He presents Hebrew readers with the most comprehensive, the most These tales developed around the prophet's personality, were transmitted orally . that was made at some unknown date in the copying of the Greek text.
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- David Guzik :: Study Guide for Jeremiah 36
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The Prince of Darkness was indeed a remarkable man, and it would be some time before New York City would see his like again. I particularly enjoyed reading about the tremendous stride the African American citizens made through their determination, hard work and, sometimes, sheer cleverness to establish themselves after emancipation. White touches on everything from the Haitian revolution to the rebellious acts against Jim Crow.
So why just a 4-star rating? Sadly, having little to go on researching Jeremiah, the citing of the court cases was a little repetitive and, in my opinion, took up a little too much of the book. It would have been a solid history without them. Feb 08, Theophilus Theo rated it really liked it. Fantastic story of a man who has been hidden from American history.
The idea of a black man making money on Wall Street is something that school children should be taught. Although many of his business dealings seem shady, they were not uncommon for many of the major players in the investment market then, and even now. It is easy to see the author was determined to research and gather as much material as possible, from a myriad of legitimate sources: Even well before the Civil War Blacks in America were struggling to succeed financially and attain the American dream.
White for your work. This is an interesting yet weird biography of Jeremiah G. Weird in that there is no real fact about him, just bits and pieces from 3rd party perspectives and a few court cases. There are no surviving pictures of this man, nor any history about his birth or childhood, because of this it felt more like a history of the financial district of New York and a overall racial history of antebellum New York than a bio of someone.
But with as little is known about Mr. Hamilton, I do believe that This is an interesting yet weird biography of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, I do believe that Shane White does a great job in researching this mystery man and also putting us in 's New York. My best nonfiction read so far this year, this author won me over with his enthusiasm and ability to share uncertainty in an honest and engaging way.
Hamilton was, as the subtitle says, the first black millionaire in America. He was also one of the first millionaires in America without qualification, despite incredible racial prejudice at the time. Living in NYC during the abolition of slavery, followed by a period with Jim Crow-style codified discrimination, he still managed Summary: Living in NYC during the abolition of slavery, followed by a period with Jim Crow-style codified discrimination, he still managed to survive and even thrive in the cutthroat world of Wall Street.
His involvement in business, trade, real estate, and newspapers makes his life story a fascinating look at a turbulent time in American history. This book was an incredible contrast, because the author handled these things perfectly. Every section, from his intro note describing his research process to the sections where he discussed unknowns in Hamilton's life, were infused with his enthusiasm for the topic. This kept things exciting even when he had to go into the gritty details of what was known and what was conjecture.
It made me feel excited to be part of his research process. I've never wanted to write a nonfiction book before, but reading about his experience made me want to. I think the author made some other very wise decisions. I felt as though the story was a fair portrayal of a complex individual.
The second important decision the author made was to not tie himself too tightly to Hamilton's story. Although the chapters were generally chronological in Hamilton's life, the author wandered far afield, tackling a bigger topic connected to Hamilton's life in each chapter. This could have been an organizational nightmare, but the author kept me interested in every chapter, gave me a greater understanding of the time period, and stayed firmly anchored in Hamilton's story. I never felt lost and loved learning about everything from fires set by slaves to how the stock market and newspapers operated in the 's.
I'd highly recommend it, so I'm very excited to be able to offer a giveaway US only from the publisher today: Jul 28, AlTonya rated it really liked it. Moreover, I found little mention of Hamilton's existence referenced anywhere I'd have expected. As I worked my way through this book, I came to understand why there has been little to no mention of Hamilton among other black heroes.
Nevertheless, Hamilton was an undeniable success. He crafted a remarkable life for himself and his family. I had hoped the book would focus a little more on Mr. Hamilton-the man and his interests beyond making money or bringing to justice those who owed him. Given that there is so little information about Hamilton; outside of his financial wheelings and dealings, I suppose the author worked with what he had. I found much of the book to be more an account of the financial and racial climate of New York seasoned by Mr.
This is perhaps the most valuable lesson from Hamilton's life story. Oct 21, Book rated it really liked it Shelves: His main protagonist, Jeremiah G. Hamilton, was a well-known figure on Wall Street though what was not known, then and now, is that Jeremiah was African American. Yet for a colored man it seems surreal to realize what he succeeded to achieve during the 19th century when this story is taking place. Taking into account that so detailed and convincing story of not so recent history is challenging to write, the author cannot be disputed extraordinary effort on collecting data and research conducted, but also can be congratulated for great style that will keep reader interested for his work until the very end.
