bookpagedev

Biography

Tributes to a country music legend

Review by bookpagedev

Johnny Cash was a man who seemed destined for immortality. A hard-living native of Arkansas whose career spanned five decades and spawned more than 1,000 songs, he was an omnipresent figure on the country music scene, a proudly defiant survivor who used the pressures of fame to fuel his work. Given the scope of his influence and his larger-than-life persona, Cash’s death on September 12, 2003, seemed an impossible thing. His songs were rooted in the South but written for the world. Timeless classics like Big River, I Walk the Line and Folsom Prison Blues achieved international recognition, becoming permanent components of the country music canon. This month, BookPage spotlights a special group of volumes that chronicle Cash’s remarkable career.

The Man in Black Cash: An American Man (CMT/Pocket, $30, 176 pages, ISBN 0743496299) tells the story of the singer through photographs, letters, lyric sheets, album covers and other visual riches. Sanctioned by the Johnny Cash estate and assembled with the help of Cash’s close friend and longtime fan, Bill Miller, the collection of artifacts presented in this colorful volume reflects more than 50 years of country music culture. There are publicity shots of the singer taken for Sun Records in Memphis in the early 1950s; photos of Cash and his wife, singer June Carter; ticket stubs from the Grand Ole Opry; and one-of-a-kind Cash collectibles, including a Slurpee cup from the 1970s emblazoned with the singer’s face. (Our favorite photo: a black-and-white shot of Cash, circa 1953, his face innocent and unlined, his arm around a tuxedoed Elvis.) Edited by Mark Vancil and Jacob Hoye, Cash: An American Man is the first title from CMT Books, a new imprint created by CMT: Country Music Television and Simon ∧ Schuster’s Pocket Books. With lively text provided by Miller, whose friendship with Cash lasted more than 30 years, this must-have scrapbook also contains the singer’s final interview, granted to music journalist Kurt Loder shortly before Cash died, and the lyrics to the last song he composed. Produced by the editors of Rolling Stone magazine, Cash is the ultimate memorial to a man who lived what he wrote and sang what he believed. With tributes from Bob Dylan, Bono, Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris, the volume provides a complete historical overview of Cash’s music. Highlights include a comprehensive discography, an interview with Rick Rubin, who produced four of Cash’s albums, and pieces of classic Rolling Stone reportage, including Ralph J. Gleason’s account of the performer’s 1969 San Quentin concert. There are also excerpts from Cash’s two autobiographies, as well as chapters on his screen career and his marriage to June, who, as a member of the famous Carter Family, had a recording career of her own. Rare photographs offer a vivid, behind-the-scenes look at Cash’s extended family, including his 13 grandchildren. Singer Rosanne Cash, daughter of the Man in Black, captures the special essence of her father in her foreword to the volume: "He was a poet who worked in the dirt," she says. "He was the stuff of dreams, and the living cornerstone of our lives." Country music’s First Family Fans hankering for more details on the Cash-Carter dynasty should pick up Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? (Simon ∧ Schuster, $15, 432 pages, ISBN 074324382X) by journalist Charles Hirshberg and filmmaker Mark Zwonitzer. Recently released in paperback, the biography, which was a National Book Critics Circle Finalist in 2002, takes an in-depth look at the humble beginnings, heavenly harmonies and history-making careers of the Carter Family. A.P., Sara and Maybelle Carter (June’s mother) entered the world of country music as a trio starting in the 1920s. This fluid account of their lives, both personal and musical, begins with patriarch A.P.’s birth in southern Virginia in 1891 and continues into the 1970s, creating a context for the folk tunes they made famous ("Wildwood Flower," "Wabash Cannonball"), examining seminal recording sessions and offering a wonderful overview of the cultural forces that influenced American roots music. With their dolorous ballads and gentle instrumentals, their hymns and laments, the Carters helped to shape the sounds of the 20th century. Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? explains how and why their delicate melodies endure. Julie Hale writes from Austin, Texas.

