JAMIE'S BOOKSHELF: New Volumes For Your Summer Reading List

Compiled by Jamie H. Vaught

--Hearts Touched With Fire: How Great Leaders Are Made by David Gergen (Simon & Schuster, $29) is a 311-page hardcover that reveals vital lessons on leadership the author has gained from his distinguished career as White House adviser to four presidents of different parties. Gergen presents an inspiring and practical guide for emerging young leaders as well as seasoned change makers, using examples from personal experience, history and recent headlines to shine a light on pathways forward.

--Rough Draft: A Memoir by Katy Tur (Atria/One Signal Publishers, $28) is a very personal memoir written by a television anchor about a life spent chasing the news. Tur discusses her eccentric and volatile California childhood, including her complicated relationship with a father who was magnetic, ambitious, and, at times, frightening. And she charts her own survival from local reporter to globe-trotting foreign correspondent, running from her past. In addition, she opens up for the first time about her struggles with burnout and impostor syndrome, her stumbles in the anchor chair, and her relationship with CBS Mornings anchor Tony Dokoupil (who quite possibly had a crazier childhood than she did).

--This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns (Simon & Schuster, $29.99) is a remarkable account of the 2020 election and the first year of the Biden presidency, exposing many shocking, behind-the-scenes details involving both political parties. Both authors write for the New York Times.

--The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor -- the Truth and the Turmoil by Tina Brown (Crown, $35) is an entertaining journey through the scandals, love affairs, power plays, and betrayals that have buffeted the monarchy over the last 25 years. The 570-page hardcover explores Prince Charles' determination to make Camila Parker Bowles his wife, the tension between William and Harry on "different paths," the ascendance of Kate Middleton, the downfall of Prince Andrew, and Harry and Meghan's surprising decision to step back as senior royals. The author also wrote bestselling The Diana Chronicles.

--Hostages No More: The Fight for Education Freedom and the Future of the American Child by Betsy DeVos (Center Street, $29) is written by President Trump's Secretary of Education who tells her side of the story after years of being attacked by the radical left for championing common-sense, conservative reforms in our schools. The 312-page hardcover includes DeVos' candid thoughts about working in the Trump administration and her battles over the years to put students first. The author also shares a roadmap for reclaiming education and securing the future of our kids.

--Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman (The University of Chicago Press, $18) is a new paperback (with a new foreword by Binyamin Appelbaum) that is actually a reprint of the classic book written by one of the most famous economists of all time. Friedman provides the definitive statement of an immensely influential economic philosophy—one in which competitive capitalism serves as both a device for achieving economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom. The volume was first published in 1962 and remains as one of the most significant works of economic theory ever written.

--Capital and Ideology by Thomas Piketty (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, $39.95) is a lengthy hardcover that follows up the author's bestselling Capital in the Twenty-First Century, challenging us to revolutionize how we think about politics, ideology and history. The author exposes the ideas that have sustained inequality for the past millennium, revealing why the shallow politics of right and left are failing us today and outlining the structure of a more fair economic system. The author is a well-known professor of economics in Paris, France.

--A Brief History of Equality by Thomas Piketty (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, $27.95) presents a short but sweeping and surprisingly optimistic history of human progress toward equality despite crises, disasters and backsliding. The author is popularly known as the leading economist of inequality in the world.

--The Double Bottom Line: How Compassionate Leaders Captivate Hearts and Deliver Results by Donato J. Tramuto with Tami Booth Corwin (Fast Company Press, $24.95) delivers a strong case that compassionate leadership is about better people and better business. The author interviewed nearly 40 successful leaders who practice this leadership model and reveals the best strategies from their playbooks.

--Lessons From The Edge: A Memoir by Marie Yovanovitch (Mariner Books, $30) is an inspiring hardcover by the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who spent her career advancing democracy in the post-Soviet world. The author, who retired from the State Department in 2020, electrified the nation by speaking truth to power during the first impeachment of President Trump.

--A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times by Mark T. Esper (William Morrow, $35) is a candid memoir about our extraordinary and dangerous times when the author served in the Trump administration as the Secretary of Defense as well as the Secretary of Army. The author, who has a Ph.D from George Washington University, graduated from West Point and spent 21 years in uniform, including a combat tour in the Gulf War.

--Every Man's Bible, NLT, Large Print by editors Stephen Arterburn and Dean Merrill (Tyndale House Publishers, $49.99) is designed to help every man develop a fuller, richer relationship with Jesus by understanding what the Scriptures have to say about the challenges men face. The 1,740-page volume features thousands of notes on topics just for men, including courage, temptation, image, leadership, and pride. It also contains profiles of great and not-so-great men of the Bible as well as advice from the pros, book introductions, one-sentence book summaries, charts, relationship notes, and a topical index.

--NRSV: Catholic Edition, Crimson Large Print Bible (Catholic Bible Press, $59.99) is one of the most readable editions of the Catholic Scriptures available. It is a complete Catholic Bible, including the Deuterocanonical books, with the official imprimatur of the Roman Catholic Church. Exceptionally readable with 10.5-point type size, this 1,472-page volume also contains full-color maps and features two double-sided satin ribbon markers so you can easily navigate and keep track of where you were reading. It also has reading plans guiding you through the entire Bible in a year.

Higher Education

--The Great Upheaval: Higher Education's Past, Present, and Uncertain Future by Arthur Levine and Scott Van Pelt (Johns Hopkins University Press, $29.95) examines postsecondary education to see how it has changed to become what it is today and how it might be refitted for an uncertain future.

--The Real World of College: What Higher Education Is and What It Can Be by Wendy Fischman and Howard Gardner (The MIT Press, $34.95) argues that higher education needs to do more in helping students think well and broadly, express themselves clearly, explore new areas, and be open to possible transformations. Both authors analyzed in-depth interviews with more than 2,000 students, alumni, faculty, administrators, parents, trustees, and others which were held at 10 institutions ranging from highly selective liberal arts colleges and to less-selective state schools, and they came up with interesting conclusions.

--The Attack on Higher Education: The Dissolution of the American University by Ronald G. Musto (Cambridge University Press, $24.99) points out that a powerful, anti-liberal narrative is severely damaging higher education's reputation among parents, voters and politicians despite its central role in American culture and economy. The author presents a new set of arguments to counter criticisms and rebuild the image of higher education.

--What Universities Owe Democracy by Ronald J. Daniels with Grant Shreve and Phillip Spector (Johns Hopkins University Press, $29.95) argues that -- at a moment when liberal democracy is endangered and more countries are heading toward autocracy -- it is critical for today's colleges and universities to reestablish their place in democracy. The 322-page hardcover offers bold prescriptions for how universities can act now to strengthen democracy. The main author is currently the president of Johns Hopkins University.

Fiction Reading

--The Chain by Adrian McKinty (Mulholland Books, $16.99 - paperback) is a thrilling novel about a mother, targeted by a dangerous group of masterminds, who must commit a crime to save her kidnapped daughter—or risk losing her forever. Wrote noted author Stephen King, "This nightmarish story is incredibly propulsive and original. You won't shake it for a long time."

--The Island by Adrian McKinty (Little, Brown and Company, $28 - hardcover) is another thrilling novel about a new family on a working vacation overseas who encountered a terrible accident which changed everything.