The Tangled Web: The Life and Death of Richard Cain - Chicago Cop and Mafia Hitman

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Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing; Original edition (March 26, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9781602393417
ISBN-13: 978-1602393417
ASIN: 1602393419
Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Richard Cain (1931–1973), shot to death in a Chicago sandwich shop, was most probably murdered by members of the Chicago Mafia. The author, Cain's half-brother, presents in numbing and amateurishly written detail the life of a "made" man who joined the Chicago Police Department to be mobster Sam Giancana's man on the inside. Cain achieved some fame for being an aggressive vice cop, as well as notoriety in the killing of an alleged child molester, although he was cleared of any charges. Through Giancana, Cain became involved in a CIA plot to kill Fidel Castro (though the author found no evidence to support rumors that Cain was connected to the JFK assassination). And thanks to political connections, Cain was eventually appointed chief of the Special Investigations Unit of the Cook County Sheriff's Department. Cain continued to work both sides of the law, was convicted on several charges and spent several years in prison. Despite the author's painstaking research, the descriptions of his subject as an intelligent and handsome man with savoir faire, who dazzled women with his charm and his risk taking, are less convincing than the story of a hardened criminal without a conscience. Photos. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. From Booklist Now a footnote in the history of organized crime, Richard Cain embodied the symbiotic relationship of Chicago's legendary Outfit and the political machine that ran the city. An old friend of perceived Outfit kingpin Sam Giancana, Cain joined the Chicago Police Department in 1956 and quickly rose to vice-squad detective. Simultaneously, he climbed the Outfit's organizational ladder to trusted hit man and errand runner. Cain's half-brother Michael tells his duplicitous story, that of a pragmatic killer whose own demise in a 1973 Mob hit was anything but unexpected, adding valuably to organized-crime annals and Chicago history by matter-of-factly describing the everyday operations of the Outfit's soldiers rather than its capos. Cain remained involved with Giancana right up to the latter's execution-style murder but apparently didn't rank high enough to discern whether Giancana was really in charge or a front for Tony Accardo and Paul Ricca, as recent researchers have posited. Great stuff for a look at the reality of life in the Mob and a window on how the "city that works" really worked. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. The Tangled Web: The Life and Death of Richard Cain - Chicago Cop and Mafia Hitman

Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass,Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office

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List Price: $9.98
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Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: NAL Trade (March 7, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780451217608
ISBN-13: 978-0451217608
ASIN: 0451217608
Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

It doesn't take Lancaster long to live up to her lengthy subtitle ("Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart-Ass, or Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office"): in just one chapter, she gloats over cheating a homeless man, is rude to a waitress and passes judgment on all of her co-workers (including her "whore" best friend). She's almost gleeful about lacking "the internal firewall that keeps us from saying almost everything we think," but she doesn't come off as straightforward, just malicious. (Of course, it's possible she's making up much of her dialogue, which is a little too clever to be believable.) Lancaster expects sympathy for her downward slide after getting fired from her high-paying finance job in the post-9/11 recession, and chick lit fans may be entertained watching life imitate fiction, but just when you start to feel sorry for her, the snotty attitude returns. In later chapters, Lancaster increasingly relies on entries from her blog (www.jennsylvania. com) and caustic replies to criticisms, and though things start looking up—her husband finds a job, she lands a book deal—it's not clear that she's been as chastised by her experiences as she claims. (Mar. 7) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Product Description Jen Lancaster was living the sweet life-until real life kicked her to the curb.

She had the perfect man, the perfect job-hell, she had the perfect life-and there was no reason to think it wouldn't last. Or maybe there was, but Jen Lancaster was too busy being manicured, pedicured, highlighted, and generally adored to notice.

This is the smart-mouthed, soul-searching story of a woman trying to figure out what happens next when she's gone from six figures to unemployment checks and she stops to reconsider some of the less-than-rosy attitudes and values she thought she'd never have to answer for when times were good.

Filled with caustic wit and unusual insight, it's a rollicking read as speedy and unpredictable as the trajectory of a burst balloon. Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass,Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office

A Voice from Old New York: A Memoir of My Youth

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Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (December 2, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780547341538
ISBN-13: 978-0547341538
ASIN: 0547341539
Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

In a world where privacy is increasingly passé, A Voice From Old New York may seem quaint. Auchincloss follows the traditional autobiographical form: confessions of petty crimes and sexual dysfunction and recollections of childhood education and upbringing, followed by his career as an attorney and a novelist. He relegates his wife and children to cameo appearances. As in his other works, Auchincloss is at his best as a detached observer and bemused critic of his East Coast upper-class society, though, as some critics note, a “note or two of snobbery is inevitable” in this somewhat self-indulgent memoir (Boston Globe). Despite its flaws, fans may still relish the final glimpse that Auchincloss offers us into a fading way of life, as well as wish to sample some of his other books about the manners of the Northeastern upper class. From Booklist Readers who were saddened by the thought that Louis Auchincloss’ death earlier this year at the age of 92 meant an end to his long string of novels and stories will welcome this memoir. In his trademark graceful style, Auchincloss takes us through his childhood in New York City, Long Island, and Bar Harbor, Maine; his boarding-school days; his stint at Yale; his wartime service; and his early legal career, all of which will resonate with readers familiar with his fiction. It was at Yale that he discovered the joys of literature and the lure of writing. When his first novel was rejected, he turned to law instead. The most straightforwardly autobiographical portion of the book ends when he decides to take a break from law in order to write full time. In the later chapters, he offers reflections on memorable people, social customs and class (which he quickly recognized as a preoccupation in his writing), and even animals. Incisive, perceptive, open-minded, open-hearted, and civilized, just like the rest of his work. --Mary Ellen Quinn A Voice from Old New York: A Memoir of My Youth