An accomplished idealist leaves us with a slog of a memoir.
A lost memoir from the man behind the 1960s War on Poverty, offering a close-up look at its moving parts.
At the time, Shriver was one of John F. Kennedy’s favorite appointees, and he was just beginning to recover from the assassination of a man who filled many roles in his life: boss, friend, brother-in-law. Appreciative of the way Shriver oversaw the Peace Corps, the new president, Lyndon Johnson, gave him a formidable task: Defeat poverty. Thus begins this book, penned some 50 years ago and stashed away in a box. In a narrative edited by attorney Birenbaum, Shriver provides painstaking details of how a hardworking negotiator and administrator charmed Republicans and Southern Democrats and hammered out the many elements of the War on Poverty, the centerpiece of Johnson’s Great Society. It’s easy to admire Shriver while wishing this noble effort had a little more verve. The dramatic episodes, including the Newark and Detroit riots of 1967, are among the shortest in the book—although Shriver uses them adeptly to demonstrate how the urban unrest left both sides of the war debate unhappy: liberals, who felt not enough money had been appropriated; and conservatives, who argued that the rhetoric surrounding the war fomented violence. While it feels unfair to take to task the man behind Head Start, Job Corps, and other significant social and economic programs, the text becomes a tiresome journey that leaves no bureaucratic “i” undotted. The main tension in the book involves the conflict between Shriver’s ideals and the bear trap that would eat Johnson alive: the Vietnam War. Despite this outsized guns-or-butter dilemma, many War on Poverty initiatives outlasted Johnson—and many were dismantled by Reagan. Though there is useful information here for scholars to further analyze, readers looking for a livelier story should try Scott Stossel’s epic biography Sarge (2004).
An accomplished idealist leaves us with a slog of a memoir.Pub Date: Jan. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-948122-67-2
Page Count: 348
Publisher: RosettaBooks
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.
The iconic model tells the story of her eventful life.
According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry." Readers will be glad that Anderson eventually turned to writing prose, since the well-told anecdotes and memorable character sketches are what make it a page-turner. The poetry (more accurately described as italicized notes-to-self with line breaks) remains strewn liberally through the pages, often summarizing the takeaway or the emotional impact of the events described: "I was / and still am / an exceptionally / easy target. / And, / I'm proud of that." This way of expressing herself is part of who she is, formed partly by her passion for Anaïs Nin and other writers; she is a serious maven of literature and the arts. The narrative gets off to a good start with Anderson’s nostalgic memories of her childhood in coastal Vancouver, raised by very young, very wild, and not very competent parents. Here and throughout the book, the author displays a remarkable lack of anger. She has faced abuse and mistreatment of many kinds over the decades, but she touches on the most appalling passages lightly—though not so lightly you don't feel the torment of the media attention on the events leading up to her divorce from Tommy Lee. Her trip to the pages of Playboy, which involved an escape from a violent fiance and sneaking across the border, is one of many jaw-dropping stories. In one interesting passage, Julian Assange's mother counsels Anderson to desexualize her image in order to be taken more seriously as an activist. She decided that “it was too late to turn back now”—that sexy is an inalienable part of who she is. Throughout her account of this kooky, messed-up, enviable, and often thrilling life, her humility (her sons "are true miracles, considering the gene pool") never fails her.
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063226562
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.
The former iCarly star reflects on her difficult childhood.
In her debut memoir, titled after her 2020 one-woman show, singer and actor McCurdy (b. 1992) reveals the raw details of what she describes as years of emotional abuse at the hands of her demanding, emotionally unstable stage mom, Debra. Born in Los Angeles, the author, along with three older brothers, grew up in a home controlled by her mother. When McCurdy was 3, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Though she initially survived, the disease’s recurrence would ultimately take her life when the author was 21. McCurdy candidly reconstructs those in-between years, showing how “my mom emotionally, mentally, and physically abused me in ways that will forever impact me.” Insistent on molding her only daughter into “Mommy’s little actress,” Debra shuffled her to auditions beginning at age 6. As she matured and starting booking acting gigs, McCurdy remained “desperate to impress Mom,” while Debra became increasingly obsessive about her daughter’s physical appearance. She tinted her daughter’s eyelashes, whitened her teeth, enforced a tightly monitored regimen of “calorie restriction,” and performed regular genital exams on her as a teenager. Eventually, the author grew understandably resentful and tried to distance herself from her mother. As a young celebrity, however, McCurdy became vulnerable to eating disorders, alcohol addiction, self-loathing, and unstable relationships. Throughout the book, she honestly portrays Debra’s cruel perfectionist personality and abusive behavior patterns, showing a woman who could get enraged by everything from crooked eyeliner to spilled milk. At the same time, McCurdy exhibits compassion for her deeply flawed mother. Late in the book, she shares a crushing secret her father revealed to her as an adult. While McCurdy didn’t emerge from her childhood unscathed, she’s managed to spin her harrowing experience into a sold-out stage act and achieve a form of catharsis that puts her mind, body, and acting career at peace.
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-982185-82-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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