HOT TYPE ELISSA SCHAPPELL

Family ties, rep ties, and twist ties. Tad Friend'sCheerful Money (Little, Brown) graciously toasts the gilded dawn and twilight of Waspdom, viewing (with rather un-Waspy intimacy and forthrightness) its diminishing cachet and power through his own prestigious bloodline—rich with drunks, depressives, and loonies. After the suspicious demise of dad and loss of mom to cancer, the orphaned Welch children were split up; now grown, and in rocking chorus, Diana, Liz, Amanda, and Dan Welch explain how in the world The Kids Are All Right (Harmony). The muse of American history blows again in E. L. Doctorow's ear, inspiring Homer & Langley (Random House), based on notorious pack rats the Collyer brothers. With dizzying wit and acute intelligence, Lome Moore's novel A Gate at the Stairs (Knopf) features a midwestem coed turned part-time nanny drawn into the full-time drama of a family who all demand babysitting.

TALK TALK

The ever astute Sam Tanenhaus determines that friendly fire from the right caused The Death of Conservatism (Random House). Nick Hornby'sJuliet, Naked (Riverhead) gives the fans what they want—a rock 'n' roll comeback novel. Amanda Little tries talking our energyaddicted nation down from a bad Power Trip (Harper).

Tracy Kidder is struck by the heroism of a young Burundian who draws on the Strength in What Remains (Random House). The characters in Dylan Landis's debut story collection, Normal People Don't Live Like This (Per-

sea), are blessedly extraordinary. Life on earth in Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday) is—shockingly— nightmarish. In NurtureShock (Twelve), science writers Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman explain how seemingly good parents can still raise bad seeds. Is it just me, or are cats looking better and better?

SHORTLY, RUT FONDLY Kaylie Jones battles the ties My Mother Never Told Me (Morrow). James Ellroy knows Blood's a Rover (Knopf). Jon Krakauer salutes Pat Tillman in Where Men Win Glory (Doubleday). Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns tour The National Parks (Knopf) Jenny Diski protests The Sixties (Picador). Peter Maass drills the Crude World (Knopf). According to Nicholas Thompson, Paul Nitze and George Kennan were The Hawk and the Dove (Henry Holt) Morris Dickstein evokes Dancing in the Dark (Norton) during the Depression. Heather Whaley'sEat Your Feelings (Hudson Street) supplies recipes for the confidence-intolerant. V.F, contributing editor John Richardson, Memory Holloway, Dakin Hart, Jeff Koons, and Helene Parmelin critique the Picasso Mosqueteros (Rizzoli). Chronicle Books packages an A-to-Z of Pictorial Webster's. Pleasure yourself with Hugh Hefner's Playboy (Taschen). Peter Singer, Nick Brandt, and Vicki Goldberg watch as A Shadow Falls (Abrams) across East Africa.