Arts & Humanities Reviews, February 1, 2011
Feb 1, 2011ARTS
Bray, Elizabeth Irvine. Paul Flato: Jeweler to the Stars. Antique Collectors’ Club. 2010. 224p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781851496242. $85. FINE ARTS
In this beautifully illustrated and visually stunning biography, Bray, a former jewelry specialist with Christie’s auction house, focuses on the life and career of celebrity jeweler Paul Flato (d. 1999). Flato’s magnificent bejeweled creations are both distinctive and imaginative, utilizing natural and geometric avant-garde forms, as well as adding an occasional touch of whimsy. His jewels appeared in feature films at the height of Hollywood’s golden age (e.g., Holiday, 1938) and were captured in lavish publicity shots featuring legendary stars like Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and Katharine Hepburn, among others. Each chapter highlights a phase of Flato’s career, from his modest beginnings in Texas to his rise and fame in New York and Hollywood, to a life of less prominence in Mexico following financial ruin and incarceration in Sing Sing Prison. VERDICT Bray has compiled a wonderful tribute to the legacy of Flato and his creations with a thoughtful text that is intertwined with a myriad of glittering images, original drawings of creations, and lavish photography, including never-before-seen photographs from the Flato family archives. This glorious work is especially recommended to individuals interested in the history of modern jewelry, though it makes a lovely general coffee-table book, too.—Stephen Allan Patrick, East Tennessee State Univ. Lib., Johnson City
Chinese Ceramics: From the Paleolithic Period Through the Qing Dynasty. Yale Univ. (Culture and Civilization of China). 2010. 608p. ed. by Li Zhiyan & others. illus. maps. index. ISBN 9780300112788. $85. DEC ARTS
This is the first English-language study of the full range of Chinese ceramic history from the Stone Age to the 20th century that is based on solid archaeological evidence and illustrated with examples, which can be positively dated. There are shelves of books on specific aspects of Chinese ceramics, many of them drawing on nebulous concepts of connoisseurship relating to stylistic variation or details of decoration, but this volume, written by scholars from the People’s Republic of China as well as the United States and Japan, is firmly committed to evidence derived from datable tomb excavations and the investigation of the original kiln sites. Edited by Li Zhiyan (senior research fellow, National Museum of China), Virginia L. Bower (adjunct associate professor, Univ. of the Arts), and He Li (associate curator, Chinese art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco), the text corrects the attributions of various types of ware, which have been described only from private collections in China or museums in Japan and the West. The influence of geology on the location of kiln sites and the technical side of producing artistic ceramics are well handled. Chapters on export ware and the difficulty of detecting fakes add to the value of the nine sections chronicling the history of making pottery and porcelain. VERDICT This is essential for scholars and admirers of Chinese ceramics, the history of Asia, and art in general.—David McClelland, Philadelphia
Corwin, Sharon & others. American Modern: Documentary Photography by Abbott, Evans, and Bourke-White. Univ. of California. 2010. 198p. illus. index. ISBN 9780520265622. $39.95. PHOTOG
As the title reveals, this book profiles the holy trinity of American documentary photographers, a distinct group of artists who came to prominence in the 1930s. Documentary photographers are a sort of hybrid of press and portrait photographers, as they incorporate the former’s “f16 and be there” mentality for capturing exact moments and the creating-the-moment approach of the latter. The volume is divided into distinct sections profiling the artists individually. Each shooter’s profile begins with a scholarly essay—Terri Weissman (contemporary art history, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) on Berenice Abbott, Jessica May (Amon Carter Museum) on Walker Evans, and Corwin (art, Colby Coll.) on Margaret Bourke-White—accompanied by a modest selection of their work. The text is capped with a chronology of the trio’s lives. VERDICT If readers merely scan or even skip the essays, the pictures speak for themselves—loudly! Photography students as well as amateur shutterbugs and black-and-white enthusiasts will enjoy this.—Mike Rogers, Library Journal
Garcia, Erin C. Photography as Fiction. Getty. 2011. 112p. illus. ISBN 9781606060315. $24.95. PHOTOG
Culled from the J. Paul Getty Museum’s vast collections, the photographs collected here vividly showcase the practice of staging in fine art photography. The book is slight in size but big in breadth, providing examples from 1839 to the present. Among the 42 photographers represented in 76 color plates are Julia Margaret Cameron, Lewis Carroll, Man Ray, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, and Carrie Mae Weems. Garcia (former assistant curator, photography, Getty) writes a brief introductory essay that succinctly contextualizes the staging theme within the history of photography. She notes how early photographers sought to move beyond the perception of photography as document rather than artistic expression. Contemporary photographers have used staging to comment on the nature of personal identity or commercialism in society. VERDICT The limited text may not do justice to the broad scope of the subject, although Garcia provides suggestions for further reading. Serious photography scholars will require more, but for more casual fans of the theatrical in photography, this taste of the collections may be just enough.—Nancy B. Turner, Syracuse Univ. Lib., NY
