2014 Summer Beach Reads

SPOILER ALERT!

Summertime is a time for some lazy reading... you know, those light romances that take place in or near wonderful beach places like Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, the Outer Banks, the low country (aka Tidewater region of Virginia, NC, Charleston, or along the coast of Maine. Summer 2014 was no different, and I returned to two of my favorite authors looking for some enjoyable beach reading. I've always enjoyed Dorothea Benton Frank's books because they're set around Charleston, one of my very favorite cities! Ditto with Elin Hildebrand who usually sets her stories on Nantucket. Alas, these two summer reads were mediocre at best.

Bulls Island is the story of yet another homecoming-- a local girl who leaves town and makes in big in the world on her own. At the beginning of the story she's found as a very successful executive in New York City with private planes at her disposal. her company decides to embark on a real estate development project on Bulls Island, South Carolina, and she's put in charge because of her knowledge from the area. Her anxiety rises as she knows this will force her to confront people from her past, including an old romantic love. In the meantime, she also messes around with a rough mafia gangster, and this is where I had trouble with the plausibility of the plot and Betts (the main character). As the plot comes to an end, I kept wondering how Benton Franks was going to resolve this issue with Vinnie (the gangster). Just as I thought she had forgotten about him, he surfaces but in an uncharacteristic way. Benton Franks resolves the Vinnie character, but it was somewhat lame, and just seemed out of place with the rest of the story. I give this book a 2 out of 5 stars (with 5 being the highest) because I don't think that Benton Franks developed her main character in accordance with the character's attributes as described earlier in the book, the unfolding plot seems to stall near the end, and the resolution of the Vinnie character is out of place.

A Summer Affair is just plain unsatisfying. This is the story of  red-haired and freckled Claire, a glassblowing artist, mother of four young children, and wife to Jason, a rugged, and somewhat sexist, kind of guy. She's asked to chair a local charity event, and begins an affair with the charity event's executive director. It was just hard for me to like, or feel sympathetic, to a character who is the mother of four small children who commits adultery. I know this sounds judgmental, but really? Where did she think this affair was going to go? The plot is complete with Claire facing her choices, dealing with a boorish husband, rebuilding connections with a high school sweetheart who has now become a rock star, and realizing that she needs to end her affair. I skimmed over many of the pages in this book because it just wasn't worth the time in reading in detail. I give this book a 2 out of 5 stars because it was dull. Hildebrand has done much better in other books.

4 Gigs of Trouble

What would you do if you were chaperoning a student trip to Washington, DC and stumbled into some bushes only to find a nearly dead man who been shot, and slipped you a 4 gigabyte thumb drive? That's just the beginning to this light-hearted murder mystery centered on Toni Teitelbaum, teacher and former Marine in this book 4 Gigs of Trouble. The story involves love-able uncles, (one of them works at the Pentagon and the other launders money), threats, chases, the suspect pharmaceutical industry, and corrupt public officials. 

It makes for good reading!  

Reading Now...

I'm not one much for re-reading books, but Diane Vaughan's Challenger Launch Decision keeps calling to me! I first read this book while doing course work in my doctoral program, then re-read parts of it as I was working on my proposal, and now, I've finally ordered it for my Nook...

...and am having a leisurely read...  it's always such a pleasure to be able to read and not experience the pressure of taking notes.

The book is a sociological analysis of the causes that led up to the Challenger explosion in 1986- this was the space shuttle that featured the "Teacher In Space" program under President Reagan. The Challenger explosition shocked us all, as we'd become so used to shuttle launches that they seemed almost routine. A Presidential commission concluded that the explosion was caused by weakness in the O-rings which failed to seal properly due to extreme low cold temperatures. Vaughan's sociological analysis of the organization showed that over time, the organization had become used to anomalies in shuttle equipment which didn't affect the shuttle's overall performance, and that just couldn't be explained. Given NASA's budget cuts through the years, management in the organization made decisions that ultimately affected the quality and the culture of the space program. This book is thought-provoking and still holds lessons for students of organizations...

St Simons Trilogy- Eugenia Price

Right at the end of our quick-trip Charleston sojourn I finished the last book in the St. Simon’s trilogy by Eugenia Price. This series of historical novels begin at the time of the American colonies and continue through the American Civil War and beyond. The first book, Lighthouse, was discussed in an earlier post.

