The Right Book at the Right Time

Title: You Know When the Men are Gone

Author: Siobhan Fallon

Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam, January 2011

Summary: Siobhan Fallon has written a collection of loosely connected short stories revolving around the lives of Fort Hood, TX army wives. The women in these stories are easy to relate to, as they deal with problems that other people face every day. What sets these women apart is their loneliness and the constant fear for their husbands who are serving in Iraq. Each deals with the separation in different ways, and it makes the reader wonder how they would react in the same situation. Fallon, herself a Fort Hood army wife at one time, knows how army life can test those serving and the loved ones left behind. These stories are beautifully written and truly moving.

Who Might Like This?: Anyone who enjoys short stories, especially those that like realistic fiction. Anyone who wants to know what life can really be like for military families.

Recommended by: Sue B, Circulation Coordinator

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Title: The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals

Author: Jane Mayer

Publisher: Doubleday, July 2008

Summary: In The Dark Side, Jane Mayer, a staff writer for the New Yorker, documents some of the ugliest allegations of wrongdoing charged against the Bush administration. There are facts, which Mayer substantiates in persuasive detail.

Essential reading for those who think they can stand the truth.

Who will like this book?: Those interested in the subject of the ‘Imperial Presidency.’

If you like this, try this: The Way of the Worldby Ron Suskind. The Limits of Powerby A.J. Bacevich. The War Within by Bob Woodward.

Recommended by: Cliff, Reference.

Title: Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone

Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran

Summary: A shocking account of life in Baghdad’s Green Zone, a walled-off enclave of posh villas and sparkling swimming pools that was the headquarters for the American occupation of Iraq. This bubble, cut off from wartime realities had a half-dozen bars stocked with cold beer, a movie theater that screened shoot-em-up films, an all you could eat buffet piled high with pork and a parking lot filled with shiny new SUVs – much of it run by Halliburton. Most Iraqis were barred from entering the Emerald City for fear they would blow it up.

A startling portrait of an Oz-like place.

Who will like this book?: All interested in American foreign policy.

If you like this, try this: Fiasco by Thomas Ricks. Assassin’s Gate by George Packer

Recommended by: Cliff, Reference Librarian.