Southern Bookman

Frank Rich in New York magazine column makes it all better

As The New York Times keeps striking out with its new op-ed columnists, former Times star Frank Rich brings a bright glow to New York magazine.

Nearly every week on the magazine's web page, Rich gives witty and insightful answers to questions on policies and culture posed by fellow New York staff writer Alex Carp .Rich's sophisticated perspective gives reassurance that the country will survive the Trump era, and tawdry behavior in Hollywood and other celebrity menageries. 

In the latest Q&A Wednesday, Rich skewers Trump for his White House debacle with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. He also exposes the waning relevance of the Academy Awards.

Rich's departure to New York magazine was a major loss for the Times. After a career as the newspaper's fearsome drama critic, Rich wrote an essential political column for the newspaper's Sunday op-ed page.  While warhorses like Maureen Dowd, Thomas Friedman and Paul Krugman forge on, the newspaper has never recovered from Rich's move. 

 

 

Reviewer emeritus Janet Maslin outshines regular Times critics in listing favorite books of year

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times when The New York Times' daily literary critics presented their favorite books of the year.

In a roundtable in the Weekend Arts section, the newspaper's Dwight Garner, Parul Sehgal and Jennifer Szalal looked back at the books they read and reviewed during 2018. 

Returning guest reviewer Janet Maslin stole the show with her witty compilation, avoiding the criticese that marred the comments of Garner, Sehgal and Szalal. 

A stellar arts writer for the Times before her retirement several years ago, Maslin still does the occasional book review for the newspaper, generally of thrillers, crime novels and Hollywood bios considered too lowbrow for the regular crew. 

Maslin's witty, urbane style sparkled among the turgid and portentous writing of the others. I had the warm glow of meeting an old friend at a wine-lightened lunch at some sophisticated Manhattan spot. Her selections also struck me as more interesting and surprising than the others'. 

Garner's heavy-handed piece was dismaying. Garner, whose weekly work I generally like, seems to have caught the Michiko Kakutani bug for this feature.

Each of the books he selected, "implicated the reader deeply" Garner said. I didn't realize that reading is a criminal act. Garner succumbs to Kakutani's bad habit of stretching words to the point of torture. 

Garner goes on to say that each of his books "delivers the sense of an especially sentinent human being seeking to explain something that matters." This banal observation makes authors sound like earnest adolescents. 

At least Garner's piece caused a reaction. In contrast, Sehgal and Szalal's offerings were predictable and unimaginative.

Maslin's presence highlighted how far the Times' book coverage has fallen since the days when her work was standard for the newspaper rather than the exception.

More bad climate-change news: Carbon emissions out of control

The world is on a collision course with disaster.

After several years of leveling off, carbon emissions will increase by 2.7 percent this year, according to the latest shocking climate change report. That follows a 1.6 percent rise last year, ending a three-year period of no increases. 

The emissions jump is "a speeding freight train," according to one of the 100 scientists from more than 50 academic and research institutions who compiled the Global Carbon Project report, according to The New York Times.

China, the United States and India top the carbons-emissions list. The Trump administration is abandoning President Obama's successful efforts to curb emissions and taking steps to revive the coal industry, which will bring even higher emissions increases.

Despite China's efforts to switch to cleaner energy production,  its expanding economy still depends on coal. As in India, more and more of its population are driving gasoline-powered cars.

India's leap in emissions is also fueled by economic modernization, a mobilization to bring electricity to more of its people.

The emissions increase is the latest sign that the world is dangerously falling behind in the battle against climate change. As developing countries move toward acquiring modern conveniences the West has long enjoyed, humans have leaped aboard that doomsday locomotive.

Ben Fountain seeks restoration of America's civic virtue

Ben Fountain's "Beautiful Country Burn Again: Democracy, Rebellion and Revolution" sees Donald Trump's election as the triumph of fantasy over reality.

The Dallas-based author of the excellent 2012 novel "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" looks back on Trump's 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton from a broad historical and philosophical perspective.

Along with summaries of monthly news events that occurred during the turbulent campaign, the book gathers searching, deeply researched essays that Fountain wrote for the Guardian.

