Book Review: Monkey Business by Simon Louvish

Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers by Simon Louvish

This comprehensive biography starts with the arrival in America of the Marx Brothers' grandparents in the 1800s. Like many immigrants, they came to New York in search of a better life. Their mother, Minnie, encouraged them in theatrical and musical careers, which in the early 1900s meant vaudeville or the theater. The brothers started locally (lots of opportunities in NYC) and eventually toured all over the country with popular routines that morphed as they went along. Sometimes they fine-tuned routines; sometimes the bigger historical picture changed things. They dropped Groucho's German teacher character during World War I. Their ambitions took them to Broadway, radio, film, and (for Groucho) television. They had long careers, only breaking apart in the late 1940s when the creative juices flowed less and other concerns (mostly family) took over their lives. Groucho had another reinvention with the TV show You Bet Your Life, keeping himself in the limelight longer than his other brothers. The narrative ends with their deaths in the later half of the twentieth century.

At first, I was worried about the book moving slowly with a lot of the pre-Brothers period being documented in meticulous detail from the sketchy records of the nineteenth century. The interest picks up as the boys come on the scene and begin doing their different characters that blend so well together. Author Louvish has done a lot of research, sorting out the the myths, mistakes, and misdirections about the Marx Brothers' lives. He does occasionally imitate the style of the Marx Brothers with some jokey passages or comments about what's happening. Some of bits are clever, some land flat. They take the dullness off some of the narrative spots where things are barely happening. 

The book is entertaining and informative, providing some insight into the personalities of the boys off-stage as well as on-stage. I enjoyed it.

Recommended, especially for Marx Brothers fans.

Book Review: Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G. K. Chesterton by Joseph Pearce

Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G. K. Chesterton by Joseph Pearce

This weighty tome (490 pages of text with another 32 of notes and index) covers the whole life of the great Catholic intellectual of the early twentieth century, Gilbert Keith Chesterton. He enjoyed debating from an early age, often discussing issues with his brother Cecil in their childhood (a habit that lasted). As he grew, Chesterton started writing prose and poetry, along with forming informal societies to discuss literature and sometimes even politics. His way of writing and discussing had two key characteristics. First, he used paradox and common sense often. Second, he used gentleness and charity with all his interlocutors. That's how he wound up being friends with George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells while fundamentally disagreeing with them. The book goes over both Chesterton's public career and a lot of his private life. Pearce had access to a lot of Chesterton's letters and other personal writing, a very large body of material.

Chesterton's journey of faith is also chronicled in a fascinating way. He starts as a searcher for truth coming out of the English Protestant background common to the late 19th century. His pursuit of truth eventually led him to becoming Catholic, though his trip was naturally slowed by the expectations of his family and friends who were less keen on Roman religion. His love for others and for truth made him cautious. When he did convert, he was quite certain it was the right decision. 

His brilliant writing style fills the book. There's plenty of quotes, some quite lengthy, giving the highlights of his writing career, showing both his wisdom and his innocence. His style is delightful even when it doesn't quite suit his subject matter. He wrote several biographies though he does not give them the typical historical reviews one expects. He gives more of an impression of the person, what they were like as individuals and how they affected Chesterton's world view. He looked for the greatness in his subjects, not for every last fact or detail of their lives.

This book has the tough balancing act of giving an impression of Chesterton's character and personality along with a detailed historical review of his life. Pearce does a good job presenting both. Chesterton's love of children and of home and hearth comes across along with his desire to present the truth, often in comical and paradoxical ways. Pearce's achievement here is clearly a labor of love, with a great deal of admiration and generosity toward his subject. It's a delight to read even if it is a long read.

Highly recommended to get to Chesterton's life and heart.

Book Review: Saint Katharine Drexel: Apostle to the Oppressed by Lou Baldwin

Saint Katharine Drexel: Apostle to the Oppressed by Lou Baldwin

Katharine Drexel was born the middle daughter in an upper-class Philadelphia family in 1858. Their extended family had varying degrees of Catholic fervor but the three Drexel sisters were very devout. Katharine was especially devoted to the Holy Eucharist and wished she could receive daily communion, something not possible at the time. Her parents died and left a large fortune to the three daughters, though they only received the income from the fortune during their lives. Many young women were taken advantage of by fortune hunters and Francis Drexel wanted to protect his children from exploitation. Even so, the income was substantial.

Katharine struggled in her young adulthood with her vocation. She wanted to serve the poor, especially the African-American and Native-American communities that were at best neglected (more often despised) in late-19th century America. The Catholic Church, while interested in all peoples, only had limited abilities (and struggled with prejudice against it at that time). Katharine funded several missions out west and started schools in Philadelphia. The Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions formed in the 1870s and Katharine was a staunch financial supporter.

