by Beau Riffenbergh (Get the Book)
This energetic biography sheds light on a master undercover operative for the famed Pinkerton's Detective Agency. The iconic sleuth of his time, first hired by Pinkerton in 1873, McParland made his name (as well as the company's) investigating the Molly Maguires, a secret society of Irishmen whose crimes terrorized the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. McParland went on to become Pinkerton's western superintendent and oversaw investigations into Butch Cassidy and the Western Federation of Miners. Though the idealized McParland would appear in the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dashiell Hammett, the man himself proves far more flawed: he perjured himself to assure the sentencing of his victims, and often helped shrewd industrialists exploit an abused labor force. As a result, historians have both revered and lambasted him. Riffenburgh (Shackleton's Forgotten Expedition) takes up the "conundrum" of McParland's moral character and transforms legal and business records into a cinematic adventure through meticulous research. However, despite the momentum of the Molly Maguires' narrative in the book's first half, the episodes of detection from later in McParland's career are disconnected. Despite these lags, Riffenburgh brings a forgotten rough-and-tumble world to life. --Publishers Weekly
by Jane Ridley (Get the Book)
Long-lived Queen Victoria had an era named after her, as did her long-waiting heir when he eventually succeeded to the British throne. Edward VII was an absolute style icon and knew how to enjoy a good party and a robust liaison with a pretty and willing woman. The term Edwardian thus became associated with high fashion and high living. The title of Ridley's biography of King Edward is appropriate to the popular sense of the monarch, that his life was defined by his many years as the indulged and indulgent Prince of Wales. But significant research stands behind the author's more judicious understanding of the man, that the dissipated prince evolved into a model king. Barred by his mother from any participation in royal duties out of her obsessive conviction that her son was not of sufficiently solid material to follow her on the throne, Bertie turned, in compensation, to hot pursuit of pleasure, garnering a reputation for playing not only hard but even scandalously. Nevertheless, upon the old queen's demise in 1901 and his own accession, Edward rose to the occasion to be Britain's first constitutional monarch as we define that role today, modernizing the monarchy and making it stronger. A top-notch royal biography for all active British-history collections. --Booklist
by Sam Wasson (Get the Book)
Here's something you can't say about many celebrity biographies: at nearly 750 pages, it feels like it ends too soon. Wasson is such a lively, engaging writer that, as he takes us through the life and career of the multi-award-winning choreographer and director Bob Fosse, we scarcely notice we're turning the pages until there are no more to turn. Fosse is a fascinating subject: a perfectionist who seemed determined to drive himself into an early grave. He won numerous Tony awards for his stage work before segueing to the big screen, where in a shocking surprise he, not the favored Francis Ford Coppola, won the Academy Award for best director in 1973 (for Cabaret). Combining keen analysis of Fosse's stage and screen works (Wasson rightly approaches Fosse's 1979 film All That Jazz not so much as an autobiographical story as a fantasy) with a compassionate look at Fosse's often-tumultuous personal life, the book is everything you could want in a celebrity bio, without any of the gossipy, trashy, third-hand-rumory rubbish that makes too many biographies so painful to read. This one's a pure joy to read, cover to cover; you read it not merely for Fosse's story, but also for Wasson's inventive way of telling it. If this book doesn't turn up on some literary-awards lists, it'll be a serious crime. --Booklist
by Robert Hilburn (Get the Book)
The bare bones of Cash's story are widely known: the singer-songwriter's childhood years as a farmer's son longing to make music, his early hits, his descent into substance abuse, his tumultuous personal and professional life. Here, Hilburn, who covered music for the Los Angeles Times for more than 30 years, puts some meat on those bones. Did you know, for example, that when Cash moved to Memphis, he hadn't heard of producer Sam Phillips, or Sun Records? And did you know that the lyrics of Cash's early hit, Folsom Prison Blues, were lifted, not quite word-for-word, from Gordon Jenkins' Crescent City Blues? The book is based on previously published material and on the author's interviews, over the years, with numerous sources, including Cash and his family; Phillips; musicians such as Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty; and many of Cash's friends and colleagues (each chapter is thoroughly sourced). It's always tricky to call a biography definitive, but this one must surely come close. --Booklist
by Christopher Klein (Get the Book)
Freelance writer Klein offers this treasure trove of information that covers sports, celebrity, crime, politics and entertainment as he tracks the John L. Sullivan, "Boston Strong Boy," across the country and globe as he rises from the tenement to the heavyweight championship and everything that came with it. Boxing fans will delight in the detailed accounts of Sullivan's battles (he was the heavyweight champion from 1882 to 1892) with Paddy Ryan, Charley Mitchell, Jake Kilrain, and Jim Corbett, while others might find more interest in Sullivan drunken exploits. Also, of interest is how Klein, using his expressive-yet-scholarly prose ("A boxer always represents power in its most visceral sense, and John L. symbolized an ascendant America that was flexing its economic muscles"), ties Sullivan to the issues of the era, such as temperance, class and race relations, immigration, and America's growth into a world power. In fact, if this book has a drawback it might be that boxing sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of all Sullivan's other activities. Still, Klein should not be faulted for his thoroughness since, even though this may not be the first book about Sullivan, it just may be the most exhaustive. --Publishers Weekly
by Ann Patchett (Get the Book)
