Recordpub.com - One for the Books: Slavery

You can't really mark Black History Month without looking at the history and horror of slavery. To understand "the African diaspora" or "the African Holocaust" from a new perspective, let's try an experiment: What if you could go back to the beginning of history and transpose the color of power? What if the dark-skinned people of the warm continent made up the ruling class, and they enslaved the light-skinned people of the cold, rainy continent -- stole them away from their own homes, stuffed them into the holds of ships, took them across the ocean, and sold those who survived? Take everything we know of the history of the slave trade and turn it on its ear, and you have the premise for the impressive novel "Blonde Roots" by Bernardine Evaristo.

Most of the story is told by Doris Scagglethorpe, a "whyte" slave with "long straight blonde hair." Her owner is a wealthy "blak" man nicknamed Bwana, who made his money from the "import-export game, the notorious translatlantic slave run." Doris longs for her home in England, where her relatives were cabbage-farming serfs. She tells the story of her capture, being confined on a slave ship under conditions of "a tight fit," the horrors of "the Middle Passage," and being sold at the age of 11 in a country where she was given a new name, couldn't understand the language, and was treated as less than an animal. She says, "We slaves don't end relationships. Other people do it for us. Often we don't start them either. Other people do it for us. We're encouraged to breed merely to increase the workforce." After she's "elevated" to the position of Bwana's personal secretary, she describes her job: "The terms of my engagement stipulated that it was a job for life, that my hours should run from Monday to Sunday, 12 a.m. to 11:55 p.m. daily, although I needed to be available to do overtime when required. I would receive an annual wage of nothing with an added bonus of nothing for good behavior but to expect forfeits in the form of beatings for any insolence, tardiness or absences."

The way the book is written is interesting, with irony and even humor. The ideals of beauty are reversed, and the author mocks just about everything, including the clothing, lifestyles and superstitions of both "blaks" and "whyte savages," as well as the scientific "proof" of superiority of one group over another, to show how ridiculous it all is. This homage to Alex Haley's "Roots" is a mind-bender. I really got involved with Doris and her adventures, although I found the geographical jumble confusing and wished the author had just left all the countries where they are. But the premise is intriguing, and the thought-provoking tale completely up-ends any ideas that support bigotry. Some of the language and descriptions are offensive, but is it really more offensive than the truth? The book goes from satirically funny to appallingly tragic, and parts are just brutal, showing the disgusting things people in power will do. It is iconoclastic and powerful. It's fiction, but I believe you will feel you've been shown something real.

In 2001, Katrina Browne brought together nine of her distant relatives, descendants of the wealthy and powerful DeWolf family of Bristol, R.I., to face the fact that their ancestors were slave-traders. Browne directed a fascinating documentary film about the project, which I saw recently on PBS, titled "Traces of the Trade." Thomas Norman DeWolf was one of those relatives, and he has written his experience with the project in "Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History," which has just come out in paperback. He writes that in the 18th and early 19th centuries, "The DeWolfs financed 88 voyages, which transported approximately 10,000 Africans." In New England, he explains, "People were invested in the slave trade" because "many bought shares in slave ships. ... It was not just one person, or one family, who was involved but the entire town." Even some staunch abolitionists "stayed invested in family businesses that relied on slavery to thrive." The 10 relatives traveled from Rhode Island to Africa and then to Cuba, following the "triangle" slave trade route. As the cousins confronted their family's past, they faced their own prejudices, and the author reveals moving and disturbing insights. The book is part memoir, part travelogue, part historical research and part soul-searching examination.

If you think that slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation -- well, it didn't, says Douglas A. Blackmon in "Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II," also just out in paperback. After the slaves were freed, Southern farmers were desperate, as it was usually the slaves who knew how to operate the farm. The farmers tried to coerce former slaves into signing "lifetime contracts" to work on their farms, or contracts that forced them to work through the harvest to receive their pay. Blackmon says "they were slaves in all but name" at "hundreds of forced labor camps" throughout the South, "bulging slave centers" that "subjected the workers to almost animalistic mistreatment." More than 100,000 people, and possibly twice that, were arrested "for inconsequential charges or for violations of laws specifically written to intimidate blacks -- changing employers without permission, vagrancy, riding freight cars without a ticket." He writes, "It was a form of bondage distinctly different from that of the antebellum South. ... But it was nonetheless slavery -- a system in which armies of free men, guilty of no crimes and entitled by law to freedom, were compelled to labor without compensation, were repeatedly bought and sold, and were forced to do the bidding of white masters through the regular application of extraordinary physical coercion." This "Age of Neoslavery" finally came to an end in the 1940s, around the beginning of World War II.

