A thin collection of broadly informed but curiously uninspired millennial musings. The danger inherent in cultural criticism, especially in an era whose sprawling, polyvalent culture seems to be transmuting ever faster, is that you mistake the fad for the trend, the incidental for the monumental. And while Dery (Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century, 1995) seems to know the price of everything, he is a lot shakier on the true value. In this collection of essays, most of which have appeared previously in a variety of zines and webzines, he delves into such ephemera as Jim Carrey, the Heaven’s Gate cultists, and the Home Shopping Network, seeking profundity but usually coming up short. Though he is good at sounding dull warnings about the hazards of consumerism, media culture, the World Wide Web, global capitalism, etc., he is remarkably unprescriptive. His usual style is to amass a clever bricolage of facts, figures, and relevant quotes, weave them expertly together, then wrap up with, at best, an original thought or two. Dery is most noticeable in the slightly shopworn theme that draws the essays together: “the pyrotechnic insanitarium of ’90s America, a giddy whirl of euphoric horror where cartoon and nightmare melt into one.” Dery does have an agenda (a rather doctrinaire blend of post-Marxism and post-New-Leftism)—if only he had an angle. He is an intelligent observer and has read and watched widely. His first essay, comparing our millennial situation to the massive social changes inaugurated and furthered by the opening Coney Island (the century’s original “pyrotechnic insanitarium—), is probably his most successful, perhaps because he is able to transcend mere clever collage. As firework shows go . . . a few sparklers and lots of duds.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8021-1640-X
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Grove
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An autobiography of the Louisiana-born congresswoman (written with freelance writer Hatch), whose purple veil unfortunately casts too rosy a glow over 50 years of US history. At 24, Lindy Boggs came to Washington, D.C., from Louisiana with her newly elected husband, Democratic congressman Hale Boggs, in 1941. FDR was starting his third term, Europe was at war, and Pearl Harbor was around the corner. She didn't leave Washington until 1992, as Clinton was preparing to take office. Hale, who became House majority leader, died in a plane crash in Alaska in 1972; Lindy Boggs was elected to his congressional seat and held it for 20 years. Boggs was at the political center through wars (WW II, Korea, Vietnam), domestic revolutions (the civil rights and women's movements), and international upheaval (the opening to China, the breakup of the Soviet Union). As a member of the House Banking and Currency Committee, she fought for and won important protection for women and minorities in the financial markets; she chaired the 1976 Democratic convention. Through it all, she raised three children (Cokie Roberts, congressional correspondent for ABC News and NPR, is the youngest). The purple veil in the title refers to an incident early in her Washington life, when a change of clothes—from casual jacket and skirt to elegant black suit and hat with purple veil—gained her entrance to an important hearing. From that, she says, she learned to play the Washington game ``with confidence and authority and graciousness.'' Regrettably, we see far too much of the gracious lady who emphasizes how nice everyone in the Beltway is, and not enough of the authoritative one. Too discreet to gossip (and she must have been privy to plenty), she is also reticent about discussing people, events, and even her own accomplishments except on the most amiable terms. World leaders are ``dears'' and ``darlings''; a historic dinner with Chou En- lai yields only an anecdote about Peking duck. Clearly a charmer who probably can make the proverbial omelette without breaking eggs, Boggs has that other requisite of southern women, a spine of steel. Too bad the spine isn't more visible.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-15-193106-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1994
Distinguished essayist and ``Meet the Press'' commentator Drew (Election Journal, 1989, etc.), relying heavily on firsthand interviews with senior White House officials, paints a vivid portrait of a presidency in turmoil. Clinton's large legislative ambitions—primarily for sweeping change on health care and deficit reduction—and great personal abilities and weaknesses dominate this account of government by crisis. Drew views the Clinton administration as a gamble from its inception: She points out that Clinton won the presidency on a promise of ``change'' and that ``if he were deemed to have failed- -an already cynical electorate might become still more jaded, with potentially dangerous consequences.'' Elected to end government gridlock, this Democratic president with Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress soon was preoccupied by emergencies and disasters that reduced his prestige and eroded his ability to lead. Clinton faced constant disarray in his White House staff and communications office, as Arkansas cronies and aides like George Stephanopoulos proved unable to manage Clinton's turbulent relations with the press. Meanwhile, some crises—from the significant, like Clinton's failed attorney general nominations, to the trite, like his $200 haircut at the Los Angeles airport—were the result of political maladroitness or simple bungling, while the president's lack of focus on foreign policy issues, financial and sexual scandals from his years as governor of Arkansas, and the gradual dissipation of his legislative inititatives may have been symptomatic of deeper character and administrative flaws. Drew's report of cutthroat Beltway politics illustrates how severely sophisticated lobbying efforts, direct-mail campaigns, and well- organized special interests can limit a president's ability to enact his program. Drew's insightful account of an increasingly paralyzed presidency raises questions about the viability of American government that go beyond the fate of the Clinton administration.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-671-87147-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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