Color Blind, by Tom Dunkel

 Every baseball fan knows about Jackie Robinson, who broke the color line in Major League baseball in 1947, and whose jersey number, 42, was permanently retired for all of MLB.  As important as that step was for baseball, for professional sports, and for racial equality, the history of black athletes playing professional baseball is much older and more varied than Robinson's putting on a Dodgers uniform.  Tom Dunkel tells the story of a Bismarck, North Dakota semipro baseball team that rose to national prominence, including a national tournament championship, while fielding a team of both black and white players.

Color Blind: The Forgotten Team That Broke Baseball's Color Line is a colorful, entertaining historical account of American life in the Roaring Twenties and into the Great Depression.  In small towns like Bismarck as well as in big cities, baseball was a source of entertainment and civic pride.  Amateur and semipro teams abounded, representing their cities and towns, companies and civic organizations, and touring the country.  Since the Major League teams didn't permit black players, black teams and leagues formed.  Many of the players on these teams had more than enough talent to compete in the Majors, had they been permitted.  Imagine telling a player, as some scouts told black players in Color Blind, I would recruit you to the Majors if only you were white.

Satchel Paige was one of those black pitchers who could have dominated batters in the Majors.  When Neil Churchill, a car dealer in Bismarck, needed a pitcher for his semipro team, he didn't care what color his skin was.  He knew Paige was the best pitcher around, and Churchill convinced him to come to North Dakota.  In fact, he pulled black players from all over, building a roster split between black and white players.  This mixed team beat black and white teams to win the 1935 national semipro tournament.

As remarkable as the race mixing on the team was, it didn't seem all that remarkable to the teammates, at least in Dunkel's telling.  These were athletes who saw the value in their teammates on the field and, in many cases, socialized off the field as well.  Overall, the impression I got was that few people truly wanted racial segregation in life and in baseball, but few were fully prepared to buck the norms of the day.  When Churchill's team arrived for the tournament in Wichita, the hotel, surprised to see that the team was not all white, refused to let the black players stay.  This could have been a great moment of team solidarity, with the white players insisting that their black teammates stay with them, or agreeing to stay in lesser accommodations in the black part of town.  Alas, they bid their black teammates adieu, settling into their rooms while their black teammates set out to find their own places to stay.  That's just how it was in the 1930s.  

The tournament organizers did, in fact, break new ground by inviting both black and white teams to play.  A few conflicts broke out on the field amid the racial tension, but teams came to play, not to display racial grievance.  (However, some felt the tournament organizer arranged the brackets not only by seeding, but also in order to keep white teams from the Deep South from playing black teams.)

Color Blind is not only a delight to read for baseball history buffs, but it's also a great ground-level history of popular culture in the U.S. in the 1920s and 1930s.  In the time before television, and before going to the movies was even very common, going out to a ballgame was a prime entertainment choice.  When every town had a ball team, the players became local heroes, with the whole town behind them.  After World War 2, and the many changes that came in the 1940s and 1950s, this part of our culture died out.  Color Blind tells this story amid the story of changing racial attitudes before the Civil Rights movement.

Blitz: Trump Will Smash the Left and Win, by David Horowitz

David Horowitz's book Blitz: Trump Will Smash the Left and Win is perhaps better subtitled something like Trump Will Smash the Left and, if Reasonable People Get Out and Vote, Ought to Win in 2020.  Even though Horowitz doesn't quite measure up to the bluster and confidence of the title, Horowitz lays out a great case for Trump.

In sum, Horowitz reviews Trump's successes throughout his first term.  He details the harsh, unfair treatment he has received from the press.  He describes the many ways that elected officials, appointees, and government bureaucrats have conspired to obstruct his administration.  In the face of this opposition, it really is remarkable that he has accomplished as much as he has.

If you're looking for a strong, thoroughly sourced defense of Trump's first term, Blitz is a good place to start.  Let's hope, for the sake of the country, that the prediction of Horowitz's title comes true in November.

A Cry from the Far Middle, by P.J. O'Rourke

P.J. O'Rourke is one of the funniest observers of American political life in the last half century.  Some of his books are classics.  His newest title, A Cry from the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land, is a worthy addition to his oeuvre, but it does show signs of his growing old[er] and [more] curmudgeonly.  

O'Rourke consistently has terrific insights as well a gift for pithy one-liners.  The world of Twitter and 24 hour news has given so many opportunities to hear people's opinions that O'Rourke's statement sums up political discourse perfectly: "What this country needs is fewer people who know what this country needs."  Amen!  Fewer opinions and smaller government are consistent themes for O'Rourke.  He leans hard toward libertarianism: "Our government is so bad at everything that it can't even do nothing right." 

Underneath the snarkiness and one liners, O'Rourke consistently has great insights as he communicates political and economic ideas in memorable and entertaining ways.  For example, his discussion on the political theory of rights as Getoutta here Rights and Gimmie Rights.  Individual rights and free markets guide O'Rourke's thinking and, really who can argue with that?

(As a side note, O'Rourke won points with me with this line: "Some fast food is delicious by any standards-- In-N-Out Burger, Chick-fil-A, Whataburger."  I'll forgive him for liking the sub-standard burgers at In-N-Out, and everyone loves CfA.  But his familiarity with and praise for my hometown regional burger chain--which has no locations anywhere near O'Rourke's Massachussetts home-- demonstrates his great taste and wisdom.)

There aren't many writers who have such keen insights into current affairs and who are endlessly entertaining to read.  A Cry from the Far Middle won't thrill hard-core Trump fans, but O'Rourke is an equal opportunity offender and a thoughtful interlocutor across the political spectrum.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Becoming Elisabeth Elliot, by Ellen Vaughn

Like many American Christians, I have held a long-time admiration for Jim Elliot and his companions, missionaries who were killed by people to whom they wanted to extend friendship and the gospel.  His story made such an impression on me that I named by eldest son Elliot.  So I was eager to read Ellen Vaughn's new biography of Elisabeth Elliot, Jim's wife, who bravely continued their work in the jungles of Ecuador.

Becoming Elisabeth Elliot fully met my hopes and expectations.  Vaughn covers Elisabeth's life from her childhood, to boarding school in Florida, to Wheaton and courtship with Jim, and to mission work in South America.  There were several points about which I was surprised and appreciated Vaughn's insights. 

Vaughn clearly has the greatest admiration for Elisabeth, but doesn't make her out to be a superhero or saint.  For example, I was not aware of the simmering rivalry she had with Nate Saint's sister Rachel.  (Nate Saint is the pilot who was with Jim Elliot when they were killed.)  The two ladies lived among the Waodani, befriending the people responsible for Jim and Nate's murders.  Rachel was a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators/SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics), while Elisabeth was basically independent, under the auspices of the Plymouth Brethren.  They ended up butting heads over the New Testament translation work, with Rachel excluding Elisabeth from her work, and ultimately damaging their friendship and working relationship.

For this and related matters, Vaughn describes Elisabeth's frustration with Christian leaders and institutionalism.  She grew weary of hierarchies that stifle the gospel and lack the ability to reach other cultures, not to mention the hypocrisy she observed among some Christian leaders.  Elisabeth was very concerned about cultural imperialism.  She wanted to be careful about introducing the Waodani to Jesus without their understanding being corrupted by Western culture and modern amenities and prosperity.  Even with her deeply engrained personal modesty, she was comfortable with their nudism and lack of privacy about sex.  She became troubled when they started wearing clothes, feeling guilty that she and the other missionaries were guilty of tearing down Waodani cultural norms and traditions.