Lacoste, Anne. Felice Beato: A Photographer on the Eastern Road. Getty. 2010. 208p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781606060353. $39.95. PHOTOG
Lacoste (assistant curator, photography, J. Paul Getty Museum) presents the first biographical and critical survey of the seminal career and works of Felice Beato (1832–1909), a major 19th-century photographer who is relatively unknown today. Born in Venice, Italy, Beato came of age in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul, in present-day Turkey), where he became apprenticed to his brother-in-law, the prominent Scottish photographer James Robertson. For over half a century, he traveled to and photographed countries like India, China, Japan, Korea, Sudan, and Burma, when they were being opened, many for the first time, to Westerners. Producing an exceptionally diverse oeuvre made up of more than 1000 pictures in a variety of genres including war photographs, topographic and architectural views, portraits, and studies of local life, Beato occupies a central place in photography’s early history. Sporting sidebars, foldout panoramas, reproductions of lithographs, caricatures, and many of the photographer’s hand-colored Japanese studies, this publication also includes 120 full-page plates and essays by Lacoste and academic Fred Ritchin (photography, New York Univ.). VERDICT This nicely presented and well-documented book will be of interest to students, scholars, museum professionals, and photography enthusiasts.—Cheryl Ann Lajos, Free Lib. of Philadelphia
Lu Peng. A History of Art in 20th-Century China. Charta, dist. by D.A.P. 2010. 1288p. photogs. index. ISBN 9788881587797. $180. FINE ARTS
It has been said that you can never have too much of a good thing. Even at nearly 1300 pages, this book epitomizes that quote. Lu Peng (art history & theory, China Acad. of Art, Hangzhou) addresses the complexity of issues affecting Chinese art but also brings forth the “history of the heart” of individual artists. He attempts a complete view of the period, including all the nuances that influenced the thousands of people represented. It is sweet and funny when he encourages “busy people” to skip the footnotes; most scholars will be pouring over them since so little has come from the mainland concerning artistic endeavors. A 1913 quote from artist Lu Xun reminds us that the term art was not even used in China before that time. The Chinese saw art as more a skill to be mastered than the idea of something beautiful. Beauty and skill are both evident here, thanks to a dedicated author who astounds with this seminal work. VERDICT Budget will largely dictate buying this, but scholars of art history and China will find it priceless.—Nadine Dalton Speidel, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH
McClelland, James. The Martinos: A Legacy of Art. Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission. 2010. 181p. ed. by Ted R. Walke. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780892711314. $59.95. FINE ARTS
The large, extended Italian American family is more often myth than reality, but this book depicts such a clan. These folks, however, are not involved with mayhem and murder, but with the arts. Although the Martino family is well known in Philadelphia, this is the first work that deals with their lives, art, and impact upon commercial design. McClelland (executive director emeritus, Philadelphia Arts Alliance) has traced the family from its late 19th-century arrival in America through the important role it played in shaping commercial art, including Campbell’s Soup and RCA Victor advertisements. A grand collection of the works is made personal through oral histories, which include memories, historical facts, and family legends. The brothers, their wives, and daughters all recorded local scenes, many of which are reflections of the styles of the period but also are a unique body of work if only for the artists’ familial bonds. VERDICT This should engross Philadelphia-area collectors and scholars of Italian American immigrant history and their contributions to the arts.—Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., NY
LITERATURE
Brown, Ellen F. & John Wiley, Jr. Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind: A Bestseller’s Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood. Taylor. Feb. 2011. c.360p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781589795679. $26.95. LIT
Any novice writer who aspires to pen a phenomenally successful novel will come away wide-eyed from this detailed and well-documented account of the creation, publication, and ongoing product management of Margaret Mitchell’s famous novel of the Civil War South, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. Freelance author Brown and Gone with the Wind collector Wiley take readers on the journey from Mitchell’s typewriter to Hollywood, showing how much care is required to maintain legal rights when it comes to publication, movie production, and merchandising, not to mention the 1930s price wars between drugstore book racks and traditional bookstores. The authors show the genesis of the novel itself, which Mitchell started as a way to fill time as she recuperated from an ankle injury. Once she completed the manuscript, prepublication interest grew. Before long, she found herself coping with fan mail and autograph seekers. The book concludes with current efforts by Mitchell’s estate to uphold the copyright, which expires in 2031. VERDICT This will appeal to all fans of the book or the film, as well as popular literary history buffs and writers.—Joyce Sparrow, Kenneth City, FL
