A revealing and visually appealing history of an architectural triumph.
An eyewitness report from ground zero, generously illustrated with color photographs.
In 2005, journalist Raab was assigned to cover the rebuilding of the World Trade Center for Esquire. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11, he has gathered the essays from his 10-part series, published yearly, complemented by dozens of gritty, vibrant photos by Dublin-born Woolhead, the official site photographer. Raab takes an irreverent, often cynical view of the political grandstanding, rivalries, and arrogance that emerged during the planning and construction. George Pataki, New York’s governor when the towers fell, saw rebuilding as a personal achievement that he hoped would take him to the White House. Irascible real estate mogul Larry Silverstein, the first chief developer, “nursed every nickel, but he also knew the historical heft, and the spiritual demands, of the Freedom Tower.” David Childs, chief architect, was repeatedly frustrated by the Port Authority, owner of the site. “The seismic social forces that first raised up the Twin Towers—politics, power, and money—have poured into the vacuum created by their collapse,” Raab observed. Building the towers depended on workers—engineers, blasters, welders, steel workers—whom Raab portrays with warmth and respect. While one engineer worried over the geophysical forces that would impact the structure, Raab notes many other forces—“money, memory, money, vanity, money, ingenuity, money, New York City’s infinite resolve and resilience, and money”—that challenged the project’s completion. Because the pieces appeared over 10 years, repetition (Silverstein’s undaunted determination, the Port Authority’s obfuscation) is inevitable. Nevertheless, the book effectively conveys the emotional power of the fraught $4 billion project. Now, 20 years later, writes Raab, “facing a collective grief, suffering, and outrage on a scale beyond anything we’ve known in our lives, the Freedom Tower’s spire reminds me that nothing—no act of terrorism, no natural disaster, no pandemic: nothing—is stronger than the human spirit of community.” Colum McCann provides the foreword.
A revealing and visually appealing history of an architectural triumph.Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-982176-14-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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 Yorkerstaff 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 virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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