One Summer:  America, 1927
Bill Bryson, 2013
Knopf Doubleday
524 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780767919401


Summary
In One Summer Bill Bryson, one of our greatest and most beloved nonfiction writers, transports readers on a journey back to one amazing season in American life.

   • The summer of 1927 began with one of the signature events of the twentieth century: on May 21, 1927, Charles Lindbergh became the first man to cross the Atlantic by plane nonstop, and when he landed in Le Bourget airfield near Paris, he ignited an explosion of worldwide rapture and instantly became the most famous person on the planet.

   • Meanwhile, the titanically talented Babe Ruth was beginning his assault on the home run record, which would culminate on September 30 with his sixtieth blast, one of the most resonant and durable records in sports history.

   • In between those dates a Queens housewife named Ruth Snyder and her corset-salesman lover garroted her husband, leading to a murder trial that became a huge tabloid sensation.

   • Alvin “Shipwreck” Kelly sat atop a flagpole in Newark, New Jersey, for twelve days—a new record.

   • The American South was clobbered by unprecedented rain and by flooding of the Mississippi basin, a great human disaster, the relief efforts for which were guided by the uncannily able and insufferably pompous Herbert Hoover. Calvin Coolidge interrupted an already leisurely presidency for an even more relaxing three-month vacation in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

   • The gangster Al Capone tightened his grip on the illegal booze business through a gaudy and murderous reign of terror and municipal corruption.

   • The first true “talking picture,” Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer, was filmed and forever changed the motion picture industry.

   • The four most powerful central bankers on earth met in secret session on a Long Island estate and made a fateful decision that virtually guaranteed a future crash and depression.

All this and much, much more transpired in that epochal summer of 1927, and Bill Bryson captures its outsized personalities, exciting events, and occasional just plain weirdness with his trademark vividness, eye for telling detail, and delicious humor. In that year America stepped out onto the world stage as the main event, and One Summer transforms it all into narrative nonfiction of the highest order

Author Bio
• Birth—December 8 1951
• Where—Des Moines, Iowa, USA
• Education—B.A., Drake University
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in Norfolk, England, UK


William McGuire "Bill" Bryson is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on science. Born an American, he was a resident of North Yorkshire, UK, for most of his professional life before moving back to the US in 1995. In 2003 Bryson moved back to the UK, living in Norfolk, and was appointed Chancellor of Durham University.

Early years
Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, the son of William and Mary Bryson. He has an older brother, Michael, and a sister, Mary Jane Elizabeth.

He was educated at Drake University but dropped out in 1972, deciding to instead backpack around Europe for four months. He returned to Europe the following year with a high school friend, the pseudonymous Stephen Katz (who later appears in Bryson's A Walk in the Woods). Some of Bryson's experiences from this European trip are included as flashbacks in a book about a similar excursion written 20 years later, Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe.

Staying in the UK, Bryson landed a job working in a psychiatric hospital—the now defunct Holloway Sanatorium in Virginia Water in Surrey. There he met his wife Cynthia, a nurse. After marring, the couple moved to the US, in 1975, so Bryson could complete his college degree. In 1977 they moved back to the UK where they remained until 1995.

Living in North Yorkshire and working primarily as a journalist, Bryson eventually became chief copy editor of the business section of The Times, and then deputy national news editor of the business section of The Independent.

He left journalism in 1987, three years after the birth of his third child. Still living in Kirkby Malham, North Yorkshire, Bryson started writing independently, and in 1990 their fourth and final child, Sam, was born.

Books
Bryson came to prominence in the UK with his 1995 publication of Notes from a Small Island,  an exploration of Britain. Eight years later, as part of the 2003 World Book Day, Notes was voted by UK readers as the best summing up of British identity and the state of the nation. (The same year, 2003, saw Bryson appointed a Commissioner for English Heritage.)

In 1995, Bryson and his family returned to the US, living in Hanover, New Hampshire for the next eight years. His time there is recounted in the 1999 story collection, I'm A Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to American After 20 Years Away (known as Notes from a Big Country in the UK, Canada and Australia).

It was during this time that Bryson decided to walk the Appalachian Trail with his friend Stephen Katz. The resulting book is the 1998 A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail. The book became one of Bryson's all-time bestsellers and was adapted to film in 2015, starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte.

In 2003, the Brysons and their four children returned to the UK. They now live in Norfolk.

