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On the fast track

During its 50-year history, NASCAR has metamorphosed from dirt track, Saturday night, fairgrounds racing into a national spectator sport. It has become a very big business, but it has not lost its rural, southern roots. A panel of NASCAR stalwarts assembled a list of stock car racing's 50 best (and often most colorful) drivers, representing each of the five decades of NASCAR's history. With NASCAR 50 Greatest Drivers, writers Bill Center and Bob Moore provide a thumbnail history of each driver and his era, along with a sidebar of vital statistics and a collage of photographs -- from sepia-toned black and whites from the early years to bold color shots of today. Yesteryear's heroes such as Junior Johnson and Fireball Roberts, current superstars like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, and the timeless King, Richard Petty -- they're all here, and they're all legends. This is a book that any NASCAR fan would be happy to own.

-James Grinnell


A real country Christmas

Philip Lee Williams freezes an idyllic moment in time with a nostalgic flair that could rival a Norman Rockwell print. The Silent Stars Go By: A True Christmas Story relates a southern, boy's-eye view of the simple joys of a country Christmas. Set in Madison, Georgia, 1959, this charming memoir speaks of a time, pre-Nintendo, "when a boy could still be pleased with oranges, Brazil nuts, and a few special toys." Williams's descriptions of his love, at age nine, of holiday hymns, the smell of a freshly cut cedar tree, and a hometown football team that never seemed to lose impart plenty of sentimentality for an era lost. But don't worry about drowning in over-the-top gushiness. Williams merely tells it like it was, and leaves it to the reader to mourn the passing of the good ol' days.

-Emily Abedon


Elvis as you've never seen him before

When he was on the cusp of national stardom (the first Ed Sullivan Show performance was only months away), Elvis Presley was photographed by Marvin Israel who trailed the once-and-future-King in Dayton, Ohio, and later, back home in Memphis, for Seventeen magazine. Except for two photos, Israel's shots (mostly candids) have never been published. That is, until now. Elvis Presley: 1956, edited and designed by Martin Harrison, is a paean to the New York School of photography, which means the images are gritty, black-and-white, and cutting-edge.

For Presley fans, as well as photo buffs who may know Israel as an artist and art director who teamed with Diane Arbus and Richard Avedon on books and exhibitions, the book's most vivid images are of the young rock 'n' roller emoting on stage. Further proof that there's never been anyone else quite like the King.

-Pat H. Broeske


Women of the world

Legends: Women Who Have Changed the World: Through the Eyes of Great Women Writers, edited by John Miller, includes essays and photos of the usual suspects -- Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, Jacqueline Kennedy. But this coffee table book also has surprises, paying homage to the likes of primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall, Burmese political leader Aung San Suu Kyi (the eighth woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize), and children's advocate Marian Wright Edelman.

The selection of writers is equally innovative. Consider Camille Paglia on Amelia Earhart: "By vanishing into thin air, [she] seemed to merge with the elements of nature, which she had so often challenged and conquered" -- and Maya Angelou's observation that Oprah Winfrey, "is everyone's largehearted would-be sister, who goes where the fearful will not tread."

-Pat H. Broeske


Decking the halls with ease

Wreaths and Garlands by Paula Pryke is one book you won't want to be without while you finalize your pre-holiday decorating plans. Pryke shows you how to introduce color, texture, and scent into your home during the holiday season and the rest of the year.

This unique book includes foldout pages for creating 50 wreaths and garlands using flowers, fruit, plants, and many other decorations to produce a stunning effect. Included among the many projects are sunflower garlands, rings of autumn leaves, scented wreaths, eye-catching centerpieces, chair decorations, and even a bride's floral headdress.

This practical, spiral-bound book contains a helpful list of materials needed for each project, step-by-step instructions for easy assembly, and colorful photos of finished wreaths and garlands. Decking the halls doesn't come any easier.

(Candles by Paula Pryke is also available.)

-Pat Regel


Seeing science

Dorling Kindersley has added yet another to their seemingly endless procession of beautiful science books. Ultimate Visual Dictionary of Science contains over 400 full-color pages of information about both the natural world and the technology around us. There are ten major sections, ranging from ecology to computers to medicine, addressing more than 15,000 terms which are handily cross-indexed throughout the text.

