Bill's Best of Non-Fiction and Most Interesting of 2021

My annual double dose of Bill’s Best of the year for the categories of Non-Fiction and Most Interesting. The latter is a list of books that were not favourites of the year in Fiction or Non-Fiction but had qualities that made them intriguing to me. 

NON-FICTION

1.) The Rescue Artist by Edward Dolnick (2005) - It was startling to read how easy it is to steal great works of art. In 1994 The Scream:

Edvard Munch’s most famous work was snatched from the National Gallery in Oslo by a pair of thieves who took a ladder from a construction site, leaned it against the outer wall, climbed up, smashed a window, grabbed the painting off the wall, slid it down the ladder and drove away.

 

Charley Hill and the other members of the Art Squad in London are dedicated to recovering stolen art and sometimes, prosecuting the thieves. Hill, an ex-soldier and ex-academic turned cop would have been a great fictional sleuth. He gained a reputation as a “rescue artist” of stolen art.

A combination biography and investigation I was fascinated from the first to last page.

2.) Vernon Can Read! by Vernon Jordan Jr. with Annette Gordon-Reed (2001) - Vernon Jordan Jr. was an extraordinary man. He grew up in the Deep South during segregation to a family committed to education. His mother had great personal aspirations and determination. After starting her work life as a servant she established a very successfuly catering business in Atlanta. She expected nothing less from her sons. Jordan was a leader in the civil rights movement for Black Americans. Later he transitioned into a different path breaking role. He was one of the earliest Black Americans to reach the boardrooms of corporate America and open those doors. Throughout his life he valued looking professional. His cover photo inspired a second post. He is both eloquent and plain spoken in his writing. His life illustrates how much can be accomplished during a lifetime of public and private service.

3.) Flat Out Delicious by Jenn Sharp (Photography by Richard Marjan) - Saskatchewan has deserved a book that looks seriously at food in our province. Best known for farming on a huge scale, grain farms now average thousands of acres, Saskatchewan is diversifying through individuals dedicated to artisanal food ventures. Sharp profiles 167 of them.

In my post I discussed 3 of the ventures with which Sharon and I are familiar. Hodgson Farms at Melfort has pioneered growing cantaloupes in Saskatchewan. Mabel Hill Restaurant and Marketplace at Nipawin is a fine restaurant with gardens next to the restaurant. Chef Michael Brownlee draws upon the produce of the area and forages in the forest for wild mushrooms. Kitako Honey at Naicam sees Steve Hawrishok moving his bee hives during the year to gain honey made from specific flowers such as clover and dandelions. I am confident in the reliability of Sharp’s stories as the three mentioned above were all described accurately.

MOST INTERESTING

1.) Germania by Harald Gilbers (translated by Alexandra Roesch) - Berlin in the spring of 1944, despite the massive bombings, carries on with life. Its residents adjust and strive to survive. Former police inspector, Richard Oppenheimer, is Jewish. Because of his marriage to a non-Jew, Lisa, he has not been sent to the death camps. He had been dismissed from the police. Hauptsturmführer Vogler is under increasing pressure to solve gruesome murders of women. Learning of Oppenheimer’s skill as an investigator he summons Oppenheimer to assist him. That a Jew and a Nazi could form an investigative team provides remarkable dynamics.

2.) Indians on Vacation by Thomas King - Blackbird Mavrias and Mimi Bull Shield are on vacation in Prague. Mimi, a woman of strong opinions, is seeking information on her Uncle, Leroy Bull Shield, who joined a travelling Wild West about a century ago and disappeared in Europe. Blackbird and Mimi have the minor adventures that make travel fun such as getting lost on their way to the Kafka Museum. I closed my review:

Few books can keep me smiling while reflecting on cultures, historical injustices, personal demons, randomness on vacation and spousal relationships.

3.) Noble House by James Clavell - It had been years since I read an epic work of historical fiction. Clavell was a wonderful writer of grand sagas. In Noble House he explored the tumultuous lives of Ian Struan Dunross, his family, employees, business associates, friends and especially enemies. Dunross, the tai-pan of a great Hong Kong trading company, thrives in the Wild East of 1960’s Hong Kong. Survival of the fittest is fine with him. Tai-pans are not restrained by Boards of Directors. They personally make deals. They appear at the Stock Exchange to buy and sell shares. Relationships are everything. I closed my review saying after 1,200 pages I was ready for 1,200 more.

4.) Albatross by Terry Fallis - I opened my review:

The perfect book for me. Sports, reading, writing,  fountain pens and a hero who does not quite fit in. 

Adam Coryell is a high school senior in Toronto who loves books and writing with his fountain pens. His writing and Phys. Ed. teacher, Ms. Davenport, has become fascinated by a Swedish professor Gunnarsson, who has developed measurements for the ideal body for multiple sports. Adam is almost off the charts with regard to golf.  She puts a golf club in his hands and the results are amazing. And Adam is a nice guy.

Bill's Best of Fiction for 2021

I will persist in putting together my Best of lists at the end of the calendar year. This post will have Bill’s Best of 2021 Fiction. My next post will have Bill’s Best of 2021 Non-Fiction and a personal category of Bill’s Most Interesting of 2021. The lists do include books published earlier than 2021.

For the best of 2021 fiction:

1.) The Finder by Will Ferguson - I was captivated by the opening set on the southernmost island in Japan where a rare foreign visitor suffers a mysterious death. Hateruma is in the Okinawa chain of islands. On the island are myriad spirits and secret Noro princesses.

The story moves to New Zealand where jaded travel writer, Thomas Rafferty, is caught up in the Christchurch earthquake and the search for the mysterious “Finder” who “finds”, usually by theft, valuable objects and turns a profit on their return to the public world.

Ferguson, a former travel writer, vividly describest the multiple international settings. He never succumbs to Rafferty’s stock phrase of each country he writes about being “a land of contrasts”.

Fascinating characters with rich pasts abound in a great chase.

The Finder was the winner of the Best Canadian Crime Novel in the 2021 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence.

2.) The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny - Beyond being glad that Armand Gamache is back in Three Pines after his sojourn a year ago to Paris I was caught up in Penny’s exploration through a mystery novel of the concept of “mercy killings” to benefit society.

The concept of determining statistically who is a burden on society to be eliminated is abhorrent to me. The fictional Professor Abigail Robinson would euthanize the unproductive aged and abort the deformed unborn. She has perverted the pandemic slogan “All be well”.

Gamache defends her right to speak at a local university and then must investigate the murder of Robinson’s assistant at a New Year’s celebration attended by the residents of Three Pines and Robinson. Everyone’s a suspect as she aroses strong emotions.

I was so taken by the book I wrote in addition to my review a pair of posts on “Responding to Evil” and “Considering People” in the context of the book. I cannot recall a crime fiction novel that made me think more than The Madness of Crowds.

3.) Dark August by Katie Tallo - The author was a distinguished screenwriter and director for over two decades and a freelance writer. Dark August is her first novel.

I loved Augusta “Gus” Monet. She was my favourite new sleuth of 2021. Orphaned at 8 she was in a boarding school from 10-18. Personally knowing the lonliness that can be in attending a boarding school I connected with Gus.

Returning to Ottawa at 20 to deal with her grandmother’s estate Gus finds in a trunk her personal items from her long lost childhood. In addition, she discovers her mother, an RCMP officer when she died, had been working on a cold case. 

Gus is intrigued. She strives to find more about the case and thereby more about her mother. Delving into the unknown of your family is fraught with excitement and dismay.

I closed my review by stating:

I will definitely read more of Tallo. She has gifts for characters, atmosphere, tension and psychological insight. Most important I will remember Gus. Damaged, not broken, she is especially memorable for her tenacity in clinging to love. 

For the first time in making a Best list all of my favourite novels for the year were Canadian writers.

A Vulnerable Tough Guy

After finishing Hell and Gone I wrote to the author, Sam Wiebe, and he promptly replied. Our exchange is below. Sam, thanks for your candid response.

****

Sam

I enjoyed Hell and Gone. A link to my review is below.

Dave Wakefield continues to grow as a character.

After Cut Him Down we exchanged emails. I expressed my concerns over the level of violence in Wakefield’s life and hoped he would use more brains than brawn in the future.

Your response set out your reasons for depicting violence vividly and Wakefield’s participation in vicious confrontations.

You stated:

Speaking generally, I want the violence in the Wakeland novels to be visceral and uncomfortable. I don't want to trivialize violence. What happens has consequences for both the perpetrator and recipient.

……

To sum up, I think violence is an intrinsic part of the detective novel, and I take great pains to make the violence in the books realistic, and to show its consequences.

In Hell and Gone you succeeded. There is violence in the book described with an intensity that is searing in its impact. The injuries and deaths are very real. 

Unlike previous books I noted Wakefield is less a participant in the violence. He uses his mind more than his fists.

At the same time the consquences of violence have built up inside Wakefield’s mind. I appreciated him showing vulnerability to the violence he has experienced. It is a rare sleuth willing to embark on personal counseling to deal with the dark images of past violence.

I read the Q & A provided by your publisher after completing the book and my review and the first part of this letter. I was caught by the last question and answer:

Where did the title come from, and what does it

mean to you?

Hell and Gone fits into what Wakeland goes through

in the novel. It also fits the journey of the book.

In 2017-18 I hit a low point. I served on a jury for a murder trial which dragged on for several months. Soon after that, my father died. To help my mother keep her house, I had to take a third job. Professionally, I’ve had to fight harder than ever. New agent. New publisher. I think the journey has made me a better writer. Definitely a more appreciative one.

After reading your answer I wondered if the vulnerability I saw in Wakefield also reflects a personal vulnerability from the emotional events you dealt with in your life. 

In times of my own vulnerability I have found opportunities for maturing I reflected upon my life. 

I am glad Dave and Sonia have committed to their relationship. It is my hope that they may have a child. Too few tough guys in crime fiction are parents. I think Dave is ready to be a father. Might that be a possibility?

I hope your personal trials have eased.

If you are able to reply and are willing I will post your response to this letter.

All the best for 2022.

Bill

****

Bill, thank you so much for the thoughtful review. It means a lot to when someone engages this deeply with the book. 

 

Dave Wakeland (and I notice you wrote "Wakefield" a couple of times--copyediting is never totally done, is it?) is definitely a work in progress as a person--an educable brute--and the series reflects this. In Invisible Dead he's in his late twenties, and in Hell and Gone he's mid thirties. Empathy is a big part of growth, and frankly something I think is in short supply right now. He's fumbling towards it.

 

As to my personal trials:

 

I hesitated to include so much personal detail in that Q and A answer, but I thought it was fair for readers who'd been waiting for a third book since 2018. 

 

A lot changed in my life--the loss of my father really hurt, and the wilderness year of acquiring a new agent and publisher was tough. Canadian publishing is not good with homegrown mystery series, and the most successful (like Louise Penny's Gamache series) found foreign success before domestic. But Harbour/D&M has been great, and the audiobook comes out from Blackstone with the US release in March 2022.

 

Vancouver has changed in that time, too. Covid brought out some ugly truths to the forefront, namely a very overt anti Asian racism.

 

All of which is to say that these changes are reflected in Hell and Gone, and will be reflected in future novels as well. I'm committed to the series, and I'm so grateful people have responded to this one with enthusiasm. 

 

Regarding fatherhood, it would be hard to fit a child into an East Van one bedroom apartment--but I'm not ruling it out...

 

Best,

 

Sam Wiebe

****

Drat the proof reading fail. I will do better next time Sam.

****

Wiebe, Sam - (2015) - Last of the Independents and The Unhanged Arthur Award; (2016) - Invisible Dead and Sam Wiebe on His Sleuths; (2018) - Cut You Down and Sam Wiebe on Dave Wakeland; (2021) - Hell and Gone

Hell and Gone by Sam Wiebe

(36. - 1108.) Hell and Gone by Sam Wiebe - A jolt of adrenaline rushed through me as I followed Dave Wakeland listening to fireworks and then realizing they were gunshots and then watching from his office window as four masked figures emerge from an office building across the street with a hockey bag and then shoot down commuters at a bus stop. Most of the deceased are Chinese.

As with Wakeland I was confused and in shock. It’s 5:15 on a quiet Vancouver morning.  Wanton, even casual killing, is not Canadian. How was this possible?

Wakeland rouses himself to help the survivors and then checks the other building where there are four more bodies in a money counting room. Shaken, confused, on the edge of shock, he reflexively tells the police he did not see anything.

Wakeland does not want to investigate the killings. He wants to be left alone. He is struggling with nightmarish images when he closes his eyes. No one believes he saw nothing and that he is not investigating. He is a tough guy whose speciality is finding people.

The lead police investigator, Superintendent Borden, is convinced Wakefield is withholding information.

His girlfriend, Officer Sonia Drego, is sure he no longer trusts her.

Deputy Chief Constable MacLeish expresses his disbelief personally and tells him to butt out. 

Terry Rhodes, leader of the Exiles Motorcyle Club, summons him for a meeting. Rhodes is intimidating:

But I’d also seen what lay behind it. A predatory business sense that sized a person up, decided value and acted without hesitation. All threats neutralized, all desires gratified, all opportunities seized by the throat. I’d once likened meeting with Rhodes to human chess, played on a minefield.

Rhodes, concerned over blowback for something not done by his members, directs Wakefield to find the killers.

His partner, Jeff Chen, has some connections with Roy Long, a Chinese leader with many other connections and the owner of the building in which the shooting occurred.

And then one of the killers tracks him down.

Wakefield gives up on non-involvement and dives into the case.

Wakefield and Chen have some advantages. Wakefield has street connections with people willing to confide in him rather than the police. Chen has extensive Chinese connections who will only share information within their community.

The “why” for the killings is elusive. The police, the motorcycle gangs and the Chinese leaders are disconcerted. They are accustomed to knowing “why”.

The pace builds as Wakefield, Chen and their staff gain information.

Wakefield is determined to find out “why”.

He has strong personal integrity. He expresses his personal creed:

“I’m a very simple guy. I do one thing well - better than anyone. I don’t compromise, and I don’t let myself owe.”

I would say he does another “thing” well. He has empathy. He relates to people including people he dislikes. He cares. 

There was one more twist in the plot than I thought necessary. It is but a minor flaw.

Hell and Gone is an excellent book. Between Wiebe and A.J. Devlin the mean streets of Vancouver have a pair of outstanding sleuths in Wakefield and Jed “Hammerhead” Ounstead. I expect Hell and Gone to be in contention for awards in 2022.

****

Wiebe, Sam - (2015) - Last of the Independents and The Unhanged Arthur Award; (2016) - Invisible Dead and Sam Wiebe on His Sleuths; (2018) - Cut You Down and Sam Wiebe on Dave Wakeland

The Quick Adiós (Times Six) by Tom Corcoran

(39. - 1111.) The Quick Adiós (Times Six) by Tom Corcoran - Alex Rutledge has a tremendous knowledge of cameras and is a talented photographer. The Key West Police Department occasionally calls upon him to take crime scene photos. Inevitably he gets caught up in the action.

Key Westers like Alex prize a laidback casual lifestyle. Yet Key West is as vulnerable to violence as the rest of the world. Vicious murders do happen in paradise. 

