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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.
NonfictionMemoirLGBTQ+

Frighten the Horses

Oliver Radclyffe’s Frighten the Horses is a powerful standout among the burgeoning subgenre of gender transition memoirs.
Oliver Radclyffe’s Frighten the Horses is a powerful standout among the burgeoning subgenre of gender transition memoirs.
NonfictionMemoir

Health and Safety

Emily Witt’s sharp, deeply personal memoir, Health and Safety, invites us to relive a tumultuous era in American history through the eyes of a keen observer.
Emily Witt’s sharp, deeply personal memoir, Health and Safety, invites us to relive a tumultuous era in American history through the eyes of a keen observer.
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Memoir

Remembering the ’80s, Chicago-style

Review by Gregory Harris

Taking its name in part from his friends' answer to surfing swimming off an abandoned dock on the shores of Lake Michigan Rich Cohen's new memoir Lake Effect is a timeless coming-of-age tale set in the 1980s. Raised on Chicago's Great Lakes, he and his friends do the usual: hang out, drink beer, sneak into the city to hear the blues and hold long, intense conversations about their dreams and ambitions. But what makes this story different is Cohen's skill at capturing, as he puts it, the thrill of a certain kind of friendship and what happens to such friendships when the afternoon runs into the evening. Growing up in a decade remembered for New Wave, full-tilt capitalism and Ronald Reagan, Cohen and his high school buddies all bring different elements to their circle, but it's the mercurial Jamie Drew, known as Drew-licious, who is the catalyst behind many activities. Jamie is a leader who maintains an aloofness, the detachment of a point man scouting enemy territory, and despite their evident closeness, his inner life seems to remain a tantalizing mystery to the author. Yet Cohen is unabashed in his admiration for Jamie, who often walked paths he never tread himself.

There is a melancholy to their friendship, as time passes and their lives diverge. Cohen heads for Tulane University in New Orleans and a career as a successful writer. From the French Quarter to the Big Apple, where he writes for the esteemed New Yorker, Cohen realizes his dream of working as a journalist, while some of his friends seem to drop out of life. His eventual alienation from Jamie, which parallels the decisions all adults make as they leave childhood behind, will resonate with readers. Jobs, school, relationships and responsibilities inevitably come between Cohen and Jamie. Occasional reunions, while joyful, also carry a reminder of how much time has passed. A universal story of youth, maturity and love, Lake Effect is a probing meditation on the passage of time, an accomplished book filled with the humorous antics of teenagers in suburbia.

Gregory Harris is a writer, editor and IT consultant in Indianapolis.

Taking its name in part from his friends' answer to surfing swimming off an abandoned dock on the shores of Lake Michigan Rich Cohen's new memoir Lake Effect is a timeless coming-of-age tale set in the 1980s. Raised on Chicago's Great Lakes, he and his friends do the usual: hang out, drink beer, sneak into […]
Sports

Baseball 2002: stronger than ever . . . at least on the bookshelf

Review by Ron Kaplan

Over the winter, "contraction" was the buzzword in baseball. Fueled by claims that a majority of the teams were operating in the red, the commissioner's office announced it was considering eliminating up to four clubs and drastically reconfiguring the game as we know it. But you wouldn't know there was any problem with the national pastime from looking at the book industry. From statistical analyses to literary homages, dozens of baseball titles are due out this year. The following are a few we feel merit consideration for M.V.B. (Most Valuable Book) 2002.

"The man in the box office . . . will tell you that a baseball franchise in a large city is a mint'." These words weren't written to counter the commissioner's charges; they come from "Baseball as the Bleachers Like It," an essay by Charles E. Van Loan, written in 1909. His piece is one of many to be found in Baseball: A Literary Anthology, a classic volume of poetry, fiction and nonfiction edited by Nicholas Dawidoff. Author of the best-selling book The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg, Dawidoff has assembled a wonderful collection that includes contributions from legendary baseball writers Roger Angell, Roger Kahn and Damon Runyon, as well as unexpected sources like Carl Sandburg, Jonathan Schwartz and Tallulah Bankhead. While there are some familiar pieces here, the book's charm lies in its variety of voices authors not known for sportswriting. Contributions from Thomas Wolfe, William Carlos Williams, Amiri Baraka and Stephen King (who would have expected a genial, non-morbid piece on Little League from the master of horror?) make this anthology special.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Baseball Desk Referenceby Lawrence T. Lorimer is a perfect blend of history, statistics, illustrations and just plain fun that any fan, novice or expert will enjoy. Part encyclopedia, part primer, part pop culture history book, this volume covers all the bases (pardon the pun). Beginning with a timeline of the game's significant events, Baseball Desk Reference contains a year-by-year breakdown of the major leagues, team histories and profiles of hundreds of top players. There's also extensive coverage of baseball around the world, rules, techniques of play and instruction on how to score a game.

