Tag: Biography

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‘Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather’ by Benjamin Taylor

Slender, discerning … Should appeal to anyone — novice or expert — ready to explore Cather’s life and work in the company of a critic so alert to the shimmering subtlety of her style and the hard years of effort that went into crystallizing it … With great feeling and deeply informed perception, Taylor helps us readers realize anew the sustained effort it took for Cather to meet ‘the rest of herself,’ in her novels and her life. Read more

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‘Lou Reed: The King of New York’ by Will Hermes

…Hermes, a superb writer, does poetic justice to the complicated life of his difficult subject. As Hermes details, a raft of current singers claim debt to Reed, from Courtney Barnett and St. Vincent to Sharon Van Etten and Kurt Vile, as well as creatives in television, art, and fashion. Hermes offers a fresh and deep immersion in Reed’s world in all of its weird and wonderful, curmudgeonly glory, from Andy Warhol’s Factory and the Velvet Underground to days and nights of rock ’n’ roll decadence and his final moments surrounded by family and friends. Reed was influenced by many people over the years, including Delmore Schwartz and Bob Dylan, but none more so than his third wife, multimedia artist Laurie Anderson, who is a big part of this powerful story, this biographical magnum opus. Read more

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The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures: A True Tale of Obsession, Murder, and the Movies

With a spellbinding, thriller-like presentation supported by painstaking research, Fischer puts forth evidence to try to unravel the mystery of Le Prince’s life and death. Deftly organized facts, coupled with the technical minutiae of filmmaking, reveal fascinating details of Le Prince’s life and the challenges faced in his work, while also exposing the mysterious circumstances surrounding his disappearance. Fischer’s stellar, suspenseful narrative is a work of art unto itself that finally gives Le Prince–and the impact of his often overlooked, cut-short creative genius–his due. Read more

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Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century

In this thoughtful, engaging, and moving work, Slate writer Stevens posits that Buster Keaton’s life is an entry point to understanding the 20th century—and vice versa … Stevens’s acumen and analysis further elevate this book, offering insights and entertaining extrapolations on the myriad films and entertainment figures discussed within … More than a biography of Buster Keaton, this is a stunning, extensively researched, and eminently readable cultural history. Read more

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Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire

Journalist Katz (The Big Truck That Went By) delivers a searing and well-documented portrait of early 20th-century U.S. imperialism focused on the career of U.S. Marine Corps major general Smedley D. Butler (1881–1940). Contending that American military actions served the interests of U.S. business and financial institutions, often with dire effects on local people, Katz provides the geopolitical context behind interventions in China, Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, the Philippines, and elsewhere, and visits each location to document the legacy of U.S. interference. Read more

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The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age

Replete with accounts of Polly’s many court battles, newspaper headlines, mobster dealings and society gossip, “Madam” is a breathless tale told through extraordinary research. Indeed, the galloping pace of Applegate’s book sometimes makes the reader want to pull out a white flag and wave in surrender — begging for her to slow down. Read more

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How H.G. Wells Predicted the 20th Century

…Herbert George Wells (1866-1946), a towering genius successful in many genres, knew, influenced or was admired by virtually every major writer and thinker of his time, between the publication of his first novel, “The Time Machine,” in 1895 and the end of World War II. Read more

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