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The Bookwatch
Table of Contents
Reviewer's Choice
Faster, Higher, Farther: The Volkswagen Scandal
Jack Ewing
W. W. Norton & Company
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
9780393254501 $27.95 www.wwnorton.com
Faster, Higher, Farther: The Volkswagen Scandal focuses on the revelation that Volkswagen had
installed software in its cars to thwart emissions testing devices: a fact that led to massive recalls,
lawsuits, and scandal that revealed not just Volkswagen's actions, but the depths to which efforts
went to circumvent the law. Surprisingly, this is the first book to, years later, discuss the power,
corruption, and high-level involvements behind the company's deception and cover-up. These
details reveal not just one company's actions and illegalities, but the dangerous connections
between business and political interests which allowed it to occur unchecked until
whistleblowers revealed the truth.
Retcon Game
Andrew J. Friedenthal
University Press of Mississippi
3825 Ridgewood Road, Jackson, MS 39211
9781496811325 $65.00 www.upress.state.ms.us
Retcon Game: Retroactive Continuity and the Hyperlinking of America is recommended for
college-level readers of American history, sociology and cultural inquiry, and considers how
retroactive continuity has moved from its roots in comic book culture to popular media
presentations and beyond. In modern society, electronic media can easily be edited and changed,
deleted, or adjusted - and Retcon Game considers the changing and changeable nature of source
materials and information in modern America. The past is not a stable series of verifiable events,
but a situation in flux which can be constantly rewritten - and this affects worldviews and
perceptions of reality itself. College-level audiences will relish the discussions of Retcon
Game.
The Political Science Shelf
Drain the Swamp
Congressman Ken Buck with Bill Blankschaen
Regnery
300 New Jersey Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20001
9781621576389 $28.99 www.regnery.com
Drain the Swamp: How Washington Corruption is Worse Than You Think offers an insider's
focus on Congressional processes and corruption, and adopts a bipartisan examination of the
forces at work on Washington politics which pulls no punches and features no heroes or saving
grace. From lavish parties and paid opinions to votes sold to the highest bidder, how both
Republicans and Democrats have worked together against taxpayer interests, and politicians right
up to the President who have said one thing and supported another, this is a thought-provoking,
damning consideration that provides a fearsome, fierce condemnation of Washington's business
as usual, and should be on the shelves of any political studies collection.
The Social Issues Shelf
Black and Blue
Jeff Pegues
Prometheus Books
59 John Glenn Drive, Amherst, NY 14228-2197
9781633882577 $24.00 www.prometheusbooks.com
Black and Blue: Inside the Divide Between the Police and Black America comes with the
authority and experience of a CBS News Justice and Homeland Security Correspondent who
provides statistics and facts from both sides of community-police interests, and who explores a
wide range of social, political, and security issues central to law enforcement and public safety.
Pegues had access to some of the top officials in the country, including FBI director James
Comey and the police chiefs of top cities, and he's interviewed community leaders and others
who offer their different perspectives on problems and solutions. The result is an exploration
which is key to understanding the nature of police forces, their concerns, and the issues that are
central to public health and safety efforts. The result is also recommended for discussion and
debate at the high school to college and community levels.
The Writing/Publishing Shelf
Crash! Boom! Bang! How to Write Action Movies
Michael Lucker
Michael Wiese Productions
12400 Ventura Blvd., #1111, Studio City, CA 91604
9781615932634 $26.95 www.mwp.com
Crash! Boom! Bang! How to Write Action Movies provides an insider's look at writing action
films and comes from a professional screenwriter and teacher who pairs observations of the
industry with writer's tips. It is designed for writers who are already familiar with action and
adventure productions, who want to hone and refine their screenwriting skills in the genre; but
newcomers will also find it a fine introduction to features of the action production, and will find
the process quite accessible and logical. From outlining stories and producing snappy dialogue to
tightening up writing, this produces plenty of examples from successful action productions to
illustrate all the concepts of what separates casual from superior writing.
