AltWeeklies Wire
'The Dirt on Clean' Recounts the History of Hygienenew
Working her way back to the present, with its crazy explosion in bathroom building and anti-bacterial products, Ashenburg makes a strong case for the cultural relativity of clean.
Montreal Mirror |
Juliet Waters |
11-16-2007 |
Nonfiction
James Sturm's Moving Picturesnew
The graphic novelist, like a film director, tells a story through images as much as words. And reading Sturm is a little like watching Alfred Hitchcock direct a Todd Solondz script -- he's got the eye-catching compositions of the auteur and the intense, painful curiosity of the squirm-inducing indie.
Seven Days |
Matt Frassica |
11-16-2007 |
Nonfiction
'Was She Pretty?' is a Memorable Graphic Novellanew
At its best, Shapton's sharp writing sums up complex human emotions that in a novel could have taken a truckload of interior monologue.
NOW Magazine |
Lauren Kirshner |
11-16-2007 |
Fiction
Paul Krugman on American Inequalitynew
The Conscience of a Liberal is an indictment of "movement conservatives" -- going back to such seminal figures as William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan -- who've ushered in a second Gilded Age of economic inequality in America.
INDY Week |
Bob Geary |
11-16-2007 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Replacements Oral History Captures the Music, Not the Bandnew
Oral histories thrill most with gossipy, first-person accounts, but perhaps because Paul Westerberg is still alive, most participants held their tongues.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Sarah Askari |
11-15-2007 |
Nonfiction
Norman Mailer: Death of a Titannew
Norman Mailer, one of the last surviving 20th-century literary lions, is dead.
San Antonio Current |
Gregg Barrios |
11-14-2007 |
Books
The Rehabilitation of Joe McCarthynew
Evans' book is the latest in a revisionist school of thought that casts McCarthy, not the people he investigated, as the true victim.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
11-14-2007 |
Nonfiction
Grave Robbers and Academicsnew
David LaVere recounts the struggle for rich cache of Indian artifacts.
Illinois Times |
William Furry |
11-13-2007 |
Nonfiction
'Money for Nothing' Examines a Lotto Winnernew
The fantasy of someday winning the lottery is the ultimate populist pipe dream, but this is the sort of memoir that quells the impulse to engage in the racket.
Metro Times |
Raymond Cummings |
11-13-2007 |
Nonfiction
JIm Shepard: Dangerous, Dark Dispatchesnew
Like You'd Understand, Anyway is made up almost entirely of fictional testimonies from situations that quickly disintegrate -- and it's not hard to keep reading out of simple rubbernecking.
Weekly Alibi |
John Freeman |
11-13-2007 |
Fiction
Matt Taibbi Showa Disgust for Media Establishmentnew
His jabs and swipes at the modern-day booboisie are merciless and incisively written, and a pleasure to read from start to finish -- as visceral as political commentary gets.
Baltimore City Paper |
Robbie Whelan |
11-13-2007 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Solar Publishing Brings Environmental Issues to Children's Booksnew
"We want to introduce holistic living in subtle and fun ways to children who typically don't get exposure to different aspects of holistic living, such as vegetarianism, yoga, just being out in nature,"says Robyn Ringgold.
Baltimore City Paper |
Petula Caesar |
11-13-2007 |
Books
Michael Gates Gill's Cup o' Wisdomnew
Starbucks helps a former corporate bigwig wake up to what really matters.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Carolyn Wyman |
11-13-2007 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
'Military Misdemeanors' Hits its Targetnew
A basic compendium of interesting anecdotes from warfare's brutal past, and enough modern tales of bungling and clandestine savagery to make you want to find a bunker and hide.
New Haven Advocate |
Evan Brown |
11-13-2007 |
Nonfiction
Pulitzer-winner Richard Rhodes Examines the Russiansnew
Rhodes sifts the half-century between World War II and the dissolution of the USSR to understand the hysteria that brought the supergiants (and the rest of us) to the brink of Armageddon. The result is a meticulously researched, compelling examination of the 20th century's dread-wracked second half.
The Georgia Straight |
John Burns |
11-12-2007 |
Nonfiction