As anyone who knows anything about Elisabeth's story and writings knows, she led a remarkable life and deserves a place among the heroes of the faith.  Vaughn writes about Elisabeth's frustration when, for years after her husband's death, well-meaning people would ask whether it was worth it, entering into a calculus of how many lives were saved or impacted because of his sacrifice.  Elisabeth felt they were asking the wrong questions.  It's not a matter of results, but a matter of obedience.  Whether he became a famous hero of the faith or a martyr forgotten in obscurity didn't matter; what mattered was his obedience to follow where God directed him.  That is the choice we Christians face day by day, and, if you are looking for a guide, Elisabeth is one who has gone before.  I'm grateful to know more about her example thanks to Becoming Elisabeth Elliot.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

LEGO Still Life with Bricks: The Art of Everyday Play, by Lydia Ortiz and Michelle Clair, photographs by Patrick Rafanan

At first I ask, Why?  But quickly that changed to Why not?  This is so cool!  The Lego creations in Lego Still Life with Bricks: The Art of Everyday Play are not what you typically expect from Lego.  Designer/illustrators Lydia Ortiz and Michelle Clair took buckets of Lego bricks, combined them with everyday objects, and created some pretty intriguing images.

As you would expect from the title, the selections are still life per the classic art tradition.  Per Wikipedia, "depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, etc.)"  Examples of many of those are included in Still Life with Bricks.  Obviously, since these are kids building toys we are talking about, there is a tongue-in-cheek element.  

I love the colorful, creative designs, especially the ones that show a sequence, like popping a balloon.  I especially like the series that depicts striking a match, lighting candles, then snuffing the candles and the smoke wafting away.  So cool and creative!

Some of the images use just a handful of bricks.

Other, hundreds.  Thousands?

The effect reminds me of a movie where the live action shots morph into animation.  

These images, photographed by Patrick Rafanan are fun to look at, and it's fun to imagine what you might do if you had thousands of Lego bricks laying around!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Tribes, by Marc Gimenez

Starting with his 2006 debut The Color of Law, Marc Gimenez has written some of the most entertaining legal fiction around.  His newest novel, Tribes, marks the fourth appearance of A. Scott Fenney, the SMU football star who ditched his high-dollar law firm job on principle and was eventually appointed a federal judge.  

Tribes opens with FBI agent Cat Pena, whom we met in The Absence of Guilt, taking part in a raid on a Dallas gang house.  She heroically takes out the gang members, rescuing a dozen girls who had been kidnapped for sex trafficking.  But when the dust settles, she discovers that one of the shooters was a 12-year-old black boy.  Why was he in the Latino gang's house?  Why is there no powder residue on his hands or fingerprints on the gun?  Did she really need to kill a black boy?

The story jumps right into today's headlines, and the streets erupt in anger over yet another innocent black boy killed by a white cop (yes, she's Latina, but still tagged as white).  Desperate for legal help, she calls on her estranged lover Fenney.  When she tells Fenney she's pregnant with his son, he decides he has no choice but to step down from the Federal bench and defend the mother of his son.

His daughters Boo and Pajamae are in fine form in Tribes, the highlight of the book.  They are precocious and full of wisdom and insight for their father.  Fenney seems to be getting more attractive with age; perhaps the power of the Federal bench draws women even more strongly.  Everywhere he turns, women are throwing themselves at him, especially the D.A. who is charging Cat.  Her power-hungry personality and her chosen means of advancement--using the men around her--reminded me of a certain D.A. on the Left coast who has come to prominence of late. . . .

Per his habit, Gimenez is not afraid to take on sticky subjects.  In this case, let's just say that Tribes probably won't be chosen for the BLM book of the month.  But he presents the issues in a thoughtful, reasonable way.  Whether discussing black crime, police brutality, or the application of the Supremacy Clause, Gimenez lays out the case straightforwardly and with legal clarity. 

Gimenez might be found guilty of overplaying Fenney's magnetism, or of overplaying the D.A.'s seductive evil, but I won't press charges.  I enjoyed the book thoroughly, with its twists and turns.  The denouement made me gasp, but left me gasping for the next Scott Fenney book.

Candidate Spectrum, by Brian Cato

Spectrum, an alien superhero in the tradition of Superman, longs to make a difference in the world.  Sure, he can save lives and prevent destruction with his ability to fly and to manipulate molecular structures, but what about the bigger problems?  Inequality, hunger, sickness, economic woes, unrest, how can a superhero address these?  In Brian Cato's Candidate Spectrum, Spectrum, a.k.a. Grant Goslin, decides to step aside from his career as a superhero to enter political life, where he thinks he can have a greater impact.  He has no trouble being elected governor of Missouri, Congress finagles a way to allow him to run for president, and he joins the fray in the 2020 election.

This is a clever set-up for the story, and Cato has some fun with it.  Spectrum's reflections on public service and the life of the superhero are at times interesting and engaging.  As the story gets rolling, the story-telling style is very straightforward: this happened, then this happened, then this happened.  I kept thinking, OK, Cato is setting the scene for the meat of the plot.  Unfortunately, by the time in the book where you think it's bound to get more entertaining, Cato shifts to a lot of speechifying.  

Here's the feeling I have.  Rather than thinking, "I'm going to write a book about a superhero.  As part of the story, I'll have him run for president, and that will frame the adventures and conflicts of the novel," Cato thought, "I have some political ideas and ideals I'd like to write about.  I'll create a superhero story to communicate those ideas."  In other words, this is a political pamphlet with the barest story, rather than a superhero story in which the superhero runs for office.

So, take it for what you will, but if you are interested in a new superhero backstory, with adventures in crime fighting and heroic deeds, you'll be disappointed.  Spectrum is not terribly original, and really only serves as a mouthpiece for Cato's political ideas.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Lego Small Parts

Aled Lewis is a Lego lover with a sense of humor.  The humor in his book Lego Small Parts: The Secret Life of Minifigures fits right in with the silliness of the Lego movies and video games that my kids enjoy.  (Who am I kidding?  I love them, too!)  

Lewis's Lego creations in Lego Small Parts are scenes with minifigures going about their days, captioned in the style of single-panel cartoons.  Many, but not all, have Lego inside jokes, like the figure who stepped on a Lego brick barefoot, or the many jokes about minifigures' hair and hats.

If you are a Lego fan at all, you will appreciate the little details in Lewis's creations and you will love the silly Lego humor. 

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

How to Destroy America in Three Easy Steps, by Ben Shapiro

Don't let the breezy title of How to Destroy America in Three Easy Steps fool you.  There's nothing breezy about Ben Shapiro's incisive commentary on the past, present, and future of the United States.  Shapiro is probably best known for commentary on his podcasts and radio show and as a guest on other opinion and news shows, as well as for his sometimes caustic and confrontational college campus appearances.  But he excels as a writer, challenging current popular ideas with hard facts from our history.

In How to Destroy America, Shapiro pits the Integrationist view against a Unionist view.  The "three steps" are: dismantling equal rights in favor of equality of outcome; destroying cultural values "in favor of a culture of protection by government"; and distorting history by "convincing citizens that America represents fruit of the poisonous tree; that America was founded in evil, and that there is no arc to history." 

As Shapiro fleshes out these points, he examines American history while providing current examples of Disintegrationism--and there are plenty.  The strongest point overall is (and a point that will sound familiar to Shapiro's listeners) is that in spite of its flaws, the United States is freer and more just than any nation in history.  America's so called "original sins" of slavery and genocide have been a part of human history since the dawn of man.  But in the American experiment, our founding documents established ideals, and the history of the nation has been a process of reaching those ideals.  The United States is not unique because of slavery, for example; it is unique in that it eradicated slavery.  

