SPARE PARTS (2022) - Review

Spare Parts: The Story of Medicine Through the History of Transplant Surgery by Paul Craddock
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
On sale: May 10, 2022

Subtitled "The Story of Medicine Through the History of Transplant Surgery", first-time author Paul Craddock's "Spare Parts" is an amazing accomplishment. From the sixteenth century onward, he has shared the story of medicine through transplantation and how it evolved.

You'd think this would be a boring read, but instead it is absolutely fascinating. Written in an accessible style, some of it is gruesome, some funny, and some awe inspiring. Starting with skin in 1550 through Heart 1967 with projections on transplant future, there are surprises on every page. Most significant to me was the number of people over the years who contributed to making transplant a reality.

Alexis Carrel (1873 - 1944) is considered the 'father of transplant surgery' and yet today is mostly forgotten. One of his challenges was finding a better way to repair blood vessels. He took lessons from Marie-Anne Leroudier, one of Lyon's finest embroiderers. With her help he was able to further modify the technique which is considered the basis for today's vascular surgery "including bypass surgery".

The prologue, which describes a kidney transplant operation, was particularly of interest. The first successful one was performed in 1954 between twin brothers and doesn't seem that long ago. (I received a kidney November 7, 2019 from a deceased donor and will be forever grateful.)

Like any well-researched work, there are illustrations, notes, index, and an extensive selected bibliography. You can read "Spare Parts" without reference to them, which I did, but if you want to dig deeper, everything you need is there.

BOTTOM LINE: Highly recommended.

Many thanks to the author, NetGalley, and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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THINGS ARE NEVER SO BAD THAT THEY CAN'T GET WORSE: INSIDE THE COLLAPSE OF VENEZUELA (2022) - Review

Things Are Never So Bad That They Can't Get Worse: Inside the Collapse of Venezuela by William Neuman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
On Sale: March 15, 2022

We had a rental property in Pittsburgh years ago and our first tenants were a wealthy family from Venezuela. The parents were doctors. I've always been curious about what their country was like.

Author William Neuman writes about the decline of Venezuela from the days of overwhelming riches to the depths of extraordinary poverty. An alarming number of people have fled to other countries.

Having lived in Caracas while he served as the New York Times Andes Region Bureau Chief, Neuman has combined journalism, memoir, history, politics, and interviews into an accessible book for anyone wanting more in-depth understanding of Venezuela.

It's clear that the author has great empathy for the people. His interviews range from the the people who bear the brunt of the damage by the country's leaders to those who surrounded and protected the wealthy. The involvement of the United States of America is also considered. It's hard not to see disturbing patterns between the two countries.

Highly recommended.

My thanks to the publisher, St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

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ABANDONED ISLANDS (2022) - Review

Abandoned Islands by Claudia Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
On sale: April 14, 2022

There are abandoned islands in all parts of the world. Claudia Martin's coffee table book includes four sections: North and South America, Europe, The Middle East, and Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Some islands may be familiar like Alcatraz but most are long forgotten.

Many of these abandoned islands housed prisons, leper colonies, immigration, inspection stations, and quarantine hospitals. Others became abandoned when the small number of inhabitants and the resources to support them seemed less attractive than life on the mainlands.

Each island has a brief description which includes what they were used for and the dates when they were abandoned. A variety of beautiful photographs (160), although some seem of a uneven quality, imply the hardships of isolated living.

A sampling of what caught my eye starts with North Brother Island in New York's East River. From 1885 to 1945 it was the site of Riverside Hospital for people who were quarantined. 'Typhoid Mary', whose real name was Mary Mallon, was forced to live there for 23 years.

Bunce Island, Sierra Leone, was a base for European slave traders. England's Royal Africa Company even built a castle there around 1670.

Volcanic Crocodile Island in Kenya is in the center of a lake. And, yes, there are Crocodiles.

Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands was forced to relocate 167 islanders to the United States so 23 nuclear devices could be detonated there between 1946 and 1958.

"Abandoned Islands" is certainly an inspiration for those who want to travel to lesser known places or maybe just research them on the Internet. Not only a coffee table book, this handsome volume would make a lovely gift.

Thank you to NetGalley / Amber Books Ltd, and the author for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

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JULIA MORGAN: AN INTIMATE BIOGRAPHY OF THE TRAILBLAZING ARCHITECT (2022) - Review

Julia Morgan: An Intimate Biography of the Trailblazing Architect by Victoria Kastner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
On sale: January 18, 2022

Julia Morgan was often dismissed as a one-time wonder for the elaborate castle she built for William Randolph Hearst, but recently critical thinking has shifted. The American Institute of Architects decided to give their highest honor posthumously to Julia celebrating her work in its entirety.

