Pg. 99: John Ray's "The Rosetta Stone"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: John Ray's The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Rosetta Stone is one of the world's great wonders, attracting awed pilgrims by the tens of thousands each year. This book tells the Stone's story, from its discovery by Napoleon's expedition to Egypt to its current -- and controversial -- status as the single most visited object on display in the British Museum.

A pharaoh's forgotten decree, cut in granite in three scripts -- Egyptian hieroglyphs, Egyptian demotic, and ancient Greek -- the Rosetta Stone promised to unlock the door to the language of ancient Egypt and its 3,000 years of civilization, if only it could be deciphered. Capturing the drama of the race to decode this key to the ancient past, John Ray traces the paths pursued by the British polymath Thomas Young and Jean-Francois Champollion, the "father of Egyptology" ultimately credited with deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs. He shows how Champollion "broke the code" and explains more generally how such deciphering is done, as well as its critical role in the history of Egyptology. Concluding with a chapter on the political and cultural controversy surrounding the Stone, the book also includes an appendix with a full translation of the Stone's text.

Rich in anecdote and curious lore, The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt is a brilliant and frequently amusing guide to one of history's great mysteries and marvels.

Among the praise for the book:

"The stone is an icon because it provided the key to decoding ancient Egyptian writing, allowing the pharaohs to speak to the modern world. It also stands for great intellectual achievement: the genius of Thomas Young, the English physicist and polymath who was the first to try and decipher it, and that of his rival, the French scholar Jean-Fran�ois Champollion, who cracked the hieroglyphs in 1822 and founded Egyptology as a science. The stone also stands for national rivalry: between Napoleon's army, which discovered it in Egypt in 1799, and the British army, which took it to the UK. Though few people know what it actually says, the Rosetta Stone has come to symbolise the enduring power of writing. Ray writes knowledgeably about all these aspects of the stone, drawing on four decades of engagement with ancient Egypt--a career partly inspired by a schoolboy encounter with the stone in the 1950s. There are already some good books on the subject ... but Ray sheds new light on topics such as the fragile political position of the stone's hero, teenage pharaoh Ptolemy V, and the issue of whether the stone should one day be returned to Egypt."
--Andrew Robinson, New Scientist

"The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt [Ray] successfully captures the West's fascination with Egypt. Always the master of his subject, he entertains rather than lectures, is sparing with minutiae but still finds space for telling detail."
--Anthony Sattin, Sunday Times

"A wonderful introduction not only to the Rosetta Stone and its story, but also to the growth and development of modern Egyptology.... Ray also offers an illuminating overview of dead language studies and the colorful figures who devote their lives to it.... This informative text has an appealing, conversational tone that non-specialists should find especially welcoming."
--Publishers Weekly

"Ray balances his acumen with accessibility in presenting the stele's history, which takes several forms. From a historical perspective, the text, a 196 BCE agreement between the Ptolemaic pharaoh and the Egyptian priesthood, opens a window on a culture and polity in distress. Another history is intellectual, that of the Rosetta Stone's spectacular role in the decipherment of hieroglyphics.... Ruminating on whether it, or antiquities generally, should be repatriated, Ray underscores that its history continues. Concise and informative.
--Gilbert Taylor, Booklist

Read an excerpt and learn more about the book at the Harvard University Press website.

John Ray is Herbert Thompson Professor of Egyptology at Cambridge University and is also a Fellow of Selwyn College.

The Page 99 Test: The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt.

--Marshal Zeringue

Most important books: Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer is the author of Eiger Dreams, Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, and Under the Banner of Heaven. He recently told Newsweek about his five most important books.

And he addressed two other book-related issues:

A Certified Important book you still haven't read:

Principia Mathematica by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell. I bet fewer than 5 percent of the people who claim to have read this actually have.

A classic that, upon rereading, disappointed:

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. After I learned of his boast that he wrote all the dialogue from memory, much of it struck me as having been invented.

Read about Krakauer's most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Lin Anderson's "Dark Flight"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: Lin Anderson's Dark Flight.

About the book, from the author's website:

"... the face that stared at him through the glass was his mum's, but it didn't look like her. Stephen's mouth dropped open and real fear grabbed his stomach. His mum's face was chalk white, her mouth twisted in pain. Behind her was a dark shadow. Stephen dropped the bones."

A six year-old boy has vanished, his mother and grandmother horrifically murdered. At the scene, forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod finds a chilling African talisman, made from the bones of a child. Can she decipher its meaning and track Stephen down before he becomes the next link in the killers' chain?

Among the praise for Dark Flight:

"The house was a bloodbath - the younger woman mutilated, the older woman dead at the hands of a killer she probably didn't even see. In the blood was a footprint belonging to the crime's only potential witness - a six-year-old boy who had vanished, leaving behind a macabre clue - bones tied in the shape of a diagonal cross. It's a gut-wrenching kill that takes forensic scientist Dr. Rhona McLeod from the cold streets of Glasgow to the searing heat of Nigeria, in search of the demons that demand the ultimate sacrifice. Forget Las Vegas, forget Miami, this is CSI Dowanhill and it'll keep your adrenalin pumping from the first terrifying page until the last."
--Daily Record

"The gritty realism with which Anderson evokes her settings is one of the best things about this novel."
--Times

"[a] sexy new rival for old Rebus..."
--The Scotsman

"Lin Anderson is one of Scotland’s national treasures -­ don’t be fooled by comparisons, her writing is unique, bringing warmth and depth to even the seediest parts of Glasgow. Lin’s Rhona MacLeod is a complex and compelling heroine who just gets better with every outing."
--Stuart MacBride, author of Cold Granite and Dying Light

Lin Anderson is an author and screenwriter. Learn more about Dark Flight and the Rhona MacLeod series at her website.

The Page 69 Test: Dark Flight.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Alan Weisman reading?

Currently featured at Writers Read: Alan Weisman, author of The World Without Us (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007) and many other books and articles.

Weisman mentions several interesting titles including "a lovely and surprising novel, The World to Come, by Dara Horn" (which Horn applied the "Page 99 Test" to earlier this year). Read on -- there's much more of interest in Weisman's entry.

