Recent Reviews and Articles
FORBES.COM “”A Children’s Book that Celebrates the Bond with a Great-Grandchild”https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomteicholz/2024/10/09/julie-salamons-one-more-story-tata-a-childrens-book-that-celebrates-the-bond-with-a-great-grandchild Oct., 9, 2024
JEWISH JOURNAL “A child bonds with her grandmother on Shabbat in ‘One More Story, Tata!’”https://jewishjournal.org/2024/10/04/a-child-bonds-with-her-grandmother-on-shabbat-in-one-more-story-tata/ Oct. 4, 2024
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL “Highly recommended…a joyful intergenerational tale”https://www.slj.com/review/one-more-story-tata Sept. 24, 2024
JEWISH BOOKS FOR KIDS….AND MORE: Interview with Julie Salamon and Jill Weber, Author and Illustrator of ONE MORE STORY, TATA. August 18, 2024. https://jewishbooksforkids.com/2024/08/18/interview-with-julie-salamon-and-jill-weber-author-and-illustrator-of-one-more-story-tata/
NEW YORK TIMES: CM’s The Plot Thickens: Season Two, The Devil’s Candy on the top podcasts list of 2021
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE: Honored to have TCM’s The Plot Thickens: Season Two, The Devil’s Candy be one of three top culture picks for 2021, along with HBO’s Succession and NPR’s Invisibilia
NEW YORK TIMES: Reggie Ugwu, who writes about podcasts, wrote great article about TCM’s The Plot Thickens: Season Two| September 10, 2021SLATE”s CULTURE GABFEST: Wonderful half hour discussion of TCM’s The Plot Thickens: Season Two| July 28, 2021
NPR’s POP CULTURE HAPPY HOUR: Weekly recommendations shouts out The Devil’s Candy, book and TCM podcast| July 2, 2021
HOLLYWOOD SOAPBOX: Interview with Julie Salamon and Ben Mankiewicz re Season Two of The Plot Thickens|July 1, 2021
CLASSIC COUPLE INTERVIEW: Q&A with Julie Salamon and Ben Mankiewicz about Season Two of The Plot Thickens|June 27, 2021: ::
SHEPHERD.com: Recommendations for books about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
AVENUE : Looking Back at The Royal Tenenbaums, Wes Anderson’s Unique Take on NYC |April 5, 2021
The Guardian: Why did The Bonfire of the Vanities go from Best Seller to Box Office Bomb? |April 2, 2021
GQ: The 28 Cultural Objects That Helped Us Survive 2020: |Dec. 21, 2020
Yahoo Entertainment: Bonfire of the Vanities at 30 |Dec. 21, 2020
Town and Country Magazine: Too Big for The Big Screen: Revisiting Bonfire of the Vanities| Dec 14, 2020
The AV Club: “What Great Non-2020 Books Did You Read This Year?”| Dec. 14, 2020
The Guardian: Gossip, Scandal and Forgotten Stars:10 of the Best Books about Film| Dec.11, 2020
Eat, Darling Eat: “Keeping a Lost World Alive”| May 28, 2020
Jewish Exponent| October 17, 2019
“Journalist Speaks about her Book on the Leon Klinghoffer Killing”–report on lecture at University of Pennsylvania Law School”
The Open Mind, PBS| October 13, 2019
“Salamon chronicles that episode and its succesive chain reaction to illuminate the present Israeli-Palestinian conflict and connected geopolitical and moral questions.”
The Jewish Standard| Sept. 26, 2019
“In the end, despite what she thought she knew, the writer and reporter Julie Salamon learned that the story of Leon Klinghoffer, that terrible story of terror and death, of hatred and fear and loathing, was a story about people.
The Algemeiner| July 30, 2019
“In her riveting book, Salamon gives the perspective of many of the key players, including one of the terrorists, and the wife of Alex Odeh, a Palestinian American whose was killed in his California office — possibly as a form of retribution for Klinghoffer’s murder. “
The New York Times| June 18, 2019
“Behind every act of terrorism are ordinary people — those who are the victims, those who are the perpetrators and those who watch from the sidelines — and Salamon’s goal is straightforward: to present all of the actors, the Klinghoffers, the hijackers, White House aides and others, as real-life husbands, wives, sons and daughters, instead of symbols or stock characters in a political drama.”
