Will economics matter in November

Social issues — together with some economic factors — could decide the fate of Team Biden

Source: Investopedia

Economics, we were taught in grad school, assumes that people will act rationally and in their self-interest. But do they always? And do they always act on valid information? Beyond that, can other factors outweigh economic ones?

The coming election may test some common economic assumptions. And it may be decided on matters entirely apart from household finances.

By most Big Picture indications, the U.S. economy is faring pretty well. As President Biden has repeatedly noted, the unemployment rate has been below 4% for the last 26 months, the longest such stretch in more than 50 years. That is a stunning contrast to the 14.7% jobless rate of April 2020, when Covid shut down much of the economy.

And, to take a couple more key indicators, wages have grown substantially since January 2021, when Biden took office, with the 12-month moving average of wage gains starting at 3.4% that month and rising to 5.4% in February 2024 (with an uptick a year ago to 6.4%). By contrast, inflation has slipped to a 3.2% annual rate so far this year, down from its annual high of 7% in 2022, and falling well below the gains in pay most workers are enjoying.

Even in manufacturing – a long-declining sector – employment recently has been topping 12.96 million each month, the largest number since the fall of 2008. While still a far cry from the 17.9 million jobs in the sector we saw in 1990, it’s a healthy gain from the 11.4 million of the worst Covid period in early 2020.

But it is also true that we live in a split-screen economy. Behind the big numbers are unsettling realities that many Americans are having trouble coping with, factors that could outweigh the macro achievements that Team Biden points to. As a friend noted, things are pretty good for the upper middle class and above. Below that, not so much.

Mortgage rates and housing prices are too high for many folks to afford homes, for instance. And high prices, coupled with high loan rates, even put cars out of reach for some — certainly the electric cars that the administration is incentivizing.

“Anyone who wants to buy a house or a car faces a double whammy of higher prices and far higher rates,” The Wall Street Journal noted. “Few are even bothering to apply for a mortgage, with applications for loans to buy a home in the past year at their lowest since 1995. Those who have already achieved the American dream are fine, but it’s getting further away for those still reaching for it.”

And, while inflation rates are coming down, the price of groceries isn’t dropping. Sticker-shock at the cash register continues to be the kind of in-your-face reality that American shoppers face regularly. “Average annual food-at-home prices were 5.0 percent higher in 2023 than in 2022. For context, the 20-year historical level of retail food price inflation is 2.5 percent per year,” the USDA reported. “Price growth slowed in 2023 compared with 2022, when food-at-home prices rose by 11.4 percent.”

Gerald Ford’s failed effort against inflation, source: Wikipedia

Such inflation, it has been said, had a lot to do with turning Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford into one-term presidents. While the average inflation rate under Biden has been far lower than the others experienced (9.9% on average under Carter and 8% for Ford), Biden’s 5.7% average rate so far has him tied with the rate that obsessed Richard Nixon in his day – hardly a welcome comparison for Team Biden.

And inflation hits some folks far harder than others. Those on the lower end of the economic scale – historically more likely to vote Democratic – are those struggling the most. Many may not realize that presidents have little power over inflation, a challenge that falls to the independent Federal Reserve. But they keenly understand the cash-register effect and that could drive them to seek a change, especially since inflation during the Trump years averaged just 1.9%.

So, if one asks whether a voter is better off now than he or she was four years ago – a line that got Ronald Reagan elected over Carter in 1980 — the answer will vary. Are most voters in Michigan, Ohio and other swing states better off? Unquestionably, they are better off than when Covid raged, but aside from that aberration, are they faring well enough to reward Biden with a second term? Have they been aided enough by the billions Biden pumped into the economy to prevent a repeat of recession after the two-month downturn of early 2020?

Beyond questions of economics, though, social issues such as immigration and abortion policy may weigh heavily, along with the age of both candidates and perceptions about their mental capacities. Will voters recall that Trump quashed bipartisan efforts in Congress to fix the southern border problem, or will they just hear his often-racist podium-pounding on it? Will they react to Republican efforts to bar abortion, even to the extent of curtailing IVF procedures, as the Alabama Supreme Court sought to do before state lawmakers hastily decided to put in protections? Will they consider Trump’s questionable thinking processes, which may far overshadow Biden’s gaffes, as well as Trump’s many self-induced legal woes?

Source: LA Times

Indeed, provided he stays out of jail, will those legal woes help Trump with his backers, as they play into his victim narrative? They certainly keep him in the headlines.

Voters have an extraordinary ability to overlook flaws in the candidates they pin their emotions on. The passion that MAGA enthusiasts feel for their candidate blinds them to his legal and personal flaws, it seems, and their depth of commitment far exceeds the feelings that Biden generates among his backers. Will such passions, coupled with a mixed bag of economic realities, be enough to put Trump back into office?

Moreover, given the distortions of the Electoral College system, where each vote in a less populous and more socially conservative state counts more heavily than each one in more urbanized states, the coming election is hardly assured for the man whose team can claim a lot of credit for restoring a healthy U.S. economy. It’s no wonder the polls put the contenders pretty close to neck and neck. The coming few months promise a lot more drama and, one hopes, better things for voters in time for November.

Sobering but Unsurprising

A friend who worked in both newspapers and magazines recently shared a piece from The Philadelphia Inquirer whose headline a few years ago would have been shocking. It was titled “At Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, the last newsstand stopped selling newspapers.” Subhed: The explanation, sadly, is old news. Nearly no one was buying them.”

The piece, a mix of elegy and business reporting, offered a sobering slap in the face to nearly anyone of a certain age, an age when trains were filled with folks turning pages and studying the news of the day. Not so much anymore, it seems. Newspaper sales “had grown beyond bleak” at the station, the manager of the stand said. ”We weren’t making any money off newspapers.”

The piece explained how the Age of Smartphones has rendered the print product nearly obsolete, quaint perhaps. It suggested that the pandemic worsened the newspaper industry’s existential struggle with the digital world. And it discussed how newsstands themselves are vanishing, much as coin-operated news boxes are.

“Each year an estimated four million passengers pass through the station’s soaring concourse, making it Amtrak’s third busiest hub,” the Inquirer reported. “Meanwhile, in recent times, the stand rarely sold more than a dozen daily papers each day … Then there’s rising prices, delivery costs, and time and energy spent bundling up returns.”

Tillman Crane photo, source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

The piece included a photo of another newsstand in the center of the concourse, a memorable shot that for a time even hung in the National Art Museum of China. In its haunting emptiness and ghostly lighting, that photo to me is reminiscent of an Edward Hopper painting. Even as it is foregrounded with stacks of newspapers waiting to be snapped up by news-hungry travelers, the shot seems a bit funereal, foreshadowing the fate of print decades after photographer Tillman Crane aimed his camera at the stand in 1989.

This is not news, of course. Almost since my first days in the news business, back in the summer of 1974, industry changes have been extraordinary, with many of them seeming like campaigns in a war against obsolescence. My first job, in the noisy back shop of a New Jersey daily with hot-type lead Linotype machines behind me, was as a proofreader. Three colleagues and I would comb sheets of typescript for typos that we circled and dispensed to the editors in the busy newsroom. Copy moved between us and that newsroom on an overhead conveyor belt on sheets of rough paper.

That job was obsoleted soon by computers on which reporters and editors did their own proofing. And the compositors, who operated the linotypes, soon enough lost their jobs, as systems bypassed those noisy, dirty and dangerous machines.

By the time I made it into the newsroom – first as a copyboy and then as a reporter – IBM Selectrics were giving way to fancy typewriter-like systems that allowed us to more efficiently type copy to be scanned and ultimately printed. Then, in the blink of an eye, we moved to computer terminals and the newsroom became far quieter.

Still more changes awaited us during my six years at the paper, then called The Home News. We scrapped a traditional layout in favor of a trendy modular design. The old classic look went the way of the afternoon edition of the paper (which I had delivered as a kid not many years before). TV obsoleted that edition.

Source: Society of Professional Journalists

Later, after grad school in 1980-81, I saw a similar makeover at Denver’s Rocky Mountain News, where I spent another six years. At both papers, modernization seemed essential if we were to hang onto readers and we hung out hats on cosmetic changes.

Still later, when I began my 22-year stint at BusinessWeek, my editors put the magazine through several similar technological and esthetic changes. New looks to “the book” and new machines to move the information more efficiently between reporters and editors were a regular thing. We had to stay au courant and we did so relentlessly, making oodles of money for McGraw-Hill in the process – until, suddenly, we didn’t anymore.

As the Net ramped up in the aughts – and especially after one of the big tech ad busts — we tried to adjust by serving up information many times daily – not just weekly anymore. We built an ambitious Internet news operation, along with the reporting by magazine folks. It was all very pricey and all, in hindsight, rather desperate – as desperate as the efforts of those compositors at The Home News to preserve their jobs against the march of technology.

McGraw-Hill, weary of losing money on BW, sold it for a song to Bloomberg in 2009. And today, Bloomberg Businessweek still offers a print product. But, just as Forbes, Fortune, Time and Newsweek have declined in importance, BBW seems less consequential. I’m not sure it’s even sold on newsstands anymore, though it is available by subscription.

With the power of Bloomberg News behind it, the magazine should be a dynamo. But it feels to me as if its glory days are behind it, at least in its magazine form. Indeed, Poynter last year reported that BBW’s print circulation had dropped from nearly one million in 2012 to 316,000 at the end of 2021. Perhaps the $399 a year cost for an all-access subscription has something to do with that. Perhaps it’s just that the proliferation of information on the Net has made all but a few news-outlet brands almost irrelevant.

Newspapers, of course, have been dying fast. And even as innovative online news operations all across the country arise to try to fill the gaps, the changes in the industry seem overwhelming, obsoleting many operations and depriving people of sorely needed news. Even as brands such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal are doing okay (despite recent layoffs at the WaPo), local news has taken it most on the chin.

My old paper, The Home News, was folded into something called the Home News Tribune, a Gannett product available through my central jersey. The paper survives, at least, unlike the Rocky Mountain News, which bit the dust in early 2009 (Ironically at around the same time I gave notice at BW as I moved to become an academic).

For all my time in it, change has been the lot of the news industry. The arc rose and fell for the business and the drive to stay ahead of the reaper was a troubling one as that arc turned downward. Today, it’s sad to see the end of sales of newspapers at that Philly newsstand as the trend draws toward its logical conclusion.

Of course, some digital news outlets continue to thrive. The Inquirer serves readers electronically, as do so many other outlets, including Bloomberg. They all innovate relentlessly, as they must. But will they stay ahead of the reaper? As they used to say in TV, stay tuned.

Ups and Downs in Business Journalism

Two very different stories that slipped into my feeds this morning shed telling, if unsettling, light on the state of business journalism. Indeed, the tales of Suzanne McGee, an author and longtime Wall Street Journal reporter now working retail in a Banana Republic store, and Julia Angwin, a fired and rehired editor at an online startup, are curious statements on the health and challenges of our field today.

McGee, 57, had a distinguished career at the Journal for 14 years. She toiled in her native Canada, London and New York for the paper, bringing to bear her prior experience working for an English-language newspaper in Japan. After the trauma of 9/11, when she was working near Ground Zero, she left the Journal to become a corporate writer for an investment management and research firm. In time, she left there, freelanced for various big-name publications and then wrote a notable book about the 2008-09 financial crisis, “Chasing Goldman Sachs.”

So why is she now folding clothes and helping customers, even occasionally sweeping the floor, at a retail outlet in a shopping mall in Providence, Rhode Island?

The answer is likely quite complicated. Why does anyone slip from a great height professionally to wind up pinching pennies, to working for what likely is minimum wage or not far from it? Lots of reasons, both professional and personal, could enter in.

But McGee shared some thoughts with Providence Journal columnist Mark Patinkin. He shared them in an intriguing piece that sketches out this distinguished reporter’s troubling career trajectory. It doesn’t answer every question, but does help us understand a few elements.

First, there’s the professional part – McGee was doing okay freelancing, especially after she moved out of New York to lower-cost Rhode Island. But then a regular $4,500-a-month gig with The Guardian ended in about 2016, when the paper trimmed ties to independent contractors (though she still did some work for the paper afterward, with a byline as recent as August 2017). The loss of that steady paycheck put a dent in her finances, a dent big enough that she avoided even opening a credit card when she was pitched one at the Banana Republic outlet where she now works.

Patinkin reported that McGee still gets offers to freelance. But the pay is pathetic, $125 or less for pieces on subjects such as where the markets are headed – this for a savvy, experienced journalist with lots of insights to share. Three decades ago, McGee broke into journalism with a piece for a Canadian paper that paid $200 for it back then. Clearly, the numbers aren’t going in the right direction and Patinkin noted that McGee’s career path in part reflects tough times in journalism.

Then, there’s the personal part. McGee was extraordinarily lucky on 9/11. She was due at a conference that morning in 2001 atop the north tower of the World Trade Center. But by happenstance she got there an hour late, arriving just when the second plane hit. After the horrors of being at the focus of that disaster, however, the migraines she was prone to worsened. All that, it seems, led her into PR, to freelancing and ultimately to Providence.

McGee told Patinkin she’s not done with writing. Indeed, it’s ironic that a piece she did in July for the Wall Street Journal focused on a well-heeled and successful Morgan Stanley money manager. Moreover, she has another book in the works and she and a friend are looking into starting a business writing personal histories for families. A friend of mine in Omaha works in a similar business, Legacy Preservation, so that line may have potential for her.

In the meantime, folding clothes seems like a low-stress way to keep the bills paid. And she told him that her story is about both renewal through change and the dignity of making ends meet.

