An eclectic, never-boring collection.
Atavist magazine editor Ratliff brings together 10 pieces of journalism selected from the site's five-year history.
The Atavist publishes nonfiction briefer than a book but lengthier than most long-form magazine features. Ratliff contributes a foreword explaining the origin and publication philosophy of the magazine, offers brief insights into how he selected the 10 pieces from a universe of about 50, and summarizes each. Susan Orlean contributes an introduction that brilliantly explains her discomfort with the term "long form" while parsing the shortcomings of other descriptions such as "creative nonfiction," "narrative nonfiction," and "new journalism." She coins the term "magpie journalism," using the metaphor of the bird that collects shiny items from a drab habitat. In “52 Blue,” Leslie Jamison discusses the scientists who are fascinated by a whale that emits noises at a frequency, 52 hertz, never before charted by humans. Cris Beam, David Dobbs, and Vanessa Veselka each contribute a mystery from highly personal family lore. In “When We Are Called to Part,” Brooke Jarvis chronicles her months inside the last existing leper colony in the United States. Matthew Shaer pieces together the final voyage of a ship and a quest by the Coast Guard to determine why it sank. Jon Mooallem digs into history to learn about a failed attempt to use hippopotamus farming to feed the appetites of Americans. Adam Higginbotham reports on the dramatic bombing of a Lake Tahoe casino. The title story, "Love and Ruin," is James Verini's account of an American woman's dedication to the culture of Afghanistan amid the destruction of tribal wars and foreign invasions. Ratliff also includes a piece of his own, about the quest of an adopted woman to determine if she is the biological child of an evasive, wealthy oilman.
An eclectic, never-boring collection.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-393-35271-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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