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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! "To Catch A Killer" is a television film from 1992, directed by Eric Till and starring Brian Dennehy and Michael Riley. It is based on the true story of the pursuit of American serial killer John Wayne Gacy.As he investigates the missing person report of Chris Gant, Des Plaines, IL detective Lt. Joe Kozenczak (Riley) becomes concerned that local businessman John Wayne Gacy (Dennehy) may be responsible for this and well as many other disappearances. However, when he and his team are ready to arrest Gacy, their evidence is viewed as being circumstantial. Worst of all, everyone (including Konzenczak's superiors) view Gacy as a respectable pillar of society. Meanwhile, Gacy himself begins a sadistic game of cat-and-mouse as he tries in everyway to manipulate the police. ... Read more

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Chapters: Bill O'reilly, Al Groh, Brian Dennehy, Thomas Suozzi, Chaminade High School, Al D'amato, Bob Mckillop, Don Murphy, Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., Ted Robinson, Luke Cummo, Terrence Lanni, Stephen Karopczyc, John Lannan, Glenn Hughes, Kemp Hannon, Thomas Spota, Bob Wright, Gene Larkin, Christopher Ueland. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 111. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. (born September 10, 1949) is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news program on American television. During the late 1970s and 1980s, he worked as a news reporter for various local television stations in the United States and eventually for CBS News and ABC News. From 1991 to 1995, he was anchor of the entertainment news program Inside Edition. O'Reilly is widely considered a conservative commentator, though some of his positions diverge from conservative orthodoxy (in particular his opposition to the death penalty.) O'Reilly characterizes himself as a "traditionalist." O'Reilly is the author of eight books, and hosted The Radio Factor until early 2009. O'Reilly was born on September 10, 1949, at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan to parents William James, Sr. (deceased) and Winifred Angela Drake O'Reilly, from Brooklyn, New York and Teaneck, New Jersey. Bill O'Reilly's ancestors on his father's side lived in County Cavan, Ireland since the early eighteenth century, and those on his mother's side were from Northern Ireland. The O'Reilly family lived in a small apartment in Fort Lee, New Jersey when their son was born. In 1951, his family moved to Levittown o...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=188564 ... Read more

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Chapters: Jack Kerouac, Lou Gehrig, William Joseph Donovan, Brian Dennehy, Sid Luckman, Matthew Fox, Paul Zimmerman, Harry Robb, Jeff Otis, Ernest Cuneo, Marcellus Wiley, William Campbell, George Starke, Herb Maack, Ben Roderick, Paul Governali, Bill Morley, Marty Domres, Bill Swiacki, Will Payne, Steve Cargile, John Witkowski, W. E. Metzenthin, John Siegal, Cliff Montgomery, George Pease, Tad Crawford, Harold Weekes. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 135. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Henry Louis "Lou" Gehrig (June 19, 1903 June 2, 1941) was an American baseball player in the 1920s and 1930s, chiefly remembered for his prowess as a hitter, his consecutive games-played record and its subsequent longevity, and the pathos of his farewell from baseball at age 36, when he was stricken with a fatal neurological disease. Popularly called "The Iron Horse" for his durability, Gehrig set several major league records. He holds the record for most career grand slams (23). Gehrig was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. In 1969 he was voted the greatest first baseman of all time by the Baseball Writers' Association , and was the leading vote-getter on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, chosen by fans in 1999. A native of New York City, he played for the New York Yankees until his career was cut short by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), now commonly known in the United States and Canada as Lou Gehrig's disease. Over a fifteen-season span from 1925 through 1939, he played in 2,130 consecutive games, the streak ending only when Gehrig became disabled by the fatal neuromuscular disease that claimed his life two years later. His streak, long considered one of baseball's few unbreakable records, stood for 56 years, until finally broken by Cal Ripken, Jr., of the Baltimore O...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=19381762 ... Read more

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"The joy for me is knowing that somebody can have this strange audio experience. They're getting something as good as you get from radio." - Neil Gaimen

Produced by the Sci-Fi Channel and Seeing Ear Theatre - these two plays are adapted for voice by Neil Gaiman from two of his short stories (both stories can be found in Smoke & Mirrors).

SNOW GLASS APPLES: Once upon a time there lived a young princess with skin as white as snow, with hair as black as coal, with lips redder than blood. Most people think they know what happens to this young unfortunate girl. Most people are wrong. Tony-award winning actress Bebe Neuwirth (Chicago, Sweet Charity, and TV's Cheers) stars as a wise Queen who wants nothing more than to reign over her kingdom peacefully but is forced to match wits with an inhuman child who has an unnatural taste for blood.

Full Cast List:
Bebe Neuwirth as the Queen ; Martin Carey as the Huntsman; Mark Evans as the Prince; Merwin Goldsmith as the Lord of the Fair; J.R. Horne as the Archbishop & Friar; Alissa Hunnicutt as the Maidservant; Randy Maggiore as a Soldier; Kate Simses as the Princess; Nick Wyman as the King

MURDER MYSTERIES: In this mystery noir set in heaven's City of Angels before the fall, the first crime has been committed. It is an awful one. While the angelic hosts labor to create the world and its workings, one of their number is mysteriously slain by one of their own. Raguel, Angel of Vengeance, is mandated by Lucifer to discover both motive and murderer in this holy dominion that had so recently known no sin.

