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NonfictionMemoir

Connie

With candor and humor, Connie Chung shares the highs and lows of her trailblazing career as a journalist in her invigorating memoir, Connie.
With candor and humor, Connie Chung shares the highs and lows of her trailblazing career as a journalist in her invigorating memoir, Connie.
NonfictionMemoirLGBTQ+

Frighten the Horses

Oliver Radclyffe’s Frighten the Horses is a powerful standout among the burgeoning subgenre of gender transition memoirs.
Oliver Radclyffe’s Frighten the Horses is a powerful standout among the burgeoning subgenre of gender transition memoirs.
NonfictionMemoir

Health and Safety

Emily Witt’s sharp, deeply personal memoir, Health and Safety, invites us to relive a tumultuous era in American history through the eyes of a keen observer.
Emily Witt’s sharp, deeply personal memoir, Health and Safety, invites us to relive a tumultuous era in American history through the eyes of a keen observer.
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History

Uncovering the story of a tragedy

Review by bookpagedev

On September 7, 1857, a wagon train of pioneers on their way to California was ambushed at a place called Mountain Meadows in southwestern Utah. At first, the attackers appeared to be Indians, but in the five days of siege that followed, it became evident that they were not. As the settlers slowly resigned themselves to being overwhelmed, a large party of white men bearing a white flag approached the embattled camp and offered the survivors safe passage if they would lay down their arms. After they had done so, the “rescuers” separated the men, women and children into groups and marched them along the trail. Then, in response to a pre-arranged command, the supposed protectors turned on the settlers and shot them point-blank or slit their throats. Within three minutes, 140 people lay dead. Only about 15 or 20 children, whom the attackers deemed too young to bear witness against them, were spared. The killers were Mormons.

The Mountain Meadows massacre remains one of the most nettlesome events in the Mormon Church’s bloody history. Was the slaughter ordered by the church’s leader, Brigham Young, or was it the misguided action of his overzealous adherents? Award-winning journalist Sally Denton leaves little doubt that it was the former.

Instead of treating the incident as an aberration, in her compelling new book American Massacre, she places it in the context of a religious movement that owed much of its success to cultivating an us-against-them attitude among its members. The perception that any outsider might be an enemy of the faith made an atrocity like Mountain Meadows inevitable. Particularly effective in demonstrating how the national outcry against the massacre kept building until even the intractable Young had to give in to it, Denton has written a fascinating and thorough account of the tumultuous event and its aftermath. This is a superb piece of scholarship that reads like a novel.

On September 7, 1857, a wagon train of pioneers on their way to California was ambushed at a place called Mountain Meadows in southwestern Utah. At first, the attackers appeared to be Indians, but in the five days of siege that followed, it became evident that they were not. As the settlers slowly resigned themselves […]
Travel

The strange places we hang our hats

Review by bookpagedev

At an age when most journalists are just starting to excel at their craft, 28-year-old Jake Halpern has already scored writing credits in The New Yorker and The New Republic. Now he has his first book as well, which, in its esoteric little way, attempts to reconcile the increasingly vagabond spirit of Americans with the deeply held human need to call someplace “home.” In Braving Home: Dispatches from the Underwater Town, the Lava-Side Inn, and Other Extreme Locales, Halpern’s year-long, in-the-field investigations take him to five disparate places in the U.S. that share a common bond. In North Carolina, Alaska, Hawaii, Louisiana and California, places where despite extreme, often tragic climatic, elemental and ecological upheaval stalwart and courageous (some might say very eccentric) individuals stay put out of loyalty to the land, he discovers some remarkable stories. A few of the characters Halpern encounters: Thad Knight, of Princeville, North Carolina, a place that’s reputed to be the oldest all-black town in the country. Despite continuous, devastating floods, Knight tenaciously hangs on to what’s left in Princeville. In snow-encrusted, claustrophobic Whittier, Alaska, a community comprised largely of a single, 14-story building, Halpern hangs out with Babs Reynolds, a woman on the run from her past, who savors the isolation Alaska offers. Jack Thompson is the last inhabitant of Royal Gardens, Hawaii, a town now practically encased in lava from the volcano Mount Kilauea. In Grand Isle, Louisiana, 90 miles south of New Orleans, Ambrose Bresson has endured violent rainstorms for nearly 70 years. What makes folks stay on in these out-of-the way, often dangerous places? Is it simple stubbornness? A twisted sort of loyalty? A determination to remain rooted in a rootless society? Halpern pursues these questions with a curiosity and keen sense of adventure that permeate his wonderfully readable profiles. The author’s off-the-beaten-path stories will keep readers turning the pages of this unusual book.

