The Siberian Dilemma, Smith - B-

                       It's been almost forty years since Moscow Inspector Arkady Renko appeared on the scene and seven years since the last installment. He sets off for Siberia in this novel to find his live-in girlfriend, a reporter who went east in search of a story. The two most harrowing moments involve a bear attack that almost kills him and a race over the Lake Baikal ice in an SUV.  As incredulous as some of the story is, the essence of Arkady is his wit, which he still has, and the hopelessness of Russia, which is very much ever present.

Checkpoint Charlie: The Cold War, The Berlin Wall, and the Most Dangerous Place On Earth, MacGregor- B -

    This is a history of the 28-years of the wall that divided  Berlin and symbolized the breach between communism  and capitalism. The motivation for the E. Germans to build the wall in 1961 was emigration to the west. The best people were leaving for freedom and financial well-being. Over a decade, 2.1 million people, a sixth of the population, "simply walked out their front doors and never returned." On the morning of Sunday, August 13, E. Germany began to seal off the city of W. Berlin from the German Democratic Republic. Soon, a 97 mile barricade encircled the city. Within a month, it was a wall. There were a handful of crossings for Berliners with permission but only one for foreigners, diplomats and members of the occupying powers - Checkpoint Charlie. Under the terms of the Four Powers Agreement, all of the occupying powers were entitled to travel through each other's sectors. Very early in the fall of 1961, the US exercised its right to travel in E. Berlin and a stand-off with Soviet tanks brought the world to the brink at Checkpoint Charlie before both sides de-escalated. Over the course of the first year of the wall, the E. Germans and Soviets shocked the world when they killed those trying to escape. As Berliners despaired of their plight, the summer of 1963 saw one of the most dramatic moments of the Cold War when President Kennedy, cheered on by virtually the entire population of W. Berlin, stood across from the Brandenburg Gate and made his famous ' Let Them Come To Berlin' speech. After his "Ich bin ein Berliner" line, he told his speechwriter that the day could never be exceeded in his lifetime. He rejuvenated NATO, inspired the Germans, and confirmed the American commitment to the city.  In 1965, the four powers and the two Germany's signed a treaty, which was the first time the US recognized E. Germany, and the all parties reconfirmed the rights of the occupying military powers. 

     In the late 1960's and into the 1970's, the focus of the Cold War moved elsewhere and Berlin reached a kind of stasis. Both sides lived their lives, and spying seemed to become the central occupation of the city. By the 1980's, a new generation  of E. Germans had grown up under the communist regime, felt little loyalty to the past, and simply wanted the better life they saw on W. German television. This was true throughout the Warsaw Pact as communism failed on every level. In the late 80's, W. Berlin featured major pop acts, such as David Bowie, Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd, playing near the wall. In July, 1988, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played a 4 hour set before 300,000 in E. Berlin. The concert was televised throughout E. Germany and became "the touchstone of a generation." The following year saw increased protests in Leipzig and Dresden, the end of the iron curtain in Hungary and Czechoslovakia and, in October, Gorbachev criticized Honecker while in Berlin. On the evening of Nov. 9th, a mid-level GDR functionary inadvertently and mistakenly announced that E. Germans were now free to travel, and failed to mention all of the restrictions that would continue to apply.  The story was broadcast by W. Berlin tv and within hours, thousands of Berliners were standing on and dancing on the wall. The following day East Berliners poured into the west. For all intents and purposes, the 45-year Cold War was over in a flash. By the following summer, the Berlin Wall was gone. The Soviets opted to not interfere, Checkpoint Charlie was dismantled and Germany was reunified.

Disappearing Earth, Phillips - B +

               This highly acclaimed novel is set in current day Kamchatka. There are 12 chapters, one per month beginning in August when two sisters disappear from the beach near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the regional capital on the Pacific shore. The mystery of their disappearance is the background to the stories of the women of this community, where natives dominate and Russians (white people) are the minority. The natives are one or two generations removed from reindeer herding, fishing and other ancient ways of life. Just about all of the men, native or white, are pretty unreliable in this matriarchy in a society beyond contemplation to us. This is an interesting story with intriguing background on the Pacific coast of Russia.

The Good Assassin, Vidich - B

                                 This time, the novel is set in Cuba in 1958. The corrupt American-backed Battista regime is on the ropes and failing on every level. The rebels are in the mountains and getting ready to finish off the government. A retired CIA agent is sent to see how the man on the ground is doing, because Washington is concerned that he is actively supporting the rebels. As the author's specialty is stories based on actual events, there was a rogue American in Cuba who reached the highest levels of the revolution, only to pay the ultimate price when he came under suspicion by Castro.

