New York Books

After reading Esther Averill's The Fire Cat and Jenny and the Cat Club, my daughter has become an avid fan. She giggles at the tales of Jenny's adventures with her brothers and the other cat club friends. These are timeless tales which are perfect for early readers because the stories have enough depth to keep children interested but are simply told making them ideal for those starting to read on their own.

My girls love all the Jenny Linsky adventures/stories. This one does not disappoint and is so well-written that it appeals to all ages.

Esther Averill, is the author of a wonderful series of children's books involving a small, shy black cat named Jenny Linsky, of which The School for Cats is one. This story, and all the others in this series are very sweet. They remind me of the other wonderful, classic children's stories such as the Beatrix Potter stories. While the Jenny Linsky stories were written in the 50's, I think children today would still find them very entertaining. Any parent or child who loves cats and cat stories will love these stories. This is a story that kids will want read to them over and over again.

Copyright 1957. Jenny Linsky goes to sea at a time that was sweller than now, presuming you were a well-birthed white male or knew your place. Jenny knew her place. She has a member of the civilized Cat Club and no stanger to adventure. Look out for mysterious predictions, an epic poem, and the brave deed! Life was simpler then, and, frankly, I occasionally enjoy being spared the social redeeming values of more modern fiction. Pickles the fire cat even makes a cameo appearance. Averill's simple illustrations and charts nicely augment the short novel. A good read. The balance of Esther Averill's work as well as other publications by the New York Review Children's Collection are also worth looking into. Don't miss The Fire Cat. Enjoy.

I read Jenny and the Cat Club as a child, but never found any of the other Jenny books until now. This book did not disappoint! If you are a Jenny fan, this is a must have.

This book by Wilson Smith is a little gem. He has written bravely and honestly about events in his life that will make the reader laugh and cry and just wonder how on earth he ever lived to tell the tales in Just Dirt.

It is amazingly touching and and not without humour. I think every teen who is thinking of running away should read this book. In fact every teenager should read this book and if I had a say I would put it on all reading lists in High Schools.

Just Dirt is not just for kids. Mr. Smith has recalled events that touched his life, his family and those around him. Every person reading this book will be moved in some way.

Mr. Smith has written the book in a really casual style, if I may say that. While reading Just Dirt, the reader feels as if he/she is sitting with a good friend while he is recalling episodes from his eventful past.

Wilson Smith, Just Dirt (Lulu, 2007)

I'll start off by saying there's no way I can write an unbiased review of this book. I've been reading Wilson Smith's writing for nigh on a decade now-- as hard as it is for me to believe that stockboy recruited me old pal Mike Burns and me for xnet membership almost ten years ago, such is the case-- and, like most of the list folk, I am well aware that Smith can spin a mighty fine tale when he takes the mike. And I have heard a number of these tales before, either just as they are here or in somewhat rougher form. Besides, I'm actually thanked in the credits. Me? Unbiased? Are you [censored] kidding?

I should also start off by saying that memoirs generally drive me up the wall. And that, interestingly, perhaps what I value most about this book is that Smith nailed why, on the head, in a brief digression in one of these stories. And then went on to write the first truly readable memoir (as opposed to those memoirs-passed-off-as-novels that are far easier to bear, witness Bukowski or Exley or even Jay McInerney's Ransom, his best and most underrated novel) I've come across in... longer than I care to remember. I consider this just payment for having forced myself though 100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed.

Part of what makes it so readable is that this isn't a memoir in the way you might think of memoirs. It reads more like a collection of short stories. (As a side note, the book's main weakness also comes into play here; there are some times when pieces of a story are repeated. Remember in the Encyclopedia Brown books, where Donald Sobel's first few paragraphs were startlingly similar in every story? You get that here, but only once or twice.) The end result has a sort of concept-album kind of impressionism, a feeling that you're not getting the whole story, just the pieces that matter. Would that a number of other memoirists had thought to do such a thing.

But what really nails it for me is something I found completely surprising. In this scene, Smith finds a number of old stories (from a long-abandoned first draft of the title piece) in his attic, and is re-reading them:

"The stories, though, were non-stop "Show, don't tell" (the first rule of writing, eh?), to a degree of which I'm now mostly incapable. It makes me feel like a hamster on a wheel to try to write that way now."

