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The Last American Man, by Elizabeth Gilbert

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:52:09 -0600

Gilbert, who became a household name for her book Eat, Pray, Love (which I read earlier this year and enjoyed, but haven’t reviewed because everyone else seems to have), has written an intimate and compelling biography of Eustice Conway, a most enigmatic, energetic, and ruggedly individual man.

Conway can be thought of as the last frontiersman, who left home for the woods of Appalachia at the age of 17, living in a teepee, making his own clothing from hides he hunted, tanned, and sewed, cooking his food over a fire than he started using a bow drill or flint & steel, and became in almost every conceivable way a self-reliant man. He should also be thought of as an apostle for this way of life; almost everyone he talks to says wistfully, “I wish I could live like that.” Conway’s two-word reply: “You can.”

It is this belief in himself, and his desire to teach others this - let’s be honest - brutally demanding, physically challenging, iconoclastic, and entirely out-of-the-mainstream way of life, that provides Gilbert with the bulk of her material. His family backstory, and the dynamic tension that exists between a mother who implicitly believes in his abilities and a father who seems utterly incapable of acknowledging the least of his successes, helps to make him three dimensional, and makes his individualism even more remarkable.

Gilbert got to know Conway very well, visiting him at his home, and visiting the homes of his parents, over what seems like many years. She also appears to have read everything that was ever written about him, interviewed nearly everyone associated with him in any meaningful way, and was given access by Conway to his own extensive journals, and letters he’s written through the years.

The resulting insight into the man and his own struggle to fit into his time is just simply astonishing. I was most touched by Conway’s desire to find a woman who could both share in his romantic vision and deal with his nearly totalitarian style of leadership. I found myself alternately enamored and disgusted by the man.

It’s enough for me to know that men like Conway exist - and can exist. I thank Gilbert for allowing me so clearly see the true costs that can be involved.

Ancient Gonzo Wisdom: Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:56:07 -0600

I've been a Hunter S. Thompson fan since I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas back in college in 1973. The completely drug-soaked, high speed narration of a trip to Las Vega in search of "the American Dream," was a breakthrough, a new style of writing that I found entertaining and enthralling.
Thompson's fame grew as he began applying his unique style to his correspondent reportage, becoming in the process the "Father of Gonzo Journalism," a style of journalism which is written subjectively, often including the reporter as part of the story via a manic first-person narrative. His first book of such reportage was Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail 1972, his take on the Nixon/McGovern race for the White House.
He kept at it for years, as political and sports correspondent to Rolling Stone magazine, and published a raft of books compiling these articles periodically, usually to coincide with a particular presidential term in office. He must of sensed at a very early age that his writings would be sought-after, for he kept most of his correspondence, and began, with Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-67, to put most of these early letters between hard covers.
In the same vein Ancient Gonzo Wisdom, compiled and edited by his widow, Anita Thompson, is a compilation of interviews, arranged chronologically from 1967 through May of 2005. The interviews range widely from the obscure (a 1972 interview on WBZ 1030 AM Radio in Boston) to the very well-known (an All Things Considered interview on NPR in 1997), and a host of magazine, radio, and television interviews in between. Topics covered include the publication of most of his books, correspondence he had with everyone from presidents to pop stars, his failed bid for sheriff of Woody Creek, Colorado, and his ruthlessly iconoclastic tendencies.
Anyone familiar with Thompson's life and writing will enjoy the reviews compiled here. Onward!

The Library: An Illustrated History

Mon, 5 Oct 2009 18:01:06 -0500

This very readable and lavishly illustrated book is a survey of libraries, from the earliest gatherings of clay tablets in the library at Nineveh to the present grandeur of the Library of Congress. It is full of the characters of library history as well: from King Assurbanipal in 700 BCE, Mansa Musa, the sultan of Mali in Timbuktu in the 1300s, and the Mughal emperors Akbar in the late 1500s, to Thomas Bodley, Melvil Dewey, and Andrew Carnegie. All of them are the subjects of anecdotal stories which help to illustrate and flesh out the development and evolution of those institutions we call libraries today.
The Library: An Illustrated History tends to focus on Europe and the United States, but spends a chapter discussing Asia and Islam and their influence on the history of the book and libraries, and another, called "People of the Book," discussing the interplay between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the history of library development.
One of the themes running through this book is how the libraries of the victors are enlarged and enriched throughout history by the pillaging of the libraries of the vanquished. The Bibliotheque nationale de France, the Vatican Library, and the British Library have all broadened their substantial collections in this fashion. Another theme mentioned frequently was how war influenced which ideas were given currency in a given culture and time: "It was usually the sword that decided whose teachings would be supreme in any given land."
In this regard, this book compliments the message in Matthew Battles's book Library: An Unquiet History, but that book is only marginally illustrated, and does not bring the reader the wonderful survey of world libraries with which Murray's book ends. Anyone wanting a good overview of library history would find their time well spent reading this book.