The New York Jewish Week| July 9, 2019
“In a book that reads like a spy thriller and a closely-observed narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Julie Salamon asserts that Klinghoffer was shot not because he was a Jew but because he was an American. “An Innocent Bystander: The Killing of Leon Klinghoffer” (Little, Brown) is based on Salamon’s access to newly-unclassified material and interviews with many of the key figures who are still alive — including several who hadn’t spoken out previously.”” July 3, 2019
Minneapolis Star Tribune | June 30, 2019
“Salamon provides a 360-degree view of the tragic, endless cycle of the killing of innocents.”” [This review appeared in Star Tribune papers around the country]
New York Daily News | June 30, 2019
“An Innocent Bystander” tells the awful story of Palestinian terrorists hijacking an Italian cruise ship. It details how one shot an elderly American invalid and threw him overboard.It also explains how competing governments, complicated treaties and outright lies kept the four attackers from ever facing American justice……Julie Salamon strives to be scrupulously fair. Her book focuses not only on the captives but also on the captors….”
The Forward | June 24, 2019
“…a panoptic view of an act of terror that captivated the world and continues to ripple through foreign policy surrounding the Middle East. Speaking with one of the hijackers, the family of the hijackings mastermind, Abu al-Abbas and the widow of Alex Odeh, a Palestinian-American activist believed to have been murdered by Jewish extremists for comments he made to the press in the wake of the hijacking, Salamon reveals new dimensions to an old, too often simplified, story.”
The Jewish News.com | June 20, 2019
“…Salamon interviews most of the participants who are still living, including one of the hijackers, and creates a powerful and provocative narrative.”
The New York Times | June 18, 2019
“[Salamon’s] book’s greatest contribution is the way that it humanizes the political ordeal…her book offers valuable insight. Toward the end of her account, she quotes Peter Sellars, the director of John Adams’s opera “The Death of Klinghoffer.” He said he was drawn to the story of the “strange floating vessel that contained this explosive conflict,” […]
NPR | June 15, 2019
“Leon Klinghoffer’s death became a symbol for many of the costs and fears of terrorism.Julie Salamon, a journalist formerly of The Wall Street Journal, has written a book about that moment and the human threads that followed in a way that depicts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”
Read the transcript of Scott Simon’s interview
Publishers Weekly | June 7, 2019 [starred review]
“Salamon (Wendy and the Lost Boys) set out to write about the daughters of Leon Klinghoffer, the American tourist murdered during the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship. But her research led to her to produce a much broader book detailing not only the terrorist incident that shook America but also the lives of those involved, including the terrorists….This moving story stands as the most in-depth look at the hijacking to date. Salamon reinforces her place as one of today’s foremost chroniclers of American politics and culture. ”
Read the full review.
Kirkus | May 8, 2019
“In this gripping account, former Wall Street Journal and New York Times reporter and critic Salamon adeptly reveals the parallel lives of the well-educated and privileged wife of the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Front and the successful, New York City-bred daughters of abductees Marilyn and Leon Klinghoffer. Salamon’s account of the strategizing of Palestinian, Israeli, and American diplomats, followed by the soldiers’ captures and subsequent escapes, are as engaging as a spy novel… An engrossing narrative of a notorious act of terror.”
Read the full review.
Goodreads | March 15, 2019
“This is how all history should be written: profoundly personal and intimate. Never clearly right versus wrong. Messily human. Easily read and packed with facts that are never dry and boring. I ache for the Klinghoffers , for the Palestinian families, for Israel. It is a story that shows how hardline approaches only cause suffering and not a solution. This is a history book, but the story is so relevant today, the issues so pressing and alive and unresolved.
Read the full review.