Now, I'm a big fan of "show, don't tell." A huge fan. It's by far the best way to approach fiction. It's the only way to approach poetry if you want a poem that your public won't laugh at. But when I read that bit, I looked back on all those memoirs I've hated over the past few years, since they got so huge, and I realized that they were all trying way too hard to show (and to show every excruciating minor detail), whereas Smith is just sitting there like the guy next to you at the (juice) bar talking about all the stupid [censored] we did as kids. Well, some of us did as kids. (If you can't find anything in here to identify with, I envy you.) And, wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, it works. I'm not sure it would work in a longer manuscript-- Smith's book weighs in at a light, easy-to-digest-in-one-sitting 132 pages-- but it works here like a charm. (Which begs the question: how well do charms work? And what do they do? My mom's just dangled from her bracelet.)

This may sound like, well, it's just some guy sitting there telling you a story. Anyone who made the mistake of signing up for a first-year psychology class in college knows just how boring that can be (especially if you had my professor). Smith's self-deprecating wit coupled with the basic insanity of the times keep it from ever being boring. (Note: Smith does assume something of a knowledge of those times. If you're not familiar with, for example, the sixties hippie counterculture, you might find yourself confused. Be warned.)

Also, something else of note. As I mentioned; this is a one hundred thirty-two page manuscript. I grant you, I wasn't reading with a proofreaders' eye, but I noticed a total of two typos in the entire book. I can't think of the last book I came across from a major press with two typos. It's unheard of in the realm of print-on-demand books. That alone is reason enough to pick up a copy of this, even if the book itself had sucked. And this one doesn't, not by a stone's throw followed by a world-record chaw spit.

End result: even if you loathe the entire memoir genre, check this one out. It may just change your mind (though, I rush to add, just about itself. The rest of those memoirs? Yeah. Still garbage). *** ½

"Harrowing" is an over-used word in pop culture criticism, but I can think of few places where it is better and more aptly deployed than in a review of Wilson Smith's "Just Dirt." This loosely chronological memoir is crafted as an integrated series of short, near-still life vignettes (painting brutally honest and specific pictures of moments and places in time) and longer tales of transition (where thing/place/person A becomes thing/place/person B, and where the process, the crucible, is key).

In less deft hands, such a tale could have been ponderous, self-indulgent and dire, but Smith's story-telling skills are sharp, and his language and characterization are rich and evocative, drawing a reader into the emotional peaks and valleys that frame his psychological landscapes. He paints his self-portrait with brutal candor, and does a tremendous job at building tension in some of his longer works. You just know that something awful is going to come of all this, but you can't stop reading until Smith shines the spotlight on the shortcoming or mistake that wishes to expose or expunge, at which point you generally find a hidden element of beauty and grace, where you least expected it.

And ultimately that's what makes this book so lively and lovely: these are dark and troubling tales, but grace and transcendence and growth (and the desire to find them all) permeates the narrative, palpably. There's no treacly ending, no easy answers, no pat wrap-up, just an uplifting sense in the end that, hey, even though we're often our own worst enemies, and even though we may not always like ourselves, we're still something finer and grander than the sum of our molecular matter, and we're not just dirt, not by a longshot.

"Just Dirt" regales the reader with wonderfully disturbing stories, stories painfully familiar to many of us -- except we didn't have the balls to make them public. Smith has a refreshingly honest style of writing, sort of "in your face," witty, intellectual, anti-intellectual and hip all at once. Part journal, part personal journey, part freak show, it's a lurid, sensational look into the very deepest, darkest corners of not just Smith's world, but certainly mine and probably yours.

"Just Dirt" is a gloriously readable collection of events that may make you draw comparisons to your own experiences or may make you aware of your own relatively uneventful life. The style Smith employs is highly personal, and while he doesn't glorify the dysfunction, he embraces it in a way that helps explain how he has become the man he is today.

His ability to step away from himself and look back with remarkable clarity is impressive.

As a reader, I felt some guilt because I wanted MORE, even though reading his memoirs resulted in a level of discomfort. To say I "enjoyed" the book seems inappropriate, but I couldn't stop reading it, and it's been a long time since I can recall being so captivated.

Dan is an individual with a very large history in the detection business...And unlike all other authors...well let me put it this way...how many authors let their readers email him and he actually replies and replies as long as he still has something interesting to say..which is always. THIS is the only book in his series that I do NOT have, but if every other one is any clue, damn, lol. They are the most involving, well written and well linked together books Ive ever read and Ive read ALOT of stuff in my time. Highly recommended by a person who was in the law enforcement business.

I love books that have the same characters whom I like enough to go back to the beginning and read them all. This is my first, and I will find all the others. Great read.

See storyline above.