For book news, best-seller lists and more, go to www.recordpub.com, click on "News" in the menu bar, then "Lifetimes," and look for "One for the Books." And visit my blog, "Shine A Light," for another book review on this topic at http://blogs.dixcdn.com/shine_a_light/2009/02/13/harriet-tubman/

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BOOK NOTES, One for the Books Extra Online Exclusives
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Check out my new blog on books, inspiration, fun and thought-provoking goodies! It's called "Shine A Light!"

http://blogs.dixcdn.com/shine_a_light

If you lose that link, go to www.recordpub.com. Click "Blogs" in the blue bar at the top of the page, and find "Shine A Light."

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LOCAL BOOK CLUBS:

The Book Discussion Group at the Randolph Library meets the first Monday of the month, except August, at 6:30 p.m. in the Randolph Senior Center. The group is open to everyone, and new members are always welcome. The library will stock copies of the books each month. Call the library at 330-325-7003.

Pierce-Streetsboro Library's Book Discussion Group meets regularly on the second Monday of each month at 6:45 p.m. in the library's meeting room. New members are always welcome to attend and participate in the discussion. The library is located at 8990 Kirby Lane in Streetsboro, next to the administrative offices of the Streetsboro City Schools. For more information, call the library at 330-626-4458.

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National Catholic Reporter online has new book reviews for BELOVED: HENRI NOUWEN IN CONVERSATION and WHAT MOTHER TERESA TAUGHT ME.

http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/319

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National Catholic Reporter has reviewed CROSSBEARER: A MEMOIR OF FAITH by Bainbridge resident Joe Eszterhas. It was among my Christmas book recommendations, too.

http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/3217

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from Shelf Awareness
New Books out February 10:

Fool: A Novel by Christopher Moor
Lethal Legacy: A Novel by Linda Fairstei
Live Through This: A Mother's Memoir of Runaway Daughters and Reclaimed Love by Debra Gwartney

New Books Out February 17:

While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsk
Heart and Soul by Maeve Binch
The Second Opinion by Michael Palme
Accountable: Making America as Good as Its Promise by Tavis Smiley and Stephanie Robinso
Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy by Peter S. Canello
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Publishers Weekly Best-Seller
By The Associated Press

HARDCOVER FICTIO
1. "The Associate" by John Grisham (Doubleday
2. "Run Your Life" by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (Little, Brown
3. "Bone Crossed" by Patricia Briggs (Ace
4. "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown
5. "Plum Spooky" by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's Press
6. "True Colors" Kristin Hannah (St. Martin's Press
7. "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski (Ecco
8. "What I Did for Love" by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (William Morrow
9. "Basketball Jones" by E. Lynn Harris (Doubleday
10. "Very Valentine" by Adriana Trigiani (Harper
11. "A Darker Place" by Jack Higgins (Putnam Adult
12. "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows (Dial
13. "Agincourt" by Bernard Cornwell (Harper
14. "Black Ops" by W.E.B. Griffin (Putnam Adult
15. "Scarpetta" by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam Adult)

HARDCOVER/NONFICTIO
1. "The Yankee Years" by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci (Doubleday
2. "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment" by Steve Harvey (Amistad
3. "Outliers: The Story of Success" by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown
4. "Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance" by Tony Dungy and Nathan Whitaker (Tyndale House Publishers
5. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow (Hyperion
6. "Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World" by Vicki Myron, Brett Witter (Grand Central
7. "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books/Beyond Words
8. "The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes" by Bryan Burrough (Penguin Press
9. "Multiple Blessings: Surviving to Thriving with Twins and Sextuplets" by Jon Gosselin, Kate Gosselin (Zondervan
10. "Flat Belly Diet" by Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass (Rodale Books
11. "A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media" by Bernard Goldberg (Regnery Publishing
12. "Guilty" by Ann Coulter (Crown Forum
13. "The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century" by George Friedman (Doubleday
14. "Why We Suck" by Denis Leary (Viking Adult
15. "American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House" by Jon Meacham (Random House)

