The Morning Delivery

Popes and the Vatican: Feats, Facts, and Historic Firsts

It was most definitely a stunner.

As we all know by now, Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, the 264th successor to St. Peter, seemingly out of the clear blue sky, announced to the world he would be stepping down at the end of the month, citing failing health and insisting he was unable to perform up to the ability required by the office.

Popes, like U.S. Supreme Court Justices and baseball commissioners aren’t supposed to retire, they’re supposed to run out the clock and just wait for Father Time to come knocking.

So I couldn’t help but wonder if there is something more to Benedict’s failing health; was he perhaps gravely ill and wanted to put in motion the process of selecting his successor as quickly as possible?

When I put that very question to Thomas F. X. Noble, a medieval historian at the University of Notre Dame who specializes in the city of Rome and the papacy, he responded: ``It is of course possible  he is gravely ill, but I honestly think he would have said so.  I think he is just old and tired.  What he did is very brave. ‘’

Who does he think has the inside track of being elected the next pope?  `` I honestly have no clue who the successor will be’’ Noble admitted to me. `` They will want a competent administrator (Benedict XVI was not), someone untainted by the sexual abuse scandal, and probably someone with some presence and charisma.  Maybe this is the time for the global south.’’

If we take Pope Benedict at his word that he’s simply in poor health and too old to continue the highly strenuous demands placed on the office, does this establish a new tradition in which popes will begin to retire or step down when they’re physically unable to execute the duties to the best of their ability?  Noble could only say ``we won’t know until another pope resigns!  But this certainly makes it possible.’’

If nothing else, over the last week, we’ve learned a great deal about the papacy.

We know, for example, the last pope to have stepped down before his death was Pope Gregory XII in 1415, nearly 600 years ago. We know besides Benedict XVI, there was another Benedict who abdicated before his death: Benedict IX in 1044.  And we now know Eggs Benedict (poached eggs placed on a slice of ham on toast with a covering of hollandaise sauce) got its name from Pope Benedict XIII (1724-1730) who liked to be served the dish during his reign.

This all led me to wonder what other interesting historic facts and nuggets about popes and the Vatican that I didn’t know.

Here, then, is a collection of feats, facts and historic firsts about popes, which you might find interesting:

• The word Vatican is derived from the Latin, vates, which means ``tellers of the future.’’

• Officially, the pope is the Bishop of Rome, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal church, Servant of the Servants of God, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, and Sovereign of the State of Vatican City. Unofficially, he is often called the Rector of the World upon Earth, Father of Princes and Kings, and Pontifex Maximus.

• Early in the church’s history, there were no restrictions placed on pope’s from marrying. In fact, Pope Hormisdas, (514-523), was the father of Pope Silverius (536-537), while Pope Gregory I (590-604) was the great-grandson of Pope Felix III (483-492).

• Among other attributes, Benedict XVI will be remembered as the first pope to join the Twitter community. Pope Pius XII (1939-1958), on the other hand, was the only pope to have regularly used a typewriter, and personally typed all of his speeches, including the first drafts of many of his encyclicals.

• John XII (955 to 964), was the only pope to have been murdered after having been caught by an enraged husband, at least according to some historical accounts, in an act of adultery.

• Popes, who held professional positions outside of religious life, include: Pope Eusebius (A.D. 310) who was a medical doctor and historian; Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303), who was a practicing lawyer, Pope Pius II (1458-1464) was a novelist and poet laureate, Pope Innocent X (1644-1655) was a presiding judge, and Pope Innocent XI (1676-1689) was a banker.

• Three’s a Charm: Pope Benedict IX (1032-1044) was the only pope elected three times. First at the age of 14, later abdicating to marry.  After being elected a second time, he abdicated again and sold his seat to his godfather. And then was elected a third time, all before the age of 30.

• The only pope to have written a cook book was Pope Pius V (1566-1572), who served up ``Cooking Secrets of Pope Pius V’’.  The book was actually written by Bartolomeo Scappi, cuoco secreto or personal cook to Pope Pius V, which was first published in Venice in 1570. The book, which includes more than 900 recipes, reveals the pope’s favorite dessert: quince tart.

• Pope Pius XI (1922-1939) was arguably the biggest automobile fan of all the popes; possessing as many as 16 cars parked in the Vatican garage, three of which were convertibles.

• The pope who couldn’t quite kick the habit? Pope Paul VI (1963-1978) reportedly tore through a pack of cigarettes a day during his reign. 

• The longest serving pope was Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) who reigned for 32 years; the shortest was Pope Stephen II who died on March 25, 752, four days after being elected.
NOTE: Since Stephen died before his consecratio, which according to the canon law of the time was the true beginning of his pontificate, his name is not registered in the Liber Pontificalis nor in other lists of the Popes. Discounting Stephen II, the shortest pontificate was Urban VII (1590) who lasted only 13 days.

• Pope Clement II (1046-1047) was the only pope to have been buried in Germany. Upon his death, his body was transferred to Bamberg, and interred in the western choir of the Bamberg Cathedral.

• Pope John VIII (872-882) was the only pope assassinated after having been bludgeoned to death in his sleep by an unknown assailant using a hammer, nine days before Christmas.

• The only pope to have met with a violent death as a result of an accident was Pope John XXI (1276-1277) when a remodeled wing of the Papal Palace at Viterbo, Italy crashed down on him while he was sleeping, only nine months into to his reign.

• The Apostolic Palace where the pope resides in Vatican City has more than 1,400 rooms, 12, 523 windows, nearly 1,000 flights of stairs and 20 court yards.

• More than 10 million tourists visit St. Peter’s Basilica a year.

• The Vatican secret archives covers 16 miles of shelf space, while the Vatican Library contains over a million books, more than 100,000 maps and engravings and nearly 100,000 manuscripts.

• The first Vatican radio broadcast began on February 12, 1931 by Pope Pius XI.

• The number of citizens living in Vatican City numbers about 1,100, 95 percent of them comprised of males.

• The Vatican has maintained its own post office since the 14th century. It’s estimated the Vatican Post Office handles about two million letters a year, more than six million post cards, and over 15,000 packages. It’s even been reported the Vatican Post Office shows an annual profit, but this is mostly attributed to the selling of commemorative items, namely: stamps, coins and medals. Vatican City receives approximately 800 pounds a mail a day (25 bags).

• It takes approximately 60 minutes to walk around the walls that surround the state of Vatican City.

• The Vatican installed its first central telephone system in 1866 (invented by Gian Battisti Marzi) five years before the United States. It’s been estimated the Vatican receives about 18,000 calls a day and as many as 25,000 a day during the Christmas season.

• There is one super market in Vatican City, which requires producing an identification card before entering.

• When asked one time how many actually work at the Vatican, Pope John XXIII jokingly replied, ``about half.’’ In fact, the Vatican employs about 3,000.

• Under St. Peter’s Basilica lies another church, the Sacred Grottos of the Vatican.

• Vatican license plates begin with the letters, S.C.V. (Stato Citta Vaticono-State of Vatican City) with numbers running from 1 to 142.

• There has been only one English pope, (Hadrian IV: 1154-1159) and only one Polish Pope (John Paul II: 1978-2005), while not a single pope has been Portuguese, Irish, Scandinavian, Slovak, Slovenian, Bohemian, Hungarian or American.

• There have been five popes who renounced the papal throne: Clement I in 97, Pontianus in 235, Benedict IX in 1045, Celestine V in 1294, and Gregory XII in 1415.

• Nine popes were deposed for various reasons: Silverius in 537, Martin I in 654, Romanus in 897, Leo V in 903, John XII in 963, Benedict V in 963, Leo VIII in 964, Sylvester III in 1046, Benedict IX in 1044 and 1048.

• Pope John II, the 56th pope, in 532 became the first pope (since St. Peter) to drop his baptismal name (born with the first name Mercurial or Mercury) because he didn’t feel it was proper for a pope to be named after a Roman god.  All subsequent popes, however, continued using their baptismal names until 1009 AD when Sergius IV (born Pietro Martino Buccaporci ) started the custom (maintained until this day) of adopting a new name.

Source: ``The Incredible Book of Vatican Facts and Papal Curiosities’’ By Nino Lo Bello, ``The Popes: Histories and Secrets’’ By Claudio Rendina

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
February 19, 2013

 

 

The Abraham Lincoln Reading List: Recommendations and Suggestions

Abraham Lincoln, champion of national unity, trailblazer of the Civil War, and emancipator of slaves, is certainly no stranger to the silver screen.

According to ``Abraham Lincoln on Screen: Fictional and Documentary Portrayals on Film and Television’’ (2nd edition) By Mark S. Reinhart, there have been more than 300 fictional and documentary portrayals of Lincoln on film and television.

Now another has been added to the Lincoln canon, only this one is already being hailed as a strong Oscar contender.

Steven Spielberg’s motion picture epic ``Lincoln’’ starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Mr. Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln , scheduled to hit the theaters nationwide November 16th will undoubtedly spark spirited discussions and lively debates about our country’s 16th commander in chief.  Was Lincoln the most revered U.S. president of all time? Was he really the Great Emancipator?

As even the most casual reader knows, these questions and many others are hotly debated in a voluminous number of books written about Mr. Lincoln; with new ones popping up like toasters.

According to Bowker’s Books in Print database, in 2010, there were 2,140 books written about Lincoln, which doesn’t include video and audio books.  As of November 12, 2012, the number of books about Lincoln (which includes biographies, autobiographies, histories, titles on specific topics, etc) has jumped to 2,515. The only other U.S. president which comes close to having that many books written about them is George Washington at 1,347.

