Monday, January 12, 2009

Blood on the Table or What Jackie Taught Us

Blood on the Table: The Greatest Cases of New York City's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner

Author: Colin Evans

A behind-the-scenes look at death in New York City.

For almost a century, New York City's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has presided over the dead. Over the years, the OCME has endured everything- political upheavals, ghastly murders, bloody gang wars, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and non-stop battles for power and influence-and remains the final authority in cases of sudden, unexplained, or violent death.

Founded in 1918, the OCME has evolved over decades of technological triumphs and all-too human failure to its modern-day incarnation as the foremost forensics lab in the world, investigating an average caseload of over 15,000 suspicious deaths a year. This is the behind-the-scenes chronicle of public service and private vendettas, of blood in the streets and back-room bloodbaths, and of the criminal cases that made history and headlines.



Interesting textbook: À Procura de Respeito:Venda de Fenda em Bairro el

What Jackie Taught Us: Lessons from the Remarkable Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Author: Tina Santi Flaherty

She was a woman of confidence, focus, and passion, and it made her one of the world's greatest sources of inspiration and influence. She drew on a remarkable wealth of self-knowledge and a sense of purpose to cope with extraordinary public demands and overwhelming private needs. How can anyone emulate Jackie?

What Jackie Taught Us offers Jackie's own personal lessons about how best to live one's life with poise, grace, and zest, including wisdom about image and style, courage and vision, men, marriage, motherhood, and motivation, and how best to apply those lessons to everyday life. With the shining example of this American icon, we can illuminate who we are, what we want--and what we truly need from ourselves and each other.

Publishers Weekly

The very interesting life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994), married to the 35th president of the U.S., continues to fascinate, which should insure readership for this laudatory life lesson. The author, a corporate executive, once lived in the same New York City apartment building as her subject and, though she never actually met her, describes herself as an admirer. Flaherty contends that Onassis was never given credit for her leadership abilities and focuses on episodes of her life that illuminate the positive influence she had on others. Drawing on secondary sources and secondary interviews that one imagines would have appalled the famously reclusive Mrs. Onassis, Flaherty takes us over the familiar territory of her subject's childhood with a distant, critical mother and adoring but womanizing alcoholic father. She faithfully details Onassis's splendid education, which honed a passion for knowledge that sustained her through John Kennedy's extramarital affairs and his tragic assassination. Although the writing is competent, it too frequently tends to be repetitive and cloying. The areas that Flaherty believes Onassis taught by example include dealing with men (play hard to get), motherhood (loving but strict) and courage (the ability to withstand pain without crumbling). Photos. (Apr. 6) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Shallowness reigns in these two titles, one by a marginally famous woman, the other about a bona fide icon. Former supermodel Ferrare (Okay, So I Don't Have a Headache: What I Learned (and What All Women Need To Know) About PMS, Hormones, Stress, Diet, Menopause-and Sex) fails to demonstrate any personal growth in documenting her silver-spoon failures. She bemoans not landing the cohosting job that went to Kelly Rippa and overeating; she also crows about her proudest achievement-creating jewelry sold on cable TV. Libraries should instead consider Jackie Kallen's Hit Me with Your Best Shot: A Fight Plan for Dealing with All of Life's Hard Knocks (now in paperback) instead of this insipid read. Libraries should be aware, however, that Ferrare launched a new furniture line in April on the Home Shopping Network, so there could be demand. Meanwhile, former Colgate-Palmolive VP Flaherty (Talk Your Way to the Top) fairly idolizes Camelot's First Lady. In chapters padded with cursory biographical snippets, she purports to explore what Jackie "taught" the world. Take, for instance, the chapter "Men and Marriage," wherein readers learn that Jackie made herself attractive and "followed her heart." Much is made of the "beautiful, cultured, and intelligent" icon of our collective (and idealized) cultural memory. Instead of wasting money on this hardcover trifle, commemorate the tenth anniversary of Jackie's death by dusting off some respectable biographies, e.g., Sarah Bradford's America's Queen: A Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis or even Pamela Clarke Keogh's photographic Jackie Style. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.



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