Arts & Humanities Reviews, May 15, 2011
May 15, 2011ARTS
Garcia, Erin C. Man Ray in Paris. Getty. 2011. 128p. photogs. bibliog. ISBN 9781606060605. $24.95. PHOTOG
Former Getty Museum assistant curator Garcia (Photography as Fiction) provides a broad overview of Man Ray’s work during his formative years in Paris, during which he made his reputation and became the darling of the Dada set, who later morphed into surrealists. A roughly ten-page introduction provides a thumbnail biography of Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitsky in Philadelphia) during his two decades in Paris from 1921 until 1940, when, thanks to the Nazis, it seemed wiser to return to America. He immigrated back to Paris in 1951, remaining until his 1976 death (he’s buried there). The images here, taken between 1920 and 1939, offer a representative mix of his photographic work, including straight portraits of other artists, e.g., Marcel Duchamp, Gertrude Stein, and James Joyce; his experiments with rayographs (objects placed on photographic paper and exposed to light); artsy photos of women; solarization (exposing partially developed film to light); color experiments; and still lifes. VERDICT Although these images have appeared numerous times before, having the landmark Paris materials isolated in a neat, affordable volume makes this an attractive package for Man Ray enthusiasts, photography buffs, and Francophiles.—Mike Rogers, Library Journal
Grounded: The Work of Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg. Simply Read, dist. by PGW. 2011. c.288p. ed. by Kelty McKinnon. illus. photogs. maps. ISBN 9781897476208. $69.95. ARCHITECTURE
This extensive catalog of the international production of PFS, a major landscape-architecture firm located in Vancouver, Canada, illustrates more than 30 projects built over the last 40 years, mostly in Canada and, specifically, Ottawa. It contains short essays by well-known professors and practitioners allied to the partners and their professions. Internationally active, the firm has conducted and executed large landscape designs as far away as Italy, France, and China. The essays and the illustrations included are rich and informative, marvelous in highlighting the derivation of all postmodern design from the inventions of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in the form of cubism and collage about 100 years ago. In this millennium, design derives from the rapprochement of modern life between the natural and the industrial, religion and science, and community and individuality, ending up as a confrontation between face and place. VERDICT A good title for design libraries and for readers interested in design.—Peter S. Kaufman, formerly with Boston Architectural Coll.
Henning, Randolph C. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin: Illustrated by Vintage Postcards. Univ. of Wisconsin. 2011. 123p. photogs. bibliog. ISBN 9780299282844. pap. $24.95. PHOTOG
Little looms larger in the Frank Lloyd Wright legend than Taliesin, the combination of residence, studio, and farm he built in 1911—and rebuilt and rebuilt again—near Spring Green, WI. Architect Henning (compiler, At Taliesin: Newspaper Columns by Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship, 1934–1937) honors Taliesin’s centennial with this collection of vintage postcards featuring monochrome images of the house proper and the surrounding Wright-designed buildings and properties that made up the compound, which eventually expanded to encompass more than 1100 acres. The postcards are presented chronologically on the right-hand pages following a paragraph-long caption on the preceding page that provides background on what’s depicted in the image. Many of the captions sport quotes from Wright also pertaining to the part of Taliesin that’s shown. An interesting series of postcards highlights the damage caused by two fires, one in 1914 started by a servant who also murdered Wright’s mistress and her two children before setting the blaze, and a 1925 electrical fire that destroyed the building again. VERDICT A celebration rather than a critical analysis of Wright’s creation, the rare photos, some never before published, will be a special treat for Wright’s followers and architecture lovers.—Mike Rogers, Library Journal
Langford, Martha & John Langford. A Cold War Tourist and His Camera. McGill-Queen’s Univ. 2011. c.195p. photogs. bibliog. ISBN 9780773538214. pap. $39.95. PHOTOG
