AltWeeklies Wire
Suzanne Simons Gives Us a New -- and Timely -- Biography of the Man Behind Blackwaternew
Heroic in Master of War's opening pages, Simons ends her portrait with Erik Prince sputtering in impotent rage against a media he believes has unfairly maligned his company.
INDY Week |
Gerry Canavan |
08-14-2009 |
Nonfiction
Try As He Might, Glenn Beck Can't Turn a Paperback Book into a Flat-Screen TVnew
Glenn Beck is great on TV; he shouts, he scoffs, and he cries. But when he writes, one thing becomes clear: The man has absolutely nothing of consequence to say. In Common Sense, Beck uses every trick in the book to cover this up.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Rick Lax |
08-14-2009 |
Nonfiction
'A Saint on Death Row' is an Intervention in Public Memorynew
Thomas Cahill catalogs every disgraceful aspect of Dominique Green's experience with the justice system. His larger mission, though, is to examine the changes Green underwent after receiving his death sentence -- his transformation from a troubled teenager into what Cahill calls "a fully achieved human being."
The Texas Observer |
Todd Moye |
08-12-2009 |
Nonfiction
'That Infernal Little Cuban Republic' Dissects the Shared History of Cuba and Americanew
Lar Schoultz focuses on the Castro years, which he reconstructs in impressive detail, fleshing out such well-known events as the doomed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion with eye-opening depth. Better yet, often-glossed questions are aired with the fullness of Schoultz's four decades of wrestling with the Cuba question. Still, there's something missing.
The Texas Observer |
Mike Kanin |
08-12-2009 |
Nonfiction
Ivor Davis Rereleases Definitive Tome on the Manson Family & Remembers the 1969 Murdersnew
Many have credited Davis' 1970 book Five to Die, co-authored with the late Jerry LeBlanc, as the tool that helped Vincent Bugliosi prosecute Manson, long before the legendary attorney produced his own memoirs of the trial.
Ventura County Reporter |
Paul Sisolak |
08-10-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
'The East, the West, and Sex': Orientalism Unleashednew
The East, the West, and Sex, which is organized both by time period and by country, examines the idea of masculine Western colonization creating an idealistic portrayal of Asian culture, particularly those aspects dealing with heterosexual eroticism.
Sacramento News & Review |
Kathleen Jercich |
07-30-2009 |
Nonfiction
Eduardo Galeano's 'Mirrors' Rewrites Human Historynew
It's hard to think of another living author who would have the nerve to consider writing a book like Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone. But for Uruguay's Eduardo Galeano, this collection of vignettes, covering the breadth of human history, was a natural fit.
The Georgia Straight |
Derrick O'Keefe |
07-27-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Breadline USA' Examines the Reality of Hunger in Americanew
America's No. 1 health problem, the media relentlessly tell us, is obesity. Americans eat too much and we're the fattest people in the world. Except that, according to Sasha Abramsky, many Americans go hungry on a regular basis. And even many of those who aren’t hungry today suffer from what experts have taken to calling "food insecurity."
Sacramento News & Review |
Kel Munger |
07-23-2009 |
Nonfiction
Woodstock Co-creator Michael Lang Shares His Memoriesnew
Four decades of nostalgia, hallucinogens, and box sets make us forget that the Woodstock Music & Art Fair didn't descend from a sky of positive vibes and land softly atop a field of dancing hippies. Michael Lang, co-creator of the festival, returns to the scene of the grime in his new book The Road to Woodstock.
Boston Phoenix |
Rob Turbovsky |
07-23-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
'The Rough Guide' is a Simple Roadmap to Nirvananew
Veteran Seattle music scribe Gillian G. Gaar smartly resists sensationalism in a new book about the iconic local band.
Seattle Weekly |
Jonathan Cunningham |
07-20-2009 |
Nonfiction
New Book Looks at How Billy Graham Shook Up the Solid Southnew
Billy Graham played a key role in shaping the American political landscape of the second half of the 20th century, as confidante to presidents and adviser on domestic issues (particularly civil rights) and foreign policy (Communism and the Cold War).
INDY Week |
John Sinclair |
07-17-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Catching Fire' Can Be Boldly Essentialist ... Perhaps Too Boldly Essentialistnew
Since the 1950s, scientists have hypothesized that the key factor bringing our ancestors down from the trees was the decision to eat meat. In this persuasively argued book, Richard Wrangham disagrees. Instead, he writes, it was the decision to cook with fire that literally made us human.
The Texas Observer |
James E. McWilliams |
07-15-2009 |
Nonfiction
The 'Outlier' Elephant in the Room is Gender Imbalancenew
Malcolm Gladwell either ignores, dismisses or is utterly blind to the massive gender elephant in the room -- a shocking disregard for the success and failure rates of half the human race.
Pasadena Weekly |
Ellen Snortland |
07-13-2009 |
Nonfiction
New Book Reveals Calivinist Truths About Standing Up for Social Justicenew
The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care portrays fallible human beings who didn't always get along, didn't always know what they were doing, and still managed to accomplish something.
Jackson Free Press |
Tom Head |
07-09-2009 |
Nonfiction
William I. Robinson's Latest Outlines a Mad Rush Toward a World Where Cars Consume Cerealnew
In Latin America and Global Capitalism, Robinson uses research from years of on-the-ground work, and sifts through rafts of data to map out how neoliberal trade agreements and other mechanisms for greasing the machine of global commerce have increased profits for global elites while deeply disrupting traditional patterns of life and balance with the natural world.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Ben Terrall |
07-01-2009 |
Nonfiction