 

Johnny Cash was a man who seemed destined for immortality. A hard-living native of Arkansas whose career spanned five decades and spawned more than 1,000 songs, he was an omnipresent figure on the country music scene, a proudly defiant survivor who used the pressures…

Nature

Sex and the single bug

Review by bookpagedev

What kind of advice columnist advocates incest, cannibalism and polygamy? One whose clientele includes moths, slime molds and elephants, among other non-human correspondents. In Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation (Metropolitan, $24, 272 pages, ISBN 0805063315), biologist Olivia Judson introduces us to the fictional Dr. Tatiana, the only advice columnist to focus on romance in the animal kingdom. The reader might be startled by some of the questions (“I’m a queen bee . . . all my lovers leave their genitals inside me and then drop dead. Is this normal?”) but the purpose of the parody soon becomes clear. What appears to be a collection of tongue-in-cheek advice columns quickly develops into a fascinating study of evolutionary biology.

Judson uses Dr. Tatiana as a vehicle for in-depth discussion of sexual practices that may seem brutal, immoral or even counterintuitive to the casual observer, but are, in fact, essential to species survival. Although she covers complex concepts, Judson keeps her explanations simple, creating a readable and entertaining guide that explains what those birds and bees are up to.

While the more bizarre mating rituals have a sort of morbid appeal, the most amusing letters are from animals who share human concerns: the self-conscious peacock with less than spectacular plumage who can’t get a date might remind you of an insecure friend. And if the dating scene is getting you down, take heart in comparison with some species, humans have it made. If your blind date turns out to be a disaster, at least she won’t try to bite your head off when the evening ends. Emily Morelli

What kind of advice columnist advocates incest, cannibalism and polygamy? One whose clientele includes moths, slime molds and elephants, among other non-human correspondents. In Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation (Metropolitan, $24, 272 pages, ISBN 0805063315), biologist Olivia Judson introduces us to the fictional…
Biography

Tributes to a country music legend

Review by bookpagedev

Johnny Cash was a man who seemed destined for immortality. A hard-living native of Arkansas whose career spanned five decades and spawned more than 1,000 songs, he was an omnipresent figure on the country music scene, a proudly defiant survivor who used the pressures of fame to fuel his work. Given the scope of his influence and his larger-than-life persona, Cash’s death on September 12, 2003, seemed an impossible thing. His songs were rooted in the South but written for the world. Timeless classics like Big River, I Walk the Line and Folsom Prison Blues achieved international recognition, becoming permanent components of the country music canon. This month, BookPage spotlights a special group of volumes that chronicle Cash’s remarkable career.

The Man in Black Cash: An American Man tells the story of the singer through photographs, letters, lyric sheets, album covers and other visual riches. Sanctioned by the Johnny Cash estate and assembled with the help of Cash’s close friend and longtime fan, Bill Miller, the collection of artifacts presented in this colorful volume reflects more than 50 years of country music culture. There are publicity shots of the singer taken for Sun Records in Memphis in the early 1950s; photos of Cash and his wife, singer June Carter; ticket stubs from the Grand Ole Opry; and one-of-a-kind Cash collectibles, including a Slurpee cup from the 1970s emblazoned with the singer’s face. (Our favorite photo: a black-and-white shot of Cash, circa 1953, his face innocent and unlined, his arm around a tuxedoed Elvis.) Edited by Mark Vancil and Jacob Hoye, Cash: An American Man is the first title from CMT Books, a new imprint created by CMT: Country Music Television and Simon ∧ Schuster’s Pocket Books. With lively text provided by Miller, whose friendship with Cash lasted more than 30 years, this must-have scrapbook also contains the singer’s final interview, granted to music journalist Kurt Loder shortly before Cash died, and the lyrics to the last song he composed. Produced by the editors of Rolling Stone magazine, Cash (Crown, $29.95, 224 pages, ISBN 140005480X) is the ultimate memorial to a man who lived what he wrote and sang what he believed. With tributes from Bob Dylan, Bono, Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris, the volume provides a complete historical overview of Cash’s music. Highlights include a comprehensive discography, an interview with Rick Rubin, who produced four of Cash’s albums, and pieces of classic Rolling Stone reportage, including Ralph J. Gleason’s account of the performer’s 1969 San Quentin concert. There are also excerpts from Cash’s two autobiographies, as well as chapters on his screen career and his marriage to June, who, as a member of the famous Carter Family, had a recording career of her own. Rare photographs offer a vivid, behind-the-scenes look at Cash’s extended family, including his 13 grandchildren. Singer Rosanne Cash, daughter of the Man in Black, captures the special essence of her father in her foreword to the volume: "He was a poet who worked in the dirt," she says. "He was the stuff of dreams, and the living cornerstone of our lives." Country music’s First Family Fans hankering for more details on the Cash-Carter dynasty should pick up Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? (Simon ∧ Schuster, $15, 432 pages, ISBN 074324382X) by journalist Charles Hirshberg and filmmaker Mark Zwonitzer. Recently released in paperback, the biography, which was a National Book Critics Circle Finalist in 2002, takes an in-depth look at the humble beginnings, heavenly harmonies and history-making careers of the Carter Family. A.P., Sara and Maybelle Carter (June’s mother) entered the world of country music as a trio starting in the 1920s. This fluid account of their lives, both personal and musical, begins with patriarch A.P.’s birth in southern Virginia in 1891 and continues into the 1970s, creating a context for the folk tunes they made famous ("Wildwood Flower," "Wabash Cannonball"), examining seminal recording sessions and offering a wonderful overview of the cultural forces that influenced American roots music. With their dolorous ballads and gentle instrumentals, their hymns and laments, the Carters helped to shape the sounds of the 20th century. Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? explains how and why their delicate melodies endure. Julie Hale writes from Austin, Texas.