A Footnote: A spokesperson from Bowker’s also informs me, since 2010, President Obama has leaped ahead of John F. Kennedy.  In 2010, there were 502 books written about Mr. Obama; that number has soared to 929 as of November, 2012. JFK has 784 books written about him.

Interestingly, Theodore Roosevelt (the 26th president of the United States) continues to outpace his fifth cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (the 32nd U.S. president) in the number of books written about him. There are currently 658 books written about TR, followed by FDR at 547.

So if Spielberg’s new creation inspires film goers to engage in more serious reading about the ``Rail Splitter’’, which books should they read? Since the film is based on historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography of Lincoln, ``Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln’’, which covers the final four months of his life; that probably would be a great start.

But what about other equally compelling biographies which attempt to peel away the saintly image and iconography surrounding Mr. Lincoln?

To help us with such a tall order, I reached out to some scholars and historians, who in addition to offering book recommendations, shared their favorite Abraham Lincoln anecdotes. 

***
1.) James M. McPherson, the George Henry Davis '86 Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University. He is the bestselling author of a number of books on the Civil War, including Battle Cry of Freedom , which won the Pulitzer Prize ; For Cause and Comrades, which won the prestigious Lincoln Prize ; and Crossroads of Freedom.

Favorite Abraham Lincoln Biography:  ``Lincoln''  By David Herbert Donald 

Favorite Lincoln Anecdote: ``Perhaps one of my favorite stories about Lincoln is the dramatic midnight ride of three miles from the Soldiers Home (his summer White House) north of Washington to the War Department on September 23, 1863, for an emergency meeting with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck, and others officials, where they decided to transfer the 11th and 12th Corps of the Army of the Potomac to Chattanooga to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland after its loss of the battle of Chancellorsville.  This decision led to the Union victory at Chattanooga two months later, that opened the route to Atlanta and ultimate victory in the war.''

2.) Louis P. Masur, Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University and author of ``Lincoln's Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union’’ (2012)

Favorite Lincoln Books:

• Richard Current, ``The Lincoln Nobody Knows’’

• David Herbert Donald, ``Lincoln’’

• Garry Wills, ``Lincoln at Gettysburg’’

• Douglas Wilson, ``Honor's Voice: The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln’’

• Doris Kearns Goodwin, ``Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln ‘’

• James M. McPherson, ``Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution’’

• Merrill D. Peterson, ``Lincoln in American Memory’’

Favorite Lincoln Anecdote: ``On April 4, 1865 Lincoln traveled to Richmond, the defeated capital of the Confederacy. He brought his son Tad, who turned 12 that day. They walked through throngs of people, up a hill, to the Confederate White House. He sat in Jefferson Davis' chair. The war was nearly over. All he said was, "I wonder if I could get a drink of water."

3.) Donald A. Ritchie, Historian of the U.S. Senate and author of a number of books, including: ``Reporting from Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corps'', ``Press Gallery: Congress and the Washington Correspondents'' and ``Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932’’ (American Presidential Elections).

Favorite Lincoln Books: ``Lincoln Reconsidered: Essays on the Civil War Era'' by David Herbert Donald and Richard Hofstadter’s `The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It’’, which includes a chapter on Lincoln.

Favorite Lincoln Anecdote: ``At the White House, Lincoln astutely left his door open to correspondents.  He would talk to them at all hours of the day or night, although according to custom they could attribute nothing to him directly.  One Canadian reporter expressed surprise over his easy entry into the president’s office.  ‘Yes,’ Lincoln replied, ‘this ready means of access is, I may say, under our form of government, the only link or chord which connects the people with the governing power; and, however unprofitable much of it is, must be kept up.’”

4.) Mark Noll, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame and author of ``The Civil War as a Theological Crisis ‘’(University of North Carolina Press, 2006); and ``America's God, from Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln’’ (Oxford University Press).

Favorite Lincoln Books: Allen Guelzo, "Redeemer President" ; Richard Carwardine, "Lincoln:  A Life of Purpose and Power ; and Stewart Winger, "Lincoln, Religion, and Romantic Cultural Politics."

Favorite Lincoln Anecdote: ``I think this one is pretty well attested and (as I remember) came from Lincoln himself.  So Lincoln tells his friends about two Quaker women who were discussing the great conflict, and one says "I believe that the South will win this war."  The second:  "Why dost thou believe that?"  Answer:  "Because Jefferson [Davis] is a praying man."  Reply:  "But so is Abraham a praying man.'  Reply:  "Yes, I know, but God will think he is joking."

5.) Glenn W. LaFantasie, a Richard Frockt Family Professor of Civil War History in the Department of History at Western Kentucky University and author of ``Gettysburg Heroes: Perfect Soldiers, Hallowed Ground'' and ``Gettysburg Requiem: The Life and Lost Causes of Confederate Colonel William C. Oates.''

Favorite Lincoln Books: David Herbert Donald's ``Lincoln'' and Benjamin Thomas's ``Abraham Lincoln:  A Biography''

Favorite Lincoln Anecdote: ``It's very hard to choose a favorite anecdote, since there are so many good ones.  But one fact most people aren't aware of is that he was a fairly good carpenter, and some of the furniture he and his father built today still survive in small numbers.

Abraham Lincoln Fast Facts

• Lincoln was the first president to die by assassination.

• Lincoln was the only president to receive a patent, for a device which would enable steamboats to maneuver over sand bars and navigate in extremely shallow waters. He received Patent No. 6469 on May 22, 1849.

• Lincoln was the first president to have worn a beard while in office, perhaps because Grace Bedell, an 11-year old from Westfield N.Y., wrote a letter to Lincoln, suggesting his chances of winning the presidency would be greatly improved if he let his ``whiskers grow. ‘’ The original letter from Bedell can be found in the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library.

• At 6’ 4’’ Lincoln was the tallest U.S president.

• Lincoln's hat size was 7 1/8. His shoe size is listed as between 12 and 14.

• Lincoln weighed approximately 180 pounds.

• Abraham Lincoln was the first president to be born outside of the original thirteen colonies and the first president born in Kentucky.

• Abraham Lincoln signed into law an act of Congress, establishing the U.S. Department of Agriculture on May 15, 1862.

• Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday, with the first one being celebrated on November 26, 1863.

• Lincoln vetoed or pocket vetoed only seven bills during his presidency.

• Lincoln was never photographed with his wife Mary, or with his family.

• There are about 130 different original photographs taken of Abraham Lincoln.

• One of Lincoln’s favorite books from the bible was Psalms; his favorite poem was ``Mortality’’ (1828) by William Knox.

• On November 9, 1863, Lincoln attended and sat in the presidential box at Ford's Theatre to see ``The Marble Heart’’ starring John Wilkes Booth.

• Abraham Lincoln died without a will. His estate, worth approximately $85,000, was divided into thirds: a third for his widow (Mary Todd), and a third for each of his sons.

• As a lawyer, Lincoln argued one case before the United States Supreme Court: In 1849, Lincoln argued in front of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney and the associate justices of the Supreme Court in the case of Lewis v. Lewis.

• The carriage used by the Lincoln’s on the night of the assassination is on display at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana; The Chicago History Museum acquired the bed (from the Petersen Boarding House across from Ford’s Theatre) where Lincoln died.

• On May 30, 1859, Abraham Lincoln purchased the German language newspaper in Springfield, the Illinois Staats-Anzeiger for $400. He sold the newspaper on December 6, 1860.

• The last direct descendant of Abraham Lincoln, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, the great-grandson of the 16th President, passed away on December 24, 1985. He was 81 and died in a nursing home in Saluda, about 45 miles from Richmond, Virginia.

• The Lincoln Penny was first issued in 1909 to commemorate Abraham Lincoln's 100th birthday, making it the first coin to display a U.S. president.

• Abraham Lincoln's salary as president was $25,000 a year

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
November 12, 2012

Abraham Lincoln Online Resources to Keep in Mind:

• Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

• Abraham Lincoln Research Site

• The Lincoln Institute

• Searchable Database of Lincoln Speeches (Abraham Lincoln Association)

• Book Review (The New York Times) of ``Team of Rivals, The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln’’ By Doris Kearns Goodwin; published  November, 2005

• Film Review of Steven Spielberg’s ``Lincoln’’ published by The Boston Globe  November 8, 2012

What Cleveland Should Know About Terry Francona?

                                                                                                       Photo Credit: AP

 

When it was announced that Terry Francona would be the next manager of the Cleveland Indians, not only did Clevelanders know they had at long last snatched their big blue marlin off the shores of Lake Erie, but for the first time in franchise history, the Tribe had hired a manager who had previously won a World Series.

After finishing a disappointing 68-94 during the 2012 season, 20 games out of 1st place in the AL Central division, a miserable season punctuated with an 18-45 swoon after July 27th, winning only five games in the month of August, (their worst month in their 112-year history), Indian fans were in need of encouraging news to give them a sense of hope during the cold harsh winter that brighter days and a new beginning lie ahead.

Francona’s roots to Northeast Ohio have been widely reported. His father, Tito, played for the Cleveland Indians from 1959-64. Terry himself had a brief tour of duty with the Tribe, playing 62 games in 1988; and he additionally worked in the Indians’ front office as an advisor in 2001.

At least on paper, Tito’s managerial credentials are striking:  He ended the Red Sox infamous 86-year draught by winning two World Series (2004, 2007), and with his four years managing the Philadelphia Phillies (1997-2000) and eight more with the Red Sox, this New Brighton, Pa. native racked up a remarkable.529 winning pct, 4th among active mangers with at least 1,000 games.

