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Wright Thompson’s ‘The Barn’ chronicles the fight to preserve the memory of Emmett Till

Fourteen-year-old Till was murdered in a nondescript barn in the Mississippi Delta. But few know the barn still stands today, or fully understand its history. Thompson believes we should.
Fourteen-year-old Till was murdered in a nondescript barn in the Mississippi Delta. But few know the barn still stands today, or fully understand its history. Thompson believes we should.
NonfictionMemoir

Connie

With candor and humor, Connie Chung shares the highs and lows of her trailblazing career as a journalist in her invigorating memoir, Connie.
With candor and humor, Connie Chung shares the highs and lows of her trailblazing career as a journalist in her invigorating memoir, Connie.
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Memoir

Of sons and godsons

Review by bookpagedev

A Twist of Lemmon: A Tribute to My Father is a collection of memories and stories from the shared lives of Jack Lemmon and his eldest son, writer and actor Chris Lemmon. Not so much a biography as an act of memory, the book is built around Chris’ experiences and emotions as he came to terms with his father’s death from cancer in 2001. The stories Chris tells some Jack’s, some his, most theirs together are poignant and often laugh-out-loud funny. There are encounters with everyone from Mark McGuire to Milton Berle, an interesting mix of old celebrity and new, with Jack as the bridge between the generations. And despite the celebrity nature of the names, these stories link with many a young man’s life in America: dad at work, dad fishing, dad driving (badly) and dad and son playing golf. A Twist of Lemmon is a delightful and thoughtful read that will satisfy both fans of Jack Lemmon and those who simply enjoy a good book.

A Twist of Lemmon: A Tribute to My Father is a collection of memories and stories from the shared lives of Jack Lemmon and his eldest son, writer and actor Chris Lemmon. Not so much a biography as an act of memory, the book is built around Chris’ experiences and emotions as he came to […]
Biography

Jungle fervor

Review by bookpagedev

Writer and master muckraker Upton Sinclair catapulted to fame with his exposŽ novel on the meatpacking industry, The Jungle, which instigated the Pure Food and Drug Act. This year, Sinclair’s timely masterpiece turns 100, and Fulbright scholar Anthony Arthur gives us an excellent, balanced tribute to the author’s life, literary achievements and still relevant social platform.

Radical Innocent: Upton Sinclair is an absorbing chronology; Arthur knows his subject well and appreciates the oxymoron of Sinclair’s austere personal habits and impassioned idealistic impulses. Chapters place Sinclair’s life into distinct identities (progressing from The Penniless Rat to The Sage ) following the publishing career of an outspoken social reformer and tireless, disciplined novelist who was the most conservative of revolutionaries. Arthur expertly contextualizes Sinclair’s life amid the rambunctious 20th-century milieu: Sinclair found celebrity at 27, had a long (eventually aborted) association with the American Socialist Party, a run in the 1943 California gubernatorial race, a Pulitzer Prize for Dragon’s Teeth (starring the inimitable Lanny Budd), and three marriages. Alison Hood is a writer in San Rafael, California.

Writer and master muckraker Upton Sinclair catapulted to fame with his exposŽ novel on the meatpacking industry, The Jungle, which instigated the Pure Food and Drug Act. This year, Sinclair’s timely masterpiece turns 100, and Fulbright scholar Anthony Arthur gives us an excellent, balanced tribute to the author’s life, literary achievements and still relevant social […]
Biography

Not ready for her close-up

Review by bookpagedev

Charles J. Shields, a journalist and author of nonfiction for young readers, blends techniques of fiction and creative investigative reporting in Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. No prior biography of Lee exists, and Shields has written a largely imagined rendering of the reclusive, famously feisty author's life. Lee, now 79 and living in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, declined to speak with Shields or verify his research. The result is a book that, in Shields' words, "aims to capture a life but is not a conventional biography." Which begs the question: Do we really need to know Ms. Lee's innermost thoughts, isn't it enough that she wrote a worthy book that continues to inspire?