MASS MARKET PAPERBACK
1. "Dream Warrior" by Sherrilyn Kenyon (St. Martin's
2. "Coyote's Mate" by Lora Leigh (Berkley
3. "Fireside: The Lakeshore Chronicles" by Susan Wiggs (Mira
4. "Montana Creeds: Logan" by Linda Lael Miller (HQN
5. "Confessions of a Shopaholic" by Sophie Kinsella (Dell
6. "The Appeal" by John Grisham (Dell
7. "Wicked Game" by Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush (Zebra
8. "Honor Thyself" by Danielle Steel (Dell
9. "Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates (Vintage
10. "The Ghost War" by Alex Berenson (Jove
11. "Charmed & Enchanted" by Nora Roberts (Sillhouette
12. "The First Patient" by Michael Palmer (St. Martin's
13. "Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog" by John Grogan (Harper
14. "Devil of the Highlands" by Lynsay Sands (Avon
15. "My Man Michael" by Lori Foster (Berkley)

TRADE PAPERBACK
1. "The Shack" by William P. Young (Windblown Media
2. "Dreams from My Father" by Barack Obama (Three Rivers Press
3. "Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide" by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding (Rodale Books
4. "The Reader" by Bernhard Schlink (Vintage
5. "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" by Barack Obama (Three Rivers Press
6. "Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan" by Suze Orman (Spiegel & Grau
7. "Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates (Vintage
8. "Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide" by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding (Rodale Books
9. "Three Cups Of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin
10. "Sundays At Tiffany's" by James Patterson, Gabrielle Charbonnet (Grand Central Publishing
11. He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys" by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo (Simon Spotlight Entertainment
12. "Skinny B----" by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin (Running Press
13. "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin (Simon & Schuster
14. "The Calorie King Calorie, Fat & Carbohydrate Counter 2009 Edition" by Allan Borushek (Family Health Publications
15. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead)

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USA Today Best-seller
By The Associated Press

Key: F-Fiction; NF-Nonfiction; H-Hardcover; P-Paperback

1. "The Associate" by John Grisham (Doubleday) (F-H
2. "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) (F-P
3. "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) (F-P
4. "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) (F-H
5. "The Yankee Years" by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci (Doubleday)(NF-H
6. "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) (F-H
7. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw" by Jeff Kinney (Amulet) (F-H
8. "Run for Your Life" by James Patterson (Little, Brown) (F-H
9. "The Shack" by William P. Young (Windblown Media) (F-P
10. "The Love Dare" by Stephen Kendrick and Alex Kendrick (B&H) (NF-P
11. "Dream Warrior" by Sherrilyn Kenyon (St. Martin's) (F-P
12. "Fireside" by Susan Wiggs (Mira) (F-P
13. "Honor Thyself" by Danielle Steel (Dell) (F-P
14. "Montana Creeds: Logan" by Linda Lael Miller (HQN) (F-P
15. "Eat This Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide: The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution" by David Zinczenko, Matt Goulding (Rodale Press) (NF-P
16. "Wicked Game" by Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush (Zebra) (F-P
17. "Charmed & Enchanted" by Nora Roberts (Sillhouette) (F-P
18. "The Reader" by Bernhard Schlink (Vintage) (F-P
19. "Confessions of a Shopaholic" by Sophie Kinsella (Dell) (F-P
20. "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment" by Steve Harvey (Amistad) (NF-H
21. "The Appeal" by John Grisham (Dell) (F-P
22. "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown) (F-H
23. "Bone Crossed: A Mercy Thompson Novel" by Patricia Briggs (Ace) (F-H
24. "Dreams from My Father" by Barack Obama (Three Rivers Press) (NF-P
25. "Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates (Vintage) (F-P
26. "Coyote's Mate" by Lora Leigh (Berkley) (F-P
27. "Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance" by Tony Dungy and Nathan Whitaker (Tyndale House Publishers) (NF-H
28. "Three Cups Of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) (NF-P
29. "Eat This Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide: The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution" by David Zinczenko, Matt Goulding (Rodale Press) (NF-P
30. "Outliers: The Story of Success" by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown) (NF-H
31. "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" by Barack Obama (Three Rivers Press)(NF-P
32. "Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan: Keeping Your Money Safe and Sound" by Suze Orman (Spiegel & Grau) (NF-P
33. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney (Amulet) (F-H
34. "Where the Heart Leads" by Stephanie Laurens (Avon) (F-P
35. He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys" by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo (Simon Spotlight Entertainment) (NF-P
36. "Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog" by John Grogan (Harper) (NF-P
37. "Sundays At Tiffany's" by James Patterson, Gabrielle Charbonnet, (Grand Central Publishing) (F-P
38. "The Switch" by Sandra Brown (Warner Vision) (P-F
39. "Midnight Sons" by Debbie Macomber (Mira) (F-P
40. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow (Hyperion) (NF-H
41. "Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (DC Comics) (F-P
42. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules" by Jeff Kinney (Amulet Books) (F-H
43. "The Final Warning" by James Patterson (Vision) (F-P
44. "Plum Spooky" by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's Press) (F-H
45. "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by J.K. Rowling (Children's High Level Group) (F-H
46. "True Colors" by Kristen Hannah (St. Martin's) (F-H
47. "Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World" by Vicki Myron and Brett Witter (Grand Central Publishing) (NF-H
48. "Devil of the Highlands" by Lynsay Sands (Avon) (F-P
49. "The Calorie King Calorie, Fat & Carbohydrate Counter 2009 Edition" by Allan Borushek (Family Health Publications) (NF-P
50. "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke (Scholastic) (F-P
Reporting stores include: Amazon.com, B. Dalton Bookseller, Barnes & Noble.com, Barnes & Noble Inc., Books-A-Million and Bookland, Booksamillion.com, Borders Books & Music, Bookstar, Bookstop, Brentano's, Davis Kidd Booksellers in Nashville, Jackson, Memphis, Tenn., Doubleday Book Shops, Hudson Booksellers, Joseph-Beth Booksellers (Lexington, Ky.; Cincinnati, Cleveland), Powell's Books (Portland, Ore.), Powells.com, R.J. Julia Booksellers (Madison, Conn.), Schuler
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Wall Street Journal Best-seller
By The Associated Press

