bookpagedev

Sorry, wrong number

Review by bookpagedev

If you could use a little comic relief after facing up to your financial shortcomings, you’ll appreciate the hilarious advice in JJ’s Business Bullets. For example, consider these signs that you’ve picked the wrong bank: "Backfiring ATMs ‘" "Remember, you’re just a number" telephone greeting.

"Overdraft notices delivered on a brick through your living room window. " Vanderbilt business professor Fred Talbott (a.k.a. Professor Pinhead) aims his humor at the jerks of the business world from cranky receptionists to wacky bosses. The perfect antidote to taking yourself (or your job) too seriously.

If you could use a little comic relief after facing up to your financial shortcomings, you'll appreciate the hilarious advice in JJ's Business Bullets. For example, consider these signs that you've picked the wrong bank: "Backfiring ATMs '" "Remember, you're just a number"…

Biography

Sam Cooke: A change is gonna come

Review by bookpagedev

Distinguished biographer Peter Guralnick’s essential new book Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke finally puts Cooke’s cultural impact into its larger and proper context. Though not as versatile as Ray Charles, Cooke’s mixing of spiritual and secular musical elements arguably influenced more performers. His switch from heading the Soul Stirrers, the greatest gospel group of its day, to becoming a pop success led others, from Aretha Franklin to O.V. Wright and Wilson Pickett, to follow his example. In addition, Cooke was a visionary in his approach to the creative and business aspects of the music industry. He wrote his own songs, selected and hired musicians, and started both a record label and publishing company. Cooke demanded that record labels afford him the same dignity and fiscal respect given white performers, and he closely scrutinized the details of every contract.

Guralnick’s book also documents Cooke’s underrated role in the civil rights movement. He didn’t lead marches, but he understood the importance of being a role model. From his public decision to wear his hair "natural" to his refusal to perform before segregated audiences, friendship with the youthful Cassius Clay, and close study of the writings of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, Cooke maintained an interest and involvement in many issues besides the chart positions of his singles. Guralnick doesn’t sanitize Cooke’s life, nor excuse his relationship failures or occasional career missteps. Most importantly, he links Cooke’s stylistic evolution to other major changes within a community, providing a vivid and rich portrait of African-American life and culture.

While Dream Boogie in some respects serves as a mini-primer on the ’60s, thanks to Guralnick’s skillful interweaving of such personalities as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Fidel Castro, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix into the narrative, the book is first and foremost the story of a phenomenal individual whose majestic voice and innovative personality helped fuel the rise of a new era before his tragic death in 1964 at the age of 33. Ron Wynn writes for the Nashville City Paper and several other publications.

 

Distinguished biographer Peter Guralnick's essential new book Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke finally puts Cooke's cultural impact into its larger and proper context. Though not as versatile as Ray Charles, Cooke's mixing of spiritual and secular musical elements arguably influenced more performers.…

Religion & Spirituality

Inspiration for the season

Review by bookpagedev

For many Americans, a renewed interest in prayer, faith and spirituality followed the tragic events of Sept. 11. Bible sales soared and copies of the Koran flew off shelves as the distraught turned to religion for hope and understanding. But people have always looked to spirituality in the search for encouragement, and this season is no different, as great scholars and thinkers continue to question our beliefs and celebrate the hope of faith. Whether you’re searching for a book to help answer your own questions or looking for an appropriate holiday gift, several new religious books offer inspiration and insight.

Where did we come from and where are we going? Almost every religion offers a different answer to these age-old questions. In The Quest for Paradise: Visions of Heaven and Eternity in the World’s Myths and Religions, authors John Ashton and Tom Whyte take readers on a journey that explores heaven and the afterlife from perspectives around the world. Drawing on the ancient cultures of Greece, Rome and Egypt, as well as the belief systems of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus, this book examines the similarities and differences between beliefs in the afterlife. From the Celtic and Greek Paradise to the Garden of Delights, you’ll discover the historical roots of both myths and religions. Profiles of Mechtild of Magdeburg, Alexander the Great, Buraq and Shangri-La are intriguing. While this book is both fascinating and easy to read, its strength lies in its layout and design. Lined with spectacular photos, drawings and artwork, the pages come alive for readers of all ages. Whether you’re a history or religion buff or just want a better understanding of what others believe, The Quest for Paradise is a great find.

