Greg Muttitt. In this well-reported debut, Muttitt never insists that oil was the sole motive for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As both an activist and freelancer, he makes his sympathies plain from the beginning, but he rejects crude conspiracy theories in favor of a more subtle take: that the occupiers genuinely saw themselves as liberators, never acknowledging their own self-interest in securing an energy supply. He's contemptuous of today's scramble for profits among the likes of ExxonMobil, BP and Shell. No, the war wasn't only about oil, but as one State Department adviser asked, "What did Iraq have that we would like to have? It wasn't the sand." There will be readers who disagree with Muttitt's thesis. They will now be obliged to marshal similarly convincing evidence.--Publisher's WeeklySaturday, September 1, 2012
Fuel on the Fire: Oil and Politics in Occupied Iraq
Greg Muttitt. In this well-reported debut, Muttitt never insists that oil was the sole motive for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As both an activist and freelancer, he makes his sympathies plain from the beginning, but he rejects crude conspiracy theories in favor of a more subtle take: that the occupiers genuinely saw themselves as liberators, never acknowledging their own self-interest in securing an energy supply. He's contemptuous of today's scramble for profits among the likes of ExxonMobil, BP and Shell. No, the war wasn't only about oil, but as one State Department adviser asked, "What did Iraq have that we would like to have? It wasn't the sand." There will be readers who disagree with Muttitt's thesis. They will now be obliged to marshal similarly convincing evidence.--Publisher's WeeklySaturday, August 25, 2012
Shooting Victoria: Madness, Mayhem, and the Rebirth of the British Monarchy
Paul Thomas Murphy. Enlightening study of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and her reign. Though the book is focused on the attempted assassinations of Victoria, Murphy also shows how those misguided men strengthened both the queen and the empire. It's great fun to see the trail of the author's research as he includes the politics, crises and sensational crimes that went along with each incident. The pages slip by in this well-written new take on Victoria and her times. Murphy's detailed rendering sheds entirely new light on the queen's strengths and her many weaknesses.--KirkusFriday, August 17, 2012
Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day
Stephan Talty. The exciting, improbable adventures of a young Spanish spy who managed to become Britain's most effective tool in deceiving Hitler. The mammoth concerted effort to trick the Germans into believing that the D-Day invasion was not really landing at Normandy but at Calais--despite Hitler's better instincts--required months of careful planning and streams of deceptive information fed to the Germans by agents like Juan Pujol, aka Garbo. A lively, rollicking good read.--KirkusFriday, August 10, 2012
Final Victory: FDR's Extraordinary World War II Presidential Campaign
Stanley Weintraub. Historian Weintraub looks at an ailing President Franklin D. Roosevelt's
last campaign. In this well-researched,
engaging history, Weintraub effectively brings the players to life,
portraying the public and private faces of the witty, indomitable FDR
and his opponent, the stiff, humorless New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey. Weintraub shows how Roosevelt, despite his illness,
was still a force to be reckoned with. He continued to give dazzling
speeches and enjoyed loyal support from many constituencies, including
soldiers still at war, who voted absentee for FDR in large numbers. A
well-drawn political history of FDR's last days.--KirkusFriday, August 3, 2012
Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II
Keith Lowe. A breathtaking, numbing account of the physical and moral desolation that plagued Europe in the late 1940s. Drawing on recently opened Eastern European archives, Lowe presents a searing and comprehensive view of postwar Europe that calls into question the very nature of World War II. Lowe writes with measured objectivity, honoring the victims of atrocity and understanding the causes of, but refusing to excuse, the violence directed by freed victims against their former oppressors. Authoritative but never dry, stripping away soothing myths of national unity and victimhood, this is a painful but necessary historical task superbly done.--KirkusFriday, July 27, 2012
The Bride and the Dowry: Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinians in the Aftermath of the June 1967 War
Avi. Raz. A scouring academic investigation of the fallout from the Six-Day War. Raz delivers a compelling study of Israeli intransigence and deception after the huge territory gains it made in June 1967 by seizing the West Bank and Arab Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. Raz shows an Israeli government riven by indecision and plurality of opinion, Palestinians in shock and despair, King Hussein hanging on to the survival of his reign and grasping at some kind of honorable settlement, and the Palestinian guerrilla resistance gathering force in the wings. A scrupulously researched work likely to open deep old wounds.--KirkusSaturday, July 21, 2012
Shooting Victoria: Madness, Mayhem, and the Rebirth of the British Monarchy
Murphy, Paul Thomas. Though the book is focused on the attempted assassinations of Victoria, Murphy also shows how those misguided men strengthened both the queen and the empire. It's great fun to see the trail of the author's research as he includes the politics, crises and sensational crimes that went along with each incident. The pages slip by in this well-written new take on Victoria and her times. Murphy's detailed rendering sheds entirely new light on the queen's strengths and her many weaknesses.--KirkusSaturday, July 14, 2012
Final Victory: FDR's Extraordinary World War II Presidential Campaign
Stanley Weintraub. With news accounts and political cartoons, Weintraub paints a vivid
portrait of the public mood and of FDR literally willing himself to
victory with a relatively unknown running mate, Harry Truman. Roosevelt
juggled both the sputtering national economy and the wartime effort with
equal parts savvy and grit, only to succumb to longstanding medical
ailments soon after his inauguration. Historically satisfying, bringing
the events to life with telling anecdotes (like Trumanas terrifying,
prescient anightmare that Roosevelt had died and he, Harry S. Truman,
was now presidenta), Weintraub's book portrays a political icon
determined to make his mark on America and the world in the twilight of
his life.--Publisher'sWeeklySaturday, July 7, 2012
The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death
Jill Lepore. A sharp, illuminating history of ideas showing how America has wrestled with birth, childhood, work, marriage, old age and death. Brilliantly written and engaging throughout, the latest from New Yorker staff writer Lepore is about how American society reacts to change. A superb examination of the never-ending effort to enhance life, as well as the commensurate refusal to ever let it go.--Kirkus
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