Judge Knott

Rather flat-footed, July 15 2004

This book is proof that a good editor can make all the difference. This might have been a great guide, but unfortunately its editor let it wander off in the wrong direction.

There's no question that Robert Greskovic knows what he's talking about. He is a talented writer with charm and all manner of neat little anecdotes. But the problem with this book is how he spends his time.

The book is 600 pages long, but regrettably half of it is composed of cheesy "let-me-walk-you-through-it-and-tell-you-what-you're-seeing" descriptions of twelve famous ballets available for home viewing on videotape. Some 300 endless pages of that stuff. Message to Bob and his editor--if I had wanted a… Read more

good, thought-provoking, but not perfect or conclusive, July 13 2004

Writing the perfect book on the massive bombing raids against Dresden on February 13-14, 1945, is an impossible task. First of all, the two people in my mind most responsible for it--Winston Churchill and Air Marshal Arthur Harris--are long dead and neither of them was forthcoming when alive about his true motives for the attack. So, that avenue is closed forever.

Next, there is the eternal question of "Was this raid militarily justified?" There are two ways to look at this: with 20/20 hindsight (the easy way out) as either a hawk or a dove, or else in gathering as much written and spoken testimony as possible, material that dates both before February 13, 1945, and then data from… Read more

A fully realized, fully unique achievement, July 1 2004

There are bad novels, average novels, good novels, great novels, and then once in a while a novel comes along that rattles the cage of what, optimally, this literary form can and should achieve when approached by a fresh pen loaded with new and unique ideas. Adam Langer's "Crossing California" fits into the last category.

Many other reviewers have sung the praises of this work and given a synopsis of its plot and characters. I would like, therefore, to limit myself to ticking off what I think are the work's most innovative aspects.

First of all, this is a text that reminds me of what happens when a jeweler pops off the back of a Swiss pocket watch: you can see all the… Read more