THE CONFIDENCE MAN IN AMERICAN LITERATURE by Gary Lindberg; Oxford; 319 pages; $19.95 Con artists are familiar figures in American literature, though they are usually directed through culture's back door.
Books: High Diddle-Diddling
Tag Archives: man
France Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite?
“The revolution is a complex whole, like life itself, with the inspiring and the unacceptable, with hope and fear, violence and fraternity.” — Francois Mitterrand A big azure-and-gilt hot-air balloon, a reproduction of an 18th century model, wafted skyward in a “salute to liberty” as thousands of spectators gathered in the Tuileries Gardens last January for the official launch of the bicentennial of the French Revolution. The Republican Guard played a fanfare.
Milestones: May 7, 1984
William Basie: 1904-1984The rotund man with the barrel chest and impeccable mustache would sit down at the piano, pop his fingers a couple of times to get the rhythm just right and, boom, his band would take off. Reeds and brasses would blast out in an ensemble sharp enough to shave with, trombones explosively punctuating the seductive murmurs of the saxophones
Box Office: Wimpy Kid K.O.s Sucker Punch
The kid who’s wimpy whupped the teen girls whose couture is skimpy. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, second in the film adaptations of Jeff Kinney’s stick-drawn book characters, earned $24.1 million, according to early studio estimates
In Central America, Coups Still Trump Change
If he holds his handy lead in the polls, Porfirio Lobo will be the next President of Honduras. Problem is, the last man elected to that office, Manuel Zelaya, was ousted last summer in a military coup.
Elizabeth Taylor tweets praises of ‘Michael’s genius’ in ‘This Is it’
It is an understatement to say that Elizabeth Taylor likes the new Michael Jackson movie “This Is it.” “To say the man is a genius is an understatement.
German man on trial for stabbing Muslim woman
A German man accused of stabbing to death a pregnant Muslim woman in a Dresden courtroom goes on trial Monday — in the same court and amid tight security.
NATO-led troops fire on vehicle, civilians killed
Four civilians died when NATO-led troops in southern Afghanistan fired on a vehicle accelerating in their direction on Saturday, NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said.
2 die after stay in Arizona ‘sweatbox,’ officials say
Two people died and another 19 were injured at a central Arizona resort after spending up to two hours in a “sweatbox,” authorities said Friday. About 50 people had spent up to two hours inside the “sweatbox,” a dome-like structure covered with tarps and blankets, according to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.
Bio: Hilary Mantel, Booker Prize Winner for ‘Wolf Hall’
British novelist Hilary Mantel snapped up the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction on Oct. 6 for her novel Wolf Hall, a fictionalization of the life of Thomas Cromwell, adviser to Henry VIII, during the King’s attempts to produce a male heir to his throne