Too Many Books

There are too many books being published that I would love to read, but just don’t have the time. So, I rely on reading book reviews a way of keeping in touch with what’s being written. My favorite part of the Sunday New York Times is the Book Review. I also keep an eye on the Washington Post and a few others. Here are my picks from this week’s books.

Marie Colvin was a journalist who covered armed conflict. Last year she was killed by a rocket attack in Syria. Two books, On the Front Line, a collection of her reporting, and Under The Wire, an account of her final weeks. The reviewer wrote that these books “pay homage to this formidable woman, who tested the limits of an extreme profession.” As Colvin once wrote: “Simply: there’s no way to cover war properly without risk. Covering a war means going into places torn by chaos, destruction, death and pain, and trying to bear witness to that.”

As one who has always been fascinated by the law, the careers of two prominent lawyers of our time caught my eye. Taking the Stand: My Life in the Law is an autobiography by Alan Dershowitz, whose resume of “legal issues and controversies … is breathtaking.” And appeals court judge Richard A. Posner offers his Reflections on Judging after a distinguished 30 year career. The reviewer notes that Posner is one of those judges who, while not on the Supreme Court, has earned “by dint of relentless merit … legal authority akin to that wielded by the Nine.”

Finally, The Brothers looks at the careers of Allen and John Foster Dulles, and concludes that  “Anyone wanting to know why the United States is hated across much of the world need look no farther than this book. “The Brothers” is a riveting chronicle of government-sanctioned murder, casual elimination of “inconvenient” regimes, relentless prioritization of American corporate interests and cynical arrogance on the part of two men who were once among the most powerful in the world.”