An eye-opening walk on the not-so-wild side with members of the Yakuza, Japan's 400-year-old crime syndicate. A freelance writer who is fluent in Japanese, Seymour lived and worked in Tokyo during the early 1990s. While there, he gained entree to several of the city's top mobs (gumi), subsequently connecting with gangs in Kyoto and Osaka. The author traces the underworld's roots back to 17th-century shogunate era, when itinerant gamblers preyed on the countryside. Following the Meiji Restoration (in 1867), gangsters forged links with nationalist politicians that endure to this day; they now effectively have control of the rackets—drugs, extortion, prostitution—and certain legitimate enterprises, such as gambling, nightclubs, sports, and street vending. The rigidly hierarchical Yakuza is an integral, if not precisely honored, part of Japanese society. On the evidence of Seymour's text, however, the way of the Yakuza underbosses and soldiers is neither very lucrative or exciting. While he kept close company for many months with dope dealers, gun runners, and loan sharks, they might as well have been nose-to-the-grindstone salarymen during daylight hours. Nor does there seem to be a yen's worth of difference between the two retired godfathers the author met and top corporate executives. After sundown, younger members of the outlaw bands become appreciably livelier in their pursuit of pleasure with the mainly Western and Filipina women they have turned out as carriage-trade call girls. Also intriguing are the macabre rituals of the Yakuza. Among other quaint customs, these career criminals who seldom murder rivals, let alone civilians, have massive tattoos burned into their skins (with bamboo slivers) as proofs of manhood and unit pride. While Seymour gamely tries to invest his Asian thugs with drama, he's too good a journalist to glamorize them or their surprisingly mundane lives. In consequence, the Yakuza (though celebrated in its homeland's B films and tabloid press) is still waiting for a Mario Puzo.
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-87113-604-X
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1996
Less a sequel than an addendum, the book offers a close-up view of the Oval Office in its darkest hour.
Four decades after Watergate shook America, journalist Woodward (The Price of Politics, 2012, etc.) returns to the scandal to profile Alexander Butterfield, the Richard Nixon aide who revealed the existence of the Oval Office tapes and effectively toppled the presidency.
Of all the candidates to work in the White House, Butterfield was a bizarre choice. He was an Air Force colonel and wanted to serve in Vietnam. By happenstance, his colleague H.R. Haldeman helped Butterfield land a job in the Nixon administration. For three years, Butterfield worked closely with the president, taking on high-level tasks and even supervising the installation of Nixon’s infamous recording system. The writing here is pure Woodward: a visual, dialogue-heavy, blow-by-blow account of Butterfield’s tenure. The author uses his long interviews with Butterfield to re-create detailed scenes, which reveal the petty power plays of America’s most powerful men. Yet the book is a surprisingly funny read. Butterfield is passive, sensitive, and dutiful, the very opposite of Nixon, who lets loose a constant stream of curses, insults, and nonsensical bluster. Years later, Butterfield seems conflicted about his role in such an eccentric presidency. “I’m not trying to be a Boy Scout and tell you I did it because it was the right thing to do,” Butterfield concedes. It is curious to see Woodward revisit an affair that now feels distantly historical, but the author does his best to make the story feel urgent and suspenseful. When Butterfield admitted to the Senate Select Committee that he knew about the listening devices, he felt its significance. “It seemed to Butterfield there was absolute silence and no one moved,” writes Woodward. “They were still and quiet as if they were witnessing a hinge of history slowly swinging open….It was as if a bare 10,000 volt cable was running through the room, and suddenly everyone touched it at once.”
Less a sequel than an addendum, the book offers a close-up view of the Oval Office in its darkest hour.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1644-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2015
Harari delivers yet another tour de force.
A highly instructive exploration of “current affairs and…the immediate future of human societies.”
Having produced an international bestseller about human origins (Sapiens, 2015, etc.) and avoided the sophomore jinx writing about our destiny (Homo Deus, 2017), Harari (History/Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem) proves that he has not lost his touch, casting a brilliantly insightful eye on today’s myriad crises, from Trump to terrorism, Brexit to big data. As the author emphasizes, “humans think in stories rather than in facts, numbers, or equations, and the simpler the story, the better. Every person, group, and nation has its own tales and myths.” Three grand stories once predicted the future. World War II eliminated the fascist story but stimulated communism for a few decades until its collapse. The liberal story—think democracy, free markets, and globalism—reigned supreme for a decade until the 20th-century nasties—dictators, populists, and nationalists—came back in style. They promote jingoism over international cooperation, vilify the opposition, demonize immigrants and rival nations, and then win elections. “A bit like the Soviet elites in the 1980s,” writes Harari, “liberals don’t understand how history deviates from its preordained course, and they lack an alternative prism through which to interpret reality.” The author certainly understands, and in 21 painfully astute essays, he delivers his take on where our increasingly “post-truth” world is headed. Human ingenuity, which enables us to control the outside world, may soon re-engineer our insides, extend life, and guide our thoughts. Science-fiction movies get the future wrong, if only because they have happy endings. Most readers will find Harari’s narrative deliciously reasonable, including his explanation of the stories (not actually true but rational) of those who elect dictators, populists, and nationalists. His remedies for wildly disruptive technology (biotech, infotech) and its consequences (climate change, mass unemployment) ring true, provided nations act with more good sense than they have shown throughout history.
Harari delivers yet another tour de force.Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-51217-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
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