How do you tell the varied stories of eight fiery Afghan teenagers as well as the life journey of their American-raised sponsor? The red thread that weaves through all these lives is not the game of soccer itself but a stubborn will to contend in the face of limited resources, family disapproval, and public harassment. Ayub, an Afghan-born American, founded the Afghan Youth Sports Exchange (AYSE) to draw Afghan girls into soccer as a method of empowerment. She weaves together the personal stories of the eight girls who pioneered the program, including their training trip to the United States and their return to form teams and compete in Afghanistan. These are tough girls raised in harsh environments; there is no need to linger on their suffering. Instead we rejoice with them in the freedom and power that comes from athletic achievement. Ayub's initiative has contributed to the establishment of a women's soccer program in Afghanistan. VERDICT The courage of these eight girls will inspire readers of all backgrounds. Recommended to general and undergraduate readers.—Lisa Klopfer, Eastern Michigan Univ., Ypsilanti

Readers intrigued by the lives and loves of royal personalities will enjoy this engrossing biography of Françoise d'Aubigne, aka Madame de Maintenon, who carried on a 40-year love affair with the great Sun King, Louis XIV of France. Born in poverty, afflicted by family scandals, and widowed at an early age, Françoise managed to find her way into Parisian grand society through a combination of personal grit and "amazing good luck." Using archival sources, contemporary reminiscences and the letters and memoirs of Maintenon herself, Buckley (Christina, Queen of Sweden) presents a sympathetic account of this witty and beautiful woman who knew how to take advantage of opportunities that came her way. Once called "the machine that controls everything" because of her influence on the king, Françoise became his secret uncrowned wife after the death of Queen Marie-Thérèse, entering into a morganatic marriage whose details will prove enlightening to general readers. VERDICT Although the story of this royal love affair is framed against the background of the religious and international tensions besetting 17th-century France, the political context is not overbearing. There are fascinating details here about French high society, including on fashion, child rearing, court life, medical ailments, and prevailing superstitions. Most interesting is the poignant story of what became of Maintenon after the king's death, and the curious fate of her remains in the upheavals of the French Revolution and beyond.—Marie Marmo Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., NJ

Tudor England continues to ensnare the interest of a multitude of readers, even those with only a passing interest in historical study. From the famed six wives of Henry VIII to the glories of Elizabeth I, the era is bursting with compelling personalities and plotlines Shakespeare himself could hardly have dreamed up. Following closely on the heels of David Loades's The Tudor Queens of England comes an in-depth and well-researched treatment of a group of sisters all of whom could have been queen. De Lisle (After Elizabeth) attempts to strip away much of the prevailing myth surrounding the Grey sisters. She combines a meticulous examination of personal letters, diaries, and state papers and her ability to tell a story in an effort to present the sisters as no mere tools of powerful men, but standing at the center of the turbulent world of Tudor England. Readers are taken behind the scenes and into the "Golden Age of Gossip" where the elites betray friends and family alike to maintain their always tenuous hold on power. VERDICT While the narrative tends to become mired at points, enthusiasts and historians of the period alike will find much of value in de Lisle's tale. Recommended for all fans and students of British history.—Brian Odom, Pelham P.L., AL

Morrell (writing, Evergreen State Coll.; The Writer's I Ching) takes us through the school of hard knocks faced by writers who are struggling to get published. Without removing the creativity from creative writing, Morrell convincingly portrays the craft of writing for publication as no accident of fate by revealing the "trade secrets" of the publishing industry through the eyes of that all-important gatekeeper, the editor. Having seen too many writers making the same mistakes, Morrell examines what makes a book publishable and what makes a story suck. She goes over dozens of common writing mistakes—from character, to plot, to dialog—and helps the would-be author find the ways in which to fine-tune a manuscript to avoid another rejection letter. VERDICT From beginning to end, whether novel, short story, or memoir, each element of a narrative is reviewed, with each chapter ending with quick tips to improve one's writing. This is one to add to any library shelf—it won't gather dust there.—Ann Schade, Sun Prairie, WI

Influential writing mentor William Zinsser (On Writing Well) here briefly recounts his prolific and varied career and its many unusual work environments. Zinsser's characteristic good humor and conversational tone are present as he describes his numerous changes of job description and employers, all while he pursued the same underlying vocation of communicating—and teaching others to communicate—via the written word. From the New York Herald Tribune to Yale to offices outfitted with fire pole exits, Zinsser demonstrates that good writing does not depend on one's surroundings. He also encourages his readers and students to pursue their passions wherever they may lead, presenting his own interesting career as proof of this wisdom. VERDICT The best parts of this book are Zinsser's nuggets of writing advice; the memoir portions, especially in passages listing names and places from the author's past, are less successful than other memoirs such as Annie Dillard's The Writing Life or Stephen King's On Writing. Although some general readers may be interested, this book is recommended mainly for students of writing.—Stacey Rae Brownlie, Lititz P.L., PA

