Persepolis

Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi (2004)

Originally published in French in 2000, Satrapi’s Persepolis draws from the author’s own story of growing up in Iran during the time of the Islamic revolution and the bloody war with Iraq.

Born into a socially progressive family, Satrapi is ten years old when Islamic fundamentalists take over all aspects of Iranian society from schools to dress codes. The author was not unlike many of her generation, who were weary of the corruption and scandals during the U.S.-backed Shah administration. However, for free thinkers like Satrapi, the revolution presents even more challenges.

The author presents herself as an outspoken and occasionally rebellious young woman. She is expelled from school following a physical altercation with a severe principal. Still more frightening is her description of a harrowing encounter with a women’s branch of the Guardians of the Revolution, a group of loyalists that were dispatched to the streets to enforce codes of dress and behavior. Young Marji is stopped, harassed, and cited for numerous violations of these rules. In spite of her Western dress, she is somehow able to avoid detention.

The most remarkable feature of the book is the author’s ability to inject humor into an often gravely serious situation. Much of Satrapi’s childhood is consumed with fears that a friend or family member will be executed, or that her block will be flattened by a Soviet-built Scud missle coming from Iraq. (Sadly, a close friend of hers is killed in this way.) In spite of these horrors, there are many light moments in this volume.

Also important is the format that Satrapi chooses, the graphic novel. One hopes that young people will be more motivated to read this important story in a visually appealing package. Strongly recommended for teens to adults.

Honky

Honky, by Dalton Conley (2000)

Conley writes of his experiences growing up white in an overwhelmingly black and Hispanic housing complex. Much of this memoir reads more like the sociologist he would eventually become than the child who grew up as a minority in a poor neighborhood.

From a young age, Conley relates that he was aware of the many advantages that his race gave him. Indeed, after he attends an area school—in which he is the only white student—his parents game the educational system and enroll their son in a school in Greenwich Village.

The clash of cultures looms larger in Conley’s life as his new friends begin to ask about coming to his apartment. The author relates his embarrassment about his neighborhood and his contempt for his less fortunate neighbors as he gets older and begins to focus on his own academic future.

In spite of the book’s title, Conley only relates one incident in which the title epitaph is used against him. He also only describes one instance during which he worried for his own safety in his old lower East Side neighborhood.

The climax of young Dalton’s story is the shooting and maiming of his black friend, Jerome. Conley’s parents make the decision to leave the old neighborhood for subsidized housing in a better part of town.

Dalton’s memoir doesn’t read like a personal account as much as a sociological elucidation of the events that shaped his young life. In spite of this fact, it is still an interesting, quick read. Recommended.

Mississippi Sissy

Mississippi Sissy, by Kevin Sessums (2007)

Sessums writes his extraordinary personal story of growing up in the Deep South in the 1960s and 1970s. The author loses both of his parents at an early age and ends up in the care of his grandparents, who struggle to raise a young man who seems to have so little in common with those around him.

The author’s father is a star athlete, which puts greater strain on the effeminate Kevin. One of Sessums’ earliest memories is of one of his father’s coaching assistants making snide remarks about him in the locker room after a game. It is the boy’s mother who encourages him to embrace who he truly is and to not worry about the frequent name calling to which he is subjected.

Compounding Sessums’ struggles to find himself are some disturbing encounters with men who take advantage of the boy. The author is victimized by a prominent pastor and, on another occasion, by another man in a public restroom. Young Kevin struggles with what it means to love and be loved, in addition to the hardship of being a gay person in a society that is anything but supportive of the concept.

One of the more interesting aspects of the book is Sessums’ association with Eudora Welty and her circle of friends in Jackson. The young man finds strength and support from this group, especially from doomed cultural critic Frank Hains.

The author spares few details in describing some of his early sexual experiences, which may make for challenging reading, but Sessums' story is often moving and hard to put down. Recommended for adult readers.

All Guts and No Glory

All Guts and No Glory: An Alabama Coach’s Memoir of Desegregating College Athletics, by Bill Elder (2007)

Elder was born in Alabama but also grew up in Ohio, where his father moved his family to pursue business opportunities. He would later return to the south at the start of his career in college athletics.