 

Shields' narrative earns A's for effort and for his evocation of the Depression-era South. Also, he clearly respects the importance of To Kill a Mockingbird, mining its pages for clues to Lee's life. Less effective, however, is his weave of fact and conjuration (derived from a mix of tangential research), which makes the text threadbare in spots as it attempts to authoritatively explore the vista of Lee's family and upbringing, friendships, education, writing process and present life. And, oddly, Shields' book closes with a misplaced thematic defamation of Lee's carefully wrought novel.
 
Mockingbird has three sturdy chapters, though, that lend revealing biographical subtext. These chronicle the diligent shepherding of Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by her agent and editor; her lifelong friendship with the flamboyant Truman Capote; and her struggle to write a second novel. About this literary silence, Shields reports that Lee is self-forgiving: "People who have made peace with themselves are the people I most admire in the world."

 

Alison Hood is a writer in San Rafael, California.

Charles J. Shields, a journalist and author of nonfiction for young readers, blends techniques of fiction and creative investigative reporting in Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. No prior biography of Lee exists, and Shields has written a largely imagined rendering of the reclusive, famously feisty author's life. Lee, now 79 and living in her […]
History

Dispatches from Africa

Review by bookpagedev

When journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault was growing up in then-segregated Georgia, the movies she saw at the Saturday matinees always depicted Africans as hapless or even demonic. But Hunter-Gault, an African American who later became the first black woman admitted to the University of Georgia, was able to transcend those ugly stereotypes, creating a lush African jungle paradise in her own imagination.

Hunter-Gault, a two-time Emmy and Peabody Award winner, believes conventional Western journalism still stereotypes Africa as a place of unrelenting chaos and despair. In New News Out of Africa, she asks us to transcend that image by recognizing what she believes is a renaissance of a continent in hopeful transition.

Now Special Africa Correspondent for National Public Radio, Hunter-Gault does not ignore the huge problems faced by Africans, among them AIDS, famine, civil wars and authoritarian governments. But she believes they have to be seen in a context that also includes increased civic activism, economic progress and improving governments in such major countries as Nigeria and South Africa.

South Africa, where she now lives, is Hunter-Gault’s exemplar. She is unabashed in her admiration for Nelson Mandela and writes movingly of the country’s effort to peacefully overcome its apartheid legacy. She acknowledges that president Thabo Mbeki responded badly to the country’s AIDS crisis, but argues that he is largely a positive role model for African leaders.

Hunter-Gault brings to her view of Africa the perspective of a woman who was herself a successful civil rights pioneer. She asks only that we see the continent with balance and compassion. Anne Bartlett is a journalist in Washington, D.C.

When journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault was growing up in then-segregated Georgia, the movies she saw at the Saturday matinees always depicted Africans as hapless or even demonic. But Hunter-Gault, an African American who later became the first black woman admitted to the University of Georgia, was able to transcend those ugly stereotypes, creating a lush African […]
Travel

Four Seasons in Rome

Review by Kelly Koepke

Here's a dilemma that more of us should face: Your wife gives birth to twins the same day you find out you've won a prestigious award. The prize is a year in Rome, a writing studio and apartment at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a bit of pocket change to keep you in diapers and gelato. Do you take the leap and drag your new babies across the globe, leaving your home and support system behind, for the chance to explore the Eternal City for a year?

Anthony Doerr, author of The Shell Collector and About Grace, answered a resounding yes, fully embracing all that this lucky year would bring. The result is Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World, a touching, funny and sometimes awe-inspiring reflection on what it is to be an American in Italy, a non-Catholic during the vigil of a dying pope and the celebration of a newly chosen one, and a new father of boys who change so quickly it seems to be magic.

Doerr doesn't get much writing done on his planned novel, as one would imagine, surrounded as he is by the intellectual treasures of more than 2,000 years. Instead, he reads Pliny's histories of the world, explores churches and piazzas and neighborhood bakeries, marvels at centuries-old architecture and artistic riches, and the simple joys of the smell of his twins' heads. At one point he forgets he's speaking Italian to the grocer, only to be reminded of his alien status when faced with an alarming medical emergency.

Part love letter to Rome, part fish-out-of-water tale, and so much more than a travelogue, Four Seasons in Rome chronicles the passage of a year one that alternately flies by and drags on with style, wonder and wide-eyed amazement.