I was given a copy of this novel by the author for the purpose of unbiased review, while all the presented information is based on my impressions. Oct 14, Virginia rated it liked it Shelves: I don't think anyone could possibly have written a better biography of Mr. Hamilton, and "the black man" as Mr. White calls him countless times himself is to be commended for making his way so well in a society that was completely set up against him.
The research is meticulous, but even the most thorough historian can't find records that don't exist--and, as White reminds us over and over, Jeremiah G. Hamilton's past is pretty spotty. We don't get any of t I don't think anyone could possibly have written a better biography of Mr. We don't get any of the detail that good biographies use to bring their subjects to life. Instead, White is forced to fill the gaps with general historical information about the time period or area. It's interesting, and it's well written, but it's definitely not exciting.
No one is going to come away from this wondering why this is the first biography of Hamilton; rather, they might wonder what compelled the author to write it in the first place. I received this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway. Dec 01, Amona rated it really liked it. Hamilton was a piece of work! I think in his heart he actually thought he was white and although society tried to prove him otherwise he yet and still refused to believe the contrary. Oct 16, Ava M. This book was eye opening for me personally! Jun 26, Mandy rated it liked it. Well done to Shane White for unearthing what information there is.
Jeremiah G Hamilton was the first African American to become prominent on Wall Street and was reportedly the richest coloured man in the US at one stage. He married a white woman and lived in a mansion in New Jersey and was the equal of any white man in the 19th century American financial world. Much of the surviving information comes from court cases and White recounts some of these verbatim — which actually makes for some tedious reading. May 24, Wayne Bass rated it liked it. The book grew on me as did Mr Jeremiah Hamilton. I learned a lot about the life and tribulations of blacks who lived in NYC during the 's as well as info about historical events at that time.
I wanted to like it but Sep 14, Patty rated it it was amazing Shelves: An excellent nonfiction book about Jeremiah Hamilton, a historical figure who is sadly barely known these days but was a New York City celebrity in the s to 50s. White is very upfront about the fact that he had little material to work with; no one preserved Hamilton's letters, diaries, business books, etc, and so White is restricted to mentions of Hamilton from newspapers and court cases. Luckily Hamilton made frequent appearances in both.
And yet despite this limitation, the story White man An excellent nonfiction book about Jeremiah Hamilton, a historical figure who is sadly barely known these days but was a New York City celebrity in the s to 50s. And yet despite this limitation, the story White managed to write is extremely thorough and detailed. Nonetheless there are unanswered questions. Hamilton, at various points in his life, claimed to be from Virginia, Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico, other spots in the Caribbean, and even — once!
What we do know is that he made a fortune in the early stock market, not once but twice, after he lost the first in the Panic of He dabbled in real estate, investments, insurance, railroads, factories, and more or less all possible money-making ventures. He was certainly a shady businessman he first appears in the historical record attempting to smuggle counterfeit money into Haiti, and was involved in so many insurance scams that the various insurance companies of NYC eventually banded together and put a lifelong ban on offering any insurance to any project that involved Hamilton , but White points out that such behavior was hardly unusual, and John Jacob Astor and Cornelius Vanderbuilt — other NYC millionaires of the time — did the same.
It's such behavior, though, that seems to have gotten him largely ignored by the black community; the one mention of him in Frederick Douglass' Paper , a black newspaper, is not exactly complimentary: Because even if Hamilton was an asshole, his mere existence is incredible.
As White points out when Hamilton demanded bribes in exchange for giving out stock tips: Three years into a Civil War of almost unimaginable carnage in which the central issue was the existence of racial slavery, less than twelve months after the Draft Riots, New York's own cataclysm, in which the mutilated bodies of African Americans were hanged from lampposts, an unapologetic wealthy black man let it be known that he was willing to receive cigars and champagne — mind you, only the very best — as acknowledgement of his "kindness". In order to gain privileged access to this African American's wisdom about the market prospects of listed corporations, modern entities beyond most Americans' understanding, that were laying thousands of miles of railroad track and steaming huge iron vessels across oceans, some white New Yorkers were willing almost to grovel.
