Library Journal

Manchester, William & Paul Reid. The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill. Vol. 3: Defender of the Realm, 1940–1965. Little, Brown. Nov. 2012. 976p. ISBN 9780316547703. $40. BIOGRAPHY
With the help of notable journalist Reid, Manchester here wraps up his magisterial biography of Winston Churchill, begun with 1983’s Visions of Glory, 1874–1932 and 1988’s Alone, 1932–1940. (After he became ill in late 2003, Manchester asked Reid to complete the work; he died in 2004.) It’s no surprise that this final volume has been over 20 years in the making, given the period it covers—starting with the war, which truly showed how Churchill could roar. Something like 440,000 copies of the first two volumes are currently in print (after all these years); expect big numbers (and demand) for this last, crucial piece.

Meacham, Jon. Jefferson: The Art of Power. Random. Nov. 2012. 752p. ISBN 9781400067664. $35; eISBN 9780679645368. CD/downloadable: Random House Audio. BIOGRAPHY
Executive editor of Random House, former editor of Newsweek, and author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning American Lion (on Andrew Jackson), Meacham has the wherewithal to write a big biography of our third President, especially with the subtitle The Art of Power. His aim is not critical/revisionist (see, for instance, Henry Wiencek’s forthcoming Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves) but large-scale thoughtful; he’s here to paint a full, birth-to-death portrait of Jefferson’s political and intellectual accomplishments. But if you think this is just a brainy ready, remember that American Lion has sold a quarter of a million copies in various formats and that Meacham’s other two books were New York Times best sellers as well.

Von Drehle, David. 1862: Abraham Lincoln and the Making of America. Holt. Nov. 2012. 480p. ISBN 9780805079708. $30; eISBN 9780805096088. HISTORY
If you remember 2003’s Triangle: The Fire That Changed America, a best seller and multi-award winner, you’ll know that Time editor at large Von Drehle is an indelible writer. So this look at what 1862 meant for America should be good reading. At that time, the Union was flagging, with the U.S. Treasury short on cash and the army nearly leaderless. Von Drehle highlights the strength of character that allowed Abraham Lincoln to turn it all around. Von Drehle’s April 2011 piece on the legacy of the Civil War (and our need to acknowledge that slavery was the signal cause) should suggest this book’s sensibility and direction.

Manchester, William & Paul Reid. The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill. Vol. 3: Defender of the Realm, 1940–1965. Little, Brown. Nov. 2012. 976p. ISBN 9780316547703. $40. BIOGRAPHY
With the help of notable journalist Reid, Manchester here wraps up his magisterial biography of Winston Churchill, begun with 1983’s Visions of Glory, 1874–1932 and 1988’s Alone, 1932–1940. (After he became ill in late 2003, Manchester asked Reid to complete the work; he died in 2004.) It’s no surprise that this final volume has been over 20 years in the making, given the period it covers—starting with the war, which truly showed how Churchill could roar. Something like 440,000 copies of the first two volumes are currently in print (after all these years); expect big numbers (and demand) for this last, crucial piece.

Meacham, Jon. Jefferson: The Art of Power. Random. Nov. 2012. 752p. ISBN 9781400067664. $35; eISBN 9780679645368. CD/downloadable: Random House Audio. BIOGRAPHY
Executive editor of Random House, former editor of Newsweek, and author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning American Lion (on Andrew Jackson), Meacham has the wherewithal to write a big biography of our third President, especially with the subtitle The Art of Power. His aim is not critical/revisionist (see, for instance, Henry Wiencek’s forthcoming Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves) but large-scale thoughtful; he’s here to paint a full, birth-to-death portrait of Jefferson’s political and intellectual accomplishments. But if you think this is just a brainy ready, remember that American Lion has sold a quarter of a million copies in various formats and that Meacham’s other two books were New York Times best sellers as well.

Von Drehle, David. 1862: Abraham Lincoln and the Making of America. Holt. Nov. 2012. 480p. ISBN 9780805079708. $30; eISBN 9780805096088. HISTORY
If you remember 2003’s Triangle: The Fire That Changed America, a best seller and multi-award winner, you’ll know that Time editor at large Von Drehle is an indelible writer. So this look at what 1862 meant for America should be good reading. At that time, the Union was flagging, with the U.S. Treasury short on cash and the army nearly leaderless. Von Drehle highlights the strength of character that allowed Abraham Lincoln to turn it all around. Von Drehle’s April 2011 piece on the legacy of the Civil War (and our need to acknowledge that slavery was the signal cause) should suggest this book’s sensibility and direction.

Ball, Edward. The Tycoon and the Inventor: A Gilded Age and the Birth of Moving Pictures. Doubleday. Nov. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9780385525756. $29.95; eISBN 9780385535496. Downloadable: Random House Audio. BIOGRAPHY
Originally scheduled for April 2012 and featured as a Pick last October, this is the story of how photographer Eadweard Muybridge invented stop-motion photography—the first step on the road to motion pictures—when asked by railroad tycoon and former California governor Leland Stanford to show that at one point a galloping horse’s four hooves leave the ground simultaneously. The dramatic Muybridge later killed his wife’s lover, though he was acquitted after a lot of media coverage. National Book Award winner Ball (Slaves in the Family) here combines art, science, true crime, and history-in-the-making in rough-and-tumble Gilded Age San Francisco.

Bair, Deirdre. Saul Steinberg: A Biography. Nan A. Talese: Doubleday. Nov. 2012. 752p. ISBN 9780385524483. $40; eISBN 9780385534987. BIOGRAPHY
The creator of fabulously spiky, satirical drawings and cartoons—everyone knows the iconic New Yorker cover that makes the rest of the country look like a really little slice of the pie—Steinberg was born in Romania and educated in Italy, which he fled with the rise of fascism. He became a U.S. citizen, a commissioned navy officer, and a member of the OSS in a single day, then went on to become one of the artistic lights of the postwar era. National Book Award winner Bair (for Samuel Beckett) got to rummage through 177 boxes of never-before-seen materials to write this biography. Nothing else out there on Steinberg, and what a fascinating life.

Coyne, Tom. Bury Me at the Finish Line: One Plodder’s Quest To Understand Where We’re Running To. Gotham: Penguin Group (USA). Nov. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9781592406548. $26. SPORTS
Author of the best-selling A Course Called Ireland, Coyne does golf but otherwise has never been that big on exercise. So he surprised himself by opting to run in the 2010 Marathon de Paris (though, hey, I’d go to Paris for anything). To make sure he followed through, he drafted some friends—a breast cancer survivor, a beer-belly Brit, and a chain-smoking waitress—to train with him, enticing them with an all-expenses-paid trip to the City of Light. Here he examines the fun of the run while reflecting on how the sport has turned into a mega-industry.

de Margerie, Caroline. American Lady: The Life of Susan Mary Alsop. Viking. Nov. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780670025749. $26.95. BIOGRAPHY
A descendant of Founding Father John Jay, born in Rome and raised partly in Argentina, Susan Mary hit Paris in 1945 with first husband William Patten and met everyone, from FDR to Churchill to Garbo. After Patten’s death, she married renowned columnist Joseph Alsop and with him became a legendary powerbroker, dominating Georgetown society for four decades. A fascinating-sounding book about a fascinating-sounding American woman, written by a French author who is now a member of the Conseil d’État, the highest administrative court of France.