McLaren and Torchinsky (Stay Free! magazine) provide a loose collection of essays and interviews to critique various aspects of American consumer culture. Two of the more thought-provoking entries are Julie Scelfo's (Newsweek) interview with NYU law professor Richard Sherwin on how television legal dramas shape expectations of jurors, and a debate between Sut Jhally (communications, Univ. of Massachusetts-Amherst) and James Twichell (English & advertising, Univ. of Florida-Gainesville) about the relative merits and demerits of advertising. There are some interesting pieces from inside the world of advertising, such as one on how holidays like "National Denim Day" and "National Private Investigators' Day" came to be, and others related to how magazine media kits try to attract ad revenue. VERDICT Readers familiar with Stay Free! magazine will recognize that, while some notable original essays are included in this book, many of them, as well as fake advertisements, are reprints of material freely available on Stay Free!'s web site (www.stayfreemagazine.org). The book will appeal to readers with an ironic sense of humor or a general suspicion of consumerism as well as those who enjoy keeping track of popular culture.—Elizabeth L. Winter, Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta

Morgenson, the New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, has produced a timely and informative primer. Alluding to the current economic recession, she stresses that "getting wise to the ways of world financial markets…has never been more crucial than it is right now." To help educate readers to that end, she provides a thorough overview of capitalism—its essential tenets, names of chief theorists, historical background, as well as describing its mechanisms and institutions. Not only chronicling capitalist success stories like the explosive growth of the American middle class, she also examines capitalist disasters such as the Great Depression, evaluating the legacies of both growth and failure in an evenhanded way. She also performs the exemplary task of dissecting the advanced economic jargon, explaining how its application impacts people's lives. She rightly claims the "21st century has seen capitalism become the dominant economic system worldwide." Nowhere is this evolution more apparent than in modern-day Russia or China. Unfortunately her choice in presenting a selection of profiles of various countries in the chapter "Capitalism Around the World" seems both arbitrary and perfunctory, offering minimal critical insight on how capitalism has transformed these countries. Yet this remains a minor shortcoming. VERDICT Morgenson's book is essential for all who want to improve their capitalism literacy.—Richard Drezen, Brooklyn, NY

Kilborn offers an analysis of the lives of "relos"—individuals who move up in their careers by moving around, both within the United States and internationally. The author is a longtime correspondent for the New York Times and it shows; the book reads quickly but is still thought-provoking, and moves logically from an extended example of a relo family, through chapters on the cities where relos settle (including Alpharetta, GA, and Plano, TX); the companies for which they work; the communities they form (or don't); the houses they buy and sell; and the impact of their moving around upon their family life. Kilborn's tone is largely reportorial; he opts to focus mainly on the economic and professional repercussions of rootlessness rather than on its social impact (an earlier book to which he contributed, Class Matters, included a bit more editorializing). VERDICT This book might have benefited from a more synthesizing conclusion, but overall it is a solid, business-centric read that will appeal to fans of Richard Florida's Who's Your City? or Bill Bishop's The Big Sort. Recommended for interested general readers and business students.—Sarah Statz Cords, The Reader's Advisor Online

Half of this book is an unremarkable self-help program for creativity. On the premise that creativity results from the combination of existing materials, Murray advocates "borrowing" successful ideas and giving them new applications. He offers a six-step creativity program with such insights as the need to define a problem before you solve it and the admonition to eliminate weak points while enhancing strong points. As the six steps progress Murray provides inspirational anecdotes about various luminaries (Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, etc.), which occasionally support the point at hand. The second half of this book is a paean by the author, a former aerospace engineer, to his self-proclaimed brilliance. Through various flashbacks to his childhood and later, he attempts to build himself up into a mythic figure who has overcome all the odds and who breaks all the rules, producing one innovative triumph after another; a character very familiar to motivational speaking. VERDICT There are simply better-written, catchier, more motivational self-help books out there. There is also a legal danger for the unwary reader who gets too excited about "borrowing" successful ideas from others. Not recommended.—Robert Perret, Univ. of Idaho, Moscow

Taking aim at the business management establishment, Oxford philosophy graduate Stewart (The Courtier and the Heretic), after some years as a management consultant, sinks his teeth into everyone from the pioneers of management theory to the more recent management gurus (Peter Drucker, Tom Peters). He also critiques management education, asserting that a liberal arts degree is a more suitable preparation than an MBA. Alternating as he does between memoir and management theory, Stewart ends up with a disjointed and inconsistently meaningful work. He raises appropriate questions (e.g., about the validity of research from past management thinkers) and highlights serious problems in contemporary management (greedy and opportunistic consultants), but offers few solutions other than recommending a degree in philosophy. VERDICT While aspects of Stewart's argument are certainly valid, a lot of the content here was already available in his June 2006 Atlantic Monthly article of the same name. Although Stewart has added some substantive information regarding the history of management, and quite a bit of seemingly melodramatic details from his brief consulting career, the results are not recommended.—Allen McGinley, Piscataway P.L., NJ

