The Black Hand: The Epic War Between a Brilliant Detective and the Deadliest Secret Society in American History by Stephan Talty

A non-fiction read about an extraordinary man who became the first Italian-American detective in the New York Police Department and his battle against The Black Hand.

Petrosino was “the greatest Italian detective in the world,” declared the New York Times, the “Italian Sherlock Holmes,” according to popular legend back in the old country. introduction, xiv.

Joseph Petrosino was a scrappy boy who grew into a determined man. He dropped out of school after sixth grade and began to work as a shoe shiner on the streets. Then he worked his way up to street cleaner, where he was noticed by a member of the NYPD and recruited to be a member of the police.

He was an excellent recruit, being one of only a handful who could speak multiple dialects of Italian. This was particularly useful in the heavily Irish police force. Petrosino also had a photographic memory and he would arrest suspects off the streets based on a remembered mug shot.

It’s telling that the most famous Italian American in the country in the late 1800s was the one deputized by the powerful to track down and imprison his fellow countrymen. … It was Petrosino, the “hunter of men,” who fascinated the old American stock of Knickerbockers and WASPs, and they embraced him like no other Italian American of his time. pg 19

There was an influx of Italian immigrants into the United States in the late 1800s and they were treated poorly. As a result, they didn’t trust American authorities and didn’t report crimes being committed against them. The Black Hand, a group of unorganized criminals, extorted unknown numbers of Italian immigrants through threats of violence, kidnapping and bombings. That was where Petrosino came into the picture.

He was determined to stop them. Petrosino obtained permission to create the Italian Squad, a special task force designed to stop the Black Hand.

“When murder and blackmail are in the air,” declared the Times, “and the menfolk are white-faced and the womenfolk are saying litanies to the Blessed Mother… all Little Italy looks to the Italian detective to protect it and guard it.” pgs 40-41

I read The Black Hand to discuss with my book club and found it gripping. I was enthralled by Petrosino and the dangers he faced. However, other members of the club thought the book became repetitive. “Another bombing?” one of them said. It was as if they were inured to the horrors of the situation because so many bad things were happening again and again. I thought that just added to the tension of the narrative.

Photo by William Fortunato on Pexels.com

A few years ago, we read Stephan Talty’s Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day for book club and I found it equally brilliant. But, again, others found it slow and bogged down with too many details. I guess it just depends on what sort of non-fiction you enjoy.

Highly recommended for non-fiction readers or anybody interested in New York City or U.S. history.

This book is slated to become a film starring Leonardo Dicaprio, but the project doesn’t seem to have gone anywhere since 2017. I wonder if it will ever be made.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s The History Guy episode I wrote about Petrosino and the Black Hand:

The Lost Prosperity Secrets of Napoleon Hill by Napoleon Hill

The Lost Prosperity Secrets of Napoleon Hill examines some of Hill’s lesser known newspaper essays. He writes about his life and the workings of the “unseen hand” of the universe within it. He dissects how a series of failures ultimately caused him to succeed.

And he writes about his studies of some of the most successful people of his time, what they have in common and what you can do to become one of them.

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Some of these essays share powerful advice for inner transformation.

I particularly enjoyed Hill’s detailed description of the ’round table method’ that he used to change his personality. I think it is a fascinating mental exercise that can be customized for anyone.

But, at other points in this audiobook, his essays felt a bit heavy-handed in his declarations of his faith and belief in an organizing intelligence. But Hill’s faith seems to have been partially what he credited for his mammoth success… though not at first.

He freely admits that, early on in his career, he was obsessed with the accumulation of money to the cost of all else. It wasn’t until later on, that he realized money was nice, but there are other important goals that should be considered in one’s professional life. He talks about the golden rule and morality.

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And Hill talks about how you should treat someone who treats you poorly. He wasn’t alone in some of his most spectacular failures, but the people who used those low moments to get ahead in business did not do well afterwards. Again, Hill credited a higher power for that balance. Some would call it karma, but he did not.

If you liked Think and Grow Rich, you will probably enjoy this audio program.

Thanks for reading!

White Night (The Dresden Files, #9) by Jim Butcher

Someone is killing people in Chicago and leaving clues that only a person with magical ability, like a wizard named Harry Dresden, could see. Why would they do that?

Meanwhile, most everything else in Harry’s life is going spectacularly wrong. He has an unruly apprentice who had an unfortunate brush with dark magic awhile back. The White Council is still at war with the Red Vampire Court which was Harry’s fault to begin with, but we don’t need to go into all that.

He’s still got a fallen angel’s shadow in his head, trying to convince him to wield a coin that will give Harry unimaginable power but also consume his soul. Thomas, the vampire, has been acting really weird and he’s probably eating people again which, vampires do, but it’s kind of a problem because Harry is supposed to be protecting people.

