Michael Moore’s new identity crisis

By ROGER RAPOPORT

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Released on the 60th anniversary weekend of the Chinese Revolution, Michael Moore’s new shockumentary “Capitalism: A Love Story” proves once again how hard it is to be rich in America. Last year, when his net worth finally exceeded that of his old nemesis General Motors, Moore was forced to sit down and have a serious talk with himself. How do you preach about the evils of capitalism when you make roughly $21 million on “Fahrenheit 9/11,” a film trashing George Bush? Any way you look at it, that’s a hefty return on a $6 million investment.

All dressed up and nowhere to go: How to (hopefully) avoid flight delays

By Roger Rapoport
4/27/2009

McClatchy Newspapers

McClatchy-Tribune News Service (MCT) – In the lowered-expectations world of air travel, some facts of life have changed for the better. Meal cutbacks mean most passengers never hear the most daunting question in the air, “Chicken or beef?”

Supply-Side Magic in Mongolia

By MICHAEL KOHN

The global financial crisis hit hard in Mongolia, forcing everyone from goat herders to mineral prospectors to tighten their belts. But the crisis did at least accomplish something pleasantly unexpected: It forced lawmakers to abandon repressive taxation to attract investment.

Charles Darwin’s home is a must-see in Britain

DOWNE, England

Of the more than 14,000 letters Charles Darwin wrote during his lifetime, perhaps the most memorable was addressed to his wife, Emma Wedgwood. The naturalist requested that in the event of his death, she use an enclosed 400-pound check to pay for the editing and publication of a 240-page book on natural selection.

“If as I believe,” he wrote in 1842, “my theory in time be accepted even by one competent judge, it will be a considerable step in science.”

Sculpture city in ‘misunderestimated’ Michigan

Michigan’s population may be waning, but there’s no question that the state has become a sleeper destination for tourists who are passionate about trout fishing, sailing, camping, Big Ten football, theater or the fine arts. George W. Bush, who always has a way with words, might call Michigan the most “misunderestimated” destination in the land.

Museum at Ford’s Theater tells stories behind the Lincoln assassination

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Shortly after 10 p.m. on the night of April 14, 1865, one of America’s most admired actors, John Wilkes Booth, shot and mortally wounded his most illustrious fan, President Abraham Lincoln. Nine hours later, at 7:22 a.m., Lincoln died across the street from Ford’s Theater at the home of merchant William Petersen. A nation wept, and Vice President Andrew Johnson, himself one of the missed targets of a vast conspiracy, became the 17th president of the United States.

California says no to offer to take inmates

Sunday, August 23, 2009 (SF Chronicle)
Roger Rapoport

A generous offer to move 2,000 inmates from jam-packed California jails to
prisons here and across the state in the town of Standish was turned down
last week by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s secretary of corrections and
rehabilitation, Matthew Cate.

This is bad news for Michigan, where Gov. Jennifer Granholm has been
trying to save the jobs of at least half of the 1,000 corrections officers
scheduled for layoffs this fall as her state continues shutting down
prisons it no longer needs.

France Takes the High Road

By Roger Rapoport

Actual traffic surveillance camera from France

Due in large part to reduced congestion and safer vehicles, traffic fatalities in America were down 8 percent during the first ten months of 2008.
This is good news—but not good enough. Highway accidents remain the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 2 and 34. And for the friends and families of the 39,800 American victims who died in car crashes last year, it’s obvious that we have a long road ahead of us. 

Author of The Lexicon Speaks: A Video Interview with Steve Vander Ark

If you’re a Grand Rapids resident, Steve Vander Ark, author of The Lexicon, will be speaking and signing books at Schuler Books & Music on 28th Street on February 12th @ 7:00 p.m.

The Lexicon is a foray – you could even say a headlong dive – into the world of Harry Potter.  Roger Rapoport published a book length version of Vander Ark’s wildly popular website, bringing his insights into the tangible, book loving world.  It has been born.  And now it’s your turn to bring it home and take care of it, nurture it, and it doesn’t even require water or clothing.  Maybe only shelter.  What are you waiting for?

Maybe you’re  waiting to know more about this Vander Ark fellow.  What’s he all about?  I mean, what is he trying to say?

The American Library Association has answers for you.  It’s free.

God bless them.

If you are interested in Mr. Vander Ark’s American and British tour schedule, just text RDR signup to 95495.

-The editorial staff at RDR Books

Questions?  Comments?  E-mail Roger Rapoport at Roger@rdrbooks.com

Nobody Is Spared: An Interview with John Crace

Discussed: Books in competition with other forms of media, creative writing classes, and what makes a strong novel.

The New York Times has called The Digested Read “The best book-related feature in any of this planet’s English Language Newspapers.”

The Digested Read is John Crace’s gift to the modern reader enabling, in five hundred words or less, a “digested” synopsis of contemporary books in several different genres. In his own words: “The basic premise for The Digested Read is that it should be the book that has created the most media noise that week. Unfortunately publishing is an industry like any other and books are published on their perceived ability to make money. It goes without saying that authors with big reputations tend to sell more, even though their books often fail to match their reputation.”