On another front, there’s Julia Angwin’s peculiar tale. Angwin was a hard-charger at Propublica and The Wall Street Journal, where she helped the paper win a Pulitzer Prize. Armed with a B.A. in math from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Columbia, Angwin had left those news outlets to help create a news start-up, The Markup, that would cover technology with investigative and data-driven journalistic techniques. Last April, she was fired after differing with the executive director, a cofounder of the site, over the cofounder’s suggestion that the site advocate against tech (the cofounder, Sue Gardner, disputed that, according to The New York Times, citing leadership issues on Angwin’s part. Gardner also wound up leaving).

But now, Angwin is back at The Markup. She has several distinguished journalists by her side, including most of those who quit with her. And they expect to launch the site by year-end. It is backed by a host of nonprofits, principally the Craig Newmark Philanthropies, but also the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and others. They all chipped in about $23 million to get the site going.

The Times account leaves a lot unanswered. The paper reported that Angwin and six of the seven staffers who quit in support of her are all back and were paid while they were out. Indeed, they had continued to work on pieces the site will produce, meeting roughly once a week in Angwin’s living room in Harlem.

So had they really been fired? Were they made whole after returning? What was the fracas all about anyway?

The $23 million that the backers anted up could buy a lot of good journalism for a quite a while. One of the tales that would be fascinating to hear is just what came off the rails at The Markup in the spring and what put it back on track. That may take an outside journalist’s work to tell.

Still, it’s encouraging that even as much of mainstream journalism struggles – driving some folks to work in shopping malls – opportunities continue to arise in other areas. These areas are not dependent on advertising, the loss of which to online outfits such as Facebook and Google has been killing news organizations nationwide. Such startups, tumultuous as they may be, likely will offer a better future for business journalists alongside of or as substitutes in time for today’s big publishing names.

 

 

BusinessWeek, Muse for Many

For much of its recent history, BusinessWeek has been an incubator for talented writers and reporters. Under editors Steve Shepard, Steve Adler, Josh Tyrangiel, Ellen Joan Pollock, Megan Murphy and, now, Joel Weber, the place has been a literary hotbed. Many BW staffers couldn’t limit themselves to the glossy pages, but had to break into books. The remake into Bloomberg Businessweek, with its traumatic turnover in staff, stoked that flame for some, and the trend continues.

Here, in its splendid variety, is a collection of recent (and not so recent) work by this talented bunch:

2019

Robert Pondiscio teaches us new tricks. “Robert Pondiscio is one of our nation’s most astute observers of K-12 education. In this engaging, wise, and enormously well reported book, he trains his penetrating eye on Success Academy, the highest performing charter network in America. —Joel Klein, former chancellor of the New York City Department of Education “Engrossing, challenging, and wise, this book will change how you think about schooling and poverty.”—Daniel T. Willingham, professor of psychology, University of Virginia. “A moving and dramatic story and a minute-by-minute account of how a school actually lives…. It is arresting, informative, and compelling. A school succeeds or fails by its ethos, and reading this book qualifies as an extended visit into the inner workings of that ethos in schools that are succeeding against the odds.”—William J. Bennett, former Secretary of Education

Cate Holahan thrills us anew.  “A psychological thriller that will keep you up all night…Get ready.” – GOOD MORNING AMERICA  “Well-drawn characters… [an] absorbing page-turner.” — BOOKLIST  “A great beach read for those with a penchant for scandalous secrets and gossipy suspenseful mysteries.” — LIBRARY JOURNAL  “A domestic thriller that’s actually filled with lots of secrets. Some of them pretty big. ” — KIRKUS “Solidly plotted…Holahan does a fine job portraying fraying marriages and artificial friendships.” —  PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Julie Flynn Siler unearths an unsettling tale with this one. “An eye-opening account of the valiant work of a handful of Christian women against the enslavement of Asian girls in San Francisco’s Chinatown from the mid-1870s well into the next century.” — KIRKUS REVIEW “This strong story will fascinate readers interested in the history of women, immigration, and racism.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Meticulously researched and inspiring … a reminder that our political gestures and small wins accumulate and create ripple effects in ways we cannot often measure. ” — SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Chris Farrell counsels the aging among us. “Many prognosticators blame the aging population for the stagnating economy, arguing that as more and more people retire, relatively fewer working people will have to support growing numbers of dependent elderly. But … Chris Farrell debunks this line of thought by showing how a growing movement of elderly entrepreneurs and part-time workers are creating conditions for a stronger and more vibrant economy. Reframing aging will result in faster rates of economic growth and higher living standards for all of us, in addition to a more fulfilling and financially secure second half of life for our aging population.” — BOOKENDS & BEGINNINGS

2018

Diane Brady worked with Cisco’s John Chambers on this leadership guide. “By turns practical and insightful…” -JAMIE DIMON, JPMorgan Chase “Great leaders are distinguished by the ability to move their society or company from where it is to where it has never been. They act on the basis of a set of core principles, both intangible and inspirational. John Chambers, an accomplished executive in his own right, distills those principles in Connecting the Dots with elegance and common sense.” — HENRY KISSINGER “This is a compelling story of effective leadership through good times and bad, filled with smart lessons about innovation, team building, and managing creativity.” — JACK WELCH, former CEO of General Electric

Steve Shepard again proves how multidimensional a journalist — a business journalist — can be. “This is a really thoughtful, thought-provoking literary memoir, the story of a really accomplished, literary guy who, with the help of his book group of other really accomplished, literary guys — all of them of a certain age — work their way through the Mount Rushmore of American Jewish writers. Plus Updike, who granted a sort of honorary Jewishness. Some of the chapters based on book-group discussions, such as ‘Was Willy Loman Jewish?’ are the sort of loose, entertaining discussion you might hear from younger people debating who would win in a fight, Batman or Superman. (Except there is a right answer for that one.) Stephen Shepard and his book buddies chew on all sorts of questions that are more personal and more meaningful: how to lead an ethical life, how to find your way back to the religion and/or culture after decades in what Shepard calls his ‘personal diaspora,’ how to think of the Holocaust, and how to life a life promoting justice and equality. An underlying theme, of course, is the tension between relevance and aging.”— TIM HARPER, Amazon

2017

Cate Holahan thrills again. “A suffocating double nightmare…‘To be a writer is to be a life thief.’”― KIRKUS REVIEW “Recommended for anyone who enjoys Paula Hawkins or Gillian Flynn, primarily because it’s better.” — LIBRARY JOURNAL “Engrossing…Holahan keeps the suspense high…until the surprising denouement.” ― PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Pure, binge-worthy entertainment…readers looking for an addictive, layered suspense novel will feel right at home in Holahan’s world.” — CRIME BY THE BOOK

Chris Roush educates us anew. “This book provides excellent, down-to-earth information —and wisdom—on teaching. Everyone who teaches would improve by reading it.”—RICHARD COLE, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill “What a treasure trove of tips, guidance, examples, quotes, resources and, above all, encouragement for today’s journalism and mass communication educators from some of the best teachers in the field.”— JENNIFER D. GREER, University of Alabama “Mass communication instruction is becoming more challenging because of unprecedented changes in the professions we serve, the technology we use, and the students we engage in the learning process. This publication is timely and needed.”— JUAN-CARLOS MOLLEDA, University of Oregon

Catherine T. Yang translated this 1975 work by her father, the late Shu-Chin Yang. It commemorates the death, in 1937, of his brother. “Such a fascinating perspective about this terrible period in early WWII. The mystery of what happened to a brother who effectively disappeared and how it persistently affects the family is very moving. The letters from those that knew and came across Dapeng in the appendix are wonderful in pulling together the final proud story of a military warrior.” — AMY LeSUEUR, Amazon ” Gracefully told story of the thoughts and actions of brothers during 1930s China as Japanese troops were taking over. Full of first person accounts, this is also an important historical document.” — KUMIKO MAKIHARA, Amazon

Roben Farzad tells the tale of a Mutiny, a most unusual hotel. “Hotel Scarface is a journey into the surreal. The book sizzles with exquisitely detailed reporting and a fast-paced narrative that thrusts the reader right into the middle of Miami’s cocaine madness.” — ASHLEE VANCE, author.  “Roben Farzad’s electric prose brilliantly captures boomtown Miami in its coke-fueled heyday. The city has grown up since then, but beneath our gilded, 21st-century veneer lurks the same menacing spirit of the kingpins, caudillos and straight-up whack-jobs who ruled the Mutiny.” — NICHOLAS NEHAMAS,  Miami Herald reporter. “Thought I was reading a Carl Hiaasen novel. Then I realized it was NON-fiction. Hotel Scarface is to Miami what ‘Narcos’ is to Colombia.” — MICHELLE CARUSO-CABRERA, CNBC’s Chief International Correspondent

Jack Ewing digs deep in this corporate dissection. “A fascinating exposé….Ewing’s compelling prose makes his book read like entertainment more than education and the story of Volkswagen’s fall…is a study in corporate hubris.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“A shocking, sobering story―and, given the current antiregulatory mood, one likely to be repeated.” — KIRKUS

2016

Alex Beam likes a good fight. “Beam wears his learning lightly. He has a keen sense of the absurd and is mischievous but not malicious in exposing the foibles of these frenemies. He also, while he’s at it, has some Nabokovian fun as he laces his narrative with wordplay and faux-scholarly flourishes…his book mostly leaves you asking yourself how prideful and pig headed even the smartest men can be. — MICHAEL UPCHURCH, The Boston Globe. “Throughout, [Beam] is not only an amiable guide, but also proves adept concerning Russian history and literature, and Pushkin’s famous novel. (Beam was the Globe’s Moscow correspondent earlier in his career.)” — JOHN WINTERS, WBUR.org “As Alex Beam explains in ‘The Feud,’ his elegant and intimate account of the rise and fall of the Wilson-Nabokov friendship, it all began with Pushkin.” — DOMINIC GREEN, Wall Street Journal.

165377Patricia O’Connell coauthors some sage counsel. “Woo, Wow, and Win is a roadmap for success in a landscape being rapidly transformed by technology and entrepreneurship.” — STEVE CASE “This is the book that service business executives have been waiting for. Woo, Wow, and Win shows how to make the connection between strategic opportunity, business design, and customer satisfaction. The principles of service design are the pathway to a more profitable future–and happier customers.” — RAM CHARAN “Tom Stewart’s and Patricia O’Connell’s exceptional book is a convincing testimony to the power of having service strategies that are as unique and differentiated as product strategies. It provides deep insights into how you can develop your customers and retain them with superior service. It’s a must read!” — BILL GEORGE, Senior Fellow at Harvard Business School, former Chair & CEO of Medtronic

CatHeather Green scratches an itch with this memoir, her debut book. It “… is about Heather’s venture into the world of cat rescue, which I learned is a place full of caring, careful people who are trying to make our neighborhoods safe for feral cats, while at the same time making it possible for them to transition from the wild into loving homes. While taming three feral kittens (and ultimately their mother), Heather learns the value of patience and of nurturing relationships.” — ARLENE WEINTRAUB, author. “This marvelous book is much more than a story about cats. Yes, anyone who has loved cats will empathize with and be delighted by the author’s challenging, humorous, surprising, and touching experiences as she and her boyfriend are lured into the crazy and deeply rewarding world of cat rescue. But, the artfully woven additional dimensions of this work make it both compelling and inspirational. What in life feels right, what matters most, and do we dare take the bold steps to seize them?” — PAMELA L. WHITELOCK, Amazon “What a great read. The author did a wonderful job of giving the kittens and their mother personalities so strong that you felt you were right there with them. Combining kittens and romance that built throughout the book was quite a feat.” — NANCY CAROLYN, Amazon

show-me-the-moneyFor Chris Roush, the third time should be as charming as the first two. I will use this text in class, as I have the prior editions, and proudly note I chipped in the preface on this update. “Chris Roush demystifies financial storytelling, and with insight from leading journalists helps reporters figure out when a company’s dollars make sense―and when they don’t. Show Me the Money prepares even the math-phobic reporter to write business news that matters to readers from Main Street to Wall Street.” – MELITA M.GARZA, Texas Christian University “Show Me the Money isn’t just a thorough textbook – it’s an essential reference that should be on the desk of any journalist who may ever have to write about business and finance.” – JOHN KROLL, Kent State University

9780812998856Mark Landler waxes political. “A superb journalist has brought us a vivid, page-turning, and revelatory account of the relationship between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, as well as of their statecraft …. a signal contribution to the national debate over who should be the next American president.”– MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, author. “Mark Landler, one of the best reporters working in Washington today, delivers an inside account of Hillary Clinton’s relationship with Barack Obama that brims with insight and high-level intrigue. It’s both fun to read and eye-opening.” — JANE MAYER, author. “An incredibly important book, timely and deeply revelatory. Landler’s brilliant reporting reveals a Barack Obama ever skeptical of establishment wisdom, and a Hillary Clinton driven by ‘inner hawk’ instincts. This is an extraordinary tale of two formidable personalities locked in an alliance who have competing visions of America’s foreign policy.” — KAI BIRD, author.

