New books for the political pundits

The Company We Keep: A Husband-and-Wife True-Life Spy Story by Robert Baer and Dayna Baer

Publishers Weekly

Robert and Dayna Baer's initial meeting was slightly unusual—both were on a covert mission in Sarajevo for the CIA. In this intermittently intriguing memoir, they describe their careers in "the Company," their romance, and the difficulty they have in establishing a balanced life outside the world of secret agents. Their travels take them to interesting places in interesting times—from Bosnia and Lebanon during civil wars, to Syria under the Assads, the mansions of sheiks, and the safe houses of terrorist groups. As the Baers drift away from family and see friends die, they learn the costs of covert life. Told in chapters that alternate between each partner's perspective, their story is best when discussing the minutiae of agency work. In understated prose, the couple effectively narrate the long bouts of tedium interspersed with moments of paranoia and fear that make up a CIA agent's life. On most assignments, they never learn if their efforts have any positive result—often, they don't even know their co-workers' real names. When the personal becomes the subject, however, the understatement feels inadequate. The Baers give us so little insight into their mutual attraction that it feels like another state secret. After they leave the agency, they seem adrift, and the book loses focuses as well.

Revolt!: How to Defeat Obama and Repeal His Socialist Programs by Dick Morris

Buy.com Annotation:

Conservative political commentators Dick Morris and Eileen McGann--a married team who have co-authored several bestselling books--offer a plan to best to use the 2010 congressional election results to thwart the Obama administration's aims and policies. They outline a step-by-step approach that zeroes in on the IRS to nullify the health care initiative, the FCC to forestall any policy affecting Talk Radio, and neutering the Environmental Protection Agency by slashing funding. Morris was a Bill Clinton operative for two decades, but subsequently reversed political polarity, becoming one of Clinton's harshest critics. His books augment his influence as a Fox News television contributor and his prose remains geared toward immediately driving home his points.