 

Johnny Cash was a man who seemed destined for immortality. A hard-living native of Arkansas whose career spanned five decades and spawned more than 1,000 songs, he was an omnipresent figure on the country music scene, a proudly defiant survivor who used the pressures…

Memoir

America’s favorite teacher is back

Review by bookpagedev

<B>America’s favorite teacher is back</B> Torey Hayden thought she had seen it all. As a veteran special-education teacher, she was used to working with children whose disabilities ranged from autism to Tourette’s syndrome. But she had never met anyone like Venus Fox.

In her latest book, <B>Beautiful Child: The Story of a Child Trapped in Silence and the Teacher Who Refused to Give Up On Her</B>, Hayden who has recounted experiences from her teaching career in several previous best-selling titles tells the bittersweet story of her work with Venus, a 7-year-old girl who refuses to communicate. Her virtually catatonic state is interrupted only by brief, violent outbursts of rage.

Intrigued and determined to break through Venus’ silence, Hayden tries a number of unsuccessful techniques. Unsure how to reach such an unresponsive child, Hayden spends her 20-minute lunch breaks alone with Venus, reading aloud to her and holding the little girl in her lap.

Progress is slow, in part because Venus is just one student in a class full of challenging kids, including twin boys with fetal alcohol syndrome, a boy with Tourette’s syndrome, an autistic girl and a violent 8-year-old boy. A breakthrough finally comes when Venus shows interest in a She-Ra, Princess of Power comic book. Though the blond-haired, blue-eyed heroine is not the most politically correct role model for an African-American child (as a disapproving principal and a teacher’s aide point out), Hayden uses Venus’ interest in the character to engage her in role-playing games that reveal the depth of the child’s despair. By the time Hayden learns the tragic truth about Venus’ home life, it’s almost too late.

Told with compassion and sensitivity, <B>Beautiful Child</B> takes the reader into a world where unfailing patience and dogged determination don’t always yield tangible results, but where the few and hard-won victories can be life-changing. Hayden’s first-person narrative also sheds light on the frustration many teachers experience in the face of limited resources, bureaucratic red tape and well-meaning pedantry. With vivid and detailed writing, Hayden recounts not only her trials with Venus, but also her triumphs and failures involving other children in the class. She doesn’t hide the fact that her job is exhausting; instead, she writes openly about her exasperation with the children’s frequent fistfights, tantrums and general unruliness. She also describes small victories that point to progress and hope.

This straightforward tone keeps Hayden’s story from sounding self-indulgent. She doesn’t profess to be a saint just a dedicated teacher with an inspiring story to tell. <I>Rebecca Denton is an editor and writer in Nashville</I>.

<B>America's favorite teacher is back</B> Torey Hayden thought she had seen it all. As a veteran special-education teacher, she was used to working with children whose disabilities ranged from autism to Tourette's syndrome. But she had never met anyone like Venus Fox.

