New York Books

The book disclose many backstages tales of opera. I enjoyed it pretty much.

I found this book absolutely fabulous. Mr. Volpe is to the point and shall we say, extremely honest, in his account of his years at the opera, including via himself. One finishes this book with a greater understanding of what goes on behind the scenes. It reads well, with enough details to keep the average reader riveted and without the unnecessary clutter found in some of those books that insist on giving us an hour by hour acount of events. I especially liked the way the book was subdivided. If it does follow a certain chronological order, each chapter focuses on a specific subject matter, for example signers... that serves as the guide thru the different events. Hence, this book is delightful and I strongly recommend it to all and especially, if not exclusively, to opera lovers. Even ones who do not know a lot about opera will love this book.
Marie Kirouack

Opera is dramatic and bigger than life on stage and back stage. Now we learn about all the drama that also goes on in managing the Metropolitan Opera, the largest opera company in the world and an arts organization that puts on more opera performances each year than any other company on earth. Its budget is more than $200 million for something like 240 performances per year. I was quite surprised to read how the monies to fund this huge budget are raised. No, it isn't the government, corporate, or even the richest donors that provide the bulk of the money as I had suspected.

The 2005-2006 budget was $221 million. The Box Office receipts were $101 million, the endowment of $300 million provided another $18 million, parking and commons revenues provided $10 million, and the support from the Federal, State, and City governments was only $375,000! Where does the other $92 million come from each year? 125,000 private donors, 2/3 of whom live outside New York City, provide donations ranging from $60 to more than $500,000 and total $80 million. The 300 members of the Metropolitan Opera Club provide another half-million, and the board members each provide substantial contributions to the met each year. I found this fascinating and quite a different mix than I had expected.

The author, Joseph Volpe, has run the Met for the past 16 seasons, but has worked at the met for more than four decades. He joined as a carpenter and worked his way up from the back of the house to operations. While he showed great skill in getting the shows on stage, he was passed over more than once for the job of Managing Director because of his blue collar background. But after floundering through some poor appointments, Volpe got the job. He admits that his personal style is more, well, frank than most other arts managers and the scowl on his face on the cover photograph (and in some of those included in the book) let us know that he is all about getting the shows on stage and at the highest level rather than getting us to love him as a person.

Volpe came to love opera while working at the Met. True, his grandmother had him listen to "Cavalleria Rusticana" with her when he was a child, but it was getting the magnificent sets to work and to hear the great singers, choruses, and see the dancers, costumes, and even the guests, that got him to see what grand opera is truly about and fall in love with the greatest of all art forms.

The book is part his own biography, part the history of the Met, and part about the great singers he has worked with while at the Met in his various capacities. The book has dozens of interesting photos from all the eras of the Met and the stories of the singers are well chosen and very entertaining. Pavarotti, as you might expect, provides some wonderful anecdotes when he is trying to help Volpe lose weight and includes Volpe in his "yoga" lessons.

The book is quite a pleasant read and I enjoyed it a great deal. It is interesting to hear about the whole of the opera company including everyone it takes to make the shows rather than just the great soloists. Coming from a blue collar background myself, I enjoyed hearing about the working guys and gals that make the show work for those fabulous artists who create the great music with their voices and hearts. The magic wouldn't be nearly as powerful without all those sets, costumes, lights, and the performers on the chorus or the dancers.

Recommended!

Joseph Volpe was a tough as the job he took on when he grabbed the reins of the Metropolitan Opera House, having to deal with the likes of James Levine and Luciano Pavarotti.
But as in the phrase beloved of behavorial psychologists, his was a "tough love." He started as a carpenter at the Old Met with but a passing interest in opera, but by the time he left, music infused his very blood with a passion for his work and the people who populated the space he called home.
The autobiography details the years, the failed marriage, the battles with superstars, the triumphs and disappointments with a candor perhaps unique in this type of memoir, where the authors tend to be either diplomatic or, as with Sir Rudolph Bing, unrelentingly acerbic.
Volpe tells his story in lean, plain-spoken language that reveals the inner workings of the gargantuan Met and makes that place of mazes and convolutions an environment the reader can understand.
Joe Volpe (after reading the book, it's hard to think of him as Joseph) dragged The Met kicking and screaming into the 21st century without violating the traditions that surround opera, and his book is refreshing, entertaining and revelatory.
It should be read by anyone interested in opera, politics or the big business of show.