George Michelsen Foy helps us find the way home. “GPS’s cultural and psychological significance is at the core of George Michelsen Foy’s Finding North…[and] the questions he worries at are important ones.” — WALL STREET JOURNAL “Foy’s strongest moments happen when he taps into the internal map, through his own personal, sensory-based history with a particular place…[a] great storyteller.” — OUTSIDE “Deep waters and deep thoughts fill these pages. With skillful prose and insight, Foy’s account of the different aspects of navigation packs a powerful punch.” ― PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Cate Holahan thrills us anew. “One of those rare thrillers that really will keep you reading all night.” — KIRKUS (starred review) “Holahan once again creates a compelling heroine who can tap into bottomless reserves of strength when push comes to shove. A fast read for domestic-suspense fans.” — BOOKLIST “In this chilling cat-and-mouse tale… Holahan keeps the action going.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

2015

Cate Holahan offers some mysterious plot twists. “Readers are sure to be reminded of various movies with ballet at their core: The Turning Point, Black Swan, and Center Stage come to mind. As one would expect, Dark Turns goes to some of the darker places those films also explored, but not in a way that never feels derivative.” — BOLO BOOKS “Recommended read for Young Adult and Fiction fans that like a bit of darkness with their light. This one drives you forward with the character connections forged but keeps you guessing as to where it will all land.” — SATISFACTION FOR INSATIABLE READERS

51kj7P6d4HL._SX316_BO1,204,203,200_Arlene Weintraub is barking up the right tree. “Anyone interested in translational science, innovative developments in cancer research, or treating pets with cancer will find this book a valuable resource….Readers will share Weintraub’s growing appreciation for the canine and feline subjects (and their owners) who are helping to advance cancer research.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Honest reporting . . . [A] useful and credible book.” — BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK “Beautifully written and superbly researched, Heal makes a compelling case for increased collaboration between the human and veterinary medical fields. Engaging and emotional, Heal is an important book for scientists, animal lovers and anyone interested in the vulnerabilities we humans share with animals.” — BARBARA NATTERSON-HOROWITZ, MD and KATHRYN BOWERS, co-authors of Zoobiquity

519t7qQizCLGiles Blunt goes for the jugular again.”Blunt stands as a master craftsman who shows us not only darkness, but also decency.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Blunt writes with the flashing grace of an ice skater skimming over a frozen pond.” — THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW “Another tense, engrossing read from one of Canada’s top crime writers. Blunt’s new tale of obsessive love leisurely grabs hold and doesn’t let go, from the pastoral innocence of the first few pages to the climactic twist of events. A solid book for a late summer cottage getaway. Just remember to glance over your shoulder once in awhile.” — RANDALL PERRY

9780670026593Jon Fine finds memoir to be his metier. “A deft stylist, Fine captures the uncompromising drive of 20-something men on a mission to change the world through music played at high volume.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “The short shelf of great books on indie rock adds another—an unlikely memoir about an obscure band that somehow found demand for its reunion in the Internet age . . . ‘I don’t regret a thing,’ writes Fine, and neither will readers who live vicariously through the author’s eyes and memory.”
— KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred)

9781439169674_p0_v1_s260x420Stephen Adler and his bride, Lisa Grunwald, join forces again. “Such an entertaining romp through marriage. I wish I’d had it before I wed and during.” — BECKY, Goodreads “Funny, wise, provocative and essential words about why marriage works and why it doesn’t. These authors have scoured literature and pop culture and come up with remarkable insights and history.” — BETSY, Goodreads

9780062358349Charles Dubow sets hearts athrobbing — yet again! “The novel is a whirlwind of impossibly chic settings and experiences; the characters know all the right people and do all the right things …. Dubow offers a heady, intoxicating tale…. A story of the most interesting people you will ever know, told with style and verve.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS “This is a page-turner for avid readers of romantic novels.” — LIBRARY JOURNAL

play-coverCeline Keating graces us anew. “Evocative, philosophical, and downright entertaining, Play for Me had me turning pages as if to discover the fate not only of its winning heroine, but of myself.” — ALETHEA BLACK, author “Though the story revolves around issues of morality and fidelity—what do we owe ourselves versus what do we owe our loved ones—I cared about each character and hoped he or she would find happiness. This is a page-turner in the best sense. ALICE ELLIOTT DARK, author “Music pours out of this wonderful novel.” — SUSAN SEGAL, author

Sandra Dallas delivers again. “This is a novel that celebrates women: their unbreakable bonds, their unselfish love for their children, their incredible capacity to endure. ” — KIRKUS REVIEWS  “The Last Midwife evokes a powerful sense of time and place.” —THE DENVER POST “With plot, personality and prose melded into a superb whole, The Last Midwife represents a standout effort in popular fiction, one untethered from dismissive adjectives such as ‘historical’ or ‘crime’ and one that resonates in the present day. As she does in all of her fiction, Dallas casts an unwavering but sympathetic eye on the people of her latest novel. And like Gracy, she gives — and enhances — life.” — RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH

2014

Sandra Dallas stitches together a riveting tale. “A wonderful story full of history and heart that will satisfy Dallas’s many fans.” — LIBRARY JOURNAL “Dallas takes an interesting look at the lives of women left behind during the Civil War, especially in ambivalent Kansas, and grounds her characters in authentic struggles of love and hate, right and wrong, trespasses and forgiveness. Elegant, thought-provoking and quietly powerful.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS

1118898699Edward C. Baig makes tech simple. Personal Tech columnist for USA TODAY, he coauthored iPad mini For Dummies, iPhone For Dummies, and iPad For Dummies. “Since computers do not come with Owner’s Manuals any more, this is just what I needed to teach me what my computer can do and how to do it.”– GAIL A. LEWIS, Amazon customer review

71rH0OlTe3L._SL1500_Elizabeth Woyke dials up some savvy insights. “A smartphone full monty that will appeal mostly to the device’s users—all 1.75 billion of them.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS “A superior reporter, Woyke brilliantly presents a clear-eyed view of this new communication device that has conquered everything in sight.” — ROBERT W. MCCHESNEY, author “Readers who fully absorb the more disturbing details of Woyke’s report will never be able to download a new app or listen to a podcast without a twinge or two of consumer guilt.”– BOOKLIST

sweetsurvival_275Laura Zinn Fromm serves up a tasty meal. “It’s like sitting in your kitchen with your best friend, talking about life, the loves, births, deaths, longings, failures and joys– and the recipes that go with them. Beautiful, delicious fare.” — JULIE TILSNER, author “Love and divorce, marriage and motherhood, friendship and family; Laura invites you to sit at her kitchen counter as she shares with you the recipes and stories that have seasoned her life.” — JEWISH SCENE

Jeff Rothfeder never steers us astray. “The story of one of the most innovative companies in the world: the automobile manufacturer that makes some of the best-selling and longest-lasting cars on the road.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS “Rothfeder writes well and he mostly manages to steer round the pitfalls of getting too technical.” — ANDREW HILL, Financial Times “Rothfeder’s fluent, concise narrative makes easy reading and also reminds family businesspeople of the sense of partnering with an outsider who can temper the founders’ foibles, and strengthen the company, as Takeo Fujisawa did with Soichiro Honda.” — WILLIAM WADSWORTH, South China Morning Post

unretirement-250x346Chris Farrell speaks to Boomers, with authority. “Farrell’s discussions with experts from academia, finance and research foundations offer support for the view that there will be employment available to those who want it.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS “For older workers at a loss for ideas and eager to postpone the inevitable, Farrell’s how-to-cope book will provide a comforting road map and set of possibilities.” –- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Finally, an author doesn’t think the Baby Boomer generation is going to bankrupt the nation…Farrell makes a great case for a longer working career for many people…What a breath of fresh air here.” — BOOKLOONS.COM.

JunglePaul Barrett dazzles again. “An enthralling true-life courtroom drama…Almost Shakespearean in scope, featuring a flawed protagonist with good intentions but tragically overreaching ambitions.” — BOOKLIST “Here’s a twist: the almost unbelievable tale of a human rights attorney every bit as conscienceless as the multinational he was suing… a true-life, courtroom version of Heart of Darkness. — KIRKUS REVIEWS “This chilling account of the bruising, bare-knuckled conflict between a deeply flawed do-gooder and a well-oiled legal steamrolling machine should give pause to anyone who believes that justice always prevails. Barrett brilliantly shows that in the real world, the law of the jungle—an oxymoron if there ever was one—trumps the rule of law.” — ALAN DERSHOWITZ, Harvard Law School

FathersPaul Raeburn shows his scientific savvy once again. “‘Do Fathers Matter?’ gathers an impressive diversity of studies into a single, highly readable volume, covering such topics as conception, pregnancy, infants, teenagers and aging fathers.” — BRUCE FEILER, Washington Post “It’s stuffed with studies showing the vital role fathers play in their children’s lives from the moment of conception, through the mother’s pregnancy and onward. But there’s still a sense of wonder that comes with it.” — JEFFREY KLUGER, TIME “A zippy tour through the latest research on fathers’ distinctive, or predominant, contributions to their children’s lives, “Do Fathers Matter?” is filled with provocative studies of human dads — not to mention a lot of curious animal experiments . . . [Paul Raeburn] writes clearly, untangling cause from effect, noting probabilities and inserting caveats. . . he is an ideal guide to tricky, uncertain research in a nascent field. . . . father research cuts across disciplines, and Mr. Raeburn excels at mapping the twistiness of the road ahead.” — MARK OPPENHEIMER, The New York Times

EwingBookJack Ewing offers useful lessons. “Jack Ewing dissects German business rules, habits, and procedures with the precise curiosity of an engineer who takes apart and analyses the newest product of a competitor. His approach is hands-on rather than theoretic – and due to dozens of interviews with CEOs, managers, and company owners, as well as employee representatives, he attains an illuminating insight into the inner machinery of the German economy and its success.” – WOLFGANG REUTER, Handelsblatt “Anyone looking to understand what makes Germany tick should read this book. Extraordinarily deft, profoundly human, and yet a deep analysis of how and why Europe’s biggest economy works.” – ALISON SMALE, The New York Times “Jack Ewing’s insightful analysis of Germany’s story shows how Germans built an equation based on historical strengths, adaptation to change, and commitment to competitive excellence. Typical German? Maybe – or maybe not, for those willing to take a look and a lesson from German formulas for success.” – JACKSON JANES, American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, John Hopkins University

RoysterbookChris Roush makes a fresh mark. “Vermont Royster was one of newspaperdom’s truly original voices, and for many crucial years the conscience of the Wall Street Journal. Chris Roush brings him to life, while illuminating his times. This is a significant contribution to the history of journalism in the 20th century.” — RICHARD J. TOFEL, president, ProPublica “Chris Roush’s biography of Vermont Royster is a masterful portrait of one of the most influential editors of the 20th century, a writer who left a mark on American journalism that endures to this day.” — WARREN PHILLIPS, CEO, Dow Jones & Co. “Chris Roush’s rich evocation of the memory of Vermont Royster will, I hope, kindle a revival of interest in him and his work.” EDWIN M. YODER, JR., author

TheBoostStephen Baker charges into fiction. “Baker has written a true delight of a techno-thriller that has deep, dark roots in the present.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS “Highly recommended to sf and techno-thriller fans.” — BOOKLIST REVIEWS “An update to the boost, a revolutionary human-computer interface, threatens to open Americans’ brains like a Facebook account left unattended in Baker’s chillingly possible debut, a futuristic thriller with a few flaws.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

UnknownPardon my flagrant self-promotion, but I am excited to post this one. “Weber brings a journalist’s eye for character and story to this engrossing account of Transcendental Meditation and the town—and lives—it transformed. Along the way he probes religious and cultural questions about tradition and change, healing, community, place, and much more. This book is a lively and eye-opening delight.” — MATTHEW S. HEDSTROM, University of Virginia “Like many other alternative religions that burst onto the American scene in the 1960s and 1970s, Transcendental Meditation attracted thousands of followers but also a fair number of detractors. The interplay of meditators and local residents in the midwestern town of Fairfield, Iowa, where TM established its major American center, makes a fascinating case study of the impact of new religions on traditional American culture.” — TIMOTHY MILLER, editor, Spiritual and Visionary Communities: Out to Save the World

51PHuwJHX8L._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_Alex Beam continues to impress, with remarkable variety in his topic choices. “High drama as one of America’s greatest—and most mystifying—characters, Joseph Smith, meets one our most incisive writers, Alex Beam, at a crossroads of our history.”— author RON ROSENBAUM “If Mormonism is the most American of religions—and it is—then the story of its founding is an American epic. In this gripping book, Alex Beam tells the story of the fate of Joseph Smith amid the Mormons’ rising tensions with ‘gentile’ neighbors—and among themselves. With an acute eye for character, he depicts Smith, Brigham Young, and their enemies as vivid, complicated human beings, immersed in struggles over money, power, survival, and the controversial doctrine of polygamy.” — author T.J. STILES “American Crucifixion is an engrossing, powerful account of the rise and fall of one of the most remarkable figures in American history. Alex Beam’s portrait of Joseph Smith—equal parts P. T. Barnum, Huey Long, and the prophet Jeremiah—captures the man in all of his contradictions and complexities.”— author GARY KRIST

Sandra Dallas takes on another tough topic. “Dallas makes an important time in American history accessible to middle grade readers with this novel that illuminates a time of discrimination while promoting a message of perseverance and tolerance.” — TIFFANY DAVIS, Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh, NY

2013

Sandra Dallas muses on old-time Denver. “Bestseller Dallas (True Sisters) memorably evokes the raw, rough-edged Denver of 1885 in this blend of suspenseful mystery and nuanced romance…. The author’s depiction of 19th-century Denver, especially its seedier side, is vividly authentic, while the nascent bond between Mick and Beret will have readers eagerly anticipating their next encounter. — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Dallas plumbs the lives of so-called fallen women in 1885 Denver as she ably reveals the ties, sturdy as well as tenuous, that bind two sisters and test the memory of their relationship after one of them is found murdered in a brothel….Sure to be snapped up by era fans as well as Dallas’ loyal readership. — JULIE TREVELYAN, Booklist

cover250x312Brad Stone offers the inside skinny on Bezos, with little help from the subject, in The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. “… the meticulously reported book has plenty of gems for anyone who cares about Amazon, Jeff Bezos, entrepreneurship, leadership or just the lunacy it took to build a company in less than two decades that now employs almost 90,000 people and sold $61 billion worth of, well, almost everything last year.” — BETHANY McLEAN, WASHINGTON POST “For people seeking to understand what can be an enigmatic company, the book does a great service in explaining the psychology of Amazon, and the company’s role as an extension of Bezos’ brain.” — GEEKWIRE “Everywhere I can fact check from personal knowledge, I find way too many inaccuracies, and unfortunately that casts doubt over every episode in the book,” MACKENZIE BEZOS (Jeff’s wife), AMAZON.COM

richpeopleIn the spirit of Reader’s Digest magazine’s popular 13 Things They Won’t Tell You series, Jennifer Merritt and coauthor Roe D’Angelo developed what their publisher calls “the ultimate roadmap for making the most of your money and avoiding the wallet-sucking scams.” They “talked to everyday and not-so-everyday rich folks, and to the experts who helped make them rich, to learn their secrets on what to save for, how much to save—and where to stash cash so that it grows (hint: not that bank savings account).”

