A pleasant reflection on mostly good times.
A breezy memoir about growing up in the 1940s and ’50s along the California coast.
This isn’t Archibald’s (Accidental Cowgirl, 2007, etc.) first memoir, but the focus here is on her early years—from her birth in 1938 in the small town of Soquel, California, until the early ’60s, when she was in her 20s and living on her own. She writes that, as a child, she knew how to make the most out of the adoration she received from loving parents and grandparents: “Besides being winsome, I was terribly spoiled, the center of attention in my family....I soon discovered that my wish was their command, and I was the Great Manipulator.” The family lived for two years in Dayton, Ohio, during World War II, while her father was in the Navy; there, the author discovered a passion for the stage that would eventually lead her to join a part-time traveling chorus line while she was still in high school. After the war, the family returned to California, first to the Berkeley suburbs and then to the Walnut Creek suburbs. Eventually, she was a single woman living in San Francisco, navigating what she characterizes as a tricky path between being attractive to the opposite sex and maintaining a well-honed sense of propriety. The author presents her lighthearted recollections in a series of vignettes that paint a vivid portrait of small-town life as America weathered the end of the Great Depression and wartime. Archibald shares little moments that create lasting images; for example, she describes her mother applying leg makeup when nylon stockings were hard to come by: “She’d sit at her dressing table, hold one shapely leg aloft by the ankle, and starting there, guiding the pencil with her thumb and index finger, she’d draw a thin line all the way up the back of her leg, and then I’d get to check it carefully to make sure her ‘seams’ were straight.” However, readers should be prepared for some chronological confusion, as Archibald’s story tends to go wherever her memories take her at any given moment.
A pleasant reflection on mostly good times.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2017
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Cloud Lake Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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