She was convinced by her bishop to start her own religious order dedicated to ministering to these underserved communities. The process was long and arduous. She began with temporary vows and training at the Religious Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh. Soon enough, she established a convent in Philadelphia and drew young women to her own Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Several years were required by the Philadelphia Bishop O'Connor before the sisters could go out west--they needed both spiritual formation and practical education to minister on the reservations. Drexel began a vocational school that would eventually transform into Drexel University. The sisters began serving a variety of communities in the American west.

She also funded several schools and parishes for African-American communities, starting in Philadelphia and branching out to the American South. Memories of the Civil War were still fresh in many minds and hearts. Fighting both segregation and discrimination became an ongoing battle for her nuns. She founded Xavier University of Louisiana, the first Catholic and Black university in America. Katharine traveled often to visit the sisters across the country. 

She lived to the middle of the twentieth century. Her cause for sainthood was opened almost immediately (several people who knew her thought she was a saint during her lifetime). She was canonized in 2000, the first U. S. citizen to be declared a saint. 

This biography does a good job recording Katharine's history and her personal character, going through the events of her life starting with her grandparents, the first Drexels to come to American in the 1700s. The overview in interesting and inspiring.

Recommended.

Sample quote, from Cardinal Dougherty, the Archbishop of Philadelphia during Katharine's Jubilee year in 1941:

Humanly speaking, the sacrifice was heroic. She did not give up nets and other fishing apparatus as the first Apostles; she did not leave poverty and drudgery; she turned her back on wealth, social prominence, enjoyment of all that money can buy in order, even in her early youth, with its bright prospects, to dedicate her life to the outcast, downtrodden despised Indians and Negroes of the United States. [p. 185]

Book Review: Life of Christ by Fulton J. Sheen

Life of Christ by Fulton J. Sheen

The famous American Catholic prelate Fulton Sheen wrote a theological biography of Jesus based on the Gospels and his own reflections. He goes through all the details of Jesus's birth, ministry, death, and resurrection with plenty of references to the prophecies and prefigurements in the Old Testament. He makes comments and gives insights into Christ's actions on earth and how they contribute to our salvation.

Sheen's main theme is the contrast of Jesus's life to our lives. We are here to live as best we can; Jesus came to die for us. Jesus lived in a dangerous time, under a Roman rule that drove Judaism into factions and a social structure that left the ill and the poor in desperate situations. He lived an itinerant life, gathering followers who did not fully understand what He was doing. His head disciple, Peter, was scandalized at the idea that Jesus would have to die an ignominious death, even though he recognized, thanks to grace, that He was the Messiah. Sheen gives a powerful testament to Christ, showing His uniqueness as the Son of God and His familiarity as the Son of Man. Jesus came that we might have life more fully, but the path to that fuller life led Jesus to the cross.

Occasionally, Sheen's commentary reads a little dated. He talks about the great threat of communism (the book was first published in 1952). He also takes a dim view of unfettered capitalism. Sheen uses the Knox translation for quotations from the Bible that sounds old-fashioned even though Knox translated in the 1940s. He uses a lot of "thees" and "thous" along with "Isais and "Jeremias" for "Isaiah" and "Jeremiah." The text does not sound contemporary, but that is okay in my view. Other readers may feel differently.

His writing style is so straightforward and honest. Even though he is theologically insightful, he doesn't bog down in terminology or abstract arguments. His explanations are easy to follow and provide a greater insight into Christ's life and mission.

Recommended--these are good reflections by a master communicator and theologian. 

Sample text:

Human infirmity touched Him so deeply, because deafness, dumbness, leprosy, insanity were the effects of sin, not in the person afflicted but in humanity. Because His death would remove sin which was the cause (though the final release from sickness and error would not come until the resurrection of the just), He said that it was just as easy for Him to heal one as the other. [p.203]

On the difference between Peter and Judas: 

Why, then, is one at the head of the list, the other at the bottom? Because Peter repented unto the Lord and Judas unto himself. The difference was as vast as Divine-reference and self reference; as vast as the difference between a Cross and a psychoanalytic coach. Judas said he had "betrayed innocent blood," but he never wished to be bathed in it. Peter knew he had sinned and sought redemption; Judas knew he had made a mistake and sought escape--the first of the long army of escapists from the Cross. Divine pardon presupposes but never destroys human freedom. [p. 372]

Book Review: Messenger: The Legend of Muhammad Ali by M. Bernardin et al.

Messenger: The Legend of Muhammad Ali written by Marc Bernardin and art by Ron Salas

This graphic novel biography goes through the highlights and important events of the life of Muhammad Ali, the American boxer who became world famous for many reasons. The most significant is his success in the boxing ring. He also had a lot of character, exhibiting a sense of humor and brashness. He liked himself a lot and often took a poetic view of things. His famous "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" was one of the many boasts he would make about his abilities. The book also covers his conversion to Islam, his refusal to be drafted during the Vietnam War, his successful intervention in an Iraq hostage situation. The story is bookended by his lighting the Olympic torch at the Los Angeles games in 1996, showing a child watching on TV and asking why Ali is famous and what's wrong with him. Ali had Parkinson's disease.

