FDR and Chief Justice Hughes: The President, the Supreme Court, and the Epic Battle Over the New Deal by James F. Simon (Simon & Schuster, $28)
Within days of Franklin Roosevelt’s inauguration as president in 1933, he began pushing through his New Deal programs in an attempt to get the nation moving again. During the first hundred days, Roosevelt sent fifteen pieces of legislation to Congress, each becoming law. The quick action reflected not only the desperation of the times but an astonishing spirit of cooperation between the new president and Congress.
One of the cornerstones of his economic program was The National Recovery Act which was meant to supervise production, codes of fair competition, and wages-price regulation under government-sanctioned industrial compacts. The NRA Blue Eagle began appearing in store windows and businesses throughout the country.
In May of 1935, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the NRA in addition the Railroad Retirement Act of 1934. Roosevelt was furious and attacked the “nine old men” on the conservative court, six of which was 70 or older. In 1936, when the court ruled the Agricultural Act of 1933 was unconstitutional, Roosevelt triggered what would become a major confrontation with Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes and the other members of his court. Roosevelt attempted to “stack the court” by appointing an additional justice for each member who was seventy years old or older. His plan was, of course, defeated.
James F. Simon, the Martin Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus at the New York Law School, has written a brilliant book about this historic clash that pitted an American president and the U.S. Supreme Court. Richly detailed and meticulously researched, Simon’s book makes for fascinating reading. He reveals that despite setbacks, FDR found ways to outmaneuver many of the more conservative members of congress and by doing so changed the very face of our government. He overruled isolationist Senators when he expedited aid to Great Britain and kept his focus as the United States entered the Second World War. FDR is considered one of the greatest presidents of the twentieth century.
This book is a remarkable accomplishment and is highly recommended. It is brilliantly conceived and beautifully written.

How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America by Otis Webb Brawley, M.D. with Paul Goldberg (St. Martin’s Press, $25.99)
This is a crash course, in-your-face examination of the medical care mess in America. Anyone who thinks that our country has the best medical service in the world should read this book which is nothing less than an indictment of our present system.
Dr. Brawley, chief medical and scientific officer of the American Cancer Society and an oncologist, exposes the dark underbelly of healthcare today and begins his book with a gut punch as he describes a woman walking into an emergency room carrying an object wrapped in a moist towel. Since she does not appear to be in shock or bleeding, she is triaged to the back of the line. As she waits on a gurney in a cavernous, green hallway of an Atlanta hospital, she reveals that her breast has fallen off and asked if someone can reattach it. Obviously, her breast is in the bag and the incident is just another typical day for Dr. Brawley.
It is no secret that in America money talks. If you have gold-standard insurance or wads of money, the care received is, indeed, the best in the world. On the other hand, if you are poor you are sent to the back of the line to receive little or no medical care. Dr. Brawley believes the rich are at risk of getting too much care or just expensive, unscientific care that often causes grave harm while providing no benefit. He examines the financial conflicts of interests physicians face, an insurance system that doesn’t demand the best or even the cheapest care, and a pharmaceutical behemoth concerning with selling drugs, not providing health.
This book is shockingly detailed and it should serve as a walkup call to fix the dismal mess and rethink the politics of illness in America. Dr. Brawley provides a well-seasoned manifesto for change.

The Diabetes Miracle: Three Simple Steps to Prevent and Control Diabetes and Regain Your Health…Permanently by Diane Kress, RD, CDE (DaCapo/Long Life, $25)
An estimated 26 million Americans have diabetes in addition to 79 million others who have pre-diabetes, a precursor to irreversible type 2 diabetes. Put another way, over 100 million Americans are now affected by damaging blood sugar levels. Diane Kress, owner and director of the Nutrition Center of Morristown, New Jersey, specializes in diabetes management, metabolic disorders, and weight reduction, and she is convinced that her one-of-a-kind program can prevent or control diabetes and in most cases decrease or even eliminate the need for diabetes medications.
In addition to explaining the diagnosis and what it means, Kress explains how and when to monitor blood sugar and through her “Core Miracle” diet, lose weight and lower sugar levels to acceptable levels. She claims that by following her diet and beginning an exercise program, blood sugar improvements can be seen within as little as one week.
Easy to understand and implement, the lifestyle program outlined by Diane Kress could be a step in bringing down the shocking national numbers of those facing type 2 diabetes.

Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired — and Secretive — Company Really Works by Adam Lashinsky (Business Plus Books, $26.99)
When Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked by a Wall Street analyst how the company’s planning process works, he replied he didn’t want to share that information because he didn’t want others copying it. Apple’s products and its late co-founder, Steve Jobs, are celebrated around the globe but little is known about what actually transpires inside Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California — until now.
Adam Lashinsky, a journalist who covers the Silicon Valley, takes readers behind closed doors to explore the secret and paradoxical ways that Apple operates and, perhaps more importantly, how the company has fared without Jobs. Lashinsky reveals Apple’s unwritten caste system that supplemented the traditional organizational chart, its recruiting process, special techniques used to maintain vibrancy, and the DRI, a Directly Responsible for every task and other unconventional top-down management techniques.
Each chapter uncovers Apple’s secrets to leadership, design, branding, innovation, decision making, competition, and how the company is changing under its new CEP, Tim Cook. This is a remarkable insider peak into one of this country’s most secretive companies.

Will It Kill You to Stop Doing That: A Modern Guide to Manners by Henry Alford (Twelve, $24.99)
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more intolerable when it comes to basic manners. For example, while sharing a meal in a restaurant with a friend we were interrupted by a series of his phone calls. After about the third call, I excused myself and left. If my company was not as important as his telephone calls, I had other things to do.
Henry Alford would understand this. As a frequent contributor to The New York Times, Vanity Fair, and Spy, he, too, is troubled by bad manners. Whether it is pre-occupied parents running you off the sidewalk with their doublewide stroller, or Neandarthals clipping their toenails in a public place, Alford embarks on a journey to find out how things might look if people were on their best behavior a tad more often.
He travels to Japan, a place he calls the Fort Knox of good manners, where he observe its culture of collective politesse. He also interviews etiquette experts such as Judith Martin and Tim Gunn and even teaches Miss Manners how to steal a cab in New York City.
This is an illuminating, seriously entertaining book about grace and civility. It is warm, insightful, and surprisingly witty.