Salida Book Review

Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, by Jonathan Eig. Lou Gehrig was the Iron Horse, baseball's strongest and most determined superstar -- struck down in his prime by a disease that now bears his name. But who was Lou Gehrig, really? What fueled his ferocious competitive drive? How did he cope with the illness that abruptly ended his career and drained him of his legendary power? Drawing on dozens of new interviews and hundreds of pages of Gehrig's personal and previously unpublished letters, this definitive biography gives us a deeper, more intimate understanding of the life of an American hero. Lou Gehrig is regarded as the greatest first baseman in baseball history. A muscular but clumsy athlete, he grew up in New York City, the sole survivor among four siblings. He idolized his hardworking mother and remained devoted to her all his life. Shy and socially awkward, especially around women, Gehrig was a misfit on a Yankee team that included drinkers and hell-raisers, most notably Babe Ruth. Gehrig's wife, Eleanor, was an ambitious young woman who pursued him and persuaded him to embrace his growing stardom. For years, rumors have persisted that she and Ruth had an affair, and that this was the event that ended the friendship between the two ballplayers.

Gehrig and Ruth formed the greatest slugging tandem in baseball history. They were the heart of the first great Yankee dynasty. After Ruth's retirement, Gehrig and a young Joe DiMaggio would begin a new era of Yankee dominance. But Luckiest Man reveals that Gehrig was afflicted with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) much sooner than anyone believed, as early as the spring of 1938. Despite the illness, he didn't miss a game that year, keeping intact his astonishing consecutive-games streak, which stood for more than half a century. After he was diagnosed, Gehrig's doctors allowed him to believe he had a fifty-fifty chance of surviving what they knew to be a fatal illness. The same doctor who wrote him encouraging letters secretly wrote Eleanor Gehrig to tell her the terrible truth. But even as his body deteriorated and Gehrig realized he was dying, he never despaired. In his final months Gehrig proved himself truly to be the Iron Horse. The man who spoke spontaneously from the heart when he gave his great speech at his farewell in Yankee Stadium continued to sound the same themes: that he'd led a good life and had much to be thankful for. In Luckiest Man Jonathan Eig brings to life a figure whose shyness and insecurity obscured his greatness during his lifetime. Gehrig emerges on these pages as more human and heroic than ever.

No god But God, by Reza Aslan. ISBN 1400062136. Are Islam and the West on a collision course, or headed toward a new era of understanding and cooperation? The brilliant young scholar Reza Aslan is one of a handful of thinkers developing a compelling—and profoundly hopeful—alternative to the widely accepted “clash of civilization” theory that pits East against West in an apocalyptic struggle. He makes the powerful and persuasive argument that the violence and extremism currently seizing the Middle East are the last gasps of small, doomed religious factions, not the beginning of a horrific future, as many have predicted. In NO GOD BUT GOD: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, Aslan explains Islam in all its complexity, beauty, and compassion. He re-emphasizes, irrefutably, that Islam has as much in common with Christianity and Judaism and bears seeds of egalitarianism and social reform at its core.

This is a book both timely and timeless. In it the author explains the faith of Islam, presenting its battles and schisms as part of an ongoing evolution as it responds to the social, cultural, political, and temporal circumstances of those who are telling it. Aslan writes that what is taking place now in the Muslim world is an internal conflict between Muslims, not an external battle between Islam and the West. The West is merely a bystander—an unwary yet complicit casualty of a rivalry that is raging in Islam over who will write the next chapter in its story.

More than one billion Muslims in the world readily accept the fundamental principles of democracy – constitutionalism, government accountability, pluralism, human rights. What is not necessarily accepted is the distinctly Western notion that religion and the state should be entirely separate, that secularism must be the foundation of a democratic society. “It may be too early to know who will write the next chapter of Islam’s story, but it is not too early to recognize who will ultimately win the war between reform and counterreform.” NO GOD BUT GOD is an argument for the Islamic Reformation that is already taking place.

