AltWeeklies Wire
Writer Left the World the Way He Lived -- With a Bang

A journalist who fell under the spell of "gonzo" writer Hunter S. Thompson recalls an encounter with the author.
The Memphis Flyer |
Bruce VanWyngarden |
02-21-2005 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Hunter S. Thompson
Men Are Dogsnew
A memoir defines the pleasures and pitfalls of Chick Lit.
Missoula Independent |
Azita Osanloo |
02-18-2005 |
Nonfiction
Tags: Rachel Toor, The Pig and I
To Hell and Backnew
Two rainy seasons spent killing in Vietnam haunt Claude Anshin Thomas. When it rains, he thinks of mud, napalm, people screaming and dying. In his book, he describes how he grappled with violence and then found solace.
Jackson Free Press |
Shay O'Neil |
02-17-2005 |
Nonfiction
Anniston Burningnew
Author Phil Noble describes how the work of the Bi-Racial Human Relations Council enabled citizens of Anniston, Ala., to endure and to overcome, for the most part, the violence associated with the Civil Rights Movement in the South.
Jackson Free Press |
Lynette Hanson |
02-17-2005 |
Nonfiction
Oracles of Things Pastnew
Author Jonathan Odell takes The View from Delphi beyond the typical indictment of segregation's moral absurdity to the historical absurdity of thinking you could ever succeed in keeping people apart.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
02-17-2005 |
Fiction
Abe's High Lonesome Soundnew
Ronald C. White Jr. illustrates Lincoln's political maturation, tracing his trajectory in the simplicity and grace of his words. White believes that the quality of the president's rhetoric was the thread that held the Union together.
Illinois Times |
Corrine Frisch |
02-11-2005 |
Nonfiction
Gay Abe? "What Stuff!"new
In this over-hyped biography, Tripp 's evidence of Lincoln's homosexuality is flimsy to nonexistent, and his historical arguments are often dazzling in their vacuity.
Illinois Times |
Charles B. Strozier |
02-11-2005 |
Nonfiction
Author Holds at Arm's Length the Actual Worldnew
The story is about how we make and transform the meaning of our lives. The protagonist, an alt-weekly rock critic, knows the difference between what happens and what stories we tell about it, but only as cold theory, shadows of the real.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
02-10-2005 |
Fiction
Peep-Show Storynew
Seattle sex writer/blogger Pagan Moss tells how she broke into print.
Seattle Weekly |
Michaelangelo Matos |
02-10-2005 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
The Face of Rock and Rollnew
The aesthetic of Generation X's music and clothing, the entire culture, is represented in posters for rock 'n' roll gigs, coauthor Dennis King says.
Houston Press |
John Nova Lomax |
02-09-2005 |
Nonfiction
Author Traces Hip-Hop's Past to Reveal Its Futurenew
Chang's thick book reveals that hip-hop is inherently socioeconomic and sociopolitical, and is linked to activism's double-edged sword of violence and peace.
East Bay Express |
Eric K. Arnold |
02-08-2005 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Confessions of a Dangerous Mindnew
Best-selling author Donald Miller writes Christian books and he's freaking out the religious right.
Willamette Week |
Zach Dundas |
02-07-2005 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Ex-Officer Tells Her Side of Scandalnew
Renatta Frazier¹s "tell-all" book coughs up answers about, and a few mistakes in, the life of a Springfield cop. Frazier is the black female cop who was wrongly accused of failing to prevent a rape.
Illinois Times |
Dusty Rhodes |
02-05-2005 |
Nonfiction
A Beautiful Mindnew
Again, Malcolm Gladwell is able to cross one discipline after another, one subset of behavioral psychology after another.
Boston Phoenix |
Jon Garelick |
02-03-2005 |
Nonfiction
Oral Traditionnew
Legs McNeil says the pornification of America isn't coming. It came.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Alex Richmond |
02-03-2005 |
Nonfiction
Tags: Legs McNeil, The Other Hollywood