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Bodega Bakes

In the personable Bodega Bakes, pastry chef Paola Velez presents just that: sweets that can be made solely from the ingredients found at a corner store.
In the personable Bodega Bakes, pastry chef Paola Velez presents just that: sweets that can be made solely from the ingredients found at a corner store.
NonfictionPhotographyLifestylesAnimals

Faithful Unto Death

Faithful Unto Death is a thoughtful investigation into the bonds of pets and their owners that chronicles the ways in which we grieve and remember the animals we love.
Faithful Unto Death is a thoughtful investigation into the bonds of pets and their owners that chronicles the ways in which we grieve and remember the animals we love.
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How far we’ve come

Is life getting better or worse? Watching the news these days, it seems that our cities are threatened by violence, our country is more politically divided than ever, and our world is endangered by global warming. The future looks pretty bleak. But Steven Pinker, Harvard professor and bestselling author, offers a different outlook.

NonfictionHistoryBiography

Laying the foundation

Review by Roger Bishop

BookPage Top Pick in Nonfiction, March 2018

When John Marshall was appointed as the fourth chief justice of the United States by President John Adams, the Supreme Court had few cases, no genuine authority and met in the basement of the U.S. Capitol. But from 1801 to 1835, the court transformed under Marshall’s leadership, issuing more than 1,000 mostly unanimous decisions, with half of them written by Marshall himself.

The oldest of 15 children, Marshall grew up in a cabin on the Virginia frontier, and his formal education consisted of just one year of grammar school and six weeks of law school. But this lack of schooling did not hinder his ascent: His service in the American Revolution, during which he impressed George Washington; his reputation as an outstanding attorney; his diplomatic mission to France during which he successfully worked to avert war; and his service as Adams’ secretary of state led to his appointment as one of the most influential chief justices in American history.

Joel Richard Paul, a professor of constitutional and international law, compellingly details the path that brought Marshall to the Supreme Court and how he was able to achieve so much while there in the absorbing and aptly titled Without Precedent. Paul sees Marshall as a master of self-invention who “played many parts so well because he was at heart a master actor . . . his gift for illusion transformed not only himself but the Court, the Constitution, and the nation as well.”

Marshall was a Federalist, yet all of the justices selected during his 34-year tenure were not of his party. However, Marshall was not an ideologue, and emphasized moderation, pragmatism and compromise, while regularly employing his rare gift for friendship to reach consensus. As chief justice, Marshall was able to establish an independent judiciary system and assured the supremacy of the federal Constitution.

Highlights of the book include Paul’s illuminating discussions of major court decisions; Marshall’s devotion to his beloved wife, Polly, who was ill for most of their married lives; Marshall’s long-running differences with his cousin Thomas Jefferson; and his friendship with Jefferson’s ally, James Madison. This engrossing account of a key figure in our early history makes for excellent reading.

 

This article was originally published in the March 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

When John Marshall was appointed as the fourth chief justice of the United States by President John Adams, the Supreme Court had few cases, no genuine authority and met in the basement of the U.S. Capitol. But from 1801 to 1835, the court transformed under Marshall’s leadership, issuing more than 1,000 mostly unanimous decisions, with half of them written by Marshall himself.

Unrepeatable history

When political leaders in America and abroad search for successful historical precedents for solutions to crises, we sometimes hear calls for “a new Marshall Plan.” That is not an easily attainable goal. The conditions and personalities that made the original plan possible were unique to a post-World War II world, as Benn Steil explains in his compelling, authoritative and lucid The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War.

Nonfiction

When up is down

Review by Henry L. Carrigan Jr.

What will happen to the Earth when the North Pole and South Pole reverse their positions? How will human society be affected when such a reversal causes a weakening of the Earth’s electromagnetic field? Will mass extinctions occur in species that use the Earth’s magnetic fields to find food or to migrate to winter homes?

Acclaimed science journalist Alanna Mitchell (Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis) asks these and other questions in her mesmerizing The Spinning Magnet. Part detective story and part history of science, Mitchell’s galvanizing story chronicles the tales of the scientists who research the movement of the poles, the power of electromagnetism, the force of the Earth’s magnetic fields and the deleterious effects of solar radiation on Earth. She introduces us to Bernard Brunhes, the French physicist who first discovered that the planet’s two magnetic poles had once switched places. Scientists following up on his findings discovered that the poles had reversed their positions more than once and that a confluence of events—the Earth’s diminishing electromagnetic field and the increase in solar storms—over the past century indicate that the possibility of another such reversal continues to grow more likely.

