HarperCollins
Artists in exile; how refugees from twentieth-century war and revolution transformed the American performing arts.
Horowitz, a long-time writer on the arts, tells the story of some of the most famous of the artists who left Europe for America in the early 20th century. Often driven out by revolution or political oppression, they looked to America as a place to do more than continue their lives. It was a chance to reinvent themselves. Horowitz argues that these dancers, composers, actors, writers, film makers and musicians were responsible for creating an American culture that incorporated Black and Native American styles of music and art into their own European training. Artists include Kurt Weill, George Balanchine, Toscanini, and Jean Renoir among many others. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Asian cinema; a field guide.
Vick, film programmer for the Freer and Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian Institution, overviews the past, present, and future of Asian film. For organizational purposes, he divides the Asian continent into four broad categories, starting with the countries with large, long-lived, and influential film industries like Japan and India, then covering countries whose cinema flourished in postwar booms, such as Korea, and concluding with the films of recent arrivals such as Iran and Taiwan, and the emerging regions of Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Each chapter begins with a brief historical background of each region, to provide context for the films and filmmakers discussed. Vick focuses on films that are relatively easy to see, primarily on DVD, but also at film festivals or in repertory screenings. The book is illustrated with more than 100 b&w film stills and photos. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The bitter sea; coming of age in a China before Mao.
Li (linguistics, U. of California, Santa Barbara) presents a memoir of the first 21 years his life in China, from 1940 to 1961. From his childhood in a wealthy family (his father was a Chinese government official) to his father's imprisonment for treason when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationals came to power in 1945, he recounts the changes the country went through. He relates the time he spent in a Nanjing slum and seeing the Communist army seize the city in 1948, and his experiences when the family moved to Hong Kong. He particularly focuses on his relationship with his stern father. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Campaigning for president.
Wright, a lawyer and magazine publisher, began collecting American memorabilia at the age of ten. He is now working to create a permanent Museum of Democracy to house his collection in New York City. This color illustrated book, worthy of any history buff or political junkie's coffee table, showcases his collection of presidential election memorabilia. These objects — posters, ice cream bars, sunglasses, and, of course, buttons — form a physical record of the past. The text accompanying the high-quality photos makes it clear that money didn't just become important in recent elections, and that candidates have often been willing to gloss over the fine points. Full of entertaining stories about the elections and the memorabilia, the book provides insight into the democratic system. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Dressed; a century of Hollywood costume design.
Costume sketches, photographs (many of them previously unpublished) and first-person behind-the-scenes accounts come together in this lively and colorful exploration of Hollywood costume design. Author Landis, whose costume design credits include Coming to America, Animal House, and Raiders of the Lost Ark among others, draws upon her years of research and experience in the industry to showcase the favorite costumes of the past 100 years and their designers. The book underscores the importance of costume design from the era of Mae West to the present. The author also explains the importance of costume design and its influence beyond the confines of a film, noting that costumes have continually influenced fashion and have made the careers of more than a few actors and actresses. Oversize: 9x12 inches. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The great upheaval; America and the birth of the modern world, 1788-1800.
The 1790s were a period of great tumult worldwide and, as Winik (history and public policy, U. of Maryland) would have it, "the decade that made the modern world," planting seeds "of republics and revolution, of democratic hopes and liberalism, of despotism and authoritarianism, of totalitarianism and religious wars too." He offers a comparative history of that era that focuses on the experiences of the United States, France, and Russia. In interweaving the political histories of these three countries, he hopes to demonstrate not just the intertwined fates of nations and individuals but the world-spanning forces and conflicts of ideologies, cultures, and religions. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Ike; an American hero.
This is a hagiographic biography of the life and career of Dwight Eisenhower that focuses the bulk of its attention on his time as commander of Allied forces in Europe during World War II. The author enthusiastically defends Eisenhower from the myriad military criticisms leveled at his conduct of the war by Eisenhower's military colleagues and later historians. Relatively little attention is paid to Eisenhower's presidency and his personal life, although they are not ignored. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Leave us alone; getting the governments hands off our money, our guns, our lives.
American politics is defined by a contest between two political coalitions, argues Norquist (president, Americans for Tax Reform). One is the "Leave Us Alone" coalition of the center-right, which consists of taxpayers who want taxes kept low, small businessmen and -women, gun owners, homeschoolers, property rights activists, religious voters, the investor class, the police, and the military. The other is the "Takings" coalition, in which "seats are reserved for trial lawyers, labor-union leaders, government employees' unions, recipients of government grants, and the two wings of the dependency movement," in addition to other nefarious ne'er-do-wells. Proceeding from this basic premise, he surveys the political trends that he believes will influence the fortunes of these two coalitions over the coming years, including the growth of the investor class, the decline of labor unions, voter demographics, gun regulation politics, and media politics, while also providing his own thoughts on how the "Leave Us Alone" coalition will prevail. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The long pursuit; Abraham Lincoln's thirty-year struggle with Stephen Douglas for the heart and soul of America.
