The Late Great U.S.A.: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada by Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D. ($24.95, WND Books) is a clarion call to all Americans to pay attention to an attack on our national sovereignty that masquerades as the "Security and Prosperity Partnership", an agreement between the presidents of the United States, Mexico, and prime minister of Canada, that isn’t even a treaty, but which is already functioning in the Department of Commerce without Congressional oversight or a vote. Just as it took fifty years for the nations of Europe to give up their individual sovereignties to accept, in slow, incremental steps, the European Union, the SPP is the first step to doing the same thing to America and the entire North American continent. It will mean the end of America as a separate and sovereign nation. Can’t happen, you say? Dr. Corsi explains how it will happen unless, like the recent uproar over the proposed immigration "reform", Americans make their voices heard. Learn, too, about the planned Trans-Texas Corridor, a vast highway complex to connect Mexico with Canada. First, though, read this book and inform yourself and everyone else you know.

If you harbor suspicions that the Central Intelligence Agency is over-rated, you will be even more appalled to learn that it has been deliberately sabotaging the Bush administration’s effort to wage war against al Qaeda and worldwide terrorism. That’s the thesis of veteran journalist, Rowan Scarborough’s Sabotage: America’s Enemies Within the CIA ($27.95, Regnery Publishing). Page by page it explains why The New York Times was able to reveal a top-secret program to monitor calls from al Qaeda and other suspected terrorists into the United States for the purpose of planning attacks. It explains how CIA operatives, in league with Democrat sympathizers, worked to discredit the effort of the Department of Defense to ramp up its own intelligence collection and analysis to obscure its own weaknesses and failures. This is an extraordinary expose of why this vaunted agency failed to spot the 9/11 plot, why it withheld vital intelligence from the Pentagon, why it has such poor intelligence on North Korea it was unable to anticipate its missile and nuclear capabilities, and why it is equally ill prepared to anticipate Iran’s next moves. The clubby, elitist attitudes of early CIA personnel, along with its territorial instinct to not share information, led to our current troubles. Now those who have replaced them often lack foreign language skills and present CIA employees have only an average five years on the job. It’s bad enough the nation is engaged in a life-or-death struggle with fanatical Islamofascists. It’s worse that the CIA is often more engaged into political warfare with the current administration than with our many enemies.

As a former journalist, I am a news junky. For me, the Internet is a cornucopia of news outlets, but even I have to ask myself which ones I trust most and this is especially true when I link to a story on a site I do not normally visit. Happily, I now have an excellent source to consult in James F. Broderick and Darren W. Miller’s guide, Consider the Source: A Critical Guide to 100 Prominent News and Information Sites on the Web ($24.95, Information Today, Inc., Medford, NJ, softcover). Among the sites evaluated are those by leading newspapers, American, British, Australian, and Indian, among others. There are many interesting and controversial sites such as Rush Limbaugh’s, Al Jazeera, and even the Central Intelligence Agency’s. Broderick teaches journalism at New Jersey City University in Jersey City and Miller has worked as a reporter and editor for newspapers in New Jersey and North Carolina, having won a number of journalism awards. Based on my own knowledge of news sources, I would say this is a fair-minded guide and one that journalists and consumers of the news will find of great value.

It’s hard to find good news about America anywhere these days, so a book by economist Jeff Thredgold, econAmerica: Why the American Economy is Alive and Well…and What it Means to Your Wallet ($24.95, Wiley) is welcome. Despite the mainstream media’s constant emphasis on bad news, Thredgold says, "The American people have a bright future" and then backs up his viewpoint by gathering the data about economic trends that support his point of view. There are weak areas in the economy, but the strong ones such as employment outweigh them. Indeed, the strength of the economy is based in part on the remarkable growth of worker productivity. He notes the high levels of confidence in the Federal Reserve’s ability to restrain inflation and Thredgold believes that the stock market will do well in coming years. The author has more than two decades of experience to back up his views. There is one caveat, as with all books by economists, you can find profound disagreement from other economists.

