Music & More

Chernow's Washington, A Life

I recently finished reading "Washington, A Life" by Ron Chernow, a Penguin Press book published last year.  As you might guess from its length of 817 pages, which is exclusive of notes, etc., this is a detailed biography. While the bulk of the time is spent on Washington's early military exploits, the Revolution and his presidency, there is considerable time given to family and his life as a planter and slave owner at Mount Vernon. It is not and shouldn't be a quick read.

Chernow's portrait is not of a white-washed Washington. In examining his strengths and weaknesses, he humanizes the man without diminishing any of his accomplishments. Washington was not one to pass on an opportunity to advance his career or fortune, yet he was very much concerned with his image and legacy. He did not wish to be thought of as too ambitious or as one currying favor. He was extremely brave in battle but not willing to risk his fortune by freeing his slaves. While many tend to think of Washington as above politics, his political skills were considerable. Ultimately, it was the political machinations of fellow Virginians Jefferson and Madison that awakened him to the seamier side of politics and destroyed his relationships with both men.

If you enjoy this book, you'll probably enjoy reading Chernow's excellent biography, "Alexander Hamilton", published in 2004.

Other good books I've read on Washington:

Robert Leckie's "George Washington's War: The Saga of the American Revolution" published in 1992.

James T. Flexner wrote a four volume  biography of George Washington. I read his 1994 one-volume bio "Washington: The Indispensable Man".

 

Civil War's 150th Anniversary

The 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War occurred a week ago on April 12th. On that day in 1861 the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter to begin a war which would ultimately claim over 618,000 lives. In the past fifteen years, I've read a fair amount of history and historical fiction about the Civil War and related events. Before then, the only Civil War books I can recall with certainty reading were Stephen Crane's "Red Badge of Courage" and Bruce Catton's "This Hallowed Ground". I vaguely recall reading a book about Robert E. Lee but can't remember the title.  Most of us know the basic facts about the war but are a little hazy about the details. For a lot of us, it's been many years since we took American history in high school or college. What follows is a list of books I've read about the war that can fill in some of those details. In parenthesis I've included the year of publication and length. There are plenty of reviews on line that you can read rather than just take my recommendation.

Although I've been a resident of a southern state for the past 4 1/2 years, it hasn't changed my opinion about the conflict. I'm reminded though of a former co-worker and fellow New Yorker who moved to Georgia. One of his young sons asked him one day "Daddy, why did we lose the Civil War?". Shortly after moving to Nashville, I decided to read historian Shelby Foote's three volume history, "The Civil War: A Narrative", to get a southern perspective. I had read reviews that credited his work as fair minded and I think it was. Foote's history is a long read but well written. Volume I is called "Fort Sumter to Perryville" (810 pgs - 1958), Volume II "Fredericksburg to Meridian" (966 pgs - 1963) and Volume III "Red River to Appomattox" (1,060 pgs - 1974). Foote became well known when he appeared on the Ken Burns PBS documentary, The Civil War.

Stephen B. Oates began a Civil War Trilogy called "Voices of the Storm". Volume I, "The Approaching Fury, 1820 - 1861" (512 pgs - 1998) provided the events leading to the war; Volume II, "The Whirlwind of War, 1861 - 1865" (864 pgs - 1999) covered the war itself. The third volume  was supposed to cover the reconstruction period but has not appeared as yet. The first two volumes were excellent. Oates has the characters - John Calhoun, John Brown, Lincoln, etc. - speaking in the first person about their lives and events. Oates was also one of the commentators on the Ken Burns documentary. He had previously written the excellent full length biography "With Malice Towards None: A Life of Abraham Lincoln" and "Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion".

Speaking of Lincoln, I would also highly recommend "Team of Rivals, The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" (2005 - 754 pgs) by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Lincoln's team of "Rivals" included William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edwin M. Stanton and Edward Bates.

"Lincoln" (1995 - 599 pgs) by David Donald is another great read. It's a cradle to the grave bio but mercifully doesn't dwell for long on the front end.

Michael Kauffman's "American Brutus, John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies" (2004 - 398 pgs) is very interesting. Kauffman's take on the responsibility for the assassination makes a lot of sense.

"LIncoln at Gettysburg, The Words That Remade America" (1992 - 189 pgs) by Garry Wills is a Pulitzer Prize winner about the Gettyburg Address.

