Review by New York Times Review
what to read and why By Francine Prose. (Harper, $23.99.) The novelist and critic combines previously published essays, reviews and introductions with some new writing to offer a wonderful reading list, ranging from Jane Austen to Jennifer Egan, cat flap By Alan S. Cowell. (St. Martin's, $24.99.) Cowell, a former foreign correspondent for The Times, tells a story with a Kafkaesque twist. A woman discovers that while away on a business trip, she has left part of her consciousness behind in the body of her cat. how to be famous By Caitlin Moran. (Harper, $26.99.) Moran, the British author of "How to Build a Girl," centers this novel on a 19-year-old journalist for a music magazine. Her unrequited love for a rock star and the unbridled pursuit of fame and fortune land her in some predictable trouble, obama By Brian Abrams. (Little A, $24.95.) For his fourth oral history - after producing books on "Late Night With David Letterman," Gawker and the film "Die Hard" - Abrams turns to no less than the Obama administration. It's the first comprehensive attempt at such a project, bringing together the anecdotes and eyewitness accounts of dozens of people who were part of the Obama White House, from cabinet secretaries to speechwriters. south toward home By Julia Reed. (St. Martin's, $25.99.) A contributor to Garden & Gun magazine and a resident of New Orleans, Reed writes a paean to the spirit and culture of the South. "There could be no better moment to read FLIGHT AGAINST TIME, by the acclaimed Lebanese author Emily Nasrallah, who died in March. The novel, set at the start of Lebanon's civil war in 1975 and published in 1981, throbs with detail about specifically Lebanese landscapes and social dynamics, yet it also encompasses themes roiling global politics today, from refugee crises to wrenching questions of identity. Reading it days after moving away from Beirut, where we lived blocks from Nasrallah for six years, I am particularly susceptible to her description of Radwan, an aging rural grandfather gazing at his village as he leaves to travel for the first time outside Lebanon. 'Suddenly he felt waves of strange tenderness that flowed from his heart, welled up in his eyes and ran down in tears,' she writes. 'Even the atoms of dust flying around him and settling on his shoes were as dear as gold. Radwan makes his way to Canada, where his children have emigrated. But he finds himself unsure where he fits: a new world of strange surroundings or back home where most of 'the young ones' have fled and where it may no longer be safe to return." - ANNE BARNARD, BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF, ON WHAT SHE'S READING.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [August 2, 2018]
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Abrams (And Now... An Oral History of Late Night with David Letterman, 1982-1993) interviewed more than 100 people connected to the Obama White House for this sprawling oral history, but the sheer volume of material and its haphazard organization undermine an otherwise promising project. Despite the subtitle, the book actually begins in 2004, with recollections of then-Senator Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention, which elevated him to prominence. Those reminiscences are typical of the volume, providing no news or memorable insights (Obama's body man, Reggie Love, is at one point quoted making the obvious statement that his job involved "trying to deal with problems around logistics"). The book moves on chronologically to Obama's presidential campaign and through the major turning points in the Obama presidency-the struggle to get Obamacare passed, the killing of Osama bin Laden, and, eventually, the election of President Trump-shifting frequently and jarringly among topics without transitions. Abrams offers a nice mix of recognizable names (David Axelrod, Valerie Jarrett, Leon Panetta) and lower-level aides and officials, and while most of the entries are positive, he also includes comments by those disappointed by the Obama White House, such as Illinois congressman Luis Gutiérrez, whose immigration reform agenda was not made a priority. But more is less here, and this is unlikely to be viewed as essential reading even for those interested in the topic. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Journalist and author Abrams (Die Hard: An Oral History) enjoyed unprecedented access to more than 100 of President Barack Obama's former campaign aides, White House staffers and officials, and Republican opponents. Through wide-ranging interviews, we get a full view of his historic presidency, internal deliberations and all. One gets the sense that Obama's White House was highly energized and quite demanding. He required a high level of commitment and preparedness from staffers. What shines through more than any tensions or disagreements is the deep respect and admiration the majority of those interviewed felt for the president. However, the voices of some key players, such as Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry, as well as a recounting of events surrounding the Benghazi, Libya attack are missing, leaving the work with an incomplete feel. VERDICT An excellent starting point to gaining an inside perspective on the Obama presidency.-Chad E. Statler, Westlake Porter P.L., Westlake, OH © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
An oral biography of the Barack Obama administration, culled from interviews conducted between May 2016 and October 2017.Abrams (Die Hard: An Oral History, 2016, etc.) takes snippets from his interviews with all the players in this real-life drama, from the election through the end of the administration. The flowing narrative includes revealing insights from a wide variety of both Democratic and Republican politicians, speechwriters, attorneys, and others, from David Axelrod to the West Wing receptionist. Readers experience the first campaign and the many attendant doubts, starting with the uncertainty about whether Obama could even win the nomination. Success meant the team had to go into overdrive, and that's what they did, taking on an economic collapse, the fraught stimulus bill, stabilizing the Middle East cease-fire, and a promise from Republicans that they would never compromise and would fight the Democrats on everything. Luckily, Obama had a great team working with him, most of whom would do anything he asked of them. That was a trait that held throughout the administration, as people who were burned out by life in Washington, D.C., took on even more assignments just because the president asked them. The author effectively shows the incredible patience exhibited by the president and the invaluable help proffered by Vice President Joe Biden, whose 30 years of experience in Washington provided that extra push when it was required (often). Unfortunately, Republicans were sworn to a policy of obstructionism and manipulation of the legislative process, and the frustrations of the president and his staff are abundantly clear throughout the narrative. At the beginning of the book, Abrams lists the "participants" and their titles; in the appendix, the author provides a complete listing of all of the staff members during Obama's terms in office. Though technically "unauthorized," Abrams put in the work with his dozens of interviews, and he also "received cooperation from the Obama White House, the Obama Foundation, and the postpresidency Office of Barack and Michelle Obama."An entertaining, enlightening look at an administration that was never dull. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