Mitchell points out that the reversal of the poles will have dire consequences for the world. Electrical grids will be disrupted and millions will live in the dark for days; airplanes will lose the capability to navigate over the poles; satellite systems will cease to function, causing widespread havoc around the world.

In the same vein as Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction, Mitchell’s captivating book shocks us into contemplating the physical forces that keep our world spinning that we take for granted every day.

What will happen to the earth when the North Pole and South Pole reverse their positions? How will human society be affected when such a reversal causes a weakening of the Earth’s electromagnetic field? Will mass extinctions occur in species that use the Earth’s magnetic fields to find food or to migrate to winter homes?

A memoir of boundaries blurred

Francisco Cantú’s quietly heartbreaking memoir The Line Becomes a River explores the reckless contours of the U.S.-Mexico border, a place Cantú first knew through memory (as the grandson of a migrant), then through higher learning (as he studied international relations in college), then through his profession (as a border patrol agent), and finally, through poetic recounting (as a witness to and chronicler of the border). The Line Becomes a River, comprised of journalistic dispatches and lyrical descriptions of troubling dreams and volcanic landscapes, is both intimate and unforgettable.

NonfictionMemoir

Saga of a Texan family

Review by Priscilla Kipp

When John Lewis Mealer set out from the hollows of the Georgia Blue Ridge in 1892, it was to escape warring moonshiners and lawmen, and to find work in the exploding, inviting West. Young, unmarried and intent on making something of himself, he wanted a fresh start. Almost a century later, John’s grandson and author Bryan Mealer’s father, Bobby, left his steady but dead-end job at a chemical plant near Houston for the oil booms and busts of Big Spring, Texas, taking a big chance on oil with his mercurial cousin Grady. Married and the father of three, Bobby too was looking for a fresh start.

In between these familiar quests rolled a near-century full of heroes and heartbreaks, world wars and depressions, dust storms, droughts and drugs—all rigorously described in this sprawl of a story that entwines family and global history. God, like Texas oil, was a constant threat or promise; church was as all encompassing—and sometimes oppressive—as family. The Mealer men were wannabe kings, hoping to claim the throne that an oil boom promised—or to at least own their own land.

The Kings of Big Spring is a family tree that offers no shade for its errant members. Violent, luckless husbands; unfaithful, hapless wives; and abandoned, wayward children are plentiful here. Their tales are told with the straightforwardness of a seasoned journalist, though Mealer seems justifiably wary of some of them. Like the Mealers, Big Spring crashed and reinvented itself, again and again. Weather was an endless cycle of killing winds. Pestilence was a curse. The economy was dependent on vulnerable crops and volatile markets. Oil helped to power two world wars and the Korean conflict, then transformed itself via petrochemicals.

Mealer says of his family, “We drew our strength from the power of our own flesh and blood.” The same could be said of Texas history, then and now.

When John Lewis Mealer set out from the hollows of the Georgia Blue Ridge in 1892, it was to escape warring moonshiners and lawmen, and to find work in the exploding, inviting West. Young, unmarried and intent on making something of himself, he wanted a fresh start. Almost a century later, John’s grandson and author Bryan Mealer’s father, Bobby, left his steady but dead-end job at a chemical plant near Houston for the oil booms and busts of Big Spring, Texas, taking a big chance on oil with his mercurial cousin Grady. Married and the father of three, Bobby too was looking for a fresh start.

How past trauma can affect the present

The Deepest Well begins at a terrifying moment in the life of a healthy 43-year-old father the author calls Evan. As he wakes one morning, he realizes his arm has gone numb—and then his leg, and then his face. Why is Evan, a man with no apparent risk factors, having a stroke?

NonfictionSports

The Olympic village

Review by Sheila M. Trask

Norwich, Vermont, population circa 3,000, has sent contestants to the Olympics almost every year since 1984, cheering on three gold medalists in the Winter Olympics in the same span of years that the entire country of Spain has produced two. When New York Times writer Karen Crouse discovered this gem of a New England town, she had to ask: How do they do it?

In Norwich, Crouse captures the soul of a town with a 110-year-old general store that pretty well lives up to its motto: “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it.” She talks to Olympians like moguls champion Hannah Kearney, middle-distance runner Andrew Wheating and snowboarder Kevin Pearce, but surprisingly few of the conversations are about winning or losing; they’re always about the people who made a difference in these Olympians lives.

