An often engaging, if uninspired, history of the Rio Grande River of New Mexico and those who have lived along it. Anthropologist Riley (New Mexico Highlands Univ.) describes the ``big river'' of the American Southwest and the impact it has had on the diverse cultures on or near its banks. Beginning with the waterway itself, he describes its geographic and topographic features. He then moves quickly to the people who have made the region of the river home, beginning with American Indians. From the area's earliest known ``paleoindian'' Clovis and Folsom cultures (mammoth hunters today known largely through their well-formed spear points), Riley moves on to the diverse tribes inhabiting the region on the eve of Columbus's landing in the Western Hemisphere (Pueblo, Navajo, etc.). Part two, entitled, ``The Invaders,'' examines the coming of Europeans and the devastating effects of colonization on the indigenous residents. Riley traces Spanish contact, beginning with CortÇs and the Aztecs of Mexico and the impact of that encounter farther north. He tells the stories of familiar figures: Cabeza de Vaca, whose accounts of ``Seven Cities of Gold'' fueled both Spanish greed and desire for territorial expansion; Esteban, the black slave who was the first non-Indian seen by the Pueblos; and Coronado, the conquistador who was the first to systematically explore the region. One of the more interesting accounts is also one of the lesser known, that of Turk, an Indian guide for Coronado who hoped to mislead the Spaniard and bring about his demise. The well-known Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the most successful Indian revolt in North American history, and its aftermath are briefly depicted at the end of the volume. Despite some detectable ethnocentrism, Riley offers much useful information to persons unfamiliar with southwestern history. (36 illustrations, 18 maps, not seen)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-87480-466-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1994
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
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
© 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.
