Here's a sampling of what I've been working on lately for my clients:
- Media relations for Green Hills Memorial Park to support its annual planning review by the city of Rancho Palos Verdes.
- Media relations for a new CD release by Latin jazz master Bobby Matos.
- Articles on bowling in Poland and outsourcing the management of a family entertainment center.
Book 'Em Looking for a good read? This month I recommend: The Guns of August
by Barbara Tuchman
(Random House)
This year is the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, which inspired me to revisit the "war to end all wars." The first book on my list is Barbara Tuchman's Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the first month of the war, first published in 1962. By focusing on the run-up to the conflict and its outbreak, Tuchman gives a clear explanation of the causes of a terrible war that the leaders of Europe knew was coming but failed to avoid. The four years of horror that followed, the second world war that came later and the current turmoil in the Middle East were all the bloody result of the events of August 1914. A fascinating book that should engage anyone interested in the political and cultural history of the modern era. Military history buffs and those seeking more detail of the entire conflict should also read John Keegan's "The First World War."
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What are you reading? Send the title of a recent favorite and I'll share it in a future issue. Reader Herb Pedersen recommends: L.A. '56: A Devil in the City of Angels" by Joel Engel (Thomas Dunne Books) "True-crime story of rape and racism in postwar Los Angeles. The narrative has all the elements of a classic film noir and then some: a handsome detective who falls for a beautiful crime victim who narrowly escapes the clutches of a monstrous rapist; the innocent man, railroaded into jail for a capital crime he didn't commit by the prejudiced police of a corrupt city; a surprise ending with a stakeout and shootout that brings about justice in the end. But this being a story based on real life, the epilogue is not so tidy, least of all for the railroaded suspect, an African-American ex-cop who'd been forced out of the department for dating a white woman. In the summer of 1956, Los Angeles was in the thrall of a serial rapist who trolled lovers' lanes in tonier districts with a toy sheriff's badge and a flashlight. He would interrupt young lovers, flash his badge and threaten to arrest the couple for vice crimes. Then he would deposit the young man a few blocks away and return for his prey. On his trail was the talented detective Danny Galindo, a Mexican-American war hero and friend of Dragnet's Jack Webb, who would feed him the occasional story line. ("Give it to Galindo," a catchphrase on the show, was Webb's way of tipping his hat to his LAPD pal.) Galindo worked on some of the city's most notorious crimes, from the Black Dahlia to the Manson Family murders, but he was particularly proud of this case in which he freed an innocent man and found true love. Engel gets in the head of the rapist, which may be taking liberties with the facts, but it makes for a riveting, novelistic read. Disturbing social history in the form of a fast-paced thriller."-Kirkus Herb calls it "A somewhat "flinty" look at the LAPD. Dealing with petty crimes, lost loves and brutal murders set in the mid-50s."
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