Hamilton's] chutzpah was remarkable. It's a fantastic history of New York City from in general, covering topics like early Wall Street; the Great Fire of which burned most of downtown Manhattan; the ending of slavery in New York, the Draft Riots, and early Jim Crow laws, including segregation on the commuter rails; early newspapers — Hamilton was close friends with Benjamin Day, founder of the New York Sun ; Thomas Downing, another rich black New Yorker, the owner of an oyster restaurant on Wall Street; the Five Points slum; and more.
It's a really excellent book, chock-full of fascinating trivia and tied together by an author who is in sure control of his material. Dec 25, James Molet rated it really liked it. Hamilton, a black man — or perhaps more accurately, a mulatto — who defied every convention of his time.
White presents a stunning portrayal of this black broker and life in s New York. Through cunning and resourcefulness, Hamilton maneuvered his way into a white business world that despised and conspired against him. Though he showed up in New York City in the wake of scandal, no one could say for sure where Jeremiah G.
Hamilton had come from. Some sources said he was born in the Caribbean — perhaps Cuba or Puerto Rico — which he admitted to, but he also claimed Richmond, Virginia, as his first home. Nobody knew, however, because Hamilton spent most of his adult life blending facts and fiction to advance his business interests and stay one step ahead of creditors and the law.
We are introduced to Hamilton in , in his early twenties, during his involvement in a counterfeit scam in Haiti. Evading the authorities he escapes to New York with the help of locals, however, not without notice as newspapers of the day covered his shenanigans quite extensively. Once in New York Hamilton bullied his way onto Wall Street where his sharp wit, cleverness and underhanded ways were keys to ensuring he found success, but rubbed many that encountered him the wrong way. As a broker, Hamilton made a living claiming insurance for losses, mostly at sea, and often in courts of law.
As might be expected, he battled racist judges and juries, and was forced to apply his craft on an uneven playing field. For a city and business community that was more accustomed to docility from blacks, Hamilton provided unexpected shocks. He not only distanced himself from non-whites, had his own circle of white friends and married a white woman, he conducted himself as if he was a wealthy white businessman. Though an astute, hard charging businessman, Hamilton was certainly no saint.
His singular focus, making more money, led him to shun other blacks and invest in companies that overtly practiced racism. Though there are no known photographs or portraits of Hamilton, no personal documents or ledgers, and no books or films that document his life, White is able to paint a remarkable and memorable picture of a character who lived the moment, lived it large and exploited the opportunities that came his way.
Hamilton died in in a comfortable and elegant residence — rare for most, particularly for people of color — he shared with his wife and family. Dec 23, Kent rated it liked it Shelves: The story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton is certainly fascinating, as are White's insightful comments into the history of New York City and race in the Antebellum North.
I greatly enjoyed White's matter of fact telling of his research process at various points in the narrative and inclusion of some of his conclusions even if there is not enough evidence to fully prove the conclusion. However, White does not always keep his entertaining writing going at all times. Throughout, the book becomes a tedious re The story of Jeremiah G. Throughout, the book becomes a tedious read of jumbled and minute details of court cases--and cases about dense economic dealings.
In many ways this is just a result of the few surviving sources involving Hamilton and that Hamilton's livelihood came from financial dealings. Still, I highly recommend White's book for anyone interested in the history of New York City, race in the Antebellum North, and the Antebellum period more generally. If nothing else, his work is worth consideration because of his comments on how the history of African Americans has been and still is written and why certain individuals become forgotten quickly and others gain a place in textbooks and general knowledge. Dec 30, Gaia rated it really liked it.
Shane White's "The Prince of Darkness," uses court records, newspaper articles, and even library records to bring light to the extraordinary life of the mysterious Jeremiah G. Hamilton was almost lost to history. It appears his only descendants are in Europe and traceable to his sole grandson. White states that not a single photograph of Jeremiah remains, he was either of African ancestry or mixed African ancestry, and known to shave his hair racial fodder for the newspape Shane White's "The Prince of Darkness," uses court records, newspaper articles, and even library records to bring light to the extraordinary life of the mysterious Jeremiah G.
White states that not a single photograph of Jeremiah remains, he was either of African ancestry or mixed African ancestry, and known to shave his hair racial fodder for the newspapers and wear a long, black wig. There is very little biographical information but White incorporated the histories of well-known men who Hamilton associated, or did business with; these men have very familiar names, such as Vanderbilt and Astor. Hamilton had mysterious origins: Unknown birthplace, with one affidavit stating Haiti and another Virginia. I speculated whether he were enslaved and then freed--which could account for the information sworn to in the affidavits.
