Looking Blackward

This time round, Arthur Black turns his critical eye and warped funny bone to the world beyond Salt Spring Island, lambasting the amateur ballplayer who sued because the sun was in his eyes, the craze for blood sports and our anachronistic fetish for suits and ties. Yet, compassion is in the air too, with Black rehabilitating one of the most ineffective US presidents, Jimmy Carter, into the greatest, and finding a shred of respect for Conrad Black (no relation), British lord, newspaper mogul and jailbird. Then there was the time Black found himself sleeping in Corsica between a woman and her husband. Needless to say, it was . . . complicated.