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John T. Slania

NonfictionBiography

Adding dimension to an American legend’s controversial story

Review by John T. Slania

A lasting impression after reading Custer’s Trials is that George Armstrong Custer was a man who always seemed to be in the right place at the right time—until he died being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Pulitzer Prize winner T.J. Stiles (The First Tycoon) chronicles Custer’s knack for being present at significant historic events and around remarkable historical figures. Bold, ambitious and dashing, Custer commanded attention. He joined the Union cavalry at the onset of the Civil War and was present at the First Battle of Bull Run. Later, upon delivering a message to Union headquarters, he met General George B. McClellan and joined his staff. Custer went on to serve in many major battles, including Antietam and Gettysburg, and was present at Lee’s surrender at Appomattox.

Not bad for a guy who graduated last in his class at West Point.

He might have retired to a prosperous business career, but the pulse of glory still circulated in Custer’s veins. So he signed on with General Philip Sheridan and took part in the American Indian Wars. That led to his last meeting with a famous man, Crazy Horse, who led his Lakota warriors in the destruction of Custer and his troops at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

In writing Custer’s Trials, Stiles presents a much fuller picture of the tragic figure many of us know. He shows a Custer who came from a simple farming family and suggests that those humble roots drove him to take risks in the pursuit of fame and fortune. While Custer remains a controversial figure for his violent treatment of Native Americans, Custer’s Trials masterfully adds dimension to his life, helping us better understand the man behind the legend.

 

This article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

A lasting impression after reading Custer’s Trials is that George Armstrong Custer was a man who always seemed to be in the right place at the right time—until he died being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
NonfictionHistory

A true tale of turncoat espionage

Review by John T. Slania

What motivated Adolf Tolkachev to begin spying for the CIA? Was it for money? Did he require an ego boost? Was it based on his hatred of the Soviet system? It likely was a combination of all three. But what mattered most to the CIA was that Tolkachev was delivering a treasure trove of Soviet military secrets during a critical period of the Cold War. Tolkachev’s daring exploits are described in riveting detail in David E. Hoffman’s The Billion Dollar Spy.

Hoffman is a distinguished journalist and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. But in The Billion Dollar Spy, Hoffman’s writing rivals that of noted spy fiction writers the likes of John le Carré, Ian Fleming and Robert Ludlum. The difference: Hoffman uses real facts to tell a stranger-than-fiction tale.

It took Tolkachev a year to get the CIA’s attention. A Soviet radar designer, he prowled the streets of Moscow, banging on the widows of cars with U.S. diplomatic license plates. Finally, in 1978, after his fifth attempt, he found a CIA contact. And for the next seven years, he supplied the agency with thousands of pages of classified Soviet military documents. The material provided important insights into the design of Soviet radar and aircraft systems, allowing the Pentagon to improve its defenses while saving the U.S. millions of dollars.

The book contains many potboiler plotlines: the humble civil servant snapping photographs of secret files; the clandestine meetings with his CIA operative; the money exchanges; the near-misses with the KGB. And there are some humorous moments, like the time Tolkachev requests rock albums from his American counterpart, the list containing artists ranging from Led Zeppelin to Alice Cooper.

The Billion Dollar Spy is a page-turner that stands up to any spy novel, not only for its lively writing, but also because it isn’t just based on a true story, it is a true story.

What motivated Adolf Tolkachev to begin spying for the CIA? Was it for money? Did he require an ego boost? Was it based on his hatred of the Soviet system? It likely was a combination of all three. But what mattered most to the CIA was that Tolkachev was delivering a treasure trove of Soviet military secrets during a critical period of the Cold War. Tolkachev’s daring exploits are described in riveting detail in David E. Hoffman’s The Billion Dollar Spy.
NonfictionTrue Crime

Chicago hustle

Review by John T. Slania

Poet Carl Sandburg described Chicago as “course and strong and cunning.” Novelist Nelson Algren characterized Chicago as a “city on the make.”