He was interesting, elitist, unscrupulous and daring. I think this would make a great movie and the author did a very great job with the little valuable information he could find. Aug 13, J rated it liked it Shelves: At the heart of Shane White's quest to uncover the untold story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton is the question of how to turn snippets of a mostly unknown man's life into a book.
David Guzik :: Study Guide for Jeremiah 36
The answer seems to be by reconstructing the time in which the man lived. White's quest is admirable if a little misguided. As interesting as Hamilton's life is, the book about him is sadly lacking in most cases because the source material does not appear to exist in a substantial way. What's left is a book that falters as muc At the heart of Shane White's quest to uncover the untold story of Jeremiah G. What's left is a book that falters as much as as it intrigues. The subject would best be served by a long news article rather than a book in order to fully encapsulate what's known and not known about the person at the center.
Too often White goes off on seemingly unrelated tangents and winds back around to only loosely tie Hamilton into the narrative. A bit dense, a bit flat, but certainly ambitious, Prince of Darkness will make you rethink what you thought you knew about New York City in the mid s, but it is by no means an exhaustive or complete biography. ARC received via Amazon Vine in exchange for review. Aug 25, Lori Shafer rated it really liked it Shelves: I am always on the search for a history topic that is new and basically unknown.
Prince of Darkness is such a find. White tells the story of a man ahead of his time, but completely forgotten. If you look back to Defoe and that earlyth-century period when the genres as we know them were being extruded, you find it gets messy.
The categories people like to play with when doing that hierarchy of genres don't exist; they don't hold up to investigation, they're all feeding into each other and borrowing techniques from one another. Sometimes you can even get the impression that fiction is considered a pastime suitable for schoolgirls only. There are literary journals which only deal with essays, interviews and poetry, as if fiction was not good enough. So what does Sullivan actually write about?
To be honest — anything. He shares insightful personal stories, like the one about his brother, who after being electrocuted, spent two months in a sort of a bizarre daze.
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Or the beautiful story about a family trip to Disneyworld. At other times he goes on exploring some extremely niche subject distilling it to the point the average reader will actually give a damn, be it a story of deciphering obscure blues lyrics or exploring Native American cave paintings. He likes to hang out with all these people that we only know as caricatures, like the Christian rock fans rocking on for Jesus , the Tea Party members, or The Real World cast offs. I will come clean here and say I did have to google The Real World, as somehow for the past 30 years I have lived in a Real-world-free-world.
It might because each time anyone mentioned the Real World I assumed they were talking about the actual real world. But that, again, is beside the point. Sullivan often goes back to Indiana, the state where he grew up, to investigate some little known facts from the lives of famous musicians who are also Hoosiers that means someone from Indiana. I learnt a new word!
Recently, I decided I would accompany my reviews with cooking, because why not? Everybody likes a little bit of food porn, right? Apparently the most classic thing for Indiana is its Pork-tenderloin Sandwich. So not exactly ground-breaking, but decent comfort food. Just look at this baby! That marinade actually truly kicks ass, I think buttermilk and garlic is the secret. View all 44 comments.
Mar 14, Mike Puma rated it really liked it Recommends it for: View all 12 comments. Feb 19, Elaine rated it really liked it Shelves: John Jeremiah Sullivan can write. So, already, that makes this compilation of long form essays worth exploring. I was at that Axl Rose show at Hammerstein Ballroom that night he made his come back! But, unlike many Goodreads reviewers, those were not the essays that captivated me the most.
I was most fascinated by the essays that featured Sullivan the Southern boy, very localized in a part of the mid-Southeast, and very focused on Southern history and culture that is always already — JUST - beyond our grasp. Unknown Caves introduces us me, at least to an entire world of cave art in the Southeastern US ranging in age from 8, no typos to years old, in other words, pre-Columbian elaborate artifacts of an intensely intricate and incredibly ancient succession of cultures that will always be pretty mysterious because they had no written language.