In the straightforward style of the sportswriter she is, Crouse weaves town history and sports statistics together with heartfelt conversations with the parents and coaches who support all of the community’s children, not just the best of the best. Readers might expect to hear about highly competitive “tiger” moms and dads with money to burn, but that’s not what Crouse finds. Instead, she uncovers a much more laid-back philosophy: Let kids try a bunch of stuff, celebrate with them when they find activities they enjoy, and love them no matter the outcome. Because “you’re never going to make biscuits out of them kittens,” as one old-timer says. Parents in Norwich are not set on molding their children into what they want them to be, but letting them be everything they can be.

By the time readers finish Crouse’s account, they may shift from wondering how Norwich does it to asking why everybody doesn’t do it this way.

Norwich, Vermont, population 3,000, has sent contestants to the Olympics almost every year since 1984, cheering on three gold medalists in the Winter Olympics in the same span of years that the entire country of Spain has produced two. When New York Times writer Karen Crouse discovered this gem of a New England town, she had to ask: How do they do it?

NonfictionBiography

Three women in their father’s shadow

Review by Becky Libourel Diamond

Much has been written about Thomas Jefferson, his family and his illegitimate daughter, Harriet Hemings. But historian Catherine Kerrison eloquently manages to shed new light on the Founding Father and his relationships with three of his very different children in her new book, Jefferson’s Daughters.

Jefferson married a young widow, Martha Wayles Skelton, in 1772, and eventually had six children with her, although only two would reach adulthood—Martha and Maria. But these girls had half-siblings mothered by Sally Hemings, a slave who was their lady’s maid and companion.

Each daughter took a different path. Jefferson brought Martha, the apple of his eye, along with him while serving as ambassador in Paris, where she thrived and received a top-notch education. Maria was a beautiful and feisty young woman who strove to break away from her father’s control, exhibiting an “emotional maturity that has been entirely overlooked” by scholars. And although she was born into slavery, Harriet was able to leave Monticello and escape slavery at the age of 21, passing as a white woman and obtaining the “privileges of white womanhood,” bearing and raising her children in freedom. However, this meant giving up her family name and being separated from her mother and younger brothers, who remained in slavery.

Jefferson’s character has been the subject of much scrutiny, particularly after DNA testing documented a connection between Sally’s youngest child, Eston, and the Jefferson male line in 1998. Although Jefferson promoted individual liberty, he contradicted this endorsement by owning slaves. Kerrison writes about this contradiction with thoroughness and candor, piecing together massive amounts of research, including letters, journal entries, financial accounts and commentary from family descendants. In meticulous detail, her knowledgeable yet conversational style makes Jefferson’s Daughters a thought-provoking nonfiction narrative that reads like a novel.

Much has been written about Thomas Jefferson, his family and his illegitimate daughter, Harriet Hemings. But historian Catherine Kerrison eloquently manages to shed new light on the Founding Father and his relationships with three of his very different children in her new book, Jefferson’s Daughters.

Life at rock bottom

Jennifer McGaha and her husband, David, were living the American dream in North Carolina: big house, private school for their kids—and debt. Mountains of debt. David, an accountant, shielded Jennifer from just how dire the situation was. But when the government came knocking for a staggering amount of back taxes, Jennifer and David had no choice but to foreclose on their dream home and move to a family-owned cabin in an Appalachian holler.

NonfictionSocial ScienceAging

Respect your elders

Review by Edward Morris

In 2015, John Leland wrote a series of articles for the New York Times that examined the conditions and outlooks of three men and three women who, at that time, were between the ages of 87 and 92. He’s now chronicled that experience in Happiness Is a Choice You Make.

The common denominator of old age, Leland found, is a more or less graceful acceptance of the inevitable, not just of escalating physical limitations but of the awareness that each day may be one’s last and, thus, should be savored for what it has to offer. Even those who complained they were tired of living were not in despair. They had their days and moments of joy: Fred reveled in memories of his times as a sharp-dressed man-about-town. Helen, after losing her husband, discovered a second love and a reason to go on in Howie, a wheelchair-bound fellow resident in her nursing home. John, nearly blind and bereft of his longtime lover, listened to opera for inspiration or squinted at a video of his favorite musical, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

“[O]ld age is a concept largely defined by the people who have never lived it,” Leland observes. “We do ourselves a big favor not to be scared of growing old, but to embrace the mixed bag that the years have to offer, however severe the losses.”

 

This article was originally published in the February 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

In 2015, John Leland wrote a series of articles for the New York Times that examined the conditions and outlooks of three men and three women who, at that time, were between the ages of 87 and 92. He’s now chronicled that experience in Happiness Is a Choice You Make.

Bovine love

“It’s true that at first I laughed at drinking cow urine but feed me a good story and I can believe anything,” writes author Shoba Narayan. Indeed, she feeds readers a good story in her udderly delightful The Milk Lady of Bangalore.

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