Freedom of Speech: Mightier Than the Sword

Shipler, David K. (Get this book)
A Pulitzer Prize winner surveys the American cultural and political landscape and asks if "the freedom to hear" remains intact.Near the end of his narrative, Shipler thanks one of his many interview subjects for her time, and she in turn thanks him for his attention: "The listener is everything in telling a story." The remark serves as both apt praise for his alert reportorial skills and as a succinct expression of the focus of this odd-angle take on freedom of speech. The author features a wide variety of writers and speakers who inject ideas, information, disinformation, prejudice, and fear into the marketplace, but he also focuses on the marketplace itself, on those auditors who wish to hear no "evil," no truth, nothing at all discomfiting to their own views. Good stories, great interviews, and a potent plea on behalf of vigilant listening.--Kirkus

Forgotten Citizens: Deportation, Children, and the Making of American Exiles and Orphans

Zayas, Luis H. (Get this book)
The overlooked plight of American-born children of undocumented immigrants. In a compassionate, heartbreaking book based on extensive research, Zayas describes the lives of some 4.5 million American children living in constant fear that their immigrant parents, here illegally, will be deported. Against a brief overview of U.S. immigration policies, the author succeeds nicely in putting a human face on the suffering of children whose stories are lost in debates over illegal immigration. He outlines steps to reform the insensitive enforcement of punitive laws This valuable look at a national tragedy demands the attention of policymakers.--Kirkus

Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own

Bolick, Kate (Get this book)
An Atlantic contributing editor's refreshingly bold and incisive account of how she came to celebrate her status as a single woman.As a young woman, Bolick was in turmoil over the "dual contingencies" that govern female existence: "whom to marry and when it will happen." She had always believed that she wanted marriage; yet even her earliest relationships revealed that while she enjoyed loving men, she was "most alive when alone." Continually questioning how she wanted to live her life, she spent her early adulthood in and out of committed and noncommitted relationships. But it wasn't until her 40th birthday that the still-single Bolick had the insight that would change her attitudes toward spinsterhood and show her that she "was now in possession of not only a future, but also a past." A sexy, eloquent, well-written and -researched study/memoir. --Kirkus

The Two-State Delusion: Israel and Palestine - A Tale of Two Narratives

O'Malley, Padraig (Get this book)
A thoughtful autopsy of the failed two-state paradigm.Having worked to promote peace within conflicts in Northern Ireland, South Africa and Iraq, O'Malley carefully sifts through the intractable coexistence between the Palestinians and Israelis and finds both sides so traumatized by the "narrative" of their respective struggle that they are unable to view the other with respect or humanity. O'Malley is not hopeful but rather disgusted that the two sides seem to be entrenched in their mutual hatred and absolutely unwilling to budge. To do so, he writes, requires establishing a "parity of esteem for each other's narratives" and then perhaps a long cease-fire that would allow a new generation of leaders to step up. Evenhanded, diplomatic, mutually respectful and enormously useful.--Kirkus