Shabbir's Diary

Thanksgiving reading

I spent Thanksgiving week in the San Francisco area with a stack of books. The Trials of Lenny Bruce I've already reviewed. The other three were Elisabeth Eaves' memoir of her life as a stripper in "Bare: On Women, Dancing, Sex, and Power ", Ben Mezrich's story about how the MIT Blackjack Club in "Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions", and Edward Lazarus' extremely dry memoir of his time as a clerk at the Supreme Court in "Closed Chambers: The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Modern Supreme Court".

The Trials of Lenny Bruce

Here at the beginning of the 21st century, the concept of a comedian being hauled into court for something he said on stage seems absurd. And yet, that is exactly what happened to America's most martyred comedian, Lenny Bruce. While there have been countless books and films about his life (including the wildly inaccurate 1974 film 'Lenny' starring Dustin Hoffman), this is the first biography of Bruce and his brushes with the law. The Trials of Lenny Bruce: The Fall and Rise of An American Icon chronicles his obscenity trials (and a heroin arrest), and the effect the courts had upon his career (destroyed it), his finances (depleted it), and his personal life (wrecked it).