Glassie, John. A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). Nov. 2012. 240p. ISBN 9781594488719. $26.95. SCIENCE/HISTORY
A former contributing editor to the New York Times Magazine, Glassie tells the story of Anthanasius Kircher, a 17th-century scientist much admired in his day for discoveries that have since proven to be, politely put, half-cocked. Magnetism is not the force driving the universe, his translations of Egyptian hieroglyphics were all wrong, and what’s this about his proudly displaying a mermaid’s tailbone? An entertaining reminder that skepticism can be good.

Guerrieri, Matthew. The First Four Notes: Beethoven’s Fifth and the Human Imagination. Knopf. Nov. 2012. 368p. ISBN 9780307593283. $26.95; eISBN 9780307960924. MUSIC
Da-da-da-dum! Here’s what looks to be the only book available to lay readers offering an in-depth examination of Beethoven’s beloved and magisterial Fifth Symphony. Guerrieri, music critic for the Boston Globe, explores both the sources and the long-term impact of the symphony, which was, by the way, a source of inspiration during World War II to both the Nazis and the Allies. If this book seems specialized,  just remember that Beethoven has nearly a million followers on Facebook—take that, rock stars! And a similar title, Stuart Isacoff’s A Natural History of the Piano, turned out to be a sleeper hit for the publisher last fall.

Homans, John. What’s a Dog For? The Surprising History, Science, Philosophy, and Politics of Man’s Best Friend. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Nov. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9781594205156. $25.95. PETS
Lots of books out there on the human-canine relationship. But Homans, executive editor of New York magazine, homes in on a particular aspect of our love affair with dogs—our treating them as if they were human beings. (Um, they aren’t?) Inspired by his Lab mix, Stella, who started out as his companion in neighborhood rambles and quickly became the centerpiece of the family, Homans considers scientific studies about evolutionary theory, cognitive behavior, and the consequences of dog ownership (great for our health). What a dog for? To learn from and love.

Keller, Timothy. Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Plan for the World. Dutton. Nov. 2012. 272p. ISBN 9780525952701. $25.95. Downloadable: Penguin Audio. RELIGION
Pastor of New York’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Keller is heard by thousands of congregants on Sunday morning—and his best-selling spirituality titles are read by millions. Here he considers how believers can find meaning and maintain their values in the jungle-out-there world of business today. No easy outs here; Keller helps folks practice what gets preached.

Lizard, Sal with Jonathan Lane. Being Santa Claus: What I Learned about the True Meaning of Christmas. Gotham: Penguin Group (USA). Nov. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9781592407569. $20. MEMOIR
After his hair and beard turned snowy white when he was only in his twenties, Lizard did what every guy should do in that predicament: he opted to play Santa, a job he’s been at year ’round for more than 20 years. More than a life account, this book offers inspiration drawn from the experiences he’s had in his custom-made red velvet suits, e.g., little children can make a big difference in this world, and they’re awe-struck about seeing Santa off-season. A national tour, though probably not by sleigh.

Nasaw, David. The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Nov. 2012. 832p. ISBN 9781594203763. $40. Downloadable: Penguin Audio. BIOGRAPHY
Celebrated for his biographies of Andrew Carnegie and William Randolph Hearst, Nasaw takes on another larger-than-life figure: Joseph P. Kennedy, businessman, Hollywood mogul, founding chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. ambassador to Britain as World War II commenced, and, of course, father to our 35th president. Nasaw evidently secured unrestricted and exclusive access to all of his subject’s papers and will address the big questions still hanging around, e.g., was Kennedy an isolationist, a Nazi sympathizer, a bootlegger? And did he really buy JFK’s elections?

Perelman, Deb. The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. Knopf. Nov. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9780307595652. $35; eISBN 9780307961068. COOKBOOKS
Just ask the Smitten Kitchen’s 63,000 Facebook fans or its four million unique visitors per month: Perelman’s supremely helpful, visually stunning, wittily worded food blog really did deserve to be named one of 2011’s best blogs by Time magazine. (I know because I just checked it out and have already cribbed the recipe for Pasta with Garlicky Broccoli Rabe.) Perelman’s recipes are accessible but not Betty Crocker plain; this is fun, energized eating. Get it! With a six-city tour to Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

Phillips, Kevin. 1775: A Good Year for Revolution. Viking. Nov. 2012. 640p. ISBN 9780670025121. $36. HISTORY
Every American schoolchild will tell you that 1776 was a very good year for the American Revolution. But contrarian Phillips, Pulitzer finalist for The Cousins’ Wars, makes a case for 1775 as the revolution’s make-or-break year. That’s when Congress delivered a bunch of sharp ultimatums to Britain, British troops and royal governors were sent packing, and local Patriots grabbed the reins of government. Britain never recovered. Great for argumentative nonfiction book groups.

Sacks, Oliver. Hallucinations. Knopf. Nov. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9780307957245. $26.95. CD/downloadable: Random House Audio. MEDICINE
Hallucinations: they don’t belong wholly to the insane. Illness or injury, intoxication or sensory deprivation, or simply falling asleep can cause any one of us to see (or hear, or smell, or sense) swirly, twirly things that aren’t there. Everyone’s favorite neurologist is back to explain types of hallucinations, what they tell us about the brain’s workings, and how they have influenced art and culture. Who knew medicine could be so much fun.

Schwartz, John. Oddly Normal: One Family’s Struggle To Help Their Teenage Son Come to Terms with His Sexuality. Gotham: Penguin Group (USA). Nov. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9781592407286. $26. MEMOIR
A national correspondent with the New York Times, Schwartz faced a terrible tragedy two years ago when his 13-year-old son attempted suicide after coming out to his classmates. Frustrated by the school’s inability to help a student who didn’t fit the mold, he and his wife sought out organizations that could help Joe realize that he wasn’t alone or freakish. Here’s an account of their experiences, clearly as much a parental guide as a memoir.

Talbot, Margaret. The Entertainer: Movies, Magic, and My Father’s Twentieth Century. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). Nov. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9781594487064. $28.95. MEMOIR
A New Yorker staff writer, Talbot takes a personal approach to telling the story of popular culture in early 20th century America. She tells the story of her father, Lyle Talbot, born in Nebraska in 1902, who became a magician’s assistant, actor with a traveling theater troupe, romantic lead in early talkies, character actor in big Warner films, and, finally, Ozzie and Harriet and Leave It to Beaver regular. From small-town life to the big screen; sounds enticing, and lots of in-house excitement. 
 
