Published: June 1, 2011
The Fifth Witness |
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Michael Connelly. The Fifth Witness. New York:
Little, Brown, and Company. 2011.
as reviewed by Ted Odenwald
When Mitchell Bondurant, a mortgage official for California’s Westland Bank, is viciously murdered, police investigators arrest Lisa Trammel, an activist who has been aggressively protesting and litigating against unfair practices in mortgage foreclosures. Her attorney, erstwhile criminal defense [...]
Published: May 14, 2011
J.D. Salinger: A Life |
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Kenneth Slawenski. J.D. Salinger: A Life.
New York: Random House, 2010.
as reviewed by Ted Odenwald
An unauthorized biography could very easily become the ultimate weapon of revenge upon an individual who had dedicated much of his adult life to protecting his privacy. Whether attempts to examine his life appeared antagonistic or worshipful, J.D. Salinger rejected [...]
Published: April 3, 2011
Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia |
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Michael Korda. Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2010
As reviewed by Ted Odenwald
There are more than 50 biographies of British war hero, T.E. Lawrence, ranging from total adulation to sneering skepticism and debunking, from political and military analysis to psychoanalytic dissection. Historian/biographer Michael Korda, through his [...]
Published: March 4, 2011
The Red Garden |
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Alice Hoffman. The Red Garden.
New York: Crown Publishers, 2011
as reviewed by Ted Odenwald
Through a collection of interwoven stories about the citizenry of rustic Blackwell, Massachusetts, Alice Hoffman has earned a place of honor on the bookshelf near Saroyan’s The Human Comedy, Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, and Joyce’s Dubliners. This fictional backwater is populated by [...]
Published: February 5, 2011
Unbroken |
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Laura Hillenbrand. Unbroken: A World War II
Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.
New York: Random House, 2010.
as reviewed by Ted Odenwald
He was unbroken, though beaten, starved, tortured, humiliated, cast adrift, diseased, and imprisoned. U.S. Army Air Force Lieutenant Louie Zampirini endured hardships that nearly destroyed him physically, mentally, and spiritually in the last [...]
Published: January 22, 2011
Conversations with Cronkite |
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Walter Cronkite and Don Carleton. Conversations with Cronkite.
Austin, Texas: Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin: 2010
as reviewed by Ted Odenwald
Walter Cronkite, arguably the most respected, renowned, trusted, and influential newscasters in the twentieth century, reflects on his career in this edited collection of interviews. When Cronkite published [...]
Published: January 11, 2011
The Autobiography of Mark Twain |
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The Autobiography of Mark Twain. The Complete and
Authoritative Edition. Volume 1. ed. Harriet Elinor Smith et al.
Berkeley, California: The University of California Press, 2010
As reviewed by Ted Odenwald
In 1906, after many unsatisfactory starts, Mark Twain finally “…hit upon the right way to do an autobiography.” His method was a type of stream-of-consciousness, [...]
Published: December 14, 2010
Possessed:The Life of Joan Crawford |
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Donald Spoto. Possessed:The Life of Joan Crawford.
New York: William Morrow, 2010
as reviewed by Ted Odenwald
Donald Spoto, the renowned biographer of more than two dozen stars of stage and screen, believed that a new biography of Joan Crawford was required because “perhaps no other star…has been so underappreciated, misrepresented by rumor, innuendo, fabrication, unfounded allegation [...]
Published: November 25, 2010
War |
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Sebastian Junger. War. New York: Twelve, 2010.
As reviewed by Ted Odenwald
In early November, President Obama presented Army Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta with the Medal of Honor in recognition for a series of heroic actions while under heavy fire from the Taliban in Afghanistan. There are several aspects of this story that are riveting: the [...]
Published: September 16, 2010
The Death and Life of the Great American School System |
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Diane Ravitch. The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. New York: Basic Books, 2010.
As reviewed by Ted Odenwald
Diane Ravitch, a highly respected historian of education, has written an impassioned plea for sanity in the area of education reform. Ravitch, a noted researcher at NYU [...]
Published: August 27, 2010
Mark Twain's Other Woman |
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Laura Skandera Trombley. Mark Twain’s Other Woman:
The Hidden Story of His Final Years. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 2010.
As reviewed by Ted Odenwald
With the voluminous collection of information regarding Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain’s life, one would hardly expect any mysteries. Yet Professor Laura Skandera Trombley has dedicated sixteen years of research to an issue that had [...]
Published: August 22, 2010
Teaching the Pig to Dance |
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Fred Thompson. Teaching the Pig to Dance: A Memoir
of Growing Up and Second Chances. New York:
Crown Forum, 2010
as reviewed by Ted Odenwald
Many fans of TV’s “Law and Order” will recognize Fred Thompson as the senior lawyer with southern roots; followers of politics may recognize him as the former US senator from Tennessee; still others may [...]
Published: July 24, 2010
Mark Twain: Man in White |
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Michael Sheldon. Mark Twain: Man in White: The Grand
Adventure of His Final Years. New York: Random House, 2010.
As reviewed by Ted Odenwald
It’s not that there isn’t enough biographical material available on Mark Twain. Between his autobiography and his “official” biography, penned by Albert Bigelow Paine (but definitely orchestrated by Clemens/Twain), there is enough [...]
Published: July 4, 2010
50 Years of To Kill a Mockingbird |
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Mary McDonagh Murphy. Scout, Atticus & Boo: A Celebration
of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird. New York:
HarperCollins, 2010.
As reviewed by Ted Odenwald
If a novel, first published 50 years ago, still sells nearly a million copies per year, a celebration to recognize its enduring appeal seems appropriate. Mary McDonagh Murphy has created a [...]
Published: June 27, 2010
Lit: A Memoir |
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Mary Karr. Lit: A Memoir. New York:
HarperCollins, 2009
as reviewed by Ted Odenwald
Readers of Mary Karr’s memoirs, The Liar’s Club and Cherry, will not be surprised to find powerful elements running throughout this third work, which focuses primarily on her twenties and thirties. In the first book, she relived her painful youth in the [...]
Published: June 13, 2010
Paul and Me |
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A.E. Hotchner. Paul and Me: Fifty-three Years of Adventures
and Misadventures with My Pal Paul Newman.
New York: Nan A. Talese, 2010.
as reviewed by Ted Odenwald
What had begun as a collaboration of screenwriter and performer progressed into a relationship of neighbors and fishing buddies, and eventually evolved into a business partnership of philanthropists. Hotchner, primarily [...]
Published: May 19, 2010
Bill Moyers: Genesis and The Language of Life |
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Bill Moyers. Genesis: A Living Conversation.
New York: Doubleday, 1996.
and
Bill Moyers. The Language of Life: A Festival of Poets.
New York: Doubleday, 1995.
Reviewed by Ted Odenwald
Though both of these books have been around for 15 years, neither is outdated. Though both are companion pieces to a series of broadcasts on public television, each work stands on its [...]
Published: February 15, 2010
Ted Kennedy and The Boston Globe |
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Kennedy, Edward M. True Compass: a Memoir. New York:
Twelve, 2009.
and
Team at the Boston Globe: Last Lion: The Fall and Rise
of Ted Kennedy. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2009.
as reviewed by Ten Odenwald
Here is an interesting choice: the memoir of the late Massachusetts Senator or an interpretive biography compiled and edited by several [...]
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