Moe (political science, Stanford Univ.) and Chubb (founder, EdisonLearning) provide yet another look at how to improve the American educational system. Technology, they write, has changed most major aspects of American society, but not today's classrooms, which look much as they did 50 years ago. The authors prescribe technology as the answer to improving U.S. education, along with freeing the system from the grip of special interests and entrenched politics. Until schools are free to experiment with technology and can experiment without interference from the government, teachers' unions, and other vested interests, educational reform will not get very far. The authors support their claims with well-documented examples; a final chapter gives their prescription for real change in American education. The book is thoughtfully written and with well-defended arguments. However, on an issue that's been discussed for years this book doesn't really cover any new ground. Conservative thinkers (pro-autonomy, pro-technology) will agree with the conclusions, while more liberal researchers will argue against them. VERDICT The book is recommended for those studying or working in our educational system because even though it doesn't provide many new arguments, it strongly defends existing arguments.—Mark Bay, Univ. of the Cumberlands Lib., Williamsburg, KY

While there is no shortage of works on the Vietnam War, Allen (history, Northwestern Univ.) has managed to make a valuable, even unique, contribution to the field. Allen does a skillful job of explaining that even though there were fewer Americans captured or missing in the Vietnam War than in any other major American conflict, the response to the status of POWs and MIAs from Vietnam was so strong and so persistent it actually prolonged hostility between the United States and Vietnam and continued to affect American politics for decades after the war. Further, the effort was consumed by a small group made up of activists and the families of the missing or captured. Allen does an excellent job of describing the politics behind the efforts to recover the POWs and MIAs. VERDICT The book is skillfully written, very well researched, and wonderfully documented and presents a fair and balanced view of the issues presented. This is a scholarly work and would be an excellent supplementary text for college and university courses, and is appropriate for all who seek to understand the Vietnam War in a fuller context.—Lisa Ennis, Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham

This book examines how three women with very public lives grappled with the ideology of their separate spheres in an era of immense political and social upheaval. Angelina Grimke (1805–79), daughter of a Southern slaveholding family, defied her family to become the public voice of abolitionism during the 1830s, but retired from public life after her marriage to antislavery orator Theodore Weld. Varina Howell Davis (1826–1906), wife of Confederate president Jefferson Davis, struggled to meet her husband's expectations for a dutiful wife, but later drew on her independent spirit to survive defeat and disgrace. Meanwhile, Julia Dent Grant (1826–1902), wife of General and President Ulysses S. Grant, cheerfully embraced her role as wife and mother, striving to enhance her husband's life and legacy. Drawing primarily on memoirs and letters, Berkin (history, Baruch Coll. & CUNY Graduate Ctr.; Revolutionary Mothers) succeeds in presenting the unique personality of each woman along with the momentous challenges each faced socially and personally. There are other works about these women separately, such as Joan E. Cashin's First Lady of the Confederacy, and Gerda Lerner's classic, The Grimke Sisters from South Carolina, while Ishbel Ross's The General's Wife, written 50 years ago, is no longer in print. VERDICT Undergraduates will find Berkin's book a succinct source of reliable, scholarly information while general readers will enjoy the engaging stories.—Linda V. Carlisle, Ph.D., Southern Illinois Univ., Edwardsville

"Other cities have histories. Los Angeles has legends." Those first two lines from the prologue of L.A. Noir capture perfectly the sentiment that Buntin portrays throughout his book. Buntin, who writes about crime for Governing magazine, guides the reader through a 20th-century history of Los Angeles using two of its most influential citizens—mobster Mickey Cohen and police chief William Parker. Cohen as leader of the underworld and Parker as leader of the L.A. police were natural enemies. But Buntin shows these seemingly different characters sharing much in common as each strives to become the best in his business while trying to grasp control of the city. Los Angeles is more than just a backdrop for the stories of these two men. The city acts as the third main character in this plot, prompting, inciting, and influencing the actions of Cohen and Parker. VERDICT Recommended especially for all readers who love digging into 20th-century history or particularly the city of Los Angeles.—Jeremy Spencer, Univ. of California Lib., Davis

Intended as a kind of companion to Walter Lord's A Night to Remember and The Night Lives On, Butler (Unsinkable: The Full Story of RMS Titanic) rehashes the story of the Titanic, focusing here on the rescue ship Carpathia and the Californian, the nearby ship that ignored distress signals. While there are engaging passages in this book, many are lifted without attribution from other works; there is also an accumulation of easily avoidable factual errors. There is a bibliography, but no source notes; thus, the book is useless to those wishing to undertake further research. Butler's "Author's Note" acknowledges his debt to Lord, which seems the least he could do considering the amount of material he borrows from him without credit. Butler expresses his disdain for revisionist historians, yet doesn't seem to mind presenting as fact several peculiar theories, including the speculative psychiatric diagnosis that the captain of the Californian was a "sociopath." VERDICT Some ship buffs dismiss as "rivet-counters" those they consider obsessed with minutiae; this author would have done well to count a few more rivets. Not recommended. Any library would be much better served by Lord's books and Donald Lynch (text) and Ken Marschall's (illustrations) Titanic: An Illustrated History.—Megan Hahn Fraser, UCLA Lib.

