All tagged history

Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears – Michael Schulman

For expecting this to be a frothy history, I was surprised by the detailed explorations of how the sausage was/is made – from studio system contracts to politicking and power grabs. People looking for an exhaustive recap of the awards themselves will be disappointed as Schulman presents more a chronicle of Hollywood in 11 eras, with the Oscars serving as a (sometimes loose) connective thread to introduce the films, actors and creators that defined each generation. 

March: Books One-Three – John Lewis and Andrew Aydin

For readers that want to brush up on the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the “March” series is an exemplary feat of storytelling that exposes the hypocrisy, violence and injustice that spurred the movement while celebrating the everyday people who protested – and died – for desegregation and the passing of the Voting Rights Act. 

A Fever in the Heartland – Timothy Egan

Paced like a thriller – there’s short chapters and each has a clear focus – Egan stays rooted in basics and not minutiae. There’s detail on the inner workings of the KKK, state and national politics, “Roaring 20s” culture and immigration panic to provide a contextual foundation, but the author keeps everything aligned to his thesis: how Indiana served as a microcosm for a growing wave of racism in northern states, and the resisters who fought it. 


Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans – Dan Baum

While Baum’s love of New Orleans’ inhabitants and history is apparent, this well-written and researched – but horribly overstuffed and scattershot – book is not nearly as interesting as he thought it would be. All-in-all, this would appeal most to people who like day-in-the-life narratives, but for those looking for history or insight about Hurricane Katrina and rebuilding New Orleans will be left disappointed.

In Memoriam – Alice Winn

Expectation: A gut-punch queer love story set within the backdrop of World War I trenches.

Reality: Stilted dialogue, a ping-pong narrative structure and an unbelievable connection between the two main characters made this rather disappointing.

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland – Patrick Radden Keefe

While he gave it his best effort, “Say Nothing” came up short for me – and that’s more on me than it is on Keefe. He did the work, distilling thousands of interviews, analyzing watershed events and piecing together elements of an intricate puzzle while battling cagey subjects and still fresh wounds on both sides.

Most of my tepidness towards the novel is because I thought it was focused solely on “The Disappeared,” the 18 individuals abducted by loyalists and republicans during the Northern Ireland conflict.

Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate and Innocent Man – Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic

“Indianapolis” is an exhaustive, sometimes tedious, but largely engrossing telling of the worst U.S. Naval disaster after Pearl Harbor that had largely vacated the public consciousness for 30 years until Robert Shaw’s Quint, the shark-obsessed fisherman in “Jaws” gave his bone-chilling monologue about surviving the USS Indianapolis sinking.