That a British newspaper would offer such thoughtful reflections on America's chaotic politics shows the deficiencies of the American media.

Rather than a blow-by-blow recap of the Trump and Clinton campaigns, the book analyzes the election from a broader historical viewpoint.

With solid grounding in literature and historical facts, Fountain traces the decline of the American middle class, GOP-led efforts to preserve white supremacy, police violence against blacks and the cultural dominance of entertainment and celebrity. He indicts American "amnesia" and an avoidance of reality.

In analyzing the erosion of American democracy, Fountain draws upon books from well-known and obscure writers. With sometimes sardonic humor and a readable style, Fountain gives a comprehensive summary of American political thought that would be a good primer for college and high school students who are so often deprived of a basic civics education these days.

Without endorsing Bernie Sanders's socialism, Fountain demolishes conservatives' war against government begun by Ronald Reagan. He demonstrates that governmental support of the economy and education led to America's glowing prosperity after World War II.

Fountain's title comes from Robinson Jeffers' poem "Apologies for Bad Dreams," sounding a call for political  and moral renewal. The California poet's jeremiad takes on deeper and ironic meaning after the recent devastating fires in Jeffers' native state and alarming climate change reports.

The book ends on a positive, if ambiguous, plea for a new commitment to America's "possibility." Countering the subtitle, Fountain places his hopes on rational thought, Jefferson's ideal of an informed, committed citizenry rather than violent revolution. 

While sounding a clarion call for progressives, Fountain expresses the belief that moderate Americans also will heed his message and restore reason and justice to the political arena.

Web sites switching to paid subscriptions

The Internet's original promise as an open marketplace of ideas keeps eroding.

After online advertising's failure to overcome the collapse of print advertising, media web sites are now turning to paid-content models.

More and more free web sites charge for subscriptions. The latest to make the transition are New York magazine, and Charlie Pierce's political blog on Esquire.

The sites hope to follow The New York Times and Washington Post's soaring profitability from paid online subscriptions during the Trump administration. The Wall Street Journal's business-oriented subscription site has also been lucrative, while the success of the Athletic's subscription sports site boosts expectations that readers will pay for specialized material.

In recent years, most major newspapers and an increasing number of magazines have set up content "paywalls."

Now, it's more and more difficult to read a variety of newspapers and magazines without acquiring a number of subscriptions. The original unfettered glory of the Internet is dimming.

Meanwhile, as Facebook struggles with a wave of bad publicity, Amazon is taking a bigger bite of the online advertising market, threatening longtime leader Google, according to a recent WSJ article. (Why does the WSJ best The New York Times in giving news no one else has? The Times each morning echoes what cable news had the night before.)

Looking back, it's amazing that once wealthy and unassailable newspapers and magazines quickly lost the online ad battle in the early days of the Internet. Some newspapers, like the AJC, tried to set up paid subscriptions at the dawn of the online era, but abandoned their efforts because of the dominance of free sites.

Magazines and newspapers early on could have banded together to develop their own version of Facebook. Perhaps such a news aggregate site will emerge now, offering access to several newspapers and magazines for a single subscription price.

As the online subscription market grows more and more crowded, Web sites will face tougher competition in drawing readers. Those long accustomed to free content will be unwilling to pay for material, especially when a range of free sites remain.

While the new Internet paradigm shimmers with promise, it might be another disappointment for media companies.

 

 

 

 

Remembering W.J. Cash's "The Mind of the South"

The "Cotton Fields to Skycrapers" exhibit at Charlotte's Levine Museum of the New South has a first-edition copy under glass of W.J. Cash's "The Mind of the South."

Cash's 1941 book, made obsolete by Southern economic development after World War II, was revered by Southern journalists of my generation.

The spirit of the troubled North Carolina newspaperman lives on in efforts by The New York Times,  sociology professors and cable news channels to understand those who support Donald Trump, the type of New York carpetbagger once despised in the South.

An examination of the South's persistent backwardness,  "The Mind of the South" is one of those cult works breathlessly praised by acolytes at bars and parties. Several of my AJC colleagues considered the book a sacred text, and Cash's name was reverentially evoked by poets and novelists at the Sewanee Writers' Conference. Cash's apparent suicide in Mexico adds to his fascination.