That same year, Bryson published A Short History of Nearly Everything, a 500-page exploration, in nonscientific terms, of the history of some of our scientific knowledge. The book reveals the often humble, even humorous, beginnings of some of the discoveries which we now take for granted.

The book won Bryson the prestigious 2004 Aventis Prize for best general science book and the 2005 EU Descartes Prize for science communication. Although one scientist is alleged to have jokingly described A Brief History as "annoyingly free of mistakes," Bryson himself makes no such claim, and a list of nine reported errors in the book is available online.

Bryson has also written two popular works on the history of the English language—Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way (1990) and Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States (1994). He also updated of his 1983 guide to usage, Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words. These books were popularly acclaimed and well-reviewed, despite occasional criticism of factual errors, urban myths, and folk etymologies.

In 2016, Bryson published The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in England, a sequel to his Notes from a Small Island.

Honors
In 2005, Bryson was appointed Chancellor of Durham University, succeeding the late Sir Peter Ustinov, and has been particularly active with student activities, even appearing in a Durham student film (the sequel to The Assassinator) and promoting litter picks in the city. He had praised Durham as "a perfect little city" in Notes from a Small Island. He has also been awarded honorary degrees by numerous universities, including Bournemouth University and in April 2002 the Open University.

In 2006, Frank Cownie, the mayor of Des Moines, awarded Bryson the key to the city and announced that 21 October 2006 would be known as "Bill Bryson, The Thunderbolt Kid, Day."

In November 2006, Bryson interviewed the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair on the state of science and education.

On 13 December 2006, Bryson was awarded an honorary OBE for his contribution to literature. The following year, he was awarded the James Joyce Award of the Literary and Historical Society of University College Dublin.

In January 2007, Bryson was the Schwartz Visiting Fellow of the Pomfret School in Connecticut.

In May 2007, he became the President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. His first area focus in this role was the establishment of an anti-littering campaign across England. He discussed the future of the countryside with Richard Mabey, Sue Clifford, Nicholas Crane and Richard Girling at CPRE's Volunteer Conference in November 2007. (From Wikipedia. Adapted 2/1/2016.)

Book Reviews
Bryson will set you right in this canter through one summer of one year that—once you’ve turned the final page—will seem more critical to American history than you might have reckoned before… [He] is a master of the sidelong, a man who can turn obscurity into hilarity with seemingly effortless charm—and One Summer is an entertaining addition to a body of work that is at its best when it celebrates the unexpected and the obscure… This is a jolly jalopy ride of a book; Bryson runs down the byways of American history and finds diversion in every roadside stop.
Financial Times


Bryson is a marvelous historian, not only exhaustively accurate, but highly entertaining. If you avoid textbook histories because they seem too dry, pick up One Summer, or any other of Mr. Bryson's books. They are intelligent delights.
Liz Smith - Huffington Post


Bryson covers [1027 historical events]  in characteristically sparkling prose. These notable happenings are worth relating and recalling, but others have done so, and more authoritatively and fully. Here, there’s not much connection between them; a string of coincidents (and there are many of those each day) hardly justify a book. So this isn’t history, nor is it really a story with a start, finish, and thematic spine. No analysis, only narrative—it’s diverting but slight.
Publishers Weekly


The summer of 1927 offers the prolific Bryson a prepared canvas on which to paint a narrative of well-known, unknown, and little-known events and personalities of the Twenties.... The book's strength is in showing the overlap of significant events and the interaction of personalities. But the author's approach keeps the reader from gaining a real sense of the landscape; this is more a spatter painting. —Charles K. Piehl, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato
Library Journal


(Starred review.) Bryson’s inimitable wit and exuberance are on full display in this wide-ranging look at the major events in an exciting summer in America. Bryson makes fascinating interconnections...[and] offers delicious detail and breathtaking suspense about events whose outcomes are already known. A glorious look at one summer in America. —Vanessa Bush
Booklist


A popular chronicler of life and lore vividly charts a particularly pivotal season in American history. Bryson  reanimates the events and principal players across five key months in 1927.... While he may be an expatriate residing in England, Bryson's American pride saturates this rewarding book. A distinctively drawn time capsule from a definitive epoch.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for One Summer:

1. Of all the stories that Bryson tells in One Summer, which one do you find most interesting—which  engaged you more than others? Which story most surprised you (e.g., President Coldidge's four-hour work day)?

