AltWeeklies Wire
Arcadia's Latest Book Offers an Illustrated Look at the Start of the Civil Warnew
One of the more colorful and historically specific releases of their Images of America series, Arcadia Publishing's latest Charleston-based book The First Shot is an impressive, military-themed history lesson and collection of images.
Charleston City Paper |
T. Ballard Lesemann |
04-12-2011 |
Nonfiction
'A New Deal for Native Art' Explains How the Gov't Undermined Indigenous Art During the New Dealnew
Jennifer McLerran makes the case that administrators of New Deal Indian policy, particularly John Collier, then-commissioner of Indian Affairs, insisted on romanticizing pre-industrial forms of indigenous art rather than pushing native artists toward self-sufficiency.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
10-29-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Massacred For Gold' Rises Above the Usual History Book Formulanew
R. Gregory Nokes' investigation of the 1887 mass murder of more than 30 Chinese gold miners is a chronicle within a chronicle, explaining not only how and why the murders occurred but how the author had to sift through scant and often contradictory evidence to make sense of a crime.
Willamette Week |
Matt Buckingham |
10-14-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Our Noise' Tells the Story of Merge Records, and Tells it Wellnew
The book is remarkably candid; it thoroughly examines interpersonal and financial problems, not just triumphs. Because of the candor, we believe the portrayal of Merge as a genuinely noble label, with an uncommon blend of ethics, frugality and business savvy.
INDY Week |
Brian Howe |
09-18-2009 |
Nonfiction
The Stories in 'Woman From Shanghai' Survey Mao's Prison Systemnew
Woman From Shanghai: Tales of Survival from a Chinese Labor Camp is Xianhui Yang's first book translated into English and a record of the extremities endured by Mao Zedong's prisoners at Jiabiangou.
The Georgia Straight |
David Chau |
08-31-2009 |
Nonfiction
The Unexpected Angles and Concluding Twists in 'Mirrors' Keep Readers Hookednew
Galeano regales us with tales from our shared history in an inclusive manner, from cultural creation myths to major historical figures and inventions to significant current events. It is a truism that history is written by the victors; what if, Galeano seems to ask, history were told instead by the vanquished, the oppressed and the downtrodden of all cultures and times?
The Texas Observer |
Liliana Valenzuela |
08-26-2009 |
Nonfiction
In 'Hound Dog,' Songwriting Duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Remember Redefining Postwar Pop Musicnew
Hound Dog: The Leiber and Stoller Autobiography is a delightful read. Both men are terrific storytellers, witty and succinct, with a sharp eye for the telling detail.
Baltimore City Paper |
Geoffrey Himes |
08-18-2009 |
Nonfiction
'That Infernal Little Cuban Republic' Dissects the Shared History of Cuba and Americanew
Lar Schoultz focuses on the Castro years, which he reconstructs in impressive detail, fleshing out such well-known events as the doomed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion with eye-opening depth. Better yet, often-glossed questions are aired with the fullness of Schoultz's four decades of wrestling with the Cuba question. Still, there's something missing.
The Texas Observer |
Mike Kanin |
08-12-2009 |
Nonfiction
'The East, the West, and Sex': Orientalism Unleashednew
The East, the West, and Sex, which is organized both by time period and by country, examines the idea of masculine Western colonization creating an idealistic portrayal of Asian culture, particularly those aspects dealing with heterosexual eroticism.
Sacramento News & Review |
Kathleen Jercich |
07-30-2009 |
Nonfiction
Eduardo Galeano's 'Mirrors' Rewrites Human Historynew
It's hard to think of another living author who would have the nerve to consider writing a book like Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone. But for Uruguay's Eduardo Galeano, this collection of vignettes, covering the breadth of human history, was a natural fit.
The Georgia Straight |
Derrick O'Keefe |
07-27-2009 |
Nonfiction
Elijah Wald Explains How the Uncool Music of Yesteryear Shapes Today's Tunesnew
No one makes music in a vacuum, completely detached from the pop mainstream and his or her potential audience. Wald argues that nobody should be trying to, since how many people music appeals to in its own time is at least as important as how many rock writers it appeals to in 30 years.
Chicago Reader |
Miles Raymer |
06-15-2009 |
Nonfiction
Ted Gioia's 'Delta Blues' Catalogs the Bluesnew
Delta Blues rambles from Mississippi to Memphis, from Chicago to New York and across Europe, just like the musicians it documents.
Jackson Free Press |
Walter Biggins |
02-19-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Dynamite Club' Revisits the Bomb Heard 'round the Worldnew
John Merriman examines how an 1894 anarchist bombing in Paris kicked off the age of modern terrorism, and what we stand to learn from the bomber.
The Texas Observer |
Tom Palaima |
01-16-2009 |
Nonfiction
Pink Floyd Bio Reveals All the Cracks in the Wallnew
Nothing in these pages is pretty, and the collective story doesn't seem to be so much about rock stars as about human beings going through the trajectory of life: being young and having a dream, moving toward the realization of that dream, achieving success and then dealing with the emotional and psychological fallout.
New York Press |
Aileen Torres |
01-15-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Drum of War' Looks at Walt Whitman's Nonreligious Ministry During the Civil Warnew
Whitman recognized something that few writers of that era or after did: the Civil War's true meaning lay in the "valor of suffering -- not of men firing rifles," and certainly not in the fascination with battles and troop movements that has dominated Civil War studies.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Michael S. Gant |
01-09-2009 |
Nonfiction