How to Destroy America is a welcome antidote to the liberal indoctrination that permeates academia, journalistic distortions like the debunked yet popular 1619 Project, and the policy proposals spewed by the left.  It is substantive and challenging, well worth a read by any American who wants to gain a greater understanding of the roots and history of our nation.

Dangerous Virtues, by John Koessler

Sin.  Who likes to talk about sin?  Not many.  But John Koessler takes on the traditional seven deadly sins in Dangerous Virtues: How to Follow Jesus When Evil Masquerades As Good.  As a former pastor and current professor of theology, Koessler writes for the layperson, exploring sin as a corruption of our humanity.  Part of being a disciple of Jesus is to correctly orient our natural inclinations.  For example, the sin of envy does not imply that desire itself is wrong.  "The key to defeating envy is not to suppress our capacity for desire but to reorient it. . . . We don't need to stop desiring.  Our desires need a conversion."

Far from soft-selling or minimizing sin, Koessler takes it seriously.  He writes, "Sin is more that a weakening of human goodness; it is an absence."  Koessler's pastoral tones lends itself to discipleship, not condemnation.  A recognition of sin, in this case the seven deadly ones, is an opportunity for understanding the human condition and the Christian call to holiness.  Ultimately, the follower of Jesus can lean on Jesus' grace and forgiveness while growing in virtue.  Koessler doesn't trivialize or minimize sin, nor does he trivialize following Christ, but he makes it clear that Christ's work in us is the only way.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Kids Off the Block, by Diane Latiker

 What would you do if your kid was hanging around with a questionable group of kids?  Most of us would probably keep our kids away from bad influences and protectively forbid our kids from spending time with them.  Not Diane Latiker.  When she saw many in her daughter's peer group getting involved with drugs, gangs, and street crime, she invited the kids into her home and spoke to them--and, importantly, listened to them.  In Kids Off the Block: The Inspiring True Story of One Woman's Quest to Protect Chicago's Most Vulnerable Youth, Latiker tells the story of how she went from being a concerned mom to Miss Diane to a nationally recognized model for outreach to urban youth.

Word quickly spread that Miss Diane's house was warm and welcoming, that she offers help with homework, pick-up basketball, and lots of snack, and that it was a respite from the pressures of the street.  Soon 10 kids turned into hundreds.  She grew in her ability to lead and manage these kids, and never was willing to give up on any of them.  One of the things I love about Latiker's story is that she doesn't sugar-coat it.  This isn't a feel-good Disney-fied version of life in Chicago.  These are kids who live in poverty, who are pressured to join a gang or be relentless bullied, and for whom dealing drugs seemed to be the only option for a better life.  In plenty of cases, she made progress with a kid and then the draw of the streets was too much.  Some kids whom she grew to love ended up dead, victims of a life they couldn't escape.

Latiker looked around her, reached out, and made a difference in countless lives.  Her example is a great reminder that when trouble surrounds us, whatever neighborhood we live in, one can cower or flee, but a better answer is to love our neighbors, take time to get to know them, and help them each to see the potential they have.  After more than a decade of loving the kids in her neighborhood, many have found a life outside of gangs and drug dealing.  Some even help her mentor the younger kids.  Her story will inspire you to embrace those around you who the world would write off.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Doesn't Hurt to Ask, by Trey Gowdy

Trey Gowdy served in the U.S. Congress for 8 years, gaining national prominence for his role in the Benghazi hearings.  Drawing on his years in Congress and his career as a prosecutor, he has written Don't Hurt to Ask: Using the Power of Questions to Communicate, Connect, and Persuade.  While the work of a prosecutor or a congressman chairing a hearing could be described as winning arguments, Gowdy said that in congress he "realized persuasion is not about winning arguments--it's about effectively and efficiently advocating for what it is you believe to be true."  He writes that by asking "the right set of questions," you can direct someone to "arrive at the point you are trying to make on their own accord."

Gowdy's persuasive chops were honed in courtroom and in Congress.  The examples he gives and the stories he tells draw from that experience, including cases he has prosecuted.  He also tells stories from the congressional hearings that made him a household name.  The main thrust of the book, however, is not a memoir of his life as a lawyer and congressman, but to describe principles that we can use in non-lawyer and non-lawmaker settings.

One lesson Gowdy learned in Washington is that South Carolina is a much more conservative place than D.C. and that heading to Congress with an expectation of gaining consensus is "not only a silly expectation, it's a disrespectful one."  He learned not to seek or expect consensus but that "commonality is an admirable and reasonable" expectation.

Gowdy is a funny, self-effacing writer, so you can read this for his personality and stories.  Some of his personal stories, like talking football with his brother-in-law or deflecting political questions from his golf buddies, are hilarious.  But more than that, he really does give tools and ideas for questioning and persuading.  Whatever role we are in, even if not in a courtroom or hearing room, his ideas will help you persuade and communicate.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Murder Bears, Moonshine, and Mayhem, by Luke Harrington

Have you ever been reading the Bible and thought "Well that's strange/ offensive/ violent/ gross/ nasty/ disgusting!"  Luke Harrington, preacher's kid, humorist, and novelist, had those thoughts frequently enough that he's gathered many of those passages into a book, Murder-Bears, Moonshine, and Mayhem: Strange Stories from the Bible to Leave You Amused, Bemused, and (Hopefully) Informed. 

The stories Harrington tells are stories you may have heard before, but by putting them all together in a book, he really makes the Bible look like a nutty book.  This is not a devotional book.  It's not a book you would want to give to a child.  And it's probably not a book you want to give to a new believer or someone who is struggling in his or her faith.

To enjoy this book you have to have a strong sense of humor, especially an appreciation for potty jokes, and strong tolerance for jokes and language that push the boundaries of church talk.  The chapter titles alone give you an idea of what to expect: "I Like Biblical Butts and I Cannot Lie," "And Now for Something Completely Violent," and "Take a Tip from Me (Circumcision and More Phallic Fun)."  In my opinion, even when he's being irreverent, he doesn't cross the line to disrespect for the Bible or corrupting the message of the gospel.  However, there were several points at which I thought, "I can't believe a Christian publisher put this out!"

Harrington's writing is frequently laugh-out-loud funny and, as the subtitle promises, frequently informative.  Yes, he's getting a laugh out of some of the zanier passages of scripture, but he does so in a way that puts the potentially offensive material in context and helps the reader understand how these passages fit into the overall message of the Bible.  This is funny stuff that should find an honored spot on your Bible study bookshelf.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Fauja Singh Keeps Going, by Simran Jeet Singh, illustrated by Baljinder Kaur

How many people have you heard say they could never run a marathon?  Pick your excuse, but someone over 100 could legitimately use age as an excuse to bow out.  But Fauja Singh didn't make excuses, he just become the first centenarian to run a marathon!  The children's book Fauja Singh Keeps Going tells his inspiring story.  The story, written by Simran Jeet Singh and illustrated by Bajlinder Kaur, shows the hardships Fauja had to overcome as a child, talks about his Sikh faith, and, most of all, shows his love of running.  This is a fun, cute book that should inspire all kinds of runners.

Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Still Right, by Rick Tyler

As the 2020 presidential race heats up, it seems like the divide between left and right in American politics is wider than ever.  We are told this is the most important election of our lifetime.  Well, we've heard that before.  Is it true this time?  An interesting and somewhat annoying byproduct of the Trump administration is the seemingly endless train of long-time Republicans who have turned their backs on Trump.  Rick Tyler is one who has solid conservative Republican credentials and experience, but who doesn't have much good to say about Trump's version of the Republican party.  In Still Right: An Immigrant-Loving, Hybrid Driving, Composting American Makes the Case for Conservatism, Tyler argues that today's Republicans have left behind the conservatism that shaped the party in the latter part of the 20th century in favor of Trumpian populism.

Tyler, a political consultant who has worked in party politics, in political consulting alongside Newt Gingrich, and now as a commentator on MSNBC, says that the "Republican Party has shifted from a pro-immigration, pro-trade, pro-NATO party to one unrecognizable to a Reagan conservative."  His arguments are convincing, to a point, but he ignores half the story on many of these issues.  I can buy a pro-immigration stance, as long as limits are in place and controlled.  How can Americans look at Europe and the loss of culture they are experiencing due to immigration from Africa and the Middle East and get excited about large numbers of immigrants from those areas?  While immigrants are frequently productive and peaceful, what does one say about the large numbers who receive government assistance, or the large numbers of non-citizens in our prisons?

One can be pro-trade while also being circumspect about tariffs and trade balances.  When we are trading with China, with its centrally controlled, heavily subsidized industries, can we expect American manufacturers to compete on such an uneven playing field?  And pro-NATO?  I tend to agree with Trump, that the alliance should be supported by the US, but also proportionately by the other countries.  

Tyler throws out a couple of interesting proposals that he defends from a conservative perspective.  First, he argues that we should add a justice to the Supreme Court.  Democrats have been pushing the idea of packing the court with liberals once they get a D in the White House, but Tyler's proposal is that with one more justice, we won't have a single justice giving the decisive vote.  I like this idea, which would perhaps push some cases back to lower courts with a tie, but would force more deliberation toward 6-4 decisions.  His second proposal is not so cool.  Like many Democrats, he argues for a national popular vote in presidential elections.  As it stands, candidates only consider 8-10 states to be truly in play, so those states get the most campaign spending and candidate presence.  Congressmen from those states are, as a result, seen as more consequential than those from solidly R or D states.  It's an interesting idea, but I'll take the Constitution's formula.

It's true that Trump is not a dyed-in-the-wool conservative.  But he's done more for conservatives than some of his Republican predecessors.  The real question is, what direction is he taking the country?  I have not watched Tyler's MSNBC appearances or followed his social media (I will now), and I don't know, even after reading this book, whether he will support Trump in the presidential election.  It's pretty clear he did not in 2016, but given the choice between Trump and Biden, who better represents the conservative ideas you believe in?  Who offers better opportunities for conservatives to gain influence in policy?  Even if you don't believe Trump is truly conservative, and rightly point out ways he has governed that are more populist than conservative, do you really believe Biden will govern more conservatively than Trump?  I don't think so.  Tyler can help set the path for conservatism after Trump, hopefully without a socialist Biden/Harris interlude.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic copy!

Trump and the American Future, by Newt Gingrich

The more I hear from Newt Gingrich, the more I appreciate him.  Like me, you may vaguely recall that he actually ran for president in 2012, losing in the primaries to the empty suit Mitt Romney.  Romney's incompetent campaign closed the gap a little, losing to Obama by less than McCain had lost in 2012, but one can't help but wonder if Gingrich, with his political smarts and policy chops could have fared better.  Post-2012, Gingrich has remained very active in the political world as a consultant, media and podcast commentator, and writer.  Since Trump was elected, he has written or co-written four policy books as well as a couple of novels.  His latest, Trump and the American Future: Solving the Great Problems of Our Time, should serve as a policy guide for 2020 and beyond. 

I don't know how large a role Gingrich has in the Trump administration.  I suspect it's larger than we know, as he has no official title, but it's probably not as large as it should be.  Trump and the American Future does, to a certain extent, discuss Trump's positions on a wide variety of issues.  But what Gingrich is really doing is laying out what Trump's positions should be.  Looking toward the 2020 election and beyond, Gingrich has policy recommendations that Trump would be wise to implement.  If you know Gingrich at all, you won't be surprised to her that the book is wonky--really wonky.  He gets into a lot of technical details on economy, health care (probably 1/4 of the book is on health care and related topics), the environment, foreign policy, and crime.  He's a smart guy (PhD) but there's no question he made extensive use of his co-author and a team of researchers to come up with some quality analysis and workable proposals.

By the way, it's really impressive how timely and relevant the book is, given the fact that it was submitted for publication in March, when Covid 19 had just hit our shores.  Gingrich may have been a tad optimistic about the implications of the virus, but for the most part his early analysis and evaluations are spot-on.

Gingrich is the conservative's conservative.  His support of Trump has perhaps pushed the limits on that, as President Trump himself has not always read from the conservative playbook.  But to the extent that Trump does listen to Gingrich, I'd say more power to you, Newt!  As he says to start the book, 2020 is vital.  We need more solutions like Newt's, not Biden's left-wing puppet masters.

Born Again and Again, by Megan Westra

Megan Westra was raised in a strong Christian tradition.  Her family and church immersed her in the Christian faith, and she first committed to following Jesus at age four.  Given the young age and her lack of memory, she spent a good deal of her childhood doubting her salvation and seeking to be "born again . . . and again."  In college, she began having revelations that expanded her view of faith, leading to several moments of feeling like she was truly being born again into new understanding.  In her book Born Again and Again: Jesus' Call to Radical Transformation she chronicles her journey and digs into areas of faith and practice in which she has learned and grown.

The strongest theme throughout the book is that we, a church, should be about "connection over consumption."  The modern church, especially in the evangelical tradition in which Westra (and I) grew up has placed a strong emphasis on personal salvation and a personal, individualized faith in Jesus.  That emphasis misses the greater calling of community and communal life.  All Christians can benefit from a reminder that faith is not just about connecting with God, but also about connecting with our neighbor.  She uses this filter throughout the book as she discusses politics, race, economics, and gender.

Westra's book is reactive to the white evangelical faith of her upbringing.  She finds it wholly inadequate in light of her new-found wokeness.  In the areas mentioned above, she provides some historical background in an attempt to discredit American evangelicalism.  Like every human expression of faith in every period of history, culture and sin have played a role in shaping the institutions and expressions of the Christian faith, so correctives and reforms are always necessary.  But she has little good to say about, specifically, American evangelicalism.  Despite its whiteness, American evangelicals led the charge in eradicating slavery, in establishing institutions such as hospitals and schools that continue to serve humanity, planting churches and leading revival movements that brought faith to many across the US, and creating a foreign missions movement for spreading the gospel around the world.  To the extent that these positive contributions are mentioned, she is dismissive of them due to racist elements of the movements. 

Like many of her ilk, she is critical of capitalism and American democracy.  This shouldn't be hard for her to see, but if she truly is interested in addressing poverty, history and experience have shown that this is best done through capitalism and free markets.  And it should go without saying that socialism and communism have inevitably led to repression of religious expression everywhere they have been tried.  Her recommendations for community action are fully on board with socialistic and anti-capitalistic tendencies which, in the long run, create more poverty and less religious freedom.

