Return to home
page Book Reviews, Book Lover Resources, Advice for Writers and Publishers
Home / Library Bookwatch

Library Bookwatch

Volume 15, Number 5 May 2020 Home | LBW Index

Table of Contents

Reviewer's Choice Economic Studies Shelf Parenting Shelf
General Fiction Shelf Romantic Fiction Shelf Western Fiction Shelf
Mystery/Suspense Shelf Fantasy/SciFi Shelf Audiobook Shelf
Library CD Shelf Library DVD/Blu-ray Shelf Military Shelf
Native American Studies Shelf Health/Medicine Shelf Theatre/Cinema Shelf
Education Shelf Art Shelf Philosophy Shelf
Cookbook Shelf Literary Studies Shelf Psychology Shelf
Self-Help Shelf World History Shelf Sports Shelf
Architecture Shelf Money/Finance Shelf Terrorism Studies Shelf


Reviewer's Choice

Ancient Egyptian Jewelry
Nigel Fletcher-Jones
American University in Cairo Press
420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018-2729
www.aucpress.com
9789774169656, $19.95, HC, 116pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Jewelry was worn by ancient Egyptians at every level of society and, like their modern descendants, they prized it for its aesthetic value, as well as a way to adorn and beautify the body. It was also a conspicuous signifier of wealth, status, and power.

But jewelry in ancient Egypt served another fundamental purpose: its wearers saw it as a means to absorb positive magical and divine powers -- to protect the living, and the dead, from the malignant forces of the unseen. The types of metals or stones used by craftsmen were magically important, as were the colors of the materials, and the exact positioning of all the elements in a design.

Compiled with commentary by Nigel Fletcher-Jones, "Ancient Egyptian Jewelry: 50 Masterpieces of Art and Design" draws on the exquisite collections in the archaeological museums of Cairo to tell the story of three thousand years of jewelry-making, from simple amulets to complex ritual jewelry to the spells that protected the king in life and assisted his journey to the Otherworld in death.

Gold, silver, carnelian, turquoise, and lapis lazuli were just some of the precious materials used in many of the pieces, and this stunningly illustrated book beautifully showcases the colors and exceptional artistry and accomplishment that make ancient Egyptian jewelry so dazzling to this day.

Critique: Beautifully illustrated in full color throughout, "Ancient Egyptian Jewelry: 50 Masterpieces of Art and Design" is an inherently fascinating and impressively informative compendium that would grace the shelves of any personal, professional, community, college, or university library Egyptology collection in general, and Jewelry Craft, Jewelry Design, Antique & Collectible Jewelry supplemental studies lists in particular.


The Economic Studies Shelf

The Economics of Violence
Gary M. Shiffman
Cambridge University Press
One Liberty Plaza, Fl. 20, New York, NY 10006
www.cambridge.org
9781107092464, $89.99, HC, 242pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: How do we understand illicit violence? Can we prevent it? Building on behavioral science and economics, "The Economics of Violence: How Behavioral Science Can Transform our View of Crime, Insurgency, and Terrorism" by Professor Gary Shiffman begins with the idea that humans are more predictable than we like to believe, and this ability to model human behavior applies equally well to leaders of violent and coercive organizations as it does to everyday people.

Humans ultimately seek survival for themselves and their communities in a world of competition. While the dynamics of 'us vs. them' are divisive, they also help us to survive. Access to increasingly larger markets, facilitated through digital communications and social media, creates more transnational opportunities for deception, coercion, and violence.

If the economist's perspective helps to explain violence, then it must also facilitate insights into promoting peace and security. If we can approach violence as behavioral scientists, then we can also better structure our institutions to create policies that make the world a more secure place, for us and for future generations.

Critique: Enhanced for academia with the inclusion of a four page Glossary of Terms, twenty pages of Notes, and an eleven page Index, "The Economics of Violence: How Behavioral Science Can Transform our View of Crime, Insurgency, and Terrorism" is a model of meticulous scholarship that is expertly organized and effectively presented. An impressively informative contribution to our on-going national dialogue, especially given the dramatic impact that the pandemic is having on both the American and the Global economies, "The Economics of Violence: How Behavioral Science Can Transform our View of Crime, Insurgency, and Terrorism" must be considered a core and essential addition to both college and university library Contemporary Economic Studies collections and supplemental curriculum lists. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, governmental policy makers, and non- specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Economics of Violence" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781107465756, $24.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.00).

Editorial Note: Gary Shiffman is a leading economist in the field of national and homeland security working issues of choice and violence. He created Giant Oak (www.giantoak.com) to efficiently deliverer domain-specific "big data" tools to those engaged in combating trafficking, insurgency, and terrorism. Dr. Shiffman has been on faculty at Georgetown University for well over a decade teaching and conducting research at the intersection of economics and security (css.georgetown.edu). He was also the Chief of Staff of US Customs and Border Protection (www.cbp.gov), a Managing Director of the Chertoff Group, a Senior Vice President at L-3, a National Security Advisor in the US Senate, and served on active duty in the US Navy serving in the Gulf War and in the Pentagon.


The Parenting Shelf

Parenting Bright Kids Who Struggle in School
Dewey Rosetti
Prufrock Press
PO Box 8813, Waco, TX 76714-8813
www.prufrock.com
9781646320332, $17.95, PB, 200pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: "Parenting Bright Kids Who Struggle in School: A Strength-Based Approach to Helping Your Child Thrive and Succeed" was specifically designed and intended to guide parents through the challenging and often unfamiliar landscape of raising kids who have been labeled with learning differences, including dyslexia, ADHD, autism, sensory processing disorder, and more.

"Parenting Bright Kids Who Struggle in School": Builds upon Harvard professor Todd Rose's groundbreaking research in the "Science of Individuality"; Helps parents target their child's jagged profile of strengths and weaknesses; Explains a child's context of learning and multiple pathways; Teaches revolutionary techniques to encourage strengths and mitigate weaknesses; Helps parents manage the emotional fallout of raising a child who does not conform to the "average" model of learning.

Drawing from her own experience as a parent of a child with learning differences (who is now a highly successful adult), Dewey Rosetti outlines clear lessons from a quarter century of advocating for kids who learn differently.

Critique: A unique and expertly written, organized and presented work that will be enormously appreciated by parents of children with learning differences and difficulties, "Parenting Bright Kids Who Struggle in School: A Strength-Based Approach to Helping Your Child Thrive and Succeed" is unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Parenting, Nursing Psychiatry & Mental Health, Learning Disabled Education, and Children's Learning Disorders collections and supplemental curriculum studies reading lists.

Editorial Note: Dewey Rosetti is the co-founder of Parents Education Network (PEN), which aims to educate parents and teachers on the latest and most effective methods for helping children with learning differences succeed in school and in life. After more than 25 years of experience as an advocate for individualized learning techniques, Dewey partnered with Harvard professor Todd Rose to bring his revolutionary research in the "Science of Individuality" to parenting kids who learn differently.

Building Love Together in Blended Families
Gary Chapman & Ron L. Deal
Northfield Publishing
c/o Moody Publishers
820 N. LaSalle Blvd., Chicago, IL 60610
www.moodypublishers.com
9780802419057, $15.99, PB, 192pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Blended families face unique challenges, and sadly, good intentions aren't always enough. With so many complex relationships involved, all the normal rules for family life change, even how you apply something as simple as the five love languages.

That's why experienced family counselors Gary Chapman and Ron Deal, have collaborated in "Building Love Together in Blended Families: The 5 Love Languages and Becoming Stepfamily Smart" to teach parents how the five love languages can help their blended family.

"Building Love Together in Blended Families" covers: The unique dynamics of stepfamilies; How to overcome fear and trust issues in marriage; How to develop healthy parenting and step-parenting practices; How the love languages should (and should not) be applied.

Parents of blended families are going to face many challenges, but with the right strategies and smart work, any blended family can be stronger and healthier together with "Building Love Together in Blended Families" as a kind of DIY instructional manual and guide.

Critique: Impressively 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "Building Love Together in Blended Families: The 5 Love Languages and Becoming Stepfamily Smart" is an invaluable and unreservedly recommended addition to family, community, and academic library Parenting collections and instructional reference supplemental studies lists. It should be noted that "Building Love Together in Blended Families" is also readily available for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.06).

The Baby Sleep Plan
Rebecca Michi
Rockridge Press
9781646116249, $11.99, PB, 156pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: If there's one thing every parent knows -- it's that you can't talk or bribe your baby into falling asleep. "The Baby Sleep Plan: Sleep Train Your Way to a Happy and Healthy Baby " by Rebecca Michi is a confident approach to teaching a baby the skills to not only get themselves to sleep but stay asleep throughout the night.

"The Baby Sleep Plan" gives parents a complete course of instruction on transitioning their baby through sleep training techniques, such as phasing out naps and pulling back on nighttime feedings. Proven strategies for baby sleep training, like the 3-night Cry-It-Out Method and soothing Michi Method, will teach any child to fall asleep independently, and proven techniques will help parents to create a comforting nighttime routine for their baby that fits into the parent's schedule.

