Instagram Facebook X-twitter Linkedin

Sign Up

Get the latest ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

All , Coverage

All Arts & Culture Coverage

MusicArts & Culture

Tracing the journey of musical pioneers

Review by bookpagedev

In the shadow of Clinch Mountain in Scott County, Virginia, lies what is called Poor Valley. Out of this hardscrabble environment emerged the legendary musical pioneers the Carter family. A.P. (Alvin Pleasant) Carter, his wife Sara and her cousin Maybelle sang and played their way to fame and fortune, creating in many ways the basis for the entire American traditional, folk and country music industries.

In Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone?: The Carter Family and Their Legacy in American Music, documentary filmmaker Mark Zwonitzer teams up with veteran journalist Charles Hirshberg to capture the historic lives of the Carters, from the moment they were discovered by music producer and publisher Ralph Peer in the 1920s, through their groundbreaking careers as recording artists, to their deaths in the late 1970s. In between is an incredible tale of poverty, sudden celebrity and wealth, seminal recording dates, national radio exposure to a country mired in the Great Depression, unceasing concert performances in towns both small and large, appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and associations with musical greats like Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Chet Atkins, Roy Acuff and Elvis Presley.

There’s also an interesting profile of the young Johnny Cash, who eventually after a great deal of wailing and gnashing of teeth became daughter June’s third husband in the 1960s and has kept the family tradition going ever since. This volume is thoroughly researched, and the authors don’t stint on coverage of the Carter forebears, the details of their simple country life and the idiosyncrasies and squabbles that characterized, in particular, the lives of A.P. and Sara, who divorced fairly early on, yet continued working together for the sake of the music (and the money). The text paints intriguing portraits of all the major players but throws rays of especially revelatory light on A.P.’s brother Eck, who was not simply Mother Maybelle’s devoted husband but also a reliable and organized manager for his wife and a loving father to their singing daughters (June, Helen and Anita).

Music fans will be particularly fascinated with accounts of how A.P. in need of recording material scoured the countryside collecting folk and gospel songs from local citizens, tinkered with the words and melodies as necessary and then, innovator that he was (or scoundrel, depending on your point of view), parlayed his finds into copyrightable gems that netted him (and Peer) a king’s ransom in royalties. In the right place at the right time, the Carters brought to the world the spirit of Wildwood Flower, Keep on the Sunny Side and Will the Circle Be Unbroken, among many other classic tunes. This book is an essential work of musical Americana.

Aspiring musician Martin Brady writes on the arts.

In the shadow of Clinch Mountain in Scott County, Virginia, lies what is called Poor Valley. Out of this hardscrabble environment emerged the legendary musical pioneers the Carter family. A.P. (Alvin Pleasant) Carter, his wife Sara and her cousin Maybelle sang and played their…

LiteratureArts & Culture

Conan Doyle steps out of the shadow of Sherlock Holmes

Review by Chris Scott

The "death" of Sherlock Holmes in 1893's "The Final Problem" sparked worldwide grief. As recounted by Russell Miller in The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Prince of Wales was said to be particularly anguished. In the City of London, workers sported black armbands or wore black mourning crepe tied round their top hats; in New York 'Keep Holmes Alive' societies sprang into being." Conan Doyle, by then one of the world's most popular authors, found himself reviled – one old lady hit him with her handbag. But he'd had enough of Holmes and was happy to send him over the Reichenbach Falls in Moriarty's grasp. The detective had come to eclipse everything Conan Doyle did. He wanted to move on, saying the killing of Holmes was self – defense, "since if I had not killed him, he would certainly have killed me."Miller's new biography of Conan Doyle is a masterful compilation of the life and times of the man who, despite his efforts at literary homicide, is remembered principally as the creator of Holmes and his friend and colleague, Dr. Watson.

One of the joys of the book is to see Conan Doyle's myriad inspirations for the characters, locations and plots with which Conan Doyle filled his most famous stories. Miller presents Dr. Joseph Bell, one of Conan Doyle's instructors at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, who could deduce a patient's illness at a glance by observing what others merely saw. The plot of The Hound of the Baskervilles is revealed to have originated in a chance encounter with a young journalist on a sea voyage from South Africa. Conan Doyle himself, and his experience as a struggling physician, provided a model for Dr. Watson, the chronicler of Holmes' remarkable skills.

But as Conan Doyle always took pains to point out, his life consisted of much more than Sherlock Holmes. Miller's book therefore emphasizes the "other" Conan Doyle, the man whose long life was filled with adventures every bit as wondrous and sometimes as dangerous as any fictional detective. As a writer, Conan Doyle made his reputation on historical novels and short stories, painstakingly researched works that sold well but that never received the serious acclaim he hoped for. His love of action and his jingoistic patriotism led him to volunteer for service in the Boer War and World War I, both of which he defended tirelessly even as they became bloody morasses. On the home front, the firmly anti – religious author often fought for reform, whether railing against Britain's archaic divorce laws or championing those wrongfully accused of crime. He was a formidable advocate, Miller notes, because "once Conan Doyle made up his mind he was unstoppable, impervious to argument, blind to contradictory evidence, untroubled by doubt." But his final crusade, in the cause of spiritualism, nearly destroyed his reputation, leading as it did to a published article in which he forcefully presented "proof" for the existence of fairies.