Reviews and Articles for Mutt’s Promise
Publishers Weekly review | Dec 21, 2015
Kirkus (starred review) | Dec 8, 2015
Mom Read it review | Oct 15, 2015
Reviews and Articles for Cat in the City
The NH Chronicle | Jan 15, 2015
Lovely interview with illustrator Jill Weber from her New Hampshire studio.
The Concord Monitor | Dec. 14, 2014
This time of year brings out the child in all of us, and adult readers are often looking for a book to share with children they may not see often. Cat in the City is that kind of book, a warm tale well told…Weber’s colorful illustrations remind me of Maira Kalman’s – stylized and unfussy but full of life and movement and emotion.
Babynames Blog | Dec. 16, 2014
Whether a child is six or 12, this story about city cat life will be sure to engage and delight. There are higher level concepts like identity, family, and belonging; but there is enough action for younger kids to enjoy and grow as readers, even if they don’t get all the bigger stuff. This one is begging to be re-read as kids grow.
Washington Square Park Blog | Dec. 2014
“Cat in the City” is geared to children but adults will appreciate the story too – and the marvelous illustrations!
Publishers Weekly | June 16, 2014
Review
“bohemian bonhomie…”
Booklist
Review
“He is just a stray white cat until he wanders into a dog park, follows a dog walker, and lands in a New York City knickknack shop. Fed by the owner and adored by the next-door hairdresser, the newly dubbed Pretty Boy finds himself sitting pretty indeed. Human friends, canine friends—what else does a cat need? Salamon’s breezy but sophisticated chapter book has New York down cold—street musicians, subway rats, ridiculous rents, and all. …a subtle, dry style that should make this a hit with adults as much as kids. Weber’s glossy, full-color spot illustrations have plenty of Greenwich Village quirk and find a charming balance with an animal-centered story line that is both naturalistic and believable. A sweet love letter to New York, cats, and what it means to be “home.”
School Library Journal
Review
“With the theme of belonging at the forefront of the novel—from Pretty Boy’s search for a home to Eli’s struggle to adjust to urban life—the author successfully offers a story for young readers trying to discover their place in the world and their niche in life, and the flux and uncertainty that often goes with it. Weber’s full-color illustrations brighten the pages, further adding to the charm of the book, and the ending, in which Pretty Boy finally finds a permanent, happy home, is satisfying. Bittersweet and meaningful, Cat in the City shows the solemnity and inevitability of change and the importance of finding a family and a home to call your own.”
NextGen | July 7, 2014
Article by Nicole Kontogiannis
“This is a must-read”
Center for Fiction
Review by Celia McGee
“Now, greet with pleasure Cat in the City, proof that traditional opposites can attract and actually roll around in teachable moments.”
Good Enough Mothering | {Oct 5 Lessons from Animals}
“Intended for 8 to 12 year olds it is a wonderful story that children will enjoy, with a level of sophistication that speaks to adults. It is a story about friendship between animals, between animals and humans, a story about love and unexpected relationships. For city lovers, music lovers and landmark lovers, there is much that is a special feast. The author clearly loves all three and shares that special feeling in a way that is captivating”
Fox 5 News with Ernie Anastos
Interview about how I came to write CAT IN THE CITY
The Brooklyn Eagle
“Salamon’s heartwarming narrative is complimented by full-color illustrations, and the result is a gorgeous, witty, and resonating read that will be a favorite among young readers, pet lovers, and New Yorkers alike.”
The New York Times Closeup with Sam Roberts on Time Warner Cable
Interview about Cat in the City.
Review by Constance Vidor, head librarian at Friends Seminary, NYC
“The lonely stray cat doesn’t even have a name when the story opens. His search for a family, a home, and friends takes him all over the city, gaining and losing one home after another. His first family is priced out of the neighborhood; his second family develops cat allergies; his third family (a famous hotel cat) is somehow not quite right…adult readers who have had their own odysseys through New York City in search of a home will recognize these familiar motifs. Child readers will feel themselves completely engaged in every episode. Cat in the City has something of the same tone and appeal as Charlotte’s Web, and like E.B. White’s classic, it communicates as much through its sparkling, evocative illustrations as through its text.”