Since we're talking Gettysburg, Michael Shaara's historical novel "The Killer Angels" (1974 - 355 pgs), also a Pulitzer Prize winner, has been called the best historical novel about war. 

Michael died in 1988 but his son Jeff Shaara has taken up where dad left off with books like "Gods and Generals" (1996 - 498 pgs), the prequel, and "The Last Full Measure" (2000 - 640 pgs), the sequel, to his father's "The Killer Angels".

"Cloudsplitter"  by Russell Banks is a historical novel about John Brown (1998 - 758 pgs). The story is told from the perspective of Owen Brown, the last surviving son of John Brown. Banks has written many novels and also writes short stories. "Trailerpark" is my favorite collection.

Harriet Beecher Stowe's  "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852 - 447 pgs) needs no commentary.

Ambrose Bierce's "Tales of Soldiers" are short stories of an anti-war nature, emphasizing the horrors of war. Bierce, also the author of the Devil's Dictionary, served as a soldier in the Civil War. Good stuff.

Jeffrey Wert - "General James Longstreet" (1994 - 528 pgs) After reading about Gettysburg, a book about Lee's second in charge seemed like a natural followup.

Other Civil War books I would recommend in roughly descending order:

Stephen Sears - "Chancellorsville" (1998 - 640 pgs)

Geoffrey Perret - "Ulysses S. Grant, Soldier & President" (1997 - 542 pgs)

Brian Steel Wills - "A Battle From the Start: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forest" (1992 - 457 pgs)

John Bowers - "Stonewall Jackson, Portrait of a Soldier" (1990 - 360 pgs  )

Roy Morris, Jr. - "Sheridan: The Life and Wars of General Phil Sheridan" (1992 - 542 pgs)

Stanley Hirshon - "White Tecumseh, Biography of William Tecumseh Sherman" (1998 - 475 pgs)

Robert Hicks - "The Widow of the South" (2005 - 432 pgs)

Charles Frazier - "Cold Mountain" (1997 - 449 pgs)

Laurence Hauptman - "Between Two Fires, American Indians in the Civil War" (1995 - 304 pgs)

Jack Coombe - "Thunder Along the Mississippi, River Battles that Split the Confederacy" (1996 - 260 pgs)

William Fletcher - "Rebel Private: Front and Rear: Memoirs of a Confederate Soldier" (1997 - 240 pgs)

James Street - "The Civil War, An Unvarnished Account of the Last but Still Lively Hostilities" (1953 - 144 pgs)

Richard Harwell (editor) - "The Confederate Reader: How the South Saw the War" (1989 - 416 pgs)

I should read:

Number one on my "to read" list is the Pulitzer Prize winning "Battle Cry of Freedom, The Civil War Era" by James McPherson, a one volume history (862 pgs) published in 1988. I bought the book over 10 years ago while I was still working. My lame excuse for not reading it then was that it was too heavy to lug around. I did much of my reading back then on the LIRR to and from Penn Station. As a retiree, I no longer have that excuse.

George R. Stewart - "Pickett's Charge" (1959 - 384 pages). I read and really enjoyed two other Stewart books, "Names on the Land, A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States" and "The California Trail".

What books about the Civil War would you recommend?

When my wife and I visited Gettysburg in September of 2005, one of the things that stood out for me was the site of Pickett's charge, the confederate assault on Cemetery Ridge. Imagine being one of the soldiers leading the charge. You're moving across an open field, uphill toward a well barricaded enemy. I would have been terrified. It was nothing less than a suicide mission.

 

 

Little Girl Blue

My wife and I went to see the Carpenters in concert on August 10, 1975 at the (Marjorie) Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. Neil Sedaka, the opening act, was enjoying a comeback after his initial success in the late 50's to early 60's so we looked forward to a great evening of music. The Carpenters sounded exactly like their records, not a missed note to be heard. There was however no significant interaction with the audience. They were almost robotic. In contrast, Neil Sedaka was mister personality; he had the audience in the palm of his hand. The Carpenters had your hand covering your mouth to stifle a yawn. I didn't know that shortly after Sedaka got fired from the tour. Less than eight years later, I was saddened to hear of Karen Carpenter's death a month before her 33rd birthday.

