Pg. 99: T.D. Thornton's "Not by a Long Shot"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: T.D. Thornton's Not by a Long Shot: A Season at a Hard Luck Horse Track.

About the book, from the publisher:

A gritty, passionate, behind-the-scenes portrait of a year in the life of Thoroughbred racing's working class, by a racetrack insider

The great myth of horse racing is that the game is the regal and royal Sport of Kings. It isn't. Not by a long shot.

Anyone who doubts this need look no further than Suffolk Downs, a once-proud racecourse graced in its glory years by boisterous throngs and champions such as Seabiscuit. Now the blue-collar East Boston track is one of many that have fallen on hard times. These days "Sufferin' Downs" is where grizzled Thoroughbreds come to end their careers, hopeful young jockeys aspire against daunting odds to begin them, and diehard fans cheer, curse and gamble on the entire fascinating spectacle. These bit players are not just cogs of a single, struggling horse track. They are the unseen supporting cast for a $15 billion betting industry.

In fifteen years as a racing reporter and press box personality, T.D. Thornton gained access to remote corners of racetrack life off limits to the general public. He got to know the raucously Runyonesque characters and the quirky personalities of the horses; he learned the tricks of the trade from trainers, owners, and jockeys; he witnessed the tragedies and small triumphs of racing lives lived below the radar. One recent season, he finally decided to write it all down.

Not by a Long Shot is a deeply textured portrait of an industry where even the best in the business lose 75 percent of the time.

Among the praise for Not by a Long Shot:

"T.D. Thornton's Not By a Long Shot is a richly reported, often elegantly written chronicle of life at an aging racetrack, Sufferin' Downs, as it makes its long, painful descent into history. Filled with a host of racetrack characters, many as memorable as any portrayed in the canon of turf literature, it is a poignant, passionately drawn memoir that is must reading for anybody interested in racing -- or in a tale well told."
--William Nack, author of Secretariat: The Making of a Champion, and Ruffian: A Racetrack Romance

"An unvarnished view of a struggling track in an industry searching for a new identity ... and a detailed, gritty and insightful portrait of all the various characters that make a racetrack go: The grizzled veteran jockey, the crafty horse trainer, the "big-time" owner, the frazzled racetrack executive and many more. As always at the track, there are winners and losers and the reader is drawn in to share the high points and the heartaches. Racing fans will recognize themselves and their friends in the poignant stories that Mr. Thornton relates."
--Charles E. Hayward, President and CEO, The New York Racing Association

"T.D. Thornton's book challenges the myth that horse racing is ‘the regal and royal Sport of Kings'…With a ‘caustically honest' eye Thornton succeeds in illuminating a truer, more realistic side of Thoroughbred racing — like light on a dark horse… Not By a Long Shot is a steed of a book."
—Boston Globe

Read an excerpt from Not by a Long Shot and learn more about the book at the publisher's website.

T.D. Thornton has written for several newspapers, most notably the Boston Globe and the national Thoroughbred daily the Racing Times. His work has appeared in an array of literary journals, and he often comments on racing on television and radio.

The Page 99 Test: Not by a Long Shot.

--Marshal Zeringue

Interview: Michael Stusser

Michael Stusser's “Interview with a Dead Guy” columns, which appear in mental_floss magazine, have just been published in The Dead Guy Interviews: Conversations with 45 of the Most Accomplished, Notorious, and Deceased Personalities in History.

He graciously responded to my questions about his very entertaining (and educational) book, including this one:

Zeringue: What question do you wish someone would ask you about your book but no one has asked? And what's the answer?

Stusser: What was the best piece of advice you got from a dead guy?
I was talking to Ben Franklin at Starbucks the other day and he said, “Some people die at 25 and aren’t buried until 75. When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” He also said that the best way to avoid flatulence is to drink perfume, so take it for what it’s worth.

Learn more about The Dead Guy Interviews at the Penguin website and visit Michael Stusser's website and MySpace page.

Read the entire Q & A.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Cait Murphy reading?

The latest featured contributor to Writers Read: Cait Murphy, an assistant managing editor at Fortune magazine and author of Crazy '08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History.

Her entry opens:

At the moment, I have Team of Rivals on my bedside table; this book is about Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet -- most of whom he had defeated for the Republican nomination, and all of whom, at first, considered him the lesser man. I am a huge fan of Lincoln and this excellent book adds to my understanding of him. [read on]

Before joining Fortune, Murphy worked at The Economist in London and the Wall Street Journal Asia in Hong Kong.

Frank Deford called “Crazy '08 ... a lovely look (but one as searching as it is affectionate) about the dandiest season and the goofiest ballsters there ever were. As the players in 1908 played, so does Cait Murphy write with pluck and ginger.”

Visit Cait Murphy's website and read an excerpt from Crazy '08.

The Page 99 Test: Crazy '08.

Writers Read: Cait Murphy.

--Marshal Zeringue

Rachel Seiffert's top 10 books about troubled families

Rachel Seiffert is the author, most recently, of the novel Afterwards.

She named a "top 10 books about troubled families" list for the Guardian.

Her prefatory remarks, followed by one title on the list:

All of my books so far have dealt with families, most of them less than ideal. Families are endlessly fascinating: the basic unit of most human societies, we often want to escape our own, create a new, better version, or maybe crave an earlier, lost time when the unit we were in made us happy in a way it just doesn't anymore.... The [listed] books mine this rich seam of humour and pain. All of humanity is here, in miniature...:

The Speckled People by Hugo Hamilton

A memoir of Hamilton's childhood, caught between languages and cultures. He grew up in 1950s Dublin with a German mother and Irish father. His Dad was a nationalist, and insisted - often violently - upon Gaelic being spoken by his boys; his mother couldn't escape Germany and all its 20th-century baggage. It's a painful read - how could it not be, covering that territory? But this is no mere misery memoir, it's full of the most beautiful writing.

Read more about Seiffert's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Elizabeth Currid's "The Warhol Economy"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Elizabeth Currid's The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art, and Music Drive New York City.

