The Starker: Big Jack Zelig, the Becker-Rosenthal Case, and the Advent of the Jewish Gangster Review

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The Starker: Big Jack Zelig, the Becker-Rosenthal Case, and the Advent of the Jewish Gangster ReviewFor far to long the Pre-Prohibition era gangsters have been ignored in favor of their rum running followers but thanks to Rose Keefe that has now changed. Most gangsterphiles know Jack Zelig as the guy who came after Kid Twist Zweifach and before Dopey Benny Fein but there is so much more to the story. Zelig was a complex man who had no asperations to be a gangleader but more or less had the task thrust upon him. Thanks to this book he will move from the background and take his rightful place amongst the gangsters of note. There is also a plethora of new info about the Jewish & Italian gangs from the early 20th Century as well as surprising new evidence regarding the Becker/Rosenthal affair. All of this insures that the Starker will be the benchmark for all future historic gangster biographies.The Starker: Big Jack Zelig, the Becker-Rosenthal Case, and the Advent of the Jewish Gangster Overview

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Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Works through Mavra, Two-volume set Review

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Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Works through Mavra, Two-volume set ReviewThis is an extraordinary book which will re-define Stravinsky scholarship. It is by far the best book published on Stravinsky, with perhaps one exception (The Apollonian Clockwork by Andriessen and Schoenberger). Taruskin's scholarship is of the highest quality, his knowledge of Russian music awe-inspiring, and the revelations he uncovers simply by being a Russian-speaker investigating the sources first-hand make this book a watershed in the way we think about Stravinsky. This book only takes the story to 1923 - I can only hope Mr Taruskin is working on the next volume as I write.Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Works through Mavra, Two-volume set Overview

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Pure Goldwater Review

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Pure Goldwater ReviewFor those of us of a certain age, Barry Goldwater was the prickly candidate for president in 1964, whose "extremism in defense of liberty" speech turned away millions of voters. But Goldwater stayed around long after that and it's a good thing he did. "Pure Goldwater", a neatly arranged compilation of his journal entries (along with some letters and speeches) reveals a much more complex and attractive man than the public got to know more than a generation ago.
The title of the book could not have been more appropriate. Here we see Senator Goldwater in all of his frankness, lambasting presidents with whom he worked, yet revelling in the love of his family, photography, flying and service to his country. In reading "Pure Goldwater" it's not hard to be in agreement with him on one page and subsequently want to wring his neck on the next. He seemed always to be on the cutting edge of the day's events, even when he was doing some of the "cutting", himself. It's fascinating to see him comment on every president from FDR to Clinton and there was much about most of them he didn't like.
Much of the book centers around his relationship with Richard Nixon and the trials and tribulations of Watergate and perhaps the most intriguing part of the book follows his recollections on summing up Nixon's chances in the Senate for impeachment survival. I remember that day well and how it changed my mind about Senator Goldwater. Here was a true statesman rising to the occasion in a most difficult time in our nation's history.
Barry Goldwater's seeming drift to the left regarding such issues as women's choice and gay rights no doubt sent shivers up and down the collective spines of his conservative colleagues. But Goldwater reasoned well and was always practical and this will be a big part of his legacy...a conservative man ahead of his time. "Pure Goldwater" is a pure joy to read and I commend John Dean and Barry Goldwater, Jr. for allowing us this terrific look at the senator...as told through his own words. I highly recommend it.Pure Goldwater Overview

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John Lennon: All I Want is the Truth (Bccb Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award (Awards)) Review

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John Lennon: All I Want is the Truth (Bccb Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award (Awards)) ReviewThe author has woven together the many threads of John Lennon's life into an emotional, compelling book. Unlike other Lennon biographies, "All I want is the Truth" took me through the triumphant highs and devastating blows of John's life, almost as if I were living it myself. Drawing on her background in photographic biography, Partridge infuses this book with a collection of images that poignantly support the text and give a great sense of the times.
The title fits well, as "All I Want is the Truth" successfully untangles the creative, playful, passionate genius of John Lennon from his self-destructive, often tortured mind. This book has given me a newfound understanding of John and his music, and I highly recommend it to any of his fans, young or old.John Lennon: All I Want is the Truth (Bccb Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award (Awards)) Overview

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When I Grow up: A Memoir Review