Joseph Volpe's "The Toughest Show on Earth" is a remarkably comprehensive look at the recent history of the Metropolitan Opera as told through the eyes of the retiring general manager, himself. Volpe has the best "view" in the house and no wonder...he's been there for over forty years.

From the start it's clear that Joe Volpe is not a man to be crossed lightly. Tough as nails (and nails were part of his business) he rises from an entry level position to the top job...and reveals much along the way. There's just enough "dirt" in this book to tickle the senses of the reader and anyone who has ever been in opera knows exactly what Volpe describes...in order to be associated with opera personalities it is sometimes required to act like one.

The longest chapter in "The Toughest Show" is devoted to Volpe's firing of Kathleen Battle and one can just see the steam building in the author's ears as he amasses stories of misbehavior on the part of the "embattled" diva over a period of years. Finally, he acts, much to the delight of the cast and crew. It's a juicy chapter and one of the best in the book. While Volpe offers reflections on just about anyone with whom he has come in contact, he reserves the nicest comments for conductor James Levine and (whom he calls the "Siamese Twins") tenors Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. Without these three would there be a present-day Metropolitan Opera?

There are occasional bouts of self-serving given over to by the author and often he feels a need to defend himself based on some past controversial decisions, (which I found rather astounding given the fact that he is departing the scene) but what makes "The Toughest Show" such a wonderful book is the comprehensiveness of the Met story. It's not only onstage and backstage but everywhere else, too. "The Toughest Show on Earth" is the greatest guided tour around. It's a terrific read and Volpe deserves much credit not only for this book but for a lifetime of service dedicated to one of the nation's treasures...the Metropolitan Opera.

This is a stunning book from a been-there done-that tugboat captain. Great photos, great stories.

Outstanding book, probably the best I ever saw.
I'm a retired Tug captain and pilot [Pearl Harbor & Hampton Roads],but I grew up in NY. The author knows his stuff, I learned things about the industry I didn't know.
If you have any interest in the subject this is a must have book if only for the excellance of the photos.

This well written book and its fascinating story brought back many a memory, some good and some not so good, from my time at sea on a salvage tug. The research which the author has obviously done is impressive. The only problem with this book is its dimensions.

As soon as I'd read the New York Times Book Review of this book, I had to have it. Because I was brought up in the New York metropolitan area I was able to enjoy riding the Staten Island ferry to and from Manhatten to enjoy the sights and sounds of the harbor and the tugs going about their business. I also listened in on a short wave radio to the messages relayed through the New York Marine Operator as the tugboat captains got their orders from their bosses on what barge to pick up, where to take it and so on. This book is delightfully written by someone who certainly knows the towing business and who seems to cover every conceivable aspect without becoming excessive. The photographs chosen are of the highest quality and taken by some of the top names among photographers of that era. Many of them are so good, they are "suitable for framing" as the saying goes. Their rendition in the book are of equally top quality and the captions are full of interesting facts and are not just taken from the text of the book but can stand on their own. Very informative and at the same time, easy to read, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to all, especially to those of us who still carry that little boy or girl inside of us.

I love tugboats and if I get the chance I'm buying one and I'm gonna live on it. This terrific book was a holiday present from my girl friend who knows I want a tug. Did you know tugs are pretty much a NYC invention? - me neither! I do now. Great photos, marvelous history of the NY waterfront.

Seriously, I think a lot of this book. The artwork is wonderful; the story is wonderful. We had to buy this copy because we wore out our first one.

Another great book by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson. Nice story and great artwork. Recommended if you already own and like Ferdinand.

So glad it's back...this classic book on how different people can get along. Not just for kids.

"Wee Gillis" is a classic of children's literature, and this is an excellent new reprint. There is no dustjacket, but the book has a very strong cardboard cover and good quality paper.
The book combines an interesting commentary on the cultures of the Scottish highlands and lowlands with a simple and rather old-fashioned story of how a boy takes his place in the adult world.
The black and white illustrations complement the text beautifully, and almost tell the story on their own.

