A WAR OF EYES AND OTHER STORIES<i> by Wanda Coleman (Black Sparrow Press: $20, cloth; $10, paper; 200 pp.) </i>

Coleman, with her fine poet’s eye and strong, intense language, brings to life the painful reality of the powerless in these extraordinary stories.

--Grace Edwards-Yearwood

PACKING THE COURTS The Conservative Movement to Rewrite the Constitution

by Herman Schwartz (Scribner’s: $19.95; 384 pp.) When the President’s personal landslide in his second term did not guarantee legislative support for his political agenda, the White House turned to the courts.--Lee Dembart