About the book, from the publisher:

Which is more important to New York City's economy, the gleaming corporate office -- or the grungy rock club that launches the best new bands? If you said "office," think again. In The Warhol Economy, Elizabeth Currid argues that creative industries like fashion, art, and music drive the economy of New York as much as -- if not more than -- finance, real estate, and law. And these creative industries are fueled by the social life that whirls around the clubs, galleries, music venues, and fashion shows where creative people meet, network, exchange ideas, pass judgments, and set the trends that shape popular culture.

The implications of Currid's argument are far-reaching, and not just for New York. Urban policymakers, she suggests, have not only seriously underestimated the importance of the cultural economy, but they have failed to recognize that it depends on a vibrant creative social scene. They haven't understood, in other words, the social, cultural, and economic mix that Currid calls the Warhol economy.

With vivid first-person reporting about New York's creative scene, Currid takes the reader into the city spaces where the social and economic lives of creativity merge. The book has fascinating original interviews with many of New York's important creative figures, including fashion designers Zac Posen and Diane von Furstenberg, artists Ryan McGinness and Futura, and members of the band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.

The economics of art and culture in New York and other cities has been greatly misunderstood and underrated. The Warhol Economy explains how the cultural economy works-and why it is vital to all great cities.

Among the praise for the book:

"Elizabeth Currid's hip trip through New York's production of creative culture is a tour de force."
--Quincy Jones, producer

"I've uttered the words 'It just kind of happened' with a shrug hundreds of times when asked about the quick success of my band. Elizabeth Currid blows that lazy response to smithereens by showing the work behind 'word of mouth.' I think I'll have a better answer now."
--Lee Sargent, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

"The old economy made deals over golf games and three-martini lunches. Creative New York organizes its networks around art openings, fashion shows, and nightlife. But these networks are a lot more than fun and games. They are deeply important to how new innovations are produced, how cities work to sustain creativity and turn it into commercial value. Cities drive our economies; creativity drives our cities. With her keen eye, sharp analysis, and detailed fieldwork, Elizabeth Currid shows us why and how. In The Warhol Economy, she has unlocked the best-kept secrets in New York."
--Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class

"Elizabeth Currid's The Warhol Economy raises distinctive policy implications: namely, cities will get bigger payoffs by supporting milieu rather than museum. Laws that hurt the clubs are almost as bad as the rising rents that price-out the artists. Tax breaks to corporations make no sense whatever. Currid is more than plausible on all these issues."
--Harvey Molotch, New York University

Read an excerpt from The Warhol Economy and learn more about the book at the Princeton University Press website.

Elizabeth Currid is an assistant professor at University of Southern California's School of Policy, Planning and Development.

The Page 99 Test: The Warhol Economy.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Noah Charney's "The Art Thief"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Noah Charney's The Art Thief.

About the book, from the publisher:

Rome: In the small Baroque church of Santa Giuliana, a magnificent Caravaggio altarpiece disappears without a trace in the middle of the night.

Paris: In the basement vault of the Malevich Society, curator Geneviéve Delacloche is shocked to discover the disappearance of the Society's greatest treasure, White-on-White by Suprematist painter Kasimir Malevich.

London: At the National Gallery of Modern Art, the museum's latest acquisition is stolen just hours after it was purchased for more than six million pounds.

In The Art Thief, three thefts are simultaneously investigated in three cities, but these apparently isolated crimes have much more in common than anyone imagines. In Rome, the police enlist the help of renowned art investigator Gabriel Coffin when tracking down the stolen masterpiece. In Paris, Geneviéve Delacloche is aided by Police Inspector Jean-Jacques Bizot, who finds a trail of bizarre clues and puzzles that leads him ever deeper into a baffling conspiracy. In London, Inspector Harry Wickenden of Scotland Yard oversees the museum's attempts to ransom back its stolen painting, only to have the masterpiece's recovery deepen the mystery even further.

A dizzying array of forgeries, overpaintings, and double-crosses unfolds as the story races through auction houses, museums, and private galleries -- and the secret places where priceless works of art are made available to collectors who will stop at nothing to satisfy their hearts' desires.

Full of fascinating art-historical detail, crackling dialogue, and a brain-teasing plot, Noah Charney's debut novel is a sophisticated, stylish thriller, as irresistible and multifaceted as a great work of art.

Among the praise for the novel:

"A vivid, marvelously readable look at the world of stolen art. The fascinating tale keeps you constantly wondering -- does this really happen? Noah Charney knows his stuff."
--Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author of The Alexandria Link

"Noah Charney offers us a masterful thriller filled with revelations."
--Javier Sierra, New York Times bestselling author of The Lady in Blue

"A thrilling, literary page-turner, The Art Thief paints portraits of lovers, frauds, innocents, and scholars, all presented in Charney's sharp, fresh voice. This exciting debut establishes young Noah Charney as the curator of crime."
--Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of She's Not There

"Charney constructs an intricate web of crime, bolstering a sensational plot with well-crafted characters and extensive research. Eventful and exciting, The Art Thief is an enthralling novel."
--Vernon Rapley, head of the Art & Antiques Unit, New Scotland Yard

"Sleek, sharp, and sophisticated, The Art Thief will steal your spare time -- and you'll be happy you were robbed."
--Don Winslow, author of The Winter of Frankie Machine

Noah Charney holds degrees in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art and Cambridge University. He is the founding director of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA), the first international think tank on art crime. The Art Thief is his first novel.

Read an excerpt from The Art Thief and learn more about the book and its author at Charney's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Art Thief.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Nina Vida's "The Texicans"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Nina Vida's The Texicans.

About the book, from the author's website:

It's 1843, San Antonio, the Republic of Texas. Mexican-born Aurelia Ruiz finds that she may have the power to heal — as well as to curse. She definitely has the power to attract men. Willie Barnett, a young Texas ranger, becomes infatuated with her. Her father sells her to him but insists on a wedding. To the other rangers such a marriage is anathema. When Barnett is killed by Native Americans, pregnant Aurelia finds shelter in a Comanche camp.