Conan Doyle was a remarkable, complicated man and The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle does great justice to this great author, finally bringing him out of the shadow of his greatest creation.

Chris Scott reads Holmes stories in Nashville.

The "death" of Sherlock Holmes in 1893's "The Final Problem" sparked worldwide grief. As recounted by Russell Miller in The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Prince of Wales was said to be particularly anguished. In the City of London, workers sported black armbands or…

PhotographyNatureHistoryArts & CultureArt

Know it all

Review by Alison Hood

Life lessons, love, work, peace and the future of our precious planet: these are the subjects under idiosyncratic discussion by 50 notable individuals interviewed in writer/photographer Andrew Zuckerman's sublime, engaging book Wisdom, which is accompanied by a DVD of the author's documentary of the same name. Zuckerman, who says he has always enjoyed meeting accomplished older people spent months traveling the globe to glean words of wisdom from an eclectic, over – age – 65 group of luminaries, which includes Nelson Mandela, Kris Kristofferson, Chinua Achebe, Judi Dench, Jane Goodall, Andrew Wyeth, Billy Connolly, Vaclav Havel and Clint Eastwood.

For each interview, the author composed seven original questions, asking for candid thoughts on the definition and nature of wisdom and human life here on Earth.

The far-ranging, pointed and often surprising responses, along with dramatic color photographic portraits of the interviewees, make for a hope-filled, inspirational book for all generations, as evidenced by this graceful and succinct contribution from Nelson Mandela: "A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."

HEADLINE NEWS
The New York Times, that dominant icon of the Fourth Estate, is celebrated in all its page-one glory in The New York Times: The Complete Front Pages, 1851-2008. This is a heavyweight knockout of a book, a reprinted compilation of more than 300 front pages organized into 16 historical eras—from the Civil War (one notable, oddly low-key headline from September 1862 touts Lincoln's controversial Emancipation Proclamation by stating "Highly Important: A Degree of Emancipation") to the Cold War to our post-9/11 times of uncertainty.

This amazing encyclopedia of journalism is finely enhanced by pertinent, reflective essays written by Times staffers such as William Safire, William Grimes, Gail Collins and Thomas L. Friedman. From its witty, trenchant opening by Times executive editor Bill Keller to the final front-page weigh-in on the Eliot Spitzer sex scandal, much of the news "that's fit to print" is here, along with a magnifying glass (thankfully) and a three-DVD set of all the Times front pages, with indexing and online links to complete articles. The featured front pages have been selected with significant historical insight and artfully arranged to make an exceptional reference for aficionados of journalism, history and world affairs. A newspaper's front page is, by design, an eclectic and far – ranging mix of stories and is, says Keller, "imperfect, evolving and quite possibly endangered."

This extraordinary, eye-popping collection of reportage may, at least for now, ensure its survival.

AROUND THE WORLD
Though the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games have passed, the world still has its collective eye on China. China: Portrait of a Country compiled by Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Liu Heung Shing, and with thoughtful, intelligently nuanced essays on Chinese history and photography by journalist James Kynge and art critic Karen Smith, focuses on an often mysterious and complex culture. This groundbreaking photographic book relays a stunning visual story of the birth and growth of modern China, from 1949 to present day, in photos from 88 Chinese photographers (along with their individual biographies), including those by Chairman Mao's personal photographer, Hou Bo. From formalized propaganda shots and portraits of Party leaders to the candid recordings of daily life in cities and rural regions, China offers readers incredible insight into the country's physical, emotional and spiritual infrastructures, an intimate perspective ably enhanced by cogent, well-researched captions and quotes from Chinese intellectuals and artists, as well as international historians, diplomats and academicians. The collected images are disturbing, memorable and moving—from the frame of carnage and crushed bicycles in Tiananmen Square, to a toddler exuberantly waving a copy of Mao's Quotations, to the quiet delight of four elderly women as they totter around the Forbidden City on tiny bound feet.

Emblazoned across the cover of Canadian artist and writer Patrick Bonneville's Timeless Earth: 400 of the World's Most Important Places are Kofi Annan's wise words: "We should emphasize what unites us much more than what divides us." This gorgeous book shows, in hundreds of pages of incomparable color photos, cogent fact and wake-up-call quotations, the absolute necessity of that statement. This is a book with sweeping breadth: it is a rallying call to support mankind's common heritage, as well as an atlas and guide to at least 400 UNESCO World Heritage sites, which are natural and cultural places vital to mankind. It is a virtual passport for the armchair globetrotter and an enticement to those who long to explore our planet.

