Author: George Packer (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2013) Reviewed by Theresa Forsman In the prologue to The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America, author George Packer sets the scene: “No one can say when the unwinding began—when the coil that held Americans together in its secure and […]
book review
My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
Author: Ari Shavit (Spiegel and Grau/Random House, New York, 2013) Reviewed by Doris Friedensohn Ari Shavit, the left-wing Israeli journalist, is an uncommonly brave writer. In My Promised Land (2013), he celebrates the remarkable achievements of Israelis – – in turning a Middle Eastern desert into both a refuge for the world’s persecuted Jews and […]
The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret of a Good Life
Author: Rod Dreher (Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group, 2013) Reviewed by Theresa Forsman The author, Rod Dreher, and his sister, Ruthie, grew up in Starhill, Louisiana, a tiny community six miles down the road from St. Francisville, a town of 2,000 people near the Mississippi border. After graduating from LouisianaStateUniversity in 1991, Ruthie […]
Mortality
Author: Christopher Hitchens (2012, Twelve, Hachette Book Group) Reviewed by Theresa Forsman Christopher Hitchens took on death much the same way he took on life—with an unsparing, combative gaze, an absence of sentimentality, and a deep need to figure it out by writing it down. Mortality is what he had to say about […]
The Fertile Crescent: Gender, Art, and Society
Authors: Judith K. Brodsky and Ferris Olin (2012, Rutgers University Institute for Women and Art) Reviewed by Doris Friedensohn Timing, as we know, is (almost) everything. This is the case in national elections, peace overtures, Academy Awards, and what we choose to read. In 2007, when Judith K. Brodsky and Ferris Olin, co-directors of the […]
Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier
Author: Robert Emmons (2007, Houghton Mifflin) Reviewed by Marc Bernstein I discovered Robert Emmons’ book, Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, at a difficult moment in my life. My wife had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer; one doctor gave her six to nine months to live; another, six to […]
