No, it's not a how-to manual. "The Scandal Plan" is a novel about a campaign that hatches an unconventional strategy for capturing the White House.

Area book events for May 4 through 31

Volumes of imagination line the shelves in new Medfield children's bookstore.

Video: Tour the bookstore

Baby Boomers may recall it through a swirl of tear gas, scrawled on walls, on signs in marches and silent sit-ins, or on the helmet covers of weary Vietnam soldiers.

Dark days are coming. Oil will run out, temperatures will rise, governments will crumble and survivors will be forced to scratch out a preindustrial existence amid the detritus of the 20th century.

BOOK EVENTS

For April 24-26

This counterintuitive rock 'n' roll memoir by pop luminary Dean Wareham chronicles the drudgery of touring small clubs, staying in grim hotels and the Sisyphean struggle of trying to generate a radio hit that just won't come. Not exactly the stuff of rock legend.

Miriam Levine's fourth volume of poetry,  "The Dark Opens," recently won the 2007 Autumn House prize, given by her publisher, Autumn House Press.

This novel will give you a new appreciation for what waiters and waitresses at fancy restaurants go through. And even if you don't eat at fancy restaurants, you'll be rewarded with a delightful story.

A brilliant young math prof who switched into banking and Middle East politics.