An Honorable Man, Vidich - B

                   The author specializes in CIA stories from the distant past that are based on actual events. In this novel, a double agent is suspected, and the CIA is desperately trying to find him in DC in 1953. He had been recruited in Europe after WWII and the Soviets deftly try to change the focus of the US investigation. Interestingly, the book explores the growing pains of the agency, its founding with the veterans of the OSS and its competition with the established and much more powerful FBI.

Germany: A Nation In Its Time, Before, During, And After Nationalism, 1500 - 2000, Smith - B+

     The main theme of this book is that Germany, over the course of five centuries, should be viewed through "radically different" lenses. The second message is that, for the vast majority of the years studied, Germany was a pacific land, often derided for its lack of "martial spirit". The third is an exploration of the role of compassion in national belonging. The book is divided into five distinct eras: Before Nationalism, The Copernican Turn, The Age of Nationalism, The Nationalist Age and After Nationalism. 

     I. At the mid-point of the second millennium, there were few maps and without maps, no sense of a Germany. It was simply the place where the German language was spoken. The advent of printing, the exploration of Africa and the discovery of America "set off a new curiosity about the world." The first maps of Germany delineated its borders as the Rhine, the Alps and the Danube, the Carpathians and Vistula and the Baltic Sea. In the middle of the 16th century, Munster published a "Cosmographia"that provided great detail and accuracy on Germany, its cities, mountains, rivers and boundaries. Germany was slowly becoming divided by religion as Protestantism took hold in all the cities and throughout the north. But unlike the rest of Europe where religious distinctions led to violence, the 1555 Peace of Augsburg created a Germanic patchwork wherein the local ruler could determine his community's devotion to either Catholicism or Lutheranism. However,  "[b]etween 1570 and 1648, the German lands went from a place of flourishing learning to a decimated ruin." The Thirty Years War destroyed Germany, compelling scholars to search for comparisons. The Black Death of the 14th century and the second thirty years of war from 1914-1945 are the two most oft-cited. Probably a third of the population died from battle, siege, hunger, privation and disease. The population loss was a greater percentage than that of the 20th century and it took much longer to recover, somewhere between 60 and 100 years. The war broke out in 1620 when Protestant and Catholic forces clashed over the possibility of a Protestant assuming the Bohemian crown and voting out the Catholic Hapsburgs. Both the Swedes and the French aggressively intervened in the 'Teutsche Krieg'. A contemporary chronicler called the soldiers of the era "booty stealers, plunderers, peasant tormentors, oppressors of people, tribute mongers, torturers, cowards, and deceits." The 1648 Treaty of Westphalia ended the war and brought both the Swedes and French into possession of German land. 

     II. "The German lands underwent fundamental political and ideological transitions, and these resulted in a paradigmatic shift in the way one knew and represented the German nation." The Germans turned to a new way of understanding their nation. Patriotism to the nascent nations of Saxony, Prussia, Bavaria, and Austria grew. No one envisioned a singular nation, but rather a place where German was spoken in different countries.  The War of Austrian Succession raged around the world in the 1740's. Prussia had invaded Austria and annexed Silesia to begin the contest. The price of the war was high for Prussia, which lost 10% of its population. After the war, both Austria and Prussia increased the size of their armies. Both German nations joined Russia in the 1772 Partition of Poland.  The partition caused fear in Saxony, Bavaria, Hanover, the Palatinate, and Wurttemberg,  all of which began to look to France and Britain as possible protectors.  "For the development of German nationalism, the German response to the French Revolution was absolutely crucial." As France began to develop a nationalist ideal which formed people into active citizens, both Austria and Prussia were still thinking about partitioning the rest of the Germany.  In 1796, France crossed the Rhine and began two decades of war, occupation and destruction. There was no German reaction, merely a "melancholic resignation".   The invasion ended the freedoms of the innumerable small cities and eventually, the Holy Roman Empire itself.  "Yet in the protracted period of war and occupation, a genuine German nationalism did, in fact, appear for the first time."  After Napoleon's defeat of Prussia at Jena in 1806,  "a    handful of intellectuals began to write in an unmistakably nationalistic mode."  Johann Fichte wrote 'The Republic of the Germans', envisioning a vast nation from the Baltic to the Adriatic, that dominated central Europe, and honored its war heroes,  its mothers,  dedicated its children to the fatherland, and allowed only Germans to be citizens.   Prussia freed its serfs, granted citizenship to all of its people and began to reform the army.  After Napoleon's  retreat from  Russia, King Frederick William called the Prussian nation to arms to defeat the Emperor. It was a Prussian army  arriving late in the day at Waterloo that delivered the coup de grace.  Germany then reverted to her peaceful ways for half-a-century.

