1 comments about Agnes Smedley: The Life and Times of an American Radical.

1. The Mackinnons have done a great service in writing this book about a great American, as shown by their interviews which started on June 10, 1974 and ended on July 25, 1985. They also covered the world, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Calcutta, Zurich and in all parts of the U.S. Their knowledge and fluency in Chinese contributed to their research in ways that other biographers will have difficult in overcoming. Their devotion and sacrifice to their subject is amply demonstrated.

   It seems to this reviewer that two themes came together in Agnes Smedly's life and in the interests of the biographers, the feminist movement and China's attaining its status on the world political stage. Unfortunately during the time that it took to gather the material and write the book, both of the movements have changed substantially and the people interested in them have moved to other concepts and ideas. Another cross lays over the book- is it to be an academic treatise or a popular biography? The academic treatise seems to have won out and in large sections become a rote laying out of dates, times and movements.

   Not coming from the academic world, I have to assume that in order to have a proper foundation and references, this is the way it has to be done. Unfortunately, Smedly does not come to life. I had no feeling of the person involved. The parts that have fire and verve are those quotations from Smedley's own writings. Nothing is presented that contradicts her own analysis of herself and her point of view, whether from her novelized form, her personal correspondence or her other writings. I got the feeling that more of her own writings would have given a better picture than what was written.

   The book is well worth reading, but its greatest value may be in bringing together the material about Smedly in an organized form and its whereabouts for either the MacKinnons or others to write the biography that will bring her to life.

   (The MacKinnons were the principle organizers of the US/China Peoples Friendship Association of Phoenix in 1975).

   This review was written on August 15, 1988 by Frank Kadish. Jan MacKinnon died on Sunday, September 26, 1999 in Phoenix, Arizona.

No comments about The Selected Letters of Mark Twain.

1 comments about Abode of Love: Growing Up in a Messianic Cult.

1. Part autobiography/family memoir and part religious inspection, ABODE OF LOVE: GROWING UP IN A MESSIANIC CULT tells of being raised at Agapemone, a cult whose religion embraced religious and sexual scandal that absorbed her family as her distant relatives down to her grandfather took 'spiritual' brides. The author and her sisters own the Arc of the Covenant, a Victorian church in London: her story of being raised in the cult, her family, and the influences of its teachings makes for a gripping story.

5 comments about Lone Star: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Dan Rather.

1. If there's one thing I'd really like to read -- I'm serious, mind you -- it's an insightful, deeply researched Dan Rather biography. There's probably no more enigmatic or divisive figure in late 20th century American journalism.
   
   After inhaling Alan Weisman's thin and cursorily researched "Lone Star," I want that book more than ever.
   
   For your $25.95 you get maybe eight good, if really catty, stories of control-obsessed Dan's backstage politicking at CBS News -- usually about freezing out, or wrecking the careers of, other correspondents and producers he allegedly found disloyal or threatening. That stuff, if true, goes a long way to explaining Dan's own chilly, no-flowers exit from CBS in 2006. (Live by the sword, die by the sword.)
   
   But Weisman (an old CBS News off-air hand) creates no real insight. You want to know why Dan is who he is and you never find out. It's not enough to take the reader's money and then conclude, well, it's a mystery. I can do that on my own.
   
   Dan's professional conduct was clearly somehow cued by his modest Texas roots and the fish-out-of-water experience of landing among all those smirking Eastern journalism elites. But Weisman talks directly to nobody from Dan's early days; those pages are based almost entirely on clips ripped from Dan's own earlier memoirs, "I Remember" and "The Camera Never Blinks Twice," which Rather students will already know.
   
   Weisman develops no clear position on Dan. Was he a conscientious heir to Ed Murrow, an insecure egotist and air hog, a nonpareil street reporter, a vicious character assassin, or a Macbeth-scale tragic figure? Weisman ticks "all of the above," and gives us editorial dribs and drabs in support of all these facets and more, but a coherent portrait never emerges. Perhaps this is because Weisman's original sourcing is mostly interviews with high-ranking members of the smirking media elites themselves, past and present -- each with their own agenda and axes to grind. Weisman veers between defending Rather's motives and relating awful secondhand stories about him. He zips past the inevitable Nixon/Rather parallels, saying too much has already been said about them; well, maybe in the bars he hangs out at. But to many of the rest of us a twin-track psychological profile of the tortured, insecure, angry president and the tortured, terminally uncomfortable anchorman would be really interesting.
   