In "Little Girl Blue, The Life of Karen Carpenter" by Randy L. Schmidt, I found out about the Sedaka firing and that my wife and I were not the only ones disappointed in a Carpenters performance. The bio is an interesting story focussing quite a bit on the family dynamic and how it influenced their music career, Karen's anorexia and even her marriage. I'm tempted to say that everyone knows their music but then I remember that my grown kids weren't even born when Karen and Richard had their run of big hits from '70 to '76. There aren't too many times when I hear a singer for the first time and have what I simply call a "wow - who is that?" moment. I did the first time I heard Karen Carpenter sing "Close to You" on the radio in 1970. (I didn't know that song was first recorded in 1963 by Richard Chamberlain of "Dr. Kildare" fame.)

When I think of the Carpenters now, the first song that comes to mind is "Rainy Days and Mondays",  written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, and then their Christmas album which we still play every Christmas. I never knew that they had a country hit, "Sweet, Sweet Smile" which reached #8 on the Billboard Country Singles chart in 1978. It's nothing special. For music fans, bios of this type are also interesting for comments on other artists and things going on in the music industry at the time. Music business personalities most prominently involved in Karen's life included Herb "Tijuana Brass" Alpert, musician and head of A&M Records, and record producer Phil Ramone. Phil's wife Itchie was one of Karen's closest friends (along with Frenda Franklin). Olivia Newton-John, whom Karen called "ONJ" (pronounced ahhnj), was also a friend. There are many other artists mentioned as a quick check of the book's index will reveal.

LGB is not the first Carpenters biography. Ray Coleman wrote "The Carpenters, The Untold Story: An Authorized Biography". It was published in 1994.

Singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka was one of my favorites as a teenager in the late 50's early 60's with songs such as "The Diary", "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen", "Stairway to Heaven", "Calendar Girl", "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do", etc.   I still have the 45's. I also enjoyed the music he made during his comeback with songs like "Laughter in the Rain" and a ballad version of the upbeat "Breaking Up is Hard to Do".

 

 

 

 

 

Bierce

I don't often read book reviews, but this is one of my all-time favorites:

"The covers of this book are too far apart."

One of my old friends, Mike Crowley, mailed me an article on Ambrose Bierce, the author who disappeared into Pancho Villa's revolution wracked Mexico at the age of 71 in 1913. Mike remembered that I like Bierce's short stories. The article by Victor LaValle appeared in the July 12, 2010 edition of the Nation. It was called "Bierced" and you can find it on-line. The article begins by telling of Bierce's service in the Civil War and goes back to provide a bit of a bio. Some time after the war, he became a caustic columnist for William Randolph Hearst's San Francisco Examiner, even reviewing books as evidenced by his most famous effort quoted above. LaValle mentions that Bierce is often compared to Stephen Crane and Ernest Hemingway. Whereas they wrote about war, Bierce wrote about being a soldier. Of the three writers, Bierce was the only one who actually fought in the military.

I read Bierce's "Collected Writings" over 10 years ago. In addition to the short stories, the Writings included Bierce's cynical and at times hilarious  "Devil's Dictionary". LaValle says that the Devil's Dictionary reads like a collection of great Twitter posts. I don't Twitter so I'll take his word for it 'til some expert on twittering refutes his claim. There's actually a website, www.thedevilsdictionary.com. Here are some examples to whet your twitting appetite:

Corporation - "An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility".

Lawyer -  "One skilled in circumvention of the law".

Politics - "A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage".

Impartial - "Unable to perceive any promise of personal advantage from espousing either side of a controversy or adopting either of two conflicting opinions".

"Education" -  "That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding".

Happiness -  "an agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another".

Since I lost "Collected Writings"  (830 pages) in the WTC and B&N didn't have it when I went there earlier this year to use a Christmas gift certificate, I bought "The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce" (a mere 496 pages). Since the Devil's Dictionary is now on line, I felt no need to buy "Collected Writings" again. The Foreword by Cathy N. Davidson begins "His desk held a skull and a cigar box. When asked, he ventured that the former was all that remained of an erstwhile friend while the latter contained the ashes of a rival critic". The Introduction by Ernest Jerome Hopkins states that the Bierce short stories were of 3 main types: satirical horror stories, anti-war satires, emphasizing the brutality and human wreckage of war, and, by contrast, a crazy group of old-Western "tall tales". His stories did not have happy endings - but they make good reading.