And now this, a serial killer. Perfect.

The Dresden Files, as a series, is really starting to come together. I like how Jim Butcher starts to layer the books on top of each other, each plot line leading to more complications and depth.

Normally, Wardens existed to police wizards, to make sure that they didn’t use their power against the rest of humanity in violation of the Laws of Magic. Things weren’t normal.” pg 59, ebook.

Harry has to juggle the politics between the wizards, the vampires, humanity, the faeries… and also keep his sanity when someone from his past shows up and he has to rehash some old wounds.

Real fright isn’t like the movies. Real fear is an ugly, quiet, relentless thing. It’s a kind of pain, and I hated seeing it…” pg 129, ebook

And we can’t forget Bob the Skull, one of my favorite characters. He seems to always get a few good lines in, no matter how busy the plot is.

“What’s up, boss?” “Evil’s afoot.” “Well, sure,” Bob said, “because it refuses to learn the metric system. Otherwise it’d be up to a meter by now.” pg 154, ebook.

Though I had some difficulties with the way Harry behaved in the latter part of the last book, I feel like he’s more of the flawed character I’ve come to know in this entry. Yes, he still makes mistakes sometimes and can be an idiot, but it makes more sense. There are circumstances beyond his control that are acting on his mind in ways he may not be aware of yet. But he’s learning about that, and his friends won’t let him get too out of hand.

Or, at least, they’ll all go down together… probably spectacularly and in flames. Highly recommended for urban fantasy readers.

Here are more reviews I’ve written for this series:

Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1) by Jim Butcher

Fool Moon (The Dresden Files #2) by Jim Butcher

Grave Peril (The Dresden Files, #3) by Jim Butcher

Summer Knight (The Dresden Files #4) by Jim Butcher

Death Masks (The Dresden Files, #5) by Jim Butcher

Blood Rites (The Dresden Files, #6) by Jim Butcher

Dead Beat (The Dresden Files #7) by Jim Butcher

Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files, #8) by Jim Butcher

And thanks for reading!

Animosity, Vol. 1: The Wake by Marguerite Bennett

One day, animals obtained self awareness and the ability to speak. The world will never be the same.

They started thinking. They started talking. They started taking revenge.

There’s something profoundly disturbing when reading about animals embodying the worst of the human emotions. They’re angry, afraid, vengeful. Part of what draws humanity to the animals is that they’re not like that. They live in the moment. They operate from instinct. And the love they give is uncomplicated… the hate too.

Photo by Dominika Roseclay on Pexels.com

In Animosity, this paradigm is flipped on its head. Now animals can plan. They’re organized. They can make assumptions and mistakes.

When the animals changed, some pressing issues arose beyond the obvious problem of everybody hurting each other in the first panic and fear-filled moments following the change. How will the world feed itself? How will reproduction be controlled? Humanity had trouble providing for all even when not dealing with the quintillions of other lives on the planet.

And the love one dog has for his human can perhaps have some darkness in it that she doesn’t expect. There’s still loyalty. He’ll fight to protect her. But there’s some question to how much he’ll protect the rest of her family…

Animosity is a surprisingly deep graphic novel that makes the reader question the role of animals in our lives and how the world could be a very different place if everyone, literally all life, acted like humanity. And how that might be an awful development.

Here’s my review of another book that is set in the dystopian world of Animosity: Animosity: Evolution, Vol. 1: Lex Animata by Marguerite Bennett

And thanks for reading!

The Art of Exceptional Living by Jim Rohn

Nearly every house valued over $200,000 has a library in it. Now why do you think that is?

Jim Rohn, motivational speaker and business genius, was a kinder, gentler Tony Robbins. Originally from Iowa, he uses common sense and a storytelling style in an effort to encourage listeners to improve their lives. This audiobook presentation is a mix of live presentations and studio-recorded bits. Personally, I think he was better in front of a live audience, but there was plenty to take away from in both sections.

Here’s some of what he shares in this audiobook:

Read, learn, journal. Write down what works and what doesn’t. Write down your goals and then take a minute to look at the passing days, weeks and months and see what you’ve accomplished.

Eat healthy and take that walk around the block. If you don’t, you may seriously regret it, maybe not today or tomorrow but in the years to come, you’ll wish you took a minute to invest in yourself.

Work hard at your job and you’ll make a living. Work hard on yourself and you’ll make a fortune!

Rohn insists that anyone can be exceptional. He says success in business (and life) comes from small positive steps taken consistently over time. That type of approach really works for most any goal or dream you may have.

Read contracts all the way through, every time. It seems like a simple thing, but it can take you down some dark roads if you don’t read the fine print. He learned that the hard way.

Don’t stop reading and be a lifetime learner. Stay curious. Stay involved.