At an age when most journalists are just starting to excel at their craft, 28-year-old Jake Halpern has already scored writing credits in The New Yorker and The New Republic. Now he has his first book as well, which, in its esoteric little way, attempts to reconcile the increasingly vagabond spirit of Americans with the […]
Biography

A man of ideas and influence

Review by bookpagedev

Benjamin Franklin’s extraordinary and complex life as a printer, entrepreneur, postmaster and diplomat, among other activities had a profound effect on the development of the United States. As Walter Isaacson points out in his superb new biography, Benjamin Franklin: An American LifeKissinger: A Biography, brilliantly demonstrates a wide and insightful grasp of Franklin’s life. Isaacson’s Franklin is a charming genius and an imposing historical figure, but a man who left much to be desired for those closest to him. While he had, in Isaacson’s words, a "genial affection for his wife," it didn’t keep him from spending 15 years of their marriage an ocean apart. He and his son William had a close relationship, but it couldn’t survive their difference of opinion over the Revolution.

Franklin’s dislike of "everything that tended to debase the spirit of the common people," as well as his longstanding opposition to arbitrary authority, made him a trusted figure for many colonists. In telling his story, Isaacson has crafted an impressive biography, a narrative that’s balanced to give us a strong sense of the many aspects of its subject. His book deserves a wide readership.

 

Benjamin Franklin’s extraordinary and complex life as a printer, entrepreneur, postmaster and diplomat, among other activities had a profound effect on the development of the United States. As Walter Isaacson points out in his superb new biography, Benjamin Franklin: An American LifeKissinger: A Biography, brilliantly demonstrates a wide and insightful grasp of Franklin’s life. Isaacson’s […]
Food & Drink

A mineral more precious than gold

Review by Alan Prince

The salt industry proudly boasts that its product has some 14,000 uses in hundreds of industries. After reading Salt: A World History, you'll no doubt respond to "Please pass the salt" with a new measure of respect for the substance, since every one of us would perish without it. Author Mark Kurlansky has compiled a remarkable book in which he explores every aspect of the mineral that for centuries was one of the most sought-after commodities in human history, presaging, in a sense, what today is viewed as a dependence on foreign oil.

Kurlansky tracks the impact of salt on the political, military, economic and social lives of societies throughout history. He details, for instance, Mahatma Gandhi's leading thousands of Indians on an exhausting 240-mile march to the sea to make their own salt in protest of a tax on the substance. Gandhi was jailed, but the march was a tool that led to his ending British rule over India without striking a single blow. Another of Kurlansky's heroes is Anthony Lucas, who ignored the advice of geologists and drilled a Texas salt dome called Spindletop. He struck oil in 1901 and thus gave birth to the modern petroleum industry.

Salt deserves a place on the shelf next to Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, which earned Kurlansky a James Beard Award for Excellence in Food Writing, as well as a slot on the New York Times bestseller list. His new book brims with recipes from around the globe. Some of them are hundreds of years old, which just might entice a few adventuresome cooks back into the kitchen. And here's a taste of the countless other items spicing the text: some Lapplanders prefer salted coffee; sauerkraut was valued more than caviar in 19th century Russia; and in the United States, salt workers were considered so vitally important they were exempt from conscription in the Confederate army during the Civil War.

While homemakers and master chefs alike should enjoy this book, it's also likely to consume the interest of those who survive on TV dinners.

 

Alan Prince of Deerfield Beach, Florida, is an ex-newsman and college lecturer.

The salt industry proudly boasts that its product has some 14,000 uses in hundreds of industries. After reading Salt: A World History, you'll no doubt respond to "Please pass the salt" with a new measure of respect for the substance, since every one of us would perish without it. Author Mark Kurlansky has compiled a […]
Religion & Spirituality