     III.  The years after the Napoleonic wars were peaceful and entailed progress both socially and culturally. Throughout Germany, there was an increase in books published, bookstores and libraries grew in number, and the society was on its way to total literacy.  Prussia, Baden and Saxony built up excellent elementary school systems. Both Austria and Prussia appropriated fewer funds for their militaries.  Unfortunately though, suppression of new democratic ideals was widespread, as was incarceration. Germany also remained a developing nation, trailing almost all of the countries of Europe in every economic measure. Poverty, malnutrition, and infant mortality were pervasive. The revolutions of 1848 were about poverty, political rights and nationalism. A parliament in Frankfurt tried to envision a unified Germany and even offered a crown to the King of Prussia, who refused it. As throughout Europe, 1848 aspired to a new world, but didn't budge the old order. In the 1850's, as many as two million people per year left the poverty of Germany and emigrated to America. The advent of industrialization meant more and more Germans now lived in cities, and both Vienna and Berlin grew to over a million people. Both Austria and Prussia increased the funding for, and the size of, their armies.  In Prussia, a new prime minister, Otto von Bismarck, was in favor of a stronger army, and along with the Prussian nobility officer class, he led the move toward "the militarization of the nation." 

     "In central Europe, the return of war . . . would determine the space of nations." Austria was the more formidable power, with the third largest population and vaster financial resources allocated to the police and military. But Prussia, better equipped, with better access to rail transport and immeasurably better led,  routed the Austrians in their 1866 war. Bismarck solidified Prussian control of northern Germany and made no claim on Austrian land. Four years later, Prussian victory over France led to the creation of the German Empire and the absorption of Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, Baden and Wurttemberg. For the next four decades, Germany would become a nation with a focus more on a type of bellicose and exclusionary nationalism.

      IV. "Nationalism became the dominant ideology of the age not during the First World War but in a Germany shattered by its fallout." "Not enthusiasm but a sense of duty" was the response to the outbreak of war in 1914. There was "a tacit social contract whose core postulate was neither hate nor expansion but rather the duty to defend and die for the fatherland." They believed in "sacrificing for" the nation. As the slaughter went on year after year, people began to despise the war and in 1917, the Reichstag renounced all territorial gains and called for the cessation of all hostilities. When it was all over, the Weimar Constitution announced that the state derived its power "from the people." For the first time in German history, there was no monarch. The Treaty of Versailles removed twenty-million German speakers from the country, saddled the country with responsibility for the war and demanded reparations. The new Germany was a broken country, filled with the disabled, war-widows, fatherless children, and torn between the right and the left and financially overwhelmed.

     Hitler believed in racial purity and that in order to reinstate itself as a world power, Germany needed to rid itself of Jews. He foisted this central theme of his on his party and eventually, the entire country. Nazi Germany quickly became a one-party police state, in which the country's Jews were completely marginalized and isolated. When Poland was invaded, the Jews and upper echelons of Polish society were brutally murdered and suppressed.

      When the USSR was invaded, the SS was no longer under Army supervision and was free to pursue total war against communists and Jews.  The east became a charnel house for Jews, as the SS, as well as local thugs, unleashed a torrent of  indiscriminate murder and thievery. The decision to completely eliminate Europe's Jewry was likely made by Hitler in December, 1941 and was organized by Heydrich a month later. Although the death camps were already being utilized, they escalated to the systemic and total "final solution" of the continent's Jews in 1942-44. The Nazis achieved genocide. 

     V.  Notwithstanding all it had been through, post-war Germany looked back favorably on the Nazi years as "a good idea gone too far." W. Germany's economic miracle pushed nostalgia for the 1930's further into the past. In the 1960's, magazines and television began to deal with the Hitler years. A 14-part tv documentary, 'The Third Reich', was seen by 60% of the population. It stated that "we" were responsible. But even in the late 60's, the ability to compassionately mourn was still a decade away. The 1979 American mini-series 'Holocaust' brought discussion of what had been done to the Jews to the fore. A 1985 speech by Germany's president told the nation that they "must take on the past." Unification in 1990 led to a massive disruption in the east and an increase in anti-immigrant violence. The response was a compassionate protestation against prejudice that could not have happened in the 30's or 50's and was possible because a modern democracy had came to grips with its past. 

