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The Generalissimo: Robert Kennedy, The War on Crime and The Modern Gang War
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Alternate Biography Titles: Lives that might have been
- Thread starter Alex Richards
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Mr Tumble Goes To War: The Justin Fletcher Premiership during the Russian Invasion
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William Van Duzer Lawrence IV is a fellow of the College of William and Mary, having studied English there as an undergraduate. He moved to Washington DC as a young staffer for President Mario Cuomo, eventually becoming Press Secretary in the final disastrous six months of the administration. His memoir of that period, Spin City, became a bestseller with its genuinely funny tone and its eye for the sentimental anecdote.
Lawrence then moved to California to take up a position as Communications Director of the UCLA med school. Bruised by his experience in Washington, Lawrence became increasingly enthusiastic about hiking. He began to organise excursions for the young med students into the hills around Los Angeles, and these trips gave him the idea for his next book. A contemplation of the demands put on young doctors and their struggle for growth, it relied on an overarching metaphor of plants trying to thrive in the often inhospitable rocky grounds of the hills. Critics thought that Scrubs was too sentimental, but it remains a beloved text and has yet to go out of print.
In 2009, an encounter with a mountain lion while jogging led to his next book. The curiosity about how Los Angeles could be both the quintessential megacity of the English-speaking world while also having a population of big cats led to a meditation on the balance of nature and urbanism, and Cougar Town became a hit with the revitalised Democratic Green movement of the 2010s.
Lawrence spent the next decade working on a passion project, a serious biography of Theodore Roosevelt. This concentrated specifically Roosevelt's time in the west as a young man, a natural fit for Lawrence's preoccupation with politics, nature and his concern about what it meant to be a healthy adult. Ted: Lasso was better received as a work of literature than history, but is the most successful biography of the decade thus far.
His new work, a reflection on the old Democratic establishment's retreat after the Cuomo presidency is tentatively titled Shrinking.
Lawrence then moved to California to take up a position as Communications Director of the UCLA med school. Bruised by his experience in Washington, Lawrence became increasingly enthusiastic about hiking. He began to organise excursions for the young med students into the hills around Los Angeles, and these trips gave him the idea for his next book. A contemplation of the demands put on young doctors and their struggle for growth, it relied on an overarching metaphor of plants trying to thrive in the often inhospitable rocky grounds of the hills. Critics thought that Scrubs was too sentimental, but it remains a beloved text and has yet to go out of print.
In 2009, an encounter with a mountain lion while jogging led to his next book. The curiosity about how Los Angeles could be both the quintessential megacity of the English-speaking world while also having a population of big cats led to a meditation on the balance of nature and urbanism, and Cougar Town became a hit with the revitalised Democratic Green movement of the 2010s.
Lawrence spent the next decade working on a passion project, a serious biography of Theodore Roosevelt. This concentrated specifically Roosevelt's time in the west as a young man, a natural fit for Lawrence's preoccupation with politics, nature and his concern about what it meant to be a healthy adult. Ted: Lasso was better received as a work of literature than history, but is the most successful biography of the decade thus far.
His new work, a reflection on the old Democratic establishment's retreat after the Cuomo presidency is tentatively titled Shrinking.
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I found out Bill Lawrence's name at birth and everything else just leapt into place.
An Unfinished Life: John Kennedy, by Robert Dallek, tells the story of the British Offiicer who had an outstanding career across the Russian Civil War and the two world wars, only to die during a hunting accident while serving as Governor of Southern Rhodesia.
Reviewer: why the @#@* did you leave out his initial editor, I'm an American historian, I can't review this!
Editor: giggles
Reviewer: why the @#@* did you leave out his initial editor, I'm an American historian, I can't review this!
Editor: giggles
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A fast, bright condiment: the biography of Frederick van Zyl Slabbert. This delightful story of the South African born chef, who revolutionised the New York culinary scene with his focus on bright colours, and a more rapid version of fine dining that well matched the city's fast pace of life
Surrender
General P. David Hewson's account of his service in the Iraq War caused considerable controversy when published, not least from the title, which many publishers felt was "unmanly" for a general. The Irish-American general insisted on it though, as the second half of the book focused on the way military leaders had been forced to follow White House directives down to an absurdly detailed level, which he saw as "surrendering the chain of command".
General P. David Hewson's account of his service in the Iraq War caused considerable controversy when published, not least from the title, which many publishers felt was "unmanly" for a general. The Irish-American general insisted on it though, as the second half of the book focused on the way military leaders had been forced to follow White House directives down to an absurdly detailed level, which he saw as "surrendering the chain of command".
The Light We Carry
Admiral LaVaughn Robinson was the first woman to serve as Commandant of the Coast Guard. However her fans, and they are many, will have years to wait for her diaries of that role, as her first book chronicles her start in the service, her years on the lightship Nantucket I.
Admiral LaVaughn Robinson was the first woman to serve as Commandant of the Coast Guard. However her fans, and they are many, will have years to wait for her diaries of that role, as her first book chronicles her start in the service, her years on the lightship Nantucket I.