News and Media Books

I enjoyed this book because I have long believed that we live in a "Culture of Lies" and modern journalism is one of the powerful contributors to the broader phenomenon. However, I disagree with the reviewer that described the work as one of careful analysis and an argument against big business, and I thought the author missed a far larger issue...

Weaver's arguments for the failure of modern journalism are persuasive, for sure, and he provides excellent historical context for how journalism has evolved from an objective, subscriber-driven presentation of news to the advertising-driven, editorialized news we have today (written in a style that pretends to objectivity but is anything but). However, Weaver's prescriptions reminded me of political platitudes in presenting a long list of "we shoulds" without a strong argument for why any of it is likely to happen or a persuasive road map of how to make it happen.

Weaver describes himself as a classical liberal, so one would not assume that he would impose change upon journalism through regulation, but why corporations would voluntarily switch their business models and change their editorial policies at the risk of making their products more boring just escapes me. More importantly, Weaver's book ignores (in his defense, probably on purpose) the other side of the "Culture of Lying" problem: why the demand for entertainment seems to exceed the demand for truth.

I would argue that we all know that our journalists impose their opinions upon the news without declaring their biases, just as we expect our politicians and our corporate leaders to spin information to their advantage without any disclaimers. Even in polite cocktail conversation, we have all become masters of reducing complex issues down to urbane soundbites and ascerbic witticisms--because there appears to be only one thing more criminal today than shading the truth and that is, apparently, to be boring. The more clever the soundbite, the more outrageous the headline, the more ridiculous the political platitude, the more we like it and the more life an idea takes on. Whether the underlying presumption is true or not is rarely challenged, in real-time, because (a) we don't have time, (b) to do so would destroy the rhythm of the conversation, or (c) we are so cynical that we don't assume anyone is telling the whole truth anyway and therefore don't care one way or the other.

Weaver's book is good because he provides excellent insider insight into how the news is determined and presented, but he fails to address why we all just eat it up anyway. The implication by omission is that the public is stupid (or tragically innocent) and therefore it is up to journalism to reform itself out of the goodness of its heart and for the betterment of humankind (because Weaver would not likely support coerced change). I don't think this is likely.

The more fundamental question would have been WHY we all choose entertainment over truth as the chief value we seek from journalism. With the internet and cable-driven proliferation of news sources and dilution of "brand integrity" that used to help us separate propaganda from truth, what can we do to put a stake in the culture of lies other than to become (and teach our children to become) better critical thinkers? Weaver's book describes a sad phenonemon from an entertaining, insider's point of view--but his analysis covers only the supply side of bad journalism.

In my opinion, this book starts strong and ends kind of weak, but it is definitely worth reading for anyone who wants some inside scoop on how the news really works. Buy this book.

Paul Weaver uses rich ethnographic material and careful analysis to craft another clear picture of how big business fails America - news is largely a "front stage performance" (to borrow a phrase from Irving Goffman) that reflects little of what is actually going on. This excellent piece of participant observation research is equally revealing of the Corporate system of control based on editocracy, worker selection and socialization.

Paul Weaver's "Suicidal Corporation" (1988) was the first ethnography of the rhetoric of corporations that usurps the language of free market economics in order to disguise the fact that they are in reality creations of the state, and as such, behave just as bureaucratically as their parent; such is the nature of government. Further, a government-generated competitive business cycle is not a free market. We are being duped, and Weaver knows it.

Weaver's "News and the Culture of Lying" is a further investigation into why corporations pay lip service to free enterprise but practice big government, and how they pull that off.

Both of Weaver's books will interest any student of sociology or anthropology. His ethnographic case studies are good examples of doing the ethnography of corporations.

Lastly, Weaver's books deserve a place on everyone's shelf alongside George Orwell's "1984" and a DVD of "Fahrenheit 451".

An excellent, tell-it-like-is book about the mass media. It didn't receive nearly enough attention from reviewers or the general public. A couple of years ago, I planned on requiring my journalism students to read it but then found out it had just gone out of print. It should be reprinted.

