Customer Reviews (1)

if you liked Frank Sanatra, you will love the king.
Even though the book is a bit dated, the style, the story and message is timeless. I know that Cooper put considerable time and effort into each book, the King was no exception. When reading it I couldnt help but feel that I was transported to the nightclubs in the book. I felt that I knew the main character. Cooper wrote over 53 books, if you want to read something great by a great writer, then I highly recomend the King. ... Read more

Product Description
In this first biography of Ellsworth Bunker (1894-1984), Howard Schaffer traces the life of one of America's foremost diplomats of the postwar era from his formative years as a successful businessman and lobbyist through a long career in international affairs.

Named ambassador to Argentina by Harry Truman in 1951, Bunker went on to serve six more presidents as ambassador to Italy, India, Nepal, and Vietnam and on special negotiating missions. A widely recognized "hawk," Bunker helped shape U.S. policy in Vietnam during his six-year Saigon posting. Using letters Bunker wrote to his wife as well as recently declassified messages he exchanged with Henry Kissinger, Schaffer examines how Bunker promoted the war effort and how he regarded his mission. After leaving Saigon on his seventy-ninth birthday, Bunker became a key figure in the treaty negotiations, spanning three presidencies, that radically changed the operation and defense of the Panama Canal.

Highlighting Bunker's views on the craft of diplomacy, Schaffer paints a complex picture of a man who devoted three decades to international affairs and sheds new light on post-World War II American diplomacy. ... Read more

Product Description
This powerful short novel describes the events of a single afternoon. Alwyn Towers, an American expatriate and sometime novelist, is staying with a friend outside of Paris, when a well-heeled, itinerant Irish couple drops in—with Lucy, their trained hawk, a restless, sullen, disturbingly totemic presence. Lunch is prepared, drink flows. A masquerade, at once harrowing and farcical, begins. A work of classical elegance and concision, The Pilgrim Hawk stands with Faulkner’s The Bear as one of the finest American short novels: a beautifully crafted story that is also a poignant evocation of the implacable power of love. "Truly a work of art, of the kind so rarely achieved or attempted nowadays." -- Christopher Isherwood ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Great short novel
This is an outstanding work.It takes places in a short period of time and reveals a tremendous understanding of how people operate during this period of time.It has justifiably been compared to "The GReat Gatsby" for the quality of the writing and the intensity of the experience.

A little masterpiece by one of the gay princes of 20th Century culture
The gay and lesbian book discussion group read this novel in Feb 2007.

I loved this novel but was worried about what the group would think - sometimes we can be harsh on "erudite" authors. Fortunately, we agreed that it's a 20th Century masterpiece, lost or ignored for some reason. We found much to discuss and praised its plot and plotting, characters and their development, and underlying gay sensibility (which might not be noted by a less queer reader - can you spot the moment Mrs. Cullen realizes that the narrator is gay? - we did!).

Reading about Wescott and his position in 20th Century cultural life made us very happy to have discovered this fabulous author and want to read more.

"...that look of hers which was the opposite of applause."
This is an excellent little novella.Right off the bat, let me say that you should not read the foreward by Michael Cunningham before reading the novella itself; he gives everything away (plot and ending) while claiming he doesn't want to give everything away.It would be better to read this without knowing what is going to happen.

The prose is sharp piercing poetry.Some of the images are stunning. Of course, the titular hawk is a symbol, and Wescott himself tells us from time to time that it is an important symbol.In fact, it takes on the overly-symbolic function of Melville's great white whale on a slightly smaller scale.

As I was reading, I kept wondering what kind of movie this would make.I actually wanted to see a young Maggie Smith staggering around the house in 3-inch heels with this hawk attached to her wrist, but then I realized it would look more like Monty Python than the Merchant Ivory film I was envisioning.

It's a quick and easy read, with lots of epigrams sparkling like the pendants on a grand chandelier.The relationships are very tight and strained and well worked out. The dialogue is often brilliant.Drunken cocktail chatter can often be that way, especially with a sharp-tongued narrator.Descriptions are vivid.You will learn more about hunting hawks than you thought possible. I recommend this one for the serious reader in search of beautiful Symbolist Art.

The Pilgrim Hawk by G.Wescott
This is an American masterpiece. A must read for any and every true lover of literature.
Sonia Meyer

Brilliant
Several years back, I was given the first 100 of the New York Review Books for Christmas (a much-appreciated, very generous gift!).Sad to say, I have read few of them.But yesterday, browsing my bookshelf, I picked out 'The Pilgrim Hawk,' attracted, no doubt, by the slimness of the volume.After reading it, I have to say that it has been a long time since I have been so impressed by a book - it truly is an unknown classic.And, as an aside, the introduction by Michael Cunningham is wonderful!

I have no knowledge of Glenway Wescott and his other writing, but the execution of this book is flawless.The narrator is someone who stands a bit outside of life, observing.His detachment contrasts with the self-aborption and high emotion of the main characters of the book, an ever-travelling married couple from Britain (the husband is english, the wife is Irish).The entire book occupies just one afternoon, but it is rife with emotion and intense observations on life and love.And Wescott is a talented writer - I continually found myself admiring his phrasing.Here is a quote, which is admittedly depressing, but delights me none-the-less, in which Wescott describes the unfulfilled bachelor (or bachelorette!):

"Life goes on and on after one's luck has run out.Youthfulness persists, alas, long after one has ceased to be young.Love-life goes on indefinitely, with less and less likelihood of being loved, less and less ability to love, and the stomache-ache of love still sharp as ever." ... Read more

Product Description

 This 1940 swashbuckler is one of the best examples of the old Hollywood studio system at work. Scholars and film buffs will learn much about collaborative filmmaking on an exceptionally large scale as Rudy Behlmer traces step-by-step the evolution of The Sea Hawk. The very anti-thesis of an auteur film, The Sea Hawk illustrates the ways in which creative input from just about everyone on the Warner Brothers lot—producers, writers, art directors, director, cameraman, special effects team, editor and composer-conductor—resulted in a film in the familiar Warners house style.

This book includes the complete screenplay.