Archive - January 2011

Over the weekend I read this interesting article in The New York Review of Books by Jason Epstein. He was reviewing a book Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the Twenty–First Century by John B. Thompson. Epstein is a famous figure in U.S. publishing. In 1952 he launched the trade paperback format. In 1963 he was a founder of The New York Review and in 1979. In 2007 he cofounded On Demand Books. In his review he was talking about the whole industry. As he writes, “Far more than any other mediu, books contain civilizations, the ongoing conversation betwen present and past. Without this conversation we are lost. But books are also a business….” So, the article really is about books and the digital revolution, and he makes this point, however, (in a footnote) that is interesting: “Self-publishing has an illustrious history. Milton published Areopagitica himself and Whitman self-published the first . . .

George Wallace (Korea 1975–77), writer-in-residence at the Walt Whitman Birthplace, will present a program of readings and conversation entitled “Whitman And Beyond, Fanfares for the Common Man” at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House, Taos NM, on Friday Feb 4, 2011 at 7 pm. In his presentation, Wallace will trace the thread of 19th century Romantic/Transcendental ideas about ‘the common man’ through early and mid-20th century American writing, and into the contemporary era. According to Laurel Johnson, Review Editor of New Works Review, “Wallace’s poetry is neither conventional nor even ‘conventionally’ atypical… Anyone who ever loved or needed love should read these poems.” Some of Wallace’s recent work: Poppin Johnny Three Rooms Press 2009 • Who’s Handling Your Aubergines Green Panda Press 2008 • Sunnyside Up: The Dream Cloud Egg Good Japan 2008 • Summer of Love Summer of Love Shivastan Woodstock NY 2008

A Year on the Bus by Dan Close (Ethiopia 1966-68) Warren, VT: Tamarac Press $15.00 131 pages 2010 Reviewed by Don Messerschmidt (Nepal 1963-65) THIS IS A SMALL BOOK THAT DESERVES  a short, but positive review. In the space of 131 small pages, with a slightly larger than usual font, the author convinced me that this is a good book for a lot of folks. Have you ever been “caught” behind a school bus when you have to get somewhere fast? he asks. Are you, or  have you ever been, a school bus driver? Are you the parent of a kid on a school bus? Were you ever a kid on a bus? If any of these questions are you, then, this book is for you. And, I’ll add, if you know a school bus driver, give him or her a copy. If only for laughs, because this is a . . .

Runes of Iona by Robert Balmanno (Benin 1973-75) Regent Press $15.95 349 pages August 2010 Reviewed by Paul Shovlin (Moldova 1996-98) THE SECOND BOOK in the Blessings of Gaia series by Robert Balmanno, Runes of Iona, is in print, and, like the first, it’s far-ranging and ambitious. The series began with September Snow which followed the protagonist Tom Novak, an author, philosopher, freedom fighter, as he worked with September Snow to disable the climate controlling wind machines of the Gaia-domes. In Runes of Iona, the machines are down and nature is slowly returning to something like normal, but little has changed in terms of the power of the Gaia-domes and their domination of the world. The second book follows Iona Snow and Kull, a freed slave, as they build a guerrilla army for the expressed purposes of dismantling the current power structure and toppling the dictatorship of the Gaia-dome government. . . .

The Man Who Caught No Birds by Thomas Burns (Marshall Islands 1976–78) CreateSpace 201 pages $15.00 2010 Reviewer Reilly Ridgell (Micronesia 1971–73) WHEN I WRITE STORIES SET IN MICRONESIA where I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer, all my main characters are American.  Host country nationals are often peripheral or secondary characters because my stories are ultimately about how Americans relate to the culture and lifestyle of the host country. For myself — though someday I might try — I feel uncomfortable putting a Micronesian as a main character because I don’t feel confident that I can accurately portray his or her aspirations, moods, thought processes, etc. As much as we get to know the culture, language, and people of the countries where we are stationed, we’re still Americans and we still view their world through American eyes. Thomas Burns has written a novel set in the Marshall Islands where . . .

KEN AULETTA HAS WRITTEN the “Annals of Communications” columns for The New Yorker since 1992, and is the author of eleven books, including five national bestsellers. His latest, Googled: The End of The World As We Know It, chronicles the ubiquitous company’s rise to prominence. Among Ken’s other books are: Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way; Greed And Glory On Wall Street: The Fall of The House of Lehman; and Media Man: Ted Turner’s Improbable Empire. In ranking him as America’s premier media critic, the Columbia Journalism Review concluded, “no other reporter has covered the new communications revolution as thoroughly as has Auletta.” He has been chosen a Literary Lion by the New York Public Library, and one of the 20th Century’s top 100 business journalists by a distinguished national panel of peers. Auletta grew up on Coney Island, attended public schools, earned a B.S. from . . .

The Chronicle of Sargent Shriver  By Thomas Hebert (Nigeria 1962-64) Unlike the death of John or Robert Kennedy, Elvis Presley, the beginning of the 1968 North Vietnamese Tet Offensive, or the Watergate Break-in, I confess I can’t remember where I was when I learned of Sargent Shriver’s death. It’s taken some days for this passage to sink in, become knowable. But it comes back. You see, in an earlier time, I wrote a bit of something about this American and his contributions to our life. My words appear in a long-ago Job Application and a writing sample, below, which I included with it. The position: The National Chronicler (Senior Executive Service, by Presidential Appointment). Closing date: June  15, 1995. Unfortunately that Clinton-era initiative never went beyond seeking applicants. It was quickly submerged in Republican assaults on the Administration. Few remember the story. (The entire annotated Position Description will be published . . .