Originally published in 1938, this one is a delight to see back in print thanks to New York Review Books. The Scottish setting is charming and the central message, to be who you are, is important. Not content to be a hunter like his father's family or a farmer like his mother's family, Wee Gillis finds his own place in this world as a bagpiper. Baby boomers will be familiar with Robert Lawson's illustrations from such children's classics as Rabbit Hill, Ben And Me and The Story of Ferdinand, also written by Munro Leaf. I adore this book so much I named my dear and very independent Cairn Terrier puppy Wee Gillis.

Since moving to Texas, I've been puzzled by some 'odd' behavior by friends. Now I GET IT. This book is hilarious, well-written, and absolutely on target.

As a new Texan, and yes a Yankee Chick, I found this book extremely helpful. I understand my new adopted state a little better, but I understand how different I may appear to my new found friends due solely to this book. Thanks to my best friend up North for buying this book for me as a going away present. I read it on the way here on the plane, I could not put the book down. It is time again for me to read it... it's that good.

I'm contemplating a move to Texas, and this book is just what I needed. It's funny, the author is charming and the info is perfect. As a native Californian, I really had no idea what to expect from Texas, but after reading this, I think I do. It seems like everything is different in Texas, from customs to state pride to guns to food, and it would be easy to be confused. It would be great if someone could write this book about every state in the nation. I think we'd all understand each other better.
I also think this would be a great gift to give someone who has moved to Texas in the past five years or so. It's really funny.

This should be required reading for any Yankee Chick moving to Texas as well as any one who embraces the many cultural differences that make this country great. Ms. Dembling's insight and sharp wit had me laughing out loud many times and I don't even live in Texas or the South; I'm just a Yankee Chick living up North in Yankee land. Before reading this delightful book (which I read on a lark during a biz trip to Dallas) I had no interest in Texas, but now - hell, I think I'd like to plan a vacation there, perhaps find my self some good old boys to hang out with! Her pride in being a Yankee Chick and her love of Texas is evident throughout and it translates into a sincerity that makes this book so special. Hurry, buy this book!!!!

The book was well-thought out and researched. It explained parts of Texas and attributes of Texans never explained publicly so well before. I recognized myself in it, I must confess.

She needs to write "The Texan Guide to Yankeeland". Now that would be very useful to us 5 remaining Native Texans in the whole state.

A fabulous book on the 75 year history of the greatest stadium on earth. but what to do with it in the future?

This book shows many photos and contains stories about the stadium which will soon be torn down. It made a great birthday gift for my husband!

For any historian, let alone a New York Yankees fan, this is a beautiful book to own and enjoy. The photography is stunning and the interviews are very interesting. The price also can't be beat, if you are buying through Amazon.com.

My husband who has been a Yankee fan ever since he was a little boy loved this book I bought it as a gift for him. I originally saw it on QVC in a box for about $76 with shipping and since I don't buy any books without consulting Amazon first I checked it out. Who needs a box for an extra $40. My husband said it brought back lots of memories and the pictures are fantastic .He was thrilled I thought of this for him.

This was an awesome book. I have gone to Yankee Stadium since The 1940's. It is really one of the most beautiful places in the world.
This book has the Stadium coming to life.

If you are a ballet teacher, and aren't able to take master classes very often, this is a good book for you. The lessons sparked new choreography for me, and provided a different perspective to age/skill set; however, the lessons were also developed by a man whose job was to train ballet students to be professionals (age/skill set obviously varies when kids are studying ballet recreationally or for the joy of learning ballet). This book provides an opportunity to expand an adagio, petite allegro, or barre work.

I studied the Vaganova Method at ABT as a child and young adult. Now that I am teaching I like to use the book as a guideline, review and brush up on things I may be overlooking. When you are away from the classroom as an adult (or an older adult) it is necessary to keep trying to learn from others or resources. I highly recommend this book.

I love this book. As a new teacher, it has been invaluable in helping me to create the classes for my beginning students.