Books 2, New Moon Rising, and 3, Beloved Invader, continue the saga of the Gould family on St. Simon’s Island in Georgia. It is with the last book that I began to fully appreciate that these books were stories about real people and real times in history.

Although these books are not full of thrill seeking episodes or scenes of passion and want, the “quiet” tone of these stories are compelling--- mostly because as you read about the descendants of James Gould, the patriarch of this southern, plantation-owning  family, you want things to go well for them simply because they do have to overcome so many obstacles. New Moon Rising is about the Gould family's fortunes through the Civil War. The story is not complicated, yet in the simplicity of the telling, readers will experience life of a complicated family living in complex , history-changing times. The Beloved Invader is the last book in this series and focuses on the influence of Northern Yankee money in reconstructing the South. The conflict in this book is on how the St Simins Islanders adjust to their new post-war existence.

The early 1800s were different—people had less access to outside information, lived more remotely, and depended on visitors passing through the area to bring them news from far-away places. Towns and villages were smaller, and so getting along with one’s neighbors was really important. Even small tidbits of family life fueled the rumor mill, and so prominent families lived in a fish-bowl of sorts.

The end of this trilogy is so satisfying because we learn that a real-life heroine, Anna Gould Dodge, known as a plain-Jane young woman, met a charismatic man who transformed her life, gave her a child whom she lost prematurely, and then suffered the loss of her husband at an early age. This plain-Jane young woman ultimately became the founder of a boys home which continued to exist for many years.

The St Simons trilogy presents life on this southern island as it existed before it became a resort area—reading these historical novels will transport you into another age and time—a perfect escape from the modern, wired world!

Lighthouse by Eugenia Price

Lighthouse by Eugenia Price is a book written in the 1960s about the deep South before it became the deep South. It is the story of James Gould, a young man from Massachussetts in the late 1700's who needed to go away from home to make a name for himself. Like most stories, the hero finds trouble, overcomes obstacles, finds love and then life seems perfect, only to lose everything due to circumstances, rebuilds his life, and so on. This is classified as a historical novel because Eugenia Price, dentist turned writer, has based this story on real people who lived in the times she describes.

I was in the mood for a book about the South, because we're headed to a few days in South Carolina, and this book seemed to fit the bill...somewhat. When I said it was written in the 1960's that was an important notation, because Price has created a very strong Negro dialect in the story that diminishes her writing talent. The story itself is basic, and somewhat disappointing but then in an epilogue Price herself writes that although this is the first book in the St. Simons trilogy, it was also the last book written in the trilogy. The ending seems awkward and clearly sets the stage for book two. So now on to Beloved Invader, book two in the St. Simons trilogy.

Review of The Island by Elin Hilderbrand

I have a penchant for reading summer novels set on beaches and islands... and Elin Hilderbrand's stories are easy to read and amusing-- although at times, they lack satisfying conclusions. The Island was among the better of her novels because the resolution of the central character's dilemmas is at least plausible. The setting of The Island is an old family home with no electricity or modern conveniences, set on Tuckernuck Island, a privately owned spot in the ocean just a short distance from Nantucket. The grey, weathered family house on Tuckernuck had not been used in 13 years, until the matriach of the family, Birdie Cousins, who had inherited the family home, asks her oldest daughter, Chess, to spend a month on Tuckernuck to "get away from it all." Earlier Chess had broken off her engagement to subsequently her ex-fiancee died in a rock climibing accident. Feeling terribly guilty and somewhat responsible, Chess falls into a deep depression and Birdie hopes that a month on Tuckernuck will help Chess to heal. Birdie's younger daughter, Tate, a corporate world computer whiz with somewhat awkward social skills, then asks to also join this mother-daughter bonding retreat from civilization. As soon as Birdie's younger sister, India, a widow of a well-known artist and successful administrator of an art program in Philadelphia, finds out about this trip she sees a month on Tuckernuck as an opportunity to seek some escape from an uncomfortable situation in which she has found herself. On Tuckernuck, life is simple. No television, phone, refrigerator, or electricity. There is no cell phone reception, until Birdie finds out that if she stands in the water at a remote point of the island facing a specific direction, she can get crystal clear reception. But this is her secret not shared with the rest of the women in the house. Groceries and ice for the ice box are delivered daily by their caretaker, the son of the man on whom both Birdie and India had crushes when they were young.

