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California Literary Review

Archive for the ‘Biography’ Category

The Man Who Made Lists by Joshua Kendall

by Julia Braun Kessler

March 11th, 2008

By the end of that lecture, Roget had concluded that one of the causes of “the slow progress of human knowledge” was “the imperfections of language, both as an instrument of thought and a medium of communication.” It was on that June morning that Dugald Stewart implanted in his disciple a mission which was to occupy him for the rest of his life.

Comrade J by Pete Earley

by Jascha Kessler

January 24th, 2008

It was the goings-on, the kleptocracy that emerged, the sheer blatant thuggery of Putin’s entourage, the vandalism and looting that commenced after 1989, related by Tretyakov, that finally discouraged him, a professional through and through and a Russian patriot. The principles that led to his flight into the cloaking arms of the CIA and FBI are suggestive: leaving behind all his property and possessions, amounting to about two million dollars, was worth it because in his view Russia was ruined and things had gone beyond any hope of redemption in his lifetime. He wanted his daughter to grow up a free woman.

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon by Crystal Zevon

by David Loftus

October 4th, 2007

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead is sort of an extended wake for its subject. There’s very little biographical narrative per se; instead, the book compiles a massive array of anecdotes, memories, and opinions from dozens upon dozens of the people who knew him, from engineers, girlfriends, and backing musicians to a fairly astounding variety of celebrities who spent time with Zevon.

Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins by Rupert Everett

by Elinor Teele

July 12th, 2007

The universe appears to have cheated Rupert Everett. By rights, he belongs to the Edwardian age, the gay with a capital “G” nineties, Oscar Wilde and the pursuit of beauty, art for arts sake, and to hell with propriety.

Tommy’s Honor by Kevin Cook

by John Holt

June 11th, 2007

Sheep wallows eventually became sand traps and the first greens were nothing more than somewhat level overgrazed patches of grass that were often covered with the residue of the feeding rabbits.

Lincoln Emancipated: The President And the Politics of Race edited by Brian R. Dirck; foreword by Allen C. Guelzo

by Peter Bridges

June 10th, 2007

What is heartening is that, as Professor Michael Vorenberg stresses in his essay, Lincoln’s thinking about race did evolve, especially during the war.

Flannery O’Connor and the Christ-Haunted South by Ralph Wood

by Robert C. Cheeks

June 10th, 2007

Flannery O’Connor was Catholic and Southern, and that combined with her genius produced a writer whose works have become something of a cottage industry.

The Electric Life of Michael Faraday by Alan Hirshfeld

by Nandan Datta

June 10th, 2007

He was a discoverer and an inventor, a physicist and a chemist, intensely focused on his own research and equally involved in disseminating rational awareness among the laity, a champion of scientific outlook and devoutly attached to organized religion.

Walking It Off - by Doug Peacock

by John Holt

April 24th, 2007

Doug Peacock’s reputation frequently precedes him as does that of his late, larger-than-life friend and father figure Edward Abbey.

I, Wabenzi: A Souvenir - by Rafi Zabor

by David Loftus

April 24th, 2007

Although this is a sly, sidelong-glance kind of book that repeatedly takes you to a different place from where you thought you were headed, Rafi Zabor doesn’t keep the reader in suspense about its odd title.

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