Arts & Humanities Reviews, June 15, 2011
Jun 15, 2011ARTS
Fisher, Celia. Flowers of the Renaissance. Getty. 2011. 176p. illus. index. ISBN 9781606060629. $39.95. FINE ARTS
Fisher (The Medieval Flower Book) combines art history and botanical description to provide a fresh interpretation and floral reference for works of art from the 15th and 16th centuries. Included are not only northern and southern European Renaissance paintings, but illuminated manuscripts, tapestries, and a painted wedding chest. All the artwork is strewn with flora, and Fisher delves into the context of their social, economic, religious, and mythological themes. Book chapters concentrate on particular flowers, illustrating a reason for their symbolic depiction in the art. Some of the art will be familiar, e.g., Botticelli’s Primavera, with its “profusion of flowers signifying the rebirth of the year,” and the exquisite Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, featuring a symbolic virginal background of white columbines. The brief introduction explains the book’s scope, and the conclusion reminds us that art was also employed in the rediscovery of the natural world. VERDICT The book is well balanced, carefully compiled, well written, accessible, and divinely illustrated. Lacking only a bibliography, it has an appealing thesis and will be valuable as a reference source for students, curators, art historians, florists, and botanists.—Ellen Bates, New York
Kerr, Rose & Luisa E. Mengoni. Chinese Export Ceramics. V&A, dist. by Abrams. 2011. 144p. photogs. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781851776320. $50. DEC ARTS
London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has created from its extensive holdings a thoughtful and beautiful excursion through the export porcelains of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties. Seven chapters explain what type of ceramic ware was produced and how it traveled from the various kiln sites to the ultimate customers. The emphasis is on the trade between China and Europe, but there are also discussions of China’s trade with Southeast Asia and the Arab world. The writing is lively and nontechnical but authoritative, as one would expect from V&A curator Mengoni and former Keeper of the Far Eastern Department Kerr. Readers will be drawn into the complexities of the trade routes and the argument that this highly organized and technically advanced business mirrors the current China’s trade and the concern over trade imbalances. The quality of the photography is excellent. VERDICT Collectors of ceramics and artists taken with the decorative aspects of porcelain will be the target readership, but anyone interested in the history and economics of China’s relationship to the consumers of the world will find this book enjoyable.—David McClelland, Philadelphia
Masters: Book Arts; Major Works by Leading Artists. Lark: Sterling. Jun. 2011. 330p. photogs. index. ISBN 9781600594977. pap. $24.95. FINE ARTS
This volume, an entry in Lark’s “Masters” series, highlights artists working in the book arts. In some cases, such as the striking work of Harry and Sandra Liddell Reese, the traditional book arts—binding, layout, and typography—are in evidence in their expected form, but other pieces represented in the lavish and colorful illustrations also take the concept of what actually constitutes a book to interesting places. For instance, in work such as Margaret Couch Cogswell’s wire constructions, the line between book and sculpture is blurred. The book is a visual delight—a phrase that could also describe the guiding philosophy behind the work it showcases. It rewards repeated viewings, can be opened and enjoyed anywhere at random, and has something for everyone, including succinct information on the artists by curator Eileen Wallace, a bookbinder and printer. VERDICT A well-crafted, beautiful, and reasonably priced volume on an overlooked corner of the creative arts that anyone would find enjoyable and amusing.—Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY
Van Eyck to Dürer: The Influence of Early Netherlandish Painting on European Art, 1430–1530. Thames & Hudson, dist. by Norton. 2011. 552p. ed. by Till-Holger Borchert. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780500238837. $75. FINE ARTS
