LibGuides: Freeport Authors: L

La'Cella, John

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

John La’Cella started tap dancing at the age of five leading to his sense of time and coordination. He bought his first set of drums at 12 and has played with rock, R&B, jazz and fusion groups. He has a degree in musical performance from Five Towns Collage. He taught in the Long Beach area.

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Landsbergis, Algirdas

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Algirdas Landsbergis was born in Lithuanian and came to the United States in 1949 as a displaced person. He attended Columbia University where he earned a degree in comparative literature with a minor in history. He was a full professor of history at Fairleigh Dickinson University (1962-1992) and wrote 12 plays, a novel, two collections of short stories, a radio script, literary criticism and numerous articles. He was a member of the Dramatists Guild, International P.E.N. and the Authors League. He presented on a variety of topics in the libraries of Long Island.

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Lariar, Lawrence

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

A cartoonist, editor and author of mystery novels, Lawrence Lariar was the cartoon editor of Parade magazine. Previously, he held a similar post at Liberties magazine in 1948. He edited a number of anthologies, including the annual Best Cartoons of the Year from 1942 on. He wrote mysteries under the pseudonyms of Adam Knight and Michael Lawrence. He was the vice-president of the Freeport Artists’ Guild. He graduated from the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts in 1928 and won a fellowship to study in Paris. For a year, he worked for Walt Disney. His mystery, The Man with the Lumpy Nose, won a prize in 1944 from Dodd, Mead as the “best murder mystery of the year.”

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Larson, Erik

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Erik Larson grew up in Freeport and graduated from Freeport High School in 1972. He earned his B.A. in Russian history and culture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976 and went on to the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and graduated in 1978 with an M.S. He has been a feature writer for the Wall Street Journal, Time and has written articles for Harper’s, the Atlantic Monthly and the New Yorker. He taught non-fiction writing at San Francisco State, Johns Hopkins and the University of Oregon.