A good police procedural. Dan Mahoney's story telling seems to be made for the big screen, but in his writing you get a much better idea of a character's true self.
The story moves at a good pace, while the action and drama will keep you going to the very last page.

Recommended.

ONCE AGAIN DAN MAHONEY HAS WRITTEN A GREAT NYPD NOVEL. IF YOU HAVE READ HIS PAST BOOKS YOU WILL THROUGHLY ENJOY JUSTICE. DAN WRITES ABOUT WHAT HE KNOWS WHICH IS THE NYPD AND POLICE WORK. WHY HOLLYWOOD ISNT TURNING HIS BOOKS INTO MOVIES I DONT KNOW. KEEP WRITING DAN.

Justice is the latest, and in my opinion the best of Mahoney's NYPD thrillers. More action this time, a bad guy that you end up rooting for, and two cops fighting against the system and their own department to stop him from killing again. Mahoney nails the details and as always has great "only in New York" characters who weave in and out of the story. Shootouts, chases through the city, a spy in the police department, and a final showdown: Somebody should make a movie of this one!

When I picked this up, I thought it would just be a horror book. The story of Dr. Jennifer List Gilbert, a very ordinary and lonely woman whose extraordinary and unwanted "gift" repulses all the other people in her life. It begins with a sociopathic intruder to the Gilbert home dying an inexplicable and painful death during a home invasion robbery. The story of the police officer trying to get to the bottom of the mysterious death is interwoven with the strange and sad life story of Dr. Gilbert. Scary, suspenseful, tragic - I've read this book so many times I've worn out my copy and need a new one! Definitely recommend.

When I picked this up, I thought it would just be a horror book. The story of Dr. Jennifer List Gilbert, a very ordinary and lonely woman whose extraordinary and unwanted "gift" repulses all the other people in her life. It begins with a sociopathic intruder to the Gilbert home dying an inexplicable and painful death during a home invasion robbery. The story of the police officer trying to get to the bottom of the mysterious death is interwoven with the strange and sad life story of Dr. Gilbert. Scary, suspenseful, tragic - I've read this book so many times I've worn out my copy and need a new one! Definitely recommend.

A truly unusual book written 20 years ago. I've read it several times to relive the thoughts of the main characters and their stuggles with the amazing power of Jennifer.

When on honeymoon in 1928, Tom and Kate List are in a motor car accident that leaves Kate with a broken hip. Not knowing she was already pregnant, she receives a turn-of-the-century x-ray during treatment. Nine months later, her daughter Jennifer is born.

Jennifer is different from all the other children, in an indefinable way. The only person who does not feel any discomfort in her presence is her own mother. Even Tom has an aversion to his daughter.

`The Killing Gift' is a story of Jennifer's achingly lonely life, alone as she grew up and alone as a young college woman and even alone after her eventual marriage. Starting with an incident of a broken vase when she was but a child, strange things happen around Jennifer when she is upset or cornered.

Her only friend is Ellen Compton, a beauty who is so self centered she has no room to fear what Jennifer is; and her husband Dr. William Gilbert is a kind and quiet man who does not notice much around him. Even in the presence of the only two people who have ever tolerated her, Jennifer is alone.

The book skips around from Jennifer's past to her present, when maniac killer Amos Roberts is found dead in the Gilbert's apartment. Assigned to the case is Captain David Stavitsky, a homicide cop obsessed with a case folder of criminals who escaped prosecution. Amos Roberts was one of his obsessions, until now.

Stavitsky digs into the death of Roberts with tenacity, uncovering Jennifer's past and trying to solve the mystery around the woman.

Absolutely perfect read for lovers of detective novels or horror novels, very fast and compelling storyline with enough shivers in it to leave a satisfying, tingling taste in your mouth. Enjoy!

This is a story about a woman who is a recluse. Attacked by an armed man, the main character kills him by wishing him dead. The homicide detective who investigates the crime becomes enthralled with this woman and her killing gift. Excellent suspense story, more suspense than horror. It's a Putnam Award Novel. definitely worth a look.

William Gaylin's book, which combined good journalism, professional psychiatric insight, and superb wisdom and philosophical context, is in my opinion the best criminology ever written. Although his discussion of the crime and the motives therefor is first rate, what gives the book its immense value is the observations he made of the reaction of the Yale community to the offense. (Both murderer and victim were Yale undergraduates.) He combined this acute analysis with an acuity of insight that makes the book both profound and immediate. Anyone interested in criminal law should read and digest this book.

The best true crime books reveal not simply the crime and the criminals but the times in which both existed. While not really a True Crime book per se, it does reveal the crime, the criminal and the times.

