Salida Book Review

Modern Ranch Living : A Novel, by Mark Jude Poirier. "Almost too hot. It had cracked 100 the day before, and the old weatherman on channel four, the guy who Joyce had said was the most accurate but heard was a pervert, had said today would be hotter by a few degrees." The summer heat in Tucson makes some people dry up and some people boil over. In the dusty, gated desert community of Rancho Sin Vacas (Ranch Without Cattle), a handful of residents are finding that neighborhood life is becoming increasingly bizarre among the crumbling swimming pools, overwatered lawns, and disaffected children.

Sixteen-year-old Kendra obsessively hones her body into a perfectly muscled machine, even as she struggles to master a mounting violent streak. Thomas, her increasingly misanthropic brother, rarely leaves the house, all the while cultivating a disturbing little obsession of his own under the front porch. Down the street, Merv is stuck in a rut, thirty years old and still living at home. Lonely and looking for a way out, he's reaching his breaking point over his insomniac mother, whose oddly compulsive behavior with household appliances threatens to wreak havoc on his life.

When a strung-out, magic marker sniffing teenager disappears from the neighborhood and rumors of murder surface, these malcontents find themselves in an unlikely alliance that will alter the course of one long, sun-baked summer—and perhaps their lives.

Funny and disturbing, Modern Ranch Living probes the emptiness of modern American culture, the strange things people do to satisfy their twin hungers for pleasure and oblivion, and the unexpected small acts of kindness they can sometimes perform to ease one another's pain. This delicately deadpan comedy makes brilliantly clear why Mark Jude Poirier was named "the young American writer to watch" by the Times Literary Supplement.

Prairie : A Natural History, by Candace Sherk Savage. Over 2 million square miles of the United States is covered in prairie and is the largest ecosystem on the continent; the prairies are the heartland of the continent, a vast, windswept plain that flows from Alberta south to Texas and from the Rockies east to the Mississippi River. This is big sky country, and until recently, one of the richest and most magnificent natural grasslands in the world. Today, however, the North American prairies are among the most altered environments on Earth. Thorough, detailed, and scientifically up-to-date, Prairie: A Natural History provides a comprehensive nontechnical guide to the biology and ecology of this fabled environment, offering a view of the past, a vision for the future, and a clear focus on the present. Sidebars throughout highlight various grasslands species, tell fascinating natural history and conservation stories, and present the traditional Native view of the prairie and its inhabitants.

With God on Their Side: How Christian Fundamentalists Trampled Science, Policy, and Democracy in George W. Bush's White House, by Esther Kaplan, from New Press, ISBN 1565849205. Did you know the Park Service has approved the sale of a creationist book that claims the Grand Canyon was formed by the flood that launched Noah's Ark? No surprise, with twice-weekly Bible classes in the White House and daily prayer meetings at the Justice Department. Much of the unprecedented influence of the Christian Right could be reversed this Election Day - but their makeover of the courts will undermine the rights of women and gays, while bolstering those of corporations, for decades to come.

In the Company of Moose, by Victor Van Ballenberghe. Moose, the giant deer of the northern forests of Europe, Asia, and North America, can grow up to seven feet tall at the shoulder and exceed sixteen hundred pounds. Author and wildlife biologist Victor Van Ballenberghe has studied wild moose in the field for thirty-five years. The author gives insights into the species, their habitat, and predators and shares intimate stories about the moose he has studied for extensive periods. The beauty of these creatures, their strange grace and gentle nature, and their personalities are captured in lively text and dramatic full-color photos.

The Best Buddhist Writing 2004, edited by Melvin McLeod & the Editors of Shambhala Sun, from Shambhala Publications, ISBN 1590301897. What's the difference between goals and intentions? What's the relationship between love, home and spirit? Is it hip to be enlightened? Selected by the editors of Shambhala Sun, North America's leading Buddhist-inspired magazine, this collection is thoughtful, inspiring and often humorous. It features a mix of writing styles and a wide range of topics in selections from the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Pema Chodron, Natalie Goldberg, Pico Iyer, Huston Smith, and many others.

Complete Illustrated Guide to Tarot, by Rachel Pollack, from Random House Value Publishing, ISBN 0517224100. Tarot is now accessible to everybody with this comprehensive, lavishly illustrated guide. Pollack, author of the Haindl Tarot books and Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, explains the history and practice of this mystical art and divination practice, showing you how to use the deck of 78 illustrated cards to enhance your daily life and achieve spiritual development. Valuable to beginning and experienced Tarot readers alike, it covers Tarot's links to astrology, numerology, dream interpretation, games and more.

War and the American Presidency, by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., from W.W. Norton, ISBN 0393060020. The gravest decision in a democracy is the one to go to war. In a book that brings a magisterial command of history to the most urgent of contemporary questions, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian explores the war in Iraq, the presidency, and the future of democracy. The author writes powerfully about George W. Bush's expansion of presidential power and the revised Imperial Presidency (a phrase Schlesinger invented). The book shines an essential light on the meaning of our history and on using our understanding responsibly in meeting today's challenges.

