Book Of The LUV Affair - Real Story

The books they have donated thus far belong to two key collections: Michigan plat books and native language books. Both collections have gone to the William L. Clements Library, a library associated with the University of Michigan that specializes in American History from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The story is intensely dramatic, and I cannot remember a time when I had not heard of Antony and Cleopatra. As young boys, my brother and I discovered a small box containing coins collected by our grandfather, a man who had died long before either of us was born. A friend spotted one of them as Roman, and it proved to be a silver denarius, minted by Mark Antony to pay his soldiers in 31 B.C. for a campaign partly funded by Cleopatra -- the same coin shown in the photograph section in this book. Already interested in the ancient world, the discovery added to my enthusiasm for all things Roman. It seemed a connection not only with a grandparent, but also with Marcus Antonius the Triumvir, whose name circles the face of the coin with its picture of a warship. We do not know where our grandfather acquired this and the other coins -- an eclectic mixture, several of which are from the Middle East. He may have picked them up in Egypt, where he served with the Royal Field Artillery during the First World War. It is certainly nice to think that.

I have a confession to make: I get scared when a couple gets married either in the beginning or the middle of the book. When a couple is married and there are still more pages to be read, you can guarantee problems are on the horizon and they often come in the form of an affair. Although there are many other marriage problems authors could write about, books about affairs seem to be most popular.

The list below features ten fiction books exploring the complicated nature of an extra-marital affair. They explore its effects on the members involved from multiple points of view. This is followed by a list of nine nonfiction books about affairs, ranging from memoir to self-help.

I first saw the movie The Sound of Music as a young child, probably in the late 1960s. I liked the singing, and Maria was so pretty and kind! As I grew older, more aware of world history, and saturated by viewing the movie at least once yearly, I was struck and annoyed by the somewhat sanitized story of the von Trapp family it told, as well as the bad 1960s hairdos and costumes. "It's not historically accurate!" I'd protest, a small archivist in the making. In the early 1970s I saw Maria von Trapp herself on Dinah Shore's television show, and boy, was she not like the Julie Andrews version of Maria! She didn't look like Julie, and she came across as a true force of nature. In thinking about the fictionalized movie version of Maria von Trapp as compared to this very real Maria von Trapp, I came to realize that the story of the von Trapp family was probably something closer to human, and therefore much more interesting, than the movie led me to believe.

Part of the story of the real von Trapp family can be found in the records of the National Archives. When they fled the Nazi regime in Austria, the von Trapps traveled to America. Their entry into the United States and their subsequent applications for citizenship are documented in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration.

How did the von Trapps feel about The Sound of Music? While Maria was grateful that there wasn't any extreme revision of the story she wrote in The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, and that she herself was represented fairly accurately (although Mary Martin and Julie Andrews "were too gentle-like girls out of Bryn Mawr," she told the Washington Post in 1978), she wasn't pleased with the portrayal of her husband. The children's reactions were variations on a theme: irritation about being represented as people who only sang lightweight music, the simplification of the story, and the alterations to Georg von Trapp's personality. As Johannes von Trapp said in a 1998 New York Times interview, "it's not what my family was about. . . . [We were] about good taste, culture, all these wonderful upper-class standards that people make fun of in movies like 'Titanic.' We're about environmental sensitivity, artistic sensitivity. 'Sound of Music' simplifies everything. I think perhaps reality is at the same time less glamorous but more interesting than the myth."

Examining the historical record is helpful in separating fact from fiction, particularly in a case like the von Trapp family and The Sound of Music. In researching this article, I read Maria von Trapp's books, contemporary newspaper articles, and original documents, all of which clarified the difference between the von Trapps' real experiences and fictionalized accounts. My impression of Maria from Dinah Shore's show was the tip of a tantalizing iceberg: the real lives of real people are always more interesting than stories.

The book, which hits shelves this month, also includes recollections of the steamy affair from a host of other Kennedy family intimates, including Pierre Salinger, Arthur Schlesinger, Jack Newfield, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote and Morton Downey Jr.

