint of Nations, published by Redefining Progress, we would need, astonishingly enough, nearly seven earths to provide the resources necessary for all of the world's inhabitants to share in the current U.S. lifestyle.

The Other Game promotes the position that we in the U.S. can learn about democracy, economic well being, the environment, and cultural and spiritual values from Mexican campesinos. Philip Dahl-Bredine and Stephen Hicken tell how people such as Fermina Zarate, Jesus Leon, Fidel Cruz, Jesus Pacheco, Pablo Jimenez, Agustin Leon, and Josefina Jimenez have become friends and discussion partners with them during the last six years. These friendships form the foundation for The Other Game, which centers on the Mixtec culture as a foil or a looking glass through which to observe Western ways, presuppositions, and basic commitments. To share this experience, Dahl-Bredine and Hicken take readers to indigenous villages, to street demonstrations, to homes and organizing meetings of workers, small farmers, and nonprofit organizations around Mexico and South America.

They relate how The Other Game grew out of their deep and unexpected personal encounter with people from an indigenous culture in the Mixteca Alta of the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. Dahl-Bredine is a lay missioner who lives with his wife in the village of San Isidro, Tilantongo in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca. Hicken is now founding an immigrant service not-for-profit and formerly worked for three years with Services for an Alternative Education, a Oaxacan organization strengthening local indigenous governments and their economies.

In The Other Game, they do not approach indigenous society and civilization as archeologists or anthropologists, and they do not focus on the spirituality of indigenous cultures. They concern themselves with how Mixtecs live out their basic social, spiritual, philosophical, and economic presuppositions, and they examine their way of life, as an alternative to the dominant Western culture or the American Way of Life. They argue the unusual thesis that, far from being dead archaeological phenomena, far from being romanticized throwbacks to a lost paradise, these indigenous societies present strong contemporary options.

The Other Game tells how what Dahl-Bredine and Hicken learned from these people came to be a direct challenge to a lifestyle and a worldview known as the American Way of Life. This worldview and lifestyle exalts unrestrained accumulation and resource use, both individual and corporate. It justifies the privatization of the world's resources in the hands of those who already control the lion's share of those resources and is willing to defend the right to that lion's share, with the force of regressive laws, concentration of political and economic power in the hands of individual and corporate elites, and, ultimately, through war against the world's poorer majorities.

Dahl-Bredine and Hicken have come to believe that, in essence, the Mixtec people are and always have been playing a different ‘game’ than that which Western European and American societies have chosen to play. The life game that the Mixtecs play leads to economic, social, and environmental consequences very different from the results produced by the game we play in the North.

The authors try to do two things in The Other Game. First, with the help of the Mixtec peoples they imagine a different lifestyle and worldview, more challenging, constructive, and sustainable than the one we currently practice. Second, they try to stimulate a dialogue within each person individually and as a society about what new role we would like to take in the history of the universe. To this end, in part 1, they visit the Mixtec indigenous campesino communities of southern Mexico to allow the Mixtec people to stimulate their thoughts about actual living alternatives upon which to base a society's life and worldview.

In part 2 they go inside the indigenous and popular movements that are surging across Latin America, to see if, in the way they frame their own goals for the future, they can find help in re-creating a positive living vision for the future of the human family.

The authors try to resist answering questions with too many specific proposals. They feel dialogue that ought to take place is too important and too complex for simple solutions presented in bullet point fashion. And they feel the U.S. must undertake this process as a nation; to that end they put forth a global challenge in part 3.

From the first inspiring page to the last, the authors give us the politics of hope. Found in the indigenous communities of Mexico's southern mountains, this is a gift of enduring wisdom. Read these pages filled with enthusiasm and conviction, and start playing the game of sustainable, balanced life. – Tom Barry, author of Zapata's Revenge: Free Trade and the Farm Crisis in Mexico

The wisdom of these well-tested, sometimes reclaimed, traditional practices enables these communities to play a leadership role in the urgent search for life-support for our planet and her people. They are role models for us. – Marie Dennis, co-president of Pax Christi International and director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns in Washington, D.C.

This five-thousand-year-old Mixtec culture challenges us and our Western intellectual and cultural history. Far from being a romantic throwback to a lost paradise, the indigenous society in The Other Game – so near yet so far – offers readers contemporary options for a good life at a turning point in our own history. The Other Game allows readers to visit villages that have existed for thousands of years, meet their inhabitants, and learn about their life, work, and family. Readers see how their way of life presents hopeful alternatives to Western culture.