Critique: Exceptionally and thoroughly 'user friendly' in tone, commentary, organization and presentation, "The Baby Sleep Plan: Sleep Train Your Way to a Happy and Healthy Baby" is an extraordinary and effective instructional guide and DIY manual that is especially and unreservedly recommended for anyone needing help with getting their baby to sleep at night (or any other scheduled time). While especially recommended for community library Parenting instructional collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Baby Sleep Plan: Sleep Train Your Way to a Happy and Healthy Baby" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note: Rebecca Michi is a children's sleep consultant and founder of Slumber Academy, a website that shows parents how to sleep train their children gently. She has more than 25 years of experience working with families and more than a decade specializing in children's sleep. Rebecca also speaks nationally at parenting conferences, workshops, and classes.

Unplugged
Paul Walker, Alexandra Walker, Calvin Walker
Robert D. Reed Publishers
PO Box 1992, Bandon, OR 97411
www.rdrpublishers.com
9781944297589, $12.95, PB, 168pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: "Unplugged: Hundreds of Activities for Teens to Do Without a Screen" is specifically designed for teenagers and is comprised of hundreds of fun activities that teenagers can do that don't involve a screen. Some of the ideas are free and only take a few minutes while others may cost a small fortune and take years.

"Unplugged" is a unique compendium of useful ideas, including creative ways to earn money and ideas to make parents happy. There are a number of activities teens can do with their friends or to do to make new friends.

The first section includes lists of activities that people can do, from cooking to earning money. The second includes things that teens should know about, like how to avoid being poor, how to negotiate, how to tell if someone is lying, and other similar skills. The third is similar to the second, only more focused on health.

Because some of the sections are simply long lists, at the bottom "activities" were added which serve as hints or jumping-off points for that particular list.

Critique: Expertly organized and thoroughly 'user friendly' in presentation, "Unplugged: Hundreds of Activities for Teens to Do Without a Screen" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to family, community, and academic library Contemporary Parenting instructional reference and resource collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Unplugged: Hundreds of Activities for Teens to Do Without a Screen" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, 6.99).


The General Fiction Shelf

When All Is Said
Anne Griffin
Picador USA
175 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1800, New York, NY 10010
www.picadorusa.com
Macmillan Audio
www.macmillanaudio.com
9781250251336, $17.99, PB, 336pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: At the bar of a grand hotel in a small Irish town sits 84-year-old Maurice Hannigan. He's alone, as usual -- though tonight is anything but. Pull up a stool and charge your glass, because Maurice is finally ready to tell his story.

Over the course of this evening, he will raise five toasts to the five people who have meant the most to him. Through these stories of unspoken joy and regret, a secret tragedy kept hidden, a fierce love that never found its voice, the life of one man will be powerfully and poignantly laid bare.

Critique: One of those very special novels that will linger in the mind and memory long after the book itself has been finished and set back upon the shelf, "When All Is Said" by Anne Griffin is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to community and academic library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "When All Is Said" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Macmillan Audio, 9781250315823, $39.99, CD).

The OK End of Funny Town
Mark Polanzak
BOA Editions, Ltd.
www.boaeditions.org
9781950774050, $16.98, PB, 200pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: A fastidious pet robot with a knack for knitting. A soporific giant pitching camp in the middle of a city. A mysterious mime whose upcoming performance has the whole town on edge.

These are some of the stories comprising Mark Polanzak's BOA Short Fiction Prize-winning "The OK End of Funny Town". These are stories that stitch fantastic situations into the drab fabric of everyday life. As an author, Polanzak delights in stretching every boundary he encounters, from the new focus on practical learning at the New Community School, to the ever-changing tastes of diners in search of the next big trend in local cuisine.

Wondrous yet familiar, "The OK End of Funny Town" deftly excavates the layers between our collective obsession with passing fads and our secret yearning for lasting connection.

Critique: An anthology of deftly crafted short stories, with each one being a literary gem, "The OK End of Funny Town" by Mark Polanzak is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The OK End of Funny Town" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.69).

Editorial Note: Mark Polanzak is the author of the hybrid fiction/memoir POP! (Stillhouse, 2016). His stories have appeared in The Southern Review and The American Scholar, and anthologized in Best American Nonrequired Reading 2017. He is a founding editor of draft: the journal of process and a contributor to the podcast, The Fail Safe. A graduate of the University of Arizona's MFA program in fiction, Mark teaches writing and literature at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.


The Romantic Fiction Shelf

Gone With the Rogue
Amelia Grey
St. Martin's Press
https://us.macmillan.com/smp
9781250218780, $7.99, PB, 304pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: The sinking of the Salty Dove took her husband's life -- but it didn't drown Julia Fairbright's courage to endure. She creates a proper life for herself and her young son. But now, the ton's most notorious rogue is back, and how he makes Julia feel is anything but proper. She can't deny the desires he awakens in her, even though she knows that the handsome devil will surely break her heart.

Garrett Stockton owns a successful shipping company and is rumored to have a woman on every continent and half-a-dozen in England. The truth, however, is that Garrett has but one mistress: the wide open sea. That is, until he meets Julia, whose spirit of independence matches his own. What begins as a flirtatious battle of wits turns far more passionate than either of them could have imagined. Suddenly, Garrett's only desire is to sail into the sunset with Julia as his wife and young Chatwyn his son. But she won't take his hand -- how can he convince her that his love is real and his heart is hers?

Critique: Author Amelia Grey's "Gone With The Rogue" is a pitch-perfect historical romance by a novelist with a complete mastery of the storytelling arts. While certain to be an enduringly popular addition to community library Historical Romance Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Gone With The Rogue" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $7.99).


The Western Fiction Shelf

Gunfight At Hilton's Crossing
Bill Cartwright
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print (USA), Inc.
PO Box 1230, West Seneca, NY 14224-1230
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781444844078, $21.49, PB, Large Print, 232pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Drifter Chuck Mellors is wondering where his next dollar will come from when he receives an enticing proposition from an unpleasant red-headed man and his cousin. Thinking he is only helping to collect a debt, Chuck is tricked into assisting in a robbery that ends in a murder and he finds himself an unwitting fugitive from the law. Seeking justice not only for himself, but also for the widow and child who are suffering as a consequence of the crime, Chuck embarks upon a long journey through the Indian Territories to Texas that includes his foiling a train robbery and hooking up with a ruthless bounty hunter. Then in the little town of Hilton's Crossing, matters reach a shocking, surprising and deadly resolution.

Critique: Bill Cartwright is a master storytelling whose western tales are as original as they are entertaining. With many an unexpected plot twist and cliff-hanging turn, this large print edition of "Gunfight At Hilton's Crossing" will prove to be a solidly entertaining and enduringly popular addition to the personal reading lists of dedicated western novel buffs and community library Western Fiction collections.

Incident At Elk Horn
Steven Gray
Linford Western Fiction
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print (USA), Inc.
PO Box 1230, West Seneca, NY 14224-1230
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781444842739, $21.49, PB, Large Print, 288pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: When bounty hunter Gustavus Greeley rides into Elk Horn, he learns that Marshal Sam Detmeyer has failed to return from investigating a shooting at the nearby Baker farm. Riding out to the farm, Greeley finds Mr and Mrs Baker and their son dead, Detmeyer badly wounded, and their two daughters missing. Arrows have been used, and the girls are presumed to be captives of the Apaches -- but are they really responsible? Or are brothers David and Will Preston, newcomers to Elk Horn looking for land to take up ranching, somehow involved?

Critique: Author Steven Gray is a master of the western novel genre and this large print edition from the Linford Western Fiction collection documents his abilities to craft the kind of riveting read that is laced through and through wit unexpected plot twists and turns. A simply riveting read from first page to last, "Incident At Elk Horn" will be an extraordinarily appreciated addition to community library Western Fiction collections and the personal reading lists of dedicated western novel fans.

Blackwater
Abe Dancer
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print (USA), Inc.
PO Box 1230, West Seneca, NY 14224-1230
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781444844085, $21.49, PB, Large Print, 224pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis; When professional card player Jack Rogan decides to return home from years of gambling on Mississippi riverboats, he makes a mistake by taking what he thinks is a shorter, faster route back to his home town in Texas. But the Louisiana swamps are teeming with danger, not least of which is a man called Gaston Savoy, his nephew Homer Lamb, and their isolated backwoods kin from the secluded waterside community of Whistler. Captured and stripped of money, guns and his mare, Jack is compromised into making a deal with his captors. Soon, he discovers the real reason for his internment -- and just what is expected of him.

Critique: Another carefully crafted and impressively original western novel by a true master of the genre, Abe Dancer's "Blackwater" is now readily available in a large print paperback edition, making it highly recommended for both the personal reading lists of all dedicated western fans, and community library Western Fiction collections.