It was the Spring of 1919 when Julia first visited San Simeon. World War I had ended and the country was on the verge of the Roaring Twenties and an era of prosperity. She would spend nearly thirty years working on this project.

One of the unique things about Julia was that she was a native Californian when most of the San Francisco architects were transplanted Easterners. When she enrolled in Berkley's University of California, there was no architecture department so in 1890 she became one of its first female civil engineering majors and she made an important life long friend Phoebe Apperson Hearst, the mother of William Randolph Hearst.

The description of the 1906 catastrophic San Francisco earthquake and how it affected Julia and her work is compelling as well as how the commission to repair and rebuilt the Fairmount Hotel eventually became hers.

Carefully researched, containing new information, and written in highly readable language, this biography is a worthy addition to understanding the life of Julia Morgan.

Lavishly illustrated with beautiful color photographs, maps, and other ephemera, the book covers the genealogy of Julia's family, her childhood, through every aspect of her life and career. She died at the age of eighty-five on February 2, 1957.

The Hearst Castle was presented to the California state parks system and more than forty-five million have visited since guided tours began on June 2, 1958. I was one of them.

Thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for a copy of this book for an honest review.

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MANIAC (2021)

Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer by Harold Schechter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't know state history in the same way as a native Michigander, but I'd heard of the Bath Disaster since it has been revisited by the media every May 18 since 1927. Andrew Kehoe, a local farmer, blew up the school. Then when I read "Maniac", I discovered that he bought his 500 pounds of explosive Pyrotol in Jackson, Michigan where I have lived for many years. Bath Township is a mere 50 some miles away.

The world was changing and Andrew Kehoe was not pleased. Bath Township residents had been arguing about the need for a consolidated school for the area. But moving from one room school houses had a cost that some, like Andrew, thought unnecessary. Teachers would cost more. Transportation to a central school would have to be provided and taxes would be raised.

This was the issue that sparked Kehoe's long battle with School Supervisor Emory Huyck and ultimately the most horrific event of the time. Author Harold Schechter carefully and clearly establishes the events that culminated in the final murderous act.

Why has this tragedy passed into history? Several reasons are suggested including the fact that Lindbergh made his famous transatlantic flight on May 20 just two days later and overshadowed every other story.

When I picked up "Maniac", I meant to read a chapter or two but kept turning pages until I reached the end. The subject of this book is horrific, but the author does not exploit it. This is a well researched and told story; and although it happened in Michigan, it could have happened anywhere.

DISCLAIMER: A copy of was provided to me by Little A/Net Galley for an honest review.

FOOTNOTE: https://bit.ly/3rK7CZb

Irene Dunham, stayed home with a sore throat on the day of the bombing, and is now the oldest resident in Michigan at the age of 114. She was interviewed as a follow up to this story (see link above) in the Lansing paper.

She and her mother heard the blast and drove to the scene. She described just a bit of what she saw and was still greatly affected by her memories of that day.

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Harold Schechter is an American true-crime writer who specializes in serial killers. Twice nominated for the Edgar Award, he is the author of a number of non-fiction books including the Washington Post bestseller Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men. He received his PhD in American literature from the State University of New York in Buffalo and is professor emeritus at Queens College. He is married to the poet Kimiko Hahn.

Publisher : Little A (March 9, 2021)
Language : English
Hardcover : 239 pages
ISBN-10 : 154202532X
ISBN-13 : 978-1542025324

 

 

Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, and the Rise of America's Xanadu (2019)

Mar-a-Lago

Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, and the Rise of America's Xanadu by Les Standiford

I love non-fiction that reads like fiction! Author Les Standiford makes this history of Palm Beach and the people who created it come to life. Central to much of the story is Marjorie Merriweather Post, who built Mar-a-Lago and her incredible influence on many of the ways the world has changed. Fascinating and great research makes for a excellent read! Even as I was engrossed, the History Channel was showing a program that reinforced many things in the book.: "The Food That Built America".

FIRST LINE: "On May 25, 1914, about two weeks after its subject had dressed himself in his Sunday finest, laid himself down in the master bedroom of his Santa Barbara manse, and blown off the top of his head with a hunting rifle, the will of cereal magnate C.W. Post was filed for probate in Washington, D.C.

WHAT I THOUGHT: I found it interesting that as Marjorie grew older, she attempted to find a buyer for Mar-a-Lago. She first approached the state, then the Federal Government with the idea that it would serve as the Winter White House. Ultimately no one was willing to commit to the enormous expense of maintaining the house as a private home until Donald Trump stepped forward.

BOTTOM LINE: Highly recommended. I've even considered reading it again to better absorb all the information. Standiford has also written several other books about the area but readers may know him better as the author of crime fiction featuring Detective John Deal set in southern Florida. Here is a list of all his books.

