An inept, superficial, and histrionic biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald's daughter by her own daughter. Frances ``Scottie'' Fitzgerald (19211986) began a brief and reticent memoir just before she died, and her elder daughter expands it here, using an unsuccessful agglomeration of Scottie's writings, including diary entries, letters, introductions to posthumous collections of her father's work, journalism, and short fiction. Kept slightly to the side of her glamorous Jazz Age parents by nannies in childhood, Scottie found it necessary later to keep at a further distance from her alcoholic, cracked-up father and her schizophrenic, religiously fixated mother and finally to refrain from even mentioning them to their grandchildrennone of which helps Lanahan's book. Despite her father's sententious letters to her about her writing, Scottie persisted, contributing articles and short stories to the New Yorker and other magazines after graduating from Vassar. Moving to Washington, D.C., after her marriage, she combined her role as society wife and mother with political activism over nearly three decades of Democratic election campaigns and light journalism for the New York Times and Washington Post. As her father's reputation recovered from its low ebb at the time of his death, Scottie proved a zealous preserver of his literary estate and guardian of her parents' reputations. She herself endured two failed marriages and one son's suicide, and she was never able to complete her own projected novel, remaining too much ``the daughter of....'' Unfortunately, Lanahan has neither the literary, the personal, nor the historical acuity to approach her grandfather's legacy and her mother's life; she fails, for instance, to elucidate how larger events of the era may have influenced the generational conflicts between Scott, Scottie, and herself. This family soap opera only illustrates what Scottie herself once noted dryly: ``Relatives mess things up.'' (16 pages b&w photos and illustrations, not seen)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-06-017179-0
Page Count: 656
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1995
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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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