Library Journal

Díaz, Junot. This Is How You Lose Her. Riverhead: Penguin Group (USA). Sept. 2012. 240p. ISBN 9781594487361. $25.95. SHORT STORIES
Readers who adored The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, winner of both a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Critics Circle Award, have been waiting five long years for Díaz’s next work. Here it is—a collection of short stories that focus on how love twists and turns us around, whether we’re burning with bright, new passion, recalling an old flame from the shadows, or ignoring the consequences of our carelessness toward children or onetime partners. Wao fans know that these pieces will be spiky, intense, and surprising. You might have caught some of them in The New Yorker; catch them all now.

Brzezinski, Mika & Joe Scarborough. Mika and Joe: Our American Stories. Random. Sept. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9780812992915. $27; eISBN 9780679644187. CD: Random Audio. MEMOIR/JOURNALISM
He’s a former U.S. Representative from Florida with deep middle-class roots. She’s the daughter of Zbigniew Brzezinski, scion of the Polish nobility, who was President Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser. He’s also host and she’s cohost of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and here they blend their stories to produce a memoir of growing up American that’s meant to bridge the Left–Right, Red–Blue divide. A great idea if it works (note that she’s already written a New York Times best-selling memoir, All Things at Once); obviously lots of media-savvy promotion.

Gorant, Jim. Wallace: The Underdog Who Conquered a Sport, Saved a Marriage, and Championed a Breed—One Flying Disc at a Time. Gotham: Penguin Books (USA). Sept. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9781592407316. $26. PETS
Having detailed the fate of Michael Vick’s dogs in the heartrending and immaculately researched New York Times best-selling The Lost Dogs, Sports Illustrated senior editor Gorant describes the life story of another pit bull—Wallace, a rescue dog who went on to win or place impressively in dozens of local, national, and international doggie disc-catching competitions. The aim wasn’t to win trophies, though, but to clear up misunderstandings about the breed while letting Wallace have some fun. Now he’s world famous, and his story should pluck a lot of heartstrings. Go, Wallace!

Coren, Stanley. Do Dogs Dream?: Nearly Everything Your Dog Wants You To Know. Norton. Jul. 2012. 160p. ISBN 9780393073485. $23.95.  PETS
Author of best sellers like The Intelligence of Dogs, Coren is your go-to guy when you’re seeking information about canines. Here, using a Q&A format, he brings both his expertise and a certain cheeky flair to 75 questions about the social and emotional lives of dogs, e.g., do they see themselves in the mirror? And when those little paws start moving in their sleep, do they really dream? My dog says yes.

Crist, David. The Twilight War: The Secret History of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Jul. 2012. 576p. ISBN 9781594203411. $36. CURRENT EVENTS
CIA spies square off against their counterparts in Iran, Iranian speedboats attack Western oil tankers, and Iran counters the American invasion of Iraq by sending in soldiers disguised as tourists, reporters, and aid workers. Iran and the United States have engaged in an unacknowledged almost-war for three decades, argues Crist, who as senior historian for the federal government has access to the people and the papers that can give him the data to make his case. Important. and deeply relevant; see today’s news story about an American man sentenced to death by an Iran court on charges of spying.

Guy, John. Thomas Becket: Warrior, Priest, Rebel. Random. Jul. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9781400069071. $35; eISBN 9780679603412. BIOGRAPHY
Chancellor to Henry II, then his nemesis as Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Beckett was exiled for six years and assassinated by four of Henry’s knights upon his return home. Perhaps a well-known story, but Guy has the credentials to tell it well, having lectured in early modern British history and presented five documentaries for BBC2 television. Pitched as appropriate for undergraduate use, so definitely for your high-end readers.

Harjo, Joy. Crazy Brave: A Memoir. Norton. Jul. 2012. 208p. ISBN 9780393073461. $24.95. MEMOIR
Winner of the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers’ Circle, poet/performer Harjo writes verse suffused with spiritual concern, sociopolitical hunger, and evidence of her Muskogee Creek heritage. This memoir returns to her youth (abusive stepfather, Indian arts boarding school, single motherhood as a teenager) to disclose how she became a poet. Expect beautiful writing, and look how popular Leslie Marmon Silko’s The Turquoise Ledge was.