Updike, John. Always Looking: Essays on Art. Knopf. Nov. 2012. 224p. ISBN 9780307957306. $45. ART CRITICISM
After Just Looking (1989) and Still Looking (2005), here’s a final, posthumous volume of essays from a writer whose art criticism was as good as his fiction. The 15 pieces are taken mostly from the New York Review of Books, though readers will also find—and revel in—“The Clarity of Things,” the 2008 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities and as definitive a statement as we’ll get of Updike’s approach to criticism. With more than 200 color illustrations to go with commentary ranging from Degas to Serra. Bravo!

wa Thiong’o, Ngugi. In the House of the Interpreter: A Memoir. Pantheon. Nov. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780307907691. $25.95; eISBN 9780307907707. MEMOIR
A 2009 Man Booker International Literary Prize nominee and an Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience in his native Kenya in the late 1970s after his arrest for writing a controversial play, wa Thiong’o here follows up a first volume of memoirs called Dreams in a Time of War—which, by the way, was a Samuel Johnson Prize nominee. This new work covers wa Thiong’o’s high school years in 1955–59, which places it smack in the middle of the Mau Mau uprising that eventually led to the end of British colonial rule.  Nobel-worthy reading, I’ll bet; wa Thiong’o is often mentioned for the prize.

Barofsky, Neil.  Bailout: How I Watched Washington Rescue Wall Street While Abandoning Main Street. Free Pr: S. & S. Oct. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9781451684933. $26.  CURRENT EVENTS
In 2008, Barofsky was appointed Special United States Treasury Department Inspector General to oversee the Troubled Assets Relief Program. But he resigned his post in 2011, citing family reasons. Not a lot of word on the contents of this book, but the title says it all.

Criss, Peter. Makeup to Breakup. Scribner. Oct. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781451620825. $26. MEMOIR
Wow, the musicians are really talking. Last week I featured memoirs from Billy Ray Cyrus, Kenny Rogers, John Taylor, Pete Townshend, and Neil Young, and note the Cyndi Lauper tell-all below. Here, founding KISS drummer Criss spills all about his painted band and his own version of sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll.

Crothers, Tim. The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl’s Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster. Scribner. Oct. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9781451657814. $26. BIOGRAPHY/GAMES
At age 11, Phiona Mutesi had a lot of strikes against her; barely literate, she lived in the worst slums of Kampala, Uganda. Then a slum dweller who had become a missionary taught her to play chess, and three years later she was an international champion. Basing this book on his National Magazine Award–nominated story, Sports Illustrated senior writer Crothers tells a story that isn’t just inspirational but a corrective to our most damning assumptions.

Denby, David. Do the Movies Have a Future? S. & S. Oct. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9781416599470. $27. FILM
These collected essays from the noted New Yorker critic don’t just talk about movies; they talk more broadly about where the movie business is going. As art is squeezed out by the car-crash mentality and digitization takes over, perhaps the whole business—which has long furnished America’s most popular form of entertainment—will end up dead. Here, too, are discussions of Denby’s favorite directors and the great critics James Agee and Pauline Kael. Essential for film fans.

Feinstein, Michael. The Gershwins and Me: A Personal History in Twelve Songs. S. & S. Oct. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781451645309. $45 with CD. BIOGRAPHY/MUSIC
Ambassador of the Great American Songbook, as he’s called, Feinstein lucked out at age 20 when he got a job with Ira Gershwin. Here he shares both reminiscences of their six-year partnership and his unique insights into the glory that is George Gershwin’s music. When it comes to the great Gershwins, I’m not the only person to proclaim “Love Is Here To Stay,” and Feinstein’s structuring of his narrative in terms of 12 key songs is intriguing. Can’t wait to hear the accompanying CD.

Han Han. This Generation: Dispatches from China’s Most Popular Literary Star (and Race Car Driver). S. & S. Oct. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9781451660005. $23. MEMOIR/CURRENT EVENTS
After Han dropped out of high school, he wrote a novel titled Triple Door that has sold more than 20 million copies, then went on to become a singer, a sharp-tongued blogger of the moment, and a star on the rally racing circuit. Now he’s an international celebrity who’s changed our view of China, and his observations here range from racing to patriotism. Seriously, this sounds cool.

Lauper, Cyndi with Jancee Dunn. Cyndi Lauper: A Memoir. Atria: S. & S. Oct. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9781439147856. $28.99. MEMOIR/MUSIC
For girls (and others) who want to have fun: a memoir from Lauper, who’s sold more than 30 million albums globally and has been nominated for a stack of awards, including 14 Grammys. She starts here with her tough early years, when she abandoned home at age 17 and survived by her wits—and doing things like cleaning a Hare Krishna temple for free food. Then come the glories and (inevitable) hardships of fame.

McMurtry, Larry. Custer. S. & S. Oct. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9781451626209. $40. BIOGRAPHY
McMurtry on George Armstrong Custer; now that should be larger than life. With no cavalry survivors and only scattered Indian accounts after Custer and his 7th Cavalry attacked a large Lakota Cheyenne village on the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory, it’s hard to say what really happened on that hot June day in 1876. But McMurtry’s chronicle of the man should be colorful—for one thing, there are 150 four-color illustrations.

Nepo, Mark. Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What Is Sacred. Free Pr: S. & S. Oct. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9781451674668. $25. INSPIRATION
You’ll know cancer survivor Nepo from his No. 1 New York Times best seller, The Book of Awakening—not to mention his appearances on Good Morning America and Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday program (OWN TV). Emphasizing our relationships to wisdom, experience, and one another, he here uses his own hearing loss to explain how we can return daily to what really matters in life.

Pantsov, Alexander V. & Steven I. Levine. Mao: The Real Story. S. & S. Oct. 2012. 736p. ISBN 9781451654479. $35. BIOGRAPHY
Moscow-born Pantsov, now a history professor at Capital University and author of books like The Bolsheviks and the Chinese Revolution 1919-1927, joins with China politics and foreign affairs expert Levine to craft a biography of one of the towering leaders/monsters of the 20th century. Key here is access to Russian documents not available to previous researchers. Interesting to see where this goes, since as China rises and rises, a new Mao biography seems important.

Schwarzenegger, Arnold. Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story. S. & S. Oct. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9781451662436. $32.50. CD: S. & S. Audio. MEMOIR
Body-building champion. Movie star. Governor of California. And immigrant. Schwarzenegger presents his life story as the realization of the American dream. Long on his achievements, then (note the subtitle), but he’s also said to be honest about his regrets—and that would pique reader interest. With a national tour.

Erdrich, Louise. The Round House. Harper: HarperCollins. Oct. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9780062065247. $26.99; eISBN 9780062065261. lrg. prnt. LITERARY FICTION
Erdrich continues the trilogy begun with The Plague of Doves—not to mention her luscious, long-standing oeuvre—with the story of an Ojibwe woman named Geraldine Coutts who is ruthlessly attacked one summer morning in 1988. Because she refuses to speak about the event, instead retreating to her bed, her husband, Bazil, and their 13-year-old son, Joe, try to answer the most basic questions: Was the attacker Indian or white? Did the attack occur on the reservation or on state land (the state being North Dakota)? Frustrated with their ineffectual efforts, Joe rounds up three friends and hunts for the truth himself. Erdrich is such a natural that one almost forgets how good she is; with a 100,000-copy first printing and a seven-city tour to Boston, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

Helprin, Mark. In Sunlight and in Shadow. Houghton Harcourt. Oct. 2012. 720p. ISBN 9780547819235. $28. LITERARY FICTION
Home from the war and basking in the bright lights of 1947 New York, wealthy Harry Copeland encounters heiress and aspiring actress Catherine Thomas Hale on the Staten Island ferry, and a great passion is born. Alas, Catherine is engaged to a much older man, but she and Harry pursue a romance against the backdrop of Broadway theaters and Long Island mansions, with financiers and gangsters among the walk-on players in this grand pageant from the author of A Soldier of the Great War. What I’ve read so far is glorious and golden, truly like reentering another world where another sensibility prevails and even the sunlight and shadow have a different weight; the 100,000-copy first printing seems right.