I'm a former dancer and a classical ballet teacher now. This book is a Ballet bible among my colleagues who teach classical ballet.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. I studied ballet for about twelve years when I was young and was asked to offer a ballet club in my school in the fall. This book lays out, class by class, how to train young dancers effectively. Included are photographs of correct positions and technique so even though my own is a little rusty I am able to show my students illustrations of what they will hope to achieve especially since my turn out has never been that great. I am happy to say that the class attracted boys as well as girls in my inner-city school and that a few of the children have convinced their parents to enroll them in a dance school due to their diligence and the interest they demonstrated in the ballet club.

This book is fantastic! I live in Australia but I'm going to be living and working (hopefully...) in New York in a couple of months.
The book includes sections on practically every aspect of life - from cheap food, medical care, and general merchandise, to hairdressing, public toilets, and internet service providers.
I would say this is one of the most useful books I have ever read, and I can definitely recommend it to anyone planning on making a move to New York City.
It is extremely easy to read and not at all like trawling through a guidebook. The sections are well organised and easily located in the table of contents. I particularly liked the book and music store 'reviews'.
It also felt as though it was written by a person that I would actually like in real life, and while this is not entirely relevant, it gave me even greater faith in the advice.
I feel a lot more confident about my trip now that I know where to go and what to expect as I attempt to set up house.
This has certainly relieved me (at least temporarily) from my increasingly frantic google searches.

Wile some of the info offered may be slightly out of date by the time a reader gets their hands on this book (addresses and phones can change, etc.) the wisdom and experience of the author comes through very well. Anyone who is headed for the Big Apple as an actor should read this book.

This book is good, but even better if you plan on living in Hell's Kitchen (midtown west). As the author refers to that area often. Overall, i liked it though. I'd say it helps speed up the process of getting comfortable living in the big city, not working, but LIVING.

Actor or not, this book is a huge help in finding the cheapest of everything in New York City. Listed by category, the author gives listings and phone numbers of the cheapest of it all. There are hints and tips on how to make it in New York on a budget, how to find a place to live, and even where public restrooms are available!

What a gold mine! This book isn't just for actors--it is a meticulously-researched, up-to-date and readable guide to living well in Manhattan without watching money flow through your fingers--it covers everything from haircuts and clothes to great deals at the opera. I'm recommending it to all newcomers, regardless of profession. If I had to find one small flaw, it's that I'm not quite confident about his recommendations for women, as--and he freely admits this--they rely on the judgment of his female friends, and the reader can't gauge whether these women share the author's ability to find the best, the least expensive and the most hard-to-find secrets of New York. Regardless, a minor detail in a worthwhile book.

I find that I agree with all of the positive reviews, but indeed what most haunts me about Mutis is his deeply introspective writing style. I read the book in Spanish (my native language, btw) and the language is enthralling and personal... If you took away the background, most of Macqroll's fears and feelings are rather universal, and as you read the book (especially that WONDERFUL! first chapter) the book becomes an introspective exercise, made bearable simply because Mutis takes you there with the gentleness of his writing, the magic of the geographical settings (and their descriptions) and the company of the most human and flawed characters (Ilona being my personal favorite).

Ah, this is a wonderful book for a sunny or rainy day. It is so perfect in all does. The stories are fascinating and amusing -- often poignant. You will never forget ANY of the characters, especially Maqroll. And Bashur. And the Mirror Breaker. And Jamil. If, since childhood, you have dreamed of tramp steamers and ports around the world, as I have, your ship truly has come in in this book. Well, I could go on just spitting out adoring adjectives, but, like all the other reviewers here, I enjoyed this book immensely. It won't be long till I pick it up and read it all over again. A book I'll always remember. A classic.

Alvaro Mutis wrote several superb short novels about the travels and trials of his creation, the wandering sailor Maqroll, gathered here in one volume in an excellent translation. Adventure, friendship, obsession, loyalty, bad judgment, and hilariously (sometimes tragically) desperate situations play out in obscure and exotic locations. "Maqroll" is an excellent companion for your own world travels.

It is densely written and discursive . . . relentlessly so, for 700 pages. Perhaps you will find this poetic, profound, or even titillating. Perhaps not. Perhaps, instead, you will think that Mutis is a brilliant, verbally gifted man in need of lithium and a good editor, or both. In all fairness, he gives plenty of warning up front. Page 17: "Our mistake is to think it's going somewhere, . . ." Page 19: "makes his sentences difficult to understand until we grow used to the rhythm of a language intended to conceal more than it communicates." Page 20: ". . . filled with long, rambling circumlocutions that made no sense." I think this award winning "emperor" is feeling a bit chilly, but laughing his chillies off.

