The On The Bookshelf Podcast

Shawn Levy on Clint Eastwood: The Man and the Movies

CLINT: THE MAN AND THE MOVIES is the first major biography of Eastwood in over twenty years. Two of the most prominent earlier biographies were both comprehensive in covering the work and the life, but approached Eastwood with wildly different perspectives. One was fawning and overly respectful, ignoring any of Eastwood's faults, while the other one came at Eastwood harshly and didn't reckon with Eastwood as an actor and director as much as it focused on his personal missteps and failings. These books were also, obviously, unable to cover the substantial and award-winning work that Eastwood has produced in the 21st century. In covering the life and work of Eastwood, Levy's CLINT takes the middle ground, "where Clint and his work could be described and evaluated from a position of neither acquiescence nor denigration. It was possible for a book to celebrate the man and his work and deeds while acknowledging the flaws-and worse-in him, his choices, and, yes, his films."

In a career spanning more than six decades, Clint Eastwood has captured the rugged essence of American manhood and morality, both on and off the screen. We picture him most immediately as he has appeared to us on screen: squinting through cigarillo smoke in A Fistful of Dollars or The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly imposing rough justice at the point of a .44 Magnum in Dirty Harry; sowing moral vengeance in The Outlaw Josey Wales or Pale Rider; abandoning farming for murder-for-hire in Unforgiven; grudgingly training a woman boxer in Million Dollar Baby; standing up for his neighbors despite his racism toward them in Gran Torino. But those are roles, however well-cast and convincing, and they are two-dimensional in comparison to the whole life. The reality of Clint Eastwood is far more rich, knotty, and absorbing-a saga of cunning, determination, and conquest, a great American story about a man ascending to the Hollywood pantheon while keeping a gimlet eye on its ways and habits and one foot firmly planted outside its door.

Yet, the story of Clint Eastwood is far more than his cinematic characters. As a director, he has crafted masterful narratives, winning thirteen Oscars, including two for Best Picture. His films explore American cultural and political climates with depth and understanding, embodying the contradictions and triumphs of contemporary America.

But beyond the screen, who is Clint Eastwood?

. He's a lifelong loner who, at an early age, found comfort and identity in dreaming and self-reliance and self-expression.

. He's a self-styled man's man of an almost extinct generation and ideal who finds virtue and worth in physical activity, sexual conquest, financial independence, and the ability to tell bosses and other big shots where to get off.

. He's an old-school Libertarian who believes in small government and big business; in individual freedom regardless of gender, race, sexuality, or lifestyle; in protecting natural resources; in the value of traditional guardrails and institutions; and-surprisingly, given his screen image-the reasonable regulation of firearms.

. He's a family man who loves and supports his children (he has so many of them!) but whose taste for autonomy and pleasure have undermined his most important relationships with women.

. He's a hard and loyal boss who nurtures the careers of colleagues and employees who accept his authority but has soured on even long-tenured collaborators overnight.

. He's a committed lover of nature, from domestic pets to wildlife to vast stretches of coast and forest and parkland, who nonetheless believes that the government is an enemy if it chooses to question a property owner's intentions for what he's paid for.

. He's one of the few people in Hollywood's history to be as significant behind the camera as in front of it, and one of the very few people who can claim to have enjoyed a seventy-plus-year career making movies.

. He's an honest-to-Pete American icon, a man who appeared in and created dozens of memorable films, has participated actively in public events that mattered to him, and has stood the test of time in real time, in real life, while still living it.

Clint Eastwood turned 95 this past May. Levy's CLINT arrives at the perfect moment, as we honor Eastwood's extraordinary contributions to film and culture-and celebrate a life that has been a testament to American storytelling, a life that is as compelling and complex as the characters he has so vividly brought to life.

ABOUT SHAWN LEVY

Shawn Levy is the author of the bestsellers The Castle on Sunset, Rat Pack Confidential, Paul Newman: A Life, King of Comedy: The Life and Art of Jerry Lewis, and Dolce Vita Confidential. The former film critic of The Oregonian, he has written for Sight and Sound, Film Comment, American Film, Interview, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Black Rock Beacon, and The Hollywood Reporter. He lives in Portland, Oregon

Wafik Wahba on the History of Christianity & Islam

A Comprehensive Overview of Christianity and Islam

Together, the adherents of Christianity and Islam make up over half of the world's population, and their numbers are expected to keep growing. The influence of these two faiths—and their relations with each other—is seen in politics, economics, and social interactions. Religious identity and aspirations remain powerful and appealing to people around the world. Understanding global realities today requires understanding the histories and dynamics of the world’s largest religions.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of Christianity and Islam, covering three interrelated areas:

• historical developments and encounters,
• the influence of religion on politics,
• and religious beliefs and worldviews.

Wafik W. Wahba highlights key points of similarity and difference and particular factors that contributed to divergence between the Western world and the Muslim world. Exploring the various narratives that have shaped both Christianity and Islam, he argues, is crucial to understanding current trends in Christian-Muslim interactions and their impact on future relations between the two communities globally.

Drawing from decades of experience teaching around the world, Wahba clarifies core beliefs that influence the actions of Muslims and Christians and their attitudes toward the other faith. This book demonstrates how learning from the past should help us avoid repeating mistakes in interactions between religious communities.