2. Of all the heroes covered in the book, whom do you have the most sympathy for? Maybe Philo Farnsworth?  Which hero do you most admire?  Most despise?

3. How did Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray bungle the coverup of their murder?

4. What about Robert Elliott, America's top executioner—how would you describe him? What in his background shaped him to do his job? Would you want him as a father...or husband?

5. Bryson's trademark humor is on display in One Summer. What parts, in particular, did you find funny?

6. How much, if anything, have your learned from One Summer? If you've read Bryson's previous A Brief History of Nearly Everything, how does this book compare?

7. Is there anything about the episodes in this book that mark them as distinctly American? Is there something that links them together in a way that defines the culture of this country?

8. The book has been criticized as "light"—lacking any deeper analysis—that it's merely a collection of disparate historical anecdotes whose purpose is to amuse. Hmmm... Do you agree...or disagree?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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Empty Mansions:  The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune
Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell , 2013
Random House
496 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345534538


Summary
When Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed in 2009 a grand home for sale, unoccupied for nearly sixty years, he stumbled through a surprising portal into American history.

Empty Mansions is a rich mystery of wealth and loss, connecting the Gilded Age opulence of the nineteenth century with a twenty-first-century battle over a $300 million inheritance. At its heart is a reclusive heiress named Huguette Clark, a woman so secretive that, at the time of her death at age 104, no new photograph of her had been seen in decades. Though she owned palatial homes in California, New York, and Connecticut, why had she lived for twenty years in a simple hospital room, despite being in excellent health? Why were her valuables being sold off? Was she in control of her fortune, or controlled by those managing her money?

Dedman has collaborated with Huguette Clark’s cousin, Paul Clark Newell, Jr., one of the few relatives to have frequent conversations with her. Dedman and Newell tell a fairy tale in reverse: the bright, talented daughter, born into a family of extreme wealth and privilege, who secrets herself away from the outside world.

Huguette was the daughter of self-made copper industrialist W. A. Clark, nearly as rich as Rockefeller in his day, a controversial senator, railroad builder, and founder of Las Vegas. She grew up in the largest house in New York City, a remarkable dwelling with 121 rooms for a family of four. She owned paintings by Degas and Renoir, a world-renowned Stradivarius violin, a vast collection of antique dolls. But wanting more than treasures, she devoted her wealth to buying gifts for friends and strangers alike, to quietly pursuing her own work as an artist, and to guarding the privacy she valued above all else.

The Clark family story spans nearly all of American history in three generations, from a log cabin in Pennsylvania to mining camps in the Montana gold rush, from backdoor politics in Washington to a distress call from an elegant Fifth Avenue apartment. The same Huguette who was touched by the terror attacks of 9/11 held a ticket nine decades earlier for a first-class stateroom on the second voyage of the Titanic.

Empty Mansions reveals a complex portrait of the mysterious Huguette and her intimate circle. We meet her extravagant father, her publicity-shy mother, her star-crossed sister, her French boyfriend, her nurse who received more than $30 million in gifts, and the relatives fighting to inherit Huguette’s copper fortune. Richly illustrated with more than seventy photographs, Empty Mansions is an enthralling story of an eccentric of the highest order, a last jewel of the Gilded Age who lived life on her own terms. (From the publisher.)

Author Bios
Bill Dedman introduced the public to heiress Huguette Clark and her empty mansions through his compelling series of narratives for NBC, which became the most popular feature in the history of its news website, topping 110 million page views. He received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting while writing for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Boston Globe. (From the publisher.)

Paul Clark Newell, Jr., a cousin of Huguette Clark, has researched the Clark family history for twenty years, sharing many conversations with Huguette about her life and family. He received a rare private tour of Bellosguardo, her mysterious estate overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara. (From the publisher.)