An excellent, tell-it-like-is book about the mass media. It didn't receive nearly enough attention from reviewers or the general public. A couple of years ago, I planned on requiring my journalism students to read it but then found out it had just gone out of print. It should be reprinted.

The book Nilda was an excellent book that touched right through to me. The vivid descriptions of each and every scene in the book was very helpful to the reader to understand the book better and to feel that you are really inside the story. The way Nicholasa Mohr described the little Puerto Rican girl Nilda's feelings was very interesting, Nicolasa went straight to the little girl's heart and told everything. Overall, this is an exceptional story about hardship and discrimination that could be faced by everyday people.

Finally, I get to read a young adult coming-of-age book that doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't! It isn't a grandiose book of romance and drugs and wonder, with the teenager becoming a hero or tragic hero. It's just a simple story of a poor New York born Puerto Rican girl hitting her adolescence during WWII, a story of love, pain, fear, discrimination, poverty, abuse, narrow-minded immigrants, relationship problems, puberty, desire for upward mobility - but none of it told in the sensational or overly dramatic way of so many young adult books. It's simple, to the point, discreet. It reminds me of that statement some famous movie director said about another director: "He showed us more with a closed door than most directors do with an open zipper." It was a book I could enjoy. It didn't have a strong plot, but it had powerful flesh-and-blood character with hearts and desires. I would say that the main character struck me as depressed, and actually, you might say most or all of the people in the book - or perhaps the culture at the time - walked around in a cloud of low-level depression.

Although I gave the book five stars, it wasn't the kind of book that sets stars blazing in the sky. It was just a no-nonsense and no-frills portrayal of a time, a place, and a culture... I would whole-heartedly recommend it.

Nilda, written by Nicholasa Mohr is set in the early 1940's. It details the life of a little Puerto Rican girl who lives in a poor neighborhood in New York City that she she calls the "Barrio". Nilda deals with many of life's problems including racism, death, relationships and many more. Race is a fairly large issue for Nilda. Nilda learns and matures greatly throughout this book. Travel through the life and eyes of Nilda as she tries to deal with her crazy family. Her family includes her step dad Emilio, her mother Lydia, her great Aunt Delia, her oldest brother Jimmy, Victor, Paul, and finally Frankie. Nilda is the youngest. Nicholasa's writingis very detailed without being overly specific. Nicholasa uses simple words and phrases to make the reader understand, yet the images she portrays are unbelievabe. The imagination of a young mind such as Nilda made this book a refreshing read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who likes biographies.

N. Mohr's story of a young girl Puerto Rican girl growing up in New York, provides a poignant, often funny look at some of the issues faced by Boricuas living in the U.S. Issues such as race, religion, and machismo are all treated in the work. In fact, one of the distinguishing characteristics of this book is the manner in which such potentially sensitive issues are treated.

Ken Cole's book illustrates with simplicity how our children can look within themselves to find and to make good news. The story depicts a young boy walking alone to the local barbershop to get his haircut. On his way he notices all things negative. After his interaction with the barbershop clientele, he leaves and notices all of the positive things around him. The story hits home for many of our inner city youth. However we can, we have to remind them that there is good news out there. We have to make sure that they know how to see it and how to find it. Cole's book is an excellent tool to use to introduce our youth to finding the "Good News" everywhere.

Given as a gift to me, I loved the photos and story, but at age 5 this has become my son's favorite book & his bedtime must read.

The first time I read this book, I was struck by the simple story line. A haircut for this little boy represents a major step towards growing up. The book effectively delivers that message that there is hope in every situation. I shared this book with my seven year old son, who also enjoyed the book. The pictures are almost surreal by transitioning from black and white photos in the beginning to a colorized version when the little boy's attitude changes. I would strongly recommend adding this book to any child's collection.

This powerfully simple illustration teaches children to look at the positive and more importantly, look within themselves for "good news".
Our non-profit organization will be ordering 300 for our kids so that they can see that they are "good news" too!