The Computer Shelf
C Programming: A Self-Teaching Introduction
R. Chopra
Mercury Learning
PO Box 605, Herndon, VA 20172-0605
9781683920908 $44.95 www.merclearning.com
C Programming: A Self-Teaching Introduction is intended as a workbook of self-teaching
routines and approaches and comes from an instructor familiar with student processes at the
novice learning level. Students just entering into not only C programming environments but
programming in general receive a primer that defines terms within the context of C programming
approaches, covering major topics and blending real-world application examples with
discussions of C relationships, code approaches, and explanations of why some approaches are
more useful than others. Output examples after running C routines are analyzed and explained
and the result is a primer that isn't just about C programming alone, but about basic, common
best practices.
The Biography Shelf
The Flight
Dan Hampton
William Morrow & Company
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
195 Broadway New York, New York 10007
9780062464392 $28.99 www.harpercollins.com
The Flight: Charles Lindbergh's Daring and Immortal 1927 Transatlantic Crossing comes from
an aviation historian who is himself a decorated fighter pilot, and who offers a vivid story of
Lindbergh's first non-stop flight across the Atlantic in The Spirit of Saint Louis. Lest readers
think this is another Lindbergh biography, it should be advised that the aviation focus includes
many discussions of the history surrounding his achievement, aviation challenges, and social and
political feelings of the times. The result reads like fiction and includes all the characters
surrounding Lindbergh's life, but is a dramatic, involving survey of all the technical, social and
political influences on the 1927 crossing and Lindbergh's flights as a whole.
The Literary Studies Shelf
The Secret History of Jane Eyre
John Pfordresher
W.W. Norton
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
9780393248876 $26.95 www.wwnorton.com
The Secret History of Jane Eyre: How Charlotte Bronte Wrote Her Masterpiece comes from an
English scholar who reveals the hidden story behind the novelist and her works, narrowing its
focus to her masterpiece Jane Eyre and how it was created, and considering the author's intense
drive for secrecy surrounding her project. Letters, diaries, and other materials were consulted as
Pfordresher examined her life and how she created Jane Eyre, offering a fresh, new approach to
her background and achievement which fills in many blanks about her life and the methods by
which she created her famous work. No study of Charlotte Bronte could be complete without
consulting this in-depth review.
The Technology Shelf
The ABCs of Fiber Optic Communication
Sudhir Warier
Artech House
685 Canton Street, Norwood, MA 02062
9781630814144 $149.00 www.artechhouse.com
The ABCs of Fiber Optic Communication represents a unique achievement because it's the only
handbook to cover both the basics of fiber optic communications and troubleshooting related to
networks, manufacturing, optical equipment, and more. The latest advancements and the
applications and makeup of the fiber system from theory to troubleshooting is covered in
chapters that discuss fundamentals and problems such as transmission range, transport networks,
system maintenance, and defects in fiber connectors. The result is packed with math and
technical details and is a 'must' for any working in fiber optics.
The Language Studies Shelf
Vulgar Tongues
Max Decharne
Pegasus Books
80 Broad Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10004
9781681774640 $26.95 www.pegasusbooks.com
Vulgar Tongues: An Alternative History of English Slang is a lively survey of the English
language that narrows its focus to slang, covering how such language often begins as a form of
defiance and evolves into its own culture when it is adopted by mainstream English speakers as
part of daily language. While readers might think this trend to be relatively new or particular to
the English language; in fact slang has existed for centuries around the world, and embraces a
range of populations, purposes, and subcultures. This fun pairing of linguistics and history will
delight any who want a different focus on the origins and social and political purposes of
slang.