   Weisman isn't one for such detail, or a leisurely/scholarly discussion of anything, really. At only 221 pages of wide-spaced type, less 16 pages of unnecessary photos, "Lone Star" takes one medium-length plane flight to knock off. The author's broadcast newswriting background shows. In TV a serious script runs about ten sentences, so any book-length wordcount is a Herculean effort for a TV guy. But it feels more like a long magazine piece, only some accounts of crucial moments in Dan's career make no sense and would have been better edited at Esquire or Vanity Fair. How exactly did Dan relay his JFK-is-dead scoop to New York on November 22, 1963? What exactly was the sequence of events when Dan left the Evening News set in Miami in 1987? What exactly did Dan do during the four days it took to produce the fateful Memogate story in 2004? You can read "Lone Star"'s accounts very carefully and still be confused. There's far too little chronological detail -- basic reportage, ironically, is too often missing. As is Dan himself. He did not cooperate with this project. Probably wisely.
   
   Like Johnny Carson, Rather dominated broadcast television for a whole era but remained a tantalizing cipher. Nothing changes after "Lone Star." Bill Zehme's upcoming Carson bio should be revelatory, given Zehme's style and insight. Maybe he should tackle Dan next. Weisman leaves a lot of work to be done. Dan, if you read this -- wouldn't Zehme be the man?



2. Everybody knows the name of Dan Rather, the reporter who appeared on the radar screen at JFK's assassination and rose to CBS News favored son status reporting from Vietnam, the White House, hurricane lamp posts, the CBS News anchor chair and virtually every hot spot around the world, but most people have never heard of Alan Weisman, the author of "LONE STAR: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Dan Rather."
   
   For those in the broadcast news business, Alan Weisman -- hands down -- is the finest producer who ever walked the halls of CBS News. There is no contest here. Intelligent, industrious, creative, insightful, witty, thorough and totally uncompromising, over the years he probably irritated as many higher-ups as he created awestruck fans in the trenches.
   
   Weisman decided up front his book would be a professional-only work. He does not engage in petty gossip about Dan Rather. Instead he chooses to focus on more serious matters - on the man and the institution which he shaped and which in turn shaped him. It is a fascinating inside look, a view available only through the prism of an experienced insider.
   
   I recommend this book to anyone who wants to take the tour in the hands of a total professional.



3. Excellent glimse inside of the workings of CBS News and the legendary Dan Rather.



4. This book is a quick read. The author often refers to Rather's previous book entitled The Camera Never Blinks in addition to a Playboy interview. Most of the book is about the shenanigans that take place in network television and the egos and insecurities of those involved including the network announcers. I didn't find the book to be a keeper for my library.



5. For anyone who watched Dan Rather with any regularity, this is definitely an interesting and insightful book about the man and the behind-the-scenes workings of CBS. From growing up in Texas to covering Vietnam to his final days in the anchor chair, you get a look at Dan Rather the man versus Dan Rather the reporter/anchor, and not all of it is favorable. Weisman's account of things is pretty fair to all parties involved, shows multiple viewpoints and allows the reader to make their own judgements. Of particular interest is his accounts of what went on at CBS when the corporate structures were changed and how it affected Rather. The only real problem I have with this book is that it seems like it is really only giving a summary of Rather's life instead of a detailed account. Otherwise, I highly recommend it.

4 comments about Edmund White: The Burning World.

