From John Adams to Dan Quayle, the vice-presidency seems the best refutation of the theory of evolution. Or so, at least, does it appear in this brisk if superficial history from syndicated- columnist Witcover (coauthor, Whose Broad Stripes and Bright Stars?, 1989; Wake Us When It's Over, 1985, etc.). Three-quarters of this account covers the post-Truman years, partly because of Witcover's belief that the vice-presidency became a much more perilous office in the nuclear age, partly because he apparently finds contemporary affairs more congenial than distant history. Notwithstanding attempts through the 12th and 25th Amendments to correct potential dangers in selecting a running mate, and notwithstanding heavier policy involvement by Walter Mondale, George Bush, and Quayle, ticket-balancing considerations and sheer human folly, the author finds, have subverted the Founding Fathers' hope that the vice-president would be the second most qualified person to lead the republic. Witcover shows how party presidential nominees—including those once a heartbeat away from the Oval Office themselves—have played games with running mates: either ``surprise the electorate'' (the selection of Quayle and Spiro Agnew) or, when elected, ``humiliate the V.P.'' (the fate of Nixon, LBJ, and Humphrey). The author makes the telling point that, unlike the Alexander Throttlebottoms who languished in the office during the 19th century, five of the last nine presidents have served as vice-president. Yet, given the history of the office, Witcover's call for greater consideration of running mates is entirely predictable, as is his hand-wringing over Quayle. More welcome are the nuggets of inside information he serves up, such as why Gerald Ford picked Nelson Rockefeller as V.P. over party- favorite Bush (even then, Witcover says, many believed that Bush lacked ``the vision thing''). Horror, farce, and tragedy—in one vivid, if not particularly enlightening, package.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-517-58480-8
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
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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