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of Robert Scott’s ill-fated 1910–1912
Antarctica expedition, had written a
manuscript that initially reported the same,
and a slew of other taboo behaviors among
the birds. But the scandal this would have
caused led to Levick’s book, Antarctic
Penguins: A Study of Their Social Habits, the
first ever about penguins, being expurgated
of the offending passages. Davis tracked
down a rare copy of Levick’s notes in the
British Natural History Museum, and
was inspired to learn more about his
undeservedly obscure predecessor. The end
result is an entertaining look at Levick’s
life, including his time on the Scott
expedition, and his later-in-life roles in
teaching wilderness survival skills to
private school students and, during WWII,
British commandos. Davis injects his
own research findings into the narrative,
producing a biography/popular science
book that will appeal equally to polar
expedition buffs and zoology enthusiasts.
Agent: Russell Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh
Literary Agency. (Sept.)
Poisoner in Chief:
Sidney Gottlieb and the
CIA Search for Mind Control
Stephen Kinzer. Holt, $30 (368p) ISBN 978-1-
250-14043-2
Journalist Kinzer (The Brothers) delivers
a stranger-than-fiction account of the CIA’s
efforts in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s at
developing mind control and chemical-
based espionage methods, and the chemist,
Sidney Gottlieb, who spearheaded the
effort. Surreal episodes, involving
attempts to make Fidel Castro’s beard fall
out and efforts to create an “acoustic cat”
that could be used as a clandestine lis-
tening device, sit alongside the extreme
medical misdeeds of Gottlieb’s mind-con-
trol project, MK-Ultra , which included
experimenting on unsuspecting members
of his own
research group,
Chinese and
Hungarian refu-
gees, and med-
ical patients.
While the book
nominally
focuses on
Gottlieb, he
remains some-
thing of a cipher
throughout, overshadowed by some of the
larger-than-life characters in his orbit,
like the drug-sampling narcotics agent
turned agency contractor George Hunter
White, who tested the effects of LSD and
other drugs on unsuspecting subjects in
New York and San Francisco as part of
MK-Ultra. Gottlieb’s efforts to reinvent
himself in his post-CIA career, becoming
a speech therapist at the age of 60, and his
unwillingness to revisit his past, even
when called to testify before Congress in
1977 after the activities of MK-Ultra
came to light, means his motivations are
left largely unclear. In the end, “one of
the most powerful unknown Americans”
remains a mystery, but the nigh-unbeliev-
able efforts he led are vividly and horrifi-
cally recreated in this fascinating history.
(Sept.)★ What Is a Girl Worth?
My Story of Breaking the Silence
and Exposing the Truth about
Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics
Rachael Denhollander. Tyndale Momentum,
$26.99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4964-4133-1
In this powerful debut, attorney and
former gymnast Denhollander tells of her
role in the 2018 conviction of sexual pred-
ator Larry Nassar, a sports physician asso-
ciated with Michigan State University
and the USA Gymnastics team who
molested the author and more than 200
other girls. Raised in Kalamazoo, Mich.,
Denhollander was homeschooled, deeply
religious, and aspired to become a lawyer.
“Gangly” and 5’6”, she didn’t fit the pro-
file of a gymnast but was placed on her
gym’s competitive team; after sustaining
a lower-back injury at age 15, she was sent
to Nassar, who would—under the guise of
treatment, without gloves, and without
consent—vaginally penetrate her with
his fingers. She reported the abuse to her
coaches, but, she writes, they didn’t
believe her; nearly 16 years later when
another gymnast’s story of abuse by a
coach broke, Denhollander decided to
speak out again, eventually leading to
Nassar’s indictment and conviction.
Denhollander reveals her anguish and
emotional pain, her feelings of helpless-
ness (“How do I even try to heal from
something, when I don’t even know what
that ‘something’ is?”). Denhollander’s
brave and detailed memoir serves as aclear-eyed look into a disturbing case
of sexual abuse that gained national
attention. (Sept.)When the Sky Fell:
Hurricane Maria and the
United States in Puerto Rico
Michael Deibert. Apollo, $24.99 (224p)
ISBN 978-1-948062-36-7
In this impassioned analysis, journalist
Deibert (Haiti Will Not Perish) explores the
role of the U.S.’s territorial relationship
with Puerto Rico in the context of the
damage wrought on the island by
Hurricane Maria in 2017. Once a Spanish
territory, Puerto Rico became a U.S. terri-
tory following the Mexican-American
War, administered by a governor and an
11-member panel appointed by Congress.
Deibert recounts a history of inhumane
treatment and economic exploitation:
thousands of Puerto Rican women were
forcibly sterilized in the 1930s; workers
received unlivable wages on sugar planta-
tions; and Puerto Ricans marching for
workers’ rights and independence were
continually met with brutal police vio-
lence until as late as 2007. All the while,
the often-corrupt government and outside
investors exploited the island’s resources
and drove it into debt. The common-
wealth’s second-class status—without
independent finances or voter representa-
tion in the government controlling it,
the island’s infrastructure had greatly
deteriorated—rendered it unable to
respond to the hurricane’s destruction,
and the U.S. government failed to launch a
significant relief effort for months. Deibert
reports that, a month after the hurricane,
80% of the population was still without
power, schools had not been reopened, and
5,000 people were still living in shelters.
This grim account of the U.S.’s treatment
of this territory will shock readers not
familiar with the details. (Sept.)Why Soldiers Miss War:
The Journey Home
Nolan Peterson. Casemate, $29.95 (208p)
ISBN 978-1-6120-0773-1
Peterson’s slim, sometimes confusing
memoir consists of a series of essays about
his life as an Air Force combat pilot and
war correspondent, structured superficially
around the age-old question of why going
to war holds such appeal despite its horrors.