Earlier this year, she published her memoir. She's not finished. Former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright is working not only on another book, but two. And give former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein the credit for providing her inspiration. "I love jewelry, and (the book) is going to be on my collection of brooches," Albright tells Aspen magazine. "I thought it would be fun to write about why I wore them. The attention to my pin collection started when Saddam Hussein called me a snake." You don't say? "I happened to have a snake pin," she continues, "and I wore it while doing an interview with CNN. On air, I was asked why I was wearing a snake pin, and I said, 'Because Saddam Hussein has just called me a snake.' Soon after that, it seemed like the whole world watched what brooches I would wear as some kind of signal, a sort of international reading of the tea leaves." The other book, which arrives in bookstores in May, is a more serious and timely tome: "The Mighty and the Almighty : Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs." It deals with the difficulty of conducting traditional foreign policy in this new age of religious fanaticism. BLACK AND WHITE Ron Christie, former special assistant to President Bush and deputy assistant for domestic policy to Vice President Dick Cheney, has come up with a unique title for his new book: "Black in the White House ." Now in private law practice in Washington, Christie says he provides an unabashed look into personalities and policies of the Bush White House, during what were some of the most difficult years in recent American history. "I was fortunate enough to witness the administration in action, how everyone was affected by the attacks of September 11, and the true story behind media accounts of a White House solely focused on Iraq," he says. In particular, he writes about working directly with Bush and Cheney to create policies to assist minorities. COUNTRY'S COUNSEL Grab the candles: Legal powerhouse Kirkland & Ellis' Washington office is 75 years old. Indeed, Herbert Hoover was president when trolley cars rattled past the law firm's un-air-conditioned offices in the old National Press Building, where Louis G. Caldwell, first general counsel of the Federal Radio Commission, the predecessor to the FCC, joined the firm and set up shop. Continued... |