Shelf Lives #9 - "You Try to Be a Stand-Up Human Being" (Denis)

There’s a park in New York that made me believe in places again. Denis took me there — both in this episode, then eventually in person. Gorman Park. It starts as a playground and opens like a wardrobe into music, languages, soccer games, and the kind of quiet joy you don’t expect to find tucked between apartment buildings.

Denis Gorman is a native New Yorker, a sports journalist, and the kind of man who reads All the President’s Men like it’s scripture and The Godfather like it’s family history. In this episode, we talk about legacy, loyalty, sports as storytelling, and how books anchor us when the world tries to shake the ground out from under us.

I promised I’d go visit that park, not because it was beautiful, but because it meant something to someone who trusted me with their story. 

And I'm so glad I did

Books Mentioned:

 Born to Steal by Gary Weiss
The Conspiracy to End America by Stuart Stevens
Giuliani: The Rise and Tragic Fall of America's Mayor by Andrew Kirtzman
Losing the Edge by Barry Meisel
 All the President's Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
The Godfather Series by Mario Puzo
Pain Hustlers by Evan Hughes
Wall Street vs. America by Gary Weiss
The Man Who Broke Capitalism by David Gelles
Confidence Man by Maggie Haberman
Patrick Roy: Winning. Nothing Else by Michael Roy
Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power by Anna Merlan
Murder on K Street by Margaret Truman Daniel
We Are Proud Boys: How a Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered in a New Era of American Extremism by Andy B. Campbell
Confidence Men by Ron Suskind
Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump
Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy by Elizabeth Williamson
The Storm Is Upon Us: How Qanon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything by Mike Rothschild
Jewish Space Lasers by Mike Rothschild