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When I Grow up: A Memoir ReviewA disclaimer: I've been madly in love with Juliana Hatfield's music since I was in high school, in the "find an excuse to leave work at 10 in the morning and buy her new album the day it comes out when the stores open" sort of way. This makes it highly unlikely that I'm capable of delivering a fully unbiased view of this book.
Having gotten that out of the way, "When I Grow Up" is a refreshing snapshot of a musician whose career, by all commercial measures, has been on the decline for well over a decade. Hatfield does not present the sort of tawdry, polished trash that most memoirs by rock artists put out-- there's no ghost writer, there's no glamor. But there is something entirely different-- a lot of grit, a lot of hope and a lot of fragility.
Splitting the chapters largely between non-linear biographical reflections and a detailed account of her US tour promoting Gold Stars 1992-2002, it's largely a story of a shy and somewhat neurotic young woman thrust into a dirty, grimy world of touring rock clubs-- unclean hotels, poor sound systems and creepy fans. And as a fan of Hatfield's music, it's entirely what I'd hope it would be-- well written, engaging and brutally honest. Hatfield does not hide from herself, from her failings, weaknesses and problems, but rather presents them, not as some romanticized presentation of the perils of the rock and roll life, but rather as the everyday troubles of someone trying to live their life and get past their own frailties.
I've been trying to think, as I set out to write this review, if this is something for someone who isn't into Hatfield's music, and I think the answer is a distinct maybe. What she presents is something we don't get a lot of: the point of view of the person who's fallen out of favor. Juliana Hatfield is someone who has survived as a musician but she hasn't exactly thrived.
This book is being released to coincide with Hatfield's latest record, the polished How to Walk Away, a superb effort in its own right, but I'd suggest that a better soundtrack could be found with 1997's Please Do Not Disturb, written shortly after the non-release of "God's Foot", that record very much captures the feel of this text.
Bottom line-- this is a well written and interesting portrait of life as a musician. She doesn't pull any punches and it was everything that her music, painfully honest in a way I'd expect from Hatfield (this is someone who posited, "it's a miracle I'm even here, you're over me" on perhaps her rawest record, 2006's Made in China). Memoirs rarely live up to expectations, they seem too careful. This one is very much what I would have hoped for it.When I Grow up: A Memoir Overview

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Freedom's Orator: Mario Savio and the Radical Legacy of the 1960s Review

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Freedom's Orator: Mario Savio and the Radical Legacy of the 1960s ReviewFREEDOM'S ORATOR is a superb book about a major figure from the 1960s. As an historian, I've thought many times about the mysterious process by which certain people appear and seem to be made for their moment, by reason of personal qualities of high principle, magnetism and decency. Mario Savio was such a person in Berkeley in 1964, and this book helps us to understand why and how he was so important. Moreover, it illuminates the sources of his activism. But it is not uncritical. In fact, I think that Cohen does a wonderful job of analyzing Savio's demons as well as as his strengths. Highly recommended.Freedom's Orator: Mario Savio and the Radical Legacy of the 1960s Overview

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Benedict XVI: An Intimate Portrait Review

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Benedict XVI: An Intimate Portrait ReviewThree and a half years into Pope Benedict XVI's reign as the Vicar of Christ, this is exactly the type of biography that should be coming out. After the flurry of hastily prepared books (some quality, some not), Seewald gives us a thoughtful, in-depth portrait of the pontiff.
Seewald, of course, was the impetus behind Salt of the Earth and God of the World, two important books written in conjunction with the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. This book offers a glimpse into the process of Seewald's introduction into the world of Ratzinger and his subsequent reconversion back into the Church. Seewald tells of his commission in 1993 to write an article on the oft-mistunderstood "Panzerkardinal" and in what I think is the most interesting part of this book, recounts some of the interviews he conducted in preparation for that story. Interviewees include those supportive of the Cardinal (including his own brother, Georg) and those who resent the Cardinal (like Hans Kung). In his interviews, Seewald says that he came away with a dual view of the Cardinal.
Eventually, Seewald gets to interview Cardinal Ratzinger himself for the two books, and he recounts the travails involved in this process. In addition, Seewald credits Ratzinger for his move from an atheist-Communist-apostate to reentry into full communion with the Church. In this sense, it is as much Seewald's story as it is Ratzinger/Pope Benedict's, but God as he works through Pope Benedict exists at the center of the work.
While not as detailed as Brennan Pursell's Benedict of Bavaria with regard to Ratzinger's childhood experiences, I found these sections to be sufficient and appropriate given the goals of the book. One is given an overall impression of Ratzinger's life from childhood, through his appointment to as the Cardinal Archbishop of Munich, to the sometimes-shackling position as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Throughout, Benedict's great intellect and humility shine forth as perhaps his defining qualities.