The artwork in Thomas Merton’s Dialogues with Silence is equally thought- provoking and sure to engage your heart and mind. Merton, a Trappist monk who resided at the Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky, focused his heart on God but kept his eyes open to the political and social storms of the modern world. Though he died in 1968, his books, journals and letters have been an enduring inspiration to spiritual seekers of every faith.

In Dialogues with Silence we get a glimpse of Merton as an artist. The collection of prayers is illustrated with previously unseen drawings that reveal his desire to know God in spite of his own humanity and shortcomings. The primitive but powerful black-and-white artwork includes hand-drawn pictures of monks, Christ, churches and women. Full of petitions, confessions and observations, the writing outlines one man’s attempt to know God. Whether you’re a long-time Merton fan or need an introduction, Dialogues with Silence is a great unveiling. Although he is a fictional character, Father Tim Kavanagh is a well-known religious figure to many readers. The local rector in Jan Karon’s best-selling Mitford series, Father Tim is dedicated not only to knowing God but making Him known to his small flock. He uses countless quotes and stories to share his wisdom and heart with everyone in the close-knit town.

Patches of Godlight: Father Tim’s Favorite Quotes is the journal of the Episcopal priest’s search for material to guide his spiritual journey and that of his congregation. It contains sayings, tidbits and passages from philosophers, humorists and poets, including C. S. Lewis and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Instead of using regular typesetting, this volume appears hand-written complete with loose notes, doodles and even coffee stains. The selections will make you laugh, think and pray. Full of hope and encouragement, this is a great gift book.

Those searching for a more serious read won’t want to miss Jack Miles’ Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God (audio). The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of God: A Biography is back with a new work and focus. The book explores Jesus as a literary character and challenges readers to examine the New Testament as a work of art rather than a work of religion.

This examination of the life of Christ one that began before the creation of the world and stretches to the end of existence is unique. Thoughtful, inquisitive and daring, Miles raises questions and highlights passages with a fresh vigor that challenges the ho-hum of accepted belief. Whether your interest in Christ is historical, scholarly or literary, you won’t be disappointed.

Margaret Feinberg wrote Enjoying God: Experiencing Intimacy with the Heavenly Father (Relevant Books) with S.J. Hill.

For many Americans, a renewed interest in prayer, faith and spirituality followed the tragic events of Sept. 11. Bible sales soared and copies of the Koran flew off shelves as the distraught turned to religion for hope and understanding. But people have always looked…

NonfictionEssays

A doctor without borders

Review by bookpagedev

Many medical school graduates want to establish lucrative private practices, but for Kevin M. Cahill, M.D., the Bronx-born son of an Irish physician, that was never enough. Instead, Cahill became a leading specialist in tropical medicine, treating victims of famine, violence, war and disease for 45 years in some of the most volatile areas of the globe. He has also become a potent force in humanitarian assistance and international relief efforts as lecturer, teacher, activist, diplomat and advocate, becoming involved in a “major move to alter the ways that America delivers health services abroad.” To Bear Witness: A Journey of Healing and Solidarity is an illustrated collection of Cahill’s writings from op-ed pieces and essays to speeches and articles documenting the metamorphosis that occurred in his life as he became “immersed in the tragedies of third world countries.” Tales of Cahill’s humanitarian and medical missions to Lebanon, Somalia, Nicaragua, Libya and Ireland, among other countries, lead to his desire to change the way governments form foreign policies, offering insights often left off the table in political debates, legal arguments and military planning. Cahill speaks movingly about the landmine crisis, “one of the great scourges of history . . . turning vast areas of the earth into wastelands of death, economic ruin and social disintegration.” And as the chief medical advisor for Counterterrorism to the New York City Police Department, he offers another perspective on the losses of 9/11; with millions dead of disease and starvation in Somalia and Sudan, nearly a million hacked to death in Rwanda, along with massive human causalities in Armenia, Srebrenica, Congo and Central America over recent decades, “it is important to keep a balance if we are to live in an international world that also knows the constant fear of death and the reality of tragedy.” A professional from a privileged nation, Cahill’s chosen work has drawn him into a personal relationship with suffering and the inequities experienced by the “downtrodden masses” who survive incredible challenges and have become his “role models in how to live with courage and joy in a harsh but still hopeful world.” Deanna Larson is a writer in Nashville.

