bookpagedev

Pop CultureArts & Culture

A vibrant literary tribute to the nation’s capital

Review by bookpagedev

Washington, D.C., is a city of paradoxes. It teems with ambitious career-climbers, yet maintains a laid-back Southern vibe. The federal government is based here, yet local residents have no vote in Congress. People are keenly aware of the power of schmoozing, yet parties end by 11 p.m., and the streets are deserted by midnight.

No one had a better vantage point from which to observe the unique world that is Washington than former <I>Washington Post</I> publisher Katharine Graham, whose autobiography, <I>Personal History</I>, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1998. Before her death in 2001, Graham compiled a collection of essays on Washington. The result is <B>Katharine Graham’s Washington</B>, a pitch-perfect anthology that captures the nuances of life in the nation’s capital.

Obviously, the book will interest Washingtonians, but whether others will read it is another matter. They should. Although some pieces are clearly reserved for D.C. residents only the most ardent Washington devotee will read a three-page essay on local trees most are humorous or insightful enough to be entertaining wherever you live.

Graham’s selections yield a rich blend of viewpoints. Historian David McCullough’s piece, "I Love Washington," is a sublime ode to the city. Other essays chronicle inaugurations, life as a congressman’s daughter, employment as the "presidential kennel keeper." Some pieces are hopelessly outdated, and one assumes Graham included them simply for their humorous archaic appeal. "The Private Lives of Washington Girls" in particular is a cringe-worthy 1950s essay on female federal workers in which author Eleanor Early informs the reader for no apparent reason that "four out of five Government Girls are destined to be old maids." But other light-hearted pieces are fascinating. Liz Carpenter, who worked as Lady Bird Johnson’s press secretary, recalls preparing for Luci Baines Johnson’s 1966 wedding. It was the first White House wedding in 50 years, and Carpenter had the unenviable task of keeping a rabid press at bay.

When United Airlines sent air-conditioning equipment to cool down the church, a frantic Department of Labor official reminded Carpenter that the airline was on strike and using their coolers would be a public relations nightmare. A scramble ensued to intercept the coolers en route.

Although the writing is consistently vibrant, the real treats in this book are Graham’s vignettes introducing each piece. An observer of D.C. life for decades (she even refers to herself in the introduction as the Forrest Gump of Washington always managing to be ringside for historical events), Graham’s comments add considerable zing to the volume. In "Dining Out Washington," reporter Joseph Alsop recalls eating turtle stew and Virginia ham with various Washington luminaries. A hilarious piece on its own, Graham writes an introduction that further enhances the essay, revealing Alsop as a brilliant, charming and "enormously fat" man with whom she remained close friends for years.

Many pieces are poignant in light of September 11, after which the Washington tourism industry suffered enormously. An essay by W.M. Kiplinger titled "Tourists See the Sights" is from 1942, but it could just as easily have been written today. "Washington is the greatest sight-seeing city in the world," Kiplinger writes. "In normal times, four million people come every year to the capital." These aren’t normal times, but here’s hoping that this vibrant, affecting book lures people back to Washington.

<I>Amy Scribner lives and writes in Washington, D.C.</I>

Washington, D.C., is a city of paradoxes. It teems with ambitious career-climbers, yet maintains a laid-back Southern vibe. The federal government is based here, yet local residents have no vote in Congress. People are keenly aware of the power of schmoozing, yet parties end…

Sports

The story behind golf’s greatest match

Review by bookpagedev

<B>The story behind golf’s greatest match</B> Before Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer and Ben Hogan, there was Harry Vardon, a British duffer whose style and methods revolutionized the game of golf. Born in 1870, he overcame a childhood of extreme poverty to attain his place as one of the legends of the game, winning four British Opens and crushing all opposition, all the while maintaining his reputation as a gentleman.

In <B>The Greatest Game Ever Played: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet and the Birth of Modern Golf</B>, his stirring account of Vardon and the 1913 U.S. Open, author Mark Frost writes of the Englishman, "Wherever he played he left in his wake a planted seed of interest that sprouted overnight . . . thousands of men, boys and women who’d never even considered golf before took up the game." An ocean and a generation apart from Vardon, Francis Ouimet was growing up under similar circumstances. Raised in Massachusetts, he was the son of a frustrated manual laborer who disapproved in no uncertain terms of his child’s growing fascination with golf. But living across the street from the local golf course proved too strong a temptation, and Francis sneaked in as often as he could, finding employment as a caddie and developing into an astute player.

