Jon's Picks

A Hundred Little Hitlers: The Death of a Black Man, the Trial of a White Racist, and the Rise of the Neo-Nazi Movement in Americ (Paperback)

By Elinor Langer
$19.00
ISBN-13: 9780312423636
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Published: Picador, 11/2004
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This book is an amazing read, perhaps unfortunately overshadowed by the sensationalistic cover -- the words "white power" are larger than the book's title or the author's name. It concerns the fallout from the 1989 baseball bat-murder of an Ethiopian immigrant by racist skinheads in Portland. A Hundred Little Hitlers uncovers the real motives at play and some very sharp insight into the players -- among them Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Tom Metzger of then-California-based White Aryan Resistance, "reformed" neo-nazi turned state's evidence Dave Mazzella and many more. While Portland -- an exceedingly white city demographically and with a virulently racist past -- is keen to portray the case as one of impressionable locals recruited by violent idelogues from California, The Southern Poverty Law Center sees an opportunity to make a big splash by bankrupting a major player on the racist right, thus reaping the rewards of publicity and donations. Metzger and his son shoot themselves in the foot by defending themselves (ineptly) in court, and Portland never really has to come face-to-face with its very homegrown problem. Officially this book is about the murder of Mulugeta Seraw and the prosecution of Tom Metzger and W.A.R. for it, but to me, it's about Portland and very enlightening indeed.

This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor (Paperback)

By Susan Wicklund, Alex Kesselheim
$15.99
ISBN-13: 9781586486471
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Published: PublicAffairs, 12/2008
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I'm not big on suggesting that "everyone" should read any book, but this one comes closest. Dr. Susan Wicklund's memoir of her life as an abortion provider is amazing food for thought whatever your thoughts on abortion and the politics arising from it. For those of us laboring on the pro-choice side, it's a fine document of what kind of dedication it takes to act beyond voting, giving lip service and holding signs. Every chapter will drop your jaw. I gave this book to my mom, and now she buys them in tens and hands them out like business cards -- she even gave one to her very conservative congressman, with whom she is acquainted. Dr. Wicklund is not an amazing writer per se, but her story is quite up to the task of telling itself.

Remembering Satan (Paperback)

By Lawrence Wright
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780679755821
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Published: Vintage, 4/1995
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This one is about the skeletons in Olympia's closet! Well, Lacey anyway, and they have mostly emerged from the closet. The gist of it: in 1988 a Thurston County Sheriff's deputy was accused by his daughters of satanic ritual abuse -- quite the fashion at the time, although this part of the country was, as always, about 5 years behind the curve. It's a fascinating story regardless of whether it takes place here; but then it must be said that the central role played by Church of Living Water does not surprise. It's a sad tale -- having said that, I don't want to wreck its many surprises for you.

1973 Nervous Breakdown: Watergate, Warhol, and the Birth of Post-Sixties America (Paperback)

By Andreas Killen
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781596910607
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Published: Bloomsbury USA, 4/2007
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The first sputters of a tanking economy! The birth of reality television! Bowie, the New York Dolls & glam! Accessible air travel combined with images of hypersexualized stewardesses and deranged hijackers! Cocaine! WATERGATE! The siege mentality of the age deftly summed up by the devastating impact and runaway success of THE EXORCIST! Ladies and gentlemen -- THIS WAS 1973!

Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley (Paperback)

By Peter Guralnick
$17.99
ISBN-13: 9780316332255
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Published: Back Bay Books, 9/1995
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It has been fashionable for some time to deride Elvis Presley as a thief of black music and a racist profiteer. Peter Guralnick's masterful 2-volume biography thankfully sets the record straight. It's no hagiography mind you, it's certainly a warts-and-all experience. Even so, you wind up with a picture of Elvis as a really decent kid -- who really did love his mama -- wanting to make a positive contribution with his unprecedented fame. And he was no racist! He was a white male from the deep south born in the '30s -- and especially considering that disadvantage, he had nothing but love and respect for his african-american contemporaries, many of whom talk about it quite freely. Now the music business machinery of the day, that's another story... Anyhoo, this here is a top-notch biography, endearing even. Which can only set you up for the destruction and loss of the second volume, "Careless Love."

Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley (Paperback)

By Peter Guralnick
$17.99
ISBN-13: 9780316332972
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Published: Back Bay Books, 2/2000
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.... in which the evil industry and soulless managers and publishers devour Elvis and leave him a cartoonish shell of the idealistic, brilliant young artist who showed such promise. Elvis never wanted to be in crappy movies... The surprise hero for a small chunk of this book: JERRY REED -- that's right, Burt Reynolds' buddy in the Smokey & the Bandit movies. Initially a rockabilly hellraiser hisself, in the '60s Elvis' management try to soak him for his rights, and... well I'll let you read about that.

Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson (Paperback)

By George Jackson, Jean Genet, Jr. Jackson, Jonathan
$16.95
ISBN-13: 9781556522307
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Published: Lawrence Hill Books, 9/1994
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When George Jackson was a teenager in the 1950's, he was convicted of robbing a gas station of $60, for which he received the unique sentence of one year to life. He discovered black nationalism while imprisoned, after which the authorities were happy to deny his parole every year. His story is interesting even WITHOUT the reality of his amazingly sharp intellect and poet's soul. This collection of his letters is profoundly moving, particularly in the aftermath of his 17-year-old brother's death while trying to spring George from prison by taking a judge hostage.

Blackstock's Collections: The Drawings of an Artistic Savant (Paperback)

By Gregory L. Blackstock, Darold A. Treffert, Karen Light-Pina
$21.95
ISBN-13: 9781568985794
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Published: Princeton Architectural Press, 8/2006

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (Paperback)

By Doris Kearns Goodwin
$21.00
ISBN-13: 9780743270755
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Published: Simon & Schuster, 9/2006
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The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey (Paperback)

By Candice Millard
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780767913737
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Published: Anchor, 10/2006
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The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977 (Paperback)

By Gershom Gorenberg
$21.99
ISBN-13: 9780805082418
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Published: Holt Paperbacks, 3/2007
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Misery Loves Comedy (Hardcover)

By Ivan Brunetti
$24.95
ISBN-13: 9781560977926
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Published: Fantagraphics Books, 6/2007

The Book of Genesis (Hardcover)

By R. Crumb, R. Crumb
$25.95
ISBN-13: 9780393061024
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Published: W. W. Norton & Company, 10/2009
There is nothing silly about Crumb's graphic novel of the Book of Genesis. It is beautiful and touching, even the dull begats! Possibly the only way I would ever had read the B of G from beginning to end, and I'm glad I did. There is a drawing of Isaac holding Rebecca that is a nearly perfect artistic rendering of what love looks like.