Tennessee-based Morris is editor of Military Heritage magazine and the author of four books on the Civil War and post-Civil War eras. His latest publication turns to the 30-year rivalry between Lincoln and Douglas within their adopted home state of Illinois. Beginning in the early 1830s — before the issue of slavery divided the nation — Lincoln and Douglas battled each other for political supremacy on street corners, public squares, and village greens, helping to define and determine the course of American politics at a significant point in the nation's history. The text offers insights into both the political and human sides of the struggle between these two key players. It's academic but accessible to the general reader. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Memo to the President elect; how we can restore America's reputation and leadership.
Writing as if she were directly addressing the next president, former US Secretary of State Albright proffers her advice on the conduct of US foreign policy in the coming years, frequently drawing on her own experience and the history of past administrations as illustrative material. She addresses political and administrative issues first, including managing the White House staff and the art of political persuasion, and then provides her thoughts on terrorism; the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; relations with Iran, Russia, China, Venezuela, and North Korea; and a range of other issues. Those familiar with her tenure at Foggy Bottom will not likely find anything particularly shocking in these pages, as Albright has maintained similar perspectives to those she held while in office. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Pagan Spain. (reprint, 1995)
In this superb work by novelist Richard Wright (1908-1960) he describes his experiences in Spain and his insights into Spain's culture. It was first published in 1957 to muted appreciation. This is a reprint of a 1995 edition featuring an insightful introduction by scholar and author Faith Berry. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Riding toward everywhere.
Hopping freights is only a frame on which novelist/essayist/journalist Vollmann (Poor People, Europe Central) hangs his witty, wicked observations of the vile state of our government (Bush especially), our society, and religion. The book includes 65 gritty b&w photos. A good read. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Rites of peace; the fall of Napoleon & the Congress of Vienna.
Following the defeat of Napoleonic France, the 1814-185 Congress of Vienna was convened by the major European powers to settle the political map of the continent. "The reconstruction of Europe at the Congress of Vienna is probably the most seminal episode in modern history" in the view of this diplomatic history of the informal and formal negotiations that collectively are understood as the Congress of Vienna. The author offers a straightforward narrative approach to describing the negotiations, focusing on the principal players in his accounting of the succession of events. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
This glorious struggle; George Washington's Revolutionary War letters.
Many readers of this collection of Washington's letters probably will experience some surprise: he was not, as history texts have often maintained, always the unflappable leader. Lengel (history, U. of Virginia) has extracted many of the jewels from the roughly 140,000 letters Washington wrote to family, friends, Congress, and fellow soldiers during the war to present a picture of a man given to depression and doubt as well as a good joke and a bountiful table. The letters, particularly those written to and about family members, present an intimate look at the man who would become the country's first president. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Throes of democracy; the American Civil War era, 1829-1877.
The second, after Freedom Just Around the Corner, in the projected multivolume history of the United States by McDougall (history, U. of Pennsylvania), this volume presents a sweeping historical narrative of what McDougall defines as the "Civil War Era" (1829-1877) that largely eschews the social and people's histories of recent years and sticks to traditional topics of political rivalries, economic conflict, war, westward expansion, and intellectual history. McDougall's own perspective is perhaps revealed by the fact that he concludes the book with a chapter on Orestes Brownson, the New England intellectual who broke with the Transcendentalists and his own radical background as a labor organizer and embraced Roman Catholicism (this led the New York Times to suggest that McDougall was approaching the topic from the perspective of a conservative in the mold of Edmund Burke). (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Tribal leadership; leveraging natural groups to build a thriving organization.
Management consultant Logan (business, University of Southern California) draws on an eight-year study of 24,000 people in about 24 organizations to define and refine a common theme: the success of a company depends on its "tribes," groups of twenty to 150 people in which everyone knows everyone else (or at least knows of everyone else). He shows organizational leaders how to employ their companies' tribes in order to maximize productivity and profit. He demonstrates his five-stage model for developing tribes and tribal culture with real-life examples and case studies of large organizations such as NASCAR and small entrepreneurs such as "Dilbert" cartoon creator Scott Adams. The readership for the book includes leaders at major corporations, small businesses, and nonprofits. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
What's next; the experts' guide; predictions from 50 of America's most compelling people.
They range from one of the world's best bartenders to an etiquette expert, lawyers, a husband-wife acting team, and a good number of psychologists, sociologists, legal experts and policy makers. Some stick to their area of expertise, some go far beyond and apply their innovative way of thinking to other issues, but all comment on the way things are and they ought to be. Consultant Buckingham wisely lets the experts speak for themselves and they most certainly do, prospecting from their stores of knowledge to explain the future of sports, Islam, censorship, video games, education, dating, management, fashion, women, law, personal finance, publishing, online communities, reality television, marriage, Latinos, the environment, Yoga, gospel, politics, astronomy and various topics in between. The result is slightly wistful but still hopeful; very few of the experts believe we are going to hell in a hand basket, at any rate. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Where does the money go?; your guided tour to the federal budget crisis.
Bittle and Johnson, both with Public Agenda Online, write in a breezy style with the intent of bringing clarity on complicated issues to a general audience; but instead, they offer a barrage of information that is jumbled and obfuscated by folksiness. They provide footnotes but no general reading list. Worse, there's no index, which is a serious obstacle to understanding their point of view on particular themes. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
