The Director by Daniel Kehlmann is a challenging but intriguing work of fiction. Its surreal and expressionistic style focuses on its characters’ dreamlike experiences and emotional journeys. These stylistic elements mix with realism as the narrative develops, prompting this reader to appreciate the author’s stunning talent and creativity. This historical novel is based mostly on …
Category: Politics
Collins v. Platner: hold your nose and vote for him?
Unless some new major scandal leads the Democratic establishment to replace Graham Platner on the ballot in the next 30 days, the choice for U. S. Senate from Maine is between Democrat Graham Platner,44, and Republican Susan Collins, 77. Yet again, voters in November will be presented with two bad choices, but for quite different …
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A crime, a cover-up, a case of corruption
London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe, published in April, displays once again the author’s investigative skills and journalistic talents manifest in his books Say Nothing (about “the troubles” in Northern Ireland) and Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty …
Barney Frank: one of a kind
The year was 1976. It was nearing deadline time at the The Boston Phoenix. Editor Bill Miller, formerly of the Boston Globe, emerged into the newsroom from his small office. A hush fell as reporters turned to face him. Waving his hand in the air, Miller announced, "A hundred dollars to the first reporter who …
The Housing Crisis: it never gets better
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond is a comprehensive and enormously powerful study of the cycle of poverty in American cities brought about by the eviction of poor people from their homes. Eviction is not just about eviction in the legal sense, where people get summoned to court for getting …
No Kings Rallies: pictures worth a thousand words
Newton Center Green in Massachusetts was packed on Saturday, despite temperature in the 30's and a biting wind. A 10-piece local brass band energized the crowd with a rousing Saints Go Marching In. There were young and old, black and white, center and left, pets wearing "No Kings" doggie jackets, and speeches, lots of speeches. …
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Trump’s Endgame: It’s Not What He Thinks It Is
Getty Image A week into Operation Epic Fury, the administration’s stated objectives have shifted by the hour and by the speaker: eliminate the nuclear program, roll back ballistic missiles, defang the proxies, respond to Israeli pressure, achieve regime change. The timeline is “four weeks or more,” with hints of ground troops “if necessary.” What constitutes …
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SOTUS: More Spin from the Bloviator-in-Chief
Call me a masochist. I watched all of Trump’s State-of-the-Union speech. The President painted a picture of the nation as he wanted to see it. It was a swirling mix of fantasy, twisted rhetoric and outright lies. We’ve heard his shameless exaggerations about how many wars he has ended, how he has lowered drug prices …
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A Lurid History with Lessons for Today
King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild was first published in 1998, but its 2020 relaunch, with a forward by noted author Barbara Kingsolver and the author’s own afterword, attests to its relevance today. A dogged historical researcher, Hochschild documents the shameful capture of Africa’s Congo river and territory by the rapacious megalomaniac King Leopold II …
Why it’s us versus them
Paper Girl: a Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America by journalist Beth Macy is a perfect complement to my just-reviewed Buckeye by Patrick Ryan. Think of Paper Girl as small-town Ohio, part 2, the contemporary, non-fiction version. Macy grew up in Urbana, Ohio, graduating from high school in 1982. Though four generations …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 