     The author closes by briefly addressing Germany today and the rise of the nationalist AfD, concludes that they remain a small (10%) percentage of the country. and that the nationalism of the past cannot build a society, only destroy it.

     This is an extremely challenging read, one that presupposes a familiarity with German and European history. It enlightens, particularly in the first half of the book. But, from Bismarck through 1945, I can't say that it sheds any truly new light on the greatest tragedy of 20th-century history.

     

Deaths Of Despair And The Future Of Capitalism, Case and Deaton - B+

      This book is a study of the rising death rates among middle-aged white Americans caused by suicide, drug overdoses and alcoholic liver failure. Few of these deaths of despair are among those with bachelor's degrees. "When the fruits of success are as large as they are today, so are the penalties for failing the tests of meritocracy." Fully 38% of the population is non-Hispanic whites lacking a college education. Their wages have stagnated for half a century. Their access to health care is inadequate, they marry less and have more children out of wedlock. Globalization is the oft-cited cause, but the problem is uniquely American as the advanced countries of Europe do not share our fate.  At the heart of the matter is the failed healthcare system and a political system geared toward keeping the rich at the top of the pyramid.

        The 20th century saw a major increase in wages, education and longevity. Since 1990, mortality rates have declined in northern Europe and risen amongst the less educated non-Hispanic white mid-life Americans (LEW hereafter). The key milestones were the  1996 FDA approval of Oxycontin and the 2013 introduction of fentanyl.  Mortality rates for male LEW's have increased by a quarter, while dropping 40% for those with a degree. The LEW's also suffer from poor health and regular pain compounding their problems. These are the people who have lost jobs and the sense of self-worth that goes with being engaged in society. "The social and economic upheaval that has swept through their lives is causing increasing numbers of them to take their own lives." Although educated whites drink more often than LEW's, the latter group is more inclined to binge drink, thus causing more liver damage. Physicians' concerns about pain management in the 90's led to the prescribing of painkillers, which were abused by LEW's and thus increased deaths from overdosing.

       "Inequality and death are joint consequences of the forces that are destroying the white working class." And it is the destruction of opportunity and hope that are the root cause of these deaths, as well as the limited access to health care and the  uniquely American lack of a safety net.  The collapse of the industrial base that provided employment for the LEW's has left them with jobs lacking in pride and money. Being an autoworker is more satisfying and remunerative than being a greeter at a Walmart. This inability to be able to afford to marry, the lack of commitment to offspring, and not being involved with religious or social groups all add up to greater despair. 

       Our country's greatest failure is its healthcare system. It is too expensive. It is "a cancer that has metastasized throughout the economy, strangling its ability to deliver what Americans need." We pay 18% of GDP for healthcare, and life expectancy has slid three years in a row for the first time in 100 years. Our physicians are paid twice as much as in Europe, pharmaceuticals cost three times as much and the same medical devices are also three times more expensive. Insurers and hospitals make significant profits.  Hospitals spent $450M on advertising in 2017. Employers hire fewer workers and pay those in their employ less because of the amount they spend on health insurance. The industry spent $567M lobbying in 2018, and $133M in direct gifts to Congressmen. The industry is in essence a shake down supported by Washington.

      Also threatening the LEW's are globalization and automation and unlike other industrialized nations, our inadequate safety net does not protect the displaced. As American companies grow larger, they are able to suppress wages, while focusing on enhancing the pay of their managers and providing outsized returns to shareholders. The balance between labor and capital has swung sharply to the side of capital.

      The authors do not believe that the answer to America's issues is a redistribution of wealth through the tax system. Rather, they suggest attacking each problem directly. They would suppress opioid sales and fund intervention therapies. They suggest emulating any of the world's successful universal health programs with an eye toward cutting profits and decreasing costs. Changing corporate governance by having workers represented on boards and expanding executives' concerns beyond their shareholders to the broader constituencies is encouraged. Raising the minimum wage and/or wage subsidies are preferred over universal basic incomes. Enhanced anti-trust action and a reduction in the length of patents are desirable. And most importantly, a college education should be less expensive to obtain and an apprenticeship system would  be attractive. America has solved problems in its past and can do so again.