Many medical school graduates want to establish lucrative private practices, but for Kevin M. Cahill, M.D., the Bronx-born son of an Irish physician, that was never enough. Instead, Cahill became a leading specialist in tropical medicine, treating victims of famine, violence, war and disease for…

Through time and space: mysteries of science made easy

Review by bookpagedev

For three reasons, fans of science are living in an exhilarating time. First, as the general media reports every day, science has never been more busily deciphering the universe around us, from hurricane patterns to interstellar physics to bioterrorism agents. Second, fortunately for nonscientists the majority of humanity some of the most intelligent and stylish writers of our time devote themselves to explaining how science works. And third, thanks to computers and other technological advances, and also to the sheer sophistication of graphic design, nonfiction books have never been more beautiful. Three new volumes prove this point.

Because science is such a big-picture field, even the most narrowly focused of the three books turns out to be about huge, world-changing actions. Technology is applied science observed principles made to serve us in our endless tinkering with the world. Our mastery of it is almost the very definition of Homo sapiens. In a handsome new book, James Tobin looks at Great Projects: The Epic Story of the Building of America, from the Taming of the Mississippi to the Invention of the Internet. Although the book focuses primarily on our own country, the issues discussed affect everyone on the planet. Tobin cleverly tells the fascinating stories behind huge modern issues such as how to hoard and transport (and protect yourself from) water; the invention and spread of electricity; the metropolitan dependence upon bridges and subways; and even, as the subtitle declares, the creation of a revolutionary means of connecting and transporting information. The stories are epic, but Tobin keeps them human and fascinating.

Next in our survey is a book that addresses the most exciting question in science: Why are we the way we are? Recently PBS aired a fine new documentary series on evolution. Carl Zimmer’s companion book, Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea, is fully worthy of the TV series. A columnist for Natural History and author of several science books, Zimmer writes clearly and enthusiastically about this largest and most important of all topics in biology. Naturally he tells the requisite (and still wonderful) stories of Darwin’s Beagle voyage and Mendel’s quiet experiments in genetics. He also addresses many important issues, from the origins of sex and especially of human sexuality to the co-evolution of plants and animals. Zimmer writes beautifully about the ongoing evolution all around us for example, of bacteria resistant to antibiotics and of insects that scoff at pesticides. AIDS, a disease unknown two decades ago, already infects 36 million people worldwide; it is difficult to treat because the virus causing it evolves so quickly. Evolution is the cornerstone of biology and ecology, and it deserves fine books such as this one.

What’s the only topic in the world more comprehensive than biology? Physics. Physical laws underlie every substance and every action in the universe. It takes powerful minds to delve into such basic mysteries, and apparently, there are few brains with more horsepower than Stephen Hawking’s. The author of A Brief History of Time hasn’t been wasting his time in the 13 years since his surprise bestseller. His new book is The Universe in a Nutshell. It would be an understatement to say it’s wide-ranging. In his quest for what commentators can’t resist calling "the big TOE"—a Theory of Everything—Hawking looks at new discoveries made since Brief History. He includes such challenging topics as time travel, the reconciliation of Einsteinian relativity and quantum theory, and even the frightening possibilities in the inevitable co-evolution of biological and technological life. And yet the book is fun and accessible. Like James Tobin and Carl Zimmer, Stephen Hawking makes us forget how arcane these topics seem without such good explainers.

Michael Sims’ next book will be Adam’s Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Body, from Viking.

 

For three reasons, fans of science are living in an exhilarating time. First, as the general media reports every day, science has never been more busily deciphering the universe around us, from hurricane patterns to interstellar physics to bioterrorism agents. Second, fortunately for nonscientists the…

Memoir

Journey to the light

Review by bookpagedev

Though reading Between Two Worlds: Escaping from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam is a sometimes painful experience, this memoir of a daughter’s coming to terms with her parents’ decades-long high-wire act as unwilling members of Saddam Hussein’s inner circle is also the author’s hopeful vision, both for her own life and for the future of her native country.

