"A founding member of the Juilliard Quartet, Mann retired in 1997 after 51 years to expand his work as a mentor of young talent. Twenty-one years later, at 97, he's still going strong. This delightful collection of anecdotes and reminiscences, speeches, and interviews paints the portrait of a man who knew his strengths as well as his weaknesses and built on them; someone who has lived out his joy in music-making with passion. His wisdom not just about music but life shows in how his friends, acquaintances, and collaborators respond to him: a circle that included composers Elliott Carter and Aaron Copland, virtually all the great musicians of his age, and even Albert Einstein, whom he inveigled into playing Mozart with the quartet one memorable afternoon. Austrian artist Oskar Kokoschka sketched Mann while he played for him, and Willem de Koonig once gave all the quartet members paintings, though only Mann kept his. Mann's dissections of Beethoven's and Bartok's string quartets are powerful; you don't have to play an instrument to enjoy them. VERDICT Among his many talents, Mann is a consummate storyteller. As a consequence, this isn't just a book for music lovers but for everyone."
Excerpt: "A thrilling story where readers measure how much they value their rights and how far they're willing to fight for them... Ellis does a compelling job of showing the Lord family's nearly noble hopelessness in their fight to change a fait accompli, without capitulating to sentimentality. This tragic note gives a particular, Steinbeckian vividness to the familiar templates of multigenerational family tale (the story of the Lords) and the American coming-of-age narrative (the story of Little Henry)."
"Paddling With Spirits was inspiring to me. So simply stated, this story grows on the reader, unfolding from one page to another, so much about the courage and clarity that are in this woman's heart . . . It is almost dreamlike, the 'echoes' of a culture lost . . . I recommend to anyone who is tempered by loss, and seeks alignment with natural wisdom. You will resonate with Skyriver's journey and fascinating, interspersed stories of family history." -Betsy Hartzell
Excerpt: "Written for ages seven and upwards, it does not patronise children with deliberately simplified prose. Its purpose is to show young Americans the kind of man who led his country in the War of Independence and who became its first president."
(4/2) Interview scheduled with
Sacred Treasures, noon (PT); live phone interview.
Excerpt: "Catholic or no, readers of Slattery and Woods will be given a dossier of Catholic and Christian historical achievements difficult to refute. Whether or not we realize it, the United States, indeed the entire world, is deeply indebted to the prelates and laity of the Catholic church for its contributions to the modern world. Our ability not only to recognize those achievements but perceive their driving theological impetus will be the determining factor in how good, true, or beautiful this millennia compares to those that have preceded it."
Excerpt: "This book can do much to bring unity among Christians. The Case for Catholicism serves as a gentle invitation to us all to come closer to a more perfect unity with each other and with Christ. "
Excerpt: "The cardinal is straightforward and sober, qualities that were a blessing to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith while he led it. Yet, his thought, like Benedict XVI, is filled with a deep love for the Church."
