Iowa Books

David Maayan's review does a pretty good job on reviewing this book, but I'll add the following.

There is too little said about the Sephardic and Mizrachi (Middle Eastern) Jews and their impact on the country, and their suffering at the hands of the European-derived establishment. Of course, there are also many Arabs living in Israel, and they remain invisible.

Elon's book warns that when being subjected to unending conflict becomes part of a people's modus operandi, that when feeling threatened becomes the norm, then those people will become brutal without knowing it. The desensitizing of the average Israeli to the plight of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza may be a result of this. It has led to a lack of urgency on the part of most Israelis to put a fair two-state solution at the top of the agenda; it's something they think is a good idea, but not worth making a priority. Elon, wrote in 1981 that finding a solution for the Israeli-Palestinian situation is Israel's foremost problem.

Having lived in Israel in the 60s and early 70s, I feel that Elon really captured the spirit and emotions of those times, from the cautious optimism of the early sixties, to the anxiety in 1967 that quickly gave way to great elation at the end of the Six Day War, to the bitterness and cynicism of the 70s before the peace treaty with Egypt.

What I learned most from this book is how the dominant Israeli psychology developed. From the idealistic 19th Century Zionists, to the terrified pogrom refugees, to the tough-as-nails young pioneers, to the somewhat socialist (but hardly impractical) farmer-soldiers, layer after layer added to the national character, forming a highly adaptive but conflicted culture.

One interesting tidbit I learned is that the virulently anti-Jewish Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el Husseini, was actually appointed by the British (just post WWI), replacing a much more moderate Mufti who had greeted Chaim Weitzmann with, "Our rights are your rights, and your duties our duties."

Amongst the relatively vast literature about Zionism and the history of the State of Israel, this book remains (35 years past its first printing in 1971) a unique contribution. First of all, it almost goes without saying that books in this area are often highly politicized and biased. On the other hand, more "sober" accounts can tend to be hundreds of pages of arid, statistically-based analysis of Israeli society. What of a person who wants to truly understand the underlying texture, culture, and consciousness of Israelis - while at the same time absorbing facts rather than apologetics? This book succeeds excellently on precisely this level.

What is unique about Elon's work is that he manages to explore many different aspects of Israeli society and history, touching on all the major issues thereof, while literally filling the book with incredible details of personal biographies, or of particular towns and events. The greatness of the book is that one doesn't lose sight of the forest for the trees. That is, the larger issues are explored in a rich and cogent way - in fact, all the more richly because those human details that make history alive are included. What emerges is an image of Israel's "founders" as including many powerful dreamers who, in fact, dreamed very different dreams. From Ben-Yehuda's revival of spoken Hebrew in a secular state, to the commune of Bittania, from Communist and Socialist utopians to radical Yiddishists to those who dreamt only of "normalcy..." One must read the book to truly understand the rich tapestry. Reading, one can't help but wonder "who will win? Whose vision of Israel will come about?" Then it strikes you: somehow, they all (and none of them) came true at the same time. Israel is still profoundly divided not only about where it is going but what it is - and the division is not binary (religious / secular or right / left for example,) but truly multidimensional.

Though I would join Roger Jellinek, the New York Times reviewer who proclaimed The Israelis to be "the most acute and even-handed portrait yet," still, some word is probably in order about Amos Elon's identity and its effect on the book. Elon is a well-known author in Israel and to some extent in the world, and is a very widely-educated intellectual whose politics are quite leftist. He is not religious. His recent book "The Pity of it All," a history of Jews in Germany from 1743 to 1933, suffered in my opinion from glaring omissions. For example, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and the Torah im Derech Eretz movement are not even mentioned in the book. Are there omissions in this work as well? Certainly there are, and the more religious people and components of Israeli history are given short shrift. Ashkenazim also dominate. On the other hand, part of the history and founding of Israel is precisely the dominance of the state by just the secular, Ashkenazi, Eastern-European thinkers whom Elon ia a spiritual descendent from. Thus, in a sense, his own bias enables him to give a rich "mainstream" history of Israel from an insider perspective. For this book, his weakness is definitely his strength.