This lavishly illustrated (635 reproductions, 615 in color) publication edited by Borchert (chief curator, Groeninge Museum, Brugge, Belgium; Memling’s Portraits) explores the artistic relationship between the Low Countries and central Europe from 1430 to 1530. As the first systematic examination of the cultural dialog between the Burgundian Netherlands and its northern and eastern neighbors, it describes how preeminent Flemish and German masters, including Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Albrecht Dürer, and lesser-known artists inspired artistic developments across Europe. The book’s first part offers nine scholarly essays examining a variety of topics and themes, such as the reinvention of painting by the van Eyck brothers, early Netherlandish altarpieces, the first generation of European artists influenced by Netherlandish art, models of appropriation, how artists perceived themselves, drawing in Germany, the role of prints in the transmission of images, and prints as commodities. The catalog section features paintings by artists from 11 regions, including Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. It also showcases a selection of drawings, sculptures, illuminated manuscripts, and prints. VERDICT This beautifully presented, well-researched publication will be of special interest to students, scholars, and museum professionals.—Cheryl Ann Lajos, Free Lib. of Philadelphia
White, Alex W. The Elements of Graphic Design. 2d ed. Allworth. 2011. 224p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781581157628. pap. $29.95. GRAPHIC ARTS
The challenge of creating and arranging text and images just got more comprehensible with the revision of this work from veteran designer and teacher White (Thinking in Type: The Practical Philosophy of Typography). White sets out key concepts of space, unity, page architecture, and typography for the benefit of other designers, art directors, and students. The 750 illustrations include a wide selection of ads, logos, magazine covers, posters, as well as web pages, and the author reminds readers to follow human visual perception and to strive for elegance: “Successful designs describe the content fully and as simply as possible.” He offers a historical perspective, including time lines and thought-provoking quotations. White shows here that graphic designers use, rather than just fill, space. Some of the illustrations could have been enlarged to further the author’s points. VERDICT A clear introduction; recommended for anyone learning or reviewing graphic design.—David R. Conn, formerly with Surrey Libs., B.C.
LITERATURE
Daugherty, Tracy. Just One Catch: A Biography of Joseph Heller. St. Martin’s. Aug. 2011. c.560p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780312596859. $35. LIT
On the 50th anniversary of the publication of Catch-22, Daugherty (English & creative writing, Oregon State Univ.; Hiding Man: A Biography of Donald Barthelme) presents the first full-length biography of its author. He examines Heller’s life (1923–99) in the context of the places and events that shaped him, providing background about Coney Island, where Heller was raised, and the Apthorp apartment building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where he spent much of his adult life. Daugherty also discusses Heller’s responses to the political and cultural events of his era, including McCarthyism, the Vietnam War, the rise of neoconservatism, changing sexual mores, the growing influence of Madison Avenue, and changes in the publishing industry. The last third of the book, which deals with Heller’s life after his bout with Guillain-Barré syndrome, focuses more closely on his relationships with family and friends, including Speed Vogel, Mel Brooks, Christopher Buckley, and Valerie Humphries, a nurse who became his second wife. VERDICT Basing his research on interviews with Heller’s associates and children and Heller’s autobiography, Now and Then (1999), Daugherty paints a memorable portrait on a large canvas. The result will be as profitable for newcomers to Heller as for the well versed. Recommended.—William Gargan, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., CUNY
Kazin, Alfred. Alfred Kazin’s Journals. Yale Univ. 2011. c.632p. ed. by Richard M. Cook. illus. index. ISBN 9780300142037. $35. LIT
Kazin (1915–98), prominent literary critic and member of the New York Intellectuals, a coterie of writers and thinkers that included Mary McCarthy, Irving Howe, Lionel Trilling, Philip Rahv, and Saul Bellow, kept a journal for most of his life; his was a compulsive, private voice engaging with himself and the external world. This book represents only a fraction of the 7000 pages of his journal housed in the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library, yet it affords a full measure of the man. The first entry is dated May 14, 1933; the last, Mar. 18, 1998. Within this alpha and omega, Kazin records caf é and diner meetings with literary and intellectual mandarins (e.g., Trilling, Bellow, Harold Bloom, Arthur Miller, Hannah Arendt), articulates a lifelong preoccupation with Jewishness, proclaims political convictions ranging from the rise of Nazism to the Vietnam and Middle East conflicts, and unself-consciously comments on his marital and extramarital sex life. Editorial notes and background by Cook ( Alfred Kazin: A Biography ) are superb. VERDICT For a readership interested in American literary history and trenchant assessments of the New York Intellectuals from one of their own. —Lonnie Weatherby, McGill Univ. Lib., Montreal
