Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 11/26

-- Publishers Weekly, 11/26/2007

NONFICTION

Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life
Steve Martin, Scribner, $25 (210p) ISBN 9781416553649
Neatly combining his personal and professional worlds, beloved comedian, filmmaker, author, magician and banjoist Martin (Pure Drivel) chronicles his life as a gifted young comedian in this evocative, heartfelt memoir, which proves less wild and crazy than wise and considerate—though no less funny for it. The typically reticent performer shares rarely disclosed memories of childhood—his father, a failed actor, harbored increasing anger toward his son through the years—and the anxiety attacks that plagued him for some two decades, along with his early success as a television comedy writer, first for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and the evolution of his stand-up routine. Sharp insight accompanies stories of his first adult gig (at an empty San Francisco coffee house), his pioneering “no punch lines” style (“My goal was to make the audience laugh but leave them unable to describe what it was that had made them laugh”), appearances on programs like The Steve Allen Show and breakthrough moments with small, confused audiences. Though vivid and entertaining throughout, Martin doesn’t dish any behind-the-scenes dirt from Saturday Night Live or The Tonight Show; rather, he’s warm and generous toward everyone in his life, including girlfriends and colleagues. Tellingly, this intimate early career recap ends not with Martin’s decision to give up live performance or his film debut The Jerk, but with a visit to his parents and Knott’s Berry Bird Cage Farm, where he first performed as a teenager. (Nov.)

Dan Rooney: My 75 Years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL
Dan Rooney, as told to Andrew E. Masich and David F. Halaas. Da Capo, $26 (368p) ISBN 9780306815690
The Rooneys are the Steelers in Pittsburgh, home of the championship team whose ferocious, far flung fans call themselves the Steelers Nation. Team manager Rooney, son of the Steelers’s colorful founder Art “the Chief” Rooney, tells his life story, one inextricably tangled with the history of the National Football League: “Pro football was born on the muddy fields of Pittsburgh’s North Side in 1892—just three blocks from where I was born 40 years later.” Moreover, the Steelers themselves were born just a year after Rooney. Managing the team from the early days of television up through the present, Rooney has seen the “most critical issue facing the league” shift from “half-empty stadiums” to “labor relations.” Tales of classic games and key figures are bolstered by interviews with legends like “Mean” Joe Greene and winning coach Chuck Noll, as well as current coach Mike Tomlin and others. Thanks to Rooney’s own intimate, first-person accounts of legendary players, flamboyant personalities and never-ending politics, along with a concluding thumbnail history of each NFL franchise, this book is sure to score big points not just with the Steeler Nation but football fans nationwide. (Nov.)

A Hard Journey: The Life of Don West
James J. Lorence. Univ. of Ill., $39.95 (292p) ISBN 9780252032318
Equally known for being called to testify at the McCarthy hearings and for being the father of folksinger Hedy West, poet, minister and radical activist Don West lived a sojourner’s life, almost always on the run from anti-union or anti-communist organizations (including the U.S. government). But what he’d most like to be remembered for is his constant role as advocate for the people of Southern Applachia. Despite (or perhaps because of) extensive research, Lorence captures West’s tumultuous life in nothing but straight facts, favoring detailed minutes of meetings (“West moved quickly to promote a reconfigured role for the SCHW in Georgia and a tighter link with Foreman and the national organization”) over any exploration of West’s internal turmoil after being, for example, exiled from Kentucky for spreading socialist rhetoric, or being beaten and left for dead in the mountains (the latter only mentioned in passing). When the topic of West’s tempestuous and high-handed character comes up, Lorence tends to rationalize; similarly, he forgives West’s constant equivocating over whether or not he was a Communist (it seems he was, in fact, a card-carrying member of the Party for much of his adult life). Though he outlines clearly and faithfully West’s professional and political struggle, Lorence provides little insight into the man himself. (Nov.)