Yes, I agree with the other reviewers who have asseverated that this is a great book. But they don't seem to want to spell out why exactly it is a great novel, or, rather, series of picaresque adventures. - Perhaps they're simply tired due to the 700 page literary trek. - But, come now, a great novel because of tramp steamers and the sea? While the sea is certainly the element in which Maqroll feels most at home, there are, literally, hundreds of novels about the sea and the love of it (In particular, there's one author who's made himself into a multi-millionaire by churning out these books like a sausage-machine).

No, what makes this book great is the underlying fatalism of the work sweepingly on display in Maqroll and the several other characters, and in the finely wrought passages on what this life offers us, picaresque vagabond or not. Many comparisons have been made to Don Quixote. - But not in the right way - Maqroll is Don Quixote's Twentieth Century doppelganger, or spectral double: Spectral, as is the case with many doppelgangers in fiction, in that he is the Knight's opposite. Where Don Quixote is chaste, Maqroll is licentious, where Don Quixote is naïve, Maqroll is instinctively wise to the ways of the fallen world etc. etc. --- In literary terms, Don Quixote is a Romantic. Maqroll is Tragic.

I wonder, reading the other reviews, if the other readers may have just possibly skimmed over the philosophical passages that glower at one on every other page or so. It is these passages, these lyrical, defiant, essentially dark reflections that make this much more than any mere sea novel or rollicking picaresque.

For Example, for starters:

"...it's not worry I feel but weariness as I watch the approach of one more episode in the old, tired story of the men who try to beat life, the smart ones who think they know it all and die with a look of surprise on their faces: at the final moment they always see the truth - they never really understood anything, never held anything in their hands. An old story, old and boring." P.24

And again:

"He thought that the real tragedy of aging lay in the fact that the eternal boy still lives inside us, unaware of the passage of time. A boy whose secrets had been revealed with notable clarity when Maqroll withdrew to Aracuriare Canyon, and who claimed the prerogative of not aging, since he carried that portion of broken dreams, stubborn hopes, and mad, illusory enterprises in which time not only does not count but is, in fact, inconceivable. One day the body sends a warning and, for a moment, we awake to the evidence of our own deterioration: someone has been living our life, consuming our strength. But we immediately return to the phantom of our spotless youth, and continue to do so until the final, inevitable awakening." P.261

And again, and again, and again...

Yes, there are mad illusory enterprises throughout the book- And jolly fun they are to read - But, like a requiem continually droning in the background, we are given, in Maqroll's reflections, that he is aware exactly how mad and illusory these enterprises are.

Fatalistic literature has never been popular, in America especially, which was founded on principles contrary to it, and where the recurrent mantra is, "You can be anything you want to be." This book shows, time and again, that you can't. It's no wonder Maqroll is enamoured of, among others, the Ancient Greeks.

Summing up, this is a great book because Mutis does the seemingly impossible here, giving us the pleasurable, lilting melodies of the sea yarn and adventure story, all the while beating the steady drumbeat of mortal doom.

Evelyn Nesbit was the 'face' at the turn of the century. She did alot of living during the first 21 years of her life. The author tells Evelyn's story beautifully and gives life to the people in this
tale.

After her father died, Evelyn's family struggled. They lived with relatives and Evelyn became an artist model. She ended up supporting her mother and brother by modeling. The family moved to New York where Evelyn met Sandford White, the famous architect. White became Evelyn's "protector" with the approval of her mother. White later took advantage of this teenage girl. Evelyn was beaten and raped by Harry Thaw a disturbed millionaire who later became her husband. His Pittsburgh family had no use for Evelyn. Harry Thaw's murder trial was the first big crime media event.

Evelyn Nesbit was exploited by her mother, Sandford White, and Harry Thaw. She is protrayed in this story as a young woman of courage and strenght.

This book is a page turner and is highly recommended.