Archer's Luck
Ed Roberts
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print (USA), Inc.
PO Box 1230, West Seneca, NY 14224-1230
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781444843453, $21.49, PB, Large Print, 240pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: When drifter Lew Archer meets a priest while traveling along a lonely road in Texas, he thinks nothing of it. But this chance encounter sets in motion a train of events which sees Archer escorting a party of nuns through hostile territory to start a school on the Mexican border. With war and bloodshed around them, Lew Archer is the best man to help them make their way to safety, although why he should take the trouble to do so is a mystery to everybody -- including Archer himself!

Critique: Another deftly crafted western novel by author Ed Roberts featuring a reluctant hero, "Archer's Luck" is a fully entertaining and original story that will be particularly appreciated by western action/adventure fans in general and this large print edition a popular addition to community library collections in particular.

The Lawless Breed
Ralph Hayes
Linford Western Library
c/o Ulverscroft Large Print (USA), Inc.
PO Box 1230, West Seneca, NY 14224-1230
www.ulverscroftusa.com
9781444843422, $21.49, PB, Large Print, 264pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: After Wesley Sumner is released from prison for killing the three men who murdered his aunt, he and his young cellmate Corey Madison go in search of work as ranch hands. But their newfound freedom is short-lived when they are arrested for a crime they didn't commit. And when Corey dies after a savage beating from their brutal captors, Sumner must tell the boy's sister June. Vowing revenge, when Wesley learns that the two deputies who beat Corey have lost their jobs and are now themselves on the run from the law, Sumner begins a long and dangerous journey, slowly but surely tracking down his friend's killers -- and along the way must confront more men hell bent on taking his life.

Critique: Auther Ralph Hayes clearly knows how to craft a riveting western with inherently riveting and unexpected plot twists and turns. His novel, "The Lawless Breed" will prove to be an especially welcome read for all dedicated western fans and this large print edition from the Linford Western Library collection is unreservedly recommended for community library Western Fiction collections.


The Mystery/Suspense Shelf

Man on Edge
Humphrey Hawksley
Severn House
www.severnhouse.com
9780727889140, $28.99, HC, 288pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Trauma surgeon Carrie Walker is taken aback when her estranged uncle makes contact out of the blue. Senior Russian naval officer Artyom Semenov claims to be in possession of an explosive piece of information which he is offering to share with the West. But can he be trusted?

Traveling to Moscow undercover to meet with Semenov, Carrie finds herself stranded when the carefully-planned operation goes catastrophically awry. In grave danger, there's only one person she can turn to for help: her former fiance, Major Rake Ozenna of the Alaska National Guard.

Aware how vital it is that he reaches Carrie before others do, Rake knows he's pitted against a powerful and lethal enemy. But is it a rogue agent - or the Russian state? As preparations gather pace for a high-profile NATO exercise off the Norwegian coast, Rake must act fast if he is to prevent a global catastrophe.

Critique: A deftly crafted and simply riveting read from beginning to cliff-hanger ending, "Man On Edge" by Humphrey Hawksley is an inherently compelling, impressively entertaining, and unreservedly recommended addition to personal reading lists and community library Contemporary Suspense/Thriller Fiction collections. It should be noted that "Man On Edge" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99) and librarians should be aware that there is also a complete and unabridged audio book edition (Oakhill Publishing, 9781787719750, $91.95, CD).


The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf

Boatman's Daughter
Andy Davidson
Farrar, Straus & Giroux
175 Varick Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10014
www.fsgbooks.com
9780374538552, $16.00, PB, 416pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Ever since her father was killed when she was just a child, Miranda Crabtree has kept her head down and her eyes up, ferrying contraband for a mad preacher and his declining band of followers to make ends meet and to protect an old witch and a secret child from harm.

But dark forces are at work in the bayou, both human and supernatural, conspiring to disrupt the rhythms of Miranda's peculiar and precarious life. And when the preacher makes an unthinkable demand, it sets Miranda on a desperate, dangerous path, forcing her to consider what she is willing to sacrifice to keep her loved ones safe.

Critique: A master storyteller, with "The Boatman's Daughter" by novelist Andy Davidson is a deftly crafted story that is an inherently fascinating and compulsive page turner of a read from beginning to end. While an exceptional and highly recommended addition to community library Occult/Gothic/Fantasy fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Boatman's Daughter" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).


The Audiobook Shelf

Dante
John Took
Recorded Books, LLC
270 Skip Jack Road, Prince Frederick, MD 20678
www.recordedbooks.com
B085P1BHM8, $TBA, CD, 23discs, 26.5 hours, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: For all that has been written about the author of the Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) remains the best guide to his own life and work. Dante's writings are therefore never far away in this authoritative and comprehensive intellectual biography, which offers a fresh account of the medieval Florentine poet's life and thought before and after his exile in 1302.

Beginning with the often violent circumstances of Dante's life, the book examines his successive works as testimony to the course of his passionate humanity: his lyric poetry through to the Vita nova as the great work of his first period; the Convivio, De vulgari eloquentia and the poems of his early years in exile; and the Monarchia and the Commedia as the product of his maturity.

Describing as it does a journey of the mind, "Dante" by John Took confirms the nature of Dante's undertaking as an exploration of what he himself speaks of as 'maturity in the flame of love'. The result is an original synthesis of Dante's life and work.

Critique: Ably and professionally narrated by John Took, this complete and unabridged audio book of the extraordinary life of Dante is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to personal listening lists, as well as both community and academic library Italian History & Biography collections.


The Library CD Shelf

Songs for Singin'
The Okee Dokee Brothers
www.okeedokee.org
$17.99 CD / $9.98 MP3 amazon.com

Songs for Singin' is a two-disc studio album from Grammy award-winning banjo-and-guitar duo The Okee Dokee Brothers. A songbook with lyrics and chords is included, in this music collection created especially to encourage living-room sing-alongs. Songs for Singin' is family- friendly, yet the lively, catchy collection is sure to appeal to vocal enthusiasts of all ages and backgrounds. From call and response tunes to sea shanties, church hymns, campfire songs, social songs, protest songs, and more, Songs for Singin' is a joy to share and highly recommended especially for public library collections. The tracks of disc 1 "Day" are Hope Machine; Early Bird; Neighborhood Band; One Little Heart; Sally-O; If You Want a Song; Jubilation; Music Train; Sunnyside Up; Afternoon Walk; Colors; Wastin' Time; Grandmaderation; You Are the One; and Language of the Flowers. The tracks of disc 2 "Night" are Raise a Ruckus; Campin'; In My Bones; Let's Throw a Party; Jumbo Gumbo; Ask Away; Church of the Woods; Singin' for Me Supper; Go Slow; Thank You; and Seasons in a Day; and Hushabye.


The Library DVD/Blu-ray Shelf

Humans: Complete Collection
Acorn Media
c/o RLJ Entertainment
www.us.RLJEntertainment.com
www.acornonline.com
$69.99 Blu-ray amazon.com

Humans: Complete Collection is the uncut, British edition of the science fiction saga about the society-wide repercussions of artificial androids that obtain human-like consciousness. All three series are included in this six-disc Blu-ray set. Series 1 focuses on the troubles that individuals have sharing their homes and lives with synthetic humans, or "synths". Series 2 explores the ramifications of when obedient synths obtain the right to free will. Series 3 portrays a persecuted synth population struggling to survive in a world that has turned against them. Gripping, thought- provoking, and enriched with two and a half hours of bonus features, Humans: Complete Collection is a "must-have" for connoisseurs of quality science fiction. 6 Blu-ray discs, 24 episodes, 19.5 hours.


The Military Shelf

Lessons Unlearned
Pat Proctor
University of Missouri Press
201 S. 7th Street, Columbia, MO 65211
https://upress.missouri.edu
9780826221940, $40.00, HC, 500pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: "Lessons Unlearned: The U.S. Army's Role in Creating the Forever Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq" by Colonel Pat Proctor is a long overdue critique of the Army's preparation and outlook in the all-volunteer era focuses on a national security issue that continues to vex in the twenty-first century: Has the Army lost its ability to win strategically by focusing on fighting conventional battles against peer enemies? Or can it adapt to deal with the greater complexity of counterinsurgent and information-age warfare?

In a blunt and detailed critique of the senior leadership of the U.S. Army, Proctor contends that after the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. Army stubbornly refused to reshape itself in response to the new strategic reality, a decision that saw it struggle through one low-intensity conflict after another (some inconclusive, some tragic) in the 1980s and 1990s, and leaving it largely unprepared when it found itself seemingly forever engaged in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Lessons Unlearned" is the first book-length study to connect the failures of these wars to America's disastrous performance in the war on terror and ably serves as an attempt to convince Army leaders to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Critique: Enhanced for academia and historians with a twenty page Bibliography and a forty-two page Index, "Lessons Unlearned: The U.S. Army's Role in Creating the Forever Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq" is a seminal work of military/political analysis and should be considered as an essential, core addition to community, academic, and governmental Contemporary Military History & Studies collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, military commanders, governmental policy makers, military history buffs, and non- specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Lessons Unlearned" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $31.99).

Editorial Note: Pat Proctor, Colonel, US Army, Ret., is a veteran of both the Iraq and the Afghanistan wars. He recently served as a chief of operations group at the Mission Command Training Program and currently is an Assistant Professor of History at Wichita State University. He is the author of Containment and Credibility: The Ideology and Deceptions that Plunged America into the Vietnam War.