Alex has developed a reputation for resolving murders. His keen observations of location, design and atmosphere detect anomalies instantly.

While we think of police as trained observers they are amateurs compared to a professional photographer. 

Add a naturally inquisitive personality and Alex is a worthy descendant of the long line of fictional sleuths following Sherlockian principles of observation and deduction.

Called by his girlfriend, Detective Beth Watkins, to the scene of a multiple murder he is rudely dismissed before he can reach the location. Normally candid sources are evasive.

A Florida businessman, Justin Beeson, hires Alex to prepare a photographic portfolio of a building he is trying to sell near Sarasota. It is the type of commercial project that pays the bills for Alex. Yet the work seems somewhat contrived.

In Key West Alex establishes a unique business relationship. A pair of homeless men, Wiley Fecko and Dubbie Tanner resolve to move off the streets. Tanner actually has significant financial resources.

Because Tanner has some personal experience as an investigator they are able register with the State of Florida as private investigators. Their company name is Southernmost Aristocratic Investigations. Alex refers to them as the Aristocrats. Local law enforcement derisively calls them the Bumsnoops.

They prove resourceful and adept. From years of life on the streets of Key West they are also excellent observers. They have connections with the homeless whose lifestyle makes them very aware of everyone around them.

Their computer skills are sufficient to enable them to dig out online information. 

The Aristocrats are the most interesting characters in the book. 

The combined skills of Alex and the Aristocrats find information that has eluded the combined police forces of Key West, Monroe County and Saratoga. The trio are adept at pulling out details.

With one of the victims being a former girlfriend, Alex is reflective. He has had a series of relatively short term relationships. He wants his future to be with Beth. While they are clearly compatible I sense a restlessness within Alex.

The book is at its best in Key West. Even with my experience of the city limited to a cruise ship stop I could see the city in the book. Key Westers are proud of their quirkiness in the book. I value books where the setting is vivid and real. 

Depth of Winter by Craig Johnson

(38. - 1110.) Depth of Winter by Craig Johnson - I have loved the Walt Longmire series through almost all 13 books I have read. I equally enjoyed the first 5 seasons of the T.V. series, Longmire. I found Depth of Winter disappointing.

Walt takes off for Mexico where the villain, Tomás Bidarte, has kidnapped his daughter, Cady, and taken her to the wilds of northern Mexico. 

Bidarte had managed to survive a shootout in A Serpent’s Tooth. He has been on a campaign of revenge against Walt which has culminated with Cady’s kidnapping.

Walt, unwilling to wait for international co-operation between American and Mexican law enforcement, is on a one man mission to rescue Cady or die in the effort.

With the aid of a rambunctious U.S. Buck Guzmán from the Border Patrol, he slips across the border. Not surprisingly it is not difficult to sneak into Mexico.

He allies himself with a Mexican physician who has a local defence force keeping the drug gangs away from their area.

Nearby Bidarte has established a fiefdom based on drugs and violence. Mexican authorities have abandoned the area to drug lords.

The book proceeds as you would expect. The only law is the law of the gun. Walt retains his stubborn integrity.

The imagination comes with how the violent episodes play out. Some are very creative.

For the same reasons I did not like the 6th and final season of the T.V. series I did not enjoy Depth of Winter. The story line is almost cartoonish. The implauibilities are really impossibilities. The violence is constant. The clever Walt is absent though his wit is intact. The avenging lone Western lawman is iconic in American lore but no longer draws me.

I am reminded of how the Elvis Cole books by Robert Crais shifted from a focus on a bright sleuth to violence filled conclusions with little humour. I stopped reading the series in frustration.

As well, Depth of Winter had but cameo appearances from the regular characters such as Henry Standing Bear and Vic Moretti. It suffered from their absence.

