AltWeeklies Wire
This Memoir from a Survivor of American Torture May Help U.S. Face Realitynew
Reading Five Years of My Life, I realized the situation at Guantanamo is both better and worse than I had feared -- worse because the torture is so severe, so constant, so senseless, and so institutionalized, and better because someone who was subjected to it has survived with his soul intact.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Hannah Tennant-Moore |
04-28-2008 |
Nonfiction
What Mary Roach Doesn't Want to Talk About in 'Bonk'new
Sadism recognizes taboo and guilt and shame; the transgression is the point. But for science, and for Roach, taboo is simply superstition, a roadblock the repressed throw up between sex and pleasure, and between research and its funding.
Chicago Reader |
Noah Berlatsky |
04-28-2008 |
Nonfiction
Backstage Passnew
With almost three decades of experience producing the annual spectacle, Ken Ehrlich provides a collection of stories sure to please any avid viewer of award shows in his book “At the Grammys: Behind the Scenes at Music’s Biggest Night.”
Metro Spirit |
Jason Sumerau |
04-27-2008 |
Nonfiction
Sparkling Waters of Characternew
“It almost seemed like a dream, a long dream but a good one” states Marshall B. Allen, Jr. in his second collection of stories about Newton Fiveash, Jr, “Newt in the World of Tarzan” takes the reader on a splendid joyride among the flavorful characters of the Sparklin’ Waters Park in Okena, Florida, and in so doing, highlights the life of a man in a time gone by.
Metro Spirit |
Jason Sumerau |
04-27-2008 |
Nonfiction
History Lessons, Courtesy of Nicholson Baker and Howard Zinnnew
Human Smoke is itself a kind of reference work: a series of short reports -- some only a paragraph long and most of them drawn from newspaper accounts, diaries, documents, letters, memoirs, memos, and public speeches, with Baker doing the assembling and providing the timeline and context.
The Memphis Flyer |
Leonard Gill |
04-25-2008 |
Nonfiction
'The Rough Guide to Climate Change' is Not a Rough Guide to Climate Changenew
Instead, it is an exhaustive assessment of Earth's ever-changing climate by Robert Henson, one of the leading science journalists reporting on atmospheric research, and his many reputable sources.
Eugene Weekly |
Chuck Adams |
04-24-2008 |
Nonfiction
Think Globally, Eat Locallynew
Warning: Barbara Kingsolver's nonfiction book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life may inspire you to run screaming out of your grocery store and into your closest farmer's market.
Jackson Free Press |
Kelly Bryan Smith |
04-21-2008 |
Nonfiction
Do Today's Children Hear the Call of the Wild?new
The Audubon medal-winning writer Richard Louv has just released an updated version of his 2005 book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder to create a movement of sorts to get kids outside.
INDY Week |
Marc Maximov |
04-17-2008 |
Nonfiction
A Gluten-free Memoir About Growing Up in Botswananew
Robyn Scott's memoir, Twenty Chickens for a Saddle, is a vegan Swiss Family Robinson, complete with its own campy theme song: a region-specific adaptation of "An English Country Garden."
Willamette Week |
John Minervini |
04-16-2008 |
Nonfiction
'The War on Bugs' Explores the Pesticide Agendanew
We've come a long way from arsenic-tainted food (arsenic and lead were popular pesticides for decades), but, as Will Allen rightly points out in his new book, our determination to slaughter pests and increase yields has had some far-reaching consequences on health -- both ours and the planet's.
Sacramento News & Review |
Kel Munger |
04-11-2008 |
Nonfiction
Author Mary Roach Moves from Death to Sexnew
She has a very casual style of writing, yet it lends itself well to science reporting and her survey of the world of sex research.
NOW Magazine |
Joseph Wilson |
04-11-2008 |
Nonfiction
'X Saves the World' Gets Motivational for the Unmotivatednew
Just as Tom Brokaw's books remind us how everyone born right after 1945 is a worthless piece of shit, so Gordinier focuses on how super-great Xers are.
The Portland Mercury |
Temple Lentz |
04-10-2008 |
Nonfiction
'Crossing the Waters' Offers a Peek into the Afro-Cuban Religionnew
The book's charismatic protagonist is Santiago Castaneda Vera, a spiritual practitioner who "works" the spirits of the dead and whose sacred oricha is Yemaya, the mother of the waters.
INDY Week |
Sylvia Pfeiffenberger |
04-10-2008 |
Nonfiction
David Hajdu Examines the Beginnings of Comic Booksnew
In The Ten Cent Plague, Hajdu does a fair job of balancing the story of the infamous Kefauver hearings, Seduction of the Innocent, and the subsequent "Approved by the Comics Code Authority" self-policing of the comic book industry.
Charleston City Paper |
Jsaon A. Zwiker |
04-09-2008 |
Nonfiction
'My First Movie: Take Two' Disappointsnew
In theory, this book should be a wet dream for would-be filmmakers.
Charleston City Paper |
Nick Smith |
04-09-2008 |
Nonfiction