Independents Day: Awakening the American Spirit
Lou Dobbs. Viking, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 9780670018369
Author and journalist Dobbs (War on the Middle Class), best known for the snub-nosed populism of his nightly CNN news program Lou Dobbs Tonight, presents a thoughtful case against American political strategies past and present, encouraging citizens to “live every day as independent day.” Pointing to the “near-epidemic levels” of “business scandals, Capitol Hill ethics violations, White House spin, and corporate layoffs,” Dobbs concludes that “disregard for the will of the people” is the new status quo among the government and business elite. Contending that “our government rationalizes away the common good and our national interest,” the author unfurls tales of partisanship, unfathomable plunges into debt, the ramifications of cheap labor, a stomach-lurching account of who owns what we generally regard as our public highways, and “the Pontius Pilate way the government washes its hands of involvement in those matters it has assigned to contractors.” Issues range from immigration to trade policy to the poor state of public education and the celebrity takeover of news media. Dobbs’ polemic is a four-alarm wake-up call meant to jar America’s populace into reclaiming their values and voice; presenting a culmination of disturbing trends that may soon relegate “our national sovereignty to history’s dustbin,” Dobbs’s troubling news will give any citizen much to ponder. (Nov.)

Pink Harvest
Toni Mirosevich. Mid-List, $16 paper (212p) ISBN 9780922811755
Though billed as nonfiction,many of the essays in this collection by Mirosevich read more like poems in paragraph form. Unfortunately, many don’t ring true, employing more abstract metaphor than real-world observation. For instance, “The Raft” follows the premise that everyone “you” have ever known is on a raft together headed for “the end,” while “The View” describes a homeless man with a mysterious hole in his chest: “Where there once were ribs, there were no ribs. …First she saw his lungs breathing. Then she could see straight inside to the man’s heart.” Troublingly, Mirosevich offers no clues as to where her stories come from; her most common character is “she,” but there’s no indication as to whether “she” is Mirosevich, or in fact anyone Mirosevich has actually met. In essays with a more solid grounding in real life, Mirosevich tends to stumble into the banal, as in “Stripping,” where she describes a single table for 12 pages. Without an anchoring character or a common thread of any kind, Mirosevich leaps among subjects as disparate as domestic abuse and refinishing furniture, leaving the reader unsatisfied and confused. (Nov.)

Reporting Iraq: An Oral History of the War by the Journalists Who Covered It
Edited by Mike Hoyt, John Palattella, and the staff of The Columbia Journalism Review. Melville, paper $21.95 (192p) ISBN 9781933633343
With pens down and cameras shuttered, 44 reporters casually and directly discuss all angles of the War in Iraq, including their own shock, fear and incomprehension, in this compilation of interviews conducted by The Columbia Journalism Review. In thematic, loosely chronological chapters (“In the Beginning,” “Turning Points,” “The Embeds,” “The Good News”), the Iraq situation escalates from uncertainty to lawlessness to siege mentality and open insurgency alongside sunny reports from officials: “Iyad Allawi was saying that almost the entire country was safe,” while freelancer Andrew Lee Butters was learning doctors in Mosul’s main hospitals “were getting three headless bodies delivered to the morgue everyday.” A dramatic portrait of Iraq’s day-to-day emerges: freelancer Nir Rosen sympathizes with Iraqis’ fear of American soldiers; CBS News’ Elizabeth Palmer, meanwhile, sees the “ill-prepared” soldiers in essentially the same predicament as the Iraqis: “hostages of a terrible situation.” Back home, reporters deal with misinformation, media bias and post-traumatic stress, as well as disillusionment, shame and rage over the stories that will likely never reach a mass audience. The New Yorker’s John Lee Anderson says “there’s no proper way” to cover war that isn’t “rife with contradictions and problems”; this vital, breathtaking collection may be the closest contemporary reporting gets to cutting through the fog of war. 22 color photos. (Nov.)