So what this book can give you, if you are willing to let it, is what few books can: a true sense of Israeli history and consciousness which is both even-handed and a true "insider" view, with all the richness and complexity and ambiguity that entails.


Finally, "don't take my word for it." I reproduce below a few quotes from the back of my 1981 Adam Publishers edition:

"An epic poem... Penetrating, profound, explosive... This book is a beacon."
- David Schoenbrun, New York Times Book Review

"None has told us so much, so perceptively... Elon has a novelist's eye and a historian's judgment."
- Manifred Halpern, Chicago Tribune Book Week

"A stunning book... brilliant, powerful... profoundly convincing."
- Alfred Friendly, Washington Post

This is a fascinating account of how and why Zionism led to the creation of Israel. Elon captures well how Israel's pioneer generation differ in their values from the Israeli-born youth. He explains how the myths of Zionism contributed to the tragic situation today. You'll learn how Israelis have been shaped by 50 years of conflict. You'll receive a lot of insight into the Israeli character.

I only wish a more up-to-date edition were available as some aspects of Israeli politics seem to have changed (e.g. the preference for non-military leaders, the rise of Bibi & Sharon). I also wish a book that directly compared & contrasted Israeli and Palestinian views of history were available, but I haven't found one yet.

I heard Mr. Cecil A. Reed talk to the participants of a Management Workshop. He was very inspiring. One of the added benefits was receiving an autographed copy of his book. After hearing him speak, and reading his book, you have a deep appreciation for the man and the wisdom he shares with his audience. The story about his son will bring tears to your eyes. A great read and be sure to buy an extra copy to give as a gift.

I heard Mr. Cecil A. Reed talk to the participants of a Management Workshop. He was very inspiring. One of the added benefits was receiving an autographed copy of his book. After hearing him speak, and reading his book, you have a deep appreciation for the man and the wisdom he shares with his audience. The story about his son will bring tears to your eyes. A great read and be sure to buy an extra copy to give as a gift.

Cecil Reed's book gives the reader a funny and inspiring inside look at the life of one African American from the beginning of the 20th century to the end. It's a unique opportunity to see how race relations worked outside the deep south. The book also records the texture and flavor of small town life in days gone by seen from a black perspective. You may not always agree with Cece Reed's way of dealing with his challenges, but you've got to admire his warm and enthusiastic approach to them.

It was the winter of 2002 that I discovered Ed Gorman's Sam McCain series--I found a copy of WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW?, the third novel in the series, at Borders one afternoon. I read it, loved it, and quickly went on an expedition to find the first two novels in the series. Since then there have been four additional Sam McCain novels and one novella. I've read each of them at least once, and I just read the most recent addition to the series: FOOLS RUSH IN.

It's 1963. The civil rights movement is charging across the country. The townspeople of Black River Falls, Iowa are concerned about the tumultuous changes that are happening across the country, but their town has been insulated from the turmoil until a young black man is murdered. His name is David Leeds, and he is a motivated, attractive, and well-liked young man who is attending University in Cedar Rapids, and scandalously dating the daughter of a local Senator.

Sam is again heralded into action by Judge Whitney--the last of the gentrified Whitney family who came to Black River Falls in the 1860s after a disagreement with the Treasury department sent them running from the East coast. He is ordered to find out who killed David Leeds and stop Cliff Sykes, the incompetent local Sheriff, from fouling the investigation. Sam quickly finds himself in a mystery that goes beyond mere racism--he does discover plenty of hate, but he also finds corruption, blackmail, fear, and even a little love.

FOOLS RUSH IN is darker than the previous entries in the series. We find Sam in a new world--the beautiful Pamela Forrest is gone, Mary has returned to her husband and Sam feels himself getting a little older. His father is ill and his world is changing. He is still a wiseacre, philosopher, pulp reader, part-time lawyer, and part-time private eye, but the world is changing around him. Or maybe better said, he is losing his youth and his vision of the world is changing.

The mystery is top-notch. Mr. Gorman gives enough false leads to keep the reader guessing at what is happening, and when the climax arrived I was surprised by who did what, and why. I enjoyed FOOLS RUSH IN a whole lot. It is a worthy addition to one of the better private eye series still being produced, and I hope--oh how I hope!--there is another story or two still waiting to see print. But if there isn't, FOOLS RUSH IN isn't a bad title to go out with.