Warren Langford’s photos made during the height of the Cold War era (1963) are a unique combination of tourist snapshots and historical documents. He traveled with his camera throughout Europe, North America, and Africa as part of training for Canada’s National Defense College, and his full-color slides give us a glimpse into a world that few were allowed to see. Challenging our preconceptions of what life looked liked during that turbulent era, Langford’s subjects—a donkey in Morocco, a bride in a Venetian gondola, and Egypt’s pyramids—are all photographed in the same way, from a tourist’s point of view, and portray the world as colorful and untroubled, rather than the serious monochrome images we associate with this period. Only the photographs taken in Berlin hint at a darker reality. The photos are organized geographically, from Langford’s North American to African to European tour. An essay placing the photos within the larger historical context accompanies each chapter. The collection was curated by his children, Martha, an art history professor at Concordia University, and John, a political scientist at the University of Victoria. VERDICT Recommended for history buffs.—Shauna Frischkorn, Millersville Univ., PA
Vollauschek, Tomi & Agathe Jacquillat. The 3D Type Book. Laurence King, dist. by Chronicle. 2011. c.240p. photogs. ISBN 9781856697132. pap. $29.95. GRAPHIC ARTS
This is the third volume from Jacquillat and Vollauschek of FL@33, a multidisciplinary studio for visual communication. The previous two titles (Postcard; Made and Sold) followed a scheme in which the authors invited designers to contribute examples of pieces that convey the aspect of visual communication around which the book is based. For this project, the authors expanded their scope by also soliciting additional artists through an open call for contributions. The result is a richly illustrated volume showing letters of the alphabet created from an extremely wide variety of materials—shoelaces, cheese, tire tracks, moss, the human body, and much more. A short foreword by 3-D type specialist Andrew Byrom puts the work in context, and a closing section includes pertinent information on the contributors. VERDICT This is the most comprehensive study to date on this unique corner of the graphic arts, and while it has a quirky quality that will appeal to some casual readers, it is really for graphic design and typography specialists. This well-produced and reasonably priced work should find a home on most designer’s shelves.—Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY
Weissman, Terri. The Realisms of Berenice Abbott: Documentary Photography and Political Action. Univ. of California. 2011. 264p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780520266759. $60. PHOTOG
Berenice Abbott’s name immediately brings to mind her impressive 1935–39 Changing New York photographs, but as Weissman (art history, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign) adroitly points out, they are only one facet of her interests and accomplishments. Abbott brought a critical eye to the real world, a keen sense of the changing politics of the decades, and a willingness to adapt as times altered. Looking at her early Paris portraits from the 1920s, the more familiar images from her field trips and the ever-changing faces of New York, and finally her scientific “photophysics” works, one can see the interaction between the artist and the world of the subject. Certainly, realism for this photographer was a reflection of the world at a particular moment, not a mode of thinking. VERDICT From a wealth of primary material, much of it long buried in archives and libraries, Weissman has created a fine documentary. Abbott’s life, her ideas of herself and of the political and social world around her, and her singular vision of the interaction of these are all presented with clear prose and scholarly consideration. Photography fans will find much here.—Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York
LITERATURE
Codrescu, Andrei. Whatever Gets You Through the Night: A Story of Sheherezade and the Arabian Entertainments. Princeton Univ. Jun. 2011. c.200p. bibliog. ISBN 9780691143378. $22.95. LIT