Overall, this is the best biography of Benedict I have read and I greatly appreciate Mr. Seewald's work. I recommend it to anyone who wants to gain knowledge about perhaps the most important man of this age.
Benedict XVI: An Intimate Portrait Overview

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American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer Review

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American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer ReviewMy father spent most of his career in nuclear engineering researching the mathematics of nuclear reactors at Brookhaven. My father had visited all the national labs and got to know all the key players in nuclear physics in the period from 1950-1970. Growing up in that environment I naturally knew a bit about Oppenheimer and Teller and others. It was clear to me that my father had sympathy for Oppenheimer and a great deal of respect. Teller was viewed more as a politician looking for fame and publicity. This became even more apparent to me when in the 1980s I saw how he lobbied the Reagan administration for research on laser based strategic defense satellites.
This book is an account of Oppenheimer's life from childhood through the Manhattan Project with emphasis on the most crucial part of his career as the head of the Los Alamos Laboratory where physicists mathematicians and chemists teamed up to develop the first nuclear weapons that were used against Japan. Oppenheimer was a reserved man who did not seek the limelight. He was brilliant but his biggest asset was his management and leadership capabilities along with very good judgement, something that Teller seemed to lack. It was just these qualities of leadership that led to the succcessful development of the atomic bomb in a few short years at Los Alamos. His liberal past and pre-war affiliation with communism caused him great difficulties and some in the military feared that he was a security risk. He was continually being checked out by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. Hoover did not like the appointment of Oppenheimer to the key leadership position at Los Alamos.
After the war was over, strangely the man who was able to keep secrets during the crucial period of the Manhattan Project was not trusted after the war. He lost security clearance and struggled due to the increased fear of communism from the post-war Soviet Union including the wave of witchhunting during the Joseph McCarthy era. He was liberal and his pre-war past communist associations hurt him deeply. His philosophy on nuclear weapons and his clashes with his former colleague Joseph Teller made for a tormented post-war career. I believe Oppenheomer felt guilt over his involvement in the development of the bomb and was definitely against the arms race. This period of his life as well as his childhood was important to understand the complexities of this man. The authors do a good job of covering this and do not fall into the trap of just emphasizing the war years.
This book is engaging and very successful at portraying the life character and personality of J. Robert Oppenheimer. He was the right man for a difficult and challenging job and had what it took to get the most out of an odd group of geniuses.American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer Overview

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Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness Review

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Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness ReviewThis well detailed biography begins with Fischer near his final years, a fugitive from the law, wanted in America for sanction violations (playing chess in the former Yugoslav republic in 1992) and a marked man for his hate-filled rant on the radio after September 11. The Japanese authorities have captured Fischer at the airport and have put a sack over his head while he throws a tantrum.
From this disturbing scene, we shoot back to Fischer's childhood during the Mcarthy Era in which his mother, who lived in Russia and was involved in Leftist political activities, is investigated by the FBI. Fischer as a child with a genius IQ of 180 becomes obsessed with chess and is soon hailed as a prodigy beating adults around the world, including US's rival, Russia.
As Fischer becomes more and more prominent, Brady captures the demons that begin to consume Fischer: He becomes more and more anti-Semitic though he himself is a Jew, he becomes a hypochondriac, a paranoid malcontent, and a grouch who cannot elicit the reader's sympathy, at least for me.
Brady takes us to Fischer's final years in Iceland (the only country that would host him after he renounced his US citizenship and became a wanted man by Interpol all over the world), referred to as a "devil's island," a place where Fischer must spend the rest of his life.
We get the picture of a broken man with no will to live, mildly consoled by eating at restaurants 3 times a day and refusing medical treatment for his urinary tract and weakened kidneys.
Growing up in the 1970s and taking pride in Fischer's domination over the Soviets, I found this a bracing read, a portrait of a man too smart for his own good and too delusional. Highly recommended for those who want a biography that neither praises nor condemns Fischer as much as it gives us a lucid portrait of him.Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness Overview

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