Many Georgians and many tourists enjoy the recreation and relaxation of Jekyll Island, one of the jewels of Georgia's "Golden Isles." One of the attractions for visitors to the Island is staying at, or visiting, the restored hotel, The Jekyll Island Club, and touring the "cottages" built by the millionaires who originally developed the island more than one hundred years ago. In The Jekyl Island Club, Brent Monahan takes us back to the time when J. P. Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer, and other tycoons and robber barons vacationed in splendor, and ran their little island as part of their fiefdoms. When one of the guests on the island is found dead from a gunshot, however, they have to acknowledge the local authority, at least enough to have the Brunswick sheriff make official their idea of what happened. Enter John Le Brun, high sheriff of Brunswick and a person with good reason to hold a grudge against the captains of industry who occupy what was formerly his home. Le Brun has his own problems, including a brand new chief deputy who recently returned home is disgrace from Philadelphia and is the son of the local judge. The judge is not a fan of the sheriff's, and is totally in the pocket of the Jekyl Island Club membership. In launching his investigation Le Brun must face the disdain, if not enmity, of club members and some of their staff; concerns about the loyalty of his own deputy; his own feelings; and his sense of justice. The pressure is on, in part because President McKinley is soon to visit the Island, traveling over from Thomasville where he is vacationing at the vacation home of his advisor, Ohio Senator Hanna, to meet with the some of the millionaires and House Speaker Reed, a guest of Morgan's. President McKinley's visit actually happened, and Monahan uses that historical fact and the residual glamor of the Jekyl Island Club, to fashion a neat little mystery. In an afterword Monahan also notes that before and after the millionaires' ownership, Jekyll was spelled with two "l's." While it was their private preserve, there was only one. While this book is not a great mystery, it is a solid one. The greatest charm, however, is in its bringing to life the era of conspicuous opulence and filling out the pictures today's visitors to Jekyll Island have in their imaginations.

Pretty cool book - the ties between the characters and persons they portray are incredible... i found myself questioning, could this be real or is it just fiction...

It starts out a little slow (some very long chapters) but soon you are hooked. The fascination of moguls of that time and their impact on our history. Well written. You wish there were other books about Sheriff John Le Brun and his crime solving abilities.

It is only upon reaching the very last page of this 395 page biography that the reader comes to understand why this portrait of Pulitzer is so disappointing and, frankly, uncomfortable to read. There, the author cites as one of his sources, a PhD thesis from the 1940s which drew upon an interview with Mr. Pulitzer's aging valet. This interview. pursued at the urging of Pulitzer's son, revealed, apparently for the first time, Pulitzer's virtually disabling depression, the havoc it wreaked on the management of his papers and the misery it brought to his family. If one strips away the "eccentricities" catalogued in exhaustive detail by the author one is left with a narrative that is hardly insightful or illuminating. Like Mr. Pulitzer's beleaguered hirelings and pathetic and emotionally abused family members, the author seems to struggle to divine brilliance in every move of this isolated and miserable man. That Pulitzer and his "World" transformed and empowered the newspaper business at the turn of the last century is without question and the author provides a somewhat lively and entertaining picture of that business in those days. However, by asking the us to bear with Pulitzer through page after page of troubling and, often, psychotic behavior, the author imparts no more than the conventional appreciation of the proverbial "thin line between genius and madness." The reader comes to suspect that the key to the success of the "World" may actually have derived from the triumph of the genius of others over Pulitzer's madness; a test of this hypothesis requires more richly researched characterizations of the editors and reporters who labored beneath the Dome than the author has produced. In fact, the author rarely strays from Pulitzer's side such that what must have been a vibrant publishing world remains unidimensional and sketchy. By the end of this work, the nature of Pulitzer's genius remains obscure and relatively bereft of insight; it is his madness that is most appreciated as the reader emerges from an exhausting virtual immersion in the psychodrama that dominates this biography.

Joseph Pulitzer was a fascinating man. His battles with Hearst and his role in the foundation of modern journalism are the stuff of legend. However, I never actually realized how much of an impact Pulitzer had on the 20th century until I read Brian's terrific bio. Well worth the read.

This well-written, detailed biography is fascinating. This book, on Joseph Pulitzer, gives the reader a complete view of his life, his work, and his rise to power. Filled with details on his pioneering thoughts and practices, you'll see why Pulitzer's influence is still felt today. For anyone interested in publishing history and journalism, you won't want to miss this book!