About The World Without Us, from the official website:

In The World Without Us, Alan Weisman offers an utterly original approach to questions of humanity's impact on the planet: he asks us to envision our Earth, without us.

In this far-reaching narrative, Weisman explains how our massive infrastructure would collapse and finally vanish without human presence; what of our everyday stuff may become immortalized as fossils; how copper pipes and wiring would be crushed into mere seams of reddish rock; why some of our earliest buildings might be the last architecture left; and how plastic, bronze sculpture, radio waves, and some man-made molecules may be our most lasting gifts to the universe.

The World Without Us reveals how, just days after humans disappear, floods in New York's subways would start eroding the city's foundations, and how, as the world’s cities crumble, asphalt jungles give way to real ones. It describes the distinct ways that organic and chemically-treated farms would revert to wild, how billions more birds would flourish, and how cockroaches in unheated cities would perish without us. Drawing on the expertise of engineers, atmospheric scientists, art conservators, zoologists, oil refiners, marine biologists, astrophysicists, religious leaders from rabbis to the Dalai Lama, and paleontologists – who describe a pre-human world inhabited by megafauna like giant sloths that stood taller than mammoths – Weisman illustrates what the planet might be like today, if not for us.

From places already devoid of humans (a last fragment of primeval European forest; the Korean DMZ; Chernobyl), Weisman reveals Earth's tremendous capacity for self-healing. As he shows which human devastations are indelible, and which examples of our highest art and culture would endure longest, Weisman's narrative ultimately drives toward a radical but persuasive solution that doesn't depend on our demise. It is narrative nonfiction at its finest, and in posing an irresistible concept with both gravity and a highly-readable touch, it looks deeply at our effects on the planet in a way that no other book has.

Read an excerpt from The World Without Us.

Among the praise for the book:

[No] “end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it story…is more audacious or interesting than Alan Weisman’s The World Without Us.”
—Boston Globe

"I don't think I've read a better non-fiction book this year.”
—Lev Grossman, TIME Book Critic

"This is one of the grandest thought experiments of our time, a tremendous feat of imaginative reporting!"
—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and The Durable Future

“The imaginative power of The World Without Us is compulsive and nearly hypnotic--make sure you have time to be kidnapped into Alan Weisman’s alternative world before you sit down with the book, because you won’t soon return. This is a text that has a chance to change people, and so make a real difference for the planet.”
—Charles Wohlforth, author of L.A. Times Book Prize-winning The Whale and the Supercomputer

Alan Weisman's writing has appeared in Harper's, the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Orion, Audubon, Mother Jones, Discover, Condé Nast Traveler, Resurgence, and in several anthologies (including The Best American Science Writing 2006). The World Without Us is his fifth book.

Read more about The World Without Us and learn more about Alan Weisman and his work.

Writers Read: Alan Weisman.

--Marshal Zeringue

Michael Kun's "The Locklear Letters," the movie

The current feature at My Book, The Movie: Michael Kun's The Locklear Letters.

Here's the gist of the story, from the author:

The Locklear Letters, in a nutshell, is the story of a computer salesman named Sid Straw, who lives in Baltimore. Sid sends a letter to his college classmate, Heather Locklear, the star of Melrose Place, Spin City and a number of other television series, requesting an autographed photo for his brother. Unfortunately, Sid's request leads to more and more letters that have a terrible effect upon his job, his relationships and his mental health.

The book has been optioned, so it may yet become a movie. Read on for the author's thoughts about the actors who might portray his characters.

Michael Kun is the author of A Thousand Benjamins, The Locklear Letters, My Wife and My Dead Wife, You Poor Monster, and Corrections to My Memoirs. His short stories have appeared in Other Voices, Fiction, Indy Men's Magazine, Story Quarterly, and Cottonwood, among other publications.

Earlier this year he applied the Page 69 Test to Corrections to My Memoirs.

Visit Michael Kun's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Locklear Letters.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 10: Asian crime fiction

"If you only looked at size of population, you'd expect China and India to dominate any list like this, but in fact it is Japan which has taken crime fiction to its bosom," writes novelist Catherine Sampson in the preface to her top ten list of Asian crime fiction for the Guardian. "In China, politics adds a thick layer of complication. To write about crime in China - however fictional - is to advertise the fact that Chinese society is not an entirely harmonious and benign thing. Of course, China's leaders are a lot more tolerant than they once were when it comes to literature, but it's still sensitive, and crime fiction is a small but growing genre. The Beijing that I see around me, with its speed-of-light economic growth, its social dislocation, its constantly migrating population and its quagmire of corruption, is a verdant pasture for crime fiction. And its political claustrophobia is the perfect environment for a private eye who is an honourable man struggling against a system that threatens to overwhelm him."

I've only read one of the titles on Sampson's list, I'm glad to say (because it means I've got all the others to look forward to):

The Quiet American by Graham Greene

When I visited Saigon several years ago, this book was photocopied and sold on stalls throughout the city. A mystery and so much more - this is a classic tale of a romantic triangle, violent politics and murder. Many of the books on this list have been written by Asians who have left Asia, at least for a while. Several of the books by non-Asian's, like this one and HRF Keating's take an expatriate community as their focus. As a writer who is not Asian but dares to write about Asia, I think it can be done. But there are few non-Asian writers who manage to make Asia, and one searing point in history, so utterly alive as Graham Greene.

Read about Number One on Sampson's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Sophie Gee's "The Scandal of the Season"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: Sophie Gee's The Scandal of the Season.

About the book, from the author's website:

The Scandal of the Season is the story of the real-life seduction of the beautiful, clever Arabella Fermor by the charming, enigmatic nobleman Robert Petre, seventh Baron of Ingatestone. A true story, covered up in its day because it threatened to cause a sensation. It was the tale that gave rise to Alexander Pope’s bestselling poem “The Rape of the Lock,” the era’s most celebrated entertainment.

The novel plays out against the backdrop of eighteenth-century London: teeming street-life; glorious buildings, newly restored after the Great Fire; the River Thames, the artery of England’s trade and commerce; splendid parks and gardens; magnificent townhouses; and Hampton Court itself — Queen Anne’s palace.