As we watch the reruns of the news, it's almost surreal, how the run up to the Iraq invasion and the far reaching Patriot Act had such very little scrutiny. Since that time there have been a number of popular treatments of this phenomenon. This is the first one I've seen that is written and documented in a more academic style.

The author's background in psychology shows in that she spends a lot of time on group think, fear of criticism and intimidation. She covers all the other areas, such as corporate consolidation and how the bureaucracy itself was used to orchestrate unified messages.

The Sack of Rome: How a Beautiful European Country with a Fabled History and a Storied Culture Was Taken Over by a Man Named Silvio Berlusconi tells a similar tale of the power of coordinating a media message. In the case of Berlusconi, the media mogul and the government fully join and the effect on democracy is equally negative. Interestingly, the only news to break through the propaganda in Italy is a news parody.

I would expect more works of this time will emerge, emphasizing different aspects of this problem or discussing comparative studies. Hopefully some will be devoted to remedies.

[...]Bungling the WMD Story

No Questions Asked: News Coverage Since 9/11
By Lisa Finnegan
[...]

By Carl Sessions Stepp

Carl Sessions Stepp (cstepp@jmail.umd.edu), AJR's senior editor, teaches at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.
Here's an idea: Turn a psychologist loose on journalists.

Lisa Finnegan is a former newspaper and magazine writer who earned a psychology degree and now studies "the psychology of terrorism and its impact on the media." Here, she analyzes why the U.S. press became so meek after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Many others have documented the press' letdown in fulfilling its adversarial role after 9/11. Seeing the problem is easy. Explaining it is harder (see Books, August/September). So Finnegan's rather studious approach, drawing on individual and group psychology, holds promise for not only understanding the failures but pointing toward reforms.

Obviously, whatever went wrong has potentially staggering costs: the top terrorist still on the loose, a war spun out of control and a civil liberties crisis at home. Finnegan criticizes Congress and the public itself, among others, but she firmly casts central blame onto the media.

Why did journalists, who at least in their own imaginations form a fearless and independent Fourth Estate of relentless truth seekers, buckle so easily? How did an administration that couldn't seem to accomplish much else tame these watchdogs into marginalized yappers?

Finnegan's most provocative proposition is that press docility stemmed from a calculation of self-interest. "American journalists determined that in the highly charged environment that followed the 9/11 attacks, believing the administration's claims and keeping their questions in check best served their interests," she says. "To do otherwise could have led to ostracism by the administration and the general public, and possible harm to their careers."

Their motives? Profit and prizes, Finnegan says. In the run-up to the war, for instance, she charges that the media "highlighted alarmist viewpoints, minimized alternative perspectives, convinced the American public that the need to go to war in Iraq was urgent, and then gathered their Pulitzers and justified their work."

Unfortunately, Finnegan doesn't back this with evidence. She does show examples of media failure, and quotes journalists who felt intimidated. But she makes no substantial case that their submissiveness was intentional, and none that it was driven by a Pulitzer quest.

If her look at material motives rings false, however, her psychological analysis seems more convincing. It starts with the simple power of patriotism. After 9/11, she writes, "journalists were shaken..they were focused on the fact that the United States was vulnerable, and deemed everything else unimportant." So they didn't probe the breakdowns that let the attacks take place, scrutinize the administration's response or effectively resist its moves to control information and divert attention. Some even wore lapel flag pins.

The press hardly squeaked when the government tried to turn the debate into what President Bush called "a black-and-white choice with no grays." Or when his spokesman Ari Fleischer warned, "All Americans..need to watch what they say." Or when Attorney General John Ashcroft complained, about those who questioned the Patriot Act, "Your tactics only aid terrorists."

Finnegan also believes many reporters were personally "traumatized." She quotes a New York photographer as saying that "the most jarring thing was seeing myself and my colleagues just fall apart on the job."