Eco, Umberto. Confessions of a Young Novelist. Harvard Univ. (Richard Ellmann Lectures in Modern Literature). Apr. 2011. c.200p. index. ISBN 9780674058699. $18.95. LIT
Eco (semiotics, Univ. of Bologna; Foucault’s Pendulum) delivered Emory University’s Richard Ellmann Lectures in Modern Literature in 2008; his talks were written and presented in English, like much of his writing, and are almost a pun, for Eco didn’t publish his first novel, The Name of the Rose, until he was 48. In the first three essays/lectures here, Eco addresses interesting questions: what is the boundary between fiction and nonfiction? How do novelists put together books? Why do we care about wholly fictional characters like Anna Karenina or Emma Bovary? His answer to the second question—on constructing a novel—is that he builds his novels by scrupulous attention to physical detail. The fourth essay, “My Lists,” original to this collection, was not a lecture. It seems a throwaway but reflects Eco’s pleasure in the detailed, serial listing of names as attempts to exhaust the plenitude of qualities and quiddities potentially attributable to any single object, as Eco fans may remember from his recent The Infinity of Lists: An Illustrated Essay, with Alastair McEwen. VERDICT As always, Eco is diverting to read. Recommended as a valuable introduction to how an important writer produces his fiction.—David Keymer, Modesto, CA
Greene, Robert Lane. You Are What You Speak: Grammar Grouches, Language Laws, and the Politics of Identity. Delacorte. Mar. 2011. c.336p. index. ISBN 9780553807875. $25. LANG
In the parade of books offering guidance on writing, journalist Greene (international correspondent, the Economist) marches against the traffic. He tackles touchy questions, ultimately asking “Who has the most power to shape language, namely the linguist, politician, celebrity, teacher or parent?” Drawing on his own training in politics, sociology, and nine languages, Greene presents abundant examples of “language police” efforts, consistently demonstrating political and economic motivations. He packages all of this into eight chapters of accessible prose, complete with notes sections. For example, he examines U.S. immigrant assimilation experiences, including Spanish-language retention among Latino immigrants. The 20th-century renewal and revisions of the Turkish, Hebrew, Greek, and Irish languages are also highlighted. Greene boldly considers the cost to individuals unable to communicate with grandparents versus the benefits of being able to communicate in a complex, global economy. VERDICT This is a detailed read, recommended for serious language students, both matriculated and otherwise, who may also enjoy Guy Deutscher’s cultural study, Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages.—Marianne Orme, Des Plaines P.L., IL
Saramago, José. Small Memories. Houghton Harcourt. May 2011. c.192p. tr. from Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa. photogs. ISBN 9780151015085. $22. LIT
With beautifully crafted language and imagery (conveyed here in Costa’s translation), the late Nobel Prize winner Saramago (1922–2010) writes of his formative years in Lisbon and offers a bittersweet tribute to Azinhaga, the small Portuguese town where he was born and spent summers with his grandparents. Saramago’s village grew upon an ancient Roman path—the author discovered its pavestones while driving pigs to market. Hot and dusty in summer, flooded by rivers in winter, Azinhaga, nevertheless, was his Ithaca. “I knew without knowing I did...that I would one day return to Azinhaga to finish being born.” He takes readers back with him as he portrays family, friends, and neighbors with a primal eye. Other delights are his exquisite descriptions of the landscapes of Azinhaga, especially the olive groves and rivers, and he includes one of his first poems, dedicated to the beloved Rio Almonda, which flows into the grander Tejo (Tagus) from Spain. VERDICT Though a bit disjointed (as memories often are), Small Memories is a misnomer, for Saramago’s reflections invite deep—not small—philosophical speculation. Recommended for those who love the beauty of Saramago’s finely translated prose and to all who love to travel via the written word. [See Prepub Alert, 11/15/10.]—Nedra Crowe-Evers, Sonoma Cty. Lib., Santa Rosa, CA
Silverberg, Robert. Musings and Meditations: Reflections on Science Fiction, Science, and Other Matters. Nonstop Pr. Feb. 2011. c.344p. index. ISBN 9781933065205. pap. $18.95. LIT
In an earlier collection of essays, Reflections and Refractions: Thoughts on Science Fiction, Science, and Other Matters, science fiction novelist and popular science writer Silverberg collected many of his magazine pieces from 1973 through 1996. This collection picks up where he left off, with over 75 essays, most of which originally appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine, covering a broad variety of topics. Winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, Silverberg writes essays that are innovative and thought-provoking, taking his readers on a gratifying journey into the “real golden age” of science fiction and through both historical events such as the discovery of the archaic Antikythera Computer and on to ruminations on the future, e.g., when copper and zinc become extinct elements. Silverberg aims to draw his readers into serious consideration of the matters he discusses, and he succeeds while presenting effective inspiration for writers and literary scholars with his frank and illuminating discussion of writing, storytelling, and science fiction writers who came before. VERDICT Writers, science fiction fans, and readers who enjoy insightful, even controversial writing will find this collection invaluable.—Jennifer Harris, Mercyhurst Coll. Lib., Erie, PA