The story unfolds as each of the characters reveals herself and makes new discoveries that help to reach a decision or heal a wound. The characters are relate-able, although I found the daughters and the sister India to be the best developed characters. The daughters, both twenty-somethings, revealed the common insecurities and secrets associated with people who are being developed as adults. The sister, India, was easily understandable as a woman who had help together a man who was an artist and her husband, and after he dies she finds herself by becoming very successful in the world of art administration. However, the older woman's character of Birdie's was not quite as well developed. Hilderbrand worked to create a family matriarch but missed some of the nuances of mother-daughter relationship that could have added another layer of intimacy. This could be because Hildebrand herself is yet a young mother and hasn't experienced what it is like to be the mother of grown daughters. The most wonderful characters in the book were the old weathered house and the island itself. The descriptions created mental images and this place and this house became a character full of history, experience, and memories.

Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero

I can't write a better summary and review of Chris Matthews' book Jack Kennedy Elusive Hero than this one http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/books/review/jack-kennedy-elusive-hero-by-chris-matthews-book-review.html

Much has been written, examined, and analyzed about the Kennedy family and the Kennedy Presidency. While I am not a political analyst and have nothing to add in that regard, I can simply add my own comments about this book-- and anyone who has ever loved Jack Kennedy or been interested in the Kennedy family would find this book a new and different perspective about Kennedy politics. This book provided a more factual account of several myths I had always heard about Jack kennedy-- such as that he was pushed by his father to enter politics after his older brother Joseph Junior was killed in a plane accident. In fact, Jack, because he was quite often ill as a child, developed his love for history and politics through his intense reading during those times he was ill. He developed a love of history, and studied Churchill intensely. He had the added advantage of actually meeting Churchill because his father, his Joseph Kennedy senior, had been ambassador to Great Britain just before WWII. The story of Jack Kennedy's rise in politics includes his strong relationship with his siblings. They rallied around him like a team honed in the skills of power politics. Jack Kennedy understood power politics and that sometimes unsavory back room deals had to be made in order to achieve something he wanted. Kennedy had ideals about democracy-- but he also knew what it took to get things done.

It is also the story of being very pragmatic in a political arena. Jack Kennedy came from privilege, and he sought political office through votes of the working class. His siblings each had positions in his political organization-- many of them were driven by ideals of their own, and sought to make a difference. The Kennedy tribe of siblings stood together as one -- something that continued into the Kennedy Presidency. The man, Jack Kennedy, was driven by living life at the edge-- he had already experienced the loss of his older brother in the war, and then his beloved sister Kathleen died in a plane crash as well. When he was in the Navy, Kennedy experienced near death during the war in the Pacific, and his stamina to endure came from having to deal with constant pain as a result of those injuries, in his body. The years since his death have uncovered the less savory aspects of his life-- the womanizing, the back deal making, and deception of hiding his true physical state which in today's Presidency may not have allowed him to continue. Perhaps the most interesting chapter of the book was about Jacqueline Kennedy. Although just a brief description, this chapter does provide a glimpse into the woman who loved the man. She knew her role in this relationship, both schooled indirectly by her mother and the kind of marriage she had, and the social world and context in which she lived, Jacqueline Kennedy was somewhat aware of her husband's indiscretions, and also hurt by them. She loved him intensely and tried to provide a calm and serene family life with children at the center of the marriage. She provided the grace to his presidency. As a widow, she immediately fell to creating the legacy of the man... the man who is still fascinating even after his death nearly 50 years ago.

The Grace of Silence

Book Review
One of the joys of attending ASA is the new books I find among the book vendors at the conference. This year I found, and read on a cross country plane ride, The Grace of Silence, by NPR's Michele Norris.

Both history and research have shown that as time passes, significant events fade from memory unless something intervenes to keep the events in the forefront. Michele Norris’ family memoir uncovers family knowledge of experiences most family members know about but kept hidden, or silent, throughout the years. It was only after talking to her relatives that Norris discovers her grandmother once worked as an Aunt Jemimah doing pancake cooking demonstrations, and that her father had been shot by a white policeman shortly after he returned from serving in the Navy.
The strength of Norris’ storytelling is in the explanations, and explorations, of the context of the times. The Civil Rights movement changed American society for the better, and Norris’ descriptions of the times is a reminder of the struggles for equal rights. This book should be read by everyone under 25— hopefully, these lessons from the past will be remembered as the future generation forges society to its making.
For a more detailed complete book review, please see:
http://www.statesman.com/life/borooks/review-of-the-grace-of-silence-a-memoir-951794.html