The same for Unknown Bards, about the obscure early roots of blues, about the attempts to understand , to follow, to preserve some year old recordings that glimpse at a culture almost as impossible to reach as the Woodlands cave artists of the Unknown Cave. Lytle, where Sullivan serves a very particular internship at the feet of a 92 year old Southern writer who knew Penn Warren and had one foot in the Confederacy. I even loved the essay about the barmy genius French-Sicilian polymath naturalist of the 19th century, which no one else on GR seemed to like. Sullivan will remind you that, even though we might only be a handful of generations from the Civil War on the one hand, on the other, we will never know what a blues singer a scant century ago — of whom perhaps a single copy of her song survives — meant by one slurred word.
At one point, in one of his many meditations on time, Sullivan notes that you can be certain that there are a few big bloopers in currency right now, ideas that in a few hundred years will seem obviously, demonstrably, scientifically wrong — and that we can have no idea what those are. So why not a 5? Because there are a few duds in here, and a few off moments. I found American Grotesque, where he tries to get in the heads of the Tea Party, flat, and there were other off moments as well. But this was awfully close to a 5. I thought I'd better read something American, and this has been on my to read list for two years and finally came in at the library.
One measure of a non-fiction book could be what it makes you go and do. The book is full of fascinating e one for the plane going over to the States. It was the perfect book to read while in America, written with style, skill, knowledge, generosity and enthusiasm. The essay on the cave paintings was breathtakingly good, you felt his awe as he entered the caves to see some that were 8, years old.
Different races were passing through it, through the cast of his features — black, white, Asian, Indian, the whole transnational slosh that produced the West Indies. You the reader go with the flow as he signs breasts and dances grinds with fans. He is surprised at how much he enjoys a Christian rock festival OK not so much the bands as a bunch of guys he stays with. Big parts of this piece I made up. I made up Marc Livengood a major character in the essay. I made up the trip to Nairobi.
Then there was the bit where Bunny Wailer distances himself from the author. There were about 30 of them, doing the military style chanting, as we sat in the Hirshhorn Sculpture garden. One, a former policeman, showed me the scars from his surgeries for the bone disease he had. OK, they might be scamming me, an obvious tourist. A teacher and a policeman!
Thank God for the NHS. View all 6 comments. Feb 05, David rated it really liked it Shelves: This winter I've been reading a lot of nonfiction collections, hitting a lot of "big names" along the way - Updike, Hitchens, Schama, Didion. John Jeremiah Sullivan was someone I had never heard of until I stumbled across this collection in the bookstore, but I'm happy to report that his writing has an idiosyncratic charm that puts him right up there with the big guys. As with any collection of essays, there are a few duds in this collection. Sullivan's pieces on Axl Rose and on Michael Jackson s This winter I've been reading a lot of nonfiction collections, hitting a lot of "big names" along the way - Updike, Hitchens, Schama, Didion.
Sullivan's pieces on Axl Rose and on Michael Jackson seemed meandering, a little self-indulgent, with no obvious point. But these are the exceptions. They are more than offset by the essays "Upon This Rock", "Lahwineski: Career of an Eccentric Naturalist", "Mr Lytle", in each of which Sullivan takes a topic about which I had no prior knowledge or interest and writes about it in a way that is spellbinding. Besides a fluid, unassuming writing style, Sullivan's gift is to write about obscure topics in a way that engages the reader's interest and sympathy.
This seems partially correct to me -- Sullivan has the same ability to take the most unlikely subject and make it fascinating to the reader, and like DFW, he writes with great empathy and without condescension. He does not, however, display the self-consciousness that plagued DFW, nor does his writing suffer from the kind of stylistic tic that can result when an author worries too much about the impression he may be making.
He does not match Foster Wallace's brilliance, but he is definitely smart and compassionate enough to merit your attention. John Jeremiah Sullivan is an author worth looking out for. This is an excellent collection. It never is boring, stupid or offensive. It's just that is starts with such a bang and awed me with the profound and moving vision John Jeremiah Sullivan has of America, so when the collection abruptly stops doing that a little bit past halfway through and start talking about 19th century botanists and cave paintings, I've gradually lost interest.
Not that these subjects are not interesting, but they don't have an anchoring point for the contemporary reader that is not already interested in these subjects. It doesn't connect the dots anymore like Sullivan brilliantly does in the first half. I believe I know why that is. There was probably not enough material for someone's taste and extra essays that didn't belong to the project were attached.