Alternating the focus between Vardon and Ouimet, Frost brings the pair slowly and irresistibly together, like two trains headed for an intersection of track. Vardon was a top professional earning fame and fortune on both sides of the Atlantic, while Ouimet was the self-effacing, up-and-coming amateur. When the two battled it out at the 1913 U.S. Open, they changed the game of golf forever.

Frost’s enthusiasm is infectious as he writes about each day’s drama at the U.S. Open, including the thrilling 18-hole playoff. A best-selling novelist, he brings wonderful drama and detail to this tale of a classic match between two unforgettable players. <I>Ron Kaplan writes from Montclair, New Jersey.</I>

<B>The story behind golf's greatest match</B> Before Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer and Ben Hogan, there was Harry Vardon, a British duffer whose style and methods revolutionized the game of golf. Born in 1870, he overcame a childhood of extreme poverty to attain his place as…

Biography

The myth and music of Miles

Review by bookpagedev

Miles Davis was a modern jazz master and in some ways the Picasso of his musical milieu a difficult, cantankerous, peculiar, tortured man who was, of course, a genius. Although he grew up comfortably in Southern Illinois as the son of a prominent dentist, he had an angry, rebellious black man’s attitude. Born in 1926, he showed his musical talent early on, trekking to New York City to study at Juilliard, where he proved to be a good student, but where he also made important contacts in the world of contemporary jazz. Unfortunately, he also made connections with drug dealers, an affiliation that led to Davis’ many struggles through the years with heroin and cocaine abuse.

In So What: The Life of Miles Davis, Yale University Professor John Szwed presents a rich portrait of the trumpeter’s brilliance while examining his equally stellar contemporaries Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Max Roach and Art Blakey.

While he went on to become a contributor to the historical 1940s bebop movement, it was in the 1950s and ’60s that Davis carved out his singular niche as legendary trumpet player, innovative composer, free-thinking bandleader and titular spokesperson for progressive jazz. Davis never ceased to change and grow in his art, and with the exception of a self-imposed hiatus in the late 1970s continued to perform and make records, though by the time he passed away in 1991, he was revered more as an inscrutable icon than as an acclaimed innovator. So What combines an in-depth look at the inner workings of the jazz industry with a remarkable profile of Davis and his dark personality. He cultivated a Darth Vader-ish myth, was extraordinarily self-centered and seemingly ambivalent toward his family. But, as Szwed shows, the trumpeter probably wouldn’t have had it any other way. Martin Brady is a freelance writer in Nashville.

Miles Davis was a modern jazz master and in some ways the Picasso of his musical milieu a difficult, cantankerous, peculiar, tortured man who was, of course, a genius. Although he grew up comfortably in Southern Illinois as the son of a prominent dentist, he…
Fiction

Drabble’s voyage of discovery

Review by bookpagedev

<B>Drabble’s voyage of discovery</B> If Candida Wilton’s husband Andrew hadn’t become romantically involved with the mother of a student who drowned herself, Candida would never have left bucolic Suffolk. Even after her divorce, many were surprised by this bold move to central London.

Rest assured that an accomplished writer and veteran Londoner like Margaret Drabble knows what to do with Candida once she settles there. <B>The Seven Sisters</B> opens with Candida’s diary, three years into her new life. In late middle-age, this former wife of a headmaster buys a London flat in a neighborhood where she knows no one, hoping only that something exciting will happen.

Readers will delight in Candida’s matter-of-fact voice. "Nothing much happens to me now, nor ever will again," she admits. "But that should not prevent me from trying to write about it." In a voice that is pitch-perfect, Candida writes about her health club, the new center of her social life. She also describes her now-defunct class to study Virgil, the few women she can count as her friends, and her three grown daughters, to whom she is not close. Her passive ladylike character comes through in every word, as does Drabble’s fine sense of humor.

Candida’s life is a series of cautious steps that show how hard it is for an innocent to transform herself into the risk-taker she would like to be. Her name announces her a distant cousin to Voltaire’s Candide, though her adventures seem tame by comparison.

About halfway through the novel, Drabble moves from diary form to third-person. Something good has finally happened to Candida, and the pace picks up. An unexpected windfall makes it possible for her to go with friends new and old to Italy, to retrace Aeneas’ ancient journey. The second part of the book turns into a voyage of discovery for these suddenly younger seven sisters.

When point of view changes again, and again, what started out as a book without surprises now has them. But does Candida really change? Readers will have to decide for themselves. <I>Anne Morris writes from Austin, Texas.</I>

<B>Drabble's voyage of discovery</B> If Candida Wilton's husband Andrew hadn't become romantically involved with the mother of a student who drowned herself, Candida would never have left bucolic Suffolk. Even after her divorce, many were surprised by this bold move to central London.

…

FictionHistorical Fiction

A portrait of 18th century London

Review by bookpagedev

In an early scene from Ross King’s new novel, Domino, our hapless narrator, George Cautley, is led down an overgrown path by two companions in hopes of avoiding an encounter with highwaymen. That the two are the very robbers he seeks to avoid is obvious, and his subsequent mugging is as inevitable as it is comical. The same could be said of the book itself; we follow the plot down a darkened trail, then smack ourselves when we are surprised by events we should have seen coming.

Cautley is an untrained but ambitious would-be painter who comes to 1770s London to seek his fortune upon the death of his father. His na•ve desire to find a patron who will finance his pursuits might appear to be an unseemly motivation, but it is perfectly normal within his times. In fact, it seems as if everyone in Domino is trying to curry favor with those above them. Using his one wealthy friend as an entry into polite society, Cautley meets Lady Beauclair, a beguiling and mysterious beauty who pulls him into her world when he agrees to paint her portrait. She begins to tell him the story of the castrato singer Tristano, and like a latter day Scheherazade, she draws him back to her chambers as much to hear her story as to paint her portrait.

The reader is drawn into Domino in much the same way. The word domino itself refers to the French word for mask, and this novel wears many. Beneath the humor is a dark streak, and the elderly narrator, an aged Cautley, has the same air of ennui and malice as those he encountered in his youth.

A native of Canada who now lives and teaches in England, King is the author of a previous novel, Ex-Libris, which tells the story of a bookseller’s odyssey through 17th century Europe, and the acclaimed nonfiction bestseller, Brunelleschi’s Dome. In his latest novel, King again displays an easy familiarity with his historical setting, using minimalist descriptions and concentrating on the actions of his characters to set the scenes. Brimming with exotic locations, duplicitous villains, ladies of questionable morality and quite a few surprises, Domino is a reader’s delight that confirms Ross’ reputation as a classic storyteller. James Neal Webb is a copyright researcher at Vanderbilt University.

In an early scene from Ross King's new novel, Domino, our hapless narrator, George Cautley, is led down an overgrown path by two companions in hopes of avoiding an encounter with highwaymen. That the two are the very robbers he seeks to avoid is obvious,…
History

The Romanov mystery continues

Review by bookpagedev

When he was preparing to preside at the burial of the remains of Tsar Nicholas Romanov II and his family in St. Petersburg in 1998, Father Boris Glebov is reported to have said: “I really don’t know who I am burying.” During the service a few days later, the priest was forbidden to utter the names of the victims, because the Russian Orthodox Church refused to acknowledge the authenticity of the bones. Unswerved, President Boris Yeltsin asserting that “we must tell the truth” attended the ceremony and declared, “By burying the innocent victims we want to expiate the sins of our ancestors.” In The Secret Plot to Save the Tsar, author Shay McNeal begins to do what even glasnost has failed to accomplish: effectively penetrate the thick layers of fabricated and suppressed Russian history. She dismisses Yeltsin’s comments as a politically correct attempt at closure, and she raises unsettling questions about the results of DNA tests on what the government insists were the bones of Russia’s last tsar, his wife Alexandra and three of their five children.

In the decades since the 1918 execution of the Romanovs, a number of claimants have appeared, asserting they were the children who miraculously survived the massacre. Their stories have kindled an avalanche of books, movies and documentaries. More than rehashing these tales, McNeal widens the scope of the Romanov tragedy by tracing complicated relationships and complex intrigues that she says form a chain of events emanating from an international plot to spare the life of the tsar. She cites evidence linking the plot to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, England’s King George V, Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm and even to Russia’s double-dealing V.I. Lenin. The author brings superb research efforts to this book. Her sleuthing is at its best when she pits previously neglected documents and newly declassified files against official versions, thereby producing perplexing discrepancies and contradictions and thus assuring that one of the greatest mysteries of the last century will continue to frustrate international historians and fascinate Romanov aficionados.

When he was preparing to preside at the burial of the remains of Tsar Nicholas Romanov II and his family in St. Petersburg in 1998, Father Boris Glebov is reported to have said: "I really don't know who I am burying." During the service…
PhotographyArts & Culture

A trio of tempting titles for the holidays

Review by bookpagedev

Let’s face it: nothing spoils the holiday season quite like shopping can. Getting the goods requires a tactical plan that would make MacArthur proud. Luckily, the intrepid editors of BookPage have run reconnaissance for readers, scouting out the hottest titles for the holidays. Armed with these great gift ideas the best in music, photography and dance you can cut those shopping skirmishes short and keep your inner Scrooge at bay.

Was ever a man more comely to look upon than Mikhail Baryshnikov? This specimen of physical perfection first entranced the world in 1974 with his thrilling defection from the Soviet Union while on tour with the Kirov Ballet in Canada. Impish, tousled and utterly endearing, he quickly became the darling of the dance world, working with the West’s top choreographers and companies. Baryshnikov in Black and White, a stunning collection of 175 performance and rehearsal photographs, follows the course of the star’s career outside the Soviet block, spanning nearly three decades and showcasing the dancer’s many abilities and moods from mischievous boy, to seductive satyr, to tortured madman.

Cataloguing Misha’s greatest moments on the stage and in the theatre, the book features photos from ballet classics like The Nutcracker, as well as shots of modern works by Martha Graham, Paul Taylor and Mark Morris. The dancer’s pure lines and remarkable versatility are dramatically documented here, as are his partnerships with primas like Natalia Makarova. The hooded eyes, the mighty thighs, the aura of melancholy all are unmistakably Misha. With an introduction by ballet critic Joan Acocella, this volume is a wonderful tribute to the greatest male dancer of our time.

Satisfaction for Stones fans Raunchy, rowdy and simmering with sexuality, The Rolling Stones stumbled onto the London pop scene in 1962, beginning a tumultuous 40-year career marked early on by the inimitable swagger of Mick Jagger, the cheekiness of Keith Richards, the dignified reserve of Charlie Watts and for a time the beatific beauty of Brian Jones. Also along for one of the wildest rides in rock n’ roll history was Stones bassist Bill Wyman, a bluesman turned author and documentarian, whose terrific new book Rolling with the Stones (DK, $50, 496 pages, ISBN 0798489678) combines more than 2,000 photographs with classic visuals and band artifacts, as well as behind-the-scenes stories about Mick and the boys. This mod, mad volume traces the arc of the group’s career, capturing the trippy ’60s and excessive ’70s, dishing on chick sidekicks Marianne Faithfull and Bianca Jagger, and providing background info on classic blues-inflected albums like Sticky Fingers. Wyman also includes band bios, covering temporary Stone Mick Taylor along with Ron Wood, as well as input from the band about their musical influences, public and private lives, and the longevity of their legend. The ultimate Stones scrapbook, this vivid volume is the perfect gift for fans of the band Bill Graham once called “the biggest draw in the history of mankind.” Wounds of war It was a war from which we’ve never recovered, fought in an era when pop culture collided with politics. Vietnam was nearly the unmaking of our nation, and now a stirring new volume collects classic images of the conflict snapped by Larry Burrows, one of the century’s greatest photojournalists. With 150 color and black-and-white photographs, Larry Burrows Vietnam (Knopf, $50, 243 pages, ISBN 037541102X) delivers the drama of combat with remarkable sensitivity and detail. The intrepid Englishman who strapped himself to the open door of a plane in order to shoot some of the pictures featured in the book covered the conflict from 1962 until his death in 1971, when the helicopter he flew in was shot down near the Vietnam-Laos border. Published in Life magazine (for which Burrows went to work at the age of 16), each of the volume’s 11 pictorial essays distills the nightmare reality of battle: wounded children, trussed prisoners, Asian women wracked by grief, soldiers stealing sleep amidst the litter of American luxuries chocolate and matches, cigarettes and soap, the bright wrappers emphatic on green grass. With an introduction by David Halberstam, Larry Burrows Vietnam is a profoundly moving visual reminiscence of war.

Let's face it: nothing spoils the holiday season quite like shopping can. Getting the goods requires a tactical plan that would make MacArthur proud. Luckily, the intrepid editors of BookPage have run reconnaissance for readers, scouting out the hottest titles for the holidays. Armed with…
Biography

A trio of tempting titles for the holidays

Review by bookpagedev

Let’s face it: nothing spoils the holiday season quite like shopping can. Getting the goods requires a tactical plan that would make MacArthur proud. Luckily, the intrepid editors of BookPage have run reconnaissance for readers, scouting out the hottest titles for the holidays. Armed with these great gift ideas the best in music, photography and dance you can cut those shopping skirmishes short and keep your inner Scrooge at bay.

Was ever a man more comely to look upon than Mikhail Baryshnikov? This specimen of physical perfection first entranced the world in 1974 with his thrilling defection from the Soviet Union while on tour with the Kirov Ballet in Canada. Impish, tousled and utterly endearing, he quickly became the darling of the dance world, working with the West’s top choreographers and companies. Baryshnikov in Black and White (Bloomsbury, $60, 321 pages, ISBN 1582341869), a stunning collection of 175 performance and rehearsal photographs, follows the course of the star’s career outside the Soviet block, spanning nearly three decades and showcasing the dancer’s many abilities and moods from mischievous boy, to seductive satyr, to tortured madman.

Cataloguing Misha’s greatest moments on the stage and in the theatre, the book features photos from ballet classics like The Nutcracker, as well as shots of modern works by Martha Graham, Paul Taylor and Mark Morris. The dancer’s pure lines and remarkable versatility are dramatically documented here, as are his partnerships with primas like Natalia Makarova. The hooded eyes, the mighty thighs, the aura of melancholy all are unmistakably Misha. With an introduction by ballet critic Joan Acocella, this volume is a wonderful tribute to the greatest male dancer of our time.

Satisfaction for Stones fans Raunchy, rowdy and simmering with sexuality, The Rolling Stones stumbled onto the London pop scene in 1962, beginning a tumultuous 40-year career marked early on by the inimitable swagger of Mick Jagger, the cheekiness of Keith Richards, the dignified reserve of Charlie Watts and for a time the beatific beauty of Brian Jones. Also along for one of the wildest rides in rock n’ roll history was Stones bassist Bill Wyman, a bluesman turned author and documentarian, whose terrific new book Rolling with the Stones combines more than 2,000 photographs with classic visuals and band artifacts, as well as behind-the-scenes stories about Mick and the boys. This mod, mad volume traces the arc of the group’s career, capturing the trippy ’60s and excessive ’70s, dishing on chick sidekicks Marianne Faithfull and Bianca Jagger, and providing background info on classic blues-inflected albums like Sticky Fingers. Wyman also includes band bios, covering temporary Stone Mick Taylor along with Ron Wood, as well as input from the band about their musical influences, public and private lives, and the longevity of their legend. The ultimate Stones scrapbook, this vivid volume is the perfect gift for fans of the band Bill Graham once called "the biggest draw in the history of mankind." Wounds of war It was a war from which we’ve never recovered, fought in an era when pop culture collided with politics. Vietnam was nearly the unmaking of our nation, and now a stirring new volume collects classic images of the conflict snapped by Larry Burrows, one of the century’s greatest photojournalists. With 150 color and black-and-white photographs, Larry Burrows Vietnam (Knopf, $50, 243 pages, ISBN 037541102X) delivers the drama of combat with remarkable sensitivity and detail. The intrepid Englishman who strapped himself to the open door of a plane in order to shoot some of the pictures featured in the book covered the conflict from 1962 until his death in 1971, when the helicopter he flew in was shot down near the Vietnam-Laos border. Published in Life magazine (for which Burrows went to work at the age of 16), each of the volume’s 11 pictorial essays distills the nightmare reality of battle: wounded children, trussed prisoners, Asian women wracked by grief, soldiers stealing sleep amidst the litter of American luxuries chocolate and matches, cigarettes and soap, the bright wrappers emphatic on green grass. With an introduction by David Halberstam, Larry Burrows Vietnam is a profoundly moving visual reminiscence of war.

 

Let's face it: nothing spoils the holiday season quite like shopping can. Getting the goods requires a tactical plan that would make MacArthur proud. Luckily, the intrepid editors of BookPage have run reconnaissance for readers, scouting out the hottest titles for the holidays. Armed…

PhotographyArts & Culture

A trio of tempting titles for the holidays

Review by bookpagedev

Let’s face it: nothing spoils the holiday season quite like shopping can. Getting the goods requires a tactical plan that would make MacArthur proud. Luckily, the intrepid editors of BookPage have run reconnaissance for readers, scouting out the hottest titles for the holidays. Armed with these great gift ideas the best in music, photography and dance you can cut those shopping skirmishes short and keep your inner Scrooge at bay.

Was ever a man more comely to look upon than Mikhail Baryshnikov? This specimen of physical perfection first entranced the world in 1974 with his thrilling defection from the Soviet Union while on tour with the Kirov Ballet in Canada. Impish, tousled and utterly endearing, he quickly became the darling of the dance world, working with the West’s top choreographers and companies. Baryshnikov in Black and White (Bloomsbury, $60, 321 pages, ISBN 1582341869), a stunning collection of 175 performance and rehearsal photographs, follows the course of the star’s career outside the Soviet block, spanning nearly three decades and showcasing the dancer’s many abilities and moods from mischievous boy, to seductive satyr, to tortured madman.

Cataloguing Misha’s greatest moments on the stage and in the theatre, the book features photos from ballet classics like The Nutcracker, as well as shots of modern works by Martha Graham, Paul Taylor and Mark Morris. The dancer’s pure lines and remarkable versatility are dramatically documented here, as are his partnerships with primas like Natalia Makarova. The hooded eyes, the mighty thighs, the aura of melancholy all are unmistakably Misha. With an introduction by ballet critic Joan Acocella, this volume is a wonderful tribute to the greatest male dancer of our time.

Satisfaction for Stones fans Raunchy, rowdy and simmering with sexuality, The Rolling Stones stumbled onto the London pop scene in 1962, beginning a tumultuous 40-year career marked early on by the inimitable swagger of Mick Jagger, the cheekiness of Keith Richards, the dignified reserve of Charlie Watts and for a time the beatific beauty of Brian Jones. Also along for one of the wildest rides in rock n’ roll history was Stones bassist Bill Wyman, a bluesman turned author and documentarian, whose terrific new book Rolling with the Stones (DK, $50, 496 pages, ISBN 0798489678) combines more than 2,000 photographs with classic visuals and band artifacts, as well as behind-the-scenes stories about Mick and the boys. This mod, mad volume traces the arc of the group’s career, capturing the trippy ’60s and excessive ’70s, dishing on chick sidekicks Marianne Faithfull and Bianca Jagger, and providing background info on classic blues-inflected albums like Sticky Fingers. Wyman also includes band bios, covering temporary Stone Mick Taylor along with Ron Wood, as well as input from the band about their musical influences, public and private lives, and the longevity of their legend. The ultimate Stones scrapbook, this vivid volume is the perfect gift for fans of the band Bill Graham once called “the biggest draw in the history of mankind.” Wounds of war It was a war from which we’ve never recovered, fought in an era when pop culture collided with politics. Vietnam was nearly the unmaking of our nation, and now a stirring new volume collects classic images of the conflict snapped by Larry Burrows, one of the century’s greatest photojournalists. With 150 color and black-and-white photographs, Larry Burrows Vietnam delivers the drama of combat with remarkable sensitivity and detail. The intrepid Englishman who strapped himself to the open door of a plane in order to shoot some of the pictures featured in the book covered the conflict from 1962 until his death in 1971, when the helicopter he flew in was shot down near the Vietnam-Laos border. Published in Life magazine (for which Burrows went to work at the age of 16), each of the volume’s 11 pictorial essays distills the nightmare reality of battle: wounded children, trussed prisoners, Asian women wracked by grief, soldiers stealing sleep amidst the litter of American luxuries chocolate and matches, cigarettes and soap, the bright wrappers emphatic on green grass. With an introduction by David Halberstam, Larry Burrows Vietnam is a profoundly moving visual reminiscence of war.

Let's face it: nothing spoils the holiday season quite like shopping can. Getting the goods requires a tactical plan that would make MacArthur proud. Luckily, the intrepid editors of BookPage have run reconnaissance for readers, scouting out the hottest titles for the holidays. Armed with…
NonfictionEssays

The perils of war reporting

Review by bookpagedev

On September 9, 2001, two suicidal Arabs posing as journalists murdered Ahmed Shah Massoud, the brilliant strategist of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. Two days later, Al Qaeda operatives flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center. In The Lion’s Grave: Dispatches From Afghanistan, a collection of pieces written for The New Yorker magazine, reporter Jon Lee Anderson develops a strong case that the two events were related with Massoud’s death quashing the best chance of tracking and capturing Osama bin Laden.

Afghan intelligence officials surmise that the link between Massoud’s slaying and the attack on the World Trade Center was this: Al Qaeda anticipated that Massoud’s death would destroy the Northern Alliance. Thus, if America struck back, it would have no Afghan allies on the ground. Anderson writes that Massoud, as a veteran of two decades of fighting in Afghanistan, knew most of the places where bin Laden might hide. In the early stages of U.S. retaliation, televised news featured on-the-spot reports by national and local anchors. These visiting stars typically attended military briefings, peered through the windows and returned home a few days later as “experts.” Then there were the seasoned war reporters who sneaked into places where few sane people dared to go. That’s what Anderson did in order to capture better than television could the nuances of a land ruled by gun-hugging tribal chiefs, ruthless warlords and gangs of renegade Taliban fighters.

Anderson shares his exclusive moments with people high and low officials, warlords, prisoners, bandits, peasants and details the perplexing politics, deep-rooted blood feuds and shifting allegiances that characterize Afghanistan. A special treat is the collection of private messages Anderson sent to The New Yorker. The messages reflect the perils of war reporting and the savvy required to get a story to the editors. This compelling book supports the widely held notion that no job in journalism is harder than the foreign correspondent’s. To understand September 11, we have to understand Afghanistan and that’s what Anderson bravely helps us do. Alan Prince, a former news editor, lectures at the University of Miami.

On September 9, 2001, two suicidal Arabs posing as journalists murdered Ahmed Shah Massoud, the brilliant strategist of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. Two days later, Al Qaeda operatives flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center. In The Lion's Grave: Dispatches From Afghanistan,…
Mystery & SuspenseSuspense

Turow’s latest legal winner

Review by bookpagedev

<B>Turow’s latest legal winner</B> When a restaurant owner and two of his customers are shot to death, a semi-retarded thief named Rommy Gandolph confesses to the crime and is sentenced to death. After 10 years on death row, his execution date is near. While this may sound like the end of the story, it’s actually the beginning of Scott Turow’s gripping new legal thriller, <B>Reversible Errors</B>.

In his sixth novel, Turow introduces lawyer Arthur Raven, a former prosecutor who is now a partner in a successful firm that handles civil litigation cases. Raven is drafted by the federal appellate court to ensure there are no remaining unexplored legal arguments in Rommy’s case. Raven’s dilemma is that 10 years earlier Rommy confessed to the crimes, but now, just 33 days from execution, Rommy claims he is innocent. Furthermore, another prisoner provides information that supports Rommy’s innocence. Who’s telling the truth? The burden rests on Raven’s shoulders as he attempts to unravel this decade-old case.

Arthur Raven, single, lonely, ungainly and prematurely aging, is an unlikely but compelling champion. A man of unsatisfied personal dreams, Raven is nevertheless a dependable, diligent and honest lawyer. In the courtroom he is intense and methodical, known in legal circles as more of a plow horse than a racehorse. Raven forms an unlikely alliance with Gillian Sullivan, an intelligent but disgraced judge recently released from prison.

Opposing Raven is an aggressive female prosecutor with political ambitions and the dogged police detective who originally took Rommy’s confession. The sense of desperation felt by the accused also extends to both legal camps; neither side can afford to lose this case.

The judicial process itself becomes the ultimate "theater," with elements of emotion, intensity, strategy and gamesmanship, and Turow expertly allows the reader to savor the behind-the-scenes struggles in the search for justice. <I>C.

L. Ross reads, writes and reviews in Pismo Beach, California.</I>

<B>Turow's latest legal winner</B> When a restaurant owner and two of his customers are shot to death, a semi-retarded thief named Rommy Gandolph confesses to the crime and is sentenced to death. After 10 years on death row, his execution date is near. While this…

NonfictionHistoryAmerican History

Highlights from Hawaiian history

Review by bookpagedev

Sarah Vowell’s subversive wit and heady take on history are well known from her previous best-sellers such as The Wordy Shipmates and Assassination Vacation, as well as her work on Public Radio International’s “This American Life.” Her latest book, Unfamiliar Fishes, delivers a romp through Hawaiian history beginning in 1819. The New England missionaries who arrived that year were some of the first “unfamiliar fishes” to come ashore bringing visions of change for the islands—welcome or not. “Hawaiians,” she tells us, “have a word for all the pasty-faced explorers, Bible thumpers, whalers, tycoons, con men, soldiers and vacationers” who disrespect their culture: haole.

Vowell writes with characteristic straightforwardness in describing one such haole, Walter Murray Gibson, who came to the islands in the 1860s with various schemes designed to spread Mormonism and immortalize himself. At 21, as a recently widowed father of three, he wrote, “I wanted to fly on the wings of the wind toward the rising sun.” Vowell translates: “Which is a poetic way of saying he ditched his kids with his dead wife’s relatives and lit out on a life of adventure.”

There are many colorful characters throughout the book—King Kamehameha the Great, Henry Obookiah, Princess Nahi’ena—but one of the most fascinating is Queen Liliuokalani, the last Hawaiian queen, who traveled to America to appeal directly to Congress not to annex her country. Though fighting to stay queen of a sovereign nation, she visited George Washington’s tomb, writing in her memoirs admiringly about “that great man who assisted at the birth of the nation which has grown to be so great.”

Liliuokalani was the last graduate of Hawaii’s royal school, a place designed to Americanize the royal children. Another school established for the children of missionaries became a world-class institution that counts our current president as an alumnus. “I wonder,” Vowell muses, “what Liliuokalani might have thought witnessing President Obama’s inauguration when the marching band from Punahou School, his alma mater (and that of her enemies), would serenade the new president by playing a song she had written, ‘Aloha ’Oe.’ ”

With observations like these, Unfamiliar Fishes will help readers appreciate our beautiful 50th state like never before.

 

Sarah Vowell’s subversive wit and heady take on history are well known from her previous best-sellers such as The Wordy Shipmates and Assassination Vacation, as well as her work on Public Radio International’s “This American Life.” Her latest book, Unfamiliar Fishes, delivers a romp through…

NonfictionMemoir

The intimate process of grieving

Review by bookpagedev

Sad events and occasions for grief happen to everyone, and no two people react in identical fashion. Poet and Slate culture critic Meghan O’Rourke, a gifted writer, responded to the death of her mother by putting the full extent of her emotions on paper, using vivid language and evocative prose to describe her experiences in The Long Goodbye.

O’Rourke thought she was preparing herself for her mother’s death during the final stages of her bout with cancer. Seeing the damage the disease was doing, O’Rourke admits she thought her mother’s death would be a relief. Instead, she discovered the loss completely rocked her, triggering a grief-fueled depression and complete withdrawal from everything she had previously loved.

Eventually it’s her prowess with and passion for words that helps O’Rourke dig out of the emotional abyss. She begins a chronicle of her life in the days after her mother’s burial, sparing no detail about her deepest feelings. Sometimes her descriptions are so graphic, some readers may find them uncomfortable, even excessive. But it’s also clear this process is not only providing a catharsis, but giving the writer insight into areas of her psyche she’d never touched. Eventually she comes to terms with the situation, acknowledging her life won’t ever be the same, but feeling strengthened by undergoing the ordeal and being able to write about it.

The Long Goodbye is far from an easy read. Anyone who’s lost a loved one will empathize with O’Rourke’s isolation from others and her intense misery. Indeed, they may opt to speed through or turn away from certain sections of the book, especially those that lay bare unflattering incidents, thoughts and actions. But this memoir is also a testimony to the human spirit, to resilience, faith and determination. O’Rourke finally decides not to be defeated by her emotions, and she emerges a stronger, better person. Readers who understand and appreciate the lessons detailed in The Long Goodbye will feel renewed after reading it.

 

Sad events and occasions for grief happen to everyone, and no two people react in identical fashion. Poet and Slate culture critic Meghan O’Rourke, a gifted writer, responded to the death of her mother by putting the full extent of her emotions on paper, using…

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