A thorough, timely, tautly written, and credible volume certain to be assigned by scores of journalism professors and a...
A fresh biography of a significant period in the life of Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005).
It was inevitable that Thompson’s canon would eventually reach the level of scholarly seriousness it had always merited. While many of his fans are still inspired to blaze off on desert road trips, spun on intoxicants and armed with copies of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, his other important work beckons re-evaluation, even renaissance. In his second book, Literary Hub nonfiction editor Denevi (MFA Program/George Mason Univ.; Hyper: A Personal History of ADHD, 2014) carves out a decade of prime terrain, chronicling Thompson’s career from his first big break with Hells Angels through publication of Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, when he grew into a prized misfit American journalist. Beginning with the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the author stresses its impact on Thompson, whose already broad political worldview was quickly morphing into a personal mission: war against anything that threatened bedrock American principles. Whether chronicling Thompson’s coverage of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, his running for sheriff as a “Freak Party” candidate, his time embedded with George McGovern’s 1972 press entourage, or the eventual resignation of Richard Nixon, Denevi hits all the key events, underscoring that Thompson was a serious journalist, driven by passion and motivated by injustice. The author clearly conducted significant research; a full quarter of the book is endnotes and source citations. Fleshing out the narrative with minutiae like what Thompson was listening to with the Hells Angels on first meeting (“The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”) or what he drank with right-wing pundit Pat Buchanan when they met (whiskey), the impressive details anchor the story with the kind of texture and scope that Thompson always appreciated.
A thorough, timely, tautly written, and credible volume certain to be assigned by scores of journalism professors and a great new book for fans ready to move past Thompson’s alter ego, Raoul Duke, to the next level.Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5417-6794-2
Page Count: 416
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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