Cohen (contributing editor, Rolling Stone) produces journalism on many subjects, but his books are all about Jews: Jewish gangsters (Tough Jews); Holocaust survivors taking revenge on Nazis (The Avengers); his own family (Sweet and Low); and now the entire Jewish nation. He does a marvelous job of getting the highlights of the actions of dozens of characters over a few thousand years of Jewish and Zionist history into a few hundred pages, while exposing the reader to points of view other than those of the author. More than a hundred books and articles are cited in footnotes or listed in the bibliography. VERDICT While Cohen clearly identifies with "the Jewish Nation," this is not just a defense of Israel like Alan Dershowitz's The Case for Israel and other books that set out to answer Israel's many critics. In a very personal effort to understand the how and why of Israel's history, Cohen helps the reader toward that understanding. Recommended for all interested readers.—Joel Neuberg, Santa Rosa Junior Coll., CA

Historian and music journalist Freeland (Ladies of Soul) shows us the palimpsest that is Manhattan: a volume of tales, many obscured and overwritten by newer stories, with much early material lost forever, but with parts that lurk obscurely, not entirely erased. A seeker like Freeland, who set forth both along New York's pavement and into its archival material, can discover many old stories, ripe with adventure, colorful personalities, and triumphs and sorrow. Stoked by his knowledge of local cultural and musical history, Freeland sought to "bring out of hiding" New York's obscured places, the half-visible fragments, that testify to earlier eras of the city's history of entertainment and leisure. Freeland explains that because popular culture is ever shifting and changing, and operates beyond the status quo, its built environment falls prey to destruction sooner than does that of government and finance. From Chinatown (beer gardens, Chinese theater, gang warfare) to the East Village and Union Square (the "Jewish Rialto," rooftop movie-making) to Tin Pan Alley, Times Square (the Automat, taxi dancers), and Harlem (jazz and ragtime on 133rd Street), Freeland turns his readers into intrepid time travelers. The richness of the New York stories he presents, in elegant prose, is more abundant than the actual brick and mortar that remain. His is a guidebook to the city's history, to what it has bequeathed us, even as much may be lost. VERDICT Highly recommended for all urban history buffs, New York City visitors and residents, and all studying the colorful history of urban American popular culture. [See the Behind the Book, p. 108.]—Margaret Heilbrun, Library Journal

In 1951 the world had about 200 nuclear weapons. By the beginning of the 21st century there were over 20,000 of them scattered all over the planet. This is a problem. Gordin (history of science, Princeton Univ.; Five Days in August) has crafted a quite wonderful book that focuses on the early years of the atomic age—that period when the Soviet Union exploded its first nuclear bomb in August 1949. This event, which shocked the United States, forever changed the relationship between the two superpowers of World War II and launched a vigorous arms race that shows no sign of letting up now that nations such as Iran and North Korea have the ability to join the nuclear club. Gordin's contribution is especially valuable in that he has plumbed the recently released Soviet archives and thus brings to light those early Cold War years from the standpoint of Stalin and his chief advisers such as secret police chief Lavrenty Beria. VERDICT While Richard Rhodes's The Making of the Atomic Bomb remains the seminal work, Gordin's new book greatly expands what we should know about the contest for nuclear supremacy in the early Cold War. Heartily recommended.—Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames

Hunter (God's Mercies: Rivalry, Betrayal, and the Dream of Discovery) presents an exhaustively researched and highly detailed history of the discovery of the Hudson River by English explorer Henry Hudson in 1609. Hunter's sprawling and complicated tale almost overflows with a dizzying array of historical data and a vast cast of characters, yet somehow this potentially unwieldy wealth of information is successfully shaped into a deftly organized and balanced portrait of the unpredictable Hudson, his volatile crew, and their voyage aboard the Dutch ship Half Moon. Complete with mutiny, political maneuvering, spying, and conflict with natives, Hudson's sometimes bloody adventures are full of incident and accident brought to vivid life in Hunter's nuanced prose. VERDICT This work is a somewhat dense and complex historical narrative that is best suited to history buffs and researchers, or patient readers with a strong interest in the early exploration of the Hudson River and of what became the New York City area. Recreational readers may prefer Tom Lewis's The Hudson: A History.—Ingrid Levin, Salve Regina Univ. Lib., Newport, RI