FICTIO
1. "The Associate" by John Grisham (Doubleday
2. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw" by Jeff Kinney (Amulet
3. "Run for Your Life" by James Patterson (Little, Brown
4. "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
5. "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
6. "Bone Crossed" by Patricia Briggs (Ace
7. "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown
8. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules" by Jeff Kinney (Amulet
9. "Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman (Harper Collins
10. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney (Amulet
11. "True Colors" by Kristin Hannah (St. Martins Press
12. "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
13. "Plum Spooky" by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's Press
14. "Very Valentine" by Adriana Trigiani (Harper
15. "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by J.K. Rowling (Children's High Level Group)

NONFICTIO
1. "The Yankee Years" by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci (Doubleday
2. "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment" by Steve Harvey (Amistad
3. "Outliers: The Story of Success" by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown
4. "I Can Make You Thin: The Revolutionary System Used by More Than 3 Million People" by Paul McKenna (Sterling
5. "Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance" by Tony Dungy and Nathan Whitaker (Tyndale House Pubilshers
6. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow (Hyperion
7. "StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths" by Tom Rath (Gallup Press
8. "Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life" by Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan (Wiley
9. "Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World" by Vicki Myron and Brett Witter (Grand Central Publishing
10. "A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media" by Bernard Goldberg (Regnery Publishing
11. "Flat Belly Diet" by Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass (Rodale Books
12. "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books/Beyond Words
13."Multiple Blessings: Surviving to Thriving with Twins and Sextuplets" by Jon Gosselin, Kate Gosselin (Zondervan
14. "High Voltage Tattoo" by Kat Von D (Collins Design
15. "Guilty" by Ann Coulter (Penguin USA)

The Wall Street Journal's list reflects nationwide sales of hardcover books during the week ended last Saturday at more than 2,500 Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton, Bookland, Books-a-Million, Books & Co., Bookstar, Bookstop, Borders, Brentano's, Coles, Coopersmith, Doubleday, Scribners and Waldenbooks stores, as well as sales from online retailers Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com
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The following authors are making the media rounds, talking about their books:

