Category Archives: Non-Fiction

09.09.16
by

MARIO CUOMO/ NEW FROM WILLIAM O’SHAUGHNESSY/ A TIMELY LOOK BACK

Mario Cuomo called him “Brother Bill.”  Therefore, who better than William O’Shaughnessy to publish MARIO CUOMO, Remembrances of  a Remarkable Man.  The book captures their personal relationship  and the unique openness between them. The author shares countless previously unpublished interviews with Mario Cuomo both before and after his  governorship. The author peels back the pages of many of Cuomo’s most remarkable speeches,  delivered by the person who is deemed the best political orator of his day. O’Shaughnessy bares personal witness to Mario Cuomo’s interactions with the famous and less famous.

imgres-1

O’Shaughnessy has always possessed an impeccable sense of timing. After all he is a radio guy, a medium that lives in the present.  We are  currently in the moment of a political  campaign for the leadership of the free world where neither candidate is trusted by a majority of the American people. The word “orator” will find no place in the newspeak of today. To the contrary, O’Shaughnessy’s  Mario Cuomo reads as a tribute to trustworthiness, statesmanship, vision, empathy, oratory, gravitas and grace. Cuomo’s words leap from the tome’s pages with themes of a “higher calling.”  The book begs the question; What happened to our national discourse?

Mario Cuomo is filled with anecdotal insight into the governor, his friends, his day-to-day, his family and his lifestyle  evolving into a tableau describing why he was admired by millions and loved by those closest to him. Will we see the likes of Mario Cuomo again? O’Shaughnessy is hopeful.

William O’Shaughnessy is president and editorial director of Whitney Media. He has written four other books: Vox Populi, More Riffs, Rants, and Raves, It All Comes Back to Me Now and Airwaves.

 

 

 

04.27.16
by

PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY/ ANATOMY OF AN EPIDEMIC

Robert Whitaker’s  2010 book Anatomy of an Epidemic is written with attitude. Even if only half of the hypothesis developed in Whitaker’s  examination of the effects psychiatric drugs  on adults and children is accurate, this book is an essential and illuminating read.

imgres-1

Whitaker leaves no doubt that the prescribing of an antidepressant drugs for both adults and children is of epidemic proportions in America.  He makes the case that there is no scientific evidence that mental disorders are caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. The pharmaceutical industry continues to promote “magic bullets”  designed to alter the brain’s chemical balance, treating mental illness as a disease.

Research compiled by Whitaker documents that the long-term effects of the use of antidepressants cause permanent  brain damage rather than provide any definable  cure. He questions the entire efficacy of the use of drug therapy in the treatment of mental illness.  He advances a conspiracy theory between the drug manufacturers and the marketing of the “magic bullets” to patients desperate for answers for themselves and their children.

The most frightening conclusion proffered by  Anatomy of an Epidemic is that long-term recovery rates for persons with mental disorders are better for those who have not been subjected to any form drug therapy.

Just like the book, ” In a Different Key, The Story of  Autism ( See Gordonsgood Reads February posting), Anatomy of an Epidemic is an essential read for anyone concerned with examining a different narrative about the treatment of mental illness.

Robert Whitaker also authored Mad in America. He is a journalist and investigative reporter who has specialized in the area of mental health. His numerous articles and books have been the recipients of several awards including a Pulitzer finalist for investigative reporting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

03.26.16
by

THE WITCHES- SALEM 1692. NON FICTION? YOUR CALL

Stacy Schiff’s The Witches, Salem 1692 is a work of non fiction by the acclaimed Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian.

images

 

For the reader, the vivid descriptions of the Salem Witch Trials is difficult to separate from a historical novel. The task for Schiff was to work from difficult to discover and even harder to discern documentation of what actually occurred during that bitter-cold winter of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts.

Like several readers I spoke with, some of whom gave up early with these pages, I found it difficult to keep engaged with the flow of the story.  The book is certainly a statement of the times and the confluence of strident religious beliefs, hard living on the first American frontier and plenty of hard cider fueling wild imagination.

The Witches is a must read for students of  witchcraft and for understanding the period and a very strange social order. Allow yourself plenty of time for taking  many necessary page-backs before you mount a broom yourself and fly away in frustration.

Also by Stacy Schiff: Cleopatra.