Award-winning British war historian Keegan brings his enormous talents for understanding the "face of battle" and the shape of war to what he calls "one of the most mysterious great wars of history." The American Civil War, to Keegan, was in many ways unique, especially because of the sustained intensity of combat, the importance of infantry and relative insignificance of artillery and cavalry in deciding battles, the voluntarism of the soldiers and their persistent willingness to fight, the complications of geography and topography, and the inability of either side to deliver a decisive military victory. Keegan follows such writers as T. Harry Williams and James McPherson in assessing generalship, and he offers little new about the place of the home fronts and politics in defining and sustaining the war effort, but he moves confidently across military terrain. VERDICT His emphasis on the role of military training, geography, the importance of entrenchments, the use of firepower and infantry tactics, and the technology of war gives Keegan's book a primary place in the annals of modern warfare. With only a few missteps, Keegan provides the single best one-volume assessment of the military character and conduct of America's ordeal by fire. In doing so, he shows why war was so terrible but also, in this case, so necessary. Highly recommended.—Randall M. Miller, Saint Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia

Scott (Fast and Louche) recounts the gripping adventures of 14 men (including the author's father and uncle) who, in 1930, under the leadership of young British explorer Gino Watkins, set off on an arctic exploration to aid in establishing an air route between Europe and North America. Drawing on numerous contemporary sources, including the journals and letters of the explorers themselves, Scott paints a vivid and riveting picture of the experiences of these men and their encounters with the vastness of coastal Greenland and with the Eskimo, on whom their survival depended. (Scott explains that he uses the term "Eskimo" because they are called that in his contemporary sources.) One of the men, August Courtauld, volunteered to stay on the ice alone over the winter and ended up remaining there for five months, running out of food and withstanding -40 degree Celsius weather before he was eventually rescued. VERDICT Dancing on Ice is an exhilarating, fascinating story about our desire for danger and adventure as well as the human ability to survive in extreme situations. For all interested readers, especially those who enjoy learning about arctic exploration.—Carrie Benbow, Toronto P.L.

In the blistering hot summer sun of July 1518, a Strasbourg housewife stepped out of her house and began to dance. She danced until she collapsed in her tracks. When she awoke, she started again. She danced until her feet were bloody and still she danced, begging her neighbors to make her stop. Others joined in: over the next two months, 200 to 400 people succumbed to the dancing malady; 15 died of it. Then the dancing epidemic ended, never to occur again. (There were earlier instances of choreomania, but none after.) Waller (history of medicine, Michigan State Univ.: Einstein's Luck), ably explicates this odd phenomenon and its end. He writes a vigorous and engaging prose and tells an absolutely fascinating story; he is scrupulous in his use of sources and generous in recognizing scholarly work in the field. One earlier explanation of the "dancing plague" invoked ergotism, an alkaloid poisoning caused by a fungus that infects wheat, and causes loss of body control and delusions. Waller argues that a more appropriate diagnosis is trance behavior, triggered by common psychic distress. VERDICT In the absence of detailed evidence, the author must rely on the occasional "perhaps," "maybe," and "could be," but this is thoroughly responsible historical writing and Waller has made sense of one of the more exotic incidents in the history of medicine. Enthusiastically recommended for students and general readers.—David Keymer, Modesto, CA

A work such as this is more than welcome in light of its inclusion of all the major players relating to the fall of Rome. Too often, previous works on this topic tilted toward Rome or Constantinople without recognizing their symbiotic relationship. Wickham attempts, with some success, to combine social history and political history by avoiding the confusing divisions that have developed over the centuries regarding the fall of Rome. His success appears to be largely due to his keeping religious history at bay; in other words, placing it within the other boundaries and frameworks he has already set. For example, he seeks to look at various regions, like Britain, as entities standing on their own and within their own historical terms and their own reality. Thus there are four parts to the work, each having its own chronology and geographical region: "The Roman Empire and Its Breakup, 400–550"; "The Post-Roman West, 550–750"; "The Empires of the East, 550–1000"; and "The Carolingian and Post-Carolingian West, 750–1000." Within these four areas there are a total of 23 subchapters. VERDICT While these divisions are not revolutionary, Wickham has created what could be called a very readable, historical textbook for the period and readers can drop in at will. Recommended for students of Roman history and the early Middle Ages.—Clay Williams, Hunter Coll., New York

Before Luciano, before Capone, there was Giuseppe "The Clutch Hand" Morello. Arriving in the States in 1892 from Corleone, Sicily, "The Clutch Hand" is believed to have been the force behind America's first Mafia family. As drawn here from transcripts, news reports, and police files, Morello's life story has it all—a harsh childhood, a physical infirmity, the tough life of an immigrant—plus the ultimate rise to power. British historian Dash (Satan's Circus) has taken on the challenging task of piecing together Morello's story. While a lot is unknown about Morello's life, he was also a master at manipulating and leading from behind the scenes. Even after a stint in federal prison, he was still a force to be reckoned with until he was gunned down during the "Castellammare War," a violent period for the U.S. Mafia in the early 1900s. Dash includes a handy cast of characters but does a terrific job of clearly writing about each person so readers won't find much need for the list. VERDICT Recommended for all readers interested in true crime or New York City—or in a good history book.—Karen Sandlin Silverman, Ctr. for Applied Research, Philadelphia