Ben Boulden, Gravetapping

In June 1963 in suburban Black River Falls, Iowa, Judge Esme Anne Whitney assigns attorney and private investigator Sam McCain to end the shenanigans of a blackmailer who may derail the reelection of white Senator Williams, whose daughter is seeing a Negro David Leeds. Sam goes to the cabin of the extortionist photographer Richie Neville only to find him dead from two close-up shots to his face and nearby also killed is Leeds.

The American heartland has not been directly impacted by the civil rights movement that has the Freedom Riders all over the south and the nation listening to Negro demands for equality in DC. In Iowa, Sam quickly realizes just below the surface of calm lies plenty of anger and resentment as a black male does not date a white female. However, he also sees another scenario possible as Sam finds wads of money and photos of other victims; he ponders whether one chose to make remittance by murdering the blackmailer with the Negro being at the wrong place at the wrong time. The police want him to stay out of their case although he expects some sort of whitewashing of the truth.

Sam's seventh song titled civil rights era mystery (see BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO and EVERYBODY'S SOMEBODY'S FOOL) is a terrific whodunit. However, it is the small town relatively serene Iowa backdrop that enables the audience to witness the demands for freedom in 1960s America; this seemingly out of the way from the prime civil rights focus allows readers to understand the scope of the movement. Ed Gorman once again combines a fine murder investigation with a touch of nostalgia inside of the grand scale of the local, regional, and national freedom marches that changed America.

Harriet Klausner

Set against the backdrop of civil rights leader Martin Luther King's impending March on Washington, Fools Rush In finds lawyer/PI Sam McCain investigating the murders of suspected blackmailer Richie Neville and one of his alleged victims, David Leeds. Found together in a wooded area near Neville's studio, the two men are connected by some photos that Neville threatened to release to the press, photos of law student Leeds, a charismatic young black man, pursuing a romance with Lucy Williams, daughter of conservative white Senator Lloyd Williams (this being Black River Falls, Iowa, circa June 1963, the pictures are certain to negatively impact the staid Republican Senator's quest for reelection). McCain doggedly pursues the truth, discovering that his home town is even more insular and bigoted than he previously imagined.

Ed Gorman's seventh Sam McCain adventure (each installment bears the name of a popular period song as its title) displays all the positive attributes its predecessors possessed, namely Gorman's stripped down, not-a-word-wasted prose, his deft plotting, and his dead on characterization (all reasons why he's won the Shamus, the Spur, and the International Fiction Writers awards for his significant contributions to genre fiction). As with previous adventures, Gorman marries these attributes with subtle commentary on the social mores and historical figures of the era, providing a mirror which, while certainly reflective of the past, also provides a telling perspective on problems and issues which still face (plague?) us today.

Ex-FBI profiler and crime investigator consultant Robert Payne is asked by his friend Monsignor Steve Gray to "sniff around" in the sordid murder of a parish priest at a skeevy local motel. The twisty plot suggests several possible suspects. The suburban/rural Cedar Rapids, Iowa, setting gives the story a vivid Midwest placement. Robert's personal life also hits turbulence when his step-father Vic shows up on his doorstep. Vic, a Good Time Charlies in the old days, is dying of lung cancer, and Robert has to swallow his dislike and care for the elderly Vic. Robert's sweet and wise girlfriend Felice convinces Robert to do the right thing (as all significant others do) by Vic. A profile of each murder victim is given to add depth to the mystery. Ed Gorman's elegant, lean prose style is always a treat to read as well. This solid entry in the series hits its stride.

