Well-organized and edited, this intriguing volume should serve as an excellent resource to those thoroughly interested in...
A collection of articles and editorials from the Russian press focuses on President Donald Trump.
Given the flood of coverage in America concerning Trump’s connections to Russia, that country’s effect on the 2016 election, and U.S.–Russian relations under the new administration, debut editor Bogoslaw does a great service in providing a compilation of Russian pieces concerning the leader and his presidency. The well-structured book goes far toward addressing the often myopic view of U.S. readers by challenging the American public to see Trump from an international perspective. The editor begins with selections regarding Trump as a businessman and entertainment figure from the days before his foray into politics. The work then moves on to coverage of the Trump campaign. These pieces, though differing in opinions, point to the wide support that he had in Russia as he campaigned against Hillary Clinton. “It is sad,” notes one article, but a recent “Gallup poll clearly shows that Trump and his American admirers have now become a mirror image of today’s Russian mass consciousness.” The book moves on to coverage of Trump’s election victory, asking “How did this happen?” and “What next?” Moving forward, the volume presents pieces regarding the administration’s “Russia ties” and his first months in office from the perspective of foreign policy. Bogoslaw points out a number of captivating aspects of Russian coverage as the work moves along, such as this insight: “Even when Russian commentators are most confused, disappointed and even outraged by Trump’s decisions, they do not impugn his character, honesty or intelligence—unlike their counterparts in the West, particularly in the US.” Editorial comments also clarify a number of finer points for American readers, such as an explanation of “yarky,” an adjective Vladimir Putin once use to describe Trump. While the U.S. press largely translated the term as “brilliant,” it is explained that the word more properly means “colorful.” Opinions of the writers quoted range from excitedly pro-Trump to vehemently anti-Trump and almost every shade in between.
Well-organized and edited, this intriguing volume should serve as an excellent resource to those thoroughly interested in Trump’s position on the world stage.Pub Date: May 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-879944-89-3
Page Count: 402
Publisher: East View Press
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Naughty good fun from an impossibly sardonic rogue, quickly rising to Twainian stature.
The undisputed champion of the self-conscious and the self-deprecating returns with yet more autobiographical gems from his apparently inexhaustible cache (Naked, 1997, etc.).
Sedaris at first mines what may be the most idiosyncratic, if innocuous, childhood since the McCourt clan. Here is father Lou, who’s propositioned, via phone, by married family friend Mrs. Midland (“Oh, Lou. It just feels so good to . . . talk to someone who really . . . understands”). Only years later is it divulged that “Mrs. Midland” was impersonated by Lou’s 12-year-old daughter Amy. (Lou, to the prankster’s relief, always politely declined Mrs. Midland’s overtures.) Meanwhile, Mrs. Sedaris—soon after she’s put a beloved sick cat to sleep—is terrorized by bogus reports of a “miraculous new cure for feline leukemia,” all orchestrated by her bitter children. Brilliant evildoing in this family is not unique to the author. Sedaris (also an essayist on National Public Radio) approaches comic preeminence as he details his futile attempts, as an adult, to learn the French language. Having moved to Paris, he enrolls in French class and struggles endlessly with the logic in assigning inanimate objects a gender (“Why refer to Lady Flesh Wound or Good Sir Dishrag when these things could never live up to all that their sex implied?”). After months of this, Sedaris finds that the first French-spoken sentiment he’s fully understood has been directed to him by his sadistic teacher: “Every day spent with you is like having a cesarean section.” Among these misadventures, Sedaris catalogs his many bugaboos: the cigarette ban in New York restaurants (“I’m always searching the menu in hope that some courageous young chef has finally recognized tobacco as a vegetable”); the appending of company Web addresses to television commercials (“Who really wants to know more about Procter & Gamble?”); and a scatological dilemma that would likely remain taboo in most households.
Naughty good fun from an impossibly sardonic rogue, quickly rising to Twainian stature.Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-316-77772-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
PERSPECTIVES
The memoir of George Dawson, who learned to read when he was 98, places his life in the context of the entire 20th century in this inspiring, yet ultimately blighted, biography. Dawson begins his story with an emotional bang: his account of witnessing the lynching of a young African-American man falsely accused of rape. America’s racial caste system and his illiteracy emerge as the two biggest obstacles in Dawson’s life, but a full view of the man overcoming the obstacles remains oddly hidden. Travels to Ohio, Canada, and Mexico reveal little beyond Dawson’s restlessness, since nothing much happens to him during these wanderings. Similarly, the diverse activities he finds himself engaging in—bootlegging in St. Louis, breaking horses, attending cockfights—never really advance the reader’s understanding of the man. He calls himself a “ladies’ man” and hints at a score of exciting stories, but then describes only his decorous marriage. Despite the personal nature of this memoir, Dawson remains a strangely aloof figure, never quite inviting the reader to enter his world. In contrast to Dawson’s diffidence, however, Glaubman’s overbearing presence, as he repeatedly parades himself out to converse with Dawson, stifles any momentum the memoir might develop. Almost every chapter begins with Glaubman presenting Dawson with a newspaper clipping or historical fact and asking him to comment on it, despite the fact that Dawson often does not remember or never knew about the event in question. Exasperated readers may wonder whether Dawson’s life and his accomplishments, his passion for learning despite daunting obstacles, is the tale at hand, or whether the real issue is his recollections of Archduke Ferdinand. Dawson’s achievements are impressive and potentially exalting, but the gee-whiz nature of the tale degrades it to the status of yet another bowl of chicken soup for the soul, with a narrative frame as clunky as an old bone.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-375-50396-X
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
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