FICTION : THUNDER IN AMERICA: THE IMPROBABLE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF JESSE JACKSON (Texas Monthly: $16.95; 263 pp.) by Bob Faw and Nancy Skelton; foreword by Dan Rather.

“Thunder” was the Secret Service code name for Jesse Jackson during the 1984 presidential campaign. Bob Faw covered that campaign for CBS; the late Nancy Skelton covered it for the Los Angeles Times. Their emphasis in this book is on how the difference between Jesse Jackson and the mainstream candidates reflected a broader difference in the American voting (or, significantly, non-voting) population.