MICHAEL L. BOWKER
BOOKS
His books have covered a wide range of topics and genres. Tying them together is his love of a good story and commitment to old-fashioned journalistic values. Here is a sampling:
 |
PLAYING FROM THE HEART: This best-selling biography is the inspirational story of Roger Crawford, who overcame severe physical challenges with a huge, ‘can-do’ attitude to become a winner on and off the tennis courts. Crawford was the first quadriplegic athlete to win a letter in an NCAA Division One sport and went on to a winning professional career. It’s a funny, emotional and highly-motivating book that skirts sentimentality and looks squarely at the challenges Crawford faced being born with no hands and a ruined left leg. The book received rave reviews on Good Morning America and in The New York Times, USAToday and more than 50 other major publications. (1990, Random House). |
 |
FATAL DECEPTION: About this book, Publishers' Weekly wrote: "Journalist Bowker’s riveting, anecdotal look at the damage done by mining and manufacturing companies who denied the harmful effects of asbestos might have been titled "Evil Incorporated." A powerful expose’ that spoke for the hundreds of thousands of asbestos cancer victims in America, Fatal Deception blew the lid off the most lethal environmental scandal in U.S. history. Called “A damn important book,” by Senator Ted Kennedy, it blew the whistle on corporations which knowingly exposed their workers and consumers to deadly levels of asbestos over decades. Bowker and his agent estimated it would take about 14 months to complete the book -- which is a complex weave of political, economic, medical, social, geological and legal stories and issues, as well as a dramatic narrative of the four generations who have experienced asbestos-caused cancer in Libby, Montana. However, Rodale heard that two other authors were working together to write a similar book (they had inked a contract with Putnam a week before Bowker received his from Rodale) and asked if Bowker could write 100,000-plus manuscript in five months. Bowker wrote eight hours a day, and researched another four hours a day for 110 days in a row and beat the deadline. Rodale published the book with very few changes, and it remains of one of the fastest major books from contract to book store in the publishing firm's history. The book, in 2005, became a centerpiece of a fierce fight over a U.S. Senate bill that involved more than $200 billion. Despite intense scrutiny by attorneys and experts, not one fact in the book was disputed or brought into question. A reviewer for Physicians for Social Responsibility wrote: "Bowker writes graphically and well and his story-telling ability makes the book sing." |
 |
THE VISIONARY LEADER: Co-written with three of his closest friends, Bowker took on traditional, corporate leadership styles in this effort that made the best-seller list for business books. Written after hundreds of interviews with corporate leaders throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia, this was one of the first books to argue that leaders should no longer seek to be the autocratic, top-down ‘bosses’ of the past. It presented a new role for the ‘visionary leader’ as a mentor, coach and motivator; helping to create a corporate culture where “employees looked forward as much to Mondays as Fridays.” It was one of the more enjoyable and rewarding books in Bowker’s career. (Random House 1996). |
 |
WINNING THE BATTLE WITHIN: Legendary San Francisco 49er Coach, Bill Walsh, called this, “The most important book ever written on the mental approach to sports.” Pete Carroll, formerly at USC and now coach of the Seattle Seahawks said, “Anybody who wants to compete in life should read this book.” Having sold out two printings so far, the book provides specific tools and tips on how to tame your fears and re-direct the amazing power of your mind. It is designed for athletes, but the ideas, lessons and stories pertain to almost everything we do. (Kele Publishing, 2008 and 2009).
|
 |
THE HEALTH CARE SOLUTION: Inspired by a bipartisan blueprint for healthcare reform created by Republican Senator, Bob Dole and Democratic Senator, Richard Gephardt, in the 1990s, this book offered a plan that, if enacted, would made today’s controversy superfluous. Bowker was chosen to write the book, for which he researched national health plans worldwide. The book and blueprint were hailed by members of Congress, but efforts to pass legislation based on the book fell to partisan in-fighting. It was Bowker’s first look into big-time, backroom politics, which he says was much like watching a bank robbery. It was mesmerizing, disturbing and those involved should have been arrested. (Viking Press 1995). |
 |
TAKIN’ OVER: Rapper Brandon McCartney has a new message for America’s teenagers – it’s okay to be positive. This ground-breaking book, written in the form of emails and text messages, is Brandon’s powerful call to his peers to exchange the violence of the streets for a new message that “anything is possible.” With his group, The Pack, Brandon, known as “Lil b” to his fans, is one of the rising rap stars worldwide. The positive messages in Takin’ Over mark a brave and powerful departure from the negative, self-defeating culture that all too often surrounds gangsta’ rap. The book is a funny, insightful, and a motivating call to a new generation to “take over by imposing the positive.” (Kele Publishing, 2009).
|
 |
THE ORPHAN IN GUCCI SHOES: An as-told-to book, it is the powerful and emotional memoir of a woman struggling to survive in a country ruled by one of the harshest dictators in the world. This book, recently completed, is as yet, unpublished. Here is an excerpt from the opening pages:
“I was ten years old and living in Bucharest when I first caught that look in my mother’s eyes. I saw it as the men in black uniforms spilled the books out of the shelves, ripped open our sofa with long knives, and shattered my grandmother’s beloved dishes on the floor. It was a momentary, passing shimmer in my mother’s fierce brown eyes – feral and unfettered – before civilization reasserted itself. It was a look I would come to see often on the faces of women in Romania, a look as ancient as tyranny itself. It was the look of women determined to do whatever was necessary to keep their families alive.” |
Many of these books are available at: www.Kelebooks.com