McWhorter, John. What Language Is: And What It Isn’t and What It Could Be. Gotham: Penguin Group (USA). Aug. 2011. c.272p. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781592406258. $26. LANG
Which languages are more typical or normal—those offering huge vocabulary, others known for intricate grammar, or those with notable sounds or tones? To answer such questions, McWhorter (linguistics & Western civilization, Columbia Univ.; Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue) boldly offers general readers another taste of language study. This time he serves as tour guide to highlight five traits that language comprises, identified by the letters of the word IDIOM: “Ingrown,” “Disheveled,” “Intricate,” “Oral,” and “Mixed.” Each trait receives its own chapter, and McWhorter compares and contrasts as his main means of supporting his narrative. He revels in providing side-by-side examples of a particular linguistic feature from different languages, such as Pashto, Archi, Russian, Chinese, and Sinhalese. He presents a wealth of examples of English dialects when considering matters of grammar. These will fascinate, as will the similar development of two imperial languages, English and Persian. VERDICT Though casual readers may lose interest, the distinctive blend of detail, accessible tone, and solid research will appeal to language students of all kinds.—Marianne Orme, Des Plaines P.L., IL
Sankovitch, Nina. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading. Harper: HarperCollins. Jun. 2011. c.256p. ISBN 9780061999840. $23.99. LIT
“Pleasure on a schedule” is how Sankovitch describes the plan detailed in her memoir. A married, stay-at-home mom with four sons, she decided to create calm in her life by sitting down, sitting still, and reading an entire book each day and completing a journal with her reaction to each book. Sankovitch knew she could read 70 pages an hour; she selected books no more than one inch thick. Other self-imposed rules dictated that she not read more than one book by any author. Nor could she read any book she had previously read. The book’s title refers to Sankovitch’s favorite author and the old chair she sat in to read each day. Beginning the project on her 46th birthday, Sankovitch entwines her comments about her reading selections with family stories including her parents surviving World War II in Europe, her upbringing in a tight-knit family of five who loved books and reading, and finally, her sister’s death from bile-duct cancer. Sankovitch continues to write about her reading on her web site ReadAllDay.org as a way to encourage adults to read each day. VERDICT Sankovitch’s frequent comments about unwashed laundry and the repetitive stories of baking Christmas cookies with her step-daughter may try the reader, but these are minor when considering her accomplishment and the appeal of her memoir.—Joyce Sparrow, Kenneth City, FL
PERFORMING ARTS
Holbrook, Hal. Harold: The Boy Who Became Mark Twain. Farrar. Sept. 2011. c.480p. illus. ISBN 9780374281014. $30. THEATER
Like Mark Twain, the alter ego he portrayed on the stage, actor Holbrook (All the President’s Men; Into the Wild) has a knack for weaving delightful anecdotes with painful true stories. Covering the first 34 years of his long life, he focuses on how he came to portray Twain, a decision that forced him to assess his life, admit his mistakes, and accept consequences. He shares important lessons learned, such as endurance from military school and a strong work ethic from summers spent on his relatives’ farm. An unconventional Midwestern upbringing by his grandparents prepared him to take on the world as an individual and make his own success. Coming of age during World War II, Holbrook taught himself how to conform when the occasion called for it. By the time he was being hailed as a talented actor, he was still trying to come to terms with who he was as a person. VERDICT An insightful glimpse into Holbrook’s personal and professional life, retold with amazing detail and written with intelligence and raw humor.—Richard A. Dickey, Washington, DC
Jones, Georgette with Patsi Bale Cox. The Three of Us: Growing Up with Tammy and George. Atria: S. & S. Jul. 2011. c.296p. ISBN 9781439198575. $25. MUSIC