Divided into three sections, "The Natural World," "Human Culture" and "The Modern World," Timeless Earth offers concise data about each site and its present state of preservation, accompanied by sumptuous photography that almost makes the text superfluous (almost). A maps section, which locates hundreds of World Heritage Sites, rounds out the volume. Timeless Earth represents an adventure that transports readers to wilderness preserves, parks and waterways, monuments, cities and mountain ranges from the Amazon to the Serengeti, from Versailles to Istanbul and back to the Rockies. As a peerless tour leader, this information-packed reference will not disappoint.

FINE ART
Remember that art history class you took in college? Well, if you're a bit fuzzy on your ancient artifacts, Florentine frescoes, Klee, Klimt or Kandinsky, pick up Art—and you'll need strong biceps to do it. This stupendous compendium explores everything to do with artistic expression: use of color, composition and medium; theory and technique; themes, schools and movements, artworks and artists. Kicked off by a small poetic essay by Ross King (Brunelleschi's Dome), a team of international art experts offers a crash course in art appreciation, then leads readers through six chronological sections (from prehistory to contemporary) devoted to pre-eminent artworks and artists. Chock-full of gorgeous color reproductions and images, helpful timelines, detailed close – ups, artists' biographies, and with histories and explanations written in clear, concise prose, Art is a standout book for any student or aficionado, a volume King aptly describes as "an admirable feat and a true joy."

Norma Stephens, longtime colleague of the late, legendary photographer Richard Avedon, knew well his love of performance, especially the theater. "He looked with a reverent, unsentimental eye at performers, always acknowledging the craft and the complexity," she says in Performance: Richard Avedon, a bold, intriguing archive of more than 200 portraits capturing the performers—actors and directors, musicians, comedians and dancers—who dominated 20th-century stage and screen.

This predominantly black-and-white collection of images includes many of Avedon's best – known photos, notably the stunning nude of dancer Rudolf Nureyev and the sexy-vampy headshot of Marilyn Monroe, but also features lesser-known photo galleries of theatrical performers, musicians and dancers exuberantly engaged in their art. Enlivened by personal recollections and memoi- style essays from critic John Lahr and artists Mike Nichols, Andre Gregory, Mitsuko Uchida and Twyla Tharp, this volume will help readers appreciate anew the carefully crafted underpinnings—Avedon's own brand of staging and, thus, performance—and psychological insight of this artist's work and photographic legacy.

Life lessons, love, work, peace and the future of our precious planet: these are the subjects under idiosyncratic discussion by 50 notable individuals interviewed in writer/photographer Andrew Zuckerman's sublime, engaging book Wisdom, which is accompanied by a DVD of the author's documentary of the same…

Arts & CultureArt

The media of the messages

Review by MiChelle Jones

Steven Heller's Iron Fists: Branding the 20th Century Totalitarian State concentrates on the aesthetic programs of the Nazis, Italy's fascists, Russia's Marxists and China's Communists. Heller begins with an overview of each regime's rise to power, overall design identity and the cult of personality that grew around each of the leaders: Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin and then Stalin, and Mao.

Heller assumes a basic familiarity with design movements, yet the book is also accessible to non-experts through abundant illustrations and because some of the concepts transcended their regimes to become either prototypical or iconographic. These include the striking diagonals and photomontages of Russian Constructivist posters and the ubiquitous red plastic-covered Little Red Book of Mao's writings. But nothing comes close to the overreaching and frighteningly successful design campaign instituted by the Nazis, which, as Heller puts it, "ultimately became a textbook example—indeed a perverse paradigm—of corporate branding." To that end, he discusses the use of typefaces, photographs of Hitler, posters and almost every other sort of media put in service of the Nazi platform.

Ennis Carter's Posters for the People: Art of the WPA celebrates the 75th anniversary of FDR's New Deal through posters created between 1935 and 1943 by the Works Progress Administration. Of the 35,000 designs created (and more than two million posters printed), there are only 900 in the Library of Congress collection. This leaves many posters waiting to be rediscovered; one such cache was the impetus of this book.

Brief, informative essays by Carter and Christopher DeNoon (Posters of the WPA) open the book, but for the most part the 500 reproduced posters, grouped according to "values being promoted and the actions being encouraged," speak for themselves. Some are quaint and innocent (lots of milk drives, children's art classes, farm events), some less so (quite a few tout treatment for syphilis). Among the most striking designs: posters integrating intricate patterns drawn from Native American pottery and textiles; a travel series showcasing national parks and other sites; and a surprisingly gorgeous trade zone poster featuring stylized black ships with colorful smokestacks against a blue background.

