By Kelly Wolfe MIAMI — One week after the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LVII, three-time United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo spoke about combating indigenous stereotypes. “We do not exist as human beings, we exist predominantly in the form of stereotypes as sports mascots … Super Bowl, case in point,” Harjo said. For more than an hour, Harjo stood on the second … [Read more...]
Spies, lies and a big art prize: Silva’s newest a thrilling romp through the art world
By Sharon Geltner Gabriel Allon, legendary Israeli spy, has retired. “He was no longer Israel’s avenging angel.” No more violence. Total serenity. A do-over. He settles on in Venice with his beautiful wife and two kids where he paints, enjoys classical music, gourmet home-cooked meals, happy times and a canal view. Soon he looks 30 years younger. But no one reads … [Read more...]
‘Head On’: Legendary Dolphin Csonka recounts losses amid gridiron glory
It's impossible to reflect on Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Larry Csonka's new memoir Head On (Matt Holt/BenBella Books) without referencing Always On the Run (1973), the former Miami Dolphins fullback's previous book of ever-colorful exploits. As told to New York Times columnist Dave Anderson, that entertaining 50-year-old set of tall-but-true tales was authored with Csonka's … [Read more...]
‘Well of Souls’ traverses shameful histories in telling tale of the banjo
Usually, the movie follows the book. But in the case of Kristina R. Gaddy's well-researched, comprehensive chronology Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo's Hidden History (Norton), it follows a documentary on the same subject by 14 years. Bela Fleck & the Flecktones' namesake banjoist and bandleader covered similar territory in 2008 with Throw Down Your Heart. The Sascha … [Read more...]
‘Shy’ shows Mary Rodgers was anything but second-rate
Like a less significant middle child, composer, author and philanthropist Mary Rodgers is a mere footnote in the annals of the musical theater. After all, she is probably best known for being the daughter of Richard Rodgers (Oklahoma!, Carousel, The Sound of Music and so many more) – a classic “hard act to follow” – and the mother of Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza, … [Read more...]
All for Mr. B: Dancer sees Balanchine’s ‘Serenade’ through worshipful lens
When I started reading Toni Bentley’s Serenade: A Balanchine Story, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. In fact, I wasn’t sure that I was going to continue reading it. I had my suspicion that the tone might be overly reverent, as Bentley was young and impressionable when she joined the ranks of New York City Ballet and was chosen by master choreographer George Balanchine to dance … [Read more...]
‘James Patterson’: Prolific storyteller clams up in frustrating autobiography
By Sharon Geltner In James Patterson by James Patterson, the author gets a disturbing phone call. "Your Jersey Shore house is burning!” What happened? Don’t know. How did the fire start? The author doesn’t say. Was it an electrical short? Nah. Spark from a neighbor’s grill? Yawn. Lightning strike? Maybe. Was it arson? Yes! That’s it! Arson! And the … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Book Festival features Watergate historian Graff, actor Cumming, director Stone
Author, journalist and historian Garret M. Graff wasn’t even born in 1972 when the Watergate scandal unfolded 50 years ago, ending in the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon on Aug. 9, 1974. But Graff, 40, has become one of the country’s foremost experts on that scandal and will speak about those events and his latest book, Watergate: A New History, at the eighth … [Read more...]
‘The Prince’ slims down Henry James for the modern age
By Sharon Geltner It took a former book reviewer for the New York Times to cleverly update Henry James’s best and, at 600 pages, longest novel, The Golden Bowl. Dinitia Smith has just launched The Prince, cutting 300 pages and speeding the pace — thereby catapulting the Gilded Age into the modern age. “I don’t write in Henry James’ style!” Smith exclaimed recently, … [Read more...]
Former ’60 Minutes’ producer pulls back the curtain behind that ticking clock
Over the course of his long career – 25 years as producer at 60 Minutes and another 15 years as senior producer of ABC’s Primetime Live and 20/20 – Ira Rosen has won a long list of accolades, including multiple Peabody and duPont awards, 24 Emmys and six Investigative Reporters and Editors awards -- more than Washington Post editor Bob Woodward. But for Rosen, the most … [Read more...]