The novel is an erotic, witty drama about the City and the Court in early eighteenth-century England — a time of Jacobite plots and Popish fears that threatened to erupt in political violence. A time when marriage was a market and sex was a temptation fraught with dangers. A sexy modern love-story — set in 1711.

Among the praise for The Scandal of the Season:

“A seduction reminiscent of Dangerous Liaisons, with the crackling historical mystery of An Instance of the Fingerpost. The Scandal of the Season captures the breezy poetic romance of Shakespeare in Love, recast to star Alexander Pope."
—Ian Caldwell, coauthor of The Rule of Four

“Sophie Gee's dazzling, sophisticated novel is a clever re-imagining of Alexander Pope's famous poem and a wildly entertaining tale in its own right. The romance and adventure of The Scandal of the Season will seduce readers from the first page.”
—Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana

"With passion and flair, The Scandal of the Season animates an intriguing period of literary history, fleshed out in fluid, intricate and seductive writing. Every reader will enjoy the wit and subtlety in the novel's dangerous and delicate balance of eighteenth century customs and transgressions. What a first impression! Sophie Gee's debut novel signals her unique expertise and a great career ahead."
—Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow

"With The Scandal of the Season, Sophie Gee gives us that rarest of pleasures: a tale at once intelligent and frothy, richly edifying and compulsively readable. Combining her eye for details with her flair for narrative suspense, Gee recreates the glamour, intrigue and treachery of Alexander Pope's London: a captivating world that I was sad to leave when I reached the book's final page."
—Caroline Weber, author of Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution

“Gee’s lively, highly literate debut explores the historical figures and events
satirized in Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock.” Delightfully gossipy, psychologically insightful and historically fascinating.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Gee's shrewd debut, an erudite period piece filled with outrageous flirtation, social maneuvering and contests of wit … is sprinkled with literary cameos and jokes English lit majors will appreciate, while crackling verbal one-upmanship and crude double entendres should keep the hoi polloi turning pages. Gee's take on the Paris Hilton–like figures who pranced through London 300 years ago manages to be simultaneously tabloid bawdy and academy proper.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Drawn with an arch tone and acute observational gifts worthy of the best traditions of social satire, the book is a deeply entertaining and illuminating read.”
—Sydney Morning Herald

Read an excerpt from The Scandal of the Season and learn more about the novel at Sophie Gee's website.

Sophie Gee is an assistant professor in the Department of English at Princeton.

The Page 99 Test: The Scandal of the Season.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Brett Battles' "The Cleaner"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Brett Battles' The Cleaner.

About the book, from the author's website:

Jonathan Quinn is a professional cleaner. His job? Nothing too violent, just disposing of bodies, doing a little cleanup if necessary. But in Brett Battles' electrifying debut novel, Quinn's latest assignment will change everything, igniting a harrowing journey of violence, betrayal, and revenge.

The job seemed simple enough: investigating a suspicious case of arson. But when a dead body turns up where it doesn't belong — and Quinn's handlers at "the Office" turn strangely silent — he knows he's in over his head.

With only a handful of clues, Quinn scrambles for cover, struggling to find out why someone wants him dead ... and if it's linked to a larger attempt to wipe out the Office.

His only hope may be Orlando, a woman from his past who's reluctant to help but who may hold the key to solving the case. Suddenly the two are prying into old crimes, crisscrossing continents, struggling to stay alive long enough to unbury the truth. But as the hunt intensifies, Quinn is stunned by what he uncovers: a chilling secret ... and a brilliantly orchestrated conspiracy — with an almost unimaginable goal.

Furiously paced, filled with superbly drawn characters and pitch-perfect dialogue, The Cleaner puts a powerful twist on all our expectations as it confirms Brett Battles' place as one of the most exciting new talents in suspense fiction today.

Among the early praise for The Cleaner:

"This book is a pure delight. Protagonist Jonathan Quinn is a unique and welcome addition to the world of crime fiction. Author Battles' The Cleaner is a brilliant and heart-pounding thriller; I'm on the edge of my seat, awaiting future installment of Quinn's adventures."
—Jeffery Deaver

"Brett Battles makes a grand entrance into the thriller scene with this unputdownable spy novel The Cleaner has it all: exotic locales, James Bondian derring-do, and ingenious plot twists that will keep you sweating all the way till the end."
—Tess Gerritsen

"It's always great to discover a new writer who can turn a genre on its ear. Brett Battles's The Cleaner proves the case. Part Raymond Chandler, part Clive Cussler, part Robert Ludlum, here is an international thriller chocked full of action, taut with suspense, and laced with a fair amount of humor and romance. An exciting debut by a major new talent... I look forward to seeing what comes next!"
—James Rollins

"Brett Battles is a compelling new voice in the thriller genre. The Cleaner combines the best elements of Lee Child, John LeCarre and Robert Ludlum. Deftly plotted, perfectly paced and expertly executed, Battles takes his readers on a joyride from the U.S. to Vietnam to post-Cold War Berlin. Jonathan Quinn is a character worth rooting for. Brett Battles is a master story teller. Find a comfortable chair and plan to stay up late. You won't be able to put it down. A stellar debut. Highly-recommended."
—Sheldon Siegel

"Hypnotically gripping, The Cleaner by Brett Battles moves with the speed of an assassin's unerring bullet. From Colorado to Vietnam and Germany, this ripping-good read will leave anyone who loves suspense not only happily satisfied but eager for Battles' next thriller."
—Gayle Lynds

"Brett Battles is a master thriller writer. Jonathan Quinn is simply the most compelling protagonist to debut in a decade. No thriller fan can afford to miss this rip-roaring experience."
—John Ramsey Miller

"The Cleaner has it all: fast action, terrific characters, and exotic locations all combined in a roller-coaster plot that's guaranteed to keep you reading till the last page. Brett Battles might be a newcomer, but he writes like an old hand. This is one terrific book!"
—John Gilstrap

"An emotionally tense tale of espionage and betrayal from a new author who writes with assurance and sophistication, The Cleaner's teeth-gritting action is an auspicious debut for the talented Brett Battles."
—Perri O'Shaughnessy

Read an excerpt from The Cleaner and more about the novel at the author's website and at Killer Year.