As I lifelong resident of the Cedar Rapids area, I found the locale of the story attractive. However, as I was reading it, I found many aspects of the plot stale. However, much of that was due to my having read other books published after this one where the basic plot was the same. To be specific, it involves Catholic priests whose piety is lacking and whose actions are definitely not going to get them into paradise after their demise.
It begins with the death of a Catholic priest in a shady motel, he was murdered and his body mutilated after the fact. Robert Payne receives a call from his old friend Steve Gray, now a Catholic priest and at the time of the call, in the room with the body. Robert comes to aid him and then is hired to privately investigate the murder. He does so and finds many different suspects, a trail of infidelity, lies and other nasty deeds.
As the investigation continues, Robert discovers a series of murders where the body was mutilated after death. As the story unfolds, there are sidebars of explanation about the victims. None of them are particularly attractive people, all are criminals of one form of another, and for each there is a list of possible suspects.
The climactic conclusion is not particularly strong, it comes and goes quickly and it was obvious to me when it began how it was going to end. I liked the story and Gorman deserves credit for being more original in his plot than others who have followed and used the same plot device. I recently read and reviewed, "God's Spy" by Juan Gomez-Jurado and published in 2007. Gomez-Jurado uses the same basic plot device of the bad Catholic priest(s) and the action there was much stronger. Therefore, the lower ranking here is largely due to the comparison to "God's Spy."

Monsignor Steven Gray asks his old childhood friend, former FBI psychological profiler, Robert Payne to investigate the murder of Father Daly. Robert, who now works as an investigator for a Cedar Rapids, Iowa law firm, does not want to get involved with what looks to him like an internal church affair. However, for old time sakes, he agrees to look into this and a similar grisly murder of a priest.

Among Daly's possessions are a series of articles about the brutal killings of members of St. Mallory Church. From these clippings and other information, Robert develops a profile on a vicious serial killer. As he gets closer to identifying the culprit, Robert knows he must pick up the pace before another parishioner becomes the next brutalized victim.

HARLOT'S MOON, the latest Robert Payne novel (see HAWK MOON and BLOOD MOON), is a tremendous hard-boiled detective story, starring a great protagonist. When it comes to crime, Robert is as tough as they get, but Ed Gorman makes his star profiler seem human because he provides him with compassionate traits too. Throw in a well-designed fast-paced story line and a strong support cast that constantly move the plot forward and the audience has a top rate psychological who-done-it.

Harriet Klausner

One of the best prize-winning collections I've read. I picked up this book about 4 years ago and still have the stories stuck in my head. They are very smart and cleverly written, and after revisiting them, I am even more amazed at their power. If you are a fan of modern short fiction, about mostly urban characters, you will really enjoy this collection. So many fresh moments in here - lines that just stick in your head. Feitell is a great writer and I hope to see a lot more of her books in the future.

The Publisher's Weekly summary of this book is right on target: most of these stories are poignant depictions of characters in search of love and acceptance. Feitell does a good job of sketching familiar character types in literary fiction: men and women in their late twenties or early thirties with vague commitment problems and a lingering feeling of missing out on what makes life special. Only one of the stories doesn't work: Such a Big Mr. England is actually an unlikeable story, and should have been left out of the collection. Otherwise, Feitell provides thoughtful and well-crafted pieces. This collection works best if you take a break between reading the stories, as the similiaries in theme and language make the stories blend together if you read them in one or two sittings. The best way to approach this book is one story at a time, and allow a few days between stories. Fans of literary fiction won't be disappointed.

Each of the stories in this collection are rueful,clever,energetic and big-hearted. Feitell's prose is a revelation-- finding humor in the bittersweet details, the essential stuff of life. I know that the brave and conflicted characters who populate these pages will stay with me. This is a true gem of a book.

This was an outstanding book on Johnny Orr. I have gone to ISU basketball games since i was 3 years old and Johnny's wife sat right behind me, so i really got to know him and her. The book is all about is tremedous coaching career and his awesome life.

When I am loyal to a team like the Cyclones, I try not ever live in the past. I love to remember past events and particular games, but to compare present teams with past teams is not fair. With this book, it is hard not to hark back to a special time in Cyclone basketball lore. Gene McGivern gives a genuine and heartfelt gift to the true Cardinal and Gold fans of the world. The fault I found to this book is that sometimes McGivern became too repetitive and this is probably due to his sports writing experiences. On occasion this slowed down the pace, but otherwise this book is a treasure as is Johnny Orr. This year Iowa State nearly beat eventual champions, Michigan State, and would have earned a Final Four bid. Their first. None of the present success at ISU would be possible without Johnny Orr. This book is THAT story. It is a inspirational success story and it is REAL! Something that is not found in similar stories.

