Michael Sheldon. Mark Twain: Man in White: The Grand
Adventure of His Final Years. New York: Random House, 2010.
As reviewed by Ted Odenwald
It’s not that there isn’t enough biographical material available on Mark Twain. Between his autobiography and his “official” biography, penned by Albert Bigelow Paine (but definitely orchestrated by Clemens/Twain), there is enough [...]
Mary McDonagh Murphy. Scout, Atticus & Boo: A Celebration
of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird. New York:
HarperCollins, 2010.
As reviewed by Ted Odenwald
If a novel, first published 50 years ago, still sells nearly a million copies per year, a celebration to recognize its enduring appeal seems appropriate. Mary McDonagh Murphy has created a [...]
Mary Karr. Lit: A Memoir. New York:
HarperCollins, 2009
as reviewed by Ted Odenwald
Readers of Mary Karr’s memoirs, The Liar’s Club and Cherry, will not be surprised to find powerful elements running throughout this third work, which focuses primarily on her twenties and thirties. In the first book, she relived her painful youth in the [...]
A.E. Hotchner. Paul and Me: Fifty-three Years of Adventures
and Misadventures with My Pal Paul Newman.
New York: Nan A. Talese, 2010.
as reviewed by Ted Odenwald
What had begun as a collaboration of screenwriter and performer progressed into a relationship of neighbors and fishing buddies, and eventually evolved into a business partnership of philanthropists. Hotchner, primarily known [...]
Bill Moyers. Genesis: A Living Conversation.
New York: Doubleday, 1996.
and
Bill Moyers. The Language of Life: A Festival of Poets.
New York: Doubleday, 1995.
Reviewed by Ted Odenwald
Though both of these books have been around for 15 years, neither is outdated. Though both are companion pieces to a series of broadcasts on public television, each work stands on its [...]
Kennedy, Edward M. True Compass: a Memoir. New York:
Twelve, 2009.
and
Team at the Boston Globe: Last Lion: The Fall and Rise
of Ted Kennedy. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2009.
as reviewed by Ten Odenwald
Here is an interesting choice: the memoir of the late Massachusetts Senator or an interpretive biography compiled and edited by several [...]
Yankee for Life by Bobby Murcer with Glenn Waggoner
New York: Harper, 2008.
Bobby Murcer’s Yankee for Life is a refreshingly simple memoir of the late outfielder/sportscaster’s passion for baseball, a passion overshadowed only by his love of his family. In an age where many headline stories about professional athletes are filled with marital infidelities, cheating [...]
Ted Odenwald reviews All Hands Down: The True Story of the Soviet Attack on the USS Scorpion, By Kenneth Sewell and Jerome Preisler.
Ted Odenwald reviews Bruce Weber’s 3 year study of the “land of umpires”
Ted Odenwald reviews Virginia Tech’s Professor Lucinda Roy’s account of the 2007 massacre…