Dick: The Man Who is President (Dick Cheney), by John Nichols. A Vice President, by definition, will always receive less scrutiny than the fellow at the top of the ticket. Fortunately for Dick Cheney, that lower profile works out quite nicely since, according to author John Nichols, it affords him greater ease in secretly running the government. Nichols chronicles Cheney's many different incarnations: unsuccessful student flunking out of Yale twice, young political operative, Ford administration chief of staff, Wyoming congressman, Secretary of Defense, Halliburton CEO, and finally Vice President. What all these steps have in common, argues Nichols, is a nearly insatiable hunger for power satisfied by Cheney's knack for insinuating himself, Zelig-like, into important places in order to advance. The most compelling sections of Dick: The Man Who Is President deal with Cheney's heading of George W. Bush's vice-presidential search committee and declaring himself the best man for the job, a process Nichols claims was a complete sham from the start. Once in office, Cheney gained historically unprecedented access and power, Nichols claims, simply because no one could stop him. Though Cheney has a deeply conservative voting record and is credited with leading the "neoconservative" school of thought that guided the foreign policy of Bush's administration, Nichols points out that Cheney was known as a moderate in his time with Ford but with Ford's defeat and the rise of Ronald Reagan, shifting hard to the right was simply a more expedient path to power. Dick is more an examination of motives and methods than a strict biography. As such it doesn't move linearly through time, instead jumping around to demonstrate how past events inform current situations. And though Dick Cheney probably wouldn't appreciate Nichols' relentlessly critical approach, it's interesting to see a bright light shone on a man who does so much work in secret undisclosed locations. --John Moe

Horses and the Mystical Path : The Celtic Way of Expanding the Human Soul, by Adele von Rust McCormick, Marlena Deborah McCormick & Thomas McCormick, from New World Library, ISBN 1577314506. By way of strange and serendipitous encounters and a memorable trip to Scotland, the authors learn that the Celtic people intentionally befriended horses to cultivate the human heart and soul, and that the horse accompanied the Celts as they spread their spiritual vision far and wide. The McCormicks set out on a pilgrimage from India to Mexico to southern Spain and Morocco, tracing the age-old relationship between horses and humans.

Fortress America : On the Frontlines of Homeland Security--An Inside Look at the Coming Surveillance State, by Matthew Brzezinski, from Bantam Doubleday Dell, ISBN 0553803662. Imagine satellites and surveillance cameras that can see through the walls of your home; national "smart" ID cards encoding your personal, financial and medical information; mandatory chips in automobiles and cell phones that pinpoint your location. Much of this is already in development, but the discussion is just beginning. Through the eyes of one innocent victim, this book explains the tradeoffs and asks the crucial questions: Is this how we want to live? And can it prevent another 9/11?

Wealth Without a Job : The Entrepreneur's Guide to Freedom and Security Beyond the 9 to 5 Lifestyle, by Phil Laut & Andy Fuehl, from John Wiley & Sons Inc., ISBN 0471656453. Working for wages was once the surest route to financial security. But fundamental changes in today's economic structure virtually require self-actualizers to work for themselves. It's essential, therefore, to devise a way for the work you love to provide an abundant income. This book explains how to determine your true purpose, so you can choose a business that expresses your deepest values and your dormant passion, and turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones on your way to true security.

The Wimp Factor : Gender Gaps, Holy Wars, and the Politics of Anxious Masculinity, by Stephen J. Ducat, from Beacon Press, ISBN 0807043443. In this landmark exploration of how male anxiety has come to define our political culture, psychologist Stephen Ducat shows the link between the desperate macho strutting of male politicians, the gender gap in voting behavior, and fundamentalist holy wars. Taking his examples from an overabundance of recent headlines, he argues that a direct association exists between the magnitude of a man's femiphobia - his terror of being perceived as feminine- and his tendency to embrace right-wing political opinions.

At Hell's Gate : A Soldier's Journey, by Claude Anshin Thomas, from Shambhala Publications, ISBN 159030134X. Like so many Vietnam veterans, Thomas was haunted by the hundreds of deaths he had been responsible for as an assault helicopter crew chief. Feeling abandoned and rejected by civilian society as well, he struggled for years with post-traumatic stress, addiction, homelessness and despair. His turning point was a meditation retreat for Vietnam vets led by Thich Nhat Hanh. Thomas went on to become ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk and peace activist. Here is his story.

The Counsels of Cormac : An Ancient Irish Guide to Leadership, by Thomas Cleary, from Doubleday, ISBN 0385513135. Attributed to King Cormac MacAirt, one of the greatest of the Irish High Kings - but just as relevant today as in the third century CE - this is one of the best-known classics in the Celtic tradition of instruction manuals for leadership. Thomas Cleary's highly readable translation brings the legendary king's advice to present-day readers, from a chapter outlining the "traditional prescription for a chieftain" to a charming discourse on "what is fitting for a chieftain and an alehouse."

Dearest Waiki: Love Letters to an Andean Mystic, by Marilyn Markham, from Inti Wasi, Llc., ISBN 0974628611. From seemingly mundane experiences to moments of crystal-clear revelation, this collection of letters and stories recounts one woman's spiritual journey - her inner struggle to find her true life's calling while following a spiritual mentor to a remote Peruvian community. "Throughout history, the radical immersion in another culture has been recognized as a path of psychological and spiritual transformation. Marilyn Markham's Dearest Waiki is a modern account of just such an experience, which will inspire and empower all readers." - Larry Dossey, MD.