The biography is told in vignettes, with each incident in Ali's life showing some of his character and how he dealt with others and thought of himself. It provides a fascinating portrait of the man and his greatness.

Recommended.

Book Review: Brilliant: 25 Catholic Scientists, Mathematicians, and Supersmart People by David Michael Warren

Brilliant: 25 Catholic Scientists, Mathematicians, and Supersmart People by David Michael Warren

This book of biographies is focused on Catholics who have made contributions to our scientific advancement, starting with Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) and ending with Pope Francis and Karin Oberg, both still living as I write this.

The book's audience is children, so the biographies are short (three or four pages) and include a lot of nice art (similar to what's on the cover). Each bio gives, in addition to the person's scientific contributions, some historical context and how their faith influenced their lives. The breadth of discplines is impressive, including physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry, genetics, computer science, and astrophysics. Many were religious who were supported in their scientific vocations by their orders or their dioceses. Many are also lay Catholics, often parents who balanced faith, family, and career successfully. This book is a great introduction to these people and puts the lie to the supposed division between faith and science.

Recommended, highly for kids.

Book Review: Saint Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton

Saint Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton

In an unconventional biography, G. K. Chesterton looks at the personality of Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan order who lived in the late 1100s and early 1200s. Chesterton's professed aim is to make Francis more accessible to people who do not know anything about him. He does not give the standard biography's history of the man within his own world. Chesterton makes reference to Francis's time and also Chesterton's time, almost in equal measures. He presents the universal truths and the particular character of Francis, how both have persisted through the eight hundred years after his life ended (Francis died in 1226). 

Francis was a romantic in a medieval sense--he admired the troubadours of his time and was drawn to military service as a way to be a hero, a righter of wrongs or defender of those in need. He was a bit disillusioned with soldiering and worked for his father, a cloth merchant. His desire to help others led him into conflict with his father, getting to the point where Francis renounced his father's goods, threw off his clothes, and went out into the world a pauper. He was in the ruins of a church when he heard a voice asking him to rebuild the church. Francis took the request literally and started gathering stones and begging for resources to restore the building where he heard the voice. His life surely seemed odd to a lot of people but he did have a few acquaintances join him in his life of begging and working to restore the Faith among the Christians. Love and joy were central to Francis's work, leading him into an extraordinary life.

Chesterton relates these and other incidents in Francis's life with a lot of commentary about how various people in Chesterton's own time would understand them. Chesterton brings out the unique worldview of Francis as a contrast to how others (then and now) see him. He gives a good idea what Francis was like and what motivated him in doing the amazing things he did.

Chesterton's style is very witty in both senses of the term, intelligent and funny. He has a playful writing style, with paradoxes and puns helping to bring out the points he makes. The book is a delight to read and I look forward to rereading it, though I should try out more of his many other works first.

Recommended.

Book Review: Saint Thomas Aquinas by G. K. Chesterton

Saint Thomas Aquinas by G. K. Chesterton

Most biographies run through the story of someone's life in chronological order, from birth to death. Sometimes, the era in which they were born or lived is described at the start, to give a setting. Often, the impact of their life on history or people is at the end, justifying the importance of writing the biography in the first place. Chesterton has found a third path for his biographical sketch of Saint Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican teacher and writer from the 1200s who has had a lasting impact on Catholic theology and philosophy. 

This biography starts with a comparison of Saint Thomas with Saint Francis of Assisi. Both were friars in new mendicant orders, Francis having died the year Thomas was born. Both sought to renew Christian piety in Christendom. Francis's Franciscans used humility and service. Thomas, as part of the Dominicans, used intelligence and education. They had different paths but the same goal, bringing people deeper into a Faith that had become shallow and stultified. 

Chesterton uses the various famous events of Thomas's life, like fighting off a prostitute with an iron from the fire or disrupting the king's feast by shouting "That will settle the Manichees!", as launching points to discuss what prompted those actions. Chesterton delves into how his contemporaries see such things in contrast with how Thomas's contemporaries saw those same things. Thomas himself had a third way of looking at those. Chesterton shows the character, the humility, and the simplicity of Thomas and how that character could be mistaken (then as now) for stupidity or aloofness. Aquinas's humility covers a great many of his excellences, clouding the vision of people who knew (or nowadays claim to know) him well.

The book ends with a comparison of Saint Thomas with Martin Luther, another monk who had a lasting impact on Christendom, though it is more of a contrast than comparison. Aquinas had faded into the background of history and theology for a long time, only to have his own renaissance in the 1800s and 1900s as Catholic scholars and ecclesiastics renewed their interest in his writings. Thomas has become an important intellectual figure, being referenced at least sixty-one times in the Catechism of the Catholic Church produced in 1992. 

Chesterton has a delightful command of the English language, being able to craft paradoxes and puns as he is making his points. The text is joyful to read. It was written for his contemporary audience with plenty of references to popular figures who are much less known nowadays--how many people know the atheistic outlook of H. G. Wells or even the Aquinas biography written by Fr. D'arcy? From context, a reader can figure out what Chesterton means or, at least, the direction he is aiming at. He's almost poetic in his prose.