But other than his impressive resume, how well do Clevelanders really know Terrance Johnathan Francona, age 53, and the 42nd manager in Tribe history?

What do Indians fans need to know about their new skipper who everyone likes to call Tito?

With that question in mind, I reached out to some of the people who knew Francona the best over the last decade: the Boston media, including Dan Shaughnessy, sports columnist and associate editor for The Boston Globe, who has just finished writing a book with the Tribe’s new manager, titled, ``Francona: The Red Sox Years’’ , which hits the bookstores on January 22, 2013. ``Terry worked hard on this book’’, Shaughnessy told me, ``it’s going to be a big hit, you guys are going to love it.’’  

But readers shouldn’t brace themselves for a tell-all-book peppered with sharp knives aimed at Francona’s most bitter enemies and critics. Shaughnessy told me that ``Terry was very careful not to write anything that would be hurtful to players or write anything that would come back to bite him.’’

Other thoughts that Shaughnessy shared with me during our brief phone conversation:

On Francona’s dealings with the Boston media? ``He’s funny and available. He has pet peeves. He doesn’t like people talking when he’s talking. He’s doesn’t like cell phones going off during press conferences. He has stories about everything; he’s like a Forrest Gump type guy. Terry is real baseball guy. All year long he said to me he wanted to manage again. The players are going to love this guy. ‘’

On his health? ``He’s very fit, very strong, but there’s a limit to what he can do. He’s had to deal with a lot of medical issues through the years, which have all been pretty well documented.’’

How successful will Francona be with the Tribe ? `` He believes in Mark Shapiro (president) and Chris Antonetti (GM) and what they are doing. You’ve got to have a roster and a payroll. It takes talent.  Since the Indians took him on, he’s been harder to find. He’s been going at it 24/7 right from day one.’’

On the Red Sox’s epic collapse in 2011, finishing 7-20, which led to his firing? ``If you look at what happened to the Red Sox in 2012, [the Red Sox finished the year with a 69-93 record, their first losing season since 1997, and their first season with 90 or more losses since 1966] it’s a miracle he kept them afloat as long as he did. Francona remained the same person since I first knew him; he was the same guy all eight years.’’

When I asked others what Cleveland should know about Terry Francona, here are some responses that came back:

• ``In my years of covering Terry and now the one season we shared as teammates at ESPN, I have a great appreciation and respect for Terry's ability to connect with people. He brings such a human touch and a willingness to "let you into his world" that you immediately feel like he's with you and your with him. This is a wonderful and necessary trait for successful managers in today’s clubhouse environment. The Indians have got themselves a very smart baseball man with the touch required to relate to today’s player.''

-Karl Ravech, host of ``ESPN's ``Baseball Tonight''

• ``I had no idea about his personal stuff with his wife.  I worry about him. Circulation problems are the reason he wears the loose jersey.  Despite looking like he’s in great shape, he’s actually a physical wreck on the inside. I really care for him without getting too close to a person. He always served our [media] needs, was expansive with answers and always tried to use the right word. It was a pleasure to deal with this man for eight years.  His communication with the players while in Boston was exemplary. I would give him my highest endorsement as manager.’’

-Bob Ryan, sports columnist, The Boston Globe

• ``I was the Globe beat writer covering the 2004 Red Sox, which was Tito's first year with the team. Once he warmed up to the new environment (about midway through spring training), he was a pleasure to work with: professional, accessible, informative, cooperative, punctual, witty. The results that year spoke volumes about his ability to juggle the many demands of managing the Red Sox. I considered his 2011 season to be an aberration, a year when he had a lot of personal things going on that contributed to him losing focus and ultimately his authority over many of the players. Clevelanders should know they are getting a first-rate baseball guy who almost certainly is eager to remind everyone he also can be a first-rate manager.’’

-Bob Hohler, investigative sports reporter for The Boston Globe, who covered the Red Sox during their magical 2004 World Series run.

• ``It seems like most good managers fall into one of two schools – they are either great in the clubhouse or they are exceptional tacticians. The beauty of Francona is that he is both. No manager will spend more hours at the ballpark than Francona. It isn’t uncommon for him to get to the ballpark at 10 or 10:30 in the morning for a 7 p.m. game. Francona will pour through every scouting report given to him, and is exceptional at knowing all of the matchups.
 
Francona loves interacting with his players, and is equally adept at being a father figure, a friend or, when needed, a disciplinarian. He is exceedingly loyal and will never sell a player out to the media. If Francona has an issue with a player, he will never divulge it in the media. Instead, it will be done behind closed doors, and almost always, he will say nice things about that player publicly.
 
Terry also handles the media well, enjoying the give-and-take on a daily basis. If you want to second guess Francona, be sure you are fully prepared for the argument. He has a reason for everything he does in a game, and therefore, he expects reporters to have a sound argument and full knowledge of the facts when they question him.’’
 
-Ian Browne, Boston Red Sox beat reporter for MLB.com.

• ``Francona is a player's manager. He will not throw them under the bus under any circumstance and tries to anticipate possible problems and avoid them. He needs talent to win, of course, but his players will work for him.''

-Ron Borges, sports columnist for The Boston Herald

• ``Funny, sincere, loyal, knows baseball''

Michael Silverman, Boston Red Sox beat reporter for the Boston Herald

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
October 18, 2012

176 Years Ago, Edgar Allan Poe Marries His 13-Year Old Cousin

 

The Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Grave in Baltimore, MD. Photo Credit: Anthony Washington
***

 

176 years ago, May 16, 1836, Edgar Allan Poe marries his 13 year-old cousin, Virginia Eliza Clemm in the parlor of their Richmond boardinghouse overlooking the Virginia State Capitol. Poe was 27 years old.  Virginia was the daughter of his father’s sister. Poe first met Virginia when she was 8 years-old after moving in with her mother Maria (his aunt) in Baltimore, Maryland.

The marriage was conducted by the Reverend Amas Converse, editor of the Southern Religious Telegraph. The couple reportedly honeymooned in Petersburg, Virginia.

Some historians argue one of America’s most celebrated poets, may have married his young cousin much earlier, on September 22, when he took out a marriage license certificate for Virginia and himself. The marriage document was co-signed by his friend, Thomas Cleland who verified Virginia Clemm was 21 years old. There is no hard evidence, however, that a private ceremony was ever conducted in September, 1835, so it remains mere speculation.

Because of her young age, the young couple apparently slept in different bedrooms until she turned 16 and only then began a normal married life.

Imagine,  today, if a 13 year-old girl (never mind a blood relative ) married a well known public figure of Poe’s stature; how their scandalous marriage would have been splashed over every tabloid in the country with each salacious detail of the nuptials reported on every 24/7 cable network?

Such was not the case in ante-bellum America.  Women in the South, in particular, tended to marry younger than other sections of the country; and first-cousin marriages wasn’t considered uncommon at the time.  Cousin marriages, in fact, were perfectly legal in all States prior to the Civil War. Not until the 1880’s did the social stigma attached to cousin marriages become prevalent, which led 13 states and territories to pass cousin marriage prohibitions. And the age of consent to marry was well under 16 until social purity reformers kicked off a campaign in 1885 to petition legislators to raise the legal age of consent to at least 16. The advocacy campaign paid big dividends, with almost all states raising the age of consent to 16–18 by 1920.

Though the marriage may not have been frowned upon in social circles or scorned by his contemporaries, Poe was still self-conscious of his bride’s young age.

Kent P. Ljungquist, a literary critic and a leading authority on the life and writings of Edgar Allan Poe, informs me: ``He [Poe] spoke ambiguously of Virginia's age when the subject came up. He writes to her with an emotional intensity, but evidence suggests that she was "cherubic" and child-like in her appearance at the time of the marriage in Richmond. The early stage of their relationship may have been more like an innocent brother-sister relationship.’’

Since Poe’s own mother died at such a young age, (Edgar was only 2) Virginia's sweetness and innocence, along with her gift for singing was for Poe, many scholars reason, a representation of the young and beautiful mother he was deprived of.

``His [Poe’s] general response to women,’’ Ljunsquist wrote in an email, `` was to idealize them and to refer to them as spiritual presences or beings.’’

Virginia and Edgar were star-crossed lovers.

After breaking a blood vessel while singing, the first sign of tuberculosis, Virginia died in 1847 at age 24 (the same age as Edgar’s mother and from the same illness) after a long painful illness. Poe, emotionally distraught over Virginia’s death, leaped into a series of destructive relationships with other women, developed ``a lesion of one side of the brain’’ and on a trip to Baltimore, was found lying in a gutter, rambling and hallucinating.  Rushed to Washington College Hospital (now Church Hospital) in an unconscious state, he died four days later after never regaining consciousness on October 7, 1849 at age 40, just two years after losing Virginia. The cause of Poe’s death was never determined.

Born Edgar Poe in Boston, Massachusetts, January 19, 1809, his parents were traveling actors. After his father David Poe abandoned his family and his mother died of tuberculosis on December 8, 1811 in Richmond Virginia, when Edgar was only two, he was taken in (but never officially adopted) by John Allan, a Virginia planter.

A Footnote: Poe was one of three children but all were raised by separate families.  His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe also became a poet before dying at a young age (his literary work was never preserved), and his sister Rosalie Poe later in life taught penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school.