Author Dean Jobb cements Chicago’s gritty reputation in Empire of Deception. Not since Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City  has an author so eloquently captured the shadowy character of the city. Jobb tells the true story of Leo Koretz, a silver-tongued attorney from the Roaring ’20s who swindled Chicagoans, Bernie Madoff-style, through a get-rich-quick investment scheme. In an era when Al Capone made his money through liquor, gambling and violent retribution, Koretz made his fortune in more subtle ways: carefully cultivating Chicago’s rich and famous.

After wining and dining his wealthy clientele, he sold them shares in a phony venture to extract timber and oil in the jungles of Panama. In reality, Koretz was running a Ponzi scheme: using the money from new investors to pay off earlier investors.

Once discovered, Koretz disappeared, only to be caught a year later by a man of equal ambition: Robert Crowe, a Chicago prosecutor hell-bent on law and order and making a name for himself. Jobb does a masterful turn chronicling the parallel career arcs of Koretz and Crowe.

Empire of Deception does a remarkable job of capturing the essence of Chicago in the 1920s, a town filled with hustlers and hucksters, lawless gangsters and corrupt politicians. At once informative and entertaining, the fast-moving narrative tells an age-old story about our capacity to be conned.

Poet Carl Sandburg described Chicago as “course and strong and cunning.” Novelist Nelson Algren characterized Chicago as a “city on the make.”Author Dean Jobb cements Chicago’s gritty reputation in Empire of Deception.
NonfictionBiographyAmerican History

A popular president’s life and legacy

Review by John T. Slania

Ronald Reagan is trending. Everyone from Ted Cruz to Barack Obama sings his praises. Why is Reagan so popular? Was it his movie-star looks? His cowboy swagger? His “America first” doctrine? H.W. Brands covers it all in his thorough biography, Reagan.

Don’t look for any new ground to be broken here. But if you admire the 40th president as much as many politicians do, you’ll enjoy Brands’ telling of familiar stories.

The author takes us on a journey from Reagan’s boyhood home in Dixon, Illinois, to Hollywood, where he became a reliable B-movie actor. Reagan got his footing in politics as president of the Screen Actors Guild, where he cooperated with the FBI during the Red Scare. During his two-term presidency, he was credited with being tough on Russia and cutting the size of the federal government.

Brands, who has written five previous presidential biographies, argues that Reagan rivals FDR as the greatest president of the 20th century. While his detailed biography is thorough, there is a shortage of arguments to help Brands make his case. Reagan’s two terms in office ended in 1989, and there is a longing for Brands to add perspective in a postscript. Having had 25 years to ponder, surely this accomplished writer could help us understand why Reagan remains so beloved.

No matter. Despite its flaws, there’s little doubt this book will be as popular as the former president.

 

CORRECTION: This review has been updated to reflect the fact that Reagan left office in 1989.

This article was originally published in the May 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Ronald Reagan is trending. Everyone from Ted Cruz to Barack Obama sings his praises. Why is Reagan so popular? Was it his movie-star looks? His cowboy swagger? His “America first” doctrine? H.W. Brands covers it all in his thorough biography, Reagan.
NonfictionHistory

A famous defection’s influence

Review by John T. Slania

The tactics may have changed, but the intent remains the same: North Korea is a mysterious, insular country that above all loathes the United States. Today, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un retains his tight grip on power through imprisonment and purges. His threats against the United States include missile testing and computer hacking. But Kim’s modern-day machinations simply mirror the early actions of his grandfather, Kim Il-Sung, who took control of North Korea following World War II and established the Kim family dynasty. Blaine Harden’s new book, The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot, describes the formation of that dynasty and offers one explanation for why North Korea hates the U.S.

Part of that hatred lies with the fighter pilot referenced in the book’s title. On September 21, 1953, North Korean fighter pilot No Kum Sok flew a Soviet MiG-15 out of his country, landing it in the hands of Americans based in South Korea. No became an instant celebrity, not only for his defection, but also for delivering a MiG-15 to the U.S. military, which set about studying its design and technology. In fact, the Pentagon was so anxious to get its hands on a MiG-15, it had earlier offered a $100,000 bounty to anyone who delivered a plane. No collected the reward. But to this day, No, an octogenarian living in Florida, claims he had no knowledge of the reward when he defected.

As for the “Great Leader” Kim Il-Sung, embarrassment over the defection and the U.S. carpet-bombing of North Korea during the Korean War fueled a hatred for America that continues today.

