Books
Jeff Chon focuses on the weaknesses that see violence as an expression of strength: sexism and racism, an obsession with identity that devolves into an ideological search for purity.
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This is an important book, a powerful account of the decline of California as America’s paradise.
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“The suburbs of Los Angeles are so often neglected in literature and film because they are so seemingly impervious to adoration.”
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Penny, whose many moods are sensitively drawn in this softly colored volume, is, perhaps like all cats, a philosopher.
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Chronicling Stankonia is an engaging read, one that adroitly balances rigorous academic research with a deeply personal narrative about Black life and art in the post-Civil Rights Era in the South.
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“I don’t work the system anymore, except as a last resort: I aim instead to bypass it. The better I have gotten at circumventing gatekeepers, the more successful my writing career has been.”
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In the process of exploring the ideas that shaped Lorraine Hansberry’s understanding of her art and the world, the volume confirms the writer’s relevance during these troubled but potentially transformative times.
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The current rage for inserting the personal/confessional in everything from cookbooks to literary criticism can go too far.
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A singular muscularity infuses these short stories, a confidence that astonishes.
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Richard Thompson’s memoir displays flashes of his writerly talents, but the volume feels a bit less immediate than one might hope.
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The 20th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll: The Institution Continues