Review by Laura Abrams, elementary school teacher, Denver, Colorado
Cat in the City is a must read. As an elementary school teacher for over 10 years, I appreciate Julie Salamon’s ability to create loveable characters, while also including higher-level vocabulary that both challenges and educates young readers.
Tufts Magazine | Fall 2014
Interview about what it was like switching from non-fiction to children’s book.
Tufts Observer | November 13, 2014
Interview by Sahar Roodehch
“Authors in the literary world are often defined by their genre. Whether romance or science fiction or fantasy, authors tend to find a genre that they succeed in and stick to it. Julie Salamon is an exception; she follows no trend. Instead, throughout her writing career, she has found relatable themes to inspire her in her work—and an impressive array of novels has come forth.”
Examiner
Review | Nov. 5, 2014
Kids and adults alike will enjoy reading about Pretty Boy’s adventures in the city…The book, aimed at middle grade readers, would be a great read aloud for younger readers. But everyone can enjoy this simple, joyful story. And classroom teachers? Have students plot the locations Pretty Boy visits on a map. Have students research New York City and some of the places Pretty Boy talks about. And definitely listen to the cello music that Pretty Boy’s friends play…The illustrations by Jill Weber also deserve a special mention. The colorful drawings are generously sprinkled throughout the book, and while they are simple in nature, they are moving. The faces — on humans and animals — are almost cartoonish, but filled
with emotion.
The Nashua Telegraph Sunday Magazine
“…utterly charming….a beautiful addition to your holiday gift-giving.”
Holiday Gift Guide | Dec 16, 2014
Selected as one of only eleven chapter books on their 2014 Holiday Gift Guide
Reviews and Articles for Wendy and the Lost Boys
ArtInfo | January 31, 2012
Interview by Patrick Pacheco
Los Angeles Review of Books, | November 26, 2011
A mini-play and sort-of-review by Joy Horowitz and Deborah Frost
“Currently, they share a mutual obsession with Julie Salamon’s biography of Wendy Wasserstein”
The New York Times | November 16, 2011
Review by Charles Isherwood
Holiday Gift Guide: “Immensely enjoyable biography”
St. Louis Jewish Light | October 26, 2011
Review / Interview by Patricia Corrigan
The New York Times | October 21, 2011
Review by Charles Isherwood “Arts Beat”
“Ms. Salamon provides a captivating look at the New York theater world in the 1980s, when Ms. Wasserstein’s career took off.”
Ct Post.com | September 29, 2011
Interview by Joe Meyers
The Day.com | September 28, 2011
Interview by Amy Barry
Writerinterrupted.com | September 17, 2011
Review
“This book inspired me, as Wasserstein inspired many: what we write matters.”
Baltimore Jewish Times | September 16, 2011
Review
“Salamon’s research into Wasserstein’s life fills in the gaps of the Wendy persona the adoring public didn’t know existed.”
National Post | September 16, 2011
Review
“Respectful but never fawning”
Joan Hamburg WOR | September 13, 2011
Radio Interview
Joan Hamburg talks to Julie about “Wendy and the Lost Boys”
The Leonard Lopate Show | WNYC, September 12, 2011
Radio Interview Guest host Elliott Forrest interviews Julie Salamon
The Jewish Journal | September 14 ,2011
Review “Page turning biography”
The New Yorker | September 12, 2011
Review
“Excellent…in a sense, Salamon’s voice is like that of a Wasserstein character, a late-night girlfriend who tells you the truth, but confidentially, and sideways.”
New York Daily News | September 11, 2011
Interview 9/11 Remembered
TheaterAdvisor | September 8, 2011
Interview
“Read this book. Even if you’ve never been to a Broadway play, even if you’re not Jewish. Because you’ll find out what it takes to make it. And the costs thereof.”
Adaumbelle’s Quest | September 4, 2011
Q&A with author Interview with Adam Rothenberg
The Los Angeles Times | September 4, 2011
Review
“Top notch…a penetrating biography.”