The publisher’s blurbs call this a “retelling” of The Arabian Nights, but Codrescu’s subtitle is more accurate. In other words, Codrescu (The Poetry Lesson), a wildly popular and prolific author and also a commentator on NPR’s All Things Considered, isn’t offering a retelling of the original Arabic tales, but is presenting an independent story featuring Scheherazade and referencing the title used in the earliest English translations, The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments. In short, this book is a sort of riff on the original themes. The stories share some characteristics and plotlines with Arabian Nights but always with a twist or new metaphysical take. They also have a different sense of the fantastic. Genies become Genuises, for example, and the original frame itself isn’t really there. Interesting and witty footnotes about translations of the Arabian Nights and the culture of the story are added as a kind of bonus, contributing to the narrative. VERDICT Codrescu’s fans will love this book, and Arabists will be charmed by this new take on the classic. Most libraries will have a readership for it.—David Azzolina, Univ. of Pennsylvania Libs., Philadelphia
Foster, Thomas C. Twenty-Five Books That Shaped America: How White Whales, Green Lights, and Restless Spirits Forged Our National Identity. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2011. c.352p. ISBN 9780061834400. pap. $14.99. LIT
Foster (English, Univ. of Michigan, Flint: How To Read Literature like a Professor) is quick to admit that selecting just 25 books to discuss how they helped shape and define a nation is “obviously insane,” but he writes that these 25 are simply to be illustrative, not definitive. If you can get past how arbitrary this all seems, Foster’s actual writing—breezy, smart, and funny—is a pleasure if a bit too cute. For example, he admits that he would prefer to write about The House of the Seven Gables (“it has a character named Hepzibah, and how often does one of those come along?”) over The Scarlet Letter, but “all the world thinks otherwise,” so discusses the latter. Nonetheless, Foster’s chapters, which include overviews of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Little Women, My Antonia, The Crying of Lot 49, and Song of Solomon, may make you want to read, or reread, the books themselves. Foster concludes by briefly mentioning 15 additional books. VERDICT The book is a delight to read, but the author is not brave in his choices and doesn’t take any stands. Not for scholars, but entertaining enough that people familiar with the titles may well enjoy it as much as readers new to many of the books covered.—William D. Walsh, Georgia State Univ., Atlanta
Rodden, John. The Unexamined Orwell. Univ. of Texas. Aug. 2011. c.400p. illus. index. ISBN 9780292725584. $45. LIT
Can there be anything new to say about George Orwell? Longtime Orwell scholar Rodden (communication studies, Univ. of Texas, Austin) thinks there is, but his book largely recycles themes from two of his previous works, Scenes from an Afterlife and Every Intellectual’s Big Brother. Yet he does add new perspectives in these 18 chapters (he calls them “reception scenes”), or case studies, on Orwell’s literary afterlife. He discusses the work of five writers considered successors to Orwell, politically and culturally: Dwight MacDonald, Lionel Trilling, Irving Howe, Christopher Hitchens, and John Lukacs; he takes a close look at Orwell’s impact in East Germany (how its totalitarian world replicated Nineteen Eighty-Four). In the final section, a bit of a miscellany, Rodden examines some of the Orwell myths that have endured (e.g., did Hemingway really rescue Orwell in Paris in 1945?—probably not), assesses utopian fiction, proposes how Orwell might have reviewed his own biographies, and, most interestingly, considers “The Life Orwell Never Lived?” VERDICT Rodden’s writing is always accessible to both scholars and general readers. This collection, however, does not break much new ground and will primarily appeal to those who collect everything written about Orwell. With extensive notes.—Thomas A. Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, PA
Zanganeh, Lila Azam. The Enchanter: Nabakov and Happiness. Norton. May 2011. c.256p. illus. index. ISBN 9780393079920. $23.95. LIT