Zainab Salbi was raised in a comfortable upper-middle-class Shi’a household in Baghdad. Her family’s liberal, westernized way of life, the norm among Iraqi elite, was rudely intruded upon by a leader who came to power just as Salbi’s childhood was coming to an end. Saddam Hussein, seemingly frustrated by his humble origins, attempted to worm his way into the upper echelons of Baghdadi society. Salbi recounts his influence on those he forcibly drew near him, and the terrible fate of those who dared to resist, giving us a unique glimpse inside his rule of terror. Salbi’s woes worsened once her father was tapped to be Saddam’s personal pilot, marking her for fear and resentment by the rest of Iraqi society as one of "Saddam’s friends." Not surprisingly, the threat of murder, imprisonment and deportation that hung over her parents’ heads slowly changed them from a fun-loving apolitical couple into a feuding husband and wife, torn between staying and leaving. Desperate to save her daughter, Salbi’s mother arranged for her daughter’s marriage to an Iraqi immigrant in the U.S., only to unwittingly land her in the arms of an abusive husband. Salbi’s story of her second escape, of the founding of the war victims’ charity Women for Women Inter-national, and of finally coming to terms with her parents’ own stories before her mother’s death, form a remarkable tale of emotional and mental resilience. Jehanne Moharram was born in the same year as Zainab Salbi, a few hundred miles south of Baghdad, in Kuwait. She now writes from Virginia.

 

Though reading Between Two Worlds: Escaping from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam is a sometimes painful experience, this memoir of a daughter's coming to terms with her parents' decades-long high-wire act as unwilling members of Saddam Hussein's inner circle is also…

Through time and space: mysteries of science made easy

Review by bookpagedev

For three reasons, fans of science are living in an exhilarating time. First, as the general media reports every day, science has never been more busily deciphering the universe around us, from hurricane patterns to interstellar physics to bioterrorism agents. Second, fortunately for nonscientists the majority of humanity some of the most intelligent and stylish writers of our time devote themselves to explaining how science works. And third, thanks to computers and other technological advances, and also to the sheer sophistication of graphic design, nonfiction books have never been more beautiful. Three new volumes prove this point.

Because science is such a big-picture field, even the most narrowly focused of the three books turns out to be about huge, world-changing actions. Technology is applied science observed principles made to serve us in our endless tinkering with the world. Our mastery of it is almost the very definition of Homo sapiens. In a handsome new book, James Tobin looks at Great Projects: The Epic Story of the Building of America, from the Taming of the Mississippi to the Invention of the Internet. Although the book focuses primarily on our own country, the issues discussed affect everyone on the planet. Tobin cleverly tells the fascinating stories behind huge modern issues such as how to hoard and transport (and protect yourself from) water; the invention and spread of electricity; the metropolitan dependence upon bridges and subways; and even, as the subtitle declares, the creation of a revolutionary means of connecting and transporting information. The stories are epic, but Tobin keeps them human and fascinating.

Next in our survey is a book that addresses the most exciting question in science: Why are we the way we are? Recently PBS aired a fine new documentary series on evolution. Carl Zimmer’s companion book, Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea, is fully worthy of the TV series. A columnist for Natural History and author of several science books, Zimmer writes clearly and enthusiastically about this largest and most important of all topics in biology. Naturally he tells the requisite (and still wonderful) stories of Darwin’s Beagle voyage and Mendel’s quiet experiments in genetics. He also addresses many important issues, from the origins of sex and especially of human sexuality to the co-evolution of plants and animals. Zimmer writes beautifully about the ongoing evolution all around us for example, of bacteria resistant to antibiotics and of insects that scoff at pesticides. AIDS, a disease unknown two decades ago, already infects 36 million people worldwide; it is difficult to treat because the virus causing it evolves so quickly. Evolution is the cornerstone of biology and ecology, and it deserves fine books such as this one.