Joseph Kimmel, a teacher in Independence, Missouri, and son of a Polish Jew, receives word of the death of his brother in San Antonio and sets off for Texas. On the way, his horse is stolen by a runaway slave. Rescued by Henry Castro, who is importing immigrants to populate his planned city, Joseph agrees to marry an Alsatian girl to save her from the Comanches, and they go forth to start their own ranch.

Then Joseph meets and is enthralled by Aurelia. When the Texas rangers hear of the Kimmel ranch, where runaway slaves and a Mexican woman live as equals with the owner and his wife, they lynch the black men and kidnap the women and children. To his wife's consternation, Joseph cannot forget Aurelia.

Among the praise for The Texicans:

"Vida's luminous, dramatic seventh novel finds Joseph Kimmel, a Missouri school teacher, heading to mid-19th-century Texas to claim his recently deceased brother's belongings; he's left for dead when his horse is stolen. Across the plains, after her Texas Ranger husband dies fighting Comanches, Aurelia Ruiz takes refuge at a Comanche camp and adopts their ways. Henry Castro, a Frenchman with dreams of creating an Alsatian-immigrant-populated town in his own name, not only rescues Kimmel but marries him off to Katrin, an unattached white emigre whom a Comanche leader had espied and wanted for his own. The newlyweds head off to create a distinctive ranch, one that welcomes members of the Tonkaway tribe, Mexicans, escaped slaves, free African-Americans and others in distress. Affairs of the heart are never neglected in Vida's novels (Goodbye, Saigon, etc.,) and Kimmel soon finds himself enraptured when he meets the beautiful Aurelia, just as a posse of xenophobic ranchers wreak havoc on the ranch. This radiant work of historical fiction -- vibrantly atmospheric and emotionally dense -- spans 12 years in the lives of many engaging characters, who come to life on every page."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Nina Vida has made a career of portraying characters caught in cultural dissonance. In The Texicans, her voice resonates in a new and highly evocative setting."
--James Haley, award-winning historian & author of Passionate Nation, The Epic History of Texas"

"In a story as vast and action-packed as Texas itself, Vida (The End of Marriage, 2002, etc.) follows four strangers who join forces during the lawless years of early statehood. During the early 1850s, despite rumors of Comanche attacks, settlers are pouring into the new state of Texas. Some, like Aurelia Ruíz, a Mexican widow who possesses healing powers, and Luck, a slave on the run from Tennessee, have no resources save their courage and wits. Others, such as 19-year-old Katrin, have put their faith in an Alsatian Jew named Henry Castro, who promises to build them a new city. Only Joseph, a Polish Jew from St. Louis, wants nothing from Texas except to settle his dead brother's estate in San Antonio and move on. But when he stops to help the injured Luck, who in turn steals his horse, Joseph is stranded. To the rescue rides the caravan of Europeans led by Castro, en route to the land on which he intends to found Castroville. Resting with them before continuing his journey, Joseph learns that Comanche chief Ten Elk intends to kidnap Katrin. At Castro's urging, Joseph consents to wed the young woman and take her away. Their wedding day is disrupted by the renegade Texas Rangers, who are losing their authority as government begins to be established in the state. With them is Luck, found sleeping near the Rangers, who intend to hang him. Joseph intervenes, thanking the troop's suspicious captain for reuniting him with the slave he lost on the plains. Joseph, Katrin and Luck set off to homestead on their own, somewhere far from their enemies. The three become four when Joseph meets the beguiling Aurelia, who works in a shantytown kitchen making tortillas for soldiers. Rich with period detail, an elegant, character-driven novel about the clash of cultures that forged the Lone Star spirit. Should be required reading in the contemporary immigration debate."
--Kirkus (starred review)

The Texicans is Nina Vida's seventh novel.

Learn more about The Texicans and Nina Vida's other books at her website.

The Page 99 Test: The Texicans.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Megan Marshall reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Megan Marshall, author of The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism, which won the Francis Parkman Prize, awarded by the Society of American Historians, the Mark Lynton History Prize, the Massachusetts Book Award in nonfiction, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in biography and memoir.

Marshall is an assistant professor at Emerson College where she teaches narrative nonfiction writing and the art of archival research in the MFA program. She is at work on a biography of Ebe Hawthorne, Nathaniel's brilliant and reclusive older sister.

One title among her recent reading:

Anne Fadiman's At Large and at Small, a second collection of essays written during her years as editor of The American Scholar -- celebrating everything from coffee to ice cream to nineteenth-century innovations in the British postal service. Fadiman can make a delectable literary confection of any subject she chooses. I have eaten them all, and you should too. [read on]

Learn more about The Peabody Sisters at the publisher's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Peabody Sisters.

Writers Read: Megan Marshall

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Margaret Coel's "The Girl With Braided Hair"

The latest entry in the Page 69 Test series: Margaret Coel's The Girl With Braided Hair.

About the book, from the author's website:

The skeleton of a young woman is discovered in a dry gully on the Wind River Reservation. Remnants of a long, black braid are mixed with the bones. There is a bullet hole in the skull. Forensics determine the woman was shot-to-death in 1973.

1973, the year of AIM. The American Indian Movement had occupied the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Afterward, Indians under federal indictment had gone into hiding on other reservations, including Wind River. A year of fear and violence, when no one could be trusted, when anyone might be an FBI snitch.

Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden and Father John O'Malley are determined to find the identity of the forgotten woman and see that she is laid to rest in the traditional Arapaho Way. Their search leads them into the 1970s and the dark underbelly of an organization that had spoken out on behalf of Indian rights. They soon run into a wall of silence. No one wants to talk about a time when many crimes, including murder, went unsolved. No one wants to admit the part they may have played, or the guilt they may still carry. No one wants to remember a young woman accused of being a snitch.

As the life and death of the woman begin to come into view, Vicky and Father John realize that the killer who has gotten away with murder for more than thirty years is still on the reservation and that they are about to be his next victims.