Recommended, though you might want to supplement with a more conventional biography like Louis de Wohl's fictional The Quiet Light (which is historically reliable) or James Weisheipl's academic biography. 

This book is discussed on episode #299 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. Check it out!

Book Review: Priest and Beggar by Kevin Wells

Priest and Beggar: The Heroic Life of Venerable Aloysius Schwartz by Kevin Wells

Aloysius Schwartz had a fairly normal childhood grown up in 1930s Washington, D.C. He loved his family and read comic books, dreaming of being a Nazi-fight hero. As he grew up, his priorities shifted and he desired to become a priest and work in missions, living a life of poverty and service as Jesus did. His American seminary wanted to shift him to an academic life, so he went to Europe to join the Societe des Auxiliaries des Missions, which had a focus on missionary work. He saw the fine, large, comfortable seminaries as totally unlike the life of the poor in the street, with whom he wanted to identify so he could serve them better. One academic break, he visited Banneux, France, where Mary had appeared as "the Virgin of the Poor." At the Banneux shrine, he promised his service in her name if she would help him get to mission country. His desire was to go to South Korea, which had just finished the civil war that left the country divided and devastated. He returned to D.C. to be ordained and was sent from there to the diocese of Busan. 

Arriving in Korea, he was shocked at the poverty and corruption everywhere. He started to learn Korean and work in a local parish but fell deathly ill. He had to return to the United States to recuperate, which turned out to be a blessing. After his recovery, he traveled around telling American Catholics about the conditions in Korea. People started donating money. Eventually, the Busan bishop came over and they criss-crossed the country in a broken-down car, getting donations everywhere. They returned to Korea where they used the money to open shelters, schools, clinics, and hospitals for the poorest of the poor. To staff these, Fr. Schwartz founded the Sisters of Mary, an order of young women who served in simplicity and love. In the orphanages, each sister had six to eight boys assigned to her. She was a mother to them. She cleaned them up and cared for them, playing with them and teaching them the Faith. The concept expanded to Boystowns and Girlstowns founded first in Korea, later in other countries.

His success did not come easy. The American bishops complained to Rome about the needs of the poor in America. Why should all the money go to Korea? The papal investigation validated Fr. Schwartz's work. The local bishop had some of the Korean relief money but was not handling it well, so Fr. Schwartz cut him off, not a popular move. Fr. Schwartz also had to deal with the Korean organized crime, which was exploiting the civic welfare system, taking the medicines and food intended for the homeless and selling it on the black market. Through courage and hard dealing, Father Schwartz was able to take over several ghastly "relief" homes and convert them to serving the poor, not the community organizers.

All the while, he kept up his priestly duties and lived a very humble life. He lived in a shack behind his rectory with no electricity or running water. He never had cash on him and was very thin. He had a joyful disposition and was able to inspire others to help him. The Boystown/Girlstown model expanded to the Philippines and Latin America. In the last years of his life Fr. Schwartz developed ALS, a debilitating disease that slowly took away his physical abilities. He died in 1992 but his legacy lives on.

His story is inspiring and well-told by author Wells. Schwartz was declared Venerable in 2015 and his cause for sainthood seems assured. So many people who knew him thought of him as a saint. He is a great and inspiring example of faith in action, like Mother Theresa or Damian of Molokai.

Highly recommended.

Book Review: Lincoln by David Herbert Donald

Lincoln by David Herbert Donald

There's probably a million and one biographies of Abraham Lincoln available, from a ten-page kids book to a multi-volume academic tome. This 700-page biography (the last hundred are notes, bibliography, and index) sits in the middle, with a lot of well-researched details, but not every last detail. Author David Donald says his specific angle in telling Lincoln's story is to go back to the original sources, Lincoln's writings and the writings of the people he knew, along with extensive newspaper articles. Many papers in the 1840s to 1860s had their political biases, so researching them all provides a balanced view. Donald's ultimate goal is to get a sense of Lincoln as a person, what he thought and felt about his life and times. 

The book traces the whole of Lincoln's life, starting from his birth in Kentucky under humble circumstances. He did not have much education and wandered from job to job in his younger days. He wound up in Springfield, Illinois, where he became a lawyer. Reading as much as he could, he prepared meticulously for cases. Lincoln spent a lot of time at various intellectual clubs where the members discussed politics and other things. He vacillated between political service and lawyer work. 

Lincoln moved up the political ladder in fits and starts, with a mix of success and failure. The situation around slavery was complicated. Balancing out the various extremes was a constant battle, leading Lincoln and his compatriots to form a new political party, sometimes called the Unionists, eventually becoming the Republicans. Lincoln brought together various factions, even in his own presidential cabinet, to get different points of view and to test his ideas on widely different thinkers. His ability to change plans and find different ways to achieve goals is fascinating to read.

