As true a litmus strip as any of a country whose future hangs in strange and precarious balance. (Photos throughout)
Hanging out with a shepherd, journalist Apple explores the complex relationship between Austria and its Jewish inhabitants, one that doesn’t fit neatly into prescribed categories.
Hans Beuer is a Yiddish folksinger as well as the guardian of 625 sheep, a wandering Jew in the Austrian Alps. But Beuer is not some idyllic, elderly folkloric artifact; he is a man of 45 with a cell phone, a background in radical Jewish politics, a wife who no longer communes with him, and a mission to spread Yiddish culture in a country that voted into power a far-far-right politician with the shadows of Nazism hovering all about him. There are idyllic moments in the gorgeous, comforting Alpine landscape filled with wildflowers, streams, and snow-capped peaks, particularly when Beuer sings to his sheep. His reasons for song, however, are thoroughly modern: he has to calm the fretful animals so he can move them through a world in which high-country sheep cause consternation in the urban populace. And he aspires to take Yiddish culture into (at least) the next decade. Himself the recipient of a fulsome Jewish upbringing, with fond memories of a grandmother who “was reestablishing the order of the shtetl in suburban Houston,” Apple is fascinated by Beuer. Their travels bring the author face to face with any measure of Austrian anti-Semitism, and Apple discovers that the country’s gentiles are deeply ambivalent about reparations to Jewish families. But he also visits ancient Jewish town like Judenburg, and he reminds us that Austria took in Jews when the US would not. His narrative is a tumultuous mix of Nazis and neighbors, art and sex, cars and sheep, a Jewish grandmother in Houston and a girlfriend in Vienna.
As true a litmus strip as any of a country whose future hangs in strange and precarious balance. (Photos throughout)Pub Date: March 29, 2005
ISBN: 0-345-46503-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2005
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