Feb 03, Oriana rated it really liked it Shelves: Why haven't I read this already?? Well, because I forgot all about it. I wrote the above in , when the book came out, and since I didn't rush out to buy it right away, it vanished entirely from my brain. So much so that when I was at a friend's house scanning her shelves for something to read on a flight and she suggested this one, I said, "What, isn't Spied twice in one week on CoverSpy , called a badass by an FSG staffer, and listed on Flavorpill's 25 Greatest Essay Collections of All Time.
So much so that when I was at a friend's house scanning her shelves for something to read on a flight and she suggested this one, I said, "What, isn't that a memoir about a soldier at war?? I am certainly very late to the party in saying that John Jeremiah is a stellar writer, but oh la he surely is — sharp and piercing and incisive and shivery, whether his sights are sets on an obscure-to-the-point-of-veritable-nonexistence blues caterwauler, his older brother's near-death experience, or the history of a Native American death cult as told through cave drawings.
And yet this book, not even 10 years old, already feels like a sweet lovely relic of a more innocent but less enlightened time, when it was a given that everyone used AOL, when the word "trannie" was tossed about willy-nilly, when bitter old closeted white Southern literary titans took in rugged young white Southern literary mentees to groom and possibly prey upon sexually, when a writer could spend weeks or months and a very healthy travel stipend on just one longform magazine article that probably wouldn't even be the cover story.
I wonder what John Jeremiah is writing now, and for whom, and whether he is still talking so casually about being groped by his old gay mentor "like a chambermaid," with all the sexism and cultural blindness and obliviousness to power that a metaphor like that suggests. I hope he's a little more enlightened now, has been able to adjust with the times, because he's a crushingly stunning tale-teller.
He can describe a YouTube clip of Michael Jackson or a live performance by Axl Rose so thoroughly and with such attendant emotional depth that you wouldn't dream of hunting it down to watch because you've pretty much already seen it. He explains a geological plateau and a sharecropper's dancehall and the streets of Trench Town with such precision that you'd never think to Google, because you already know it all, basically as if you'd experienced it yourself.
I loved this so much, is what I'm saying. This is a great moment for essays and these essays are great for really any moment. Now to find and figure out how to gently stalk John Jeremiah so I can keep reading whatever bursts forth next from his splendid imagination. View all 7 comments. Jan 11, Todd rated it really liked it. I wanted to give this guy five stars, but the two stories in the middle were snoozers and a few of the endings were rushed and, accordingly, awful.
Of the latter, the ending to the essay about Axl Rose—such a good essay—was so disappointingly bad that I almost didn't like the essay. What I like most about this guy is that he isn't a sarcastic, cynical prick. After having just read a few stories by George Saunders, I appreciate this fact and Sullivan even more. From the first essay I wanted to give this guy five stars, but the two stories in the middle were snoozers and a few of the endings were rushed and, accordingly, awful.
From the first essay, about Creation " I've been to a lot of huge public events in this country during the past five years, writing about sports or whatever, and one thing they all had in common was this weird implicit enmity that American males, in particular, seem to carry around with them much of the time. Call it a laughable generalization, fine, but spend enough late afternoons in stadium concourses, you feel it, something darker than machismo.
Something a little wounded, and a little sneering, and just plain ready for bad things to happen" In Manhattan and Brooklyn, I felt this at nearly every bar.
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In Michigan, I can sometimes feel it at the supermarkets. It's bad and it's spreading, and Sullivan was right on the money about it being a wounded, dark feeling. From the essay "Lytle: An Essay" "Confusion to the enemy" This has nothing to do with Sullivan because it was Lytle's toast, but what a perfect toast it is. If I could, I would be doing that as I walk to the store" A great writer; fun to read; makes the bizarre, mundane, and already-written-about into fresh and exciting stories.
Mar 12, Tuck rated it really liked it Shelves: This is a rich, thoughtful immersion in a choice spread of subjects including pop culture, history, politics, environment and music. Oh, and one sort of very promising semi-SF riff. Think of them as smart documentaries.
Jeremiah, line by line, line by line - Books - leondumoulin.nl
Neither is it redneck-neo-con freak show erotica for Guardian readers. The writing is also nicely relaxed and unaffected, best summed up by this refreshing line: Oh, were more writers to do that. Dec 25, Drew rated it really liked it. Humorous--sometimes I laughed out load. The author is a person I would like to know. He has a wide range of interests, especially music and performers. I read some of the essays aloud to Elizabeth. I'll continue to read his work. Thank you, Brandon, for recommending this book. Apr 21, M.