Wish I knew what book was the subject of Bierce's succinct satirical review. Bierce had a low opinion of the writings of William Dean Howells and Henry James and probably many other novelists.

 

 

 

 

 

Best Seller: Sebold's Lovely Bones

Just finished reading "The Lovely Bones" written by Alice Sebold. It was published in 2002 and became a national bestseller.  My daughter Kathleen recommended it and I read it (about 325 pages) in less than two days. There are many on-line reviews so, as I've said in previous posts, you won't find one here. The book begins, "My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." Susie narrates the story of her rape and murder and how it affects the lives of her family, friends and the killer - from heaven. Well written - great read. It was Ms. Sebold's first novel, published when she was 39. I haven't read her memoir, "Lucky", published in 1999 or her latest novel, "The Almost Moon", in 2007.

Just because a book was a best seller doesn't necessarily mean that it's good or that it will appeal to today's readers. Check out "80 Years of Best Sellers, 1895 - 1975" by Alice Payne Hackett and James Henry Burke published by R.R. Bowker Company in 1977. (There were previous volumes, 50, 60 and 70 Years of Best Sellers.) This book provides the names of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction best sellers each year with a commentary. The foreword to "50 Years of Best Sellers" begins "The term 'Best Seller' was coined and came into common use to fill a need. A term was needed to describe what were not necessarily the best books but the books that people liked best." Did you know that "Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush" by Ian Maclaren, a lover of alliteration I suppose, was the #1 fiction best seller in 1895? My guess is that very few of today's readers will have heard of the book or the author. Maybe you're familiar with the 1949 #1 best seller, "Egypt" by Mika Waltari? When I first read "80 Years ..." over 20 years ago, I was surprised at how many of these best sellers I had never heard of. Guess they didn't pass the test of time. Some books that did not make any of these lists, like Steinbeck's "Tortilla Flat" (1935) and "In Dubious Battle" (1936), can still be found in most libraries.

Thomas H. Cook Books

Unlike authors such as Michael Connelly and John Sandford, Thomas H. Cook is not exactly a name well known by readers of mysteries in this country. He should be. Like these other gentleman, his genre could be summed up as crime-mystery-suspense novels, and he handles this genre  extremely well. He has written over 20 books since his first was published in 1982.

I read five of his books in the early 90's and four so far this year. I don't recall anything now of those earlier reads although I must have enjoyed them to read five within three years. If I don't like an author's style or subject matter it's generally one and done for me. There's so many books to choose from so there's no need to press on with an author whose writing is not to your taste. My early reads included two of the three Cook wrote as part of a series with a recurring character, Frank Clemons. The series includes "Sacrificial Ground" (88), "Flesh and Blood" (89) and "Night Secrets" (90). Since then, each novel stands on its own - a fresh slate. A very interesting interview with Mr. Cook can be found in January Magazine. Check it out at  Januarymagazine.com/profiles.cook.html. There are other interviews and quite a few reviews of his works online.

Towards the end of last year, I read a very good short story collection called "Dangerous Women" (05), edited by Otto Penzler. In the introduction, Mr. Penzler commented on other works by the contributing authors. Thomas Cook was one of the authors and the book noted was "The Chatham School Affair". Published in 1996, it was an Edgar Award Winner. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to get back into his books again. "Red Leaves" (05), "The Clouds of Unknowing" (07) and "Master of the Delta" (08) soon followed. It may sound trite but the usual cliche applies to these books. I couldn't put them down.

I generally don't review, I just recommend. As I've commented elsewhere, my criteria is Chekhovian. (See my post of October 26, 2009 re A Favorite Quote from Chekhov.) I divide all works into two categories - those I like and those I don't like. Why should anyone read Mr. Cook's books or any books I recommend? I admittedly possess no expertise whatsoever. Do you only read books favorably reviewed in the NY Times or some other erudite source? Many of the authors I've really come to enjoy were recommended to me by friends. Is your choice of a book because the subject matter interests you? the title was intriguing? it was on sale? These are all legitimate reasons including the last. I love library sales. That's where you get the best bargains. I don't suggest that anyone go out and pay $25 or more for a book on my say-so. Taste in reading is obviously very subjective, just as it is in music, art and other interests. I think it's a good idea to use the library if an author is new for you. Then if you really like his style or material, you can decide if you want to have her or his books for your own.  

