Liz and Michele Are Recommending:

George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, has authored a personal biography of his father, George H. W. Bush, the 41st President.

Forty-four men have served as President of the United States. Countless books have been written about them. But never before has a President told the story of his father, another President, through his own eyes and in his own words. A unique and intimate biography, the book covers the entire scope of the elder President Bush’s life and career, including his service in the Pacific during World War II, his pioneering work in the Texas oil business, and his political rise as a Congressman, U.S. Representative to China and the United Nations, CIA Director, Vice President, and President. The book shines new light on both the accomplished statesman and the warm, decent man known best by his family. In addition, George W. Bush discusses his father’s influence on him throughout his own life, from his childhood in West Texas to his early campaign trips with his father, and from his decision to go into politics to his own two-term Presidency.

Top cybersecurity journalist Kim Zetter tells the story behind the virus that sabotaged Iran’s nuclear efforts and shows how its existence has ushered in a new age of warfare—one in which a digital attack can have the same destructive capability as a megaton bomb.

In January 2010, inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency noticed that centrifuges at an Iranian uranium enrichment plant were failing at an unprecedented rate. The cause was a complete mystery—apparently as much to the technicians replacing the centrifuges as to the inspectors observing them.

Then, five months later, a seemingly unrelated event occurred: A computer security firm in Belarus was called in to troubleshoot some computers in Iran that were crashing and rebooting repeatedly.

At first, the firm’s programmers believed the malicious code on the machines was a simple, routine piece of malware. But as they and other experts around the world investigated, they discovered a mysterious virus of unparalleled complexity.

They had, they soon learned, stumbled upon the world’s first digital weapon. For Stuxnet, as it came to be known, was unlike any other virus or worm built before: Rather than simply hijacking targeted computers or stealing information from them, it escaped the digital realm to wreak actual, physical destruction on a nuclear facility.

In these pages, Wired journalist Kim Zetter draws on her extensive sources and expertise to tell the story behind Stuxnet’s planning, execution, and discovery, covering its genesis in the corridors of Bush’s White House and its unleashing on systems in Iran—and telling the spectacular, unlikely tale of the security geeks who managed to unravel a sabotage campaign years in the making.

But Countdown to Zero Day ranges far beyond Stuxnet itself. Here, Zetter shows us how digital warfare developed in the US. She takes us inside today’s flourishing zero-day “grey markets,” in which intelligence agencies and militaries pay huge sums for the malicious code they need to carry out infiltrations and attacks. She reveals just how vulnerable many of our own critical systems are to Stuxnet-like strikes, from nation-state adversaries and anonymous hackers alike—and shows us just what might happen should our infrastructure be targeted by such an attack.

Propelled by Zetter’s unique knowledge and access, and filled with eye-opening explanations of the technologies involved, Countdown to Zero Day is a comprehensive and prescient portrait of a world at the edge of a new kind of war.

A fascinating, behind-the-scenes history of postwar Washington—a rich and colorful portrait of the close-knit group of journalists, spies, and government officials who waged the Cold War over cocktails and dinner.

In the years after World War II, Georgetown’s leafy streets were home to an unlikely group of Cold Warriors: a coterie of affluent, well-educated, and connected civilians who helped steer American strategy from the Marshall Plan through McCarthyism, Watergate, and the endgame of Vietnam. The Georgetown set included Phil and Kay Graham, husband-and-wife publishers of The Washington Post; Joe and Stewart Alsop, odd-couple brothers who were among the country’s premier political pundits; Frank Wisner, a driven, manic-depressive lawyer in charge of CIA covert operations; and a host of other diplomats, spies, and scholars responsible for crafting America’s response to the Soviet Union from Truman to Reagan.

This was a smaller, cozier Washington—utterly unlike today’s capital—where presidents made foreign policy in consultation with reporters and professors over martinis and hors d’oeuvres, and columnists like the Alsops promoted those policies in the next day’s newspapers. Together, they navigated the perilous years of the Cold War, yielding triumphs—and tragedies—with very real consequences for present-day America and the world.

Gregg Herken captures their successes and failures and gives us intimate portraits of these dedicated and talented, if deeply flawed, individuals. Throughout, he illuminates the drama of those years, bringing this remarkable roster of men and women and their world not only out into the open but vividly to life.

 

 

 

 

Five decades of selected writings from the Irish Times by the beloved and best-selling author, filled with her hallmark humor, candor, and wisdom-a timeless gift to her legion of fans.

