A short (224-page) series of low-key essays that offer random reflections on America's recent past rather than any systematic appreciation of what's in store for the country. Drawing on his experience as a globe-trotting journalist, Halberstam (Summer of '49, etc.) leaves little doubt that the US is losing a substantive measure of its socioeconomic power and geopolitical influence. Early on, for instance, he cites a contemporary's wry comment: "The Cold War is over; the Japanese won." In surveying the convulsive events in Eastern Europe and harking back to Vietnam, moreover, the author concludes that the threat posed by Communist states in the post-WW II era was more real than imagined; he fears, though, that the resources and emotional capital committed to keeping ideological enemies at bay proved unduly costly. In the meantime, Halberstam observes, Japanese manufacturers have been outhustling their stateside competitors in consumer as well as industrial markets where success now depends on advanced technologies, leaving a free press and freedom of speech as "the last great American export." Among other causes, he attributes the decline in US commerce to psychological factors (notably, a growing sense of entitlement on the part of a spendthrift populace) and a deteriorating educational system. The author also charges that the increasingly ubiquitous medium of TV has fostered a sound-bite culture that trivializes political debate and effectively precludes "thoughtful civility of discourse." But beyond the implicit suggestion that America had best get a grip on itself, Halberstam makes no specific proposals for renewal of the nation's putatively flagging fortunes. State-of-the-union jottings that, while sporadically analytic, afford a less than coherent perspective, owing mainly to their limited focus and oddly enervated tone.
Pub Date: Feb. 20, 1990
ISBN: 0517098822
Page Count: -
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1990
Erudite writing from an author struggling to find meaning through music.
An Ohio-based poet, columnist, and music critic takes the pulse of the nation while absorbing some of today’s most eclectic beats.
At first glance, discovering deep meaning in the performance of top-40 songstress Carly Rae Jepsen might seem like a tough assignment. However, Abdurraqib (The Crown Ain’t Worth Much, 2016) does more than just manage it; he dives in fully, uncovering aspects of love and adoration that are as illuminating and earnest as they are powerful and profound. If he can do that with Jepsen's pop, imagine what the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Prince, or Nina Simone might stir in him. But as iconic as those artists may be, the subjects found in these essays often serve to invoke deeper forays into the worlds surrounding the artists as much as the artists themselves. Although the author is interested in the success and appeal of The Weeknd or Chance the Rapper, he is also equally—if not more—intrigued with the sociopolitical and existential issues that they each managed to evoke in present-day America. In witnessing Zoe Saldana’s 2016 portrayal of Simone, for instance, Abdurraqib thinks back to his own childhood playing on the floor of his family home absorbing the powerful emotions caused by his mother’s 1964 recording of “Nina Simone in Concert”—and remembering the relentlessly stigmatized soul who, unlike Saldana, could not wash off her blackness at the end of the day. In listening to Springsteen, the author is reminded of the death of Michael Brown and how “the idea of hard, beautiful, romantic work is a dream sold a lot easier by someone who currently knows where their next meal is coming from.” In all of Abdurraqib’s poetic essays, there is the artist, the work, the nation, and himself. The author effortlessly navigates among these many points before ultimately arriving at conclusions that are sometimes hopeful, often sorrowful, and always visceral.
Erudite writing from an author struggling to find meaning through music.Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-937512-65-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Two Dollar Radio
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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
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