The "Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers" exhibit told the story of poor Appalachian people who fled their depleted farms during the Depression to work in textile mills in North Carolina cities. They didn't need to go to a fancy restaurant in Charlotte or Charleston for "farm to table" dining. 

The old mills now serve as condos for the millennials flocking to Charlotte, booming again after the 2008 bank crash. The old-time music, recorded in places like the long destroyed Charlotte Hotel, rises from iPhones tuned to Sportify. Their grandchildren work for international companies, rent out Airbnbs, or drive Ubers.

Cash's old property-stricken South was  blown away in the 1960s, buried under glass and stone skyscrapers in cities like Charlotte and Atlanta. A video at the New South museum shows Charlotte's 1920s landmarks imploding in dark clouds of dust. 

As elections across the South attest, the old white supremacy holds on, clinging with gnarled hands to political power against a new generation of different cultures and lifestyles. 

The Mind of the South remains unformed. Cash's descendants keep trying to define it, all raising the objection, "and yet..."

 

 

 

 

Wall Street Journal's Jason Gay returns with Thanksgiving touch football rules

Wall Street Journal sports columnist/features writer Jason Gay squeezed a little more juice out of his annual rules for Thanksgiving touch football column.

After eight years, the column is as welcome a holiday tradition as the late Furman Bisher's Atlanta Journal columns in which he gave thanks for his life's blessings.

Some of Gay's jokes seemed familiar, like listening to an old comedian's oft-told jokes or an aging rocker's golden oldies. But he scored a couple of good zingers off Jon Gruden and Bill Belichick, and found some fresh takes on family humor.

Gay hinted that he might be growing tired of the column. But fans hope he keeps it going for a few more years.

 

Georgia's shameful incentive package for Amazon

Georgia's outrageous incentive plan for Amazon treated owner Jeff Bezos like the king of the universe. Perhaps he is. 

Bezos, the richest man in the history of the world, received lucrative packages from New York City and Crystal City, Va., to establish Amazon outposts there.

But J-Bez rejected an even more lavish package of perks offered by the state of Georgia, which struggles to give its teachers pay raises, limits funding for health care and eagerly enacts welfare programs for wealthy white men.

The Peach State's $2 billion gift bag for Amazon included a private airport lounge for Amazon execs, a publicly funded private academy for Amazon workers and some kind of special Amazon car on MARTA trains, according to The AJC. The outlandish package is again bringing Georgia national ridicule, including an incredulous New York magazine article.

Despite the grandiose Georgia offer, Amazon rejected Atlanta for a headquarters site outside of Seattle. Perhaps Georgia's offer was so fantastical that Amazon refused it out of an uncharacteristic sense of corporate shame.

Amazon likely realized that accepting the Georgia deal would have brought an outpouring of protest in Atlanta even greater than that now erupting in New York City over the incentive package that lured the company to Long Island City in the borough of Queens, best known as the home of Donald Trump, Archie Bunker and the New York Mets.

In a rare occurrence, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal joined in condemning the Amazon incentives given by New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and New York Gov. Andrew "Amazon" Cuomo. Rupert Murdoch's WSJ and Fox News even united with New York socialist and U.S. Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in opposing the Amazon deal.

Even more heated opposition would have risen in Atlanta if Amazon had accepted Georgia's package. Surely Fortune 500 companies that have made Atlanta their headquarters for years without such governmental largesse would have howled at the special airport lounge and free parking offered Amazon. 

Imagine the ire of Coca-Cola, Southern Co., Home Depot and UPS execs. Longtime prominent Atlanta company Delta Air Lines has a special club at the airport for its most frequent passengers, who must pay for the privilege. Delta, which is likely to get a tax break on jet fuel in the current legislative special session, presumably doesn't receive free space for its lounge. The Amazon lounge would put Delta at a competitive disadvantage to other airlines used by Amazon execs.

