Books

I review a wide array of books and don't limit myself to one subject:
Sports biographies and memoirs (mainly baseball and basketball)
American history
American political biographies/memoirs
Movies/entertainment non-fiction
Comedic fiction
Comedic memoirs
Fiction: Brad Meltzer, John Grisham and select titles (usually ones that draw my interest)

Book review - Brooks: The Biography of Brooks Robinson by Doug Wilson

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (March 4, 2014)

In Brooks: The Biography of Brooks Robinson, Doug Wilson gives us the first comprehensive biography of the legendary Baltimore Orioles third baseman--the greatest defensive third baseman of all time.  Wilson does a fine job in telling Brooks' story.

The only downside is that Wilson was unable to sit down one on one with Mr. Robinson for an interview.  This is, in part, due to Brooks' time in recovering from injuries sustained in early 2012 at a South Florida casino.  Wilson was able to speak with Earl Weaver prior to his passing away in January 2013 and a number of teammates, too.

Robinson is a class act and one of the nicest players you will ever meet.  It is because of this that Robinson stands out in the Golden Era of baseball.  His being on the Veterans Committee played a large role in seeing to it that Ron Santo was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012.  Until his recent bout with cancer and injuries of late, you would have a hard time getting him to say no.  While other Hall of Famers would sign their autograph and move on to the next in line, Brooks not only signs but he also makes small talk with those people that he's signing for.  He takes pictures with them as well.

Robinson grew up a Cardinals fan in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he attended Central High School--graduating a few years before it was put on the map in the Civil Rights movement.  His family instilled a hard work ethic in him.

From 1955 until his retirement in 1977, opponents learned that they shouldn't hit the ball towards third base.  In doing so, it was an automatic out with the vacuum cleaner stationed at the base in Robinson.  The Cincinnati Reds learned this the hard way during the 1970 World Series.

Brooks played all 23 seasons of his career with the Orioles--a feat that would be rare in this day and age alone considering free agency and salary dump trading.  He became a role model both on and off the field as he honored the game with elegance, class, and character.  In his career, he won 2 World Series, selected for 18 All-Star Games, won 16 straight Gold Gloves, and three MVP honors: AL, All-Star, and World Series.

Book Review: Menachem Begin: The Battle for Israel's Soul

Menachem Begin: The Battle for Israel's Soul by Daniel Gordis

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Schocken (March 4, 2014)

Menachem Begin is one of the most polarizing figures of our time but Gordis has penned a well-written biography of the former Israeli Prime Minister.

This isn't just Begin's story but also a story of the State of Israel.  Begin was the PM who made peace with Egypt when he signed a historic peace treaty with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat when Jimmy Carter was the president of the United States.

Once referred to as a fascist by rival David Ben-Gurion, Begin became the first Israeli to win the Nobel Peace Prize.  This is a man that was both complex and controversial.  Even though he was not really religious, he was still very proud to be Jewish.

A Polish native, Begin admired Revisionist Zionist Ze’ev Jabotinsky and became a leader within his Betar movement.  He would later be placed in prison by the Soviets in 1940 and joining the Free Polish Army in 1942.

It was after he joined the Irgun in 1943 that he was able to achieve an instant notoriety for the organization's bombings.

Begin was a right-winger and belonged to the Herut party.  They played opppsites to the Labor governments.  It was a surprise when the party won in 1977.  Through Begin, Israel was able to outreach to the Ethiopian Jews and the Vietnamese "boat people."

It was Begin who made the decision to bomb the Iraq nuclear reactors in 1981, an act that is now seen as being a courageous foresight.

After resigning in 1983, Begin lived in seclusion until his passing in 1992.  He would not be buried beisde his fellow Israeli PMs.  Instead, he would join his Irgun comrades.

What Gordis' perceptive biography does is give us new insight into Begin's life and how his influences continues to live on.

Book Review: Hollywood Said No!

Hollywood Said No!: Orphaned Film Scripts, Bastard Scenes, and Abandoned Darlings from the Creators of Mr. Show by Bob Odenkirk and David Cross with Brian Posehn
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 9.10.2013 edition (September 10, 2013)

This book, in essence, is a collection of never-before-seen scripts and ideas.  It contains the full-length scripts for both Bob and David Make a Movie and Hooray for America!

