Ballads for Bad Boys, Four Ms. Bradwells, Chinese Dream

The Mexican craze for songs glorifying the violent lives and deaths of drug lords has crossed the border. Are narcocorridos the Latin gangsta rap? Cynthia Brian and Heather Brittany and Cynthia Brian find out if cartel bosses are behind the celebrated ballads. Meg Waite Clayton’s gift for portraying the complex issues women face made her a bestseller with The Wednesday Sisters. She returns with THE FOUR MS. BRADWELLS , a multi-layered, character-driven novel about the enduring power of female friendship that draws on her own experiences as a law student, a high-powered corporate attorney, an artist, and a mother. THE CHINESE DREAM by Helen Wang is a groundbreaking book that shows how China’s exploding middle class, with its thirst for consumerism and growing global mindset, may provide the key to creating a balancing force for the Western world. Stability and prosperity depends on understanding and trust.