An area of our lives that causes a great deal of stress for many people is the multi-billion dollar health and fitness industry, forever promising the path to perfect health. The Big Fat Health and Fitness Lie by Craig Pepin-Donat, a fitness expert and consumer advocate, ($24.95, Waterside Publishing, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA) begins with several pages of praise from fellow fitness professionals. In page after page, the author reveals the scams behind weight-loss drugs, electrical muscle stimulators, how some health clubs are operated, as well as naming the bogus diets, informercials pushing cheesy home equipment, and risky diet drugs and supplements. He also provides lots of useful information on how to improve your health without getting ripped off. For anyone with an interest in their health—and that’s just about everyone—this is an excellent book to read.

It is everywhere around and above us. If deprived of it, we die. Without it the Earth would not exist as a living planet that supports life. It is air. We live in An Ocean of Air ($25.00, Harcourt) and Gabrielle Walker has written one of the most interesting books, combining science and history, that I have read in a very long time. For something we take for granted, Walker takes us on a tour of the air that keeps our planet protected against the freezing vacuum of outer space, shields us against the solar flares more powerful than anything on Earth, and enables radio signals to bounce around the world. In the process, she introduces us to a cast of characters from Galileo to the brilliant mathematician who figured out why storms move in a circle and why the Earth is girdled by two major waves of wind that move in opposite directions. Walker is a gifted writer who makes the commonplace a thing of wonder and, indeed, air is extraordinary. This book is too.

One can hardly turn on the television these days without finding a program devoted to the many ways the world can come to an end. When you add to that the end of the world scenarios found in the Bible and Koran, one begins to grasp how far back in history this interest or prediction goes. In Apocalypse 2012 ($23.95, Morgan Road Books, an imprint of Doubleday Broadway publishing group) author Lawrence E. Joseph explores the ancient prediction of the Mayan civilization, one that was obsessed with astronomy, that 2012 would mark the end of the world. He combines this with a wealth of interesting science regarding the odd way the Sun has been acting in recent years, often demonstrating very active sunspots, magnetic storms on the Sun, at a time when former solar cycles suggest there should be few. As the Sun goes through its known cycles, the affect on Earth is either a warming or cooling. Joseph puts all this and more together to ask whether something is occurring that has astronomers and others concerned, and whether the ancient predictions could be coming true? He concludes that he has no idea, but suggests that the Earth is entering a period of solar activity that will create problems for mankind and all other life. I hope he’s wrong. He hopes he’s wrong.

I sometimes wonder if the U.S. Constitution is taught in schools any more? In former times there were "civics" classes in which one learned about the great documents of American history, how the various segments of our nation were intended to be governed, from the federal to the State and local, but I suspect that is, like the Constitution, no longer common knowledge. That’s why The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution by Dr. Kevin R.C. Gutzman, J.D., Ph.D. ($19.95, Regnery Publishing, softcover) strikes me as an important book to read because so much of what roils politics these days involves some branch of the federal government and the Constitution is the document that spells out its powers and limitations. The author takes on all the controversial myths of today, demonstrating how judges, presidents, and legislators have blurred the lines between judicial, executive, and legislative branches. The original framers of the Constitution, the author says, would have been horrified to see how far from their intent the interpretations and powers of the government have evolved. It is not, as he says, "a blank check" for anyone to read as they wish. This is fascinating reading whether you’re a student, a policy wonk, or just someone trying to make sense of what is happening to our government today.

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Biographies, Autobiographies & Memoirs

Peace, some will tell you, is merely the time in between wars and there’s more than a measure of truth to that because there always seems to be a war going on somewhere. Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible ($25.95, Wiley) by Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun is the story of Viktor Bout, cited as perhaps the most important single figure in the global arms trade, if not the most notorious. The authors, both journalists, have written a remarkable story of a man who, before 9/11 was regarded as America’s number-two transnational threat behind Osama bin Laden. He routinely sells arms to both sides of a conflict. In Afghanistan, he sold to tribes allied with the U.S. and to the Taliban. Bout’s vast enterprise of guns, planes, and money has fueled internecine slaughter in Africa and aided Islamic fanatics as well as the American military in Iraq. The West has done little to dismantle the empire he has built by providing support to despots, insurgents, and terrorists around the world. As always, truth is stranger than fiction and that’s a good reason to read this excellent book. Farah has an interesting blog at www.douglasfarah.com.