The author had a keen eye for racial segregation early on, often asking questions of his parents that they didn’t want to answer. Elder recalls attending a Birmingham Barons baseball game at Rickwood Field, during which he asked his father why there were separate seating arrangements for blacks and whites. Compounding the schizophrenia of the segregated south, blacks and whites were allowed to sit together in the same facility when they attended games played by the Negro League Birmingham Black Barons.

As a sophomore in college, Elder returned to the south to attend school at Howard (now Samford) University. He then earned a master’s degree at the University of Tennessee. The second half of this book recalls the author’s experiences at newly opened Northeast Junior College.

By the end of three seasons, Elder had established a record of 53 wins and 22 losses. This is all the more impressive since he served as a department head, athletics director, and intramurals director in addition to his duties as Head Basketball Coach at Northeast. While he had built a strong program at the school, he still coached an all-white squad.

It was at this point that Elder was asked by the university president to begin recruiting black basketball players. While he received assurances that he would have the full support of school administration, the author quickly found himself alienated among a faculty that were clearly uncomfortable with an integrated athletics program.

Worse for the coach and his young players was the reaction of the broader community, who made it clear on a number of occasions that they did not appreciate black student-athletes. Elder’s struggles to coach in this hostile environment comprise the most compelling pages of this short autobiography.

I was disappointed that more time wasn’t given to Elder’s time after the integration at Northeast. One gets the sense that even over thirty-five years it is not a topic the author enjoys revisiting. In spite of this, I found it a captivating account throughout. Highly recommended.

Grace (Eventually)

Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith, by Anne Lamott (2007)

Lamott’s latest book is a collection of essays, mostly republished from other sources. Her take on faith and spirituality was not what this reviewer expected, although it probably should have been: it is the first of her books I have read.

Because the essays here were originally written to stand by themselves, the repeated themes—her addictions and her contempt for George W. Bush—are initially tiresome. Those unfamiliar with Lamott’s liberal politics will almost certainly not make it past the first pages.

As the title suggests, Lamott’s quirky and sometimes humorous observations grew on this reviewer (eventually), even as I felt that I was getting something that was radically different from what I expected. Even for one who agrees with her politics it is a challenging read: her retelling of a misspent youth, which includes the aforementioned struggles with addiction and an abortion, is hardly the stuff one expects to read in a book on faith.

But as the words go by it becomes apparent that for Lamott, there is little if no separation between her politics, her past experiences, and her religious faith. The author often comes across as neurotic and fragile, and as a person who is frequently buoyed by her beliefs.

Lamott bears all in this slim volume, and while this reviewer generally doesn’t care for writing that so overtly seems to double as therapy for its creator, it’s hard to deny that there are some kernels of wisdom here.

Unfortunately, because this book so often treads into the political, it will be off-putting to those who disagree with the author on that score. Fans of Lamott will cheer and ask for more.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King (2000)

King has written a short biographical tale of his life as a writer. The story begins with his first memories of growing up in a single parent household with his mother and brother David. He regales the reader with powerful stories of his childhood illness to hysterically funny accounts of his neglectful, if not psychotic, babysitter.

As a only masterful storyteller can, King pulls at the reader’s heartstrings with his gripping story of a sick child suffering the painfully long needles poked in his ears. His retelling of this story has the reader sitting at the edge of their seat quickly turning the pages so we will know if the small child will be able to hear after the procedure.

King takes us back to the struggle his family endured because of their abandonment by his father. We fall in love with the little boy who had to undergo so much hardship with only his brother and his imagination for friends. Once we are hooked he continues his story with a man’s long struggle to make it into the world of writers.

We are then introduced into the world of writing, editing, submitting, and rejecting. King goes on to describe his life and various writing jobs. He tells us about his failures as well as successes. One example is a magazine submission he made to the late Alfred Hitchcock when he was still a child. Through the young King’s eyes we can envision Hitchcock’s matter-of-fact notes on King’s manuscript.