I enjoyed the book very much. That said, I wasn't expecting to find that Ms. Nesbit had been 'groomed' as a young girl by a predatory wealthy man who had a penchant for beautiful virgins. Also sad to know that her life was a series of people using her to their own ends, whether it was sexual, financial or one-upping their percieved enemies.

After reading a brief mentioned in the NY Times weekend book review, I decided to buy this book, I can not tell you how amazing this book was too read, I read half on a flight from NYC to Amsterdam and the other half from Amsterdam to Tel-Aviv straight, I hate the phrase "page turner" but I found that I could not stop reading..if you are looking for the perfect summer light reading of NYC that once was, I highly recommend buying this book

Late in his life, after a decade and a half absence from the stage, John Barrymore toured the country in an execrable play entitled "My Dear Children." Barrymore was reduced to engaging in bad self parody to earn sufficient sums of money to satisfy his numerous creditors. The play itself was a poorly conceived variation upon "King Lear" with Barrymore playing a once famous Shakespearean actor whose drunken and hedonistic excesses bore more than a passing resemblance to his own personal foibles and marital difficulties.

Notwithstanding the shoddiness of the script, the play enjoyed a measure of success as theater patrons flocked to the box office to witness the once great actor engaging in self deprecation. When Barrymore was tired or when he had forgotten his lines, he simply engaged in ad libs. Pouring himself a drink from a prop liquor bottle, for instance, Barrymore once reduced an audience to fits of laughter by observing in an unscripted aside, "God, I wish this were real!"

After finishing one night's performance with a touring company in Chicago, Barrymore settled into a booth at the Rush Street cabaret, the Club Alabam. In the darkened room, he recognized a face. Years had faded the beauty of his former love, Evelyn Nesbit, but he called to her and he announced to all the assembled cabaret patrons that Evelyn was the first woman that he had ever truly loved. Both Barrymore and Nesbit were reduced to tears by their chance reunion.

Barrymore at the height of his powers was considered the greatest actor in the world and could sometimes command six figures in weekly wages. Nesbit was once the prototype for the celebrated Gibson Girl illustrations, but she ended up being a model for the drunken "has been" character of Susan Alexander in "Citizen Kane" (other sources suggest this composite character was based upon Marion Davies, but the character incorporates aspects of several female entertainers). Almost four decades previously, Nesbit had rejected Barrymore's sudden proposal of marriage to continue acting as the kept mistress of Stanford White, a prominent New York architect. Barrymore was a penniless artist at the time while White was a wealthy patron of the theater who frequently seduced chorus girls. This arrangement was agreeable to Nesbit's avaricious widowed mother who seemed perfectly content to sell her daughter to the highest bidder.

When White refused to divorce his wife and marry his mistress, Nesbit took up with the sadistic millionaire Harry K. Thaw, the heir to a coal fortune, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When Thaw murdered White in 1906 on account of his obsessive jealousy, which was fueled in part by his belief that White had blocked his advancement in New York society by blackballing him at several exclusive clubs as much as by his learning that White had once been balling his wife, Evelyn played a key role as a defense witness at her husband's two murder trials.

It has been reported elsewhere that Evelyn received as much as $200,000.00 from Thaw's mother to commit perjury while on the witness stand to help secure Thaw's acquittal. The defense relied upon the theory that Thaw had acted from the purest of motives in avenging the loss of his wife's honor by killing the man who had seduced and raped her. The first trial resulted in a hung jury. During the retrial, Thaw's defense counsel introduced evidence of his client's long term history of mental instability over Thaw's own protests and the prisoner was spared the death penalty and sent to a prison for the criminally insane.

Did White actually drug and rape his mistress? Possibly, but there is evidence to suggest that Evelyn Nesbit was sexually precocious. She had been hospitalized for appendicitis and had to undergo an emergency operation a few years earlier. This was a subterfuge. Nesbit had undergone "an illegal operation," namely an abortion. In attempting to short circuit Thaw's defense that he acted out of honorable motives, the prosecuting attorney William Travers Jerome attempted to present credible evidence that Nesbit had undergone as many as three emergency appendectomies in her young life and had been sexually active. In all likelihood, at least two of the abortions were intended to terminate a pregnancies that resulted from Nesbit's sexual relations with Barrymore. Many of Nesbit's embellished stories of being a victimized virgin first surfaced during her courtroom testimony and were repeated in her numerous attempts to capitalize upon the sensational media circus created by the two trials and her own subsequent notoriety in two autobiographies. Nevertheless, she sometimes claimed to have been in love with Stanford White.