If you are intrigued by the enigma that is North Korea, a reading of The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot will supply valuable explanation and context for why its current leader behaves so badly.

The tactics may have changed, but the intent remains the same: North Korea is a mysterious, insular country that above all loathes the United States. Today, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un retains his tight grip on power through imprisonment and purges. His threats against the United States include missile testing and computer hacking. But Kim’s modern-day machinations simply mirror the early actions of his grandfather, Kim Il-Sung, who took control of North Korea following World War II and established the Kim family dynasty. Blaine Harden’s new book, The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot, describes the formation of that dynasty and offers one explanation for why North Korea hates the U.S.
NonfictionTrue Crime

High-stakes heist

Review by John T. Slania

The buzzer blared from the door of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The night watchman peered into the grainy video monitor and saw two men in police uniforms. The men persuaded the watchman to open the door. Once inside, the men bound and gagged the watchman and a fellow security guard and made off with $500 million in stolen art. Among the 13 masterpieces taken in the March 18, 1990, heist were Rembrandt’s The Storm on the Sea of Galilee and Vermeer’s The Concert.

Thus begins Stephen Kurkjian’s Master Thieves, a tale of one of the most brazen and expensive art thefts in history, still unsolved.

Kurkjian, an investigative reporter and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, pens the book like a mystery novel, examining the scenarios that the FBI has considered over the years. Was the Gardner Museum heist the work of organized crime or low-level thugs? Was it an inside job? Why was security so lax? Is the stolen art hidden in a backwater warehouse or a shed in the woods? Kurkjian explores all the possibilities and comes up with a plausible new theory of his own.

Master Thieves is a fast-paced book that will appeal to all those who enjoy art, mysteries and true crime. It’s a story that proves the adage: Truth is stranger than fiction.

 

This article was originally published in the March 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The buzzer blared from the door of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The night watchman peered into the grainy video monitor and saw two men in police uniforms. The men persuaded the watchman to open the door. Once inside, the men bound and gagged the watchman and a fellow security guard and made off with $500 million in stolen art. Among the 13 masterpieces taken in the March 18, 1990, heist were Rembrandt’s The Storm on the Sea of Galilee and Vermeer’s The Concert.
NonfictionBiography

Behind the legendary stone wall

Review by John T. Slania

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is such an iconic military figure that he is legendary to Civil War scholars and schoolchildren alike. So it’s hard to imagine an author breaking new ground with another Jackson biography. But S.C. Gwynne does just that in Rebel Yell, which deserves comparisons to Shelby Foote’s three-volume The Civil War for its depth of knowledge and graceful narrative. Gwynne, a 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Empire of the Summer Moon, casts Jackson as a human being, not as a bronze figure towering over a battlefield. Readers will come away from Rebel Yell with an understanding of the man that goes beyond his military exploits.

Gwynne is obligated to cover familiar territory, as when Thomas Jackson earned his nickname by standing his ground against superior Union forces at the First Battle of Manassas. A fellow Confederate general shouted, “Yonder stands Jackson like a stone wall,” and the rest, as they say, is history.

Jackson’s military prowess is impressive, but it is glimpses of Stonewall off the battlefield that are more fascinating. We learn that Jackson was a complex character with any number of quirks and tics. He was deeply religious and placed his fate in the hands of God. Thus, while he lived by the Sixth Commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” once the South declared war, he pledged his loyalty and felt that any death he caused was God’s will. Formerly a professor at the Virginia Military Institute, Jackson was introverted and soft-spoken, yet in the heat of battle, his eyes became fiery and his demeanor decisive as he barked out orders. He was consumed by his health, and a bad stomach propelled him to a diet of stale bread and buttermilk. Despite these peculiarities, Jackson rose to become one of the South’s fiercest and most beloved generals, so relied upon that his early death left Confederates wondering whether the war’s outcome might have been different if he had survived.

Gwynne’s masterful storytelling makes Rebel Yell an absorbing choice for general readers and Civil War buffs alike.

