History can fill the memory. If asked, “Where you were on September 11, 2001?” readers will no doubt remember exactly where they were and what they were doing. “Where were you on November 22, 1963?” This reviewer was teaching a... Read More

Like Isabel Allende, who has written about Chileans trying to survive the Pinochet dictatorship, Lucia Orth writes about ordinary Filipinos trying to survive under Ferdinand Marcos’s martial law. Orth, who lived in Philippines for five... Read More

On the edge of the desolate Staked Plain of west Texas around 1880 a preternaturally precocious toddler named Maggie Teague “could do what a lot of them still hadn’t mastered.” Two-year-old Maggie can read an amazing fact that... Read More

Anyone suffering from even mild depression would be wise to set this book aside and not pick it up again until the sun shines brightly or the liquor kicks in. The setting, the characters, the plot are all awash in gloom. Still, the story... Read More

The practice of mindfulness (full awareness of the present moment), is used to treat a multitude of health and psychological difficulties. Here, the author, a private psychologist who regularly evaluates people who are considering... Read More

There are certainly reasons to approach this book cautiously. Despite producer Irving Thalberg’s celebrated influence on American film, the trite phrase “Hollywood Dreams” gives one pause. In fact, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to... Read More

Being a good parent is like being a good counterterrorism agent, and vice versa. That’s an intriguing concept, and one explored by Gina M. Bennett in her new book, "National Security Mom". She equates her twenty years of work as a... Read More

Many writers dream of swapping lives, at least for a little while, with their subjects. This is especially true in the sports field, where writers are surrounded by men and women who are admired for their athletic prowess. George... Read More