American medical doctor, Allen Hassan, went to Vietnam on a humanitarian mission to save civilian lives, but he returned permanently changed by the horror and tragedy he witnessed. A former U.S. Marine, he was one of 774 American doctors who volunteered under the auspices of the American Medical Association’s program. In a memoir, Failure to Atone: The True Story of a Jungle Surgeon in Vietnam ($29.95) he tells the story of his experience at the height of the war there. He was not prepared for the unbelievably primitive medical conditions he found in the midst of the war. The book also contains recollections by two dozen other doctors who volunteered and the author has pledged ten percent of the book’s profits will be devoted to helping children injured, maimed, or displaced by war. Learn more by visiting www.vietnamfailuretoatone.com.

Sean Thomas has written Millions of Women Are Waiting to Meet You: A Memoir ($24.00, Da Capo Press). When Thomas, a freelance writer, single and age 37, was asked by a men’s magazine to try Internet dating for a year and write truthfully about the experience, the result was an article that grew into this book. The book tells of his sex life leading up to the dating adventures with a number of women while he sought one with whom he could share his life. Who she is and what she thinks of his marriage proposal says much about Thomas who regrettably comes off as emotionally retarded and immature. That makes this a rather sad journey perhaps best read by lonely men as a cautionary tale.

The name is familiar, but most people don’t know much about him. Now you can read Socrates: A Life Examined by Luis E. Navia ($28.00, Prometheus Books). Socrates, an Athenian who lived from 469 to 399 BCE, is considered one of the most influential thinkers in the history of the West. A philosopher, the author presents an interesting portrait of Socrates who, surprisingly, left no writings to posterity. Even his contemporaries had very different impressions of him. Despite this, Navia has written a worthy biography of the man and an exploration of his ideas, based on the ancients sources found in the writings of other famed philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. For anyone who loves the world of great ideas that shape history, this book will prove a treat. In a comparable fashion, the ideas that informed the life and decisions of Abraham Lincoln are explored by Allen Jayne in Lincoln and the American Manifesto ($29.00, Prometheus Books.) Prophetically, Lincoln once wrote that, "I have often inquired of myself, what great principle or idea it was that kept this nation so long together. It was…something in that Declaration giving liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to the world for all future time…that all should have an equal chance. That is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence…I would rather be assassinated on this spot than to surrender it." One could fill a library with books about Lincoln, but this one would make a good addition as it explores what guided Lincoln during its greatest crisis, one that reflects today’s climate of religious extremism and debates between individual liberty and national security.

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Lots of Advice

If there is one thing books offer in abundance it is advice on every single aspect of life. It is impossible for a reviewer to know whether the advice is good or not. The best one can do is scan the book and, if it appears to be well organized and the content appears to be reasonable, one then can call attention to it and let the reader decide.

Parenting and the Internet: The Guide to Raising Your Child to Be Smarter and Safer Online by Todd Curtis, Ph.D. ($19.95, Speedbrake Publishing, 24 Roy St., #302, Seattle, WA 98109, softcover) strikes me as one of those books that a concerned parent would want to read. A US Census Bureau survey in 2003 found that more than 60% of children, 10 to 14 years old, with a computer in the home, used it and no doubt that figure has risen since then. The Internet for this new generation is more than a tool for schoolwork, it is a significant part of their social lives. The book addresses issues of online privacy and security, as well as child predators and inappropriate material that are now significant concerns. If it is one of your concerns, this book will prove very helpful. To learn more, visit www.speedbrake.com. Another book will interest anyone concerned about protecting themselves and their families against the common crimes of our time, Internet predators, date rapists, child abductors, and home invasions. It’s Tony Newsom’s Top Ten Crimes: Don’t Be the Next Victim ($14.99, Carrington Books, an imprint of Arbor Books). The author is a fulltime Los Angeles police officer who has implemented a variety of programs for school districts to deal with conflict resolution and safety. This softcover book is filled with the kind of advice that everyone needs to know to avoid scams and threats of every description. Check it out at www.Top10Crimes.com.

