Part II – Finalists of the 2014 Pulitzer Awards: Letters, Drama and Music – the Perfect Trio

Genocide, added to the Watergate scandal as seen through the eyes of a Pulitzer Prize 2014 Finalist.

In this second part of the two part series we continue to look at some of the works of the finalists in the Pulitzer Prize awards in the Letters, Drama and Music category of 2014 where only U.S. citizens are eligible to apply. There are 21 Pulitzer categories, and in 20 of those categories, the winners receive a $10,000 cash award and a certificate while the winner of the Public Service category is always a news organization and is awarded a gold medal instead of a monetary prize.

Stay with us as we illustrate, in our US gambling news section, how poignant the works of these finalists are. Looking at the last 7 of the works that made it to the finals of the 2014 Pulitzer Prizes Nominations In Letters, Drama and Music, we can easily bet on why they are still being talked about a year later.

Nixon linked to genocide

Take for instance, Jonathan Sperber’s work, Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life by (Liveright) which caused s little bit of stir in the political arena where communism is almost taboo in the US. The book recounts events about Marx and his ideas, giving us some intriguing perspective into the communist era, based on the social and intellectual settings of the 1800s. Hmm… we wonder, would we be allowed to vote if Marx had had is way?

In Poetry, The Sleep of Reason by Morri Creech, gives readers a masterly array of poems that dwells on the inner experience of a man in mid-life crisis, ready to bet on mobile betting among other things, we are sure. Well, what were actually explored were issues on mortality, passage of time and more traditional themes.

While TV debates in 2015 who will win this year’s Poetry award, we salute 2014 Finalist, Adrian Matejka, for his poem, The Big Smoke, published by Penguin. The poem is about the famous boxer Jack Johnson, which can best be described as an engaging treasure that commands a good read.

As far as General Nonfiction, The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide by Gary J. Bass is concerned, it also proved to be a winner albeit, a finalist. For no one can be left unscathed, at least morally, as one reads about the deadly secret of an American president and his national security advisor.

Indeed, in and around the epic description of the 1971 Pakistani civil war, we discover that the Watergate scandal is not the least of Nixon’s secrets that got exposed. According to what’s written in The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide, Nixon and his cohort seem to have played a role in the genocide of hundreds of thousands and which, inadvertently, created millions of refugees.

Religious rapture and awesome travel in musical moments

The post-Cold War era is depicted in the non-fiction work, The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War, which was also a finalist. The author, Fred Kaplan, pulls readers into an absorbing real-life version of how a general single-handedly influenced and re-organized America’s military strategy.

For distinguished musical composition by an American that has had its first performance or recording in the United States during the year, The Gospel According to the Other Mary by John Adams, published by Boosey & Hawkes was nominated. The composition is a rather stalwart oratorio about the life of Jesus Christ, leading up to his crucifixion. The music is passionate and forceful as the story unfolds, made so real by the innovative variety of resonant sounds.

A second music finalist was the Invisible Cities by Christopher Cerrone which also captivates the hearts of music lovers. The opera is based on a novel by Italo Calvino in which Marco Polo entertains Kublai Khan with tales of awesome cities “adapted into an imaginary sonic landscape”.

Although the works described weren’t chosen to be Pulitzer Prizes winners, bettors under US gambling laws certainly would place wagers on these Pulitzer Prizes finalists as their works contribute largely to America’s literary and musical history. We look forward to perusing the works of this year’s Pulitzer finalists too.