Brenda was jumped into the Mara Salvatrucha (MS) gang in Texas when she was just 15. Her relationships with gang leaders led to a meteoric rise within the MS until she was privy to most of its secrets; she witnessed several murders and knew about more to come. But her high-ranking boyfriends kept getting sent to prison, and lonely Brenda eventually became a police informant. This is where the real story begins: At age 16 Brenda was removed from her uncle's guardianship in order to enter the Witness Protection Program. Required to spend her days alone in a hotel room, she rebelled by running away and reuniting with MS members, who learned she'd turned state's witness and murdered her in a Virginia park. The reader wonders where her parents were throughout; the book is short on answers. Logan does not give us any information about Brenda's childhood or family, although he does question the decision to sequester a teenager in a hotel for months. VERDICT More backstory would have made the book outstanding, but without it, it's still an intriguing read and will appeal to many readers of true crime as well as urban studies.—Daisy Porter, San José P.L., CA

Phelps (corporate vice president for intellectual property policy & strategy, Microsoft) and journalist Kline (Rembrandts in the Attic) have written a brisk and engaging book about Microsoft's radical overhauling of its intellectual property (IP) strategy. Phelps, the principal architect of this new strategy, gives the reader an insider's perspective on his struggle to overcome Microsoft's traditional use of its intellectual property as a "weapon" against competitors and to transform the company into a key player in the new business environment of "open innovation." The book is not without more than a whiff of self-congratulation and—despite the inclusion of some unusually candid disclosures from key players within the company—it presents a perhaps overly rosy picture of the software giant. VERDICT These flaws notwithstanding, the book is worth reading for its portrait of a major corporation undergoing massive change and for its lucid explanations of IP business strategy. Recommended for serious business readers.—Rachel Bridgewater, Reed Coll. Lib., Portland, OR

Religion and its role in American society have been at the heart of some of the most controversial Supreme Court cases and many scholars have written on the subject. Wexler (Boston Univ. Sch. of Law) has managed to put a fresh spin on the topic with his irreverent and often funny look—he has written for such publications as Spy magazine in the past—at some of the most recent cases and issues in religious freedom. He describes his travels to the locations of some well-known court cases, such as Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972), in which the Court ruled that Amish parents could not be forced to send their children to public school. He also visited a Cleveland mosque that is involved in a debate over public funds for its grade school. In later chapters, Wexler talks about his visit to a creationism museum in Kentucky. VERDICT His belief in the separation of church and state is obvious (he states in the introduction that he was raised a Jew but is now an atheist); his legal arguments are solid, and he is not contemptuous of religion. However, some readers are bound to be put off by his cavalier and sometimes sarcastic tone, although others will appreciate its humor. Should find many general readers.—Becky Kennedy Atlanta-Fulton P.L., GA

Electronic signals/communications intelligence (SIGINT) is a vital part of the information-gathering efforts of intelligence agencies. The National Security Agency (NSA) is the primary eavesdropping and code-breaking arm of the U.S. government. Aid goes over its operations during the crises of the 1950s and 1960s and the Vietnam War era, much of which was covered by James Bamford's The Puzzle Palace. But what is new and more important here is the evaluation of NSA activities since 2000. Using interviews with those in positions to know, the author discusses NSA's troubled bureaucratic working relations with the CIA and FBI, how its product was used before, during, and after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the massive domestic spying operation directed by the White House. VERDICT This book provides useful background for the current national security debate, with the author generally siding with the NSA as a misused agency that needs still more resources. With extensive endnotes; index and photos not seen. Suitable for general and advanced readers.—Daniel K. Blewett, Coll. of DuPage Lib., Glen Ellyn, IL

Donald Rumsfeld, the most powerful and arguably the most controversial secretary of defense in U.S. history and the only person to hold the position under two presidents (Gerald Ford and George W. Bush), gets a full assessment from Graham (Hit To Kill: The New Battle Over Shielding America from Missile Attack), longtime military affairs reporter for the Washington Post. Graham covers Rumsfeld's life from childhood on, with the focus of course on his years in politics, from four terms as an Illinois Republican in Congress to his several positions under Ford, Nixon, and George W. Bush, and in private industry. The author conducted many interviews, including eight with Rumsfeld. His opinion? That Rumsefeld failed to expand the military to meet the challenges of the war in Iraq and that he neglected to plan effectively for postwar Iraq. Graham concludes that Rumsfeld will mostly be remembered for the American deaths in the Iraq war under his watch and the Abu Ghraib torture scandal. But he does not see Rumsfeld as a war criminal, as in Michael Ratner's The Trial of Donald Rumsfeld, nor as an appropriate fall guy. VERDICT This book would still have been thorough if slimmed down considerably. It will be of interest chiefly to policy wonks and academics.—Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA

A significant book that insightfully examines China's role in Africa, China Safari reveals not only the complexities of Chinese immigration to Africa, but also the political rivalries that result from it. While much scholarship has focused on the economic and political context, European-based journalists Michel, Beuret, and Woods emphasize the day-to-day social and cultural interactions and relationships that are often excluded in such analyses of Chinese-African relations. Through in-depth interviews with Chinese sojourners and Africans, the book reveals Africa as the new "Wild West" frontier for China; Africa is experiencing exploitation of its resources in a way reminiscent of its colonial past. Paradoxically, as African countries such as Zimbabwe, Congo, and Sudan are willingly dependent on Chinese capital to sustain their economies, the Chinese laborers there face increasing anti-Chinese crimes—robbery, blackmail, and personal violence—particularly led by opposition political parties and civil society groups. VERDICT Recommended for all interested readers.—Allan Cho, Univ. of British Columbia Lib., Vancouver

A therapist, trainer, and longtime meditator, Lind-Kyle (When Sleeping Beauty Wakes Up) writes superbly about the relationship between meditation and the brain. Dividing her book into two sections, she begins with an in-depth scientific discussion of the anatomy of the brain, its evolution, and how our thought processes work. Using an electroencephalograph, Lind-Kyle has been able to measure and monitor mind states and identify when brain waves are out of balance. She presents brain research that shows how meditation can reshape the nature of the mind. In Part 2, readers will find detailed discussion of how using mind-training techniques can help them access the centers of the brain in order to bring about change in their mindset and thought patterns. With the use of a meditation CD, the author leads readers through several meditation techniques. VERDICT For those who just want to learn how to meditate, there are other books, e.g., Paul Wilson's Finding the Quiet, that will satisfy. For those who also want to know why it works, this book is a great resource.—Phyllis Goodman, West Chester Lib., OH

Journalist Thorpe, who is, incidentally, the wife of Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, portrays the complex web of politics, immigration issues, sex and drugs, forged IDs, jobs and education, family troubles, and deportations involved with immigration laws. She chose four senior girls at Roosevelt High School in Denver, where over 85 percent of the students are Latino, and followed them for five years. Two girls are illegal immigrants, one is a registered alien, and one a U.S. citizen, born in Texas. Thus, their fates are different. All four wrestle with identity and how to get into college, pay tuition and bills, and deal with family problems. Thorpe gives a detailed account of those five years—from hanging out at Mexican nightclubs to attending college classes with them. Throughout the book, U.S. Congressman Tom Tancredo looms large; he has supported closing the border, deporting all immigrants, and cleansing America of "foreign" influences. VERDICT Thorpe's work raises hundreds of questions and will be a good choice for book clubs and readers interested in narrative nonfiction. An excellent, in-depth study of immigration policies gone amok.—Linda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, PA

Zackheim (instructor, Univ. of California-Los Angeles Extension Writers' Program; The Bone Weaver) has assembled essays from 20 authors who reflect on their advancing age and compare how they turned out with who they thought they would become when they were much younger. Among the relatively well-known essayists featured here are Malachy McCourt, Joyce Maynard, Alan Dershowitz, Beverly Donofrio, Eileen Goudge, and editor Zackheim; included are dual photos of each in youth and from the present. The authors reveal their highly personal, frank thoughts on their desire to achieve success, obstacles that hindered their life journey, their accomplishments and failures, the state of their families, how some ended up replicating their parents, and on meeting personal goals and living with unfulfilled dreams. A common thread is the writers' expressions of a sense of completeness, of becoming whole, and of learning how to live within themselves and be comfortable with whom they have become. One of the more remarkable stories is Donofrio's, sharing her life's experiences as she became a teenage mother, then a convicted felon, and later a college student and a notable author, now living in a monastery in the Colorado mountains. VERDICT Aging boomers will likely relate to these sensitive, refreshingly honest musings that tackle universal questions about the choices faced in life and the critical self examination that comes with age. Recommended.—Dale Farris, Groves, TX

So that young couple thought they were just hiring the kid next door to "mind" their toddler for a couple of hours while they took in a movie! Who knew that babysitting—past and present—was so fraught with meaning. Forman-Brunell (history, Univ.of Missouri-Kansas City; Made to Play House: The Commercialization of American Girlhood), that's who. In this well-documented, illustrated discussion of our culture's perceptions of babysitters through the years, the author skillfully demonstrates how changing social mores and attitudes toward girls and women were responsible for the astonishing range of notions about babysitters, running the gamut from child-care provider to home wrecker. Despite her initial observation that she found little archival material on the history of babysitting, Forman-Brunell makes excellent use of the various babysitting handbooks published over the years, and, particularly, of the commercial novels (e.g., The Baby-Sitters Club series) and movies that came out, from domestic comedies to horror films reflecting parents' (and babysitters') worst nightmares. VERDICT The results of her admirable research are highly recommended for all interested readers.—Ellen Gilbert, Princeton, NJ