I reread this book after reading American Taboo by Philip Weiss. Both books are about young, sexually liberated young women in their early twenties who are murdered in the mid 1970s by men whose claims of "insanity" successfully save them from murder convictions. In both cases people rally around the murderer because "no one can help" the dead victim anymore. In American Taboo, it's "us" (read "Americans") against "them" (read the Tongans). In Bonnie Garland's case the us are people who passionately believe that "prison does no good" versus "the establishment."

Gaylin delves deeply into the minds of all involved to understand their motivations and goals. He nails Herrin's defenders on their strange inability to differentiate punishment and rehabilitation. He also exposes their contempt for imprisonment in general - most can barely summon up an example of a crime that would warrant a long stint in jail. Gaylin isn't one sided, he depicts both sides with compassion and respect, he is especially good at drawing out the passionate desire for social justice that lead some of Herrin's supporters to see this case in political terms. Would commitment Catholic clergy like Sister Ramona Pena and the Christian Brothers have championed the cause of a man who bludgeoned his girlfriend with a claw-hammer in any other time but the early 1970s?

Most unsettling is the reaction of the Yale establishment many of who voice a feeling that Bonnie Garland's father needed to just get over it, that his grief and rage were somehow out of proportion. The lack of simple human compassion is staggering - for them the University is more important than the students.

This is a powerful book. The first chapter alone should be required reading in every high school civics class for the questions it asks. Does society have a right to demand punishment in the name of justice or is the goal of the justice system to salvage what can be salvaged that will benefit society in the long term? These are questions each of us should ask ourselves as citizens.

This is one of those rare books that, for better or worse, keeps me under its daunting yoke. It's gory depiction of the murder of Bonnie Garland, a 1970s Yale undergraduate, and of the mindset of her murderer, a fellow student, is breathtaking in an eerie, dreadful sort of way. When I read this book about four years ago, the hairs on my arms stood straight up. When I think about this book today, my Pavlovian hairs march in step. Giving me a glimpse of the mind of a killer is what I liked about this book.

What I didn't like, and what the second half of this book concerns itself with, is the psychological analysis of why the killer did what he did. This was the bane of an otherwise great book. The first half of the book was written in a reporter-like, just-the-facts-ma'am style. I liked that. Part of the joy of the book for me was to figure out how the killer thought, and to extrapolate his motive(s) for the crime. The author's Mickey-mouse psychological analysis of the killer's motives in the second half of the book was amateurish at best, and to my reckoning, just plain wrong.

In any event, I couldn't stop reading the book and the pitfalls of its second half weren't so bad as to destroy the enjoyment I gained from the first half. Personally, however, I would just read the first half and leave it at that.

One important note: my enjoyment of this book was purely on an intellectual level -- in trying to answer the question "why do killers kill." However, on an emotional level, this book was nauseating and, quite frankly, sick. I often had to put the book down and wonder (1) how could someone commit such a heinous act and (2) how could somebody write a book about it in such a cool-headed, detached fashion? I'm not sure if I'm better for having read it or if I would have been better off having left my copy without a reader. I'm sure the answer rests somewhere in the middle, but if you're especially squeamish, you'd be better off not buying this book. If you've ever lost a loved one to violent crime, it's probably not the book for you. And if you're the vigilante type, this is definitely not the book for you: you'll probably find yourself wanting to take care these sick-headed people yourself.

Absolutely invigorating book. The methodical thinking of Willard Gaylin is simply brilliant. Everything is clear. An amazing read!

Willard Gaylin is a gifted writer who is also a psychiatrist with long years of practice. The book is about an awful murder, but more than that it's about the inability of institutions of society -- Yale, and the criminal justice system -- to deal effectively with immorality and cruelty. The murder is the lens through which Gaylin brings social, moral and psychiatric issues into focus. Twenty years after I first read this book it remains vivid in my mind.

This book proves the adage, "A picture is worth more than 1,000 words." Master cartoonist Brad Olsen-Ecker's clever take on the Statue of Libery kept me laughing for days. Just thinking about some of the cartoons makes it hard to contain myself. This little, hliarious book should be on the shelves at every book and souvenir shop in the Big Apple. It also makes a great, inexpensive gift. Finally, I long for the reopening of the monument...

All I can say is I'm glad there is SOME funny guy out there. I have always read serious books until my friend Brie gave me this book for my 27th birthday. I was laughing on the floor before I got to the second page! Bradley, you are brilliant! Congrats on a fantastic book.

