Archives: Non-Fiction Writing

MARTIN SCORSESE’S “THE IRISHMAN” AND THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS

I am delighted with The Irishman, Martin Scorsese’s biopic masterpiece based on the story of former Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa and his disappearance.  The movie is mostly based on tape-recorded interviews with Hoffa bodyguard Frank Sheeran as distilled in former criminal prosecutor Charles Brandt’s book, I Heard You Paint Houses.  Early in that book we …

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HARLAN MINER’S SPEAK

by Theodore Dreiser, John Dos Pasos et. al (University of Kentucky Press 2008) The Netflix series Justified transports Deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens from Miami’s South Beach to pursue bandits and intrigue in the alternative universe of Harlan County, Kentucky. This series portrays a world of impoverished Appalachians looking for work in a world of …

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