Full Cast List:
Brian Dennehy as Raguel ; Anne Bobby as Tink's Friend ; Christopher Burns as Saraquael ; Thom Christopher as Lucifer ; Ed Dennehy as Zephkiel ; Michael Emerson as Narrator ; Traci Godfrey as Tinkerbell Richmond ; Evan Pappas as Phanuel

Customer Reviews (8)

Amazing!Mr. Gaiman - please do more of these audio plays!
I have listened to these over and over and get more out of them each time.Neil Gaiman is a brilliant writer and the actors in these audio plays are incredible.This is art of the highest order.

Two tellings of disturbing (and enjoyable) tales...
Two very disturbing stories from Neil Gaiman, this was a duet of short plays adapted for "Seeing Ear Theatre" and read by Bebe Neuwirth ("Snow Glass Apples") and Brian Dennehy ("Murder Mystery.")

"Snow Glass Apples" was a re-telling of Snow White with a ghastly vampiric twist, and from the voice of the Queen, who is anything but the Disnified villainess we've come to know and loathe. Snow White is herself a disturbing figure, and all in all, this was a very enjoyable re-telling of a classic, if a tad gruesome in its telling and conclusion.

"Murder Mystery" I found quite wonderful - it is a tale that includes the investigation of the first murder ever - an angel has been killed, and another angel is called to investigate. The B-plot story, however, just plain didn't make sense.

If I had to break them into two parts, "Snow Glass Apples" would get a '5' and "Murder Mystery" would get a '3.' Hence the '4.'

'Nathan

Seeing Ear Theatre
Two Plays For Voices is part of the Seeing Ear Theatre Productions from the Sci-Fi Channel.More television stations should follow their lead.These two stories told in the form of radio plays are terrific!I am a big fan of Neil Gaiman and this format brings two incredible stories to life.

Murder Mysteries is expertly presented and the twist at the end is a surprise to say the least.

Snow Glass Apples is a shivery fairy tale which cuts to the core of good vs. evil and that some things aren't always what they seem.

Gaiman got game
I'm a fan...Neil's worst works still qualify as excellent in my mind, and these are some of his best.I read these stories when they were published 10 years ago in a small distribution book called Angels and Visitations.Then I saw them reprinted again in another book some years later.

The two plays in this package provided my wife and I the best entertainment we were going to get while being stuck in 8 hours of traffic.Finally I got my wife to pay attention to Neil's stuff (she refused to read Sandman)and she dug it.

If you like books on tape, this is better.If you like reading Neil's work, you'll like it even better this way.

Neil, if you're reading this...can we have some more of these?

Gaiman got game
I'm a fan...Neil's worst works still qualify as excellent in my mind, and these are some of his best.I read these stories when they were published 10 years ago in a small distribution book called Angels and Visitations.Then I saw them reprinted again in another book some years later.

The two plays in this package provided my wife and I the best entertainment we were going to get while being stuck in 8 hours of traffic.Finally I got my wife to pay attention to Neil's stuff (she refused to read Sandman)and she dug it.

If you like books on tape, this is better.If you like reading Neil's work, you'll like it even better this way.

Neil, if you're reading this...can we have some more of these? ... Read more

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This is the century that split the atom, probed the psyche, spliced genes, and cloned a sheep. Plastic, the silicon chip, and rock-and-roll were invented. Airplanes, rockets, satellites, televisions, computers, and atom bombs were built. Traditional ideas about logic, language, learning, mathematics, economics, and even space and time were overthrown and radically refashioned. People of the Century presents the most influential leaders, artists, intellects, and heroes who shaped this monumental era.

This century's most influential people were selected by the editors of Time magazine and featured in a series of documentaries produced by CBS News. Here, their profiles are crafted by this era's finest writers, from Salman Rushdie and Elie Wiesel, to Gloria Steinem, George Plimpton, Robert Hughes, and more. Memorably narrated by some of the century's most accomplished actors, People of the Century is the ultimate millennial keepsake. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Not a total misfire
Lists such as these are always going to be subjective and hotly debated by people who disagree with them, but for the most part, I think this list was pretty solid. Along with a lot of the usual suspects, such as Sigmund Freud, FDR, Charlie Chaplin, Albert Einstein (who went on to be named as TIME's Person of the Century), Hitler, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Mao Zedong, there are numerous people who aren't always considered for lists such as these, such as Pete Rozelle, Harvey Milk, Juan Trippe, Willis Carrier, A.P. Giannini, Leo Burnett, and Bill W. I had actually never heard of a number of these people, but as the essays showed, they did some pretty important and influential things in spite of how their fame might be overshadowed by that of more obvious people of the past century.

