BOOK REVIEWS

State Missionary Rick Lance is executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.

Other Recent Blog Entries:

A Sincere and Respectful Call for A Great Commandment Renewal
Thursday, June 24, 2010
As I have said earlier, I will do my best not to let disagreements define our relationships. I am praying that The Great Commandment Renewal will begin in me!

VBS Is a Blessing!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
As a pastor, I always felt that VBS was to be a major commitment on my part. I wanted to be in town, involved and engaged in the efforts of impacting the lives of children, youth and adults. It was not a chore for me, but rather it was a joy!

Taking the 'Stew' Out of Stewardship
Thursday, May 27, 2010
At first, I thought I had hurt his feelings. I mean this was a serious project, and maybe I was being a little too cute for my own good.

BOOK REVIEWS:
Books for the Summer

Twenty years ago, I was in between flights and strolling through an airport when I spotted a paperbook stand. The first glimpse at the stand led me to make a purchase of a book by Kevin Leman titled The Birth Order Book: Why You Are the Way You Are. Leman is a Christian psychologist who is highly influenced by the more famous James Dobson of Focus on the Family.

His works are well read, but perhaps none has equaled the readership of The Birth Order Book. His more recent work, What Your Childhood Memories Say About You -- And What You Can Do about It, is a very interesting read as well. The thesis is evident in the outset of the book. Your childhood memories continue to have powerful impact on your life, even when you are not conscious of them.

Some may dismiss this concept as another form of psycho-babble, but there may be some helpful encouragement for those who struggle with the recollections of their childhood. “Be your own shrink,” says Kevin Leman.

Education of a Wandering Man was published just after the death of the famous western writer, Louis L’Amour. In essence, the book is his autobiography. L’Amour is best known for his more than one hundred works of fiction. If you are a L’Amour fan, you find the seeds for the ideas of his stories in his life experiences. Leaving home after dropping out of school in the eighth grade, L’Amour literally traveled the world. Additionally, he was a voracious reader consuming classic works of literature in such voluminous numbers that a Ph.D. in world literature would be impressed.

The reading of Education of a Wandering Man is a real treat for a general audience and especially for those who enjoy the Western genre. I have admitted that sometimes I buy a book simply because of the title.

Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear, written by political and corporate consultant Frank Luntz, is one such book. I love the title, and I couldn’t resist the urge to splurge on buying the book. As a communicator, I am obviously interested in word usage and communication theories. Luntz has used his brilliant mind and meticulous research to develop a lexicon of words that work and also words that don’t work. The surprise is found in discovering the power of which words really work. The author’s main message is often repeated throughout the book. “It’s not what you say, it’s what they hear” that matters.

At first, one could get the impression that Luntz is being simply manipulative, but a closer look at the book can change your mind rather swiftly. Luntz is not a manipulator but a communicator. Case studies of situations in business and politics where words were used well and appropriately permeate the content of the book.

Also, there are examples of what not to do and say, which is equally helpful. There are some valuable insights for ministers and lay people found in Words That Work. It is not written from the Christian perspective, but the book does offer an opportunity for Christians to learn from a wordsmith who has been successful in the secular world.

This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War is not just another history book describing the conflict we know today as the Civil War. Author and educator Drew Gilpin Faust, current president of Harvard University, used her analytical and storytelling skills to reveal what, up until now, was a silent message about how the divided nation dealt with the death of so many of its people.

Conservative estimates are in the range of 620,000 fatalities during the four years of war which could not have been foreseen by even the most astute of learned people. Most of the residents of both the North and South thought the war would be over in weeks or perhaps months. They envisioned a noble battle, which would be all but bloodless. In reality, the country lost more soldiers in the Civil War than all the conflicts from the Revolutionary War to the Gulf War.

What was to happen to all these casualties? How were they treated by those who survived and what effects did their deaths have on those who saw the end of the battles and of the war itself? The modern-day cemetery movement began during the Civil War. Gettysburg is just one famous reminder of this fact.

The Civil War also transformed the way the nation prepared for the deaths of its soldiers in future wars. There would be every effort to identify and to inter the bodies as quickly as possible. Faust followed the carnage of the war in all its aspects. Profound yet clear in writing style, she has done a service to the recorded history of this seminal period in America’s past. She proved Walt Whitman wrong. The real war did get into the history books, at least in this one.