The Music Shelf
The Show That Never Ends
David Weigel
W. W. Norton & Company
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
9780393242256 $26.95 www.wwnorton.com
The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock tells how progressive rock
developed and changed, and why it remains a vibrant force in popular music today, and offers a
survey of musicians, music, and cultural trends in American rock music that led to progressive
rock's development in response to 1960s pop rock tunes. Five decades of rock music history
pinpoints how prog rock differs from other forms of rock, what made it popular, and how various
bands came to represent the evolving style. One doesn't expect such a survey to begin with
classical composers; but this narrative seeks to define prog rock's roots in historical context, and
so the sweeping overview, which encompasses rock music personalities, memoirs, interviews
and bands, succeeds in crafting a wider-ranging survey that is both unexpected and refreshingly
well-detailed.
Talking Machine West
Michael A. Amundson
University of Oklahoma Press
2800 Venture Drive, Norman, OK 73069
9780806156040 $34.95 www.oupress.com
Talking Machine West: A History and Catalogue of Tin Pan Alley's Western Recordings,
1902-1918 considers the real origins of the first western music fads in this country - the Tin Pan
Alley musicians in the age prior to radio when cowboy and Indian songs were played in wind-up
talking machine. These songs promoted a romantic image of the West, the cowboy, and the
musicians who brought the period to life, but it was the talking machine industry, centered in
New York, which recorded a wide range of cowboy and Indian music for mass listeners between
1902 and 1918. Until new, relatively little about this era was written for general-interest
audiences, but Talking Machine West is both a catalog of western recordings and a lively history
of how frontier music evolved and came to affect the rest of the country. The result is a highly
recommended survey recommended for general-interest and scholarly music history holdings
alike.
The Cookbook Shelf
Stirring Up Fun with Food
Sarah Michelle Gellar and Gia Russo
Grand Central Life & Style
c/o Hachette Book Group
1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104
www.hachettebookgroup.com
9781455538744 $28.00 www.grandcentrallifeandstyle.com
Stirring Up Fun with Food: Over 115 Simple, Delicious Ways to Be Creative in the Kitchen is a
family-oriented cookbook that focuses on healthy eating, encouraging kids to be adventurous
with food choices, and also encouraging kids to be familiar with kitchen processes and cooking.
Some 100 recipes use food crafting and creative entertaining and presentation techniques to
impart these basics, pairing kid-friendly ingredients with fun food arrangements such as making
strawberry hearts, putting together Cinco de Mayo celebration foods, or preparing dishes for
Father's Day. By encouraging kids to think about creating food for entertainment, this cookbook
offers a seasonal and holiday approach the entire family can enjoy, and is packed with color
photos of foods and family.
Comfort Food Meanings and Memories
Michael Owen Jones and Lucy M. Long, Editors
University Press of Mississippi
3825 Ridgewood Road, Jackson, MS 39211
9781496810854 $35.00 www.upress.state.ms.us
Comfort Food Meanings And Memories blends culinary history with folklore and a focus on how
comfort foods were developed from American ethnic and family roots, offering insights on the
idea of comfort foods, the types of foods that came to be regarded as such, and how local comfort
foods and culinary tourism spread to become a part of local culture and cuisines across the
country. Essays consider how anthropology, genealogy, and ethnic heritage intersect in the
pursuit of answers to questions about food origins and popular trends. The blend of case history
examples and scholarship creates a lively but well-researched guide essential for any culinary
history collection, and while college-level readers will be its main audience, many a cook will
pick up the book for its wide-ranging insights.
NYC Vegan
Michael Suchman & Ethan Ciment
Vegan Heritage Press LLC
P.O. Box 628, Woodstock, VA 22664-0628
9781941252338 $21.95 www.veganheritagepress.com
NYC Vegan: Iconic Recipes for a Taste of the Big Apple provides a fine celebration of old and
modern New York tastes with a vegan twist, including ethnic, neighborhood, and regional
specialties that range from soft pretzels and knishes to pot pies, Italian lasagna, and falafel.
Recipes adapt these classics for vegan diets, and so include a number of ingredients to be found
in a good health food market, from seitan and nutritional yeast to nondairy cheeses, tofu
products, and tempeh. The result is a 'must' acquisition for any who hold affection for classic
New York fare while harboring affection for vegan cuisine.