Herman, Arthur. Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Built the Arsenal of Democracy That Won World War II. Random. Jul. 2012. 400p. ISBN 9781400069644. $27; eISBN 9780679604631. HISTORY/ECONOMICS
Pulitzer Prize finalist for Ghandi & Churchill, Herman here presents businessmen as the good guys, showing how two in particular—Danish immigrant William Knudsen and shipbuilding magnate Henry Kaiser—pummeled businesses around the country to build what was needed for the war effort. The result? Service to democracy and the creation of the military-industrial complex. Not just for history fans.

Martin, Steven. Opium Fiend: A 21st Century Slave to a 19th Century Addiction. Villard. Jul. 2012. 416p. ISBN 9780345517838. $26; eISBN 9780345517852. MEMOIR
Having settled in Thailand because of a longtime interest in the glories of the Orient past, freelance reporter Martin began collecting opium-smoking equipment. Then he began smoking opium, developing a bottomless addiction broken only by a stay at a Buddhist monastery. Great on the shelf next to popular books like David Sheff’s Beautiful Boy and Bill Clegg’s Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man, and I understand that there’s real curiosity about this lesser-known drug; a 2000 Vanity Fair story by Nick Tosches still holds the record for reader response.

Meyer, Dakota & Bing West. Into the Fire: A Firsthand Account of the Most Extraordinary Battle in the Afghan War. Random. Jul. 2012. 336p. ISBN 9780812993400. $28; eISBN 9780679645443. CURRENT EVENTS
Appropriately billed as Black Hawk Down meets Lone Survivor, this book tells what happened in September 2009 when a huge contingent of Taliban surrounded a company of Afghan soldiers and their marine advisers—including Meyer, who disobeyed his commanding officer and took charge of the company, saving 18 men and charging the enemy. He won a Medal of Honor, but his actions remain controversial, which should make this especially thought-provoking to read.

Phelps, Carissa with Larkin Warren. Runaway Girl: Escaping Life on the Streets, One Helping Hand at a Time. Viking. Jul. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780670023721. $26.95. MEMOIR
A runaway and school dropout by age 12 who worked the streets for a brutal pimp, Phelps finally freed herself and is now a lawyer also working with a global collective helping survivors of sex trafficking rebuild their lives. This memoir, following hard on the heels of an award-winning documentary, is stirring some interest.

Slotkin, Richard. The Long Road To Antietam: How the Civil War Became a Revolution. Liveright: Norton. Jul. 2012. 480p. ISBN 9780871404114. $32.95. HISTORY
As Slotkin tells it, the Civil War became a revolution in summer 1862, when Lincoln acknowledged that peaceful compromise was at that point impossible and thoroughly committed himself to war. First up in this new strategy: the Emancipation Proclamation. As Lincoln clashed with ambitious general George McClellan, the country started on the bloody road to Antietam. Cultural critic Slotkin, author of Regeneration Through Violence, likes to bust myths and look at our dark side.  

Wasik, Bill & Monica Murphy. Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus. Viking. Jul. 2012. 240p. ISBN 9780670023738. $25.95. HISTORY
The source of a brain infection that causes horrid symptoms and is nearly always fatal, rabies has been feared through the ages. Here Wired senior editor Wasik departs from his bailiwick to join wife Murphy, who has degrees in public health and veterinary medicine, to offer a cultural history of the disease—the myths it engendered and how it reflects our fear of the wild both within us and outside us. In-house interest is sparking; watch.

Williams. Terrie M. The Odyssey of KP2: An Orphan Seal, a Marine Biologist, and the Fight to Save a Species. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Jul. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9781594203398. $27.95. NATURAL HISTORY
Hawaiian monk seals are the most endangered marine mammal in U.S. waters, with only 1100 remaining. So when a newborn pup was abandoned by his mother on a Kauai beach, he was brought to the marine lab in Santa Cruz despite resistance from the local community. Studying Kauai Pup 2 (KP2) to learn more about his species, wildlife biologist Williams also fell in love with his fun-loving spirit. Animal-human bonding, ecology, and the cutest face on the cover (not the author’s).

