The Other Side of the Mirror: An American Travels Through Syria

By Brooke Allen
"Brooke Allen first traveled to Syria in 2009, expecting it to be much as American news media routinely depicted it--an ultra-conservative Muslim society, a rogue nation committed to an anti-American stance. She found, instead, a welcoming and captivating country where she and her family were treated with courtesy and gentleness.
She soon returned for a more leisurely trip through Syria's rich historical and archaeological treasures: the ancient cities of Aleppo and Damascus, the great Crusader castles, the Bronze Age ruins of Ebla and Mari, the Greco-Roman cities of Palmyra and Apamea. With her keen and appreciative eye (and ear) Allen introduces us to Syria's people, culture, and history. "The Other Side of the Mirror" illustrates one traveler's enlightenment, while reflecting on our American ways. For, as she writes, "To visit Syria is to confront the unhappy truth about our media, which is that much of the international news we read or see... serves not as a window looking out at the world but as a mirror: a mirror that reflects our own fears and obsessions and shines them right back at us.""  (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog

Cairo: Histories of a City

By Nezar Alsayyad

"Cairo, or Al-Qahira, can be translated as both "the victorious" and "the oppressor," explains AlSayyad in his exceptionally absorbing and astute, cultural and architectural history of one of the world's most captivating cities. Professor of architecture, planning, and urban history at UC-Berkeley, AlSayyad structures his book smartly by place rather than strictly by period: each of the 12 chapters brings the reader to a new section of Cairo in an inviting, informed journey through its development. He introduces readers to the history and architecture of, among others, Coptic Cairo; the noted mosques of al-Azhar and a-Anwar; the Gezira Palace; and medieval Cairo. The final chapters, on the eras of Nasser and Mubarak, are especially gripping; AlSayyad warns that the city has been given to a "new elite" and the preservation of old Cairo for tourists is turning it into a Disney-like theme park. An important second thread of the book sees Cairo as inspiration for artists such as Jean-Léon Gérôme and writers Naguib Mahfouz and Alaa Al Aswany. The author's writing is elegantly clear and evocative, drawing the reader into the "messy and difficult" but "vibrant and innovative" city, leaving one wanting to know what he has to say about the politically transformed city's future." (Publishers Weekly)  Check Our Catalog

Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom

By Ron Paul
"In "Liberty Defined," congressman and #1 "New York Times"-bestselling author Paul returns with his most provocative and compelling arguments for personal freedom to date. This is a comprehensive guide to Dr. Paul's position on 50 of the most important issues of our times, from abortion to zionism."  (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog

Plastic: A Toxic Love Story

By Susan Freinkel
""What is plastic, really? Where does it come from? How did my life become so permeated by synthetics without my even trying?" Surrounded by plastic and depressed by the political, environmental, and medical consequences of our dependence on it, Freinkel (The American Chestnut) chronicles our history with plastic, "from enraptured embrace to deep disenchantment," through eight household items including the comb, credit card, and soda bottle (celluloid, one of the first synthetics, transformed the comb from a luxury item to an affordable commodity and was once heralded for relieving the pressure on elephants and tortoises for their ivory and shells). She takes readers to factories in China, where women toil 60-hour weeks for a month to make Frisbees; to preemie wards, where the lifesaving vinyl tubes that deliver food and oxygen to premature babies may cause altered thyroid function, allergies, and liver problems later in life. Freinkel's smart, well-written analysis of this love-hate relationship is likely to make plastic lovers take pause, plastic haters reluctantly realize its value, and all of us understand the importance of individual action, political will, and technological innovation in weaning us off our addiction to synthetics."  (Publishers Weekly)  Check Our Catalog

The Googlization of Everything: (And Why We Should Worry)

By Siva Vaidhyanathan
"Library Journal (04/15/2011):
"Vaidhyanathan ("Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How It Threatens Creativity" delivers another act from his well-worn (and effective) town crier squawk box, this time focusing on Google and its monopoly role in our lives today. While a plethora of voices—Jaron Lanier, Jonathan Zittrain, Evgeny Morozov, to name a few—are screaming to be heard about all that is wrong with our web-technology-immersed world today, Vaidhyanathan is less pessimistic about the future. He has numerous concerns: infrastructural imperialism, corporations like Google filling the voids that were once the domain of public services, soft technical regulation and censorship of the web, privacy trade-offs to enable functionality, and the compromises we knowingly and unknowingly make in using Google's search services exclusively. VERDICTThis book is in no way an attack on Google but more like a parent asking a child, "What do you want to do with your life?" then going through all the concerns one by one."  (Library Journal)  Check Our Catalog