However, there were more than a few glaring omissions. I'm utterly floored that Stalin was left off of this list; how could anyone not consider him one of the most important people of the century? Or Elvis, Drs. Gregory Goodwin Pincus and John Rock (inventors of the birth control pill, easily one of the most important inventions of the century), Pope John XXIII, Pol Pot, Babe Ruth, Fidel Castro, Mussolini (another huge omission!), or John Logie Baird and Charles Jenkins (inventors of television)? As someone quite interested in antique televisions, I was extraordinarily disappointed that in neither the essays for David Sarnoff nor Philo Farnsworth were these men or their mechanical scanning-disc televisions, which were actually a lot more common in the late Twenties and early Thirties than most people have been led to believe, mentioned. Essays like these only perpetuate the myth that the history of television only begins in 1939 with the debut of electronic television. The essay on Louis B. Mayer also reported as fact that old urban legend about Clark Gable running someone over and then having it covered up by the studio while someone else went to jail in his place. Fortunately, most of the essays seemed to be free of such urban legends and incomplete history.

The majority of the essays also seemed to be rather fair and balanced, addressing the shortcomings of the subject instead of just endlessly praising them as demigods. Only a couple were like the one for the Kennedys, seeming more empty and unspecific instead of in-depth and giving us real reasons why this person or group should be considered one of the greatest people of the century. I'm a fan of the Kennedys, and even I thought that one was rather shallow and vapid! On the opposite end of the spectrum, Peggy Noonan's essay on Ronald Reagan (possibly the book's longest by far) was obnoxiously sycophantic.Contrary to what some people think, the man was not some sort of demigod.Even though I'm on the completely opposite political page from him, I do have to agree he was one of the century's most important people. I just wish a more impartial person had been found to write the essay on him, addressing his negative aspects (such as creating the homeless problem, ignoring the AIDS crisis till his presidency was almost over, the Bitburg fiasco) along with his more positive aspects (such as helping to end the Cold War and making Americans feel proud of themselves again).And along with the glaring omissions, a number of the people selected were just bizarre. How are we supposed to believe that Bruce Lee, Princess Diana, Pelé, Steven Spielberg, or Oprah are among the most important folks of the past century? In serious commparison to people like Dr. Jonas Salk, Jackie Robinson, the Leakeys, Walt Disney, and Eleanor Roosevelt? Important and influential in a certain decade or a certain field, certainly, but in terms of the overall century?! It's also way too soon to fairly evaluate the true importance of some of the people in the final section of the book.And why was there no index?

In spite of the shortcomings, this is a pretty good book through and through if you're interested in 20th century history (however Western-centric most of the book is) and some of the personalities who made the past century so eventful.

Some Parts Good; Mostly A Dissapointment
This audio presentation of "People of the Century" is I'm afraid mostly a dissapointment. Dan Rather serves as the overall narrator briefly mentioning the 100 people included with a select few of these people given an expanded presentation written usually by a famous author or personality (i.e. Lee Iacocca writing about Henry Ford; Salman Rushdie about Ghandi,etc.).

My criticism lies in the fact that some major figures were briefly mentioned while some lesser lights were highlighted. Examples of this include only brief mentions of people like Ronald Reagan and Ray Kroc(founder of McDonald's)while questionable figures like Margaret Sanger, Watson and Crick, and Charlie Chaplin are given expanded treatment.

There is of course the fact that many of these articles are slanted ideologically and that some articles are written by unabashed fans of the historical figure (i.e. Arthur Schlessinger on FDR)while other articles are written by critics (i.e. Richard Shickel on Walt Disney) thus furthuring to unbalance the presentations.

The Best Inclusions in my view: Rushdie on Ghandi, Iacocca on Ford, and Elie Wiesel on Adolph Hitler.

While you might learn something from this work, you would be better off reading individual biographies of these people

If you've never heard of Winston Churchill, this CD is for y
Very disappointing. Much of the narrative spits out facts that everyone already knows. Most of the rest is decoration, trite commentary and superficial philosophizing.The piece on Bill Gates is typical. It wasdelivered in a contemptuous tone, skipped the exciting history ofMicrosoft, and even dismissed "The Road Ahead" as trivial!Similarly, Iacocca's piece on Henry Ford does not even mention Ford'sinfamous bigotry. In fairness, I must say that I did learn a bit about thelesser known people, and enjoyed the imaginative piece on Gandhi. On thewhole, though, if you've ever heard of Winston Churchill, this CD willprobably bore you.

