August is National Immunization Awareness Month

Childhood immunization is a controversial topic; one camp insists that it is responsible for autism and other illnesses and disabilities in children; the other side maintains that vaccination is mandatory in order to prevent epidemics. Here are some recently published books on the topic.

Vaccine Epidemic: How Corporate Greed, Biased Science, and Coercive Government Threaten our Human Rights, our Health, and our Children, edited by Louise Kuo Habakus and Mary Holland, presents a series of articles featuring instances of vaccinations causing illnesses to children, adolescents and adults. They contend that government mandates for vaccination violate individual rights and suggest ways to reform American health policy.

Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All, written by Paul A. Offit, an infectious disease physician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, maintains that the media’s presentation of anecdotal incidence of disease and disabilities caused by vaccinations is playing on parents’ fears. He asserts that epidemic, the end result of not being protected by vaccinations, is far worse, posing a threat to all of society.

The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear, written by Seth Mnookin, also contends that the media, in an effort to being fair to both sides of the argument, has encouraged certain groups to advance a health-scare hoax. He also points to various anti-vaccination outbursts over the years since the smallpox vaccine was developed as the continuation of an anti-scientific sentiment in society.

The Vaccine Answerbook: 200 Essential Answers to Help You Make the Right Decisions for your Child, written by physician Jamie Loehr, provides detailed information about specific vaccines, their side effects, when it is not recommended to administer them, and when to schedule them for your child. He also explores some of the controversies surrounding vaccines and their purported cause of disabilities.

August Birthdays

Martha Stewart – August 3, 1941
Being Martha: The Inside Story of Martha Stewart and her Amazing Life, written by Lloyd Allen, a friend of Martha’s daughter and a former neighbor, paints a flattering picture of her as viewed by her mother, daughter, brother, and others. Less adulatory and more well-balanced is Martha: On Trial, In Jail, and on a Comeback, written by Robert Slater. It is based on a series of in-depth interviews of people who have dealt with Martha. Martha herself is not interviewed. The book mainly focuses on her trial, incarceration and her future projects after release from prison.

Lucille Ball – August 6, 1911
Laughing with Lucy: My Life with America’s Leading Lady of Comedy, written by Madelyn Pugh Davis with Bob Carroll Jr., recounts the stories, both familiar and little-known, of the production of the I Love Lucy show and the other Lucille Ball sitcoms. Davis and Carroll were the show’s co-writers.

Julia Child – August 15, 1912
A Covert Affair: Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS, written by Jennet Conant, tells the story of Julia and Paul’s lives as members of the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, long before Julia’s career as a chef took off. Years later, they were involved in another battle when McCarthy-era politics threatened many of their intelligence colleagues including Jane Foster, who actually may have been a Soviet spy.

Shanghai Girls: A Novel

In this compelling novel written by Lisa See, two upper-middle class young women from late 1930’s Shanghai, China endure physical and emotional upheaval before their escape to Los Angeles after being sold by their father as wives to two Chinese men living there. We see the sisters, Pearl and May, developing maturity and strength as they go from a sheltered and carefree existence, to struggle, abuse and escape during the Japanese invasion, to a life of hard work and racial discrimination in Los Angeles. The book covers a twenty-year period during which the sisters strive to adapt to their new home, husbands and extended families, and to survive financially. Along the way, we examine the strengths and weaknesses of the sisters’ relationship with each other, coexisting with their petty jealousies and passionate trust in one another, and keeping their one secret from others for fear of upsetting their new lives in America. We see how the generations of the extended family interrelate. We also get a direct comparison of Chinese and Chinese-American cultures. The book ends without the expected finalization of the story; it is continued in See’s latest work Dreams of Joy.

The Art of Racing in the Rain

This incredible story, written by Garth Stein, will touch your heart and make you want to believe in its legitimacy, even though it’s a work of fiction. Enzo the dog was raised from a puppy by Danny, an aspiring racecar driver whose family eventually expanded to include a wife and daughter. The dog also was a faithful family member, honor bound to protect them all. Remarkably, Enzo is the narrator of the story as he is a self-educated canine. Thanks to instruction from television and other sources, Enzo is capable of higher thinking, although he is unable to speak and has to communicate through gestures and actions.