Growing up as the only child of George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Georgette Jones mingled with country music royalty even as she witnessed her mother’s physical and spiritual deterioration and endured her father’s lack of warmth and love. Tammy (Stand by Your Man, 1979) and George (I Lived To Tell It All, 1996) have told their own stories, and Georgette Jones’s sister, Jackie Daly, wrote Tammy Wynette: A Daughter Recalls Her Mother’s Tragic Life and Death in 2000; this memoir provides little new insight. As is typical of family memoirs, events pile up, and Jones reflects little on them. If there is more of Tammy than George in this often superficial book, it is only because Jones struggles mightily to understand the way her mother tried—and often failed—to achieve balance between her personal life and her very public music career. Jones learns from her mother’s death that it’s never too late to change, and she is now building a good relationship with her father. VERDICT In spite of its unreflective and cursory style, Jones’s book will most certainly appeal to fans of Tammy and George as well as to her own listeners. [Four-city tour; see Prepub Alert, 11/22/10.]—Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Evanston, IL
O’Sullivan, Sean. Mike Leigh. Univ. of Illinois. (Contemporary Film Directors). Aug. 2011. c.184p. photogs. filmog. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780252036385. $65; pap. ISBN 9780252078194. $22. FILM
British director Mike Leigh has gained a reputation for making films with memorable working-class characters and thus would superficially seem to be heir to directors of the gritty British “smokestack” films of the late 1950s and 1960s. Leigh’s films Life Is Sweet, Naked, Secrets & Lies, and Vera Drake present the “little” lives of lower-class protagonists who struggle for survival. Topsy-Turvy, the melody-filled story of Gilbert and Sullivan’s production of The Mikado, may appear to be an exception; however, O’Sullivan (English, Ohio State Univ.) convincingly postulates that all of Leigh’s movies are of a piece because of the relationships among characters, narrative devices, and visual design. VERDICT There is no shortage of books about this director, including the lengthy Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh and Mike Leigh: Interviews, but for knowledgeable filmgoers this is a useful examination of Leigh’s oeuvre from a film theorist’s point of view.—Roy Liebman, formerly with California State Univ., Los Angeles
Salamon, Julie. Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Aug. 2011. c.480p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781594202988. $29.95. THEATER
Salamon (Hospital: Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God, and Diversity on Steroids) richly details the life of Wendy Wasserstein (1950–2006) in this first authorized biography. In it are all the big names of New York theater from the 1960s–70s, but don’t read this book if it’s gossip you’re after. Read it because Wasserstein’s life was full of drama and because her characters just begin to approach the truth of her story, one that deserves its own dramatization (let’s start with how her Auntie Mame–type mother married her brother-in-law after the death of her husband). Certainly Wasserstein is important because she was the first woman playwright to win a Tony (later adding a Pulitzer Prize for The Heidi Chronicles to her accomplishments). But she was also the first playwright of her generation to give voice to women at a time when everything was changing. VERDICT You will laugh and you will, most assuredly, cry. Enthusiastically recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 1/31/11.]—Larry Schwartz, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Moorhead
Thompson, Dave. Dancing Barefoot: The Patti Smith Story. Chicago Review, dist. by IPG. Aug. 2011. c.320p. photogs. bibliog. ISBN 9781569763254. $24.95. MUSIC
Although Thompson (Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell: The Dangerous Glitter of David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed) interviewed a number of musicians and artists who have worked with poet and singer-songwriter Patti Smith over the years, he attempts to tell Smith’s story primarily in her own words. The book relies on previously published interviews, Smith’s Just Kids, and filmed interviews with and documentaries of Smith. Generally, this works well; however, the prose occasionally becomes stilted when too many attributions are worked into the text. While Thompson treats his subject sympathetically, he covers the good and bad, the successes and failures. Much to his credit, he avoids a tabloid-style exposé. VERDICT Readers looking for more examination of Smith’s songs, recordings, and poetry should look elsewhere, but Thompson does a commendable job of documenting her life. Smith fans might find this a good companion to Just Kids, as Thompson does not focus as heavily on Smith’s relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. It may also appeal to readers interested in American poetry and the development of punk rock in the 1970s. Recommended.—James E. Perone, Univ. of Mount Union, Alliance, OH
Wasson, Sam. Paul on Mazursky. Wesleyan Univ. (Wesleyan Film). Aug. 2011. c.344p. photogs. filmog. index. ISBN 9780819571434. $35. FILM
