The first black country music star spins a great life story. Charley Pride, one of 11 kids born into Mississippi Delta poverty, may be the only black country star, but he's no Uncle Tom. He frankly describes growing up in a segregated world, with a tough-as-nails father and a mother he adored, writing with simple directness and folksy turn of phrase (``You have to walk past a lot of woodpiles...but most of them do not harbor wild animals''). He speaks movingly about race relations and indignities endured early on, including seeing a brother kidnapped by whites. Pride actually set out to become a professional baseball player; slowed by injuries, he still managed to become a star in the Negro Leagues and flirted with the majors. He stumbled into country music—which he had loved from childhood—almost as an afterthought. But he's had a surprisingly smooth ride there and sees his acceptance by country's white audiences as proof that music lowers barriers. Like baseball's Jackie Robinson, Pride had the right combination of traits for a pioneer: good looks, charm, and talent. He tells how RCA set up his career (developing a following for him on radio before letting fans learn he was black), and of aid and friendship proffered by Chet Atkins, Willie Nelson, Ralph Emery, and others. As with many celebrity stories, the tale of Pride's gritty beginnings is more interesting than details of his finances, his interest in astrology, or the obligatory star-chat of later chapters. Pride's story flags only slightly as he describes a struggle with manic depression, a campaign to gain respect from a withholding father, and his disappointment with the way country has abandoned its elder statesmen for vacuous, photogenic young stars. Filled with wit and grit, an admirable exemplar of the celebrity bio genre.
Pub Date: Feb. 21, 1994
ISBN: 0-688-12638-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1993
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
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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