Zanganeh, who has taught humanities at Harvard, presents an idiosyncratic appreciation of the life and accomplishments of Vladimir Nabokov. Although labeled as literary criticism, the book is more about Zanganeh’s obsession with “VN” and her pursuit of his biographical and literary essence in places associated with him. Her theme is that Nabokov is the great writer of happiness, even though his are not happy stories. Each of the 15 chapters focuses on one type of happiness found in his works and how his life permeated his fiction. Zanganeh’s own life story becomes entwined with Nabokov’s as she sets out to emulate him. There are traces of Alice in Wonderland in her imaginings and adventures. VERDICT Nabokovians will be charmed by Zanganeh’s single-minded pursuit of how Nabokov found happiness in the use of language and joyful imagery. Those not familiar with Nabokov may become confused between him and the author. They should, instead, read Speak, Memory, Nabokov’s autobiography, as well as his major works. This slight but charming book treads ground familiar to many academics but may prove revelatory to general readers to whom it is primarily addressed. A flight of imagination that should appeal to anyone who has ever obsessively devoted him- or herself to a favorite author.—Morris Hounion, New York City Coll. of Technology Lib., CUNY
PERFORMING ARTS
Beaumont, Daniel. Preachin’ the Blues: The Life & Times of Son House. Oxford Univ. Jul. 2011. c.224p. photogs. bibliog. ISBN 9780195395570. $24.95. MUSIC
Eddie “Son” House is an iconic figure in blues music. As a participant in a legendary 1930s Paramount recording session with fellow pioneer Charlie Patton; mentor to Robert Johnson; performer on Alan Lomax’s 1941 field recordings, which introduced Muddy Waters; and a forerunner of the blues revival of the early Sixties, he qualifies as the Flying Dutchman of the genre. Aside from his brilliant lyrics and stunning musicianship, House is perhaps most distinguished as the only major blues figure to forsake the pulpit for the juke joint (usually it was the other way around). Documentation of his career is minimal, fanciful, and at times contradictory. Beaumont (religion & classics, Univ. of Rochester) seeks to redress this neglect with meticulous scholarship masterly applied. Beaumont’s work shines especially in his depiction of House’s nonrecording years, culminating with a chilling revelation of a self-defense homicide in a Rochester, NY, work camp that echoes the share-cropping community House thought he had escaped via northern migration. VERDICT Beaumont expands on the scholarship of Robert Palmer (Deep Blues) and Ted Gioia (Delta Blues) to present the definitive portrait of this unjustly neglected lion of American music.—Dave Szatmary, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Cann, Kevin. David Bowie: Any Day Now; The London Years, 1947–1974. Adelita, dist. by D.A.P. 2011. 336p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780955201776. pap. $45. MUSIC
What a treasure! Cann published his first Bowie bio, David Bowie: A Chronology, in 1983, but he has surpassed that book and all others on the subject with this engaging and comprehensive look at a captivating cultural and musical chameleon. From his birth as David Robert Jones in 1947 London through his Sixties songwriting and pop-star aspirations (one story has the then unknown leader of Davie Jones & the Manish Boys appearing at Paul McCartney’s front door in 1965 and handing him a copy of his first single, “I Pity the Fool”) to his first success with “Space Oddity,” his role as Ziggy Stardust, and his ultimate move from the UK in 1974, Cann details it all. The book is rich on ephemera—baby pictures, handbills, glam shots—and wonderfully detailed. The format echoes Mark Lewisohn’s excellent The Complete Beatles Chronicle. VERDICT Almost 900 photos are included here, and the graphics and production are superb. The only thing missing is the sequel. The definitive collection of an icon’s memorabilia, this book will entertain all who are interested in Sixties London and Seventies pop.—Bill Baars, Lake Oswego P.L., OR
Cateforis, Theo. Are We Not New Wave?: Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s. Univ. of Michigan. (Tracking Pop). Jun. 2011. c.304p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780472115556. $70; pap. ISBN 9780472034703. $28.95. MUSIC