Violence and faith: a deadly combination

Review by bookpagedev

Whether he’s tracing a young man’s doomed journey into the Alaskan wilderness, as he did with Into The Wild, or chronicling an ill-fated expedition to scale Mount Everest, his focus for Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer is fascinated by human behavior that pushes the conventional limits. His new book, Under the Banner of Heaven, focuses on two Mormon fundamentalist brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty who killed their sister-in-law and her 15-month-old daughter because, they said, God told them to do it. This seems to be the season for probing the more extreme manifestations of Mormonism. Among the recent titles on the topic (both reviewed elsewhere in this issue) are Dorothy Allred Solomon’s Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk, an account of growing up in a polygamous Mormon family during the 1950s and ’60s, and Sally Denton’s American Massacre, the story of the 1857 ambush of a wagon train at Mountain Meadows, Utah, a slaughter apparently ordered by Mormon chieftain Brigham Young. Krakauer alludes to Solomon’s fundamentalist father and to the massacre in this probing narrative. Looking into the mind of the true believer, he observes, “Ambiguity vanishes from [his] worldview; a narcissistic sense of self-assurance displaces all doubt. A delicious rage quickens his pulse, fueled by the sins and shortcomings of lesser mortals, who are soiling the world wherever he looks. His perspective narrows until the last remnants of proportion are shed from his life. Through immoderation, he experiences something akin to rapture.” Raised among Mormons he greatly admired, Krakauer treats their religion in all its theological shades quite seriously. There’s never a snide remark or sarcastic aside. But his studiously balanced reporting can’t soften the savagery of the deed he describes or make palatable the astounding and unrepentant arrogance of the men who committed it. In detailing the events that led to the double-murder, the author also offers a brief history of the Mormon church and the violence and doctrinal schisms that have attended its growth. To help explain why socially disturbing practices arise among certain Mormons, he examines life in the remote town of Colorado City, Arizona (formerly known as Short Creek), a fundamentalist stronghold where plural marriages, although illegal, flourish openly and at government expense. Less frightening than the killers themselves are the intellectually arid and institutionally paranoid communities that incubate them.

Krakauer also takes up the case of Elizabeth Smart, who last year, at the age of 14, was abducted from her home in Salt Lake City to become the “bride” of her fundamentalist kidnapper. While her kidnapping gained international attention, Krakauer shows that her fate was not radically different from that of many other young girls who have been taken into plural marriage against their will and brainwashed into conformity. Shielded by their own sense of righteousness, the Lafferty brothers made no serious effort to cover their tracks after committing the 1984 murders. They were soon apprehended and convicted. Dan was given two life sentences; Ron was condemned to death but has yet to be executed. Krakauer makes no excuses for the Laffertys, but he does demonstrate that they were shaped by a theological mold. His insightful book brings readers closer to an understanding of their insular religion. Under the Banner of Heaven is a first-rate work of nonfiction from one of our most intrepid reporters.

Whether he’s tracing a young man’s doomed journey into the Alaskan wilderness, as he did with Into The Wild, or chronicling an ill-fated expedition to scale Mount Everest, his focus for Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer is fascinated by human behavior that pushes the conventional limits. His new book, Under the Banner of Heaven, focuses […]
Sports

Great gifts for guys, from macho to genteel

Review by Martin Brady

Well, OK I’ll admit that not all men make a habit out of reading books. But for every guy who enjoys a novel now and then, there are dozens more who just might like an enlightening browse, an interesting bit of nonfiction, a useful how-to guide or, of course, cool pictures of cool guy-type things. Furthermore, if you can lay a neat gift book on a guy, he will be flattered that you pegged him for the literary type (even if you know better). These recent releases will make solid gift selections for that special guy, whether he be a sports nut, the manly fix-it type or even the rare genteel thinker.

Slam dunk

Certainly one of the finest gift sports books of recent years has to be At the Buzzer! The Greatest Moments in NBA History. A hip, knowing text by sports journalist Bryan Burwell accompanies hundreds of dramatic color photographs that chart the exploits of basketball’s greats Chamberlain, Russell, Havlicek, West, Bird, Dr. J., Magic and Michael from the league’s formative years to the present day. Important playoff game performances, heroic single-game scoring feats, great match-ups and eventful isolated moments are all captured in words and pictures. In addition, the book is accompanied by two audio CDs that present excerpts from pertinent original radio and television broadcasts. Ex-basketball star and TV commentator Bill Walton handles the narration on the discs, which feature the voices of Marv Albert, Brent Musberger, Dick Enberg and a host of other national and local play-by-play announcers.