What’s the only topic in the world more comprehensive than biology? Physics. Physical laws underlie every substance and every action in the universe. It takes powerful minds to delve into such basic mysteries, and apparently, there are few brains with more horsepower than Stephen Hawking’s. The author of A Brief History of Time hasn’t been wasting his time in the 13 years since his surprise bestseller. His new book is The Universe in a Nutshell. It would be an understatement to say it’s wide-ranging. In his quest for what commentators can’t resist calling "the big TOE" a Theory of Everything Hawking looks at new discoveries made since Brief History. He includes such challenging topics as time travel, the reconciliation of Einsteinian relativity and quantum theory, and even the frightening possibilities in the inevitable co-evolution of biological and technological life. And yet the book is fun and accessible. Like James Tobin and Carl Zimmer, Stephen Hawking makes us forget how arcane these topics seem without such good explainers.

Michael Sims’ next book will be Adam’s Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Body, from Viking.

 

For three reasons, fans of science are living in an exhilarating time. First, as the general media reports every day, science has never been more busily deciphering the universe around us, from hurricane patterns to interstellar physics to bioterrorism agents. Second, fortunately for nonscientists the…

NonfictionPolitics

Questioning the Bush legacy

Review by bookpagedev

Kevin Phillips’ new book is sure to delight Democratic Party strategists and infuriate those who favor a second term for President George W. Bush. Simply put, Phillips believes that the Bush family has established a self-serving political dynasty that endangers both America and the rest of the world. He traces this dynasty of shared values as well as name back four generations to the current president’s enterprising great-grandfathers, George Herbert Walker and Samuel Prescott Bush. From these sires sprang via just four family members two presidents, a vice president, a senator, a congressman, two governors, an ambassador to the United Nations and a director of the Central Intelligence Agency. It was not their vision of a better society that propelled the Bushes to political power, says Phillips, but rather their wealth, connections and artfully concealed ruthless. Their link with the common man, he maintains, has been more of rhetoric than shared experience. In tracing what he perceives to be the negative effects of the Bush dynasty and especially those of the current administration Phillips examines the family’s longstanding ties to the oil industry in Texas and the Middle East, furtive government operations carried out in the name of national security and George W.’s religious fundamentalism. Phillips also contends that the younger Bush has assimilated the most macho and simplistic traits of Texas frontierism, including the determination to destroy Saddam Hussein, once an American ally, as a matter of family honor. A former Republican strategist himself, Phillips faults the Democrats for being too timid and deferential to Bush in the Florida recount debacle that gave him the presidency.

Though Phillips is occasionally willing to conclude guilt in places that only suggest it, he builds his most alarming conclusions about dynastic mischief on a mountain of credible evidence. This book may not change many minds, but it will surely illuminate the sides that voters ultimately choose to take. Edward Morris reviews from Nashville.

Kevin Phillips' new book is sure to delight Democratic Party strategists and infuriate those who favor a second term for President George W. Bush. Simply put, Phillips believes that the Bush family has established a self-serving political dynasty that endangers both America and the rest…
Memoir

An American in Paris, London, Warsaw . . .

Review by bookpagedev

In 1946, Paula Fox boarded a converted Liberty Ship and sailed to Europe, following a well-worn trajectory of young Americans seeking to find themselves. This 22-year-old’s journey took on an added layer of meaning, however, as she was heading toward a continent still in ruins after the war. The stories of what she found are told in The Coldest Winter: A Stringer in Liberated Europe, the follow-up to her well-received first memoir, Borrowed Finery.

Fox, a writer with six novels and a Newbery Award-winning children’s book to her credit, maintains a sparse, steady tone throughout The Coldest Winter, whether writing about good times or painful memories. Her short chapters go by like scenery through the window of a moving train as she rapidly recounts experiences in Paris, London, Warsaw distilling each into remarkably acute images.