The Page 69 Test: The Cleaner.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Juan Cole's "Napoleon's Egypt"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: Juan Cole's Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this vivid and timely history, Juan Cole tells the story of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. Revealing the young general's reasons for leading the expedition against Egypt in 1798 and showcasing his fascinating views of the Orient, Cole delves into the psychology of the military titan and his entourage. He paints a multi-faceted portrait of the daily travails of the soldiers in Napoleon's army, including how they imagined Egypt, how their expectations differed from what they found, and how they grappled with military challenges in a foreign land. Cole ultimately reveals how Napoleon's invasion, the first modern attempt to invade the Arab world, invented and crystallized the rhetoric of liberal imperialism.

Among the early praise for Napoleon's Egypt:

"A timely and entertaining look at a previous Middle Eastern misadventure by one of America's most provocative and informed scholars."
--Lawrence Wright, author of the Pulitzer Award-winning The Looming Tower: al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

"We are told that at the time of their invasion of Iraq the top leaders of the U.S. did not know anything about the division within Islam between Sunni and Shia -- or, for that matter, the history of Iraq, Iran, Egypt, or the other key countries of the Middle East. If any American is interested in catching up, the place to begin is with Juan Cole's Napoleon's Egypt: The Invention of the Middle East, a masterful and beautifully written account of Western imperialism's first assault on the Islamic world. It includes indispensable details on the West's contempt for Islamic peoples -- so-called Orientalism -- and the untold misery it has caused."
--Chalmers Johnson, author of Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic

"When Napoleon invaded Egypt, many outsiders believed the Middle East was a region they could easily conquer and rule. Some still believe it. Cole's book reminds us that today's leaders are not the first to find the Islamic world far more complex than they imagined. It not only offers delicious stories about the private lives of invaders, but also teaches urgent lessons for the modern age."
--Stephen Kinzer, bestselling author of Overthrow and All the Shah's Men

"This is a detailed account of Napoleon's brief attempt to invade and occupy Egypt. With great skill the author depicts the horrors and massacres consequent to an invasion and the evil it causes both occupier and occupied. Imperial attempts have seldom been as disastrous a fiasco as this one was and Napoleon tried to down play the brutality and cupidity of the invasion and ordered the State Papers dealing with it burnt. However thanks to the diaries and letters of the invaders we have detailed accounts of how a so-called civilized people can inflict untold horrors on an alien race in the name of imperialism, which in other words, was for greed and contempt for 'the other' masked in the guise of teaching them 'liberty', a concept which today we translate as 'democracy'."
--Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid Marsot, Professor Emerita of Near Eastern History, UCLA, and award-winning author of Egypt in the Reign of Muhammed Ali

"This is a remarkable book, which provides a gripping account of the first modern encounter between a western army and a Middle Eastern country, and should provide cautionary reading for those who still think that superior Western power will inevitably prevail over the resistance of a population determined not to be subjugated by outsiders."
--Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor at Columbia and author of The Iron Cage and Resurrecting Empire

Juan Cole is Professor of Modern Middle East and South Asian History at the University of Michigan. He also runs the popular blog Informed Comment.

Read more about Napoleon's Egypt at the publisher's website and at the Napoleon's Egypt blog.

The Page 99 Test: Napoleon's Egypt.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kate Christensen's list

Last week at The Week magazine, Kate Christensen contributed "The List" -- six books that she rereads all the time.

One of her titles:

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

I know there’s no hope for Lily Bart, I know she’s doomed. But it’s only because she’s unable to sell herself to the highest bidder; she has no clue about the compromises of pragmatism. Every time I witness her downfall, I long to help her, but she’s that beloved and soon-to-be mourned friend who can’t be saved from herself.

Read more about Christensen's list.

Kate Christensen’s latest novel, The Great Man, will be published this month by Doubleday.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Sharon Waxman reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Sharon Waxman, author and journalist.

She is working on a book about the tug-of-war over antiquities pitting Western countries and their great museums against the developing countries seeking restitution of ancient artifacts. The book, tentatively titled, Stealing From the Pharaohs, will be published by Times Books. Her recent reading has been guided by this project; read on to see what books accompanied Waxman on her recent research trip.

Waxman has been a New York Times correspondent for Hollywood based in Los Angeles, a post she has held since the end of 2003. She is the author of Rebels on the Backlot: Six Maverick Directors And How They Conquered the Hollywood Studio System (2005), about the emergence of a new generation of writers and directors in the 1990s, making landmark films in a corporate-run Hollywood.

Writers Read: Sharon Waxman.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: S.J. Rozan's "In this Rain"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: S.J. Rozan's In this Rain.

About the book, from the publisher:

Three years ago, a child’s death blew open a vortex of corruption inside Manhattan’s lucrative construction industry. And it sent one innocent man to jail. Joe Cole is a former city investigator who now lives a broken life, cut off from his wife and daughter, and from the city he once knew so well. But for Joe, everything changes when a woman’s murder and a teenager’s rooftop freefall rip open old wounds — and reveal a shocking layer of rage and deception.

It is Joe’s former partner, beautiful, hard-charging investigator Ann Montgomery, who first sees the lies, forcing Joe out of his self-imposed isolation to help her unravel the cover-ups and secret relationships that allow the powerful to hide their crimes. Soon, the two are entering the darkest corners of their city, delving into the hidden desires of a borough president who wants to be mayor, the motivations of a charismatic community activist, and the machinations of a mayor whose ambitions know no bounds. As the secrets of each player are exposed, as the primal forces of greed, sex, and power come to the surface, Ann and Joe know they must press their search all the way to the end — because the most powerful revelations are yet to come.

From a brilliantly choreographed press conference to a scandalous love affair gone terribly wrong, In This Rain takes us into the heart of a sprawling, brawling city — in a masterpiece of suspense that proves once again the unique and daring genius of S. J. Rozan.

