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Take me out to the ballpark – and watch that crowd…
Now that basketball season is over and spring is here, how about a fun book about baseball that will entertain and enlighten you? Paul O’Connor has just the thing. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor FINDING AMERICA IN A MINOR LEAGUE BALLPARK. By Harris Cooper. Skyhorse Publishing. 199 pages. $35, hardback. As the spring of 2022…
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An Ivy League school confronts its history with slavery
Paul O’Connor, longtime newspaper journalist, reviews a history of Yale University’s relationship with the institution of slavery, the result of an academic investigation. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor YALE AND SLAVERY: A History. By David Blight and the Yale and Slavery Research Project. Yale Press. 448 pages. $35, hardcover. Audiobook also from Yale Press, read…
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Facing the challenges of our times
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson STARDUST AND SCAR TISSUE: Rambles, Ruminations and the Search for an Authentic Culture of Life. By Mick Scott. Opine Press, an imprint of Press 53. 201 pages. $19.95, paperback. Reading Stardust and Scar Tissue, Mick Scott’s new collection of essays, is good for the soul in these challenging times. First,…
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A friendship forged in fire
Paul O’Connor, intrepid journalist and discerning reader, reviews a new book about the long-lasting friendship between two very different American heroes. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor THE WINGMEN: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams. By Adam Lazarus. The Citadel Press. 232 pages. $29, hardcover. There’s no explaining friendships. Often, people…
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Spies, love affairs, Nazis and history, told with a flair
Paul O’Connor reviews a work of history that has Nazis, espionage, steamy love affairs and writing that rivals today’s best spy novels. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor SISTERS IN RESISTANCE: How a German Spy, a Banker’s Wife and Mussolini’s Daughter Outwitted the Nazis. By Tilar Mazzeo. Grand Central Publishing. 254 pages. $30, hardcover. If you…
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“Plotless” – but telling – memories
Bob Moyer reviews a book that, both author and reviewer make clear, is not an autobiography. And yet… Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer STILL PICTURES: On Photography and Memory. By Janet Malcom. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 155 pages. $26. Janet Malcolm wrote many New Yorker articles as well as many books about interesting subjects—Gertrude Stein, Chekov,…
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A lot of stories to tell, with help
Are you a fan of the funny man, Steve Martin? If so, Bob Moyer has the book for you. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer NUMBER ONE IS WALKING. By Steve Martin. Drawings by Harry Bliss. Celadon Books. 256 pages. $30. One of the funniest men on the planet, Steve Martin has made 40 movies (…
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A tale of redemption
This is a book worth reading that has been too long overlooked. Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson I ONCE WAS LOST: A TRUE STORY. Paperback. By Fred Moore. 265 pages. Price varies. Fred Moore knew he was a golden boy. He grew up in East Winston, the predominantly black side of Winston-Salem, in a middle-class…
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Playing for keeps
Yeah, we know Vladimir Putin is a bad guy. But do we know all the ways he is bad? Paul O’Connor takes a look at a book that lays out some things you probably didn’t know. Very interesting things. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor FREEZING ORDER: A TRUE STORY OF RUSSIAN MONEY LAUNDERING,…