For high school juniors or seniors contemplating college, a new book will prove helpful. One Hour College Application Essay by Jan Melnik ($8.95, JIST Publishing, softcover) provides the kind of advice that will give a student a competitive edge via the essay that often plays a critical role in the decision to accept a student. This book is filled with targeted questions and useful worksheets to help them focus their answers. The newly revised third edition of How to Win a Sports Scholarship by Penny Hastings and Todd Caven ($24.95, Redwood Creek Publishing, Santa Rosa, CA, large format softcover) is available. With 180,000 such scholarships up for grabs every year, this book provides a wealth of information on how to attract the attention of college coaches and get a piece of the $1.2 billion awarded annually. In short, parents and student-athletes need to know how to initiate the recruiting process and this book will tell you how. I just love really useful books like this!

Secrets of a Former Fat Girl by Lisa Delaney ($21.95, Hudson Street Press) is not the typical weight loss guide. Though the author did find a way to lose weight, she addresses the mental and emotional aspects of having been "a fat girl". For any girl or woman who wants to benefit from her insights and experience, this book, told with candor and humor, provides a lot of no-nonsense advice from the front lines. Another segment of women is the topic of Is it Hot in here, or am I just Hot? The author, Sunny Hersh, ($15.95, Fast Forward Publications, Old Zionville, PA, softcover) addresses the 42 million boomer babes, 40 and over, who want to discover the secrets of better sex and more meaningful relationships. This is a hot news flash for those arriving at menopause and moving on from there. This Old Spouse: A Unique, Do-It-Yourself Guide to Restoring, Renovating, and Rebuilding your Relationship is by therapist and workshop leader, Sharyn Wolf ($23.95, Hudson Street Press). She addresses the way, once the blush of new love begins to fade, the reality of daily life for a marriage does not have to result in separation and divorce. Like a home, long-term relationships require regular maintenance, along with occasional renovations and repairs. She offers a step-by-step process to end the damage and restore the relationship. It’s generally good advice for those willing to take it. The Bright Side: Surviving Your Parent’s Divorce by Max Sindell ($12.95, HCI Books, softcover) deals with the fact that a lot of marriages do fail and how the children of such divorces can actually benefit. His own parents divorced when he was just six years old. Recalling his parents subsequent re-marriages, Sindell says the divorced child gets to meet lots of new people, learns to be more independent, can often talk more openly with both parents, and should learn to not blame himself, separating his parent’s problems from his life. This is a good book to give any child of divorce old enough to understand such things.

Widow Words by Marcia A. Curran ($15.95, VanderWyk & Burnham, Acton, MA) addresses the way the loss of a husband can shake the new widow’s world to the core. The wife will grieve in ways no one else can know, unless they are another widow. In a short book filled with the wisdom gained from such a loss, the author provides advice that can get the new widow through those first days and months. There are 100 pieces of advice, one per page, and I have no doubt that more than a dozen will leap off the page to provide comfort and hope.

I see many books written to motivate people and I tend to give them a pass. I was, however, intrigued by You Are Enough. Always Have Been…Always Will Be by David J. Walker ($12.95, DeVorss Publications, Camarillo, CA, softcover) because it is so filled with common sense. Walker says, "most people get a sense of self-worth from what they accomplish in life" but often discover that even that pleasure wears off after awhile. The self-worth that can sustain itself, he says, is based on a sense of "the sacredness of life." Rather than the pressure to perform in some fashion to demonstrate one’s worth, there is, he says, much to be gained from appreciating one’s life through good times or those with challenges. If this sounds like a philosophy that will work for you, this book will prove of interest.

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Getting Down to Business (Books)

Labor Day traditionally marks the end of summer, a return to school for youngsters, and a return to the normal pace in the world of business. There are always plenty of new books ready to help.

One thing that too many people ignore is sufficient preparation for their retirement years. The average U.S. citizen works for more than forty years and retires with less than one year’s living expenses in the bank—about $44,000 net worth, not counting home equity. Because our culture emphasizes spending money more than saving it, millions are carrying far too much debt. Susan Feitelberg has written The Net Worth Workout ($14.95, Amacom, softcover) that will prove very helpful if you have concluded your finances are a mess. It will put you on the road to wealth building with a nuts-and-bolts approach. This is about money management and the right mind-set. Consider her a financial fitness trainer.

