Books

Book Review: The Threat of Thought — The Rise and Fall of the Vienna Circle

October 2, 2020
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The pathway to tyranny is paved by encouraging people to believe in the uselessness of science, logic, and expertise.

Book Review: “Jack” — The Romance of Revelation

October 1, 2020
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A taboo interracial romance may not be groundbreaking material for fiction, but Robinson’s spare conflicts are only the means to generate intimations of the profound in the everyday.

Book Review: “Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong” — The King of All Kings

September 30, 2020
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He may be extreme as a polemicist, but Ricky Riccardi shines when he sticks to jazz’s history. 

Poetry Remembrance: John Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes” — Forever Young at 200

September 29, 2020
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Keats is comfortable in that ambiguous space between reality and the imagination, and you will find no finer example of Romantic poetry when he fuses them in the language of an erotic dream.

Arts Remembrance: Critic Stanley Crouch — Jazz as a Metaphor for Democracy

September 21, 2020
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“I’m trying to get people to be at ease with the incredible amount of variety in the United States.”

Book Interview: Talking to BrownMark about “Life in the Purple Kingdom”

September 19, 2020
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Front and center in this memoir are BrownMark’s efforts to reconcile his resentment and gratitude toward the man who both sold him short and afforded him the “opportunity of a lifetime.”

Literary Appreciation: D. H. Lawrence’s “Women in Love” at 100

September 18, 2020
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I hope this centennial will inspire readers to immerse themselves in this enormously important, rich, and vibrant work.

Book Review: “Murder and the Movies” — So Cinematic, the Spectacle of Death

September 14, 2020
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Our awareness of our delight in the homicidal temptations presented by film is itself a kind of twisted comedy that the critic is all too aware of.

Book Review: Crime and Espionage — to the Sounds of Jazz

September 12, 2020
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There’s a larger story to tell about black composers and musicians breaking into the film and TV business, but its only lightly touched on here.

Book Review: Two Glimpses of Caribbean Culture in a Year without Carnival

September 12, 2020
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A pair of recent books help keep the glorious spirit of Carnival alive.

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