As a lifelong newspaperman, Hamill is dedicated to the idea that if something didn't happen, it isn't news. Artificial celebrities such as Donald Trump should not be given valuable column inches simply because they exist; likewise, important figures such as Bill Clinton should not be reduced to gossip fodder. Unsubstantiated rumors, he makes plain, are not newsworthy. Anybody who cares about the state of contemporary journalism will find much to appreciate in Pete Hamill's straightforward appraisal.
]]>After 44 years, Hamill has found a way to integrate his early affair with art, his lifelong love of Mexico, and his narrative gifts in this riveting and lushly illustrated book on Diego Rivera, Mexico's best-known, widely loved muralist. Hamill's text, he says, was completed before the publication of Patrick Marnham's Dreaming with His Eyes Open: A Life of Diego Rivera. This one is less scholarly but respectably researched, and Hamill's fervent opinions on which of Rivera's works are worthy and which are the sad effluvia of a Communist Party hack are remarkably persuasive. Hamill's esthetic judgment has led him to avoid reproducing any second-rate clunkers. He has chosen the great murals, paintings, and drawings that suit the godlike stature of this outsize artist who lied, cheated, womanized, and evaded responsibility his entire life, but who worked like a demon in the service of his art.
Rivera's shabby genteel childhood; his flight to France during the 10-year Mexican Revolution, during which nearly a tenth of his countrymen died; his callous abandonment of his first wife; his ugly political gambits and high-flown society contacts; his ultimately sad relationships with both men and women--Hamill weaves it all into a fantastic read. The book is not as balanced as Dreaming with His Eyes Open, but is nonetheless a passionate first look at an artist whose complicated life will probably still be examined decades from now. --Peggy Moorman
]]>It was the best of times, it was the best of times; it was a season of pinstripes, it was a season of amazin'; it was the autumn of Sinatra, it was the autumn of Baha Men; it was a time of the 7 train, it was a time of the 4 and the D. In short, the period was so like other glorious times that it inspired chanting in the streets, division in the taverns, and a giddy nostalgia in the hearts of all who watched and cheered.
The 2000 World Series pitted the New York Yankees and their winning tradition against the New York Mets and their history of miracles. These two outstanding teams breathed new life into the words that characterized the city's halcyon hardball past: subway series. Older generations followed the action with one eye on the games of today while the other viewed black-and-white film of the past: Derek Jeter strokes a home run, and Hank Bauer rounds the bases; Al Leiter rocks back, and Johnny Podres delivers the pitch. New generations experienced thrills they'll tell their own grandchildren one day: "Yes, I saw Mariano Rivera pitch...." "I was sitting right there when Todd Zeile's drive hit the top of the wall...."
To celebrate the return of New York to the center of the baseball universe, Pete Hamill, legendary columnist, editor, and author of Snow in August and A Drinking Life: A Memoir, has assembled an all-star team of writers to create the ultimate thinking fan's keepsake of the subway series. The Subway Series Reader spans the generations of baseball in New York, from Lawrence Ritter's recollection of attending his first World Series game in the subway series of 1936 to Peter Knobler's reflection on bringing his son to the Series in 2000.
With contributors running the gamut from Frank McCourt to Yogi Berra, The Subway Series Reader contains all of the best of what made the millennium World Series one for the ages. When it comes to World Series teams and the city that loves them, The Subway Series Reader -- thoughtful, nostalgic, graceful, charming, exciting, and up-to-the-minute -- is the one book to have when you're having more than one.
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