Steven Heller's Iron Fists: Branding the 20th Century Totalitarian State concentrates on the aesthetic programs of the Nazis, Italy's fascists, Russia's Marxists and China's Communists. Heller begins with an overview of each regime's rise to power, overall design identity and the cult of personality that…

Pop CultureArts & Culture

Gladwell’s secrets of success

Review by John T. Slania

After exploring the dynamics of social change in The Tipping Point, and decision-making in Blink, Malcolm Gladwell turns to the subject of success in his new book, Outliers. Written in Gladwell's typical breezy, conversational style, Outliers seeks to discover what makes people smart, wealthy or famous. Gladwell argues that in studying successful people, we spend too much time on what they are like and not enough time on where they are from. In other words, he believes that it is "their culture, their family, their generation and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringings" which determines their success.

One of the joys of Gladwell's writing is the way he explains complex theories using everyday examples. In Outliers, he makes the case that success is sometimes shaped by the smallest factors. Take a person's birthday. The most successful Canadian hockey players are born in January, February and March, Gladwell writes, simply because the cut-off date for age class hockey in Canada is January 1. Thus, those born after that date are held back a year, giving them an age and size advantage.

Environment also plays a big role in success. Gladwell compares the lives of two geniuses: physicist Robert Oppenheimer and a little-known Missouri man named Christopher Langan. Both were tested and found to have high IQs. But Gladwell argues that Oppenheimer had a huge advantage being raised in a wealthy, educated family, while Langan was born into a poor, broken family. Oppenheimer went to Harvard and Cambridge and helped develop the nuclear bomb. Langan had poor grades in school, never finished college and makes money competing on TV game shows.

Then there is the factor of opportunity in shaping success. Why was Bill Gates successful? Well, he was smart, but he also grew up when the personal computer was coming of age, offering him opportunities to tinker and create new software. Gladwell's unique perspective challenges readers to think about intelligence, success and fame in a new way. Outliers is a clever, entertaining book that stimulates readers' minds and broadens their perspectives. It is, in its own way, genius.

After exploring the dynamics of social change in The Tipping Point, and decision-making in Blink, Malcolm Gladwell turns to the subject of success in his new book, Outliers. Written in Gladwell's typical breezy, conversational style, Outliers seeks to discover what makes people smart, wealthy or…

LiteratureArts & Culture

Up close and personal with the Bard

Review by bookpagedev

"The manuscript of an out-of-control writer is not a pretty thing to behold: sloppy, confused, slapdash, disjointed," writes Herman Gollob, author of Me and Shakespeare. "Out of this chaos the editor must bring order—structure, organization, coherence." Now in his early 70s, Gollob is well-known in publishing circles, having served for years as an editor at Little, Brown, Atheneum and Simon & Schuster.

Originally from Texas, he made fortuitous early professional connections that led him into careers as a Hollywood story editor and literary agent. He went on to nurture the talents of writers such as James Clavell, Dan Jenkins, Donald Barthelme and Willie Morris. While his book is, at times, lofty in tone, it is anecdote-laden, rich with gossip and brimming with all things Shakespearean.Gollob, who teaches adult education classes on the Bard at New Jersey’s Caldwell College Lifelong Learning Institute, takes his cue from pertinent Shakespearean quotations, describing his journeys to the Bodleian and Folger Shakespeare libraries, relating his exchanges with students and offering a fair amount of hardcore literary, critical and historical analysis of the Bard’s works and influences.Along the way, he discusses such personal matters as his father’s death from prostate cancer, his mother’s lobotomy and his high regard for his wife, Barbara. He also takes an apparently long-overdue retaliatory swipe at the late actor Lee Strasberg by relating an incident in which Gollob the editor told potential author Strasberg that no one would ever want to read a book as pedantic as the one Strasberg was proposing. It would seem that Strasberg was not as encouraging of Gollob’s early attempts to be an actor as Gollob would have liked.

Martin Brady writes from Nashville.

"The manuscript of an out-of-control writer is not a pretty thing to behold: sloppy, confused, slapdash, disjointed," writes Herman Gollob, author of Me and Shakespeare. "Out of this chaos the editor must bring order—structure, organization, coherence." Now in his early 70s, Gollob is well-known in…

LiteratureArts & Culture

Up close and personal with the Bard: authors find solace in Shakespeare

Review by bookpagedev

What are the odds? Two major publishers release memoirs at the same time in the same year, both of which are authored by men of professional bearing who glory in Shakespeare and teach classes on the subject. The coincidences passing strange are worthy of one of the Bard’s own plays.

“The manuscript of an out-of-control writer is not a pretty thing to behold: sloppy, confused, slapdash, disjointed,” writes Herman Gollob, author of Me and Shakespeare. “Out of this chaos the editor must bring order structure, organization, coherence.” Now in his early 70s, Gollob is well-known in publishing circles, having served for years as an editor at Little, Brown, Atheneum and Simon &and Schuster. Originally from Texas, he made fortuitous early professional connections that led him into careers as a Hollywood story editor and literary agent. He went on to nurture the talents of writers such as James Clavell, Dan Jenkins, Donald Barthelme and Willie Morris. While his book is, at times, lofty in tone, it is anecdote-laden, rich with gossip and brimming with all things Shakespearean.