This is the story of how best-selling novelist Patchett (State of Wonder, 2011) became a writer. As a young child in California and, after her parents' divorce, Nashville, she knew she had to write, and she was fortunate, as she so warmly and vividly explains, in her writing teachers Allan Gurganus, Grace Paley, and Russell Banks and in her success supporting herself by writing nonfiction for magazines and newspapers, beginning with Seventeen and extending to the New York Times Magazine, GQ, Vogue, and Gourmet. Patchett now assembles a retrospective set of 22 sterling personal essays to form an episodic, piquant, instructive, and entertaining self-portrait. She reflects on her family, life on a Tennessee farm, literary discipline and inspiration, and her failed first marriage. Her second marriage is central to her hilarious account of an RV road trip, and the full measure of Patchett's toughness and daring surfaces in The Wall, a riveting account of her father, a captain when he retired after 30 years on the Los Angeles police force, coaching her as she takes the grueling admission test for the Los Angeles Police Academy. A self-described workhorse who has even opened an independent bookstore, Patchett is a commanding and incisive storyteller, whether her tales are true or imagined. --Booklist
by Bob Drury (Get the Book)
Red Cloud (1822-1909) was an Oglala Sioux war chief who successfully led Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Sioux warriors against the U.S. Army. The war was sparked by the 1863 construction of the Bozeman Trail, which connected Montana's gold fields to the Oregon Trail in violation of the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty. From 1866 to 1868, Red Cloud proved such a brilliant tactician that the United States sued for peace to end what became known as Red Cloud's War. The resulting Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 found the United States pledging to stay out of the Sioux hunting grounds and to close the Bozeman Trail. In exchange, Red Cloud and his people pledged to live in peace on the Great Sioux Reservation. Journalists Drury and Clavin (coauthors, The Last Stand of Fox Company) have written a gripping narrative that illuminates Red Cloud's battlefield prowess. They also show how Red Cloud, a shrewd politician, rejected the overtures of Sitting Bull to join the disastrous 1876-77 war over the Black Hills. By choosing peace, Red Cloud ultimately accomplished more for his followers than he could have gained on the battlefield. VERDICT This fascinating book is highly recommended to anyone interested in the history of the Old West. --Library Journal
by Pat Conroy (Get the Book)
Conroy has long used his family to great success. The Great Santini (1976) was the portrait of his marine-obsessed fighter-pilot father and Conroy's long-suffering mother and siblings, who had to endure the violence, numerous moves, and great uncertainty created by his father. Don Conroy was from a Catholic family from the South Side of Chicago. Pat's revered mother, a real southern beauty, played by Blythe Danner in the movie, was the author's literary inspiration. She, as well as strong teachers, taught him the power of literature. His previous book, My Reading Life (2010), expands on these influences. Conroy does some name-dropping as the movie of The Great Santini had its premiere in Beaufort, South Carolina, Conroy's home, and Hollywood's biggest names turned out. In spite of the pain and cruelty, there was forgiveness, and a mature friendship was realized between Conroy and his father before the latter's death. Conroy's eulogy concludes the book and is a fine summing-up of a compelling and readable portrait of a dysfunctional family. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Conroy's many fans will be alerted to his new book by an extensive ad campaign and will welcome it for its honesty, power, and humor. --Booklist
by Scott Adams (Get the Book)
The creator of the Dilbert comic strip is also the author of several nonfiction books that apply Dilbert's philosophy to the workplace. Here he takes an autobiographical approach, using his own life to illustrate his thesis that failure isn't necessarily a bad thing. Adams' own list of failures is given his spectacular success as a cartoonist surprisingly lengthy: a couple of unsuccessful restaurants as well as computer games, inventions, and online businesses that all tanked. Adams isn't bummed by any of his flops because and this is the key element of his philosophy you learn by trying, not by succeeding. And every failure in life helps point us in the direction of ultimate success. (Adams says he would never have become a cartoonist if it weren't for a combination of personal failures and the successes of some of his friends, who were willing to take personal risks.) Readers familiar with the author's previous nonfiction will note the same easygoing, conversational style here, an approach that works perfectly for blending humor with serious advice. --Booklist
by Michael Lennon (Get the Book)
A larger-than-life personality, Norman Mailer was a force to be reckoned with in his personal life he knew many, many people and as a voice in the American literary canon between WWII and the beginning of the twenty-first century. Any writer of a serious biography of Mailer who hopes to contain the excesses of the man within the covers of a book must know that since Mailer in his own lifetime grated on people's taste and nerves, he could easily grate on the reader, even when presented within the pages of a biography. Lennon, authorized by Mailer before his death to write the definitive life treatment, performs a great task, letting Mailer's obnoxiousness have free rein in balance with the biographer's easygoing narrative style, which coaxes the reader into accepting and even enjoying all sides of Mailer gregarious, notoriously thin-skinned, grandly egotistical, and monstrously talented. Understanding Mailer is only half the object of this welcome biography; its other intention is for readers to be enticed into reading or rereading Mailer's works. --Booklist
by Jung Chang (Get the Book)
Was Cixi (1835-1908) the "most evil woman in Chinese history"? In 1861, she began more than four decades of power as the mother of the young new emperor-hence the title Empress Dowager. She ruled first in her son's name, then, despite dynastic regulations prohibiting women from holding power, controlled the government "from behind the throne" for the rest of her life. After Cixi's death, Chinese and Western historians unfairly blamed her for every mistake and defeat that led to the fall of the Manchu Qing dynasty in 1911. In the 1970s, however, careful scholars began to call her the "much maligned" empress dowager and questioned the accounts created by her political enemies. Chang (Mao: The Unknown Story) extends to the empress dowager the charitable sympathy that she denied Mao. She uses the work of revisionist scholars to paint a largely plausible portrait of a ruthless, -farsighted politician who welcomed change and restructured the state. Chang less convincingly paints Cixi as a feminist and a liberal modernizer; Cixi "launched modern China" only if by "modern China" you mean the state dictatorships of Chiang Kai-shek, Mao, and Deng Xiaoping. VERDICT A fascinating and instructive biography for anyone interested in how today's China began. --Library Journal
