An eclectic, never-boring collection.
Atavist magazine editor Ratliff brings together 10 pieces of journalism selected from the site's five-year history.
The Atavist publishes nonfiction briefer than a book but lengthier than most long-form magazine features. Ratliff contributes a foreword explaining the origin and publication philosophy of the magazine, offers brief insights into how he selected the 10 pieces from a universe of about 50, and summarizes each. Susan Orlean contributes an introduction that brilliantly explains her discomfort with the term "long form" while parsing the shortcomings of other descriptions such as "creative nonfiction," "narrative nonfiction," and "new journalism." She coins the term "magpie journalism," using the metaphor of the bird that collects shiny items from a drab habitat. In “52 Blue,” Leslie Jamison discusses the scientists who are fascinated by a whale that emits noises at a frequency, 52 hertz, never before charted by humans. Cris Beam, David Dobbs, and Vanessa Veselka each contribute a mystery from highly personal family lore. In “When We Are Called to Part,” Brooke Jarvis chronicles her months inside the last existing leper colony in the United States. Matthew Shaer pieces together the final voyage of a ship and a quest by the Coast Guard to determine why it sank. Jon Mooallem digs into history to learn about a failed attempt to use hippopotamus farming to feed the appetites of Americans. Adam Higginbotham reports on the dramatic bombing of a Lake Tahoe casino. The title story, "Love and Ruin," is James Verini's account of an American woman's dedication to the culture of Afghanistan amid the destruction of tribal wars and foreign invasions. Ratliff also includes a piece of his own, about the quest of an adopted woman to determine if she is the biological child of an evasive, wealthy oilman.
An eclectic, never-boring collection.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-393-35271-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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