Gollob, who teaches adult education classes on the Bard at New Jersey’s Caldwell College Lifelong Learning Institute, takes his cue from pertinent Shakespearean quotations, describing his journeys to the Bodleian and Folger Shakespeare libraries, relating his exchanges with students and offering a fair amount of hardcore literary, critical and historical analysis of the Bard’s works and influences.

Along the way, he discusses such personal matters as his father’s death from prostate cancer, his mother’s lobotomy and his high regard for his wife, Barbara. He also takes an apparently long-overdue retaliatory swipe at the late actor Lee Strasberg by relating an incident in which Gollob the editor told potential author Strasberg that no one would ever want to read a book as pedantic as the one Strasberg was proposing. It would seem that Strasberg was not as encouraging of Gollob’s early attempts to be an actor as Gollob would have liked.

Bob Smith is a man of fewer pretensions than Gollob, and his new memoir Hamlet’s Dresser shows it.”I’ve seen my ordinary name as a promise to be unseen, unheard, unnoticed,” writes Smith. “And for most of my life I’ve honored the contract.” The title of the memoir derives from Smith’s career as wardrobe man at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Connecticut, where he rubbed elbows with well-known personalities, including John Houseman, Jessica Tandy and Katharine Hepburn. Nowadays, Smith takes pride in running informal seminars on Shakespeare at senior centers in New York City. With distant parents and a severely retarded sister, Smith turned to the Bard at an early age and found solace in his poetry and his universal, all-encompassing understanding of human frailty. “I think that the more confused you are inside,” Smith says, “the more you need to trust a thing outside of yourself. I was desperate to lean against a thing bigger than me, and it was clear that William Shakespeare understood what it’s like to ache and not know why.” Smith’s young life was tinged with sadness due to his mother’s depression and alcoholism, his father’s aloofness and the love and pain associated with his sister Carolyn, who was eventually institutionalized. His further exposure to Shakespeare through his theatrical work has made Smith a nonacademic expert on the Bard, with an amazing power to recall lengthy passages of dialogue. His book, too, is laced with illuminating quotes from the Bard’s plays, which shed additional connecting light on the painful details of Smith’s upbringing and ongoing personal hardships, including the tragic suicide of an actor-friend. If the growing soul is best watered by tears of adversity, then Smith is a living example of that axiom. Fortunately, he has turned sorrow into a creative outlet for informing and inspiring his weekly audience of aging men and women, who too are learning of Shakespeare’s curative and comforting powers. Martin Brady writes from Nashville.

What are the odds? Two major publishers release memoirs at the same time in the same year, both of which are authored by men of professional bearing who glory in Shakespeare and teach classes on the subject. The coincidences passing strange are worthy of one…
PhotographyArts & Culture

Manet, Meissonier and Room M

Review by bookpagedev

From 1863 to 1874, Room M, the infamous gallery in the annual, government-sponsored Paris Salon (the Exhibition of Living Artists ), was a testing ground. It saw many a melee, showcasing (alphabetically) the dramatically opposed works of celebrated conservative painter Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier and reviled upstart Edouard Manet, father of the Impressionists. This juxtaposition of Meissonier’s realistically rendered historical scenes ( Campaign of France ) and Manet’s technically unorthodox, wittily subversive subjects ( Le Bain, Olympia ) represents the conceit a pivotal clash of ideas, commingled with the inevitable vicissitudes of human striving upon which Ross King’s The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Era That Gave the World Impressionism is based.

As in King’s previous books (Brunelleschi’s Dome, Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling) a curtain is lifted, exposing the lives and careers of formidable artists. Against a 19th-century decade of global war, civil unrest and oppressive politics, he weaves a rich tapestry of storytelling and history, a strategically paced, detail-packed narrative that follows the fortunes of Meissonier and Manet, the City of Light and the world’s nations. The turbulent chronicles of Napoleon III’s Second Empire unfold as, in both the Salons proper and their illegitimate offspring, the Salons des Refuses, the artistic and public communities staged parallel battles of mores and tastes.

The Judgment of Paris is a marvelous biography (you’ll also meet Monet, Baudelaire and Zola), an art and military history and a study in the evolution of man’s cultural ideals. It underscores a rueful irony: man struggles for freedom of expression in the present, which is mined, always, from the past. Though Meissonier’s sought-after paintings of a bygone age, speaking a language of gentle nostalgia, were eventually deemed irrelevant, Manet’s shocking works, relevant depictions of modern life, now resonate with nostalgic vernacular. Says King, The painters of modern life created, in the end, the same consoling visions of the past.