Fair Warning, Connelly - B+

                                  It's unlikely that anyone is better at the cop/mystery/thriller genre than Connelly. His Harry Bosch series has been a dominant player for decades, and here he returns to a journalist who has appeared twice before in LA.  Jack McEvoy is now working for a website that focuses on consumer protection issues. He stumbles upon a crime committed by someone with illicit access to women's DNA from a new entrant in the burgeoning business of DNA analysis for the general public. The business is completely unregulated, and the crime he discovers leads us on a very exciting  chase. This is another great book from a wonderful author.

Bluebird, Bluebird, Locke - B+

                                  This novel is a few years old and is the prequel to 'Heaven, My Home' by the same author that I posted in April. The books should be read in sequence, and I strongly recommend both. Darren Matthews is a Texas Ranger, only the second black one in history, and the principal character in both novels. In this one, he is sent from Houston east to Shelby County to investigate the murder of a black man from Chicago. Butting up against local hatreds and plenty of secrets, he solves that crime as well as one from a few years back. The books are great mystery stories, but what makes them exceptional is the author's skill in dealing with race in communities where blacks and whites have lived side by side for generations, sharing the same space and the rural poverty that comes with it. The author is a young black woman from Texas, who is very good at her craft.

Knife, Nesbo - B+

                           The most recently translated Harry Hole novel is very, very good. A serial rapist who Harry had put in jail over twenty years ago is out, has threatened to kill Harry's wife and is raping again. When Rakel is murdered, Svein Finne is the obvious suspect, but he has an alibi. Harry has been so drunk and the killer so duplicitous that Harry begins to believe he murdered his own wife.  He eventually sorts out who the killer is, gives him a way out and turns the table on Finne as well, ending forever his preying on the innocent. This  is a perfectly crafted addition to a splendid series. 

Music By Max Steiner: The Epic Life Of Hollywood's Most Influential Composer, Smith - B+

      Steiner was born in 1888 into a famous Viennese family. His grandfather managed the 'Theater an der Wien' and produced operettas with Johann Strauss. His father, Gabor, conceived of and opened an amusement park, 'Venice in Vienna'. Gabor was ambitious, extremely hard working and creative. He opened Vienna's first moving picture theater. Max was encouraged to take up the piano by Strauss, and at nine composed his first song. He also met an extraordinary cast of talented people who performed for his father including Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, W.C. Fields and John Philip Sousa. Gabor was honored by the Emperor Franz Joseph for his contributions to the arts. Max graduated from Imperial Academy music school and began writing operettas in his teens. When Gabor went bankrupt in 1907, Max moved to London. His new career involved scoring music and traveling with shows and he even composed a ballet. He became musical director of the London Opera House. The outbreak of WWI cast him as an enemy alien and he immediately left for America. In New York, he made a great many friends and developed his skills as a composer, conductor and manager working for different producers on varied musical projects. He became an American citizen in 1921. He had the good fortune to collaborate with George Gershwin, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein. In 1929 as Hollywood was switching to talkies and focusing on musicals, RKO signed 41 year old Max and he was off to Hollywood.

       Within a year he was Musical Director, but RKO was losing a great deal of money as the Depression wore on. David O. Selznick was put in charge to save the studio. Selznick believed in the role of music and authorized a film to be scored from beginning to end. 'Symphony For Six Million' was Hollywood's and Steiner's first film accompanied by, and enhanced by, music. Max had created a new art form; the techniques are followed to this day. With RKO facing bankruptcy as 5,000 movie theaters were shuttered in the early 30's, Selznick left for MGM, and Merian Cooper came to RKO  to produce one of the most important and successful movies of all time. 'King Kong' saved RKO and made Steiner famous. It was released in March 1933 and the music fit the film perfectly. The score is considered a masterpiece, the foundation of all that followed. Decades later, Cooper credited it with the movie's enduring success. Soon thereafter, with 'Flying Down To Rio', Steiner began his collaboration with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. In 1935, he received his first Oscar for the score of a John Ford film, 'The Informer'. A year later, he left RKO to join Selznick International Pictures.  Their first and very successful outing was 'Little Lord Fauntelroy'. Selznick paid Max well, but couldn't keep him busy, so he loaned him to Warner Bros. The score for 'Charge of the Light Brigade' was a success and Max  moved to Warner's full time. 'The Life of Emile Zola' won the Oscar for best picture and according to Jack Warner, Max's nominated score was the key. He scored 'Jezebel', the first of fifteen films for Bette Davis. Steiner worked constantly and often at an unimaginable pace. It was not unusual for him to score over a dozen films in a year. The beginning of 1939 saw him score 'Stagecoach' and 'Dodge City', while waiting for a highly anticipated phone call. Selznick had obtained the rights to and, in December of 1938 began filming, 'Gone With The Wind'. At the end of March, Selznick asked, Warner agreed, and Max went to work on what is considered one of, if not the greatest films ever made, and the most memorable music score of all time.