Dreaming in Hindi

I want to finish this book but it’s an exercise in discipline. That is not to say this is not a good book, and some of Katherine Rich’s insights and discoveries speak to me very clearly, but overall, this is not an easy book to read.
The storyline is as follows: a journalists who has experienced having cancer decides to ditch the high pressure life of Manhattan magazine publishing in exchange for a free-lance assignment which takes her to India. There, she lives with a local family and enrolls in Hindi language school.

In Dreaming in Hindi, She records her experiences living in India, and her experiences of learning a new language. Her amazing discoveries include realizations that in the learning a new language and new words, in order to fully understand the “meanings” of things in the newly acquired language, one must also grasp the culture.
Rich describes the difficulty of getting the tongue placement just so in her mouth so that she can pronounce the words correctly. This was most interesting to me since I also speak Dutch, my first language. And because I don’t speak Dutch to anyone anymore, I always go through and adjustment problem every time I go back to Holland. It takes a day or two before my mouth adjusts and I can speak clearly and fluidly.
Intertwined throughout her memoir of living in India and learning Hindi, Rich also weaves her interviews with linguistic experts whom she asked about how learning a new language affects, or changes, the brain. These segments of the book are scholarly and informative, but may not appeal to the average reader.
I will finish reading this book because parts of it speak to me, but note that this is not a travel book, nor does the book have a compelling storyline that engages readers. However, for second language learners or those interested in linguistics and second language learning experiences, this book does provide some validation about what it is like to learn another language so completely. Katherine Rich gives words to the confusing experience of being inculturated into another language.

The Paris Wife

When I read a book I enjoy, it’s hard for me to put it down. Chalk it up to streaks of obsessive-compulsiveness… but I tend to read and read until it’s done. Reading this way makes me feel as though I’m there, in the book, part of the experience. But, it also makes me read fast, and in the end I think I may have missed details one absorbs only by reading slowly and savoring the story.

And so it goes with The Paris Wife, the story of Hadley Hemingway, the first wife of Ernest. I started the book yesterday and have less than 100 pages to go. I’m right at the point where the marriage is about to break up. I’ve put the book down so that I can force myself to not rush to the end. I usually tend to rush through the end of a book just wanting to finish it—and when I do I always feel as though I’ve just crash-landed into a wall. I’m already sad knowing what the end will be, and wishing it wouldn’t happen this way.

Author Paula McLain tells the story of Hadley and Ernest through Hadley’s voice. It’s the story of their lives as a young couple with little or no money living in a decrepit apartment above a dance hall in Paris while Ernest labors to write and gain acceptance in a literary community that fuels the fires of would be artists and writers. This ex-patriot community includes, among other, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sherwood Anderson, and Ezra Pound. Stein had a strong influence in Hemingway’s writing, as he would visit her often and they would talk about his work. She read and critiqued his writing and her influence contributed to Hemingway’s directness and parsity with words. Gertrude Stein even becomes the godmother to Hadley’s and Ernest’s son, Bumbey.

Living in Paris during the 1920s has a romantic feeling about it—it was the time between the end of World War I, and the crash of 1929. Having experienced the War, it was a time when people wanted to feel alive, and eating, drinking, and dancing were high on the list of living. So was going away for a season, and the Hemingway’s would enjoy Schruns, Austria at the Christmas holidays for skiing and stay on until early Spring before returning to Paris. The Summer seasons were punctuated with trips to Pamplona, Spain where Ernest conducted his research on bullfighting. The five years of living as ex-pats in Paris were punctuated with a 5 month stint in Toronto, where Hadley gave birth to Bumbey, and several 10-day ocean crossing voyages Ernest took back and forth to meet with his publishers. It seems all so quaint to read about a 10 day sea crossing when now we travel and change continents within a matter of hours.

The book is a historical novel, a work of fiction based on the lives of Ernest and Hadley Hemingway. But it also gives a glimpse of reality of 1920s Paris and its literary community, as author McLain developed the story based on the thousands of pages of letters exchanged between Hadley and Ernest. What makes this a historical novel is that the dialogue was invented, and so we can only imagine what really was said between this husband and wife and their circle of friends.