Lehane, Dennis. Live by Night. Morrow. Oct. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9780060004873. $27.99; eISBN 9780062200297. lrg. prnt. CD: Harper Audio. HISTORICAL THRILLER
A New York Times best-selling author with multiple awards to his name, Lehane writes vividly enough to have seen three books turned into movies (e.g., Shutter Island). Not surprisingly, the promotion for his latest, set in Roaring Twenties Boston, Florida, and Cuba, brings up HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. Youngest son of an upright Boston police sergeant, Joe Coughlin opts for the dark side, working his way to the top of organized crime as he enjoys the money, the thrills, and the femmes fatales but setting himself up, inevitably, for betrayal and revenge. With a one-day laydown on October 2 and a 400,000-copy first printing; hard not to imagine this one triumphing, as long as readers like Lehane in hot-jazz historical mode.

Wolfe, Tom. Back to Blood. Little, Brown. Oct. 2012. 608p. ISBN 9780316036313. $30; lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. LITERARY FICTION
About every eight to ten years since the 1987 publication of Bonfire of the Vanities, Wolfe writes a novel summing up America’s zeitgeist. This wide-lens view of Miami’s Biscayne Bay sounds no different. Here we meet the Cuban mayor and black police chief, the ambitious young journalist (a Wolfe in character’s clothing?) and a light-skinned Creole from Haiti (whose darker brother preens like a gangster), the billionaire porn addict and the artists at the Miami Arts Basel Fair, the spectators at the regatta and the former New Yorkers at an “Active Adult” condo—not to mention some suspicious-looking Russians. What are they up to? You must read this book to find out.

Egan, Timothy. Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis. Houghton Harcourt. Oct. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780618969029. $28. BIOGRAPHY
Curtis was a famed photographer and outdoorsman when in 1900 he became determined to chronicle Native American culture before it vanished entirely. He worked mightily to photograph more than 80 tribes—it took six years to persuade the Hopi to let him see their Snake Dance—and eventually produced 20 volumes. Even as he became a fierce advocate of the people captured by his lens, his family life and reputation splintered, and he died penniless. (Marianne Wiggins’s exquisite novel, The Shadow Catcher, captures the turmoil of his life and would make a great companion read.) From Egan, a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and National Book Award winner for The Worst Hard Time; with a 75,000-copy first printing and a ten-city tour to New York, Boston, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Denver, Arizona, New Mexico, Montana, Portland, and Seattle.

Gompertz, Will. What Are You Looking At?: The Surprising, Shocking, and Sometimes Strange Story of One Hundred Years of Modern Art. Dutton. Oct. 2012. 384p. ISBN 9780525952671. $27.95. FINE ARTS
Few of us would have the nerve to do a stand-up show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. But BBC arts editor Gompertz does, appearing there in 2009 and, in a one-man piece called Double Art History, styling himself as a substitute art teacher explaining modern art. That show, a sell-out, bodes well for his new book, which covers the artists, movements, and signal works of modern art while asking some unpretentious questions, e.g., why do we instinctively love or hate it. Former director of Tate Media (as in the wonderful Tate Britain and its wild sister, the Tate Modern) and named one of the world’s top 50 creative thinkers by Creativity magazine, Gompertz apparently has an eye for the telling anecdote. A great art history lesson; New Yorkers, note that he’s bringing his show to you.

Cyrus, Billy Ray. Hillbilly Heart.  New Harvest: Houghton Harcourt. Oct. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780547992655. $25. MEMOIR
Forget Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) and her screen ups and downs. Here’s a reminder that her dad broke out as a country singer and songwriter with “Achy Breaky Heart” and sold over 20 million copies of the album Some Gave All—the best-selling debut album to date of a solo male artist—before going on to a varied career in music and film. Here he writes a story of music, faith, and his travails once he and his family hit Hollywood. A ten- to 15-city tour featuring a new song, “Hillbilly Heart,” will help push this book; the 150,000-copy first printing suggests big-audience expectations.

Norman, Philip. Mick Jagger. Ecco: HarperCollins. Oct. 2012. 576p. ISBN 9780061944857 $34.99. BIOGRAPHY
Evidently, Jagger has proclaimed that he will never write a memoir, so we’ll have to depend on once-removed reporting from folks like Norman, author of the best-selling John Lennon: The Life. Norman interviewed many Jagger intimates, including some who have never spoken for the record, and promises to offer a larger, more complex picture of the star. We’ll see, but the book will surely be buzzing throughout 2012, the Stones’s 50th anniversary year. With a 150,000-copy first printing.

Rogers, Kenny. Luck or Something Like It. Morrow. Oct. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9780062071811. $27.99; eISBN 9780062071606. CD: Harper Audio. MEMOIR
The numbers certainly add up: In his 52-year career, pop/country singer Rogers has recorded more than 65 albums (so many it’s hard to count?), including one Diamond, 19 Platinums, and 31 Golds; he’s sold more than 120 million records worldwide and has nearly 250,000 fans on Facebook. His memoir will obviously touch on a lot of music making, plus those whose music making has touched him, from Ray Charles to Dolly Parton. And he’ll be promoting on his annual Christmas & Hits Tour.

Taylor, John. In the Pleasure Groove: Love, Death, and Duran Duran. Dutton. Oct. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780525958000. $26.95. Downloadable: Penguin Audio. MEMOIR
Founded in Birmingham, England, in the late 1970s by bassist Taylor and Nick Rhodes, Duran Duran went on to define pop music in the 1980s; their vibrant music videos, seen repeatedly on the newly launched MTV, pushed them into the stardust. Taylor offers an account of the band’s music making (the history gets complicated) and his battles with his personal demons, cocaine and alcohol, as he tried to fathom it all. Hey, the band has sold 80 million records, and recent reviews of their reportedly sold-out concerts have a “they’ve-still-got-it” ring. So there’s an audience.