In…

Fiction

Going native

Review by bookpagedev

In Whiteman, an engrossing first novel that reads an awful lot like a highly charged memoir, Tony D’Souza takes us into West Africa, a land where tragedy is as common as daybreak. The hero of this Chicago writer’s debut is Jack Diaz, a relief worker in the Ivory Coast. Jack remains in his small, far-flung village even when funding for his agency is drastically cut. He spends his time hunting, planting and otherwise adopting the hardscrabble existence of his adopted tribe. He makes a close friend, dallies with various women white and black and does his futile best to avoid being drawn into the increasingly vicious and widespread war raging between Christians and Muslims. One day melts into the next as Jack butts against racial and cultural barriers that existed hundreds of years before his arrival. While he is accepted into the tribe, given hospitality, respect and even affection, the fact that one day he will leave while they remain looms between them.

D’Souza, who spent three years in West Africa as an AIDS educator with the Peace Corps, gives life to a country few westerners see beyond sound bytes and video clips in the news. The voices of the villagers resonate with simplicity, even as their thoughts, along with the world they live in, become increasingly complex.

Rather than a contiguous novel, Whiteman is more a linked chain of short stories. Each chapter is a different adventure in Jack’s life, from falling in with the wrong woman to being taught to hunt by the village shaman. But each chapter contains thoughts and characters so vivid and well drawn that they are strong enough to stand alone. While a bit choppy and saddled with a final page that contains more than its share of bathos, D’Souza’s novel is a compassionate and compelling look at a people and a way of life that you can’t help feel are doomed. Ian Schwartz writes from New York City.

In Whiteman, an engrossing first novel that reads an awful lot like a highly charged memoir, Tony D'Souza takes us into West Africa, a land where tragedy is as common as daybreak. The hero of this Chicago writer's debut is Jack Diaz, a relief worker…
Memoir

Lipstick Jihad

Review by bookpagedev

A reporter for Time who worked in Tehran from 2000-2001, Moaveni writes perceptively in her latest book about what it’s like to be a permanent outsider, forever caught between two cultures. Raised in California, she is the child of Iranian exiles. As a youngster, she is privately obsessed with the country her parents fled when the Islamic Revolution took place. Refusing to smile or smoke in public, she adapts the habits of an idealized Iran, which she perceives as a mythical paradise, a country of artistic and intellectual ferment. In 2000, she travels to Tehran to work as a journalist and find out for herself what the country is really like. Although she mixes well with other Iranians, she is viewed as an outsider and because she isn’t married a curiosity. The struggle of Iranian women is a point of focus for the author, who comes to view their cautious steps towards a more liberal lifestyle as a sort of jihad. Moaveni is a skilled writer and thoughtful observer, and she presents a fascinating look at daily life in a country that elicits both love and hate from its inhabitants. Offering all the background readers could hope for from such a book, she provides a wonderful synthesis of viewpoints, perspectives and customs the conclusions of a traveler who isn’t quite sure where home is. A reading group guide is included in the book.

A reporter for Time who worked in Tehran from 2000-2001, Moaveni writes perceptively in her latest book about what it's like to be a permanent outsider, forever caught between two cultures. Raised in California, she is the child of Iranian exiles. As a youngster, she…
Children's & YA

Trouble at the Tap ‘n’ Type

Review by bookpagedev

<B>Trouble at the Tap ‘n’ Type</B> Adults think they have it sooooo rough! Oh, my boss was mean to me today! And my back hurts! Puh-leeez. Hey, I’m an adult, but I’m not too old to remember what it was like being a kid it’s no bed of roses. Still, I don’t think my childhood was anything like the McNally clan’s. Jackie, LeFay, twin brothers Joshua and Albie, and the youngest, Fergal, are the children of Rufus McNally, a bitter old sailor. Life for them is a day-to-day struggle for survival, with the oldest, Jackie, serving as a surrogate parent. When sister LeFay is selected to participate in the “Tap ‘n’ Type” typing competition, Jackie arranges for all of them (except Rufus) to go to the contest. What she doesn’t count on is the horribly tragic death of Fergal, which is where <B>The Fall of Fergal</B> begins.

If you’re beginning to suspect that Philip Ardagh’s book is a bit tongue-in-cheek, you’re right. In fact, it’s downright cheeky! Kids love dark humor, which explains the success of Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events and Ardagh’s own previous series, the Eddie Dickens trilogy (<I>A House Called Awful End</I>, etc.). Young readers are sure to appreciate Ardagh’s latest story of plucky LeFay and her try at fame.