Ariely, Dan, M.D. The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780062183590. $26.99; eISBN 9780062183620. PSYCHOLOGY
It’s not just Enron; we all cheat, from sneaking extra cookies to padding our résumés to buying imitation Coach bags. Behavioral economist Ariely, author of the best-selling The Upside of Irrationality, isn’t here to lecture us but to examine why we cheat, what the consequences are, and how we can become more honest. A book we’ll all have to sneak to read; with a 100,000-copy first printing.

Bernd, Heinrich. Life Everlasting: The Animal Way of Death. Houghton Harcourt. Jun. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780547752662. $25; eISBN 9780547752693. NATURAL HISTORY
Humans face death with trepidation and elaborate rituals, but what about animals? Proffering lessons both spiritual and ecological, the author of the lovely The Mind of a Raven shows us the animal way of death, with examples ranging from carrion beetles burying field mice to wolves, large cats, eagles, and weasels working in tandem to get rid of killed prey. Not just for animal lovers.

Blum, Andrew. Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet. Ecco: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780061994937. $26.99; eISBN 9780062096753. TECHNOLOGY
Cyberspace just seems so out there, but in fact the Internet really does happen in places—huge data centers and the fiber optic cables carrying all those little pulsing bits of information worldwide. Taking stock of these “concrete” manifestations, Wired correspondent Blum clarifies how the Internet developed and how it works. With a 50,000-copy first printing.

Cameron, Bruce. A Dog’s Journey. Forge: Tor. May 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780765330536. $24.99. PETS
Another dog book? You bet. And since Cameron’s 2010 A Dog’s Purpose was on the best sellers lists for nearly five months in hardcover and remains on the best sellers lists in paperback, you can also bet that this book will be big. Cameron’s multi-hanky read talks about what we all know about our dogs: we don’t take care of them, they take care of us.

Crowley, Monica. What the (Bleep) Just Happened?: The Happy Warrior’s Guide to the Great American Comeback. Broadside: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780062131157. $26.99; eISBN 9780062131164. CURRENT EVENTS
A regular Fox contributor and guest host for shows like The O’Reilly Factor and Hannity, Crowley offers (as one might expect) a sharp-tongued critique of the Obama years. A 200,000-copy first printing—and you know if you’ll need it!

Forbes, Steve & Elizabeth Ames. Freedom Manifesto: Why Markets Are Moral and Big Government Isn’t. Crown Business. Jun. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780307951571. $26; eISBN 9780307951595. BUSINESS
The chair, CEO, and editor in chief at Forbes Media carries a big stick when he argues for limited government, proclaiming that “money is the root of all good” and “markets enhance humanity.” This follow-up to How Capitalism Will Save Us has a build-in audience.

Hayes, Christopher L. Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy. Crown. Jun. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780307720450. $26; eISBN 9780307720474. CD/downloadable: Random Audio. CURRENT EVENTS
America is defined by the concept of meritocracy, and that concept is failing. As argued by Hayes, host of his own MSNBC show, crises from the Wall Street meltdown to Major League corruption to pedophile priests have destroyed our trust in basic institutions and driven a wedge between the top dogs and everyone else. The problem: policies are made by and for the elite, with little reference to the country’s need as a whole. Hayes identifies the problem; now we need to find the solution.

Jurek, Scott with Steve Friedman. Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness. Houghton Harcourt. Jun. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780547569659. $26; eISBN 9780547722078. SPORTS/LIFESTYLE
Listen up, meat eaters! You don’t need all that dead protein to be a great athlete. Jurek won the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run seven years in a row, all on a plant diet. Here he explains how he came to running and then to veganism as he began thinking about food specifically as fuel (not as holiday yummies). He’s obviously one enduring guy, and this book is motivational in the larger sense. With a ten-city tour to Boulder/Denver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, DC, Boston, Philadelphia, and St. Louis.