Rifke: An Improbable Life
Rosalie Wise Sharp. ECW, $34.95 (248p) ISBN 9781550227758; $19.95 paper 9781550227772
Readers expecting a whirl through the life of the extremely wealthy—in Sharp’s case, the wife of the founder of the Four Seasons Hotel empire—will be surprised and humbled by this honest, arresting memoir. Looking back from age 70, Sharp recalls growing up poor, awkward and lonely in her immigrant parents’ North Toronto home, a lone island of Jewish life—a simulacrum of their native Poland—amidst a working-class Christian community. Smart, hard-working and imaginative, “Rifke” was stifled by no-nonsense parents, whose remaining family would vanish in the Holocaust, and the anti-Semitism of her insular neighborhood. Sharp recalls attempts to pass as a Gentile, her discovery of books and her introduction, at age 16, to future husband Isadore Sharp, then a young athletic man in the building business. From there comes marriage, travel, work and children—four handsome, intelligent boys—a full life that Sharp recalls in lucid, breezy prose. The heart of Sharp’s tale is the loss f her son Christopher, at age 18, to cancer. The powerful sense of perseverance that pulls Sharp through that tragedy is further illuminated in carefully wrought chapters on the last communications from her European relatives and the story of Ozarow, Poland, her family’s ravished hometown. (Nov.)

What Orwell Didn’t Know: Propaganda and the New Face of American Politics
Edited by András Szántó, intro. by Orville Schell. PublicAffairs, $14.95 paper (256p) ISBN 9781586485603
Three years before he published 1984, Orwell wrote Politics and the English Language, an attack on the use of political speech “in defense of the indefensible.” That essay (reprinted in full) serves as the point of departure for these 20 articles on modern methods of American propaganda, which editor and freelance journalist Szántó calls “subtle, insidious, sugarcoated, focus-grouped, and market-tested.” Contributors are consistently thought-provoking, but happily diverse in background and concern: Farnaz Fassihi, senior Middle East correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, takes on war reporting; USC journalism professor Martin Kaplan explains why he refers to television news as “the Infotainment Freak Show”; and cognitive scientist George Lakoff discusses the psychological principles manipulated to goose the efficacy of political messages. An epilogue from moneyed progressive George Soros (whose Open Society Institute co-sponsored the publication) expresses hope that this book will “inoculate the public against false arguments”; timed to coincide with the 2008 presidential election, Szántó’s collection should indeed resonate with Americans increasingly put out by the obfuscating tactics of many political campaigns (and careers). (Nov.)

LIFESTYLE

Babies by Design: The Ethics of Genetic Choice
Ronald M. Green. Yale Univ., $26 (288p) ISBN 9780300125467
In his latest, Dartmouth College bioethicist Green (The Human Embryo Research Debates) embraces a vision of future parenthood bound to stir controversy, arguing that parents will, and should, give children the advantage of more “attractive physical features.” Starting with the assumption that “we are entering the era of directed human evolution,” he suggests that coming methods of in vitro fertilization will allow parents to genetically pre-select babies, not only to eliminate diseases like cystic fibrosis, but to promote what he calls “cosmetico-genomics.” Scenario in place, Green explores a number of racially-charged hypotheticals: “Will dark-skinned African American parents choose to have lighter-skinned children?” Will Jewish parents use genetic rhinoplasty to change a “Jewish nose”? Will Asian-Americans “westernize” their children’s eyes? Green answers that parents are right to reduce the unfair but very real social burdens facing their offspring, and dismisses objections as “status quo bias.” Although he’s peppered his argument with disclaimers that his vision would not reopen the door to the eugenics movements (the kind that underpinned Nazi Germany’s genocidal master plan), readers may come away unconvinced; either way, this provoking book provides a rare, cogent look at the “plusses” of genetically enhanced offspring. (Nov.)

