By Sara Nelson 10/28/02 12:00am

The National Book Awards: Big Guns Go AWOL

O.K., it’s official: The National Book Awards are publishing’s version of the Oscars, right down to the it’s-an-honor-just-to-be-nominated demurrals by authors when they don’t expect to win the $10,000 prize, and the overlong, prepared speeches when they do. And then there’s the special Lifetime Achievement Award-this year it’ll go to Philip Roth, but one year Read More

By Adam Begley 7/22/02 12:00am

Protection, American-Style: Life in Secret Service Land

Big If , by Mark Costello. Norton, 315 pages, $24.95.

Those Secret Service types with the suits and the shades and the wires in their ears-any novel that can put you inside their heads deserves an appreciative audience. Big If successfully maps the thoughts of a trio of agents charged with the protection of Read More