Edgar attended the University of Virginia from February 14 to December 15, 1826, but never graduated after lapsing into wild drinking binges and gambling recklessly, running up debts as high as $2,000.

Flat broke, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, registering as "Edgar A. Perry.’’ Restless, he had his stepfather arrange for his discharge who arranged to have him appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he studied from 1830 to 1831. Poe would eventually be dismissed from West Point for ``neglect of duty.’’

Poe’s first volume of poems appeared in 1827 when he was 18-years old; two years later, a second volume appeared  with fresh poems, revealing classical influences from  Milton and other characters from classical literature, including the Bible. By 1831, he published his first short stories, some dealing with dark gruesome themes, such as “The Bargain Lost," about a devil devouring the souls of Plato, Aristophanes, Catullus, Hippocrates, Quintilian, and Terence. Poe’s development into the American Gothic genre (he later became known as the ``father of the horror genre’’) became all the more evident with the publication of two other stories in 1839: "Ligeia" and "The Fall of the House of Usher.’’

 
Poe introduced his detective hero, C. Auguste Dupin in his short story, `` The Murders in the Rue Morgue’’ in Graham’s Magazine in 1841, which many literary scholars single out as the first detective story.

"The Raven,’’ the poem that made Poe a household name was published in 1844, and during the last five years of his life, literary scholars argue, Poe wrote his two best pieces of criticism, "The Philosophy of Composition" and "The Poetic Principle.’’

Before establishing himself as preeminent poet and author, Poe worked as a literary critic for a number of publications, including  the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond ( 1835-36); Burton's Gentle man's Magazine, Philadelphia, (1839-40); Graham's Magazine, (1841-42); The New York Evening Mirror, (1844-45); and briefly as editor and proprietor of The Broadway Journal, (1845-46). 

The reason for so many stints at different publications is attributed to Poe’s predilection for engaging in verbal clashes with editors and falling in and out of destructive drinking binges.

Poe was buried alongside his young wife Virginia in Baltimore, Maryland at the Old Western Burial Ground (today, the Westminister Burying Ground) in an unmarked grave in the very rear of the gravesite. In November 1875, his remains were dug up and moved to another more widely visited section of the graveyard at the southeast corner of Greene and Fayette Streets. This move was done in order to accommodate the flood of tourists and Poe admirers who wanted to visit his gravesite.

-Bill Lucey
May 16, 2012
[email protected]

59 Years Ago, Hemingway Lands His First Pulitzer Prize

59 years ago, May 4, 1953, Ernest Hemingway is awarded a Pulitzer Prize, his first, for ``The Old Man and the Sea’’,  his sixth novel about an old Cuban man who had gone 84 days without a catch until finally snagging one in an epic 2 ½ day struggle.

Hemingway was traveling on his 38 foot Cabin cruise, the Pilar (his pet name for his wife Pauline) when he learned that ``The Old Man and the Sea'' had been awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

This well traveled American author and journalist wasn't sure just how the prestigious honor would impact the book. ``Can't hurt it, I guess'', he sarcastically wrote to his editor at Scriber’s, Wallace Meyer.  Hemingway also indicated that he couldn't really take the award all that seriously considering he was denied a Pulitzer for ``A Farewell to Arms’’, his semi-autobiographical novel concerning events during the Italian campaigns during World War I.

As it turns out, Hemingway had good reason to grouse. Despite a unanimous approval by the Pulitzer advisory board in 1941 to award a Pulitzer Prize to a ``For Whom the Bell Tolls, Columbia University President, Nicholas Murray Butler blocked the award, blasting the novel as ``lascivious.’’ In a memo to the Pulitzer Board, Butler wrote: ``The trustees of Columbia University would never, under any circumstances, approve the awarding of the prize for a Novel so obscene, vulgar and revolting a book as Ernest Hemingway's ``For Whom the Bell Tolls.''

No Pulitzer was awarded in 1941 in the category of fiction.

A Footnote: Hemingway briefly flirted with the titles of ``The Sea in Being’’ and ``The Dignity of Man’’ before settling on ``The Old Man and the Sea’’

Life Magazine paid him a handsome $21,000 to publish ``The Old Man and the Sea’’ in a single issue, which appeared in their September 1, 1952 edition. A week later, it was released as a book and sold 5.3 million copies in two days.

Critics, by and large, warmly received the ``The Old Man and Sea’’, a sharp departure from his previous work, ``Across the River and into the Trees’’ which was savaged by critics. The Atlantic (September, 1952) described ``Old Man and the Sea’’ as ``Hemingway at His Best’’; ``A great American classic of man’s battle with the Titan of the sea’’ wrote Fanny Butcher of the Chicago Sunday Tribune, (September 7, 1952).  William Faulkner, Hemingway’s contemporary, was certainly taken with it, writing in the Shenandoah (Autumn, 1952) ``Time may show it to be the best single piece of any of us, I mean his and mine contemporaries.’’

Even The New York Times (reviewed by Robert Gorham Davis, professor of English at Smith College on September 7, 1952) embraced Hemingway’s clear unpretentious writing style and his influence on American literature, when writing:  `` In the Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway has like the young man in ``Big Two-Hearted River'', got back to something good and true in himself, that has always been there. And with it are new indications of humility and maturity and a deeper sense of being at home in life which promise well for the novel in the making.’’ `` Hemingway is still a great writer’’, Davis wrote, ``with the strength and craft and courage to go far out and perhaps even far down for the truly big ones.’’

But not all reviews of ``The Old Man and the Sea’’ were so flattering.

Phillip Rahv writing in Commentary hardly considered it a masterpiece: ``The meaning of The Old Man and the Sea is sought in its profound symbolism. It may be that the symbolism is really there, though I for one have been unable to locate it...Hemingway's big marlin is no Moby Dick, and his fisherman is not Captain Ahab nor was meant to be.’’

G.T. Dempsey, writing it in the Antioch Review (Spring, 2007), offered some tough love: ``The sad truth, though, is that this short novel is a masterpiece despite its awfulness. It is marred throughout, both structurally and stylistically, by all the sentimentalizing excesses of Papa's ``hokum'' period at its most pervasive.’’

Though most literary critics agree Hemingway turned out his best work in the 1920’s, ``The Old Man and the Sea’’   nonetheless was a masterpiece, even if it was a late masterpiece. As Alfred Bendixen, Executive Director of the American Literature Association and Professor English Texas A&M University tells me: ``The Old Man and the Sea was part of a projected trilogy on the land, the sea, and the sky which never quite came together but this short, beautifully shaped work of fiction merits attention and praise as one of the few post WWII masterpieces by a modernist of the post WWI generation.’’

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in on July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois and began reporting for the Kansas City Star in 1917; by 1920, he landed at the Toronto Star Weekly, a year later becoming their European correspondent based in Paris, covering the Greco-Turkish war along with conferences in Geneva and Lausanne.

He traveled to Spain in 1923, where he witnessed his first bullfight, a seminal event which sparked his lifelong love affair with the savage sport. He published his first major work in 1925, ``In Our Time’’; and in 1944 he fled to Europe and England to cover World War II for Collier’s with the Fourth Infantry of the U.S. Army.

Suffering most of his adult life with severe bouts of depression, paranoia, obsessions and delusions, Hemingway committed suicide on July 2, 1961, 19 days shy of 62nd birthday, killing himself with a shotgun at his home in Ketchum Idaho, two days after being released from the Mayo Clinic.

In all, Hemingway published seven novels, six short story collections and two non-fiction works and in addition to his Pulitzer Prize in 1953, he was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
May 4, 2012

Bill Veeck, the Maverick Showman, who thought Outside the Box

Eddie Gaedel, weighing 65 pounds, and standing 3-feet-7 inches tall makes his only Major League Baseball apperance in a St Louis Browns uniform during the second game of a double-header at Sportsman's Park in St Louis on August 19, 1951.

Bill Veeck and Indians Player-Manager Lou Boudreau celebrate the 1948 World Championship at the Victory parade driving down Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland.

Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in 1979

This summer, when you pass through the turnstiles at any major league baseball stadium around the country, and you’re suddenly handed a free t-shirt, a bobblehead look alike, a beer stein, or a drawstring bag with your team’s logo on it, you owe a special thank you to William Louis Veeck, Jr., known to the baseball world as Bill Veeck or more affectionately ``Sport Shirt Bill.’’

Paul Dickson, author of the ``Baseball Dictionary’’  has knocked another one out of the park with ``Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick’’, a skillfully written biography, scrupulously researched, brimming with revealing anecdotes and historical detail, while unpacking Veeck’s views of social injustice (inside and outside the park),along with his quest to provide fans with a show even if their team wasn’t on the road to clinching a pennant.

It’s hard to believe that when Veeck took over as owner of the Cleveland Indians in 1946; baseballs that landed in the stands were considered property of the club and were promptly retrieved by the stadium personnel. 

When Veeck, the son of a sports columnist and former president of the Chicago Cubs, came on board, Cleveland Indian baseball games, believe it or not, weren’t on radio; there wasn’t even a telephone service for fans to reserve tickets. The Chicago native changed all that almost immediately and would embrace a host of other publicity innovations, including, introducing Ladies Day and giving away nylon stockings to the first 20,00 women who entered the stadium, dressing track star and Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens in an Indians uniform to run a 100-yard dash against Indians’ speedster,  George Case,  socializing with fans in different sections of the stadium; while the unconventional owner frequently would be seen outside the gates at the end of the game thanking fans for attending. 

