Book Rec of the Day 6/27-6/29/2008

A DARK HISTORY

Readers and critics are raving about Johnson’s book, which brings to light a fascinating aspect of Joseph McCarthy’s special brand of fascism, paranoia, and intolerance. As Johnson explained in an interview, “The Lavender Scare helped fan the flames of the Red Scare. In popular discourse, communists and homosexuals were often conflated. Both groups were perceived as hidden subcultures with their own meeting places, literature, cultural codes, and bonds of loyalty. . . . And both groups were considered immoral and godless. Many people believed that the two groups were working together to undermine the government.”

THE LAVENDER SCARE: THE COLD WAR PERSECUTION OF GAYS AND LESBIANS IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, by David K. Johnson (University of Chicago Press, 2006

LOVE STORY

“Ward’s smart, sharp second novel is a read-in-one-sitting treat, a delightfully satisfying blend of hip humor and poignant longing, and an unsentimental yet inspiring testimony to the power of hope over reason and love over loss.”—Carol Haggas, Booklist

Caroline and Madeline Winters lost their five-year-old sister, Ellie, 15 years earlier, on the day they were going to run away from their home. The parents were gone to drink and depression; the surviving daughters turned away from one another. Now Caroline, a cocktail waitress in New Orleans, comes upon a blurry photo from People magazine that she thinks might be Ellie and goes to Montana to search for her.

HOW TO BE LOST, by Amanda Eyre Ward (Ballantine Books, 2005)

SAIL AWAY

Tales of the sea: the hiss of the ropes and the snap of the sails, the wind and the rain, the danger and the extremity of life far away from civilization. Caswell, who has edited both Yachting and Sea magazines, here gathers 27 stories that will scratch the sailing itch, from terror to bliss, from humor to deathly struggle, and back again. Includes essays by James Thurber, William F. Buckley Jr., Ann Davison, Sterling Hayden, Ernest Shackleton, Tristan Jones, Samuel Eliot Morrison, Joshua Slocum, E. B. White, C. S. Forester, Cleveland Amory, Weston Martyr, Peter Goss, and David Kasanof.

THE GREATEST SAILING STORIES EVER TOLD: TWENTY-SEVEN UNFORGETTABLE STORIES, edited by Christopher Caswell (Lyons Press, 2004)