Unfortunately, you will not find all of these stories in "The American Eve." Paula Uruburu has neglected to review of all of the literature on the subject. Her bibliography omits John Kobler's magisterial biography of John Barrymore "Damned in Paradise" which contains the facts that I have recited. Similarly, she omits to refer to the autobiography of Cecil B. De Mille. The famous film director's widowed mother operated a private boarding school for young ladies which Nesbit attended after White and her mother sent her packing from New York as a means of breaking off her affair with Barrymore. De Mille politely described Nesbit as so much trouble and her latest feigned appendicitis attack occurred while she was at the school. It is interesting to contrast the behavior of two widowed mothers: De Mille's mother opened a boarding school to support herself and her family, Nesbit's mother was willing to allow her daughter to become a glorified courtesan and to live off her earnings as a chorus girl and a model while encouraging her to pursue wealthy male admirers and to become a fortune hunter.

After the trials concluded and Thaw was sent to the sanitarium, his mother cut Evelyn off without an additional cent. When Evelyn bore a son a few years later, she alleged that the child was conceived during a conjugal visit with Harry K. Thaw. Her crazed former husband vehemently denied paternity of the boy. Following his release from the prison for the insane, Thaw routinely refused to support his divorced wife and her child. On rare occasions, however, he provided Nesbit with token sums of money. She remarried and attempted a career on the stage and screen, but subsequently divorced again and became an alcoholic and a morphine addict. Her suicide attempts were unsuccessful and she died of natural causes in 1967.

Hollywood has sought to depict the scandal of the "Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" on several occasions. Joan Collins and Ray Milland appeared in a sanitized version of the story (if it is possible to use the word "sanitized" in the same sentence with the name of a Hollywood harridan like Collins -- her casting couch nickname was once "The British Open"). The relationship between Stanford White and Nesbit is treated as an almost innocent relationship between two lovers who are unable to marry due to societal conventions beyond their control. Not surprisingly, this film used Nesbit as a consultant. A more plausible portrayal of Evelyn Nesbit occurred in the adaptation of the E. L. Doctrow novel "Ragtime" in which Elizabeth McGovern played Nesbit as a sexually promiscuous and money conscious woman on the make who could not control her lunatic husband.

In James Cameron's feature film "Titanic," the writer/director borrowed freely from other film adaptations of the shipwreck tragedy and he created composite characters that appear to be based upon Evelyn Nesbit, Harry K. Thaw, and the supporting cast of real life persons that played bit roles in the murder trial of the century. Frances Fisher plays the ambitious mother pushing her beautiful daughter to marry an insanely jealous millionaire. At one point, she explains to her daughter the necessity of a woman entering into a loveless marriage solely for financial security. Kate Winslet (Rose) and Billy Zane (Cal) can easily be viewed as simple variations upon Evelyn Nesbit and Harry K. Thaw while the penniless artist played by Leonard DiCaprio (Jack) approximates Jack Barrymore. The only composite character diminished in the screenplay is that of Stanford White. Victor Garber plays the ship's architect (Thomas Andrews) who seems to have a platonic or paternalistic love interest in Rose`s character, not unlike Ray Milland's sympathetic 1955 portrayal of White in "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing," but this character is sidelined from the love triangle. Cameron's script turns history on its head as Rose opts for the starving artist rather than the rich madman before the ship collides with the iceberg. Some tragedies do bear dramatic repetition.

On the positive side, this new biography is lavishly illustrated with photographs and drawings. Evelyn Nesbit may well have been one of the most beautiful women in America during her prime. I cannot accord this book a higher rating simply because of its omissions. The author seems to have elected to rely upon Evelyn Nesbit's own dubious recollections of the events too often. "American Eve" is not necessarily a bad account of the murder, scandal and the two trials, but it is certainly an incomplete one. For example, the latter sixty years of Nesbit's life are handled in an abrupt and cursory manner.