People of the Century
It¹s countdown time whether we face it or not.And the bestsellers prove it.We¹ve encountered books predicting happenings for the millennium we¹re about to greet and books listing people, businesses, music, inventions,events that have made impacts during the millennium we¹re leaving.Inaddition to Life: Our Century in Picturesand Russell Ash¹s The Top 10 ofEverything 2000, there are seemingly 1000 collections about these 1000years.One book worth looking at is PEOPLE OF THE CENTURYwith aforwardby Dan Rather of CBS and an afterward by Walter Isaacson of TimeMagazine. The compilation features 100 men and women who influenced thecentury, rather than the millennium.We reunite with leaders, artists, andintellectuals who gave us rock Œn¹ roll,jazz, flight; shopping malls,existentialism, bytes; splitting the atom, penicillin, cloning of sheep,and Bob Dylan. Those writing the profiles with reputability includeWilliam F, Buckley, Rita Dove,Molly Ivins, Roger Rosenblatt, and DeborahTannen. Descriptions of the contributors appear in the indexalong withphoto credits, nicely referenced. We readily expect some profiles:Henry Ford, Anne Frank,James Joyce, Rosa Parks, Theodore Roosevelt, and Igor Stravinsky,We might haveforgottenothers: Sigmund Freud (asprofiled by Peter Gay) and Leo Baekeland, the maker of plastics who movedto the U.S. from Belgium in 1889.We ask ³why?² ofothers. For example,Hitler is included, as is Bart Simpson.Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wieselbluntly admitshow frightening it was to write of Hitler.And somereaders might bluntly admit how foolish it is to read about ³forever 10,²make-believe Bart Simpson. Others might question ever-lovin¹ Oprah beingamong the 100, but the criteria put her on the list.PEOPLE OF THE CENTURYconcerns people who ³cast a long shadow.²We are refreshed by someinclusions: Emmeline Pankhurst, for instance, reminds us of thewomen¹s-right-to-vote, which she achieved for England in 1918 (2 yearsbefore America¹sin 1920.) The book is arranged chronologically,beginning in 1903 in nearby Kitty Hawk and moving poignantly to 1989 withthe ³unknown,² lone ³everyman² in Tiananmen Square.In this compacthistory, people are profiled as well as pictured with a ³life-at -a glance²bio.The index needs improvement ( so that readers can more easilylocate people by their fields) and so do Dan Rather mixed metaphors. ( Thenew age is ³taking flight² and becoming a ³rough draft.²) AlsoPaulRudnick could use poetic sensitivity when writing about Marilyn Monroe. Hecallously groups her with American commodities of Coca-cola and Levis. Isaacson¹s afterward reminds us of the century¹s lessons: ³freedom won²and not the pursuit of ³material abundance² but the nurturing of ³thedignity and values of each individual.²Obviously some of these lessonswere learned the hard way. PEOPLE OF THE CENTURY reminds us to repeatthe goodness of our history, repel the other, and to think as we close thisyear, this century, this millennium.

Well written and interesting though a biased list of greats
This presentation of 100 great people of the century (as selected by the editors of TIME) is noteworthy both for its bias and limited scope - it is heavy on Americans and late 20th century personalities - and for itswriting. Each person is presented to the reader through an essay, and mostof these essays are not capsule biographies so much as meditations on thenature of the person and his/her influence. The strange pairing of certainauthors and subjects (Elie Wiesel on Adolf Hitler or Salman Rushdie onMohandas K. Ghandi) allow for some interesting insights and speculation.More sympathetic pairings of author and subject (George Plimpton onMuhammad Ali, Rita Dove on Rosa Parks, Philip Glass on Igor Stravinsky)offer equally interesting, though less speculative, pieces that are quitefun to read.

Overall, the quality of writing in the book is quite high,and even when it isn't (as, for example in Bill Gate's essay on the Wrightbrothers or Lee Iacocca on Henry Ford) the insights of the author - becauseof who and what they are - allow the ideas to take on a level ofsignificance that makes up for so-so skills as an essayist.

I receivedthis as a Christmas present and spent most of Christmas day reading throughall the essays. It provided a very pleasant way to review the century weare leaving. My one regret with the book is the inclusion of a few subjectsthat simply don't belong (Brue Lee, Bart Simpson? )which necessarilyrestricted the field that could be included. It is, of course, a personalbias and everyone will have their own take on who should or should not havebeen represented, but in the entire list there is only one novelist, onepoet, one composer, one painter; yet there are numerous political andmilitary figures. Understandable in terms of overt impact on history, butit sells the cultural aspects of the century short._ ... Read more

Product Description
Who produced the first stage adaptation of "The Wizard of Oz" in 1902-nearly forty years before the movie classic?What entertainment juggernaut began in a converted Chinese laundry on Wells Street in 1959? Where did Louis (Studs) Terkel make his stage debut? When did the original production of "Grease" open at Kingston Mines Theater?

Richard Christiansen, former chief critic for the Chicago Tribune, answers these and many more questions about the rich role of the theater in Chicago, from its earliest days in 1837 to its present state as a diverse community of artists with international stature. In A Theater of Our Own, he draws upon his exclusive interviews, insights, and memories gathered over a period of more than forty years of reviewing the arts. This history and memoir traces the evolution of the Chicago theater scene from small theaters to major institutions such as the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the Goodman Theater, and The Second City. Along the way, Richard Christiansen relates his behind-the-scenes conversations with some of Chicago's most acclaimed writers, directors, and actors--David Mamet, Frank Galati, Mary Zimmerman, John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf, Harold Ramis, Gary Sinise, and Joe Mantegna--all a part of Chicago's theater renaissance from the 1970s onward. To this day, Chicago remains a city known for its imaginative, innovative, and influential theaters and artists.A Theater of Our Own, a valuable contribution to the history of theater, is a book written for anyone who enjoys the theater and its people.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The history and the memoir are equally strong
Richard Christiansen modestly downplays his role in creating today's amazingly vibrant Chicago theater scene with groundbreaking reviews in the Daily News and Tribune, but that's the only "weakness" in this spectacular history.His research into the earliest days of Chicago theater --150 years ago -- are as vividly realized as those of which he has first-hand knowledge.This volume is a vital resource for understanding the "Chicago school" whose effects have come to touch Broadway, TV, and motion pictures in equal parts.

