Kernis Debut
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•

• 4.

The Lowdown
On Woody Allen

a

Detroit News columnist
George Cantor talks about
his latest book, setting
history straight and how he's
dealing with personal loss.

SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News

hree tourist at-tractions commemo-
rate the life of notorious Jewish
mobster Bugsy Siegel. Z'
At the Flamingo Hote Las
Vegas, where Siegel tried to hit monumental
pay dirt after a long history of criminal activi-
ty there is a marker bearing his likeness. The
hood's Beverly Hills home still stands as does
Castillo del Lago, his Spanish-style, Hollywood
Hills mansion used as a gambling casino for
the mob in the late 1930s.
The tourist guide for these places, along
with many other places associated with familiar
U.S. criminals, is Detroit- News columnist
George Cantor, through his new book, Bad

1 4 1

Guys in American History (Taylor Publishing
Co; $1 9,95),
The book's essays shoot holes into images
that glorify criminals. They read like stories,
and then call attention to places such as the
Massachusetts bed and breakfast where Lizzie
Borden's parents were murdered; the Wisconsin
bar and restaurant where John Dillinger's rob-
ber gang hid in 1934 and the Louisiana home-
stead where pirate Jean Lafitte visited.
With more than 30 years as a Detroit jour-
nalist, first with the Free Press and then with
the News, Cantor wants to set the record
straight about these people and discuss what
gave them celebrity status. Associatedl with the
History Channel as a consultant and writer,
the local author takes a light approach for this
subject.

vte

Bad Guys in

Cantor books, i2:, k . ok
columns and Thi' '
. R ecy pub-
lished, the book gave the columnist cgst.tAction
,
from personal tragedy, the 1998 loss of his
daughter Courtney in a fall from her dormito-
ry window. at tie University of Michigan.
Cantor, a Wayne State University graduate,
resides in Illoomfield Hills with his wife, Sherry,
and daughter, Jaime, a law school student. He
talked with the Jewish News about his latest work
as an author, his commitment to understanding
history changes in his life since the loss of his
daughter and the book he's planning to write
about Courtney. He could not discuss the legal
action currently pending against the U-M.

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CANDID CONVERSATION on page 76

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