Additionally, the book examines baseball's impact on other cultural forms, like cinema, literature and music. This heavyweight book bears the name of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, so expect a high quality addition to your sports library. In Clearing the Bases: The Greatest Baseball Debates of the Last Century, Allen Barra, popular sports columnist for The Wall Street Journal and Salon.com, presents discussions of the sport's most confounding questions. He examines weighty issues such as why pitchers can't throw complete games anymore, and who should wear the mantle of "Greatest Living Player" now that Joltin' Joe DiMaggio is gone. Among the more compelling and original debates are Barra's theories on the failure of the 1986 Mets to maintain National League dominance, and the "back story" about Roger Maris breaking Babe Ruth's home run record. Barra's clear-eyed analysis makes Clearing the Bases one of the most thought-provoking books on the game to appear in some time.

What is so rare as a day in June? James Buckley Jr., author of The Visual Dictionary of Baseball, offers the answer in Perfect: The Inside Story of Baseball's Sixteen Perfect Games. Yes, that's 16 games out of more than 170,000 major league contests. (You figure the odds; my head reels at the concept.) The first official "perfecto" was pitched in 1880. The most recent, in 1999, came from the hands of Yankee David Cone on "Yogi Berra Day," with Don Larsen himself the pitcher of a perfect game in the 1956 World Series throwing out the ceremonial first ball. Again, the odds. . . . As Buckley reveals, the 16 pitchers who found their four-leaf clovers were by no means the best of their profession. Only five Cy Young, Addie Joss, Jim Bunning (who wrote the foreword for Perfect), Sandy Koufax and Jim "Catfish" Hunter were good enough for consideration and eventual inclusion into the Hall of Fame; the others simply enjoyed their day in the spotlight.

Buckley chronicles each game in fine detail, but perhaps his best work comes when discussing the heartbreak of those who had nearly but not quite flawless games, such as another Yankee, Mike Mussina. With two out and two strikes in the ninth inning of a game against the Yankee's arch-rival, the Boston Red Sox, Mussina lost his bid. Capturing the drama of such unforgettable contests, Perfect is a wonderful appreciation of the sport, a celebration of baseball history as it happened and as it might have been.

Ron Kaplan writes from Montclair, New Jersey.

 

Over the winter, "contraction" was the buzzword in baseball. Fueled by claims that a majority of the teams were operating in the red, the commissioner's office announced it was considering eliminating up to four clubs and drastically reconfiguring the game as we know it. But you wouldn't know there was any problem with the national […]
LiteratureArts & Culture

Letters from a pair of legendary lovers

Review by Michael Pearson

The relationship between Zelda Sayre and F. Scott Fitzgerald stands alongside Frieda and D.H. Lawrence or Elizabeth and Robert Browning as one of the legendary literary love stories of all time. Fitzgerald wrote lyrical and trenchant fiction about the Jazz Age, and with The Great Gatsby he crafted one of the most moving and memorable American novels of the 20th century. It might be argued that Zelda was both the source of his emotional fire and a central factor in his disintegration. For Zelda, it seems, Scott served the same dual role. In two decades of marriage, they managed to transform a vale of fame and talent and passionate love into a tragic landscape of drunkenness, mental illness and never-ending debt.

Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda, a collection of correspondence edited by two University of Maryland professors that spans a 22-year period, includes a few dozen previously unpublished letters. It would be more apt, perhaps, to call the volume "Mostly Dear Scott," for the majority of letters are from Zelda. Yet there are enough responses from her husband to give credibility to the title and, more importantly, to give a sense of the often sad symbiosis of their relationship.

Scott Fitzgerald was a famous novelist by the age of 24, thanks to the astonishing success of This Side of Paradise. His love for Zelda was made into a metaphor in The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night, as well as many short stories. His fictions were made of their life together, and their life seemed the stuff of fiction. The letters between Scott and Zelda trace the arc of their love its great passion, its failures and its enduring strengths. Scott made himself into the famous man that Zelda Sayre needed to marry, and she tried to be the proper accessory. As she wrote in an early letter to him, "I feel like you had me ordered and I was delivered to you to be worn. I want you to wear me, like a watch-charm or a button hole bouquet to the world." She professed not minding to be "pink and helpless," but she soon thirsted for her own identity as dancer, as writer or as painter. She had talents in each art but not enough to make her name stand on the same plane as her husband's. She wrote to him, "I want to work at something, but I can't seem to get well enough to be of any use in the world." The beautiful Alabama belle was tormented with mental illness. Her extended stays in mental institutions drained Scott's money and separated the couple by a continent, forcing them to communicate with letters. Scott supported Zelda in the expensive hospitals and their daughter, Scottie, in costly schools, often through hackwork and Hollywood script writing. But, as Zelda wrote to Scott a year before his death, "Nothing could have survived our life." And, of course, she was right not the life they created, nor the one that rose up to meet them, not even the one they dreamed about when they first met.