63 Documents the Government Doesn't Want You to Read

By Jesse Ventura
"In this incredible collection of actual government documents, Ventura, the ultimate nonpartisan truth-seeker, proves beyond any doubt that the official spin of numerous government programs is bull. He and Russell walk readers through 63 of the most incriminating programs to reveal what really happens behind the closed doors."  (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog

Pakistan; A Hard Country

By Anatol Lieven
"Lieven (Chechnya), who has reported on Pakistan off and on for 20 years, offers a compelling argument for reorienting Western interests (and investments) in its wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Given its enormous population (six times that of Afghanistan), the key role Pakistani intelligence plays in Western efforts against terrorism, the strong ties between Pakistan and Western countries (especially Britain), and the fact that Pakistan's army is one of Asia's strongest (complete with nuclear weapons), Lieven writes, "Pakistan is quite simply far more important to the region, the West and the world than is Afghanistan: a statement which is a matter not of sentiment but of mathematics." His extensive history and cartography of the country comes equipped with solid policy prescriptionsfor drone attacks to be ceased and for the U.S. to acknowledge how powerfully the bungled invasion of Afghanistan contributed to instability in the regionand particularly the growth of the Taliban. Though his language can occasionally be patronizing, Lieven's writing is generally excellent. He wrestles huge amounts of material into a coherent whole, cogently explaining the intricate and interconnected roles played by kinship, regional allegiances, religion, and the military, shedding light on the country "in all its complex patchwork of light and shadow." "  (Publishers Weekly)   Check Our Catalog

The Myths of Standardized Tests: Why They Don't Tell You What You Think They Do

By Philip Harris


"In the era of No Child Left Behind, the number of books decrying the reliance on standardized testing has ballooned. Recent examples include Diane Ravitch's "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education" Todd Farley's "Making the Grades: My Misadventures in the Standardized Testing Industry" and Daniel M. Koretz's "Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us" Here, Harris (executive director, Assn. for Educational Communications & Technology), Bruce Smith (former editor in chief, "Phi Delta Kappan", and award-winning elementary school teacher Joan Harris intersperse their own personal experiences with testing among the book's chapters, which detail their evidence on the failures of standardized tests. The final two chapters contain recommended alternative accountability schemes for evaluating the success of students and schools. The book also includes a glossary of terms and a resource guide that lists research centers and organizations that focus on the topic of improving schools and education policy. VERDICT:  Thought-provoking reading for educators and parents."  (Libary Journal)   Check Our Catalog

Cambodia's Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land

By Joel Brinkley

"In 2008, Brinkley, awarded the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for a series on Cambodia for the Louisville Courier Journal, returned to that country for the first time in three decades to pick up where hed left off. His conclusion: Cambodians remain the most abused people in the world. From the Pol Pot regime (197579) that oversaw the deaths of as many as three million Cambodians by execution, disease, or starvation to the clutch of rulers, particularly Hun Sen, who helped squander an estimated $3 billion of UN aid while leaving their people destitute, Brinkley details the breadth and depth of the self-inflicted calamities that have beset the country for more than 35 years, offering only faint hope for the near future. A heartbreaking but vital status report on a people who deserve far better."  (Booklist Reviews)  Check Our Catalog

Open Secrets: Wikileaks, War, and American Diplomacy

By Alexander Star

"The controversial anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks made headlines around the world when it released hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. government documents in 2010. Allowed advance access, "The New York Times" sorted, searched, and analyzed these secret archives, placed them in context, and played a crucial role in breaking the WikiLeaks story.
"Open Secrets" is the essential collection of the "Times"'s expert reporting and analysis, as well as the definitive chronicle of the documents' release and the controversy that ensued. An introduction by "Times" executive editor, Bill Keller, details the paper's cloak-and-dagger relationship with a difficult source. Extended profiles of Assange and Bradley Manning, the Army private suspected of being his source, offer keen insight into the main players. Collected news stories offer a broad and deep view into Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the messy challenges facing American power in Europe, Russia, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Also included are editorials by the "Times," opinion columns by Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd, and others, and original essays on what the fracas has revealed about American diplomacy and government security. "Open Secrets" also contains a fascinating selection of original cables and war logs, offering an unvarnished look at diplomacy in action."  (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog