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The Work of Art

The Work of Art is a visionary compendium of ephemera that makes visible the bridge between idea and artwork.
The Work of Art is a visionary compendium of ephemera that makes visible the bridge between idea and artwork.
NonfictionBiography

Ingenious

Richard Munson’s splendid biography of Benjamin Franklin provides an insightful view of the statesman’s lesser known accomplishments in science.
Richard Munson’s splendid biography of Benjamin Franklin provides an insightful view of the statesman’s lesser known accomplishments in science.
NonfictionLiteratureBiography

Didion and Babitz

Lili Anolik’s Didion and Babitz is a freewheeling and engaging narrative about two iconic literary rivals and their world in 1970s Los Angeles.
Lili Anolik’s Didion and Babitz is a freewheeling and engaging narrative about two iconic literary rivals and their world in 1970s Los Angeles.
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Social Science

The challenges and rewards of being an outsider

Review by Heather Seggel

The high school lunch bell has just sounded; where are you going to sit? Do you have a spot reserved at the popular table? Or are you a band geek, trying to find your friends and avoid being tripped by the preps? Maybe you’re a floater, able to mingle with the different cliques and groups. Forget that pop quiz in biology; lunch hour is often the most stressful period in the school day, pointing out as it does the layers of division among school kids.

Into this world comes author Alexandra Robbins (Pledged, The Overachievers). The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth wears its bias right in the title. While observing seven distinct types at different schools across the U.S., Robbins repeatedly unearths evidence of the value brought to the setting by so-called “nerds,” “geeks,” “emos” and others often singled out for exclusion or abuse. Her “quirk theory” posits that the very qualities that make these kids outsiders in school are the ones that will have positive real-world applications later. But for those talents to be realized they must be nurtured, not squelched. This book takes an interesting approach to righting that wrong.

Where in the past Robbins merely reported on what she saw, now she gets into the trenches, creating challenges designed to expand the social circles and safe points of contact for the people she profiles. It’s a relief to see band geek Noah come out of his shell and develop new leadership skills, and “popular bitch” Whitney thrives when she’s allowed to ditch her high-maintenance power clique and talk to whomever she likes.

The revenge of the nerds prophesied here should please anyone who was ever left out of a group for being too much themselves. Students, parents and teachers working to facilitate more social cross-pollination will appreciate the tips on how to create a safe space for creativity to thrive. Robbins makes the case that it’s necessary work, because the harshest consequence of enforced conformity “is that so many . . . students . . . think that they have done or felt something wrong.” The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth is fascinating; here’s hoping it finds a place in the curriculum for teachers and students alike.

The high school lunch bell has just sounded; where are you going to sit? Do you have a spot reserved at the popular table? Or are you a band geek, trying to find your friends and avoid being tripped by the preps? Maybe you’re a…

NonfictionMemoir

Facing fears with the First Lady

Review by Linda Stankard

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” Most people reading that quote by Eleanor Roosevelt, if at all disenchanted with themselves for leading less than robust lives, would feel a momentary rekindling of their “inner warrior” attitude. They would take it as a gentle reminder and might silently vow to wrest more out of life, to challenge themselves more frequently, to be a little braver and bolder. But when Noelle Hancock sees it written on a chalkboard in a coffee shop, she adopts it as her mantra—literally! My Year With Eleanor is a delightful memoir of her journey out of fear and anxiety with the former “First Lady of the World” as her imitable guide.

At the book’s opening, Hancock has been seeing a therapist, Dr. Bob, for about a year (a decision that came about, she writes, “when I realized I knew more about Jennifer Aniston than I did about myself”); her lucrative, but less-than-soul-fulfilling job as a blogger for a celebrity-themed website has just gone kaput; and her next birthday looms ahead. When she discusses the Roosevelt quote with Dr. Bob, he says, “This could be a good project for you. You should run with this,” and ultimately, she does.

Delving further into Eleanor Roosevelt’s writings, she is moved and inspired by Eleanor’s life story: her early timidity, her heartbreaks and sorrows, and her eventual triumph over immobilizing insecurity. Buoyed by Eleanor’s example, on her 29th birthday, Hancock begins a year-long struggle to “do one thing each day” that scares her before she turns 30. With no paying job, and her parents still wishing she’d go to law school, she kicks off the project by taking a trapeze class, and after much heart-pounding trepidation, she finally hops from the elevated platform and takes her first “exhilarating and dreadful” plunge toward self-confidence.

With unwavering and witty self-analysis (and Eleanor’s “mentoring”), Hancock embarks on an uncomfortable but never-a-dull-moment voyage of self-discovery and daring. Sometimes her challenges are more physical—sky diving, hiking Kilimanjaro and taking fighter pilot lessons—while some are fear-provoking on other levels—like singing karaoke, doing stand-up comedy or volunteering in a cancer ward. But whether she is confronting terrifying sharks in a diving cage or her tangled feelings about her boyfriend Nick, she demonstrates how thrilling it can be to face your fears. I double-dare you to read this book!

 

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” Most people reading that quote by Eleanor Roosevelt, if at all disenchanted with themselves for leading less than robust lives, would feel a momentary rekindling of their “inner warrior” attitude. They would take it as a gentle…

History

A chill in international relations

Review by bookpagedev

The trouble in dealing with spies and former spies is that one can never be sure when they’re telling the truth and when they’re spinning self-serving fables. After all, their lives and careers have depended on artful and persistent deception. A high-ranking agent for the KGB and later for its post-Cold War successor, the SVR, Sergey Tretyakov defected to the U.S. in October 2000, bringing with him his wife and daughter. Little was revealed about the defection until Tretyakov, now living under cover, asked the FBI and CIA to connect him with Pete Earley, whose book on American spy Aldrich Ames (Confessions of a Spy) he particularly admired.

As it turns out, Tretyakov had been spying for the U.S. well before he walked out on Russia. His reason for changing sides, he tells Earley in Comrade J, was neither job discontent nor hope of financial gain, but rather his disenchantment with what Russia had become under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. (He is equally unimpressed with current Russian Federation president Vladimir Putin, whom he remembers as having had “a nothing career” within the KGB.) Former Washington Post reporter Earley says he conducted 126 hours of face-to-face interviews with Tretyakov, a probing that enables him to describe the Russian’s early life and KGB training, his stint in Canada as a spy and spy recruiter, and his final information-gathering assignments in New York. Tretyakov gives a voluminous accounting of the KGB/SVR personalities he worked with and the brutality of the system he long defended.

Perhaps the most newsworthy element here is Tretyakov’s list of people he says were finessed, tricked, bribed or blackmailed into providing useful—although not always classified – information. One of these sources, he reports, was Strobe Talbott, President Clinton’s deputy secretary of state. Earley dutifully presented Tretyakov’s accusations to Talbott and the other supposed sources – and they, as might be expected, dismissed or denied them without exception. Whatever the truth of his specific assertions, Tretyakov draws a remarkably detailed and engaging diagram of the mechanics of spying.

The trouble in dealing with spies and former spies is that one can never be sure when they're telling the truth and when they're spinning self-serving fables. After all, their lives and careers have depended on artful and persistent deception. A high-ranking agent for the…
FilmArts & Culture

An insider’s view of Tinseltown

Review by bookpagedev

There’s no place quite like Hollywood, a town without rules where surviving is easier said than done. That’s the bottom line of Shoot Out: Surviving the Fame and (Mis)Fortune of Hollywood, an inside look at the movie-making industry co-authored by Peter Bart and Peter Guber. The pair write from experience: Bart is editor of the show biz bible Variety and a former studio executive who had a hand in films such as Rosemary’s Baby and The Godfather. Guber, former president of Sony Entertainment, is a longtime producer of movies, including Rain Man and Batman. At UCLA, Bart and Guber team-teach a class in which industry personalities guest lecture. This book is based on some of those accounts, as well as the authors’ colorful experiences. The emphasis here is on the moviemaking journey from the initial pitch to the final cut and all the people in-between, including writers, producers and agents (who, according to the authors, dwell in their own sociopathic cocoon ). Guber and Bart offer tantalizing behind-the-scenes tidbits about stars like John Travolta and Eddie Murphy, who on a fluke was cast in the blockbuster 48 HRS. (His role was offered to Gregory Hines and Bill Cosby, until someone finally asked, How about that funny black kid on Saturday Night Live? ) As Guber and Bart reveal, only 20 percent of film projects in development actually get made, and it’s no easy going for the chosen few. Brisk, lively and detailed, Shoot Out proves once again that there really is no business like show business.

Biographer Pat H. Broeske has covered the film industry for the Los Angeles Times.

 

There's no place quite like Hollywood, a town without rules where surviving is easier said than done. That's the bottom line of Shoot Out: Surviving the Fame and (Mis)Fortune of Hollywood, an inside look at the movie-making industry co-authored by Peter Bart and Peter…

LiteratureArts & Culture

Staying in character

Review by bookpagedev

While no less a celebrated figure than W.C. Fields often touted the versatility and talent of Bert Williams, the first black performer to appear on Broadway, Camille F. Forbes’ thorough and captivating biography Introducing Bert Williams: Burnt-Cork, Broadway, and the Story of America’s First Black Star represents the most exhaustive work done on this groundbreaking figure. Williams was a superb entertainer, marvelous storyteller, impressive vocalist and often imaginative performer, yet he worked in an era when blacks were openly lampooned and ridiculed in hideous minstrel shows and blackface routines that depicted them as unthinking, childlike buffoons and caricatures. Despite this, Williams managed to inject a degree of humanity and dignity in even the worst creative situations.

Forbes carefully follows Williams’ rise to stardom and traces his involvement and participation in almost every phase of American entertainment. With access to everything from joke books to interviews, letters, films, songs and reviews (both positive and unflattering), Forbes not only tracks the evolution of Williams’ career, she shows the toll it took on him, especially the rejection he received from fellow African Americans angered by his frequent use of blackface. Williams was a complex, driven and conflicted soul, skilled enough to have successfully operated in every arena from medicine shows and vaudeville to films, musical theater and early recordings, yet today he’s more an object of pity or scorn than triumph. Introducing Bert Williams provides some much needed perspective and documentation regarding his life and times.

While no less a celebrated figure than W.C. Fields often touted the versatility and talent of Bert Williams, the first black performer to appear on Broadway, Camille F. Forbes' thorough and captivating biography Introducing Bert Williams: Burnt-Cork, Broadway, and the Story of America's First…

HistoryAmerican History

The real Wild West

Review by Anne Bartlett

By the time legendary frontier lawman Wyatt Earp, then 31, showed up in the mining boomtown of Tombstone, Arizona, in 1879, he had moved at least 12 times and lived in at least nine different states and territories. We can’t be sure of the exact number because he was much prone in later life to obfuscation, especially about the horse theft allegation and his stints as a brothel bouncer. But it is clear that he was a restless soul, a trait he shared with his father and brothers.

As author Jeff Guinn shows convincingly in The Last Gunfight, a new approach to the O.K. Corral shootout saga, the Earps were a perennially frustrated family, always disappointed in their status, and always scanning the horizon for the next chance at a big score. And in that, he argues, they were emblematic of an important factor in the settlement of the West: the never-ending search for a quick buck.

For much of the 20th century, the story of the lethal encounter in Tombstone—three killed immediately, and at least three more slain in subsequent revenge killings—was told simplistically and inaccurately: brave lawmen confronting a gang of evil outlaws. But historians in recent decades have exploded that myth, and Guinn now takes the research a step further, to explain the wider socioeconomic context and the specific missteps that led to the showdown between somewhat-shady cops and somewhat-shady ranchers.

Wyatt Earp himself had no particular interest in law enforcement, only in the tax collection commissions that came with a county sheriff’s job. The Earps were trying to impress the town’s Republican business establishment. The ranchers they killed were certainly allied with rustlers, but also with Southern Democratic rural interests that saw the likes of the Earps as big-government thugs. The bloodshed was the result of deep mistrust and misread intentions, fueled by alcohol and machismo.

Guinn lays it all out beautifully: the Western settlement engine shifting from farming to hunting to mining; the quick rise and fall of Tombstone’s silver industry; the cattle rustling that no one cared about because the victims were Mexicans; the political machinations that the Earps completely misunderstood. Decades later, Wyatt, living in “genteel poverty” in Los Angeles, puffed up the heroic version in a totally characteristic last attempt to cash in. Guinn’s dissection is notably more enthralling.

By the time legendary frontier lawman Wyatt Earp, then 31, showed up in the mining boomtown of Tombstone, Arizona, in 1879, he had moved at least 12 times and lived in at least nine different states and territories. We can’t be sure of the exact…

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