Don McLean's Bio

On February 3, 2009, the 50th anniversary of the deaths of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and J.P. Richardson, the last better known as the Big Bopper, I wrote a post called "Don McLean's Other Songs". Ever since I've been meaning to get a copy of his biography. I just finished reading "The Don McLean Story, Killing Us Softly With His Songs", by Alan Howard, Copyright 2007 Starry Night Music, Inc. It was a gift from my daughter for my recently celebrated Beatles birthday.

As you read, the names of artists will come up that most music fans will remember. Don became friends with Jim Croce at Villanova in 1964. He knew Pete Seeger and the rest of the Weavers, Carly Simon, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Chet Atkins, Johnny Cash, Garth Brooks and many other artists. Although he's written many great songs, he considers himself more of a troubadour than a songwriter. Some of his later albums were recorded in Nashville. If he were starting out today, I think he would have found his niche in country music.

 

In this book, you'll discover the story behind a lot of his songs. You will find complete lyrics to songs such as American Pie, Circus Song, Castles in the Air, Tapestry, Homeless Brother, Wonderful Baby and others although curiously, Vincent, Empty Chairs and Magdalene Lane lyrics were not included.  The words to his tribute to William Boyd, "So Long Hopalong Cassidy", printed on the brown paper LP sleeve from the American Pie album, are here. You'll find the Lori Liebermann story behind the song made famous by Roberta Flack, "Killing Me Softly with His Song". You'll read about Don's participation in Garth Brooks 1997 Central Park Concert and discover Garth's favorite Don McLean song. Madonna's cover of American Pie is also discussed. The beginning of the book has a "Did You Know...?" section with facts about Don and his career while the appendix includes a complete album and singles discography.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in popular music from the late fifties to the present. For Don McLean fans, it's a must read.

Lessons in Disaster

"Lessons in Disaster, McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam" by Gordon M. Goldstein (248 pages) is a very informative and readable account of the lead-up to the introduction of American combat ground troops to Vietnam. It was published in 2008 by Henry Holt and Company and is available in soft cover. Bundy, an advocate of the war when he served as national security adviser to JFK and LBJ, came to realize towards the end of his life that the "doves were right".

After an introduction, the book is broken down into 6 lessons or chapters:

Lesson 1: Counselors Advise But Presidents Decide

Lesson 2: Never Trust the Bureaucracy to Get it Right

Lesson 3: Politics is the Enemy of Strategy

Lesson 4: Conviction without Rigor is a Strategy for Disaster

Lesson 5: Never Deploy Military Means in Pursuit of Indeterminate Ends

Lesson 6: Intervention is a Presidential Choice, Not an Inevitability

These lessons should be required reading for every president or presidential candidate and those who would advise them.

The most interesting thing to me was the conclusion that JFK would not have sent ground combat troops to Vietnam even though the joint chiefs and his advisers wanted him to as early as 1961. He continued to resist til his death. The responsibility for our entry into this disastrous war was squarely on the shoulders of LBJ. Bundy described Kennedy in 1964 as "a man who built no realities on hopes". JFK had publicly cited the French experience as a cautionary rationale not to fight a ground war there. JFK also learned from the Bay of Pigs fiasco. The CIA set him up by not presenting the true prospects for the invasion. They just figured that when things went wrong, they could convince him to sent in the troops to bail out the Cuban revolutionaries. He didn't. He accepted the responsibility rather than escalate the crisis.

Among the other non-fiction books on Vietnam I've read and would recommend:

Chickenhawk - Robert Mason (about helicopter pilots)

A Bright Shining Lie - Neil Sheehan

They Marched into Sunlight - David Maraniss

Steel My Soldiers Hearts - Col. David Hackworth

We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young - LG Harold Moore & Joe Galloway

The Best and the Brightest - David Halberstan

The Tunnels of Cu Chi - Tom Mangold & John Penycate

Don't Cry It's Only Thunder - Paul Hensler

Friendly Fire - C.D.B. Bryan

Tim O'Brien - If I Die In a Combat Zone

Dispatches - Michael Herr

Fire in the Lake - Frances Fitzgerald

The Battle of Dienbienphu - Jules Roy

Last Reflections on a War - Bernard Fall

Most of these books are well known. Check out the reviews on-line.