As much as I appreciate Westra's commitment to being the presence of Christ in her community, which, as she tells it, is quite diverse racially and economically, and has plenty of needs, her solutions are feel-good but ineffective.  I would love to see more people who have her commitment to know the poor not as subjects but as friends and neighbors, but who will offer solutions that lead away from dependency and toward increased participation in the free market system and the free society, toward connection with their communities by providing goods and services in mutual exchange.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

The Standardization of Demoralization Procedures, by Jennifer Hofmann

I was very much looking forward to reading Jennifer Hofmann's The Standardization of Demoralization Procedures.  It sounded like a Kafka-esque story of a bureaucrat caught in the cogs of his own bureaucratic system.  That is true of the story; it definitely hearkens to Kafka, especially in the early going.  Bernd Zeiger established his place in the Stasi with his manual "The Standardization of Demoralization Procedures," but now at the end of his career, his relevance is tenuous. 

Zieger uses his resources to try to track down Lara, a young lady with whom he crossed paths and became obsessed with.  Like many East Berliners, she is missing.  The government doesn't want to admit that East Germans are fleeing the country, but the allure of the West is too strong for many living under communism.  The story of his search becomes flashbacks, and flashbacks during flashbacks, building a twisted chain of events that eventually will turn Zeiger's methods back on him.

In the same vein as Kafka's fiction, Hofmann's story give a glimpse into life in East Berlin in the post WW2 era, right up to the fall of the Berlin wall.  The story itself didn't grip me, and the cultural and historical material took a back seat to the story.  There were some interesting twists, but ultimately I was disappointed.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Abled: Same But Different, by Cathleen Morita

The genetic disorder EBF3-HADDS was only identified a few years ago, but there is already a children's book that features a child with HADDS.  Chase was one of the first kids diagnosed.  His mother Cathleen Morita has written about Chase in a new children's book Abled: Same But Different.

By showing bits and pieces of Chase's life and experiences, she shows that he's a little boy like so many little boys, and loves to do the same things many little boys like to do, but he does things differently and experiences things differently.  The cute illustrations show him at home in Hawaii, enjoying the beach, his dog, and many different activities.

Abled is a great resource for kids with HADDS and other disabilities, as well as their care providers, teachers, and families, to get a glimpse into life with HADDS.  What a joy for a child with this newly diagnosed, rare disorder to see, in storybook form, a child with the same diagnosis he or she has!

My daughter is delighted to read a book about a child
who has the same diagnosis she has!

My wife's blog review:
https://ebf3blog.wordpress.com/2020/08/07/abled-the-hadds-book/

Men to Avoid in Art and Life, by Nicole Tersigni

Nicole Tersigni's idea for Men to Avoid in Art and Life is fun and silly and sure to bring a smile to the women in your life.  She takes classic art and adds captions to bring some more modern sensibilities to the fore.  She divides the book into sections dealing with mansplaining, sexperts, and misplaced concern.

This is funny stuff, even if it does base its humor on stale stereotypes about male attitudes and behaviors.  Only the thinnest skinned man will be offended, and men and women alike will get a chuckle about the familiarity of the scenarios.  (But it's other men, not me. . . .)

By the way, for the art lover, she provides a listing of the works and artists, as well as the museums where the are found.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

American Crusade, by Pete Hegseth

If you watch Fox News, you have likely seen Pete Hegseth on TV.  He's a passionate conservative voice, an Army vet who calls his fellow Americans to defend our freedom and way of life.  In American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free, Hegseth hits conservative hot-button issues, showing the distinctions from liberalism, and calling on Americans to join his crusade.

Despite the militaristic language, Hegseth's fight is not with arms but with ideas.  The ideas he's fighting against are familiar to conservatives: globalism, genderism, socialism, secularism, environmentalism, elitism, multiculturalism, and Islamism.  His examples and explanations of conservative positions are simple without being simplistic.  His passionate defense of freedom and conservative ideas is clear and solidly argued. 

Hegseth is worth reading and worth listening to for his common-sense, well-reasoned conservative positions.  If you are on the fence, trying to decide between blue and red, conservative or liberal, Trump or Biden, give Hegseth a read.  Whatever your starting point or presuppositions, he's sure to make you think.


Thanks to NetGalley for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Minutes to Die, by Susan Sleeman

I always appreciate when a follow-up book exceeds its predecessor.  Minutes to Die is Susan Sleeman's second book in her "Homeland Heroes" series.  Minutes to Die is set shortly after Seconds to Live, but focuses on a difference set of main characters.  We see cameos from the characters from the first book, but Sleeman changes the focus to FBI Agent Kiley Dawson and ICE Agent Evan Bowers.  They are working together to prevent an attack on the anniversary of 9/11 that, their intel has said, will kill millions of Americans.

Kiley and Evan have some history they have to work through.  Evan is crazy about her, but Kiley has yet to forgive him for some of his past failures.  Reluctantly, she brings him into the investigation and they work closely throughout the book.  Over time, she grows to appreciate him and forgive him.  My main criticism of Seconds to Live was that he suspense portion of the book took a back seat to the romance.  In Minutes to Die, I was pleased to see that it was the opposite.  Yes, the budding romance is a theme throughout, but it is easily overshadowed by the investigation and tension building up to the anticipated attack.

This is an example that I just thought was funny.  Call me sexist, but I don't see scenes like this written in suspense novels written by a man.

He released her and stepped back.  "As much as I want to kiss you right now, I think it would be a good idea for us to put whatever this is going on between us on the back burner." . . . He knew she needed to succeed so she never had to live with the guilt of failing to stop the most deadly terrorist attack even perpetrated on American soil.

I know it sounds like I'm making fun.  Maybe I am, a little, cynical, un-romantic guy that I am, but seriously I was quite pleased that this passage was not typical of the book as a whole.  Minutes to Die is told in a straightforward way, focussing on Kiley's leadership and giving details of the investigation coming together with the team's various investigative skills and a little bit of luck.  It seems like Sleeman paid more attention to the technical, tactical, and logistical details of the investigation than she did in Seconds to Live--another plus.

Given the improvement of book 2 over book 1, I look forward to the anticipated book 3, to be released next year.  Romance or not, I am sure, like book 1 and 2, will be an enjoyable read. 


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Calling Bullshit, by Carl T. Bergstrom

Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West's Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World could not have come at a better time.  Well, maybe about three months ago would have been a better time.  The year 2020 has, so far, been primarily marked by Covid-19 and the response to it.  If you're like me, you are frustrated by the conflicting information given out by the media and the array of "experts."  Yes, a few of these folks have been studying contagious diseases for years, but then all these other "experts" chime in with their newly minted charts and graphs and "science" and "data" and we are left not knowing who to believe.  Politicians and the press say "listen to science" and "follow the data" then scientists disagree, data changes, and settled science suddenly becomes yesterday's news.

Bergsrtom and West, both professors at the University of Washington, bring some much-needed level headedness into the data-saturated, 24/7 news, social media world we live in.  (But due to the date of publication, Covid-19 is not part of this book.)  As they define it, b.s. (they use the word throughout, and call me prudish, it's just not a word in my vocabulary, so I'll use the short version in this review) "uses the language of math and science and statistics to create the impression of rigor and accuracy. . . .  New-school b.s. can be particularly effective because many of us don't feel qualified to challenge information that is presented in quantitative form."  A side comment about TED talks cracked me up.  So many people think a TED talk is the gold standard of authoritative, but they write "the TED brand of b.s. is just a cocktail of sound-bite science, management-speak, and techno-optimism."

We have access to more data than ever, but much of it is not reliable due to its source or presentation.  Bergstrom and West cover the various ways we are presented with b.s. and offer guidance to resist being taken in.  A favorite is numbers.  They "feel objective, but are easily manipulated to tell whatever story one desires."  Even better when data is presented in chart form.  Their section on charts and graphs may be the most useful part of the book.  They show the many ways an easy-to-read graph that seems to make a clear point may be concealing the very information you need.