A story that needed to be told by the best guy to tell it
As just about anybody in the Chicago theatre movement will cheerfully tell you, a substantial percentage of the reason Chicago has built a reputation as America's great homegrown theatre city is that former CHICAGO TRIBUNE critic Richard Christiansen had the energy to go to an awful lot of storefronts, basements, churches, galleries and other miscellaneous spaces to find the likes of David Mamet, Robert Falls, Mary Zimmerman, Frank Galati, Laurie Metcalfe, Joan Allen, Amy Morton, John Malkovich and so many of the others who have gone on to make their marks in the theatre.Christiansen puts all this into a coherent narrative and, incidentally and implicitly, suggests what the conditions for such a flowering must be in other cities.

The one thing he (typically modestly) doesn't put as being a necessary ingredient is himself.Critics with his idealism, enthusiasm and decency are hard to come by.Without compromising his pursuit of excellence, he still was able to encourage even when he wrote unfavorable reviews.He also resisted the critics' disease -- to make a quip that draws attention to the critic at the expense of the subject.One of these days, maybe someone will write a companion volume that gives Mr. C. his due, but for the moment this book is splendid and necessary.Anybody trying to make theatre should read it and learn the lessons it contains.

A Comprehensive Theater History.
Written by a movie review expert who spent twenty-five years at the 'Chicago Tribune' as chief critic and arts and entertainment editor until he retired in 2002, he gives the background of early theaters and their demise.The best feature of this study of drama and theater from the early 1830s is the abundance of old photos and playbills interspersed throughout.

Innumerable theaters existed in such a large place as Chicago.McVicker's in the 1850s was considered the 'high class' theater of Chicago, a place for the major stars and shows of its time.Sarah Bernhardt made her Chicago debut there in 1881, which she called the 'pulse of America.'Edwin Booth, son-in-law of James McVickers, mgr., and his brother, John Wilkes Booth appeared there in RICHARD III.Edwin shared acting honors in OTHELLO and JULIUS CAESAR with James O'Neill whose son Eugene wrote about in his drama, 'Long Day's Journey into Night.'McVickers himself appeared as the grave digger in HAMLET.It was destroyed by fire in 1871, again in 1890, to be replaced in 1922 as a movie theater which was razed in 1984 as were so many others across the country.

In 1906, the Majestic (later called Shubert) opened on Monroe St. at Main near the Loop.It's still there in the theater district with five others.In 1959, the Shubert hosted 'The Music Man' starring Forrest Tucker.Shubert has continued in business through the decades, except the Depression years (1932-45).In the 1990s, Mayor Daley decided to revive some of the old money-generating bustle and prestige-garnering glamour of the theater scene downtown.The Shubert is now owned by New York based firms, and will be revamped in 2005, and, after all these years, will sport a new name -- LaSalle Bank Theatre.

An early move toward revival of the Loop area took place in the 1980s.Chicago Theatre (1921) on State Street was threatened with demolition but, after nine months and $25 million investment, it was restored. So were the Palace on Randolph St., and the Oriental (both 1926) all refurbished, back to the French Renaissance splendor as movie palaces.

The old Shubert, I feel, is Chicago's theater above par.I was offered a chance to go inside some of them back in the '90s but didn't have any historical aspect in my life at that same, so let the opportunity pass by.It's wonderful how Chicago was able to do what New York could not with movie theaters. ... Read more

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ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S LAST UNPUBLISHED WORK!

A blend of autobiography and fiction, True at First Light opens on the day Ernest Hemingway's close friend Pop, a celebrated hunter, leaves him in charge of the safari camp and news arrives of a potential attack from a hostile tribe. Drama continues to build as his wife, Mary, pursues the great, black-maned lion that has become her obsession. Equally adept at evoking the singular textures of the landscape, the thrill of the hunt and the complexities of married life, Hemingway waves a tale that is rich in laughter, beauty, and profound insight. True at First Light is the breathtaking final work from one of this nation's most beloved and important writers.Amazon.com Review
Ernest Hemingway's final posthumous work bears the rather awkwarddesignation "a fictional memoir" and arrives under a cloud of controversialediting and patching--but all of that ends up being beside the point.Though this account of a 1953 safari in Kenya lacks the resolution andclarity of the best Hemingway (The Sun AlsoRises, AFarewell to Arms) it is "real" Hemingway nonetheless. Let scholarswork out where memoir leaves off and fiction begins: for the common reader,the prose alone casts an irresistible spell.

In True at First Light the glory days of the "great white hunters"are over and the Mau Mau rebellion is violently dislodging European farmersfrom Kenya's arable lands. But to the African gun bearers, drivers, andgame scouts who run his safari in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro,Hemingway remains a lordly figure--almost a god. Two parallel quests propelthe narrative: Mary, Hemingway's fourth and last wife, doggedly stalks anenormous black-maned lion that she is determined to kill by Christmas,while Hemingway becomes increasingly obsessed with Debba, a beautiful youngAfrican woman. What makes the novel especially strange and compelling isthat Mary knows all about Debba and accepts her as a "supplementary wife,"even as she loses no opportunity to rake her husband over the coals forhis drinking, lack of discipline in camp, and condescending protectiveness.

