For compulsive collectors of Trumpiana only.
Dutiful memoir by the sitting president’s erstwhile mouthpiece.
Two things emerge from the latest text from a recently departed true believer: Sanders is loyal, the quality that Donald Trump admires above any other, ability and intelligence included; and she inhabits an irony-free world. For instance, when her boss promised at his inauguration, “we are transferring power from Washington, DC, and giving it back to you, the American people,” she took him at his word. Throughout this colorless, unnecessary memoir, Sanders professes her love for Trump and his entourage, adding encomia such as, “the president is surrounded by some of the most incredible and most talented people you could ever imagine.” She nigh on swoons when Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh (“a legend and a hero in the conservative movement”) is in the room, which thrills her almost as much as when Trump fired Rex Tillerson in favor of Mike Pompeo, who “brought a swagger to the job.” The news here has already been thoroughly aired—e.g., that Trump, told that Kim Jong-un had winked at her, said that he was sending her to North Korea, where she would be “taking one for the team.” Anything, one supposes, to get away from what the author calls the “liberal mob,” exemplified by the mean woman who denied her service at a little restaurant in Lexington, Virginia. At the White House, she writes, “the food is outstanding, and the burger is my favorite in Washington.” How to put up with unbelievers like that restaurateur and CNN’s infernal Jim Acosta? Faith, above all: “One of the most important things about being a Christian is knowing that God loves us no matter what.” And so does Trump, who, when she left the White House to “reconnect with my family,” called her “a warrior”—and, to trust the reports, we all know how he esteems warriors.
For compulsive collectors of Trumpiana only.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-27133-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Sept. 8, 2020
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
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