Karp, Harvey. M. The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep: Simple Solutions for Kids from Birth to 5 Years. Morrow. Jun. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780062113313. $24.99; eISBN 9780062113337. PARENTING
The UCLA pediatrician who gave us The Happiest Baby on the Block goes for what’s really important: how to send that happy baby straight to the Land of Nod. Karp upends the big myths (e.g., that it’s best to let babies cry themselves to sleep) while offering two-step training to help sleep happen naturally. Since Karp been on all over television and has sold over one million copies of his two previous titles (plus over 1.6 million DVDs), this is a no-brainer purchase if there are families in your midst. With a 150,000-copy first printing.

Marcus, Norman B. End Back Pain Forever: Without Surgery or Drugs. Atria: S. & S. Jun. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9781439167441. pap. $16; eISBN 9781439167458. HEALTH
Drugs are often mind-numbing, and back surgery works only half the time, so what can the eight in ten of us who will suffer back pain at some time in our adult lives do? Marcus focuses on muscles, not discs or nerves, as the main source of back pain, and his 21 exercises could do the trick. Lots of books on this subject, but consider Marcus’s credentials: he is director of muscle pain research at NYU School of Medicine and a former president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

Merry, Robert W. Where They Stand: The American Presidents in the Eyes of Voters and Historians. S. & S. Jun. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9781451625400. $28. HISTORY
The author of a leading biography on James Polk (A Country of Vast Designs), National Interest editor Merry adds a twist to Rating the Presidents, a game historians love to play. In part, he makes his calls by turning to the voters, looking at whether Presidents were reelected and, if so, whether their parties held sway in the next election. Setting aside Lincoln, Washington, and Franklin D. Roosevelt as “Men of Destiny” who pulled the nation in a new direction, Merry comes up with the near-greats, the failures, and the presidents whose status keeps bobbing about. (I’ll let you guess on those.) This book is meant to cause arguments.

Patterson, Scott. Dark Pools: The Rise of Artificially Intelligent Trading Machines and the Looming Threat to Wall Street. Crown Business. Jun. 2012. NAp. ISBN 9780307887177. $27; eISBN 9780307887191. Downloadable: Random Audio. BUSINESSS
Wall Street loves computers because they can make stock transactions happen at lightning speed; one company recently shelled out $300 million to gain 3 millionths of a second. The problem, says former Wall Street Journal reporter Patterson, is that humans are starting to lose control. There’s even an idea out and about to create a program that could learn from various trades so that eventually supercomputers would be talking to one another and we puny mortals wouldn’t know what was happening. Scary but real; the author of the best-selling The Quants knows his stuff.

Powell, Colin L. & Tony Koltz. It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780062135124. $27.99; eISBN 9780062135148. lrg. prnt. CD: Harper Audio. MEMOIR
Not a memoir, really—that job was handled by Powell’s two-million-copy best seller, My American Journey. This is a series of anecdotes used to illustrate leadership lessons or, as Powell calls them, his “13 Rules.” Those rules range from “Trust your people” to “Get mad, then get over it,” something I have yet to learn. With a 750,000-copy first printing; buy multiples.

Rosenstrach, Jenny. Dinner: A Love Story: It All Begins at the Family Table. Ecco: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780062080905. $27.99. COOKING/LIFESTYLE
Like Rosenstrach and her husband, I cook dinner every night, but I wasn’t smart enough to launch a blog about it that ranks number four on the top 100 food mom blogs on Babble, averages 107,000 monthly visits, won Rosenstrach coverage in the New York Times and Martha Stewart’s Whole Living, and has even been optioned for film. Recipes, photos, illustrations, tips, and anecdotes—all in the interest of quality time with the kids over a good meal. With 150,000-copy first printing.