There have been past books in the series which saw Walt venturing out alone on a quest but the series would then return to interesting stories in Absaroka County. Depth of Winter is Walt’s most violent solo venture. I will read the next book in the hope it is back to actual crime fiction rather than a body per page thriller. Walt deserves to be solving mysteries with his intelligence and but a touch of brawn.

****

Johnson, Craig – (2007) - The Cold Dish; (Best Fiction of 2007); (2008) - Death Without Company; (2008) - Kindness Goes Unpunished (Third Best Fiction of 2008); (2009) - Another Man’s Moccasins; (2011) - The Dark Horse; (2011) - Junkyard Dogs; (2012) - Hell is Empty; (2013) As the Crow Flies; (2013) - Longmire T.V. Series; (2014) - A Serpent's Tooth; (2015) - Radio in Indigenous Mystery Series; (2015) - Any Other Day;  (2015) - Where is the Walt Longmire Series Headed; (2016) - Musings on the 5th Season of Longmire; (2017) - Dry Bones and Is the Largest T-Rex in Saskatchewan?; (2018) - An Obvious Fact; (2019) - The Western Star; Hardcover

Camino Winds by John Grisham

(37. - 1109.) Camino Winds by John Grisham - Hurricane Leo is looming over Camino Island as Bruce Cable, the charming owner of Bay Books, is entertaining author, Mercer Mann, and her companion, Thomas at lunch. They had a brief fling when she was recruited by the FBI to spy on Cable, the prime suspect in the theft of F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts in Camino Island.

For supper Bruce hosts a dinner party for Mercer and Thomas at his Italianate home with beautiful tableware and dinnerware and flower arrangements. A fabulous meal with excellent wines, is prepared by a Louisiana chef. Literary residents of the island fill out the table.

That night “Leo finally made his move” towards the island. 

By morning there is a mandatory evacuation order which in Florida fashion is discretionary for no one can be forced to leave. Bruce and one young employee, Nick Sutton, stay behind. Store stock is moved to the second storey and first editions taken to his home.

By evening winds have already reached 100 mph roaring and howling about the island. And then it got worse …..

I have never had a desire to experience a hurricane and Camino Winds re-inforced the wisdom of obeying evacuation orders.

Of the island’s literary folk who stayed behind Nelson Kerr is sadly (I hate when lawyers get killed) a casualty. A whistleblower from San Francisco, he has been living a quiet life after leaving the practice of law and is writing international thrillers.

Examining the body Bruce, Nick and another author, Bob Cable, can see Nelson was hit multiple times in the head. There is but one fallen tree branch at hand. Who would have wanted to kill the reclusive author?

In a nifty sequence Nick, an experienced crime fiction reader, lays out his deductions on the crime. The State Police investigator is unimpressed. Nick in turn is unimpressed by the investigator. With mutual disdain they each carry on.

Nelson’s sister and executrix, Polly McCann, arrives from California. Uncertain and grieving, she leans on Bruce for advice.

Reading about a cleanup from a disaster is as depressing as cleaning up. Grisham is not excessive in dealing with the aftermath but the story was not moving at his usual pace until Bruce and Polly decide to pursue the killer.

The plot accelerates as a pair of intersecting plans are made to flush out an informant and the facts worth killing a man. With Bruce leading the way there is abundant adventure and intrigue.

On Camino Island, which plays a lesser role in the second half of the book, six months have passed since the hurricane and life for the locals is returning to its easy rhythms. 

Bruce and Noelle have a lovely sunset wedding on the beach. The almost 50 year olds don casually elegant wear for the ceremony:

Noelle was stunning in a white pantsuit with the cuffs rolled halfway up to the knees. Bruce, true to form, wore a brand-new white seersucker suit with shorts instead of pants. No shoes for either.

As always with a Grisham book the pages flow and suddenly 50 to 75 to 100 pages have been read.

I liked Camino Island better. More of the plot was about books. Camino Winds explores the risks in a writer’s life but it is not as unique. I was glad to read more of life on Camino Island.

