Book bits
The Monitor's weekly literary roundup.
from the February 27, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Three books about black history
Those weeks in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968 were the final chapter in the life work of Martin Luther King, Jr., and also the scene of a dark battle for labor and civil rights. University of Washington professor Michael K. Honey offers a moving and detailed account of this poignant chapter of history in Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign. Honey includes fresh research and first-person interviews in a book with the drama of a novel.
Elizabeth Jacoway grew up in Little Rock throughout the drama of school desegregation in the 1950s, but she says she was an adult before she grasped the significance of what had taken place around her. She has since spent three decades researching all that happened at that time and the result is Turn Away Thy Son: Little Rock, the Crisis That Shocked the Nation, a full chronicle of events, including numerous first-person accounts.
Throughout the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, Harlem was the setting for a vibrant chapter of African-American culture. Harlem Speaks, edited by Cary D. Wintz, tells the rich story of this era through a collection of essays highlighting the lives and works
of the artists, writers, and thinkers behind the cultural explosion. Integrated with an audio CD, this book is an ideal text
for students of the era.
– Marjorie Kehe
Books on Broadway
How many bestselling Authors have their works adapted for the Great White Way? Plenty. When Joan Didion's memoir "The Year of Magical Thinking" begins in previews on Broadway next week, Didion will be in good company. However, the stage fortunes of book authors have varied wildly. Recent success/sob stories include:
Nick Hornsby. His 1995 bestseller "High Fidelity" survived on Broadway for only 14 performances last year.
Alice Walker. Her 1983 Pulitzer Prize-winner "The Color Purple" opened on Broadway in 2005 and received 11 Tony nominations (although only one award).
Victor Hugo. He spent 33 years writing "Les Misérables" only to have it panned by critics. The 1985 Broadway adaptation has shattered attendance records – but earned little respect from critics.
P.L. Travers. Travers sobbed in 1964 when she first saw the relentlessly cheery Walt Disney film version of her more acerbic "Mary Poppins." The current play is unlikely to have suited her any better.
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