Good bet

Another terrific volume for those hard-to-shop-for men on your list is A. Alvarez’s Poker: Bets, Bluffs, and Bad Beats. Alvarez, a poet, novelist and frequent New Yorker contributor, is also an inveterate poker player. After tracing poker’s development from various early Persian and French variations, he describes its rise as a uniquely American game that took hold in New Orleans, made its way up the Mississippi on riverboats and eventually became a big part of Las Vegas gaming culture. Drawing on his years of experience, including his participation in the World Series of Poker, Alvarez also offers fascinating anecdotes revolving around game play and the singular characters that inhabit professional poker tables. The author explodes poker myths it’s not about luck, for example discusses poker’s colorful contributions to the English language and even includes lore about poker-playing U.S. presidents (Nixon was one). Evocative color and black-and-white photos capture shuffle, deal, play and players in both fact and fiction.

Tool time

Without question, Tools: A Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia is the volume for that handyman guy we all know and love. Rich photography captures the broad array of tools found in the busy home workshop, ranging from measuring and cutting tools to assembly and finishing tools. Good historical background is provided on tool development, and there are a few interesting archival reproductions showing craftsmen at work in bygone eras. But mostly, the comprehensive coverage handsaws, planes, chisels, lathes, power drills, pliers, vises stresses selecting the right tools for the right jobs and using them with efficiency and artfulness. Helpful appended material (including a micropedia, a glossary and a directory of sources) rounds out this attractive addition to any do-it-yourselfer’s bookshelf. Comedian Tim Allen would drool.

Fast lane

Not everyone idolized Dale Earnhardt, but the void left in NASCAR racing with his untimely demise at the Daytona 500 earlier this year can’t be underestimated. Sports Illustrated senior writer Leigh Montville does a super job of explaining the Earnhardt charisma and legacy in At the Altar of Speed: The Fast Life and Tragic Death of Dale Earnhardt. Where Earnhardt’s devoted and fanatical blue-collar following is concerned, Montville shows the appropriate reverence, quoting a representative sampling of those who idolized the Michael Jordan of his sport. We learn of Dale’s humble North Carolina origins, his rise to NASCAR greatness as "The Intimidator," his marital missteps and eventual success as husband and family man, and his emergence as racing’s most respected elder statesman. Montville also covers that tragic day in February with dramatic restraint. But perhaps most interesting is his profile of the car-racing culture, its rise as the fastest-growing sport in the U.S., and the way Earnhardt managed to maintain his common-man appeal while amassing lifetime earnings in excess of $40 million.

Car talk

Yeah, guys dig cars. They stand for status, speed and sex appeal, don’t they? They’re also awesome to look at, and Cars: A Celebration just might be the ultimate coffee-table gift book on the subject. It’s thick (almost 600 pages), and packed with nearly 2,000 color photos of 146 different cars their interiors, exteriors, engines and distinctive design elements. Coverage is international, including automobile makes such as Aston Martin, Ferrari, Daimler, Lambhorgini, Fiat, Renault, Volvo, Mercedes, Volkswagen and MG. But the view of U.S. cars through the years offers not only an automotive charge but also some definite American sociocultural nostalgia. Thunderbird, Mustang, Galaxie, Edsel, Falcon, Bel Air, Corvair, Corvette, Impala, Cougar, Riviera, GTO, Eldorado these and many more vintage U.S. car models are displayed in all their kitschy glory. The coverage here dates from about the late 1940s, and also includes such infamous pipedream failures as the DeLorean and the Tucker. Quentin Willson’s accompanying text is smartly written, informative about the cars’ appeal (or lack thereof) and includes occasional brief profiles of car designers and company executives. Gorgeous photography makes this a must purchase for that favorite car buff. (And considering the size of this lush volume, it’s actually a good value at $50.)

Say what?

Finally, any sensitive guy will admit his manners could use a refresher course. As a Gentleman Would Say: Responses to Life’s Important (and Sometimes Awkward) Situations is the latest entry in a series of Gentlemanners books designed to remind us of the most thoughtful and decent ways to cope with potentially tough social situations. Co-written by John Bridges and Bryan Curtis, the book posits dozens of scenarios at parties, dining out, at work, in love and friendship, making a toast and gives some possible responses, both the taboo, humorous types and the well-considered gentlemanly ones. A witty and useful book, appropriate for maybe more men than we would like to think about.

 

Well, OK I’ll admit that not all men make a habit out of reading books. But for every guy who enjoys a novel now and then, there are dozens more who just might like an enlightening browse, an interesting bit of nonfiction, a useful how-to guide or, of course, cool pictures of cool guy-type things. […]

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