Royal, Barbara. The Royal Treatment: How To Keep Your Animals Wildly Healthy. Atria: S. & S. Jun. 2012. 368p. ISBN 9781451647693. $25. PETS
Anxious, chubby, arthritic, allergic? No, not you, your pet. Domesticated animals suffer the same ills as we domesticated humans, and to help them licensed veterinarian Royal would like first to remind us that our domesticated friends have not lost their wild needs. To address those needs, she offers a blend of Western and Eastern practices. She’s been on Oprah, so people will ask.

Sanger, David E. An Age of Reckoning: Obama’s Unorthodox Use of American Power. Crown. Jun. 2012. 448p. ISBN 9780307718020. $28; eISBN 9780307718044. CD/downloadable: Random Audio. CURRENT EVENTS
In The Inheritance, Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for the New York Times, considered the issues President Obama faced when he first came to office. Here he considers how Obama has handled everything from the ongoing war in Afghanistan to troubles with Pakistan after the death of Osama Bin Laden. More crucially, he takes the long view, pondering how Obama’s approach to national security and foreign policy has differed from that of previous Presidents and whether it will make a difference. Not just for wonks.

Sullenberger, Chesley B. with Douglas Century. Making a Difference: Stories of Vision and Courage from America’s Leaders. Morrow. Jun. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780061924705. $26.99; eISBN 9780062101365. lrg. prnt. MEMOIR
Sullenberger’s best-selling Highest Duty covered his 42-year career as a pilot, including his miraculous landing on the Hudson in 2009, saving all 155 people aboard his aircraft. Here he offers reflections on leadership—where do the best leaders come from and how do they inspire?—while highlighting top leaders like baseball manager Tony La Russa and Michelle Rhee, founder of the New Teacher Project. Obviously a great book to pair with Colin Powell’s It Worked for Me, previewed above; with a 100,000-copy first printing.

Swarns, Rachel L. American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama. Amistad: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 304p. ISBN 9780061999864. $27.99. HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY
Taking off from a piece she cowrote for the New York Times, Swarms delineates the First Lady’s ancestry, including not only those who endured the horrors of slavery but a white great-great-great-grandfather revealed for the first time. (There’s information here even Michelle Obama didn’t know.) Since black, white, and multiracial strands crisscross in so many Americans and indeed inform our entire history, this story is ours, too, and should interest a wide range of readers. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

Swofford. Anthony. Hotels, Hospitals, and Jails. Twelve: Hachette. Jun. 2012. 300p. ISBN 9781455506736. $26.99; lrg. prnt. CD: Hachette Audio. MEMOIR
A New York Times best seller with currently 250,000 copies available, Jarhead recounted Swofford’s service as a marine sniper in the Gulf War. Here he illuminates his postwar experience as he tamped down painful memories with alcohol, drugs, fast cars, and bad sex, then pulled himself together by taking a series of road trips with his terminally ill father, a Vietnam vet. Jarhead was a hit, postwar memoirs are gaining momentum, and there’s a ten-city tour to New York, Washington, DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Iowa City, Denver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, suggesting great expectations.

Tillman, Marie. The Letter. Grand Central. Jun. 2012. 200p. ISBN 9780446571456. $23.99; lrg. prnt. MEMOIR
After enlisting in the U.S. Army, NFL star Tillman wrote a letter to his wife, to be opened in case he was killed in action. As we know, Tillman died in Afghanistan in 2004, and his wife explains how that letter got her through the years of mourning. She also chronicles how she sought relief through career, travel, and, finally, her decision to head the Pat Tillman Foundation. Inspirational.

Wolf, Naomi. Vagina: A New Biography. Ecco: HarperCollins. Jun. 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780061989162. $27.99; eISBN 9780062096968. SOCIAL SCIENCE
Like Wolf’s classic The Beauty Myth, this work explores the juncture of women’s bodies and women’s lives. Looking into the relationship between sex and creativity, Wolf discovered a wealth of evidence showing that the vagina is not just flesh but intimately bound to the female brain and hence female consciousness, which has made the historical control of the female body crippling in every sense. Wolf is always provocative and always a best seller. With a 60,000-copy first printing and an author tour including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, and upon request.