Interesting Books

Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot and Other Observations. Al Franken. Delacorte. This is the book of the 90s, so far. It is long overdue, richly deserved, and written in a very appropriate style. This book is highly uplifting and immeasurably funny. Franken uses factual information to rebuff Limbaugh, Robertson, Gingrich et al, similar to the other books about the big radio personality, but this book also employs biting satire from cover to cover.
Virtuous Reality - How America Surrendered Discussion of Moral Values to Opportunists, Nitwits and Blockheads Like William Bennett. Jon Katz. Random House.
The Most Dangerous Man in America? Pat Robertson and the Rise of the Christian Coalition. Robert Boston. Prometheus (1-800-421-0351). One of the best exposes of Robertson's broadcast empire, theocratic agenda, and links to dangerous extremists. This book is also sold through Free Inquiry magazine.
The New Victorians - A Young Woman's Challenge to the Old Feminist Order. Rene Denfeld. Warner. A great insight concerning the alienation felt by young women towards the old guard feminists. There are minor inaccuracies, but they're usually exaggerated in reviews. This is not a "backlash book;" some of it may even strike a familiar chord.
Fortunate Son- George W. Bush and The Making of an American President. J.H. Hatfield. Soft Skull Press. In stores and available at http://www.gwbush.com/ . The book that would not disappear! Recently returned by a new publisher, this book has rocked the George W. Bush presidential campaign. Hatfield covers George W's cocaine story extensively. Other highlights include: the Bush's anti-Semitism, their connection to the BCCI Scandal, Bush's SEC investigation for insider-trading, and the cronyism practiced with business associates while Governor of Texas. The book reviews some of daddy's scandals and other golden memories of America's most famous crime family. The focus, of course, is on George W., who provides a wealth of material himself. Highly recommended.
Hitler’s Pope - The Secret History of Pius XII, by John Cornwell (Viking Press). John Cornwell is an English Catholic writer who set out to refute the view- popularized by German writer Rolf Hochhuth in his 1963 play Der Stellvertreter (The Deputy) - that Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII, didn’t do all he could to stop or mitigate the Holocaust. After being granted access to archival material in the Vatican and exploring German sources regarding Pacelli’s activities in Germany during the 1920s and 1930s, including his dealings with Hitler, Cornwell found himself "in a state of moral shock" by mid-1997: "The material I had gathered amounted not to an exoneration but to an indictment more scandalous than Hochhuth’s. The evidence was explosive. It showed for the first time that Pacelli was patently, and by the proof of his own words, anti-Jewish. It revealed that he had helped Hitler to power and at the same time undermined potential Catholic resistance in Germany. It showed that he had implicitly denied and trivialized the Holocaust, despite having reliable knowledge of its true extent. And, worse, that he was a hypocrite, for after the war he had retrospectively taken undue credit for speaking out boldly against the Nazis’ persecution of the Jews." [From Edd Doerr’s review in Church and State magazine] This book is highly recommended.
...And The Horse He Rode In On - The People Vs. Kenneth Starr. James Carville. Simon and Schuster.
White House E-mail. editted by Tom Blanton. New Press. This is fascinating and comes with a disk.
Dark Alliance - The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Gary Webb. Seven Stories Press. Foreward by US Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Great reading for the times when one wants to explore a real presidential scandal.
Living My Life. Volumes 1 and 2. Emma Goldman. Fascinating autobiography of the anarchist, feminist, anti-war activist who initially inspired Margaret Sanger (founder of Planned Parenthood), and Robert Baldwin (founder of the ACLU). Hopefully, there will someday be a film based on her life.
James Dobson's War on America. Gil Alexander-Moegerle. Prometheus (1-800-421-0351). Dobson's Focus on the Family has a $100 million budget and a membership three times the size of the Christian Coalition. He seeks a 'civil war of values,' and has frightening political plans for America. Like many moral crusaders, he also has plenty to hide.
Leaving the Fold: A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving Their Religion. Marlene Winell, PhD. Harbinger.
Women Without Superstition: No Gods, No Masters - The Collected Writings of Women Freethinkers of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Annie Laurie Gaylor, ed. Freedom From Religion Foundation (Madison, WI). Features excerpts of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Emma Goldman, Margaret Sanger, Lucy Parsons, Voltairine de Cleyre, Barbara Ehrenreich, Katha Pollitt, Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Josephine K. Henry, Queen Silver, and Mary Wollstonecraft.
Eyes Right - Challenging the Right-Wing Backlash. Chip Berlet. South End Press (1 800 533-8478).
The Missionary Position - Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice. Christopher Hitchens. Verso. This book addresses numerous issues regarding the late Mother Teresa, including media myths, her association with some of the world's deadliest dictators, her association with Charles Keating and other participants in the Savings and Loan scandal, and how she used her position and funds to affect access to birth control and abortion. This book analysis the impact of her organization on the living conditions of those who were supposed to be helped.
Ministry of Lies - The Truth Behind the Nation of Islam's 'The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews'. Harold Brackman, PhD. Four Walls Eight Windows.
Downsize This! Random Threats from an Unarmed American. Michael Moore. Crown. Features 'The Sperm's Right To Life.
Lead Us Not Into Temptation - Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children. Jason Barry. Doubleday.
Betrayal of Trust - Clergy Abuse of Children. Annie Laurie Gaylor. Freedom From Religion Foundation (Madison, WI).
The Winner of the Slow Bicycle Race. Paul Krassner. Seven Stories Press.
Reports from the Holocaust: The Story of an AIDS Activist. Updated and Expanded. Larry Kramer. St. Martin's Press.
The Coors Connection: How the Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism. Russ Bellent. South End Press. (1-800-533-8478)
The Republican War Against Women: An Insider's Report from Behind the Lines. Tanya Melich. Bantam.
Joycelyn Elders, MD. Joycelyn Elders with David Chanoff. Morrow.
The Armchair Activist: Simple Yet Powerful Ways to Fight the Radical Right. Felice N. Schwartz and Suzanne K. Levine. Riverhead.
The Empire God Built: Inside Pat Robertson's Media Machine. Alec Foege. Wiley.
Low-Intensity Warfare: An Anti-Abortion Strategy of Terror. BACORR.
Breaking Ground and Barriers: Hispanic Women Developing Effective Leadership. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, PhD. Marin.
The Accidental Activist. Candace Gingrich. Scribner.
Take the Rich Off Welfare. Mark Zepezauer and Arthur Naiman. Odonian. (1-800 REAL STORY)
Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do - The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in a Free Society. Peter McWilliams. Prelude.
Defense Addiction - Can America Kick the Habit? Sanford Gottlieb. Westview.
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