Townshend, Pete. Who I Am: A Memoir. Harper: HarperCollins. Oct. 2012. 608p. ISBN 9780062127242. $29.99; eISBN 9780062127266. lrg. prnt. CD: Harper Audio. MEMOIR
Townshend has reportedly been working on this memoir for a decade—without the help of a ghostwriter. (It says something to see that fact emphasized.) Here he is as a child, raised by a mentally incapacitated grandmother as his parents led an early version of countercultural life; an adolescent, obsessed with music and founding the forerunner of the Who with buddy Roger Daltrey; and a full-fledged rock star wrestling (as rock stars do) with drugs, sex, fame, fortune, and notoriety. With a one-day laydown on October 8 and a 400,000-copy first printing; line up for author appearances in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Young, Neil. Waging Heavy Peace. Blue Rider: Penguin Group (USA). Oct. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9780399159466. $30. MEMOIR
Canadian-born singer/songwriter Young has successfully explored so many different musical styles in his solo and collaborative work that his career could serve as a map of rock music in the last 50 years. Not every musician could have moved so silkily from the gentler sounds of Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, & Nash to the hard-driving rock of Crazy Horse to experimentation that has led to Young’s being dubbed the godfather of grunge. A noncompromiser and an active environmentalist, too; here’s his story.

Banville, John. Ancient Light. Knopf. Oct. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780307957054. $25.95; eISBN 9780307960832. CD/downloadable: Random Audio. LITERARY
At the end of a stuttering career, suddenly revived by a role-of-a-lifetime movie turn, actor Alexander Cleave looks back at his first and probably only love, a charged and ultimately catastrophic passion at age 15 for his best friend’s mother. Then there’s his daughter, whose own uncertain turn of mind he cannot understand. Always an honored writer, Banville has gained a bigger audience here since winning the Man Booker Prize for The Sea, so this probing study of memory’s shiftiness will be anticipated. With a reading guide and a six-city tour to Boston, New York, Portland (OR), San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

Cronin, Justin. The Passage Trilogy: Bk. 2: The Twelve. Ballantine. Oct. 2012. 560p. ISBN 9780345504982. $28; eISBN 9780345534897. CD: Random Audio. LITERARY THRILLER
After racking up honors like the PEN/Hemingway Award for his literary fiction, Cronin wrote a dystopian thriller called The Passage—and sold 600,000 copies while claiming awed reviews and best book nods, including from LJ. Here we see three strangers bonding over the chaos created by the U.S. government experiment gone awry that kicked off the first book, and, 100 years hence, we again meet Amy, Peter, Alicia, and the others as they track the 12 virals that started all the trouble. Alas, their quest is based on some assumptions that no longer hold. With a 15- to 20-city tour and a huge multimedia campaign.

Harris, Joanne. Peaches for Father Francis. Viking. Oct. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780670026364. $26.95. CD: Penguin Audio. POP FICTION
With Harris’s beloved chocolatière, Vianne Rocher, we return to the lovely French village of Lansquenet, where Vianne first opened up shop in Harris’s multi-million-best-selling Chocolat. Now the town is changed, with veiled women walking the streets and a minaret rising across the river, and—big surprise!—fierce, resistant Father Francis needs Vianne’s help. Charm and important social context; a recent New York Times editorial reports that France has Europe’s largest Islamic minority, which has caused headline-making tensions recently. The editorial goes on to explain that inclusive Marseille has no such troubles. Perhaps little Lansquenet will emulate its big brother.  

Pamuk, Orhan. Silent House. Knopf. Oct. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780307700285. $26.95; eISBN 9780307958556. LITERARY
Before he won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, before he won the Nobel Peace Prize, Pamuk wrote this, his second novel—only now available in English. In the summer before the 1980 military coup, the widow Fatima anticipates her grandchildren’s annual visit to her home in Cennethisar, now a fancy resort near Istanbul but once a fishing village where Fatima’s physician husband settled to serve the poor. She reminisces with ever-loyal servant Recep, a dwarf who happens to be her husband’s illegitimate son, even as Recep’s dedicatedly nationalist cousin draws the entire family dangerously close to the looming political crisis. With a reading group guide; a good way to understand the Turkey of today.

Bizot, François. Facing the Torturer. Knopf. Oct. 2012. 224p. ISBN 9780307273505. $25; eISBN 9780307960870. HISTORY
Director of studies at Paris’s École Pratique des Hautes études and chair of Southeast Asian Buddhism at the Sorbonne, Bizot was a young scholar studying pottery and Buddhist ritual in Cambodia when he was imprisoned by the Khmer Rouge for three months in 1973, an experience he recounted searingly in The Gate. (Bizot was the only Westerner to survive Khmer Rouge imprisonment.) His captor was the infamous Duch, ultimately responsible for the deaths of more than 10,000 people. Duch was arrested for his crimes in 1999, and Bizot bore witness at his trial—an unimaginable act of courage that he revisits here with this book. Note that it’s classified as history—Bizot clearly turns the spotlight from himself to a horrifically dark time in human history.

Brands, H.W. The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace. Doubleday. Oct. 2012. 736p. ISBN 9780385532419. $35; eISBN 9780385532426. CD: Random Audio. BIOGRAPHY
A New York Times best-selling historian/biographer who’s given us firm portraits of Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Jackson, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, among others, Brands here takes on Civil War general and two-term president Ulysses Grant. Grant’s reputation suffered after the war, partly because of Southern resentment, and Brands is out to given us a fairer, better picture. He shows us a first-rate general and a President who was both popular and compassionate, working hard to protect the rights of freedmen; Brands calls him last presidential defender of black civil rights for nearly a century. I’m betting on this one.

Dobbs, Michael. Six Months in 1945: FDR, Stalin, Churchill, and Truman—from World War to Cold War. Knopf. Oct. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9780307271655. $28.95; eISBN 9780307960894. Downloadable: Random Audio. HISTORY
In February 1945, when Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met in Yalta, the alliance that had helped rout Hitler was already showing strains, and the start of the Cold War lay only months away. Dobbs, a Washington Post reporter who covered the fall of communism and authored the best-selling One Minute to Midnight, about nuclear brinkmanship, should have the perspective to cover this story. Lots of in-house enthusiasm.

Brunson, Paul Carrick. It’s Complicated (But It Doesn’t Have To Be): A Modern Guide to Finding and Keeping Love. Gotham: Penguin Books (USA). Sep. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9781592407699. $22.50. RELATIONSHIPS
“Modern Day Matchmaker” Brunson ditched his high-paying portfolio management job to do something far nobler: helping people find love. Young, black, and male, he’s not your average dating coach; he got inspired to switch careers when he realized that all the children at a summer camp he ran for the underserved in Washington, DC, came from single-parent homes. Among other things, Brunson hosts matchmaking events in numerous cities, but  if you can’t make them, you can still get this book. Aimed at everyone.

Burke, Monte. 4th and Goal: From the Gridiron to the Boardroom and Back. Grand Central. Sept. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9781455514045. $26.99. SPORTS/AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Joe Moglia always wanted to coach college football, but family responsibilities meant climbing onto the corporate ladder instead. Eventually, he became the CEO of TD Ameritrade—and then he quit, determined to pursue the dream he’d deferred. Now, after a stint of unpaid coaching to get back into the game after 25 years, he’s head football coach at Coastal Carolina University. We could all use inspiration like this.

