AMERICAN MIRROR : THE LIFE AND ART OF NORMAN ROCKWELL
by Deborah Solomon

He never really considered himself as an artist. An illustrator was his line of work. The details of his paintings were meticulous.
For almost half a century (from 1916 to 1963), Norman Rockwell did 323 covers for The Saturday Evening Post (it was published on Thursday). So many people would sit at their kitchen tables devouring the latest issue. Rockwell's art depicted ordinary Americans doing everyday things and had massive appeal. They each told a story. The majority of his figures, though, were males. He wasn't really comfortable around women even though he had three wives. All of Rockwell's friends were men and he would go fishing, trek mountainsides, and go on vacations with them leaving his better halves at home.
Whoever met him thought that he was absolutely charming, personable and down-to-earth. But behind his folksy, pipe-smoking, bow tie-wearing facade, was a darker side. Rockwell always felt inadequate, lonely, and anxious. His relationships with his parents, wives, and three sons were horrible. He pretty much ignored his children. Rockwell was obsessive about cleanliness and would sweep his studio several times a day. He never varied his meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When he was fifty-nine, he went into treatment for depression with the renowned psychoanalyst Erik Erikson (that was not his real name). Rockwell would be treated by many psychiatrists over the years but nothing really changed for him.
Rockwell's art, though, would become more and more popular even as many art critics derided it. Today the prices for his pictures sell in the millions. Rockwell would be dumfounded but most likely wouldn't care as he wasn't interested so much in the financial aspects. He just wanted people to see themselves in his illustrations and feel good.
Deborah Solomon has written a terrific biography on Norman Rockwell. The prose flows effortlessly and considering that Rockwell was attempting to tell a story with his illustrations, Solomon is a great storyteller, herself. The details are quite fascinating and you never get bored. At four hundred forty-one pages, the book is pretty hefty, yet you never feel encumbered. Several color plates of some of his most famous paintings lie within, along with charcoal drawings, and black-and-white photos. Solomon is an art critic and analyzes Rockwell's works. She is no slouch when it comes to writing because she has written two prior books on other artists: Jackson Pollack and Joseph Cornell.
American Mirror is a great read.
Very highly recommended.

THE HIDDEN WHITE HOUSE : HARRY TRUMAN AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF  AMERICA'S MOST FAMOUS RESIDENCE
by Robert Klara

Bess Truman really hated hosting any kind of reception. Having to smile, spouting off small, inane talk, and shaking an innumerable amount of hands made her absolutely miserable. So, during one afternoon in the winter of 1948, Bess was hosting a tea party for the Daughters of the American Revolution in the "Oval Reception Room" of the White House. The Blue Room was the perfect setting for small gatherings. Aesthetically, it pleased everyone who came to call. Except for Bess who couldn't wait until they all left. On this particular day, she almost had a good excuse. Above from where Bess was standing was this huge chandelier. It was called the "Pendeloque" and weighed twelve hundred pounds. She heard this noise and when she looked up the crystals in the chandelier were tinkling and getting worse by the minute. After several seconds, Bess looked up again and saw that the entire thing was swinging. What was going on upstairs? Why, Harry S. Truman was having a vigorous bath. Of course, later, Harry thought it was hysterical that he could have crashed through the ceiling wearing only but his spectacles. This started the ball rolling with having architects and engineers come in to survey the floors. What they found was much, much worse. The mansion was completely collapsing and quite dangerous to live in. The Trumans were evicted and moved across the street into the Blair House and there they would live for the next three years.
The Hidden White House is quite a fascinating story. The outside was left untouched but everything inside was gutted and braced with steel frames. Robert Klara does a great job detailing what went on with all of the major players: architect Lorenzo Winslow (quite an interesting character), John McShain (from Philadelphia), and of course, the Truman family. Just reading about the stuff that was found inside of the walls (Truman thought there were ghosts) makes you shake your head in amazement. The middle section of the book has quite a bit of black-and-white photos (the before, the middle, and the after). It was really quite an undertaking and put undue stress on everyone that was involved.
You have history, architecture, and drama all wrapped up together for a great read.
Recommended.