--Carrie Fisher, author of Wishful Drinkin
--William Hitchcock, author of The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of Liberation of Europ
--Dr. Diana Kirschner, Love in 90 Days: The Essential Guide to Finding Your Own True Lov
--Dr. Ian K. Smith, The 4 Day Die
--Michael Davis, Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Stree
--Donald Kettl, author of The Next Government of the United States: Why Our Institutions Fail Us and How to Fix The
--Linda Robinson, author of Tell Me How This Ends: General David Petraeus and the Search for a Way Out of Ira
--Kath Weston, Traveling Light: On the Road with America's Poo
--Larry Schweikart, 48 Liberal Lies About American History (That You Probably Learned in School
--Alice and Philip Shabecoff, Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Childre
--Antonia Juhasz, The Tyranny of Oil: The World's Most Powerful Industry--and What We Must Do to Stop I
--Tony Dungy, Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance
--Helen Fisher, author of Why Him? Why Her?: Finding Real Love by Understanding Your Personality Typ
--Kent Whitaker, author of Murder by Family: The Incredible True Story of a Son's Treachery and a Father's Forgiveness
--Lawrence B. Lindsey, author of What A President Should Know: An Insider's View on How to Succeed in the Oval Offic
--Steve Martin, author of Born Standing Up: A Comic's Lif
--John West, author of The Last Goodnights: Assisting My Parents with Their Suicide
--Douglas Preston, author of The Monster of Florenc
--Adriana Trigiani, author of Very Valentin
--Jenny McCarthy, author of Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odd
--Jeff Benedict, author of Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courag
--Joe Torre, author of The Yankee Year
--James Bamford, author of The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on Americ
--Dr. Helen Fisher, Why Him? Why Her? Finding Real Love By Understanding Your Personality Typ
--Wafaa Bilal, co-author of Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gu
--Martin Indyk, Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East
--Amy Dickinson, author of The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter, and the Town That Raised The
--John West, author of The Last Goodnights: Assisting My Parents with Their Suicide
--Jane Seymour, author of Open Hearts: If Your Heart Is Open, Love Will Always Find Its Way I
--Karen Greenberg, author of The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo's First 100 Day
--Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decid
--Ian Kerner and Heidi Raykeil, authors of Love in the Time of Colic: The New Parents' Guide to Getting It On Agai
--Samuel Kassow, Who Will Write Our History? Rediscovering a Hidden Archive from the Warsaw Ghett
--Bernard Goldberg, author of A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Medi
--Azar Nafisi, author of Things I've Been Silent About: Memorie
--Liaquat Ahamed, author of Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the Worl
--Neil DeGrasse Tyson, author of The Pluto File
--Steve Martin, author of Born Standing Up: A Comic's Lif
--Emmanuel Jal, author of War Child: A Child Soldier's Stor
--Karen Greenberg, The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo's First 100 Day
--Judith Sills, Getting Naked Again: Dating, Romance, Sex, and Love When You've Been Divorced, Widowed, Dumped, or Distracte
--Jane Seymour, Open Hearts: If Your Heart Is Open, Love Will Always Find Its Way I
--Liaquat Ahamed, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the Worl
--Henry Alford, How to Live: A Search for Wisdom from Old People (While They Are Still on This Earth
--Will Bunch, author of Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future
--David Baldacci, author of Divine Justic
--Christopher Kennedy Lawford, author of Moments of Clarity: Voices from the Front Lines of Addiction and Recover
--Paul Lockhart, author of The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Arm
--Rowan Jacobsen, author of Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honeybee and the Coming Agricultural Crisi
--Bryan Burrough, author of The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes
--Burton Weisbrod, author of Mission and Money: Understanding the Universit
--Amy Wechsler, author of The Mind-Beauty Connection: 9 Days to Reverse Stress Aging and Reveal More Youthful, Beautiful Ski
--Randall Balmer, God in the White House: A History: How Faith Shaped the Presidency from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bus
--Jill Keto, Don't Get Caught with Your Skirt Down: A Practical Girl's Recession Guid
--Kim Bensen, Finally Thin! How I Lost Over 200 Pounds and Kept them Off - and How You Can To
--Thomas Barnett, Great Powers: America and the World After Bus
--Nikki Giovanni, Bicycles: Love Poem
--Emmanuel Jal, War Child: A Child Soldier's Stor
--Jonah Lehrer, How We Decid
--Mark Bittman, author of Food Matter
--Reva Seth, author of First Comes Marriage: Modern Relationship Advice from the Wisdom of Arranged Marriage
--Dave Kansas, author of The Wall Street Journal Guide to the End of Wall Street as We Know It
--Miss Piggy, The Diva Code: Miss Piggy on Life, Love, and the 10,000 Idiotic Things Men Frogs D