There are two stories here, one being the tragedy that befalls Danny’s family when his wife dies and her parents try to gain total custody of the daughter, because of their belief that they will be better guardians than Danny who they see as less than stable because of his profession. But Danny is able to succeed in the end, thanks to his racing philosophy and sheer determination. The second story involves Enzo’s desire to become a human in his next life, something he has learned about from an educational television program and that he believes he is ready for. In a book balanced by equal portions of humor and pathos, we speed through Enzo’s short canine life, cheering on this noble creature who in the end receives his just reward.

I'll Walk Alone

Octogenarian author Mary Higgins Clark has successfully published a long string of light mystery/romances over the years, skillfully blending succinctly drawn characters with continuous plot progression. I’ll Walk Alone features protagonist Alexandra “Zan” Moreland , a divorced, thirty-something interior decorator whose three-year-old son Matthew was kidnapped while with his sleeping baby sitter in Central Park two years ago. In addition to the desolation she feels from this loss, Zan also worries that she is losing her mind when it is discovered that large sums of money have been removed from her accounts by her, something that she knows she has not done. When a recently discovered photograph provides proof that Zan kidnapped her own child, even her friends and associates believe it to be true, although they suspect that Zan suffers from a split personality. Pursued by the press and the police, she struggles to prove her innocence and rescue her son. After some plot surprises, the reader is rewarded with the conventional happy ending and an enjoyable read.

Lost Painting

Join author Jonathan Harr as he recounts the search for and discovery of the missing painting “The Taking of Christ” created by the Italian baroque artist Michelangelo da Caravaggio. Caravaggio is an artist of outstanding ability whose popularity has waxed and waned over the centuries. Several of his paintings have disappeared from the public view. Recently there has been much scholarly interest in Caravaggio’s works.

In this book, the adventure/mystery revolves around three major players: graduate student Francesca Cappelletti, who researches the provenance and history of
“The Taking of Christ”, Sir Denis Mahon, the world’s foremost expert on Caravaggio, and Sergio Benedetti, an art restorer who discovers the masterpiece at an Irish monastery and brings it to the National Gallery of Ireland. Harr presents an abundance of detail on the workings of art history research and art restoration, allowing the general reader to follow the action easily. He also enables the reader to access the thoughts and feelings of the main characters.

The Whistleblower

The Whistleblower by Kathryn Bolkovac with Cari Lynn
Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors, and One Woman’s Fight for Justice

This is the true life story of a Lincoln, Nebraska police officer turned International Human Rights Investigator. Looking for a change, Bolkovac, enticed by the high Dynocorp salaries, made the decision to apply for a job oversees. She soon discovered Dynocorp was inundated with unqualified candidates and that landing a job would be easy. Bolkovac traveled to Bosnia and began a journey that would soon lead her to discover a cover up of massive proportions.

Bolkovac discovers her employer, Dynocorp, is covering up the involvement of its own employees and contractors in the Bosnian sex trade industry. Their involvement ranges from the taking bribes to look the other way to the actually purchasing and resale of the young women. When Bolkovac discovers the wrong doing and reports it she was fired under false pretenses.

Bolkovac is a very courageous woman and there is no doubt she helped many foreign women who were victims of sex trafficking. However, this book is so structurally flawed, that it renders the text boring and practically unreadable. The tale is told in a strictly linear fashion that reads like a police deposition and lacks any kind of story-like quality. There is a lot of extraneous information inserted into the text that adds nothing to the story, while the most interesting side story, Bolkovac’s relationship with Jan, is totally glazed over (but I imagine it was very romantic). Perhaps the movie being made of this tale will be better.

About the Author
Bolkovac is a former police investigator from Nebraska that served as an International Police Task Force investigator in Bosnia. She divides her time between Licoln, NE and Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Where the mysterious Jan lives…)
Lynn is the author of three books of narrative non-fiction and has written for numerous magazines and newspapers including O, Health, Good Housekeeping and the Chicago Tribune. She live in LA, California.

Read-a-Likes (or alternatives to try)
The Natashas: inside the new global sex trade by Victor Malarek

Sex trafficking: inside the business of modern slavery by Siddharth Kara

The Franklin scandal: a story of powerbrokers, child abuse and betrayal by Nick Bryant