It is the time of year when we talk about books -- some older, but most relatively new -- primarily nonfiction, and covering a range of topics, including politics and popular culture.
As we move into a presidential election year, we can expect the usual outpouring of books "by" and about candidates; indeed, we already have a stack of such volumes, though generally with limited impact and insight. Oddly enough, even in these odd political times, a current best-seller is a polemic authored by the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., titled Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us. One reason for its success is because Republican and conservative groups have bought large bulk orders of the books.
Another big seller is With All Due Respect by Nikki Haley, a memoir of her political days and U.N. ambassadorship. While mostly remaining on the sidelines these days, the book and a well-publicized book tour serve as a reminder that she is ambitious and a potential major player in national politics.
Although there are dozens of books focused on candidate Trump, there is nothing yet that really stands out as definitive and that has really captured the essence of Trump and his campaign. Undoubtedly, there will be more to come, and we may see some authors looping around as the Trump story brings revelations each day.
Lately, public servants, many of whom toil in relative anonymity, have been in the spotlight with the House impeachment hearings. George Packer's absorbing biography of Richard Holbrooke, Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century, provides a look at an imposing, audacious and sometimes abrasive individual. Holbrooke, who died at 69 in 2010, served in a variety of diplomatic positions in the decades from the 1960s until the century's end. Having traveled with Holbrooke to China in 1980, I witnessed firsthand his hard-charging determination to influence and advance American policy.
Other recent volumes on the processes and people involved in foreign policy are Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, 2013-2017; and The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for its Renewal by William J. Burns, who had a long State Department career.
In Information Wars: How We Lost the Global Battle Against Disinformation, Richard Stengel deals with that critically important issue and what we can do about it. Stengel was Time editor and under-secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs.
Many of us have long awaited the arrival of the fifth volume of Robert Caro's highly lauded and monumental biography of Lyndon B. Johnson. This year he took a detour with Working, his fascinating (and sometimes frustrating) description of life and work on Johnson and researching and writing techniques on his LBJ books and earlier on Robert Moses in The Power Broker.
LBJ is closely identified with the Great Society and conservative author Amity Schlaes, in Great Society: A New History, looks at the impact of the landmark program initiated in the 1960s. And Schlaes doesn't like what she has seen, believing that anti-poverty programs have shackled families in permanent government dependence.
Turning to fiction from politics and international affairs, two of our most masterful storytellers have new entries: John le Carre (spy fiction) with Agent Running in the Field and the prolific John Grisham (legal thrillers) with The Guardians.
Grisham has more than 40 books to his credit and adds to his extraordinary streak of successes. He draws on the real-life work of the Innocence Project (here called The Guardians), the non-profit legal organization committed to exonerating wrongly convicted individuals.
Le Carre's latest is very contemporary but with strong reminders of Cold War days. Another example of fiction with both contemporary elements and traces of the Cold War era is A Bookstore in Berlin by Joseph Michels. And Kevin Barry's Night Boat to Tangier is entertaining and intriguing.
Let's move on to music, with a couple of books on performers whose careers I followed from their days in Austin in the early 60s: Willie Nelson, who was re-starting his lengthy career, and the dynamic Janis Joplin, whose career was all too brief. Holly-George Warren, in her frank biography Janis: Her Life, Her Music, takes us back to the days of Threadgill's, the converted gas station where she began her inimitable blaze across the country. Joplin's brassy style was vastly different from Willie's low-key approach. At 86, he's still going strong.
David Ritz, co-author with Nelson of It's a Long Story: My Life, was also a co-author with Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, among others.
A highlight of this year or of any year was the PBS Ken Burns Country Music video documentary. I plan to view it again during the holidays. It is accessible in a variety of formats, including Country Music: An Illustrated History. Don't miss it.
From music we go to food and to several valuable books on Arkansas food and eating. There is An Ozark Culinary History by Erin Rowe, covering Northwest Arkansas traditions; the interesting and informative Arkansas Food: The A to Z of Eating in the Natural State, plus the great guide books -- Classic Eateries of the Arkansas Delta and Classic Eateries of the Ozarks and Arkansas River Valley, all by Kat Robinson.
So, in addition to good reading and good food, good holiday wishes to you.
Commentary on 12/04/2019