There's a section in the book that contains "constructive" notes written by a "studio executive."  Furthermore, we're treated to a bonus section of scripts from Mr. Show and beyond.  Bob and David also reminisce on what went right and wrong as they add on both context and back story to the scripts.

We can only imagine what these unproduced scripts would have looked like on the big screen.

Book Review: The Truth

The Truth by Michael Palin
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (August 13, 2013)

Michael Palin is one of the funniest people alive on this planet.  After all, he belongs to the sketch comedy troupe known to everyone as Monty Python.  He's not just a comic actor in the movies but also an accomplished author of both fiction and non-fiction alike.

With The Truth, Palin makes a return to fiction, writing a warm and witty story of an everyman, a tantalizing offer, a journey to India, and a search  for, what else, the truth.

The main character is Keith Mabbut, a writer whose life is at a crossroads.  His marriage is over and his ex-wife is already engaged.  His children are both on their own paths with a son involved in theater and a daughter in a relationship.

Trying to figure his life out, Mabbut is offered the opportunity to write the biography of the elusive Hamish Melville.  Melville is an influential activist and a humanitarian.  Mabbut's journey takes him to India, where he soon feels rejuvenated.  The more he learns about Melville, the more he grows to admire the figure.  Is Melville really who he claims to be?  The truth, as Mabbut discovers, is whatever we choose to make of it.

Wonderfully insightful and compelling, Palin uses his skills to tell the (fictional) story of a man on an extraordinary adventure.

Money is "Speech" yet Kentucky Senate Won't Let Kentuckians use their "Speech" on Expanded Gambling

You know how Mitch McConnell believes in the idea that money is free speech, right?  How come nobody has sued the Commonwealth of Kentucky for having no choice but to be forced to use their "free speech" in states like Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio when they would rather be spending in on slots and the like in Kentucky.  It's not fair.  It's not right.  And the horse breeders will continue to send their horses to run races out of state as the industry dies a slow death each year.

And yet, every year that the issue comes up in the General Assembly, the Kentucky Senate has a slogan:
The Senate: Where Gambling Bills Go to Die.

It's so much that House Speaker Greg Stumbo won't even make an effort to pass a bill in the State House knowing full well that it will just die in the State Senate.  It's unfair to those of us who wish to use our HARD EARNED MONEY to help the KENTUCKY ECONOMY.

And yet religious conservatives and moralists like Martin Cothran and Focus on the Family don't want that to happen.  In doing so, they are hurting the Kentucky economy.  They are stopping progress from happening.

Don't want tolls on the new bridges in Kentucky?  The state could have had the money if it weren't for the lack of expanded gambling.

Money from gambling would go back into the state economy and the state budget.  It would help the horse industry and the educational system by having more money around in the state budget.

And yet, it is the religious conservatives who continue to use their beliefs to prevent it from happening.

I can't live in a state where my opinion doesn't matter.  I don't like people FORCING THEIR OWN OPINIONS on everybody else because they are morally opposed to it.

Where are the laws that ban shellfish and pork?  Those are foods that are not kosher and unclean but yet restaurants serve them and people eat them anyway.

But that's beside the point.  Religious conservatives are stopping progress in this state but as long as Mitch McConnell believes in the idea that money is speech, it seems like it's time to rise up and file a class-action lawsuit on the matter.

Book Review: Leading Man

Leading Man (Vintage Contemporaries Original) by Benjamin Svetkey
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Vintage (September 3, 2013)

Svetkey, a writer for Entertainment Weekly, writes a novel in the tradition of David Nicholls and Nick Hornby.  His debut novel is hilarious, bittersweet, and heartwarming as he writes about that one thing everybody needs: love. Love of all kinds, really.  The type that lasts.

Maxwell Lerner is 26 years old and he thinks he has his entire life figured out.  He's dating his high school sweetheart, Samantha.  Max is a low-level reporter for a prestigious magazine (This is where Svetkey's experience comes in handy).  Both Max and Samantha live in a walk-up studio apartment together.  That is until she leaves him for his childhood hero, Johnny Mars.  Mars stars as Jack Montana in the action-adventure films.