When the Mississippi Ran Backwards: Empire, Intrigue, Murder, and the New Madrid Earthquakes, by Jay Feldman. ISBN 0743242785. On December 15, 1811, two of Thomas Jefferson's nephews murdered a slave in cold blood and put his body parts into a roaring fire. The evidence would have been destroyed but for a rare act of God -- or, as some believed, of the Indian chief Tecumseh. That same day, the Mississippi River's first steamboat, piloted by Nicholas Roosevelt, powered itself toward New Orleans on its maiden voyage. The sky grew hazy and red, and jolts of electricity flashed in the air. A prophecy by Tecumseh was about to be fulfilled. He had warned reluctant warrior-tribes that he would stamp his feet and bring down their houses. Sure enough, between December 16, 1811, and late April 1812, a catastrophic series of earthquakes shook the Mississippi River Valley. Of the more than 2,000 tremors that rumbled across the land during this time, three would have measured nearly or greater than 8.0 on the not-yet-devised Richter Scale. Centered in what is now the bootheel region of Missouri, the New Madrid earthquakes were felt as far away as Canada; New York; New Orleans; Washington, D.C.; and the western part of the Missouri River. A million and a half square miles were affected as the earth's surface remained in a state of constant motion for nearly four months. Towns were destroyed, an eighteen-mile-long by five-mile-wide lake was created, and even the Mississippi River temporarily ran backwards.

The quakes uncovered Jefferson's nephews' cruelty and changed the course of the War of 1812 as well as the future of the new republic. In When the Mississippi Ran Backwards, Jay Feldman expertly weaves together the story of the slave murder, the steamboat, Tecumseh, and the war, and brings a forgotten period back to vivid life. Tecumseh's widely believed prophecy, seemingly fulfilled, hastened an unprecedented alliance among southern and northern tribes, who joined the British in a disastrous fight against the U.S. government. By the end of the war, the continental United States was secure against Britain, France, and Spain; the Indians had lost many lives and much land; and Jefferson's nephews were exposed as murderers. The steamboat, which survived the earthquake, was sunk.

When the Mississippi Ran Backwards sheds light on this now-obscure yet pivotal period between the Revolutionary and Civil wars, uncovering the era's dramatic geophysical, political, and military upheavals. Feldman paints a vivid picture of how these powerful earthquakes made an impact on every aspect of frontier life -- and why similar catastrophic quakes are guaranteed to recur. When the Mississippi Ran Backwards is popular history at its best.

National Electrical Code 2005 Handbook, by NFPA. ISBN 0877656258. Produced by the NFPA, the popular National Electrical Code® 2005 Handbook contains the complete text of the 2005 edition of the NEC® supplemented by helpful facts and figures, full-color illustrations, real-world examples and expert commentary. An essential reference for students and professionals, this Handbook is the equivalent of an annotated edition of the 2005 NEC® that offers insights into new and more difficult articles in order to guide users to success in interpreting and applying current Code requirements to all types of electrical installations. A valuable information resource for anyone involved in electrical design, installation and inspection, the NEC® 2005 Handbook is updated every three years and provides 100% of the information needed to "meet Code" and avoid costly errors. Thomson Delmar Learning is pleased to make this one-of-a-kind reference - containing the most widely accepted and most frequently used criteria for electrical installations in the U.S. - available directly from us for our customers who work in and around the electrical trades. It may be used independently and also makes an excellent companion to books in Delmar's best-selling electrical wiring series.

Miss Julia's School of Beauty, by Ann B. Ross. ISBN 067003388X. Miss Julia’s wildly popular escapades have kept readers coming back again and again. In Miss Julia Meets Her Match, she finally succumbed to Sam’s charms and became Mrs. Murdoch. Will marriage dampen this proper lady’s sense of adventure? Fortunately for her growing legion of fans, the answer is no. In Miss Julia’s School of Beauty, Hazel Marie is organizing a beauty pageant to raise money for the sheriff’s department and enlists Miss Julia’s help in teaching the contestants etiquette and poise. Between settling into a new, unfamiliar home and refereeing the squabbles between Sam’s housekeeper, James, and her beloved Lillian, Miss Julia could use a distraction. But when Hazel Marie and Little Lloyd—who are still in residence at her old homestead—have a dangerous domestic mishap that only she can set right, Miss Julia packs up and moves back home, Sam in tow. Just when everything seems to have returned to almost normal, the town erupts with rumors about a marriage mill that may be performing fraudulent ceremonies. What would the town think if they found out Sam and Miss Julia might be living in sin?