1. I have read the White "Trilogy" of the nameless narrator navigating us through the second half of the American 20th century (A Boy's Own Story, Beautiful Room, and Farewell). White's books peeked my curiosity and kept me riveted with their metaphors, honesty, and detailed attention to those peculiar specifics that either comply with our self image (bringing us to tomorrow) or shatter our ego (enflaming our insecurity). We wonder just how close White's actual life is to the narrator's as we are jealously appalled by his freedom, and tragically hopeful about what will happen to him next. This biography, if not as beautifully weaved and metaphoric as White's own writing, does reconcile the life of the "I" in his novels, the complexity of the language and the author (speaking in a Barthesian sense), and White's own experiences as we finally align the tragic hero and his real life companions. This book is not a way to be introduced to White, but if you know him and his writings then it is illuminating and resourceful and a pleasure to read with the sheer quanitity of it's detail and thoroughness.



2. My first impression, upon picking up this biography of Edmund White, was that the Stephen Barber's writing is terribly over-wrought -- the introduction of the book, in which Barber tries to explain White's importance to contemporary literature, is some of the purplest prose I've read in a long time.

   But Barber's writing improves markedly when he begins telling the story of White's life. The most interesting aspect of the book, to me, is Barber's descriptions of White's early fictional efforts, and his writing habits; you'll read about the novel White wrote in high school; you'll learn that White was often drunk or stoned when he wrote his early novels, and that even to this day White generally limits himself to writing a few pages per day in the expensive blank books he purchases from a Paris stationer. You'll read about White's encounters with writers as diverse as Michel Foucault, Vladimir Nabokov (who named White as one of his favorite young novelists, much to White's surprise), and Michael Ondaatje (whose own writing habits are similar to White's). Your impression, gleaned from White's novels, that he is an extremely decent person who is quite fallible but gifted with an immense talent, will be confirmed by Barber's account. Also surprising is Barber's description of how sexually voracious White was from a very early age. Apparently White felt the need to tone down his self-depiction in "A Boy's Own Story," to make his character seem more representative of typical adolescents.

   In summary, this is a worthy biography of White, once you get past the somewhat amateurish writing style (which is why I'm giving it only four stars). But you shouldn't order it unless you're very interested in White -- otherwise, you will learn enough about White from his own novels.




3. This is a great literary biography. It combines solid research into the life and work of Edmund White, one of the most imaginative and passionate gay writers of the last half century, with the kind of human touches that bring biography alive. Stephen Barber moves effortlessly from White's life to his work and back again, painting a fascinating portrait not only of White's own adventures and career, but providing the reader with profound insights into the bigger picture of gay life and culture in America and Paris, from Stonewall to AIDS and beyond. The discussion of White's writing stays fresh and relevant to his literary ideals and the context of his life - it makes you want to go back and read his books all over again. The book is also fairly balanced - it avoids taking sides in the bitter debates that have raged over what gay male culture and identity should be, and instead tries to present a range of different perspectives and possibilities. Readable, entertaining, informative and thought-provoking - I highly recommend this book.



4. Edmund White: The Burning World, by Stephen Barber

   Edmund White's iconic status within a gay ethos extends far beyond those defined boundaries to his acceptance by the literary world as one of the major writers of our times. White's elegantly stylised novels, each employing a language particular to a time and place, as well as his non-fiction preoccupations as biographer to Genet and Proust, have led to the creation of an integral body of work. White's writings are as individual as they are vital to our reading of mortality in the late 20th century.

   Stephen Barber's exceptionally well-pitched critical biography of White is both a work of literary merit and the ideal companion to its subject's life and achievements. Barber has for several years been one of our best critical writers on the nature of the modern city. The Burning World is creative criticism at its best, and Barber's understanding of the city and its sensations as determining creative language is central to his thesis on White's fiction.

   During his formative writing years in a 1960's New York, White wrote five unpublished novels before Forgetting Elena was accepted for publication in 1972. Barber interestingly points to Fire Island being the inspirational site to this work, and to White's obsession with islands in general as representing the precinct in which to set a novel. Two more of his books, Nocturnes For The King of Naples, and Caracole, were to be less specifically identified with place, but to occupy undisclosed insular settings.

   Barber rightly sees White's first four novels, with their rich textured poetic prose, as 'a unique document of the imagination in its compulsive interaction with the human body.' It was the third of these books, A Boy's Own Story 1982, which won White not only critical acclaim but a confirmed gay readership.