As usual with Hemingway, atmosphere and attitude are far more importantthan plot. Mary at one point berates her husband as a "conscience-riddenmurderer," but this is precisely the moral stance that gives the huntingscenes their tension and beauty. "I was happy that before he died he hadlain on the high yellow rounded mound with his tail down," Hemingway writesof "Mary's lion," "and his great paws comfortable before him and looked off across his country to the blue forest and the high whitesnows of the big Mountain."

Passages like these--and there are many of them--redeem the book's ramblingstructure and occasional lapses into self-indulgent posturing. Joan Didiondismissed True at First Light in The New Yorker as "words setdown but not yet written," but this fails to acknowledge the power of thesewords. The value of True at First Light lies in its candor, itsnakedness: it provides a rare opportunity to watch a master working his waytoward art. --David Laskin ... Read more

Customer Reviews (67)

How on Earth did I get through this, Pt. 2
The way Ernest Hemingway sometimes wrote from the start he would keep very close to own experiences and only later on change circumstances, develop a literary plot, blur actual characters etc. In other words, to find a draft of his can be confusing to a point where you wonder if you're reading a diary or a fictional work. "True at first" light, though edited (which in this case must mainly mean shortened) by his son, is such a strange creature, but once you know and accept that you can sit back an enjoy this unusual look into the literary laboratory of a true genius.

So to answer my own query that was how I got through it. However, had I taken it as a real, finished novel I would have had a very hard time, and in fact I have to admit that my concentration was beginning to slip somewhat towards the end.

Incidentally, many have wondered at the female main character's tolerance towards her husband's infidelity. It think it's pretty much hinted towards the end that she is no virgin Mary and perhaps to allow herself certain escapades she let's him get away with it, too.

The sad thing is, of course, that if the author hadn't "taken the hemingway out" he would have had raw material enough in this draft for several fully finished novels with perhaps a few splendid short stories thrown in, no extra charge.

Why the last is last
Probably the least successful of Hemingway's posthumous works, this fictional memoir, as it is called in the sub-title, existed in an incomplete manuscript form in Hemingway's papers at the Kennedy Library for years.Called "The Africa Book" by scholars, it is the last of Hemingway's posthumous works to be published (probably because of its overall poor quality).

This work certain lacks either the adventurous spirit of Islands in the Stream, the humor and aesthetic value of A Moveable Feast, or dark tension of The Garden of Eden.It holds interest for the reader because it shows how post-war Hemingway attempted to remake himself as a writer, as a man, and as a public figure.He does this in a decided post-modern way, using himself as a character in a largely fictional setting (much as some heavy hitters like Philip Roth would do in a few decades).

This book was pared down from a large manuscript, so has suffered the same fate as other posthumously edited works: this is not Hemingway's work.But reading it, there are all the tell-tale signs that this is indeed his effort, although he did not quite reach his high water mark.

better than Iexpected
True at First Light an incomplete posthumous novel by Hemingway is better than Iexpected. The novel os not havea strong narrative drive and at times is rambling but the descriptions of Africa, the story ofMarys obsession withkilling a black maned lion and how the narrator interacts with the Africans are all compelling.Hemingway's style is something I have always admired and it is strong here. If I could give the novel just 3 and a half stars I would because of the earlier mentioned weaknesses but since I dont have that option I give it 4

To Have And Have Not
This book is a have not. Sadly this should have never been published, I feel, through no fault of his, tarnishes the name Hemingway. He must be a complicated mess, wherever he is, for such a notable author to have books published by him without his consent.

I could go on and on about how tainted this book is but then I would have to shoot myself in the foot. What I mean to say is I don't believe in (Posthumous Books). BANG!

Then again...according to me...The Garden of Eden also published posthumously, ranks right up there with his finest works. Why does a manuscript remain a manuscript?Because the author or publisher believes it is not worthy of publication. For comparison, take the ...Old Man and the Sea... it is a small book only about 140 pages long written almost in the simplicity of a children's book with the complexity of prose applied like paint. Not one word out of place, or needed, or subtracted. As close to perfection as God will allow a human to get.

I got half way through True At First Light, put my marker between the pages, which was over a year ago, and have had no compulsion to pick it up since.



Hemingway once bet a guy he could tell a story using only six words. He wrote;

For Sale. Baby Shoes, Never Worn..... The guy lost.

In six words he trumped True At First Light. We all lost. Including Papa.

Lies At First Light
The reviews on the back of my copy of this book describe it as 'a celebration of real living' with 'a feeling of real joy.' That wasn't quite impression I got from it. Mechanics of the very un-eventful plot aside, the 'novel' seems to have at its heart the idea that our lives as human beings are just big fat lies.Writers are liars, the narrator says, 'congenital liars.' He drinks heavily with his friend GC because he needs the `purposeful dulling of receptivity' - the ability to lie to himself - to get through the day. In marriage, he says, `fidelity does not exist nor ever is implied except at the first marriage.' His career is a lie. His marriage is a lie. He is a liar. We are all liars.