Ok, so I'm married to the author. I'm a basketball fan by marriage, and this book was an important part of my conversion. Gene was the sports editor of the Ames Tribune and knows Johnny both personnally and professionally. He documents the Johnny Orr era with such precision, that you'll feel like an ISU alum even if you aren't. We hope you enjoy the book

Deciding whether to have a student jump a grade is emotionally difficult for parents and schools. Most people, including school officials, have very little evidence to use when evaluating the proper course for a child. All too often, they are trapped by social prejudices that speak against accelaration. This work is founded on a growing body of scholarship that not only validates acceleration as a viable option, but helps determine when accelaration is appropriate. Using the Iowa accelaration scale, parents and students can use a quantifiable methodology for making this determination. It helps difuse the emotions and anxieties associated with such a decision and provides guidance in border-line situations. This should be a part of every school district's tool kit and parents frustrated with finding ways to meet their child's needs should hear of this work too. The only frustration with the work is that it does not incorporate many of the recent advances into understanding gifted students and how to create a successful experience for them in schools.

I refer to this book often when working with families and educators that are considering whole-grade acceleration for a gifted student. This is an invaluable tool that appears to be very user-friendly.

The Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS) is a "must have" tool in the process for determining the appropriateness of whole-grade acceleration. What I like most about the IAS is that it is research based and patently objective. The IAS also requires a team approach which only serves to add confidence to whatever decision is ultimately arrived upon. Further, each child is assessed wholistically with individual items weighted based on relevance.

The IAS also provides alternate suggestions for serving the academically advanced child in the event that whole-grade acceleration is not recommended.

The manual is a very easy read and the entire process is user friendly. The IAS Manual removes the mystery and uncertainty from what would typically be a rather difficult task - deciding whether or not to whole-grade accelerate a child in school.

I highly recommend the IAS for any and all parents and educators who find themselves faced with the incredible task of trying to decide how best to meet the educational needs of a bright or gifted child. To borrow (and twist) a line from Shakespeare: If to accelerate or not to accelerate is the question - then the IAS is the answer.

A Note of caution to parents and IAS team members: The IAS process should be open and transparent. All team members should have the opportunity to read and review the manual prior to and during the process. Therefore, be sure the "team leader" does not monopolize the process or attempt to create their own procedure for completion of the IAS. The manual very clearly states the proper procedures to follow to ensure the process flows smoothly - and objectively.

The title says it all! I have lived here my entire life and every picture sent waves of wonderful memories. Our young friend took it with her to Fiji as a gift for her college home-stay family.

I knew I had to send a copy to my dear friend who was born & raised in Puerto Rico; got her second masters at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa; returned to PR after graduation. She fell in love with Iowa and wants to "move home" some day.

I have sent her many books about Iowa but she had a particular reaction to this one - as I knew she would. She said I was "the best of friends and the worst of friends" for sending this book - it helped her home-sickness but it made her cry. She pours over the book with her family.

I would recommend this to ANYONE with an Iowa connection - the photography is stunning and the memories it invokes are precious.

This book captures the essence of Iowa. The photography is incredible and the subject matter is fascinating. I'm wating for the next one !!!!

The photographs in this book are extraordinary - pictures that represent the real beauty of the state of Iowa. The landscape varies from the 500 foot bluffs over the Mississippi River, tall hills and deep valleys, beautiful autumn colors; to the expected rolling hills of Grant Wood and the big sky over the prairies of tall grass. There is so much variety in Iowa, which this book captures in color-saturated photographs. My only consideration is I wish that there was more description of the places which are pictured. Photographs are either identified briefly by their titles, or not at all.

As the ordinary man on the street, you'll be envious of Brett H. Mandel and his pilgrimage to America's greatest natural resource, the magical "Field of Dreams" built as a movie set in Dyersville, Iowa.

Everyone wants to go, but few of us (comparatively speaking) can afford to get up from our lives and leave our jobs and do as Brett H. Mandel did, for he stepped out onto the plate and felt like a kid again. You know how, in the movie, the famous line goes something like, "If you build it, they will come"? That's what happens here.

In our lives, friends come and go, lovers leave, children grow up and parents say goodbye, and we put our poor little cat to sleep, but baseball is forever.