In turn of the century New York, Pennsylvania-born Florence Evelyn Nesbit was a famous teen beauty. Her waterfall of dark red hair, heart-shaped face, and expression of unawakened sexuality put her in hot demand as a model, therefore her image graced calendars, sheet music covers, and printed ads. Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery used one of Nesbit's photos as inspiration for the heroine of her bestseller "Anne of Green Gables". She shone in the Floradora chorus and her stage-door admirers included some of the wealthiest men in New York. She had her pick of suitors, and could have married well. Instead, she attracted two moral lepers disguised as rich gentlemen, and let them use her alternately as a sex toy and a pawn.

The first was famed architect Stanford White, who drugged and deflowered her. The second was Pittsburgh millionaire and raging sadist Harry Kendall Thaw, who beat and raped her in a remote European castle, and married her partly out of mad infatuation, partly from a determination that his hated enemy Stanford White should never have her again. Thaw made sure the latter event could never come to pass when he shot and killed White in June 1906. Thaw's trial for murder dominated headlines throughout the world and made Evelyn a universal object of lust and fascination.

When Thaw's family cast her adrift after he was sentenced to an asylum for the criminally insane, Nesbit returned to the stage. She became a vaudeville performer, silent film actress and cafe manager. In 1910 she bore a son, whom she always insisted was the result of a conjugal visit with Harry, but Thaw denied paternity. Evelyn spent years fighting alcoholism and morphine addiction, and attempted suicide more than once. She seems to have regained control of her life in her twilight years: she acted as a technical adviser on the 1955 movie "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing". Nesbit died in Santa Monica, California, in January 1967.

I wasn't prepared to like this book because I simply don't find Evelyn Nesbit to be a sympathetic figure. She let herself be used by two wealthy and powerful degenerates, and married a man who'd whipped her bloody not too long before. While I retain my negative opinion about her moral standards, "American Eve" has shown her to be quick witted, intelligent, and sensitive. In reconstructing the early years of this `child woman', Paula Uruburu relies heavily on Nesbit's two published memoirs, therefore injecting a lot of her subject's voice and personality into the book. She also interviewed Evelyn's grandson, Russell. The result is a well-written biography that may be the closest we will ever come to knowing Evelyn Nesbit personally. Even if you're not too fond of her, you can't help but enjoy "American Eve".

This is one of those works that will stick with you. It is rather difficult to discribe. I do note, after talking to several people, and reading several reviews on this site and others, that each person who reads this one finds something a bit different. Myself, I was haunted, in a good way, and yet disturbed at the same time. The wonderful prose pulls you into this unknown mans life. The wonderful art work keeps you there. I personally love the work. I do recommend though, that it would probably be best to read this one with the young reader rather than let them try it by themselves for the first time. I find it difficult to think that a very young person would be able to identify with the lonely man in this story nor understand just what is happening (as a matter of fact, after several readings, I'm not all that sure myself, and I am as old as dirt). Be that as it may, this is certainly one worth giving a read, several reads as a matter of fact!

I bought this book thinking it would be a good one for my nieces and nephew; it really is. While the book is slightly sad, I feel it is appropriate to share with children as it profiles how one can find happiness in their own cirumstances through different vehicles. The vehicle in this main character's life is his "wishes" and his association with a common activity and the people who make the activity meaningful.
Read it, read it again, share it and share it again.

I bought this book quite a long time ago and it is still number one book in my library and will be. It makes my eyes full of tears everytime I read. What more I can say? I just LOVE this book. I really do. Story, Illustration... Beautiful, just beautiful. I wish I could give it 5 million stars, if that's possible. : )

I like this book because it's very creative. It shows a lot of thought. Solomon learns a lesson to use his imagination more. He knows he cannot have balconies, change his walls a different color. And that is why he did not like his hotel at all. The author doesn't use simple words. For example, he doesn't say "a quiet voice said..." He says "a quiet voice like Indiana pines in November said..."
I recommend this book for all people.

I think it is one of the most perfect books ever. Since my mom bought it, well,I'm encouraged. Because I'm a student, I could have it for my schoolbook. If I could give it ten billion stars, I'd yell out, "Hey, Solomon Singer!" (Giggle!)