Some of these cartoons are priceless and extremely funny. They remind me of the ones in The New Yorker with a twist, and I think the author is a little twisted. Every time I look at this book I just keep laughing. If you love lady liberty get this book. It grows on you.

Wit, humor, and style combine in this collection of cartoons depicting the much-loved statue in situations she never expected. The perfect souvenir for anyone who's ever been to (or even thought about traveling to) New York.

The illustrations of the Statue of Liberty are so simple but the situations are so uniquely funny. I started reading it on the train and started laughing out loud. It's very funny.

I read this book in one sitting and have spent many hours on the photo's. Gayatri's story is romantic and inspiring and the photos are beautiful. I have had to replace the copy in my office because it was badly worn by frequent use, so I know many others are enjoying it as well. I am giving it as Christmas gifts this year.

Beautifully illustrated throughout with 115 pages of truly impressive color photography, "The Landscape Diaries: Garden Of Obsession" by Gayatri Carole Rocherolle combines 18 pages of preliminary material with 172 pages of engaging and informative text showcasing a personal memoir of a woman and her husband's twenty-year focus on the development of the Steinhardt Gardens in Bedford, New York --private garden comprising 54-acres of land that includes ponds, bridges, 400 cultivars of lovely Japanese Maples, exotic animals, and more. Through a series of wonderfully written vignettes, "The Landscape Diaries" reveals what it was like for Carole to runaway to Europe at the age of twenty to marry the man who would become her husband, meeting her French relatives for the first time, selling plants from a deli parking lot, starting a business, developing a fascination with bonsai, going through an unintentional quarantined plant scare. "The Landscape Diaries" is a personal autobiography that is especially recommended to the attention of gardeners, landscapers, and anyone who has aspired to create a horticultural wonderland of their own.

From the wonderful photo on the cover, I expected a beautiful photographic exploration of an award winning garden. What I didn't expect was a story I couldn't put down! When was the last time you read a gardening book in two sittings? Nope, I can't think of another either.

This book is more than just a book about a garden. The landscape photos will ensure that this book stays out for guests to enjoy; if they want to read the story, then they'll have to buy their own.

I've been visiting and learning from Shanti Bithi's bonsai collection for many years. Now I know the whole story of the love, passion and a drive for excellence that created the beautiful "Garden of Obsession."

For as long as the concept of beauty has been in our vocabulary, so too has the fascination with trying to define it. While many may be unable to provide a concrete definition, recognizing beauty is easy. The Landscape Diaries: Garden of Obsession illustrates and exemplifies this point. When the book arrived, packed in dreary brown cardboard, I was overwhelmed to open the package and see such a stunning gem inside. The cover itself is just breathtaking. I immediately looked through all the photographs and was so intrigued I read the entire book that night. Along with the beautiful pictures is a profound and inspiring love story including partner, children, nature, work, and pursuit of self.

After I finished reading this book, I kept thinking how many people would enjoy it. When I started deciding whom to recommend it to, I realized that I couldn't think of anyone who wouldn't enjoy it.

Instead of going on to read another book, I re-read a favorite poem of mine, "Ode on a Grecian Urn", by John Keats. The last lines of the poem are: " `Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' -- that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." That quote describes this delightful book since much of it reads like insightful, intriguing, provocative and, well, beautiful poetry. Bravo!

A marvelous book, filled with beautiful pictures! The accompanying text by itself is worth the price - a delightfully written love story. Unique garden design ideas abound, despite the author's keeping the how-to information to an absolute minimum. For the literary-minded, the property that is the subject of the "landscape" part of this wonderful book was once owned by Theodore Dreiser of "Sister Carrie" fame. I have had the pleasure of visiting this estate in the course of my own work, and the photos in the book make me realize that it has been too long, and I must go again soon!

I teach Memoir Writing to local seniors and I routinely use this book as an example of outstanding biography. It's one thing to write a 250 word bio but quite another, and much more demanding, to pen a few-hundred-word last goodbye to someone and do it with panache. The NY Times has three books of obituaries, this is the most recent. The quality of the writing is, in many cases, superior to anything in the rest of the newspaper(all the obits here were published in the Times). I especially like the reviews of Robert McG Thomas, who died within the past year at age 60. His obituaries deserved a Pulitzer. His obits are worth the price of the book. Everybody deserves a last word. These obits are not just about famous people but about average joes and janes who have been extraordinary human beings. I'd even recommend this book for spiritual reading because the lives here are inspirational. I teach writing and am always on the lookout for examples of prose that will knock my socks off. This is one helluva book.