Scott died of a heart attack in 1940, while he was in the process of completing what many think might have turned out to be one of his finest works, The Last Tycoon. Thirty people showed up for Scott's funeral. As with Gatsby, it seemed, the famous had forgotten him. Zelda died in 1948, burned beyond recognition in a fire in Highland Hospital, a mental institution near Asheville, North Carolina. The inscription on the Fitzgeralds' shared tombstone reads: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Dr. Michael Pearson directs the Creative Writing Program at Old Dominion University.

 

The relationship between Zelda Sayre and F. Scott Fitzgerald stands alongside Frieda and D.H. Lawrence or Elizabeth and Robert Browning as one of the legendary literary love stories of all time. Fitzgerald wrote lyrical and trenchant fiction about the Jazz Age, and with The Great Gatsby he crafted one of the most moving and memorable […]
History

Patriotism in song, symbol and thought

Review by bookpagedev

We are in a patriotic month in a patriotic age. Our nation displays its colors, sings its songs, honors its past and argues its present. The sights and sounds of the Fourth of July all serve to remind us of our identity as a nation, but what does that identity mean? Four new books offer insight into this question.

Patriotic music is a staple of Fourth of July picnics. But where did these songs come from, and how did they become a part of our national character? Songs Sung Red, White, and Blue: The Stories Behind America’s Best-Loved Patriotic Songs (HarperResource, $14.95, 223 pages, ISBN 0060513047), by Ace Collins, explores the history of our nation’s music, from the grade school favorite “Yankee Doodle” to the modern staple “God Bless the U.S.

A.” These are the songs that have led us into battle, motivated us to change and inspired us to believe. In each chapter, Collins reveals the stories behind our favorite national tunes, delving into the lives of the songwriters and performers who made them famous. The book also offers a look at the mood and mind of the nation during the time when each song appeared and shows how the songs themselves have been changed by the nation they praise. For those with a love of music or history, or readers looking for a patriotic lift, Collins’ little book is a treat.

In the same manner, Stars ∧ Stripes Forever: The Histories, Stories, and Memories of Our American Flag, by Richard H. Schneider, takes a look at the history of our nation’s most beloved symbol, from the early vague description enacted by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777, to the tattered icon rescued from the rubble of the World Trade Center after September 11, 2001. The book is a collection of history, observations and anecdotes about “Old Glory” (including the origin of that name), set off by moving recollections from veterans, celebrities and citizens about their experiences of the Stars and Stripes. Schneider delves into thoroughly modern controversies about the flag and patriotism, from the Pledge of Allegiance to bizarre Internet conspiracy theories. In many ways, this inspiring book is as much a history of our nation and its attitudes towards patriotism as it is a history of the flag itself.

Exploring the meaning of patriotism is at the center of Caroline Kennedy’s latest book. A Patriot’s Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love (Hyperion, $24.95, 643 pages, ISBN 0786869186) is a compilation of opinions and art from more than two centuries of American experience. In the introduction, Kennedy calls the book her “collage of America,” and an exceptional collage it is. From George Washington’s farewell address to Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Kennedy has created a marvelous mixture of speeches, opinions, lyrics and literary works about America and her people. As great as the differences are between the voices she selects (where else will you find Ronald Reagan collected with Cesar Chavez?), there is something uniquely American in every one.

Among the unique voices of America, few are more vocal and controversial than Alan Dershowitz. Built around an examination of the words and ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence, America Declares Independence (Wiley, $19.95, 196 pages, ISBN 0471264822) is Dershowitz’s latest broadside in the continuing argument over the appropriate relationship between church and state. Using Thomas Jefferson as both touchstone and target, Dershowitz argues that the founders, many of whom were Deists, never intended for America to be an explicitly Christian nation. Readers can (and likely will) debate whether Dershowitz proves his points, but this book stands as a testament to the diversity of opinion that can exist under one flag and that may be exactly what defines our nation best. Howard Shirley is a writer in Nashville.

We are in a patriotic month in a patriotic age. Our nation displays its colors, sings its songs, honors its past and argues its present. The sights and sounds of the Fourth of July all serve to remind us of our identity as a nation, but what does that identity mean? Four new books offer […]
History

Patriotism in song, symbol and thought

Review by bookpagedev

We are in a patriotic month in a patriotic age. Our nation displays its colors, sings its songs, honors its past and argues its present. The sights and sounds of the Fourth of July all serve to remind us of our identity as a nation, but what does that identity mean? Four new books offer insight into this question.