Oprah,com, September 2011|
Review
Wendy and the Lost Boys is one of “18 books to watch for in September”
Jewish Forward | September 9, 2011
Review
“well-researched, engrossing”
Washington Post | September 1, 2011
Review
“astute…[Salamon]seems to have gained the trust of all the key living players in Wasserstein’s life…”
The Daily Beast | August 30
Essay “What Wendy Knew” by Julie Salamon
Tablet | August 30,2011
Review
“After reading Wendy and the Lost Boys, it’s easy to feel that the best play about[Wasserstein’s] life has yet to be written—and that it wouldn’t be a comedy.”
Playbill.com | August 28,2011
Review
“illustrates the career and life of Wendy Wasserstein in smashingly good, can’t-put-the-book-down read-through-the night form.”
San FranciscoChronicle | August 28,2011
Review
“immensely readable, journalistically scrupulous”
The New York Times Sunday Book Review | August 28,2011
Review
“highly readable in the way profiles are, spinning a colorful narrative of failure and fame, disappointment and satisfaction, while hitting all the right marks.”
The Seattle Times| August 27,2011
Review / Interview
“compelling, revealing and insightful new biography”
The Miami Herald | August 27,2011
Review
“entertaining and accessible.”
Barnes and Noble | August 26,2011
Review
“Penetrating new biography…”
Macleans | August 26, 2011 “The narrative is packed with pathos and drama, along with insight into incestuous Broadway politics…”
St. Louis Jewish Light | August 24, 2011
Review
“a revealing, sometimes funny, often moving story of a first-generation American Jewish woman”
Entertainment Weekly | September 2, 2011
Review
“fascinating….deeply personal portrait”
Chicago Sun Times | August 24, 2011
Review
“Compulsively readable….”
The Hairpin.com | August 23,2011
Review
“Wendy and the Lost Boys is tremendously strong on Wasserstein’s family, her secrecy, her entourage of devoted friends, her relationship with money and class, and the marvelous ambivalence of her plays.”
Wall Street Journal Speakeasy | August 22, 2011
Q&A with author Interview with Barbara Chai
New York Daily News| August 22,2011
Review
“… a finely detailed, nuanced portrait of Wasserstein’s life and times.”
CurtainUp | August 22, 2011
Review
“….while biographies don’t usually fall into the ‘can’t put it down good read’ category for me, this book is just that.”
The New York Journal of Books | August 22, 2011
Review
“…well-researched, beautifully rendered”
The New York Times Sunday | August 21
Essay
“In Defense of Secrecy” by Julie Salamon
Theatremania.com | August 20
Review
“Salamon…fathomlessly plumbs the late dramatist’s complex life”
The Progressive Reader | August 18, 2011
Q&A with author Interview with Barbara Jones
The Associated Press | August 18, 2011
Review
“a thorough and engaging account”
Playbill.com | August 18, 2011
Q&A with author Interview with Mervyn Rothstein
NPR Morning Edition | August 18, 2011
Report Interview with Susan Stamberg
The New York Times | August 17, 2011
Review
“shrewd, gripping…more like a novel than a biography”
NPR.org | August 17, 2011
Review
“a book as entertaining and personable as its subject”
Bloomberg.com | August 17,2011
Review
“Salamon is a gifted storyteller”
Examiner.com | August 16, 2011
Q&A with author Interview with Paige Crutcher
Vogue | August 16, 2011
Review
“as this biography shows, [Wasserstein’s] dramatic presence—real, unflinching, and bitingly honest, far from the gauzy Neverland of cultural celebrity—hasn’t dimmed at all.”
The Economist | August 13, 2011
Review
“….engaging new biography”
Examiner.com | August 10, 2011
Review
“In Julie Salamon’s beautifully written authorized biography of the playwright, Wendy Wasserstein is brought back to the stage for her final bow. Wendy and the Lost Boys is a journey through the many stages of love and its ability to break a heart, shape ambition and foster genius.”
