09/01/2014
…Dolnick skillfully peppers his account with dozens of first-person quotations and experiences, though his focus is on the hopes, journeys and realities of five varied but engaging individuals…"Here was a society," Dolnick writes of life in the mining camps, "that was cosmopolitan, rowdy, violent, brand-new, thrilled with itself when it was not horrified, exploding in size, knee-deep in wealth, with no entrenched leadership class but instead a churning, changing hierarchy based on fortunes newly made and newly lost." Such words resound as an articulate reprise of the historian Rodman W. Paul's landmark Mining Frontiers of the Far West, 1848-1880, but Dolnick has also succeeded admirably in putting a decidedly personal face on these general characteristics and in the process he has produced a highly readable and graphic account of an episode that changed America.
The New York Times Book Review - Walter R. Borneman
05/26/2014
PRAISE FOR THE FORGER'S SPELL :The Forger's Spell has raised provocative questions about the nature of art and the psychology of deception."—Washington Post Book World Boston Globe New York Times Book Review The Forger's Spell is an excellent read, a swift and astute narrative written from many complex perspectives to great effect."—Chicago Sun-Times The Forger's Spell is simply spellbinding."—Philadelphia Inquirer St. Louis Post-Dispatch
PRAISE FOR THE FORGER'S SPELL :The Forger's Spell has raised provocative questions about the nature of art and the psychology of deception."
Washington Post Book World
"An engaging and highly amusing account of a clever craftsman. . . . On all those levels this is a delightful foray into art history and psychology"
"[Dolnick] tells his story engagingly and with a light touch. He has a novelist's talent for characterization, and he raises fascinating questions."
New York Times Book Review
"Dolnick brilliantly re-creates the circumstances that made possible one of the most audacious frauds of the 20th century. And in doing so Dolnick plumbs the nature of fraud itself...an incomparable page turner."
"The Forger's Spell is an excellent read, a swift and astute narrative written from many complex perspectives to great effect."
"Pacing and prose as gripping as those of the best mystery novelist...The Forger's Spell is simply spellbinding."
"There was gold..." There’s something tantalizing in Bernard Setaro Clark's narration, which contrasts the poverty and stillness of everyday life around 1849 with the rush to claim California's potential riches. The author provides much to digest—from mining techniques to Karl Marx's reaction to the gold discovery—and first-person anecdotes make the story come alive. The gentle last words on a grave marker, the determination of a starving traveler, and the dazzle of gold will touch listeners. The approach is personal but not sensational—descriptions of boom-town violence are low-key. With the author continually reminding listeners of the more recent Internet boom, this is a timeless and timely story. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
"There was gold..." There’s something tantalizing in Bernard Setaro Clark's narration, which contrasts the poverty and stillness of everyday life around 1849 with the rush to claim California's potential riches. The author provides much to digest—from mining techniques to Karl Marx's reaction to the gold discovery—and first-person anecdotes make the story come alive. The gentle last words on a grave marker, the determination of a starving traveler, and the dazzle of gold will touch listeners. The approach is personal but not sensational—descriptions of boom-town violence are low-key. With the author continually reminding listeners of the more recent Internet boom, this is a timeless and timely story. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
2014-07-03