Patriotic music is a staple of Fourth of July picnics. But where did these songs come from, and how did they become a part of our national character? Songs Sung Red, White, and Blue: The Stories Behind America’s Best-Loved Patriotic Songs, by Ace Collins, explores the history of our nation’s music, from the grade school favorite “Yankee Doodle” to the modern staple “God Bless the U.S.

A.” These are the songs that have led us into battle, motivated us to change and inspired us to believe. In each chapter, Collins reveals the stories behind our favorite national tunes, delving into the lives of the songwriters and performers who made them famous. The book also offers a look at the mood and mind of the nation during the time when each song appeared and shows how the songs themselves have been changed by the nation they praise. For those with a love of music or history, or readers looking for a patriotic lift, Collins’ little book is a treat.

In the same manner, Stars &and Stripes Forever: The Histories, Stories, and Memories of Our American Flag (Morrow, $14.95, 192 pages, ISBN 0060523571), by Richard H. Schneider, takes a look at the history of our nation’s most beloved symbol, from the early vague description enacted by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777, to the tattered icon rescued from the rubble of the World Trade Center after September 11, 2001. The book is a collection of history, observations and anecdotes about “Old Glory” (including the origin of that name), set off by moving recollections from veterans, celebrities and citizens about their experiences of the Stars and Stripes. Schneider delves into thoroughly modern controversies about the flag and patriotism, from the Pledge of Allegiance to bizarre Internet conspiracy theories. In many ways, this inspiring book is as much a history of our nation and its attitudes towards patriotism as it is a history of the flag itself.

Exploring the meaning of patriotism is at the center of Caroline Kennedy’s latest book. A Patriot’s Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love (Hyperion, $24.95, 643 pages, ISBN 0786869186) is a compilation of opinions and art from more than two centuries of American experience. In the introduction, Kennedy calls the book her “collage of America,” and an exceptional collage it is. From George Washington’s farewell address to Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Kennedy has created a marvelous mixture of speeches, opinions, lyrics and literary works about America and her people. As great as the differences are between the voices she selects (where else will you find Ronald Reagan collected with Cesar Chavez?), there is something uniquely American in every one.

Among the unique voices of America, few are more vocal and controversial than Alan Dershowitz. Built around an examination of the words and ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence, America Declares Independence (Wiley, $19.95, 196 pages, ISBN 0471264822) is Dershowitz’s latest broadside in the continuing argument over the appropriate relationship between church and state. Using Thomas Jefferson as both touchstone and target, Dershowitz argues that the founders, many of whom were Deists, never intended for America to be an explicitly Christian nation. Readers can (and likely will) debate whether Dershowitz proves his points, but this book stands as a testament to the diversity of opinion that can exist under one flag and that may be exactly what defines our nation best. Howard Shirley is a writer in Nashville.

We are in a patriotic month in a patriotic age. Our nation displays its colors, sings its songs, honors its past and argues its present. The sights and sounds of the Fourth of July all serve to remind us of our identity as a nation, but what does that identity mean? Four new books offer […]
NonfictionEducation

The lessons of a fifth-grade sabbatical

Review by Stephanie Gerber

Love in a Time of Homeschooling is the story of one mom’s ambitious decision to give her 10-year-old daughter a school sabbatical during fifth grade. Author Laura Brodie decided to banish boring worksheets and tedious hours of homework for a year of homeschooling focused on her child’s passions, lots of writing, field trips to museums and parks and French lessons with Dad.

Despite Brodie's dreams of schooling utopia, conflict was inevitable. Mom turns into a drill sergeant (and earns the nickname “the Volcano”) while Julia develops a gift for whining. The more teachable moments Mom crams in, the more her free-spirited daughter rolls her eyes.

Brodie doesn't give herself an A on her homeschool experiment, but her lyrical and poignant take on her head-in-the-clouds daughter and their clashes is both tender and brutally honest. You can't help but admire how she takes on the enormous task of helping her daughter recapture her love of learning.

If you've considered homeschooling, Brodie's frank account of the highs and lows gives you a realistic picture rather than simple rosy assurances of success. And if homeschooling is not for you, Brodie’s book still offers valuable insights. She shows that it's every parent's responsibility to take a closer took at their child's curriculum, understand how their child learns best and add valuable learning opportunities outside of the classroom.

Love in a Time of Homeschooling is the story of one mom’s ambitious decision to give her 10-year-old daughter a school sabbatical during fifth grade. Author Laura Brodie decided to banish boring worksheets and tedious hours of homework for a year of homeschooling focused on her child’s passions, lots of writing, field trips to museums […]

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