A warmly sympathetic but one-dimensional biography of the American Left's most fearlessly independent journalist. Cottrell (History/California State Univ.) concentrates on I.F. ``Izzy'' Stone's journalistic career and the evolution of his political beliefs. That career had roughly three phases. It began dazzlingly in 1931, when Stone was hired by the Philadelphia Record; at age 24, he was the youngest editorial writer on a big- city paper in the country. Later, Stone spent five years with the pro-New Deal New York Post before moving to smaller, left-wing publications such as The Nation. When most of these magazines were killed by the cold war, Stone started his now-legendary I.F. Stone Weekly, in 1953. This second phase of his career lasted until 1971, when he closed down the profitable Weekly for health reasons and began an active semi-retirement that lasted until his death in 1989. Stone's politics were remarkably consistent: All his life he sought to reconcile Jeffersonian ideals of freedom with Marxist socialism. He had a horror of sectarianism and was thus an enthusiastic supporter of the Popular Front in the 30's and an inspiring role model for New Left activists in the 60's. Cottrell documents all this (and Stone's extraordinary prescience about Vietnam) conscientiously, though unfortunately rehashing the history of the Left in the process. Izzy's voice is seldom heard: Though Cottrell interviewed Stone and some of his family, his account is woefully short on anecdotes and barely touches on Izzy's personal growth. The Philadelphia socialist M.V. Leof, a ``surrogate father'' for Izzy, gets one paragraph; the dark time in 1950, when Stone spent ten months overseas and considered leaving the States for good, also gets the briefest of references. Well researched, but flavorless and flabby; the work seems longer than it is because Cottrell tells you everything three times. (Twelve b&w illustrations.)
Pub Date: Nov. 30, 1992
ISBN: 0-8135-1847-4
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Rutgers Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1992
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
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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