Before turning to Europe, she writes briefly of her life in New York, alternating between a world-weariness that belies her then-tender years, but not the life chronicled in Borrowed Finery ("For what seemed one hundred years, I paid rent to landlords"), and sheer delight at life in a city where she could happen upon the likes of Paul Robeson and Billie Holiday. As she puts it: "People, some of them now names on headstones, were walking around the city in the days of my youth, and you might run into them in all sorts of places. I met Duke Ellington on a flight of marble steps leading down from an exhibit by the painter Stuart Davis." Her meetings with ordinary people overseas are no less interesting. After listening to a Holocaust survivor during a tram ride through a frigid Prague night, she writes: "I was unable to take in the meaning of his story except suddenly, and then for only a few seconds at a time. When I did, it was as though I grasped broken glass in my hand." Yet, in spite of the devastation, despair and shock she encounters, Fox returns to the U.S. with a new sense of self. She has had the proverbial experience of an American abroad after all.

 

In 1946, Paula Fox boarded a converted Liberty Ship and sailed to Europe, following a well-worn trajectory of young Americans seeking to find themselves. This 22-year-old's journey took on an added layer of meaning, however, as she was heading toward a continent still in…

Through time and space: mysteries of science made easy

Review by bookpagedev

For three reasons, fans of science are living in an exhilarating time. First, as the general media reports every day, science has never been more busily deciphering the universe around us, from hurricane patterns to interstellar physics to bioterrorism agents. Second, fortunately for nonscientists the majority of humanity some of the most intelligent and stylish writers of our time devote themselves to explaining how science works. And third, thanks to computers and other technological advances, and also to the sheer sophistication of graphic design, nonfiction books have never been more beautiful. Three new volumes prove this point.

Because science is such a big-picture field, even the most narrowly focused of the three books turns out to be about huge, world-changing actions. Technology is applied science observed principles made to serve us in our endless tinkering with the world. Our mastery of it is almost the very definition of Homo sapiens. In a handsome new book, James Tobin looks at Great Projects: The Epic Story of the Building of America, from the Taming of the Mississippi to the Invention of the Internet. Although the book focuses primarily on our own country, the issues discussed affect everyone on the planet. Tobin cleverly tells the fascinating stories behind huge modern issues such as how to hoard and transport (and protect yourself from) water; the invention and spread of electricity; the metropolitan dependence upon bridges and subways; and even, as the subtitle declares, the creation of a revolutionary means of connecting and transporting information. The stories are epic, but Tobin keeps them human and fascinating.

Next in our survey is a book that addresses the most exciting question in science: Why are we the way we are? Recently PBS aired a fine new documentary series on evolution. Carl Zimmer’s companion book, Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea, is fully worthy of the TV series. A columnist for Natural History and author of several science books, Zimmer writes clearly and enthusiastically about this largest and most important of all topics in biology. Naturally he tells the requisite (and still wonderful) stories of Darwin’s Beagle voyage and Mendel’s quiet experiments in genetics. He also addresses many important issues, from the origins of sex and especially of human sexuality to the co-evolution of plants and animals. Zimmer writes beautifully about the ongoing evolution all around us for example, of bacteria resistant to antibiotics and of insects that scoff at pesticides. AIDS, a disease unknown two decades ago, already infects 36 million people worldwide; it is difficult to treat because the virus causing it evolves so quickly. Evolution is the cornerstone of biology and ecology, and it deserves fine books such as this one.

What’s the only topic in the world more comprehensive than biology? Physics. Physical laws underlie every substance and every action in the universe. It takes powerful minds to delve into such basic mysteries, and apparently, there are few brains with more horsepower than Stephen Hawking’s. The author of A Brief History of Time hasn’t been wasting his time in the 13 years since his surprise bestseller. His new book is The Universe in a Nutshell. It would be an understatement to say it’s wide-ranging. In his quest for what commentators can’t resist calling "the big TOE" a Theory of Everything Hawking looks at new discoveries made since Brief History. He includes such challenging topics as time travel, the reconciliation of Einsteinian relativity and quantum theory, and even the frightening possibilities in the inevitable co-evolution of biological and technological life. And yet the book is fun and accessible. Like James Tobin and Carl Zimmer, Stephen Hawking makes us forget how arcane these topics seem without such good explainers.

Michael Sims’ next book will be Adam’s Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Body, from Viking.

