Books
Two astonishing books about the lives of Polish Jews who survived the Second World War or were born after the war.
Timelines bounce a bit through the loosely organized, vignette-rooted book, where the back half casually weaves through a checklist of characters and tales not to be missed.
Jackson Lears’s collection of essays and book reviews gets a few things right in its description of various kooks, oddballs, and mavericks who sometimes succeeded in moving history in their direction. But it gets far more wrong.
“Fable for the End of the World” reflects our own uncertain condition — there are possibilities unknown, alternatives that even would-be godlings like Elon Musk and his ilk have not accounted for.
In “Justice Abandoned”, Rachel Elise Barkow argues that much of the blame for the blight of American mass incarceration lies with the Supreme Court.
For poet Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr., the neurological is also archeological.
Minor White’s autobiographical undertaking lacks diaristic narrative. There’s too much neurotic navel-gazing too much of the time. Yet it is very appealing as a twisted personal miscellany whose contents range from summaries of sex dreams to snarky letters that were never sent.
Although novelist Halle Butler portrays the lives of millennial women (and men) as unhappy, anxious, and stressed, she does so in a highly entertaining way.
Three engaging and spirited books celebrate Black history, culture, and resilience.
Arts Remembrance: Tom Robbins’s “Joy in Spite of Everything”
In his writing, in his life, and in his fun, generous, and winsomely wise spirit, the late — but never late for a party — Tom Robbins chose to feel “ridiculously fine” and wanted us to feel the same way.
Read More about Arts Remembrance: Tom Robbins’s “Joy in Spite of Everything”