Intimidated and fearful, some journalists turned to government for safety and reassurance. Finnegan says this may have been especially true among the more than 600 journalists embedded with troops. That led, she says, to becoming overprotective of authorities and slow to chase bombing errors, torture and policy failures.

More darkly, she suggests a U.S. policy of "targeting journalists," especially those who tried to operate outside the official embedding system. After several international journalists were killed by U.S. forces, a Pentagon spokesperson warned against independent reporting. "We are saying it is not a safe place; you should not be there." (See "Close to the Action," May 2003.)

Overall, Finnegan believes, the press lapsed obediently into innocuous "groupthink." "During times of uncertainty," she contends, "reporters tend to be more subservient than objective."

This part of Finnegan's analysis rings truer: a press at first respectful in the face of tragedy, then unduly passive under the pounding of hardball politics and propaganda.

If this is human nature, as Finnegan suggests, then is there a cure? At least, she says, you can "minimize your vulnerability to such manipulation." Her suggestions boil down to detachment and determination: Ask hard questions, pursue documentation, seek comments outside the party line and follow up on loose ends and claims. It seems like pretty good psychology: Just use your head.

NO QUESTIONS ASKED: NEWS COVERAGE SINCE 9/11 surveys the American media and its manipulation post-9/11, considering how the facts were misunderstood by the American public due to the lack of the right questions from reporters, and pinpointing mistruths about the war in Iraq and the nature of the threat of world terrorism. An eye-opening survey of democratic process and news reporting emerges which holds particular impact and importance for any college-level library strong in media studies.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Even before 9/11, I had been increasingly disturbed by the disconnection between the reporting of news in the USA and what I receive via my satellite connection from France, Germany and elsewhere. In the post 9/11 world, the gap in factual reporting and astute interpretation between US media and much of the rest of the world became positively bizarre. What could explain this cultural shift in news reporting, this apparent decay of the US Fourth Estate?

Lisa Finnegan has squarely addressed my bewilderment in her new book, No Questions Asked, itself an excellent example of reportage. The title says it all. In the fallout from 9/11 reporters and news analysts stopped asking questions. Better to say, they stopped asking hard questions, they stopped asking follow-up questions, they stopped asking embarrassing questions.

Why? Finnegan cites and documents the reasons and the trends.

Patriotism and groupthink. US Americans and their news reporters like much of the rest of the population were emotionally overwhelmed by the events of 9/11. They lost it, so to speak when it came to examining the causes, hard facts and political motivations surrounding this unheard of attack on the US homeland. Once lost, independence of perspective was next to impossible to regain. A quagmire of unqualified patriotism and groupthink suffocated independant thinking and inquiry. Under stress, the culture had shifted to blind survival values. Dissent, when not attacked as treason, was dismissed or omitted was slightly reported and relegated to the back pages. The media willingly and even eagerly accepted direction from the government on what to write and not write. Being the government's mouthpiece was suddenly a virtuous thing to do.

Growing media monopoly. The culture of newsmaking and news selling had been in a process of transformation and consolidation. Media giants and moguls left little room for independent thinking when the emphasis is on profits in an enviornment of political, competitive and advertising pressures. Embarrassing questions sap power and cost money, as they often inquire into power and money. Cost cutting reduces time and resources for free and first hand investigation. Corporate and editorial policies are aligned to sell what they think people want to hear. They must bow to public opinion and so it is extremely important that they create it favorable to themselves. Post 9/11 reporting became a tug of war between broadcasting insecurity and promising security in the form of clear, easy answers. It delivered the poison and gave the recipe for the antidote in the same paragraph.

Gentrification of the newsroom. Finnegan also shows how news reporters themselves had changed culturally and socially. Through the first half of the 20th Century, US news reporters seemed to largely stem from the US working classes, with strong connections to the mainstream of the time, and possessed of considerable street sense. They smelled and instinctively distrusted political and corporate interests. Today many successful college educated writers and anchors have moved into upper class wealth and have few if any first hand experiences of the realities they could and should in many instances be reporting.

