Review of Last Harvest: How a Cornfield Became New Daleville (Hardcover)

"The last harvest" refers to farmers who sell, and jealously covet their right to sell, portions of their farms to developers for housing developments. In his book Rybczynski, as the book's long subtitle makes clear, gives the reader a behind-the-scenes look at how one such tract of land became a neo-traditional rural development, New Daleville, Pennsylvania. Rybczynski writes in a level-headed style without any sense of alarm. There is no good guys/bad guys polarity here, just a lot of people trying to make a living (or find a decent and affordable place to live) in unpredictable economic situations without sacrificing the things they value most in community. If Rybczynski has a point of view other than that of an intelligent, informed social observer who has been writing about architecture and urban development for decades, he keeps it well in check. For readers looking for ammunition, this may be a disappointing read.

Many players are introduced--local farmers looking to sell their land, land developers, zoning boards, building contractors, banking and public officials, sanitation specialists, nearby residents, and potential buyers--but no personal profile dominates the story. They merely come in and out of view like passers-by on the much coveted sidewalks of the "village core" in one of the neotraditional garden exurbs Rybczynski describes. This superficiality made the book a little less interesting to me than his earlier books, like CITY LIFE and WAITING FOR THE WEEKEND, in which extensive historical background were provided, and left me craving more data. This kind of information is in the book (like a four page digression into the post-WWII Levittown phenomenon), it's just not as plentiful as this reader wanted. What the book did do for me, however, was to make me a little less judgmental about new subdivisions I see popping up along the interstates in what seem like strange locations and more compassionate towards the vast range of people who have to come to consensus before even the first spadeful of dirt can be turned. That anything ever gets built and that some of it is even decent looking is indeed a testament to human will and the long-standing American love affair with the single family house.




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Review of What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love (Hardcover)

4.5 stars
"Orson Wells said to Gore Vidal once, in an interview about a movie he was writing, 'if you want a happy ending, it depends on where you stop your story'". Carole Radziwell begins her book with this quote and understands this all too well. Her book is such a story about love and loss and recovery.

Carole DiFalco lived and grew up in Suffern, New York, 40 odd miles from New York City, but it was a lifetime away in reality. She had a proper childhood and grew up in a close knit family; they all loved to cook and loved their grandmother, the center of the family. At the age of 19, Carole realized she needed to move on with her life and took a job at "ABC News". This job led her to many adventures in Cambodia, Tel Aviv, and Saigon. As she worked her way up the ladder to Assistant Producer, she felt more comfortable with herself and her life. She was sent to California to work on the Mendoza murder trials ,and there she met the love of her life, Anthony Radziwell. Anthony also worked for ABC, and they started a romance that built slowly over a couple of years. At last they realized they were in love and Anthony proposed.

Moving into the whirl of the Radziwell family was no small feat. This is a large family with close connections to everything and everybody. Carole's mother-in-law, Lee Radziwell, was the sister of Jackie Kennedy, and was once married to aPolish Prince. Anthony's closest and best friend was John Kennedy Jr., and his girlfriend and then wife, Carolyn, became Carole's closest friend. Carole and Carolyn felt a kinship, outsiders in this famous family, and slowly they began to find a place in the family. There are several references to the difficulty of living within the social whirl for both Carole and Carolyn.The center of Carole's universe, Anthony finds a large "lump" on his abdomen several months before they were married. This bump turns out to be a sarcoma, a cancer. There are many surgeries and over the five years of their marriage, much of it is spent in hospitals, clinics and/or gathering information about the new and next therapies.Carole develops the role of organizer, and it is she who leads the troops to win over the cancer. Anthony is the unwilling participant, and the rest of the family supports them both but play parts in the periphery.Carolyn Kennedy becomes the friend Carole Radziwell needs. She is there to offer comfort and solace and to bring a little life into the depressive life of those who have or care for someone with metastasic cancer. We see the love that John Jr and Carolyn have for each other.

Of course we all know the ending. The tragic airplane crash of Carolyn, her sister,Lauren, and John Kennedy, and then the death of Anthony two weeks later. The time of mourning and the slow recovery are explored. Carole Radziwell relays a little of the life of the Kennedy's, but not in a "gossipy" manner, but that of the emotional roller coaster that entails her life.Such an inspiring story, sure to hit the chord of anyone who has gone through the hard times in life. She gives us a first hand account of the loves and losses we all have in our life. She has a gift of a true writer and has shown us her deep insights.

"Fortune gives us nothing which we can really own". Seneca

Highly recommended. prisrob



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Review of Where Have All the Leaders Gone? [IMPORT] (Hardcover)

Iacocca comes out with both guns blazing from page one, and never stops til the last page.Iacocca provides readers with a clear, concise summary of our major problems - escalating healthcare costs and deficits, a border that is a sieve, an energy crisis, losing manufacturing to Asia, leadership that doesn't face these key issues (instead the Senate debates flag-burning for three days, while giving no time to Iacocca's concerns), and a President given a free pass to ignore the Constitution and tap our phones after leading us to war on a pack of lies.

Iacocca then goes on to provide clear and credible recommendations for each of these problems, and along the way offers his own framework (eg. curiosity, creative, courage, competent, common sense) for describing/evaluating leadership and then uses that framework to succinctly assess Bush II and the major candidates vying to take his place.

Another major "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" suggestion is that Congress take a year off and pass no new legislation - instead evaluate programs that already exist.Iacocca points out that the "War on Drugs" has consumed about $1 trillion, while little, if anything has been accomplished.And what has been accomplished, he asks, of maintaining an on-going decades-long feud with Castro?

The "bad news" is that Iacocca once considered running for President, but was talked out of it by then House Speaker (and friend) Tip O'Neill.O'Neill told Iacocca that the job would drive him nuts - too hard to get anything done (basically the same comment President Truman offered then General Eisenhower).Nonetheless, the "good news" is that Iacocca's lessons in leadership skills couldn't help but be invaluable to moving America forward.



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