Life in Hell

Béla Bartók and Sally Jessy Raphael are among the damned in Warren Allen Smith's Celebrities in Hell, the follow-up to his Who's Who in Hell. Like the earlier volume, this book catalogues—and celebrates—atheists, humanists and other kinds of heretics, this time focusing on an idiosyncratic group from the last two centuries, from Douglas Adams, Richard Avedon and Debbie Harry to Mira Sorvino, Sir P.G. Wodehouse and Frank Zappa. In brief encyclopedia-style entries, Smith describes the worldview of each unbelieving artist or writer or showbiz type, and provides a thumbnail bio. (Barricade, $14.95 256p ISBN 1-56980-214-9; Mar.)

Throughout the centuries of witch trials in Europe, many Christian thinkers were interested (perhaps a little too interested) in a certain recurring theme of the witches' testimonies: their stories of sex with demons. A Johns Hopkins Italian studies professor, Walter Stephens, looks at this preoccupation in his scholarly but accessible work, Demon Lovers: Witchcraft, Sex, and the Crisis of Belief. Perusing 15th- and 16th-century writings on witchcraft from various European countries, Stephens argues that theories of demon copulation are more than just misogynistic expressions of ambivalence toward female sexuality: they were vital to Christian thought, a way for theologians to resolve perennial questions about the existence of God and the supernatural. (Univ. of Chicago, $35 442p ISBN 0-226-77261-6; Mar. 14)

Want to Know a Secret?

Alan Turing wasn't the only Brit with a genius for code cracking. The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes introduces readers to George Scovell, an engraver's apprentice who stumbled into a job as the Duke of Wellington's decoder and managed to unravel Bonaparte's legendary Great Paris Cipher, which contained 1,400 coded elements. Mark Urban, a BBC correspondent, chronicles Wellington's campaigns against the French from the battle of Corunna in 1809 to the 1815 victory at Waterloo, showing how Scovell's decoding of enemy communiqués was pivotal to Napoleon's defeat. (HarperCollins, $25.95 384p ISBN 0-06-018891-X; Mar.)

The handsomely illustrated Hidden Secrets: A Complete History of Espionage and the Technology Used to Support It spotlights the most dashing figures in the annals of spy craft, such as George Washington's double agent, John Honeyman, who convinced British army officers at Trenton they had nothing to worry about, or Richard Sorge, the WWII Russian spy who was able to befriend Goebbels. Science journalist David Owen (Hidden Evidence) offers an introduction to the history of intelligence gathering, focusing mainly on European and American espionage in the last two centuries. Along with the big names, he lovingly details the big gadgets—from the Enigma machine to today's reconnaissance aircraft. (Firefly, $35 224p ISBN 1-55297-565-7; $24.95 paper -564-9; May)

Power, Corruption and Lies

Dien Bien Phu, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the Tet offensive—these and other battles are revisited in Vietnam: A Reader, a collection of essays and personal accounts from Vietnam magazine, edited by Brig. Gen. David Zabecki of the Army Reserve. Contributors include military officers, journalists and others who witnessed fighting. Former L.A. Times war correspondent George McArthur critiques the antiwar conventional wisdom circulated by some of his high-profile colleagues. A retired U.S. Army colonel, William Wilson, recalls his horror and disillusionment as he investigated the My Lai massacre for the government. The anthology offers a range of perspectives on the war, though most pieces focus on specific battles and individual experiences, avoiding polemical arguments for either side. (ibooks [Simon & Schuster, dist.], $16 paper 400p ISBN 0-7434-3504-4; Mar.)

The investigation procedures for military accidents are corrupt, charges Alan E. Diehl, a former aviation safety expert for the U.S. Air Force. His muckraking look at friendly-fire fatalities of the last two decades, Silent Knights: Blowing the Whistle on Military Accidents and Their Cover-Ups, alleges that the military's code of secrecy regarding accidents, as well as its reluctance to spend money on certain safety measures, leads to lost lives and costs taxpayers enormous sums. Diehl x-rays high-profile calamities like the Ehime Maru/Greeneville collision last year and the plane crash that killed Ron Brown, showing how these and other misfortunes might have been avoided. (Brassey's, $27.50 352p ISBN 1-57488-412-3; Apr. 15)

South African photographer Jillian Edelstein's stark, memorable black-and-white photographs are the centerpiece of Truth & Lies: Stories from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. Between 1996 and 2000, Edelstein photographed dozens of victims, witnesses and perpetrators—ANC activists, apartheid police officers and government officials, family members of those tortured and killed—at the hearings and at their homes across South Africa. The photos are supplemented with the subjects' harrowing personal testimonies, Edelstein's crisp reportage and excerpts from the diary she kept throughout the project. (New Press, $30 paper 232p ISBN 1-56584-741-5; Apr. 1)

Unfortunately, there have been enough abductions, hijackings and political hostage takings to necessitate The Encyclopedia of Kidnappings, a reference volume encompassing major (and sometimes minor) kidnappings throughout history. Michael Newton (Encyclopedia of Serial Killers) allots brief entries to victims, kidnappers, locations and relevant law enforcement bodies. The Iran hostage crisis, the Lindbergh baby, and Leopold and Loeb are covered, but the book also relates the 1855 kidnapping of an Arizona rancher's daughter by Mexican outlaws, the abduction and murder of Emmett Till, and numerous Eastern European "skyjackers" trying to flee the Soviet bloc. The four paragraphs on "DISAPPEARED, THE" covering Argentina, Chile and other countries can only suggest the grief and devastation wrought by thousands of political murders. (Facts on File/Checkmark Books, $75 384p ISBN 0-8160-4486-4; paper $21.95 -4487-2; May)

Strategy and Leadership, Explained

In a wry, snappy voice, consultant Tony Manning offers a concise guide to effective decision making for anyone steering a company. His Making Sense of Strategy outlines the most important things strategists need to know: how to make quick, informed choices and persuade stakeholders to get on board. Manning, a former head of marketing at Coca-Cola Export Corp. in southern and central Africa, explains how to define the company business model and goals, then shows readers how to craft the "strategic conversations" they'll need to have with investors, executives and employees. He includes advice on changing the corporate culture and motivating workers in everyday exchanges. (Amacom, $19.95 108p ISBN 0-8144-7156-0; Apr.)

How can managers at established companies stimulate creativity and passion in the workplace? They need to think like entrepreneurs, insists multimillionaire and former business owner Colin Turner, now a professor of entrepreneurial leadership at the Theseus International Management Institute in France. In Lead to Succeed: Creating Entrepreneurial Organizations, Turner shows how managers can create an entrepreneurial climate of risk taking, commitment and ambition—the spirited atmosphere of a startup—in offices that have become complacent. The book is part of Turner's Succeed series, which also includes Born to Succeed and Paths to Succeed. (Texere, $14.95 paper 216p ISBN 1-58799-124-1; Apr. 15)

With so many businesses flopping in the current economy, Carter Pate, a veteran financial adviser and PricewaterhouseCoopers turnaround expert, and writer Harlan Platt offer counsel to those now teetering on the edge of disaster. The Phoenix Effect: 9 Revitalizing Strategies No Business Can Do Without walks executives, strategists and entrepreneurs through a thorough evaluation of their company. Whether the business needs an overhaul or tuneup, the authors detail how to determine its new direction, strengthen its corporate identity, negotiate restructuring and mergers and get the most from assets, employees and products. The book is full of examples of real-life success and failure at companies like Marriott, Laura Ashley, Netscape and CDnow. (Wiley, $27.95 228p ISBN 0-471-06262-6; Mar. 1)

For those who are constantly interrupted or asked to repeat themselves, the problem may not be what they're saying, but how they're saying it. Voice coach Renee Grant-Williams, who works with singers and politicians like Linda Ronstadt and John Ashcroft, shows how to make one's speech resonate impressively in Voice Power: Using Your Voice to Captivate, Persuade, and Command Attention. She reveals how to enunciate consonants for dramatic effect, use breathing techniques to make the voice richer, deploy strategic silence, cope with stage fright and leave authoritative voice-mail messages. There's also a chapter on maintaining a healthy voice. (Amacom, $17.95 paper 208p ISBN 0-8144-7105-6; Mar.)

Most Americans have "the wrong formula for success," argues Vincent Roazzi, a marketing executive for the Alliance of Affordable Services (a national association of small businesses) in his motivational guide, The Spirituality of Success: Getting Rich with Integrity. Roazzi was appalled several years ago by government studies showing that the vast majority of retired Americans need financial assistance. He now hopes to help readers break the cycle of excuses, guilt and passivity that keeps them from achieving economic security. While short on practical advice, the book offers plenty of inspirational directives to stop daydreaming about the lottery and start planning for the future. (Brown Books [16200 North Dallas Parkway, Ste. 225, Dallas, Tex. 75248], $16.95 paper 256p ISBN 0-9706988-7-9; Mar.)

April Publication

"I'm only writing to you because my analyst insisted," begins one of the missives in Letters to J.D. Salinger. These 70-some notes to the legendary recluse—edited by Chris Kubica, who runs the Web site jdsalinger.com, and Will Hochman, a Southern Connecticut State University English professor—come from prominent writers like Tom Robbins, Nicholas Delbanco, David Shields, as well as from teachers, high school students and other readers. They vary in tone from starry-eyed and humorous to hostile. "I think of people like Holden," writes one teenager, "who have loads of money to spend on fancy Ivy League schools and instead flunk out, and it makes me want to spit." (Univ. of Wisconsin, $24.95 256p ISBN 0-299-17800-5; Apr. 15)

March Publication

A companion to the current exhibition at Houston's Museum of Fine Arts, Texas Flags: 1836—1945, Texas Flags is a lushly illustrated record of the banners that have united and galvanized the citizens of the Lone Star State. From the Virgin of Guadalupe banner of the Mexican independence leader Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla to the Lone Star flags of the Republic years and the battle flags of Confederate units, the book documents the unusually rich history of the Texas pennants. The text by curator Robert Mayberry Jr., director of the Historical Flags of Texas Project, offers an engrossing overview of the state's history. (Texas A&M, $50 224p ISBN 1-58544-151-1; Mar. 2)