Among the praise for the novel:

"Coel's 13th Wind River mystery (after 2006's The Drowning Man) is far more engaging than its bland title might suggest. The discovery of skeletal remains still bearing a long dark braid of hair opens deep wounds among the Native Americans who live on Wyoming's Wind River reservation. Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden's efforts to identify the woman, apparently a murder victim, cause tension with her love interest and law partner, Adam Lone Eagle, driving her to enlist the aid of their friend Fr. John O'Malley. A rash of threats and the murder of a woman Vicky questioned confirms her suspicions that members of a 1970s activist group, the American Indian Movement, are still on the rez and somehow involved in all the happenings. Bringing her trademark western flair to nonstop action, Coel keeps danger hanging over Vicky's head as she follows a trail of clues to their startling conclusion."
—Publishers Weekly

"Another wonderfully evocative story of the struggles of the Arapaho to retain their heritage while living in a white man's world."
—Kirkus Reviews

"As is customary in the series, there is a wealth of background on native customs, past and present, and the descriptions are real and poignant. The past includes flashbacks to the American Indian Movement in 1973, and the violence, much less discrimination, against native Americans at the time. Descriptions of the West and the Plains are vivid. The novel is a welcome addition to the series. Highly recommended."
—Gloria Feit, Crimespree Magazine

Margaret Coel is the New York Times best-selling author of the acclaimed Wind River mystery series set among the Arapahos on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation and featuring Jesuit priest Father John O'Malley and Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden. Along with the Wind River mystery series, she is the author of five non-fiction books, including the award-winning Chief Left Hand, published by the University of Oklahoma Press. This biography of an Arapaho chief and history of the Arapahos in Colorado has never gone out of print. The Colorado Historical Society recently included Chief Left Hand among the best 100 books on Colorado history. Her articles on the West have appeared in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Creativity! and many other publications.

The Page 69 Test: The Girl With Braided Hair.

--Marshal Zeringue

Mollie Katzen's most important books

Mollie Katzen, with over 6 million books in print, is listed by the New York Times as one of the best-selling cookbook authors of all time. A 2007 inductee into the prestigious James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame, and largely credited with moving healthful vegetarian food from the "fringe" to the center of the American dinner plate, Ms. Katzen has been named by Health Magazine as one of "The Five Women Who Changed the Way We Eat."

Her latest book is The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without.

She recently told Newsweek about his five most important books.

And she addressed two other book-related issues:

A classic book that, upon rereading, disappointed:

Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. Formal and methodical, where I've come to prefer spontaneous cooking and eating, as in: slice one perfect tomato and call it lunch.

A much-recommended book that you've resisted reading: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. There's something about preserving the shroud of mystery around an esteemed fiction writer.

Read about Katzen's most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Paul A. Toth reading?

The latest contributor to Writers Read: Paul A. Toth, author of the novels Fishnet and Fizz.

One title tagged in Toth's entry:

The Cubist Poets in Paris, edited by L.C. Breunig. This is a very broad overview of its subject but provides a nice sampling of the various Cubist poets, depending on one's ability to believe a poet can be a true Cubist. Pondering that question makes me long for the days when ambition was not immediately relegated to "pretension." [read on]

Paul A. Toth's short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best American Mystery Stories. Read more about Toth and his work.

Earlier this year he applied the Page 99 Test to Fishnet.

Writers Read: Paul A. Toth

--Marshal Zeringue

Michael Ledeen's five best books about Iran

Michael Ledeen, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and author of the recently-released The Iranian Time Bomb, selected a five best list of "masterly works" about Iran for Opinion Journal.

One title on the list:

Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat (Free Press, 2007).

Marina Nemat was arrested at age 16 in 1982 and held in Tehran's infamous Evin Prison for more than two years, accused of antiregime activity. She was not an activist but a friend of leftists and a Christian. In prison, she was interrogated and tortured, then sentenced to death. But a guard named Ali had fallen in love with her and saved her from execution. She remained in prison, though, and Ali became her husband -- as well as a new source of menace when he forced her to convert to Islam by threatening her family. In "Prisoner of Tehran," her gripping, elegantly written memoir, Ms. Nemat, who now lives in Canada, reminds us that it is through the details of daily life that the evils of a regime such as the Islamic Republic are best understood.

Read more about the other titles on Ledeen's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Edmund White's "Hotel de Dream"

This weekend's feature at the Page 99 Test: Edmund White's Hotel de Dream.

About the book, from the publisher:

In a damp, old Sussex castle, American literary phenomenon Stephen Crane lies on his deathbed, wasting away from tuberculosis at the age of twenty-eight. The world-famous author of The Red Badge of Courage has retreated to England with his wife, Cora, in part to avoid gossip about her ignominious past as the proprietress of a Florida bordello, the Hotel de Dream.

Though Crane's days are numbered, he and Cora live riotously, running up bills they'll never be able to pay, receiving visitors like Henry James and Joseph Conrad, and even planning a mad dash to Germany's Black Forest, where Cora hopes a leading TB specialist will provide a miracle cure.

Then, in the midst of the confusion and gathering tragedy of their lives, Crane begins dictating a strange novel. The Painted Boy draws from Crane's erstwhile journalist days in New York in the 1890s, a poignant story about a boy prostitute and the married man who ruins his own life to win the boy's love. Crane originally planned the book as a companion piece to Maggie, Girl of the Streets, but abandoned it when literary friends convinced him that such scandalous subject matter would destroy his career. Now, with his last breath, Crane devotes himself to refashioning this powerful novel, into which he pours his fascination with the underworld, his sympathy for the poor, his experiences as a reporter among New York's lowlife — and his complex feelings for his own devoted wife.

Seamlessly flowing between the vibrant, seedy atmosphere of turn-of-the-century Manhattan and the quiet Sussex countryside, Hotel de Dream tenderly presents the double love stories of Cora and Crane, and the painted boy and his banker lover. The brilliant novel-within-a-novel combines the youthful simplicity of Crane's own prose with White's elegant sense of form, offering an unforgettable portrait of passion in all its guises.

Among the early praise for the novel:

"Many successful historical novels are not about wars and kings and queens but about, say, artists (for instance, Susan Vreeland's work, including Luncheon of the Boating Party, 2007) and writers (see Colm Toibin's The Master, 2004). The new novel by distinguished writer White is further evidence. The novel's conceit is this: facing death, the tuberculosis-suffering American writer Stephen Crane dictates to his mistress-posing-as-wife Cora his dying effort, reconstructing the pages of a novel he had destroyed years before upon the advice of fellow writer Hamlin Garland, who was scandalized (but also impressed) by the novel's sexual frankness. It was a rent-boy novel, based on a teen male prostitute working the streets of the Bowery with whom Crane had gotten acquainted — but never "used," other than as writerly material. The recomposition of the piece, Cora's point of view as she caretakes and takes dictation, and the fictional narrative itself constitute the three beguiling levels of this imaginative visit to the life of an American master."
--Booklist

"Chief among the book's pleasures is its impressionistic recreation of the miseries and splendours of fin-de-siècle Manhattan -- swarming, noisy, riddled with both luxury and poverty -- and its deft setting of the elusive Crane among his better-known peers. There are neat asides on Bennett and Wharton, and vivid portraits of Conrad and James -- the last, refreshingly, portrayed as an evasive, poisonous queen. But it is as a love story, not as historical fiction, that the book matters. It reminds us that when it comes to love -- or writing -- the only struggle that counts is the struggle to imagine other lives. When, as here, he is at the top of his form, White simply does it better than most."
--Neil Bartlett, Guardian

"[A]n ingenious, fully imagined, and utterly winning piece of work."
--Morris Dickstein

"Did straight author Stephen Crane (The Red Badge of Courage) really dictate, on his deathbed at age 28, a novel about a teenage male prostitute in 1890s Manhattan? Almost certainly not, but that's the intriguing scenario Edmund White spins.... Hotel de Dream is a clever mash-up of literary biography, creative-writing exercise, and bygone-gay-demimonde history. A-"
--Entertainment Weekly

Edmund White's novels include Fanny: A Fiction, A Boy's Own Story, The Farewell Symphony, and A Married Man. He is also the author of a biography of Jean Genet, a study of Marcel Proust, The Flâneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris, and, most recently, his memoir, My Lives. Having lived in Paris for many years, he is now a New Yorker and teaches at Princeton University.

Read an excerpt from Hotel de Dream, and learn more about the novel at the publisher's website.

The Page 99 Test: Hotel de Dream.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Love in the Present Tense," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: Catherine Ryan Hyde's Love in the Present Tense.

Catherine Ryan Hyde is perhaps best known for her novel, Pay it Forward, which was made into a major motion picture, and for the foundation she started to make the idea behind that story into a working force in the real world. She is also the author of many other stories and books.

Her entry at My Book, The Movie opens:

If they made one of my books into a movie, who would I want to see cast in the major roles? An unusually dicey question in my case. Or so it seems to me. Dicey because they did make one of my books (Pay It Forward) into a movie. And I certainly would not have chosen Kevin Spacey for the role of the African American Vietnam vet. That was a surprise.

Electric God is well on its way to film, but I see no such issues hovering around it, so I’ll just wait and see what they do.

Potentially next in line would be Love in the Present Tense. Here it gets interesting and dicey all over again. [read on]

My Book, The Movie: Love in the Present Tense.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Stephen Gallagher's "The Kingdom of Bones"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Stephen Gallagher's The Kingdom of Bones.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Kingdom of Bones is the haunting story of Tom Sayers, a former boxing champion who must continue to fight — to clear his name after a series of gruesome murders, for the heart and soul of a leading lady, and to uncover the truth behind a legend as old as evil itself.

Wrongly accused of the slaughter of pauper children in the wake of the touring theater company he manages, Tom Sayers is forced to disappear into a twilight world of music halls and traveling boxing booths. Beginning with a chance encounter in a Philadelphia pleasure park one weekend in 1903, this brilliantly macabre mystery traces Sayers’ journey from England’s provincial playhouses through London’s mighty Lyceum Theatre and on to the high society of a transforming American South — with many a secret to be uncovered in the dark alleyways, backstage areas, and houses of ill repute that lie along the way.

As Sayers seeks the truth behind the killings, he is pursued in turn by the tireless Detective Inspector Sebastian Becker. Desperate to ensure the safety of actress Louise Porter, Sayers calls on an old friend, Bram Stoker, for help. But Stoker’s links with the world of the Victorian occult lead Sayers to discover a danger even greater than he could have imagined.

Thrown into a maelstrom of obsession, betrayal, and sacrifice — where even the pure may not escape damnation — Sayers must face the implications of an unthinkable bargain: the exchange of a soul for a chance at eternal life.

With action that spans continents, decades, and every level of society, The Kingdom of Bones follows the troubled lives of those touched by Tom Sayers, ultimately weaving their stories into a harrowing climax that stirs the mind — and the blood.

Among the early praise for The Kingdom of Bones:

"Set mainly in late 19th-century England, Gallagher's ingenious horror thriller revolves around the extraordinary life — and death — of Tom Sayers, a real-life bare-knuckle fighter who, after retiring, briefly traveled the country staging reenactments of his most memorable bouts. While working as a manager for a touring theatrical company, Sayers falls in love with the troupe's leading lady, 22-year-old Louise Porter, who unfortunately doesn't share his feelings. Sayers also becomes the prime suspect in a series of mutilation murders and, while barely evading arrest, embarks on a quest to save Porter, who's become hopelessly entangled in an all-too-real occult legend. Bram Stoker and Aleister Crowley play minor roles. Combining the meticulous historical detail of Caleb Carr's The Alienist with gothic mysticism and Christian mythology, Gallagher (The Painted Bride) delivers a nicely macabre blend of fact and fiction."
--Publishers Weekly

"Beautifully written and tenderly portrayed with a depth not often found in thrillers, The Kingdom of Bones melds history and mystery for a spectacular result."
--Kate Ayers, Bookreporter.com

"[A] moody, gripping period thriller.... Gallagher skillfully weaves together vampire myths and the theatrical world of late Victorian England.... Dark but splendid entertainment."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Stephen Gallagher's Gothic tale of Victorian villainy entangles three key figures: boxer/impresario Tom Sayers; Louise Porter, the actress he loves; and the mysterious murderer who frames Tom and seduces Louise, tainting her with a curse that compels its bearer to do evil. (Louise finesses her dilemma by becoming a dominatrix, inflicting pain from London to New Orleans.) The Kingdom of Bones' Gilded Age period detail includes some melodramatic prose — 'into that devil's hands I've delivered Louise!' — and dodgy occult lore. But Gallagher (The Spirit Box) includes gripping set-pieces — bare-knuckle bouts, exquisite kink — to produce an affecting study of sado-masochistic desire."
--Entertainment Weekly

Stephen Gallagher is a novelist, screenwriter, and director. His many novels include Nightmare, with Angel; Red, Red Robin; and The Spirit Box. Read more about The Kingdom of Bones at the publisher's website, and visit Gallagher's website and his blog.

The Page 69 Test: The Kingdom of Bones.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Mohsin Hamid reading?

Mohsin Hamid, whose novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, talked to the Christian Science Monitor about his recent viewing pleasures and what he's been listening to.

And what he's been reading:

Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih, a Sudanese novelist, and one of the most important Arabic-language novelists. It's the story of a man who has studied abroad and returned to life in Sudan – about the sort of cultural conflict and internal conflict from colonization. It's a very short novel and a number of people had recommended it to me based on what I had written. The subject matter is interesting: the story of this crisis of someone returning from life in the West. And the second thing is part of the novel takes the form of one man telling the story to another, so that's a similarity. Before that I read Graham Greene's The Quiet American, which I had never read before and which is fantastic, a real masterpiece of compression. It's such a short novel that takes on so much politically with a tight plot. Many people told me that I would like it and they were right.

Check out Hamid's recent encounters with movies and music.

Mohsin Hamid's most influential book.

Mohsin Hamid's 10 favorite books

The Page 69 Test: The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Jeffrey Miller's "Murder on the Rebound"

The latest feature at the Page 99 Test: Jeffrey Miller's Murder on the Rebound.

About the novel, from the author's website:

"Hemlock for Herskowitz!" That's what the students write in the law-school toilets about their drill-sergeant professor, Mack Herskowitz. Then, Tony Albinoni, a mouthy "first year," is poisoned at dinner in the professor's penthouse. Was the noxious drink meant for the unpopular prof - a man widely known behind his back as "Jerk-O-Twit"?

So begins the newest mystery for Amicus and his companion human, Justice Ted Mariner, both of them "outlawed" to the suburban law school after last spring's "incidents" downtown - Justice Mariner's very public wrestling match, in the toney Pasta La Vista restaurant, with a fellow judge, not to mention the day he was seen bussing his comely young clerk in a not-so-toney Yorkville bar.

It's classic, uproarious Amicus, with his caustic shin's-eye view of "Homo allegedly sapiens" and their justice system. As usual, the Falstaffian feline narrates a seriously funny (and profoundly serious) tale in which the search for whodunnit intersects with the deeper mystery of the nature of "truth" itself.

Among the praise for Murder on the Rebound:

"An often hilarious drama worthy of Rumpole. An uncommon mystery full of literate and sardonically humorous questions."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Here we have a terrific plot, a law student poisoned during a dinner party given by a much-despised law professor. A slick whodunit has plenty to recommend it..."
--Globe & Mail

Jeffrey Miller’s work has been described as "Mark Twain meets Rumpole of the Bailey." In his many years as a columnist for The Lawyers Weekly, he has chronicled the tragicomic intersection of law and the human condition. His non-fiction books include Where There’s Life, There’s Lawsuits and Ardor in the Court!. Murder on the Rebound is the latest novel in the successful Amicus Curiae mystery series. Learn more about Miller and his other books at his website.

The Page 99 Test: Murder on the Rebound.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Elise Blackwell reading?

The latest contributor to Writers Read: Elise Blackwell, author of The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish, Hunger, and a new novel, Grub.

About the book, from the publisher:

A long overdue retelling of New Grub Street — George Gissing’s classic satire of the Victorian literary marketplace — Grub chronicles the triumphs and humiliations of a group of young novelists living in and around New York City.

Eddie Renfros, on the brink of failure after his critically acclaimed first book, wants only to publish another novel and hang on to his beautiful wife, Amanda, who has her own literary ambitions and a bit of a roving eye. Among their circle are writers of every stripe — from the Machiavellian Jackson Miller to the ‘experimental writer’ Henry who lives in squalor while seeking the perfect sentence. Amid an assortment of scheming agents, editors, and hangers-on, each writer must negotiate the often competing demands of success and integrity, all while grappling with inner demons and the stabs of professional and personal jealousy. The question that nags at them is this: What is it to write a novel in the twenty-first century? Pointedly funny and compassionate, Grub reveals what the publishing industry does to writers — and what writers do to themselves for the sake of art and to each other in the pursuit of celebrity.

Read an excerpt from Grub.

Writers Read: Elise Blackwell.

--Marshal Zeringue

Interview: Charles Griswold

In the latest of the blog's original interviews, the political philosopher Eduardo Velásquez quizzes Boston University philosophy professor Charles Griswold about his new book, Forgiveness: A Philosophical Exploration.

I squeezed a question of my own into their Q & A:

Zeringue: What question do you wish someone would ask you about your book(s) but no one has asked? And what's the answer?

Griswold: Forgiveness properly speaking responds to moral evil, not natural evil. Is there some analogue to forgiveness, within a secular framework, that responds to natural evils such as illness, pain naturally caused, death, and such? In the book I gesture at the notion of "metaphysical forgiveness," whose focus would include natural evil. But the full answer would require another book on reconciliation with an imperfect world and so with the multitude of 'natural' (non-intended, non-designed) "wrongs" that world inflicts on us. A chapter would include, for example, an analysis of redemption understood in a secular context. That book is next in line!

Read the complete Velásquez-Griswold interview.

Read an excerpt from Forgiveness and learn more about the book at the Cambridge University Press website. Also see the Page 69 Test: Forgiveness.

Charles Griswold is Professor of Philosophy at Boston University.

Eduardo Velásquez teaches political philosophy, science and the arts, literature, and popular culture at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. His new book is A Consumer’s Guide to the Apocalypse: Why There is No Cultural War in America and Why We Will Perish Nonetheless.

Author Interviews: Charles Griswold.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Will Shetterly's "The Gospel of the Knife"

The latest feature at the Page 99 Test: Will Shetterly's The Gospel of the Knife.

About the book, from the publisher:

Christopher Nix is 14 years old, and it’s 1969. His life is a turbulent echo of the times as he discovers sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll in the heart of Florida. But into this struggle between the young long-haired hippie and the rednecks who’d just as soon kill him comes a strange offer that will completely change his life.

The Nix family is contacted by a mysterious benefactor who wants to send Chris to an exclusive private school, no expense spared. Mr. Jay Dumont claims that Chris’s grandfather saved his life during WWI, and though Grandpa Uvdall is dead, the debt remains to be paid. But as Chris will discover, there is a great deal more to it than that. He will have to accept and understand the Powers that have surrounded his family all his life, and learn to use his own magical gifts, if he is to survive Dumont’s plan.

As he did with Dogland, Will Shetterly has used a deceptively simple tale to explore some very deep issues. The Gospel of the Knife explores questions of faith and responsibility, and the always complex relationship between man and God and the world.

Read an excerpt from The Gospel of the Knife and learn more about the book at the publisher's website.

Will Shetterly writes novels, screenplays, short stories, and comic books. Visit his website and his LiveJournal.

The Page 99 Test: The Gospel of the Knife.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: David Blixt's "The Master of Verona"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: David Blixt's The Master of Verona, a novel which combines Shakespeare’s Italian characters with the real people of Dante’s time.

Among the praise for the novel:

"The precipitous ending, marked with dizzying revelations by the protagonists, does nothing to mar a novel of intricate plot, taut narrative, sharp period detail and beautifully realized characters.”
--Publishers Weekly

“A confession: it has been a long time since this reviewer stayed up until dawn to finish a novel, but it happened with The Master of Verona.... Be prepared to burn the midnight oil. It’s well worth it.”
--Lucille Cormier, Historical Novel Society

"Intricate plotting, well-staged scenes, and colorful descriptions enhance head-spinning but lively entertainment.”
--Kirkus

"...a highly engaging and exceptional story."
--Armchair Interviews

Read an excerpt from The Master of Verona and learn more about the book at the official website.

David Blixt is a Shakespearean actor living in Chicago. He has made several turns at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, the Goodman Theatre, CityLit, Northlight, and the First Folio Shakespeare Festival, as well as Lifeline, Griffin, the Michigan Shakespeare Festival, and the Stratford Festival Friends in Chicago. He and his wife Jan are co-founders of A Crew of Patches, a Shakespearean repertory company in which he acts, directs, and choreographs the violence. The Master of Verona is his first novel.

The Page 69 Test: The Master of Verona.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Corey Redekop's "Shelf Monkey"

The latest feature at the Page 99 Test: Corey Redekop's Shelf Monkey.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Thomas Friesen has three goals in life. Get a job. Make friends. Find a good book to curl up with. After landing a job at READ, the newest hypermegabookstore, he feels he may have accomplished all three.

All is not peaceable within the stacks, however. Discontent is steadily rising, and it is aimed squarely at Munroe Purvis, a talk show host whose wildly popular book club is progressively lowering the I.Q. of North America.

But the bookworms have a plan. Plots are being hatched. The destruction of Munroe is all but assured. And as Thomas finds himself swept along in the maëlstrom of insanity, he wonders if reading a book is all it’s cracked up to be.

If you’ve ever thrown a book against a wall in disgust; if you’ve ever loved a novel that no one else can stand; if you obsess over the proper use of punctuation; this may be the novel for you. A weirdly funny story about bookish addictions, Shelf Monkey is the ideal novel for anyone who loves good books. Or hates them.

Among the praise for Shelf Monkey:

"There are entire scenes that are so funny, I wish I could reprint them in their entirety. This is not all the book has going for it, though, as Redekop displays a surprising literary depth in this brutally witty slice of wickedness.... Either way, there’s no mistaking Shelf Monkey’s subversive brilliance."
--Bookgasm

A "crackling plot and quirky characters."
--Winnipeg Free Press

"[T]he book's dark comedy and witty language play directly into its themes to make the satire sting."
--Quill & Quire

"[H]owlingly funny ... if you love books and really need a good laugh in your life, track it down."
--The Sun Times

Read more about the novel and author at the Shelf Monkey blog and listen to podcasts of two excerpts.

The Page 99 Test: Shelf Monkey.

--Marshal Zeringue

Todd Gitlin's most important books

Todd Gitlin is the author of 13 books and articles in numerous periodicals. A regular contributor to TPMcafe.com, he is currently a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University.

His latest book is The Bulldozer and the Big Tent: Blind Republicans, Lame Democrats, and the Recovery of American Ideals.

Gitlin recently told Newsweek about his five most important books.

And he addressed two other book-related issues:

A classic book that, upon rereading, disappointed:

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. The grand debates about the meaning of the 20th century have gone flat and musty.

A book you hope parents will read to their children:

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Read it slowly. This is no trifle.

Read about Gitlin's most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: David Lozell Martin's "Our American King"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: David Lozell Martin's Our American King.

About the book, from the publisher:

When America fell, she fell hard. Now chaos and calamity fill the vacuum left by a collapsing federal government. The strong and the armed prey on the law-abiding. Only the wealthiest Americans, who have bought up and seized every available commodity, get by unscathed. Protected by the United States Army and their own hired guards, the rich have made their deals.

But no one is making deals on behalf of the Americans who have-not. John and Mary, a long-married couple, are starving to death in a suburb of Washington, D.C. In the delirium of starvation, John becomes convinced that an American king has risen up -- benevolent, uncorrupted, and able to restore faith and prosperity to the nation. Mary walks with her husband into the District of Columbia to see if there's any truth to this madness of an American king.

At the fence bordering the White House, which has been abandoned, overrun, and destroyed, John and Mary find a man who is hanging dead politicians "the way they spoke their words," upside down and backwards. John convinces this man, Tazza, that he can be king and that the people of America will find as much strength and goodness in serving a king as they did in practicing a democracy.

Charismatic, royal, and alpha, Tazza is adored by the American people. He converts marauders to his cause, organizes scavengers to feed the hungry, and seems destined to establish a beloved and benevolent American monarchy. But Tazza cannot escape the inevitability of history, and when the federal government returns, a war ensues that sweeps across America and lasts for decades.

In this conflict between forms of government, in a people's fight for survival, Our American King unearths massive forces and powerful truths and challenges readers with provocative questions: If a calamity destroyed the American government, who among us would survive? Who would die from weakness and fear? What kind of leaders would emerge?

In vintage Martin style, Our American King grabs the reader on page one and never lets go. This is a journey by turns dire and thrilling, authoritative and mythical, heartbreaking and magical. For decades now, David Lozell Martin's novels, including cult favorites Lie to Me and The Crying Heart Tattoo, have set the bar for powerful and eccentric thrillers. This new one is his most powerful yet.

Among the early praise for the novel:

"David Lozell Martin's strange, engrossing and quite radical novel is set in a future America that has been reduced to anarchy.... This novel is very much about the class warfare that our leaders tell us we must avoid, even in political debate. Heads roll in abundance here.... [I]t's a blast."
--Patrick Anderson, Washington Post

"At the start of Martin's compelling postapocalyptic novel, which reads like The Road as told by the crusty old woman from Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, Mary and her husband, John, perch precariously in a tree while a huge, corpse-eating pig waits below. Flashback a few decades: Mary and John are starving in suburban Maryland outside Washington, D.C., after a disaster known as the calamity destroyed much of the country's infrastructure. The top .1% of America's richest citizens have bought up all the commodities and withdrawn to enclaves guarded by hired thugs. After a man known as Tazza emerges as a strong local leader, John declares him king. Martin (The Crying Heart Tattoo) charts Tazza's self-sustaining kingdom from its early bucolic beginnings to its final bloody battles against rapacious Canadians hired by a resurgent American government bent on subduing this upstart leader. Filled with action, romance and terrific characters, this intelligent cautionary tale deserves a wide readership."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

David Lozell Martin's novels include the international bestsellers Lie to Me and Tap, Tap and the critically acclaimed The Crying Heart Tattoo, The Beginning of Sorrows, and Crazy Love. Of Facing Rushmore (2005), Martin's eleventh book, Elmore Leonard said, "What I like best about a David Martin suspense novel -- and it will grab you, I guarantee -- is that the man knows how to write."

Read an excerpt from Our American King and learn more about the novel at the publisher's website.

The Page 69 Test: Our American King.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Barbara Fister reading?

The latest contributor to Writers Read: Barbara Fister, author of two mysteries, On Edge (2002) and In the Wind (coming out next spring).

Part of her entry:

My customary choice in reading is crime fiction. A novel that impressed me deeply is David Corbett's Blood of Paradise.... Set in El Salvador, this book follows a young and naive American as he provides "executive security" for a corporate hydrologist who is just realizing his science will be misused in the name of profits. The bodyguard, who has fallen in love with the battle-scarred country, has been haunted by shame after his father, a corrupt police officer, committed suicide. In a confused move of atonement he falls in with one of his father's crooked colleagues in what becomes an ethical train wreck. Through this richly realized character and his moral dilemma, we glimpse the web of lies and duplicity that tie the US and El Salvador together. Though Corbett's story is subtle and well-tempered, the informative afterword is scorching with anger -- and no wonder. [read on]

About Fister's On Edge:

A flip of a coin sends Konstantin Slovo, a Chicago cop who's had all he can take, eastbound on I-90 with no destination in mind. His impulsive flight ends in Brimsport, Maine, where gulls cry, waves wash against a rockbound coast -- and the town's worst nightmare is coming true.

Almost twenty years ago, an investigation into allegations of child abuse spiraled out of control, ending without convictions -- leaving the community scarred by suspicion, distrust, and anger. Slovo, all too experienced with crimes against children, arrives in Brimsport just as a search is on for a missing girl, the third child to be abducted and murdered in recent months. He's drawn into the race to stop it from happening again - and to end the horror before the town tears itself apart. Because whoever is behind these killings knows Brimsport's tortured past and is using its worst fears to push it over the edge.

In the Wind will be published in 2008 by St. Martins.

Learn more about Barbara Fister and her work at her website.

Writers Read: Barbara Fister.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seth Lipsky's 5 best books about newspapering

Veteran reporter and editor Seth Lipsky selected a five best list of his "favorite books about newspapering" for Opinion Journal.

One title on the list:

The Brass Ring by Bill Mauldin (Norton, 1971).

In Bill Mauldin's memoir, the G.I. cartoonist who created the soldiers Willie and Joe tells the story of the Stars and Stripes newspaper in World War II. "The Brass Ring" reprints many of Mauldin's famed cartoons, including one depicting two officers on top of an Alp, one saying to the other: "Beautiful view. Is there one for the enlisted men?" A Pulitzer Prize-winning illustration, from 1945, shows a group of bedraggled Yanks marching a group of bedraggled German prisoners in the rain and mud, with the caption: " 'Fresh, spirited American troops, flushed with victory, are bringing in thousands of hungry, ragged, battle-weary prisoners,' (News Item)." One of the cartoons--at a USO show, soldiers line up to get in while officers escort girls out a side door--is accompanied by Mauldin's priceless account of how it prompted a showdown between the cartoonist and an outraged Gen. George Patton, who accused him of demoralizing the troops. Mauldin also describes, in a moving section of the book, a military funeral in Italy in 1945 when Lt. Gen. Lucian Truscott turned his back on the dignitaries and addressed the dead.

Read more about Lipsky's list.

--Marshal Zeringue