AltWeeklies Wire
Christian Siriano Talks About Success, Style, the Industry, and Ferocitynew
Prior to evolving into the gravity-defying-coif-sporting, catchphrase-spouting enfant terrible who walked away with Project Runway's fourth season title, Christian Siriano was a self-described "little fairy white kid walking around in giant FUBU jerseys" in Annapolis.
Baltimore City Paper |
Raymond Cummings |
01-12-2010 |
Nonfiction
What a Long, Strange — But Incredibly Fruitful — Trip It's Beennew
There’s a now-old adage that goes, “If you can remember the ’60s, you weren’t really there.” Activist, author and former politician Tom Hayden was there — helping shape those historic times.
Pasadena Weekly |
Carl Kozlowski and Kevin Uhrich |
01-11-2010 |
Nonfiction
10 Sexy Books Published in 2009new
And as I peruse the many books deemed by many opinions to be the best of the year or, grander yet, best of the decade, I find myself compiling a modest, literary list of my own: 10 Sexy Books Published in 2009.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Juliette Tang |
01-06-2010 |
Nonfiction
Miss O'Dell Dishes on Music Legendsnew
A new book by tour manager Chris O'Dell tells behind-the-scenes details of the '60s/'70s music world.
Tucson Weekly |
Gene Armstrong |
12-02-2009 |
Nonfiction
Jazz Writer Ted Gioia Bites Off More Than He Can Chew in 'The Birth (and Death) of the Cool'new
Gioia presents convincing evidence that people trust brand names less than they did for many years. But he spends endless energy hard-selling the idea that brand-name obeisance has, or has ever had, anything to do with "cool."
Baltimore City Paper |
Michaelangelo Matos |
11-24-2009 |
Nonfiction
Stephen Elliott's Lacerating, All-Over-the-Place Memoir Pulls No Punchesnew
Whenever I read or hear "meta" or "postmodern" or "fiercely honest," I usually head for a lowbrow potboiler. But I'm not sure how else to describe The Adderall Diaries, a fiercely honest, postmodern work that's also more compulsively readable than the most pulpish thrillers.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Steve Friedman |
11-13-2009 |
Nonfiction
'A Rebel Life' Remembers Molly Ivinsnew
In First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family, Bill Minutaglio deciphered Dubya's career as a campaign of filial devotion and rebellion. Turning now to Bush's spunkiest critic, Minutaglio interprets Ivins as similarly driven by resentment toward her overbearing, overachieving father.
San Antonio Current |
Steven G. Kellman |
10-21-2009 |
Nonfiction
In 'Shop Class as Soulcraft,' Matthew B. Crawford Says: Get Off Your Assnew
Ex-Bush think-tank dynamo-turned-vintage motorcycle shop owner Crawford calls out the trend in America's displacement of values pertaining to manual trades while questioning the misguided future of would-be knowledge workers (a dirty word as far as Crawford's concerned).
Metro Times |
Travis R. Wright |
10-20-2009 |
Nonfiction
Barbara Ehrenreich's Latest Book Tackles Our Oppressive Optimismnew
Rather than focus on some particular tool of oppression that's misled the masses into believing they're happy, in Bright-Sided Ehrenreich trains her ire on happiness itself.
Chicago Reader |
Noah Berlatsky |
10-19-2009 |
Nonfiction
How Alicia Silverstone Made Me Vegannew
The Kind Diet is a cookbook, yes, but the first half is dedicated to a surprisingly readable, occasionally affably ditzy, and heartfelt argument as to why one should consider the benefits of a "plant-based diet," which -- unbelievably redundant as it may seem -- is the politically correct way of saying "vegan."
The Portland Mercury |
Marjorie Skinner |
10-16-2009 |
Nonfiction
Johnny Rico's Second Book Uses the Border Reality as its Shticknew
Border Crosser is the account of Rico's attempt to illegally cross from Mexico into the United States in the summer of 2007. Physically and mentally, Rico is woefully unprepared for the task he has assigned himself. Nevertheless, he sets out with testosterone-fueled arrogance and a naive, fetishized view of the border-crossing experience.
The Texas Observer |
Kirk Forrester |
10-14-2009 |
Nonfiction
Master Class Dismissed: Tad Friend Recounts the Fall of the American WASPnew
In reading Cheerful Money, part family memoir and part sociological inquiry, I understand that Wasps are an endangered species of American society. It seems fair to say that most people won't feel a sense of empathy for those who've done most of the excluding in U.S. history. Yet there is a tragic note to Friend's portrait.
New Haven Advocate |
John Stoehr |
10-06-2009 |
Nonfiction
'The Architecture of Community' Advocates a Return to More Conscientious Urban Developmentnew
Leon Krier contends that modernism, whatever its virtues in small scale, has been nothing but a disaster in larger scales -- a force that has managed to sterilize cities aesthetically, ruin years of expertise in building trades, and lead planners and developers to compose cities in unsustainable ways.
Baltimore City Paper |
Scott Carlson |
10-06-2009 |
Nonfiction
Kennedy Memoir 'True Compass' Recaps the Life of a Dynasty's Last Lionnew
We've heard the word "epic" summoned so often to describe Ted Kennedy’s life, it's no surprise he starts his autobiography with a device out of Homer.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Chuck Twardy |
10-02-2009 |
Nonfiction
'A Paradise Built in Hell' Explores the Utopic Possibilities Glimpsed in Disasternew
Perhaps the primary virtue of Rebecca Solnit's clear-headed new book is that it does not simply swap one interpretation of disaster -- as anticonsumerist reckoning, for instance -- for another, such as Jerry Falwell-style damnation. Solnit is interested in how people act in the aftermath, for better and for worse.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
09-30-2009 |
Nonfiction
