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Insert Comma • A Portfolio of Leigh E. Rich
11.30.2001
Lofty look at famed N.Y. skyscraper
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Book on Empire State Building a reminder of the Towers By Leigh E. Rich Empire: A Tale of Obsession, Betrayal and the Battle for an American Icon By Mitchell Pacelle John Wiley & Sons, Inc. November 2001 333 pages $27.95 Little could Wall Street Journal business writer Mitchell Pacelle know that his book, Empire: A […]

05.04.2001
Moral of the story
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Holocaust survivor brings hope, museum to Denver By Leigh E. Rich Henry Greenbaum has a story to tell. And he tells it every Friday. Before Shabbat—he promises any rabbi who might be sitting in the room—Greenbaum recounts his coming of age under the Nazi regime. Now 75 and a volunteer with the speaker’s bureau at […]

05.07.2000
The ‘Iceman’ cometh?
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Science left out cold in ‘Iceman’ By Leigh E. Rich Iceman: Uncovering the Life and Times of a Prehistoric Man Found in an Alpine Glacier By Brenda Fowler Random House April 2000 296 pages $25.00 It is not every day a couple of hikers stumble across a five thousand year old corpse. In fact, it […]

11.25.1999
Lives in letters
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‘Letters of the Century’ delivers intimate account of history By Leigh E. Rich Letters of the Century: America 1900-1999 Edited by Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J. Adler The Dial Press $35.00 With the dawning of the next millennium and the ever-increasing encroachment of high-speed, mass communication technology into our daily lives, collections of historical correspondence […]

11.05.1998
Me and Mr. Jones
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Mass-murderer Jim Jones, as seen through the eyes of his trusted lieutenant By Leigh E. Rich Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor’s Story of Life and Death in the Peoples Temple By Deborah Layton Doubleday, Anchor Books $23.95 November 18, 1978—Buried inconspicuously in a remote part of Guyana, 913 members living in the Jonestown “commune” commit […]

04.02.1998
Tombstone’s real epitaph
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Even when it comes to history, the customer is always right By Leigh E. Rich The story is all too familiar. The characters are always the same—Wyatt and Virgil, Billy and Ike, Doc Holliday, Johnny Ringo, Sheriff Behan and Big Nose Kate. And the conflict expeditiously plays out at the O.K. Corral. But the latest […]

04.19.1996
Revolutionary play combines traditional and modern
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‘13 Days/13 Días’ cleverly contrasts the myriad of voices in the Chiapan uprising By Leigh E. Rich The play “13 Days/13 Días: The Zapatista Uprising in Chiapas” uses the theater as a medium to remind the developed world (as we recline comfortably between our computers and FAX machines) that “to change the world, or even […]

01.18.1996
Powerful play depicts difficult issues in racism
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‘Fires in the Mirror’ examines identity, hate and cooperation By Leigh E. Rich Don’t expect a Holly wood happy ending, comedic strife and a few musical numbers from Anna Deavere Smith’s “Fires in the Mirror,” Arizona Theatre Company’s third production in its 1995–1996 season. Instead, Smith’s acclaimed play portrays the all too realistic uglier side […]

11.16.1995
Play considers birth of a nation
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The transformative power of ‘A Namib Spring’ By Leigh E. Rich March 21, 1990, Namibia—Africa’s last colony—became its youngest nation. The South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) ended South Africa’s racist rule and laws of separation. “A Namib Spring,” Patrick Baliani’s latest play, dissects this “birth of a nation,” reminding us that “democracy will not […]

10.26.1995
‘Execution’ a technical display
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The ‘Twinkie Defense’ and the murder of Harvey Milk By Leigh E. Rich In the lingering aftermath of the Simpson trial, Emily Mann’s docu-drama “Execution of Justice” adds to the growing list of courtroom entertainment. Presented by the Arizona Repertory Theatre, this play not only places the judicial system, the media system and the medical […]