The Kingdom And The Power – Gay Talese, 1969 ★★★★★

Gray Lady Meets Young Turks 

Journalism is an institution in constant flux. Its truths are relative, its practitioners come and go, its one constant is change. That temporal quality is front and center in this piercing, sardonic look of a moment in time at the most venerable newspaper in America, The New York Times.

The year was 1969. The Times found itself at a crossroads. Younger writers chafed at the strictures of a century-old tradition that prioritized basic information over vividness and flair. Older executives held the line to maintain the paper’s preeminent status, however sedate.

Something had to give. But what?

Claudius The God – Robert Graves, 1935 ★★★★

Perils of Absolute Rule

A sequel to any great novel faces a steep challenge measuring up, especially when the original works well enough alone. After barely surviving the perils of the world’s most dangerous family, only to be made Emperor of Rome, how can poor Claudius entertain us now?

With Claudius The God, it is no longer a matter of surviving, but reigning. Will Clau-Clau-Claudius, the stuttering, staggering, drooling leader of the greatest empire ever known, make a royal hash of his empire, or restore a measure of Roman sensibility and prosperity?

For much of the novel, he seems on the road to creating marked improvement for his people and his legacy. Then he realizes it isn’t good to be the king, not for him and not for his people.