Tailor made news. Add to this, the "selling of the war." Vast sums of public money have been used to hire public relations firms and professionals to not only spin the political priorities of the Bush administration but to actually write the news reports and articles to be distributed to media both home and abroad.

Sacrificing objectivity for access. Few of us with outside perspectives could resist the temptation to replace "embedded" with "in bed with" when discussing the construction of war reporting in Afghanistan and Iraq. Reporters all but became part of the US military itself, while "unilaterals," independently moving reporters were excluded and even fired upon by US forces. US Americans got to see a sanitized version of the war, which, as Finnegan points out in a magnificent metaphor, amounted to "seeing the war through a soda straw." Foreign media and direct footage were carefully filtered and censored and the costs of the war in US and other casualties were deemed uninteresting. On the political scene access to administration news conferences was restricted to those who asked safe questions--troublemakers lost their credentials and were isolated from news sources. Language is continually reinvented to mask unpleasant realities. Collateral damage, insurgent, and the like, cover the nakedness of civilian gore and resistence.

The power of Finnegan's analysis of the recent history, this cultural shift in media and news reporting, could perhaps be written off by some as a rant from the left. However, the author has carefully let the newspeople on all sides speak for themselves. The book is packed with quotations and reflections on the part of people who are household names in the USA: Rather, Chung, Maher. Blitzer, Amanpour, and numerous others. Despite the clear evidence of dereliction of the duty to ask questions, many are still likely to excuse themselves or blame other forces for their temerity and seduction than to apologize and address the issues. The core US value of "speaking up" here as elsewhere seems to be replaced by CYA.

In time, reality began to seep through the cracks. No WMDs, lots of real torture, flouting of the Geneva Convention, gutted constitutional rights, and above all the callous response to Katrina's victims are starting to bring home the terrible lack of investigative mettle and the ability of the both the USA as a nation and its media to see and criticize themselves.Will this lesson be taught and learned and make a difference? Finnegan offers steps back to honesty, responsibility and sanity, but how do you fix a broken mirror...?

This book has everything you need to get started in the industry! Nancy gives a thorough overview of all aspects of reporting, (including which types of reporters need education and experience and which just need personality) what employers are looking for and even tells you where to get camera-friendly makeup! A must-read for any newbie wondering "where do I go from here"? Nancy will definitely see me in her class!

Nancy has given the interviewer the real inside track to this process. Although it can be a very stressful set of events, Nancy helps take off a lot of the edge. The book is written with care and good humor, and would be a real asset to all people who interview, and employers alike. It's concise and focused on key aspects of interviewing , without the fluff. The writing style is down-to-earth and personalized as if Reardon is coaching and encouraging the reader through the process of interviewing. The tone is not pretentious as I've observed in other books of a similar nature. The chapters are well-organized and build upon each other.

After reading "On Camera", by Nancy Reardon and Tom Flynn, I want to report this is the first time I have seen so many anchoring and reporting lessons and learning techniques in such a consise and easy to follow format. Not only was the book itself enlightinging but the added DVD gives real, honest and practical advice which anyone will come away from with more basic and professional skills.
This new book should be a "must read" for anyone studying "On Camera" television or video reporting, from the student to the still learning reporter. And aren't we all still learning.
Hightly recommended.
Jackson M

Nobody can tell it to you like an insider, and Nan Reardon is all that. This book gave me many more practical tips than I expected (and now I can't live without this book) -- but, also, the book is supportive and inspiring, too. It's a keeper. I'm not lending it out, buy your own!

ISBN 0307001040 - Eugene Bradley Coco and illustrator Ron Dias, who teamed up on Pinocchio (A Little Golden Book), take on another classic with the adaptation of Disney's Peter Pan. This time they're slightly less successful, as they fall into what seems like a pattern with these books, trying to tell too much in too few pages and leaving out important details in the process. The illustrations, however, are fantastic.