Closely connected to the decline of punk, springing up independently in America and the UK, and with acts ranging from power pop revivalists to deadpan synthesizer ensembles, new wave is a notoriously tricky genre to define. Cateforis (music history & cultures, Syracuse Univ.) first sets out to trace the origins, evolution, and ultimate incorporation of the movement into the dominant musical paradigm of the late 1980s. He then explores several new wave themes, such as the deliberate “nervousness” of vocal and stage performances and the shifting role of the keyboardist in the synthesizer era. These explorations each focus on a small number of artists or groups. That narrow scope makes the work’s thesis, that new wave was a fundamentally modern (as opposed to postmodern) movement, difficult to trace. Taken as a collection of “essays on” rather than a “history of,” this book raises many notable points. VERDICT A valuable addition to the scholarship of an often-neglected era. This will be of great interest to music or cultural historians as well as fans of Devo, Talking Heads, the B-52’s, and Gary Numan.—Neil Derksen, Gwinnett Cty. P.L., Lawrenceville, GA
Holden, Raymond. Richard Strauss: A Musical Life. Yale Univ. Jun. 2011. c.344p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780300126426. $35. MUSIC
The legacy of Richard Strauss (1864–1959) rests chiefly with his many operas and tone poems, but he was also one of the most significant German conductors of the first half of the 20th century. In this meticulously documented book, Holden (assoc. head of research, Royal Academy of Music; The Virtuoso Conductors) focuses on Strauss’s career as a conductor and his staunch advocacy from the podium for his own compositions and those of Wagner, Beethoven, and Mozart, among others. He provides a fascinating, year-by-year account of Strauss’s several prestigious positions in Munich, Berlin, and Vienna, complete with repertory lists. The controversy over Strauss’s role in the musical life of Nazi Germany is also touched on. Holden includes in an appendix selected pages from Strauss’s conductor’s scores, with penciled-in dynamics and, occasionally, modest reorchestrations. VERDICT There is little here about Strauss’s own music, so in that regard, Michael Kennedy’s Richard Strauss: Man, Musician, Enigma provides a more complete picture. Holden, though, goes into considerably more detail about Strauss’s approach to conducting and interpretation. Recommended for music collections.—Larry Lipkis, Moravian Coll., Bethlehem, PA
White, Carrie. Upper Cut: Highlights of My Hollywood Life. Atria: S. & S. Sept. 2011. c.400p. ISBN 9781439199091. $26. FILM
In the swing of 1960s Hollywood, White opened a hair salon amid what was then a mostly male-dominated field. She here presents not a gossip book but the story of a life of styling and getting to know a huge number of celebrities and celebrity wives. White shares the highs of her success and rising to many challenges as well as the lows of childhood sexual abuse and addiction. While there’s hardly a mention of any specific hair styles, trends, or methods, she writes insightfully and reveals her response to any request: “That’s my specialty.” White, who is still styling hair, has touched and talked to generations of celebrities including Jane Fonda, Warren Beatty, Priscilla and Elvis Presley, Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando, Bette Midler, and Iggy Pop, to name only a few. VERDICT While there are no stars’ secrets revealed, beauty or otherwise, this is an engaging, celebrity-filled life story. [See Prepub Alert, 2/28/11.]—Lani Smith, Ohlone Coll. Lib., Fremont, CA
Wolf, Stacy. Changed For Good: A Feminist History of the Broadway Musical. Oxford Univ. Jul. 2011. c.320p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780195378245. pap. $24.95. THEATER
In this perceptive study of women and Broadway musicals from the 1950s through the present, Wolf (theater, Princeton Univ.) illustrates how the shows reflect and challenge societal norms and, in the process, resonate with audiences and impact the art form itself. She provides in-depth analyses of productions such as Wonderful Town, West Side Story, A Chorus Line, In the Heights, and The Phantom of the Opera, perceptively dissecting critical components—plot, character, dialog, music, staging, costuming—within a framework of gender, historical, and cultural considerations and offering incisive commentary on interwoven themes. Wolf’s observations on the power and function of women’s duets (as sung by such contrasting characters as Sarah and Adelaide in Guys and Dolls and, 50 years later, by Elphaba and Glinda in Wicked), for example, are particularly impressive. Her penetrating views on fans and their identification with shows and characters place the core values of the theatrical experience within a larger context. VERDICT This is a valuable work with a strong and captivating feminist point of view. Scholars and serious fans of theater as well as those concerned with women’s issues and studies will especially enjoy its detail-filled and imaginative perspective.—Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, NJ