Getting dumped by his girlfriend for his childhood hero sets Max up on a mission to get inside the glamorous Hollywood world and win her back.  He becomes an entertainment journalist so that he can go to press parties and red carpets, not to mention visiting those exotic locales.  He gets interview scores of celebrities.  Samantha's life takes an tragically unexpected turn and Max gets an education, in both life and love, that he never saw coming.

Recently Published Sports Books

What follows are a few recently published sports books that might be of interest.


The Divine Nature of Basketball: My Season Inside the Ivy League by Ed Breslin
During the 2011-12 college basketball season, Breslin spent the season assisting Yale head coach James Jones.

Wrigley Field Year by Year: A Century at the Friendly Confines by Sam Pathy
As Wrigley Field turns 100 years old, many books are being released to honor the Friendly Confines' centennial birthday.  What this coffee table book does is detail each year of existence.  This is the first such book that does just that.  It does more than cover just the Cubs about also the Federal League baseball team that first played at Wrigley as well as the Chicago Bears of the NFL.  In addition to the year by year approach, the book is divided into nine chapters.

Facing Mariano Rivera: Players Recall the Greatest Relief Pitcher Who Ever Lived by David Fischer
Fischer compiles 150 testimonials from opponents, teammates, scouts, managers, etc. to get an idea of what it was like to face Mariano Rivera.  It's written in the same way as that of Facing Ted Williams.  Some of the players include Hall of Fame inductees, future Hall of Famers and other notables like Roberto Alomar, Derek Jeter, Todd Helton, Chipper Jones, David Ortiz, Nomar Garciaparra, etc.

A Tribe Reborn: How the Cleveland Indians of the ’90s Went from Cellar Dwellers to Playoff Contenders by George Christian Pappas
What this book does is tell the story of how the Cleveland Indians became contenders in the 1990s.


A Game of Brawl: The Orioles, the Beaneaters, and the Battle for the 1897 Pennant by Bill Felber
The 1897 pennant race was the most cutthroat in baseball history.  It also was a struggle to define how the game of baseball would be played.

Book Review American Jewish Political Culture and the Liberal Persuasion

American Jewish Political Culture and the Liberal Persuasion by Henry L. Feingold
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Syracuse Univ Pr (Sd) (December 10, 2013)

Most Jews are aligned with the Democratic Party.  Historically speaking, this dates back to the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency during the New Deal.  Since then, the Jewish vote has swayed toward the Democratic Party.

Jewish voters tend to be amongst the most politically active in the United States.

The last Republican president that won the Jewish vote was Theodore Roosevelt way back in 1904.  The Republican Party has tried, and for the most part, but failed to get the Jewish vote in large numbers.  Yes, they have made some in-roads with Jewish voters but mostly within Ultra-Orthodox circles.  Mostly, this has to do with the stance on Israel more than any other issue.

What Feingold does here is walk readers through a political landscape that is filled with internal debate and conflict.  He searches for the source of political encouragement and explores the adapting liberalism that is at the heart of American Jewish political behavior.  In doing so, he draws on sociology and philosophy to inform the historical synthesis of a transcontinental pattern.  Feingold looks at not only voting statistics but also political theory.

There are three overarching concerns when it comes to the contemporary Jewish community in America: the ever-changing definition of what it means to be liberal, the hope and turmoil in Israel, and an obsession with the Shoah.  Feingold finds that it comes down to a culture that is complex and a political voice that is lacking in coherency despite a show in consistency.

The book does have a nice flow to it.  It starts with the historical background of American Jewish politics before moving into old roots and then onto the thematic understanding of the political psyche.  Feingold answers where American Jewish liberalism came from and whether the communal motivations behind it will be strong enough to continue in the 21st century.

Book Review - If Kennedy Lived: The First and Second Terms of President John F. Kennedy: An Alternate History by Jeff Greenfield

If Kennedy Lived: The First and Second Terms of President John F. Kennedy: An Alternate History by Jeff Greenfield
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult (October 22, 2013)

This is the 2nd alternative history book written by Greenfield.  Greenfield's book can only be described as provocative, fascinating and highly plausible.  There's no way of knowing for sure whether any of it would have actually happened had Jack Kennedy not been shot down in Dallas.