The book is most interested his personality. He loved to tell stories and jokes, sometimes less refined than appropriate for his surroundings. He was shy with women, not knowing how best to woo someone. His first engagement to Mary Todd was broken off. They came back together and lived a marriage that was not always easy. Mary had ambitions for her husband and enjoyed the finer things in life. Lincoln was more laid back and did not care so much for his appearance (he was not an attractive man, by all accounts) or even what he ate. While he did not have mood swings, he did have times of joyful exuberance and times of exhausted sorrow. His outward Christianity (he did not attend any specific church) had its grounding in a sense of fate or destiny controlling people's lives. His fatalism made him more courageous and more melancholic. He was a man who rose to the occasion even if he did not feel comfortable doing so. 

This book gives a lot of details to show how Lincoln lived. He's elected to president less than half way through the book. The presidential years are focused on his activities in office, mostly dealing with the American Civil War and the various factions in Congress and the press. His conduct of the war was mostly providing supplies and troops...and trying to get the various Union generals to attack their opponents. There's no descriptions of individual battles, only of overall strategies and the Lincoln's changing opinions as he saw how the generals performed. He made many visits to the army headquarters and battlefields, partly out of curiosity, partly to know what was going on and how he could help. Much of his efforts was with Congress and his own cabinet members.

The end is abrupt--Lincoln is shot on April 14, 1865, and dies the next day. The book ends in a crowded back room where Secretary of Stanton says, "Now, he belongs to the ages." The author provides no summary of Lincoln's legacy or the aftermath of his death. The book is a look at Lincoln as a man who rose up in extraordinary circumstance to lead the nation through one of its darkest times.

Highly recommended.

Sample quote on Lincoln's storytelling: "Most stories he recounted simply because he thought they were funny. Laughing along with his visitors helped break the ice. But he also knew how to use storytelling to deflect criticism, to avoid giving an answer to a difficult question, and to get rid of a persistent interviewer." [p. 259]

Movie Review: Father Stu (2022)

Father Stu (2022) written and directed by Rosalind Ross

Stuart Long (Mark Wahlberg) lives a hard life. He grew up with a very difficult father (Mel Gibson) and decided to be a boxer. His boxing career is going nowhere. After a fight, he is diagnosed with an ailment that stops him from boxing. Not one to give up (especially on himself), Stuart moves to Los Angeles to become a movie star. He gets a job in a supermarket where he sees a beautiful young woman name Carmen (Teresa Ruiz) who has no interest in him because he is not Catholic. Not one to give up, he starts showing up at church and even gives becoming a Christian a try. He still leads a rough life and has a hard relationship with his parents. Then he crashes his motorcycle, causing some severe injuries. He has a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary who comforts him and tells him he still has a purpose. After much prayer and thought, Stu decides he is being called to the priesthood. Carmen laughs at him and the seminary rector (Malcolm McDowell) initially turns him down. Not one to give up, he argues his way into seminary and out of a potential wedding. He doesn't fit in well with the other seminarians but continues on.

The movie is based on a true story and exemplifies a certain character that pops up again and again in church history--the fallen man who becomes a Godly man. Francis of Assisi wanted to be a soldier fighting in glorious wars; Ignatius of Loyola fought in wars and was forced, during the boredom of recuperation, to read the Bible and the lives of the saints. Stu is in this tradition and we get a good gander at the brokenness of his life. He's invested in himself and wants to be a self-made man. He's slowly taken away from himself, at first using his selfishness to get him to do things that are outside of himself, like getting baptized. The movie does a good job portraying his genuine conversion and his struggles, both with himself and with everyone else. He understands his own problems, which enables him to help others. He can see their brokenness and has the moral authority of his own experience to share with them and to provide genuine counsel. It's a moving conversion story.

Just a warning, it's also a R-rated conversion story, with a lot of cussing and bodily injuries (from boxing and from the bike accident). There's also one very discreet sex scene and some sexual references. This movie is for adults, not for family movie night.

Recommended.

Book Review: Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics by Tom Scioli

Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics by Tom Scioli

Jack Kirby, most famous as a comic book creator who teamed with Stan Lee, had an amazing life. He grew up in New York during the Depression. He started working in comics and animation in the 1930s and was drafted to fight in World War II. When he got back, the grim experience of being a soldier convinced him that the horror genre of comics was of no interest. He returned to comics writing in New York, working with Joe Simon (a pre-war collaborator) at various companies. He had a lot of creative output and was able to transition from superheroes to other comics (like romance or westerns) as the public's tastes changed through the years. He wound up working with Stan Lee and they revived superhero comics with the introduction of Marvel's classic heroes--Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, The X-Men, etc. Kirby had a lot of tension with Lee, who was more of a publicity guy, about credit for the creative work. With a family to support, Kirby often had to make hard choices about what work to accept and when to stay at a job that had less and less satisfaction for him. He led a full life and was appreciated by fans up to his death in 1994.

