The man who has been called ``the Devil's Lexicographer'' must be a tough nut to crack, for this biography gives us little more than his shell to chew on. Quickly disposing of Bierce's youth (unfortunate, since murdered parents do crop up in his stories), the text moves on to the formative years spent fighting on the Union side during the Civil War. Here Morris, a historian of that war (Sheridan: The Life and Wars of General Phil Sheridan, 1992, etc.), seems at least as interested in discussing war campaigns for their own sake as for their impact on Bierce. After brief stints as a US Treasury agent and as a night watchman at the US Mint, Bierce turned to journalism. Marriage to Mary Ellen Day, who barely emerges as more than a name in this account, did little to sweeten the character of this equal-opportunity insulter, with targets ranging from the money-grabbing ``railrogues'' who dominated California to politicians, ministers, fellow writers, and dim- witted voters. Morris adequately provides the context for the journalistic writing he discusses; however, in exploring Bierce's stories, including his most famous, ``An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,'' he gives the sense that he has not moved beyond the critics he cites to develop his own sense of the works. Likewise, he seems to have missed something crucial about the man himself. This is a person who, getting red in the face, insisted that he ``was not great . . . was a failure, a mere hack''; who said, just before he vanished into Mexico in 1913, that he had ``never amounted to much'' since the Civil War; and who, as this book's own subtitle acknowledges, defined the word alone as meaning ``in bad company.'' Nevertheless, Morris maintains that Bierce ``did not lack for self-esteem.'' Morris should rejoice in the thought that Bierce himself is unavailable for comment.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-517-59646-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.
It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.
Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1945
ISBN: 0061130249
Page Count: 450
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1945
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 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.
