Stories of creation and destruction told in an informed and compassionate voice.
A detailed, inspiring, and horrifying account of the restaurant that sat atop the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Former Premiere senior editor Roston (I Lost It at the Video Store: A Filmmakers' Oral History of a Vanished Era, 2015) returns with a rich, complex account of Windows on the World, a story the author begins by discussing the many immigrants who worked there—later, he includes one of Donald Trump’s many clueless comments about 9/11. However, politics is much in the background; in the foreground are the many stories of the founders of the restaurant, the local politics (e.g., dealing with the Port Authority, the organization that controlled the site), key workers in the restaurant, the amenities, and the menus. He also chronicles the fundamental changes that occurred after the Feb. 26, 1993, truck-bomb episode. Informed by more than 125 interviews, the text is most impressive for its accounts of the human relationships involved, both the friendships and the fiery competitions among some of the managers. Emerging above all is Joe Baum, the restaurateur, who, writes Roston, “could electrify or freeze a room, depending on his mood.” Baum and his colleagues faced significant challenges in the space. For example, they were not allowed to use natural gas and had to use electricity (which most all disdained) and a charcoal pit, and they were dealing with a rough economy in the mid-1970s. Eventually, however, the restaurant grossed enormous sums and became a New York City institution. Roston concludes with some very painful chapters about 9/11: the day before, the day of, the days after. All who were in the restaurant died that day; there was no escape from the floors above the impact. As the author grimly reminds us, many on the doomed upper floors jumped, preferring that to incineration.
Stories of creation and destruction told in an informed and compassionate voice.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3799-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In his search for the historical Bard of Avon, religious historian Wilson (Jesus: The Evidence, 1991) penetrates the Elizabethan stage's shadow world with some success but tendentiously turns Shakespeare into a cypher for crypto-Catholic theories. Beginning with scholarly straw men (the Francis Bacon theories of authorship and the Stratford tourism version of Shakespeare), Wilson delves deeply into Shakespeare studies to recreate the world of the acting company, suggesting with some justification that the apprentice bard may have acted more important roles in much more elaborate and historically accurate productions in the newly discovered Rose theater than previously believed; Wilson also describes the bustling Elizabethan literary life of competitive poets and noble patrons. In a conjectural opening move for his crypto-Catholic theory, Wilson proposes the possibly recusant noble Ferdinando Stanley as Shakespeare's mysterious first patron who introduced him into the conspiracy-ridden court scene, which would later involve the playwright with the Essex rebellion. While Wilson rightly cites the uncertain post-Reformation stance of provincial Stratford, he oversimplifies the breadth and complexity of the Elizabethan experience with Catholic revisionism and reads highly tenuous interpretations into Shakespeare's texts, such as dubious references to Mary, Queen of Scots in King John or a pro-Jesuit reading of the porter scene in Macbeth. Most disingenuously Wilson obscures well-known evidence conflicting with his theory: He avoids the paper trail of an early multi-authored play, The Booke of Sir Thomas More, that links Shakespeare with Anthony Munday, a literary hack whom Wilson consistently vilifies for his pro-Protestant Elizabethan espionage; and he omits the fact that the London family whom Shakespeare lodged with for many years were Huguenots—which would have been an absurd risk for a recusant. Despite unearthing some controversial historical possibilities, Wilson ultimately displays as much wishful thinking in making Shakespeare a crypto-Catholic as others have in attributing his plays to Francis Bacon. (54 b&w photos, not seen; 14 figures)
Pub Date: Dec. 5, 1994
ISBN: 0-312-11335-8
Page Count: 512
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1994
Talamon's duotone photographs capture Jamaican reggae star Bob Marley (194581) with a rough humanity that comes as a relief after Steffens's hagiographic text. Steffens (a journalist who contributes to Reggae and African Beat, among other magazines) describes Marley's Jamaica and the peacemaker role he tried to play there between political factions and their loosely affiliated street-gang surrogates, his pan-Africanism, and his music career. But he adopts the tone of one writing the lives of the saints: ``As long as there are the downpressed among us, the exploited and disenfranchised, as long as lovers need words of comfort and reassurance, as long as there is a God who is worthy of praise, then shall we rejoice in the words and works of Bob Marley. Long may he live!'' The Rastafarian Marley was indeed seen as more than a musician or entertainer by his most loyal followers. A strangely messianic figure, Marley had the role of prophet thrust upon him, and he accepted it. The photographs, however, show Marley exhausted, Marley with a joint in his hand, Marley ecstatic on stage, Marley with a joint in his mouth, Marley explaining pan- Africanism to Africans in Gabon, Marley thoughtful, Marley clowning, Marley very, very stoned. They achieve greater distance from Marley than does the text. As a result, they not only are more interesting but also convey more powerfully a sense of Marley's genuine charisma.
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-393-03686-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1994
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