A graceful and effortless perusal of 1500 years of English history, social habits, law and politics by the former editor of the New Statesman. Now that the sun has set forever on that far-flung Empire many Britons are looking inward and back toward the indigenous traditions and cultural styles which evolved through centuries of insular development. Johnson too is something of a splendid isolationist and taking the long view he sees the Empire as a brief efflorescence of power and vanity which actually cramped and retarded various aspects of English domestic life — notably industry and education which the Empire-builders of the 19th century neglected at great cost. The English, says Johnson, have always resisted innovation, largely immune to the violent upheavals and excesses of the Continent — no race on earth has such a passionate regard for public order — and from the days of the Saxon invasion and the Norman Conquest they have been proud of their customary backward posture, moving into the future with their eyes firmly fixed on an imaginary past. The preference for stability over change has been their strength, but also their fatal flaw; today both Labour and the Conservatives are guilty of hesitant obscurantist, incompetent, anti-progressive policies. A more startling allegation is Johnson's charge of xenophobia; foreigners, especially the French, have characteristically been treated with suspicion — from the middle of the twelfth century until the middle of the nineteenth, the external history of England is very largely the history of Anglo-French enmity. And Ireland alone refutes any theory that the English have a natural capacity for governing other races. But despite this firm back-of-the-hand to national stereotypes, Johnson has a great affection for the slow moving, genial islanders and their unique capacity to muddle through.
Pub Date: Oct. 19, 1972
ISBN: 0030013917
Page Count: -
Publisher: Holt Rinehart & Winston
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1972
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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