PHILOSOPHY
Lawrence, Matt. Philosophy on Tap: Pint-Sized Puzzles for the Pub Philosopher. Wiley-Blackwell. 2011. c.228p. illus. ISBN 9781444336405. pap. $19.95. PHIL
Approaching deep thought through a pint glass lens, Lawrence (philosophy, Long Beach City Coll., CA; Like a Splinter in Your Mind: The Philosophy Behind the Matrix Trilogy) pairs 48 three- to six-page philosophical meditations with geographically or eponymically relevant world brews. A clever beer-themed prompt (e.g., “If a Pint Spills in the Forest…”) heads each chapter, though Lawrence gives the historically accurate formulation in a “Truth Be Told” section. Further study questions, “Did You Know?” trivia, a brief recommended reading list, and a beer-tasting-notes chart supplement each puzzle. Lawrence offers a mostly balanced survey of Western canon dilemmas from Zeno to the present, dipping also into Buddhism and Taoism. An unfortunate element of beer culture, however, is perpetuated by a subtle boy-zone barroom mentality pervading a few chapters like “The Beer Goggles Paradox,” only partially remedied by a Catherine Mackinnon–quoting section on the legal and moral considerations of pub flirtation vs. sexual harassment. VERDICT Recommended for fraternity brothers who missed Philosophy 101 or nonteetotaling philosophy majors seeking to broaden their beer horizons. For a more serious yet similarly accessible intro to philosophy, readers will want to consider the excellent (and free) courses on iTunes U from Oxford, Yale, and Berkeley.—Josh Hadro, Library Journal
POETRY
Ahmed, Dilruba. Dhaka Dust: Poems. Graywolf. Jun. 2011. c.112p. ISBN 9781555975890. pap. $15. POETRY
Winner of the Bakeless Prize, this debut presents rich poetry that embraces the physical and the sensual in life. Ahmed’s alert and filtering eye detects the most overlooked details and breathes a new life into them—“I thought you’d sail/ into that sea with/ me, into the water/ hanging at the horizon/ like a pale slice of slate”—and delivers a vivid sense of awakening to everyday circumstances of life—“My sandals gather dung in the fields—/ my heels caked with dirt, collecting/ wildness.” Ahmed’s subjects range from poverty to childhood memories, immigrants, motherhood, and family, all narrated in a smooth lyrical and emotionally restrained language. Places intimate to her, from Dhaka in Bangladesh to Ohio, stream through her lines as traces of broken anecdotes, repressed sorrows, and the stories of peopled passed by. VERDICT Concise, clear, and blessed with common speech, these poems at their best fulfill William Carlos Williams’s precept “No idea but in things.” Ahmed is a promising poet who restores a sense of vivacity and freshness to our everyday experiences.—Sadiq Alkoriji, South Regional Lib., Broward Cty., FL
Gander, Forrest (text) & Raymond Meeks & others (photogs.). Core Samples from the World. New Directions, dist. by Norton. May 2011. c.96p. photogs. ISBN 9780811218870. pap. $15.95. POETRY
A foreigner with poetry as his passport, Pushcart/Whiting award winner Gander (Eye Against Eye) takes “core samples” of the cultures he finds on journeys to China, Mexico, Chile, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and presents them in a blend of poetry, haibun (a Japanese form of essay-poem), and photography (by a trio of others). “Did you know Bosnia is the only country without a McDonald’s?” a new friend in Sarajevo asks him; while in San Luis Potosí, another man points out Julieta, owner of “the most famous legs in Mexico,” since they were caught on video when tossed into the air by a renegade bull. In Beijing, Gander marvels at what “appears to be a casino boat on the lake,” ornate and beautiful, “carved from ocherous marble.” But not all is easygoing: “At dinner, the Santiago poet averts her face from the gringo…. A synecdoche, he is taken for his government…. With suspicion at the threshold of dialogue, there is always a word blocking the first word.” VERDICT This impressive compendium takes us to corners of the world well worth seeing, particularly through Gander’s eyes. Recommended for all readers of contemporary poetry.—Louis McKee, Painted Bride Arts Ctr., Philadelphia
