Books

"Why St. Teresa, mother?" the narrator of Abraham Verghese's masterful first novel asks longingly. Marion Praise Stone wants to understand his long-dead mother and her devotion to the 16th-century mystic. But the circumstances surrounding his birth complicate that quest: Marion and his identical twin brother, Shiva, were born from a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun, Sister Mary Joseph Praise, and a British surgeon, Thomas Stone, in Addis Ababa in 1954.

Today's event has been postponed, due to the inclement weather. We apologize for the inconvenience, and will announce the new date as soon as it is determined. 

Just the thought of another book about Middle East policy under President Bill Clinton might make the most stout-hearted reader quake; but he or she would be well advised to consider Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East, by Martin Indyk. Indyk, who was (twice) U.S. ambassador to Israel, and now directs the Saban Center of Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, has managed to write a new, very readable chronicle of Mideast policy during the Clinton years.

I have an essay in this Sunday's Los Angeles Times books section that re-reads classic journalism of California (Hinton Helper's "Land of Gold," Lincoln Steffens' autobiography, and especially Carey McWilliams' "California: The Great Exception") in the context of the state's budget deficit and cash crisis. The conclusion: California is often on the edge of fiscal cliff. In fact, our perilous finances -- and unstable governing system -- help define who we are as a people and a state.

Before I read Betty Fussell's "Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American Beef," I thought I knew enough about America's quintessential meal. After all, I wolfed down quite a few myself. And I'd read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "Fast Food Nation." And there was some additional experience in 4-H. At 12 I wrestled 200-pound calves at the county fair's Calf Scramble.

An old adage about America's first helmsmen is that "Washington reigned, Hamilton ruled, and Jefferson complained." The contemporary version might say that "Bush reigned, Cheney ruled, and Congress, the nation, and the world complained."

Come hear more about the book that Studs Terkel calls "revelatory and stunning"; that Anthony Lewis praises for providing "a dramatic glimpse of a dark American past"; that Publishers Weekly says "artfully weaves the personal and the political" in a way that "readers will find engaging on more than one level."

As the myth of the free market is overcome by current events, James K. Galbraith's new book explains both its rise and fall. His description of the dynamic and troublesome interaction between the public and private sectors is timely, instructive, and ultimately devastating. The rise of a free market ideology blurred both the distinction between these sectors and the growth of government. It did so in ways that not only contributed to greater wealth and income inequality, but also directly produced the financial crisis which is remaking the global economy on a daily basis.