The “Tap ‘n’ Type” contest has its share of odd contestants, the oddest of whom is a spoiled rich brat by the name of Graham Large, who will do anything to win, including blowing the whistle on LeFay’s efforts to smuggle her family into her room at the Dell hotel (so they can sample room service). Her sneaky plan won’t be achieved easily, what with a retired policeman named Twinkle-Toes Tweedy on the job as a hotel detective. This first book does begin with a calamitous splat for Fergal, but don’t let that bother you. <B>The Fall of Fergal</B> is a funny, well-written entry into what promises to be a great series for kids. Even Fergal’s death may not be permanent but I can’t say more. Read the book(s) and find out for yourself!

<B>Trouble at the Tap 'n' Type</B> Adults think they have it sooooo rough! Oh, my boss was mean to me today! And my back hurts! Puh-leeez. Hey, I'm an adult, but I'm not too old to remember what it was like being a kid it's…
Fiction

Husband dies, wife reborn

Review by bookpagedev

Women who marry for safety instead of for passion take note. Marsha Moyer has written this novel for you. The protagonist, Lucy Hatch, gets a second chance at life (and love) after Mitchell, her boring husband of 14 years, dies suddenly in a tractor accident. At 33, Lucy sees herself “turned loose from a life I hadn’t even known had swallowed me whole.” Not that she ever would have wished for Mitchell’s death. He was a decent man who worked hard on their East Texas farm. She was used to him, but after he is gone, she doesn’t miss him all that much. Instead, she feels simultaneously set free and at loose ends.

Returning to Mooney, the little town where she grew up, Lucy meets Ash Farrell, a handsome carpenter/musician who is Mitchell’s opposite in every way. Is Ash the devil or will he be her savior? Moyer tells a good story, even if it is a bit of a fairy tale, in this debut novel. The title, The Second Coming of Lucy Hatch, has all the meanings you can imagine. The strong cast of supporting characters includes Lucy’s strictly religious mother, her independent Aunt Dove, an overly protective brother Bailey, his lively wife Geneva and other assorted small-town folks. Though Mooney appears to be a fictional town, it’s located near real places like Jefferson, Marshall, Caddo Lake and Lake of the Pines. Writers have only begun to discover colorful East Texas, a region known for its contradictions: dance halls down the road from fundamentalist churches; drought followed by drenching rain; stately homes set next to trailer parks.

Moyers suggests such paradoxes and shows how they can create confusion in an uncomplicated girl like Lucy. By the end of the book, she has finally come to realize that she may have put out Mitchell’s light even as he apparently put out hers. What lifts this book above a formula romance is its occasional sharp humor and the feeling that there was more than one road not taken in Lucy’s married life. Anne Morris writes from Austin, Texas.

Women who marry for safety instead of for passion take note. Marsha Moyer has written this novel for you. The protagonist, Lucy Hatch, gets a second chance at life (and love) after Mitchell, her boring husband of 14 years, dies suddenly in a tractor accident.…
Memoir

Puppy love

Review by bookpagedev

What does a hip, arty, self-interested and semi-committed couple in a closet-sized New York City apartment do when they tire of their jaded lives? They decide to rescue a dog with issues, of course. Canine turns into guru and delightful mayhem ensues in Rex and the City: A Woman, a Man and a Dysfunctional Dog. Author Lee Harrington writes the award-winning eponymous humor column for The Bark magazine, and in her book she relates the life-changing events stemming from the fateful summer day when she and her live-in boyfriend Ted stopped at a shelter ( where John F. Kennedy got his dog she notes) to just look. With memories of beloved childhood pets running through their heads, they bring home a growling, cowering spaniel-mix puppy named Rex who refuses to act like any dog they’ve ever known. Tension mounts in the cramped apartment as the restless couple (she is an aspiring novelist, Ted’s a documentary filmmaker) struggle to adjust and promptly begin to argue over everything from how to discipline the dog and where he should sleep to his hunting breed identity. When Rex develops separation anxiety right around puberty, all bets are off on who goes first the dog or their relationship. Harrington’s wry, self-depreciating intelligence is completely winning as she readily admits her insecurities and captures their struggles to form a family in a sophisticated, yet isolating city. While the story sometimes feels stretched to book length, with plenty of paragraphs on the emergence of the adorable Rex’s inner Lassie, not one dog lover on earth will turn down a metaphoric walk with this loveable pair and their kooky canine.