 

For three reasons, fans of science are living in an exhilarating time. First, as the general media reports every day, science has never been more busily deciphering the universe around us, from hurricane patterns to interstellar physics to bioterrorism agents. Second, fortunately for nonscientists the…

Biography

The blues ain’t what they used to be

Review by bookpagedev

<B>The blues ain’t what they used to be</B> The old argument used to be over whether white folks could play the blues. In his new book, <B>Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues</B>, musician/scholar Elijah Wald threatens to stir things up even more with a provocative question: were the great blues musicians really blues musicians after all? Of course the blues exists; it is, in fact, the foundation of modern popular music. Scores of exquisite recordings have been made within this style. These facts are self-evident and so, it would seem, is the recognition that performers as diverse as Ma Rainey, B.B. King, Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Howlin’ Wolf embody the blues with every note they sang or played.

Yet Wald argues that none of these was only a blues artist. Thanks to the tendency to romanticize those who played the blues, the established (i.e., white) media have obscured the truth that virtually all of these artists also played country, jazz, sentimental pop favorites and other styles they were more similar to today’s wedding bands than to their images as intuitive and unschooled primitives.

Wald makes a two-pronged case. First, he pores through interviews, African-American newspapers and other sources to create a complex image of blues professionals and their audiences: Muddy Waters’ enthusiasm for Gene Autry songs, the astonishing popularity of Lawrence Welk among black rural listeners, and blues guitar icon Lonnie Johnson’s insistence on performing "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" after being "rediscovered" by white folklorists in the ’60s, all suggest that, as Wald dryly observes, "The world is not a simple place." That point made, he applies his research to the case of Robert Johnson, specifically because the brilliant singer/guitarist’s murder at the age of 27 made him a prime target for myth making. Wald’s analysis of Johnson’s music distracts as much at it supports his thesis, but his description of the young man’s professionalism, upscale fashion sense and rapid grasp of studio technique makes it clear that earning a living was a more pressing concern for Johnson than living the life of a folk icon or, worse, a benign ethnic stereotype.

<I>Robert L. Doerschuk, former editor of</I> Musician <I>magazine, writes from Nashville.</I>

<B>The blues ain't what they used to be</B> The old argument used to be over whether white folks could play the blues. In his new book, <B>Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues</B>, musician/scholar Elijah Wald threatens to stir things up…

History

The corpse without a country

Review by bookpagedev

In January of 1776, no one knew what the outcome of the American rebellion would be or could be. In the midst of this confusion, Thomas Paine published Common Sense. Arguing that America should not be ruled by kings, but by her people, Paine gave the country a glorious cause and clear purpose. Had he stopped there, he would have earned a secure place at the top of America’s pedestal of heroes. But he didn’t.

In 1794, Paine’s The Age of Reason blasted Christianity, and America blasted Paine. Paine went from hero to pariah at the speed of the printing press. When at last he died, no one would bury him. Even the Quakers refused to accept the apostate’s corpse. Paine had no family to care for his remains, and his country did not care for them either. Finally, a friend interred him in land on Paine’s own farm. But like Marley’s ghost, Paine’s body was doomed to walk the earth. A well-meaning admirer dug up the corpse, planning to build a suitable monument for the prophet of freedom . . . and from there began travels unimaginable. Unimaginable, except to Paul Collins.

Inspired by a letter in a 19th-century English newspaper, Collins set out to track Paine’s corpse, recording both journeys in The Trouble with Tom: The Strange Afterlife and Times of Thomas Paine. The book follows Paine’s body back and forth across the Atlantic, to London and to forgotten bits of English countryside, into the heart of Manhattan and out to rural New York state. Alongside this physical travel, Collins leads the reader through time, wandering with Paine’s remains through the 19th century and even the 20th. It is a tale filled with odd philosophies, arcane beliefs, fervent quackery, honest intentions, elaborate hoaxes and out-and-out fraud.

The book is delightfully constructed and deliciously written. Collins delves into remarkable bits of historical minutiae but that minutiae is always fascinatingly bizarre, wonderfully entertaining, and complementary to Collins’ quirky story. Howard Shirley is a writer in Franklin, Tennessee.