Palmer, Michael. Thread. New Directions, dist. by Norton. May 2011. c.112p. ISBN 9780811219211. pap. $15.95. POETRY
The author of a body of work that spans 40 years and 20 volumes, experimental poetry pioneer Palmer (The Lion Bridge) here presents a new collection. A lifelong collaborator, Palmer has worked with both dancers and painters and has translated literature from the French and Spanish, and these varied experiences are plainly evident in his new book. Palmer’s keen ear and deft use of line breaks create tension reminiscent of how a choreographer might conceptualize movement and space in a performance. Although this is a collection of separate pieces, it is populated by several sequences of linked poems, which give the book interconnectedness and momentum while lending a sense of order to Palmer’s sometimes complex phrasing. A wide variety of influences, coupled with wry and playful humor, deflate the high seriousness that accompanies so much experimental literature, and this results in an approachable if still challenging work. VERDICT Palmer’s work is a perfect bridge for readers of traditional poetry who might like an introduction to more formally and aesthetically innovative work.—Chris Pusateri, Jefferson Cty P.L., Lakewood, CO
Smith, Tracy K. Life on Mars: Poems. Graywolf. May 2011. c.88p. ISBN 9781555975845. pap. $15. POETRY
Hypnotic and brimming with irony, the poems in Smith’s latest volume aren’t so much about outer space as the interior life and the search for the divine. The first poem sets the direction, asking, “Is God being or pure force? The wind/ Or what commands it?” and there are strong religious overtones throughout. Poems bear titles like “The Savior Machine,” “Sacrament,” and “The Soul,” and whether the poet is alluding to Arthur C. Clark’s 2001 or memorializing her father, the whole feels reminiscent of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Smith, a Cave Canem Poetry Prize winner for The Body’s Question, works mostly in free verse, with a few terza rima and several sonnets mixed in, and her poems are grounded in everyday experiences like eating or walking on a street or in the woods. This soon leads to dreamlike states of consciousness in which the dead communicate with the living. Smith channels the voice of her deceased father, her unborn child, or people in the news who send postcards to those who killed them. VERDICT The spiritual motif running through these poems adds a stunning dimension that will please many readers.—Diane Scharper, Towson Univ., MD
SPORTS & RECREATION
Derek Jeter: From the Pages of the New York Times. Abrams. 2011. 224p. photogs. index. ISBN 9780810996564. $29.95. SPORTS
This large-format book contains reprinted articles (many abridged) of New York Times coverage of Derek Jeter from 1992 (on his Yankee selection at age 17 in the amateur draft) through midseason 2010. The thematic arrangement prevents readers from tracking Jeter’s career in one chronology. There is no article index by date for those seeking the single chronological approach. Even Chapter 1, “The Rookie,” includes pieces written years after Jeter’s MLB debut. Next are chapters on “The Athlete,” “Seasons,” “Postseasons,” “Off the Field,” “The Team,” “Character of a Leader,” and “Legend,” plus three pages of Jeter’s statistics. Tyler Kepner (national baseball reporter, New York Times) presents a biographical introduction as well as briefer lead-ins to each chapter’s gathering of articles and color photos. The tone overall is admiring, with pieces driven by character and narrative rather than analysis or statistical interpretation. The impressive color photographs by an assortment of the paper’s pros include iconic action shots and off-the-field snaps. VERDICT Sure to be popular in public libraries for avid Jeter fans, young and old, whether or not in the Yankee metro area. As a personal purchase, its value is chiefly as a coffee-table book of visual Jeter treats. For a thoroughgoing biography, consider Ian O’Connor’s The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter.—Margaret Heilbrun, Library Journal
