A sympathetic biography of the legendary New Yorkbased theater producer, who died in 1991. Epstein (Music Talks, 1987, etc.) was a close friend of Papp's; although she makes an attempt to be evenhanded, she admits that this is a ``friendly'' biography. Born Yussel Papirofsky in Brooklyn, Papp discovered the allure of the theater while putting on amateur shows in the Army. He joined the fledgling West coastbased Actors' Laboratory after WW II and then moved to New York, where he worked as a stage manager at CBS. Meanwhile, he founded his New York Shakespeare Festival and, working out of a tiny Lower East Side church, vowed to bring the Bard's works to the masses through touring productions in the city's parks. Papp's first great battle was fought with New York Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, who resented his pushy behavior and his ``do-now-pay- later'' attitude. His successful battle with the aging power broker led to the establishment of free Shakespeare in New York City's Central Park, which has since become a beloved tradition. Papp established the Public Theater in the landmark Astor Library building, producing such surprise hits as the first rock musical, Hair, and the longest-running Broadway show ever, A Chorus Line. Meanwhile, his attention moved to championing contemporary plays, often by women, black, or Latino authors. Papp spent his last years hiding the fact that he was suffering from cancer and championing freedom of speech. His sympathy for the urban poor, his open- casting policy at a time when it was hardly trendy, and his basic libertarianism are all to be admired, but he comes across as a tireless self-promoter who often confused his personal good with the common good. Spending so much time with Papp is like spending a long holiday with an annoying, if lovable, relative. Recommended for theatrical mavens and cultural historians. (32 b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Aug. 29, 1994
ISBN: 0-316-24604-2
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
© 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.