Book Reviews
An amazing story of profligate wealth...an outsized tale of rags-to-riches prosperity.
New York Times
 

An exhaustively researched, well-written account.... [A] blood-boiling expose [that] will make you angry and will make you sad.
Seattle Times
 

An evocative and rollicking read, part social history, part hothouse mystery, part grand guignol.
Daily Beast
 

A childlike, self-exiled eccentric, [Huguette Clark] is the sort of of subject susceptible to a biography of broad strokes, which makes Empty Mansions, the first full-length account of her life, impressive for its delicacy and depth.
Town & Country


(Starred review.) [R]iveting..... [A] regular in the society pages during her youth and even married for a short time, Clark later slipped into her own world and stayed there, quietly buying multi-million dollar homes for her dolls..... The authors provide a thrilling study of the responsibilities and privileges that come with great wealth and draw the reader into the deliciously scandalous story of Clark's choices in later life.
Publishers Weekly


[A] comprehensive account of the late copper mining heiress Huguette Clark.... The authors describe her lavish estates, art, jewelry, and musical instrument collections. They convey how, despite her affluence, Clark strangely chose to live her latter days as a relatively healthy recluse in a modest New York City hospital room.... An enlightening read for those interested in the opulent lifestyles...and the mysterious ways of wealth. —Mary Jennings, Camano Island Lib., WA
Library Journal


An investigation into the secretive life of the youngest daughter and heiress to a Gilded Age copper tycoon.... [Huguette] Clark was certainly eccentric, and her decisions, both financial and otherwise, definitely capture the imagination..... Though her father's fortune is central to the story...so much focus on his exploits early on makes Huguette seem like a secondary character. Clark is an intriguing figure with a story that will interest many, but the book misses the mark as an in-depth expose.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. Huguette Clark and Paris Hilton: compare and contrast. Using the theme of the burdens of inherited wealth, in which era would it be easier or harder to be a young  heiress, the 1920s or today? Can you imagine being that wealthy and not sharing your opinions and daily ad­ ventures on social media?

2. The authors reject easy explanations for Huguette's eccentricity and reclusive nature, emphasizing that she was always shy, living a life of imagination and art. As they say in the epilogue:

We will never know why Huguette was, as she might say, "pecu­liar." The people in her inner circle say they have no idea. Outsiders speculate. It was being the daughter of an older father! It was her sister's death! Or her mother's! The wealth! It was autism or Asperger's or a childhood trauma! Easy answers fail because the question assumes that personalities have a single determinant. Whatever caused her shyness, her limitations of sociability or coping, her fears--of strangers, of kidnapping, of needles, of another French Revolution-Huguette found a situation that worked for her, a modern-day "Boo" Radley, shut up inside by choice, safe from a world that can hurt.

Do you accept the authors' embrace of complexity and uncertainty? Or do you think of Huguette's reclusivity as springing from a single cause--e.g., failed romances, her sister's death, a mental illness?

3. What is your reaction to nurse Hadassah Peri and the $31 million in gifts Huguette gave to her family? Do you agree with readers who say her behavior was despicable, that it's unethical for a caregiver to re­ceive such gifts, that she should have refused the gifts? Or do you agree with readers who say Huguette certainly knew what she was doing, that Hadassah was her patient's closest caregiver for twenty years, that the gifts were only a small share of Huguette's net worth?

4. Was Huguette's life a happy one? What are the ingredients of a happy life? If you find her life to be sad, how do you reconcile that with her apparent lack of sadness?

5. If you had been on the jury deciding the battle over Huguette's will and her $300 million estate, would you have found that she was in­ competent and defrauded? Would you have given all her money to her Clark relatives? Or would you have followed the will, giving it all to the nurse, the Bellosguardo Foundation for the arts, the attorney Bock, the accountant Kamsler, Dr. Singman, Beth Israel Medical Center, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, her goddaughter Wanda, and the personal as­sistant Chris? Which of those people, on either side, do you trust?

6. Was W. A. Clark an admirable man? Or was he admirable only early on, when he was like a Horatio Alger character working arduously in dangerous circumstances to build a copper fortune? In light of the times in which he lived, was W.A. Clark justifiably vilified for his meth­ods in seeking a Senate seat? Was he actually a robber baron? Is he ac­countable for environmental waste today from the copper mines he developed in the 1870s? Or was this simply business as usual in the sor­did world of politics and development on the Western frontier? If Clark had been as generous to public charities as Carnegie or Rockefeller, would he have been absolved by history, as they largely were, of the sins of his business career?

7. Empty Mansions is based on facts, documents, and testimony. That leaves mysteries in the lives of its characters. Did the uncertainties add or detract from your enjoyment of the story? Would you have pre­ferred that the authors psychoanalyze Huguette, creating dialogue and filling in missing scenes as a screenplay would? Considering the limits of what the authors could learn, what do you most want to know about W.A., about Anna, about Huguette? If you could have had conversa­tions with Huguette, as author Paul Newell did, what would you have asked her?

