PositiveThe Wall Street JournalDespite having a stake in the safety of journalists, Mr. Simon takes a strategic tack in We Want to Negotiate, a series of profiles and case studies that finds equal fault with shows of vulnerability in France—where the French media regularly show the president greeting each returning French hostage—and an unyielding posture in America, which terrorist recruiters exploit to make U.S. officials seem callous. Mr. Simon’s experience and extensive interviews...have convinced him that governments—the no-concessions purists and the consistent ransom-payers alike—should veil their intentions, buying time to assess each case’s distinct national-security impact and improving the chances that the hostage is treated well by captors ... We Want to Negotiate is a helpful, accessible contribution to a decades-old dilemma. Whether the United States is willing to bend its robust framework, inadequate as it may be, remains an open question.
Rachel Kleinfeld
PositiveThe Wall Street Journal[Kleinfeld\'s] ideas are refreshingly specific, rooted as they are in a clear understanding of the problem ... A Savage Order urges us to abandon untethered idealism, middle-class apathy, and partisan devotion that blinds us to unorthodox solutions, and to join the ranks of pragmatic reformers working to protect innocent lives around the globe. Encouragingly, we have a good idea of what works.
Kate Bowler
PositiveThe Wall Street JournalMs. Bowler steers clear of prescriptions for the dying ... She finds herself \'floating\' on the love and prayers of those around her in the months after her diagnosis—a fleeting feeling of God’s presence that St. Augustine called \'the sweetness.\' She yearns to relish her remaining moments with her beloved husband and son in \'ordinary time,\' the part of the church calendar that falls outside the joyous—and sorrow-filled—holidays. What practical advice she does offer is directed at those who encounter the dying: what to say and not say, listed in two separate appendices ... dry humor and raw, personal accounts help make thinking about our common fate bearable. We may have a few extra years yet to sip kale smoothies, run marathons and get tested for everything under the sun, but we ought not make physical health our ultimate hope.
Barbara Ehrenreich
PositiveThe Wall Street JournalMs. Ehrenreich finds reasons to doubt our faith in Western \'rituals\' of medical examinations, expensive wellness regimens and a glut of evidence-poor tests—bemoaning precious time spent trying, uselessly, to prevent all manner of ailment ... One of Ms. Ehrenreich’s late chapters is a philosophical whirlwind that begins with a question, \'Who is in charge?,\' and ends in utter, graphic despair ... Ms. Ehrenreich’s observations about our culture-wide denial of bodily decay lead [her] down distinct paths of interrogation and discovery. For all [her] research, [she is] not prepared to give us easy answers. Still, [her] dry humor and raw, personal accounts help make thinking about our common fate bearable.