In January of 1776, no one knew what the outcome of the American rebellion would be or could be. In the midst of this confusion, Thomas Paine published Common Sense. Arguing that America should not be ruled by kings, but by her people, Paine gave…
PhotographyArts & Culture

The power of pictures: illuminating gift books for photography lovers

Review by bookpagedev

Photography is an amazing thing. It takes a real-time moment and captures it in a two-dimensional image we can look at again and again. It is the chronicle of a split second that contains all the history that went before it and all the history that has come after it. And of course, certain photographic images have the ability to burn into our imaginations, transform our individual and collective psyches and become part of our makeup. Who can forget seeing the Earth photographed for the first time from space, or the image of President Kennedy riding confidently in the open motorcar? Here are four books packed with stunning photographs that will sit handsomely and disarmingly on a coffee table until someone opens them, beholds their pages and unleashes their latent power.

A provocative retrospective of the last half-century, Harry Benson: Fifty Years in Pictures by Harry Benson, gives insight into the renowned photographer’s world. A gutsy, tenacious and award-winning photojournalist, Benson’s career includes numerous covers for magazines such as Life, People and Vanity Fair. Here are portraits of the people who once captured the headlines the Beatles, the presidents, sports figures like Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) and a young O.J. Simpson images sure to evoke a mixture of emotions, from joy and angst to nostalgia. One of the more poignant photographs is Benson’s shot of President Nixon giving his farewell speech to his Cabinet and White House staff. The anguished faces of his wife and children as they stand loyally by his side speak as eloquently about that agonizing moment as any prose document could. Benson’s first-hand captions and behind-the-scenes stories add an exciting element to the visual chronicles. If there’s a historian, "culture-as-art" buff or budding photojournalist in your life, Benson’s book would be a wonderful inspiration. Another career spanning 50 years is celebrated in Ansel Adams at 100 by John Szarkowski, which marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of America’s foremost landscape photographers. Szarkowski, director of the Centennial Exhibition of Adams’ work, (which will be on tour through fall 2003) has chosen 114 of the artist’s characteristically striking black and white landscape photographs, in which, as he puts it, "each element is articulated with perfect precision." Ansel Adams is best known for his photos of Yosemite National Park, the California coast and other wilderness areas of the American West and this hefty volume contains many of his signature prints. A master at conveying both the enormous grandeur and the fragile details of a landscape, Adams had a tremendous impact not only on the art world, but on the environmental movement as well. For black and white film aficionados or nature lovers, this book is a treasure, and it even includes a reproduction print, suitable for framing a gift within a gift! Allowing nature to be its own best advocate is also the idea behind Remains of a Rainbow: Rare Plants and Animals of Hawaii by David Liittschwager and Susan Middleton. Liittschwager and Middleton have been photographing endangered animals and plants since 1986, but this volume is the result of a four-year collaborative effort dedicated to the ecosystem of Hawaii. Many of the state’s endangered flora and fauna species are so rare they do not exist anywhere else on earth. The authors have showcased 142 of these singular species in exquisite, individual photos to accentuate the magnificence of each and bring attention to the tragedy of declining biodiversity on the island and in the world at large. What at first seems just a lovely picture book of exotic plants and animals is also an urgent exhortation to save one of the richest natural environments on the planet. This book is a call to action; seeing these photos is sure to evoke a response in even the most unwilling environmentalist.

And for the environmentalist who doesn’t need much prodding, consider a beautiful new version of A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold, with photographs by Michael Sewell. Leopold’s Almanac is a classic of nature writing that should be on the main shelf of any environmentalist’s library, right next to Thoreau’s Walden and Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.

First published in 1949, a year after the author’s death, the Almanac takes readers on a seasonal journey as Leopold works to restore the land at his small homestead in Sand County, Wisconsin. In this new edition, Sewell’s photography illustrates the time-honored text with splendid color photographs taken on location at Leopold’s property. This is a great book to read snuggled under a blanket (treat yourself!) or to give to anyone on your list who could use a closer communication with the natural world.

Linda Stankard is a writer in Cookeville, Tennessee.

Photography is an amazing thing. It takes a real-time moment and captures it in a two-dimensional image we can look at again and again. It is the chronicle of a split second that contains all the history that went before it and all the history…

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