◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
What Stands in a
Storm: Three Days in
the Worst Superstorm
to Hit the South’s
Tornado Valley
★
Expanding on an article ;rst
published in Southern Living
magazine, Alabama-based journalist
Cross’s gripping chronicle of the
events of April 27, 2011—the deadliest
day of the largest tornado outbreak in
history—is divided into three parts:
“The Storm,” “The Aftermath” and
“The Recovery.” The ;rst section
introduces readers to various people on
the scene when the storm hit, including
veteran TV meteorologist James
Spann, storm chasers Brian Peters
and Tim Coleman, and the civilians…
caught in nature’s path of destruction.
All told, 252 Alabama residents lost
their lives in one of the 62 tornadoes
that terrorized the state that day. The
gruesome second section re-creates
the panic and despair that set in when
the wind died…revealing wiped-out
communities and…inspiring random
acts of kindness…. Victims and their
families struggle to seek closure and
peace in the third and ;nal section.
Cross conducted more than 100 hours
of interviews, and her detail-oriented
reporting anchors a novelist’s ;air for
drama. Horrifying depictions of the
monster storms and gut-wrenching
scenes of loss make other accounts of
Tuscaloosa’s tragic tornados (including
Lars Anderson’s The Storm and The
Tide) tame by comparison. Agent:
Jim Horn;scher, Horn;scher Literary
Management. (Mar.)
—Publishers Weekly
Jan. 9, 2015
Kim Cross.
Atria Books , $25 (285p)
ISBN 978-1-4767-6306-4
★ The Next Happy:
Let Go of the Life You Planned
and Find a New Way Forward
Tracey Cleantis. Hazelden, $14.95 (220p)
ISBN 978-1-61649-572-5
As this book persuasively argues,
there’s nothing wrong with giving up
on a dream that proves unattainable. In
fact, sometimes it’s necessary for wellness.
Therapist and La Belette Rouge blogger
Cleantis writes from a place of understanding: when fertility treatments
completely bankrupted her, both emotionally and financially, and still did not
provide her with a child, she decided it
was time to quit. Readers should appreciate her well-grounded suggestions, particularly those about getting support
from loved ones and professionals. As
well as explaining how to accept and
work through the loss of a dream, she
also shows how to find a new goal by
salvaging obtainable elements of the old
one. Best of all, Cleantis comes across as
funny and real, helping readers see they’re
not alone by providing relevant stories,
like that of Lance Armstrong, and “
prescribing” movies, such as Silver Linings
Playbook and The Wrestler. The result is a
must-read for anyone who’s had enough
of platitudes and is ready for a self-help
manual with a dose of reality. Agent: Don
Fehr, Trident Media Group. (Mar.)
The Next Species:
The Future of Evolution
in the Aftermath of Man
Michael Tennesen. Simon & Schuster, $26
(256p) ISBN 978-1-4516-7751-5
With a different title, this book could
have been a successful, though unin-
spired, account of the mass species extinc-
tion associated with the Anthropocene
epoch. Science journalist Tennesen (The
Complete Idiot’s Guide to Global Warming)
surveys the previous five mass extinc-
tions that have shaped life on earth and
examines some of the ways in which
humans are destroying habitats and bio-
diversity today. But despite his title, he
never explores what the world might
look like if humans were to vanish, or
which species might expand to fill some
of the ecological roles humans have domi-
nated. Instead, Tennesen briefly delves
into a very speculative future of humanity
itself, with one superficial chapter
focusing on the possibility of humans
moving into space and colonizing Mars,
and another that lightly touches on the
possibility of merging artificial intelli-
gence with humans by uploading minds
to machines. Both read as afterthoughts to
his central emphasis on how anthropo-
genic changes have impact on the bio-
sphere. Tennesen is at his best when
addressing the urgent environmental
problems of today, particularly in his
engaging discussion of water usage in
New York City and Las Vegas. Overall,
though, the book fails to come together
satisfactorily. (Mar.)
Path of Blood:
The Story of Al Qaeda’s War
on the House of Saud
Thomas Small and Jonathan Hacker. Overlook,
$32.50 (480p) ISBN 978-1-4683-1060-3
Small and Hacker offer a book adaptation of their forthcoming documentary
film on the war between al-Qaeda on the
Arabia Peninsula (AQAP) and the government of Saudi Arabia. Based on
extensive and unprecedented access to
records from the Saudi Ministry of the
Interior (MOI), seized AQAP photos and
documents, Web posts, and interviews
with leaders of the Saudi internal security forces, the authors describe in great
detail the MOI’s three-year fight (2002–
2005) to destroy AQAP. Both sides
waged a media battle that used Islamic
tenets to justify their actions and
attempts to win over the Saudi population. The authors also describe the evolution and professionalization of the
Saudi security forces as a partner to the
U.S and U.K., highlighting the central
role of deputy interior minister Prince
Muhammad bin Nayef as leader of the
security of forces. The American-educated
prince balanced religion, cultural understanding, professional police work, and
political moderation to gain popular support in his campaign against AQAP. The
authors do not have any particular expertise in Middle East affairs or counter-ter-rorism, and therefore the book is a relatively straightforward account of events
with only a little analysis, but it’s a solid
view of operations that few Americans
even know occurred. Agent: Alex Christofi.
Photos. (Mar.)