Danza, Tony. I’d Like To Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High. Crown. Sept. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780770436704. $26. EDUCATION/MEMOIR
Yes, that’s Danza, the Golden Globe and Emmy nominee you know from Taxi, teaching English at Philadelphia’s Northeast High. After years of acting success, he felt it was payback time, and being a teacher appealed. What he discovered: it’s really hard work. A great antidote to all those pieces by folks who consider teaching glorified babysitting; you might know this from a short series on A&E called Teach, which covered Danza’s 2009–10 classroom year.

House, Karen Elliot. On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Contradictions—and Future. Knopf. Sept. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9780307272164. $30; eISBN 9780307960993. CURRENT EVENTS
A Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter and then foreign editor of the Wall Street Journal, House has been familiarizing herself with Saudi Arabia over 30 years. Here she draws on her access to the ruling Al Saud family, including the king, crown prince, and many government ministers, to paint a portrait of a country that remains central to Middle East politics and America’s future—it’s our second largest oil supplier. With a 40,000-copy first printing.

Issenberg, Sasha. The Victory Lab. Crown. Sept. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780307954794. $26. POLITICS
Explains Issenberg, who covered the 2008 election for the Boston Globe, it’s not business as usual in the political realm. Academics, statisticians, and strategists are shoving aside seasoned advisers, emphasizing data rather than instinct as they change completely how campaigns are managed. A chapter from this book, “Rick Perry and His Eggheads,” was enthusiastically embraced when released as an e-original—Politico called it “Moneyball for Politics”—and Issenberg just launched a column on Slate, also called “The Victory Lab.” So there’s already a readership.

Leman, Talia. a random book about the power of ANYone by a random kid. Free Pr: S. & S. Sept. 2012. 240p. ISBN 9781451664843. pap. $14.99. PHILANTHROPHY
At age ten, Leman did something remarkable: she organized the efforts of kids like herself nationwide and raised $10 million for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Then she launched a campaign that again brought youngsters together to help their counterparts in 20 countries worldwide. Here Leman explains how she did it, using advice like “Use Your Inexperience Shamelessly” to show what it takes—enthusiasm, determination, and a ready wit—as she encourages others to follow her example.

Reiss, Tom. The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo. Crown. Sept. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780307382467. $26. BIOGRAPHY
New Yorker writer Reiss’s The Orientalist, a New York Times best seller, unfolded the complicated life story of a Caucasus-born Jew who declared himself a Muslim prince. So Reiss seems the right man to chronicle Alexandre Dumas, a former slave who became a royal musketeer and eventually a noted general in Napoleon’s army. He would be unknown today had the son who shares his name not used his adventures to write numerous beloved and enduring novels, including, of course, The Count of Monte Cristo. The result of five years of research and bound to be fun.

Prescott, Townes III. Total Frat Move. Grand Central. Sept. 2012. 220p. ISBN 9781455515035. $18.99. HUMOR
Drawing on the raucous website and Twitter feed of the same name, this book celebrates just how raunchy, lowdown, and, shall we say, unstudious frat life has become. Prescott is the (rather glam) pseudonym for a self-described hard-partying rich boy who was among the three Texas State grads who founded the site. Said to make Animal House look quaint; your move.

Robinson, Gene. God Believes in Love: Straight Talk About Gay Marriage. Knopf. Sept. 2012. 208p. ISBN 9780307957887. $24; eISBN 9780307961754. RELIGION
Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church and the first openly gay person elected to the historic episcopate, Robinson has penned an argument in favor of gay rights and gay marriage grounded in the Bible that he loves. His audience: gays and lesbians who want to argue their case, heterosexuals who want to understand, and policy makers who need to understand. With a 50,000-copy first printing; inevitably a controversy stirrer despite the devout and congenial tone.

Sheldrake, Rupert. Science Set Free: Dispelling Dogma. Deepak Chopra: Crown. Sept. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780770436704. $26. SCIENCE
Biologist Sheldrake, once a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and now a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in California, aims to persuade fellow scientists that a strictly materialist worldview will eventually hold back their work. What’s interesting here is not just that Shekdrake is the author of the best-selling Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home but that this new work is the lead title in Deepak Chopra’s new imprint.

Thomas, Evan. Ike’s Bluff: President Eisenhower’s Secret Battle To Save the World. Little, Brown. Sept. 2012. 423p. ISBN 9780316091046. $29.99. CD: Hachette Audio. HISTORY
The genial Dwight Eisenhower was apparently a crack poker player, routinely cleaning out his fellow army officers, and, argues Thomas, he took a big, poker-faced gamble when as President he confronted the Soviet Union, China, and his own saber-rattling generals. A former Newsweek editor at large, now teaching at Princeton, Thomas explains how his careful strategy paid off—for him and for the world.

Velasquez-Manoff, Moises. An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases. Scribner. Sept. 2012. NAp. ISBN 9781439199381. $26. HEALTH/MEDICINE
Worm therapy. It sounds disgusting, but consider. In the 20th century, many serious diseases were eradicated or sharply curtailed through better hygiene, vaccines, antibiotics, and more. In the process, we may have also eradicated organisms that help keep our bodies in balance, as evidenced by the rise in allergic or autoimmune diseases like asthma and Crohn’s disease. As science journalist Velasquez-Manoff explains, some researchers are trying to counter these diseases through the use of parasitic worms (helminthes) to help the immune system adjust. This should be fascinating if quease-inducing reading.

Witchell, Alex. All Gone: A Memoir of My Mother’s Dementia, with Refreshments. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). Sept. 2012. NAp. ISBN 9781594487354. $26.95. MEMOIR
New York Times Magazine columnist Witchell can be hard-driving, but here she reveals a gentle side. As her mother, who always sustained her, slides into dementia, Witchell holds on by cooking up and sharing favorite recipes from her 1950s childhood. We could learn something here.

Haghenbeck, F.G. The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo. Atria: S. & S. Sept. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9781451632835. pap. $15; eISBN 9781451632842. LITERARY
Not long ago, a series of notebooks and sketchbooks were unearthed at Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo’s home in Coyoacán, Mexico, and although they were never confirmed as Kahlo’s property, award-winning Mexican author Haghenbeck imagines that, after the ever-ailing Kahlo nearly died, she was given one of them by her lover, Tina Modotti. Kahlo then poured her memories, ideas, and even recipes for The Day of the Dead feasts into its pages, so that we the readers of her book are swirled through her relationships (not only with faithless husband Diego Rivera but with Georgia O’Keeffe, for instance) and the development of her artistic gift. Meanwhile, folks from Trotsky to Hemingway, Dalí, and Henry Miller drop by. I’m betting on this because Kahlo is relentlessly fascinating, Haghenbeck comes well recommended, and the in-house support is strong.

Kristoff, Jay. Stormdancer. Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin’s. Sept. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9781250001405. $24.99; eISBN 9781250017918. FANTASY
Japanese steampunk? You bet. Since griffins no longer exist, Yukiko and her father are understandably distraught when the cruel and powerful Shogun of the Shima Isles demands that they procure one for him. Still, they obligingly hunt for one, and Yukiko eventually finds herself lost in the wilderness, alone except for a wounded griffin named Buruu. Together, despite betrayal and bloodshed, they challenge the forces on high. This first in the “Lotus Wars” series has five-star early reviews, and nearly 1000 folks have lined up on Goodreads to crack the covers. Get it.