Disclaimer: A copy of Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, and the Rise of America's Xanadu was given to me by Atlantic Monthly Press/Net Galley for an honest review.

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (November 5, 2019)
ISBN-10: 0802128491
ISBN-13: 978-0802128492

Les Standiford is the author of the bestselling Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean, Water to the Angels: William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles, and Meet you in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership that Transformed America, among many other works of fiction and nonfiction. He lives with his wife, Kimberly, in Florida. (From Amazon.com)

EMPTY MANSIONS (2013)

Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr. 
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As I grow older, I seem to find more inspiration in works of non-fiction. The research and depth of exploration in books like EMPTY MANSIONS have the ability to make me question what I thought I knew about the world.

On the other hand, I don't think there IS another book quite like EMPTY MANSIONS. Why didn't I love history when I was in school? How did the teachers manage to make it so dry and unappealing? Here it is a page turner, non-fiction that reads like fiction.

EMPTY MANSIONS is a modern day fairy tale. It begins with the magical tale of W.A.Clark and how he amassed his incredible fortune in copper mining and ends with the death of his daughter Huguette at the age of 104 in 2011. The eccentricities of Huguette's life and how the fortune was managed and spent is as fascinating as it is distressing.

And what about those empty mansions, bought and abandoned? They are the stuff of imagination and exploration. How many dreams have been filled with room after room of delight?

What is amazing to contemplate is that Huguette was witness to everything from the sinking of the Titanic (the family had tickets for the second sailing) to the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11. She lived her life as a recluse and ultimately spent her last years in hospital. And everyone wanted something from her. That something was money. Obscene amounts of money.

Bottom Line:  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Title: Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune
Author: Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr.
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345534522
No. of Pages: 496 pages
Copyright: September 10, 2013
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Source: Hardback copy loaned by a friend who knew I wanted to read it.

Bill Dedman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, an investigative reporter for NBC News, and co-author of the No. 1 bestselling book "Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune." Wikipedia

Paul Clark Newell Jr., cousin of Huguette Clark and grand nephew of Senator William Andrews Clark (Huguette's father), is one of the few persons admitted into regular communication with with the reclusive Huguette in the last 20 years of her life. (Source: Amazon)

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ANNIE'S GHOSTS: A JOURNEY INTO A FAMILY SECRET (2009)

Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret by Steve Luxenberg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a perfect book! Part mystery, part memoir, and a look at the evolution of the mental health industry in this country, author Steve Luxenberg, a senior editor with the Washington Post for many years, uses his investigative skills to tell the fascinating story of his family's secret.

And I would never have known about the fact that it had been chosen as the 2013 - 2014 Michigan Read except for my favorite retired Jackson District librarians. We gather twice a year for lunch and to catch up on each other's lives. Invariably we talk about books.

Not being a native Michigander, I was not familiar with Detroit's Eloise Hospital for the mentally ill and homeless which flourished during the Depression. What I heard that afternoon about Annie's Ghosts sounded so fascinating that I immediately went home and downloaded the book to my Kindle. Before two days had passed, I had finished everything including the extensive notes following the narrative.

All their growing up years, Steve and his siblings had been told by their mother Beth that she was an only child. In poor health and in her eighties, she mentioned a sister to a new doctor. Six months after she died, the secret made another appearance but this time there was a name: Annie.

Not only has Steve Luxenberg created a highly readable book, the kind librarians call non-fiction that reads like fiction, but he shares his approach to researching which has allowed him to discover all sorts of hidden pieces of information.

He also carefully expands the story beyond the original 'secret' to explain the way the world 'worked' and how people thought during that time. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Title: Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret

Author: Steve Luxenberg

Genre: Memoir

Publisher:Hyperion

No. of Pages: 416 pages

Copyright: May 5, 2009

ISBN: 1401322476

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Source: Amazon Kindle

Steve Luxemberg has worked for more than thirty years as a reporter and editor having begun his career at The Baltimore Sun. He is now Associate Editor for The Washington Post and an author. Annie's Ghosts was chosen as a 2010 Notable Michigan Book among other honors.

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NEW BOOKS IN THE MAIL!

Surprisingly there is another family named Holt (no relation we know of) on our road and today they dropped by to re-deliver my books from Amazon, which were correctly addressed.

After discovering and reading the Images of America book about Roxborough, the community in Philadelphia where I grew up, I spotted another on Germantown, Mount Airy, and Chestnut Hill that I had to have. That came today as well as Nate Berkus's The Things That Matter.

I try to use the library, but my one in Michigan would not be inclined to buy a book about neighborhoods in Philadelphia. When they get around to ordering the Berkus book, there WILL be a waiting list. Those are my excuses for purchasing from Amazon and I'm sticking to them!