Sarki rated it liked it Recommends it for: This morning on the CBS Morning Show Charlie Rose was reporting on an exotic animal compound in Oklahoma City and how dangerous to humans it could be since it is situated in the heart of the country's Tornado Alley. There are over one hundred lions and tigers fenced in together in this so-called largest rescue reserve in the nation.
The compound's owner expressed his displeasure in the government's possible cracking down and limiting of these types of ope http: The compound's owner expressed his displeasure in the government's possible cracking down and limiting of these types of operations, and he threatened another Waco of unprecedented proportion if he is restricted in any way. Given that just yesterday I had read the second-to-last essay titled Violence of the Lambs in this John Jeremiah Sullivan book, Pulphead , I was left with a confused feeling over which animal to be most afraid of. And I do include humans in my category of animals.
Even though Sullivan admits to having "made up" the people quoted in this essay, his examples of animal attacks on humans are accurately documented. Add to this the video I was directed to watch today on Yahoo. Augustine, Florida and almost did great bodily harm to the two men in it. So now I am thinking that maybe Sullivan just might be on to something. The bottom line message in the Lamb essay is for everybody who hasn't visited lately with a loved-one, relative, or friend should get right to it posthaste, or at least within the year, as it is possible that the new Armageddon will be "on" and going strong.
The people behind this idea say this will be a war between humans and all others not like them. That means your little dog Benji could be choosing to partner up with the wolves over you and your tasty jerky biscuits. Of course, all this may or may not be true, just like global warming, but there have been violent attacks and icebergs melting at discouraging levels lately in degrees not ever seen or recorded ever before.
As I was reading this Violence of the Lambs essay I was anxiously commenting to my wife the many "facts" and concerns these "made up" people were having. I did not know at the time that these people were made up and I learned at the end of the essay that disclaimers had been made. Nonetheless the essay gave me cause to consider these speculated outcomes. My own dog, a loving ten-month old English Retriever pup tries repeatedly to lick me to death so I attempted to imagine young Robert Earl ultimately turning on me.
I suppose if I for recreation still ingested LSD I could get somewhat close to these wild ideas with my thinking and believing, but so far it just doesn't make sense that R. But the essay was quite interesting, as the majority of the other essays in the book proved to be captivating as well. It is quite hard for me to understand any outside negativity about this book as a whole.
The Axl Rose essay and the one about that fellow Miz and The Real World were of no interest whatsoever to me, but not enough to discount the entire book. I merely skipped over them. I would think my disinterest in these two similarly juvenile subjects has something to do with my advanced age though if Sullivan really were as good as David Foster Wallace then he could have won me over anyhow. But still, not bad reading here. I made my way through the first nine of the total of fourteen essays in the book until I got sidetracked by Sullivan's masterpiece memoir Blood Horses: Notes of a Sportswriter's Son.
I picked up a copy of this book from my local library purely based on the strength of his Pulphead essays figuring I could take a peak and then send it right back if it was a bore or poorly written. I started reading it and discovered I could not stop. Three days later I was writing about the memoir and would soon be back to reading the remaining five essays in Pulphead. For sake of clarity allow me a brief remark or two over each collected piece in Sullivan's latest book.
I did not enjoy this essay all that much but I labored through it waiting for the proverbial foot to drop about Sullivan's own religious beliefs. Though I have had my own run-ins with the Lord and his servants, I exercise extreme caution when dealing with even ex-"born again" Christians. Portions of the essay were interesting but I could have done without it. Much of it hits too close to the bone, especially when it rubs me the wrong way about our land of the free. There are a lot of kooks following and worshiping Jesus these days.
Not exactly a supposedly fun thing I will never do again. Many critics have named this essay their favorite, but not I. This is a short essay relating a story about his older brother Elsworth's near death from electrocution via a microphone. If not my favorite essay in the book, it has to be close. Sullivan attended The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee and Sullivan inhabited a room in the basement of the home of the university's aging icon, the writer Andrew Lytle.
I found this essay to be the very best, and the most enlightened and interesting of all of them.
Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
There is plenty of dialogue and Sullivan does a great job of telling his tale. At a Shelter After Katrina: I could take or leave this one. I can't even think of anything worthwhile to say about it. Getting Down to What is Really Real: This is the Miz essay, The Real World. Nothing of note at all for me here and I mostly skimmed the pages looking for something that might grab my attention. Keep in mind I am an addict, therefore I am inherently always looking feverishly for something to read that is worthy of my time.
