Oakland awaits a better tribute.
Lackluster potpourri of urban history, walking tour, and cultural events from novelist and polemicist Reed (Another Day at the Front, 2003, etc.).
The city in question is Oakland, California, the author’s adopted hometown. In 1967, Reed moved from New York to L.A., gradually making his way to the Bay Area. A faculty member at Berkeley and a long-time Oakland resident, he weaves the city’s contemporary politics (he isn’t fond of current mayor Jerry Brown) with the story of its troubled founding just over 150 years ago. (The Peralta family lands, which included much of present-day Oakland, Berkeley, and surrounding areas, were taken over by US squatters whose sovereignty superseded Mexican land claims.) This works less well when the author turns to cultural events and walking tours. Describing a powwow at Oakland Technical High School, he writes, “As far as I could tell, the eagle dance involved much jerking of the head and twirling about.” On walking tours, Reed tends to simply transcribe the tour leaders’ remarks, a decision that works when the lecturer is eloquent, but leads to repetition otherwise. The Black Panther Legacy Tour would have benefited from a brief summary of the movement’s influence on and intriguing history with the city. Instead, we get a rambling (if heartfelt) monologue by founding member David Hilliard. All walks here lead back to Jerry Brown. Of the Black Cowboy parade, Reed writes, “The most polished marchers were those from the Oakland Military Academy, a pet project of the Mayor.” At a blues festival at Jack London Square, “I was standing near a fence . . . when Jerry Brown showed up. Nobody noticed him.” The news isn’t all bad, however. The author visits the Paramount, an art deco movie palace; Lake Merritt, the largest saltwater lake in the US; and the Camron-Stanford house, one of the last remaining mansions to grace Lake Merritt’s shores.
Oakland awaits a better tribute.Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2003
ISBN: 1-4000-4540-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2003
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
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
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