From 1863 to 1874, Room M, the infamous gallery in the annual, government-sponsored Paris Salon (the Exhibition of Living Artists ), was a testing ground. It saw many a melee, showcasing (alphabetically) the dramatically opposed works of celebrated conservative painter Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier and reviled upstart…
MusicArts & Culture

Back to where the boys are

Review by bookpagedev

You don’t have to remember the ’50s to get lost in Great Pretenders: My Strange Love Affair with ’50s Pop Music. After all, author Karen Schoemer only barely does. Yet even as she wrote about modern, angst-heavy rock as a Newsweek staffer, shades of Fabian, Tommy Sands, Georgia Gibbs and, above all, Connie Francis, hovered alongside specters of her parents at the edge of her imagination, demanding the chance to reverse history’s merciless judgment.

And so Schoemer’s search is about more than music. As her breathless, ironic and engaging prose suggests, it’s about family no, actually, it’s about love. For 30 years her parents had lived a few miles apart yet barely acknowledged each other’s existence. Somehow this becomes just as important as her portraits of the stars that set the pre-boom tune. You sense this in the quick intimacy she establishes with these singers singers she had been raised to dismiss as irrelevant, empty of talent or just plain icky.

Schoemer hurls herself into their lives, like a whirlwind sucking up a sea of research factoids yet drowning in uncertainties. Invariably she sheds her cynicism and becomes a trusting believer, much like her parents must have been before their premonitions of divorce. She sits in the backseat as Patti Page and her husband drive through their tiny town, wondering if maybe she could stay and join their family. She perches on Pat Boone’s lap, ready to devote herself to him forever despite his purity. She stands on her chair and screams along with the happy geriatrics at a Frankie Laine concert.

In other words, Schoemer doesn’t write about this music and the people who made it: she lives it, and gets it tangled up in her daydreams and anger and innocence. And, almost without anyone noticing, her odyssey leads her to where her memory began not just into the home of Connie Francis but, wildly and improbably, into her bed, where a moment of terrifying revelation reminds us that even pop music at its worst packs enough magic to set us all free. Robert L. Doerschuk is a former editor of Musician magazine.

You don't have to remember the '50s to get lost in Great Pretenders: My Strange Love Affair with '50s Pop Music. After all, author Karen Schoemer only barely does. Yet even as she wrote about modern, angst-heavy rock as a Newsweek staffer, shades of Fabian,…
TravelPhotographyCookbooksBusiness & FinanceBiographyArts & Culture

Life in the Middle Kingdom

Review by Bruce Tierney

In the dust jacket blurb for Mark Leonard's What Does China Think? rests an important pair of sentences: "Very few things that happen in our lifetime will be remembered after we are dead. But China's rise is different, like the rise and fall of Rome or the Soviet Empire, its after-effects will reverberate for generations to come." In a scholarly (but by no means dry) treatise, Leonard explores the conundrum that is modern China, through the views of the thinkers, movers and shakers who are leading the recently backward land into a position of prominence (and perhaps dominance) in the 21st century. In one essay titled "Meritocracy vs. majority rule," Leonard quotes Beijing University's Pan Wei, who believes Westerners have it wrong in assuming that their countries are prosperous and stable because of democracy; rather, he suggests prosperity and stability spring forth from the rule of law, and law and democracy are like yin and yang, in constant conflict with one another. What Does China Think? should be on the short list for anyone who wants insight into China's idea of its rightful place in the world order.

Encyclopedia Sinologica

Every now and then one's radar is blipped by someone or something that should have been taught in school, but somehow wasn't. Such is the case with Englishman Joseph Needham, who went to China in the 1930s and embarked on a lifelong project to catalog all of the inventions for which the Chinese were responsible. Big deal, you say. That's what I thought as well, until I had the opportunity to read Simon Winchester's The Man Who Loved China. This unforgettable (and unputdownable) book is a major revelation both about Chinese ingenuity and the remarkable man who spent his life unearthing and cataloging it. Among the notable inventions credited to the Chinese: paper, the compass, gunpowder, chopsticks (OK, that was probably a given), the toothbrush, toilet paper, the abacus, the bellows, the cannon, canal locks (as in the Panama Canal), paper money, grenades, the suspension bridge, vaccinations and the wheelbarrow, to mention but a handful. Whew! In the end, Needham produced 17 exhaustive volumes, rendering him a legend in the annals of encyclopedia. The Man Who Loved China should appeal strongly to fans of John McPhee or Michael Sims, or anyone interested in the history of China as seen through the eyes of an inquisitive Westerner.