 

This article was originally published in the October 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is such an iconic military figure that he is legendary to Civil War scholars and schoolchildren alike. So it’s hard to imagine an author breaking new ground with another Jackson biography. But S.C. Gwynne does just that in Rebel Yell, which deserves comparisons to Shelby Foote’s three-volume The Civil War for its depth of knowledge and graceful narrative. Gwynne, a 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Empire of the Summer Moon, casts Jackson as a human being, not as a bronze figure towering over a battlefield. Readers will come away from Rebel Yell with an understanding of the man that goes beyond his military exploits.
Nonfiction

Lying to survive

Review by John T. Slania

Ramita Navai sets it straight from the beginning: “In order to live in Tehran, you have to lie,” she writes in City of Lies, a gripping portrait of life inside Iran. “Lying in Tehran is about survival.”

The country’s oppressive religious and political atmosphere forces its citizens to lie about issues large and small, lest they face prison or death. Iranians are accustomed to lying about using alcohol and drugs, having sex outside of marriage and about their devotion to God. “The lies,” Navai writes, “are a consequence of . . . being ruled by a government that believes it should be able to interfere in even the most intimate affairs of its citizens.”

Navai spent her childhood in Tehran, but her family left for London when the Shah of Iran was overthrown during the Islamic Revolution. She returns 26 years later to reconnect with her homeland and launch her career as a journalist.

The book is not one of broad brushstrokes. It is a collection of smaller stories of individuals struggling with their lies while trying to discover the truth about themselves. There is Dariush, a revolutionary bent on assassinating a government official, only to encounter disastrous results. There is Somayeh, a young girl who must remain religiously devout, subservient and cloaked in hijab, while her newlywed husband drinks and carouses. Or Leyla, who bucks convention and becomes a prostitute and porn star, resulting in a death sentence.

The stories are real. But they are written in a lively style that reads like a novel. Navai is impressive as a reporter, finding these characters and convincing them to share their stories. She also is an eloquent writer who uses her subjects to tell the larger tale of the degradation of the Iranian culture.

 

This article was originally published in the September 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Ramita Navai sets it straight from the beginning: “In order to live in Tehran, you have to lie,” she writes in City of Lies, a gripping portrait of life inside Iran. “Lying in Tehran is about survival.”
NonfictionMemoir

A journalist takes time to reflect

Review by John T. Slania

Journalists typically don’t like to write about themselves. It comes from years of writing in the third person and striving for objectivity. And with so many critics of the press, reporters assume no one likes them. Robert Timberg grapples with this issue in his moving memoir, Blue-Eyed Boy. After nearly 40 years as a journalist and three noteworthy books, perhaps he has a story to tell. But he also has self-doubts. Then he looks in the mirror and sees his disfigured face. It is an image he has been trying to forget since 1967, when as a young soldier in Vietnam, just days away from the end of his tour, he suffered third-degree burns from a land mine explosion. He finally decides to confront this defining moment of his life. “I want to remember how I decided not to die,” he writes. “To not let my future die.”

Journalism is a seductive profession. Each day is a new story. There is fame and notoriety. And it’s easy to lose oneself during long hours in the newsroom. Timberg did just that during a long stint at The Baltimore Sun. He wrote about the Iran-Contra Affair, penned books about Oliver North and John McCain, and destroyed two marriages along the way. He was able to forget about his disfigurement. Then in retirement, he had time to reflect. This was the catalyst for his fast-moving, crisply written memoir.

In Blue-Eyed Boy, Timberg at long last examines the physical and emotional pain he experienced, and how it shaped his life. He realizes that it motivated him to be the best at his profession. He also understands how his singular drive hurt some people along the way. Blue-Eyed Boy is a fascinating look at how a tragedy that would make most men crumble instead drove the author to survive, and on many levels, succeed.

