has led to a
reconceptualiza-
tion of how the
immune system
might work,
how microor-
ganisms can
shape the devel-
opment of organ
systems, how
bacteria might
play a role in autism, and how the micro-
biome may influence an organism’s pro-
pensity for obesity. He also shows that sci-
entists have moved beyond the theoretical
by successfully performing “ecosystem
transplants” of human gut microorgan-
isms, and he envisions a future that includes
“artisanal bacteria” designed to perform spe-
cific tasks. Yong reveals “how ubiquitous
and vital microbes are” on scales large and
small. (Aug.)
City of Sedition: The History of
New York City During the Civil War
John Strausbaugh. Hachette/Twelve, $30 (432p)
ISBN 978-1-4555-8418-5
Strausbaugh follows 2013’s The Village,
an encyclopedic history of New York City’s
Greenwich Village, with an expert look at
the city in the tumultuous years leading
up to and through the Civil War. “New
York City would play a huge role in the
war, but it would be a hugely confused and
conflicted one,” he writes. “No city would
be more of a help to Lincoln and the Union
war effort, or more of a hindrance.” As
Strausbaugh focuses on the array of colorful characters who influenced events—
including newsman Horace Greeley,
abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher, and
Tammany Hall leader William “Boss”
Tweed—he spins a complex tale of a rapidly growing and changing city where
immigration, slavery, and politics all had
immense roles to play. This is an entertaining, informative, and educational
narrative, though the density of rich
detail can get the reader bogged down;
Strausbaugh sometimes pays too much
attention to pivotal individuals in the
maelstrom of events. He ranges over the
better part of a century to thoroughly and
confidently capture the full scope of the
story, resulting in an almost epic saga. Agent:
Chris Calhoun, Chris Calhoun Agency. (Aug.)
The Fall of Heaven: The Pahlavis
and the Final Days of Imperial Iran
Andrew Scott Cooper. Holt, $35 (608p)
ISBN 978-0-8050-9897-6
Cooper (The Oil Kings), a scholar of oil
markets and U.S.-Iran relations, recounts
the rise and fall of Iran’s glamorous Pahlavi
dynasty, challenging common characterizations of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi as a
brutal dictator. Focusing on the last Shah’s
rule, Cooper explains the founding of the
Pahlavi monarchy and details the various
achievements of the White Revolution
of the 1960s and 1970s, “one of the 20th
century’s great experiments in liberal social
and economic reform.” These transformed
Iran “from a semifeudal baron state into a
modern industrial powerhouse” while also
encompassing various social advances in
women’s rights, education, health care, and
more. Such reforms, Cooper argues, qualify
the Western-oriented Shah as more of a
benevolent autocrat than a tyrant. The first
part of the book is a sweeping survey of
the Shah’s time in power; the second is a
riveting day-by-day account of the
1978–1979 revolution that toppled the
monarchy. Based on various documentary
sources as well as impressive access to
royalists, revolutionaries, Queen Farah
Pahlavi, and various U.S. officials, this
thorough work is immensely detailed
yet readable and continuously engaging.
Cooper’s attempts to downplay the regime’s
abuses are unconvincing, but he provides
a fascinating, distinctive, and personal
account of the Shah and his rule. (Aug.)
Landmarks
Robert Macfarlane. Penguin/Hamilton, $18
trade paper (256p) ISBN 978-0-241-96787-4
Macfarlane’s (The Old Ways) beautifully
written blend of nature writing and lexicon
connects the work of his favorite writers
to the British Isles’ natural settings and
the distinctive, lyrical vocabulary used to
describe them. Each chapter is devoted
to a different landform (such as flatlands,
coastlands, and woodlands) and followed
by a glossary of relevant terminology. The
featured authors include “word-hoarder”
Nan Shepherd, whose book The Living
Mountain has its own lengthy glossary of
colorful Scots words, such as “roarie-bum-
mlers” (fast-moving storm clouds); and
“water-man” Roger Deakin, whose book
Waterlog, about his experiences swimming
around the United Kingdom, unearthed
archaic words such as dook (a swim in
open water) and tarn (an upland pool or
small lake.) The sources of the words in
the glossaries are as diverse as the British
landscape: works by famous wordsmiths
such as Gerard Manley Hopkins and John
Clare, as well as the various cultures,
regions, and languages of Great Britain.
Macfarlane bemoans the gradual disappearance of these colorful descriptors from
modern usage, resulting in a “blandscape”
of general terms. It would be fabulous if
his wish in writing this exceptional
compilation—for these words to “re-wild”
contemporary speech—comes true. (Aug.)
Addict in the House:
A No-Nonsense Family Guide
Through Addiction Recovery
Robin Barnett. New Harbinger, $16.95 trade
paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-62625-260-8
This is a straightforward, rich resource
for anyone who lives with, and loves, an
addict. It is presented as an intimate, personal narrative to supplement the alarming
statistics surrounding addiction. Having
grown up in a household marked by addiction, behavioral health specialist Barnett is
the ideal guide through a journey that, as
she writes, is rocky at best. Rather than
adopt the tone of an expert, which risks
coming off as condescending, she writes as
a fellow traveler. Navigating a life with an
addict is not easy: the most basic aspects of
communication are compromised, and
freedom from the cycles that entangle
most addicts’ families requires breaking
long-established patterns. Barnett presents
her discussion with the qualification that it
is condensed, in keeping with the “
no-nonsense” self-description of the title. Each
chapter is introduced by the words of
addicts, but readers seeking more detailed,
first-person accounts will not find them
here. And instead of answers, they will find
a process, presented more as a hopeful
beginning than an ultimate cure. (Aug.)
California Comeback:
How a “Failed State” Became a
Model for the Nation
Narda Zacchino, with Christopher Scheer.
St. Martin’s/Dunne, $25.99 (336p) ISBN 978-
0-312-64935-7
Los Angeles Times veteran Zacchino does
a workmanlike job of presenting the recent