What does a hip, arty, self-interested and semi-committed couple in a closet-sized New York City apartment do when they tire of their jaded lives? They decide to rescue a dog with issues, of course. Canine turns into guru and delightful mayhem ensues in Rex and…
YA FictionYA

Inside a tragedy

Review by bookpagedev

The first thing you might wonder when you start to read Shooter, the chilling, poignant novel by Walter Dean Myers, is "Did this really happen?" With transcripts of interviews, newspaper clippings, autopsy reports and diary excerpts, the book appears to document a high school shooting that took place in a suburban community sometime after the D.C. sniper rampage. After a while you realize, with some relief, that while school shootings are by no means unheard of, this particular tragedy hasn't actually happened yet. The book's first interview is with Cameron Porter, a sad, prickly boy whose favorite phrase is "no big deal." Cameron is one of the few African Americans at his school, and though he's usually not subjected to extreme forms of racism, he still feels isolated. His parents are cold and punitive, and though his mother brags about the exorbitant cost of their indoor pool, his parents are too cheap to send him to the college of his choice. In his loneliness, Cameron becomes something of a disciple to the shooter, Len, an even more troubled and unpopular white boy. Carla, their collaborator and Len's girlfriend, is as alienated as the boys, with her Goth makeup and parents who are even worse than those of her friends (inadequate parenting is one of the book's subthemes). Yet, unlike Cameron, she retains enough self-respect to stand up to a "threat assessment specialist," who questions her too closely about her personal life. Myers' writing is spare, as one might expect in a book made of what, in real life, would be juiceless documentation, but he still manages to move us. The book's penultimate section is Len's diary, written in his own hand. The writing is all spidery block letters of different sizes and words that break in unnatural places. Were it not for the clever puns and sarcasm, you'd think the diary was written by someone much younger than 17. While Shooter is aimed at teens such grim subject matter isn't suitable for younger children this compelling if disheartening book about an all-too-real danger makes interesting reading for adults as well. Arlene McKanic writes from Jamaica, New York.

The first thing you might wonder when you start to read Shooter, the chilling, poignant novel by Walter Dean Myers, is "Did this really happen?" With transcripts of interviews, newspaper clippings, autopsy reports and diary excerpts, the book appears to document a high school shooting…
Mystery & SuspenseMystery

An assassin on the loose in Japan

Review by bookpagedev

John Rain, a solitary man, lives only with the ghosts of his violent past for company. Cloaked in anonymity, he slips along Tokyo’s modern bustling streets, inconspicuous in a city of 26 million people. This isn’t completely effortless since he is an ainoko, a half-breed, born to a Japanese father and a Caucasian mother. Rain, a martial arts and surveillance expert, is also an assassin. Because Rain’s specialty is ingeniously making his victim’s death appear to be accidental, his services are frequently in demand.

Freelancing in Tokyo, Rain owes allegiance to no one. No longer a mercenary, nor samurai, he creates his own code of conduct and takes great pains to remain a nameless, faceless enigma to his clients. All that is about to change when he is hired to assassinate a Japanese government official.

Rain’s credo is to trust no one and expect the worst. He typically fulfills his contract, pockets his ample fee and vanishes back into the populace. However, this is no ordinary contract. Events spin out of control as Rain finds himself the one being hunted. Reluctant to trust anyone, he enlists the aid of a young protŽgŽ whose illicit skills include computer hacking. Furthermore, since even a solitary warrior must have a love interest, Rain courts a beautiful jazz pianist who has a connection to the murdered government official. Marked for death, Rain and his two companions follow a dangerous trail of clues that lead to treachery and corruption. Rain Fall, Barry Eisler’s debut novel, is a suspenseful thriller filled with double-crosses, duplicity and relentless action. Eisler’s experience of living and working in Japan lends realism to his depiction of the compelling intricacies of Japanese society. He is particularly skilled at describing Tokyo’s smoky jazz clubs, love hotels, stylish whiskey bars and subway and train stations teeming with an endless flow of citizens. And though the world-weary personality of John Rain seems a bit over the top at times, Eisner’s samurai warrior is the kind of superhero who might attract Hollywood’s attention.

C.