Kelly Koepke is a freelance writer in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

 

Here's a dilemma that more of us should face: Your wife gives birth to twins the same day you find out you've won a prestigious award. The prize is a year in Rome, a writing studio and apartment at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a bit of pocket change to keep you […]
Lifestyles

Projects to create busy hands and peaceful hearts

Review by bookpagedev

There’s something to the old saying, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” Crafty people know the pleasure, pride and peaceful satisfaction derived from creating something by hand. Those interested in converting others to their way of thinking might pass along one of these books to anyone whose heart could be helped by busying her hands. You’ll not only spread that sense of peace and accomplishment, but thwart the devil a little as well. Making memorable keepsakes As Nancy Ouchida-Howells writes in Calligraphy: Easel Does It (HarperDesign, $16.95, 96 pages, ISBN 0060588349), the ancient art of beautiful writing demands “full attention and concentration, a balance between control and freedom that creates a meditative, peaceful state as you immerse yourself in the act of creating.” Her book is designed to stand up like an easel for easy reference while following its photographed step-by-step instructions. Ouchida-Howells begins with the basics: materials needed, how to maneuver the pens and basic lettering, then guides you through eight projects “easily adjusted to suit your needs,” such as greeting cards, wrapping paper and invitations. Several calligraphic styles are demonstrated, including Gothic, Renaissance, Celtic, Romanesque and Modern Revival. There’s even a scrapbook cover project that segues nicely into the next book, Scrapbook Tips and Techniques (Leisure Arts, $16.95, 288 pages, ISBN 157486422X). In fact, since scrapbooks often include lots of lettering, your homemade keepsake album is likely to benefit from your newfound penmanship skills throughout its pages not just on the cover.

If you’re like me, with boxes and boxes of photos, souvenirs and mementos and some vague notion of creatively organizing them “someday,” Scrapbook Tips and Techniques can propel you into action. Chapter titles include “From Chaos to Order: 10 Easy Steps to Photo Organization” (sign me up!), “Collage Craze” and “Border Ideas.” While giving detailed instructions and containing numerous lovely and inspiring example pages, this book is far from being simplistic. For the serious scrapbooker or the seriously artistic, many advanced techniques and mediums are covered, such as creating stained-glass embellishments using watercolors, embossing, or fiber and eyelets for different effects.

Crafts for home and garden A versatile and portable craft, crochet is a quiet, contained activity you can do almost anywhere, and Crochet Basics: All You Need to Know to Get Hooked on Crochet, by Jan Eaton, is the book to get you hooking away. Designed for the absolute beginner, Eaton’s book points out that you don’t need to invest in expensive supplies to get started: all you need is a ball of yarn and a crochet hook or two. With large, clearly defined photos of each step, she walks you through 12 separate projects starting with a simple scarf and progressing to more complicated designs such as a child’s sweater, purses, a lace evening wrap and a colorful Harlequin afghan. “Once you have the hang of holding hook and yarn comfortably,” she notes, “the basic techniques of crochet are surprisingly easy to master, and all crochet forms, no matter how intricate they look at first, are based on a small number of stitches that are very easy to learn.” Finally, if turning trash to treasure floats your creative craft, and you’re not afraid of basic tools like a hammer, sandpaper and paintbrushes, then Flea Market Makeovers for the Outdoors: Projects ∧ Ideas Using Flea Market Finds ∧ Recycled Bargain Buys (Bulfinch, $29.95, 160 pages, ISBN 0821228617), by B.J. Berti, is the book for you. In these pages a weathered trellis, too fragile for garden use, becomes an appealing plant holder, discarded woolen sweaters become a cozy patchwork throw, and rusty thrift-store trays become trendy purveyors of cooling beverages. Berti offers plenty of projects complete with material lists, numbered instructions and photos. My favorite is the romantic painted candelabra for the outdoors, created by removing the light sockets and the wiring from an electric chandelier, painting it and then substituting candles for the milk glass lightbulb covers. Just keep the fire limited to your imagination!

There’s something to the old saying, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” Crafty people know the pleasure, pride and peaceful satisfaction derived from creating something by hand. Those interested in converting others to their way of thinking might pass along one of these books to anyone whose heart could be helped by busying her hands. […]

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