In spite of their pretty clear lean to the left, they are balanced in their examples across the ideological spectrum.  Suffice it to say that no ideological group is exempt from the desire or habit of manipulating data and information to make a point.  Whether you are reading a Twitter post, watching the evening news, or even reading a paper in an academic journal, you will be better equipped to evaluate the information--and spotting b.s.--thanks to Bergstrom and West.  If someone starts a sentence with "studies say," "according to science," or something like that, put up your b.s. detector.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Space Station Down, by Ben Bova and Doug Beason

Space Station Down, by Ben Bova and Doug Beason, starts off with a great premise: a cosmonaut and a space tourist arrive at the International Space Station and immediately start killing the crew.  They announce their intent to drop the ISS out of orbit, spew radioactive matter across the entire eastern part of the United States, and crash it into the heart of New York City, the impact of which will be far greater than an atomic bomb.

What they didn't count on was the presence of Kimberly Hasid-Robinson, the ISS chief who evades their initial attack and, as the sole surviving ISS crew member, has to figure out how to use her wits to foil their dastardly plan.  She is a brave, powerful, resourceful, and wily foe, who these criminals did not anticipate.

Besides the suspenseful standoff between Kimberly and the terrorists, which is most of the story, what I enjoyed most about Space Station Down was the realism.  Obviously, I have never been to the ISS.  Neither have Bova or Beason.  But they provide enough detail that I was fully convinced that the details about the ISS were accurate and realistic.  I feel confident that if I pulled up a schematic of ISS, it would reflect the descriptions in the story.

Space Station Down combines the things I enjoy about sci-fi: a near-future setting that utilizes current technology (with perhaps some speculation about next level tech), convincingly realistic depictions of the science, strong story elements of suspense, tension, romance, human relationships, and characters I can relate to and root for or against.  I'm not saying I hate sci-fi with aliens, fanciful technology, or philosophical explorations, but Space Station Down pushed a lot of buttons for me.  I enjoyed it a lot.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

The Beautiful Community, by Irwyn L. Ince, Jr.

Pastor Irwyn Ince has broken ground in the Presbyterian Church in America, as the first African-American elected as moderator of the General Assembly.  In a mostly white denomination, he's leading the charge for diversity, as he has done in the Grace DC Presbyterian churches where he has served as a pastor.  In his book The Beautiful Community, he further casts the message: the body of Christ is a beautiful community that includes people of all races.  He writes that "the ministry of reconciliation demonstrated in the local church by the gathering of people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and ethnicities is the natural outworking of a rich covenantal theological commitment."

The covenantal relationship we share among ourselves, as reflected in our covenantal relationship with God, should also reflect the "beautiful community" shared among the three persons of the Trinity.  "To refuse to pursue unity in diversity as a redeemed people is to fundamentally neglect what it means for us to be the image of God."

Of course, the point of writing this book is that the church does not reflect that unity in diversity.  To be fair, I think we (meaning the contemporary American church) try harder than Ince gives us credit for.  Ince's anecdotes aside, I think it would be rare for a person of any race to walk into any church in America and be excluded or shunned because of race.  The larger question is the assimilation and blending of culture that should happen.  We, as humans, hang on to our identities.  "Our Blackness, our whiteness, our Asian-ness, our Latino-ness still tends to be at the center of our identity even after faith in Jesus Christ."  And this is reflected in the styles of worship we enjoy.  Ince points out that as welcoming as white Christians may be to other races in our churches, they still worship, teach, and fellowship like white people, expecting other races to assimilate to their ways (which are not biblical but cultural).

While this is true of white Christians, as the majority culture in America, I would argue that it's true of virtually any culture.  My wife and I are white and one of our children is black.  When he was getting old enough to be aware of the world around him, we moved to a new city and hoped to find a diverse church.  What we found were culturally black churches, some with a few white people, and culturally white churches, some with a few minorities.  We chose a mostly white church with a few black families and a couple of families who had also adopted black children.

Can worship ever be separated from culture?  Likely not.  Can we learn to worship together in beautiful communities?  Absolutely.  "He enables us to love, hear, seek, understand, and pursue one another in our diversity."  This is a process of discipleship, and of giving up our preferences.  I don't know how much The Beautiful Community moves us toward that goal, which will likely never be achieved short of heaven, but it's certainly food for thought and a challenge to consider how much of our worship, and even our theology, is tied to our cultural and racial preferences, not to our shared, biblical faith.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Offworld, by Robin Parrish

On the way back from Mars, Chris Burke and his crew were looking forward to a hero's welcome and some time to reconnect with their lives on Earth.  Alas, the first people to walk on Mars were greeted by--no one.  Not only were there no people, there were no animals.  It was as if every living thing had instantly disappeared. 

So begins Robin Parrish's sci-fi novel Offworld.  Of course, the intrepid explorers and scientists that they are, they set out on a cross-country trek from Florida to Houston, where satellite images show a bright beam of light that, they figure, must have something to do with the disappearance.  Along the way, it seems as if the world is conspiring against them.  Among other perils, they struggle to survive an unnaturally severe storm, and a building inexplicably collapses on them. 

Ultimately, they discover that the cause of the disappearance is, in fact, human activity, and the humans who caused it are highly motivated to keep the crew from discovering the source.  This is a page turner for sure, but Parrish goes a little over the top with the luck of the crew and falls a bit short in the scientific purpose and means of the disappearance.  I am a little curious how this book fits with the other two in his "Dangerous Times" series, but I'm not sure I like it enough to take time to read those, too.  As a stand-alone title, Offworld leaves some unanswered questions, however, for the most part, wraps it all up nicely in the end.

https://amzn.to/32yKMKm

Small Town, Big Miracle, by Bishop W.C. Martin

Several years ago, I heard Bishop W. C. Martin speak at a conference, where he talked about his little church adopting dozens of children out of foster care.  His story touched me, and I'm so glad to run across his book, Small Town, Big Miracle: How Love Came to the Least of These.  Bishop Martin is pastor of Bennett Chapel in the tiny community of Possum Trot, in southeast Texas.  He and his wife and his wife's sister became convicted that God was calling them to adopt.  Based on their example, as well as on his preaching regularly on adoption, many families in their church followed their lead.  The inspiration caught on and before long a couple dozen families had adopted over seventy children.

If this weren't inspiring enough, you have to get the full picture of this community.  This is a town with no paved road, one of the poorest areas in the country.  But these folks are full of love, with love to spare.  Martin doesn't sugar coat the process, revealing that they did have plenty of problems.  As a community they had decided to focus on hard-to-adopt kids, older kids that had been in multiple foster homes.  They came to Possum Trot with habits, behaviors, and issues.  In many cases they had suffered abuse, neglect, molestation, beatings, starvation, and torture.  Acclimating them into families of love and trust was a process.  But they never had to send kids back into the system.