   Crucial to Barber in the development of White as a person and writer was his move to Paris in 1983, the city in which he continues to live and write for half of each year. White, who was diagnosed HIV-positive in 1985, for a while considered his death to be imminent. Yet he found Paris sufficiently psychologically regenerative to encourage him to form new relationships, and to write new books. One of these was the elegiac The Beautiful Room Is Empty, a novel in which White first employed the medium of stripped down communicative prose which he continues to use today.

   Another legacy of White's Paris years, begun in 1986 and completed seven years later was his monumental 700 page study of the French writer and criminal Jean Genet. Barber is profoundly insightful on White's grand Genet biography, and provides an illuminating commentary on the interactive chemistry triggered by one great writer overhauling the other's complex and elusive life.

   Barber sensitively highlights White's most enduring relationships, including the one with Hubert Sorin, whose death from AIDS in 1993 was to leave White devastated. White's ability to keep on endlessly recreating himself, and adapting to the survival measures necessary for a gay man to outlive an AIDS generation, proves the pivot on which Barber's study rests.

   This is a book to be recommended, not only to Edmund White's many readers, but to those who care for the valency of a new critical language finding its rapport with a constantly exciting subject.

   Jeremy Reed

3 comments about Stopping the Presses: The Murder of Walter W. Liggett.

1. As a former Minnesotan, I was interested in this generally untold side of Minnesota history. I have lived in Minneapolis and loved it, but was shaken by these horrors that long preceeded my time there. I would have appreciated more specific addresses and names of businesses where events took place as it would have put the story in a more real context, but only for those familiar with the city. It is almost unbelievable to imagine the kind of opposition that existed to those publishing information which went contrary to the public image desired by those in power-both "legitimate" and underworld people. I'm glad Ms. Woodbury used her research skills to write this work. It does indeed exonerate her family, and her respect for her parents is well deserved, especially her telling of her mother's grace and dignity in coping with this tragedy.



2. Marda Woodbury's look at her own father's death is a gripping and well-researched look back at a tragedy and possibly a government cover-up. Woodbury does an excellent job of re-evaluating her father, Walter Liggett, and his death. Her father was an old-school muckraker in Minnesota and one of the most vocal opponents of then-governor Floyd Olson.

   Not being familiar with this particular case before I read the book, I was concerned that this would be some sort of apologistic, revisionist history. However, the more I researched the case, the more I found that Woodbury had given a fair assessment of the murder and of her father's career.

   The book is a case study in how political machines worked, a good look at the rise of gangland in the heart of the Midwest, and a really interesting history of Minnesota journalism in the 1930s. Liggett argues that her father was too good of an advesary, knew too much and couldn't be bribed - all fatal ingredients which spelled his demise.

   I wish Liggett would have explored her father's reputation as a blackmailer. While she makes several references to it, and while that was many the gripe of many of Liggett's contemporaries, she doesn't seem to do as thorough of a job in researching the claims of blackmailing as she does in other parts of the book. While that particular area isn't exhaustively explored, the book still seems to have objectivity and balance.

   Woodbury should be complimented for her well-documented research and her crafty ability to present this case in a new light, some half-a-century after it happened. She has done not only an admirable job in her role as a historian, but we also are given a first-hand account of what happened to the family and a look into the private dealings of Walter Liggett.




3. Marda Liggett Woodbury has done a first class job in researching and describing the life and death of her father, a leftist newspaper publisher who was murdered in front of her in 1935. But she does not simply write a sentimental account of her relationship with him, but delves deep into the history of a time and place. In addition, it tells the story of one man's decision to expose a deeply corrupt instituion, one whose faults he could no longer ignore. Attacking the very political party he had long supported, he exposed candidates ties to the Twin Cities's Irish and Jewish Mobs and vowed to bring down their most powerful Political Boss, Minnesota Governor Floyd Olsen. It was a crusade that would cost him his life. When he couldn't be intimidated, framed, or bribed, he was machine gunned to death before the terrified eyes of his wife and children. The shooter was identified as Isadore Blumenfield, alias "Kid Cann" the boss of Minneapolis's Jewish Mafia. I will leave you to find out the result of the trial by reading the book. In closing, as a religious conservative, I agree with virtually none of Walter Liggett's political stances, but in one regard I admire him. When the Liberal Party he supported became just another crooked political machine, he turned on them with a vengeance. For that, I wish there were more like him today.