Styron, Alexandra. Reading My Father: A Memoir. Scribner. Apr. 2011. c.304p. photogs. ISBN 9781416591795. $25. LIT
Styron, who previously published the novel All the Finest Girls, has now written an intelligent and compelling memoir about her father, novelist William Styron (The Confessions of Nat Turner; Sophie’s Choice). She portrays him as a brilliant, alcoholic, and difficult man, who was also loving, generous, and charming. She writes almost poetically about her love for him and his “flaws and failures,” as well as his professional successes and triumphs. Alternating between past and present, stories of her own and her siblings’ often bittersweet interactions with him, and his turbulent marriage to her mother, Rose, as well as his writing, friendships, bouts of debilitating depression, and his death, her book will make many readers eager to read or revisit William Styron’s novels with a more intimate awareness of the man behind the works. The author admits that she got to understand her father more deeply in undertaking research for this book in Styron’s papers at Duke University; hence her book’s title. VERDICT Highly recommended for William Styron devotees and all who enjoy literary memoir and biographies. [See Prepub Alert, 10/25/10.]—Sharon Britton, Bowling Green State Univ. Lib., Huron, OH
PERFORMING ARTS
Chandler, Charlotte. Marlene: Marlene Dietrich, a Personal Biography. S. & S. Mar. 2011. c.320p. photogs. filmog. index. ISBN 9781439188354. $26. FILM
Drawing on original interviews she conducted with Marlene Dietrich and others, Chandler (author of many “personal biographies,” on, e.g., Mae West, Ingrid Bergman, and Alfred Hitchcock) mixes the screen icon’s personal reminiscences with impressions from those who knew her, including Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Chandler follows Dietrich’s career trajectory chronologically, with a basic synopsis of and reflections on each of Dietrich’s films. Although Dietrich remains one of the great faces of Hollywood, her life and career as relayed here are not riveting. She is presented as an enigma, which is how she seems to have wanted it. VERDICT The information Chandler provides on Dietrich’s career before her breakout role in The Blue Angel is of interest, but little else sets this book apart from other Dietrich biographies, e.g., Donald Spoto’s Blue Angel: The Life of Marlene Dietrich and her daughter Maria Riva’s Marlene Dietrich. Any of these three would suffice.—Barb Kundanis, Longmont P.L., CO
Greenberg, Robert. How To Listen to Great Music: A Guide to Its History, Culture, and Heart. Plume: Penguin Group (USA). Apr. 2011. c.352p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780452297081. pap. $15. MUSIC
This latest offering from the Teaching Company, an instructional audio and DVD manufacturer, is an informative and entertaining survey of Western classical music from around 1600 to 1900. Greenberg, who has taught in many Teaching Company music DVDs, approaches his topic with both expertise and humor, including chatty biographies, basic music theory, and listening recommendations to put readers at ease and motivate them to explore. His scholarship relies on standard sources and is for the most part above reproach, although he tends to overstate the importance of some of his favorite composers and their works. Greenberg does include three seminal 20th-century composers—Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, and Arnold Schoenberg—but he would have been wise to extend the discussion further into the modern age or into locations such as the United States, Scandinavia, or the Czech/Bohemian area. The glossary, list of music discussed, and brief bibliography primarily of textbooks are useful. VERDICT Accomplishing its purpose to serve a nonacademic audience, Greenberg’s book should have wide appeal. Specialists and music libraries ought to supplement it with more rigorous titles.—Barry Zaslow, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH
Kaufman, Will. Woody Guthrie, American Radical. Univ. of Illinois. (Music in American Life). Apr. 2011. c.264p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780252036026. $29.95. MUSIC
Although Joe Klein’s Woody Guthrie and Ed Cray’s Ramblin’ Man capture Woody Guthrie’s freewheeling personality and his empathy for the poor and downtrodden, Kaufman (American literature & culture, Univ. of Central Lancashire, UK; American Culture in the 1970s) is the first to portray in detail Guthrie’s commitment to political radicalism, especially communism. Drawing on previously unseen letters, song lyrics, essays, and interviews with family and friends, Kaufman traces Guthrie’s involvement in the workers’ movement and his development of protest songs. He portrays Guthrie as a committed and flawed human immersed in political complexity and harrowing personal struggle. VERDICT Since most of the stories in Kaufman’s appreciative portrait will be familiar to readers interested in Guthrie, it is best for those who know little about the singer to read first his autobiography, Bound for Glory, or as a next read after American Radical. Recent titles with similar appeal, Dorian Lynskey’s 33 Revolutions per Minute: A History of Protest Songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day and John Szwed’s Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World, may attract a broader audience.—Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Evanston, IL
