Like a really lively magazine in book form, and a bargain considering the rich diversity of its contents.
Though not required for the classroom, this annual anthology offers a selection that is usually engaging and provocative, even essential.
The first section of this collection edited by Eggers and benefiting the youth literary program of his 826 National emphasizes the playful pleasures of the written word, through quick-hit categories including “Best American Sentences on Page 50 of Books Published in 2009” (“While he slimmed down, I porked up, pregnant with our first child,” Sarah Palin), “Best American Farm Names” (“Merry Dairy,” “Thyme for Goat”) and “Best American Academic Journal Article Titles” (“Humans: The Party Animal,” “Accidental Incest”). Then the anthology proceeds to the comparatively serious business of part two, with its selection (by a committee including high-school members of 826 National) of journalism, fiction, poetry, graphic narrative and contents that challenge category. Among the highlights: David Rohde’s “Seven Months, Ten Days in Captivity” chronicles the journalist’s capture by and escape from the Taliban. Téa Obrecht’s “The Tiger’s Wife” previews what looks to be an astonishing novel. The Whitmanesque exuberance of Andrew Sean Greer’s “Gentlemen, Start Your Engines” details a gay couple’s experience at a Michigan NASCAR event, which he attended with his car-nut husband. Evan Ratliff’s “Vanished” shows his attempt to disappear in cyberspace as part of a magazine assignment that invited readers to discover his whereabouts. George Saunders’ “Tent City, U.S.A.” presents a portrait of homelessness in Fresno, and the experiences of a journalist in its midst, in the form of an anthropological study. Amy Waldman’s “Freedom” offers a parable about prisoners confined for terrorism but then released into an uncomfortable accommodation with freedom. Different readers will find different delights and different discoveries.
Like a really lively magazine in book form, and a bargain considering the rich diversity of its contents.Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-547-24613-0
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Mariner/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
paper 0-395-97499-2 Introducing this overview of everyday life in a Plains Indian village circa 1868 is a map locating tribal lands of the Plains Indians. Contemporary Native Americans pose as models depicting the full regalia of the Cheyenne, Lakota Sioux, Crow, and Blackfeet. In re-enactment style, reminiscent of a visit to a living history village, each “actor” then personifies a member in the family of Real Bird, a northern Cheyenne warrior from the plains of southeastern Montana. A staged full-color photograph of family members engaged in role-specific work, leisure, food preparation, warfare, trade, and ritual is at the center of each spread, surrounded by additional text and captions that expand each topic. Sees the Berries Woman and Pretty Plume Woman demonstrate the construction of a tipi in a frame-by-frame, five-step procedure; warriors and chiefs hold council in a pre-battle ceremony; Timber Leader shows off a bearskin that gives him healing powers. Artifacts such as beadwork, weapons, tools, toys, and medicine objects lend authenticity to this informative survey and history of the culture. (chronology, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 23, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-94542-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1999
A busy page design—artily superimposed text and photos, tinted portraits, and break-out boxes—and occasionally infelicitous writing (“Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie became . . . bandleader of the quintet at the Onyx Club, from which bebop got its name”) give this quick history of jazz a slapdash air, but Lee delves relatively deeply into the music’s direct and indirect African roots, then goes beyond the usual tedious tally of names to present a coherent picture of specific influences and innovations associated with the biggest names in jazz. A highly selective discography will give readers who want to become listeners a jump start; those seeking more background will want to follow this up with James Lincoln Collier’s Jazz (1997). (glossary, further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8239-1852-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
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