A Favorite Quote from Chekhov and The Brass Verdict

When I read a review whether it be of a new book, cd or movie, I'm reminded of a quote from a letter written by Anton Chekov in 1890. "When people talk to me of what is artistic and inartistic, of what is dramatic and not dramatic, of tendency, realism, and so on, I am bewildered, hesitatingly assent, and answer with banal half-truths not worth a brass farthing. I divide all works into two classes: those I like and those I don’t. I have no other criterion, and if you ask me why I like Shakespeare and don’t like Zlatovratsky, I don’t venture to answer." The quote can be found in "The Selected Letters of Anton Chekhov" edited and with an Introduction by Lillian Hellman.

I'm with Anton. If people ask me whether or not I would recommend a book, I'm likely to answer either "I liked it" or "I didn't like it". This Chekhov quote was called to my attention about 25 years ago by Bob Slomovitz, my former branch chief at work. I jotted it down in a spiral notebook I've had since 1983 for keeping track of the books I've read so I don't read the same book twice. There are so many similar titles, especially for murder mysteries.  (The notebook's spiral metal spring has been working its way out of one end so every once in a while I have to carefully re-thread it through the holes. I don't want to tear the paper.) Bob has been my main source for good reading recommendations. I've respected his judgment ever since he told me that he loved the writing of John Steinbeck but couldn't get into Faulkner.

My reference to this Chekhov quote does not mean that I dislike reviews that get technical about the quality of the writing or the story structure or any other aspect of the work being discussed. Besides, who would read a review if its author didn't give reasons for her or his opinion or compare it to some other work. But beware when book reviewers gush over the beautiful or lyrical writing, almost a sure sign that, to be blunt, the story sucks. Generally the author is so busy trying to impress the reader (or himself?) with writing full of words you have to look up, or dream sequences which I hate, that the story advances at a glacial pace. Sometimes, I admit, such writers come up with some great similes or metaphors that I stop and marvel at thinking, wow, wish I had written that. But it's not worth struggling through a four or five hundred page book for a few phrases that you'll soon forget.

I just finished reading Michael Connelly's "The Brass Verdict". My Chekhovian appraisal: I liked it. Couldn't put it down. I've read 19 of his 21 murder mysteries and plan on reading the other two. Connelly is the best of the genre. I didn't read any reviews prior to reading this story and there are plenty of them on line. With his track record, why bother. The book features attorney Mickey Haller of "Lincoln Lawyer" fame and Connelly's most celebrated character, detective Harry Bosch. Nuff said. Happy reading.

Back to Chekhov. He's best know for the plays "The Seagull", "The Cherry Orchard", "Three Sisters" and "Uncle Vanya" and his short stories. There's a 13 volume Tales of Chekhov translated by Constance Garnett. I've read the plays and volumes 1 - 5 and 7 - 10 of the stories so I still have a few to read. Actually, I could read them all and they'd be like brand new since I read all these works in 1990.

 

Devil in the White City

Erik Larson's "The Devil in the White City" deals with events surrounding the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, officially called the "World's Columbian Exposition", celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of America. The subtitle is "Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America". I found out about this book on the back cover of another book, Charlatan by Pope Brock (see post of April 29th).  Someone from the Chicago Tribune wrote "begs comparison with Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City." The title is seductive and I doubt that many readers will be disappointed. The author alternates chapters dealing with the fair and the murders, moving both stories forward at just the right pace. Check out some of the many reviews online for this non-fiction page turner. 

The main characters were architect Daniel Burnham and Herman Webster Mudgett, the latter operating under the name Dr. H.H.Holmes near the white city (the buildings on the fairgrounds were painted white). The cast of characters also includes the fair's landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmstead, Buffalo Bill, who had his Wild West show set up next to the fair and George Washington Ferris, the inventor of the Ferris Wheel - the U.S.'s response to the building of the Eiffel Tower for the Paris exposition of 1889. Mr. Larson provides interesting tidbits such as Walt Disney's father Elias was a carpenter/furniture maker working on the fair and products such as Cracker Jacks, Aunt Jemima's Pancake Mix, Juicy Fruit Gum, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and shredded wheat made their debut. Great read - makes you want to get hold of his other books.