Imagine, Veeck even answered his own phone if anyone called his office. Even ushers were rebranded under Veeck, requiring a strict dress code of meticulously ironed blue coats and trousers, gold stripes and immaculate white shirts.

Despite a 6th place finish, the Tribe’s total attendance for 1946 was over one million, a milestone never reached in franchise history. Two years later, in 1948, the last year the Indians won a World Series, attendance had soared to over two million, a league record until the Los Angeles Dodgers broke it in 1962.

Years later, when buying 80 percent stake of the St Louis Browns in 1951, the maverick owner worked his magic again: during one game, he told fans the drinks were on the house and personally passed out two buckets of beer in the bleachers. By the time the game was over, 6, 041 soft drinks and 7,596 bottles of beer were passed out.

Veeck was so interested in hearing from the real fans of St Louis that he once went down in a coal mine with 200 other miners in order to listen for ways to improve his moribund team.

But by far, Veeck’s most legendary stunt while with the Browns was in signing a midget from Chicago, Eddie Gaedel, who with such a small strike zone, pitchers would find near impossible to strike out. The idea sprang from the Browns struggles to get their leadoff man on base. The brilliant move was short lived, however; the diminutive Gaedel only saw one at bat-he drew a walk from Detroit Tigers pitcher Bob Cain and was then replaced by pinch runner Jim Delsing. As the 3-foot-7 Gaedel waved his cap to the thunderous crowd at Sportsman's Park outside of the Browns dugout- he quietly faded into the sunset, never be seen in a major league uniform again. The American League president, William Harridge, quickly voided his contract and prohibited midgets from ever playing in the majors.

A Footnote:  Gaedel died of a heart attack on June 18, 1961, age 36, from injuries sustained after being mugged on a Chicago street corner for $11.

One of Veeck’s most distinguishing hallmarks was in knowing which side his bread was buttered on; and that was in keeping the fans happy. With the Chicago White Sox (during his first stint on the South Side, 1959-1961), when the steelworkers went on strike, Veeck saw to it that more than 7,000 steelworkers were given free tickets.  He also held other special nights for the working class of Chicago, including teachers, transit workers and even holding a Good Neighbor Night for residents who lived near Comiskey Park. And in the first game of the 1959 World Series , he sprang for 20,000 red roses for every woman who entered the park.

Today, with pyrotechnics and dazzling firework displays practically a standard feature at most major league facilities, we need to remind ourselves, every now and again, exactly when this tradition first began. And that was with Veeck, again, in Chicago, when in 1960, he unveiled a flashing light scoreboard with exploding fireworks after each home run. The novel scoreboard soon earned it the nickname: ``The Monster.’’

Sewing player’s names on the back of uniforms and players donning shorts were more Veeck innovations while with the Sox.

But his most publicized gimmick, which unfortunately turned out to be his most infamous, came during his second tour of duty with the White Sox on July 12, 1979, when Disco Demolition Night was scheduled. Hoping to feed off the anti-disco frenzy sweeping the country, the event was designed with a simple task in mind: blowup a crate filled with disco records.  But more was destroyed than just disco records, bonfires were seen everywhere, disco records were being flown in the air like Frisbees, more than 60,000 fans (well beyond capacity) flooded Comiskey with the smell of hot dogs and beer being overtaken with the distinct smell of marijuana wafting through the air; fans poured out on the field ripping up the grounds, while police tried to control the pandemonium riding horses through the field. ``Riot at Comiskey’’ was the screaming headline the Chicago Sun-Times published the next day.

Despite all the gimmicks, publicity stunts and pyrotechnics, it would be a mistake and gross misreading of Veeck’s contribution to baseball to think of him strictly as the ``Barnum of Baseball’’ or a publicity ``showboat’’ who cared more about stunts than in the integrity of the game.

Dickson reminds readers over and over of Veeck’s distaste for the discrimination blacks had to endure.  Well before Jackie Robinson made his major league debut on April 15, 1947, Veeck was at the forefront, advocating the inclusion of blacks into the game. He recruited Larry Doby, the first African-American to play in the American League with the Cleveland Indians, signing him to a $15,000 contract on July 5, 1947. Veeck even took his chances signing the well seasoned Satchel Paige at age 42. ``Satch’’, in fact, is in the history books as the first African American to take to the pitcher’s mound in a World Series game (1948), while Doby (also in 1948) became the first African-American to belt a home run in a World Series game.

Veeck’s passionate liberalism that he was never afraid to voice on a number of social issues raging in the country, along with clearing a path for many African Americans to display their talents in the major leagues, earned him the title of being the ``Abe Lincoln of Baseball’’ by the New York Amsterdam News.

In addition to his notable social activism, Veeck also left an enduring stamp on the game inside the lines as well, especially with his creative groundskeeping methods. When with the Indians, he instructed his groundskeeping crew to slant the foul lines to favor the Indians, while making the infield ``soft and slow’’ to give time for his slow infielders time to catch up with the ball. ``A good groundskeeper’’, Veeck liked to say, ``can be as valuable as .300 hitter.’’ Ready for another legendary Veekism? `` The best trades are the ones you don’t make,’’ the sentiments he expressed after deciding not to trade Lou Boudreau, a local fan favorite.

For those who think Veeck cared more about the circus than the game, just remember, despite all the publicity stunts he’s best remembered for, what many often overlook is that from 1946 through 1963, the New York Yankees only lost three pennants and Veeck’s teams (1948 and 1959) won two of them.

In addition to his questionable signings and his flair for spotting talent, Veeck also gave an untested Knoxville Farm club manager, Tony LaRussa, his first managerial job in 1979 at the tender age of 34 with the White Sox.

Given all that stood in his away: with seven amputations, a collapsed lung, deaf in one ear, a hearing aid in the other, is it any wonder that this brash unconventional owner with a predilection for thinking outside the box accomplished all that he did in such a short amount of time?

In one of the most profound ironies of Dickson’s remarkable book is that even though Veeck was born into a life of luxury, the road he went down as an adult was far from luxurious, as he tethered himself to the neglected , the forgotten; and most importantly, lending his ears to the voices of the fans.

As Veeck’s second wife, Mary Frances liked to say, ``Bill was born on the right side of the tracks, and dragged himself to the other side-and then lived comfortably on both.’’

So if you’re planning your summer reading list, I recommend you place  Dickson’s enlightening and highly entertaining biography on one of baseball’s most combative if influential owners at the very top of your list.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
April 4, 2012

****
Thinking Outside the Box

As usual, there will be plenty of promotions and giveaways at Major League Baseball stadiums this year, from t-shirts to bobbleheads, but in honor of Bill Veeck, I thought I would single out those teams who came up with the most innovative promotions; promotions in other words, which Mr. Veeck would have tipped his hat if he was here today.

Here’s some which caught my eye:

• The Detroit Tigers will be hosting a Christmas in July" night at Comerica Park which includes Christmas music, decorations and visits from Santa Claus and Santa PAWS!

• The Cleveland Indians will have a Puppypalooza for two games at Progressive Field season in which fans are encouraged to bring their dog to the ballpark.

• The Oakland A's will have a Youth Sports Movie Night in which kids will be able to watch the film ``Sandlot’’ on the field which comes with a snack and an autograph session.

• The Chicago White Sox will be holding a Sports Marketing Career Fair in which participants will have an opportunity to network with representatives from different companies.

• The White Sox will have Grandparent's Day and Seniors Stroll the Bases.

• Kansas City Royals will be having a George Brett Mini Pine Tar Bat Day, in which the first 10,000 fans will be given pine tar.

• The Toronto Blue Jays will be featuring ``Tweeting Tuesdays’’ as fans and @bluejays followers will have the opportunity to interact and communicate with the Blue Jays and other Blue Jays fans while watching the game.

• The Seattle Mariners will have a special military night in which military personnel receive $5 off select View Level seats or $10 off select Main Level seats on all Tuesdays and July 4th.

• The Arizona Diamondbacks will be giving away Mother's Day Earrings to the first 5,000 moms.

• The Chicago Cubs will feature a Social Media Night Budweiser Bleacher ticket package, where fans will receive a six card set of Cubs "Social Media Series" baseball cards featuring Cub players that are on Twitter. As an added bonus, there will be randomly inserted cards autographed by Kerry Wood, Ryan Dempster, Paul Maholm, David Dejesus and Ian Stewart.

• Wrigley Field will also be hosting a Law Enforcement Appreciation Night in which fans give thanks for the great courage and bravery of the men and women in Law Enforcement. Budweiser Bleacher Special event ticket holders will receive an exclusive Cubs/Law Enforcement themed shirt.

• The Milwaukee Brewers will be having a Stitch N' Pitch Night when fellow needle artists, speak to shop owners and visit teaching tables when gates open. The first 1,000 needle artists to buy tickets and attend Stitch N' Pitch Night at Miller Park will receive a free special edition Brewers Stitch N' Pitch Bobble Head.

• The New York Mets will give away Texting Gloves to the first 25,000 fans sponsored by Verizon.

• The San Diego Padres will have Play Catch on the Field Day for Kids.

• The San Francisco Giants will be holding a Slumber Party for Kids in which they set up camp on the field, play catch in the outfield and dream of their baseball heroes while sleeping under the stars.

• The St Louis Cardinals will have a Great Clips Charity Haircuts presented by Great Clip in which all fans will be able to get a haircut, with all proceeds going to Cardinals Care.

