14 書香人物 P E R S O N A L I T Y & B O O K S SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2008 • TAIPEI TIMES

[ HARDCOVER: U s ] SUNDAY PROFILE Read all about it! Man-bats on the moon In 1835 the ‘Sun’ wowed New Yorkers with an elaborate and extremely profitable hoax

by Michael Kenney New York Times News Service, Boston

Among the take-it-for-granted marvels of computer technology could be counted the “Breaking News Alerts” that can be delivered to one’s computer — or even by a text message to the mobile phone. But at not so distant a time — even well into the 1950s — the cry of “Wuxtry, Wuxtry” could be heard as newspaper Extras were hawked on downtown street corners. The original in-your-ear news hawkers were the street urchins who peddled the Sun at a penny- a-paper on New York’s streets in the mid-1830s. And the story that they were hawking in the summer of 1835 is the subject of Matthew The Sun and the Moon: Italian crime reporter Rosaria Capacchione has been under 24-hour police protection since a death threat was issued against her in March.  Photo: NY Times News Service Goodman’s highly entertaining The remarkable true account of hoaxers, The Sun and the Moon — the showmen, dueling journalists, and lunar “Moon” being the Sun’s running man-bats in nineteenth-century New York account of its own hoax, the By Matthew Goodman discovery of life on the moon. And not just some primordial 350 pages life, but life worthy of a full- Making enemies in high places Basic Books blown hoax, unicorns and other mythic beasts, and — “Wuxtry, Rosaria Capacchione’s reporting on the mob Wuxtry” — man-bats who ran, Day announced on his front not only flew over the lunar page that daily circulation was has landed her on best-seller lists — and hit lists landscape and bathed in its 19,360. None of his six-penny lakes, but engaged in behaviors competitors sold more than a few By RACHEL DONADIO that had to be censored for the thousand. NY Times News Service, CASERTA, sensibilities of the Sun’s readers. And what a summer it The Sun was the two-year- must have been for the city’s Italy, it is called the Capacchione hates having Using trial transcripts and her nothing of material value was said politicians still relied on old creation of a journeyman newspaper readers. In “Saviano effect,” the intense a police escort. “I lost all the own reporting, she shows how missing. “They took a journalism the to deliver votes. printer-turned-journalistic pioneer, PT Barnum was exhibiting national focus on the Camorra freedom I had,” she said glumly the bosses profited from con- prize I had won,” she said. “That And it is hard for citizens to Benjamin Day, who conceived the his own hoax, an elderly black elicited by ’s last week, sitting at her desk at Il tracts to build a high-speed train one meant a lot to me.” distinguish between criminals idea of producing a “penny paper” woman who he was presenting 2006 best seller, , Mattino, in a concrete office block to Naples, through construction She does not know who did and non-criminals. to compete with the city’s existing as the 161-year-old nursemaid of which traced the rise of the in nondescript downtown Caserta. and through cartels that distrib- it. She does know that her police “You never know,” papers which sold for US$0.06 a George Washington. region’s violent and “The funny thing is, I’ve had ute sugar and other basic com- escort will only protect her so Capacchione said. “Or even copy. “It Shines for All” was the And then there was Edgar economically mighty clans. much more serious and clear and modities to Campania. Thanks to much. “If they wanted to kill me, worse, you do know.” motto over the nameplate. Allan Poe who was convinced that But while Saviano, 29, has evident threats over the years. the Camorra, the region also has they’d kill me with or without an A study last year found that The Sun’s secret weapons were Locke had stolen the idea for the become a household name But there wasn’t the Saviano high rates of cocaine addiction escort here or abroad,” she said. organized crime was the largest the street urchins who peddled moon stories from his own short — appearing regularly in the Ital- phenomenon,” she said. “The and elevated cancer levels from Capacchione prides herself on segment of the Italian economy, the paper, rising before dawn from story about a balloon voyage to ian news media even after death rest of the world didn’t know toxic waste dumping. her “scientific” approach — accounting for 7 percent of the alleyways where they huddled the moon, Hans Phaall — A Tale. threats have forced him into that the Camorra or the Casalesi “I didn’t want to write a book, reading the signs, combing through Italy’s gross domestic product, or together, buying their bundles of That had appeared, obscurely, in hiding — others have spent years existed,” she said, adding, “I’ve but Rizzoli practically forced me court documents. In one trial, she US$127 billion a year. papers, at US$0.67 for a hundred the Southern Literary