Cover_MotherDaughterMeKatie Hafner gets personal. “Her memoir shines a light on nurturing deficits repeated through generations and will lead many readers to relive their own struggles with forgiveness.” —ERICA JONG, PEOPLE “Katie Hafner’s Mother Daughter Me delivers an unusually graceful story, one that balances honesty and tact. . . . Hafner narrates the events so adeptly that they feel enlightening.” — HARPER’S “Heartbreakingly honest, yet not without hope and flashes of wry humor.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS “[An] emotionally raw memoir examining the delicate, inevitable shift from dependence to independence and back again.” — O: THE OPRAH MAGAZINE (Ten Titles to Pick Up Now) “Weaving past with present, anecdote with analysis, Hafner’s riveting account of multigenerational living and mother-daughter frictions, of love and forgiveness, is devoid of self-pity and unafraid of self-blame.” — ELLE

Yankee

Leslie Helm is making an impressive mark with this memoir. “Yokohama Yankee is a marvelous and eloquent work of family history. What makes it more remarkable is this family’s history also sheds light on the political, economic, cultural, and racial interactions and tensions between Japan and the United States for more than a century and a half, right up to the present day. This is a humane and insightful book that will be read many years from now.” — JAMES FALLOWS of The Atlantic. “Like a sword cleaving a bittersweet fruit, Leslie Helm’s saga of his mixed-blood family in Japan cuts to the inescapable isolation of being white in a country where blood still means so much. Yokohama Yankee is a painfully intimate story that spans more than a century and brings the wrenching history of modern Japan into a focus that is both razor sharp and deeply human.” — BLAINE HARDEN, former Tokyo bureau chief of The Washington Post

Stacy Perman clocks in anew with a timely effort. “A unique competition between two scions of the Gilded Age is the driver for this fresh look at the mores of the rich and powerful. The aim of the competition was to acquire the world’s most complicated timepieces. She effectively combines these different strands, providing a compelling social history…A masterful approach to composition combines with a fascinating plot and makes its subject entertaining as well as compelling.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS (Starred Review ) “Lively” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Nussbaum

Bruce Nussbaum wields his keen mind. “Bruce Nussbaum demystifies one of the most important initiatives of our time — unlocking the creativity within ourselves and our organizations.” — DAVID KELLEY, founder of IDEO and the Stanford d.school “An intriguing mixture of challenging ideas and Utopian solutions to the broader issues regarding social welfare currently under debate.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS “Creative Intelligence lays out the forces that will drive us toward a prosperous future. Read this book if you want to be inspired and provoked to lead the way.” — RICHARD FLORIDA, Univ. of Toronto; Senior Editor, The Atlantic

Dubow

Charles Dubow roars out of the gate with his first effort. “An epic novel of friendship, betrayal and undying love … outstanding” — KIRKUS REVIEWS (Starred Review) “A smart, sensuous, and moving debut. … Delicious. … The characters exude a Jazz Age glamour.” — O MAGAZINE

Robert Buderi enlightens us about military matters. “This book is a must for anyone that wants to know how the best research is done, especially the first chapter on the USS Cole disaster, and the beginning of the Iraqi war. Scientists and Admirals are finding solutions to achieve victory to an unconventional war with innovative ideas. It is fascinating how ideas are translated into science and innovation.” Marilene, AMAZON review

2012

DylanJon Friedman takes a novel look at Dylan. “… a unique view of Dylan through his actions, his decisions. Friedman took a tried and true formula of “Self Help” advice, turned it on its head by navigating through Dylan’s career to make the case that, despite – or perhaps because – of the chances he has taken, the unorthodox method Dylan has used could, indeed, be inspirational to people in all walks of life, in the workplace and one’s private life.” — HAROLD LEPIDUS, Performing Arts Examiner. “Friedman has produced a clear, passionate case for Dylan’s importance as a personal role model, rather than an artist or a cultural symbol. The lessons that he draws are no less true for being trite. If you love Bob Dylan, and you enjoy self-help literature, you’ll probably like this book.” — RICHARD MCGILL MURPHY, Fortune

Steve Shepard, guru to us all, lays it all out in this memoir. “This is a personal and insightful book about one of the most important questions of our time: how will journalism make the transition to the digital age? Steve Shepard made that leap bravely when he went from being a great magazine editor to the first dean of the City University of New York journalism school. His tale is filled with great lessons for us all.” — WALTER ISAACSON “An insightful and convivial account of a bright, bountiful life dedicated to words, information and wonder.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS (Starred Review)

Peter Galuszka digs deep into the world of coal-mining. “A fascinating—and infuriating—account of the deadliest industry on earth. Deadly for its workers and the people unfortunate enough to live near its mines, but deadlier still for the planet. You can’t understand our moment in time without understanding the coal industry.” — BILL McKIBBEN, author. “Appalachia may be blessed with the ‘world’s best metallurgical coal,’ but as journalist Galuszka’s powerful book shows, this coal is both ‘a curse and a prize…’ He convincingly excoriates the safety record of Massey Energy and its controversial former CEO, Don Blankenship… Drawing on his personal experience of Appalachia, Galuszka offers a sympathetic but unsentimental portrait of the region’s people and their struggles.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Natural gas, renewables, and efficiency are positioned to be the sources of America’s energy expansion, while coal represents the nation’s past. Galuszka’s Thunder on the Mountain highlights the disturbing and often deadly impacts of this highly polluting energy source and why Big Coal might just be losing its power.”– RON PERNICK, managing director of Clean Edge, Inc.

John N. Frank shares insights about life in the job market. He includes a chapter about his time at BW that he says alums might find intriguing.

Julia Lichtblau gives Woody Allen a run for his money. Her story in this collection is “Désolée, Monsieur.” She has work forthcoming in The Florida Review — the story “Foreign Service” — and in Temenos — “May, 1968” — and has been published in Ploughshares blog, Narrative,The Common Online, Pindelbox, and Tertulia.

Fran Hawthorne takes aim at some longtime faves. “Fran Hawthorne’s illuminating book will delight fans of ‘corporate social responsibility’—and enrage its critics. Her descriptions of Apple, for example, at once beloved and much criticized by the CSR crowd, aptly captures the essence of the debate.”—ADAM LASHINSKY, author. “In assessing corporate performance on social responsibility, Fran Hawthorne digs beneath the surface of some of America’s most beloved companies…. Bravo to Ethical Chic for helping to illuminate which companies are on the right track.”—DANIEL C. ESTY, author. “Hawthorne goes beyond the usual categories of ‘social responsibility’ to offer a remarkably clear-eyed view of what we should really expect from companies—and what we shouldn’t.” —MICHAEL BLANDING, author.

Jennifer Merritt helps the career-minded. “Are you looking for a mere job–the kind where you do virtually the same thing day after day, year after year, and spend the hours counting down the minutes until the clock hits five p.m.? Or are you looking for a “career”–the kind that engages your interests and passions, constantly presents new and exciting opportunities and challenges, and allows you to grow personally and professionally? If you chose the latter, this is the book for you.” — CROWN BUSINESS

Gary Weiss goes for jugular of the Tea Party movement. “Ayn Rand Nation is a fascinating exploration of one of the fastest-growing and most powerful coalitions in American politics….If you want to understand the men and women whose vehement voices are reshaping American government, you must read this book.”—KURT EICHENWALD “The timing of this book couldn’t be better for Americans who are trying to understand where in the hell the far-out right’s anti-worker, anti-egalitarian extremism is coming from. Ayn Rand Nation introduces us to the godmother of such Tea Party craziness as destroying Social Security and eliminating Wall Street regulation.”—JIM HIGHTOWER, author. “Think Ayn Rand is marginal? Think again! Gary Weiss’s powerful new history inscribes the libertarian firebrand at the very center of the American story of the past three decades.”—DAVID FRUM, author

Diane Brady tells an inspiring tale. “Holy Cross, Black Power, and the Sixties could have been an unholy mix. A bold Jesuit priest made it a holy one. The story of Father John Brooks, Clarence Thomas, Ted Wells, and the others rings with power, pride, and human feeling. Fraternity and the saga it retells adds honor to my college.”—CHRIS MATTHEWS, anchor, MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews “Diane Brady’s book brilliantly shows how the attention and concern of one man changed not only the course of these individual lives but the course of history.”—WES MOORE, author

Julia Flynn Siler immerses us in some of the ugly history of Paradise. “A sweeping tale of tragedy, greed, betrayal, and imperialism… The depth of her research shines through the narrative, and the lush prose and quick pace make for engaging reading… absorbing.”– LIBRARY JOURNAL “Richly…sourced… [Siler is] able to color in many figures who had heretofore existed largely in outline or black and white… a solidly researched account of an important chapter in our national history, one that most Americans don’t know but should… an 1893 New York Times headline called [the annexation] ‘the political crime of the century.’”– NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

Arms and the man, redux. “Paul Barrett’s Glock is a fascinating and bizarre tale of an entrepreneur, a weapon, and a nation’s love affair with guns.” — JEFFREY TOOBIN, staff writer, The New Yorker. “This book—from a top-notch reporter—will enlighten you about both gun culture and business culture. It’s fascinating, even-handed, and packs considerable punch!” —BILL McKIBBEN, author. Paul has talked about the subject, too.

TrueSisters

Sandra Dallas brings it home again. In a novel based on true events, New York Times bestselling author Sandra Dallas delivers the story of four women—seeking the promise of salvation and prosperity in a new land—who come together on a harrowing journey.

QuiltWalk

Sandra Dallas tries her fine hand at Young Adult fiction. “Period details, engaging characters and clever plot twists will entice even the most discerning fans of historical fiction. Populated with brave and intelligent women, Dallas story is as much about Emmy s journey toward womanhood as their journey toward the West. Solid writing and a close attention to details make this story more than the sum of its parts.” — KIRKUS

BluntNight

Giles Blunt lands it again. “[Giles Blunt’s novels] stand as landmarks in what we might think of as the new Canadian crime wave. . . . John Cardinal is the quintessential modern Canadian crime fiction hero–the northern lawman reimagined.” — THE WALRUS “Blunt writes with the flashing grace of an ice skater skimming over a frozen pond.” — NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

MartindaleRon Lovell adds to his Thomas Martindale mystery series. “I was surprised but so far this is my favorite book out of the Martindale series. This book really showcased his masterful mystery techniques. His writing style reminds me a lot of Tom Clancy. Good Series, Fast paced and an easy read. Worth checking out.” — JLFG (Amazon customer review)

John Byrne lent a hand on this one. “… Mort has spent most of his very productive life outside the spotlight. But he has finally sat down long enough to write a brilliant book filled with the advice that helped make him a leading philanthropist, business leader, social entrepreneur and self-made billionaire. … His highly compelling book is not a memoir but rather an exploration of the fundamental principles that shaped his career and beliefs.” — MARSHALL GOLDSMITH, Amazon Reviews

John Byrne teams up with Sanford Kreisberg to offer sage counsel. John is editor-in-chief of PoetsandQuants.com and the author or co-author of ten business books, including two New York Times bestsellers. He is also the former executive editor of BusinessWeek magazine, the former editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek.com, and the former editor-in-chief of Fast Company magazine. Sanford Kreisberg is a leading MBA admissons consultant. His firm, HBSGuru.com, specializes in helping applicants get into Harvard, Stanford, Wharton and other top business schools.

2011

Ellen Neuborne and Orly Sade took on financial literacy for young folks. “Along the way, Ella learns about key business concepts, such as market research, competitive analysis, word-of-mouth marketing, guerilla marketing, costs, revenue, profits, loss, leadership, partnerships… and the list goes on. She also learns about the many types of financial products, including stocks, bonds and loans.” – ERICA SWALLOW “My husband read this to our 9-year-old son, and they both enjoyed the story. My husband is an entrepreneur, and he felt the financial concepts in this book were sound.” – JYOTSNA SREENIVASAN

“Chester Dawson is a Japanese-speaking investigative reporter who has got the inside story of Lexus and made it come alive. – EZRA F. VOGEL, Harvard University. “This is a tale of invention, innovation, consumer insight, dedication and resolve.” – MICHAEL SILVERSTEIN, The Boston Consulting Group “This is a must-read not only for car buffs, but for any manager or executive who wants to understand any manager or executive who wants to understand how to create, sustain and expand an elite brand.” – MICHELINE MAYNARD, author

John Byrne shares the wisdom of people who shook things up. “In World Changers, John Byrne has assembled a fascinating cast of characters from Oprah Winfrey to Steve Jobs. Through excerpts from their published interviews and Byrne’s own one-on-one interviews with these entrepreneurs, Byrne pieces together not just a readable volume of personal narratives but a collection of insights into what it takes to change the world. The stories are diverse, but taken as a whole, they are inspirational and educational.”– JOHN COLEMAN “If you loved Jack Welch’s Straight from the Gut, you’ll need to read this new book about how entrepreneurs drive change with passion and vision. Few people have enjoyed a seat at the table with extraordinary entrepreneurs as John has …” — MARK THOMPSON

Larry Light sallied forth against the forces of darkness. “… [P]erfect summer reading fare. The author, a financial reporter and editor, is a skilled storyteller. In this book he explores a range of investment strategies and instruments, traces their development, and in the process profiles some of the best-known investors and academics.” BRENDA JUBIN, Seeking Alpha

Dori Jones Yang waxed historical. “Yang has done an excellent job describing 14th century Mongolia, and by including the familiar character of Marco Polo she has a seamless way to weave all of the amazing facts about this setting into the narrative while rarely dragging down the story. A refreshing change of pace from a lot of the historical fiction/romance out there today! (And a brief aside: a book with a wonderful cover! After the whitewashing controversies of the last few years, 2011 is shaping up to be an amazing year for proudly putting the faces of characters of color on covers!)” BOOKISH BLATHER “The language is believable, and the descriptions of customs, foods, and places during that time period are vivid and engaging…. History is brought alive in this novel, and I enjoyed getting a glimpse of Chinese and Mongolian history mixed with a bit of adventure.” SQUEAKY CLEAN READS

Dori Jones Yang also remained a scribe. “The oral histories in this book provide valuable primary-source material about the so-called ‘lost generation’ of Chinese Americans, those who came as students in the 1940s through 1960s. This book fills a gap in our knowledge and will enrich the studies of academic researchers analyzing the experience of the Chinese diaspora.”EVELYN HU-DEHART, Brown University. “Academics and researchers will find this book of oral history an indispensable resource to study a long overlooked group of Chinese immigrants in America.” PETER KWONG, Hunter College

Celine Keatings’s new novel is piling up the praise: “Céline Keating‘s deftly plotted novel takes readers on a gripping journey along the underground railroad of post-’60s radicalism. . . . Every adult has to reinterpret the story of her childhood. Keating beautifully demonstrates the courage it takes for each of us to face that bittersweet truth.” LARRY DARK, Director of The Story Prize “A beautiful book–at once nostalgic and fresh–that will go straight to your heart and lodge there.” ALETHEA BLACK, author of I Knew You’d Be Lovely “[An] emotional page-turner. Layla’s coming to terms with her parents’ dangerous activism is heart wrenching due to Keating’s delightfully drawn characters. This novel also serves as a compelling lesson in our values and how drastically they’ve changed. It serves as a better history than any essay or screed.” SUSAN BRAUDY, author of Family Circle. Intriguing trailer, too.

So, too, is Amy Cortese‘s new effort in nonfiction. “If Michael Pollan changed the way you think about food, let Amy Cortese change the way you think about finance.” JAY LEE “Locavesting uses great storytelling to present a structured analysis of how and why to invest where you live and in the (mostly) small businesses there. Each aspect of Locavesting is brought to life by sketches of real people who impress, amuse, and intrigue.” CLIFFORD J. REEVES “This is one of the best books I have ever read on the topic of financing small business growth.” RODNEY LOGES

As is the effort by Stanley Reed and Alison Fitzgerald. “…the latest, and probably the best, of what one might call the “private sector” books about the BP spill…by a pair of talented and experienced Bloomberg reporters.” FINANCIAL TIMES “The two journalists make a logical team, and their book is often enlightening about the corporate-political nexus that placed enrichment of the already rich and aggrandizement of the already influential above the common good.” USA TODAY

Stephen Baker‘s takeout on the advance of the computer into the game-show realm proved intriguing. “Like Tracy Kidder’s Soul of a New Machine (1981), Baker’s book finds us at the dawn of a singularity. It’s an excellent case study, and does good double duty as a Philip K. Dick scenario, too.” KIRKUS REVIEWS “Final Jeopardy not only holds the answers to my … questions, but really delves into the man vs. machine thought. How do we as humans learn a language? How do we measure perception? And then once we know all of this, how do we teach it to a machine? If you are even the slightest bit interested in artificial intelligence this book is for you. At the same time, it is not so down in the computery depths that someone who knows little of data-mining algorithms won’t be able to understand. I think it is a very accessible book.” Julia, THE BROKE AND THE BOOKISH

Steve Hamm, with a couple coauthors, weighed in about machines, too. “IBM doesn’t just THINK, it thinks big. The story of these big ideas illustrates how 100 years of innovation have shaped the way we live and work today.” KENNETH CHENAULT, American Express. “Making the World Work Better convincingly documents IBM’s enormous impact on business and the world. Its history provides vital lessons for organizations of all sizes, and IBM’s future promises to continue to innovate the way we work, and even think.” HENRY CHESBROUGH, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley “Innovation, resilience, and great leadership are the key ingredients of the IBM story. Making the World Work Better tells that story exceptionally well. Ultimately, it reveals that IBM is not simply a technology company; it is a company of ideas and the future those ideas have created.” JOHN HOLLAR, Computer History Museum

William J. Holstein takes a look at what ails us. “[A] timely prescription for what our country must do to regain its financial fortitude and reinvigorate our national economy. While many believe that America faces an inevitable decline and loss of global leadership to emerging Asian economies as we exhaust our ability to innovate and compete, Holstein offers a more optimistic assessment of American industry and its ability to rise to the challenge.” PETER G. BALBUS, Pragmaxis LLC “If wishful thinking were dollars, this book would be a gold mine. As it is, Holstein provides an optimistic but not necessarily candy-colored view of a resurgent American economy.” KIRKUS REVIEWS

Alethea Black is winning lots of fans with her fiction. “This debut reads like a dream, with nary a false note…” KIRKUS REVIEWS. “A sense of vulnerable restlessness is betrayed by the otherwise pragmatic characters of Black’s strong debut collection.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Alethea Black is downright brilliant at capturing the restless striving for a self that we all are feeling in this parlous and unsettling age. I Knew You’d Be Lovely is a splendidly resonant debut by an important young writer.” ROBERT OLEN BUTLER, author of A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain

Chris Roush created a must-have text for budding business journalists and updated it nicely with this new edition. I use it in my classes. There can be no stronger endorsement! This is a keeper.

Sandra Dallas extended her long run. “[A] winning combination of solid historical fiction,vivid enduring characters,and an interesting story that pulls the reader right in. Sandra Dallas is at the top of her game with THE BRIDE’S HOUSE…an excellent read.” BOOKREPORTER.COM

2010

Zero_Decibels_book“Overwhelmed by … noise in New York City, NYU creative writing instructor [George Michelsen] Foy

zealously sought out silence … [but it] eluded him: underwater in his bathtub the roaring metropolis was amplified by the denser medium of water; in Paris’s catacombs a distant hum persisted among the stacked skulls and bones; and in his family home on Cape Cod the absence of excessive sound, rather than soothing him, made him conscious of the absence of his recently deceased mother. Yet in a Minneapolis anechoic chamber, he felt rested, relaxed, and triumphant, becoming the first person to stay in the dark and silent chamber alone for 45 minutes. The author’s quixotic quest is quirky, inventive, and alluring …” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Foy’s thinking about quietude began where it never exists: the New York City subway. With an audiometer, he measured the decibels of its deafening cacophony in addition to levels in his apartment, the street, and the former mansion of Joseph Pulitzer, who hated noise…. Foy’s is an adventurous and perceptively ruminative investigation of acoustical annoyances.” — GILBERT TAYLOR, BOOKLIST

Fran Hawthorne explains how real simple is anything but. “With a welcome mixture of facts and humor, Fran Hawthorne highlights the dilemmas of living an environmentally virtuous, healthy life in a fiercely consumption-oriented culture.—MICHAEL F. JACOBSON, Center for Science in the Public Interest “People are quickly learning that living a simple, low-impact life actually isn’t so simple. Thankfully, there’s much-needed relief to be found in Fran Hawthorne’s funny, poignant, and often eye-opening way of sorting through the dilemmas-and solutions—facing socially and environmentally minded consumers.”—GREG MELVILLE, author

Chris Roush, with a colleague, offered a helpful tutorial. “The book is an invaluable guide to helping you get business right, understand it, and explain it. Which is, of course, what we all should be trying to do.” ALLAN SLOAN, Fortune magazine “An essential interpretive guide for business journalists striving to make the arcane clear to readers. Very practical references for today’s changing business climate.” PATRICK SCOTT, Charlotte Observer “A comprehensive reference tool for virtually every phrase a business or economics reporter or editor needs to know. An indispensable guide both for specialists and especially for those who get thrust into covering business or economic stories.” GREG DAVID, Crain’s New York Business

Sandra Dallas kept them coming. “Dallas presents another historical novel about the hardscrabble mining communities of Colorado, set just down the road from her best-selling Prayers for Sale (2009), creating a patchwork of individuals whose lives had not intersected until this singular, transformative event. Readers may find the abrupt transitions and preponderance of flashbacks confusing and distancing. Dallas is well known for her storytelling abilities, but this reads more like a valediction of a time and place faded from memory than her usual vibrant, visceral tale. Still, Dallas is a magnet.” LYNNE WELCH, Booklist

Another standout from Hardy Green. “Taking in textile, coal, oil, lumber and appliance-manufacturing towns, Mr. Green’s survey is a useful one…. [T]he company towns overseen by Milton Hershey, Francis Cabot Lowell and even Charlie Cannon were communities enlivened by quirks and passions and idiosyncratic visions. Edens? Hardly. But they had soul, and you can neither buy nor sell that at the company store.” WALL STREET JOURNAL “Mr. Green sprints – at times breathlessly – through all kinds of company towns, mostly past but some present…. He uses these accounts, in tandem with a clean, engaging voice, to tell story upon story…. Mr. Green has amassed a collection of important, well-told stories about the contradictions, inequities and possibilities of American capitalism.” NEW YORK TIMES “[A] delightful book.” THE ECONOMIST

Andrew Park weighed in on matters of faith. “He discusses his parents’ religious upbringing and the impact it had on him. His father, for instance, was raised in the Church of Scotland, the forebear of Presbyterianism, which left him with unpleasant memories that he passed on to Park; meanwhile, Park’s older brother converted to modern Evangelical Christianity. Whether writing about his family or Rick Warren’s Saddleback megachurch, Park remains a father trying to delicately balance the responsibilities of parenthood and being true to himself. A lovely read.” JUNE SAWYERS, Booklist “Park puts on his journalist’s hat to explore the sociological backdrop of periods in America when religion experienced growth and upheaval. He examines his own inconstant feelings and discovers he has pragmatic reasons to be drawn to faith, including the community it provides. Ultimately his investigations bring Park back where he started, but with new insight. He attends a seminar about how to raise ethical children without religion and seems to have found his own holy grail: It’s OK to be a doubting dad.” MICHELLE BOORSTEIN, Washington Post.

Arlene Weintraub has made some marketers nervous. “Weintraub, a former senior writer for BusinessWeek, portrays the hormone replacement sector as a cesspool of unproven claims, unacknowledged side-effects, and marketing scams. It’s also a zoo of colorful quacks, presided over by actress Suzanne Somers, author of best-selling alternative medicine treatises. Weintraub mixes acute reportage with a censorious tone; she deplores the notion that old age is a disease.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Wrinkles, fat, and low libido start to sound pretty good after reading this unnerving exposé by journalist Arlene Weintraub. Her elixir of deep research and smooth storytelling delivers a sometimes-gag-inducing dose of reality…” FAST COMPANY “Weintraub generates plenty of feverish prose and cautionary tales to highlight this powerfully seductive syllogism of the “anti-aging industry…” AARP Magazine

Chris Farrell caught the sense of the times. “Chris Farrell provides practical guidance about how to manage personal finances. In a nutshell, which is a great disservice to the author, Farrell — who hosts a radio show on NPR– advocates implementing a margin of safety in investing and a return to the frugality that many of us grew up with…the world would be a better place if more people followed his common sense advice.” NEWARK STAR LEDGER “The title of this book hooked me from the start. What am I writing about at The Simple Dollar if I’m not writing about “the new frugality” Chris Farrell, the author of the book, is a name I’m familiar with having been a long-time faithful listener of Marketplace Money (and it’s other Marketplace brethren) on NPR. I expected a well-written book that offered lots of insightful thoughts on the “new frugality” along with some practical tips. That’s precisely what I got. Let’s dig in.” CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR “[The New Frugality] will help you spend less and save more…This book is filled with anecdotes, historical insights, resources and common sense, all of which are designed to teach you how to wisely spend your money while saving for the future.” THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC

Giles Blunt added to a shelf groaning with work. “As distinctively Canadian as a Tom Thomson painting. . . . Crime Machine is as good as Canadian crime fiction gets.” MARGARET CANNON, The Globe and Mail “A marvelously controlled writer, equally confident with characters and narrative.” TORONTO STAR “First-rate series. . . .You can hear the crunch of snowshoes through the bush, smell the buckshot mingling with fresh blood.” NOW (Toronto) “Another winner from one of Canada’s leading crime writers.” THE PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER

Joan Hamilton came to Meg Whitman’s aid. “Meg Whitman doesn’t just talk about important values such as integrity, accountability, authenticity and courage, she lives them…. In this engaging and honest book, Meg shares these values and how she applied them to pioneering a new model for managing a twenty-first-century company. This book only deepens my admiration for Meg’s leadership.” A.G. LAFLEY, Procter & Gamble. “As an eBay board member, I saw firsthand Meg Whitman’s determination to live and manage by the answer to the question ‘What is the right thing to do?’ as she helped eBay develop its character as a company. This book explores the values she brought to eBay and the values she nurtured at eBay – values that ultimately helped her create a remarkable success story and a powerful consumer brand.” HOWARD SCHULTZ, Starbucks “Meg Whitman makes a compelling connection between achieving success and holding firm to high standards of integrity and personal values. It’s clear and effective advice for motivating people to do their very best.” W. JAMES MCNERNEY, JR., Boeing

Anthony Bianco plunged into Silicon Valley. “[A] gripping, well-sourced and illuminating book, “The Big Lie” [is] a gossipy and at times vulgar account of the battle of wills between Dunn and Tom Perkins, one of California’s wealthiest venture capitalists. Think Tyra Banks meets “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell in a televised food fight… A splendid account of the very flawed stars of HP’s sideshow.” SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE “An authoritative account.” NEW YORK TIMES “Bianco’s reporting (and he’s done plenty of it at BusinessWeek) is complete, nasty, with plenty of villains, no heroes, and perhaps one victim… Read this alongside Jeffrey Pfeffer’s recent book, Power, and you will understand much of the dysfunction of Fortune 500 capitalism.” NEW YORK JOURNAL OF BOOKS

Jay Greene cast a designing eye. “A series of case studies of attractive and efficient design, from journalist Greene, makes a persuasive case for regarding design as an essential component of the development process of any product, which must be attended to at all stages, not just at the end….Through case studies of design-savvy companies like Porsche, Nike, LEGO, OXO, Clif bars, and Virgin Atlantic, Greene discusses the brands’ origins and presses home the point that successful companies turn their customers into cultists of a sort, admirers of both the form and function of the products they’re using.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Greene provides valuable information and insight for companies in all businesses as he explains the importance of design thinking. He quotes Apple’s Steve Jobs in discussing the iPod, ‘It’s design’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.’” MARY WHALEY, Booklist

Suzanne Robitaille checked out cutting-edge tech. “Suzanne’s book combines research and personal insight to help even the most novice user make better, more informed choices about assistive technology.” FRANCIS W. WEST, IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center “This comprehensive, practical, and detailed guide gives you all the information you need to choose the right options for you or your loved one.” KIM DORITY, Vice President, Disaboom “Using a lively narrative style, Suzanne Robitaille takes the reader on a fascinating tour of the latest and best in assistive technology…” NICK LaROCCA, National Multiple Sclerosis Society

Ellyn Spragins has a trilogy with this work in her series on the insights of exceptional women. “… a good read for the bad times and makes a great gift for the graduating teenager who may need advice, looking back.” — BALTIMORE DAILY RECORD

2009

Evan Schwartz surprises with his Oz tale.”Author and former business journalist Schwartz (The Last Lone Inventor) presents the life story of L. Frank Baum, focusing on the invention and development of his classic 1900 children’s tale, The Wizard of Oz. Schwartz reveals how Baum’s early interest in theatre, tall tales, and entertaining an audience led the restless young man through a string of doomed careers, including actor, playwright, castor oil salesman, and shop owner (trading in knickknacks and toys)…. A dad himself, Schwartz tells Baum’s story with understanding and wit, perfect for anyone with fond memories from over the rainbow.–PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Joan Hamilton also offered sage counsel to a lawyer. “Well written and engaging, this book opens a door into big city crime and how to address it. A must-read for any would-be prosecutor and urban resident, in particular. It dispels myths about the impact of crimes with a balanced eye on the one wronged, the perpetrator and law enforcement, and should make any California resident comfortable–and hopeful–about seeing Harris in higher office. Hamilton does an excellent job of capturing the prosecutor’s perspective without letting this drift into hagiography. M. DUNKERLY, Texas attorney “This book, so clearly and well written, describes a comprehensive and sensible approach for actually reducing crime. Kamala Harris is a no-nonsense prosecutor who has thought about how to address the actual causes of crime, as well as appropriate punishments. Everyone who is concerned about the safety of our neighborhoods, now and in the future, needs to read this book and ask our friends in law enforcement and the judiciary to carefully consider her proposals for reform of the criminal justice system.” JANE HICKIE, Stephenville, Texas

Check out Linda Himelstein‘s much-praised work. “…a colorful chronicle of the rise of a business. Ms. Himelstein, a veteran journalist, keeps her narrative moving neatly along, distilling complex matters of commerce into a clear and readable form.” JOSEPH TARTAKOVSKY, The Wall Street Journal. “Himelstein makes Russian history and even current politics come alive through an unlikely narrative thread — the creation of a fortune and the eventual demise of a vodka-producing family.” STEVE WEINBERG, USA Today “The book is an impressive feat of research, told swiftly and enthusiastically, and brings depth and substance to a product that is otherwise bereft.” JORDAN MACKAY, San Francisco Chronicle

Giles Blunt hit again. “An utterly vivid, completely disturbing account of how thugs with authority unrestrained by the rule of law and untempered by the quality of mercy can go about the physical, mental and emotional destruction of a person.” THE GAZETTE “Giles Blunt writes with uncommon grace, style and compassion and he plots like a demon.” JONATHAN KELLERMAN, author “A tour de force, sorrowing and direct, sharp as a knife blade, beautifully written — an unforgettable window into the human capacity for cruelty and courage.” THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Howard Gleckman, long a pillar of the D.C. bureau, was moved to write about his elders. “Compelling personal stories, helpful information about where to turn for assistance, and ideas for ways to strengthen the safety net that too often fails families facing crisis.” JOHN ROTHER, AARP “Howard Gleckman knows first hand about caring for his elderly parents. In his illuminating Caring for Our Parents, Gleckman shines a spotlight on the financial and physical price we pay to help our loved ones in a fractured and inadequate network of long-term care services. As he profiles families who meet those challenges with love, determination, and grace, he raises important questions about how our nation will cope as the enormous Baby Boomer generation ages. Caring for our Parents is a wake-up call to a graying nation.” MARY BETH FRANKLIN, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance “By telling his personal story and those of others, Howard Gleckman helps us understand why caring for our parents is such a challenge. This is a must read for every Baby Boomer.” SUZANNE MINTZ, National Family Caregivers Association

Count Stacy Perman in, too. “Amazon Best of the Month, April 2009: [A] chronicle of how a family-run California hamburger joint went on to become an American pop culture icon…. If you’ve never had an In-N-Out burger, Perman’s book just might inspire you to find a good reason to get yourself to Southern California and seek out an off-the-menu 3×3 with a side of Animal Style fries.” BRAD THOMAS PARSONS Intriguing video of Stacy, too.

Sandra Dallas wowed ’em. “In her charming new novel, Dallas (The Persian Pickle Club; Tallgrass; etc.) offers up the unconventional friendship between Hennie Comfort, a natural storyteller entering the twilight of her life, and Nit Spindle, a naïve young newlywed, forged in the isolated mining town of Middle Swan, Colo., in 1936…. This satisfying novel will immediately draw readers into Hennie and Nit’s lives, and the unexpected twists will keep them hooked through to the bittersweet denouement.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “*Starred Review* Like the lives narrated, this novel, by the author of Tallgrass (2007), runs the gamut of heartache, hardship, and happiness as Dallas skillfully weaves past into present and surprises everyone at the end. Fans of Lee Smith (Fair and Tender Ladies, 1988), Sue Monk Kidd (The Secret Life of Bees, 2002), and Kaye Gibbons (Charms for the Easy Life, 2003), will love this book.” JEN BAKER, Booklist

Ellen Spragins gathers more insights. “Spragins’s ingenious book is the rare self-help volume that young women would elect to read and decidedly enjoy. The author profiles 35 highly accomplished women and asks them to write a letter of counsel or encouragement addressed to their younger selves. The result is a collection of life directives that are highly personal and disarmingly honest…. This book offers sound advice and is highly recommended for women just starting out.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Candid and sometimes surprising letters…It’s hard not to relate to these letters on one level or another…Readers will leave If I’d Known Then inspired to look back on their own lives and write their own missive to themselves.” — DESERET NEWS

2008

Lindsey Gerdes launched this intriguing idea for up-and-comers.

Lou Lavelle, a datameister ahead of his time, pulled together a helpful guide. Aspiring MBAs, no doubt, took note.

spencerSpencer Ante ventures ahead profitably. “Richly researched with the cooperation of Doriot’s surviving colleagues…” — THE WALL STREET JOURNAL An “ultimately satisfying biography of Georges F. Doriot, the transplanted Frenchman who is often called the father of V.C.” — THE NEW YORK TIMES “This book will appeal to anyone interested in the origins of venture capital, why its centre of gravity moved from the Boston area to the west coast, or what it takes to succeed as a VC investor.” — THE FINANCIAL TIMES

Sandra Dallas nailed another. “An ugly murder is central to this compelling historical, but the focus is on one appealing family, the Strouds, in the backwater town of Ellis, Colo. Soon after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government rounded up all the Japanese residents of the West Coast and shipped them off to “internment camps” for the duration of the war. One of the camps is Tallgrass, based on an actual Colorado camp, as Dallas (The Chili Queen) explains in her acknowledgments. The major discomforts and petty indignities these (mostly) American citizens had to endure are viewed through the clear eyes of a young girl who lives on a nearby farm, Rennie Stroud…. Dallas’s terrific characters, unerring ear for regional dialects and ability to evoke the sights and sounds of the 1940s make this a special treat.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Dallas has made a major contribution to a growing body of literature about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Based on the one camp in Colorado (named Amache, and renamed Tallgrass by the author), the story focuses on the impact it had on the local farmers and townspeople….Part mystery, part historical fiction, part coming-of-age story, Tallgrass has all the elements of a tale well told: complex characters, intriguing plot, atmospheric detail, pathos, humor, and memorable turns of phrase. But most of all, the book offers a fresh look at a theme that can never be ignored: the interplay of good and evil within society and within people.” ROBERT SAUNDERSON,Berkeley Public Library, CA, School Library Journal

Alex Beam has made quite a mark, too. “Alex Beam’s colourful history narrates how this extraordinary project got off the ground at the University of Chicago, under the stewardship of chalk-and-cheese duo Robert Hutchins (who, a friend said, “made homosexuals of us all”) and Mortimer Adler (who “often added his own works to Great Books reading lists for courses he taught”).” STEVEN POOLE, Guardian “Boston Globe columnist Beam looks at how and why this multi-year project took shape, what it managed to accomplish (or not), and the lasting effects it had on college curricula (in the familiar form of Dead White Males). Beam (Gracefully Insane: Life and Death Inside America’s Premier Mental Hospital) describes meetings endured by the selection committee, and countless debates … but tells it like it is regarding the Syntopicon they devised-at “3,000 subtopics and 163,000 separate entries, not exactly a user-friendly compendium”-and the resulting volumes, labeling them “icons of unreadability-32,000 pages of tiny, double-column, eye-straining type.” By lauding the intent and intelligently critiquing the outcome, Beam offers an insightful, accessible and fair narrative on the Great Books, its time, and its surprisingly significant legacy.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Steve Hamm pursued the ideal. “This is a really remarkable book! Covering past, present, and-most excitingly-the future of mobiles, it brings back extremely vivid memories to me and puts in context the many challenges and great opportunities still out there.” JOHN ELLENBY, creator of the GRiD Compass, the first laptop computer “If you have a couple of mobile devices in your pocket and wonder why there isn’t a perfect single device, this book is for you.” ROBERT SCOBLE, the Scobleizer blog and former chief blogger for Microsoft

Giles Blunt ventured into the youth market. “Blunt presents readers with a well-crafted plot and lovable, eccentric characters who are magnetizing from page one. Teens will fall in love with this handsome, insightful 18-year-old and his questionable girlfriend, and will be charmed by this quirky, fast-paced tale.” ELLEN BELL, Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton, CA

Steve Baker did some close counting on this one. “In this captivating exploration of digital nosiness, business reporter Baker spotlights a new breed of entrepreneurial mathematicians (the numerati) engaged in harnessing the avalanche of private data individuals provide when they use a credit card, donate to a cause, surf the Internet—or even make a phone call…. An intriguing but disquieting look at a not too distant future when our thoughts will remain private, but computers will disclose our tastes, opinions, habits and quirks to curious parties, not all of whom have our best interests at heart.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “This is a fascinating outing of the hidden yet exploding world of digital surveillance and stealthy intrusions into our decision-making processes as we buy food, make a date, or vote for president. Yet, as Baker assures us, we are not helpless. For one thing, machines still can’t process sarcasm. Read and resist.” DONNA SEAMAN, Booklist

Michael Mandel waxed academic. Another text I use in my biz-econ journalism class. Need you know more?

