Books to Read During 2001

January 21, 2001

Here are our picks for the top books to read during the coming year.

A Charge to Keep
by George W. Bush
In this political autobiography, then-Governor (now President) George W. Bush writes of the benefits of growing up as a son of George and Barbara Bush, as well as of his record as governor of Texas. He relates how going to college in the '60s was a formative experience and he lays out his positions on issues important to voters, including health care. Bush acknowledges the role of his communications director Karen P. Hughes in the writing of this book.

My American Journey: An Autobiography
by Colin Powell
Colin Powell, recently nominated by George W. Bush to be Secretary of State, is the embodiment of the American dream. He was born in Harlem to immigrant parents from Jamaica. He knew the rough life of the streets. He overcame a barely average start at school. Then he joined the Army. The rest is history--but a history that until now has been known only on the surface. Here, for the first time, he himself tells us how it happened, in a memoir distinguished by a heartfelt love of country and family, warm good humor, and a soldier's directness. He writes of the anxieties and missteps as well as the triumphs that marked his rise to four-star general, National Security Advisor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, mastermind of Desert Storm, and the man the country would most like to draft as President just as it drafted General Eisenhower before him in 1952. We see Powell growing up, getting into mischief, going to church with his father, working in a bottling plant, joining the ROTC. We follow him as a green young lieutenant on his first foreign posting in Germany, where his ascent is nearly aborted by a blunder on the day he is assigned to guard an atomic cannon. We go on patrol with him into the jungles of Vietnam, where he is wounded, and then, in the first surprise turn of his career, into the every-bit-as-dangerous thickets of Washington bureaucracy as a Pentagon aide in the Carter administration. We see how he handled the humiliations inflicted on him as a black soldier traveling in the Deep South and the unnerving challenges he faced as a battalion commander in Korea, where the army guarding the border with North Korea was plagued by drugs, drinking, a lack of discipline, and racial tension. We are edge-of-the-seat spectators to some of the great international dramas of our time--Desert Storm, the invasion of Panama, the dark dealings of Iran-contra with Ollie North and Bill Casey, the climactic meetings with Gorbachev. And we are present also at the encounters with President Clinton on the controversial question of gays in the military. Colin Powell, moving easily between the Army and high positions in both Republican and Democratic administrations, has a unique perspective. As an active soldier, he has experienced the sharp end of political decisions in Washington. As an advisor to three Presidents, he has seen how policy is shaped and he has shaped it himself. It was Powell whom President Reagan summoned to the White House to help National Security Advisor Frank Carlucci clean up the mess after the Iran-contra debacle. It was Powell whom President Clinton called back from private life to accompany former President Carter on his eve-of-war mission to Haiti. Haiti was a consummation of Powell's transition from soldier to statesman and popular leader. Not since Dwight Eisenhower has a figure in public life been held in such universal esteem or had so few negatives. Powell gives us behind-the-scenes portraits of Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, of Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf, and many others. This is a book of political excitement and disclosure, but it is much more. It is a life well lived and well told. It is also a view from the mountaintop of the political landscape of America. While Americans grapple over who will lead the country, General Powell's passionate beliefs in family, personal responsibility, and, in his own words, "the greatness of America and the opportunities it offers," will exhilarate readers of all political persuasions. It is an utterly absorbing recounting of an adventure that has not run its course. It is history with a vision.

Spin Cycle: Inside the Clinton Propaganda Machine
by Howard Kurtz
In "Spin Cycle" Howard Kurtz reveals the inside workings of Clinton's well-oiled propaganda machine - arguably the most successful team of White House spin doctors in history. He takes the reader into closed-door meetings where Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Mike McCurry, Lanny Davis, and other top officials plot strategy to beat back the scandals and neutralize a hostile press corps through stonewalling, stage managing, and outright intimidation. He depicts a White House obsessed with spin and pulls back the curtain on events and tactics that the administration would prefer to keep hidden, including the secret report that Hillary Clinton ordered on a reporter investigating the Whitewater affair as part of a plan to discredit her; a tense, almost paranoid White House atmosphere in which the spinmeisters do not question the President about the various scandals because they don't want to learn information they might have to reveal to prosecutors or the press; the secret meeting between a Clinton operative and the editor of The New York Times that led to a presidential interview in which Clinton knew the questions in advance; Bill Clinton's success in reaping favorable publicity by secretly courting selected reporters and columnists in off-the-record White House meetings; and Al Gore's feelings of betrayal as the scandal-hungry press turned on him and jeopardized his presidential candidacy in 2000.

