In this extended rejoinder Conservatism's most notable spokesman reviews the issues and events of New York City's 1965 Mayorality campaign in which he was such a controversial participant. Mr. Buckley re-presents his assessments of the city's problems, its political parties, the connections he sees between race, religion and politics, the actualities of the campaign itself, and, perhaps of greater interest now, how he decided to run for Mayor. He complains that upon the annunciation of his candidacy the press (with whom he has a large quarrel here, though with more finesse than another loser, Mr. Nixon) "personalized the event." It's difficult to avoid doing so since what Mr. Buckley has to say is far less interesting than the way he says it; he is, indisputably, a "personality." Indeed, if we are to take Murray Kempton's long-standing infatuation with him at face value, he is not only a phenomenon to be observed but a "gentlemen" par excellence. His book was to "controvert...misrepresentations," usually considered a futile endeavor, but it is the type of task which seems to consume a good deal of the author's time, here and in other media. Another purpose was "to capture the realities of the polemical situation in our time." It's at least questionable whether such a self-justifying book as this actually furthers that lofty ambition or whether it merely serves to keep William F. Buckley, Jr. in the public eye.
Pub Date: June 15, 1966
ISBN: 0870003917
Page Count: 341
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1966
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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Noted jazz and pop record producer Thiele offers a chatty autobiography. Aided by record-business colleague Golden, Thiele traces his career from his start as a ``pubescent, novice jazz record producer'' in the 1940s through the '50s, when he headed Coral, Dot, and Roulette Records, and the '60s, when he worked for ABC and ran the famous Impulse! jazz label. At Coral, Thiele championed the work of ``hillbilly'' singer Buddy Holly, although the only sessions he produced with Holly were marred by saccharine strings. The producer specialized in more mainstream popsters like the irrepressibly perky Teresa Brewer (who later became his fourth wife) and the bubble-machine muzak-meister Lawrence Welk. At Dot, Thiele was instrumental in recording Jack Kerouac's famous beat- generation ramblings to jazz accompaniment (recordings that Dot's president found ``pornographic''), while also overseeing a steady stream of pop hits. He then moved to the Mafia-controlled Roulette label, where he observed the ``silk-suited, pinky-ringed'' entourage who frequented the label's offices. Incredibly, however, Thiele remembers the famously hard-nosed Morris Levy, who ran the label and was eventually convicted of extortion, as ``one of the kindest, most warm-hearted, and classiest music men I have ever known.'' At ABC/Impulse!, Thiele oversaw the classic recordings of John Coltrane, although he is the first to admit that Coltrane essentially produced his own sessions. Like many producers of the day, Thiele participated in the ownership of publishing rights to some of the songs he recorded; he makes no apology for this practice, which he calls ``entirely appropriate and without any ethical conflicts.'' A pleasant, if not exactly riveting, memoir that will be of most interest to those with a thirst for cocktail-hour stories of the record biz. (25 halftones, not seen)
Pub Date: May 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-19-508629-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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