Poet-professor Shelton (English/Univ. of Arizona) offers his first full-length prose work—and it's cause for celebration. Enlivening his picaresque narrative with vivacity, humor, and an eye for significant detail, he proves to be a splendid traveling companion. Shelton frames his narrative with an 80-mile drive from his Tucson home to the Arizona mining town of Bisbee, where he began his marriage, his family, his career, and his enduring love affair with the southwestern desert. Along the way, he recalls the violent history of this long-isolated border area and reminisces about his life as a army draftee during the 50's and colorful friends and acquaintances—like the pair of bashful students whom he taught and later found working as prostitutes in a small Mexican town, and the crusty fellow teacher whose foul vocabulary blistered her colleagues' eardrums. Shelton is equally adept at evoking the landscape along his route—thunderheads like ``great white cathedrals,'' stands of scarlet-blossomed ocotillo, moldering ghost towns, and cottonwood-shaded streams. He confesses his affection for tarantulas and his puzzlement about just who is responsible for the vaguely ludicrous names given to bird species. There's a hilarious description of hundreds of jackrabbits devouring a prison lawn, and an admiring tribute to 80-year-old Ida Power, who, jaunty beret on head and feet firmly on the ground, led a drive to turn Bisbee from a dying company town into a vigorous arts center. As the odometer creeps forward, it becomes clear that Shelton's trip to Bisbee has assumed metaphorical meaning—that he is trying to return to the past and his youth. He handles this second level lightly, never lapsing into pretentiousness or excessive symbolism. Shelton's literary touch is sure, and he seemingly achieves his effects—nostalgic, witty, inspirational—with little effort. A delightful American companion piece to Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence.
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-8165-1302-3
Page Count: 329
Publisher: Univ. of Arizona
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1992
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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