Writings on Standing Armies
David Womersley, editor
Liberty Fund, Inc.
11301 N. Meridian Street, Carmel, IN 46032-4564
9780865979116, $24.00, HC, 746pp, www.libertyfund.org

Synopsis: The questions of where to locate, in whose hands to place, and how to exercise the state's powers of deadly military force inform a perennial topic in political theory and coalesce into a recurrent problem in political practice. Deftly compiled and edited by Professor David Womersley, "Writings on Standing Armies", a newly collected, authoritative edition of the most important pamphlets on the "standing armies" controversy of 1697 - 98. In addition, these writings express a subtext that is of equal and enduring importance: the transforming effects exerted by the prolonged possession of power on individuals and administrations.

Whether arms should be entrusted to a standing army or reserved to a citizen militia is a central theme in a political tradition that descends from Machiavelli. Part of the popular grievance against James II in the years leading up to the Glorious Revolution had been suspicion of his maintenance of troops in time of peace, because it was feared this might be used as an instrument of absolutism.

Therefore, when the Bill of Rights was drawn up in 1689, one of the articles explicitly addressed this concern, specifying "the raising and keeping a Standing Army, within this Kingdom, in time of Peace, without Consent of Parliament" as one of James II's transgressions against his people, and consequently declared that "the raising or keeping a Standing Army within this Kingdom in time of Peace, unless it be with Consent of Parliament, is against Law."

However, in the 1690s, William III had steadily increased the number of his troops until, by 1696, it exceeded the number maintained by James II. The crisis split the Whigs into those determined to stand by the principle of opposition to standing armies versus those content to modify principles for the practical exigencies of government.

Professor Womersley's informative introduction situates these texts in the European debate about standing armies and places them in the narrower context of the specifically English altercations on the subject during the reigns of William III, George I, and George II.

Critique: A seminal historical resource on the subject, "Writings on Standing Armies" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library collections. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Writings on Standing Armies" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9780865979123, $14.50).

Editorial Note: David Womersley is the Thomas Warton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. He has published widely on English literature from the early sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries. He is also the editor of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (2012) for Cambridge University Press.

Lt. Elsie Ott's Top Secret Mission
Jeffrey S. Copeland
Paragon House
3600 Labore Road, Suite 1, St. Paul, MN 55110-4144
https://www.paragonhouse.com/wp
9781557789419, $18.95, PB, 218pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Lt. Elsie Ott's historic, top secret mission in January 1943 helped pave the way for dramatic changes in the way wounded an ill soldiers received vital care: aeromedical evacuation. Lt. Ott was given the task of transporting five critically ill and wounded patients from Karachi, India, to the Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. The mission unfolded over 13,000 miles and six and a half days by air transport, a journey that at the time normally would have averaged three and a half months by truck, ship, and train.

During the groundbreaking journey, Lt. Ott and her patients faced German Fighters, guerilla snipers, altitude challenges, logistical nightmares, and more. In the end, her efforts provided the foundation for a new "Flight Evacuation Nurse" program that sent hundreds of nurses to the air, saving the lives of thousands of soldiers the remainder of the war. For her bravery, determination, and courage, Lt. Ott was the first woman to be awarded the Army Air Medal.

The lessons learned at the time also helped establish aeromedical evacuation teams (today shortened to MEDEVAC) all over the globe, providing medical care and coverage that has saved millions of lives.

Critique: Impressively informative, exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Lt. Elsie Ott's Top Secret Mission: The WWII Flight Nurse Pioneer of Aeromedical Evacuation" by Jeffrey S. Copeland is a unique and invaluable contribution to community and academic library American Military History collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Lt. Elsie Ott's Top Secret Mission: The WWII Flight Nurse Pioneer of Aeromedical Evacuation" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.95).

Editorial Note: Jeffrey Copeland is Professor and Head of the Department of Languages and Literatures at the University of Northern Iowa, where he teaches children's and young adult literature courses and English Education. He has authored and edited over two dozen books, including Inman's War: A Soldier's Story of Life in a Colored Battalion in WWII, Olivia's Story: The Conspiracy of Heroes Behind 'Shelley V. Kraemer', Shell Games: The Life and Times of Pearl McGill, Industrial Spy and Pioneer Labor Activist, Ain't No Harm to Kill the Devil: The Life and Legend of John Fairfield, Abolitionist for Hire, Finding Fairfield, and Plague in Paradise: The Black Death in Los Angeles, 1924.


The Native American Studies Shelf

Picturing Worlds
David Stirrup
Michigan State University Press
1405 South Harrison Road, Suite 25, East Lansing, MI 48823-5245
http://msupress.org
9781611863529, $39.95, PB, 376pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Taking up Lisa Brooks's notion of "spinning the binary" between oral and literary forms and Christopher Teuton's explication of the graphic mode, "Picturing Worlds: Visuality and Visual Sovereignty in Contemporary Anishinaabe Literature" by David Stirrup (Professor of American Literature and Indigenous Studies at the University of Kent) examines the uses
that a range of Anishinaabe authors make of art and artists.

Arguing that the mark on a surface (whether it be an ancient pictograph or a contemporary painting) intervenes, in the works under scrutiny, in such artificial divisions as precolonial/oral and postcontact/alphabetically literate societies, the text examines the ways Anishinaabe authors establish frameworks for continuity, resistance, and sovereignty in that "space" where conventional narratives of settlement read rupture.

"Picturing Worlds" is a significant contribution to studies of the ways traditional forms of inscription support and amplify the oral tradition and in turn how both the method and aesthetic of inscription contribute to contemporary literary aesthetics and the politics of representation.

Critique: A seminal work of outstanding scholarship, "Picturing Worlds: Visuality and Visual Sovereignty in Contemporary Anishinaabe Literature" is enhanced for academia with the inclusion of a twenty-six page Bibliography, twenty pages of Notes, and a seven page Index. An impressively informative and exceptionally well organized and presented study, "Picturing Worlds" will prove to be an especially valued addition to community and academic library Native American Studies collections and supplemental curriculum reading lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Picturing Worlds" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $37.95).


The Health/Medicine Shelf

Concussion Rescue
Dr. Kabran Chapek
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street, Floor 21, New York, NY 10018-2522
www.kensingtonbooks.com
HighBridge Audio
https://highbridgeaudio.com
9780806540238, $16.95, PB, 272pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: When there is a head injury, whether on the sports field, in a car accident, falling off a bicycle, or in the course of military service, the consequences of a concussion is not always immediately apparent. Concussion can range from debilitating to devastating. In fact, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is fast becoming a national health crisis, with millions of Americans visiting emergency rooms with a TBI each year. But there are proven, effective steps for healing.

"Concussion Rescue: A Comprehensive Program to Heal Traumatic Brain Injury" is a truly groundbreaking book in which Dr. Kabran Chapek draws upon his years of experience and expertise to describe in detail the programs and protocols he uses at the Amen Clinics to put patients on a pathway to recovery. For anyone struggling with the effects of concussion, "Concussion Rescue" carefully guide the reader through strategies from the cutting edge of brain science.

Critique: Expertly written, organized and presented, "Concussion Rescue: A Comprehensive Program to Heal Traumatic Brain Injury" is ideal for the non-specialist general reader with an interest in the subject. While unreservedly recommended for community and academic library Health/Medicine collections in general, and Traumatic Brain Injury supplemental curriculum studies in particular, it should be noted for personal reading list that "Concussion Rescue" is also readily available in a digital book format (eTextbook, $9.99) and in a complete and unabridged audio book (HighBridge Audio, 9781684577583, $34.99, CD).

Editorial Note: Dr. Kabran Chapek has been a staff physician at Amen Clinics since 2013. As a graduate of Bastyr University in the Seattle area, he is an expert in the use of functional and integrative treatments and collaborates extensively with many of the Amen Clinics physicians. He has a special interest in the assessment and treatment of Alzheimer's and dementia, traumatic brain injuries, PTSD, and anxiety disorders. Dr. Chapek is the also the founding president of the Psychiatric Association of Naturopathic Physicians, an affiliate group of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians.

How Not to Diet
Michael Greger, MD, FACLM
Flatiron Books
https://www.flatironbooks.com
9781250199225, $32.50, HC, 608pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Every month seems to bring a trendy new diet or weight loss fad -- and yet obesity rates continue to rise, and with it a growing number of diseases and health problems. Clearly, it is time for a different approach.

Enter Dr. Michael Greger, the internationally-renowned nutrition expert, physician, and founder of the Nutrition Facts website. With "How Not to Diet: The Groundbreaking Science of Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss", Dr. Greger now turns his attention to the latest research on the leading causes (and remedies) of obesity.

Dr. Greger hones in on the optimal criteria to enable weight loss, while considering how these foods actually affect our health and longevity. He lays out the key ingredients of the ideal weight-loss diet - factors such as calorie density, the insulin index, and the impact of foods on our gut microbiome - showing how plant-based eating is crucial to our success.