Dead Wake by Erik Larson
Call Number: LI R 940.4514 L
ISBN: 0307408868
Publication Date: 2015-03-10
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitania "Both terrifying and enthralling."--Entertainment Weekly "Thrilling, dramatic and powerful."--NPR "Thoroughly engrossing."--George R.R. Martin On May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were surprisingly at ease, even though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era's great transatlantic "Greyhounds"--the fastest liner then in service--and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack. Germany, however, was determined to change the rules of the game, and Walther Schwieger, the captain of Unterseeboot-20, was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, an ultra-secret British intelligence unit tracked Schwieger's U-boat, but told no one. As U-20 and the Lusitania made their way toward Liverpool, an array of forces both grand and achingly small--hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more--all converged to produce one of the great disasters of history. It is a story that many of us think we know but don't, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Full of glamour and suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope to President Woodrow Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love. Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history. Finalist for the Washington State Book Award * One of the Best Books of the Year: The Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Miami Herald, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, LibraryReads, Indigo
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Call Number: LI R 364.1523 L
ISBN: 0609608444
Publication Date: 2003-02-11
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The true tale of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and the cunning serial killer who used the magic and majesty of the fair to lure his victims to their death. Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America's rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair's brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country's most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his "World's Fair Hotel" just west of the fairgrounds--a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium. Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake. The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. Erik Larson's gifts as a storyteller are magnificently displayed in this rich narrative of the master builder, the killer, and the great fair that obsessed them both.
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
Call Number: LI R B DODD L
ISBN: 9780307408846
Publication Date: 2011-05-10
"Larson is a marvelous writer...superb at creating characters with a few short strokes."--New York Times Book Review Erik Larson has been widely acclaimed as a master of narrative non-fiction, and in his new book, the bestselling author of Devil in the White City turns his hand to a remarkable story set during Hitler's rise to power. The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the "New Germany," she has one affair after another, including with the suprisingly honorable first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels. But as evidence of Jewish persecution mounts, confirmed by chilling first-person testimony, her father telegraphs his concerns to a largely indifferent State Department back home. Dodd watches with alarm as Jews are attacked, the press is censored, and drafts of frightening new laws begin to circulate. As that first year unfolds and the shadows deepen, the Dodds experience days full of excitement, intrigue, romance--and ultimately, horror, when a climactic spasm of violence and murder reveals Hitler's true character and ruthless ambition. Suffused with the tense atmosphere of the period, and with unforgettable portraits of the bizarre Göring and the expectedly charming--yet wholly sinister--Goebbels, In the Garden of Beasts lends a stunning, eyewitness perspective on events as they unfold in real time, revealing an era of surprising nuance and complexity. The result is a dazzling, addictively readable work that speaks volumes about why the world did not recognize the grave threat posed by Hitler until Berlin, and Europe, were awash in blood and terror.
Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson
Call Number: [FREEPORT AUTHOR] LI R 976.4139 L
ISBN: 0375708278
Publication Date: 2000-07-11
From the bestselling author of The Devil in the White City, here is the true story of the deadliest hurricane in history. National Bestseller September 8, 1900, began innocently in the seaside town of Galveston, Texas. Even Isaac Cline, resident meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau failed to grasp the true meaning of the strange deep-sea swells and peculiar winds that greeted the city that morning. Mere hours later, Galveston found itself submerged in a monster hurricane that completely destroyed the town and killed over six thousand people in what remains the greatest natural disaster in American history--and Isaac Cline found himself the victim of a devastating personal tragedy. Using Cline's own telegrams, letters, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the science of hurricanes, Erik Larson builds a chronicle of one man's heroic struggle and fatal miscalculation in the face of a storm of unimaginable magnitude. Riveting, powerful, and unbearably suspenseful, Isaac's Storm is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets the great uncontrollable force of nature.
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
Call Number: LI R 940 L
ISBN: 9780385348713
Publication Date: 2020-02-25
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz--an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis "One of [Erik Larson's] best books yet . . . perfectly timed for the moment."--Time * "A bravura performance by one of America's greatest storytellers."--NPR NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review * Time * Vogue * NPR * The Washington Post * Chicago Tribune * The Globe & Mail * Fortune * Bloomberg * New York Post * The New York Public Library * Kirkus Reviews * LibraryReads * PopMatters On Winston Churchill's first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally--and willing to fight to the end. In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people "the art of being fearless." It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it's also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill's prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports--some released only recently--Larson provides a new lens on London's darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents' wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela's illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill's "Secret Circle," to whom he turns in the hardest moments. The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today's political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when, in the face of unrelenting horror, Churchill's eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
Call Number: [FREEPORT AUTHOR] LI R 364.1523 L
ISBN: 1400080665
Publication Date: 2006-10-24
A true story of love, murder, and the end of the world's "great hush." In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men--Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication--whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time. Set in Edwardian London and on the stormy coasts of Cornwall, Cape Cod, and Nova Scotia, Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners; scientific advances dazzled the public with visions of a world transformed; and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth. Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless, a prime catalyst for the emergence of the world we know today. Meanwhile, Crippen, "the kindest of men," nearly commits the perfect murder. With his unparalleled narrative skills, Erik Larson guides us through a relentlessly suspenseful chase over the waters of the North Atlantic. Along the way, he tells of a sad and tragic love affair that was described on the front pages of newspapers around the world, a chief inspector who found himself strangely sympathetic to the killer and his lover, and a driven and compelling inventor who transformed the way we communicate.

Larson, Orvin Prentiss

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Orvin Prentiss Larson was born in Minneapolis and died in Freeport. He attended Augustana College (B.A.) and the University of Iowa (M.A. and Ph.D.) He taught speech at a number of universities including Brooklyn College of CCNY.

Le Roux, E(ileen) V.

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Eileen V. Le Roux was born in the Bronx, moved to Brooklyn and then Freeport. She graduated from Freeport High School when she was 15. The inspiration for her work comes from being a mother of three, and grandmother of 12. She has taught art in private studios on Long Island. Some of her books are available at ebooks.palm.com.

