Geri Spieler

As a former newspaper reporter, occasionally I was assigned to report on a subject I didn't know well.

I learned that if I don't know what questions to ask. Otherwise I was at a huge disadvantage and at risk for being misled.

When these assignments...

In politics, hubris abounds. It is truly amazing that politicians think they can keep secrets.

After reading, We're with Nobody: Two Insiders Reveal the Dark Side of American Politics, by Alan Huffman and Michael Rejebian, there is no question--there are no secrets.

The scenarios of secrets revealed are played out...

Can print journalists be objective about the future of news? Page One: Inside the New York Times and the Future of Journalism attempts to answer this question in 17 essays and interviews with respected and well-known writers from various positions in newspaper and public affairs worldwide.

David Folkenflik, NPR's award-winning...

Genius of Place, The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted by Justin Martin

Da Capo Press

The gift of artistic vision on the large stage of life is rare. When witnessed it is so overwhelming few can appreciate its impact for years to come.

Such was the man, Frederick Law...

Conducting Internet research is a challenge. It's time consuming, often confusing and who ever thought too much information could be a problem? The Internet has opened up the world of information gathering to the extent that it can be overwhelming and therefore problematic. Google searches can be conflicting, redundant...

The GOP is in knee jerk reaction mode in an attempt to reduce spending to mend the debt created by the past administration.

What are these senators and congress people thinking? Cutting education spending by penalizing teachers is such a bad decision it defies reason. Why do we want...

With all the hullabaloo about "San Francisco Values," I decided to add some facts to the subject.

Many people who throw this phrase around know nothing of the history of the region and what makes a San Francisco native behave they way they do. With all due respects, the...

Oliver Sipple, the Marine who saved Pres. Ford's life on Sept. 22, 1975, is no longer "just a bystander."

Because of the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" by Pres. Obama and Congress, Sipple is now a well-known hero. A Marine hero, a Gay Marine hero.

The woman...

Specialist Tammy K. scoots around a throng of patients, visitors and staff in the wide hallways of the VA hospital in Palo Alto. Her should length blonde hair swings as her slim figure maneuvers expertly between wheelchairs and gurneys on her way to her job in the rehabilitation unit.

Gray Lady Down: What the Decline and Fall of the New York Times Means for America
By William McGowan
Encounter Books

It is difficult to sort out how much of Gray Lady Down is personal...

If there were a "Watchman" to protect us from danger he would be shaking his rattle vigorously right now. We are in danger of becoming extinct as the signs of the collapse of our civilization are obvious, according to Rebecca Costa's excellent and thought provoking new book, The...

Geri Spieler's review appeared first in the New York Journal of Books, www.nyjournalofbooks.com

In Big Girls Don't Cry, Rebecca Traister follows key women involved in the 2008 presidential election, to tell the story "about the country and its culture, how we all reacted to the arrival of these surprising...

Book Review-- The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politicsin the Age of Obama by Will Bunch

It would be easy to write an Obama-backlash book using buzzwords with cliché' ridden accounts of the right-wing talk show blather-babblers.

Fortunately, Will Bunch does not resort to such pedestrian...

Well, the Republicans are doing what they do best: Obfuscate the issues, blame, complain, point fingers and make up stuff up instead of offering real solutions about real problems. Some things just never change.

Talk about "Content Free" presentations that are designed to mislead, take Lt. Gov....

The buzz these days is that "San Francisco Values" are the three dirtiest words in politics.

The term dates back at least to 1996, when California Conservative Rep. Frank Riggs attacked his Democratic rival Michela Alioto over her "San Francisco Values." More than a dozen years later, the phrase...

Operation Gatekeeper and Beyond: The War on "Illegals" and the Remaking of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary by Joseph Nevins (Routledge, February 22, 2010)

As the debate rolls on about Immigration Reform in the United States, as Congress considers President Obama's vision to design a "Path to...

Mexican Migration and the U.S. Economic Crisis: A Transnational Perspective, Edited by Wayne A. Cornelius, David Fitzgerald, Pedro Lewin Fisher, and Leah Muse-Orlinoff

(Center for Comparative Immigration, February 2010)

As with any social phenomena, an attempt to corral the scope of the issue into a single pen will leave many...

Jeffrey Kaye's timely book, Moving Millions: How Coyote Capitalism Fuels Global Immigration, focuses on the impact of immigration worldwide. The author uses the term "migrant" to describe immigration labor both legal as well as illegal.

His book describes the interdependency countries have with cheap labor to support the worldwide...

What could be a more contentious issue today than the conflict surrounding our border with Mexico?

Some would argue that the history of the border patrol is irrelevant to our problems today, but they would be wrong. Everything about the 2000 miles that connects us with Mexico--including...

Last week Arizona passed Senate Bill 1070 that mandates Arizona law enforcement officials to ask anyone they deem are in the U.S. illegally for proof of U.S. citizenship.

The bill hopes to reduce the numbers of undocumented workers in the state and discourage others from coming in.

Increasing...