The Library Book

Peak was alleged to be the arsonist who set the Los Angeles Central Public Library on fire in April 1986. He was born in 1959 and raised in Santa Fe Springs, a town in Los Angeles County’s southeast valley. He was the son of Missouri-born Harry Peak, Sr. and his wife, Annabell. Harry was the youngest of four children. In addition to Debra, his elder siblings were a sister, Brenda, and a brother, Billy. As the youngest, his parents spoiled him. He sometimes annoyed his siblings with his “vanity and bragging” (47). Debra once became so aggravated that she “stabbed him with a fork” (47). Harry never had much of a relationship with Billy.

As a teenager, Harry was charming and popular with girls. He resembled actor Jon Voight. He was a good student, when he made an effort, and could write with both hands. He liked to entertain people by performing magic tricks and telling jokes. He was eager to please and to be seen. He was a persuasive person keen on telling stories and many lies—so many that even his family didn’t believe much of what he said. Peak enlisted in the army after graduating from high school. He then moved to Los Angeles, intending to become an actor. He was the only one among his siblings to get a high school diploma.

Harry was prone to great generosity, but he was also very irresponsible—unable even to pay his portion of rent. He never had a steady job but earned a living off of odd jobs. He won employers over with his charm and then disappointed them with his fecklessness, often ending up fired from jobs in which he worked as a driver and errand-runner. Orlean likened him to a tumbleweed—someone with no résumé or signs of stability.

Peak never appeared on television or in films, though he claimed he had. He was once hired as an extra during the 1980 remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice. Aside from being known as “the biggest bullshitter in the world” among intimates and acquaintances, he was also known for his very blond hair and “heavy swoop of bangs”—a remarkable hairstyle that he sported up to his appearance in the courtroom (1). No conclusive evidence was ever found proving that Peak was guilty of setting the fire. He filed a multimillion-dollar civil suit against the city of Los Angeles in response to the trial. He and the city settled on a $35,000 award. By this time, Peak was dying of AIDS. He passed away on April 13, 1993 in Palm Springs, California, where he lived with his partner, Alan.

Debra was Harry’s older sister and the eldest of the four Peak children. She serves as one of Orlean’s most important sources in helping her understand Harry’s life and, particularly, the circumstances of his upbringing. Orlean describes Debra as “small and muscular, with pale blue eyes and cottony blond hair and pretty dimples” (41). Debra appeared youthful and tough during the time of their interview and was also a grandmother in her mid-fifties. She was widowed, and her children were all adults. Debra moved back in with her parents to help care for them and to save on living expenses. Debra never denied her brother’s tendency for mischief but did not believe that he set the fire at Central Library. She also didn’t fully accept her brother’s homosexuality, believing that it was the result of an experience of sexual abuse and heartbreak. In several instances during her conversations with Orlean, Debra expressed views that were homophobic and anti-Semitic. Debra believed that the Peaks were generally beset by misfortune; her own included fibromyalgia.

Szabo is the city librarian of Los Angeles who currently oversees Central Library, 72 branch libraries, and the library system’s $194 million budget. Szabo was born in Orlando, Florida in 1968 and raised in Alabama, mostly near air force bases. Szabo developed his love of libraries and books as a result of his father leaving him “at the base library on nights when he had his bowling league” (63). When he was 16, Szabo got a job as a library clerk at the base library’s circulation desk. Szabo later studied at the University of Michigan’s graduate school for a degree in library science in the early-1990s. He was also tasked with running the small library in his student residence hall. He was so fastidious about his job that he was nicknamed “Conan the Librarian.”

After he obtained his degree, he applied for a job with a library in Robinson, Illinois. He was hired and remained there for three years. Robinson was a small, conservative town where Szabo learned how to fundraise in a community that might have been skeptical about the value of libraries. He convinced local farmers to vote in favor of a tax hike to benefit their local library. After his tenure there, he moved to Palm Harbor, Florida and ran the library there. Several years later, he was appointed director of the library system in Clearwater, Florida. He stayed for six years. While there, he met his partner Nick—a teacher. In 2005, Szabo was appointed to run Atlanta’s library system, which had a main library and 34 branches. It was also one of the last library systems to integrate racially.

Orlean describes Szabo as “tall and gangly, with a small, square head, a trim goatee” and an unflappable manner (64). He seemed like the perfect Southern gentleman, whose behavior was infused by military decorum. Szabo “wears round owlish glasses” and “tidy clothes” (66). He was one of few directors who smoothly transitioned into the Internet age. Szabo encouraged additional library services, such as enrichment courses, voter registration, literacy programs, story times, and homeless outreach. In 2012, the 41st mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, hired Szabo to run Los Angeles’s libraries. Szabo remained in his position, even after Villaraigosa’s brief mayoral term ended and new mayor Eric Garcetti asked each head of a city department to reapply for his or her position.