Confessions from the Corner Office: 15 Instincts that will Help you Get There by Scott Aylward and Pattye Moore ($24.95, John Wiley & Sons) will prove especially helpful to those just beginning to climb the corporate ladder, although the advice they offer is useful at any point including the very top. Combining their fifty years of work experience, the authors examine current management practices, some of which they find appalling, busts a few stereotypical myths of what makes a good leader, and, with humor, offer their "take no prisoners" approach, plus the "soft skills" of business leadership. An interesting book on how to become an exceptional leader is Steven Feinberg’s The Advantage Makers ($27.99, FT Press, softcover). It concentrates on how to create original ideas, business solutions, and organizational changes to promote better performance. The author brings more than thirty year’s experience to the task and has helped turn around ailing organizations in various business environments.

Other management advice can be found in Cam Marston’s Motivating the "What’s In It For Me?" Workforce: Manage Across the Generational Divide and Increase Profits ($24.95, John Wiley & Sons). The title says it all. The author explores the differences between the Gen-X and New Millennial workers entering the workplace today. Younger workers care little for tradition and place a higher priority on individuality, personal freedom, and professional flexibility. It can and does create a communications challenge for many of today’s managers with traditional values. The older manager who wants to move with the times will find this book very helpful. Two softcover books will help newer managers; they are The First-Time Manager’s Guide to Team Building by Gary S. Topchick ($15.00, Amacom) and More Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers: 50 New Exercises that Get Results in Just 15 Minutes by Brian Cole Miller ($17.95, Amacom). Discovering and developing one’s own leadership style will help achieve and maintain a results-oriented team that will get the job done.

You can have the greatest product or service in the world, but you still need to know how to market and sell it. Truth: The New Rules for Marketing in a Skeptical World by Lynn Upshaw tackles the problems that many companies have encountered and how they overcame them. Customers, says Upshaw are looking for brands they can believe in from companies they can trust. She relates how companies like Ikea, Trader Joe’s, Patagonia, and others applied their marketing savvy to achieve and maintain this. Building stronger customer partnerships is the name of the game these days and this book is an excellent guide. Power Points: How to Design & Deliver Presentations that Sizzle and Sell by Harry Mills ($24.95, Amacom) comes with a companion CD-Rom filled with stunning images, graphics, and templates while concentrating on the importance of real content in presentations to persuade, inform, and inspire. Want to captivate your audience? Get this book!

We live in the age of constantly emerging new technologies. Thomas E. Vass has written Predicting Technology: Identifying Future Market Opportunities and Disruptive Technologies ($24.95, The Great American Business & Economics Press, Livermore, CA, softcover). The author says that, given the rapid pace, being able to keep up isn’t enough. The uncertainty makes planning for the future difficult. Being able to effectively predict which will shape the future is essential. Entrepreneurs, scientists, business owners, engineers and product developers will find this book of great interest. His theory is that technological innovation creates new markets, while new markets generate new income flows that benefit those who start new ventures. It’s not easy reading, but it is a window to a world of constant change, to the future. In a comparable fashion, Getting to Innovation: How Asking the Right Questions Generates Great Ideas Your Company Needs by Arthur B. VanGundy ($29.95, Amacom) explores the way companies spend vast amounts of time, money and energy in the search for the next big idea. The truth, says the author, is that a great idea is only great if it’s the right one for the organization’s needs. Thus, breaking old traditions and assumptions is essential to survive and thrive in a world of constant and rapid change.

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Kid Stuff: Books for Younger Readers

It’s Harry Potter-mania these days with the new and last book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling. If you or your younster would prefer to listen to it, the good news is that Random House Audio released its version ($79.95, 17 CDs) good for just over 21 hours as read by Grammy Award-winner, Jim Dale, the voice for the previous audio editions. How he manages to invest each character with individuality is testimony to his talent and, of course, the story will prove as entrancing as its predecessors. There’s even an updated web site devoted to it at http://harrypotter.randomhouse.com. The Harry Potter audiobook series was inducted into the Audiobook Hall of fame, an honor bestowed by the Audio Publishers Association. It is the most successful children’s audiobook in the history of the medium.