I always want the writer to succeed in making me happy. This one failed miserably. I was hoping for an essay on Michael Jackson that would make my teacher and friend Gordon Lish excited about reading it. Lish has always wanted Don DeLillo to write a biography on Michael Jackson and when I saw this I was thinking perhaps he wouldn't need to.
But I found the piece a bore and could not even finish it. The Final Comeback of Axl Rose: Again, I have absolutely no interest in Axl Rose. I do think it is somewhat possible that David Foster Wallace could have won me over and made me read it if he himself had written it. Sullivan did not do this for me.
Sulivan made me feel deeply for Sparkman's son and it is too bad how things worked out for him. I already hate the Tea Party, so I was indifferent to all that silly and outrageously pathetic stuff in total, but the census taker tramping around the hollers of Kentucky kept my attention honorably. Career of an Eccentric Naturalist: Rafinesque made an interesting subject for this essay. Sullivan shows his own knack for research and digging up remnants enough to make an essay readable and extremely worthwhile, if not important.
This is a very good essay dealing with the long history of our American Indian in Tennessee. Sullivan goes subterranean along with other professional spelunkers and visits with grave robbers still stealing what little remains to be found of the ancient Mound Builders. The reported cave drawings of birds, spears, stick figures, and human heads give us a fresh new history many of us have never known of. Though I knew next to nothing of these people introduced by Sullivan I found the essay interesting. After reading a few weeks ago Bob Dylan's Chronicles Vol. The essay was an attempt to find and interview Bunny Wailer, the last surviving member of Bob Marley's band The Wailers on the island of Jamaica.
Having recently completed my reading of the Johnny Cash book Cash: An Autobiography I was struck with how dangerous it really was for Johnny and his family to live in Jamaica around all these violent and crazy nuts. Cash was lucky he was only robbed and that the intruder's gun pressed to young John Carter's skull never went off. If this were a travel promotional advertisement I assure you, without a doubt, this island I have crossed off my "things to do" list.
Violence of the Lambs: My thought while reading this severely interesting piece was why did he wait for position thirteen to lay it on us? Very well-written and fascinating, if not frightening essay about things that may be true, and maybe might happen. I was hoping for more tantalizing fun, but I feel Sullivan could have used his time better than spending it to both live here in that Hollywood house and eventually write this essay.
Why I read it was simply because of some of the brilliance I discovered along the way in getting to this point in the book. But I should have quit reading after the last essay with the human-killing chimpanzees. When I say this it makes me feel as if I am Ronald Reagan in his presidential debate with Walter Mondale, and that particular psychological transference certainly enters me a little creepily. But Sullivan's long non-fiction work titled Blood Horses: Notes of a Sportswriter's Son is every bit as good, or even better, than any non-fiction piece Wallace has ever written.
It would be desirable to have a non-fiction piece by Wallace the length that Blood Horses came in at, but we are left, gratefully, with the many short and brilliant pieces Wallace did leave us. John Jeremiah Sullivan could serve us best by returning to the long form or else inserting more of himself into the subjects of his shorter pieces. But this book was certainly worth reading and I will be on the look-out for more bright essays from this young and promising writer. Sep 17, Superstine rated it really liked it Shelves: Jul 17, Jamie rated it really liked it Shelves: This is really as good as everybody says.
Feb 18, J. This is an eclectic mix of light and deep pieces. Sullivan speaks to the tenuousness of pop culture. He wants to hold onto things that little bit longer. For example his piece on the writer Mr. Lytle is an elegy and an attempt to hold him in the world a little bit longer. He doesn't like journalists who give a clear judgement, he says he 'likes seeking out places of ambiguity and crawling around in them'. Sullivan appreciates that his version of a subject is one among many.
Pulphead includes a lot of musical pieces. His pieces are part of a project of redemption, trying to give resonance to musicians who may have slipped out of the public conscience a little. He also attempts to offer a different perspective on someone who has been interviewed multiple times i. Erudite pieces are placed with idiomatic pieces, reality television beside a piece on Rafinesque, an early 19th Century French naturalist and anthropologist.
On his writing method he told the guardian "The initial research will be very indiscriminate," he says.