I probably should not make a habit of using this space to recommend that you read something other than this newspaper. But here it goes.
It seems to me that Mike Stanton’s biography of the former mayor of our capital city, “The Prince of Providence: The True Story of Buddy Cianci, America’s Most Notorious Mayor, Some Wiseguys, and the Feds,” is a worthwhile summer read for a couple of reasons, not the least of which being its pure entertainment value. After all, if you have lived or worked in or around Providence for any length of time during the past 30 years, you’ve probably got a Buddy Cianci story of your own. Certainly, you are going to recognize many of the characters, events and places contained in the book.
But even more than that, “The Prince of Providence” is likely to provide an invaluable civics lesson and some dramatic insight into the man who so shaped Providence for nearly three decades.
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I’m going to read it.
First of all, the early reviews have been terrific. Darrell West, a professor of political science at Brown University and a true expert on Rhode Island’s political scene, gave it an excellent review in the Providence Journal.
In fact, when I spoke to West about the book last week he was effusive in his praise. He told me that he absolutely loved it.
“It’s a wonderful book,” he said.
And Steve Weinberg, a biographer living in Missouri, gave it mostly high marks in a review published in the Boston Globe. Weinberg wrote: “Stanton has walked across the high wire successfully. ‘The Prince of Providence’ is one of the best books about contemporary politics, on par with Buzz Bizzinger’s ‘A Prayer for the City,’ set in Philadelphia.”
Weinberg also wrote: “Far too many biographies are reductionist – the biographer decides that one and only one quality (such as greed) drives the subject, then builds the book around that artificial theme. Stanton admirably avoids reductionism by explaining Cianci’s numerous traits, which, as in most humans, are often at war with themselves.”
That the book is apparently so broad in scope is a good thing, particularly for the local audience. People tend to have strong feelings about one Vincent A. Cianci Jr., whether they worked for him, against him or simply bumped into him one night at a church supper, Little League banquet or wake.
You get the sense that Buddy Cianci loyalists will either ignore Stanton’s effort altogether, or dismiss it as some sort of unwarranted attack on their hero. But that would be a mistake, according to Weinberg, because Stanton, in his opinion, succeeds at showing the many sides of the complicated former mayor.
And opponents of the former mayor who may embrace the biography, holding it up as hard evidence that Cianci was a scoundrel, not a saint, should be prepared to digest an in-depth look at an individual who could always captivate an audience – whether it be at a community center or at a dinner with corporate executives.
So why should you care – why should you invest the time and the $25.95 suggested retail price?
I think because an educated opinion is worth so much more than one based on some misguided loyalty or misinformation. And there is still so much to learn from the Cianci administration.
What made him so popular? Why was so much bad allowed to coexist with so much good?
West sees a real civics lesson in the book and suggests that it is a good thing for people to be exposed “to what they should be paying attention to.”
“It will open the eyes of a lot of people as to how government functions,” he said. “Everybody should read it. People will find it very informative.”
You don’t have to stop liking Buddy Cianci because of anything you read in a biography. If you so choose, you can remember his legacy as more about downtown development, safer streets and an NBC drama than a federal trial called Plunder Dome and a fiscal mess that may take years to clean. And of course, you don’t have to start liking him either.
But the point is there is much we can learn about the man – about our city. And by learning more through this book, we will be better able to explain to others who ask us: Whatever became of Buddy Cianci?
Maybe we’ll have just a bit more insight into his popularity, his charm – and why he ended up in a federal prison in New Jersey.