Maeve Binchy once confessed: "As someone who fell off a chair not long ago trying to hear what they were saying at the next table in a restaurant, I suppose I am obsessively interested in what some might consider the trivia of other people's lives." She was an accidental journalist, yet from the beginning, her writings reflected the warmth, wit, and keen human interest that readers would come to love in her fiction. From the royal wedding to boring airplane companions, Samuel Beckett to Margaret Thatcher, "senior moments" to life as a waitress, Maeve's Times gives us wonderful insight into a changing Ireland as it celebrates the work of one of our best-loved writers in all its diversity-revealing her characteristic directness, laugh-out-loud humor, and unswerving gaze into the true heart of a matter.

 

 

 

 

From the esteemed food editor and author Judith Jones, a charming, practical guide to sharing the pleasures of home cooking with your dog.

Doesn’t man’s best friend deserve a little more than cardboard-dry kibble day in and day out? Judith Jones thinks so, and in this delightful new cookbook she offers up more than fifty home-cooked recipes, both time efficient and finance friendly—among them Salmon Cakes, Wild Mushroom Risotto, and Shepherd’s Pie—that she’s loved and shared with her own canines.

Jones explains the nutritional benefits of substituting, or supplementing, store-bought food with a diet of fresh, home-prepared ingredients. She offers helpful extras like advice on portion size, what to do with scraps, and the latest research on controversial ingredients such as garlic (newly vindicated), ginger (use sparingly), and eggplant (an acquired taste, but scrape out the seeds). Though many of the recipes are simple to prepare, using basic techniques and ingredients home cooks are likely to have on hand, Jones never compromises flavor or variety; when a full recipe—her mouth-watering Moussaka, for instance—is too complex for a dog’s palate or digestive health, Jones gives detailed instructions on how to modify your pet’s share.

Jones balances her recipes, tips, and techniques with endearing accounts of life with her own dogs, including her very first, a Scottish terrier; a poodle who charmed a French chef into serving up a haute-cuisine feast gratis; and her current Havanese pup, Mabon, who occasionally contributes his own two cents within these pages. She also includes the thoughts of some of her canine- and food-loving friends, Jacques Pépin and M. F. K. Fisher among them. With Love Me, Feed Me to guide you, planning what to put in your dog’s bowl becomes a natural part of deciding what to put on your own table, and your dog will savor mealtimes all the more because of it.

Filled with the practical wisdom and verve of a master home cook and lifetime dog lover, Love Me, Feed Me can only lead to a happier, healthier dog.

 

 

 

 

Has cooking ever saved a life? It definitely rescued Steve Martorano from the streets of South Philadelphia, and an almost certain end in jail … or worse. Raised on Gram’s meatballs and Mom’s macaroni, Martorano learned at an early age that full-flavored food made with loving hands was the only food worth eating. And, by the way, that’s macaroni and gravy, not pasta and sauce, cuz. That’s just the way it is in Martorano’s world.

When it seemed like the only future for a kid from the neighborhood was to drive a truck or join the mob, it was this passion for food that inspired Martorano to reach for more and start his first “restaurant”—selling homemade sandwiches he prepared in his mother’s basement. These sandwiches, served up with a side of Steve’s personality, turned out to be the recipe for success and started Martorano in the restaurant business.

Eighteen years after opening the incredibly popular Cafe Martorano in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Martorano now runs a total of four successful restaurants in Florida and Las Vegas, and has built a devoted and ever-growing clientele—including a bevy of celebrities—who are more than willing to wait hours for a table. In this personal, funny, delectable cookbook, the self-proclaimed “heavyweight champ of Italian-American cooking” offers us a wide range of the dishes that have made his restaurants so popular. Among the book’s seventy-eight recipes, you’ll find tried-and-true favorites like Martorano Meatballs, Fresh Mozzarella, Stuffed Hot Peppers, and Fried Galamad Red (known as calamari outside Philly), as well as newer fare like Grilled Octopus, Rice Balls, and Sunday Pork Gravy with Rigatoni (featuring braised pigs’ feet). And don’t worry—Martorano doesn't skip the cocktails or dessert! Expect to indulge in Peanut Butter Cake with Peanut Butter Zabaglione, Cannoli Cream, Tuscan Lemonade, and Sicilian Mules. Steve Martorano’s It Ain’t Sauce, It’s Gravy delivers all the staples of delicious neighborhood-style comfort food, served up in the author’s one-of-a-kind, deliciously fun-loving style.