Palin, Michael. Halfway to Hollywood: Diaries, 1980–1988. Thomas Dunne: St. Martin’s. Mar. 2011. c.680p. illus. index. ISBN 9780312682026. $32.50. FILM
In this second volume of diaries, actor and Monty Python alumnus Palin (Diaries, 1969–1979: The Python Years) continues the witty, highly observant, and piquant chronicle of his life. During this period, the Pythons gathered one final time to film Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983), and Palin spent much of the rest of the 1980s writing screenplays and acting in such films as Brazil (1985) and A Fish Called Wanda (1988). Palin has a novelist’s eye for character and detail, and his observations of the entertainment world, filmmaking, his family relationships, and such external details as politics, current events, travel, and the weather are written with style and a distinctly subtle wit that gives this rich volume the drive of an epistolary novel. VERDICT These voluminous and copious diaries may be too detailed for a large general readership, but Monty Python and Palin fans will find them indispensable, and those with an especially Anglocentric taste in the arts and culture will be deeply rewarded.—Jim Collins, Morristown-Morris Twp. Lib., NJ
Schickel, Richard. Conversations with Scorsese. Knopf. Mar. 2011. c.448p. photogs. filmog. index. ISBN 9780307268402. $30. FILM
A veritable library of criticism and collected interviews has been published on Martin Scorsese in the last ten years, but none remotely as valuable as this entry. A renowned film critic and documentary filmmaker, Schickel (Elia Kazan: A Biography) began this series of conversations with Scorsese in 2004, and the combination of his insightful questions and Scorsese’s rapid-fire patter and stream-of-consciousness style makes this an educational and entertaining read. The interviews cover not only Scorsese’s films but also film in general, and both men’s excitement and admiration for the art and history of filmmaking fills every page. This is no shallow series of how and why questions but a true conversation about art and how one individual has endeavored to create it. The book concludes with the section “The Onrush of Time,” in which Schickel and Scorsese discuss what’s next for the director; readers will be left simply wanting more. VERDICT Perhaps the definitive piece of self-commentary that will ever be produced about the work of Scorsese; required for all libraries.—Peter Thornell, Hingham P.L., MA
Shelley, Peter. Frances Farmer: The Life and Films of a Troubled Star. McFarland. Mar. 2011. c.260p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780786447459. pap. $38. FILM
Beautiful and talented, actress Frances Farmer is best remembered for the horrific backstory of alcoholism, mental illness, and a lengthy stay in a sanitarium, marked by lurid tales of the filthy conditions and rumors of a lobotomy. Considering this a case of a “beautiful woman sabotaged,” Shelley, a library assistant and playwright in Australia, reviews Farmer’s conflicts with the studios, controversial left-wing associations, arrests, relationships with her domineering mother and onetime lover playwright Clifford Odets, and, after her breakdown, a measure of stability but only limited professional success. Much of this material is familiar. The book’s best-executed section considers Farmer’s image in the popular media, notably the 1982 Jessica Lange film, Frances, and Farmer’s famous 1958 appearance on the TV show This Is Your Life. VERDICT Rather than an in-depth and insightful biography, this is a brief, just-the-facts rehash of Farmer’s life plus lengthy descriptions of Farmer’s mostly inconsequential 1930s–40s films. Dedicated readers may wish to consult this along with Farmer’s possibly ghostwritten autobiography, Will There Really Be a Morning?, but this subject deserves a more penetrating study.—Stephen Rees, formerly with Levittown Regional Lib., PA
PHILOSOPHY
Dreyfus, Hubert & Sean Dorrance Kelly. All Things Shining: Reading the Western Classics To Find Meaning in a Secular Age. Free Pr: S. & S. 2011. c.288p. index. ISBN 9781416596158. $26. PHIL
Dreyfus and Kelly (philosophy, Univ. of California, Berkeley, and Harvard Univ., respectively) explore the history of Western literature and philosophy with the aim of exposing how the ancients were able to mine meaning from such pieces while contemporary Westerners are so overwhelmed by choices that they have become blind to the elevating qualities that reflection can provide. Writing in a style that is straightforward and readily accessible to general readers, the authors consistently provide their audience with both reason and model for reengaging wonder at intellectual wonder itself. As they unwind Western intellectual history from Homer, Aristotle, and Augustine to Kant, John Foster Wallace, and beyond, they point to the mechanism by which one generation or era posits meaning on its literary tradition and how that “new idea” suppresses earlier visions of enlightenment. Thus, by the new emerging, the older ideas and ideals necessarily become different from what they were in their own time of mergence. VERDICT Successful in every way: as a clear-eyed history and as a call to move from bloodless analysis to a return to ancient wonder; recommended.—Francisca Goldsmith, Infopeople Project, Berkeley, CA
POETRY
Flynn, Nick. The Captain Asks for a Show of Hands: Poems. Graywolf. Feb. 2011. c.104p. ISBN 9781555975746. $22. POETRY
