For Nonfiction Readers

June has several very interesting nonfiction titles arriving particularly. Some are military related in many ways and one is a comment on our health system.

Colin Powell is quite the storyteller in his new title coming out on June 5th. It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership isn't really a memoir but a series of stories or parables that helped him develop his "13 Rules" of leadership. His warm, wise and ethical advice on succeeding at work and in life, is bound to inspire.

John A. Parrish is a doctor and Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School. He might seem to be the picture of having it made. His Autopsy of War: A Personal History which arrives on June 5th, gives you an entirely different picture. From 1967 to 1968, Parrish served as a Marine doctor on the ground in Vietnam. This experience traumatized him and left him suffering from PSTD for 40 years. This is a profound memoir of his wartime work and his struggle afterwards. He became recognized as one of the most innovative physicians in his field, yet he was tortured by PTSD, lived virtually homeless at times, visited veterans shelters and fled his family while reliving his Vietnam experience in a series of harrowing flashbacks. With treatment though, he has found a form of redemption. Definitely not a light read but one that is rewarding.

Anthony Swofford also pens a memoir on the difficulties of returning from war, Hotels, Hospitals, and Jails, which comes out on June 5th. Swofford was a Marine sniper during the Gulf War. On his return, he authored Jarhead, a New York Times bestseller recounting his experience. Jarhead was made into a movie and Anthony had all the time and all the money to live his life to excess. This title reports on a series of road trips that he took with his terminally ill father. Not having had a close relationship with his father, Swofford had some things to work out. He casts a courageous, insistent eye on both his father and himself in order to make sense of what his life was, is and could be.

Amanda Bennett, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and editor at Bloomberg and co chair of the Pulitzer Prize board, delivers The Cost of Hope on June 5. This memoir of her courtship and marriage asks the ultimate question, how much would you spend to extend the life of a loved one for just a possibly short amount of time. There is no answer to this question but when Bennett's husband develops terminal kidney cancer, they are on the path of discovery. After his passing, Bennett takes a look at the medical effort that was expended on his behalf and the amount of money that it cost. In the end, she believes she would not have changed anything but this does aid in our discovery of how medical costs are set.