If Kennedy Lived draws not only on Greenfield's extensive research and knowledge of American politics and history but also those of historians, biographers, journalists, and other JFK experts.  He reveals why the scenarios put forward are highly likely to have happened if Kennedy had been merely wounded or not shot at all.

There are a gazillion questions to be asked about what could have been.  Unfortunately, we will never quite know what REALLY could have been.  We can only speculate on what might have happened in a second term for JFK.

It's possible that JFK would have dropped LBJ as his running mate in 1964.  The threat from Barry Goldwater would have protected his re-election chances.

Kennedy might have made a visit to Russia and maybe even overtures to both Cuba and China, too.

The Vietnam War would have ended in his 2nd term, much sooner than it really did.

Kennedy would have signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 but would have gone about it in a way that was much different than LBJ.

In all likelihood, Ronald Reagan would have been the Republican nominee in 1968 and he would have faced off against Hubert Humphrey.

Just to think what could have really been.

Book Review - Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked by Chris Matthews

Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked by Chris Matthews
Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (October 1, 2013)

Hardball host Chris Matthews tells the story of how Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill and President Ronald Reagan, two political opponents, were able to work together for the good of America.  Matthews worked for the speaker at the time before he switched to a career in journalism.  Having worked for O'Neill, Matthews is qualified to tell the history of the two leaders.

One can look to the 1980s leadership of O'Neill and Reagan as a model for effective partisanship, something that clearly lacks between Barack Obama and the current Republican leadership.  When it came to moving the government forward, they proved that convictions were a strength and not a burden.

During the 1980s, these two waged a principled war of political ideals.  They debated the big issues of the day but they were also able to compromise with each other, showing that political opposites can get along together.

In serving as speaker, O'Neill was the visible leader of the Democratic Party in the post-Jimmy Carter years.  This also meant he was the respected challenger to Reagan's agenda.  O'Neill had yet to master the medium of public speaking on television but he learned how to fight Reagan on key issues, relied on legislative craftiness, strong rhetoric, and even guerrilla theater.

This is about the kind of heroism that we lack today.

Book Review - Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life

Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life by Melissa Joan Hart
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (October 29, 2013)

Taking the title from the show she starred on while growing up, the former child star is frank and witty in her memoir.

After starring in the Nickelodeon series, Clarissa Explains It All, Melissa Joan Hart went on to star in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch on ABC.  The latter would not have been a hit had it not been for starring in the earlier series.  After taking a few years off to start and raise a family, Hart starred in an ABC Family movie with Joey Lawrence.  This led to the nostalgic sitcom, Melissa and Joey, on ABC Family.

Hart provides behind-the-scenes tales from her past all the way up to her present in her memoir, which is forthright and funny as she is.  It's a candid glimpse at her unique career and the lessons that she has learned along the way.

Surprisingly, Hart was able to live a grounded, "normal" childhood.  Most child stars are not afforded this opportunity.  Growing up, she had to balance homework with auditions and commuting from Long Island to Manhattan.

Hart had auditioned for Blossom and was very far in the process of the NBC series when she landed the role of Clarissa Darling, a role that would take her to Orlando to shoot 65 episodes of Clarissa.  She would have gone on to fame with either show.

To this day, she balances family with life in Hollywood.

If you want a candid look at a celebrity that grew up with a grounded childhood, be sure to check it out.

Book Review - Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War by Robert M. Gates

Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War by Robert M. Gates
Hardcover: 640 pages
Publisher: Knopf; First Edition/First Printing edition (January 14, 2014)

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote a candid but vivid written account of his experience in serving Presidents Bush and Obama during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Before getting a call in 2006 to serve his country once more, Gates was done with politics.  After serving 6 presidents between the CIA and National Security Council, Gates got a job as the president of Texas A&M University, where he was happy.

The U.S. was at war with fronts in Afghanistan and Iraq and he felt that this was the call of duty.  His unsparing memoir is fair in its assessments and he takes us behind the scenes of his five years as Secretary of Defense.  In the book, he depicts his battles with Congress, the military, the Pentagon bureaucracy, and two presidents to name a few.