Laderman (history, Univ. of Minnesota- Duluth) offers a fascinating view of the United States in Vietnam, using tourism to illustrate a contentious history that reveals much about the collective American identity and memory of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Laderman shows how travel literature, first directed at American soldiers (published by the Department of Defense) and thereafter at veterans and tourists, was written to favorably suit the American, and supposedly well-intentioned, perspective. Even the Lonely Planet guides fail to deviate from the accepted American recollection of events in Vietnam. For example, the War Remnant Museum in Ho Chi Mihn City illustrates how out of touch Americans may be with the Vietnamese reality. The museum focuses on the Vietnamese experience of the war; its exhibits have met with dismissal and hostility in American travel guides, illustrative of a contentious history that hits a raw nerve. VERDICT Thoroughly researched, Laderman's book offers a different angle on the conflict through the lens of tourism and collective memory. Highly recommended.—Patti C. McCall, Albany Molecular Research Inc., NY

What do women want? According to University of Texas at Austin psychology professors Meston (director, Sexual Psychophysiology Lab) and Buss (The Evolution of Desire), this is a perplexing question, particularly with respect to sex. In 11 chapters, they provide the answers generated by clinical research and survey responses from 1,006 women aged 18 through 86 in the United States, Canada, Germany, Belgium, France, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and China. Interspersing quotations from the survey with state-of-the-art research, Meston and Buss demonstrate the surprising span of relevant motivating factors. They conclude that women want sex for the following reasons: pleasure, emotional and spiritual connection, the thrill of conquest, a means of guarding a mate or trading up, a sense of adventure, health rewards, to fulfill a sense of duty or responsibility, to bolster body image, and desire for sexual punishment, cruelty, and violence. VERDICT This study will intrigue and inform students and readers of Havelock Ellis, William Masters and Virginia E. Johnson, and Alfred Kinsey.—Lynne F. Maxwell, Villanova Univ. Sch. of Law Lib., PA

Prize-winning author Solnit (A Field Guide to Getting Lost) delivers an insightful glimpse into the compelling human interest stories behind five major disasters: the San Fransisco earthquake of 1906, the Halifax explosion of 1917, Mexico City's 1985 earthquake, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina. But more than just the stories, she turns her attention to the larger subject of the sociology of disasters and the incredible community spirit that can arise amid disaster. In contrast to media portrayals of negative human behavior in times of distress, Solnit believes that humans have an intrinsic need to help each other and work together in communities forged by disaster. These surreal situations demonstrate how deeply most of us desire connection, participation, altruism, and purposefulness. Thus the startling joy in disasters. Solnit wonders if some of these ephemeral moments could be recaptured in our normal day-to-day routines, thus enhancing our sense of community. VERDICT Despite wandering into some murky what-ifs, this book offers a timely study in community during these uncertain times.—Holly S. Hebert, Rochester Coll., Rochester Hills, MI

Photographer, cultural critic, and erstwhile waitress Taylor traveled through 43 U.S. cities collecting stories from career diner waitresses for this respectful, celebratory collection of oral histories and photographs. Nearly every page features a portrait or on-the-job action shot of one of Taylor's 57 interviewees, and each chapter ends with several waitresses' reflections—some funny, some poignant—on their lives, careers, and customers. In between, Taylor explores the history of diners, issues of power in the workplace, the daunting variety and volume of work, and how and why some women continue in this physically challenging, disrespected occupation for decades, with no thought of, let alone desire for, retirement. Many of these self-termed "lifers" do surprisingly well financially and have tremendous job satisfaction, thanks to years of developing the customer care techniques—and genuine affection for their regulars and workplaces—that result in plum shifts and good tips, and thanks also to the organizational skills and no-nonsense attitude that allow them to thrive in their niche. VERDICT Taylor offers these women, many in their sixties, seventies, and eighties, and perhaps the last of their kind, a well-deserved tribute. Recommended for all who love human interest stories or interesting characters.—Janet Ingraham Dwyer, Worthington Libs., OH

BBC presenter Simon Reeve has hit the road again. After his first around-the-world televised adventure, Equator, he next set out on the imaginary line of the Tropic of Capricorn. This trek, shown on the BBC in 2008, took him through three continents (Africa, Australia, South America) and a variety of peoples and places. This book, a British import, is a well-written companion to the series. Reeve's narrative combines interesting sites and experiences with his bearing witness to ecological and human devastation. He spends time with the San bushmen of Botswana, as they fight for land rights. He witnesses the clear-cutting of the forests of Madagascar, reducing them to a mere 10% of their original size. In the Northern Territory of Australia he visits Aboriginal communities decimated by alcoholism, poverty, and despair. In Paraguay he meets up with a man who lived through the torture rendered by its former dictator Alfredo Stroessner. But all is not lost. In Botswana, he also finds a well-run country with a low corruption level. In Mozambique, the wildlife is coming back after years of the civil war that nearly wiped it out. In Brazil, residents of the slums of São Paolo are taking their neighborhoods back from organized crime and street thugs. VERDICT Recommended for all readers of travel memoirs.—Lee Arnold, Historical Soc. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia