Book of the Week (June 27, 2010)

How They See Us
Edited by James Atlas

Call Number: E 895 .H69 2010

Publisher's Description: A superpower without parallel since the British Empire, the United States is a source of incessant fascination to the rest of the world. Absurdly rich, alarmingly volatile, we inspire both fear and envy. Just as our aggressive foreign policy has turned our allies against us, the rise of Barack Obama is now seen as our salvation. 9/11, the world historical event that "changed everything," has been superseded by 11/4, the date of his election to the presidency of the United States.

Through it all, "America" remains a phenomenon, a myth, the wonder of the world. "Know thyself" is a difficult injunction to follow and often requires the insights of others. To gain some perspective, How They See Us features writers and intellectuals from around the globe. These trenchant essays constitute a primer of international literature, an aid to self-criticism, and an invitation to celebrate our national virtues.

Book of the Week (June 7, 2010)

In honor of Fathers' Day:

Manhood for Amateurs

By Michael Chabon

Call Number: PS 3553 .H15 Z463 2009

Publisher's Description: A shy manifesto, an impractical handbook, the true story of a fabulist, an entire life in parts and pieces, Manhood for Amateurs is the first sustained work of personal writing from Michael Chabon. In these insightful, provocative, slyly interlinked essays, one of our most brilliant and humane writers presents his autobiography and his vision of life in the way so many of us experience our own lives: as a series of reflections, regrets, and reexaminations, each sparked by an encounter, in the present, that holds some legacy of the past.

What does it mean to be a man today? Chabon invokes and interprets and struggles to reinvent for us, with characteristic warmth and lyric wit, the personal and family history that haunts him even as—simply because—it goes on being written every day. As a devoted son, as a passionate husband, and above all as the father of four young Americans, Chabon presents his memories of childhood, of his parents' marriage and divorce, of moments of painful adolescent comedy and giddy encounters with the popular art and literature of his own youth, as a theme played—on different instruments, with a fresh tempo and in a new key—by the mad quartet of which he now finds himself co-conductor.