Much good, little bad, no ugly.
An entertaining miscellany by journalist, rock critic, and cultural historian Marcus (Dead Elvis, 1991, etc.).
Marcus claims that Elvis Presley and Bill Clinton co-exist “in the common imagination as blessed, tawdry actors in a pretentious musical comedy cum dinner-theater Greek tragedy.” Occasionally Marcus revisits this theme in his motley collection of previously published (but here revised) columns and essays—but more frequently the President and the King exist only as ghostly presences amid Marcus’s ruminations on subjects as varied as the autobiography of Marianne Faithfull, an important new album by Bob Dylan (“a singer who . . . can still beat the clock”), and “Real Love” (the “latest pseudo-Beatles single,” produced by adding the voices of Paul, Ringo, and George to a recording of long-gone John). A number of these pieces are eloquent eulogies for various cultural icons—Allen Ginsberg, Kurt Cobain, Berkeley Free Speecher Mario Savio, actor J.T. Walsh, et al. Others are the latest of the author’s continuing attempts to figure out Elvis, “America’s secret angel; America’s secret demon.” Among the best of all is a keynote address Marcus delivered in 1998 at an Elvis conference. Beginning with an analysis of the pervasiveness of “Elvis jokes,” the piece moves into a provocative discussion of Presley and Clinton (“one man who could, and one man who can, charm you almost to death”). Also fascinating is his review of Pleasantville, which he describes as the flip-side of the popular body-snatcher films: “The aliens come to make the pod people human.” In a number of his essays Marcus rails against the Republicans who, in his view, refused to accept the legitimacy of Clinton’s elections, and he accepts as “perfectly factual” Hillary Clinton’s statement about the right-wing conspiracy to bring down her husband. Not surprisingly, then, he sees in the Right a pernicious political snobbery, a belief that “some people belong [in this country], and some people don’t.”
Much good, little bad, no ugly.Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2000
ISBN: 0-8050-6513-X
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2000
James Baldwin has come a long way since the days of Notes of a Native Son, when, in 1955, he wrote: "I love America more than any other country in the world; and exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually." Such bittersweet affairs are bound to turn sour. The first curdling came with The Fire Next Time, a moving memoir, yet shot through with rage and prophetic denunciations. It made Baldwin famous, indeed a celebrity, but it did little, in retrospect, to further his artistic reputation. Increasingly, it seems, he found it impossible to reconcile his private and public roles, his creative integrity and his position as spokesman for his race. Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone, for example, his last novel, proved to be little more than a propagandistic potboiler. Nor, alas, are things very much better in No Name In the Street, a brief, rather touchy and self-regarding survey of the awful events of the '60's — the deaths of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, the difficulties of the Black Panther Party, the abrasive and confused relationships between liberals and militants. True, Baldwin's old verve and Biblical raciness are once more heard in his voice; true, there are poignant moments and some surprisingly intimate details. But this chronicle of his "painful route back to engagement" never really comes to grips with history or the self. The revelatory impulse is present only in bits and pieces. Mostly one is confronted with psychological and ideological disingenuousness — and vanity as well.
Pub Date: May 26, 1972
ISBN: 0307275922
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A surprisingly warm and consistently outspoken retrospective for both fans and celebrity followers.
The self-described “king of all media” shares personal introspection and favorite celebrity interviews in his first book in two decades.
Stern (Miss America, 1995, etc.) is in top form in this entertaining amalgam of intimate confessional and Q-and-A archive. Opting for an older, wiser perspective this time around, the author strips away the juvenile raunch and sophomoric humor that made his first books runaway bestsellers. The book’s introduction, a meaty, contemplative 19-page affair, finds Stern, 65, candidly discussing his struggles with OCD, random regrets (namely his treatment of Robin Williams and Rosie O’Donnell), greatest moments (interviews with Conan O’Brien and Paul McCartney, animal rescue efforts), his move to SiriusXM in 2006, and the day he inexplicably took a rare show-day off to attend to an undisclosed cancer scare. It’s a kinder, gentler, all-grown-up side of the shock jock, which he credits to aggressive psychotherapy and his second wife, Beth. However, it’s the intimate, provocative celebrity interviews that make up the bulk of this weighty tome and which the author admits “represent my best work and show my personal evolution.” With his advancing age came wisdom, humility, empathy, and a dramatic sea change in the show’s direction and focus, as evidenced in more nuanced, probing interviews with Courtney Love, Joan Rivers, Michael J. Fox, Chris Cornell, and Lady Gaga, among others. Stern introduces each conversation with his personal perspective on the individual and the impression they made. His honest conversations with actors, music legends, and others represent an eclectic cross-section of celebrities, and his questions range from the piercing to the downright ridiculous. Perhaps the book’s most startling interview segments are those with a pre-presidential Donald Trump, whom Stern has interviewed dozens of times. Throughout the book, which is divided into thematic sections (“Sex & Relationships,” “Money & Fame,” “Drugs & Sobriety,” “Gone Too Soon,” etc.), the author’s personal growth and enduring legacy as a broadcast pioneer and unique profiler are on full display.
A surprisingly warm and consistently outspoken retrospective for both fans and celebrity followers.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-9429-0
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2019
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