Among the praise for In this Rain:

“A murder mystery, make no mistake, but [In This Rain] also may be the most Manhattan-centric entertainment to come our way since Woody Allen switched his cameras to London.”
—Los Angeles Times

"... social fabric so dense and so convincing that everyone in the Big Apple, from power-hungry politicos to money-hungry developers to survival-hungry street kids, comes alive. An exuberant celebration of the rainbow city in all its crime-drenched glory."
—Kirkus

"This is a New York story, steeped in political intrigue, ripe with descriptions of the city and its history. The payoff will be particularly rewarding for readers interested in big machines, both the kind that move earth and those behind political parties."
—Publishers Weekly

"From the mean streets of Harlem to the chilly corridors of City Hall, Rozan vividly evokes New York City in all its sound and fury."
—Booklist

Visit Rozan's website and read an excerpt from In this Rain.

S.J. Rozan has won the the Edgar, Nero, Macavity, Shamus and Anthony awards for Best Novel and the Edgar award for Best Short Story.

The Page 69 Test: In this Rain.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: David Linden's "The Accidental Mind"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: David Linden's The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given Us Love, Memory, Dreams, and God.

About the book, from the publisher:

You've probably seen it before: a human brain dramatically lit from the side, the camera circling it like a helicopter shot of Stonehenge, and a modulated baritone voice exalting the brain's elegant design in reverent tones.

To which this book says: Pure nonsense. In a work at once deeply learned and wonderfully accessible, the neuroscientist David Linden counters the widespread assumption that the brain is a paragon of design -- and in its place gives us a compelling explanation of how the brain's serendipitous evolution has resulted in nothing short of our humanity. A guide to the strange and often illogical world of neural function, The Accidental Mind shows how the brain is not an optimized, general-purpose problem-solving machine, but rather a weird agglomeration of ad-hoc solutions that have been piled on through millions of years of evolutionary history. Moreover, Linden tells us how the constraints of evolved brain design have ultimately led to almost every transcendent human foible: our long childhoods, our extensive memory capacity, our search for love and long-term relationships, our need to create compelling narrative, and, ultimately, the universal cultural impulse to create both religious and scientific explanations. With forays into evolutionary biology, this analysis of mental function answers some of our most common questions about how we've come to be who we are.

Among the praise for The Accidental Mind:

"[A] lively mix of solid science and fascinating case histories... The book's greatest strength is Linden's knack for demystifying biology and neuroscience with vivid similes (he calls the brain, weighing two percent of total body weight and using 20 percent of its energy, the Hummer H2 of the body). Though packed with textbook-ready data, the book grips readers like a masterful teacher; those with little science experience may be surprised to find themselves interested in -- and even chuckling over -- the migration of neurons along radial glia, and anxious to find out what happens next."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"More than another salvo in the battle over whether biological structures are the products of supernatural design or biological evolution (though Linden has no doubt it's the latter), research on our brain's primitive foundation is cracking such puzzles as why we cannot tickle ourselves, why we are driven to spin narratives even in our dreams and why reptilian traits persist in our gray matter."
--Sharon Begley, Newsweek

"Linden tells his story well, in an engaging style, with plenty of erudition and a refreshing honesty about how much remains unknown. The book should easily hold the attention of readers with little background in biology and no prior knowledge of brains. It would make an excellent present for curious non-scientists and a good book for undergraduates who are just entering into the brain's magic menagerie. Even readers trained in neuroscience are likely to enjoy the many tidbits of rarely taught information -- on love, sex, gender, sleep and dreams -- that spice up Linden's main argument. The Accidental Mind stands out for being highly readable and clearly educational. No doubt, the human brain evolved along a constrained path and is, in some respects, designed imperfectly. Linden will send that message home... We still know too little about the brain's inner workings to judge how well it does its job. What we do know, and what The Accidental Mind helps us to realize, is that the human brain is not designed as many have imagined."
--Georg Striedter, Nature

"The majority of this book is an enjoyable neurosciences primer for the general reader. Evolutionary and psychological perspectives provide occasional insights about the mind, but mostly the subject here is the organ capable of conjuring it into existence. Linden makes clear that the physical substrate of our mental phenomena -- the squidgy and haphazard mass of our brain -- is a gloriously evolved muddle."
--Druin Burch, Times Literary Supplement

David J. Linden, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His laboratory has worked for many years on the cellular substrates of memory storage in the brain.

Visit The Accidental Mind website and read some free chapters from the book.

The Page 99 Test: The Accidental Mind.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: "The House the Rockefellers Built"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: The House the Rockefellers Built: A Tale of Money, Taste, and Power in Twentieth-Century America by Robert F. Dalzell and Lee Baldwin Dalzell.

About the book, from the publisher:

What it was like to be as rich as Rockefeller: How a house gave shape and meaning to three generations of an iconic American family

One hundred years ago America’s richest man established a dynastic seat, the granite-clad Kykuit, high above the Hudson River. Though George Vanderbilt’s 255-room Biltmore had recently put the American country house on the money map, John D. Rockefeller, who detested ostentation, had something simple in mind — at least until his son John Jr. and his charming wife, Abby, injected a spirit of noblesse oblige into the equation. Built to honor the senior Rockefeller, the house would also become the place above all others that anchored the family’s memories. There could never be a better picture of the Rockefellers and their ambitions for the enormous fortune Senior had settled upon them.

The authors take us inside the house and the family to observe a century of building and rebuilding — the ebb and flow of events and family feelings, the architecture and furnishings, the art and the gardens. A complex saga, The House the Rockefellers Built is alive with surprising twists and turns that reveal the tastes of a large family often sharply at odds with one another about the fortune the house symbolized.

Among the early praise for The House the Rockefellers Built:

“This is a book about a great house, to be sure, but more about the conversations taking place inside it, which the Dalzell’s have recovered with perfect pitch – conversations about what to do with the greatest fortune in American history.”
—Joseph J. Ellis, author of the upcoming American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic

“The creation of a house is not unlike the raising of a child. Lee and Robert Dalzell have brilliantly brought to life the complexities, constraints, and compromises that underlie the drama surrounding the building of Kykuit and have continued the story through the years that followed with equal finesse.”
—Pauline C. Metcalf, author of Ogden Codman and the Decoration of Houses

"The Dalzells ... do an astonishing job of placing Kykuit in historical context while weaving the larger-than-life Rockefeller personalities into its very walls and hallways."
—Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

Robert F. Dalzell is Ephraim Williams Professor of American History at Williams College, and is the author of Enterprising Elite: The Boston Associates and the World They Made and Daniel Webster and the Trial of American Nationalism. Lee Baldwin Dalzell was for many years the head of the Reference Department at the Williams College Library. They previously collaborated on George Washington’s Mount Vernon: At Home in Revolutionary America.