King’s moving account of a writer’s life offers warmth and encouragement. This reviewer would urge those who wish to become a writer of any kind to read this book. Highly recommended for all audiences.

Jane Fonda's Words of Politics and Passion

Jane Fonda's Words of Politics and Passion, ed. by Mary Hershberger (2006)

This collection of Fonda’s writings and speeches spans over 30 years and includes transcripts of the actor/activist’s broadcasts for Radio Hanoi.

Many readers past a certain age will know Fonda for her vocal opposition to the war in Vietnam, but far fewer will know of her work to curb teen pregnancy. She speaks often of her efforts with The Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, which she founded in 1995.

Fonda seems to have come full circle with her feminist ideals. Her opposition to Vietnam came relatively late in the course of that conflict and coincided with her discovery that in the course of pursuing her career as an entertainer, she had allowed herself to be made over to meet others notions of what she should look like. By the early 70s, she seems to have reached the conclusion that America was being lied to about Vietnam. At the same time, she felt as though she had been living a lie. Ever aware of how long it took her to find her own voice, Fonda continues to work on a number of efforts to elevate the status of women in society.

The writings in this collection are well chosen and, because they are smartly arranged, they follow the arc of Fonda’s political and philosophical development. It’s hard to disagree with much of what she says, with the exception of one passage in which the activist suggests that the way to deal with Osama bin Laden is to sit him down and talk to him. (It is this reviewer’s opinion this statement places her other ideas—most of them perfectly valid—in jeopardy.)

Whatever one thinks of Fonda as a political figure, this is a well-edited volume of words from an important voice in American life. It should have a place in most academic and public library collections.

Thura's Diary

Thura's Diary: My Life in Wartime Iraq, by Thura Al-Windawi (2004)

Less than a week before the American invasion of Iraq, 19-year-old Thura Al-Windawi began writing her thoughts about what was happening to herself, her family, and her country. She somehow managed to write almost every day for next two months, at the same time coalition forces swiftly gained control of Baghdad and the rest of Iraq. It was also during this time that her family fled from their home in the heart of Baghdad for the countryside, although they were able to return in the weeks after the defeat of Saddam's Army.

In spite of the Iraqi propaganda machine, Thura is well aware of the political situation within her country. When, after the arrival of coalition forces in the capital the Information Minister claims that the Americans are losing, it is obvious to everyone that they are not. The young woman laments the loss of her people and their homeland.

As is well known now, the American occupation doesn’t lead to a more stable Iraq, and Thura finds her life after Saddam as uncertain as it was before. As time goes on, she finds herself able to go out even less than before the conflict, as emboldened extremists begin to detain women who don’t completely cover their bodies; it is not uncommon women to be captured and even killed. Al-Windawi's anger shifts from the Americans toward her own countrymen in the midst of the looting and destruction of the country’s greatest treasures.

Of course, Thura is most concerned with her own family throughout this tumultuous account. The clan’s situation is especially difficult as her younger sister is diabetic and needs insulin. Much of Thura’s time is spent helping her mother clean the walls of soot left by oil fires that blanket the city. She expresses her desire to go out and help her neighbors, which is now an impossible task. Above all, Thura wants to return to some sense of normalcy.

Al-Windawi’s diary is a poignant firsthand account of life in Iraq during the war. While there are a few descriptions of the horrors of war, there’s nothing here that is too upsetting for the recommended age group of eighth grade and up. Younger readers should be able to deal with the material as well, with some adult supervision.

Don't Tell Mom I Work on the Rigs

Don't Tell Mom I Work on the Rigs: She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse, by Paul Carter (2005)

Paul Carter's short biography primarily concerns his travels, often to remote corners of the earth, as a worker on oil rigs. The author and his co-workers work hard and live hard, and their stories are sometimes hard to believe and often laugh-out-loud funny.

The author was born in England to his mother and a stern father, a navigator in the Royal Air Force. His early childhood was not a happy one and the mother would later move with her children to Scotland. Still later, following a job opportunity for his mother's new boyfriend, the family moved to Australia.

