Many American soldiers returning home from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from nightmares and physical symptoms grouped under the label Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. That label, though, does not include the moral injury and guilt that afflicts soldiers devastated by memories of killing civilians and children, and watching comrades die in battle. In What Have We … [Read more...]
Politics weighed heavy on vibrant Miami Book Fair
On the way to the Miami Book Fair on Saturday, I was making the usual small talk with the Lyft driver when he suddenly began complaining about Donald Trump. You can’t believe anything Trump says, he offered in his rough English. He’s already going back on promises to working people. He’s not going to create jobs. He’s not going to build a wall, and he’s not going to make … [Read more...]
Sanders tells Miami Book Fair crowd to keep fighting
Speaking to a sell-out crowd that obviously wanted to feel the Bern again, Bernie Sanders brought a message of hard work and hope to the Miami Book Fair Saturday evening, delivered in tones of tough love. “I understand people are distressed,” Sanders said, referring to the election of showman billionaire Donald Trump to the White House last week. “But despair is not an … [Read more...]
Toobin: Comey email notice was about ego, not politics
Not known as a comedian, Jeffrey Toobin was nonetheless consistently funny Thursday evening at the Miami Book Fair, where he came to talk about this latest book, American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes, and Trial of Patty Hearst. Effusively praising the book fair — “It’s not just a Miami institution, it’s a national institution!”— he mentioned the … [Read more...]
Novelist Brooks brings news from King David’s court to Miami Book Fair
After hearing from topical comedian Trevor Noah Sunday and Democratic strategist James Carville last night, book lovers at the third evening of the Miami Book Fair might have been looking for some literary relief from politics when the widely admired historical novelist Geraldine Brooks took the stage Tuesday. And so it was — until Brooks opened her mouth and spoke. “It’s … [Read more...]
James Carville urges fellow liberals to ‘fight like hell’
James Carville came to the Miami Book Fair on Monday night, and he was, as you might imagine, fighting mad. A longtime Democratic political consultant close to the Clintons, he did not look like or talk like a man willing to give President-elect Donald Trump a chance. “This country is going to get the best ninth-grade civics education ever,” Carville said. “We are in … [Read more...]
Trevor Noah discusses South Africa, but not election, at Miami Book Fair
Trevor Noah, best known as the host of The Daily Show, opened the 33rd edition of the Miami Book Fair with a surprisingly somber appearance Sunday evening that included almost no direct comment on the shocking and bruising results of the recent U.S. presidential election. Yet his anecdotes and observations of growing up during the last years of South African apartheid held … [Read more...]
‘Blood at the Root’: Ethnic cleansing comes to the South
One of the most shameful pieces of American history involves the post Civil War decades, when thousands of blacks were lynched for perceived misdeeds. Blood at the Root relates the ugly history of Forsyth County, Ga., where hateful whites decided in 1912 to drive out every remaining black resident under the threat of arson, lynching and gunfire. More than 1,000 terrified … [Read more...]
2016-17 Season Preview: Books
If you want to see Trevor Noah, or Alan Cumming, or any of the celebrities at this year’s star-studded Miami Book Fair International, now is the time to make your plans and get your tickets. Because they are going fast. Really though, Hollywood and literary glitterati notwithstanding, the biggest star at the fair is sure to be Bernie Sanders. In post-election mode, Sanders … [Read more...]
Harrowing ‘Girl Walks Out of a Bar’ could help other addicts
Lisa Smith has written a chilling account of her life as a New York lawyer addicted to alcohol and cocaine. Smith got an early start. By age 8 she was sneaking sips of alcohol at parties hosted by her parents. By 13 she hung around “almost exclusively” with drinking kids, and by 15 she was binge drinking while also trying pot and cocaine. “By 18, I was a straight-A … [Read more...]