Messenger quietly covering, and uncovering, been doing this job since before to,” Capacchione said, refer- noticed that prosecutors had not So what’s the solution? “I papers, and hoping to make just two months before Locke’s the same polluted terrain. Saviano was born.” ring to her Italian publisher. provided as much background don’t know,” Capacchione said. enough for a supper of a butter stories began running in the Sun. One of the most respected is Under the Camorra, in recent Instead, she sees herself as a beat information on one defendant as “It’s a complex problem.” Over cake and coffee. But when the Sun went Rosaria Capacchione, a veteran decades the Campania region, reporter, uncomfortable with the they had on the others. “I went and the years “they’ve arrested hun- The hoax came as the prover- looking for another hoax, some reporter for Il Mattino, a daily which surrounds Naples, has “media circus” that erupted after filled in the missing pieces.” dreds and hundreds of people.” bial “pennies from heaven,” for nine years later, it turned to Poe newspaper in Caserta, outside become the hub of an interna- she was threatened. It is a battle of wits and wills Indeed, since the mid-1990s, a few weeks making them rich who produced an account of a Naples, who since the mid-1980s tional criminal web involving Capacchione, 48, was born between the Camorristi and the More than 500 people have been enough for oyster suppers and balloon crossing of the Atlantic, has reported on the short lives, drug trafficking, illegal waste and raised in Caserta and still authorities. “The most fun thing is arrested and more than 4,000 warm beds. three days from England to the violent deaths and intricate dumping, public works fraud lives there today. She has heavy, when you find smart authorities investigated as part of operations It was the brainstorm of a Carolina coast. finances of the members of the and money laundering through Levantine eyes, a smoker’s voice fighting smart criminals,” she said. like the continuing “Spartacus” British immigrant, Richard Adams As for the Sun, it merged with Camorra’s ruling families, particu- semi-legitimate businesses like and a small, sparkling cross “It becomes like a chess game.” trial, one of the most complex in Locke, who had been hired by the World-Telegram in 1950 — larly the Casalesi, as those who supermarkets and game parlors. around her neck. Reserved and In the land of the Camorra, Italian history. “My book is the Day as a police reporter. Locke and that morphed into the short- hail from the town of Castel di In her first book, The Gold of at times sardonic, she sometimes there is a blurry line between story of investigations,” she says. had an interest in astronomy and lived World Journal Tribune. Principe are known. the Camorra, which appeared in smiles and occasionally laughs. legality and illegality. It is not And yet nothing changes. The that apparently provided the seed The name resurfaced in the New Recently, that has led to November and is already on Italian But to be in Capacchione’s uncommon to find organized clan members “regenerate them- for the moon hoax. York Sun that died this fall after another kind of “Saviano effect.” best-seller lists, Capacchione presence is to absorb an intensity crime figures with relatives in selves.” As a reporter, “I’m on The weeklong series, writes a half-dozen years. The Sun itself In March, Capacchione was given tracks the careers of four of the — and fatalism — born from public office, law enforcement, the third generation,” she notes. Goodman, “a rich amalgam of is best remembered today for its a police escort after a Camorra Casalesi’s most brilliant criminal years spent covering a violent, the judicial system or other “They live short lives.” technical detail and lyrical fancy,” Christmas editorial of 1897, “Yes, defendant in a high-profile trial minds — , seemingly intractable conflict. state operations like health care, That everyone knows there is seemed, even to some who knew Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus,” issued a death threat against her , Michele Being in the front lines has its Capacchione said. “If I buy a a problem and yet no one — not something of astronomy, “utterly and among journalists, for the — as well as against Saviano and Zagaria and . The risks. Last month, Capacchione sentence, it means that someone the government, not the church, believable.” adage, “When a dog bites a man, a magistrate, Raffaele Cantone, first two are serving life sentences; came home to find things had sold it,” she said. not the military — applies the The public loved it. On the that is not news ... But if a man both of whom already had con- the others are on Italy’s most been moved around in her apart- While the Camorra may rely political will to solve it can seem Friday when the last installment bites a dog, that is news.” stant police protection. wanted list. ment — she lives alone — though less on politicians today, she worse than the problem itself.