Along with Robert Altman, Paul Mazursky perhaps best represents the new counterculture spirit of 1970s filmmaking. Older than most other major directors of that period, Mazursky tried film acting, switched to screenwriting, then became a director when he felt dissatisfaction with another director’s work on his script for I Love You, Alice B. Toklas. Wasson (Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman) presents his series of conversations with Mazursky, whom he hails as a “great American humanist.” The author highlights Mazursky’s keen eye for social satire and his gift for capturing the moment, notably in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Wasson provides additional perspective via interviews with Mazursky’s colleagues and associates, particularly An Unmarried Woman star Jill Clayburgh. VERDICT With patience, humor, and insight, Mazursky describes his ups and downs in the movie business and gives his opinions on movie personalities like Shelley Winters, Woody Allen, and Marlon Brando. Recommended for anyone wanting to learn more about this unjustly neglected film figure.—Stephen F. Rees, formerly with Levittown Lib., Bucks Cty., PA
Weber, Katharine. The Memory of All That: George Gershwin, Kay Swift, and My Family’s Legacy of Infidelities. Crown. Jul. 2011. c.266p. ISBN 9780307395887. $24. MUSIC
Novelist Weber (True Confections) is the granddaughter of Broadway composer Kay Swift (1897–1993), who was married to banker James Warburg and had a romantic liaison with George Gershwin. Weber considers her family history to examine how the past affects the present. Much of the book concerns the author’s dysfunctional relationships with her father, Sidney Kaufman, and mother, Andrea Warburg. Along the way, Weber describes a host of eccentric characters, from Zero Mostel to Ezra Pound, and her discovery of the past through FBI files on her father. Of special interest is Weber’s account of Swift, whom she feels was unfairly accused (first by Warburg after their divorce) of an amoral Roaring Twenties sexual promiscuity. Gershwin, whose affair with Swift had repercussions in the author’s life, looms over her memories. The lack of faithfulness in family relations, sexual and otherwise, was a source of pain that Weber strove for years to overcome—apparently successfully. VERDICT A thoroughly engaging family memoir. Readers interested in George Gershwin or Kay Swift (consider also Vicki Ohl’s Fine and Dandy) will be particularly interested in this book. [See Prepub Alert, 1/17/11.]—Bruce R. Schueneman, Texas A&M Univ. Lib., Kingsville
POETRY
Armitage, Simon. Seeing Stars: Poems. Knopf. Aug. 2011. c.96p. ISBN 9780307594839. $25. POETRY
British poet Armitage (Forward Prize winner) sets up an absurd situation then tells a story about it. The resulting prose poems assume a pleasing energy brought on by the rush of language. Armitage pumps up his lines with figures of sound, synesthesia, and silliness, as well as the occasional metaphor. His latest collection concerns an alternate universe where clichés become the ideas that inspired them. These are cartoonlike poems that discuss phrases such as ??SPELL IT OUT,” or “I want some space.” One soon learns that very little makes sense in Armitage’s world. In the title poem, someone, hit over the head because his remarks are misinterpreted, literally travels to outer space and sees planets and stars. Another poem, “The Christening,” parodies this religious act in middle-school fashion and plays on the name “sperm whale.” One can almost visualize poems like “Knowing What We Know Now,” about the opportunity to grow younger, this one presented by an elf—probably one of the Rice Krispies triplets. VERDICT Playful, irreverent, and sometimes irrelevant, the poems can catch one up in their energetic whoosh of words.—Diane Scharper, Towson Univ., MD
Césaire, Aimé. Solar Throat Slashed: The Unexpurgated 1948 Edition. Wesleyan Univ. Jul. 2011. c.206p. tr. from French & ed. by A. James Arnold & Clayton Eshleman. ISBN 9780819570703. $26.95. POETRY
The key to the importance of the publication of this fourth volume of poetry by one of the founders of the black consciousness movement Négritude is the subtitle; it is the first time the complete original text appears in French since 1948 and the first time ever in English. The work represents the surrealist phase of Martinican Césaire’s career, in which he uses all the typical surrealist trappings: associative metaphor, automatic writing, anything-goes versification, juxtaposed religious and mythic imagery. Witness this example from “Intercessor”: “O torn sun/ blind peacock magical and cool/ with arched test tube hands/ futile eclipse of space.” The bilingual text offers an accurate verbatim translation of the French. A useful appendix provides poem-by-poem information, but readers will not find help interpreting the form or the sense of the poems. VERDICT Despite this publication’s historic significance, the imagery will be difficult for all but diehards and scholars, especially in light of the absence of scholarly apparatus. For some this collection will be no more than an outdated surrealist artifact, for others a reaffirmation of the importance of one of Césaire’s early works. Recommended for public and academic libraries.—Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC Lib., Dublin, OH
