A biography that reluctantly digs the dirt—and there's an awful lot of it—on famed Kenyan-born aviatrix Beryl Markham, the first woman to fly the Atlantic and once the presumed author of the bestselling West with the Night. Long-time Kenya resident Trzebinski (The Kenya Pioneers, 1986; Silence will Speak, 1978), who knew Markham, draws on letters, diaries, and copious interviews to tell his subject's story. Throughout, we're reminded of Markham's difficult childhood: Abandoned by her wealthy English mother at age two, young Beryl was left to be raised by her father, his mistress, and the Africans on their farm. Markham received little formal education and even fewer notions of conventional piety and morality, but her father did teach her to ride and train horses, a skill that would provide her with a living throughout her life. But despite Trzebinski's patronizing plea that Markham's behavior was affected by her being more African than European, the aviatrix proved to be single-minded and often cruel in pursuit of what she wanted. She abandoned three husbands, one son, and numerous lovers (the Prince of Wales and his younger brother each became her lover while visiting Kenya); she betrayed friends like Karen Blixen, whose great love, Denys Finch Hatton, she seduced behind Blixen's back; and she never admitted that her third husband, Hollywood screenwriter Raoul Schumacher, wrote West with the Night. Trzebinski's evidence for all this is well documented and very persuasive—but to balance the heavy indictment, the author also emphasizes Markham's great courage, beauty, and charm. All the seamy settler shenanigans of life in Kenyan highlands are reprised in this gossipy, exhaustively researched Beryl Dearest. Another cult figure bites the dust. (Photos)
Pub Date: Aug. 30, 1993
ISBN: 0-393-03556-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1993
A short, readable biography that sticks to King's public career and legacy. Fairclough, (History/Univ. of Wales, Lampeter; To Redeem the Soul of America, 1987) synthesizes material from the rich lode of King scholarship. He describes King's intellectual formation at Morehouse College and Crozer Theological Seminary, his public emergence during the 195556 Montgomery bus boycott, and his subsequent surge to civil rights leadership. The author explores King's philosophy of nonviolence, contrasting his nonpartisan reformism with the ideas of older black leaders like Paul Robeson and W.E.B. DuBois, whose leftist sympathies made them victims of anticommunist fervor. Fairclough analyzes King's historic speech during the 1963 March on Washington, noting his use of ``hallowed symbols of Americanism'' to frame his call for social change. When King moved his protests north to cities like Chicago, he recognized that his incremental political victories had little effect on black poverty; in 1966 he began a more radical critique of American society, and the Vietnam War. Fairclough stumbles a few times. He states that allegations about King's sexual promiscuity ``are still confined to the realm of innuendo''; King colleague Ralph Abernathy's recent memoir supplies stronger evidence. Also, the author, commenting on Malcolm X, states that ``the earlier, angrier Malcolm...would be remembered and revered''; Malcolm's image is now under more subtle scrutiny. But Fairclough offers a savvy summary on King's legacy. Annual King Day celebrations, he writes, ``are too often tedious and empty rituals,'' and the ``I Have a Dream'' speech glosses over King's radicalism and militancy. While the author acknowledges that King was no original thinker, he believes that King's genius was his public speaking, his ``religious enthusiasm and moral certainty.'' And while some observers think King could not have staved off the decline of the civil rights movement, the author suggests that his leadership might indeed have achieved more. A good introduction for those too busy to read the more monumental King biographies.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-8203-1690-3
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Univ. of Georgia
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An engaging and informative cultural history, on and off the gridiron.
A rich history of the rise of the National Football League from its virtual obscurity at its genesis in the 1920s to its position as an economic and cultural powerhouse today.
Former Baltimore Sun sportswriter Eisenberg (The Streak: Lou Gehrig, Cal Ripken Jr., and Baseball's Most Historic Record, 2017, etc.) returns with the story of how five owners—George Halas, Bert Bell, George Preston Marshall, Art Rooney, and Tim Mara—refused to give up on the struggling league and lived to see (and cause) its current dominance. Thoroughly researched and gracefully told, the story begins with the background of each of the five, then moves chronologically through the early years of the league—struggles, controversies (among the most significant was the arrival of black players), adjustments (to radio and then TV)—to its full arrival in 1958, when 40 million people watched the Baltimore Colts defeat the New York Giants in the exciting championship game. As the author repeatedly points out, these five were fierce rivals, but they knew that to make the league survive and flourish, they could not destroy one another. So they compromised and changed rules to make the game more exciting; all would live to see the league’s vigorous health. (The final chapter deals with the deaths of each.) Although Eisenberg is admiring of the founders, he also recognizes—and highlights—their weaknesses. Marshall, for example, was a racist, the last to bring blacks onto his team, the Washington Redskins. Although the author provides some details about some key games (and iconic players like Red Grange, Marion Motley, and Sam Huff), the narrative is not a rehearsal of games but of the history of a game, a business, and five men who took a chance, lost money, and then found great success.
An engaging and informative cultural history, on and off the gridiron.Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-465-04870-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
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