Claremont-raised Joe Steinfield is back this weekend to discuss his latest book.
The discussion and subsequent signing session will take place Saturday at 1:00 pm at Violet’s Book Exchange in Opera House Square.
Released last month by Bauhan Publishing, Time For Everything is a collection of short essays. One of the main sections of the book discusses the Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the Rule of Law. Speaking to readers on a very important issue is attorney Joseph D. Steinfield. Yet he does not use legal terms. He writes for a general audience.
Other major sections of the book include smaller essays on people, heroes, friends, family, sports, being Jewish, travel, and other topics. Sharing the memories is Joe Steinfield, a Claremont native and graduate of Stevens High School (1957). This section picks up where Joe’s previous book left off. That book, also available at Violet’s, is “Claremont Boy: My New Hampshire Roots and the Gift of Memory” (Bauhan, 2014).
Joe grew up in a time when Claremont was full of factories and jobs. It used to be the shopping mecca of the area before the interstates, a safe and happy place.
“Back then, in the 1940s and ’50s,” writes Joe. At the time, drugs existed, but not in our town, but in places as far afield as New York City.
“Crime was something else we didn’t have. Apparently there was once a murder in Claremont, but no one gave any details about who was the victim or what happened to the killer.
“Pollution? Of course we had it. Factories, including my father’s on the Sugar River, contributed to it, but no one talked about it.”
In Joe’s time, people didn’t just know the store. I knew the owner. Joe remembers the downtown of his days, when Jewish merchants lined Pleasant Street and there were three hotels.
Joe has seen many changes in Claremont over the decades. “Like many mill towns, Claremont has been through tough times,” Joe says. “The town was quite prosperous at the time. It was a fairly busy downtown area. Back then, behind every shop window was a store.”
Joe grew up on a street called Edgewood, today’s Foster Place. “John McClane Clark owned the Claremont Daily Eagle [now the Eagle Times]His widow, Rhoda Shaw-Clark, has moved in next door to us. She ran the newspaper for many years. ” The Steinfield family read The Eagle. “He had two newspapers when he was a kid,” Joe writes. “Daily Eagle and Boston Records”
Joe’s memory is vivid. He draws connections between people and events that the less observant never realized.
The writing is candid, moving, relatable, witty, and sometimes poignant. For example, he said of his mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s: She died for another reason before it took away all her abilities. “
Joe drops a few pearls of wisdom into his book, such as “often facts are just opinions expressed with absolute certainty.”
Throughout the book, Joe’s memories of meeting celebrities, including Duke Ellington, Daniel Ellsberg, Dom DiMaggio, Bob Cousy, Dorothy Loudon, Janet Napolitano, Michael Dukakis, Ozzy Osbourne, and Julia Child is spelled out.
Child never endorsed the product and if her likeness appeared in one she would file a lawsuit through Joe’s law firm. I donated to an American Food and Wine Institute. “Then,” writes Joe. Institutes need money.
“Time for Everything” is $22 and “Claremont Boy” is $24.95. Both can be purchased from the publisher. However, please bear the shipping fee. Go Violet.
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