Wendy, John and Michael Darling are in the nursery on the eve of Wendy's growing up when Peter Pan appears, looking for his shadow. When he hears that Wendy will be leaving the nursery to grow up tomorrow, he offers to whisk them away to Never Land. The children go with Peter and enjoy themselves until Peter sees that Captain Hook has kidnapped Tiger Lily. He rescues her, but Hook then captures Tinkerbell, forcing her to tell him where Peter and the Lost Boys can be found. Hook captures all of them, including the Darlings, and it's up to Peter and Tinkerbell to save them!

Coco jumps right into the story, which seems to assume that the reader already knows something about it. Peter's distress that there will be no more stories makes no sense, because there hadn't been a story yet. It's a small thing for those who know the whole story, and kids might not notice because they're kids, but the book has an incomplete feel to it. Tinkerbell's jealousy of Wendy, for example, is never mentioned. I think young children will love the story, regardless, but for fans of the original, it falls a bit short.

- AnnaLovesBooks

The Book Peter Pan is probable my favorite childrens book of all. Peter Pan is about a young boy named, of course, Peter Pan. Peter lives in a place far away called Neverland. In Neverland no one there can get older. The only adults in Neverland happen to be pirates, and although Peter is just a boy all of the pirates are scared of him because he is the only person who can fly. The book is jam packed with adventure, Peter even has a friend fairy. Peter Pan also has friends called the lost boys. This book is a definate must get book for your child. I recommend this book to all ages, because every kid needs Peter Pan

If kids like Peter Pan, then this is a book for them. With illustrations and the vocabulary the kids can understand, this book provides an easy way for the kids to understand the story. It is a must for any children's book collection.

A wonderful version of this classic Walt Disney story! With beautiful illustrations, it is the perfect addition to your book collection for your children.

the book excellently discusses PS 4 from a pro's perspective. it delves on photography. however, i was disappointed when i saw tht it barely touched on effects. photos and color and all that, yes. hi-tech stuff, no.

This book teaches photographers which of Photoshops many features are most useful for their specific photographic needs. The lessons are clear and concise, and a CD is included which has all the files the authors created and use in the text.

If you know Ansel Adams' Zone System you'll feel comfortable here since they use this as a framework in some of the lessons.

After working through the entire book I feel my knowledge of Photoshop has increased several fold.

There are a lot of Photoshop books out there, but few are oriented toward the serious photographer who uses this program. P4A is written especially for photographers, and it is a good tutorial book. Highly recommended.

As a tech editor for New Riders Press, I receive many computer books to use as reference for my assignments. I thought _Photoshop 4 Artistry_ was by far the best of all the Photoshop books I reviewed, and I am now using it as the required text for an advanced digital imaging class that I teach at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto, Canada.

The Power of Now is wonderfully written. Susan has provided tools for clearing away the thoughts and patterns that no longer serve you and to fully become aware of how powerful you truly are! I recommend this book to anyone who wants to begin to change their thinking and for the advanced souls who want to be reminded how powerful they really are.

Susan Barnes has the remarkable ability to, not only, simplify the definition of attraction but show the reader exactly what to do to receive the things they're looking for.

I bought five books and gift them to people who run a pattern of attracting the wrong men, wrong careers and wrong "friendships" over and over.

Once they delve into "The Power of Net Magic" I'm certain their lives will take an extraordinary turn for the better. They'll see that by merely focusing and becoming aware of Susan's techniques is only the beginning to their journey to bliss.Undercover Angel

This is am amazing book that reminds us of how powerful our thoughts and minds can be. I have read this book twice and will most likely read it again.
Susan Barnes teaches us how to incoporate more positive thoughts and to reap the results, not only in relationships with others but in our relationships with ourselves.
Good read.

The Power of Net Magic is so inspirational and empowering, is it a must-read for everyone! It totally changed my life, and I know it will change yours, too. :0)

I teach art so I like to order books that introduce or reinforce art concepts. This book introduces a few colors and tells how to make them, however there's not pattern in the colors the author has chosen. The story, however, is sweet and the illustrations are bright, happy and colorful. I would highly recommend it for personal reading with a child, but not instruction.