Leavens, Peter Austin

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

“When an astrologer asked Peter Austin Leavens to list the significant events in his life, he started with a winter day in 1925 when he was 8 years old. It was an early encounter with what would be the love of his life. Leavens, who liked to say his name rhymed with "heavens," devoted his time on earth to watching the skies. He photographed eclipses for Life magazine and Newsday and wrote articles for The New York Times. Described by friends as a wonderful communicator, he also ran a popular summer star-gazing program in Waterfront Park, Freeport for nearly 35 years.” To read some of his articles, go to the archives at newsday.com and/or The New York Times. He produced a film about the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

Lee, Edna l. Moody

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Edna I. Moody Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia and was women’s editor at the Atlanta Journal. She also wrote for newspapers and radio and was an advertising executive. Two of her books were made into movies. All That Heaven Allows starred Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson; The Queen Bee featured Joan Crawford. She lived in Freeport since 1948 but moved to Rego Park, Queens at a later time.

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See Also:

Lee, Edna I. Moody (Freeport History Encyclopedia)

Lee, Harry

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

The son of Edna Lee, Harry Lee is also from Atlanta and worked for the Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution in the 1940s. He and his wife and two daughters lived with his mother in Freeport. His novel, Fox in the Cloak won the Carl Bohnenberger medal for “outstanding work in creative writing.” He was the Nassau chair of the Americans for Democratic Action.

See Also:

Lee, Edna I. Moody (Freeport History Encyclopedia)

Leet, Leonora

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Dr. Leonora Leet earned her B.A. from Brooklyn College (CUNY), M.A. from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in literature from Yale in 1960. She was a Fulbright fellow in 1955-1956. As a professor of English at Hofstra University, Queens College and St. John’s University, she specialized in Renaissance English literature. Dr. Leet studied the Kabbalah under noted kabbalist Aryeh Kaplan and Zalman Schachter-Salomi, and Pythagorean geometry under Robert Lawler at the Lindisfarne Institute.

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Lent, Edward

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Edward Lent was born in Brooklyn and attended public school until he was 15 when he went to work at the Brooklyn Times and worked until he went to St. Lawrence University where he worked his way through. He returned as a reporter to the Brooklyn Times and then the Brooklyn Eagle. Until Brooklyn’s consolidation into New York he was appointed secretary of the Civil Service Commission. He later worked for the Grand Union Company. He was a member of the Freeport Club and of the World War Memorial Association.

Being Done Good by Lent, Edward
Call Number: LI 817.568 L
Publication Date: 1904

Lerangis, Peter

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Peter Lerangis was born in Brooklyn, grew up in Freeport and graduated from Freeport High School in 1973. He earned his B.A. in biochemistry from Harvard in 1977. He has been an actor, singer, editor and writer and taught at the CUNY Graduate Center. He has written over 140 books including young adult fiction, screenplays, and nonfiction under various pseudonyms: Franklin W. Dixon, Carolyn Keene, A.L. Singer, and Morgan Burke. As A.L. Singer (an anagram of Lerangis), he wrote the Baby-Sitters Club series.

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Proof Positive by Peter Lerangis
Call Number: [FREEPORT AUTHOR] LI R J PB LERANGIS V.3
ISBN: 0439507278
Publication Date: 2005-01-01
It's been almost a full year since Andrew and Evie's mom disappeared, and the twins are determined to find her. They've been following her trail, decoding the clues she's left them. And that trail is drawing them closer to their mother than ever before. But now the Company is on to the fact that Mom is communicating with the twins -- and they'll do anything to get to her first. The Company's agents are desperate to intercept Mom's messages. It's up to Andrew and Evie to stop them -- and to find Mom before her enemies do.
Tunnel Vision by Peter Lerangis
Call Number: [FREEPORT AUTHOR] LI R FIC LERANGIS
ISBN: 0439507286
Publication Date: 2005-05-01
An exciting new spy series for kids ages 8-12 from master storyteller Peter Lerangis. Twins Andrew and Evie must decode clues that lead to their missing mother, a spy on the run from a gov't agency. Andrew and Evie have found Mom at last. But she had to come out of hiding to get to the twins, and now the Company is on to her aliases. There's only one solution: Mom has to go underground again, and this time, she's bringing Andrew and Evie with her. The twins are used to moving to new places, so at first taking on new identities doesn't seem like that big a deal. It's kind of fun, actually. But soon Andrew and Evie realize they're not just leaving behind another town -- they're leaving behind themselves, their personalities. And there's one more thing, too... Pop.
Spring Fever! by Peter Lerangis
Call Number: [FREEPORT AUTHOR] LI R PB LERANGIS
ISBN: 0590254715
Publication Date: 1996-02-01

Lieblich, Lillian

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Lillian Lieblich wrote short stories, light verse, children’s stories and magazine articles and was a contributor to Newsday. When her children left home, she started writing short stories, articles, light verse and children’s stories. She joined a play-writing group in Freeport coached by Warren Goodson, a Freeport playwright. She wrote her first play Natural Causes at the age of 55 that was on the boards Off-Off Broadway (Eccentric Circles Theatre in Manhattan) in 1984. She wrote, in 1979, a short play, "Hole in the Ground." As well as “Early Bird Special.” She has written four full length plays and three one act plays.