The book is half like a nonfiction account of the making of the Kinsella book and the Costner movie. You will probably be surprised at how much passion all the actors put into filming the thing, not knowing at that time how much the movie would strike a responsive chord in the hearts of many who have seen it. Not only men, and not only Americans either. Yes, thousands of people travel from all over the world to see this imaginary field, and to have their photograph taken like the "children of the corn." And why? Mandel explores some of the reasons in the other part of the book, which is sort of like a pop psychology guide the kind of this Dr. Joyce Brothers might give you if she were a guy.

And then, Mandel gives you the other stories, the people who flock to Dyersville the way people flock to Lourdes in France, hoping for a cure, a cure not necessarily for disease but for a deeper angst, and they come away from Iowa feeling connected, part of the great hub of being. If you're looking for a gift for Dad, look no further. This is the jackpot. This is hardcore.

Mr. Mandel is able to strike a cord in the heart strings of his readers in this masterpiece. This book not only tells the true stories of pilgrimages to quaint Dyersville Iowa to explore the movie site for the movie "Field Of Dreams", but lets the reader know that sometimes feelings and dreams can come true in the most unlikeliness of places.

Although the book is documenting the reasons and emotions felt while visiting the Field of Dreams, you don't have to be a baseball fan. You don't have to be a fan of the movie. The only thing you need is a good seat, nice reading light and sit back and enjoy. Keep in mind, be prepared to have difficulty putting it down and keep some tissues handy.

Mr. Mandel thanks his wife in the acknowledgements, but he should also be thanked for bringing to life a bounty of feelings. "If you build it...he will come" so the movie says. Well, he wrote it you need to go get it. It is magic.

First the good news: if you loved the movie, you'll like the book. The bad news: with only 155 pages of actual text, you can't help but feel you've been rained-out in the top of the 6th - pricey. If you've bought the DVD and have watched the interviews, much of what's here is familiar ground. Still, there are interesting items - did you know Jimmy Stewart was the first pick to play Moonlight Graham? There are moving stories of the visitors, a good description of the surrounding area, but the book suffers from making too much of the psychology involved in the place, for example: "...religious historian Mircea Eliade explains that the history of religions is constituted by the great number of occasions when something shows itself as sacred...the sanctified can present itself as something wholly other than the secular ..." - you get the idea. Why try to explain the lure of the "Field" - some things are best left unexplained. The book is at its best when it stays with the stories of real people (and the trivia will interest movie fans).

I had Van Allen as a professor for General Astronomy in 70s. He was soft-spoken. He always had a friendly smile. He wore a lab coat so that he wouldn't get chalk dust on his suit. His freshman class was one of the best attended classes on campus. I didn't realize how good the class was at the time. He was not a dynamic speaker, but he was interesting. The exercises and experiments were great. He made science fun and interesting. He was voted by People's magazine that year to be one of the best professors in the United States.

What the book does is brings out what a very decent, very nice, very intelligent, very shrewd, extremely diligent and persistent guy can do in science. It wasn't by luck that one of Van Allen's experiments was on the first satellite put up by the US. There were basically two factions in the United States who were building rockets at that time. Van Allen made sure his experiment would fit either rocket. Van Allen was persistent. Once he earned his rep, he wielded his niceness and reputation like a tool to get his agenda done. He needed to do that because Apollo was taking over the space program and unmanned projects were falling by the wayside. Without Van Allen our knowledge of the planets and the solarsphere would be much poorer. Van Allen is the quintessential Iowan: nice and hard working.

The book writing style was okay. Some sections were dry. The section on the politics of getting the first satellite launched went on for pages. Another problem is a slight lack of drama. Van Allen was so successful at what he did because he planned so well. There was no failure from which to recover. Another problem was chronology. Sometimes the author followed the track of experiment through a decade and then jumped back. It was hard to keep with the flow some times. She used month and day for the date reference. With these experiments that went on for years, adding the year sometimes would have helped. In the later years, I wished she spent more time on his abilities as a teacher, mentor and administrator. I know it was difficult to keep notched physicists in Iowa. She does a good job of adding humorous little stories along the way.