And take pictures. Part of your legacy to the next generation can be the pictures and documentation you’ve made of your life.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to this audiobook. It’s one of my go-to programs when life has me down. Jim Rohn believed you can accomplish anything that you set your mind to do. He makes listeners believe that too. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to learn “the art of exceptional living.”

Thanks for reading!

The Ax Murders of Saxtown by Nicholas Pistor

Full title: The Ax Murders of Saxtown: The Unsolved Crime That Terrorized a Town and Shocked the Nation

Imagine you’re a farmer in 1874. You live out in the middle of nowhere. There are no cars, electric lights… each night brings a blanket of silence to the world. Then, one fateful night, there’s a knock on the door. You answer it… and it’s an axe-swinging maniac!

Sound like a cheesy horror film? For one farming family in Southern Illinois, that nightmarish scenario actually happened. A family of five, including two children, one a baby in her mother’s arms, were slaughtered in their home. It was called the most shocking crime since the murder of Abraham Lincoln and garnered national attention.

Nicholas Pistor examines original sources to share the story of the ax murders of Saxtown.

The grounds of the Stelzriede farm glowed with the orange light of oil lamps and handheld torches. A few hours had passed since the Stelzriede bodies had been discovered. The tough Saxtown farmers arrived one by one, and then in groups. … Many showed up on the property with their families. They were too afraid to leave them home alone. pg 44, ebook.

I would have been the same way. There had been extensive rains around the time of the murders and the roads in and out of town were nearly impassable. The residents of Saxtown believed the killer could still be among them. Eek.

Saxtown was a farming community where people primarily spoke German. Everybody knew everybody else and their business. The closest city, sheriff and bank were located in Belleville, almost nine miles north of Saxtown. At the time, they believed the motive for the killings was money. The Stelzriedes were known to loan out cash and it was thought that they kept a stash in their home.

They also left a fairly large inheritance behind.

Pistor goes into how authorities conducted investigations during the late 1800’s. It made me wonder that they ever managed to solve anything. There were no forensics or sophisticated evidence gathering protocols.

Public awareness was important in solving crimes. An eyewitness could crack the case open before it began. Detective work relied heavily on what other people saw, a distinct challenge in the remote and lonely woods of Saxtown, where farms were spaced by miles and miles. pg 44, ebook

The saddest part of this non-fiction tale is, in my mind, how terribly this crime affected Saxtown. For decades, residents accused each other of the murders. There were lawsuits and whispers of restless ghosts on the Stelzriede property…

If you’re looking for a true crime read, this is an interesting pick, plus you get to learn about a few other shocking crimes that took place in Southern Illinois and history.

And if someone knocks on my door tonight, I don’t think I’m going to answer it.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s an episode I wrote for The History Guy about the murders:

A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic #3) by V.E. Schwab

V.E. Schwab concludes her multi-world, dimension-traveling fantasy trilogy in A Conjuring of Light. And you know what, I liked it the best of the three.

He’d stood, half dead, before the onyx throne, and spoken to the king carved in stone, and traded freedom for a chance to save his London, to see it bloom again.” pg 10, ebook.

I thought this plot flowed more smoothly, without the detours to introduce readers to new characters. We understood the magic, the dangers, the relationships between everyone. This was Schwab’s chance to just write a good story. I feel that she succeeded.

“Lila thought it would be easy or, at least, simple. Something you either survived, or did not. She was wrong.” pg 9, ebook.

He may not be everybody’s choice, but Holland was my favorite character in these books. Talk about born under an unlucky star… his world is dying, most of his life he spends under the compulsion of the Danes, and yet, he hasn’t been driven completely insane by the unfairness of all of it. And, unlike some characters I can mention (cough, Lila), he doesn’t kill without a reason.

I could not believe how many times Lila murdered people. And she was supposed to be one of the “good” characters. More like a loose canon. I never liked her much. Consider this Lila soliloquy:

“Because the shadows can’t touch me, and the fallen won’t. Because I’m good with magic, and better with a blade, and I’ve got more power in my blood than you’ve got in this whole damned palace. Because I’ve no qualms about killing, and on top of it all, I’ve got a knack for keeping your sons — both of them — alive.” pg 175

“No qualms about killing” isn’t a positive attribute in my book.

Kell still comes off as a bit one dimensional because of his god-like magical powers. But his motivations made more sense to me in this book than in previous ones.

“The flame hovered in the air between Kell’s hands, brilliant and white. He made it look so easy, and Rhy felt a flash of anger toward his brother, hot as a spark — but just as brief. It wasn’t Kell’s fault Rhy couldn’t do magic.” pg 21, ebook.

Rhy, on the other hand, makes a few decisions I couldn’t wrap my head around. I suppose you could put it down to rampaging emotions, but, in a crisis, he rarely seems to choose the right path.

