Beacon Press

Closing the food gap; resetting the table in the land of plenty.

Common wisdom finds no mystery here: people too dumb to get rich are also too dumb to eat right, so they get fat and sick. Actually, points out Winne, the problem is that all the supermarkets abandoned poor neighborhoods during the final decades of the past century. After showing why poor Americans have lost access to good food and the consequences of that, he profiles approaches and specific programs that he and others have pursued to solve the problem. They include cajoling supermarket chains to return, starting community and cooperative stories, urban gardening, food banks, farmers' markets, and community-supported agriculture. Whatever efforts individual and communities make, he finds, a change in public policy is needed makes supporting poor people as important as subsidizing farmers. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The court and the cross; the Christian right's crusade to reshape the Supreme Court.

Freelance journalist Lane describes how the religious right in the United States has placed the reshaping of the federal judiciary, in particular the Supreme Court, at the center of its political agenda. He describes the activities and institutions that have garnered significant success for this strategy and discusses the court decisions that have resulted from this success. He considers the implications for the separation of church and state, religion in the public schools, religion in the workplace, and the right to privacy. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Drifting toward love; black, brown, gay, and coming of age on the streets of New York.

In his third book on African American history, Brooklyn-based Wright follows the lives of three gay men of color, beginning in their adolescence or early 20s, along with their friends and loved ones, as they come of age in a time and place supposedly tolerant of them. They were all involved in a bitter fight over the use of public space in Greenwich Village. He does not provide an index or bibliography. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

First freedom first; a citizen's guide to protecting religious liberty and the separation of church and state.

Gaddy, with the Interfaith Alliance from a religious-political perspective and Lynn, with American United for the Separation of Church and State from a legal perspective, review the theory and practice of the separation of church and state in the US and offer specific suggestions on actions to help protect against its erosion from either side. There is no index. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Inheriting the trade; a northern family confronts its legacy as the largest slave trading dynasty in U.S. history.

Author DeWolf discovered that he was a direct ancestor to one of the most successful slave traders in American history, and wrote this account to address the feelings that resulted. This story examines how DeWolf and his family confronted this legacy (one of his cousins actually made a documentary feature on the subject), and reveals the fact that the Northern States has just as much to do with the slave trade as the South. This emotional and complex book is aimed at general audiences. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Queen of the oil club; the intrepid Wanda Jablonski and the power of information.

The history of the oil industry in the twentieth century is of major concern for anyone baffled by gas prices today. Much that is known today about the intrigues of the "seven sisters" oil companies and the formation of OPEC is due to the talent and tenacity of one woman, Wanda Jablonski. She reported on the oil industry, first in national papers and journals and then in her own newsletter. In her work and life, Wanda showed an amazing ability to ferret out information and even affect events in the industry. Rubino both worked for Wanda and wrote her Yale dissertation on her. She is eminently qualified to tell the story of how one woman barged into this men's club and revealed their secrets to the world. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Sundays in America; a yearlong road trip in search of Christian faith.

Award winning Massachusetts novelist Shea grew up Catholic then drifted away from church. The 2005 funeral of John Paul II and a diagnosis of breast cancer made her wonder for the first time what so many people found in Christianity that she did not. She set out on a year-long tour of non-Catholic churches, mostly Protestant, around the US and lived to tell the tale. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)