Overall, the book is fascinating. The story of the his time in the navy, the rockoons and the experiments were stories I heard alluded too, but never in such good detail. The man is fascinating. Good guys sometimes do finish first. Anyone who is interested in the space program, the history of planetary physics, or even the state of Iowa, should read this book.

It was good timing for this book to be published near the 50th anniversary of the launching of Sputnik. It was Sputnik and the resulting American inferiority complex that made James Van Allen an instant, Time-cover celebrity. Van Allen was the physicist behind Explorer 1, America's first spacecraft, which discovered the Van Allen radiation belts. Of course it may be a measure of how distorted our perceptions were that even a radiation belt could become a symbol of national pride. To this day the only image that the public has of James Van Allen may be one photo of him and Wernher von Braun triumphantly holding up a model of Explorer 1 as if it was a football.

This book offers a wider historical perspective on James Van Allen and his scientific accomplishments. It shows him to be a quintessential Iowan, a friendly and modest man. It shows his Explorer 1 fame to be one chapter of a long and productive career as a pioneering astrophysicist, in the first generation of scientists to have use of the tools of the space age. Van Allen spent decades building satellites and instruments for spacecraft, most notably the Pioneers that were the first spacecraft to visit Jupiter and Saturn.

The greatest value of this book is that it adds to a seriously underpopulated shelf of books about 20th-century astronomers. It's almost a scandal how many important 20th-century astronomers have never had biographies written about them. Many of the biographies that do exist were written by fellow scientists who had little sense of storytelling or interpreting science. While there are plenty of biographies of space pioneers, most of them are astronauts and rocket builders. The scientists behind the space missions are much less visible. Fortunately the University of Iowa has respect for both physics and storytelling.

Ask young people today who James A. Van Allen was, and they probably don't even know that he was a discoverer of the Van Allen Radiation Belts surrounding our earth, and was the guiding force behind the rocket and saellite instrument packages that have explored Earth's near environment and later, our solar system and beyond. But his story far is more than that. From his humble beginnings in a small town in Iowa to international acclaim his story is that of a scientist whose motto was "It's a good day when you learn somemthing new." I was one of his physics advisees during the 1950s at the University of Iowa, and one of his teaching and research assistants. I remember him to be as good a role model as any physics student could want. He had not a trace of ego, was always supportive of students and diplomatinc in negotiating the minefields of his dealings with government agencies, as required for sustaining his research goals. Under the pressure of cold war politics and launch deadlines, he seemed to be an island of calm. His office door was always open, where he'd be found smoking his tradmark pipe (burning walnut-scented tobacco). Perhaps that pipe was a calming influence. When reminded of health effects of smoking, he replied that he had never heard of a pipe smoker who was convicted of murder.

This excelent, thorough, biography draws together a wealth of detail from Van Allen's notebooks, interviews with his associates, and media accounts to tell his story in an engaging manner, yet, I can attest, one that is true to the facts and details. We learn of his early work in developing proximity fuses during the WWII, which greatly increased the effectiveness of naval guns, his early "shoestring budget" high altitude studies of cosmic rays and the aurorae using military surplus rockets and instrumentation built by students at the University of Iowa. Throughought his research he emphasized getting the job done in the most direct and cost effective way. It will probably surprise most readers to learn that the payloads of Explorer I, IV and subsequent satellites and space probes were designed, built and tested by students working at minimum wage in the sub basement of the physics building, with no security. And all the data from them was analyzed by a small army of students (grateful for employment and experience) using mechanical calculators, graph paper, and slide rules. Many of these students went on to research jobs in the space program. He was an outspoken champion of robotic-instrumented space missions, considering manned spaceflight a collosal waste of money with little return on the investment. The results of the past 50 years, in my opinion, justify that position, when we compare the wealth of information instrumented space probes have yielded about the earth, solar system and (thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope) the rest of the universe. While the maned space programs have yielded--hardly anything of scientific value.

The author of this book, Abigail Foerstner, has managed the tricky task of telling a personal story and at the same time explaining the science clearly enough to give the reader an understanding and sense of its significance. This book is far more engrossing than one might expect from a scientific biography, and I suspect that it will appeal even to those who previously knew nothing about space science.