In his third collection (after Some Ether), poet and memoirist Flynn succeeds at the nearly impossible task of writing political poetry about current events. In homage to Walt Whitman, another wartime poet, many poems address an unseen captain, “capt’n this morning six were found hanging/ in a room made completely of air.” The poems are many-layered: themes of air, water, earth, and fire appear throughout the collection, as do specific lines. Flynn offers intriguing narratives, too: one tells of a latchkey boy who either sets his house or a young girl on fire after school one day. Or perhaps both: “the boy stood in the hot-hot room/ stammering I did stammering, I did stammering… /everything you say I did/ I did.” In the series about Abu Ghraib, the writing becomes disconnected and occasionally difficult to follow: “My eyesight is years/ See up yes did this.” But voice remains paramount and compelling as in this love poem: “let’s hold each other/ ceaselessly/ your bed a box cut out of the sky.” VERDICT A finely crafted collection that gives testimony to moral outrage and celebrates being human; not to be missed. [See Prepub Alert, 11/1/10.]—Doris Lynch, Monroe Cty. P.L., Bloomington, IN
Howe, Susan. That This. New Directions, dist. by Norton. 2010. c.112p. photogs. ISBN 9780811219181. pap. $15.95. POETRY
Death is one of the preeminent subjects of poetry, and Howe (A Europe of Trusts) approaches this topic with the gravitas of one who has endured loss. Her newest volume deals chiefly with the death of her husband, Peter Hare. The book juxtaposes Howe’s personal recollections with excerpts from an assortment of documents, ranging from 18th-century diaries to an array of half-decayed ephemera, such as bits of Poussin prints and fragments of linguistic sculpture. Most interesting is the way in which Howe historicizes her husband as a strategy for compartmentalizing the often-painful memory of him. In short, Howe makes him part of her inner life by transforming him into text. Thus changed, Hare now becomes a different kind of presence—one whose status is illustrated by the book’s title, as it reminds us of the disparity between that which is here (This) and that which is elsewhere (That). VERDICT An intelligent and unorthodox treatment of grief, this title will appeal to poetry and visual arts enthusiasts.—Chris Pusateri, Jefferson Cty. P.L., Lakewood, CO
Iqbal, Allama Muhammad & others. Modern Poetry of Pakistan. Dalkey Archive. Feb. 2011. c.344p. ed. by Iftikhar Arif. translations ed. by Waqas Khwaja. ISBN 9781564786050. pap. $16.95. POETRY
This much-needed anthology of modern Pakistani poetry, the first to appear in English, takes readers beyond the facade of politics, religious complexity, and social disarray to capture the real voice of people aiming to create meaning and coherence. Pakistani poetry is deeply rooted in the peace-loving Sufi tradition, evident in many gentle lyrical poems, while drawing on the history of social discontent echoed by many protest poems. Sharp voices defy the corrupt powers, whether religious or political, that try to expropriate the people’s suffering for an absolutist brand of ethics. The poems—142 in total translated from seven major languages—show Eastern influences, especially the sensuous poetry of authors like Persian poet Omar Khayyam, as well as Western ones, seen in the range of romantic, symbolic, and particularly modernistic works offered here; T.S. Eliot’s depiction of modern alienation is especially apt. The book presents a mosaic of poetic voices weaving together themes such as love, homeland, justice, and life-treasured values: “Speak, mullah, speak!/ Life is beauty that spreads—/ or is it beauty that vanishes?/ Music that laments its own demise/ or a flaming fire?” VERDICT This collection is a vivid exploration of life in a place so diverse and rich, and yet we know little about its literature and poetry; recommended for all poetry readers.—Sadiq Alkoriji, South Regional Lib., Broward Cty., FL
Komunyakaa, Yusef. The Chameleon Couch: Poems. Farrar. Apr. 2011. c.128p. ISBN 9780374120382. $24. POETRY
“I am a black man, a poet, a bohemian,/ & there isn’t a road my mind doesn’t travel.” Komunyakaa sounds a lot like Whitman. His poetry is personal, full of wonder, love, and drama. “I am a scrappy old lion,” he tells us. More to the point, though, he is “the son of poor Mildred & illiterate J.W.,” and his stories and themes will resonate with anyone who has loved, hurt, and watched as the world around him has taken bloom, gone gray, then burst into color again. With a feel for urban rhythms and an eye for pastoral beauty, in poems that walk us through New York City, Poland, Italy, Ghana, and elsewhere, Komunyakaa is a seeker. He finds more questions than answers, perhaps, but often enough with a bit of wisdom, and all the time it is bluesmen and jazzmen charting his way. VERDICT This is an important volume by one of the more important poets of our day, and therefore essential for lovers of the genre.—Louis McKee, Painted Bride Arts Ctr., Philadelphia
Phillips, Carl. Double Shadow: Poems. Farrar. Mar. 2011. c.64p. ISBN 9780374141578. $23. POETRY
“There’s an art/ to everything. Even/ turning away. How/ eventually even hunger/ can become a space/ to live in.” Phillips’s latest volume (after 2009’s Speak Low) examines the double shadows (the shadow under/behind the shadow) that existence casts on human lives. His poems seem to live inside these shadows, casting their own kinds of light through layers of darkness. His lyrical lines meander, sometimes for stanzas, and they aren’t always clear or understandable until they’ve gone by. Yet the reader is left with silhouettes of images that disturb and startle, like the field that “divides prayer from/ absolute defeat,” like “snow caught/ flying over open water from a fast-moving train,” like the deadly but elegant hawk’s flight. Motion and stillness, wickedness and joy, love and a way of loving, gratitude and regret: doubling haunts this volume. “What if, between this one and the one/ we hoped for, there is a third life, taking its own/ slow dreamlike hold, even now—blooming, in spite of us?” VERDICT Highly recommended for readers of contemporary poetry.—Karla Huston, Wisconsin Acad. of Science, Arts & Letters, Madison
