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Subject:
Books Update: How to Choose a President
This week, Garry Wills, author most recently of "A Necessary
Evil: A History of American Distrust of Government" and
"Papal Sin," takes on four books about Campaign 2000, and he
is not kind: "The campaign book deserves to die," he writes,
"and it is doing its duty. The proof that the genre has
entered not only its decline but its decadence is now before
us."
Date:
Fri, 30 Mar 2001 22:34:51 -0500
From:
The New York Times Direct
To:
medei@UOL.COM.BR
Books Update from NYTimes.com
Friday, March 30, 2001
------------------------------------------------------------
How to Choose a President
1. In Sunday's Book Review: Books on Campaign 2000, Reviewed by Garry Wills
2. Also Reviewed This Week: Malcolm Bradbury's "To the Hermitage"
3. Audio: Julian Barnes and Jay McInerney
4. New in Stores: Nora Roberts's "The Villa"
5. In the News: Court Asked to Stop "Gone With the Wind" Rewrite
6. New on the Best-Seller List: Stephen King's "Dreamcatcher"
7. In the Forums: Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America"
\----------------------------------------------------------/
1. In Sunday's Book Review: The Making of the President,
2000
=======================================================
The Making of the President, 2000
Four books about it, with multiple points of view. But who's counting?
SMASHMOUTH
"Smashmouth," by Dana Milbank
"It Looks Like a President, Only Smaller," by Joel Achenbach
"Down and Dirty," by Jake Tapper
"Deadlock," by the political staff of The Washington Post
Two Years in the Gutter With Al Gore and George W. Bush
-- Notes From the 2000 Campaign Trail.
By Dana Milbank.
399 pp. New York:
Basic Books. $26.
IT LOOKS LIKE A PRESIDENT, ONLY SMALLER
Trailing Campaign 2000.
By Joel Achenbach.
192 pp. New York:
Simon & Schuster. Paper, $12.
DOWN AND DIRTY
The Plot to Steal the Presidency.
By Jake Tapper.
514 pp. Boston:
Little, Brown & Company. $24.95.
DEADLOCK
The Inside Story of America's Closest Election.
By the political staff of The Washington Post.
Illustrated. 271 pp. New York:
PublicAffairs. $23
The best of the books, according to Wills is "Deadlock,"
which he says is "a clearer, better organized picture of
what went on in Florida," by the political staff of The
Washington Post.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/01/reviews/010401.01willst.html?0330bk
Also reviewed in this article: Joel Achenbach's 'It Looks Like a President, Only Smaller'
Jake Tapper's 'Down and Dirty'
The political staff of The Washington Post's 'Deadlock'
Related Links:
Michiko Kakutani Reviews 'Smashmouth' (Feb. 2, 2001)
First Chapter: 'Smashmouth'
First Chapter: 'Down and Dirty'
2. Also Reviewed This Week: Malcolm Bradbury's "To the
Hermitage"
=======================================================
Adventures in Postmortemism
A posthumous novel by Malcolm Bradbury employs no less a figure than
Diderot to examine the idea of writerly legacy.
TO THE HERMITAGE
By Malcolm Bradbury.
498 pp. Woodstock, N.Y.:
The Overlook Press. $27.95.
The late Malcolm Bradbury wrote novels that feature as their
protagonist "some version of a liberal British academic (who
closely resembles Bradbury himself)," writes critic James
Shapiro, a professor of English at Columbia University.
Bradbury, he explains, "was often confused with David Lodge,
but Bradbury's novels tend to be more grim and more
technically ambitious, less funny, and, as a result, a lot
less successful commercially."
Now comes "To the Hermitage," which Shapiro calls "the one
Bradbury novel that transcends its cultural moment and may
well attract a coterie of admirers and have a long and happy
shelf life."
http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/01/reviews/010401.01shapirt.html?0330bk
Featured Author: Malcolm Bradbury
This retrospective includes The Times's obituary of
Bradbury, reviews of his earlier books and a collection of
articles he wrote for The Times.
First Chapter: 'To the Hermitage'
http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/01/specials/bradbury.html?0330bk
-----
"Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus," by Rick Perlstein
In His Heart, He Knew He Was Right
Barry Goldwater's overwhelming defeat set the stage for the rise of conservatism.
BEFORE THE STORM
Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus.
By Rick Perlstein.
Illustrated. 671 pp.
New York:
Hill & Wang. $30.
This biography of the late senator from Arizona and the 1964
Republican candidate for president combines "prodigious
research with journalistic flair," according to William
Kristol, editor and publisher of The Weekly Standard.
Perlstein, an independent scholar who has written for The
New York Observer and The Nation, has produced a "detailed
and dramatic narrative of the rise of the modern right," a
history of the conservative movement's Goldwater years, from
1960 through 1964.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/01/reviews/010401.01kristot.html?0330bk
Related Links:
Barry Goldwater, Conservative and Individualist, Dies at 89 (May 29, 1998)
First Chapter: 'Before the Storm'
http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/01/specials/goldwater-obit.html?0330bk
-----
"Facing the Wind: A True Story of Tragedy and Reconciliation," by Julie Salamon
A Case of Insanity
Bob Rowe's crime was so horrible its very perversity seemed to say he
couldn't be found guilty.
FACING THE WIND
A True Story of Tragedy and Reconciliation.
By Julie Salamon.
302 pp. New York:
Random House. $24.95.