Fran Hawthorne shares retirement worries. “Will retirement security be an oxymoron for most Americans? Fran Hawthorne’s Pension Dumping offers a clear-eyed, provocative look at the critically important world of pensions.”
—BARBARA RUDOLPH, author. “Having lived through the S&L crisis, I can’t help but wonder what policy makers might have done had they been presented with a concise, cogent description of the gathering of the perfect storm before events unfolded. Fran Hawthorne has written such a book for pension policy makers.”—OLENA BERG LACY, former Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration. “With clarity and even humor at times, Hawthorne examines a complicated, multifaceted, and often troubling phenomenon with broad current and future implications for companies, workers, retirees, taxpayers, and society as a whole.”—PHYLLIS C. BORZI, former Counsel for Employee Benefits, U.S. House of Representatives

thStephen Adler and Lisa Grunwald team up as editors on this one. “Leaving few stones unturned, the husband-and-wife journalist team of Grunwald and Adler (a former Esquire features editor and a Wall Street Journal assistant managing editor, respectively) have compiled a riveting epistolary chronicle of 20th-century America. Comprising 423 letters that are by turns intimate, bureaucratic, officious and epoch-defining…” – PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. “Letters to lovers, threats from gangsters, pleas to judges for mercy, tracts from terrorists, junk mail from evangelists, advice from Ann Landers, even young JFK’s message carved on a coconut after PT-109 was sunk–all combine to provide one of the most authentic, resonant, and real histories imaginable, a sweeping and often intensely personal chronicle of the American 20th century, as told by the famous, the infamous, and the obscure. – PAUL HUGHES, Amazon.com

FOR  WORK BY BW AUTHORS FROM 2007 AND EARLIER SEE NEXT POST

Tenure is more than a job for life

TenureMountainThe letter was short, barely filling a page. But the message, for me, was a big deal. The vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln let me know this week that I had successfully run a 5 ½-year long gauntlet and qualified for tenure.

I choked up. I felt like a 17-year-old getting accepted into the college of his dreams. The news about what technically is called “continuous appointment” meant more to me than I had expected. It meant more than just job security; it meant I had been accepted by my peers, my dean and the people who fill the upper reaches of my Big Ten university as someone they’d like to work with for as long as I could command a podium in a classroom.

That acceptance, that ratification of my role as a mentor to young people, that endorsement of my teaching and research skills – it was like getting my first car or going on a first date. It summoned up sepia-colored images of my father – someone who had not even graduated from high school – calling me and an academically inclined sister his little professors. We were the ones who pulled As, the ones he could see in classrooms, occupying places he respected.

I was surprised at my own reaction, though, partly because I’ve been conflicted about tenure. After all, I managed to stay 22 years at my last job, at BusinessWeek, without it, and had worked at three other news organizations before without it. At each place, I was only as good – and secure – as my next story. My job security depended on shifting arrays of bosses and the economic health of my employer. And that seemed fine to me – even just, if one believes healthy capitalism requires dynamic labor markets where jobs must come and go, where there is no room for sinecures.

For years I’ve been sympathetic to a view that a former colleague at BusinessWeek put into writing recently. Sarah Bartlett, marking her first anniversary as dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, complained that the “tenure system can create a permanent class of teachers who may not feel much pressure to constantly refresh their skills or renew their curricula.” Tenure, she suggested, would atrophy programs rather than create the “vibrant academic cultures” that journalism schools, in particular, need at a time of great industry ferment.

SkeletonBut does tenure serve mainly to shield those who would resist change? Does it do little more than protect aging old bulls and cows who should long ago have been turned out to pasture? Does it guarantee that hoary old fossils will dominate classrooms, spouting outdated and irrelevant approaches? Does the pursuit of tenure, moreover, drive aspiring faculty members to do pointless impractical research that doesn’t help the journalism world or the J schools themselves, as Sarah also implied?

Well, I look around at my tenured colleagues at UNL and see the opposite. As one pursued tenure, she wrote a textbook for training copy editors. Sue Burzynski Bullard’s text – “Everybody’s An Editor: Navigating journalism’s changing landscape” – should be standard fare in any forward-looking J school. Because it is an interactive ebook, the now-tenured Bullard is able to – and does – refresh the book regularly. Another colleague, John R. Bender, regularly updates “Reporting for the Media,” an impressive text that he and three colleagues wrote. It’s now in its 11th edition. A third colleague, Joe Starita, produced “I Am A Man: Chief Standing Bear’s Journey for Justice,” setting a high bar for storytelling and research that contributes to an emphasis at our school in journalism about Native Americans. This was Starita’s third book and he’s toiling on a fourth, even as he inspires students in feature-writing and reporting classes.

And that productivity by tenured faculty isn’t limited to written work. Starita teamed up with multimedia-savvy journalism sequence head Jerry Renaud to shepherd the impressive Native Daughters project about American Indian women. Bernard R. McCoy, a colleague who teaches mainly (but not exclusively) in the broadcasting sequence, has produced documentaries including “Exploring the Wild Kingdom,” a public-TV effort about the most popular wildlife program in television history. Another of his works, “They Could Really Play the Game: Reloaded,” tells the story of an extraordinary 1950s college basketball team. And he’s now working on a production about WWI Gen. John J. Pershing.

Tenure doesn’t mean that creative work ends or innovations in the classroom cease. Each of my colleagues has had to adapt to the digital world. Some still prefer to teach in older ways – one quaintly requires students to hand in written papers that he grades by hand, for instance. But even he teams up with visually oriented colleagues to guide students to produce work as today’s media organizations demand it. Charlyne Berens, a colleague, and I teamed up with the Omaha World-Herald just last spring to guide students to produce a 16-part series that boasts print, online and multimedia elements, The Engineered Foods Debate. Charlyne, who recently retired as our associate dean, wrote several works, including “One House,” about the peculiar unicameral Nebraska legislature, and another about the former Secretary of Defense, “Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward.”

tenuretelescopeAs for me, the pursuit of tenure gave me the impetus to write my first book, “Transcendental Meditation in America: How a New Age Movement Remade a Small Town in Iowa.” I’m now working on a second book, exploring the reasons that drive people to join cults. I’m also developing curricula for business and economic journalism instruction that I hope will serve business school and J school students, including those interested in investor relations. The pursuit of tenure also drove me to develop research for academic journals, encouraging me to look into areas as far-flung as journalism training in China, as well as such practical work as the teaching of business journalism, the challenges of teaching fair-minded approaches to aspiring journalists, and the pros and cons of ranking journalism schools – all topics for forthcoming journal publication.

Forgive me for beating my own chest. I don’t mean to. I am humbled by the work that my colleagues at the J school and across the university do. It is an enormous honor for them to consider me a peer and, assuming that the university’s regents in September agree with our vice chancellor, I expect that I will spend the next decade or so trying to live up to that.

Time to be smart, not a smartass

HedgeFundFlouting convention has its uses. An outrageous image can provoke debate, prompt action or, at a minimum, win attention. And all those things are vital to any media organization in our infoglutted age. When so many magazines vie for notice, after all, it takes a lot to grab a reader’s eye on a crowded newsstand, stand out in a towering mail pile or merit a crucial split-second’s notice on a computer screen.

But does that mean sacrificing taste? Sure, Penthouse gets a second glance every time. But will that translate into lasting buzz or just a dismissive, “ah, there they go again?” Does a magazine want to be known as smart and sassy or as juvenile and sassy? What happens to the “smart” when a puerile cover image sullies the book’s impact?

So this brings us to Bloomberg Businessweek. There’s no question the magazine has done impressive work since 2009, when McGraw-Hill sold BusinessWeek after thinning its journalism ranks over several financially troubled years. One would expect no less than excellence from Bloomberg, the preeminent business-news operation of the day. A friend who toils abroad for the news service points out that BB won the 2012 National Magazine Award for General Excellence – the magazine world’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize — something the magazine hadn’t done since 1996, an earlier time of superb journalism at BW.

InfidelityBut one must wonder whether BB has won despite some of its new approaches, rather than because of them. Much of the reporting and writing remains superb – its economic coverage, for instance, has won awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, and I know from serving as a judge that the work was best in class. Some of BB’s contrarian ideas, fleshed out well in text that intelligently challenges conventional wisdom, are compelling. At its best, its work is as good as the best material BW was known for over decades, work that won 10 National Magazine Awards in various categories from 1973-2008, all before the latest general excellence prize. BW and its staffers won a slew of other prizes for foreign and domestic work over those years, too.

MatingJetsThe risk for BB is that its drive to be edgy, particularly in its cover imagery, could easily thrust it over a cliff’s edge. It could all too easily slip from provocative to prurient, as it has at times already. Disturbingly, the distance from smart to smartass is not all that great.

Already, the editors have had to apologize for the art in a cover piece. They ran a smart housing story, only to have its impact undercut by racial insensitivity in the cover art. At best, the drawing seemed goofy anyway.Housing

BB today, like BW before it, does have to distinguish itself both in its journalism and in the artwork it uses to make its points. And, as my friend from Bloomberg points out, the magazine has been recognized for its design successes by such outfits as Britain’s Design and Art Direction. Apparently, though, what caught the eye of folks at D&AD was one of the more elegant covers, which used a stark and simple photo of Steve Jobs. This seems a case of BB earning recognition for being classy rather than déclassé. That’s something any editor should feel proud of.

JobsBB has had some impressive successes. It has held onto 4.7 million readers worldwide when so many others have lost the readership battle. It can draw on the work of 2,300 journalists in 72 countries, a couple thousand more journalists and support staffers than BW ever had. If it is to keep up its record of success in readership and influence, the book should work to be known for top-flight economic and business coverage and high-quality artwork that makes the coverage come alive. This is its inheritance, its bloodline. The editors shouldn’t be weighed down by the magazine’s stellar list of alumni and their work as they sort out what to put in the book each week, what imagery to adorn its cover with. But, if they do pause for a second to consider the book’s distinguished history, they might feel a useful nudge in the right direction.

What do the editors, staffers and art folks want the book to be known for anyway? What do they want their legacy to be? Flout convention, sure. Be provocative. Kick up dust. But do it with style and intelligence. A little grace can carry you a lot farther than an adolescent smirk or an unwelcome dollop of snark.

Smart or sophomoric? BW’s ‘edgy’ cover pushes the envelope

What words come to mind when you look at the image from the latest cover of Bloomberg Businessweek?

For my Reporting 1 students at the University of Nebraska, the words include “amusing,” “comical,” “creative,” “clever,” and “intriguing.” Most of the 30 students in the two sections of the course liked the image and thought it just fine for the book. They would agree with the folks at The Atlantic who suggested it was “edgy.”

The enthusiasts offered other terms, too. “Fun,” “simple,” “funny,” “different,” “unique,” “surprising” and “attention-getting” were among them. Some said it would encourage them to buy the magazine if they saw it on the newsstand – which, of course, is what a cover should do.

“I love this cover,” said one student, who at 23 is a couple years older than most of the others. “If I saw the magazine, I’d grab it. I love the tie-in. It’s definitely an attention-grabber.”

Another concurred, adding a thought about the cover language. “If the title was about a merger, there’s no way I would pick it up. This I would pick up,” she said.

Many found it funny. “It’s fun. I like the design. It’s a mature joke,” she said.

Of course, opinion wasn’t unanimous. A solid minority, including some who found the image entertaining, thought it “inappropriate” for a national business magazine. Some even worried about kids seeing it on the dining-room table or newsstand. Two found it “distasteful.” While saying she found it “slightly inappropriate,” one hurried to add that she was not offended.

And some were just perplexed. “It’s just a couple airplanes,” said one. “Airplanes can’t have sex.” Another said he couldn’t get the image at first, since it looked like a couple planes colliding or flying in tandem. And one, blushing, said the word that came to mind was “sexual,” and she added that the idea was “disconnected.” She asked, “why refer to two plane companies as sexual?”

Classy alternative?

While most students in this sophomore-level class thought the image was a winner, some faculty thought it, well, sophomoric. Echoing the blusher, one sixtysomething prof puzzled over the idea that everything nowadays seems to be cast in sexual terms, especially among folks south of 25 (or, I’d add, south of 40). A longtime newspaper photo editor-turned-teacher argued that manipulating photos just isn’t kosher even if it’s dubbed a photo-illustration (which this wasn’t) because the technology makes the images too believable.

Some, by contrast, thought the image just fine — so long as it suited the target audience. One, who led the art designers at New York Newsday and The New York Times before returning to Nebraska to teach, was reminded of provocative covers Newsday would run to pop off the stands next to the New York Post and the Daily News. And another, a veteran of the New York bureau of the Miami Herald, thought this would, indeed, help the magazine stand out, adding that images of humping animals are not uncommon, so why not?

Outside of school, a friend at National Journal volunteered this (sans capitals, in a Facebook exchange: “it’s funny, it’s original, it makes the point instantly, it’s not actually icky (planes don’t really have sex, people!), and it makes me much more inclined to pick up the magazine than photo of a white dude in a suit or a photo of an airport. sometimes the worthiest stories on the most important topics are really hard to coverize, and i’m sure the writer is glad they found a solution. i wish i had more ideas like this for national journal.”

When I argued that the image might fit The Onion but not BB (or BW, as we veterans prefer), he added that we might see such an image on New York, Slate or The Economist. He might be right about that, since The Economist proved even more edgy, with camels — back in 1994. Of course, that was before the British pub became the force to beat in business magazines and, maybe, had less to lose.

So, gentle reader, what say you? Does an image of jets in flagrante suggest witty, smart, authoritative and sophisticated? Or is it just a ripoff of The Colbert Report and The Daily Show that offers sass instead of style? Does it suggest hip or, rather, desperation to look hip? In the end, do boinging Boeings reflect well on a national business magazine?

Gas prices and politics are a volatile mix

Electoral politics and rising gas prices are a combustible mix. But President Obama, disappointingly, is all too happy to use the $4-a-gallon-plus prices to his advantage by, again, demonizing players in the financial markets. Feeling pinched at the pump? It’s all the fault of those mysterious gnomes at the New York Mercantile Exchange who gamble on price moves.

