Bruce Cook (1) (1932–2003)

When I was in high school, during the Vietnam War, I read a book that changed forever the way I thought about war. The author was Dalton Trumbo, a name I had never heard of before that time. I’ve heard a lot about him in the decades since.

Trumbo was arguably the best and certainly the best know screen writer in the history of Hollywood. His screen credits include Kitty Foyle, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, The Brave One, Roman Holiday, Exodus, Papillion, and Spartacus. What he is best known show more for, though, is that he single-handedly, if some sources are to be believed, broke the blacklist that, for over a decade, dictated who could work in Hollywood.

Most of the books I am asked to review have not yet been published but Trumbo, and the accompanying audiobook narrated by Luke Daniels, was actually written in 1976 by Bruce Cook, with Trumbo’s knowledge and full cooperation and is now being rereleased to coincide with the release of the Trumbo biopic starring Bryan Cranston.

It is a comprehensive biography that describes in depth Trumbo’s childhood in Grand Junction, Colorado, and his evolution from baker to writer during the height of the Great Depression. It covered his rise to A-list screenwriter, his appearance before the House Un-American Affairs Committee, his trial and conviction for contempt of Congress, a misdemeanor for which he spent one year in federal prison.

“I remember visiting Dalton after his first night in the DC jail. He told me that in the middle of the night the police brought in a guy. He was charged with some heinous offense, assault with a deadly weapon or something. Then this gang member asked him what he was in for, and Dalton told him. This tough guy shrank back. ‘Holy Jesus,’ he said. ‘Contempt of Congress?’ He was impressed, overwhelmed.”

Following his release from prison Trumbo, the other members of The Hollywood Ten, and anyone else who aided them or was suspected of communist sympathies were officially blacklisted, unable to work in the film industry. Those who did work did so under the table and received no recognition for their efforts. When ‘The Brave One’ won an Oscar for the best screenplay it was awarded to Robert Rich, a man who did not exist. The screenplay was written by Dalton Trumbo.

In time, the blacklist was breached, not by Trumbo alone but by many people who recognized that there were few things more Un-American than to deprive someone of the right to earn a living based solely on his politics.

Cook portrays Trumbo as a larger than life character with a personality as big and bold as Earnest Hemingway. While the book does portray him in a positive light, it still provides enough information that the reader has little trouble forming their own opinion of the man, his life and the industry that he worked in.

“There is more to be said for the man than that. For even in a time like our own, one practically inured to the power of myth, a life like Trumbo’s takes on something of a fabulous quality. His has been a fabulous life, a tale told, an old-fashioned story that illustrates the virtues of hard work, of keeping faith with one’s self and one’s ideals, a quintessentially American story that he could, with only a few important details altered, have written himself for the Saturday Evening Post, back in the thirties. But no, he didn’t write it. He lived it, improvising it from the days and hours he was given, making it up as he went along.

“Let him be remembered by that story and his place will is assured.”

@@@

*Quotations are cited from an advanced reading copy and may not be the same as appears in the final published edition. The review book was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.

FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
*5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
*4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
*3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
*2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
*1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire. show less

Former L.A. cop now private investigator Chico Cervantes is hired by a couple of fathers to bring back from Mexico the man that killed their son and daughter in a car accident. But there's a lot more to the story as Chico finds out immediately after arriving in Culiacan, Sinaloa and finds another cop who was hired to follow Chico dead in his hotel room, after Chico reluctantly agreed to work together a few hours earlier. Of course drugs are involved and the men who hired Chico, or at least show more one of them, isn't innocent. Neither are the cops in Mexico. Or the DEA agents Chico tries to enlist for some help.

A good old paperback crime and mystery book from 1988 that you need to comb used book stores to find these days. Which I did. show less

I got this as an audiobook ER win, as the book has been re-released to accompany the movie that's just come out recently (which looks great). Interestingly, to me, there don't seem to be any revisions to the book which was originally published in the 1970s. The audiobook was generally well done, though the reader is very slow (I sped mine up and that worked fine).

Cook is forthcoming about his admiration for Trumbo, and tries to bring this up when it would appear to be coloring the book's show more content. He's open about his process and who he's spoken to, and what their relationship with Trumbo was/influences on their opinion.

I read Johnny Got His Gun in high school and it has certainly stayed with me over the years. However, I didn't know much else about Trumbo or the fact that he was blacklisted. Good biography, up-front, honest writing, recommended. show less

I had no idea what this book was about going into it. I have definitely gotten a lesson in insanity regarding American politics of the 40s and 50s. Dalton Trumbo (author, screenwriter and one of the Hollywood Ten) is familiar to me because of his book Johnny Got His Gun. (the book was so interesting that I decided to read Johnny Got His Gun- it is amazing and horrific) I had no idea he was the screenwriter of such mega-hits as Spartacus, Papillon and Exodus. I also didn't know that he went show more to jail with the rest of the Hollywood Ten rather than cooperate with the House Committee on Un-American Activities and give them names of his friends and co-workers who might be associated with the Communist Party.

The book is eye-opening and I definitely learned a lot. The author, Bruce Cook, is a fan of Trumbo and paints him in a positive light for the most part. Personally, I can't imagine being faced with the choice of betrayal or contempt of Congress. prison and blacklisting. Actor Larry Parks said it best: "Don't present me with the choice of either being in contempt of this committee and going to jail or forcing me to really crawl through the mud to be an informer. For what purpose? I don't think it is a choice at all. I don't think this is really sportsmanlike. I don't think this is American. I don't think this is American justice." I have to agree with him.

The narration of the audiobook is well done by Luke Daniels. Recommended listening. show less