Rather than an ode to death, this book cherishes lives onced lived by all kinds of people. Whether brilliant or simple, rich or poor, actions great or discreet, each of the people written about contributed to society in a meaningful (and often surprising) way. Equally outstanding are the authors of these obituaries, whose writing talents manage to entertain, educate and move the reader deeply without being maudlin. Even more importantly, this book forces us to examine our own lives: what will people say about us when we've faced our Maker? For those of us who come up pitifully short, this book inspires even the common man to contribute to society, and strive for -- and hopefully, attain -- spiritual immortality.

You wouldn't think a book of obituaries would be entertaining, but it is when the obits are well-written and celebrate the lives and characters of the 100+ people found in this collection. The subjects are most often unknown to the majority of us, but the various authors (including well-known NYT obituary author Robert McG. Thomas, Jr.) humanize each subject and inspire you to contemplate your own life. Most essays are a couple of pages long, and there is an introduction by Russell Baker.

A delightful collection of lives which I read cover to cover in one sitting. Offers a fascinating glimpse of la comedie humaine--often witty, sometimes sad, always remarkable.

I was turned onto this book when it was selected for the Book-of-the-Month Club--I cannot recommend it enough to anyone interested in the lives of others. A great gift.

In our celebrity-obsessed culture, in which bland, no-talent know-nothing windbags like "Dharma and Greg's" Jenna Elfman are considered national treasures and given lengthy pseudo-important profiles in glossy magazines, it is refreshing to read about lives that actually have meaning; about people who commit their lives to doing interesting things for others and for themselves; people whose lives take amazing twists of fate, people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances and react in ways that no one could predict. The genius of this book is that it covers not the obvious obits of international icons like, say, John Lennon or Richard Nixon, but people whom you may have never heard of, such as the inventor of kiddy litter or the great bluesman Willie Dixon. And they are written not as morbid reflections on death, but as the book's subtitle says "celebrations of life." The Last Word also holds the important distinction of being the greatest bathroom book I have ever read. Why not put it in your own john?

If you are interested in the history of the American Left or are a militant trying to understand some of the past lessons of our history concerning the socialist response to various social and labor questions this book is for you. This book is part of a continuing series of volumes of the writings of James P. Cannon that were published by the organization he founded, the Socialist Workers Party, in the 1970's and 1980's. Cannon died in 1974. Look in this space for other related reviews of this series of documents on and by an important American Communist.

In their introduction the editors motivate the purpose for the publication of the book by stating the Cannon was the finest Communist leader that America had ever produced. This an intriguing question. The editors trace their political lineage back to Cannon's leadership of the early Communist Party and later after his expulsion to the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party so their perspective is obvious. What does the documentation provided here show? This certainly is the period of Cannon's political maturation, and the beginning of a long political collaboration working with Trotsky. The period under discussion- from the late 1920's when he was expelled as leader of the American Communist Party to the early 1930's and the start of the great labor upsurge which would bring wide spread unionization to the working class. Cannon won his spurs in this struggle to orient those organizations toward a revolutionary path. One thing is sure- in his prime, which includes this period- Cannon had the instincts to want to lead a revolution and had the evident capacity to do so. That he never had an opportunity to lead a revolution is his personal tragedy and ours as well.

As an expelled faction of the American Communist Party, which continued to stand on the program of the defense of the Russian Revolution, the Cannon group needed an orientation. That they considered themselves an expelled but loyal faction of the Communist Party was the correct orientation for a small propaganda group. The party was where the vast bulk of the advanced political workers were. Immediately going to the "masses", as has occurred with other expelled groupings, then and now, would have proved disastrous. Cannon's group needed to cohere a programmatic basis and recruit a cadre to win over workers and intellectuals from the party. Its Platform of the Communist Opposition, a generally good programmatic statement, was its key analytical tool to win cadre. There are two points in that document that should be of interest to today's militants. Those are the slogans for a workers party and for the right of national self-determination for blacks (at that time called Negroes).

In a pre-revolutionary or revolutionary period a revolutionary workers organization would recruit militants directly to the party. Other events like the labor upheavals in the United States in the 1930's fall in the same category. Thus, using some algebraic formula for drawing workers to a broader revolutionary formation is not necessary. At other times, and the late 1920's and early 1930's was such a period in the United States, the call for a workers party, presumably based on less than a full socialist program, by a propaganda group would be appropriate. In short, propaganda and agitation in favor of a generic workers party is a tactic. The call for such a formation today by militants in the United States is appropriate. In any case, no militant makes such a call for a workers party based on, for example, the model of the British Labor Party, then or now.

