AltWeeklies Wire
'The James Brown Reader' Shares a Warts-and-all View of the Godfather of Soulnew
Co-editors Nelson George and Alan Leeds both contribute fine overtures to the volume, but it's hard not to wish they'd included a note about their compiling methodology, though it doesn't take long to figure out the pair elected to leave in original typos, misspellings, falsities, and myths.
Baltimore City Paper |
Michaelangelo Matos |
06-24-2008 |
Nonfiction
Lauri Lebo Tackles Intelligent Design, Evolution, and the Medianew
After reading this book and thinking of the millions of dollars and thousands of hours squandered, the hatred, the vitriol, and the disbelief that we're still fighting this age-old battle, I just feel tired and sad. This isn't the end of the story. We'll see it again, fight the battle once more, spend the money, fire up the troops, spar with the same theory in a different cloak, attract the international media, meet at a different courthouse, pass judgment on a different school district.
The Texas Observer |
Ruth Pennebaker |
06-18-2008 |
Nonfiction
'The Carbon-Free Home' Explains How to Really Go Greennew
The Hrens' 320-page book categorizes shows how, on a budget, they stopped contributing to global warming and resource depletion, and also saved money.
Pittsburgh City Paper |
Bill O'Driscoll |
06-16-2008 |
Nonfiction
Looking for 400 Photos of Supersized Stiffies?new
The Big Penis Book, the follow-up to Taschen's 2006 hit The Big Book of Breasts, also edited by Dian Hanson, and boasts more than 400 photos of some startlingly major tent poles, including rare pics of "the 13-and-only" John Holmes.
Orlando Weekly |
Liz Langley |
06-12-2008 |
Nonfiction
David Milne Dissects the Life of Walt Rostow, Who Never Examined His Role in Terrible Violencenew
Walt Rostow's advice as LBJ's chief advisor led to aggressive military action Vietnam, culminating in massive bombings that left the taint of death and failure on LBJ's presidency.
The Texas Observer |
Thomas Palaima |
06-11-2008 |
Nonfiction
'Nixonland' Underlines the Real Lesson of 1968
Today that lesson teaches that we should seek a president who can heal the still-festering wounds of race and class, who can lead us out of war and who can move us past the political purgatory Perlstein calls Nixonland. But by invoking that sad chapter in our history, Hillary Clinton has cast herself in the Dick Nixon role.
The Inlander |
Ted S. McGregor Jr. |
05-29-2008 |
Nonfiction
Steven Kurutz Goes Behind the Scenes with Tribute Bandsnew
Like a Rolling Stone concerns itself largely with Kurutz's experience touring with two Stones tribute bands, Sticky Fingers and Canada's own Blushing Brides. The dramatic core of the book is the bitter and bizarre rivalry between two aging Mick-divas, Fingers' frontman Glen Carroll (pictured on the cover of the book) and Montreal-born Maurice Raymond.
Montreal Mirror |
Juliet Waters |
05-23-2008 |
Nonfiction
'Bad Money' is Not Meant to be Pretty, and It Isn'tnew
Phillips argues that financial recklessness, combined with peak oil and the rise of Asian economic power, will doom -- has already doomed -- American world leadership and our standard of living, which depend on the value of the dollar.
The Texas Observer |
James K. Galbraith |
05-21-2008 |
Nonfiction
Read 'Bad Money' and Weepnew
After reading the new book by Kevin Phillips, a painful realization dawns: Not one of the people running for president is addressing how interconnected and serious America's economic, ecological, and security problems are. Worse, the bankers and hedge-fund speculators who created the credit crisis are financing the campaigns of Democrats -- the only politicians likely ever to rein them in.
Artvoice |
Bruce Fisher |
05-16-2008 |
Nonfiction
Michael Chabon Fills in the Blank Spacesnew
Maps and Legends, Chabon's first essay collection, unearths some of the author's source texts and offers his exuberant ruminations on the role of the writer as protector and defender of artistic ancestors.
Los Angeles CityBeat |
Anthony Miller |
05-12-2008 |
Nonfiction
You Will Read Funny Storiesnew
Jennifer 8. Lee layers into her engrossing, charmingly tangential book other pieces -- beyond fortune cookies -- of the history of Chinese food in America.
Eugene Weekly |
Molly Templeton |
05-02-2008 |
Nonfiction
This Memoir from a Survivor of American Torture May Help U.S. Face Realitynew
Reading Five Years of My Life, I realized the situation at Guantanamo is both better and worse than I had feared -- worse because the torture is so severe, so constant, so senseless, and so institutionalized, and better because someone who was subjected to it has survived with his soul intact.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Hannah Tennant-Moore |
04-28-2008 |
Nonfiction
What Mary Roach Doesn't Want to Talk About in 'Bonk'new
Sadism recognizes taboo and guilt and shame; the transgression is the point. But for science, and for Roach, taboo is simply superstition, a roadblock the repressed throw up between sex and pleasure, and between research and its funding.
Chicago Reader |
Noah Berlatsky |
04-28-2008 |
Nonfiction
'The War on Bugs' Explores the Pesticide Agendanew
We've come a long way from arsenic-tainted food (arsenic and lead were popular pesticides for decades), but, as Will Allen rightly points out in his new book, our determination to slaughter pests and increase yields has had some far-reaching consequences on health -- both ours and the planet's.
Sacramento News & Review |
Kel Munger |
04-11-2008 |
Nonfiction
'Crossing the Waters' Offers a Peek into the Afro-Cuban Religionnew
The book's charismatic protagonist is Santiago Castaneda Vera, a spiritual practitioner who "works" the spirits of the dead and whose sacred oricha is Yemaya, the mother of the waters.
INDY Week |
Sylvia Pfeiffenberger |
04-10-2008 |
Nonfiction
