Eight new books to check out in March
Hollywood mobsters, Nazi-age newshawks, 19th Century fortune tellers, and more
A veritable smorgasbord we’ve got this month, including two Victorian-era sensations, two tales from the grim Nazi years, some Classic Hollywood mob action, and a wild ride about star twin-sister photographers who made their names shooting for the glamorous magazines of old. These all have my mouth watering but I’m particularly excited about Alex Hortis’ THE WITCH OF NEW YORK, considering the tabloid-news synergies with my own BLOOD & INK. Meanwhile, MORTAL SECRETS by Frank Tallis caught my eye because it just so happens I recently binged Vienna Blood, the adjacent BBC period drama based on the author’s mystery novels. Anyway I’ll shut up now and allow you to peruse…
THE WITCH OF NEW YORK: The Trials of Polly Bodine and the Cursed Birth of Tabloid Justice, by Alex Hortis (Pegasus Crime, March 5)
From the publisher: “Before the sensational cases of Amanda Knox and Casey Anthony—before even Lizzie Borden—there was Polly Bodine, the first American woman put on trial for capital murder in our nation’s debut media circus.” PW’s starred review says: “In this excellent work of true crime … Hortis’s historical detail makes the episode come to life, and he successfully evokes contemporary tabloid scandals. … Fans of Daniel Stashower will love this.”
DOUBLE CLICK: Twin Photographers in the Golden Age of Magazines, by Carol Kino (Scribner, March 5)
From the publisher: “A riveting dual biography of the McLaughlins—identical twin sisters who became groundbreaking photographers in New York during the glamorous magazine golden age of the 1930s and 40s.” Another PW starred review: “Kino paints a textured portrait of artists who came of age amid sea changes in magazine publishing and women’s cultural roles, and helped transform the way Americans consumed information and encountered fashion.”
MORTIMER AND THE WITCHES: A History of Nineteenth-Century Fortune Tellers, by Marie Carter (Fordham University Press, March 5)
From the publisher: “The neglected histories of 19th-century NYC’s maligned working-class fortune tellers and the man who set out to discredit them.” Deborah Blum raves: “Mortimer and the Witches explores, in fascinating detail, the magical, occasionally criminal, underworld that simmers beneath the surface of so many cities around the world. But Marie Carter's tale of 19th century New York is also an insightful, don't-miss examination of the prevailing suspicion and prejudice against women operating at the margins of society.”
NEWSHAWKS IN BERLIN: The Associated Press and Nazi Germany, by Larry Heinzerling and Randy Herschaft, with Ann Cooper (Columbia University Press, March 5)
From the publisher: “Newshawks in Berlin reveals how the Associated Press covered Nazi Germany from its earliest days through the aftermath of World War II.” Steve Coll calls it: “A powerful historical investigation that unpacks the ethical choices and hard realities of eyewitness reporting under a dictatorship. In writing that is nuanced and sophisticated, and yet as clear and readable as an AP dispatch, Heinzerling and Herschaft enlarge our understanding of American news in the Nazi.”
TINSELTOWN GANGSTERS: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Hollywood, by Jeffrey Sussman (Rowman & Littlefield, March 5)
From the publisher: “Painting colorful portraits of numerous mobsters, producers, actors, and directors, Tinseltown Gangsters tells the gripping, fast-paced, true story of corruption and greed in Hollywood throughout much of the twentieth century.” Library Journal says: “A great addition to collections about the history of film or organized crime, chronicling famous and lesser-known mobsters who made a killing, literally and figuratively, in Hollywood.”
STREET FIGHT: The Chicago Taxi Wars of the 1920s, by Anne Morrissy (Lyons Press, March 5)
From the publisher: “Working from extensive research and interviews with descendants and experts, author Anne Morrissy vividly recreates Chicago’s Taxi Wars, bringing to print for the first time this deeply compelling but nearly forgotten story.” The Chicago Review of Books raves: “Written like a heart racing thriller or true crime podcast, Street Fight is a fascinating look at this understudied conflict in the city’s history that combined a perfect storm of labor suppression, organized crime, government corruption, and turf warfare.”
MORTAL SECRETS: Freud, Vienna, and the Discovery of the Modern Mind, by Frank Tallis (St. Martin’s Press, March 26)
From the publisher: “A chronicle of Vienna's Golden Age and the influence of Sigmund Freud on the modern world by a clinical psychologist whose mystery novels form the basis of PBS's Vienna Blood series.” Kirkus Reviews’ starred review calls it: “Convincingly critical and convincingly admiring―among the best of innumerable Freud bios.”
TAKEOVER: Hitler's Final Rise to Power, by Timothy W. Ryback (Knopf, March 26)
From the publisher: “From the internationally acclaimed author of Hitler’s Private Library, a dramatic recounting of the six critical months before Adolf Hitler seized power, when the Nazi leader teetered between triumph and ruin.” Margaret Talbot calls it: “An engrossing clock-ticker of a narrative about the behind-the-scenes machinations and open politicking that vaulted Hitler and the Nazi party to power. … The relevance to authoritarianism today is urgent and unmistakable.”