BOOK REPORTS—


Growing up bin Laden by Jean Sasson

Osama bin Laden’s first wife and fourth son join author Sasson in, for the first time ever, telling the inside story of life in the bin Laden family. This wife was married to bin Laden when she was 15 and bore eleven children by him. Altogether he had five wives and they bore him 20 children. The book is a revealing peek behind the usual secrecy surrounding this Muslim terrorist.


In the President’s Secret Service by Ronald Kessler

This is an interesting romp behind the scenes with a sometimes revealing look at the lives of the presidents they are sworn to protect. Surprisingly, the book also bashes the pathetic culture of the service’s management and their failure to support the troops where a staggering turn-over in personnel continues to this day. This was a quick read!


Going Rogue by Sarah Palin

Opponents including most of the liberal news media derided her as unprepared for national leadership—in spite of her being Governor of America’s largest state where she built a record as a reformer who cast aside politics-as-usual and pushed through changes other politicians only talk about. Pathetically, voters elected the opposing ticket led by a golden-throated hack with less administrative experience than the neighborhood kids who run lemonade stands. This is her memoir and it is a good one.


Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick

Subtitled “Ordinary lives in North Korea” the book pierces the shell of this “Orwellian” world where 1/5 of the population has died of starvation under the most totalitarian regime in the world today now presided over by Kim Jong-il. The author follows the lives of six North Koreans in a very moving story that will make you treasure the luck of your US birth.