The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War by Nicholas Thompson
A double biography of Cold War frenemies Paul Nitze and George Kennan.
Working toward the same goal in opposite ways, Paul Nitze and George Kennan were two of the most significant American Cold Warriors. Although the men had conflicting views on how the war should be won, they remained close friends for 50 years. Nitze, the hawk, was one of America’s strongest advocates for the position that the U.S. should challenge the Soviets by entering the arms race. Kennan, the dove, was a diplomat and academic who wrote “X,” the cautionary article advising the U.S. to minimize Soviet expansion and avoid nuclear conflict. Written by Paul Nitze’s grandson Nicholas Thompson, this double biography compiles a wide range of rare documents, including Kennan’s unpublished personal diaries, Nitze’s memos from the Cuban Missile Crisis, and personal testimonials from Nitze that illustrate his participation in a secret organization intended to eliminate the student demonstration movement of the 1960s. More than 22 interviews with former Soviet military officials to Nitze’s and Kennan’s FBI files, and a lifetime of documentation combined with a personal narrative create a compelling story of two men who shared a lifetime of conflict and camaraderie. Writes Publishers Weekly, “[A] nuanced account of two men whose common goal of serving America’s interests transcended perspectives.”
Reheated Cabbage: Tales of Chemical Degenerationby Irvine Welsh
A hilarious look at drugs, drunks, and degeneracy in contemporary Scotland.
From Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh comes a collection of seven short stories and one novella by Scotland’s most beloved expert on lowlifes. Culled from two decades of out-of-print work and described as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas meets Weekend at Bernie’s, the master of “Scotsploitation,” known for his keen ear for dialogue and unconventional subject matter, has combined his rarest tales of debauchery into one hilarious and delightfully twisted collection. “Victor Spoils” takes us inside the office of a dentist sexually aroused by tooth extraction; “Elspeth’s Boyfriend” reunites us with Trainspotting’s sociopathic alcoholic, Francis “Franco” Begbie, at a Christmas dinner; and the previously unpublished novella “I am Miami” chronicles the new misadventures of the main characters of Glue. Writes The Independent’s Rodge Glass, Reheated Cabbage is “a powerful reminder of what made Welsh such essential reading in the first place. It’s Welsh at his wildest, most unafraid and, crucially, at his most charming.”
Waiting for Columbusby Thomas Trofimuk
The story of a man who believes he’s Christopher Columbus.
A man claiming to be Christopher Columbus is fished out of the Straits of Gibraltar; when he ends up in a psychiatric hospital in Seville, an unlikely romance ensues between the mystery man and a lonely nurse named Consuela. With his Old World charm and stories of adventure, Columbus impresses and entertains Consuela and the hospital doctors tasked with his care. He woos her with tales of his fraught relationship with Queen Isabella of Spain and his love of the open ocean. As the novel progresses, psychiatrists discover the patient has experienced a “dissociative break,” a severe psychological trauma that is responsible for his delusions. And meanwhile, Emile Germain, an Interpol agent based in France, has been assigned to track this suspicious man down because of a suspicious past. A mysterious love story, Waiting for Columbus gives readers a glimpse into how we deal with terrible loss. Dennis Lythgoe of BookPage writes, “The author is inventive in structuring a multifaceted story that never loses its vitality. His literary gifts allow him to portray each character with depth, while at the same time creating a rising sense of suspense at the possibility of uncovering Columbus’ true identity.”
A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers by Lawrence G. McDonald and Patrick Robinson
An inside look at one of the most infamous bank failures in American history.
A year ago, the renowned financial firm Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. The desperate move came in the middle of an economic crisis that severely affected almost every other bank and consumer worldwide. But Lehman Brothers was hit perhaps the hardest, and neither the U.S. government nor another Wall Street firm was willing to bail it out. In A Colossal Failure of Common Sense, former Lehman Brothers Vice President Lawrence G. McDonald and Patrick Robinson tell the story the failure from an insider’s perspective. Particularly troubling are the revelations that attempts within the company to stave off disaster were ignored by Lehman’s leaders, a secret mutiny led by managing directors was formed against former Chairman and CEO Richard Fuld, and a last-ditch effort to save the firm was initiated with a call to the White House by a former president’s cousin. Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times notes that the “book gives the reader a visceral sense of what it was like to work at Lehman Brothers and the fateful decisions and events that led to the company’s death spiral.”
Adland: Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planetby James P. Othmer
Mad Men’s glamour is absent from this Madison Avenue memoir.
James P. Othmer, author of the novel The Futurist, worked his way up from a small ad agency to a top-shelf firm, only to discover that at the millennium, the big guys were looking to smaller agencies for guidance on how to handle new media. Part memoir, part journalistic account, Othmer’s book recounts his experiences on commercial shoots in South Africa and meetings with pampered executives, as well as giving a history of the business through interviews with creators of classic characters (the Jolly Green Giant) and those of breakthrough viral campaigns like Burger King’s “Subservient Chicken.” In an essay about the industry in The Washington Post, Othmer wrote, “[W]hile we can now assert more control over advertising, we're unwillingly being bombarded by more messages than ever, infiltrating our lives in new and increasingly insidious ways…Advertising is a tension between art, commerce and ethics.”