        The filming of GWTW was total chaos. Selznick used three different directors. Almost the entire cast was unhappy, particularly with the producer. Leslie Howard, Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable alternated their frustrations between the producer and director. For Max, the problem was time. Selznick did not provide enough time for Max to score a three hour film and constantly interfered with Steiner's work. Against a December 15th premier, Max announced in early November, he could not finish. Working frantically, the score was completed nine days prior to the 15th. Awards mattered to Max and he was crushed when the Oscar went to 'The Wizard of Oz'. He, de Havilland and Gable were Oscar losers amongst GWTW's eight wins. Notwithstanding his disappointment, the score brought him lasting fame. Max was pleased with his work on 'Sergeant York' which Warner's had set up to prepare America for war. Max's obsession with work and his disastrous lack of attention to his finances led to his third wife leaving him in 1941 as his personal life began a spiral downward that would continue for the rest of his life. Just before Pearl Harbor, he finished up a splendid job on 'They Died With Their Boots On'. He followed up with 'Stella Dallas', 'Arsenic And Old Lace' and won his second Oscar for 'Now, Voyager'.

         In the summer of 1942, he began his work on 'Casablanca'. 'Everyone Comes To Rick's' was a never- produced play that Hal Wallis acquired for Warner Brothers.  Wallis loved the song 'As Time Goes By', from a 1931 Broadway production, and insisted that Max utilize it.  Since the filming was almost over before Max started and the song was an integral part of the story, Max had no choice. He majestically incorporated 'A Time Goes By' and 'La Marseillaise' into the movie. The film and its score were, and continue to be eighty years later, beloved masterpieces, and the defining work of Max's career. He continued working constantly and won his third Oscar for 'Since You Went Away'.  His post-war successes included 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre', 'Key Largo' and 'Johnny Belinda'. In the early 50's, Max was over 60, struggling with an endless array of creditors, including the IRS, and completely failing the son, Ronnie, born to him and his third wife in 1940. As America turned to tv, movie attendance plummeted and all of the studios were suffering. Max's famous Warner Brothers' Orchestra was disbanded. He left Warner's in 1953 when his contract was not renewed. Columbia asked him to do 'The Caine Mutiny', which was his twelfth and final work on a Humphrey Bogart film. His last great piece of work was 'The Searchers', released in 1956. A few years later, he scored 'A Summer Place'. The theme from the movie became one of the most successful instrumentals in Billboard's history. At 71, Max Steiner had a hit single. He won a Grammy for Record of the Year. His rights in the song earned him $250,000 in a few months and solved a myriad of financial problems. He also prevailed in a twenty-year battle he led on behalf of score composers with ASCAP and soon money was pouring in from television's use of so many of his films. But, in 1962, his troubled and neglected son committed suicide. Max also was legally blind. He scored a few films in the decade and passed away at 83 in 1971. 

         I know nothing about music, but I've loved reading this book. It is extremely well-written and perfectly paced. Growing up in NYC, the three non-network tv stations ran a potpourri of material from quiz shows to cartoons to movies. There were dozens of film classics on every week.  I was fascinated by 'Kong' as a boy. The theme from GWTW is my favorite movie music and Casablanca is my all-time favorite film.  I believe that score music is a major American contribution to world culture, and reading about how it evolved in Steiner's time has been a pleasure.

               

The Last Trial, Turow - B

                   Sandy Stern is now 85 and a survivor of lung cancer. To a great extent, his life was saved by a drug created by a dear friend, Kiril Pafko, and because it is not on the market, Sandy accesses it illegally from overseas. When Kiril is accused of falsifying testing data, committing fraud and violating the insider trading rules, he turns to Sandy. Sandy's health, stamina and memory are all suspect, but he manages to handle the trial with his usual flair. There are some interesting sidebars along the way as Sandy puts his life and career into perspective. The author is a contemporary of mine, a graduate of Harvard Law, a practitioner with one of Chicago's most respected firms and the author of eleven best selling novels. This has been highly acclaimed, but frankly doesn't seem on par with some of his prior efforts.