In June of 1961, A.E. Hotchner visited Ernest Hemingway in the psychiatric ward of St. Mary's Hospital. During that time, Hemingway divulged to Hotchner the details of the affair that destroyed his first marriage: the truth of his romantic life in Paris and how he lost Hadley, the real part of each literary woman he'd later create and the great love he spent the rest of his life seeking. It would be the last time they spoke: a few weeks later, Ernest Hemingway took his own life.

I got in touch with an old friend, Bill Horne, met up with him in Kansas City, and drove to a dude ranch in Wyoming, where, praise the Lord, I had a really good three weeks away from Pauline, the squalation, and the Piggott clan. I worked mornings on my new book, A Farewell to Arms.

A sprawling epic that takes readers across continents in the name of love, Anna Karenina is one of the longest books on this list, coming to an intimidating 800+ pages. But those who persevere with this colossus of a novel are richly rewarded. In what is considered by many to be the best romance novel of all time (and, we think, one of the best books to read in a lifetime), Tolstoy tells the story of an extramarital affair and its fallout in Imperial Russian society. When Anna runs away with the handsome Count Vronsky, excitement gives way to paranoia, isolation, and regret, as we witness the unravelling of their relationship, and of Anna herself. As much a cautionary tale as it is a romance novel, Anna Karenina is a richly imagined portrait of both the agonies and ecstasies of love.

The affair officially ended when Wallie confronted Rosemary, but it didn't really end in Tom's and maybe Rosemary's minds until one day on the hospital grounds. Tom, driving slowly along with Rosemary and the other patients, tried again to coax her to flee with him. For a moment, this time, she almost did, she told her son decades later. She got as far as putting her hand on the car door handle.

Although this is just a silly little book, it commits a dangerous literary blunder. Emily Dickinson in Love is yet another exercise in mythmaking: it exacerbates the poet's already exaggerated image as a lady scorned, a woman without the full love of a man. Walsh clings desperately to the fabled Emily who was only a reclusive, love-starved genius; her humanity is lost to him entirely. Despite the vigor of her verse, the strength of her convictions, and the complexity of her character, Walsh ultimately wants Dickinson right where history has too often placed her: locked away in her father's house, scribbling her lines and waiting to be rescued. A writer of her caliber deserves much more than that.

Rumor has it, over 100 years ago Count Camillo Negroni asked a bartender in Florence to stiffen an Americano by replacing the soda water with gin. Is this story true? Negroni connoisseur Matt Hranek tells the story and much more in his book The Negroni: A Love Affair with a Classic Cocktail. His tribute to the cocktail includes a curated collection of recipes, new takes on the classic, and more.

Charles' godmother later told royal biographer Gyles Brandreth, who wrote the 2007 book "Charles & Camilla: Portrait of a Love Affair," that a marriage between the pair wouldn't have been possible in the '70s because "Camilla had a history, and you didn't want a past that hung about."

"The book became a story on how I, as an outsider, adapted to a new environment and made it my own," Goldman said. "It describes the process that allowed me to become connected to Buffalo and the beliefs I hold."

Goldman was one of several writers of "Buffalo Architecture: A Guide," now a staple reference book. His appreciation for Buffalo's history led him to become involved with others in trying to stave off the demolition of historic buildings, including the Guaranty Building and the federal post office now home to Erie Community College.

"The absolute low point," Goldman said, in a story that's not in the book, was when he and the musicians were brought into state police custody and subsequently released after urinating behind two rented vans on the side of the New York State Thruway.

Over the years, more books followed, including: "The City on the Lake," which told the story of desegregating Buffalo's public school system; "Tillie," about Goldman's mother; "Albright," in which Goldman attempted to tell the elusive story of late-19th century industry magnate and philanthropist John J. Albright; and the children's book "Max Meets the Mayor."

"If we can engage people in learning about the history where they live, the chances are they will stay, the chances are their kids will stay and the chances are you can build a better community," he said. "I really, really believe that." 2b1af7f3a8