The land in pictures

If a single picture is worth a thousand words, then Yann Layma's China should be worth at least 210,000 descriptors. The pictures are first-rate, of National Geographic quality. Each rates a two-page spread, without margins or captions to distract from the images (the pictures are all reproduced in thumbnail size in the back of the book, along with descriptive captions). Layma displays a rare sensitivity and humor in depicting daily life in China. One picture shows stately houseboats wending their way down a misty canal; another depicts the elaborate geometric pattern of a rice paddy. Still others offer glimpses into the daily lives of such diverse groups as falconers, runway models, fishermen, factory workers, religious figures and martial arts practitioners. Also included are essays by five noted Chinese writers: one section deals with the teachings of Lao Tzu and Confucius, another with famous Chinese inventions; a third covers Chinese calligraphy, a fourth gives a brief look at milestones in Chinese history. The other books in this article each illustrate a facet of the modern miracle that is China, but this is the one that will make you long to pay a visit to the Middle Kingdom.

What's on the menu

No report on modern-day China would be complete without at least a look at Chinese cuisine. Of course, everyone in the West is familiar with the staples: egg rolls, sweet and sour pork, General Tso's chicken and egg foo young. Less known are such culinary delights as red-braised bear paw, dried orangutan lips (I am not making this up), camel hump and the ovarian fat of the Chinese forest frog. For a historical (and often hysterical) glimpse at these and other fascinating facets of Chinese cooking, look no further than Fuchsia Dunlop's Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, a tale of travel in modern China, with appended recipes for meals that tend more toward the delicious end of Chinese cuisine spectrum, rather than, say, the aforementioned orangutan lips. Dunlop's writing style is conversational and engaging, and she poses several perplexing questions (for instance, when she inadvertently cooks a caterpillar along with some homegrown veggies in England, should she eat it, as she has done many times in China, or shiver in revulsion, as befits her upbringing?).

This could happen to you

And now for the fun part, the book that made me laugh out loud more times than I can remember, J. Maarten Troost's Lost on Planet China. After spending too long in Sacramento ("a little corner of Oklahoma that got lost and found itself on the other side of the Sierra Nevada. . ."), Troost decided a new place to live was in order. "I'm thinking China," he suggested to his wife, Sylvia. "I'm thinking Monterey," Sylvia countered. Clearly a compromise was required, and so it came to pass that Troost set forth on a solo exploratory mission to Old Cathay. After learning some vital Chinese phrases ("I am not proficient at squatting; is there another toilet option?," "Are you sure that's chicken?"), Troost found himself waving goodbye to his family. He would soon be saying hello again, though, as he had forgotten his backpack containing his passport, plane ticket and traveler's checks: " 'I'm trying to envision you in China,' Sylvia said, 'and I can't decide whether to laugh or weep.' I empathized. It's a thin line that separates tragedy from farce." As you might imagine, it only gets more frenetic and exponentially more humorous from this point forward. Troost is already being lauded as the new generation's answer to Bill Bryson; in my view, his writing is markedly different, but it will definitely find an appreciative audience among Bryson fans.

In the dust jacket blurb for Mark Leonard's What Does China Think? rests an important pair of sentences: "Very few things that happen in our lifetime will be remembered after we are dead. But China's rise is different, like the rise and fall of…

MusicArts & Culture

Who could ask for anything more?

Review by bookpagedev

Songs are the bookmarks in our memory that were either crafted painstakingly over a long period of time or dashed off in inspirational or deadline-imposed frenzy. But the circumstances of their creation, as Will Friedwald demonstrates in Stardust Melodies, is seldom as fascinating as tracing the routes by which they have insinuated themselves into our consciousness.

The songs Friedwald chronicles in his book are Star Dust, The St. Louis Blues, Mack the Knife, Ol’ Man River, Body and Soul, I Got Rhythm, As Time Goes By, Night and Day, Stormy Weather, Summertime, My Funny Valentine and Lush Life. Each of these classics was composed between 1914 and 1938. Making no claim that these are the finest, most popular or best-selling tunes of their genre, Friedwald proposes that each has triumphantly survived decades of changing tastes on its own intrinsic power. And yes, he does offer a plausible excuse for not including any Irving Berlin songs.

For each of his choices, Friedwald provides the historical context of the composition, an analysis of its musical structure and an account of how the song gained popular momentum. He ends each biography with Bonus Tracks, a brief discussion of noteworthy recordings of the song. For example, he cites his candidate for the zaniest version of As Time Goes By (Louis Prima’s on The Prima Generation album) and speculates as to who could have sung the best versions of Stormy Weather but didn’t (Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes and Joe Williams). Much of the pleasure of reading this book is seeing the fun Friedwald has with his subject. Although he quotes fragments of lyrics from the songs he anatomizes, Friedwald doesn’t include the entire lyrics for any of the selections. This failure may stem from the cost of acquiring reprint permission. But aside from this omission, Stardust Melodies provides a penetrating and exhaustive introduction to 12 timeless tunes.