5 comments about Harry Reasoner: A Life in the News (Focus on American History Series,Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin).

1. I thought the author did a great job portraying Harry Reasoner in a way that anyone could appreciate. He provided an extremely objective and well-researched biography. Additionally, Douglass Daniel has a very fluid writing style that I enjoyed. A truly interesting read.



2. Daniel's book on Harry Reasoner works very well on two levels. It tells the story of a talented newsman who sometimes coasted on his skills and was almost destroyed by drinking.
   And it tells the story of broadcast news in its glory days, including the formative days of "60 Minutes."
   
   A terrific read.



3. Douglass K. Daniel deserves kudos for an in-depth, meticulous, but thoroughly engaging look at one of the pioneers in broadcast journalism. Harry Reasoner was a familiar figure to millions of TV viewers, and now his less-than-perfect personal life (which in no way diminishes his professional accomplishments, by the way) has also been chronicled. This book would be interesting and relevant for anyone interested in the history of broadcast journalism, including college students and professors.



4. A reader will find my name in the introduction and in the text of this book. I am proud to note for those who seek to acquire this book that the quality of Doug Daniel's enterprise in writing about Harry Reasoner matches the quality Harry demanded of himself and of others who dared to take pen, typewriter or computer in hand. This is a poignant, heart rendering at times, superbly written biography done by a true craftsman in the trade of journalism. Harry Reasoner would be proud to know the author.



5. Television news matured in the Sixties, and the correspondent who made its prominence most appealing was Harry Reasoner. The golden age of tv news boasted a panoply of stars -- Walter Cronkite, the most trusted man in America; David Brinkley, of the sardonic wit; Howard K. Smith, the occasionally controversial commentator; and more. Of them all, Harry was the one who seemed most like a close friend, eager to share a story, and least like a college professor, ready to scold our ignorance. Daniel's book examines and animates this Harry, the man whose geniality was so compatible with broadcasting that you could feel its warmth a continent away in your living room. Daniel helps us understand Harry's gifts, his drive, his connections to the heart of America, his professional ethos and concerns about the practice of journalism. For anyone interested in tv news in particular or journalism at large, this bookHarry Reasoner: A Life in the News (Focus on American History Series,Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin) is a delight. Moreover, the author includes a great selection of b/w photos -- from Harry at age 1 to the end of his career.

4 comments about Wired - A Romance.

1. I read Gary Wolf's 262-page account of the founding of Wired Magazine by Louis Rossetto and his moll, Jane Metcalfe, in one sitting. The subtitle, "a romance," is more about Louis' remarkable (half mad) passion for publishing in the digital age than about his courting of the beautiful Jane. Louis' passion for Jane is likely to have been great too since they are still together today living in France with children and $30 million (small change for a position thought to be worth hundreds of millions two years earlier) from the buyout of Wired by current publisher, Conde Nast, in 1998.

   I have read Wired since its beginning but have tossed my copies. After reading this book I bought a nearly complete set of issues on Ebay for the first seven years (1993-2000), including the premier issue from January 1993, thinking I would enjoy reading some of the early issues again. In any case, they look nice in my library.

   The author is a Wired editor with first-hand knowledge of all but the earliest of Rossetto's years at Wired.
   
   If you are fond of the history of Silicon Valley (as I am), then this is for you. Otherwise there is not much here for the average Joe.




2. While not poorly written you will find yourself skipping pages in this book. Gary spends a great deal of time telling you about the characters habits, backpacking, flower pots, pets and such in much more detail than he does about the actual company and magazine.

   OK, but a VERY quick read.




