Even his fans may be surprised at the very high quality of the work Kahn (The Boys of Summer, Joe & Marilyn, etc.) has done over the years. In the anthology at hand, the author collects more than two dozen of the sports pieces he wrote from the early 1950's through 1990—and virtually all stand the taxing test of time. Among other impressive inclusions, there are standout profiles of boxing's George Foreman (then an ex-heavyweight champ in pursuit of a rematch with his conqueror, Muhammad Ali), hockey's Glenn Hall, football's Frank Ryan (a world-class mathematician as well as a winning quarterback), baseball's Stan Musial (in the twilight of a Hall-of-Fame career), and basketball's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (at the start of two-decade reign in the NBA). Covered as well are Carl Furillo, Ingemar Johansson, Don King, Tommy Lasorda (``Sinatra's Friend''), Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, the young Willie Mays, Merlin Olsen, Walter O'Malley, and Sugar Ray Robinson. About the only weak links in the lineup are a few self-consciously weighty essays—e.g., a mannered meditation on professional athletes who, though chronologically young, are old by the standards of their demanding trades; an inane attempt to establish enduring linkages between intellectuals and the national pastime; and a churlish put- down of Joe Namath on the occasion of his run-in with NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle over the ownership of a Manhattan bar. Kahn does not neglect his colleagues, paying graceful tributes to, among others, Jerome Holtzman, John Lardner, and Red Smith. Equally welcome is the author's parting shot on his literary collaboration with Pete Rose after the superstar had been banned from baseball for gambling and sentenced to a federal penitentiary on tax charges. A decidedly agreeable trip down memory lane with one of the more perceptive tour guides still in the game.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-395-59351-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1991
SEEN & HEARD
An exhaustive and exhausting marriage of Austen's Pride and a modern reader’s analysis of it.
A mammoth edition, including the novel, illustrations, maps, a chronology, and bibliography, but mostly thousands of annotations that run the gamut from revealing to ridiculous.
New editions of revered works usually exist either to dumb down or to illuminate the original. Since its appearance in 1813, Austen's most famous work has spawned numerous illustrated and abridged versions geared toward younger readers, as well as critical editions for the scholarly crowd. One would think that this three-pounder would fall squarely in the latter camp based on heft alone. But for various other reasons, Shapard's edition is not so easily boxed. Where Austen's work aimed at a wide spectrum of the 19th-century reading audience, Shapard's seems geared solely toward young lit students. No doubt conceived with the notion of highlighting Austen's brilliance, the 2,000-odd annotations–printed throughout on pages facing the novel's text–often end up dwarfing it. This sort of arrangement, which would work extremely well as hypertext, is disconcerting on the printed page. The notes range from helpful glosses of obscure terms to sprawling expositions on the perils awaiting the character at hand. At times, his comments are so frequent and encyclopedic that one might be tempted to dispense with Austen altogether; in fact, the author's prefatory note under "plot disclosures" kindly suggests that first-time readers might "prefer to read the text of the novel first, and then to read the annotations and introduction." Those with a term paper due in the morning might skip ahead to the eight-page chronology–not of Austen's life, but of the novel's plot–at the back. In the end, Shapard's herculean labor of love comes off as more scholastic than scholarly.
An exhaustive and exhausting marriage of Austen's Pride and a modern reader’s analysis of it.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-9745053-0-7
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This early reader is an excellent introduction to the March on Washington in 1963 and the important role in the march played by Martin Luther King Jr. Ruffin gives the book a good, dramatic start: “August 28, 1963. It is a hot summer day in Washington, D.C. More than 250,00 people are pouring into the city.” They have come to protest the treatment of African-Americans here in the US. With stirring original artwork mixed with photographs of the events (and the segregationist policies in the South, such as separate drinking fountains and entrances to public buildings), Ruffin writes of how an end to slavery didn’t mark true equality and that these rights had to be fought for—through marches and sit-ins and words, particularly those of Dr. King, and particularly on that fateful day in Washington. Within a year the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had been passed: “It does not change everything. But it is a beginning.” Lots of visual cues will help new readers through the fairly simple text, but it is the power of the story that will keep them turning the pages. (Easy reader. 6-8)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-448-42421-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
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