In working for Obama, Gates's leadership was guiding but he was often the dissenting voice on issues but Hates was devoted to and had a love for American soldiers---his "heroes"--that he helped to develop on the job.

It is while he relates his personal journey as secretary that Gates draws us to those inner sanctums of government and military power.  This is where he offers unvarnished appraisals of the likes of Dick Cheney, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.  In doing so, he exposes the behind-closed-doors politicking of the administrations.


There's the controversies that came up during his tenure, too, such as the surges, Iran, Syria, and others.

At its heart, this is a powerful story that takes an unprecedented look at two White House administrations.

Book Review - Wooden: A Coach's Life by Seth Davis

Wooden: A Coach's Life by Seth Davis
Hardcover: 608 pages
Publisher: Times Books (January 14, 2014)

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first of UCLA coach John Wooden's many NCAA men's college basketball championships.  Seth Davis presents a biography that can only be described as unflinching and definitive.

With prose that is both artful and entertaining, there's no doubting the exhaustive research that Davis underwent in the writing of this book--a quintessentially American story, nevertheless.  Davis writes his account year by year as readers are invited to measure the man that became a legend.

Wooden was a person that was not just a gifted player but a BRILLIANT coach, and a master teacher.  He should be appreciated for what he is.  Davis celebrates the mystique that Wooden built but also digs further.  Wooden dealt with issues during his coaching era--be it race, protests, mercurial athletes, overeager boosters, and the heavy expectations.

Born in Indiana, Wooden never forgot his roots when he played at Purdue or coached for UCLA.

I'm no fan of UCLA but that doesn't take away from the person that John Wooden was.  Back when I was a college freshman, I wrote off for his autograph and asked him to inscribe his best stat (when I should have asked him to inscribe his HOF year!) but he sent back a short note saying his best stat was the number of players who graduated!

Book Review: Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage

Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau (November 5, 2013)

From the mind of comedian Rob Delaney comes Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage.

Delaney is the author of many jokes on Twitter but by reading the hilarious and heartbreaking true stories in his book, we learn how Rob became the person that he is today.

His memoir is candid and conversational.  It shows that there is more to him than just what he tweets on Twitter.

Book Review: Blockbusters: Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (October 15, 2013)

In Blockbusters: Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment, author Anita Elberse shows why betting on the mega-hits is the most bankable business strategy today.  Elberse is the resident expert on entertainment at the Harvard Business School.  His knowledge comes off very well in Blockbusters.

The simple, compelling argument brought forth by Elberse is this: The entertainment business does not reward playing it safe.  Just look at what Jeff Zucker and Ben Silverman did while at the helm of NBC.  This was a network that had huge audiences in the 1980s, 1990s, and early part of the 2000s.

But what happened to NBC?  They stopped going after the highest-paid producers and stars and their dismal efforts showed in the ratings.

The case was just the opposite at Warner Brothers Studios, where Chief Operating Officer Alan Horn decided to identify just a few projects that , with major budget-squeezing investments of money and resources, had the potential to be huge. They did just that with the Dark Knight saga, the Harry Potter series, The Hangover, and Million Dollar Baby, to name a few.

It shows that the networks and studios must be willing to take risks if they really want to attract an audience.

Book Review: Hanukkah in America: A History

Hardcover: 350 pages
Publisher: NYU Press; 1St Edition edition (October 14, 2013)

Hanukkah in America: A History was written by Dianne Ashton.

Everyone knows the story.  There was not enough oil left in the Temple after its destruction but miraculously, the oil burned for eight days.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Ashton provides a very thorough cultural history of Chanukah as she traces the holiday's importance to American Jewry.  The main argument is that the holiday is so popular because of when it tends to fall in the Gregorian calendar but also because of the focus on family and the opportunities that the holiday provides when discussing assimilation.

Her book explains just how the minor holiday became one of the most visible holidays.  In doing so, it teaches is about America, religion, and Jews.  It's not a holiday mandated by the Torah.  It was one that came about following the building of the Temple in Jerusalem.  There are no Yom Tovim during Chanukah that require a day off from work unlike the major holidays of Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Pesach, Sukkot, and Shavuot.