Martin and his family and friends and congregation are not superheroes, even though they seem to be.  They are Christians who followed the call of Jesus on their lives and families to love orphans in need.  Martin does not hesitate to call out other Christians.  It doesn't matter if you have little money, have other kids already, have kids with special needs, have no kids or are an empty nester, there is no reason why you can't consider adoption for yourself and your family.  If other churches, who have more people and more material resources, would follow Martin's and Bennett Chapel's example, no child would be stuck in foster care.  What an inspiring and challenging and beautiful story.

https://amzn.to/32CwxEg

Compassion (&) Conviction, by Justin Giboney, Michael Wear, and Chris Butler

Justin Giboney, Micheal Wear, and Chris Butler are among the leaders of The AND Campaign, an organization dedicated to bringing together faith (&) politics, biblical values (&) social justice, truth (&) love.  (The ampersand in parentheses is their symbol.)  The three of them have put together some of their ideas about public life in Compassion (&) Conviction: The AND Campaign's Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement.  The goal of the book, and presumably the organization, is to develop "a gospel-centered framework to help Christians reflect the compassion and conviction of Jesus Christ in the public square." 

As they see it, one role of politics is to "provide[] a forum for advocating for our neighbor's well-being and pursuing justice," and that Christians "should participate in politics primarily to help others and to represent our Lord and Savior in the public square."  They advocate leaning on the teachings of scripture rather than conservative or progressive (or other) political ideology to dictate one's political and social perspective.  If a Christian finds himself always agreeing with one or the other political position, he is "intellectually lazy and easily manipulated" and "not being faithful." 

Christians in the public square should "be a source of moral clarity and biblical illumination in our world."  They might not always agree, but should set an example of civility: "Incivility among Christians in the public square is a genuine threat to the witness of the church."  We can disagree without "expressing contempt for one another."  

As unifying and non-partisan as Compassion (&) Conviction tries to be, the content of the book conveys a position that says, "True Christian faith will lean hard toward socially liberal political positions."  To the authors, public policy that favors minorities, immigrants, and the poor is the obvious and default position.  They never acknowledge that the Christian "preferential option for the poor" and the call to look out for one's neighbor, when enforced through legal structures, has the backing of the force of the state.  

When Christian virtue is enforced by the state, it is no longer virtue.  If I see my neighbor hungry, as a Christian I can and should seek to aid him.  But when I use the structure of the state to feed my hungry neighbor, I force one neighbor, with the threat of violence, to feed my other neighbor.  This fundamental truth about government throws cold water on the warm, fuzzy public ethic of these authors and others.  I agree that I am to love my neighbor, assist widows and orphans, etc., but when I try to enforce those obligations with the force of law rather than the calling of the heart, I am out of bounds and in violation of a free conscience.

https://amzn.to/2WzlNCM

Uranus, by Ben Bova

Uranus is the first in Ben Bova's promised Outer Planets trilogy.  This one starts with a promising and compelling basis.  A preacher and a billionaire have teamed up to create a space habitat orbiting Uranus.  Aptly called Haven, it is a "haven for Earth's poor, disenfranchised, forgotten men and women," a last resort for people who need a second chance.  Residents come from the lower classes and are screened for criminal tendencies, in hopes that, freed from the earth's economic struggles and stratification, they can thrive with a fresh start in space.

After a life on the streets, depending on prostitution and manipulation to survive, Raven Marchesi feels lucky to have a place on Haven.  Trying to start over and escape her past, yet using the street smarts acquired over many years, she quickly gains a spot in the inner circles of Haven's administration.  Kyle Umber, the preacher, has good intentions, but he has allowed Evan Waxman, the billionaire who largely funded Haven, to run the place in unsavory ways.

Uranus is a decently fun, melodramatic story, with a strong female central character, a couple of sleazy male characters, and a few others to feed the story.  For such a prolific writer, I was surprised by the simplicity of the plot and the predictability of the characters.  The subplot of scientific research on the history of Uranus and evidence of extraterrestrial life doesn't get the attention it should.  I would rather have seen this part of the story developed.  This is a decent book, but if you read it expecting a great story from a seasoned sci-fi writer, just prepare yourself for disappointment.

 

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

New Way to Be Human, by Charlie Peacock

I remember Charlie Peacock as one of the most thoughtful and creative Christian musicians in the 1980s and 1990s.  He jumps into practical theology, expanding his song writing to book writing in New Way to Be Human: A Provocative Look at What It Means to Follow Jesus.  

Like the artist he is, Peacock takes Christian discipleship and projects it through a lens that will help you see your faith a bit differently.  As student-followers of Jesus, Christians take part in God's Story.  The Christian life is a story, and should be evident in the life of a Christian.  I don't want people to wonder whether or not I am a Christian.  As Peacock writes, "If people want to know why you head in one direction and not another, tell them who you're following. . . . I want people to ask, 'What's the deal with him?'  Answer: 'Him?  Oh he's with Jesus.'" (93, 95)

One of the more challenging sections addressed the question of work.  As a clock puncher in a secular job, it's hard for me to maintain a focus on my work as Christian service.  Peacock leans hard against working a basic job for a paycheck.  "Neither the need for money nor the need for goods and services defines work for the man or woman following in the new way. . . . Can it really be that our work is to do good and that's all?  Yes. . . . Honestly, this is just too good to be true for most followers, and so in matters of work and money, we think and behave as practical atheists." (171)  I have to say he's right.  As much as I say I rely on God's provision for my life, I'm really relying on my work ethic and skills, not on God (although I can attribute those things to God).  Honestly, I have known very few, if any, Christians who really model what he writes here.  Most of us are practical atheists on this score.

Equally challenging but more attainable was Peacock's perspective on marriage.  Marriage should be a "world-changing art of God."  He calls Christians to view marriage as a joyful, passionate partnership.  There are so many ways we get distracted in our marriages--and the rest of life--that detract from and distract from God's Story.  "When we build lives or marriages of our own design, structure church of our own design, and allow some other story than God's to control life, we accept something short of the agenda of God." (191)  

New Way to Be Human is worth picking up, worth reading again, and worth reading with a group of believers.  New believers can establish lifestyle foundations for living their faith, and with his unique perspective, even seasoned believers will enjoy a new way of looking at established elements of Christian discipleship.

Wake Up America, by Eric Bolling

Eric Bolling published Wake Up America: The Nine Virtues That Made Our Nation Great--and Why We Need Them More Than Ever in June of 2016, when Hilary Clinton's victory over Donald Trump in the presidential election was all but assured.  In the opening pages of the book, he speculates about what Hilary's inauguration would look like.  The cast of characters and their policy positions and records, the speculation of what her cabinet would have looked like, the judges she would have appointed, the type of government that she would have overseen, reminds conservative Americans how grateful we are that Trump won in 2016.  

Writing in the months leading up to that election, Bolling sets his sights beyond a single presidential election, but lays out virtues that are crucial and fundamental for government--and life.  Bolling definitely leans right and Republican, as the virtues (which I've listed below with his descriptions) are sure to indicate.  No matter the party, the office, the politician, these virtues are worthy of emulation and can set a standard to aim for.  Whether the current president holds these virtues or not is open to debate (a debate that will certainly expose partisan rifts!), but there's little question that, all things considered, conservatives exhibit these virtues to a greater degree than liberals.  Politicians, as well as the everyday man on the street, can become better citizens and better people by reflecting on these virtues in their own lives.

Grit: "the power to try, fail, and rebuild in a nation of endless possibilities"

Profit: "a system that rewards people for ingenuity, greed, and competition against others"

Manliness: "the rugged pioneer spirit that allowed men and women with guts and guns to carve a great nation out of the wilderness"

Thrift: "the classic middle American value of living within your means and avoiding debt"

Individuality: "the ability to think and speak and believe whatever you like"

Dominion: "the notion that nature is under the control of humanity and not the other way around"

Merit: "the idea that people should succeed based on their own skills and talents, not due to the entitlements from a nanny state and that effort and good choices should be rewarded"

Pride: "love of country and an abiding belief in America's special place among the nations of the world"

Providence: "the belief in a role for faith in our own lives and in the life of our nation, from a simple ball game to America's destiny, because there are things bigger than self or state"

Make Russia Great Again, by Christopher Buckley

Christopher Buckley established himself as one of our funniest political satirists with his earlier novels like Thank You for Smoking and The White House Mess.  Buckley has been taking a break from contemporary political satire and for some reason decided that today's political climate wasn't absurd enough in reality, so he has written Make Russia Great Again.  