Creole
Babette de Rozières, trans. from the French by Nicola Young. Phaidon, $39.95 (362p) ISBN 9780714848143
French celebrity chef de Rozières doesn’t waste any time in this sumptuous, brightly-colored collection of Caribbean dishes—a mere one-page introduction separates the table of contents from the food. De Rozières opens with a voluminous take on fish and seafood ranging from the familiar (calamari and stuffed clams) to classic native fare such as blaffs (named for the sound fish makes when added to a hot bath of water and spices) and upscale dishes such as Conch Ravioli with Crab and Lemongrass sauce. Her reliance on fresh, local food is both strength and liability; seemingly every recipe calls for something indigenous, but de Rozières provides a handy index for substituting rare ingredients like madère leaves and salt cod. Once familiar with terms and substitutions, cooks will likely dive into dishes like Mango Fricassee Parcels, puff pastry filled with sautéed mangoes; Creole Paella loaded with chicken, shellfish and octopus; as well as island versions of New Orleans standards Bananas Foster and beignets. Photographs by Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle provide a visual feast, artfully and festively capturing native fish, ice blue seascapes and finished dishes. Delightfully different from the American approach, de Rozières’ thoughtful and flavorful collection of island Creole cooking is a solid resource. (Dec.)

The New New Southern Basics: Traditional Southern Food for Today
Martha Stamps. Cumberland, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 9781581824322
Feeling that “most people, southerners included, had no idea of the rich heritage behind their everyday food,” author and restaurateur Stamps compiled The New Southern Basics; this second edition adds 80 pages, but follows the same format as its well-received predecessor. The majority of Stamps’ reliable southern standards are hard to find fault with: everything from condiments like the spicy, vinegary chow-chow, baked goods like hot water corn bread and highly ritualized dishes such as the beloved Low Country Boil, a feast of boiled shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes, is solid and tasty. Chapters on sweets ring nostalgic, with recipes for classics like Peanut Butter and Divinity Fudge, chess pie and classic popcorn balls. A few recipes, such as Sundried Tomato and White Bean Hummus and Spinach Soufflé seem regionally jarring, and the substitution of water for milk or cream in the Chicken Fried Steak gravy borders on heresy. Still, most of her selections, including four takes on sweet potatoes (baked, roasted, fried and mashed), should provide more than enough go-to recipes for cooks on either side of the Mason-Dixon line. (Nov.)

Illustrated

The Great Naturalists
Edited by Robert Huxley. Thames & Hudson, $39.95 (304p) ISBN 9780500251393
The little-known history of natural history—that is, how the first naturalists observed and catalogued their world, how they grappled with unanswered questions, and how the sciences of geology, biology, ecology and paleontology developed over three centuries—is wonderfully illuminated in this volume from the Natural History Museum of London’s Huxley. Examining 39 naturalists, Huxley assigns each subject—from ancient Greece’s Aristotle to America’s first botanist, Asa Gray—his or her own biographer (many also from London’s Natural History Museum), who provide a brief but detailed life story and a summation of scientific contributions. While some subjects are well-known—John James Audubon, Alexander von Humboldt and Charles Darwin among them—many will be unfamiliar: John Ray, labeled the “English Aristotle,” first defined the concept of “species”; Antony van Leeuwenhoek discovered micro-organisms (using Robert Hooke’s microscope); and Mary Anning, born to destitution in Regency England, sparked a revolution in scientific thought with her fossil excavations. These naturalists were often excellent figure and watercolor artists, and this volume is heavily illustrated with striking, full-color reproductions from their publications (and occasional portraits); especially revelatory are renderings of now extinct species, like Audubon’s glorious painting of the Carolina parakeet. (Nov.)

Audio

Fiction

Now & Then
Robert B. Parker, read by Joe Mantegna. Random House Audio, unabridged, five CDs, 5.5 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 9780739339954
If ever there was an argument for selective abridgment, this audio version of Parker’s latest Spenser outing is the poster child for it. Spenser, Susan and everyone else uses “I said” or “she said” so often that it soon becomes laughable. It’s also unnecessary, considering Mantegna’s vocal talents easily let listeners know exactly who is talking. His Susan and Hawk sound different enough to let us in on the secret, and his Spenser has the humorous crackle we’ve come to expect. With villains that are equally differentiated, Mantegna keeps the book moving and excels at Parker’s smart dialogue. But even the most loyal Spenser addicts might have to swallow a chuckle because of the attribution repetition. Simultaneous release with the Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 20). (Oct.)