High Crimes & Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton
by Terry Jeffrie
The problem with arguing for President Clinton's impeachment is not that there's enough evidence--it's that there's too much.

Year of the Rat: How Bill Clinton Compromised U.S. Security for Chinese Cash
by Edward Timperlake & William Triplet
1996 was Bill Clinton's re-election and the Chinese Year of the Rat. In this explosive book, Timperlake and Triplett deliver detailed evidence that the Clinton administration dropped traditional security concerns and wrecked the system of strategic export controls in exchange for Chinese money.

Red Dragon Rising: China's Military Threat to America
by Edward Timperlake & William Triplet
As it flexes its diplomatic and military muscles, China is becoming an increasingly powerful player on the world stage.

The Generals' War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf
by Michael R. Gordon & Bernard E. Trainor
Gordon, the chief defense correspondent for The New York Times, and retired Marine general Bernard Trainor provide a definitive, behind-the-scenes account of the planning and execution of the Persian Gulf War. Although the events described in the book took place ten years ago, it's worth re-examining the war as Saddam Hussein reasserts his influence in the Middle East. In addition, some of the same players are again present on the U.S. stage--Vice President (then Defense Secretary) Dick Cheney and Secretary of State (then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) Colin Powell.

Turbo-Capitalism: Winners & Losers in the Global Economy
by Edward Luttwak
In this incisive critical analysis of today's free market capitalism, Edward Luttwak shows how it is vastly different from the controlled capitalism that flourished so successfully from 1945 to the 1980s. Turbo-capitalism is private enterprise liberated from government regulation, unchecked by effective trade unions, unfettered by concerns for employees or investment restrictions, and unhindered by taxation. It promises a dynamic, expanding economy and new wealth. The winners--the architects and acrobats of techno-organizational change--become much richer; the losers, the majority, become relatively or absolutely poorer and are forced by downsizing to take the traditional jobs of the underclass, more and more of whom end up in prison. Edward Luttwak challenges the conventional wisdom that jobs lost in old industries will be replaced by jobs in new ones. If General Motors fires you, Microsoft will not hire you; instead you'll be working in 'services,' often poorly paid. Led by the United States, closely followed by Britain, turbo-capitalism is spreading fast throughout Europe, Asia, and the rest of the world (only in France and Japan is there any resistance) without the two great forces that check its enormous power in the United States: a powerful legal system and the stringent rules of American Calvinism. Acknowledging the great efficiency of turbo-capitalism, Luttwak provides no solutions but describes in powerful detail the major societal upheavals and inequities it causes and the broad dissatisfaction and anxiety that may result. He suggests this is a high price to pay for this great dilemma of our times. "They call it the free market, but that is shorthand for much more than the freedom to buy and sell. What they celebrate, preach, and demand is private enterprise liberated from government regulation, unchecked by effective trade unions, unfettered by sentimental concerns over the fate of employees or communities, unrestrained by customs barriers or investment restrictions, and molested as little as possible by taxation. What they insistently demand is the privatization of state-owned businesses of all kind and the conversion of public institutions from universities and botanical gardens to prisons, from libraries and schools to old-age homes into private enterprises run for profit. What they promise is more dynamic economy that will generate new wealth--while saying nothing about the distribution of any wealth, old or new. They call it the free market, but I call it turbo-capitalism because it is so profoundly different from the strictly controlled capitalism that flourished from 1945 until the 1980s, and that brought the sensational novelty of mass affluence to the peoples of the United States, Western Europe, Japan, and all other countries that followed their paths."

Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans & the Holocaust
by Daniel Goldhagen
A work of the utmost importance -- as authoritative as it is explosive -- "Hitler's Willing Executioners" will fundamentally change our perception of the Holocaust and of Germany in the Nazi period. Goldhagen reaches conclusions that are both uncompromising and savage, rejecting as inadequate the conventional historical explanations for how an entire country could allow the Holocaust to happen, and gives the first detailed, broad-ranging account of the actual killers of the Jews.

Hollywood vs. America: Popular Culture & the War Against Traditional Values
by Michael Medved
Why does our popular culture seem so consistently hostile to the values that most Americans hold dear? Why does the entertainment industry attack religion, glorify brutality, undermine the family, and deride patriotism? In this explosive book, one of the nation’s best known film critics examines how Hollywood has broken faith with its public, creating movies, television, and popular music that exacerbate every serious social problem we face, from teenage pregnancies to violence in the streets. Michael Medved powerfully argues that the entertainment business follows its own dark obsessions, rather than giving the public what it wants: In fact, the audience for feature films and network television has demonstrated its profound disillusionment in recent years, with disastrous consequences for many entertainment companies. Meanwhile, overwhelming numbers of our fellow citizens complain about the wretched quality of our popular culture--describing the offerings of the mass media as the worst ever. Medved asserts that Hollywood ignores--and assaults--the values of ordinary American families, pursuing a self-destructive and alienated ideological agenda that is harmful to the nation at large and to the industry's own interests. In hard-hitting chapters on "The Attack on Religion," "The Addiction to Violence," "Promoting Promiscuity," "The Infatuation with Foul Language," "Kids Know Best," "Motivations for Madness," and other subjects, Medved outlines the underlying themes that turn up again and again in our popular culture. He also offers conclusive evidence of the frightening real-world impact of these messages on our society and our children. Finally, Medved shows where and how Hollywood took a disastrous wrong turn toward its current crisis, and he outlines promising efforts both in and outside the industry to restore a measure of sanity and restraint to our media of mass entertainment. Sure to elicit strong response, whether it takes the form of cheers of support or howls of enraged dissent, Hollywood vs. America confronts head-on one of the most significant issues of our times.

Seven Men Who Rule the World from the Grave
Dave Breese
Breese identifies seven men who, even though they lie a-moldering in their graves, influence the world in negative ways through their ideas. They include: Darwin, Marx, Wellhausen, Dewey, Freud, Keynes, and Kierkegaard.

Understanding the Last Days
by Tim LaHaye
As more and more false prophets and teachers arise, it is vital that we become better equipped to discern biblical truth. Understanding the Last Days offers a practical, hands-on study of Bible prophecy and the tools necessary to interpret and understand the times to come.

The Stones Cry Out
by Randall Price
This survey of archaeological discoveries in Bible lands includes testimonies and interviews from leading archaeologists and exciting pictures featuring the latest finds made in the lands of the Bible.

Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation
by John Walvoord
This Walvoord masterpiece presents the beauties of Daniel's prophecies in the light of modern archaeological evidence. Companion to The Revelation of Jesus Christ, this major contribution to prophetic research emphasizes the value and genuineness of Daniel.

Apocalypse Code
by Hal Lindsey
The Prophet Daniel predicted there would come a time -- just before the return of the Messiah -- in which man's knowledge would be greatly increased. Many secrets of the universe would be revealed. That time is now -- as predicted, in Hal Lindsey's best-selling book, "The Late Great Planet Earth." In this riveting non-fiction book, the father of modern-day Bible prophecy cracks the "Apocalypse Code" and deciphers long-hidden messages about man's future and the fate of the Earth.

The Complete Jewish Bible
translated by David H. Stern
The Bible is always a perennial best-seller, but is worth reading again even if you just finished it. This is a new translation by David H. Stern.

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