The left-wing movement in America, including the Communist Party and its offshoots has always had problems with what has been called the Black Question. The Communist Opposition's position on this question reflects that misconception, taken over from the party. This position has always been associated with American Communist Party member Harry Haywood (see his book Black Bolshevik). Marxists have always considers support to the right of national self-determination to be a wedge against nationalists and to attempt to take the national question off the agenda and put a working class resolution on the agenda. In any case, that programmatic point has always been predicated on there being a possibility for a defined group to form a nation. Absent that, other methods of struggle are necessary to deal with the special oppression, in this case of black people. Part of the problem with the American Communist position is that the conditions which would have created the possibility of a black state were being destroyed with the mechanization of agriculture, the migration of blacks to the Northern industrial centers and the overwhelming need to fight for black people's rights to survive under the conditions of the Great Depression. If one really thinks about it the only realistic time that this slogan could be raised or supported would have been shortly after the American Civil War when the black population was more compacted geographically and there might have been some political will by Radical Republican to back such a scheme. This misconception of the viability (or desirability) of a black nation would later came back to haunt Cannon's group when the Civil Rights struggles of the 1950's and 1960's presented opportunities for intervention in the black struggle. At that time they essentially abstained from recruiting blacks based on their program. They zigzagged between following Malcolm X and Martin Luther King rather than fighing for a socialist program among blacks. And we are still paying the price for that missed opportunity.

The Cannon faction was not the only group expelled from the American Communist Party during the period under review. One cannot understand this period inside the Communist movement if one does not understand which ways the winds were blowing from Moscow. A furious struggle for power in the Russian Communist Party, reflected in the Communist International, was under way during this period. First, the Stalin faction defeated the Trotsky-led Left Opposition, and then shortly thereafter the Bukharin-led Right Opposition was defeated. In America, this was reflected in the expulsion of the Lovestone group, previously the leadership of the Party. The political shakeout from these events was a certain pressure to unite the two expelled factions. Trotsky, and through his influence Cannon argued strenuously that such a combination was unprincipled and unworkable.

Most parliamentary parties, and here the writer includes reformist workers parties, do not confront a question such as this proposed bloc for the simple reason they are not, and do not want to, carry out a revolution. Therefore, such parties, will freely block with any other organization under any advantageous conditions. Not so a revolutionary party. While it may unite, for the moment, with a wide range of organizations for general democratic demands it must have a fairly homogeneous program if it is to lead a revolution. The program of the Right Opposition, in effect, was a transmission belt for reformism. In short, if you unite left and right you have two parties, at least in embryo in one organization. The Russian Revolution and later the Communist International in its better days should have put that idea of unification to rest. For Trotsky, Canon and the International Left Opposition this necessary separation was shown most dramatically in Spain when the formerly Trotskyist Left Opposition led by Andreas Nin fused with the Right Opposition led by his friend Juan Maurin in 1935. The result, the Party of Marxist Unification (POUM), while being the most honest revolutionary party in the Spanish Civil War floundered over revolutionary strategy due to its confused orientation on the popular front, military support to the bourgeois government and a whole range of questions of revolutionary strategy and tactics. The POUM experience is the textbook of what not to do in a revolutionary period. Unfortunately, for confusion on this issue Nin lost his life at the hands of the Stalinists, the POUM leadership was arrested after the May Days in Barcelona and the Spanish Revolution was derailed.

In Communist history, the period under review is called the `Third Period', in theory allegedly the period of the final crisis of capitalism. The conclusions drawn by the Stalinists from this theory was that revolution was on the immediate agenda everywhere and that it was not necessary, and in fact, counterproductive to make alliances with other forces. This writer has read a fair amount of material about this `Third Period', mainly at the level of high policy in the Communist International, especially in regard to Germany where it was a disaster. This volume gives a very nice appreciation by Cannon in a number of articles of how that policy worked at the base, the trade unions and the unemployed. It is painful to see how the Stalinist withdrew from the organized trade union movement and set up their own "red" unions composed mainly of Communist sympathizers. That the Stalinist did not suffer more damage and isolation after this flawed policy was changed later during the great labor battles of the 1930's testifies more to the desperate nature of those struggles than any wisdom learned by the Stalinists. Read this book for more on how to build a workers organization in tough times.

As an addition to the historical record of this period this book is a very good companion to Cannon's own THE COMMUNIST LEAGUE OF AMERICA, 1932-34 and DOG DAYS: JAMES P. CANNON vs. MAX SHACHTMAN IN THE COMMUNIST LEAGUE OF AMERICA, 1931-1933, PROMETHEUS RESEARCH LIBRARY, Spartacist Publishing Co., New York, 2002.