--Thomas Bass, author of The Spy Who Loved Us: The Vietnam War and Pham Xuan An's Dangerous Gam
--Laura Miller, The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narni
--Christopher Dickey, author of Securing the City: Inside America's Best Counterterror Force--The NYPD
--Thomas E. Ricks, The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008
--Ruth K. Westheimer, author of Dr. Ruth's Top Ten Secrets for Great Sex: How to Enjoy it, Share it, and Love it Each and Every Time
--Carol Bickford, co-author of Pit Stop in a Southern Kitchen: Two Moms of Racing Legends Serve Up Stories and Recipe
--Carlos Moore, author of Pichon: Race and Revolution in Castro's Cuba: A Memoi
--Robert Ballard, Titanic: The Last Great Images
--Linda Fairstein, Lethal Legac
--Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Lincoln on Race and Slaver
--Matt Titus and Tamsen Fadal, Why Hasn't He Proposed? Go from the First Date to Setting the Dat
--T.C. Boyle, The Wome
--Richard E. Nisbett, author of Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count
--Daryn Kagan, What's Possible
--Thomas Woods, author of Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Wors
--Martha Sandweiss, author of Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line
--Greg Mortenson the Young Readers edition of Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Change the World . . . One Child at a Tim
--Bernie Ilson, author of Sundays with Sullivan: How the Ed Sullivan Show Brought Elvis, the Beatles, and Culture to America
--Daniel Sperling, co-author of Two Billion Cars: Driving Toward Sustainabilit
--Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Dr. Ruth's Top Ten Secrets for Great Sex: How to Enjoy it, Share it, and Love it Each and Every Tim
--William Paul Young, The Shac
--Joan Rivers, Men Are Stupid And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surger
--Steven Greenhouse, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worke
--Debra Gwartney, author of Live Through This: A Mother's Memoir of Runaway Daughters and Reclaimed Lov
--Jimmy Carter, We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan That Will Wor
--Charles Duelfer, author of Hide and Seek: The Search for Truth in Ira
--Carlos Moore, author of Pichn: Race and Revolution in Castro's Cuba: A Memoir
--Amy Sedaris, author of I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influenc
--George McGovern, author of Abraham Lincoln: The American Presidents Series: The 16th President, 1861-186
--Steve Harvey, author of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitmen
--Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser, editors of Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak by Writers Famous and Obscur
--Ronald C. White, Jr., author of A. Lincoln: A Biograph
--Adam Gopnik, author of Angels and Ages: A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Lif
--Alec Greven, How to Talk to Girls
--Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Lincoln on Race and Slaver
--Daniel Sperling, co-author of Two Billion Cars: Driving Toward Sustainabilit
--Robert J. Norrell, Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washingto
--Amelie Nothomb, Tokyo Fianc
--John Talbott, Contagion: The Financial Epidemic That is Sweeping the Global Economy... and How to Protect Yourself from It
--Robert Kaiser, So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government
--Jess McCann, author of You Lost Him at Hello: A Saleswoman's Secrets to Closing the Deal with Any Guy You Wan
--David Denby, author of Snark
--Jeff Benedict, author of Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courag
--Kenneth Whyte, author of The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst
--Kevin Mattson, author of Rebels All!: A Short History of the Conservative Mind in Postwar Americ
--Robert Norrell, author of Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washingto
--Philip Howard, author of Life Without Lawyers: Liberating Americans from Too Much La
--Muhammad Yunus, author of Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalis
--Henry Cisneros, author of Latinos and the Nation's Futur
--David Pietrusza, 1960 LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencie
--David Sheff, Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addictio
--Sean B. Carroll, Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Specie
--Dr. Abraham Verghese, Cutting for Ston
--Thomas E. Ricks, author of The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-200
--Adam Gopnik, Angels and Ages: A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life

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Here are links to other recent One for the Books columns:

More links are available on my blog at http://blogs.dixcdn.com/shine_a_light/

Memoirs of Women Searching -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4515783

Return to Amish Country -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/451127

President-elect Barack Obama -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/450179

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"One for the Books" appears the second and fourth Fridays of the month in the Record-Courier. Extra columns may appear on occasion, especially preceding Christmas and Hanukkah.