A smart and unsentimental journey to a few forgotten or overlooked American literary landmarks; winner of the Associated Writing Programs Award for Creative Nonfiction. Setterberg's odyssey begins when his road-struck young cousin visits him in San Francisco (where the author, a freelance business writer, lives with Kerouac's sofa) and reawakens in him the sense of adventure that had inspired him to travel 20 years before. Visiting Texas with a friend, Lonnie, while collaborating on a magazine article on small towns, Setterberg discovers—instead of the heroism associated with the landscape of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove—an urban and polluted world. In Nebraska with another friend, Ann, the author encounters the dual works of innocence and evil, of Willa Cather and serial-killer Charles Starkweather. Setterberg considers the corruption of journalism and of travel writing when he meets yet another old pal in Virginia City, the Nevada boomtown where Mark Twain, the artist of fraudulent journalism, got his start. In New Orleans, Setterberg meditates on Zora Neale Thurston, as well as on racism, music, and dance. Moving north, he explores with Ann the upper peninsula of Michigan—the world of Hemingway's ``Big Two-Hearted River''—and searches for a moose in the backwoods of Maine, walking in Thoreau's footsteps, each step offering a different ``gift'' to his imagination. The final chapter, poignant and surprising, describes a ferry ride between Oakland and San Francisco, taken with Setterberg's father. The two discuss Jack London, an author who brings them together with his celebration of ``strong hands and rough wits.'' There is much art here, and much sense, but mostly genial, articulate, and discerning guidance to some obscure places in America and in the mind.
Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-8203-1517-6
Page Count: 166
Publisher: Univ. of Georgia
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1993
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
