An engaging story about wealth, entitlement, property rights, change, loss, and pain.
A swift account of the history of Malibu, “a rugged ranch in the middle of nowhere” that became “a global symbol of fame and fortune.”
Reuters senior reporter Randall (Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep, 2012) is interested in briskness and conciseness; this is no dense scholarly history. He begins with a quick overview of the entire text, then proceeds with the story of Frederick Rindge (1857-1905), an ambitious Harvard student who, throughout his life, had to battle the lingering effects of rheumatic fever but shared with Theodore Roosevelt the exercise ethos and love of the outdoors that enabled him to live much longer than he otherwise might have. Rindge, as Randall shows us, had a gift for seeing financial opportunities and seizing them—though it didn’t hurt that he began with an inheritance worth some $140 million in today’s currency. He met and very quickly married Rhoda May Knight (who always went by “May”), and off they went to Los Angeles, where he quickly became one of the major movers in that community’s transition to a megalopolis. He bought a huge ranch, once a major Spanish land grant, in the area now called Malibu (an abbreviation of the ranch’s original Spanish name), developed it, and strived mightily—as did his widow, for decades—to keep it both private and pristine. Obviously, they lost. They battled homesteaders, trespassers, and, eventually, the local and national governments, the final stroke being the construction of the Pacific Coast Highway. The Depression wiped out May’s fortune. The author communicates a keen sympathy for the Rindges, praising Frederick for his philanthropy back in his Massachusetts hometown and May for her virtual monomania about the property. As “progress” arrives in the area, the author wants us to feel sorrow for the folks with multiple mansions and vast fortunes.
An engaging story about wealth, entitlement, property rights, change, loss, and pain.Pub Date: March 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-393-24099-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
Houdini's fame is so great that he is more a metaphor for magical escape than a man, but Brandon's (The New Women and the Old Men, 1990) biography readably explores both his act's archetypal appeal and his obsessive personality. Born Ehrich Weiss in Hungary and raised in Wisconsin, Houdini mythologized his impoverished childhood and early career in countless interviews and publicity notices. Brandon penetrates his family's isolation in poverty, his father's failure as a rabbi in America, and his mother's Freudian bond with her favorite son. Married early, Houdini and his assistant-wife began with an unremarkable magic act, which they toured in circuses, vaudeville, and even a freak show. At the turn of the century his theatrical breakthrough came with concentrating and expanding on his original escape act—from handcuffs—and his promotional talents and showmanship brought him worldwide fame, with phenomenal success in autocratic Germany and Russia. He added constantly to his ingenious repertoire—escaping from straitjackets, immersed in water, suspended in midair, or buried alive—with an instinctual sense of the public appetite, while also writing books and dabbling in early movies and aviation. Preoccupied with spiritualism, he campaigned against fraudulent mediums and arranged experiments to make contact with his wife after his death. Invoking Freud and Jung, Brandon reveals Houdini's fixations on his mother (including impotence, in her guess), suicide, death, and the hereafter, and his act's fascination for his audience (though she ignores his influence on modern magicians like Penn and Teller). If her Houdini is shackled in Freudian complexes, though, his act was equally bound up in his obsessions. More trickily, Brandon adroitly deconstructs his secrets (available for years) but keeps the suspense and wonder intact. Apart from occasional slips into a corny carny-huckster style and insertions of irrelevant anecdotes of her own experiences, Brandon has written an entertaining biography of a legendary figure. (24 pages of b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-42437-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
Jacob Marley's injunction that we all bear the chains we forge in life could be the lesson of Cammermeyer's life story. But like Scrooge, she shows that we all have the power to break those chains and find happiness. Cammermeyer, the Army reservist who challenged the military policy on homosexuality, was born in 1942 in Norway and spent her early childhood under the Nazi occupation while her parents participated in the Resistance. The daughter of a stern, undemonstrative father and a subservient mother, she spent her youth in a household where only the male children ``counted.'' After the family moved to America in the early 1950s, she decided to go to medical school, following in the footsteps of her father, a prominent neurological research scientist. When poor grades in college put an end to that dream, Cammermeyer, by then a naturalized citizen, enlisted in the Army, and became a nurse. During a tour of duty in Germany, she met and married her husband, another officer. Though their marriage was plagued from the beginning, she was determined to be a good wife. When her husband was sent to Vietnam, she volunteered as well. Upon returning, both of them, who believed in the US mission in Southeast Asia, were shocked by the naãvetÇ of the American public. Though they raised a family and lived in a dream house, the couple finally divorced when she was 38. A few years later, Cammermeyer finally found fulfillment in a relationship with a woman. She also pursued her military career. During a routine interview for a higher security clearance, she admitted that she was a lesbian and was discharged. She set out to challenge the action in court and was eventually vindicated and ordered reinstated. Appeals continue, however, and she remains out of uniform. Her story is scheduled to appear as an NBC TV movie in February 1995. Cammermeyer tells her story with clarity and sincerity. Despite coauthor Fisher's somewhat repetitive style, the book has a power that brings readers along on this courageous soldier's journey. (16 pages of b&w photos) (Author tour)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-670-85167-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