8. Is there more to the American Dream than financial security? Does it require making a contribution to society? Did W.A.'s American Dream get out of control? Is Huguette an American Dreamer of another type?

9. On Huguette's death certificate, her occupation was listed as "artist." Beginning with W.A., consider what part creativity and imagi­nation play in this story. Was W.A.'s imagination the source of his power? What did Huguette inherit from her father in the way of tastes or interests or capabilities? From her mother? Consider the words of the founder of Huguette's prep school, Clara Spence, who urged her stu­dents:

I beg you to cultivate imagination, which means to develop your power of sympathy, and I entreat you to decide thoughtfully what makes a human being great in his time and in his station. The faculty of imagination is often lightly spoken of as of no real importance, often decried as mischievous, as in some ways the antithesis of practical sense, and yet it ranks with reason and con­science as one of the supreme characteristics by which man is dis­tinguished from all other animals...Sympathy, the great bond between human beings, is largely dependent on imagination­ that is, upon the power of realizing the feelings and the circum­stances of others so as to enable us to feel with and for them.

Did Huguette follow those words? What role did imagination and sym­pathy play in her life? What role do they play in yours?

10. Did you like Huguette? Were there points in the book where you were frustrated by her and/or felt sympathy for her? By the end of the book, did you feel as if you knew her well? Did your view of her change throughout the book?

11. Many characters in Empty Mansions have moral dimensions of both good and bad. Do you believe W.A. was more good than bad? What about attorney Wally Bock? Accountant Irv Kamsler? Nurse Hadassah Peri? Personal assistant Chris Sattler? Dr. Henry Singman? Were there any characters who seemed to be simply good or rotten in their relationships with Huguette? Were you engaged or frustrated by the authors' insistence on showing the good and bad in characters?

12. If Empty Mansions were made into a movie, what actors would you like to see in the major roles? What movie that you've seen should it be most similar to? Would you make it a psychological drama? An epic family saga of Western bonanza wealth? A Gilded Age study of manners and family relationships? What scenes would be the most deli­cious to write?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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Conspiracy 
Anthony Summers, 1980
McGraw Hill
640 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780070623927


Summary
One of the great all-time mystery stories, Conspiracy is the unsolved story of who killed President John F. Kennedy—and it is not a work of fiction.

Conspiracy attempts to prove what many have believed all along—that Lee Harvey Oswald was not a lone gunman.

Summers' book dovetailed with the work of the Congress Assassinations Committee. The CAC had just published its own 1,000-page report, which presented striking evidence of a joint plot—by the mafia and Cuban extremists—to kill Kennedy.

Like a crime writer follwing his craft, Summers lays out the empirical evidence used to convict Oswald in the public's mind. As the author shows, little of it stands up to scrutiny, especially when subjected to technology unavailable in 1963.

The author next traces the complex web of Oswald's connections with a host of strange and shadowy characters, all of whom were connected, in one way or another, to the FBI, CIA, or—most prominently—to fringe elements of those agencies. The latter were individuals working with Cubans and the mafia to overthrow Fidel Castro. And all detested Kennedy.

More terrifying by far, as Summers shows, both mafia and Cuban militants were the two groups who had "the motive, means, and opportunity to kill the president." All they needed was a "lone crazy." Someone like Oswald.

This is a thoroughly researched and intelligent examination of the Kennedy assassination. It's hard to ignore the frightening implications of Summer's work: that the true story of the assassination of President Kennedy on that fateful day in Dallas has never been disclosed, even after 50 years. (From LitLovers.)

Author Bio
• Birth—December 21, 1942
• Where—England (?)
• Education—Oxford University
• Awards—Crime Writers' Award–nonfiction
• Currently—lives in Ireland


Anthony Bruce Summers is the non-fiction author of seven best-selling investigative books. He is an Irish citizen.

Journalism
After studying modern languages at Oxford University, his early work took him from labouring jobs to freelance reporting to London newspapers, to Granada TV’s World in Action, the UK’s first tabloid public affairs program, to writing the news for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, then back to England to the BBC’s 24 Hours, a pioneering late evening show that brought viewers coverage from all over the world.

