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LOVE AND RUIN

Name: LOVE AND RUIN
Author: Evan Ratliff
ISBN: 978-0-393-35271-9

STORIES OF OBSESSION, DANGER, AND HEARTBREAK FROM THE ATAVIST MAGAZINE

edited by Evan Ratliff ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 26, 2016

An eclectic, never-boring collection.

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE MASTERMIND
by Evan Ratliff

- BOOK REVIEW
SAFE
by Martha Baer & Katrina Heron & Oliver Morton & Evan Ratliff

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.