This biography tells Kirby's story from his point of view in this graphic non-fiction. Kirby was a creative genius but also had a lot of angst and a big chip on his shoulder. Very early on, Kirby gets peevish about other comic creators taking his creations or his ideas and running with them. Later, he feels ripped off by various publishers and collaborators but has a hard time fighting back because of family obligations. All the while he says that the work he is doing is the best and he is under-appreciated by his peers and the comic-reading public. The book shows this inferiority complex by drawing Kirby as smaller than other characters in many of the frames. And yet he has the face and hairstyle of The Fantastic Four's Reed Richards--the brilliant scientist who funds their amazing adventures with royalties from his many patents. By the end, the reader gets the sense that this book is the truth but not the whole truth of Kirby's life.

Recommended for fans of comics, it is probably of less interest to others.

Book Review: John Henry Newman: His Inner Life by Father Zeno

John Henry Newman: His Inner Life by Father Zeno

As a life-long Newman scholar, Father Zeno had access to all of John Henry Newman's writings, both published and unpublished. This biography presents Newman's whole history and includes many insights into his attitudes and decisions as well as the attitudes of others towards him. 

John Henry Newman was born in 1801 to Anglican parents. He grew up struggling with his faith until he was fifteen years old. He had a conversion experience that deepened his faith. He went to Oxford and was ordained. At the time, the Anglican Church was in decline. Newman spearheaded a renewal of faith in England called the Oxford Movement. The group studied the faith seriously, including the Church Fathers (the great teachers and writers of the first few hundred years of Christianity). As he studied more, Newman came to see the Anglican Church as a splinter group off of the Church founded by Christ, which more and more looked like the Roman Catholic Church. After much internal struggle and debate with friends, Newman converted to Catholicism in 1845. He spent the rest of his life as a Catholic priest and an intellectual force for the faith. He was encouraged to look for an order that would suit him and he adopted St. Philip Neri's Oratorians. They lived in small communities and lived both an intellectual and educational vocation (much like the Oxford Movement). He established the first Oratories in England even though he felt he had few administrative skills. He was also asked to start a Catholic university in Dublin and to work on many other projects that took him away from his writing and preaching. He had many doubts about what to do and had to deal with several controversies.

As Zeno traces Newman's history, he uses Newman's writings and the writings of others to give deeper insight into Newman's actions and character. Newman was smart, sensitive, and scrupulous. He was aware of different perspectives on issues which made his decision-making process uncertain. He saw good and bad possible results from his decisions so me made them very carefully. He tried not to offend others and believed in the importance of obedience, not just to one's own conscience but more importantly to those with authority over oneself. His submission to legitimate authority and his long-suffering patience are inspiring. 

The Oxford Movement was, in large part, an attempt to bring back the good parts of pre-Reformation Christianity, leading the movement initially into "High Church" Anglicanism. Many in the movement, like Newman, kept moving all the way into the Catholic Church. Newman struggled greatly in his thoughts and with his friends about converting. He came to the point where he could not honestly deny that the church of Rome is the true church of Christ. Many of his decisions and actions followed this same pattern where he would get to the point of certitude by a meticulous process of discernment. Newman's intellectual honesty and intense piety are also an inspiring example.

This book does a flawless job in blending Newman's history with his personal character. The discussions of controversies and theological conundrums does not get too technical or hard to follow. This is a great biography of a fascinating saint.

Highly recommended.

Book Review: Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Cold War Correspondent by Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Cold War Correspondent written and drawn by Nathan Hale

Marguerite Higgins, a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune, covered the outbreak of the Korean War. She was a correspondent in World War II and witnessed the liberation of some of the concentration camps. Stationed in Tokyo, she and other correspondents flew over to Seoul as the North Korean army came pouring south. Many of her personal experiences are told, e.g. dealing with supportive and unsupportive military leadership (some didn't want her anywhere near combat). The battle scenes are exciting and frequent. This book only covers the first year of the war (1950), with the South Korean and American/UN forces pushed all the way back to the southern shore of the Korean Peninsula. General Douglas MacArthur executed a bold plan to retake the capital, launching an amphibious assault at Inchon, eighteen miles west of the capital.

As with all the Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales books, this is introduced with a little comedy by American patriot (and narrator of the series) Nathan Hale and his executioners. Ms. Higgins takes over narrating duty since she is a reporter and it's a natural fit for her. Her real-life account is riveting. I learned a lot about the Korean War from this book even though it only covers a third of the war. As usual, there's a bibliography and some pictures of the real Higgins. The inside cover gives a map of Korea and explains the language changes by the South Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism that happened in 2000, when spellings changed, e.g. Inchon to Incheon and Pusan to Busan, among others. This book is a better text than a lot of textbooks!

Highly recommended.