My complaint about too many books for young readers, children as opposed to teenagers, are that they begin with an "agenda." The purpose is to teach or preach. It often gets in the way of telling a good story. Thus, when I come upon one that is just great fun and only may incidentally offer good advice, I am always pleased. This is especially true of the modern re-telling of a British tale in The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog ($16.95, August House) by Margaret Read MacDonald and illustrated beautifully by Julie Paschkis. Ideal for those to whom the book can be read or for new readers, it is about a dog that saves a rich man’s life. When offered a variety of gifts as a reward, the dog turns them down and asks for the man’s daughter. She dutifully goes off with the dog that happens to live in a great castle. Though she comes to care for him, she misses her father. When he returns her to him, having heard her declaration of love for him despite his being a great, smelly, slobbery, small-tooth dog, he turns into a handsome prince. The story is marvelously told and illustrated.

Talking about dogs, there’s a marvelous book, Everything You Need to Know About Dogs for Kids, by Kristin Mehus-Roe ($14.95, Bowtie Press, Laguna Hills, CA, softcover) that is jam-packed with the kind of information everyone, not just kids, should know about selecting, training, and caring for the myriad species. It features more than 500 full color canine photos, 150 breed profiles, dozens of training tips and tricks, and 21 chapters filled with information about the history of dogs, dog biology, behavior and life cycle, plus how to take care of puppies and dogs, feeding, grooming, playing and traveling with dogs. There’s even a bonus CD that includes games and other fun things. It’s just a great book!

Another group of books, ideal for those age 2 to 8, are written by Patricia Derrick, either by herself or with a co-author, and colorfully illustrated by J-P Loppo Martinez. They feature animal characters and just wonderfully funny stories, enhanced by great artwork. Published by Animalations™ of Las Vegas, and including the treat of special CDs with original music, the titles of those just out this month are Mr. Walrus & the Old School Bus, Sly the Dragonfly, Montgomery the Moose Can Shake His Caboose, Rathbone the Rat, and Beaser the Bear’s Rocky Mountain Christmas ($18.95). These are the kind of books that are just about fun. It’s a bonus that they are well made with little hands and rough handling in mind. The CDs add to their enjoyment. Check them out at www.animalations.com.

Horsing Around: The Inside Word on Marriage and Horses ($32.00, WordMagic Global, PO Box 470, Santa Monica, CA 90406) will especially delight young girls who are well known to have an affinity and love for horses. Laurel Airica, a poet and performance artist, has assembled a group of photos of horses and added a lighthearted text that mirrors courtship, marriage and love. Ten percent of the sales will go to charity, but the real reason to purchase this book is the way it will inspire the imagination and bring pleasure as each page is turned.

American Girl is a publisher devoted to, well, books that will please young girls! This fall they are introducing new titles to their historical and Advice & Activity book lines for girls age 8 and up. Among the new books are The Book Club Kit, Girls Love Gymnastics, and See What You Can Be that is about career choices. In addition, there’s a terrific new book, Molly’s Cooking Studio, that is an introduction to the joy of baking. My Mother was a wonderful baker, constantly making cookies, pies, cakes, and breads. Any young lady that gains skills in this area is going to be appreciated her entire life and this book demonstrates how much fun is involved. I am, of course, also partial to the kit about starting a book club because the gift and love of reading is possibly the most important one can give a child. Visit www.americangirl.com to learn about these and other great books for girls.

I sometimes think that, if I see another book devoted to teaching tots the alphabet, I will run screaming from the room. That said, Sheila Moore makes the very good point that it isn’t just the names of the letters of the alphabet that matter, but learning the sounds that they make. She has made this easy and fun in Abadaba Alphabet ($19.25, Abadaba Reading, PO Box 80, Charlottesville, VA 22902) and a lot of credit must be shared by Carol Holsinger whose pictures are very amusing. The author has taught in both Montessori and public school kindergarten classrooms, has written about education in Parents Magazine, the Washington Post, and other publications. She has a number of other children’s books to her credit, but this one, which comes with a CD to enhance the learning experience, reveals her mastery of teaching this most essential knowledge. Every parent who wants to give their child a head start or has a child who might be struggling with their reading skills will want this book. Check it out at www.abadabaalphabet.com.