Summers became the BBC’s youngest producer at 24, travelling worldwide and sending filmed reports from the conflicts in Vietnam and the Middle East, and across Latin America. A main focus, though, was on the momentous events of the 60s and 70s in the United States—with on-the-spot reports on Martin Luther King’s assassination and on Robert F. Kennedy’s bid for the presidency.

He smuggled cameras into the then Soviet Union to obtain the only TV interview with dissident physicist Andrei Sakharov when Sakharov, who had just won the Nobel Prize, was under house arrest.

Before moving on from the BBC, Summers became an Assistant Editor of the prestigious weekly program Panorama. Long based in Ireland, he has since the mid-70s concentrated on investigative non-fiction, usually taking from four to five years to produce a book—conducting in-depth research, combining digging in the documentary record with exhaustive interviewing.

Writing
The Eleventh Day: The Ultimate Account of 9/11 (July 2011) is an investigation of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, published by Random House to mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11. It is the first comprehensive independent account of the event that traumatized America and the world, the product of five years’ research and access for the first time to tens of thousands of previously withheld 9/11 Commission documents.

Summers is also the author of Goddess (1985), a biography of Marilyn Monroe; The Arrogance of Power (2000), a biography of Richard Nixon; Official and Confidential (1993), on J. Edgar Hoover; Honeytrap (1987), on the Profumo spy scandal; The File on the Tsar (1976), an investigation of the disappearance of the last Russian imperial family; and Conspiracy (1980), on the assassination of JFK, which won the Crime Writers’ Association’s top award for non-fiction.

With Conspiracy, his book on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Summers took a middle road—avoiding the wilder conspiracy theories while, at the same time, throwing doubt on the findings of the Warren Commission. He reported in detail, adding the results of his own interviewing, on the finding of Congress' Assassinations Committee that the "committee believes, on the basis of the available evidence, that President John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy."  As did the Committee, he allowed for the possibility that major organized crime figures combined with anti-Castro elements—perhaps with the connivance of some CIA personnel— were behind the plot.

Four of Summers books were developed into successful television documentaries; Goddess was dramatized for television; and Honeytrap was turned in to the film Scandal, starring John Hurt.

Summers has been consultant to numerous television documentary programs and he is a contributor to Vanity Fair magazine.

Summers and Robbyn Swan were married in 1992. They live in Ireland. (Adapted from Random House Publishing Group and from Wikipedia. Both retrieved 10/9/2013.)

Book Reviews
(Older books prior to the internet have few, if any, mainstream press reviews online. See Amazon and Barnes & Noble for helpful customer reviews.)

Conspiracy attempts to prove what many have believed all along—that Lee Harvey Oswald was not a lone gunman. This is a thoroughly researched and intelligent examination of the Kennedy assassination. It's hard to ignore the frightening implications of Summer's work: that the assassination of President Kennedy on that fateful day in Dallas remains unsolved, even after 50 years.
LitLovers Reviews (read more)

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to get a discussion started for Conspiracy:

1. What was the primary material evidence used by the Warren Commission to support its conclusion that Oswald was the lone gunman?

2. Follow-up to Question 1: How does Anthony Summers refute the material evidence presented by the Warren Commission? Consider the following:

• acoustical analysis
• ballistics analysis
• eye witness accounts
• the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle
• Oswald's location immediately prior to and after the shots

Does Summers raise credible doubt regarding the evidence? Or is his counter evidence too speculative?

3. Why does Summers (and the Congressional Assassinations Committee) believe that Oswald was probably connected with a branch of U.S. intelligence? What makes him come to that conclusion? Are you able to connect the dots—how all these people and organizations are connected? With each other...and with Oswald?

4. What is the mafia's role in all of this? Why does Summers conclude that it would like Kennedy dead?

5. What role did the Bay of Pigs play in Summers' conspiracy theory? And what was the role of the CIA with regards to the Cuban exiles?

6. Talk about the collusion between the mafia and the CIA? When did it begin and why were the two groups still working together?

7. Who was Jack Bannister and why does he figure so prominently in Conspiracy? What was the nature of Oswald's connection to Bannister?

8. Do you think Oswald was a communist sympathsizer? What do you make of his defection to the Soviet Union; the ease of his return to the U.S.; his distribution of pro-Cuba pamphlets; and his connection to Guy Bannister?

9. Jack Ruby—how do you explain him? What were his connections? Why do you think he shot Owsald? Was it out of patriotism and sympathy for Mrs. Kennedy?