Young, Kevin. Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels. Knopf. Feb. 2011. c.256p. illus. maps. ISBN 9780307267641. $27.95. POETRY
Suffering, salvation, hope, despair: these motifs come alive in National Book Award finalist Young’s latest collection, which chronicles the slave mutiny aboard the schooner Amistad in 1839. This three-part book focuses on the 53 Africans who rebelled against their would-be slave owners. Young expertly blends cultural and social history as well as religion to dramatize the lives of the rebels. His evocative use of language—punctuated with stunning metaphors—keeps the historical context clear while moving the gripping true story forward. The Africans planned to return home to Sierra Leone, but when their ship was secretly rerouted, they found themselves in a Connecticut prison with only a group of misguided abolitionists to help them. Young fuses the broken English of the captives with allusions to Scripture, Roman Catholic prayers, and rituals, as well as references to school subjects like reading, writing, and arithmetic. VERDICT Writing in blues rhythms, Young achieves a hypnotic effect with repetition, puns, shifts in syntax, ellipsis, and use of the vernacular. Ultimately, his retelling becomes an eloquent examination of slavery as it’s felt in the human soul. Highly recommended. —Diane Scharper, Towson Univ., MD
RELIGION
Ehrman, Bart D. Forged: Writing in the Name of God—Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are. HarperOne: HarperCollins. Apr. 2011. c.320p. index. ISBN 9780062012616. $25.99. REL
Ehrman (religious studies, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Misquoting Jesus) provides evidence here that the ancient world, in fact, generally condemned forgeries as much as the modern world does. He then goes on to discuss works that were wrongly claimed to have been written by Peter or by Paul as well as other forgeries, including some in the last two centuries. He distinguishes between the use of a pen name to hide the writer’s identity and a forgery that claims to be the work of someone else. Most of the forgeries Ehrman discusses served Christian anti-Jewish propaganda, although some were antipagan, while the so-called Gospel of Nicodemus was an attempt to correct the very anti-Christian Acts of Pilate. Ehrman uses other forgeries as well to support his conclusion that “Christians intent on establishing what was right to believe did so by telling lies.” VERDICT Ehrman reveals for ordinary readers what most mainstream biblical scholars accept, but he then attributes motives to the writers, which are more speculative, ending his book with a discussion of a few justifiable lies or forgeries and those not justified (all the rest). Recommended for sophisticated readers who will come to their own conclusions about Ehrman’s opinions.—Carolyn M. Craft, emerita, Longwood Univ., Farmville, VA
Harrell, Daniel M. How To Be Perfect. FaithWords. 2011. c.240p. bibliog. ISBN 9780446557177. $19.99. REL
The book of Leviticus is foreign to most churchgoers, and even pastors seem to avoid it. At Boston’s Park Street Church, where he was a longtime minister, Harrell felt prompted by A.J. Jacobs’s The Year of Living Biblically to recruit congregants to “live” out Leviticus with him for a month while sharing their experiences with the church directly and via Facebook. This resulting book combines Harrell’s pastoral thoughts on Leviticus, his narrative of the experience, and first-person testimonies and feedback from the 18 church members. The combination results in an interesting and readable account of the attempts and failures to transfer the details and principles of Old Testament law to 21st-century Christianity. Purists will cringe at some of the adaptations involved, while most readers will identify with the struggles of the participants. A major theme throughout is that God’s grace can be seen within Leviticus rather than in contrast to it. VERDICT General readers familiar with biblical themes will enjoy this book and may be challenged to reread Leviticus in a new light. Comparable to Ed Dobson’s The Year of Living Like Jesus, this is recommended.—Ray Arnett, Fremont Area Dist. Lib., MI
Mann, A.T. (text) & Lynn Davis (photogs.). Sacred Landscapes: The Threshold Between Worlds. Sterling. 2010. 256p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781402765209. $35. REL
This meditative offering by popular spiritualist Mann (Sacred Architecture, Sacred Sexuality) is steeped in Eastern religions, animism, and mysticism, with chapters such as “Ascending the Sacred Mountain,” “Flow,” and “Being and Nothingness.” Evocations of nature’s mysteries and the sacral are tied to signature duotone images of 57 sites located in 30 countries by outdoor photographer Davis (Monument; American Monument) that date to the 1980s. Mann’s eloquent explorations of sacred places are well matched to Davis’s minimalist imagery, controlled lighting, and spare compositions. Contemplative solitude dominates page after page of desert landscapes and sculpted dunes, waterfalls, groves, icebergs, raked gravel, pyramids, mosques, prayer flags, and ancient temples. VERDICT Guaranteed rapture for contemplative minds and adherents of Eastern religions; photography devotees will appreciate what amounts to a retrospective of Davis’s stunning nature images.—Russell T. Clement, Northwestern Univ. Lib., Evanston, IL