SON OF A GUN : A MEMOIR
by Justin St. Germain

A few days after 9/11, Debbie St. Germain is murdered, presumably, by her fifth husband. He used her gun and shot off eight bullets. Her body was found in a trailer in a remote area of Tombstone, Arizona. For Justin and Josh (Debbie's sons), her death left them with many questions.
Justin spends the next ten years looking for answers by returning to the town of Wyatt Earp, meeting up with past stepfathers, looking into police records, talking to people who knew his mother.
Justin is a tremendous writer. His descriptions of the landscapes and towns in the west can be visualized in a second. The prose is gorgeous, raw, honest, and brave.
I hope that he puts out more books. This is talent not to be missed.
Very highly recommended.


 

THE FAMILY : THREE JOURNEYS INTO THE  HEART OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
by David Laskin

Blame it all on Lazar Kaganovich. He was one of Stalin's top butchers that killed millions in the Ukraine between 1932 and 1933. It is because of him that brought David Laskin to research the history of his mother's family. From his grandfather all the way back to his great-great-great grandfather, and perhaps beyond, they were all Torah scribes. Their Hebrew name was HaKohen ("the priest") and their Russian name was Kaganovich ("son of Kagan").
Shimon Dov was the patriarch. He and his wife, Beyle, raised six children in the shtetl ("little town") of Volozhin a century and a half ago. This area was known as the Pale of Settlement. Warsaw, Kiev, Odessa were some of the major cities. Because they were descended from an ancient faith, the couple believed that their five sons and one daughter would continue to carry on their traditions for future generations. Two world wars would change everything.
The family was separated into three different directions. One branch immigrated to America and were the founders of the Maidenform lingerie in 1922; one immigrant went to Palestine before Israel's birth; the third branch had the unfortunate luck to remain in Europe during the Holocaust.
The Family is one hell-of-a-book. It's quite impossible to put down and I was actually sorry when it ended. The writing is beautiful, compelling, emotional, and truly magnificent. How Laskin weaves together all of the characters of the entire family seems effortless. You are swept up immediately into their lives and you just cannot stop reading. Laskin certainly knows how to tell a great story.
This is quite a masterpiece.
Very highly recommended.

HANNS AND RUDOLF : THE TRUE STORY OF THE GERMAN JEW WHO TRACKED DOWN AND CAUGHT THE KOMMANDANT OF AUSCHWITZ
by Thomas Harding

The funeral of Hanns Alexander in 2006 was impressively attended. Over three hundred people crowded into the synagogue. His two nephews gave the eulogy. Hanns had grown up in Berlin. His family lived a comfortable life until the Nazis came to power and they had to leave moving to England. Hanns joined the British Army and rose through the ranks. When World War II was over, Hanns caught one of the most wanted men of that era: Rudolph Hoess, the brutal Kommandant of Auschwitz. For Thomas Harding, this was a revelation. His family never talked about the war; they were never allowed to ask any questions. So, he finds out at his great-uncle's funeral that Hanns hunted for Nazis.
In Hanns and Rudolf you get dual biographies: two for the price of one. The chapters switch on-and-off between Hanns and Rudolf that describes their lives from birth until death. Harding's writing is quite masterful and the story of these two men is very compelling. It took him twelve years to finally finish but the sources he used were amazing. Some of the interviews that Harding had was with a daughter of Rudolf (I wonder what she told him since after Rudolf died the family was in denial); the grandson of Rudolf (he provided family photographs); the American prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials; and a Polish guy who cut Rudolf's hair. Harding also used unpublished letters of both the Alexanders and the Hoess family. Between the above and declassified documents, files on other high-ranking Nazis, archives in Holocaust museums all over the world, criminal records, transcripts of Hoess's testimonies, his research is mind-boggling impressive.
How fitting that a German Jew captured the German monster of mass extermination.
Very highly recommended.

