The write stuff: despite the rigors of lawmaking, some legislators manage to find the time to write a book, or two, or three.

• Author: Wolf, Mark
• Position: LAWMAKERS - Texas Senator Brian Birdwell, Maryland Senator Catherine E. Pugh and Pennsylvania Representative Dwight Evans - Interview - Cover story

Surveying the books produced by state legislators is akin to browsing the aisles of a good bookstore. Around one corner there's public policy, around another, biographies and memoirs. Historical fiction is over there, local history is back against that wall, and poetry and children's books are up near the front.

Lawmakers and former lawmakers have produced a lot of books, although none of them are likely to come anywhere near former Mississippi Representative John Grisham's more than 25 novels. But their work is no less inspired. The book titles--like the authors--aim to engage, motivate and stimulate discussion. The following five lawmakers--a sampling from the many legislator-authors out there--do just that, by telling a good story.

Texas Senator Brian Birdwell

"I'd stopped moving. This is the end, I thought. I was still gasping for air; it felt as if I'd opened an oven door and was breathing in the hot air. Yet I wouldn't struggle anymore--even though the fire and pain seared through my body. At that moment the building became absolutely quiet to me." FROM "REFINED BY FIRE"

First came the explosion, Lieutenant Colonel Brian Birdwell recounts in the opening chapter of his book, "Refined by Fire." He had never heard anything that loud, despite his 19 years in the Army, including a tour of duty in Iraq and more than a decade as an artillery officer. Then, in an instant, came the darkness. Then, the fire.

At 9:37 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, in the flash of the moment when an 80-ton airliner crashed into the Pentagon, the epicenter of America's military became a war zone, and Birdwell was on fire. So intense was the pain, he writes, that he was certain he was about to die, and he was ready to do so.

He thought about his wife and child. He prayed. He could smell the jet fuel. He struggled to what he hoped was safety by moving along a wall, only to find that escape route blocked. The end seemed certain until he was spotted by two fellow officers, one of whom he knew but who didn't recognize him because of his injuries.

The story of Birdwell's subsequent recovery is recounted in the book's narrative. It alternates between segments by Birdwell and his wife and co-author Mel, whose initial segment is a harrowing account of watching televised images of her husband's office burn but being unable to contact him.

"It's our book, side-by-side. We did that mainly because of the synchronization of what we were both living with at the same time. While the Lord was caring for me, he was doing the same thing for Mel," says Birdwell, who spent four months in intensive care recovering from his burns--about 40 percent of them third-degree--over 60 percent of his body.

Birdwell, who leaned on both the discipline of his military training as well as his Christian faith during his recovery, says he was able to recall so many of the details of his treatment because he was not placed in a medically induced coma. "While the coma is beneficial in the moment, [not being in one] makes your recovery--getting back a greater range of motion--much better. On Sept. 12, they made me stand up and walk around. While it's tough love and agonizing, it's better in the long run and allowed me to be in the loop on my treatment, as I was at least somewhat lucid."

The book is unstinting in its description of Birdwell's injuries and treatment. In one segment, Mel describes how maggots were used to eat away Brian's infected tissue when he developed a life-threatening infection. As his condition improved, there were lighter moments--being able to satisfy his craving for Taco Belt and a Coke on his 40th birthday.

"The title resonates because one of two things happen," says Birdwell. "Either tragedy destroys you or tragedy makes you better. The Lord is the reason why it didn't destroy our marriage, didn't destroy our lives."

Maryland Senator Catherine E. Pugh

"It's not just about understanding what we must dolt's doing it with purpose and laboring in truth ... Don't lead me in darkness while you stand in the light ... And tell me I'm wrong when you're not doing right ..."

FROM THE POEM "PICTURE THIS" IN "MIND GARDEN"

The late Governor Mario Cuomo of New York famously observed that politicians campaign in poetry, but govern in prose. Maryland Senator Catherine E. Pugh spans both genres. An accomplished writer and editor...