Johnston, Devin. Traveler. Farrar. Sept. 2011. c.80p. ISBN 9780374279332. $23. POETRY
In his fourth collection, Johnston (Sources) explores nature, travel, and the journey of being a new parent. The poems presented in foreign settings rely on natural details and vivid naming to nail down place: “Returning day, volcanic spilth of dawn,/ instantly overflows the Firth of Lorn.” Johnston often incorporates rhyme, including half rhyme, but unlike many who write more formally his lines never feel forced. In “Roget’s Thesaurus,” he displays a strong humanistic streak as he describes a prisoner circling the yard while paging through a guide to synonyms. Even in this bleak setting, the poet finds beauty: “filigree of chain link/ and a curl of concertina wire.” The poems with musical cascades of evocative sounds continually strike chords of optimism: “Wake up, wake up,/ a kettle yawns/ and coughs,/ slurring its copper bell.” A couple of short poems give descriptions only and seem to be mere padding. VERDICT Johnston’s strengths include a vibrant vocabulary, lines that soar, and an eagerness to record the quirkiness of the world in such lines as “From smoking haar to affluence to loch,/ the long hydraulic cycle never stops.”—Doris Lynch, Monroe Cty. P.L., Bloomington, IN
RELIGION
Bhattacharya, Sanjiv. Secrets & Wives: The Hidden World of Mormon Polygamy. Soft Skull. 2011. c.352p. ISBN 9781593764081. pap. $16.95. REL
Though fundamentalist Mormon polygamy is portrayed in a benign light on TV (e.g., Big Love), the reality is for the most part much grimmer. Journalist Bhattacharya investigated several Mormon sects who practice “the principle” (not allowed in the Latter-day Saints church) and interviewed dozens of current and past members to get both sides of the story. It’s not a pretty one. Clearly, he is more sympathetic to those who oppose polygamy; understandably because in many cases physical and sexual abuse, underage marriage, and incest are rampant. Some groups also display cultlike membership control methods and persecute members who have left. Interestingly, the author comes down on the side of legalizing polygamy, arguing that legalization would make it easier to prosecute abusers and open the practice to more “sunlight.” VERDICT As at a car wreck, readers may be drawn to look but nauseated by what they see. Nevertheless, this is a riveting read for both Bhattacharya’s wry and heartfelt style and the nature of the material. In a few places he has his facts wrong, but these are fairly minor. This journalistic account is appropriate for general and more serious readers with an interest in the subject.—David Azzolina, Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib., Philadelphia
Christian Peace and Nonviolence: A Documentary History. Orbis. Jun. 2011. c.368p. ed. by Michael G. Long. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781570759222. pap. $40. REL
Long (religious studies & peace & conflict studies, Elizabethtown Coll.) has created a crisply edited and inclusive collection that demonstrates the coherence and richness of nonviolence in the history of Christian thought. Taken together, the 116 examples of essays, scripture, and poetry convey a sense of aesthetic expression, moral clarity, and intellectual vitality that parallels the history of Christianity. Nonviolence is a concept explored here from the apology of the second-century theologian Tertullian through the Reformation leader Jakob Hutter and 20th-century pacifist A. J. Muste. The latter’s “Open Letter to Reinhold Niebuhr” recalls that the debate about nonviolence has been within both the Church and larger society. Less-known selections emerge, such as the 1813 essay of David Dodge, founder of the New York Peace Society. Well-known pacifist thinkers, for example, Lev Tolstoy, are well represented. Long’s notes about each author provide valuable context for his selections. VERDICT This volume will appeal not only to readers with an interest in nonviolence, but also to those studying theology and political thought.—Zachary T. Irwin, Pennsylvania State Univ.–Erie
Friedman, Richard Elliot & Shawna Dolansky. The Bible Now. Oxford Univ. Jun. 2011. c.272p. index. ISBN 9780195311631. $27.95. REL