10. What do you think of the Warren Commission's report? Was it a whitewash...or an honest effort to get to the bottom of the assassination?

11. After all the evidence, where does Anthony Summers finally land on the question of who shot John F. Kennedy? And just as importantly...where do you land?

12. Does this information matter? Is it important that we uncover the truth behind JFK's assassination? Or is it simply dredging up old wounds from a national trauma 50 years ago that are best left untouched? What do you think?

(Questions issued by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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Four in the Garden 
Rick Hocker, 2014
Hocker Press
342 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780991557707


Summary
An unusual retelling of the Garden of Eden story, Four in the Garden is a thought-provoking allegory of one's relationship with God. In this spiritual fantasy, Creator makes only one human, named Cherished. Instead of creating a second human to be a companion to Cherished, Creator desires to fill that role. Can this relationship work?

This inspirational book challenges the reader to trust in God because trust is the means by which we are transformed. To aid contemplation and spiritual growth, Four in the Garden is divided into short thematic chapters.

Author Bio
• Birth—December 2, 1960
• Where—Oakland, California, USA
• Education—B.S., California Polytechnic State University
• Currently—lives in Martinez, California


Rick Hocker is a game programmer and artist. In 2004, he sustained a back injury that left him bed-ridden in excruciating pain for six months, followed by a long recovery. He faced the challenges of disability, loss of income and mounting debt. After emerging from this dark time, he discovered that profound growth had occurred. Three years later, he had a dream that inspired him to write his book, Four in the Garden. His intent was to illustrate one's growth toward deep communion with God and to share the insights he gained from the personal transformation that resulted from his back injury. (From the author.)

Visit the author's website.
Follow Rick on Facebook.

Book Reviews
"Four in the Garden is a well-told and inspired tale about learning to trust in God. A spiritual message - complete with action, suspense, mystery, and some unforgettable characters and spectacular imagery. I believe that it may be destined to be a modern-day classic, alongside the works of C.S. Lewis, Hannah Hurnard, and other great authors.”
—Shauna McFadden, Long Beach, CA

“Not often does a writer appear on the literary scene with such an unforgettable story as Four in the Garden. A beautifully written, emotionally fulfilling read.”
—Sue Clark
Award winning writer of Is Anybody Listening

“Awesome Book! Well written and thought provoking! CS Lewis meets Eckart Tolle meets George Lucas.”
—Anthony L. Sawyer, Eugene, OR

“How fortunate I feel to have stumbled onto this remarkable, beautifully written and immensely thought provoking book. I found myself highlighting sections and quotes, often rereading them because they were so articulately written and deeply meaningful. I was impressed by the author’s ability to take aspects of spirituality and create a work that is altogether new, fresh, and completely inspired.”
—Keli Martinez, Pleasanton, CA

“Four in the Garden is a symbolic narrative bathed in spiritual meaning. It is a treasure chest overflowing with nuggets of truth. It challenges the reader to search out their own soul. Four in the Garden is one book I will read again and again.”
—Cheryl E. Rodriguez for Readers' Favorite

“Four in the Garden is simply one of those books you just hate to put down. I was drawn into the story line immediately, and thought it was a great way to demonstrate "Creator" and all that a spiritual life entails.”
—Amy Vey, Friendship, WI

“Rick Hocker has written a unique spiritual fantasy of a transcendental ordeal. His description of the ecstatic mystical experience is unparalleled.”
—David Brin
Author of An American Musician Visits Cremona

“Your book really helped me. I am now extremely happy in life. I was struggling for years. Art that inspires one to seek within and find truth through the painful act of living is truly priceless. Keep it up!”
—Tony S., Oregon

“Four in the Garden brought a time of spiritual renewal for me. The author brought to light in a creative, refreshing way the potential we have for experiencing intimacy with God.”
—Jim Strouse, Vancouver, WA

“How often have we heard someone say that if there was just one person in existence God would have gone through the whole process for that one. Hocker's book develops that idea. I liked how Cherished, the lead character, didn't have any shortcuts to the conclusion. I recommend it highly. I know I'll be rereading it over and again!”
—Bill Caldwell, Joplin, MO

“I found the spiritual nature of the book genuine, wise and thoughtful. I underlined something, I cried at the end and I'll probably read it again.”
—Barbara Cole Brooks, Martinez, CA