Carter's career in the oil industry started in Western Australia but would later took him to Brunei, The Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, and many other places. He writes about the challenges of traveling in dangerous places like Nigeria. In some places, the rigs themselves are attacked by locals with muskets, or worse, shoulder-launched missiles.

If rigging is a rough life for men, animals often fare even worse. Carter writes of co-workers maimed and killed working on the rigs. Readers who are readily squeamish should also know that a number of animals meet a violent end in this short book. Even so, the author has produced a compact, authentic, and often hilarious volume that should appeal to a wide array of readers.

Journey from the Land of No

Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran, by Roya Hakakian (2004)

The last few years have seen a number of accounts of life in Iran around the time of the Islamic Revolution of 1979. All of these memoirs view the events of that tumultuous period from a unique perspective. Azar Nafisi describes the crackdown at universities and the challenges of teaching Western literature to her students in Reading Lolita in Tehran. In Even After All This Time, Afschineh Latifi writes about her escape from and eventual return to Iran. Journey from the Land of No details the experiences of a young girl and her family before and after the reign of the U.S.-backed Shah.

Hakakian was born into a Jewish family 12 years before the revolution. Even as a young child, Roya is challenged by her poet father and her talented older brothers to think for herself. The reader follows the author as she becomes more aware of the world around her and discovers what it means to be a religious minority in an overwhelmingly Muslim country.

The author shares a number of newfound insights, such as when she learns that she cannot replace a young boy as song leader in her synagogue because she is a girl. Other scenes, such as the first time she finds a swastika scrawled beside a line of street graffiti, are truly chilling. Each chapter brings new tensions, along with increasing evidence that society has become increasingly hostile toward Jews and women in general.

A radical interpretation of Islamic law becomes the new order in Iran at a time when the war with Iraq is in full force. Writes Hakakian, “With hundreds of thousands killed in the war, grief and vengeance were the only feelings the public could safely express, all that we felt anyway. With every street renamed, the city's grid had become a map of morbidity, pointing to doom in all directions. Every address was an intersection of death and an ayatollah.”

Of the three books mentioned in this review, Journey is the most accessible, which is not to say that the writing is inadequate to the task. Hakakian is an accomplished storyteller who has produced an absorbing account of her youth. Readers will find themselves pulling for young Roya and wanting to read more about her transit to America. Highly recommended.

A Man Without a Country

A Man Without a Country, by Kurt Vonnegut (2005) [audio book edition, read by Norman Dietz]

Vonnegut's latest book took five years to write and while it might not be coming as quickly as it once did, the author still has good stuff.

Part memoir, part stand-up routine, part political diatribe, this is a book readers will love or hate. Vonnegut pays homage to his roots as a humanist and a socialist. He worships the likes of Eugene Debs, once Socialist Party candidate for President, who hails from his home state of Indiana. Contrasting Karl Marx's passion for workers' rights with the U.S. policy of legalized slavery he asks the question: "Who do you imagine was more pleasing in the eyes of a merciful God back then, Karl Marx or the United States of America?"

The first three-quarters of the book is classic Vonnegut: contemplative at one moment and gut-busting funny a page later. Referring to the U.S. Surgeon General's warnings on packs of cigarettes, the author declares his intention to sue the Brown & Williamson tobacco company for not following through on its promise to kill him. "I am now eighty-two," he writes. "Thanks a lot, you dirty rats. The last thing I ever wanted was to be alive when the three most powerful men on the whole planet would be named Bush, Dick and Colon."

Some of the last pages veer more toward his angry side, at times featuring liberal use of the f-bomb. At a few points I found it just a bit tiresome as he sounded more of a curmudgeon. Still, a large chunk of this book is right on good stuff. And when Vonnegut's giving you his best, it's really magic.

Love him or hate him, Vonnegut is a cultural icon who brings his unique take on life, love and politics one more time.

Originally reviewed 1/9/06

Ahmad's War, Ahmad's Peace

Ahmad's War, Ahmad's Peace: Surviving Under Saddam, Dying in the New Iraq, by Michael Goldfarb (2005)

This book is Goldfarb's tribute to the late Ahmad Shawkat, a Kurdish translator who worked with the author when he was covering the war in Iraq for WBUR radio. A London-based reporter for the American public radio station, Goldfarb first met Shawkat shortly before the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.