But "How Not to Diet" goes beyond food to identify twenty-one weight-loss accelerators available to our bodies, incorporating the latest discoveries in cutting-edge areas like chronobiology to reveal the factors that maximize our natural fat-burning capabilities. Dr. Greger builds the ultimate weight loss guide from the ground up, taking a timeless, proactive approach that can stand up to any new trend.

Comprised of actionable advice and groundbreaking dietary research, "How Not to Diet" will put an end to dieting by replacing those constant weight-loss struggles with a simple, healthy, sustainable lifestyle.

Critique: Exceptionally informative, ultimately inspiring, expertly written, organized and presented, "How Not to Diet: The Groundbreaking Science of Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss" must be considered as an essential, groundbreaking, core addition to all community and academic library Health/Medicine collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "How Not to Diet" is also readily available in a paperback edition (Pan Macmillan UK, 978-1529038705, $23.95), in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.99), and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Macmillan Audio, 9781250240590, $59.99, CD).

Editorial Note: A founding member and Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, Michael Greger is a physician and an internationally recognized speaker on nutrition, food safety, and public health issues. He has lectured at the Conference on World Affairs, testified before Congress, and was invited as an expert witness in the defense of Oprah Winfrey in the infamous "meat defamation" trial. In 2017, Dr. Greger was honored with the ACLM Lifestyle Medicine Trailblazer Award. He is a graduate of Cornell University School of Agriculture and Tufts University School of Medicine. His first book How Not to Die became an instant New York Times Best Seller. All proceeds he receives from his books, DVDs, and speaking engagements is entirely donated to charity.


The Theatre/Cinema Shelf

Meisner Complete
Larry Silverberg
Smith & Kraus Publishers
177 Lyme Road, Lyme NH 03755-6610
www.smithandkraus.com
9781575259413, $19.95, PB, 332pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Sanford "Sandy" Meisner (August 31, 1905 - February 2, 1997) was an American actor and acting teacher who developed an approach to acting instruction that is now known as the Meisner technique. While Meisner was exposed to method acting at the Group Theatre, his approach differed markedly in that he completely abandoned the use of affective memory, a distinct characteristic of method acting. Meisner maintained an emphasis on "the reality of doing", which was the foundation of his approach. (Wikipedia)

Larry Silverberg is arguably the foremost master acting teacher of our time. He is especially renowned for his best selling books on the Meisner Approach to acting. Larry is also director of True Acting Institute, where he trains actors and acting teachers from around the globe.

In "Meisner Complete", Silverberg provides aspiring actors and acting teachers with a complete update of his previous four Meisner workbooks. With "Meisner Complete", even the most novice of acting students can learn a lot by a simple reading, or just doing the exercises and venturing into the unknown -- the creative zone.

Critique: Expertly written and thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "Meisner Complete" is an ideal acting class curriculum textbook and especially recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Performing Arts collections and supplemental studies lists.


The Education Shelf

Modern Day Challenges in Academia: Time for a Change
Marilena Antoniadou & Mark Crowder, editors
Edward Elgar Publishing
9 Dewey Court, Northampton, MA 01060-3815
www.e-elgar.com
9781788119184, $155.00, HC, 392pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Examining the modern day challenges faced by academics throughout their working lives, "Modern Day Challenges in Academia: Time for a Change" is an impressively timely and collective study that investigates the ways in which academic careers are changing, the reasons for these changes and their potential future impacts. The contributors to "Modern Day Challenges in Academia: Time for a Change" draw upon their professional and academic experience of work and research in both traditional and contemporary institutions, utilizing theoretical and empirical methods to provide international perspectives on the key issues confronting modern day academics.

Split across three chronological parts "Modern Day Challenges in Academia: Time for a Change" guides the reader through the phases of an academic's working life and the unique challenges encountered at each stage. For those entering academia key issues considered relate to career paths and motivations and transitions from industry to academia. During academia chapters study the understanding of external examiners, questions surrounding student supervision, work-life balance, use of technology and the trade off between teaching and research. Upon leaving academia concerns turn to the difficulties of working past retirement age and emeritus roles.

Exploring how academics survive and thrive in the modern higher education arena, "Modern Day Challenges in Academia: Time for a Change" is an analytical resource will prove to be a useful tool for new and established academics and policy makers working in higher education as well as for program leaders in educational management.

Critique: The twenty-two erudite and insightful article comprising "Modern Day Challenges in Academia: Time for a Change" are deftly organized into three major sections: Entering Academia; During Academia; and Leaving Academia. A compendium of original and seminal scholarship throughout, "Modern Day Challenges in Academia: Time for a Change" is particularly and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, college, and university library Contemporary Education Issues collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: The contributors to "Modern Day Challenges in Academia: Time for a Change " include: A. Agarwal, D. Anderton, K.E. Andreasen, M. Antoniadou, W. Chambers, C. Cook, M. Crowder, P. Cureton, E. Epaminonda, M. Gibson-Sweet, J. Haddock-Fraser, J. Jones, A. Karayiannis, H. Kogetsidis, P.D. Ktoridou, S.-J. Lennie, B. Longden, S. Marriott, M. Mouratidou, T. Proctor, A. Rasmussen, C. Rees, S.K. Rehbock, K. Rowlands, P.J. Sandiford, J. Stewart, S. Wells

Transformative Ethnic Studies in Schools
Christine E. Sleeter & Miguel Zavala
Teachers College Press
1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027
www.tcpress.com
9780807763469, $90.00, HC, 176pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: "Transformative Ethnic Studies in Schools: Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Research" by Christine E. Sleeter (Professor Emerita in the College of Education at California State University, Monterey Bay) and Miguel Zavala (Director of the Urban Learning Program in the Charter College of Education at California State University, Los Angeles) is timely and compelling volume that conceptualizes Ethnic Studies not only as a vehicle to transform and revitalize the school curriculum but also as a way to reinvent teaching.

Drawing on Professor Sleeter's research review on the impact of Ethnic Studies commissioned by the National Education Association (NEA), the two authors collaboratively show how the traditional curriculum's Eurocentric view of the world affects diverse student populations. The text highlights several contemporary exemplars of curricula (from classroom level to district or state-wide) illustrating core concepts in Ethnic Studies across a variety of disciplines and grade levels.

Of special note is a final chapter that considers how research on P-12 ethnic studies can be conceptualized and conducted in ways that further both advocacy and program sustainability.

Critique: An ideal curriculum textbook and the newest addition to the 'Multicultural Education Series' from Teacher College Press, "Transformative Ethnic Studies in Schools: Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Research" is essential reading for educators working to transform schools by re- humanizing learning spaces for all students. It should be noted for school district, college, and university library Ethnic Demographic Studies and Cultural Anthropology collections and curriculum development studies. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of education studies, academia, curriculum developers, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Transformative Ethnic Studies in Schools: Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Research" is also readily available in a paperback (9780807763452, $29.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.17).


The Art Shelf

Stories in Light
Nancy Cavadini & Cecilia Davis Cunningham
University of Notre Dame Press
310 Flanner Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556
www.undpress.nd.edu
9780268107420, $24.00, PB, 200pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: The Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame contains one of the largest collections of late nineteenth-century French stained glass outside of France. The French Gothic - inspired church has forty-four large stained glass windows containing two hundred and twenty scenes. Today, more than 100,000 visitors tour the basilica each year to admire its architecture or participate in the beautiful liturgies. Honoring both the Sacred Heart and the Virgin Mary, the vibrant windows have, for more than a century, drawn visitors and worshippers alike into a conversation with the art and faith found in the windows.

"Stories in Light: A Guide to the Stained Glass of the Basilica at the University of Notre Dame" by the team of Nancy Cavadini and Cecilia Davis Cunningham is an informative and conveniently sized guidebook tells the unique story of the windows: the improbable creation of a glassworks by cloistered Carmelite nuns in LeMans, France, and their stained glass that so perfectly illuminated the late nineteenth-century French Catholic spirituality of the Congregation of Holy Cross, who established the University of Notre Dame.

The words of Father Edward Sorin, CSC, founder of the university, are featured throughout the text. He saw the basilica and its windows as an avenue for teaching this spirituality. "Stories in Light" describes the windows according to their location in the building, from the narthex at the entrance to the Lady Chapel behind the altar.

Full-color photographs provide a detailed view of the scenes found in each window. These photos are accompanied by informed commentary on the historical and theological importance of the windows, the iconography of featured saints, and how they illuminate the work of the Holy Cross to educate both mind and spirit.

"Stories in Light" is an easy-to-read book written for all who visit the basilica, including faculty, students, alumni, and friends and family of Notre Dame, and for readers everywhere who want to know more about the rich history and heritage of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart's stained glass.

Critique: A beautifully illustrated and impressively informative volume, "Stories in Light: A Guide to the Stained Glass of the Basilica at the University of Notre Dame" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, community, and academic library Stained Glass Artwork collections in general, and University of Notre dame Basilica art history reading lists in particular.