Norton, David. The King James Bible: A Short History from Tyndale to Today. Cambridge Univ. Feb. 2011. c.218p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780521616881. pap. $24.99. REL
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible. In recognition of this, Norton (English, Victoria Univ. of Wellington, New Zealand; A History of the Bible as Literature) gives us a new history of that translation, which was undertaken from 1604 to its publication in 1611. While several other books on this topic have been published in recent years, Norton’s is distinctive in its scholarly emphasis on the history of the translation itself rather than primarily on the translators or other historical figures associated with its history. Norton spends the early part of the book addressing the long history of translation leading up to the King James Version (KJV). He then deals with this particular translation process and the history of the translation’s reception over the subsequent centuries. Readers will be struck particularly by the long, painstaking effort involved in the creation of this translation. VERDICT Those with an interest in church history and in the King James Bible, as well as specialists in the subject of biblical translation generally, will find this book very informative and helpful.—John Jaeger, Dallas Baptist Univ. Lib., TX
Raphael, Marc Lee. The Synagogue in America: A Short History. New York Univ. Apr. 2011. c.225p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780814775820. $30. REL
In this brief yet detailed account, Raphael (religious studies, Coll. of William & Mary; Judaism in America) demonstrates how the evolution of the synagogue in America created a distinctly American Judaism. The majority of the book, which is arranged chronologically, focuses on the years from the 19th century to the present, the period of the most drastic changes in American synagogues, as well as in American Judaism in general. Raphael provides only a cursory treatment of the synagogue in Colonial America and nearly no background on synagogues in Europe before the colonization of the United States. A more detailed look at these two topics would have provided readers with a better background to understand the changes taking place in the centuries that followed. Raphael occasionally addresses the driving sociological forces behind this evolution, although they are often implied rather than fully discussed. Given all these circumstances, this book is best paired with a narrative social history of American Judaism. VERDICT A useful and concise scholarly treatise, which neatly interweaves the facts of the evolution of the American synagogue but is, ultimately, not contextualized enough to be an engaging read.—Amanda Folk, Univ. of Pittsburgh Lib., Greensburg
Walker, Peter. The Lion Guide to the Bible. Lion. 2011. 320p. illus. maps. index. ISBN 9780745952925. $29.95. REL
Walker (New Testament & biblical theology, Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, UK; Jesus and His World) offers here what he refers to as a “first things first” companion to the Bible. Through introductions, maps, and rich illustrations—ranging from archaeological finds to aerial photographs—he seeks to provide readers with a vivid glimpse into the biblical world. Unfortunately, the most substantial glimpses are afforded by the glossy photos. Walker, whose first book, Holy City Holy Places?: Christian Attitudes to Jerusalem and the Holy Land in the 4th Century, is certainly worth reading, spends a great deal of time summarizing the books of the Bible, but provides little context for genuine understanding. Not only does he avoid critical discussions of historical and textual concerns, providing less crucial information than most annotated Bibles, but he also does his readers a disservice by denying them the notes and bibliographical information for the studies on which his work is built. Those intrigued by this introductory glimpse are left with little idea where to go next. VERDICT Readers wishing to embark on an illustrated introduction to the Bible would be better served by National Geographic’s The Biblical World: An Illustrated Atlas, which is superior on all counts.—Matthew Connor Sullivan, Hallowell, ME
Wuerl, Donald & Mike Aquilina. The Mass: The Glory, the Mystery, the Tradition. Doubleday. Feb. 2011. c.224p. photogs. bibliog. ISBN 9780307718808. $21.99. REL
Beginning with an explanation of the development of the Mass through history, Cardinal Wuerl (Archbishop of Washington, DC; The Catholic Way: Faith for Living Today) and Aquilina (Eternal Word Television Network personality; Angels of God: The Bible, the Church and the Heavenly Hosts) go through the text of the Mass step-by-step, from the sign of the cross to the ending amen, explaining the meaning behind the words and the gestures, taking special care to explain the changes coming in 2011. Directed primarily at Roman Catholics, the book presumes no previous knowledge and explains even the smallest elements of the Mass, so that it could be read profitably by non-Catholics seeking a clear explanation of the central rite of Catholicism. For those seeking a more scholarly study, there is Keith F. Pecklers’s The Genius of the Roman Rite: On the Reception and Implementation of the New Missal. VERDICT Wuerl and Aquilina offer a well-written and easy-to-understand explanation of the Roman Catholic Mass, drawing on the text of the revised Roman Missal that will be used beginning in Advent 2011, so this will be of interest to all concerned readers.—Augustine J. Curley, Newark Abbey, NJ