Everything in Kell tightened at that. “I was out there trying to protect your people.” “And for every one you shielded, a dozen more were taken by the dark.” pg 82

Recommended for young adults. You may be able to read this book and understand it without slogging through the other two, but I think you’ll get more enjoyment out of it by taking the entire journey with the characters.

Here are my reviews of the other books in the series:

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2) by V.E. Schwab

And thanks for reading!

Gone with the Gin: Cocktails with a Hollywood Twist by Tim Federle

“Gone with the Gin” is an effervescent drink guide that pairs cleverly named potables with classic films. It’s a winner!

Last year (or was it the year before), I named Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist, also by Tim Federle, as one of my favorite reads in my annual book review. It’s similar to Gone with the Gin, except that Tequila Mockingbird uses classic literary works instead of film.

Federle has a way with puns and summarizing complex plots in three sentences or less without devolving into the unbearably cheesy. My favorites from Gone with the Gininclude the “Ben-Hurricane” and “The Empire likes Jack”.

And, like Tequila Mockingbird, I think I’m going to have to purchase a copy of this book to keep at the house. Like the majority of my reading material, I borrowed it from the library. But it’s going to be a sad day when I have to give it back…

Lest you think that Federle is a one-note author, please take a moment to consider another of his books: Life Is Like a Musical: How to Live, Love, and Lead Like a Star. It gives some hard-won lessons from Federle’s days dancing and singing his way across the stage. I enjoyed it too.

I think it’s fair to say that I highly recommend most anything Federle has written, so far. Keep ’em coming, Tim!

And thanks for reading!

Norse Goddess Magic: Trancework, Mythology, and Ritual by Alice Karlsdóttir

This is a new age, non-fiction book about trance work, which can loosely be described as deep meditation. I practice a type of meditation called “pathwalking” which is basically just another word for the same kind of practice. This book is about someone who focuses on the Norse religion exclusively.

I read Norse Goddess Magic not for the details about the Norse pantheon (which admittedly I know very little about, so it was very interesting and educational) but mainly for the author’s experience in trance work. To my disappointment, she spends pages and pages explaining what going into trance is, how she does it, and then only a few paragraphs in each chapter detailing an actual trance.

I wanted the book to be mainly trance work. That is what made it unique and original- her personal sojourns into “another world” and what she brought back. The rehashing of all of the old mythologies were, as I said, interesting, but if I wanted to read them, I could have picked up any book about Norse mythology.

I also felt like Alice spent a lot of time explaining why trance work is a valid method of information gathering and defending her opinion on why she believes that. I agreed with her completely so I just read through the pages thinking- preaching to choir, get to the trances! So, that was a frustration.

A part of the book that I disagreed with was Alice’s assertion that it is “difficult” to go into trance. In my experience, if you believe something is difficult to do be that hypnosis, meditation, whatever- you’re putting stumbling blocks on your path that don’t need to be there. Going into trance is as simple as watching your breath flow in and out. If you breathe, you can go into trance. I felt like she did a disservice to beginners with that particular teaching.

I felt like Alice’s trances were so closely focused on one goddess or aspect of the goddess, that she didn’t really get all that she could out of her trance work or interactions in the other worlds. She read all of this information to prime her subconscious mind and then… it felt like not much happened.

To be fair, she did see the person she was looking for, describe their physical characteristics, express the emotion that they evoked in her, and then, maybe, have a brief interlude with them. In my personal trance work, there’s more interaction in the world itself but that could be the difference of our focus.

Alice said from the start that she wanted to know more about these different goddesses and form a working relationship with them whereas I’m just curious to see what’s out there. I’ve run into Roman gods and goddesses, Native American figures, Tibetian locations, some Egyptian and Hindu gods… but again, I’m not focused on one or another of the world religions. With an open mind, it’s incredible the types of things that you see.

So, I don’t believe in priming your mind with symbols before you do your work. Pick where you’re going or who you want to see, and just go. Personally, I use the symbols on the Tree of Life or tarot cards. Believe that you can do it. Figure out what works for you. And do it.

Then write it down so that I can read it. 🙂 Because I will.

Thanks for reading!

The Help Desk Book Blog

Sharing reviews and deep thoughts about life.

Month: October 2018

The Black Hand: The Epic War Between a Brilliant Detective and the Deadliest Secret Society in American History by Stephan Talty

The Lost Prosperity Secrets of Napoleon Hill by Napoleon Hill

White Night (The Dresden Files, #9) by Jim Butcher

Animosity, Vol. 1: The Wake by Marguerite Bennett

The Art of Exceptional Living by Jim Rohn

The Ax Murders of Saxtown by Nicholas Pistor

A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic #3) by V.E. Schwab

Norse Goddess Magic: Trancework, Mythology, and Ritual by Alice Karlsdóttir

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