Soli, Tatjana. The Forgetting Tree. St. Martin’s. Sept. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9781250001047. $25.99; eISBN 9781250019349. LITERARY
On her first time out, Soli made a firm impression with The Lotus Eaters, a New York Times best seller and James Tait Black Prize winner, so it’s good to welcome her back. Here, Claire throws over her high-class education to marry Forster, son of California citrus ranchers, though she knows it means grinding work and worry. Notwithstanding profound sorrows—among them the kidnapping and murder of her son—Claire loves the ranch, but now am implacable illness threatens to divide her from the land forever. Just as threatening: her mysterious and not always benevolent new caretaker, Mina. With a reading group guide and substantive promotion.

Welsh, Irvine. Skagboys. Norton. Sept. 2012. 560p. ISBN 9780393088731. $26.95. LITERARY
If you love Welsh’s enduringly edgy Trainspotting, you’ll be excited to hear that this book is billed as a prequel—and as an alternate. All the lads are here: Mark Renton, whose life soars up (he’s first in his family to go to university), then down (his aspirations are thwarted by Thatcher-era policies); Spud Murphy, facing unending joblessness; Tommy Lawrence, bravely resisting a life of crime; and of course Sick Boy. Here’s how they hoped, and here’s how they fell prey to heroin and despair. Not pretty, thank goodness.

Rushdie, Salman. Joseph Anton: A Memoir. Random. Sept. 2012. 656p. ISBN 9780812992786. $30; eISBN 9780679643883. CD: Random Audio. MEMOIR
Placed under a fatwa by the Ayatollah Khomeini in February 1989, distinguished author Rushdie was forced underground to save his life. He needed an alias for use by the armed police assigned to protect him and so chose Joseph Anton, which blended the first names of two writers he loved, Conrad and Chekhov. Here he recounts over nine years of moving from safe house to safe house, mastering despair, fighting back, bonding with his protectors, and enlisting the support of governments, journalists, and fellow writers worldwide. His memoir matters not simply because of startling personal detail but because his experience presaged a global battle over freedom of speech that continues today; With a six-city tour to Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Los Angeles; the extensive publicity includes an NPR campaign.

Stahr, Walter. Seward: Lincoln’s Indispensable Man. S. & S. Sept. 2012. 608p. ISBN 9781439121160. $32.50; eISBN 9781439127940. BIOGRAPHY
Progressive New York governor and U.S. senator, staunch abolitionist (“there is a higher law than the Constitution” he said of its legalizing slavery), secretary of state under Lincoln and his closest friend and adviser (he persuaded France and England not to recognize the Confederacy, which was important to the Union’s victory), target of Lincoln’s assassin, and facilitator of America’s acquisition of both Alaska and Hawaii, William Henry Seward was a significant figure in U.S. history. He was also, apparently, a grand fellow who enjoyed a good story and a cigar. Not a lot out there on Seward for the lay reader; here’s hoping the author of John Jay: Founding Father will do him justice.

Ashcroft, Frances. The Spark of Life: Electricity in the Human Body. Norton. Sept. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780393078039. $28.95. SCIENCE
From the first stirrings in the primordial muck to our brain’s elaborate pulsings when we read or watch Shakespeare, electricity is life, and much-honored Oxford physiologist Ashcroft—recently winner of the top honor in the L’ORÉAL-UNESCO for Women in Science Awards—explains how it drives the body. Historical perspective, too (the book harks back to the Greeks); insight from a master.

The Best Science Writing Online 2012. ed. by Jennifer Ouellette. Scientific American/Farrar. Sept. 2012. 384p. ISBN 9780374533342. pap. $16. SCIENCE
You have to love a science writer whose accomplishments include maintaining the Cocktail Party Physics blog. That’s Ouellette, who here guest edits the sixth edition of an anthology launched by Bora Zivkovic, editor of the blog network at Scientific American. With pieces ranging from fluids to fungi, written by rising stars, here’s online writing about science—how much more cutting edge can you get?

Brown, Lester R. Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity. Norton. Sept. 2012. 160p. ISBN 9780393088915. $27.95. SCIENCE/POLICY
As the subtitle suggests, Brown—president of the Earth Policy Institute, a MacArthur Fellow, and a prolific author to boot (e.g., World on the Edge)—has something potent to say about the human-made aspect of the famines that keep stalking this planet. Dedicated readers will appreciate.

Cantu, Robert, MD & Mark Hyman. Concussions and Our Kids: America’s Leading Expert on How To Protect Young Athletes and Keep Sports Safe. Houghton Harcourt. Sept. 2012. 224p. ISBN 9780547773940. $27. SPORTS/HEALTH
Concussion has become a major issue in sports, plaguing professional athletes and youngsters alike. A clinical professor of neurosurgery and codirector of Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, as well as chair of the Department of Surgery at Emerson Hospital, Cantu has treated of thousands of patients with brain trauma. Here he both explains how to treat concussions and, more important, how to prevent them. There will be national TV coverage, so expect interest.

Chafe, William H. Bill and Hillary: The Politics of the Personal. Farrar. Sept. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9780809094653. $28. BIOGRAPHY
That the personal is political is a well-worn adage, but it takes on new meaning when examining not one politician but two—specifically, Bill and Hillary Clinton, whose commitment to each other, as well as to key issues like race and gender equality, have shaped their careers. Duke history professor Chafe, whose numerous titles include The Rise and Fall of the American Century, considers their early years, “copresidency,” tempestuous relationship, and more.

Cotton, Dorothy. If Your Back’s Not Bent: The Role of the Citizenship Education Program in the Civil Rights Movement. Atria: S. & S. Sept. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780743296830. $25; eISBN 9781439187425. AUTOBIOGRAPHY
This autobiography by Cotton, former director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Citizens Education Project and the only woman in Martin Luther King’s inner circle, was featured here as a pick in September 2011. The subtitle change since then (from “How the Civil Rights Movement Gained Victory”) suggests a shift in focus that makes the book more personal.

Dauch, Richard. American Drive: The Road to More Jobs, a Stronger Economy, and Renewed Industrial Dominance in America. St. Martin’s. Sept. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9781250010827. $27.99; eISBN 9781250010834. ECONOMICS
In 1994, after 30 years in the automotive industry, Dauch decided to get behind the wheel and bought an ailing axle and supply company, which included five crumbling plants in the center of Detroit. After rebuilding the plants, renegotiating with unions, and instituting job training, he opened up for business—and made a $60 million profit in the first month. His account is being positioned as a blueprint for fixing our economic woes.

Eco, Umberto. Inventing the Enemy: Essays. Houghton Harcourt. Sept. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780547640976. $25. ESSAYS
Eco’s recent The Prague Cemetery proposed that countries needs enemies and invent them if none are to be found—an intriguingly relevant thought in today’s world and the basis of one of the essays in his new collection. Other topics: censorship, Wikileaks, James Joyce’s Ulysses, lost islands, and—not surprisingly from the author of the immortal The Name of the Rose—the medieval world. Bonbons for the literati and maybe others.