I’m now going to force myself to tend to several mundane chores before I allow myself to return to reading the last 100 pages—slowly, so as not to miss any details before it all ends.

The Paris Wife

Just started reading The Paris Wife-- I am rewarding myself with a chapter now and then between dissertating! It's a historical fiction based on Ernest Hemingway's first wife Hadley and their years in Paris in the 1920s. It would have been nice to have experienced Paris then-- I envision it as somewhat smaller and more intimate than the Paris of now (beautiful though it is).
Even though this is historical fiction, the author has based the character descriptions on Hadley's letters and documentation of their lives together.

Which begs the question-- what is the fine line between fact and fiction? She uses their real names, real locations, and incorporates real scenes from their lives- but has had to "make up stuff" to fill in the blanks. To what extent will this book become a "biography" of Hadley, when it is, in fact, historical fiction? Giess I can deal with those questions later.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

This was, again, one of those books that is hard to put down. Having raised children, I was curious about what this mother could possibly have to say about child rearing that I didn't already know. However, I was in for a surprise! Amy Chua was much tougher and much more disciplined than I was in my mothering. I sometimes kept my kids home from school, hated school projects because I knew that most of the parents did them, and hated the competition of all the other parents who pressured their kids to come in first in everything and anything. My kids and I did things together, napped together, and just enjoyed simple things and being together. If this sounds like pampering, it wasn't. They were told to do things on their own, deal with adversity because it "builds "character," and take the good with the bad. While Amy Chua represents the extreme of parenting,most parents could take lessons from her. I have watched most parents protecting their children's self-esteem, but not giving them the backbone they'll need to get through life. Amy Chua worked at building her children's talents so that they would be successful in life, which is different from what many parents do. Most parents push their children to succeed because their children's successes are validation to the parents--when their kids do well the parents feel they are also successful people. While I won't go so far as to say that how Amy Chua parented is the best way to parent, her approach did have some merit, as the discipline she instilled in her children would benefit everyone. Read this book- the Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is worthwhile and thought-provoking.

Barefoot by Elin Hildebrand

Yesterday I did something I can't remember ever having done before-- I opened a new book to read at 4PM and finished it by midnight!

I seldom read novels, preferring instead the nitty gritty of stories drawn from "real life." However, this novel was a fun, light read- although the story of one of the heroines struggling with chemo treatments was a bit heavy-- but just imagining a summer on Nantucket was what I needed amid all this cold and snow!

The ending of the story was less satisfying. The young Nantucket man who saved the day by becoming the family's babysitter for two little boys, in the end seemed cast off with a paycheck and a great big "Thanks- we couldn't have done it without you" spiel. From a conflict perspective-- the ending pointed out class differences; from a structural-functionalist perspective-- the ending simply ended; and from a symbolic-interactionist perspective-- the ending showed how each character, in a different stage of life, placed meaning in his or her summer experiences.

The Search for al Qaeda

This book has been widely read in the Obama administration as it seems to be one of the most definite books ever written explaining the origins, philosophies, and operations of the al Qaeda organization. When crafting policy about how to deal with Afghanistan, President Obama himself is said to have turned to this book for understanding about the challenges the US faces in its war in Afghanistan (See the Bob Woodward book Obama's Wars,2010).

This book explains the history of al Qaeda and how it came into existence. Whereas the Western world seems to suffer from memory loss, the Arab world seems to suffer from too much collective memory and not being able to let go of any past memories that do not help to strengthen governments and peoples in the 21st century. Holding on to old grudges fester like wounds that do not heal.

Read Search for Al Qaeda book if you are interested in understanding the Arab-Western world conflicts.

A Week At The Airport: Book Review

Finished reading A Week at the Airport by Alain de Botton. At first I wanted to write about how awful this book was, about how the writer had no focus, and about how he violated basic writing principles such as switching point of view in the middle of a paragraph, and about how he just really put together a hodge-podge of writing into a 63 page book. But as I reflected on this book it occurred to me just how much of a social scientist I had become... I was attracted to this book because I hoped it would be a detailed ethnography about the aspects of airports that we don't see as travellers. I hoped for enlightenment and understanding about the "secrets" of airports behind the scenes. Instead, the author wandered about for a week with little focus or purpose and the result was a thin description of airport life behind the scenes. This would make for a great doctoral dissertation-- or the very least, a great research project conducted as an ethnography!!!