Part 1: Historical Developments and Encounters
1. The First Five Hundred Years of Christianity
2. Byzantine Christendom and the Early Islamic Caliphates (500–1000)
3. Christianity and Islam During the Middle Ages (1000–1500)
4. Christianity and Islam in the Age of Discovery (1500–1750)
5. Christianity and Islam in the Modern Age (1750–1910)
Part 2: Religion and Politics
6. Historical Developments and Political Interactions (1910–2020)
7. Religion and Politics in Contemporary World Contexts
Part 3: Religious Beliefs
8. God: Absolute, Relational
9. Jesus Christ: A Prophet
10. Jesus Christ: The Savior
11. Humanity and Salvation
12. Community: The Ummah and the Church

Wafik W. Wahba is professor of Global Christianity at Tyndale University in Toronto, Canada. He has taught and lectured on global Christianity and Christian-Muslim relations in twenty-five countries, including in the United States, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South America. He has contributed to several publications, including Edinburgh Companion to Global Christianity, The Rowman and Littlefield Handbook of Christianity in the Middle East, and Cascade's series The Global Story of Christianity. He served on the editorial advisory board and contributed several entries to the Encyclopedia of Christianity in the Global South.

Robert Verkaik shows the link between WWII's Operation Market Garden & the Cold War

The Traitor of Arnhem: The Untold Story of WWII’s Greatest Betrayal and the Moment That Changed History Forever (Pegasus Books) by Robert Verkaik:

 The end of World War II is in sight.

 Following the overwhelming victory on D-Day, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin all seek to shape the future to their own ends by winning the race to Berlin.

 The British launch Operation Market Garden, the greatest airborne operation the world has ever seen. It is a bold roll of the dice that, if successful, will end the war in weeks. But behind the scenes spies are working their craft, the Allies’ plans are betrayed, the operation fails—and thousands of our soldiers die.

 The Traitor of Arnhem tells the never-before-told story of this famed operation and of the spies working to cause the catastrophic defeat. One traitor is a terrifying giant of a man, a supposed hero of the resistance who sends hundreds of fellow freedom fighters to torture and death; the other is an aristocrat and an English gentleman, working from inside the heart of the Allied war effort in London. Both are working for the Russians.

 Drawn from newly released archives and shedding fresh light on the spies responsible for Operation Market Garden’s failure, The Traitor of Arnhem is the remarkable account of the battle that would transform the conclusion of the European campaign and set the stage for the Cold War.

Steve Berry's "The List" had origin in his own lifehistory

Celebrated New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author Steve Berry, brings us…THE LIST

In the vein of David Baldacci, John Grisham, and Harlan Coben—this is Steve Berry like you’ve never read him before.

After a ten-year self-imposed exile, Brent Walker is returning home to Concord, a quaint town in central Georgia nestled close to the Savannah River. Two years ago, his father died, and now Brent, hired by Southern Republic Pulp and Paper Company as its assistant general counsel, is returning to care for his ailing mother.
For decades, Southern Republic has invested heavily in Concord, creating a thriving community where its employees live, work, and retire. But the genteel sheen of this quiet town is deceiving, and when a list of cryptic code surfaces, Brent starts to see the cracks. 
Southern Republic’s success is based largely on a highly unorthodox and deadly system to control costs, known only to the three owners of the company.  Now, one of them, Christopher Bozin, has had a change of heart. Brent’s return to Concord, a move Bozin personally orchestrated, provides his conscience with a chance at redemption. A plan is set into motion, one that will not only criminally implicate Bozin’s two partners but also place Brent Walker square in the crosshairs of men who want him dead—with only one course left available -to find and reveal the shocking secret of the list.

Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of eighteen Cotton Malone novels, five stand-alone thrillers, two Luke Daniels adventures, and several works of short fiction. He has over twenty-six million books in print, translated into forty-one languages. With his wife, Elizabeth, he is the founder of History Matters, an organization dedicated to historical preservation. He serves as an emeritus member of the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board and was a founding member of International Thriller Writers, formerly serving as its co-president. https://www.facebook.com/SteveBerryWriter/ or https://steveberry.org/

 

Nat Segaloff on the Movie Classics from Bogie & John Huston

From 1941 to 1953, director John Huston and actor Humphrey Bogart made one classic film after another, from The Maltese Falcon to The African Queen. Here is the story of their close but combative friendship that produced some of the best movies ever made. Every time they made a movie together, they made a classic-or so it seemed for star Humphrey Bogart and writer/director John Huston. Their six collaborations from 1941 and 1953 include many of the "Golden Age" hits from Hollywood's fabled film legacy: The Maltese Falcon, Across the Pacific, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, The African Queen, and Beat the Devil. At the same time, both men led fiercely separate lives-except when they were making pictures together. Sometimes they agreed and sometimes they argued, always keeping their eyes on the results. What did each man bring to the collaboration, and how did their six films together reflect their disparate personalities? Their friendship was as dramatic as any of their movies. It survived nine marriages, a world war, the blacklist, leeches, alcohol, and Jack L. Warner. Here is the story of these two legendary talents, their films, their lives, their foes, and their remarkable devotion to each other. Nat Segaloff has been a movie publicist and film critic, college instructor, broadcaster, speechwriter, and documentary film producer. Among his more than thirty books are biographies of William Friedkin, Arthur Penn, Harlan Ellison, John Milius, and Paul Mazursky, as well as comprehensive works on The Exorcist, Scarface and Rambo. He lives in Los Angeles.

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