 

This article was originally published in the August 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Journalists typically don’t like to write about themselves. It comes from years of writing in the third person and striving for objectivity. And with so many critics of the press, reporters assume no one likes them. Robert Timberg grapples with this issue in his moving memoir, Blue-Eyed Boy. After nearly 40 years as a journalist and three noteworthy books, perhaps he has a story to tell. But he also has self-doubts. Then he looks in the mirror and sees his disfigured face. It is an image he has been trying to forget since 1967, when as a young soldier in Vietnam, just days away from the end of his tour, he suffered third-degree burns from a land mine explosion. He finally decides to confront this defining moment of his life. “I want to remember how I decided not to die,” he writes. “To not let my future die.”
NonfictionHistory

The story behind America’s most iconic structure

Review by John T. Slania

French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi is best characterized by the following passage: “He was an egoist in human affairs; a humble man in the scale of the cosmos.” This elegant writing comes from Elizabeth Mitchell in Liberty’s Torch, the tale of how Bartholdi proposed the creation of the Statue of Liberty and spent much of his life making it happen. He knew that the statue’s completion would bring him fame. But he also knew that it would become a lasting symbol of what America represents: freedom and opportunity.

Liberty’s Torch challenges many of the myths surrounding the neoclassical statue. Legend has it that France donated the statue to the United States in 1886 as a gesture of respect to a longtime ally. In reality, Mitchell writes, the Statue of Liberty was the brainchild of Bartholdi, who had to sell both countries on the idea. His biggest challenge came in raising funds, which took 15 years. He staged shows and exhibitions of the statue’s renderings and models, while also encouraging Americans to donate their pennies.

Liberty’s Torch gets behind the regal facade of the Statue of Liberty to show that an iconic figure of freedom grew out of the inspiration and hustle of a single man, someone who longed to be honored during his life and to be remembered through the ages.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi is best characterized by the following passage: “He was an egoist in human affairs; a humble man in the scale of the cosmos.” This elegant writing comes from Elizabeth Mitchell in Liberty’s Torch, the tale of how Bartholdi proposed the creation of the Statue of Liberty and spent much of his life making it happen. He knew that the statue’s completion would bring him fame. But he also knew that it would become a lasting symbol of what America represents: freedom and opportunity.
NonfictionLiteratureArts & Culture

The subterfuge of a bestseller

Review by John T. Slania

Who said the Cold War is dead? The United States and Russia are at odds over Ukraine. Putin thinks Obama is a wimp. And Russia harbors Edward Snowden after he leaks American spy secrets. What great timing for the real-life Cold War thriller, The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book.

This cloak-and-dagger account reveals the intriguing details of how the novel Doctor Zhivago came to be published during the height of the Cold War. Written by Russian poet Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago was kept under wraps by its author, who feared retribution from the Soviet government for the book’s critical portrayal of the 1917 Russian Revolution and its tepid treatment of socialism. After the novel was published in Italy in 1957, it became a bestseller, capturing the Nobel Prize for Literature and later inspiring an Oscar-winning film adaptation. But how Doctor Zhivago became an international sensation is almost as complex as the tortured love affair between protagonist Dr. Yuri Zhivago and his beloved Lara.

Pasternak’s novel was smuggled out of Russia by an Italian publishing scout who was entrusted with the manuscript. Pasternak’s simple instructions: “This is Doctor Zhivago. May it make its way around the world.”

The smuggling was only the start of the intrigue. After the novel was published in Italian, the CIA saw Doctor Zhivago as a tool to spread dissent within Russia. So the CIA published copies of Doctor Zhivago in Russian and had them smuggled back into the Soviet Union. The release of Doctor Zhivago within Russia not only intensified Cold War tensions, it put Pasternak’s life at risk. He was expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers and subjected to KBG harassment until his death in 1960.

The Zhivago Affair is a well-crafted work with the kind of eloquent writing that makes it read like a spy novel. Co-author Peter Finn, national security editor of the Washington Post and a former Moscow bureau chief, has written extensively about Snowden and the NSA, which helps bring insight and perspective to The Zhivago Affair. Petra Couvée, a writer, translator and teacher at Saint Petersburg State University, brings her vast knowledge of Russian language, history and culture. Together, the two have produced a book rich in nuance and detail about international politics and the surprising ways in which the words of one author can enlighten the world.

This cloak-and-dagger account reveals the intriguing details of how the novel Doctor Zhivago came to be published during the height of the Cold War. Written by Russian poet Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago was kept under wraps by its author, who feared retribution from the Soviet government for the book’s critical portrayal of the 1917 Russian Revolution and its tepid treatment of socialism.

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