Read an excerpt from The House the Rockefellers Built.

The Page 69 Test: The House the Rockefellers Built.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Catherine Allgor's "A Perfect Union"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: Catherine Allgor's A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation.

About the book, from the publisher:

When the roar of the Revolution had finally died down, a new generation of politicians was summoned to the Potomac to assemble the nation’s capital. Into that unsteady atmosphere -- which would soon enough erupt into another conflict with Britain -- Dolley Madison arrived, alongside her husband, James. Within a few years, she had mastered both the social and political intricacies of the city, and by her death in 1849 was the most celebrated person in Washington. And yet, to most Americans, she’s best known for saving a portrait from the burning White House.

Why did her contemporaries so admire a lady so little known today? In A Perfect Union, acclaimed historian Catherine Allgor reveals how Dolley manipulated the constraints of her gender to construct an American democratic ruling style and to achieve her husband’s political goals. By emphasizing cooperation over coercion -- building bridges instead of bunkers -- she left us with not only an important story about our past but a model for a modern form of politics.

Among the praise for A Perfect Union:

“Delightful and discerning.... In this evocative study a remarkable woman, creator of the ‘first lady’ role, comes vividly to life.”
--New York Times

"The erudition and charm of this biography are rivaled only by that of its subject...."
--Publishers Weekly

Allgor "captures Dolley's charisma and her essential role in the politics of her time."
--The New Yorker

“Allgor ... is a fine writer and a perceptive historian who easily captures the political landscape of early America. She provides helpful guides to various battles dividing the country: Federalists vs. Republicans, Anglophiles vs. Francophiles, and New England (the region voted most likely to secede) vs. everyone else.”
--Christian Science Monitor

“For some time Dolley Madison has been a beguiling ornament, flashing her femininity in the parlors of the early American republic. Here, at last, Catherine Allgor, with great style and wit, recovers a different Dolley, a full-fledged political partner with James Madison. Now, in addition to John and Abigail, we have James and Dolley.”
--Joseph J. Ellis, author of His Excellency: George Washington

“Where is Dolley Madison when we need her? Catherine Allgor makes clear that Mrs. Madison's skills as a hostess and politician held the country together when rabid partisanship threatened to tear it apart. This is a well-told biography of a true nineteenth-century celebrity, but a celebrity with substance, savvy and courage.”
--Cokie Roberts, author of Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation

Catherine Allgor is a professor of History at the University of California Riverside. Her previous book is Parlor Politics: In Which the Ladies of Washington Help Build a City and a Government (University of Virginia Press, 2000), which won the prize for the best first book by the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. Pulitzer Prize Winner Joseph J. Ellis calls it, "An extraordinary piece of work, easily one of the most intellectually original and stylishly elegant first books I have ever read."

The Page 99 Test: A Perfect Union.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five best: biographies of American philanthropists

Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and author of the autobiography The Road to Home ( 2003) and Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith (2004), selected a five best "biographies of American philanthropists" list for Opinion Journal.

One title on the list:

Mellon by David Cannadine

British historian David Cannadine admits that he embarked on the research for a biography of Andrew Mellon (1855-1937) with some ill feeling about his subject: He believed Mellon to be "an unsympathetic person with unappealing politics." But after being given unfettered access to the financier's papers by the Mellon family and foundation, Mr. Cannadine seems to have developed a rapt -- if not always admiring -- interest in what he terms the "big life" that Mellon led. A passionate love of art led Mellon to amass a magnificent collection, including 21 of the Hermitage's greatest paintings. (Apparently, Stalin needed the money to advance the Soviet economy.) In 1937, Mellon deeded the collection to the American people in what Mr. Cannadine calls a philanthropic gift without "precedent or parallel" in the country's history. Thus was born the National Gallery of Art. At the time, the gift was valued at $60 million -- priceless today in terms of both worth and significance.

Read about Number One on Gregorian's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Michael Simon's "The Last Jew Standing"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Michael Simon's The Last Jew Standing.

About the book, from the author's website:

Will detective Dan Reles arrest his own father . . . or will the Mob find him first?

Lieutenant Dan Reles has a new house, a wife, and a son, and a great career as head of Austin Homicide, but it’s funny how your past catches up with you. When Dan’s deadbeat father Ben Reles, a Mafia legbreaker who’s spent the last twenty years on the run, shows up on Dan’s doorstep with an escaped prostitute in tow, trouble is sure to follow.

That trouble is Sam Zelig, a sociopathic godfather with limitless resources and boundless rage. In several diabolical strokes, he now holds Austin hostage, forcing Dan to choose between the town he’s sworn to protect, his new family, and his father. In the process he faces trial by fire, bullet, bridge embankment, and one very angry woodchipper. Sure to satisfy Simon’s core devotees as well as fans of Dennis Lehane and James Ellroy, Last Jew Standing is fastpaced and suspenseful from start to finish.

Among the advance praise for the novel:

“The Last Jew Standing is a terrific detective story, smart, dark, and acidly funny. A wonderful read!”
—Kevin Baker, author of Dreamland and Striver's Row

“The Last Jew Standing is a great rollicking yarn about good guys and bad guys in many splendid shades of gray. It is also a brilliant exploration of the complex ties of family and the price we pay for love, and for loyalty. This is a crime story that transcends any bounds of genre. Michael Simon is a literary force to be reckoned with.”
—Thomas Kelly, author of Empire Rising

“The Last Jew Standing is one of the few crime novels of the past decade by a relatively new writer that I've felt is a must-read. Gritty, dirty and violent, The Last Jew Standing brings to life characters I don't think I will ever forget. Some are heartbreakingly sad. Some are shockingly selfish and violent and others wander through life improvising with the creativity of the desperate. Michael Simon is a masterful teller of tales that made me care. Don't miss this author who may remind you of James Ellroy or George V. Higgins or even Don Winslow, but is uniquely his very arrestable self.”
—Stuart M. Kaminsky

“In his trademark neat, almost noir prose, Simon perfectly conveys the dilemmas facing a perpetual outsider determined to do the right thing. His hero is subtly drawn, his problems plausible and his colleagues are smart renderings. A graceful thriller.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Fast, furious and anarchic!”
—Booklist

Michael Simon is a former actor, playwright, and Texas probation officer; his other thrillers include Dirty Sally, Body Scissors, and Little Faith.

