On my desk: Inside Gitmo, Blacklisting Myself, A Slobbering Love Affair

In my line of work, I don’t get a chance to get much time to read books — but a few compelling titles have come my way in the last couple of weeks. I’m hoping to arrange interviews with all of the authors, but their books should get attention immediately.

That’s true most of all for the first book on my reading list, Inside Gitmo: The True Story Behind the Myths of Guantanamo Bay. Lt. Col. Gordon Cucullu (US Army, retired) undertook a personal investigation of the allegations of abuse and torture at the detention facility on Guantanamo Bay, and discovered that some were indeed true in the early days — but have long since been corrected. Cucullu takes readers inside of the prison to reveal one of the most humane maximum-security facilities run by the US anywhere. This looks like a must-read as we debate how to close Gitmo and move the detainees elsewhere, and whether that even needs to happen.

Anyone who knows Roger Simon knows that he tells great stories about his life in Hollywood before and after 9/11. After becoming what he calls a 9/11 Democrat, Roger discovered that the Hollywood power structure became hostile to its apostates. The former financier of the Black Panther Breakfast Program tells all in his new memoir, Blacklisting Myself: Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in the Age of Terror, with plenty of interesting names included, such as Warren Beatty, Richard Dreyfuss, and Woody Allen, among others.

Speaking of juicy reads, no one delivers like Bernard Goldberg — and no one has as much insight into the mainstream media. His new book title, A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (And Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media, pretty much describes the thrust of Goldberg’s argument. Like all of his other books, Goldberg will provide a lively read and provoke a lot of debate over the sunlight he shines on media bias in the Age of Obama.

I’m looking forward to all of these reads. I just hope I can recall my Evelyn Wood training from 25 years ago to get through them.

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