Book Review: Camera Man by Dana Stevens

Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century by Dana Stevens

Buster Keaton was born in 1895 to a vaudeville family who crisscrossed the country. He was integrated into the act at a very young age, often in skits where he was tossed about the stage or did a lot of tumbling and crashing. The Three Keatons were a top-billed act for a long time until the alcoholism of his father spoiled things. Buster and his mom left dad in California to seek their fortunes elsewhere. He moved to New York where he met Roscoe Arbuckle, a big star in silent film comedy who made Buster a creative partner. Buster was interested in both the technicalities of the new medium (legend has it he took apart a motion picture camera and put it back together) and the creative opportunities it provided.

Buster lived through many cultural transitions, from vaudeville to movies, from movies to television. He achieved his greatest success in the silent film era when many smaller independent studios had control over their creative output. The transition to talkies happened roughly at the same time that studios consolidated into the "big six" and most everyone, including Buster, worked at a studio to make a living. He lost his creative control and became unhappy as a fading studio star and a gag writer for others at MGM. He found renewed vigor working smaller jobs and bit parts in television, though he did have his own television variety show for a few years. The constant need for new material made it difficult. He continued to work other venues like circuses in Europe.

This biography traces out the life of Buster Keaton, looking at his development as a performer along with the developments of movies and, to a lesser extent, television. The book, while loving Keaton, does meander off into many tangents, like the sudden evaporation of female directors in early silent cinema, the romantic creepiness of Charlie Chaplin (he had a thing for teen-aged female actors), the ebbs and flows of sexism and racism in Hollywood. I found the book a little less satisfying for all the sidebar material that took over center stage. On the other hand, the writer clearly loves Buster and happily relives many creative moments and amazing scenes from his works. She seems quite honest about his foibles and hard times, though by the end his life was more happy than sad, which is how I felt finishing this book.

Mildly recommended.

Book Review: Lily Renee, Escape Artist by T. Robbins et al.

Lily Renee, Escape Artist: From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer written by Trinia Robbins and illustrated by Anne Timmons and Mo Oh

Lily Renee Wilhelm was an upper-middle class teen in 1930 Austria. Just as she was coming of age, the Nazis marched in and began, among other things, persecuting Jews. Lily was Jewish so she began to suffer. A way out came with the Kindertransport, a program whereby British families could sponsor a child. The program lasted until England and Germany went to war. Fortunately, Lily was able to leave just at the end of the program. Her adoptive British family was okay but not great. Then word came that Lily's parents had escaped to New York. Lily moved again and settled into the city. She held various jobs, working as a comic-book artist until 1949. She married, had children, and wrote books and plays.

The story goes quickly but is full of lots of information. Lily's life is dramatic if not action-packed. The book chronicles history as it affected Lily, giving insight into Word War II and how difficult it is to live life on the run from trouble. The art is attractive and gives a good sense of the times and the situations Lily faced.

Recommended.

Book Review: Marie Curie: A Life of Discovery by Alice Milani

Marie Curie: A Life of Discovery by Alice Milani

This graphic novel tells the story of Marie Curie, a Polish scientist who discovered radiation with her French husband Pierre. After a brief look at her life as a housekeeper in Poland the story moves to Paris where she studied physics and mathematics. She also met her husband Pierre. Her "life of discovery" is both personal (she had a tendency to be reclusive, so being married and having children was a discovery for her) and scientific (she discovered radium and polonium). She was the only person to win Nobel Prizes in different sciences and the first woman to win any Nobel Prize. She ran into controversy after the death of her husband when she had an affair with a married man. The book bends over backwards to paint that incident in a positive light.

The art is fantastic. The entire book is in watercolor style that brings out the Frenchness of her life. The look is very distinctive and good at communicating a variety of emotions without having to verbalize them. The book reads very quickly and recommends other books at the end for more detail. The book puts far too much emphasis on the affair, as if getting past that was as big an accomplishment as her scientific discoveries. 

Mildly recommended.

Movie Review: Man of a Thousand Faces (1957)

Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) directed by Joseph Pevney

James Cagney stars in this bio-pic of the famous silent film star Lon Chaney. The story starts with Irving Thalberg (Robert Evans), head of Universal Studios, remembering Chaney after his death. Chaney's parents were deaf and he was always very defensive of them, often getting in fights as a child when other kids would make fun. As an adult, he's still protective and prone to outbursts. His wife Cleva (Dorothy Malone) has her own troubles. The couple has a hard time working the entertainment circuit. Cleva is pregnant and insists on meeting Chaney's parents. He hasn't told her they are deaf, so when they get to the house she's both shocked by them and worried that their child might be born deaf. Chaney is not so concerned so they have fights about it. The child turns out okay but the couple has more struggles as they manage childcare with two different entertainment careers. Chaney wants her to stay at home but she feels smothered and alone. One of the chorus girls (Jane Greer) helps Chaney out when the boy is at his theater, which causes more jealousy and eventually tragic self-harm by Cleva. Chaney moves to Hollywood for a fresh start but loses his son to the welfare system since he doesn't have a steady job or a stable home. He works hard to get both so he can get his son back. He discovers it's easy to get jobs if you can get a fresh, tailor-made face for whatever role is needed, thus generating his PR moniker "The Man of a Thousand Faces."