L. Ross reads, writes and reviews in Pismo Beach, California.

John Rain, a solitary man, lives only with the ghosts of his violent past for company. Cloaked in anonymity, he slips along Tokyo's modern bustling streets, inconspicuous in a city of 26 million people. This isn't completely effortless since he is an ainoko, a half-breed,…
History

Tax issue tests a new nation

Review by bookpagedev

From 1791 through 1794 in western Pennsylvania, acts of resistance to a federal excise tax on the production of whiskey led to an insurgency serious enough for George Washington to deploy the nation’s first federal military force to put it down. This was the first war for the American soul, according to William Hogeland, who traces the events in his lively new book The Whiskey Rebellion.

In part, Hogeland explains, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton needed the whiskey tax of 1791 to fund the nation’s staggering war debt. Beyond that, he saw a continuing pool of capital in the hands of moneyed investors [whose] financial ambitions would fund the nation’s ambitions. The poorest people, however, would experience the whiskey excise as a tax on income.

The ensuing rebellion pitted well-off Easterners with large distilleries against less well-off Westerners, many of them desperate and disgruntled war veterans with small farms and businesses. Radical Westerners felt that resisting the tax, often with threats and violence (such as the tarring and feathering of collectors), was their last chance for fairness. Caught in between were Western moderates who worked to reach a compromise, but found themselves distrusted and threatened by both sides. As resistance continued, Hamilton advised Washington to raise an army to enforce the law, an action Washington saw only as a last resort.

Hogeland gives us vivid characterizations of the major players and evokes the atmosphere around the protestors. One of the most colorful is Herman Husband, a wealthy businessman, a plantation owner who owned no slaves, a Quaker pacifist who believed in nonviolence, and a radical leader, legislator and author. Religious absolutism brought him to the conviction that what was happening was the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

Hogeland also describes the Dreadful Night, as it came to be called, when people whose names appeared on lists that Hamilton and his allies had compiled were rounded up and detained. Unfortunately, almost every adult male was fair game for capture. The fact that most of those arrested would have to be turned loose later was not an issue for the Dreadful Night. The Whiskey Rebellion is important history, carefully researched and written with verve for a general readership. Roger Bishop is a Nashville bookseller and a frequent contributor to BookPage.

From 1791 through 1794 in western Pennsylvania, acts of resistance to a federal excise tax on the production of whiskey led to an insurgency serious enough for George Washington to deploy the nation's first federal military force to put it down. This was the first…
Children's & YA

Silly fun for dragon lovers

Review by bookpagedev

British writer and illustrator Cressida Cowell is the creator of several picture books, including the memorable Hiccup, the Viking Who Was Seasick, the story of a little Viking who doesn’t feel as brave or bold as his comrades. Now Hiccup has returned, this time in an adventure for older readers, How to Train Your Dragon.

Hiccup remembers that when he was young there were plenty of dragons, but they seem to be gradually going extinct. Like all great heroes, he believes that it is important to tell posterity about his adventures. “I was not a natural at the Heroism business,” admits Hiccup. “I had to work at it. This is the story of becoming a Hero the Hard Way.” Readers will find several pages from a field guide to dragons. This will help them distinguish between the Common or Garden dragon and the Basic Brown dragon. They are similar enough to be easily confused. Of course, no one can confuse them with the dreaded Monstrous Nightmare dragon.

Readers will also learn Dragonese. Dragons speak a sophisticated and subtle language, and dragon trainers will find that employing this language is a more effective way to train a dragon than “the traditional methods of yelling at it.” As with training parents, the most important first word to learn is pishyou, “please.” Aspiring trainers will also learn how to ask in Dragonese, “Please would you be so kind as to spit my friend out?” and to say firmly the all-important pedagogical encouragement, “Let’s try that again.” This is a silly book silly in all the ways that a nine-year-old lover of dragons and wordplay and games can be silly. Even the drawings are silly. Cowell opted to illustrate the book as if it had been illustrated by a clever but slightly gross 10-year-old. The result is a sophisticated-looking faux-primitive look that perfectly matches the text.

British writer and illustrator Cressida Cowell is the creator of several picture books, including the memorable Hiccup, the Viking Who Was Seasick, the story of a little Viking who doesn't feel as brave or bold as his comrades. Now Hiccup has returned, this time in…

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