 -Bill Lucey

Source: Major League Baseball (Individual Team Home Pages)

Crisis and Turmoil at The New York Times: A Book Review

Do you ever wonder if the Murders’ Row of New York Times lions, namely, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, Arthur Ochs ``Punch’’ Sulzberger Sr. , Anne O'Hare McCormick, James ``Scotty’’ Reston, Meyer "Mike" Berger, A.M.`` Abe’’ Rosenthal,  R.W. ``Johnny’’ Apple Jr. , and Red Smith are tossing and turning in their graves right now wondering what has become of their sacred institution?

In this digital age of fewer subscribers to their print edition, plummeting advertising revenue, and editors racing to adapt to readers mad dash to the Internet, has the Times lost its moorings while sinking to the level of Timeslite or Timestrash?

Daniel R. Schwarz, a Fredrick J. Whiton Professor of English Literature and Stephen H. Wise Presidential Fellow at Cornell University tries to answer this in his new book: ``EndTimes’?: Crisis and Turmoil at The New York Times, 1999-2009.’’

Schwarz spent seven long years talking, emailing, and traveling the country interviewing a galaxy of past and present senior editors at the Times in an attempt to unravel how such a world-class newspaper lost its footing in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal, including letting its reporting being influenced and badly manipulated by White House operatives during the Iraqi War, most notably with Judith Miller (some say recklessly) giving credence to questionable sources confirming Saddam Hussein had indeed been stockpiling weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

By the time the dust had settled after one of the gloomiest eras of the Gray Lady (2001-2003), Blair, executive editor Howell Raines, managing editor Gerald Boyd, national correspondent Rick Bragg (Judith Miller with one foot out the door, she resigned in 2005) had been jettisoned; and it was up to Bill Keller, a former managing editor (who was once passed over for executive editor) to restore the Times damaged credibility, while reviving the morale of the newsroom, which had sunk to historic lows during the stormy Raines years.

If the Raines regime (known to be bombastic, dictatorial, megalomaniac, misogynistic, promoting favorites over more qualified journalists), was ``Stalinesque’’ as one Times’ staffer described it–Keller ushered in the counter-reformation in which the new executive editor made a ``serious and sometimes effective effort to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. ‘’

It was under Keller that the Times for the first time in its history hired a public editor who would be charged with taking a sharper look at the Times news coverage and questioning editors directly if the paper wasn’t giving a fair and balanced line of attack to a particular story. Daniel Okrent was named to the newly created position in October 2003; and in June, 2010, Arthur S. Brisbane became the fourth public editor appointed by The Times. 

Allan M. Siegel, hired as the new standards editor by Keller to resolve any ethical and conflict of interest issues, was yet another concession to concerned readers that the paper was indeed living up to the highest journalistic standards and restoring  its reputation as the ``newspaper of record.’’

Keller even started a question-and-answer forum (Talk to the Newsroom) in April, 2006, which was followed by a succession of editors taking turns fielding questions from readers during the entire week.

Under Keller, Schwarz writes, more emphasis was placed on listening carefully to different viewpoints, instilling a strong sense of community and working together among its staff, while relying on a diverse network of editors to help him better manage the newsroom.  Despite the sense of ``calm’’ and ``equilibrium’’ Keller undoubtedly brought to the newsroom after the ``Raines of Terror’’, some staffers nonetheless consider Keller a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, to paraphrase Winston Churchill. 

Two years into his editorship in 2005, metro columnist Clyde Haberman told Schwarz: ``What I haven't figured out about Keller is how much of some of the changes that taken place...is a true vision he'd had all along, and how much he had to be reactive to his immediate processor Raines.''

Whatever the final verdict on Raines successor (Keller experienced his share of hiccups), he undoubtedly brought sweeping changes to the content of the paper, including placing more emphasis on scrupulous analysis and investigative journalism, while working with the online side of the paper, stressing more graphics and digital journalism, such as the 2006 Election Guide in which dazzling maps showing safe and contested Democratic and Republican seats were colorfully displayed.

Still, by the time Keller passed the baton to Jill Abramson in September 2011,  the Times was left in a state of ``perpetual crisis’’, though  in areas completely outside of Keller’s area of control, namely loss of advertising revenue from its print editions and not enough ad revenue from its digital side to make up the difference.  Beginning in March, 2011, the Times placed a pay wall on its website in which it charges online visitors between $15 and $35 a month (after 20 free articles) for access to its content.

Readers hoping to learn more of the back stories, sharp elbows, and power grabs of the mighty and  most powerful editors inside the Times’ newsroom, certainly won’t be disappointed by ``EndTimes.’’ But the reader should bear in mind that the main thrust of the book is the daunting economic challenges the Times is facing as it devotes more and more effort to its website. Schwarz traces the beginning of the Times financial despair back to 2005, when its third-quarter 2005 SEC filing showed a significant loss in operating profit due predominantly to higher wages and benefits, outside printing expenses, and higher newsprint expenses, among other factors.

In his interviews with Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Schwarz believes the publisher of the Times has some ``Pollyanna moments’’; tone deaf to the financial straits of the paper, believing things aren’t as bad as they appear.  In his 2005 interview, Schwarz says Sulzberger boasted of rising ad revenue on the website and the increased number of page views,  while skirting the issue of whether that was enough to compensate for rising costs and lost revenue.  Schwarz describes Sulzberger as ``controversial, proactive, prickly, defensive, and self-confident to the point where a listener wonders if he is a tad delusional.’’

Sulzberger or ``Arthur’’ as he is known around the newsroom, wanted to make a profound impact on the direction of the paper when hiring his first editor back in 2001. He wanted a strong personality, someone akin to Abe Rosenthal who was hired by his father, Arthur Ochs "Punch" Sulzberger, Sr.  It was under Rosenthal, many argue, when the Times cemented its strong liberal voice.

His choice of Raines over Keller was badly flawed even according to some staff members; more damaging still was that Sulzberger seems to have been out of touch with the level of animosity that staffers felt toward Raines, including Judith Miller, well before the train wreck occurred.

Deputy Managing Editor Jonathan Landman told Schwarz: ``With Howell there was no reformation. It was all bullshit. It was all gas; he transformed nothing, through he talked about it a lot.'

Will Sulzberger ever be replaced despite his family controlling Class B voting stock?

Probably not, Schwarz makes clear, since he seems to have the support of the 13 member board of directors.  But if the declining stock prices continue apace, the only possible successor might be his cousin, Michael Golden, vice chairman of The New York Times Company and president and chief operating officer of the Times Regional Media Group. But even Golden would be a long shot since he turned 62 in 2011.

After devoting a good chunk of material to the financial obstacles facing the Times, Schwarz pretty much goes down his personal shopping list of likes and mostly dislikes of different sections of the paper. 

For example:

• Schwarz doesn’t seem to have taken to the lifetime appointments of its op-ed columnists. Tom Friedman, according to the author, is still turning out old material, has a tendency to repeat himself and has run his course (despite his three Pulitzers) as the Times’ Foreign Affairs columnist. 

• Schwarz has reached his tipping point with Maureen Dowd and her half-truths, rhetorical bullying, distortions and name calling.  ``Sometimes I think Dowd should read and think more’’ Schwarz writes, ``and watch fewer movies.’’

• The Arts section has succumbed to TimesTrash by sprinkling its section with more sexually provocative  stories, bordering at times on pornographic subjects, posing as ``cultural criticism.’’ Ditto for the Sunday Magazine, which has resorted to its share of ``tasteless moments.’’

• The  Times Book Review section has resorted to shameless self promotion, such as in 2005 when publishing a list of 100 books, it included six books by Times’ staff writers.

• Throughout the book, Schwarz peppers his criticism with terms like Timeslite (meaning TimesFluff) or TimesTrash –taking the Times to task when it diverts its coverage from important national and international coverage in favor of celebrity gossip, sensational murders or innocuous tales of Manhattan’s superrich.

• Fluff sections, lacking any redeeming literary value such as the Sunday ``T’’ Magazine, Escape, ThursdayStyles, and SundayStyles, (obvious advertising magnets but chasing away core readers) are heavily attacked by the author-whose opinions, by the way, are shared by several retired Times’ editors he interviewed.

• The Times’ Sports section under Keller and carried out by Sports editor Tom Jolly (through 2010) has much improved from its coverage from three and four decades ago, particularly the way it has left the box scores and breaking news stories to the Internet;  while focusing more of its attention on feature stories and in depth analysis on some of the larger issues: such as performance enhancing drugs, recruiting methods by colleges and delicate pop psychology problems affecting professional athletes.

Taken together, Schwarz criticism of the Times shouldn’t be confused with a personal vendetta or waging a war against a institution which is easy to criticize since it is constantly being held up to the glaring light by friend and foe alike. Rather, the reader will quickly come to appreciate Schwarz, like many of us news junkies, is a long time passionate Times reader, who is seeing the newspaper he mostly closely identifies with skimp on its news coverage at times; other times give into advertising pressures and feed its readers a little too much fluff at the expense of quality and hard driven news.

Personally, although presenting an informative financial account of the Times spanning a decade, I get the feeling Mr. Schwarz is having a hard time letting go of the past.

It is clear the Times, and that includes Mr. Sulzberger and Ms. Abramson, the new executive editor, are doing everything within their power to keep the Times relevant, maintaining its long storied tradition of journalistic excellence, while still meeting its financial obligations and preparing for the time in the unforeseeable future when it will segue into a standalone digital operation without a print edition. We all hope that is still very far into the future, but the Times wants to prepared when that day does arrive.

We all long for the old days, but as Abraham Lincoln said in his second annual address: (December 1, 1862): ``As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.’’