The movie is much more focused on Chaney's family life than on his career. Sure, they hit the highlights and Cagney gets to do a bit of vaudeville and famous Chaney film scenes (the whipping of the Hunchback of Notre Dame and the unmasking of the Phantom of the Opera being the most famous). But the story is all about the tortured relationship between Chaney and his first wife. Both of them have flaws, ones that do not mix well and cause a lot of heartache. Their son gets caught in the middle though he as a character is mostly undeveloped. It's a fine (though very fictionalized) melodrama but is unsatisfying for fans who want to know more about his creative process and technical skills.

Mildly recommended.

Book Review: John Paul the Great by Peggy Noonan

John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father by Peggy Noonan

The book is a well-crafted blend of John Paul II's biography, his wide-ranging theology, and Noonan's personal experience of him as a spiritual father. She goes through the details of his childhood, growing up in a Poland first occupied by the Nazis then by the Soviets. Neither invader wanted the Catholic religion to flourish, so Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II's pre-papal name) had to study in secret. He worked in a factory. The other workers knew about his vocation and supported it by taking shifts for him and hiding his study materials. He was an active young man and continued skiing, hiking, and other physical activities throughout his priesthood. He worked as a pastor, eventually rising from parish and academic work to bishop of Krakow. 

He was a key advisor during the Second Vatican Council and became the first non-Italian pope in centuries. In many ways, he led a new era in the Church and the world. He traveled extensively (typically kissing the ground as soon as he got off the plane) and inspired the faithful crowds wherever he went. His travels and messages about human freedom and dignity provided much impetus for the downfall of Communism in Europe. His example of loving others, even the man who tried to assassinate him in 1981, was widely admired. He started the Wednesday catechesis where he talked about various issues at Wednesday audiences, including his theology of the body. He kept up the work of ministering to the Church in the world until the end when he died in 2005. He had a lot of illnesses but showed the value of human life and the way to suffer with dignity and grace.

Noonan interweaves her personal experiences of John Paul (though she only met him a few times) with his story. As a young reporter in the 1980s, she went to Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City when he celebrated a Mass during his first papal visit to the United States. She wasn't very religious at the time but was still touched by his presence. She grew in faith through the years and had more fascinating encounters with the pope. She writes candidly and charmingly about these experiences.

Reading this book gives a good overview of the life and theology of John Paul II and also a glimpse into the life and theology of Peggy Noonan, a woman who admired and followed John Paul. The book is a very human portrait of both of them.

Highly recommended.

The book is discussed on A Good Story is Hard to Find Podcast #265.

Book Review: The Saints Chronicles Collection 4 by Various Artists

The Saints Chronicles Collection 4 by various artists

A collection of graphic-novel style biographies of saints! Here's a saint-by-saint rundown...

Saint Willibrord is called the Apostle of the Frisians. Frisia is now Norway and Northwest Germany. Willibrord was born in England in AD 658. His parents sent him to the monastery in Ripon, England, where he studied hard. After becoming a priest, he went to the continent as a missionary. Northern Frisia was ruled by an inhospitable king, so Willibrord started his mission in southern Frisia (he received permission from King Pepin). The pope blessed Willibrord's mission and made him bishop of Frisia. He continued to preach throughout the area and died at the age of 81.

Saint Margaret of Scotland was born a princess in Hungary. She traveled to England to learn the royal ways in the court of Edward the Confessor. Then 1066 happened and she fled with her family to Hungary. The ship was driven off course and wrecked in Scotland. Her family went to the royal castle where she met King Malcolm, who eventually convinced her to marry him even though she had planned to become a nun. They worked together to provide charity in their kingdom to all their subjects.

Saint Stanislaus lived at the same time as Saint Margaret but he became a bishop in his native land of Poland. His tempestuous relationship with the king (who constantly relapsed into evil ways after confessing) led to his martyrdom. Stanislaus excommunicated the king; the king demanded the bishop change his decision. Stanislaus remained true and was killed by the king. The people rose up and drove off the king, who eventually repented in a Hungarian monastery.

Saint Rose of Lima lived in Peru in the 1600s. She was a very beautiful child of a well-to-do family, though she was more enamored of the Lord than of her beauty. She grew up wanting to serve the Lord. Her parents wanted her to marry. She refused and became a Third Order Dominican, serving the poor and needy in Lima. She died young (at 31) and was the first saint canonized from the Americas.

Saint Dominic worked tirelessly to fight the Albigensian heresy in the early 1200s. The pope called for a crusade against these heretics but Dominic sought to vanquish them by preaching and by example of a holy, modest life. He founded the Dominican Order which focuses on poverty and preaching. 

This book is aimed at kids, mostly middle-school age. The art is very good and the stories are inspiring. The intent isn't just to inform about the lives of these saints. The authors ask the readers (sometimes quite directly) if they can imitate the values and actions of these Catholic heroes from the past. As an adult, I want to read something a little more in depth, but this is a good jumping off point for finding out more about these saints.

Recommended.