Jewish Woman Magazine | August, 2011
Article
“…written with much sensitivity and insight.”
Moment Magazine | July/August, 2011
Review
“…Wendy and the Lost Boys is full of laughs and full of anguish. It might remind you of a Wendy Wasserstein play.”
Connecticut Post | July 27, 2011
Review
“Julie Salamon gave us what is probably the best book ever written about the production of a movie — “The Devil’s Candy” — and on August 22 she will deliver a terrific glimpse into the New York theater scene of the past 40 years, ‘Wendy and the Lost Boys’…”
Library Journal | June 15, 2011
Review
“…[Salamon] richly details the life of Wendy Wasserstein (1950–2006) in this first authorized biography. In it are all the big names of New York theater from the 1960s–70s, but don’t read this book if it’s gossip you’re after. Read it because Wasserstein’s life was full of drama and because her characters just begin to approach the truth of her story, one that deserves its own dramatization… VERDICT You will laugh and you will, most assuredly, cry. Enthusiastically recommended.”
Kirkus Reviews | June 1, 2011
Review
*** “The book excels…in elucidating Wasserstein’s complex personality and the creative, unconventional life she fashioned for herself, balancing fraught but committed family ties with a busy social life teeming with devoted friends…Perceptive and empathetic, but also gently unsparing—a superbly nuanced portrait.”
Booklist | June 1, 2011
Review
*** “…this fascinating biography reveals a whirling dervish of a woman who seems much more lost than her boys. To those who thought that Wasserstein’s writings, Pulitzer Prize notwithstanding, were heavy on navel-gazing, Salamon delivers the back story…and a sympathetic yet layered portrait of a warm woman who was able to elevant and belittle herself in the same sentence, who was both driven and never quite certain where she wanted to go.”
New York Daily News | May 29, 2011
Preview
“Julie Salamon is a helluva journalist and her “Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein” (8/18) is a helluva story.”
Los Angeles Times | May 23, 2011
Article
“What novels and biographies are coming? What’s quirky? What should the kids be reading? Let our special reading guide of new and forthcoming titles help you decide what to read this summer.”
Publisher’s Weekly | May 11, 2011
Review
“Salamon brings full circle the life of Wendy Wasserstein in this insightful biography of the Pulitzer–and Tony-winning playwright…(this) thoroughly researched account of a too-short life brings readers as close as anyone .”
Reviews and Articles for Hospital
One Book, One Hospital | July 2009
Hospital will be featured as the July choice for the Nebraska Hospital Association’s One Book One Hospital reading program.
Wall Street Journal | December 24, 2008
Review
Wall Street Journal recommends Hospital as one of five best health books of 2008
Freakonomics | June 30, 2008
Q&A: Death, Birth, Money, and Diversity with the Author of Hospital, Julie Salamon
Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC | May 28, 2008
Julie Salamon speaks with Brian Lehrer about her year following the action at Brookyn’s Maimonides Hospital
Los Angeles Times | June 18,2008
Commentary by Julie Salamon
Healthy Respect. Nasty doctors? Testy nurses? Some hospitals are saying enough…
Prescriptions for Health Reform: Interview with Julie Salamon | August 7, 2009
Interview by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation
PBS Open Mind January 2009 Three part interview with Hospital author Julie Salamon
WRNN-TV | July 23, 2008
Healing Our Healthcare: The Story of Maimonides Medical Center
Search Magazine | July/August 2008
Hospital or Holy Ground?
Interview on Psychojourney | July 12, 2008
Deborah Harper, President of Psychjourney, interviews Ms. Julie Salamon
Sam Tanenhaus, editor New York Times Book Review | July 3, 2008
Interview about Hospital
WILL Public Media | June 30,2008
Interview on WILL Public Media, University of Illinois, an NPR station
WMNF Tampa Public Radio | June 6,2008
WMNF’s Mitch Perry interviews Julie Salamon about Hospital.
New Hampshire Public Radio | May 29,2008
Virginia Prescott interviews Julie Salamon on New Hampshire Public Radio about Hospital.