Different people have different customs when it comes to Chanukah and Ashton writes about those, such as in New Orleans, Texas, and Cincinnati.

I won't lie in that Pesach is my favorite holiday--it always falls in the spring and I have it on good authority that one of my ancestors is Aaron, meaning that Moses is a great-uncle to the nth degree.

Book Review: That's Not Funny, That's Sick: The National Lampoon and the Comedy Insurgents Who Captured the Mainstream

Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (June 24, 2013)

That's Not Funny, That's Sick: The National Lampoon and the Comedy Insurgents Who Captured the Mainstream is from journalist Ellin Stein.  What Stein does is give us the definitive portrait of what is, perhaps, the greatest revolution in American comedy.

Stein had exclusive access to firsthand interviews with all the key players to give us this genius of a book.  Several of these interviews were done in the 1980s with the likes of Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels, Doug Kenney--with memories were fresh and wounds were...raw.  This is what makes Stein's access unparallelled.

It all started back in 1969 when Kenney and Beard assumed the roles of chief editors at a new magazine named The National Lampoon.  Their partnership was complex as Stein writes.

Soon, the Lampoon would have a record deal and later, a theater production.  But just as all was thought to be over, Animal House helped the brand get new life.  Stein writes that the film "scattered box office gold over everyone connected with it."

National Lampoon had a meteoric rise as it shifted from being a popular humor magazine to a cornerstone of American culture.

Stein gives us the eccentric personalities, hard partying, and those moments of sheer comic genius.

Book Review: The New American Zionism

Hardcover: 229 pages
Publisher: NYU Press (November 29, 2013)

The New American Zionism was written by Theodore Sasson.

I have bad news for Israel's critics.  With the American Studies Association boycott in the news of late, the American Jewry relationship with Israel is stronger than ever.

Sasson's analysis of the modern-day American Zionism is thoughtful, subtle, and compelling.  It's deeply researched and well-written.

Going into this book, one obviously wonders if American Jewish support for Israel is waning.  The answer?  It's not.  Look at the scores of college students and young adults that make the trek to Israel through Birthright Israel.

The early days of Zionism saw American Jewry playing a key role in establishing the Jewish state.  Albert Einstein was offered the job of being the first Israeli Prime Minister but he turned it down.  They created the framework that paved the way to raise funds and there's no denial of what it means in Washington to go against AIPAC as Israel is one of America's strongest allies abroad.

True, Jewish Federation funding is declining but what isn't during this age of tough economic times?  Yes, there are some differences in the two-state solution and it can be devisive at times but Jews support Israel's right to exist even if they may disagree with the government policies at times.  Some might fear that support is waning but it isn't.

Sasson's argument is that we are misunderstanding the new relationship between American Jews and Israel.  He shows that the approach is shifting from a "mobilization" approach to an "engagement approach."  This latter approach is done through direct and personal relations with Israel.  Many Jews are traveling via Birthright, the March, or other organized trips.  A growing number consumes Israeli news and culture, not to mention connecting online with Israelis.

The support has not been abandoned.  Philanthropy and lobbying may have changed over the years but Israel is more meaningful than ever before.  However, its the ability to impact policy that will diminish as there is no longer a unified voice.

Book Review - Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof

Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Metropolitan Books; 1 edition (October 22, 2013)

Alisa Solomon gives us Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof.  This is a book that fans of the stage and film musical will certainly enjoy.  It goes hand in hand with the recently published biography of Sholem Aleichem.

The drama critic traces Fiddler back to its days as a 1905 Yiddish story through the days of its inception as a Broadway musical and a Hollywood blockbuster hit.

Fiddler is a cultural landmark.  It's frequently performed in high schools and rented by many today.

The songs are familiar to many, whether it's the opening to "Tradition" or the chorus of "If I Were a Rich Man."  People identify with Tevye's desire to maintain his faith and family in a changing world.

Solomon's book is the first such critical analysis of the iconic cultural status.  She explores how and why Fiddler was reborn as blockbuster entertainment and a culture touchstone--not only for Jews and Americans.

It's expansive, delightful, original as it reveals the surprising and enduring legacy.