Editorial Note: Nancy Cavadini (Marquette University, M.A. in Theology) has served in religious formation for the Congregation of Holy Cross and as an ecumenical and interfaith officer.

Cecilia Davis Cunningham (Florida State University, M.A. in Art History) became a tour guide at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in 1999. Her years of teaching have allowed her to introduce numerous visitors to the art and history of the basilica.

David Hockney: Drawing from Life
Sarah Howgate, author
David Hockney, artist
National Portrait Gallery, London
c/o Distributed Art Publishers
155 Sixth Avenue, 2nd floor, New York, NY 10013-1507
www.artbook.com
9781855147973, $45.00, HC, 208pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: David Hockney (born 1937) is considered one of the most celebrated contemporary British artists. Hockney studied at the Bradford School of Art and the Royal College of Art with R.B. Kitaj, Allen Jones and Derek Boshier. Graduating with a gold medal, he became a leading figure in pop art. His work encompasses drawing, painting, printmaking, photography and stage design.

Published to accompany a major international exhibition, "David Hockney: Drawing from Life" by Sarah Howgate features Hockney's drawings from the 1950s to the present day, and focuses on his depictions of himself and a small group of sitters close to him: his muse, Celia Birtwell; his mother, Laura Hockney; and his friends, the curator, Gregory Evans, and master printer, Maurice Payne. In his portrait drawings of these figures, Hockney tries out new stylistic experiments and expresses his admiration for his artistic predecessors, from Holbein to Picasso.

Featuring 150 beautifully reproduced works from public and private collections across the world, "David Hockney: Drawing from Life" traces the trajectory of Hockney's drawing practice by examining how he has revisited these five figures throughout his career. Highlights include a series of new portraits, colored pencil drawings created in Paris in the early 1970s, composite Polaroid portraits from the 1980s and a selection of drawings from an intense period of self-scrutiny during the 1980s when the artist created a self-portrait every day for two months.

Critique: A beautifully produced volume that deftly showcases the artwork and career of one of Britain's most influential modern artists over the past sixty years, "David Hockney: Drawing from Life" will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Contemporary Art History collections in general, and David Hockney supplemental studies reading lists in particular.


The Philosophy Shelf

Seven Types of Atheism
John Gray
Picador USA
175 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1800, New York, NY 10010
www.picadorusa.com
9780374261092, $25.00, HC, 176pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: For a generation now, public debate has been corroded by a shrill, narrow derision of religion in the name of an often vaguely understood "science". In "Seven Types of Atheism", John Gray describes the complex, dynamic world of older atheisms, traditions that in many ways is intertwined with and as rich as religion itself.

Along a spectrum that ranges from the convictions of "God-haters" like the Marquis de Sade to the mysticism of Arthur Schopenhauer, from Bertrand Russell's search for truth in mathematics to secular political religions like Jacobinism and Nazism, Gray explores the various ways great minds have attempted to understand the questions of salvation, purpose, progress, and evil. The result is a study that sheds an extraordinary light on what it is to be human.

Critique: Atheism is, in the broadest sense, an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. National polling suggest that the percentage of the general populace of self-identified atheists in America is growing over the past three decades.

Critique: Inherently interesting, impressively informative, and effectively organized and presented, "Seven Types of Atheism" is an exceptional and unreservedly recommended addition to both community and academic library Contemporary Philosophy collections in general, and Atheism supplemental studies lists in particular. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Seven Types of Atheism" is also now available in a paperback edition (9781250234780, $16.00), in a digital book format (Kindle, $10.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Brilliance Audio, 9781978644175, $19.99, CD).

Editorial Note: John Gray is the author of many critically acclaimed books, including The Silence of Animals, The Immortalization Commission, Black Mass, and Straw Dogs. A regular contributor to The New York Review of Books, he has been a professor of politics at Oxford, a visiting professor at Harvard and Yale, and a professor of European thought at the London School of Economics.


The Cookbook Shelf

My Pinewood Kitchen: A Southern Culinary Cure
Mee McCormick
www.meemccormick.com
Health Communications, Inc.
3201 S.W. 15th Street, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442-8190
www.hcibooks.com
9780757323522, $26.95, PB, 304pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Comprised of 130+ palate pleasing, gluten-free recipes that will help to reduce inflammation and improve intestinal performance, "My Pinewood Kitchen: A Southern Culinary Cure" showcases microbiome friendly meals with a special Southern spin. This very special culinary and thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' compendium offers a completely customizable approach to adapt recipes for different dietary needs, whether gluten-free, Paleo, keto, or vegan.

Critique: Beautifully illustrated throughout with full color photography, "My Pinewood Kitchen: A Southern Culinary Cure" is an extraordinary and practical resource that will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to personal, professional, and community library cookbook collections. It should be noted that "My Pinewood Kitchen: A Southern Culinary Cure" is also readily available in a digital book format (eTextbook, $19.99).

Editorial Note: Mee McCormick is a dedicated food maven, a community food advocate, a restauranteur, a rancher, a mother, and the author of My Kitchen Cure: How I Cooked My Way Out of Chronic Autoimmune Disease with Whole Foods and Healing Recipes. When Mee isn't running her restaurant, Pinewood Kitchen & Mercantile, or working on her biodynamic farm outside of Nashville, she is touring the country as a speaker and community kitchen organizer. She has appeared on national and local TV, on radio and in print nationwide. She is a regular on-air contributor to Today In Nashville and a vital part of the Nashville restaurant scene. She maintains two websites: www.meemccormick.com and www.pinewoodkitchenandmercantile.com

The Easy Italian Cookbook
Paulette Licitra
Rockridge Press
9781646115082, $16.99, PB, 164pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Fragrant basil, melty mozzarella, sun-ripened tomatoes, savory garlic -- Italian cooking is all about selecting simple, high-quality ingredients that combine to create punches of complex flavor. "The Easy Italian Cookbook" is everything authentic Italian cookbooks should be as it showcasing 100 mouthwatering, easy-to-make recipes that use fresh, everyday ingredients that can be found at most grocery stores.

From appetizers to pastas, pizzas, meats, and sweets, "The Easy Italian Cookbook" is showcases weeknight-friendly recipes, as well as one-pot meals, vegetarian and vegan dishes, and gluten-free recipes the whole family can enjoy.

"The Easy Italian Cookbook" includes: Pairing suggestions for recipes with flavors that complement each other deliciously, like drinking an Aperol Spritz while munching on Clams Oreganata; Italian essentials -- kitchen staples to have on hand, including anchovies, espresso, extra-virgin olive oil, and more; Time-saving tips that provide helpful pointers for saving time on many of the recipes, like making certain things in advance or using a stand mixer to knead dough.

Critique: Impressively 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, "The Easy Italian Cookbook: 100 Quick and Authentic Recipes" is as fun to plan menus with as it is useful for creating truly memorable Italian cuisine for all manner of family dining occasions. While highly recommended for family and community library cookbook collections, it should be noted for personal and professional reading lists that "The Easy Italian Cookbook: 100 Quick and Authentic Recipes" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.99).

Editorial Note: Paulette Licitra is the author of Italian Cooking Party and has been teaching Italian cooking since 2009. She completed her professional culinary studies with the Institute of Culinary Education and has studied with home cooks and chefs all over Italy. Paulette maintains a website at www.ChefPaulette.net.

The Psoriasis Diet Cookbook
Kellie Blake, RDN, LD, IFNCP
Rockridge Press
9781646111541, $17.99, PB, 146pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Psoriasis is a long-lasting autoimmune disease characterized by patches of abnormal skin. Psoriasis varies in severity from small, localized patches to complete body coverage. The standard processed and refined American diet has been shown to contribute to and even exacerbate symptoms of psoriasis.

Specifically created for anyone who is having to deal with this complex condition for themselves or a loved one, "The Psoriasis Diet Cookbook: Easy, Healthy Recipes to Soothe Your Symptoms" by Kellie Blake is filled from cover to cover with simple, stress-free recipes like Blueberry-Spinach Salad and Black Bean Burgers that allow the promotion of healthy skin through palate pleasing, appetite satisfying, thematically relevant dishes.

Each individual recipe includes a label for quick reference, making menu selections and cooking easier. "The Psoriasis Diet Cookbook" is based on maximizing whole, savory ingredients and minimizing the intake of triggering foods to restore gut health and reduce irritation.

Critique: Beautifully illustrated, "The Psoriasis Diet Cookbook: Easy, Healthy Recipes to Soothe Your Symptoms" is comprised of thoroughly kitchen cook friendly recipes and is an excellent resource for meal planning -- making it an ideal and especially recommended addition to personal and community library cookbook collections. It should be noted that "The Psoriasis Diet Cookbook: Easy, Healthy Recipes to Soothe Your Symptoms" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note: Kellie Blake is a registered dietitian specializing in functional nutrition. In addition to her work as a full-time psychiatric dietitian and her work with hospice patients, Kellie co-owns a private practice, NutriSense Nutrition Consulting, LLX (www.NutriSenseNutrition.com). Kellie has also used functional nutrition to reverse her own autoimmune disease, and she is passionate about sharing the "food as medicine" message.