Liell, John Thomas

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

John Thomas Liell was born in Brooklyn, and graduated in 1939 from Mepham High School in Bellmore. Although he attended Hofstra, he left to join the Air Force and was a flight engineer from September, 1942 to February 1946. Upon his return, he resumed his studies at Hofstra and graduated in 1948 with a B.A. in sociology – a cum laude student. His master’s in sociology is from Yale (1949) as well as his Ph.D. He was a professor of sociology at Indiana University from 1954-2001. He has written many articles and reviews for scholarly journals including the American Sociological Review, the Journal of Asian Studies and The Advocate.

Lombardo, Guy (1902-1977)

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians (orchestra) played the “sweetest music this side of heaven.” He played on New Year’s Eve at the Roosevelt Hotel and later the Waldorf Astoria from 1929 to 1976. He and his wife Lillebelle lived in Freeport on a boat on Woodcleft Canal until 1939 when he built his house. He owned the East Point House and featured a package of a dinner and show at the Jones Beach Theater, where he was the producer. His hobby was hydroplane racing, and in his Tempo won the Gold Cup in 1946.

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See Also:

Lombardo, Guy (Freeport History Encyclopedia)

Low, Kenneth B.

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

A poet and science writer, Kenneth B. Low has written programs for broadcast with the National Broadcasting Service of New Zealand and for Amalgamated Wireless of Australia. He published extensively in London and India, particularly folklore and poetry. He was the director of the Ultimate Research Center, Science and Psychology. He had a paper published in a folk-lore journal of India, “The Science of Poetry.”

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Lowenthal, Gary Tobias

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Recently retired, Gary Lowenthal was a professor of law at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University for 31 years. A 1962 graduate of Freeport High School, he earned his B.A. from Harvard College (1966) and his J.D. from the University of Chicago in 1969. His research has concerned criminal justice and procedure. He has been a visiting professor at Stanford University and the University of Virginia. Before his academic career he was a criminal defense lawyer. On a sabbatical from ASU, he served as a prosecutor, specializing in gang related cases. He has contributed articles to the California Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Virginia Law Review and the University of Chicago Law Review. He currently lives in Santa Fe, NM.

Lucey, Mary A.

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Mary A. Lucey was a member of TASCA, The Atlantic South Civic Association.

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Lyle-Cook, Amanda

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Amanda Lyle-Coke is a graduate of SUNY, Westbury and Stony Brook, Hofstra and CCNY, Brooklyn. She golfs, sews, and sings.

Lyman, Shelby

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Shelby Lyman, a chess master, grew up in Brooklyn and is best known as the television analyst who explained the moves of Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky during their legendary matchup in 1972. His programs were called the highest-rated public televisions shows of the time. He lived in Freeport in the 1970s and wrote a chess column for Newsday and Games magazine. He continued to broadcast and produce chess programs for public television during the mid-1980s. At one time he taught sociology at City College of New York. Presently he writes about chess for a number of publications including The Columbus Dispatch.

Freeport Authors: L

La'Cella, John

Landsbergis, Algirdas

Lariar, Lawrence

Larson, Erik

Larson, Orvin Prentiss

Le Roux, E(ileen) V.

Leavens, Peter Austin

Lee, Edna l. Moody

Lee, Harry

Leet, Leonora

Lent, Edward

Lerangis, Peter

Lieblich, Lillian

Liell, John Thomas

Lombardo, Guy (1902-1977)

Low, Kenneth B.

Lowenthal, Gary Tobias

Lucey, Mary A.

Lyle-Cook, Amanda

Lyman, Shelby

Luna, Rose