****

Grisham, John – (2000) - The Brethren; (2001) - A Painted House; (2002) - The Summons; (2003) - The King of Torts; (2004) - The Last Juror; (2005) - The Runaway Jury; (2005) - The Broker; (2008) - The Appeal; (2009) - The Associate; (2011) - The Confession; (2011) - The Litigators; (2012) - "G" is for John Grisham - Part I and Part II; (2013) - The Racketeer; (2013) - Grisham's Lawyers; (2013) - Analyzing Grisham's Lawyers; (2013) - Sycamore Row; (2014) - Gray Mountain and Gray Mountain and Real Life Legal Aid; (2015) - Rogue Lawyer and Sebastian Rudd; (2016) - The Whistler; (2017) - Camino Island; (2017) - The Rooster Bar and Law Students and Integrity; (2019) - The Reckoning; (2019) - Cullen Post in The Guardians and The Guardians; (2020) - A Time for Mercy and Practising Law in Rural Mississippi and Rural Saskatchewan and Writing a Credible Trial

Vernon Jordan Jr. Takes a Great Cover Photo

I was drawn to the book Vernon Can Read! by the superb photo of Vernon Jordan Jr. upon the cover. Fair or not, covers matter. I was aware of Jordan as a prominent Black American but no more. Had it not been for the cover I doubt I would have picked up the book.

For approximately 15 years the book sat upon a TBR shelf in our home office. I would look at it and think I should read it but another book would catch my attention. Finally, this fall as I was looking for a work of non-fiction to read I pulled it from the shelf and started to read. Once I started I was caught up in his life and swiftly read the book.

As for the cover photo it proved to be a perfect representation of Jordan.

Throughout his life he dressed elegantly. The photo shows a man with flair and style. As a teenager he spoke of dressing meticulously. I love the combination of blues and textures and designs in shirt, tie and suit jacket.

Robin Givhan in a tribute to Jordan in the Washington Post after his death 

Over the years, it was impossible to miss Jordan in a crowd. Often that was because he was the only Black person in it. But he was noticeably well-dressed. His suits were attentively tailored and he had a love for Turnbull & Asser shirts, Charvet ties and fedoras. His style was full of European élan, Adam Clayton Powell flair, Wall Street pinstripes and Sunday morning going-to-church polish. His aesthetic drew upon the collage of influences that make this country exceptional but that connect us on common ground. Years ago, after writing about his style — a story for which he did not return my messages — Jordan called to express his gratitude after it was published.

His pose is of a thoughtful man. Well educated and well spoken he reflected on the great issues of American life for over 60 years. He had a natural gravitas. 

He gave the commencement address at DePauw University on 3 occasions.

He loved speeches. He studied and refined the language of formal addresses.. As a young man in university he heard in Atlanta an early version of Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have a Dream”.

Jordan won an oratorical university competition as a freshman speaking on “The Negro in America”.

The photo shows a serious man. He dealt with the major issues, especially civil rights, of America. He met with every President from LBJ to Obama. I am not sure about “the Donald”. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were personal friends before they were President. He was awarded over 60 honorary doctoral degrees.

He exudes class, confidence and reserve. He was never an impulsive man. He consulted others, starting with his mother, before every major career decision.

What the photo does not depict is his innate restlessness to move forward and upward and face new challenges.

Jordan wears a wedding ring. He was married to Shirley for almost 30 years before her death from M.S. and was subsequently married to Ann for over 30 years.

His photo is the epitome of the successful business executive and lawyer he was in his life. I have always believed professionals should dress professionally. Casual clothing is best worn away from the office.

Sometimes you wonder if your children are listening to you when something special happens. When my younger son was graduating from law school I wrote to a friend and classmate, a Major in the Canadian Army, congratulating him on his graduation. He replied that Michael had spoken often of me and the importance of looking and acting professionally. He said Michael had convinced him that the uniform of a lawyer is a suit and tie.

It is one of the great cover photos of all time.