When Justice O’Connor, the first female Supreme Court justice, arrived at the Supreme Court in 1981, one of the first things she did was establish an early morning aerobics class for her female clerks; attendance was mandatory. It was held in the basketball court above the courtroom and open to all ... [Continue Reading]
The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free by Paulina Bren
Although there had been residential hotels for bachelors and families for decades (see The Thin Man movies), until the early twentieth century there were no residential hotels for women because there was no need for such a thing. American women stayed home. But in 1903, recognizing a nascent ... [Continue Reading]
Finding Oz by Evan Schwartz
For those of you who are only familiar with the works of L. Frank Baum through the MGM movie, The Wizard of Oz, I must correct a terrible misconception. Dorothy didn’t dream Oz. Oz is real. 26 novels real. And The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on which the MGM extravaganza is based isn’t even the best ... [Continue Reading]
The Blind Sideby Michael Lewis
A year or so ago, I read an article by Michael Lewis in The New York Times entitled “The Ballad of Big Mike.” The article, which was adapted from Lewis’s book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, concerns a poor, black teenager adopted by a white family in Memphis. The story, while interesting, ... [Continue Reading]
Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown
If you are a fan of The Crown and enjoy Royal gossip, I recommend Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, which for lack of a better description, is an unconventional biography. Brown has assembled in no particular order ninety-nine vignettes of the controversial princess taken from ... [Continue Reading]
The Crown in Crisis, Countdown to the Abdication by Alexander Larman
I was disappointed in The Crown in Crisis, Countdown to the Abdication, a day-by-day account of the last month of King Edward VIII’s reign. The author claims to have unearthed unseen archival material and interviews about the crisis in which the king renounces the throne for the woman he loves, the ... [Continue Reading]
The Man Who Ate Too Much by John Birdsall
In 1938, thirty-five-year-old James Beard, college dropout and struggling actor, returned to New York City from his home in Oregon to give acting one last try. Residing with a wealthy roommate at 14 Washington Place, Beard’s theater career never got off the ground, but his side hustle catering ... [Continue Reading]
Manhunt by James L. Swanson
On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the State Box at the Ford Theater in Washington D.C, and shot Abraham Lincoln, who was enjoying a performance of Our American Cousin with his wife and their two guests. Booth then dramatically jumped from the State Box to the stage and escaped by the ... [Continue Reading]
The Diary of a Bookseller and Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
So You Want To Own A Bookstore? In 2001, Shaun Bythell bought a second-hand bookshop in Wigtown, a tiny town located on a peninsula in southwest Scotland. A few years into the enterprise, a friend suggested that he keep a record of memorable customer interactions and behind the scenes activity. ... [Continue Reading]
When a Toy Dog Became a Wolf and the Moon Broke Curfew… By Hendrika de Vries
A WWII Memoir When a Toy Dog Became a Wolf and the Moon Broke Curfew… is a moving memoir about the author’s childhood in Amsterdam, during and in the immediate aftermath of the war. Although the Germans invaded and occupied the Netherlands in 1940, little Hendrika, born in 1937, was too young to ... [Continue Reading]