The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold, read by the author. Hachette Audio, unabridged, nine CDs, 10.5 hrs., $24.98 ISBN 9781600240683
Reading her breakout novel, Sebold’s even, unemotional voice is a good match for both the drab setting of a Midwest town enduring the 1970s and for her matter-of-fact writing, which manages to seem grounded even as the protagonist narrates from heaven after her brutal murder. Sebold doesn’t bother with voicing characters differently; the murdered girl, Susie Salmon, is the listener’s window into the world she was forced to leave behind, and Sebold uses a flat, deliberate voice that manages to sound both weary and wistful. Snatches of melancholy chamber music close each track and provide more explicit emotion. What Sebold’s voice lacks in stylistic flourish she makes up for with perfect pacing. In an introductory segment, Sebold recounts the novel’s genesis and mentions that part of her working process involves reading everything back to herself, which explains her expert rhythm. On the final disc, Sebold reads the first chapter of her 2007 novel, The Almost Moon. While Sebold’s fans will be eager for the chance to hear her read, the uninitiated may wish for a bit more passion in her presentation. A Back Bay Books paperback (Reviews, June 17, 2002). (Sept.)

Nonfiction

Escape
Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer, read by Alison Fraser. Random House Audio, abridged, four CDs, 4 hrs., $27.95 ISBN 9780739354575
Seventeen years after being forced into a polygamous marriage, Jessop escaped from the cultlike Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints with her eight children. She recounts the horrid events that led her to break free from the oppressive world she knew and how she has managed to survive since escaping, despite threats and legal battles with her husband and the Church. Though sometimes her retelling overflows with colorful foreshadowing and commentary on how exceptional she is, the everyday details she reveals about this polygamous society are devastating and tragic. Frasier delivers Jessop’s words in a soft voice that develops intriguingly from an innocent and naïve tone into a more assertive and self-confident one that mirrors Jessop’s journey. She maintains the same rhythm, but through the inspired words of the text, she really embraces Jessop’s persona. The bonus telephone interview with Jessop on the final disc suffers from poor sound quality and, unfortunately, doesn’t add any new information. Simultaneous release with the Doubleday hardcover. (Oct.)

Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself
Alan Alda, read by the author. Random House Audio, unabridged, five CDs, 6 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 9780739354704
Following his 11-year run on TV’s M*A*S*H, Alda has continually transformed himself professionally through a diverse array of successful projects. Yet his status as America’s quintessential nice guy still follows him at every turn, rendering Alda a hot ticket for college commencement addresses and other high-profile events. With his characteristic modesty and charm, Alda reflects on his public words to find introspective insights about the important questions of life. Early in the recording, his interjections of new parenthetical comments as he recites the texts of older speeches is slightly choppy. Yet when he tackles meatier questions and more sober situations, especially his role as a eulogist at the funerals for close friends Ossie Davis and Peter Jennings, Alda hits his stride by baring his soul instead of shooting from the hip. Alda’s phenomenal gift as a storyteller shines through, even when the style in which he organizes his material may not perfectly suit the audio format. Simultaneous release with the Random House hardcover (Reviews, June 25). (Oct.)

The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World
Alan Greenspan, read by Robertson Dean. Penguin Audio, unabridged, 16 CDs, 20 hrs., $44.95 ISBN 9780143142591
Greenspan offers a revealing yet monotonous look at the inner workings of the Federal Reserve and his career. Beginning with his childhood in Manhattan, where he learned percentages by memorizing Yankee batting statistics, Greenspan relates his tremendous passion for economics and politics that propelled him to become chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve for nearly 20 years. While various tales about his often-troubled relationships with former presidents and their administrations will appeal to history buffs, the material is presented in a manner that makes the narration long-winded and dreary. As a biographical work, narrator Dean has little room for lyrical improvisation, and his solitary voice drones. An endless spew of facts and figures takes away from the more interesting aspects of the book, such as Greenspan’s criticisms of the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. While his pitch and clarity is perfect, Dean’s voice becomes nagging and repetitive. It’s disappointing that the author-read introduction included in the abridged audio version is not used here to provide a brief change in tone. The uninspired text and dialogue makes listening a tedious exercise by the halfway point. Simultaneous release with the Penguin Press hardcover. (Sept.)