 

 

02.18.16
by

IN A DIFFERNT KEY/THE STORY OF AUTISM

It matters little whether you must know, need to know or simply want to know, IN A DIFFERENT KEY, The Story of Autism ( Crown Publishing 2016) is a remarkably well written and absorbing narrative of  autism. John Donvan and Caren Zucker miss little in brilliantly telling the autism story in a fashion that is uniquely understandable for the layman. It is rare that such a complicated, medical and scientific iteration can be accomplished in a compelling story that reads as a page turning work of non-fiction.

imgres-1

This is a book of real people, ordinary families that face progress, reversals both good and tragic outcomes. There are heroes and heroines. The work also sheds light on the darker side of mental illness. Even in light of  epic personal tragedy, IN A DIFFERENT KEY  remains hopeful.

Understanding of autism has evolved in light years since the early 20th Century. The “refrigerator mom ” has been debunked. You will read about the remarkable Temple Grandin. The 1988 Academy Award winning movie Rain Man starring Dustin Hoffman that did much to bring autism  into the realm  of greater empathy and general knowledge.  But even the movie had no happy Hollywood ending. There were no miracles and there still are none. When Rain Man ends Raymond still has autism.  Quoting IN A DIFFERENT KEY, It was an ending that spoke a real truth about autism, one that resonated for parents and people with autism: that autism is for always.

A review copy of IN A DIFFERENT KEY, The Story of Autism was provided to me by Blogging for Books.

John Donvan and Caren Zucker are journalists for ABC News.

Visit InADifferentKey.com

02.07.16
by

IN A DIFFERENT KEY–The Story of Autism

If you are following me on this post read on, or catch up with Friday’s post here at gordonsgoodreads

imgres-1

His name was Bernie Rimland, PhD. He had something to say about the terrible misconceptions concerning autism. In 1956 his wife gave birth to an autistic child and Rimland embarked on a mission to disprove the popular concept blaming Mom.  “Rimland’s goal was to produce a document that would examine the refrigerator-mother theory as scientifically as possible.”

” It was not even a close call . As soon as Rimland began testing out a few basic facts about the world’s known population of autistic children, the mother blaming concept completely collapsed. ”

Your heart will break as you read of autistic children institutionalized, some for life. You also read of ordinary mother and father heroes who refused the status-quo.

Blogging for Books  provided gordonsgoodreads with a review copy.

Visit InADifferentkey.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

02.05.16
by

They Blamed Mom! The Shame of Early Autism Diagnosis

I am reading IN A DIFFERENT KEY -The Story of Autism by John Donvan and Caren Zucker, Crown Publishing, 2016.

imgres-1

If you have a family member with Autism or know of cases within your community please get this book now and read along with me. Post your thoughts along the way.  You will need an outlet for some of the shocking things you will learn on your journey through this well written and researched narrative.

An example:

” The verdict: autism was caused by mothers not loving their children enough. ”

I relish reading ensuing pages that bring enlightenment and sunlight to the darkness of the early years of diagnosis.

Look for future posts and of course a summary.  But don’t wait. If you are vested in this subject or simply wish to be among the informed, get this book today!

I received this book from Blogging for Books for review

 

 

 

 

 

 

01.20.16
by

DESTINY and POWER/ GEORGE H.W. BUSH/ MASTERFULLY MEACHAM

With high advance praise from historians David McCullough, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Michael  Beschloss one need not say much more in recommending this masterful work by  Jon Meacham.

imgres-2 Destiny and Power,The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush captures the man brilliantly and fairly and secures him a permanent place in American Presidential history.  George Herbert Walker Bush may indeed be  A last of his kind, and Meacham relates clearly and concisely  the depth of that appellation.  More than a biography, Meacham details a period in American and world history through the portal of the Bush Oval Office. The research is impeccable and the access provided Meacham by a very private president and his family is remarkable.

A must read, now even more meaningful with another Bush running for President.

I also recommend  Meacham’s Franklin and Winston an Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship. Search gordonsgoodreads for details.

