The Word On The Street

As Chester, who lives in Woods Hole, looked through thousands of his images from his 39-year career, he noticed similarities between shots as disparate as three gunslinging actors and a trio of Shriners. Each pair of photos, he writes, is “related by subject, a graphic element or by a stretch of the imagination.’’

American jihad
Cambridge journalist J.M. Berger’s newly published “Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam’’ (Potomac) was hailed in a recent review by New York Times national security reporter Scott Shane as a “timely warning from an expert who has not lost his perspective.’’

Berger, who runs Intelwire.com and has worked on television documentaries about Al Qaeda, will speak at 7 Tuesday at Porter Square Books in Cambridge. It was in 2007 when Berger heard talk of the shocking “new’’ problem of Americans joining Al Qaeda that he decided to write a book explaining that Americans for 30 years have taken up arms in the name of jihad.

Weekend of becoming Jane
Jane Austen fans are invited to don period dress and play the part of their favorite character. Suzanne Boden, innkeeper at the Governor’s House in Hyde Park, Vt., will host the gathering Aug. 19-21. Guests may find themselves heading off on a picnic, indulging in an evening of games, writing letters, decorating bonnets, tatting, playing croquet, or taking a very long walk. Each guest can choose to be a character from any of Austen’s novels but only one of each character will be allowed. Guests can stay the entire weekend or show up for an afternoon or evening. Rates at www.onehundredmain.com.

Coming out

■“My Green Manifesto: Down the Charles River in Pursuit of a New Environmentalism’’ by David Gessner (Milkweed)

■“Nicholas Ray: The Glorious Failure of an American Director’’ by Patrick McGilligan (HarperCollins)

■“The Maine Summers Cookbook: Recipes for Delicious Sun-filled Days’’ by Linda Greenlaw and Martha Greenlaw (Penguin)

Pick of the week
Christopher Rose of Andover Bookstore in Andover recommends “The Shooting Salvationist: J. Frank Norris and the Murder Trial that Captivated America’’ by David R. Stokes (Steerforth): “Norris was the pastor of a mega-church before the concept existed. To many he was a righteous and inspiring hero. To others, he was brash and abrasive, the object of scorn and hatred. His endless crusades frustrated both businessmen and politicians in Fort Worth, Texas. On July 17, 1926, Norris shot and killed an unarmed man in the church office. Stokes offers an enthralling presentation of this shocking crime and its aftermath.’’

Jan Gardner can be reached at JanLGardner@yahoo.com.