The Literary Studies Shelf

Writing Appalachia: An Anthology
Katherine Ledford & Theresa Lloyd, editors
The University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, KY 40508-4008
www.kentuckypress.com
9780813178790, $50.00, HC, 776pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Despite the stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding Appalachia, the region has nurtured and inspired some of the nation's finest writers. Featuring dozens of authors born into or adopted by the region over the past two centuries, Collaborative compiled and expertly co-edited by the team of Katherine Ledford (who is Professor of Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University and co-editor of Back Talk from Appalachia: Confronting Stereotypes) and Theresa Lloyd (who is co-editor of the Literature Section of the Encyclopedia of Appalachia and a Professor Emerita at East Tennessee State University), "Writing Appalachia: An Anthology" showcases for the first time the nuances and contradictions that place Appalachia at the heart of American history.

This comprehensive anthology covers an exceedingly diverse range of subjects, genres, and time periods, beginning with early Native American oral traditions and concluding with twenty-first-century writers such as Wendell Berry, bell hooks, Silas House, Barbara Kingsolver, and Frank X Walker. Slave narratives, local color writing, folklore, work songs, modernist prose - each piece explores unique Appalachian struggles, questions, and values.

The collection also celebrates the significant contributions of women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community to the region's history and culture. Alongside Southern and Central Appalachian voices, the anthology features northern authors and selections that reflect the urban characteristics of the region. As one text gives way to the next, a more complete picture of Appalachia emerges -- a literary landscape of contrasting visions and possibilities.

Critique: Enhanced for academia with the inclusion of an eight page Bibliography and a four page listing of the contributors and their credentials, "Writing Appalachia: An Anthology" is a seminal work of outstanding literary scholarship and unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library American Literary & Criticism Studies collections in general, and Appalachian Culture & Literature studies lists in particular. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Writing Appalachia: An Anthology" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $42.49).

A Writer of Our Time
Joshua Sperling
Verso
20 Jay Street, 10th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201-8346
www.versobooks.com
9781786637420, $29.95, HC, 304pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: John Berger (5 November 1926 - 2 January 2017) was one of the most influential thinkers and writers of postwar Europe. As a novelist, he won the Booker prize in 1972, donating half his prize money to the Black Panthers. As a TV presenter, he changed the way we looked at art with Ways of Seeing. As a storyteller and political activist, he defended the rights and dignity of workers, migrants, and the oppressed around the world. "Far from dragging politics into art," he wrote in 1953, "art has dragged me into politics". He remained a revolutionary up to his death in January 2017.

Built around a series of watersheds, at once personal and historical, "A Writer of Our Time: The Life and Work of John Berger" by Joshua Sperling traces Berger's development from his roots as a postwar art student and polemicist in the Cold War battles of 1950s London, through the heady days of the 1960s (when the revolutions were not only political but sexual and artistic) to Berger's re-invention as a rural storyteller and the long hangover that followed the rise and fall of the New Left.

Drawing on first-hand, unpublished interviews and archival sources only recently made available, author and biographer Sperling digs beneath the moments of controversy to reveal a figure of remarkable complexity and resilience. The portrait that emerges is of a cultural innovator as celebrated as he was often misunderstood, and a writer increasingly driven as much by what he loved as by what he opposed. "A Writer of Our Time" brings the many faces of John Berger together, repatriating one of our great minds to the intellectual dramas of his and our time.

Critique: An extraordinary and analytical biography of an extraordinary and influential life, "A Writer of Our Time: The Life and Work of John Berger" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to both community and academic library Contemporary Biography collections in general, and John Berger supplemental studies reading lists in particular. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "A Writer of Our Time' is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781786637437, $19.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note: Joshua Sperling was born in New York City and grew up in California. His writing has appeared in the Brooklyn Rail, Guernica, Film Quarterly, Jump Cut and Bullett Magazine, among other publications. He received a PhD in Comparative Literature, Film and Media from Yale University and currently teaches at Oberlin College.


The Psychology Shelf

Administrations of Lunacy
Mab Segrest
The New Press
120 Wall Street, floor 31, New York, NY 10005
www.thenewpress.com
www.dreamscapeab.com/audiobooks
9781620972977, $28.99, HC, 384pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Today, 90 percent of psychiatric beds are located in jails and prisons across the United States, institutions that confine disproportionate numbers of African Americans. After more than a decade of research, the celebrated scholar and activist Mab Segrest locates the deep historical roots of this startling fact, turning her sights on a long-forgotten cauldron of racial ideology: the state mental asylum system in which psychiatry was born and whose influences extend into our troubled present.

In December 1841, the Georgia State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum was founded. A hundred years later, it had become the largest insane asylum in the world with over ten thousand patients. Administrations of Lunacy tells the story of this iconic and infamous southern institution, a history that was all but erased from popular memory and within the psychiatric profession.

Through riveting accounts of historical characters, Professor Segrest reveals how modern psychiatric practice was forged in the traumas of slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow. Deftly connecting this history to the modern era, Professor Segrest then shows how a single asylum helped set the stage for the eugenics theories of the twentieth century and the persistent racial ideologies of our own times. She also traces the connections to today's dissident psychiatric practices that offer sanity and create justice.

An informative volume of exceptional organized and impressively presented scholarship, "Administrations of Lunacy: Racism and the Haunting of American Psychiatry at the Milledgeville Asylum" by Professor Segreat restores a vital thread between past and present, revealing the tangled racial roots of psychiatry in America.

Critique: Enhanced for academia with the inclusion of forty-four pages of Notes and a nineteen page Index, "Administrations of Lunacy: Racism and the Haunting of American Psychiatry at the Milledgeville Asylum" is a unique and extraordinary volume of meticulous and exhaustive scholarship that is especially and unreservedly recommended for college and university library Mental Health & African-American History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Administrations of Lunacy: Racism and the Haunting of American Psychiatry at the Milledgeville Asylum" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $15.65) and as a complete an unabridged audio book (Dreamscape Media, 9781690562559, $22.99, CD).

Editorial Note: A longtime activist in social justice movements and a past fellow at the National Humanities Center, Mab Segrest is Professor Emeritus of Gender and Women's Studies at Connecticut College and the author of "Memoir of a Race Traitor" (The New Press).

Trauma and Dissociation Informed Psychotherapy
Elizabeth Howell
W. W. Norton & Company
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
www.wwnorton.com
9780393713732, $35.00, HC, 264pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: A new model of therapeutic action, one that heals trauma and dissociation, is overtaking the mental health field. It is not just trauma, but the dissociation of the self, that causes emotional pain and difficulties in functioning. "Trauma and Dissociation Informed Psychotherapy: Relational Healing and the Therapeutic Connection" by Elizabeth Howell discusses how people are universally subject to trauma, what trauma is, and how to understand and work with normative as well as extreme dissociation.

In this new model, the client and the practitioner are both traumatized and flawed human beings who affect each other in the mutual process that promotes the healing of the psychotherapeutic client. "Trauma and Dissociation Informed Psychotherapy" explains the dissociative, relational, and attachment reasons that people blame and punish themselves. She covers the difference between repression and dissociation, and how Freud's exclusive focus on repression and the one-person fantasy Oedipal model impeded recognition of the serious consequences of external trauma, including child abuse. "Trauma and Dissociation Informed Psychotherapy" also synthesizes trauma/dissociation perspectives and addresses new structural models.

Critique: Enhanced for academia with the inclusion of an informative Introduction, two pages of Endnotes, a twenty-six page listing of References, and a seventeen page Index, "Trauma and Dissociation Informed Psychotherapy: Relational Healing and the Therapeutic Connection" is an extraordinary contribution to the growing library of contemporary psychotherapy literature and should be considered an essential addition the supplemental studies lists for Medical Neuropsychology and Psychopathology students and practitioners. It should be noted that "Trauma and Dissociation Informed Psychotherapy" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.05).

Editorial Note: Elizabeth Howell, PhD, teaches at several institutes and is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Trauma and Dissociation. She has written three previous books on trauma, dissociation, and attachment, and over thirty-five articles.


The Self-Help Shelf

Kickass Recovery
Billy Manas
New World Library
14 Pamaron Way, Novato, CA 94949
www.newworldlibrary.com
9781608686506, $15.95, PB, 208pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: As Billy Manas can attest, getting sober is easy compared to living sober. But if he can do it, so can you, and with the publication of "Kickass Recovery: From Your First Year Clean to the Life of Your Dreams" he is going to help you with nuts-and bolts suggestions for finding financial, personal, and emotional well-being to live your own version of a kickass life. Billy's techniques for getting there are simple yet profound -- tackling manageable goals, finding inspiration (in whatever way works for you), asking for help (even when you don't want to), practicing gratitude and meditation (even if you think they're silly), and steering clear of people who rain on your parade. Straightforward and doable, these strategies build confidence and build on each other until recovery means not just living but living better than ever.

