Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer

Find in a library near you: Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer

Exerpt from Boston Globe Review:

If you're unclear as to how the singer of a long-defunct punk-rock band came to merit an honor guard from his local constabulary, Chris Salewicz's large and generously comprehensive "Redemption Song" will set you straight. Strummer was born John Mellor in 1952, in Ankara, Turkey, the son of a British diplomat. With the advent of punk he reinvented himself, and from 1976 to its breakup in 1985 he fronted the Clash, so embodying the ragged, big-hearted energy of the band that its demise virtually guaranteed him a long spell in what he would refer to as "the wilderness." Journalist Salewicz (dubbed "Sandwich" by Strummer, who had a pet name for everyone) was along for the ride, a bobbing head at the first Clash shows and subsequently a lifelong friend to his troubled hero. Read Full review

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Boys of 67 by Charles Jones - author interview

Find near you: Boys of '67 : from Vietnam to Iraq : the extraordinary story of a few good men by Charles Jones

Summary: This sweeping saga of the United States Marine Corps follows the careers of a group of young second lieutenants from their baptism of fire in Vietnam through the Cold War and to the current insurgency in Iraq.

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Pritzker Military Library interview of the author Charles Jones (aired 07/12/2007)

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Interview with Tim Weiner author of Legacy of Ashes

Legacy of ashes : the history of the Central Intelligence Agency by Tim Weiner

Summary from book jacket: "For the last sixty years, the CIA has managed to maintain a formidable reputation in spite of a terrible record. Its inability to understand the world has started wars and undermined the White House. It has spun presidents, policymakers, and the American people in order to preserve its own power. LEGACY OF ASHES is the definitive history of the CIA, from the end of World War II to the battle for Baghdad. It is based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA, and a decade of interviews with hundreds of CIA officers, including every living Director of Central Intelligence. Everything in this book is on the record. There are no anonymous sources, no blind quotations."

Extract of Book Review from the Houston Chronicle published 6 July:

"From its founding after World War II the CIA sometimes considered "eliminating" those considered a threat to U.S. national security. But in 1975 it looked as if the agency itself might face elimination as news of its dirty operations and information-gathering failures began leaking out to the public.
With Gerald Ford as a caretaker president after the impeachment of Richard M. Nixon, an era of clean (or cleaner) government seemed possible. Ford jettisoned William Colby as CIA director and asked a Texan, George H.W. Bush, to assume the job." Full book review

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C-Span Book TV Interview- After Words: Tim Weiner author of "Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA" interviewed by David Ignatius

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Interview with Richard Ford discussing his new book: Lay of the Land

Lay of the Land by Richard Ford

"This final part of Richard Ford's Frank Bascombe trilogy occupies much the same terrain as The Sportswriter (1986) and the Pulitzer-winning Independence Day (1996) - the same peregrinations around suburban New Jersey, the same pondering of big questions disguised as small ones, the same hard-thought philosophies disguised as uplifting, small-town nostrums. But no one can complain about that." UK Guardian Review

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