Forget the plunging dollar, Middle Eastern tumult and fiscal deadlock in Washington. The president would instead pillory the sharpies in the oddly colored jackets at NYMEX. That’s why he created a financial fraud enforcement working group to look into “the role of traders and speculators.” Guided by Attorney General Eric Holder, Cabinet department officials, federal regulators and the National Association of Attorneys General will unleash their wrath on those bad boys.

Even before the group puts a single trader under the hot lights, Obama has made it clear that he won’t stand for the supposed abuses and manipulation anymore. At a renewable energy plant in Reno, Nev., on April 21, the president declared, “we are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of the American people for their own short-term gain.”

The line, ready made for a president disturbingly fond of using class warfare to rally his base, will play well with the faithful. And his probe, virtually guaranteed to go nowhere, will no doubt be popular among the ill-informed.

But the sad part is that this bright man should know better. Surely, this Chicagoan has been schooled by the folks at CME Group, owners of NYMEX. Leaders there, who have played host to him at times and even contributed to his campaigns, must have given him some insights into the workings of the futures world. Indeed, his former chief of staff, now Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, served on the board at CME.

If Obama hasn’t asked for a tutorial, he should have. The president, a former teacher who often lapses into lecture mode, should then take what he learns and educate the American public. Gas prices, he could say, reflect a host of factors – including demand rising in a recovering economy – as well as the latest financial ineptitude in Washington.

As Chicago Sun-Times financial columnist and CME director Terry Savage has told CNN, the sinking dollar alone drives up prices of everything from gold to oil simply because such commodities are priced in dollars. Sure, people might try to game the prices, Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist John Parsons told The Huffington Post. “But it wouldn’t be central to the price movement,” he added.

Yes, the president could tell the public, there are traders who do make money on price rises. Some also lose on rises. That’s the way the markets work.

If he really wanted to shed some light on gas prices, he should tell voters that traders are like the oil world’s pilot fish. Such brightly colored little fish hang around sharks and dine on parasites that pester the bigger host creatures. Do they manipulate, steer or direct the sharks? No. But some of them do profit by the relationship. And the sharks do well by it, too.

If the president believes the pabulum that he is offering up, though, he seems mesmerized by the fish. All those bright colors at the NYMEX have blinded him. And that’s troubling for a Harvard-educated University of Chicago classroom veteran who has a vast array of smart people in Washington at his disposal. Is there no one with the cojones to tell him how things work? Where is Austan Goolsbee, the Chicago business school economist who leads his Council of Economic Advisers?

Sadly, though, this is all too familiar. When gas prices climbed in 2006, President Bush acted much the same way as Obama. He ordered Justice and Energy department officials to probe price manipulation and speculation. He sent letters to state attorneys general urging them to move against “anticompetitive anticonsumer conduct in the petroleum industry.” The villain then was Big Oil.

Nobody from ExxonMobil or Shell went to jail as a result of the Bush folderol. It’s doubtful anyone will as a result of Obama’s efforts, which are being roundly slammed by economists. “This is a transparently political fishing expedition that insinuates that fraud or manipulation is distorting oil prices without providing even the flimsiest factual basis for such a suspicion,” University of Houston finance professor Craig Pirrong told Fox News.

Like any arena where there is big money to be made, where uncertainty reigns and where transparency is rare, the oil markets are prey to skulduggery of all sorts. And there will be people who profit while others struggle. Those folks are more likely to be lucky than evil, though. Surely this president is smart enough to know the difference.

Driven to distraction in the academy

Here are a few surprising things about life in the academy. Grading is nearly a fulltime job, distraction is the steady state of things, and knowing whether your students have learned anything is a lot easier than proving it.

On the first point, there’s never enough time during the work week to do a good job of grading and critiquing student work. Now I know why elementary-school teachers spend good chunks of their weekends cozying up to student papers.

It’s a matter of adjusting your calendar. I’ve taken to giving my kids deadlines at 5 p.m. on Fridays. That way I figure I may get their work back to them in timely fashion. I’m not whining about this (though it taxes my wife’s patience). But few folks outside the academy understand this. All they see are summers off and a few lectures a week. Would that it were only so!

Grading, by the way, may be the most challenging part of the job. In journalism instruction this amounts to editing a lot of stories every week. That means finding holes, looking for the great quotes, checking for the sound structure, the seductive lede, solid nut graf, good kicker, etc., even as you suggest — but avoid dictating — rewrites. By comparison, my editing buds at Bloomberg Businessweek work intensely on two or three pieces a week – including takeouts – which now sounds like a day at the beach.

Many of the papers, moreover, are the work of, um, loving little hands that have a long way to go. They’re novices and that’s why they’re in school. Our job is to be tough but encouraging, which is a challenging balancing act. I had to give a 22 to a piece the other day and offer a detailed criticism to explain the poor grade. But will that student come back with something better or shrug it off as a blown assignment? So far, on her first rewrite, she’s done mostly the latter. That led to me kicking the piece back to her and suggesting she take a closer look at all those margin notes I made. We’ll see how it turns out soon.

Taking a hard line with students isn’t easy. Some of my colleagues make Marine drill sergeants look like pushovers. One started a basic reporting class this semester with a full classroom of students and is down to nine. The kids who couldn’t handle the tough grading washed out; they must hope they’ll take the class again with someone they expect will go easier or they’re just leaving journalism. Another colleague who has taught for a couple decades can count those he failed on one hand with several fingers to spare. The Gentleman’s C was a saving grace for many, I suspect.

I figure there’s got to be a middle-ground, a golden mean. Sure, most of our kids aren’t ready yet to handle the growling city editors and magazine section editors I ran across. And some never will be. But I figure part of my job is to make them ready for that. And I don’t have to be an SOB to get them ready for SOBs. I just have to point out the flaws in their work and grade them accordingly, showing them how to make fixes. They’ll learn whether journalism is for them even without a high washout rate, I figure.

Indeed, some of the work that the kids do can make your day. I live for those moments when a piece comes in that almost ready for prime time. One fellow this week did a story comparing drinking-related crime in Lincoln with other places, quoting the local police chief and making it all timely by talking about a recent expansion of the drinking day to 2 a.m., an hour more than before. Good stats, disturbing records of car accidents with booze involved. The piece is solid.

Other students have done pieces that surprise and delight. One looked into a Northwestern University study that showed that religious people tend toward obesity. She looked at local churches and how they’re trying to foster fitness among their members. Another student looked at a new gender gap, the imbalance between women and men in high school graduation rates and college attendance (57% girls on campus nationally and in Nebraska). Such intriguing efforts can make grading far more palatable, even on weekends.

Part of the reason there are not enough hours in the work week for the grade book is that every day is a laundry list of distractions. Some days, this is great. It reminds me of John Lennon’s line from “Beautiful Boy” that life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. There are, for instance, the kids who walk in to talk about their schoolwork (a pause that refreshes because it’s fun to help them iron out assignments and ideas). Our policy at Nebraska’s J School is no set office hours, but an open door whenever we’re not in class. That can mean many surprise visits.

Then there’s email, that modern scourge. The damn computer delivers something else to deal with every few minutes, it seems. And each note requires a prompt response, of course. I do respond quickly to the dean’s notes, I must say. My wife and kids, too, get priority. For others, it’s a challenge.

It reminds me of a high school history teacher who taught us time-management long before Day-Timers made a bundle on the concept. Make a to-do list early in the week, update it often and hope you’ll have checks next to most items by week’s end. Works pretty well, though mine seems to expand every day. I have found that I can’t abide unchecked items, which means a good many-mile run each morning to work off the self-imposed pressure. I hope my kids do something similar and figure the ones who meet deadlines must be doing so.

Finally, there’s another area of academics that is a real challenge. It’s the proof of success. “Assessment,” a term of little endearment, isn’t easy.

Let me spell that out. Take my biz-econ journalism students, for instance. I know they are learning something. They knew nothing about publicly traded companies, earnings, Form 10Ks and 10Qs, etc. They couldn’t write about a company’s quarterly results before spending a couple weeks on the topic (indeed, developing a grasp of income statements, balance sheets, stock market performances, etc.) Hell, they didn’t know the difference between Nasdaq and the NYSE, or the many different animals in the stock and commodities exchange worlds, before we dealt with all that. It’s clear they’ve learned something.

But how much did they learn? What will they take away? How can I prove to outsiders, especially tenure-review committee members, that the kids have moved from Point A to Point B? Even defining those points, as well as measuring the gap between them, is a challenge. Lots of documents. Lots of rubrics and graphs.

Fortunately, at Nebraska some of us have help. A group of us – mostly tenure-track newbies – are working on a peer-teaching experience this semester that is aimed at getting at such answers. We met on Saturday this weekend (no time during the work week for such things) to draft a preliminary version of a statement aimed at measuring our progress.

I picked three students – one star, one middler and one challenged student. I monitor their progress via reporting and writing assignments and tests. Will it become clear that these kids have grown between January and May? Don’t know. Certainly, they’ve learned something, but quantifying and demonstrating their achievement isn’t as simple as recording how they’ve done on an end-of-term test – it doesn’t work that way in journalism or other writing fields.

For folks in the teaching game for most of their careers, a lot of this is workaday stuff. It’s routine. For me, it’s all new. I’d like to think I’m doing A work. But between the grading challenges, the many distractions and the challenge of measuring it all, it’s damn hard to prove that. There are many days when it makes running a national correspondent system for a magazine look easy.

Face of the new journalism

Business reporter John Rebchook’s face is worth studying. It may be the face of the new journalism – or at least one of them.

Let’s get to know him a bit. Some 30 years ago, John cut his teeth in journalism at the El Paso Herald-Post. While there he wrote a lede that proved memorable enough to be included in Mel Mencher’s Reporting and Writing textbook, one a lot of us grew up on. The lede went like this:

In less than three miles, Joseph L. Jody III ran six stop signs, changed lanes improperly four times, ran one red light, and drove 60 mph in a 30 mph zone all without a driver’s license. Two days later, he again drove without a driver’s license.
This time he ran a stop sign and drove 80 mph in a 45 mph zone. For his 16 moving violations Jody was fined $1,795.
He never paid. Police say that Jody has moved to Houston. Of the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 outstanding traffic warrants in police files, Jody owes the largest single amount.
Still, Jody’s fines account for a small part of at least $500,000 owed to the city in unpaid traffic warrants.
In February, Mayor Jonathan Rogers began a crackdown on scofflaws in order to retrieve some $838,000 in unpaid war¬rants. As of mid March, some $368,465 had been paid.

Clever, eh? It’s a classic example of the delayed lede, one that teases the reader a bit before getting to the point, or nut graf, of the story. Today, however, I suspect that such a lede would suffer a swift death in an editor’s keyboard. Even John, in his new life as a Web journalist, would likely spike it as ill-suited to our impatient, get-to-the-point times.

Nowadays, John’s prose goes more like this:

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced today that his office has filed a lawsuit against Western Sky Financial, a South Dakota-based online lender, and its principal, Martin A. Webb, for making unlicensed, high-interest loans to Colorado consumers.
According to the lawsuit, filed in Denver District Court, the company made more than 200 loans to Colorado consumers since at least March 2010, during which time it was not licensed with the state. The loans to ranged in value from $400 to $2,600 and had terms ranging from seven months to 36 months. The loans’ annual percentage rates ranged from 140 percent to 300 percent.

John’s reporting today can’t dally or tease. He gets to the point in part because he’s not writing for a newspaper any longer, but rather for his own blog, the pleasantly green-logoed Inside Real Estate News: Colorado’s Real Estate News Source.

John’s readers, like Net readers generally, have little patience for cleverness or meandering. They want the news at the top, so they can move on quickly if it doesn’t grab them. They don’t graze languidly, but rather rush to pull out the news that is relevant to their business. They take what they need and dash off to the next meeting.

John, who worked at the Rocky Mountain News for some 26 years until it folded in 2009, is an example of a new kind of journalist. It’s not just his prose that makes him interesting. It’s his business.

When the Rocky died, John took his expertise as the paper’s longtime real estate editor and created his Net product. It’s a vehicle for and about players and projects in the real estate industry in Colorado. He has a few sponsors who pay for ads on his site and, he says, help him make a living (albeit not quite as cushy a living as when he was a veteran editor at the Rocky.)

As Inside Real Estate News grows, however, John expects that the returns will grow, too. He’s so confident in it that he recently turned down a job at a local weekly in Denver. He likes being his own boss, he says.

Lots of journalists may wind up running their own shows in coming years. Online reading is surging as traditional print newspapers struggle. And the fate of outfits such as The Huffington Post, recently sold to AOL for $315 million, suggest that the appetite for well-devised Web products is hefty. (John, would you settle for 1/315th of that?)

Of course, would-be Web journalists do have to bear a few things in mind, and John’s experience underscores them. First, he offers content that is in high demand, at least in certain circles. Much of what he does is specialized and it isn’t commodity news readily available in lots of other places. What’s more, he works fast, getting his news out ahead of the pack.

Finally, John is able to handle the business side of his operation, taking time to market his services to advertisers even as he stays on top of the news. He stays on top of the growth of the Net, too, putting out the word about his blog on Facebook.

John’s grinning punim isn’t the only look of journalism in the future. TV, magazines, and other vehicles will likely have a place, alongside some newspapers – on the Web or not. But take a close look at him anyway. Whether in textbooks or on the Net, he has plenty to teach us.