Not exactly a message of hope. But then, the novel's narrator (oh, and don't fool yourself into thinking that this narrator named Ernest, a writer with depression and alcoholism who is on safari in Africa and is married to a woman named Mary, is in any way meant to represent the REAL Ernest -- no, no, this memoir is a work of 'fiction'!) claims that he's `not hopeless because I still have hope,' and then adds: `the day I haven'tyou'll know it bloody quick'. Since we all know how that worked out for Hemingway, we can't help but read that comment in the context of his real life, which suggests that even the statement 'I still have hope,' was at least half-lie when he wrote it.

So, with that, I won't give the story away, just the frustrating idea that drives it: you can only approximate some kind of truth during rare moments in life, and much more time is spent preparing for those moments and recovering from or misremembering them than is spent in their actual experience. When those moments of truth, of 'light' arrive, they're unbearably fleeting. The truth is fleeting, love is fleeting, life is fleeting. The good thing about this book - and what isn't fleeting - is the beautiful cadence, terse as ever, of the language in which Hemingway conveys this empty half-true and despairing view of the world. ... Read more

Product Description
Someone wants bigoted, redneck judge Maximum Bob dead when they place a live 10-foot alligator in his backyard and fire shots into his house. 2 cassettes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Elmore Leonard's Twist on The Little Mermaid...
May it please the court... e.g. the reader in this case. Elmore Leonard throws down the gavel in this 1991 crime satire Maximum Bob. Judge Bob Gibbs, aka Maximum Bob is notorious for throwing the book at criminals and dispensing a tough sentence on those miscreants who grace his courtroom, hence the name: Maximum Bob. However Bob, who resembles actor Harry Dean StantonTwister, is a bit of an oddball himself behind the scences, and out of his robe, and is above the law and does not mind engaging in abuse of power. Stranger still is Maximum Bob's wife, Leanne who used to be a mermaid in a Seaworld type show when he first met her, until an accident with an alligator killed that showbiz career, but the near-death experience did cause her to become psychic (she communicates with a dead 12 year old slave girl named Wanda Grace who was killed by an alligator in 1855) which drives Bob up the wall and remains unhappily married until he contrives a way to scare off his little mermaid wife... with what else? An alligator.

Maximum Bob's troubles begin the day Dale Crowe Junior enters his courtroom with probation officer, Kathy Baker (the heroine of the book)--someone MB has taken a special interest in--Dale's uncle is Elvin, a familiar recidivist to Judge Bob Gibbs and a classic Elmore Leonard con and is going to get even with MB before the conclusion of the book.

If you read Carl HiaasenStormy Weather you'll appreciate Elmore Leonard's use of the Florida backdrop in Maximum Bob... and as always, his judicious, street-smart dialogue.

Objections overruled! Maximum Bob is drop-dead funny.

minimum book ?
My 2nd step into Elmore's world (the 1st one was Tarantino's adaptation of Jackie Brown a.k.a. Punch Creole) and it somehow felt like I already had been here before.
Just like QT's movie, it is full of witty dialogues, crazy&stupid bad guys facing heroes that are so "Johndoesque" it is almost boring...and that's the main issue about this book : characters lack of density, there's the good ones and the bad ones and a clear line between both - but it doesn't do much good to thenovel. As a fan of James Ellroy I miss the "dostoievskian" approach to crime he develops in his novels, I missed his epic, bigger than life plots ; EL seems to dwell in writing Cats and Dogs stories mixed with a pinch of love story and a spoonful of craziness, a cocktail many people seem to enjoy...I don't.
It's inventive, dialogues are witty, easy to read (you can skip any page of the book, you won't get lost in here)but not much more than that.

Good Genre Work
Alligators in Florida novels = snakes in Indiana Jones movies.They do make you pay attention and creep the skin.

Elmore Leonard has certainly written better mysteries, but I enjoyed this one well enough.A couple of the characters, particularly the judge of the title, are memorable and the rest are not entirely unidimensional, the fault I find with many crime fiction novels. Writing briefly from the perspective of an alligator has to be a first, and Leonard succeeds in making it believeable.He is ruthless about eliminating characters to scarify the plot, but he is much better at sextual tension than sex scenes, which lean toward the comic though intended to be loving.

Overall, a good entertainment for a long airplane ride or a beach day.

Maximum Bob
Another of Leonard's fast paced, witty and charming mysteries accompanied by a cast of charcters who mix, at times, like oil and water. Nevertheless a wonderful read and funny as all get out!

hyped-up hack-work
Only in latter-day America could a pure hack like Elmore Leonard earn praise from supposedly serious critics, who, like the popular culture they represent, have sunk to levels that would have been unimaginable a generation ago.

Leonard is a commerical writer trying to appeal to the airheaded, politically-correct prejudices of the kinds of "hip" upper-middle-class urbanites and suburbanites who, for example, read the editorial pages of the big metro papers (and write their book reviews) and imagine this kind of thing has something to do with reality or something to do with literature. The characters, dialogue and situations Leonard is noted for in fact ring false on every page. These are the same kind of caricatures and sitcom-esque back-and-forth that could only fool the demographic I just described, that is, people who know nothing about the sub-culture, the legal system, the South, and the other things this poser pretends to be telling them about (to make them feel better about their own pointless collective existence, I suppose).