3. Wired, a romance is a fascinating tale. Author Wolf is a contributing editor at WIRED magazine and he tells this story with an insider's viewpoint. No doubt WIRED changed modern journalism, but how much did it contribute to the bluff and fluff of the Dot Com era that soaked so many average investors? That's a tale that Wolf never quite measures up in. More business data would have been helpful. But we get the flavor of the times. WIRED should have and actually DID see the diversification of the communications world and the convergence of telecom, film, records, books and more. They did issues on BIOTECH and covered new technologies but the flavor of the time was DOT COM and somehow they became entwined in the not com aspect of what went wrong in the 90's. Wolf's viewpoint is only part of the larger story of why they didn't go public and how they managed to sell out for a fortune to Conde Nast. It's a pleasant read but most of us on the seesaw knew the story well. What we need really is a skyhigh view of what it was all about and the good and the bad and the ugly that evolved from that Silicon Valley bubble that almost blew us all away.



4. This book is well written and an easy read - it's hard to put the book down. Wired-A Romance is a story about the people who started the cutting edge magazine Wired. People interested in the beginning of the Internet revolution should find the book fascinating. Also, people interested in the business of starting a company and seeing where the big monetary payoff comes will also find it worthwhile.

   The founder of Wired, Louis Rossetto, is strong-willed man and in the early 1990's has a definite view on how the world will change with the upcoming wired revolution. Rossetto's vision and character are essential for the magazine's quick success, but later these same traits almost cost the magazine's investors dearly.

   An interesting tale by a talented writer. I recommend this book.

No comments about Kendall of the Picayune: Being His Adventures in New Orleans, on the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, in the Mexican War, and in the Colonization of the Texas Frontier.

5 comments about I'll Be Damned If I'll Die in Oakland: A Sort of Travel Memoir.

1. A good travel writer should be perceptive enough to look beyond stereotypes. By maligning his birth city in his title, Mr. Martinez demonstrates his narrow mindedness.
   Like its neighbor across the bay, San Francisco, Oakland has sad and ugly neighborhoods, but it also has great beauty, including a lake with a bird sanctuary, "Necklace of Lights", and romantic gondola rides in the center of the city. The residential neighborhoods of Rockridge, Montclair, Crocker Highlands, Lakeside, Jack London Square and Claremont and the thriving shopping districts adjoining them make Oakland a highly desireable place to live. I could say more, but the point is to review the book.
   Gertrude Stein's famously misinterpreted "There is no there there" was said when she revisited the site of her family home, which had been razed.
   I would have more respect for Mr. Martinez as a travel writer if he were capable of intellectual and emotional growth amd expanding his limited view of the world.



2. What a delight! Al Martinez writes with an intimacy and clarity that allows the reader to share very personally in his adventures and misadventures. He combines a wry wit with a talent for painting word pictures that convey the sights and sounds of his travels. And not just his travels to foreign countries, but in a few touching vignettes, he invites the reader into scenes from his personal life journey. I fell in love with his intrepid wife, Cinelli, just from the marvelous conversations he records, where she zeroes in on him time after time with just the right words. What a sharp lady! "I'll Be Damned If I'll die in Oakland" is a memorable memoir. I thorougly enjoyed it, and I highly recommend it to the discriminating reader who savors language and words put to good use.



3. This is the most unconventional, surprising, funny, and revealing travel(?) book I've ever put my hands on -- an account of the author's personal encounters with the world's historic, oft-chronicled and visited places-- yes, and people -- with a perspective that no one but Martinez has dared introduce. Instead of Steinbeck's, "Travels with Charlie," this is Martinez' "Travels with Cinelli," his patient and forgiving wife, his children,and ultimately his grandchildren. Be prepared to stay up late to read this one, because it's hard to put aside. My wife kept ME up late when she was reading it because women will sympathize with and relate to "Cinelli" just as much as men will appreciate Martinez.



4. Don't buy this book... It contains delusional ramblings and resentments that insult the memory of the one who made Al Martinez a success.



5. He establishes early on that he doesn't hate Oakland and it proves a touchstone for him in many ways. Al has a way of writing a sentence with such vivid description that it makes you feel like you are part of the story. As a long-time fan I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book, and I laughed out loud many times, just as I often laugh at his bi-weekly columns in the LA-by god-Times.
   
   Don't expect it to be a formal, Fodor-guide-type travel memoir. It's as much fun for the reader as many of those trips must have been for the Martinez family. Read it for the style and the interesting characters you'll meet along the way. You won't be disappointed.