Shawkat was more than a man who knew the language. As an intellectual, he had moved in revolutionary circles for many years, agitating against Hussein's government. He had been captured, imprisoned and tortured on a couple of occasions and had once even met the dictator. As a Kurd, he rejected the sectarian leanings of many of his own people in favor of a single, unified nation. As Goldfarb explains, Shawkat was uniquely qualified not only to translate words but to provide context to what the reporter was seeing and hearing on the streets of a new Iraq.

The first section of the book follows the two men as Goldfarb reports on the war. (His dispatches can be heard on WBUR's Inside Out web site.) The last section is the story of Shawkat's tragic death at the hands of an assassin and the months after when the author returns to the war-torn country. The middle section, Ahmad's Life, is the author's reconstruction of his translator's life story. From his early years as a bookish boy through college and into adulthood, Shawkat was a man who never stopped searching for answers.

Goldfarb's view on the war itself may surprise some readers. Although he is very critical of the Bush administration's handling of the post-war situation, the reporter initially supported U.S. action there in the belief that the Iraqi people could be freed. He and Ahmad speak about this shared belief at length, alternately dreaming of the future and despairing as the country falls into chaos and internal strife in the months after the fall of Saddam's army.

Michael Goldfarb describes the qualities he looks for in a translator. Often, he writes, he cannot find all of those things in one person. In Ahmad Shawkat, he finds a scholar, an intellectual, a writer, a patriot and at the end a close friend. Goldfarb tells a remarkable story, which could be difficult to read due to the fact that one knows how it ends. In spite of this, he produces a moving, poignant read from start to finish. Highly recommended.

Originally reviewed 2/20/2006

Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves & Demons of Marvin Gaye

This post is one in a series of reviews commemorating Black History Month

Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves & Demons of Marvin Gaye, by Michael Eric Dyson (2004)

Dyson has written a fascinating analysis of the life and career of the late Marvin Gaye, a book that will appeal even to readers who don't know Gaye's music all that well. That having been said, this is a weighty tome, which touches on the religious, cultural and social influences of the black community and how they shaped the singer.

For example, in examining the effect of childhood abuse on Gaye, Dyson traces the problem of domestic violence in the black family to slavery. While this is an interesting discussion, it sways quite a bit from the book's star. Some readers will find these diversions tedious.

Because Gaye's relationship with Motown founder Berry Gordy is discussed at length, anyone who has studied the studio and its music will find something of interest here. References to the black church and family will ensure this book's place in programs of African-American study. Finally, the last chapter is in large part about present-day soul star R. Kelly. Dyson's discussion of how both men merged concepts of spirituality and sexuality within their music is interesting. In short, this book is a real find for a musicologist or sociologist, but it's not a biography "for the rest of us."

Originally reviewed 1/20/05

Between Worlds

Between Worlds: The Making of an American Life, by Bill Richardson (2005)

The current governor of New Mexico has only recently announced his intention to run for president but when he wrote this book with journalist Michael Ruby he was preparing for his second gubernatorial bid. He would go on to win the following year by a wide margin, having garnered praise from voters across the political spectrum for his conservative fiscal stance and his education proposals.

Born in California to an American father and a Mexican mother, Richardson never completely fit in with white kids or with the Mexicans with whom he grew up in Mexico City, but his is hardly a fish out of water story. In fact, the man seems to have excelled at most everything he’s tried save academics.

As late as his college days, the man who would go on to become Ambassador to the United Nations was a largely apolitical creature, preferring instead the thrill of the baseball diamond. He had become a star prospect until injuries to his pitching arm sidelined him. Though he wasn’t a terribly motivated student he did well enough to get to graduate school. After his schooling he made a calculated move to New Mexico, where he launched his political career.