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
March 7, 2012

Remembering Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens, on his 200th Birthday

Tuesday marks the 200 year anniversary of the birth of one of the most superb and gifted writers of the Victorian period, Charles John Huffam Dickens, who was born in Portsmouth, England on February 7, 1812.

After launching his writing career as a reporter, first with the Morning Chronicle in 1834, using the pseudonym, Boz (Boz was a nickname for his younger brother Augustus) ; Dickens began contributing 20 monthly installments of a series (April 1836,  through November 1837,) centering on comical adventures through the English countryside,  that became known as the ``Pickwick Papers’’, his first novel, a work which earned him instant fame.

Dickens made good use of the 29 shillings he received for The Pickwick Papers by marrying Catherine Hogarth, a daughter of a newspaper editor. Together they raised 10 children.

After meeting with a rapid succession of hits:  Oliver Twist (1838); Nicholas Nickleby (1839); The Old Curiosity Shop (1841) and Barnaby Rudge (1841), beginning with the Bleak House (1853), Dickens takes a sharp turn from romantic farce and his bright and breezy style; and begins writing novels soaked with biting social commentary, chronicling the harsh working conditions and frightful living conditions in London, particularly among the young and poor. Dickens followed the Bleak House up with Hard Times (1854); Little Dorrit (1857); A Tale of Two Cities (1859); and Great Expectations (1861).

It has been estimated that one out of every 10 persons in Victorian England was a Dickens reader.

Whenever you think of this highly acclaimed English novelist, what probably comes to mind the most is his magical ability to grab hold of the reader’s attention in the opening few words, as if he was tugging at your collar and inviting you to pull up a chair, ``I have a story to tell.’’

Whether it was `` It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, (Tale of Two Cities);  ``Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show’’ (David Copperfield) ; ``Now what I want is, Facts’’ (Hard Times); or ``London. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln's Inn Hall. Implacable November weather’’ (Bleak House); Dickens knew how to pull the reader in like he had just caught a blue marlin; a gift few of his contemporaries could match.

Since this is his birthday and Dickens was the master of the opening paragraph, I thought I would ask some English literature scholars to pick out their favorite opening line or paragraph from a work of fiction.

Here, then, are selections of favorite opening lines (other than Dickens) that respondents consider to be at the top of the tree.

• Arnold L. Weinstein, Edna and Richard Salomon Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature at Brown University, selects:

``Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting’’

William Faulkner, ``The Sound and the Fury ‘’

     And...

``One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked.’’

-Franz Kafka, ``The Metamorphosis’’

• Robert J. Douglas-Fairhurst, Fellow and Lecturer of Victorian and Modern Literature at Oxford University, Selects:

``Riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs. ''
-James Joyce, ``Finnegans Wake,''

• Amy Hempel, Briggs-Copeland Lecturer on English at Harvard University, selects:

"I had a farm in Africa too."
Richard Wiley, ``Ahmed's Revenge''

• Elinor Shaffer, Senior Research Fellow at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, selects:

 ``Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes. But I warn you, if you don't tell me that this means war, if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist - I really believe he is Antichrist - I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend, no longer my 'faithful slave,' as you call yourself! But how do you do? I see I have frightened you - sit down and tell me all the news."
- Leo Tolstoy (Count Lev Tolstoi), ``War and Peace''

    And…

``Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo.''
James Joyce, ``A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’’

• Nicholas Dames, Theodore Kahan Professor of Humanities Chair, Department of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, selects:

``Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.’’
Vladimir Nabokov, ``Lolita’’

    And…

`It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’’
-Jane Austen, ``Pride and Prejudice’’

• Monica Cohen, Adjunct Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, selects:

``Was she beautiful or not beautiful? and what was the secret of form or expression which gave the dynamic quality to her glance? Was the good or the evil genius dominant in those beams? Probably the evil; else why was the effect that of unrest rather than of undisturbed charm? Why was the wish to look again felt as coercion and not as a longing in which the whole being consents?’’

George Eliot,  ``Daniel Deronda’’

• Michael Seidel, Jesse and George Siegel Professor in Literature Humanities at Columbia University, selects:

``Longtemps, je me suis couché de bonne heure`` (``For a long time i used to go to bed early'')
Marcel Proust, ``Remembrance of Things Past’’ (In Search of Lost Time),

• Alfred Bendixen, Professor Department of English, Texas A & M University, selects:

``By the open French window of the dining-room Jenny Blair Archbald was reading Little Women for the assured reward of a penny a page. Now and then she would stop to shake her head, toss her smooth honey-coloured plaits over her shoulders, and screw her face into a caricature Aunt Etta's expression.’’
Ellen Glasgow, ``The Sheltered Life''

• Stefanie Markovits, Professor of English at Yale University selects:

``Call me Ishmael’’

    -Herman Melville, ``Moby-Dick’’

• Benjamin Widiss, Assistant Professor of contemporary American literature at Princeton University, selects:

``Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. ‘’
Gabriel García Márquez. ``One Hundred Years of Solitude''

    And....

``From a little after two o'clock until almost sundown of the long still hot weary dead September afternoon they sat in what Miss Coldfield still called the office because her father had called it that – a dim hot airless room with the blinds all closed and fastened for forty-three summers because when she was a girl someone had believed that sight and moving air carried heat and that dark was always cooler, and which (as the sun shone fuller and fuller on that side of the house) became latticed with yellow slashes full of dust motes which Quentin thought of as being flecks of the dead old dried paint itself blown inward from the scaling blinds as wind might have blown them. ‘’
-William Faulkner ``Absalom!, Absalom! ''

• Daniel R. Schwarz, Frederic J. Whiton Professor of English Literature at Cornell University, selects:

``All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. ‘’
Leo Tolstoy, ``Anna Karenina''

    And...

``He was an inch, perhaps two, under six feet, powerfully built, and he advanced straight at you with a slight stoop of the shoulders, head forward, and a fixed from-under stare which made you think of a charging bull.’’
-Joseph Conrad, ``Lord Jim''

• Kirsten Shepherd-Barr, University Lecturer in Modern Drama and Tutorial Fellow at the University of Oxford, selects:

``A Saturday afternoon in November was approaching the time of twilight, and the vast tract of unenclosed wild known as Egdon Heath embrowned itself moment by moment. Overhead the hollow stretch of whitish cloud shutting out the sky was as a tent which had the whole heath for its floor. The heaven being spread with this pallid screen and the earth with the darkest vegetation, their meeting-line at the horizon was clearly marked. In such contrast the heath wore the appearance of an instalment of night which had taken up its place before its astronomical hour was come: darkness had to a great extent arrived hereon, while day stood distinct in the sky.'

 Thomas Hardy, ``The Return of the Native''

• J. L. Logan, Literature Bibliographer at  Princeton University, selects:

``Once upon a time, in a gloomy castle on a lonely hill, where there were thirteen clocks that wouldn't go, there lived a cold, aggressive Duke, and his niece, the Princess Saralinda." 

-- James Thurber, ``The Thirteen Clocks''

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
February 6, 2012

Michelle has No. 44's Back in Jodi Kantor's ``The Obamas''

If you picked up a copy of ``The Obamas’’ by New York Times political reporter Jodi Kantor expecting a catalogue of abuses in the West Wing of the White House, similar to the sensational tales being reported about the clandestine and lavish Halloween party; or explosive verbal exchanges between First Lady Michelle Obama and Rahm Emanuel and Robert Gibbs—you might come away greatly disappointed.

Those events, minor as they were, has peppered the headlines of most news outlets, both on the cable channels and web sites.  But don’t fall for the off speed pitch. This is more a tale of Michelle Obama‘s voyage from entering the White House armed with top chic and glamorous designer labels before transforming herself into sporting more main street attire, such as a $34.95 dress from H & M, the fast fashion clothing company; while valiantly trying to restore her husband’s image of being shaped by a ``sense of purpose’’ and acting as a `transformative figure’; important characteristics that slipped away from the president soon after assuming the presidency.

The First Lady saw it as her mission to get no. 44 back on message.

Michelle Obama accompanied Barack to the White House in January, 2009, reluctantly as it turns out. The first lady, as Kantor notes, wanted to remain in Chicago with children Sasha and Malia so they could finish out their school terms and gradually make the leap to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue later in the year.

Such a scenario was determined unthinkable by the West Wing brain trust; so came they did to the nation’s capital. The White House was a jolt at first, it wasn’t exactly their $1.65 million historic brick mansion back in Chicago; there were too many security personnel buzzing around and invading their sense of privacy. Then again, any house which has 132 rooms, six levels, 35 bathrooms, 412 doors, and three elevators, like the White House has, takes some getting used to.  But the Obama’s eventually adapted to their new digs, including the first lady.

It’s somewhat surprising that Michelle Obama has taken such a dim view of the book; she reportedly has complained ``The Obamas’’ has portrayed her as an ``angry black woman’’, rather than a supportive wife and accomplished first lady.

While slices of the book, unquestionably, document her assertiveness; ok, bitchiness if your prefer (questioning staff for inviting guests to a White House dinner without being asked first), avoiding meaningless ceremonial first lady duties and embracing more national issues in which she could bring about profound change-such as her obesity campaign.

And it was no secret that the first lady growled at Emanuel, the chief of staff,  for booking her (without asking her first) to campaign with Allen Boyd, U.S. congressman from the 2nd congressional district in North Florida in exchange for his vote on a key energy bill that the White House wanted passed.

The first lady soon made it clear in no uncertain terms, that she would not be an ``easy sell.’’ If the West Wing wanted her out on the campaign trail (during the mid-terms when the president’s popularity was plummeting ) ; they would have to ask her properly and more importantly, she didn’t want to campaign for congressional members she knew little about. Congressman Boyd, as it turns out, voted against the health care bill. Besides, unbeknownst to the first lady and the White House, she was being used to ``head off a potential black challenger for Boyd’s seat.’’

Overall, Kantor delivers a fair and balanced treatment of the first lady, far from coming off as an angry black woman, ``The Obamas’’ shows Mrs. Obama to be an important element of the White House machinery, especially in reminding her husband of his sense of purpose and to change the culture in Washington, important themes that brought Obama to Washington with such high expectations.  The highly publicized horse trading on display over the health care bill (e.g., the infamous ``Cornhusker Kickback’’ to secure passage of health care) was one subtle reminder how Mr. Obama fell victim to the ``business as usual’’ approach instead of changing the culture like he promised. 

Mr. Obama's increased disengagement from the cries of the American people during the Great Recession, partly attributable, some argue, to being so hemmed in by a coterie of advisors (Gibbs, Emanuel, and David Axelrod, Obama’s top political advisor) alarmed the first lady that her husband was losing touch with the pulse of the American public.  As Axelrod told Kantor, ``when she [Michelle Obama] thinks things have been mishandled or when things are off the track she'll raise it, because she's hugely invested in him and has a sense of how hard he’s working and wants to make sure everybody is doing their work properly.’’

Another fascinating slice of ``The Obamas’’ was the degree to which the First Family, Mrs. Obama in particular, drives Sasha and Malia hard not only with academic distinction, but with other extracurricular activities as well, including piano, and flute lessons,  excelling in basketball and scheduling tennis lessons. At first glance,  you might think Michelle Obama is in ``Tiger Mom’’ country, but once you appreciate Michelle, much like her husband, attended college in the age when affirmative action was in full swing; the high standards they expect of their children comes into sharper focus.

Kantor reports how Mrs. Obama while attending Princeton often endured suspicious glances from white students, wondering if she entered its prestigious Ivy League halls because of a quota system. Even as the Obama’s both made great strides in their professional careers, the presumption seemed to always follow them that they got there because of their race.

So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Sasha and Malia are being pushed and shaped and driven- even to the point of overachieving- to prevent wild accusations many years from now that they rose to their respective professional careers because they are the children of Michelle and Barack Obama and not because of their own hard work and academic success.

Unlike so many mismatches with First Family marriages, (consider Richard and Pat Nixon, FDR and Eleanor), Michelle and Barack are cut from the same cloth: both are highly educated, both share similar perspectives of the world, share the same friends, want to portray black Americans in a positive light, while longing for a meaningful change of culture in Washington.

In the end, if Mr. Obama loses in 2012, questions will be raised time and again why Michelle Obama wasn’t incorporated more effectively into getting the president’s message out to the American people by articulating a profound sense of purpose, a sense of hope, while helping her husband build the bridge of comprise and bipartisanship so sorely needed with the U.S. Congress.

Unless the economy improves dramatically, Mr. Obama is now in danger of having fallen victim to the same set of circumstances that undid Jimmy Carter; in that he came to Washington with a mountain of ideas he wanted put into action, but because he never understood the inner-working of the U.S. Congress, including keeping powerful congressional members at arm’s length, he gave voters the impression that he was nothing more than a highly educated policy wonk who didn’t understand Washington.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
January 17, 2012

A New Chapter in America's Reading Habits Has Begun

 

When it comes to America’s reading habits, the writing is on the wall; or rather it’s on Amazon’s Kindle Reader or Apple’s ipad or some other electronic platform.

It seems like every other week, another independent bookstore is raising the white flag and closing its doors, unable to keep up with the rising tide of consumers embracing e-books as if it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

In July, Border’s, the nation’s second largest bookstore, drowning in debt and unable to find a buyer, announced it was closing its remaining 399 stores by the end of September when its liquidation is completed.

Meanwhile, Amazon with its Kindle Reader is posting robust sales, as it positions itself to profit handsomely from the publishing revolution, away from print to electronic platforms.   In 2011, according to a company spokesperson, Kindle book sales, combined with the continued growth in Amazon's print book sales, have resulted in the fastest year-over-year growth rate for Amazon's U.S. books business, in both units and dollars, in over 10 years.

Amazon’s chief rival, Apple is also benefiting from the publishing revolution.  The Apple ibookstore has over 200,000 books catalogued for consumers to choose from; and since it first launched in 2010, 139 million books have been downloaded from 2,500 publishers in 20 categories, including all six major publishers.

And as yet another indication of the growing popularity of e-books, the Pew Internet & American Life Project  published a study in June, which reports that the share of adults in the United States who own an e-book reader doubled to 12 percent in May, 2011 from 6 percent in November 2010.

So as the reading public begin ,albeit reluctantly,  to shift their reading habits away from print books to electronic platforms in the months and years ahead, what follows is a statistical snapshot  of the e-book industry in the United States.

• 64 percent of all publishers now publish e-books

• 74 percent of trade publishers publish e-books.

• 56 percent of students bought an e-book because the book was required reading

• Estimated consumer spending on e-books in 2011 is $1.3 billion

• 19 percent of book buyers will likely buy an e-reader in next 12 months.

• The number of e-book checkouts at the New York Public Library in December 2010, was a record 36,000.

• A report by the Association of American Publishers shows that e-book sales were up 165 percent in 2010 from 2009, while hard-copy sales for that period only rose 3.6 percent.

• E-Book sales were $90.3 million in 2011, growing 202.3 percent vs. February 2010. Downloaded Audiobooks were $6.9 million, an increase of 36.7 percent., according to the Association of American Publishers.

• Year-to-date 2011 vs. YTD 2010: E-Books increased by 169.4 percent while all categories combined of print Trade books declined by 24.8 percent.

• Overall, 67.2 percent of libraries offer e-books, an increase over the past two years from 65.9 percent and 55.4 percent respectively.

• Urban (86.8 percent) and sub­urban (79.8 percent) libraries were more likely than rural (51.7 percent) libraries to provide e-book services.

• While an increase in e-book services was reported across the metropolitan status categories, suburban libraries reported the greatest increase over last year (6.6 percent).

• While library e-book circulation is still very low compared to print book collections, all interviewed libraries reported significant increases in e-book circulation. To cite one example: The Contra Costa County (CA) Library reported that circulation for down­loadable e-books increased from 38,004 in 2009 to 56,560 in 2010. The library’s downloadable audio-book collection also experienced growth in use, from 27,338 in 2009 to 45,589 in 2010.

• On May 19, 2011, Amazon reported that its e-book sales surpassed both its hardcover and paperback business.

• The Kindle Store has over 950,000 books; 800,000 of these are $9.99 or less with millions of free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books available to read on Kindle. 

• In 2010, the publishers surveyed by the Association of American Publishers saw 8.3 percent of domestic net sales from e-books.

• Overall, print sales are down about 25 percent across the United States.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
August 3, 2011

Source:  Publisher’s Weekly; American Library Association’s 2010 -2011 Public Library Funding and Technology Access Study; Association of American Publishers

 

Bestsellers in Kindle eBooks for the Week of July 25, 2011

1.) The Help by Kathryn Stockett

2.) The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

3.) Now You See Her by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

4.) A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard.

5.) Caribbean Moon (A Manny Williams Thriller) By Rick Murcer.

6.) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

7.) Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) By Suzanne Collins.

8.) Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

9.) Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) By Suzanne Collins

10.) Stealing Faces by Michael Prescott

Source: Amazon

Top Rated in Kindle eBooks
http://www.amazon.com/gp/top-rated/digital-text/154606011/ref=zg_bs_tab

***

Most Downloaded Books from the Library (United States)

Published on August 1, 2011

Adult Fiction

1. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett (Penguin USA, Inc.) Months on the list-26

2. Smokin' Seventeen, by Janet Evanovich (Random House Publishing Group) Months on the list-4

3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group) Months on the list- 26

4. Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen (Algonquin Books) Months on the list-12

5. A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin (Random House Publishing Group) Months on the List-10

6. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group) Months on the list- 27

7. The Confession, by John Grisham (Random House Publishing Group) Months on the list- 28
 
8. The Girl Who Played with Fire, by Stieg Larsson (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group) Months on the list-23

9. Dead Reckoning, by Charlaine Harris (Penguin Group USA, Inc.) Months on the list-8

10. Chasing Fire, by Nora Roberts (Penguin Group USA, Inc.) Months on the list-6

Adult Nonfiction

1. Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand (Random House Publishing Group) Months on the list-28

2. In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson (Crown Publishing Group) Months on the List-7

3. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot (Crown Publishing Group) Months on the List-28

4. If You Ask Me, by Betty White (Penguin Group USA, Inc.) Months on the List-3

5. Heaven is for Real, by Todd Burpo (Thomas Nelson Inc.) Months on the List-2

6. The 4-Hour Body, by Timothy Ferriss (Crown Publishing Group) Months on the List-21

7. Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, by Chelsea Handler (Grand Central Publishing) 26

8. Decision Points, by George W. Bush (Crown Publishing Group) Months on the List-25

9. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, by Amy Chua (Penguin Group USA, Inc.) Months on the List-18

10. Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown and Company) Months on the List-24

Source: OverDrive, Inc

NOTE:  OverDrive is a leading full-service digital distributor of eBooks, audiobooks, and other digital content, which provides services for publishers, libraries, schools, and retailers, while serving millions of end users globally