HOUSES OF PHILADELPHIA (2008)

Houses of Philadelphia: Chestnut Hill and the Wissahickon Valley, 1880-1930 by James B. Garrison
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love interlibrary loan, where your local library can pretty much get you anything in book form you desire. Rather than a Philadelphia library, my request brought me a copy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill!

And I was worthy. I read the whole book. Of course, it was primarily photographs and floor plans of incredibly elaborate architectural extravaganzas but they were accompanied by stories and biographical data about the people who built these mansions in Chestnut Hill and the Wissahickon Valley.

Growing up nearby, I was always fascinated by the incredible homes that were so different from the row houses of the city. The sad part was the author's recounting of the fate of the individual buildings. Some are nursing homes, some were divided into condos, and some are gone. In the near future, I plan a trip to Philadelphia to visit the area and once again marvel at these beautiful edifices of yesterday.

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Images of America - Roxborough (2011)

Somewhere in your travels you have seen the Images of America series. It culls historical information about 'small towns and downtowns' into remembrances of times past using local historians and sources. They currently have 6,075 titles! You can read more about it and search for your favorite community HERE.

I grew up in Roxborough, a section of Philadelphia, and stumbled on this entry in the series while I was doing some research. Luckily Amazon had two in stock and now they only have one copy.

It didn't take me long to read through the entire book since it has the requisite 200+ pictures with captions and just a few introductory pages of background. Not that I am complaining. I was delighted to find things I recognized and facts I didn't know.

For example, my neighborhood was called Wissahickon Hills and was built after World War II. But our street bordered on Fairmount Park and we had woods directly across the street.

Wissahickon Schist Photo: Michael P. Klimetz

When I played in the woods as a child, I often found rocks containing garnets, which still seems magical to me. It never occurred to me that those rocks were unique in any way. They were named Wissahickon Schist by Florence Bascom, the first woman geologist. Bet you never heard of her. Among other things she was the founder of the Geology Department at Bryn Mawr College. (She died the day before I was born at the age of 82.) They named a crater on Venus after her. You can read more about her many firsts HERE.

Beyond that I learned that the deli where I bought steak hoagies originally opened as a general store and Post Office in 1825 although the building dates to 1797. The Methodist Church where I attended Girl Scouts dates to 1847 and was enlarged in 1871. The cave where I played was the result of mining in 1763, and the reservoir I walked around with friends after school for something to do was built in 1897 to be part of Philadelphia's drinking water system. 

These are delightful reads for a couple of hours of nostalgia and learning more about your roots. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Meet the Author of Jacobson's: I miss it so!

Historian and author Bruce Allen Kopytek is coming to the Carnegie Branch of the Jackson District Library on Saturday, June 23, 2012 at 2:00 pm to talk about his recently published book Jacobson's: I miss it so!

An expert on the vanishing department store, Bruce writes a blog called The Department Store Museum.

Last night he was honored along with others in Lansing for having a book selected as one of the twenty chosen for the Michigan Notable Books list.

Call the Reference Department to make a reservation today! Space is limited. Call 517-788-4087, ext. 1339.

The End of the World as We Know It (Apparently)

March 13, 2012: Encyclopaedia Britannica, the mother of all alphabetized knowledge, will be putting its 244-year-old print business out to pasture effective immediately.

The august encyclopedia publisher’s 32-volume 2010 edition was the last of its kind. (From the New York Times)

Forgiveness

I have to ask for forgiveness. I just ordered two more books from Amazon.

In my defense, they weren't books I would be likely to find in my local library; and when I finally have them, I may not want to return them.

One caught my eye because it deals with cruelty and violence in the arts. I've already written about it. The other was the result of stumbling on a blog cataloging all the wonderful department stores that once existed. Jackson, where I live, was once home to both L. H. Fields and Jacobson's Department stores. One of my daughters worked at both having been 'shopped' away to Jakes.

 My grandparents both worked for Wannamaker's in Philadelphia and it was where I found a job for two summers after high school. My Mother's family is loosely connected to McCurdy's Department Store, which began its life in Philadelphia and moved to Rochester, New York before fading away.

If you remember a special department store, check out The Department Store Museum.

Literary Treats for Politics and Policy Geeks

Everyday Klansfolk: White Protestant Life and the KKK in 1920s Michigan

I just discovered that Dome Magazine has a column called Book It where they write up books dealing with Michigan subjects. The one that caught my eye initially was the mention of the publication of a new book, Everyday Klansfolk: White Protestant Life and the KKK in 1920s Michigan, by British author Craig Fox and published by Michigan State University Press.

If you have any interest in politics and state history, you'll want to check this site out by clicking
Literary Treats for Politics and Policy Geeks.