The bulk of the book concerns Richardson’s trips abroad during his service in the U.S. House. The congressman faced tough negotiations with some of the world’s most notorious leaders, including Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro. President Bill Clinton nominated him for ambassador and Richardson was later given the challenging assignment of Secretary of the Department of Energy.

The governor’s ego is evident in every chapter and he comes off as something of a braggart at times. He recounts butting heads with a number of figures, often fellow Democrats. He describes his often-public dustup with Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe as Richardson seems determined to keep himself and his state in the limelight, even though it ruffles some feathers. Through it all, he seems to enjoy the political game as much as the end result.

Richardson’s description of state politics hardly matches the excitement of the first half of the book and this makes for a somewhat anti-climactic reading experience. Even so, this gifted and determined politician has written a tale that many followers of politics will find very interesting. Recommended.

Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot

Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot, by Starr Smith (2005)

Starr Smith exposes a side of Jimmy Stewart that many people have never seen. Apparently, the famous actor from Indiana, Pennsylvania wanted it that way. Smith, who worked with Stewart when the two were stationed in Tibenham, England, with the 453^rd Bombardment Group, offers a flattering portrayal of the Hollywood star.

Over the objections of his boss at MGM, Stewart volunteered for service after being drafted and failing a physical (he was too light under the military’s height to weight ratio). The actor wanted to be more than a stateside trainer of bomber pilots in the Army Air Corps and he had to find his way around someone in the military brass, who didn’t want a famous actor to be lost in the fighting. In the end, Stewart was allowed to fly on some of the missions he helped to coordinate. He would go on to fly 20 combat missions on his way to numerous honors including six battle stars and the French Croix de Guerre.

As Stewart rose through the ranks, he proved to be a hard-working leader and strategist. Aged 32 when he began his military service, the airman was often 10 or more years older than the pilots he commanded. His mild, folksy demeanor, his attention to detail and his skill as a flyer won him respect among the enlisted men.

Stewart’s efforts did not go unnoticed by the officers’ corps either and he eventually reached the rank of Brigadier General. Smith was privy to some of the rumors that the actor would eventually earn the crucial rank of group commander. However, the war was over before such a plan would be carried out.

Upon his return, Stewart insisted that he receive no attention for his service. He even refused a homecoming parade, a decision that greatly disappointed Indiana community leaders. Stewart allowed a museum to open with his name there some 50 years later, but only after he was convinced that the landmark would stimulate the local economy.

There are some aspects of Stewart’s family life and post-war career here, but the bulk of the book covers his military service from 1941 to 1945. Smith’s account will appeal most to fans of Stewart and to those who appreciate personal accounts of military history.

Upton Sinclair and the Other American Century

Upton Sinclair and the Other American Century, by Kevin Mattson (2006)

Mattson, a history professor at Ohio University, has written a balanced profile of the author and activist who is best known for penning The Jungle. The landmark book was not a literary masterpiece but it did alert millions of readers to the atrocious conditions faced by immigrant workers in the Chicago meatpacking industry at the turn of the 20th century. Sinclair once said of his signature book, "I aimed for America's heart, and hit its stomach, instead."

Sinclair emerges as a man of contradictions. He started out an ardent socialist but as soon as he began to find wealth he moved to a palatial home in Southern California. The book tracks the author's move rightward toward mainstream politics, starting with his support for the first World War. He would later support World War Two and even the conflict in Vietnam at the end of his life.

In spite of his later embrace of the Democratic Party, Sinclair was never able to hide from his past: his own words were used mercilessly against him in a California gubernatorial run in 1932.

Mattson praises Sinclair for the fact that he took responsibility for his ideas. Even though he was often not taken seriously by them, he wrote governors and presidents in an effort to convince them to adopt his economic policies.

Mattson offers a frank criticism of Sinclair's writing, especially in regard to his works of fiction. Mattson points out that they didn't sell well for the simple fact that they weren't very good and Sinclair often struggled to sell his ideas to publishers. The author was rarely able to divorce himself from the activist and he simply didn't take the time to develop his stories and characters. He did however find success with his Lanny Budd series.

This short book is a quick and interesting account of Sinclair's life and it should appeal to a wide array of readers.