Social Sciences / Politics / Philosophy

The Globalization of Nothing, 2nd edition by George Ritzer (Pine Forge Press)
The Globalization of Nothing is back in a revised and updated edition, with an even greater emphasis on the processes of globalization and how they relate to McDonaldization. The book is structured around four sets of concepts addressing the issues of: ‘places/non-places,’ ‘things/non-things,’ ‘people/non-people,’ and ‘services/non-services.’ By drawing upon salient examples from everyday life, George Ritzer, Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, invites readers to examine the nuances of these concepts in conjunction with the paradoxes within the process of the globalization of nothing. Critical questions are raised, and readers are compelled not only to seek answers to these questions, but also to critically evaluate the questions as well as their answers.
This Edition of The Globalization of Nothing features:

A greater emphasis on the main topic of globalization.
A new way to conceptualize and theorize about globalization: This edition delves into two sub-processes of globalization – ‘glocalization’ and ‘grobalization.’
New material on consumer culture and its globalization as well as on the role of branding.
Examples from everyday life and a global consumer culture that will be readily recognizable to students.

Ritzer says he expected this to be a simple and easy revision coming so soon after the publication of the original edition of The Globalization of Nothing because he felt only minor changes were needed. However, once he began taking the book apart to check out the component parts, he discovered a number of problems. Above all, he found that he had really written two books. One, the book he had originally intended to write was on globalization, especially glocalization and the companion term, grobalization – coined there for the first time. The second dealt with his sense of ‘nothing’ and ‘something,’ as well as the something-nothing continuum. He discovered that he had to spend so much time developing and explaining the way those terms were used, that it ended up taking up more space than, and tended to distract one from, the discussion of globalization.

So he edited the book to focus on globalization, and that is made clear in the largely new first chapter, which now offers an overview of globalization, of globalization theory, and of the unique ways in which those topics are addressed in The Globalization of Nothing. The last four chapters of the book deal, successively, with elective affinities in the globalization of nothing, implications for the approach developed in the book for theorizing the relationship between globalization and culture, implications for understanding the globalization of consumer culture and the opposition to it, and ways of coping globally with the key problem identified in the book – loss amidst monumental abundance.

This dramatic expansion of the attention devoted to globalization means that since Ritzer wanted, if anything, to shorten the book in order to make its basic argument clearer, the amount of space devoted to nothing and something had to be reduced. The original edition's two basic chapters on conceptualizing nothing (and something) have been retained, although modified and in one case (Chapter 2) renamed. That chapter is now titled "Nothing (and Something): Another New Conceptualization". Chapter 3 is the least changed chapter in The Globalization of Nothing, and its title remains the same – "Meet the Nullities" – and it continues to be devoted to introducing non-places, non-things, non-people, and non-services, as well as their companions – places, things, people, and services. Chapter 4 is new and brings together under the heading of "Nothing: Caveats and Clarifications" a number of issues that were scattered throughout the original edition of the book. Thus, nothing and something are now dealt with tightly, coherently, and briefly in three contiguous chapters.

In order to make The Globalization of Nothing shorter and more focused, several things have been deleted from this edition. First, the old Chapter 6 on consumption sites on the Internet has been eliminated, not because the issue was unimportant, but because it was much more about nothing and something than it was about glocalization-grobalization. Second, the Appendix has also been eliminated. Third, a number of specific discussions of nothing that were scattered throughout the book and that were not combined in the new Chapter 4 have also been eliminated.

The major additions to The Globalization of Nothing are almost all on the topic of globalization. Chapter 1 now offers a broad background on globalization and globalization theory in order to contextualize this book's contribution to that literature. Chapter 6 is almost entirely new and seeks to show the need for the idea of grobalization in globalization theory by carefully reviewing and critiquing works that purport to focus on glocalization, localization, and domestication. It is shown that grobalization is either explicitly or implicitly involved in those analyses even though it is either ignored or critiqued. Chapter 7 is made up of much new material, especially a discussion of consumer culture and its globalization as well as the role of branding in it. While some material carries over from the original edition, Chapter 8 is new in that there is additional coverage (e.g., of craft consumers and brand communities) and it is now focused on what can be done about the problem(s) identified in The Globalization of Nothing.

Written in a non-technical and accessible style, the book is an articulate economic thesis that postulates the short and long-term effects of globalization. The Globalization of Nothing is a philosophical and clarion warning regarding the creeping and homogenizing impersonality of severe economic forces. This edition is a shorter, tighter, and more focused book that deals focally and directly with globalization, at least as it relates to nothing and something. Readers will come away from this revision with not only a new way of looking at globalization but also a sense of the problems posed by the grobalization of nothing and the need to find ways to deal with its pernicious aspects.

This text can be used in a variety of courses in sociology departments, including Principles of Sociology, Social Change, Social Theory, Globalization, Consumerism, and Global Economy, in addition to related courses in departments of political science and economics.