When we read a book about a place, be it a city, a state, a country, or a less geo-politically oriented “region,” we ideally want a convincing case for what exactly makes the area in question compelling, or at least a definite idea from the authors what about that place attracts them. While reading this book I found myself wondering who the intended or imagined reader might be.
Peter Baldwin's The Copyright Wars explores the roles and histories of technological innovations, culture, political and legal institutions on incentives influencing writers, publishers, and audiences. However, his analysis is not always consistent or rigorous.
Brazil's showcasing of "The Girl from Ipanema" at the Rio 2016 Olympic Opening Ceremony demonstrated the extent to which Brazil, and the famous bossa nova song, construct a national story celebrating diversity while also relying on symbols rooted in stereotypes.
In striking a balance between the drearier and more inspirational aspects of their tale, the co-authors of Radicals in America: The U.S. Left Since the Second World War, tend, on balance, to emphasize the positive. As they argue in their introduction, although the “radical left has always been a minority current” in the United States, it has “propelled major changes and frequently given shape to what Americans broadly take as the nation’s core traditions.”
In the days when it was a piece of furniture, TV was both the dark mahogany stranger in the house and the loyal companion, both threatening and familiar, something that seemed to control and something that seemed to transport. The mistake people today make is assuming that television audiences of 50 years ago were more naïve than they are today.
In There Goes My Social Life Dash believes she can see outside herself because she has placed herself outside the mainstream of her racial group by being a conservative Republican. But this move has given her distance, not perspective.
What rings clear throughout Szwed's otherwise perplexing archive of a complex life, is the “consistency and taste" Billie Holiday "brought to nearly every performance” under all kinds of material, physical, and emotional circumstances.
"Jazz is dead!" "Long live jazz!" These competing diagnoses define the genre and its evolving boundaries. And that means a future of interesting music.
In a finely drawn outline of a life that was filled with activity, with meetings, with far-reaching observations and brilliant imaginings, Andrea Wulf has made a wonderful contribution to the record of Humboldt’s life and work.
Why our culture of law enforcement—and tensions between police and communities—is a lot more nuanced and interesting than you might think.