Critique: Practical, realistic, thought-provoking, effective, as well as thoroughly 'user friendly' in tone, commentary style, organization and presentation, "Kickass Recovery: From Your First Year Clean to the Life of Your Dreams" is especially and unreservedly recommended for every professional, health center, community, college and university library Self-Help/Self- Improvement collection for recovering addicts. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of recovering addicts that "Kickass Recovery: From Your First Year Clean to the Life of Your Dreams" is also readily available in a digital book format (eTextbook, $9.99).

Editorial Note: Billy Manas is a columnist for Elephant Journal, a contributor to the Good Men Project, a published poet, a truck driver, a father, and a twenty-year veteran singer-songwriter who performs throughout the Hudson Valley. He frequently shares information and insights with addicts at rehabs and jails.


The World History Shelf

The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary History
Kal Wagenheim, Olga Wagenheim, Luis Fernandez
Markus Wiener Publishers
231 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ 08542
www.markuswiener.com
9781558766433, $28.95, PB, 426pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: The updated and expanded edition of "The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary History" includes a combination of documents and articles that touch upon some of the most important developments since 2006. Among those newly added historical elements include the financial crisis that exploded in 2015 and its consequences, Hurricane Maria and its aftermath, the exodus to Florida, and the peaceful revolt of 2019.

Critique: A classic standard for students of Puerto Rican history, "The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary History" continues to be an ideal curriculum textbook and reference. Impressively informative, expertly organized and presented, "The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary History" should be a part of every personal, community, college, and university library collection.


The Sports Shelf

Slow Burn
Bob Guntrip
Veloce Publishing Ltd.
www.veloce.co.uk
9781787113169, $33.65, HC, 256pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: Bob Guntrip discovered that motorcycles could send shivers down his back while he was still in short pants, and has never really recovered. After more than 30 years editing and contributing to sports magazines on three continents, he knows his love for motorcycle racing is total and irreversible. He has on occasion sought cures in science journalism, lesser forms of sport and even interior design; each has lasted no longer than the first bark of an Italian V-twin or howl of a Japanese four to pass his office window. In 2015 Bob tried writing bikes out of his system with his book Racing Line -- "Slow Burn: The Growth of Superbikes and Superbike Racing 1970 to 1988" was the ultimate result.

"Slow Burn" tells how the superbike racing motorcycle developed out of the road-going sports-tourer to become one of the most successful competitions in all forms of motorcycle sport. As well as offering world championship class competition in its own right, superbike racing has been a highly competitive training ground for grand prix riders as well as helping manufacturers, distributors and dealers develop and improve their motorcycles.

Superbike racing is to the motorcycle industry what touring car or NASCAR competition is to the car world - race on Sunday, sell on Monday. All the big names were drawn into the sport during its formative years and have been there ever since - Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, Ducati and Aprilia have all used superbike racing to test their street bike designs. And some of the biggest riders in the sport such Wayne Gardner, Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz and Eddie Lawson, all started out on big, unruly superbikes, learning how to power slide their way around the world's toughest tracks. It's all in superbike -- and it's all in Slow Burn.

Critique: Nicely illustrated throughout with a combination of color and black/white photography, "Slow Burn: The Growth of Superbikes and Superbike Racing 1970 to 1988" by Bob Guntrip is a unique and impressively informative sports history. Expertly written, organized and presented, "Slow Burn" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library collections.


The Architecture Shelf

A Home of One's Own
Burcu Dogramaci & Andreas Schatzke
Edition Axel Menges
http://www.axelmenges.de/index_e.html
c/o National Book Network
4270 Boston Way, Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
www.nbnbooks.com
9783869050089, $79.00, HC, 176pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: When architects design a house for themselves, the often tense relationship between clients and builders is usually absent. That is why in many such buildings the architect-designer's artistic stance and political position, preferences and antipathies, temperament and character are more pronounced than usual. Moreover the architectonic theories, debates and trends of an epoch also leave their traces in them in a particular way.

Building for oneself has a special connotation under the conditions of migration and exile. Among the most prominent examples showcased in "A Home of One's Own: Emigre Architects and their Houses. 1920-1960" are the private homes of Rudolph Schindler in West Hollywood (1922), Richard Neutra in Los Angeles (1932), Ernst May near Nairobi (1937), Walter Gropius in Lincoln, Massachusetts (1938), Bruno Taut in Istanbul (1938), Erno Goldfinger in London (1939), Josep Lluis Sert in Locust Valley, New York (1949), Max Cetto in Mexico City (1949), and Marcel Breuer in New Canaan, Connecticut (1948 and 1951).

Critique: Nicely illustrated with black-and-white photography, "A Home of One's Own: Emigre Architects and their Houses. 1920-1960" is a unique, coffee-table style volume that is an inherently interesting and impressively informative compendium that will have a very special appeal for architectural students and practicing architects alike. Exceptional in organization and presentation, "A Home of One's Own: Emigre Architects and their Houses. 1920-1960" is especially recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Architectural History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: Burcu Dogramaci teaches art history at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat of Munich. Her research focuses on exile and migration, and 20th-century and contemporary art and architecture. Architectural historian Andreas Schatzke teaches at the Hochschule Wismar, Germany. Among his key research areas are 20-century architecture and urban development, and migration and cultural transfer in the field of architecture and the visual arts.


The Money/Finance Shelf

The Simple Life Guide to Financial Freedom
Gary Collins
www.thesimplelifenow.com
The Book Publishing Company
PO Box 99, Summertown, TN 38483
www.BookPubCo.com
9781570673863, $14.95, PB, 176pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: The current economic disaster created by the CoronaVirus pandemic has exposed the dire financial condition of a substantial percentage of the American populace that are only one paycheck away from the streets. In the pages of "The Simple Life Guide To Financial Freedom: Free Yourself from the Chains of Debt and Find Financial Peace", author and financial expert Gary Collins exposes the consumer-driven US culture that traps everyday people beneath high credit card balances with crippling interest rates. Through eye-opening, real-life examples and figures, the reader will discover common money mistakes and fiduciary pitfalls designed to drain your income. Using Collins's simple methods, anyone can restructure their spending habits to create a purposeful, prosperous future for themselves and their families.

The Simple Life Guide To Financial Freedom" explains: Why average Americans fall far short of their millionaire potential, and how you can avoid going down the same path; Simple tactics to break free from the cycle of debt and make the most of your money; Proven strategies to achieve the financial independence you need to follow your dreams. It also provides real-life success stories to guide you down the path to stress-free fiscal security, along with condensed and clear explanations of budgetary concepts, the perils of consumerism, and much, much more!

Critique: Expertly written, and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "The Simple Life Guide to Financial Freedom: Free Yourself from the Chains of Debt and Find Financial Peace" should be a part of every community, college, and university library Money/Finance collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Simple Life Guide to Financial Freedom" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.99).

Editorial Note: Gary Collins has been involved with military intelligence, and he has been a Special Agent for the U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He now lives off-the-grid part of the year in a remote area of NE Washington State, and spends the rest of the year exploring America in his travel trailer with his trusty black lab Barney. He maintains a web site at www.thesimplelifenow.com


The Terrorism Studies Shelf

Beneath the Tamarind Tree
Isha Sesay
Dey Street Books
c/o HarperCollins
www.harpercollins.com
Blackstone Audio
www.blackstoneaudio.com
9780062686671, $27.99, HC, 400pp, www.amazon.com

Synopsis: In the early morning of April 14, 2014, the militant Islamic group Boko Haram violently burst into the small town of Chibok, Nigeria, and abducted 276 girls from their school dorm rooms. From poor families, these girls were determined to make better lives for themselves, but pursuing an education made them targets, resulting in one of the most high-profile abductions in modern history. While the Chibok kidnapping made international headlines, and prompted the #BringBackOurGirls movement, many unanswered questions surrounding that fateful night remain about the girls' experiences in captivity, and where many of them are today.

In "Beneath the Tamarind Tree: A Story of Courage, Family, and the Lost Schoolgirls of Boko Haram ", author and journalist Isha Sesay tells this story as no one else can. Originally from Sierra Leone, Sesay led CNN's Africa reporting for more than a decade, and she was on the front lines when this story broke. With unprecedented access to a group of girls who made it home, she follows the journeys of Priscilla, Saa, and Dorcas in an uplifting tale of sisterhood and survival.

Sesay delves into the Nigerian government's inadequate response to the kidnapping, exposes the hierarchy of how the news gets covered, and synthesizes crucial lessons about global national security. She also reminds us of the personal sacrifice required of journalists to bring us the truth at a time of growing mistrust of the media.

Critique: An extraordinary and detailed account, "Beneath the Tamarind Tree" is a significant and expertly written, organized and presented history that is especially and unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library Nigeria History collections in general, and Human Rights Law supplemental studies reading lists in particular. It should be noted for the personal reading leading lists of students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in West African History that "Beneath the Tamarind Tree" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9780062686619, $19.99), in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99), and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, 9781982659240, $39.99, CD).


James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Diane C. Donovan, Editor
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
e-mail: mwbookrevw@aol.com
http://www.midwestbookreview.com


Copyright ©2001

Site design by Williams Writing, Editing & Design