THE ASSASSINATION OF THE ARCHDUKE :  SARAJEVO 1914 AND THE ROMANCE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
by Greg King and Sue Woolmans

They should never have gone to Sarajevo that day in the summer of 1914. June 28 was St. Vitus's Day, a Serb national holiday that commemorates the Battle of Kosovo. In 1389, the Ottoman Empire (an unwelcome foreign intruder), conquered the land and made the Serbs vassals.
Franz Ferdinand had no choice in the matter. His uncle, Emperor Franz Joseph, ordered him to go. The sad irony is that both Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, absolutely loved Sarajevo. Little did they know that their lives would be cut short by two bullets which would then precipitate World War I.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was an enigma to the citizens of Austria. Although he came from the Habsburg dynasty, he didn't have much of an appeal outwardly. Those who supported him, though, knew that he could change the deteriorating Austro-Hungarian monarchy.
Ferdinand fell in love with Countess Sophie Chotek. Her background was a Bohemian aristocracy. Because she lacked the appropriate titles and ancestry, though, she could never share his titles or his throne when he became emperor. Their marriage would be morganatic (unequal) and their children would be barred from any imperial succession.
There have been plenty of books written about World War I and other authors have projected misinformation onto Franz Ferdinand and Sophie. He was misunderstood and she was devoted to her husband and their children. The love they had for each other was all encompassing. Through all of the insults that the imperial court showered on her, Sophie kept her head held high, never complained, and was happy with her life.
King and Woolmans have done a great job writing a dual biography of Archduke Ferdinand and Countess Sophie. They recreated their lives using unpublished letters and were helped tremendously by their descendants especially their  great-granddaughter HSH Princess Sophie von Hohenberg. (She wrote the Forward.)
The book is very readable, keeps your interest, and is a good history lesson on the Habsburg empire.
Think about this. If they didn't go to Sarajevo, would World War I have even occurred?
Very highly recommended.

THE TELLING ROOM : A TALE OF LOVE, BETRAYAL, REVENGE, AND THE WORLD'S GREATEST PIECE OF CHEESE
by Michael Paterniti

Blame it all on Zingerman's, a local deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Back in 1991, it had already become quite a legend to its customers. Everything they cooked was homemade and they used traditional recipes, the way they were done in the old country. Their shelves oozed with exotic products from all over the world bought by the owner Ari Weinzweig. He put out a monthly newsletter describing his jaunts searching for the next best thing in the food world.
It was into this milieu that Michael Paterniti applied for a job to be a sandwich-maker. Paterniti had finished graduate school and was trying to sell some of his stories. No dice. Instead of dealing with mayo and mustard, Zingerman's hired him to proofread the newsletters which were quite popular with the public.
In October, the deli was celebrating Spanish cuisine. Ari expounded (in the newsletter) on a particular kind of cheese (he disovered on a trip to London) made from Churra sheep in Castile. It was so delicious yet so expensive ($22 a pound) that it made him nervous to even attempt to sell it.
Nine years later, Paterniti would meet the maker of this marvelous cheese in Guzman, Spain named Ambrosio Molinos. Created from a family recipe, it was born out of love. Unfortunately by the time Paterniti arrived, the cheese was no longer being made. Paterniti sought to find out why, what happened in a small village where there are secrets that are only revealed in a small cave dug into a hillside known as "the telling room."
What an incredible story! It's hard to believe that Paterniti had so much trouble selling his stories after he graduated because this one is tremendous. I already knew about his great writing when I read his first book Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain published in 2000. Talk about quirky and unique.
The Telling Room is just as unique but much more masterly. The characters, village life, the landscape, the cheese is all told in vivid detail. There are many footnotes but don't be alarmed by them because they are needed. Each one is a story in itself.
An absolutely wonderful read.
Highly recommended.