Songs are the bookmarks in our memory that were either crafted painstakingly over a long period of time or dashed off in inspirational or deadline-imposed frenzy. But the circumstances of their creation, as Will Friedwald demonstrates in Stardust Melodies, is seldom as fascinating as tracing…
Pop CulturePhotographyHistoryArts & Culture

We the people

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

Rick Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt have created coffee-table books that resonate with Americans, from A Day in the Life of America to Passage to Vietnam. The husband-and-wife duo's latest, America at Home: A Close-up Look at How We Live, sticks to the winning formula: large color photos (by pros and amateurs alike) with short, evocative captions. Thoughtful essays consider what home means: "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening ponders our "weird, mysterious connection" with home, tech writer David Pogue muses about home-as-workplace and novelist Amy Tan writes about her husband, their pets and their home life. All sorts of Americans are represented – from different states, age groups, ethnicities and lifestyles – and the concept of home is broad. America at Home visits a yurt, houseboats and comedian Rich Little's in-home theater, to name a few, and offers statistics on everything from homelessness to adoption rates. The book is fun to flip through, pore over or share.

The prolific, Pulitzer Prize-winning George F. Will offers his impressions of America's culture via a cross-country chronicling of the people, places and traditions that inform our national identity. In One Man's America: The Pleasures and Provocations of Our Singular Nation, the longtime Newsweek columnist writes about Hugh Hefner, Ronald Reagan, the Holocaust Memorial Museum and baseball. He also peers through the lens of his own experience to question what is accepted vs. what is right. In an essay about his son Jon, born with Down syndrome, Will bemoans "today's entitlement mentality—every parent's 'right' to a perfect baby." He also questions whether "green" companies are as eco-conscious as they claim, and rhapsodizes about his beloved baseball. The book is a mixed bag and, ultimately, an invitation to look at America in a skeptical but hopeful way.

EMBRACING CHANCE
Numismatists, history buffs and schoolchildren alike will enjoy A Pocketful of History: Four Hundred Years of America – One State Quarter at a Time. Jim Noles explores the meaning of what's shown on the coins, such as the Statue of Liberty, a cow, the Space Shuttle and Helen Keller. He reveals how the U.S. Mint came up with the idea (they were inspired by a Canadian program), and notes that, in some states, the governor chose the design, while others had citizens weigh in. Also interesting: thanks to recent legislation, Washington, D.C., and the five U.S. territories will get quarters, too. There's a lot to be learned here, but the quarter-by-quarter approach keeps the information manageable. It's clear, as Noles writes, "that new spare change jangling in our pockets . . . celebrates change and the history of change."

RUN IT UP THE FLAGPOLE
You may already know the Betsy Ross story has been consigned to myth, but did you know that, since 1998, the Smithsonian has been working to preserve the Star-Spangled Banner? The museum reopens this month, and visitors may enter the new flag room and see the American icon in all its dramatic, tattered glory. The Star-Spangled Banner: The Making of an American Icon by Lonn Taylor, Kathleen M. Kendrick and Jeffrey L. Brodie serves as a nice preview or alternative: it takes readers through the flag's history and considers its role as a symbol of American unity and democracy. The book covers a range of topics, from the day in 1814 when Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the national anthem to a biographical sketch of the woman who made the flag from linen, cotton and wool. There are plenty of photos, including the historic (raising the flag at Iwo Jima) and the pop cultural (images of '60s-era items adorned with stars and stripes).

Rick Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt have created coffee-table books that resonate with Americans, from A Day in the Life of America to Passage to Vietnam. The husband-and-wife duo's latest, America at Home: A Close-up Look at How We Live, sticks to the winning formula: large…

NonfictionLiteratureArts & Culture

Looking for Anne of Green Gables

Review by Trisha Ping

One hundred years ago this month, L.M. Montgomery published Anne of Green Gables. The anniversary has been marked by a new edition of the book and a new prequel by Canadian children’s author Budge Wilson—not to mention the celebrations on Prince Edward Island. But how much did the feisty redhead have in common with her creator? That’s the question Irene Gammel poses in the well-researched Looking for Anne of Green Gables, which examines Montgomery’s life through the lens of her best-known work.

Gammel, who teaches English at Ryerson University in Toronto, digs up Montgomery’s influences, including model Evelyn Nesbit, whose dreamy beauty inspired Anne’s. She explores the ways Montgomery’s life mirrored Anne’s own, from her teaching career to the intense relationships with women that were the basis for Anne and Diana’s passionate friendship. The “dual biography” format can be awkward, and Gammel’s academic background is evident in some passages, but this work provides an in-depth look into two famous lives.

How much did feisty redhead Anne of Green Gables have in common with her creator?

Sign Up

Stay on top of new releases: Sign up for our newsletter to receive reading recommendations in your favorite genres.

Sign up now

Recent Reviews

All Reviews

Author Interviews

More Interviews

Recent Features

All Features