10.16.15
by

WILL BIDEN RUN? / WHAT IT TAKES/RICHARD BEN CRAMER

It is late in the game to suggest you pick up a fine print 1050 page book on American presidential politics. If you do you will read what is likely the best ever written on the subject and you will get a good look into  Joe Biden’s thought process. Richard Ben Cramer’s book What it Takes was published in 1992  and is considered by many the most insightful look at presidential politics ever written.  Cramer recounts the frenzied course of the 1988 Presidential race. His insight into the psyche of Joe Biden is remarkable and his research into Biden’s ascent into the political world is beyond comparison.

imgres-2 imgres-1

” He was a Biden, he  could do anything….He learned to game it out…..to see himself in the situation to come….to think what he would say…how he would sound…. ( Chapter 19, What It Takes).

If  Richard Ben Cramer were alive today he would be the best  equipped to answer the question, will Biden Run? You see,  Cramer was a journalist not a pundit.  It took 1050 pages to do justice to the subject. He was willing to do the work, not express an opinion. Richard Ben Cramer died in January 2013.  Search gordonsgoodreads for my initial overview of the book.

 

 

 

 

10.14.15
by

THE WRIGHT BROTHERS/ DAVID McCULLOUGH

The Wright Brothers narrative is so brilliantly written by historian David McCullough that the reader can imagine sitting in his library listening to his melodious voice tell a wonderful American story. McCullough never disappoints as he brings to life Wilbur and Orville, their sister Katherine and their father Bishop Wright and their early endeavor as builders of bicycles in Dayton, Ohio.  The book is much more than the story of the invention of the airplane, although McCullough misses no detail in that pursuit.

imgres-2 I am an ardent fan of McCullough but must admit I thought, why bother with this book, I know the story of the Wright brothers.  Never doubt McCullough’s ability to tell the whole story, including the U.S. Army Department’s ” flat turn down ” of a request by the Wright Brothers for government support for further testing of their heavier than air Flyer.  They supplied documentation of 105 successful flights made in 1904, but to no avail in moving the American Military bureaucracy. Ironically, the Secretary of War at the time was Ohioan William Howard Taft. The British and the French were excited to consider the Wright’s requests.   So the Wright Brothers and sister Katherine were off to Paris and LeMans astonishing Kings, Queens and cheering throngs with their accomplishment. Their reception was comparable to that afforded conquering heroes with private funding made immediately available.

In 1909, William Howard Taft, now President of the United States presented the Wright brothers gold medals. “I esteem it a great honor and opportunity to present these medals to you as evidence to what you have done. I am so glad-perhaps at a delayed hour-to show that in America it is not true that “a prophet is not without honor save in his own country.”  A touch of irony indeed.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

08.24.15
by

THE GUNS OF LAST LIGHT/ THE TRAGIC REALITY OF 1944-1945

The final installment of Rick Atkinson’s WWII trilogy, THE GUNS  OF LAST LIGHT, offers prodigious unsettling detail of the final push to defeat Hitler during the winter of 1944 and the spring of 1945.  The book begins with D-Day  continues through the Normandy hedgerows, the liberation of Paris, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge.

imgres-1

Atkinson’s narrative spares no detail  and his criticisms  of Allied leadership are jaw dropping. In his epic account  of the final months of the war, Atkinson creates no heroes.  His depth of research renders judgement on the good and bad.

American deaths in the winter of 1944 at the Bulge alone totaled 19,276.  In the final year of the  campaign of 135, 576 American soldiers  were killed on the Western Front while military bureaucrats meticulously planned the  up coming  Yalta conference between Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill. Millions of dollars  and endless hours of planning and logistics were spent on caviar, wild game, wines of every description, imported silver, cigars,  china and furniture. Little was accomplished  at Yalta, increasing speculation on how Germany would later  be  carved up among  the victors.

bulge_gallery_05

This is a book for students of WWII history and the reader will be well rewarded by the depth of its six hundred plus pages. Atkinson’s work qualifies for my Every Word Counts honor. The two other volumes equally worthy of accolades are An Army at Dawn, the North Africa Campaign, (search gordonsgoodreads), The  Day of Battle, the war in Italy.

I can not resist sharing this quotation from the book.  Patricia O’ Malley was  a one year old when her father, Major Richard James O’Malley  was killed by a sniper at Normandy. Later as an adult she  wrote this following a visit to  her father’s  grave at the cemetery at Collerville above Omaha Beach. I cried for the joy of being there and the sadness of my father’s death. I cried for all the times I needed a  father and never had one. I cried for all the words I wanted to say and wanted to hear but had not.  I cried and cried.