Foods of the Americas: Native Recipes and Traditions, by Fernando & Marlene Divina, from Ten Speed Press, ISBN 1580082599. The culinary traditions of the Native peoples of the Americas are celebrated in this lavish book, published to coincide with the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. It presents 140 modern recipes incorporating a wide range of foods cultivated by Natives throughout North and South America, along with nine short essays that provide a Native perspective on a variety of indigenous food traditions, illustrated with food photographs as well as images from the museum's vast collection.

Greenpeace : How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists, and Visionaries Changed the World, by Rex Weyler. Greenpeace: The Inside Story is the first comprehensive eye-witness account of the human drama behind the creation of the world's largest direct-action environmental group. Greenpeace founder and Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Rex Weyler brings us the amazing story of an idea that changed the world, and the adventures, clashes, pitfalls and heroics of the people who fought for it. The book reveals the roots of ecology and the influence on Greenpeace of legends such as Gandhi, Einstein, Rachel Carson, and Martin Luther King Jr. The story is enhanced through cameo appearances by the CIA, Allen Ginsberg, Bonnie Raitt, Brigitte Bardot, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, The Grateful Dead, Pope Paul VI, Courtney Love, and Richard Nixon.

Greenpeace has 4.5 million dues-paying members around the world, and many millions more supporters. Rex Weyler was co-founder and director of the original Greenpeace Foundation from 1974-1979. His photographs and environmental essays have appeared in numerous magazines including the New York Times, Oceans, Smithsonian, Rolling Stone, New Age Journal, and National Geographic. Weyler received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for his native American history, Blood of the Land and co-authored the spiritual classic, Chop Wood, Carry Water.

Angel Medicine: How to Heal the Body and Mind With the Help of the Angels, by Doreen Virtue. When Doreen Virtue visited Santorini Island in Greece recently, she was contacted by a powerful group of angels calling themselves the "angels of Atlantis." Doreen was then taken on an amazing spiritual adventure, where she uncovered the ancient secrets of the healing temples of the lost civilizations of Atlantis. Doreen found that her previous healing work with the angels, as well as the thousands of case studies of angelic healing that she’d amassed over the years, dovetailed perfectly with the messages from the angels of Atlantis.

Part spiritual adventure story and part reference book, Angel Medicine is a three-part work that relates the exciting story of Doreen’s recovery of memories of Atlantean healing methods along with messages from the Egyptian and Greek prophet and deity Hermes and the angels. The second and third parts of the book reveal the scientific studies, case studies, methods, and charts supporting the importance of love and light in healing. Whether you want to heal yourself or someone else, you’re sure to gain additional faith and understanding from reading Angel Medicine.

Exporting America : Why Corporate Greed Is Shipping American Jobs Overseas, by Lou Dobbs, from Time Warner, ISBN 0446577448. Tens of thousands of high-tech jobs have been shifted overseas, where they pay a pittance in comparison to Stateside. Forty state governments now outsource jobs and contracts to foreign countries. Big corporations are processing your bills and insurance overseas, where no laws protect you against the release of personal information. The result? Unemployment at home, reduced tax revenue, a record national debt, and worse. Lou Dobbs exposes this growing threat to the American dream - and how we can fight back.

Welcome to the Machine: Science, Surveillance, and the Culture of Control, by Derrick Jensen & George Draffan, from Chelsea Green Publishing Co., ISBN 1931498520. Two award-winning authors reveal the post-modern culture of the machine, where corporate might makes technology automatically right, government money feeds the mad scientists of greed, and absolute surveillance leads to absolute control. Through meticulous research and fiercely personal narrative, Jensen and Draffan transcend mere journalistic expose to question our civilization's submission to institutions and technologies that rob us of what makes us human: our connection to the living world and our kinship with one another.

Every Drop for Sale: Our Desperate Battle Over Water in a World About to Run Out, by Jeffrey Rothfeder, from Jeremy P. Tarcher Inc., ISBN 158542367X. Less than 1% of the total water on Earth is fit for human consumption - and human consumption of water is doubling every 20 years. The dramatic gap between those who have adequate water for survival and those who don't has led to tensions in some areas just short of open war. As water tables decline, a question arises: is water a fundamental right of everybody on Earth, or just something humans need that can be bought and sold like any other commodity?

The Great Failure : A Bartender, A Monk, and My Unlikely Path to Truth, by Natalie Goldberg, from HarperCollins, ISBN 0060733993. In this graceful, riveting memoir, the author of Long Quiet Highway reveals two major betrayals in her life. Goldberg candidly portrays the intricacies of her relationship with her father, an old-fashioned man's man who knew no boundaries. Soon after his death, she learns that her spiritual father, renowned Zen teacher Dainin Katagiri Roshi, has also betrayed her. Through the writing of this book, the everyday disappointments of Goldberg's life are transformed - and thanks to her gift for teaching, ours as well.