The Military Shelf
The Great Rescue
Peter Hernon
HarperCollins
195 Broadway New York, New York 10007
9780062433862 $27.99 www.harpercollins.com
The Great Rescue: American Heroes, An Iconic Ship, and the Race to Save Europe in WWI
offers a different kind of story about the U.S.S. Leviathan and its entry into the war, and
documents the ship's journey through two concurrent disasters as it navigated the treacherous
waters of a flu pandemic and a war alike. While many accounts of the ship document its
harrowing North Atlantic crossing at the peak of the flu, a secondary story of its involvement in
war and its influence on efforts to save England and France from defeat have been largely untold
until now. Its multiple voyages and individual acts of heroism come alive in this powerful saga,
which is hard to put down.
The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf
The Best of Gordon Dickson Volume 1
Hank Davis, Editor
Baen Books
PO Box 1188, Wake Forest NC 27588
9781476782171 $16.00 www.baen.com
The Best of Gordon Dickson Volume 1 collects under one cover some fourteen of this long-time
sci-fi great's varied works, which represent a satisfyingly diverse mix of themes and short stories.
These were all chosen from the first half of his career and ranges from a spinster aunt who gains
superpowers to men facing impossible odds with a squad of aliens. All are excellent, engrossing
short stories designed to entertain and make the reader think, recommended for prior Dickson
readers and newcomers alike.
The Audiobook Shelf
Hachette Audio
1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104
www.hachetteaudio.com
These audio productions are top recommendation, pairing intriguing topics with narrative styles
that are compelling and fresh. Mayte Garcia narrates The Most Beautiful: My Life With Prince
(9781478974253, $35.00), which tells of her unique connection to the musical superstar when
they met backstage at a concert. She was a teenage belly dancer; he was already famous. Their
friendship moved into collaborative realms and then into romance, and this reveals both their
relationship and wedding and the forces that eventually separated them. Anyone interested in
Prince must have this expose! Beau Lotto's Deviate: The Science of Seeing Differently
(9781478909163, $30.00) is also narrated by the author and provides a powerful survey of
perception and what lies between a vision and the brain's interpretation of it. Over two decades of
original research explores how the brain works, offering insights into optical illusions, the
science of seeing and interpreting what is seen, and how perceptions operate and influence
decision-making processes. The discussion comes alive in audio. James Patteron works with
Frank Constantini, Emily Raymond and Brian Sitts in Two from the Heart (9781478948841,
$35.00), the compelling saga of Anne, whose marriage, home, and career are all battered by
disasters. Fraught with loss, Anne realizes she's lost touch with her world, and embarks on a
cross-country road trip to gather the 'best stories' of friends, family and strangers alike. Her
journey opens up new roads of understanding in this evocative, compelling story which is perfect
for an audio listen on a car trip.
The Fiction Shelf
Price of Duty
Dale Brown
William Morrow & Company
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
195 Broadway New York, New York 10007
9780062441973 $28.99 www.harpercollins.com
Price of Duty comes from the New York Times bestselling author of Iron Wolf deemed one of
the top military writers in the nation, and here tackles a powerful contemporary theme in
considering cyberwarfare and attacks. His military thriller is replete with cat-and-mouse games
and events which come eerily close to real-world news as it presents a series of characters and
U.S. allies who fall under the influence of a Russian cyber attack fostered by a Russian president
who has foregone the expense of atomic build-up for the relative ease and cheapness of a cyber
mission. As strikes hit around the world and the Russian tactics succeed, danger involves
McLanahan and his team in an unprecedented struggle with an elusive enemy and tactics that
may prove impossible to trace. The tension is exquisitely done.