But as the title indicates, it is the illustrations that carry the burden -- fabulous photographs, models, paintings, cutaways, diagrams, each one lucidly explained in whole and in part. Everything from the Golgi body in cells to the arcane innards of a voltmeter are revealed and explained.

Naturally such a range of topics requires historical background. The authors provide it painlessly, summarizing ancient theories, geographical movements, and the slowly (and sometimes quickly) evolving views of the universe and our place within it.

-Michael Sims


Hitting the trail

By now every literate American knows who Stephen E. Ambrose is. The author of the best-selling Undaunted Courage, about the Lewis and Clark expedition, he was also Ken Burns's primary source for the TV documentary. Now Ambrose returns with Lewis and Clark: Voyage of Discovery. More than a rerun of the author's favorite topic, this beautiful new book combines Ambrose's personal account of his family's retracing of the journey, along with historical background and excerpts from Lewis and Clark's journals.

As always with Geographic publications, all the illustrations and layout are wonderful, with paintings, drawings, maps, and dozens of stunning photographs by National Geographic veteran Sam Abell. The result is as much a photographic journey as it is a historical one. The Corps of Discovery, as Jefferson designated them, performed one of the great explorations, and created an enduring American myth. No one describes it better than Stephen Ambrose.

-Michael Sims


Give a case of Nancy Drew this season

You may remember Carole Kismaric and Marvin Heiferman from their charming bestseller Growing Up with Dick and Jane, or from their oddball gem I'm So Happy. Happily, they're back, this time with a tribute to America's favorite teenage sleuths, in The Mysterious Case of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.

The authors' wit and verve never flag. Neither does their design sense. This book isn't merely "lavishly" illustrated; it's extravagantly, passionately illustrated, with countless illustrations from the books and dozens of supplementary photographs. It follows Nancy, Frank, and Joe into their several current incarnations, chronicling their influence and the influences on them.

More than a nostalgic tribute, this book is a cultural history of a publishing phenomenon and a social history of its era. From rock-and-roll to bomb shelters, from John Wayne to John Lennon, the authors tour the amusements and fears of adolescence, as reflected in the trouble-prone detectives from Bayport and River Heights.

-Michael Sims


The best of damn near everything

Sometimes it's nice to have someone else do the work for you. You can't read everything. Various yearly anthologies try to save readers the trouble of filtering out the lesser nominees for our disposable income and spare time. Prominent among them are Houghton Mifflin's Best Of series.

The Best American Essays 1998, edited this time by acclaimed practitioner Cynthia Ozick, is the feast of fine writing we've come to expect from this series. The 25 contributors range from the venerable William Maxwell on "Nearing Ninety" to John Updike's lovely meditation on the art of cartooning.

The Best American Short Stories 1998, guest-edited by Garrison Keillor, includes 20 stories by authors such as Meg Wolitzer, Carol Anshaw, and, inevitably, John Updike. "Each of these stories surprised and delighted me," Keillor writes. He isn't alone.

A newer series, The Best American Mystery Stories 1998, edited by the alphabetical Sue Grafton, offers 20 forays into crime and punishment. The authors range from old standbys like Edward D. Hoch, John Lutz, and Donald Westlake, to surprising additions, such as Jay McInerney.

-Michael Sims


Life in a box

Journey to Cubeville, the misadventures of Dilbert, uber-computer geek, is an ode to workers the world over. Scott Adams's humor may not be for everyone; if you've never had a problem boss or a hopelessly clueless co-worker then you might not "get" Dilbert. For the rest of us, life according to this cult cartoon is dead on.

While Journey to Cubeville deals mostly with the quotidian frustration of dealing with "pointy headed higher-ups and antagonistic underlings," work is not everything. Adams also covers such hot topics as dating, mutual funds, and the sports memorabilia business.

As usual, our hero is aided by his associates Wally and Alice, as well as the animal sidekicks (who really run the show) -- the Machiavellian pair of Catbert and Dogbert.

A note of caution: Don't read Cubeville in public if you're embarrassed about laughing out loud.

-Ron Kaplan


More Gift Ideas

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