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May 22, 2013

John Thorne: They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman

John Rosemond: 'Disciplinary math' adds up to parental successl

Warren Richey: Are prayers before public meetings OK? Supreme Court to decide
Rick Montgomery: Use of ADHD drugs as study aid raises concern on campuses

Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 convincing reasons you should keep carbs in your diet

Eoin O'Carroll: Scientists examine nothing, find something

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: This soup is made from one of the great pleasures of spring: A wonderful pairing of rosy color and earthy tang

May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting

May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review Dec. 25, 2009 / 8 Teves 5770

Recommended reading

By Linda Chavez



http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | If your friends and family are like mine, you've received at least one of those handy bookstore gift cards under the tree, so here are some ideas on how you might spend them. It's an eclectic list, and not all the books are new. But they happen to be books I enjoyed over the last year, and I'd like to share the pleasure with others.


The first on my list — "A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel," by Allis and Ronald Radosh — is a brilliant account of the President Truman's decision to have the United States become the first nation to recognize the newly created Jewish state in 1948. Given the United States' close relationship to Israel today, it will surprise some readers to learn that Truman's decision was neither automatic nor easy. Truman faced opposition from his own State Department, including the popular Secretary of State George Marshall, as well as from the United States' closest ally, Great Britain. But the haberdasher from Missouri — encouraged by his former business partner and friend Eddie Jacobson — stood firm. The Radoshes' gripping book is meticulously researched, which helped it win the Washington Institute's book prize for the best nonfiction book on the Middle East in 2009.


If historical fiction is more up your alley, John J. Miller's novel "The First Assassin" is a great read. Miller's story begins on a train headed toward Washington, D.C., ostensibly bringing President-elect Abraham Lincoln to the nation's capital, as assassins lie in wait. But Lincoln has already made the trip under cover of darkness, aborting what will be a series of attempts on his life by bungling amateurs and hired guns in the weeks following the inauguration. Miller manages to keep readers turning the next 375 pages, even though outcome is never in doubt. He does so by bringing the reader into the heart of the city of Washington in 1861 — recreating its sights, sounds, even its smells, in such realistic fashion, you feel like you're there. Miller blends historical figures with purely fictional ones and weaves a tale that is exciting and believable, even at its most fantastic.


As the stakes in Afghanistan become ever greater with the addition of thousands more American soldiers on the battlefield there, it's worth recalling the horror that gripped that country during the Taliban's rule. The 2002 novel "The Swallows of Kabul" is written by an Algerian former military officer, Mohammed Moulessehoul, who adopted the feminine pseudonym Yasmina Khadra for this novel. The novel begins with the stoning of a woman, who is first trussed like an animal and then buried up to her waist, while a crowd is encouraged to throw large rocks that have been placed in the public square for that very purpose. "The Swallows of Kabul" is not easy reading, but this excruciating tale reminds us exactly what fate Americans have rescued Afghanistan — especially its women — from.

Letter from JWR publisher


On a cheerier note, another historical novel gave me hours of delight. "The Indian Clerk," 2007, by David Leavitt, takes as its subject the mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan and his relationship with G. H. Hardy, considered the greatest British mathematician of the early 20th century. Ramanujan is a largely unschooled Indian prodigy whose fascination with prime numbers equals Hardy's own, and the book is filled with mathematical esoterica and formula, which sent me to Google on more than one occasion. But it is also a fascinating look at the English intellectual world as the Great War breaks out, with appearances by Bertrand Russell, John Maynard Keynes, Ludwig Wittgenstein, D.H. Lawrence and others who pass through Cambridge during the period. The Ivory Tower has never been portrayed in more byzantine detail than by Leavitt.


Finally, Rosalie Pedalino Porter's book "An American Immigrant: My Life in Three Languages," is a heartfelt memoir by a woman who has played a critical role in the debate over bilingual education in the last several decades. Porter traces her journey from her native Italy to New Jersey during the Great Depression and her eventual emergence on the policy scene. Having started her career as a bilingual education teacher, she came slowly to the realization that teaching immigrant children in their native language was a tremendous disservice to them. She eventually became a leader in the fight to replace bilingual instruction with English immersion and an advocate for children who, like herself, started life speaking a language other than English. Porter's previous book, "Forked Tongue: The Politics of Bilingual Education," is a classic on the subject.


These books may not have made it on the best-seller lists, but I guarantee good reading if you give them a try.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


JWR contributor Linda Chavez is President of the Center for Equal Opportunity. Her latest book is "Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.)

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