Ledger’s maturity has helped him negotiate some tricky career decisions, turning down big-money projects that weren’t what he wanted to do, such as “Spider-Man. “You’ve got to realize ...

But it is not a fast read, The Ledger's Book Club agrees ... side of a very brutal time in the history of man underpins the entire story, the book is more tragedy than polemic, panelists said.

Retired Star-Ledger editorial cartoonist Bil Canfield of Phoenix, a former colleague of Mr. Mackin's at the News and illustrator of two of Mr. Mackin's books, recalled him as "a super-funny man ...