Lost Boy by Brent W. Jeffs

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:08:05 -0500

Anyone familiar with John Krakauer's book Under the Banner of Heaven will be familiar with the polygamous, Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints (FLDS). In that book Krakauer recounts how religious polygamy was often used as a cover for pedophilia, and how anyone who questioned the motives of the church leaders often paid in "blood atonement."
The last name of the author of Lost Boy, Jeffs, may be familiar to anyone who has followed the saga of the FLDS, which has been in the news a lot in the past five years. Warren Jeffs, the "prophet" of this splinter cult off of the mainstream Mormon church, is the uncle of the author. The author's grandfather, Rulon Jeffs, was the "prophet" before him, and this book recounts the power struggles that took place within the FLDS, as well as the power struggles that went on within his own family - his father had three wives and 12 children, a small family by FLDS standards.
In a church like the FLDS, where men are guaranteed a "seat in the Kingdom" when they achieve "a quorum," or three wives, young men tend to be seen as "in the way" by older men in looking to complete their quorum with younger - often much younger - women.
The book is divided into four sections called "Before," "During," "After," and "Fighting Back." Brent Jeffs recounts how, as a very young child - just a boy of six or seven - he was forcibly and brutally raped by Warren Jeffs, as were at least two of his brothers. He recounts how young men were singled out for "discipline" for the slightest infractions, and made to feel like they didn't and couldn't belong to the church because of their unsanctified ways.
He recounts how, upon assuming the mantle of leadership of the FLDS, Warren Jeffs began to transform it from a faith - a fringe faith, yes, but a faith - into a cult. Outlawing such small things as pet dogs, the color red, any sort of clothing that was "worldly," and a host of other everyday things like videos of popular television shows like The Simpsons, or name brand clothing or running shoes.
He recounts how his own father was expelled from the the church by his brother, and the life they led trying to keep at least part of their family together. (Warren Jeffs had the authority to "reassign" the wives of expelled church members, and broke up hundreds of families this way in his struggle to maintain power.) He details his and his brothers slide into alcoholism and drug addiction, as they became marginalized from the only community they'd ever known.
Finally though, we are told about his long struggle to return to sanity, and even to filing a Civil suit in 2004 accusing Jeffs of abusing him.
Ultimately, this book is an uplifting look at how people can find happiness and meaning in life, even those who have had truly horrific and demeaning experiences.
Link to the segment of NPR's "Fresh Air" where Terry Gross interviews Brent Jeffs.

The Ripest Moments: A Southern Indiana Childhood by Norbert Krapf

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:34:04 -0500

The Ripest Moments is a simple pleasure to read. While reading this memoir of growing up in the 40s and 50s in Jasper and rural Dubois County, Indiana, I found myself reminded over and over again of my own childhood in northern Indiana, and the cousins, aunts, and uncles we'd often visit in Ohio and West Virginia.
While this is primarily a book about place, and family, it's also a book about community, and the work ethic that built communities like Jasper - and many others, for that matter - with materials and stock that, in the author's words, were "one generation removed from the farm, two or three generations removed from Germany, and a hundred years beyond the wilderness."
As the title suggests, there's quite a bit remembered about the importance of gardens, orchards, and farms in this book. Family garden plots were central to the survival of pre-suburban, working families. "Summers on the Farm," "The Rye Field," and "The Garden and the Strawberry Patch" are just a few of the more mouth-watering chapters.
If you were born & raised in southern Indiana, you'll find something familiar, and likely something warm, in this book. But even if you're a transplant, this book may speak to you. Quoting the author's preface: "I have always believed that any story set deeply in one time and place, if told well, speaks for other times, places, and people. To put it another way, a sense of time and place travels well. A life lived deeply anywhere resonates beyond the context of its specifics."
This one resonated with me.
The author's website.