Jason Elliot

Jason Elliot first published his memoir An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan in 1999, before 9/11 and before the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, which has now stretched on for 10 years. As he describes in the afterword to the 2011 edition, and in the interview below, some things have changed and much has stayed the same since he first visited the country and traveled with the mujaheddin during the Soviet occupation. Elliot is also the author of Mirrors of the Unseen: Journeys in Iran.

1)      How do you think your experience traveling with the mujaheddin affected the way you view conflicts around the world?

While you are still young enough to enjoy it, the thrill of danger is paradoxicaly life-enhancing: being close to death also brings you closer to life and its richness. To this there is an almost irresistable allure. But later on, once you have witnessed a conflict from different sides, you can never again be quite so convinced by the rhetoric used on either side to justify or even promote it. However noble or worthy the motives for war are made to sound, you have seen where the words really end; in dust and bloodshed and ruined lives, while the people who give the orders watch from a safe distance. Read more…

There are over 23 million veterans living in the United States (source: Department of Veterans Affairs), and around 1.4 million active members of the U.S. armed forces (source: Department of Defense). Clearly, the experiences of military personnel reflect a significant portion of the story of our country — past, present and future.

While there are many books in which veterans recount their combat experiences, from Philip Caputo’s classic Vietnam memoir, A Rumor of War, to novels like All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and Norman Mailer’s gritty The Naked and the Dead, as well as a number of more recent accounts by Iraq war vets — today I want to focus on books that convey the experiences of returning veterans. I want to take a look at stories about what it’s like to return to ordinary, everyday life after witnessing — and participating in — the horrors of war. Read more…

Photo by Gage Skidmore, made available through a creative commons license.

Is Herman Cain’s campaign suffering from allegations that he made some unwelcome sexual suggestions to his employees? The Washington Post reports that the scandal hasn’t hurt his poll numbers. Cain, meanwhile, is blaming everyone he can, including opponent Rick Perry.

Sex scandals have ended many careers, while other politicians have survived practically unscathed.  With so many cases of politicians making poor or harmful sexual decisions, it can be hard to keep track—but these books can help.

Start by testing your knowledge with Paul Slansky’s The Little Quiz Book of Big Political Sex Scandals. The book covers all the major scandals of the last fifty years, down to the salacious and often depressing details. Read more…

Photo by Flickr user César Rincón, made available through a creative commons license

As of Monday, October 31, the United Nations estimates that 7 billion people now share the Earth. Is 7 billion too many? What will the future hold for the 7 billionth child—and the rest of us on this ever more crowded planet?

It’s impossible to know for sure who that 7 billionth baby will be. But if you could meet that child, what would you hope that he or she would read? That’s the question we asked our followers on Facebook and Twitter. And you responded!

A couple of you suggested a whole lifetime of books to read. Read more…

Dr. Keith Ablow (Photo by Meg Manion Silliker)

Here at The Daily Reader, we look for books that tell us the whole story when newspapers leave us wanting more. Inside the Mind of Casey Anthony: A Psychological Portrait does just that. When Casey Anthony was acquitted in July of the murder of her daughter Caylee, many of us were left trying to understand what really happened and who this infamous woman really was. Author Keith Ablow, M.D., a board certified forensic psychiatrist, distills thousands of documents and one-on-one interviews into a riveting portrait of the troubled young woman.

Dr. Ablow was the host of The Dr. Keith Ablow Show and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, Good Morning America, 20/20 and The O’Reilly Factor, and is the on-air psychiatry contributor for Fox News. Inside the Mind of Casey Anthony comes out later this month. Read more…