On Ancient Wings: The Sandhill Cranes of North America, by Michael Forsberg, George Archibald, and James Harris. ISBN 0975496409. Rising from sandbars on the Platte River with clarion calls, the sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) feels the urgency of spring migration. Elegant, noble, and spiritual, the sandhill crane is one of the most ancient of all birds. More than a half-million strong, flying in squadrons, these majestic creatures point northward to their Arctic and sub-Arctic breeding ranges. Theirs is an epic story of endurance through the ages. With stunningly beautiful photographs, On Ancient Wings presents sandhill cranes in their wild but increasingly compromised habitats today. Over the course of five years, Michael Forsberg documented the tall gray birds in habitats ranging from the Alaskan tundra, to the arid High Plains, from Cuban nature preserves to suburban backyards. With an eye for beauty and an uncommon persistence, the author documents the cranes' challenges to adapt and survive in a rapidly changing natural world. Forsberg argues that humankind, for its own sake, should secure the cranes' place in the future. On Ancient Wings intertwines the lives of cranes, people, and their common places to tell an ancient story at a time when sandhill cranes and their wetland and grassland habitats face daunting prospects.

Michael Forsberg is a professional photographer whose work has been published worldwide and has won awards in the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year and Pictures of the Year competitions. His fine-art photographic prints can be found in private and public collections throughout thee world. He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. George Archibald is a co-founder of the International Crane Foundation and is considered the world's leading authority on cranes. James Harris is the president of the International Crane Foundation.

Ten Little New Yorkers, by Kinky Friedman. ISBN 0743246039. Kinky Friedman has always proven himself to be a master of the offbeat and irreverent, and still manages to pull off a helluva whodunit in the process. Now the Kinkster may have met his match in this superbly crafted, fiendishly clever tale of a murderer who's methodically killing off unsuspecting Manhattan men. Gallingly, all clues point toward Kinky. Greenwich Village is the setting for Ten Little New Yorkers, a tale of murder and mayhem as only Friedman can warble it and featuring his usual suspects, including Ratso -- Dr. Watson to Kinky's singular Sherlock Holmes. As the clues and bodies pile up and the cops strong-arm Kinky as their man, he has to jump through hoops to find the real killer, all the while maintaining his outrage and, of course, his innocence. The murderer may be someone close to Kinky, which leads to a shocker of an ending that will surely take Kinky devotees completely by surprise. With a wink and a nod to Dame Agatha (as in Christie), after which all resemblance to those classic mysteries fades, this is one of Friedman's most complex and irresistible page-turners yet. Cunningly tentous issues of life, death, guilt, innocence, love, loss, and the danger of false confessions, this is Kinky Friedman at his wily, suspenseful, and sacrilegious best.

Sing for Your Supper: The Broadway Musical in the 1930s, by Ethan Mordden. ISBN 0312239513. In the 1930s, Broadway's lights still burned brightly. Ethan Mordden completes his history of the Broadway musical by taking a look at this forgotten era. Shows like Anything Goes brought the glitter of Cole Porter and Merman's brass to the public. Innovations in dance were pioneered by Balanchine and others. Scenic advancements made Astaire's The Band Wagon move across the stage in novel ways. Gershwin's revolutionary Porgy and Bess entered the canon of American Classics. And The Cradle Will Rock and Johnny Johnson took the American political temperature. With his trademark wit and style, Ethan Mordden shines the spotlight on Broadway's forgotten decade.

