The Passion Of Fulton Sheen – D. P. Noonan, 1972 ★

Enough of Fulton, Let's Talk about Me!

A challenge in writing these reviews is making it about the matter in hand, and not my feelings about a particular subject. It’s a challenge Rev. D. P. Noonan doesn’t just fail but blows completely past in this, his book-long review of the life of one of a man once widely known as “God’s press agent.”

The Negotiator – Frederick Forsyth, 1989 ★★

A Plot that Got Away

What happens when dark forces buried deep inside the leadership of two superpowers simultaneously plot to take control of the world’s major oil producers? The same thing that happens when an author takes on a story too convoluted and ambitious for his own good: total chaos.

Movie Stars, Real People, And Me – Joshua Logan, 1978 ★★

Hollywood Tell-All, Take Two

Joshua Logan forged a successful career repurposing the tried-and-true into fresh entertainments. Here we get to see him work the same crafty mojo on himself.

Two years after publishing his show-business memoir, Josh: My Up And Down, In And Out Life, the celebrated producer-director returned in 1978 with another show-business memoir. This time, his focus is on anecdotes about Hollywood’s rich and famous; actors like Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, and Bette Davis; producers like Sam Goldwyn; directors like Mel Brooks.

Even Princess Margaret puts in an appearance. What’s not to love?

Wanderer Of The Wasteland – Zane Grey, 1923 ★½

Lost in the Desert

Just as the American West proved a land of reinvention for generations of European migrants, so would it be for many Western authors. Of all the fiction writers who focused their talents on six-guns and stampedes, none exercised a license for reinvention quite like Zane Grey.

Alexander Hamilton – Ron Chernow, 2004 ★★★★

Celebrating America's Own Alexander the Great

Dying on the battlefield was a fate avoided by the major figures of the American Revolution, unless you extend that battlefield to one of ideals. That was my core takeaway reading Ron Chernow’s bestselling biography on Alexander Hamilton, who survived the war only to die in a brave, bizarre duel over political differences 21 years later.