“This is a great book that tells a story that somehow everyone has gone through. I just loved it.”
—Jorge Moreno, Mexico

“Four in the Garden is a delightful and multifaceted read. This is a perfect BOOK CLUB read to bring forth a great discussion. I plan to read it again, with highlighter in hand, to mark and remember the wisdom, beautifully stated on each page.”
—Janet Piper, San Leandro, CA

“This is probably the best description of a personal relationship with a higher power that exists anywhere!”
—Melinda Hills for Readers' Favorite

“The journey for Cherished was truly about learning to trust, and it made me look at myself in that aspect - I learned a lot from that reflection. The story was thought-provoking, emotional, and transforming.”
—Michael Darling, Palm Springs, CA

“Rick Hocker's Four in the Garden challenges the reader and offers guidance even when all seems lost. I enjoyed the fact that the book had a message of where true hope and direction comes from.”
—Cyrus Webb
media personality, literary advocate and award-winning author
http://www.cyruswebbpresents.com <http://www.cyruswebbpresents.com/>

“Four in the Garden is an allegorical story similar to the writings of C.S. Lewis. This book definitely inspired me to trust more fully in God. I highly recommend it!”
—Doug McCoy, Pleasant Hill, CA

“This is an interesting book from beginning to end, and it truly makes you think about a lot of different things. This book is an inspiration in many ways as well as being a solid, entertaining read.”
—Kathryn Bennett for Readers' Favorite

“I flew through the first hundred pages, devouring the richness of the imagery and the comfort of the author's writing style. With each chapter I find insights, gentle ways to view life very differently, without any attempt to drag me into a belief.”
—Glenn Gebhardt, Ripon, CA

“Four In The Garden is an amazing fantasy-allegory; a story about the creation of one human by God. Told with clarity, pathos, and vivid detail, Four In the Garden is a refreshing read about hope and human triumph.”
—Alex Davis, San Francisco, CA

“The spiritual journey is very rewarding and helps readers delve into their inner selves. A very original story that is inspirational and uplifting with its unique plot.”
—Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite

“Creative, ingenious, enlightening! Each time I picked up the book I immediately was re-engaged and challenged to consider the nuggets of wisdom found in that chapter! If you were enamored with the colorful, creative Harry Potter series then you already know how fun reading this book will be.”
—Sandra Wing, Pleasanton, CA

“A beautiful story of man's relationship with God, through fantasy, that leads the reader step-by-step to discovery of life's greatest truths of love, trust and redemption.”
—Lucy Hart, Concord, CA

“It caused me to think about the deeper meaning of life. I highly recommend it.”
—Karen Lee, Orinda, CA

“A brilliant, thought provoking piece of work. The imagery, the fantastic descriptions, made me feel as if I was walking along in the Garden. A great read.”
—Dennis Carreiro, Orlando, Florida

Discussion Questions
1. The theme of the book is that life can transform us if we trust. How did the book illustrate that theme? What is your understanding of transformation and its importance?

2. The story is told in first person so that the reader would feel as though they were experiencing the story firsthand. In what situations did you relate to Cherished?

3. What section or scene was the most meaningful to you and why?

4. What situations surprised you? Looking back, can you see the clues and foreshadowing that led up to those surprises?

5. What elements of the Garden of Eden story did you see in the book? In what ways did the book differ?

6. Although the book is classified as fantasy, the author wrote about spiritual realities he believed to be true. What elements in the story do you believe are true?

7. How did Cherished grow in his understanding of Creator? How did his relationship with Creator change over time?

8. In what ways did Radiance change? How did Blaze change? In what ways was Blaze stuck?

9. Did you find it easy or difficult to sympathize with Blaze? Could you identify with him in any way?

10. The book covered a number of difficult topics, such as suffering, free will and forgiveness. Which of the author’s explorations of a topic impacted you the most and why?

11. The story explored the tension between dependence and independence. What conclusions did the story make regarding free will and independence?

12. Creator’s love was a constant in Cherished’s life, but that love sometimes expressed itself in discipline or withdrawal. Identify the various facets of love presented in the story. How might you define love in such a way as to include these facets?

13. Cherished often made mistakes and sabotaged his relationship with Creator. How did Creator respond to Cherished in these situations? What was Creator’s highest priority for Cherished?

14. How did the story affect your understanding of God and/or your relationship to God?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)

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