Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 6, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba Editor Morley Walker / 697-7307 email Mwalker free press my Ca books sunday free press n it Winnipeg july 6, 1997 do for Fame by Sylvia Jukes Morris random House 561 pages $42 Clare Boothe Luce wanted a lot of things out of her Long life. She wanted a Man who would worship her a better than god a which for a while she appeared to have landed. Luce who died in 1987 at age 84, longed to be famous and admired. As a journalist author of the scorching 1936 play the women and later . Congresswoman and ambassador to Italy she certainly got what she was gunning for. In this marvellous volume Sylvia Jukes Morris has not just amassed information but distilled it. Luce spent a Good Deal of her last six years in the 1980s with Morris taking her to All the places in her life that mattered. Luce wrote Down everything censored almost nothing and was willing to share. Morris has searched to make sense of it All. Knight Ridder newspaper the voyage of Matthew by Peter Firstbrook Mcclelland and Stewart $35 five Hundred years ago John Cabot sailed on the Matthew from England to a a discover North America. Nevertheless the 500th anniversary of Cabot a journey is being celebrated this year in Newfoundland with the main event being the arrival of a modern replica of Cabot a ship. Firstbrook provides an excellent overview of Cabot a life his famous voyage and what drove 15th-Century explorers to take the chances they did. The Book is rounded out by a wealth of photos and maps. Canadian press los Alamos by Joseph Kanon Broadway books $30 there Are two things hard to believe about Kanon. One that this is Only the first novel from the longtime new York publishing executive. And two that he really Wasny to there in person on that Dusty Remote new Mexico Mesa in the Spring of 1945 when they first touched off the bomb. Kanonas writing is Crisp and movie dialogue believable As he interfaces fact and fiction into a murder mystery set against the backdrop of the top secret Manhattan project. Canadian press Book does no to add to understanding of 0.j. Case Clark paid too much without a doubt by Marcia Clark with Teresa Carpenter Viking 502 pages $35.00 reviewed by Stevens wild free press staff reporter word has it that Marcia Clark received $4.2 million to publish her impressions of the . Simpson criminal trial. Even considering the generous Cut for her agent and a less generous one for her ghost writer that leaves Clark with a lot of Money for a Book that contributes virtually nothing to our understanding of the most publicized trial in history. Lead prosecutor in the Simpson trial Clark treats the Reader to descriptions of her Messy personal life including the failure of her first marriage to an israeli Veteran of the six Day Way. She even describes the length of skirts she favours. Mercifully she gives Little information about her two Young sons and downplays her relationship with co prosecutor Christopher Darden. Whatever Clark paid her ghost writer it was too much. The Book is so badly written that it takes an Effort to read it to the end. But Clark seems to have missed the Point. Why was orenthal James Simpson acquitted of a brutal double murder of which he was so obviously guilty Canadian Joseph Faulder has been on death Row in Texas for 20 years on less evidence than Clark and Darden had against Simpson. Was it the race card that allowed Simpson to escape his just Fate a that detective Mark Fuhrman lied when he used a common racial slur was it the dream team were the group of lawyers who represented Simpson so Good that they were unbeatable Clark does not face the facts in her Book. Was it that the trial took place in downtown los Angeles which led to the selection of a predominately Black jury that was prejudiced in favour of the former Star football player none of these reasons either separately or collectively explain the verdict. Perhaps Clarks Book is so meaningless because she will not face the facts. That Simpson was acquit ted May not be entirely due to the incompetence of the prosecution but the prosecution was certainly incompetent. For example Clark says she decided to drop the Domestic violence argument because she did not feel it was having an Impact on the jury. That a quite extraordinary because the Simpson Case is a classic example of Domestic violence that led to murder. Clark should have continued this line of argument until the connection Between Nicole Brown Simpsons battered face and her viciously stabbed body was Clear to even the most slow witted juror. After the trial a juror said she did not understand the Dan evidence. It was Clarks Job to explain it. And the Dan evidence was crucial. Dan testing proved that Simpsons blood was at the murder scene and that Nicole a blood and that of Ronald Goldman was in Simpsons Bronco and in his Home. Amazingly the prosecution did not introduce As evidence such a variety of incriminating matters As the Bronco Chase Simpsons suicide note or his interrogation by detectives. A cult of celebrity exists in North american society a a cult that takes precedence Over virtually everything else in our culture. Television seems to create a sense of false intimacy. People think they know the personalities that they see on to even More than they know their Neighbours. Maybe television created the illusion that the jury knew . Simpson personally a that As a retired football Star failed actor second rate Colour commentator and commercial pitch Man a he was just too familiar in a superficial Way to be convicted of murder. Maybe that a the final Story of the . Simpson trial. A balanced look at the red River rebellion the red River rebellion by . Bumsted Watson amp Dwyer 359 pages $20 reviewed by Ian Stewart a Winnipeg freelance writer University of Manitoba professor j. M. Bumsted has written extensively in Canadian history. His recent works focusing on Manitoba Are the Manitoba flood of 1950 1993 and the Winnipeg general strike of 1919 an illustrated history 1994. He now turns his attention to the confrontation that led to the creation of Manitoba in 1870 a the red River rebellion. In 1869, Canada stumbled and Blun dered its Way into the Purchase and annexation of the Hudson a Bay company a vast Rupert a land territory. Naturally the canadians gave Little thought for the concerns of red River a inhabitants on this crucial matter. Unfortunately for the government As bumsted shows the majority of red River was a absolutely paranoid Over Canadas proposed takeover of their Homeland. The creoles a the Metis and mixed bloods a demanded that Canada recognize their title to the lands the people had settled on generations earlier. Except for a minority Canada party the Small White population was generally sympathetic to the fears of the creoles. However being a racially Complex and diverse Community there were Many opinions on How to achieve this goal. Many studies Over the last 20 years portray the confrontation at red River As a a Riel this popular emphasis on the a a hero minimizes the importance of other individuals and groups within the Community. Bumsted would like to see a better balanced historical perspective. Riel though important is portrayed within the context of the shifting alliances and compromises that were made daily in the Community so that civil order was maintained and pressure sustained on the government. The roles played by the vociferous anti rebellion Canada faction in red River Ontario protestants and the Metis negotiators in Ottawa Are also explored in depth. The dynamic forces of history sided with the new order. Red River a desire for the status quo could not hold. Sir John a. Mcdonald was not about to let As he said a few a half Breeds set Canadas Agenda. Promises were made but As it turned out political necessity guaranteed that they were meaningless. To ensure compliance in red River sir John a. A set afoot col. Garnet Wolseley a military expedition to the rebel settlement in the summer of 1870. Bumsted a Lively chapter Hurrah for fort Garry details the Effort to move 1,300 men and equipment through the near intractable Forest Muskeg lakes and Black flies of Northwestern Ontario and Eastern Manitoba. On the night table Rob Hilliard Manitoba federation of labour president a a in a Reading unconscious civilization by John Ralston Saul which analyses North american society and which he sees As a corporate society and less democratic than we think. And i recently read net Worth by Alison Griffiths and David cruise about the National hockey league and the founding of the nil players association. I read mostly for information about the world we live attempt at Quirky mystery ends up a convoluted novel bestsellers based on sales at Mcnally Robinson booksellers As of june 30 hardcovers mass Market 1 simple abundance. Sarah ban breath Nach. Inspiration. $22.95 2. Its just Prairie Ron Richardson. Photography. $34.00 3. Into thin air Jon Krakauer. Memoir. $33.95 4. Martha Stewart just desserts Jerry Oppenheimer. Biography. $31.00 5. The Celestine prophecy fiction. James Redfield. $23.95 6. The partner John Grisham. Fiction. $34.95 7. The Bible code Michael Drosnin. 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A place not Home Eva Wiseman Canadian teen novel. $6.95� a Blue and Golden year by Alison Preston Turnstone press 182 pages $17_ reviewed by Sharon Chisvin a Winnipeg freelance writer a Blue and Golden year is the first novel by Winnipeg writer Alison Preston. While it is an ambitious attempt to create a Quirky mystery a family drama and a Romance Preston seems to have taken on More than she can handle. A Blue and Golden year follows parallel Story lines. In Winnipeg the unhappy and lonely Audrey Laird frets about her estranged relationship with her hard drinking and needy sister Lillian while fantasizing about her old High school Boyfriend Frank. In Mexico Lillian sex Boyfriend Iggy frets about the Large sum of Money he has illegally obtained while fantasizing about his troubled former Girlfriend Iris. Preston has creatively populated these interconnecting stories with some interesting offbeat characters. Most of them however including Audrey and Iggy and the sad and strange minor ones that the author keeps introducing Are both undeveloped and unlikable. Audrey for example is an angry bitter selfish and downright mean woman. It is therefore difficult to care much about her or her predicament. Preston also makes the mistake of touching on too Many sensitive and controversial topics in the novel and then just abandoning them without any further explanation or exploration. These subjects include alcoholism child abandonment sadomasochism and rape to name just a few. As a result the Reader is left with the feel ing that they were mentioned strictly for their Shock value. As Well some of the narrative is marred by Clumsy writing. A she was the kind of Beautiful that caused situations that otherwise occur if her lips were just a Little thinner or her eyes less Brown a Preston writes in describing irises grown daughter Janis. To Preston a credit however there Are at least two very memorable and insightful passages of writing in the novel. In one the author eloquently describes the different ways people react to the death of a loved one. In the other she sums up the unfinished business of High school love. While these reveal that the authors writing holds great Promise they Are unfortunately not enough to hold together this otherwise convoluted novel. Civil War novel packs powerful punch by David Pitt a Halifax freelance writer Manitoba authors gods and generals Ballantine is Jeff Shaara so a prequel to his father Michael a pulitzer prizewinning civil War novel the killer Angels 1974and its something rare indeed a exhaustively researched extremely detailed historical novel that is neither dry nor ponderous. Set in the years immediately preceding the Battle of Gettysburg the novel opens in 1858gods and generals is about the decent honourable men who stumbled into the Middle of a brutal obscene War men like Robert e. Lee at the end of his 30-year military career who saw the War As a threat to his Home and family and Thomas a a Stonewall Jackson a mediocre professor of military tactics who became a Brilliant commander. Its a powerful combination of drama and scholarship. To most of us the primary cause of death in the civil War or any War probably seems obvious gunfire Bayonet wounds bombs and the like. The truth As Kenneth c. Davis reveals in done to know much about the civil War Avonis a Little less. Dignified. The leading cause of death in the civil War was diarrhoea which Inci paperback picks dentally distracted Gen. Robert e. Lee so much that he probably lost the Battle of Gettysburg because of it. Davis the author of Don t know much about history and Don t know much about geography has a Knack for breaking Large complicated subjects slavery the american Constitution the importance of Cotton into smaller pieces. In the new Doublespeak Harper perennial the sequel to his 1989 Doublespeak William Lutz once again demonstrates that the English language is frequently twisted by those who should be using it the most responsibly. Lutz an English professor at Rutgers University and former head of the committee on Public Doublespeak suggests that a we have no idea what we re talking about and we certainly have no idea what we re saying to each he Points out for example that the abortion debate is a essentially a debate Over semantic environments and definitions Quot in which one Side argues from a Legal Point of View while the other bases its argument in the language of morality or religion. Lutz does no to just Tell us what we already know that some people use words for their own purposes. He also shows How to recognize and translate the twisted versions of English we encounter every Day. If Kevin Marron is right the Canadian Federal prison system is in big trouble. The Slammer is Marron a detailed intelligent and compassionate assessment of the problems of the prison system racism drug abuse sexual abuse and a this might almost be considered the Root cause of All the problems a overcrowding. Marron who has spent years covering criminal trials As a newspaper reporter examines How a double bunking a putting two offenders in a cell designed for one cramming prisons to overflowing a has made the penal systems primary goal rehabilitation virtually unreachable. How he asks can we expect offenders to Benefit from rehabilitation programs if they have to wait in line to join them in the Slammer the offenders emerge not just As criminals but As victims of a penal system that is ill equipped to Deal with them ;