Sowing Crisis, Rashid Khalidi, March 2009, cloth, $25.95, 978-0-8070-0310-7
The American Prospect; Sowing Crisis is reviewed with two other books in the review titled, “Political Islam 101: Three books administration officials should read as they attempt to deal with the Middle East in all its messy nuance.”
Economist.org; e-mail interview with Roger McShane; part of their new weekly feature in which they interview an expert on a certain subject and then post the Q&A; interview will be posted Saturday, April 18th and featured on their site on Monday, April 20th
Harpers.org; book interview with Scott Horton via email during the week of April 13th; interview to run with author photo and jacket art
Publicity, Reviews, and Praise:
The Lonely Soldier, Helen Benedict, April 2009, cloth, $25.95, 978-0-8070-6147-3
New York Times; read Benedict’s “New York Observed” column in the City section in the Saturday April 11th issue
“The other night I was in a literary bar in the East Village, the kind of place where nervous poets, novelists and memoirists read their work to other nervous poets, novelists and memoirists, when in walked a tall, strapping soldier in full desert camouflage. . .”
The American Prospect; online article about sexual assault and PTSD in the military and quotes The Lonely Soldier; posted April 13th
“When the sexual assault rates among female veterans are so astronomically high -- at least 30, and as high as 70 percent, according to Helen Benedict, author of the new book The Lonely Soldier -- the "combat" classification becomes a moot point. Keep in mind that sexual assault is a hugely underreported crime; even the Pentagon admits that only 10 to 20 percent of cases are probably being reported.”
The Daily Beast; online excerpt of The Lonely Soldier that they’ve titled, “The War Against Female Soldiers”:
“If the men are threatening, harassing, and even attacking you like this, where does that leave you in the middle of a battle?” Almost all of them gave me the same answer: Alone.”
Women’s e-News; commentary posted April 13th titled “Veteran Domestic Violence Remains Camouflaged” quotes the book:
“Domestic violence among veterans has reached historic frequency," Helen Benedict writes in her new book "The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq." "And post-traumatic stress disorder rates appear to be higher among Iraq war veterans than among those who have served in Afghanistan or even, many believe, in Vietnam. One of the symptoms of this disorder is uncontrollable violence.”
RealClimate.org; an enthusiastic, thorough review posted April 14th, “Breaking the Silence about Spring,” getting picked up by large online media:
"Early Spring has the potential to be immensely influential, a real turning point in the popular appreciation of climate change impacts among laypersons and scientists alike. Read it."
Quiverfull, Kathryn Joyce, cloth, $25.95, March 2009, 978-0-8070-1070-9
The Sacramento News & Review; a very nice joint review with cover art of Quiverfull and The Purity Myth in the April 9th issue
“. . . frightening . . . Joyce makes . . . clear that our freedom—to believe what we choose and to practice those beliefs in peace—starts with our bodies, and our right to choose what to do with them is far from secure.”
In 1961, the only remaining segregated professional football team was the Washington Redskins. For more than two decades, the team’s owner, George Preston Marshall, had vowed never to hire an African-American player. He would play blacks, he once said, when the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team started using whites. Opposing him was Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, whose determination that the Redskins reflect John F. Kennedy’s level-playing-field principles led to one of the most high-profile contests to spill beyond the sports pages. For the first time, in The Washington Blitz: The Redskins, the White House, and the Showdown over Integration, historian Thomas G. Smith will tell the story of this striking historical moment, which held sweeping implications not only for one team’s racist policy, but also for a sharply segregated city, and—nationally—the implementation of New Frontier-era integration. This story includes some of the biggest names from sports and politics of that time, from Robert F. Kennedy to Jackie Robinson; marquee players like Ernie Davis and Jim Brown; and star sportswriters such as Sam Lacy and Shirley Povich. It’s a story shaped by post-World War II ideas about racial equality and America’s image abroad, cold war-consciousness over political power grabs, and the civil rights movement. Drawing on original interviews with, among others, Secretary Udall; Bobby Mitchell of the Redskins; Art Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers; and former NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, The Washington Blitz promises to be a rich and revealing history of sport and society in this country. To be published on the 50th anniversary of the Redskins’ integration, in fall of 2011.
Beacon Press is a department of the