[ HARDCOVER: U S ] The thin red line in the Taiwan Strait War involving Taiwan, China and the US is improbable, but even a small likelihood that it could happen should be enough to keep us awake at night

By J. Michael Cole worked and why future US adminis- out that Beijing, having no sub- Chinese leadership could think which Taiwan’s growing economic US Navy ships, or an aircraft carrier STAFF REPORTER trations should continue to abide stantial experience of democracy, that war against Taiwan — or even dependence on China has turned and hope that a few thousand US If the world is to see its first by this guiding principle. By oppos- is bound to misinterpret political against the US — is winnable, into a tempting, and possibly quite casualties would be enough to hot war between two nuclear ing unilateral moves by Taipei to developments in Taiwan, which which could make conflict likelier. effective, weapon. As the TRA deter further US action. Bush and superpowers in the 21st century, break the status quo — such as the could precipitate conflict. As such, Regarding Taiwan’s or the US’ refers to such a contingency as a O’Hanlon, however, argue that its principal cause will likely be declaration of a Taiwan Republic one conflict-preventing measure ability to counter a Chinese attack, “threat to peace and security of rather than break Washington’s a small democracy of 23 million — while providing assurances, as the authors propose is for Wash- Bush and O’Hanlon are optimists, the Western Pacific and of grave will, such a “limited” option would people. Or so argue Richard Bush stipulated in the Taiwan Relations ington to ensure that Beijing is concluding that with the People’s concern to the United States,” an spark retaliation and widen the and Michael O’Hanlon in their Act (TRA), that the US would able to “distinguish actions that the Liberation Army (PLA) lacking economic embargo against Taiwan war to China’s shores — including timely A War Like No Other. help Taiwan defend itself against island’s politicians take for political three critical determinants for a would likely prompt a response preventive conventional military Bush, a former director at the an unprovoked Chinese military gain and those that reflect policy successful amphibious assault from the US military, which could strikes against Chinese nuclear American Institute in Taiwan and attack, Washington’s strategy has intentions” as well as to impress — air superiority, initial troop/ be required to ensure safe passage installations. In return, fearing current director of the Center for been to create space and buy time upon the Chinese that Taiwanese firepower superiority at point of for Taiwanese and international that its nuclear arsenal would be Northeast Asian Studies at the so that leaders on both sides of are not necessarily opposed to all attack, and reinforcement advan- ships entering the Taiwan Strait. obliterated before it could use it, Brookings Institution in Wash- the Strait can resolve the conflict forms of unification. tage at point of attack — added Once the PLA and the US China could feel impelled to turn to ington, and O’Hanlon, a senior peacefully. Another important point the to hardened targets throughout military are brought within the nuclear option. military analyst at Brookings, use Published one year before the authors make is that the leader- Taiwan, an invasion would be pro- proximity to each other, with a With such imponderables, their considerable knowledge election of Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) ship in Taipei tends to assume hibitively costly, if not impossible. third party — Taiwan — beyond Bush and O’Hanlon contend, if in the fields of diplomacy and to the presidency and the Chinese rationality in Beijing regarding Other analysts, including William the control of both but capable perhaps alarmingly, that war in defense to show how the long- Nationalist Party’s (KMT) victory the Taiwan question, which could A War Like No Other: S. Murray, an associate professor of inflaming the situation, the the Taiwan Strait could “create standing political dispute between in the legislative elections, one can prompt the former to act “reck- The truth about China’s at the US Naval War College, are likelihood of escalation becomes the most serious nuclear risk since Taipei and Beijing over Taiwan’s nevertheless imagine the author’s lessly” — codeword for a move challenge to America less optimistic and counter that dangerously real, the authors the Cuban Missile Crisis.” It is, sovereignty could escalate to sigh of relief at Ma’s election and toward independence. Either as the optimistic view, including the argue. Errors could be committed therefore, in everybody’s advantage devastating effect and why world his peace initiative, which would the result of misinterpreted signals By Richard C. Bush III one O’Hanlon has held for years, that, unlike the peacetime mid- to prevent the cold war in the leaders should do everything in seem to confirm the wisdom of or actual “provocation” by Taipei, and Michael E. O’Hanlon fails to take into account the leaps air collision between an EP-3 Strait from turning into a hot one, their power to avoid this contin- Washington’s longstanding policies China could feel compelled to 232 pages made by the PLA in terms of mod- naval reconnaissance plane and and to this end, leaders in Taipei, gency from becoming reality. on the Taiwan Strait. In this vein, abandon diplomacy and apply ernization and accuracy. a Chinese fighter in 2001, could Beijing and Washington would John Wiley & Sons In commandingly clear prose the authors also make no effort to military pressure on Taiwan. Such Regardless of whether one easily spin out of control in a war benefit tremendously from heeding and avoiding overly technical conceal their assessment of the action would involve a variety of sides with O’Hanlon or Murray on scenario. With Beijing perhaps the warnings and prescriptions terminology, the authors explain administration of former president scenarios, from a naval blockade to tion that war in the Taiwan Strait this issue — and admittedly Bush working under the assumption that provided by the authors in this why the decades-old US policy of Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as having limited missile strikes to amphibi- remains unlikely given what the and O’Hanlon’s position appears Washington would be unprepared highly relevant book, and, for those mutual deterrence against Beijing’s been “provocative,” “unreasonable” ous invasion, used separately, incre- participants stand to lose in terms to be slightly overoptimistic — the to suffer mass casualties to defend in Taiwan, to overlook the authors’ hard-line “one China” stance and and taking unnecessary risks. Still, mentally, or in combination. of economic loss and casualties, likeliest scenario of a Chinese Taiwan (the so-called “imbalance of creeping bias against the Taiwanese Taipei’s desire for sovereignty has Bush and O’Hanlon helpfully point Despite the authors’ asser- there is a small chance that the attack remains the blockade, fervor”), the PLA could target a few independence movement.