Elie, Paul. Soundabout: Reinventing Bach. Farrar. Sept. 2012. 496p. ISBN 9780374281076. $30. MUSIC
A senior fellow with Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs whose first book, The Life You Save May Be Your Own, received the PEN/Martha Albrand Prize, Elie explains how Bach shaped music—not simply through his ineffable compositions but by perfecting the tuning scheme we use today, for instance—and how subsequently Bach has been shaped by musicians from Albert Schweitzer to Pablo Casals, Glenn Gould, and Yo-Yo Ma. Today, technology from smartphones to multimedia presentations is allowing us to hear Bach’s multiple voices in different ways. Such a cool idea if it works.

Gottman, John & Nan Silver. What Makes Love Last?: How To Build Trust and Avoid Betrayal. S. & S. Sept. 2012. 384p. ISBN 9781451608472. $26; eISBN 9781451608496. SELF-HELP
Gottman runs the Love Lab at the University of Washington, Seattle, which sounds hippy-dippy until you realize that his 35 years of research into marriage have earned him honors from the National Institute of Mental Health and the American Psychological Association, among other organizations. Here he talks about maintaining trust, rebuilding after betrayal, and watching out for what he calls sliding door moments—pivotal points when a couple can connect more deeply or start to spin apart. Bigger than your standard self-help stuff.

Makary, Marty. MD. Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won’t Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care. Bloomsbury, dist. by Macmillan. Sept. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781608198368. $28. HEALTH
The Johns Hopkins surgeon who developed the checklist that inspired Atul Gawande’s best-selling The Checklist Manifesto, Makary here challenges the lack of transparency in health care, which leaves patients ignorant and error rates uncomfortably high despite efforts to curb them. Here he argues for accountability, aiming to reward the good doctors and ditch the bad ones. Let’s hear it from the inside! With a five-city tour to Baltimore, Boston, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and New York.

Marshall, Penny. My Mother Was Nuts. New Harvest: Houghton Harcourt. Sept. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780547892627. $26. MEMOIR
Marshall started out as Laverne in the beloved sitcom Laverne and Shirley but made her mark as the first woman to direct films that made more than $100 million, namely, Big and A League of Their Own. Your chance to spend some more time in Hollywood.

Min, Janice. How To Look Hot in a Minivan: A Real Woman’s Guide to Losing Weight, Looking Great, and Dressing Chic in the Age of the Celebrity Mom. St. Martin’s. Sept. 2012. 240p. ISBN 9780312658977. $26.99; eISBN 9781429960588. FITNESS/GROOMING
The former editor of US Weekly and current editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter, Min knows how Hollywood types make motherhood look glam. Now she’s sharing these secrets with ordinary mortals. Too late for me, but the rest of you might be interested; check out the author tour and heavyweight promotion, which will include fashion, parenting, and mommy blogs.

Pinsky, Drew. Recovering Intimacy. Atria: S. & S. Sept. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9781451605716. $26; eISBN 9781451605730. SELF-HELP
Despite our in-your-face interconnectedness via social media, achieving true intimacy is hard—some would say harder than ever. Doctor, best-selling author, and TV personality, Pinsky explains how to sense when a relationship is faltering and to build and maintain deep personal bonds, whether with friends, family, or partners. Pinsky has fans.

Roth, Marco. The Scientists: A Family Romance. Farrar. Sept. 2012. 192p. ISBN 9780374210281. $23. MEMOIR
Dinnertime conversations about scientific advances and house concerts open to guests—that’s what it was like for Roth, who grew up in New York, the only child of a doctor and a concert pianist. Then his father started exhibiting the first signs of AIDS, which he had contracted in the 1980s, radically rearranging Roth’s world and leaving behind a legacy of silence. A cofounder of n + 1 and recipient of the 2011 Roger Shattuck Prize for Criticism, Roth can be expected to offer an elegant examination of what we learn from our parents and what we have to learn for ourselves.

Self, Robert O. All in the Family: The Realignment of American Democracy Since the 1960s. Hill & Wang: Farrar. Sept. 2012. 512p. ISBN 9780809095025. $30. HISTORY
Here’s what family values have meant to the Left since the 1960s: first Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and War on Poverty, then the fight for racial and gender equality, then the fight for gay rights, health care reform, and welfare reform. Those multiplying interests have fractured Leftist ranks, allowing the Right to sweep in with its version of family values: a single-minded traditional take. So argues Brown history professor Self, a James A. Rawley Prize winner for American Babylon, who’s clarifying an idea many of us have sensed for some time. Intriguing to think of this as backdrop for the elections.

Silber, William L. Volcker: Central Banker. Bloomsbury, dist. by Macmillan. Sept. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9781608190706. $30. BIOGRAPHY
We owe a lot to Paul A. Volcker. As Federal Reserve chair, he helped curb booming inflation in the 1970s, while as chair of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board he grappled with 2008’s financial implosion; Obama dubbed the centerpiece of his Wall Street regulation the Volcker Rule. Silber is not just director of the Glucksman Institute for Research in Securities Markets at NYU’s Stern School of Business but an author as well—from trade titles to the standard textbook Money, Banking and Financial Markets—so should be able to explain Volcker’s accomplishments to the financially challenged.

Sullivan, Robert. My American Revolution. Farrar. Sept. 2012. 272p. ISBN 9780374217457. $26. HISTORY
Maybe the shot heard ’round the world was fired in Lexington, MA, but most of the fighting during the Revolutionary War took place in the Middle Colonies. This I know, having grown up in a family deeply invested in supporting Trenton’s Old Barracks and in visiting Pennsylvania’s Valley Forge. Sullivan wanted to experience the war where it actually happened, so he witnessed reenactments of the crossing of the Delaware, tramped through New Jersey backyards, built a Colonial-style signal beacon, and even evacuated illegally from Brooklyn to Manhattan in a handmade boat. History as lived, not just read—which sounds great.

Tough, Paul. How Children Succeed: Rethinking Character and Intelligence. Houghton Harcourt. Sept. 2012. 272p. ISBN 9780547564654. $27. EDUCATION
Listen up, pushy parents; intelligence is not necessarily the attribute children need to develop most. Psychologists, neuroscientists, and even economists are now refocusing on qualities like perseverance, optimism, and curiosity as the true catalysts of success. So may we now throw out the SATs? This book served as the basis of a New York Times magazine cover story, and there’s a 12-city tour to Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Denver, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, and Montreal, so expect demand.

Tyler, Patrick. Fortress Israel: The Inside Story of the Military Elite Who Run the Country—And Why They Can’t Make Peace. Farrar. Sept. 2012. 560p. ISBN 9780374281045. $30. POLITICAL SCIENCE
A longtime reporter at the Washington Post and then the New York Times whose The Great Wall won the 2000 Lionel Gelber Prize, Tyler here argues that Israel is not the democracy it proclaims itself to be but a military society built with the Holocaust in mind and now committed to maintaining war. Look for the controversy over this one.