James B. Stewart, author of "Blind Eye" and "Den of
Thieves," writes about "Facing the Wind," the new work by
Julie Salamon, a television critic for The New York Times.
It is the true story of Bob Rowe, he explains, "whose
horrifying murders of his wife and children will remain
forever etched in my mind."
"Facing the Wind," Stewart writes, "had me tossing at night
and racing to finish it by day. It is a rare combination of
superb reporting and narrative skill." The book "raises
profound questions: of guilt, retribution, justice,
redemption and absolution. There are no easy answers. It is
not a book that can be read and forgotten."
http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/01/reviews/010401.01stewart.html?0330bk
-----
"On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J.
Walker," by A'Lelia Bundles
Worth More Than It Costs
The life story of the washerwoman who turned a hair tonic into an economic revolution for African-Americans.
ON HER OWN GROUND
The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker.
By A'Lelia Bundles.
Illustrated. 415 pp. New York:
A Lisa Drew Book/Scribner. $30.
This is the life story of a washerwoman who turned a hair
tonic into an economic revolution for African-Americans.
Madam C. J. Walker, writes Margo Jefferson, an arts critic
for The Times, "brought hope in jars that helped them grow
and 'cultivate' their hair. Her formula, combined with the
hot metal comb invented by a Frenchman in 1870, gave hair a
resilience and an appearance of straightness that allowed
black women to wear the popular styles of the day, from
Gibson girl to bob-haired flapper."
The book, by Walker's great-great granddaughter, A'Lelia
Bundles, "is as much social history as biography, filled
with the detail and texture of culture and politics."
Related Link:
First Chapter: 'On Her Own Ground'
http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/01/reviews/010401.01jeffert.html?0330bk
-----
Andrew Crumey's 'Mr. Mee'
Derek Bok's 'The Trouble With Government'
Robert M. Sapolsky's 'A Primate's Memoir'
Diana Athill's 'Stet: A Memoir'
3. Audio: Julian Barnes and Jay McInerney
============================================
Listen to an audio recording of an evening with Julian
Barnes and Jay McInerney, recorded at The New York Public
Library on March 7. McInerney talked to Barnes about his new
novel, "Love, Etc.," the writing life in general, literary
friendships and the correct pronunciation of the word
"oeuvre."
http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/01/specials/barnes.html?0330bk
Review: "Love, Etc."
Featured Author: Julian Barnes
Featured Author: Jay McInerney
4. New in Stores: Nora Roberts's "The Villa"
===========================================================
In Nora Roberts's new book, the matriarch of a Napa Valley
vineyard merges her operation with a rival. In her March 26
review, Janet Maslin wrote, "Want to know why Roberts sells
so many escapist daydreams? Because in 'The Villa' this
isn't nearly the half of it."
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/26/arts/26MASL.html?0330bk
5. In the News: Court Asked to Stop "Gone With the Wind"
Rewrite
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/26/arts/26MASL.html?0330bk
================================================================
An Atlanta trust for the benefit of Margaret Mitchell's
heirs has filed suit to block the publication of a novel
that retells parts of "Gone With the Wind" from a slave's
perspective.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/28/business/28BOOK.html?0330bk
For a digest of this week's book news, visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/yr/mo/day/daily/index.html?0330bk
6. New on the Best-Seller List
==============================
Hardcover Fiction
#1) "Dreamcatcher," by Stephen King
In the woods of Maine, four hunters who have been friends
since boyhood encounter a disoriented stranger and a
dangerous creature from another world.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/yr/mo/day/bsp/index.html?0330bk
A note on our best-seller policy: The Times on the Web
publishes the New York Times best-seller lists a week in
advance of the printed Sunday Book Review. The best-seller
lists published this week on the Web will appear in the
print edition dated April 8 and are based on sales through
last weekend.
7. In the Forums: Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in
America"
=================================================================
In the final week of the discussion of "Democracy in
America," the Reading Group is summing up. One reader,
expressing disappointment with the book, said that
Tocqueville tried to "use these smatterings of social
observations to justify his seemingly preconceived ideas of
democracy." Another reader reminded the group that
Tocqueville's perspective as an outsider accounted for the
book's strengths as well as weaknesses: "He gives us an
authentic aristocratic view of a democratic society --
something that we cannot do for ourselves because we live
inside a democratic society."
The Reading Group discussion of Michael Ondaatje's "Anil's
Ghost" will begin next Monday.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/forums/index.html?0330bk
Those of you who live in the New York area might want to
watch to my weekly appearance on WNBC's "Saturday Today in
New York" (Channel 4, 9-10:30 a.m.). In this week's segment
I'll talk about some of the books and authors I've written
about here: "Facing the Wind" by Julie Salamon, "On Her Own
Ground," by A'Lelia Bundles, in addition to a new novel by
Louise Erdrich, "The Last Report on the Miracles of Little
No Horse," which will be in bookstores next week.
Please let me know your reactions if you have a chance to
tune in. The videos of my last few television appearances
are now available on a Web site jointly created by The Times
and WNBC:
http://www.wnbc.com/bookreview/weekend.html
Feel free to forward this e-mail to a friend, and to drop me
a note with your feedback about the site. I enjoy hearing
your opinions, ideas and suggestions and will do my best to
respond individually to each e-mail.
Bill Goldstein
Books Editor
The New York Times on the Web
bill@nytimes.com
About the Books Section
------------------------------
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The New York Times on the Web tells you what you need to
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http://www.nytimes.com/books?0330bk
