An astute and absorbing narrative of one family’s intersection with the nation’s development.
An account of American ideology through the lens of an extraordinary family.
In his latest, Kaag, author of American Philosophy and Hiking With Nietzsche, tracks the lives and influence of members of the Blood family, beginning in the 17th century and extending to the dawn of the 20th century. Though none of them is especially famous in their own right, each family member played a role in seminal historical events. Taken together, their stories provide an original and revealing perspective on the evolution of American ideals over several centuries. “The Blood brothers,” writes Kaag, “belonged to one of America’s first and most expansive pioneer families, which explored, and laid claim to, the frontiers—geographic, political, intellectual, and spiritual—that became the very core of the nation.” The author emphasizes that a consistent element of the Bloods’ character was their commitment to “wildness,” a restless, asocial bent that makes them uncanny representatives of a long-standing American ethic. One fascinating element is Kaag’s discussion of the intersections of the Bloods with iconic figures—including Emerson, Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, and William James—each of whom seems to have been profoundly impacted by the encounters. Three Bloods in particular stand out in Kaag’s rich and incisive descriptions: the hermetic astronomer Perez Blood, who “helped Thoreau define his conception of human freedom”; the hard-charging Aretas Blood, who rose from poverty to establish a business empire; and the “seer-mystic” Benjamin Paul Blood, who pioneered the use of psychedelics for intellectual growth. Some of the author’s phrasing is hackneyed—“This Blood lived his short life like there was no tomorrow”—and his openness to entertaining the relevance of “astrological forces” and “mystical significance” can be distracting. Overall, though, Kaag provides a lively and insightful examination of his remarkable subjects.
An astute and absorbing narrative of one family’s intersection with the nation’s development.Pub Date: May 14, 2024
ISBN: 9780374103910
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
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