Author Archives: Mike
American Eve
In American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, the Birth of the “It” Girl, and the Crime of the Century (2008), Paula Uruburu tells the story of millionaires behaving badly, with a mix of glamour, sex, madness, and murder, at the … Continue reading
Wild Bill Donovan
In Wild Bill Donovan (2011), Douglas Waller tells the story of the Buffalo native who help create and oversee most of the nation’s espionage activities during World War II. Donovan was quite a character. A World War I hero, he … Continue reading
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102 Minutes
In 102 Minutes (2005), Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn tell some of the stories of courage and tenderness, and of survival and death, inside the WTC complex on 9/11/01. I decided to read this to emotionally prepare myself for the … Continue reading
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Tales from the Sausage Factory: Making Laws in New York State
In Tales from the Sausage Factory: Making Laws in New York State, Dan Feldman and Gerry Benjamin have written a thoughtful, interesting and insightful explanation of how New York’s legislature functioned in the 1980’s and 1990’s. It should be considered … Continue reading
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The Impending Zombie Apocalypse, Reviewed
I’ve been meaning to write a blog post on all of the zombie apocalypse literature I’ve been reading for the past year, but I just haven’t been able to do it. This Times article is decent start. My theory is … Continue reading
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Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped
“Ticket Masters” by Dean Budnick and Josh Baron covers everything you thought you ever wanted to know about ticketing in the concert industry – from Bill Graham to Live Nation. It’s a bit long and bogs down somewhat in the … Continue reading
Married to the Mouse
In Married to the Mouse (2001), Richard Foglesong tells the fascinating story of Disney’s relationship with the local governments of central Florida. Not the city of Orlando, actually, but Orange and Osceola counties. And the Reedy Creek Improvement District, basically … Continue reading
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The Man in the Rockefeller Suit
Vanity Fair writer Mark Seal tells the absolutely awesome story of Christian K. Gerhartsreiter, a 17-year old German immigrant who transformed himself into “Clark Rockefeller.” I first read about it here, when he went on trial. Read book reviews in … Continue reading
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The Shadow Factory
I remember reading the front page New York Times story from December 2005 that the Bush Administration had authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to engage in domestic wiretapping to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the warrants federal … Continue reading
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Scorecasting
Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won (2011) by Tobias Moskowitz and Jon Wertheim can be best described as “Sports Illustrated meets Freakonomics.” The authors crunch the data and challenge the conventional wisdom. In … Continue reading
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