AltWeeklies Wire
'The Rough Guide' is a Simple Roadmap to Nirvananew
Veteran Seattle music scribe Gillian G. Gaar smartly resists sensationalism in a new book about the iconic local band.
Seattle Weekly |
Jonathan Cunningham |
07-20-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Tales Designed to Thrizzle' Turns Boob-Tube Tropes Into Artnew
Tales Designed to Thrizzle is a monument not only to silliness, but to craft -- which is perhaps the way in which it most clearly departs from its TV inspirations. With few exceptions such as Terry Gilliam's Flying Circus animations, TV doesn't pay attention to visual aesthetics the way Kupperman does here.
Chicago Reader |
Noah Berlatsky |
07-20-2009 |
Nonfiction
New Book Looks at How Billy Graham Shook Up the Solid Southnew
Billy Graham played a key role in shaping the American political landscape of the second half of the 20th century, as confidante to presidents and adviser on domestic issues (particularly civil rights) and foreign policy (Communism and the Cold War).
INDY Week |
John Sinclair |
07-17-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Catching Fire' Can Be Boldly Essentialist ... Perhaps Too Boldly Essentialistnew
Since the 1950s, scientists have hypothesized that the key factor bringing our ancestors down from the trees was the decision to eat meat. In this persuasively argued book, Richard Wrangham disagrees. Instead, he writes, it was the decision to cook with fire that literally made us human.
The Texas Observer |
James E. McWilliams |
07-15-2009 |
Nonfiction
The 'Outlier' Elephant in the Room is Gender Imbalancenew
Malcolm Gladwell either ignores, dismisses or is utterly blind to the massive gender elephant in the room -- a shocking disregard for the success and failure rates of half the human race.
Pasadena Weekly |
Ellen Snortland |
07-13-2009 |
Nonfiction
Jihad, Definednew
Casual readers may view How to Win a Cosmic War, the second book by acclaimed religious scholar Reza Aslan, as a defense of Islam. In part, this is an accurate assessment.
Jackson Free Press |
Cheree Franco |
07-09-2009 |
Nonfiction
New Book Reveals Calivinist Truths About Standing Up for Social Justicenew
The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care portrays fallible human beings who didn't always get along, didn't always know what they were doing, and still managed to accomplish something.
Jackson Free Press |
Tom Head |
07-09-2009 |
Nonfiction
Parting the Curtain: 'Devil's Sanctuary' Tells the Story of Mississippi's Racismnew
Magnolia State residents "have a long history of being against whatever the rest of the nation is for," the authors write in Devil’s Sanctuary: an Eyewitness History of Mississippi Hate Crimes. Their self-evident truths did not include equality—not for the slaves imported into the state and not for the Native Americans exported out.
Jackson Free Press |
Ronni Mott |
07-09-2009 |
Nonfiction
The More Tom Waits Creates 'Tom Waits,' the Less Anyone Knows About Himnew
Outside of his showman's persona, Waits is intensely private, banking perhaps on the presumption that his fans possess a happy lack of curiosity about what fuels his greatness. Barney Hoskyns confirmed this trait the hard way while working on Lowside of the Road.
Baltimore City Paper |
Van Smith |
07-07-2009 |
Nonfiction
William I. Robinson's Latest Outlines a Mad Rush Toward a World Where Cars Consume Cerealnew
In Latin America and Global Capitalism, Robinson uses research from years of on-the-ground work, and sifts through rafts of data to map out how neoliberal trade agreements and other mechanisms for greasing the machine of global commerce have increased profits for global elites while deeply disrupting traditional patterns of life and balance with the natural world.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Ben Terrall |
07-01-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Appetite for Self-Destruction' Looks at the Collapse of the Record Industrynew
If you take one jewel of wisdom away from this book, it is this: The reason many crappy musicians have gotten the limelight, the reason most people turned off their radios and stopped watching the Grammys and instead started downloading music from the internet, is money.
Jackson Free Press |
Andi Agnew |
06-26-2009 |
Nonfiction
'We Did Porn' Peeks Behind the Curtain of the Alt-Porn Industrynew
Oh, pornography. Progressives still get turned around. Does it victimize women? Reinforce impossible sexual expectations? Cheapen intimacy? In his new book, Zak Smith cuts to the crux of the confusion: "The most hideous thing about pornography, of course, is that it works. On you."
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
06-19-2009 |
Nonfiction
Kate Hopkins Creates a Boozy Travelogue with '99 Drams of Whiskey'new
Hopkins is an entertaining storyteller, which works in a book dedicated to a storied beverage. Moors, alchemists, gangsters, and politicians all show up in whiskey's history, and Hopkins' language lends fullness to the characters responsible for its mystique.
The Portland Mercury |
Patrick Alan Coleman |
06-19-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Milk Teeth' Couldn't Be More Different Than 'Marley and Me'new
By title alone, Milk Teeth: A Memoir of a Woman and Her Dog would seem to fall into the same cutesy genre as John Grogan's bestselling 2005 memoir. Though it does feature a deviantly behaved Lab and a plethora of lessons on life and love, Robbie Pfeufer Kahn's meditative, soul-searching book couldn’t be more different.
Seven Days |
Amy Lilly |
06-19-2009 |
Nonfiction
'The Book of Dads' Elicits Pungent Prose from Nearly All of its Contributorsnew
It seems appropriate that both The Book of Dads and Father's Day arrive at the onset of summer, when dads and kids head for the shore. A handful of these 20 essays take place on the water, and an aquatic vacation might be the best time to give your favorite father this enlightened, enlightening book.
INDY Week |
Adam Sobsey |
06-18-2009 |
Nonfiction