The worst offense among the lit-pimps are the comparisons of Leonard to Raymond Chandler (a true great), which are simply insulting on every level. Please add a little bit of sanity to this world and go re-read one of Chandler's classics yet again (or, if you like Florida as a setting, read John D. MacDonald, the best of the Chandler imitations) rather than waste time or money on this tone-deaf sleaze merchant, who quite typically pounds out another one of these modern-day pulp jobs about once every other month. ... Read more

Product Description

Elmore Leonard's western fiction burns with passion, treachery, and heroism. In these two stories taken from his hard-bitten collection, The Tonto Woman and Other Western Stories, the American frontier comes vividly, magnificently to life.

When a mysterious boy is forceably brought to Patterson's General Store, it triggers a series of events that reveal the character of all involved in "The Kid."

"The Big Hunt" tells the story of how Will Gordon, a driven young buffalo hunter, finds the chance to exact revenge on the thieving brothers that swindled both him and his father.

The wild and glorious spirit of the West comes alive in the hands of America's greatest storyteller. Etching a harsh, haunting landscape with razor sharp prose, Elmore Leonard shows with these brilliant stories why he has become the American poet laureate of the desperate and the bold.Amazon.com Review
Welcome to a world where the Hatch & Hodges stagecoach runs on time orsomeone will catch hell, and where a man knows the difference betweenhandling a Winchester rifle and a Sharps and a Henry--or pays for it withhis life.

Before he became one of the best crime writers in America, Elmore Leonardwas one of the best Western writers in America. He churned out shortstories for the pulp magazines with regularity; The Tonto Womancollects 19 of the best, including "Three-Ten to Yuma" and "The Captives,"which in 1957 became the first two of his stories to be adapted for film(the latter as The Tall T). Reading them and the other stories, youcan see why Hollywood has been continually drawn to Leonard: Everyencounter between two or more people, no matter how casual, hassubstance--becomes a matter of great moral significance and can only beresolved through action. Even those stories that rely on O. Henry-styletwists of fate to reach their endings are packed with intense characterstudies disguised as straightforward genre prose. When all is said anddone, Elmore Leonard will be mentioned by literary critics in the samebreath as Ernest Hemingway--quite likely even mentionedfirst--and The Tonto Woman will make one of the strongestarguments in his favor. --Ron Hogan ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

A collection of memorable Elmore Leonard characters in a western setting
Elmore Leonard does create truly memorable flesh and blood, though often quirky, characters and this was just as true when he wrote western pulp fiction in the 50's, 60's, and 70's as it is now.For instance, there are Rueben Vega and the title character of the main story, Pat Brennan (The Captives), Bobby Valdez and Lyall Quinlan (Saint With A Six-Gun), Amelia Darck and Simon Street (The Colonel's Lady) among others. There are classic tales such as 3:10 To Yuma" and "Hurrah For Captain Early".There's much about the independence of women and about troubled ethnic relations.These are western tales which can be enjoyed by those who ordinarily dislike westerns. And those fans of the later Elmore Leonard will find much that's delightful in his western stories.

The Art of the Western
THE TONTO WOMAN by Elmore 'Dutch' Leonard contains short stories that will redefine how you view 'The Old West' with plots twists and turns the likes of which any writer can envy.
As a long time reader and fan of Leonard's I like to revisit the western stories from time to time to enjoy the dialogue, storyline construction, and characters that are anything but stock or easy to pigeon hole.
THE TONTO WOMAN introduced us to a strong female lead long before it became common place, good guys who weren't necessarily all that good, bad guys who weren't all that bad, and folks caught in between who are still struggling with where they fit in or fall into the picture.
Hollywood gave us a number of versions of the 'Old West' but I suspect it is authors like Leonard who provide a better and realistic look.
This is a great commuter book. The stories are short, entertaining and well written.

Fun reading, though it does start getting a bit predictable
This is my 3rd Elmore Leonard Book in a row, so I guess I'm steadily approaching burnout.Love his cool, concise prose style but I'm beginning notice pretty much the same "low-key, cool-as-ice underdog improbably wins in the end" theme over and over.The characters, settings and situations change with admirable variety, but the outcome is always the same, one way or another.Along the way there is a subtle and somewhat subversive criticism of the societal, economic and political status quo which is hard not to enjoy.

Makes for great beach and in-flight reading, that's for sure.Afterwards I can barely remember anything about most of these stories...

Vintage Elmore
A delightful collection of Western short stories by a master. You'll find the original for the movie "3:10 to Yuma," plus at least one Randolph Scott thriller. I understand "Tonto Woman" is now a movie and up for an Academy Award.

Inimitable Leonard Western stories
A recent newcomer to the Western genre, I was told by a friend to pick up Elmore Leonard's westerns. I knew of Leonard's crime stories, of course, but hadn't read him.
Quickly I have become a major fan. The other names in the Western genre can't touch Leonard. This is a great collection of short stories.
I'm rapidly going through the Leonard canon of Westerns and will be very sorry when I get to the end... ... Read more