Read an excerpt from The Last Jew Standing, and learn more about Michael Simon and his books at his website and his MySpace page.

The Page 69 Test: The Last Jew Standing.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69 & Pg. 99: "Winter of Different Directions"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test — where the author put the Page 69 Test to his story collection as well — is Steven McDermott's Winter of Different Directions.

Because Winter of Different Directions is a collection of twenty stories written in different styles, the double-barreled approach of using both tests works out well.

Steven J. McDermott — editor and publisher of the literary journal STORYGLOSSIA and its accompanying litblog — has had his stories published in numerous online and print journals, now you can hear him read the stories on his podcast.

Visit McDermott's website, his MySpace page, and the STORYGLOSSIA website.

The Page 69 & Page 99 Tests: Winter of Different Directions.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Joseph S. Nye reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Joseph S. Nye, Jr., the Harvard political scientist.

While I hope this blog encourages readers to pick up a book or two they might otherwise pass by, I more aggressively "promoted" hundreds of copies of Joseph Nye's Understanding International Conflicts (6th. ed.) -- easily the best introduction to understanding international politics available -- back when I taught international relations and compelled my students to read it.

For well over a decade Nye has advocated that America do a better job of using its "soft power" -- "the ability to get what you want by attracting and persuading others to adopt your goals."

Joseph S. Nye Jr., is University Distinguished Service Professor, is also the Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations and former Dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He received his bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Princeton University, did postgraduate work at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, and earned a PhD in political science from Harvard. He has served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Chair of the National Intelligence Council, and Deputy Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology.

His books include Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics; Understanding International Conflicts (6th edition); The Paradox of American Power: Why the World's Only Superpower Can't Go It Alone; Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power; and The Power Game: A Washington Novel.

Writers Read: Joseph S. Nye.

--Marshal Zeringue

Christa Faust's "Hoodtown," the movie

The current feature at My Book, The Movie: Christa Faust's Hoodtown.

Faust explains that a film adaptation with major stars is highly unlikely:

Hoodtown is the story of a washed up female masked wrestler who dishes out vigilante justice. The novel is set in a tough urban ghetto of "hoods" who remain masked at all times. It's classic hardboiled pulp crossed with the vintage lucha heroes of 1960's Mexican cinema.

I've always considered Hoodtown to be essentially unfilmable by current Hollywood standards. It's very visual and would make a great independent film, but there are just too many deal breakers to attract any big name talent.

Read on to learn about why Hoodtown will not be coming soon to a multiplex near you -- but who would star, direct, and provide the soundtrack if it did and Faust had total creative control.

So much for hypothetical movies. Faust's new book, Money Shot (forthcoming in 2008 from Hard Case Crime), is now casting for the promotional video trailer she's shooting.

The story:

THEY THOUGHT SHE’D BE EASY. THEY THOUGHT WRONG.

It all began with the phone call asking former porn star Angel Dare to do one more movie. Before she knew it, she’d been shot and left for dead in the trunk of a car. But Angel is a survivor. And that means she’ll get to the bottom of what’s been done to her even if she has to leave a trail of bodies along the way...

Do you look like the model on the book cover? If so, contact Faust about your chance to play Angel Dare in the video trailer.

Visit Christa Faust's website and her blog to learn more about her work.

My Book, The Movie: Christa Faust's Hoodtown.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Lisa Jean Moore's "Sperm Counts"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: Lisa Jean Moore's Sperm Counts: Overcome by Man's Most Precious Fluid.

About the book, from the New York University Press:

It has been called sperm, semen, seed, cum, jizz, spunk, gentlemen's relish, and splooge. But however the "tacky, opaque liquid that comes out of the penis" is described, the very act of defining "sperm" and "semen" depends on your point of view. For Lisa Jean Moore, how sperm comes to be known is based on who defines it (a scientist vs. a defense witness, for example), under what social circumstances it is found (a doctor's office vs. a crime scene), and for what purposes it will be used (in vitro fertilization vs. DNA analysis). Examining semen historically, medically, and culturally, Sperm Counts is a penetrating exploration of its meaning and power.

Using a "follow that sperm" approach, Moore shows how representations of sperm and semen are always in flux, tracing their twisting journeys from male reproductive glands to headline news stories and presidential impeachment trials. Much like the fluid of semen itself can leak onto fabrics and into bodies, its meanings seep into our consciousness over time. Moore's analytic lens yields intriguing observations of how sperm is "spent" and "reabsorbed" as it spurts, swims, and careens through penises, vaginas, test tubes, labs, families, cultures, and politics.

Drawn from fifteen years of research, Sperm Counts examines historical and scientific documents, children's "facts of life" books, pornography, the Internet, forensic transcripts and sex worker narratives to explain how semen got so complicated. Among other things, understanding how we produce, represent, deploy and institutionalize semen-biomedically, socially and culturally-provides valuable new perspectives on the changing social position of men and the evolving meanings of masculinity. Ultimately, as Moore reveals, sperm is intimately involved in not only the physical reproduction of males and females, but in how we come to understand ourselves as men and women.

