A visual masterpiece hindered by an often-hagiographic narrative.
Humber shares inspirational stories behind historic cigar box lithographs in this newest volume of a multi-part series.
Since the 2018 publication of the first volume of Cigar Box Lithographs, the author has shared with readers beautiful and vibrant antique images, using the illustrated cigar boxes (which “were produced at considerable expense….to entice both old and new puffers”) to tell inspirational stories about “heroes of our past.” Containing more than 100 vignettes, featuring subjects from political figures and artists to fictitious characters like “Irish Lad” and “Jack Pot,” the book begins with lithographs that depict the successes of Irish-American boxer John L. Sullivan, highlighting his personal biography and the way in which lithographs of his bouts transformed him into an “iconic celebrity.” In addition to profiling then-contemporary celebrities like Sullivan or Shakespearean actor Junius Brutus Booth, many cigar box lithographs of this era featured historic figures, such as Sir Walter Raleigh or Thomas Jefferson. While the text does an admirable job spotlighting the role of cigar box lithographs in preserving history, it often does so at the expense of critical historical analysis. The laudatory profile of President Jefferson, for instance, leaves out the problematic aspects of his biography; likewise, while acknowledging the existence of racial stereotyping in lithographs, there is no meaningful effort to contextualize the ways in which images of Jewish immigrants, Black people, and Indigenous peoples reinforced and solidified white supremacist stereotypes, particularly given the book’s convincing argument as to the cultural significance of cigar box lithographs. The book’s strength, however, lies not in its anodyne vignettes, but in its well-designed layout and inclusion of full-color, high-quality reproductions of lithographs, along with an ample assortment of photographs, paintings, and other historical ephemera. In contrast to contemporary “cheap digital mass marketing,” the hyper-detailed, richly adorned artistic style of lithographs remains an enduring, iconic evocation of 19th- and early 20th-century pop culture.
A visual masterpiece hindered by an often-hagiographic narrative.Pub Date: July 27, 2023
ISBN: 9781039192393
Page Count: 204
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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 Yorkerstaff 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
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
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