Friedman (Jewish studies, Univ. of Georgia; Who Wrote the Bible?) and Dolansky (religious studies, Northeastern Univ.; Now You See It, Now You Don’t) bring the Bible to bear upon five contentious issues: homosexuality, abortion, the status of women, capital punishment, and environmentalism. They argue that understanding what the Bible says about such issues is important for believers and nonbelievers alike, but everyone must be sensitive to the literary, social, and historical contexts of the text. The authors restrict their interpretations to the Old Testament. Even so, they skillfully employ an impressive array of scholarly tools and insights, including literary criticism, archaeology, anthropology, and ancient languages. VERDICT This book will be readily accessible both to undergraduates and to general readers interested in either the current issues above or in biblical criticism. A fine example of careful scholarship, even if one may disagree with some of the authors’ specific conclusions.—James M. Wetherbee, Wingate Univ. Lib., NC
Manji, Irshad. Allah, Liberty, and Love: The Courage To Reconcile Faith and Freedom. Free Pr: S. & S. Jun. 2011. c.272p. ISBN 9781451645200. $26. REL
Author of The Trouble with Islam Today, a best seller that sparked an Emmy-nominated PBS documentary, Faith Without Fear, Manji is a courageous reformer within Islam whose pronouncements have met with death threats. Her crime, as further demonstrated in her energetic new book? She despises identity politics, rejecting a homogeneous Islam all practitioners must follow, arguing that much of what passes for Muslim culture today is in fact pre-Muslim tribalism, and boldly maintaining that “Allah loves me enough to give me choices and the liberty to make them.” She also boosts ijtihad, an Islamic tradition of dissenting, reasoning, and reinterpreting, sadly in abeyance today. She’s not easy on non-Muslims either, condemning timid relativism and calling out liberals who fail to call out illiberal Muslims. Her goal for us all: the exercise of moral courage, that is, “the willingness to speak truth to power within your community for the sake of a greater good.” VERDICT Tough-minded but not a polemic (Manji is too cheerful as she impeccably shreds some of the nasty emails she’s received, reprinted here), this book will make readers rethink Islam—or whatever religion they happen to practice. [For an interview with Manji, see Prepub Alert, bit.ly/jDn0FX.]—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
Schaeffer, Frank. Sex, Mom, & God: How the Bible’s Strange Take on Sex Led to Crazy Politics—and How I Learned To Love Women (and Jesus) Anyway. Da Capo. Jun. 2011. c.320p. photogs. index. ISBN 9780306819285. $26. REL
Schaeffer, public speaker, filmmaker, novelist, and former fundamentalist Christian, presents the third book in his “God Trilogy” (Crazy for God; Patience with God). His title refers to three topics that are very important to his thinking and intimately tied together. Schaeffer learned all about sex and God at his mother’s knee—unlike most parents, she explicitly told him on many occasions her feelings and ideas about both in great detail (including, for sex, the physical aspects). Schaeffer’s family believed the Bible to be God’s infallible word and true in every detail, so his mother used the sometimes lurid Bible stories to illustrate her beliefs and provide authority for her thinking. In each chapter Schaeffer dwells on a particular aspect of his mother’s thinking and uses it as a stepping-off point to discuss other experiences of his own life and work. There is no firm chronological order here, and the narration often skips around temporally, which may make it hard for some readers to keep straight. Crazy for God is an easier (strictly temporal) autobiography. VERDICT This is well worth reading, highly entertaining, and very informative about the recent history of American evangelicalism. It will appeal to readers interested in the world today, memoir, or religion.—James F. DeRoche, Alexandria, VA
SPORTS & RECREATION
Green, Shawn with Gordon McAlpine. The Way of Baseball: Finding Stillness at 95 MPH. S. & S. Jun. 2011. c.226p. illus. ISBN 9781439191194. $24. SPORTS
Green was a superb hitter who played from 1993 to 2007 with the Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks, and New York Mets. He made a major statement about his Jewish heritage by sitting out a key game on Sept. 26, 2001, because it fell on Yom Kippur, yet he never wanted to be pigeonholed as a Jewish star. This is an unusual baseball book. While he fully recounts famous events such as his record four-home-run game as a Dodger against the Milwaukee Brewers in 2002, he focuses more on how his forays into meditation and Asian philosophies changed him not just as a ballplayer but as a person (he learned to curb his ego and left the game at a relatively early age to become more of a family man). VERDICT Many readers will find this a charming, modest, almost folksy tale that is not overly weighed down by philosophic digressions. It helps to be a baseball fan to enjoy it. An easy read, this will make great summer beach reading. Readers wanting to delve more deeply into Asian philosophic influences on baseball will enjoy an older classic, Robert Whiting’s You Gotta Have Wa.—Paul Kaplan, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., IL