The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced By War, by Andrew Bacevich. ISBN 0195173384. In this provocative new book, Andrew Bacevich warns of a dangerous dual obsession that has taken hold of Americans, conservatives and liberals alike. It is a marriage of militarism and utopian ideology--of unprecedented military might wed to a blind faith in the universality of American values. This perilous union, Bacevich argues, commits Americans to a futile enterprise, turning the US into a crusader state with a self-proclaimed mission of driving history to its final destination: the world-wide embrace of the American way of life. This mindset invites endless war and the ever-deepening militarization of US policy. It promises not to perfect but to pervert American ideals and to accelerate the hollowing out of American democracy. As it alienates others, it will leave the United States increasingly isolated. It will end in bankruptcy, moral as well as economic, and in abject failure. The New American Militarism examines the origins and implications of this misguided enterprise. The author shows how American militarism emerged as a reaction to the Vietnam War. Various groups in American society--soldiers, politicians on the make, intellectuals, strategists, Christian evangelicals, even purveyors of pop culture--came to see the revival of military power and the celebration of military values as the antidote to all the ills besetting the country as a consequence of Vietnam and the 1960s. The upshot, acutely evident in the aftermath of 9/11, has been a revival of vast ambitions and certainty, this time married to a pronounced affinity for the sword. Bacevich urges us to restore a sense of realism and a sense of proportion to US policy. He proposes, in short, to bring American purposes and American methods--especially with regard to the role of the military--back into harmony with the nation's founding ideals.

More Matrix and Philosophy: Revolutions and Reloaded Decoded, by William Irwin. ISBN 0812695720. This follow-up to the hugely successful The Matrix and Philosophy is broken down into seven "scenes" that explore some of the deeper issues in the movie series. Scene one examines the issues of fate, fortune, causation, and determinism in the trilogy. Scene two asks readers to consider the concept of freedom in the film and in "reality." Scene three analyzes the metaphysical links and breakdowns between the three movies. Scene four provides exciting glimpses into the meaning of the music and the evolution of the Animatrix. Scene five addresses the controversial issues of race, humanness, and violence. Life, love, and the meaning of it all are considered in scene six, while scene seven looks at the various religious elements that appear throughout the series. The three films comprising The Matrix have become a genuine cultural phenomenon; this book enriches both the enjoyment of the films and the understanding of life today.

Twilight Children: Three Voices No One Heard Until a Therapist Listened, by Torey Hayden. ISBN 0060560886. For decades, former special education teacher Torey Hayden has been a light in the darkness for severely troubled children, and she has chronicled her determined efforts, triumphs, and breakthroughs in a series of internationally bestselling books, beginning with her powerful and poignant One Child. But it wasn't until she left the classroom that she faced three of her most extraordinary challenges.

While working in the children's psychiatric ward of a large city hospital, Hayden was introduced to seven-year-old Cassandra, a child who had been kidnapped by her father and found three states away, starving, dirty, and picking through garbage cans. What she had suffered during that time was a mystery, since she refused to speak of it, and all attempts to get to the root of her erratic, increasingly violent behavior had hitherto failed. This would certainly be one of Torey Hayden's most difficult cases, for how do you reach a child so horrifically abused that she views every attempt to break through her defenses as life-threatening? Drake was a charming, charismatic four-year-old who managed to participate fully in his preschool class without uttering a single word. He would only speak to his mother, who brought the boy, clutching his beloved stuffed tiger, "Friend," to Hayden. Pressured by Drake's tough, unbending grandfather, who demanded immediate results, the therapist feared that overly stringent treatment would only tear his family further apart. And though a specific course of action seemed clear, even she was unprepared for the shocking truth about little Drake's condition. Then there was Gerda, eighty-two, whom a massive stroke had rendered fearful and unwilling to engage in conversation with anyone. Though Hayden had never worked with adults, she agreed to help when all other efforts had failed -- and discovered in the process that what Gerda could do was nearly as heartbreaking as her limitations.

A woman suffering in the twilight of her years and two children trapped in the ever-darkening shadows -- these are the cases that would test one healer's courage, compassion, and skill, and ultimately reaffirm her faith in the indomitable strength of the human spirit.