I am a Lutheran church librarian in Florida who bought this book for our church library. It is colorful and well-written. I like the feeling of neighborliness expressed in this book. So often we ignore our neighbors in our busy lives, but here, neighbors are seen as valuable, colorful people who have different talents and skills. A child loves art. A blind man loves music. The two share and appreciate one another's talents. How nice for children to read about brotherhood and togetherness. A lovely book which is simple but intriguing!

We have a blind member of our church and this book helps the kids in our congregation realize that people can have different traits, gifts and challenges, yet we all have the same feelings, hopes, dreams and wishes. Thank you to Maria Diaz Strom.

This is a beautiful book. The words and images are simple and strong. There is no sappiness or "political correctness" about these people. The story feels natural, it rings true in a beautiful, effortless manner. The characters are strong in themselves and there is no TV-movie sentimentality. This is great reading and looking for all ages.

I read this book to my son's first grade class and the kids loved it! The story and the art are vivid and captivating, but the best part was the discussion we had afterward. The kids had lots of ideas about how a blind person could experience color. It was a really special book to share. I highly recommend it.

Twelve-year-old Alex O'Connell, the son of Rick and Evelyn from the movie The Mummy, who are now married, is living in Egypt in the year 1937. He wants to grow up and be a member of Medjai, who work to keep the dark forces from being reawakened. But before he can be a Medjai, he must prove himself. When he notices some shifty-looking Nazi soldiers, he decides to follow them to discover what they are up to. What he discovers blows him away. The Germans have made a deal with the Scorpion King - the evil creature Alex thought his father destroyed for good four years ago. In exchange for a human soul, the Scorpion King's master, Anubis - the God of the Dead - will allow the Nazis to rule to world for a thousand years. Now, it's up to Alex, along with a girl named Rachel who has her own reasons for hating the Nazis, to stop this evil bargain before it's too late. This was a thrilling read for fans of the movie The Mummy and was based on characters from the soon-to-be released movie sequel titled The Mummy Returns.

Twelve-year-old Alex O'Connell, the son of Rick and Evelyn from the movie The Mummy, who are now married, is living in Egypt in the year 1937. He wants to grow up and be a member of Medjai, who work to keep the dark forces from being reawakened. But before he can be a Medjai, he must prove himself. When he notices some shifty-looking Nazi soldiers, he decides to follow them to discover what they are up to. What he discovers blows him away. The Germans have made a deal with the Scorpion King - the evil creature Alex thought his father destroyed for good four years ago. In exchange for a human soul, the Scorpion King's master, Anubis - the God of the Dead - will allow the Nazis to rule to world for a thousand years. Now, it's up to Alex, along with a girl named Rachel who has her own reasons for hating the Nazis, to stop this evil bargain before it's too late. This was a thrilling read for fans of the movie The Mummy and was based on characters from the soon-to-be released movie sequel titled The Mummy Returns.

Alex is 12 and wants to be a Med-jai. Ardeth Bay thinks it's time to send Alex on his "lone walk". But Alex doesn't expect the Scorpion King to come back wanting revenge and Alex's only help is a 13 year old girl.

Even though he's had plenty of dangerous adventures recently, twelve-year-old Alex O'Connell thought a cruise down the Nile to find the lost temple of Osiris would be relatively safe. But the journey becomes dangerous when kidnappers through Alex overboard. He's about to be devoured by crocodiles when he finds an amulet. In his mind, he wishes he would swim faster than the crocodiles, and suddenly, he is. Returning to Cairo, he shows the amulet to his friends Matt and Rachel. They discover that the amulet will grant any wish thought or spoken by the one who holds it. They also discover that an evil sorcerer is imprisoned in the amulet, and will be released if anyone uses it to make three wishes. They also discover that their enemy Ungricht wants the amulet. Alex, Matt, and Rachel have to escape Ungricht and find a way to destroy the amulet without releasing the sorcerer. This thrilling book will be enjoyed by all readers who liked the first two Mummy Chronicles books.