It all started with Sabrina!

Epstein, Edward Z.  Audrey and Bill: A Romantic Biography of Audrey Hepburn & William 
       Holden.  Philadelphia, PA: Running Press, 2015.  ISBN: 978-0-7624-5597-3

The Introduction to Audrey and Bill clues in the discerning reader that Epstein is providing a biography of the "romance" of Audrey Hepburn and Bill Holden rather than a complete biography of their entwined lives.  Epstein using published accounts and interviews then proceeds to document how their shared connection affected the rest of their lives.

The movie Sabrina served as the catalyst for bringing Audrey and Bill into each others lives.  Some of the romance played by their characters bled into real life, or maybe it was the other way around.  And as in the movie, Bill did not get Audrey in the end.  But that fact did not end the connection between the two.  Epstein takes sixteen more chapters to tell how Audrey and Bill found other arms to comfort and support them.  They even worked together on another movie, but the spark found in Sabrina could not be flamed back to again as too much time and experience had shaped each of them. 

Epstein wrote a very readable account of the entwined lives of Audrey and Bill, providing plenty of stories, movie details, and glimpses of Hollywood life all through a rose-colored filtered lens of romance.  The book starts with the filming of Sabrina with little backstory on how Bill Holden and Audrey Hepburn arrived at that point in history.  The tale continues through the romantic lives and movies of each person ending with their death, followed by a brief look at their place in movie history.   Audrey and Bill works best for readers interested in the interaction of stars and their movies who do not expect too much analysis on the way.

Scholars on Comic Book Movies

Burke, Liam.  The Comic Book Film Adaption: Exploring Modern Hollywood's Leading Genre. 
        Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2015.  ISBN: 9781628462036

Liam Burke brings an academic's focus to the study of comic book movies.  In five chapters, he mines adaption theory in light of comic book film studies, surveys audiences in Ireland regarding their knowledge of comic fandom, studies how the Marvel Way of Comics has influenced comic book movies and many other topics.

Each chapter is self-contained, but mentions discussions found in other chapters.  Chapter titles include The Golden Age of Comic Book Filmmaking, The Comic Book Movie Genre, Fans, Fidelity, and the Grammar of Value, A Comic Aesthetic, How to Adapt Comics the Marvel Way, concluding with The Future of the Comic Book Movie.  Burke also includes in an appendix the North American Box Office Totals for Comic Book Film Adaptions (in dollar amounts not weighted for inflation).

Burke develops well his thesis for each chapter, providing plenty of scholarly detail and notes to other studies.  He makes his points accompanied by illustrations where appropriate, but never really provides a coherent theme or scope for the book.  Rather he seems to have taken ideas that did not make it into published articles and crammed them into one disjointed book.  However, if you are interested in film adaption theory and comic books, you could mine this book for your own pleasure.

Six Weeks That Changed the War and World

Preston, Diana.  A Higher Form of Killing: Six Weeks in World War I That Forever Changed the
         Nature of Warfare.  NY: Bloomsbury Press, 2015.  ISBN: 978-1-62040-212-2

Diana Preston takes three seemingly unrelated events of 1915 to weave a tale that is a thrilling, informative, and interesting history.  Generally the first use of poison gas, the sinking of the Lusitania, and the bombing of London by Zeppelins are examined as singular events, but  Preston demonstrates how these events were catalysts in overturning long-held views on the conduct of war, a flouting of the Hague Conventions rules of war, and an escalation of scientific warfare that continues to resonate today.

In A Higher Form of Killing, each episode is examined in the context of the war and in relation to the other two episodes.  The main characters are introduced, the science behind the weapons is examined and then a recounting of the event using first person perspectives when and where available.  Finally, the author looks at the lasting effects each event had on the rest of the war and on future wars and conflicts.

Preston manages to balance her look at the three separate events by combining these acts of German aggression into an examination of how the world thinks of weapon systems before, during, and after the First World War.  Read A Higher Form of Killing and make up your mind regarding her thesis.

A Higher Form of Killing

Six Weeks in World War I That Forever Changed the Nature of Warfare

- See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/a-higher-form-of-killing-9781620402122/#sthash.47mGrhTd.dpuf

A Higher Form of Killing

Six Weeks in World War I That Forever Changed the Nature of Warfare

- See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/a-higher-form-of-killing-9781620402122/#sthash.47mGrhTd.dpuf

A Higher Form of Killing

Six Weeks in World War I That Forever Changed the Nature of Warfare

- See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/a-higher-form-of-killing-9781620402122/#sthash.47mGrhTd.dpuf

A Higher Form of Killing

Six Weeks in World War I That Forever Changed the Nature of Warfare

- See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/a-higher-form-of-killing-9781620402122/#sthash.47mGrhTd.dpuf

Not Quite Another Bulge Book

Caddick-Adams, Peter.  Snow and Steel: The Battle of the Bulge 1944-45.  New York: Oxford
        University Press, 2015.  ISBN: 978-0-19-933514-5

With Snow and Steel,  Peter Caddick-Adams adds another volume to the multitude that have been written on the most recognized battles fought by the U.S. Army in World War II.  However, if you are new to the Battle of the Bulge, do not start with Snow and Steel, rather hunt up and read Battle: The Story of the Bulge by John Toland or A Time for Trumpets by Charles B. MacDonald.  Either of these books do a better job of placing events in context across the battlefield. 

Peter Caddick-Adams provides plenty of proof in the  the first fourteen chapters to convince the reader that Hitler started thinking and planning for a West Front offensive as early as September 1944 during the time of Operation Market-Garden and to set the stage for the battle.  He then proceeds in the next twenty-two chapters to narrate the shifting fortunes of the the Allies and the Germans during the course of the battle.  He then finishes the book with two chapters summarizing the end of World War II on the Western Front, followed by a chapter discussing previous Battle of the Bulge books and finishes with a look at the historical reputations of many of the Battle of the Bulge participants.

Snow and Steel gets high marks for the drawing attention to the planning Hitler and his staff did before the offensive.  The book also gets high marks for the use of German sources and narrators.  However, while the setting is superb, the battle description is disjointed with abrupt switches of locations within chapters with little or no transition and  a disturbing habit in listing all battle participants who were famous or became famous (Jimmy Stewart for one, Henry Kissinger, for another) whether they played a relevant role in the battle or not.  This disconnect and the fact that almost half-the book does not deal with the battle is why this book is recommended for those who feel the need to read every book about the Battle of the Bulge or really want to know what the latest theories are related to the battle.  Novices should look elsewhere!

For Whom Doth The Rebels Yell?

Gwynne, S. C.  Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson.  New
       York: Scribner, 2014.  ISBN: 978-1-4516-7328-9

Are you interested in Thomas J Jackson's life and military endeavors?  Then you picked the right book to inform your curiosity, inflame your historical passion and detail a mosaic of "Stonewall" Jackson in a short 600+ pages.  S. C. Gwynne provides a biography that covers the whole life of Jackson but not in chronological order.   

Rebel Yell opens with Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson stealing a march on Union forces as he entrains his army and moves to join Lee outside Richmond in 1862. The author then skips back to the opening of the war and narrates events through the First Battle of Manassas/Bull Run.  Another backward time jump covers Jackson's early life, his Army career including his Mexican War exploits and his tenure as VMI professor.  The narrative then meanders enticingly through Jackson's Valley campaign, his lack-luster leadership before Richmond, his brilliance at Second Manassas and his solid performance at Antietam and Fredericksburg.  The last part (Part Five) covers the Winter of 1863 and Jackson's final performance at Chancellorsville.

S. C Gwynne provides a very solid biography of Jackson without hero-worship that allows the reader access to the military leader and the man behind the reputation.  He combines eye witness accounts, newspaper stories, diaries, official reports and other sources to document the tale of Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson.  Rebel Yell is well worth reading for both pleasure and insight.

A look at the man, not the music.

Suchet, John.  Beethoven: The Man Revealed.  New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2013.
        ISBN: 978-0-8021-2206-3

Ludwig van Beethoven is a renowned classical musical composer.  That is common knowledge, but not so commonly known is his talent as a gifted musician, mainly the piano, and as man who had to overcome numerous obstacles before he achieved success. 

John Suchet opens with Beethoven's background, exploring his grandfather's and father's careers as musicians in Bonn, Germany before spending four chapters on his early life, training and musical beginnings as a composer and player.  With Chapter 5, Beethoven arrives in Vienna where he worked on taking the city by storm as a player and then a composer.  Beethoven grew in fame for his compositions while growing in notoriety for his peculiarities which were partially due to his working habits and partially due to his growing deafness.  His family interactions did not help him in regard to his health or his notoriety.  In the end, his death came as a climax of a tale of endurance and achievement.

Suchet, a presenter on Britain's Classics FM station, provides the general public a readable life of Ludwig van Beethoven.  As the sub-heading hints, Suchet concentrates on Beethoven the man rather than Beethoven the composer. Suchet writes a life of Beethoven that weaves in his compositions with the woof of his everyday life.  The reader learns the circumstances under which a composition was created and performed, allowing a glimpse at Beethoven's creative process.  However, Suchet is not above speculating in certain areas such as a meeting with Mozart that may have included a private performance when there is no firm evidence.  Suchet does provide a list of sources for further exploration and his ideal discography of Beethoven's music which he cheerfully admits is biased by his taste in performance.  In the end, Beethoven: The Man Revealed is worth reading by the general public who want to understand the man behind the music.

A "New" Hope?

Zoglin, Richard.  Hope: Entertainer of the Century.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014.
        ISBN: 978-1-4391-4027-7

Bob Hope died in July 2003 at the age of 100.  In Bob Hope: Entertainer of the Century, Richard Zoglin provides the first complete descriptive biography of Leslie Towns Hope (better known as Bob Hope).  In the introduction and 14 chapters, he lays out the evidence that Bob Hope should be considered a seminal figure in American entertainment in the Twentieth century.

Bob Hope began his career in vaudeville in the 1920's and he prospered even as vaudeville was dying.  In the 1930's, he became a star on Broadway, migrated to radio with NBC and then in 1938 became a movie star.  During World War II, he started a career as entertainer for US troops abroad which continued for close to fifty years.  Then, in 1950's Hope started a yearly series of NBC TV specials.  In all these fields Bob Hope excelled, Zoglin postulates due to his hard work, focus on comedy, willingness to change and innovate.  He also focused on the bottom line and was always thinking ahead.

Richard Zoglin focuses on Bob Hope as entertainer, comedian, and businessman, providing a narrative full of plays, movies, and television specials while providing little of the material in the sketches, and movies that made Bob Hope famous.  In large part Zoglin wrote Hope to bring Bob Hope back into the limelight he deserves.  Unfortunately, the narrative makes the case for Hope as a pioneer in multiple fields while almost ignoring Hope the man, the father, and the husband.  Hope in historical context is also missing from the book.  Despite these drawbacks, Zoglin has written a very readable life of Bob Hope that is recommended to anyone wanting to know more of his story.