This week, we examine Muhajababes: Meet the New Middle East – Young, Sexy and Devout by Allegra Stratton.

Stratton’s book is an international tour of the Mideast’s emerging youth culture, In it, she brings to life a world that is both charming and alarming as it tussles with a faith community whose global majority is under 25 years of age.

Although this book is very much promoted as an examination of Muslim youth, in many respects it is far more about the social pressure, religious and political winds and cultural tensions to which young people are more subjects than those who define their lives on their own terms. As a result, a good chunk of Muhajababes is dedicated to the adults whose visions are influencing the young. Stratton does a spectacular job of digging into these adults’ mindsets, be they conservative jihadis, feel-good moderates or well-heeled liberals.

Stratton also does a good job of bringing to a larger audience the alternate religious universe created for youth by these adults. Whether it is the video games aimed at glorifying nationalist fantasies and counteracting Western entertainment or Muslim leaders exhorting followers to gain wealth as a demonstration of Allah’s greatness, starkly different versions of Islam are pitched to appeal to youth in ways the casual reader probably would never otherwise know about.

The author will most certainly be criticized in this telling of Muslim youth life over what seems to be a lot of focus on largely middle- and upper-class Muslims, many of whom who have access to education, media and power that the poor do not. Indeed, it is difficult to ascertain how representative the Muslim youth culture Stratton presents is to the global Muslim experience. Let there be no question, however, that she has actively sought major cultural players for this book, and, in sharing a behind-the-scenes look at this generational shift, her work succeeds on many levels.

This week, we examine new paperback edition of The Boys from Dolores: Fidel Castro’s Schoolmates from Revolution to Exile by Patrick Symmes.

Ostensibly, this book tracks the lives of the men who went to school at El Colegio de Dolores with Fidel Castro, years before his rebellion would change Cuba forever. El Colegio de Dolores was run by Jesuit priests as a school where the country’s future leaders could be groomed as the next generation of elites. And the book does indeed follow those men, now elderly and in various positions, inside Cuba and out. Slices of history, including the Bay of Pigs and meetings heretofore unknown, come to life in this unique tale. Stories of hope as well as despair abound. Symmes brings a realist’s eye to Cuba.

But what is interesting about this book is how much farther it goes than as a history lesson. From the pen of a truly gifted writer, The Boys from Dolores is as much about Cuba’s present as it is its past. The author shares an exuberant, colorful tale of the poorly understood island nation through the eyes of friends as well as enemies of the revolution, those who live there, as well as the first-person experience. Symmes is a consummate storyteller. Whether it is his retelling of the Carnaval experience or the operations of the government in the lives of Cuban people and tourists, his interactions with the Cuba few know are entrancing. The richness of each detail makes the book a real feast for those of you who appreciate the craft of creative writing. The Boys from Dolores is a triumphant book, well worth your time.

This week, we examine Free Ride: John McCain and the Media by David Brock and Paul Waldman

John McCain has come a long way since his 1989, when, as a member of the Keating Five, he was accused of corruption related to a savings and loan investigation. By 1991, the Senate Ethics Committee found McCain had been involved in the scandal, and the Arizona senator, by all accounts, went on a crusade to clean up his image and legacy.

How well he’s done is still the subject of debate. While mainstream media fawns over McCain’s many positive contributions in Congress, others point to the calculated manner in which the senator has crafted an image that at times clashes with his private persona. Free Ride is an opinionated look at McCain’s record of inter-party dealings, media comments, questionable actions in Congress and a lot more. Authors Brock and Waldman lay out transcripts, personal accounts and meeting notes to make their case, and it is at many moments convincing. At other points, it is hard to say if Free Ride is pointing out true McCain lapses, or just the commonplace goings-on and chatter of backroom politics that surely happens on the Hill each day.

Thus, it remains to be seen whether Free Ride will win over people to a new way of thinking. A lot of this book seems to be written for those who are probably already skeptical of McCain and are not necessarily voting for him. If you are a fan of the candidate, chances are a lot of examples here will simply be dismissed as McCain’s trademark ’straight talk.’ With the election season underway, the number of writings critical of John McCain will surely grow. Free Ride is one of the early books, and might be one of the better ones when all is said and done.

This week, we examine Radical Sisters: Second-Wave Feminism and Black Liberation in Washington, D.C., by Anne M. Valk.

Social movements for at least the last few generations have tussled with concepts of equality for women and what that means in relation to the overall struggle for justice. During the 1960s, women’s liberation organizing came into what became known as its Second Wave, and, with tactics like conscious raising at their disposal, women in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere began to see the distinct nature of the oppression they faced. As author Valk notes in Radical Sisters, feminism impacted and would be impacted by the diverse milieu of the time.

Valk collects a vivid tapestry of stories from the period and into the 1970s. African-American progressive women, as this book makes abundantly clear, faced incredible pressures. Blasted by nationalists for hurting the status of Black men; holding accountable comrades who had professed support for women’s and gay liberation yet faced difficulties in putting it to practice; and forming their own identities as feminists separate from white women, who often had not dealt with their own internalized racism, Black women carved out a space in which political ideology found a place at the table with the practical needs of family and education. It’s hard not to admire their determination and sacrifice.

The author imparts knowledge of groups long forgotten by the mainstream culture: the Furies, which advocated lesbianism as a step in revolutionary action; the National Black Feminist Organization, which embraced feminism and Black Power; and many others. Valk covers the successes and failures, and, in that moment, reminds us how far we need to go in understanding both race and gender.