AltWeeklies Wire
Bern Porter, Poet, Scientist, Mail Artist, Dies at 93new
One of the most interesting characters in American letters died earlier this year, to little notice. This is a retrospective of his career, including a visit to his hometown's historical society and to his now disused home.
Portland Phoenix |
Alex Irvine |
09-15-2004 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Populist Pundit Molly Ivins Rides Herd on Washington's Big Dogsnew
Molly Ivins doesn't believe in conspiracy theories, but she does believe that there is such a thing as outrageous chutzpah. In an interview, she gives her take on political namecalling, Bush's use of the Christian right, new overtime rules and political advertising by 527 organizations.
Creative Loafing (Tampa) |
David Bramer |
09-14-2004 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Don't Think of an Elephant — A Donkey Kicks Back
Conservatives have spent the last 40 years developing and promoting their own set of issue frames, frames that have become so powerful through endless repetition that they make it extremely difficult to effectively disagree, author Lakoff argues. Liberals end up saying, “Don’t think of an elephant!” because they haven’t devoted similar resources to developing their own set of frames.
Random Lengths News |
Paul Rosenberg |
09-10-2004 |
Nonfiction
Lost and Foundnew
For Davy Rothbart, discarded scribblings open up a world of meaning.
Boston Phoenix |
Tamara Wieder |
09-09-2004 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Target Bushnew
Nicholson Baker's new book addresses Bush hatred with a silver-bullet scenario.
Missoula Independent |
John Freeman |
09-09-2004 |
Fiction
New Book Examines Classic Rock Songs of the Southnew
Kemp sees the history of Southern rock as, in part, a program of recovery for young white Southerners forced to confront their ancestral guilt: the ashamed melancholy of the Macon-based Allman Brothers Band, the anger of Lynyrd Skynyrd, the intellectual distance of Athens band R.E.M., and the acceptance and final transcendence of the Drive-By Truckers as they sang, "Proud of the glory, stare down the shame/Duality of the Southern thing."
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
09-09-2004 |
Nonfiction
He's a Carolina Pranksternew
The protagonist of Singleton's new novel, Mendal Dawes, grows up in the, uh, 100 percent fictional small mill town of Forty-Five, S.C., son to a brilliant if somewhat unbalanced trickster of an anarchist-liberal who continually disrupts the town's banal busybodies and proselytizing religious nuts. Turns out, Singleton is writing from experience.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Thomas Bell |
09-09-2004 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
The Altar of Footballnew
The New York Times reporter Warren St. John became intrigued with football fan mania after he heard a father admit on a TV interview that he and his wife skipped their daughter's wedding to watch a football game.
Jackson Free Press |
Lynette Hanson |
09-08-2004 |
Nonfiction
Signifying Plentynew
In her review of Douglas's Southern lit-themed "Witnessing," Williams feels the tug of discovery.
Jackson Free Press |
Ruth Campbell Williams |
09-08-2004 |
Nonfiction
The Doctor Gets Brandednew
Perhaps there are those who log on daily to ESPN.com and dig up columns by former print journalism mavens like Hunter S. Thompson. More likely, ESPN could repackage Ernest Hemingway for a live web chat and few wanderers among the cluttered sports media landscape would take notice.
New York Press |
Spike Vrusho |
09-08-2004 |
Nonfiction
Story of the First Death Row Inmate Cleared by DNAnew
This story has all the elements of a classic American tale: a gruesome murder and a simple man, falsely accused, who fights the system and wins. The controversial issues of the death penalty and the abuses of the criminal-justice system form its core.
Baltimore City Paper |
Scott Carlson |
09-08-2004 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Bloodsworth, Tim Junkin
A 1970 Race Murder in North Carolina is Recalled
Tim Tyson was 10 years old when a black man was murdered in his hometown for allegedly making a remark to a white man's wife. The accused killers were acquitted by an all-white jury. Tyson, now a professor of Afro-American studies, makes sense of the murder in his new book.
Isthmus |
Ellen Meany |
09-07-2004 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Blood Done Sign My Name, Tim Tyson
All Good Things Come to an Endnew
A Howard Dean campaign worker turns the story of the little engine that couldn't quite scale the final hill into a discussion of how the Dean team transformed the way America plays politics.
Illinois Times |
Corrine Frisch |
09-02-2004 |
Nonfiction
State of the Art: Illustrated Novels on 9/11, Iran and Sarajevonew
Art Spiegelman, who witnessed the World Trade Center attack firsthand, explores that tragedy in his graphic novel, In the Shadow of No Towers. Also reviewed are Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel, Persepolis 2, and Joe Sacco’s The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo.
Boston Phoenix |
Jon Garelick |
09-02-2004 |
Fiction
Texas's Liberal Icons Offer Advice for Political Seasonnew
Books by two of the state's most prominent liberal writers come at a time when the state's Democrats are trying to reorganize and rebuild, clearing out the weeds and wreckage of a decade of Republican dominance. Reviewed along with Hightower's book is Molly Ivins' Who Let the Dogs In? Incredible Political Animals I Have Known.
San Antonio Current |
Sean-Paul Kelley |
08-31-2004 |
Nonfiction
