Thursday, February 2 2012
‘Power Concedes Nothing’ Tells of a Life Spent Balancing the Scales of Justice
Legal activist Connie Rice has a big, important story to tell: of her passion, her history, her legal record and her connection to both the powerful and the underprivileged in Los Angeles.
‘Love Goes to Buildings on Fire’ Like Its Title, Is Poetry
The most important five years in popular music -- including the birth and rise of CBGB, the birth of disco and hip-hop, Philip Glass’s emergence as a Serious Composer, and the many shades of salsa -- in one volume.
Wednesday, February 1 2012
Noticed and Emulated: ‘Coco Chanel: An Intimate Life’
Through two World Wars, Chanel survived it all. That’s because, as Lisa Chaney puts it so well, Chanel owned the zeitgeist.
‘The Sexual History of London’: Plus ça Change, Plus c’est la Même Chose
When you read about the medieval mania for buggery and the Victorian craze for flagellation, it’s difficult not to feel a blushing fascination for our forebears and their proclivities.
Tuesday, January 31 2012
‘Nanjing Reqium’ Is a Crushingly Beautiful, Achingly Sad Slice of a Chinese Nightmare
Ha Jin leaves us with the memory of good work, people saving lives and the worth of reaching out, even when death and despair prevail.
The Doll: The Lost Short Stories by Daphne du Maurier
While it's disappointing to see that Daphne du Maurier wasn't always so capable with the art of fiction as she later became, it's refreshing to be reminded that even great writers have to start somewhere.
Monday, January 30 2012
‘I Want My MTV’ Goes Behind-the-Scenes in Cable Channel’s Influence on Music
Every page of this fat, addictive, ridiculously entertaining book, which covers the rise and fall of MTV from 1981-1992, is overstuffed with anecdotes.
Looking for Wit in Sci-Fi Lit?: ‘Alien Contact’ Has It
Marty Halpern’s editorial brief was for writers to concoct their narratives around first encounters with aliens and, duly noted, numerous authors are represented here with perfectly tailored schemes.
On a Wing and a Prayer: ‘We Need To Talk About Kevin’
Eva is by nature a dark realist. She tries to understand what drives her inscrutable child, and can only think he resents the very fact of being alive.
Friday, January 27 2012
In ‘No Higher Honor’, Condoleezza Rice Reflects on Her Time in the White House
The former U.S. Secretary of State gives a respectful, mostly diplomatic, and meticulously thorough account of her years in Washington.
Thursday, January 26 2012
‘Karaoke Culture’: An Original Essay on Unoriginality
Dubravka Ugresic's connections are electric: hers is an intellect in action, ideas zapping across the page.
Tom Brokaw’s Quiet Sanity: ‘The Time of Our Lives’
Tom Brokaw's The Time of Our Lives contains a quiet wisdom and an honest voice that is a welcome respite from the shouting and noise surrounding many other conversations about America.
Wednesday, January 25 2012
How do We Get to the Center, When the Center Has Yet to Be Undetermined? ‘A Safeway in Arizona’
A Safeway in Arizona veers between seeing the Giffords shooting as emblematic and isolated, as a metaphor for a larger social dysfunction and the act of a disturbed young man.
‘What the Hell Are You Doing?’ This Is the David Shrigley Universe. Do You Want to Go There?
If art is meant to be creative and communicate ideas, that then prompt ideas and imaginative scenarios in the heads of others, then Shrigley makes art. If that is what art is.
Tuesday, January 24 2012
‘Intel Wars’ Wins and Losses in the Terrorism Fight
It’s one thing to say that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has helped America’s enemies; it’s another thing to show precisely how.
In William Gibson’s ‘Distrust That Particular Flavor’, the Title Says It All
For a writer whose primary topic is the immediate present or near future, many of the essays in Distrust That Particular Flavor are as dated as the Commodore 64.
Monday, January 23 2012
‘On the Ground’s Tale of the Underground Press Relies on ‘Anecdote’ and ‘Atmosphere’
Fascinating to look at and bursting with stories from those who led the charge, On the Ground proves long on anecdotes short on historical impact.
Friday, January 20 2012
Sometimes a Babysitter Is Not Just a Babysitter: ‘Babysitter: An American History’
Miriam Forman-Brunell explores the economic and demographic realities of babysitting... and how the image of the babysitter became a source or fear and fantasy in middle class life.
Colbert’s ‘And Nothing but the Truthiness’: Now THAT, Alanis Morrisette, Really IS Ironic!
‘If you believe it enough, despite evidence to the contrary, then it’s true.’
Thursday, January 19 2012
Is Scandal Alone Enough for a Good Thrill Anymore? Alan Glynn’s ‘Bloodland’
'Bloodland' creates a cover-up of a cover-up, but forgets to tell us why we should care.
