A WIlderness of Error
The Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald
by Errol Morris (Penguin)
Documentarian Morris got a man wrongfully convicted of murder freed from prison with “The Thin Blue Line.” Now he’s turned his investigative prowess to the notorious case of Green Beret doctor Jeffrey MacDonald, serving a life sentence for the 1970 murder of his family. MacDonald maintains a band of drug-crazed hippies did it. Having looked into the case for 20 years — he initially hoped to make a movie — Morris cites fiber evidence and a “woman in a floppy hat” among his reasons for believing that MacDonald is innocent.
Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures
by Emma Straub (Riverhead)
With her debut novel, author Straub is in a unique position: She can really push her own book; she works at BookCourt in Cobble Hill (although currently on a publicity-tour sabbatical). Straub tells the tale of Elsa Emerson, a small-town girl from the Midwest who flees to Hollywood and is remade as the exotic Laura Lamont — a 1940s studio star. But he glamorous Laura still must juggle the demands of career, family and the search for personal happiness.
My American Revolution
Crossing the Delaware and I-78
by Robert Sullivan (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Sullivan retraced the paths of Lewis and Clark and of Jack Kerouac in “Cross Country.” This time out, he’s right here in NYC, having enlisted boating enthusiasts (a couple of fellow dads) to reenact the Continental Army’s 1776 retreat to Manhattan from Brooklyn after losing the Battle of Brooklyn. He also follows the Revolutionary War trail in New Jersey, from where, like one of Washington’s soldiers, he successfully signals all the way to Brooklyn with a mirror. There, his daughter sees the flash from a high floor in her school.
Yankee Miracles
Life With the Boss and the Bronx Bombers
by Ray Negron (Liveright/Norton)
Longtime Yankees advisor Negron’s inside story of life with the team begins with what reads like an episode of “Seinfeld.” A big fan of the Bronx Bombers, he played hooky the last day of his junior year of high school in 1973: destination Yankee Stadium. He was caught scrawling graffiti on the stadium — by none other than George Steinbrenner. Instead of punishing the kid, the Boss put him to work as a clubhouse assistant and batboy. It was the start of an incredible ride with Negron, befriending the likes of Billy Martin, Thurman Munson and Darryl Strawberry along the way. Today he is the team’s community affairs advisor.
Getting to Bartlett Street
Our 25-Year Quest to Level the Playing Field in Education
by Joe and Carol Reich (February Books)
The Reiches are pioneers of the charter-school movement, with the title of this book named for the street in South Williamsburg where they opened their first school way back 1992. Donating their time and money and battling bureaucracy and corruption, the couple triumphed. But the real winners are the many kids they have helped.