The Health/Medicine Shelf
The Obesity Epidemic
Robyn Toomatch
Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-4363
9781421422497 $22.95 www.press.jhu.edu
The Obesity Epidemic: Why Diets and Exercise Don't Work And What Does comes from a
physician who considers who losing weight is so difficult, and examines the history, causes, and
genetic and social influences on obesity. Her examination goes beyond maintaining that the
problem lies in caloric intake and considers why food has become a problem and how it's
marketed around the world. The latest research blends with some twenty years of working with
overweight patients to consider the many answers that don't work and why it's important to make
healthy eating routines much easier than they currently are. Any interested in the real roots of
obesity around the world will find this a powerful probe.
The Psychology Shelf
Understanding OCD
Adam B. Lewin and Eric A. Storch, Editors
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
400 Market Street, Suite 400, Philadelphia, PA 19106
9781849057837 $18.95 www.jkp.com
Understanding OCD: A Guide for Parents and Professionals provides a comprehensive survey of
various childhood obsessive disorders, treatment options, and their symptoms and related
illnesses, providing parents of a child newly diagnosed with OCD with a toolbox explaining the
latest diagnostic procedures and what they mean in terms of treatment outcomes. As chapters
explore how OCD can be managed at home, at school, and beyond, parents receive the latest
research combined with tips and guidelines designed to help them understand the hierarchy of
fear, psychological approaches, and how to handle treatment-resistant OCD.
Tools for Helpful Souls
Ilse Sand
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
400 Market Street, Suite 400, Philadelphia, PA 19106
9781785922961 $14.95 www.jkp.com
Tools for Helpful Souls focuses on sensitive people and personalities and considers how these
people can make good caretakers, even though the effort can be a challenge for them. It comes
from a theology graduate and former parish priest who has trained in psychotherapeutic circles,
and it offers a coaching guide that tells how sensitive people can be supportive without finding
their emotional resources drained by the effort. The result is filled with insights, exercises, and
the kind of approach that encourages caregiving and self-preservation alike.
The Education Shelf
Unlocking English Learners' Potential
Diane Staehr Fenner and Sydney Snyder
Corwin
2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320-2218
9781506352770 $29.95 www.corwin.com
Unlocking English Learners' Potential: Strategies for Making Content Accessible is packed with
ideas for content and ESOL teachers on how to meet content standards using new strategies
backed by activities. The templates for success involve identifying paths to potential and
reaching them through various techniques that build an English learner's skills and apply them to
their reading and language development alike. From application activities and questions about
teaching academic language to this audience to identifying what close text reading involves, this
workbook is packed with keys to successful EL teaching techniques for modern audiences.
Take the Journey
James A. Percoco
Stenhouse Publishers
480 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101-3451
9781625311436 $29.33 www.stenhouse.com
Take the Journey: Teaching American History Through Place-Based Learning comes from a
historian and educator who shows teachers how to take students to places where American
history happened. The focus is on a 180-mile National Heritage area through various battlefields,
presidential estates, and more, but while teachers may think that a personal appearance is
required or difficult, the joy of this book is that it can be used in the classroom as well as on a
local journey through American history. Chapters explore the basic concepts of place-based
learning strategies as they encourage developing a virtual classroom that makes visiting and
understanding these key areas a snap. Content elements include blog features while tips on using
vodcasts to developing a reader's theater offer a wide range of possibilities to teachers seeking a
wider-ranging approach to classroom history discussions than most.
The Theatre/Cinema/TV Shelf
The Writing Dead
Thomas Fahy
University Press of Mississippi
3825 Ridgewood Road, Jackson, MS 39211
9781496813251 $30.00 www.upress.state.ms.us
The Writing Dead: Talking Terror with TV's Top Horror Writers goes behind the scenes of
modern top horror shows and converses with writers who worked with actors, filmmakers and
others about how these works were produced. Some thirteen interviews with top writers and
producers discuss the making of such works as Hannibal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Dead
Zone and more, offering a powerful set of insights that should be in every film collection.
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Diane C. Donovan, Editor
Midwest Book Review
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Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
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http://www.midwestbookreview.com
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