Books

Garbage expert Benjamin Miller discusses the history of rubbish in New York. He’s the former director of policy planning for the New York City Department of Sanitation. He’s just written a book on the subject, entitled “Fat of the Land: Garbage in New York – The Last 200 Years.” (Four Walls Eight Windows) Miller says that the dumping of garbage has literally shaped New York City as it took over surrounding islands and bulked up Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews “Journal 1935-1944: The Fascist Years” (pub., Ivan Dee) a journal of Romanian writer Mihail Sebastian (“Me-hi-eel Sebas-ti-an”) about the Nazification of Europe.

Writer Michael Patrick Hearn. He’s edited “The Annotated Wizard of Oz: A Centennial Edition” (W.W. Norton). The book commemorates the 100th anniversary of the publication of L. Frank Baum’s classic “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Back in 1900, the first 10,000 copies printed of Baum’s book sold out in two weeks. Baum wrote 14 Oz books in all.

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews “The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde” edited by Merlin Holland and Rupert Hart-Davis. (Henry Holt) The volume includes over 1500 letters. November 21, 2000 marked the 100th anniversary of Wilde’s death.

Voice and acting coach Patsy Rodenburg. (“ROH-den-burg”) She’s worked with some of the world’s leading English-speaking actors, including Judi Dench, Daniel Day-Lewis, Maggie Smith and Nicole Kidman. Her new book is “The Actor Speaks: Voice and the Performer.” (St. Martin’s Press) Rodenburg is the Director of Voice at London’s National Theatre and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. “The Actor Speaks” is a complete vocal workshop for performers of every skill level.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews “Something Special” by Iris Murdoch and “Orpheus Emerged” by Jack Kerouac.

Maureen Corrigan reviews “One market Under God” by Thomas Frank.

Journalist Robert Sullivan. His first book, “The Meadowlands” (now in paperback) an urban adventure in the wilds of the marshy dumping area between New Jersey and New York was praised for its wit, imagination and intelligence. His new book “A Whale Hunt” (Scribner) chronicles the two years he spent watching the Makah Indian tribe in Washington state as they prepared for and attempted their first whale hunt in over 70 years. But they didn’t do it alone: they were surrounded by angry protestors and hounded by the press.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the novel “When We Were Orphans” (Knopf) by Kazu Ishiguro.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews The Island of Lost Maps: A true Story of Cartographic Crime (Random House) by Miles Harvey.