Disney War, by James B. Stewart. ISBN 0684809931. "When You Wish Upon a Star," "Whistle While You Work," "The Happiest Place on Earth" -- these are lyrics indelibly linked to Disney, one of the most admired and best-known companies in the world. So when Roy Disney, chairman of Walt Disney Animation and nephew of founder Walt Disney, abruptly resigned in November 2003 and declared war on chairman and chief executive Michael Eisner, he sent shock waves through the entertainment industry, corporate boardrooms, theme parks, and living rooms around the world -- everywhere Disney does business and its products are cherished.

DisneyWar is the breathtaking, dramatic inside story of what drove America's best-known entertainment company to civil war, told by one of our most acclaimed writers and reporters. Drawing on unprecedented access to both Eisner and Roy Disney, current and former Disney executives and board members, as well as thousands of pages of never-before-seen letters, memos, transcripts, and other documents, James B. Stewart gets to the bottom of mysteries that have enveloped Disney for years: What really caused the rupture with studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, a man who once regarded Eisner as a father but who became his fiercest rival? How could Eisner have so misjudged Michael Ovitz, a man who was not only "the most powerful man in Hollywood" but also his friend, whom he appointed as Disney president and immediately wanted to fire? What caused the break between Eisner and Pixar chairman Steve Jobs, and why did Pixar abruptly abandon its partnership with Disney? Why did Eisner so mistrust Roy Disney that he assigned Disney company executives to spy on him? How did Eisner control the Disney board for so long, and what really happened in the fateful board meeting in September 2004, when Eisner played his last cards?

Here, too, is the creative process that lies at the heart of Disney -- from the making of The Lion King to Pirates of the Caribbean. Even as the executive suite has been engulfed in turmoil, Disney has worked -- and sometimes clashed -- with a glittering array of stars, directors, designers, artists, and producers, many of whom tell their stories here for the first time. Stewart describes how Eisner lost his chairmanship and why he felt obliged to resign as CEO, effective 2006. No other book so thoroughly penetrates the secretive world of the corporate boardroom. DisneyWar is an enthralling tale of one of America's most powerful media and entertainment companies, the people who control it, and those trying to overthrow them. DisneyWar is an epic achievement. It tells a story that -- in its sudden twists, vivid, larger-than-life characters, and thrilling climax -- might itself have been the subject of a Disney animated classic -- except that it's all true.

Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse, by Phyllis Diller and Richard Buskin. ISBN 1585423963. From housewife to humorist, Phyllis Diller has been making millions laugh for five decades with her groundbreaking comedy. Now the laughter continues with her uproarious autobiography. Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse recounts the story of how, against all odds, Phyllis Diller became America's first successful and best-loved female stand-up comic. She began her professional career at age thirty-seven, in spite of the fact that she was a housewife, mother of five, and working at a radio station due to her husband's chronic unemployment. Now, fifty years later, after two traumatic marriages; extensive cosmetic surgery; numerous film, television, and stage appearances; and separate careers as an artist and piano soloist with symphony orchestras, Phyllis Diller finally tells her story. With her trademark laugh, incredible wit, and self-deprecating humor, Phyllis Diller has etched her way into comedic history. And while her wild hair and outrageous clothes may make her look "like a lampshade in a whorehouse," her strength, self-belief, perseverance, and raucous sense of humor are what make her truly unforgettable.

John Jay: Founding Father, by Walter Stahr. ISBN 1852854448. The first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as well as President of the Continental Congress, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and one time Governor of New York, John Jay was a Founding Father of paramount importance to the early Republic and did much to influence the shape of America's future. In the first biography of Jay to appear in more than sixty years, Walter Stahr's lively and engaging narrative illuminates the great life of an American soldier, politician, diplomat and lawyer. Readers will follow Jay's story through key events in early American history, such as the Revolutionary War, the writing of the Constitution, the first presidencies of the country, and the creation of our most authoritative legal body, the US Supreme Court. Now, Stahr presents Jay in the light he deserves: a Founding Father, a true national hero, and an architect of America's future.