The offer of a special academy providing college-level courses and lifetime learning to Amazon employees is outrageous. Georgia students have to pay tuition to attend the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State and other universities. They need to receive high grades to be eligible for Hope scholarships. Many Georgians aren't even accepted by flagship state schools. Yet Amazon employees would have received unlimited free access to higher education, and a boost to career advancement.

If the Amazon academy paid better salaries, it would draw top professors from Georgia and Tech, depriving students at the state schools of the best educational opportunities.

The state-funded academy would give Amazon an edge over other corporations in attracting top talent. Amazon's monopoly on the best workers would cripple efforts to develop high-tech startups.

Out of all the offered perks, the special Amazon car on MARTA trains was the most ludicrous. The AJC report was vague on details. Such a plan seemed more the ill-conceived product of some bureaucrat's overactive imagination  than a well-thought-out proposal.

Already suffering from overcrowding, each MARTA train apparently would have had to include a special Amazon car, subsidized by the transit system's sales taxes. Would the special car have been off-limits during rush hours or when trains are packed for sporting events? How would the car have been used in "distributing" Amazon products? The plan doesn't seem very efficient for home deliveries, already provided for the company by the postal service.

Outgoing Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has refused Medicaid expansion, claiming it would be too expensive for the state. Apparently his administration had no qualms about wrecking the state budget for Amazon.

 

Lenny Bruce resurgence in force, New York Times article finds

The late comedian/social commentator Lenny Bruce "is having a pop culture resurgence," according to a New York Times article.

During Bruce's career when he was oppressed by governmental authorities, the Times did little to support his battle for First Amendment freedom. It did report on his arrests. The article is one of the newspaper's several attempts during the years after Bruce's death to make amends.

The strongest bit of evidence offered for a Bruce revival is the popularity of a play based on Bruce's performances. Ronnie Marmo's "I'm Not a Comedian, I'm Lenny Bruce" has gained a following in Los Angeles, the article reports. It also mentions Brandeis University canceling another play based on Bruce's work. Efforts by Bruce's daughter, Kitty, to keep his legacy alive are also mentioned.

While a widespread rediscovery of Bruce is unlikely, his work remains fresh and relevant. Even as comedians inspired by Bruce enjoy unprecedented freedom, the forces of repression that Bruce battled keep a death-grip on power. In today's political and cultural cacophony, Bruce would stand out.

Frequently arrested on obscenity charges, the First Amendment martyr died of a morphine overdose. His popularity spiked in the early 1970s with Frank Zappa's release of Bruce's Berkeley concert on Bizarre Records and a hit movie starring Dustin Hoffman that followed a best-selling biography.

The recording of Bruce's Berkeley concert is a cultural touchstone of the late 1960s, with sharp insights on subjects ranging from the Kennedy assassination and Lyndon Johnson's presidency to the social hypocrisy of race and sexual relations. While Bruce is most remembered for his live performances, his autobiography is one of the essential books of the era.

Black-and-white photographs of Bruce and 1960s Times headlines about his arrests accompany the article. Bruce seems of another time and place, but his voice still rings true.

Birds and bees not doing well

Our grandchildren will not see bees, butterflies, beetles and spiders.

Frogs, lizards and salamanders will be gone too.

The alarming decline in insects is even worse than previously reported, according to a new study.

Scientists doing research in a pristine rain forest in Puerto Rico found severe reductions in the number of insects, along with the lizards and birds that feed upon them, according to a Washington Post article.

The falloff was linked to climate change, the newspaper said.

Following a UN report last week that humanity has 12 years to forestall the worst effects of climate change, the loss of insect life is further evidence that the world needs a major effort like the Manhattan Project or World War II mobilization to reduce carbon emissions.

The Wall Street Journal's masters of specious reasoning sought to undermine the UN report in an editorial Tuesday.

Even ExxonMobil's support of a carbon tax drew rhetorical darts from the newspaper's furrow-browed munchkins.

Why fight climate change? In the long run, we'll all be dead was the newspaper's message.

Disputing the UN's call for concentrated government action, the newspaper editorial and a related op-ed piece put faith in the market to solve the problem, not that there really is one.

Perhaps the newspaper can now oppose research to cure cancer.