Reviewing the Reviews

May 20-21.

Publication: Tribune

Cover: Nondescript photo that will mean nothing to readers promoting the review of When the World Was Young, in which "Fremd High School teacher Tony Romano offers a vivid, evocative tale of kinship and conflict in 1950s Chicago."

Not a totally terrible choice for a cover, but something more than an author photo, please.

Other news and reviews of note: None.

*

Publication: The New York Times

Cover: X-ray skull with bombs shooting out of the mouth. Would be better if the background wasn't yellow. For a review of William Langewiesche's The Atomic Bazaar.

Other news and reviews of note: David Talbot's Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years is reviewed by Alan Brinkley and played off against Vincent Bugliosi's Reclaiming History: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, reviewed by Bryan Burrough.

Bugliosi has concluded from exhaustive research that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Robert F. Kennedy never believed that.

Also: Another Michael Beschloss book that his historically irrelevant, from the Doris Kearns Goodwin School of American History 101 Publishing. This one is Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America, 1789-1989. A book called Presidential Folly might have been more useful.

Essay: "Point of Order," by Rachel Donadio. "Robert's Rules, brainchild of an obscure general, has survived 130 years, 10 editions - even use by 1960s radicals."

Charts: Subjects of the three non-fiction best sellers.

1. George Tenet.
2. Albert Einstein.
3. God.

*

Next week, adding the Sun-Times and possibly others to this feature.