Worthwhile reading from an important voice.
Reed (Blues City, 2003, etc.) thinks the media’s portrayal of black people is racist—and he’s probably right.
The author is perhaps better known by vociferous reputation than for his prolific and diverse career as a writer, and his polemic spirit is alive and well in this latest collection of essays. Selections ruminate on subjects of varying closeness to the author (his mother figures largely in several), but all dance—or perhaps box—around the media’s portrayal of African-Americans and its insidious effect on race politics. Reed, with ample evidence, albeit some hearsay, spares no one: Don Imus, Toni Morrison, Orlando Patterson and the Manhattan Institute are all skewered as enablers of racism. The validity of his arguments is at times somewhat undermined by his irascibility (and consequent clouded judgment), but this collection as a whole is provocative and relevant. “Assisted Homicide in Oakland” asks important questions about the city’s skyrocketing crime rate and the power of the gun lobby. “The Patriot Act of the Eighteenth Century,” originally published in Time, should be required reading for every lawmaker. Reed’s dissection of minorities in the media in “The Colored Mind Doubles” is on par with any mainstream op-ed piece and, though surely controversial, makes a salient point about the lengths to which some networks go to advocate “scientific racism” and perpetuate the stereotype that African-American problems are largely self-inflicted. Also included is his landmark 1998 Baltimore Sun essay in which he calls President Clinton a “black” president, a qualified accolade that preceded similar, more widely publicized statements by Jack White and Toni Morrison. A MacArthur Fellow and Pulitzer nominee, Reed’s shortcomings are hardly analytical, but rather editorial: His talent is often preceded by the cacophony of sensational one-liners he’s amassed over the years. As a critic of the media pundits, he should know better than to bait them.
Worthwhile reading from an important voice.Pub Date: July 15, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-56858-339-6
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Da Capo
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2008
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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