Among the praise for Sperm Counts:

"In Sperm Counts, Moore's new book about the cultural meanings of sperm, she tells this story to illustrate her own childhood naiveté about a substance that, as she now sees it, is far from simple. These days, according to Moore, sperm has tremendous cultural meaning — and looking at it in its many contexts, from children's books to pornography, can tell us a great deal about the skittish state of American masculinity.... Sperm Counts is a serious book, and the first on its subject. But it also includes anecdotes from Moore's life, lending it a more conversational tone than most academic works. The book's margins are even squiggled with sketches of sperm — flip the pages and they swim around. (This is a subject matter, after all, that requires a certain degree of levity.) Moore happily lists spermatic nicknames ("baby gravy," "gentlemen's relish," "pimp juice") before skewering, in a later chapter, the burgeoning home sperm-test industry (sample ad slogan: "I don't know how that semen got in my underwear!")."
—Salon.com

Cartoon line-drawings of sperm wriggle over each page of text in this dissection of the ways societal views of sperm shape culture. A feminist account backed by sociological and scientific research, Moores academic tome is accessible to the masses.
—Bust

"A clever yet comprehensive look at the substance of manhood. Moore goes where few scholars dare to tread, and uses bodily fluids as a revealing window through which to observe the current nature of sexuality and gender relations."
—Michael S. Kimmel, author of Manhood in America: A Cultural Study

"In this intriguing feminist sociological account of sperm, Moore takes a subject we think we knew all about and proceeds to examine the multi-dimensional facets of its cultural subtexts. What is so unusual about this provocative book is the way Moore meshes history, technology, medicine, criminology, gender studies, children's books, and porn in her depiction of sperm as a manifestation of masculinity. Sperm Counts is witty, erudite, and informative — a gem of social constructionist scholarship."
—Judith Lorber, author of Paradoxes of Gender and Breaking the Bowls

Moore has crafted a smart and surprisingly funny book about semen. Original and refreshing, Sperm Counts follows the little guys through laboratories, childrens books, sex work, crime scenes, and bodies, illuminating varied meanings and representations of manhood and masculinity. This is engaged feminist scholarship at its best.
—Monica J. Casper, author of The Making of the Unborn Patient: A Social Anatomy of Fetal Surgery

Lisa Jean Moore is Associate Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies and Coordinator of the Gender Studies Program at Purchase College, State University of New York. Her most recent book, co-authored with Judith Lorber, is Gendered Bodies: Feminist Perspectives.

The Page 69 Test: Sperm Counts.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Paul Collier's "The Bottom Billion"

Today's feature at the Page 99 Test: Paul Collier's The Bottom Billion.

About the book, from the publisher:

Global poverty, Paul Collier points out, is actually falling quite rapidly for about eighty percent of the world. The real crisis lies in a group of about 50 failing states, the bottom billion, whose problems defy traditional approaches to alleviating poverty.

In The Bottom Billion, Collier contends that these fifty failed states pose the central challenge of the developing world in the twenty-first century. The book shines a much needed light on this group of small nations, largely unnoticed by the industrialized West, that are dropping further and further behind the majority of the world's people, often falling into an absolute decline in living standards. A struggle rages within each of these nation between reformers and corrupt leaders -- and the corrupt are winning. Collier analyzes the causes of failure, pointing to a set of traps that snare these countries, including civil war, a dependence on the extraction and export of natural resources, and bad governance. Standard solutions do not work against these traps, he writes; aid is often ineffective, and globalization can actually make matters worse, driving development to more stable nations. What the bottom billion need, Collier argues, is a bold new plan supported by the Group of Eight industrialized nations. If failed states are ever to be helped, the G8 will have to adopt preferential trade policies, new laws against corruption, and new international charters, and even conduct carefully calibrated military interventions.

As former director of research for the World Bank and current Director of the Center for the Study of African Economies at Oxford University, Paul Collier has spent a lifetime working to end global poverty. In The Bottom Billion, he offers real hope for solving one of the great humanitarian crises facing the world today.

Among the praise for The Bottom Billion:

"The best book on international affairs so far this year."
--Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times

"If Sachs seems too saintly and Easterly too cynical, then Collier is the authentic old Africa hand: he knows the terrain and has a keen ear. As Collier rightly says, it is time to dispense with the false dichotomies that bedevil the current debate on Africa. If you've ever found yourself on one side or the other of those arguments - and who hasn't? - then you simply must read this book."
--Niall Ferguson, New York Times Book Review

"Paul Collier's book is of great importance. He has shown clearly what is happening to the poorest billion in the world, why it is happening and what can be done to open up greater opportunities for them in a world of increasing wealth. His ideas should be at the centre of the policy debate."
--Sir Nicholas Stern, Professor at the London School of Economics, Former Chief Economist of the World Bank, and author of The Stern Report on Climate Change

"This is a path-breaking work providing penetrating insights into the largely unexplored borderland between economics and politics."
--George Soros

"Rich in both analysis and recommendations.... Read this book. You will learn much you do not know. It will also change the way you look at the tragedy of persistent poverty in a world of plenty."
--Financial Times

"A persuasive and important challenge to current thinking on development."
--Larry Summers

"Workable development ideas are hard to find, but Professor Collier may have identified the next frontier for positive change."
--Tyler Cowen, New York Times

"This is an arresting, provocative book, written by an expert in plain English. If you care about the fate of the poorest people in the world, and want to understand what can be done to help them, read it. If you don't care, read it anyway."
--Tim Harford, Financial Times columnist and author of The Undercover Economist

Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford University. Former director of Development Research at the World Bank and advisor to the British government's Commission on Africa, he is one of the world's leading experts on African economies, and is the author of Breaking the Conflict Trap, among other books.

Read Collier's brief accounts on "why guilt is no solution for poverty" and "How The G8 Got It Wrong: Or Why Aid Isn’t The Answer."

The Page 99 Test: The Bottom Billion.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Anthony Shadid reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Anthony Shadid, foreign correspondent covering the Middle East for the Washington Post and author of Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War.

He reports that he's "tailoring my reading list toward the next book I'm working on, a more personal narrative of rebuilding my family's house in southern Lebanon and their story of emigration to America." Read on to see the latest titles on that reading list.

Shadid has reported from throughout the Middle East for a decade, first as Cairo correspondent for the Associated Press and then for the Boston Globe, where he drew attention for his reports from the West Bank and other fronts. His first book, Legacy of the Prophet, drew praise from the late Edward Said. For his work in Baghdad he has received the Overseas Press Club Award (his second), the Michael Kelly Award, and was given the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.

Writers Read: Anthony Shadid.

--Marshal Zeringue