Late in President his first term, Trump appoints his long-time employee Herb Nutterman as White House Chief of Staff.  Herb has been a reliable, loyal employee at Trump's hotels and clubs, and brings his hospitality instincts to politics and international affairs.  Things start to get messy when Herb learns that a US-created rogue AI has interfered with Russia's presidential election, pushing a Communist Party candidate that had been way behind in the polls into a runoff with Putin.  Meanwhile, a Russian oligarch has videos of Trump having sex with all the contestants at the Moscow Miss Universe competition and has certain demands he is asking of Trump.  Herb, needless to say, is in way over his head.

While there are some funny scenes among the absurd scenarios Buckley writes, the whole novel has the feel of laziness.  Buckley takes Trump's worst stereotypes, the administration's most ridiculous characteristics, and the left's most over-the-top accusations, to create this alternative history of the Trump presidency.  It's too dull to be vicious, and too silly to make any meaningful point.  It's like a Hilary Clinton delusion in which the Steele "pee tape" turned out to be real and Trump is actually in Putin's back pocket.  Maybe Trump haters will love it, I don't know.  I have a feeling the author's father would dismiss Make Russia Great Again as a silly waste of time.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

The Prisoner, by Carlos J. Cortes

In the not-so-distant future, there has been a revolution in prisons.  Rather than warehousing criminals in cages, hibernation facilities warehouse criminals in tanks.  Carlos J. Cortes's novel The Prisoner hits the ground running with a gutsy prison break from one of these facilities.  A team of rescuers gets themselves convicted and checked in, fully immersed in a hibernation tank, then with inside help get themselves and their target out of there.  Russo has been in hibernation for years, falsely imprisoned by a political rival.  

Most of the first half of the book is the escape itself, through the labyrinthine sewers of Washington, D.C.  This is the most memorable part of the book.  Not only do they experience the utterly disgusting reality of human waste--not only organic waste, but all the diapers, tampons, condoms, hair, fat, and other things that go down our drains and we flush down our toilets--they encounter a whole civilization of people who inhabit long-forgotten underground spaces.  It is gross and fascinating.  

Once they manage to get out above the ground, they still have to navigate the disgusting flow of corruption, personal vendettas, political maneuvering, and financial misdeeds that are still the hallmark of Washington.  Their mission: to expose the abuse of the hibernation prison system, which unlawfully detains people like Russo and others for a fee.  The abuse is so deeply engrained in D.C. culture that opposition, official and unofficial, greets them at every turn.

The Prisoner goes from a gripping and fascinating start, to a confusing and convoluted chunk, to a clever and satisfying conclusion.  It did leave me with one thought: I hope hibernation prisons do not become a reality, and if they do, keep me far, far away.

Win Bigly, by Scott Adams

In the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election, cartoonist Scott Adams experienced a sort of transformation.  With decades of cartoon brilliance, best-selling business books, an active speaking schedule, and other successful business ventures, Adams built a loyal blog following.  When he started making predictions in his blog that Donald Trump was going to win the presidency, his notoriety--and blog traffic--blew up.  When it turned out he was right, his new-found role as political guru was solidified.

In Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter, Adams recounts this transformation and the blow-by-blow account of his blog posts and observations.  Adams has suffered professionally as a result of being labeled as a Trump apologist, but his task throughout the campaign and in this book is to observe and explain, not defend and prop up.  On point after point, Adams explains why Trump was successful, why Hilary's campaign floundered, and how Trump overcame the setbacks that should have busted his electability.

As hinted in the subtitle, Trump ultimately is a better persuader.  Viewing the election through the Persuasion Filter--examining his words, actions, and strategies as the use of persuasion--it becomes clear, in retrospect, that Hilary never had a chance.  Adams makes it clear that he's not a partisan, and that he, in fact, holds many views in opposition to Trump's.  So the criticism of Adams as a Trump cultist is completely inaccurate.  But in terms of accuracy, few have nailed Trump's campaign and governance the way Adams has.

White Christian Privilege, by Khyati Y. Joshi

Over this 4th of July weekend, amid the patriotism and what fireworks were allowed to be shot (OK, not many allowed, but plenty illegally shot), the media was sure full of a lot of anti-American, anti-patriotic chatter.  Racism, white privilege, inequality, etc., etc., as if we didn't live in the freest, most prosperous, most religiously diverse nation in the world.  White privilege has become a buzz phrase for the left, and Khyati Y. Joshi, a college professor and writer, is happy to be a part of the merry bandwagon.  In White Christian Privilege: The Illusion of Religious Equality in America, Joshi joins the mainstream left in decrying white privilege, specifically white Christian privilege.  She "debunks the fallacy of American religious freedom and offers ways to acknowledge the harder truth of White Christian supremacy, in hopes of helping to create a society with institutions and cultural practices in which all can more equitably coexist."

In her mind, the alleged neutrality of the United States government and the courts toward religion is skewed heavily in favor of Christian faith and practice.  She gives examples demonstrating that Christian practices are easily accepted, while non-Christian practices are either banned or are won in hard-fought court struggles.  "The collective message of the Court's free exercise cases is that a burden on Christian practice offense the Constitution, while a burden on non-Christian practice does not." 

My thought throughout the book was that the United States was founded by Christians who created the foundations of the nation so that its people would be free to practice their faith.  As a result, there is more religious variety and freedom of worship and practice in the U.S. than any other nation in history.  It is because of the faith of the founders that Hindus, Muslims, and other world religions can flourish here.  She states that Christianity "permeates all facets of our society and our laws."  Amen.  If another world religion permeated our laws and society, religious freedom would be a dim hope--just look at how Christians are treated in Muslim countries, China, and even India.

On a side note, when a leftist author hates Trump, it's expected.  But please, at least get your facts straight.  She repeats the lie that "the president referred to 'very fine people on both sides,' signal[ing] the president's support of White nationalists."  This lie has been debunked repeatedly.  In the speech to which she refers, President Trump clearly condemned white nationalists.  The "both sides" remark referred to people for and against the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee.  Do your research and don't swallow the slander of the media.  Further, she is critical of Trump's "Muslim Ban."  Another lie; this was an effort to prevent travel from countries where he thought there was an increased threat of terrorism.  This did not include every majority Muslim country.  Hate Trump all you want, but in an academic work, I would expect a higher level of reflection and fact-checking.

It's undeniable that Christianity is woven inextricably into the foundations and fabric our our nation.  To deny it or reduce it would not only show anti-Christian bias, but would erode the very freedoms and religious diversity that sprang from the Christian faith of the founders.  As a Christian, I was deeply convicted by the message and theme of the book.  The Christian church in American has failed to retain and expand the vibrancy and evangelistic fervor of the Great Awakenings, and has, as a result, seen the practices of the Christian faith decline in recent decades.  For the sake of the gospel, the church needs to wake up; our nation still needs Jesus.  For the sake of the nation, the church needs to wake up; the more the influence of Christianity fades from the scene, the less freedom we all will have.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!