In 1928 James P. Cannon is one of the central leaders of the US Communist Party known through the labor and civil liberties movement as the leader of the International Labor Defense,sent to Moscow to represent his faction in the party. In 1928 Cannon along with two of his assistants happen about Trotsky's critique of the draft program of the Communist International. They decides that these are the right ideas, and they fight for them, knowing they will lose offices, and jobs, not knowing but facing being attacked in the streets, their homes burglarized, pilloried through the labor movement from a leader of tens of thousands to a leader of a dozen. This book shows what Cannon's faith in his ideas meant and how they struggle to build a nucleus of a real movement because of the faith of ideas and in the revolutionary capacities of humanity. Anyone who thinks that Marxism had anything seriously to do with the US Communist party should read this book. Anyone who wants the courage to fight for a real future for the working and farming majority of humanity should read this book.

This might seem a rather obscure set of writings, but in reading through them I found a very rich collection of political writings, one that should be inspiring and useful for any thinking worker or young person today.

James P. Cannon was the central leader of the cadres expelled from the U.S. Communist Party in 1928 for their fight to maintain the revolutionary perspectives of Marx, Lenin and the 1917 Russian Revolution in face of the bureaucratic, conservative and increasingly counterrevolutionary policies imposed by Stalin from Moscow. The articles and speeches in this volume amply illustrate two points Cannon stresses time and again: the importance of political program, starting from a working-class world view, in building a revolutionary leadership; and the importance of knowing what to do next and doing it, based on the objective reality confronting the movement at any given time.

Cannon's writings here also present fascinating details of the working class struggle from these years, including the onset of the 1930s depression, defense campaigns for workers framed up and imprisoned by the bosses and their courts, and important strikes by miners, textile and garment workers in the United States. Don't miss them!

Cannon was a central founder and leader of the working class wing of the Communist Party. He was expelled for organizing opposition to the Stalinization of this party. In these writings Cannon explains the dangers of Stalinism and contrasts it with the revolutionary Marxist alternative that he and a number of other workers were in the process of founding. These writings also touch on little known but important working class struggles before the thirties, like the textile battles of the south and the mineworkers "save the union" movement. Cannon's insights on politics as well as his fine writing ability make this a good read, and an important one for those wanting to discover their roots in the fight for a revolutionary party.

The Left Opposition in the Communist Party USA, expelled in 1928, fought to maintain the traditions of the Russian Revolution against the corruptions and crimes of the bureaucracy of Stalin. This collection of writings by its central leader debates the issues at stake: the future of the USSR, the revolutionary potential in the U.S., revolutionary work in the labor unions, the South and the fight against racism, and much more.

This is a collection of moody black and white photographs taken at dawn with a large-format pinhole camera. There are no people or moving cars but lots of rays of light from the rising sun and brooding clouds. The effect is fantastic. Sometimes the photos look like they were executed in charcoal. The details are mostly very crisp even though the palette is dark.

The major landmarks are all present. Two of Mlle Liberty, 3 or 4 of the Empire State Building, a wonderful shot of the Flatiron Building, etc. (Only 1 of the Chrysler Building, however, and not one of Berts's best.) There are some nice shots of Central Park. He likes the Brooklyn Bridge--and he's good at making large objects like bridges and the Empire State Building look massive. The use of black and white and dawn's early light defamiliarizes the postcard icons and restores them to their original majesty. There are also some nice shots of Little Italy and lesser known buildings, too. This is a great book. If you like it you should check out Light of Paris by the same photographer.

I can't resist offering up one more recommendation, this time for a book that's almost the opposite of The Light of New York in its approach but which is still a wonderful and fun look at the Big Apple: Manhattan Lightscape. Its colors are magnificent.

This book is one of the best books that one can appreciate the photographic style of the photographer. The fact that it was shot on film and the long shutter speeds are great. I am assuming that a bit of research went into picking out the various locations and picking out the right time of night or dusk to shoot was taken in consideration.f

Great book all around and great conversation piece for people that appreciate photography and the art behind it.

New York City at dusk or dawn with a magical lighting and a unique photo processing that highlight architectural details of iconic features of the city. Manhattan for lovers!

Amazing book for anyone into photography. New York is captured beautifully in breath taking photos.

Absoluely beautiful. I went through it three times and each time I find something more wonderful. I highly recommend this book, especially this time of year. It makes a great table top book.