"Bar Harbor Babylon" by Dan and Leslie Landrigan - A Fascinating Look At Scandals From the Glory Days of Mt. Desert Island and Bar Harbor

Dan and Leslie Landrigan are to be commended for making gossip - sometimes over 100 years old - read like today's latest installment on E! "Bar Harbor Babylon" takes us back in time to the golden age when The Season in Bar Harbor each summer rivaled that of Newport as a playground for old money, robber barons, politicians, and rum runners.

My love for the coast of Maine hearkens back to my childhood when our family would head "Down East" to visit Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, and to climb Cadillac Mountain. When I learned that a "tell all" book about the golden era of the summer resort, I could not wait to read "Bar Harbor Babylon."

One of the reasons that this book is a satisfying read is that the authors have included names and events that ring with familiarity. The curse of the Hope Diamond takes center stage in one chapter. The Rockefellers, Joseph Pulitzer, the Astors, the Duke of Windsor, the KKK,  J. P. Morgan, and the Vanderbilts all play a role in the saga that was life at Bar Harbor from the late 19th century until the world changed and once luxurious mansions were torn down or converted to nursing homes.

The Landrigans write in a style that kept me interested as I plowed through each chapter, eager to learn inside information about heretofore vaguely familiar personages. The result is that I am already planning my next return trip to the coast of Maine to visit the sites of the long ago murders, rum running, and granite quarries that built the U.S. Treasury Build and the glorious NYC main Post Office.

Enjoy!

Al

"Truthteller" by Stephen Davis - A Manifesto To Encourage Us To Stand Up To The War Against Truth

Stephen Davis is an investigative reporter who is uniquely qualified to comment on his observations from traveling the globe to track down truth in a variety of stories. His career has spanned TV, newspaper, and documentary film making. "Truthteller" is the result of meticulous research into the rapidly escalating proliferation of techniques and tools used to mount a war against truth.

Over the course of eleven riveting chapters, Davis lays out a case for an entire tool box of obfuscation tools being deployed by government officials, politicians, business leaders, and law enforcement. The epidemic goes far beyond the outrages against truth committed each day by the current POTUS. Davis offers examples from stories he has covered that range from Estonia, New Zealand, the UK, the US, and Antarctica. Chapter by chapter, he uses case studies to reveal  the tools of avoiding truth: character assassination, shooting the messenger, conspiracy theories, delay, hiding behind the cloak of government secrecy, fake news,

Davis makes it clear that because of the fast pace of the news cycle, and the diminution of budgets by newspapers and other news outlets, it is seldom possible to dive deeply into developing stories. As a result, those who wish to hide the truth find it much easier to avoid the spotlight of scrutiny,knowing that the news cycle will quickly shift to the next "if it bleeds, it leads" headline or sound bite.

The resulting book is a virtual manifesto and call to action - encouraging each consumer of the news to use discernment and wisdom in evaluating sources of information. He asks questions that beg to be answered:

• Why did multiple governments seek to prevent a thorough examination of the sinking of an Estonian ferry? 
• Why was there a cover-up of multiple burns and injuries in Antarctica that may have involved a nuclear accident? 
• Why are lawful enforcers of Brazilian environmental regulations routinely turned away from strip mines in the Amazon operated by a subsidiary of BP? 
• Why was the confession to a murder in Sydney, Australia ignored?

The book is a must read for anyone who shares the concern of responsible citizens at the obvious erosion of truth and truth telling.

Enjoy!

Al