Van Natta, Don, Jr. Wonder Girl: The Magnificent Sporting Life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Little, Brown. Jun. 2011. c.405p. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780316056991. $27.99. SPORTS
Long before she took up golf, Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1911–56) had established her reputation in track and field, basketball, baseball, and bragging. Before the 1932 Olympics, she told a rival, “Ah’m gonna whup yo’ tomorrow,” and then did. A reporter’s dream, she parlayed her talent into a career in vaudeville and athletic exhibitions, before becoming a professional golfer. Journalist Van Natta (national correspondent, New York Times; First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers and Cheaters from Taft to Bush) has written the first biography of Zaharias for adults since Susan Cayleff’s Babe (1995). While there are no new startling revelations, this biography takes readers more intimately into Zaharias’s daily life, from her tomboy upbringing in Beaumont, TX, to her early death. Stricken with cancer, she approached her condition with unprecedented candor, spreading good cheer and even winning a golf tournament just months after surgery. VERDICT Bright and engaging, this biography brings Zaharias, her amazing accomplishments, and brash statements to life as no other book has. Fans and students of women’s history and sports history will savor it. (Photographs not seen.)—Kathy Ruffle, Coll. of New Caledonia Lib., Prince George, B.C.
MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE
Fawcett, Richard. The Architecture of the Scottish Medieval Church, 1100–1560. Yale Univ. (Paul Mellon Ctr. for Studies in British Art). 2011. 456p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780300170498. $100. ARCHITECTURE
Having spent most of his career as a monuments inspector and historian, Fawcett (art history, Univ. of St. Andrews, Scotland) is a well-informed and able guide to Scottish Romanesque, Gothic, late medieval, and reformation period ecclesiastical architecture. Superb descriptions of abbeys, priories, towers, parish and collegiate churches, and cathedrals are accompanied by 400 illustrations, including many full-page color photos. Of note is the longest section, on the 15th-century Scottish synthesis of continental European influences and sources, identified through comparing and interpreting architectural details and stylistic similarities in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. About 400 structures are examined, many of which survive only as fragmentary doorways, arcades, and partial walls. Fawcett also notes transformations and demolitions through the centuries and ends by urging scholars to take active steps to preserve the most important monuments. VERDICT This rigorously documented and comprehensive survey will attract medievalists of all stripes who research history, architecture, religion, and art. —Russell T. Clement, Northwestern Univ. Lib., Evanston, IL
Ó Carragáin, Tomás. Churches in Early Medieval Ireland: Architecture, Ritual and Memory. Yale Univ. (Paul Mellon Ctr. for Studies in British Art). 2011. 400p. illus. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780300154443. $100. ARCHITECTURE
Ó Carragáin (archaeology, University Coll. Cork) presents a thorough examination of church architecture in Ireland from the arrival of the “first teachers”—fifth-century missionaries who converted the Irish—to the 11th century. By examining sources on the original wooden churches, tracing development through drystone and into mortared stone, and relating structures to Roman architecture, biblical influence, and Merovingian and Carolingian styles of the mainland, the author shows that Irish medieval churches were part of the cultural milieu. He explores the role of ritual, social memory, patronage, and politics in the creation of churches and religious structures that tended toward the conservative and uniform. In spite of insights such as how the elite tended to create enduring views via architecture, something still common today, Ó Carragáin concludes by writing, “These buildings are a forceful reminder…that the early medieval past is a foreign country.” VERDICT This is a scholar’s treasure. Those in Irish, medieval, or architectural studies will relish the complete footnotes, bibliography, descriptive appendix of churches, and detailed research. —Nadine Dalton Speidel, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH
