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Recent Reviews
Tom Brokaw
Pan The Minneapolis Star Tribune While the timing is superb, the book itself is sadly lacking. It\'s a slim volume, with the 226 pages chopped into 27 chapters, an introduction and an epilogue, evidence that he doesn\'t drill deep. A kind description is that it\'s a breezy read ... Another way of putting it is that it\'s a collection of snippets, gossip, meaningless anecdotes and no unique insights. We learn nothing new about Watergate or the key players during those eventful days ... Aside from a few mildly interesting interactions Brokaw had with White House press secretary Ron Ziegler, we don\'t learn much about the White House press corps, except how talented, funny and clever they are. We learn plenty about the guest lists of Georgetown cocktail parties he was invited to ... Brokaw hit pay dirt with The Greatest Generation. This book won\'t have quite the staying power that volume will.
Julie Salamon
Positive The Star Tribune An Innocent Bystander: The Killing of Leon Klinghoffer examines the case and its prolonged aftermath—personal, legal and artistic—in journalistic fashion ... Salamon tells all [characters\'] stories with an even hand ... In chronicling the impact of both these killings on all three families—those of the two victims and the terrorist mastermind—Salamon provides a 360-degree view of the tragic, endless cycle of the killing of innocents.
Robert A. Caro
Positive The Star Tribune Devoted fans of two-time Pulitzer Prize biographer Robert Caro will find a lot to dislike about his new book ... time away from delivering the coda to his LBJ bio ... the book’s length ... that much of Working is familiar ... But there’s also newly written material, and it’s priceless. Legendary for his relentless research and bloodhound-like tracking of elusive facts, Caro explains how he does it ... Caro’s enthusiasm and his insights into his craft make Working fascinating and inspiring, even for those who’ve heard it all before. It’s a master class in research, reporting and writing.
Patrick Radden Keefe
Positive Minneapolis Star Tribune \"... a riveting account of the bombings and assassinations carried out by the Irish Republican Army, as told by those who planted the bombs and pulled the triggers.\
Brin-Jonathan Butler
Positive Minneapolis Star Tribune \"If you can forgive the author and publisher for a misleading subtitle, you might actually enjoy The Grandmaster: Magnus Carlsen and the Match That Made Chess Great Again ... [Butler is] a lively writer, and by profiling these characters he delivers an entertaining romp through the U.S. chess world ... As for the book’s title, it never really fulfills its promise. You’ll learn precious little about Magnus Carlsen or how he became so great. And it’s simply not true that the 2016 match \'made chess great again.\'\
David Levering Lewis
Positive Minneapolis Star Tribune \"Willkie’s story has been told in several biographies, including the superb Dark Horse, and Lewis doesn’t claim to break new ground in this book. But Lewis, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner... does provide deeper insights into Willkie’s promotion of racial equality. Annoyingly, however, he takes a gratuitous swipe at an early biographer, and his grandiloquent, magniloquent, orotund writing style (see what I did there?) ... But none of that detracts from recounting the arc of Willkie’s life, from modest Hoosier roots, to \'barefoot\' Wall Street lawyer, to utility executive, to presidential hopeful, to a voice for internationalism.\
Kate Winkler Dawson
Mixed The Minneapolis Star Tribune The link between the killer fog and the serial killer exists only in the author’s construct. Christie’s killing spree began nine years before the 1952 fog, and none of his victims was killed while the fog held its grip on London; his killing spree ended three months after the fog lifted. Although the fog and the Christie killings remain two distinct, alternating strands, each story is compelling ... Dawson recounts the facts of the disaster clearly, but she falls short in capturing the human toll ... Though written in a sometimes lurid style, as if the author had read too many penny dreadfuls, Death in the Air is an enlightening look at two lesser known but important events in British history, for both had far-reaching consequences.
Michael Kranish & Marc Fisher
Positive The Minneapolis Star Tribune Although the book was written hurriedly and by committee, it's a smooth read that dives deep into his personal life and business record ... for those who expect that Trump will bring a Midas touch to the White House, the book points out his history of jumping into areas where he had no expertise and making promises that these ventures would be the greatest, only to find himself in over his head, overextended and failing.