Obama's Wars

Slowly working my way through Obama's Wars. It's a challenge just to keep up with which General or politician is promoting which course of action-- but in the end, the book does provide deep insights into the political structures behind the 2 wars we're now fighting. My greatest insight has been in reading how the President's inner circle has kept significant Generals or military reports at bay from the President-- guess you could call that a little turf protection. It really shouldn't be surprising that a new administration, finding itself engaged in two war fronts, doesn't quite understand what's going on. I'm reading this book hoping that I will come to a greater understanding of how Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan fit together in the bigger puzzle of war in the Middle East. I am also curious to see if anyone in the administration understands the depth of the differences between the mindsets of US and Middle Eastern societies. Most disturbing is reading about the depth of Karzai's corruption. I can't help but feel somewhat pessimistic... if we are to really work at winning the war in Afghanistan we'd better plan on 20 or 30 years in that country. Do we have the capability for sustaining that action?

Just Finished...

Just finished reading A Year in Provence... entertaining, humorous, and culturally insightful! Makes me want to spend a year in Provence just to have the experience of living the French country life! Of course, the author of this book has already made his fortune, so he and his wife could live comfortably. However, I am intrigued by the Mistral winds-- weird as it sounds-- and would actually like to experience living in southern France for that reason.

Waiting, waiting, and waiting...

This morning I had the maddening experience of getting in my car, turned the key, slight crank, and then dead battery! Luckily everyone was at home so I had no problem getting a jump start. Off to the Sears garage I went-- the man behind the counter: "New battery? No problem! 45 minutes." The waiting room was filled with all sorts of people over the age of 70. One poor lady had been there for hours and it seemed as though every 45 minutes the mechanics would come in to tell her that yet another thing was wrong with her car! She got pretty smart though because she walked right into the garage and stood there watching them work. As for me? Two and a half hours later, I had still not been pulled into the garage! Finally, after another 20 minutes I was free to leave. The worst part about all this? I didn't have my Nook with me, nor anything else interesting to read. Lesson learned? ALWAYS take the Nook or a book!!!

Knowing When to Quit

Remember my post about Freedom? It was one of my "obligatory" reads? Well, I've decided my time is better spent reading something I want to read-- something I like to read... so I've given up on Freedom after I heard a public radio review of the book. It appears as though Franzen has received critical acclaim for this book. Why I don't know. Critics have hailed it as one of the best works of American fiction. Many have argued that if this book, a fictional portrait of a middle-class American family falling apart, had been written by a woman, it might not have received so much attention. I don't know-- but to me, this book is one of those "forgettable" reads... I'm moving on to something else... time is my only non-renewable resource...

Global 21st Century Women

Global Woman Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy edited by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild (2002) is a thought-provoking collection of essays describing the lives of third world women, and how the globalization and the changing lifestyles and economies of the first world have changed these women’s lives, families, and communities. Easy to read, this book is not fiction but based in scholarly research conducted primarily through interviews with men and women throughout Asia. These personalized stories include those of women who left their own babies to go abroad to work as nannies or maids for well-to-do families. For most women, this was a way to get ahead and better their own family lives. They worked 14 -16 hours days, enduring indignities imposed on them by their employers, saved as much money as they could to send home, and went without seeing their own children for years at a time. Many women experienced arriving home only to find their husbands had spent all the sent remittances on drink and gambling. The book also chronicles the emotional attachments the nannies formed with their charges, and the tensions this creates between the child’s mother and the nanny. Ultimately, nannies are expendable, and frequently discharged with little notice. Globalization has also created a sex-worker service economy, and the women who work as sex workers are often kidnapped or sold by their families into the slavery of this form of service work. The sex industry has truly become an "industry" specializing in human trafficking across border. Sex-workers have become a tourist attraction, and often the governments in which sex-tourism is most prevalent turn the other way. Besides the first-hand accounts of what many Third World women endure as they become a different kind of global traveler-- that of the expendable nanny, maid, or sex-worker, the book also provides explanations of the cultural phenomena that contribute to having these women become the primary bread-winners for their families. This book reads like fiction, but is totally based on fact! First and foremost, this book should be read by everyone interested in developing knowledge of the state of women acrss the globe. It would also make an interesting supplement for college level courses in women’s studies, globalization, as well as poverty and welfare.